Roswell Fanatics

Thanks for the reviews I really enjoyed them.

D2Tymes - I'm glad you like the story. The past is set during their senior year (2002) and the future takes place in 2023. Zan is 17 and Beth is 15. I know Amy was a little harsh but when I wrote this I hadn't seen the episodes since they aired and could have sworn she was like that, but then when I bought the dvds I realized I was wrong. But its too late to change things now. (I wrote this story awhile ago.) For the rest of your quesations you'll just have to wait and see.

Jessibelle47 - Thanks so much for the compliment. That was so nice. It made my day. I'm glad you enjoy Maria, I worked hard to try and make them act as close to caracter as possible.

Chapter 11 - Followed

Zan drove to the Crashdown and went down a back alley. He got off the bike and moved his hand over it and the motorcycle disappeared. He then left the alley and walked into the diner. Zan took a seat at the counter and waited to be served.

"Hey, Michael, what can I get you?" Liz asked.

"I think I‘ll have a Will Smith burger, fries, Saturn rings, a corn dog, a hot dog, a salad, and to top it all of for dessert I’ll have a piece of cherry pie with vanilla ice cream" he joked. He then started to laugh at the expression on Liz’s face. She just stared at him wondering what on earth was going on. Michael, joking! Laughing! He rarely does either. Michael is always a stone wall. What is the world coming to? Liz thought.

"Will that be all?" she asked, still wondering.

"No, I changed my mind I think I’ll just have a burger and fries." Zan said smiling.

"Okay. Do you want something to drink?"

"Coke, please." Please! Since when does Michael have manners?!

"Sure. Coming right up." she said hesitantly.

"Oh, yeah. Don’t forget the special ingredient." he said.

"I would never forget that." she said as she walked away. Have I ever forgotten to give him Tabasco sauce? I don’t think so, but maybe I have. I must have, he would not have brought it up unless I did. I feel so bad now. No wonder he was acting strange. I’ll just have to be sure not to forget the Tabasco again.

"Hey." Beth said as she took the stool next to Zan.

"Hey. So how’s it going?" he asked wondering how Beth was handling being in the past and pretending to be their mother.

"Okay, I guess. I mean it’s pretty much the same thing I’m used to. But there are some differences."

"Like what?" he asked curious.

"Have you seen that cash register?" she asked still furious at the piece of junk. Zan looked over at it and began laughing.

"It’s so big. You can even see it over the counter!" he said still laughing.

"I know! Can you believe you have to count the money out yourself! And don’t even think about speaking to it!"

"That sounds like the soda machine I was at earlier. You have to push these big buttons to get what soda you want. And did you know a can of soda costs less than a dollar?!"

"What! Oh my gosh, Travis, would be in heaven." she said laughing.

Just then Liz brought Zan his food. "So what has got you two laughing so hard?" Liz asked, laughing herself. It was good to see Maria back to normal.

"Nothing much. We were just thinking what this place would be like in the future." Beth said. That’s not entirely a lie. She thought.

"Really? Would do you think it will be like?" Liz asked, interested.

"Well we thought that the register would be a whole lot different." Beth said pointing to it.

"If they still use registers in the future." Liz said laughing. She didn’t notice the look shared between Zan and Beth before they started laughing too.

"I’ve got to get back to work." Beth said to Zan as she walked over to a table were a couple was sitting.

Zan watched Beth and Liz work, occasionally talking with them for a few minutes. He noticed his sister was using the register without getting mad at it for not working like she wanted it to. Finally, it began to slow down and only three tables were occupied. One had a young couple and their small child, another had a man by himself, and the last had two teenage girls. Beth came and sat down across from her brother, who had moved to a booth when it got less crowded.

"You look upset, what’s the matter?" Zan asked, worried about his sister.

"Liz just reminded me about, Alex." she said as she slid down in the seat.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he took a sip of his drink.

"Well, earlier Alex came by and asked me to sing with The Whits tomorrow night." Zan spit his drink out and began laughing.

"You sing! That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard!" he laughed.

"Shut up, jerk! It’s not that funny!" she said, throwing the towel she was holding at him, while laughing herself.

"Yes it is!" Zan said still laughing.

"Alright so maybe it is." she said finally admitting it.

"Do you have any idea how I’m going to get out of it?" Beth asked once they had both stopped laughing.

"No, but don’t worry I’ll think of something." Zan said cheerfully.

"You never told me what you did before you got here. Did you find the crystal?" she asked hopefully.

"No, I didn’t find it. But that’s probably because I didn’t look for it." he stated, bracing himself as Beth flew off the handle.

"WHAT!! What do you mean you didn’t look for it? What did you do all morning long? Sleep?" she said.

"Shh. Keep your voice down. Do you want people to hear us? You need to be more careful Mom doesn’t act like that, Dad does. You need to stay in character. And no I did not sleep all morning." he said.

"Sorry." She said while mumbling something under her breath.

"To answer your question, I walked around town for a little while. Then I went to Dad’s place and after that I came here."

"You walked around town?" she asked confused as to why he would do that when they had more important things to do.

"Yes, and don’t you dare start yelling again, Maria." he said emphasizing their mothers’ name.

"Okay, I won’t, Michael." she replied, doing the same.

"Maria, you can go if you want. It‘s not that busy right now and your shift‘s over in half an hour anyway." Liz said as she came up to their booth.

"Are you sure? Cause I can stay."

"No that’s ok. Go, have fun and enjoy the what‘s left of the day." she said laughing.

"Thanks, Liz." Beth said, as she went into the back to change.

When she came back out the only customer still there was the man that was all alone. She walked over to where her brother and Liz were talking.

"Ok, I’m ready." she said.

"Alright let’s go." Zan said as he led Beth out of the diner. Beth waved to Liz as she walked out the door.

"Where are we going?" Beth asked when she realized Zan was leading her to the alley.

"You don’t want to walk to the Chamber, do you?" When he saw her shake her head he continued into the alley. Once there Beth stood watch to make sure no one saw anything, while Zan used his powers to make another motorcycle.

"Wow, that’s a nice bike!" Beth said when she saw it.

"I know isn’t it?" Zan said proud of himself.

"But you know, we should probably go and get Mom’s Jetta from Grans’ house." she said.

"What! Why? Have you forgotten the argument that occurred earlier?" he asked.

"No I haven’t forgotten. I’m just pretty sure Dad can’t afford anything this nice." she said gesturing towards the bike. "And we don’t want him to get into trouble. Lets just get the car then no one will think anything of it."

"Well, ok. I guess you’re right, but can I at least dive it over to Grans’." Zan begged. He really wanted to ride it again. Beth smiled and nodded. She couldn’t help but laugh at her brother; guys were so cute when it comes to machines. They both got on and drove off towards the Deluca residence.

As they drove off a grey car pulled up in front of the Crashdown. The man that had sat alone in the Crashdown got inside.

"It's them. They have it." he said as soon as he shut the car door. The driver nodded, then followed in the direction that Zan and Beth had gone.

When they got close to the house Zan stopped the bike, they got off, and he pushed it behind a fence. Beth watched his back while he used his powers to make the bike disappear. Zan finished and turned to his sister.

"Alright, let’s get this over with." he said.

They got to Maria’s car and started it up without incident. But when Zan saw Amy yelling from an upstairs window, he quickly pulled the car out of the driveway and down the road. They passed the same grey car that was at the Crashdown. The man from the diner got out and let himself into Amy’s house, while the other drove off in the direction the Jetta had gone.

Thanks Jessibelle47 and ultimatepickupline for reviewing.

AN: (F) Michael or (F) Maria - means Future Michael or Future Maria. (P) Michael or (P) Maria means Past Michael or Past Maria.

Chapter 12 - Seeing Double

Maria was still beaming from what Michael had told her. Me and Michael get married and have children! She looked at him and saw the serious expression on his face.

"Why aren’t you excited, Michael? We’re in the future! We get married and have two kids! I still can’t even fathom it!" she said.

"I’m just a little overwhelmed right now. I don’t know what to think. I mean all my life I never thought I’d get married, let alone have kids. It’s a little unnerving to think that I have a child. Me! Michael the screw up! Michael Stonewall Guerin!"

"Shut up. I’m sure you’re a great dad." Maria said reassuringly.

"How do you know I‘m not a terrible father?" he asked.

"Because, Space boy, I won’t let you be." she said matter-of-factly. Try as he might to still be mad, all he could do was smile at her statement.

"Well, obviously, she’s your daughter." Maria said after looking at the license again.

"Why do you say that?" he asked wondering what she meant.

"Because she apparently drove to the Pod Chamber without a driver’s license; it‘s a learner’s permit." she said, laughing as she showed him the ID.

"Like father, like daughter." he said, shaking his head and laughing, as well.

"I can’t wait." she said, rolling her eyes.

When they got to the Guerin residence, Michael parked across the street where he had parked before and cut the car off. When he didn’t seem to be making any move to leave, Maria turned to him.

"Michael, what’s wrong? I thought we covered the fact that you’re going to be a great dad."

"It’s not that. I just realized that we probably shouldn’t have come here."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because my future self is here and the moment he sees you he’ll know who you are."

"What? How? Everyone else we’ve met today has thought I was our daughter, Beth. So how would he know?"

"Because, he’s me." Michael stated.

"And that’s supposed to mean what exactly?" Maria asked.

"It means that when I first saw Beth’s picture on her ID I knew it wasn’t you."

"How?" she asked, baffled as to how Michael could tell her from her daughter when apparently they looked exactly the same.

"Easy. She looks different." He then took the license from her hand and looked at it.

"Sure she has short hair, but that wasn't the difference I noticed. I know you, Ria. I know every inch of your face, every curve, every freckle, everything. And this is not you. Anyone else would have thought she was you, but not me. I know better." Michael looked up to see Maria smiling at him with unshed tears in her eyes. He smiled back.

"Why don’t you use your powers to alter my features to look like Beth?" Maria asked. Michael looked at her stunned.

"Why didn’t I think of that?" She smiled. Michael waved his hand in front of Maria’s face and then over her hair, changing both to look like Beth’s.

"Can I see my future home now?" Maria asked hopefully. Michael answered by getting out of the car and began to cross the street. Maria happily followed.

When they got to the front door Maria noticed the grey square.

"I think I know what that does." she said proudly. She reached out and placed her hand on the square. Immediately a voice was heard, "Welcome home, Maria." and the door opened. Maria smiled in amazement, while Michael starred at her wondering how she knew what to do.

As soon as they walked in Maria began looking at everything, but stopped when she heard Michael yell, "I thought I told you not to do that!"

Maria looked at her boyfriend only to find him starring at something behind her. She turned around and saw Michael’s future self. He looks exactly the same, just older. I hope I look as good as he does. Maria thought. (F) Michael had heard the automated voice and came to welcome his wife home only to find his children.

"How many times have your mother and I told you not to change your hand prints to ours? What if someone heard?" (F) Michael yelled. "What's the matter with you two? Zan you look like you've seen a ghost." he asked worried, no longer angry at his kids.

Noticing that (P) Michael was still in shock, Maria spoke, "Nothing’s wrong with us. We’re fine. It’s just been a long day." That’s the understatement of the year. She thought.

"That reminds me, what on earth did you two do to your cousin? Kyle called; he said Andon brought Emma home and that she was almost unconscious! What is wrong with you two? Why would you let your emotions get so strong when you knew an empath was there? Why would you send her home in that condition and not try and help her? And why in world would you let Andon of all people take her?! He’s g….." (F) Michael was cut off by Maria.

"What is with you two? Why do you hate him so much? Are you going to hit him too?"

"Hit him? What are you talking about?" (F) Michael asked.

"I punched him." (P) Michael stated, the mention of Andon finally bringing him around.

"You punched him! I wish it had been me." (F) Michael said. Wow! What do you know; wishes do come true! (P) Michael thought, smiling.

"Well, I guess I can forgive you for skipping school, because you punched Andon. Just don’t tell your mother or sister." (F) Michael whispered to (P) Michael.

While the Michaels had been talking Maria was looking at a photo on the wall. He looks just like Michael but then he doesn’t. This has to be my son. Wow, now I now what Michael meant when he said he knew Beth wasn’t me. No one else would notice the little differences but me. Just then a voice was heard, "Welcome home, Maria." and the front door opened. Oh no. She thought. (P) Maria quickly grabbed her Michael and drug him upstairs, while (F) Maria came in and (F) Michael watched them run up the stairs completely confused.

"What’s their problem?" (F) Maria asked her husband. He shrugged.

"They’re your kids." he said and followed his wife into the kitchen.

Upstairs:

"Maria what on earth are you doing? You almost pulled my arm out of the socket!" Michael said while rubbing his arm.

"Sorry, Michael, but I couldn’t let my future self see you."

"What? Why?" he asked confused.

"For the same reason your future self couldn’t see me."

"No problem I’ll just adjust my face too." he said.

"Ok, but lets not do it in the hallway." she said. He led her into Beth’s room and shut the door. Michael sat down on her bed, while Maria looked around.

"So how do I look different from Zan?" Michael asked when Maria had sat down beside him.

Maria looked at him and then started pointing to places on his face as she spoke, "This is slightly different from him, and this needs to change, he…." Maria didn’t finish what she was saying; frustrated at not being able to understand what she was talking about Michael kissed her.

Flashes immediately began to form in his mind. He saw flashes of Maria growing up and flashes him and her together, as well as flashes of various other things. Michael quickly found the memories he was looking for, the ones of their son. He saw everything Maria saw, every little detail that was different, every feature that wasn't his. It all became clear to him. When he had added every detail to memory he broke away from Maria.

"What was that for?" she asked shocked that he had suddenly kissed her, but glad that he had done it.

"So I could do this." he said and then waved his hand across his face. To anyone else it would have looked like nothing happened, but to Maria it was like looking into the face of a completely different person.

"You two get your butts down here now!" (F) Maria yelled up the stairs.

"I guess we have to go down stairs." said (P) Maria.

"Do we have to? You sound really mad."

"It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve been mad at you." she said as she walked out of the room with Michael following behind her.

When they got into the kitchen (F) Maria began yelling at them. "I can’t believe you two would be so irresponsible! I can’t believe you let this happen and while Andon was there!" She stopped and looked over at (F) Michael, who had been unsuccessfully trying to hide the fact that he was laughing.

"Do you mind telling me what you find so funny?" she asked.

"What are you talking about?" (F) Michael asked. His wife just glared at him, not wanting her anger turned on him, he spilled the beans.

"Zan punched Andon."

"WHAT?!" (F) Maria yelled. "ALEXANDER MAXWELL GUERIN, TELL ME THIS ISN’T TRUE!!"

"I can’t believe you told!" (P) Michael said looking at his future self with disgust.

"I asked you a question?" (F) Maria said.

"NO YOU DIDN‘T! ACTUALLY YOU TOLD ME TO DO SOMETHING!" (P) Michael yelled. He was mad at his future self for ratting him out and he was mad at both Marias for kissing and sticking up for Andon. (F) Michael and Maria were both completely shocked by their son’s outburst. Sure he had a temper, but he had never yelled like that before.

(F) Michael was the first to recover, "Zander what has gotten into you today? First you skip school, then you forget to pick up your sister, then you hit Andon and now you're mouthing off to your mother. You're acting like…like…"

"Your father!" (F) Maria said finishing her husband's sentence.

"Exactly! I don't know if I should be proud or scared of the fact that my son is acting like me." (F) Michael said.

"And Beth what is wrong with you? Why are you so quiet? Why aren't you angry with Zan for fighting with Andon? (F) Maria asked completely baffled by her daughter’s reaction or lack thereof. Since when is Zan the one who yells back when fussed at and Beth the one who stands back and takes it? (F) Maria thought.

"I.......ummm........we......." (P) Maria stammered, unsure of what to say, luckily the door bell rang.

"We'll finish this later." (F) Maria said as she walked into the other room to see who was at the door.

Thanks for the reviews. Please keep them comming I look forward to reading them.

Chapter - 13 - Boiling Point

“There’s someone following us.” Zan said, looking out the rearview mirror again.

“What? Who?” asked a worried Beth. They both remembered the stories their parents told them growing up about the Special Unit and the Skins.

“That grey car has been following us for awhile now.”

“For awhile? And you didn’t tell me until now!” Beth said starring her brother down.

“I didn’t know if they were following us until now, I told you when I was sure.”

“You told me when you were sure! You should have told me the minute you thought that possibly we were being followed!” she yelled.

“Now I’ve done it. Fahrenheit is going to boiling point.” Zan said.

“I am not going to boiling point! And don’t call me Fahrenheit! I hate that nickname and you know it!” Beth yelled, face turning red.

“Your face is red and you’re yelling at me. No you’re not at boiling point.” he said sarcastically.

“Shut up, nark!” she said and turned to look out the window.

“Hold on!” Zan yelled as he suddenly turned down a side street.

“What are you doing?!” Beth screamed, her anger at him growing with this stunt.

“Trying to lose our friends back there!” he said, while looking to see if the car was still behind them. Then taking another sharp turn.

“Oh. Sorry.” She couldn’t believe she had forgotten about them being followed. I don’t know what I would do if Zan wasn’t here with me! I’d probably be dead right now! Or worse some freaks’ science experiment! She thought.

After taking several more quick and sudden turns, Zan pulled into an alley and watched as the pursuing car drove past. Once they were sure it was safe, Zan backed the Jetta up and continued in the opposite direction to the chamber.

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“Landon, I lost them.” the driver of the grey car said into his phone.

“What! How could you lose them?!” yelled Landon from the other end.

“They noticed I was following them and went all over the place until I lost them.” he stated hoping he wouldn’t get into too much trouble for losing them.

“You’re so incompetent, Zack! Go to the boys’ apartment and wait. They will have to come back eventually.” Landon yelled and hung up.

“Incompetent! I’ll show him who’s incompetent!” Zack said out loud to himself, before he drove off to Michael’s place.

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The rest of the ride Beth was quiet. All she could do was think about how she hadn’t noticed they were being followed and Zan had, how she was so into their fight that she had completely forgotten about the grey car and Zan hadn’t. In fact he had been watching the car the entire time they were fighting and long before they had even started. It really bothered her that she got so much from her dad but the one thing that could really help right now, being aware of surroundings and what was going on, was given to her brother; who was more like their mother than anything else!

“Beth?” Zan said bringing her out of her thoughts.

“Huh.”

“You coming or are you just going to sit here all day?” he asked. At this she looked around and realized they were there.

“Yeah, I’m coming. Sorry, I was thinking.”

“I could see that, what about?”he asked curious.

“Nothing.”she said and walked past him to the rock formation that held the Pod Chamber and Granolith.

When they got to the top, Beth swiped her hand over the wall and a hand print appeared, she placed her hand on it and the rock wall opened. They both went in and straight to the spot on the Granolith where the crystal should be.

“It's not here!?” said a shocked Beth, who had got there first.

“What do you mean?” asked Zan as he came up behind her.

“I mean IT”S NOT HERE!!” she yelled to further her point.

“I has to be there!” Zan said worried. He looked all over the Granolith, but couldn’t find it.

“Maybe it disappeared after Mom and Dad used it, you know, like a one time use only thing.” Beth said hopefully.

“I doubt it.” he said flatly.

“Let’s search the rest of the chamber. Maybe it’s hidden.”

“Alright.” They looked all over the chamber, in all of the pods, on the Granolith again, and every hidden storage compartment.

“The crystal’s not in here anywhere.” Zan said defeated.

“Not only that, but the orbs and book aren’t here either. The compartments are completely empty.” Beth said confused as to why her family’s most important possessions were not hidden away where they could be protected.

“Beth, I don’t think they’ve found the compartments yet. They looked like they haven’t been touched in years.”

“Then were do you think they are keeping the stuff?” she asked.

“I remember Aunt Ava saying something one time about how surprised she was that all of the stuff survived and never got lost while Dad had them.”

“So I guess we start looking at his apartment then.” Beth said.

“That’s our best bet at the moment.” he said shrugging and led the way out.

“This place is gross!” Beth said when they got inside Michael’s apartment.

“Doesn’t Dad know how to clean?” she asked to no one in particular.

“Stop fussing about the mess and help me look for the crystal so we can get home.” Zan said irritated that she wasn’t helping. Beth rolled her eyes and walked into the bedroom. After looking for what seemed like forever they still hadn’t found the object of their search.

“We found the book and the orbs, but no crystal.” Beth said stating the obvious as she set on the couch.

“This has to be the worse day ever! I get dumped by my girlfriend, my baby sister almost dies, I find out we’ve been sent to the past, Gran yells at us for something our parents did, we get followed, AND NOW WE CAN’T FIND OUR ONLY WAY HOME!!!!!” As Zan finished what he was saying the apartment began to shake. Things fell off tables and out of cabinets, while other things began to break and explode.

When Zan started yelling and things began to break and move, Beth knew she had to calm him down before something worse happened. She jumped up and with a wave of her hand Zan was frozen, literally! What do I do now? If he doesn’t calm down the whole building will fall to the ground! But I can’t keep him frozen forever. And I can’t unfreeze him until he calms down, but he can’t calm down until I unfreeze him! What do I do? Beth thought.

After a few more minutes of thinking she decided to do the only thing she could do. She thawed him out. Fire appeared in her hand and she sent it to her brothers frozen form. The fire quickly thawed him, but slow enough so that by the time he was completely thawed Zan had calmed down.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t hurt you did I?” Zan asked after Beth finished.

“No you didn’t hurt me, the TV maybe, but not me. It’s ok Zan. If anyone knows that sometimes you just have to let it out its me.” she said laughing.

“Yeah, but you don’t hurt people if you let it out. If I lose control like I just did then something other than a TV could explode.” Zan said sadly as he sat on the couch with his head in his hands.

“And you talk about me hitting boiling point.” Beth said laughing, as she moved beside him on the couch.

Across the street in the opposite apartment a camera was taking pictures of the entire thing. Zack moved the camera from his face and smiled.

“I got you now.” he said and laughed as he picked up his phone.

“Landon, I found them. They came back to the apartment just like you said.”

“Good. Do they have the crystal?” came Landon’s reply.

“I’m not sure. But it’s Them.” Zack said emphasizing the last word.

“At last, after all this time. Marcus will be most pleased.” Landon replied, smiling as he hung up.

Jessibelle47 thanks for the review.

AN: (F) Michael or (F) Maria - means Future Michael or Future Maria. (P) Michael or (P) Maria means Past Michael or Past Maria.

Chapter 14 - Saying Sorry

Previously:

"And Beth what is wrong with you? Why are you so quiet? Why aren't you angry with Zan for fighting with Andon? (F) Maria asked completely baffled by her daughter’s reaction or lack thereof. Since when is Zan the one who yells back when fussed at and Beth the one who stands back and takes it? (F) Maria thought.

"I......ummm........we......." (P) Maria stammered, unsure of what to say, luckily the door bell rang.

"We'll finish this later." (F) Maria said as she walked into the other room to see who was at the door.

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(F) Maria left the kitchen to see who was at the door. When she left (P) Michael and Maria set down at the table, while (F) Michael leaned against the counter.

“Well I see you’ve learned how to control your powers, Zan.” (F) Michael said trying to break the tension in the room.

“What do you mean?” (P) Michael asked confused. Why would I not teach my kids how to control their powers? (P) Michael thought.

“What do I mean? I mean how you would normally blow up everything in the house if you got too mad!” (F) Michael said, shocked that his son could forget something like that. (P) Michael was about to reply but stopped when (F) Maria walked back in with their guests.

“Here we go.” (P) Maria whispered to her boyfriend when she saw her mother and Jim Valenti walk in.

“Michael! I’m so glad you’re here! I haven’t seen you in days!” Amy said as she gave (F) Michael a hug.

“Sorry, Amy, I’ve been working a lot lately.” (F) Michael said as they pulled apart. (P) Maria stared at the two in amazement, while (P) Michael was completely confused.

"How many times am I going to have to tell you to call me, Mom?” Amy says as she playfully hits her son-in-law on the arm.

“Amy look grandkids!” Jim said to his wife to take her attention off Michael.

“Fine. I’ll leave him alone.” she said as she walked over to see her "grandkids”. (F) Michael mouthed “Thank you” to Jim, he nodded in reply.

“So how have you two been?” Amy asked (P) Michael and Maria.

“Fine.” they said in unison, not sure what else to say.

“How’s school?” she asked.

“Okay.” they said in unison again.

“How are you coming along with your powers?” At her words the teens quickly looked at each other. Thinking their look was for another reason she asked, “What did you do?”

“Ahhh……um……” (P) Maria stammered.

“They changed their hand prints to Maria’s and mine again.” (F) Michael said.

“They did what!” (F) Maria said.

“You can’t keep your mouth shut for nothing can you?!” (P) Michael yelled at his double.

“I think we’d better go. Coming Jim?” Amy asked. If Zan was yelling this was not going to be pretty and she did not want to get in the middle of it.

“Right behind you. Bye.” Jim said as he followed his wife out of the house.

“What is your problem, Zander?!” (F) Michael yelled not able to hold back anymore.

“What’s my problem! I’ll tell you what my problem is! It’s you! I’m ashamed to even be associated with you!” (P) Michael yelled, standing up so fast that he knocked his chair over. (F) Michael looked like he had been punched in the face, but he quickly masked it. Unfortunately it wasn’t fast enough for (P) Maria not to notice. Seeing the hurt on his face broke her heart.

“How dare you say that.” (P) Maria said. (P) Michael turned to look at her and was shocked at what he saw. Hate! Hate for him!

“I can’t believe you would say something like that! He’s ten times the man you‘ll ever be!” she said, slapping him across the face and running out of the room.

“Beth! Beth, wait!” (F) Maria called after her. (F) Michael was shocked not only at what his son had said to him, but also at how his daughter had reacted to it. (P) Michael was frozen in place his hand on his face staring at the spot where she had been standing.

“I’m going to talk to her.” (F) Maria said.

“No, I’ll go.” (P) Michael said and left without so much as a glance at either of them.

“He didn’t mean it.” (F) Maria said to her husband when his younger self had left.

“I’m not so sure.” he said, obviously hurt.

“Of course he didn‘t. I said things worse than that to my mother when I was his age. You should know, it usally happened in a fight that had something to do with you.” she said laughing. Michael couldn’t help but smile. She could always make him feel better and vise versa. He pulled her to him and said “Thank you” by kissing her.

Upstairs:

Michael stood in front of Beth’s door wondering if he should go in or wait until Maria calmed down. He finally decided he’d give her the choice. Michael knocked twice.

“Go away.” came the stern reply.

“Maria, come on let me in.” he pleaded.

“What part of go away don’t you understand?” Frustrated, Michael turned the knob, only to find that it was locked. Like that can keep me out. He thought as he used his powers to unlock the door so he could get in.

When he opened the door he found Maria sitting on the bed clutching a pillow, with tears streaming down her face. She didn’t even look at him she just continued to stare out the window.

“Maria, I’m sorry.” he said as he walked over to her.

“Do you even know what you’re apologizing for?” she asked coldly.

“I was a jerk. I got mad at him for no reason.” he said as he sat down on the foot of the bed.

“You were more than a jerk!” she said finally looking at him. “Did you see the look on his face? I ca….” she started crying again, not able to finish her sentence. Michael pulled her to him and comforted her while she cried into his chest.

“I’ve never seen you so hurt before.” she sobbed.

“Really?” Michael asked, wondering what had hurt him so bad. At his words Maria lifted her head and looked into his eyes.

“Michael, you broke his heart.”

“What? How?” he asked.

“He thinks you’re his son.” she said.

“So.” he said still not sure what she was getting at.

“He thinks you’re his son and then you tell him that you’re ashamed to even be associated with him. When you said that he…he…” Again the tears fell at the memory of the hurt on the face of the man she loved.

“Oh.” was all Michael could say when the power of his words had sunk in. They sat on the bed holding each other not saying a word for sometime, both lost in their thoughts. Maria finally sat up and looked at Michael only to see the still red imprint of her hand on his face.

“Michael, I’m so sorry.” she said as she touched his cheek.

“Did it hurt much?” she asked worried.

“No, I barely felt it.” he lied.

“I’m sorry. So much has gone on the last couple of days. And then seeing the hurt on his face, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I'm so sorry.” she said.

“Maria, why are you apologizing? I’m the one who should be saying 'I’m sorry' not you. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“But.”

“No ‘buts’. Ria, I’m sorry I went off at him for no reason. If I can’t keep anything from you now, there’s no way I’d be able to do it after we’ve been married for who knows how many years.” he said as he wiped away the tears still on her face.

“So can you forgive me for being a jerk earlier? Excuse me more than a jerk earlier.” he said mocking her earlier words. Maria couldn’t help but smile and laugh.

“Alright, Spaceboy, I’ll forgive you on three conditions.” she said still smiling.

“Three? Okay. I’ll do anything you ask.” he said trying to hide the fact that he was a little scared. Maria had a wicked sense of humor at times.

“Number one. You have to kiss me.” Michael smiled as soon as she finished, then leaned in and kissed her.

“How was that?” he asked confidently when they had stopped.

“It’ll do.” she said sounding slightly bored.

“It’ll do?!” he said shocked. I’ll show her. Michael grabbed Maria and then passionately kissed her. Flashes immediately came rushing forward. When they had finally pulled apart Michael didn’t even have to ask what Maria had thought of his kiss, he could see it on her face.

“Number two?” he asked smiling at her reaction.

“Number two is you have to stay with me until I fall asleep.” she said still reeling from the kiss.

“I like where this is going. Number three wouldn’t happen to be what I think it is, would it?” he asked.

“Michael!” she said shocked.

“Ow! Hey! I was joking. Ow!” he said while trying to dodge the pillow she was hitting him with. He grabbed her arms and pinned her down on the bed tickling her.

“Okay!….Okay!….I give!….Michael stop!” she said while laughing. He finally let her go and fell down beside her on the bed.

“Well obviously that’s not number three, so what is?” he asked turning his head to look at her.

“You have to tell my future husband sorry.”

“What? No way!”

“It’s a deal breaker, Michael. If you don’t tell him you’re sorry and mean it, then I won’t forgive you.” she said seriously.

“Fine, Blondie.” he said defeated. "I'll talk to him tomorrow."

After a few minutes Michael started laughing. “What’s so funny?” she asked starting to laugh herself.

“You said he’s ten times the man I’ll ever be. You do know we're the same person right?”

“Shut up!” she said as she hit him with a pillow, unknowingly starting another war.

AN: The address is just one I made up off the top of my head.

Chapter 15 – The Note

“Zan!” Beth said quickly sitting up from the couch.

“What?” he said, wondering why she was so excited.

“Mom and Dad are in the future!”

“You’re just figuring this out?”

“No, stupid, I‘ve known it all along!” she said rolling her eyes, clearly irritated that he didn’t understand her meaning. “If they’re in our time then everyone is going to think they are us.” she said slowly so he would get the point.

“So? Everyone thinks we’re them. What’s the big deal?” he asked clearly not getting her meaning.

“What’s the big deal?! We know how to act! We know what’s going on! We know everyone! We know the importance of not changing or messing with things! Do they know what happened? Do they know to pretend to be us? Do they even know about us?” she said now pacing.

“Whoa! Calm down, Sis! They’re smart, I’m sure they figured out what happened and know to keep a low profile.”

“That’s just it! How are they supposed to keep a low profile when they know nothing of the future? They don’t know anything about us, who knows what they’ll do! They could really mess things up for us, Zander! I mean...Oh no...Andon!” she said yelling her boyfriends name when she thought of the possibilities.

“What about Andon?” Zan said with disgust.

“What about Andon?! I think what you should be asking is what will Dad do to Andon! He hates him as much as you do!” she said obviously worried.

“Beth, I don’t think Dad is going to do something to a guy he doesn’t even know. Remember, Dad from this time hasn’t meet Andon yet.” he said, secretly hoping that his dad would do something.

“You think?” Beth asked, feeling slightly better at Zan’s words.

“Of course.” he said and hugged her to further prove his point.

“Thanks.” she said when they pulled apart. “I really needed that. You’re the best big brother a girl could have.”

“Don’t I know it.” he said laughing. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“Modest much?” she said. He only smiled at her comment.

Several hours later they still had no idea what to do about the crystal. Frustrated and getting tired they both decided to call it a night and figure out what to do in the morning.

“Well, I guess I’ll go back to Gran’s.” Beth said as she started to gather her things.

“Are you sure you want to do that? I mean she was pretty upset when we left.” Zan said.

“I’m gonna have to go back there eventually. I might as well make it sooner rather than later.” she said as she picked up the car keys and headed for the door.

“Wait a minute! What do you think you’re doing?” Zan asked as he stood in his sister’s way.

“What are you talking about.” she said looking everywhere but at him.

“Did you actually think I would let you drive over there?”

“Zan, come on.” she whined.

“Okay, I’ll let you go.”

“Really!” she said happily.

“Sure. If you can show me your driver’s license.” he said folding his arms and smiling at the sudden change in her face.

“That’s so unfair! Why won’t you let me drive? It’s not like you haven’t let me drive before! What‘s so different about now?” she said clearly mad.

“What if something happened? We’re lost in time and since our parents aren’t here it’s my job to take care of you and keep you safe. And you driving when you’re not allowed is not keeping you safe.” he stated, surprisingly, his speech had no effect on Beth.

“What are people going to think if they see Michael driving Maria around in her car? I’m pretty sure mom didn’t let dad drive her everywhere in her own car.”

“You have a point. Okay, fine, you can go.” he said giving up.

“Yeah! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You’re the best brother in the world, Zander!” she said jumping up and down.

“So you’ve said. Beth, just promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Promise.” she said still smiling, she turned and walked out.

Beth pulled into the driveway and parked the car. All the lights are out. That’s a good sign, maybe she’s asleep. Then I won’t have to fight with her again. Beth thought.

When she got to the front door she noticed it was slightly opened. Worried, Beth put her hand out in front of her to use her powers if necessary and slowly opened the door the rest of the way. She glanced around the room and saw that the house had been ransacked. The whole place was a mess.

Beth ran from room to room looking for her grandmother. “Gran! Gran!” she screamed not caring about the consequences. She just needed to know that her grandmother was safe. When she had looked everywhere possible she leaned up against the wall and slid down to the floor. Shocked, confused, and scared she sat on the floor wondering how this could have happened. Stories that she had heard all her life of the Special Unit and the Skins kept going through her head.

Come on Beth, keep it together! How are you going to save her if you don’t get off you butt and do something! She told herself. So Beth got up off the floor and went back upstairs to her mother’s room. She grabbed the address book that was still sitting where she had left it earlier. She found her dad’s number and picked up the phone to call her brother. He’ll know what to do. I hope. Luckily Amy and Jim never cared to get the new phones that everyone in the future had, so Beth knew how to use it.

“Hello?” came Zan’s voice from the other end.

“Zan, you have to get over here right now!”

“Beth? What’s wrong? What happened?” was his worried reply.

“There’s no time, just get over here now!” Beth said and hung up, then went downstairs to wait for him.

Zan was so worried; he broke every law to get to his sister as fast as possible. Once there he quickly ran inside and found the house turned upside down and Beth sitting in the middle of the living room floor staring at a piece of paper.

“Beth, what happened?” Zan asked gesturing to the destroyed house.

“It was like this when I got here. Gran’s missing too.” she said sadly, still looking at the paper.

“I found this after I came down here to wait for you.” she said holding the paper out for him to see. Zan grabbed the paper and saw that it was a note, it said:

If you ever want to see her again, bring the crystal to 25963 Branson St. Wendsday at noon. Come alone and tell no one.

The Following

“Gran’s been kidnapped!” he said shocked. She barely nodded.

“And who or what is The following?” he asked.

“I don’t know, but they have her. If they have done anything to her I’ll kill them.” she said truthfully as she got up off the floor.

“We can’t do anything now, so let’s go back to Dad’s and figure out a plan. Don’t worry, we’ll get her back.” he said putting his arm around her and leading her out to the car.

Thanks for the reviews I really enjoy reading them.

Jessibelle47 - The answer to your question will be in the next chapter I believe.

FaithfulAngel24 - I'm glad you like the story and the part with Michael and Maria. I hope you continue to enjoy reading it.

D2Tymes - Thanks for the review. And you'll just have to wait and see what will happen if someone does get caught.

AN: (F) Michael or (F) Maria - means Future Michael or Future Maria. (P) Michael or (P) Maria means Past Michael or Past Maria.

Chapter 16 - Morning

Maria woke up from a wonderful dream. She had dreamt that she and Michael had gone to the future. With eyes still closed she willed her dream to return by grabbing onto her pillow. To her shock it wasn’t a pillow it was a person! Scared she tried to get up but her “pillow’s” arm pulled her closer. Glancing down at the arm she breathed a sigh of relief. It was Michael’s arm wrapped around her. She then remembered what all had happened and that her “dream” wasn’t really a dream after all. She smiled as she lay on his chest and thought of what had occurred earlier in the night.

After the pillow fight they laid on the bed in each others arms talking. Following the conditions Maria had given him, Michael stayed until she fell asleep. Actually he never left. When Michael noticed Maria was starting to drift off he covered her up with a blanket. And that’s the way they stayed, lying in each others arms, until she woke up hours later.

Since it was still dark, Maria looked at the clock to see what time it was. It read 3:27. She then looked at Michael for the first time. He looks so cute sleeping. Maria pulled her blanket up closer as she watched him sleep. After watching him a little longer she decided it was time to wake him up. Maria sat up and kissed him, he readily returned it. When he finally opened his eyes he smiled up at her. That is the most beautiful sight I could possibly wake up to. He thought when he opened his eyes and saw her face smiling back at him.

“Hey.” she said.

“Hey.” he said back. “What time is it?”

“3:30.”

“And you woke me up why?” he asked.

“As much as I want my pillow to stay, you have to go.”

“What? Why?” he asked. He really didn’t feel like moving.

“Because I don’t want my future self too see us and get grossed out.” Maria said, but seeing that he still didn’t see why he had to leave, she said, “What would you do if you saw Max and Isabel…..”

“Don’t even say it. I going.” he said disgusted as he got up off the bed and started to leave. He stopped at the door and turned back to face Maria.

“If I have nightmares tonight it’s all your fault.” he said then shut the door and went into Zan’s room to go back to sleep. As soon as he was gone Maria lay back down and tried to go back to sleep too.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Sounded the alarm. Maria reached up and tried to turn it off, but she couldn’t figure out how the thing worked. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Frustrated and tired she yanked the clock cord from the wall and tossed it across the room. She smiled as the noise stopped and all was quiet again. Maria lay back down and was about to go back to sleep when she heard her own voice coming up the stairs.

“Breakfast is ready.” said (F) Maria. (P) Maria reluctantly got out of bed to get dressed.

A little while later she walked down stairs and into the kitchen, (F) Maria was the only person in there. She was cooking and didn’t notice that the teenager had come in.

“Morning.” (P) Maria said as she sat down at the table. (F) Maria turned around and was shocked to see her daughter up so early.

“You’re up early!” she said.

“I had some problems with the alarm clock.”

“Well I hope you didn’t make too big of a mess this time.” (F) Maria said smiling. This time? What does Beth normally do? (P) Maria thought.

“Do you want some coffee, Beth?”

“Yes, please.” (P) Maria said.

“Please? Since when do you have manners?” (F) Maria said shocked.

“I’ve never had manners and I don’t intend to ever get them.” (F) Michael said as he entered the room. (F) Maria laughed and forgot about the manners. That was a close one! (P) Maria thought.

“Good Morning.” he said as he kissed his wife.

“Good morning to you too.” she said smiling.

“Miracles never cease do they?” Michael said when he saw his daughter sitting at the table nursing a cup of coffee.

“What do you mean?” she said trying not to sound as worried as she was.

“I mean me and you are up before Zan. I don’t think that has ever happened.” he said as he sat down beside her.

“Oh my gosh you’re right! Do you think he’s ok?” (F) Maria said suddenly worried.

“Ria he’s fine. He’s seventeen. Zan’s aloud to sleep in every once in awhile.” Michael said trying to calm her down.

“What if he’s sick?”

“Maria has he ever been sick?” he asked.

“No, but there’s always a first time.” (F) Maria said as she left the kitchen and went up stairs.

“She never changes.” Michael said shaking his head as he watched her leave. (P) Maria smiled at the look on her future husbands face.

Upstairs:

Maria quickly went up to her son’s room, wondering the whole time if something had happened to him. When she got to his door she quietly pushed it open just incase he was sleeping. Michael was sprawled out on top of the bed with his clothes on and no blankets covering him. He had fallen back asleep as soon as he hit the bed and he hadn’t moved since.

“Zander.” she said quietly as she sat down on the bed beside him

“Zan.” she said a little louder. Michael heard Maria’s voice, but he couldn’t figure out what she was saying.

“Honey, are you ok? Are you sick?” she said when she saw him start to stir.

“No….mftiph….Ria……fghmt.” he mumbled into the blanket. Aww. He’s dreaming of Marie. She thought, not catching what he had actually said.

“Come on wake up.” Maria said as she shook him.

“Why do you keep waking me?” Michael asked when he woke up and rolled over to look at his girlfriend. He was shocked when he saw it wasn’t her. Well it was, technically.

“Zan are you ok? You’re not sick are you?” she asked as he sat up.

“No why?” he asked hoping that he didn’t say anything he wasn’t supposed to in his sleep.

“Because if you aren’t than Hell has apparently frozen over, since your father and your sister are already awake.” she said laughing.

“Well I’ll leave so you can get dressed. But hurry up or your going to be late for school.” she said as she left.

“School!” he moaned as he fell back onto the bed dreading the day.

Downstairs:

While (F) Maria was upstairs, her husband and younger self were talking.

"So are you ok? Did Zan help?" Michael asked concerned.

"Of course. What else are Guerin men for if not to lift the spirits of the Guerin women?" she said smiling.

"It's not the only thing we do, but it's what we do best." he said as he pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. Maria smiled. He still smells the same. She thought as she breathed in his scent.

"So are you going to tell me why you're really up this early?" he asked more seriously when they pulled apart.

"Are you going to tell me why you're up?" Maria asked not sure what else to say.

"Ok, I'll go first. I've got a meeting this morning with a guy who owns an art museum. He wants me to do a show there."

"That's great! I'm so happy for you!" Maria said shocked that Michael had come so far.

"Now I know there's something you're not telling me. Since when do you care where I have my art shows? Spill it why are you so worried about going to school today?"

"Worried? I'm not worried." she lied. He looked at her with the look she gave him when she knew he was hiding something. Realizing he wasn't going to back down she said the only thing she could think of.

"I'm thinking of breaking up with Andon."

"Say that again." She had said it so fast he wasn't sure if he had heard her right.

"You heard me." she said.

"Well now I can see why you're up so early and why you don't want to go to West Roswell High today."

"What do you think I should do?"

"I think you know how I feel about Andon. You might want a non-bias opinion. But if you really want my opinion I say....." Just then (F) Maria came back in the room.

"He's fine, just tried I guess." she said.

"See I told you." Michael said.

"Rub it in why don't you."

"Don't worry. When the time comes you'll know what to do." Michael whispered to (P) Maria and then kissed the top of head again as got up. He then kissed his wife goodbye and headed for the door.

"Bye." both Maria's said. He smiled and walked out.

A little while later Michael came down stairs and they both got into the car and left. When they got to school, they stood side by side and starred at the building.

"Wow! It's changed alot." Michaels said.

"How in the world are we going to find out where our classes are or what classes we have for that matter??" Maria asked.

"How are we going to find our lockers?" Michael asked.

"How are we going to do get through this day?" they said together. They looked at each other and smiled.

"Well here goes nothing." Michael said as they both went in different directions to the groups calling them.

FaithfulAngel24 - Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like how he stayed with her. Yeah it is a good thing she woke him up cause it wouldn't have been pretty if they had been caught. And a jealous Michael is always funny.

Jessibelle47 - Thanks for the review. The next chapter (the part when Michael and Maria are at school) is my fav part. I had so much fun writting it. I can't wait to post it to see what you all think.

Chapter 17 - Pod Squad Meeting

When Zan and Beth got back to Michael's apartment they immediately started looking for anything that could help them figure out who The Following were. By the time they were done Michael’s apartment looked worse then Amy’s house.

While she was looking in her father’s bedroom, Beth happened to come across a box full of papers that she had seen earlier that day when they had been looking for the crystal. Before she had just glanced in the box but since the crystal wasn’t in there she moved on. But now she looked closely at the contents of the box. The stack she picked up was several papers printed off of the computer, they were papers copied from a website. When she saw what the site was devoted to she called her brother.

“Zan! I’ve found what we’ve been looking for!” He quickly came in the room.

“What is it?” he asked.

“There’re pages from The Following’s website.” she said showing him what she had found.

“Well that was easy.” Zan said. He picked up the box and carried it into the living room so they could look at them.

“You take some and I’ll take some. Read every page, we need as much info on these people as possible.” he said. She nodded and grabbed more out of the box for herself.

Looking through the box they found more than just copies. There were sketches that had been drawn of the crystal, some papers with scribbled notes of dreams or visions (they weren’t sure which), pictures of different people (most likely members of The Following) and their shedules, times for guard shift changes, and aerial photographs of a building, as well as, building plans for the building in the aerial shots.

Seeing all this they realized what had happened. Either Michael, Maria or both of them had seen visions of the crystal and from some VERY good investigations into it had found out that The Following were keeping it in the building in the pictures. They had apparently stolen it and were curious as to what it did and used it, which was why Zan and Beth had suddenly appeared in their parents time. And since Michael and Maria had stolen the crystal from them The Following kidnapped Amy to get it back.

“What have they gotten us into?” Beth asked to no one in particular.

In the early morning hours they had both nodded off to sleep. Zan had been sitting on the floor leaning on the couch, while Beth was sitting on the couch with her legs pulled up beside her. And that’s the same place they were when Zan woke up to the midday sun.

Zan woke up startled at first, not knowing where he was. But then the events of the past day came rushing back to him. Man, what a long night. He thought as he looked at his watch to see what time it was. 11:30! We slept all morning! We should have been up hours ago! He said to himself as he got up off the floor to wake his sister up too.

Wanting to have a little fun amidst this tragedy and not wanting to wake her up himself, for fear of what she might do, he used his powers to make an alarm clock beside her head. Then he just stood back and watched the fun.

Beth was having a dream about her and Andon. She had finally gotten up the nerve to tell him what she really was. When she had finished her story she looked at him hoping he would be able to except it. He was silent for a little while, but then he opened his mouth to speak, BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Not wanting to lose her dream she kept her eyes closed as she lifted her hand and used her powers to set the clock on fire. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Irritated she quickly froze it and sent it flying across the room where it hit the wall and shattered. Zan knew she would only go back to sleep so he quickly made another.

Beth had just started to fall back into her dream when BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Completely confused as to how the clock still worked and mad that it kept interrupting her dream, she jumped up and turned to the clock only to find it untouched. She starred at the clock sitting before her baffled. Then she heard laughing and looked over to find her brother rolling from laughter on the floor.

“I can’t believe you did that!!” she screamed.

“Well you needed to get up and I didn’t want what happened to that clock to happen to me.” he said when he had finally stopped laughing. Glancing over at where he had pointed, Beth saw the shattered remains of the charred, frozen clock. She smiled realizing that she probably would have done something to him, maybe not that extreme but something.

“You still shouldn’t have done it.” she said not wanting him to know that he was right.

“If I make you breakfast will up forgive me?” he asked.

“That’s a really nice offer and all Zan, but I really want something more than toast for breakfast.” she said thinking about his cooking skills or lack there of.

“Hey, I’m not that bad.” he said defending himself.

“Okay, you’re not that bad, but how about I make breakfast anyway.”

“Only if you make me my favorite.” he said smiling.

“Bacon, eggs, and Tabasco it is.” she said as she headed for the kitchen.

Two hours later:

“Zan we can’t do this!” Beth said frustrated. After breakfast they had started to form a plan from all of the information they had found.

“We don’t know how to do this secret agent, spy stuff!” she said when he didn’t seem to hear her.

“Beth, this has nothing to do with spies.” Zan stated.

“Mom, Dad, and the rest of the adults know how to handle this stuff but we don’t. We’ve never had to, they made sure of it.” she said ignoring his last statement.

“Well if we want to get Gran back we’re going to have to learn.” he said. She glared at him.

“You’re right.” he said at last.

“I am?” she said surprised that he would admit it. They were both stubborn, just like their parents.

“Yes, you’re right. The adults know how to handle this stuff, they’ve done it many times before. Which is why I think we should tell them what’s going on.”

“What! Are you insane? We can’t let them know we’re from the future or….”

“I didn’t say we would tell them we’re from the future.” Zan said cutting her off. “I said we should tell them what’s going on. As in Gran being kidnapped.”

“Do you really think we should tell them?” she asked unsure.

“You said yourself that they know what to do and we don’t, besides Dad and Mom would have told them as soon as they had found out if things hadn’t got messed up like they did.”

“I guess you're right. But how are we going to get them all together to tell them?” just as she finished speaking the phone rang.

“Hello?” Zan said wondering who would be calling.

“Michael, is Maria with you? None of us have seen her all day and I’ve tried calling her cell and her home but no one answered.” Liz said.

“Yeah, she’s here.”

“Thank goodness, I was so worried.”

“Do you want to talk to her, Liz?” Zan asked.

“Could I?” Zan handed the phone to Beth.

“Hey Liz, what’s up.” she said.

“Maria, I was so worried about you. I’m glad you’re ok. Why aren’t you at school?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Beth said not sure what else to say.

“Promise.” Liz said

“Promise.”

“Okay. By the way there’s a Pod Squad meeting at Michael’s after school. Well I have to get back to class.”

“Ok. Bye, Liz.” said Beth

“Bye.” Beth hung up and looked at her brother.

“What’s a Pod Squad meeting?” asked a very confused Beth.

“I don’t know why?”

“Because apparently there’s going to be one here after school.”

“What! We have to much stuff to do. You’re going to have to call her back and tell her she has to have her stupid little meeting somewhere else.” he said.

“I can’t call her back she’s at school.” Beth said.

“Well then we better clean this place up. We both know mom would not stand for even a stupid meeting to be held in this mess.”

“I’ll take the kitchen, you take the living room and bathroom, then we’ll both do the bedroom.” she said getting up.

“Aye Aye, Captain.” Zan said then dodged the pillow that came flying at him.

All to soon the others had arrived and they all were sitting around the living room waiting for Max to explain why he had called the meeting.

“Ok I think we should start by telling everyone what happened to you two in the Granolith Chamber yesterday.” Max said to Zan and Beth. When they had finished their story everyone, but Max and Isabel who had already heard it, started asking questions.

“Are you two okay?”

“Why did it happen?”

“Why didn’t you guys tell us this sooner?”

“Quiet everyone!” Isabel yelled over the talking. “They are both fine and they told you now so calm down and let us get back to the main reason we are here.”

“If that wasn’t the reason than what is?” asked Liz.

“I believe that would be Kyle’s question, Why did it happen?” Max said. Kyle smiled.

“We know why it happened.” Zan said before anyone could say anything else. Everyone including Beth looked at him. “The crystal did it.” he said after a minute.

“What do you mean the crystal did it? You told us you didn’t know where it was.” Isabel said, hurt that they would lie.

“What crystal?” Alex asked.

“It’s from our home planet. And they told us it’s for time travel not crazy wind storms in the granolith chamber.” Max said, also hurt. At the mention of time travel Alex, Kyle, and Ava where shocked into silence. Only Zan noticed that Liz was not fazed by the revelation.

“Are you saying that there is some crystal that can take us back in time! This is awesome there are so many things I want to change!” said an excited Kyle.

“Dude, haven’t you ever watched time travel movies? You can’t just go back and change things without serious consequences in the future.” Alex said.

“Guys, can we focus here please.” Liz said politely trying to get back on the subject. “How do you know the crystal is responsible and do you know why it did that?”

“We’re not sure why it did this to us.” Beth said avoiding the first question.

“Do you know where it is?” Alex asked.

“No, we went to the chamber yesterday to find it, but it was gone. Do you think someone could have stolen it.” Zan asked worried.

“No one stole it.” Ava said.

“How do you know?” Kyle asked his girlfriend.

“Because I have it.” she said as she pulled it out of her coat pocket and set it on the table. “I went there yesterday, because I needed some time alone and I saw this sticking out of the granolith. I didn’t know what it was so I took it. I was going to bring it up later in the meeting.” Beth took the crystal off the table and looked at Zan.

“Do you know what this means.” she said happily.

“We can save her.” he said smiling.

“Who can you save?” Liz asked.

“Why have you two been so cryptic lately?” Max asked.

“Gr....Mom's been kidnapped.” Beth corrected after Zan elbowed her in the side.

“What?!”

“When?”

“Why?” Were the startled replies.

“The Following has her. They want the crystal back.” Beth said.

“What do you mean back?” Kyle asked, but before he could finish Zan brought out a box and set it down in front of the group.

“This box contains everything we know about The Following. They had the crystal originally, but we stole it. Now they want it back.” Zan said.

After the group had looked through most of the contents of the box, they began to plan what to do next.

“I guess the best place to start is for you to tell us how you got in the first time.” Max said to Zan and Beth.

“We have to do it don’t we.” Beth asked her brother, he merely nodded.

“Well......uh......we can’t tell you what you want to know." Zan said.

"Why not? Why are you two constantly keeping us in the dark?" Max asked. He wa starting to get irratated that Michael and Maria weren't telling them everything.

"Yeah, what's really going on?" Alex asked.

"Ok.......it's because we're.......well....."Zan said trailing off, but then Beth eldowed him.

"We're not Michael and Maria.” he blurted out.

Thanks rosebard22, Jessibelle47, and ultimatepickupline for your reviews. I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writting it.

AN: The chapter jumps from present to earlier in the day. I’ve marked were the scenes change to the different times, so I hope no one gets confused.

All of the kids look just like their parents except for the things I mention. And to make things easier, here is a list of all the kids are their powers:


Michael and Maria Guerin:

Alexander Maxwell (Zan or Zander) -17- He has brown hair. He can blow things up and conjure (the ability to create any non-living object).

Isabel Elizabeth (Beth) -15- She has short blond hair. She can create and control fire and ice.


Max and Liz Evans:

Michael Jeffrey (Mike) - 16- He has brown hair. He can heal, create a green sheild, and become invisible.


Alex and Isabel Whitman:

Jason Andrew -16- He has blonde hair. He has can dreamwalk and has super speed.

Ava Marie (Everyone calls her Marie, but I’ll put her full name whenever they are not actually saying it so you won’t get to confused with her and Maria’s name being so close.) -15- She has long black hair. She is a telepath; this power is strongest with her twin sister Anna. She also can make a copy of herself that acts and thinks just as she does.

Anna Maria -15- She has short black hair. She is a telepath; this power is strongest with her twin sister Ava Marie. She can also faze (the abitlity to go through solid objects).


Kyle and Ava Valenti:

Kyle Travis Jr. (Travis) -16- He has blonde hair. He can mind warp and teleport.

Emma Jane -15- She has long brown hair. She is an empath and has visions.

Chapter 18 - Life’s More Fun as an Alien

Michael and Maria were sitting by a tree in the park. School was over and they were talking about what all had happened.

“What exactly were you and Mike talking about when we first got to school?” Maria asked her boyfriend.

“Marie.” Michael said.

“Marie?”

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Michael walked across the school grounds to a guy who he assumed was Max’s kid, since they looked the same.

“Hey, Zan.” he said as Michael got closer.

“Hey.” Michael said.

“So have you and Marie worked things out yet?”

“What things?” Michael asked confused. Who’s Marie? Man, how am I going to make it through this day when I don’t know who these people are? Michael thought.

“You know the whole drama scene that happened at lunch yesterday.” Max’s son said.

“Right…um…well…you see here’s the thing…” Michael said not knowing what to say.

“You don’t want to talk about it. Alright I get it, I’ll leave you alone. But you know sooner or later you’re going to have to talk about it, because the girls are gonna make you.” he said laughing.

“Yeah, they probably will.” Michael said as he looked over toward “the girls”.

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“You never told me how you figured out where your locker was or what classes you had.” Michael said. She smiled, knowing he wasn’t going to like this much.

“Well, I walked over to the three girls calling me.” Maria began.

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Since Maria didn’t get the chance that Michael had to see all the photos hanging around her future home, she was a little shocked when she saw twin girls that looked just like Isabel but with black hair. I wasn’t expecting that. She thought.

“Beth, I never got to thank you for coming in and helping yesterday. I don’t think I could have made it if you weren’t there.” Emma said.

“No problem.” Maria said just realizing Emma was there. “Oh my gosh! I almost forgot how are you? Are you ok?” she asked worried.

“Yeah I’m fine. Once Andon got me outside and away from you two I started to get better.”

“What are you guys talking about? Emma what happened?” the Isabel look a like with short hair asked.

“Beth and Zan were packing some serious emotions last night at the Crashdown. And I couldn’t take it.”

“What were you two so upset about?” the same girl asked Maria.

“I don’t know why Beth was mad but I’m guessing Zan was upset because of me.” her twin said quietly.

“Oh, Marie, I’m sorry I completely forgot about the breakup.” Emma said.

“Beth did you talk to him? What did he say? Does he forgive me?” Ava Marie asked.

“Um…well…” Maria said, not sure how to answer.

“I guess that’s a no.” the twin with short hair said.

“Anna!” Emma said.

“What! I was just saying what you were thinking.” Anna replied smugly.

“But I didn’t say it. And stop reading my mind.” Emma said.

“Well I would stop if……”

“Marie what’s wrong? I can feel that you’re scared.” Emma asked worriedly cutting Anna off.

“He’s…I…I…” Ava Marie stammered holding back tears.

“Go. It’s okay.” Anna said to her sister. Ava Marie smiled slightly and left.

“What was that about?” Maria asked confused.

“You’re brother and Mike are over there. Marie’s afraid they might come over and she doesn’t want to be around Zan just now.” said Anna.

“Oh.” was all Maria said as she looked at the guy that was talking to Michael. He looked exactly like Max except he had brown hair.

“Hey.” Andon said as he wrapped his arms around Maria.

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“He did what! That’s it I’m going to kill him!” Michael said angry.

“Calm down Spaceboy. Can I finish my story please?” Maria asked obviously irritated. Not wanting to get in a fight with her over Andon again he nods.

“Thank you. Now as I was saying…..”

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“Hey.” Andon said as he wrapped his arms around Maria. Who said it was ok for you to hang on to me like I’m your property. Maria thought, irritated that someone other than Michael was holding her. Emma and Anna exchanged worried looks, but Maria didn’t seem to notice.

“Andon, would you carry my books to my locker for me.” Maria said pulling away from him as she suddenly got the idea. “Please.” She said when he gave her a weird look.

“Ok. How can I say no to that face?” Andon said smiling. He carried her books in one arm and wrapped the other around her. Then lead the way to Beth’s locker with Emma and Anna trailing behind.

Once they were at the locker Maria realized she had no idea what the combination was.

“Do you know my locker combo, Andon?” she asked.

“Of course.” he said, confused as to why she would ask.

“Prove it.”

“Okay.” He grabs the lock and quickly has it done. 5, 22, 3. Maria memorized as she watched.

“Well, I’ve got to get to class so I’ll see you at lunch.” Andon said as he walked off down the hallway.

“What was that about?” Anna asked when Ando was out of earshot.

“What was what about?” Maria asked confused.

“The whole being disgusted by him holding you.” Emma said.

“What?” Maria asked still confused.

“And what was with the whole ‘Who said it was ok for you to hang on to me like I’m your property.’” Anna said.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Maria said not sure what else to say.

“Beth you should know better than to try and lie to an empath and a telepath.” Emma said.

“Okay.” Maria said finally understanding how they knew so much.

“Well?” Anna prompted.

“I’m thinking of breaking up with Andon.” Maria said thinking of the lie she had told future Michael earlier.

“What!?” both girls said shocked.

“Hurry up Beth we’re going to be late for class.” Ava Marie said as she came up to the group and grabbed Maria’s arm leading her to their class.

“Bye guys.” Maria said to the still shocked girls as she was pulled down the hall.

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“And I don’t have to tell you how I figured out all the rest of my classes you were there.” Maria said. Michael nodded as they both remember the incident.

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The bell rang as the first class let out. The eight friends, minus the twins, met up in the hallway by Anna’s locker. The two boys who Michael and Maria hadn’t met yet looked just like Kyle and Alex,but both had blonde hair.

“Hey.” Mike said when he and Michael joined the group.

“Hey Mike.” Maria said. Michael looked at her confused. How does she know his name and I don’t? Wait did she call him Mike as in Michael? What do you know Max named his kid after me! Michael thought feeling proud and flattered.

“So I hear you guys were late again.” Emma said to the two boys that looked like Alex and Kyle.

“Jason, I still don’t get how you and Travis can possibly be late for anything.” Anna said as she joined the group. “I mean one can teleport and the other has super speed.” She said still baffled.

“Leave me alone sis, I had a long night.” Jason, the one that looked like Alex, said.

“Anna’s right, there is no excuse for you two to be late for anything.” Emma said.

“I have a perfectly good excuse for being late.” Travis said.

“Don’t waste your breathe Travis. Emma isn’t going to buy anything you tell her. Remember she is your sister.” Mike said. Travis and Jason just stared at their sisters, wishing they were only children.

“Well we better get going the bell should be ringing soon and I don’t want to be late for class.” Anna said. “Oh and before I forget I made a little something for everyone.” she said. She then quickly looked around to make sure no one else was looking and put her hand through her locker and pulled out some papers and passed them out to everyone.

“What’s this?” Mike asked his cousin.

“It’s everyone’s class schedule.” she said as if it was plainly obvious.

“Why?” Jason asked.

“I thought it was a good thing to have just in case something comes up and we need to get in touch with each other. I don't think anyone of use want a repeat of last week.” she said looking at Jason.

"That was one time and it wasn't my fault! Mindy Andrews was talking to me, I got confused and went into the wrong room!" he said clearly embaressed.

"That can't be the only reason you did this." Emma said as the group looked at Anna like she was crazy.

“Okay, so I did all of this week homework and needed something to do. Happy now.” she said irritated that they had caught her. She is such a nerd. Michael thought.

“I heard that!” Anna said pointing at him.

“Heard what? I didn’t say anything.” he said confused.

“Zan you think you would have learned by now not to think bad things about a telepath when they’re around.” Travis said laughing.

“Come on Emma, Beth. Let’s get to class.” Anna said irritated as she started to walk off.

“Okay, Anna.” Maria said as her and Emma ran after the girl.

“We better go too.” Mike said leading the way, reluctantly the others followed.

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“I can’t believe all of the powers they have!” Maria said still astonished.

“I can’t believe they are less alien than we are, but have more powers than us.” Michael said still irritated.

“Aww is somebody jealous?” she said smiling.

“No. I just think its unfair.” he said not wanting to admit that she was right.

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Michael quickly made his way down the hall hoping he wouldn’t get caught. The guys had all decided to skip 4th period and meet up outside of the gym. He was almost at the end of the hallway when Mike appeared in front of him.

“Whoa!” Michael said as he stopped dead in his tracks and starred at Mike in awe.

“Sorry, I just had to do it.” Mike said laughing at Michael’s expression.

“No problem.” He said trying to cover his amazement and shock.

Just then they heard foot steps coming down the hall and getting closer. Mike grabs Michael’s arm and they both become invisible. Not a minute later Principle Carter walks around the corner and down the hall past the aliens.

“That was close.” Mike said after Principle Carter had gone and they were visible again.

“No that was awesome!” Michael said, thinking of all the possibilities. Mike shoke his head smiling and lead the way outside the gym.

“It never fails those two are always late.” Mike said when they got there.

“I am not late.” Travis said as he appears out of no where. I’m guessing he’s the teleporter. Michael thought to himself.

“And neither am I.” Jason says as he also appears out of no where. Ok, now I’m not sure, thought Michael.

“See we are both on time.” Travis said.

“Actually, I’ve been here for five minutes. I was just running laps around the school until you guys got here.” said Jason. Now I’ve got it. If Jason’s the one with super speed then Travis must be the teleporter. And Mike can become invisible. What is with these kids? Michael asked himself.

“So Jason did you do it?” Travis asked changing the subject.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Jason said.

“What do you mean you don’t want to talk about it? That’s the reason we all skipped class.” Mike said to his cousin.

“Forget that! You can’t just dream walk Mindy Andrews and not tell us what happened.” Travis said.

“Fine I’ll tell you.” Jason said grinning from ear to ear. “It was the best dream walk EVER!!!”

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“I can’t believe you guys ditched.” Maria said.

“At least we just skipped one class and not the whole day.” Michael said defensively.

“Where did she go anyway?” Maria wondered.

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Maria was sitting in History class excited. They were studying the 1990’s. I can’t believe it. This it’s my lucky day. She thought. Suddenly she heard a voice in her head.

Beth, do you know where Marie is? Realizing the voice belonged to Anna, Maria quickly responded.

No, sorry. I haven’t seen her since this morning.

Ok, well, thanks anyway. Anna said.

That was really strange. I’ve never had a conversation in my head before. Well at least with another person. Maria thought.

“Miss. Guerin.” said a firm voice for the third time. Realizing she was being talked to Maria quickly looked up into the stern face of Mrs. Jefferys.

“Since you are obviously paying so close attention would you please tell the class when was the World Wide Web Born?” the teacher asked smugly.

“1992.” Maria answered smiling. Mrs. Jeffreys glared at Maria and walked back to the front of the class to continue the lecture.

At lunch Maria found the gang already waiting for her at their table.

“So Anna, now that everyone’s here are you going to tell us why you paged us about Marie?” Emma asked.

“What are you guys talking about I’m right here?” Ava Marie said.

“We have gym together and she wasn’t there.” Anna said ignoring her.

“What do you mean I wasn’t there I was to there!” Ava Marie said mad.

“Where is she?” Travis asked, also ignoring her.

“Why did you ask us when you can just figure out where she is yourself, using your powers?” Jason asked obviously worried about his sister.

“She doesn’t want me to know where she is. She’s blocking me somehow.” Anna said hurt.

“Do you have any clue where she could be?” Mike asked.

“No, but she has to be ok. She wouldn’t have created this copy of herself if she wasn’t. She’ll tell us what’s wrong when she’s ready.” Anna said.

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“So how was cheerleading practice?” Michael asked Maria.

“You should know you were there.” She replied.

“I still can’t believe my daughter’s a cheerleader. And all for some stupid guy! I just can’t believe it!” her said irritated.

“You can’t believe it! I’m the one who had to run around yelling and kicking my legs in the air.” Maria said still mad that she had to do it.

“That was so funny!”

“Hey!” she said as she hit him.

“Ow! Ok, I’m sorry. It wasn’t funny.” He said trying not to laugh. Maria just glared at him.

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“This is the best part of my day.” Travis said from his seat on the bleachers. “Watching the cheerleaders and messing with the football players.”

School had ended, but the group was still hanging around. Beth joined the cheerleading squad to be near Andon, so Maria was now trying her best to do the cheers as the rest of the group waited patently for practice to be over. The guys were on the bleachers, while the girls were down on the sidelines talking to Maria when they could.

“Yeah this is the best.” Jason agreed. “Oh my gosh! Did you guys just see that! Mindy Andrews just winked at me!” he said excited.

“I think you’re losing it man. She was probably squinting from the sun.” Michael said.

“Are you crazy, Zan? That was defiantly a wink! You heard my dream, she wants the Whitman Love.” Jason said. At this all three boys almost fall of the bleachers laughing.

“The Whitman Love? You are such a loser Jason.” Travis laughed.

“I hate to break it to you Jason, but that dream does not mean she likes you.” Mike said when they had finally stopped laughing.

“What are you talking about? She wants me. Tell them, Zan.”

“The fact that the only part of her dream you were in was when she asked you to do her homework, speaks for it’s self.” Michael said.

“You guys are just jealous. You can’t believe that someone that beautiful and perfect would like me and not you.” Jason said.

“Let’s have some fun with the jocks.” Travis said changing the subject.

“Ok, who first?” Jason said forgetting why he was mad.

“Andon.” Michael said before the others had time to even think.

“My pleasure.” Travis said mischievously, as he began to mind warp Andon on the football field.

“What is he doing?” Maria asked Emma from the sidelines.

“Who?” Emma asked.

“Andon. What’s he doing?” Maria said as she pointed to him across the field.

“It looks like he’s talking to the water cooler.” Anna said laughing.

“What? Why?” Maria asked confused.

“Travis.” Emma said as pointed to the guys laughing hysterically on the bleachers..

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“You guys are so mean. Why won’t you leave him alone?” Maria asked.

“Admit it you thought it was funny to.” Michael said defensively.

“No it didn’t.” Maria said, but she couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

“Do you think anyone has figured us out yet?” Maria asked after a few minutes.

“No. How could they?” he lied as he thought about what had happened earlier.

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After practice was over they were all waiting for Maria to finish changing. Just then Emma froze and her eyes glazed over with a far off look. After a few minutes she blinked and everything was back to normal.

“Emma, what’d you see?” Anna asked.

“I saw Zan and Beth, but there were two of them.” She said confused.

“Two? What do you mean two?” Michael asked nervous.

“I don’t know. I just saw two of you.” Emma said.

“Maybe you saw Uncle Michael and Aunt Maria and thought they were Zan and Beth.” Travis said.

“No, they were teenagers it couldn’t have been Uncle Michael and Aunt Maria.” Emma replied. Just then Maria joined them.

“Why dose everyone look so worried?” she asked, but before anyone could answer her Anna spoke.

“Marie just spoke to me. She’s fine, but told me to tell you guys that she’s sorry for ditching without telling anyone. She feels really bad about it.”

“We better go.” Michael said and pulled Maria toward the car.

They drove straight for the park. Once they got there Michael stopped the car and they got out. Sitting down in front of a tree they bean to talk over what had happened at school.

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“We should be going.” Maria said when they had finished talking.

“Yeah, you’re right. The others will be getting there soon and we should probably be there when they arrive.” he said as he got up.

“And you need to apologize.”

“Man, I was hoping you would forget about that.” Michael whined as he helped Maria up off the ground.

“Not on your life, Spaceboy.” she said as she led the way to the car.

Thanks for the review dreamsatnight. It really made me happy to see that someone likes my story that much. I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much.

Chapter 19 - Trusting in Strangers

Previously:

“I guess the best place to start is for you to tell us how you got in the first time.” Max said to Zan and Beth.

“We have to do it don’t we.” Beth asked her brother, he merely nodded.

“Well......uh......we can’t tell you what you want to know." Zan said.

"Why not? Why are you two constantly keeping us in the dark?" Max asked. He wa starting to get irratated that Michael and Maria weren't telling them everything.

"Yeah, what's really going on?" Alex asked.

"Ok.......it's because we're.......well....." Zan said trailing off, but then Beth eldowed him.

"We're not Michael and Maria.” he blurted out.

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"Ha. Ha. Very funny guys." Kyle said, as he turned back to the others.

"We're not kidding, Kyle. He's not Michael and I'm not Maria." Beth stated.

"Stop fooling around guys. It's not funny anymore." Isabel said starting to get a little scared.

"We're not trying to be funny." Zan said.

"Just tell us the truth." Liz said, eyes pleading with her friends to come clean.

""We-Are-Telling-The-Truth." Beth said slowly so they would get the point.

"Are you guys serious?" Max asked still not quite sure if he should believe them.

"And people say I'm slow." Beth said to her brother rolling her eyes.

"Yes we're serious." Zan said as he waved his hand over the table and a notebook appeared.

Three palms immediately come up and shot three small bursts of energy. Max, Isabel, and Ava kept their hands ready to defend; while they watched the strangers cautiously. Seeing this action Zan and Beth quickly ducked out of the way.

"What is wrong with you people? You could have killed us." Zan said to the others, angry that they could have hurt not only him, but his sister too.

"That's the point!" Ava said, mad that they had been deceived.

"Where's Maria and Michael." Liz asked concerned for her friends.

"Probably having less problems than we are." Beth whispered to her brother.

"Where are they!" Isabel yelled. She couldn't believe they had been fooled by their lame excuses. It must have been some after effect of the granolith, my foot! She thought mad.

"We don't have time for this. Could you guys please put your hands down so we can get back to work?" Beth asked.

"Are you kidding? We don‘t even know who you are." Max said.

"We can’t tell you. You guys just have to trust us." Zan said.

"Why would we trust an enemy?" Alex asked.

"We're not your enemies." Beth said. Noticing that this was getting them no where Zan began to worry they might never get to save his grandmother.

"You wouldn't let Amy die just because you don't trust us. Would you? What if we're telling the truth and we are here to help. Do you really want that on your conscience?" Zan said to Max, hoping that if he got Max to believe the others would soon follow.

"Max, don't listen to them. It could be a trick." Kyle said.

"What if he's right?" Max said. "I couldn't live with myself if something happened to Maria‘s mom." He looked at Liz and saw in her eyes that she agreed with him.

That was all he needed to put his hand down and motion for the girls to do the same.

"Thanks for trusting us." Zan said when all was safe again.

"Now would an enemy care about anyone other than themselves or say thank you for that matter?" Beth asked sarcastically.

"How do we know they're not going to try and kill us when are backs are turned?" Ava asked still not trusting them.

"Because we would never hurt friends." Zan said which received him a smack to the back of the head from Beth.

"Idiot." She said.

"What do you mean friends?" Isabel asked confused.

"Now look what you did." Beth said glaring at her brother.

"We were going to have to tell them anyway." Zan replied.

"But you didn't have to……"

"We're from the future." Zan said answering Isabel's question and cutting his sister off.

"What!"

"Oh my gosh!"

"No way!" Came the astonished replies.

"Are you really from the future!" Alex asked.

"Yes, really." Beth said.

"Prove it. Tell us something about the future." Kyle said.

"No one should know too much about their future." Zan said.

"Well that’s convenient." Kyle mumbled to himself.

"What's it like? Are we happy? Is anyone after us?" Liz asked wondering how much had changed since Future Max had come back.

"I’m sorry but we can‘t tell you any thing else about the future." Beth said, upset that she had to keep things from her family.

"Can you at least tell us your names?" Max asked. Beth nodded and smiled.

"I'm Beth." she said as she held out her hand for Max to shake.

"And I'm Zan or Zander if you prefer."

"Talking with you is nice and all, but we have more important things to go over at the moment." Zan said getting the focus back to saving Amy.

"You're right. Zan was it?" Max asked. Zan nodded.

"I just have one more question, who's Marie?" Isabel asked remembering Zan had called her that.

"It doesn't matter who she is. Now dose anyone have any idea how to get her out?" Zan asked changing the subject. Beth mouthed "ex" to Isabel, who nodded in understanding.

Several hours later they had figured out a plan and were on their way to rescue Amy. Max, Liz, Alex, and Isabel were in Max’s jeep, while Zan, Beth, Kyle, and Ava were in Maria’s jetta.

"So do we have any kids? What are they like?" Ava asked Beth, who were both in the back seat.

"Zan will kill me if I tell you anything." Beth said glancing at the guys in the front seat.

"Come on, Beth, I won’t tell." Ava pleaded. Looking up front again and noticing that they were in deep conversation about something Beth figured it was ok to tell her favorite aunt a little bit.

"All I’m going to tell you is that you have two kids a boy and a girl." Beth whispered.

"Really! Do they have any powers?" Ava asked.

"I’ve already told you too much as it is."

"What are you two talking about back there?" Kyle asked as he turned around to face them.

"Nothing, just girl stuff." Ava said.

"That girl stuff wouldn’t have anything to do with the future would it?" Zan asked from the drivers seat.

"Zan, do you really think I would tell her about the future?" Beth asked.

"Yes, I do, but……there it is." Zan said as he parked the car out of site of the building. That was lucky. Beth thought as she got out of the car and walked over to where the group was standing. They quickly went over the plan one last time making sure everyone knew his or her job.

"Here goes nothing." Zan said as they split off into two groups.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Since I didn't get any feedback on the last chapter I'm going to asume no one liked it. I hope that won't be the case with this chapter.

AN: (F) Michael or (F) Maria - means Future Michael or Future Maria. (P) Michael or (P) Maria means Past Michael or Past Maria.

Chapter 20 – Things Get Weirder

Michael and Maria walked up to the house and stopped in front of the door. Michael placed his hand on the HPIP (Hand Print Identification Pad) and then the automated voice was heard as the door opened.

“Welcome home Michael.” Once they were inside (F) Michael was standing there waiting for them.

“I thought we talked about this yesterday.” he said, but at the look of confusion on their faces he continued.

“Changing your hand prints!”

“Oh yeah, sorry about that.” Maria said.

“Is that all you can say? That doesn’t even cover the trouble you two would be in, not to mention all of us, if someone heard!” (F) Michael said, worried for the safety of his family and friends.

“We’re really sorry, Daddy.” Maria said, hoping it would make him melt like Mr. Parker always did when Liz called him that.

“I guess its okay; just don’t tell your mother I let you get away with it. And please don’t do it again.” (F) Michael pleaded, melting just as she had predicted.

“Okay.” Maria said smiling. “Thanks, Daddy.” she said as she kissed him on the cheek before she ran upstairs. (P) Michael followed not even glancing at his future self.

“You old softie.” (F) Maria said as she came out of the kitchen smiling at how easily Beth had got away without punishment. But her happiness was short lived when she saw the look on his face.

“Michael what’s wrong?” Maria asked worried.

“Zan hates me.” Michael stated as he walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Maria followed him and began trying to comfort him.

(P) Maria had started to come back down stairs to get her book bag that she had left by the door when she heard the words that broke her heart.

“Zan hates me.”

She couldn’t stand to hear Michael so upset. Zan hates me. The words kept going through her head as she sat on the stairs. Zan hates me. She sat there listening to her older self comforting him, but the words kept coming. Zan hates me. Hates me. Hates me.

“He’s ashamed of me and hates me, Ria.” she heard (F) Michael say from the other room. I can’t take it anymore! She said to herself as she ran back upstairs to make things right.

(P) Michael was lying on Beth’s bed looking for something to watch on TV, as (P) Maria came charging in.

“It’s about time. How long dose it take get a book bag?” Michael asked. He then noticed that she didn’t even have the bag with her.

“Wait a minute you were gone all that time and you didn’t even bring back the stupid bag?” Michael said slightly annoyed.

“Shut up!” she said mad at him.

“What did I do now?”

“Go down stairs and apologize.” Maria demanded.

“Is that what this is about? I’ll do it I swear, just not right now ok.” he said as went back to watching TV.

“No.” she said as she took the remote out of his hand and turned the TV off. “You’ll do it now.” she stated firmly. Michael was about to protest, but seeing that she wasn’t going to back down, he relented.

All the way down stairs Michael was trying to think of what to say. It’s hard enough when I have to apologize to Maria. How am I going to apologize to myself? Maybe I should just tell Maria I apologized. No, she’d know I was lying. I can’t do this, it’s just too weird. That’s it I’m out of here. But just as he was about to go out the door (F) Maria came out of the living room.

She was upset he could tell. She looks like my Maria did last night when I promised her I would apologize. It was bad enough when I made one Maria look like that, but now both.

“Zan, are you going somewhere?” she asked trying to hide the fact that she was upset.

“Um, no. I was actually going to see...Dad.” Dad! Man, that is so weird. The things I do for you Maria. Michael thought.

“Really?” she said obviously perking up at the idea.

“Yeah. Is he in there?” she nodded and watched as he walked past her and into the room.

(F) Michael was sitting on the couch playing a video game. (P) Michael sat down beside him. They sat in silence for awhile, then (P) Michael spoke.

“So…um…about last night…I’m……you know. Those things I said……they…um…didn’t……you know.” he said not able to actually get the words out.

“Here. I’ll give you a head start.” (F) Michael said as he tossed another controller to the teen.

“I think you’re the one who needs the extra time.” (P) Michael said.

“Not from the way you were playing yesterday.” (F) Michael laughed.

“Yesterday was an off day.” (P) Michael said, his older self just nodded. Both Maria’s looked on smiling from the doorway.

Twenty minutes later the adults had gone upstairs to get ready for their date and (P) Maria had taken the empty spot on the couch beside her boyfriend. Maria unsuccessfully tried to play the game and finally giving up she tossed the controller aside.

“How do you know how to play this? This is completely different from anything your used to.” She said baffled.

“Well, last night after you fell asleep I was wide awake so I came down here and played for awhile. It’s not very hard once you figure it out.” Michael said not taking his eyes off of the screen.

“Well I’m not playing any more it’s too complica…AAAHHH!” Maria screamed as she jumped two feet off the couch.

“Somebody’s jumpy.” Travis said smiling at Emma, who had was standing right beside him. They both laughed at the look on Maria’s face when they had teleported into the room. Even Michael couldn’t help but laugh.

“Laugh all you want, but your day will come.” Maria said as she got up to answer the door.

After Maria came back with the rest of the group, who were the ones at the door, they all sat around the living room to watch the newest scary movie, The Creature. Maria was sitting between Mike and Michael on the couch; Anna was sitting on the floor in front of the couch; Travis and Jason were lying on the floor; and Emma and Ava Marie were sharing the chair. Soon (F) Michael and Maria came into the room.

“What are you watching?” (F) Maria asked from where she was standing behind the couch with her husband.

“The Creature.” said Jason from the floor.

Just then The Creature jumped out and grabbed an unsuspecting girl; both Maria’s jumped and screamed. It started tearing the girl apart piece by piece. Both Maria’s buried their faces into the chest of their Michael, both guys grinned from their girlfriend/wife’s reaction. Several looks and glances were shared between the friends. “That was weird,” was going through all of their minds.

“Michael let’s go before something else happens. I don’t think I’m going to be able to eat if I see anything else that disgusting.” (F) Maria said as she walked out of the house.

“Don’t do anything stupid.” (F) Michael called as closed the door behind him.

As the movie progressed it got scarier and scarier. Sometimes even the guys would jump; of course they wouldn't admit they were scared even if their lives depended on it. When what seemed like a slow part came Michael got up to get a drink, but just as he left the room The Creature suddenly appeared. Startled and not having Michael to hold onto, Maria grabbed the next best thing, Mike's hand. He immediately felt his face go red and was suddenly glad the lights were out so no one could see. Emma smiled to herself as her empathy kicked in and she felt the effect her cousin had on Mike.