Roswell Fanatics

Hello to behrinthecity! It's nice to see someone who liked this over at the Boardello enjoy it here also. Thank you for the great FB! I'm glad you are getting the humor out of this along with the teenaged angst.

Well, it's been a while, but I do believe I should start speeding this whole repost thing along. This next part is one of my favorites. But then, as the author, I'm biased.

Enjoy!

Part Nine A

******

Tess stared blindly at the ground in front of her, not taking in any of her surroundings as her feet automatically drove her towards a place of comfort. Trees, sack lunches, people, hallways – they all blurred before her eyes like indistinct blobs as she got as far away from the quad as possible.

Almost there.

She banged open the heavy oak door, ignoring the scornful look she earned from the old librarian in the corner. Breathing in deeply, her eyes searched wildly around the room for -

For what, really? What was she looking for? Not even a book could smooth over the fact that she had just made a horrible mistake.

Damn it, damn, damn, DAMN!

How could this have happened? HOW? Nasedo was going to kill her. Murder her. Mutilate her body and chuck it in a dumpster. How could she have been so blindingly stupid?

Her mind spun with all that had happened in the last few minutes. Was she really the one at fault here? Nasedo had pointed Max out to her himself. How could he have been mistaken in Max’s identity? Had his surveillance been faulty?

Or was Kyle really the one she was looking for? Was he just testing her? Did he really not know who he was? Who she was?

But Nasedo had firmly said that Max was the prince’s human name, the one he answered to….

Nothing was making any sense.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them back fiercely. She was not going to cry. Crying was weak, a useless human emotion-based ejection. She was not going to cry, not in this ridiculously small library, not where anyone could see, and definitely not after the whole…whole thing with him.

Kyle. Why, oh why did her heart trip over itself when she thought about it?

So don’t think about it.

Her nails dug deeply into her palms as her lids fluttered shut. She clenched her jaw, focusing her entire energy on getting her breathing back to normal and on keeping her mind closed. That was all she needed to do. Calm down, gather her bearings – what she knew was true –, and re-strategize. There had to be someway to fix this, to figure out what was going on before Nasedo found out. Before she proved him right, proved that, no matter what, she fucked everything up. Always.

Her stomach lurched at her thoughts. She wanted to throw up.

“Yes. I knew this would be the first place you ran away to.”

Tess grimaced, the feeling of imminent sickness worsening before she slowly turned around to face him.

“It’s funny how predictable you’re becoming, Tess,” Nasedo said, casually leafing through the shelves next to him. He was hidden beneath the same schoolgirl guise as he’d been earlier, leading her to believe that he had witnessed the entire ordeal out on the quad. Shit.

“What do you mean?” she asked slowly.

He sighed, still refusing to look at her. “The pattern’s simple, almost imbecilic. You screw up, you run away, you seek out a library.” He looked up. “It’s getting quite old you know.”

Tess bit down on a hard flash of anger, ignoring the part of her that felt stung at his mocking. “How did I screw up?” she hissed, keeping her voice low. “You’re the one who pointed the wrong person out to me, how was I suppo -”

“But I did point Max out to you. You, however, choose to take a detour by way of his human friend.”

Tess remained very still as the full meaning of this dawned on her. Nasedo’s earlier words came back to her, now, forcing her insides to fill with dread.

Max is directly diagonal from you, standing by the tree, talking to one of his pathetic human friends.

Oh fuck. Kyle was the pathetic human friend. Her eyes fluttered shut again.

“Yes,” came Nasedo’s voice, hard and cold. “Whoops.”

Swallowing hard, Tess opened her eyes, steeling herself for what was about to come.

“It’s times like these that you are a disgrace to your race,” he hissed, slamming a book roughly back onto the shelves, causing its neighbors to tumble to the floor. Ignoring them, he continued. “Now, I thought you wanted this, Tess.”

Tess gritted her teeth. “I do.” What the hell was he getting at? Of course she wanted this, needed this with every ounce of energy she had. It was the only thing she wanted. What did he think she was, some half-assed, could-care-less human?

“Then do it right,” he snapped.

Still gritting her teeth to keep any sharp retorts at bay, she nodded. “What should I do now? Go to class?”

Nasedo shook his head. “I think we need a new approach. No more of this slinking around.” He looked around the room carefully, scanning it. “Here’s what you need to do…and this time Tess, try not to mess things up.”

******

Michael hurtled through the doors of the high school, relieved that, for another day at least, school was over.

Of course, school would have been over a lot sooner if he hadn’t slammed into Mr. Singer on his way out to meet Max at the Jeep, who had taken then it upon himself to have a word with Michael about his poor test grades and his less than exemplary attendance record.

Michael bit back a sigh of annoyance. Because of that old man’s stern lecture, he was a good fifteen minutes late. Why did Mr. Singer even care anyways? In a few more months, he’d be out of that class, scrapping by with a barely passing grade. It was how this thing worked. And did the old man actually think that Michael cared whether or not he got another week’s worth of detention if he skipped another class?

He had better things to worry about. Max’s would-be killer on the loose, for example. And the ever-growing list of clues about the fourth alien.

Scanning the parking lot for Max’s Jeep, Michael locked away a mental note to be on time to Geometry anyways – at least until the end of this marking period. Detentions were mind numbingly boring.

The Jeep suddenly came into view, its tires squealing on the turn. Max was driving, with Isabel beside him and Liz and Alex in the back. Ignoring the part of him that immediately wanted to know where Maria was, he nodded at Max in greeting.

“Hey,” Max said. “What happened to you?”

Michael bit back an irritated sigh. “Held up by a teacher.”

Max chose wisely not to comment. Instead, he glanced uneasily at the back seat before returning attention back to Michael. “Uh, Maria’s car’s in the back of the lot.”

“What?” he barked out, having a sinking feeling about where Max was going to go with this.

Max scratched his ear. “Well, the Jeep’s kinda full, and Iz and I have to stop back home for a second. Iz forgot her cell,” he explained.

The hell Maxwell! “No,” Michael said heatedly, even though no question had been asked yet. Alex shot him a nasty look, forcing him to place his gaze elsewhere.

Isabel sighed loudly. “Michael, we have to get going. It’s already three, and we don’t know how long this is going to take.”

Michael could only stare. “But…”

Max shifted into drive. “We’ll meet you at Peppers in thirty minutes. Be careful.” He shot Michael that patented look that plainly said: Don’t do anything stupid.

And then they were gone.

This was great. Just great. Now he had to deal with Motor mouth Deluca for a good half-hour. Alone. In her car. He sighed deeply, trying to expel every ounce of frustration with one breath. It was a bad enough scenario by itself, but coupled with the fact that last night they’d had a huge verbal sparring – one that had kept him awake longer than it should have last night – it was downright unbearable.

One part of her rant had especially echoed in his head all night long:“Maybe if you took three seconds to cut the wounded loner act, you’d see that you’re not as alone as you like to think. Like it or not, we are in this together. I didn’t ask to become apart of this secret club, but damn it, I’m here. So deal with it!”

The thing was though, he didn’t want to deal with it. Things went by easier if you ignored them. But it was growing more and more apparent that Maria wasn’t going to be ignored. She wasn’t going to let his rudeness send her away, not without a damn good explanation. And he didn’t know how to handle that. He hated seeing her hurt, and hurt was exactly what she had been last night. Yelling at him hadn’t made her face flush red like it usually did; but instead, her features had been pinched and white.

Damn it. Why couldn’t she make things easier and just ignore him back?

Forcing these thoughts from the forefront of his mind and steeling himself for what was about to happen, he trudged to the end of the parking lot, immediately spotting the red, slightly dusty Jetta. Maria stood leaning against it with her arms folded, looking about as happy with this arrangement as he was. As he approached her, he noticed her short blond bob – so unlike any other girls’ in the school - was set back with a headband. His fingers itched to remove it, so he slammed them into his pockets.

Maxwell, you are so dead, Michael thought, gnashing his teeth together in anger.

For a while, neither of them spoke. Then, pursing her red lips, Maria pushed off from the car, standing up fully, her arms still crossed. “Okay, you. Some ground rules.” She ticked off each with her fingers. “Don’t touch anything without ask...no, wait, don’t bother, just don’t touch anything. No alien voodoo. Leave my music alone. And most importantly, touch my mother’s cell phone and die.” With that, she yanked open the driver’s side and climbed in.

Yep. She was definitely still pissed at him. Sighing again, he raised his eyes briefly upwards, the cloudless sky bearing down false promise for what looked to be a like a long, long ride.

******

“Are we sure we wanted to do that?” Max asked hesitantly, staring into his rearview mirror at the rapidly disappearing school campus.

“It’s a twenty minute ride,” Isabel snapped. “They’ll survive.”

“If you say so.” Max shrugged, but his shoulders froze mid-motion when his eyes caught Liz’s face in the mirror. She met his gaze head on, smiling slightly as if they were sharing a private joke. His heart catapulted into his throat. God. She was so beauti –

“Max!” Isabel shrieked. “Watch the road!”

His eyes widened as the car in front of him came dangerously close. Slamming on the brakes, he pulled the Jeep just a hair short of the other car’s bumper. A tiny flush crept up his neck. Idiot. “Sorry,” he said, glancing at Isabel, not daring to look back at Liz.

“S’alright Max. I’ll just lock away a mental note to have a word with whichever instructor let you pass your driver’s test,” Alex quipped good-naturedly.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, he pressed the gas again as the light turned green. Next to him, Isabel snorted lightly, and when he looked over, a small smile was on her face.

“So, um, I was thinking that we should kind of talk about what we’re going to do when we get to Bitter Lake,” Liz said after a minute.

“Why?” Isabel said before Max could say anything.

“It’d be a good idea to sort of set out what we’re going to do now, so we don’t waste a lot of time while we’re there. I mean, my parent’s would kill me if we got home past dinner again.”

“That’s actually a pretty good idea,” Max said, carefully looking straight ahead, even though he could feel her smile of gratitude on him.

“Did you guys have anything in mind?” Liz asked.

“Not really,” Isabel confessed. “It was more like, we go, we search for clues at the sight of the Silo Murder, we come home.”

Max heard rustling behind him; he guessed Liz was flipping through the blue folder of articles he had brought with.

Liz cleared her throat. “Well, according to these, the Silo murder didn’t necessarily occur in Bitter Lake.” Max jerked at this news. “It just says ‘Local Sheriff one of the prime suspects for the Silo murder, which happened outside of Roswell.’”

“How charmingly specific,” Alex commented, as Isabel sighed.

“What are we supposed to do then, dig around every inch of desert surrounding town?” she grumbled.

“Oh, my God,” Liz gasped, nearly sending Max into the nearest ditch as the wheel slipped.

“What?” he asked.

“The Sheriff that was arrested for the murder was James Valenti Sr.”

A heavy silence pressed down in the car. Max felt a tiny snap in his brain as pieces of information began to click together.

“Well, we already knew that old man Valenti had a reputation as a looney who believed in aliens,” Alex said slowly. “I mean, come on. That’s common knowledge.”

“Maybe he actually made contact with aliens… with the one who killed Hubble’s wife.” Isabel jumped quickly onto Alex’s train of thought. “The one who left us that message in Frazier Woods.”

“Nasedo,” Max said absently, caught up in memories of what River Dog had told them about his so-called ‘visitor.’

“It makes sense,” Liz said. “It says here that right after this happened, his son pleaded insanity on his behalf and had him committed to a looney bin for spouting off stuff about aliens. It couldn’t have just been a coincidence.”

They sat there in stunned silence as Max pulled the car into his driveway. He yanked the gear into park, and then turned slowly around to look at everyone. “Well. This gives a whole other meaning as for why the Sheriff has been on my case since September.”

Isabel hastily unbuckled her seatbelt, her hair falling forward and obscuring her face. “I’ll be right back,” she said quietly before climbing out of the car and into the house.

Another short pause buzzed in the air. Max pinched the bridge of his nose together as the migraine he’d been fighting off all night resurfaced with a vengeance.

“I guess things are never really ever going to blow over,” Liz said suddenly, softly.

Max jerked his eyes to her face, remembering all too well a time long ago when he’d told her they’d grab a lunch together in a calmer future. A future that seemed incredibly far away, almost non-existent. His heart ached as he looked into her eyes.

“Guess not.”

******

“Hey! What did I say about touching?” Maria swatted at his arm with her free hand, the other clenching the wheel tightly.

“It’s too hot,” Michael complained, reaching again for the AC dial.

“It’s not. You’re just abnormally hot-tempered,” she snapped, waving his hand away again.

“Look, if you’re this bent out of shape about me being in your car, why did you agree to take me?” Michael demanded.

“I didn’t want to, okay? Max had to run home real quick with Isabel, and he roped me into it.” Maria sighed.

Michael threw her a skeptical look, even though her eyes were trained dead set on the road in front of her. “Yeah right. And you just…gave in?” With no yelling? No death glare? No violent smacks? This was new.

“Don’t sound so grateful,” Maria muttered. “I didn’t want to give Max anything else to worry about.”

Worry about? Michael’s stomach gave a funny lurch at her soft, concerned tone. “What d’you mean by that?”

Maria grimaced, obviously unsure about what to say. “Um…”

“Spit it out,” he said impatiently, tiny anxiety tensing every muscle in his body.

“Why should I tell you?” Maria countered back, her rage flaring again. “It’s not my problem, remember?”

Michael cringed inwardly at hearing his words repeated back to him. “Hey…” he started, not sure what exactly he was going to say, but Maria cut him off, shaking her head.

“No, it’s fine. I should have expected this kind of double standard from you.” Offended, but not wiling to show it, Michael looked out his window while Maria carried on. “Last night, Max went over to Liz’s -”

This time, Michael interrupted her. “What for?” Why didn’t Max tell me? He and Max had talked after lunch about the Kyle situation and the small conversation Max and Kyle had had, but that was all.

“Whaddya mean ‘what for?’” Maria asked. “To apologize for being a jackass at the quarry, that’s what.” Her tone was pointed, razor sharp. He turned his head deliberately away, looking out the window again. He hated when it got like this. A comparison, almost a like competition to keep up with MaxandLiz, super couple extraordinaire.

“I don’t see how Max had been in the wrong,” Michael said without thinking. Then, he winced, wanting to kick himself the moment the words left his mouth. Why did every single stupid thing in the world come out of his mouth around her?

“You wouldn’t,” Maria said coldly.

“I mean,” Michael went on hastily, not wishing to repeat the explosion that had erupted last night, “Yeah, he could have been a little more tactful about it,” – Maria snorted – “But he sort of had the right idea.”

“How can you say that!” Maria cried, her voice losing its earlier frost, ringing with passion. “Didn’t you hear anything I said last night?”

“Yeah, I did!” Michael said, just as angry.

“Then, wha -”

“God, why can’t you just get it?” Michael exploded finally, fed up with her questions. If she couldn’t take him ignoring her, maybe she was quit if he spelled it all out. “He’s trying to keep Liz out of this for her own good!”

“That,” Maria said evenly, “is a bunch of crap.”

“Fine,” Michael said, slumping in his seat, exhausted with her. “Forget it.”

A minute of silence passed while the Jetta sputtered and shook across a bad patch of the road. Just as Michael was ready to believe that they’d finish the ride in silence, she spoke up again. “If anything, he’s doing it to be selfish. He’s afraid of commitment, so he feds her this crap line about how its her fault for making him feel human, so they have to take a step back, when it’s really all about what’s good for him.”

Michael’s jaw clenched. This conversation was entering dangerous territory, but he’d be damned if he let her win with that remark. “That’s not it.”

“Then what is it? Please, by all means, enlighten me,” she said sarcastically.

“One day, we’re all going to leave,” Michael said, plain and simple, his voice growing low. “We’re going to find out who we are, what our past was like, and how to get back. And with everything that’s happened so far, it’s a damn good guess that things aren’t going to be easier down that road. So if Max finally figured out that it probably wouldn’t be the smartest thing getting someone else involved in this…”

“Michael. Liz, Alex, and I are already involved in this. And now Kyle sort of is, too,” Maria said, her tone softer. “If Max and Liz are together, swapping spit and all that, she wouldn’t be any more involved in this than she already is right now.”

“Yes,” he insisted. “She would. See, if I -” Michael’s heart shot into his throat at his slip. “If Max is all lovey-dovey with her, she’s more attached, he’s more attached. So when it comes time to leave -”

Maria turned the AC up with a flick of her hand. Thank God. “He can jet off into the sky, no hard entanglements, no thoughts, no remorse. Yeah, okay. I get it.”

The harshness of her words sent his temper flying, for reasons he didn’t quit understand. “Hey, now wait a -”

Maria held up one hand. “No, thanks. I get it. You’ve been incredibly informative and helpful. I’ve seen the light; I got enough material for my mental paper on ‘How Alien’s Minds Work; so yeah. I get it. Thanks.” Her hand moved to flick on the radio, signaling such an abrupt end to their conversation that it left him unsettled.

The loud music downed everything else out, and they made the rest of the trip in silence.

*****

Aw, Timelord, but where would the fun be in that? Don't worry, though, I'm NOT going down the path that the show did.


Part NineB

*****

Liz shot another furtive glance at Max as they neared Peppers Café. She’d been taking care to watch him without his knowledge all day, and the urge to repeatedly look to see if he was okay grew steadily as they got closer to Bitter Lake. Not that she’d ever really needed an excuse to look at Max Evans, but still. The memory of him momentarily loosing it on her balcony last night was still fresh and strong, and she feared actually visiting the site of the trauma not even two days after it happened wouldn’t do wonders for his psyche.

God, but it had been terrifying to helplessly watch him break down, even so minutely for only a few seconds. He seemed to have just closed into himself, seeing some private mini-movie screen roll across his brain that no one else could, replaying the moment he could have died. Liz shivered slightly.

He could have died. The thought had been lurking beneath the rest of her thoughts for the past twenty-four hours, but now the words actually formed in her mind, cold, biting, and razor sharp.

She could have lost him. Bam. Just like that. No warning. No nothing. All because of someone else’s bitter hate and a gun. She never thought she would think this, but thank God for the Sheriff.

She thought back on Valenti. It seemed as if he had more at stake in his pursuit of Max than just your average ‘Laying down the law’ type of thing. While it was understandable - Valenti’s need for the truth and answers to the past – it didn’t bode well for the already tense relationship between them and the Sheriff. For his kind of thirst for knowledge and retribution was uncannily similar to the thirst for revenge that had led Hubble to point a gun at Max.

Liz lifted her chin surreptitiously for the fifth time in so many minutes, raising herself so she could quickly take a look at Max’s face in the rearview mirror. He seemed all right, his eyes focused on the road, his handsome face impassive. But then, he’d seemed fine all day. A little distant, but given what their relationship had been through the last few weeks, this wasn’t surprising.

But who knew what was going on beneath the surface? Liz briefly cast her eyes to his shoulders, which had been growing increasingly tense as they reached their destination, before looking back in the mirror. She chewed down on her lower lip, still studying his features.

Suddenly, Max’s gaze flew from the road to the mirror, and he instantly locked eyes with her. Mortified, Liz quickly jerked her gaze straight ahead, pretending that she was really looking at the radio.

The Jeep slowed to a stop, and Liz, still flushing, saw the Jetta not too far off from where Max had parked. Maria was sitting on the hood, staring ahead into space, while Michael paced restlessly a good eight feet away from her. To her surprise, Michael abruptly stopped in his tracks, spun around to look at Maria, opened his mouth, then quickly shut it before resuming his pacing. Maria seemed to have taken no notice, not even glancing in his direction.

Slightly amused, but also worried about whatever had transpired between the two, she climbed out of the Jeep and made her way over to her friend. Max, Isabel, and Alex weren’t far behind.

“Took you long enough,” Michael muttered out of the corner of his mouth as they all joined up together. Liz raised her eyebrow at him before looking to Maria for some kind of explanation or sharp retort, but Maria’s face remained like a mask.

“All right, we’re here, let’s go,” Michael said, coming to a rest and scratching the back of his spiky head. “What’s the plan? Max?”

Max was staring off twenty yards to the left, his face grim.

“Max,” Isabel said softly, her eyes on her brother. It occurred to Liz that she was probably just as worried about Max being here as Liz herself was. Her mind flashed back to the psychology book she’d skimmed at lunch, and she wondered whether or not Max had had any nightmares.

Max jerked to attention, his gaze taking in each and every one of them. “Right. Okay, here’s the thing.” He took a deep breath. “Liz was going through some of the articles I found on the Silo murder, and she found out that Sheriff Valenti Sr. was arrested for it.”

Michael’s brows drew together, giving him an even darker look to his features. “You mean current Sheriff Valenti’s father?”

“Got it in one,” Max replied.

Maria gave a sharp intake of breath. When Liz looked at her, her face was concerned, losing all its mask-like qualities, and Liz knew she was thinking about her mother’s quasi-relationship with Jim. “Oh, my God,” she said.

“After the arrest, our good buddy Sheriff – the current Sheriff - had him committed for talking crazy talk about aliens and whatnot,” Alex added.

Michael’s face dawned with comprehension. “Hey, what if…”

“What if the crackpot stories that old man Valenti had contact with aliens are actually true?” Isabel asked. When Michael nodded, she continued. “Yeah, that’s what we thought, too. But we don’t really have any proof.”

“So let’s find some. Right now,” Michael looked around the area. “We could split up the area, try and get a flash -”

“Yeah, see, there’s sort of a problem with that,” Liz said. “We don’t know exactly where the murder took place, not with this research. All it says it that a drifter was killed outside of Roswell.” She watched as Michael’s face fell, then as he straightened up.

“So? We can still comb this place for clues on what happened with that woman who was killed…Hubble’s wife or whatever.”

Liz hesitated, shooting a quick look at Max. “I don’t know…”

“We didn’t come out here for nothing,” Michael persisted, throwing Liz an exasperated look.

“He’s right,” Max said evenly. “We might as well, since we’re here.”

Michael had his hand outstretched before Max finished speaking, already set in trying to pick up a flash.

“Let’s get to work.”

******

An hour later they were no closer to finding out anything. Michael had been meticulously stepping over the entire area, his face screwed up the entire time. He even bent down to touch the ground a few times, the lines of concentration more prominent than ever. Max and Isabel half-heartedly did the same, however, none of them had received even a bug bite the entire time. Things were looking pretty hopeless; Liz, Maria, and Alex had already completed their search of the abandoned café to no avail and now were watching as the three aliens continued to slowly circle the dusty ground.

“Damn it!” Michael burst out, jerking upright. His forehead was beaded with sweat, and Liz noticed that he seemed to be breathing heavier than normal.

“You’re trying too hard,” Isabel admonished from her spot a few feet away from him. She too was beginning to look worse for the wear, her full blonde hair drooping with the afternoon sun. “It’s got to happen naturally or it won’t happen at all.”

“I know,” Michael snapped, cutting off her lecture. “I just…” His voice trailed off, sounding frustrated. “Can’t concentrate tonight.” Liz felt Maria shift slightly next to her. When Liz looked at her, her eyes were focused on Michael.

Stretching her neck out and rubbing it with her hand, Liz took a few steps towards the other three. “I think we should call it a night. This isn’t getting us anywhere; it’s just serving to exhaust you guys.”

Michael swore fiercely under his breath, clearly upset with himself for not being able to get anything.

She continued as if she hadn’t heard. “When we get back -”

Max gasped sharply from where he was standing, and Liz stopped speaking, her attention immediately focused on him. His entire body was rigid; his eyes were unfocused. Icy horror chilled Liz to the core when she realized that he looked nearly the same as he had last night – reliving his short experience with Hubble.

A short but very pregnant pause filled the air.

“Max?” Isabel said uncertainly, her voice wobbling a bit, betraying her concern.

Liz didn’t think. The next thing she knew, she was right beside him, putting her hand on his arm, and it was then that she realized that he was shaking. He didn’t seem to notice it, or even notice her presence. All his energy was entirely focused on what was transpiring inside his mind.

Then, just as quickly as it began, Max snapped out of it. He took a deep, haggard breath and his shoulders relaxed slightly. His eyes brightened with awareness, for a minute with fear, then with resolution. He looked down at her hand, the muscles in his arm flexing slightly beneath her touch.

“Max…?” Isabel started.

“I had a flash,” Max said suddenly, his voice low.

“What did you see?” Michael demanded, moving closer to his friend.

Max’s throat worked. “What happened two nights ago.” Liz sucked in her breath, tightening her grip on Max’s arm. Not again…

“Oh,” Michael said, disappointed. Then his eyes rounded. “Oh,” he repeated, this time more significantly.

Still not looking at anyone directly, Max said, “I saw Hubble get shot.” He paused. “And then I saw him heal himself. Just like we do,” he added to Michael and Isabel.

Stunned silence met this news. They had suspected as much, of course…but to actually have proof of it… Liz took a deep breath, struggling to process it.

“Did you see where he went?” Michael finally asked. Max shook his head, and his eyes, which looked vaguely haunted, flickered over to a seemingly insignificant spot near the entrance of the café.

That must be where it happened, Liz realized, following Max’s gaze. She glanced back up at Max’s face and knew instantly what she had to do. “Maybe we should call it a night,” she said, not looking at anyone but Max. “This isn’t really getting us anywhere now.” Not anywhere helpful, anyway. Yes, they had confirmed that Hubble seemed to indeed be an alien, but other than that, this was only proving to further Max’s discomfort.

She was surprised when Michael agreed with her. “Yeah. I guess.” The deadness in his tone made her glance in his direction, but he was already moving towards the Jetta. Maria was still watching him pensively.

Suddenly, Liz was acutely aware that her hand was still on Max’s arm. At the same instant, Max looked down at it, then slowly raised his eyes to hers. Feeling her cheeks burn, she slid her fingers off of him, but unwilling to let the moment go, she held his gaze, drowning in it.

“I wanted to talk to you,” she said. A flicker of panic crossed his features, but it was over so quickly that she might have imagined it. “It’s, um, kind of private,” she said, glancing at the rest of them.

He nodded. “Isabel, could you and Alex hitch a ride with Maria and Michael?”

Alex obligingly headed off towards the Jetta, taking the front seat much to Michael’s apparent relief. Isabel however, hesitated, apparently not willing to leave her brother so soon. Her gaze shifted onto Liz, and she came to a decision. “Sure. Michael and I’ll meet you at the Crashdown, ‘kay?”

“Sure, fine, don’t ask the driver or anything,” Maria grumbled, snatching her keys from her pocket. Max looked immediately guilty and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything about it, Maria quickly waved him off. “No, forget about it.” She smiled at him. “I was going to the Crash anyways, tonight I close. With Liz, as I recall,” she added, throwing Liz a pointed look.

“I know, I know,” Liz said, slightly exasperated. “And I’ll be there, I just might be a tad late. Might.” She looked hard at Maria, trying to convey through best friend telepathy how important it was that she talk to Max.

Maria got it. Nodding, she merely called out jokingly “You’d better” before climbing into the car and driving away. Secretly, Liz felt that the reason Maria was so willing to comply with these arrangements was that this way she didn’t have to brave the car ride alone with Michael, but she knew better than to press it.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around to face Max. The muted desert sun made his features easy to make out, but not so easy to read. She half-wished she had thought this out more - her fingers were itching to make a list so as to have something tangible to guide her way through what was bound to be a difficult conversation. But then again, this type of conversation would benefit more if she spoke without over-thinking the matter first, if she said right then and there what she was feeling. To be totally and candidly honest.

For the first time since her grandmother had passed, Liz felt as though she was finally allowing herself to act from entirely and completely from the heart.

She just hoped it didn’t backfire on her before she had a chance to actually test the tender advice.

******

Max stared resolutely at the ground, not wanting to catch Liz’s steady gaze head on. He should have known that he had gotten off way too easy last night, with Liz consenting to his pleas for staying apart. She’d probably only let the issue go because of his embarrassing bout of anxiety atop her roof. But now…now, it was bound to come up, with them being completely alone in this deserted area. Quite frankly, he wasn’t sure he was up to it. Last night he’d spent the better part of the night tossing and turning, unable to find peace in sleep. Today had been thoroughly exhausting, and in light of everything thing they’d learned, he would have liked nothing better than to collapse on his bed at home.

Biting back a sigh, Max was finally forced to look at her, the silence grating on his nerves. “So…” he started, hoping she would begin whatever speech she intended to make.

“So,” she finished simply, her brown eyes staring right through him, forcing him to look away again with a shiver. “I don’t really know where to start,” she admitted finally, causing him to smile. He remembered the time they’d first had a real conversation: in the deserted band room with a list poking out of her pocket.

“No list this time?” he teased.

A small smile curved her lips. “No. This is coming straight from the heart.”

The levity of the moment faded. Max felt as though someone – Liz – had reached out and gently squeezed his heart, leaving him breathless. He could only stare.

She grew serious. “Max, about last night…”

Was she talking about his ‘staying apart for her own good’ speech or about his mini-flashback to the shooting? Deciding he’d rather deal with the latter, Max cut her off. “Liz, I’m fine. Really.”

Her eyebrow arched. “Are you? Because I don’t think you are.” She waited a beat, then took a step toward him, invading his senses. It took all his self-control not to instinctively take a step back. “Max, I’ve been watching you all day. You’ve got dark circles under your eyes, you’re distracted, and out here, you keep glancing at the spot where it happened, like it’s happening all over again.” Max immediately jerked his gaze away from the very spot, guiltily aware that she’d caught him. “And that isn’t even to mention what happened on my roof,” she muttered.

He stood helplessly for a few minutes. “Liz,” he worked his jaw. “I’m fine,” he said firmly, convincing her as much as himself.

“You’re not,” Liz countered quietly but fiercely. When he just continued to look at her unbelievingly, she snapped her chin into the air. “All right. If you’re so fine, step over about fifty paces to your right.” He looked over to where she was pointing and swallowed hard. It was pretty much the exact spot he’d been standing in when Hubble pulled out the gun.
I'm sorry.
And so am I. 4 innocent people lost their lives startin' that day. My wife, my baby...that drifter, and, uh...and me. Dead man walking. That's what I felt all those years. Only thing kept me alive was you.
Me? But...but I don't know you.
I know you.

Despite himself, he felt a tiny shiver go down his back. Max ripped his eyes from the spot and looked at Liz, who looked back expectantly. A flash of anger burned through his veins. God, why couldn’t she just leave it be?

She continued to look at him in a ‘well?’ sort of way, folding her arms. She wasn’t going to back down, that much was clear.

He set his jaw suddenly. Neither was he. He could stand in the damn spot, no problem. Hubble was gone, there was nothing to be afraid of. At all. Max jerked his feet forward, his movements feeling forced and stiff. Twenty paces – see, not so bad – Thirty paces – don’t know what Liz was getting at, he was fine – Forty paces – almost there – Fifty.

The flash hit him like a ton of bricks, and the cold followed immediately after, a bath of ice water through his body. Hubble cocking the gun – “This son of a bitch is gonna die today, and nothing's gonna stop me” –

God! Max’s breath came out with a shudder. Why was he a walking talking clairvoyant, seeing alien psychic these days? He’d couldn’t remember ever getting three flashes all in the span of twenty four hours like this before. What the hell was wrong with him?

It took a minute for him to realize that Liz was right in front of him. Close. Too close. He took a deep breath, and immediately regretted it when he nose filled with the scent of her jasmine shampoo.

“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you? Every spare minute, the instant silence falls. It’s waiting, just waiting to bombard you with the memory of it. And you can hardly stand to be with anything that reminds you of it, let alone be in the exact spot it happened.”

Max felt his mouth drop a little at her words. Strange. It was almost like she was living right inside his mind. How…?

Liz smiled wryly, hearing his unspoken question. “How do I know?” She was quiet for a second. “It was how I felt after the shooting at the Crashdown. I thought my brain was going to explode. It’d finally hit me, as I was working by myself, cleaning up after we’d closed. I had been shot. I should be dead.” Max started, itching to do something, anything to stop her, but all he could do was stare as she continued. “And to top matters, I’d just found out that you, Max Evans, my lab partner, boy who just saved my life, was an alien. That it wasn’t just a town joke.” She let out a huge breath, still looking straight at him and holding him there with some strange power.

“And so, I tried to shut it all out, sure that if I thought about it all right then, I’d lose my mind. I even made sure I swept every inch of the floor except the spot where I’d been shot,” Liz laughed hollowly. “But it wasn’t working.”

Max stared at her, transfixed. Liz was always so smart, so together, so brave. It was hard to imagine her freaking out, hard to imagine her battling inner demons. “What helped you get past it?” he asked softly, unconsciously leaning closer, every inch of him hanging on what her answer would be.

“It was you.”

His heart lurched, and he jerked back. “What?”

Liz smiled. “You came that night, remember? You connected with me on the floor of the Crashdown.” She stepped close to him again, bridging the gap he’d let in between them. “You took my head into your hands, like this,” she mimicked the action, her fingertips grazing his ears. “You told me to take deep breaths,” she inhaled deeply and, as his lungs felt ready to collapse, Max did the same. “You said to try and let my mind blank out,” she said.

“Liz,” he hissed, lifting his arms and gripping her shoulders. The motion was as much to keep him from falling as it was to keep her from getting any closer.

“And all of a sudden, walking into the Crashdown for work the next morning didn’t slam me with a burst of anxiety like it should have. Because I was too busy remembering what it felt like to have you cradle my head like it was precious china and what it felt like finding out you saw me as something beautiful.”

His eyes fluttered shut against a barrage of emotion as she cradled his head in the same way.

“Liz,” he said again, “don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Her fingers brushed through the hair surrounding his ears and he bit back a groan.

He tightened his grip on her shoulders, fighting the urge to damn everything and kiss her. “Don’t use this…this thing that happened as an excuse for getting back together. I know you want to help, but I couldn’t stand to…to use you that way.”

“Max,” she said, her voice even. “Look at me.”

He reluctantly opened his eyes and sucked in his breath at the emotion – the love? - he saw shining in her steady gaze. No! his mind screamed. Be strong.

“It’s selfish,” he ground out, still acutely aware of her warm, soft hands around him.

She looked confused. “What is?”

“Me allowing us to be together. I don’t know anything about who I am, or what I was sent here to do. Or if this would even work. And if I do drag you into my life that way, and if we do have to leave one day,” his breath hitched. “How is that fair to you?”

“Max, love isn’t something you allow,” Liz said. His head spun. Did she just say love? “It just happens. And you wouldn’t be draging me into your life that way, not if I want to go.”

He broke in, trying hard to block out what she just said before it reached his heart. “But what if -”

“Do you hear yourself? What if…” Liz leaned a few centimeters closer. “What if. What if none of that happens? What if you are the only aliens still alive on this planet? What if you never find out more about yourselves than what you already now? What if everything turns out fine in the end, and you stay on earth until you die?”

Max felt his mouth drop agape.

“The point of the matter is, Max,” Liz continued. “Is that you just don’t know. So why do you want to waste it all on what if?”

“I…”

“Is it that you don’t feel the risk is worth it?” she asked, suddenly vulnerable. Max clearly heard the unspoken question. Am I not worth it?

The answer came immediately. “No.”

“Then what is it?”

He swallowed, calling on all his last reserves of willpower. “I…” He looked into her eyes, deep and unfathomable as they were, so full of emotion. “I don’t know,” he finished huskily, dropping his gaze.

A silence permeated the air, neither of them moving or letting go of the other.

“Just because you have a different blood sequence doesn’t mean that you still don’t deserve all the things that humans do,” Liz said quietly. “Because whether you believe it or not, you are human, Max. In all the ways that count.”

He inhaled and exhaled hard as what she said slowly seeped through his outer defenses. Then, he raised his eyes to hers once more. “How are you so good?” he asked, awed by her ability to make his life make sense, her ability to zero in on the exact thing that was bothering him most.

She merely smiled, tilting her chin upwards so that her lips were dangerously close to his.

His heart stopped, remembering how she had looked the exact same way on her rooftop the night of their first kiss. Softly waiting, meeting him half way. Close, yet far, waiting for him to seal the final distance. It was all up to him, she was making that clear. He could still turn away. He could still save this situation, before he got too deep. He could still stand aside, pretending that he didn’t want any thing other than friendship with Liz Parker.

But it would be a lie.

Ever since he had given into temptation - ever since he actually, truly kissed her - he had known on some level that there was really no way of going back. Somehow he’d known that once he stepped outside his dreams and made them reality, it would be a lot harder to be content with just fantasy. Hell, he’d constantly tested that these past few weeks.

But now it was time to make that dream real once more.

And so, Max inched across the divide of space between them and kissed her. Softly. Why had he waited so long to do this again? Slowly. Something clicked deep inside his mind, like the pieces of a puzzle finally coming together. Right. Complete. Whole.

Her lips parted easily underneath his, and soon the sensation had his head spinning.

This – this – was home.

He never wanted to leave it again.

******

“See, the secret is all in how hard you blow.”

Isabel merely stared at Alex, eyebrow arched, as he waved the partially unwrapped straw under her nose, then looked at Michael, who rolled his eyes and snorted.

It took Alex two seconds to realize what he said. His blue eyes rounded like saucers. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Get your dirty alien minds out of the gutter; I did not mean it like that.”

“Pity,” Isabel said without thinking, looking back at Alex with a smirk. Alex’s head jerked up, and he stared at her with such a look of unconcealed surprise that Isabel immediately kicked herself for her comment. It’d been so long since she’d openly joked – well, to be honest flirted - with him, and the fact that she still insisted on friendship wasn’t helping any. Feeling the beginnings of a flush creep up her neck, Isabel shifted in her seat, hating herself for ruining their easy conversation.

But to her relief, Alex shut his partially opened jaw and grinned at her in a way that made her insides squish. “Well, if you really want to have that conversation, I’m sure it could be arranged.” This time she really did blush. Blush. So unlike her. “But first I must continue with my instruction.” Alex picked up another straw, carefully peeling away a tiny portion of the wrapper at the top. “I can’t believe you guys have never shot straw wrappers at each other before. I mean, you both spend, like, huge amounts of time in the Crashdown where such straws are everywhere. Me, Liz, and Maria practically made a sport out of it!”

Isabel fingered her own straw, which was nestled carefully in her diet cherry coke. “Strangely enough, I always thought that a straw was meant for drinking.”

Alex sighed deeply. “Oh Isabel. You poor, deprived soul. Allow me to introduce you to a new world then, where straws are multi-purposeful.” He cleared his throat dramatically, and then lifted the straw to his mouth, sucked air into his cheeks like a bullfrog, and blew.

The wrapper remained where it was on the straw, completely immobile.

Isabel smiled widely, fighting down a laugh as Alex pulled the straw out of his mouth and looked down at it morosely.

“So much for multi-purposeful,” she observed, still choking back her laughter. God, but it was a strange feeling. Laughter. When was the last time she actually laughed so hard she thought she’d choke? When was the last time Max or Michael did?

Alex tugged the wrapper off the straw manually and flung it at her. It missed, flimsily floating down in front of her drink. “Yeah, well, there’s always a dud in the bunch,” he said, slightly defensive.

Isabel shook her head, still amused, and reached out to snag Michael’s unused straw from out beneath him. He was shooting glances at Maria when he thought no one was watching, and was thus completely oblivious. She rolled her eyes. Michael could be so obvious sometimes. The car ride back to the Crash had been so tense and quiet; she knew something had happened between Michael and Maria when they had been alone. It really was unnecessary for Michael to cop a spy-like attitude.

The door to the café chimed, and Isabel looked up to see her brother and Liz finally make their appearance. A pang of regret zinged through her. Strange. She didn’t really feel like leaving yet.

Then again, it didn’t look as though Max was going to want to leave right away, Isabel thought as her gaze zeroed in on Max and Liz’s entwined hands. Another measured glance at the pair’s glowing faces confirmed it - Max and Liz looked happier than they had in weeks. Looks like someone’s back together.

Alex caught her eye, trying to gauge how she felt about this development. Isabel shrugged in reply, unwrapping Michael’s straw at the top. She wasn’t really sure how she felt about it, but that soft smile on Max’s face spoke volumes. Liz leaned closer to him to whisper something, and that smile of his widened before Liz closed the distance between them with a kiss. A pang of jealousy hit her heart as she watched the two, minor and small, but still there.

Taking this as a cue to comment, Alex wiggled his eyebrows. “Hmm. Now what in the world do you think they ‘talked’ about out there? Must have been productive, don’t you think?”

A tiny smile curved her lips, and in answer to his question, Isabel put the straw to her lips and carefully blew, watching in satisfaction as it hit Alex squarely in the face.

******

Tess felt as if someone had just taken a sledgehammer to her chest. She stared numbly through the glass window of the stupid café with its stupid blinking UFO at the top and its alien memorabilia all over the décor.

Yep. That was Max, just inside. She’d made freaking sure of it this time, checking an old yearbook before leaving the library after her meeting with Nasedo. There was no mistaking it. It was definitely Max all right. And he’d definitely just got done kissing a human girl.

It was like a car wreck; she couldn’t stop staring, not even after the brunette walked away from Max into the back of the café and as Max walked over to a booth and sat with Isabel and Michael (who’s faces she’d also taken care to memorize via last year’s yearbook) with a smile on his face. Something about that smile set her off, and her shock gave way to rage.

She clenched her fists. How dare he… how dare he go traipsing off with another girl when she’d spent her entire existence on this planet searching for him, waiting for him. God, the nerve of it all! She was going to kill Nasedo for keeping this from her, for not telling her that Max was involved with someone else – a human no less!

A human just like Kyle, you mean? Tess flushed as her traitorous thought surfaced. That was nothing, so not the same thing. Nothing had happened between her and Kyle, and she certainly had not gone around kissing him underneath Max’s nose. Yes, he might have touched her hand and looked straight through her with those damn blue eyes, but that was nothing. Nothing at all.

Tears pricked her eyes for perhaps the second time in her existence. Angrily, she blinked them back. Suddenly, she wished that she had never come to Roswell. Nothing had gone right, nothing had gone to plan since she stepped foot in this forsaken desert town.

This changed everything, of course. Nasedo’s plan of merely confronting Max and the others with their Destiny was never going to work, now that Max was involved with a human girl. Not if that stupid, sappy, half-smile Max was toting around was anything to go by.

God, would Max really have bought it if she’d sat down next to him and, according to the plan said hey, how’s it going, I’m Tess, your former and future alien bride? At the time, it’d seemed to make sense, seemed like it would work. Now, though, it just sounded stupid. Max would probably look her up and down and then laugh in derision. Her? Be his wife? Never. She simply wasn’t good enough. Nasedo had pointed that out often enough. Hell, Nasedo would probably find someway to blame her for Max’s involvement with a human.

She had to think of something else. And fast. Her heart ached as she caught another glimpse of Max and that girl making goo-goo eyes at each other. Suddenly, Tess needed to be anywhere but here. She whirled around, intent on getting the hell out of there, but stopped dead in her tracks.

Of course. She had to force herself not to laugh bitterly. It would be him, showing up again at the most inopportune time. Fate was funny like that. Or he just had the worst timing in the world. Either way, he was the last person she wanted to see right now, especially since she could feel how bloodshot her eyes were from her effort to keep from crying.

He seemed surprised to see her here, his mouth slightly agape. But those eyes…those eyes were narrow and intense. And staring right at her, pinning her to the spot and seeing every vulnerable feeling she was having right now. Despite herself, Tess felt her breath catch a little. He closed his mouth and licked his lips, preparing to speak. Oh God. She wanted to run, to flee, to get the hell away from him, but something was still pinning her to this damn spot.

“Tess…” he began, but it was too late. The sound of her name from his lips broke the spell the silence had held her under, and she jerked into motion, spinning around and walking as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

******

Kyle watched for the second time that day as Tess bolted away. What the hell was with this girl? Was she trying to make it a pattern, running away from him every time he tried to talk to her?

Shoving his hands in his pocket, Kyle sighed. Okay. He could take a hint. Obviously the girl wanted nothing to do with him. And yeah, so it wasn’t like he’d never faced rejection before. He would just move on. No biggie.

She’d looked so sad, though, just now. Like her entire world was falling down around her shoulders. Something big must be going on her in life. Maybe that was why she was acting so weird, pulling the vanishing act every time they met.

Or she just hates the sight of you.

Kyle shook his head and sighed again, turning around towards the Crashdown. Maybe Liz would know why Tess was acting so strange. Yeah, she didn’t even know Tess, but she was still a girl. And girls had some universal code that they all understood and lived by, so maybe if he told Liz what had happened, she could deduce what Tess was feeling using this said code, and…

No. That was stupid. He didn’t need to bother Liz with his problems. It wasn’t even a problem, really. Gee, let’s break it down Valenti. When you talk to pretty girl, she gets scared look on her face and runs away. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she’s not interested.

With his shoulders slightly slumped, he walked into the café and ordered a galaxy sub to go. There was no way he wanted to face his father tonight for dinner. Assuming of course, that Jim actually deemed to take an hour out of his ever so busy schedule to pay attention to his son. And since Kyle himself had brought up the topic of Max Evans last night, his dad would probably be relieved not to have to sit through a main course with him and talk about it.

As he sat back on a bar stool to wait for his order, Kyle noticed that Alex, Michael, Isabel, and Max were sitting together at a nearby booth. Liz was refilling their drinks with a pitcher, and as she filled up Max’s, she leaned close to whisper something to him, making him smile in return.

Well. Someone was apparently back in happy-couple land. Kyle turned his attention to the condiments in front of him on the bar, amusing himself by popping the top of the mustard up and down as he waited for his food.

It was Liz who finally brought him his take-out bag.

“Hey Kyle,” she said, walking over to the register to ring him up. He murmured a response and followed, pulling out his wallet. She pressed a few buttons and told him the total, and as he fished out the exact change, she stared at him. Something in his face must have revealed something about the shitty day he was having. “How are you?” she asked.

Well, that was a loaded question.

“Fine,” he answered, deciding it was the safest answer. “You?”

“Look, Kyle, I’m really sorry about what Maria did earlier today.”

He shrugged, shooting a glance at Max, remembering their quasi-conversation at lunch. “It’s okay. I think…I think actually it might have been a good thing.” He turned back and caught Liz’s surprised glance. “But tell Deluca that and die,” he added hastily.

Liz smiled knowingly. “Here’s your change.”

Kyle waved her off. “Keep it.” He grabbed his dinner and headed to the door.

******

Max couldn’t stop grinning as he climbed into the Jeep and turned the ignition. Liz’s face still swirled in front of him as he replayed back the entire evening - every look, every touch, every kiss. Life was good. Really, really good.

“Maxwell, can you can all the smiley shit? You look like you got a hanger in your mouth,” Michael grumbled under his breath next to him in the front side.

Max attempted to control his facial muscles, but no matter what he did, the corners of his mouth wouldn’t turn down completely. “Sorry,” he said, not feeling sorry at all.

“You should be. It’s because of you that I had to suffer not one, but two car rides with Maria.”

Max sobered somewhat at that remark. “How’d that go?”

Michael snorted. “You don’t want to know. Can I crash at your place tonight?” he said, changing the subject completely.

Max swallowed guiltily, catching Isabel’s eye in the rearview mirror and giving her a pointed look. “Sure. That’s actually something we should do for a while, anyways, now that we know…” Max cleared his throat uncomfortably, wishing his thoughts could go back to Liz instead of this. “Now that we know Hubble’s an alien.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Isabel mumbled from the back.

Michael threw a look over his shoulder. “When has our life ever made sense?”

“You know what I mean,” Isabel said in an icy tone. “How can Hubble be an alien?”

“I bet he’s Nasedo,” Michael said definitely.

“Then why would he want to kill Max?” Isabel demanded. Max flinched, pinning his eyes to the road and trying to block out their conversation. Okay. Stop sign. Stop.

“I don’t know,” Michael said in a subdued tone. “Maybe he’s confused, doesn’t know who we really are.”

Wait three seconds, look both ways, then go. Max gritted his teeth, trying to focus entirely on driving.

“That still doesn’t answer why Hubble used a gun. If he’s an alien, why didn’t he just blast Max?” Isabel pressed.

“Can we talk about this later?” Max suddenly blurted out, his voice coming out clipped. Silence filled the car, and immediately he wanted to kick himself.

“I’m sorry,” Isabel said after a minute in a hushed tone, making Max feel terrible.

“It’s okay,” he said. “I just -”

“I know,” she cut him off. “So!” she said in a bright tone. “You and Liz seemed pretty cozy tonight.”

A small smile broke out across Max’s face again. “Yeah, well…”

“Yeah well what?”

A flash of Liz cupping his head with her hands ran across his mind, and his heart skipped a beat. “We just…sorted a few things out,” he said, pulling into their driveway.

“Ah,” Isabel said before unbuckling her seat belt. “I see.”

Michael leaned forward in his seat suddenly. “Who’s that?”

Max’s eyes squinted in the darkness, following Michael’s gaze to the front porch. A petite figure sat on the porch swing surrounded by shadow. “Isabel, was Mom or Dad expecting company tonight?”

“Mom told me she was working late with Dad tonight,” Isabel answered, a small quiver of apprehension in her voice.

Max got out of the Jeep, closely followed by the other two. A tiny foreboding making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

“Can we help you?” he called out as they approached the porch.

The figure slid off of the swing and started towards them. As she got nearer, her features became clearer: blonde hair, blue eyes…completely unfamiliar. “No. But I can help you.”

Michael stiffened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She smiled a little, stopping to look at him in the eye. “Michael, right?” When he simply stared at her incredulously, she went on without any confirmation. “Well, Michael, it means that I can help you figure out our past. Maybe even our future.”

Isabel caught her breath softly. “ ‘Our’ past?” she repeated.

“Who are you?” Max demanded, getting fed up with this cryptic conversion and trying to ignore the icy bout of fear that had just seized his lungs. Something seemed…kind of off.

She turned her blue gaze onto him, studying him silently for a minute in such an intense way that it gave him a sense of uneasiness. What…?

“I’m one of you,” she said.

******

To be continued…

*******