Roswell Fanatics

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

She had become extraordinarily quiet not long after John had taken her and Max aside in the front room. Telling someone that their mother had just died, especially after just seeing her rally from the very edge of that abyss, was heartbreaking. There were no words. Max only remembered the shocked look that came over her face, as his own heart too had skipped a beat. Serena had broken the horrible news to everyone else in the other room still seated around the breakfast table. Maria immediately stood, knocking her chair over, in an attempt to go to her friend's side. Kal buried his head in his hands, then quickly stood, took control and hustled the girls and their mother out for their horse ride, a bit earlier than had originally been planned.

Max held her in his arms. This just can't be happening , he thought. The state of shock in the foyer was beyond explanation. Ma-x, the thought choked in Liz's throat. "Oh, my god!" was all she could say when her voice finally came. She cried out, placing her hands up, covering her face. "WHAT? NO!...no, this isn't true," she stammered refusing to believe, as she began to sink slowly to the floor.

Max grabbed her, as Maria appeared around the corner. "Let's get her upstairs, Max, where she can lay down. John, do you have anything, any drugs in the house? Even whiskey?" Maria took control. John went in search of the medicine cabinet; but Serena was already back in the room, handing her a glass of water and two small pills. "Liz, take these, they're strong. It'll help." She clung to Max as he carried her up the flight of stairs to their room, and laid her on the bed, with Maria helping her to lie back against the pillow. Liz cried quietly as she stared at the ceiling. "Max, did you talk to Jeff?" Maria whispered.

"No, John and Serena did. I don't understand any of this," he walked in circles, confused. Then looked at Liz lying with her eyes closed, then back to Maria again. "According to the doctors, she was better. Much better. Liz's Dad told John that she was about to be moved out of the ICU this morning. How could something like this have happened?"

Maria slowly stroked Liz's hair, as the pills began to take affect, and Liz felt herself gently floating to that familiar safe place inside her. "Max," she called out to him. He quickly took her hand, right before she slipped off into the safe surroundings that were appearing once again around her.

John stood with Michael in the hall. "This isn't right, man. I feel it," Michael insisted. "I know, Michael. Everything in me is screaming Jared or...or Madison. But why? Why Nancy? Unless Madison knows something, and he wanted to be sure that Liz ended up back in Roswell. Maybe he was behind all of this from the beginning. But, if any of that is true than Madison is sitting back waiting right now for us to react."

"I'm real good at reacting, John. You give me the go, and he's a seriously dead man...today." The hatred for their advisory and the sadness for Liz in Michael's eyes made for a volatile combination, a lethal one. "Hold up on that thought for just a while. Serena wants to speak to the doctors at the hospital, and try to get a bigger picture of everything that happened after Jeff left her late yesterday afternoon. I'm thinking that an autopsy should be done, but that might not fly by Jeff. He's devastated, as you can imagine. But he was terribly worried about Liz and how she would take it. Serena's making plans to go to the hospital in a short while. I'm going over to the Parker house."

"Why hasn't the slimy bastard just made a move on any of us, if he knows so fuck'n much about us? Why hurt someone who's completely innocent...Never mind, forget I even asked that one. I'm goin' downstairs and keep an eye on Kal and the others." John watched him, as he descended the steps.

The most logical answer to Michael's question was that Madison had been so busy at the installation that he had no idea that Liz was even back, or any of the others for that matter. John was sure that if Madison knew, there would have been a confrontation of some kind by now. Apparently their low profile had been very successful, with the exception of Nancy Parker, that is. He tried to keep all those thoughts out of his head until they knew more. But, it wasn't easy.

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A half hour later, John stood outside with Max. Michael was trying his best to remain calm, rocking away on the porch chair. John spoke loud enough for them both to hear clearly. "I've gotta say this, Max. You have a lot of very important decisions to make...and quickly. If this turns out to be an unnatural death then there's a chance that this could be a trap for you. We do not know how much Madison knows about any of you. It's going to take a few days until all the arrangements for Liz's mom can be made. So I've got to ask this. Are you going back tonight, or do I change the flights to Wednesday." John looked at him unsure of his repy, but hoping for the one he himself held in his own head. "Before you make that decision, I just want to say that you know that Serena, Kal and I will be right by her side, every minute of every day. Having you here could end up making matters worse, Max."

"Maria's staying," Michael spoke up. "She already told me, and I expected as much anyway."

Max looked utterly torn, wiping his hands over the strain on his face. "I won't leave her, John. What difference does it make if I stay? If what we suspect is true, and Madison has committed murder to get me back here, then Liz will still be a sitting duck the entire time she's here. I can't, I won't leave her under those circumstances. I know that you and Kal would protect her with your lives, but it's me, John, it's me that has to do that. And that's the end of it."

Michael raised his hand, "I'm with you. I'll be staying too. Whatever happens will happen; we'll take care of it." Michael shook his head. "Lets hope that we're just going off the deep end about this anyway. It might not have a damn thing to do with Madison," Michael thought for a second. "What about Tess, could it be her? I mean if she can't find Max, what better way to hurt Liz. Get her back to Roswell by targeting her mother?"

"I just don't think it would be her, not that she's not capable of sinking this terribly low. No, it would be just too planned out for her. The way Larek was talking last night she couldn't put a real plan together if she tried. Serena should know something soon she's going to call from the hospital. If this turns out to be anything but a physiological death, that puts you all in danger and that includes Maria, Serena, Nicole and the little ones." John had already known what Max would say. He just couldn't picture himself picking up and leaving either, if it had been Serena laying up there in that bed. "I'll call the airlines and rebook the flights for Wednesday. But it has to be your decision, Max. Now what about Nicole and the girls?"

"They need to stay too," he answered without the slightest hesitation. "We can't do anything to protect them if we're here, and they go back to Lovell." Max sat on the wooden step.

"You don't think they're safe back in Lovell?" John asked. Max answered without hesitation. "No, John, do you? I don't like them being here in Roswell anymore than you do after finding out that Jared knows about them, but I don't want them unprotected back in Carolina either."

Again John already knew all the answers to the questions he was asking. But with the direction that all of this was taking them, and so quickly, he needed to ask the one person whose job it was becoming, to pick up the reigns. Max wasn't completely ready for all the responsibility that was being thrown onto him, and John knew it. But then, unless he was thrown under the bus, he never would be. Better now than later.

"I'm going over to the Parker house with Liz and John. Michael, I need you to spend some time here with Kal and the girls...well especially Emily," Max said, returning into the house. "You coming, John?" he called back to him. Max stood a little straighter and held his chin higher, as John replied, "Yes. I'm coming. Michael, I'm counting on you to watch over things here till I get back."

"It's covered." Michael stood to follow them back inside.

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The sign in the window of the Crashdown Cafe read simply "CLOSED". Such a small word saying so much, Liz thought. They walked around to the back and climbed the stairs to the apartment above.

She stood just inside the doorway for what felt like a very long time to Max, who was standing behind her. She could feel her mother's presence in the living room and it had stopped her cold in her tracks. "It's okay" Max whispered to her. "We're all here with you. It's going to be okay." He took her hand and she tightened her grip. "I can smell her perfume," Liz said softly, as she trembled.

"Liz!" Her father called out suddenly from farther inside. The brightness of the sun had made it increasingly difficult to see clearly once inside the darkened rooms. "Oh Liz," and then her father was quickly there in front of her, and Max felt her hand as it slipped from his. Father and daughter embraced, then walked into the sitting room followed close behind by Max and then John.

"Come in please," Jeff’s, voice shook as he spoke. Liz noticed immediately how horrible and frail he looked. She had never seen her father look so pale or so old. "Thanks for bringing Lizzie home, John," he tried to smile and quickly glanced at Max. "Mr. Parker, I'm so very sorry." Max's words seemed to fall on deaf ears.

"People have been calling and dropping by all morning. The phone hasn't stopped. She had so many wonderful thoughtful friends," Jeff exclaimed. "They've brought food and flowers."

"What happened Dad?" Liz asked. "She was doing so good when I was there yesterday. I just don't understand how something like this could have happened."

"I know Lizzie, I know. It was sometime during the night. They said she had no pain; she just went peacefully in her sleep. I still can't believe it. It's like a horrible dream that I keep waiting to wake up from. They think that it more than likely was her heart or lungs...because of the pneumonia." He began to sob softly, as Liz held him in her arms. "Oh, Dad," she cried with him. "It's gonna be alright. It's okay. I'm here."

John and Max sat on the sofa across from them. "If there's anything that you need me to do, I'd be more than happy to help you, Jeff," John spoke with sincerity. "At a time like this there's so many details that need to be taken care of and if we can help with those, we'd be glad to." Max shook his head agreeing. "Anything at all Mr. Parker. Please let us help."

"It's okay. I'll be fine now that Lizzie is here." He looked at his daughter and smiled. "I've already spoken to a really good friend, Jim Crenshaw. He runs the only funeral home here in Roswell. Your father, Max," Jeff nodded at him, "has taken care of a lot of the details for me. I don't know what I would have done without him. He just left, right before you came."

Jeff said holding both of her hands in his. "I'm just so glad that you were able to see her this weekend honey," he said turning to his daughter. "She was so happy that you were home again." His voice began to crack under the emotional strain.. He excused himself into the kitchen, and Liz followed him. He stood at the stove with his back to her. "Dad, have you taken anything? I think you need to take a sedative. You look so tired, and you're going to need your rest. We can stay and answer any calls while you go in and get some rest. Please, Dad. I'm not going anywhere, I'll be right here when you wake up, and then I'll fix you something to eat."

John's cell phone rang out, and he excused himself into the dining room area, so that his conversation wouldn't disturb their visit. Max watched him from a distance and easily picked up his thought. It was Serena.

The hospital and the doctors had declared Nancy's death due to lung deterioration and the strong possibility that a blood clot from her lungs had slowed down her hearts ability to pump the necessary blood, causing a massive coronary.

John finished the conversation, saying that he'd be back to the ranch soon. As he returned to the sofa, he turned and quietly spoke to Max. "The doctor's insisting that Jeff doesn't want an autopsy, and Serena is beginning to agree. We have to handle this ourselves. She said that if indeed this is foul play, it would show up in a DNA test. It's the only way to know for sure. That is if Liz wants to know for sure. I explained to Serena that we still hadn't discussed the possiblity of this being Madison related, and in her shock, I doubt that she's taken time to consider it herself. Serena's asking that Liz get her mothers hair brush, toothbrush or comb anything that she may have used while she was in the hospital."

The two men sat alone in the front room, while Liz persuaded her Dad to lie down in her old bedroom, far enough away from the memories that remained in his own. Standing by the bed, while her father tried to relax and close his eyes for some much-needed rest, Liz looked around the familiar surroundings. "You're home," he said, the words just barely audible to her.

She was home. This room, the same room where she had grown up, where she had spent so many, many hours in her past, was the same as she had left it two and a half months before. Except for the addition of fresh flowers brightening a vase by her bedside, everything was exactly the same. She stopped herself. That wasn't totally true, she thought. She was different. She wasn't that Liz anymore, and the feelings were strong. A chill ran through her body as she caught her reflection across the room in the mirror above her dresser, and she slowly walked toward the glass. She hardly recognized herself. Her face was pasty white and her eyes red and swollen. But there was something else there as well. She looked closer and it became clearer to her. It was Ava who she saw standing there, dressed in her jeans and her tee shirt. Her thoughts were interrupted by the soft and steady breathing coming from the bed behind her. He was already sleeping peacefully.

I have to be strong for him, she thought. Ava, how can I do this? How can I say goodbye to my mother and then turn around and leave my father now that he has no one?

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"And what have we here?" Tess smirked as she stood by the cot. "Isabel, I wish I could say how wonderful it is to see you again. But you look a fright! Tsk tsk. Now is this any way to make an entrance. Did Kivar teach you nothing?"

Vilondra tried hard to open her eyes but the skin was drawn tight from the damage of hours in the hot blazing sun, but there was no mistaking the person on the other end of that voice. "The desert doesn't help one's complexion much now does it?" Tess continued to taunt her. She tried to wet her lips and felt the cracks and dry skin there. Clearing her throat, her voice cracked. "Tess? If it isn't the bitch from hell. What a surprise."

"Excuse me?" Tess questioned sarcastically. "I can't quite hear that squeaky voice of yours. My my, you must be Jared's pet, he's even given you your own fucking tent. My my, once the princess always the princess, heh Vilondra? Where's your fucking brother and that whore of his?"

Suddenly Jared entered noisily. "Let's not tire our guest, shall we Tess." His face became clear as Isabel's eyes finally began to focus. "So Vilondra, it seems ...we meet again." Reaching out and touching Tess's hair playfully, he questioned her. "Tess, I'm sure you have many other important things you're supposed to be doing right now, don't you? So run along. There will be plenty of time for reunions when the Princess is feeling better." Tess stood staring down at her, then waved her hand and disappeared out the door.

Sliding a dusty crate over closer and sitting himself down, Jared looked at his visitor with curiosity. "And so...how did you know where to find us? And how is the rest of your little family?" She reached for her throat and again forced herself to speak, he handed her a small tankard of water from the bedside. She looked at it questioningly.

"Should I test it for you? You don't trust me? You've come all this way, and you don't trust me?" He laughed outloud. "I'm not about to kill you just yet, Vilondra. I'm too intrigued with your arrival here, along with so many other things right now. You've almost caught me speechless. Almost. And so I repeat myself, and I really don't like to do that. How did you know where I would be?" She raised herself up on one elbow, sipping the water slowly from the cup.

Jared's eyebrows raised. "Hmm." The sound was faint, but present. "And just who is this man you despise so much, who has helped you?" His immediate attention peaked.

Vilondra pushed herself to a sitting up position. "You're from Eos, how is it that you are telepathic. Is this a new trait learned by your barbaric disgusting society?" He smiled in return. "Just don't you worry that head of yours about the small things, Vilondra. There are important things we need to discuss. But first, who is this man who has shown you the way here?"

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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The car moved aimlessly down the darkened country road. Everything made so much more sense now than it had just two hours before. It was insane, but it made sense...if that was possible. Lucas Landau lit a cigarette and turned off the annoying radio. The dreams...and the nightmares, his strange family background all of these years. Stories that he had heard in different forms since he was a child. This heavy burden he had carried around all these years, his brother's disappearance. The murderers who had been pursuing his children, the total destruction of the estate, the murder of a five year old...the entire freak'n family! All of it! A short two hours of confessions from his grandmother had turned his entire world upside down, and yet had answered so many seemingly unanswerable questions. Jesus! What was he supposed to do now? He wanted Ava to come with him, but she was still so much in denial that she'd escaped temporarily, walking or probably running somewhere nearby he was sure. It didn't matter how fast you drove or how far you ran there was no escaping the truths. He hit his bright lights for a minute thinking he had seen a figure moving by the side of the road, but it had turned out to be only a deer. It was getting late and he began worrying about his sister's safety out here in the middle of nowhere.

So many generations of two families, he thought. Two families of freaks, albeit powerful freaks, he couldn't help but laugh to himself, a nervous and frightened laughter. There could be no doubt that his daughters had shown a few intense gifts, but he had always stopped himself just short of ever calling them powers. But there it was. Powers they were. Thirty-two years of unanswered questions, his mind repeated. According to his grandmother, he had been waiting for these answers all his life.

He had left his wife and his daughters behind, thinking it would keep them safe. But now he knew the truth. They weren't just different. They were different. They'd never be safe. And what would happen when the Landaus finally met up with the Duncans. They had only the memories passed to his grandmother to go on. Both families had been established here so long ago for a reason. According to Angelique, they were to become one family with a purpose that she insisted would be known to them all soon enough. She explained that it was their destiny. She was a big believer in myths and prophesies, he had known that much all of his life; and he mostly had written off just about every tangent that his grandmother had ever gotten on since he was small. He couldn't dismiss his nightmares, and the fact that she had explained them to him in such great detail, incredible detail, without him ever mentioning a word about them. How could she have known any of it, he again asked himself. She had then put on her big magic hat, the cynic in Lucas' mind stated, not being ready just yet to give it up. Actually, he thought correcting that voice inside, no hat at all was necessary. She merely looked to the cupboard on the opposite side of the room, and then proceeded to move an array of dishes and glasses from one side of the closet to the other, through mid air, without ever leaving her seat.

Why had this surprised him? Her grandchildren had shown incredible talents while still infants. He had even prompted his oldest one day while they were still in Maine. His prompting had lead to the sheer surprise at his daughters own strength, when she had proceeded to destroy a water barrel with one motion of her hand. So why was he refusing to accept this? Okay, Lucas. You've always known just how different Emily was by her display that day. You're refusing to accept all of it now is because now you know you have to deal with it, but mostly because it upsets your prospective...your balance, the fact that she's brought you and Ava front and center into the mix...into this so called fantasy. Funny how the obvious can be right there in front of your face, and you still refuse to let yourself see it as it truly is. That voice inside his head was again making his head hurt.

Angelique had gone on to assure them that they both would be discovering powers of their own as they all progressed toward the goal, as she referred to it…the goal being the liberation of their people, thousands of light years away. "The old bat has lost her fuck'n mind!" he screamed out loud. Of course, he tried to reassure his sanity, the entire family knew that she hadn't been playing with a full deck for most of her life, so what made tonight any different from all those other times…the dreams, Lucas the dreams and Ava's dreams. For the last six months or so they both unbeknown to each other, had been repeatedly experiencing unexplainable yet vivid dreams of places and people they didn't know. Their view of the world, of their very lives as they had believed up until this day, had now been changed forever as Angelique sat calmly and described every aspect and detail of the dream that brother and sister had shared. She had continued with a bombshell that Lucas couldn't at this point allow himself to wrap his mind around, that after generations of waiting, the children were the pinnacle of this so called prophecy, along with two people who had died years before. Tis strange, but true, my man, the voice spoke to him again.

As he drove faster and farther, the flashbacks came to mind again. Angelique was once again in the middle of her confession to her grandchildren. She had slowly turned to him and proceeded to tell him every colorful word he was thinking at that very moment. "I know what's in your mind, Lucas, and yours too, Ava. I swear on my very life, that it is all true. The time is coming and it is critical to the prophecy that you both know the truth now. More answers will come in time. You will see. Your children are imperative to the survival of an entire race, and the Landaus and the Duncans must unite to see that the destiny is fulfilled." And to think he had thought he was going crazy all these months with the voices that plagued him deep inside his mind! Now he knew it wasn't him, it was the entire world that was going insane.

He shook his head to try desperately to clear his thoughts. But it was impossible. The things he had just learned, everything...somehow he was now aware of the truths. Something in his very being knew. She had then caused sheer panic in Ava by again informing her that she was in fact the reincarnation of an extremely powerful young girl who would reunite together with the prince of the people. Their destiny was to free thousands of countrymen in a world far away. She referred to this world far away as the homeland from which their ancestors had once originated. Batty...sheer lunacy, his own voice of reason continued to scream out at him, battling with the unknown voice in his head. He slowed the car, pulling it to the side of the road, as the headlights illuminated a figure sitting, huddled there. He instinctively hit the power button, lowering the window on the passenger side of the car. "Ava, come on. Get in. It's okay, I'll make everything okay, I promise."

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"I saw a suitcase in the other room," Liz swallowed hard. Her father was fast asleep and John stood in the dining room talking to a caller who wished to extend sympathy to Jeff and his daughter. "I'm pretty sure I saw the same bag at the hospital too yesterday. But I don't understand, Max. Why does Serena want her brush? What the hell is going on?"

The two sat side by side on the sofa. "Liz, it's just that this was so unexpected and all. Serena wants to do a DNA test." Her eyes flew open wide. "WHY, Max?" He pulled her closer. "We just need to find out the truth, Liz. If Madison had anything to..."

"MADISON?" her voice raised, then she whispered in disbelief. "Why would he want to...OH MY GOD! She thinks that he killed my mother??" Max returned an answer with a sigh. "We want to make sure that he had no part in what happened to her, that's all. Think about it, Liz. You healed her not twenty-four hours before, and you all saw the results. Even the doctors were amazed at her recovery." Liz closed her eyes laying her head back against the sofa. "So, it could have all been a way to get us back here, is that what Serena thinks? Do you think that, Max?" He tried to think of the right words, but there weren't any. "Honey, what if that were true. Wouldn't you want to know?" She sat without answering, then stood quickly, going into her mother's bedroom. Max wiped the sweat from his brow. God, I don't know what to hope for here, he thought to himself. It was no time before Liz returned to the room, hairbrush in hand. "Max, if she didn't brush her hair during the night, this will prove nothing. I don't think that she did, but here." She handed the small brush over to him, anger and hurt in her eyes.

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Coby sat at the small desk that was so obviously overwhelmed with papers and opened books. It was a wonder he could work there at all. All he really wanted to do was to get things set up so that when Serena arrived with the girl's DNA samples, they'd be ready. Pete sat in the middle of the bed, rifling through a mound of paperwork. "The sequence of symbols would fit with the makeup of a strand. But I don't understand how in the hell all of this was put together so very long ago. It's miraculous, Coby."

His partner swallowed hard. "Pete. What part of all of this isn't miraculous? For the love of god, we're talking about a society of people from another world who arranged for current events in this century. It does boggle the imagination. This machine is incredibly powerful, Pete. Listen, I've been goin' off the deep end with all of this, so many hypotheses bombarding my mind. Suppose, that the Landau family...I mean the first Landaus; suppose they arrived here through the granolith. Suppose they actually came back in time to begin this whole process long ago. Let's say that their world was about to be destroyed, much like we know of Antar...and Adia now. They had the one thing in their power that would allow them to come back and change things. Remember what Liz said about Future Max? He said that things had to be done precisely. He knew that he had to again be with Ava or their world would end, so he thought he had to stop loving Liz. When in fact Tess wasn't Ava...Liz was. Suppose he was referring to his world and not ours?"

Pete sat staring at his dear friend. He knew better than to discount anything that had ever come out of his mouth. But this idea was something that he hadn't let himself consider. "Okay, let's just go with this for a few minutes. We know that Antar, in our time, has already been destroyed. Which doesn't fit if what you say has any foundation whatsoever. But Kivar is dead now, thanks to the new and improved Zan and Ava. So things have already changed in this time. The only problem with your scenario is that Jared is now in charge and his agenda doesn't seem to be changing much in any way. And let me remind you that what's happened so far had nothing to do with the granolith."

"Wait, maybe it did. Didn't John say that Ava only survived because she had been incubated inside the granolith? So technically it has had something to do with the changes so far. Without it, Liz wouldn't have survived...there would be no Ava to complete the pair. The prophecy clearly states that the two of them would return to set things straight." Pete smiled at Coby's interpretation, but continued listening. "And the true purpose of the granolith hasn't even been deciphered yet...the time thing."

"So, you mean that the prophecy wasn't a prophecy at all, just a plan set in motion from the future?" Coby rubbed at his eyes. "I'm goin' blind with all this reading," he said under his breath, and then went on. "Yes, that's one idea. Then there's my other idea."

Pete nodded, egging him on. Coby rolled his eyes, "Suppose it doesn't matter about the time thing. I mean it's important yes. Certainly in the matter of who controls what back in their galaxy, but I mean suppose it isn't as important to the actual prophecy as everyone thinks it is. It could have just been important to get this plan off the ground a very long time back. After all, Jared is already here again. He's coming and going, as he pleases...no granolith involved. The prophecy could be fulfilled by the simple returning of the podsquad to their home world, through a wormhole." It was silent in the room for several seconds, until Pete answered with a smile. "Have you taken a good look at these kids, Coby? They're not ready to go to war in another galaxy. There's four of them...oh yeah, and two children who don't know which end is up. Let's be serious now." Pete stood and crossed the room. "I understand everything that you're saying. It has merit, but that's not for us to decide. Besides, Kal and John brought the granolith here in 1947." He shrugged his shoulders, "So why don't you tell me how it got back to Adia in order to make the trip back here?" Again only their thoughts filled the silent room, until Pete concluded. "We're involved with Serena to decipher the last page of the book and the workings of that thing up in the mountain. That's all I have the strength for anymore. The rest is not up to us."

"I know. But we were the ones who discovered the manuscript and the Landau connection. Maybe there are more hybrids just waiting to be discovered. Sure the squad can't do it alone. But with an army...." He threw the pencil down on the desktop. "Okay, I'm reaching here," he admitted. "Look, the only thing I know for sure is that we'll be going back to the university very soon. I'm gonna miss the hands on we've had here." Pete shook his head agreeing. Coby stretched. "Listen, I just needed to say these things out loud to someone…Serena's so hell bent on turning the screws on this time machine. To say I'm worried about what happens if we succeed is a huge understatement." Pete turned off the computer and began to gather up the mess on top of the desk. "Come on, let's hit Wendy's, I'm starving."

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As Lucas steered the car down the long secluded driveway to the farmhouse, he looked over at his sister. "I wish you had told me about the dreams you've been having before now. We need to compare notes on things. It's important that we stay together. I don't know anything about the Duncans. We have a few days until they arrive here. It should be interesting to see my long lost brother again. It's late. We'll wait and talk to Angelique again first thing in the morning. I think we've had enough enlightening for one day." He stopped the car by the side of the house.

"What about Nicole and the girls, Lucas?" Ava asked softly. "Are you going to call them? Nicole left the number last week when she called here, in case of an emergency." He thought briefly about the conclusion he had already come to while riding out there in the dark. "Yes. I'm calling them first thing in the morning. I want to see my family. I'll wire them money for transportation. I want them here, and I want them here now."

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Three emails had greeted Alex Madison that morning; two pertaining to a subject that he had been inquiring about since first arriving in Roswell. The copy of the first memo was sixteen pages long and described the extent, from start to finish of something called the Aquarius Project, a top level, top secret operation based out of the Yucca Flats facility from 1948 to 2001, when Congress supposedly had closed it's doors to the funding based on his own predecessor's Senate meeting. Daniel Pierce had once been an exemplary head of the Special Unit. But something had gone horribly wrong and suddenly in 2001, much to the amazement of those involved on the front lines, he had appeared before the Senate committee and disclaimed all knowledge of extraterrestrial expectations. He had in fact abruptly changed his tune about the need for such an operation at all. Of course a few covert spin-off groups had kept the search and the fight going. He himself had been part of one such group and had been joined in the search for the Landau family by a crackerjack team based out of Europe. The spin-off groups were privately funded by a few anonymous contributors, obviously well informed persons of much wealth. It had in fact been one of these donors who had funded the reopening of the facility in Roswell, New Mexico.

Madison gathered his printouts together and decided to take the rest of the day off and work at home. He needed to check with his superiors about the lackeys in Europe and see if they had come up with any new information. He also needed to check with Jim and find out just what the latest developments had been, plus he had a little gardening to do. He smiled thinking of the tomato plants that were ready for picking. "Yep, that's right. Get'n ready for the pick'n," he said dryly. "It's almost harvesting time."

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Larek lay still in his cot, completely exhausted. This human travel does tend to take its toll, he thought to himself. But it had been so well worth the trip. He still couldn't quite believe that he had just spent hours in the company of all his oldest dearest friends. Seeing Zan and Ava, of course, had been one of the highlights. The thought of Max and Liz would take some time to get used to he smiled. But it didn't matter, they were who they were, there was no getting around that. Max, it seemed was just getting used to his identity. He knew from past experience that the boy who would be king, tended to think sometimes too much so, with his heart. Emotions were something that had to be checked at the door in his own life now, but the thoughts of how beautiful Ava still was in the persona of Liz was still absolutely amazing to him. He had missed them both tremendously. And Rath, well what could he say about one of his past partners in crime? He seemed to be just as hot headed and spontaneous as he always had been. Rath was a very intelligent guy, but had never quite seemed comfortable in that role. It didn't matter though, because if there was one thing that Larek knew, it was that if he could choose anyone to be beside him in time of war, it had been and still was, his dear friend. One of the major differences between Zan and Rath throughout the years had always been that they thought from two different sides of the coin. He spent a great deal of time believing that one day they might learn from each other.

He lay there, still, enjoying the semi quiet of the early afternoon camp. He couldn't get the mental picture of Ava out of his mind. So they had succeeded in finishing the vows that had been started so long ago on that fateful day. How could he feel both happiness and great sadness about that fact? He smiled shyly to himself at the memory of her face as she for the first time gazed upon the miniatures that had traveled so far with him. Thinking of those pictures that he had kept so near to his heart all this time, he realized that he now felt slightly naked without them. Okay, it's time to stop all this humbling reminiscing, he thought to himself. That was a long time ago. That was then, and this was now.

The little trip had done him the world of good though. Even though the desert heat was still something he found difficult to reckon with, he had arrived back where he had started from, a newer stronger man. He had always fought for his people. Now he was fighting for even so much more, he was again fighting for the dream that had seemed to be slipping away...but his prince and his love were alive and well, and the dream had new life again. Someone calling his name, just outside of his tent, shattered his thoughts. "Larek! Do the people of Adia not know rancid meat when they see it?" He stood quickly, making his head spin slightly.

"Rancid? I know of no reason for the supplies to be spoiled, Jared." The tall gruesome man was now standing just inside the doorway. "Well, they are! Do you intend to rest all day, my fine friend," Jared asked, sarcasm strong in his voice. "We have company. Thought you might like to know. We seem to have recruited and reformed a major player. Won't you join us in my tent? Try to clean yourself up a bit. She'll be so very surprised to see you, I'm sure." With that he made his exit.

Larek looked around for the basin and splashed the warm sandy water over his face. "Can't wait to see what this is about," he mumbled, and then remembering his face slowly changed from disappointment to resignation. "Oh, wait. Never mind... I think I could wait forever for this."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

John had begged off from staying for a late lunch at the Parker house. He needed to get back to the ranch and check on things. Liz's Dad had slept a good solid three hours and now was thinking maybe he could and should eat something. John said his goodbyes to Jeff, reminding him to call if there was anything he could help with. He was amazed at just how well the man was taking all of this. Max walked him to the back stairs. "You're staying?" he asked, knowing full well how uncomfortable just being there was for Max. "Yeah I'll be okay. It's Liz that I'm worried about."

John shook his head, agreeing. "She's holding it together only because of her Dad." John squinted out into the early afternoon sun. "So, I'll see you both back...at the ranch," he laughed, trying to interject a bit of humor.

Max nodded. "We'll grab something to eat and then I'm going to try to convince her that she needs to get some sleep too. The next two days are going to be tough."

"About you two being left here without Kal or I"… A look of concern crossed John’s face. "If anything even remotely strange happens, just call out to me, I'll hear you. One of us will be here as soon as possible. I'm not comfortable leaving you two alone like this right here in the middle of town..." He left the statement hanging, and then continued. "I don't think Madison would be stupid enough to come here to the Parker home, but one never knows what lies in the mind of a psycho."

Max touched his arm. "John, nothing is going to happen here that I can't handle for the next few hours. Trust me, I'll be very aware of anything out of the ordinary." As John walked the thirty feet to the car parked at the street, Max yelled down in his thoughts, YO! John immediately spun around. Just check'n, he answered in thought to John's annoyed look.

Liz opened the refrigerator door and was surprised to find five covered casserole dishes there. She laughed, looking over at her Dad who was setting the table. "I told you honey, the neighbors have been coming by all morning. They've been just wonderful." He paused a second. "Will Max be staying too?"

Liz took a second to stand on her toes and kiss him on the cheek. "Yes, he's staying too, Dad. You have a lot of friends here, Dad. Don't forget that. I'm worried about you though."

The three of them sat down at the small kitchen table, and Liz's memory flashed back to the last time she remembered sitting right here in this chair with her Dad across from her. It had been the day that he had admitted to her that she had been adopted seventeen years before.

Max kept a close eye on her. This had to be one of the most difficult things for her to deal with, and he too knew, as did John, that she was doing almost too well with it. I'm fine, Max, she thought to him and smiled through tired eyes.

The casserole of choice turned out to be Beef Stroganoff, not a favorite of Max's, but he ate it anyway. "This is really good," he tried so hard to be polite, thinking that this had to be just as bad for Jeff as it was for him.

"So Max," Jeff began, pushing the small talk. "Liz tells me that you're working for a newspaper. How do you like it? It must be interesting."

Max was grateful for a reason to put his fork down. "It is it's very interesting. I didn't think I'd like it at first. You know strange job in a new town, but the people I work with are really nice. Liz really is enjoying the daycare center, too."

Jeff looked at his daughter. "Ya know, Lizzie, I have to admit that I couldn't at first really see you working with a lot of little kids. Your mother had disagreed with me about it." His eyes got a far away look for a few seconds at the thought of Nancy, he sighed. "I just thought it would be a hard thing for you to take on, that's all. Not that you couldn't handle it, but it must have taken some getting used to, right?"

She smiled remembering her first day. "Well... yes, it did," she admitted. "But the kids are all so well behaved. I admit I was a little shocked by just how behaved they were for their ages. It's a good job. It's a lot of fun. I love it." She took another forkful, glancing up at Max, who was pushing the food around on his plate. "Dad, we've wanted to come home for a while now. But it just wasn't possible. You know that, right?"

"I know, Sweetie. You're all grown up now, sometimes that's a difficult thing for Dads and Moms to accept. But I take one look at you now, and I know that you can take care of yourself. But if we didn't worry, we wouldn't be good parents." Silence filled the kitchen at the 'we' in his words. "It's good that Maria is there with you, too. You two have spent so much time together all these years. I'm really happy that your friendship has continued like it has."

I'm going to tell him, Max. She tried to catch his eye.

Liz...I don't think that's a good move right now. He has a lot on his plate at this particular moment. Maybe we should wait. Max genuinely felt for his father-in-law, but to say he wasn't panicking right now, would have been a lie.

She silently shook her head. Please Max, I have to do this. Don't be upset with me, but there would be no good time. The two sat looking at each other as her father talked about Mrs. Murphy's casserole. "She's a very good cook," he was saying as Liz broke in. "Dad," she started with a heavy sigh. "Dad, Max and I have something very important to talk to you about. I'm not sure this is the perfect time, but it is very important to me that you know."

Jeff stood, "How about more iced tea? There's plenty here." He filled her glass before she could answer. "Max?" he motioned with the pitcher. "Sure, Mr. Parker. I'd love more tea."

Liz waited until he had safely placed the pitcher back up onto the counter. "What is it, honey?" She placed her hand over his hand tenderly, as Max braced both feet on the floor. "Max and I...we were married two months ago. Now before you say anything...anything at all, you need to know that we wanted to wait and tell you and Mom in person. We didn't want to tell you the news over the phone. I'm happier than I've ever been, Dad. We love each other so much, and we want you to share in that love and be happy for us." She finished and then realized, as the next seconds felt like minutes, that she was holding her breath.

Max's eyes never left her face, as he spoke. "I love your daughter, Mr. Parker. I have since the first day that I laid eyes on her. And I'm sorry if you feel that we've taken anything away from you by having the ceremony so far from home. It wasn't our intention to hurt you or Mrs. Parker in any way."

Jeff Parker slowly rose from the table, a look of stunned silence on his face. "Dad, I know that this is such a horrible time to tell you all this, but...I didn't want to keep it from you any longer, especially now. It hurts me so much that we didn't tell you both at the hospital yesterday morning. Please Dad, please be happy for us."

He shook his head, as if the words were having a problem finding a home there. "Married?" He looked immediately to Max, who was determined to meet his eye and not look away. "You were married out on the coast? In a church, Liz?" The strain seemed to finally leave his face.

"Yes, Dad in a church. It was a beautiful ceremony. John was there, he took a lot of pictures." Jeff sat back down in the chair. "John gave you away?" he asked finally looking away from Max and back to his only child.

"Yes, he did. It wasn't planned out. It was pretty spontaneous. We decided and two days later, we were married."

Reaching suddenly, Max was completely taken off guard, Jeff Parker extended his hand. "Well if I said that it was a complete surprise, I'd be lying. As a matter of fact, your Mother saw it coming the day you left. She always believed in what you felt for Max." Max felt the stern grip of Jeff's hand.

"She did?" Liz asked, not being able to hide the smile that automatically came to her at the thought.

"Max, I don't doubt that you love my daughter. And I wish both of you every happiness possible. But if you ever..."

Liz quickly interceded. "Dad! We know, Dad, we know." She rose from the chair and met him with open arms.

"Congratulations, honey...to both of you," Jeff whispered, as his eyes filled with tears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael met John before he had fully gotten out of the car. "How's Liz?" he asked. "She's holding up incredibly well under the circumstances. Has Serena called? I have the hair brush."

Michael motioned toward the house. "She's inside with the dynamic duo. They're waiting for you. She's taken some skin scrapings from Em and Sierra. I don't think they've arrived at any fantastic conclusions yet."

Emily came running toward the car. "Hi, John! Where's Liz and Max?"

He headed for the house. "They'll be back in a little while, Em. Where's your sister? Did you guys go riding?"

The five year old grinned up to him. "Yep, we rode with Kal and Michael and Maria. Sierra's taking a nap."

Michael laughed. "Yeah, we all went. That was interesting." Michael had never been close to a horse, let alone on top of one before.

"He did really good, considering that he didn't know what he was doing," Emily replied, laughing and taking his hand.

"Run along, rugrat. Serena found some books for you to read. They're up on the porch swing." Emily smiled up at her beau and took off for the steps.

Michael turned his attention back to John. "Kal had a talk and a little demo with Emily again. Things went much smoother this time than the last. She's so good, it's scary, John."

"Yeah, I figured as much. She understands all the dos and don'ts right? He did make all that perfectly clear to her, right?" This wasn't something that John wanted to happen, but he had finally consented to letting Kal attempt to refine her gift.

"He was perfect with her. Trust me, John, I'd tell you if there were any problems at all."

Opening the screen to go inside, they were met at the doorway by Serena. "Did she get anything of Nancy's?" John held out the brush. "Perfect. It won't prove much about the night that she died, but it should show us any inconsistencies that might have led up to it...if there were any," Serena replied, trying to force her mind to stay as open as possible on the cause of Nancy's death. "Is Liz okay?"

"Yes. Her and Max are staying to make sure her father eats something. Max is going to call when they want to be picked up. Michael, you can go get them when they're ready." Walking into the dining room they met up with Coby and Pete. Several state of the art microscopes and digital machines were taking up most of the table.

"Okay, we've got a strand isolated from each of the girls. Now we just have to let the computer do its thing. It could take a while...might take a long while, we have no way of knowing. All the information has been loaded into the hard drive. The scopes are connected directly to the computer. Gotta love technology," Pete exclaimed. "Thank you Stanford,” he said under his breath.

Serena walked to the monitor, watching closely as the lines of print rushed up the screen, searching. "Well, let’s all say a prayer that we learn something here, or it's back to the drawing boards. You guys have about six days to put these hundreds of pieces together with the thousands we already have." She smiled and quickly added, "but I know how much you love a challenge."

"Where's Nicole?" John asked looking into the kitchen and finding no one there. Serena looked up from the computer. "She's laying down with Sierra. John, she had that same dream again last night…the one with Larek and Lucas. I'm not sure what that means or if it fits into any of this. But she's still insisting that it is Larek."

Maria had been sitting quietly on the window seat, listening up to now. "He'd be kind of hard to not recognize. Great hair and the sexiest eyes...well, next to yours Michael," she quickly added. "But seriously, couldn't this be because of the girls? Maybe, it's all connected to their importance in the overall scheme of things."

"Must be," John answered. "I meant to ask you before, Michael. Did Larek mention to you anything about Nicole looking familiar to him?"

Michael answered with a sly smile. "Just that he was crazy about her and wanted to know more about her."

John grinned. "Besides that."

Michael shook his head, "Nope, that was about it. I know he tried to talk with her a couple of times. I think he scared her."

"Okay, enough of this," John said, getting down to yet other business. "We need to move the granolith." All eyes looked from one to another. "I know. This isn't going to be easy. But Kal and I moved it once we can do it again. We need to attempt this as soon as possible. Now's just a good a time as any."

Michael asked the obvious question. "Where are we moving it too?"

"Into the tack house on the property. It'll be close and we can keep an eye on it. I've asked Steve to bring the dogs up from the barn, at least we know that if anyone is coming anywhere near it, we'll know about it quickly. Coby, will that thing run by itself or do you two need to be around?" he motioned to the computer which was making a loud humming sound as it's hard drive worked overtime.

"No. It's got a mind of it's own," Coby replied. "It will log any matches it may find. Why?"

John looked at them both. "You, Pete and Michael will come with me." He looked around, we need someone to go rent a truck." He no sooner finished the sentence, than the screen door slammed loudly. On queue, Kal entered the hall. "What?" he asked with surprise, as he found himself being stared at from the adjoining room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, Jim, that's such horrible news. Heart attack, huh? I don't really know the Parkers that well, other than seeing them in the Crashdown, but I'm so sorry to hear about that." Madison stood watering his tomato plants. "If I can help... Jeff, that's his name right? If I can do anything to help him out, please offer my services, will you?"

It was all Jim Valenti could do to stand next to the man who he so highly suspected of committing the very atrocity they were speaking of. "I'll do that, Alex. She was a fine woman, and we all loved her very much. We'll miss her."

"I think I heard that the Parkers have lived in Roswell for generations, isn't that right?" he asked shutting off the hose and motioning for Jim to follow him inside. As they entered the backdoor into the pantry, Jim clenched his jaw. "Yeah, generations. The family's very respected around here; we all look out for each other. Roswell is a very close knit town."

"The girl... don't they have a daughter?" Madison continued playing the game. Jim nodded his head. "I'm sure she'll be coming in to help her Dad at a time like this," he answered Jim's nod.

"I'm not sure about that. Can't really say if she even knows. She's traveling the country with some friends." Madison wiped the sweat from his forehead with a kitchen towel. "That's right, I do remember Jeff mentioning that she was off with the Evan's boy and Guerin...Michael, right?"

Jim stood up walking toward the door. "Not sure about that either. You know how kids are. Graduation behind them, they're off to conquer the world. Listen, I've spent way too much of my lunch hour yapp'n away. Gotta go protect the innocent. I'll catch you later. Dinner on Thursday at my place, right?"

Alex Madison smiled shaking his head. "Your place it is. Hey, thanks for stopping by."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The farmhouse was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop on the hardwood floors. Angelique sat in the large high back chair just inside the front door Lucas, on the opposite side of the room. "Jonathan will be with our visitors? Should be interesting seeing my dear big brother again after all these years." Angelique didn't respond. "So, exactly how many Duncan's are there?"

"Six," his grandmother answered. "But you'll only be meeting four of them today. The eldest is Raymond; he's ten years younger than I. He has three children in their early fifties. The youngest of the Duncans are in their late twenties, early thirties, around the same ages as you and your sister. They will be accompanying their grandfather here. They are Marshall, Katain and Jessie."

Lucas looked at his grandmother closely. She hadn't been well for the last months. And now he knew the full extent of all the reasons why. Her breathing was labored as she sat up straighter in the chair. "It's important that you know, Lucas, that the younger Duncans have known about the goal for the last two years. There was that word again , he thought to himself. She continued, "The goal is important...not to be taken lightly my dear." He was still amazed at the fact that he now knew that his grandmother had had the ability to look into their minds all these long years. He suddenly felt violated, like his privacy had been horribly invaded. "It's part of our heritage, Lucas. Nothing personal," she managed a smile. "The younger three have gotten a good hold on their gifts over the last year something that you and Ava can learn from. That's one of the reasons for this meeting. Your brother, Jonathan, has learned a great deal while being with them."

"You know, grandmother. It still doesn't sit quite well with me that you never saw fit to explain the truth to either Ava or I, about the whereabouts of our oldest brother."

The disrespect in his tone didn't sit well with the elder Landau. "Lucas," she explained very matter of fact, "how could I have told you the truth ten years ago? You barely can grasp the entire concept now, at thirty-two. I withheld the information until I believed you were ready. Believe it or not, not all was known by either Raymond or myself and still isn't completely known. We each had bits and pieces, but nothing concrete. As time went on, we began to understand. Raymond believes that it was genetically programmed into the first Landaus and Duncans, and from there it trickled down through the generations until we very slowly became aware.”

“When Emily and Sierra were born already knowing their gifts, we knew that the time was quickly approaching. Don't think for a second that we all haven't been confused and concerned about our ancestors." She sat up bracing herself on the arms of the chair. "My dear boy, this isn't anything that any of us would have wished for, but Raymond and I clearly see it as our destiny; or more to the point, the destiny of this last generation, of which you are a part. As your powers come forward, you will see it clearly, just as we have."

Ava appeared on the staircase. "Has our company arrived yet?" she asked hesitantly. "I feel like we're waiting for a ship to land on the front lawn."

Angelique looked up at her, disapprovingly. "Let's not get too melodramatic, shall we? They live now in Washington State, up until that tracker rang out almost three years back; their home was in Bolivia. They'll have had a long trip from the west coast. I imagine they'll be tired once they arrive." The old woman rubbed at her temples, then looked up at her granddaughter still standing on the stairs. "Ava, soon you will feel it all falling together for you."

Ava answered walking to stand by her brother's chair. "Is this prince of the people...ya know, the one I'm supposed to be reunited with...is he a Duncan?" She rolled her eyes at her brother. She hated even pretending to play into this charade.

Their grandmother sighed. "No, he's not, Ava. One day when the time is right, the fates will bring you together again. You don't remember any of this right now, and I understand your difficulty in accepting what I've told you. You'll soon lose your cynicism. Please, just let it happen in its own time. The only difference between this day and the day you were born, is that now you both know and soon you will know everything that we know and believe. I feel much of my burden has now been relieved."
"Oh, I see, it's like waiting for a bus to come, and not having a bus schedule or any destination," Ava remarked, somewhat under her breathe.

Lucas smiled and caressed his sister's hand. "Well, let's do what Grandmother is asking, let's just let things play out for a bit. Personally, no disrespect to you Grandmother, but, I think you've all missed the bus."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER THIRTY


Several neighbors had stopped by to check on Jeff, and Max and Liz finally had a few moments to themselves. Liz had gone into her room to gather together some clothes that she would need for the next few days.

Max sat down on her bed watching her, running his hand over the quilt. "You okay?" he asked, wishing that he could somehow make things easier for her.

She nodded as she took a plain black dress from the closet. "I'm okay, Max, really. I think that my mind has just put everything in neat little categories to be sorted out later on. Right now, I just want to get through the next days. My dad's doing really well, don't you think?" She moved to the dresser removing a few pair of shorts and tees.

"Yeah, he is. I think you're both doing what you feel you have to do...for each other. I just want you to know that you don't have to pretend with me, Liz. You know that, right?" The sadness of the entire weekend showed so deeply in his eyes.

"I'm just glad that his friends are coming to his side through all of this. He has a lot of them. I'm not sure he ever realized it before. I mean he always knew that there were a lot of people who knew him because of the restaurant, but this...well, now he knows how much they really care about him as a person." She deliberately didn't answer his question and didn't look up.

He stood slowly, crossing the room to her. "Don't shut me out of this. Please." She started to deny the thought, turning. But instead of speaking, she feel into his arms. "I won't cry, Max. I won't. I have to be strong. I can do this. But I can't do it without you." He caressed her hair, as she laid her head on his chest. A few quiet moments passed as she hugged him tightly.

"He seemed alright with everything that you told him, didn't he?" Max still was in a state of shock. Not that he thought Jeff Parker would kick him to the curb, but he certainly didn't expect the acceptance he was shown by the man who had never had the time of day for him.

She smiled a genuine smile for the first time that day. "I'm so happy that it's all out in the open now. I feel like a huge weights been taken from me."

She looked up into his eyes as he stroked her cheek. "Me too. You were right to do it now. I'm sorry that I had my doubts." Max needed her to understand. "If you want to stay here for a while, after..the funeral, we can."

She shook her head slowly, "No. My place is with you."

The phone rang out in the other room temporarily bringing them both back to the present. She continued to pack up a suitcase, grabbing a few mementos off of the mirror over her dresser. A picture of her and Alex, and another of her with her mother, when she was very young. "I guess we should be heading back to John's," she said, the strength beginning to return in her voice.

Max picked up a picture on the nightstand by her bed. He hadn't even remembered that it had been taken. Looking down at the 5 X 7, he thought of the recent past. It was a picture that Maria had taken of the two of them, standing out front of the Crashdown, right before finals just months before they left and literally days before Liz learned the truth. He wondered if they'd ever again be able to stand outside in plain view in the little town where they had both grown up. The picture overwhelmed him. Things had changed so much in those two weeks before graduation. Would they ever get back to normal? he asked himself. All he wanted to do was to make her happy...to make all her dreams come true. That certainly wasn't happening now, was it? he thought with sadness in his heart.

He jumped as she gently touched his arm. "Yes it is, Max. Being with you and knowing that nothing will ever separate us again, that's my dream come true. And anyway, what's so great about normal?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The phone rang in the Lawson apartment in Lovell. It echoed through the quiet there. Lucas let it ring ten times, then two more. Hanging up, he wondered where Nicole was. Whatever she was doing at that moment, he prayed that his wife and his two small daughters were safe. He'd try again later that night. Sooner or later he'd reach her and they'd be together again.

Their visitors had arrived, and the Duncans were nothing that he had expected. Raymond was much younger looking than Lucas had thought he would be, according to his grandmothers description. It was hard to believe this man was in his eighties. His grandson, Marshall and youngest granddaughter, Jessie, were very friendly and outgoing. The oldest granddaughter, Katain, was a tall extremely attractive brunette, who seemed standoffish at first and said very little. Lucas had the idea that she was just as leery of the Landaus, as he originally had been of the Duncans. And who could blame any of them, he thought. It would take a few days for them all to let their guard down. Seeing Jonathan again, to Lucas's surprise, was the highlight of his morning. He'd forgotten just how close he and his brother had once been. It had been ten long years, but both brothers had no problem picking up right where they had left off.

Both families shared normal small talk for a short while, mostly about their long exhausting drive. Ava and Jessie seemed to hit if off very well for two young girls who had never laid eyes on each other before.

After their guests had been shown to their rooms to rest before a delayed lunch, Ava caught Lucas in the upstairs hallway. "I don't think that Jessie is anymore excited about all this then we are," she exclaimed. "She seems pretty normal to me...so's her brother."

Lucas had to agree, as they compared notes. "This might be more interesting than we thought." Ava looked at him, catching something in his voice. "Why?" she asked a little concerned. "Well, when Raymond introduced me to Katain, and she merely nodded, I heard more.” He not only was surprised, he felt horribly uncomfortable around her. "I heard what she was thinking."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nicholas arrived at Jared's tent at the same time Larek did. Standing just outside, they shared a look before entering. "Who is it?" Nicholas asked at having heard the news upon his arrival that there was a stranger in camp.

"I believe Vilondra has arrived," Larek said with destain.

The color drained from Nicholas's face. "Fuck. I really can't deal with her right now. Jared's not going to be happy with my news and with the all mightly Princess here, things are going to be unbearable." They entered reluctantly.

"Welcome home, Nicholas," Jared greeted them. "Larek, good of you to come..finally."

Vilondra now looking a bit better, sat in the chair beside Jared. A look of power crossed her flushed face. "Well, Larek. It has been such a long time. I must say you are as handsome as the last time I was in your company. Except of course for the lack of royal blood on your clothes." She looked at Jared. "The last time Larek and I shared space, Kivar had caused a bit of a disturbance at the wedding in the High Hall."

Jared remained as calm as possible. "Well now, you are looking very different from the last time I saw you, as well. Although it appears that while the face is different, the motives remain the same."

Jared only half listened to their exchange, but his attention was more on Nicholas at the moment. "Nicholas, you're not looking well. I guess we have a few matters to discuss," he turned back to his neutral advisory. "Larek, would you be good enough to help Vilondra back to her tent. Her knees are still a bit shaky and we don't want any harm coming to her now, do we?"

After a brief moment of hesitation, Larek replied, "Oh, I'd love to escort the lady to her quarters. We have some old business to discuss." He held out his hand, as Vilondra stood and moved toward the door.

"Sit, Nicholas. Take a load off your feet and tell me what's happening back on Adia." Nicholas glanced at the shaky figure moving toward Larek, and stifled a smile.

Once outside, Larek purposely left go on her hand. "And why exactly are you here, Vilondra. Your lover is dead and gone. Was betraying your family to their death once, not enough for you?"

"I do what I need to do, Larek. But while we're on the subject. Why are you here in your enemies camp? Have you betrayed your country...oh wait, that's right..you no longer have a country, now that Kivar and Jared have finally taken rule there."

He looked up at the horizon checking his patience with this shrew he had known so well in the past. "I'm here only to secure rights to the granolith once it has been returned." He ignored her smirk. "Too each his own day, Vilondra. And yours will again come. I still have difficulty figuring out how you could share the same blood as Zan and your father, and yet be such a treacherous opportunist beast." Vilondra said nothing, as the sun beat down once again on her face. Approaching her tent, Larek bowed slightly. "Trust that I will be watching you closely, princess." Pointing to the tent flap he smiled. "Seems you are once again home."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the tent, Nicholas and Jared sat with two advisors. "..and so we can't guarantee the stability of this doorway. And when it closes, all those on this side will be here indefinitely," Nicholas spoke low.

Jared thought long and hard as he paced within the small area. "Our agenda here is not completed. We have several leads on the keys, but as of yet, contact hasn't been made. Do we acquire the granolith and leave, back through this door and patiently await the next, or do some of us stay and complete the search for the children and await contact from Adia?" He looked at his advisors, who sat quietly with their heads bowed. Knowing full well that he'd make the final decision himself, he waved his hand to dismiss them and their silence from the tent. Nicholas gladly got up to join them. "Not you. Sit," Jared ordered, still deep in thought.

"You'll be splitting up. The first team will go to the east coast for the children and bring them to me. The second team will be making the trip to secure the granolith. You and Tess will head up the team to Roswell," he said, making a final decision.

Nicholas stammered, "Me? Sorry, your liege, but I think your needs would much better be served with me returning to Adia and reporting all progress on the door." The last thing Nicholas Levieth wanted was to be in the middle of the action.

"Don't play with me Nicholas. This reoccurring wormhole problem will not stop me from fulfilling this agenda. I'll be remaining here at camp until the last possible moment. I'll be waiting for the children and the icon to be delivered into my hands before the door is closed."

"But they know my face in Roswell, Jared. And Tess's too. How can we control the upper hand if they literally see us coming?" Nicholas knew he was pleading for his life.

"Tess is aware of exactly where the granolith is hidden, so she will be amongst the team to acquire it." Jared answered and then thought for a moment. "I'll tell you what I'll do, little man. You may have the choice of staying with that team or traveling with the second."

"Exactly where is the second team going? You've learned where the children are?" Nicholas was less and less thrilled with the direction of their conversation. Jared simply nodded his head.

"Our newest visitor has come through for us once again. She knows of the Landau family, and the fact that her brother is also aware of them. I'm very confident that the children will be someplace very close to Zan, and right now we know exactly where he is."

Vilondra never ceased to amaze Nicholas. Given yet another chance to change her karma, she instead again chose to betray her family. Of course, the first time Nicholas knew it had been for love, but this..this was just sheer revenge. "Will Lonnie be joining either of the teams?" he asked. Curiosity had finally gotten the better of him.

"I think it's best to keep her here with me." Nicholas shook his head, fully understanding Jared's meaning. He wasn't what Nicholas would call a handsome man, or for that matter even a slightly attractive man, not by any stretch of the imagination, but he was a man, just the same. His thoughts were interrupted by the need to answer the question he was being pressured for. "And so, Nicholas, which is your poison?"

"I'll go with the second team. Might be fun running into Max Evans again," he smiled. "And Larek?" he asked, curiously.

Jared filled his glass from the decanter. "Larek will be in the first team. I want to keep him as far away from Max Evans as is possible, at least for a while."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael arrived through the alleyway and sat in Serena's car there, waiting for Max and Liz to join him. Inside, Jeff explained to them that the funeral was to be held on Wednesday morning, at the cemetary on Bronson's Hill. Max remembered the last time he had been there. The day that Alex was buried. All the old memories came flooding back to both of them. Jeff had also explained that there would be a small service for family only at the gravesight. Liz kissed her Dad goodbye, making sure that he remembered all the food that was left, and that he get as much rest as possible. "Take the phone off the hook, Dad. It'll be alright. You need your rest."

The two then descended the back stairs and climbed quickly into the car with Michael, who immediately made a quick sharp k-turn and headed back in the direction from which he had come, avoiding the center of town completely. "You two okay?" he asked not taking his eyes off the road.

"As good as can be expected," Liz replied, leaning against Max. "What's been happening? Any signs of Madison?" Michael looked into the rearview mirror. "Valenti called to update Kal. Apparently he's not as good as we thought. He doesn't seem to know that we're here yet. Asked the sheriff alot of questions about you...about all three of us."

Max winced. "Well we'll stay out of sight, even at the ranch. We've got two days yet." Liz frowned, feeling somehow responsible for their continued danger.

"Don't even think like that," Michael replied to her thought.

Liz looked sidewards with surprise at Michael, then shook her head. "We're all getting too good at this. It's beginning to worry me how everything is coming together so fast. How long have you been doing that, Michael?"

"For a little while now. Didn't find the need to let you know. Didn't want to, ya know, embarrass either of you." He checked the rearview again. "It's only with you two, though. I can't seem to hone in on Kal or John. I've tried. It's like they have me blocked, or something."

"It's okay, its a start, and I have a feeling there's a good reason why this little trick is coming back to all of us now. Something's happening, and it's more than just Madison, or even Jared. It's something else, I think it has something to do with the girls," Max exclaimed.

Liz sighed. "I'll just be glad when we can go home. . to Lovell. John was right, it's not safe here. It's not safe at all."

"Well, the granolith should be by now. Safe, that is," Michael said, checking his watch.

"Why? What's happening? They moved it?" Max said, slightly shocked.

Michael nodded. "Yep. It should be at the ranch by now. Didn't think it was possible, but like John said, they got it up there so he didn't think there'd be much of a problem getting it down again."

"Any word from Pete or Coby on the DNA samples?" It was an uncomfortable question for Liz to hear, but she needed to know just as much as they did. "Not when I left. I'm not sure about Liz's mom's, but the girl's was processed already. But nothing's come up in the computer yet to match it to any codes or script. Coby said it could take days..even weeks before they knew if it matched anything they already had."

"Great," Max said under his breath.

Michael turned the corner, leading them out onto the old two lane highway. "Kal's been working with Emily. Nothing major, just trying to refine what she's got. I hate to say this, but he seems to think she may have to use it to protect herself and Sierra."

"No," Liz insisted, sharply. "That's not right, I don't like that idea at all. They're too small. It's up to us to keep them safe."

Max was in complete agreement with her. "I'd rather kill Madison, then have her ever be forced to use her powers, Michael."

Liz tensed up, and looked out the side window at the prairie speeding by. Kill? She just couldn't wrap her mind around that. She closed her eyes and listened to the voice in her head. There's a need to protect yourself and yours. The family is growing, and they know it.

She shook her head quickly, jumping startled. "Liz? What? What is it?" Max exclaimed.

Suddenly a loud and piercing buzzing noise filled the inside of the car. They looked around quickly, Michael instinctively pressing on the brake pedal. "Quick, put the windows up!" he yelled above the noise. The tinted window were wound up tight. It was then that they saw the reason for the noise.

Coming out of the east, to their right, were three apache helicopters, flying extremely low, not twenty feet above the car. "Jesus!" Max yelled, as they automatically ducked for cover inside the car.

"Max!" Liz screamed out.

"What the fuck?" Michael exclaimed. The camoflauged birds continued on toward the west, flying in formation and very low to the ground. Michael floored the gas pedal. Liz couldn't breath. "Are they looking for us?" she cried. Max put his arms tight around her. "I don't know. What the hell's over there anyway?"

Michael gripped the steering wheel, "Eagle Rock," he said, his voice in a panic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

The car was speeding up the long dirt driveway to the Brown Ranch, dust flying in every direction. They had no sooner skidded to a stop by the porch, then Kal was off the front step, running for the car. "What the hell? Are you all right?" he yelled, at the speed that he had witnessed.

The three jumped quickly out of the car. Max was out of breath. "Kal, helicopters...three of them they swooped down... right over the road, right over the top of the car!" Liz exclaimed, frantically.

"Wait, slow down! They were after you?" Kal asked, greatly troubled by the implications he was hearing in her voice.

"No. I don't think so," Max exclaimed. "I don't think they knew it was us. But it scared the shit out of us! They were headed for the Eagle Rock facility. What the hell is going on, Kal?" Max pleaded, trying to keep his fear in check.

Michael chimed in, "Yeah, they were apache helocopters and they were headed right for the facility alright, no doubt about that."

Kal checked the horizon to the west. Why would the army be using their primary attack helicopters around this area, Kal thought to himself. They only use them for destroying high value targets. "Get into the house," he ordered. "No more trips away from here. Michael, pull Serena's car into the stables. We needn't broadcast anything, just in case you're wrong and this wasn't a coincidence...them seeing you on the road, that is."

Inside the house, conversations were buzzed loudly at different levels on different topics, all at the same time. "It just scared us, I'm not so sure that they had any idea of who was in the car. But, why are they going to Eagle Rock? I thought it wasn't functioning yet," Liz asked, looking at John.

"I don't have a clue, but I'll find out what I can," John responded, as he grabbed the car keys to Coby's station wagon.

Serena yelled after him, as he headed back out the door. "John! What are you going to do? Where are you going ?"

He stopped just outside the screen door. "It's okay, Serena, I'm just going to the Sheriff's office. Maybe Jim has heard something."

"John, just pick up the damn phone!" Serena cried, so obviously in panic mode.

Kal spoke up from behind her. "I'm going with him. It's okay we won't be long. Everybody stay here and stay calm. We'll find out what's going on. I'm sure someone else besides you three saw something as well." He nodded towards Max, "Wanna join us?"

"No!" Liz cried out empathetically from inside the living room. "Max, please, let John and Kal handle this." She was speaking through sheer terror. "Besides," she tried to reason with him, "We have to make some decisions about Wednesday...and there's other ...things I need to tell you and Serena about."

She looked toward little Sierra whom was sitting bug eyed at the table intently watching the monitor spitting out line after line of code. "Oh my god, you found something?" Liz asked in the middle of the turmoil, at seeing the screen. Serena shook her head yes.

John spoke up quickly, "No, Kal. I want Max here while we're gone. Max and Michael can watch over things till we get back. Let's go, it's not up for discussion," he threw Kal a look before hopping down the porch steps. Kal shook his head in disagreement, but followed him anyway.

"What is it? What did you find?" Max nervously confronted Serena, who had moved over to the computer with Liz.

"The girl's DNA is bringing up a lot of information. It would seem that either one of them has the proper DNA sequence to break the code,” Serena answered. Liz stared with amazement as the screen continued to decipher the bits and pieces of the last page. "What's it say?" Max asked sitting down next to Sierra.

"Coby and Pete are in the study with the first batch, trying to make some sense out of it. But yes," she answered, the excitement so evident in her voice. "It's what we've been waiting for."

Liz watched as Sierra looked at Max and smiled. "Kal said that this is why the bad guys are after us." The innocence and lack of complete understanding was so touching in her voice. "You did good, Sierra. Where's your sister?" Max asked.

"She's with Pete and Coby, Max," Serena answered. "But right now, I'm more worried about the increase in activity at the base. Something is up, I feel it." The strain on Serena's face was obvious.

Liz walked behind Max's chair and laid her arms on his shoulders as he grabbed her hands. "There's more," Liz said in a whisper and then proceeded to tell them of what the voice inside of her had said, just moments before the helicopters came into sight.

"Sierra, please go get your Mommy, will you? She's upstairs resting. Tell her I need to speak with her." Serena said, as the little one ran to the stairs. "We need to find out where Lucas is...or where his sister and his family were when Nicole last spoke to her. I think that's what Ava was trying to let you know, Liz."

Pete stuck his head out of the slightly opened study door. "Serena, we need you a second."

Michael looked at Max, as Maria hung onto his arm. "This isn't good Maxwell. Just the fact that all of that," he motioned outside, "is coming together now...now that we're beginning to crack this thing."

Liz led Max, Michael and Maria into the kitchen so they could talk in private. "The family is growing has got to mean the Landaus. Serena's right. We need to get as much information from Nicole as we can. We need them with us, there's something that's about to happen and Ava's thoughts were strong about it." She looked quickly at Michael. "Have we heard anything from Larek?"

Michael shook his head, saying, "Not a word. But I figured it wouldn't be for days anyway." Max picked up everything that Liz was thinking. "You need to do your little thing and contact him. Find out what Jared is doing this very minute. Can you do it now, Michael?" Max asked.

Michael was already headed up the stairs. "I'll let you know in a few minutes." But before he could reach the top landing, Sierra was there holding her doll, forcing a toy bottle into its mouth. She looked down into the living room. "Mommy's not there," she stated.

"NO!," Liz cried out and took off for the stairs. "She's gone to find Lucas, Max!" Liz picked up on exactly what was happening, surprising even herself.

"Why the hell would she do that?" Maria yelled out in disbelief.

"Yep," Sierra answered. "She took a car and went to get Daddy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Lucas puffing away nervously on a cigarette sat outside the farmhouse with Jonathan and Marshall. "When'd you start that horrible habit, boy?"

Lucas rolled his eyes at his brother. "Well, Jonathon, a lot has happened since you've been gone. My nerves are fried."

"Smoking is only going to lower your abilities, Lucas," Marshall stated frankly.

Lucas crushed out the butt on the ground. "Look, I've been without my family for too long now. I've been trying to reach Nicole all day, but there's no answer at the number that Ava had for them. I'm worried, alright?" he looked furious.

Marshall braced his back against a tree, "Let me get this straight. You don't know where the keys are?" he asked with surprise.

"The what?" Lucas replied in disgust.

"The keys, Lucas, without your two kids, we're all lost. They hold the key, without them we can't possibly reach the goal."

Lucas looked from Marshal to his big brother and back again. "I want them safe, Marshal. That's all I care about. They're children, damn it!"

Ava was walking across the courtyard towards them, with Katain and Jessie close behind. Marshall asked, "So when exactly was the last time you saw them?"

"Months ago," Lucas answered. Ava walked to her brother's side. "Lucas, Katain's been filling in a lot of the holes for me. We need to find Nicole and the girls, and we need to find them fast. They have to be here, where we can protect them."

"Well, will somebody please tell me once and for all what all this is about?" Lucas exclaimed.

Ava started, "Grandmother was right in everything that she's told us, Lucas," then she looked to the tall brunette who hardly ever seemed to crack a smile.

Katain stepped back away from them and turned around, placing her hand carefully out in front of her. A blast of a small fireball seemed to magically roll from her fingertips. As all watched, it picked up speed and strength and then exploded into a large maple tree some fifty feet away. Lucas was silent as the tree crackled and burned in front of their eyes. Katain turned back to the group. "Your kids can do this, no?" she asked, already knowing the answer. He stood speechless. It was one thing to have learned that he could read her thoughts, and he suspected the reverse was also possible, but the familiar deadly power that he had just witnessed, made his stomach flip nauseously, especially when he thought of Emily.

Ava broke the silence from her brother, looking at Marshall and back to his sisters. "..And we can do this too or other things to protect ourselves," Ava replied. "Raymond says that we'll be experiencing the same or slightly different powers very soon now."

Lucas looked up from the ground trying to stop his head from pounding. "I don't give a shit about your alien fuck'n powers," he said calmly. "I just want my children safe." He turned quickly walking back toward the house, where his grandmother and Raymond stood by the front door.

Katain looked worried, "Ava, he has to understand that this is all about protecting your nieces. Marshall and Jessie had a difficult time at first too, but destiny is destiny. And this is important to the survival of millions of people, both here on this planet and back on two worlds that are teetering on annihilation at this very moment. Worlds that were home to our ancestors." Ava looked at the young Duncans and read their faces, seeing for the very first time the seriousness there. Katain continued. "We didn't want any of this to be true either. Don't you think that each of us had our own happy little lives going for us. Our world has been turned upside down just as yours has, but it will do no good to continue denying the truth of it all."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The note on the bed in the room that Nicole had shared with the girls, simply read, I know the girls will be safer with you then with me. I'm going for Lucas. You need him. I will call here when I find him. I know he's with Ava. Sierra and Emily, I love you more than you'll ever know, and I will see you both soon. Love, Mommy.

"I can't believe that she did this, and without saying a word to anyone," Max said, worry in his voice. "She's felt this all building just like the rest of us, Max from Larek being here to the DNA testing. She knows that the matter of the girl's safety is going to be an ongoing thing, she wants her husband by their side. I can completely understand that, Max," Liz replied softly. Max continued walking back and forth in the dining room.

Michael sat on the queen size bed in their room, cell in hand. The sweat was pouring off of him. He keyed in a series of numbers and then a simple four letter word..NEWS? He slowly lay back, stretching his back against the firm mattress.

Maria quietly stood by the door watching him, and finally whispered, "What's happening Michael? I'm scared," her voice cracked on her last words. She walked to the bed, as he brought himself to a sitting position. "I don't know babe. That's the worst part ..I just don't know. Hopefully those choppers were just on maneuvers and we're all just spazz'n. Hopefully we'll hear from Larek that there's nothing new, and John will find out something positive from Valenti. Until then I wish I could say something to make you feel safer."

"This family.....this family that's growing," she continued talking softly as if someone might overhear her words. "Where are they, Michael? Surely it means more than just a four and five year old. I'm afraid, Michael, I'm afraid that we're going to get caught, and Madison is going to kill us all..."

Michael grabbed her and held tightly, as she cried softly in his arms. "It's gonna be okay, Maria, I promise." He prayed that he could keep that promise.

Downstairs in the living room, Liz was holding Sierra who was scared for her mother. The screen door opened quickly, and John's ranch hand, Steve, entered and announced, "My car is gone."

Liz looked up and sighed. "Nicole must have taken it. It's too far to drive to North Dakota, she must be going to an airport." Steve shrugged his shoulders. "That car won't make it out of the state, especially with the heat out there today."

Serena stood between the study and the dining room, not quite believing everything that was going on. "Max, get Maria to look through Nicoles things upstairs for anything...a phone number...an address...anything at all. Damn it, I can't believe I didn't see this coming," she hesitated, then turned back again to Max. "Then, I need to see you in here," she pointed behind her into the study," right after you talk to Maria." Liz's eyes met Serena's, but the Indian woman looked away quickly.

"What?" Liz demanded. "Serena, is this about my mother?" Serena sighed and Max shook his head, as if letting her know that it wasn't right to keep the truth from her...whatever it might be.

Serena took a deep breath. "Yes, Liz. Yes it is. There were small traces of a drug called phalitamite in her DNA." Time seemed to stop for Liz. Everything in the room was moving in slow motion, as Sierra looked up into her eyes. "It's okay Liz. Your Mommy is in heaven. It's all alright now," the small child wrapped her arms around her, not understanding the implication.

Their eyes met from across the room. She felt the strength of his arms around her, although he hadn't moved from the spot at the bottom of the stairs, and the beat of his heart slowed hers to a steadier pace. There wasn't a need for words of any kind.. or for touch, as Max consoled her aching heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The B team, as Nicholas referred to them, was off and running. Their destination was a small town on the border of Southern Carolina. Their orders were simple and direct. Bring back the children, and anyone else who attempted to interfere with the plan.

The A team, was heading to Roswell, and Nicholas couldn't help but feel some pity for Larek, in that he had been ordered to accompany Tess and ten troops to descend on the small town to secure the Granolith.

Nicholas had been sure to collect all his belongings from camp, with the idea that if anything were to go wrong he would easily be able to lose himself somewhere out there so as not to entail Jared's wrath. He laughed to himself. Rath. Well, of one thing he was sure, if he couldn't beat em...the only chance he had left was to join them.

Larek was killing time in his tent, making sure that he also was leaving nothing of his behind. He had tried desperately to persuade Jared to send him on the search for the girls rather than back to Roswell, knowing that Max and Ava would be there on the coast. It would have enabled a better strategic location for him to be with the family, but Jared had insisted that he baby-sit Tess. His loyalties where divided. But the safety of the granolith was imperative, that he knew; but the thought that his dear friends were about to engage with a very nasty group hadn't bided well with him.

He sat on the cot, taking a small tracker from deep in his clothing. Beginning to enter a string of coded numbers, he suddenly stopped. In front of him the tracker was slowly blinking yellow. He deleted his codes quickly, and entered a new array. Within seconds the message appeared on the tracker. NEWS? He smiled at first, and then frowned as he realized that the coordinates had not been the same as when his last message had arrived from Rath, when they had reached him from Carolina. He stood dumbfounded for a second. They're still in Roswell, he thought. He shook his head, still not understanding. It seemed that things were changing rapidly. Why were they still there?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Banner


"Anything from Larek?" Max asked the concern level in his voice was rising.

"Nothing yet," Michael replied returning upstairs. "Could take a half hour or so. Maybe I should have pressed for a quick answer from him, but knowing him as I do, I'm sure he'll get back to me as soon as he's able to."

The phone rang and Serena raced into the hall to answer it. It was John calling to let her know that Jim had no information about the aircraft that had been heading toward Eagle Rock, although he had in fact received quite a few calls from concerned citizens because of the loud noises. Serena breathed a sigh of relief just hearing John's voice. He asked if she had anything new to tell him. She explained that it would wait until they returned, she couldn't see the point in relaying the information of Nancy's death and the drug of choice over the phone lines. He then explained that he and Kal would be returning shortly. As she hung up the phone, Pete called in from the study to say that he and Coby would meet her out at the granolith within the half hour.

Max and Liz sat closely on the sofa, neither having to verbally say a word to each other. Liz's concern was obvious and Max knew that nothing he could say out loud would help. "I can only wonder how long this had been going on," Liz finally spoke. "Do you think that Madison had this planned out since he arrived here in Roswell?"

Max feared the worst. "All we can do is to wait and maybe Serena can give us more detail on what might have happened."

Liz sat up on the edge of the sofa. "It doesn't change anything, whether this was ongoing or just a quick idea he came up with. It's murder, pure and simple. And he will pay."

Their conversation was interrupted by an odd noise originating from upstairs. Michael yelled down, "Hey, … Larek." Max was already on his way taking the stairs two at a time, with Liz quickly coming up behind. As they turned the corner, Michael was sitting on the bed, already reading the text message.
R.
Vilondra is in camp. Troops arriving shortly in Roswell for icon.
Why are you there? Second team going to Lovell.
You must secure the safety of the keys and the icon,
as I know not what else Lonnie has shared.
Switch frequency to 98mghz.
Be safe, L.

"Jesus," Max said almost in a whisper.

Liz sat down slowly beside Michael on the bed. “Lovell? We can't even go home," Liz said in stunned disbelief. "Apparently Isabel has switched her allegiance. History is repeating itself. Max, what's stopping Isabel from telling Jared about the ranch? The granolith isn't anymore safe here now then we are, now that we know where Isabel is."

"We have to do something else with it, but what? And the girls, we need to move them too...somewhere...maybe away from us, but someplace still safe. If this team is pushing for a showdown here, we need to keep them out of sight and out of immediate danger. Any ideas?" Max once again began walking the floor, thinking.

"They won't be safe anywhere in Roswell, that's for sure. But I do have an idea.. it's a stretch," Michael said. Both Max and Liz looked at him, waiting. "Whatever it is, it's got to be something better than what we have right now," Max exclaimed.

"Short of anyone here in town, there's no one we can trust. The only people who come to mind are Took and Charlie. If we could get in touch with them, and send the girls back there, maybe they could take them somewhere safe, somewhere this group wouldn't think of looking. It's a long shot, I know, but that's all I can come up with on short notice."

"Is it safe to send them back to Lovell, now that they know that's where we were living? And then, of course, there's the obvious...we'd be putting Took and Charlie in danger. And what would we tell them? I mean, I just don't know. To what extent would they go looking for us out there?" Liz's worry and confusion was hampering any rational thought that Ava might have been sending through.

“Remember Larek said that we were secondary to Jared. And this team is going to Lovell to find the girls. Once they see that we’re not there, where would they look...the daycare, maybe Nicole’s apartment, definitely. But they’d have no great connection to Charlie or Took.”

"It might have helped if Larek had told us when the group was arriving here, then at least we could plan around that. And now with Nicole out there somewhere..." he stopped talking mid sentence, as Maria came busting through the doorway. "I've got an address! It's an RD# in Bismarck, North Dakota. I can't find the phone number written anywhere, she probably took that with her."

"We don't have a name, either," Max realized. "I'm sure Lucas wouldn't use Landau. Do you think he went with Lawson?" He looked at Liz.

She shook her head, "I doubt that. I kind of got the idea that may have been Nicole's idea. But I could be wrong. We could try reaching information and ask."

Maria flipped her cell out of its holder on her belt. "Don't say I'm never prepared," she smiled, as she dialed out 411. Michael and Maria gathered in the corner, while Liz walked to the top of the stairs to check on Sierra, who was down sitting on the living room floor. "Sierra," she yelled down. "Come up here, honey." The little one grinned and grabbed her doll.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nicole was hitting seventy miles an hour most of the way on 285N. She'd been on the road for not longer than a half hour, and already steam was coming from the radiator. She kept one hand on the steering wheel, as she tried desperately to check the map for the way to Albuquerque. The wind blowing in the windows made it difficult to open the map, let alone read anything closely. Damn it, she thought. Why hadn't she checked this all out before she left the ranch. Because if you hadn't have left exactly when you did, you would have decided not to, she answered herself frustrated. Up the desolate road, she spotted an old gas station. One pump and pretty run down, but it would do. There was another car pulled to the pump. Apparently, she thought, it was open for business. As she pulled into the dusty driveway, she didn't notice the man sitting inside the dark sedan parked there.

Alex Madison had also witnessed the arrival of the Apache copter troops. He had been trying to reach someone out there for well over an hour and a half and still no answer. "What the hell is this all about," he said out loud, as he punched in the numbers to the facility for the fifth time. Why in the name of hell was the army landing at Eagle Rock? he thought. He didn't like this, he didn't like it one bit.

Nicole stepped out of the car and approached an old Indian man who was doing his best to shoo the chickens away from the car. "Hi, I'm trying to get to the airport in Albuquerque? I have no idea where I'm going, can you help me?" The old man looked at her, so obviously not understanding the English language. She tried several times to make him understand to no avail.

Alex Madison hearing a woman in distress decided to lend a hand. "Maybe there's something I can help you with, Mam. Where is it that you want to go?"

"I need to get to the closest airport, and I'm not familiar with anything in this area. ..And my car is overheating.." She looked about ready to burst into tears.

"No problem on either count. I can help you out. First of all if you follow 285N for the next forty miles, then hit I-23W for another thirty or thirty-five you'll see signs leading you to the airport."

Nicole sighed heavily. "Oh thank you so much. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your help." Madison smiled back, thinking how attractive the young woman was, even though she was slightly frazzled. "We'll just open the hood, and check that radiator." He walked over to the small run down shack and picked up a bucket half filled with water and walked briskly to her car. "This should only take a moment or two. Start up the engine for me will you? So you're not from around here, huh? Visiting?"

"Yes, I was visiting with some friends of mine, and they left on errands before I had a chance to get proper directions," Nicole spun her lie, as she turned over the engine. "Again, thank you so much. It's great of you to help. I don't suppose they have a phone here, doesn't look like there's even electricity," she smiled, wiping the sand from her eyes.

Madison finished filling the radiator, replaced the cap and slammed down the hood. "Good as new," he replied. "You need a phone? I have a cell, if you need to make a call." Nicole's smile widened. "You're too kind. And I didn't even ask your name."

"Madison. Alex Madison," he answered as he walked back to return the bucket to its place. Nicole starred at his back and quickly looked away as he turned to face her. "And you're..."

Nicole stood motionless, her knees trembling, as a gust of wind blew her dress. Turning to prevent a face full of sand, she cautiously turned back again. "Jane," she said quickly. "Looks like a storm is coming," she quickly changed the subject, pointing to the thunderclouds moving into view. "I better get back on the road. I have a ways to go." She hoped that her knees wouldn't buckle as she turned back to the safety of the car.

"Yes, it looks like we might get a bad one this time. Sure you don't want to use my cell phone?" he asked, reaching into his jacket pocket. Nicole's heart was beating loudly in her ears. "Cell? Oh, no it's okay."

"Well, Jane, it was a pleasure to meet you. I'm glad I could help," he nodded to her. Nicole opened the door and jumped inside. "Thank you Mr. Madison. You have made my day." She put the car in gear, and watched him closely in the rearview as she pulled out again onto the highway. She held on for a very short while, then pulling to the shoulder of the road, she jerked the car to a stop and burst into tears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katain found Lucas in his room, and knocking softly, she entered. "Lucas, can I talk to you?" He motioned that he didn't care much one way or another. She closed the door behind her. "I just want you to know that I understand what you're going through. I have a son, and I was forced to leave him back in Washington. I know what it's like to be separated from the people that you love." He looked at her, surprised to see emotion coming from the otherwise hard exterior of the young woman standing before him.

"I'd gladly give my life this very second if I knew that it would keep them safe, Katain. But short of that I will not go another day not knowing if they are dead or alive," his guard was dropping and he felt very uncomfortable.

"There's no reason to feel uncomfortable," she answered his thoughts. "We'll get them, Lucas. It is important that we have them with us. I think it's fair to say that any one of us would give our lives to assure their safety at this point in time. What is it that you want to do?"

He found it difficult to look her in the eye. She was a virtual stranger to him, and yet this feeling that they shared something so very important was getting harder and harder for him to shake. "I'm truly sorry about your son being separated from you." He was comforted in the fact that at least she, of all people, could relate to what he was going through. "I know where they are, and I want to go and bring them here."

"Then I'll go with you." Her eyes never wavered from his face as she spoke. "We'll leave today, no? Try to call them again, Lucas." She walked to the side of the bed and picked up the phone placing it in his hands. "One way or another, they will all be with us soon, I promise you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Just what are we going to do about Isabel?" Michael asked Max after the others had returned down stairs. Liz had gone down to try to reach Kal or John on the phone to bring them up to date about Isabel. Max rubbed hard at his eyes, and didn't answer. "Max, she's setting us up...all of us. Whatever she's told Jared...it can't be changed now, it's too late. She's the enemy now, Maxwell, and maybe Larek should handle things before he leaves camp ..before things get any worse. All of our lives could depend on it."

He knew Michael was right. Vilondra had again betrayed her family. But there was a part of him who still remembered her as Isabel, even though he was very sure that never again would any of them be able to think of her that way again. But one way or another...she was his sister.

"Damn it! Maxwell! She killed us all once," Max started to turn away, but Michael grabbed at his arm, stopping him. "Max, she murdered Ava in cold blood, just as sure as if she'd put a gun to her head and shot her. Do you really think that she wouldn’t do that again? She’s no better than Tess. She's never going to turn back into the person we once knew, it's not going to happen. I'm not ready to see history repeat itself. And so.. I'm asking you again, Zan. What are we going to do?"

Max pushed Michaels' hand from his arm. "You don't have to tell me everything that she took from me, Rath. Do you think for one fucking minute that I want any harm to come to any of us, least of all to Liz."

Michael cringed. "I'm sorry. It's just that for every minute that we wait, the possibilities become unthinkable."

Max walked to the window and looked out over the land and up to the mountain on the horizon. It had been a long time ago that they had walked down that mountain as children...a very long time ago. He had been without Ava on that night when the three had left the pod chamber. It may not have been in his conscious mind at the time, but the feeling of emptiness was something he had carried with him for over ten years. He turned back into the room. Michael stood staring at him, determined not to look away. Max slowly shook his head. "Send Larek a message."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

As Madison's car approached the perimeter of Eagle Rock Facility, he was astonished to see not three Apache choppers on the ground, but a fourth one which was landing at that exact moment. As he furiously stepped out of his car, he was met by the simultaneous clicking of M-16 rifles not six feet in all directions. His hand automatically stopped short of his own weapon under his jacket. "What the fuck is going on here! This is my base, I'm Alexander Madison, I'm with the Federal Bureau of Investigation! You better take your guns off of me, and do it now, or I'll be forced to use my own. I want to see your commanding officer!" he screamed above the roar of the chopper. The dust and sand flew in small funnels around them as the chopper blades were finally shut down. A tall officer exited from the dust cloud and ducking, ran in their direction.

"Madison? I'm General Prost, US Air Force. I have orders to secure this facility. May I accompany you inside, please?" Madison heard it for exactly what it was. Not a question, but a directive. He returned his hand from under his jacket, placing it instead out in front of him. "It's a pleasure to met you, Sir," he spoke with a formal salutation, that still held much confusion. The General shook his hand, then swung his arm around and out, motioning for Madison to lead the way. Walking past the four armed guards standing now at attention, he smirked.

Once settled inside Madison's office, the General removed his hat and took a seat. The door stood open as Madison tried, but lost count of the number of troops jogging past his door and on down the hall. "We've been asked to secure the premises," General Prost explained out of simple courtesy. "I believe you have sensitive information here that needs security," as he spoke, several soldiers were actively removing the computer tower from his very own desk, and pulling drawers of files from the cabinet.

"What is this all about, General. There's nothing sensitive here. I've been only readying the facility for the Terrorist Homeland Security Office of the United States government. The base isn't scheduled to be functioning for another six months. I don't see what we could possibly have here that would be of use to the Air Force. Wait!" he yelled, as the young soldier began to exit the room with his computer tower. "That's my personal property. You have no right to that!"

"Mr. Madison, please stay calm. If in fact you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about." General Prost smiled slightly. "We are with Project Aquarius, Alex..may I call you Alex?" He smiled again.

Project Aquarius? Madison thought. He should have fuck'n knew. If this was true, then there was a lot that he hadn't been told by his covert contacts with the government hierarchy here in the states. And if General Prost was again involved with Project Aquarius out of Yucca Flats, then they knew exactly what he had. In much the same way that he knew what they had always had, three miles down under the Yucca Flats Facility. The flying disc that had been confiscated sixty years before, same one that they had denied repeatedly, yes, the same one that they had reverse engineered to death.

He didn't like not being in control, but he also couldn't help but think that if he played his cards right, this could be even better. He considered himself a radical, unlike the people who had run the Flats facility. They were in it for the science and the research. Unlike them, he and his wing of the once thriving Special Unit were in it to save their country from falling into the hands of cruel and barbaric races. He grinned to himself anyway. Just the thought of the possibility of having access to all the information that Project Aquarius had gathered over the past half century, made Alex Madison squirm excitedly in his chair and adjust his pants.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


John and Kal were back, and Max had sat them down immediately to explain the latest findings. The granolith certainly wasn't safe here anymore, and neither were any of them as long as Vilondra was with the enemy. Michael had looked at him understandingly, as he realized that Max hadn't mentioned the last text message to go out to Larek.

"We need to get that thing somewhere else. Any ideas?" Serena walked in the back door off the kitchen. "Serena?" John called out. Her face beamed as she came into the diningroom to greet the others. All held their breaths waiting. She never noticed the concern on all their faces.

"It makes it's own wormhole," she stated through a huge grin. "It's so simple really, we just needed the right codes. It appears that it will produce a stable doorway, a very very strong wormhole, when the proper sequence is entered. I'm not so sure it has all the same characteristics of a wormhole, but it's very similar in the structure that we know one creates."

They couldn't help but catch the excitement radiating off of her. "The door only closes when it's made to close, unlike a normal wormhole which apparently is so unstable it opens and closes.. whenever." She waved her hands over her head. "Without the sequence it still appears to be running when it's 'on', but in fact, it's closed both ways, until it's manually opened with the code. There's an immense surge in the magnetic field after the code is entered. It's incredible, nothing like we ever could have thought possible."

"That's amazing," Liz whispered. "Then it is powerful," she said. Serena looked her way. "It's more powerful than anything this world has ever seen before. In fact, the guys were worried about being anywhere near it after we entered the code. The magnetic indicator went off the charts."

John truly didn't want to take anything away from Serena's moment, but he felt he had to let her know. He went to her and hugged her tightly. "Congratulations, Sweetheart."

Serena felt the tension in the air. "What? What's going on? What's happened?"

"Serena, Vilondra is with Jared," Kal answered, keeping his head down. "We have no way, right now, of knowing if she's told him anything about the ranch, but I see no reason why she wouldn't have. We need to get it away from here...somewhere."

The natural excited flush fell quickly from her smiling face. And she leaned against the table, shaking her head. "I don't believe this." Her voice shook with fear. "Do we still have the truck?" she asked. "There's only one thing we can do," she quickly went on without waiting for a response. "I'll go with the boys and we'll take it back to Stanford. I'm just not sure whether we should be handling it right now. It creates massive heat. We might need to wait til during the night sometime." John looked at her and the emotion was strained on his face. He had known that she'd be leaving him in a few short weeks, that would have been difficult enough to deal with; but the thought that it might be a few short hours....?

"It might be the only choice we've got," Max stated, grabbing tightly to Liz's hand.

"Is there any word from Nicole?" Serena asked with more concern. John shook his head no. "Maria's got an address, she's been in the livingroom with Sierra trying to get a phone number from someone she knows over at the phone company.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maria had been on hold for fifteen minutes with a guy who had attended West Roswell High and graduated along with them just months before. Finally the line opened again. "Maria listen, this is going to take a little while," the voice on the other end explained. "There's a geek here in central com that's going to help me with this. But I'll have to call you back. Where can I reach you?"

"Listen, Lou, anything you can do to help us with this, it could be a matter of life and death, so pleeease do whatever you can and get back to me soon, okay?" She gave him her cell number and hung up.

Sierra looked up at her with young eyes, "Maria, where's Emily?" she asked. Maria put her arm around her, first to comfort the little one who was so obviously missing her mother, but second to comfort herself as well. "She's okay, honey, she's with Coby and Peter. She took a little ride with them, they'll be home soon." Sierra smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katain and Lucas sat waiting for Raymond and Angelique to return downstairs. Lucas was nervously tapping his feet on the floor. "Must you do that? It's distracting," Katain stated.

"Distracting? Distracting from what exactly?" Lucas wasn't in the mood to hear anyone else's problems. "This is what we're doing. We're telling grandmother and your grandfather that we are going to South Carolina, it's that simple. No discussion about it. They can't stop us."

"I doubt highly that they will want to stop us, Lucas. We are simply following the steps needed to attain the goal," Katain's face had returned to an almost expressionless one, since leaving Lucas's room. "The question only remains as to whether it's wise to take Marshall, Jessie and your sister with us on this quest."

"I don't think Ava needs to be put through this, she's still grieving for her son, Katain. As a matter of fact, I'm not expecting to run into any trouble. I'm sure that Nicole would have called had anything suspicious been happening out there. I think Ava and your brother and sister should stay here and wait for our return. Money is no object here, we will simply fly out there, pick them up and bring them back with us."

Katain thought about things for a few moments, then added her final opinion. "I believe that Marshall should come with us, Lucas. Jessie and Ava are not as strong as my brother and I are. It would be better for all if they stay behind. That's a simple deduction because regardless of what you may want to believe, there are others searching for your daughters. Our errand is to find them before they do." Lucas stomach flipped. The voice in his head spoke to him again, and he then had no doubt that Katain was speaking the truth. Was she manipulating his thoughts, he wondered. Her lips pursed in a small smile. "No Lucas, your spirits are guiding you."

"Spirits?" he asked, checking his watch and growing impatient with his grandmother. "Yes, we're all hybrids, Lucas. There are fragments of others living inside of us. Your soul has been refined by all of those who came before you."

"It must be pretty damn crowded in there.." he answered cynically. Katain paid him no mind. "Lucas, if there is one thing that I have, it is patience. But you have been seriously trying mine in the short time since we met. You may not want to believe anything that you've been told, anymore than the rest of us did at one time, I might add. But soon you will see that by following your heart now, you will learn that everything we have said is truth. The only acceptable thing to you now is finding you two daughters, and for now, that is what we will do."

Lucas looked at her face as she turned away. Her eyes were clear and blue, her skin was light and the epitome of perfection, but the strain of worrying was also there. He thought of the loneliness she must be feeling for her son, who was so far away. He felt reassured that she understood the only important thing on his mind at this moment, because she too was a parent. She glanced over, so obviously reading his thoughts. "I understand completely Lucas."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Larek came to Jared's tent half expecting to find Vilondra there, but he was alone. "And so, Larek. Are you ready?" Jared looked up as he entered.

"Yes, Jared. I needed to find out any last minute information you may be able to give us." He could only hope. "Tess knows the location of the granolith. You are simply to return with it. It's my understanding that you may meet with some resistance from two old friends of the royals. Vilondra tells me that Kolt and Lan keep very close guard on the icon."

"I can take care of the two, while we are there," he said calmly. "Do you want them brought back to you? Do we know there location?" Larek filled his leather pouch with water from the barrel by the door.

"She had no idea where they could be found...and they are of no interest to me anyway. Without the granolith, their cause is lost, wouldn't you say?" Larek shook his head slowly in agreement.

"Be swift, Larek. We haven't much time to return to Adia." Larek bowed slightly to the King, as he backed out of the tent, smiling at the two guards always standing inside the doorway. Reaching the outside, he was relieved, but had no idea why Vilondra hadn't told Jared of the location of Kolt's ranch. He shook his head, don't waste precious time trying to figure her out, he told himself. She was and is a murderer and a betrayer.

He looked across camp. All seemed calm. Nicholas's team had already left for Lovell. On their wild goose chase, he thought smiling to himself. Now it was up to him to try to keep Tess in tow. He knew this wouldn't be easy as Jared had put her in full control of the team, and he also knew that Jared would be in constant contact with her along the way. Larek still couldn't understand Jared's fascination with Tess. Aside from her obvious hatred toward the royals. He always had the feeling that something was happening right under the surface that he knew nothing about. Jared had been salivating at the mouth minutes ago. And Larek knew that he could taste what he believed to be victory close at hand.

Up above a sudden roar and whine of several fighter jets filled the blue sky. Larek stood in the middle of camp, not sure of what to do. Jared was out of his tent along with several stunned and confused soldiers. The camouflage was clear as the low flying fighters took a pass over the camp and then disappeared into the northern sky. Jared looked up in Lareks direction and calmly yelled out to him. "Get your team together now! It would seem we have little time left here!" Soldiers scattered quickly to uncover a very unearthly weapon standing the height of a two story building.

"This isn't good. Damn!" Larek muttered, quickly gathering his belongings, not knowing exactly what was about to happen above or around them. He needed to hurry, but first there was a long standing matter to be settled, no matter what the current danger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With the silent gracefulness of a panther, Larek entered Vilondra's tent. She was a mere fifteen feet from him, washing her blistered face in a basin of water there. As he took the few short steps up behind her.

She stopped suddenly, but before she could spin around, his hands wrapped the steel cord quickly around her neck. Placing one hand over her mouth and with the other he quickly tightened the cord with the connecting garret. She gasped for breath, and began struggling all the while strange small noises came from deep inside of her, but his size made it impossible to put up much physical resistance. He placed his face up over her shoulder next to her ear, as he applied more pressure on the cord. Slowly, he reminded himself, ever so slowly. She gagged and tried to scream out, but the sound never made it past a slight whisper of terror. He couldn't help himself as his lips curved into a slight smile. Then into her ear he whispered, "You won't be returning from this one," he said. "This is for Ava." He jerked his hand quickly and tightly, severing through her neck, sending one forth of the royal team crumpling slowly to the floor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


At that very same moment, Sierra screamed out hysterically for her mother, and panic again filled the small livingroom on the Brown ranch.

"What is it, Sierra? What's happened," Liz cried, picking her up and holding her tightly. Sierra searched the room and found Max's face coming toward her. "She's dead!" she screamed out.

Terror washed over every face in the room. Liz tried to calm her. "Who? Sierra. Your Mommy?" she asked in shocked disbelief, rocking her back and forth. "No," she sobbed, shaking her head. Sierra looked into Max's face, who was now kneeling beside them. "Your s-s-sister," she stammered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
New Chapter Banner

Nicole turned onto I-23W, heading toward the airport. Her thoughts were running a mile a minute. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. But when she had originally thought about it, she knew all too well that Ava might not admit that Lucas was there, and she needed to see him in person, no matter what. She realized she was wasting precious time.

Up the road a bit she saw a small restaurant, and just outside a phone booth. She gathered her hair into a twist, sticking a clip there to hold it above her neck. The desert was sweltering hot, and she had spent most of the last half hour with one eye on the temperature gauge. Searching her purse for her calling card, she walked into the dirty smelling phone booth. Dialing in Ava's phone number, she took a deep breath and prayed. The phone rang several times, and a young voice answered. "Hello?"

"Ava?" Nicole asked excitedly. There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line. "No. Who's calling?" Nicole was taken by surprise. "Who is this?" she asked anxiously. "Jessie," the voice answered timidly.

Jessie? she thought. Jessie who? she was completely confused. "I need to speak to Ava, is there an Ava still living there?"

"Yes there is. Again… may I ask who is calling?" the female voice repeated.

Nicole sighed heavily. "My name is Nicole, I'm her sister in law. Please put her on the phone, it's very important." She heard muffled noises at the other end, and her heart pounded in her chest waiting.

"Nicole? " The familiar and surprised voice rang out.

"Yes! Ava? Oh thank god you're there. I need to talk to Lucas, Ava. He's there, I know he's there! Please.. let me talk to him." In her heart she knew there was no doubt that he had been staying there with his sister.

Ava explained, "He's not here right now, Nicole. He and Katain left about fifteen minutes ago."

"Katain? Who's Katain, and who's Jessie? What's going on Ava?" her voice started to panic.

"It's okay, Nicole, he's coming to get you and the girls. Katain and Jessie are members of the Duncan family. I can't get into this over the phone, Lucas will explain everything once he sees you."

"He's coming for us?" she replied shocked. "Ava, that's not possible. Where does he think we are?" Nicole held the receiver so tight in her hand that her knuckles were turning white.

"Lovell. That's where you are, isn't it?" Ava asked hearing the confusion in Nicole's voice. "Nicole, where are you right now?"

"I'm in Albuquerque, down in New Mexico. I'm right near the airport here. I was coming up there, but I got scared and decided to call and let him know what's going on down here. He's going all the way to Lovell and we're not even there, Ava. You have to reach him and tell him. Does he have a cell phone?" She paced in the small cubicle, already knowing the answer to that question before she asked it.

"No, you know Lucas, he doesn't believe in that kind of thing," Ava answered, then trying to calm Nicole, she continued. "Well, hopefully they'll call back here when they reach their destination. They have very strict orders to stay in touch with us. I don't know what else to do right now," she answered, concerned but still confused.

"Damn it!" Nicole exclaimed. "We all need to be together. I'll go back and tell the others that the girls and I have to return to Lovell right away. When he calls tell him to stay where he is and to give you a number where I can reach him."

"The others?" Ava questioned. "Nicole, I have to tell you there's a lot going on here that you need to know about. The Duncans are here with us, they are friends of grandmothers. Nicole, everything grandmother told us all these years...her senile rantings...it's all true, Nicole. The Duncans are...they're like the Landaus, Nicole. Do you understand what I'm telling you?" again she reminded herself that they were on an unsecure line.

Nicole sighed once again. "I know, Ava. The others that I've met are like your family, too. There's five of them. I know it's true, Ava. I've seen it with my own eyes. I can't even begin to tell you everything that's been happening to us out here too. But you must be careful, Ava, you must all be very careful. How many Duncans are there?"

"There's four. Three that are our ages, and one who's the age of Mother Angie. Nicole, they have...gifts like the children, like Emily, Sierra and Sean had. The whole thing is absolutely unbelievable, but it's true...all of it is true. Grandmother and the oldest Duncan said that something is getting ready to happen, and we have to protect the girls, Nicole. We have to all stay together to keep them safe. That's why Lucas and Katain are coming for you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deep in the basement of Eagle Rock two men sat face to face. "And so, Alex," General Prost finished explaining. "It seems that we at the Aquarius Project have half of the puzzle and you here may just have the remaining half."

Madison sat staring at the older man across the desk from him. "There's two families?" he asked with excited surprise, still trying to take it all in. "If you know all of this, why haven't you moved on this before now?"

Prost corrected him. "With your information there now appears to be three families. We've been gathering this information for many years now. The special unit that once occupied this facility had to be systematically abandoned as a security precaution. It's a very touchy situation. Unfortunately, there's been this latest development… what appears to be a camp in Moab. But then you already would know about that, since you so obviously intercepted several top secret memos. Security at Yucca Flats has been raised to a level five, although we are sure that they pose no imminent threat to us...to this world. There's something else going on, and by gathering your information and the previous records of Daniel Pierce, the last head of this Special Unit, we hope to piece together what that may be."

"So let me get this straight. You've known that there are alien invaders in our country, and you've chosen to do nothing about it all of this time?" Madison's blood pressure was rising. For the past ten years of his life, Madison had devoted everything in his being to the cause. The fact that he was working covertly with several other factions in another part of the world had assured him that his motives had always been justified.

"Alex, Alex. Let me explain a little something that I'm sure you have no knowledge of. The objective of the Aquarius Project has always, let me stress that point...has always been to stay out of things that were not of direct concern to us; all the while still, of course, keeping a close eye on our own security. We can not afford now, as we couldn't back in 1947, to fuel the fire on an intergalactic incident. Surely that much you must understand. Our top advisors have assured us that it is in the very best interest of our world to let things play themselves out. There has been absolutely no hostile move through the decades, and much was learned from the crash of '47. Most of your technology today has in some way or another originated from that ship."

General Prost paused long enough to clip and light his cigar. "Trust me, Alex. There are people at very high places who know exactly what is going on. It's not for us down here on the lower rungs of the ladder to say, only to provide any new information expediently."

"And the Landaus?" Madison asked, still with abstinence in his voice. General Prost merely smiled. "Yes, the Landaus." Years of experience and worlds of knowledge showed suddenly on the General's face. "They were here long before either you or I, Alex. Long before."

He took a long drag on his cigar, blowing smoke into the air over Alex Madison's head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Maria had taken Sierra into the kitchen, promising a dish of strawberry ice cream, as the others gathered in the study. Once everyone was settled, Serena told everyone that she was going out to the tack house to gather things together and send the others, including Emily, back indoors with them. And that the granolith would be ready for travel right after nightfall.

It took a few minutes before the group settled down. Once they did, John began. "Well the important facts are...Nicholas and one group are going to Lovell for the girls. Do we know how many he has with him?" he paused, turning to Michael.

"No," Michael answered with a frown.

John continued on. "Larek is on his way here with Tess and another group, for the granolith. They of course don't know that we are here, nor do they know that the girls are not there. Nicole is off somewhere trying to find Lucas. Maria is waiting to get a phone number where we can hopefully reach him. The granolith will be moved during the cover of dark to Stanford University with Serena, Pete and Coby. Madison seems to have company at Eagle Rock. And, we have two children here without their mother," he rubbed his forehead. "Have I forgotten anything?"

Liz sat quietly, as Max looked with concern in her direction, and then clearly stated. "We need to attend Liz's mom's funeral on Wednesday morning." The overwhelmed feeling in the room doubled.

"I'm so terribly sorry, Liz," John said. The look of sadness on his face couldn't be described with mere words, he was so angry at himself for not making that one of the major priorities.

A strong look of understanding crossed over her worried face. "It's okay, John. We could never have realized that things would be becoming so unbelievably ...bad, all at once."

Michael quickly spoke up. "I'm going to the funeral, too. They're not going anywhere without me." Both Kal and John nodded in agreement, exchanging glances.

"For the next twenty-four hours I don't want any of you leaving the property...for any reason." A little voice in the back of John's mind just couldn't be silenced. He knew that both he and Kal should also be there at the cemetery, afterall this could very well be the moment that Alex Madison had been building up to. But if both he and Kal attended to help protect Max and Liz, they'd have to take the girls along as well, since by that time Serena would already have left. And that of course would be having all the fragile eggs in one basket, probably not a wise move, Kal sent his thought in answer to John's.

"What about Isabel?" Liz asked, still concerned at the emotional scene just minutes earlier with Sierra. "She knew something was wrong. And it was Max's sister that she honed in on. I have no doubt about that."

Kal shook his head, not understanding exactly what message or vision Sierra had been receiving. "Well, we don't have any way of knowing if it's true or not. And at this very minute, it makes little difference to me personally. We know that she betrayed… everything. She never would have been with Jared otherwise. She's obviously told him everything she knew about Lovell and probably much more."

Michael again looked at Max. "Maxwell?" He said, prompting him to tell Kal and the others the truth. Max seemed to snap out of deep thought, then very slowly answered, "I sent Larek an order. It had to be done."

The silence in the room became deafening. Liz closed her eyes and then nodded her head, understanding the deep emotions he had to have been feeling. She hated herself for being so distracted with her own feelings that she hadn't taken the time to notice the change in him in just the last few hours. "Max-x," her voice cracked slightly, she grabbed tightly to his arm and nodded her head as her heart broke for him. "Max, you did what you needed to do for everyone's safety,” she whispered. He didn't seem to hear her words as he stood and left the room. Liz looked to John, who went after him.

"There's no painting a pretty picture of any of this," Kal said, bluntly. "She was no longer Isabel. She was Vilondra. Plain and simple. And Vilondra was a very dangerous woman. The blood of thousands of people, both before and still continuing, are on her hands, including her very own flesh and blood. She was the catapult to the demise of Antar. Apparently she didn't have any problem going back for more. I think we all need to realize that given a confrontation, things could have been much worse. Max could very well have been in a situation where he himself would have had to have dealt with her directly. It's far better that Larek has taken the burden from him… from all of us. In time Max will see that too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max stood out on the front porch, staring off in the direction of the mountains, as John quietly closed the screen door behind him. "You okay?"

Max turned, his face pale. "What do you think, John. My sister is dead and I was the one who gave the directive."

"Yes. Vilondra is dead. And yes, she may have been related to you by blood, but she was never truly your sister, Max. Confronted with the same evil as sixty years ago, she consciously decided to replay history." John leaned on the rail, trying to get Max to look at him. "There was always something wrong there, Max. You knew that, we all knew that. Sometimes when we think back things look a whole lot better than they actually were. The truth is that I know you may think that you and Isabel may have become close over the last nineteen years, but you and Vilondra were never close. I know Zan remembers that."

"Yeah, he does, but that doesn't stop me...the me that's Max, and by the way..that's a pretty big part of me, from feeling completely responsible," Max held his arms folded, trying to grasp some sense of reality. "I just can't stop wondering just who she was, John..," he swallowed hard, "at the very moment that she died."

John didn't have an answer to that question, and tried to come up with the next best thing. "Larek knew, he knew so much more than any of us here about what was going on in that camp. He made that choice. We have to trust that Larek did the right thing...the only thing under the circumstances."

"Larek never knew Isabel, he only knew Vilondra," Max insisted on his own prosecution. "He's been a wonderful friend, John, but he's a soldier and he was following orders." Max was silent for a long time.

John finally spoke up. "It's done Max, and it was the only thing that you could have done. Try not to think like Max on this one, remember what it is that Zan needs you to remember now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A dust cloud was making it's way up the driveway, catching their immediate attention and changing thought patterns instantly. As the car came closer, John saw it was the Sheriff's car. Both of them ducked back inside, not knowing what to expect. The black and white skidded to a stop near the steps, and before even Valenti had opened his door, Amy Deluca jumped from the passenger side.

"It's your mother, Maria," Michael grimaced, as he yelled into the kitchen to his significant other. A loud WHAT? echoed in from the kitchen, followed by a much quieter, shit. Michael stood watching through the livingroom curtain. She was knocking on the door within seconds. "Maria? Maria, honey are you there?"

Michael walked to the front door and caught the look of apology from Jim Valenti, standing behind Amy. "Michael," she curtly nodded to him.

Jim tried to speak quickly. "She just got back, heard about Nancy and you kids being here and insisted on coming. I thought it best to bring her over here myself." Michael nodded back to him, as he let Ms. Deluca in the front screen door. Maria was suddenly there embracing her. "Mom? . . What are you doing here? What about your retreat?" She hugged her mother and rolled her eyes at Max and Michael who by this time had been leading the group farther into the living room.

"I got home a little while ago, and my neighbor told us about Liz's mom." She looked up and saw Liz sitting across the room with Sierra in her lap. "Oh, my god, Liz, sweetie. I can't believe this, when I left, she was dealing with that whole walking pneumonia thing...but this? I'm so sorry." Tears were streaming down Amy's face, as she held Maria's hand tightly.

During the next few minutes Liz explained the doctor’s version of her mother's death. Maria was so proud of her for handling it all so convincingly. Amy blew her nose, and looked up at Michael, still standing back at the front window. "Hello, Michael. It's good to see you. It's so good to see all you kids again." Maria hustled her mom out into the kitchen to put some tea water on the stove, explaining that Serena would be getting back momentarily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The late afternoon had moved in rapidly, right along with one of the strongest storms that drought-ridden Roswell had seen in a very long time. Thunder and lightening and torrential downpours went on for hours. The rain was beating down with such force it was difficult to see the cars that were parked right out in the front yard. It seemed strange to put the lights on inside the house so early in the evening, but the sky appeared to be as dark as night, except for the intense flashes of lightning that would momentarily light up an entire room. Michael and Maria walked throughout, pulling down shades and closing curtains over windows.

Emily had returned to learn of the absence of her mother, and to everyone's surprise she wasn't surprised in the slightest. "I had a feeling that Mommy needed Daddy to be here with us. I just wish she would have called him instead of leaving. I'm worried about her," stated the young adult in five year old form.

"We wish she would have called too, Emily, or at least told us that this is what she wanted to do." Liz was busy peeling potatoes for dinner. "I'm sure Serena told you that we all need to stay inside now, we think it may be too dangerous for any of us to go out anywhere."

Emily shook her head. "Who's coming?" she asked quietly.

Liz put down the paring knife, wiped her hands on a towel and went to sit opposite her at the kitchen table. "Emily, I'm not going to lie to you, okay? I think you'd probably know if we were keeping something important from you and it's so very important that you trust us." Emily shook her head in complete understanding. "There is a group of people coming here to Roswell, they're looking for something, something that we have. It's something we have to protect."

"The granolith, right?" she replied, never looking away from Liz's eyes.

"Yes, the granolith. I'm sure that you know by now, after spending so much time out in the tack house with Pete and Coby, that it's a very powerful machine, and it's also a very dangerous machine if it falls into the wrong hands...their hands. It's important that we all stay very close to each other for the next day or so."

"What about Mommy and Daddy?" she asked with concern. "Aren't they in danger too?"

Liz took a deep breath. "Yes, Emily, they are. That's why we have to find out exactly where your Daddy is so that we can get them both back here, or to someplace safer with the rest of us."

The little one tried to smile. "Are we going somewhere in the granolith, Liz?"

Liz couldn't help but be surprised at her question. "I don't think so, Emily. We've only begun to understand how it works. Why do you ask?"

"Because, I saw it. We were all traveling somewhere, not like Sierra and I travel, but we were moving very quickly. I had the feeling we were all going home."

Liz took hold of her hands across the table. "When you've seen this happening, Emily, where was your understanding of home? I mean..."

"I know what you mean, Liz. I've been having a lot of daydreams about it ever since Serena first showed me it's picture. We were flying through space, far far away. I don't want to leave my Mommy, Liz. I don't want to go." Her level of anxiety was rising in her voice as she spoke, yet she didn't cry.

"Emily, sweetheart, we're not going anywhere, trust me. Okay? We're going to find your Mom and Dad and everyone will be together again. We're going to do everything in our power to make things safe here for all of us. I would never let anything happen to you or your sister. I promise you that." Liz saw the look of relief on her face and stood returning to the sink and the potatoes, but she couldn't stop thinking. "Emily, do you have any idea where home..was in your daydream?"

The little red head smiled. "Yep, Max was there with us, he called it Trinity."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

The smell of pot roast began to fill the house, as the rain continued to batter against the windows. John and Kal sat alone in the living room. "It's going to take some time before he'll come to grips with the Isabel issue," John was saying. "It was such a difficult and emotional decision for him to come to. Obviously Zan entered into the equation, otherwise I don't believe Max would have been strong enough to have made the directive on his own."

Kal sat staring into the unlit fireplace. "Vilondra was evil, that's the bottom line, and I'm sure given time, Zan will do his best to convince Max of what he already knows deep inside. I know I should feel somewhat relieved, but under the circumstances and not fully knowing exactly what is happening out there," he nodded towards the door, "I haven't given myself the liberty of feeling relief. I am glad though that Max seems to be stepping into his role now, and Michael too."

"Yes, there's no doubt that it's happening very quickly for them both. Liz, I'm afraid has too much else on her mind. I'm hoping she'll be able to hold things together until after the funeral on Wednesday." He absentmindedly took a small plastic box from his shirt pocket and offered one to Kal, who refused. John popped two mints into his mouth and then continued. "I'm a little worried about Liz's stability and Ava's ability to handle things right after the funeral is over. I think we should be hearing something from Larek before tomorrow afternoon. At least, I should hope so." There was no keeping the worry from showing on his otherwise strong face.

Kal shook his head agreeing. "So, what is the plan, John? With Larek in the mix, their element of surprise will be gone. I'm not sure how he's planning on playing it once Tess discovers that the granolith is not where she left it. Everything is pretty much in his hands."

"I trust Larek's judgment better right now than I trust my own, Kal. He must have a plan, I just wish we'd find out quickly what that plan is. Right now our own particular plan is to do nothing.. but protect the quad and the girls, should it come to that. The granolith should be well on it's way to California before they finally do arrive in the vicinity. I'm not sure that Larek will be able to return to camp, once Jared becomes aware of Vilondra's death. Of course, we don't know just how much Jared will actually care about that, because I'm sure that he was able to get all the information that he wanted from her early on. It would seem that the cast of perpetrators could be Tess herself, as well as Nicholas. Neither of those two ever had much time for her knowing of her traitorous ways. Not sure how well Larek even wanted to cover his tracks at the time, all things considered."

Kal's mind was wandering, thinking of the past and John picked up on it immediately. "There's nothing to worry about. Larek is loyal to the royals, always has been.. always will be. The feelings he once held for Ava now have new meaning, Kal. Larek has single-handedly been leading the resistance, putting his life on the line for the dream, for the survival of our worlds. I know I don't have to remind you that Larek also almost died that day, trying to protect the palace. If nothing else, his once deep feelings for Ava will be an added plus for all of us. We talked that night he was here. He long ago accepted what had to be. He accepted Ava's dreams above his own. Please let's not even go there with Max. His memories have returned, and he dearly loves his friend."

"I'm aware of all of that, John. Larek is a soldier and a damn good one. But sometimes feelings can cause us to be caught off guard in situations that demand our full concentrated attention." Kal looked toward the stairs. "Where's Michael?"

"He's in the study with Sierra and Maria. If he had heard anything at all, we would be the first to know," John assured him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Ava paced the floor, thinking as her grandmother watched. "We can do nothing..only wait until Lucas calls us," she said. Marshall was lounging in the side chair.

"I thought it was a stupid idea to begin with. We never should have split up. Where is Nicole going now?" he asked Ava.

"She said she was returning to Roswell, back with the girls and she'd just wait to hear from us."

Angelique looked tiredly at Marshal. "Why didn't she have the girls with her, I wonder."

"She said that there was a lot going on back there. Something about another family. She referred to them as the royal family."

Raymond's eyes opened widely with great interest. "Royal family? What is that supposed to mean? She said nothing else about them?"

"Just that there were five of them, and that they were hybrids.. like us. She must have felt that the girls would be safe with them. I know my sister in law, she never would have left them alone with anyone she considered to be strangers, not after all we've been through."

Angelique looked at Raymond, a million questions in her eyes. "Do you think that she means the royals as in the prophecy? Oh my god, Raymond, we have to somehow reach Lucas. He has to know this. We must get word to him and to them."

"Angelique, my dear, I think you may be jumping the proverbial gun here. That would be just too amazing to be true right now," he couldn't wrap his mind around the idea as hard as he tried. He continued thinking out loud. "The royals, if she means the actual royal family that's been mentioned in the manuscripts and the prophecies? That would be Zan and his sister. I just don't know who the others could be."

"Couldn't one of them be Ava, I mean the true Ava?" It just wasn't possible for Ava to believe that she was destined to be the queen of some unknown fabled planet, galaxies away from her true home.

"Ava," Angelique's temper was being pushed beyond it's limit. She had spent the better part of her ninety years believing it to be so, and in her own mind there was no room for doubt. "There is only one reincarnation of the Princess of Adia. It is something that I have planned for all of your life. Whether you may now be comfortable with the identity is not for you to say. It never has been for you to say. It has been fate's decision."

Jessie looked at Ava, who looked to the floor, then up again to Angelique's face before she spoke. "I think we need to just let fate take its course, wouldn't you say?" she asked to the old woman across the room from her. Angelique simply nodded. Ava excused herself, walking quickly to the stairs with Jessie not far behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"What exactly is it that the Aquarius Project plans to do about all this. I can't fathom that you're going to sit back and do nothing," Madison still couldn't believe what was happening in his own facility.

General Prost hardly batted an eye. "I have my orders, as you now have yours. You are to cease and desist everything that you are currently handling. This matter is now in the very best of hands."

"No! That's not good enough, General. I want in on whatever you know. I have the right! I've dedicated all of my life to saving this country from attack...a very imminent attack." The veins were popping very close to the surface, as Madison slowly began to lose his cool. He had sat and listened to this farce of a soldier sitting here in his very own office for the better part of two hours now. He completely refused to understand or believe what he was hearing.

"Mr. Madison," the General began coolly. "You have no rights in this matter whatsoever. As common courtesy and because of the many years you have served this country in your own way, we have made the decision to explain this much to you. But, as for anything else pertaining to the Aquarius Project you do not hold the proper clearance level. All I will say in closing is that it is in the best interest of this land, that you claim such dedication to, for us not to respond or interact in any way. Is that clear to you?"

Alex Madison was a beaten man. His proof, his files, his entire network had been confiscated by his own government and the irony was eating away at him. He stood slowly walking toward the door, just in time to have an M-16 aimed in his direction by the guard standing just outside in the hallway.

General Prost stood to his feet. "Please take Mr. Madison into custody until he's had a chance to think things over."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Nicole Landau had turned the car around, now traveling back east, retracing her steps. The road was darkened by the storm that seemed to be intensifying. The rain was beating down so hard on the windshield that the wipers had no chance of clearing the glass. The worst part was that she appeared to be the only one on the two lane highway. No one else is stupid enough to be out in this, let alone driving, she told herself, as she peered out the front trying desperately to keep the white line in sight.

Suddenly the car appeared to run over something, what she wasn't sure, but the next sound she heard was the blowout of a tire. She pounded with both hands on the steering wheel and screamed out as she came rolling to a bumpy stop.

"For the love of God! Please, I just want to get back!" she cried out to no one there. If there was one thing that Nicole was thankful for it was the fact that the strength of the storm had stopped her from keeping up a decent speed on the highway, otherwise she had no doubt that she would have spun off and flipped over into the desert.

She reached down, turning off the car and winced, as lightning bolted right over the car. She picked up her cell, and noticed that she had no cell service. She pushed the call button over and over. "What the hell?" she cried out. “Why are you doing this to me?? she screamed.

She attempted to wind down the window as the heat had already begun to build inside. She squinted in all directions realizing that she had no idea where she was. It was okay, she tried to calm herself, the storm couldn't possibly last that much longer and hopefully her cell service would be back up soon. She frowned and wound down the window, letting the cool air rush inside, along with the pounding rain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"My Mom!" Emily cried out. "My mother's in trouble. I need to go to her." Liz and Max had just finished setting the table for their late dinner. Alarmed, Liz stood perfectly still, having just had the exact same flash that she at this point assumed Emily had witnessed.

"Mommy's car's broken down. She's in danger. They're near to her!" She stood and quickly closed her eyes.

"No Emily! Don't!" Liz's grip tightened on her arm, fearing the girl was about to embark, somewhere out there, by herself. "Stay right here! One of us will go with you." She looked at Max. "Nicole's on I-23, there's something wrong with the car." Then quieter she whispered. "In the flash, I felt it too. I could feel the danger...close." She tried not to let Emily see the fear in her eyes that Max saw. "Max, I've done this before. Let me go with her and between the two of us just maybe we can get Nicole back here with us."

"That's crazy, Liz. I won't let you two do it. It's how long between here and the airport? Thirty minutes by car?" He knew it was more like forty-five and he also knew that every minute counted.

"Max, it's more than that, and the storm wouldn't help. We'll travel there, to where she is, and then come back here directly. We'll be fine, I promise."

Max was continually shaking his head. "No, it's too dangerous, Liz. What happens if you run into Tess and that patrol? No, I won't let you. Michael and I will go out there in Serena's car."

"Go where?" came the voice from the doorway. Michael stood eyeing up the food on the table. "We ready to eat yet?"

"Emily and I just had a flash of Nicole. The car's broken down somehow, she's out on I-23." With that suddenly the thunder and lightning cracked loudly very close, and the electricity went out, plunging the entire house into utter darkness.

"Jesus! Can we catch a break here?" Michael yelled out to someone above him. Liz felt for the stove, remembering that it was gas lit. Throwing a few pots in the direction of the sink, she lit the front two burners, sending a golden glow out over the kitchen. "Candles," she yelled out. From the front room out of the darkness, John yelled. "I'm on it!"

A surreal tune rang out of the darkness. It was a cell phone playing Yankee Doodle Dandy. "My cell!" Maria yelled. In the quiet of the house the others listened as Maria answered. "Hello? Hello?" The phone crackled slightly and buzzed. Maria could only hear every other word. "I can't hear you clearly. Please repeat that," her anxious voice was demanding. "Okay...okay. Yes, THANK YOU! I love you!" She yelled out towards the kitchen, "We've got a number!"

Max reached out for Liz's hand, holding tightly and instant flashes passed between the two. ... He was kneeling down healing her, the first kiss they had shared on the balcony, they were playing pool and then dancing on their first date, short quick flashes of Liz as a child, of Liz walking down the mountain side, that night he had slept on her balcony and listened to her heart speaking to him.... The flashes continued as she gripped his hand tighter. ...Ava smiling at him when she was but a young girl, all of them swimming in the crystal clear waters of Trinity, the night he, Zan, had fallen on one knee to propose to the love of his life.... And suddenly her hand slipped away, and she was gone. He screamed out for her and spun around, quickly seeing that Emily had also disappeared from where she had been standing just seconds earlier. "LIZ! No!" Max screamed out again.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Serena ran in the front door, bringing the rain in with her. She was soaked through to the skin. "Everythings packed up. It's ready whenever we are," she announced without looking up while she kicked off her muddy shoes. There was no answer from the room full of people, and she knew immediately that something was wrong. "Now what?"

"It's Emily and Liz. They had a flash that Nicole was in trouble and Emily decided to travel to her… taking Liz along," John explained, as Kal uttered another damn in the background; the tenth in the last ten minutes. "Look there's a chance that they'll find Nicole and then just immediately travel back here again."

Max paced the room. "Liz won't stay there any longer than necessary knowing that the troops could be close. I don't think it was completely voluntary on her part. Emily was frantic about getting to her mother to bring her back to safety." His heart was ripping apart at the thought that Liz was basically alone out there with god only knew what closing in, on a night that already felt like the storm of the century.

Kal shot up from the kitchen chair. "Let's go Michael, we're tak'n a little ride, just to be on the safe side. Make sure you have a cell with you." Maria quickly tossed hers over to him. "Meanwhile Max, I want you on the phone to Lucas. Find out everything you can from him and let him know that his family is with us. Find out where he is, and if there's any place closer than friggin’ South Dakota where we all can meet safely."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Jared shouted out orders over the sand storm that was blowing up around the breaking camp. The last of the soldiers, with the exception of his own two private guards and a skeleton group of ten others, went through the wormhole, as it shimmered and swayed in the dust around them. He reentered his tent which was one of two still standing. Unbeknown to Jared, far above them two fighter planes made a V pass over the area for the third time that day. The sky grew dark as early evening arrived. He motioned to his guards to stand down and join him in what could possibly be their last good meal here in Moab.

After conferring with several physicists back on Adia by dispatch, Jared had been made aware that he could have at the most 48 hours, until the wormhole shifted and closed again. That would be playing things close, he knew. But the prize was much to big and far too close to turn back now.

Soon Tess and the others would be arriving in Roswell to secure the granolith and then quickly returning to camp. Forty eight hours was plenty of time for both missions to be completed successfully, he thought. And if Tess knew what was good for her, she'd be certain to make it quickly. Yes, he thought, if she knew what was good for her, indeed. The vengeful bitch had taken his prize royal's life before leaving camp. He had been looking forward to taking Vilondra back and parading her through the streets of town and then hanging her at the height of the day in the town square outside the palace. He had wanted so badly to send a message to those Adians still withholding their loyalties by bringing this evil treacherer back alive. Afterall, this traitor had in fact murdered their precious Ava and her prince. Both the people of Adia and the refugees of Antar would have loved him for it. They would have hailed him a hero, he smiled thinking what a truimph it would have been. But alas, he thought as he threw the chicken leg onto the plate..well now it would just have to be dead, and that was better than not at all, he told himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kal and Michael had left the house in search of Nicole and hopefully Emily and Liz. John and Serena were upstairs as she frantically trying to pack up some of her things to take with her back to Stanford. John couldn't take his eyes off of her. It didn't seem possible that he would be waking up tomorrow morning and not seeing her precious face on the pillow next to his. The time had gone all too fast. It always did, even though this time had been cut shorter by three weeks. He also couldn't help worrying for her safety. But she had alaid his fears by asking him who would be suspicious of a woman and her two sons, renting a truck to cart all their stuff back to college. It happens all the time, she reassured him. I'll be fine, John, she had promised him. He had also made her promise to call every three hours, until they were safely on college grounds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello? I'm looking for Lucas Landau, is he there?" Max asked. "My name is Max, I have news of his wife and children." Max could hear as the phone was quickly passed to someone else.

"This is Marshall, Marshall Duncan. Lucas is not here at the moment. Is there something I can help you with?"

"I need to talk to him. It's about the safety of his daughters. Listen, is Ava there?" Max didn't know this Marshall Duncan from Adam, but he thought he could talk more freely with Lucas's sister.

"Max? is that what you said your name was?" Marshall asked.

"Yes, Max Evans," Max again repeated.

"Listen Max, anything you have to say to Ava, you can say to me. We are one family here." This was getting no where fast, and Max was completely frustrated. Sierra was tugging at his knee. "I want to talk to my Daddy, Max."

"Well if I could get him on the freakn’ ….,” he calmed himself and started again. “If I could get him on the phone, you could, sweetie," Max bit his tongue.

A voice spoke on the other end of the line, but it was a female's voice this time. "Is that Sierra talking?" Ava asked, excitedly.

Max quickly stood to his feet. "Yes, yes it is. Is this Ava?"

"Yes, I'm Lucas's sister. Are you calling from Roswell? Nicole called us, and we told her that Lucas and Katain had gone to Lovell to find them. We didn't know that they were with you in Roswell. He hasn't called in yet, so he still has no idea that he's going to the wrong place." Ava was surprised at how comfortable she felt talking to this stranger on the other end of the line.

"You spoke to Nicole? How long ago? We haven't heard anything from her, but Emily just got this flash that she was in trouble out on the road somewhere. Liz and Em went to get her."

"How did they go, Max?" Ava asked hesitating.

"They went. They traveled." Max was trying to quiet little Sierra who wanted so bad to talk to her Aunt. "Look, Sierra needs very much to say hello and talk to you, but whatever you do, Ava, don't hang up. There's much much more that you need to know."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The storm was finally passing, the rain falling less frequently in the form of small showers. Off in the distance you could still hear the rumbling of thunder and the occasional strike of lightning, but the bulk of the storm was finally over.

Nicole sat in the drivers seat with her head back, almost asleep. Her day had been a horrible ordeal, but it had been her own fault. At least she had gotten the message off to Ava, and soon Lucas would know where they were and everything that was going on.

It was so quiet out here, and so dark, she thought as she rolled the window all the way down. Just one car, she begged. One car and she would jump out in front of it if she had to. She didn't have a watch, and the clock in the car had been forever stopped at twelve. She thought about the time and guessed it to be at least nine o'clock now. Not one single vehicle had passed by on this stretch of road since she had been forced to pull over. Not one. She stepped out of the car and walked to the trunk thinking to look for a spare; not that she knew anything about changing a tire, but should she get lucky and someone did happen by, at least it would be better if there was a spare tire for them to change. There was nothing in the trunk but some lengths of rope and a can half full of gasoline.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just to the south, Tess had called camp right before the storm had passed. The group was tired and soaked through. They were a good thirty miles from Roswell and a short twenty miles, as the crow flies, to the podchamber. She remembered this area well.

She noticed that Larek was having progress getting a fire going. Seemed the other side did have a few useful talents afterall, she thought to herself.

He sat with the others warming their hands and drying their clothes. The temperature had dropped steadily as the sun went down. He had tried several times to be in a position where he could have tried again to reach Rath by text message, but to no avail. The bitch didn't trust him anymore than he trusted her. It seemed she was never far from him.

She walked up to the group at the campfire. "There's a few farm houses east of here, they're on the way. We should reach there by tomorrow afternoon. I'm sure one of them has a farm truck that we can borrow. At that point we will wait orders from Jared. We'll rest here for the night, and start out again at first light."

She looked at Larek. "I'll be contacting Jared. Is there anything of interest you'd like to tell the King, Larek?"

He smiled letting her sarcasm roll off his back, "Not that I can presently think of. But I'll be sure to let you know should I think of anything." She turned to the group, "Rest easy, tomorrow will be a very exciting day." She walked back far away from the group and tossed a blanket out of her backpack out onto the ground.

The rest of the men, who totaled eight made themselves ready for the night of rest. Larek layed back using his pack as comfort for his head and stared up at the black sky above him. He had learned alot about Tess in the last eight hours, and much about Jared. Tess had used her newfound powers to transport the group for the last leg of their journey here to this spot. He had had no idea of the power of this wench, and also had no doubt that Jared was assisting her in every way possible. Her abilities worried the seasoned soldier. She was so much more powerful than he had ever imagined.

Larek had seen Jared in action, not even a half of a year before this temporary truce had been signed. It had been one of the last battles that the federalists had lost on Adia. He was not a man to be reckoned with. He had the gift of fire itself. He remembered before leaving camp that Nicholas had warned him that Tess also had this gift, although not the refined version that Jared was capable of, but just the same.. something to be feared. But then, he thought to himself, Nicholas had always feared easy.

Still Larek had years of experience, and knew to be cautious. Little Nicholas, he laughed to himself remembering, he had even gone so far as to warn Larek to be careful not to let his guard down with her at any time. He wondered about Nicholas and his quest in Lovell. What would happen when he returned to camp empty handed? A dimple showed in Larek's smile as he thought, of course that would be if little Nicky had any intention of returning to camp at all.

Larek closed his eyes to wait a while, hoping that Tess would in fact fall asleep. He needed to reach Rath to let them know to be sure to stay very far away from the podchamber the following day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Liz, where are we?" Emily asked, close to tears. They were standing in the middle of a highway, in the middle of the desert. Liz looked around still trying to get her bearings, but it was impossible, it was too dark. There were no lights in sight for as far as the eye could see. "I'm not sure, Em."

Emily began to cry softly. "I'm sorry, Liz. I couldn't help it. I need to find my mom."

She pulled her close to her. "Don't cry Emily. It'll be okay. We're going to find your mom. Apparently there's been a little trouble zeroing in on her exact location." She said the last sentence somewhat under her breath. Liz looked up, trying to spot the North Star, but the sky was too full of clouds from the storm to see anything at all. "Come on, hon. Let's just walk aways, maybe we'll see a mile marker or a sign..or something. Thank God it stopped raining."

"Liz," Emily asked, after they had walked a while, "Are you the Queen?" Liz was glad that Emily couldn't see the worry on her face.

"I guess you could put it that way. I'm Ava. And a very long time ago, I was a princess in that world you've heard about far away from here."

"What happened? How did you get here? And what is it that we're supposed to be doing here?" She reached out to grab her hand as she walked.

"Okay, let me tell you a little fairy tale, okay?" There was no sense in keeping all of the truth from her anymore, Liz thought. Afterall, she was now in just as much danger as all of the rest of them, and...she was so much older and wiser than her five short years.

She began, "Long ago, in a kingdom far away there lived a princess. She lived in a beautiful palace called Leoch, on a beautiful planet. She was a very happy little girl. She loved to dance and play games, just like you and Sierra. While the princess was growing up she met three strong and beautiful young boys." Liz purposely changed the sound of her voice, kidding and trying to make the fairy tale more plausible. Emily laughed, "Ooh, go on."

Liz tried to keep a steady pace, all the while glancing around them for anything vaguely familiar. "They were Zan who was the prince of Antar, and Larek and Rath, who were his very best of friends and confidants. Together with the princess they called themselves the four musketeers." Emily quickly interrupted, "There were only three." Liz smiled, "I know, but not in this story."

Emily was completely enthralled with what she was hearing, temporarily forgetting where they were and who they were trying to find. Liz continued. "They spent many years together, they were always together. And then one day, the princess fell deeply in love with Prince Zan. As the years went by, they grew to be inseparable. They loved each other so very very much. But there were, as in most beautiful fairytales," she smiled down at her and swung Emily's arm with hers, "an evil stepsister of the prince." Liz stopped herself quickly at hearing her own words. She thought to herself, no you can't go there. "Actually that's not how it really was. You see there was a war going on between two of the planets and a third. The third world, Eos, was horribly evil. And on the very day of the princess's wedding to the prince, they all were killed." Liz wasn't having much success in the telling. It began sounding like a horror story, grim to say the least. Her own feelings kept seeping through in the telling.

Emily stopped in the middle of the road. "But this fairy tale had a happy ending, right?"

Liz had the feeling that Emily knew exactly what she was and wasn't saying. "Yes, Em, a very happy ending." In the dark Emily couldn't see Liz blush.

"Good, I'm glad. So they sent you here so you could meet Max again and fall in love all over again, right?" Liz smoothed the little one's hair. "Ex-actly," she nodded her head.

"I know that story. Grandmother Angie used to tell it to Sierra and I when we were little. You're Ava and Max is Zan." Emily seemed so relieved that someone had actually told her the truth.

Liz looked out over the dark horizon. " I...kinda thought you'd heard it before," Liz answered. Emily squeezed her hand tightly. "I love you, Liz."

"I love you too, Emily," Liz smiled down at this extraordinary child next to her. "Now where is that Mommy of yours?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nicole closed the trunk and stepped back into the car. It was getting chilly. She turned the key to start the heater. Opening the glovebox, she turned on the overhead light, illuminating the interior of the car. It took a few seconds before her eyes adjusted to the bright light. Inside the glovebox she found an unopened package of crackers. Not much, she thought as she opened the pack. She began to think that maybe it was time for her to get out and start walking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tess sat like a cat staring off in the direction of the mountain that she knew layed not far ahead of them. The granolith was within her reach, she thought and smiled to herself. Suddenly her eye caught a flicker of light on the horizon. It didn't appear to be very far from them at all.

She sat up straighter, then stood to her feet. She turned looking back in the direction of the campfire that had now turned to ash. There was no movement that she could see. Grabbing the canteen off the blanket, she set off in the direction of the light to scout things out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In A Lifetime music link


CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Max sat alone on the front steps in the dark. The storm had passed on and there was now a cool but damp breeze. This was wrong, he thought, all wrong. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He couldn't shake the feel of her hand in his just moments before she had vanished right in front of him. He held his hand out in front of him again, as if looking for some trace of her still. He stared out at the darkness and wondered where she was, where they all were.

The worst part was that he was stuck here, waiting. Serena would be leaving very soon now with Pete and Coby. Michael and Kal had set off to try and trace Nicole's steps. Maria was in trying to get Sierra settled and ready for bed, which didn't really appear to be happening since she was so worried about her sister and her mother. Although since talking to Lucas's sister on the phone, she had shown a little excitement, it had lasted about a half an hour or so until reality settled in once again. Max held Michael's cell phone in his hand, praying for something from Larek, but so far there had been nothing.

Somewhere out there in the dark waere the troops being lead by Tess. And at the moment Max took little comfort in the fact that the granolith was soon to be out of their reach. Because at this moment... Liz wasn't. As long as she hadn't returned yet with Nicole and Emily, he would not find peace.

He wondered what was happening in Lovell and what Jared would do when he found out that the girls weren't there. In forty-eight hours there were going to be some very unhappy people. "Liz, please be careful," he whispered out loud. He couldn't help himself; she was the most important thing on his mind. "Find Nicole and travel back quickly, please," he begged, only wishing that she would hear him. "Please keep safe."

He focused hard to change the direction of his thoughts. He tried remembering everything that Ava had said while on the phone with him. She and her grandmother were staying on a farm in Bismarck with another family that they had just meet, the Duncans.. apparently two sisters, a brother and a grandfather. ...And they all had powers, that much in particular had stuck in his head. And according to Ava, they had known about the keys long before those here had. Ava promised that she would have Lucas call the minute that she heard anything from him. Once he established contact they could better figure out what to do next, if anything. It didn't seem that Ava or the Duncans had any idea, any more than they did, as to what it was that they were supposed to be doing with their newfound information.

Hopefully, the missing granolith would send Tess and her team back to the camp in Utah to face an unhappy Jared, and they would all return home. At least without the threat of Jared and his troops, they would be given a chance to meet up with the rest of the Landau's and the Duncans, to figure out exactly what was to happen next. Time seemed critical at this point for several reasons.

The phone in the study rang out in the distance, and Max's heart jumped. Ava had Maria's cell number and Larek would be "Texting" on Michael's, so who could be calling on John's office phone? He thought. He quickly entered the candlelit house in time to see John jog the corner and answer the phone on his desk. Serena followed Max into the study.

"What?" John asked, laughing slightly in answer to the caller. "You've got to be kidding, right? What the hell is going on? No, that's good news, I just don't understand why?" There were a few moments in the room while Max stared at Serena, and both waited to hear who it was that was calling and what the problem was. John told the caller to hold on.

"It's Jim. You're not going to believe this, but Eagle Rock has been closed up tighter than a drum. Everything is gone. Just empty hangers left. Jim had a dozen or so calls from concerned citizens about the aircraft earlier, and a half a dozen army issue trucks had been spotted in the vicinity. He and Hanson went out to check it out. It's deserted! No sign of Madison. Jim ran over past his place, and even his furniture is gone. The freak'n house's been deserted."

Max stood still with his mouth open, his look of surprise only matched by Serena's. John talked a few minutes more to the Sheriff then hung up. "This is crazy. Jim said that they walked right through the front gate and checked every square foot of the place...Everything is gone. It's as if no one had been there for the last months. By the way, he said that the electric should be back up within the hour. Most of the county is coming back slowly."

"What the hell happened?" Max asked suspiciously. "Why would they all just pull everything up now?"

"Maybe they finally got Madison's number, especially after that robbery," Serena said, looking to John out of the corner of her eye. "The guy was crazy. Yeah sure, what he thought was the truth but... he was a bloodthirsty crazy man. Oh thank God," she couldn't quite believe the news either. "It's almost too good to be true," she said under her breath.

"Well, we're not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, we have enough going on at the moment and for the next few days. But this does take enormous pressure off of things from this point out. Once the granolith is safe, and we find out that Jared has given up and gone home, just maybe we'll be able to get back to normal." John turned his back on the others, knowing full well that nothing was ever going to be that simple, but at least he didn't feel the enemies were closing in from all sides now...only one side.

"Well if I have to leave, I'm so glad to know this has happened. That threat won't be hangin' over our head any longer." They stepped out into the hall, where Serena's bags sat by the door. Max saw the look in both of their eyes and quietly turned to leave them some privacy.

"Wait, Max," Serena said, touching his arm. She turned and hugged him. "I'll be in close touch. Listen, I want you to know that I'm very proud of you, of you and Liz. You've had so very much to deal with, and I know you're going to be just fine. If you need me for anything at all, you know where I'll be. I wish I could have said goodbye to Liz and Michael too. But I'll talk to them when I call in. We gotta get this thing out of here." Her eyes were filling with tears as Max pulled her into a tighter hug.

"Thank you, Serena, thank you for everything." She pulled back smiling and wiped the lipstick off of his cheek. She looked outside, then back at Max. "She'll be okay. You would feel it deeply if anything was wrong. I mean you would really feel it, Max, trust me, I know." She nodded her head, and he understood completely. "The three of them will be back very soon." Max smiled, as John held the screen door open for them.

The U-haul rent-a-truck came pulling up to the porch, as Max followed John and Serena out. Both Pete and Coby jumped out long enough to shake hands with Max and John. "We'll call you all in three hours. That's a promise," Coby stated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


They hadn't walked too very far, it just seemed like it to Liz. Emily had been quiet for a while now. "Hey look," Liz motioned ahead of them. " I'll bet that's your Mommy now."

"Where?" Emily asked peering hard ahead.

"See? See that light straight ahead on the road? Hopefully that's her...or it's somebody else stuck out here after the storm." Liz said in a low voice. Please Nicole, let it be you and no one else, Liz thought to herself. Emily started running ahead, as Liz continued checking around them for any signs of danger, even though she wasn't exactly sure what she should be looking for. "Not so fast, Em, slow down. Come on wait for me." Immerging out of the darkness ahead of them walking down the middle of the road, Liz saw a figure and her breath was caught short for a minute, until she heard the familiar voice.

"Emily!! Oh my god, what on earth are you doing out here?" Nicole's voice rang out. Liz breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "Liz?" Nicole was close to tears, as she picked up the child, hugging her closely as Liz came to their side.

"Emily brought the two of us here, but she missed you by about a mile and a half." Liz laughed she was so relieved, "I'm just so glad to see you, Nicole."

Nicole excitedly worried. "I'm so glad to see you both, too. But, Liz, we need to get back to John's. I've talked to Ava; Lucas is on his way to Lovell to find us. I told her to call me as soon as she heard from him. I'm so sorry for running off like I did. I panicked. I was so wrong to do it. There's another family, Liz, the Duncans. And...and I ran into Madison!"

Emily's excitement was also growing. "Daddy? Daddy's coming for us?"

Liz was smiling and shaking her head telling Nicole that they all had been trying to find Lucas's number, but when she mentioned Madison all the color drained out of Liz's face. "Madison? Where? Oh my god, Nicole. What happened?"

"It's okay, the car had overheated and he helped me...but, he had no idea who I was...I'm very sure of that." She talked nonstop, as the three stood in the middle of the deserted, dark highway that was still wet with rain.

Liz asked, "What's wrong with the car?" she motioned up ahead a few hundred feet. Nicole frowned. "Blow out. There's no spare."

"Alright, it's not safe out here, Nicole, we really need to get back," Liz said, looking down at Emily. "Can you do this, Em? I know there's three, so it gonna be harder for you this time." Liz thought if she could just get them in the general vicinity of the ranch, at least that would be so much better than out here in the middle of no where. Liz felt several drops of rain hitting her shoulders. Whatever they were going to do they needed to do it quickly.

Emily held her mother's hand tightly as they walked over closer to Liz. The little one was tired, that much was obvious by simply looking at her. Not only had she used a great deal of her energy transporting both her and Liz out here, but they had also just walked a good mile and a half.

Liz reached for Emily's hand. "Just take your time, and I'll do my best to help you, okay?"

Emily tried hard to smile, but she couldn't hide the worried look that was now all over her face. "I don't know if I can do this just yet, Liz. Can't we go sit in the car for just a little while?"

Liz's heart hurt at the pleading in her voice. "It's going to be okay, Em. I know you can do this. Just concentrate as hard as you can. It really isn't safe for us to be so far out here any longer. Besides, we need to get back to John's so we can reach your Daddy, right?"

Emily bravely nodded her head and closed both eyes tightly. She squeezed her mother's hand as if not wanting to take the chance of leaving her behind and a few seconds later she opened her eyes again. "I can't, Liz." Her voice choked up.

Liz looked over at her, so small in the faint light of the full moon that was now doing it's best to cut through the clouds. The mostly hidden light threw a very dim glow over the landscape. Liz glanced up just a little higher, between and behind Nicole and Emily, and tried not to react. Not two hundred feet behind them coming out of the desert, walked a short figure, with blonde hair pulled tightly back. There could be no doubt that she had seen them, she was coming straight at them.

Liz stooped down to Emily, very slowly. "We're going to try this again, Emily. We're going to do this right now. Do you hear me? I'm going to help you all that I can, but we must hurry, do you understand? It has to be now."

The little one managed a smile, as the tears glistened in her eyes. Liz stood again. "Take a good hold of her hand," she told Nicole, as she herself placed her hand around Emily's while steadily watching the approaching figure.

Emily's eyes were again closed, as Liz quickly closed her own. She felt a heat building between them, then around them, and then suddenly a second larger harder blast. The second blast had been sent from behind them. Liz moved quickly. She dropped Emily's hand and dove between the two and the approaching danger, taking the brunt of the hit just as Emily and Nicole disappeared into the darkness of the night.

Liz lay motionless by the side of the road, as Tess stealthily approached her. Liz felt the solid kick of a boot into her side and she stirred, managing to open her eyes. Her vision cleared slowly. Pulling herself up was a different matter all together. Her right leg was badly hurt. A darkening burn the size of a palm print seared with pain on the calf of her leg.

"Nice little trick she had there. Could I possibly have gotten so lucky all in one night?" Tess smiled, as she sputtered in disbelief tinged with anger. "The great Liz Parker? .....And a key? Both right here, so close to Roswell? I am almost speechless."

Liz raised herself ever so slowly up onto one elbow, and looked into the face that she had once hoped to never see again. She had experienced so many nightmares since the day that Tess had left. Too many times she had wondered what this moment would be like. And now that it was here, she had had no choice but to allow Tess the upper hand; but, at least now she knew that Emily and her mother had gotten away safely. She prayed that they had made it all the way back to John's. At this moment though, she was grateful that they had made it away from the here and now. Liz wiped the blood from the side of her mouth with the back of her hand, and in the night air she felt a cold wetness trickling down on the side of her head as well.

Tess's face brightens. "Now. Get up you whore!" her voice seemed to echo off of the nothingness around them, as her face flushed a bright red. She stood with a look of strong resolve on her face, as her eyes almost appeared to Liz to glow in the darkness of the night.

Liz again tried to push herself up, "That would be," Liz paused to catch her breath, than started again. "That would be Liz Evans to you."

The color drained quickly from Tess's face as Liz's words sunk in. She quickly began to raise her arm. Liz saw the next few moments in very slow motion. Before Tess's arm was fully extended toward her, Liz had raised her free hand and pushed herself to her feet with the other. The energy from Liz's blast cast a bright golden shimmering light out to and around Tess. A look of pain and confusion washed quickly over her shocked face, just before she dove down into the ditch at the side of the road for cover. The blacktop where she had just stood glowed and steamed into the night air.


Liz knew that Tess had been hurt. How badly, she had no way of knowing, she only knew she could wait no longer. She was barely on her feet now, trying to run back in the direction of the car for cover. Her right leg stung with pain and she couldn't put her full weight on it. She glanced back over her shoulder twice, as she took cover behind the rear bumper. She looked back again in the direction she had come, only to see Tess gaining ground.

Liz stepped out from behind the car and threw another forceful blow down the highway. This time a blue ball of light seemed to roll across the asphalt as if it had actual form, stopping just short of Tess and exploding. Through the smoke Liz saw that she had managed to drop and roll around it, again landing in the ditch, this time on the opposite side of the road. Liz positioned herself at the passenger side of the car, ducking down. She listened for what seemed like minutes but heard nothing, except one lonely howl from a coyote far away.

She peered through the glass to the other side of the road where she had last seen Tess, quickly checking to her right and left. She was losing her perspective as the pain became intense. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears and her leg throbbed with shooting pains that rolled up to her thigh. She tried to test it again for weight. Her good leg slipped suddenly on the uneven shoulder of the road, forcing all of her body weight onto her bad leg. A shrill involuntary scream came from her small body as she fell to the ground gripping her leg, tears streaming from her eyes, her ears rung loudly, then everything faded to black... and then to nothing at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max sat alone in the darken living room, staring at the phone on the coffee table in front of him. He had no idea anymore of the time that had passed. He had been lost so much in his thoughts, in his prayers. Where the hell were they?

He had heard absolutely nothing from Michael or Kal, and he no longer had any doubts that Liz and Emily should have returned long before now with Nicole. He laid his head back against the cushion behind him, and closed his eyes, again praying for news.

Quickly he felt a flash so bright and intense and so strong that it lit up his mind with a jolt that nearly threw him up off the couch. There was fire and horrible heat everywhere! He yelled out, "LIZ-Z! NOO, LIZ!!" He couldn't breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz was only vaguely aware of a cold wetness around her. She thought she heard the trickling of water nearby...she felt it on her.

The trunk was open and Tess finished emptying the gasoline can over the figure on the ground and up onto the rear of the car. Liz heard the far away voice say, "Liz Evans, huh? Well congratulations, Bitch. I only wish your precious prince could be here to watch." Tess threw the gas can into the brush and slowly walked backward to the other side of the road. "I have waited a very long time for this." She turned walking a few more steps out into the desert, taking herself out of range. She was temporarily distracted by a rhythmic beating sound overhead. The silhouette of a low flying black hawk caught her eye as she stooped down close to the ground. She watched it as it then roared off into the distance, away from the small-darkened camp that she had left a short time before.

She stood again and took a deep breath, then calmly threw a small but adequate bolt of flame toward the disabled car. The fire hissed slightly as it came into contact, then slowly the gasoline turned to a small running stream of glowing light, right before reaching the gas tank at the rear of the car. The huge explosion lit up the sky in a flash of brilliant white-hot light, reverberating back in her direction as Tess threw herself flat on the ground for cover. She climbed to her feet, smiling and brushing the sand off of her hands, as she turned to walk back in the direction of her troops.

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Hi antar60559, so great to see you. Hi roswelluver


CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Larek had heard noise and witnessed the small flashes of light. He believed that Madison's team had been out patrolling, and Tess had somehow wandered into them. By the time he got closer and reached clearer sight of the problem, he couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing. Who he saw standing in the road was not Madison at all, it was most definitely Liz, the Ava he remembered so well. Again he felt as if he had been sent back in time. Every bone in his body wanted to strike Tess down at that very moment, and he was about to do just that when he saw Liz send Tess flying into the ditch. As he crept closer, he watched both sides of the road; he saw no movement from either side. He crawled through the underbrush, and then spotted Tess standing over Liz. He watched her then cross back to the other side of the road, he was confused as to what had just happened.

He was on his hands and knees at this point, as he crawled quickly toward the figure lying so still. He placed his arm under her neck, lifting her head gently and it fell slowly to one side. He felt for a pulse on her neck, it was slow but strong.

"Ava," he said softly. "Ava, it's me. Can you hear me?" He was breathing heavy, not because of any fear for himself, it was only this life in his arms that mattered to him now, the only one that ever mattered to him. His nose began to burn at the pungent smell, and he realized that her shirt was soaked with gasoline, as was the ground around them.

"No..." he whispered with a frantic shudder. He lifted her awkwardly as he tried to duck down so as not to be seen behind the car. He stumbled backward trying to get her far enough away as he possibly could. Once back several yards, he stood straighter boosting her higher into his arms, and cradling her head at his chest. He ran far back into the shadows. He wasn't aware in his panic of the words he was repeating over and over again, "No, no, not now, not now."

As he finally made it to the best shelter he could find, he looked back at the car in time to witness the incandescent flash of white light and a roaring ear shattering blast from the explosion that just minutes before would have taken Liz's life. Rocking her gently, he pushed her wet hair back from her face, and traced the soft lines there with his fingertips. "Ava? It's okay, Sparrow, it's okay now." He felt at her clothes, as he kept watch on the fire raging not far from them both. He laid her then gently onto the ground, just long enough to both remove his top shirt over his head, and to take off the black pullover beneath it. He watched for Tess in all directions as he worked frantically, but could see her nowhere around. Thinking that her life's work was finally completed now, he figured she had headed back to camp.

Liz stirred slightly as Larek pulled the shirt over her head and wrapped his jacket around her. She opened her eyes and winced in pain as she jumped, her mind remembering the fury of the explosion. She closed her eyes immediately, and remembered the brilliant flash of white in her vision when she had last seen Larek, just before saying goodbye only days before.

"Liz, it's okay"...

Liz heard his voice as if it had floated out of the blackness. Her eyes suddenly flew open as her senses began to slowly return to her. "Larek? How-how did you get here?" she exclaimed. "Where is she? Tess?" she started to sit up only to have strong arms pull her down again.

"She's gone, probably back to camp about a quarter of a mile from here." He couldn't help but smile with relief at seeing her awake and talking. He tore at his over-shirt ripping a length of fabric and tied it carefully around the burn on her calf. Looking behind her at the still blazing car on the roadside, Liz reached up and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. "My god..." she started to cry and shake uncontrollably. They sat huddled together, as a distant coyote howled once again in the night.

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General Prost sat comfortably behind his mahogany desk in one of the many offices at the Yucca Flats underground facility. Two Colonels, Welsh and Donnelly, sat on the other side of the small room. “...and so the Eagle Rock torture facility,” he frowned noticeably, "...has been locked up once and for all." His voice held a lot of satisfaction. "I've spent many hours with one Alexander Madison. It seems that they were proceeding exactly as we had feared. Somewhere here in this facility we have a serious leak, Gentlemen. And it is imperative that we get to the bottom of it."

"We've been following up on a few possibilities, General. We hope to have some answers on that very soon," Colonel Donnelly explained. "The camp, Sir?"

"Yes, the camp,” he answered. "The camp has all but completely disbanded as of fourteen hundred hours today. The magnetic disturbance is weakening. We're pretty sure that our visitors will be returning back home for now. The Landau children are safe for the present, and we hope to keep things that way. All other surveillance is in check and will continue as usual. No major problems at present."

"And this ..Madison, Sir?"

General Prost waved his hand, answering. "Alex isn't going anywhere, and neither are his comrades in Europe. We have that under control as well. Anything else?"

Colonel Welsh looked up from his notes. "The Duncans, Sir. There's been movement there as well." General Prost slowly nodded his head, deep in thought. "I understand. See to it that the patrols flying Moab are discontinued as of this moment, as well as those few apache patrols that we left behind, just outside of Roswell. I believe that we need very much at this point to again place everything back in the proper hands." The two colonels shook their heads in total agreement.

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Nicholas looked around as he stood in the center of the small town square; a park to his right, and a tiny row of shops to his left. He had already calculated that by finding Zan and Rath he'd be sure to find the keys. How difficult could it be to find six people in a town this size, he thought. Just then a large group of ten or twelve children playing tag ran through the park. He sighed. They had checked the address where the royals lived. There was no one anywhere around. They had torn the apartment from one end to the other, hoping to give them some clue but nothing of significance.

So here they sat, scattered out in the park across the street, waiting. Nicholas checked his watch, waiting for one young man to return from his quest at the small building reading City Hall on its facade. He was inquiring about the whereabouts of the Landau family. Nicholas watched a young and pretty brunette as she sauntered up the opposite side of the street. This was a nice place, he thought as he checked out the local females and the neighborhood.

His eyes came to rest on the black H2 parked on the side street from the apartment building. Absentmindedly he mumbled to himself, to think I had one of those not too long ago. Wished there had been a way to keep mine, he thought to himself. But why anyone would want a black one is beyond me, he said out loud. My white one was a real beauty, he remembered smiling.

His attention was drawn back with the figure walking across the grass. "No Landau," the young man yelled to him. "There's no record of anyone with that name living anywhere in or around the town."

Nicholas frowned, "How about Evans? Did you ask?"

The young man smiled, "Yep there's a few that know him. It's Mr. and Mrs. Evans and another couple. They live up there," he pointed to the second floor apartment.

Nicolas nodded his head. "That much we already know. The other couple is Guerin and his chic. The most inseparable ..Rath and Zan," he smiled arrogantly.

"Evans, the male, works at the local newspaper, and Evans, the female, works at the daycare center. Both are now closed, I already asked," the young soldier stated.

"Day care huh? Well that's pretty obvious now isn't it...." Nicholas chuckled almost close to hysterically. "Okay let's spread out. We'll check out the day care first. Remember we're looking for three children between four and five years of age that may have been seen with or around Max and his crew." He motioned to two others sitting in the grass by them. "You two stay here and keep watch on this building. Sooner or later they have to come home tonight."

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"What are you doing?" Liz asked, as she watched Larek in the dark.

"Trying to contact Michael," he answered, as he fidgeted with the tracker in his hands. She nodded her head and tried to bend her leg, gasping slightly in the process.

"Let it be," he answered. "You need some healing on that. I've just sent Michael a message with a location. Zan will take care of it as soon as they come to get you. I don't want to leave you, but I must go back to camp."

Liz was unpleasantly surprised. "You can't! Won't she know that you've been missing? Larek, you can't go back now! She'll have you killed ...or she'll kill you herself!"

"Ava, I have to go back. Right at this moment, I don't have a choice. I'm not sure if she knows the location of the ranch, but once she finds out that the granolith is not in that mountain, all of hell's fury is going to break loose...even much worse than tonight. She knows she's as good as dead if she doesn't return to Jared with the icon. If she knows anything at all about the ranch, it will be then that I will find out and not before."

He felt the need to remind himself even more than Ava as to why he was here. "I am here to secure rights for Trinity, I have to play the game. Ava, you know what I say is true." He looked down into her pleading eyes, wanting to do nothing more than stay and see her to safety. But he had to finish with the responsibility that had been given to him by a world that would be soon balancing on the sheer edge of destruction. Once Tess discovered the granolith was missing and decided to return back to Moab with her tail between her legs, then and only then could he believe that the royals would be still only temporarily safe.

"Did Vilondra not tell Jared about the ranch in Roswell? She's dead, right?" Liz didn’t quite understand.

Larek glanced up into her confused face. "Yes, Ava. I've taken care of it. As far as how much Jared was told, there was no way to know if he was lying to me when I pumped him for more information. We couldn't take the risk that if she hadn't...she wouldn't." He stared at the ground for a moment. "How is Zan dealing with the finality?”

Liz thought it was an odd way of putting it, but truer words were never spoken. Vilondra had reeked havoc all of her natural life and more. It was final now. She'd never hurt anyone ever again. "He's emotionally torn about the order. But he had no choice in the matter, nor did you." They stared into each other’s eyes for a brief moment, before Larek then looked away.

Down on the road, two headlights beamed through the fog in the far distance the first car on the highway in more than four hours. Larek nodded to Liz. "It's Rath. You'll be safe now."

She struggled to take his jacket from around her shoulders, as she watched him gathering himself together to leave, and she felt the ache in his heart and the twinge in her own. "Larek, please be careful," she begged to him. "Please," she repeated in fear. "You are so dear to me." It was Ava who was speaking. She knew that he had just risked his life for hers, had in fact risked everything.

He smiled a wide grin, as he raised her hand up to his lips and gently kissed the backs of her fingers. "I will. For you, my lady." In an instant he was gone back into the dark of the desert.

Liz did her best to bring herself to her feet and slowly forced her way, limping, down to the road.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


In Lovell, Lucas pulled the rental car up in front of the brownstone. Checking the paper that Ava had given him, he matched the numbers to the numbers by the door. "This is it," he said calmly to Katain.

"I don't understand why no one has answered the phone yet, Lucas," Katain stated, cautiously. "I've not a good feeling about this." She looked at the excitement growing on his face at the expectations of seeing Nicole and his two daughters once again, and she reached for the door. "I'll go. You stay here." He nodded to her.

Katain Duncan climbed the six steps up to the front door, and rang the bell marked Lawson. She turned her back to the door and checked up and down the street, looking for what she just wasn't sure. After the second ring, she motioned to Lucas who got out of the car and joined her. As the two stood on the step, Katain carefully passed her hand over the lock and the door sprung open. "Nice," Lucas said dryly. "Breaking and entering."

She scowled at him. "Do you want to get in or not? They're obviously not here right now. Come to think of it, Lucas you've been calling since last night and they haven't been here at all. Maybe something inside may give us a clue." He looked knowingly at her and entered the apartment.

Inside, the quiet was broken by the sounds of their own footsteps on the linoleum. The inside was spotless. Nothing out of place, nothing out of the ordinary. Lucas checked the bedrooms and returned to the living room, as Katain checked the kitchen. "Lucas," she called to him. She picked up the phone and hit redial, as he finally joined her. She hopped up to sit on the counter. The phone on the other end of the line rang on and on, and she was about to hang up when finally someone answered, out of breath and more than a little frantic. "Hello," the voice yelled into the phone. "Hello? Liz?"

"Umm, no. Listen, this is a little strange, but I'm really trying to reach someone you may know," she was afraid to say much more, then asked the obvious. "Who exactly is this?"

Max didn't recognize the voice and all he really cared about was that it wasn't Liz on the line. "What do you mean who is this? You called us. Who the hell is this?"

"Okay," Katain chuckled, "We're pretty much at a standoff here...this isn't going to go far at all like this... " She took a deep breath and went for the gold ring. "Look...I'm looking for someone. Her name is Nicole." As she said the name, Lucas spun around in disbelief shaking his head incessantly. Katain calmly waved at him. "More than that I can't tell you. We've traveled a long way to see her and now that we've arrived at her place ...she's not here. I simply redialed her phone and got...well, you." She shrugged at Lucas.

"Nicole? I know her. Did you say you've traveled a long..." he stopped catching his breath. "....Is this Katain?"

Her eyes flew open. "I don't know, that depends on who the hell you are!" her voice raised an octave or two.

"My name is Max, Max Evans. We've been trying to contact one Lucas Landau for some time now. We just talked to his sister this morning, and she told us that her brother and a friend were going to the coast to find his wife. Except we already knew she wasn't there, she's with us. Does that answer your question satisfactorily? Can we now get to the point?"

She nodded at Lucas. "He's talked to your sister, Lucas. Here, you can talk to him now." She handed him the phone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The car sped up as the two familiar occupants caught sight of her in their headlights. "Jesus," Michael murmered.

Kal was out of the car in an instant. "What the hell happened?" He pulled her hair back and checked out her face and arms for bruises. "My leg. It's burned pretty bad. I have to get back to Max right away." Her eyes seemed glazed and her face began to again cringe, as the memories of the last hour and how close she had come to death came flooding back to her. Her knees wobbled. Michael braced her against him, since she insisted on walking back to the car somewhat on her own.

"You'll be alright," he assured her. "What happened, Liz?" Michael asked, looking back at the charred pieces still smoldering of the car that Nicole had left the ranch with earlier.

"Where's Nicole...and where the hell is Emily?," Kal questioned taking her other arm gently to support her and feeling her pulse at her wrist at the same time.

"Tess," she whispered out of breath. "It was Tess."

"I knew it," Michael replied sharply.

"Their camp is about a half mile from here. Over there," Liz pointed north as she limped and caught Michael's arm. "Jesus," Michael exclaimed. "That bitch."

Liz continued explaining, as they reached the car. "Somehow she wandered over this way and found the three of us. Thank god Emily traveled with her mother just before Tess decided to begin her revengeful battle. Hopefully they're both back at John's by now."

Kal looked worried, as he opened the passenger door. Michael told her to sit in the front, that he'd climb into the back seat. Liz held her leg as straight as was possible, placing it carefully under the dash. "Where is Tess now, do you know? She saw Emily?" Kal asked.

"She thought I was dead when the car exploded. I guess she returned to their camp. Yes, not only did she see Emily, she saw the two of them disappear into thin air. She even commented about it, ..about a key... but have no doubt, her interest at that time was solely with Liz...me," she corrected herself, as her head spun.

Michael took a better look at her in the light inside the car as Kal pulled a u-turn and floored the gas pedal. "What the hell are you wearing?" She looked down absentmindedly and saw Larek's shirt.

"She apparently dumped a can of gasoline all over me and the car. My top was soaked through. It's Larek shirt..he was in camp and came looking for her, to see what she was up to. Thank god he did. He saved my life. She set the car ablaze and then it exploded into this horrible fireball. He got me far enough away just in time."

"Where's he at now?" Michael asked, worried for his friend.

Liz shook her head. "He said he had to return to camp to keep tabs on Tess, because we needed to be sure what she intended on doing once they found and left the empty podchamber. He sent you a text, I saw him send it. He used that tracker thing. Didn't you get it, Michael?" Liz asked surprised.

"Max has my phone. I left it there when Kal and I set out looking for you. I only have Maria's.." Michael answered.

"Is Max alright?" Liz asked knowing he had been concerned about her going in the first place, but then to be gone all this time....

"Max is much better than you are at this moment, Kitten," Kal spoke while never taking his eyes from the sides of the road. "Why don't you call him." Michael passed the phone to the front seat. Liz looked at the lighted dial and punched out John's number.

The phone rang several times before Max finally was able to answer. "Max?" she said almost in a whisper. It was so good to hear his voice.

"Oh my god Liz! Are you alright? I've been crazy over here. I hadn't heard anything for so long, and then Emily and Nicole suddenly plopped themselves down in the middle of the kitchen without you!"

Liz smiled, relieved as she listened. "I'm so glad they made it all the way back safely."

"They're both fine, Liz. They told me that Tess was there, and that you deliberately let go of Emily's hand so that they'd be safe. Tell Kal and Michael that I've talked to Lucas, I'll fill them in when you all get here."

Max rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand, not even caring about any of that right now. He only cared about Liz's safety. Whatever Tess had done to her, he only knew one thing, he would make her pay. If it was the last thing he ever did, she was going to pay.

He quickly got back to the one thing on his mind. "Nicole said that Tess was trying to kill...." Max stopped. He didn't want to hear right now exactly what had happened. There'd be time enough for all of that when he saw her. Right now, he was just so happy to hear the sound of her voice, he bit his lip to stop from filling up anymore than he already had. His throat was sore from the lump that had been building there since she had left his touch earlier that night. "I love you Liz." He closed his eyes tightly and paused. "Just a few minutes ago, there was a text from Larek saying where you were, and that you would be okay as soon as you were again with me."

He heard her sigh on the other end of the line. "I love you, Max, and for a little while tonight I wasn't sure of the last time that I had said those words to you, or.. if I'd ever have the chance to say them again. I only remembered your voice inside my head. The voice kept saying, know this, for it is the only thing that will ever be true."

He smiled for the first time since early that morning. "God, I need so much to see you. I thought the exact same things these last hours. I just want to hold you, Liz."



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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

It had been a long and tiring trip. Katain and Lucas decided to stay at the apartment since it was already so late. They decided to rest, call home and get something to eat before making any other decisions. Lucas had been profoundly saddened to find that his family was nowhere near this little town that they now seemed to be temporarily stuck in. It was already late and Katain didn't think it was wise for them to be out and about. "And, of course, there's no food in the fridge," she announced, checking through the kitchen cabinets for something to cook.

Lucas couldn't help but think of Nicole. These were the rooms she had spent the last six months in. If he listened really hard, he could almost hear the laughter of the girls echoing from one end of the place to the other. Nicole had made friends here, friends that she obviously trusted, most especially trusted with Emily and Sierra's secret. He didn't know what the hell was going on in Roswell right now, but it didn't sound good, even though Max had done his best to assure him that his family was safer being with them. He had wanted to talk to Nicole, but had ended up with Sierra on the line. He cried when the little one said how much she had missed him and wanted to see him again. She told him that Emily and her Mommy had gone out on an errand, but that they'd be back soon.

Katain was bored and walking the living room, checking tables and bookcases. Her eyes fell on the small statuette on the shelf of one of the bookcases. She reached to pick it up and instantly felt a humming in her ears, she had a flash of something she didn't understand, and she jumped. It had been a short, yet clear, vision of a dark haired girl with brown eyes that had flashed through her mind.

"What?" Lucas asked, surprised at seeing her reaction. Katain sat down slowly still holding the figurine in her hands. "I know this...I know something about this. I'm just not getting it clear enough.." she shook her head slowly confused by the thought. Lucas stood up and walked toward her.

"It belonged to my grandmother. It's supposed to represent a young beautiful warrior, who died young back in the old country..." Lucas then frowned; still trying hard not to accept all the truths he had been dealing with lately. "...or wherever...," he said sarcastically. "What did you see?" he asked, still curious.

"A pretty girl. A young girl. Long dark hair. I saw much determination on her face," she smiled then. "I like this girl." She stood to place it back on the shelf. "So, I suppose the girl in my vision is dead now? Well Lucas, it didn't appear to me that this girl was a ghost. I could feel that she was very much alive." He stood still looking over at her, thinking of what she had just said. "Well good then," he remarked sarcastically. "Maybe she can come up with some answers."

"So you think I just saw the vision of a ghost?" Katain toyed with him.

"I don't know. Before yesterday I would have said... don't be stupid," he answered. "But it certainly is a new day, isn't it?" He turned, picking up the remote and turned off the television. "I want to call home." Katain nodded, still staring at the statuette. "Okay, but don't do it from here."

They left the car at the curb, thinking it wiser to walk to a grocery that they had seen across the street. Neither had eaten anything all day. Lucas saw the phone booth just outside the door of the store. He wanted to let the others know that they had arrived safely and to fill them in on his talk with this Max Evans character. Katain nodded her head, and then stated that she was going in to buy a few hoagies.

Max Evans had warned him of this phantom danger that they were supposedly facing now that they were here in Lovell. Katain had brushed it off, but Lucas was far more cautious than she. Skeptical? Most certainly, but he wasn't stupid either. He had told them that someone named Nicholas would be arriving in Lovell, that is, if he wasn't here already. Lucas knew only one thing, he was here to find his daughters.

Max had said that they both should be on their guard at all times, because even though the guy looked to be only ten or twelve, he was fearfully dangerous. His advice to them had been to lay low, or better yet, get in the car and head back to Dakota. Lucas's head was pounding, he had no idea what to do. It was obvious that at least for now, his family was not going to be arriving back in Lovell. His mind snapped back to the here and now, as he heard his sister's voice finally answering the phone.

Brother and sister compared notes on both of their conversations with the stranger Max Evans. The only thing that Lucas knew for sure, or was willing to accept as truth, was that Nicole and his daughters were with Evans in New Mexico. This new person who seemed to identify so well with the Landaus and the Duncans had suggested that Lucas call him back first thing in the morning. It was now past ten o'clock.

Ava had explained to him that with the information that Max had given her and the details that Angelique and Raymond were aware of, it seemed to her that this new family, that seemed to consist of five members, were another family like their own. She believed they could very well be the pinnacle, the hub of the wheel, that everything else was coming together around. Lucas asked her how she could possibly know that. She simply stated after pausing for a few moments, that she didn't know where anything in her head was coming from anymore. Lucas could relate.

Katain had returned out of the store with their very late dinner in hand, and had been listening to his end of the conversation. "Did he mention whether the ghost was with him?" she inquired mocking his earlier comment. He threw her a look, shaking off her question. He ended the call, promising to keep her and Marshall informed, and that no matter what, he would call her first thing in the morning before they left to return home.

The walk back to the apartment was a quiet one. More and more Lucas Landau was beginning to believe every fable he could remember ever hearing when he was young. They had all seemed like wonderful fairytales to him back then. He had been young, trusting and most of all, he then had still possessed the ability to believe in something much bigger than himself. He hadn't felt that for a very long time. The fairytales weren't wonderful anymore. He and everyone he held dear were stuck in the middle of this one. He had thought and thought on the flight out here of ways out. He believed that there just had to be a way for them to get out of all of it. He wanted things the way they used to be, back before they had left France. Back when it was just him and his first and only love, together with their two babies. He wanted normal. The voice in his head spoke to him. Isn't it funny how hindsight makes things look so much better than things really were? He looked over at Katain, who only smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The car pulled up outside the ranch and Max was opening the door before it had completely come to a stop. "Liz, my god, Liz." His hands shook as she climbed out and into his arms. He had temporarily forgotten about her injuries, just being so glad that she was back in his arms again. "Let me help you," he fumbled wanting to carry her inside out of the darkness.

"I'm okay now," she looked into his eyes and found she didn't want to look away. She just wanted to see deep inside him, as she had so many times before...like she had been so afraid she never would again. "I can walk, Max. But you need to help with the burn on my leg when we get inside."

Kal and Michael had left the two alone and quickly entered the house to check on Nicole and Emily. "They're okay," Max yelled in after them, knowing exactly what was on their minds. "They've been worried about Liz, but the two of them appear to be okay." He looked back into her face and helped her as they reached the step. He felt her wobble slightly and scooped her up against her pleadings. "Shh," he whispered, gently kissing her.

Inside he laid her on the couch getting his first look at the bandage on her calf and the blood soaking through. He didn't have to say anything out loud to her. She looked at him fully understanding, because they had shared the same thought. Tess's day of reckoning was coming, but it would never be soon enough for either of them. Max was carefully removing the bandage just as Emily and Nicole came quickly into the room from the kitchen.

"Liz!" Emily cried out at seeing her wounds. Liz took her hand and lied as best as she could. "It's not as bad as it looks, Em. I'll be alright. It's gonna be okay. Where's Sierra?" she asked suddenly, afraid at this point for any of them to be out of her sight. Nicole answered, using the dishtowel in her hands to wipe Liz's forehead. "She's alright. She's sleeping upstairs. Maria's with her." Liz was relieved.

John came flying down the stairs, a mixture of relief and fear on his face. "Liz, thank god you're here." He then saw her leg and slumped into the side chair next to them. "I want to kill her with my bare hands," he murmured.

"I think you've got to stand in line for that privilege, JB," Michael said dryly. "Did Serena leave with the granolith?" Liz asked suddenly, wincing again at the pain. He nodded his head, watching Max closely.

Max was already kneeling beside the couch, having taken the last of the bandage off. The bandage had stuck to the skin of the open burn, and she stifled a scream. His face blushed red with anger at what he saw there. She looked at him with loving eyes, knowing his next moves all too well. He placed his hand gently over the already blistering and blackening wound. He trembled slightly as he closed his eyes. A warm glow slowly appeared between his palm and the blistering skin of Liz's leg. Beads of perspiration appeared on his face, as he concentrated all of the energy in him down through his hand. "Look at me," he whispered to her. Liz shivered and held tightly to the arm of the couch, staring helplessly into his eyes. Time seemed to stand still as he slowly healed her. As he took his hand away, they saw that a good portion of the blistering was now gone.

Nicole and Emily stood speechless staring at the miracle they had just witnessed. "Dear Lord," Nicole cried quietly.

Emily watched intently and finally smiled down at Max. "You really are the prince," she stated, sliding herself in to sit in the small space next to Liz and tenderly grabbing her hand. Liz tried to move her leg. She still felt pain, but so much less than before.

Kal spoke up. "I think you may still have a lot of tenderness there, but it looks so much better. Nice job Max." Max's exhaustion was evident as he moved closer and gathered Liz into his arms.

The room grew quiet. Nicole hustled Emily upstairs. "You need to rest young lady," she said wiping at the tears in her eyes. She half pulled the little one towards the stairs. Emily leaned up carefully, kissing Liz on the check, then ran to the steps. She looked back over her shoulder to the group below her. "Goodnight," she said with a yawn. Nicole stood gripping the banister, long after Emily had climbed upstairs ahead of her. She placed her hand to her mouth, as if still not believing everything that had happened tonight. "Thank you," she sobbed, before running up to follow her daughter to the second floor.

"It was very dangerous, what you did tonight, Liz," Kal stated. "You should have come back when they did. You never should have faced her alone."

Liz looked up at Kal. "I couldn't take the chance that Emily might not have been strong enough to travel with all of us, Kal," She looked then back at Max. "I did what I had to do. Sometimes you're forced to make a decision, it's not always an easy one, but sometimes it's the only one." She squeezed Max's hand, and he tried for her sake to smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Larek returned to camp, he wasn't the least bit surprised to see Tess standing, pacing, waiting for him. Most of the others still lay sleeping. "Where the hell did you take off too? Where did you go out here in the middle of nowhere, Larek?" Although there was the usual mistrust and anger in her voice, her face seemed somewhat calm, almost relaxed.

"Nature called, Tess. I didn't think I needed to give you a heads up on it. And then I saw the helicopter and took cover for a while. Didn't want to give our position away by running back here, just in case they had spotted me...or you. You didn't have any trouble here, did you?" he asked convincingly, then added, "It would seem that the military is looking for something. I think you should contact Jared again."

"Don't even pretend to tell me what you think I should do, Larek. It was one aircraft. Trust me, one aircraft is not a formidable threat to me," she replied, breaking a grin.

"My, but your mood has suddenly changed. This nighttime desert air seems to be agreeing with you." He frowned in her direction and adjusted his pack and blanket on the ground where he had left them. He laid down turning his back to her, hoping she'd just walk away, and not give him another reason this instant to kill her on the spot. He pushed the looming thought from his mind. There were still things he had to follow through on. She stood and stared down at him for the longest while, then finally turned, walking back to her own makeshift bed. He had felt her leave, and closed his eyes with a heavy sigh, as a shiver ran down his spine. His last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were of Ava and Zan. He knew by now that Zan would have healed her wounds. She was by now back in his arms and safe again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Max lay perfectly still on the bed, not wanting to move for fear of disturbing her sleep. This had been such a very close call. A shudder ran through his entire body, and he quickly checked to see if she had in fact felt his fear.

He looked down at her with her head resting so perfectly on his chest. She smelled of soap, fresh from a shower, and her hair was wet and cold, lying against his chest. But it was the most wonderful feeling in the world to him. He brushed his hand repeatedly over her hair, not being able to put accurately into words in his own mind all the things that she meant to him. At the touch of his hand on her head, she sighed in her sleep.

Larek had saved her life tonight, of that there was no doubt. He could never repay him for the chance he had taken in rescuing Liz, he thought. He had put his life on the line for her, for them. He smiled, remembering times past, and he only knew that somehow he needed to let him know how very grateful he was. He only prayed he would have the chance to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nicholas stood in dark office of the daycare center, the only daycare in town, which made his job so much easier. He pushed the folders in the filing cabinet forward, looking for the L's. No Landau. Only one folder was under the L file. Lawson. Sierra Lawson and Emily Lawson. Landau...Lawson, maybe, he thought to himself. Only two though.

Looking through the remaining papers in the folder, he checked the previous addresses. Maine? France? He smiled. Mother: Nicole. Father: Lucas. Only in town for six months, according to the date of admittance. Sisters? Well, of course, he thought again. Why not? It was worth a shot. He checked for the present address.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Katain lay on the couch in the living room of the Lawson apartment. Lucas had insisted on sleeping in the master bedroom. Nicole's room, Nicole's bed, he had thought to himself. If he couldn't see her or be with her tonight, he could at least try to feel closer to her.

Katain had strategically placed a tall kitchen trash can against the inside of the front door, saying to Lucas that it didn't hurt to have an early warning system of sorts to be prepared just in case this Max Evans had been right about any possible threat. All Lucas wanted to do was to get some sleep so they could wake early enough for him to call Nicole first thing in the morning. Surprisingly, it hadn't taken very long for either of them to fall asleep. Only the sounds of occasional passing cars from down on the street filled the quiet apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael sat downstairs with Kal and John. None of them had any desire to sleep knowing that Tess was so close. "She saw Emily. She knows that at least one of the keys is here in Roswell. She saw Emily travel, so she knows that they're somewhere close by and not in Lovell as they first suspected," John stated. "The girls can't stay here. It's just not safe."

"Well more than likely, Nicholas is searching Lovell as we speak," Kal added. "So what do we do with them?" The room was quiet, as their thoughts intermingled.

"Once Tess contacts Jared, won't they think that Nicholas's being in Lovell is a waste of time? If I was Jared, I'd center everything I had here," Michael said.

"We'll talk to Lucas when he calls back, but I think at this point it's completely up to us as to what we're going to do with the girls for now, at least until we know positively that Jared has returned back to Adia. If and when he does call, he's just going to have to understand. It's up to us to protect them. They may be his daughters but they are not just his daughters anymore. We brought them here. We have the responsibility."

John was deep in thought. "These people that you know… back on the coast? I know I don't have to tell you how important this is, Michael."

"Can you trust them?" Kal asked, finishing for John. "Where exactly are they out there? Don't they live right there in Lovell?"

"They live right outside of Lovell. A small town called Lambertville. Yes. Granted I haven't known them a long time, but yes," he repeated. "I completely trust them. I never would have brought it up if I didn't. We could tell them that the girl's are gifted and that it's the government that is stalking them for research purposes, or such." The three men talked into the wee hours of the morning, trying to come up with plan B.



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