Part 23 - Loose Ends

After the connection faded, the six teens resumed their walk back to the house. Max and Isabel walked together, enjoying their strengthened bond as brother and sister, and Liz had swept off a reluctant Maria. Seeing the looks she kept directing back at him and missing her even though she was only a few feet ahead of him, Michael was about to join the two girls when he felt a hand on his arm.

"Can we talk for a minute?" Alex asked quietly.

"I guess," Michael managed to answer, his attention still focused on Maria's form ahead of him. When Alex didn't say anything more for a while, Michael decided to try to get the conversation moving. He wanted to get back to Maria. "Hey, if this is about Isabel and me, don't worry. You two belong together."

"I know," Alex replied slowly. "That's not what I wanted to talk about. I want to know about Kivar."

That got Michael's undivided attention. "Kivar," he repeated flatly. Alex nodded. "What do you want to know?"

"How do we keep Isabel safe from him?" Alex answered instantly.

" We don't." Michael's response was just as immediate. "I do. And Max. You keep away from him."

They stopped walking. "She's terrified of him, Michael. She's scared to death that he's going to come for her." Alex looked at Michael closely. "And he is, isn't he?"

For a split second, Michael felt like lying. But somehow, he didn't think Alex would believe any lies or accept any evasions, so he simply answered with the truth. "Yeah, he is."

Alex nodded, unsurprised. "Why is that, Michael?"

"Why are you asking me all this?" Michael was starting to get irritated at the thought of Kivar. Something was wrong with this conversation, something he couldn't quite recall yet. There was a memory there, just out of reach. One he didn't want to remember. "Why not ask Max?"

The other boy just shrugged. "I think that you probably know more about Kivar than he does. Just a feeling I have."

Michael looked at Alex silently for a long moment. The others were far ahead of them now. He could still feel Maria's presence, but there was a coldness seeping into his bones that not even thinking of her could warm. Kivar. Michael was going to have to reevaluate Alex's powers of intuition.

Finally, he answered. "Because of me. Oh, he'll like being able to hurt Max. And there's the fact that Isabel is beautiful and all that. But mostly, he'll try and take her in order to hurt me. Like he did before."

"There's more history between you and Kivar than Dagmar told us, isn't there?" Alex's tone was non-judgmental, simply seeking information.

"Yeah." Michael didn't go into more detail.

In truth, he didn't know any more detail. But the memory was starting to get clearer. He wished he could stop it from coming totally into focus.

"Well, if Kivar is going to come for Isabel, then I need to know how to help her." Michael looked at his friend. Alex's expression was totally determined. There was no hesitation or fear, and absolutely no doubt in Michael's mind that Alex meant what he was saying. "I won't let Kivar ever hurt her again. And I'll do whatever I have to in order to make sure that she doesn't ever have to be that scared." Alex smiled. "Even though I am just a human."

Michael nodded slowly. "I believe you. And I'm sure you'd be willing to do whatever it takes to protect Isabel. That's not what this is about." He paused, considering. How could he explain to Alex what that glimpse into his spirit during the connection had meant to him? Michael never wanted to see Alex's spirit shadowed, and a fight with Kivar would do that - it would change Alex. He was determined to protect Alex from that if at all possible. "Isabel needs your strength, Alex. She's going to need you to just be there through all this crap. She doesn't need you to learn how to fight and be a soldier. That's what I'm here for. She needs you to be you. To make her happy." He finished with a shrug.

As they started to walk again, quickly catching up with the others, still thinking about Kivar, Michael stopped short as that memory from Tymrath's life suddenly came rushing at him. No matter what he tried, he couldn't block it out.

"Michael?" Alex hurried over to his side. Ahead of them, Maria had stopped walking as well, and was looking back at them, concerned. Alex waved his hand in front of Michael's face. "Michael, are you okay?" he asked again, starting to worry. Michael's eyes were staring straight ahead at nothing, body tense. Just as he was about to call for Max and Isabel, Alex was relieved to see Michael snap out of it.

"Hey, buddy, what was that? Some kind of alien mind-meld?" Alex joked weakly. Seeing Michael like that, body present but mind not, had really freaked him out.

The alien shook his head. "A memory," he answered shortly. Alex followed the path of his gaze. Michael's eyes were locked with Maria's.

"Oh." Alex scrambled to keep up with the suddenly moving Michael. "So you're okay then?"

"I'm fine." Michael reached out his hands to take Maria's. While his tone hadn't exactly been unfriendly, Alex figured that the Kivar conversation was over. Deciding to let Michael have some Maria-time, Alex started to wander up to where Isabel was. As he walked away, he paused and looked back curiously when he heard Michael call his name. Michael had managed to pull his eyes away from Maria for a moment and was looking at Alex steadily.

"Remember what I said. Just let me do my job," he went on with a bitter grimace. Alex nodded, then walked away. There's been something in Michael's voice when he spoke that worried him. How could anyone sound so expressionless and angry at the same time? But then, it had been a long night. He figured they'd all need time to adjust.

Apparently, Maria had heard that strange note in Michael's voice, too, because when he looked back at her, there was worry shadowing her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Before he could answer, she rushed on. "And don't even try any of that stupid macho alien mumbo-jumbo. I know something's wrong. I can feel it."

That last bit probably should have seemed strange to him, but it barely even registered. There were too many other things on his mind. Things like how good, how right, it felt to be near her again. And other things, remembrances from the past which weren't nearly as pleasant.

Gathering her up in a hug, he kissed her tenderly on the forehead. Maria closed her eyes, letting herself just appreciate the safety she felt in his arms. Too bad we can't stay like this forever, she thought.

The others had walked on a bit, respecting their privacy. Maria's arms seemed to move almost on their own, wrapping around Michael's waist and up under his shirt. She wanted to be as close to him as possible without creating a public spectacle and shocking their friends. She could just imagine Liz's response if she and Michael started up again where they had left off.

Almost as if he could hear her thoughts, Michael's head had moved down a bit, and he started gently kissing her neck as his hands played with her bottom shirt buttons. Think of Liz! No public undressing! she told herself weakly as his lips reached the base of her neck, but she could feel herself starting to lose focus the way she had earlier. Or rather, her focus shifted - to Michael. Who was way more important than what they had been talking about............

"Hold on a minute!" she said, pushing him away. "Nice try, spaceboy. But you're not going to distract me that easily."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Come over here."

Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, Maria stepped back a bit. "Oh, no you don't. And you keep a safe distance," she said as he started to come forward. "You're not coming any closer until you answer my question."

"Maria," he said quietly as he stared at her. "We can talk about whatever you want, but come over here. I need you."

Maria's resolve almost crumbled. How many times had she dreamed of hearing him say that he needed her? And the way he was looking at her was quickly making her forget all those very good, very logical reasons why she had stopped him earlier. But she knew she hadn't imagined that feeling of anger and loss, and deep-seated hatred that she'd gotten from him earlier. Before she could let herself be willing lost in his arms, she needed to know what was going on.

"Talk first, Michael. What's wrong?"

Looking at her, Michael knew that she wasn't going to give up on this. Would a partial truth be enough? "I remembered my parents. Tymrath's parents. Whoever. They died when I was very young."

"Michael, that's awful. I'm so sorry."

He shrugged. "It's not that big a deal. It's not like I ever really expected to be able to find them anyway." He was trying so hard to be strong about this, but Maria could sense his sadness and disappointment. Giving in, she walked over to him, and held him close. She seemed to feel his next words more than actually hear them. "It's okay, though. I have five people I can trust completely. That's more than Tymrath ever had." Tightening his grip on her, he went on. "It's enough." And there's no way I'm going to let anyone take away the people I love this time around.

Slowly, they walked up to join the others, arms still intertwined.

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Valenti winced as he carefully replaced the telephone in its cradle before walking across the room to sit across the kitchen table from Dagmar. Gosh, that was fun.

"Trouble?" Dagmar asked curiously as he passed him a beer.

Valenti laughed. "Oh, yeah. I just had the pleasure of explaining to Amy DeLuca that her daughter is just fine, that she hasn't run off with Michael. She was just out with Max and Liz and she'll be back home just as soon as we can get the Jeep up and running again." He took a deep swallow of his drink. "And yet I somehow have the suspicion that she didn't come within a mile of believing that I just happened to find the kids after their car just happened to break down in the middle of the desert." After another gulp, he shook his head. "No, Amy knows something's up. And she knows Michael's involved somehow. And she's going to make me suffer until she knows exactly what that something is."

Dagmar smiled and shook his head. "She sounds formidable."

"You don't know the half of it. Next time any Skins show up, I might just let Amy know that they tried to hurt her daughter, stand back, and watch the show."

"She sounds like my Moiya. Even Tymrath walked carefully around her."

"Your teela-mei?" Dagmar nodded. "You must miss her."

Dagmar nodded slowly. "Every day. I still ache from the separation. And you, Sheriff? I know that you have a son. What of your wife?"

"Nothing too out of the ordinary. Michelle and I divorced a little over ten years ago." Not really wanting to continue this line of conversation, Valenti excused himself and went to check on Tess.

Dagmar walked over to the open door and looked out over the desert. He'd felt an incredibly large amount of power being used a short while ago. But he didn't feel any sort of fear of pain from the group, so they were likely safe. Whether or not they were doing well was up to them at this point. He shook his head and wished for the thousandth time that night that Moiya was alive. She could have dealt with this so much better than he did. They had so many issues to deal with, and for all of their past life memories, they were still so young. He could only hope that the strength they had inside them would help them get through this and that they could learn to love and trust each other again.

Hearing a noise behind him, he turned back as Valenti entered the kitchen.

"Any sign of them?" Valenti asked as he sat back down.

Dagmar stayed in the doorway. "No, but they'll be back soon."

"Listen, I'm sorry for running out like that just now. My divorce just isn't something I like to talk about."

"Perfectly understandable. How's Tess?"

Valenti laughed. "She's doing incredibly well, given the circumstances. Actually, she's on her cell phone right now talking to my son. Who, by the way, is very upset at not being here for this alien convention. But Tess is filling him in."

"They're close?"

"Yeah. They've gotten a bit closer lately than I'm really comfortable with, actually. But they're good kids. I guess it's just a little hard for me to see them as growing up, you know?"

Dagmar sat back down. "Yes. I've ben watching the three of them since they came out of the pods. I'm never sure whether to think of them as children or as their past adult selves. Things are confusing. I wonder at times if we did them a favor by bringing them back. But we were so desperate." His voice trailed off as he looked away.

"Things are that bad back on your planet?"

Dagmar looked back at him. "Worse than you can imagine. Kivar is a vindictive man. He managed to win the battle, but he knows the war isn't over. And knowing that they were brought to Earth and reborn - well, it pushed him right over the edge. He knows his throne will never be secure until he has destroyed them utterly and can prove it to the populace. And he can't bear the thought of being beaten by Zandar. But don't underestimate him. Kivar is smart. He's a threat to them, even here on Earth."

"Things just don't get any easier, do they?" Valenti stretched out and closed his eyes as he thought for a minute. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Of course not. Go right ahead."

"You called Liz Max's teela-mei." Valenti's eyes had opened and he was watching the other man carefully. "Does that make her more vulnerable to Kivar or less? I need to know what's going on if I'm going to protect them."

"Of course you do." Dagmar looked a bit uncomfortable. "Actually, that was a slight exaggeration. Liz and Max never finished their tiasa. But for all intents and purposes, they are life-mates. What you Earthlings call soul-mates."

"What's the tiasa?"

Dagmar got up and poured himself a soda with tabasco sauce before returning to his seat and continuing. "The tiasa is the ceremony a couple undergoes when forging the life-bond. You see, Antarans go through their Awakening and select their partners. Or perhaps the partner is chosen for them - philosophers and poets spend lots of time discussing the issue of fate and free will in the matter. At any rate, once the Awakening has started and the partner is selected, there are two parts to the tiasa. One part is forming the emotional bond. Liz and Max have already done that. They did it over a year and a half ago, in fact."

"When he healed her."

Dagmar shrugged. "Around that time, at any rate. The second part is the physical bond. Liz and Max didn't complete that part. They were distracted by the orb. I'm not sure why - usually the two parts of the tiasa happen in quick succession to each other. But there's sometimes a pause. It's not completely unheard of. Tymrath and Vilandra never completely finished their tiasa, for instance. If they had, then Kivar never would have been able to gain access to her thoughts and control her without Tymrath's knowledge. The tiasa is really our version of a marriage ceremony. Sometimes there would be a public ceremony, but that would only be a formality."

"So once you're connected, that's it? You can't be with anyone else?"

Dagmar grimaced. "Well, there are no absolutes. It's physically possible to be someone other than your teela-mei. But it's not something that happens very often, since teela-meis can feel their partner's emotions. Tends to make things awkward."

"Yeah, I'd imagine. Must cut down on infidelity on your planet, though."

"True. The tiasa is a wonderful experience, but it can also be a bit unpredictable. It's a delicate time in an Antaran's life."

"What does that mean?"

Dagmar shrugged. "Emotions are heightened, and it's just best if outsiders stay out of it. Teela-meis need time alone when going through the tiasa. Otherwise, things can get out of control very easily."

Valenti sighed. "Of course. Out of control aliens with super powers. Great."

Laughing, Dagmar stood up and went for a refill. "Well, maybe their Awakenings will be a while longer in coming. After all, they aren't completely Antaran. Who knows what effect their human DNA will have on things?"

"Actually, with the way things have gone the last two years, it'll probably just make things more unstable for them." Valenti gave a laugh.

Dagmar looked at him curiously. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Well, not the parts where the kids are in danger, no. But I have to admit that I like being a part of this. My father spent his whole life trying to find out the truth about aliens, and everyone thought he was nuts. I like knowing, and I like being able to help." Valenti looked down uncomfortably. "And I guess I kind of think of them as my own kids, now. It's dumb, I know, but there it is."

"It's not dumb. You've been like a father to them. And I can see that they trust you. Even Michael. And gaining his trust couldn't have been easy." Dagmar looked quietly out the door, and, seeing that the desert still appeared empty, he walked over to the sheriff and lowered his voice. "Sheriff, what can you tell me about Michael's relationship with Maria?"

Valenti was confused. "They've been dating off and on again for a little more than a year. I know that Michael wants to keep her safe, and that makes him push her away at times. But she's like her mother - she doesn't give up on things. No matter what happens, she's never given up on Michael."

"So he's protective of her? He wants her safe?"

"Yeah. When he killed Agent Pierce, Michael stayed away from Maria for months. He was afraid he might hurt her unless he learned how to control his powers."

"That makes sense." Dagmar was thinking. "And there's no sign of romantic interest between him and Isabel?"

"Not that I've seen. What's this all about?"

"Just wondering about some things, that's all. I'm not sure how much of an influence the bonds and controls from their last lifetimes have on them now. It doesn't seem that Michael and Isabel feel obligated to continue what Tymrath and Vilandra started." Hearing a noise outside, he hurried to finish up his talk with the sheriff. "Just keep any eye on Michael, would you? I will too, but you're in a position to see things more closely. If you see him behaving oddly in any way, please let me know. I might be able to help."

Before Valenti could question him further, the teens reentered the house.

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Max led them into the ranch house. As the others entered, Michael suddenly pulled Maria aside and pushed her up against the side of the house, just out of sight of the doorway.

"Michael, what are you........" the rest of the question was drowned out by the urgent kiss he gave her.

If she had thought the earlier kisses left her breathless, they were nothing compared to this one. She didn't think Michael ever intended to let her go, which was just fine with her. Leaning against her so closely that they were almost one body, his hands were everywhere at once. The feel of his rings on her skin made her shiver. She wanted to be with him so much at that moment, it made her forget everything and anything else in the world. All that existed was her and Michael.

When he finally took his lips from hers, it was only to say "I love you" and then they were back to kissing again.

"Michael? Maria?" Isabel's voice came from inside the house. "Is everything okay out there?"

"Uh, yeah, things are great," Maria managed to get out as Michael's lips started travelling down her neck. God, that felt good. "Um, we'll be right in."

"Okay," Isabel responded dubiously.

"Michael," Maria whispered as he pushed aside the collar of her shirt and kept on kissing. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" he murmured.

"What's going on with you tonight? I mean, even for you this is a bit much. Is everything.........." her voice broke off as his mouth rejoined hers and his hands went up underneath her shirt. Suddenly, she found that she didn't care too much why he was doing what he was doing, just as long as he never stopped it.

Then he was gone, suddenly. Michael stepped back a bit from her and leaned down, looking at her. His heart was pounding so loudly she could practically hear it. Hands on the walls next to her, he never broke eye contact with her. "I just want to be close to you. No, I need to be close to you. Is that a problem?"

"Nope. But it seems like we're moving a bit fast."

He smirked down at her. "Well, going slow has never been exactly our speed, has it?" He leaned down for a quick kiss, then returned to his earlier position. "I'll try to slow things down if you want, though. I don't want to scare you or push you or anything like that."

Maria tried to think rationally about what she wanted. But it was hard. Even when he wasn't touching her, she could still feel him, feel the pull to be with him. Michael held his breath, waiting for her answer. If she didn't want him, it would kill him, but he'd back away. Somehow. He wasn't sure how he'd do it, but he would. Finally, she responded. "You're not scaring me. I want to be with you, too. But you've been through a lot tonight. I want to make sure that you're not reacting or doing something that you'll regret later."

He couldn't stop the big smile spreading over his face. Maria was stunned by how beautiful it was - an actual smile on Michael Guerin's face. "I won't regret it. And neither will you. I promise."

Good. Enough talking. Maria reached up and pulled his lips down to hers.

"Michael! Maria! Are you two coming in or not?" Isabel's voice was a lot louder and more annoyed this time.

Michael groaned. "You know, we could just leave and go back to my apartment right now," he whispered in her ear.

"Okay," she answered. Moving as quickly as they could without separating their bodies more than absolutely necessary, they started backing away from the house. They had only gotten five steps when Dagmar appeared in the doorway.

"Is there a problem out here?" he asked sharply.

Michael instantly jumped away from her and looked at the other alien. "Not at all. Why? Should there be?" His voice was almost challenging.

Dagmar raised his eyebrows. "I don't know. Isabel's been trying to get you to come inside, and you haven't. So I thought I'd make sure you were both okay out here."

"We're fine." Maria tried to walk by Michael to get in the house, but as she passed him, he grabbed her around the waist and kept her from going on along. "Michael, I think we should go inside."

"Fine." The two of them walked inside together. Dagmar moved aside to let them pass, but Maria noticed the concerned look he gave Michael, even though spaceboy didn't seem to. She filed it away as something to think about later. Right now, there was an alien hybrid council to attend.

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When they came into the living room, Tess said good-bye to Kyle and hung up the phone. Alex and Isabel went comfortably to sit down in their chair, and the two adults sat by the other wall. But Max and Liz just stood there, looking at her and shifting from foot to foot.

"Where's Michael and Maria?" she finally asked, unable to handle the silence anymore.

"They'll be right in. I think they needed some more alone time," Alex asked. He nodded his head towards the cell phone she still held. "Who were you talking to?"

"Kyle. I just filled him in on everything." She laughed. "He's really upset at missing all the 'fun'. No to mention the fact that someone didn't bother to call and let him know that we were meeting aliens out in the desert." Valenti looked carefully down at the carpet.

Max took a deep breath and walked over to her. "Tess, are you okay?"

"Pretty much, yeah." She stood up and walked right up to him. "Max, I know that this is hard for you, and that you must be disappointed that we aren't really married, but I'm sure that you'll get over it someday. We can still be friends." She placed her hand gently on his arm. "I'm sure you'll get over me and move on someday."

He just looked at her in confusion, as Alex and Isabel started laughing. Tess joined in. "Come on, Max! Don't look so worried." She held up her hand and looked at him seriously, the picture of wide-eyed innocence. "I officially promise that my days of stalking you around town are over. Nothing personal, but it's kind of a relief to know that we're not really supposed to be together," she finished, thinking of Kyle's kiss.

A slow smile spread across Max's face. "It is, isn't it? But we're okay, right? I mean, even if you're not my wife, we're still friends, right?" He sounded so adorably nervous.

"Right. Friends." Impulsively, Tess hugged him. Whispering so that only he could hear, she went on. "And I meant it about the no-stalking thing. I don't think you're going to have to worry too much about Kyle hovering around Liz, either."

With a laugh, he answered, "Remind me to tell you about that, later."

As he released her, she looked over at Liz. "No worries from me, Liz. I'm officially over the whole destiny thing. You can relax."

Liz gave a small smile. It was going to take a while before she could totally accept Tess, but this was a start at least. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Tess shrugged. "There's a lot of noise in my head, and it's going to take a while to really adjust, but overall, yes. I'm okay."

Isabel stood up. "I'm going to see what's keeping Michael and Maria." She strode off purposely. Dagmar followed.

"So," Tess said as she sat back down. "Is there anything else we need to talk about tonight? Or do you think we've had enough life-altering revelations for one night?"

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Liz looked around and grabbed her backpack. "Let's see if Dagmar knows anything about the pentagon the Skin was trying to steal from Brody."

Isabel came striding back into the room, looking none too pleased. "What's the matter?" Alex asked with concern.

"Michael and Maria. They're ignoring me." She didn't look happy. Princess Isabel hated to be ignored.

"Give them a little space, Iz," Alex said, trying to comfort her and not laugh. "They just want a little time together."

"Which is fine, but they don't have to be so rude about it." Then she noticed the pentagon in Liz's hands. "Oh, no!" She started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Maria asked as they entered the room. As Dagmar watched them carefully, Michael sat down on the couch, dragging Maria onto his lap. He wasn't letting her get any farther from him than necessary.

Isabel was laughing too hard to explain, so she just pointed to the pentagon. Michael looked over and noticed it. Then he jumped up, almost dropping Maria onto the floor in the process. Backing away, he yelled at Liz. "I thought I told you not to take that thing out when I was around!"

"I was just hoping that Dagmar could tell us what it was," she explained.

"Well, I can, but I'm not sure I'll have to. Seems like they remember."

"Give it to me, Liz." Liz handed it over to Max.

"Maxwell, so help me, if that thing sends me flying across the room again............"

"Oh, let me have it, Max. Please?" Isabel was still giggling.

"Now children, that's not a toy." Dagmar didn't sound as stern as he should have, though.

"Okay, what is that thing?" Maria insisted. "And why are you hiding behind the couch?" she asked Michael.

"Max, please."

"If you give her that Maxwell, you better be prepared to have it thrown at you as soon as I get my hands on it," Michael warned him. "And I will eventually get my hands on it."

"This was something Aveen brought with her when Tymrath rescued her," Max explained over Isabel's giggles. He had a sad smile on his face at the thought of Aveen. But at least now he could think of her with some fondness instead of just pain. She would have liked that. "It was one of the communicators Kivar's forces used. See, they were keyed in specifically to the DNA of the Skins. They wouldn't work for anyone on our side. But Aveen thought we could use them to listen in on their plans."

"Sounds like a good idea," Alex commented.

"Yes, but our scientists came up with an even better one." Max sat down on the floor next to Liz.

Isabel took up the explanation. "Since the pentagons were already designed to identify Skin DNA from ours, they decided to modify them so that they could be used as weapons. But they would be harmless to anyone who wasn't a Skin."

"And this is funny? Antaran humor is a strange thing," Maria commented.

"That wasn't what she found so funny," Michael commented grumpily.

Isabel struggled to keep a straight face. "See, we had to try it out on someone. And we didn't exactly have too many Skins around to try a top-secret weapon on."

"So guess who got to spend hours being thrown across the room by that lovely weapon," Michael asked sarcastically.

"You used that thing on Michael? I mean, Tymrath?" Tess asked in shock.

Isabel shrugged. "It didn't really hurt him. It's set to stun a bit - we never had time to get the charge very strong. And we had the room cushioned so he wouldn't be hurt."

"Yeah, nothing hurt except my pride. You try being thrown across a room like a frisbee all day." He glared at the offending object. "I can't believe I didn't recognize that stupid thing the first time I saw it and Brody used it to send me flying across another room. One without cushions, I might add." He rolled his eyes. "And here we were, trying to figure out what it attacked me, but not you two."

"Did the Skins know it was modified?" Liz asked.

"Well, since it was top-secret, I'm guessing not. Unless........" Michael trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought. But Isabel knew what he had been about to say.

"I don't remember it ever coming up. Kivar probably doesn't know. We were the only ones who knew. Oh, and Larek. He was helping the scientists with the modifications."

"Larek wouldn't tell," Max said with certainty. Michael nodded in agreement.

"Then that's why the Skin was trying to steal it," Alex said. "They still think it's a communicator. They were probably trying to use it to phone home or something."

"Liz." She looked over at Michael, who smirked at her and went on calmly. "If that thing doesn't disappear from my sight in the next five seconds, I'm going to blast it through Dagmar's wall into the kitchen."

Feeling fairly certain that he meant it, Liz grabbed the object out of Max's hands and replaced it in her backpack. Breathing a sigh of relief, Michael returned to the couch. Maria happily settled back in his lap.

"Now that that's settled, any more questions for tonight?" Dagmar asked briskly.

"I have one, actually," Tess said. "How did Nicholas manage to survive my fireball? I was pretty sure that I had gotten all of the Skins who were there, but then we ran into Nicholas in New York, working with Rath and Lonnie."

Maria could feel the sudden tension in Michael's body at the mention of Rath. She gently started rubbing the back of his neck, slowly feeling him relax. He smiled down at her in response.

Dagmar sighed and started to pace again. Max smiled, remembering how he would always do that in the classroom, too. "During the war, both sides tried to develop machines that would help them. In particular, time manipulation was something that was investigated." Max exchanged a look at Liz. From Future Max's visit, it seemed that their side had been able to create a machine capable of time travel. "You saw that when the Skins sent the town into different time zones all at once."

Under her breath, Maria muttered, "Ah, yes. The explanation from Courtney that made no sense."

Dagmar ignored the interruption and continued. "Some Skins were able to use machines to skip themselves out of time ever so slightly. They would be out of sync with the rest of the world around them. They could observe what was going on around them, but couldn't affect it. My guess is that Nicholas had one of those devices, and used it to step out of time and avoid your attack, Tess."

"So he was able to survive and join forces with Rath and Lonnie. Nice," Alex pointed out.

Tess gave a shiver at the thought of Rath. "I still can't believe they joined forces with Nicholas and Kivar."

"With Nicholas, maybe. Not with Kivar." Michael corrected her instantly. All eyes turned to him.

"There's a distinction?" Liz asked.

"Yeah."

"And how do you know this?" Maria asked. Michael noticed that Alex was watching him very intently, waiting to see how he'd answer it.

"I just do." When everyone kept looking at him, he knew he'd need to give more for his answer. "Okay, Lonnie might have allied herself with Kivar. She probably did, in fact." He remembered Rath's comment about not trusting Lonnie anymore. Based on what he's remembered that night, Michael could understand it. "But Rath wouldn't."

"Why not?" Maria wasn't letting this one go.

"Because I wouldn't." Michael answered quietly, hoping this would end soon. This was not a discussion he wanted to prolong.

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything, Michael. You two aren't the same, after all," Max pointed out.

"Trust me on this one, Maxwell. Rath would never ally himself with Kivar."

"But he would ally himself with Nicholas? The one who killed you last time around? That doesn't make much sense." Isabel was confused.

Michael shrugged. "It's not something I'd do personally, but I can see Rath doing it. Nicholas was business. Kivar's personal." Before anyone could question that further, he hurried on. "It would depend on what Nicholas was offering him. That would make the difference in Rath's mind as to whether or not the deal was worth the risk."

Valenti asked slowly, "So what do you think Nicholas offered him?"

"A way back home." At the sound of his quiet comment, all eyes turned to Alex. He was oblivious, though, still looking at Michael. "A way back home to Antar, where he could have a chance to kill Kivar. That's it, isn't it?"

Michael nodded. "Rath didn't tell me this at our meeting, and I'm sure that he didn't tell Nicholas the real reason for wanting to go back to Antar, but if I had to guess, yeah. That's what I think happened."

Alex just nodded, and returned to his own thoughts.

Casting about desperately for a way to change the subject, something occurred to Michael. "Dagmar, if a Skin was watching you from this 'moment out of time', would you see him?"

"No. You might sense that they were there, if your senses were heightened enough, but you wouldn't be able to see them."

Michael leaned back again, satisfied. "That's what it was then." At their confused looks, he went on. "That night when they found Pierce's body. I knew I was being watched, but I couldn't see anyone. Then I found a skin on the ground. I must have been being watched by a Skin."

"Maybe it was Courtney," Maria suggested, batting her eyelashes up at him. "Your little Michael worshipper."

"Do you really want to talk about Courtney?" he asked gently. Whispering for her ears only, he went on. "Because I can think of much more interesting things we could be doing."

"Is anyone else ready to leave yet?" Maria asked loudly.

"Just one more thing," Tess answered. She looked over at Max. "What do we do now, Max?" she teased.

With a smile, Max looked over at Michael. "What do you think?"

Looking his king directly in the eye, Michael answered. "No more running."

Isabel nodded, hands tightly intwined with Alex's. "No more running. We have too much here in Roswell to give up."

Tess looked determined. "No more running."

Finally, looking down at Liz, Max went on. "No more running. It's about time we took control of our own destinies."

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