Season One: When Czechoslovakians Attack

“I mean, what do we even know about these people? Nothing. How do we know that they’re not three feet tall, green, and slimy?”

“I guess we don’t,” said Liz in a distracted voice.

“And you know what else doesn’t, like, particularly please me?” Maria moved her limbs in agitation as she distractedly worked while talking, her voice continuously rising. “These powers. How do we know they can’t just like wiggle their noses and poof us into oblivion?”

“I guess we don’t.” Liz, still distracted and barely paying attention.

“Okay, you’re being like so casual about this; I want to choke you!” Maria made a threatening gesture. “Liz, we’re dealing with alie…” In a blaze of lightening, Liz clapped her hand over Maria’s mouth as another employee walked through the swinging door.

Liz’s eyes darted around nervously. “Can you please not say that word in public?” Both of them looked out to the front of the Crashdown, their demeanor guilty and suspicious.

“The point is that we don’t know anything about these Czechoslovakians. Are they good Czechoslovakians? Bad Czechoslovakians? We don’t know. Are they just random Czechoslovakians? For all we know, they don’t have their passports.” Liz gave her best friend a look of dawning horror. This was insane. Pure, unadulterated insanity. It was the sudden appearance of Alex Whitman, their best guy friend that made both Liz and Maria jump a little.

“Who’s Czechoslovakian?”

“Hey!” said Maria, her face fusing with color.

“Hey!” said Liz with enough guilt on her face to make Alex’s eyes narrow in thought.

“Hey! So, who’s Czechoslovakian?”

Both Maria and Liz spoke at the same time.

“The new kid at school,” said Liz as Maria said. “The guy at the hardware store.” The two girls looked at each other and Liz quickly covered for them.

“The new kid at school who works at the hardware store.”

“Exactly,” said Maria biting the inside of her lip. No way. There was no way that Alex was going to buy this stupid story. No way.

“Oh. What about him?”

Maria stood with her mouth opened in shock, and Liz jabbed her in the ribs, and they both answered in unison, “Nothing.”

“Fantastic.” He gave them both thoughtful looks, but they were his best friends, so what the hell. Liz and Maria walked away in a hurried gait.

“About the aliens? How do you…”

“Maria!” Liz looked around, her eyes big in her face. Pushing her hair back with a trembling hand, she grabbed her best friend and pulled her further into a corner, away from prying ears.

“What?” Maria did a little hop as Liz hustled her along.

“Not so loud!” Liz’s eyes dart from side to side.

“Oh… right!” Maria’s mouth, glimmering in her strawberry red lip gloss, opened in awareness of how loud she was speaking. Looking around, she bent and whispered in a loud stage whisper. “I’m just saying, how do you know that these alie….um, Czechoslovakians are trustworthy? How do you know that they won’t turn into something disgusting, and…I don’t know. Eat our brains?”

“Our brains?”

Maria ignored Liz’s incredulous look, warming on her newest and favorite obsession. “How do you know that they aren’t the beginning of an attack invasion? How can any of us know anything about Czechoslovakians? Or anything about them?” Maria’s eyes narrowed as the most questionable and repulsive version sudden peered in the front window of the Crashdown. Her hand hit her chest as her heart, sped up threatening to explode. “Czechoslovakian, 9 o'clock.”

Michael was peering through the window, watching them.

“Okay, that guy creeps me out. That one is a great example! If there isn’t something off about him, I’ll eat my lip gloss.” Maria’s eyes narrowed as Michael Guerin arrogantly returned her stare, then continued on. Maria watched as his figure disappeared from sight. Her voice rose as her thoughts left her distracted.

“Liz, what does one wear exactly when aliens attack?”

“Maria!”

~~~

On the high school grounds, Liz and Maria were having lunch, Liz smiling in amusement as Maria sniffed her food before biting into it. She told Maria about the new guidance counselor’s interest in Michael.

“It’s impossible, right, that she’s not who she says she is?”

“Well, no one is who they say they are. I mean, what do you mean exactly?” Maria’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. More aliens?

“Forget it.” Liz caught the classic Maria DeLuca look. Oh no. Liz almost closed her eyes and prayed for relief from conspiracy theories. The DeLuca clan, tried and true peace and environmental activists, lived with suspicion in their blood.

“What, that she’s a spy?”

“No, don’t be ridiculous.” Liz grimaced, and tried to infuse comfort and calm in her voice.

“Cause that kind of stuff happens, you know.”

“Now you’re being crazy. C’mon, go on.”

Maria dangerously waved her apple at Liz. “Well, think about it. She takes attendance. What substitute teacher takes attendance? I mean, God, the whole thing is so Roswellian.” Maria seemed pleased with her new term. Roswellian. Cool. “I’m telling you Liz, she’s been sent here.”

Liz didn’t even try to hide her rolling eyes, but something made her ask anyway. “Why would she be sent here?”

“To find the Czechoslovakians.” Maria snorted. Duh!

“Sniff some cedar oil, Maria.”

Maria waved off the suggestion. “Which makes me feel even more like what I already thought before you told me about this, which is that we should definitely, definitely, definitely tell Alex.”

“No.” Liz grabbed Maria in earnest. “Look, Maria, we mustn’t tell anyone... ever. Ever.”

“Mustn’t?” Maria’s forehead wrinkled in worry. “When have you ever said "mustn’t"? Look, we need someone with a little perspective.” Maria sat back, organizing her thoughts. “OK, there’s all this stuff happening, and it’s dangerous. The other day the Sheriff asked me all these questions. And now we have this Topolsky person poking around.” Maria ticked off the strange events befalling them since knowing about the alie….Czechoslovakians. “You know, that’s what they do. They send special government task forces. Alien hunters. And suddenly, we’re like, accessories to Czechoslovakians!” Maria looked around and firmly stressed her point. “We need Alex in on this.”

Liz pointed to Alex, who was in another area of the quad talking to some girls and trying to impress them with this double-jointed arm trick he could do.

Maria wrinkled her nose at the sight. “Admittedly, he’s not James Bond, but he’s all we’ve got right now.” She sat back dejectedly as they listened to Alex talking to the girls who were walking away from him, laughing.

“What, so now I’m a freak?” Maria made a face at Alex, conceding the point to Liz. Taking her cue, she and Liz slowly made their way to their next class.

“I’m telling you, Liz, there is something wrong with that Ms. Topolsky.”

“Maria…” Liz rearranged her books readying herself for another bout of Maria’s over dramatization of everything. “She’s a guidance councilor. What do you expect?”

Maria leaned in closer, her eyes moving about looking for eavesdroppers. “Sure she is! And she just happens to show up after the…thing? Did you see her hair?” Maria snorted. “No guidance councilor looks like that. And I saw her talking to Sheriff Valenti.”

Liz froze. Pushing her books to the side, she gave Maria her full attention. “The Sheriff? What does she want with the Sheriff?”

“Oh, now you’re concerned? I told you. Nothing is as it seems. I mean until a few days ago we thought those weird people were just…weird.” Maria nodded her head knowingly. “Now we know different. Czechoslovakians.”

“Are you saying that Ms. Topolsky is an alie…Czechoslovakian?”

“Oh god! I knew it! It’s an invasion!” Maria took out a small vial of aromatic cedar oil from her purse and sniffed, her eyes narrowing in thought. “No. No, I don’t think so. She’s looking too closely at the…them. She must be a special unit sent to find them.”

“Maria…” Liz shook her head. Oh god, not the Special Unit conspiracy theory again! She sighed, resigning herself to another bout of Maria’s paranoia. Now that was just crazy. Alex. This was Alex’s fault. He was always picking some B-rated Sci-Fi movie on his night to choose. He was melting Maria’s brain with invasion theory and X-Filing her into paranoia land with Mulder.

“We have to investigate!”

“Maria, this is crazy. Special Unit?”

Maria sat down next to Liz. “They have those, you know. In the FBI. A whole branch that investigates UFO’s and stuff. They know we aren’t alone. Had to since the original crash.” Maria grabbed Liz’s arm dramatically. “Oh, girlfriend, this is big! Real big! They must have sent Ms. Topolsky to ferret out the Czechs.” Maria snorted. “Like we’d be so easily fooled. Her shoes are Ferragamo knock-offs, and that is Le Clur lip gloss. Obviously so not a guidance councilor. No one coordinates with Burberry unless they want to look like they’re wearing their Grandmother’s curtains. She’s obviously a daring woman. So not Roswell.”

Liz watched astounded, as Maria started to walk off. “Maria, where are you going?”

“Oh, just to look around. Observe. You know, investigate.” Maria hurried off, her eyes narrowed, her body stiff as she shrewdly took note of every passing face, suspecting aliens or agents. Damn, who knew high school could be so…perilous?

Liz shook her head and closed her eyes. “Great. Just great. Investigate.” She bit her lip, worrying it. “I better go tell, Max or warn Michael.”

~~~

~~~

“Calm down, Michael.”

Michael kicked the leg of Max’s desk, pushing his hands into his pockets. Pacing the floor, he suddenly noticed Isabel. “Don’t tell me to calm down. This is bad, Maxwell. Very bad! We need to leave.” Tossing himself down into a chair, his legs over the side, he ate a peanut cluster. Telling them about the police station was an obvious mistake for all the notice they gave to his information.

It seemed highly reasonable and logical that they should act. Investigate. Take measures to find out about the picture and file that Valenti had shown Liz. Michael had staked out the Roswell sheriff station after Liz came by and warned him about Topolsky, the new guidance counselor, who was asking questions about him.

“Are you insane?!?”

Michael made a face at Isabel’s sarcastic tone. “I didn’t just wander in, all right? I had a cover story.”

“And what was your cover story?” Max asked quietly.

Michael shrugged and bit into another piece of candy. “I was selling candies for charity.” He offered his two friends some candy. “Peanut cluster?”

“And they bought it?” At least now he knew what Michael was doing all day instead of going to school. But still, staking out the Sheriff was not perhaps the wisest of choices.

“No, they all seemed to be on a diet.”

Isabel rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Not the candy, Einstein, the story.”

“Yeah, they bought the story.” Michael seemed to finally notice Isabel, noting her clothing. “Why are you wearing that?” She looked…slutty.

“Because, Michael, I have a date...with a guy...that I like. In fact, I like my whole life here. In fact, I have a date next Friday that I’m hoping I won’t have to miss because I’m running from the law.” Isabel looked at her nails and frowned at a chip. With a pass of her hand it was repaired. Perfect. Looking at Michael, she couldn’t miss his sour face. “What?”

Michael made a sound of disgust and indifference to Isabel’s social agenda, rolling his eyes, not caring for whatever the hell Isabel was going to do, date or fashion accessorize herself into a grave. He didn’t care about Max and his moonfest over the inane Liz Parker either. They were missing what was important.

“You two, the point is this. That file has got to be in Valenti’s office, all right? He leaves for the day at 7:30. There’s no one else in the entire wing of the Sheriff’s station. We go in, we find the file, we get the info, and we put the file back…”

Max sat on the edge of the sofa and seemed to be thinking of Michael’s plan. “So how do we break in? Hypothetically.”

Michael moved forward as his plan took off in his mind. “The window. It’s got a lock on it. Nothing you can’t handle.”

“Alarm system?” Max noticed Isabel’s startled reaction. She was glaring at him warningly. “Hypothetically.”

“Piece of cake. Even I could deactivate it.”

“Max, don’t humor him.” Isabel ignored Michael’s look of anger at her disregard for his plan. “I can’t believe you’re even considering this.”

“I just want to know how feasible the plan is...” Max saw Isabel’s face, that look coming over her features, “…which it’s not...feasible. It’s not feasible, Michael.” Max chose to ignore Michael’s muttering of ‘Pussy Boy’ under his breath as the larger alien exploded.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for our entire lives. I mean, this is the first time we’ve ever had any clue that might tell us who we are. We don't have a choice.”

Michael paused as Max and Isabel’s parents voice called to them from the other room. Great, the Cleavers were home. “And with government agents after us, we had better get our asses in gear, don’t you think?”

“Agents?” Max looked at Michael in confusion and then at Isabel.

Isabel looked at the door in fear hoping her parents couldn’t hear them. “What are you talking about?”

“Talk to Liz.” Michael got up to leave as the Evans came into the room.

“You guys hungry? Mr. Evans asked, smiling at the group of teenagers.

“Hey guys, we got pizza.” Mrs. Evans looked at Isabel. “Hey honey, you look…pretty.” Then she seemed to notice Michael. “Oh Michael… hi.”

“Hey. I was just leaving.”

“We’ve got plenty of pizza,” Mr. Evans offered as Michael slowly made his way from the room.

“My dad’s cooking. Thanks.”

Mrs. Evans watched the young boy leave the room before turning back to her children. “Well, I’m starved. C’mon guys. Plates, napkins, let’s eat!”

~~~

In the women’s bathroom. Maria read a note from Max to Liz that said:

Meet me in the 2nd Floor Eraser Room 6th Period. Max

Liz had told Max everything. He hadn’t seemed concerned, but she later found the note in her locker.

“The Eraser room, huh? Liz, do you know what the 2nd floor eraser room means?” Maria was exceptionally loud and brilliant in a red tube top.

“Of course I know what it means...” Liz paused uncertain. “What does it mean?”

“It’s where Greg Coleman gave Marlene Garcia that hickey the size of a softball. It’s where Richie Roher and Amanda Lourdes consummated everything...” Maria tilted her head to press the point home.

Liz made a face at her expressive friend. “Okay, Maria, you know what? You’re just making this into something it’s not.”

Maria gave a loud sigh. “Liz, I don’t think you should do this. Okay? I mean, we don’t know what can happen. I mean, the guy touched you and you saw into his soul. How do we know what happens if he kisses you? How do we know what it is to be kissed by a Czechoslovakian? We don’t.”

Liz grabbed Maria’s arms, trying to shake some sense into her. “Okay, Maria, no one is kissing anyone here. I mean, Max isn’t even the least bit interested in me. You know, he said that things were just like they used to be before. Nothing’s changed. He said that.”

“Oh my God, it’s not just kissing that goes on in the Eraser Room.” Maria said in a loud stage whisper, shocked at her friend’s lack of real world savvy.

“She’s got that right,” said another girl in the bathroom as she was on her way out hearing part of their discussion.

Maria crossed her arms and gestured to the departing girl with an open handed gesture. “The Eraser Room does two things: cleans erasers and takes our innocence. Do you know what I mean by "takes our innocence," Liz? The Eraser Room has taken some of the best of us.” God, Maria couldn’t believe Liz’s naiveté. She read somewhere that aliens invaded by impregnating young unsuspecting things. Innocents. Like Liz. Maria put a dramatic hand to her chest, quelling the rising fear and nausea.

“Maria…” Liz was tired of trying to calm Maria when her comment hit home. “What? What aren’t you telling me? Maria? How exactly do you know about the Eraser Room?”

Maria shrugged and headed to her next class. “That’s not important. I’m just saying.”

“Saying?” Liz followed close on Maria’s heels. “You better get saying some more! I want all the details.”

Maria snorted, but her worry was evident as she and Liz exited the Ladies. Damn. She better keep an eye on Liz. Make sure she doesn’t show up with any of the classic signs of alien impregnation. Drinking hot coffee. Painting weird landscapes. Walking at night in her pajamas. This was so not good. Body snatchers? What was the standard procedure for looking for body snatchers? Maria left the bathroom in a flurry of arms and legs, her pace fast and agitated. She better check under Liz’s bed. Pod people were among them.

Michael stood against the wall around the corner watching Maria. Daffy dame was a problem.

~~~

Michael was angry. He was more than a little angry. His investigation. His plan. Max was waiting to take Liz Parker with him to investigate. Files were being removed from Valenti’s office, and he was being kicked out of the loop. Max was doing things without him, and not telling him everything. His entire world had been turned upside down in mere hours and days, and it was getting more confused every minute.

He continued to argue with Max in the parking lot outside as Max waited for Liz to get out of her work shift. Even that Maria girl was part of it. She had to be, since she was covering for Liz. Great. Fucking great!

“Michael, it’s important to me, too.”

Michael just snorted at Max’s reply. “All you want to do is protect what you've got here in Roswell.”

“That’s right, I do.” Max winced as Michael kicked his jeep tire.

Michael paced angrily and turned back to Max. “Have you ever thought what it’s like here for me, Max?”

“Of course I have,” Max answered, distracted, as Liz came towards the jeep, and Michael noticed her with disgust.

“Look, the woman who pulled your records! She’s on her way to your place.”

“What?” Michael’s incredulous face took on a look of disdain. More kept from him. Things that involved him personally.

“Just stay away from there tonight. Isabel is waiting for you at our house. Just go there and wait.”

“Wait for her to find me?” Michael asked nastily. This was looking to be very over. The longer they dawdled in Roswell, the more certain their capture.

“Don’t do anything stupid.” Max called after Michael as he stalked off.

~~~

The trip was a bust. The guidance counselor was looking for Michael to talk to him about his absences from school. Max drove worrying about how suspicious they appeared, not only to Ms. Topolsky, but to Kyle Valenti, the Sheriff’s son, and Liz’s boyfriend. They were making waves. Small waves that were building into bigger ones. Isabel was waiting for them, so Max quickly said goodnight to Liz.

Max approached Isabel and her words made his blood run cold. “Michael is AWOL.”

Max and Isabel headed toward Sheriff Station. It was the most likely place.

“You know the guy doesn’t know how to control his powers...” Isabel said glancing at her brother in fear.

“I know.” They both could see the window grate open on the second floor of the Roswell PD. Michael. It had to be. Max heard Isabel make a sound of distress as Valenti pulled into the station parking lot.

Isabel gestured to the open window. “You get Michael out of there. I’ll keep Valenti out of his office for as long as I can.”

“Right,” Max answered as Isabel jumped out of the jeep, flattening a tire and rearranging her clothing. She paused for a moment at the door of the Police Station and shook out her hair, and straightened her clothing, she put on a charming smile.

“Sheriff? I’m so glad someone’s here. I have a flat tire, and I am so not mechanical.”

The Deputy on Duty sat up straighter and looked Isabel over. “Sheriff. You’re off duty, Sheriff. I’d be happy to help the young lady out.”

“It’s ok, deputy. I've got it.” The Sheriff said as his eyes lit upon Isabel. Smiling kindly he went to assist her. Max Evans’ sister, Jim’s eyes narrowed.

Max climbed through the window as Michael found a key that Valenti hid in his thermos from the FBI as they confiscated his files. Michael had used his powers to open a locked window grate at the Sheriff's station, and while Max and Isabel were outside Michael had been going through the Sheriff’s files.

“Michael, let’s go, now! Valenti’s back! Let’s go! Michael!”

Michael had startled at Max’s sudden appearance. He picked up the key when a vision so intense that he fell backwards in a loud resounding crash. Downstairs Valenti, the deputy, and Isabel could the noise. Valenti told Isabel to stay put and he and the deputy headed upstairs toward his office.

Max looked around in fear. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

Michael picked himself off the floor, and quickly righted the desk and chair. He and Max exited the office through the window and Max resealed the lock. They hesitated on the window sill for a moment before they both jumped into a garbage dumpster just as Valenti arrived in his office. Seeing nothing, he checked the window grate and found it locked and sealed. Slowly leaving his office, he noticed a look of fear on Isabel’s face.

“Told you it was no big deal.” Michael said as they climbed out of the dumpster. They paused at the corner to watch Isabel and Valenti in front of the Police Station. It was a short wait as the Sheriff finished changing the flat tire.

“There you go. You’re all set, Miss Evans.” Jim smiled at the young woman, trying to not be too alarming.

“Thanks, thanks a lot,” Isabel said, making a move to start the jeep.

“Isabel, right?”

“Yeah.” Isabel smiled widely, trying to hide her unease.

“You’re out past curfew.”

Isabel laughed and gestured to the jeep. “Well, I had a flat tire.”

“Right.” Valenti nodded and then said in a casual voice. “Where’s Max tonight?”

“Oh, I have no idea. I’m just his sister, not his keeper.”

Jim nodded solemnly as she drove off, not seeing her brake a block away to let two figures jump into the back of the Jeep and then speed away.

In the jeep in front of Michael’s trailer. Max reached for the key. He shook his head when he didn’t get a vision. Handing it back to Isabel, Michael waited expectantly. Isabel’s body reacted as if she had a vision, and Michael and Max leaned forward.

“What did you see?”

“Ricky Martin in the shower.” Isabel said in jest, but Michael took the key from her in anger and headed to his home, a trailer on the wrong side of the tracks of Roswell. Max gave Isabel a sour look and quickly followed Michael.

“Hey.” Michael turned to look at Max. “Sorry about before. Maybe I don’t really know what it’s like for you.”

Michael shrugged. Max would never understand it. How could he? “The thing I've realized, is the fact that my life basically sucks is a good thing. It’s easier. We always have to be able to leave, pack a suitcase, and go somewhere else. Maybe ten years from now, maybe a week from now, maybe tomorrow. So my advice? Don’t get in too deep, Maximilian. It only makes us weaker.”

Michael went into his crappy home with his uncaring foster father. One thing he was certain about; he couldn’t form deep relationships, not with anyone. Tonight it was clear to him that this also included Max and Isabel too. They were happy in their lives, and given the opportunity, the inertia of their lives would make them stay in Roswell forever. He couldn’t live with that. No attachments. Not of any kind. It was the way it had to be.

Max, Isabel, and Michael were having lunch together in the school courtyard. They looked up in unison to see Maria DeLuca walking across the quad with her books and lunch. She saw them watching her, kept looking over at them with nervous glances.

“That girl is just an accident waiting to happen.”

Max sighed. “Look, Isabel could you at least try and make an effort?” Liz had warned him that Michael and Isabel were intimidating Maria to the point of fear. Fear was an uncertain thing.

“No.”

“Think about it. People see movies with aliens. Aliens killing humans. Evil aliens. Green aliens. If you keep acting this way with Maria, she's going to think that's what we are.” Max tried to infuse a voice of reason. Maybe if they could convince Maria they were harmless, she would calm down enough to actually meet them halfway. She had already helped them out once for no reason other than what was in her heart, so they needed to trust that she was essentially a trustworthy individual.

“Exactly. I'm telling you this evil alien thing could work for us in this situation. The way to deal with her is to make her sweat, keep her on her toes. Make her afraid of my shadow, of your shadow, of her shadow, of Michael's shadow. Right, Michael?”

“Or we could just kill her.” Michael answered, not really paying that much attention to what Isabel had said, but seeing the look Max was giving him, he quickly amended his statement. “Kidding.” Michael held the key up in front of him and studied it.

“Put that key away.” Max said quietly out of the side of his mouth.

“You want to know, don't you? I mean you got the bug. I mean, we've got this key, now what does this key open? Admit that you have to know that.”

Isabel rolled her eyes. “Could you stop with the key? The key means nothing.”

“If it means nothing, then why did it give me a vision the first time I touched it?”

“Because your brain is warped; just a theory.” Isabel said nastily. It was common knowledge to them that Michael’s powers didn’t work well at all. He had no control, and couldn’t perform at the same level of proficiency that she and Max could. The vision was a fluke. Had to be.

Max ignored the bickering twins and leaned forward towards Michael. “What do you think it means? I mean it's a key, where could it possibly lead?”

Michael scratched his eyebrow. “I'm telling you, the government cleaned out the sheriff's station, and this is the key he kept from them. It's got to be something important. Maybe it belongs to the corpse from 1959.”

“Michael, you're grasping at straws.” Isabel said in exasperation. He was so damn tiring.

Michael ignored her. “And I know that, but I say we follow where it takes us. I mean who knows where we'll end up. Maybe home. I mean, Maxwell, we can't let this go. We can't just hide.”

“I don't know.” Michael made a sound of disgust at Max’s indecision. Typical.

Isabel looked up and watched Maria talking to people nearby. This was a greater concern. Far greater than some moldy old key. “One more day before she cracks. Tops.”

“Just try to find something you have in common with her.” Max pleaded. Between Isabel and Michael, he was exhausted.

“Oh please, what am I supposed to talk to her about?”

“Try something.” Max said, trying to offer a suggestion or two. “Order some fries. Just start a conversation.”

Isabel seemed to be thinking about it, but then she shook her head. “No. It's impossible. She's irrational.”

Maria at that moment seemed to sense Isabel’s eyes on her and tripped, dropping her books. Seeing the three looking at her, Maria pretended to laugh and tried to casually pick up her books and walk away nonchalantly. It didn’t work. There was no nonchalance there at all.

Michael studied Maria as she walked away. “She's kinda weird.” His attention immediately went back to the key.

Isabel rolled her eyes at Michael. He was being more a freak than usual, his irrationality was only equal to and complemented by the DeLuca girl’s. All she needed was two loose cannons. “I’ll take care of it.”

Max looked up sharply, concerned whatever the hell ‘taking care of it’ meant. Michael just grunted. He could care less. His eyes never left the key. There were more important things.

~~~

Isabel closed her eyes and allowed her mind to pull her into the dreamscape that was Maria. The Crashdown? Interesting. There was Liz and Maria in their dorky uniforms clearing tables.

“Some people are just pigs.” Liz said in her Liz Parker voice. Geez, even in the dream.

“Tell me about it.” Maria said as she walked over to customers in a booth ready to give them the Crashdown spiel. “Welcome to the Crash-- AHHHH!”

Isabel’s eyebrow went up at Maria’s scream. She and Max. They were in that booth, but not as themselves, rather as Maria DeLuca’s warped perception. Really. That green hair and strange features did nothing for her complexion

“What's the matter, Maria?” God, could Liz’s voice be anymore inane?

“Look at them!” Hysterical much?

“What, Maria?” God, she does clueless so extremely well. This can’t be an act. Inner lurking of your innermost feelings towards Liz, Maria? Hmm.

“They're repulsive, I mean …” Isabel rolled her eyes. Repulsive? That is a bit harsh. Slightly malformed and a bad color, but repulsive?

“They look perfectly normal to me.” Oh, that is actually more of an insult! Isabel shook her head as Maria walked away crying. Time to end this farce.

“What are you doing here?” Maria jumped as Isabel appeared behind her.

“I just thought we should talk, and since we can't seem to do it when we're awake, I thought I'd visit you in your dreams.”

“What do you mean visit me?” Okay, so she wasn’t that bright either. English. It was clear.

“I'm not really a part of your dream. I can't change it or anything. I just wanted to see what you were thinking.” Isabel looked around and noticed Michael sitting at a table in a tuxedo. Her eyebrow went up even more and she gave Maria a penetrating look. “Interesting.” Very, very interesting. He almost looks good. Almost. At the very least, he was bathed.

Maria looks at him wringing her hands. “When he's dressed like that, it makes me feel much less afraid.”

“Afraid of what?” He actually looked normal. Well, not really. Not normal for Michael, but normal by human standards. Isabel watched as Michael turned into a monster. His tentacles reached out and wrapped around Maria’s neck, choking her. Tentacles?

“Help! Sheriff, I have to tell you!” God, now she was hysterical.

“Tell him what?” Isabel’s eyes narrowed.

“You guys are horrible, disgusting creatures from outer space!” Maria’s fear was a tangible thing.

“Is that what you would really do?”

Maria freaked. “Sheriff! Sheriff Valenti! Sheriff!” She flopped in a mass of panic around Sheriff Valenti who was sitting at a table not even noticing her anxiety or screams.

Maria woke as her body hit the floor in a violent thud. Sitting up, confused and still panicked, her hand went to her heart as it her chest heaved in fear. Scrambling back on her bed, she reached into her bedside table and breathed comfortingly from a small vial of aromatic cedar oil. Rocking slightly, she tried to convince herself that it was alright. Just a dream.

~~~

Michael jerked out of his zoned out reverie and gazed out across the quad as Isabel read her magazine. Max was late again. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Maria girl. She saw him looking at her and ran into some nameless guy and dropped her bag. Her head banged into the other guy’s head as they both tried to pick up her stuff.

“I thought you said you were going to take care of her.”

Isabel looked up and shrugged, flipping through her magazine. “I did.”

“What? When?”

Isabel put down her reading material. “I dreamwalked her. Let’s just say that her dreams are about as dramatic and overblown as she is.” She looked at Michael and smiled slightly. Wonder if he’d like to know…she shrugged. “You were in her dream.”

“Me?” Michael frowned. He definitely didn’t want to know. Feigning indifference, he couldn’t hold out. “So what did she dream?”

Isabel laughed. “Let’s just say that we can control her with fear. She has a lot of that.”

“Epic.” Michael got up to leave.

“Where’re you going?”

“To keep an eye on the weakest link and teach her to fear.”

Isabel shook her head. So much effort. Hmm. She picked up the magazine. Is that pure angora?

~~~

“Here, Liz, breathe this.”

“Maria, if this is another alien test…”

“No! Of course not!” Maria patiently waited as Liz reluctantly complied. Taking the breath analyzer, she tried to read it. What the hell did these colors mean? Range. Range? What was a normal range?

“Where did you get that?”

Maria smiled. “I have my ways.” Okay, maybe she wasn’t carrying a spawn of an alien…yet. Maria smiled pleasantly until he walked in the door. Jumping, her hand went to her queasy stomach. Calm. Calm. Breathe. Just breathe. “God, Liz, take him!”

Liz looked over at Michael who sat down at the booth. “Maria, it’s your station. You need to get over this unreasonable fear. They haven’t done a thing.” She grabbed her friend. “You’re going to blow it when Valenti talks to you. At this rate, you’re going to blurt it out. They are normal, as far as I can tell.”

“That’s how it starts. So innocent. Then when you least expect it…”

“Maria!”

“Going! I’m going.” Maria went over to Michael’s booth. “Something?”

“Aren’t you supposed to say that lame thing about crashing down or something else idiotic?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be baying at the moon? Nothing. Fine.” Maria went to leave.

“Pie!” Turning back, Maria took out her order pad and raised a delicate eyebrow. “The cherry.”

“Cherry is good, but over a day old. You still want it?”

“Yeah.”

Maria nodded. “I’ll throw in a scoop of vanilla ice cream no charge, since it’s not fresh.”

Michael watched her walk away, swallowing an uncharacteristic thank you. She wasn’t so bad when she wasn’t talking. That thought fled as quickly as it came.

~~~~

Michael paced around Liz Parker as Max looked on. They were in the high school lobby, and Maria was missing. Valenti. He had called her to his office for questioning, and despite all the coaching and practice, Liz was still unsure how Maria would pull off being grilled like that. Over the past few days, instead of becoming more comfortable around the aliens, she was becoming more and more skittish and paranoid.

“So what do you mean she was nervous?” Michael asked, his forehead furled and concerned.

“I don't know. She was just, she was like nervous.”

Max licked his lips. “Nervous, like, just overexcited nervous?”

Michael practically pushed Max aside. “Or nervous, she's gonna crack, nervous?”

Damn. They were making her nervous. The Alien Gang Bang. “I'm not sure what she's going to say. I'm really not sure of anything anymore.” Liz looked at Max helplessly. This was going to be her fault. Absolutely her fault.

“You're not sure. That's great. That's good.” Michael walked away flopping his arms in disgust.

“Max, I'm so sorry. I should never have even told Maria in the first place.” Michael rolled his eyes at the whining plead in the girl’s voice.

“Well you did it 'cause you trusted her, and you needed someone to talk to. It was only natural.” Michael stared at Max in amazement. What the fuck was that?

“So why did you tell me?” Michael shook his head and went to sit down against the wall, away from the two of them talking and comforting each other to the rightness of their decisions. Right. The cheese was starting to smell.

“It was only natural.”

“What did you mean the other day about that thing, about the tree?” Liz asked interested in anything and everything Max.

“Just somebody's advice. Not to get stuck behind them.” Max snuck a look at Michael behind Liz’s back and noticed an obscene gesture Michael was making in response to his discussion with her.

“Oh. Well, did you take it? That advice?”

Max concentrated on Liz. It was best to ignore Michael all together. “I think I just did.” The snort from the floor was loud and insulting, but Max smiled into Liz’s eyes and they were oblivious.

~~~

Jim noted the tension in the young girl. Maria was practically sitting on her hands and licking her lips. It was the eyes. Her eyes were an open book to her apprehension.

“What are you afraid of, Miss DeLuca?”

“A lot of things.” Cool. Calm. Answer directly and as truthfully as possible within reason. Calm.

“You know what I think? I think someone is controlling you, controlling you through fear. Am I right? I'm here to help you. You know that, don't you? Then tell me what's frightening you so badly. What you saw the night of the crash festival? You were in that parking lot to meet whom?”

“Nothing, just headlights.” Good answer. Click one off the list.

“Was there someone waiting for you?”

“I don't know, I was unconscious.” Great! Stick with that. You can’t know anything when you’re unconscious.

Jim frowned and sat up straighter, more authoritive. “Maria. We both know why we're here, right? So what do you say we stop lying to each other? Okay?”

Maria’s voice wavered. “Okay.”

Jim smiled slightly. He had her. “Now who is Isabel Evans?”

“Um, she's a girl at school.” State the obvious. That was not a lie.

“Why does she make you so nervous?”

Maria made a face that she hoped was credible as she sat on her sweating palms. “I'm not nervous.” Liar. Liar. God, she was going to hell.

“Isabel and her brother Max. How well do you know them?”

“Not well, not well at all.”

Jim frowned at her unwillingness to confide in him. Changing gears and tactics, he lowered his voice into a comforting even tone to promote trust. “You know, I think you and I have something in common. I never really got to know my father very well either. He was the sheriff around here about forty years ago. Did you know that?”

“No.” His attitude was worse than the one before. It was…disturbing.

“Strong man. Strong hands. And he had this theory, you know? About aliens? That they were real. Sounds awfully silly, doesn't it?”

“Yeah.” Maria swallowed. Her nervousness was settling in her stomach, and suspicion was eating at her. He was an adult. They had ways. Adult ways to ferret out the truth. She was going to blow this big. Real big.

“That's what everybody thought. But my father, he was a very stubborn man, and he wouldn't let it go. He believed, and he lost his job over it. And, uh, he lost his family over it. Now I would hate to see that happen to any other family in this town, wouldn't you? Now there's one more thing that you and I have in common, isn't it?”

Damn. Maria started to cry. This wasn’t her fault. None of this was.

“We've both seen things recently. Things that have made us start to wonder, made us question ourselves, our beliefs, and I think that if we share those things with each other, we're both going to feel a little bit safer. Now Isabel Evans, she's just a girl?”

Maria offered softly. “She's a special girl.”

Jim moved in for the kill. “What makes her special?”

“Where she comes from.”

Jim swallowed his smile of triumph. “Where is she from? Maria? Where are they from? Where did they come from?”

A family. Strong. Created in Roswell, and flourishing there. It was all that mattered. “A very nice family. And like you said, Sheriff, we wouldn't want to destroy any other families in this town, would we?” Maria sat up straighter. It wasn’t so hard once you made a decision, decided on a course of action. There was no right, no wrong. Just the course. Stay the course.

~~~

Maria was driving down the road, a world of weight taken from her thin unremarkable human shoulders. It felt good to be her. Maybe for the first time since she became part of the most life-altering event of her life. Seeing the jeep on the side of the road, Maria snorted. Isabel. Typical. That jeep needed some major overhaul. Maria checked her hair and pulled up next to Isabel.

“You alone?”

Maria made a face, relishing having the other girl at a disadvantage for once. “Do you see the army behind me?”

“You lied.” Isabel bit back the admiration in her voice, but it was too incredible to hold back the awe.

“Like a rug.” Maria said with a hint of nonchalance. Sure, now it was no big deal. Piece of cake.

“Were you scared?” Isabel asked softly. She had seen Maria’s dreams, the inner working of her mind, and the girl was riddled in fears too numerous to even catalogue.

“Understatement, but that's when I realized what it's like being you.”

Isabel was at a loss. What to say to that one simple act of courage beyond fear. “You look awful.” Maria shrugged. She had better days, and better nights. “Thanks for saving our butts, Maria.”

Maria smiled despite herself. “Oh, no problem, Isabel.” She looked pointedly at the jeep and the long empty road. Pausing she gestured to the empty seat next to her. “So, need a ride?” Isabel smiled and got in. It was nice to have someone for once. Someone who knew and didn’t judge, just accepted.

Sonnabitch! Max paced the Mens’ bathroom, his anger barely contained. Helpless. This was helpless. He wanted…needed to be with Liz, if only to comfort her, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t. He punched the bathroom stall in frustration and the wall collapsed.

“Ow.” Michael climbed out from beneath the metal stall. Okay, so hiding in the bathroom wasn’t so great an idea. He sighed, crossing his arms across his chest and critically examined his friend. “Gandhi feeling frustrated?”

“Shut up.”

Michael lifted a brow. The unflappable Max Evans was not so calm. “Let me guess...you're in love with a girl and she's with another guy.”

Max made a sour face, his eyes darting hate messages at Michael. “You realize that you can be really annoying, right?”

Michael made a face, yeah like he cared. “I got something else that's gonna cheer you up.” Slapping Max on the back, he sat back smiling at Kyle Valenti across the way as he tried to open his locker.

“What the hell are you doing?” Max asked, slightly pleased as he watched Kyle struggle. But a sinking feeling was starting in his gut that negated the feeling.

“What am I doing?” Michael was confused. What the hell was his problem?

“What are you doing?”

“I'm helping you out.”

“No, you're not helping me out. You promised me that you wouldn't do anything to those guys.”

“I promised I wouldn't hurt those guys.” Michael shook his head in the face of such ingratitude.

“You're putting us in danger, Michael.” Max said, the frown of his face darkening.

Michael stifled an angry response, but the unfairness was too astounding. “You're the one who put us in danger when you saved Liz. You're the one who screwed up.”

“Yeah, and I'd do it again right now.” Max closed his eyes for a moment. He knew it was true. Even knowing everything he knew now, he would still take the risk to save her.

“Let's hope we can trust her.” Michael doubted it. Liz Parker had already broken once by including Maria DeLuca in on the secret. She would break again.

“We can trust her.”

“Well, I don't trust anyone these days.” Michael didn’t bother telling Max he shouldn’t either; there was no use talking to a brick wall.

~~~

Maria paused in the hallway on her way to the library to talk herself out of a book fine. Liz. Her eyes softened in sympathy seeing her best friend’s dejected look, the toll of despair on her shoulders. Straightening her carriage, Maria went to lend a shoulder.

“Liz, how's she doing?”

Liz tried to smile, but it fell flat. “She's ok...we're just going to wait and see.”

“Come here.” Sitting down, Maria offered the only thing she could give, human contact. “So, what are you doing at school?” Liz put her head in Maria’s lap as Maria twirled Liz’s hair, her voice low and comforting.

“I was at the hospital all night. My parents just wanted me to take a break. My mom said she'd page me if anything changed.” Maria’s hand paused. They were friends, but there was a world of difference between their demeanors.

“Well, you know, you should be at home then...binging on junk food and Rosie.” That was the sane response, the only response to a life altering situation. School? God, only Liz would choose to go to school.

Liz sat up, slowly, her pretty face concerned. “Maria, I'm getting this really weird feeling from Max.”

Maria schooled her face to not show her feelings. Max Evans again? Her grandmother was dying and she is getting ‘ a weird feeling from Max’? Unreal. Maybe she should take Liz’s temperature. Obviously the alien suck zone was baffling her friend’s normal thought processes. “What kind of feeling?” Maria asked, trying to remember that friends don’t judge, they support.

“It's like he's pulling away or something...he can't even be pulling away because we're not together to begin with, but I feel him like avoiding me.” Maria stopped from rolling her eyes or snorting. Like that would be a bad thing?

“Well, wasn't that the whole agreement, that you guys wouldn't be seen together for awhile?” she reminded Liz gently.

Liz pushed her hair out of her face, her unhappiness in her eyes. “Yeah, but it's different. I saw Max before and he had this...like this tone like I was his enemy or something.”

“Maybe you're just reading into this too much. I mean, with everything that's going on.” The enemy? Maria breathed through her natural reaction of panic.

“Maybe.” Liz wasn’t so sure. The girls both looked up as the bell rang.

Sighing, Liz sat up. “So, I'll just...I'll see you at work.”

Maria let an incredulous expression move over her face. First school, and now work? “Work? No way you're working tonight, Liz.”

Liz sighed. Not her first choice of things to do. “No, Stephanie's on vacation, Karen's pregnant, and those tooth people are going to invade. I cannot leave you by yourself.”

“Liz, you should be with your family, ok? I can handle the Crashdown.” Maria shook her head. At the very least, Mr. Parker should be worrying about covering the shifts at the Crashdown, not Liz.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely, and besides, I'm not alone. I have Agnes.” Maria almost bit her tongue. Oh yeah, like that would be worth anything. She was so doomed.

She watched her friend go. Sighing, she went back to the pursuit of her original destination before seeing Liz. The damn librarian, there was no way she was paying those fines. It was outrageous the inflation! Who ever heard of getting through a book in less than a month or two?

The noise coming from the art room made Maria pause. Peeking in, she was startled to see Michael Guerin in front of an easel. He was painting with a headset on. Stepping cautiously into the room, she peered at what he was doing, her glance following the lines on the canvass.

Passion.

He was strangely animated. Maria frowned. In all those years, she hardly noticed him except as this big scary standoffish guy who almost never went to class. Michael Guerin was the epitome of indifference and disdain, his features schooled in blankness.

There was nothing standoffish about him now.

Licking her lips, Maria slowly backed out of the room, leaving him. Somehow, she didn’t want to know that much about him, to see that much inside. If he was more than she knew, it would make it difficult. He wasn’t something she could afford.

~~~

Maria stretched her body, tiredness rushing through the lines of her back. The Crashdown had been a nightmare, one of the worst she could remember. Entering the hospital, she avoided the hospital staff, not wanting to hear a lecture on visiting hours. Liz was where she suspected she’d be, in the waiting room alone. She should go home, but she couldn’t, not until she made sure Liz was okay.

Liz quickly hugged Maria, their eyes meeting. There was a touch of finality to the air, and Maria gulped hard. She loved Claudia Parker as much as she loved Liz.

“She could still come out of it.”

“Well, the doctor doesn't think so. I saw it in his eyes.”

Maria sighed. What the hell was a doctor doing talking to a young girl? Too much. This was too much to handle at sixteen. She rubbed a weary hand over her forehead.

“I can't believe this. I mean, you saw her yesterday, you know? She was so full of life.”

Maria nodded, her eyes bright as her voice thickened. “I know.”

Liz wrung her hands. “I can't believe I went out. I was out all day. I wasted all that time in the video store.” She looked at Maria, not needing a response. Her guilt and regret were apparent enough. “I had all this time that I could have just spent with her and I left. What was I thinking?”

Maria refrained from piping in a platitude. It wouldn’t help. Nothing would. Not now. Not ever. This was something Liz would have to deal with on her own, in her own mind.

Liz saw it in Maria’s face, all the things she would not say. “I know, it's irrational. I'm being irrational.”

“Liz, I'm glad you're being irrational. I mean, this is hard. This is really, really hard.” Maria held Liz’s hand tight. It was late, and she had a long day, but she would stay. “Are you sure you don't want me to stay?”

Liz could see the tiredness in her friend’s face, and she let go of her hand. “Yeah, it's fine, but thank you.”

Maria quickly hugging her. She had to leave or she wouldn’t. “Ok, I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Death, it was a harsh reality. A lifetime of loving a person, a parent or grandparent, and you were always aware that your time with them was short, but nothing ever prepared you for the moment that time ran out. Time. There was never enough time when it came to long, but maybe that was the point. Learning acceptance, and letting go was perhaps as important as loving in the first place.

Isabel and Max stood and stared, neither able to move. There was too much there, too much of the mystery that was them. The next step in a journey to find who they were, and there it was, on canvass, living large in a public arena.

Isabel shook her head, her hands on her hip. “This isn't good, you know.” Anger, it was so much easier to feel than this crippling fear. How could he?

Max nodded, amazed by how inappropriate this was. “No, I see that.” They were so intent on the painting, they missed Michael joining them.

“It's pretty good, huh? I didn't even know I could paint. But Mr. Cowan said it's the best thing that's come out of this class all year.” Michael pushed his hands in his pocket, rocking on his feet. Inordinately pleased, it was good to see what he wanted documented in a manner he could never find words to explain. Maybe it was good just to finally have someone value his effort.

Isabel looked at him, her voice a waspish whisper. “Michael, this isn't right.”

“What isn't?” Michael’s glance moved over the painting. No. It was perfect. Just as he saw it.

Idiot! Isabel gestured at the painting. “A public display...your thing just sitting here.”

“This is not a thing, all right? It's...I'm not exactly sure what it is, but...” Michael tried to swallow his anger, his hurt, but her attitude was confrontational.

Max quickly looked around, and then inserted himself between the two. “What Isabel is trying to say is that it's not a very good idea. It could be dangerous.” He bit the inside of his mouth at the look that moved over Michael’s face. Anger. Disgust. Bitter unhappiness…Hurt.

“Dangerous? How can it be dangerous? It doesn't mean anything to anyone, including myself.” They were taking everything from him. This had been his, a gift, a special power exclusive to him. They had their dreamwalking and healing, but this…this was his.

“But Michael, that's not really the point. The point is we shouldn't be taking chances like this.”

Michael snorted in anger. Oh, that was so rich! “You did.”

“Yes, I did. That's right.” Max looked around again to see if anyone was staring at them. Damn, they looked suspicious.

“But, what? You can take chances and I can't? You can roll the dice with our lives, but if anyone else does,” said Michael gesturing in anger and frustration, “I mean...God forbid, you know...”

“I saved someone's life, Michael.” Max reminded him. “I wasn't dabbling in the arts.” Max could feel Michael’s anger and hurt at their reaction, but he couldn’t deal with that right now. He had no time. Not with Liz’s journal missing, Michael creating alien related pictures, and Isabel’s increasing anxiety. Something had to give.

Michael stared at him, the incredible double standard such a stark point in the difference between them. Max was excused of everything. Michael was not. Looking at Isabel and Max standing as a united front, Michael turned and stalked off. What the hell was the point?

Dabbling. Fuck that shit. He was trying to save a damn life, too. His own.

~~~

It was late. Mr. Cowan checked the art display one last time before shutting the lights. He was surprised to see one lone figure remaining in the hall.

“Ms. DeLuca, this is a surprise.” Rocking on his feet, he looked at the young girl. “I thought after our last run-in that we agreed that art was not your medium.”

“That paint incident was totally not my fault! Those caps are a menace.”

“So you told me.” Mr. Cowan looked at the painting she was staring at. “Tell me, what do you think?”

He expected a shrug, or an offhanded remark. Teenagers weren’t known for their appreciation of the arts, except for those few who actually had an aptitude.

Maria stared at it a moment more, her arms around her middle, hugging herself tight. She cleared her throat, unsure how to find words for the emotions she found inside.

“Hope,” she whispered.

“Excuse me?” Mr. Cowan moved closer, surprised by the insight. It was hope, in every line, like a discovery of color splashed in a field of white. Bright. Light reflecting off something almost metallic and brilliant.

“It feels like awe and hope, desire…” Maria frowned in confusion. She couldn’t say why, but it felt like something she knew. Not the picture or whatever it was, but the feeling. There was an intensity caught in the medium of acrylic. “The dark hard lines, fusing to the lighter…it is like stepping out of a shadow into the daylight.”

The two of them quietly stood there staring.

~~~

Michael sighed, looking in the Crashdown. Great. Of all the places he wanted to be in the world, this was the last. Liz Parker was working late shutting down the café. Michael took a deep breath and entered.

Liz looked over as Michael entered the place, her face frowning in worry. Max told. He had to have. “Sorry, we're closed.” Michael didn’t say anything, and Liz licked her lips nervously, suddenly understanding a little more about Maria’s reactions. She had overlooked them, because she wanted to know Max. This was the first time she had to deal with an alien alone, one that wasn’t Max. “Michael...um, I'm sorry, the kitchen's closed.”

“That's all right. I just ate.”

Liz moved, shifting her weight. “Um, you know, actually this is for employees only.”

“Max told me what happened.” Liz closed her eyes for a moment, gulping hard. Oh god!

Feigning a calmness she did not feel, Liz tried to smile. It wasn’t working. “Oh...he did?” Michael was moving around the counter moving over to the dishes, picking up objects. “What did he say?”

“He said you wrote it all down, Liz.”

Liz gulped, unbelieving that Max would rat her out. “He said that?”

Michael picked up a dinner knife.

“What do you want?” Liz looked around the deserted café in desperation.

Michael looked at her for the first time, really looked at her. “I want you to know it wasn't smart to write all those things down, Liz.”

The sweat was running down her back, and her head was pounding. “Yeah...I know that now.”

“I knew it a week ago.”

Liz frowned. “Excuse me?”

“That was the night I sat in the first booth.” Michael gestured to where he had sat. “Maybe you remember.” He had been in for a quick meal, and it was slow. “It was late like tonight and you were at the counter...writing.” Michael stared intensely at her. “Homework?”

“Uh, yeah...a little bit.” That was a lie, she knew it, and a sneaking suspicion that Michael knew it too.”

“But it wasn't homework, was it?” Michael asked quietly.

Licking her lips for the hundredth time, Liz admitted the truth. “No, it wasn't.”

“You could have put us in an awful spot, Liz. Roswell's not exactly the town you want to be unique in, if you know what I mean. You have to know who your friends are.” Michael looked at the knife running his thumb over the blade testing for sharpness. He laid it down on the counter, ignoring Liz’s gasp of relief. “I had to know the risk...so I had to know what your journal said.”

It was finally making sense, coming clear. “You took it...”

“I never meant for things to get out of control,” Michael said, “...it's nice to know we have at least one friend in this town.” He reached into his back pocket and took out her missing journal. Sliding it across the counter, he returned her property.

Liz stared at the notebook knowing what she wrote. “Does Max know that you...”

“No,” Michael said, his turn to be uncomfortable, “...and you know what would be really great? If you didn't tell him.”

It made no sense. She knew what was in the journal, and what he was like. “But why didn't you just destroy this, Michael? Because anyone who found this would know all about you.”

“No,” Michael shook his head, “...they'd know all about you, Liz.” He made a huffing noise under his breath. Leave it to Maxwell to lust after a girl who suddenly felt the same way. So the universe remained the same. Max always got lucky in some way, if not being adopted into a nice family, finding a real home, and now finding a girl that returned his feelings. “Thank you for giving me one more reason to envy Max Evans.”

Michael turned to leave. It was something. Max got lucky, and who knew, maybe someday, it would be his turn. Maybe he would get lucky enough to find home. He didn’t believe in unconditional love, and obviously Liz did, as did Max. But he did believe in one thing…he believed that out there somewhere there was a place he belonged. Envy was easy to feel when you had nothing, but it was also important. It kept you looking. Nothing would be worse than losing his ambition, and tonight Liz’s journal gave that back to him…a renewed desire to find that place he could call home.

“And you might want to get better window locks,” Michael said before he went through the door, “...for when your criminals happen to be human.”

Clutching her journal to her chest, Liz watched him walk off as she slowly turned to go return her journal to its rightful place. Michael Guerin might not like her, or even think that Max should’ve let her die, but he didn’t laugh at her innermost feelings. That was something. He was right. Her journal exposed her, everything about her, and what she felt about Max.

Mr. Sommers entered the classroom carrying a large stack of papers. “Everybody has their secrets. There isn't a person alive today who's what they appear to be. Exposing these secrets is the job of the...historian. Even the most normal of us has extraordinary qualities just waiting to be uncovered.”

Maria moved uncomfortably in her seat. Dead people. Why did she need to learn about dead people? They were…dead.

Stopping at the first roll, Mr. Sommers handed out a stack of papers to be handed back. “For tonight's assignment, I've paired you together. It is your job as...historians, to find out as much as you can about your partner by asking these specific questions, and then writing up an oral history report for tomorrow.”

Maria took her paper and glanced at the questionnaire quickly, her mouth opening in sync with her hand flying into the air. “Uh, excuse me, but these are kinda personal, don't you think?”

Maria’s eyes narrowed as Mr. Sommers beady eyes zoomed in on her.

“Exactly. Personal is the goal of the professional biographer. And who knows? You just might make a new friend.” Maria snorted as he consulted his class roster. “Ok, so the partners are as follows: Daskal with Hausman, Kalinowski with Nell. Parker with Evans...that's I. Evans. M. Evans is with...Valenti. Papas with Cooney, DeLuca with...Guerin.”

Oh no! “Wait, did you just say Guerin?”

Smiling, Mr. Sommers confirmed the horror. He was doing it on purpose. He had to be. Bastard. “Yes, Michael Guerin.”

Maria looked around the room helplessly. No. No. “No, no, I'm sorry. That's unacceptable.”

“I beg your pardon?”

You should beg, buddy. Maria gestured to the room. “I mean, the guy's not even here.”

“Well, then it'll be like true field work, tracking down your subject.” Maria’s eyes narrowed at his condescending response. He delivered it with relish and went on as if she never protested. “Trussell with Wolf...”

Leaving the classroom with Liz, Maria sent one final glare at the inhuman history teacher, not that it phased him in the least. Obviously, years of hardening of his arteries and heart were already in play. At least she had Liz. Liz would listen and care.

“I mean, this is like cruel and unusual education. I mean, aren't there, like, Geneva Convention rules against this sort of thing?”

Liz looked over at Isabel Evans shrinking beneath the cold disdain in the tall girl’s stare. “Could this possibly get any worse?” she sighed. For a moment, just one small short moment, she thought she was paired with Max. No. It had to be Isabel. Liz faltered in her steps, tuning Maria’s rant out, as she saw Kyle and Max talking. Oh god, this could get worse!

Kyle tried to keep Max Evans’ attention. “All right, so let's meet at the Crashdown after school today, get started on some of these questions. Get to know each other a little.” Max frowned, quickly agreeing. Kyle couldn’t have said it anymore suspiciously. Liz stopped next to Max watching Kyle walk away.

“I can't believe this. He has been acting so weird since we broke up.”

“It'll be fine.” Before Max could make another comment a lady from the office interrupted.

“Max Evans? Phone call in the office.”

~~~

“This is it. The thing from my dreams.” Michael held his future in his hand, his first real lead to his world, oblivious of the world around him, even of Max and Isabel. The students of West Roswell High were equally unaware of how important this felt to him as they went about their day.

“Can we get back to the part where you got arrested, please?” said Isabel, not in the least bit interested in what Michael was interested in, only in his actions. First the painting, and now this? He was out of control, on the verge of getting them exposed.

Michael rolled his eyes at her disapproving tone, refusing to let them take this from him. “Look, it's over, ok? Max fixed it.” He looked out over the football field, ignoring them at the bleachers.

“No, it's not over. This is getting serious.” Max said, his voice echoing Isabel’s. Typical, a united front, the ‘Let’s bury our heads and stay in Roswell’ consortium was voicing their rules. Michael chose to ignore them.

“I know. Marathon, Texas. That's where this place is. That's where the lock is that the key fits.” Michael said, having to point out the obvious. “I'm going there.”

Isabel lost what small sliver of control she had on her patience. “Have you completely lost it?” The dripping sarcasm and anger rolled off Michael.

“No, Isabel. I've found it. And you guys are too scared to admit it.” Michael’s gut soured, but he wasn’t going to let this drop. Not this time. “Gimme the keys to the jeep. I want to go to Marathon.”

Seeing Isabel’s reaction, and wading into the fight between the two, Max tried a tone of reason. “Let's just wait until we can find out more about this place.”

“Max, I’m connected to this thing, all right?” This was big, real big. How could they not understand that? “I mean, I see it when I close my eyes. I dream about it when I go to sleep. And it's not letting me wait, no matter what you guys say.” He shook his head, jumping over the railing walking off. There was no use talking to them. If it was them getting the visions, they wouldn’t be so cautious or willing to wait.

Max looked at Isabel. “He won't get far without a car.”

~~~

Great day, awesome. It was awesome how much it sucked. Maria, still fuming over the history assignment, gave up. She was never going to find him, and she was already late running an errand for her mother. Okay, so maybe she didn’t look for him too hard, but she really didn’t want to spend her day chasing him down.

Maria reasoned with herself, arguing both points, almost on the verge of justifying cheating, by answering the questions for him, when she spotted him. Big, moving fast, and not very tidy, Michael Guerin didn’t walk, he stomped. Dammit, this was a sign. It had to be. She was being tested by the Almighty, and failing, her soul would be condemned to hell.

Maria stepped up her pace to intercept. If she was going to burn in eternal hellfires, it sure as hell would be for a better reason than lying on a questionnaire about Michael Guerin. Placing herself in his path, she stopped her project from charging straight through her.

“Hey, wait.” Frantically looking through the papers, trying to remember the lame questions. “Uh, what's your favorite ice cream flavor?” He wasn’t stopping. “We have to do this completely queer history project for tomorrow.” There. It was all said without a breath or pause.

“Sorry, I'm busy.” Michael brushed her aside, ignoring her like something small and easily stepped over.

“Wait,” Maria put her hand on his chest, stopping him again, “will you just answer these questions, ok? Uh, um...who's your favorite relative?”

“Get lost, all right?” Michael frowned his impatience to be gone. “I've gotta...”

“What? You've gotta what?” Maria stomped her frustration. This was beyond the call of normal education. “What?” She waved her hands around in impatience, very much mimicking his demeanor.

Michael’s eyes were drawn to the flash of something shiny, her keys in her hand. “You driving somewhere?”

“Yeah, to the Lift-Off gas station to drop off a box for my mom.”

Michael’s eyes narrowed shrewdly. “The one near the highway?”

“Yeah. So?” Her head tipped as she tried to read his sudden change in attitude. Alien mystique or just stupid boy, it was hard to call.

“So, give me a ride and I'll answer your stupid questions.” Michael bargained. She just saved him from having to steal a car.

“Ok.” Maria shook her head as he hurried them along. She took it back. He wasn’t only animated when he painted. This looked pretty much alive. Intrigued despite herself, and later she would chastise herself over her own curiosity, she went with him.

~~~

Exasperated, Maria pulled into the gas station, her pretty face a model of irritation as she glared at Michael.

“You can't just make up answers.”

“Who said I'm making 'em up?” Michael looked over at the man at the station.

“You do not watch "The View".”

“Keeps me in touch with my feminine side.” Michael said smirking, inordinately pleased at how irritated he was making her. If he wasn’t so busy and needing to be gone, he might enjoy messing with her a little. She was easy to rile, very quick off the mark.

“Fine...you know what? I’ll just make up the answers for you.” Pounding the steering wheel, she opened the door. “Help me with the box.”

Michael cleared his throat,, trying not to stare at the car’s keys in the ignition. “Bad back.” Maria rolled her eyes. Taking out the box, she stomped off to get this nightmare chore done so she could kick a certain lazy alien butt to the wayside.

“C.O.D. That's 126 bucks.” She said to the man, “And, uh...cash is preferable.” Waiting for him to get the money, she looked over at the sound of her car starting.

“He's stealing my car!” Maria left the box, rushing over to the passenger side of the Jetta, getting in before Michael could take off, “You're stealing my car!”

“I'm borrowing your car.” Michael corrected. “Now get out.”

“You're telling me to get out?” Her mouth opened in indignation, her ass firmly remained planted where it was. No way in hell! “This is my car. Actually, it's my mother's car, and if anything happens to it, life as I know it will be over. So, wherever it goes, I go.”

“Fine. You had your chance.

“Oh, my God. You're kidnapping me. No, wait, you're abducting me!” Maria stared at him, his uncaring profile. Quelling the fear, she clandestinely removed her cell phone hitting the autodial for Liz.

“Hello. Maria, is that you?”

Maria could hear Liz’s voice. Glancing at Michael, she quickly started babbling to cover Liz’s voice, and send her a message. “It feels kind of strange, you know? Being alone in a car with you.”

“In a car alone with who?”

Maria grimaced at Liz’s voice, and kept talking to hide it. “Not knowing where we're going, or....when we'll be back.”

Michael glanced at her in irritation. “Do you always talk this much?”

“Was that Michael?”

Cursing under her breath, Maria tried to send a message to Liz. “Liz says I talk a lot when I’m nervous. Very nervous.”

“You're nervous about being in a car alone with Michael?”

Maria rolled her eyes, quickly clearing her throat, searching the roadsides for anything that could help. “So, how far will we be going? South on 285, huh?”

“South on 285?”

“What are you...? “ Michael looked over, hearing Liz’s voice, he saw the cell phone. Maria bit her lip, and before she could respond, he took the phone. “Great.” He tossed it out the window, ignoring Maria’s gasp at the destruction of her phone.

~~~

“Marathon, Texas?” Maria argued, her mouth opening. This was not happening. “That's like in another state.”

“It's only 3 more hours.”

“You...you are going to be arrested.”

Michael looked at her frowning. What the hell was she yammering about now? “For driving to Texas?”

“Across a state line with a minor? In a stolen vehicle? There are laws, you know.” Maria said smugly. “And that cell phone you just tossed?” Oh yeah, he was totally toast, jail fodder. “Vandalism of personal property. God, I just...I knew you had criminal tendencies. You even drive erratically.”

“What's exactly wrong with my driving?” Michael tossed out in irritation. Okay, so maybe she had a few points, and he hadn’t thought this through. Rolling his eyes, he dismissed that. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting to Marathon.

“I told you not to go over eighty. The engine won't take it.”

“Maybe it's just tired of hearing you talk.” Michael’s voice dripped sarcasm.

“Oh, so what?” Maria asked. “What's in Marathon? Contraband? Some woman? What?” It better be good. Good enough to justify her suffering his company for all these hours, not to mention suffering her mother’s wrath when they did return.

“You wouldn't understand. You don't understand anything about us.”

“Listen, I already know more than I want to, ok?” Maria rolled her eyes. Knowing a person would require them to give out information, making an effort. Her not knowing them was hardly her fault.

“See, it's all about you, isn't it? This could be the most important day of my life and all you care about...” Michael swore looking in the rearview mirror. Great. Just fucking great! A police squad car pulled in behind them as Michael stopped the car on the shoulder and put it in park. “Are you happy now? Go ahead, tell 'em I kidnapped you and I stole your car. I mean, what's one more arrest on my record, huh?” Michael punched the steering wheel in frustration. “Damn it!”

Maria looked over her shoulder at the approaching police officer. “What do you mean, this could be the most important day of your life?”

“Forget it.” Michael sat back dejectedly. He couldn’t cut a break. Standard procedure of his fucked up life.

Maria forced him to look at her with her words. “You have 20 seconds to convince me.”

Michael stared in her eyes, seeing the clear regard. Looking in the rearview mirror at the approaching cop, he quickly gave in. He had nothing left to lose by trusting her.

“See this place? It's the first real connection we've ever had to finding out where we come from and it's in Marathon, Texas. If I don't get there, or if somebody else gets there first, the only link we've ever found will be totally lost.”

The Officer stopped outside the car, looking in at Michael as he glanced across to Maria. “Where you going in such a hurry, son?”

Maria moved around quickly drawing the Officer’s attention. Smiling in embarrassment, she sputtered through her explanation. “I've really gotta pee. See...I, I've...I have this like really weak bladder condition and I drank a big gulp at the last station, and it had caffeine, you know, so it makes me have to go even more. So he was just driving really fast so we could get to the next station so I could pee.” Michael stared at her in amazement, and then, because he didn’t know what else to do, he stared straight ahead, praying the Officer believed her lame excuse.

“Could I see your license, please?” The Officer asked Michael, who quickly handed it over.

“Of course, officer.”

The man looked at the license checking the name and expiration and comparing it to Michael. Handing it back, “There's a drive-thru about three miles up. Nice clean rest rooms.” Michael held his license in his hand, unable to speak, staring dumbfounded at the man. “And watch your speed.”

Michael just sat there for a moment or two as the Officer left giving them a verbal warning. His hands rested on the steering wheel, blinking, he frowned. What just happened?

“You owe me big,” said Maria.

Michael’s head bobbed in relief.

~~~

No. Awwww, no. Maria hand rested on the dash of the car. It was sputtering. The engine struggled as they slowly pulled off the roadside. She had told him. Didn’t she tell him?

“Did you pull on the chokey thing?” He couldn’t have. That always worked.

“Yes, I did pull on the chokey thing.” Michael said in exasperation. All the cars in the world that he could steal…borrow, he gets one with a commentator.

The car sputtered, jerked, and stalled, steam coming out from under the hood.

“Hurry, just do something. Go!”

“Don't tempt me.” Michael groaned. Dammit.

“Come on. Wiggle your nose, blink your eyes, do the Samantha-Jeannie alien thing.” Maria gestured to the engine. “Come on.”

“I can't.” Michael scowled at her.

“Why not? Come on!” Maria shook her head. It was dark. They were on the roadside. They were stuck on the roadside, in the dark. “If there's ever a time to have secret powers, now’s the time.”

“They're not secret powers.” Michael shook his head. His weren’t secret anything. He was lucky to unlock a door most days.

“I don't care what you call 'em! Just use them and get us out of here!” Maria could feel the stress of the day pulling on her insides. She didn’t want to be here, couldn’t be here. It was dark. She wasn’t home. A tinge of hysteria entered her voice.

“I'm not that good at it, all right?!” There, now she knew too! Bad enough that Max and Isabel lorded their ability to control their powers over him, now Maria knew too. Now she knew he was not only not human, but not even a very good alien either.

“Figures! Hah!” Maria said in derision. If she had to get stuck with an alien, at least she could get one that worked.

Michael sneered at Maria. Her attitude stank of every person in the world that looked down on him and found him wanting. “Your car sucks!”

“And so do you.” Maria retorted back, hurt that his hatred of her car obviously reflected on her. Michael got out of the car to look under the hood. Concentrating for a moment, he ran his hand over it, trying to fix it. Something had to go his way, just once. He needed this. He desperately needed it.

The engine blew up in flames.

Of course it didn’t work. Hell, lifetime mode or operation, why change? Nothing good never happened to him. Leaning in the car, he happily blamed her for the incident. She pushed him into it.

“Now that I'm humiliated, and the battery's fried, I'm gonna take the back seat.” Maria turned in her seat watching him climb into the back seat.

“Wait a minute. Ok. You kidnap me, and you blow up my car, and you expect me to spend the night in here with you?”

“Not exactly my fantasy evening either.” If he closed his eyes, maybe this day would go away. Maybe the world’s most irritating human would go away. He couldn’t get comfortable. The damn Jetta’s back seat was small, and a large box was in his way. Pushing it aside, he struggled to make more room.

“Don't touch that. It’s sensitive!”

“Can you shut up?” Michael asked in anger and he shoved the box hard. A green alien inflated inside pushing out of the box. Michael stared eye to eye at the standard little green Roswell alien balloon.

“Well, that's nice.” Michael said rolling his eyes at the stereotypical depiction of people like him.

“What? What? My mother makes them. What?” Maria frowned as he got out of the car. “Where are you going? Where are you going?!”

“See that motel over there?” Michael said leaning down to talk through the driver’s window. “I’m gonna some sleep.” He stalked off, more than pushed beyond his tolerance level. The day started sucking that morning when he got arrested for breaking into the UFO Center.

“No, Michael. Waaaait!” Maria climbed out of the car, going after him. He couldn’t leave her there, alone, stranded on the roadside. He kidnapped her, stole her car, destroyed it, and now he was deserting her to her fate? No way. He stole her; she was his responsibility.

~~~

Entering the motel room, Maria hung back unsure looking around first.

“It's like the porno version of Aladdin.”

Michael shrugged. It was better than where he lived. “At least it's warm.”

“I don't even want to think about what I could catch in here.” Maria said careful not to touch anything. Oh god, she was with a mean kidnapper, a car blowing up alien in a motel that charged by the hour.

Irritated by her attitude, Michael made a face at her. “You know, if you’d stop being such a princess about things---”

“Princess? No, no...” Maria couldn’t let him get away with that. It was completely unfair. “I think I've been a pretty good sport up until now, but I'm cold, and I'm hungry, and I'm in some nookie motel with a guy I--I barely even know, and I...and I just--I really want to go home right now.”

Michael looked down at her, his eyes meeting hers. She was afraid, really scared. He hadn’t meant to do that. Suddenly feeling bad that he only thought of what he needed, he felt an uncharacteristic sympathy for her. “Why don't you stay here? I saw some vending machines outside. I'll go see what they have.” Opening the door, he looked back at her. “Lock the door.”

Maria stared at the door in amazement as it closed, pausing before locking it. His voice had been almost…gentle. Who was that masked alien boy, and what did they do with the evil Michael Guerin?

~~~

Maria watched him as he tossed a handful of candy bars on the bed, taking one, opening it and adding Tabasco from a small bottle he carried in his back pocket.

“So, do you get hungry just like the rest of us?” She bit on a nail in curiosity.

“Yeah. Of course I get hungry.” Michael made a face. He was eating wasn’t he? She saw him eat at the Crashdown. For a human, this one wasn’t the brightest bulb in the pack.

Maria looked at him. He suddenly looked huge, taking up most of the space in the small cheap room. Suddenly feeling the strangeness of her situation, she tried to ask him casually, but it sounded anything but, “What, uh...what other human urges do you feel?”

Michael stopped eating, completely understanding her meaning. He approached her and stared her in the eye, almost nose to nose, “Not if you were the last woman on Earth.” Now that her car was dead, she had nothing he needed.

“Ditto.” Mean nasty prig. “And so you'll know, I am not gonna be getting an "F" on this assignment, so...you better start answering some questions. Right now, Pally, and I mean for real.” Maria quickly turned her paper over. He’d better answer, she so deserved to get something out of this fiasco. “So, favorite ice cream flavor?”

Michael slumped into the armchair opposite and grabbed his knee, lacing his fingers, “Pistachio.”

“Pistachio,” Maria wrote it down, “...favorite TV show?”

“Win Ben Stein's Money.”

“Ok, favorite book?”

“James Joyce...Ulysses.”

Maria paused narrowing her eyes. He had promised to tell the truth. “You have not read Ulysses.”

“"What incensed him the most was the blatant jokes of the ones who pass it all off as a jest, pretending to understand everything and in reality not knowing their own minds." Page 655,” Michael retorted. “...Told you, you wouldn't understand. Next question.”

“All right, if you're so smart, then how come you fail every class in school?”

“What number is that?” Michael asked pointedly looking at the paper. He wasn’t answering any extraneous questions. That was not on the questionnaire.

“It's my own personal question, ok?”

“I don't answer personal questions, ok?”

“All right, fine. Then maybe it's the answer to number 16.” Maria said meeting his eyes, and refusing to back down. “What are you afraid of?”

A long pause. “I hate this. This is stupid.” Michael finally answered in frustration. Hated school. Hated her.

“All right, how about just one personal question? You know, since I didn't turn you in back there.” Maria bit her lip, unsure why it was important he answer the questions. “Why is it so important to you to find out where you come from?”

He hesitated. “Because there's gotta be something better out there for me than Roswell, New Mexico.” He paused looking at her face. She was laughing! “You think that's funny.”

“No, no. It's just, um...” Maria shook her head, amazed by his answer, “when I was a kid, I used to stay up at night and, um, make up stories about my father...you know, and who he was and...what he was doing. And they all ended exactly the same way. He would come in a limo and pick me and my mom up and take us off to some exotic place where we'd live like royalty. Because, you know...I thought to myself,” Maria stressed the point, slightly embarrassed by her romantic notions, “...there's got to be something better out there for me than Roswell, New Mexico.”

“Substitute a spaceship for a limo, and you know what I mean.” Michael stopped scowling for a moment, searching her face. She wasn’t kidding, or just saying it to make him feel less foolish. Her eyes were clear, perhaps the clearest green he had ever seen.

Maria squirmed under his regard, unable to sit still, she stood up. “Yeah. I...I'm, uh, I'm getting kind of tired.”

“Yeah. It's been a long day, huh?” Michael got off the bed, standing too. He looked down at her. She was so small compared to him. Her mouth was…damn, it would help if she wouldn’t lick it so much.

“Yeah.” Maria shifted nervously.

“I don't suppose we could share?” Michael asked gesturing to the bed.

Maria stood really close to him, her mouth a breath away. Licking her lips, she leaned in real close to him, looking up his long body, and stared at him eye to eye, “Not if you were the last alien on Earth.”

Michael nodded, smirking. Yeah, he thought so.

~~~

The room was dark, and despite being tired, Maria couldn’t sleep. Looking over the side of the bed, she couldn’t see him on the floor, but she knew he was there.

Maria smiled slightly. “So you get sick?”

“Never.” Michael sighed. The room was dark, he was tired, but he couldn’t sleep. Maybe he could pretend to be asleep, and she would shut up with the questions. Why he didn’t just remain quiet was a thought he didn’t want to examine.

“Can I feel your head?”

“What?” Michael stared up in the dark where her voice was coming. Feel his head? For what? A fever?

“Just to check for antennae.”

Despite himself, he actually smiled at that. “Don’t have one.”

“Okay.” Maria looked down at him. Her eyes were adjusting, and she could almost make him out in the darkness. Maybe he wasn’t that weird or scary looking. “Polyester?”

“Synthetic. Hate fake shit.”

“Ditto.”

Michael smiled slightly. “Greatest fear?”

Maria didn’t hesitated. “Being left behind.”

Michael was quiet. Another thing they had in common. “Yeah, that sucks.”

Maria laid in the dark. She could hear him breathing. “What is your greatest ambition?”

“Surviving.” Michael said.

Maria leaned over and tried to peer into the dark down at him. “That’s mine too. Actually it’s making sure that you survive.”

Michael was quiet, so she moved back on the bed. After a long pause, he finally spoke. “Why?”

“Why do I care?” She couldn’t see him move, but she knew he was waiting. “I…I don’t know. I was afraid at first, but now…now that I know you…all of you, I realized that maybe we aren’t so different. No one should be so far from home. No one should be left. I…I just care, that’s all. Okay?” It would be easier if he didn’t ask her to explain, because that would require her knowing why she cared, and she didn’t.

“Okay.”

~~~

A startled Maria woke to the door opening, rolling over in surprise, she fell off the bed onto Michael, hitting him and the floor.

“Aah!” Michael’s body jerked reflexively as her knee almost took a part of his anatomy he was utterly attached to. They both sat up quickly when the lights came on, blinking owlishly at the change in light.

“Maria.” Liz voice raised to a high squeak, surprised at seeing the tangle of limbs on the floor. Maria struggled to stand up, pushing off Michael’s body. Strange, she never noticed how surprise made Liz’s voice so high and piercing.

“What are you guys doing here?” Maria struggled to maintain composure, straightening her clothes.

“Um...well, we thought you were in trouble, but...” Liz looked pointedly at Michael still on the floor, “yeah...I guess we're wrong.”

“No no. You don't think--I mean, that is, like so unreal! I mean...come on,” Maria stared at Michael who was putting on his shoes, “would you tell them?”

“Come on, honey, we don't have to lie.” Gasping in disbelief, Maria kicked him.

Isabel rolled her eyes at the two. “I believe you. The day Michael calls anybody honey, it's all over.”

Michael looked up at Isabel, his eyes narrowing at the sarcastic tone. Max and Isabel stood as their usual united front. “So I guess you're here to be supportive, as usual?” He regained his feet as the others came completely into the room. Maria moved over to stand next to Liz, wanting to be out of the range of the aliens.

“No. I'm here to clean up your mess as usual.” Max missed Maria’s look, as she shot him a glare at his nasty condescending tone. “Michael, what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking I can't wait around for the two of you anymore.” Michael straightened, his back stiff and unyielding. “You like Roswell, and you like your family, and you like your make-believe life. That's great, Maxwell. Keep pretending. But don't think it's gonna last. Because one of these days, they're gonna find out about us, and when they do, everybody in this room...” Michael never finished as Kyle Valenti burst into the room.

“Kyle!” Maria looked at Liz sharply. That high squeak, again, Maria frowned. She truly had never noticed that before. She quickly filed it away in her memory’s knowledge of her friend.

Kyle stared at the group, his eyes narrow and suspicious. “Everyone in this room is what?”

Michael advanced menacingly. “Get out.”

Kyle wasn’t finished. He didn’t allow Michael’s threatening demeanor to sway him. “Why don't you go ahead and finish what you were saying? Or are you afraid that I'll find out what your little secret is? Are you afraid that I might find out what the hell you guys are doing out here? In the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night?”

Michael charged forward again, the anger he felt at Isabel and Max’s attitudes adding fire to his already barely suppressed temper. He had had a long bad day, and it was not a good time to get in his face. “I said...get out!”

Max quickly saw the signs that Michael was losing his control. “Michael, don't.” He grimaced. Too late. Michael easily threw Kyle across the room into the opposite wall, using his powers.

Kyle shook his head, unable to comprehend what just happened. One moment he was standing in front of an angry Michael Guerin, the next, he was hitting a wall. “Who the hell are you guys?” The group was quiet, afraid to talk, afraid of what Kyle would say about this. Kyle looked at them all, as he slowly regained his feet. “What's going on here? And what are you doing here?” Faced with their silence, Kyle had enough. He had come for Liz. Taking her arm, he tried to lead her to the door. “I'm gonna get you out of here. Come on.”

Max finally moved. “Leave her alone.” He pulled Liz out of Kyle’s grasp, gripping Kyle hard.

Liz, afraid of the possibility of Max losing control like Michael had, quickly tried to keep Max and Kyle from fighting. “Just...” Max and Kyle were suddenly involved in a very real physical altercation. Kyle tossed Max’s hand off him.

“Get off of me!”

Liz got between them. “Just stop it, both of you, ok? This has gone so out of control! I am not your girlfriend anymore, Kyle.”

Kyle looked at the rest of them, the late hour, and the cheap motel room, he addressed Liz only. “Liz, I don't know what's going on here, and I don't care. I just want you to come back with me.”

Liz shook her head. He needed to leave before he caused any more problems. “You don't belong here, Kyle. This is none of your business.”

It was bad enough that she dumped him for Max Evans using some lame excuse about his friends, but now this. Kyle stared at her in disbelief. “I don't know...I don't know what I ever saw in you.” He left the room, not bothering to look back.

They all stood there as the echo of the slamming door seemed to reverberate outward, making normal hearing impossible. Stunned, no one talked.

Max cleared his throat, worried at the devastated look on Liz’s face as she watched Kyle leaving. “I'll take you guys home.”

Liz shook her head. This was insane. “No! No more secrets from us! Maria and I, we’re a part of this now. If we don't know everything, how are we supposed to protect ourselves? And how are we supposed to help you?”

“We don't need any help!” said Michael, angry with everyone in the room, and mostly himself for losing control and using his powers on Kyle.

Maria snorted in derision. “Right. Next time, steal someone else's car and try getting away with it.” She folded her arms in front of her chest. Ungrateful jerk. After all she had been through, all she had done to satisfy a lame history grade, she had gone beyond the call of duty for either school or friendship. Her mother’s car was trashed, her report undone, she was kidnapped and abducted across state lines, and this was his response? Ungrateful jerk.

Isabel quickly noticed the look that both Maria and Liz wore. They were pushed to their limit. Sighing, she swallowed a lifetime of preservation. “What do you want to know?”

Liz looked at Maria for a second. “Everything.”

“That'll make you accomplices.” Isabel warned.

Maria snorted looking away, and Liz cocked her head. They were accomplices from the moment they staged the accident during the Crashdown party. “Go ahead.”

Max needed Liz to understand, so he started. “A few weeks ago, Michael and I broke into Sheriff Valenti's office trying to find that picture you saw from 1959,” Max stared directly into Liz’s eyes, “...the dead body with the handprint.” Liz nodded, remembering. She remembered the handprint. It was the one piece of lingering evidence that had tied the two cases.

“It's the only proof we've ever had that there's other aliens besides us.” Michael said quietly, finally calm.

Max continued, his eyes never leaving Liz’s. “We found a key. When Michael touched it, he had a vision.”

“Of this dome.” Michael said, his hands moving nervously, as if they were still painting the geodesic dome. “The one in Marathon.” He added for Maria’s benefit. So now she knew. Now she knew why he needed to go.

Liz stared at quiet aliens. “So you guys think that this key is gonna unlock the dome and then...and then you guys are gonna find something there...something that's gonna help you guys figure out where you actually come from?”

Max looked at the others, Michael and Isabel subdued, answered in unison, “Yes.”

Liz lifted a brow to Maria who gave her a slight nod. “Then what are we waiting for?”

~~~

They arrived at the dome, and Isabel couldn’t believe it. It was suddenly so real. “It's just like you drew it, Michael.”

“I told you it was something.” Michael was out of the jeep and moving to the front door. He tried to unlock the door with the key, but it did not fit. Max reached over unlocking the door with his powers.

Seeing Michael’s disappointment that the key didn’t work, Max nodded for him to enter the dome. “We've come this far. Maybe it unlocks something inside.” They slowly entered the abandoned dome. Liz turned around, slowly observing the mess, stating the obvious.

“Somebody was definitely looking for something here.”

Max had to agree. The place had been searched, and from the state of the dust covering the place it was not recently. “Whatever it was, they probably found it a long time ago.”

“Try holding the key again.” Isabel said to Michael. The group watched as he held the key in his hand concentrating, his eyes closed.

“Nothing.” The frustration was evident on his face. All this for nothing, so close…so close.

Maria sighed, and crossed the room to stand next to him. “Try it again,” she said softly. Michael nodded, closing his eyes, he concentrated as Maria closed hers as well, hoping for his sake. Michael saw a blurry image of a hidden room. He opened his eyes, his hopes renewed.

“There's something here. A room.”

“Where?” Max moved closer, finally getting into the search.

“I don't know. It's hidden.”

They all started searching the room. Michael looked around frantically and then seeing something, he brushed dust and cobwebs off a part of the rock wall revealing a lock. “Max. Isabel.”

Isabel licked her lips, her hands suddenly sweaty. “The key, Michael.”

Michael nodded, not needing to be told. The key fit easily, and he turned it. All of them turned at the sound of the mechanical clicking noise of a latch released as a trapdoor in the floor opened. For a moment, they all stared at it, but not for long, it was what they came to find.

The hidden room was covered in even more dust than the rooms above. Cobwebs covered the area, and Maria and Liz stayed together, trying to keep from brushing against anything disgusting, the two of them holding hands.

Isabel found an old lantern, and with her powers, lighted it. The light helped. They searched the room. Michael found a box. Opening it, he looked inside at the mound of dusty papers, and then over at Max.

“Jackpot, Maximilian.” It was something, a tangible piece of a lifetime of hope. Before anyone could comment or search the box, there came a noise above in the main dome.

Footsteps, followed by a scuffling noise, and the sound of a body hitting the floor hard.

“Oh my God!” said Liz, holding onto Maria tight.

Michael, cursing under his breath, quickly rummaged through the small room grabbing papers and stuffing them into a box. He had come this far; he couldn’t lose it. “Whoever's up there looking for us isn't gonna stop until they find us. I'm gonna find out everything I can before they do.”

Maria and Liz both jumped in fright as Maria gasped observing a rat crawling around in the room. Following it, Liz moved cobwebs aside to find a tunnel leading out of the room.

“Max. Max.” She gestured to the tunnel and everyone rushed to it, to leave.

Liz looked up at the roof, and the movement of feet. “Come on! Come on!”

“Go, go, go, go, go.” Max gestured for her and the other to go into the tunnel, Michael going first pushing the box of papers ahead of him.

Isabel on her way out saw a necklace, pausing, she becomes lost in thought for a brief moment as the design drew her attention.

Max looked up at the ceiling, and then at his sister, frantic to be gone. “Isabel! Isabel!”

Grabbing the necklace, she quickly put it on going into the tunnel. The tunnel emerged away from the dome, and they quickly climbed into the jeep needing to be gone. As the jeep sped away in a trail of dust, Topolsky’s head popped out of the tunnel seeing only their dust.

~~~

Returning to Roswell, Michael and Maria drove the Jetta, which had been repaired by Max’s powers. The trip had a different feel to it, and Maria sitting next to Michael kept glancing at his profile.

“What?” Michael asked, suddenly uncomfortable by her silent regard. If given an option, he actually preferred her yammering her mouth off, at least then he knew what she was thinking.

“No, it's just kind of funny how surprising things can get. All this time that I've known you, I've just always thought of you as, like, this guy, you know. Like this weird guy from the other side of the tracks going nowhere in life, which, of course, you know, you still are that but,” Maria said, not wanting to give him too much credit since boys were known to revert to type, and alien boys were an unknown quality, “...what I didn't realize was that there's this whole other side to you.”

“What, that I'm from--” Michael jerked his thumb upwards and glanced at her, confused at exactly what she was saying. She knew he was an alien, so what was her point?

“Well, clearly there's that, but putting that aside, underneath that, um, weird, poorly bathed exterior, there's, like, this whole,” Maria struggled to find a polite way to say it, “...deeply wounded, vulnerable guy.”

Michael grimaced. Not what he needed. When people started thinking you were ‘nice’ it came with all kinds of expectations, ones he didn’t want to live up to. “Listen, all right? In terms of what happened yesterday between us, that was just because we were on the road, all right? We talked. That's all over.”

“Of course.” Maria made a face and looked away from him and out the side window. Yeah, like she knew that. Suddenly, her eyes twinkled, and her native humor making the dimple on her cheek deeper. “Wait. You think something happened between us?” Michael looked at her, he couldn’t help it. Oh god. Frowning, he looked at the mileage marker. They were never going to get to Rowell.

Maria saw his reaction and chuckled softly to herself looking out at the passing scenery. This side of him was definitely much more approachable. Losing what fear she still harbored towards him and his questionable lineage, she allowed her body to relax in the seat.

It was Michael’s turn. He kept glancing at her. Her profile…wasn’t awful. Rolling his eyes, he admitted that she was actually beautiful in a strange…human way. Clearing his throat, the silence was daunting.

“So what are you going to do when we get back to Roswell?”

Maria peeked at him, surprised he started a conversation. “Go to school, I suppose. Bad enough I was out all night with the car, didn’t get the money for the delivery, didn’t call, but missing school? My mother is going to ground me for life as it is. No sense in adding to my sins.” Maria sighed. Her fate was sealed. “I’m expecting lecture twenty-seven about responsibility and regard for others. I’ll tape it for you…maybe you’ll learn something.”

Michael’s hands tightened on the wheel. He hadn’t meant to cause her so much trouble, and especially not get her grounded. His jaw clenched as an uncharacteristic feeling of guilt hit him. He didn’t like it. He wasn’t getting anywhere if he let himself get all mushy and maudlin over a girl. He did what he had to do. That was all there was.

Maria, unaware of his inner struggle, looked at him again. “What are you going to do? With the stuff I mean?”

Relieved to let go of his inner thoughts, Michael for once was happy to answer the question. “Max and Isabel will stash it at their place, and I guess after school, we’ll go look through it.”

“Alone?”

Michael looked at her. “Why? You want to help?”

Maria shrugged, looking out the window again. “I already thought I was.”

“We’ll pick you up after school.” Michael glanced over, noticing a slight smile pulling at the side of her mouth. He kept driving, but couldn’t help but look at her again. Somehow, by including her, he made her happy. Who knew?

~~~

Maria and Liz were walking through the school, Maria still talking. She couldn’t stop. Now that the adventure was over, it was just that…an adventure.

“The thing about Michael is that he's weird but surprisingly interesting.”

“He's interesting?” Liz asked, her chagrin apparent. They were talking about Michael!

“Not interesting for me, obviously.” Maria said haughtily, but her interest was apparent.

“Oh, yes, obviously.” Liz bit back a smile.

“I mean, it can never be.” Maria assured Liz. Best to get the obvious out there so there would be no misunderstandings. “There are a number of obstacles. His hair, his personality, the fact that he was hatched...”

She couldn’t take it anymore, stopping Maria, Liz refused to budge. “Can you please tell me what happened in that motel room?”

Maria giggled. “I told you, Liz, nothing happened.”

“Are you sure?” Liz asked, not so convinced. Until yesterday, Michael Guerin had topped Maria’s list of those that should not be named.

“Nothing physical, although it wasn't very verbal, either. What Michael and I share, well, it's non-verbal. Michael is the type of person my mom likes to refer to as a vibrator.” Maria explained, happy with her term.

“A vibrator?” Liz shook her head remembering the cheap motel. That couldn’t be good. Something was definitely up with Maria.

“You know what I mean. Someone who communicates by, you know, sending vibes out into the atmosphere.” Hell, her mother probably had a book on vibrations. She would have to look Michael up.

“What kind of vibes was he sending you?”

“Vibes that are, you know...” Maria struggled to find the right words when Liz forestalled her seeing Kyle.

“Oh, I have to go talk to Kyle.”

“Oh, the stalker.” Maria made a face. “Good luck with that, Lizzy.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Thank you.”

“So, um, I guess I'll see you at Max and Isabel's later.” Maria said before she took off.

“Um, Max and Isabel's?” Liz’s face puzzled.

“Yeah, you know, to go through the files.” Maria said her mind already on her next destination. “Michael said they'd pick me up after school, so...”

Liz startled. Max had never said anything about them going through the files. “Oh. Uh, yeah, I will be there.” Liz frowned as Maria took herself off, her thoughts going in all directions, but remembering Kyle, she put them away. She could only deal with one crisis at a time. Going over to Kyle’s locker, she squared her slim shoulders, preparing for the worst.

~~~

Max, Isabel, and Michael were in the jeep heading to Evans home with Michael in the backseat hanging over the other two.

“So there's kind of a lot of stuff to go through, huh? The files.”

“We'll do it piece by piece, the three of us,” said Max.

“The three of us...right.” Michael looked between the two of them. “'Cause there are some other people that might wanna help out with that stuff.” Casual. He could be casual.

Isabel looked back at him, her eyes narrowing. “Some other people?”

“Yeah, you know, that Maria girl.”

“That Maria girl?” Isabel’s voice stressed her surprise.

“But it should just be the three of us.” Michael said more to himself.

Max glanced at Isabel, sharing a look. “Probably,” he said to Michael’s reflection in the rearview mirror.

“Yeah, that's what I figured.” Michael scratched his brow. “Actually, I sort of told her we were gonna pick her up.”

Isabel turned in her seat. “Michael!”

“You know, she pushed it. She's got this whole thing. She's a real vibrator. She sends out these vibes. It's...” He was more than happy to push the blame of a moment of weakness off on Maria. He missed Max and Isabel sharing a moment of amusement at his expense.

Max shook his head. “Michael, she can't come and look through the stuff. It's us, that is all.”

“I know. I know. I'll call her.” Michael gestured to Isabel. “Do you have your phone?”

Isabel sighed handing over her cell. “Fine, but don't let her blather too long, ok, because I'm desperately low on minutes.”

Max smiled to himself, but concern quickly replaced it. They were approaching their home, and there was a large commotion. Police cars everywhere, their lights going. The jeep slowed a few blocks short.

Isabel looked at her brother in fear. “What's going on?”

“We'd better go find out.” Max looked back at Michael. “Michael, get out of here.”

“Wait.” Isabel worried a nail. “Are you sure we should go in there?”

“It's where we live. We don't have any choice.”

Michael looked at the cops infesting the place. “Nah, I don't like this.”

Max looked at his friend. “We'll meet you at the Crashdown later.” Michael didn’t need to be told twice. He jumped out the back and was gone. He and cops, they didn’t mix too well.

~~~

Michael entered the Crashdown from a back door. He was getting paranoid, seeing FBI agents around every corner. He came through the door in a rush colliding with Maria. Straightening her, he told her sternly, “Never do that again.”

“I didn't do anything.” Shrugging his hands off, she looked at him confused. He looked…scared.

“You startled me.”

“I startled you?” Maria asked. He was the one jumping out at her, and she startled him?

“Yes.” Michael looked up at the stairs as Liz came down. “Did Max and Isabel get here yet?”

Liz looked at Maria quickly who shook her head. She had no idea what he was talking about. “Why? Were they supposed to be here?” Liz never got to finish quizzing Michael as the backdoor opened again. Max and Isabel entered. “Oh.”

“We need to talk somewhere.” Max told Liz. “In private.”

~~~

They were upstairs in Liz’s living room. Michael ran his hands through his hair, unable to find anything for them. “I can't say for sure I was being followed. I just had a feeling, that's all.”

Seeing Isabel’s face, Max looked at Michael. “What did he look like?”

“I don't know.” Michael’s voice broke under the strain. “A man in a suit, 30-35. Tall. Brown hair. He looked suspicious to me. What can I tell you?”

“When we were on the road, there was a guy who might've been following us.” Max saw Isabel’s reaction. “I didn't say anything because I didn't want anyone to get worried.”

Isabel wrung her hands, her face pale. “I can't believe what's happening here. Someone broke into our house. Someone's following us. It's too real.”

Max put his arm around her. “It's gonna be ok.” Michael was only half listening, as he stared at a necklace around Isabel’s neck.

Feeling his stare, Isabel shook her head. “What?”

“I know that. I know that.” Michael pointed at the necklace, at the design. “How do I know that?”

“We all know it.” Max offered. “We think it's from the past.”

“Pretty wild, huh?” Isabel picked up the necklace staring at the design. “I found it at Atherton's.”

“This has to mean something.” Michael said, unable to stop staring the design. They lost the files, but they had that.

Isabel stared at the design, and then at the others. “You know that Native American deputy? He said he recognized it from the Mescalero reservation.”

Michael sat up straighter shooting a glance at Max. They had to go. It was their next step.

Sighing, Max recognized that look. “We can't go anywhere right now. We can't make any suspicious moves.”

“Come on. We gotta go.” Michael argued. This close. So close, and they were going to stay safe? What the hell was safe? He hadn’t felt that since Max saved Liz Parker.

“No one's going anywhere. Not right now.” Max said stressing the point to Michael who looked away in disgust.

~~~

Michael paced, his anxiety and agitation increasing exponentially.

His life! His future! His past! This was his journey! He was the only one that fought hard to find every clue, and here he was, on the outside waiting for a scrap of information.

He stared out the Crashdown door at the darkness. His place was being filled by Liz Parker. Fucking Liz Parker. What the hell did this have to do with her anyway? Seething, he kept looking towards the door. What if they got caught? What if they missed vital clues? What if something happened and he wasn’t there?

Trust. He couldn’t blindly trust them to do it right, or even to tell him everything. His journey, his quest, and suddenly, he was on the outside waiting for scraps?

Maria glanced over at him, biting her lip. He was building to a nuclear meltdown. She definitely had no problems reading those vibes.

“What do we do?” Michael said in irritation. He couldn’t wait any longer. They had been gone too long.

Isabel said rolling her eyes at him. Great, she gets to pull Michael duty. “We wait. They've only been gone a little over an hour.”

“I'm telling you, this plan sucks the big one, all right?” Michael’s voice rose in irritation. “They're out there on my vision quest, and I'm sitting here in the kitchen with two girls yakking.” Isabel’s brow went up at that, but she easily dismissed his rant. After ten years, it wasn’t like she’d never heard it before.

“Interesting,” Maria said pointedly looking him over, “Um, Michael, you know, some women of the, uh, 20th Century might find that last remark just a tad bit offensive.” Maria shook her head. The only person acting like a ‘girl’ was Michael with his dramatic hyperbole.

“Why?” Michael asked, his confusion clear.

“Why?” Unreal! He was clueless.

Isabel snorted. “Welcome to Michael-land.” Michael shrugged taking some small plates, helping himself to a large slice of cake, passing Isabel a piece as well.

Maria’s eyes widened at the large slice. “I hope you intend to pay for that.”

“I do not.” Michael informed her, his eyes challenging.

“Well, then that's theft, buddy.”

“Arrest me.” He took the Tabasco. liberally spreading it over the cake. Isabel did the same. Maria frowned. He had done that before in the motel, on his candy bar.

“Ok, so what's with the Tabasco sauce?”

“Sweet and spicy,” said Michael shoving a large bite into his mouth.

“Sweet and spicy?” Maria’s brow furled in confusion.

Isabel offered taking a smaller bite than Michael, “We all like things extremely sweet mixed with extremely spicy. It's our little dietary quirk.”

“Well, I'll have to, uh, keep that in mind.” Maria said, her eyes locking with Michael’s.

“You do that.” Michael said with a smirk, refusing to drop her stare.

Isabel stopped eating to look between the two of them, their stares penetrating. “Are you two flirting?” Her face screwed up in disgust. “God, could my life get any worse?” God! Wasn’t Max mooing over Liz bad enough? Ick.

~~~

Isabel left. Tolerating as much as she could of Michael’s agitated company, and the two of them flirting, she went off to find better things to do. Michael could probably be left alone as long as he was flirting with Maria. That thought made Isabel roll her eyes. Getting involved with the humans was having a serious effect on her brothers.

Maria, left alone with Michael, soon felt every moment as if it was an hour. Her state of anxiety elevated as the minutes ticked by and Max and Liz did not return.

“This is taking too long. They're in trouble.”

“Cool your jets.” Michael said. He was a little calmer. It was probably the sugar from the cake, and not Maria. She was irrational.

“We should go out there.”

“They'll follow us.” Michael was proud of his reasonable response. It was nice to finally be a voice of rational thought. He sat back to let Maria take the irrational high road this time, however he drummed his fingers on the countertop, his ring clacking against the Formica.

“What are we supposed to do?”

“We wait.”

“You know, now I know why Isabel left.” Maria said, her eyes narrowing as she took in his form. “You are obviously the last person to be around in a crisis!”

“We were told to sit here and wait until they come back, all right, and that's what I'm doing. I'm not the one freaking out. You're freaking out.”

“I am not freaking out!” Maria said her voice reaching a loud pitch.

“You keep pouring sugar from one container to the other and then back again.” Michael pointed out in irritation. Her anxiety was feeding his own. “Quit it, it's driving me insane!”

“I just...I wish you would say something!”

“Say what? What do you want me to say????” Michael’s irritation was definitely starting to match her freak-out level.

“I don't know what. Just say something, you know, to make me feel calm, to make me feel like it's gonna be all right.” Maria suggested.

Michael shrugged. “Maybe it's not gonna be all right.”

“Thanks,” Maria threw her hands up in exasperation, “that helps a ton.”

“What do you want me to do????” She was being unreasonable. Childish.

“I don't know.”

“Shut up, then!”

“I...I hate you!” Maria slammed the sugar dispenser down.

“Ditto!” Michael replied nastily.

“You know,” Maria left the counter, pacing, “all I ask of you is just to try to make me feel better, you know? Be a guy or whatever.” She looked at who she was talking to, and put up a hand. “Forget it. I have obviously tried to bark up the wrong tree.” She turned to walk away, but Michael jumped off the counter and walked over to her, grabbing her arm and spinning her around.

He bent to kiss her, but Maria’s hand came up covering his mouth, moving slightly away from him.

“What are you doing?”

Michael swore. Obviously, the wrong thing if she had to ask. “Calming you down!”

Maria snorted. “Listen, buddy, that would not calm me down.”

Michael smirked. “Get you too excited?”

“More like upset my stomach. Then I’d be forced to defend myself and kick you in the balls.” Maria looked at him skeptically. “You do have those, right?”

Michael released her. Hell, what was he thinking? “Yeah, I have those.” A glint of mischief entered his eyes. “Want to see? Check them out?”

Maria seemed to be considering the offer. “Tempting, but no.” They both sat down to wait. Maria kept peeking over at him. “So, do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.” Michael looked at her. “Interested?”

“Hardly.” Maria snorted under her breath. She wasn’t into interspecies breeding. She would leave that to Liz. “So why not? Except for the bad hair, poor hygiene, and pissy attitude, it isn’t like you’re a total loss.”

“Thanks. My heart is bursting in the warmth of your regard,” he said sarcastically. Looking at her he shrugged. “What’s the use? I don’t plan to live here forever. Someday I’m going home. Mixing it up with a girl seems like more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Most people our age are getting paired off.” Maria said offhandedly.

“No thanks. Sophomore. High school. I have more important concerns in my life than to obsess over some dizzy dame that wants to remake me in her image of the perfect boyfriend.”

“Too much work?”

“Not worth the effort.” Michael repeated, shrugging. He wasn’t what any sane human would consider a good catch, because no matter what they did, he wasn’t staying. Michael looked at her. She was far from hideous. “So you? You got a significant other you’re harassing into line?”

Maria snorted. “Hardly. High school boys are dogs. They’re sweaty and all hormonal. I should know. My mom was pregnant with me at fifteen. Least I could do was learn from her mistakes. I think I’ll wait until I’ve grown up, got a job that I love, and make a way for myself before I start making those kinds of mistakes.”

“Who said it would be a mistake?” Michael sneered. “Don’t tell me I finally found a girl that doesn’t dream about love?”

“I’m a female, aren’t I? Of course I have girlish dreams. We all do. I look at Liz and Max, and their whole stare into my eyes, soulmatey thing, and I wonder.”

“Wonder what?”

Maria turned red. Embarrassed. Guilty. “I wonder how long it’ll last. I don’t believe in perfect. Nothing is free. It doesn’t come without cost.” Maria ran her hand through her hair. “I want to believe, but…I can’t. Not after all I’ve seen with my mom. One trainwreck relationship after another. My dad walking without a backward glance. It’s like the world’s largest scam.”

Michael suddenly looked at her with real interest. “You don’t believe in unconditional love?”

“Sure. I believe in my mom. I know she loves me. I have to because she sacrificed everything to keep me. Think it was easy? Having people pity her? Me? After my dad left it was like we were diseased. He left us nothing. No money. And she had no skills. It took everything she had to stand up and make it work. Make us work. I believe in my mom. That is what I believe in. Love? There is no love. Not until after I finish high school and go to college. That’s what real love is. It’s what I am going to do for my mom. Make her hard work and sacrifices worth something.”

Michael quietly looked at his hands. “To survive.” He told her the same once. Strange that they moved towards the same goals, in different circumstances, but still the same.

Maria nodded, embarrassed that she had told him, a virtual stranger, more than she ever told even Liz, her best friend. The Maria she let people see was so much easier for them to accept. This Maria was harder. One with a purpose. Not so likeable. Why expose herself to him? Searching his face, she knew. He had exposed himself to her. It felt like quid pro quo.

“My greatest ambition, yes. To survive.” She said simply.

Michael nodded and looked outside. He cared. For once in his life, he actually cared that she succeeded, as much as he wanted the same. It was something else they had in common. Who would’ve thought it?

Maria met Michael in the hallway, both of them slowing their steps to a pause.

“Hey.” Maria said.

“Hey.” Michael replied, shifting on his feet. The silence was becoming awkward. “Better go. I'm gonna be late for class.”

“You're avoiding me.” Maria said. He was avoiding her because of the attempted kiss? Her eyes narrowed shrewdly. No, it was the discussion…the honesty. Maria stood her ground not letting him get away. It was no big deal. They came too far from the early days of knowing each other to let that ruin the slim understanding they were building.

“I'm not avoiding you.” He looked beyond her, to escape, to freedom.

“Oh, the classic signs, Michael.” Maria said drawing his attention back. “Not looking me in the eye, lying about motives...”

“You know what? Fine.” Michael stepped to go around her. “If it's gonna shut you up, I am avoiding you. Watch me continue that thought, all right?”

Maria’s cell phone rang before she could respond. Grabbing his arm, she held him in place. “No way. Stay.” Maria answered her phone. “Mom, I told you to stop calling me...”

“No, it-it's me. It's me.”

“Liz?” Maria said quickly seeing her trapped prey shifting on his feet, readying to beat a hasty retreat. “Gotta get back to you, babe.”

“No. Look, there's been an accident with me and Max.”

“You and Max were in an accident?” Maria repeated, concern deepening her voice. That stopped Michael’s struggle to leave. He took the phone out of Maria’s hand.

“What the hell's going on?”

~~~

Isabel and Michael strode purposefully through the hospital’s emergency doors going straight to Max's room. Michael, after talking to Liz went to find Isabel, as Maria hurried to inform the school.

“Oh, my God. Max.” Isabel rushed to her brother’s side. “Max. What happened?”

Liz quickly offered an explanation. “We were on the old highway. There was this horse but Max swerved to avoid it and then we crashed.”

Isabel ignored Liz. “Max.”

The phlebotomist looked at the people around the bed. Finishing her task of drawing Max’s blood, she pointedly looked at the teenagers. “There are too many people here.”

“I'm his sister.”

The woman shook her head. It was an emergency room, not a convention hall. “No one's supposed to be here.” Michael, needing to talk to Max, turned on his charm. Shocking as it might seem to the others, the woman seemed attracted to it.

“I realize you're just trying to do your job,” Michael offered with a rare smile, “but we're all in shock right now. I'm really sorry.” Politeness 101, always worked. Got him out of all kinds of trouble.

Sighing, the phlebotomist nodded. “Just keep it low key.” Michael smiled again, checking out her name badge.

“Thank you...Susan.” She gave Michael a quick smile, ignoring the others. Walking off with the vial of Max’s blood, Michael looked over at Max.

“I'll get the blood.” Michael quickly followed the woman and vial, not letting either out of his sight.

~~~

At school, Alex was holding court speaking to a group of potential musicians. Maria immediately spotted him and quickly went to cull him from the pack. Liz had called. They needed a blood donor, preferably human, to replace Max’s sample. Alex was the obvious choice.

“See, I mean, my point is...is that there's no garage band scene here at Roswell, you know?” Alex warmed on his subject. “Which makes for a potentially genius situation. I mean, we could start an entire music scene, you know?”

Alex’s friend shook his head. “I think I'm tone deaf.”

“You are tone deaf, Lester,” Alex said agreeing with the boy. “That's why I was thinking the drums for you.”

Maria interceded herself between the boys, gaining Alex’s attention. “We need your help.”

Alex allowed himself to be pulled away by Maria. She was a definite hottie, and this worked to his advantage. “Ok, I'm making a point here. The point here is, musicians get the ladies.”

“Now.” Maria said dragging Alex away as his friends watched suitably impressed.

~~~

Maria and Alex arrived at the hospital, and entering Max's room, Maria stopped short.

“Oh, my God.”

Liz looked crossed over to her friends, relieved. “Alex, I need you to do me a huge favor.”

Alex nodded, his eyes kept going to Max Evans in the hospital bed. “Of course. Anything.”

Liz squeezed his arm and whispered in his ear, “I need your blood.”

~~~

They were in an empty waiting room. Liz had all the materials needed to remove Alex’s blood, but Alex looked a bit scared as Liz was about to stick a needle into his arm.

“Ok, I have any number of reservations at this particular moment.”

Liz looked at her friend. “No, it's fine, Alex. I volunteered here last summer. I saw them do this a thousand times.”

Alex shook his head noticing Isabel Evans. He trusted Maria, and he trusted Liz, but this was beyond what he expected from Liz. “Oh, God. What are you people hiding?”

“I'll tell you everything later.” Liz said, preparing his arm.

“Ok, look. I know best friends are supposed to trust each other on everything...” Alex looked at the needle with increased anxiety.

“Alex, I can do this.”

“Incoming!” said Maria from her post as lookout. Isabel, losing her patience, took the needle from Liz.

“Here, Liz. It'll be best if you don't look.” Isabel put the needle and her hand over Alex’s arm as Alex shut his eyes anticipating pain.

“Thank you, Alex.” Liz said.

“Come on, let's go!” Maria whispered loudly as voices were approaching.

“This'll sting a little.” Isabel quickly used her powers to fill the vial, finishing the task quickly.

~~~

Michael kept a careful watch, when Susan left the room, he slipped into the door, searching for Max’s vial. Before he could find it, he was interrupted. Hiding behind some shelves, he noticed an orderly entering the room searching through the vials. Michael’s face creased in worry, uncertain of what he should do when Susan returned and expelled the man.

Michael kept an eye on the vial with Max’s name, and when Susan reached for it, he reacted quickly, going to stand in the doorway.

“Susan?”

She stopped what she was doing to respond to the call. “Can I help you?”

“I wanted to talk to you in private.” Michael said, leaning against the door jamb, his one hand behind his back. Maria came up behind him, and quickly placed the vial in his hand, the name already fixed by Isabel. She moved off leaving Michael to do his thing. Feeling the vial, Michael straightened and entered the room.

“I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me,” Michael situated himself between the woman and the work table, “...on a date sometime.”

“You seem a bit young.” Michael switched a tube filled with Alex's blood with the tube with Max's blood while Susan was distracted with looking in a microscope.

Michael scratched his brow. “Age doesn't matter to me.” Keeping an eye on the woman, he slipped Max’s vial of blood into his pocket, continuing to talk to her while she worked. “I mean, besides, you know, I've always been more mature than most people I know. I've always found it easier to relate to a woman. They have so much more in common. They understand. Girls my age, they just don't do it for me, you know? I can't relate to them. But, a woman like you, on the other hand...” He was rambling.

Susan straightened. “Something isn't right.”

“It's not?” Michael allowed fear to move down his spine, fearing she saw him switch the tubes.

Susan looked at him, her face slightly pink, obviously flattered by Michael’s attentions. “I appreciate the thought. I really do. But I can't do this.”

“I understand.” Michael smiled charmingly, breathing through his relief. Turning to leave, he suppressed a smirk.

“Hey,” Susan called to him, “call me when you turn eighteen.”

“I will.” Michael left the room smiling.

His smile didn’t last long. Maria was leaning against the wall, her eyebrow lifted. He hated it. He was coming recognize a teasing glint entering her eyes.

“You’re good.”

Michael lifted a brow. Okay, so maybe she wasn’t going to be too repulsive. “You’re just upset because you missed out on me kissing you.”

“That must be it.” Maria made a face. “I’m sure my life is forever altered. Imagine all those rabies shots I missed out on. I was so looking forward to the full series.”

“That’s a two way street, Earth girl. How do I know you aren’t toxic to me?”

Maria wiped a dramatic hand across her brow. “Barely escaped.” Looking at him, she bit back a smile. “Girls your age don’t do it for you?” she teased. Michael scowled. Okay, so she was going to be repulsive. “You have more in common with women?”

“Shove it! I got the job done.”

Maria laughed softly making a uh-huh noise in her throat. “You did.”

“And I got a date out of it when I turn eighteen.”

“Be still my heart.” Maria laughed at his expression. Taking his arm, she pulled him with her. “Come on. Let’s go check on Max.”

~~~

In hospital lobby, everyone was waiting for an update on Max. Alex’s eyes kept flitting between Michael and Isabel, the speculation in them hard to miss.

Liz bit her lip. “Alex...maybe you should go home.”

Unreal! Alex looked at his best friend, and shook his head. “Liz, what I just did I could get arrested for. And that's all you have to say to me? Any of you?”

“Alex...” Liz pleaded.

“She said go home.” Michael’s voice was hard and cold.

Alex ignored Michael looking at Liz. “Well...great new friends you've made, Liz.” He shook his head walking off, Liz looked helplessly at Maria. Maria shrugged. Hard call. Liz asked for the blood. She promised to explain everything. Sighing, Liz quickly followed. Michael would’ve as well, but Maria put out a hand stopping him.

“Hey, hey. She's not gonna tell him. Just give her a second.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, yes I do.” Maria looked at where her two friends were talking, obviously heatedly. “Trust Liz. She hasn’t let you down yet.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “That remains to be seen. She told you, didn’t she?”

Maria met his eyes solemnly, “Yes she did.”

Their eyes met for a long moment, neither moving away. They missed Isabel making a disgusted sound in her throat and taking herself off. Finally Michael gave a slight nod, and broke the stare.

He’d trust Liz in this…for now. Maria knowing about them hadn’t turned out that bad.

~~~

They all walked with Max through the corridor leading to the exit.

“I was so scared.”

Max smiled at Liz. “I'm ok.”

Isabel sighed waiting impatiently. “Let's go. Mom's waiting in the car.”

Maria stopped in her tracks. “Oh, my keys are in my purse on the table in Max's room.” Michael gave her an exasperated look. Maria pulled a face at him. “We were in the middle of a crisis, remember?”

“I'll go get it. Get him to the car.” Michael wandered back to the room Max had been in, seeing a silhouette of someone who looked like he was searching for something, Michael approached cautiously.

He pulled the curtain to find Agent Moss and the other agent who had been dressed as the orderly searching through the trash.

“Forgot her purse.” Michael said picking up Maria’s bag on the table.

~~~

In Max’s bedroom at home, Michael, Isabel and Max were discussing the men searching Max’s room.

“I'm telling you it was the same guy. The one that followed me into the Crashdown the other night. He was going through the garbage. And the other guy, the one I saw looking for blood, he was going through Max's charts.” Michael couldn’t sit there. He moved around agitated, feeling the trap slowly closing on them.

“There's nothing for them to find.” Max reasoned, wishing Michael would calm down.

“This time.” Michael said his jaw flexing. “But this is the closest call we've ever had.”

“I'm sorry...”

Isabel frowned at Michael, glaring at him. Max was just out of the hospital. “It wasn't your fault, Max.”

Michael flopped his hands, irritated by her censure. “I didn't say that. But somebody's closing in on us. And unless we do something about it...”

“The only thing we can do is run.” Isabel worried, picking at her fingernail polish.

“No, that's not true. We can figure them out before they figure us out.”

Isabel could believe him. Michael was going to get them into trouble. “This is already so out of control and you just wanna make it worse?”

“I wanna know my enemy. That's the only chance we'll ever have.”

~~~

Outside the UFO Center Maria, Isabel, and Michael waited to tail Moss. Maria and Michael were in the front seats with Isabel in the rear.

“There he is,” Michael said, pointing out Agent Moss.

“Him?” Maria pushed her glasses down to peer closer at the man.

Michael looked at Maria, angered at her attitude. “What, you think I'm wrong?”

“No, he's just so...avoidable.” Maria’s brows furled. Guess she was expecting….oh, she didn’t know, Mulder? This man was completely forgettable.

“If we didn't need your car...” Michael muttered.

Isabel looked around quickly. “There's nobody around for a couple of blocks. I think we're safe.”

“Safe is not the word I would choose.” Maria said, staring at Michael.

Making a sound of irritation, Isabel leaned forward between the two seats and enunciated carefully, “Safe to follow him.”

“Oh.”

“But not close.” Michael cautioned watching her start the car. Dammit, he should’ve driven.

“Relax.” Maria phished at them. “God, you guys act like I've never tailed someone before.” Shoving her sunglasses into place, she started forward. The car went in reverse.

Isabel groaned. “Subtle, he'll never notice us going backwards.”

Shrugging it off, she put the car into gear.

Michael just shook his head.

~~~

“How long is this gonna last? Us waiting here like this?” Maria whined. Damn, it seemed adventurous to tail someone, do a stakeout, but she never counted in a whiney alien girl or pissy space cadet.

“Why? You got a date?” Michael smirked, knowing her views on dating high school boys.

Maria met his eyes lifting a brow. “Maybe.”

Isabel came through the seats, again. “You know, I'm the one who should be complaining, stuck out here with you two.”

Maria ignored her. She would flirt with Michael all she wanted. He was safe. “He is never gonna leave that room.”

Michael lifted a brow at her when Moss exited his room. “Never?” Maria made a face, but refrained from sticking her tongue at him. The three of them quickly ducked as Moss drove by.

~~~

Maria looked both ways down the front of the motel room crowding into Michael, who was taking a long time to open the lock.

“I still don't understand why I have to do this.”

Michael glanced at her, and then down the front of the motel. “I told you I need a lookout.”

“Isn't that what Isabel's doing?”

“Ok, so I need two lookouts.” The lock clicked open and Michael went in.

Maria’s mouthed opened as her eye squinted in irritation. “You don't trust me. That's it, isn't it? You don't trust me. You give Isabel the real job because I...”

Michael swore under his breath and grabbed her by the lapel of her jacket, dragging her inside. “You're gonna get us caught is what you're gonna do.” Pushing her to the window, he closed the bedroom door. “Now stay, watch and shut up.”

“This is the second time you've dragged me to some cheap motel.”

“Yeah, well, don't spread it around. You'll ruin my reputation.”

Maria snorted at that. Yeah right. More like she would make his reputation from strange freaky guy to someone worth knowing.

“What exactly are you looking for?” She looked around in interest.

“ID maybe? Something to tell us about this guy?” Michael was pilfering through the man’s hanging clothes. “Anything that will tell us who he is.” He started checking out the luggage.

“Luggage tags.” Maria suggested.

“No tags.

Maria checked a few drawers as Michael went into the bathroom. Her mouth opened in shock as Michael smelled the man’s underarm deodorant. “You think smelling his deodorant is going to tell you who he is?” Michael just made a face at her. “You know, um, toiletries say a lot about a man, which, by the way, you should take note of, but I'm guessing you will have more luck by the phone. You know, notepads, messages, that sort of thing.” Maria said then continued under her breath. “Like that would help.”

“Nothing.” Michael’s voice full of disgust. Just keep looking out the window, would you?”

Maria sat on the bed, ignoring the rude beast. Check. Czechoslovakians had the manners of wildebeests. Look at the damn hair. Check out the smell. Proof. Going through the drawer by the phone, she picked up the trash can.

“What are you doing?”

Maria shrugged. “Listen. Any baby-sitter worth her salt knows that the best place to find good trash is the garbage can. It's always revealing.” She dug around.

“Moss. His name's Moss,” said Michael, locating a receipt.

“First name or last name?”

“I don't know.”

Maria gave him an irritated look at his tone. Shrugging it off, she went back to her search. “Keep looking, Sherlock.” Michael moved closer when Maria stopped to read something. “What? What is it?”

“Looks like a phone number. Local.” Michael said joining her on the bed. A piece of paper. Phone number. “It’s a Roswell exchange.” Maria picked up the phone.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling it.” Maria pushed the numbers. “You want to find out who's on the other end of the line, don't you?”

The phone was picked up at the other end, and Michael leaned in to listen.

“Topolsky. Hello?”

Maria’s eye widened as she hung up the phone. “That was Ms. Topolsky. Ms. Topolsky as in school Ms. Topolsky. All right. Either she's taking her job way too seriously, or she's not exactly a guidance counselor.” Maria looked at Michael nodding her head. “I knew it! Guidance counselor my ass. No one’s hair looks that good all the time. Obviously she’s a plant.”

~~~

At the Crashdown, Michael was explaining what he and Maria found out at Moss' room at the motel while Maria was explaining it to Liz.

“So, I checked the garbage cans, ‘cause that's the best place to look for information.” Michael told Max and Isabel.

Maria delivered an order with Liz on her tail listening. “Anyway, so Spaceboy is looking at this guy's after-shave, so I tell him to look in the trash ‘cause, you know, that's where you find the best trash. And what do we find?”

Michael popped in a fry, shaking another one at Max. “A phone number. So I put it together and I figure the best way to find out who's on the other end of the line is to call.”

Maria looked over at Michael talking to Isabel and Max, huffing loudly. “Huh. We'd still be there if I hadn't picked up the phone and dialed.” She shriveled up her nose distastefully. “And of course he takes this opportunity to lean in as close to me as possible.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “So I could barely hear, because she was hanging all over me trying to listen, but there's no way I wouldn't recognize that voice.”

“Clear as a bell, no mistake.” Maria put another order up on the wheel, turning it dramatically.

“Topolsky,” said Michael.

“That's right. Ms. Topolsky,” said Maria. “All-American guidance counselor and big, fat liar.”

Michael shot a look over at Maria. “Never trust a blonde.”

Max looked at Isabel, sharing a look of concern. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” said Maria. “I smelled her from day one, remember?”

Liz chewed on a nail. “Maria, this is bad. Really bad.”

“Who knows how much she's found out about us already?” Max shook his head. Not good. Not good at all.

“Or who she's heard it from.” Michael reminded Max.

“Or who she'll tell.” Isabel worried, feeling sick.

“Alex was with her.” Liz turned worried eyes on Maria. “I heard them talking about Max.”

“He's not a snitch.” Maria reassured Liz, sticking up for one of her best friends. “Besides, he doesn't know anything to tell. Does he?”

“Liz told him we were into drugs.” Max confessed. “Just to get him to stop asking questions.”

Isabel made a face at that, her voice sarcastic. “Great. That'll be a lot easier to explain to mom and dad.”

“He's not gonna say anything.” Max hoped that was true. It sounded good, but…

“He's not gonna say anything.” Liz reassured.

“Right.” Maria agreed taking her cedar oil out for a large whiff. Sure he wasn’t.

“Stick a fork in us, Maxwell,” said Michael, sitting back dejectedly. “We're done.”

“So you and Maria did okay together.” Max commented noticing how Michael’s eyes kept darting to the blonde.

“She was okay once she stopped bouncing off the walls.” Michael eyed the remainder of Max’s dessert.

Maria walked by with a pan of dishes, joined by Liz behind the counter. “So anyway luckily I was there or he’d still be there sniffing things.” Maria rolled her eyes.

“Sounds like a partnership.” Liz said casually.

“Sure. One forged in hell.”

~~~

“What are you doing here?”

Maria jumped at the sound of Michael’s voice. Looking at him, she glared, though it was doubtful he could see that in the dark.

“What are you doing here?”

“I asked first.” Michael came to stand next to her. “Moss?”

“Yeah, he’s bugging out. Took that fake, Topolsky, with him.” Maria watched the room for a few more moments.

“When did they leave?”

“Half an hour ago.” Maria said.

“Then what are you still doing here?”

Maria looked at Michael. “Same thing you are. Making sure they stay gone.” Her eyes met his. Yeah, she had seen him standing in the shadow of a tree for over two hours watching the same scene she had.

“You shouldn’t be out here this time of night.”

“You are.”

“I’m a guy. You’re a chick.”

Maria snorted. “And you’re a dinosaur! Chick? You called me a chick!” Maria shook her head. “Unreal.”

“Whatever.” Michael had watched her over an hour. “You still shouldn’t be here. I was on it.” Michael suspected she wasn’t listening to him. “This is about me, Isabel and Max. It has nothing to do with you.”

Maria moved away from the tree she was leaning against. Staring at him, she shook her head. He was so damn clueless it wasn’t funny. Clueless, conceited, arrogant, and a racist against humans to boot.

“Sure it is. Max made it my business that day in the Crashdown when he saved Liz, and changed our lives. Today, whether you like it or not, you added Alex to the mix.”

Michael didn’t say anything. What was there to say? It was confirmed. The FBI had been in Roswell, and they had been close…too close to finding them. Alex Whitman did a lot exposing Topolsky, and he gave up blood. Michael frowned. His life was getting too complicated with all these humans moving into his world. “Alex came through.”

Maria nodded. That was all he was going to say, and Maria seemed to know that instinctually. Maria looked at the now empty motel room. “They’re not through here. They’ll be back, and today, Alex and Liz stepped into it with the FBI for you.” Maria peered over at him. “You used me, my car, and still you think we aren’t in any way involved. Unreal. Completely unreal.”

“I just saying…”

“I know what you’re saying, and it’s stupid, so stop saying it.”

“It’s dangerous. I’m saying that knowing us is dangerous.” Michael stressed the point. Yeah, great unconditional soulmate love. He almost sneered aloud. Nothing like exposing that person to a lifetime of danger. If love existed, Max should walk away, disappear and never look back.

Maria rolled her eyes. “Duh! But how do we take it back? It’s not just you exposed now, but us too. They’re looking at us all.” Maria looked at him. “I can’t lose Alex or Liz and more than you can lose Isabel and Max. So I’m staying.”

Michael looked at her stubborn profile. She had been there before him, but that didn’t matter. He wasn’t leaving either. “It could be a long wait, watching for their return.”

Maria shrugged. “I know. I’ll wait anyway.”

“Got any food?”

“Water and snacks are in my bag.” Maria handed Michael the binoculars. “You keep watch. I have to pee. Be right back.”

Michael watched her disappear to a public restroom part of the motel. Yeah, she had that bladder thing. Rubbing his face, he sat watching her walk away and back, forgetting the empty motel room. They weren’t coming back tonight, but she was right. They would be back.

Heat rose off the pavement in waves. It was hot. It was hotter than hot. The unseasonable heatwave boiled the small town of Roswell, it and its inhabitants.

Michael watched her through the windows of the Crashdown. He stood outside for a while, tempting himself, daring himself to make a move. Go in there. See her. He could see the moisture beading on her exposed chest, along the curve of her collarbone. She was exquisite. Michael finally found his feet. Slowly walking towards the light of the Crashdown like a beacon, he stopped just shy of the street.

She didn’t want this. She didn’t want him. That had been made very clear. He wasn’t something she could afford. Her background, her family life with her father leaving, he was a risk she shouldn’t take. He was going leave. First opportunity he got, Roswell was nothing but dust on his feet, easily stomped off. He couldn’t afford to have a reason to look behind.

No. He was alone. That was how it had to be. He turned away and melded into the dark.

~~~

Maria felt it. The slow trickle of sweat down her throat and between her breasts. Moving a hand over her skin to wipe away the moisture, she frowned. Looking up, she stared into the darkness. For a moment, she felt…It felt like…

Laughing to herself, Maria shook her head and went back to work. The place was a hotbox, and dehydration was going to her brain. He wouldn’t come. She wasn’t what he wanted or needed. He had made that perfectly clear.

He would be too costly not only in time and emotions, but in fear. She would always be waiting for him to leave, always unsure as to whether he really wanted to be with her, or was he just following a disturbing trend started by Max. She would always be afraid that she would love more. Some things were best not opened, and Michael Guerin was her Pandora’s box.

Maria put the broom away. Looking one last time across the Crashdown diner, she looked into the night and flipped the switch. Time to go home.

~~~

“The Rave scene isn’t usually your haunt, Liz. What’s going on?” Maria shook her head at a blouse Liz showed her. Too virginal.

“I…I can go to a Rave.”

Maria tossed her something to wear. “Here, try this, and let’s curl your hair. You want to look nice for Max.”

“I didn’t say Max was going to be there.”

Maria snorted. “You didn’t have to. You’ve been obsessing over this heatwave all day.” Maria looked at Liz in the mirror as she curled her hair. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

Liz met Maria’s eyes. “He probably won’t even show up. He said maybe.”

“Maybe.” Maria blew out the air from her lungs. “Liz, you worry me.”

“Maria.”

“Look, just don’t try to take it so fast, okay?” Maria cleared her throat. “I know you’ve got this connection since he let you look into his soul, or whatever, but there is one thing I know…”

“Maria.”

“No, listen.” Maria stared at her friend. “Sometimes a thing can feel so important, and even if that ‘thing’ is a feeling, you have to be careful. Brilliant fires burn hotter quickly, but tend to burn out fast, almost like it was too perfect to hold forever in that pristine state.” Maria didn’t know how to stress the point. “Don’t grab so fast, because then you have to hold on too tight, sooner or later, your grip will tire.”

“I don’t…”

Maria knew that. “I’m saying that a fire tended over time, fed slowly, finds a way to burn hot, building to a hotter state, until the coal bed is able to instantaneously combust all new fuel.” Maria fanned the imaginary flames. “Now that is a fire that burns forever.”

~~~

Maria saw him across the way, and she almost walked out anyway. He was alone. Typical. The observer watching the little humans, a touch of disdain, but also…

Oh damn. Rolling her eyes, it was that also, that staid her feet.

Desire. He wanted to be that free, that young, but he couldn’t. Damn him.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

Michael looked her over, frowning. He should’ve known. Liz was there. You couldn’t spit on one without the other being close enough to get sprayed.

“Nothing.”

“Hmm. You do it so well.”

Michael made a face deciding to ignore her, but she was dressed interestingly, and her lipgloss drew the eye. Actually, her lips were hard to miss.

“Thought you didn’t engage in teenage mating rituals.”

“I don’t…usually. Occasionally, I find a good enough reason to break my basic rules. Some Raves come with live music, and that’s always worth the break.” Maria looked around this crowd, rolling her eyes at the box jocks. “Unfortunately, this one is a waste. They’re playing tunes from a box.” Maria looked at her watch. “Time for me to scram.”

Michael stopped her. “Where are you going?”

“Bar on 3rd Street has a live band tonight. My mom use to date the owner, so he lets me in. I was hoping for something here, but that will do.”

“What about Liz? Aren’t you afraid she’ll have to go to the bathroom, check her makeup? Thought you girlfriend types migrated in pairs.”

“Not while on a date, Spaceboy. That’s an exception to the migration rules, subsection 3C. Unless…the boyfriend is disagreeable, or say…someone like you. A mercy date.”

Maria stalked off. Teach her to stop and play nice. That wouldn’t be happening again.

Michael stopped her. “Who’s playing at this bar?”

“Trash band. They roam. Pretty decent. I’ve heard them a few times. I was hoping to convince Alex into ditching this scene for that. I prefer a male companion. It keeps the greasy old geezers’ hands off my ass.” Maria bit the inside of her lip. She didn’t even know if Alex would come. He saw her supporting Liz in their argument. Maria had hoped this would help clear away some of the hard feelings.

Michael looked over across the floor, seeing Max and Liz talking, and Liz do this little dip thing. Rolling his eyes, he pinched the area between his eyes as he watched them walk outside. Fuck it. He could find better things to do than babysit Max on a date.

“Lead the way.”

Maria lifted a brow. “Did I invite you?”

Michael pointed over to Alex and Isabel talking. “Think you can talk him away from her?”

Maria followed his gesture, groaning. No frickin’ way! Was everyone she knew falling into the fatal alien suck zone?

“Great!” Maria huffed looking at him again. “This is not a date.”

Michael made a snorting noise. “You should be so lucky. I’m going for the music.”

“Ditto.” Maria turned on her heels moving quickly through the crowd. He wanted to come; he’d have to keep up.

“I’ll drive!” Michael said close behind her.

“Get a spaceship, the Jetta is mine.”

“God, this day sucks. Table two says their bacon's not crisp enough. Isn't anybody ever satisfied?” Maria asked making a face at the ultra perky Liz. She looked over at the door as more customers entered. “Well, if it isn't Prince Charming and alien Enforcer with bad hair.”

Max and Michael sat down at their usual booth, and Maria moaned. Her station, of course it was. Like she didn’t have enough to do already. The spaceboy would no doubt want to yak her ear off.

“Hey,” Michael said, noticing Maria, “do we have to eat here?” Damn. She would no doubt think they shared a special connection, and try to get all touchy feely with him.

Max grabbed the menu. “I'm, uh, really in the mood for a piece of Men in Black-berry pie.” Max smiled. “Reminds you of something, don't it?”

“Compared to nuclear winter, no.” Michael watched the girls out the corner of his eye. Small talk. Damn, she would expect friendly small talk. How did he keep getting into these situations? They had stayed out real late, actually into early morning, and he had to push her fat ass into her bedroom via the window. Okay, so her ass wasn’t really fat, but his hands seemed to find enough there…to shove.

“What are you doing?” Maria asked.

Liz smiled filling a tall glass. “Max likes cherry cola. What does Michael like?”

“Cherry cola with arsenic?” Maria shrugged. Hell, how the heck was she supposed to know? Tabasco and arsenic were about the same, weren’t they? For all she knew, he probably sucked on battery acid while watching the game in his underwear.

“Can we please leave? All right? I'll buy you a whole one at the House of Pies.” Michael suggested ignoring the slight begging sound to his voice.

Max frowned. “What's your problem, Michael?”

Michael made a face. “Maria.”

“Maria? I hadn’t realized you two were…” Max was lost for words. “I, um…why don’t you want to see her?”

Michael rolled his eyes. “We sort of left the Rave before the cops showed up, and…”

“Together?” Max’s voice wasn’t in any way flattering.

“Technically…yes.” Michael quickly explained before Max got the wrong idea. “We hit this place with live music since the Rave was dead. It was nothing. Just tunes.”

“So what’s the problem?”

Michael leaned on the table. “She might have gotten the wrong idea, and you know, think it means we’re more…”

“More?”

God! How dense could one person be? “You know…friends.”

Max nodded biting back his amusement. “Friends. Yeah, I can see where that would be uncomfortable.”

“Exactly. Let’s go.”

“So you’re not interested in being her friend?”

“Look, I don't...I'm not sure. I mean, it's confusing. I don’t want her getting all mushy and whatever over me.”

Liz put a large glass in front of Max, smiling big. Maria behind her rolled her eyes. “Cherry cola. On the house.”

Maria slammed Michael’s down in front of him. “Yours is $1.25.”

“Guess it's not really a problem, is it?” Michael said to Max. He should be relieved, but he wasn’t. Getting up to leave, he spilled his glass of cola over the table. Max and Michael's books dropped to the floor, and Michael bent to pick up Max's notebook. Pulling out a sheet of paper, he stared at the hieroglyphic symbols from River Dog's cave drawn on it.

“What's this?”

Max looked around anxiously. “Put that away.”

“No, I know this. This is from...” Michael paused, looking at Max.

“Not here, Michael.”

“What are you hiding from me, Max?”

Maria looked at the two as they faced off, biting her lip. At that moment she decided Michael could have the cola, no charge.

~~~

In Max's room at the Evans, Michael and Isabel asked Max about the symbols on the paper that Michael found in Max's notebook. All three seemed drawn to it, to understand it in some form as familiar.

“I just drew it from memory. It was painted on the wall of the cave that River Dog took us to.” Max reached out a hand to touch it. “I don't even know if it means anything.”

Isabel frowned at the symbols, preoccupied with it. “Of course it means something. Why else would we all recognize it? Just like the pendant, Max. It's like our language or something. It's familiar, but I can't seem to remember how to read it.”

“What I want to know is how long were you planning on keeping this from us, Max?” Michael let his irritation show in his voice.

Max sighed. He knew this would happen. “Too much was happening, Michael. Topolsky was all over us, and I couldn't risk that,” Max paused, reversing what he was going to say, “...I just thought I should wait, that's all.”

“No, no, no. Go ahead and finish that. You couldn't take the risk that what? I’d go do something stupid?” Michael paced the room.

“That's not what I said.”

“Well, you didn't have to.” Michael refrained from throwing shit.

Isabel looked one to the other. “I'm sure Max had his reasons, Michael.”

“How did I know you would say that? Take Max’s side in this?” Michael snorted. Yeah, same old story, and the more it changed, the more it stayed the same. “Yeah, that he couldn't trust me with that. But he could trust Liz.”

“She was there. I couldn't just,” Max threw his hands up in disgust, “...why am I defending myself? This is exactly why I didn't tell you. Because you would jump to some wild conclusion and go off and do something crazy without even telling us. I didn't think that was particularly wise with the FBI following us around.”

Isabel frowning at Michael’s reaction, tried to intercede peace before it was too late. “You should have told us, Max.”

Mrs. Evans put her head into the room. “Max, honey? Liz is here.” Both Michael and Isabel looked at Max with a question in their eyes.

“We're just,” Max quickly grabbed a clean shirt, “...going out.”

“You're going out?” Michael asked. Of course they were. Max’s newest confidant, everything. Nothing mattered but fucking Liz Parker. Michael shook his head.

Isabel ignored Michael’s angry response. “What? Like on a date?”

“No, not at all. We both just kind of felt like Chinese food. It's no big deal.”

Gesturing to his shirt, Isabel lifted a brow. “Then why are you changing your shirt?”

“I'm late. We'll figure out the questions we want to ask, and then we'll go back to River Dog together, ok? Please, Michael. Leave it alone for now.”

Michael refused to make eye contact, the anger still in his voice. “Fine. I'll wait.”

Mrs. Evans called again. “Max!”

“We'll talk when I get back.” They watched him leave the room.

“Do you ever wonder what else he tells Liz that he doesn't tell us?” Michael asked.

Isabel rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. You're one to talk. What have you been whispering in Maria's ear lately? Don’t think I haven’t noticed how much time the two of you are spending together.”

“It’s not the same. We’re not dating, and I don’t keep vital secrets, especially ones about our origins, with her and away from the rest of you.” Michael looked at Isabel hard. “At least I'm smart enough not to get attached. I can walk away from anybody if I have to.”

Isabel startled, a deep fear sinking into her stomach. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I'm not gonna let Max's mistakes keep me from finding out what I need to know.” He headed for the window.

Isabel bit on a nail. “Oh, Michael, you promised.”

“I promise I'll be as trustworthy as Max.” He went out the window, his fury still evident in ever line of his body.

Isabel frowned, worry creasing lines on her face. Michael was moving further and further away from them. Max opened the door for others, replacing him with Liz, and in response, they were losing Michael. They had survived all those years because they had each other, and staring at the empty window, Isabel was realizing that was no longer true. Michael meant them too. He would leave them in a heartbeat if they refused to come, because his heart had never lived in Roswell. There was nothing to hold him there.

~~~

“Hey.”

Maria looked up from work, frowning. “What are you doing here? Max is on a date with Liz.”

Michael made a face. Yeah, he knew that. Now he did. “Can’t I come here without Max?”

“Knock yourself out. It’s a free world.” Maria stared at him again. “So, what are you doing here?”

Shaking his head, he took her arm and led her into the back breakroom. “I need something. Your help.”

“My help?” Maria searched his face. He was angry. It was apparent in every line of his face. “What’s going on?” Michael started to shut down, but Maria stopped him. “Oh, do not pull that stonewall crap on me! Not after all we’ve been through. You want my help Pal-ly, then you need to come clean.”

“Max is lying to me. Keeping vital information from me…information I’m responsible for finding in the first place.”

“What information?”

“The key.”

“Liz mentioned it first.”

Michael stomped around. “No, she did not! She mentioned the man with the silver handprint. Did anyone else think we should investigate more? No. Me. I did it. I found the key. I had the vision. I’m the one that painted it until we could find what it meant, and got arrested for breaking into the UFO Center for more information. I kidnapped…talked you into going to Marathon, Texas…and if the others hadn’t come, leading Kyle, the freak, again thanks to Liz Parker, and the FBI to us, no one would’ve known we found the papers. They would’ve never been stolen. I wanted to follow the necklace lead. Again…Liz. This is none of her fucking business!”

“What is your problem with Liz? This isn’t envy, is it?” Maria made a face. “What, you have a crush on her, and she’s with Max, and…”

Michael made a disgusted sound, almost spitting. “The last thing I am is attracted to Liz! Most of the time, I have to work my way to keep from hating her.”

Maria stomped her foot, pissed at his angry attitude which he seemed to focus on her best friend. “What did she ever do to you, except go out of her way to help?”

“She told Alex!” Michael reminded Maria nastily. “She promised not to do so!”

“She had no choice! He was going to talk to Valenti.” Maria punched him hard on the shoulder. “She ruined her relationship with Alex, lied to him all for you, and…”

“For Max! She didn’t lie for me. Don’t tell me that she wouldn’t walk away in a second if Max wasn’t involved, returning to her nice safe human life.”

“She’s trying to help! Try to be a little grateful, and not such a whiny baby!”

“Whiny baby!” Michael said sourly. “Yeah, right. Answer me this! What if you were searching for your father? You followed vital clues, got closer than you’ve ever been, and Liz took that information and pursued it with Max, cutting you out of the deal, and withheld the information from you like you were some irresponsible child? How would you feel?”

Maria stared at him. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Biting her lip, she admitted to herself that she’d feel betrayed. She would feel betrayed by her best friend, and upset that her place had been taken by Max. Sighing, she looked it from his point of view…reluctantly. “What do you need?” Michael looked confused. “You asked for my help. What did you need?”

“Your car.” Michael ran his hand through his hair. “I can’t wait, and I don’t trust Max. Not anymore. I have to know myself.”

“It’s that important? You have to do it right now, tonight?” Michael nodded. “By yourself?”

Michael seemed to pause. “You could come if you wanted.”

“I can’t go. I’m still working.” He was serious. Deadly serious. “If you could wait…”

“I can’t. I’ve waited all my life. I’m sick of it.” Michael breathed in deeply. “Maria, I feel like I can barely breathe at times, and every day is become intolerable. I honestly don’t know how much longer I can hold out before I really do something stupid, or just pack up and leave.” Michael said in a rush of brutal honesty. “Are you going to help me or not?” Maria nodded to him. He could borrow the car. “Thank you,” he said quietly, finally calming down.

“Why? Why are you going?” Alone. Did he have to do it alone, and now? “What are you hoping to find that they haven’t?”

Michael scratched his eyebrow. “My quest. I have to know.”

“They already went there.” What else could there be to know?

Michael looked around and at her. “I know. Look, Maria, don’t give me grief too. I…” Michael ran a hand through his hair. Since the Heatwave he had been restless. Too restless to sit still. Liz and Max were dating. It was official. He had no place. Max was busy, and Isabel had insisted that Alex could be trusted. Now she spent all her time with him, talking. Whatever. Max and Isabel. They weren’t interested in learning more. Understanding. Roswell. For them, Roswell was enough.

“Go. Just be careful.” Maria handed him her keys. “I mean it.”

“Thanks.”

Maria watched as he got in the Jetta to go to the reservation. He was going to get into trouble on his own. Staring at the full diner, she sighed. Nothing she could do about it. She had to work. He was on his own.

~~~

“I'm looking for somebody named River Dog. River Dog.” Michael to the woman loudly. He had already asked her twice.

A young Native American man came out of the dark. “She's not deaf. She's just not answering you.” He looked Michael over. “My name's Eddie. Who are you?”

“Well, Eddie, I'm somebody looking for River Dog.”

“He's busy,” Eddie gestured to a tent in the distance, “...in the tent. It's a sacred ritual. You can't go in unless somebody invites you.”

“So invite me.”

Eddie searched Michael’s face. “It's a sweat. It's a spiritual cleansing. It's intense.”

“If that's where he is, then that's where I want to go.”

Michael followed Eddie.

~~~

They entered the tent after removing their shoes and shirts. There was a circle of men around a fire, and the heat was intense. Michael could feel the prickling of sweat all along his skin, and the heat was making it hard to breathe. His lungs felt on fire.

“Is that River Dog?” Michael asked gesturing to an elderly man.

Eddie took a seat indicating Michael should join him. “Don't worry. He knows you're here. No talking right now. Just follow the chant.”

Eddie and Michael joined in the ritual, drinking water from a bowl as it was passed in a circle to each person in the tent. River Dog met Michael’s eyes as he threw something into the fire, causing the fire to crackle with life. Michael shook his head, unable to handle the increased heat as the herbal that River Dog tossed in the fire filled the air. He couldn’t breathe as a cough moved up his throat. Eddie and Michael quickly left the tent, both breathing hard drinking cold water. Michael kept coughing. They only lasted a short period of time.

“I told you it was intense.”

Michael coughed hard drinking the cold water as it alleviated the burning in his throat. “What the hell was that?”

~~~

Maria was in the back breakroom when Michael came through the door. She blinked twice, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.

“Oh, God!” Rushing to him, she barely got under his arm before he collapsed on her, her smaller frame taking the bulk of his weight. Helping him to the ground, she felt his head. He was burning up, his eyes barely focused.

“Michael?”

He shook his head. “Max...,” was all he said.

Rushing out of the back break room, Maria spotted Isabel and Alex eating together in a booth. “You have to come with me. It’s Michael.”

Isabel stopped when she saw Michael on the floor. Rushing to him, she picked his head up putting it in her lap. “Oh god, he’s burning up.” Isabel looked at Maria. “We need Max.”

Maria nodded. “I’ll go.”

~~~

Max, Liz, and Maria arrived back at the Crashdown to see Michael lying on the ground with his head on Isabel's lap. Isabel was stroking Michael's forehead.

Isabel was relieved to see her brother. “Something's wrong, Max. He's really sick.” Max joined Isabel on the floor. They fed him water. To Maria, Michael looked a little better than when he first entered the Crashdown. It took some time, but Michael seemed to recover enough to sit up and regain some of his pissy attitude.

Isabel hovered over Michael, pushing more water on him. “Here, drink some more water. It's helping.”

“I feel better.”

“Maybe he should eat, you know?” Maria suggested. “Starve a cold, feed a fever?” Michael frowned at how everyone discussed him like he wasn’t there.

Alex chimed in his favorite remedy. “Echinacea always worked for me.”

Isabel tried to feel his head, but Michael eluded her. “I said I was better, all right? I feel perfectly fine.”

Isabel pulled her hand back, unhappy with his response. “You were burning up a minute ago, Michael.”

“Well, whatever it was, it's over now, ok? I just want to go home.”

Max looked at Liz. “I'll drive you.”

Michael saw the look, and he let bitterness enter his voice. “I wouldn't want to ruin your date.”

Isabel stood up, not wanting to deal with fight between Michael and Max on top of everything else. “We're leaving now. Alex, you need a ride?”

Alex nodded making a face. “What I really need is a sedative.” Damn, how much could one young man take? Aliens? Sick aliens, and Isabel Evans. Whoosh. He was so out of his comfort zone.

As everyone started to leave, Max and Liz silently stared at each other for a moment. Isabel saw the exchange and her irritation made her voice brusque.

“Max?” One last look, and Max turned to leave. Michael looked at his gang of babysitters, and unable to take any more henpecking or mothering, his eyes met Maria’s pleading.

She nodded. He still had her keys. Michael looked at the others. “Forget it. I’ve got a way home.” He exited quickly out the door before they could stop him. The others stood silently for a moment, but having already said goodnight, they left through the front.

Maria looked at Liz after the door closed and they were alone. She wanted to hear about Liz’s first real date with Max, but her eyes kept falling on the door that Michael used.

“Um, Liz…now that you’re home, could you finish closing? I’ve got something I need to do.”

Maria didn’t wait for a response. She was out the door. She needed to track down a sick Michael and her car.

“Yeah…sure.” Liz said to the empty room. Frowning. She had expected a girl’s night, one on one session.

~~~

Finding Michael wasn’t as hard as she feared. He was in the passenger seat of her car waiting for her.

Getting in, she looked around to make sure the others hadn’t doubled back. They didn’t talk as she put the car in gear. Michael sat with his head back, his eyes closed so he never noticed her bypassing the turnoff to his trailer park.

“C’mon.” Maria said getting out of the car.

Michael looked around. “This isn’t home.”

“It is for me. Move your ass, or I’ll leave you to sleep it off in the car.”

“What am I doing here?”

“Irritating me. Being a big sweaty inconvenience.”

“I didn’t ask…”

Maria dragged his wasted ass out of the car. “Yes, you did. Earlier. C’mon. You’ve got a choice. Either you can bed down on my floor so I can keep an eye on you, or you can go sleep on Max’s. Either or. You decide.”

“I don’t need…”

Maria stopped. “You were really sick. I noticed you didn’t tell them that you went to River Dog. Do I need to do that for you?”

“Do I have to sleep on the floor?” Michael quickly capitulated.

“My mom’s out of town, but yep, I want you close in case you need something. Lucky you, I have a nice mat you can use which is better than the floor.”

“We could share,” suggested Michael.

“Your gross sweaty body next to mine?” Maria shriveled up her nose. “Sorry, if you want that kind of care, I’ll give Isabel a call. She can mother you.”

Michael stopped on his way to the house. She wasn’t helping him out of pity. She wasn’t treating him like a kid. But, she wasn’t ignoring him either. Her help was tolerable.

“The floor will be fine.”

~~~

Max entered the Crashdown diner from the rear. His face was concerned, as he searched the restaurant for Liz. Coming from the UFO Center, where Michael had collapsed, Max couldn’t contain his fear.

“Liz.”

Liz looked at Maria shrugging. “Max, um, what are you doing here?”

Max looked at the other workers, and then at Liz. “We came through the back. We need your help.”

“Maria.” Liz called as they followed Max into the back breakroom.

“Michael.” Maria went to him immediately, her concern evident. “Is he ok?”

“Does he look ok to you?” Isabel asked with a bite to her voice, hysteria on the edge.

“What's wrong with him?” Maria ignored her, recognizing fear. It was hard to miss. It was welling up in her own throat.

“How should I know? Nothing like this has ever happened before.” Isabel’s helplessness was pushing her nerves to the breaking point. Staring at Michael, she suddenly realized how much for granted she always took their health, and how they would always be together, her, Max and Michael.

“We need to keep him someplace safe.” Max said. “Liz, can we keep him here?”

Liz nodded. “Yeah, uh, but let's just take him upstairs. It'll be safer there.”

Max reached down to pick up Michael. “I'll have to carry him.”

“Yeah, I'll go first.” Liz led the way upstairs.

~~~

Isabel bit back a gasp as she read the thermometer. “It only goes up to 112.”

Maria looked at Michael in concern. His fever was too high. He was going to fry his brain or go into convulsions. “We're gonna need some ice and towels. We need to cool him down.”

“Um, they're in the kitchen and then there's some in the bathroom, too.” Liz’s hands were shaking as was her voice.

“Are you ok?” Max asked.

“Has this ever happened before?” Liz asked, looking at Michael and then Max. “I mean, to you?”

“Never.” Max was interrupted from commenting when Michael started to chant.

Isabel asked her brother, worry moving over her face at an alarming rate. “What's he saying?”

Maria bit her lip as Max shook his head. “I don't...I don't know. It's some kind of chant.” He sat on the edge of the bed. “Michael, can you hear me? What are you saying? What are you trying to tell us?” Max’s voice rose in fear. “Michael, it's me, Max. Please let me help you.”

Michael’s eyes opened. They were opaque. He only said one thing. “River Dog.”

~~~

Maria came into the room, happy to be away from the others. Max and Liz had left to see River Dog, but not until after grilling Maria about Michael’s activities from the previous night. That was what she got for confessing. Isabel was watching over Michael, and Maria shook her head as the other girl piled blankets on Michael.

“What are you doing?”

“Well, he's so cold, I...”

“Are you kidding? He's burning up.” Maria quickly removed most of the blankets, smoothing a cool sheet over him. “Right before I had the chicken pox, I had a really high fever, and my mom had to put me in an ice bath.”

“This isn't the chicken pox, and he was fine.” Isabel’s hackles rose at Maria taking over Michael’s care.

Alex looked in. “Knock, knock.”

Isabel glared at Maria. “I thought you said you locked the door.”

“The key's always under the mat.” Alex frowned at Isabel, reading her hysteria just fine. “Hey, look, everything's going fine downstairs. I just wanted to come up...see if there's anything that I could do.”

“Yes, there's something you could do. You can get out of here, both of you!” Isabel said nastily. “And let me take care of Michael. God, he needs me right now, not strangers!”

Maria gestured for Alex to wait outside. She squared her shoulders, and went to stand beside Isabel.

Isabel wasn’t through. “He especially doesn’t need you!”

“Me?” Maria said. “What did I do?”

“You lent him your car! You knew he went to the Reservation, and you said nothing!”

Maria looked at the distraught girl. Sure, she needed someone to blame, but Maria was damned if she would let the alien bitch from hell land it on her door. “Maybe you should be asking yourself who’s really to blame? Why did I know, and not you or Max? Maybe because no matter how nice he asks, begs or pleads, the two of you never go to bat for him unless he’s on death’s door?” Maria shook her head. “How can you know him for ten years and not know that he’s hanging by a thread? How can you not know anything about him?”

“That’s not true! You think you know…”

“No, I do know.” Maria looked down at Michael. “I know that all he has is hope, and without it he wouldn’t be able to go on.” Maria bit the inside of her mouth, trying to hold back the anger. “You treat him like a second class citizen, a second class alien…and it hurts. How can you not see the pain? What kind of friend are you anyway?”

“We’re family. He needs me. He needs us more than he’ll ever need you.”

“What he needs is a doctor, or at the very least someone that has actually been sick a day in their lives. Which is not you.” Maria took a wet cloth and handed it to Isabel. “Keep changing this every few moments. You might need to get colder water if it gets warm. I put ice in the basin to keep it cold. Be sure to wring the cloth out, you don’t want to drown him, or give him a chill on top of the fever.”

Maria quickly demonstrated. “I have to go downstairs again, but I’ll be back to check on you.” Maria didn’t bother to wait or expect a thank you. Gratitude was the least common courtesy among the alien class.

~~~

Maria pulled the door close when she entered the room. Isabel was still sitting at Michael’s bedside, her eyes never leaving him. Maria handed her a plate of food and a bottle of Tabasco sauce.

“Hey. You should eat.” Nodding to the plate, “Um, I didn't know how much you like, so...”

“Thank you.” Isabel said much more subdued than before.

Maria licked her lips feeling slightly bad about before. Isabel was scared, and she had good reason to be. “He…we’ve, um, well, he’s become a friend.” Maria scratched her brow in a gesture that actually belonged to Michael. “I care about him, too, you know.”

“I know you do.” Isabel said looking up at Maria. “But Max and Michael are all I have. And if I lose them...”

“You won't.” Just to prove Maria wrong in a way that only Michael could do, he started convulsing and slowly started chanting softly.

Maria’s voice joined Isabel’s in a new level of hysteria. “What's happening?”

“I don't know. I don't know!” Isabel’s fear made her voice hit a new high as she tried to subdue a convulsing Michael. “He's too strong. He'll hurt himself. Go get Alex!” Isabel tried to hold Michael down, as his convulsions increased. “Michael!”

~~~

Maria and Isabel worked together caring for Michael, who was still chanting. Maria’s hands shook as she held a glass of water.

“Let's give him more water. That helped him before.” Maria nodded, as Isabel tried to tip Michael’s head up and Maria fed him the water.

~~~

Michael stood to find himself in a desert plain of red and orange. Around him on the ground were laid out alien symbols drawn on the ground in relief. He stood in the middle circling. Looking up at the sky, he could see a constellation. He was alone, in a world foreign to him except for the symbols that felt familiar. The light was bright and the air warm…

~~~

Maria and Isabel finally sat back and waited. There was nothing they could do. Maria reached over and held Isabel’s hand, stopping her from wringing them. She could no longer hold Michael’s, and there was no more feeding him water. The room was silent, as they waited, uncertain what to do.

Maria stared at his sleeping form on the bed, her eyes worried and afraid. The idea of him being alien never meant more, but she was beyond that now. She knew him, and she was afraid. Maria stood up quickly when Alex, Max and Liz entered the room.

“Thank God you're here.” Maria went to hug Liz.

Isabel looked at her brother in relief, her fear almost a taste of metal. “Oh, my God, Max.”

Alex’s mouth opened as he stared at Michael’s body, covered by webbing in a cocoon. “This is really happening, isn't it?”

~~~

They carried Michael in the dark over rough ground, just outside Fraser’s Wood, to where the desert began. Carefully transporting Michael, they carried him in a blanket serving as a makeshift stretcher, each of them holding and edge. He was heavy.

Once the arrived at the cave that Max and Liz had found, the one where they first met River Dog, the elderly man instructed them to put Michael in the center of a diagram he laid out in stone. Michael was placed in the center of a circle with five arms extending outward in spokes.

The elderly Native American looked at the group of young adults, noting their fear and worry. They were all uncertain, but they had traveled this far. Courage and love for the stricken young man fueled their resolve.

“The man who lived in this cave when I was a boy was not like us.” River Dog told them as he finished the preparations. “Some of the elders believed he was an evil spirit, so they decided to test him. He was invited into the sweat, just like I invited your friend. His reaction was quick and severe. Within a minute, his eyes were white, and he developed a fever.”

“Just like Michael.” Max commented.

River Dog nodded. “Yes. Only it took the symptoms longer to show up in your friend. That's why I dismissed him at first.” River Dog moved around the cave looking down at Michael. “But when you told me he was sick, I knew he was another visitor.”

“That's an interesting way to put it.” Maria said, refraining from going to stand next to Michael, so he would not be alone.

“Well, that's what he called himself.” The man explained. “In my language, the word is "Nasedo". So that's what I called him.”

Isabel moved forward her interest peaked. “And you knew Nasedo well?”

“I saved his life. After the sweat, he ran out into the desert. And we were told not to follow him.” River Dog smiled slightly. “But I was a boy, and I didn't listen. I found him in this cave, dying. He had to trust me with his secret so that I could heal him.”

Max joined Isabel. “And now you'll do the same thing to heal Michael?”

“I'll try, but I'll need the help of all of you.”

Alex looked at the others who had been in on the secret from the beginning. “Even me?”

River Dog nodded charmed by Alex’s wonder at his own importance, and ability to be part of this. “Healing requires energy. The more we have, the faster we heal.” He motioned to the different positions. “Now everyone take your place in the circle. There's a line for each of you leading to the center.”

The large circle drawn on the ground had five lines leading from the edge of the circle to the middle. Michael was lying in the middle with webbing covering him from head to foot. Max, Maria, Alex, Isabel, and Liz all walked towards a line, taking their places.

River Dog passed each a stone. “Nasedo gave me these stones. They're from his place. And they carry an energy inside them.”

Max looked at the stone in his hand, for the first time understanding the wonder and importance Michael felt, a connection to a place beyond Roswell. “You mean, these are from..?”

“Wherever you are from.” River Dog finished. “He said that his body carried the same energy that's in these stones. He called it the balance. He said that the heat from the sweat disrupted it in some way.”

Max looked at his sister both of them holding the stone. “How?” He couldn’t imagine how to activate the stone.

“He told me to hold the stones until my energy activated them. And the balance would be restored.”

“And if you didn't?” Max inquired.

“He would die.”

Isabel nodded. Good enough for her. “So let's get going.”

With everything in life, the known and the uncertain, there were rules that govern them. River Dog looked at the group. “He warned me, though, there was a risk.” He told them, meeting each person’s eyes slowly, going around the circle, so they were absolutely clear. “The balance can pull you in. It's a force that can change both your body and your mind unless you navigate it properly. Now, clear your mind,” he handed a bowl to Max, “...and drink from the bowl. Don't change the way you feel about your friend, and you'll come out on the right side.”

Max looked at the liquid in the bowl before drinking. “What is it?”

“Water.” He was informed. “Something in common with all of us. By drinking from the same bowl, we begin the connection.” Max nodded taking the first drink then passing it to Isabel, who passed it to Alex, and then to Maria. Each of them drinking and passing to their right, without hesitation. Liz was the last one to take the bowl, and she held it in her hands hesitating to join in the healing ritual.

“You're afraid,” River Dog said coming to stand next to Liz, “...not of the healing. Your fear runs deeper. You fear for someone else, someone you care for a great deal.” He took the bowl from Liz. “Take a step back. You cannot stop the flow.”

“I'm sorry.” Liz said, meeting Max’s eyes as she stepped away. River Dog began to chant the same words that Michael had chanted earlier. Those in the circle began to chant as well. Maria turned to stare at Liz, stunned that she chose not to participate in the ritual. River Dog came to stand next to her softly comforting her.

“She'll find her own path.” He told her, his eyes holding her. “You take yours.” Maria looked at Michael, and she nodded closing her eyes joining in the chant.

~~~

Michael stood in the other place, on the desert plain. This time, he was in the middle of the circle with all the participants in the ritual standing at the spokes of the wheel. Each of the participants walked towards him. Alex first, shaking his hand. He met Maria, and their eyes held. Leaning into each other, they kissed, pulled apart, and then kissed again. Turning, he hugged Isabel as she kissed his cheek. Finally, facing Max, he reached out a hand to pull him near, to hug him, when Max looked up to see Liz standing outside the circle away from the rest.

The scene changed, and it was Max, Michael and Isabel as they were children lost in the desert. Max and Isabel stood above Michael, who was in a gully, Max reached out his hand. Michael hesitated, but finally took it. The three walked away hand-in-hand as Michael woke with a start in the cave, pulling the webbing of the cocoon off of himself.

Max helped him to stand. “You all right?”

Michael nodded looking around at the others. “I went someplace, Max, and I saw things.”

“But you came back. For good this time.” Max said, hoping it was true.

“Yeah, I came back.” Max quickly hugged Michael, doing what he had missed doing in the dream plain. Isabel hugged him as well.

“Thank you, Maxwell. No more running.” Michael said staring intensely at Maria. “No matter what.” He held out his hand to the others. “Give me your rocks.” They each pass him the stones that River Dog gave them, taking from Alex, Maria, Max, and Isabel, and the final one from River Dog.

Michael walked over to the drawings on the wall, the ones left by the alien Nasedo. He inserted stones at various places in recessed in the wall. After inserting the final stone, Michael stepped back as the stones slowly glowed brighter and brighter, revealing a design.

“It's a map.” Michael said. It was the constellation he saw in the dream plain, a constellation showing the way home.

“What is your problem?”

“Maria?” Liz turned to Maria in confusion.

“Liz, you are killing the coffee machine.” Maria took the coffee from Liz. “You going to tell me or not? Where is the girl who was polishing the mixer other day with stars in her eyes?”

“Max says we can’t be together.”

Maria closed her eyes. “Sorry, Liz. I know this is tough, but…”

“You agree?”

“I didn’t say that. I just think…”

Liz went on without listening to Maria. “It was the whole thing with Michael. It scared me. I just couldn’t handle it if something happened to Max, and seeing Michael so sick, I was afraid.”

Maria patted Liz in comfort. “I’m sorry, Liz. Really I am.”

“You don’t think it’s a good idea, do you?”

“What?”

“Us with them?”

Maria frowned. “I know-it’s hard. I do. I know you feel things.” Maria wondered if she was that involved would she would feel differently? “How can you know, Liz? I mean, really? Michael’s illness brought home just how different they are. They are not human. This isn’t just a ‘oh geez, my boyfriend is an alien’ situation! Maybe Max forgot for a moment. I know you did.”

“I…You don’t understand, Maria. You can’t.”

“I know.” Maria looked down at the counter she had just cleaned. “I do know that I care for them. I know that I care for Michael, and him being different, not human, doesn’t change that. But I also love you too, Liz. I wonder how much knowing them is costing you. Costing us. How much are you willing to pay?”

“I don’t know, Maria. I just know that it makes me feel special. It makes me feel alive and not so ordinary.”

Maria hugged her quick. “As if Liz Parker could be ordinary.”

Liz smiled and looked at her friend critically. She too had changed. Maria had toned down the drama queen in her style. She was still given to moments of panic and exaggeration, but lately something was different. She was quieter. More thoughtful.

“How about you? Did Michael say anything to you? Like thanking you for helping to save him?”

Maria shrugged. “Why should he? That’s hardly Michael. He wouldn’t see it that way. He hates being beholden to anyone, even Max and Isabel.”

Liz rocked on her feet. “He looked directly at you when he said no more running.” Maria just shrugged. “You two seem pretty tight sometimes.”

Maria laughed. Seemed. Operative word. “We have the fifth wheel syndrome. Iz hangs with Alex, you with Max, so that leaves us both there. It happens. We end up doing a lot of investigating together.”

“You go to the movies. Date.”

Maria made a face. “Not really. Max seems preoccupied at times, so Michael seeks me out at times. That’s all. He really doesn’t believe in fraternizing with humans, you know.” Maria shrugged. “He’s a good movie partner. He opens the security door, and I bring the microwave popcorn. Simple. Of course the first time I brought it unmicrowaved, and it made a horrible noise when he popped it. We almost got caught.”

“He spends time with you.” Liz didn’t mention that she had noticed the larger alien seeking Maria out, sitting in her section, or showing up at the end of her shift. Liz frowned, not willing to consider why it bothered her. No one wanted to admit they were losing their best friend to another.

Maria laughed. “Well, at times, I don’t think he thinks of me as human. Most the time, he doesn’t think of me at all.”

“You okay with that?”

Maria shrugged. “What’s not to be okay with? We’re fine.”

~~~

Michael and Max walked through the halls at school as Max told Michael about putting out a fire in his house. Michael frowned, his jaw tensing.

“You used your powers in front of your mother?” He shook his head. “That is not fine.”

“Michael, I'm handling it, all right?”

“Well, I hope so,” Michael looked over at Maria and Liz, groaning, “because dealing with Frick and Frack over there is one thing, but we can't bring adults into this and expect them to handle it.” He did not want to hear about the big breakup, and knowing Maria, it was unavoidable. “Adults are the enemy, Max. Remember that.”

“Michael, you say everyone is the enemy.”

“They are.” Michael scowled when Liz joined them followed closely by Maria.

“Hey.” Liz said subdued, her eyes only on Max.

“Hey.” Max answered.

Michael watched them, rolling his eyes. He made eye contact with Maria, hoping to share his sarcasm with her. “Hey,” he said, mimicking the vocal eloquence of Max and Liz.

“Yeah, whatever.” Maria looked at the two and shook her head. There wasn’t enough time in the morning to take this slow of a conversation. She walked off after shriveling her nose at Michael for his cruel pun. Michael snorted under his breath as he walked off in the other direction hoping to find a good place to nap through his first hour. There was no sense in talking to Max while he was in the Liz Zone.

~~~

At the basketball game, in a nice display of school spirit, Liz and Maria cheered the team on. Actually Liz cheered the team on ; Maria cheered on the boys.

“Go, Comets! Whoo!” Liz said standing clapping her hand enthusiastically.

“Boys... boys...” Maria mumbled to herself, checking out a nice sweaty body on the opposing team as it made a basket.

“Whooohhh!” Maria cheered, looking around at the stares around her. Okay, so he was on the opposite team, obviously her reasons for being there weren’t the same as others. “I'm sorry. I retract...that last whooh.”

“Humans.” Michael said to Max while staring at Maria in wonder. Now she was cheering for sweaty bodies? Thought she said all high school boys were sweaty dogs. Now she likes them?

“What?” Max asked, distracted by Liz watching Kyle dribbling the ball down the court.

“How excited they get over someone throwing a ball through a hoop. It's ridiculous.”

Maria, sitting next to him, huffed under her breath and retorted, “Who cares about a stupid ball and a hoop?” Michael lifted a brow.

Isabel arrived with two friends, all of them looking way too well-put-together for a simple high school basketball game. She smiled at Alex. “Is there room for us?”

Alex literally fell all over himself to clear room for Isabel and her friends, but specifically for Isabel. “Um...yeah. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Sorry. Excuse me. Excuse me, can you just scoot, like, uh...yeah just all... So, welcome to the bleachers. Glad you decided to be a bleacher bum.”

Michael made a face. Looking at Maria who was sitting next to him, he tried to share his reaction over Alex’s attraction. “How you doin'?”

“Fine.” She followed his glance. “I know. It’s like puppy feet, and floppy ears.”

“Glad we’re above that.”

Maria agreed. “You bet!” The boy she was checking out early went by. “Oh, god! I’ve got to get a better seat!” Maria spied a person she knew. “Hey, Elliot! Can we switch seats?” The boy agreed, but before she could get closer to the floor, and at a better strategic viewing spot, Michael stopped her.

“You’re leaving me here alone, to watch this game? What no rude comments? No interesting bipartisan remarks?” Damn her! He was going to have to put up with Max’s silent brooding over Liz, and some dip named Elliot.

“Buck it up! Get into the team spirit.”

Michael snorted, moving down to the next bleacher with Maria. “Five bucks if this is team spirit for you.”

“Your point being?” Maria smiled charmingly. “Okay, you can sit with me, and I’ll give you my opinion on team spirit. It can’t be as entertaining as living in fear of your life, dragging your sweaty body all over the place, and going the extra mile, but what the heck? I’ll entertain you. I know you have a short attention span.”

Michael made a face at her, but something she said made his face close. He cleared his throat, redirecting the conversation. “I thought you didn’t like high school boys.”

Maria punched his arm. “No, I said I don’t date them. They’re sweaty, grabby, and talk about sports and cars. I never said I don’t check them out!”

Michael lifted a brow. Exactly what did she expect? There was little else to talk about. Before he could comment on her obvious double standard, he noticed Max and Isabel having an animated discussion at the edge of the floor leading outside. Making a gesture to Maria, he left her to join the other two. When he got there, he caught the tail end of Isabel’s comment.

“It was like she was looking for something. We have to deal with this, Max.”

“Deal with it how?”

Isabel bit her lip nervously. “Look, I know that we agreed never to tell her, but…”

Michael interjected himself into the conversation. No way. No frickin’ way was this happening. He had spent a lifetime butting heads against Max and Isabel, them being a united front, but he didn’t care. Not this time. “But what? If your mom finds out about us, our lives are a ticking bomb. It'd only be a matter of time before she told the wrong person.”

Max recognized the tone. “Michael, relax. No one's telling anyone anything.”

~~~

Michael watched her from the doorway, shaking his head at her obvious irritation. Checking the area for anyone he didn’t want to see, namely the instructor, he made his way over to her station.

“Damn!”

“You're doing it wrong.” Michael offered. “You're gripping the wood too tight.”

“Look, I know how to grip, ok?” Maria glanced over at him, blowing the hair out of her face.

“Apparently you don't.”

“Look, I have to finish this, all right?” Maria searched his face. What the heck was Spaceboy doing here? “Look, I’m sorry, Maria can’t come out to play. This is my final project, and it's a disaster, so...”

“It doesn't look that bad.” Michael said looking at the strange, poorly cut pieces of wood.

“Oh, yeah. I'm a regular Bob Vila,” Maria snorted, tossing the wood aside and going for another tree. Her mother was going to put her on the environmental list for tree killing. She could see it now. All those environmentalist outside her window protesting.

“No, I'm serious. I mean, it's actually pretty good.” Michael held the two pieces together frowning at it. “Once you put it together, the shoes can go right...”

“Shoes? What do shoes have to do with this?”

“You're making a shoe tree, right?” He lifted a brow. Maria shook her head no. Michael wavered on his feet pushing his hands deeper in his pockets. “It really doesn’t look that bad. Um…what is it?”

“I'm making a napkin holder.” Maria took the pieces back from him. Maria moved the pieces around. “I think.” Ripping another board, it broke. Swearing, she tossed the pieces. “Great!”

“You’re holding the board too tightly. Just let it flow…” Michael saw her reaction to his advice putting his hands up in surrender. “It looks like…” Michael moved the wood around some more, trying to see a napkin holder. “You’re right. It’s crap.”

Maria turned a hot and irritated face his way. Michael. Standing in front of her in the woodshop. Now what? “It looks like my grade dissolving to a D, thank you. Comment card can be found at the exit. Feel free not to fill one out.”

“I think I already gave my assessment.”

Maria removed her shop glasses. “Did you want something?”

“No.” She turned away and Michael rolled his eyes. “Yes.” She looked at him impatiently. “Maybe.”

Maria just shook her head and went back to work.

“Let me fix it for you!” Michael took the pieces of wood and started to pass his hand over it for her. Maria snatched them back.

“What are you doing?”

“Fixing it.”

Maria stomped her foot in irritation. “Just like that?”

“Sure. What’s the problem?”

“Obviously, you!” Maria looked around. Taking his hand she dragged him from the woodshop. “Not that I’m not appreciative, but no thanks. Some things, Michael, they have to be done the hard way, with your hands. Sure I suck at it. Sure, I’ll get a D. That’s okay. I earned that D, believe me. I can deal.”

“Why? I can make it so you get an A.”

Maria shook her head. “It’s just a marking on a paper, Michael. It wouldn’t mean anything. I’d always know, here,” she gestured to her heart and head, “that I never deserved it. Things are tough. Hard. Life is pain. Work. You get used to it. You work through it, and you survive. That is what it is. No fairytale. No happily ever after. It is what it is.”

“I just wanted to help.”

Maria laughed slightly and looked at him. “Thanks. Not necessary.” Looking him over critically, she checked him for changes. “You? Are you good?”

“Hundred percent.” Michael leaned back against the wall. “I…I had wanted to pay you back.” Maria frowned a question and Michael swore. Damn. “For helping me, when I was sick.”

“What? I was to step over your grossed out sweaty body?”

Michael ran a hand through his already spiked hair. “There is this thing.” She waited. “I feel…” Michael looked at her directly. “I feel I owe you somehow.”

“You don’t.”

Maria punched him on the arm and started to go back into the shop. He stopped her. “I think I do.” Michael could feel the sweat on his hands. “I don’t like feeling this way. Like I owe someone, and I feel that towards you. It makes me feel…I don’t know, unsettled.”

“Unsettled? How?”

“I can't get indebted to anyone, and I can't get entangled. I got to be a stone wall. And when I'm around you sometimes, I don't feel like a stone wall anymore.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“For me, it is.” Michael struggled for a moment. “I can’t afford ties and emotions to this place. I can’t afford to feel…”

“Human?”

Michael thought about it for a moment. “Yeah. I don’t want to feel that way.”

Maria patted him softly on the stomach. “Then stop. You have my permission.”

“If I get sick again, don’t help me.”

Maria looked at him. “You know what? I’m going to ignore that order, if you don’t mind.”

He shrugged. “I do.”

“I know, but you know what? I don’t care. I didn’t help you for any rewards, or to have you feel beholden to me. Heck, I didn’t help you because we were together…and I mean like boyfriend and girlfriend.”

“Why did you help?”

“Because... I don’t know. Somewhere between you scaring the crap out of me with your big mean alien self, the trip to Marathon, and everything since, I’ve come to think of you as a friend…someone I like knowing. Let’s just call it a friend thing and let it go.”

She smiled slightly when he moved on his feet, finally nodding his agreement. She turned to go finish failing her class. “Michael,” He looked up at her from where he rested against the wall. “You’re welcome.”

Michael smiled slightly as she went inside. Rubbing the back of his neck, he watched the empty door where she once stood. He had kissed her. In the Balance, he had kissed that Maria girl. Now how strange and bizarre was his world?

Michael started to leave, but he stopped. He could fix it easily. A wave of his hand, and it would be done. Staring at his hands, he looked back at the door. Sighing, he turned and walked back into the shop.

Maria looked up at him again. “What?”

“I’m pretty good with my hands. I know you don’t want help, but how about someone just lending you suggestions.” Michael held out his hands. “Two hands are better than one? And I promise, no secret power stuff.”

Maria bit her lip. “Is this the payback thing?”

Michael scratched his brow, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. “Let’s call it the friend thing and leave it at that.”

Maria smiled a little, nodding. She was flunking anyway, so he couldn’t make it any worse. They both bent over her instructions and templates. Maria looked over at him. “So you heard that Max and Liz broke up?” Michael groaned. He knew it. It was a matter of time before she found a way to gossip.

~~~

The three aliens stood at the Quarry staring across, all of them standing apart. Michael was angrily tossing stones into the water as hard and as far as he could.

“You healed a pigeon. Great. Now you're Dr. Dolittle.”

“Michael, I was six. I didn't even know I had powers yet. It just happened.”

“So what's the plan?” Michael felt sick. Exposed again. How could they go ten years undetected and in less than few months, be so close to discovery time and again?

“That's what we're here for,” Max said looking at his sister, “...to discuss it.”

“Well, the first thing is obvious. We get that videotape and we destroy it.” Michael said firmly, throwing another rock. “All right, after that, it's her word against ours.”

“Her word against ours?” Isabel said, upset with his attitude. “Michael, she's our mother.”

“She's not your mother.” Michael stressed. “She's not related to you in any way. Know that.”

Isabel turned pleadingly to Max, “But if there's any adult that we can trust, it's her.”

“What, are you suggesting, we tell her?” Michael looked at her as if she were insane.

Max put a firm hand on Michael’s arm to calm him down. “No, she isn't.”

“Max, would you let me speak for myself, please?” Isabel said looking at her two brothers, both of them unyielding. Not liking the circumstances, being pitted against them, she tried reason.

“Look, Isabel...”

Isabel interrupted Max, needing to interject her opinion and maybe hope. “No, look. Maybe it'll help us out one day to have an adult on our side.”

Michael swore, putting his hands on his hips looking out over the Quarry. “Here's the problem,” he said in rebuttal, “...when you tell her, she's not gonna be on your side. Maybe she loves you now, but there's no such thing as unconditional love.”

“Michael, maybe you really don't understand, but she does love us. It is unconditional.”

“Are you sure about that?” Michael asked. He shook his head. How could she be? Not until she tested it, and then it would be too late.

“Isabel, we are not telling her, all right? Stop it.”

Isabel’s face fused with color, as her temper flared. “Stop speaking to me like that!” Michael looked away, moving away from them. They talked down to him like that all the time, guess it felt different from the receiving end.

“Like what?” Max asked. Michael almost said, ‘like you’re talking to Michael’ but he refrained.

“Like you're the final word on everything.”

“I didn't say I was!”

“Listen to yourself!” Isabel told Max, her voice hurt at his desertion and unwillingness to consider her feelings.

“Michael's right.” Michael lifted a brow at that, but he remained quiet. “She's not our mother. We are alone here. We always will be. Stop pretending it's different.”

“Max, don't you see what's happening? We're losing her. We're losing our mother. I can't lose her. I need her.”

“We're not telling her, Isabel. That is final.” Max watched her stomp away taking off in her car. Michael stood by, strangely quiet as Max wound up and tossed a rock into the water in frustration.

~~~

Michael waited for Maria to come out of class.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Maria peered at him.

“So you get your final assignment evaluated?”

“Yeah.”

“How'd you do?”

“I got a B.”

“What?” Michael stopped. No way. They did good work. It was impossible.

Maria looked at him. “B.”

“Well, that's ridiculous. We worked our asses off on that thing. It was beautifully crafted. It was spring activated to secure the napkins. It redefined the term ‘napkin holder.’

“Yeah, I know it did.

“Well, how could he have given you a B? I mean...Wh--

“I’m not sure,” said Maria, “but I think he didn’t like the color scheme.”

Michael stopped opening his mouth, then shutting it and pointing a finger at her. “I told you! Fire engine red, neon green, and purple sucks!”

“Actually he liked those colors. It was the chick yellow trim he hated.”

Michael had picked that color. “That color accentuated.”

Maria laughed. “God, do you even hear yourself?” Maria laughed as they walked down the hall with Michael scowling and stomping past the crowd of students.

Maria proceeded through the school corridor, attracting more than a little attention along the way. Liz turned at her locker and waited for her insane friend to catch up.

“Hey, Maria!”

“Whoa!”

“Whoa, check it out, man!”

“Hey hey, Maria!”

Maria smiled at the guys as she passed by, stopping dramatically in front of Liz, gesturing grandly to her new improved and enhanced cleavage. “It's an aqua bra. You know, all the fun of implants except without the invasive surgery part.”

Liz laughed at her friend’s outlandish behavior. “You have officially lost it.”

“No, I have found it, babe, ok? I've already picked up three phone number, and it's only second period!”

“What?”

“Yes.” Maria said smiling smugly. “Think, Liz, this could be you. It will be like a pick me up, after the whole Max thing! I test piloted it for you. It works wonders.”

“Hey, Maria.”

“Hey, Neil.” Smiling sweetly, Maria looked at Liz with a twinkle in her eye. “Do you see what I'm saying? Ok, do you want to try this thing on? See? See? This could be you, a whole new Liz!”

Liz looked at Maria’s expanded bosom. “Oh, that would definitely be a whole new me! Like two of me, my next door neighbor, and the girl down the lane.” Liz made a face. “I don't know, I...,” Liz looked over at Max entering the eraser room, “...who's Max meeting in the eraser room?”

“Ixnay on the ining-pay, remember?” Maria forced Liz to look at her.

“No, I am not pining. I'm just...,” Liz stretched to see around Maria who planted herself in front of Liz, purposely blocking the eraser room, “...I’m just curious, that's all. I hate not knowing what's going on with Max.”

“His decision, if I recall.” They watched as Michael entered the eraser room after Max. “No wonder he couldn't make a commitment.” Maria said, seeing Liz’s look, she winced. “I mean Max, of course. As far as Spaceboy? I think he has some explaining to do. I don’t remember him answering question thirty-seven on the questionnaire correctly. You know the ‘What would you rather do’ one? Rearrange your room and coordinate, or eat cheese fries, throw-up, piss on the floor while making armpit noises.”

Alex came up behind them. “Ok, I give up. What are we staring at?”

Liz quickly covered, dramatically representing Maria’s new improved hooters. Alex did a physical double take when Maria swung around, his eyebrow going up in question. “This is an aqua bra. Would you like to try it on, Alex?”

“Yeah, maybe later. Here, have a flier.” He passed on to Liz and one to Maria. “If I pass out enough of them, then I could raise my P.E. grade from a "C" to a "B-".”

Liz quickly read it, grimacing. “Oh. Ooh, father camping weekend? I don't suppose either of you would be...”

Alex quickly deflected the request. “Did I mention that I'm not very athletic, except for dodgeball?”

“No dad!” Maria reminded Liz happily. For once in her life, the absence of her male parental unit was a blessing.

Sighing, Liz tucked the flier away. “I hope mine has finally outgrown it.”

Alex spied Isabel by herself at her locker. He quickly ditched his ‘girl-friends’. “Oh, gee, look at the time. I gotta go. I'll see you guys.”

“Oh,” said Liz seeing him bounce off in a fast pace.

“Like a puppy in heat.” Maria made a face.

“I know.”

Maria sighed. “He’s my next project.”

Liz lifted an eyebrow. “Really? What was your first project?”

Maria made a sour face. “Unfortunately, I’m thinking I might have to give up on that one. The boy refuses to bathe regularly.” Liz snickered knowing perfectly well who she was talking about. “He told me that he would if I would toss the lipgloss.”

“Cruel calculating beast!”

Maria threw her hands dramatically. “I know! How did I know that he’d find my lips so distracting?”

~~~

Isabel entered the eraser room closing the door quickly before anyone saw her with them.

“Can't believe I'm in the eraser room with you two.”

“We need a safe place to talk.” He reached over and locked the door. “So I found out a lot about the sighting from Milton.”

“Told you that place would get to you,” Michael said, making a face at the mention of Milton.

“Five people saw a big flash in Frazier Woods.”

Isabel made a rude noise. “Five basket cases.”

Max looked at his companions. “Then why has Valenti already closed off a 4-square-mile area of the forest near the Indian reservation?”

Michael suddenly became more attentive. “You mean near the cave?”

“Max, you don't think this sighting...”

Max nodded at Isabel. “It was no coincidence. We need to get there before Valenti does in case there's something to find.”

“Yeah, but we don't know how many guys he has patrolling,” Isabel said, looking at her two brothers, hoping to stress the point and keep them from doing something rash. “If anybody saw us, then it would just make him more curious.”

Max looked at Michael. “What do you do in Frazier Woods?”

Michael shrugged. Hell if he knew. Hide out? Avoid annoying people?

Isabel handed Max the flier Alex had given her. “You hike, you fish…you camp out.”

Quickly reading the flier, Max looked at Isabel. “I can't believe I'm actually gonna suggest this, but we could go on that camping trip this weekend.”

“You're kidding me, right?” Michael said, he looked at both Isabel and Max in shock. Camping…that was so…normal.

Isabel smiled lifting a brow at Max. “If anybody found us, we would just be kids missing from our school group.”

“There's only one problem. It's a...,” he looked at Michael, “...it's a fathers' weekend. Get to know your dad kind of thing.”

“Guess that lets me out, huh?” Michael sat back dejectedly. Oh yeah, left out again on his quest.

~~~

“So let me get this straight,” Maria said. “You wanted to go camping?”

“No!” Michael rolled his eyes. “I’ve spent half my life sleeping on floors. I prefer the bed if possible.”

“Then count yourself lucky not be sleeping on a rock in the national forest.”

“You’re purposely missing the point.”

“No, you are.” Maria waved dramatically. “Michael, they want you to sing songs around the campfire.”

“What!” Michael grabbed the flier rereading it. He looked at Maria suspiciously. “It doesn’t say that anywhere on here.”

“Kum-bi-yah, buddy. It’s not a pretty sight.” Maria nodded as Michael paled. “Listen, is this about the quest thing, or the father thing?”

“Does it matter? Pick one.” Michael stopped, finally registering Maria’s chest. He was afraid to ask, but he had to know. “Steroids?”

“Oh! No, aqua bra. Shaping without the surgery.”

Michael made a face. “Interesting.” He kept checking her out, until she hit him over the head with her notebook. “You’ve been busy.” Michael said smirking.

“Sure I have. Want me to hum a few lines of Kum-bi-yah, just in case?”

“Stop it!”

~~~

Michael slammed out of the trailer to sit at the picnic table in the front “yard”. “There's no milk!”

Hank, his foster father, followed him outside. “Use beer! I thought I told you to wash the dishes.”

“Hey, I'm eating dinner.”

Hank looked at the bowl of cereal. “Oh, that's what you call dinner?”

“Yeah, like you care.”

The man stood over him menacing. “What did you say?”

Michael moved away from him quickly, kicking over some garbage cans in anger. He could hear other residents in the trailer park yelling, “Keep it down!”

“Hey, you, shut up!” Michael yelled back. Suddenly out of the darkness, River Dog emerged. Michael quickly looked around, checking for Hank, before going over to the old man.

“Hey, wait! What are you doing here?”

“Did you see it?”

“What are you talking about?” Michael asked.

“Did any of you see it?”

“See what?” Michael looked over his shoulder again, hoping Hank had stayed in the trailer.

“It was real.”

“Would you quit talking in riddles? What was?” Michael paused for a moment, when he suddenly understood, “...the sighting. How do you know?”

“I've seen it before.”

~~~

Liz trudged down the stairs carrying camping gear.

“Running away from home?” Maria asked pleasantly.

“Maria, I’m begging you for mercy. Please come with me!” Liz pleaded desperately, glancing around for her father.

“Dude, I told you, my idea of the great outdoors is rolling the windows down in my car on the way to the mall.” Maria stared at the camping gear in fear. “Come on, I love your dad. You love your dad.”

“Yes, I do. I love him, but, like, in the normal father role. Which is like 5 minutes at a time, just a few times a day,” Liz said emphasizing the point, “...not for an entire weekend with no TV.”

“Yeah. I've always found fathers grossly overrated, myself.” Maria smiled a tight smile, hiding more than she cared to admit. It was easier to gloss over the truth, than to wallow in it.

“And, you know, he’s been getting so nosy lately. It's like he wants to know like every single detail of my life. He even asked me about Max and Michael and Isabel.”

“Mmm, no!” Maria made a face. God save them. “That's why me and my mom have the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.”

“I'll pay you.”

That stopped Maria in her tracks. Cocking her head, she looked at Liz with interest. “How much?”

“25 bucks.”

Maria appeared to be thinking it over. “$100.”

“Uh, $50.”

Maria shook her head. “$75.”

“$62.50.”

“How do you do that math so quickly?!” Maria conceded, suitably impressed.

“Ok, $62.50 and then I'll do your math homework for an entire week.”

Maria smiled. Damn, she hated math. That could cinch the deal. “You're good.” Liz sneezed, reminding Maria of something other than bartering and camping. “Ooh. Hey, I brought you some more Echinacea and threw in a little Goldenseal, too.” Maria passes over a small bag of the herbals as Liz handed her the cash.

“The bus leaves at 5:00.” Mr. Parker paused on his way down the stairs as he watched the exchange of a bag of pills for money. “On the dot, Maria. Do not be late. You promised.”

“Yeah, yeah. I just need to pack. You’ll have to take care of my shifts over the weekend.”

Liz peered in at another bag of herbals. “What’s that one for?”

Maria looks down at another baggy full of choice herbal essentials. “Oh, that’s for Spaceboy. He’s been looking a little green to me. For a Czechoslovakian, that could be very revealing.”

Liz laughed shaking her head. “Oh, I’m sure.” This Maria and Michael friendship was a confusing thing.

~~~

Michael, Max, and Isabel sat in the Crashdown discussing the light, and Michael was enthusiastic.

Max, for once, was completely attentive, and not searching for Liz. “So River Dog saw the light?”

“The dog himself.” Michael confirmed. It had done a lot for him having the elder man come to find him first, and not the others.

And he said it was real?” Isabel asked, looking at Max when Michael nodded. “You know what this could mean?”

Max knew, as did the others. “Our first real proof. Could even lead to actual contact.”

“If we haven't had it already.” Michael suggested.

Max glanced around quickly. “What do you mean?”

“Why is River Dog following me?” Michael asked them. “Why does he care?”

“Because he knew the fourth alien.” Isabel suggested. Looking was one thing, but she didn’t know if she was prepared to actually know.

Michael shrugged. “Yeah, that's what he said.”

Max’s eyes narrowed. “And you don't believe him?”

“How does he know so much? I mean, how did he know to heal me when I was sick?” Michael leaned in his excitement in his voice. “I mean, that's some memory from when he was a kid. And where did he get those stones from? Maybe River Dog's the guy we've been looking for all along.”

“The fourth alien?” Max asked. He frowned. Why would River Dog tell them about the ‘visitor’ Nasedo, if Nasedo was actually himself?

“I think he's our father, Maxwell.” Michael said sitting back.

Isabel bit her lip. “Michael, I don't think so.”

Michael looked at her, unhappy with her reaction. “Why, because you and Max already have one?”

Isabel hated this, hated seeing him getting his hopes up on something that might never happen. “No, that's not what I'm trying to say...”

“River Dog knows more about us than Philip Evans ever will, no matter how many camping trips you guys take.” Michael said sitting back, his eyes angry as he moved away from them a little. He was used to being on the outside, even when it was the three of them.

~~~

Maria and Liz were at the cash register when Max and Michael were leaving. Handing over the receipt and cash, Max moved on his feet uncomfortably. Michael made a face of disgust. Maria bit her lip and looked away.

“Hey.” Max said.

“Hey.” Liz said.

Liz handed him the change. “Um, thanks.” Max ignored both Michael and Maria. “Haven't seen you in a couple of days.”

“I...uh, it's been kind of busy.”

“Actually, we've both been kind of busy.” Maria added, pointedly looking at Michael.

He looked at her aqua bra endowed chest and smirked, “Yeah, I can see that.”

“You know, getting ready for the big weekend and all.” Maria said staring at Michael.

“You have a big weekend?” Max asked still looking at Liz.

Maria chose to talk to Michael. “Yeah, looks like Liz and I are going to the camping trip with her dad.” Maria lifted an eyebrow at Michael. He wanted to go. If she could go with Liz, then why couldn’t he go with the Evans?

Max smiled slightly. “Iz and I are going too with our dad.”

“Really?” Liz’s voice took a nice high squeak. Maria finally isolated it. It was her surprised and excited sound. Frowning, Maria looked at her friend. Great. This was never going to be over. Liz was gone…far gone.

Max moved around shyly. “Guess I’ll see you there.”

“Sure.” They watched Max and Michael leave. Maria frowned at the silent Michael. She thought of following him to talk to him for a moment privately, but Alex moving towards Isabel’s booth distracted her.

“Oh, great.” Maria said dramatically.

Alex stood at Isabel’s table eager. “So, Isabel...” Maria lifted a brow. His smile was charming at the very least.

“Another one being sucked into the alien abyss.” Maria pointed at Liz. “What is with you two? Do I have to tie life lines around both of you?”

“Maria, it’s not that bad. You’re a fine one to talk. I think you spend more time with Michael than me lately. Tell me you almost didn’t follow them to talk to him.”

“That’s very different, Liz. What Michael and I have…it’s hard to explain, but I promise you there is nothing there…or at least nothing romantic. We just understand each other, or we’re learning to.”

“I don’t get it. I thought you were afraid of him.”

Maria shrugged. Times changed, and so did she. Every person had a right to rethink a first impression. “Why is this friendship thing so important to you?”

Liz didn’t say it, but she felt ill at ease. Maria had always been her best friend, and lately, it was like she was in a time share of Maria with Michael Guerin, and he was taking the bulk of the time.

“I didn’t say it was important to me.” Maria denied. Sighing, she looked at her friend. “Okay, maybe it is. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because every moment of every day you’re thinking of Max Evans, and Alex is busy stalking Isabel. Michael is alone, and I find I suddenly have a lot of time on my hands, so since we’re fifth wheels, we do things.”

Liz frowned at her friend. It was true. She was preoccupied with Max, and all the time she used to spend with Maria was severely cut down. “Well, how about this weekend, we make it about us spending time?”

“Sure.” Maria smiled, but her eyes held no amusement. Max Evans would be there, so the chances of her and Liz spending undivided time were next to nil. She would bet her savings account on it.

~~~

Michael lay in his bed, not really even thinking. He didn’t want to think. Maria was going on the father’s weekend camp trip. Hell, she didn’t have a father either, but she was going. Covering his eyes, he swallowed hard. They could’ve invited him along.

His quest…

The door to his room suddenly opened, and River Dog stood there. “It's time.”

~~~

Liz watched Max and Isabel taking off into the woods. She looked around quickly, and followed. Unseen by her and the others, Sheriff Valenti followed as well. The camp trip only served to increase his suspicions of Max Evans.

Liz jumped when Isabel and Max stepped out from behind a tree. “You almost scared me to death.”

“How do you think you made us feel?” Isabel asked.

Max looked at Liz, he was serious. “Go back right now.”

“Max, this matters to me, too.”

Isabel made a disgusted sound. “What matters is that we find out what this sighting is all about before anyone else can.”

“Don't leave me out of this, Max...please.” Liz pleaded uncaring how it made her sound.

“This is a mistake, Max.” Isabel told her brother. “Getting everyone involved like this is just...”

Maria suddenly appeared with a flashlight in hand.

Isabel groaned. “Oh, great. That's great. Why don't we just send out a flare?”

Maria joined them. “I figured you guys would be having a little woodsy tryst. I hope you're trying to talk her out of this, too.”

“Maria, they're here because of the sighting.” Liz said.

Maria looked at the others. “I know.”

Liz looked at Maria in shock. “You know?”

Maria looked at Max and Isabel. “Michael should be here too, and taking Liz and not him is wrong.”

“We weren’t taking Liz,” said Isabel. “She was bringing herself uninvited.”

Maria looked around. “It’s getting late, you need to go and find out whatever it is.” If they missed the opportunity, it would make Michael even more upset.

Max agreed. Time was wasting. “That's what we have to find out.”

Isabel looked at the two girls in disgust. “Look, you can stand there explaining it to them all night. I'm going, ok?” Isabel took off and Max followed her without hesitation.

Liz looked at where they disappeared. “Well, are you staying here or are you gonna come with?” Liz asked.

“You're going with them?”

Liz nodded. “Make up your mind, Maria. I've made up mine.”

Maria looked at her friend with something akin to pity. Pity that Liz felt the need to be involved in every aspect of Max’s life, to feel part of it. Sympathy that what Liz wanted was something she may never get. “You can't let go of him, can you?”

“I don't want to.” Liz took off before the others got too far ahead.

Maria hesitated for a moment, but she couldn’t leave Liz out there alone. “Wait!” She quickly followed as well.

~~~

“Ok. We've been, like, hiking for over an hour.” Maria complained.

“We're getting close.” Max reassured her.

“It is officially freezing out here.” Maria hunched even more into her jacket.

Liz frowned, not wanting the others to become upset at Maria’s complaining. “Maria, it's not that cold.”

“Really?” Maria said dramatically. “Really, 'cause I’m now wearing an ice bra! Whatever it is, it's uncomfortable!”

The hiked for a while longer, and in the distance they could hear the ever increasing sounds of dogs getting closer to their position.

Liz looked behind them. “Is that coyotes?”

Max increased his pace. “Search dogs. Come on, we're close. Come on!”

They continued, but the sounds of the dogs kept getting closer.

Max bent over breathing hard as the other stopped to rest. “Can't outrun them. They're too fast.”

Isabel looked around at the dark woods, worry deepening her voice. “What are we gonna do?”

Max shook his head. “I don't know.” Maria looked at him, biting her lip. She didn’t want to mention it, but if they failed, Michael’s disappointment would be hard to live with.

Liz made a decision. “You guys just keep going.”

Max stared at her as if she was crazy. “What?”

“Maria and I'll stay here and just let them catch us.”

Max shook his head. “Liz, no.” He was not going to leave anyone in the woods.

“No, Max, it's all right. We'll just say that we got lost in the woods.” Liz looked at Maria who nodded her agreement. “This is too important. Keep going.”

Max looked at Isabel who nodded. He asked Liz once more to be certain. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. The important thing is you just find what you're looking for.”

Max squeezed her hand before leaving with Isabel. “I will.”

“All right.” Liz smiled at Max and gestured to Isabel to follow him. “Go. Isabel, go. Go!”

The waited until the two disappeared into the dark, and Liz looked at Maria.

“Are you ready?”

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

They both stood up and began to yell to attract the searchers. “We're here! We're over here! Help! Come find us! Help us! We're over here! We're here! We're right here.”

As the dogs and sound of men shouting came closer, Maria sighed. “My mom's gonna love this, really.”

Liz laughed, continuing to yell. She looked at Maria. “Want to tell me how you knew about the sighting before me, and why you conveniently forgot to mention it?”

Maria gulped seeing lights in woods fast approaching. Saved in the nick of time! “We're here! We're over here! Help!”

Liz snorted recognizing Maria’s diversion technique. “No amount of help is going to save you, Maria. You and me, we’re going to have a long talk.”

Maria glanced at her friend and nodded. That damn spaceboy better appreciate what she did for him, because it was far beyond the normal call of duty between human alien relationships.

~~~

Michael and River Dog moved through the woods searching. The old man stopped for a second, gesturing for them to follow a barely visible trail.

“Just over there.” The path was overgrown, and the elderly man tripped while stepping over a felled limb. Grimacing in pain, he sat down holding his leg.

“Hey, are you all right?” Michael asked in concern. Stopping he knelt down next to the old man.

“Gimme your hand.”

“Here.” Michael offered him help to stand.

River Dog stood for a moment, and quickly sat down again. “Whoa!”

“What, what, what, what, what?” Michael asked anxious, looking around.

“I...I think I broke my ankle. It's...it's about a mile north of here. You keep going.” River Dog held his ankle. “Ah...”

“Why don't you fix it?” Michael asked, suspicious still that River Dog was the fourth alien.

“What?”

“Your ankle.” Michael said gesturing to the broken foot.

River Dog looked at the young boy. “What are you talkin' about?”

“Why don't you tell me the truth?”

“The truth about what?” River Dog could see that it was important to the youth.

“About who you are.”

Understanding filled the man’s eyes. “You think I'm Nasedo.”

“You knew everything about us. You knew what was wrong with me when I was sick, and you knew exactly how to fix it. How did you know all those things? And why would you wanna help us if you weren't...” Michael reasoned.

“I'm sorry, Michael,” River Dog said, truly feeling regret for the young man, “...but I'm not your father.”

“Just had to make sure.” Michael shrugged trying to appear as if it hadn’t mattered to him. He reached down and healed River Dog’s ankle, happy that for once, his powers didn’t fail him. For some reason, it was important that to River Dog that he didn’t appear to be a failure. “You can walk now.”

River Dog stood, testing out his ankle smiling when it held and the pain was gone. “Thank you. Now we're even.”

Michael shook his head. “I don't think we'll ever be even.”

River Dog clapped Michael on the back, gesturing to the path they had been taking. “Better go. Let's go.”

~~~

River Dog and Michael reached a small clearing to find Max and Isabel there as well. River Dog paused.

“Wait, what are they doing here?”

“They came on their own.” Michael said, secretly pleased the River Dog only thought to seek him out and not the others. His journey, his search, his quest, it was nice that someone other than Maria, understood that.

River Dog looked around on the ground. “All right. This is where it'll be.”

Max stared at Michael, surprised to see him, but he didn’t have time to question his friend. River Dog was searching for something. “What are we looking for?”

River Dog gestured to a place on the ground. The three aliens looked at each other, when they saw the burned symbol in the ground.

Isabel stared in amazement. “Oh, my God. It's the symbol from the cave.”

“The white light, or whatever the hell that was, caused this?” Michael asked River Dog.

The old man nodded at Michael. “Yes. It's a sign.”

Turning off their flashlights, the three aliens held out their palms to the symbol, causing it to light up with a light blue glow. Staring at it, they could not move. What it meant was a mystery.

“It was meant for you.” River Dog said.

Max looked at the old man. “What does this mean?”

“That he's back.” Michael said. “Nasedo's here.”

Max moved his head to the side as he heard a noise in the woods moving out of the brush. “Someone's here.” Max and the other quickly stood facing the noise.

“What do you want?” Michael asked placing himself between the Sheriff and the ground.

Valenti stared Michael down. “Step outta my way.”

River Dog places a restraining hand on Michael. “Do as he asks.”

Max waved a hand over the light blue glowing symbol making it disappear while Michael blocked the Sheriff. They all moved aside as Valenti searched the ground, the burnt mark gone as well.

“Something was here.” Sheriff Valenti said. “What were you looking at?”

“We've been lost for hours here.” Max said ignoring the question. “Thank you for finding us.”

~~~

Maria put a piece of pie in front of Michael and a bottle of Tabasco. Taking a seat across from him, she lifted a brow. “So did he buy it?”

“Valenti?” Michael asked. He liberally added the Tabasco to his pie. “No. He’s even more suspicious, and whatever happened that night, now Kyle has a heavy dose of real hate for Max.”

“Kyle is a stalker that can’t get over Liz dumping him.” Maria leaned back in the booth biting on a nail. “This isn’t good. He’s suspicious, and his father is too. They’re like this self-feeding unit of paranoia. You think it’s hereditary from Valenti’s crazy old father?”

“I think that it’s dangerous, that’s what I think. Having Sheriff Valenti watching our every move is not good, anyway you look at it.”

“Agreed.” Maria smiled slightly. “So you got to go anyway.”

“Yeah. River Dog came for me.”

Maria pursed her lips thoughtfully. “He came for you, and not the others. Why do you think that is?”

Michael shrugged and continued to wolf down his pie, a little disconcerted that she picked up on something that meant something to him. Maybe they were spending too much time together. Michael chewed through another bite, and put that thought away. Who the hell else was he going to break into the movie theatre with? He opened the door, and she provided the snacks. It was a good partnership.

Maria squinted her eyes in thought. “Maybe it’s because of the balance?” Michael frowned at her. Maria shrugged. “I just mean that so many of us, especially Alex and me, people who had no real connection to you, put ourselves out there for you, and that had to tell him something. Maybe it told him that you were trustworthy…you know...okay?”

“Maybe.” Michael looked around lowering his voice. “I thought he might be Nasedo, my father.”

“But he’s not?” Michael shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Maria looked away, knowing that it did matter, but it wasn’t something Michael would want to talk about. “So the symbol…any ideas?”

“Nah. I think it’s a message to us. I think Nasedo is back, and he wanted us to know.”

“Then why doesn’t he just appear?”

“Maybe we have to respond, so he knows we are who we are.”

“Okay, that makes some sense. So how do you respond? Can you make a white light like the one he used?”

Michael snorted. “Hardly. Today I accidentally locked myself inside the damn bathroom. I couldn’t get my powers to open the damn lock.”

“Let me guess. You were agitated.” Michael shrugged. He didn’t want to mention the fight with Hank, or why he originally used his powers to lock himself in. Maria let it go. “Well, you’ll figure it out. I’m sure.”

Michael scratched his brow. “You sound confident. You mean I’ll find out, or Max and Isabel will…you know, the three of us?”

“You.”

Michael sat back in the booth, staring at her face, his eyes holding hers. She was serious, openly honest, and she really believed. “Why do you think that?”

Maria laughed a little. “Because you want it. The others…” Maria shrugged. “You’ll figure it out, because you won’t stop until you do.”

Michael took a deep breath, gazing across the Crashdown, unable to make a comment. She had a way of disarming him at times. The diner was almost empty. Maria was working the late shift, and the place was almost dead, the other waitress seeing to the only other customers.

Michael looked at Maria’s chest. “So what happened to the cleavage?”

“Gone.”

“I noticed. Too bad, I was enjoying the scenery.”

Maria snorted. “Yeah, just like a guy! You would’ve enjoyed the huge wet spot on my clothing too when one of cups decided to burst.” She made a face. “Yeah, nothing like walking around like a nursing mother, with one boob inflated and the other flat and wet.”

Michael smirked. “Well it could’ve happened at a more inappropriate time.”

“Such as?”

“While someone was feeling you up.” Maria glared at him, and Michael held up his hands. “I’m just saying!”

“Yeah, sure. Just say it to yourself.” Maria looked around the place. “Pete Wilkins asked me out on a date.”

“Don’t do it.”

“Why?”

Michael shrugged searching for a good reason. “First, it breaks your rule of dating sweaty high school boys, and second, he has a reputation. He has a list he’s hoping to fill before he graduates.”

“A list?”

“Yep, and you’re on it.”

“You better tell me about this wish list of his, sparing no details, and I’ll think of what needs to be done about Pete Wilkins.”

Michael shrugged. “It’s this list of ‘women’ he’d like to score with before graduation, and…”

“I’m on this list?” Michael scratched his brow. “Oh! See? This reaffirms my belief that high school boys are dogs! You better tell me everything.”

Michael sat back happily painting the other boy in the worst possible light. Another disaster averted. If only Valenti was as easy to sway as Maria. Of course, Michael was only warning her off for her own good. After all, Maria had some very good, sound goals in life, namely to avoid mixing it up with high school boys, and being a sort of friend, Michael was happy to keep her on that path.

The annual UFO convention at the UFO center was bigger than usual this year. Rumors of the sightings helped to fuel increased enthusiasm, and Michael, following Maria’s prediction, was heavily into the middle of it searching for answers that might explain the mysterious symbol burned in the ground. He had spent the day talking to an "alien expert", asking his opinion on aliens.

“I've concluded, Mr. Guerin, that yes, these aliens do exist. Yes, they're among us today. And yes, they're brutal, dangerous killers and must be stopped at any cost.” Michael flexed his hands in anger, but schooled his expression to remain passive. Isabel saw Michael across the way, and quickly spirited him away before he could cause any problems.

“Hey, I wasn't finished talking to him.”

Isabel looked around the place, her nose shriveling at the alien souvenirs. She couldn’t believe she had let Michael talk her into coming here, as if they could find an ounce of truth in the sea of paranoia fantasy. “I want to get the hell out of here. This place is psychologically damaging.”

“Hey, I've got no choice here.” Michael told her, his whisper loud and angry. She could at least try to be supportive. “We've got cave paintings we don't understand. We've got Nasedo sending us messages. This place could hold the answers to everything.”

Isabel snorted her derision of the UFO center holding anything possibly informative. “Yeah, I'm sure it's a real Mecca for factual information.” They both looked up as a large Alien, with an oversized head came wobbling down the stairs into the main UFO Center rotunda.

“Save me. Save me. I'm a human trapped in an alien body!” Max’s voice came out of the alien body.

Isabel rolled her eyes, not recognizing her brother. “Excuse us.” She stopped in front of Michael, staring at Max as he took off the alien mask.

“Ugh.” Max said, breathing fresh air for the first time in a while.

Isabel put her hands on her hip, and Michael shook his head at Max. “You realize that we've just lost our last shred of dignity.”

~~~

Max took the first opportunity he had to drag Michael into a back room at the UFO Center, after Isabel stomped away, irritated by the festivities.

“Michael, I've got to talk to you about something...personal.”

Michael shrugged. “Nothing's too personal.”

“How'd you do it with Maria?”

Michael startled. Well hell! “Too personal.” What the hell? Okay, so he spent a lot of time with the dizzy chick, but hell, now Max thought they were doing it?

Max shook his head, not meaning that. “No, I mean...how did you stop?” Max paused frowning. Michael and Maria were…he shook his head. “I can't stop thinking about Liz. Every time I see her, she just starts going into slow motion.”

Michael frowned. Maybe he was right the first time when he told Maria that maybe the human could infect the aliens with a disease. This sounded whacked.

“Maxwell, you've gotta be strong. You can't let yourself be led around by your...,” Michael struggled for a polite term, any other guy, he’d just be crude, but Max’s queer romantic crap with Liz made it seem somehow harsh, “...energy source.” Michael shrugged, giving to a moment of honesty that normally he would’ve bitten out his tongue before admitting to anyone, especially Maria. “It wasn't easy for me, either, but you gotta throw yourself into something else,” Michael lectured, “...anything else. Something just to get your mind off her.” That was the closest he would come to admitting that he thought of Maria at times in a totally different way…one that wasn’t just friendly. Some journeys were best not to venture into, especially when they had the potential to cause a lot of pain. He was leaving, and that was all he could guarantee.

“Throw myself into something.” Max said to himself. Michael nodded. Yeah, he had found counting ceiling tiles to be very helpful.

~~~

Michael continued to look around at the various exhibits. It was a lot of information, but most he could easily discount as fabrication and pure paranoia. He stopped at an area set up for something called the "Alien Takedown". Normally, he would’ve bypassed it, but Maria was there, helping to set it up.

“Alien Takedown? What's that, some kind of wrestling match?”

Maria looked over at him, smiling slightly. “Yeah, the Alien Takedown.” Seeing his face, she stood up her arms crossing. “Do you have a problem with that?”

“Yeah, you know what? I do.” Michael said. Actually he hadn’t at first, but the more he thought about it, the more he did. Maybe it was all the stereotypical depictions of his ‘kind’, or maybe it was the sheer commercialism. Hard to say. “I'm here trying to figure out the meaning of my existence, and I'm tired of having to wade through the kooks like you and the freak shows like this in order to do it.” Maria opened her mouth ready to retaliate on the ‘kooks’ remarked, but her mother, a small attractive woman, hardly appearing old enough to have a daughter Maria’s age intervened.

“Nothing personal, but this freak show keeps my kooky daughter and myself off the streets.” Amy looked the large young man over, noting how familiar he and her daughter appeared to be. They were standing very close together, in each others personal space. Her eyes narrowed.

Maria decided introductions were in order. Her mother hadn’t caught Michael in her room or hanging outside her window, but it was only a matter of time. “Mom, Michael. Michael, mom.”

Amy huffed. “Nice to meet you,.” she said pleasantly taking herself off before she said something indiscreet.

“That was some guffaw.”

“Guffaw?” Michael frowned. What did he do?

“Yeah, my mother. Great first impression.”

Michael made a face. “Why would I want to make an impression?”

Maria mimicked his face. “Oh, I don’t know? Maybe because you spend more time at my place than your home lately, and sooner or later, my usually occupied and absent mom might figure it out? She can come in handy at times with people like…cops?”

“She knows cops?”

Maria shrugged. “Some horrific events too terrible to retell, but traumatic enough to put me in therapy. Thank god that’s over in the distant past.” Or at least she hoped it was. Maria never noticed her mother and Jim Valenti talking over in a corner.

Michael blew out air forcefully. “Yeah, thank god for that. I can’t take much more of Valenti in my life.”

Maria rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it’s always about your life, your quest. Ever think that we ordinary humans might have problems too?” She looked at him, suddenly not so happy with him. “Nope. Didn’t think so.” She walked off, leaving him to chew that over.

Michael tossed his hands, looking around in confusion. “What did I say?”

~~~

Max found his distraction from thinking about Liz. He allowed himself to be volunteered to coordinate the UFO Convention. Manning the Information booth, he tried to remain impartial, biting back his irritation with a young boy.

“So, why'd they kill the aliens?”

Max was concentrating. “What aliens?”

“From the '47 crash. Why'd they kill them?”

Max smiled pleasantly. “Well, maybe you should visit our "Theories on '47" exhibit.”

“But I thought this was the information booth.”

“Well, yeah, it is, but...” Max stopped talking as he became distracted by the sudden appearance of Liz just entered the UFO Center. The little boy gave up tossing his hand, he walked off as Max watched Liz walking straight towards him.

“Mud.” Michael’s voice came from behind Max’s shoulder, startling him.

Michael leaned on the information booth counter looking over at what Max was watching. Liz Parker. Michael sucked on his cherry lollipop. He didn’t get it. What was to get distracted over? Liz Parker’s legs weren’t great, her lips weren’t full and red demanding attention, and she didn’t have penetrating green eyes that were so alive, and seemed to look through a person, seeing everything.

“What?”

“When you're with her, think about mud. It helped me.” Michael decided to keep his ceiling tile counting trick to himself. That was for emergencies only, and shouldn’t be used lightly.

“Michael, I don't need some trick. I can handle this.”

Liz saw the two alien boys, and smiled uncertainly. “Hi, um, I just wanted to talk to you about the luncheon that we're catering.”

“Oh, yeah, if it's work-related, sure. It's just...,” Max said stuttering over the words a little, “...I'm kind of busy.” Michael shook his head in disgust. He couldn’t watch this. It was too humiliating.

“Ok, um, I'll just...come over...it's just that, um,” Liz lowered her voice, “...Larry and Jennifer are back. You know, the ones that were there the day that I got shot? And now, Jennifer won't leave. She just planted herself in the Crashdown.”

Liz frowned at the distant blank look Max seemed to have on his face, as if he were not paying attention to her. Max's mind was wandering as he saw Liz talking in slow motion.

“It's like, I don't know, she's been sitting there for hours. And it kind of feels like she's been watching me or something. So I came here to tell you that they're here, in case anything should happen,” Liz finished trying to get his attention, “...I want you...”

“Mud.”

“What?”

Max physically shook himself out of his stupor. Hated Michael Guerin. Hated. Him. “Pie. Mud pie. For the lunch the Crashdown is catering tomorrow. I was thinking about mud pie.”

Liz nodded, still confused. “Ok, um, I'll see if I can arrange it.”

“I gotta go. I'm really busy.”

“Ok.” She watched him scurry off, shaking her head. Did he even hear a word she said? He didn’t seem in the least concerned about Jennifer and Larry. Liz sighed. Maybe she was wasting her time.

~~~

Michael moved away from the latest batch of self proclaimed UFO experts, seeing Max. Rushing to him, Michael pulled Max aside.

“Maxwell, you gotta show me the real guys.”

“The real guys?”

Michael gestured at all the ‘experts’ gracing the area. “I'm sick and tired of talking to all these frauds. I mean, you're on the inside. Where are the real guys?”

“Michael, there are no real guys. It's a freak show.”

Michael looked over at Hubble pointing him out. “Who's that?”

“Nobody.” Max tried not to make direct contact with Michael’s eyes. He would know he was lying. If he told Michael that Hubble was what Milton, his boss, considered an expert, having had direct contact with an alien, Michael would be uncontained. Max frowned remembering how Hubble said the alien looked like him…like everyone, that the aliens weren’t little green men. He couldn’t afford setting Michael loose.

“Come on, Max, don't toy with me.” Michael’s natural instinct that Max was holding back had kicked in, but before he could pursue it, he spotted Larry. “Oh...there's the geek from the Crashdown that day.”

“I know. He's been hanging around. I'm sure he's just here for the convention.” Max said vaguely remembering some of the conversation he had with Liz.

“I'm gonna go keep an eye on him, all right?” Michael said, and Max worried. It was hard to say which was the greater evil, Hubble or Larry. Either could be trouble.

~~~

Michael leaned back against a wall listening to a panel discussion that had been organized as part of the Convention. A panel of ‘experts’ gave their expert opinions and answered questions. Larry was there, as was that strange man, Hubble, so Michael kept a careful watch, occasionally making eye contact with Max.

“The experience of Mr. Grabowski has been well documented. His encounter with the smooth-skinned ovoid E.B.E. contributes to a growing body of evidence as brave men like himself bring their stories to the public eye,” stated an expert.

Jonathan Frakes, an actor on a popular Sci-Fi program, and the special guest of honor was chairing the panel discussion. He smiled warmly at the crowd. “Well, there you have it. Thank you, Mr. Grabowski. Our next direct contact witness is a Lawrence Trilling.”

Michael’s waning attention revived when Larry stood up. “Right here!”

Jonathan Frakes smiled pleasantly. “Good afternoon, Lawrence. Do you mind if I call you Larry?”

“No, that would be great. First of all, Mr. Frakes, I just gotta say that...you know how some people say that Clapton is god, you know? But I say you. You are god. I mean, I got...I got goose bumps.”

“Thank you very much,” the actor easily taking the compliment.

“It's gotta be Frakes!”

Jonathan smiled, waving at the crowd. “Ok, let's go to your encounter.”

“Yeah, right. Ok. Um...it happened right here,” Larry said, stressing the importance of the circumstance, “...right in Roswell, New Mexico. September 17th. I was in the Crashdown Cafe. Now, that's right across the street. So I'm sitting there. Two guys come in.”

Michael and Max exchanged alarmed looks. Michael, unable to let this go on, made his way towards Larry.

“Boom! They start having an argument. Boom! A gun is pulled.” At that moment Michael purposely bumped into Larry from behind, putting his hand on Larry’s chest. Using his powers, he gave Larry a nasty itch, much like the one he gave Kyle Valenti’s friends, back when Liz’s grandmother was in the hospital, and they were harassing Max.

“Sorry,” said Michael moving on.

“Oh...no, that's ok.” Larry went back to this story. “So these two guys, they start to...ahh,” Larry began to scratch, the itch on his skin like thousands of ant bites, “...they start to struggle, ok? Boom! A girl is shot. Boom! A seemingly normal teenage boy,” Larry’s itching becoming more apparent as he squirmed in his closes drawing laughter from the crowd, “...now this teenage boy, Mr. Frakes, is someone who looks just like you and me. Boom! He goes up to the girl and puts his hand over her, uh, wound, and then, boom! She,” Larry is almost pulling off his shirt, “...uh...she's miraculously healed.”

Jonathan Frakes laughed, not taking the man with the skin problem, or infestation seriously. “Ooh! Well, all I can say is, boom! What do you think?”

“I'm insulted by this ridiculous story,” said one of the experts on the panel.

“Yeah, well, he’s here. He is right here! Ok, Pal? He's right here. Right now! He's in the very audience!” Larry couldn’t hold still. The itching was maddening.

“That's enough, monkey man!” Jonathan said wanting to get rid of the whack job who was disrupting their serious panel.

“Listen, cool it, Frakes!”

“Security?” Jonathan called for help from Milton.

“You and me, Evans. Let's get him.” Max nodded following his boss.

“Hey, this is the guy right here!” Larry said seeing Max, as Max and Milton tried to subdue and remove him. “This is the guy! He's the one! He's the guy!”

Frakes laughed. “Well, he may not be the best convention coordinator, but I would hardly call him an alien.”

“You're just like the rest of them, Frakes! There was a bullet...ah,” Larry was squirming from the itching and trying to elude Max and Milton’s hands, “. ...the bullet disappeared! So where's the bullet?”

“All right, careful, Evans!” Milton said as the ushered Larry through the crowds.

“The bullet disappeared! It was never found! Where's the bullet? Ahhh...” Larry yelled as he was dragged away. Outside, after Milton and Max returned to the panel discussion, Larry was approached by the mysterious Mr. Hubble wanting to know more about Max Evans.

~~~

Michael, who left the panel discussion of experts after infecting Larry with the itch, went around a corner, and then drew back quickly in the shadows. Amy DeLuca was talking on a cell phone, obviously more than a little upset. Michael listened as she talked to one of the wrestlers she hired for the Alien Takedown.

“You can't quit now. The Alien Takedown is in an hour!” Amy’s voice took on a pleading sound as she tried to convince the man on the other end. “Ernie, you have nothing to be afraid of. Raging Ray is a...puppy dog.” Amy lied. “Look, he's not really gonna do anything really rough. I realize you suffered a broken rib last year,” she paused listening for a moment, “...fine, two, I...did you not receive my gift basket? Look, Ernie, if you don't do this, I'm broke. Ok? I'm out of business, ok? I...I have half my annual revenue tied up in this thing!” Amy looked at the phone when she heard a click. “Hello? Hello? Oh...” Barely suppressing a sob, Michael watched the woman, melding back into the shadows the way he came. He hated it when Maria was right. Humans had problems too, and sometimes he forgot that since his own life was always foremost in his mind.

Michael scratched his brow, uncertain what to do.

~~~

At the Crashdown, Maria was trying to cheer her mom. They were both depressed over Ernie’s quitting the Alien Takedown wrestling match. Maria squeezed her mother’s arm in comfort. They would figure it out, somehow. They always did.

“Here you go. Drown your sorrows.” Liz said setting drinks in front of Maria and her mother.

“Oh, girls, girls, girls,” Amy said dramatically, showing exactly where her daughter got her flair for the dramatic, “...if I'd known real life was gonna be this difficult I never would have signed up.”

Alex came to sit at the dairy bar with the others. “You guys look as good as I feel.”

“Root beer float?” Liz asked seeing his downed face.

“No, uh...orange soda on the rocks.” Alex said, still feeling the sting of Isabel’s rejection, her suggestion that he was an obsessed stalker harassing her.

“Mmm,” Amy said looking at Alex knowingly, “girl trouble.”

“Oh, it's that obvious?” The group of females all nodded at once. “Great. Great. Hey, listen...let me ask you guys a question. As women...do you find that all men are obsessive?”

“Yes,” said Amy.

“Absolutely.” Liz put the orange soda in front of Alex.

Maria had to agree. “No question.” Snorting, she couldn’t find a better word to describe Michael’s lifelong quest. It was all he thought about, and all he cared about. If that wasn’t obsession, she would eat her shoes.

“They find something...” Amy explained.

“Usually something completely inane and useless...” Maria added in.

Liz thought about it for a second, “Oh, like football!”

All the females looked at each other, Amy thinking of Jim Valenti’s strange behavior, Maria snorting at Spaceboy’s obsession, and Liz, still confused over Max’s distraction. They said in unison, “Or UFOs.”

Amy shook her head confused by the male species. “Oh, and then they just don't let it go!”

Jen, who had been listening, drowning her sorrow over Larry’s obsession, piped in her two cents. “Until it consumes every waking minute of their day! Sorry.” She said when the other looked at her. “Couldn't help but deeply relate.” She had waited forever for Larry to propose, but his alien obsession was making it so that she may have wait forever. Why couldn’t he be that obsessed over her?

Liz refilled Jen’s drink, totally relating to her. “Yeah, but then they use it as an excuse.”

“Oh, whenever it's convenient for them...” Amy added, still upset that Jim Valenti brushed her off, even after the heatwave, and the interrupted dinner. Pig.

“...To just completely ignore you.” Maria sniffed. Yeah, right. Everything was hunky dory, as long as she was listening to him obsessing over his life, but did he even know she was alive, that her life sucked? No! Did he ever care to make sure she was all right? No! Self absorbed alien pig.

“Yeah, and it's so clear why they're doing it.” Amy offered her more mature observation.

“Oh, yeah.” Liz knew too. Hard not to. “It's an avoidance thing.”

“They hide behind their obsession!” Jen slammed her drink down violently.

Amy played with her straw. “Because what they really are is afraid.”

Maria frowned. “Deathly afraid.” Okay, so she knew he was afraid to care too much, to make ties, but friendship was a two way street, and it still hurt.

“...Of commitment.” Liz finished, leaning dejectedly against the counter depressed along with the other girls, all of them sighing thinking their own thoughts.

Alex stared at these women, all of them sitting at the bar, and for a moment, he actually was afraid of them. “Ok. I got it. Crystal clear. But...what if, uh, there's a guy whose obsession is a woman?”

“Oh!” ‘Heh!” They all made a disbelieving snort, derisive of the possibility that a guy’s obsession could be a female.

“Oh, yeah, right.” Amy shook her head at the poor deluded child. A man child, granted, but still deluded.

“Dream on.” Liz said wiping down the counter.

The morose group of depression junkies missed that weird Milton man rushing into the Crashdown. “Amy! Where are you? The match is almost over!”

Amy stood up as did Maria. “What? Ernie showed up?” They rushed out of the Crashdown.

~~~

Raging Ray flexed his…man meat at a terrorized Maria, as Amy rushed around him to poor Ernie, laid out on the mat. “Hey, yo! You better call an ambulance, huh? Bang! Ha ha ha ha!” Amy rushed to the "Alien Takedown" area. She stopped for a moment, afraid that poor Ernie was dead. He was lying masked in the middle of the ring...he was not moving.

“Ernie! Oh, my God! Are you ok?”

The masked wrestler slowly took off his mask. “I'm just resting.” Michael said.

Amy threw herself on the mat next to Michael, hugging him quickly. “Oh, you dear, dear, boy! Oh!” She was so excited she ran off to check the receipts.

Michael slowly sat up as Maria joined him, sitting down beside him. She was overcome, unable to form words to express her chagrin. He had certainly surprised her, and that made her smile.

Michael, seeing her reaction, quickly relieved her of any mushy notion that he did it for her, or that he cared. “It was easy money.”

Maria nodded, still smiling at him. She pulled his head towards hers, and softly kissed him on the lips. Michael sat stunned, staring at her mouth.

“Mud.”

Maria frowned at him. “What?” Oh god. That beast Raging Ray must have caused brain damage!

“Mud. I'm thinking about mud.”

Maria smiled again looking at her friend. “You know, I should have guessed that!” She looked at his wasted body, still resting on the mat. “Do you need a hand up?”

“Nah. The world looks good from here. Did you know, there are three hundred and forty-eight ceiling tiles above this ring?”

“I’ll put that in my notebook for future reference.” Maria’s face suddenly was serious. “Thank you.”

Michael cleared his throat. He just nodded his head.

~~~

Michael came out of the UFO Center just in time to see Max and Hubble leaving together. Frowning, he noted the direction. Larry was watching Max and Hubble as well. Walking up to Larry, Michael grabbed him forcefully demanding answers.

“Hey, what the hell's going on? What's that guy doing with Max?”

Larry tried to get away. “I don't know.”

Shaking the man, Michael got in his face. “Tell me what he's doing with Max!”

“All right.” Larry could feel the sweat moving down his back. “He came up to me after the panel discussion, all right? He asked me questions about Max. You know, what he did the day of the shooting.”

Michael let him go. “You stupid ignorant, freak!” Michael looked around. There was no way to catch Max on foot. Spying the Jetta, he quickly went inside to find Maria.

She was at the “Alien Takedown” helping to remove the banner and pack up things.

“Maria!”

Looking up from her job, Maria frowned. Michael had already left. “Hey. What are you doing back here? I thought we were meeting at the Crashdown for a late dinner.”

“Keys! I need the Jetta.”

“What? But...,” Maria saw his face, and she quickly nodded, pulling the keys from her pocket to toss at him. He snatched them from the air, turning to run. “Be careful,” she called after him, knowing he didn’t hear.

~~~

Michael caught up to them at an old abandoned roadside café. The jeep was parked in front of it with its lights on, and from the highway, Michael could see that the man had a gun on Max. Turning off the lights to the Jetta, Michael quickly drove the car as close as he could. Getting out, he ran for the jeep as fast as he could, keeping in the dark.

“I know you.” Hubble said as Michael hit the ground behind the jeep.

“Whoa, mister, you are making a big mistake!” Max held up his hands.

“I know how you can change your face, your body,” Hubble kept the gun trained on Max, “...you're a shapeshifter because you're always running. You changed yourself into that drifter when you killed my Sheila trying to get our car. What were you running from then? Somebody else find out your little secret?”

Michael swore, slowly inching forward along the ground towards the front of the jeep. The lights were on, and hopefully no one would notice him.

“Sir, I know you're upset,” Max’s voice broke under the strain, “...but I did not kill your wife. I wouldn't kill anybody.”

Hubble was beyond hearing. “Valenti told me about the healing, about the handprint...just like on Sheila.” Michael swore closing his eyes for a moment. He could see them now.

“I am not him. Whoever you think I am, I swear I am not him.”

“I know who you really are, what you're capable of, and I won't let you kill again.”

Michael didn’t like the sound of the older man’s voice. The resolve, the anger, and the fear, all it together felt wrong. It felt like a bad situation about to get worse. Standing up, he moved forward before the man could shoot Max.

“Hey!” Michael said stepping out of the dark into the lights of the jeep. His sudden appearance was enough of a distraction to startle Hubble, long enough for Max to knock the gun away from him. Max and Hubble hit the ground in a scuffle. Struggling in the dirt, Hubble tried to reach his gun with Max desperately trying to prevent him. Max reached out his hand using his powers to push the gun away just as another set of headlights appeared.

Hubble struggled to his feet picking up his gun. “I knew it was you, you bastard!”

Sheriff Valenti got out of his car holding a gun on Hubble. “Drop the gun! Drop it!”

“It's him!”

“Drop it!”

“I just saw it! I was right!” Hubble couldn’t take his eyes off Max, the young man feeling the heat of his stare, the hate.

Valenti looked at Hubble in confusion. “You saw what?”

“His powers! Don't you see who he is? We have to stop him.”

Max pleaded to the Sheriff. “I don't know what he's talking about.”

“Liar!” Hubble advanced on Max, and Valenti moved closer as well keeping his gun on Hubble the entire time. Michael stood off to the side trying not to move or distract.

“Drop it, Hub.”

“This son of a bitch is gonna die today, and nothing's gonna stop me, so go ahead! Unload every bullet in your chamber.”

“It only takes one.”

“Your father couldn't do it,” Hubble told Valenti, “...and neither can you.” He prepared to shoot Max, and Valenti shot one round into Hubble. The man hit the ground.

Jim went to the man, checking him for a pulse. He was dead. He looked up at Max. “I didn't know this was gonna happen. I didn't know he was as dangerous as he was.”

Max, at his end, stared at the Sheriff. “What did you tell him? Why did he come after me?” Max said, his voice unnaturally high, as the events of the evening hit him hard. “You're the Sheriff. You're supposed to protect me. But all you've done is go after me! You believe all these crazy things.” Max said, his anger replacing his fear. “You're just like Hubble. You want me? Well, here I am! Take me!”

Michael moved forward, worried that Max was going to lose it on the Sheriff. “Max, come on, just relax.”

“No, no!”

Jim held up a hand. He was sorry. Really sorry. “Son...”

“Would you treat your son this way?”

Jim looked at the two boys, and the old man in the dirt. “Get outta here. The both of you. You were never here. Go on!”

Michael grabbed Max’s arm, dragging him away from the scene. “Come on, let's go. The guy was crazy, Max, all right? He didn't know what he was talking about.” They walked to the jeep.

“I don't think he was crazy, Michael.” Max said quietly. “I think the one we've been looking for has killed people...a lot of people.”

Michael couldn’t think about it right now. They climbed into the jeep so Max could take him back to the Jetta.

~~~

“Is Max okay?”

“Yeah. I got there in time to distract Hubble the first time he tried to shoot him, and Valenti the second.”

Maria put her elbows on the table sinking her head in her hands. “Oh god, that was so close!”

“I told you, it’s dangerous knowing us. You should take yourself off now, reclaim your life before you can’t.” Michael pushed the food on the plate to the side. He couldn’t eat.

“Because the one you seek is a killer? Do you believe that?”

Michael stared at his plate, his hand clenching. “I can’t.”

“Why? Because if he’s a killer, then you waited in vain?”

“Maria…”

Maria reached over and took his hand. It was after hours, and she was closing. The kitchen was closed, and she and Michael were the only ones left in the restaurant. “I know you waited to find him, to know. I know what this means to you.”

“No one can. Not really.”

Rubbing her head, Maria sighed. “Okay, maybe not. So Superman, you go on, and it’s hard being you. That doesn’t mean you can’t hope, you can’t dream.” Maria bit the inside her mouth, wanting to say more, but it wasn’t her place. It wasn’t her right.

“I’m sorry. I’m not really hungry.” Michael pushed the plate away.

Okay, so it wasn’t her place, but she couldn’t not say what she felt. “Michael, maybe things won’t turn out as you hoped, and maybe this Nasedo isn’t who you expect him to be…that doesn’t have to change who and what you are. That doesn’t have to change your dream.”

“How can it not?”

“Because you are still you. You make your dreams, Michael. No one can take away your dreams unless you let them. No one. Sometimes the things we dream about in our youth become something totally different as we age. There is nothing wrong with that.”

Michael stood up picking up his jacket. “He can’t be a killer. He can’t. I…” Michael shook his head. “Thanks for the dinner.” Michael started to leave, but he hesitated. Bending down, he kissed her cheek before walking out the door.

Maria put her hand over her cheek. “Oh god, I hope you’re right. For your sake.

“So you really set this up?” Michael asked looking at the embarrassed Liz and the news media nightmare.

“Yep. Just what she needed to get on with her life.”

“Here, file this away…do not ever try to help me.”

Maria laughed. “Stop being a poop, this can be fun. She goes out on a dream date, maybe makes Max a little jealous and I get to sing with The Whits, opening for some huge band.”

Michael stared down at the small blonde staring off at Liz. “You’re really going to sing?”

“Yep.” Maria pulled a ticket out of her waitress uniform. Reaching up, she put it in his pocket. “Here. Got this for you so you didn’t have to break in.” Maria looked away. “I’ll understand if you can’t make it, but just in case.”

Michael looked at all the media. It looked like the last place he wanted to be, anywhere near that feeding frenzy. “I’ll try, okay?” Maria nodded. Michael cleared his throat. “Thing is…I think I figured something out, and I need to check it out tonight.”

“The map with the constellations?”

Michael looked at her in shock. “You were listening?”

“Okay, granted my eyes did glaze over a bit with all that Aries in retrograde, northern most aspect, blah, blah, blah. But, sure. I was listening.”

Michael moved uncomfortably on his feet. “I was going to ask you to come, but seeing how your night is pretty booked…”

“Sorry about that. Any other night, you know?”

“I know.”

Maria looked at him. Scratching her chin, she sniffed. He shouldn’t be doing this alone. “Look, Liz is out tonight with another guy, and I’m sure Max isn’t going to be great with that, so why don’t you talk to him.”

“He wouldn’t listen.”

“You never know until you try. This affects him too. Him and Isabel.” Maria smiled at Liz across the room. “Maybe they would want to participate, help you.”

“I doubt it. Max will say no, and as usual, Isabel will be on his side.” Michael’s jaw flexed.

Maria put her hand on his side, squeezing it in comfort. “You don’t know that. Isabel was pretty shaken when you were sick. I think she never realized that she could lose you or Max in that way. Give her a chance. Things can change you know.”

“I’ve never known that to happen.”

“Sure you have.” Maria hit Michael lightly in the stomach. “Look at you and me. Did you ever in a million years think we could be friends? That I could know this much about you?” Maria smiled making her point, taking herself off to collect the horrified Liz. They had to get ready for tonight.

Michael watched her go, his eyes following her across the room. “No,” he softly said to himself, “I never did. I never thought anyone could or would want to.”

~~~

Following Maria’s advice, Michael tried to discuss Nasedo with Max and Isabel. They were at the Crashdown where Max could keep an eye on Liz, and the entire bizarre media blitz around her.

“All right, look. We know the cave painting is a map.”

Max frowned. “Michael, we don't know anything.”

“I feel it, ok? I mean, it was clear in my hallucination.”

“Hallucination would be the key word there.” Max looked at Isabel for support.

“Let him talk, Max. What's wrong with you today?” Both Max and Michael looked at Isabel in shock. Michael couldn’t help it, his eyes went to find Maria’s across the way. She was taking an order. She said that Isabel had been scared, that she changed, but how could she know it for sure?

“Why would you invest yourself in something that you know isn't going to work out?” Max asked, his eyes watching Liz.

“Don't bring your personal problems into this, Maxwell. It's too important.”

“I'm talking about the search you're on.” Max said, not wanting this to be attributed to his problems with Liz. “Trying to find someone who could possibly hurt us if we ever find them.”

“The fourth alien is not a killer. He's one of us.”

Max sighed. He knew Michael would refuse to listen. He only wanted to believe what he wanted to believe. “You heard Hubble tell us about the other victims. About the handprints...”

“No, I heard a crazy man.” Michael looked at Isabel hoping to get some support from her. “Tell him. Tell him we gotta find this guy.” Isabel looks at him with sympathy, but she remained quiet. “Fine. Both of you sit here with your cherry colas and your high school fantasies. I'm going to find him.” Michael took off, leaving the Crashdown in an angry pace. Maria stopped what she was doing, watching him go, and her head turned to look at Max and Isabel. The alien girl shrank under the cold disdain in Maria’s eyes. Somehow, she knew that Maria knew what Michael was talking about. Their eyes met, and Isabel remembered what Maria told her when Michael was sick, her cheeks reddening.

“You can't treat him that way, Max.”

“What am I supposed to do? Encourage him to track down a murderer?”

“We don't know what is and isn't true yet.” Isabel said repeating what Maria astutely pointed out. “Michael needs his hope. It's the only thing that keeps him going.”

Max looked at Isabel, hearing what she was saying, but unable to agree. “What about you?”

“You know, I don't know who I'd be if I had spent the last fifty years on my own. If you were Nasedo, wouldn't you want us to at least hear you out?”

Max sighed, unable to quell a really bad feeling, one he’d had since Hubble held the gun on him, crazed by the loss of his wife to the Shapeshifter. “It's a mistake, Isabel.”

Isabel stood up to leave. “Maybe. You're never gonna convince him of that without some proof.”

~~~

Michael tried Max’s room first, but it was dark. He started to leave, but Isabel’s window was lit. Hesitating, he thought of what Maria said. This had to do with them too, and maybe, just maybe, Isabel might agree. She hadn’t supported him, but she hadn’t shot him down like Max did. Taking a breath, he knocked on the window, prepared to be turned away. He had never knocked on Isabel’s window before.

Seeing Michael, Isabel opened the window for him. “Come in.”

“Hey.” He looked around uncomfortably. The room was so…girly, and not like Maria’s who’s tended to be wacky and stylish in a mad hatter sort of way.

“What're you doing?”

Michael took a breath, and gave it another try. “I think I've figured it out. I think I can read the map. Come on, I'll show you.”

“But what about the concert?” Isabel said, reluctant to miss a night out. “Alex got us tickets.”

“Well, it's either the concert or discovering where we come from.” He planned to go see Maria sing if he could after he tried this, but he didn’t want to make any promises just in case it worked, and he was gone.

“Well, what about Max? Shouldn't we at least...”

“What about Max?” Michael let a little of his bitterness come through. “Last I heard, he didn't seem too interested, remember?”

“He's just worried, Michael. He's worried about you.”

Michael shook his head. He didn’t need Max dictating to him in a parental manner. He needed a friend. “Yeah, look, the only father I need is the one out there waiting for us to find him.” Isabel hesitated, but for once, she looked in Michael’s eyes, and caught a glimmer of what Maria told her was there. Isabel nodded. Michael seemed shocked by her agreement, but not too shocked to take the opportunity. “Let's go.”

~~~

Isabel sat in the jeep staring at the library. “I think this is as close as you've ever come to the library, Michael.”

Michael shrugged. “That means something, Isabel. It's right here on the map. Look. This is the constellation I saw in my dream. It's Aries, the Ram.” Isabel lifted a brow at the idea of Michael and astrology in the same sentence. Michael seeing this rolled his eyes and explained, “I looked it up. And this is the symbol Nasedo left us at the cave. If you take a map of Roswell and you position it properly when Aries is directly overhead, which is in April by the way, all the rest of these symbols take on locations. And this one's right here at the library.”

Isabel looked at him in shock. “How'd you know how to do all that, Michael?”

“I just knew.”

“I don't think we should be doing this.” Suddenly Max’s concerns were very real. Before, there was questionable possibility that Michael would succeed, but now, Isabel wasn’t so sure.

“Isabel, he sent us a signal. We gotta send him one back. This is how we're gonna find him.”

“Yeah, but what if he's...”

“What if he's the killer?” Michael said jumping out of the jeep. “There's only one way to find out.”

~~~

Isabel stood biting a nail, frantically looking around as Michael poured gasoline on ropes sat on the ground to form the alien symbol.

“This is vandalism.”

“It's not like we can't clean it up.” Michael reminded her.

“Are you sure about this?”

“More sure than I've ever been about anything in my life.”

Isabel bit the inside of her mouth until it bled. “I just don't want you to get hurt, Michael.”

“Isabel, I told you Max is wrong. Nasedo's the only one we have.”

“We still have each other, isn't that enough? I'm just...,” Isabel was suddenly so uncertain, almost as much as she had been when he was sick, “...I'm just afraid that you won't find what you're looking for. Or that maybe you will and you won't need Max or me anymore.”

Michael looked at her and paused. “That's not possible, ok?” He stood back, lighting the gasoline soaked ropes, so they burned in the shape of the symbol from the woods.

~~~

They waited for a while as the fire slowly burned itself out. No one came. Michael’s reaction was hard to miss, as his shoulders slumped, dejected.

“We can't just leave this here.”

“I know. Can you...” Michael turned away as Isabel used her powers to get rid of the symbol burned in the grass.

“You think I'm stupid, don't you?”

“No. Not stupid.”

“Just forget it.” Michael said. He hated being pitied. “He's not gonna come.”

“Maybe not tonight.”

“No, not ever. No one ever comes for me.”

Isabel didn’t hesitate. “I will. Whenever you need me.” Michael needed his hope, and tonight, he lost a large part of it. That hurt. Isabel offered him comfort, but he was standing so far away, even though they were right next to each other.

~~~

Maria opened the window. She knew he would come.

“So how was the concert?”

“Scary. I didn’t think I could do it at first.”

She stepped back so he could come through the window. “Sorry I missed it. I was planning on coming. Things didn’t work out for me to get there.”

“Not a problem. It happens.” Maria tsked as he tripped over the beanbag. He had been in and out of that window so many times, how could he still trip on it? “So what happened?”

Michael’s jaw clenched and he shrugged. “Nothing. I thought I figured something out, something from the woods, and I was wrong. It didn’t work.”

“Hmm. Sorry.” Maria looked at his profile. “Did Isabel go with you?”

“Yeah, she was cool about it, but I knew she really didn’t want it to work.”

“She showed up, so that has to mean something.”

Michael shrugged. “Means she pities me.”

Maria let that go. Michael had to learn to trust on his own; it wasn’t something she could teach him. Given her history and family background, it wasn’t like she had mastered the art either. “So what did you expect to happen?”

Michael laughed. “I don’t know. Maybe if I sent a signal, that they would come. That I could go home. I don’t know.” He shook his head. “They’re never coming. No one ever comes. I’m stuck on this stupid planet forever.”

“It’s not stupid, okay? It’s my home. The only one I have, and one that has sheltered you…a refugee, all these years. How do you know where you come from is better?”

Michael scowled at her. They weren’t going to get into that argument again. “I don’t. I just have to believe it, that’s all.”

“Why? Why is it so important for one place to be better than another?”

Michael sat on her bed in his usual place, with his back against the headboard. “In a smaller scheme, this thing you do. This waiting thing where you hope your dad comes, back?” Maria nodded. “Well, how do you know that wherever he would take you would be better? Better than Roswell?”

Maria went quiet. “I don’t know. I just want to believe.”

“Same. Guess we aren’t so different.”

Maria punched him on the arm to break up the serious tone of their talk. “Stop trying to terrorize me, Guerin. I thought you got over that.” He just smiled slightly. Maria huffed a little. “So I heard some girls talking about you at the concert.”

“God, spare me!”

“No really. They were discussing your possible endowments.”

Michael frowned. “My….”

“Endowments.” Maria bit back a smile. “I added in my two cents.” Michael just groaned. Shaking his head, he really did not want to know. “I told them to look at a man’s hand size, and shoes…it’s a dead giveaway.”

Michael, who had been playing with a rubber band he picked off her bedside table was suddenly self-conscious about the size of his hands, and his large feet on her bed. “Oh great! Now everywhere I go there’ll be giggling girls staring at my feet.”

Maria got up laughing. “Um, no. They’ll be staring at some other place. Trust me!”

“DeLuca!” She was a total pain. Smiling cruelly, he extracted some revenge. “I should tell you that your name graces the men’s bathroom in a few places.”

“No!” Maria bit her lip. “Don’t tell me.” Michael waited. Three. Two. One. “Tell me! Dammit, Michael, tell me!”

“It’s the list.”

“The List?” Maria frowned. What the hell was with guys? All these damn lists! Alex made them all the time.

Michael shrugged. “It’s like a top ten lists. You grace a few of them.”

Maria bit on the edge of her nail. It was dark, but not really that late. They had time. Grabbing Michael’s arm, she ignored him when he tried to shrug off her hand. No way. He had started something. “Let’s go.”

“Where?” Michael frowned. Hell, he was comfortable.

“The school. I want to see this List.”

“After school hours, Maria. The place is closed.”

Maria snorted. “That’s why I need you.”

“No.”

Maria stopped her hands going to her hips in a determined stance. “I’ll buy you dinner tomorrow. Burger. Fries. Drink.”

“Two.”

“Two?”

“Two Will Smith Burgers, two orders of Saturn Rings, and a piece of your mom’s coconut cream pie. Cherry soda. Large. All the Tabasco I can guzzle.”