Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Roswell or anybody else's ideas. Just playing for fun.
Pairings/Couples/Category: Semi-crossover but not really. Alex/Isabel featured, also some Michael/Maria and Liz/Max/Tess angst
Rating: Teen
Summary: When Alex gets a chance to ask for help and his last day starts over again, everything depends on the unlikeliest of rescuers.
Author's Note: Hope it's alright that I'm posting this in CC and not XO. I'm taking the central conceit and mythology of 'tru calling' but no characters from that fandom. This is set around the point of 'Cry your name', and I'll say up front that it's another one where Tess isn't the one who killed Alex. There.
Part One
Alex felt something seriously go wrong with the steering wheel under his hands, and the world turned over. No, wait actually, that was the car flipping. *Not a good sign.* And then the impact, a sickening high-speed CRUNCH that tore his body half free of the seat belt before something tore loose out of the heavy machinery now above him, crushing into his chest, blotting out everything with a wave of pain and darkness...
And then there was light. Alex couldn't remember having 'gone into the light,' like the cliches had it, but somehow he had no doubt that this blue-white radiance all around was *that* light that the stories told of. Eternity, the afterlife. So suddenly, he was dead? Never to even get a chance to see Isabel again, or...
"Hi there."
"Huh?" Walking towards him out of the light was a... a friendly old woman with grey hair, milky-hazel eyes and a slightly tired smile. She was moving pretty smoothly for someone who seemed so elderly, but maybe all bum hips and arthritic knees got fixed once you got where they were - Alex was certainly not sure of the rules yet.
"Umm, yeah, do I know you?"
"No, sorry. Not sure if you were expecting to see a favorite great-grandparent or something..."
"Well, wouldn't say no to..."
"...but this is important. Alex Whitman, I have met you here, on the shores of Eternity as it were, to offer you a choice. If you take me up on this offer, you might be able to live again."
"How, and why?" Alex blurted out.
"I understand you have questions and then some, but do keep in mind that time, no matter how much we might squeeze it, is running out." Two armchairs appeared out of nowhere, and the old lady sat, waving at him to do the same.
"Gotit. But I need to know - is this one of those come back from the light deals? Because I don't think that even with medical help, my body can take the kind of pounding it just got. Even..."
"Even your friend Max couldn't save your life, not with the delay it would take to get him to the site of the crash," the old woman put in. "Yes, I know that he and the other three are aliens, and that sort of figures into the why. As far as the how, though - it'll be a temoral reversion - a rewinding of time. Which means that you won't remember any of our discussion - you haven't been prepared to insulate your mind against the rewind effect, and it couldn't happen now that you've died anyway."
"Umm, alright," Alex said, his head seeming to spin. (Not a real head, presumably, but the sensation was the same. "So, the why?"
"Well, let's see. There is a struggle between Eternal powers over the fate of earth. One power - I'll call him Aeus, has laid out a plan, a destiny for our world, for mankind - and refuses to consider changes. All of the suffering, all of the troubles of history - and most of the triumphs, to be fair - are part of that plan."
"I'm working for the other power, Belder, who believes that people can do better than following the plan. He worked out this plan of rewinding time to save people whose deaths are required by the plan, but who still have the opportunity to contribute, to live out their lives. Every time he and his helpers manage to save a life, the plan gets bent a little further out of shape. Hopefully at some point, Aeus will agree to give up on his 'destiny' and work with us... or at least leave things be for the best."
"Hmm..." Alex narrowed his eyes. "And where do my friends fit into this?"
"Well, you pretty much qualify for our help just on your own merits, Alex - but it was the alien friends who attracted our attention to you, I'll admit." Alex sighed good-naturedly. Didn't it just figure that even in the afterlife, Isabel was overshadowing him? "You see, them arriving here on Earth wasn't part of the plan, or Belder's doing - just a freak chance. Since they're not in mankind's destiny, I think that Aeus wants to get rid of them - either kill them all, or make sure that they leave the solar system and never come back. But you and the other humans that they're friends, or more, with - Liz, Maria, and Kyle - you being in their lives helps protect them, and gives them a reason to stay on Earth. I'm pretty sure that Belder wants them to stick around, because they have a way of shaking things up."
"Alright, so it's decision time?" Alex asked. The old lady nodded. He took a deep breath and checked his non-physical guts. Pretty obviously there was more to this story than the old lady was telling him - she was working for one side and was selling Belder's case. If he were to speak with a representative of Aeus, there'd be a flipside. But still... he sympathized with all of this, the idea of refusing to go along with 'destiny' and wanting to agitate a stagnant situation. And of course, he was willing to take a chance to escape early death and stay with Isabel and the others.
"I'll do it. How does it work."
"I send you back to Earth for just a moment, in your dead body," the old woman said. Alex boggled at that notion. "You'll wake up there and have just a moment to speak - and somebody will be there near you. Whoever that person is, they're a special kind of agent of Belder, working for his ends on Earth. Someone with 'the Calling.' Ask that person to help - that'll trigger the rewind."
"That's all?" Alex asked, no longer so sure about this.
"All you'll remember. Someone with the calling has had their consciousness prepared to endure the rewind. He... I'm pretty sure it's a he, will know that you asked for his help, and he'll have a day to try and prevent your death."
"That doesn't sound like much. Can't I tell him more..."
The old lady shook her head. "Alex, I have to send you back NOW - unless you've changed your mind."
Alex let out a frustrated breath. "Okay, do it."
There was a sensation of the light of eternity rushing away from him, and then - yes, he was lying in a crumpled heap on the ground. Something felt very icky about his skin, and he didn't doubt that this body was dead, and wouldn't let him stick around for long.
He opened his eyes, and was surprised for a moment to see Sheriff Hanson looking right back at him. Hanson was surprised too, which made sense if he'd just seen a dead kid open his eyes. "Help me," he managed to gasp out through stiff lips and teeth. "Help the..."
And then time switched direction, wiping out his awareness.
----------
Tim Hanson sat up in bed as soon as the spinning sensation of his day zooming backwards stopped. There was a slight moan from next to him as his fiancee, Sheryl, felt his movement disturbing the covers and the mattress. After a moment's consideration, Tim got up out of the bed as quickly and quietly as he could, rearranging the blankets once he was on his feet, and went into the kitchen for the phone and the address book.
It only took a moment to find a number and dial long distance into an Austin area code. The phone on the other end rang seven times and went to a voice mail - he left a terse message and then called right back. That time, it was picked up after two. "Yeah, what is it?"
"Sorry, Mora, it's Tim Hanson. I've gotta rewind, could be a tricky one. You remember anything?"
Instantly any trace of grumpiness from Mora disappeared, and she was all business. Mora had been Tim's mentor with the Calling, and she'd been disappointed when he'd moved to Roswell, insisting that the number of people he'd get a chance to help would drop off drastically in such a small town - and she'd been right so far. "No, not even a twinge, but that doesn't surprise me too much. Who's the beggar?"
Tim only wasted half a second gritting his teeth - he didn't like Mora's term for the people who asked them for help, but she insisted on it in terms of speed and clarity - and she was good enough at saving beggars that he could hardly accuse her of callousness too hard. "Name's Alex Whitman, in the junior class of West Roswell high. Pretty bad car crash, but it seemed fairly routine until he opened up his eyes at the scene."
"Right. To die so young - you damn well better save him, Hanson." He managed half of a chuckle in response. "Okay, well, do you know anything else about him?"
"Only a few other details come to mind. He's either dating or friends with Isabel Evans - and sort of pals with her brother Max, as well." There was a fairly blank silence from Mora's end of the telephone. "I told you about how my old boss Jim Valenti got the boot from the local council, and I was appointed in his place, right?"
"Umm, yes, actually... something about strange holes in his story of how he rescued that poor girl from a glass box in the woods, and two kids who had been around on the scene... oh. Those kids were Isabel and Max Evans?"
"Yeah." Tim groaned. "I... I've been making a serious effort to avoid them, actually, just because I still have no idea what was really going on between them and Jim, and I don't want to know. But - but if I'm going to save Alex's life, then I'm going to need to know more about him, which probably means knowing about his friends."
"Yeah, that's probably true," Mora agreed. "Anything else I can help you with?"
"Actually, yeah," Tim said. "Won't take long I hope. You said something about how there were... were people who could remember through rewinds too, who try to stop us from helping?"
"Adversaries, yeah." Mora nearly spat out the word in her disgust. "Phil Skalder cost me more saves than I like to think about, even after I found out what his deal really was. Just glad that I was able to find a way to get him well away from the business and my life here... and I hope that he hasn't managed to get his sights on somebody else with the Calling, under a fake name and different appearance, despite all that I could do to spread the word..."
"Yeah, but do they have any other special abilities?" Tim pressed. "I mean, they remember what happened up to the moment of the rewind, like... like I do, but I know exactly who asked me for help, and somebody else who remembers wouldn't, unless..."
"You were all alone when Alex asked?" Mora asked. Tim made an uh-huh sound. "Okay, well... I actually had beggars as for help when Phil was around a few times, but it looks like that doesn't apply here. The key question is, who knew about the car crash? And who had died in it? If any of those people are an adversary, then they'd be able to guess pretty easily that he asked you for help after a rewind happened."
"Yeah, that makes sense. Let's see..." He didn't bother listing the suspects out for Mora, since the names wouldn't mean much to her, but there were three of the deputies on his force, as well as Ashlie back in the comm room, maybe other people around the station as far as that went. One concerned citizen who stopped to see if there was anything he could do to help, and also... "Valenti. He'd been listening on the scanner, he said. He - he was heading off to tell Alex's friends, to see if they were at the usual hangout diner, and break the news to them..." He groaned in frustration. Did it make sense for Jim Valenti to be an Adversary?
"Well, I guess you're going to have to figure that much out for yourself," Mora said gently. "I can't backseat drive this case for you, Tim - I may not have lived through the day already, but I know enough to tell that it's going to be a busy one. But I know that you're ready for it."
"Okay, thanks," Tim said, but he didn't sign off the call just yet. "When Alex asked, he -- it was like he was trying to tell me something important, that I'd need to know, but he didn't have time to finish it."
"Yeah, that's happened to me too. They never can, when they try to say anything more than just 'help me.' Almost like whoever lets them come back doesn't want us to get any extra info straight from the horse's mouth."
"Just peachy," Tim muttered. "Well, thanks Mora. I'll try to make you proud."
"Do your best, and I'll be happy," she insisted. "Bye."
"Bye."
Tim hung up, reached out for some scrap paper, and took a little while trying to come up with his strategy. Everything that he could remember about Valenti's strange connection to the Evanses or any of their high-school-age friends. Starting a timeline, which was pretty bare, just marking when he woke up, and when the crash probably happened. Oh, wasn't that rich - here he was in Roswell, new Mexico, and trying to find out the truth about the crash. Stop 'the crash' from happening, even. Conspiracy crackpots, eat your heart out.
Hmm... he could probably note important stuff from his own day on the timeline, too, at that? Just in order to work out when he could investigate freely and when he'd be occupied with stuff like the civic safety committee meeting, groan. No, that should be a seperate column on the timeline from Alex's items, just to avoid any confusion.
Well, it was only six-thirty. He could get dressed, check in with the station on the car radio, and still have plenty of time to arrange a 'drop-in' to the cafe at some point when he could expect that some of the kids would be around. He'd have to play it by ear then, after seeing who he'd caught.
-------------
Isabel only puffed a bit as she coasted back into the front room of her house and a little above a sedate walking pace and checked the chronostop function on her designer watch. Four miles, in fourty-six minutes, twenty seconds. Not too bad at all. She opened the front hall closet and took a critical look at herself. Hmm, not too bad at least. She didn't really look any skinnier or more muscular than before she'd taken up the exercise regiment, but maybe a bit... lither? Sleeker? She'd certainly not complain about that, and she felt healthier, which was more to the point.
A shower, wardrobe change, and about four trial hairstyles later, she tried to figure out what to do next with her Saturday morning. No sign of Max in his room, or anywhere in the house - not that she was particularly insistent on finding her brother. Checking on if he was around was basically just something that she did by habit at this point. So what, then? What did she *want* to do now?
An answer immediately popped into her head so clearly that it made Isabel laugh. Alex. Whatever he might be doing, wherever he was today, she wanted to spend time with him. Was this what falling in love really felt like? She had thought that she was probably 'in love' with Alex the year before, when they had been a couple, but then... well, there were too many 'but thens' to go through, and even starting to go over the list would depress her. If she'd really been in love with Alex, though, she probably wouldn't have let the complexities and difficulties of circumstance keep them apart, at least not without putting up more of a fight - like Max had. As much as it had been faintly embarassing for Max to be constantly pursuing Liz and refusing to give up, she had started to realize that that kind of dedication and persistence said a lot about their love. Of course, Max and Liz's big prom night hadn't gone nearly as well as hers...
"Come on, you're getting distracted," she muttered to herself, crossing over to the table. Alex. Well, what would he be up to today? Practicing with his band? No, they weren't doing much lately, he had said so much to her, and in any event it was very early for some of the bandmates to even be awake. If she didn't want to drop by his house, (which would be totally obvious and maybe a bolder move than she had the nerve for yet,) then probably dropping by the Crashdown and hoping that he'd go by the cafe for breakfast was her best shot. Even if there were no Alex, Max might have gone there, and certainly some of her friends would be working - well, almost certainly, since she didn't have any schedules memorized, but since there were three members of the gang who had jobs there...
Isabel scanned the entire dining room from the front door, and tried not to let her spirits sink. Max, Tess, and Michael were all sitting in one booth, with Maria standing next to them in her waitress uniform and pretty obviously NOT taking an order, delivering food, or collecting empty plates. Instead, she was just talking with Michael, which seemed to indicate that the pair of them were not yet 'off again' after Michael's big last-minute prom arrival, (ending a particularly bitter little spat that had been touched off when he refused to escort her to the dance a few days before that.) Liz was on the other side of the room, actually working, and Kyle was at a table with a brown-haired girl who seemed only faintly familiar to Isabel, as if they had had taken some school classes at the same time. But no Alex.
So she headed over to the booth and glared at Michael until he stopped chatting with Maria and noticed her. "Yes??"
"Morning. Could you let me in, one way or the other?" she asked, waving at the empty spot on the bench past Michael. He made a big sigh and an even bigger production out of getting up and letting her slide over into the corner. "Thanks. Umm, hey Tess."
"Hi," Tess said simply, and shifted slightly in her own seat. To Isabel, the gesture seemed to emphasize how close Tess was sitting to Max, and Max seemed a little - well, it wasn't immediately that easy to tell how he felt about the closeness. Just what was up with them lately, Isabel wondered. Max had definitely been spending more time with Tess than usual over the past few days since the prom. A subconscious way of getting back at Liz for whatever she'd said to him, by getting close to the girl Liz thought of as her rival? Or maybe just following up on a genuine interest in knowing Tess better, now that his relationship with Liz seemed past the point of saving??
"Can I get you anything, Isabel?" Maria asked.
Instead of figuring out a food or drink order, Isabel blurted out what was her own most important desire at the moment. "Heard anything from Alex recently?"
It had been the wrong time or the wrong way to ask, she quickly realized. "Umm, I spoke to him last night, yeah, but not about anything - umm, that I'm going to tell you about."
"Oh, right." Isabel tried not to bristle at that response. "I was just wondering, well, if he was going to come by this morning, since the rest of the gang's all here and everything."
"Well, I don't think that Alex probably knows we're all here," Max pointed out. "Though he could, if you tried calling him."
"He sometimes comes in on Saturday mornings, but not every weekend," Maria added with a more helpful tone. "Probably not until a little later."
"Hmm, okay," Isabel replied. She thought about pulling her cell phone out and dialling his number - but somehow couldn't bear the thought of talking to him - calling him and dropping big heavy hints most likely - while all of her friends were listening in. "Okay, how about a flying saucer stack with the, umm...."
"The sausage probes?" Maria prompted, with a bit of a sympathetic giggle. Isabel nodded. "Anything to drink?"
"Yeah, pink grapefruit juice. Oh, and a poached martian egg."
"Sure." Maria headed off to put in the order, and Michael turned around to look a dagger at Isabel, as if she should have known not to mention anything about food until after he'd finished whatever he'd been in the middle of with Maria.
"So - how are things going between you and Alex?" Tess prompted.
Isabel hesitated, and then decided to open up in front of her fellow alien hybrids - at least a little. "Umm, not moving as fast as I'd like, to be honest. We, umm, we had a great time on prom night, and to the movies yesterday after school, but - but it seems like he's a little distracted and distant most of the time, and I can hardly stand it."
"Said the pot in regards to the kettle," Michael muttered.
"Huh?" Isabel snapped. But before Michael even had a chance to elaborate, she started to see the point. It would certainly be fair to say that while Alex had been trying to get closer to her, in more than one period of their acquaintance, she'd been acting *exactly* distracted and distant. She didn't think that he was capable of doing this to her deliberately, as some sort of emotional payback, but if he had stuff that he was working through, was it really fair to be complaining that he wasn't ready just because she'd made up her mind? On the other hand, they'd lost so much time already, and if she just waited for him to be ready...
"Maybe you should ask him what's been on his mind," Max said softly. "Let him know that you're interested, if he feels like talking to you, that sort of thing." He smiled slightly. "It could help a lot."
"You're right, and thanks," Isabel admitted, and then looked around for another new subject. "So, who's the chick with Valenti junior?"
"Sarah Eliott, I think," Michael put in. "Maria and I bumped into them at the prom, just before the chaperones started chasing people out of the gym by threatening to make us help clean up."
"Hmm?" Okay, here was a rhetorical opportunity if she could manage to put it off. "But - but I thought that Kyle went to prom with YOU, Tess!"
Tess remained calmly staring straight at her for just about a second, and then shot a sidelong look over at Max. Max turned his head to look back at her and made a little shrug. "Umm... well, yeah, but I have to admit that I didn't leave with the guy who brought me. After Kyle's big eraser room confession that he thinks of me like a sister, well... would *you* stay with a date who told you that, Isabel?"
"Hmm... no, actually," Isabel admitted, and randomly the memory flashed through her mind of watching 'Beverly Hills 90210' when she was eight and the same thing happening to Kelly Taylor when she went to the spring fling with Brandon. Might want to try teasing Tess about that, but if she hadn't seen the show, then it wouldn't mean much to her. "So, Kyle told you that you were like a sister to him, and Max - Liz told you that she was tired of waiting for bad news, and that both of you should stop pretending?"
Max shiften uncomfortably in his seat. "Who told you that??"
"Alex actually, who probably heard from Liz. So... is there anything else that happened at the prom that I should know about?" Neither Max or Tess met Isabel's look after she said that, which told her some interesting things. "Okay, I just wondered."
"How about you and Alex?" Michael started needling. "Just how good of a time did the two of you have? I noticed that you both took off at around twenty to midnight."
"Hmm... well, he took me to the park, and that's all I think you need to know right now," Isabel said. Right at that point, the doorbell jangled again. Isabel couldn't see the door from where she was sitting, but Max, (who could,) got an odd look on his face. "Who is it?"
"The man," he muttered in a near-whisper. Isabel went 'huh' and he mouthed the words 'law man' back at her, not quite silently.
And then, someone stepped up to their booth - the new Sheriff, Tim Hanson. "Morning, gu... good citizens," he said with a little nod of his head. "How's it going?"
"Umm... pretty well, officer," Tess replied, with just the same sort of slightly charming politeness that Isabel had seen her use when she'd been pulled over in her SUV. "It's a nice morning. Did you come in for breakfast, or just coffee?"
"Well, I could do with a cuppa, but I was also wondering if I might find Alex Whitman around," he said. Isabel tried to stifle her gasp. "Any of you seen him?"
"No, actually, I was just asking around for him myself, but... Maria said she talked to him last night, that's all," Isabel said. It was completely true, after all. "Is he in trouble or something?"
"No, no nothing like that. He - umm, we're having problems with a new computer, and I've heard that he's great at fixing that sort of thing."
"A computer down at the station?" Michael asked, some disbelief in his voice.
"Hmm? Oh, no - the office system is working about as well as ever. This is a new home desktop deal. I've already asked Deputy Ben to see what he could do, and my first line of tech support was thus quickly stymied." He sighed. "Could pay him some for the labor if he's willin' to take me on, of course..."
"Well, I'll let you know that you were looking for him," Isabel said, quite truthfully, though she didn't admit other things that were running through her mind - that Hanson's explanation of why sounded very fishy, like a cover story that had been thought up on the spur of the moment, and she'd be warning Alex to stay well away from him. All of a sudden, she wanted to hurry right over to Alex's place, without worrying about what kind of signals she'd be sending to him, or indeed about the fact that she'd just ordered breakfast and it hadn't arrived.
"Alright, mighty kind of you," Hanson said with no change in his own tone, and tipped his hat slightly. "Hope y'all enjoy the sunshine." And with that signoff, he headed up to the counter, waving to get Maria's attention for his takeout coffee order.
"Isabel," Max muttered in a low intense voice. She looked up at him. "I... I know what you're thinking, probably. But - but remember to keep your head down. Don't do anything that would seem unusual."
Right. That was always Max's strategy, no matter what was happening. (Or nearly always.) Just pretend that we're all normal kids. In this particular case, that doctrine would mean... that she needed to sit around, eat her breakfast and chat with her friends about finals and the possibility of graduating early and other stuff that didn't matter too much, and then, when she was done - she could leave. Yeah, that wouldn't be unusual. She could call Alex, or maybe just go over - going straight there might be a bit weird, but... but would anyone be noticing that much? Maybe she had better watch, just in case she spotted someone following her car.
"When's the food going to get here," she complained softly. That was definitely usual.
------------
"Okay, when's the new order for table five going to be ready?" Maria asked Terry, and peeked into the kitchen area for long enough to see that he was flipping blueberry pancakes. "Well, hurry it up if you can - I don't think she's going to be satisfied with the grapefruit juice for long."
"Hey, Maria," Liz said, coming out of the little bathroom in the back of the restaurant. "Tough morning?"
"Yeah, not quite sure what the deal is," Maria admitted, smiling at her longtime friend and going over to her locker. "Isabel's acting a little bit twitchy about something, and Sheriff Hanson was a bit weird when he ordered coffee too. Asked me about Alex."
"Huh." Liz sighed. "The sheriff coming in here for coffee isn't always the best sign I admit, but... what's that?" She blinked in surprise as Maria took a black spherical orb out of her locker.
"C'mon Liz - surely you remember the great mystical eight-ball," Maria said, laughing and shaking up the novelty toy. "Is Isabel pissed at me for something?" She turned the window up. "And the eight ball says... 'my sources say no.'"
"Hmm... okay, let's see." Liz put out a hand for Maria to pass the ball over, and she started shaking it herself. "Should I stop pushing Max and Tess together?" She took a look at the answer. "Heh. 'Without a doubt.'"
"Yeah, stop now that it actually looks as if it's working," Maria commented. Liz shot her a look. "Sorry, babe - I call them as I see them - they're looking fairly 'together.'"
"That had not escaped my notice," Liz admitted, starting to shake the ball again. "Should I try to get Max back at this point?" She turned the answer pane up again. "Reply Hazy, try again. Not going to ask it again right now."
"Yeah, that's good," Maria agreed. "Show some respect for the great eight."
"One more, and then I'd better check my tables," Liz said. Terry chuckled from inside the kitchen. "Should I give Tess a hard time and undercut her in front of Max?" Maria had a big smile on her face before Liz even got her answer. "Yes, definitely!"
"Well, there you go," Maria agreed. "But don't start it quite yet - wait until she's not expecting it."
"Sure," Liz agreed, picked up some eclipse burgers, (who the heck ordered burgers at 8:00 in the morning? But the Crashdown was nothing if not accomodating,) and a few bottled waters, and took them out to a table.
Maria and Liz timed their breaks to overlap as the morning went on, continuing to ask the great eight ball a bunch of different questions whenever they could. It's black glossy wisdom also cast doubt on Hanson's story of wanting Alex to help fix his home computer, and indicated that Michael would bring Maria flowers that afternoon, which she certainly greeted with some skepticism. When the subject of questioning turned to Kyle's new friend Emily, the ball denied that she was a 'floozy' and asserted that she was sweet, but refused to offer much of a comment on the pair's long-term future other than 'better not tell you now.'
"Okay, if we're going to ask it questions like that," Liz said, taking the ball in her turn, "how about two other people close to us? Magic eight ball, will Alex and Isabel be a couple at the end of the summer?" She turned it up, and arched an eyebrow. "Huh."
"Hey, what does it say?" Maria asked, trying to get in a good position to read over Liz's shoulder and bumping herself on the edge of a table. "Ow."
"'The future is in flux,'" Liz read. "I don't remember that one from junior high. You sure that this is the same ball?"
"Totally, it has the same little scratch and everything," Maria reminded her. "Let me see." Liz handed over the ball, carefully keeping the window facing up so that the curious message wouldn't disappear. "Hmm." Maria stared at the message, which was indeed not one of the twenty that she and Liz had once catalogued, since Liz was so sure that it was a twenty-sided geometric shape inside the ball that actually carried all of the messages. She paced across the floor, pondering what this sign meant, and stumbled, dropping the ball and sending it rolling across the floor, until it came to a rest under the condiment shelves. Liz hurried over to help Maria, and once they established that she was alright, the ball was retrieved - answer window down.
"Well, there's no proof now except what each of us remember," Liz pointed out, sighing. "Come on, let's get back to work. I don't feel like playing around with that thing any more now."
"No, okay," Maria agreed. Soon after that, Isabel finished her breakfast order and quickly left the cafe, and Max and Tess decided to head off soon after - together, which Liz certainly couldn't help noticing, but she didn't mind yet. Things were far from settled there.
"So Valenti, who's your friend?" Maria asked, heading over to their table with a coffeepot.
"Oh, come on, you know Sarah Eliott, Maria," Kyle said with a smile. "We've both got history with her this term, and she's a regular over at your mom's shop."
"Oh, an alien gimmick collector," Maria said in a dry tone. "Well, hi Sarah, nice to see you again."
"Thanks, and if you're offering refills I can do with one," Sarah agreed. "Ready for finals?"
"No, not yet, but they don't start until next Friday, yeah?" Sarah nodded. "Well, maybe by then."
"So, whatcha think of her?" Michael asked, falling into step next to Maria as she headed back towards the kitchen.
"She *is* kinda sweet," Maria admitted reluctantly, which was a response that puzzled Michael a ltitle, to judge by the look on his face.
"Well, I gotta go, but remember I'm picking you up at one. Back at your mom's place?"
"Yeah, I'll have just enough time to go back and get changed, wash some of the bacon grease off me," she said. "Got anything - um, special planned? Not that you need to, I was just curious."
"You're not getting any hints," he said, and bent down to kiss her somewhere between her cheek and neck. "See you then."
And Maria just stood staring at him, not quite sure what to make of anything any more.
-----------
"Hey there," Alex waved slightly at her as he opened the door. Isabel had ended up deciding on driving straight over to Alex's place after breakfast, and calling on the way to let him know that she'd be coming (and make sure he was home.) Of course, that had meant using her cell phone behind the wheel, which wasn't the best of ideas, but she didn't care about that. For some reason, she was so relieved to finally find him that she hugged Alex hello. "Oooh, umm, it's good to see you too, I won't deny, but, umm..."
"Are your parents home?" Isabel quickly whispered near his ear.
"Umm... mom is," he murmured back. "Dad had to work - left for the lab about twenty minutes ago. Why..."
"We'll talk in the back yard, I guess... sound alright?" Bemused by the way Isabel was acting, Alex could only nod and step outside of the house - he was dressed in huge floppy t-shirt, with big wide diagonal stripes alternating purple and yellow, and also blue jeans and sneakers. Isabel was suddenly conscious of the clothes she had put on after her morning jog and shower - a fairly short beige skirt, and a tight black sweater-top with a v-neck that was a pretty good example of 'tease.' Alex seemed to be conscious of her wardrobe as well, though he didn't comment on it out loud. Just before following Alex into the back yard, Isabel let her gaze sweep over the street, not sure what she was looking for. All of a sudden, a small slate-green two door peeled out of its parking spot and squealed off towards the far corner of the block. Isabel shivered, trying not to be creeped out by the suddenness of whoever-it-was's departure. Must have been somebody who'd gotten distracted with putting on lipstick or organizing the maps in their glove compartment, suddenly realizing that they were late for wherever it was they needed to get to...
It couldn't *possibly* have been someone watching Alex's house, who had panicked because of the way Isabel was looking at the street, thinking that he or she had been spotted, and decided to leave the scene as quickly as possible, could it??
She forced the 'alien paranoia' back down into the rear of her mind as much as possible and hurried after Alex. What she had to tell him about didn't help with the sense of nervousness. "Sheriff Hanson was asking for you, back at the Crashdown, Alex. Said something about wanting you to help fix something with his new home computer, but I don't trust that. You should probably make sure not to go anywhere that he'll expect to find you, untill Max and the others can sort out what the deal is, at least."
Alex turned around and looked at her, and there was a very puzzled expression on his face, especially in his eyes. "You... you don't trust that? Why, doesn't that sound a bit ridiculous? Not everybody has a secret agenda, Isabel. And lots of people do need help with their computers. It's perfectly... erm, it's reasonably sensible that I'd be the go-to guy for something like that. I've worked *hard* to be good with computers - like Brody did. Maybe I'll be able to make a lot of money with them the same way he did. Did I tell you about the computer companies I went to visit while I was in Sweden?"
"C'mon Alex, it's not about whether you're good with computers or not, it's something that I could tell from the way he was talking to me."
"Then, let me talk to him, and I'll decide for myself," Alex said calmly. "Or no... let me think this one through. If I'm not going to be anywhere that Hanson would expect to find me, then obviously I can't stay here at home. He'd have to be able to find my home address. So I should go somewhere unexpected... with you. Up to the pod chamber maybe, or the cave in the Indian reservation."
"Yeah, sure, either of those would be fine," Isabel answered, trying not to get too excited and to meet his calm with some reserve of her own.
"So you'd like to go somewhere remote and out of the way with me, Isabel?" She nodded. "Well, I guess maybe that explains why you didn't trust what Hanson was saying."
She nearly groaned out of frustration, but instead reached out, grabbing a fistful of his t-shirt with both of her hands, and kissed him passionately. Something flashed in her mind, but caught up in the moment, she wasn't able to make out what it was of before it was gone. "Do *you* want to come somewhere remote with me, Alex? If you say yes, then maybe we don't need to argue about any other reasons for it. We can just go."
Alex seemed quite dazed by the kiss, but in a good way. "I... I can go, but we should pack a snack or something... there's something in the kitchen..."
"No," Isabel insisted. "Your mom's probably there, and she'd just ask awkward questions. I've got plenty of money, enough for lunch and snacks, and gas if we need it too. Just COME WITH ME, please Alex."
"Al- alright," he muttered, stepping close to her, and Isabel was so pleased with that that she wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pressed her hip next to his leg. "So 285 north, huh?"
"Nah, the pod chamber's a bore on a beautiful day like today," she said, heading back between Alex's house and the one next door. "West I guess, we can stop in Frazier woods, or head up to the reservation... or just keep on driving and see where we end up."
"Works for me." And sure enough, Alex seemed quite content to get inside her mom's car, and sit beside her as she drove away from his house and towards the main road.
Things had worked out more or less alright on the surface, but there were still many uncertain thoughts nagging at her. Had the other car driving away really been innocuous or lurking? What was Hanson really looking for? Was there something a bit odd about the way Alex was acting and talking?
And - now that she could stop to think about the flash that she'd gotten when she'd kissed him... what did the shining blue light coming from all around and the smiling old woman mean??
-----------
"Umm, no, I guess that they must have left," Mrs Whitman said to Hanson. "He didn't say anything, but then, I suppose that's not so unusual."
"Umm... who else was in 'they'?" Tim asked her as informally as he could manage.
"Well - Izzie Evans was over earlier. I heard her voice when Alex went to meet her at the door, and then when I was looking for something in the spare bedroom I saw the two of them, umm, talking out in the back yard." She smiled faintly. "Looks like things are finally starting to sort out between the two of them, and I'm glad - he's really been moody all year because they broke up. But first prom - oh, she looked such a picture in that brilliant red dress, and now - well, they seem to be getting along okay is all I'm trying to say."
"Hmm." Tim thought all of that over. "I... I ran into Isabel at the cafe, earlier, and told her to let Alex know I wanted his help if she talked to him."
"Well, maybe they've gone off to find you - which would mean that they'd look at the station I expect, yes?" Gloria said brightly.
"Or maybe they decided that they have more fun things to do on a day like today than help fix my poor computer," Tim pointed out with a little laugh.
"Perhaps - but I know Alex enjoys that sort of thing. Well... I guess you don't need my help any more in tracking him down. If - umm, if you do find him, maybe mention that his father and I are going out with some work friends, so he's on his own for dinner tonight."
"Right." Tim filed this away along with the prom night stuff - the crash probably hadn't been long after his dinner time, but what had Alex done last time and had it mattered? "One more thing - how has Alex seemed to you lately?" Gloria Whitman plainly seemed a little surprised at the question. "Was just curious. Finals coming up and everything, not to mention reuniting with an ex-girlfriend who's had him out of sorts for a long time - that's a lot of stress for a young man his age. I vaguely remember the days."
Gloria laughed sympathetically. "Well, not that Alex ever has much trouble with his schoolwork, but yes, he has seemed to be acting a bit strangely lately. Since before the prom, I guess, though it's been... ~~well, I'm not sure, and I guess I'd better not talk any more about what I can't be certain of." She looked hard at Hanson, the first time anything other than friendliness had shown in her attitude.
"Right. Thanks for inviting me in, and the iced tea..." Hanson drained his glass, "and I'll let you be getting on with your own business. Have a fine day." He tipped his hat and went back outside.
In his car, he used the radio to hail Ashlie back at the station. "Yeah, has anybody been asking for me? Kids maybe?"
"Yeah, a guy and a girl, probably high school seniors. About Kyle's age."
Hanson didn't comment that Kyle Valenti was still a junior. "Isabel Evans one of them?"
She paused for a moment. "No, wrong Evans... Max. And the girl who Jim took in - his unofficial foster daughter."
"Actually, it's official." Hanson remembered when Social Services had shown up to do the paperwork on Jim's custody of Tess Harding - and that was another minor mystery. Soon after he'd taken over for Valenti, Tim had taken a look into the missing persons status of Ed Harding as a favor for his old boss - and been surprised to find that there was no trace of his predecessor making certain routine inquiries. Had he not WANTED to find Tess' real father - or did he have inside knowledge of some foul play that made it clear that there was no point in looking?
Well, that was beyond the point. If Max and Tess had been asking for him at the station, that suggested that they were trying to figure out what HE was looking for. And he - he hadn't figured out enough yet to sort out the mysteries of Alex's death if all of his unusual friends were actively working against him.
And then, there was Isabel's morning visit to Alex's house. Had that been a part of the way the day had originally played out, or had he already complicated the situation by scaring Isabel and maybe making her change Alex's routine? That *might* help him avoid the fate that was in store for him, but Tim felt that he couldn't leave things at that. Alex wouldn't be safe until he figured out the WHY of that car crash, if indeed there was more to it than random chance. Usually, his beggar cases weren't anything like that simple.
Which all added up to one uncomfortable truth. If he was going to have any chance... Tim picked up his cell phone and dialed. "Hello?"
"Hi, Valenti. It's Hanson. What're you up to?"
"Not much - trying to get some shelves built. You?"
"Um - nothing much, but I'd like to talk with you about something."
"Hmm." Valenti considered this. "You could come over for coffee. Have to be out before eleven, though - I've got an early lunch date with Amy."
"Right," Hanson said. Amy DeLuca - mother of Maria, who was also tied up in this strange teen clique. Like Valenti's own son. "See you in twenty?"
"That'll do fine, man," Jim Valenti said, and hung up the phone. Tim looked at it and sighed. He was going to have to trust that he knew Valenti well enough that if he really were an Adversary, if he remembered the previous day and was working to make sure that Alex ended up in that accident, that he'd be able to see it.
And it was quite possible that if all that were the case, then Tim's mission was in serious danger already. He didn't really have any special information to give away to Valenti, aside from confirming that he had the Calling if Valenti wasn't sure about that. And if Valenti wasn't his enemy, then convincing him of what was going on was Alex's only shot. Either he'd be able to see how to proceed, or he'd be able to tell the teenagers themselves. They seemed to be pretty good at looking out for each other, if it came to that, but none of them would believe him without an intermediary.
Hanson sighed and headed off towards the Valenti house.
So worried about other things that he didn't notice his car being followed...
TO BE CONTINUED...
