Shattered Illusions, Canon (K/T, A/Av) TEEN, COMPLETE 07-06

[Drogyn]

Shattered Illusions
by Drogyn


Type: Canon CC (Kyle/Tess) and UC (Alex/Ava)
Rating: TEEN
Disclaimer: I do not own the television series Roswell or any of the characters associated with it.

Summary: While Tess' carefully constructed web of lies is starting to crumble, Alex meets Ava in Las Cruces.

Author’s Notes: The story picks up from the show during the time Alex is in Las Cruces. The pairings are cc (main couple K/T) but with specific focus on a uc couple (A/Av). Diehand stargazers beware: this is definitely not an A/I fic. I posted a large part of this story about two years ago and never finished it. I have now rewritten the story and it will take a different direction at some point.

Also a great big thanks to my amazing beta tequathisy. You're the best!

Updates will be posted every Monday.

¬¬

Teaser

In the darkened room, Alexander Charles Whitman stared blankly in front of him. He barely heard the voice of the woman who was pleading with him. “Please Alex. I know it’s not fair of me to ask, but I need you. I’m relying on you.” For such a long time, he had longed to hear Isabel say those words, but this was just wrong. He wanted to help, but he also knew that she was only saying it to get him to do what she wanted. It just felt so wrong; this whole thing felt wrong.

“Alright,” Alex replied. The words came out barely more than a whisper. “But I just don’t understand why this has to be such a big secret. Why can’t I call my parents? Why does it have to be like this?” He knew he was being used. He knew, and still he complied. He loved Isabel, but at that moment he hated himself for being so weak.

“Alex, you’re just gonna have to trust me. You trust me, don’t you?” Isabel’s voice seemed to echo through the small dorm room. Her eyes met Alex’s, silently pleading with him to trust her.

“Isabel, I trust you with my life… and you know I will do anything I can to help,” Alex said. Despite the situation he was in, he still wanted to help. It was what he had always wanted; to help as best he could. Maybe he should just trust that she knew what she was doing. There must be factors that he just couldn’t see. Isabel wasn’t the kind of person to use him this shamelessly without a good reason. There had to be a reason he just couldn’t think of. There just had to be.

“Thank you Alex. I knew I could count on you.” She slowly brushed her soft hand down his cheek; a simple motion that made Alex shiver with excitement. He sighed softly and looked at Isabel one more time before slowly standing up and, without another word, walking out of the room.

The second Alex closed the door behind him, Tess Harding slumped back in the couch. Blood was slowly pouring from her nose and she had one hell of a headache. Mindwarping Alex was getting harder and harder and she had to ask herself how long she could keep this up. He was resisting more and more, and she couldn’t keep mindwarping him into believeing she was Isabel indefinitely. She had been with him for a little over five minutes this time and she felt like a truck had rolled over her head. But at least she had gotten him to go back to work.

However, Tess knew very well that even though Alex believed that he was helping Isabel, there were limits to how much he would take. He was beginning to protest occasionally. It was only a matter of time before he would stop listening to her anymore. She could only hope his work would be done by then.

Well, now that she had gotten Alex to go to work again, she figured she had better get back to Roswell before the Valenti’s realized she was gone. They were nice and all, but if they had any clue as to what she was doing… well, she’d rather avoid that conversation.

She stood up, grabbing the side of the couch for support as she nearly collapsed and stumbled towards the window. With a tired expression on her face, she peeked outside, just in time to see Alex exit the building and walk though the deserted campus of Las Cruces University.

“I’m sorry Alex,” she whispered almost inaudibly before turning away from the window and slowly walking out of the room.

TBC

[Drogyn]

Part 1

Alex sighed deeply as he stared at the computer screen. “God Isabel, why is this so important?” he asked himself softly. He had gone over every possible explanation as to why Isabel was being so secretive about everything, but he couldn’t think of anything that made even the slightest bit of sense. He couldn’t think of anything that would explain why she couldn’t tell him what was going on. In some way, he could understand that she didn’t want to give anyone false hope, but this was just ridiculous. And the thing that bothered him the most was that she didn’t even seem to trust him enough to tell him what this was all about.

His thoughts were interrupted by a faint sound from outside the room. Alex turned his head towards the doorway but the place looked as deserted as always. Still, he had heard something, he was sure of it.

In all the weeks he had been here, he hadn’t seen a single person in this building, so he had to admit he was a little curious. Moving fast, he stuck his head out of the office door just in time to see a figure disappear in one of the offices down the hall. Alex smirked; this was the most excitement he had had in weeks. Taking a chance, and silently praying it wasn’t a serial killer or something, Alex quietly walked towards the office in question, as silently as he could.

When he reached the office, he peeked covertly around the corner. In the darkness of the office, he could see a figure standing in the middle of the room. Two bright blue eyes stared right back at him. “I guess my stealth technique needs some work,” he muttered under his breath as he moved back into the hallway.

The girl; that much Alex could see, stared at him for a few seconds before slowly walking towards him. He had no idea who she was and whether she wanted to hurt him, scare him or talk to him. The way the girl was advancing on him reminded him of a predator inching towards its prey and that made him feel very uneasy. He noticed the large hunting knife carefully tucked into its sheath, which was attached to her belt. His eyes travelled upwards. She wasn’t very tall or muscular and she didn’t have a chain of human ears around her neck, which was always a good sign. Her blonde hair was just long enough to reach her shoulders but it wasn’t until she was within arms reach that he looked at her face and his expression turned from fear to laughter.

“Tess?!” he blurted out. “What the hell are you doing here and why are you dressed like Xena? Do you think that will help you get into Max’ pants?” he asked with an amused smile on his face. Not once did it cross his mind that insulting a powerful alien like Tess wasn’t such a smart idea.

She looked at him with a pensive look, almost as if she had to think where she had seen him before. “Don’t I know you?” she asked with an audible southern accent. Then, the left corner of her mouth lifted up slightly as she seemed to realize who she was talking to. “Oh wait. You’re Opie something from Roswell.”

“It’s Alex… and you’re not Tess,” Alex said as he realized his mistake. The nervous feeling in his stomach returned; didn’t those crazy dupes try to kill them? Though, he did remember Liz telling him about how Tess’ dupe helped save them, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t dangerous.

“And a cookie for the schoolboy,” she mocked. “It’s Ava, and isn’t it a little past your bedtime here?” she asked with a sly smirk on her face. Even though she smiled, she kept a close eye on his movements, ready to react the moment he tried anything.

“I’m working,” Alex answered. “So what are you doing here… sneaking around… in the middle of the night,” he added with a smile. Alex wasn’t an idiot; he knew exactly what she was doing, but he was curious to how she would react.

“Stealing stuff,” Ava replied dryly.

Alex had to admit he hadn’t expected such a straightforward answer from her. He’d figured she'd try to make up some excuse, but she hadn't. "Steal what?" he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

Now it was Ava's turn to be surprised. She expected a lecture, or at the very least a disapproving glare, but she got neither. "Just pictures of dead presidents. You know, the ones in the safe.

Alex smiled. "Wouldn't it be easier if you just wiggled your nose and made them yourself?" He couldn't put his finger on exactly why, but he didn't feel threatened at all. She had a knife and undoubtedly had the power to mindwarp him, but for some reason he very much doubted she would use either.

"I do not wiggle my nose!" Ava said indignantly "And do you have any idea how hard it is to make something as complex as money?"

"No. Can't say that I do," Alex replied.

"Well, it's hard," Ava said simply. "So, what are you doing here in the middle of the nigh, interrupting an honest, hardworking burglar during her nightly activities?"

Alex let out a short laugh, which Ava seemed to appreciate. "Translating alien language. You wouldn't happen to read Antarian, would you?" He knew the chance was very small, but he had to ask.

“I wish I did,” Ava answered. “Could I… could I have a look?"

She tried to mask it, but Alex could tell that he had sparked her interest. Or maybe she just liked talking to someone who knew who and what she was, because if Ava was anything like the pod people in Roswell, she would have kept her identity to herself and everyone else far away. Regardless, who was he to refuse? "Of course," he answered and started walking towards his office. Isabel would be furious if she found out, but somehow, Alex just didn't seem to care.

He led her to a large room filled with computers and an amazingly large monitor attached to the wall. He sat down and reached in the bottom drawer of his desk, and took out what seemed like a book. It had a peculiar look and Ava couldn’t decide whether it looked prehistoric or very advanced. He offered the book to her, and she took it like it was a priceless treasure.

"Wow," Ava said as she held the book. It had looked heavy but it weighed almost nothing. She opened it and stared at four images, one of them them spitting image of herself. The symbols on the page were a mystery to her though. "So what does it say?" she asked expectantly.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be working here in the middle of the night all by myself," Alex sighed. "Unfortunately, your guess is as good as mine."

"Sorry," Ava muttered. "So how long will it take you translate it?" she added as she carefully placed the book on the desk and looked at the screen where the same symbols were displayed.

"Well, in the past five weeks I've managed to translate a little less than nothing," Alex said. He knew it was stupid, but he was ashamed. Frustrated too, but mostly ashamed. He was supposed to know all about computers and his friends were really counting on him here.

"Five weeks?! Are you friggin’ kidding?" Ava yelped loudly. A part of her was even expecting him to tell her he was joking. Surely he hadn’t just spent five weeks of his life translating, or trying to translate, something that didn’t even apply to him.

"I wish I was," Alex said with a sigh.

"So where's the rest of the Hicksville gang?" Ava asked. It would be nice seeing Liz again; she was cool. On the other hand, she could go without seeing those dupes of Lonnie and Rath again.

“They’re in Roswell,” Alex said.

Ava's eyes grew wide and a smirk appeared on her face. "So let me get this straight," she asked. "You have been here for five weeks, translating that book or whatever the hell that thing is, and your friends are still in Roswell?"

Alex didn't answer at first and just stared at the symbols on the screen. When she put it like that... what the hell was he doing? Oh right, he was helping Isabel. She needed him. "Isabel needs my help," Alex replied softly.

“Look Opie…” Ava started.

“Alex!”

“Alex… I don’t really know you, but you really need to start growing a pair.”

The way she was looking at him indicated that she was dead-serious. "What is that supposed to mean?" Alex asked indignantly, a little louder than he meant. He was just being a good friend; helping out someone who needed him.

Ava smiled at him. “Look, I know what it's like to be manipulated by Lonnie. She was devious and she'd get you to do whatever she wanted you to do and then make you think that it was all your idea," she explained.

"That was Lonnie; this is Isabel. She isn't like that," Alex defended.

"Oh really?" Ava asked cynically. "Then why isn't she here with you?"

Alex frowned. "You know, you're awfully quick to judge for a thief," Alex snapped. "Why don't you just steal what you wanna steal, buy yourself that new car or something and get out. This doesn't concern you." He was sorry even before he finished saying it, but somehow, the words just kept coming out of his mouth.

Ava gulped at the harsh tone and cautiously moved towards the door. "O-kay, I've obviously overstayed my welcome here," she said softly. "Later Opie."

Alex watched as she quietly exited the office and take off in the direction of the office he had found her in earlier. "It's Alex," he said softly. What was wrong with him? He never let his anger get the best of him; not like this anyway. He just didn’t like the things she said about Isabel… even if she had a point.

~~

Alex worked behind the computer for a good fifteen minutes afterwards, but he just couldn’t concentrate any more. He felt like such an ass for shouting at Ava like that. He may have just met her, but it didn’t take a genius to know that his words had hurt her. Alex sighed deeply as he leaned back in his chair. She had only been trying to help and she had definitely been the most pleasant distraction he’d had in weeks. She was straight-to-the-point; one could even say blunt, but with all the secrecy going around, he wasn’t sure if that was such a bad thing. He even admired it a little.

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and decided that he had to apologize. With determined steps, he walked out of his office and headed towards the room he’d found her in earlier, hoping that Ava hadn’t left already. When he reached the office, he looked through the window and smiled. This wasn’t an executive office; heck it wasn’t an office at all. It looked more like a small kitchen and he could see Ava sitting down on the floor chewing on a chicken wing. She didn’t seem to see him this time.

Alex smiled and immediately felt even worse about his earlier comments. He looked at her for a few seconds before he decided that he didn’t want to embarrass her and went back to his office.

Something told him he would see her again very soon.

~~

The next morning, in the Valenti home, Kyle and Tess sat at the kitchen table, eating their breakfast in a comfortable silence. Kyle was skimming through the newspaper. After a few minutes, Kyle put his newspaper down and looked at Tess questioningly. “So where were you last night?”

Tess coughed heavily as she almost choked on the cereal she had in her mouth. When she calmed down, she put her spoon down as well and looked at Kyle with wide eyes. What the hell was this? “Last night?” she asked, playing dumb for a few more seconds.

“Yes, the hours preceding this morning,” Kyle explained with a smirk. “I went into your room to see you last night, but you weren’t here.”

He sounded casual and Tess realized he didn’t suspect her of anything. Still, her initial reaction had been so stupid that she might have sparked his suspicions now and she silently cursed herself for being such an idiot before composing herself.

“Am I supposed to file a flightplan before I go out?” she asked with an amused expression.

“No no, I didn’t mean it like that,” Kyle clarified hastily. “I was just wondering since, you know, Max and Isabel are out of town with their parents for a few days, I don’t really see you hanging with Michael, and Maria and Liz kinda… well…

Kyle struggled to find the right words, but Tess helped him out. “Hate my guts?” She didn’t sound very amused any more. “Well, if you really have to know, I went to see a movie at the ‘Plex.”

The smile on Kyle’s face fell when he saw the look on Tess’ face. “Look, I didn’t mean to imply that…” he started, before he was cut off.

“Yes you did,” Tess stated, shooting Kyle a firm look. “You are wondering what kind of nefarious scheme I am working on now.”

“I’m just worried about you, okay?” Kyle apologized softly. “I really didn’t mean to accuse you of anything.”

Tess couldn’t help but smile. He was worried? No one had ever been worried about her before. “I can take care of myself, Kyle. You know… alien powers and all.”

“I know,” Kyle said softly before a grin spread across his face. “So… do you have any plans for tonight?”

“Uh… I don’t think so.” She said cautiously. She couldn’t very well say that she needed to give Alex his daily mindwarp. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, I got tickets for the Coldplay concert in Santa Fe,” Kyle said suggestively, quickly fishing two tickets out of his pocket. He smirked widely when he saw Tess’ expression change to one of extreme interest, like he was about to explain the secret of eternal life. He showed them to Tess, who eyed the tickets like they were diamonds.

“I see I got your attention,” Kyle said, the smirk on his face growing wider and wider. He knew that it was Tess’ favorite band and he knew that if these babies didn’t get him a date, nothing would.

When Tess reached out to grab the tickets, Kyle quickly pulled them away. “I don’t think you realize just how much trouble it cost me to get these tickets,” he said. He was going to milk this for all it was worth.

“Be very careful Kyle. I would mindwarp for those tickets,” she said, squinting her eyes, but making it clear she wasn’t serious.

“That won’t be necessary,” Kyle said. “So do you want to go, you know, with me?” he asked, suddenly very nervous. Even though he really liked Tess, he had never imagined to be this nervous. He was a popular guy and he had asked girls out before.

Tess smiled widely. “Yes, of course. I’d love to go with you!” she said happily.

Kyle smiled nervously. “Good. Great,” he said softly like he just got lucky, which in his mind, he probably was. Kyle looked at her intently. The happy smile she had on her face right at that moment, made her more beautiful than ever.

“I have to find something to wear!” she said before bolting out of the room

Kyle smiled widely as he watched Tess go. Tess was definitely special, but he knew all too well that she was keeping things from him. The Plex was closed the entire week, so Tess couldn’t have been there last night. “Tess, I really hope you’re not doing anything stupid,” he whispered before a smile appeared on his face. He had date with Tess.

~~

The next night, Alex couldn’t seem to get himself to concentrate. He had done nothing all night but stare at the screen with a blank look in his eyes. Until last night, he had been thinking about Isabel and how happy she would be when he would manage to decode this cursed book. He had never understood why Isabel wanted it translated so badly, but he trusted her and figured that she must have had her reasons. Today, his thoughts were different. He kept asking himself if he was being an idiot for doing this and he kept wondering whether Isabel was really using him. Was he really stupid for staying here? Every braincell in his head told him he was being used, but his heart just couldn’t believe it.

“So are you just gonna keep staring at that monitor?” a voice sounded behind him.

Alex recognized the voice and unless Tess had decided to pay him a visit, which he very much doubted, that voice could only belong to one person. He turned around and looked right at Ava, who was leaning against a wall near the office exit. “So how long have you been standing there?” he asked.

“About twelve very deep sighs,” Ava said with a smirk on her face. She didn’t seem to even remember the harsh words said the night before. “So do you always spend your time like this…? Because that would explain why the translating thing is not going so well.”

“I always enjoy these little peptalks,” Alex said sarcastically but with an amused smile on his face all the same.

“Glad to be of service,” Ava replied, ignoring the sarcasm. Much to Alex’ surprise, Ava walked slowly towards him and sat herself down on the desk beside him, right next to the keyboard. “Anything you wanna talk about?” she asked.

Alex considered it for a second. He didn’t really know her, but then again, maybe that was a good thing under these circumstances. “Do you really think Isabel is using me?” he finally asked.

Ava paused for a moment. He obviously hoped that she would be able to list a few reasons for Isabel’s behavior. He hoped that she wouldn’t tell him that Isabel was not the person he thought she was. But as much as she wanted to say what Alex wanted to hear, she also knew that was a lie. “Helping her translate that thing…” she said, pointing at the book, “…is something friends do for each other, or so I’m told. But it has been going on for weeks, she doesn’t help; in fact, she’s not here with you at all, and she has cut you off from your friends. That doesn’t sound like the actions of someone who truly cares about you.”

“So… do you think I should talk to Isabel about this?” he asked.

Ava smiled. “Look Opie, I just met you, but you and I both know that you’re too much of a nice guy to just pack your stuff and do what any sane person would do, which is get the hell out of here. But when you talk to her and she gives you the sad puppy eyes and tells you she needs you and can’t possibly do this without you, you’re going to forget about everything and tell her that you’ll stay as long as needed.”

“It’s Alex,” he corrected. “And you make me sound like a spineless dork here. You don’t know me that well.”

“You’re in love. All people in love are spineless dorks,” Ava stated with a smile. “Well, the guys at least; girls can be cool about it,” she added.

“Icy would be a better word. Like that dupe of yours; it’s so obvious that she has the hots for Kyle Valenti and she’s still as icy as a polar bear in a meatlocker… why am I telling this to you?”

Ava shrugged. “You got me there. And I don’t think you’re catching my point here.”

“You don’t like Isabel and you don’t trust Isabel,” Alex stated matter-of-factly.

“Okay,” Ava said with a smirk. “Maybe you do understand my point here. Fact is, you just can’t say no to her, no matter what she does.”

“Okay, I get it!” Alex said loudly. Maybe Ava had a point, but she didn’t have to rub it in his face every three seconds. “Any other thoughts?”

“Well,” Ava said with a wide smile, “Maybe this is some weird experiment; you know, to see how long it’ll take for you to get smart and leave.”

“Well, that’s not… did you just call me an idiot?” Alex asked when he saw Ava clenching her lips to prevent herself from laughing out loud. “That’s great; that’s just great. Make fun of poor Alex.”

“I’m sorry. You’re just making it so easy,” Ava offered with an apologetic look.

“Yes, I guess I am,” Alex said, a smile forming on his face too. “You know, I went looking for you last night.”

Ava looked at him and immediately realized what he had seen the night before. In a fluid motion, she hopped off the desk and backed up a few steps. “So the dead presidents don’t interest me as much as some decent food. Sue me!” she said. Her smile had disappeared and she eyed Alex closely.

Alex looked right back at her. His expression betrayed nothing as to what he was thinking. “Well, you sure have the whole defensive thing down.”

“A girl’s gotta eat!” Ava screeched. “So you’re thinking what… poor little alien needs to steal to eat. Well, screw you Alex!”

“Well, at least you learned my name,” Alex said calmly.

“This is not funny,” Ava insisted.

“Do you see me laughing? Smiling? Am I making fun of you?” Alex asked, causing Ava to swallow what she was about to say. “But seriously, don’t you have any friends to mooch off?”

“They’re dead,” Ava said softly. “And I can’t get a job because technically, I don’t exist.”

“Oh come on, you’re not saying you can’t mindwarp your way through life, are you? It’s what Tess does and it seems to agree with her,” Alex said with a tone of discontent.

Ava was silent for a few seconds before she finally spoke. “I don’t do that,” she said uncomfortably.

Alex smiled at that. “You gave up forcing your will on other people? I’m so proud,” he said with a sarcastic tone, but softened. “Sorry, that wasn’t fair,” he offered meekly.

“You really don’t like Tess, do you?” Ava asked.

“I just don’t trust her. And it’s not just because of the mindwarping thing… every time I look at her, I can’t shake the feeling that she knows a lot more than she’s telling, and that she’s capable of anything.”

“Must be a hard thing to confess to a girl who looks exactly like her.”

Alex looked in her eyes for a second and smiled. “You don’t look like her. Not really.”

Ava smiled at Alex and sat back down on the desk. “I think that’s the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me.”

TBC

[Drogyn]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. I'm really glad that people seem to remember this fic.

Part 2

Kyle was driving Tess and himself from the concert in Santa Fe back to Roswell. Tess hadn’t said a word since they got in the car about twenty minutes ago and that was totally not like her. He glanced towards the passenger seat where she was staring out the window into the darkness. “Tess, are you alright?” he asked gently. It looked like she didn’t even hear his question. “Tess?” he tried again.

“Hmmm?” Tess said as she turned her head towards him. She looked sad and confused and that was definitely not the mood Kyle hoped she would be in after the concert. It was weird; she had seemed to really enjoy herself at the concert, but the moment she had gotten in the car, she was like a totally different person. One thing was clear to him; something was bothering her and it was something big.

“Tess, what’s wrong?” Kyle asked sympathetically. After the lie she told this morning, Kyle had started to wonder what was going on. Did she have an argument with Max? Was there another alien threat? Was she seeing someone else? He had to know.

“I’m just a little tired, Kyle,” Tess responded, flashing Kyle a smile so obviously fake that it sent shivers down his spine.

“Tess, I really like you and you can trust me with anything. Please Tess, just tell me,” Kyle pleaded.

Tess shot Kyle a cold look. “I said I was just tired, didn’t I?” she said in a tone of voice that matched her cold expression. She looked at Kyle for another few seconds before turning her head towards the window again.

Normally, this would be Kyle’s cue to shut up. After all, he knew Tess well enough to know that she wouldn’t share anything she didn't want to share. However, this time he couldn't just keep quiet. He knew something was very wrong and he had to know what that was. Maybe he could help, or at least offer some kind of support. With a sudden movement, Kyle gave a sharp tug at the wheel, causing the car to come at a screeching halt at the side of the road. “Now don’t give me that crap. If you don’t want to tell me, the least you can do is say that it’s none of my business! Something is going on.”

The seriously pissed-off look on Tess Harding's face told Kyle that he should have picked his words a little more carefully. “Fine. It’s none of your business!” she threw back before turning back towards the window.

“Well, that’s not good enough!” Kyle said loudly. He wanted to talk calmly, but he just couldn’t control himself. The more he stared at the look on her face, the more scared he became that something was really wrong. And besides, he knew that a calm conversation wouldn’t get him anywhere anyway.

Tess jerked her head back towards him, her mouth opened in shock. “Not good enough?” she asked incredulously. “I don’t have to justify myself to you!”

“I’m sorry,” Kyle apologized. “I know that it's none of my business and the last thing I want is to upset you... but that look on your face is just scaring me. Please tell me what's going on."

The expression on Tess’ face softened. “I know you just wanna help, but you can’t.”

“Tell me what’s going on and I'll decide for myself?” he offered.

“It’s better if you don’t know, Kyle,” Tess said softly.

Kyle took a few seconds to process the seriousness in these words. “Then just tell me this... should I be worried?”

He didn’t get an answer.

~~

“No friggin’ way!” Ava said, her eyes wide open in a combination of awe and disbelief. “You’re actually saying that you guys have the Granolith? I mean, I heard Lon and Rath talk about it like it was an alien holy grail or something. I always kinda figured that it was little more than a legend.”

“Well, we have it. Or actually, the pod squad has it,” Alex said, quickly correcting himself. “I myself haven’t even seen the damn thing.”

“Seriously? You haven’t seen it?” Ava asked, raising her eyebrows. “Those friends of yours really don’t trust you a lot, do they?” As soon as she said it, she gave herself a mental slap in the face. “Sorry. I uh… I really should think before I say something,” she offered meekly.

“Don’t worry about it,” Alex said reassuringly. “To tell you the truth, I’m kind of glad I’ve never seen it. For some reason, Liz always gets this look on her face whenever someone mentions it; like that thing is the reason she’s unhappy.” The more Alex had thought about it, the more he had become convinced that Liz knew a lot more about the granolith than she let on.

Ava saw the pensive look on Alex’ face and quickly changed the subject. “So, do you have any idea what you’re going to say to your ladyfriend?”

Alex smiled at her. “Are you suggesting that I have the, what did you call it… balls, to stand up to Isabel?”

Ava smiled back at him. “No, I’m wondering whether or not you’re still deluding yourself.”

“Well, I haven’t really thought about it…” Alex said before he was cut off.

“Bullshit!” Ava stated, a grin plastered on her face.

“Come on, give me a break!” Alex said. He tried to sound indignant, but the wide smile on his face indicated otherwise.

“Just go home Alex! You’re far too nice a guy to be used like this,” Ava pleaded, suddenly very serious. “If she cares about you at all, she’ll understand.”

Alex let out a defeated sigh and looked at her, his expression suddenly very serious. “I think that’s exactly the problem; I don’t think she’ll understand,” he said softly. “We talked about it before, and… I just know she won’t forgive me if I just leave.”

“Then she doesn’t deserve a guy like you standing beside her,” Ava said in a strangely comforting tone. “But if you decide to keep helping her, I’ll help you. You know... if you want me to,” she nervously added.

It wasn't really how she said it, but when Alex looked at her, he could see in her eyes how much she wanted this; how much she wanted to have someone to talk to. She may have looked dangerous from the outside, and she might have talked big, but her eyes didn't lie and at that moment, he could see just how fragile she really was. “And you don’t mind working with a spineless geek?” he asked, tilting his head questioningly.

A wave of relief washed over her face, but she quickly recovered. “Oh please,” Ava answered with a small grin on her face. “You’re not a geek. A real geek would have finished this weeks ago.”

Alex let out a short laugh. "I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult."

"Well duh, an insult of course... what? It's the truth!" Ava said indignantly but she couldn’t stop a grin from forming on her face.

“You know, one of these days I’m going to put you and Maria in a room together, lock the door and see who is still alive after a few hours.”

"No thanks. I think I'll pass," Ava stated. "I'd rather keep torturing you."

"You don't like Maria?" Alex asked, a little more serious than before.

Ava sighed. How was it that he could already see through her so easily? "Well, I don't dislike her..." Ava started. "But I've met her once and she wasn't exactly the nicest person at that moment," she continued. When Alex was about to protest, Ava quickly beat him to it. "And don't spaz out; I know that she had a reason to be distrustful at the time. And besides, if she's Liz' best friend, how bad can she be?"

Alex suddenly couldn’t control himself and laughed out loud for almost ten seconds before managing to get a hold of himself again. “Sorry, I just imagined Maria’s expression when you say those exact words to her face.”

Ava grinned. “Yes, I suppose that would be a funny sight. Do you think Liz could stop her from slapping me?"

Alex laughed. "Doubtful."

"Then maybe I should keep it to myself,” Ava said.

“That would probably be best,” Alex agreed. “You really like Liz a lot, don’t you?”

Ava smiled. “I think she’s the nicest person I’ve met in my life,” Ava said seriously.

In an overdramatic motion, Alex grabbed his chest and feigned pain. “I’m shocked and hurt!” he said. “I thought I was the nicest person you've met in your life.”

“Well, you thought wrong,” Ava said with a smirk. “But don’t worry Alex. I still like you.”

“That’s… well…” Alex stammered. “Anyway, I’d better be going back to my place. School starts in an hour and this isn’t exactly material we want to study in public.”

“I guess it isn’t,” Ava reluctantly agreed.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” Alex asked in confirmation.

“Yes,” Ava said, smiling widely.

As Alex closed off his session on the computer, Ava suddenly shifted uncomfortably. “Alex?” she asked cautiously. “Do you have any idea why she wants this thing translated so badly?”

Alex thought about it for a few seconds. “Maybe she just wants to be prepared… but honestly, my guess is as good as yours.”

“Alright,” Ava said, a little uncertainly. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, see you tomorrow,” Alex answered.

The two of them walked out of the room and after giving each other one more look, they both departed in opposite directions.

~~

“But why can you not just tell me? Isabel, I have a right to know!” Alex sounded almost desperate. As the hours had passed, Alex had started to agree with Ava more and more. The whole situation was crazy and the fact that he was completely in the dark about everything only served to make everything worse. He wanted to know… no, he needed to know what was going on.

“Alright,” Tess said. She knew it would eventually come to this. She had been fortunate that he had been willing to come this far. He thought she was Isabel, but that didn’t make him an idiot. “I don’t want Max to find out I’m doing this behind his back; not until I have something to show him,” she explained. It was actually the truth.

“But this is my life here Iz, and I feel like I’ve been in prison for the past few weeks. I want to help you, but I don’t understand any of this. I don’t understand why you want the book translated or why there’s no one helping us. I know Max wants to stick his head in the sand, but Michael would help you and Tess would probably enjoy a good going-behind-everyone’s-back thing.”

“Alex,” Tess said softly, trying not to react to what he just said about her. “I’ll be honest with you. Michael can’t keep his mouth shut to Max, and Tess…” she said, taking a deep breath. “Tess will rat me out if she thinks it’ll score her points with Max.”

“But you won’t even let me talk to Liz. If there’s anyone who knows how to keep her mouth shut, it’s Liz,” Alex argued.

“And you’re going to say what? Hi Liz. I’m actually not in Sweden. I’ve been doing research for T… Isabel for the past few weeks and it’s not going very well. Love you. Bye,” Tess said in a mocking tone, giving herself an enormous mental slap when she almost slipped. “It’ll only make her worried.”

Luckily for her, Alex didn’t seem to notice. “I guess you’re right,” he said quietly.

“Just a few more days Alex,” Tess practically begged. “If we still have nothing then, we’ll go home. Please.” She grinned inwardly when she saw the look on his face change again; he was buying it.

“Alright,” he reluctantly agreed. “A few more days.”

If she could have done it without betraying herself, she would have shouted Yes!. As it was, she just smiled at him gratefully. “Thank you Alex,” she said before standing up from her chair. “I’m sorry but I need to go back; Max is getting suspicious.”

”Okay,” Alex whispered and he watched her leave the room.

When Tess closed the door behind her, she let out a sigh of relief. She had got the result she wanted and could finally drop the mindwarp that was slowly making her nauseous. She took a few seconds for her headache to fade and her nausea to disappear. She took a few deep breaths and turned towards the stairwell. She let out a loud yelp when she saw Kyle standing at the end of the hallway, looking straight at her with an unreadable expression on his face.

She knew she couldn’t run from this conversation anymore and reluctantly approached him. Neither of them said a word until walked out the front door of the building. “Kyle, I…” she started.

“Stop,” Kyle said in a calm but stern voice. “Look Tess, what you do in your own time is your business, but if you were seeing someone else, all you had to do was say so.”

“What?” Tess asked confused. “I’m not seeing anyone else.”

“Oh,” Kyle said with raised eyebrows. He made a quick spin and reopened the front door of the building, ready to step in again. “I guess you don’t mind if I check it out then.”

“Wait, Kyle please!” she said loudly, begging for the second time in just as many minutes. “I can explain! It’s not what you think!”

Kyle froze for a second, then closed the door. “Who is inside that room, Tess?” This time, his tone of voice was demanding and Tess knew she was out of options. He would either go in and find out, or she could tell him.

Maybe she should just agree that she was dating someone else. No. No, that wasn't an option. “I…” she started before letting out a deep sigh. “Alex.”

Kyle looked at her questioningly before it occurred to him what she meant. “Alex Whitman?!” Kyle asked in a baffled voice. “Why in the name of Buddha would he…”

“He’s using the campus computer to help me translate the destiny book,” Tess blurted out. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew she was rapidly limiting her options, but she couldn’t let Kyle believe she was seeing someone else. She just couldn’t.

“Tess, please don’t take this the wrong way… but why would Alex help you?” Kyle asked. “Or is this some alien-only business again and it’s just us humans who are out of the loop… as usual?”

Tess sighed again. “The others don’t know. I…” she said before pausing a second, trying to think of anything to say that could explain all this, but she couldn’t think of anything. “He thinks Isabel wants him to do it,” she reluctantly confessed. Kyle had said he could handle the truth, so maybe it wasn’t so bad that he knew.

Kyle snorted in disbelief. “You don’t really expect me to believe that, do you? Alex is a smart guy and it's not like he'd just take your world for it and..." He suddenly stopped, as the realization hit him.

When he looked at Tess, she tried desperately to avoid his gaze and to Kyle, that said everything. “So... what? You’re just using him?” he finally asked, shocked that Tess would actually go this far.

“Look, I don’t have a choice okay!” Tess exclaimed desperately. “Max is not interested in anything that doesn't involve Liz, but I think we need to know what that book says. If there was any other way, I wouldn’t be doing this.”

“He is not some tool you can use and discard, Tess. He has feelings… you know what those are, right?” Kyle spat out.

“Of course I do!” Tess shrieked. “Do you think I enjoy lying my ass off to someone on a daily basis?"

“He’ll find out sooner or later Tess!” Kyle shouted. “How do you think he will feel when he finds out that all the time he thought he was helping Isabel, he was just being used by you?”

“Look, I never said it was a perfect plan, but if you’d rather wait for Kivar to attack and kill us all because we were too squeamish to take action, then be my guest!”

“Just listen to yourself!” Kyle shouted. “You take action behind everyone’s backs and now you complain that they’re not doing anything. There’s this thing us humans do; it’s called communication.”

“Pfff,” Tess scoffed. “They want answers, but they don’t want to sacrifice anything to get them!” she said loudly.

“Neither do you!” Kyle called back. “The only thing you’re sacrificing is someone else’s life!”

Tess swallowed at these words and forced herself to calm down. “It’s just a few weeks of his time, and it could help us all so much, maybe even help the world. That doesn’t sound like such a terrible thing, does it?” Tess asked softly.

“Maybe not,” Kyle admitted, also lowering the volume of his voice. “But that should have been his choice and not yours.”

Tess stared at the ground and she was silent for a few seconds. Kyle took that as a sign that she got the message. “This has gone far enough Tess. You need to come clean with him.”

Tess’ head shot up and her eyes grew wide. “What? I can’t do that!” Tess shrieked. “He’ll tell everyone! He’ll tell Max!”

“Come on Tess, don’t tell me you didn’t know this was coming,” Kyle said adamantly. “You knew you had to send him back sooner or later anyway. Did you think this through at all?”

“Well… I…” Tess stammered, avoiding stare. “I didn’t think it would take this long.”

“Regardless,” Kyle said. “You would have had to explain yourself to him. You can’t tell me you never thought about what would happen then, right?”

“Well,” Tess said softly. “I thought if the book was translated and it said something important, that everyone would forgive me.”

“I’m sorry Tess, but it’s been over a month. I want you to tell him. It’s the only right thing to do.”

“The only right thing?” Tess repeated. “I’m sorry Kyle, I don’t particularly feel like getting beaten to death with a baseball bat! In case you haven’t noticed, Alex has a lot of friends.”

“Then you had better think of something to make sure that doesn’t happen. You have one day, Tess. If Alex isn’t sleeping in his own bed tomorrow evening, I’m going to Max and you know how he will react.” And with that, he turned around and walked back to his car, leaving Tess standing in the cold night air alone.

Defeated, Tess put her hand against the wall for support. What on earth was she going to do? This had all gotten so completely out of hand. Alex was supposed to have that book decrypted already, Kyle was never supposed to find out… and she wasn’t supposed to give a damn about either of those things. A sudden wave of anger flashed through her and with all her might, she bashed her fist against the wall, causing a loud cracking sound.

~~

Just like the day before, Alex had trouble concentrating, but thankfully it wasn't as bad as yesterday. He slowly typed in a few computer phrases before thinking carefully about whether or not this could actually work. After looking at it a minute or so, he slowly shook his head and deleted the code he had just written. As he was about to enter some new code, he suddenly smiled. He had no idea how he knew, but Ava was here. Without giving it another thought, he turned around and right he was; she was standing right in the doorway.

"Gettin' better at sensing me, huh?" she asked with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, it's weird; I didn't hear you or something, but I knew you were there." One corner of his mouth then went up in a playful grin. "I must be getting psychic."

"Maybe you're turning into an alien," Ava offered. She definitely meant it as a joke, but she was also a little curious how he would react.

"Would I get a cool power? You know, like superhuman strength or something," Alex asked.

"Maybe a superhuman thirst for knowledge?" Ava offered.

"Thanks, but I'll pass.” He paused a second before continuing. “You know, I’m glad you’re here.”

Ava smiled widely. “Well, I’m glad to be here.”

“No seriously,” Alex said. “I really like having someone to talk to.”

“Thanks," Ava said with a grin. "For some crazy reason, I actually like talking to you too,” she admitted. “So how did things go with Lon?”

“You mean Isabel? Lets just say that it went exactly like you said.”

“I’m not surprised. On the upside, this means you can sharpen your witty repartee a little more.”

“You’re a real hoot,” Alex said before turning back to the screen. He waited a few seconds before nervously turning back to Ava. “Can I ask you a few questions? They’re kind of personal.”

“As long as you don’t ask how long it’s been since I got laid, ask away,” Ava said with a grin.

“What are you doing with your life now? I mean, you said that you didn’t have a job or a house or any friends… besides me that is,” he quickly added with a nervous grin. “I don’t mean to depress you or anything, but was just wondering.”

“Well…” Ava said before taking a long pause. Slowly but surely, her expression changed. “Can we talk about something else?” she asked softly.

“Come to Roswell with me,” Alex blurted out.

Ava’s eyes opened wide when she realized exactly what he was saying. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Alex.”

“I think it’s a great idea. Seriously, give me one reason why you shouldn’t go,” Alex pressed.

“Uh, the fact that everybody there hates me comes to mind,” Ava said matter-of-factly.

“Nobody hates you. Well, Tess probably will, but that just means that Liz and Maria will love you,” Alex said with a wide smile. “Look, I’m not trying to make you do something you don’t want to do. I’m just saying that you can start over there.”

“You really think I’d fit in there?” Ava asked with clear doubt in her voice.

“Yes I do,” Alex said, a big grin appearing on his face. “You’d look so cute in a Crashdown uniform.”

Ava raised her eyebrows. “Do I want to know?”

“You’d have to see it to believe it.” Alex couldn’t help but let out a short laugh.

“Well, I’ll think about it,” Ava said hesitantly.

“It’s just a suggestion,” Alex clarified again. “Think about it.”

“Let’s focus on the present issue first okay?” Ava said, trying to drop the subject. “Where are we on the decoding front? Anything but total and utter failure so far?"

"Hey, there is no such thing as failure. I learnt a thousand ways which don’t work," Alex argued.

"Hey, whatever you wanna call it Einstein," Ava said with a smile. "So can I see it again?"

"Of course," Alex said, handing Ava the destiny book, which was placed on the desk in front of him. "As far as I see it, it's yours too."

Ava took the destiny book and started to stare at the symbols. "You know, why couldn't those geniuses on Antar send a translation package with this... or better yet, write it in English?"

"Well, if you ever meet them, you can ask them yourself. Meanwhile, we have to make do with what we’ve got." Alex paused. Ava seemed to be staring intently at the book. He doubted that she even heard him. "Ava?"

"I know this symbol," she said with a pensive look.

"You do? I thought you didn’t know how to read this," Alex said.

"I don't know how, but a lot of these symbols look familiar," Ava said, confused. “Like this one,” she added, pointing at what could only be described as an alien-looking squiggly thing on the book.

“Okay, so what does it mean?” Alex asked expectantly.

Ava looked at the symbol for a few seconds more before handing the book back to Alex. “I don’t know,” she said apologetically. “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Alex said. “No one expects you to look at it for a minute and suddenly be able to read it. Even if you subconsciously know how to read that shi… stuff, it still takes time.” Without another word, he handed her the book again.

Ava frowned. “You seriously think I can help you with this, don’t you?” she asked somewhat amazed.

“You seriously think that you can’t, don’t you?” Alex asked in the exact same tone of voice.

“Hey, I can make coffee. That’s kind of the extent of my skills. And as for the computer, I can probably find the on-switch on that thing, but that’s about it,” Ava said, pointing at the computer.

“Ava,” Alex said. “I have spent the last weeks trying to decrypt it using the most advanced technology humans have at their disposal, and I’ve come up with nothing. You recognize the symbols which means you already know more than I do.”

“I have no idea what the friggin’ symbols mean!” Ava said loudly. “They may look familiar, but that’s it! I don’t know anything!”

Alex looked at her with a smile on his face. “Feel better now?”

Ava shrugged. “A little.”

“Look, all either of us can do is try. Believe me, I know,” he added with a sigh.

“Aw, do you need to be cheered up now computer-boy?” Ava asked mockingly with a smile.

“Go ahead and mock me, coffee-girl,” Alex rebutted.

“Oh don’t worry.” Ava let out a laugh. “I will.”

~~

In her room at the Valenti household, Tess was lying on her bed, looking up at the ceiling with a blank expression. Kyle had a point before; she should have never started something like this. But it was too late for thoughts like that; the damage was done. But to tell Alex exactly what she had done… that was just not acceptable. Even a nice guy like Alex would be furious and he would without a doubt tell his friends what happened and it would just be a matter of time before everyone hated her. They would never trust her again, and that was only if they didn’t drive her out of town.

No, telling him was not acceptable at all. Why couldn’t Kyle understand that?

She let out another deep sigh and closed her eyes. She had to tell Alex at some point and she wondered why she had never thought about this before. Her plans were usually so thought out but for some reason, she did this without thinking of the consequences at all. Was she really that desperate? “Come on!” Tess whispered to herself. “There has to be a way out of this.”

She was a powerful alien capable of altering what a person could see. She could go there as Isabel and tell him not to talk to anyone about this… but if he did, or if he ever talked to Isabel about it, which she knew he would do, things would be even worse than they were now. The thing that really made things complicated was that Max knew that she had the destiny book so any trail would eventually always lead back to her. No, she had to get Alex on her side or this whole plan would backfire beyond her control.

That was easier said than done though. She knew Alex was a genuinely nice guy; all of this certainly showed that, but even he wouldn’t understand this. He was nice, but he was not an idiot. So that still begged the question; how could she tell him?

She was so screwed.

TBC

[Drogyn]

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Buddha-boy, you can rest assured that lamptrimmer scenes will come.

Part 3

It was nearing three o’clock in the morning. Ava was staring at the destiny book with a pensive look on her face, trying to remember how to read it. At the same time, Alex was casually typing on the computer until he stopped and turned towards Ava. “So…” Alex cautiously asked. “Why don’t you tell me something about yourself?”

Ava looked up from the book. “Like what?” she asked.

“Anything. When did you come out of your pod? What was life like growing up? What’s your favorite kind of ice cream? You know, anything.”

Ava gave him a long look before turning her head back towards the book. “Strawberry,” she just said.

“I’m sorry?” Alex asked.

“My favorite ice cream; strawberry,” she clarified.

“Right…” Alex said, a little disappointed.

Alex’s tone of voice did not go unnoticed and Ava looked back at him, a little annoyed. “Why don’t you ask me what you really want to know?”

“I want to know you and I feel I don’t know anything about your life. What was it like growing up with those coldblooded murderers?” he asked, a little blunter than he had intended.

For a second, he saw confusion in Ava’s eyes, then sadness and then before he knew what happened, the sadness had turned to anger. She quickly stood up and closed the distance between them until she was within arms reach and pointed her finger at his chest. “Don’t you ever… ever… say that again,” Ava hissed. She obviously tried her best not to shout or slap him but only an idiot could miss the fact that she was majorly pissed. And Alex was certainly no idiot.

“Look I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“Yes, you did,” Ava interrupted softly. “You have no idea what it's like having to fend for yourself when you are six years old. We did what we had to do to stay alive. Besides, it’s not everyone’s fault that Lonnie was messed up.”

“And Rath was what… the picture of sanity?” Alex asked, sarcasm practically dripping from his voice.

“Remember what I said about Lonnie and how she could manipulate people? Well, she had been manipulating Rath for years. He was strong, but whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was completely under Lonnie’s control. It wasn’t his fault what happened.”

“Oh please!” Alex said loudly. “He killed someone and whether he was manipulated or not…” Alex suddenly stopped when he saw Ava’s expression. “You’re not talking about Rath anymore, are you?”

“No,” Ava said with a sigh. “We all did despicable things; not just him and Lonnie.”

“Did you ever kill anyone?” Alex asked, but at the same time, he wondered if he wanted an answer.

“No,” Ava said softly, causing Alex to let out a sigh of relief. “But I’ve done a lot of other things, and so did Zan. Please don’t ask me about them.”

“I won’t,” Alex said quickly. “But if you ever want to tell me, I won’t judge you.”

“Yes you will,” Ava said. “I mean, how could you not?”

“Try me,” Alex challenged.

“I don’t want to,” Ava said and quickly walked back to her seat and sat down, effectively ending the argument. She quickly looked back at the book, avoiding Alex’s look as best she could. She could feel him looking at her. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” Alex asked with a smile.

“Like a psychologist looking at his latest whackjob. Just stop it!”

“I’m not a psychologist and you’re not a whackjob. It’s just… I don’t know anything about you and every time I come close to learning something about you, you shut down. I know we just met a few days ago, but I feel I can trust you. I suppose I just hoped you would feel the same,” he said before turning around to face the monitor.

“Whoa whoa, hold on a friggin’ minute there!” Ava said loudly. Alex smirked widely; Ava was a lot more predictable than she realized. Quickly wiping the grin from his face, he turned around again to face her. “Have you ever done something that you’re really ashamed of?” she asked.

“No. I suppose I haven’t,” Alex admitted. “Though I did glue Vincent Winter’s hands to his desk once,” he added with a smile.

“You glued someone’s hands to his desk?” Ava asked with a smile.

“He cut my guitar strings. I got upset,“ Alex explained. “But back to the point…”

“The point,” Ava emphasized. “…is that trust really isn’t an issue for you, so it’s easy for you to say that you trust someone.”

Alex thought about it for a few seconds. “For a long time, I had a major crush on Liz,” he admitted.

Ava looked at him with a shocked expression. “What?!”

Alex smiled. “I even sent her a love poem once… anonymous, of course.”

“Of course…” Ava said softly. “Wimp!” she added in a cough.

“Liz never found out about any of it and I am trusting you that she never will,” Alex said, a serious expression forming on his face as he finished the sentence.

“Aaaw, that is so cute,” Ava said with a wide smirk, apparently having forgotten their earlier argument. “So what happened with that?”

“Well, I saw Isabel one day. Several girls were sitting with her but she was staring in front of her with a look on her face like she was the loneliest girl in the world. I felt like I could see her heart at that moment and while I knew that I would never have a chance with her, I also knew at that moment, in my gut, that I loved her.”

“That’s really beautiful,” Ava said with an approving smile.

“Thanks. I still love Liz, but she and Maria are more like sisters. And should you ever tell them what I just told you, I will deny everything,” Alex added.

“You know I won’t,” she said with a comforting smile. After she said that, her expression grew serious and a little sadder. “I never had any of that. Zan was my mate, my destiny and my friend, but I was hardly in love with him.”

“That’s too bad. How did he feel?” Alex asked.

Ava smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “I'm not sure. Zan could be really nice to me one moment and be a complete jackass the next. Truth is that he was just too distant for me to tell. He definitely wasn't Mr. touchy-feely."

Alex let out a short laugh. “Are you sure he and Max share the same genes?”

“The one time I met him, Max didn’t seem all that different from Zan."

“Well, you weren’t there when Max serenaded Liz with a Mariachi band, or when he confessed his love for her on live radio,” he said and he couldn’t help but smile as he thought about it.

“Really? Zan would die before embarrassing himself like that,” she said, the smile on her face quickly fading as she processed what she had just said. She silently scolded herself and turned away from Alex, letting her eyes rest on the destiny book. “Zan,” she said softly.

Alex felt terrible; he was the one who wanted her to open up and if he was not mistaken, she was close to bursting in tears and that was the last thing he had wanted. “I’m sorry. He must have been very special,” Alex said with a comforting smile.

Ava looked back at him with a strange look in her eyes. It wasn’t so much sadness; it was more a look of realization. “No… Zan,” she said, looking back at Alex and pointing at the destiny book. “I know what these four symbols mean… it’s our names.”

~~

Everything had happened so fast. One minute, Ava had recognized a few of the symbols and not three hours later, a page with translations came rolling out of the printer. She looked at Alex who seemed just as pleased as she was. He picked up the page from the tray and quickly read its contents. He looked at Ava with a confused expression

“Can I…,” Ava asked nervously. Alex said nothing and handed Ava the paper, which she quickly read. When she was done, she shot Alex a hurt look. “Am I to understand… that the granolith is a spaceship?”

Alex couldn’t help but smile slightly. Ava sure surprised him with that one. “That is the part you have questions about?” Alex asked, raising his right eyebrow and looking at her intently. “Because there's something right there about the second set… about you. It says right there that you are…”

“Stop!” Ava interrupted. “Please,” she added in a quiet voice.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said. “That was really insensitive of me.”

“This is not exactly reason for me to bring out the champagne, alright,” Ava said, hurt evident in her voice. “It’s not every day you find out that the sole purpose of your existence is to be found and killed.”

“I’m sure they didn’t mean it that way,” Alex tried, but he knew before he said it that it wouldn’t even come close to being convincing.

“Yes they did! God, everything makes so much sense now. I mean, why on Earth would they dump us in the sewers of one of the biggest cities in the world? They wanted us to be found!” Ava said emotionally.

“So maybe they did,” Alex said, shrugging his shoulders. “We’re talking about the decisions of some aliens on another planet over half a century ago.”

“Why am I here, Alex?” Ava asked softly. “I have nothing. No family, no friends, no life and now I don’t even have a destiny. You know, screw this!” Without another word, she stood up and left the room, ignoring Alex who implored her not to leave.

“That’s great. That’s just fucking great!” Alex said through gritted teeth.

~~

“Kyle, please!” Tess pleaded once again. She had thought about how to solve the whole Alex debacle and she had come up with absolutely nothing. She needed more time to figure something out.

Kyle sighed audibly. He cared about Tess a lot but he couldn’t let this go on. “I really understand why you don’t want to tell him; really I do.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “The longer you wait, the worse it gets, and Alex doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. God, I hate being stuck in the middle of this!”

A wave of anger flashed over Tess’ face. “If you hate it so much, then maybe next time you should trust me and not follow me around like a little weasel!” Just as quickly as it came, the anger disappeared from her face again. “I’m sorry,” she muttered.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Kyle offered. Alex was his friend and he couldn’t let this go on any longer, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t care about Tess.

“No,” Tess said without hesitating. “He’ll think you’re a part of this too and besides, it’s not your mess.”

“I don’t care, and Alex is a reasonable guy.”

“I’m still saying no,” Tess insisted. He was forcing her to tell Alex the truth, but regardless of how much the idea of doing that terrified her, she knew Kyle was only trying to do what was best. But if Alex mentioned to anyone that Kyle was with her, it would put a serious dent in Kyle’s friendship with the rest of the gang and she couldn’t let that happen.

“Well, if you change your mind, let me know,” he said with a comforting smile. He admired that Tess didn’t want him to get involved in this any more than he already was. He just hoped she wouldn’t do anything stupid.

~~

Over an hour after he had translated the book, Alex slowly slumped through the deserted campus towards his dorm room. He had waited for Ava to return, but that never happened. He couldn’t blame her for being upset; this was just messed up. He would go back tomorrow. Maybe she would have cooled off by then and come back to talk about it. He hoped she would.

He kept thinking about Ava, wondering if he would ever see her again and wondering if she would be okay. When he walked into his room, he was surprised to see someone sitting on the couch, waiting anxiously for his return. In the dim light, he recognized it was Ava and a wave of relief washed over him.

“Ava,” Alex said, the relief also apparent in his voice.

He turned on the light and sat down next to her in an effort to comfort her. “I’m so glad you came.” He looked into her eyes, and at that exact moment, he knew something was wrong. She looked like Ava, but it wasn’t her. He slowly stood up again and looked at her suspiciously.

“Tess?”

“Why would you think I’m Ava?” Tess asked.

The suspicion in Alex’ expression only increased when he heard Tess tone of voice. She sounded very friendly; not at all the spoilt princess she usually seemed to be. While that would normally be a good thing, he knew that it would probably have a reason and that he was not going to like that reason. “What are you doing here, Tess?” Alex finally asked, completely disregarding Tess’ question. “Did Isabel send you?”

“No,” Tess said. “Isabel doesn’t know anything about this.”

“Okay, then why are you here?” Alex asked again. He was genuinely confused at this point.

“Alex, I’m sorry,” she said softly.

“Tess, why are you here?” he asked impatiently. He didn’t mean to sound rude, but he had the distinct feeling that he wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

“I…” Tess stammered. She had imagined this conversation in front of the mirror several times, but in person it was so much harder. “Isabel doesn’t know you’re here. She never knew.”

Alex shot Tess an annoyed look. “Don’t start talking nonsense, Tess. She was here last night.”

Tess eyes were cast down. “No, she wasn’t. That was me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Alex said without thinking.

“I’m sorry Alex. I know it was wrong… but it really was me.” Tess looked Alex in the eyes and she could see Alex’ expression sadden. He believed her now.

“So you’ve been… you’ve been mindwarping me?” he asked, his eyes as wide as they could be. “How… why?”

Tess looked at him apologetically. “I needed you to decode the book… and I knew you would never do it if I asked you directly.”

“So you just decided to…” Alex said, letting the end of the sentence hang. “Jesus Christ, Tess!”

“I’m sorry,” Tess said meekly. There was little more she could say. She never should have started this whole thing; she understood that now, but it was too late for thoughts like that.

“You’re sorry?” Alex asked, a baffled smile appearing on his face. “Well that makes me feel so much better about the month I spent here! Tess is sorry; the world makes sense again.”

“Kivar knows who we are and he knows where we live. Unless we take action, he is going to kill us,” Tess said pointedly. “I know it was wrong, but I didn’t see another way. Max is only thinking about getting Liz back and Isabel wants nothing more than to pretend she’s human. They’re sticking their heads in the sand; hoping that as long as they don’t think about the impending danger, it’ll just go away.”

“That doesn’t give you the right to basically kidnap me!” Alex shouted. He understood Tess’ point; he really did, but this was just wrong.

“What do you want me to say?” Tess said desperately.

“I’m… I’m not going to discuss this any more,” Alex said and quickly walked towards the door.

“Alex wait!” Tess shouted. “What are you going to do?” she asked fearfully.

“What do you think?” he hissed back.

“Please, let me show you,” Tess said desperately. “Let me show you what I mean.” With that, she stood up and closed her eyes. She could mindwarp and that meant she could show him exactly what she was afraid of. She could let the world around him fall away until he only saw what she wanted him to see. After a few seconds, she opened her eyes and looked at him questioningly.

“Ava,” Alex said with a small smile, relief apparent in his voice. “I’m so glad you came back.”

Tess’ mouth opened in shock. “Oh my God,” she whispered to herself. “He forgot.”

Alex looked at her and his eyes squinted in suspicion. “Tess?”

~~

“You… what?!” Kyle shouted loudly. For a second there, he thought his ears were playing tricks on him. She couldn’t possibly have said what he heard her say.

“Now… don’t freak out okay,” Tess said, trying to remain calm. “He thinks he was in Sweden, just like everyone thought he was in the first place.”

Kyle’s mouth opened wide. “You can’t mess with people’s minds like that Tess,” Kyle said in a pleading voice.

“I didn’t have a choice!” Tess countered. “And I don’t see the friggin’ problem! I was screwed and he felt terrible and both problems are now solved. It’s a win-win situation.”

“You took his memories Tess!” Kyle countered. “I didn’t even know you could do that,” he added softly.

“I didn’t know either,” Tess admitted. “I just tried to make him see my point and then suddenly, he had forgotten our entire conversation. Look, I’m sorry but I saw an opportunity to get out of this mess, so I acted on it.”

Kyle looked at Tess for a few seconds. As much as he hated to admit it, she had a point. Alex would have told Liz and Maria and it would just be a matter of time before the other pod-people found out. And while she did violate his mind, Kyle had to wonder if it wasn’t for the best. It was wrong, but maybe it was the only choice to be made in the impossible situation she was in.

“What if he remembers?” Kyle asked softly.

“We’ll just have to hope that doesn’t happen,” Tess answered, equally softly. She hid it, but Kyle knew she was scared to death. Scared of what would happen to her if anyone ever found out, and scared of her new power.

“Tess, I hope so too, but three things cannot be hidden for long: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”

“Don’t start with the Buddhist thing, Kyle. I’m really not in the mood,” Tess said.

“I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Kyle said seriously. “You can’t believe how much I hope you’re right.”

Tess looked at Kyle for a few seconds before she spoke. “Look, I know you’re disappointed…”

“I am,” Kyle sighed. “But Alex is back home and you haven’t been lynched. That’s all that really matters. Just please promise me you’re done. No more doing things behind everyone’s backs.”

“Alright,” Tess agreed with a small smile on her lips. “I promise.”

~~

It was dark; dark and silent. The faint humming sound that previously filled the room was now gone. Ava stood in de doorway and peered inside. “Alex?” she asked to the darkness.

When no answer came, Ava turned on the light and looked around the room. For some reason, she half expected to see Alex sitting in his chair, smirking at her entrance. But he wasn’t.

Ava opened one of the drawers in the desk and pulled back all the folders to reveal the destiny book. She looked at it and frowned. Why wouldn’t Alex take this with him?

“Maybe it’s time to visit Roswell after all,” Ava told herself out loud.

TBC

[Drogyn]

Part 4

Alex stepped though the front door of the Crashdown Cafe, immediately spotting Liz, who was taking an order from the only two customers. It was eleven o'clock, so it was hardly rush hour, but a quiet time like this was rare at the Crashdown. When Liz noticed him, she smiled widely and walked up to him.

"Alex!" she said happily, pulling him close and giving him a warm hug.

"You remembered my name," Alex said with a smile. "Looks like I came back just in time."

"Well, it was either Alex or Dave, so I made a calculated guess," Liz joked. "Can I get you a drink... on the house?"

"Um, Cherry Coke would be great. Thanks," Alex said before sitting down on one of the empty seats at the counter while Liz walked towards the soda machine.

"We're going to get a detailed report, right?" Liz asked, her back still turned to Alex as she was still trying to get the soda machine to function properly.

"Of course you do. I brought slides," Alex said with a grin.

"That's very good. And on a side note, before you talk to Maria, you had better think of a very good excuse for why you didn’t called us like you had promised."

“Um…” Alex muttered cautiously. He actually had no idea why he hadn’t called. He had been busy, but he hadn’t been that busy. “I guess it just slipped my mind; lots of things going on and all.”

Liz grinned as she placed a glass of coke on the counter in front of Alex. “Alex, I love you… but you realize that Maria is not going to accept that answer, right?”

“I feared as much,” Alex said with a smile. “So… tonight at your place? I’ll bring my slides and you bring that smile?”

“Sound like an idea,” Liz said, the smile on her face still in place.

“So how are things going with you? Did you and Max…” Alex started, but Liz interrupted him.

“It’s the same.” Those words, hastily spoken, made it very clear that she didn’t want to talk about it.

“And you and Kyle?” Alex asked cautiously.

“Me and Kyle?” Liz asked, feigning ignorance.

“Come on Liz. I’m not saying the rumors flying around school before I left were true, but there was obviously something going on between the two of you. What’s going on with that?”

“Nothing,” Liz said softly.

“Okay,” Alex said. He wasn’t about to press the issue when Liz was obviously uncomfortable talking about it. “So how’s everyone else?”

Liz managed to smile a little. “Isabel’s just fine. She’s been on vacation to Hawaii with her parents. Actually, she just got back the day before yesterday.”

“I wasn’t talking about Isabel.”

“Sure you weren’t,” Liz said mockingly.

“I wasn’t!” Alex said indignantly, the grin on his face contradicting his tone of voice. “I meant… I meant Maria.”

Liz smiled but didn’t press any further. “She’s been great. A lot of heated arguments with Michael, but that’s where the Cypress oil comes in.”

Alex smiled. “Good. You know, I really missed this.”

Liz smiled. “You know, I really missed you too.”

Alex smiled at her and raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure you’re not just missing your computer partner?”

“Of course not… although my grade did drop dramatically after you left,” Liz admitted.

“Ha!” Alex said loudly, pointing his finger at the young waitress in front of him. “I knew it.”

“You just spoiled me with all your help,” Liz defended herself. “How am I supposed to know what the difference between a bit and a byte is? I don’t consider myself stupid, but when it comes to the computer, I can use my email and write papers… and that’s about the extent of my computer skills.”

Alex frowned as he got the distinct feeling that he heard these same words very recently, but he couldn’t remember. He squinted his eyes as he did his best to let the memory surface.

“Something wrong?” Liz asked, noticing the pensive look on Alex’ face.

“Just had this feeling... like deja vu... it’s probably nothing,” Alex said, shrugging his shoulders as he dismissed the thought.

Liz smiled. “I’m really glad you’re back.”

~~

Alex was exhausted and he didn’t know why. He had spent the night talking and laughing with Liz, which hardly qualified as a tiresome activity. Maybe he was still suffering from jetlag. Yes, that was probably it. As soon as he stepped into his room, he walked towards his bed and dropped himself on it face-first.

“Don't tell me you're suddenly tired past midnight,” a voice sounded behind him.

His tiredness immediately forgotten, Alex shot up and glanced around the room until he saw the owner of the voice sitting in the corner, smiling widely. "Jesus Christ Tess! What the hell are you doing here?!" he asked loudly.

“Don't tell me one day without me is enough to forget me,” she said. “Because that is not exactly a compliment.”

Alex looked at the girl sitting there, nervously fidgeting with her hands. For some reason, Tess was acting very strange. “Tess, don't take this the wrong way but... have you been drinking or something?”

The smile on Ava’s face dissolved. “Alex, this isn’t funny.”

“No it isn’t,” Alex agreed. He looked closely at the girl sitting in the corner. “And you’re not Tess, are you?” It was a question, but he already knew the answer.

Ava looked at him with her mouth open for a few seconds. Neither she nor Alex said anything for several seconds until Ava spoke. “I see,” she said softly. Apparently, their friendship ended the moment the book was translated. She stood up and took a few steps towards the door.

The devastated look on Ava's face did not go unnoticed by Alex and while he didn’t know what was going on, he hated that he was the one who caused it. “Hey,” Alex said softly. “What's going on here?”

“In have no idea,” Ava said softly. “I thought we were friends, but apparently I was mistaken.”

“Who are you?” Alex asked desperately. The look on her face was making him feel really bad and he had no idea why.

“Who am I?” Ava asked, obviously hurt by the question.

“It's... not such a crazy question, is it?” Alex cautiously added.

“It's not,” Ava answered, her expression hardening. “I don’t even know why I came over. Here, you can have this back.” With that, she took the destiny book from her coat and tossed in on the ground. “Goodbye,” she finished with a cold tone.

Alex recognized the destiny book immediately. “Hey! How did you get that?” he asked loudly.

Ava turned around sharply. “If you want to pretend you don't know me, that's fucking fine by me, but don't give me that bullshit!” she shouted.

"You're... Tess's dupe," Alex said in realization.

"So that's it, huh?" Ava asked softly. "From the person you trust, back to Tess's dupe."

"I met you once and I don't even think we talked to each other."

"I just translated that bloody thing with you!" Ava shouted, pointing at the destiny book on the floor. "And the moment we finish, you disappear!"

"I have been in Sweden for the last five weeks. I travelled, I skied, I ate Swedish food, which tastes like crap by the way and I visited a ton of museums, but I didn't translate any books." Alex's tone of voice was calm and persuasive. She was either seriously deluded or there was something else going on, but he had been in Sweden so it simply couldn't have been him.

"So you're saying that I imagined it all," Ava said softly. She was hurt and Alex couldn't even blame her. If she was convinced it had actually happened, Alex understood she was hurt.

"Maybe. Or maybe it was someone else. I don't know," Alex said with a sigh. “I’m sorry.” He didn't want to be the cause for the look on Ava's face, but he didn't know what else to say.

Suddenly, a strange half-grin appeared on Ava's face. It was totally out of place and it unnerved Alex. “Alright then, if I imagined it all,” she said calmly, causing Alex to nod cautiously. “I think it's time me and Liz had a conversation about a certain anonymous love poem.”

“Whoa!!” Alex shouted, running towards the door to cut off her escape, causing Ava's grin to spread. “How on Earth do you know about that?”

~~

When Kyle walked past Tess’ room, he took a quick glance through the wide-open door. He expected Tess to be out, but that was not the case and the sight before him scared him. Sitting on the bed was Tess and the way she was staring blackly in front of her reminded Kyle of his grandfather. The sad, and at the same time emotionless, look on her face was exactly the same and her knees were pulled up to her chin.

“Tess?” Kyle asked cautiously.

Tess seemed to snap out of it and looked at him, fear evident in her eyes. “Kyle,” she whispered, acknowledging his presence.

Kyle walked towards her and sat down next to her. She didn’t seem to even register it. “Tess, what’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.

“Nothing,” Tess quickly said.

“Tess…” Kyle gently pushed. “You can trust me. What's wrong?”

Tess looked at him for a few seconds and Kyle could practically see her last defenses break down. “Kyle, I’m scared,” she finally whispered. “I’ve never been this scared in my life.”

Kyle looked at the girl sitting next to him. She looked nothing like the confident, strong, all-knowing girl who came into town almost a year ago. Instead, she looked more vulnerable than Kyle ever imagined she could. “You’re afraid Alex will remember,” Kyle said. It was more a statement than a question.

“For starters,” Tess said. “Everything’s so screwed up and it’s just a matter of time before it all blows up in my face and when it does, I’ll have nothing… no one.”

“You could just come clean with them,” Kyle suggested. “I’m not El Presidente’s biggest fan, but he’s not heartless.”

“I… I can’t…” Tess protested.

“Let them hate you,” Kyle argued. “Let them think you’re the scum of the earth and not worthy of being in their precious inner circle. Why should you care?”

“Because they’re my family,” Tess rebutted softly. “Could you tell your father something that would make him hate you?”

"There’s nothing I can say to my father that will make him hate me, and if the same thing doesn’t apply between you and the other pod-people, what kind of family are they?”

“I can’t be alone again, Kyle,” she whispered, turning her face away from him. “I’ve been alone for most of my life. I can’t go back to that.”

“Hey,” Kyle said, gently turning her face back towards him. “You’ll have me. You won’t be alone.”

Tess frowned. “You know, I’m not a meek little girl who can’t live without your help.”

“Of course not,” Kyle said, unfazed by Tess outburst. “You’re a powerful alien who doesn’t need anyone’s help.” He looked at her without any clue as to whether he was being sarcastic or serious. “You know, you don’t have to be either of those two… you can just be Tess.”

“What’s so great about being Tess?” she asked, deadly serious.

“Well, she’s smart and beautiful, she can be really nice, she helps the people whom she thinks don’t care about her and most importantly... she can cook.”

Tess couldn’t help but smile a little and her hand shot out, slapping Kyle on the shoulder. Her expression then turned serious again. “I think you’re forgetting about all the lies and deception.”

“Yeah well, nobody’s perfect.”

“Kyle…” Tess said softly. “There’s so much I haven’t told them, or you. It’s not just the thing with Alex.”

“Try me,” Kyle challenged, fully ready to counter every argument she could throw.

Tess visibly considered it and after a few seconds, she nodded in agreement. “Alright... Nasedo made a deal with our enemies,” Tess confessed.

“You mean those creepy skins? What kind of deal could he possibly make with them?” Kyle asked innocently.

Tess looked directly at him. “Do you really need me to say it out loud?”

Kyle nodded.

“Basically... Max. Dead,” Tess said pointedly.

“He could have done that the first time he came to town. Why didn’t he?” Kyle asked, more curious than upset.

“Because the plan was for me to get pregnant with Max’s child first,” Tess said softly.

Kyle stood up and looked at Tess. “Are you saying you were going to go along with it?”

“I didn’t have much of a choice!” Tess said indignantly. “Living with Nasedo didn’t exactly work like a democracy.”

“You could have said something to Max,” Kyle suggested.

“Great plan!” Tess said sarcastically. “And while Max was giving me the cold shoulder, who exactly would have stopped Nasedo from driving a railroad spike through my chest?”

Kyle thought about it for a second. Tess had a point; telling Max the truth then wouldn’t have won her a place in the inner circle and if Nasedo was as cruel as she said, he could understand her hesitation to go up against him. “Have I ever told you about the wisdom of the Buddha?” he asked, seemingly changing the subject.

“Only like, five times a day for the past few months,” Tess said casually.

“Buddhism isn’t about worshipping God; it’s about finding inner peace. It’s about understanding and confronting what you fear. The only thing you need to fear is fear itself."

"That was Roosevelt," Tess argued.

"Maybe he was a Buddhist too. The point is, you should be asking yourself what would give you the best chance at inner peace.”

“It’s not that easy, Kyle.”

“Of course it isn’t,” Kyle agreed. “But you can do it one step at a time.”

Tess smiled. “Alright... and what’s the first step?”

Kyle smiled back at her. “You just took it.”

~~

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on here, but I was in Sweden.” There was no doubt in Alex’s voice. This had to be some freaky misunderstanding.

“No you weren’t,” Ava countered. “I don’t know what’s been going on, but you’ve been in Las Cruces for the past weeks. How else could I know about the love letter to Liz?”

“Anything is possible in this alien abyss that I’m apparently trapped in,” he stated. “In fact, how do I know you’re not mindwarping me right now?” Something in the back of his head said that he could trust her, but this story was just too crazy for words. He had been in Sweden. He remembered it and he had six carousels of slides to back it up.

“I already told you I don’t do that,” Ava said, a little frustrated. “But tell me this… do you actually remember your entire strip, or is it just a few flashes? Do you remember what happened when you arrived at the airport in Sweden?”

“Well, I… I went to the Olson’s house,” Alex said softly.

“So you stepped out of the plane and then you magically appeared at the Olson’s place?” Ava asked.

“Of course not… I suppose I picked up my luggage and I got a cab.”

“You suppose?” Ava asked.

“It was over five weeks ago and it’s hardly the highlight of a trip,” Alex defended.

“It’s not real!” Ava said loudly.

“You don’t know that!” Alex countered. “We remember different things, but who’s to say you’re not the one with the false memories?”

Ava sighed. “I don’t even know why I’m bothering. If you want to believe you were in Sweden, that’s fine by me.”

“Look, what do you want from me?!” Alex shouted.

“Nothing,” Ava said coldly. “Goodbye Alex.” She didn’t wait for an answer and dashed out of the door. A few seconds later, Alex heard the front door slam shut.

TBC

[Drogyn]

Thanks for the replies all.

I think Ava was being so harsh on Alex though. He was being mindwarped. It's not like he's forgetting her or snubbing her deliberately. And she knows that so why is she hurt and disappointed in him? It's not his fault.

It's not the fact that he doesn't remember that hurt her most, it's the fact that he seems unwilling to believe her. She's giving convincing arguments and he still holds on to the fact that his memories are real. It's really not fair to Alex, but he's the first guy Ava has trusted in a long time and she feels like he should instinctively at least try to believe her.

Part 5

The mood at the breakfast table of casa Valenti was strained. Kyle tried to silently reach out, but it was quite clear that Tess was majorly embarrassed and did whatever she could to avoid his stare. Finally, Kyle couldn't take it any more and decided on a more direct approach. “So, I see you're doing better.”

“Yeah,” Tess said awkwardly.

“So what are you going to do today?” Kyle asked. Last night, Tess had let her barriers down and he couldn't help but wonder whether that was a one time thing or if she would start to confide in him on a more permanent base.

“I don't know,” Tess said softly.

“Are you going to talk to anyone about what we discussed last night?” he pressed.

Tess sighed and put down the spoon she was holding before finally looking back at him. “Look, I thought about it and I never should have said all the things I said last night. I wasn’t feeling very well and it’s just too late to change anything anyway.”

“Bullshit,” Kyle said pointedly. “What you mean is that it’s easier to just do nothing.”

“Kyle, there is no way that any of them will want me around when I tell them that I lied to them, held back important things and basically forced one of them to help me. Really, it’s just better to forget it and hope…”

“Hope that it goes away?” Kyle suggested.

Tess frowned. “Look, I was a little depressed last night, alright!” she said loudly. “It happened, but you don’t have to make a bigger deal out of it than it is.”

“Tess, it’s your choice. As long as you’re happy, it’s fine by me. If you feel content with living like this for the rest of your life, you have my blessing. Just tell me that's what you want."

“I don’t have a choice. No one will understand… well aside from you,” Tess said, correcting herself with a smile, which immediately faded. “Nothing good can come of telling them.”

“Well, you can stop worrying about what they will do when they find out,” Kyle said. “They’ll be angry… but eventually they’ll forgive you. I can’t speak for the pod people because I really don’t know them that well, but if there’s one thing the others respect, it’s honesty.”

“Be serious, Kyle,” Tess said, a frown appearing on her face. “They don’t like me now and it’s not going to get better by telling them I’ve been using one of them for weeks.”

“Perhaps you're right," Kyle said as he shrugged his shoulders and continued eating.

"So... what? No Buddhist saying? No immortal wisdom to spare?" Tess asked sarcastically.

"Tess... you can't have it both ways." Kyle sighed deeply when he said it. "If you want to free yourself of this web of lies, you have no choice but to come clean with them. If you want the nightmares to stop, all you have to do is tell the others everything. Maybe they'll forgive you and maybe they won't, but you will be free."

"I already told you that it's not that easy."

"Nothing worthwhile is," Kyle said softly. "But I'm gonna stop pressing. You know my opinion, so you just do what you think is best."

Tess sighed. "I seriously don't know why I like you so much. You can be really annoying."

Kyle smiled. "Well, it beats having one of those little angels on your shoulder telling you what to do."

"Yes, well, that is fiction. This is real."

Kyle grinned and then suddenly his face became a little more serious. "Tess, I want to ask you something and I would like you to tell me the truth, regardless of whether or not I'm gonna like it." He looked at Tess expectantly until she slowly nodded. "Do you remember that day that we were going to do some uh... lamptrimming?"

"Uh huh," Tess said a smile and a nod.

"And you remember Liz interrupting and the whole circus after that," Kyle continued.

"You mean you sleeping with Liz?" Tess asked.

Kyle shrugged. "Yes," he said softly. "You know, a few days later, a rumour started making its way around in school that me and Liz had... you know."

"Kyle, if you're doing it, you really should be able to say it."

"Had sex," Kyle said softly. "Did you start that rumour?" he blurted out.

Tess looked at Kyle for a few seconds. He wondered what she was thinking. Either she was outraged by the suggestion and couldn't find words, or she did it and was wondering how to respond. "W... what makes you think it was me?" Tess asked softly. She sounded hurt and that fact did not go unnoticed by Kyle.

"Well, I didn't tell anyone, Liz didn't tell anyone, and while Max can be a real dick, I can't imagine that he would spread a rumor like that," Kyle deducted. "…So did you?"

Tess frowned. "No, of course I didn't," she said with a dead-serious tone of voice. "Why would I?"

Kyle raised his eyebrows in a don't-pretend-I'm-an-idiot look.

"Kyle, I love you! Why would I start spreading rumours about you in school?!" she asked loudly. It wasn't until she finished her sentence that she realized exactly what she had said, but by then it was too late. "Kyle, I did not spread any rumours about you. I would never do that to you, and contrary to what you may think, I do not hate Liz."

Kyle looked at her for a few seconds. He could have sworn Tess just told him he loved her, and the uncomfortable expression on her face definitely backed him up on that. "You don't hate Liz?" he finally asked.

"Kyle, I'm not an idiot! Liz came to me that day and she was so desperate to get rid of Max that she actually wanted to help me get him... and then suddenly, on the same day, you sleep with her and Max catches you? Come on Kyle! Since we're in the spirit of honesty, tell me this - did you really have sex with her?"

Kyle hesitated for a few seconds. He promised Liz never to tell anyone, but Tess asked for the truth and since he more or less demanded the truth from her, didn't he owe her the same thing? "No," he admitted. “I didn’t.”

"Something happened," Tess said knowingly. "I don't know what, but whatever it is, she's convinced that it's better for Max to be with me." She paused for a few seconds, taking a deep breath. "She still loves him, you know."

“It’s hard not to notice,” Kyle softly agreed.

"I was ready to leave Roswell," Tess admitted. "I figured that if Max didn't want me, there was nothing keeping me here. And then she came to me, and she got me closer to Max than I had ever imagined being possible, so I stayed."

"So you stayed for Max?" Kyle asked hesitantly.

"At first, yes," Tess admitted. "But then I started to feel more at home here... you know, with you and your dad. I realize now that trying to get Max is a complete waste of time. Even if he wasn't still in love with Liz; he just doesn't love me and I don't think it'll ever happen."

Tess paused for a few seconds, taking a few deep breaths. "I’m really glad I stayed," she admitted. "And in some strange way, I feel like I owe that to Liz. So no, I don't hate her."

"And it's a good thing you stayed," Kyle said with a smile. "Who else could kill an army of Skins by setting them on fire with her mind?"

Tess smiled. "Yeah... it's almost like she knew that."

~~

Alex stared at the clock above the kitchen door, watching the seconds tick away as he absentmindedly ate the sandwich he had made. He had spent the entire night thinking about his conversation the night before. He remembered being in Sweden, but Ava... he remembered her name now, seemed so sure and so hurt.

"So, are you going to tell me what's wrong or are you counting the seconds in an hour?" Liz asked. She was sitting on a chair on the opposite end of the table and looked at Alex expectantly.

Alex let out a deep sigh. "I had a visitor last night," he said and then went silent.

After a few seconds, Liz spoke. "Am I going to have to guess who it was? Uhm... Brad Pitt?"

Alex smiled. "No... it was Tess' dupe."

"Ava?" Liz asked, visibly confused.

"Yes," Alex said. "She said she was with me in Las Cruces for the last couple of weeks. Of course I told her I was in Sweden, but she was so sure and she knew things about me that nobody knows."

"So what did you say?" Liz asked, still trying to grasp the latest information.

"I told her the truth; I said I was in Sweden. I have six carousels of slides to back up my memories."

"Alright, so maybe it was someone else," Liz offered.

"Liz, I thought about all that," Alex said desperately. "She knew things she couldn't possibly know unless I told her, and she gave me this." Alex stood up and walked towards one of the closets where he pulled the destiny book out of the top drawer. He then put in on the table, directly in front of Liz. "She said she was helping me decode that thing."

Liz was getting a little freaked out. "Alright, let's take a step back. If you weren't in Sweden then that means that someone forged your memories, not to mention no less than six carousels filled with slides."

"Look, I suppose someone could have forged those slides but to erase my memory… that sounds like an awful lot of work for someone like me. Besides, who would do something like that?"

"Tess Harding comes to mind," Liz mumbled.

"Yes, but Tess also came to mind when you were missing a pair of shoes the day before I left,” Alex countered with a grin on his face.

“Alex, we’re talking about wiping memory,” Liz reminded him. “You have to admit that if anyone could do it, it would be Tess… and it’s not like she has a soul or anything to stop her.

“Meow!” Alex said. “But just because she could have done it doesn’t mean that she actually did it. Let’s hold off the witchhunt until we have some evidence.”

“Alright, point taken,” Liz said reluctantly. “So what are you going to do?”

“Uh, why do you think I asked you to come over here? I have no friggin clue!”

Liz smiled. “Well, I can take a look at those slides. If they’re not real, maybe there’s a clue in them, but I have to say it’s kind of a longshot.”

Alex sagged back into his chair. “I’m stressing out over nothing, aren’t I?”

“Maybe,” Liz admitted. “But Ava is a nice girl and I can’t image she would just make up something like this.”

“You’ve known her for two days, Liz,” Alex argued. “I like her too, but we know nothing about her.”

Liz’ smile suddenly widened. “Ooooh,” Liz said in realization. “Right.”

Alex raised his eyebrows in both suspicion and curiosity. “What? What are you talking about?”

Liz just grinned at him, visibly enjoying watching him figure out what she meant by himself.

“What… you mean Ava…? No!” Alex denied emphatically.

“If you say so,” Liz said, the grin still firmly in place.

“Hello!” Alex said, waving his arms above his head. “Memory loss. Strange alien. World in peril! Any of those things ring a bell?”

“Way to be overdramatic Alex,” Liz scoffed. “So, how did your conversation with her end?”

Alex sighed. “I don’t think I handled that part very well. She got kind of upset… I don’t think she’ll come back.”

“Oh, she’ll be back,” Liz said with a grin.

“What do I do, Liz?” Alex asked desperately. “This is insane. How can I believe her and at the same time not believe her? I mean, it’s crazy what she said, but she had that alien book-thing and she knew something she couldn’t have known. It’s just impossible either way.”

“Well, what did she know that had you freaked out like this? Maybe there’s a perfectly logical explanation for her knowing,” Liz offered.

Alex’ eyes opened wide in terror. “That uh… that’s not really the point, is it?”

Liz smiled at him. “Something I’m not supposed to know about?” she asked sweetly.

“Just ancient history; very ancient history,” Alex said quickly.

Of course, Alex’s evasive answers didn’t go unnoticed to Liz. “She knew about the poem, didn’t she?” she asked softly.

Alex coughed in surprise. “What? How? What?”

Liz smiled. “Come on Alex. If you send a girl you’ve known for years a handwritten letter, she’s going to know you wrote it,” she explained.

“That was…” Alex said before pausing and frowning. “…really stupid of me.”

“I thought it was sweet,” Liz said comfortingly.

Alex smiled meekly. “And you knew all those years? Why didn’t you say anything?”

Liz shrugged. “I didn’t want to embarrass you and I figured you would tell me when you were ready. I didn’t want to lose one of my best friends.”

Alex smiled. “Alright,” he said softly before quickly steering away from this uncomfortable subject. “But anyway, it’s something that Ava couldn’t have known. And even if I were with her, I very much doubt I would have told her this.”

Liz shook her head. “This is really a strange case. I mean, how did she get that book in the first place? I thought Max kept it someplace safe.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too,” Alex agreed.

“Well, maybe he didn’t… or maybe this is just a replica that the other set had,” Liz tried, before letting out a sigh. “I’m just making this up as I go along.”

Alex thought about it for a moment. This was all just too strange to make any sense of. “Okay, you look at the pictures and I’ll go ask about that thing,” he said, pointing at the book on the table.

~~

Tess cautiously stepped into the empty dorm room. The blinds only let through the tiniest bit on sunlight, basking the room in an eerie glow. How could she have been this stupid? How could she forget to bring back something as important as the destiny book? She knew she wouldn’t find it here, but this was as good a place to start as any. Alex must have hidden it somewhere near the computer he was working on, but she didn’t even know where that was.

“Looking for something?” a familiar voice sounded though the room. It sounded strained and definitely not happy.

Reacting quickly, Tess’ hand shot for the light switch, brightly illuminating the room. She looked towards the direction the voice came from and saw a familiar figure. “Who…” Tess started before realization struck. “Ava?”

“Yeah,” Ava said as she quickly advanced towards Tess until she was within arms reach. “I should have known Lon wouldn’t have the guts to come back here herself.”

Tess looked at Ava. When they met a few months earlier, Ava had looked so different from her with the piercings, tattoos and purple hair, but now the only giveaway was the wardrobe. Tess also noticed the knife attached to her belt and she swallowed as she took a step backwards. “W… what are you doing here?” Tess stammered.

“Waiting,” Ava said firmly as she took a step forward, closing the distance again. “What are you doing here?” Ava asked firmly.

“Well, I was… I…” Tess stammered. Ava obviously knew about Alex and there was nothing she could say that would explain why she was here.

“Let me ask you an easier question,” Ava said sarcastically. “What did you and Lon do to Alex?”

Tess recovered from the initial shock and stared back at Ava. “I don’t really think that’s any of your business. How do you know Alex anyway?”

“I was here with him, and the day he finished, he left without a word and now suddenly, he doesn’t remember a thing. Your doing?” Ava asked suspiciously.

“I guess it’s little use denying it,” Tess said softly.

Ava sighed and took a step backwards, giving Tess some much appreciated breathing space. “I don’t get it,” she said. “He would have done anything for her.”

“Like I said, I don’t think that’s really any of your business,” Tess said defiantly before Ava’s words suddenly registered. “Wait a minute. He finished it?!” Tess asked loudly.

A grin appeared on Ava’s face. “Well yes… oh, I’m sorry,” she said sweetly. “I forgot for a second that it wasn’t my business.”

Tess took a few deep breaths. The sudden urge to beat the information out of her was huge, but aside from the fact that Ava looked more than able to defend herself, this was not the route she wanted this conversation to take. “Look, this is not a game. What did the book say?”

Ava squinted her eyes and looked straight into Tess’ eyes. “Screw. You,” she said in a dark voice.

“I’m sorry for what happened to Alex, but we’re fighting a war here,” Tess argued.

“No you’re not,” Ava countered. “You think if you can help Lon translate that book that it’ll make everyone suddenly like you.”

The last hint of a smile disappeared from Tess’ face. “Now you listen to me…”

“No,” Ava interrupted. “How about you listen to me! Give Alex his memory back. Now!” Ava demanded.

“How on Earth am I supposed to do that?” Tess asked loudly. “I don’t have much experience in the matter, but wiping memory kinda sounds like a one way thing. Besides, if you know so much, why don’t you do it?”

“I don’t mindrape and you evidently do,” Ava said firmly. “You caused it... you figure out a way to fix it!”

Tess’ mouth opened wide in shock. “Mind… rape?!” she said indignantly. “How dare you! You have no idea what happened!”

“Wait, don’t tell me; let me guess. You’re the victim,” Ava said sarcastically. “You had no choice. You had to do it to protect the greater good, the lives of fluffy puppies and the spirit of Christmas.”

Tess was seething but she did her very best to hide it. “Look, you can ridicule me all you want. He was working here for five weeks and now he remembers having a wonderful time in Sweden. I admit it’s a bit extreme, but it solved a lot of problems.”

“You mean it solved your problems… but he’ll find out eventually,” Ava said sternly.

“No he won’t,” Tess said. “He’ll believe what his memory tells him.” She was surprised at how certain she sounded. The reality was that she had no clue whether the memory loss would be permanent.

“I don’t think you’re giving him enough credit.” Ava’s voice was soft but she sounded just as sure of herself as Tess.

Tess tilted her head and looked at Ava with surprise in her eyes. “You have a thing for him,” Tess said with a small smile on her lips.

“I do not have a thing for him,” Ava firmly denied.

Tess’ smile grew wider. “Friendly advice, don’t get too attached. He is totally obsessed with Isabel.”

“That will stop when he finds out what she did,” Ava countered.

Tess looked at Ava like she had gone completely insane. “Do you have Gandarium for brains or something? “ Tess asked sarcastically. “Isabel has nothing to do with this.”

Ava closely examined Tess’ expression. She wasn’t kidding. “I’m sorry, alright,” Tess apologized when she saw Ava’s shocked expression. “Alex would have told Isabel what I did and I couldn’t let that happen. I understand that this was the wrong move, but it was already too late when I realized it.”

Ava squinted her eyes. “You know, he already told me that he didn’t trust you,” she said softly before she let out a short laugh. “He had no idea how bloody right he was.”

“Then what do you think I should have done?” Tess said indignantly. “He would have been devastated and I would have been majorly screwed!”

“You’re lying yourself into a corner and believe me, that corner just gets smaller and smaller. You don’t honestly think this will never come out, do you?”

Tess snorted. “You sound like Kyle.”

Ava smiled. “He sounds like a smart guy. Does he know what a backstabbing bitch you are?”

Tess swallowed and averted her gaze. “No,” she lied.

“Poor him,” Ava scoffed.

“I don’t want everybody to hate me. Does that make me such a bad person?” Tess asked.

“You lied to Alex for five weeks and then you wiped his mind! He did everything you wanted and you spat on him!” Ava shouted. “I can’t believe you and I share the same genes.”

Tess frowned. “I am trying to do what’s best for everyone. I admit I should have gone about it a different way but I for one am desperate. Kivar knows who we are and he knows we have the granolith. He will not just do nothing.”

Ava let out a sigh of frustration. “Look, you tell yourself whatever you want so you can sleep at night. We’re done here.” With that, she brushed past Tess and walked out of the door.

Tess was stunned for a few seconds. “What about the book?” she finally called after Ava.

“Ask Alex!” Ava shouted angrily from outside the room.

And then it was silent.

TBC

[Drogyn]

Sorry for the short delay everyone. Have fun reading.

Part 6

"Tess, I know this is bad, but please don't freak out," Kyle said cautiously. The two of them sat on the couch together, facing each other, and Tess' erratic breathing and the fact that she couldn't sit still showed that she was anything but calm.

Tess looked at him with a look of desperation. "Don't freak out? That's your great advice? Don't freak out!"

Kyle sighed. "What do you want me to say? I told you secrets have a way of coming out sooner or later and in this case, it's gonna be sooner."

Tess hung her head and rubbed her forehead. "It's over. She knows what happened and she's furious about what I did to Alex. And I can't even say I blame her."

Kyle cautiously leaned forward and put his arm around her, letting out a small sigh of relief when she didn't object. "Nothing has changed since last night, Tess. Everything I told you then still applies. They might understand or at least show some understanding and even if they don't, it's not the end of the world."

"I just don't understand what's going on with me lately," Tess said desperately. "I stay calm, I think things through and I don't get attached. Do I look calm to you... or detached?"

"Maybe you're more human than you thought," Kyle said comfortingly. "Seriously, you screwed up but your friends wouldn't be your friends if they couldn't find a way to forgive you."

Tess looked up at Kyle with an unreadable expression. "They're not my friends," she said softly. "They tolerate me because we're the same species."

Kyle looked at Tess, a little taken aback by this confession. "That can't be true."

"Kyle... Max hates everything about his destiny, and the fact that he was supposed to be with someone other than his perfect Liz frightens the hell out of him. Trust me, if he thought for a second that he wouldn't need my help someday, he wouldn't want to be anywhere near me."

"He took you to New York," Kyle argued. "That's gotta count for something."

Tess smiled slightly. "You know, when he asked me to go with him, I was ecstatic. After what happened with you and Liz, I thought he was finally beginning to open up." She let out a heavy sigh. "It didn't occur to me until later that he was just using me to hurt Liz."

Kyle shook his head in confusion. "Then please, answer me this. If Max, Michael and Isabel aren't really your friends..."

Tess didn’t even let him finish. "I don’t know, I…” She suddenly stopped as she looked through the window and noticed someone approaching the front door. “Is that Liz?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Kyle said as he walked to the front door, opening it just before Liz could ring the doorbell.

“Hey,” Kyle said in a friendly tone of voice.

“Hey,” Liz mimicked. “I was wondering… is Tess here?” she asked hesitantly.

“Yeah. She’s in the living room. Come in,” he said, stepping aside to allow her to enter.

“Thanks,” Liz said gratefully, walking past him and into the living room. There, she saw Tess sitting on the couch. She looked strange; almost sad, and Liz wondered what she had just walked in on.

“Hi,” Liz greeted casually.

“Hey,” Tess said cautiously.

“Tess, I have a strange situation,” Liz began. “I think something happened to Alex in the last couple of weeks.”

“You mean when he was in Sweden?” Kyle asked. Tess looked at Kyle with surprise visible on her face. Nothing in his voice or expression indicated that he knew more than he was saying.

“He wasn’t in Sweden,” Liz stated. “He was in Las Cruces but his memory has been wiped. The slides he brought with him are forged and I checked his supposed host family… they don’t exist.”

“Uh… okay,” Tess said even more cautiously.

“He’s been translating this,” Liz said, taking the destiny book out from under her coat.

Both Tess and Kyle looked at Liz intently as she continued. “Look, I’m sorry if I’m crossing the line, but I covertly asked Max about this thing and he said you kept it here and I couldn’t help but realize your… proficiency with manipulating the mind.”

“You think I have something to do with this?” Tess asked.

Liz looked Tess straight in the eyes. “Yes. Do you?”

Tess glanced at Kyle for a second before answering. “Yes,” Tess said softly, causing Liz to let out a loud gasp. “I didn’t mean for it to be like this… but yes.”

“You… why?” Liz stammered, hurt evident in her voice. Without waiting for an answer, she turned her head towards Kyle. “Did you know about this?”

Tess frowned. “Don’t blame Kyle, alright!” She knew she didn’t have the right to be upset and that Liz had every right to be upset with the both of them, but it just wasn’t fair.

“So… Ava was right,” Liz muttered like she still couldn’t believe it.

“Yes,” Tess agreed.

“That wasn’t a question!” Liz snapped. “God, Tess!”

“I’m sorry,” she muttered. “Things got out of hand.”

“Out of hand?” Liz asked. She sounded hurt and angry. “Tess, when you spend a thousand dollars on a shopping spree, that’s when things get out of hand. This is just… evil.”

“Hey!” Tess said indignantly. “I am not evil.”

“Look at what you did to Alex!” Liz said loudly.

“He remembers having a wonderful vacation instead of weeks of frustration! Where’s the evil in that?” Tess said loudly.

“There are some things that are sacred!” Liz shouted. “You don’t mess with someone’s memory just because they know something you want to keep hidden.”

“I was desperate!” Tess shrieked. “Do you have any idea what Max will do when he finds out?”

“No I don’t, but wiping people’s minds is not the answer! God, I can’t believe I sacrificed everything for someone like you!” Liz said angrily.

“Huh?” Tess asked, confused.

“Never mind,” Liz said quickly. “It’s just… how could you do that to someone like Alex?”

Tess didn’t answer. She knew it was wrong; in fact, she knew it before Liz came into this room. “Come on Liz, give her a little break,” Kyle said softly. “It happened. She didn’t plan for it to happen, but it did.”

“I’m sorry Kyle, but I find it very hard to ‘give her a break’,” Liz said sarcastically.

“I understand that, but it’s not like she did it to hurt him,” Kyle argued calmly. “She just wanted Alex to help her and one thing led to another and like she said; it got out of hand.”

“Look Kyle, I understand that you’re trying to protect her, but you’re not exactly the most objective person on this matter,” Liz stated.

“I’m sorry, but neither are you,” Kyle countered.

Liz frowned and Kyle could tell that she was deeply annoyed. “Just tell me this Kyle,” she said. “How long have you known about this? How long have you covered for her?”

“Does it really matter?” Kyle asked. He sounded so calm and collected that it actually annoyed Liz. “It was done, and ratting her out would only make things worse for everyone.”

“Alex deserves the truth! He’s hurt now and he doesn’t even know what really happened!”

Kyle looked at Liz for a second, his mind racing as to whether the words in his head should be spoken out loud. “You mean like you did with Max?”

Liz’s mouth opened wide as she glanced at Tess to see her reaction. She quickly returned her gaze towards Kyle though. “How dare you compare those two things!” she hissed.

“You hurt him and essentially lied to him. Neither he nor I know what it’s all about, but I trust that you had your reasons. Why can’t you do the same for Tess?” Kyle asked.

Liz couldn’t help but quickly glance at Tess again before responding. “She wiped his mind, Kyle!” Liz said pointedly. “What possible excuse could she have?”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Tess interrupted as she stood up. “I’m sorry for what happened, but there’s nothing more I can do than apologize. If you want to hate me, be my guest, but I’ve had it with both of your holier-than-thou attitudes!” After that, she quickly paced out of the room.

Liz slowly turned to Kyle. “Is she actually pissed at me?” she asked in disbelief.

“Look Liz, she’s afraid that this Kivar guy will attack,” Kyle started. “I’m not saying he will, but if this Grano-something is really so important to him, it’s not a crazy thing to consider. Wouldn’t you do what you could to stop it?”

“Well… yes,” Liz said softly. “But there are other ways to go.”

“You’re right,” Kyle agreed. “But she was raised by a heartless alien. Please, just give her a tiny break.”

Liz was silent for a few seconds. Kyle’s Buddhist training sure improved his persuasive skills… but she had to admit he had a point. A small point, but a point nonetheless. “What about Alex?” she finally asked softly.

“Tess doesn’t know how to restore his memories… but I suppose she could try,” Kyle offered. “She wants to change, Liz.”

Liz paused for a second, looking at the floor and then back to Kyle. “Do you feel like explaining that to Alex?” she asked before changing her tone of voice. “Look, I’m not the one who needs to be convinced. If Alex can get past it, I can too.”

“And do you think he will?” Kyle asked.

“Yes,” Liz said after only a short pause. “But Tess had better do an awful lot of grovelling.”

Kyle sighed deeply. “She is so dead.”

Liz shrugged her shoulders and she couldn't help but smile slightly. "Yeah."

~~

When Liz got home, she walked straight to her bedroom. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the recorder on her nightstand and pressed play. She smiled when she heard the sound of her own voice.

This morning, you... we went to see Tess and ask her about Alex' fake memories. If you don't remember this, then that means my hunch was correct, Tess is responsible, and she wiped your mind just like she did with Alex.

Liz pressed the stop-button on the recorder and put it back where it was. This wasn't at all how Liz expected this to turn out. She expected to either find out that Tess was innocent, or suffer the same fate as Alex. Never in a million years did she expect to feel any kind of sympathy for someone like Tess.

“Lizzie!” her father’s voice sounded from downstairs. “Tess is here to see you. Should I send her upstairs?”

Liz thought about it for a second. “Yeah, sure!” Liz shouted and quickly scrambled to hide the tape recorder in the secret compartment with her diary. She waited a few seconds and saw someone enter her room.

“Hi Liz,” she said with a small smile on her face.

Liz tilted her head in suspicion. Something was off; she looked like Tess, but the way she talked and that smile on her face, not to mention the clothes… that was not Tess. After two seconds, a smile appeared on her face. “Ava?”

“That’s me,” Ava said, the smile on her face growing before it completely disappeared. “I need to talk to you.”

“Is this about Alex?” Liz asked.

Ava smiled again. “He already talked to you?” It was more a statement than a question.

“Exactly what happened in Las Cruces between the two of you?” Liz asked with a smile. “Did you two…”

“A world of no! Why does everyone keep saying that?” Ava said indignantly. She didn’t wait for an answer though. “Anyway, I found out what happened. It was…”

“Tess,” Liz finished. “Yes, I know.”

Ava’s eyes opened wide. “You know?!”

“Yes. I asked Tess and she admitted it,” Liz explained. “I tried to tell Alex, but he’s not answering his cell phone.”

“Hmpf!” Ava scoffed. “That bitch must think that she can earn some points by telling you before I can. You’re not falling for this, are you?”

“It’s not up to you or me to judge her. Let Alex decide,” Liz said softly.

“Oh my God!” Ava shrieked. “She got to you!”

“She did not get to me,” Liz denied empathically. “Not in a million years will I condone what she did. I’m just saying that she deserves a chance to explain herself."

Ava snorted. “Too bad your Zan doesn’t think that way. When he realized I wasn’t Tess, he kicked me out of his house before I could say ‘Sayonara’… and I don’t even know what the hell that means.”

“Max kicked you out?”

“Guess he doesn’t feel the love,” Ava said sarcastically. “I couldn’t get a single word in between his shouting and the door slamming in my face.”

“He's just being cautious," Liz apologized.

"And rude. Let's not forget rude," Ava added. "But I guess I can see where he's coming from. I just wanted to let him know what his girlfriend has been up to."

"So did you manage to tell him?" Liz asked.

Ava sighed. "No. The second I showed up on his doorstep, he began babbling about this dream he had last night about some alien red sea, like we don't have one here on Earth. The guy didn't even see I wasn't Tess."

"Well, in all fairness, you two are genetically identical," Liz offered.

"You saw it the second I walked in. When I met Alex, it took him about five seconds," Ava countered. "But anyway, when I finally got a chance to say something, I said that I wasn't Tess. That's when the shouting began."

Liz tried to fight it, but she couldn't help a small smile from appearing on her face. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I just… imagined Max' face when you told him you weren't Tess."

Ava’s expression was serious at first, but then a smile broke through. "Don't worry about it," Ava said. "And you’re right. That expression on his face was rather funny."

“So what are you going to do now? Are you going to try again?” Liz asked.

“No,” Ava said quickly. “Maybe,” she added in an afterthought.

“Ava, can I ask you something?” Liz asked, sitting down on her bed and motioning Ava to have a seat too. Liz waited until she did, before continuing. “What happened between you and Alex?”

“I met him less than a week ago.” Ava grinned widely. “Can you believe I’m chasing after someone I’ve only known a few days?”

Liz smiled, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she waited for Ava to continue. “He told me he’d been helping Lon… sorry, Isabel… to translate the weird book thing. I told him he was an idiot for letting her use him like that, but I guess you know Alex well enough to know what his reaction to that was.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t Isabel; it was Tess. Right?” Liz asked, confused.

“Well, we didn’t know that then. Tess was mindwarping him so he thought he was helping Isabel,” Ava explained. “I offered to help him and we worked together to translate it.”

“So… nothing else happened?” Liz asked with a smile.

“No,” Ava said softly. “Look, I like Alex a lot. He’s smart, he’s funny, admittedly gorgeous and he’s the closest thing I’ve had to a real friend in, like, ever. But that’s it.”

“So…” Liz asked, squinting her eyes conspiratorially. “He’s gorgeous, smart, funny and you feel comfortable enough around him to call him a friend after only a few days.”

“Uh huh,” Ava said with a nod, not noticing the sarcasm.

“Alrighty then,” Liz said with a smile. Things couldn’t have been clearer.

~~

Tess sat on the living room couch alone, concerned. It had felt so good to finally say out loud what she had done, and it felt like a huge burden was lifted from her shoulders. She understood that Liz's reaction could have been a lot worse, and even though she knew that Max, Michael and Isabel would undoubtedly react far more hostile than Liz, she believed in her heart that in time, things would be alright between them again.

So why did she feel like things were about to get ugly?

A knock on the front door cut those thoughts short, and she didn't know how she knew, but she knew who it was. Taking a deep breath, she stood up from the couch and walked towards the door. "Hi Max," she said as she opened the door.

"Hey," he said. Tess couldn't read whether he sounded excited or scared, but something was definitely up. "I just got a visit from your dupe."

"Ava," Tess helped. "What did she say?"

"I don't know. I pushed her out of my house as fast as I could. She's dangerous," Max said.

"She's not dangerous, Max," Tess said. "You should have listened to her."

"The hell she isn't!" Max argued. "Those New York dupes were crazy and of the four of us, you are the one with the strongest power which means she probably has that power too."

"That all depends on how you look at it, Max," Tess said. "But just because her Michael and Isabel were evil, doesn't mean she is. Appearances can be deceiving."

"I don't trust her," Max said softly.

Tess looked at the floor. "Alright Tess, quick like a band-aid," she whispered to herself before looking back at Max. "Max, I know why she was wanted to talk to you. I need to tell you something."

~~

Amy DeLuca was happy. For the first time in a long while, she had gotten Maria to spend an entire afternoon alone with her and she had taken that opportunity to go shopping together. At the end of their long journey, the two women found themselves relaxing at the appropriately named coffee place, Joe's.

"Alright, I like to shop, but you are just plain dangerous with a credit card," Maria said as she sat down tiredly.

"Well, it's not every day my little girl and I go shopping together. And besides, you didn't do too bad yourself," Amy replied, smiling widely at the four bags standing next to Maria.

"Well, if worst comes to worst, I can always use the genetics-card," Maria said with a smile. She hadn't thought she would, but she really had a great time this afternoon. Not that she didn't like her mother, but she was bound to ask something about...

"So how's Michael?" Amy asked casually.

Maria sighed. That question might have seemed innocent to a naive person, but Maria knew her mother all too well to know that this was just the question to introduce the subject. The second step would be asking to know more about Michael, then come the wild speculations about all the evil things Michael could be doing and finally, the accusations directed at Michael and then the rest of the male gender. She took a deep breath, preparing for the verbal onslaught. "He's fine, mom."

"Fine?! Didn't you see the Italian Job?" Amy asked. "What?! I'm a modern mom."

"He's doing great. We're doing great," Maria corrected herself.

"Really? So what has he been up to?" Amy asked.

Sometimes, she hated being right. "Mom, I'm gonna go the ladies room." And with that, she stood up and walked away.

Amy sighed. Her daughter knew her far too well. But it wasn't a crime to want to know something more about her daughter's boyfriend, was it? All she knew was that he worked at the Crashdown, he was friends with Max Evans who broke Liz Parker’s heart, and that there was definitely something Maria was not telling her. "God, I hope she's not pregnant," Amy muttered to herself.

When one of Joe’s waitresses’ came, Amy ordered an Espresso with sugar for herself and a cappuccino for Maria. After just a minute, the waitress returned with the ordered drinks. Fast service was one of the perks of a forgotten place like this. As Amy slowly started to sip her coffee, she glanced at the restrooms; Maria sure was taking her time.

After a few more minutes, Amy sipped the last dredge of coffee from her cup. Her eyes were fixed on the restroom now; Maria had been gone for over fifteen minutes now. Growing a little concerned, Amy stood up and walked towards the restroom, opening the door slightly. “Maria, is everything okay in here?” she asked softly.

When she got no answer, Amy stepped inside the room, gasping loudly when she saw the opened emergency exit and three empty stalls. Without hesitation, Amy rushed outside through the opened emergency exit and scanned her environment. Wherever Maria went, she wasn’t here anymore.

“Maria wouldn’t just leave like this,” Amy told herself softly as she started to get more and more worried. She quickly fished her cell phone out of her pocket and dialled Maria’s number. If she answered, Amy would kill her. God, she hoped Maria would answer.

Her prayers went unanswered.

TBC

[Drogyn]

Thanks for the kind replies. Have fun with the next part.

Part 7

When Jim Valenti arrived home and entered the kitchen, he found Tess Harding in front of the sink, facing away from him. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that she was scrubbing a dirty dish with vigor. Jim was used to Tess just cleaning with the wave of a hand; something he didn't mind at all, and he found this to be a unique, but at the same time a disturbing, sight. "Tess, are you alright?"

“Yeah.” Tess was surprised at how strained her own voice sounded and cleared her throat. "I'm fine."

“You know, you don’t have to scrub off the pattern,” Jim said casually. He was no idiot and saw that she was upset, but like his son, he had gotten to know the blonde alien and knew all too well that pushing the issue wouldn't get him anywhere.

“Oh… ok,” Tess said absentmindedly as she placed the plate back in the sink and grabbed another one, which she started to scrub equally hard.

“Tess?” Jim asked. He was getting a little worried. To say she wasn’t acting like herself was an understatement.

“What?” Tess asked, her back still turned towards him.

“Why are you scrubbing the dishes?”

“They were dirty.”

“Tess, could you turn around?” Jim asked gently. When Tess didn’t respond, he approached her to see for himself. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her around. Even with his very limited experience, he could see that she had been crying, and now she was cleaning. Something told him that was not a good thing.

“What happened?” he asked worriedly. Tess wasn’t the kind of person who just let her emotions show like this, which meant that something was horribly wrong.

“Nothing important,” Tess said, trying to pull herself together. “Just an argument with Max.”

“What did he do?” Jim asked.

"It's not about what he did... and I don’t wanna talk about it,” Tess said. Meanwhile, she started to scrub the plate harder and harder while her expression started to get more and more angry. “It’s done.”

“Well, don’t take it out on those poor plates,” Jim joked. He knew it was probably of little use, but attempting to lighten the mood seemed like a very appealing idea right about now. When he noticed no change in Tess' expression, he decided to try a different tack. “So where’s Kyle?” he asked. He had noticed the spark between Tess and his son and he couldn’t help but wonder if this had anything to do with that.

“I don’t know,” Tess said softly, gently placing the plate back in the sink. “He was supposed to be back an hour ago.”

“Alright,” Jim said softly. “Are you sure there isn’t anything you want to talk about?”

“I’m sure,” Tess said, her voice clearing up a little.

“Alright, but remember that my door is open if you need to talk," he offered before giving Tess one more friendly smile and then making his way towards the garage. It was strange, but this incident only made Jim like Tess better. In the months that she had lived there, he had learnt to see past her normally cold behavior, but she always had her guard up and this was the first time that it was all too apparent that she too was only human... or at least part human.

Tess made her way to the living room and sat down on the couch. Max had reacted the way she had expected him to react, but that didn't make it sting any less. It was strange that Liz Parker, who undoubtedly hated every fibre of her being, had genuinely tried to understand... and that Max didn't even seem to be willing to make an effort.

She understood his anger all too well, but she had still hoped for just the tiniest bit of sympathy. She had helped to free Max from the FBI, she had killed an army of Skins for him and she helped him remember his former home. She did all those things for him and while it certainly didn't excuse what she did, it should have made him at least listen to her.

She could still see the expression on his face before he walked away. It was a look of pure disgust; disgust that he had allowed someone like her in his life. Tess sighed and dropped her head. She deserved this, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

After a few seconds, the doorbell sounded, pulling Tess out of her thoughts. “Great,” Tess mumbled. “Maybe that's Isabel who's come to repeat Max' performance.”

Reluctantly, Tess stood up and made her way towards the door and opened it. Before she knew what was happening, Amy DeLuca rushed past her. “Where’s Jim?” she asked hurriedly.

Nothing like a wave of annoyance to wash away the sorrow. “Please, come in,” Tess said sarcastically as she closed the door.

“Where’s Jim?” Amy repeated, a little more forceful this time. Tess didn't have to answer, because Jim had already stepped into view.

Amy rushed towards him. “Jim, I can’t find Maria!” she squealed loudly. “We were having a cup of coffee, Maria went to the bathroom and when I checked on her fifteen minutes later, she was gone!”

“Amy, I need you to calm down,” Jim said as he gently put a hand on her shoulder. “This doesn’t mean anything happened to her.”

“Yes it does!” Amy nearly screeched. “If it was something about Michael, she would have at least offered me some bullshit excuse… but she just left!”

Tess listened for a few seconds before quickly fishing her cellphone from her pocket, almost dropping it on the floor in the process and pressing speed-dial one for Kyle. “Pick up Kyle,” she whispered. She waited for over half a minute, but he didn’t answer.

She looked at Jim who understood immediately. “Tess, call Liz and ask her if Kyle and Maria are with her,” he said commandingly, eliciting a slow nod from Tess.

He then gently pushed Amy towards a chair and the living room and made her sit down. “Sit down for a second. I’m going to call Hanson and ask him to keep an eye out for Maria, alright,” Jim said, picking up the phone.

Tess walked towards the other side of the house and quickly called Liz. After a few rings, Tess let out a sigh of relief when someone answered.

“Hello. Liz Parker,” Liz said in a friendly tone.

“Liz… it’s Tess,” she said softly. "Is..."

“Tess, I really don’t want to talk to you right now,” Liz interrupted. “We’ll talk later.”

“But Liz, I…” The dial tone interrupted her words. She immediately called again, but the connection was broken before it was even answered. “That’s great… that’s just great!”

~~

“So what did my nefarious clone want?” Ava asked.

“I don’t know; to talk probably,” Liz said. “But I really don’t want to discuss anything with her until she tells Alex the truth.”

“Is she going to give him back his memories?” Ava asked.

Liz shrugged. “I don’t know. She said she would try but that she doesn’t know if she can.”

“That is such a load of bullshit! Don’t tell me that you actually believe that she would do something like what she did to Alex if she had no idea how to reverse it? She can’t be that stupid!”

Liz smiled. “Has it ever occurred to you that she actually was that stupid?”

“No,” Ava said dryly, a smile breaking through at the last moment. “She has my genes, so I refuse to believe that.”

Liz smirked. “I see. But anyway, you were telling about that destiny book. You said you and Alex translated it?”

“Yeah,” Ava said with a proud smile. “Alex really is a whiz with computers, but I helped.”

“So… what did it say?” Liz asked, almost automatically. Truth was that she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to know, but she was just too curious not to ask.

“Well… it said some things about the granolith,” Ava said, immediately noticing a slight change in Liz’ expression, as if the mere word had the power to make her sad. It was subtle and if you didn’t pay attention, you’d probably miss it, but it was right there. “Is there something about the granolith we should know, Liz?”

“No. Why?” Liz answered innocently.

“Well,” Ava started. “Because Alex said that whenever someone mentions the granolith, you get this… look on your face.”

“Oh, do I?” Liz’ voice remained innocent. “Well sorry, but I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah,” Ava said with a sigh. “Alex also told me you were doing the denial thing, but that’s okay. You don’t need to explain.” Liz wasn’t all that good at hiding her feelings, but if she didn’t want to talk, she wouldn’t talk; that much Ava could tell.

“So what did the book say about the granolith?” Liz asked cautiously.

“Something about turning it into a spaceship or something. It was all a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo to me, but I understood that you need some sort of crystal to activate it.”

“Turn it into a spaceship?” Liz repeated with a look of horror on her face. That couldn’t be true, because if it was… Max would leave earth and probably never come back. It couldn’t be true.

“I could make the translation disappear, you know,” Ava offered. “That way your Zan won’t leave.”

Liz was baffled. It was almost as if Ava had read her mind, which, when Liz considered it, wasn’t even such a crazy notion. “Did you…” Liz started, but Ava cut her off immediately.

“No, I didn’t,” Ava denied, a smile forming on her face. “I’m just a very perceptive person.”

“Yes you are,” Liz agreed. “And you don’t have to do that. Max deserves to be able to make his own choices. If he wants to leave, I’m not stopping him.”

Ava stared at her for a second. “I admire your strength,” she said seriously. “If I were in your position, I’m not sure I would have made the same choice.”

“Sure you would have,” Liz argued. “Besides, things have a way of coming out eventually. Just look at what happened with Tess.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Ava sighed. “Anyway, there was a bunch of other stuff about rulers, portals and dimensions… you know, the whole Star Wars thing.”

Liz grinned. “You’ve seen Star Wars?” Liz asked, stifling the laugh that was trying to force its way up her mouth.

“Every part… and that is something that stays between us,” Ava demanded.

“Cross my heart,” Liz promised, the smirk still planted on her face.

“Good. Because I wouldn’t want to be forced to kill you.”

“Yes, that would be bad,” Liz agreed. The conversation was cut short when the phone rang again.

“She doesn’t give up, does she?” Ava commented.

Liz looked at the caller id and noticed it was Kyle’s home number. Apparently, Tess now thought that Liz would answer if she called from the Valenti home phone. She pressed the answer button and immediately started talking. “Tess, stop calling. Talk to Alex first; he deserves that much.”

“Liz?” a male voice sounded on the other end.

“Sherriff?!” Liz yelped, surprised. “I uh…”

“Liz, listen to me,” Jim said sternly. “Is Maria with you? Or Kyle?”

“No, they’re not,” Liz said. “What’s this about?”

“They’re missing,” Jim said. “Maria was sitting at Joe’s with her mother, she went to the bathroom and she never came back. And Kyle’s been gone for too long as well. Neither of them are answering their cellphones. Do you have any idea where they are?”

“No, I don’t,” Liz said honestly. ”You don’t think something happened to them, do you?” she asked, suddenly very concerned.

“I don’t know, Liz,” Jim said honestly. “But I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Sherriff, I don’t know if this is in any way related… but Alex is not answering his cellphone and that is so not like him.”

Jim was beginning to get worried now. Maria, Kyle and Alex; that couldn’t be a coincidence. “Alright, I’m going to call Max and I’d like you to come here.”

“What?! Why?” Liz immediately snapped. She didn’t mean to be rude, but going there would mean going to Tess Harding and she’d rather avoid that for now. Besides, Ava was here so she should be safe in the alien department.

“Liz, listen to me,” Jim insisted. “You might be in danger and you know as well as I do that Max will come to pick you up anyway and he will not accept no for an answer.”

Liz sighed. Jim was right; Max wouldn’t want to take the risk that someone would come after her, and he would drag her to the car if necessary. “Fine. I’ll see you in ten minutes,” she reluctantly agreed. After that, she hung up.

“You look worried,” Ava noted.

“Maria and Kyle… they’re missing,” Liz explained. “The sheriff wants us to come over to his place. Safety in numbers I guess.”

“Do you really think that’s a good idea? Tess is gonna be there,” Ava pointed out.

“Yes, the thought had occurred to me,” Liz said softly. “But I can’t worry about that now. I have to think about Maria and Kyle… and Alex.”

“Alex?!” Ava yelped. “What do you mean Alex?! Three seconds ago, you said Maria and Kyle!”

“Alex is not answering his cellphone,” Liz said.

“Yes, you said that, but that doesn’t mean something happened to him!” Ava argued.

“Maybe not, but it would be an awfully big coincidence, wouldn’t it?” Liz countered.

Ava swallowed. “What if this is just another one of Tess Harding’s tricks? We’d be walking right inside the lion’s den, and I’ve been told that’s a bad place to be.”

“Look, I don’t know!” Liz snapped. “I’m gonna take my chances.”

“Well, I’m coming with you,” Ava stated. It wasn’t a question.

For a second, Liz questioned whether that was a good idea, but she waved away those thoughts. There wasn’t time for discussion. “Alright, let’s go.”

~~

“Let’s be reasonable here. We don’t even know that anything happened,” Max said. “For all we know, the three of them are planning your birthday party.”

Liz looked annoyed; pissed even. “Are you kidding me?!”

“I’m just saying we shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Max offered.

“Three people are missing and those three people have only one thing in common. I didn’t jump; I took the one small step that you don’t want to consider.”

Max looked distraught. “Not everything that happens here is because of us, alright.”

“For God’s sake, Maxwell!” Michael interrupted. “Maria wouldn’t leave her mother like that. Not for any reason.”

Like it was an automatic response, both of them turned towards Isabel who was sending distrustful glares at both Ava and Tess, both of whom were trying to avoid those glares as much as possible. “Isabel?” Max asked. “What do you think?”

Isabel turned towars Max. “Michael is right… this can’t be a coincidence. But unless you can sense where Maria is, what can we do about it?”

“Pfff. Typical.” Everyone in the room turned towards Ava, who suddenly wished she hadn’t said anything. “Nothing.”

“Michael has a point,” Tess intervened. “It can’t be a coincidence and we have to do something.”

“Nobody asked for your opinion!” Max said angrily.

“Amen!” Isabel added.

“This is not about her, alright,” Jim said. He didn’t know exactly what this was about, but whatever it was, was enough to turn everyone against Tess. What she did must have been awful, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t right. “Let’s not loose our perspective here.”

“I’m perspective-girl,” Ava interrupted, pointing at Tess. “How do we know she’s not the one responsible?”

“Hey!” Tess shouted indignantly. "You're the dupe who just arrived in town!"

“Ava has a point,” Max said, shooting Tess a distrustful stare.

“I didn’t do anything to them! I don’t know what happened!” Tess shouted.

Isabel gave Tess a cold stare. “I believe you… oh wait, I don’t!”

“Look, the sarcasm is not helping!” Tess shouted. “I understand that you guys are upset, but I don’t have anything to do with this.”

“Please stay calm. All of you,” Jim pressed. Things were getting out of hand very quickly.

At that moment, the phone rang and Jim picked up to answer it. “Valenti,” Jim said shortly. His expression changed quickly into a worried one. He held his hand over the phone as he turned towards the rest of the group; Max in particular.

With a dazed expression, he handed Max the phone. “He wants to talk to you.”

Max took the phone from Jim and held it to his ear. “Who is this?” he asked. There was no anger or fear apparent in his voice, but everyone in the room knew better.

“Guess,” a low voice on the other end sounded. Much like Max’ voice, it conveyed no emotion.

“I’m not in the mood,” Max said coldly. “Who are you?”

“Listen to me, you pathetic piece of shit,” the voice said, his voice still flat. “You’re going to do exactly as I tell you, or else…”

“Or else what?!” Max asked defiantly. He knew he shouldn’t have said it, but he couldn’t help himself.

The voice was silent for a few seconds. “Put your waitress whore on the phone.”

Max didn’t move or talk; after all, shouting or arguing would do him no good in this situation. After a few seconds, he hesitantly held the phone out to Liz. “He wants to talk to you.”

Liz nervously took the phone. “Hello. Th… this is Liz,” she stammered.

“Hello Liz,” the voice said in a much friendlier tone of voice than he had used on Max. “I’m going to need your help. Zan doesn’t seem to care very much about the people I have here. I mean, I could blast that skinny blonde into a million pieces and he couldn’t care less.”

“Please. Don’t hurt them,” Liz begged softly.

“Excellent. That’s the attitude I’m looking for,” the voice said cheerfully, almost cruelly. “Now, be a doll and give him a message for me…”

The others listened intently to Liz’ side of the conversation. She was scared; that much was obvious. The person on the phone had Maria, Alex and Kyle; that much was obvious too. But who was she talking to and what did he want? When Liz hung up, she turned towards Max, a grim expression on her face.

“He wants to meet you,” she said. “He wants to meet all four of you.”

TBC

[Drogyn]

Alright, I'm back with a new part. Have fun reading and don't forget to post some feedback.
@Nibbles: Oh yes they have a choice *grins*. Read on.

Part 8

An uncomfortable silence filled the Valenti living room as everybody looked at Liz. It took several seconds before Max hesitantly broke the silence. “We… we can’t do that.”

Michael turned towards Max, giving him the coldest look Max had ever seen him use. “He has Maria. You can say what you want Maxwell, but we’re going.” His voice was stern and left no room for arguments.

“Michael’s right, Max,” Isabel agreed. “Going there will be dangerous, but if he’s threatening to kill our friends, how can we not go?”

“I know that. Don’t you think I know that?!” Max said desperately. “But what do you think is gonna happen when we go there? You think he’s going to apologize for the inconvenience, politely introduce himself and then give us our friends back?!”

Tess looked at Max with a look of contempt. He wouldn’t have said that if it had been Liz. “Do you have a better idea?” she asked angrily. “Or are you just going to wait until our friends are dropped off on our doorstep in small parts?”

“Just shut up, alright!” Max shouted, a little more hostile than he had intended. “I don’t want anything to happen to them either, but whoever is behind this obviously wants either us or the granolith.”

“Most likely both,” Ava said. “But like Lon said, what choice do you have?”

Max went silent. They were all right; they didn’t have a choice. Not really. “Alright,” he conceded softly. “But we need a plan.”

“I vote violence,” Michael suggested. “If they thought they could take us on face to face, they wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble.”

Tess frowned. “Look, before you go all Conan on us, could you try to remember that they have Kyle and Maria and Alex?”

“Would you shut up! There’s no one here who wants to hear what you think,” Michael countered.

“Hey, whether you like it or not, you need me,” Tess said defiantly. “He wanted all four of us there, remember?”

“And what makes you think we won’t take the dupe with us instead of you?” Michael snarled. His response had the intended effect and he could see a look of hurt flash over her face.

“Are you completely and totally demented?” Ava said, beating Tess to the punch. “I haven’t gotten anything besides cynical remarks and distrustful stares since the moment I stepped through the front door. Are you seriously suggesting that I go with you?”

“Well, I don’t trust either of you,” Isabel said, glaring from Ava to Tess and then back to Ava. “But you’re not the one who used and violated Alex.”

“Isabel, you can’t be serious!” Tess screeched. “He has Kyle. I can’t just sit back and do nothing! I’m coming with you whether you like it or not!”

“No you’re not,” Max finally said. He didn’t trust either Ava or Tess, but Liz seemed to trust Ava and that was enough for him to prefer having her around instead of Tess. “I’m sorry Tess, but none of us want to be around you at the moment,” he offered with an apologetic look.

“Uh hello!” Ava said loudly. “Dupe person sitting right here! Seriously, you’re far better off taking mindrape-girl than me.” The angry glare she got from Tess actually made her smile a little.

Isabel looked directly at Ava. “I don’t particularly trust you, but Tess used us and betrayed us. I don’t want to be anywhere around her, so if we need to be with four people, it’s you or no one.”

“Ava… please,” Max joined. “If you’re not coming, Isabel, Michael and I will go alone.” He was dead-serious and everyone in the room knew it.

“Max, you can’t do this,” Liz intervened. “You can’t just guilt her into going because you want to punish Tess. You know as well as I do that this is not her fault.”

Max was about to say something when Tess intervened. “Look, if they want to take her instead of me…” she said, stopping for a second. “Just please bring him back.”

“Well, it’s fantastic that we have your approval,” Isabel said coldly. “Really, I can sleep at night once more.”

“That isn’t helping, Isabel,” Max said sternly.

“Hey!” Ava said loudly. “I thought I was being clear. The three of you don’t like me and I don’t particularly like you. I am not coming with you!”

“You said that you care about Alex,” Isabel said softly. “Well, he’s in danger and you’re the one who can help us to make sure he won’t get hurt. We don’t have to like each other here.”

“Good, because that’s not gonna happen anytime soon,” Ava rebutted.

“Think about Alex,” Isabel pressed.

Ava groaned. Isabel was a lot more like Lonnie than she realized. She might not have been evil incarnate like her dupe, but she sure had the manipulating thing down. Still, while she knew she was being manipulated, she couldn’t stop thinking about Alex. If she turned them down, they would go without her and if something would happen to Alex, she couldn’t live with that. “Fine,” she softly agreed.

“Well, you four do whatever you want!” Tess said, and with a loud huff, she stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Liz looked at the four remaining aliens with a look of surprise. Ava was a nice girl, but there was no doubt in her mind that Tess was by far the most powerful alien of the group. Tess had done despicable things, but if they wanted their friends back, they would need her help.

After a few seconds, Max slowly approached her and gently guided her to the next room. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said softly, taking a long pause before continuing. “Truth is, Tess was hiding a lot more than just what she did with Alex. I won’t get into the details, but it’s safe to say that Isabel and Michael don’t trust her.”

“But what if you really do need her help?” Liz asked.

“We have Tess’ dupe. We’ll be good.”

“Ava is not Tess,” Liz explained. “If you’re expecting Ava to kill anyone by setting them on fire with her mind, I think you’re barking up the wrong tree. Tess had someone to teach her about her powers. Ava didn’t.”

“Liz, I appreciate you trying to smooth things over, but the truth is that I don’t want to be anywhere near Tess Harding at this moment. Please, just understand that,” he pleaded softly.

“I do understand that,” Liz explained. “But this isn’t about me smoothing things over. Tess deserves the reaction she’s getting, but this isn’t about her; this is about getting out friends back.”

Max took a step back and his expression changed. Liz knew what that meant; the next words out of his mouth were final. “We’re taking Ava.”

~~

Liz slowly opened the door to Tess Harding’s room. Tess was sitting on the side of her bed, staring in front of her with an expression that showed both anger and fear.

“They gone?” Tess asked without looking directly at Liz.

“They just left,” Liz answered as she walked into the room and sat down on the desk chair in the room. “They shouldn’t have left you here.”

“Preaching to the choir,” Tess just said.

“Don’t get righteous with me, Tess,” Liz said, shooting an angry glare towards the blonde alien. “You’re not a victim here and you have no one to blame but yourself. You should be the one risking your life instead of Ava.”

“Oh…” Tess said softly, almost disappointed.

“I’m sorry. That came out wrong,” Liz immediately apologized.

“I don’t blame them for not trusting me, you know,” Tess said. “And if it was any other situation, I’d give them the time and space they obviously need… but they have Kyle.”

“How could you do it, Tess?” Liz asked seriously. “And I don’t want your standard excuses; I want the truth.”

Tess hung her head and was silent for a few seconds before speaking. “I told everyone that it was about Kivar; that I was afraid of what he would do. And that’s true, but it’s not the whole truth.”

A thought suddenly shot into Liz’ head and she couldn’t help but smile for a split second. “You thought people would like you,” Liz said with an astounded expression. “You actually thought you could play the hero when you translated that thing.”

“Yes,” Tess admitted, finally looking back at Liz. “I know it sounds crazy… but yes.”

Liz looked at Tess. The logical question would be how she could be stupid enough to think that kidnapping Alex would win her a place with the incrowd, but somehow she doubted that such a question would do any good. “Tess… why?” Liz couldn’t help but ask.

“You know, a few days ago, Kyle and I had breakfast and he asked where I was the night before,” Tess said. “Well, I was in Las Cruces but I couldn’t tell him that.”

“So what did you say?” Liz asked.

“I tried to think of someone I could say I was hanging out with… and I couldn’t think of anyone,” Tess said softly. “I don’t have any friends. I am the necessary evil you guys have to put up with.”

Liz looked at Tess with confusion. “Tess, you’ve been trying to steal Max away from me from the moment you arrived in Roswell. How can you expect me to be your friend?”

“Weren’t you the one pushing me to stay here and weren’t you the one telling me that Max belonged with me and that you didn’t want him?” Tess countered.

“Well, you had Max. You won,” Liz said. “I thought that was all that mattered.”

“Won? Liz, I never had Max; not even a little bit,” Tess denied. “All you have to do is tell him that you still love him and he’ll forgive you and take you back… not that there’s anything to forgive,” she added in an afterthought.

“What do you mean by that?” Liz asked suspiciously.

“Look, I may be a bitch, but I’m not a idiot,” Tess said. “I already had my doubts when Kyle told me what really happened. The question begs… why on Earth would you do that to Max… or yourself for that matter?”

“I wanted Max to leave me alone… and nothing else seemed to work,” Liz explained. “You didn’t tell Max, did you?”

“No,” Tess answered. “And you don’t seriously expect me to believe that you want Max out of your life, do you”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Liz asked softly.

Tess sighed. “Come on Liz; it’s so incredibly obvious that you still love him.”

“It is?” Liz asked uncomfortably.

“Yes, it is,” Tess confirmed again. “What I don’t understand is why you would do such a thing to the person you love.”

“Tess, I don’t really want to talk about that,” Liz said, a frown forming on her face. “And really I don’t understand why Kyle couldn’t just keep his mouth shut.”

“Don’t blame him. I asked him flat out and he decided to be honest with me,” Tess simply answered. “I wanted to know.”

Liz looked at Tess and her mouth opened wide. She was so stupid for not seeing it before. “You’re not saying that you and Kyle…”

“I think we are,” Tess said with a small smile before it faded. “And now he’s gone, and they won’t let me help to get him back.”

Liz let out a desperate sigh. “But I sacrificed everything to get you and Max together,” she whispered.

“I don’t love Max, and to be honest, I don’t think I ever did,” Tess said softly. “But I did stay because of what you did… and I never thanked you for that.”

“You did?” Liz asked softly.

“It was in my Max-is-my-husband phase,” Tess said with a grin. Her expression quickly turned serious again though. “But why did you push Max towards me? Was it just to keep me from leaving?”

Liz didn’t say anything and just stared at Tess, silently pleading Tess to change the subject.

“Liz… I can’t lose Kyle,” Tess said softly. “I want to do what Max wants, but I have this bad feeling that things are gonna go horribly wrong.”

“I know the feeling,” Liz agreed, pausing for a few seconds before continuing. “Tess, can I ask you a question?”

“Can I stop you?”

“Max said you were hiding more than just what happened to Alex,” Liz started.

“And you want to know what I told him.” It was a statement and not a question.

“Yes,” Liz answered.

“I guess there’s a lot of things, but the thing that I think Max hates me for is about Nasedo,” Tess softly explained. “You know Nasedo couldn’t care less about humans. You know he wasn’t a hero or a saviour… but what you don’t know is that Nasedo planned to kill Max as soon as he got me pregnant.”

“He… what?” Liz asked, more confused than angry at the moment, but Tess knew it was only a matter of seconds before the balance between those two emotions would tip the other way.

“He made a deal with the skins… with Kivar,” Tess explained.

As Tess predicted, the confused look on Liz face quickly turned to an angry frown. “But how could you let him do that? I thought you cared about Max!”

“I do care about Max,” Tess offered. “But what was I supposed to do?”

“You could have told him to take a hike,” Liz said bluntly.

Tess let out a laugh. “You know, those were the exact words I used when he first told me about his plan. That ended with me being locked in the basement with two broken arms. After that, I kind of figured telling him no wasn’t such a good idea.”

Liz swallowed. “You could have told Max.”

“Kyle said the same thing,” Tess said with a smile. “Liz, you know Max. He wouldn’t have understood. He would have stayed far away from me, Nasedo would have found out… and that would have been bad.”

“So you chose to let Nasedo kill him?!” Liz asked loudly.

“No, of course not!” Tess denied. “I stalled. I figured Max was safe as long as he didn’t get me pregnant, and then I got a lucky break when the son of a bitch got himself killed!”

“And here I thought you and Nasedo were buddies,” Liz said sarcastically.

“Well, you thought wrong,” Tess countered. “The man was completely heartless… not to mention a total psychopath.”

Liz swallowed the obvious insult and looked at Tess. She hadn’t known Nasedo well, but the few moments she had spent with him backed up everything Tess just said. The man was ruthless and had no problem killing anything that crossed his path. She thought for a second what growing up with a man like that must have been like. “I’m sorry,” she offered.

“I wasn’t fishing for sympathy,” Tess said flatly. “Now change the subject.”

“Was living with him really that bad?” Liz asked softly.

Tess groaned. “Yes it was, and I don’t want to discuss it any further.”

“Okay,” Liz said quickly, nervously looking at the floor.

They just sat there for almost half a minute, neither of them saying a word. Suddenly, Tess stood up and looked down at Liz, who looked back up at her. “Are you going to stop me?” Tess just asked.

Liz didn’t blink. She knew exactly what Tess was thinking because she was thinking the same thing. “No. I’m coming with you.”

~~

“Ungh,” Kyle groaned as he started to regain consciousness. The pounding in his head made him regret waking up.

“He’s awake,” he heard a female voice whisper. Her voice was soft, but it still felt like she was screaming in his ear.

“Tess, I have a major headache. Please, for the love of God, be quiet,” Kyle groaned softly. He slowly opened his eyes. It was pretty dark, but he could tell that the woman looking down at him was definitely not Tess. He shot up and looked at the woman in surprise before grabbing his forehead in pain. “Maria?”

Maria frowned at him. “Do me a big favor; don’t ever call me Tess again,” she said sternly.

“What… what are you doing here Maria?” Kyle asked, both confused and annoyed. He really didn’t feel like being part of some weird joke here. The only thing he wanted to do at the moment was sleep. He frowned before closing his eyes again.

“For God’s sake, Kyle!” Maria screeched. “Would you look around! We’re stuck in a stinking basement in the middle of nowhere!”

Kyle woke up a little and cautiously opened his eyes again and looked around him. This definitely wasn’t his room. “Where are we?” Kyle asked, still confused.

“Would you believe it if I said ‘the Tumbleweed Inn’?” another voice sounded from a few feet away.

“Alex?” Kyle asked. “Is that you?”

“In the dirty flesh,” Alex said. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been hit with a baseball bat before getting run over by a truck. What the hell is going on here?” Kyle asked.

“Well…” Maria said, pausing for dramatic effect. “It looks like we’ve been kidnapped!”

Kyle frowned as he started to get serious. “By who?” Kyle asked softly.

“Beats me,” Alex answered. “But the three of us have something in common, and it’s not our love of rap music.”

“I don’t love rap m…” Maria started, stopping her sentence abruptly when realization sank in. “Oh, right.”

“So do you think it’s the FBI?” Kyle asked.

“Well, it’s either them or… it’s worse,” Alex answered.

“How can it be worse?” Maria interrupted.

Kyle looked at Maria. “Well, it starts with S… ends with Kins. You know, Tess warned that they would come but it’s not like anyone listened to her!”

“Would you chill!” Maria said. “We don’t even know it’s them.”

“So says the woman who screamed for help at the top of her lungs for fifteen minutes straight,” Alex noted before turning to Kyle. “Kyle, you were lucky to be unconscious.”

Maria frowned. “Well excuse me for trying to get out?”

“I wonder if this has anything to do with Ava,” Alex wondered out loud. “She kind of visited me last night?” he added when he saw the confused look Maria gave him.

Maria still looked confused. ”Who’s Ava?”

“That would be Tess’ dupe,” Alex said.

Maria let out a strange laugh. “An even more evil version of Tess visited you just last night, and now you’re wondering if she has anything do with this?”

“She didn’t seem evil,” Alex defended. “She said I had never been in Sweden and that my memories had been altered.”

“Not to be a cynic, but that sounds kind of farfetched. And besides, even if it’s true; memory wiping sounds right up Tess-clone’s alley,” Maria argued.

“Her name is Ava,” Alex pointed out. ”And if she was really working on some nefarious scheme, why would she come to talk to me? Besides, wasn’t she the one who helped Liz to warn Max in time to keep him from being killed?”

“So… it’s just a coincidence that she comes to town and we end up in a dark basement?” Maria asked sarcastically. “Puh – lease!”

“Does it really matter how we came here?” Kyle interrupted. “Let’s just try to get out of here.”

“Oh! Get out of here… why didn’t I think of that?” Maria asked sarcastically.

Alex placed a hand on Kyle’s shoulder. “When Maria’s nervous, her sarcasm level kicks into overdrive. Don’t take it personally.”

“Well,” Kyle said to Maria, not reacting to Alex’ words. “Besides screaming like a girl, what did you do to try and get out?”

“Well…” Maria started. “I tried to kick in the door, but it turns out that only works in the movies.”

“How about I give it a go?” Kyle offered. Maria shrugged and allowed Kyle to stand up and walk towards the door where he took a steady position before delivering a powerful kick directly against the door. “Jesuuuus!” Kyle shouted as he felt a sharp pain shoot through his foot.

“Well done Schwarzenegger,” Maria commented. “Any more bright ideas?”

“Yes,” Kyle gasped as he sat down and held his foot in pain. “Not kicking that door again would be plan A.”

Maria couldn’t help but grin and she looked at Kyle for several seconds. “Are you alright?” she finally asked. “You didn’t break anything, right?”

“Just my pride,” Kyle groaned.

“Maybe we should just stay put and wait for help,” Alex suggested. “I’m sure the pod people will find a way to rescue us.”

“Even if it’s Kivar?” Kyle cautiously asked.

Maria let out a loud sigh. “Hanging with Tess sure made you a pessimist. God, I wish Liz was here!”

Kyle smirked. “Well, I’m sure Liz will be pleased to hear you wishing her in the hand of your kidnapper.”

“You know what I mean,” Maria clarified. “She would go all MacGyver on this place and bust us out with a paperclip and a torn light bulb.”

“I see…” Kyle said softly. “But wouldn’t it be easier if Michael were here and just blasted through the door?”

“Reality check!” Alex interrupted. “We should figure out what’s going on. Do you really think Ava has something to do with this?”

“Yes,” Maria quickly answered.

Kyle paused a second before answering. “No… I don’t.”

~~

“So who do you think we’re dealing with?” Isabel asked softly as Michael sped the small group through the streets of Roswell. They hadn’t said anything since they stepped into the car ten minutes ago and it started to make her nervous.

Max took in a deep breath. “Liz said he called me Zan. Draw your conclusions.”

“But we killed all those creepy Skins,” Isabel argued. “They were burned to ashes. I saw it!”

“And yet Nicholas showed up at the summit a few weeks later,” Max noted.

Isabel considered that for a moment. “Alright, you have a point there, but kidnapping our friends… that’s petty, even for them.”

”Then what do you think?” Max asked, rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration and fatigue. “I mean, it’s someone who knows about us. Who else can it be?”

“I don’t know Max!” Isabel said, equally frustrated. “It could be the Skins. It could be the FBI. Hell, it could be Tess friggin’ Harding herself.”

“Now you’re reaching Iz,” Michael interjected, not taking his eyes off the road. “Tess is hardly my favorite person at the moment, but kidnapping Maria… I can’t believe that.”

“Have you forgotten what she did with Alex?” Isabel asked sharply. “What makes it so hard to believe that she’s involved? Besides, it’s an awfully big coincidence that this is all happening right when we exposed her for the traitor she is.”

“The ice queen makes a good point,” Ava agreed, receiving mixed looks from Isabel. “I’m not saying she did it, but it’s a really big coincidence that this happened right when Tess started confessing what she did.”

“I don’t know,” Max said reluctantly. “She seemed really upset.”

Isabel threw her hands frustratingly in the air. “She’s playing you, Max! For God’s sake, I thought you learned something about trust when you found perfect Liz in the sack with her ex-boyfriend!”

Immediately, Michael slammed the brakes and let the car come to a halt at the side of the road. “Jesus Christ Iz! What the hell is wrong with you?”

Isabel’s expression hardened for a second before it softened again. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry Max. I just don’t get how you can trust even the slightest thing Tess Harding says or does.”

Max looked back at Isabel. “I don’t trust her either, but she has nothing to gain from this. She knows where the granolith is and if she wanted us dead, don’t think for a second that we could do anything to stop her. And besides, she was with me when Maria disappeared.”

Isabel and Ava seemed to consider it for a few seconds. Just because Max was with her when it happened didn’t mean she couldn’t have had anything to do with it. Still, Max’ other point seemed valid. She didn’t have a motive. “Maybe you’re right,” Isabel conceded. “But who then?”

Ava nervously bit her lip. “Uhm, I don’t want to be the bringer of bad news, but did you consider that whoever did this followed me here?”

Isabel’s eyes opened wide in realization but it was Max who spoke first. “Well, that would rule out the Skins. They know where we live.”

“That rules out the FBI too,” Michael noted.

“Not to mention Tess,” Isabel added.

“I never thought I’d say this, but we’re running out of enemies here,” Michael said dryly. “What the hell are we driving into?”

“A trap,” Ava said softly. “But I thought that was already pretty obvious.”

“Thank you Miss Sunshine,” Isabel sniped before nervously looking at Max. “What are we gonna do? We don’t even know what we’re up against.”

Max shrugged. “That was kind of the point I tried to make earlier. If it’s someone who doesn’t know about our individual powers, maybe we can surprise them.”

Ava suddenly began feeling very uneasy as three pairs of eyes were suddenly looking straight at her. “I don’t mindwarp,” Ava said softly, averting her eyes towards her hands, which were suddenly fumbling with the buttons on her shirt.

Max looked at Ava and waited for her to look back at him before he spoke. “I understand you don’t want to. After everything that happened, I can really understand it… but our friends’ lives are on the line. We don’t have a choice.”

Ava slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she softly muttered.

Max looked at the girl sitting there and for the first time, he noticed how incredibly different she looked from Tess. Tess always looked strong and confident while Ava only looked nervous and afraid. He had never seen Tess this scared; not even when she told him all the horrible things she had done. At that moment, he understood why Liz liked her and he understood why he shouldn’t have brought her. But it was too late for second thoughts.

“Ava…” Max said softly. “I’m sorry for what happened before. I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. I was surprised and shocked, but I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”

“Max,” Ava said softly. “It’s not that I don’t want to help you… but I just can’t.”

“What do you mean, you can’t?” Michael interrupted.

Ava looked at Michael with an apologizing expression. “I’m sorry… but I just can’t mindwarp.

“Can’t or won’t?” Isabel asked. It wasn’t an accusation, but a genuine question.

Ava hesitated a second. “Can’t,” she softly admitted. “I think it’s why they discarded us.” She paused another few seconds. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault,” Max said with a comforting voice. “We’ll figure out another way.”

Isabel rolled her eyes sarcastically. “That’s just great. We’re going into battle against an unknown enemy with a general who doesn’t have control of his powers and a neutered version of Tess.”

Before she realized what happened, the scared blonde girl in front of her turned towards her and slapped her so hard that she was actually worried about internal damage. “Oooow! God!” Isabel screamed as she grabbed her face in an attempt to ease the sudden stinging pain in her cheek.

Michael covered his mouth with his hand. Not out of shock, but to cover the wide grin he just couldn’t suppress. He didn’t trust Ava any more than Isabel did, but Isabel was acting overly hostile towards Ava and she totally had this coming.

Isabel huffed for a few seconds, trying to find words, but Ava beat her to it. “Let me get something clear; I don’t like you any more than you like me. You think I’m an evil version of Tess, and I haven’t seen a single shred of proof that you’re any different from Lonnie. But the fact of the matter is that we’re stuck together. Now, seeing as right about now, your power is about as useless as a truckload of Viagra at a lesbian block party, I suggest you stuff it!”

Isabel looked back at her sharply. “Very well… now let me make something clear as well. Just because you’re here and Tess is at home doesn’t mean I like you any better than her. Now, if you ever hit me again…”

“What?!” Ava asked defiantly. “You’ll dream me to death?”

“Would you two stop it!” Michael said angrily. “They have Maria, and all you two can do is bitch at each other. Get a grip on yourselves!”

Like two reprimanded children, Isabel and Ava were silent. “Alright,” Michael said, turning to Max. “Now what’s the plan Maxwell?”

Max let out a sigh. “Maybe we should just go and see what they want. If they want the granolith, we’ll give it to them and hope that they’ll leave us alone. We don’t even know what the hell it is.”

“Well, for starters, it’s a spaceship,” Ava blurted out, smiling awkwardly when everybody looked at her with surprise. “What? I translated the destiny book with Alex. Didn’t Tess tell you?”

“No, she left that part out,” Max said softly. “But I can’t imagine that it’s just a spaceship. Whittaker and Nicholas were both willing to go a long way to get their hands on it. It has to be more than just a spaceship.”

“Yes, well there was something about temporal distortions and portals. I didn’t understand a word of it and neither did Alex,” Ava explained. “But I agree with you. It’s just a thing and it can’t be worth the lives of your friends.”

“But what makes you think they will leave us alone once they have it?” Isabel asked. “We don’t even know what it does. What if it’s a weapon?”

Max sighed. “I don’t know, but like the three of you made abundantly clear earlier… what choice do we have?”

~~

“It’s official. You two are useless,” Maria complained as she walked back and forth through the basement. Kyle and Alex each sat in one of the corners of the room and gave each other a knowing look.

“For heaven’s sake, sit down,” Kyle finally said. He was already nervous and watching Maria pace back and forth through the room certainly wasn’t making things better.

“Oh, I’m sorry Kyle. Is my mental breakdown coming at a bad time?” she snapped.

“Oh no,” Kyle answered. “This is really as good a time as any… but could you have it sitting down?”

“Look, why don’t you two do something instead of just sitting there like two useless idiots!?” Maria called out.

“Maria, we already tried everything,” Alex said, trying to sound calm. “Please just sit down. Panic isn’t the answer here.”

“Thank you doctor Phil. Please, psychoanalyze me while we wait for a group of pissed-off aliens to come back and torture us to death.”

“Maria?” Alex asked softly as he shot a worried look at Maria.

“I’m too young to die,” Maria cried out before suddenly calming down and looking back at Alex. “I’m entitled to freak out here, so stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” Alex asked innocently.

“Like a psychologist looking at his latest whackjob!” Maria snapped, giving Alex a severely pissed off stare. Alex didn’t respond the way she expected though. He squinted his eyes and rubbed his temple as if he was in deep thought. “Earth to Alex!” Maria called out, causing Alex to jerk his head up towards her again. “Are you alright?”

“Sorry, it’s just… I know I heard those words before but I just can’t remember.”

Maria sighed and sat down next to Alex. She paused for several seconds to think of the right words. ”You really think someone messed with your memory, don’t you?”

Alex bowed his head. “I’m sorry. I know this isn’t helping our current situation.”

“Hey, don’t worry,” Maria tried to reassure him. “Michael knows that if he doesn’t rescue us soon, I’ll kick his ass all the way back home… so we’ll be alright.”

“That’s a comforting thought,” Alex said with a small smile. If nothing else, at least he had gotten Maria to sit down for a second.

“But that’s not what’s bothering you?” Maria asked cautiously.

Alex smiled. “Who’s doing the psychoanalyzing now?”

Maria shrugged. “Hey, you started it. Now, I have a question for you.”

“I know I’m gonna regret this, but ask away.”

“Why is it so hard for you to consider that Tess’ dupe did this to you?”

Alex paused for a second. “Because it makes no sense. She doesn’t have a motive and if she did it, she certainly wouldn’t have come to me later.”

Maria slowly nodded. “Alright… now please answer that question again without lying to my face.”

Alex looked at Maria for several seconds before answering. “I don’t know. I just can’t seem to forget that look on her face when I told her that I didn’t know who she was. She was genuinely hurt.”

“Or a genuinely good actress,” Maria argued.

From several feet away, Kyle listened to the conversation between the two friends. They weren’t exactly whispering so Kyle heard every word, and it was slowly causing his earlier headache to return with a vengeance. He had the information the two of them wanted, but telling them the truth would not only mean ratting out Tess, but it would also put him in a very uncomfortable position… in a locked room with a, no doubt furious, Maria DeLuca. On the other hand, it was becoming painfully obvious that something happened between Alex and Ava and if nothing else, Alex deserved to know what happened.

“Ava didn’t do anything to him,” Kyle said softly and cautiously.

Both Alex and Maria turned towards him but it was Maria who spoke first. “Why not? Because she has the same genes as your fairy princess Tess?”

Kyle hesitated a few seconds. He could still back out and play dumb. He was actually good at playing dumb. “No actually, I kind of know what happened.”

“What? Did Ava talk to you too?” Alex asked with increased interest.

Kyle smiled awkwardly. “No… she didn’t.”

“Then…” Alex asked with a confused expression.

“Tess told me,” Kyle said cautiously.

“Tess talked to Ava?” Alex asked innocently.

Kyle sighed. Alex really was dense. “Actually… she knew because she did it.”

Within a split second, Maria was back on her feet. “Excuse me?! There must be something wrong with my hearing because it sounded suspiciously like you just said that Tess was responsible for taking Alex’ memories.”

“There’s nothing wrong with your hearing,” Kyle said softly. It really didn’t feel good ratting Tess out like this, but he didn’t really felt like he had a choice anymore. Besides, Liz already knew the truth and when he left, Tess was about to tell Max as well. The secret was out anyway.

“Wait a second,” Alex said softly. “You’re saying that Tess messed with my mind?”

“And that you knew about it?!” Maria added loudly.

“Yes,” Kyle said softly. As much as he feared the angry look on Maria’s face, the hurt look on Alex’ face was much worse. “I wish I could say something to defend her, but she just screwed up.”

“And you didn’t tell us?” Maria said as loudly as before. It wasn’t a question. “Kyle, are you totally and completely insane, or does that bosom of hers cloud your better judgement?”

“Maria…” Kyle started, letting out a defeated sigh. “She was about to tell you, Alex.”

“Yeah right!” Maria shouted sarcastically.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but…” He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence.

“Kyle,” Alex said softly. “What happened during the last few months? Please, just tell me the truth.”

“Tess was afraid that Kivar would attack… which doesn’t seem like such a stretch anymore… and since Max wasn’t interested in actually doing something, she made her own plans. She figured that strange alien book thing would contain useful information, but she couldn’t read it. So she asked you to translate it by using the Las Cruces supercomputer.”

“Whoa, stop right there,” Alex said, holding his right hand up in a stop-gesture. “Why on earth would I help Tess? I don’t like her and I certainly don’t trust her.”

“You wouldn’t,” Kyle agreed. “But Tess found a way around that…” He stopped for a few seconds, thinking about how exactly he could put this delicately.

“Your captive audience is waiting,” Maria said impatiently.

“The whole time you were helping Tess,” Kyle started. “The whole time you were working on that alien book thing… you thought you were helping Isabel. She… she used a mindwarp.”

Alex looked at Kyle with a look that Kyle had never seen before. He was confused more than anything, but there was also sadness and a definite hint of anger just underneath the surface. An emotion that Alex showed very rarely. Tess had been a lot more insidious than he had expected. “How could you not tell me?” Alex asked accusingly.

Kyle gave Alex an apologizing look. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know until a couple of days ago.”

“That doesn’t matter!” Maria shot out. “You knew what Tess was doing. You should have told us the second you found out!”

“I respectfully disagree,” Kyle argued in a tone so calm that it visibly infuriated Maria. “Look, I get that was she did was wrong, but how was telling you this gonna solve anything?”

“Kyle, she took his memories!” Maria argued. “She’s dangerous! How can you be so amazingly naïve?”

“Look, she made a mistake! She’s afraid and because nobody listens to her, she did something stupid. I figured she didn’t deserved to be exiled for that.”

“Well, I respectfully disagree,” Maria sniped, throwing Kyle’s exact words back in his face and Alex nodded in agreement.

“You two are unbelievable,” Kyle sighed.

“We… are unbelievable?!” Maria said indignantly. Did he seriously just turn this around on them?

“Oh please! You two hated Tess from the second she set foot in this little alien-obsessed town. She went for Max and that automatically made her an evil witch for life. So what if she rescues Max from the FBI! So what if she saves your asses from an army of Skins! That’s all moot, isn’t it?”

“Now hold on a damned minute!” Alex interjected angrily. “So maybe not everything she did was bad, but she used me for over a month and then she wiped my mind. How can you even begin to defend someone who does things like that?”

Kyle took a deep calming breath. “Look, this is not about whether or not she messed up, because she really did. I’m not even asking you to forgive her. All I’m asking for is to give her a chance to explain. Please.”

Alex seemed to calm down a little as he paused for a few seconds. “Kyle, can she give me back my memories?”

“She can try,” Kyle said. “But are you sure you really want to? I mean, what good is remembering those weeks going to do?”

Maria looked at Alex and a small knowing smile appeared on her lips. “He’ll remember what happened with Ava.” She then looked at Alex. “That’s what this is about, isn’t it?”

“I need to know,” Alex softly admitted. “I need to know what happened.”

“Well…” Kyle said, taking a small moment to carefully consider his next words. “I’m sure Tess will give it her very best try.”

“Yeah,” Maria mumbled. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

~~

“Tess, for the love of God, slow down!” Liz screamed as Tess raced through the streets of Roswell with a speed that could only be described as maniacal.

“Stop arguing. You want to be there before them, don’t you?” Tess said sharply as she took an equally sharp turn to the left.

“Yes, but preferably alive,” Liz said, bracing herself as best she could in the seat. For some reason, the former sheriff of Roswell drove around with a broken seatbelt on the passenger side. “Why did I agree to let you drive anyway?”

“Because you can’t drive stick,” Tess simply replied. “And don’t worry about the cops. No one will pull over Jim’s car.”

“That’s not exactly the first thing on my mind right now,” Liz said just before a loud yelp escaped her face as Tess just barely evaded the blue Saab that came from the right as she crossed an intersection. “You know, we can’t help anyone if we’re dead.”

Tess looked at Liz. “We’re still alive, aren’t we?”

“No thanks to your driving style,” Liz complained, relaxing a little when she saw the car drive past the ‘leaving Roswell’ sign. The abandoned foundry where Max was meeting the kidnappers was about five miles out of town and it wasn’t very likely for Tess to cause any more near-death experiences on the open road… at least, that’s what she told herself.

Taking a few deep breaths, Liz managed to calm herself down. “So I take it you have a plan?” she finally asked.

“Uh huh… Defeat enemies. Rescue Kyle.”

Liz couldn’t help but smile. “Something a little more specific?”

Tess thought for a second. “No.”

“Great,” Liz mumbled to herself. “She takes months planning what basically amounts to a kidnapping, but she drives straight towards her enemies with the words rescue Kyle as her main plan.”

Tess frowned. “Look, if you have a better idea, then by all means share it.”

Liz thought for a second. “When Max was in New York, I was able to contact him because of our connection. Maybe you can do the same with Kyle.”

A sad smile appeared on Tess’ face. “Liz, like you said, you have a connection with Max. I love Kyle, but we don’t have that.”

Liz shrugged. “How do you know?”

“Because I already tried it,” Tess confessed with an awkward smile. “What you and Max have is incredibly rare… and it’s probably why they didn’t take you too,” she added in sudden realization.

Liz let out a sigh. “And here I just thought I was lucky." She paused a few seconds before continuing. “I guess we can’t really have a plan when we don’t know what we’re up against.”

“But it was someone who knew Max’s real name,” Tess softly said. “Are you sure there wasn’t anything else he said?”

Liz frowned. “You mean like a name, rank and serial number? No.”

“There was nothing he said that gave any indication? An accent? A background noise?”

“Why yes, now I remember,” Liz said, the sarcasm practically dropping from her voice. “There were people talking in the background and they were handing me the answers to all the great mysteries in the world: Area fifty-one, the Loch Ness monster, the secret of immortality and why people think Trainspotting is a good movie!”

“Really, Trainspotting?” Tess asked without thinking.

“No, you blonde!” Liz shouted exasperated, actually causing a smile to appear on Tess’ face for a second. “I already told you. He threatened to blast Maria, calling her a skinny blonde, and then told me to be a doll and give Zan a message. That’s it.”

Tess frowned. “Be a doll? You know, I used to know someone who used to say it exactly like that, except that it was more in the be a doll and get out of my way kind of way.”

“Really? Who?”

“One of Nasedo’s old friends… or whatever he called the people he wasn’t actively trying to kill.”

“Well, could it be him?” Liz asked hopefully.

“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure he’s dead,” Tess said. “He and Nasedo got into an argument and I never saw him again. Nasedo said he got rid of him and if you know Nasedo, you know that can only mean one thing.”

“Well, who was he? Was he human?” Liz pressed. Slim chance or not, this was the closest thing they had to a clue.

“I’m pretty sure he wasn’t. He called Nasedo by his real name, and one time I overheard them talking about me and Max and the others. He really didn’t like Max,” Tess added with a small smile.

“So what was he? Was he a Skin?” Liz continued.

“I don’t know, but he knew Nasedo very well. I always got the impression that he was…”

“Another protector?” Liz guessed, immediately considering the idea.

“Exactly,” Tess confirmed. “But I can’t say for sure. The guy gave me the creeps, so I tried to stay away from him as often as possible.”

“But is it possible that he’s still alive?” Liz asked.

“Possible, yes. Likely, no.”

“Well, let’s say Nasedo didn’t kill him. If that guy was a protector, it wouldn’t be such a crazy thought that he was protecting… or at least watching, the New York set. Let’s also say that he didn’t know that the original set was right here in Roswell. He could have been following Ava.”

“Hmmm,” Tess mumbled sceptically. “That’s an awful lot of let’s says and ifs in just one deduction… though it would explain a few things.”

“Like what?” Liz asked.

“Well, if the guy didn’t know where Max lived, it makes sense to assume that he asked Nasedo.”

Liz smiled. “And Nasedo didn’t tell him… hence the big argument.”

“And it would explain him showing up right when Ava enters town,” Tess added. “But it’s still a long-shot. We don’t really have anything to base this on. Besides, even if it actually turns out to be him, he still has our friends.”

“Well, if he’s a protector, he probably has the same weaknesses as Nasedo. What were Nasedo's weaknesses?”

Tess turned her head to towards Liz and looked at her like she had gone completely insane. “You don’t actually think that Nasedo would tell me something like that, do you? Besides, I’m not even sure he had any.”

“Road! Road!” Liz shouted, pointing in front of her to the road.

Tess jerked her head back towards the road, but it was too late and the car swerved off the road where Tess managed to put the car into a screeching halt.

“Sorry.”

TBC

[Drogyn]

Alright everyone. Here's the final part.
I'm curious to hear your opinions, so don't hesitate to post a reply.
I'd like to thank my patient beta tequathisy. You rock!

Part 9

Tension increased to the maximum when the car with Max, Michael, Ava and Isabel drove onto the abandoned foundry terrain. They all eyed their surroundings carefully, expecting to be attacked at any moment. Michael drove slowly all the way across the parking lot and parked the car close to the main building. That way, they didn’t have to walk all the way across the parking lot without any place to take cover.

Wordlessly, the four of them got out. Then, without any warning of any kind, Ava suddenly gasped loudly before collapsing to the floor. “Good afternoon your highness,” a voice sounded from nearby. Max looked around and spotted a bald middle-aged man standing in the shadows of the complex.

Isabel hastily knelt down by Ava’s body and checked her vital signs. “She’s still alive.”

“And she’ll continue to be alive,” the man said, his voice void of any emotion. “My apologies, but I would like to have this conversation without mindwarps if possible.”

“Who are you?” Max asked, wide-eyed. This alien, that much was obvious, had the power to instantly take any one of them out of the running and that thought unnerved him more than anything.

“You can call me Kal. Now, please allow me to get right to the point.”

“What do you want?” Isabel asked as she hovered protectively over Ava’s unmoving body.

“Quite simple,” Kal answered, a grin forming on his face. “Kivar promised unspeakable wealth and power to the one to return to Antar with your heir. Now, I have to say that I am a little disappointed to see that Avaria is not yet pregnant, but that is a situation that can be rectified.”

It took a second for Max to understand just what Kal was saying and his expression changed to one of disgust. “You are insane if you think that…” Max started.

“No,” Kal interrupted calmly. “I am insane regardless of what I think and you better keep that in mind when you speak to me.”

“Where are our friends?!” Michael demanded.

Kal smiled. “You needn’t worry about them. They’re here and they’ll be fine as long as Zanathan here doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“So what happens now?” Isabel asked hesitantly.

Kal sighed. “You always were the slow one Vilandra. Your brother here is going to get Avaria pregnant and then she and I are going home. The three of you can continue living your miserable lives as long as you want for all I care… Oh, and that last part of my offer expires in about ten seconds.”

Max just stared at Kal, aghast at what he was saying.

“Come on Max,” Kal said, putting special emphasis on Max’s human name. “She’s not in any position to argue,” he added with a grin.

“You’re crazy. I’ve heard enough,” Michael said, holding out his arm towards Kal and blasting him with as much power as he could.

Kal in turn just smiled. “Not the encouragement I was hoping for,” he said as he stretched his hand out towards Michael. A split second later, an invisible forced knocked Michael back over twenty feet. He didn’t get up. “You know, I’m doing my very best here not to kill, but you’re not making it easy for me. Just make her pregnant. It’s really not a bad deal.”

“Look, I… I can’t do this. I’m sorry, but I…” Max stammered before he was cut off.

“Excellent. I knew you’d come to your senses,” Kal said with a grin.

Max and Isabel looked at each other with a puzzled expression.

~~

From a short distance away, Liz watched the exchange with horror while Tess was sitting next to her with her eyes closed, concentrating intently as she kept up the mindwarp. Liz couldn’t hear anything they were saying, but from a distance, things looked bad.

“Liz, I can’t keep this up forever. He’s so strong,” she pleaded.

Liz stepped out of her hiding place and called out. “Guys!”

Max turned around, suddenly scared for Liz’ safety. “What are you doing here? Get out, quick!” He turned around towards Kal, but to his surprise, Kal was still focussed on Ava.

“Tess is warping him,” Liz shouted. “She thinks he’s a protector like Nasedo.”

“Well, how do we kill him?” Isabel asked desperately.

“She doesn’t know. He’s like Nasedo. Did Nasedo have any weaknesses ?”

“Not that I know about,” Max said before a thought occurred to him. “It’s gotta be his mind. The first thing he did when we stepped out of the car was blast Ava.”

Liz turned around towards Tess. “You know what to do. You did it with those Skins.” Liz knew that Tess had promised herself never to repeat her performance with the Skins ever again, but this time she had no choice.

Tess sighed and concentrated and as she did, flames appeared around Kal, getting more intensive each second. At that moment, Kal seemed to realize what was going on and did his best to fight it. Tess’ body shook as she attempted to keep the mindwarp up and blood started flowing freely from her nose.

“I am not a Shek’nath. Fire doesn’t affect me, you traitor!” he shouted angrily. “We made a deal. You cannot back out now!”

“Maybe you and Nasedo made a deal,” Tess muttered. “Me, I choose my own destiny.” With one final effort, Tess refocussed her attack. She knew what to do this time. After almost half a minute of pure agony on both sides, both Tess and Kal collapsed.

“Tess!” Liz shouted as she knelt down and checked her pulse. At the same time, Max checked on Kal while Isabel ran towards Michael. After a few seconds, Kal’s human body faded into the true alien he was, and then he turned to ashes like Nasedo had done months ago.

Max cautiously tried to wake up Ava while Isabel attempted to do the same with Michael. It took several minutes for Michael to wake up. Ava followed less than a minute later. Tess was still out of it though.

Max looked at Tess and Liz. “We’re gonna go look for Maria, Alex and Kyle. Can you stay here with Tess?” he asked.

“Of course,” Liz agreed. “Just find them.”

“Tell her thanks when she wakes up,” he added before the four aliens walked towards the complex.

~~

“Ungh,” Tess groaned as she awoke a few minutes later with a headache and a faint feeling of nausea. She opened her eyes and looked surprised when she saw Liz hover over her. “Liz?”

“Tess, are you alright?” Liz asked.

Tess frowned as she remembered what happened. “I’m fine as soon as you tell me that son of a bitch is dead.”

“He’s dead,” Liz said with a smile. “The others went inside to look for Alex, Maria and Kyle.”

“Let’s do the same,” Tess suggested as she stood up.

“Tess, maybe you shouldn’t get up,” Liz suggested. If her friends were here, surely Max would find them.

“Thanks for the concern, but I’ll be fine,” Tess reassured her. “Are you coming?”

Liz sighed. Stubbornness must be a genetic alien trait. “Alright,” she said before following Tess towards the complex. She was surprised at how fast Tess managed to recover, or at least managed to pretend she was recovering. Liz and Tess approached the facility side door. It was unlocked; not that such a thing really mattered with Tess, and the two of them walked into a large empty hallway. They took one step and Tess immediately reached for her head in an attempt to remove the spiderwebs from her hair.

“Oh great. I hoped it would be filthy,” Tess complained. “God, I hate spiders.”

Liz tried not to, but she couldn’t help herself and she snorted loudly. “Don’t tell me the big bad alien is afraid of spiders,” she asked, trying her best not to laugh.

“Not afraid,” Tess denied, a little too emphatically. “It’s just that they’re unhygienic and disgusting and what the hell do they need eight friggin legs for anyway?”

Liz looked at Tess for a few seconds. “Right. Not afraid.”

“Not. Afraid,” Tess repeated pointedly.

“Alright then. Let’s…” Liz said, suddenly breaking off her sentence. “Did you hear that?”

Tess listened intently for several seconds. She could probably hear a needle drop in here; that’s how quiet it was. “No,” she answered flatly.

“Listen again,” Liz insisted.

Rolling her eyes, Tess held her breath and listened intently again, this time hearing a faint sound somewhere in the background. If she wasn’t mistaken, it was the sound of somebody talking. “Jesus Liz, that’s barely even a background noise! How on Earth did you hear that?”

Liz shrugged. “Does it really matter?”

Tess considered it for a moment. “I guess it doesn’t. It could just be Max though.”

“Or it could be Maria, Alex and Kyle,” Liz said pointedly. “It’s coming from downstairs. Come on,” Liz added and instantly walked across the room towards the stairwell. Tess stood still and looked at Liz for a moment as she walked across the large room. She then shrugged and hurried after Liz.

~~

The mood was tense and everybody was visibly uncomfortable. Alex, Kyle and Maria hadn’t said a word in fifteen minutes. Not since Kyle told them what Tess had done. Maria had gone back to pacing back and forth through the room and Alex and Kyle were just staring in front of them.

“God! Where are they?!” Maria suddenly said, finally breaking the silence. She was close to a freakout of otherworldly proportions; that much was clear to both the guys.

“Maria, would you just chill for a moment?!” Kyle said in his most caring voice.

“Chill?” Maria asked incredulously. “Did you actually just tell me to chill?”

“Panic isn’t going to do anyone any good,” Kyle pointed out.

“Then for God’s sake you two, do something! Do anything! You’re driving me crazy just sitting there.”

“Oh… we’re back at that,” Kyle mumbled.

“Yes, we’re back at that!” Maria shouted. “Get off your asses, now!”

Reluctantly, Alex and Kyle stood up. “Alright, now what is it that you want us to do?” Kyle asked sarcastically. “Should I bang my fist on the door or do you think I should just call out for help at the top of my lungs?”

“I don’t know, but the thought of just sitting here until some evil alien comes back to flay us alive is driving me crazy!” Maria exclaimed.

Kyle sighed. “Maria, at this point, the only thing that’s driving me crazy is you. They’ll rescue us.”

“How do you know that?” Maria asked. “How do you know we’re even in Roswell anymore? How do you know that our rescuers aren’t bound and gagged in the next room? How do you know perfect Tess didn’t plan all this?”

“Now hold on a goddamn minute!” Kyle said angrily. He understood that Maria was upset about what happened, but this was going too far.

“What?” Maria said, giving Kyle a questioning look. “Is it really so crazy to believe that someone who built her life around lies and deception will do anything to preserve those secrets? Or do you actually think that someone like Tess could love you, or anyone for that matter?”

Kyle gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. At this particular moment, Maria sure was lucky that she was a girl. “Is it really so crazy to believe that she wants to change?” he finally rebutted.

“Yes it is,” Maria said honestly. “Generally speaking, people don’t change. She deceived Isabel, she deceived Max, and now she’s deceiving you. The only difference between the three of you is that you actually want to be deceived.”

“She was brought up like that!” Kyle shouted. “Do you really think that after ten years of living with a killer like Nasedo, that she can just adjust like it’s nothing?”

“I am so sick and tired of you using that as an excuse for her!” Maria bit back. “She kidnapped Alex, wiped his mind and undoubtedly did a whole lot more despicable things. No one made her do that. She’s responsible for her own actions, Kyle.”

“You’re being impossible!”

“That’s rich,” Maria scoffed. “Tess did all those evil things and when I point out that fact, I am the one being impossible.”

“You’re not even trying to understand,” Kyle said as he sat down again, seemingly tired.

Maria calmed down a little. “Kyle, I do understand; I really do. But you can’t tell me that you believe she isn’t considering mindwarping her way out of this mess.”

“You know, there’s a difference between thinking it and doing it,” Kyle pointed out.

“Yes. There’s also a difference between saying you’re gonna change and doing it.”

For a few seconds, Kyle was silent. Then suddenly, his attention turned from Maria and towards the door. Was it him or was the door changing? ”Tell me my eyes are playing tricks on me,” he whispered.

“I wish you were right,” Alex said as he backed up against the wall as far away from the door as possible. He knew that it wouldn’t do any good, but instincts prevailed at this point.

Maria’s breathing became erratic as she backed up towards the wall. She had never been this scared in her life and at this particular moment, she didn’t care who knew it. “Ohmigod, ohmigod,” she muttered.

The three of them looked at the door, watching as it dissolved before their very eyes. After about ten seconds of immense dread, a smiling Liz stepped through the door.

“They’re here!” she shouted enthusiastically as she stepped into the room and ran towards her friends. “Are you all alright?” she asked with audible concern.

“We’re fine,” Alex reassured her. “What’s going on? How did you do… that?” he finished when he saw a completely drained blonde alien step through the doorway. He squinted his eyes in confusion. It wasn’t Ava, but that worried expression didn’t look like it belonged to Tess either.

Kyle didn’t seem to have that problem. “Tess! What happened?” Kyle shouted as he hurried towards her.

“I’m fine. Really,” Tess insisted weakly. “Burning through that door was just a lot harder than I thought.”

“That’s good to hear,” Maria muttered and made her way towards Tess as well. As soon as she was within reach, Maria reared back and punched the blonde alien in the face so hard that she clenched her hand in pain.

Tess went down and she didn’t get up.

~~

Tess slowly opened her eyes. The last thing she remembered was finding their friends, and now she was in her own bed in her own room… or Kyle’s room, depending on how you looked at it. She cautiously pulled herself up and was surprised at how good she felt. The last time she had been unconscious, she'd woken up with a killer headache, but this time she felt fine. She stepped out of bed and put on her shoes, which had been conveniently placed next to the bed. She opened the bedroom door and heard voices downstairs… a lot of voices.

“Look, I’m sorry for knocking her out, but it’s hardly like she didn’t deserve it.” Tess recognized Maria’s voice. She smiled; she should have known that’s what had happened.

“No one’s blaming you,” Michael comforted.

“Speak for yourself Guerin,” Kyle countered. “Tess may have done some bad things, but she was also the one rescuing her and Maria saw in what shape she was.”

“Look it happened,” Max intervened. “No use in arguing about it.”

Tess walked down the stairs and within seconds, every pair of eyes in the room was directed at her. Tess smiled sheepishly. “I don’t mind all eyes on me when I enter a room, but this is a little much,” she joked halfheartedly.

“How are you feeling?” Jim asked.

“Pretty good considering,” Tess answered. “Is everyone alright?”

“Everyone’s alright,” Kyle said reassuringly.

“Speak for yourself,” Maria said, throwing Kyle’s exact words back in his face. “I still have no idea what to say to my mother.”

“Say that you were kidnapped,” Ava suggested. “That’s kind of what happened.”

“And how am I supposed to explain how I got out and why there’s no evidence of any kidnapper?” Maria asked.

“We’ll think of something,” Jim assured her.

Tess sat down on the arm of the chair that Kyle was sitting on. “So how mad are you guys?” she asked cautiously.

It was silent for what seemed like forever before Max spoke. “What you did was wrong on so many levels, but how mad can I be at someone who just saved our lives?”

“What about my memories?” Alex asked calmly. “Can you do anything to give them back?”

Tess looked at Alex. She noticed the way he and Ava were cuddled up on the couch. “Can I ask you a question, Alex?” Alex nodded. “Do you really need those memories to know how you feel?”

Alex looked at Ava next to him and then back at Tess. “No… I guess I don’t,” he said, a grin forming on his face as he looked back at Ava.

Tess looked around and nobody seemed to have anything to add. Some of them still cast distrustful glares towards her, most particularly Isabel, Ava and Maria, but they seemed to be willing to try and get past it.

“Maybe its time that I shared something,” Ava said as she stood up, taking a folded page from her pocket. “This is the translation of the destiny book that Alex and I translated.”


Zanathan , Avaria, Rathos, Vilandra

You are the royal four. You are created from the genetic materials of your alien predecessors and human subjects. You are given human forms so you can blend in with the population of the planet Earth. Hone your strength and skills so you may return to Antar and reclaim the throne which is rightfully yours.

As you are the rightful rulers of Antar, we have sent with you the Granolith. It is an object of great religious significance and power. Guard it with your life. Using a fragment of Shytra crystal, the Granolith can facilitate your return to Antar. The Granolith can also serve to create a temporal distortion and create a portal with which you can travel in all four dimensions. Great caution should be taken as there may be unforeseen consequences for using the Granolith.

There is no doubt that our enemies will follow you to Earth. For your protection, we have sent with you four members of the Antarian Hand and a second defective set of pods, which will be used to trick our enemies into believing you are dead. Regardless, you need to prepare for the possibility that they are still looking for you and that they are closer than you think.

You are the last hope for the House of Kh’lat to reclaim the throne. You must not fail.


Isabel waited until Ava had finished reading. “Use the Granolith to travel in four dimensions. What does that mean?”

Max looked at Liz, who averted her gaze. After all, she knew all too well what it meant. “According to Einstein, the fourth dimension is time,” Max said, looking directly as Liz, who did her best to avoid looking back at him. “But you knew that, didn’t you Liz?”

Liz finally looked back at Max, doing her best to look ignorant. “Why would you say that?” she asked innocently.

Tess’ eyes opened widely in shock as she connected the dots. “Oh my god!”

“I’m confused,” Ava said.

“Me too,” Alex added. “And I don’t like being confused, so please explain.”

“I… I can’t,” Liz mumbled.

“It means that the Granolith can be used to travel through time,” Max explained to the group before returning to Liz. “Liz, who came back and what did they do to you?”

Liz didn’t answer. They knew too much for any excuses to work, but she couldn’t tell them everything. That would mean that the hell she went through the past months was for nothing.

Tess stood up and bent over to whisper something to Liz. “Liz... I am happy without Max. I’m not going anywhere. You can tell him the truth.” She then gave Liz a reassuring smile before returning to her seat.

“What did you say?” Max asked. “Tess, what did you say?!” he repeated more forcefully.

“It was you,” Liz said softly as she turned towards Max. “You were the one who came back through the Granolith. You didn’t have a choice. The three of you had been unable to protect the world against the skins.”

“The three of us?” Max asked.

“Tess left Roswell… and you came back in time to make sure that didn’t happen,” Liz explained. “You told me to push you away and get you closer to Tess. I tried so hard, but you just wouldn’t listen.”

“So you slept with Kyle?!” Max asked exasperated.

“Of course she didn’t,” Maria intervened. “All she had to do was make you think she did.”

A wry smile appeared on Max’ face. “You did all that just to make sure Tess wouldn’t leave?”

“Yes,” Liz admitted. “I had to. I just had to.”

“She did it for all of us,” Michael said softly in realization while Isabel just stared at the floor.

Max got up and knelt right next to Liz so he was directly face to face with her. “I’m really sorry I put you through all that.”

“It’s not your fault Max,” Liz helped. “I’m pretty sure that I was the one who made you go back in the first place. Besides, what could be more important than saving the world?”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say that we changed things,” Max said.

“I really hope so,” Liz said with a hopeful smile.

“I know so,” Max corrected. “Tess is still here and she helped us defeat our enemies. We won this time. And now that it’s over, I’d like my girlfriend back,” he added with a smile.

Liz smiled. “Do you really mean that?” she asked. “I mean, even after…”

“Especially after what happened,” Max emphasized and without a second thought, he leant forward to press a kiss on Liz’ lips. Not too hard, but passionate enough to make his point. He finally knew the truth; he finally knew what his heart had known all along. Liz didn’t betray him and she still loved him.

“Any more secrets that need to come out?” Maria asked. “Because now seems like the time to come clean.”

Isabel hesitated for a second, but spoke up anyway. “Well… since we’re in the spirit of honesty, I have something to confess.”

“You spread a rumor around school about me and Kyle sleeping together,” Liz said pointedly. Isabel didn’t reply.

“Wait a minute. You did that?” Maria screeched. She would have betted her left hand that it was Tess who started that rumor.

“Way to go Lon!” Ava scoffed. When Isabel didn’t reply with a wiseass counter, Ava sighed. “Sorry,” she amended.

“It’s alright Isabel. You know you were just angry at me for hurting your brother,” Liz said. She really didn’t blame Isabel. After all, how could she have known that is was all fake?

“I’m still sorry,” Isabel apologized. “Even if it were true, I shouldn’t have done it.”

“How did you even find out?” Max asked. “I never told you what happened?”

“I uh… I think I can explain that,” Tess stammered. “I kind of mentioned it when Isabel asked me what was going on between you and Liz. She was worried and I really didn’t think it would be a big issue.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad it’s all over,” Liz said with a small smile.

“Amen,” Max agreed.

~~

An hour later, after much more talking, Max and Isabel were about to leave. Liz, Maria and Alex had left a few minutes earlier, so that left Kyle, Ava and Tess on the couch together. Jim had suggested to Ava to spend the night at his place and she had agreed. He would help figure out a more permanent living situation tomorrow.

“Just a sec, alright,” Tess said to Kyle as she stood up and walked after Max. “Max, can I talk to you for just a second?” she asked.

Max smiled and took back a few steps towards her. He was happy; that much was abundantly clear to her. “How about we talk about things tomorrow?” he suggested.

“Sounds good,” Tess agreed. “I just wanted to thank you.”

“For what?”

Tess smirked. “For not making me wake up feeling like a truck drove over my head.”

Max smiled as well. “You’re welcome. And lets keep it between us. I’m sure some people think I should have just let you suffer.”

“You mean keep it a secret?” Tess said, frowning. “Haven’t you learnt anything today?”

Max just smiled. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

“Oh,” Tess said as she looked back towards the living room where Kyle Valenti was sitting, looking directly back at her with a smirk on his face. “I’m more than alright.”

~~

Several hours later, everyone in the Valenti residence was getting ready for bed. Kyle had withdrawn himself to his usual spot on the couch, Jim had offered his bed to Ava and managed to extract an invitation from Amy Deluca to spend the night there and Tess was lying on her bed, flipping through a glamour magazine. When Ava walked in, Tess looked up for a second before refocussing on her magazine. “Your room is next door,” Tess just said.

“I know, but I wanted to talk to you for a second,” Ava said, closing the bedroom door and sitting down on the desk chair in the room.

Without a reply, Tess closed her magazine, put it on the closet next to the bed and sat down on the side of the bed facing Ava. “Alright. What’s up?”

“Well, not much,” Ava started. “I guess I just want to congratulate you.”

“Congratulate?” Tess said with a smile. “That’s hardly the word I would use.”

“Well, personally I think the word congratulate fits perfectly well with your performance today,” Ava insisted.

Tess shrugged. “Well thanks… I guess.”

“I mean you were really, really convincing. It’s truly a gift.”

A confused look appeared on Tess’ face. “I’m getting a little confused.”

“Yes, I was confused too,” Ava admitted. “Things just didn’t add up. I mean, why did Kal show up right when I entered town?”

“Well, he followed you here,” Tess suggested.

Ava smiled and shook her head. “No he didn’t. If he was following me, he would have found out where you lived when I arrived in Roswell the first time and he definitely wouldn’t have waited with his attack until I was here.”

“Hmmm, I guess that is a little strange,” Tess admitted. “But why pain your head with these things? He’s dead; case closed.”

“Well, that’s not the only weird thing,” Ava continued. “It’s also strange how well he seemed to know us. He knew to call the Valenti residence, he knew Liz was here and that she was a waitress, he even knew who Maria was.”

“Guess he did his homework,” Tess offered.

“Or someone did his homework for him,” Ava countered. “Someone who had something to gain from staging this elaborate act. Someone who knew him and who was in the position to ask him for a favor.”

“Hey! Hold on a minute!” Tess said loudly.

“How about I don’t?” Ava countered. “You played us and you played us really well. Like when Max said he was taking me with him instead of you and you bolted out of the room… you weren’t upset; you needed the time to call Kal to tell him about the change in plans.”

Tess shook her head and pretended to be amused. “That is all so in your imagination.”

“Bullshit!” Ava said loudly. “You staged all this so everyone would like you again!”

Tess’ expression turned dark. “You’re wrong, and I really hope you’re not planning to confuse everyone by spreading this little fantasy of yours among the group. After all, it’s not like you can prove anything.”

Ava’s expression turned equally dark. “Funny that you mention proof. There’s this thing about telephone calls… there’s always a trace. Care to give me your cellphone?” Tess was silent. “And before you try to erase my memories, you should ask yourself just how sure you are that it will work on a fellow alien and how upset I’m going to be if you try and fail.”

Tess was silent a few more seconds before a defeated look appeared on her face. “What do you want?” she asked softly.

“Nothing from you,” Ava clarified coldly. “And as much as I hate to admit it, they actually need you and telling them what you did won’t do anyone any good. There’s just one thing I’d like to know.”

Tess was silent and Ava took that as her cue to continue. “I think you really do care for that Kyle guy, so what I want to know is… how you could have him kidnapped? I don’t care whether he was in actual danger or not; you had the guy you love kidnapped! How could you possibly be that heartless?”

Tess just hung her head and looked at the floor.

“Look at me,” Ava said in a remarkably gentle voice. Tess looked up and Ava looked her straight in the eyes. “In some twisted way, I understand why you did it… but if you ever try something like this to Alex or any of the others again, I will beat on your face until you and I won’t look the slightest bit alike anymore. Are we clear?”

Tess gulped. “Crystal,” she whispered.

Ava smiled. “Good. Then I believe we have an understanding,” she said before walking out of the room, stopping in the doorway for a second.

”Oh, and before I forget… Goodnight Tess. Sleep well.”

THE END