Isabel frowned at the empty spaces at the table. "Where are Michael and Maria?"

Alex pointed with his sandwich. "Here they come.

Michael and Maria walked toward the table holding hands. She sat down and he straddled the bench facing her. He started poking into her lunch bag. She batted his hand away. "Mine!" she scolded.

He pulled her to him and whispered in her ear. Maria giggled and snuggled closer.

Isabel rolled her eyes and dropped her sandwich in disgust. "Get a room," she said.

"Don't need one. We have my apartment. What is your problem?" Michael demanded.

"My problem?" Isabel said.

"Isabel," Max interrupted. "Did you have any luck with Kyle?"

Isabel gave Michael one more acidic look and turned her attention to her brother. "Yes, as a matter of fact I did. There are a couple of things that really bother me. First, his orb was so small I had a hard time finding it. What do you think that means?"

"Maybe it's all the medications they have him on," Alex said.

"I hadn't thought of that," she said. "I hope that's it. I've just never seen anything like it before." She picked up her sandwich and put it down immediately. "I've been in his dreams twice, and both times he has been dreaming about being in the hospital. This time he was watching one of those cheesy talk shows about alien abductions."

"I'd say he is still pretty obsessed about us," Michael said.

"And he is hostile," Isabel added. "People aren't usually so angry in their dreams."

"What did you say to him?" Liz asked.

"I made him promise to stop talking about aliens, and I told him we would talk to the doctors and help him get out. He needs to get out of there. He may be really pissed at us, but he isn't crazy."

"I still don't think we should try to get him out of the hospital. His dad was the big wig at Project Clean Slate. Adam burned the compound, but does anyone really think that they just folded up shop?" Michael asked. Liz opened her mouth to defend Adam's memory, but he cut her off. "Yeah, yeah, I know. DuPris was in control of Adam's body at the time, but the bottom line doesn't change. The compound burned. If anything it would make Clean Slate more eager to find us. They've had plenty of time to regroup and start looking for the aliens again. Kyle would be a big help with that."

Everyone mulled this over quietly.

"We could go to see him at the hospital and see how he reacts," Liz suggested.

"Before we do anything, let me visit him again tonight. I promised I would, and it will give me a chance to find out more." Isabel picked up her sandwich and stuffed it into the paper bag. She wasn't hungry anymore.

@@@@@@@@@@

Preparations for the museum reopening had been under way for hours. Maria set out plastic glasses and plates and Liz began unwrapping trays of food. "There better be a crowd of people, or Michael is going to be eating leftovers for weeks," Liz observed.

"Well, you know how guys think -- more is more. Half the school will show up just for the free food." Maria said. She put a cloth across the adjoining table and put the punch bowl in the center. She looked at her watch. "I think we're done, and we're an hour ahead of time." She and Liz high fived.

Isabel breezed in looking fabulous as usual.

Maria dabbed at perspiration on her face with a napkin. She gestured in Isabel's general direction. "Sometimes I really hate her. She always looks just like that. Perfect! What is her secret?"

Liz laughed. "Chalk it up to alien powers."

Maria reached heavenward. "That's it."

"What's it?" Isabel asked.

Maria gave the tables her best Vanna White gesture. "We're done!"

"Oh," Isabel said. "Looks like I'm too late to lend a hand. Too bad." She adjusted the placement of one of the stacks of paper plates. As soon as she turned her back Maria moved them back.

Liz hid a smile behind her hand. Some things never change, she thought. "I'm glad you're here," she said to Isabel. "Maria and I need to go clean up. Can you watch things?"

"Sure," Isabel replied, her mind obviously elsewhere.

"Great!" Liz said heading toward the door. "The guys are upstairs if you need anything. We should be back before people start arriving."

"Sure," Isabel repeated.

Liz looked at Maria and shrugged. Maria grabbed her overnight bag and a mysterious zippered hanging bag off the back of a nearby chair. They both headed out the door and down the street toward the Crashdown.

"What was that about?" Maria asked. "Oh, who cares. We have one hour to get as gorgeous as Iz. Wait until you see the outfit I'm wearing. Michael's eyes are going to fall out of his head, I swear! What are you wearing?" She asked opening the door to the café and heading through to the back. They clattered up the stairs and into Liz's room.

"You two are really happy," Liz said closing and locking the door.

"I had no idea things could happen this way," Maria answered. "One minute I was utterly miserable because Michael was going with Trevor back to their planet, and the next minute he was telling me he loves me. Right there in front of God and everybody!" Maria hugged her best friend. "And Max is back! How wonderful is that? I was so scared he wouldn't come back."

"I know what you mean," Liz replied. "You have no idea how completely creepy it was to have him with you one minute and be in the middle of this amazing kiss, and then all of a sudden he would blank out." She shuddered at the memory.

Maria unzipped the hanging bag and pulled out her outfit with a flourish.

Liz looked at it in astonishment. "Oh my gosh! Where did you get that?"

"Out of my mother's closet, believe it or not." She held it up to herself. Black simmering fabric hung loosely on the hanger, but there didn't seem to be very much fabric.

"I'm going to take a shower," Liz said backing into the bathroom. "I promise I'll be quick." What was Maria thinking she asked herself as she shut the door? Michael's eyes weren't going to be the only thing that was falling out from that so-called dress. She was willing to bet that Maria wouldn't actually wear the thing.

@@@@@@@@@@

Isabel paced back and forth in front of the refreshment tables. She categorizing the plates and napkins by size and color and made sure that all of them were exactly the same distance apart. She considered whether to change the whole thing to an arrangement by sets of a glass, plate, and napkin.

Max stood on the stairs and watched his sister's obsessive rearranging. "Isabel!" Max said sharply. "What are you doing?"

Startled, she whirled around and quickly plastered a smile on her face. "You scared me."

"What's wrong?" he asked crossing the floor and taking her in his arms. "Talk to me Izzy."

"I visited Kyle again last night."

"And," he prompted, leading her toward a line of chairs.

"He really is obsessed with aliens, Max," she said. "Last night he was being chased by all kinds of aliens from little green men to Mr. Spock. He was in the school and he ran into the men's room and looked where he told me the Clean Slate device was hidden. It wasn't there. All the aliens caught up with him and he was huddled in a corner absolutely terrified."

"What did you do? Did you try to get him out of the nightmare?"

"Of course I did. I tried to make the aliens disappear, but that didn't work. So I pushed through them and knelt down with him. He was scared of me at first too, but I told him that as long as he held onto me none of the aliens could touch him. He was holding onto me for dear life. I'm surprised I'm not black and blue. Anyway, the aliens were trying to claw at him, and he woke up."

"That's not good. He could realize that there is something strange about you appearing in the dream." He hugged her. "There isn't anything we can do about it now. We'll deal with the problem if it comes up."

"You're missing the point, Max. He dreamed that the device was gone. He told me where he hid it in a dream, and now he dreams that it is gone." She looked at him earnestly and whispered, "How did he know that?"

"It's just a dream, Izzy. Things don't have to make sense. Everything will be OK. I think you should visit him again tonight and see if you notice anything else strange."