They arrived in scattered groups, Maria having rushed over to Michael's earlier to tidy up and do a quick cleaning, before their guests arrived. Michael was a great cook, but his housekeeping skills left much to be desired. She placed some snack foods in bowls around the room, and made sure their was plenty of chilled soda in the fridge.

Despite Michael's earlier protestations, he had prepared some of his special salsa; so there were large bags of nachos on hand as well. Maria's mom had been kind enough to supply a couple of her famous coconut cream pies, which Maria had stored in Michael's fridge. She then placed some candles throughout the room, and lit them just before 8:00.

Tess and Kyle were the first to arrive, shortly after the alloted time. The music was already playing, and they entered into the party mood eagerly, as they swayed to the beat. Liz and Max showed up about twenty minutes later, looking a little flushed and disheveled, in spite of their efforts to tidy up after their litle make out session in the jeep.

"Can't you two keep your hands off each other?" Michael protested good naturedly. "I mean, it's not like you won't see each other later on,"

Tess and Kyle raised their eyebrows in question, but the pair just shrugged it off.

"Is that your salsa, Michael?" Liz asked expectantly. "I love this stuff......you should patent it and sell it. It's the best I've ever tasted!" she mumbled as she filled her mouth with the dip and chips.

"Yeah, Michael," Max agreed. "You could call it *Galaxy salsa...........it's outa this world*!"

They all laughed at Max's little joke, but the wheels were turning in Michael's mind. It wouldn't hurt to investigate this further......that's if they ever solved this other mystery they were so deeply involved with.

The last to arrive were Alex and Isabel, which surprised no one. They could hear their mild arguing as they approached the door.

"Look, Isabel," Alex coaxed. "I told you I love your hair that way.......you could wear it straight up on top of your head, and I'd still like it, sweetie."

"Alex," Isabel protested,"If you hadn't made me rush so much, I could have fixed it the way I really wanted to!"

"Well, why don't you just, you know, wave your hand, then, and do what you want?" he asked in exasperation.

"Sometimes, Alex, you can be so insensitive!" she cried. But she did as he suggested, anyway, as she looked at her handiwork in her hand mirror."There, that's better.........you like? she smiled.

"I like," he smiled back. He kissed her sweetly on her luscious, red lips, as he turned the handle to Michael's front door. "Hey, everybody," he called out in greeting. "Better late than never, I always say," he joked. "And we're usually late," he muttered under his breath.

"Alex, I heard that," Isabel glowered at him.

"Would you two please put a sock in it," Kyle complained. "Enjoy the evening, for tomorrow we pay........you know........."Hey, Ho, Hey, Ho. It's off to work we go!"

"Kyle, that would be great if there were seven of us," Tess teased. They all laughed, as the party mood caught on again, and they danced and joked all night, truly enjoying one another's company, since they could be so open and trusting with each other. Mention of their research was taboo, so they spoke of nothing but trivia......t.v., the newest hit music ( which drew a lot of varying opinions) current movies and even the upcoming school year......which predictably, drew groans.

They ordered pizza, and Liz was careful to remove the cheese from her slices. Max watched her with concern, still worried about this new anomoly in her eating habits. She, on the other hand, had grown accustomed to this new dietary quirk, and took it in stride. She looked up at him and shrugged, as she tucked into her food, waving her messy fingers in his face.

He laughed and decided if she wasn't going to panic over it, then he wouldn't either. When they had finished their first course, Maria produced the two pies. They groaned as they held their full bellies.

"That's okay," she stated. "The night is young.......we'll save these for later," and she laid them on the counter to adjust to room temperature. She was true to her word, for in less than an hour, the guys were attacking the pie, while the girls took much smaller pieces.

"Mmmm, this is so good," Tess sighed. "I wish I could bake like this."

"Yeah, remember those peanut butter cookies you made the other day.........you could use them for golf balls!" Kyle teased.

"Ha, ha , ha," she huffed. "No one said aliens were good cooks."

"Hey, I take exception to that remark," Michael interrupted. "I don't think it has anything to do with being an alien, Tess. Maybe you should check your oven temp. the next time," he waggled his eyebrows at her.

She flicked a piece of cream at him, but he ducked as he saw it coming, and it hit Maria instead. She shrieked as the cream landed on her cheek, while Michael doubled over with laughter.

"Oh, you think that's funny,do you space boy?" she threatened as she took the remaining pie on her plate and pushed it into his face.

Michael wore such a startled look on his face, that they all burst out laughing. He picked his nearest target which was Max, who sat on the couch with Liz perched on his lap, and blasted him with a piece of pie he scooped from the remaining dish. It was Max's turn to register shock, and before he could react, Kyle shouted out "FOOD FIGHT!" and all hell broke loose.

Pizza ansd salsa and chips and pie flew through the air as they all joined in on the fun, screeching with laughter as they bombarded each other with food. They were making such a noise, that they didn't hear the persistent knocking on the apartment door, until it was raised to a level that caught their attention. When the door was opened, Sherriff Valenti stood there with a look of consternation on his face.

His jaw dropped as he took in the scene. All eight teens stood there with pizza sauce and cream smeared over there faces and clothes, while bits of salsa and chips hung off them. The apartment walls and floor hadn't escaped the melee, either.

Alex walked up to the sherriff and asked politely," Sherriff, may we help you?"

He looked up into Alex's face and was just about to chew him out, when a blob of salsa dripped from his forehead onto the sherriff's shoe. They both looked down at the offending sauce and back up again.........then, as Alex waited for the explosion, the sherriff's countenance portrayed his struggle to control his emotions. Then to his surprise, he too, burst out laughing, much to the chagrin of Michael's next door neighbour, who had been the one to summon the sherriff over the offending noise level.

"Hi Dad," Kyle waved in the background, as he tried in vain to wipe the traces of food off his face and clothes. "What brings you here?" he asked innocently.

"What bring's me here?" the sherriff repeated. "Well, I guess the fact that I could here you outside, might have somehing to do with it." Michael's neighbour peered in over his shoulder and took in the destruction , shaking his head in disapproval.

"Thank you, Mr. Delgado, I'll handle things from here," he explained as he motioned for the elderly man to return to his apartment. "Now, I don't have to tell you kids about the city bylaws regarding noise after 10:00 p.m., do I, hmmm?" he winked. "I think you'd better keep it down and start cleaning up in here, eh?" and with that, he left them to their task as he turned, shaking his head in silent laughter at their sheepish grins. Secretly, he was thrilled to see them acting like normal teens for a change......no kids deserved to have that much responsibility thrust upon them, and although they handled it well, the strain often showed. It was about time they cut loose.

----------------------------------

They all set about scrubbing up the apartment and themselves, still chuckling at the mess they made.

"You know guys, with a little wave of the hand, you could have this place and us, looking pretty spiffy in no time," Kyle suggested. The four Alien teens looked at each other and shrugged as they brought their hands up and with a couple of swipes, brought things back to normal.

"Now, that's what I call a handy tool," Alex grinned.

"Oops, hold still Alex, I missed a spot," Isabel smiled, as she touched the last bit of salsa clinging to his forehead. She leaned up to kiss the spot and he hugged her to him gratefully.

"Well, I think I've had enough excitement for one evening," Max stated. "We're gonna call it a night," he smiled as he took Liz by the hand and led her to the door. "Great party, Michael....we'll have to do this again, sometime," he joked.

"Anytime, Maxwell. My door is always open."

"Yeah, well we'll see you guys, tomorrow, at 1:30, alright?"

"Yeah, see you later, you two," they called, as the two young lovers left for their rendezvous.

Max drove quickly but cautiously to their bungalow on the outskirts of town, as they laughingly reminisced about the evening's events.

"I thought I was going to die when the salsa dripped off Alex and onto the sherriff's shoe," Liz giggled. "The look on both their faces was priceless!"

"Yeah," he agreed. "And the sherriff was such a good sport about the whole thing..........I can't believe he let us get off so easily. He's not such a bad guy, after all."

Soon, they pulled up in front of their house, and Max jumped out of the jeep to help Liz from her seat. She smiled as he held her hand and gently lifted her out of the vehicle. He grabbed their bags in the back seat, and strolled with her to the front door, which he unlocked with a flourish.

"After you, Senorita," he bowed as he held the door open for her.

"Gracias," she giggled as she joined him in his flirting mood. She entered the foyer, still unable to fathom their good fortune. She absolutely loved their place............."their place," she sighed inwardly. She loved it from the terra cotta floors all the way up to the open beamed ceilings. She loved the large stone fireplace in the sunken living room, to the right of the wide foyer, and how the room opened to the front and back of the house, with its beautiful wall of windows facing the backyard.

She adored the L- shaped kitchen, situated to the left of the foyer, facing the front of the house, with its built in ovens and the large centre island with a cook top and grill, with room for bar stools for a quick meal. She loved the dining area, which was situated across the hall from the kitchen, and facing the foyer, opening onto the back patio, and overlooking the living room.

The gorgeous bathroom was tiled in indigo blue and had a huge, centre whirlpool tub with a large, separate shower stall and double sinks.It also had a laundry area, with stacked washer and dryer combo. The bathroom received daylight through a double set of skylights, situated over the tub, and had planting shelves bordering the walls.

But her favourite room was the master bedroom, which took up the last half of the back of the house. It had a wall of sliding doors leading out to a private patio, surrounded by screens and plantings........perfect for sunbathing in the nude, she smiled to herself. The large king size bed rested against the far wall as you entered the room, with a small couch for seating to one side, and there were large double closets and private access to the main bathroom, facing it.

The two smaller front bedrooms were comfortable and nicely furnished with double beds and dressers. All the bedrooms had t.v. hookups, with their own entertainment units, storing both t.v. and stereo equipment. Brody had certainly spared no expense in decorating the beautiful bungalow.

A small area was set aside in the living room for a computer set up, situated in an alcove for privacy, and there was a generous den area, accessible through french doors, off to the left of the fireplace which contained another entertainment centre housing a large screen t.v. and an expensive stereo system. A small bathroom with a shower stall, was situated off the den, accessible from the computer alcove on the other side, as well.

The colour scheme throughout was bathed in warm earth tones, with jewel toned accents, and the tiled floors were covered in gorgeous native American hand woven rugs, which picked up the earthy colours. The furnishings were spanish style, not too heavy and not too dark, in perfect proportion to the size of the rooms. All it needed now, were a few personal touches to make it feel like home...........some family pictures and some of their own things from home.

As Liz gave the house a more thorough investigation, she shook her head in disbelief. "Max, there's something wrong here.........I mean, these furnishings alone are very expensive, and that's not including the electronic equipment........we're talking thousands and thousands of dollars! And not all these pictures are lithographs..........look at this over here.....that's definitely an original by Georgia O'Keefe! My God, Max, nobody............ and I don't care how much money they have.............would just give this stuff away. As much as I want this to be ours, I have a very bad feeling about this. I mean, you've only known Brody for a couple of months........how much do you really know about him, anyway?"

Max looked at her carefully and sighed. "You know, I was just about to say the same thing, but I know how much you love this house, and I didn't want to ruin it for you. I really don't know what's going on here. None of this makes sense!"

Liz put her finger to her lips to silence Max, and quietly led him outdoors, out of earshot of the house. "Max, do you think Brody suspects anything about you and the others? Maybe, he has the house bugged......Omigod, I wonder did he hear us last night?!"

"Okay, let's check the house over....at least we'll be able to rest easy if we don't find anything."

"And if we do?" she asked with concern.

"We get the hell out of here, and tell him thanks, but no thanks!"

They returned to the bungalow, and began a thorough search. Liz took the bedrooms and the bathroom, while Max checked out the remainder of the house. After searching carefully for almost two hours, they turned up nothing.

They breathed a lot easier, collapsing on the bed in exhaustion. "I guess we're just a little paranoid......it's such a great deal, it seems too good to be true," Max declared. He reached over to take Liz in his arms, and pulled her on top of him. "I could use some nourishment right about now," he murmured into her ear. It's way passed my feeding time," he chuckled as he nibbled on her lobe.

"And what would Papa Bear like to eat?" she teased him.

"Something sweet and spicy," he growled as he attacked her lips and plunged his tongue into her mouth. He moaned as he explored her mouth with his probing tongue, running it around hers and dipping in and out as he mimed making love with it. She rubbed her mound over his extremely rigid erection, as she too became aroused.

They tore at each others clothes in their haste to join. They wanted each other so badly, they could barely undo their buttons and zippers, as their trembling fingers fumbled with the offending articles. They laughed as they struggled to disrobe, trying to help each other and just making matters worse. Finally they lay naked and panting, as they rubbed against one another like wild animals in heat.

"Max, hurry," Liz begged, as she waited for him to put on his condom. She was so excited, she started rubbing herself with her own fingers, to take away the ache. He raised his eyebrows as she pleasured herself, watching her flushed countenance in fascination, as she dove in and out of her passage. He brought his head down to her level and ran his tongue over her sex, as she continued to probe herself.

"C'mon Liz," he encouraged her. I want you to come, Babe."

She cried out as she shook with release, shuddering under his laving as her fingers plunged rapidly in and out. She sobbed as she took his head in her hands, grinding her mound into his face as she came again and again, until she went limp with released tension. Max wasted no time in mounting her, as his own body demanded satisfaction.

He glided in swiftly, revelling in her tight, hot walls as the muscles squeezed his hard shaft. The feeling was so good, it was almost unbearable, as he stroked her in and out with his maleness. She moved with him, as she felt it, too, and swirled her hips to increase the friction. Their breathing rose high and harsh as their pace quickened and they felt the first dim awareness of their impending explosion. A few more swift strokes and they were there, pounding into each other as their bodies bucked in ecstacy.

Max sank onto her body as he plunged for the last time, still feeling Liz's walls contracting on him. His chest heaved as he gulped in oxygen, while she lay under him, struggling for breath, too. He soon moved off of her, to give her more breathing space, rolling to the side as he slipped out of her. He removed the condom from his softening shaft, and threw it into the waste basket by the side of the bed.

Then, he picked her up, scooping her into his strong arms. She sighed as she felt him comforting her love racked body, with his soft kisses and words of endearment. He was always such a considerate lover, seeming to enjoy the cuddling after, as much as she did. She was so happy, for tonight they could sleep in each others arms, cuddling to their heart's content.