Isabel was saying, "Either she never went to sleep, or I was too tired, or the picture in the book wasn't enough, or, god, I don't know."

It was the day after the accident. Liz was fine. Her stay at the hospital was brief. After their meeting yesterday, it was decided that Isabel would try to use her powers to find out exactly what Tess was up to. Apparently, it hadn't worked.

"So you couldn't dream-walk her at all." Maria clarified.

"I couldn't even get close enough to sense her presence. Usually, as I make contact, I can feel the presence of whoever it is I'm trying to connect to. I couldn't even get that close to her last night."

She looked down at the picture of Tess in the alien book she held. The pages were metal, and the book was old, very old. It was printed with some language the aliens couldn't read, but they say a picture is worth a thousand words... The three pages with illustrations told their own story. There was a page that showed how the four aliens had looked the day they emerged from their incubation pods. There was another page that showed how they all looked now, right down to their hairstyles, and the third page showed them paired off, and the two female aliens were depicted with little babies in their wombs, just like in a book on human reproduction. Liz and the two other humans had heard of the book, and what it implied, but actually seeing it for the first time was depressing.

Whoever or whatever had created these aliens had clearly intended that they should be together as life mates, ensuing the survival of their species. It was a daunting prospect for not only the aliens but also for the humans who loved them.

Isabel sighed. "I don't know. Maybe if I had a real picture of her... I mean, this is her likeness, but it's not her, right?" She indicated the metal engraving. "I could try again. But we'll need to get a picture."

"She got here too late to be in the yearbook, right?" Maria asked.

Isabel nodded.

Liz said, "Maybe she was blocking you. I mean, have you ever tried to dream-walk Max or Michael?"

"I did Max when he was captured by Pierce."

"That's right." Liz thought for a moment. "But, he was drugged, right? Maybe he couldn't fight it." She nodded at that logic. "Maybe you can't get in with Tess because she senses your presence, too. Maybe she's got a defense against it or something. Plus, aren't her powers stronger than yours?"

Isabel nodded.

"Then as long as she can feel you coming, you won't be able to get in."

"So what are you saying, Liz? That we should just give up? Let her kill you?" Maria was upset.

"No, no, it's just that I had a thought. Michael, when I 'zapped' you the other day, when I saw your memories, could you feel that anything was happening?"

"Yeah."

The group looked at him with interest. Max especially. He wouldn't admit it, but the thought of Liz having a connection with anyone else made him feel jealous, and not a little possessive. He remembered how he felt every time he connected with her, and he didn't want anyone else feeling that special sensation of closeness that Liz inspired inside him.

"Could you tell what was happening? I mean, that I was seeing things from inside your head?"

"No, it just felt," he looked uncomfortably at Max, "...strange. Like we had a connection."

"What kind of 'connection'," asked Alex, not sure where Liz was going with this.

Michael's temper blew. "I don't know. It was just a connection, all right? I can't explain it."

There was a moment of silence, then Liz said, "I think I want to try to connect with Tess. If I can get inside her head, maybe I can figure out what she's planning."

"No. Absolutely not."

"But Max..."

"No. To connect, you'll have to touch her, and I'm not letting her get that close to you again." He paused and looked at her, "Besides, maybe what happened with Michael was a fluke. We don't even know if you can just do it anytime you want."

"He's got a point." This from Maria.

"You're right. But there's only one way to find out." Liz stepped away from Max determined to see if she can control it on her own. What happened when she connected with Michael the other day occurred when she was full of sexual energy that had been put there by Max. She didn't know if she could generate that kind of energy on her own, but she was willing to try. She looked at her best friend. "Maria?"

Maria had a deer-in-the-headlights look at the prospect of being the subject of some alien experiment, then she looked at Liz. Liz who has been her best friend for, like, forever. "All right," she said with a sigh. "It's not like I have any secrets from you anyway, right?"

"Thank you, Maria."

The rest of the group all stood back and stared as Liz closed her eyes. Once again, she reached inside herself and touched on the alien source of power that Max had put there so many months ago. As she called on it, she felt it expand and grow, until it filled her being. The hair on her arms stood up as her skin began to tingle. Liz stoked it higher, up to the intensity it was the other day when she was in Max's arms in the CrashDown.

Liz opened her eyes, and took a step closer to Maria, then another, then she was close enough to reach out and touch her. Slowly her arm lifted, and she placed her palm on her friend's arm. Instantly, she was flooded with images and feelings. Her and Maria growing up together, and Alex, too. Liz saw her friend looking at Michael in school. Then in the CrashDown. Again she saw herself getting shot, and felt Maria's terror, then puzzlement at her seeming recovery. She saw Michael standing in the rain outside Maria's window, and felt the peace her friend had felt when she held him in her arms. She saw Max and Isabel, too. Then Michael again in scene after scene.

Then it was over.

The two friends just stared at each other. Liz was breathing heavily.

"Liz, are you ok?"

Liz caught her in a hug, and held her tight. "I love you, Maria."

"Woah," Maria's voice was hoarse. "You, too, babe." The two girls hugged each other closely, sharing a special moment. Then Maria started to laugh, which set Liz off. They broke off their embrace and stepped back from each other, laughing and smiling.

"Wow, that was some..."

"Yeah, me too."

"So what did you see?" Michael wanted to know.

"Maria was right, she doesn't have many secrets from me. Now she has a few less."

"Like what?"

"I'm not telling." She smiled at her friend again.

"So, Maria," Alex asked, "Did you feel anything like a 'connection' that you can describe... without making Max want to punch you in the nose?" He shot a look at Liz' boyfriend who was transparent when it came to his emotions as usual. Isabel nudged him.

"Um, it is hard to describe. It's like..." she tried to recapture the feeling. "It's like being on a rollercoaster but at the same time being a bug trapped on fly paper where you can't move. It was like as soon as she touched me, I got tunnel vision, and all I could do was look at her."