"We need to talk to you."

"Yeah? Well, I sure don't need to talk to you." Kyle continued towards his truck. It was obvious he wanted nothing to do with them. Max realized that the only opportunity to find anything out was slipping away. He laid his hand on Kyle's shoulder as if to stop him and concentrated on making a connection. Kyle jumped back. "Hey, keep your hands off of me!"

"Kyle, we need your help."

"You must be crazy. You guys are freakin' aliens! The only reason I haven't turned you in is because somehow you've brainwashed Liz and my dad into thinking protecting you is some noble thing. I think you should be dissected in a jar in some government lab somewhere."

Kyle held his basketball up protectively as Michael stepped forward. "Hey, he saved your life."

"Sorry if I haven't said thank you. Now, get the hell away from me."

***********

Two blonde heads turned anxiously as Alex opened the door to Michael's apartment. "It's okay, I'm back safe and sound. No reason to look so worried." Isabel attempted to smile. Tess turned back to the television, her expression one normally directed at the TV only in cases of presidential declarations of war. It made her seem oddly concerned about Lucy messing up Ricky's act. Alex put the fast food tray on the coffee table and settled in the couch between them. "One burger, extra meat, no cheese. Two spicy chicken sandwiches. Three cokes." He shook the bag, then emptied it out on the table. "Oh yeah, and lots of packages of honey and sugar."

Alex watched with amusement as with almost perfect synchronicity the two women drizzled the honey on their sandwiches and the sugar in the soda. As much as he tried to prepare himself mentally for what dating an alien might involve some things still just weirded him out. He tried to put it out of his mind and enjoy his food, but slowly he began to realize that after the initial flurry of activity involved in the preparation of the food in front of her, Isabel had almost completely ignored it. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She sighed and relaxed against him. He wanted to be strong for her, to tell her that everything was going to work out. But somehow all the reassurances he could think of only sounded like the hollow promises they were.

This time three worried pairs of eyes greeted Max and Michael as they entered the apartment. Tess rushed to Max. "What happened? Were you able to find out anything?"

Michael picked up Isabel's untouched fries and flopped into the beat-up easy chair. "He wasn't exactly cooperative."

"What does that mean?"

Max shrugged. "I tried, nothing happened."

Tess backed away, shaking her head. "No, it can't be. Wait, Michael didn't know about Liz. Maybe he saw something and just didn't know what it was."

Michael threw the fries back on the table, his appetite suddenly gone. "Look, it doesn't matter. He's not going to help us. What's the big deal?"

"Don't you know?"

Isabel leaned forward. "Know what?"

Max was looking at her now. "Tell us. Everything."

Every piece of information she had meant one more time of Max looking at her, needing her. She was afraid of what would happen when she didn't have anything more to give him. She began reluctantly. "We aren't the only alien hybrids our people created. They sent four guardians with us. Two were our people. They were supposed to be our teachers, but their bodies were weak, and they died in the crash. The other two were our protectors. They were engineered, a mix of our people's DNA and our enemy's, so that they would have the same abilities as our enemies, to be able to be among them undetected. One was killed by the FBI just to see if it could be done. The other was Nasedo. The power to shape-shift, it doesn't come from our people. He gets that from our enemies."