Maria looked away from Alex when she heard Liz's laughter from down the hall. She stared in amazement. Max, Liz, and Tess were walking down the hall together. Max and Liz were holding hands and Liz's other arm was linked through Tess's.

Alex turned to see what had captivated Maria's attention. "Wow. I thought Liz and Tess hated each other."

"I guess not." Maria replied. Her voice held amazement and a little bit of jealously.

"Hey, Maria." Liz unhooked herself from Max and Tess to give her best friend a hug. Her face was glowing with happiness.

"Liz, I need to talk to you. NOW!" Maria pulled Liz off to the side.

"What is going on?" She questioned exasperation and confusion clear in her voice.

"Oh, Maria. It's a really long story. I'd rather tell every one together."

"Liz." Maria's voice held a threatening note to it. "Does this have anything to do with the fact that you were nowhere to be found all day yesterday?"

Liz just smiled.

"Sorry, Maria. Can I please borrow Liz?" Max came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Maria sighed heavily. "I guess."

As Max pulled her away he kissed her neck.

"Why don't we have everybody meet at Michael's later. Or if he's not willing we should meet at the Crashdown. After it closes of course. This is a long story and it doesn't need to be overheard." Tess said. "But either way we should make it for around nine. I'm meeting Kyle after school."

"I'll talk to Michael and Isabel. Tess, if you want Kyle to be there let him know. I'll let everybody know what Michael said at lunch." Even as Max spoke he didn't let go of Liz. It was as though he thought that if he let her go she would disappear.

As the tardy bell rang the Max, Liz and Tess hurried off to their classes leaving Maria and Alex to stare after them.

"Well, that was interesting." Alex said.

"That is was. I wonder what happened."

"Who knows. I guess we'll find out later. Right now we need to get to class." Alex smiled at Maria, showing her that he believed that everything was going to be okay.

Later that day at Michael's

Max, Liz, Tess, Kyle, Michael and Maria were gathered in Michael's living room. They were waiting on Alex and Isabel. Isabel was always late and Alex had offered to pick her up.

Michael was standing off to the side with Maria observing the scene. Max, Liz, and Tess were sitting on the couch. Kyle was sitting on the floor next to Tess. Liz and Tess were talking in hushed tones and every few seconds they would look at Max and laugh. Max was oblivious to it all. He just sat holding Liz's hand and staring at her.

"Michael, do you have any idea what is going on?" Maria asked.

"No, but I'm starting to feel like I'm in an episode of the Twilight Zone. I wish Alex and Izzy would hurry."

"Definitely Twilight Zone material." Maria agreed as she watched Liz laugh over something that Tess had said.

At that moment the door swung open and Alex and Isabel came in.

"Finally." Michael muttered. "Let's get this story started."

"Sorry we're late. Mom wanted to talk to Alex." Isabel rolled her eyes as they settled down to hear the tale.

"Okay. I know this is going to be hard to believe but behr with us. Liz why don't you start."

Liz took a deep breath. "Okay. I was visited by Max from the future."

Just then pandemonium broke out. Everyone began talking at once. Maria's voice was the loudest. "What?!?! The future. Come on. Even with all the things we've dealt with I can hardly believe that."

"Calm down." Kyle spoke up for the first time. "I know what you're thinking. Believe me. I was there. Just listen."

Liz continued. She told them what future Max had told her. Everything leading up to yesterday, including how she pretended to sleep with Kyle to get Max to fall out of love with her and their late night visit to the Valenti's house. "So, Max, Tess and I spent yesterday together. We were trying to figure out the granilith. Figure it out. But we have nothing so far."

The room was silent for a moment as everyone digested the news.

"Alex, we may need your assistance. Liz said that Serena figured out the granilith. And since she's not here we have to rely on our resident computer expert. Why don't you meet me at the pod chamber after school tomorrow."

Alex nodded, still a little stunned. Liz had been watching Maria's face the entire time. Right now it displayed a combination of confusion and hurt. Liz disengaged herself from Max and stood.

"Maria, can I talk to you?" She asked a little hesitantly. She wasn't sure how Maria would act about not being the first one told.

Maria just nodded and allowed herself to be pulled into the kitchen.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I couldn't, Maria. It was really complicated. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to tell you. I just wasn't sure how." She paused to take a deep breath. "And then Max found me crying and he made me tell him. I couldn't help it."

"Okay. You're forgiven. Just don't let it happen again."

The girls hugged, solidifying their friendship once more.

"So, are you and Tess friends now? And where did you get that shirt?"

"I guess. I mean we spent a lot of time talking yesterday. She kind of reminds me of a female Kyle." Liz grinned. "And the shirt belongs to Tess. She let me borrow it."

Maria nodded. "I guess since she saved my life I can't exactly hate her. So, what happens now?"

Liz sighed. "I don't know. We have to figure out why the granilith is so important."

"And you think Alex can do that?" Maria asked a little skeptical. "I mean this is Czechoslovakian. technology."

"Honestly, I don't know. It was actually Tess's idea to have him look at it."

"Really?"

Liz nodded.

Michael cleared his throat from the doorway of the kitchen. "Are you finished having you're girlie moment? We have more important things to talk about right now."

Maria rolled her eyes toward Liz. "Fine."

Tuesday, Late in the evening, Pod Chamber

"Max, what have you gotten me into?" Alex muttered to himself as he stared at the granilith.

He was alone in the chamber. Max, Liz, Maria and Michael had left after he had snapped at them for what had seemed like the fiftieth time for asking if he had figured it out yet. And after several hours of staring at it he still had no clue. The more he stared at it the more confused he got. His eyes widened as an idea stuck him. He dug through his back pack for his lap top and proceeded to try to connect it.

Same night, Liz's balcony

Liz sat in her usual spot writing in her journal. Max was pacing furiously in front of her.

"Liz, do you think he can do it?" Max asked for the zillionth time.

Liz looked up from her journal and groaned. "Max, I don't know." She said it very slowly. "How many times are you going to ask me that?"

Max paused in front of her. He smiled slightly. "I'm sorry. This is just really frustrating."

Liz smiled. "I know." She reached for his hand and pulled him close to her. "Alex has Tess's cell phone. I'm sure he'll call if he figures something out." She pulled him closer still, until their lips were almost touching. "Isn't there something you'd rather be doing?" She whispered.

Max nodded and kissed her.

Later that night, Pod Chamber

Alex stood staring at his computer. At first he didn't understand what was happening. The minute he hooked it up to the granelith, the alien hieroglyphic language started to scroll across the screen. After checking to make sure that it was saving the data he stared at it in amazement. He'd been staring at it for a half an hour. Then belatedly remembering, he picked up Tess's cell phone and dialed Liz's number. It only rang once before she answered.

"Alex, you have rotten timing. This better be important." She sounded breathless.

"Liz, it's doing something. I think you should get the Pod Squad here, now."

"Be there in a few." She disconnected the phone with out anything else being said.

Alex shook his head as he hung up the phone. Startled he looked up when Maria entered the chamber.

"Hey. What are you doing here? I thought that you'd come with the rest of them."

Maria groaned. "God. I was coming here to get away from Michael. I figured that it would take you a little longer to figure something out."

Alex looked at her with a hurtful expression on his face. "Why? Don't you have faith in my ability."

Maria sighed. "It's not that. Michael is just making me insane. And I've had all I can stand of the love birds for right now."

He gave her a sympathetic look. "It'll be okay, Maria. Michael will come around."

"Yeah, right." She walked over to where he was crouched by the laptop. "So, what's it doing?"

"I don't know." Alex admitted. "It started transmitting the hieroglyphics after I hooked it up. I was hoping they could figure it out. I called Liz just before you got here. She'll let the rest of the pod squad know what's going on and have them come here."

Just as the computer finished recording, Alex and Maria look up as Isabel walks into the room, looking perfect as usual in a black leather skirt and a cream colored blouse.

"Hey, Is." Alex greeted her.

"So, what have you found?" Isabel questioned. She looked at the laptop screen in amazement. "Alex, you are amazing. How did you do this?"

Alex blushed under her praise. Maria cleared her throat in impatience and he quickly began to explain what he did. "Well , I tried everything I could think of and looked at this thing from every angle and put together the things we know it can do and... I got nothing ...Then it hit me if I could find a way to connect the computer to the granolith maybe I could you know get something out of it. Obviously I couldn't just plug them together so I used the latest wireless technology that I read about and by using the sensor on a laptop to feed in to another's data base, its a hacker's trick so I figured I'd try that before I gave up for the night. And boy did it work. That thing has been absorbing those hieroglyphics for the last hour." He turned the laptop around and showed her the strange hieroglyphics that filled his screen .

"Wow ," was all she could say, she didn't even think he could get this far.

"Do you recognize any of it?" Maria questioned.

"Sort of ... Its like I know I've seen it before but I just can't remember.... you think you'll be able to decode it?"

"Maybe, but I was hoping you guys would be able to help."

"It's like 2 in the morning, Alex, I know I'm really tired and I think I've left Michael in the jeep long enough .. Can you save that and we can work on it together back at my house?"

"Yes, of course." Alex proceeded to gather up his thing when he realized something.

"Isabel, wait, I called Liz and Max why are you here?"

"They called me and told me to go get Michael and then to come and take you back so you can show everyone what you found. It's really late and Liz thought it would be easier if we brought you home instead of everyone coming out here."

"Oh, okay."

Maria stood off to the side tapping her foot impatiently. "Is this going to take much longer? We do have school tomorrow and I for one would like to get some sleep tonight."

"Maria, we could drop you off at home. That way you could get some sleep." Isabel said.

"No. I'll go. I've been on the sit and wait team too many times. Besides I don't think I could sleep anyway."

Something undefined flashed across Isabel's face, but before Maria could figure it out, it was gone.

"Fine. Let's go."

They left the pod chamber to see Michael waiting somewhat impatiently in the jeep.

Alex and Maria hopped into to back of the jeep and Isabel slid into the front seat next to Michael. He looked back at Maria and silently groaned. She was not supposed to be here.

As the jeep roared to life and away from the cave, Michael whispered to Isabel, "What is she doing here?"

"I couldn't get rid of her." She whispered back.

"No alien secrets, you guys." Maria called over the roar of the wind.

"Whatever." Michael muttered.

Same night, Max and Isabel's house

Max groaned in frustration. Michael was not in his apartment and Isabel was no where to be found.

"Where are they?" He questioned again.

"I don't know, Max." Liz responded again.

"She said she'd be here. She said she'd wait for either me or Alex to call her."

"Max, calm down. I'm sure that she just went out to the pod chamber. She probably couldn't take the waiting." Tess tried to pacify him.

"But she said she'd be here." He insisted again.

"Maybe Alex did call her. When I spoke to Alex, I really didn't keep him on the line long. He may have called her. And she could have called Michael to come get her, since you have the jeep and he has Maria's Jetta."

"Maybe this and maybe that. Let's just go out to the pod chamber and see if they're there. And then, o' fearless leader, they're not, then you can worry." Kyle piped up for the first time.

"I agree." Tess chimed in.

Liz rolled her eyes at the argument. She tuned the conversation out as she looked carefully around the room. She remembered something that her grandmother always used to say. A place for everything and everything in it's place. They saying fit Isabel to a "T". She slowly walked over to the dresser. The top of it was cluttered with makeup and a variety of perfume bottles. It was a mess. It looked as though some one had bumped into the dresser knocking things over and hadn't bothered to pick it up. She reached up and began picking the bottles up and putting them in order. Suddenly, she gasped.

*Flash*

Isabel was standing in her room facing herself. Only it wasn't her. It was someone that had her face but was dressed like some kind of punk rocker or gangster you would see on TV. A feeling of distrust radiated off the real Isabel. Then the other said something that made Isabel pause. Feelings of contentment and family filled Liz. The two Isabel's hugged. When they separated, the two Isabel's were identical.

*End Flash*

Liz blinked to see Max standing in front of her with a concerned look on his face.

"Liz, what happened?" He questioned.

Liz looked at the perfume bottle she still held in her hand. Then she dropped it as though it had burned her.

"Are you okay?" Liz looked to Tess who stood at her right, a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I.. I don't know. Max, I got a flash. I was looking at Isabel's dresser and listening to you three fight. Suddenly, you three weren't here but Isabel was. And there was some one else here. Another Isabel. The other one was dressed like some kind of punk or something. At first I was feeling distrust but then the other Isabel said something and there were these feelings of contentment and family. Then the two Isabels hugged. When they stepped back they were identical." Liz looked at Max in confusion. "Max, the only time I've ever gotten a flash was when we... you know." She looked at Tess apologetically.

"Liz, it's okay. I know that you get flashes when Max kisses you. I'm okay with that." Tess consoled her.

"Okay. What is going on?" Kyle questioned. "Since when does Liz get flashes?"

"Since he healed me." Liz answered simply.

Kyle nodded. "Of course." He agreed as though everything made perfect sense yet made sure they understood by his expression that he had no clue what was going on.

"The only person who can tell us what that was all about is Isabel and she's not here. Let's get out to the cave." Max said decisively.

Just then a door opened.

"Shit." Kyle muttered.

"Everybody, hide." Max ordered. The other three quickly ducked into hiding places.

Max opened Isabel's door and went into the hallway closing the door behind him.

"Mom, what are you doing up?" He asked.

"Max, it's almost three in the morning. What are you doing in Isabel's room? I thought I heard voices." She questioned back.

"I.. I had a nightmare. I needed to talk to Isabel about it before I could go back to sleep." He quickly said.

His mom nodded. Then looked at him. "Why do you have your jacket on?"

On the other side of the door Liz held her breath. One of them should have thought to have him change into his p.j.s before going out there.

"That was part of my dream, Mom. When I woke up I was disoriented and thought what happened in my dream was true and I had to get dressed and get out of the house. After I realized it was a dream I didn't bother changing before I came in here to talk to Isabel."

Liz released her breath. Thank God, he's quick on his feet, she thought.

"Max, go back to sleep. You have school in the morning." She shook her head. Max had been acting so strange lately. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. "Good night. I love you."

"Yes, Mom. I'm headed there now."

She nodded and headed back to her room.

After he was sure she was back in her room Max slipped back into Isabel's room.

The other three came out of their hiding places. Liz rapped her arms around Max. "That was close."

"Can we go now, Evans?" Kyle questioned. "If I don't get home soon my dad is going to flip."

"He know's you're with Max and I." Tess said. "Why would he flip?"

"It's still a school night, Tess. Just because this is alien business doesn't mean that he's not going to ground me for being out past curfew."

"Fine. Tess, why don't you and Kyle go home. Liz and I will check out the pod chamber. If anything's wrong we'll call and you can come back out, if not we'll meet after school tomorrow to see what Alex found."

Tess looked as though she was going to object for a moment. "Whatever you say, Max."

The four of them quickly snuck out of Isabel's room and out of the house. They split in two different directions as they left the house.