Isabel was leaning over him, loose hair falling around her face as she gazed at him with those deep brown eyes.

"How's Liz?"

Alex blinked and jerked his head up.

Liz?

He glanced down at the sleeping girl in his lap and it all came rushing back at him:

The phone call at midnight, the hurried ride to the hospital and the long wait in the E.R.

"Oh, god, what time is it," Alex groaned.

"It's almost 2 a.m.," Isabel said as she pulled up a chair. "Has she not even been back yet?"

Alex rubbed his face with both hands in an effort to wake up more.

"Nah, nah. Wečre way down on the list. Apparently, this is the night everyone in the tri-county area decided to experiment with alcohol, drugs and, strangely enough, power tools." Alex frowned. "I mean, what are the chances that someone would have a pruning accident at midnight?"

Isabel shook her head, "How is Liz? Can she see anything?"

"No, not at all," Alex looked down and lightly brushed a few hairs back from Liz's face as she slept. "She got a migraine and practically passed out at about 1:00."

Isabel sat back in her chair with a worried look.

Alex noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see Max and Michael entering from the hallway, coffee in their hands.

"Great," Alex muttered. "He came to finish her off."

He stared at Max with cold eyes. Maria and Liz both had been so exhausted and frightened by their experience that it was difficult to get any details from them about what happened. Finally, Alex had resigned himself to comforting the girls, figuring he could pummel the truth out of Max later.

Isabel looked back at Max and shook her head slightly.

Max halted, a worried look on his face.

Alex placed one of his long arms over Liz's sleeping form.

"I'll take it, Maxwell."

Michael reached over for the coffees.

Max met Alex's eyes for another second and then turned to sit down alone.

Michael walked over to Isabel with a frown.

"Alex, Iz, coffee?"

Isabel took a cup from him.

"No thanks," Alex said. "I thought Maria told Roswell's own Maquis de Sade to stay away from Liz."

Isabel sighed. "I know youčre really mad at Max, Alex, but he feels as rotten about this as everyone else does. Worse, in fact. Tess disappeared."

Alex raised his eyebrows. "And I'm supposed to care...why?"

"Because, Alex," Isabel looked around and whispered nervously. "She's one of us."

Alex's jaw dropped.

He looked over at Maria, who was slumped down in a nearby chair, asleep.

"Am I, like, always gonna to be the last to know this stuff," he said with exasperation.

Isabel glanced at Michael as he frowned at Alex and stalked away.

"Alex," Isabel went on quickly. "She asked us not to tell anyone, especially Liz."

Alex frowned.

"Why especially her?"

"Tess and Max are...linked somehow," Isabel said as she glanced away nervously. "Some sort of genetic match that makes them mates. Or at least they would have probably been at home. Here, well, things are more complicated."

Alex tried to stay calm.

"So, Liz is...a complication?"

"Alex...Ičm just explaining the facts. And for your information, Max went totally against everything the connections and his instincts were telling him to do. He chose Liz."

But Alex was already shaking his head.

"Whatever. What I want to know is-" Alex's voice had gotten louder during the conversation and he paused as Liz began to stir.

She grew still again and Alex continued in a whisper, "is why was Nasedo there? And why didn't any of you stop Liz from getting hurt?"

Isabel looked away guiltily, "We tried, Alex. Michael and I both tried, but the orb was too strong. We all had to be healed from coming into contact with it."

Liz moaned softly in her sleep, "No..."

Alex looked down and put his hand on her head softly.

"Liz, it's okay."

"No..."

She awakened suddenly and thrashed around as she scrambled to sit up.

"Liz, it's me," Alex said, reaching out to calm her.

She was still breathing heavily.

He watched with concern as she become perfectly still.

"Liz?"

She hesitated a moment, then whispered, "Alex?"

"I'm right here," he said as calmly as possible.

Liz swallowed convulsively.

"I can't see, Alex."

He nodded, although he didn't know why, and said firmly, "I know. But it's okay."

Liz was shaking her head nervously, "No, you don't understand. I can't see, Alex! I CAN'T SEE!"

She stood up, frantically pacing and holding her hands to her head.

"It's all black. Everything is black. Oh God..."

Alex stood slowly, unsure of what to do. Liz was in a complete panic.

He traded glances with Maria, who was now awake and watching Liz with terrified look eyes.

Then Max was suddenly there, crushing Liz close to him, whispering words no one else could hear.

A war was going on inside of Liz, but all they could hear of the struggle was a few broken sobs.

She sagged against Max, and finally allowed him to sit her down on the couch.

Alex watched Max's pained expression as she immediately pushed him away.

"No it won't be alright," she whispered fiercely. "It won't ever be alright again. Don't you understand? I can't see anything." Her voice choked on the last words.

Alex moved over beside her on the couch, his face grim.

He wasn't going to kill Max in the middle of the hospital, but he was definitely going to pencil it in for the future. But for now, he needed to concentrate on Liz. He put his arm gently around her shoulders.

She leaned over into his embrace, and Alex couldn't keep the smirk off his face as Max stood up and walked away.

Maybe I won't have to kill him after all. Liz is doing a pretty good job of it herself.

"It's going to be okay, Lizzie. Shhhh," he whispered as he settled back to hold her close.

Her breathing was calm again, but he noticed that she kept her eyes closed and her body was far from relaxed.

He glanced over to see Michael enveloping a sobbing Maria in his arms.

Someone is going to pay for all of this misery, Alex thought, and pay big.

******

About thirty minutes later, they finally got the call to send Liz back.

Alex helped her to her feet and excused himself to go phone Liz's parents, as he and Maria had already agreed upon.

But Liz had a death grip on his arm, and he finally motioned to Isabel to make the call.

"Okay, Liz, I'm here."

As they followed the nurse down the long hallway, Alex fervently wished the doctor would give them some good news, or anything that might be classified as such under these circumstances.