Summary: Spoilers: none intentional

Maria was very irritable.

"Alex, could you breathe any louder? Do you want the entire population of Roswell to know what we're doing," Maria whispered fiercely after they entered the small trailer and shut the door behind them.

"Uh, yeah, actually, I was going to conduct a house-to-house survey to see if the larger share of the population agrees with what we're doing," Alex intoned lightly

Maria stared at him like he was a lunatic.

"Maria, just relax. We have a plan. Everything's going to be fine."

Alex knew Maria had no idea how out of it she got when she was trying to deal with Czechoslovakian crap. And this was extreme Czech crap, to say the least.

All he could say was that he was glad Isabel had been out of town when it all went down, because he didn't know what he'd do if she'd been the one kissing Liz. Or was that even a possibility?

No matter.

Alex focused his mind on the task at hand and glanced around the desk area. Although Maria was seriously wiggin over this one, it was a simple matter of digging through the archaeology site records and getting Doug's address.

Not too difficult, really.

Especially since these guys had a top-of-the-line Power Mac that was about twice as fast as his home computer. Alex let out a whistle of appreciation, and jumped as Maria suddenly clamped a hand over his mouth.

"You whistle; they hear. They hear; they come. They come; you die," Maria whispered furiously. "I will NOT fail Liz because you were drooling over the hardware. She will SO not understand that."

Alex firmly removed her hand from his mouth.

"Maria, you obviously have no appreciation for a thing of beauty," he said as he opened the laptop and went to work.

Wearing his "game face," Alex cracked his knuckles and settled down to work.

He heard Maria sigh beside him and felt a pang of guilt. He knew it stressed her out to have him joke around when the situation was so dire, but it was just his way of coping. He could either make jokes, or puke all over the place.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that he chose the former.

******

Michael Guerin stood in the doorway, his face impassive, as though he hadn't just blown the door to smithereens.

Liz's heart gave a jump at his appearance, but quickly sank as she realized he was most likely there to carry on the kiss-fest.

"Ah, here's our young lover now," Doug said with a casual air.

Liz leaned back against the backrest as Michael began to cross the room towards her.

"Not so fast," Doug stepped in between them.

Liz went from relief to confusion to fear in a matter of seconds.

"There's a little matter we have to settle," he pushed against Michael's chest to keep him in place.

The next sound out of his mouth was a series of nonsensical syllables.

Michael looked down at Doug's hand and then up at his face. Michael's hands began to glow.

"Michael, no," Liz found herself yelling.

"Yeah, kick his ass, Guerin," Liz jerked her head over to where Kyle was watching this like a boxing match, obviously denying the reality of the whole thing.

She turned back and watched in horror as Doug's hand clenched into Michael's chest, digging into his flesh and making some sort of connection. Liz choked out a cry as she saw blood begin to run down Michael's chest, his face barely registering the pain.

"Oh... oh, god," she heard Kyle mutter.

Doug was going to kill Michael.

Liz twisted against her constraints, fighting hard to get free from the chair she was tied to. She focused all of her strength at one spot, pulling mightily. And the cord snapped.

No, that wasn't the right word, Liz thought as she pulled at the loose ends. They had... melted.

She had only a moment to process that thought and Kyle's amazed voice cursing before she was on her feet and running toward the glowing figures.

Michael's knees had begun to buckle under the pain and Liz knew she had only seconds left. Placing herself between the two of them, she laid her hand on top of Doug's. Her hand was immediately covered in Michael's blood, but she ignored the instinct to pull away.

Both men were lost in their connection, and Liz had a moment to focus her mind on Doug's hand, using her fear and anger to whip the surge of power building up in her into a frenzy. Her hand began to glow and under it, Doug's hand began to wither. Then skin turned black and disintegrated, revealing muscles which began to darken as well. A scream ripped the air, and she wasn't sure whose it was. Liz closed her eyes at that point.

It was only a second later that she felt the connection break and a burst of power from someone flung her back against the wall. Her back spasming in pain, she slid to the floor and struggled to get her breath back.

Finally, as wonderful air slid down into her lungs again, she felt hands reach and pull her up. Her foggy mind tried to register who is was but just as she recognized his face, lips came crushing down on hers and her mind completely disappeared.

******

Kyle had run out of curses ten minutes ago and an idiotic grin was creeping across his face.

He barked out a hoarse laugh.

Looking around at the scene before him, it was all he could do. Lying over by the door was Liz Parker, his ex-girlfriend, who had apparently made some very nasty friends lately. She was unconscious and had been so for over half an hour. She was still breathing, as Kyle knew from watching her most of that time. And, apparently she was driven to her present state by the kiss of Michael Guerin, who was, in turn, also rendered unconscious by what must have been an incredibly amazing kiss.

Now, granted Liz was a great kisser, but Kyle had never lost consciousness over it as far as he could remember.

But it was apparently "all that" for Michael Guerin, who he now knew was owner of some apparently freakish-weird secrets and big brass balls. Huge ones. He had taken on Mr. Nasty Alien without a second thought. Hats off.

And then... there was Mr. Nasty himself, laying in a pile in the corner. After he tried to literally rip Guerin's heart out, he then became the test subject for Liz's darn good attempt at completely ripping Kyle's mind from its moorings.

Her glowing touch had stopped Mr. Nasty in his tracks, giving Guerin the opportunity to blast him to kingdom-come. Or well, across the room, at least.

And so, here sits Kyle Valenti, tied to a chair, completely helpless, waiting to see who¹s dead, and who's just playing possum.

Or waiting to see when he's going to wake up and congratulate himself on having the imagination to pull off a damn fine nightmare like this.

Stunning achievement. Really.

Hearing a slight movement over in the corner, Kyle closed his eyes for a moment.

"And we have a winner..."

******

Liz was drowning, pain racking her body and leaving her completely helpless against the chalky purple sea that was swallowing her.

It moved around her like quicksand, the waves from her faint struggling spreading out in all directions.

She knew she should try and stay afloat, try and swim, but her body refused to cooperate and she began to sink...

A whimper rose from her throat as her mouth was quickly covered with the sticky substance. Her eyes opened wide as she sank even farther and felt the particles enter her nasal cavities.

One last fervent struggle as sheer panic gripped her, and then she was down in the murky amethyst depths...

Her eyes remained open and she was amazed that she could see through the chalky water as it rose above her...

Sparkling lavender light danced in ripples over her head and the pain seemed muted by the depths. Everything was still, silent, seemingly waiting for her to... to...

What was it she was doing?

Oh, dying.

And sinking... watching her long brown hair float above her...

wishing she could fight to stay alive...

But somehow she just accepted it. She had known it all along- dreaded it, but known it somehow- that her life would be required of her.

******

On the plane, Max fidgeted restlessly. His mind kept going back to the night he asked Liz to marry him, the last time he had seen her.

How beautiful she had looked, dark hair dancing, white dress hugging her curves as the wind blew along the top of the plateau. Not even the beauty of the starry sky could compete with her.

But Max was remembering something that disturbed him, something that disturbed him almost as much as being unable to get her or Alex or Michael on the phone before he and Isabel left.

That night, as he had read the letter to her, the panicked look in her eyes had stopped him cold. And it had scared him enough to make him drop the letter and completely forget what he was doing for the moment. Only her insistence that he continue had made him finish his proposal.

When she had said yes, though his heart was soaring, a warning had tickled the back of his mind. It was quickly overshadowed by the ectasy he felt at her answer, but he couldn't help but remember it now. Whatever was happening now was the fulfillment of that moment, the moment that their destinies had been entertwined forever.

Max took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

It was killing him to not know what was happening to her.

A hand gently slid down his arm, grasping at his hand. He looked over out of a sense of duty, to acknowledge Isabel's attempt at comforting him.

He glanced at his watch. Nearly midnight.

And he prayed that his friends would protect Liz until he got there.

An hour before the plane lands.

Soon, Liz, soon, he closed his eyes and cast his mind toward her.

Hold on, baby. I'm coming.

******

"So, Valenti," Doug said as he leaned in close. "Tell me something, where is Max Evans?"

Kyle fought the urge to swallow and simply grinned.

"Do I look like a chump to you?"

"I'll ignore the obvious answer to that, seeing as how you're trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey and remind you that you've seen things here tonight that you thought were impossible. You've probably never dared to imagine that aliens are real... are out there," Doug paced away and turned back to look at him. "But not only am I 'out there,' I can rip out your heart and feed it to you for lunch if I so choose. So if I were you, I'd try to answer my questions."

Kyle felt his humor defense mechanism crumbling by the second as the reality of the situation hit him hard. He suddenly thought to look at Doug's right hand, where Liz had... done whatever the hell it was that she had done. But it was whole and smooth again.

Liz.

Kyle looked over and saw that she was still unconscious. It was so hard to see whether her chest was still rising and falling, but it seemed like it was.

"So, Kyle, let me ask again. Do you know where Max Evans is?"

Kyle's eyes flicked to Doug's face and then away again. He'd hold out as long as he could, although he had no doubts that Doug could probably get it out of him other ways...

"You see," Doug continued, walking over to a bag on the table. "I thought it was Guerin that I was looking for, but he's not-"

What the hell was that noise? That was the sound Doug had made before, a strange series of noises. Was that a name?

"It appears that this," Doug turned back to Kyle with a glowing, spherical rock in his hands, "has been using Guerin to do its dirty work. You know what they say, 'While the cat's away...'"

Kyle's eyes were fastened on the orb in Doug's hand. It pulsated with light that shone through a strange-looking symbol on the top.

"So that thing is doing something to Liz," he managed to ask.

"Very astute, Kyle, for a human. I know your little emotions are all in a whirl now, so I'm quite impressed that you can pull out an observation like that. But yes, the orb is changing Liz into a viable alien, for lack of a better term," Doug said casually, bringing the orb closer. "But that's really neither here nor there, it's just what led me to him. I'm looking for the cause of the change, the alien who loves her."

Kyle's eyebrows raised of their own volition.

"And who would that be," he asked, his mind refusing to connect the dots.

"Well, by process of elimination, that would have to be Max Evans, wouldn't it," Doug said lightly. "As I said before, Guerin was at the top of my list, but the little heart-to-heart I had with him showed me that he's not the man, lucky sod. So, the orb is apparently just using his DNA to get the job done because Max isn't here. Which brings me back to my original question, Kyle."

Doug leaned in again, the glowing orb held close to Kyle's face.

"Where is Max Evans?"

"Do you see a sign that says 'information'," Kyle managed one last smartass remark. "I don't think so."

"Okaaaay, maybe I'm going about this the wrong way. I don't really have to know where Max is. I don't really care. But the only way I'm going to get off this sad little planet is by killing him. So, I let you go, you find Max and give him a message for me. If I end up happily going on my way, then Liz goes free. If you screw around and Max escapes, well, let's just say that things won't be pleasant for Miss Parker. Deal?"

Kyle bit back the flood of obscenities but couldn't help the murder that showed in his eyes. If that bastard hurt Liz...

"Now that we've settled that, here's the message for Max."

Somehow, Kyle wasn't surprised at the amount of pain involved.