"Calm down Maria. I know you don't like seeing them together, but you have to keep telling yourself that it's not going to work out. Remember your mother changes boyfriends like every few months. They'll grow tired of each other and things will be back to normal." Maria still looks worried. "Maria, this is just a short term thing."

Maria looks away from her mother and Sheriff Valenti and looks at Liz. "Short term, right, short term." She looks back at her mother and the Sheriff and then at Liz. "I hope your right."

"Of course I'm right." Liz looks over her shoulder and lets out a deep breath. She doesn't look convinced either. She wonders how Maria would react to the idea of her mother marrying the sheriff. Now that we're all closer to Kyle it wouldn't be so bad. If only there were away to make the sheriff stop trying to find out their secret. It isn't something that is going to hurt anyone, not purposely anyway. It wasn't their fault that Nasado and Teomner died.

"What would we do if they ever found their bodies? Would he find a way to trace it back to us?" Liz realized that she was causing herself to get worried about something that just wasn't going to happen. She took a deep breath and walked over to their table. Maria had turned and headed to the back . Liz figured it was to get her cedar oil.

*************************

Max, Isabel, and Alex pull up at Teomner's house in the jeep. Behind them pulls in Kyle's red convertible which Michael had been really excited about driving. Before climbing out of the car Kyle mentions, "Michael your hair, your hair looks wilder than ever."

"Good, maybe I should drive your car more often."

As they all climb out of the vehicles their jaws drop. Teomner's house is unbelievable. They hadn't noticed before because of how dark it had been the night before. The house is built into the side of a cliff, and is completely covered. The only evidence that the house even exists are two windows, the front door, and a walk way to the front door.

"Did this guy not want to be found or what?" Alex says as he touches the rough stone surface on the front of the house.

"Let's get inside, we have a lot of work to do." Max says as he moves toward the front door. As they all enter they head for the study. They figure that Teomner seemed to conduct all his business in there. Max searches the desk, Isabel and Michael search the books on the book shelf. Alex checks out the monitoring equipment. While Kyle searches the room in general. Under the furniture, behind the pictures, things like that.

"Hey guys check this out" Alex shows the group that there are ten channel buttons on the control panel.

1. The front entrance to the house.

"Oh my gosh. He could have seen Alex and I climb out of the trunk, you guys as you pulled in."

"Yeah, fortunately for us he didn't have more than one screen in here and it was set to stay on Max and Liz. Teomner must have liked to keep and eye on things. Look." Alex started pushing the other buttons in a control panel.

2. The front entry way.(No surprise)

3. A room that looked like a typical young girl's room.(A little out dated.)

"That looks like it was probably Topolski's room" suggest Isabel

4. A bedroom with two beds spaced apart.

"That looks like the room Liz and I were in."

5. Another room closely resembling the other.

"Was he expecting more company?" Michael ask sarcastically.

6. Master Bedroom

"Looks like the Master Bedroom. He kept an eye on his own room. I suggest we look there next." says Kyle before Alex turns to the next scene.

7. Kitchen

"He must of wanted to make sure that no one poisoned him." jokes Michael

8. A very eloquently decorated Living Room

"Wow, I could make myself right at home in there." Isabel moves up to get a better view.

9. What appears to be a well equipped lab.

"I can think of someone that would have a hay day in there. Offers Kyle

"Yeah, Liz, I don't think she's going to know what to try first" jokes Alex " I've saved the best for last."Alex turns to the last scene. Everyone's eyes glue to the screen.

Michael asks, "Is that what I think it is?

"It sure looks like it. Nasado did say that Teomner came later, right?"

"He sure did Maxwell. We could finally have a way home."

Isabel looks at Alex. "That's if we want to go, I don't want to lose what we have here." She turns to face Michael with fear in her eyes. "Are you saying that you would leave us, and what about Maria? Would you leave her?"

Michael looks shocked as he meets Isabel's intense stare. "Yes, I mean No. I wouldn't leave her, it just this is what we've wanted for so long." He looks back at the screen. Michael, for the first time starts to think about not going back. Maria has become a part of him. If he had to leave her, he knows that he could never go.

10. An extemely large cavern with a large metallic object in the middle.

The remainder of the day was spent trying to locate the cavern, without any luck.

**********************

Back at the Crashdown Cafe Liz and Maria have just finished cleaning up. They head up to Liz's room to change out of there uniforms. They both put on loose fitted jeans figuring they wanted to be comfortable. Liz wears a pink tank top with a pink and white striped button down shirt. Maria wears light yellow sweater.

"I wonder if they've found out anything?" Liz says as she heads through the living room to the outside door.

"I'm sure they have figured out something by now. Hopefully it's really interesting. But you know what, I'm curious to know if they've found out anything about Michael's twin. Can you imagine two in this world like Michael. Heaven help us all."

****************************

Liz and Maria pull into behind Kyle's car and make there way into the house. The house looks like shadows from the mountain scape behind it are falling over it.

They walk into the study on the right of the entryway. They knew that's were the gang planned to start. They hoped that there would be some clue as to where to find them without searching the whole house.

Max was in the study looking through the desk. He figured that while he was waiting for Maria and Liz to arrive, he would finish looking through the desk. He only got through half of the files before they walked in. "Hey Max, Have you guys found anything out?

Max walks over to Liz and give her a short sweet kiss, takes her hand and guides her to the monitor. Liz and Maria look astonished at what they see. "Max, is it?"

"Yea, we haven't had any luck locating where it is, but we were not giving up hope."

"What does this mean.... you guys aren't like going to leave are you?" Maria sounds really worried. She knows that Michael has always had the hope of returning to him home planet. She just never let herself think that it was possible.

Liz is staring at Max, she wants an answer to the same question. Max can tell that Liz is wondering the same thing. While still looking into her eyes he answers, "Slow down, both of you. For one we don't even know where it is. And second we wouldn't know how to fly it if we did." Max wraps his arms tightly around Liz, pulling her body tightly against his. "Besides we're one now. "Where I go you go, where you stay I stay." There lips meet for a heart felt kiss. "I have something else I want to show you." He looks at Maria. "I'll show you where the others are."

Max and Liz walk hand in hand out of the study. They step down one step into the Living room and he points to a doorway on the other side of the room. "Go through there, that's the kitchen, they're all in there." Max continues to walk through the Living Room to a hallway. They walk past several doors, and stop at the end of the hallway. Max turns the door knob opening the door. They both step in.

Liz looks around the white room. "Wow" Liz starts walking around the room looking at all the different types of equipment. Most is of it is made out of an unusual metal. She figures that it's from Max's planet. And there are a few things from our world; most of it being things that she's never seen in person let alone knows how to work. "This is unbelievable. What kinds of things do you think they did in here?"

"You're asking me?" Max smiles at her. He knew the question wasn't direct at him, that it was rhetorical."

They spent about a half hour looking around the Lab and decided to check on the others. They knew that they really needed to head back into town. They had about a half hour drive, and parents that would start to wonder where they were.

**************************

Sunday they weren't able to get back to the house. Max worked a 12 hour shift. Milton need some extra help. One of the other workers had called in sick.

Maria and Liz also had to work. When they heard that Max worked 12 hours, they both considered their 10 hour day to be easy in comparison.

Alex spent the day on the Internet down loading information about some of the equipment in the lab. How to use it and what it was used for.

Michael and Isabel spent a better part of the afternoon at the library looking for any information about a house being built in the side of a cliff. They wanted to know if it had in fact been kept under wraps, or if others knew about it. After finding nothing about it at the Library, they made plans for the next day to go check with County Records to see if there was ever a building permit for the house. They doubted that there had been, they figured that they might as well try. They knew that if there had been there would be floor plans to go with it.

Kyle hung around the Sheriff's department, nonchalantly asking questions about an unusual house in the desert. No one seemed to know the house. Everyone thought he was talking about a house that was built like a backwards C. He made sure that he never mentioned the fact that he and Max had been hanging out together. He figured it was better his father didn't know about that yet.

Monday Isabel and Michael went county records. With the help of an older women they searched for a house built in the vicinity of Teomner's house. They showed no record of a house, but they were able to find out that the land was bought by Teomner in "1955" and that he owned the surrounding 40 acres.

Through out the following week the group of friends would meet everyday in the quad for lunch. Kyle's football pals couldn't understand why he was joining Max, Liz, and the others instead of them as he usually did. They questioned him about it Wednesday after lunch. Kyle simply answered that he enjoyed their company, and left it at that. Kyle figured they would never understand the new bond that had been formed between the seven of them.

Friday at lunch in the quad the group noticed Tommy harassing a girl that none of them had seen before. She was cute in a simple way, light brown hair cut shoulder length, fair completion, dark brown eyes. They all thought she looked a little young to be attending the High School. She was trying to get past Tommy, but he continually blocked her path.

Tommy's behavior was making Kyle angry. He hated the way that some of his football pals acted. "Hey Tommy! Lay off her."

"We're just having a little fun, Kyle, aren't we honey."

The whole group notices that she looks really uncomfortable. Tommy notices the warning glares on Kyle's and the others at his tables faces. Kyle sternly says, "Don't be a jerk Tommy. Just let her be."

"Whatever, this was getting boring anyway." Tommy moves back to his table with his buddies.

Maria proclaims loud enough for Tommy and all in the quad to hear. "Don't let him get to you, he's always been a jerk."

The girl presses her lips together nervously, then says, "Thanks." She looked around nervously for somewhere to sit. "Hey, I'm Liz, this is Max, Michael, Maria, Alex, Isabel, and You've already met Kyle here."

"Yeah, The school hero" jested Michael.

"Would you like to join us?" Asks Maria as they all slide over to make room between Kyle and Liz.

Shyly she answers, "Thanks. I'm Sandie, Sandie Gates."

"Are you new here in Roswell?" Isabel was curious about the girl. She had never seen her before, and she looked like she was only about 14 - 15 years old.

"Kind of, I've come to visit my grandparents from time to time, they live here, and my mom grew up around here.

So I take it that you've moved here." Isabel wants to know more about this girl that Liz invited to join their group.

"Yeah, my mom wanted to move back to Roswell. My grandparents are getting rather old and she wants to be here to take care of them."

"Sandie how old are you. You look so young."

"Excuse Isabel, she's never one to beat around the bush."

"That's okay. I've heard it before. I am 15, but I'll be 16 in four months."

"And your a sophomore?"

"No, I'm a junior." Sandie sees the look of surprise on the faces of the group around her. "My mom home schooled me until I was 12. I had to take all these test so that they could place me. I skipped a few years."

"Oh no, another brainy-ack" Michael teased. Maria slapped him lightly on the shoulder.

"What was that for?"

"I figured Liz couldn't get to you and Sandie doesn't know you well enough to know you were just kidding, so you deserved it.

"May we officially welcome you to Roswell." Alex cheerful says while pulling Isabel to her feet. "We'll be seeing you around." Alex looks into Isabel's eyes and continues. "Me and my lady have an appointment in the eraser room."

The friends start to laugh, while Sandie looks puzzled.

"Be good Alex, that's my sister you know. Don't do anything that you would do in your dreams."

Alex turns and responds, "At least we take it behind closed doors, unlike two people we all know."

Sandie has become so used to being the outsider. Being younger than the other kids in her class left her feeling that way. Her classmates had often left her standing alone. To her it felt as if they thought she wasn't worth the effort. She tried to tell herself that they were just jealous of her, like her mom told her, but it still didn't make her feel any better. Now with this group she could tell they were trying to make her feel welcome. Maybe I will be happy here after all. She leans into Liz who is looking a little flushed. "What's the eraser room?"

"It's a place that we all go to get a little one on one time." Liz smiles at Sandie when she sees the blush spread across her face."

"Liz can we go somewhere, we need to talk."

"Sure Max" Liz looks back at Stacy. "It's was nice meeting you. Maybe we'll see you around."

*************************

Liz and Max walk out to his jeep. Max leans against it and pulls Liz close. She stands between his straddled feet. He lowers his lips to hers for a hungry deep kiss. "Have I told you today how much I love you?"

"Yes! But you know how much I love hearing it."

Max smiles down at her. He then shifts his weight, not feeling to comfortable about what he needed to talk to Liz about. "Liz, I've been thinking. We need to talk about what happened between us last Friday. It's not that every night this week hasn't been the greatest, because it has. And don't think that I've grown tired of dreaming with you, because that could never happen. It's just I think that we need to ...."

"Max, I think I know were your going with this. I agree we need to talk. How about we meet here right after school and go somewhere. I don't think this is something that we're going to be able to discuss in" She looks at her watch. "7 minutes."

Max nods and the share a little kiss and head back to the school.

***************************

Max and Liz are sitting on his bed in his bedroom. Both of his parents had a meeting to attend. Max figured that they would both be more comfortable behind closed doors for this talk. neither knows where to start.

Liz repositioned herself on the bed. "This is really awkward."

"Your right. But it should be. Look, all I wanted to really say was that we need to be thinking about protection. We came really close the other night, and I would really feel bad if something happened to you. It's not about safety, it's that neither of us are ready to start our family. Our parents sure wouldn't understand."

"Your right, I couldn't see us trying to explain to our parents that your an alien, and according to Nasado, your natural father who by the way died trying to save us from your evil uncle, who is also dead now, and your people that we're already considered married."

"Couldn't you just see their faces if we unloaded all of that to them at one time. I'm afraid they would either lock us away in some mental hospital or die from the shock."

"Okay so we both agree that we need to do one of three things. Keep it strictly to our dreams by avoiding tempting situations. Like being in your room alone." Liz looks around the room, making the point. Stay completely away from each other. Which I really don't think is an option. Or figure out what will protect us and what won't. I've already made an appointment with my gynecologist. I figured that I would ask some questions and get a prescription. It's just that we know so little about how your body works. We do know that the only thing we've been able to find out for sure is that all of your body fluids carry that green energy. What do we do if some how that makes it were nothing on the market will work...for us.

"Then what ever happens, happens, but we'll both do all that we can. Who knows maybe for now we'll just have to make sure we don't let our emotions carry us away. Liz I want you to know that no matter what happens, were in this together. Our love that has gotten us through a major situation already. I know that there is nothing that could possibly ever change the way I feel about you, or make me wish that things were different. In the past I used to wish I was different, but not anymore. Not being NORMAL, has been a blessing. If I had been normal I wouldn't have you here with me now. I would have lost you." Max brushes Liz's hair back from her face. "Whatever happens now, happens to both of us. You are my soulmate, I could never love anyone the way I love you."