Up, above the world so high,
Like a diamond, in the sky."

"Nursery rhymes. One of the cleverest ways of teaching young children speech, rhyming, and rhythm. But what most people over look, is almost all of them have historical value," Mr. Sommers was lecturing. He always enjoyed this unit of the history curriculum. It was fun, cute, and, most importantly, it was short. "Since the year isn't long enough to cover everything extensively, each of you will be given a partner and a rhyme to research. You'll do a quick presentation. No more than two minutes. Read it and say what it means, just the bare facts. Then sit down and laugh at the next pair." The class laughed.

"Here is your rhyme," he said passing papers with nursery rhymes to the to students. "Your partner's name is on the top. Choosing them was purely luck of the draw. So if you get someone you don't like…" All the students looked up expectantly, "Deal."

Liz looked down at her paper. I should have seen this one coming, she thought to herself. This is so clichéd! She pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down a note:

"'Twinkle, twinkle, little bat.
How I wonder what you're at?

Up, above the world you fly,
Like a tea-plate, in the sky.'"

I have this weird urge to watch "Alice in Wonderland." Maybe it was Alex's Marge Hare joke. Who knows? Anyways, you up for it? Figure we can pig out, watch the video, and whip together our presentation. I mean, it's really not that hard."

Liz passed her note to her partner. Her partner opened it and read it. Then pulled out a pen and started writing a response below Liz's message. Then passed it back to her. She opened it up and read it:

"'Twinkle, twinkle, little Liz.
How I wonder where your heart is?

"Up, above the world you could fly,
If you'd only be the apple of my eye.'

I'll grab a pizza. Pepperoni. Four cheese. Minimal tomato sauce. I'll even wait till you get some pieces before adding the good sauce."

After class Liz caught her partner to talk. It was the last class of the day, so she didn't really have to hurry to catch him before her next class. "Hey."

"Hey." He kept walking.

He's trying to play it cool, Liz thought. How adorable. Annoying, but adorable. "That was a very sweet rhyme."

"Yeah I know, and it's so easy to get the history of. Good thing we're getting a video." Liz groaned internally at this.

"I meant the one you wrote."

"Oh." He was caught off guard. He had hoped she'd just ignore it. He really didn't know why on earth he had written it to her. "Well, it pretty much speaks for itself. I'll see you tonight?"

"Yeah." He walked off. "God, this is so annoying!" Liz said to no one in particular.

"So he really wrote that?!" Maria asked.

"Yeah. It's so...I can't decide between adorable and inappropriate."

"Hun, come on, it's his nature. Besides you know you'll succumb. The question is, are you going to tell him why you did it? For that matter are you going to tell both of them? Both Kyle and Max deserve the right to know."

"I know. And I want to tell them both. And Tess. I mean, I think she and Kyle had started to develop something. Then when I asked him to help me, I think I destroyed whatever it was."

"Probably just casual sex. Don't be too upset-"

"Maria!"

"What? It probably was. They might not have gotten that far. So it's a good thing you stopped it. He might have caught some alien STD."

"Ok, one: ew. And two: future Max said we had sex when now Max caught me. If there is an alien STD, I probably would have caught it. And he'd have probably told me to further convince me."

"Good point. But maybe Tess has a normal one, and it's mutated 'cause she's an alien."

"That is not even funny."

"You're right. I'm sorry." They sat in silence for a while.

"Do you really think it'd get mutated?" Liz asked in the way only she could. Splash of genuine innocence mixed in with a scientific curiosity and a great sense of humor.

"Liz? Anything's possible with little green people." They both busted up laughing. About the time they stopped, they looked up at each other and started laughing again.

"Well, well. What are we all laughing at?" he said coming into the room.

"Hey. I was just leaving. See ya," Maria said getting up. She left the room and headed downstairs. Her shift was about to start anyways.

"I got the pizza. I went for the video, but someone else had rented it. Sorry." Liz smiled and held up the video. "Devil," he said smiling.

"Well, here's the low down on "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." It's based off the birth of Jesus, i.e. the first Christmas. Jesus is born. Star pops up in the sky so special people can find him. Rhyme's about the star."

"I figured that last part out from what you said. Who wrote it?"

"Not Mother Goose. Unknown author. Came about sometime before the 18th century. Exact date, or for that matter, century is not known. But it's probably in the Renaissance, so somewhere between 1400 and 1600. There was a big religious revival, you might say, then."

"Hey, do you think I should make a complaint about this going against my religion?"

"Do you really want people to know your religion?"

"Good point. So...video?"

"Yeah."

"Twinkle, twinkle, little bat.
How I wonder, what you're at?

Up, above the world you fly,
Like a tea-plate, in the sky."

"I love that mouse! He's so cute."

"Yeah he is," he said finishing off the last piece of pizza. "I gotta say, I do like that version better. I mean, it doesn't offend my religion."

"Is that all you think about?"

"Pretty much. Not much else I want to think about right now."

"Oh," Liz said looking down. He wants to know what was the deal the night of the Gomez concert, Liz realized. He's been hinting to me ever since the summit meeting that he wanted to know the reason. But he wouldn't ask. He promised he wouldn't. They sat in silence until the movie was over.

"I'm gonna go. I still have trig homework."

"Kay, see ya tomorrow. Figure we can figure out who says what at lunch. Won't take more than five minutes."

"Less."

"What?"

"It's a two minute presentation. So it'll take like three. 'Cause we'll figure out what we're saying as we practice it once."

"Yeah. Okay. So I guess I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah." He started to leave, then turned back. "Liz?"

"Yes?"

"That note. I didn't write it." Her heart skipped a beat. "Max did. He still loves you, and I think you should talk to him."

"Thank you, Kyle," she said getting up and hugging him.

"For what?"

"Being there for me."

"No problem. Just do me a favor? Tell Max the reason it is that we did what we did. I mean, if you can't tell me I understand, but tell him. He deserves the right to know.

"I will. Bye."

"Bye."

Liz ran as fast as she could. She didn't know how she was going to be able to talk to Max this late at night, but she didn't want to make it any later than it was when she got there. When she got onto her street she slowed to a fast walk. Now how am I gonna do this? she asked herself. He wont be out on his balcony 'cause he doesn't have one. Wait, wasn't he always bitching about Michael climbing into through his window?

When she got to the Evans' house, she walked carefully around to the back and whispered to herself, "Ok, so that one's Max's, right?"

"Depends on which one you're pointing to," a voice said from behind her. Liz jumped when she first heard it, but then relaxed as she heard the rest and recognized the voice.

"Well, it doesn't matter now," she said turning around. "Why bother looking for you there when you're down here? And why are you down here?"

"Kyle called me, told me to expect you."

"He told me that was your poem," Liz said bluntly. She didn't feel like dancing around why she came here.

"Oh? And what do you expect me to say?"

"Nothing." Liz reached into her bag and pulled out a shiny red apple. She tossed it to Max who caught it and looked at it questioningly. "Does that answer your question?"

"Well, yeah. But not my other one.

"Which one is that?"

"The one I promised never to ask again. I don't believe your answer."

"Can we sit down somewhere?"

"Sure," Max said grabbing her hand and leading her to a picnic table the Evans' had out during fair weather.

"I'm not going to answer your question just yet. First I'm going to tell you why you saw me like that."

"Okay, I'm listening."

"Promise to keep an open mind? 'Cause this is kinda strange." Max nodded his head. "Ok, well, in a nut-shell, the future version of you came to see me the night you serenaded me. He said that the night of the Gomez concert instead of going with you, we, umm, well we "cemented our relationship" were his words. He said that the closer we got, the worse you acted towards Tess. And that eventually it got so bad that she flat out left Roswell. And without her you were no longer a complete unit. We got married when we were 19. Danced all night. My idea. Said something about Romeo and Juilet were much younger. Then, basically, the end of the world came. Isabel and Michael died. And some friend of mine helped us find a way to rig the granilith so that it could be used for time travel. So he came back. And he was here until I altered history. So he would no longer exist.

"I tried to get you to go to Tess, but nothing was working. So I had to try something a little more severe. So I asked Kyle to help me." Max looked up at her expectantly. "Max, I didn't have sex with Kyle, but I made it look like we did. Your future self told me what you were going to do. Come to my house that is, so I was able to organize it so it looked like Kyle and I had just had sex. But we didn't."

"Oh, God Liz..." Max started to say. Then stopped and just stared at her. "Thank you," he finally said. He said it softly, and Liz wasn't sure she had heard it at first.

"What?"

"Thank you," he said again.

"For what?"

"Loving me enough to do that. And loving me even more to tell me that you did that. Liz, he, uh, I, uh, that version of me said that because I was mean to Tess she left, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well that's it. I don't have to be in love with Tess for her to stay. I'll just make sure I include her and am nice to her. I mean, come on Liz, I trusted her enough to take just her to the summit."

"Yeah, but didn't Lonnie and Rath pose as Michael and Isabel so you wouldn't take them?"

"That's besides the point. Tess didn't know that when I took her. Look, the point I'm getting at is I don't think that we can't happen in order to keep Tess around."

"You think so?" Liz said looking up into his eyes. All she saw was genuine love there. No humor or deception to be found.

"I know so. Come here," he said pulling her close. He wrapped his arm around her and she leaned against his chest. They stayed like that all night. Just soaking each other in. And watching the stars twinkling in the sky.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
How I wonder, what you are?