"Home sweet home." Amy DeLuca said blandly.

Maria didn't answer. She began walking through every room of her house, leaving her own for last. She tried to recall how she felt in this home over four months ago. But for some reason she couldn't remember anything.

Once in her room though, she was bombarded with memories, she felt her eyes begin to water as she recalled all the pain, and fear she had experienced, and at the happiness and relief of being home.

"Maria?"

Maria turned around slowly at the familiar voice. "Liz?" Maria said softly. She began walking towards her door, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. But once in the doorway, she knew for sure.

"Maria!" Liz said and launched herself towards her best friend. She threw her arms around Maria, finally being able to see and touch her best friend in over three months.

"Oh god Liz. It seems like it's been forever." Maria said as she began to cry.

"It has." Liz said and pulled away, but holding Maria at arms length. "You look so different, and you look older."

Maria smiled and ran her fingers through Liz's hair. "Your hair is longer."

Liz smiled back, then pulled Maria in for another hug. "Oh god I am glad you are back. It has been so hard here Maria. I felt like I have been carrying the world on my shoulder. I went through my journal so fast." Liz said and laughed.

"And now we get to do it together." Maria said softly. But her voice was a little more grave then she planned.

Liz pulled away from Maria, breaking the contact they had. "Maria, when I told them they really where freaked out. And they left immediately. Max even gave me a twenty for a ten dollar check. If I didn't already know, I would be suspecting something now."

Maria nodded. "Yea I know. And of all people, you would be the one to notice something being wrong. But Liz, if they know, it could ruin whatever you have with them." Maria warned her best friend. She knew from experience.

"I know that. But Maria, we can't lie anymore. I think the only think to do now is lay everything on the table. Lying has gotten us in enough trouble. I know we had to, but it did create problems anyway." Liz told Maria.

"Not yet though. I think we need to see what is going to happen, if I can at least make them believe me, then it will soften the blow for when you tell them. Hey what I had with them is already screwed, mine as well try helping what you have." Maria said in a fake positive voice.

"Maria don't say that." Liz said decidedly. Refusing to believe there small group had been broken.

"It's true. God Liz, you have no idea what went on there. You don't know the physical pain they went through. I did everything to avoid it, but it was hard. And the emotional pain they went through was all caused by me. I went into there rooms, smirking at their bodies strapped down to tables, and mocked them, teased them, lied to them." Maria said it all to Liz with her voice full of tense emotion and pain.

"But Maria, you saved their lives. If you wouldn't have went through with that, they could be very well in the hands of someone else now, without any chance of escaping." Liz tried to reassure Maria, but it wasn't doing her any good. Maria was continuously condemning herself. And no amount of convincing from Liz would help. The only thing that would, would be the understanding of Isabel, Max, and Michael.

"Liz, it makes no difference. And you know it. Even if their lives are remotely normal now, I still hurt them." Maria said sadly.

Liz frowned. "What happened Maria?"

"What do you mean?" Maria asked with slight confusion.

"I know it's you, and I can tell, but the way you talk, and the way you sound, and just your actions, aren't the same." Liz said with said realization. But Maria didn't respond to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One thing that Maria had appreciated about her time of arrival back in Roswell, was that it was during the summer, meaning she wouldn't be thrusted into their presence as she would have been in school.

It was her first morning in Roswell, and although she feared some of the outside world, she wasn't going to waste it. She already had plans to go to the Crashdown to see Liz and her parents. Hopefully Michael, Max, and Isabel, would be worried enough to keep there distance from there. Because she wasn't up to facing them. And unfortunately it would happen sooner or later.

Maria experienced an odd chill as she walked the busier streets of Roswell. She liked being here, but everything seemed so different to her. As if she was a stranger, an alien to this place. Michael, Isabelle, and Max's secret was physical, what they really are. And they are not human. And if there secret got out there would be danger. Hers could create almost the same amount of danger. Except her secret was mental. She was the same as everyone else. Physically. Similarities ended there. But her difference was more cruel. Somehow they could live with themselves. They really weren't bad. Just different. But she was bad. And she couldn't live with herself.

Maria opened the Crashdown door, and stood there for a moment, looking around the familiar diner. Like her room, she was bounded with memories. Maria slowly made her way through the diner, due to the fact of people recognizing her and saying hello, and how nice to see her. But it really meant nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Look, we can't keep on doing this. Avoiding her. Sooner or later something is going to happen." Max stated to Isabelle and Michael as they drove out of Roswell.

"So what, you suggest we walk up to her and strike up a conversation?" Michael asked sarcastically.

"Max is right." Isabelle came to her brother's rescue. "We can't ignore her." she noticed the resentment on Michael's face. "But we aren't just going to go talk to her." she spat at him. "We need to decide if she should be confronted, or if we should just wait."

"Wait. I'm in no mood to bring something on us that isn't needed." Michael said quickly.

"And what if it is better to find out the truth from her." Max shot back.

Once again, in the middle. "I'm sorry to say it, but I myself am in no mood to wait. And I think confronting her would be kind of dangerous. Leading to my next conclusion that one of us should go to see her." Before anyone could volunteer or back out she spoke. "And I think it should be Max."

"Why?!" Michael exclaimed, obviously upset that Max should be the one to go. Although he wasn't too interested in facing Maria, for some reason he still wanted to see her, and Max being the one to see her first wasn't a good idea to him.

"Because you're to emotionally involved, and don't try to deny it, it would create more problems then we have. I on the other hand, am the opposite from you. I wouldn't be welcoming either, but my emotional side is really detached from Maria." Isabelle explained.

"Meaning you're cut off and cold." Michael said angrily.

Isabelle glared at him but continued. "Max though, has a cool head, and out of all of us, even you, wants to believe Maria is right, and he is more trusting. And I think she would be more then worried to talk to you," Isabelle said to Michael, "and I wasn't exactly light hearted when we last saw her." Isabelle looked over at her brother who was concentrating intently on the highway in front of them. "Well Max?"

"I don't think it is a good idea Isabelle." Max said quietly not looking at her.

"Max! Your the best choice. You agreed we need to find out something. Yea you like to be in control. So what. Usually you accomplish that. And I think Maria would trust you. She knows what kind of person you are. I'm the last person that she would trust, and as for Michael, we're not going to go there." Isabelle ignored the glare that she got from Michael out of the corner of her eye. "Max this is all on you. Do you want to know the truth or not?"

Max sighed, he turned his head to face Isabelle then he looked towards the road. "Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After dropping Isabelle and Michael off, Max took of to Maria's, slowly. He would have never thought he would actually have been afraid of Maria. But he never knew who Maria really was. Max was unsure of how she would react when he proclaimed to her that he wanted the truth. Because if she was telling the truth all along, then she was bound to be annoyed. Max pressed the gas harder, with resolve set on his face. Even if there was a spark of fear in him, he also wanted to know the truth. Would she be cold and unfeeling as last time? Or would she be the Maria they knew before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Amy DeLuca looked into the peep hole, then turned away, scrunching her brow in confusion. She looked through the small whole again then shook her head as she stood back. Amy unlocked the door and pulled it open slowly. She gave the boy a small smile.

Max tensed up at the site of Maria's mother. She knew who and what he was, and she knew that he knew about her. And the tension stood there between them.

"I'm guessing you're here to see my daughter?" Amy asked kindly.

Max tried not to cringe at the kindness in her voice. Was it an act like Maria's had been. Or was it the real her. "Yes, ma'am."

"I was wondering how long it would take. Were you the one they chose to send out into unknown dangerous territory?" Amy asked, the humor evident in her voice.

"Unfortunately." Max responded. "Is Maria here?"

"Of course. It's a shame she really doesn't have any friends to spend time with anymore. I wonder what happened?" Amy asked him hoping for a response.

"That's what I'd like to know." Max told her. The conversation remained vague, but each knew what the other was referring to.

Amy smiled at him then turned her head to the back of the house. "Maria! You have a visitor!" Amy yelled. Amy turned back to Max. "I would ask you in, but for some reason I get the impression that you wouldn't acccept."

"You could be right." Max said evenly. Max looked past Amy DeLuca when he heard fast footsteps inside the house getting louder. As expected, Maria appeared behind the door.

"Are you going outside?" Amy asked her daughter a little more seriously.

Maria forced herself to nod. It was a ridged movement, and as she moved outside her body didn't want to cooperate with her. Was it fear she felt?

Most likely. Maria grabbed the doorknob as her mother moved back, and pulled the door shut behind her. She stood silently facing Max on her porch. For once she became well aware of the cool wind blowing around her, and the sounds of insects as they did there daily things at night. Maria chose to remain silent, she didn't want to do anything to make him uncomfortable, or cause him to lose any trust he had in her.

Max chose to be blunt. "Maria why are you here?"

"This is my home." Maria told him. This wasn't his town. This wasn't even from this planet. But she kept those thoughts to herself.

"You said you weren't coming back." Max reminded her.

"No, I said I couldn't, and I couldn't for certain reasons that where keeping me away. And now their not." Maria answered him vaguely. She knew he wanted more. But she couldn't willingly tell him that she came back because Liz said it was safe. "You want the truth don't you? You want to know what really happened, which is the real me, and what is going to happen to you now."

"Maria I just want the truth. And our safety." Max told her evenly.

Maria narrowed her eyes at him, they still didn't believe her. Maria took a deep breath and relaxed. He didn't have a reason to believe her. "I could tell you the truth, but you wouldn't trust me."

Max wanted to deny it, but it was true. He couldn't trust here, even if he wouldn't to. He still had doubts.

"And any proof I come up with, won't satisfy you. So I suggest you find the truth on your own." Maria told him. She glanced at his jeep, then turned back to him. "Do you want to find it?"

Max remained silent and unmoving for a moment. But he knew what he wanted, and so did she. Max nodded silently.

"Then lets go, and I'll let you get your proof. But not here, not in Roswell." Maria told him.

Max watched her cautiously. "You want to go outside of Roswell?"

"Yes. You want the truth. And I want you to have it now, I want you to believe me right now. Because I cannot put up with this." Maria paused realizing his unsure attitude. "Make a decision Max. Sure I could be tricking you. But you need to make a choice."

Max remained silent for only a moment. Once again his quest for the truth over came any concern over his safety. "Let's go."