Maria leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. Her weekly trip to the spa was the one time each week she could escape, relax, and thoroughly enjoy herself.

"What color do you want on your toes this time, Marianna?" the pedicurist asked with a heavy New York accent.

"Maria rolled her head to the right and looked at the color chart on the wall. After a moment, she answered, "Let's go with purple this time, Babs."

"Sure thing, Sweetie," Babs replied as she headed to the polish case.

Maria wiggled her toes in the warm, sudsy water and sighed. Just as she closed her eyes, her brief moment of peace was interrupted by a high-pitched screech. "Oh my gosh! You're...Do you know who you are?" A skinny teenage girl with spiky brown hair stood over Maria. The young girl looked behind her to see if anyone else had noticed and lowered her voice to ask, "Are you Marianna?"

Maria loved being recognized and adored having fans. She smiled sweetly and presented her right hand for the girl to shake. "Hi. What's your name?"

The excited girl looked at Maria's hand and decided it wasn't enough. She lunged forward to embrace Maria in a forced hug. "Oh my gosh! You're so nice! My name is Sammie."

Maria laughed and said, "Very nice to meet you, Sammie. Nice hair."

"Oh," Sammie said embarrassed touching her hair. "Yeah...I gave the beautician a picture of you from People Magazine, but..."

"No, it looks great," Maria said realizing the girl doubted her short spikes. "Very flattering on you."

"Thanks," Sammie said with surprise. "Oh!" She turned and ran to an older lady sitting beneath a dryer. She returned in a moment holding a pen and piece of paper. "Could I have your autograph?"

"Sure," Maria said taking the pen and paper from Sammie. Maria loved to sign autographs for fans. She compared giving autographs to receiving awards - no greater honor.

When Sammie left, a girl in the pedicure chair to her left spoke. "Do you ever get tired of that?"

Maria looked at the girl. She was laid back in the chair with wet nails spread apart on the arms of the chair. Her hair was pulled through a tinting cap and fresh cucumber slices covered her eyes.

"No," Maria replied curiously.

"I sure do," the girl stated sighing as if signing autographs must be the most difficult work in the world.

Maria didn't respond, but when Babs returned from the polish case, Maria whispered, "Who is that?"

"Are you kidding?" Babs chuckled. She turned and pointed to the magazine rack near the door. "She's only the hottest thing to hit the modeling industry. She was practically an overnight success." Babs paused and looked at Maria. "Do you ever watch TV? She's all over Entertainment Television and E! I think she was on Rosie last week."

"I don't...watch much TV," Maria answered slowly. She stared at the magazines in disbelief. In full color on the cover of Cosmopolitan, and as plain as the nose on her face, was Isabel Evans. She could barely believe her own eyes.

"How is it possible?" Maria thought. "Isabel Evans? Isabel, the...Czechoslovakian...was supposed to be on Antar." Maria looked again at the beautiful girl on the magazine cover and then back at the green mud masked girl to her left. "No," Maria reasoned with herself. "No, no. This girl here, the girl at the spa...in California...on Earth...this girl must be someone who simply favors Isabel. There's now way she can really be Is."

As soon as Maria's pedicure was finished, she slipped her barely set purple polished toes into her faux snakeskin sandals and practically ran for the door. As she passed the magazine rack, Maria gracefully swooped down to capture the Cosmo and nonchalantly stuff her steal into her matching faux snakeskin handbag.

She had been in such a rush to escape the undoubtedly poor potential of the situation, until Maria had dismissed any and all consideration or thought on the matter. Maria rounded the corner of crowded (street in L.A.) and paused briefly to catch her breath and allow herself time to think. Maria sat beneath a yellow umbrella at a table outside a small café.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" a thin, dark-haired man asked.

"Yeah. I'll have a lemonade." Maria answered.

The minute the server left the table, Maria began laying out the facts in her head. "They left. All of them. They left Earth and went to Antar." Maria said using her right hand to pull down her left pinky as she calculated the details on her fingers. She moved to her left ring finger and raised her eyebrows hopefully as she continued going over the specifics. "But if they came back..." She smiled considering the possibility. "Michael could be back, too." As soon as she thought of him, her mood changed. "But," she continued her thought moving to pull down her left middle finger. "But if he is back, he is probably with Isabel now. That would make sense. That would explain why he hasn't come looking for me...and Hope." She moved to her left pointer finger. "But, he doesn't know about Hope," Maria thought and lowered her brow in concern. "If he is back, he deserves to know about Hope. Then again, I don't know if I can handle knowing he and Isabel are together." She added one more detail as she moved to the last finger on her hand. "They may not be together," she thought hopefully as she shrugged her shoulders. "And if they are not, he may want..." she stopped her thought and looked down at the table before continuing. "Even if he does want...well, he may have to leave again. And I couldn't deal with...what am I saying!? He is not here! He can't be. And that was not Isabel at the spa."

Maria smiled and chuckled at herself realizing how she had let her imagination run away. "Thanks," she said as the server brought her the lemonade. She pulled the Cosmo magazine from her handbag and laid it on the table. She looked at the girl on the cover and laughed quietly to herself as she thought, "It's uncanny how much you look like an old of mine."

She flipped through the first few pages of the magazine until she found the cover story. Photo credits: John Labonia. Model: Isabel Evans. "Oh my gosh." Maria gasped. She raised her hand to her mouth and her elbow knocked over her glass of lemonade. At the very moment the glass hit the floor, her server, carrying a large tray of food, stepped onto the glass. The glass rolled forward and sent the server backwards. The server grabbed a chair to steady himself, but the tray of food flew into the air and landed on a neighboring table dousing everyone within a 5-foot radius with fettuccini alfredo.

"Uh..." Maria began realizing she had caused the dramatic scene that had just played out before her. "Sorry?"

........................................................

"Alex, you have to get out here," Maria breathed into her pink glittery cell phone.

"Maria," Alex argued. "I have Hope with me, remember?"

"Well, bring her with you. You have to see if it really is her. Please, Alex," Maria desperately begged.

"Okay," Alex reluctantly agreed. "I'm on my way."

"Thanks, Alex. I owe you big. I'll see you tonight," Maria said. She placed a few dollars on the table, pulled her bag onto her shoulder, and sprinted for the hair tinting appointment for which she was already 20 minutes late.