Liz Parker rapped on the apartment door with a hard fist. BAM! BAM! BAM! There was no answer for a long minute, so she tried again. BAM! BAM! BAM!

This time, she heard footsteps inside the apartment. There was the sound of a chain sliding along a track, then a deadbolt being retracted, and the door slowly swung open.

"What do you...?" The young man on the other side of the door trailed off when he saw his visitor. His eyes widened in shock.

"Hello, Kyle," Liz said sweetly. "We are going to have a little chat."

******

"Can I get you a drink or something?" Kyle asked from the kitchen as he rifled through the fridge.

Liz glanced over her shoulder from her vantage point on the couch. "No thanks, Kyle. I'm fine."

"Your loss." He snagged himself a Budweiser, and slammed the fridge door closed. Sauntering into the living room, he flopped down into a chair and looked at her with that piercing gaze he'd always been famous for. "So, whaddaya want, Liz? Long time no see."

Liz gave him a frigid smile. Her anger from the hospital had not dissipated. "You know damn well why I'm here, Kyle. I want to know where they are."

Kyle raised his eyebrows in puzzlement as he took a swig from his beer can. "And just who would you be talking about?" he asked after swallowing.

"Max, Michael and Isabelle."

Kyle guffawed, sitting forward in his chair and holding his beer can away from him so as not to spill it. "Max, Michael and Isabelle? I haven't heard about them for months now-- not since they disappeared. What makes you think I know where they are?"

"Because I know you're the one that warned them in the first place."

This elicited an even stronger reaction, and Kyle had to put the Bud down on the coffeetable to avoid spillage. "Warn them?" he chuckled. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Liz sat back and gave him a calm stare. "You know what I'm talking about. You're the one that told them your father had evidence against them. You're the one that called all three of them and told them to get out of town on the first bus."

Kyle was looking less sure of himself now. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about, Liz," he said, looking away; but his voice betrayed his emotion.

Liz would not back down. "Yes you do, Kyle."

There was a long silence. When Kyle finally met her eyes, they were clearer than she had ever seen them. "How did you know?" he asked.

She wouldn't allow herself a relieved breath. The fact of the matter was, she hadn't been one hundred percent sure until this moment. But the need was too great-- it outweighed the risk. "It just clicked," she replied softly. "Today, in Maria's hospital room. For the longest time, I wondered who Max's 'friend' was. I was sure it was his boss at the UFO museum, or possibly some unknown face at the Crashdown. But there was always something off about it." She shrugged. "Then today...I just KNEW. The way you always seemed to be hinting that you knew their secret, but never giving it away. The way you stuck up for Max when your buddies beat him up..." Her eyes burned into his. "Why didn't you tell us?"

It was Kyle's turn to shrug. "How could I?" he asked. "I was supposed to ignore you-- distrust you. It would have looked more than a LITTLE suspicious if I'd suddenly gotten all chummy with you guys. My dad would have known something was up."

"How long did you know? About them?"

"I always knew."

That took Liz by surprise. "What? How?"

Kyle twitched an eyebrow. "When you grow up in a family that looks for aliens in every shadow, you notice the differences in people. I knew the first time I saw Max Evans in third grade that there was something odd about him. It was simple to get to Isabelle, and then Michael, from there." He ran a hand through his hair. "It was really never an option that they were anything BUT aliens. I'm surprised it took the old man so long to figure it out himself"

"Why didn't you tell your father?"

He was silent for a long minute. "I guess," he finally answered, "I just...I didn't want to see their family broken up. Max and Izzy, that is." He chuckled. "Michael would have just beaten the crap out of me if I ever gave him up, but I couldn't do that anyway, because it was a hop, skip, and a jump to the others from him." His mirth died, and he looked away, studying the condensation forming on the outside of his ignored beer can. "I had a crappy enough childhood, you know? I didn't want to ruin theirs."

Liz just watched him with fascination. For years, she'd been afraid of him, virtually despised him-- for what he was, who he was. She'd been convinced that he would turn the trio over to his father in a heartbeat. And all along... he'd known. He'd known, and he'd never told a soul. "When... Did Max and the others... Did they know you knew?"

Kyle shook his head. "Naw, not until I called them that night." He laughed. "God, you should have heard the shock in Michael's voice ALONE when he heard me telling him all this shit about Dad calling me at Notre Dame, all in a frenzy, about finally knowing. Finally having the evidence. He never told me what evidence he meant, but I knew what he was talking about."

Liz's eyes were wide with wonder. "So you told them to get out, before he could get to them."

"What else could I do? I'd spent so much time protecting them...I couldn't just stop now."

Her eyes were misting over. "I'm so sorry, Kyle," she murmured. "I...misjudged you."

He shifted uncomfortably, keeping his eyes averted. "No you didn't, Liz. You saw what I wanted you to see."

Neither spoke for some time.

Eventually, Kyle cleared his throat and sat up straighter in his chair. "All right," he said, looking pointedly at her, "so we've established who knows who here. So why do you want to know where they are? And what makes you think I know?"

Liz blinked away the remnants of her tears and stood slowly. Moving deliberately, she circled through the furniture. "First," she said, "I expect you to know because I don't think Max, Isabelle, or even Michael for that matter, would make a complete break from Roswell. They'd want to have feelers back here in town. Their contact couldn't be me, or Maria, or even Alex-- they'd know we were too risky. So who better than the son of the sheriff, who had never outwardly shown any kind of affection towards them?"

"Second," she continued, still walking slowly, "I expect you to know because how better to get back at your father for years of ignoring you? To finally know something he doesn't? Something he desperately wants to know? I think you'd enjoy that immensely. And after saving their asses, I think they'd probably oblige you."

"And last," she finished, sitting on the edge of the coffeetable in front of him so they were eye to eye," I expect you to know, because if you don't, my best friend and her unborn child are both going to die, and that is unacceptable."

He looked at her sharply. "What? Maria?"

Liz nodded. "She's...in the hospital." She quickly outlined the story, trying hard not to cry."

When Liz was finished, she swallowed hard. "So you see why that reason is most important of all, Kyle. Maria will die if I can't get in touch with them-- Maria and her child. MICHAEL'S child."

Kyle nodded, eyes turned inward.

She hadn't been aware of the tears building in her throat, but now when she swallowed, they burned. "Please, Kyle," she whispered. "Tell me where they are. They have to heal her. I won't let her die."

His eyes were piercing when they looked up, biting into her own. He was searching her, looking for the truth in her. And she laid herself open to him.

Abruptly, he stood and strode from the room. She didn't watch him go-- her eyes stayed focused on where he'd been sitting, barely registering his departure. So that was it. He was going to ignore her-- forget her request. Maria's safety wasn't as important as their goddamned security. Liz felt the tears beginning to well.

Which was why the letters he suddenly held in front of her face took her so completely by surprise.

Kyle sat again in the chair before her, the letters never moving from her eyesight. Picking one in particular, he kept it up and let the others fall into his lap. "Isabelle," he said, indicating the letter he held in front of her nose. "New York City. Reason, and I quote, 'It's easy for one beautiful person to disappear in a city of over eight MILLION beautiful people.'"

He dropped that letter into his lap, and picked up another. "Max," he said, and Liz felt her heart leap at the name. "Keene, New Hampshire. He's getting his bachelor's degree in philosophy at Keene State College. Said he wanted a small town again, like Roswell. It's just colder there."

Max's letter joined Isabelle's in his lap as Kyle picked up the last one. "Michael," he said. "Denver, Colorado. Reason? To be closer to the sky." He shrugged. "Never did explain why he stayed so close, though. He's never strayed farther away than Billings."

Picking up all three letters again, he held them out to her. "No phone numbers. No street addresses. Just fake names and PO Boxes." His voice lowered. "You can have one," he said softly. "Just one. Who do you choose?"

Liz looked at the three letters with wide eyes. To go from total ignorance of their whereabouts to knowing their exact locations was a breathtaking experience. Her mind was still reeling as she tried to decide amongst them.

Isabelle was a logical choice. She was skilled in using her powers, and would have much better knowledge of the female body than a man, for obvious reasons. For sheer pragmatism, Isabelle was the only choice.

Max. He had healed her once before, that first day in the Crashdown, so he knew how to do it. And she wasn't going to lie to herself-- she missed him. Missed him desperately. For pragmatism and personal reasons, Max was the only choice.

Michael. He was a paranoid case of ADD. No control over his powers, except in the barest sense. There would be no guarantee that he would even know how to BEGIN healing Maria, let alone the child in her stomach.

But Maria was carrying his baby, and was willing to die from the lack of him. For Maria, Michael was the only choice.

In the end, it was a no brainer.

She reached out a tentative hand and took hold of Michael's letter, slipping it from Kyle's fingers. She winced when he quickly pulled back the other two letters, and with them, her only link to Max. Her fingers clenched around the already crumpled envelope, wrinkling it even more. "Thank you, Kyle," she whispered, bringing her eyes to his.

He gave her a half smile. "I don't want to see Maria hurt anymore than you do, Liz," he murmured. "And if I can help save her...." He trailed off.

She smiled back at him. "You know," she said softly, "you're actually kind of cute, when you're not being a jock."

He chuckled in return, but it died quickly. "But that was never enough, was it?" he asked.

Liz's smile faded, and she didn't answer.

Kyle shrugged, straightening in his chair. "Well," he said clearly, "at least I can tell people with absolute honesty that you dumped me for a guy who was out of this world."

She managed a grin again, and leaned forward to hug him. "Thank you, Kyle," she whispered. "I wish we could be friends again."

He shook his head. "Too risky," he murmured back. "Dad's still sheriff, there are still people poking around." They pulled apart and he chucked her under the chin. "Just don't keep praying for me to die in my sleep, OK?"

She nodded. "I'll remember that," she answered with a smile.

He stood and helped her up. "Don't you have a letter to write?" he asked.

She let him lead her to the door. "Yes, Kyle," she replied. "Thanks to you, I do."