Liz hooked her arm through her best friend’s. They remained a quite a few yards behind Max, Michael and Isabel, who had been marching off towards some undisclosed location with a sense of purpose. Reason had yet to set in for them, as it had for Maria. The two girls drove in Maria’s car – the entire time Maria ranted about how Max and Isabel didn’t really know what they were doing and that there was a good chance it wouldn’t work. Whatever ‘it’ was.’ But as Liz parked the car, the blonde’s voice dropped lower. She was so concerned with Michael – how disappointed he would be, and how he would react if nothing happened. Babbling – another defense mechanism, Liz knew.

She squeezed Maria tighter and whispered, “Because there isn’t a cave that we know of, and it’s probably best if we’re away from everyone.”

Max glanced over his shoulder to make sure that they were still behind him. Maria caught the sly smile that Liz gave him in return. “So, what’s up with you two?”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, I’ve noticed the radiant ‘afterglow’ you’ve been sporting all weekend. I’m about ready to nickname Max ‘Thumper.’”

“MARIA!” Liz shrieked, covering the noise in giggles. She looked at her friend, shocked, then dropped her head. “Is it *that* obvious?”

“Um, well, yeah… completely.” The blonde nodded. “But don’t feel bad about it – I mean, if I had someone who was *that* in love with me, and wanted me *that* much, I’d sure as hell be flaunting it.”

“I don’t know what it is, Maria. These last few days – he’s like a new Max. Strange… not that I’m complaining.”

“I bet,” Maria teased.

“No,” Liz slapped her playfully. “It’s as if he found some renewed sense of, desire or something, for me, for our relationship.”

Maria leaned her head on the brunette’s shoulder for a moment. “Maybe he just needed to be reminded of what he had.”

“Maybe I did too.”

**

The three aliens came to a stop near a small clearing in the middle of four oak trees. They stared at each other uncomfortably, not a one willing to admit that they didn’t know what to do next.

“Do you have the stones?” Max asked his sister, hoping that once they were in his hands, a plan would magically materialize.

“Uh, yeah,” she responded, digging into the bag she brought. Isabel handed a stone to each of them and took one for herself before tying the bag back up.

“Maybe we should sit down.” Avoiding their eyes, Max sat straight down and concentrated on the stone in his hands. Isabel and Michael followed suit, both studying their mysterious treasure.

“What should we do?” Michael asked, anxiety creeping into his voice.

“We could try chanting,” Isabel suggested.

“Do you remember what River Dog had us chant?” Max cocked his head at his sister.

“No,” she said quietly, shaking her head.

A distant owl’s cooing called out over the low echo of crickets. The crunching sound of approaching footsteps was accompanied by hushed whispers. Maria and Liz, upon seeing the three in some sort of conference, fell silent and leaned against one of the trees on the perimeter.

Isabel’s head snapped up. “River Dog said something about our energy heating up the stones. Maybe if we can somehow… do that again, maybe something will happen…”

“How do you we suggest we do that, Is?” Her brother asked, a little frustrated at her blind optimism.

“This is hopeless.” Michael moved to get up.

“Michael, sit!” She ordered, then turned to Max. “And I don’t know, but at least it’s an idea. Maybe if we… meditate on them or something. It can’t hurt, Max.”

Max nodded shamefully, then looked towards Michael. He remained sitting cross-legged, his head hung in impending failure. Max felt even worse – he was almost ready to admit defeat, not realizing or even attempting to acknowledge what Michael was going through. If it was Isabel who had lost her powers, would he be so ready to give up? If it was him, would he expect that Is and Michael would do all they could to help him? Closing his hands around the stone, Max closed his eyes and tried to concentrate harder than before.

Taking Max’s cue, Isabel did the same. She rubbed the stone between her palms – trusting that ‘it’ would know what to do. This was a lot more difficult than making a connection with someone – she didn’t know how to get ‘in,’ didn’t have anything to work with… except hope. A slight breeze swept over her face, and she could hear the muffled trickling of a nearby creek. Isabel tried to relax - her nervous energy wasn’t helping anything. A few minutes after her breathing had calmed to something a little more normal, she could feel an almost imperceptible tingling in her hands. Barely opening her eyes, she peeked through her eyelashes and gasped at what she saw.

There was a dim green light that was growing brighter by the second. Isabel’s eyes grew wider and she glanced over at her brother, who was experiencing the same thing. “MAX!” she yelled, and her brother opened his eyes. “Max, look – something is happening!”

Max looked down at the now-bright glow of the stone in his hands. He smiled in complete awe – he was shocked that they were actually able to get it to work. Isabel shared his grin, then checked on the other alien. “Michael?”

Michael shook his head painfully, slowly. “Nothing. Nothing’s happening. I told you… I don’t have it anymore.” He opened his hands a little more and looked into the small cup he’d formed around the stone. In the center was a tiny, almost infinitesimal green light. It hadn’t been there a second ago. Opening his hands slightly wider, Michael stared down, hoping that the other two wouldn’t notice before he had a chance to clamp them back down around the stone. It was bad enough to think that he had lost all sorts of connection to his birthright, but to know that the last of what he had was about to disappear was even more devastating.

A strange feeling filled Maria. It was much more than just some sort of sympathetic pull towards Michael. She knew that, at that moment, he was losing his last straw of hope. Every inch of her body hurt with the most melancholic pain, and without thinking, she followed the instinct to go to Michael. Maria knelt behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her cheek against the middle of his back. Michael, after recovering from the momentary shock of her touch, was stunned to see that the minute glow had doubled in size, then quickly doubled *that* size. His hands fell free of the tight clasp he’d had them in, and Isabel almost laughed in glee.

“It’s working! It’s working!” Her stone was now glowing with an almost-blinding light, as was Max’s. They both flattened their palms, letting the stone lay flat. Michael did the same, and almost immediately a sharp light shot from Max’s stone to Isabel’s, then to Michael’s. The glow of Michael’s stone grew steadily, and about five seconds later, Isabel’s stone also poured energy into it. It was as if, on some other level, Max and Isabel were rebuilding the damage that had been done to Michael and his powers. Michael’s stone had surpassed the light given off by the two of them, and he had to close his eyes from the intense beam.

There was fierce flow of energy between the three stones, and it quickly utilized Isabel, Michael and Max to strengthen it. Their bodies throbbed with violent tremors, which were abated almost as abruptly when the stones shot another beam of light straight up. The aliens looked up at the pinnacle where the three lights were joined about ten feet above them. They had only seconds to marvel at the sight before a shockwave bore down on them.

All of a sudden, Maria felt her body being thrown from its warm haven, and she found herself sprawled out on her stomach a few feet from Michael. Liz ran over to her, and hugged her tightly, and the two girls looked back at the three aliens who had passed out. A new terror wracked them as they tried to contain their tears. Maria pulled her legs up against her, leaning into her best friend.

Max woke up first, sitting up slowly. Urged by Maria, Liz ran over to him and wrapped herself around him, burying her face in his neck. Isabel woke up next and crawled over to Michael who was still out. Slowly, Maria could see him come to, and tighten his grip around the woman in his arms.

“Are you okay?” Isabel asked, choking back a sob.

“Yeah,” Michael replied, somewhat dazed.

“Do you feel any different? Do you feel like anything’s come back?” Max tried his best to eliminate all sense of expectation from his voice.

“I don’t know… maybe it’s too early to tell.” Michael sighed. “But I definitely feel… more like I used to. Like I did when I was in Roswell.” Isabel smiled, relieved, and squeezed him tighter, kissing his cheek.

It was like a bad déjà vu. Maria stared at Michael in Isabel’s arms and a familiar pain seared through her. She stood up and brushed herself off. On the other side of Michael and Isabel, Liz caught sight of Maria’s reaction. Whispering something to Max, she got up and returned to her friend’s side. Liz took Maria’s hand to steady her when she saw the wall of tears threatening to spill over. “Do you want to go?” she whispered. With her eyes clenched shut, Maria nodded in response.

Michael looked up in confusion as he saw Liz lead Maria away. Before he could speak, Liz waved to him and motioned towards the blonde. He nodded in understanding.

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, home.” Maria smiled too cheerfully, trying to mask the gnawing pain.

“Why?”

“I have to get up early, store stuff, you know.” She touched his hand. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“But… I don’t want you to go.” He shook his head, trying to figure out why she was leaving him… now.

“I have to, Michael. Besides, you should be here with Max and Isabel.”

“Maria.”

“Please, Michael.” The words caught in her throat. “Just… just let me go.”

As she turned to walk away, Michael grabbed her, his thumb pressing in the middle of her wrist. An image flashed – the cave, Maria standing a few feet away from him and Isabel, behind Max. That night he completely missed the heartbroken look on her face, the feelings of relief only beginning to seep into the terror that had taken over. All of that was rushing back at her, assailing her with doubts of his feelings for her yet again. Maria’s eyes shone with panic – as soon as Michael touched her, she knew he was in her mind, knew what she was thinking, what she was feeling. Even with everything, Maria had been hiding behind what was left of her own personal stone wall. Now he was threatening to knock over the last few stones she had up.