Max Evans sat in his room on a lonely Sunday night. The last few days had been an experience for him to say the least. He had been abducted after an all day search for his best friend, his soulmate, and then was forced to endure unbelievable hardships before his friends, his family, and a little outside help had prevailed in getting him out of the facility.

Then, as if it were possible, it got worse.

Well, in some ways. Make that one big way. The girl for whom he would give life itself, walked away from him, and now all that he had lived for had suddenly changed. At the same time, the complexity of his life thickened as he was forced to come to grips with his true destiny, and it was not one he was very comfortable with.

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe it or didn’t know it was right. Nothing (well almost nothing) had ever felt so right before. It was just that the path he wanted to lead and the path that had been foretold for him were two different ones. Reconciling that, especially at the age of 17, was going to take time. Time that he might not have.

He had lived his whole life petrified that his grand secret would get out. Over the past year, he had been goaded, forced, and otherwise persuaded to let some people into his world. Not the day-to-day life that he had lived for the past ten years, but the realities that his heritage had forced on him. Liz, Maria, Alex had become some of his best friends and confidants, and they protected him, Isabel, and Michael like they were their own. But they weren’t their own, and never could be. The clearest example of that caused Liz to walk down that mountain without him. How was he going to face them at school, or let alone the next time something happened? Unfortunately he had little time to think about that. He was going to find out.

Max went over the events of the day in his mind. It was a weekend that came right out of some demonic storybook. But it had ended with them finding out another piece of the puzzle, no matter how unwelcome it may have been in the short term. And that was a good thing, or so he kept telling himself. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Liz for months now, and today didn’t change that one iota. Telling some one that you love them should be the ending, the beginning of happy ever after, but not for him.

Thanks to Isabel’s quick thinking, they had been able to avoid getting seriously grounded when they had gotten home late that afternoon. Isabel had been able to cover for Max, saying that he had gone on a camping trip with Michael down near the Mexican border. Their parents may not have believed it, but at least they didn’t punish him, too severely. Isabel told Max this on the way home with a glint in her eye. She still wanted to tell at least her mother the truth, but she knew better to press Max at that time.

And now he had to think about what was going to happen tomorrow, when he got into the Jeep and set off for school. Admitting to the Sheriff his true identity had strong benefits in the short term, but Kyle…that was a whole different matter. He would have to be told, and correctly. That was important. They had no choice. Kyle was many things, but not stupid. When he saw the telltale handprints on his stomach, he would put two and two together, or at least have about a million questions that would drag it out of him. He didn’t believe that the Sheriff was able to get him out of there and home without that discussion. He wondered what Valenti would have to say to Kyle. Hopefully he would go back to office, give him a cooling off period. Max had tried to call the Sheriff at the station, but was told that he was busy and not to be disturbed. He tried to explain the situation, but to no avail. Which is why he needed to meet with the group tonight. Before Kyle made a side trip to the Evans’ place.

Organizing would probably be difficult. He wasn’t sure who wanted to see him, or whether they could all be in the same room together. But they all had to realize it was important. He hurried to at least start his homework. He was probably going to be up all night. To live this double life that he had always wanted to bury, this was the price he was going to have to pay.

He called Alex first. Alex tried to claim he was neck deep in “pre-studying” for finals or some such thing, but he realized the deal. They would meet at the Crashdown at 10, right after it closed. Maria was no problem, as she actually had gone to work, could you believe it. Michael & Isabel were actually both in her room, talking. Michael hadn’t gone back to the apartment since the festivities, preferring to be somewhere where he didn’t have to think about being a ‘killer’ and trying to get a grasp on the message from this afternoon. That surprised Max. Normally, Michael was as much of a loner as they came. He was changing, though. The frequent proclamations of his and Isabel’s destiny together may be having their effect, as much as neither of them really wanted it to be true anymore than Max did, at least in the ‘mating’ side of it.

MAX: Hi guys…we have to talk…all of us, we’re meeting everyone at the Crashdown after hours tonight.

ISABEL: I figured as much.

MICHAEL: No…definitely can’t let that go.

They were quiet, just sitting there, and Max let them back to it. No sense rehashing things that were going to get talked to death in just a few hours time. He had to make the one call he was dreading. He was mad at himself for not getting Maria to do it, but she had said that Liz was nowhere to be found, and Max had chosen to believe her. He picked up the phone and pressed the speed dial, and lasted exactly one ring before he had to hang up. Ridiculous, he thought, I can’t even wait for her to answer. But then he dialed back, and got to her machine. He decided to leave a message.

MAX: Hi…it’s me. We need to talk, um, all of us. Come downstairs once the Crashdown closes. We need to figure out what we are going to do about Kyle. (He didn’t want to add, about all of us) I’ll see you then…bye.

Just as he was finishing the message, he got a knock at the window. The by now familiar sudden and completely unexpected appearance of a short blond-haired girl was his reward, as it was. Tess Harding, the fourth alien, the completion of their destiny, and his, was there. Tess didn’t wait for Max to come to the window, letting her self in with a simple manipulation of the lock.

TESS: Hey.

She seemed unusually restrained and a little nervous. During the time that Max had known her, she had always acted like she was one step ahead, like she knew something that the others didn’t, and maybe she did. But now that advantage had been blown out of the water, and she was just another one of them. That was not to say that Max trusted her. He believed her, believed her as much as anyone could believe anyone, but he didn’t trust her or her intentions, because he knew what those intentions were, at least in the here and now. She had gone to great lengths to try to deceive him, all of them, before she revealed her true self to them. It would take some doing before they were even on the same page, let alone together.

MAX: Hey.

TESS: I just came over…I had nowhere else to go. With Nasedo gone now, all I have is a big empty house. I mean, Nasedo wasn’t my family, but he was somebody. Besides, this is where the action is. (She said the last part with a slight smile, which spoke volumes about her intentions.)

MAX: Well…I’m just trying to keep up on the old schoolwork. We still have to do that you know.

He wasn’t sure whether or not he really wanted to Tess to come to the meeting tonight. It was best to keep that part to himself. But then again, he didn’t know how much she had heard before she had knocked. She could have been there for quite a while.

TESS: Anyway, it was good that I came. I might have missed your little powwow tonight.

So much for that idea, Max thought. But all the same, it was the right thing for her to be there, as much as he didn’t want that. Liz was just going to have to get used to her being around. That was, if she ever wanted him back again. He hoped that the stars would allow that one day, though Tess was an attractive girl.

He tried to banish that thought from his head as quickly as it entered. There’s only one girl for me…only one girl for me. Maybe she was playing mind games, but in his heart he knew that she wasn’t. He just was going to have to fight it if he really wanted Liz to be his life again.

But, there was a science assignment to be worked on. He was supposed to have worked with Liz on it, but now that Tess was his lab partner, maybe they could get some of the writing done. It’s only an hour, he thought, before they would have to leave for the Crashdown.

PART 2

“Hi…it’s me. We need to talk, um, all of us. Come downstairs once the Crashdown closes. We need to figure out what we are going to do about Kyle. I’ll see you then…bye.”

Liz Parker sat in her lawn chair on her balcony, in the cool night air. She was crying…still. It had been quite a few hours since this afternoon, and she hadn’t stopped for more than a minute. Maria had sat with her for about an hour, and had been checking on her literally every ten minutes. It was almost distracting, and she had been able to convince Maria that her customers really needed their alien-themed cuisine, and so she went back to the restaurant, and she went back to her journal. She hoped she wasn’t ruining the pages with all of her tears, but at this point she didn’t really care.

“Today is May 14th, I’m Liz Parker and this is what has been happening…”

That’s as far as she had gotten. She thought that maybe writing out her thoughts and feelings would help, but she hadn’t gotten past her familiar opening. She paused and had a random thought, trying to figure out why she had kept up her practice of writing her name to begin every day’s entry. She had first started writing in the journal when she first was learning to write (she still had all of those old journal books up in her closet), and never had changed it. It just felt like the right thing to do. Today, she really needed familiarity, and it wasn’t the right time to question the little things.

After hearing the end of Max’s message, and crying some more, she braced herself as she heard someone coming into her room and out on the balcony. Maria…again.

LIZ: I told you, I’m fine.

MARIA: Yeah, right, whatever, you’re fine, and I’m the Queen of England.

LIZ: I did the right thing. I can’t stand in the way of his destiny.

MARIA: Yeah you said that, about a million times. I just heard his message. I was going to tell you about it, but you keep shooing me away.

LIZ: I’m sorry…I just really don’t feel like talking. I think I am just going to hide somewhere. The library may be open late. I need to work on my chemistry assignment anyway. Can I borrow the Jetta?

MARIA: Oh no…you’re coming tonight. It’s important. I want to hear all of the details about that message anyway. I have to have ammo if I am going to win Michael back.

LIZ: You heard what he said, and besides, after what their mother said, I don’t think there is a place for us in their lives anymore.

MARIA: You are being melodramatic. Max adores you, remember, he went after you today when you left. You told me so.

LIZ: I know…but I wish I could believe that there is a way. You weren’t there. You didn’t see how they reacted. How important it all is. Being the last hope of an entire race. And part of that hope is tied in with each other, and not us. (sobbing)

MARIA: We just have to find another way. That’s all…we just have to find another way.

They both then heard Mr. Parker looking for Maria to get back downstairs. She left, but Liz could see that she had been crying too, and was just as devastated as she was. Just like Maria, sacrificing her own feelings to try to make her feel better. Who could have a better best friend? She sat down and started to write.

PART 3

Sheriff Valenti had slept for several hours. He was exhausted, having been up for three days with almost no sleep to speak of. Kyle had been very tired when they had gotten home for some reason, and had slept away most of the day since they had gotten home from the UFO Museum. He rose, and went to check his messages. After the obligatory drone of messages from the office, he got a few that interested him. Deputy Blackwood had left him a few other messages, the first from Max Evans, asking for a phone call. Another was from Amy DeLuca, wondering if he had seen her daughter anywhere. He decided to give Max a call first, sure that Maria had checked in with her Mom, eliminating the need to speak with her. He wasn’t really in the mood for that. The last message was from another Deputy, telling him that Deputy Fisher had not shown up for work that night. He toyed with calling the station back to tell them that Deputy Fisher would not be showing up on any night, but decided he could deal with that in the morning. He found the Evans’ number, and dialed. Diane answered. After some concerned banter as to why he would call her son so late on a Sunday night (or at all for that matter), she went up and got him on the phone.

SHERIFF: You called me.

MAX: Yeah. What did you tell Kyle? (He was able to make his tone very even here. He didn’t want to antagonize him)

SHERIFF: He fell asleep on the way home. Just numb from the shock I guess. But I am probably not going to keep this from him for too long. I’m betting that those handprints I saw in the photos will be there when he wakes up.

MAX: Yeah. Probably. We are getting together tonight to talk about how to tell him, among other things, though he may already have figured it out.

SHERIFF: You’re right. Mind if I stop by?

MAX: I’ll call you when we are done. Are you going to be up? (He really didn’t want to let Valenti in on all of the details if he didn’t have to. He also felt that everyone else would be a little more nervous with him there.)

SHERIFF: OK. Let me know.

Kyle walked into the family room right after his father hung up the phone. He was still wearing his shirt with the bullethole in it, but was obviously barely awake. He mumbled in the general direction of his dad, and then went into the bathroom. A few minutes later, without a word, he came out, and went back to his room and closed the door.