Liz glanced over at Maria and smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Maria. I guess I have a lot on my mind."

"Well, you better get your mind on serving that fat guy his sundae or he's gonna explode," Maria mumbled under her breath as she made her way out from behind the counter. Liz sighed and stuck a spoon into the Alien Blast sundae.

It was true that there was a lot on her mind. Ever since Future Max had come and turned her life upside down . . .and that whole thing with Laurie DuPris . . .and Las Vegas. Liz shook her head and wrinkled her nose, setting the sundae down in front of a rather large customer.

"Thanks, sugar," the guy said in a friendly tone and dug in. Liz bit her lip and looked up. A couple booths away, Maria was serving Max Evans and his sister Isabel. Max looked exhausted. What Liz wouldn't give to go over and hold him . . .

"Stop it," she told herself harshly, going back behind the counter. "Stop torturing yourself. Max is your friend and you're lucky for that."

Max Evans twisted the top of a bottle of Tabasco sauce and poured some of it's contents into his soda. He watched as Tess Harding took the bottle from him and covered her chocolate ice cream. Max shook his head with a half smile on his face. He loved sweet and spicy together. He was about to pick up his hamburger when he saw Liz out of the corner of his eye. Immediately, he lost his appetite.

"What's wrong, Max? You were starving ten minutes ago," Isabel, his sister, asked with concern. She followed his gaze to Liz, who was laughing with Maria, and sighed.

"Anyway, Maxwell. Is there some reason you wanted us to meet here?" Michael Guerin asked, running a hand impatiently through his newly spiked brown hair.

"I guess I just wanted some time together. Ever since Laurie . . .and all that, we haven't really spent a whole lot of time just being together," Max said, almost desperately. "I want life to get back to normal. And having a burger together here . . .seems normal."

Tess tugged on her tight shirt and nodded her head. "I understand completely, Max. But . . .I have to wonder if there's any more aliens out there."

Max, Isabel, Tess, and Michael sat in silence as her comment sunk in.

A red Jeep flew past the Roswell : 2 Miles sign, loud punk music blaring from monster speakers. The girl driving reached into her glove compartment and searched frantically. A moment later, she found a Hershey bar and pulled the wrapper off. With her free hand, she grabbed a bottle of hot sauce and squirted some onto the candy bar.

She had dark blond hair that was cut into shaggy layers and fell around her pretty face. Her hazel eyes were lined with black makeup and a silver hoop glinted in her nose.

With the hand that wasn't clutching her candy bar, she reached out and the music got louder.