Max wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen next. Everything was already happening so fast. So much has happened already today and it was only two-o-clock. So many thoughts were running through his head.

I am the leader of my people. I have enemies to fight. I was married to Tess. Liz walked away from me.

It was all too much to take in. How could all this be happening?

Why am I the leader? Why was I with Tess? Why can’t I be with Liz? Why can’t I be human?

The voice of his sister was what finally pulled him from his thoughts. “Max? Max?” He turned his head to her with a dumbfounded expression on his face. “What’s wrong, Max?”

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” His voice growing louder and harsher with every word. “What do you think is wrong?”

Isabel, almost in tears, whispers, “I know, Max, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. But what do we do know?” He didn’t answer. He didn’t know how to answer. What did they expect him to do? He was still the same person. He didn’t have anymore answers than he did ten minutes ago, before he heard his mother’s words.

“Maxwell, come on. We need some answers.” Michael’s voice broke in.

“Answers? What answers? You know as much as I do. What do you expect from me?” Max screamed. Softer he said, “ I don’t know what to do.”

Isabel went to his side and rubbed his back. “It’s okay. We’ll figure something out. Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it. You don’t need to worry about anything.” At her words, Max straightened up. He needed to take charge. That’s what he did. It’s was his job to take care of everything.

“Okay, we need to go to the cave, focus on the message. It’ll tell us what we need to know.”

“How do you know that, Max?” Tess asked with confusion in her voice.

“It’s just a feeling.” Max didn’t know how he knew, but he did. I guess I do have answers he thought. He must have been blocking them out with his emotions. “But first we should go home. Izzy and I need to settle everything with our parents, let them know we’re okay. We can all get a good night’s rest. Then tomarrow at noon, we’ll meet at the Crashdown, go over everything, then we’ll go to the cave.”

******************************************************************************

Liz slowly walked into the Valenti livingroom where everyone was gathered awaiting her and the aliens’ return. Her eyes burned from excess crying.

Maria was resting against Alex on the couch while Kyle was on the chair watching a football game on T.V.

“Liz,” she turned her head to see the sheriff standing behind her.

“Liz,” Alex’s voice sounded behind her, “What’s wrong? Where is everyone else?”

Everyone else. Liz didn’t want to think about everyone else. She had finally managed to get them out of her head. When she was running here, she focused on her route, wanting to get back to her friends as fast as possible. But now, she needed to explain what had happened, what had made her want to hurry back to familiar faces.

“They...they...I...left them at the pod chambers.” Liz studdered out, as tears streamed down her face. She thought she was done with this. Her eyes were dry a minute ago. Where were these coming from.

“Liz, don’t cry. Tell us what’s wrong.” Maria’s voice was comforting, as she walked to Liz and put her arms around her.

“Well, okay, they found out how to work the orbs.” Liz told her story with as many details as possible. If she concentrated on the little things, she didn’t think so much about the full meaning of her words. It helped keep her calm.

When she finished, everyone was speechless. They obviously didn’t know what to say. Liz understood how they felt. When Max and Isabel’s mother had finished speaking, she didn’t know what to say. She just wanted to get out of there as fast as she could.

Kyle was the first to break the silence. “Okay, so what do we do now?”

“We leave them alone, and they leave us alone,” Liz said. She couldn’t believe this was happening. I was so ridiculous. She loved Max and he loved her. Why couldn’t they be together? Of course it would be hard, but all relationships are.

Stop torturing yourself, she ordered herself. He has a destiny. He has to be with Tess. They were meant to be together.

As she told herself that, tears began to fill her eyes again. Stop, Liz ordered again, before someone notices. But it was too late. Tears were already running down her cheeks. Just as fast as they came, Maria was by her side, trying to calm her down.

“Okay Liz,” Maria said, while rummaging through her purse. “Try this.” She thrust a vile at Liz, sho just looked at it. “It’s cedar oil. It’ll calm you down.” Liz obiediantly sniffed it.

It didn’t help, but she already knew it wouldn’t. Maria was always trying to force Liz to smell her oils. They never worked.

“Did it help?”

“A little.” Liz didn’t want to upset her. She knew Maria needed to feel needed to help herself cope with pain.

“Good. Okay now, lets get you home.” Both girls got up and walked to the door followed by a still silent Alex. “On the way we can come up with details from our camping trip.” They all chocked out a laugh at the mention of their inside joke. They all told their parents they were going camping so they wouldn’t question them for not coming home last night. “Can you drive, Alex?”

“Sure.” Alex uttered his first word since Liz’s story.

They all said their good-byes to the Valenti men and left.

******************************************************************************

Isabel and Max didn’t speak on the way home. She liked it that way. She had so many thoughts and emotions running through her, she didn’t know how to put them into words. And after what had happened today, idle chit-chat wouldn’t work. So they just sat there.

She couldn’t believe she was supposed to be with Michael. Of course she loved him, but like a brother. It would be like being with Max.

She knew Michael felt the same way. Max didn’t want to be with Tess either.

Tess. Why did she have to come to town. Why did she have to find them and push this so much.

God. All she wanted was Alex. She loved Alex so much. She never even got to tell him. Now with what happened, how could she? It’s too awkward now.

But Isabel didn’t think she could handle this, the alien fighting, without Alex, without any of the humans. They were her best friends. Even more, they were like her family. And now with this...

“So what are we gonna tell them?” Max’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.

“Max, I want to tell them the truth.”

“Izzy,” Max started but Isabel didn’t let him finish.

“Max, please. We can’t keep lying to them. They won’t turn against us. I mean, mom already knows there’s something different about you. She know’s you can heal. Why can’t we tell them?” Isabel pleaded with Max. She watched his face, but it was unreadable.

“Okay,” Max muttered.

“Okay, we can?” Isabel knew she had a lot of emotion in her voice, which she usually tried to avoid, but right now she didn’t care.

“Yeah”

Max pulled the Jeep into the driveway. They went inside and found their parents in the livingroom, asleep. They had obviously been looking for them because they had Isabel’s address book out and the phone by them.

Both kids walked to their parents and gently woke them up.

“Izzy, Max, where have you been?” their mother asked.

“Why didn’t you call?” their father backed her up.

“We need to talk to you, guys.” Max stated. “Can we go into the kitchen?” Their parents went into the designated room.

Max and Isabel told them everything. Their parents asked many questions, which Isabel thought would have made her uncomfortable, but it didn’t. She was just so happy they knew. They didn’t have to lie anymore.

“Why didn’t you tell us this before?” their mother asked.

“We were afraid you would turn against us.” Max said slowly.

“How could you ever think that?” their father said more as a statement then a question. “We love you.”

Isabel felt warm inside. Her parents knew the truth and they still loved her and Max. It was the best feeling in the world. She somehow knew that everything would be okay.

******************************************************************************

“You hungry?” Michael asked Tess. He told her she could stay with him since Nasedo was disguised as Pierce and not staying at their house. She seemed almost scared to stay there alone.

“Sure. Whatcha got?”

“Fruity Pebbles.” They were Michael’s favorite. He could eat them for every meal. He practically did, too.

“That sounds good.” She followed him into the kitchen and they each made their own bowls in silence.

“So what are you and Isabel gonna do?” Tess asked as they both walked to the livingroom couch.

“What do yah mean, what are we gonna do?”

“Well, you two are supposed to be together.”

“Me and Izzy Lizard?” Michael laughed. “That will never happen.” That would be way too weird. They were like brother and sister. Gross!

“But what about what Max and Isabel’s mother said?” Tess whined, almost pleading with him to see her side.

“What about it? We’re still gonna fight the rebel aliens. We’re just not gonna be married.” God. Why couldn’t she just except that Max loves Liz and not her. This was really starting to get old.

“But it’s what’s meant...” Tess started, but Michael cut her off.

“No Tess. That’s what happened over fifty years ago. We are different people now. I don’t care what Nasedo said or what Max and Isabel’s mother said. I was not meant to be with Izzy. Maria’s my soulmate. I love her.” Whoa! That sounded strange everytime he said it. But it was true. He loved Maria. He had to be with her. He didn’t care about what he said before, about it not being safe. Maria was right. It’s never been safe.

His thoughts were put on hold when he saw Tess begin to cry. “Tess, I’m sorry. Don’t cry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“No,” Tess said. “For one, you had every right to yell.” Michael began to speak, but Tess stopped him. “And second, that’s not why I’m so upset. I just realized, my whole life, I’ve been taught that it was just the four of us, and when I found Max, we would both know that we were supposed to be together.

“But when I got here, I found that you all have other lives, other plans, and other loves. I really envy you.”

“Tess, what you need to do is let us all in.” Michael put his arms around her and he felt good as she nestled next to him. He realized he’d actually handled a situation well.

******************************************************************************

Kyle sat on the recliner in his livingroom with the game on T.V. Of course he hadn’t paid any attention to it since Liz had come and told her story.

He didn’t know anything that was going on and it was driving him crazy. Liz’s story had so many holes. Everyone else could fill in those holes with their own personal knowledge, but he couldn’t.

Kyle couldn’t believe his father kept this from him. This is so big. Kyle would never keep anything like this from him.

Of course if he had found out about Max six months ago, he wouldn’t have hesitated to turn him in. He was so mad about Max and Liz being together, he didn’t listen to logic.

But now, he would never be able to turn them in. Other than the fact that Max had saved his life, he knows that Max, Isabel and Michael are good people. They’ve been in school together since the third grade. Then there was Tess.

Kyle liked Tess. They’d studied together before and really seemed to connect. She was beautiful, funny, smart... he just loved being around her.

But she wants Max. She’s supposed to be with him, too, according to Liz. But what about the conn...

“Kyle? Kyle? Whew Whow!” Kyle’s father’s voice broke his train of thought.

“Yeah?” Kyle half said, still lost.

“You looked like you were a billion miles away.”

“You could say that,” Kyle said sarcastically.

“So what were you thinkin’ about? Aliens?” his father answered his own question.

“Yeah. Dad, I’m really confused. I need to know what’s going on.”

“I guess I expected this.” Jim turned the T.V. off and sat down next to his son. “Okay, I’ll tell you all I know. Remember the shooting at the Crashdown awhile ago?” Kyle nodded his head, anticipating the direstion of the story. “Well, Liz was shot, and Max healed her wound, like he did yours this morning. Ever since then, I’ve been after him, tryin’ to find out the truth. I went to the FBI, and that’s why they’re involved.” Kyle felt sorry for his father when he paused, obviously feeling guilty for causing so much trouble. “Kyle, do you remember Ms. Topalsky, the guidence counciler who disappeared?”

“Yeah, but how does she fit in?” Kyle was confused.

“She was an FBI agent sent to observe Max, Michael, and Isabel. She left ‘cause she was discovered. She came back and told me that there was a man buried in the FBI, named Pierce, or you know him as Deputy Fisher. He was an alien hunter. She told me that he had a list of people who were to be captured. Max, Michael, Isabel, Liz, Alex, Maria, and me were on that list.” His father was on that list. His schoolmates. Kyle couldn’t believe that the FBI was so awful. They had a list of people to destroy. Mulder and Scully were right. There was a conspiracy in the U.S. Government. “Topalsky was taken away after that. She later was killed by Pierce. But that’s when I tried to protect the kids. I found one of their orbs, so I returned it to them and told them that they could trust me. Two days ago, Maria and Alex came and told me that Max had kidnapped Liz.”

“What? Max kidnapped her?” Kyle didn’t understand how it could go from there, Liz being forced to go with Max, to now, Liz crying because she couldn’t have Max.

His father motioned for him to calm down. “No, Kyle. I think that that was just a cover, so I could help them find Liz. See, Nesado, he shape-shifted into Max and took Liz, so he could set Pierce up to come after him, so he could kill him. I followed them to the county fairground and into one of those mirror mazes. And I knew that I had saw two Max Evans’ infront of me. And one of them was captured. Liz came to me the next day and answered my fears telling me that it was Max that was captured. So Isabel had found out where he was so she, Michael and Tess had gone to get him out already, but they had been gone for a long time. Liz was scared, so that’s why she came to me for help. We went to where Max was being held and we got him out of there. We came up with a plan to capture Pierce, which worked. They found out what they needed to know from him and when we were trying to think of something to do with him,” he stopped and looked at his son.

“I came and let him loose.” Kyle finished for him. He could believe how stupid he was.

“That’s when Michael used his powers to kill him and you were shot.”

What had happened to Kyle’s bright, shiney, happy life where his biggest problem was staying in shape for the big game? Now he was worried about aliens and shape-shifters and evil FBI agents. This could definently only happen in Roswell, New Mexico.

“Do you have any questions?” Kyle’s father looked really worn out. All of this was way too much for him to handle.

“Just one. Why didn’t you tell me this before? Did you think you couldn’t trust me?” Kyle needed to know.

“I didn’t tell you cause I didn’t want you in danger. You could have been on that list, too.” Kyle was shocked. His father has been acting so weird lately and he thought it was because he was turning into his own father, an alien nut. But he was really trying to protect him.

“I love you, dad!” Kyle couldn’t resist the 7th Heaven moment. He hugged his father, both near tears.

“I love you, too, Kyle.”

******************************************************************************

“So are you okay?”

Liz looked up from washing dishes at the Crashdown to Maria. She was about to tell her some lame story about being just fine, but realized she couldn’t lie to her friend.

“No, not yet. But I will be. Eventually. As long as I don’t see him a whole lot.” Liz was confedent in that. She didn’t believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder.

“But Liz, I mean come on, Roswell’s not that big.”

“I know, but think about it, Maria. School’s out. No more of that. And what are the chances that Max Evans will come in here after what happened?”

Just as soon as Liz finished her sentence, the Close Encounter’s theme began. Liz turned to see Max walk in. Their eyes met for what seemed like a lifetime. His eyes were so beautiful. Like an ocean of secrets being opened up to her.

Max looked away. Liz was happy and sad at the same time. Looking into his eyes was magical. But if she did it for too long, she was afraid she would run over to him and tell him she was wrong, and that she needed him. She couldn’t do that. He needed to be with Tess now.

Liz slowly looked at his table, where he was followed to by Michael, Isabel, and Tess. Strange. Isabel was sitting with Max. Usually Tess would know people out of the way to sit next to him.

“So what are you gonna do?” Maria asked concerned.

“Maria, I can’t do this. What is he doing here? He’s ruining my plan.” Liz couldn’t think clearly.

“Do you want me to get my cedar oil? It’ll help.” Maria started toward the back.

“No, Maria, no. It’s not gonna help. I don’t know what to do.” Liz could hardly breath.

“Liz, it’ll be okay. You can do this.”

“Maria, it’s not going to be okay, because I can’t do this. I can’t.” Liz looked at her friend. “But you can.”

“What?” Maria shrieked, “No, no Liz, I don’t think so. I mean, what makes you think I can talk to Michael without losing it?”

“Because Maria, you’re better at this than me. You don’t walk around with your heart on your sleeve. You can hide your emotions better.” Maria didn’t look convinced. “If I go over there, Maria, Max will know that I’m not over him. He’ll know he can get me back without even trying. Do you want that to happen?”

“Okay, I’ll go. But you owe me.”

“Okay,” Liz felt relieved. How was she going to do this all summer? For the rest of her life?

“Hey there, perdy lady.” Liz turned to the owner of the voice.

“Alex, hey.” Loz looked past him. “Kyle?!” What were they doing together?

“Unlikely duo, huh?” Kyle joked.

“No, just unexpected.” Liz started washing cups again. “So what brings you two here?”

“Just seein’ how you and Maria are after yesterday’s Czech incident.” Liz froze when she heard Alex’s casual words. So he continued. “So how are you doin’?”

Liz faked a smile and turned around. “I’m okay, really Alex.” That was way, too, fake.

“Right. And I’m Marilyn Monroe.” Liz smiled at how well Alex knew her.

“Okay, I’ve got an idea.” Kyle said. “How about tonight, we all go bowling? You know, to get our minds off the, uh, ‘Czech’ stuff.”

“Hey, that’s a great idea!” Alex spoke excitedly.

Well, bowling with her friends would help to take her mind off of Max. And it was deffinently better than sitting in her bedroom listening to the Counting Crows, crying about the alien who got away. “Okay, me too!”

“Great!” Kyle grinned.

“What’s great?” Maria walked up confused.

“We’re all going bowling tonight. The four of us.” Liz was really looking forward to this.

“Well, thanks for making my plans for me.”

“You’re welcome.” Liz remembered where Maria had just come from. “Oh God, how did it go?”

“Well, they ordered, nothing else.”

“Nothing?” Liz was upset. She was looking for something to make her feel better, although she really know there was nothing that would help.

“Nuthin’, sorry Lizzie.” Maria gently rubbed her shoulder.

“No, no. It’s okay. I wasn’t really expecting anything.” Liz wished that were true.

“Table six is up.” A voice from the back called.

“Oh, that’s me.” Maria walked off.

“I gotta go to the little boy’s room like real bad.” Alex practically skipped away. Liz couldn’t help but laugh a little, which felt nice.

Liz realized she was alone with Kyle. That was pretty unusual in the past six months. “So?”

“So?” Kyle looked just as uncomfortable.

******************************************************************************

“Hey Max, can I talk to you for a second?” Tess half whispered, not wanting everyone to hear.

“Sure.” Max followed Tess outside the front door. “So, what’s up?”

“Max, I was just wanting to tell you that I’m sorry.”

“What?” Max looked confused.

“I’m sorry for screwing everything up for you, and Michael and Isabel. I think, that I need to explain myself.” Tess paused. “All my life, I grew up thinking that we had to be together, and that when I got to you, you would just be waiting for me. And you would just know we were supposed to be together.”

“And now?” Max spoke after her pause.

“Now, I need to make everything right. I know we’re not supposed to be together. I know that when I look at you and Liz.” Tears weld up in her eyes. She wasn’t upset about losing Max. These ideas were just new to her and the feelings she was having were overwhelming.

“Tess, you’re crying.” Max used his thumb to dry her face. He was so tender and sweet. After everything she has done to him, he still couldn’t hate her. Tess knew he would never let her down. That she’d always be able to count on him.

“No, I’m okay. It’s okay, see. I’m really happy. Now, I hope we can start over, and be friends.”

Max slowly pulled her into an embrace, “Of course we can be friends.”

For the first time in Tess’ life, she felt...human.

******************************************************************************

“What?” Liz’s voice hissed.

Kyle turned his head to see what Liz looked so upset about. “Are you okay, Liz? You didn’t need to see that.”

“Huh? Kyle, yeah, I’m fine, I mean, that’s why I left, so he could be with her. So, I’m fine with it.”

“Liz, I know you better than that.” Kyle knew this was killing her inside.

Liz smiled, “Yeah, it hurts. But that is what I wanted for Max, to follow his destiny. So I just need to get over it.

“You’re aloud to be hurt by that.” Liz’s eyes shifted to Max and Tess walking back in. Kyle looked, then turned back to Liz. “I understand how you feel. I know that I really haven’t know Tess that long, so what you must be feeling is like a million times worse, but I really thought that I’d connected with her, you know?”

“Yeah. Kyle, I know things ended not so good between us, and we tried the friend thing a couple months ago and it didn’t work out, but I really miss my friend, kyou know? We had a lot of fun together, and I really do miss that. So can we, try again?”

“Of course.” Kyle didn’t have to think twice. He wanted to be friends with Liz again. He missed being able to talk to her.

Kyle wrapped his arms around Liz. He noticed her glance veering to Max who turned away with a hurt expression on his face.

Who cares? He didn’t think twice about hugging Tess when they were outside. He’ll just have to get over it.

******************************************************************************

“Okay, I’ve got two cherry cokes, one regular coke, a meteor shower malt, uh, Grilled Mooncheese Sandwich and Orbit Rings, two orders of space fries and one tossed Alien Salad.” Maria placed the food infront of Michael, Isabel, Max, and Tess. “Can I get you anything else?”

Michael cleared his throat, “Uh, I, could use, you.” Maria dropped her tray. Michael couldn’t help but crack a smile.

Thank God it was empty. Michael hadn’t expected that to happen. Of course she would be suprised at his sudden change of heart and outspokenness of his feelings, but still, he hadn’t expected that.

“Um, sorry. I didn’t mean to, uh, sorry.” Maria’s face was bright red and she had a little smile spread acrossed it. She was obviously happy about Michael’s statement.

“So, we’ve been talking about something that concerns you.” Princess Isabel said. That was what Michael called her when she had even a pinch of holier-than-thou-ness to her voice. “This whole seperation thing,” she pointed from her table to Maria, “it just is not going to work for us.”

“But what about what your mother said?” Maria looked at Max and Isabel.

“What about it?” Isabel inquired.

“Well, your destinies, your partners.”

“The destiny part, we’re still doin’. We’re gonna fight the rebels. We’re working out a way to do that today. But the partners thing,” Michael grimmaced at the thought of being with Izzy, his sister, “there’s just no way. Me and Izzy don’t want to be together, and neither do Max and Tess.”

Maria’s eyes quickly darted to Tess.

“Strange new development, huh?” Tess’ face lit up with a big smile. “Let’s just say I had some inspiration.” She looked at Michael. What do you know? He wasn’t useless.

“So are you going to help us?” Max looked at Maria pleadingly.

“Of course, what do you want me to do?”

******************************************************************************

Max started to speak when Maria screamed quietly, “Wait!” She couldn’t believe she hadn’t already thought of it. “All four of us are going bowling tonight. You can all come.”

Maria knew it wouldn’t take much to convince Alex and Kyle to stay and Liz had this whole thing about not walking away from uncomfortable situations so this was perfect.

“Are we going all together?” Tess asked.

“No, no, that would never work. You guys have to get there first. Save the lane next to you and I’ll act like they gave us that number coincidentally or something. Okay?”

They all gave their approval of her plan and she went back over to Liz.

“What was that about? Why were you over there so long?” Liz looked frantic.

“They were...just asking how we were.”

“What did you tell them?” Man, Liz needed a sniff of cedar oil, Maria thought.

“I lied. I told them we were fine.”

“Okay, that’s good.” Liz went back to cleaning cups.

Maria knew she kept staring at Michael and he at her but she didn’t care. Everything was going to be perfect.

******************************************************************************

“Maybe we should hold hands.” Max said to Michael, Isabel, and Tess as they all stood facing the cave paintings at the reservation. “We need to make a connection.” They all agreed and obeyed.

The connection formed instantly because of how close the four of them were now. Many images flashed before Max. He recognized all of the ones from Michael and Isabel, he’d experienced all of them, too. But Tess’, her life was so awful. She was always on the run with Nesado, never had a home, never had a family, never had a friend. Her whole “life was built around the fantasy of her, Max, Michael, and Isabel. He started to feel sorry for her.

She obviously felt it in the connection because she sent a picture of all eight of them bowling tonight. They were having fun, something Tess has never experienced.

Enough of that. They needed to focus on the inscriptions.

The four focused on the wall and imagined the meanings jumping out at them.

Then they came. The answers!

******************************************************************************

Isabel couldn’t believe how easy it was for them to see the answers to their questions just by connecting and concentrating. They should get together on homework assignments.

Pay attention, Isabel, she scolded herself. Okay, what does it say.

There are four rogue aliens. Okay, we can handle four.

Their goal is to take over earth and create theie own land, so they will have a headquarters to take over all of the planets. So basically they want universal domination.

What’s this next part say. “As soon as you use the orbs, you have led the Rogues to you! Act Quick!” Oh no! We don’t have enough time to prepare, Isabel screamed thoughout the connection.

******************************************************************************

As soon as Michael heard Isabel, he shot out a picture of the four of them in Superhero attire. It seemed to help. He felt the tension ease a little.

Okay, now he focused back in again.

“You must open a wormhole.” A wormhole? What the hell is that? “It is an empty space in the universe that travels a creature from one place to another.” Okay, now I get it, Michael thought, less confused. “You will open it by connecting and using all of your powers to bring the opening to you. Force the Rogues to go through it. Force them through, Michael questioned.

******************************************************************************

So we get them to go through, Tess stated, then what?

“When all of the Rogues are through, we will have them trapped here. We will put them on trial for their sins, then state punishment. You will return through the wormhole as well.”

What, Tess thought. She was finally starting to understand being human, now she had to leave. How could she? She was fitting in.

******************************************************************************

Liz, Max thought to himself. How could he leave her? How could they leave Maria and Alex? There had to be another way.

Max broke the connection. Silence contained the room.

When Max finally spoke, he was direct and quick to the point. “I won’t leave.”

“Me either.” Isabel said without hesitation.

“I can’t exactly leave Maria now.” They all looked over at Tess.

******************************************************************************

“I’m with you!” Tess answered their stares. Now that she had found her true family, she wasn’t going to lose them.

“So what do we do now?” Isabel asked. Everyone looked at Max.

“We know how to open the wormhole. Now all we can do is wait for them to come to us.”

“But how will we know them?” Tess was afraid they were already here.

“Well, the lad... our mother said we would recognize them only by the evilness withen. So I’m guessing we’ll just know.”

“So now, we just go and take care of the other matter at hand.” Michael said with a pinch of a smile, Tess noticed. He really doesn’t like to admit he has emotions. Not that she has a place to speak.

“Getting our friends back.” Isabel said, less concerned about the others seeing her excitement.

******************************************************************************

Liz followed Maria into the bowling alley with Kyle and Alex in tow. She hated the smoke smell that hit her the minute she entered the door. It made her eyes water.

“You okay?” Maria questioned.

“Yeah, just the smoke.”

“Okay, I have some oils in...” Maria’s words disappeared as Liz saw Max putting on bowling shoes. He must have felt eyes on him or her presence because he quickly jerked his head up. A smile spread across his face as their eyes met. “Lizzie? Lizzie, are you listening to me?” Maria’s voice tore Liz from Max’s stare.

“Maria, look who’s here?” Liz glanced to Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess, letting Maria know where to look.

“Man, they are everywhere. Well, I’m gonna go get us a lane.” Maria walked off, pulling Alex with her.

“Are you gonna be okay?” Kyle said sympathetically.

Liz smiled, “Yeah, I mean, what are the chances that we’ll get a lane next to them? We’ll just stay on our lane and they’ll stay on theirs. It’ll be fine.” Liz wished she could believe that.

Kyle grabbed her hand. “We’ll get through it together.” Liz smiled again. He’s a really great friend, she thought.

“Okay, we have lane... 16.” She informed the group.

“16?” That was right next to Max, she realized.

“Yep, let’s go over there.” Maria had a mescheivious smile on her face.

“Maria? What is going on?” Liz said almost in tears.

“Okay, remember when they came in to the Crash today?” Liz nodded. “Well, we kinda decided that we could all come here as a big group.” Maria smiled hesitantly.

“What?” Liz couldn’t believe her.

“They’re not going to pair off like the mom-o-gram said they were supposed to. They don’t want to be together. They want us.” Maria said sounding honest.

“Oh, and I’m sure Tess had a say in that.” Liz couldn’t believe she was set up.

“Actually that’s what she said. I guess Michael talked some since into her.” Maria pleaded with Liz. “So why shouldn’t they be with us? Come on, Liz, we can be happy again.”

“But...” Liz stopped. Why was she fighting this so much. This is what she really wanted. Her and Max to be together.

Liz suddenly felt all of her inhibitions slipping away. Tears filled her eyes as she looked at her friends, then at Max. She released her tight grip on Kyle’s hand and followed her heart yet again.

Liz ran straight to Max and enveloped him in her arms. Max’s arms were around her in the next instant.

“I’m so sorry, Max. I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry I didn’t believe in us enough. I’m sorry...”

Max pulled her back just enough to see her face. “Liz, why are you sorry? It’s my fault. You were only doing what you thought was right.”

“Max, I love you. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, Liz.” Max smothered her with deep, passionate kisses that made her lose all thought.

******************************************************************************

“Get a room!”

Maria shot a mock disgusted look at Michael. “Come here, spaceboy.” She motioned the universal signal for ‘get over here’ with her right pointer finger. Michael obeyed.

“So...” Michael looked at Maria.

“So...” Maria felt her body going numb. The effect that this boy had on her body was unbelievable. Her knees were weak, her body was hot...

Michael pulled Maria into a sweet, soft kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him tighter to her. She felt so safe in his arms.

When their lips parted, there was only one thing left to say, “I love you.” Michael stated.

“I love you, too.” Maria started to cry. Michael pulled her back to him.

******************************************************************************

“Hey, can we go somewhere to talk?” Isabel whispered in Alex’s ear, sending shivers up his spine.

“Oh, of course. Lead the way and your humble love slave will follow.” He followed her to a back room. “So... what did you want to talk about?”

“Us.” Isabel responded. “I need to tell you something. It’s really inportant. It’s just that I... I... God, why is this so hard?” An embarrassed smile spread acossed her face.

“Me too.” Was all Alex said. He knew she was trying to say how she felt about him. That she loved him.

Alex kissed her softly on the lips, gave her a quick, yet, meaningful hug, then started to slowly lead her back to the group, savering every second they had together.

******************************************************************************

“So what made you change your mind?” Tess heard Kyle say from behind her.

“Hey!”

“Hey!” Kyle smiled. “So what was it?”

“Who is more like it. Michael. He didn’t really say much. It’s just what he did say. It made me realize, I barely know Max. How could I be in love with him, you know?” Kyle just knodded, so Tess continued. “Plus, there’s this guy. He kinda gives me weak knees. I heard that’s what happens to a human girl when she has a crush.”

“Yep, I heard that, too.” Kyle’s face turned bright red. Tess thought it was cute, thought he was cute. There was just something about Kyle Valenti that made her feel like she wasn’t any different than the other girls at school. She liked it.

******************************************************************************

“So, who’s ready to bowl?” Everyone looked at Alex and Isabel as they rejoined the group.

“Is that them?” A man at the back said to his three companions.

“Yes.”

“So when do we take them out?”

“We want them alive, for testing.”

“But how do we get them away from their friends?”

“We need human test subjects as well.”

“What about their families?”