"You don't have to fear me Children." The shadow came closer to the light and they saw it was a man with soft, warm, brown eyes that smiled upon them. He had white hair, and yet he didn't look older than the late 50.

Max and Isabel automatically relaxed. Somehow they just KNEW this man would not harm them. That he was here to help.

Michael couldn't quite believe what he was sensing yet, and didn't relax his stance.

The man turned to Michael and smiled softly. "Child of the sky you do not trust easily, do you?"

There was a small-shared gasp from the group at the mention of the sky. And the man smiled again, and put out a hand to Isabel.

Isabel studied the warm, inviting eyes and held out her hand. She couldn't NOT reach for his big gentle hand.

When Isabel touched the older man's hand he clasped it gently, yet firmly in his own, and sighed and looked deeply at her. Studying her.

"God, you look just like your mother!" the man whispered hoarsely.

Isabel gasped and pulled her hand away. "Who who are you?" she asked. Too much was being said by the man all at once. She didn't know if she wanted to believe what she was starting to suspect.

"We don't have time to talk here. The sheriff is on his way with a few of his men, to take you, Max Evans, into custody."

Liz held tight to Max's arm at hearing that.

Max had been stunned and totally focused on the man before them, until he felt Liz's fear and her grip. He looked down once again, with painful eyes.

"Liz. I'm sorry we have to go." Max said again, in a low hoarse whisper. He didn't want to say goodbye like this. So quickly. Without getting to say all he wanted to say.

"That man, he's one of you isn't he?" Liz asked, but she knew.

"Yeah. We'll be okay, Liz." Max swallowed and cupped her face gently.

Liz smiled around the tears welling up in her eyes. "I know you will. And that really does help, knowing that, Max." she said, taking deep breaths to keep from crying.

Max's own face was filled with pain and regret, and his thumb brushed over one of Liz's silent tears coursing down her soft cheek, and he groaned, feeling the tear like a lash of pain.

He pulled Liz to him and kissed her with all the love he felt. Then he pulled Liz tighter to him and kissed her hair and made a promise.

"Liz if there's a way back, from where ever we're going, I PROMISE I will be back. For you Liz." Max whispered hoarsely near her ear. And he inhaled the scents of Liz one last time.

"Don't don't come back unless it's safe Max. I want you but I want you safe and alive even more." She bit her lip to keep from crying out for him not to leave her at all.

"I'll be back, and it WILL be safe. I promise" Max kissed her once more, gently on the lips, just to savor the taste of each other, and then gave her one last look and turned to the patiently waiting man.

He saw Maria clinging to Michael, and Michael actually holding on to her as if he could't let go. His own eyes were closed and his face was full of pain.

Isabel was kissing Alex and Alex was trying to memorize every inch of Isabel's face.

Max knew that didn't have any more time. The man nodded his silent agreement to Max and Max stepped forward.

He reached for Isabel and gently separated her from Alex.

Isabel too was crying, and didn't look away from Alex even as she followed Max toward the window.

As the three got to the window, they turned once again to look at the ones they were leaving behind.

Liz and Maria were holding each others hands tightly, both trying not to cry. Silent tears marked their faces, but they held wobbly smiles on their faces.

Michael and Max both exchanged a look with Alex, and he nodded. He came up behind Maria and Liz and put an arm around each of them. He promised them with a nod, that he would take care of the girls for them.

Then he looked to Isabel and back to the guys, and they promised the same thing. No words were necessary.

All of this did not go unnoticed by the man. He raised his eyebrows at the silent communication going on between the six, but said nothing.

They heard the sirens and the man knew they had no more time. He turned toward the three and nodded for them to go out the window first.

As the last of the three exited the window, Liz came forward a little and the man stopped as he was heading out the window.

"Please" she swallowed. "Please keep them safe." She whispered and then put a hand over her mouth, not able to say anymore, for fear of breaking down completely.

The man looked sad, but nodded. And then he too was gone.

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

Max looked out the window of the cabin, and watched the people of the small community farming. It was just dawn now, and they had been out there since before dawn. These people amazed Max.

He hadn't slept yet, and rubbed his tired eyes, but knew if he tried to get back into that bed behind him, he'd just toss and turn. His mind was spinning from the little they had found out.

Jordan had taken them out of Roswell in a regular pick up truck. Not new, quiet old and well used. If the three of them hadn't been so shaken by the events that had happened so quickly, Michael probably would have made a comment about how it was supposed to be a spaceship that would come for them.

They had driven through the night, and had only just arrived at Jordan's ranch an hour ago. Jordan had explained only a little in the truck on the way up to his ranch. They knew he lived on a small ranch in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which were part of the Rocky Mountains, and stretched across the Northern part of New Mexico before heading up into Colorado. The ranch was about 15 or 20 miles out side of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and not far from the Pueblo Indian Reservation.

Jordan had explained that a lot of the people found the Native Americans much more open to the concept of visitors from other worlds, and could accept them, unlike most of the rest of the people the visitors had encountered.

Jordan knew they had a lot of questions, but wanted them to rest before he told them all he knew. He wanted them to absorb what he had said so far and then after they had rested, they would talk more.

Max had thought that he would have fallen right to sleep, for his eyes were gritty and burning from being tired and so tense over the last 15 hours. But as he lay there, he just couldn't stop his mind from forming a million questions.

When he had heard the noises outside the cabin, he had padded over to the window and seen a small group of people starting farming chores in the pre dawn.

His bedroom door opened and Michael peeked in. When he saw Max was up, he came over to the window as well.

Max looked at Michael and could tell he hadn't gone to sleep in the last hour either.

"Isabel sleeping?" Max asked Michael. He figured Michael would have checked on her as well.

"Yeah, I think so, she didn't look awake when I peeked in there a minute ago. I can't imagine being able to sleep right now." Michael said and started pacing.

"I mean, what are we doing here Max? Where's the spaceship to take us home? Where is home? Why is Jordan living among the humans on earth?" Michael wondered out loud.

Max too had been asking himself similar questions, and needed to know the answers as well.

Isabel dispelled Michael's thoughts on her sleeping, when she too came into the room.

She sat on the bed and sighed. The three of them were exhausted, but had too many questions to sleep.

As if sensing this, the door opened again, and Jordan stood in the doorway. "Let us go to the kitchen and have something hot to drink. Then we will talk." He smiled as he saw their anxious faces.

Isabel sat with a cup of hot chocolate in front of her, but barely touched it. Her stomach was in knots with all that had happened in last 24 hours.

Michael and Max sat intently waiting for Jordan to sit and answer their questions.

Jordan sat with his cup of coffee and took a sip. "Ah a very human weakness. The need for coffee." He chuckled as he put the cup down and sighed at the first taste.

Then he looked around at the three lost ones and took a deep breath and began.

"I know you have a lot of questions. And I too have many. Although over the past few months, I have gathered quite a bit." He started.

The three were intent on his face, so he continued. "Ahhh where to start? First off, if I would have known that there really was a possibility of survivors from the Roswell Crash, I would have come looking for you." He said.

Michael, Isabel and Max exchanged glances but didn't want to interrupt what they had been waiting all their lives to hear.

"Yours was not the only craft to come to earth that night, or in the nights to follow. There were 12 ships in all. Yours was, unfortunately, the only one to crash." He said looking at the three who were frowning, and then continued.

"Let me start with a year before your crash. Our planet was dying. We had known about it for several years, and some of us had started working on building ships and finding another place to go. Many hadn't wanted to believe it, and they did not plan for the final days." Jordan shook his head sadly, remembering back, then continued.

"Many of my own family stubbornly stayed behind. But my sister and her husband were among some of the people who believed like I did. So we worked with the ones who knew it would happen, and built ships and tried to find a place to go. My sister and her husband were star explorers. They researched and studied the skies and knew a lot about the surrounding galaxies. My sister had done a paper on a certain planet around a star in a galaxy two over from ours. She tried to convince people that this planet was a lot like ours. That we could possibly live compatibly on this other planet. It had the same mass and density, and the life forms were not unlike us in many ways. There were other theories and explorers as well, who disagreed. When the time came for us to leave, we still hadn't all come to a consensus on where to go. And, not knowing if any of us was right, we split up into two groups of twelve ships, hoping that at least half of us would survive to continue our species. So, myself along with my wife and other friends, followed in our ship, my sister and her husband and her family, trusting in her instincts and scientific data. She was a brilliant scientist and star explorer."