Chapter One For five months we've been living in paradise. And it really has been wonderful. I never knew that such happiness really existed. I never imagined I'd ever experience anything like this. Hell, I should probably be dead by now. Here I was still Maria, a bunch of ex's: convict, addict and slut living in this heaven on earth with the man I never wanted to be without. The man I would never be without. Okay, all man, but part alien. That's how I deal. We spend our days in the sun playing and our nights are as steamy as steaminess gets. I still have a few more fantasies to work out on him; I'm just waiting for a carnival to come to town with cotton candy. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever picture myself here. But here I was and I was fucking ecstatic! Isabel and Kyle were our frequent guests and I savored every second they were here. We haven't seen Alex since his and Isabel's honeymoon, but he sends cheery emails almost weekly. Max and Liz hadn't been down either, but planning that huge wedding and everything was time consuming. At least that was what Isabel said. Hmm, I wonder if she was being sarcastic? Kyle's been down more than Isabel and I love it when he's here! We have entirely too much fun together. We play. But he won't be coming down as much now though, he went back to work. Bummer. There are some very sad points to being so far away from my friends. I miss them. Haven't heard much from Tess, but that's okay. It's not like I didn't like her, I did. But she was just kind of there; hanging out with Max and Liz all the time. I know Michael misses her, though. Or maybe he just feels sorry for her. I think she emails him from time to time; he hasn't said anything about it, but I think I've proved by now I'm not stupid. I did get an email from Liz one day and I about fell over with shock. It was to me and me alone, no less. She sent me pictures that she had taken all around Roswell. I think I actually had tears in my eyes when I saw them. She was thorough; she hit everything from my old flat to the park with the really big fucking dip. She must have enlisted Kyle's help for that one. I even smiled when I saw the outside of the Crashdown, that stupid theme restaurant. I missed Roswell and I missed my friends. I knew it was in everyone's best interest that we stay away, but damn! It was hard. Thank God for email. That kept me smiling. Michael and Max were still communicating everyday and I think Michael was beginning to appreciate his alien side a little more. He used those freaky abilities around our little bungalow and I have to say some of the things he came up with…Wow! Sometimes I see him looking sad and I know why. He didn't want to leave his new 'family' so soon. There was so much to learn and try to understand and we were so far away. He looked to Max as a teacher, but the miles made it difficult. When he tried to tell me things he learned from Max I know I had that blank stare thing going on. I couldn't help it. Some of this was very cool and some of it freaked me out. I still can't quite accept the whole pod chamber idea. He needed to be around the others someday. Soon. I hoped we'd be able to go back sooner or later. Today didn't seem different than any other at all. We woke up late, played a little, had breakfast and then ventured out the front door to the beach. Our chairs were where we had left them for months. A few hours baking in the sun and then we took a little dip in the water. I didn't venture in too far; water scared the shit out of me. I guess it was kind of like the not dealing with part of Michael's alieny things. The unknown and not completely understood scared me. When Michael got the email after dinner, I was floored. We had been gone from Roswell for over five months and never expected anything like this. It wasn't right, there was nothing fucking right about this. I read it over his shoulder and put my hand on him. I felt his body quiver and knew he was feeling the guilt, probably, okay definitely, more than I was. Damn! Michael and Maria. I don't want to use the phone and I'm sending this from the library's computer. Something's happened, and I don't know what to do. We thought we were safe, but we were wrong. I can't ask you to come here and help because of your own safety; but any suggestions would be appreciated. We've never had to deal with anything like this. I don't know who it is, I don't know if it's Section, but they have Tess. Tess is gone. I'll be using this email account to talk to you from now on and I'm destroying my hard drive at home. Max. I knelt down next to my husband and tried to read his thoughts. I came back with 'fuck.' My sentiments exactly. Max didn't give us enough information, but I knew enough to realize that he was probably right in his assumption. It was Section and they had Tess and who knows what was happening to her. Fuck! I watched as Michael typed a quick message back. We're on our way. Michael. Oh shit. Here we go. Chapter Two Everything was happening too fast for me. All these months of living in beach-mode and now I was getting ready to be thrown back into action. I guess it was only fair. Technically I had been doing nothing but resting for months. Michael was pacing the room and it was making me nervous. I don't think he wanted to leave the beach either. But this was what we had planned on someday. Well, not exactly like this, but we knew we wouldn't be safe here forever. We never said it out loud; but it was always implied. At least I thought it was implied. I really, really didn't want to leave the beaches. I didn't want to leave almost naked Michael visions on the beaches. But I knew we had to. I was happy we were going back to Roswell, but I wish the circumstances could have been different. I had actually believed that we wouldn't go back until Max and Liz got married. But now, Tess was gone. Shit! Definitely not a good. I read the email again as I know Michael was after he quit pacing. Tess was just gone. Maybe she met someone and ran off. I mean if Max could be any vaguer…I watched Michael on that laptop of his while he made our travel reservations. I assumed we'd be able to stay with Isabel and Alex. Okay, I hoped we'd be able to stay with them. There were some bright points to going back even under dire circumstances. I would get to see my friends again. Our bags were packed in a couple of hours. I didn't know what we should take with us or if we'd be back. I stuck with clothing and that's about it. I hope we can come back here when we find out what happened to Tess. I hope we were still alive when we found out. I put Mr. Bear on top of my clothes and sighed. Michael looked at me across the bed and it was a worried look. I hated the worried looks. I liked the 'I love you' and the 'let's have sex' looks much better. "Michael…" "This is my fault," he said quietly and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I led them…God, if anything happens to her." "Nothing is going to happen to her, okay?" I tried to reassure him but it was hard when I wasn't sure myself. "Tess is going to be fine and we're all going to live happily ever after. Just like we've been doing here." "I don't want to leave either," he smiled that sideways smile at me. "I don't think I ever want to see you in anything except that little black bikini you've been wearing." I smirked. "You want to see me in it or you want to see it on the floor where it usually ends up?" He laughed but it wasn't a real one. I knew there was nothing to laugh about right now. Couldn't blame a girl for trying. "I don't know what's going to happen." I sat next to him and squeezed his hand. "It might not be Section." Yeah, riiiight. "Damn it!" He ran his hands through his hair and it was still sexy even given the circumstances. "I didn't leave anything behind, Maria. I covered our tracks completely. I don't see how they could have found anything out. I don't know why Tess. Why would they take Tess?" "Rena?" I asked and actually got goosebumps. Damn! Did she do or say something to Section before she was 'taken care of'? Did we really put all of their lives in danger? Shit! "I don't know." He closed his eyes and I could feel the guilt rolling off of him. "I had everything planned and I thought it worked out pretty good, but now Tess…I have to find her." "No," I shook my head and got the surprised look from him. "We have to find her, Michael. Don't forget, we're in this together." "I love you," he kissed my nose and I smiled. "My Sweet Maria. What would I do without you?" "Suffer and die," I shrugged and stood up. "Are you ready to get this show on the road or what? I feel like putting my badge back on and crossing out alien hunter and writing in Tess finder. What do you say? Ready to go back to Roswell?" He stood and wrapped those arms around me. Those soft callousy hands rubbed my bare shoulders. "Yes Maria, I'm ready to go back to Roswell." He carried our bags to the Jeep Cherokee we'd been driving. I still didn't know if we owned it or leased it or whatever. I left all that stuff up to him. The less I knew about our finances the better. All I know is that we always have plenty of cash and we're never in need of anything. He put our bags in the back and I got in the passenger side. As we drove away from my heaven on earth something caught my eye and I almost screamed. Instead I sighed. "What's wrong?" He asked and slowed down. I pointed to a poster plastered on the side of a brick building. "Now the carnival decides to come to town!" I folded my arms over my chest and I might have pouted. Some things in life were just not fair. I undid my seatbelt and knelt on my seat looking out the back window. Brilliant streaks of lighting lit up the sky. A storm was moving in from the south. I hoped it wasn't a fucking omen. * * * We flew into Roswell Industrial Airport and I remembered the last time when I was new and scared. Now as I flew in, again with Michael, I was wiser. I was hip to what was going on. I wasn't scared. I squeezed my husband's hand as we landed. I will never like landings. As we got off the plane the first face I saw was Kyle's. I dropped my carry-on and ran to him throwing my arms around him. He picked me up and spun me around setting me back down as Michael walked up to us. "Are you happy to see me?" He asked and kissed the corner of my mouth. "Kyle," I sank into him. "You have no idea." I looked around. "Are you here alone? Hey, how did you know when we'd be here?" He nodded towards Michael. "Cryptic email from him and yes I'm alone." He took a bag from Michael as we walked downstairs to get our luggage. "So, how was your flight?" "Tell me what's going on," Michael stepped in-between Kyle and me. It was incredibly rude, but I had to let it slide this time. 'I don't know much," Kyle sighed and I walked around to his other side and looped my arm through his. "Today's what, Monday? Max hasn't heard from Tess since Thursday. Which is actually kinda strange for her." He took a deep breath. "He went to her apartment on Friday and it had been ransacked. I saw it, the place was completely torn up." "What were they looking for?" I asked but didn't get an answer. I don't think I really expected one, but some type of acknowledgement would have nice. I was walking right fucking here next to them. "Excuse me. Does anyone have any idea what the fuck is going on?" "It's Section, Maria." Michael glared in my direction. Is he actually glaring at me? "You know it as well as I do. They have Tess and I have to get her out." "Michael…" I trailed off. I didn't have anything else to add. "How can you be sure?" That was Kyle. Hopefully Michael would answer him with a little more civility than he did me. "I'm sure. Who else would it be?" He ran his free hand through his hair. "I screwed up somehow and they found out. They know about the others." Neither Kyle nor I said anything. I guess we didn't know what to say. What was there to say? Michael was right, in some convoluted way. "Will you take me straight to Tess's?" Michael asked. "No." Kyle shook his head. "We're going to Isabel's house. Max wants you there-" "I have to see-" "Later." Kyle looked at Michael and I wondered if we were in for a war of the interrupting sentences. I guess it really didn't matter to me; I was going to see Isabel. Yeah me! We walked the rest of the way to baggage claim in silence. Great. Testosterone at it's finest. We claimed our bags and Kyle walked us to the parking lot. I started scanning the lot for his foreign car and oh my God! My Mustang was in front of us. My pony! I started grinning. "I found it at a used car lot last week," Kyle smirked. "So I traded in my piece of shit and now I'm cool." He cocked his head to the side and I laughed. I wish Michael would have at least cracked a smile; but he was being Mr. Stoic. Kyle popped the trunk and we put our bags in. I climbed in the backseat and hung over to the front, just like a little kid. "I've been taking good care of it, don’t worry." I had wondered what had happened to my pony; I just never got around to asking. There were a lot of things I never got around to asking about. "When was the last time anyone heard from Tess?" Michael asked and I knew this car ride was going to be from hell. "Thursday," Kyle snapped. "I told you Max hasn't heard from her since Thursday. My dad dusted-" "Your dad?" Michael interrupted. I sat back and looked out the window as things became more familiar. "Your dad…Knows?" Uh-oh. I knew Kyle's dad knew, but I guess I forgot to mention that to Michael. Oops. Kyle nodded. "Oh yeah, he knows and he has for longer than me. It's cool so, get over it." I thought I might gag on the tension. "It's not cool." Michael snapped. "Listen, you're new to this whole alien game. I don't care that you are one of them. I've been playing a lot longer, so has my dad. He won't make mistakes. Which is more than I can say about some people I know, huh?" Damn! "Kyle." I put my hand on his shoulder and I could feel the tension. This was not working out the way I planned it. The two most important men in my life sounded like they were going to kill each other. "It's fine Maria," he looked over his shoulder and smiled at me. "I'm sorry, but I'm a little stressed right now. I just don't want anything to happen to Tess." Was I detecting something a little bit more than friendshippy feelings here? "Neither do we." I squeezed his shoulder. "We'll find her and we'll get her back." Or we'll die trying. Damn! I hoped it wouldn't come down to that. "We'll get her back, Kyle." Michael seemed to relent in his pursuit to be the world's biggest asshole. "I know," he looked at Michael and I got the goosebumps. "If it's not already too late." Chapter Three When we pulled up in front of Isabel's, I saw her on the porch waving; Alex was standing beside her. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough. I pushed Michael's seat up slamming him into the dash as he opened the door. I ran to the house and almost tackled Isabel. Who would have ever thought I'd be this happy to see a friend? Amazing. "How are you?" I gushed. God, I was beginning to miss the old me. The old me never gushed. I hugged Alex quickly and went back to Isabel. Oh God, her expression was happy on the outside but she radiated with fear. "We're here to help." She nodded and I think I knew she was thinking. Probably the same thing the others were thinking. This was our fault and it was only a matter of time before they came for the rest of them. Shit! They were so right. "Isabel, we'll get Tess back and make sure you're all safe." I tried to reassure her. "We'll do it." She nodded again. "Is it this Section?" "Michael thinks so." "So, he didn't cover your tracks as well as he thought and now they have Tess?" Isabel's eyes narrowed and I knew she wanted to go off on me. Hell, I couldn't blame her. I'd go off on me too. Not only that, but I'd probably kick my ass while I was at it. I nodded. "We'll fix this Iz, I promise." "Maria, I'm happy to see you. I really am, but I'm scared to death right now. My brother is walking around like a psycho zombie. Liz is being Liz-like and I want to backhand her. Alex is scared and Kyle…Kyle's not acting right." She shook her head. "What now?" "That's what I'd like to know." Max walked up in back of her. I stepped back when his eyes went to my tits. If I ever thought I'd regret pitching all my bras, now would be the time. I was wearing a button down black shirt of Michael's and jeans. But sure as hell, Mr. Perv was back in action. I swear if he talks to them and not me… "How do we get her back from Section?" Max asked and looked at my face. Good thing. "Where is it? How do we get to her?" I wasn't prepared to answer those questions, that seemed like a Michael duty. He was busy with Kyle taking luggage out of the car. Okay they had been doing that for entirely too long now. I waved to them and they came obediently, Michael was smiling. Nice to see they were playing nice together again. They carried the bags in the house past the stares from the remaining two aliens and then came back outside. Now Kyle was smiling too. Me thinks I didn't like the smiley bonding. First I'm not happy with the arguing and now I'm not happy with the camaraderie. "Michael," Max shook his hand. "Where is Section, when can we go and how do we get her back?" "I'll go." Michael met the eyes of brother and sister. "I'll get her back." "We'll go," Max stood up straighter probably trying to compensate for his height. "Tess is my responsibility." Okay. I saw some recognition of fact flash through Michael's eyes. Someone's keeping secrets, I thought it in a sing-sing voice. "If they catch you they'll kill you." Michael didn't look anywhere near me for that one. Gee, I wonder why. "What the fuck are you saying?" I stepped in front of him and forced his attention on me. "Maria-" "Don't Maria me. I want to know what the fuck is going on around here. Is this a suicide mission? Are you going to tell me later that you love me and then run off and die?" I felt the heat surge through me. "Is that it?" He closed his eyes. Damn! "I don't know." "Well, that's not good enough!" I fought back the tears. Damn it! I would beat them this time. "I won't let you go that easy Michael. You go to Section, I go to Section. We die? We do it together!" "I won't let you get hurt." He met my eyes and the love might as well have been written on his irises. "I know and you'd die to protect me and all that other crap," I waved my hand in the air. "Well, let's just say it's a two way street. If you try to go without me, then…" Shit! I was on a roll there for a minute and now it was gone. "I'll divorce you." There. Ha! "Divorce me?" He almost smiled. "Yeah, I'll divorce you." Instead of tears now I fought with a smile. "I got your back, Michael." I winked. "If anyone can find Tess, it's me. Remember, I am the only official alien hunter in the bunch." He nodded with a grin and I knew I had won. What I had won, a possible one way trip back to Section. Okay, not the vacation of my dreams; but if it gave us some more time together, Section could have my left lung. "I go too." Max folded his arms over his chest. "Me too." Isabel stepped up next to her brother. I don't think she noticed the look of surprise on Alex's face. I wonder where Liz was. "Forget it." Michael shook his head. "This isn't up for discussion," Max looked from Michael to Isabel. "Tess is one of us and we have to get her out. Isabel and I will be going. It's all of us on the line now." "I'm going too." Kyle stood next to me and I wanted to kiss him. God love Kyle Valenti. Michael pointed at him. "You? No way." Kyle hung his head. "Fine, but I am going to whatever city you are. I can be the human lookout." Alex took a deep breath and joined Kyle. "Yeah, me too. When do we leave?" Michael suppressed a smile, he knew he was losing this battle. "Soon. Tomorrow. Tomorrow night? I have to get into Section Intel and see what I can find out." Michael looked to the crowd of people around him. "We'll bring Tess home. All of us will come home." I sure as shit hoped he meant that. I couldn't lose any of these people anymore than I could lose Michael. "What about Liz?" I asked. I asked? "She won't be going." Max stated and I took it as gospel. I guessed she wasn't here tonight. Maybe there was trouble in paradise. "Isabel," Michael looked at her and I saw something pass through them. "I need some outlets." She smiled and led him inside leaving me out here on the porch with the boys. "So, I guess we're going on a little trip, huh?" I asked and raised my eyebrows. Alex smiled and Kyle laughed but Max just stared at me. I don't think Max particularly cared for me all that much. However that didn't seem to stop him from leering at my tits though. "What's it like?" Kyle asked causing the mood to become incredibly serious. "At Section. What's it like?" "It's big, scary, sterile and I hated it." I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. "I don't know everything, Michael's the one to ask about Section. I know they're supposed to be doing good things, but at the same time I can't tell the difference between good and bad. Tess isn't a threat. None of you guys are." "Regardless, she's gone." Max stated and cocked his head to the side. I nodded and tightening my hands into fists. Max Evans was starting to piss me off. I thought for sure we were going to throw down and I was going to have to kick his alien ass. I held my ground and I hoped he felt the anger rolling off of me. I wasn't taking the blame for this and I sure as shit wasn't going to let Michael take the brunt of it either. I know in my heart that Michael did everything he could to make sure they were all safe. He just found them; he wouldn't risk any of them getting hurt or worse. There was more going on that we knew about and I bet Michael didn't know about it either. "I'll say it again, we'll get Tess back." I said it between clenched teeth and Kyle touched my tensed arm. "I'll say it every ten seconds until we do if it will make you feel better." "Maria," Kyle said softly, I think that it was a warning. "Kyle," I smiled at him and hopefully let him know I knew what I was doing. "You're not strong enough-" "Stop right fucking there!" I interrupted Max and stepped towards him. "You don't know how fucking strong I am. I'm probably one of the strongest people you're ever going to meet in your entire life. Why else would I be here? Don't treat me like a stupid human Max. I'm not stupid, I found you guys, didn't I?" He only stared at me so I thought what the hell and went on. "I'm just one little person and I found you within days. You're not as slick as you think Max. Think about a giant government run facility with a boatload of resources; if you thought you'd always be safe then I'm sorry but you were wrong. Deep down I bet you knew it was only a matter of time. Don't look for a scapegoat and don't fuck with me again!" I turned my back on him and walked down the porch steps, my blood boiling. I heard someone behind me and knew it was Kyle. I walked to the Mustang before I looked at him. He was clapping. "Nice work, Maria." He smiled. "I love it when people put Max in his place; especially when it's done so eloquently." "He's pissing me off Kyle." "He pisses everyone off." "It wasn't Michael's fault…" I looked to the ground. "I don't think so either. I mean, sure, he may have brought attention to Roswell by coming here with you, but shit, this is the alien capital of the world. You were right, it was only a matter of time." He shrugged. "Can this be done? Can we get Tess back?" I picked up on those more than friendshippy vibes again and nodded. "We'll get her back. I don't care if I have to tear apart Section one brick at a time. I'm not scared of them anymore. I've already gotten more out of life than I ever thought possible." "Don't talk like that." "I mean it. I'm not throwing in the towel, but I think I might see a little of the old me peeking through and she's pissed." I held out my hand to him and he took it in his. His soft warm hands. "We're not going to let these aliens have all the fun are we?" He shook his head and smiled. "No, we're all in this together and Section better watch out because they're going to have one pissed off ex-operative to contend with now." He pulled me into him and hugged me and it felt good. I smiled into his shoulder and prayed like hell I really was as strong as I let on. Shit! Of course I was. No one was going to get the best of me ever again. I looked at Kyle and winked. "Section? Fuck'em." I smiled and he laughed. Chapter Four When Isabel came back outside I could tell she was more relaxed. Michael must have said something to her to calm her down. He had that effect on people. Okay, he had that effect on me. Kyle and I rejoined the others on the porch but I averted my gaze from Max. We moved our little party inside and I smiled as I saw my very own computer nerd hovered over two laptops with drives and wires and such scattered across the dining room table. He looked up as we entered and I caught him smiling at me. Here we were getting ready to go battle some big bad government agency and he was smiling at me. God, I really did love him. "Michael." That was Max. Even his voice was getting on my nerves. "Max." Michael swept his hand through his hair. He hadn't had a haircut since we hit the beaches and he looked hot. I guess I wasn't so bad myself. I did darken my hair a little but I was still the same Maria on the inside. "What did you find out?" "That using a modem takes awhile when I have to rig it through about six different scrambled lines," Michael cocked his head to one side. "I'll let you know as soon as I find out anything else." Max, who looked most defeated, walked into the kitchen with a cell phone in his hand. I smiled knowing he had to be calling Liz to get some support. God knows he wasn't getting any here. "You and Michael," Isabel stood next to me. "You'll stay here tonight, right?" I smiled and nodded towards Michael. "I think he's already set up the mobile command unit here." I met her eyes. "You all right?" She shook her head. Dumbass, of course she wasn't all right. No one was all right. "Can we talk?" Okay. Those were probably the worst three words in the English language when they were strung together. Alone, they were fine. Together, sudden death. I followed her into the bedroom she shared with Alex and sat cross-legged on the bed. She sat next to me. "I don't pretend to know exactly what's going on," she sighed. "I don't know if I want to know for sure, but this is really bad. I don't want to be on the run for the rest of my life nor do I want to end up on a dissecting table. Is this doable? I mean to get Tess back from Section?" I nodded slowly. "It's not only doable, it will be done. I'm sorry Isabel." I pulled a rubberband from my wrist and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. "I'm sorry that we brought this on, and I know we partly did but it wasn't intentional." "I know that," she smiled sweetly and the mood seemed to be shifting. "Michael needs you guys, so do I. Michael did cover our tracks, but I think there's something else going on. That woman, Rena? Maybe she had reported something back to Section before she…Died. There could be more to this than any of us realize." "You're right," she looked at me and I think she was starting to see things from my side. "It could have been anything. Michael's not stupid and I believe he really did do everything to protect us." "He did," I nodded. "And he'll keep doing it. He's the most dedicated man I've ever known." "You really love him," she grinned and I felt the blush. Damn! "Thanks for coming back so soon; Max didn't think you would." "Really?" I let my sarcasm hang. Max was her brother after all and she was probably biased. "He's acting like…" "A royal ass?" I asked and raised my eyebrows. I smiled when she did. "Why?" Isabel shrugged. "He thinks he's in charge of everything; like we're all his wards. He's a little uppity because here's Michael, the new guy, and he's obviously more intelligent than my brother is. He's been in the real world and he's kept his true identity a secret forever. I think Max is threatened by Michael, actually." She wrung her hands and I felt sorry for her. "I know technically Max should be in charge because he was in our other lives." Back up. Back the fuck up. Other lives? I stared at her and found myself speechless. She must have caught on that I didn't know what the fuck she was talking about because all of a sudden she got the look. The look that says she knows she said something wrong. "I'm sorry, did you say 'other lives'?" "Oh…God." She put her hand to her mouth and closed her eyes. "Isabel." "I don't know how much Michael knows," she started out. "I only know what Max has told me." "Go on." I felt my nerves go haywire. I swear if Michael is keeping shit from me, all hell's gonna break lose in Roswell. "We don't know much about where we came from, are you sure you want to hear this from me?" I nodded. "Oh yeah." "We only know a little. We know that we were sent here in the--You know what, because something happened. I don't know what. Anyway, the little info we got was already with us and that was that Max was in charge. Well," she put her hand to her chin. "Well, that a male was in charge. At the time, though, the only male was Max but now there's Michael…" Okay, that wasn't too bad; I can deal with that. I can see why Michael didn't tell me. He knows I'll still freak if he tells me about where he was hatched from. I was better, but I still didn't want to know all the gory details about it. "This is actually making some sense now." Isabel was smiling and nodding. "Now I know why Max is all bent out of shape! Maybe he wasn't the one, maybe it was supposed to be Michael but because he wasn't around, Max assumed the position!" She laughed and I stared wide-eyed at her. "Oh God!" I was not seeing the humor in this entire situation but I had to smile along with her. I was just like that around Isabel. "Max is threatened! That's why he's acting like an ass. He likes being in charge and he's scared Michael's going to take over!" "What exactly would Michael take over?" "Nothing really," Isabel shrugged. "Max just always feels so responsible for us, I guess it makes him feel important. I mean, Tess and I listen to him and he's usually right, but…Tess. Poor Tess. God, this is so bad." Way to swing the conversation, Isabel. I was still trying to get through the Max/Michael controversy and now she was doing a 180 to the Tess factor. "Where are we going?" She asked and I wondered if she was talking about location or conversation-wise. "Where is Section?" Okay, location. "D.C. Don't ask me where in D.C. because I have no freaking idea. I'm assuming Michael will take care of everything. Hey, where is Liz? Max said she wouldn't be coming." "You're worried about Liz?" She asked with her eyebrows arched. "I'm just curious, I thought her and Max were joined at the hip." "They are. I'm sure she couldn't get away from school. Actually, it's too bad because as much as she gets on my nerves, she might be able to help. She's brought up some valid points since Tess disappeared." "Like how it was our fault?" "No, she defended you." Isabel shrugged. "I know, I didn't see that coming either. Her thoughts were the most probable. Even if you and Michael did come here to find us while working for this Section, there's no way to know what they already knew or planned. She said it was just a matter of time before there was any conflict. We thought we were untouchable." Wow. So Liz and I were actually on the same wavelength? That was a scary thought. "She won't mind being left behind?" "Hell yeah, she'll mind." Isabel said. "She'll be highly pissed and if I know Liz at all, she'll find a way and be there." Great. "It's going to be okay, Isabel. It really is. Michael knows Section like the back of his hand. We'll find Tess and we'll get her out and then we'll worry about what to do next." "You mean where we're going to go?" She looked around her room and I knew she didn't want to leave Roswell. Hell, I didn't want to leave Roswell either. "I don't think anyone's going anywhere. We're going to take care of this, okay?" I stood up. "It's under control and we're going to deal. Michael's taking care of it as we speak, and I have his back. We won't go down without a fight." "Do you know any other way?" I shook my head. "Nope." I'd go down kicking, screaming, biting and fighting before I ever let anything happen to Michael. |
| PARTS 1-4 |