Chapter Eighteen

Tess balanced the plates of food on her tray expertly and served the last family their meals. She smiled at them, asking if their coffee needed a refill or if the fries were done well, and at their reassurance she retired to the break room. Although her skills as a waitress had been steadily improving, she felt like the fake smile plastered on her face for the customers was going to crack and fall off.

The break room was quiet, the thick door barring all sounds from the restaurant, and Tess reclined on the couch languidly. She reached a slender hand to massage her sore neck and scalp, and her fingers ran habitually through the smooth, straight hair. Her eyes were drifting shut when the sound of the side door opening startled her.

"Max!" she exclaimed. "You're- early." She hadn't seen him since last night when he'd left her in the middle of their make-out session. Her fingers hadn't gotten the courage to call him today, and when the phone had rung for her, it had been Michael on the other end. He'd informed her they were having another meeting after closing as usual, and she was left wondering after the click why he'd called. Michael wasn't one to call for meetings, which would mean Max was probably avoiding talking to her. She swallowed. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," he said quietly. "I just wanted to talk to you- about last night." He shifted on his feet awkwardly, the tension between them palpable. Tess nodded and swallowed again.

At the same time, they blurted, "I'm sorry." Max shook his head.

"Let me. I shouldn't have just left you like that," he stated. "I know how it must have looked, but I guess I felt like we were moving too fast. I don't know what could happen, still, if we go too far, and that's where it seemed we were headed." He left out the fact that he'd felt like if he didn't leave he would have screamed from the wrongness of how it had felt, and then mentally chastised himself for the thought. How could Liz ever repulse him?

"No, Max, I'm sorry," Tess replied, trying to hide her shock about how far Max and Liz had gotten sexually. Of course, she knew that Max was a virgin, but she never thought that all they'd done was mere kissing. When she moved to Roswell, they looked far too intimate for such paltry expressions of endearments. "I knew we should be going slow. There's no need to rush. I mean, we have our whole lives to worry about, right?" She smiled sweetly at him.

Max paled. "Yeah- of course," he managed. "I'm glad you understand, and you're not upset that I left like I did, right?"

"No," she answered. "I was hurt at first because I was still caught up in the moment, but later I realized that it was a good thing you stopped us. Last night, no matter how nice, wasn't perfect."

"You're right." At least that was the truth.

"But it will be." She leaned forward and brushed her lips over his lightly. He struggled not to turn his face away and forced his arms to go around her waist. "I'm glad we got this all worked out. Now, let me just clean up a little and we can get this party started."

"Yeah," he murmured in response. Then, when the door to the cafe closed behind her, he slumped against the couch. "What is wrong with me?" he asked the air, and then hung his head in weariness and defeat.

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

"Liz, you can't change the past." Kyle shook his head. "It's not possible."

"Look, Isabel, Kyle, " she replied. "I don't think that at this point we can claim anything is impossible. I mean, look at the three of us. You're an alien, I'm a human stuck in an alien's body, and Kyle's been healed from a fatal wound by an alien. Plus I've been visited by a time-traveling alien before, so we really don't need to have this conversation."

They didn't have any verbal response to that statement. Isabel stared, uncomprehending, but she could tell when Kyle suddenly understood.

"That was why..." He trailed off and Liz nodded, trying to hide the pain. "How?"

"It's all in here," she replied. "I just need time to read this all over and figure out how exactly I'm going to do this."

Isabel shook her head. "I don't understand."

"Time travel, Isabel," she answered. "I'm going to go back in time before any of this happened and stop it. That way, I can save Max, Alex, and myself all this pain. And I can stop Tess before she has a chance to carry out her plan."

"Oh my god!" Isabel exclaimed. "What time is it?" She looked at her watch frantically and let out a muttered curse. "I'm late for the group meeting. I need to go before Tess convinces Max to do anything too rash..."

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

"I think you should send Tess back to Antar, Max. That way she can't hurt anyone else on Earth, and it's only what she wanted, after all." Tess smiled at her boyfriend and tried to inch closer to him on the seat without anyone noticing. The meeting was going well in her favor. None of the other three aliens really had any desire to return home, and once she convinced them to send Liz back, it would only be a matter of time before Max was hers completely. If "Tess" went back empty-handed, Khivar would realize the futility of the deal and kill her, but she was sure he would figure out that it was a sign the Royal Four would never return home. They would be safe to live their lives freely on Earth- she would have Max's love forever.

"I completely agree with Liz," Maria said. "Tess doesn't belong here or anywhere on Earth. Knowing she can't be more than 60,000 miles away if she remains on the planet just isn't enough for me."

"But what if the granolith is our only way to go home and we waste it sending Tess back?" Michael asked. "What if she goes back and joins the enemy, then, and comes back to kill us all for revenge? Wouldn't it be best to keep her here where we can watch her? And what about Isabel? She hasn't bothered to show up yet and we're still going on without her."

~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

Isabel drove quickly, hoping to get to the Crashdown before Tess managed to screw with anyone else's brain too badly. She hoped that because she had the translation that they would wait for her, but with the state of things as late, you never knew what was going on. So intent was she on the road that she wasn't paying attention to cars whizzing past her in the opposite direction, or she might have a familiar jeep.

As it was, she arrived at the Crashdown too late to stop a dangerous sequence of events.

She burst in to her circle of friends looking tense and anticipatory, and when Liz's face met Isabel's she could see the triumph in her eyes.

"Where's Max?" she demanded breathlessly. "Why didn't you wait for me?"

"You were late," Liz responded. "We figured you would agree with our decision, and we arrived at it unanimously, minus you, of course."

A knot of fear curled in her stomach. "Decision? What did you decide?"

"Tess is going back to Antar," Maria piped up triumphantly. "Max went to go get her right now and take her to the granolith."

"Are you crazy?" Isabel exclaimed. "How did you let my misguided brother do such a thing, and by himself, no less? He doesn't even have the translation!" She waved the sheath of papers in her hands frantically.

"He can do it by himself," Liz's mouth said confidently. "I don't think Tess will put up much of a fight, for some reason." She smirked. "And he said he just knows how to operate the granolith, like one of those memories you guys retained from your past life."

At that, Isabel snapped. She couldn't just listen to Tess sit there and pretend she was Liz any longer. Everything was going to hell anyway, and she knew it was futile to try to chase after Max. He had too much of a lead on her, and all she could do was hope Liz could figure out what to do to save the day.

Isabel moved lightning fast to where Liz was sitting, pushing Maria and Michael away from her proximity. "The game's over, Tess," she said quietly. "I know what's going on, and if you make a move now, you're no match against my alien powers." She looked around at the frightened and surprised faces of her friends, dwelling on Alex's. "I'm sorry for not telling you all earlier," she said, "but the real traitor is right here."