The End of the World……

Maria was driving Liz and Alex to Madame Vivian's place almost two weeks after Isabel’s birthday party. Looking in the rear view mirror, she frowned at her despondent friend in the backseat. Alex was practically lying down.

“I'm so confused.” Liz said in the passenger seat next to Maria.

“I'm so depressed.” Alex said as he groaned and he fell over the rest of the way.

“Wimps,” Maria shook her head at her friends. Damn, this love thing was a blight.

“Max keeps coming to my window and telling me he wants to be with me again, but I know it's … it can never work out.”

“Isabel gave me another one of those "Alex, you're such a great friend" speeches.” Alex told Liz, his grievance much worse than Liz’s, after all, at least Max wanted to be with her and she wanted to be with Max, so what the hell was Liz doing stealing his sympathy? “It made me want to puke.”

“Okay, both of you need to get a grip.” Maria was glad Michael had passed on the trip. She would hate to have to put up with his reaction to the doom twins. “No one said the path of true love is easy. You just need a little guidance.”

Liz looked around. “Where are you taking us, anyway?”

“Mmm. To a place where all questions will finally be answered. She'll tell us where our future lies with our hybrid freaks. She's a prophet.” Maria smiled big in the rearview mirror at Alex trying to command her confidence to him. “My mom lives her whole life based on her advice.”

“And this is a recommendation?” Alex asked in disbelief, more than a little aware of Amy DeLuca’s relationship problems.

“Well, sometimes the stars are slightly skewed, and I suspect my mother interprets the advice to mean what she wants to hear.” Maria pulled into the parking lot of the psychic’s house.

“Why didn’t you bring Michael?” Liz asked curiously.

“Oh, he and Madam Vivian have a few problems and conflicts.” Maria looked at Liz. “It’s tragic, but I don’t think he believes in her advice.”

“Imagine that,” Liz sighed as the other two got out of the car.

Inside the psychic's house, Alex was the first to talk to Madame Vivian. “So, Isabel and I will be …?”

“You are a wonderful friend, her foundation. You will never have a carnal relationship.”

Alex made a face of horror, complete disbelief, not wanting her advice to be true. “Oh, come on, Madame Vivian, there's gotta be something in those leaves … a few moments of pure lust? Anything?” Madam Vivian sadly shook her head no. Uh … Story of my life.” Alex put his head down on the table groaning.

At Liz's turn, she asks about Max.

“I've never seen the cards fall like this before.” Madam Vivian said staring at spread. “The boy, he's different.”

Liz made a face. That was an understatement. “Yeah.”

“He's very important, this boy. A leader.”

“Yeah, he has this whole other destiny … one that doesn't include me.”

“No.” Madam Vivian shook her head, reading the cards again. “He chooses love.”

Liz sat up straighter. “What?”

Madam Vivian looked at Liz. “He chooses you.”

“No, no, no, no, see, that's impossible.” Destiny. Tess. Liz frowned. She walked away, and …

“The reading is clear. You marry your true love. You have happiness. The card here?” Madam Vivian pointed out as Liz leaned in. “Intimacy, sex. You will not be left wanting.”

Maria stood up when Liz came out, a smile on her face. “Aw! A good read.” Maria glanced sadly at Alex who was still devastated. “Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for some.” Maria took out her keys ready to return her friends to their lives.

Liz was confused. “What? Aren’t you going to see Madam Vivian?”

“No. I really don’t have anything to talk about.”

Madam Vivian came to the door. “Maria?”

Maria sighed. “Well there is the matter of those two new dresses. The one with the lattice top looks so good on me, but the other’s skirt is totally loving my legs, and …”

“Maria.” Madam Vivian called to her.

Maria waved the other two down. “Take a seat. This won’t take too long.” Maria arranged herself in a chair she sat in since she was a child when she first consulted about the wisdom of tossing Jimmy Watson into the lake for calling her ‘Fish Lips’. “Forget the tea leaves, the hand, and just give an opinion on my two dresses.”

Madam Vivian ignored Maria as she had Maria cut the deck restacking it. She started the layout.

“I was thinking …”

Madam Vivian held up a hand to stop Maria’s talking. “There is a man.”

“What!?” Maria moved her chair around the table to sit next to the Madam. “Where?” She searched the layout. “No. No. No. We had an understanding. No boys, no mention of boys until after my twenty-fifth birthday. Take it back.”

“It is not a boy. He is a man. A young man.”

“Stop it! You’re scaring me. You stop this right now, Missy! Tell me about my damn dress, or I won’t be paying.”

“I put it on your mother’s account.”

“Oh, god!” Maria chewed a nail. “When do I meet him? Next year? Tell me! Five years, maybe seven or eight?”

“He is here.”

“No! Dammit, I don’t even have my dress! You are not being very helpful.”

“He is very volatile.”

“That's good for sex, right?” Maria couldn’t resist asking as she moved closer squinting at the card. Hell, if her heart was going to be broken, she better get something out of it. “Tell me it is a quick affair of the heart, mutually satisfying, and a happy conclusion … you know, in and out? That I can take.”

“This relationship will endure.” Madam Vivian looked at the cards, and then at Maria. “He is a man with a past. A man of great hidden depths and mysteries. He has looked for you all his life.”

“Look, lady, I am not looking for anything. I don’t want to change my life or how I feel. I don’t want …”

“Too late.” Madam Vivian took Maria’s hand in hers and pointed to a card with lovers. “The heart already knows what the mind refuses to see.” She glanced at the young girl. “Not wanting it does not make it untrue. Your heart is your heart, and it recognizes a timeless love. When you are ready, your eyes will be opened as the veil is ripped away, and only then will your heart and mind come together as one. Until then, you will follow your heart unconsciously.”

“A man?” Maria gulped nervously as her mouth dried. “Do I know him, or is he here and I have yet to meet him?”

“You have always known him in your heart. He looks to the stars for truth, but in that quest, he only sees one. You. When you smile, he sees the light of creation. You are the whole of his heart and until you, there was no light there.”

Maria sat back. “Oh, great. That’s not something too hard to live up to. Thanks!” Maria leaned forward. “You wouldn’t happen to know how my ACT scores will come out?”

“Study harder.”

Maria sighed getting up to leave. Whose fat frickin’ idea was it to visit a fortune-teller anyway?

“And Maria, go with the dress with the skirt. Your legs are unstoppable.”

~~~

Liz stood in front of her mirror placing a scarf on her head. “Mrs. Max Evans.” Smiling, she stared at herself, but her mind was off somewhere else dreaming of a future.

Suddenly in a flash of light, she turned to her bedroom window. Looking out, she stared into the eyes of an older Max Evans, and in that instant her world was destined to change.

~~~

Maria found Michael at the Crashdown working. Going into the kitchen, she paced the room for a moment waiting for him to ask her what was wrong. Michael glanced up at her, noted her state of agitation, and then went back to work.

“We need to talk.” Maria said giving up on him.

“Talk? Or rant? You seem a little tight.” Michael glanced at her. Giving in, he asked the one thing he shouldn’t have. “What’s up? Madam Vivian predict the end of the world?”

“Yes! No. Worse!” Michael went back to his cooking expecting a full mode Maria nuclear meltdown. “Let’s talk about our relationship.”

“We have a relationship?” Michael stopped cooking. This was news. Obviously he hadn’t been paying attention. “Um, did something happen when I was … um, doing something else?”

“Yes. No. No. I don’t know!” Maria paced some more. She stopped. “There’s a man.”

“A man?”

“The man.”

“The man?”

“I’m doomed! God, if it’s not you, then I’m doomed. I mean you...you I can ignore, but someone else …? This is not good. This is so not good. I can’t even decide between those two dresses, and …”

“Go with the one with the short flared skirt. It makes your legs look like miles.”

Maria stopped. “You think? I mean the other one with the lattice top looks awesome on my …”

“Maria, your legs over your tits. Trust me. Unless you get a boob job, your legs are going to reign supreme.”

“Trust a man...” Maria stopped. She had just said the ‘man’ word. “Is it you?”

“What?” Michael was confused.

“She said he’s been looking for me a long time. When I smile he sees the light of creation. Do I do that for you?”

“You gotta be joking me.” Michael put his head to the side. “What the hell is going on? Light of creation? Um, Maria, have you been sniffing the cedar oil again, because I am telling you, that crap is pickling your brain.”

“Some stupid psychic told me that he’s here. The man. A man. Not a boy, but a young man, and that he’s been looking for me for a long time. He looks to the stars for truth, but he finds it in me. A man with a past. He’s volatile. Mysterious and deep.” Michael laughed at the silliness of listening to a hack fortune-teller, and made a face at Maria. “This is critical, so could you just try not to be a bonehead? Is that, like, a possibility? I’m needing some input here! Is that you? Could it be you? I mean …”

Courtney entered the kitchen sauntering up to Michael. Maria made a face at the girl, too upset to deal with the latest edition of psycho bimbo.

“No waitresses in the kitchen.”

Courtney ignored Maria, who was obviously, a waitress in the kitchen. “Hey, Mikey G. You got my order yet?”

“Yeah, right there.”

Courtney looked at the order. “Takeoff Tacos, Plutonium Platter, and the Greek God salad, light on the feta.” Courtney flashed Michael a saucy look. “You're such a good boy.” Slapping Michael on the butt, she gathered her orders and left.

Maria lifted a brow. “Something you want to tell me, Mikey G?”

Michael shrugged. “She put in that order before I got busy.”

“And now she’s patting you on the ass like a trained seal? Hmm, I have to reassess everything I know about you. Led around by the dick, Dick?”

“Cut it out. I’m not panting at her panties drawer. Anyway, I doubt she wears them.”

“Ok, give it up, Guerin. What's going on with her?”

“Yeah, that's exactly what I wanna know.” Michael glanced at the door. “You were supposed to get busy with a plan. Remember?”

“Michael...” Maria snarled, too put upon to handle yet more crap on her plate.

“I don't trust her,” Michael mused, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Maria’s eyes did the same, and for a moment, they both had the same look and gestures as they contemplated the empty door. “Hmm. Neither do I. She’s obviously jonesing for you, so that immediately is suspicious.”

Michael made a sour face at her assessment of his attraction for other women. “I mean, there's something going on with her. Another new face in town. Arrived this summer after the signal went out. Her picture was in Whitaker's office. Constantly hanging around me, always giving me these looks.”

“Which looks would those be, Mikey G?” Maria said with sugary tones, giving him a little perky sultry look.

“Cut the crap, Maria! And do not call me Mikey! You know Hank used to call me that.”

“I know. I’m sorry, Spaceboy.” Maria said contritely, sorry for inflicting pain on a wound of Michael’s that had never healed. “So, do you think she's an alien?”

“Or with the government. I don't know.”

“Well, I'll tell you what I know. The slut wants in your pants.”

“That might work.” Michael said more to himself. “Oh, nice.” He could use that.

“What might work, Michael?” Maria looked her friend over. Lifting a brow, she stood with her arms crossed. “You and her? Maybe get a little close? You realize if you get any closer to her, I’ll have to extract her out of your ass?”

“So I use her obvious desire to know me better.”

“Michael, you better take your rabies shots now. And I hear they’re very painful.” Maria seemed to think about it. It was his life, and if the slutty waitress was more than just a nymphomaniac looking for her next ride, then someone had to get them closer. “You know, she has to be an alien. I mean, you’d expect a government agent  to have more guile. She is so overly blown, obvious in her intent, it’s actually humiliating to watch.” Maria nodded. “It’s decided. You’re going in. Taking one for the cause. Laying your virtuous body on the line for God, Country, and the Alien Way . I better buy you a wet suit.”

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Michael said to himself.

“Buck it up, Pally. No spewing on your first time out of the gate.” Maria looked at Michael suspiciously. “Do you even know how to kiss?”

“My ass, DeLuca!”

~~~

Michael pulled up to a group of apartments designed for singles. He waited as Courtney got off the back of his bike, handing him the spare helmet.

“Thanks for the ride.”

“No problem.” Michael answered, in a quandary on how to get himself invited inside. Maria told him to let Courtney do the work, since she was so obvious, but Michael had little faith in that strategy. Why would a Skin invite him into their space?

“You handle your machine really good,” Courtney commented suggestively. Michael refrained from rolling his eyes.

“Thanks.”

“Well, I guess it's time for another night curled up in my sheets, fondling my remote control,.” Courtney continued.

“I guess.”

“Unless, of course, you want to be my remote control for the night?”

“I'd better go home.”

“Too bad. Well ... good night.” Courtney leaned over and kissed him on the mouth.

Okay, so Maria was right. It happened, but then so did solar eclipses. “What the hell.” Michael got off his bike and followed her inside.

~~~

Kyle walked into his old room to find Tess taking a poster off the wall. She used her powers to wipe the wall clean.

“I thought I told you I didn't want you doing that bewitched crap in the house.”

“Out of my room,” Tess commanded him.

“It's my room!”

“You … you know what? Just … just forget it.” Tess said more than a little testily. “I'm sick of this place, and I'm sick of Max Evans.”

“Don't toy with me,” Kyle answered, happy to have someone else who didn’t think Max Evans was god’s gift to the planet Earth.

“I never asked to be his mate. He thinks I'm just gonna wait around until he comes to terms with his destiny?” Tess was working off a summer of abuse, neglect, and general feelings of being treated like an interloper. “Well, I'm not. He can figure it out on his own. They all can. You know, they didn't even know where the pod chamber was until I came along. I hate this life.” Tess breathed out harshly, pushing all the pent up feelings away. “I feel better.”

Kyle could take his eyes off her. “You look really great when you're pissed.”

“Yeah, right.”

“No, I'm serious.” Buddha Boy laid on the charm. “I feel, like, all this energy coming from you right now. In order to trim the lamp of wisdom, we must attend to our bodily needs.”

“Let me tell you something, Buddha Boy …” Tess got up close and personal with Kyle, “I got a lamp that needs some serious trimming.”

The doorbell rang and Kyle swore under his breath at the interruption. That was so his life! He gestured to Tess not to go anywhere as he went to answer it. It was Liz.

“Hi.”

“Well, you here for a reason, or you just rushed right over 'cause you sensed I might be experiencing some actual joy?”

Liz had the grace to turn slightly red at Kyle’s tone. “Oh, uh, actually, I need to talk to Tess.”

Tess, equally surprised to see Liz, patted Kyle on the stomach sending him on his way. “We'll finish trimming my lamp later.”

“Right. I'll keep my equipment on the ready.” Kyle said before walking out to leave the two girls alone in the living room.

“Mmm,” Tess hummed appraisingly, her eyes following Kyle before a quick change of expression, and a blank look moved over her face. She turned back to Liz. “What's up?”

“I thought maybe we could talk.”

“About what?”

Liz hadn’t known it would be this difficult, and Tess didn’t look too pleased to see her. “Look, Tess … um, I know that we got off to a bad start …”

Tess laughed under her breath. Oh, no. Little Liz Parker making nice? “Look, I'm not into bonding.” Over her dead body.

“Well, neither am I, but …” Liz licked her lips, forcing herself to do what she had to do. “I want to help you with Max.”

The disbelief Liz felt inside moved over Tess’s face. “What?”

“I know Max, and I think I can help you with him.”

“How …,” Tess tried to hold onto her anger, “how stupid do you think I am? I don't know what your plan is, but I know you don't want to help me. You hate me. You all do. Don't you think I know that?”

“Yeah, I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this for Max.” Liz swallowed the bitter bile rising in her throat. “His future's you.”

“And you just came to this?” Tess looked Liz over suspiciously. The girl hated her. That was apparent. Why would she help?

“No, no. Look, I came to it that day in the desert when I walked away from him.” Liz resisted the need to cry, and straightened her shoulders. “Tess, I … I … I’m sick of living like this, and I'm not gonna be free to move on unless I get Max to move on.”

“Look, I don't need your help.” Tess told her mortal enemy. “If Max doesn't come around on his own, he can … he can go to hell for all I care.”

“Tess … it was really hard for me to come here. You can imagine, and look … I know that it's hard for you to admit that you need help … but you do.” Liz took another calming breath. She had laid her cards on the table. “It's up to you.”

~~~

Michael was sitting on Courtney’s bed in the one room apartment as she gave him a massage. Michael discretely looked around, the massage hardly interesting. Maria gave much better ones, but then again, he wasn’t really there for that.

“So, how long have you lived in Roswell , anyway?”

“A few months.”

“What brought you here?”

“I've always been into the whole alien thing, I guess, but I have to admit, the sightseeing has exceeded my expectations.” Courtney said, obviously meaning Michael. “What now?” she asked, moving in close and kissing Michael again.

“Shower,” Michael said, moving away from her.

“Let's! Courtney stood up ready to strip.

Dammit, he hated it when Maria was right. “Just you.”

“What?”

“I'm a germ-a-phobe.” Michael said quickly, wincing at the stupid lie. “A clean girl is a sexy girl.” Damn he was glad Maria wasn’t around to hear that, she would never let him live it down.

“Ok. Water sports. I like it.” Michael suddenly felt a little nauseated. “I'll play any game you want me to, Mikey G.” Michael tried not to react to the name.

He waited until Courtney stepped into the bathroom to take a shower. Damn Maria for getting him into this! Michael conveniently forgot that it was his suggestion to start, as he began to snoop around the small apartment. Opening a cabinet, he found it full of skin lotion. Pausing, he cocked his head as he heard a noise from the window. It was Maria.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Investigating Courtney,” Maria answered in irritation. “What are you doing here, hound? You were supposed to keep her occupied, and that means somewhere else! Not her place.”

“No, I'm investigating Courtney. Isn’t that what you told me to do? Get close?” Michael looked around nervously to see if the other girl was out of the shower yet. “Get outta here!”

“No, no, no. I found a picture of you, Max, and Isabel in her locker, and your face was circled. This chick is either seriously an alien, or she’s got a psychotic fixation on you! Maybe both! I can’t just leave you hanging here!”

“No way,” Michael frowned. A picture of him? Damn. Granted the girl was a little more obvious than he liked in a chick, actually way too obvious, but the picture was disturbing. Shit, he was in an apartment with a stalker. “I’m bailing!”

Courtney called from bathroom, “Maybe you should put on some tunes, baby.”

“Damn, Michael. I told you to get close, not screw the skank!”

“No one is screwing anyone! I had to get her out of the room somehow!” Michael called back to Courtney, “Good idea, baby.”

“I … I'm gonna retch.” Maria made a face. “Baby? Eww!”

“Ok, I've got the situation under control, so get out of here … seriously.”

“I can’t leave you here alone, and I don’t know if my stomach can handle watching or listening.” Maria visibly paled.

“Look, no one is laying anything on anyone. Until we know what she is, I don’t think I should get that close alone.”

Courtney called from bathroom. “By the way, you are an amazing kisser.”

Maria whapped Michael upside the head. “Damn, what are you thinking? Diseases! Now you need to be inoculated!”

“Hey, you were the one who told me to get close. Remember? Lay my body on the line, etc?”

“Well, there is that, but obviously you came here for two reasons, huh?”

Courtney came out of the bathroom dressed in a towel. “Is somebody here?”

Maria tossed Courtney a hair piece. “Um … here. You left that at work.” Maria looked at Michael, the repulsion clear on her face. “And umm … remember how I asked if you were the man? That was … that was way too optimistic. If you would kiss that … it’s pretty obviously not you.”

Maria left, slightly unsettled. She didn’t know what to feel. She had been slightly afraid Madam Vivian had meant Michael, but now, she wasn’t so sure. Michael she could handle, maybe learn to ignore in that way because he was leaving, but now… God, was there someone else out there? Her stomach felt sick, and it wasn’t just the spew factor at the thought of Michael with Courtney, though that did bring up the bile taste in her mouth.

Michael watched Maria leave, and for the first time since they started this plan, he felt equally sick. It felt like he had lost some of Maria’s respect, and that hurt. “I'm gonna go.” He told Courtney not bothering to wait for a response. He was out the door and on his bike. For the first time, he felt something unusual in his stomach, a feeling he couldn’t quite understand, but if he was to define it, he would say it felt like he cheated on Maria.

Michael didn’t notice Courtney watching him from her door in nothing but a towel and a strange look on her face, nor did he see Alex Whitman driving by, noticing him leaving a very undressed Courtney.

~~~

Liz watched Tess from across the street in Congresswoman Whitaker’s office. Tess was planted at a table in the outdoor café directly in line on the route Max took to work. She was wearing the top Liz told her to wear. Max arrived promptly on schedule. He was like clockwork, given the same anal retentive genes as Liz possessed.

Liz watched, talking to herself. “Just don't look at him. Let him come to you. Show him the book. Make sure he sees it.” Liz watched as Max stopped to talk to Tess. She could almost hear the conversation.

“Really?” Tess said. “Steinbeck is my favorite author, too.” Max sat down and Liz refrained from the need to spew.

“Listen, I…” Max paused trying to order his thoughts. “I realize none of this is your fault. You just sought me out because it was your destiny.”

“Hey, I … I can only imagine if you thought you'd found the love of your life and someone comes to tell you that you're meant to be with someone else.” Tess said shrugging sympathetically.

“Exactly.”

“You know, if things change, they change. If they don't, it's ok, Max.”

“I don't think things will change.”

“I know, but it takes two,” Tess said, “and if Liz isn't interested …”

“What do you mean, ‘if Liz isn't interested?’” Max asked. Suddenly he felt the contrived coincidence of the chance meeting.

“No, I … I didn't mean …” Tess suddenly realized she had overplayed the part.

“You were talking to Liz about this?”

“N-Not exactly.”

Max watched at Tess’s nervous eyes dart to the offices across the way. He stood up looking around. He saw the blinds move as someone was peeking from Congresswoman Whitaker's office. Max stalked that way quickly. Liz stood back saying ‘damn’ exactly the same time as Tess said the same thing across the street, and as her eyes met the eyes of an older version of Max Evans.

~~~

A worried Alex found Maria at the Crashdown. She was in the backroom pacing, agitated, as unhappiness moving over her face like an approaching storm cloud.

“Maria.”

“Alex, I’m … god, I don’t know what I am! Could you give a few moments?”

“Sure.” Alex couldn’t help it. “Maria, I have to tell you something.”

Maria sobbed, her stomach bothering her. Wrapping arms around her stomach, she bent over a little.

“Maria, what's wrong?”

“Could you just get out of here?”

“What happened? Is it Michael?” Alex swore. “I knew it was! I came to tell you that I saw him leaving Courtney’s place, and she was in a towel.”

Maria waved off that information … too much information. She didn’t need him to repaint a picture in her mind that was seared there indelibly. “I found this picture of Michael in Courtney's locker … like some sort of surveillance photo or something.”

“Oh, my God. Is he all right?”

“Yeah, he's all right. Actually, he's terrific. I was worried about him, so I went all the way across town to save his ass, and I get there, and … he's already there, and so is Courtney … in a towel.” Maria never got to finish the story and her part in the plan to spy on Courtney. She was too upset and unsettled.

Alex swore under his breath. “Maria.”

“God, I feel sick!” Maria said not paying much attention to Alex, who didn’t get all the information, but only parts of it. “Why did she tell me all those things? If it was Michael, I could handle that, because you know I love him. But, now this? Every time I look around a corner I’ll be expecting ‘him’, and I can’t deal with it. Not right now! God, what if I am already too far gone? Can you be in love with someone you don’t even know? I don’t know him. I can’t …” Maria was at a lost. Her worst nightmare, being out of control with her emotions, a slave to love, opening her heart to possible pain. “Alex, I’m sorry!”

Alex watched helplessly as Maria went into the bathroom slamming the door. He could hear her being sick. Michael Guerin, that bastard, had a lot to answer for!

~~~

Liz stood outside Max’s room for a moment or two trying to get the courage she needed to do what had to be done. The failed attempt with Tess was still a sore point in her mind. Max hadn’t been too happy to find her working in cahoots with Tess to get him to give up on her, and get with Tess. Breathing harshly, hating her life more than anything, she closed her eyes wishing she had never gone to Madam Vivian’s, was never given hope that she was what Max would choose. It was all too late now. It could never be, and knowing what would have happened was making it harder than it needed to be.

Liz knocked on the window and waited as Max opened it. She stared at him for a moment, as if it were the last time ever, as she started to change her future.

~~~

Maria had settled down a bit after Alex left. Still worried by the fortune told her, she couldn’t help but be paranoid about every male coming into the diner that night, or obsessing over every person of the male persuasion that she recently met, running them through her mind like a long series of lists, checking them off mentally. Seeing Max was a welcomed distraction.

“Okay, start from the beginning. Liz set you up with Tess...?” Maria asked incredulously, sitting with Max at the end of the Crashdown counter.

“Yes. She had Tess in a place where I would see her, across from Whitaker’s office. Told Tess what to read, my favorite book. Told her what to wear, my favorite top on Tess.”

“You have a favorite top? On Tess? Jesus, Max!”

“Hey, I’m still a guy. I can look, it doesn’t mean I’ll touch.”

Maria snorted remembering Michael with Courtney. “Yeah, and what guy resists something offered to him on a platter, no matter how trashy it is?”

“Will you concentrate on Liz here for a second?” Max asked, frowning at her uncharacteristically bitter tone.

“Love to! My own life just took a scary turn today, one I’m not ready for. I am more than happy to live in denial and ignorance, so by all means, let’s talk you,” Maria frowned. Liz was acting weird. After Madam Vivian she seemed excited and happy. Maria had thought it meant that a reconciliation with Max was imminent. She had expected to hear about the make up, how Liz had given him a chance, and not that Liz was setting him up with Tess.

“You’re right, something is up with Liz, but what, I’m not sure. It’s only been a couple of hours since I last saw her.” Maria shook her head. “So she tried to remake Tess into a woman you would want.”

“That’s not all of it. She came to my room.”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah, afterwards.” Max looked as sick as Maria felt. “She told me that she didn’t want to be the Juliet to my Romeo. That the story wasn’t romantic, it was a tragedy. Juliet died for Romeo, and she might love me, but she didn’t want to die for me.”

“God,” Maria said shaking her head. This was a twist she hadn’t expected. It was the very sentiment she had expressed to Liz numerous times last year, the very same sentiment that Liz refused to acknowledge as she blindly pushed herself into the alien’s lives. What had happened to Liz to make her do a hundred eighty degree turn around after Madame Vivian’s predictions had made her so happy? “You just want me to tell you that it's all gonna work out, right?”

“No. I want to hear what you have to say.” Max said firmly, meaning it. Maria was the only bystander who saw everything, but had nothing invested in the outcome.

“Ok. Here's what I think … give Liz up. Leave her alone. All this is leading nowhere. None of us belong with any of you. And I'm really sick of how much it's screwing us up. I mean, look at us. We're pathetic.”

Maria meant it. Alex was upset over Isabel, Liz was devastated by her love of Max, and now, even she had problems with Michael. At times, he was slipping out of that nice safe category of ‘just a friend’ to a place she was uncomfortable with. If he had been ‘the man’ that Madam Vivian foresaw, that would’ve been hard, but at least she loved and cared for him, so there was a place to start and a place to end. He was leaving. That was that.

Maria sighed shaking her head at the dazed look on Max’s face. “You're not there, are you?”

“I can't help it. I love her. What can I say?”

“You're hopeless.” Maria hugged her stomach. Maybe her ulcer was back. It hadn’t bothered her since her dad left, but now she felt ill. “We all are. I don’t know, Max. I really don’t know. Maybe there is a hand of fate, and it reaches out and pushes us to places we never thought we would go, or even wanted to go. I’m not ready to fall in love. I don’t want that in my life, just like you don’t want to be told that your destiny is with someone not Liz.”

“I wish I could get drunk.”

“Me too.” Maria looked at her friend. “Do you think that if fate was chasing you down in the form of ‘the one’ and that you could run far enough, or hide long enough, that it would wait until you were ready?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Maria.”

Maria patted his hand. “I know. Most children don’t.”

~~~

Maria was cleaning up for the late night shift. The Crashdown stayed open into the early morning, and though it was dead, usually the rest of the group found a way to be there. Michael was out front with Isabel and Max. They were closing the diner for the night. Maria spied Liz glumly gazing from the back room into the main Crashdown area.

“What's wrong?”

“Uh … nothing,”

“You look upset, Liz.”

“I … I just can't talk about it.” Liz finally seemed to really see Maria. “Oh, I heard about Michael and Courtney.” Alex had found her, upset about Michael.

“Yeah, it’s like a freak show. Better him than me. Thank god she wasn’t gay, though looking at her, who’s to say she doesn’t lean that way too? Plus it was Spaceboy’s turn to lay his body on the line. I mean he had no problem using you for flashes or trying to get me to participate.” Maria frowned. “What I don’t get is what I’m going to do about Madam Vivian. Her reading has me all over the place. I thought I knew what it meant, but now, I don’t know.” Maria was rambling, and perhaps no one could understand how upsetting it all was to her. “I mean if I can find him, derail him from this path, but then do I want to? I mean, if he is the one, can I just ignore that and toss it away? And how do you get someone who’s meant to love only you forever to walk on by? Should you even want that?”

Liz suddenly heard half of what Maria was saying. “Maria, how do you do that? How do you get someone to give up on you romantically?”

“Cheating. I have no claims on Michael, but the truth is that when I saw him with Courtney, the reality of it, felt … I don’t know. Wrong. And I felt awful! He looked it. God, Liz, you should’ve seen the guilt on his face, and god, we’re nothing about that!”

“Oh, my God.”

“Yeah, it is definitely being unfaithful. I mean, ‘cause ... when you see that with your own eyes, you realize there was nothing that could be said or done that could ever make up for it. You know it's over.”

~~~

Liz found him. Kyle saw her, and he groaned. Lamp trimming interrupted again.

“I need your help.”

~~~

Alex paced outside Michael’s apartment for a while, slowly building his courage. He let his anger fuel him. Maybe it was more about Isabel and not so much about Michael and Maria, but maybe it was about all of them. Alex banged on the door.

“What's up?” Michael asked opening the door. He had been expecting Maria, but she wouldn’t knock. She used her key.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” Alex walked into the apartment.

“Well, I was kinda watching the game, so if you got something on your mind …”

Alex grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. “Do you have any idea what you've done to Maria?”

Michael held up his hands, already having Maria tell him that Alex talked to her, that he saw him leaving Courtney’s apartment. “Dude, it was a misunderstanding.”

“Look. I don't care that you've got thirty pounds on me or … or that you can kill me with some … some twisted alien power. I will not let you treat her like that! I … I don't care that Isabel treats me like crap, but no one does that to Maria, all right? She's not just some girl!”

“You gotta believe me … I have nothing …” Michael didn’t get to finish as Courtney just happened to stop by at that moment, coming through the open apartment door.

“Knock, knock,” Courtney said with a hopeful look on her face and a skimpy halter top barely concealing her assets.

Alex saw the other waitress at Michael’s place and without thought turned around and nailed Michael with a fist in the face. Alex winced as he shook his hurt hand taking some satisfaction of having landed Michael on his ass.

“Ow!”

Michael lay there a moment wiping his mouth. “You realize you just risked your life?”

“Yeah,” Alex answered, shaking his hand and wincing.

“You're a really good friend, man.”

Alex’s face took on a new shade of red, so sick of being a ‘friend’ to every female he knew. “Call me that again, and I'll really kick your ass!” Alex stalked past the other girl, giving her a look of repulsion.

Courtney went to help Michael up who was still rubbing his jaw. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.” Michael got up, his eyes meeting Courtney’s and for a moment, he felt something, a flicker of awareness, almost a sense of recognition, like she was someone he knew. Suddenly they were kissing and Michael reached around to her back. His hand came away with a piece of skin. Holding it in his hand, he stared at her with a dangerous glint in his eyes, anger fused his face as whatever that ‘feeling’ was evaporated as if it never existed.

“You're a Skin?” His hand came up defensively as he fired his alien power at Courtney and his television exploded when he missed. “Stop!”

Courtney ran crashing through a window in a quick escape.

Maria came through the door dropping the bag she was carrying. Rushing to Michael’s side, she looked out the broken window with him.

“What the hell happened?”

“Courtney. No more mystery. She’s a Skin.”

“How do you know?”

“I pulled some skin off her back.”

Maria lifted a brow. “Off her back? How exactly did you get your hand on her back?”

Michael made a face. “We were kissing, okay?” Michael shook his head when Maria made a gagging noise. “Stop it! It wasn’t like that. I … I was never attracted to her, or wanted her like that, or in that way.”

“Oh? Then not being attracted to someone is a new reason to shove your tongue down their throat? Or is that an alien mating ritual?”

Michael licked his lips looking out the broken window into the night as Maria watched next to him. “There was this moment, when I looked into her eyes … I felt something. I don’t know what it was. I don’t think it was attraction as much as this alien-draw, like a sense of recognition, much like I felt when I came out of the pods, and first saw Isabel and Max. Maybe it was an awareness that she was alien like me.”

“So that made you want to just mack on her?”

“Maria, can we drop it? I don’t know what it was. Alien voodoo? Vibes? I don’t know. But as soon as I was aware she was a Skin, the feeling was gone. Like it was never there. Almost like Tess’s mindwarp.”

“Michael, if it was attraction, like an alien attraction thing, and …” Maria held up her hand when he went to protest. “Hear me out. Maybe it was an attraction. I mean humans get it all the time. You can feel an attraction to people, and that doesn’t mean you act upon it. What I don’t get is why Courtney?”

Michael wasn’t following Maria’s point. “I’m not tracking. You’re doing that Maria twisted thinking thing again. What do you mean … why Courtney?”

“Well, follow my thoughts, but if you’re destined to be with Isabel, supposedly once engaged to her, and these ‘mythical’ planets aligned to awaken your biological urges, then why did you feel the ‘alien voodoo’ from Chunk-ney and not Isabel?”

Michael stopped staring out the window, to glance at Maria. His mind was obviously considering the theory, the feeling that he had flood over his body, and those that did not over the past year.

“You’re right.” Michael frowned at that. He always said Destiny was a hoax, a pile of crap, but this was the first time he actually knew it to be a fact. “I never once felt a draw like that towards Isabel. Sure, I felt this recognition thing when we came out of the pods, but that never translated into this desire to kiss her. Not once. Not ever.”

Michael was thoughtful for a moment. How could he be engaged and mated to someone without even a spark of desire? He had that with Courtney, even if it was only for a few seconds. But why never Isabel? Something was not as it seemed.

“Destiny is dead,” Michael told Maria as they looked out the window. They both glanced up at the sky as a shooting sky moved across it. “Destiny is something we make for ourselves. Anything else would be unacceptable.”

~~~

In Liz's room, Liz and Kyle were lying next to each other in her bed, both of them clutching the covers to themselves. Liz looked over at Kyle nervously, hoping this would be over soon.

“So Evans must have really pissed you off to get you to resort to something like this.” Kyle didn’t get the set up, but it seemed important to Liz.

“I told you I don't really want to talk about why I'm doing this.”

“Jeez, I just figured since I'm giving you my last shred of dignity …” Not to mention lamp trimming …

“I … I really... I can't.” Liz swallowed hard, trying not to cry.

“So … we have something in common.” Kyle told Liz trying to make conversation.

“Yeah? What's that?”

“We, uh … we're the only two people I know of who have died and were brought back to life by an alien.”

Liz smiled. “Yeah. You're right.”

“You feel different?” Kyle asked, wondering if that had to do with her breaking up with him after it happened to her.

“Yeah.” Liz was quiet for a moment, she glanced at him. “Kyle … when he healed you, um … did … did you see things?”

“See things?”

“Flashes. Images.”

“No. But since he healed me, I keep getting these flashes of Max Evans naked.” Liz laughed not necessarily sure that Kyle was kidding.

“Feels good to make you laugh again,” Kyle chuckled softly. He had forgotten why he had ever liked her as a girlfriend. Over the past year or so, she had changed, and laughing wasn’t really Liz Parker anymore.

“It feels like this is the first time we've talked … since …” Liz stopped. She was using him for her own needs and she callously dumped him also for something she wanted, Max Evans. Liz frowned, lost in her own thoughts, unhappy with the idea that she only acted toward others with self motivation. Then she paused. What she was doing had nothing to do with what she wanted, and everything to do with saving the rest of the world.

“Feels good to do that again.”

Liz nodded. “Yeah, it does feel good.” It did. It felt good to do something for the first time in a long time that had nothing to do with her and Max only, them being a couple, but rather, this was about everyone else.

While they were talking, Max showed up with the Gomez tickets in hand, just like it had been predicted. Liz saw him, turning to the window as if she sensed his presence, her wide eyes meeting his youthful ones, still so young and innocent … so trusting. It hurt to destroy that. He saw Liz and Kyle in bed together. Stunned, he dropped the tickets leaving as quietly and quickly as he arrived.

Kyle looked at the devastated girl next to him in the bed. “Well, I guess it worked.” He didn’t bother to touch her, somehow he knew that she wouldn’t be able to stand anyone’s touch at that moment.

~~~

Max hit the street running. He ran until he couldn’t run anymore, the images of Kyle and Liz in bed together replaying in his mind. Once in the park, he stopped next to a tree and threw up. Finally he took a seat on a bench, too exhausted to even register where he was. It really didn’t matter anyway. All he could think of was Maria’s advice to take the hint from Liz and walk away.

Grinding the heels of his hands into his eyes, he groaned to himself. An entire summer of agony, therapy, and even Maria’s ever watchful eye, and he had learned nothing. Liz told him it was over in so many ways, but he arrogantly refused to believe it. If he just stayed the course and never gave up, he would get the girl back. The mariachi band, learning a love song in Spanish, the Gomez tickets … telling Liz he was coming for her, all those things stuck in his pride like painful poniards inflicting endless pain.

Max sat there alone in his thoughts, self-derisive and painful when Tess walked by. She paused when she saw him, unsure if she should walk on or not. 

“Are you ok?” she finally asked.

“No.”

“Can I sit down?”

Max shrugged. What did it matter anymore? “Sure.”

Tess was hesitant to put herself out there, having already been injured by Max more times than she could count. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

“Do you want me to leave?” Tess asked, uncertain that her being there was the best thing for the sullen Max.

“No.”

Tess remained next to him, slowly her hand coming to rest in comfort on his arm. He glanced at her, his eyes a roadmap of misery. Together they both looked up as a shooting star moved across the sky.

~~~

Liz sat outside her room, wrapped in a blanket but unable to get warm. She was so cold, deep inside. Sitting there, she felt the fall of her stomach as something important was slowly strangled.

“So Max and … Tess are going to be together now?”

Liz glanced over to look into the eyes of an older Max Evans. “I don't know. I don't know anything now. This is a different world.”

Looking at a future version of Max, Liz couldn’t even voice how horrified she was at her actions, at what he had asked her to do. “I'm gonna be alone.” Liz felt another tear trickle down her cheek. How could she not? Her one true love, the man sitting beside her was now nothing but a fading memory of a future that would never happen.

“Maybe. Maybe not. From now on, the future is yet to be determined. It's what I’ve always said to you, Liz. We create our own destiny.”

Liz stared out at the cold calculating skies, the very skies that brought an alien destiny into her life, and she remembered all the things he told her, all the things that could have been, from the Gomez concert to a wedding that would never be. She was cursed with knowing for the rest of her life the life she could never have, and that knowledge would slowly kill her, because nothing would ever repay her for the sacrifice she had made.

“Could you dance with me?” Liz asked quietly.

“What?”

“I wanna have my wedding dance.”

The older man nodded to the younger girl, who after thirteen years of marriage had been the greatest love of his life, and the one thing he never could give up. Extending his hand, he pulled her from the chair. They danced on the stoop under the stars, and twirling, Liz came out of the spin alone as a lost future and a shooting star went by.