Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me, but to the writers and
producers of Roswell
Spoilers: After Chant Down Babylon, changes happening where Max is
successfully rescued,
and Michael was the one who broke up
with Maria.
***
The winds and the waves are always on
the side of the ablest navigators.
-
Edward Gibbon
***
“What is this?” Tess demanded.
Khivar had dragged Tess kicking and screaming from Nicholas’
house. The people of Antar quietly
observed as a couple of Khivar’s men forced her into the unusual vehicle. It was a silver oblong shape with windows on
either side. Where the glass would have
been though, only what seemed to be air replaced it. The opening which didn’t seem to have a barrier was
deceiving. Without a moment’s thought,
the opening, which Tess would have been able to look out of, suddenly turned
opaque and solid. They arrived at a
deserted mansion with pillars and gold trim accenting the stark white
paint. There was a balcony on the
second floor and an assortment of diverse Antarian flowers surrounding the
structure. Green and white ivy climbed
the classic mansion walls.
Khivar led her into a dark foyer, and with a snap of his
fingers, the whole building lit up. It
was fully furnished and extravagantly decorated. Tess had felt the grip of her captors loosen and walked into the
vast entranceway of the house. “My dear
Queen,” he spoke in a syrypy sweet tone. “This is your home.”
Tess frowned. It had
to be a trick. “You’re just going to
let me have this house?” she asked suspiciously. Khivar nodded.
“What? Do you have spies or
cameras or bugs hidden in this place?”
Khivar laughed ingenuously.
“No I will stay out of your way.
You seem to have behaved accordingly.
And you don’t seem to be causing too much trouble. You should have your own home. I have even given you the privilege of
hiring your own staff. You have access
to your own funds, which your former self had acquired.” He paused.
“Yes. In essence you are free
to live the way you desire.”
Tess shook her head.
There was some catch. She could
feel it. Tess could read it in Khivar’s
eyes. “Fine. I’ll move in with Zander tomorrow,” she stated. Tess knew she couldn’t let this opportunity
go. And though, it may come with a
price, Tess was willing to pay it to get Zander away from Nicholas and Khivar.
Suddenly Khivar pursed his lips and clapped his hands
together. “I’m sorry, but that’s not
possible,” drawled Khivar. “You see, Zander’s
within my care and I am unable to release him into this type of atmosphere.”
Tess felt her heart race and the blood begin to rush to her
face. But she managed to keep a
controlled voice. “What do you
mean? Zander stays with me.”
Khivar shook his head.
“No,” he stated. “I understand
that you don’t much about our planet yet, and the harmful effects certain areas
of our atmosphere can have on a young developing child, but he cannot stay here
with you.” He stared at her,
expressionless.
She swallowed hard.
“You are playing games Khivar.
And I promise you, you do not want to play games with me and my
child,” threatened Tess. She walked up
to the tall gangly man and poked his chest.
“Now take me back to Zander.”
With that, Tess walked out of the mansion with her back towards a
grinning Khivar.
~~~
“What do you mean Tess?” exclaimed Isabel, who was
not only in shock, but dismay. “There is
no connection between Max and Tess.
That was over the day she killed Alex and covered her tracks.”
Michael took a deep breath before attempting to explain his
theory to Isabel. “Look Isabel, just
let me say this before you start freaking out.
Okay?” Michael watched Isabel
bite back a reply as she sat down. She
tilted her head and smiled politely.
“Go ahead Michael. I’m
listening.”
He didn’t know where to begin, so Michael started with
them. “Look, we’ve never talked about
this, but when you were almost at death’s door, and we all thought you might
die.” He paused for a moment. “Well, it was a surprise to all of us when
you were healed by me. I mean, I didn’t
think that I could ever do anything but kill.” Michael sat down on a nearby rock. Isabel’s face had softened.
“And when I healed you somehow, I don’t know, it was like a wake up call. I mean, I’ve never been able to connect with
that kind of power before. You know the
good kind.”
Isabel nodded. “I
know Michael, but…”
Michael shook his head.
“Just listen please.” Isabel
licked her lips and motioned for him to go on.
“I don’t think it was just a coincidence that I was able to heal you
Isabel. I believe it was because we
were meant to be.” As the last of his
words trickled out, Isabel tensed again and her eyes clouded. She opened her mouth to say something, but
Michael interrupted. “No. I don’t mean that. I mean genetically. Maybe
it had to do with being life partners, soul mates in our past. Maybe it might have something to do with our
alien biology, but Max couldn’t heal you and I could.”
Michael exhaled and looked up at the stars. “Do you know how many times I’ve wondered
about us? About our lives back on
Antar?” he asked thoughtfully. “I think
we’re missing a lot about ourselves and we don’t even know it. I know we’ve chosen to live our lives
here. Fine. But I can’t help but think about what part of ourselves we’ve
thrown away.”
Isabel stood up and walked over to him. Michael looked up at Isabel as she stood in
front of him. “Michael, what does this
have to do with Max and Tess? What does
this have to do with saving Max?”
Michael reached out and took her hands in his. “As much as we deny it Isabel, we need each
other. And so does Max and Tess.” Isabel began to protest, but Michael
interrupted her once more with his words.
“I don’t mean, well, I don’t mean together,” mumbled
Michael. Although, Michael knew he said
those exact words for her. He stood up
and walked over to the cave entrance.
“Just as I healed you. Max needs
Tess to heal him.”
The sun had set and Isabel remained in front of the rock
he’d just left, eerily quiet. Michael’s
gaze fell upon a tossing Max. He felt
ill just looking at the once formidable friend. A shell of what he once had been. Finally Michael tore his gaze from the depressing scene and
looked back at Isabel. She was staring
out at the darkening night sky.
Michael made his way toward her, finding a place beside her
on the cliff peak. “What are you
thinking?” he asked worriedly. Michael
prayed that he’d made sense, made Isabel understand.
Isabel tilted her head and looked at Michael. The moon was making its entrance onto the
dark blue curtain above and the first star appeared in the night sky. She swallowed and bit her lip. “I know what you’re saying Michael. And maybe you’re right. Maybe there’s more connecting each of us
together than just our past lives.” Isabel sighed as she ran her fingers
through her reddish hair. “But I still
don’t see how we can even consider the possibility of bringing her here. We don’t even have the capability to do that
with the Granolith gone. I don’t know
why we’re even thinking about it at all.”
Michael grasped her hands and turned her body parallel to
his. Looking straight into her eyes,
Michael felt a confidence he hadn’t before.
“I know Isabel. But from what
you’ve said, we don’t need to figure out a way to bring her here. We just need to send her a message to get
her to come here.”
Isabel pulled away.
“Michael, what makes you think she even cares?”
Michael grabbed her left arm and stopped her from walking
away. “Because she loves Max. That’s the one sure thing we can count
on. Tess loved Max. She was the only one who truly understood
what we were here for. Why we are the
way we are. She didn’t walk away from
who and what we were. Tess didn’t
hide.”
The words tasted bitter in Michael’s mouth. He hated saying these good things about the
woman who’d killed Alex, but they were the truth. And Michael wouldn’t paint her to be either good or evil. He’d seen people do that way too often, to himself
and to what they didn’t know.
Isabel looked at him in confusion. “I don’t know where this is coming from Michael, but I
can’t believe what I’m hearing. Are you
the same man who stood with me as we all decided her fate, only to have Max
decide to send her back to Antar? She
was the person she was supposed to be?
We were cop outs?” exclaimed Isabel. “It’s like I don’t know you Michael.”
He swallowed as Isabel seemed to look right through
him. “I know I sound like some kind of
traitor or something, but I’m not excusing any of it. But would all this have happened if we’d been with Nasedo? Would we be in this mess if we hadn’t broken
out of our pods earlier than Tess?
Would we have fallen in love with humans rather than each other?”
The last question seemed to stop time for a moment. Michael studied Isabel as she remained
speechless. It seemed like an eternity
before either one of them moved or spoke.
Finally Michael broke the silence.
“We need Tess. If I
wasn’t sure of it before, I’m sure of it now,” he said quietly. Isabel continued to study Michael. “I don’t like it Isabel. If I could, I would find a cure for Maxwell without
having to bring her back. Without
having to hurt you.”
Isabel looked into the walked into the cave, into the Granolith
chamber. As Michael followed her, he
couldn’t help feel a bit relieved. He’d
wanted to say that for a long time now, as vague as it was said, Michael felt
Isabel had an inkling of what he felt for her.
“Well, what are you proposing then?” Isabel pouted.
“Well, it seems we can contact her by linking our
thoughts. I think it’s time you do some
of the talking, and contact her. We
can’t just wait for her to contact us,” Michael explained. “We need to find out exactly how to help Max
and how to get her here.”
Isabel nodded quietly.
“Fine,” she agreed, looking up at Michael. “But we have to tell Liz and Maria. I don’t want them in the dark about this.”
Michael nodded.
“Yeah. They have to know Tess is
coming back.”
~~~
Isabel was dealing with a continuum of emotions. She didn’t know exactly what to think or to say anymore. The thought of Tess coming back seemed surreal. She didn’t even know that she could contact her, as Michael seemed confident they should. And on top of everything, Isabel couldn’t help but wonder what to do about Jesse.
He was coming back in 3 days and she didn’t know his frame
of mind, concerning Maxwell and his sickness.
Isabel certainly knew that he wouldn’t like the fact that she was using
her powers, but she thought it might be more understandable since Max was at
death’s door. Looking up from Max,
Isabel studied Michael who again was leaning against the cave entrance. She didn’t know what to make of the things
that were said tonight. Isabel had
always felt close to him, and she knew he didn’t get a long with Jesse, not
since the fish hit the ceiling.
Michael had a lot on his mind and Isabel wasn’t sure she
should tell him that Jesse was coming back.
She wasn’t sure he’d like the prospect that Jesse was going to
help. At least that’s what he’d implied
on the phone last night. In a way,
Isabel couldn’t deny the fact that life was simpler when she didn’t have to
worry about what Maria, Liz, or Jesse would think. But a part of her knew that she wouldn’t be the woman she was
without them. They taught her to open
up. They taught her that she could
trust.
Isabel sat down beside Max, ready to hunker down for the
night, but Michael scrambled from the cave entrance to the Granolith
chamber. “Isabel!” he cried. “There’s people out there.” Isabel’s eyes widened. Who could possibly be out in the desert
at this time of night?
“It could be some of the high school crowd fooling around,”
Isabel offered nervously. Michael shook
his head. “Only if the kids at school
found a large search light and are combing the desert, like they were tracking
something.”
She bit her lip and wiped Max’s warm brow with a cool
cloth. “I don’t know then Michael. Who would be looking for something in the
desert at this time of night?”
Michael walked over to the cliff’s peak for a moment and
then came back in. “I don’t know, but
they’re making their way to the cave.
We need to get them away from here, before they find us. I don’t know if they’re looking for us or Max,
but we can’t take that chance.”
Isabel nodded. “I
can try to mind warp them? I’ve never
done it, and it was always Tess’ gift…”
She felt uneasy about the situation.
It was like something bad was about to happen, but there was nothing
they could do about it.
Michael peeked out the entrance again. “Their lights are making there way towards
the cave. Can you make it seem like
there’s no entrance here? It would
probably be the simplest solution I can think of for now. “
Isabel nodded. “I
can try.” She closed her eyes and
formed an image of the entranceway.
Isabel formed a barrier in front of the entrance, merging the slab with
the rest of the cave walls. She could
feel a wave of energy pulsing within her.
Voices rang in the back of her mind, almost making her falter and drop
the illusion. Isabel frowned and
concentrated harder. She knew the
people who were out there, had made their way up to the cliff’s entrance. The voices became louder, but that made
Isabel focus even more. All she could
see was a dusty cavernous wall in front of her. It seemed to overwhelm her.
Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, which snapped her
out of the trance-like state. “Isabel?”
Michael whispered. Isabel gasped loudly
with a sharp intake of air. She felt
herself lean back, but Michael supported her from behind. “Are you okay?”
Isabel smiled briefly, holding her head. “Yeah,” she said breathily. “I’ll be fine. Just a little wiped.”
Michael looked at her unconvinced. “Are you sure?” he said
worriedly.
Isabel patted him on his knee. “Yeah.” She plastered a wide smile on her face. Isabel felt nauseous. Leaning back against Michael, Isabel closed
her eyes for a moment, letting a wave of light-headedness pass over her. Finally regaining her composure, Isabel sat
up slowly and turned to Michael. “Did
they suspect anything? Did they find
the entrance?”
Michael shook his head.
“No,” he smiled. “You did a
great job.” Isabel smiled at the
compliment and chuckled. “Of
course. What did you expect?”
Michael laughed and shook his head. Isabel leaned back against him once more, a
sudden bout of dizziness over taking her.
She felt comforted by the warmth of his body and the strength of his
arms. Isabel closed her eyes as she felt
a Michael place a butterfly kiss upon the top of her head.
She did a great job.