Disclaimer: If they were mine Tess wouldn’t exist. But they’re not so she does. I wouldn’t mind owning Jason Behr though.

Summary: A Tess P.O.V. set after destiny. -When Max finally realizes that he can’t win his ‘Siamese-human’ back, no matter what he does, he goes off and does something really stupid.

Author’s note: Sorry Alex got missed out, just assume they couldn’t get past ‘Military Mom’ or something. I know, I know, I’m evil to leave him out. I’m sorry, I beg forgiveness. E-mail me and assure me that you are merciful and I am forgiven.

******

God, I never wanted it to happen like this. This is not how it was meant to be. He was supposed to love me. Not her. Me. She’s not even the same species. We’re not even a species, we were engineered. He was engineered for me! He is mine. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine! Nesado said so. The hologram said so. My dreams say so. So why does he love HER?!

I didn’t want to believe that he loved her, not at first. I thought of her as a toy, or a pet. Something that was fun to play with but easily cast aside. It was easy to think of her like that, she behaves like a Siamese-cat. I used to watch her purr as he stroked her hair, watch her rub up against him as she waited tables at the Crashdown. It was hard, but I could smile as she curled up on his lap. I thought that he was mine, that was my comfort, for I knew the truth. I thought that once he knew, once they knew, he would come to me. How was I to know that he’s a cat-person?! Well, a person-alien or whatever! He is not supposed to love her, but he does. He wouldn’t have done this if he didn’t. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I do that sometimes, it makes Nasedo mad. I guess I better start at the beginning. Well, not at the beginning, that would take too long. So where do I start?

Once upon a time there was a handsome prince, a very noble prince, and he was a great leader. He had a sister who was brave and fearless. She was betrothed to his best friend and second-in-command. He also had a young and beautiful, if very naive, wife who he loved very, very much… But that is the beginning, and I said I wasn’t going to start at the beginning. So where do I start?

Okay, how’s this? The cave was silent as the hologram faded. We all exchanged knowing looks, we all understood now. Slowly memories of who we had been, what we had meant to each other, came to us. His eyes locked with mine. Wordlessly he walked towards me, he wrapped me in his arms, his lips finding mine. The human girl shrieked at him as his lips moved to my chin, my neck. She was crying now, calling his name, but he ignored her… But that’s not how it happened. That’s how it should have happened, how I had imagined it would happen, but it’s not how it happened.

Let’s try this again. The truth this time… I will start in the middle and I will tell the truth. So he didn’t come to me. He went to her, but she didn’t want him. Everything was backwards. She understood, the human girl really understood, I hadn’t expected that. But he didn’t, he didn’t understand! He had heard but he still wanted her! Noble, brave, loyal, stupid prince. I didn’t understand at first, I though that he was just confused, I thought that in time… I thought wrong!

He collapsed into tears as she ran down the hill, ran away from him. His friend wouldn’t let me near him. His sister grabbed the keys to the jeep and went after her. They were all so worried about her, about his little Siamese-human, and nobody cared about me.

He tried to get her back for weeks, he really tried. He did everything he could think of but nothing worked. Four weeks and five days after she had left him he gave up. It was a Friday. Nobody had to tell me he had given up, the change was so dramatic. It was like the fire in his eyes had suddenly burnt out. His eyes weren’t cold, they were just empty, dead. Nobody guessed that he would do what he did. Nobody saw it coming… But I’m getting ahead of myself again. And that makes Nasedo mad.

So it was a Friday, a Friday night. He had given up on her, on everything. He had given up on himself. He decided to find Kyle. Some people say that there are only three things in life you can count on: Birth, death and taxes. Well here is a fourth. If it’s a Friday night, Kyle Valenti will have alcohol. He wanted to get drunk, he wanted to get really drunk. And he wanted to talk about her. Kyle had dated her, she had dumped Kyle for him. But Kyle also knew his secret, our secret, Kyle knew that he was different-- Alien. He had saved Kyle’s life.

Kyle is not very coherent, he’s babbling so it is difficult to work out what happened. But this is what I have worked out so far: Kyle had been drinking with some mates, not friends, mates. (There is a difference, I don’t know what it is but then I have never had either. Not in this life anyway.) He drove up in his jeep. He didn’t walk up to them, he didn’t say anything, he just waited. Kyle looked at him for a while and then held up a bourbon bottle. He nodded. Kyle walked over and handed it to him. He took a long swig and then gave it back.

“Can we talk?”

“Sure, Evans.”

He looked at the small group of guys nervously and took another swig of bourbon. “Somewhere more private?… I do stupid things when I’m drunk…”

Kyle nodded and got into the jeep. “So what’s going on between you and Liz?”

“You mean what’s not going on, will never go on, between me and Liz?”

“Oh.”

They drove in silence for a while. They went a little way out of Roswell. They talked a lot. They got very drunk. He showed Kyle a few things, like how he can move objects with his mind and how he can manipulate molecular structures. Kyle was really fascinated. Finally they decided that they should head back into town. They were driving very fast. Suddenly he asked if Kyle’s seatbelt was on. When Kyle nodded, he smiled. He flung his arm across Kyle’s chest as he drove straight into the rock wall.

He had lined it up perfectly, his body took most of the impact. Kyle was barely scratched.

Kyle was stunned to be alive. He had tried to kill himself, but as drunk as he was he had still protected Kyle. He always tries to protect everybody. Kyle went to check his pulse, paused to wonder where he would find one, and then checked the usual spot anyway. He found it, it was faint, but it was there. Kyle didn’t know what to do. Finally Kyle called her. The Siamese-human.

She was at the Crashdown, so were his best friend and his best friend’s human, her best friend. (The other human was out of town.) They called his sister, his sister called me. So that is why we are sitting in the middle of the desert, in the middle of the night, in a circle around his broken body with the healing stones in our hands getting ready to try and bring him back. He is so badly hurt. We tried to heal him the other way but we couldn’t. I know now that only she can bring him back. He is not mine, I accept that now. Maybe he was never mine. I don’t know. But I know and accept that he is not and will never be mine. By accepting that I must accept other things. I must accept that they choose to live as humans, that they love humans. I must accept who they are now, they are not who they were. And I must use their names.

Kyle is leaning against the mangled jeep shaking. She, Liz, is sitting near his head, Max’s head, to his left. Her best friend, Maria, is to her left. His best friend, Michael, sits between Maria and me. His sister, Isabel, sits between me and her, Liz. Her name is Liz. And Max loves her.

I look up at her and smile. Isabel squeezes her had gently. I can see the doubt in her eyes. “He needs you Liz.” She looks up at me surprised.

“Let’s just do this.” She mutters. We all start to concentrate on the stones.

****

I am standing in the desert, it is not the same part of the desert my body is in, I am at the crashsight. I am not really in the desert, I am in Max’s head. The sky is filled with storm clouds. I can see him. I try to move towards him but I can’t, he won’t let me. I can see Isabel to my left, tears are running down her face. She wants to go to him but he won’t let her either. Slowly I make out Michael and Maria on my right. And then I see her, Liz. Somehow she is making herself glow, I will have to ask her about that later. We are all looking at her now, all of us except Max. Slowly he turns towards her. She glows brighter and takes a step towards him.

****

With a thud I am dumped back into reality. I look around blinking. We all have our eyes open now, all except Liz and Max. Max is still lying in the centre of our little circle. The stone in my hand is still glowing a little, they all are. The one in Liz’s hand is glowing the brightest.

“What the…?”

“He pushed us out, Michael.” Isabel answers. The pain in her voice is unmistakable.

Maria looks at Liz and her eyes are suddenly filled with fear. “Liz!” Michael grabs her arm as she reaches for her friend.

“Do you want to kill her?” he mutters, “Do you want to kill Max?!”

“Give her your stones,” I tell them. Everybody turns to look at me, they still don’t trust me. “Well, don’t then, if you think she’s strong enough to heal him and bring him back with just one of them.” I jump to my feet and walk towards her. I kneel in front of her and gently place my stone in her hands. The stone I have given her glows brighter, it glows to match the other one she is holding. “Bring him back, Liz,” I whisper. They are all watching me, they think I am going to hurt her. Why can’t they just trust me? I stand up slowly and walk towards Kyle.

Isabel sighs. One by one they each give her their stones. The glow of the stones in her hands just gets brighter and brighter. It makes her entire body seem to glow. Slowly Max’s injuries start to glow and then heal. It’s amazing! This girl, this *human* girl can use the stones to heal him when the three of us can’t fix one scratch on his body! Just because he won’t let us in. The light from the stones quickly fades. Liz, who has been sitting straight like a queen, slumps as she lets the stones spill from her hands. Max is coughing now. Isabel and Michael rush to him but I keep back. Maria cradles Liz in her arms.

“Liz? Liz!”

“I’m okay, ‘Ria.” She sounds so weak, her voice is only a whisper. Maria holds her in a motherly embrace. They are so close, I wonder if they’ll ever really know how lucky they are to have each other? Max finally manages to stop coughing. He is at Liz’s side now, they are all talking at once.

“May as well have a brick wall around them,” I mutter to nobody in particular.

“Yeah,” Kyle agrees. God, I forgot he was here. The two of us stand quietly watching. In time they will remember we are here, but they have to remember we exist first.

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