Rating: PG-13 for language
Category: Other Stories
Disclaimers: The characters of Roswell belong to the WB, among others, but apparently I just can’t stop myself from borrowing them.
Summary: Okay, so now they really are going on a road trip. And in case it’s been awhile since you read the first story…Maria and Michael are firmly in the ‘off’ position at the moment – after having a seriously nasty exchange of words at the end of part 1. The last batch of visions Max saw (at the expense of some pretty intense action between Max and Liz) included Atherton taking a peek at the stones and …leading the gang to conclude that he stole them. So they’re on their way back to Texas…Oh and the Sheriff figured out that Jones was following him…I think that’s it.

Author’s note/soapbox: If you’re reading this then I assume you’ve read my other stories, and if you haven’t good luck getting what’s going on…stepping on soapbox, 3, 2, 1…So crazy as it may be I like to include a little musical component to these stories. There’s actually a lot of thought that goes into most of the music behind my stories…but…since I write these stories for myself, and the five people who give me feedback, I don’t really think about what the music sounds like, because I know it and I share it with the above mentioned five people who so graciously give me feedback. And I don’t include lyrics because these stories are already way too long as it is. Having said that, I do recognize the large annoying factor that comes with seeing the title of a song and having no concept of what said song sounds like. So I do apologize to those of you who might be irritated with this aspect of my stories, but sometimes I write scenes solely to include a song in a story (sad, yes I know, but nevertheless true). It’s all good music, not that I’m biased in any way, and if you see something you don’t recognize might I just suggest a little visit to Amazon.com or Cdnow.com. Who knows, you might actually like it and be glad you did…anyway…

(Scene: School hallway before classes. Max is methodically loading his backpack with textbooks and notebooks from his locker. He pauses for a moment and looks to his left, just as Liz turns the corner heading toward him. He quickly zips up his pack and shuts his locker, turning to her as she reaches him.)

Max: Hey.

Liz: Hey.

Max (noting her downcast face): No luck?

Liz (shaking her head slowly): No. You?

Max (leaning his back against the lockers): No. He won’t talk about it with either of us…not for lack of effort on Izzy’s part.

Liz: This is bad. They can’t even look at each other, how are they gonna last 10 hours in a car together tomorrow? They’ll kill each other before reaching the city limits.

Max: I don’t know what to do. Michael’s never been big on apologies.

Liz: You don’t even want to know what Maria’s been calling him.

Max: At least she’s talking about him.

Liz: No, at least she’s been sleeping through the night.

Max (curious): What?

Liz: Her father leaving her was the single most painful experience of her life. And when she dreams about it, it’s not pleasant.

Max (thoughtfully): Sounds like somebody else we know.

(He lets out a sigh and looks down at Liz. A brief smile passes over his face at the sight of Liz absentmindedly playing with one of the buttons on his shirt. The smile fades as his thoughts turn to the past week. He lets out another sigh.)

Max (hesitantly): I’m sorry I’ve been so distant…you know…that we haven’t…been together…

Liz (looking up at him): No, Max, we’ve been busy…with Michael and Maria and…I understand. Believe me, I understand. I wish I would have known sooner, you know, seen what you were seeing – I never would have pushed you…

Max: No you’re right. I would want the visions out of me too.

Liz (earnestly): But we could’ve waited him out – not given him what he wanted.

Max: He would’ve just found another way.

Liz (letting out a heavy sigh and resting her head against the locker, softly): He makes me so confused. (Max looks down at her) I mean, what he’s doing to us, (she looks up at him) to you – I’ve never hated anyone so much. But what I saw, felt – I didn’t think it was possible for loneliness to be so painful. (She shakes her head.) I just don’t know what to think.

Max (leaning into the lockers close to her): It’s okay if you feel sorry for him – I hate him enough for both of us.

Liz (quickly looking up at him): Max…

Max: I saw and felt those things too, Liz – it’s all I can feel, see. What he took I can never get back…we can never get back.

Liz (softly): Max…

(Her eyes darken with pain and Max can’t help but be drawn in by them. This is why he had been staying away...the magnetic force of everything Liz. He gets lost in her eyes, focusing on the little golden specks floating in them, and before he can stop it he’s leaning forward, getting lost in another of his favorite facial features.

(Liz hesitates to kiss, not sure if Max is registering what he’s doing. But it doesn’t take long for her to relax into it, letting her hand slide up his shirt and wrap around his neck. Max slowly brings his left hand to cup her face and, as he does, he furrows his brow. Bringing his right hand to her face he pulls her into him and deepens the kiss.

(They kiss – and keep kissing – oblivious to the fact that the halls slowly begin to fill with students, who can’t help but notice them.)

Jock 1: Dude, is that who I think it is?

Jock 2: Hard to tell.

Girl 1 (as she walks past them): Can’t they keep it to the eraser room?

Girl 2 (walking next to Girl 1): Jealous much?

Girl 3 (as she enters the hallway): Ohmygod!

(The crowd of on lookers grows, as does the intensity of the kissing. Finally Max pulls away, holding his face only inches from Liz’s.)

Max (breathlessly): They’re gone.

Guy 1: Uh, no man, we’re all still pretty much here.

(At the sound of chuckles coming from the bystanders, Max instantly freezes and turns various shades of red.)

Guy 2 (hitting him on the back as he walks past them): Way to go, Evans!

Jock 1 (shaking his head): Perfect, Parker…

(Max can’t move, completely frozen in a state of embarrassed terror. Liz just smiles, trying not to laugh at the look on his face. Poor Max…She takes his hand and turns to the crowd, playfully glaring at them as she leads Max down the hallway.)

Jock 3: I guess we just found who melted the Janitor’s closet.

(Max groans at that comment, the last one he hears before turning the corner and exiting the building.)

(Scene cuts to a different part of campus. Music: Shawn Colvin – Shotgun Down the Avalanche. Maria and Alex are walking together outside in the quad. The group of girls in front of them enters a classroom, no longer blocking the view of the quad walkway – or more importantly, no longer blocking the view of Michael and Isabel heading toward them. Eye contact is made for a nanosecond before both Michael and Maria turn in opposite directions, leaving Isabel and Alex to look at one another in mutual sympathy before following after them.

Scene fast-forwards to second period…Michael is sitting in the last row intently looking at the back of Maria’s head. He lets out a sigh and turns to look out the window, ignoring the penetrating gaze Maria sends him as she turns to zip-up her backpack. The bell rings and Michael stays seated. As Maria’s about to leave the classroom, he looks toward the door and their eyes meet, in an exchange of anger and pain that lasts only seconds.

Later at lunch, Isabel, Max, Alex and Liz are standing around in the quad waiting for Michael and Maria. Maria exits the building from the far right set of doors seconds before Michael exits from the left ones. They walk toward the group. Alex and Liz look at Max and Isabel and they all let out sighs as they divide into separate groups and head in different directions.)

(Scene: Liz’s bedroom, early evening. Liz is in the bathroom checking on her stitches while Maria lies on the bed.)

Liz (from inside the bathroom, exasperated): Maria.

Maria: Don’t even. Do we have to go over the rules again? You’re my best friend, which means you’re on my side.

Liz: There aren’t any sides here, Maria.

Maria (sitting up on the bed, almost hurt): How can you say that? You heard him.

Liz (coming out of the bathroom and sitting down on the bed next to Maria): I know, and what he said was horrible. But I heard you, too, and what you said to him was just as horrible.

Maria (pouting): Some best friend you are.

Liz: Maria.

Maria: He didn’t have to say it.

Liz: That’s the point. You hurt him Maria, so he hurt you back.

Maria: You can’t hurt an inanimate object.

Liz: Please! You knew what you were doing. You wanted to hurt him. (Maria looks away from her.) When you know someone, I mean really know them; it means you know how to hurt them. I’m not talking ‘flesh wounds’ that you just get over. You know Michael better than he knows himself sometimes, just like he knows you.

Maria: Pa-lease! Everyone is not you and Max with the whole soulmate-thing. Michael doesn’t know the first thing about me…

Liz: Right, like he doesn’t know how to push any of your buttons and get you to fly off in a spastic fit?

Maria: Half the school knows how to do that.

Liz (shaking her head and letting out a heavy sigh): We all say things we don’t mean when we’re angry, Maria.

Maria: So? Doesn’t mean they’re forgiven.

(Liz looks at Maria and smiles. She gets up from the bed and goes over to her desk, rummaging through a couple of drawers.)

Maria: What are you doing?

Liz: Fourth grade.

Maria: What?

Liz: You are forcing me to bring up fourth grade.

(Maria watches Liz in confusion, trying to figure out what the hell she’s talking about. Just as Liz finds the letter she’s looking for, it hits her.)

Maria: Oh no, that is so not relevant.

Liz (smiling): Not relevant? Do I need to read this aloud?

Maria: Totally, and in all ways, not relevant!

Liz: Maria, you gave me a letter telling me you hated me, that I was a big baby and that you never (she opens up the letter to read) ‘ever’ (she looks back at Maria) wanted to see me again and that I wasn’t your friend anymore. How is this not relevant?

Maria: It just isn’t…Hello! I was in fourth grade.

Liz: And some things never change. This (she shakes the letter) is how you deal with your anger. Mouth first. Mind later.

Maria: Total cheap shot, and still totally not relevant!

Liz (sitting on the bed): It’s a good thing I wrote you back saying that even if I wasn’t your friend you were still mine…or where would we be now?

Maria: Not in any way hiding from the law or involved with the “Dark Side”.

Liz (pausing and letting out another heavy sigh): What can I say?

Maria: Nothing. (She lies down on the bed, hugging a pillow) I re-live it every day when I wake up, you know. It’s like I can hear Mom crying in the kitchen, and for the slightest second as I’m opening my eyes I’m 8 again…and then I remember, I’m not 8, I’m 16 and Dad still isn’t here, and he never will be.

Liz: What if he did come back now? What would you do?

Maria: Kick his ass. (Liz looks down at her and Maria’s face softens) I don’t know anymore…and I never will, because he’s never coming back.

Liz (looking thoughtfully at Maria as she lies down next to her): Michael’s been alone since the day he was born. Hoping that someone would come back for him – be something to him…and someone finally has. No matter what Nasedo’s done, Michael’s still a little boy looking for someone to explain his existence to him.

Maria: He wasn’t born. He was hatched.

Liz (looking at her): Is that how you see him…them? Hatchlings?

Maria: No, you know that. That’s how he sees himself – ever the alien he is, never the human he pretends to be. He’s so full of shit. (She pauses for a moment) It scares me. It scares me that he can hurt me…hurt me like my dad did.

Liz: I know.

Maria (rolling her head toward Liz after a long pause): I can’t promise anything.

Liz (smiling): I’m just asking for ‘civil’.

Maria: No guarantees.

Liz (resting her head against Maria’s shoulder): Thank you.

Maria (resting her head against Liz’s): Save it babe, let’s live through tomorrow first.

(Scene: The Evans’ house, middle of the night. Isabel’s door opens and she looks down the dark hallway toward Max’s room. The door is shut and she creeps by, heading for the kitchen. Only a sliver of moonlight seeps in from the kitchen window, not enough to illuminate Isabel as she moves about the room with ease. She opens the refrigerator pulling out some milk and a boxed pie. She takes a cup out of the cupboard and grabs a fork. She makes her way to the table and goes to sit down in the dark.)

Max (from the darkness): Get your own chair.

Isabel: Ohmygod! (The pie can be heard sliding inside the box as Isabel tries to recover from the shit getting scared out of her. The lights flip on and, Isabel, now covered in spilt milk, looks down at Max) Max, what are you doing?!

Max (eyeing Isabel and then the pie and pink milk in front of him on the table): Having pie.

Isabel: In the dark?

Max (looking at her): What are you doing?

Isabel (looking down at the pie box in her hand): Whatever. You scared the shit out of me. (She cleans herself of the spilt milk) Why aren’t you in bed? Is Michael sleeping?

Max (slightly shaking his head): He didn’t come over tonight. I don’t think he wanted Maria and Alex to think he’d spent the night here.

Isabel (sitting down across from Max): This is so ridiculous. Why don’t they just kiss and make up?

Max: She threw him.

Isabel (as she pours some Tabasco sauce on a fork-full of pie): What are you talking about?

Max: What she said. He’s been waiting his whole life for Nasedo. Waiting for the answers…who we are, why we’re here, where we came from…We had Mom and Dad and all he had was nothing but the hope that someone would come for him.

Isabel (hesitantly): Do you think he could be…I mean, do you think Nasedo could be related to us?

Max: I don’t know. I hope not. (Their eyes meet across the table and Isabel looks down at the pie.)

Isabel: I’m worried about him. He’s never been like this. (They both take bites of pie and sips of milk and she finally looks at Max questioningly) Why are you up?

Max: I could ask you the same thing.

Isabel: I couldn’t sleep – too busy plotting all the ways I’m going to kill them tomorrow if I need to. Your excuse?

Max: Just couldn’t sleep…that’s all.

Isabel (eyeing him closely): Heard about the show you put on this morning – quite the talk around school. (Max glares over at her as she plops more pie in her mouth.)

Max (letting out a sigh, under his breath): I’m sure it was.

Isabel (intently): So they’re gone?

Max: Yea.

Isabel: You don’t seem too excited about it.

Max: Doesn’t really change things, I could still hurt her. (Thinking about it) Makes it harder actually…

Isabel (taking the last sip of her milk) Poor you! Sexual frustration verses the prospect of spending 12 hours with two bickering 5 year olds in a space the size of this table. (She looks at him.) Care to trade?

Max (laughing at her): No thanks.

Isabel (getting up from the table and putting the pie box back in the refrigerator): Didn’t think so. Wish them luck tomorrow…I am not against using force.

Max: Sorry I’m gonna miss it.

Isabel (as she heads toward the hallway, looking back at Max): I could give you a preview.

(Max raises his hands in defeat and she laughs at him as she turns the corner, flicking the lights off with her powers as she goes.)

(Scene: Outside Michael’s apartment building, early Saturday morning. The Jetta pulls up out front and Isabel quickly gets out and heads for the door. Just for future entertainment purposes, Alex is wearing a red and white, stripped shirt.)

Maria (in the driver’s seat, to Alex sitting in the back behind her as they both watch Isabel waiting for Michael at the front door): Do you realize how much she owes me for this? We’re talking Everest here. It’ll take her years…no more working Saturday nights…or Fridays…and holidays…

(She trails off as Michael appears. He shuts the door behind him and he and Isabel head toward the car. Isabel opens the car door and looks at Michael. Who looks back at her a little confused.)

Maria (leaning over the passenger’s seat): I already have a co-pilot, you’re in the back buddy.

(She reaches over the front of the passenger seat and pulls the little lever causing the seat to move forward giving Michael access to the backseat. Michael glares in her direction as he ducks into the car. Isabel re-adjusts the seat and gets in. She takes a deep breath before shutting the door. Maria pulls away from the curb and they take off down the road.)

Maria (over her shoulder to Alex): You bring it?

Alex: Are you kidding me? Wouldn’t leave home without it.

(He pulls out a tape case from his backpack sitting between him and Michael. Unzipping the case he takes out a tape and hands it up front to Maria. She takes it, checking for the right side and then puts it into the tape deck. Music: Willie Nelson – On The Road Again The music starts and after a second Isabel looks sideways at Maria.)

Isabel: What’s that?

Maria: Mood music.

Isabel: For what, a country hoe-down?

Maria (looking at Isabel, annoyed): Driving.

Isabel: Driving me crazy maybe.

Maria: Got issues, take them up with the backseat.

Isabel (letting out a sigh): Right. (She turns and looks over her shoulder to Alex)

Alex (innocently looking at her): What? It’s like the quintessential kick-off…You know…on the road… (She looks at him with a raised brow) I just thought we could use a little road trippin’ send off – of the non-psychedelic variety.

Isabel (turning back to the front): Right.

Alex: Hey, we’re thoroughly stocked here. It’s all good, we’ve got the classics…the Beatles, some Stones, a little Queen, Joni Mitchell…all musical tastes shall be satisfied, this is just the first song of the ‘classics collection’…

Michael (reaching over and grabbing the tape case from Alex): Let me see that.

Alex (looking at Michael) Well…there kinda isn’t anything in there for you…your music really isn’t ‘driving’ music...more like ‘crashing’ music.

(Michael looks at him and scowls. He flips through the tapes and eventually pulls one out and turns to Alex holding it up with a questioning face.)

Alex: What? Classic road trip music…granted if we were going north it’d be a little more appropriate.

Michael (very seriously): I am not listening to John Denver.

Maria (looking at Michael in the rearview mirror): Oh really. You know, I’m feeling like a little Rocky Mountain High. (She reaches her hand over to Michael who looks at her and doesn’t move.) I’m driving I choose the music. You got a problem with that? My car, my rules, my driving shift, my music…Give it to me.

(Michael just stares at her in the rearview mirror.)

Isabel (clearly irritated): Give her the tape Michael.

(He looks sideways at the back of Isabel’s head through the car seat and then returns his eyes to a now gloating and smirking Maria – big mistake. He raises his eyebrow at her and the smell of melting plastic fills the car. Maria, wide-eyed, looks down at his hand holding a now ruined John Denver tape. She slams – slams – on the brake and everyone in the car jolts forward.)

Alex (holding his neck): We there already?

Maria (whipping around to Michael): THAT’S IT! Out of the fucking car asshole!

(Michael is too busy peeling himself off of the seat in front of him to hear her. Incensed at his non-response, Maria whips back around to the front and reaches for the door. As she’s about the open it, the locks on all four doors are heard clicking into the ‘locked’ position. She tries unlocking it, but it doesn’t move. Furious, she turns, meeting a very, very irritated Isabel rubbing her shoulder under the seatbelt strap and glaring at her.)

Maria: Let me out of the car, Carrie.

Isabel: At this rate it’ll take us five hours just to get to the highway. Drive the damn car and let me deal with my half of the backseat. (Maria doesn’t move and Isabel intensifies her glare) If you don’t drive this car, you will have more to worry about than the backseat.

Maria (letting out a laugh): You don’t scare me. Eight months ago, maybe that would’ve worked. You can’t make me do anything, least of all make me drive my car.

(Maria defiantly folds her arms across her chest. Isabel raises an eyebrow and Alex in the back quickly reaches over and buckles Michael in his seatbelt. Before Michael can protest the car makes an excruciatingly painful noise as both its brake and accelerator are pushed down at the same time. Scared by the noise Maria releases the brake and the car takes off. Grabbing the steering wheel she attempts to control the car as it speeds through the streetlight.)

Maria: Abducted twice in my own goddamn car…I hate you people!

(Scene: The Valenti residence. The Sheriff, casually dressed, steps out of the house to get the paper resting near the sidewalk. He rolls his neck a couple times; stealing glances down the street. He bends down to pick up the paper and looking to his left spots the car he was searching for. Standing up he leisurely walks back to the front door, smiling.)

(Scene: UFO Center. Max pulls the jeep into the parking lot. He looks at his watch and swearing under his breath, grabs his backpack from the passenger seat and hurriedly walks toward the main entrance. As he rounds the corner another car slowly parks along side the curb across the street. Agent Banks watches as Max enters the Center and he slowly gets out of his car. He surveys the quiet street as he walks across it toward the jeep.

Continually glancing around, he approaches the jeep, pulling a gloved hand with tweezers out of his right coat pocket and a small plastic bag out of his left. Once he reaches the jeep, he looks around again, finding no one in sight he leans down and inspects the top of the front seat for hair. It doesn’t take long for him to notice Max’s coat lying on the backseat. Smiling he reaches over and grabs it. Setting it over the door he takes a couple of strands of hair off the collar and puts them in the bag.

While Banks is busy looking for hair a large black cat jumps onto the hood of the jeep and sits quietly watching him. Banks returns the coat to the back and then sets the bagged hair samples on the front seat. He reaches into his pocket again and pulls out a small cloth inside a plastic bag. Taking it out of the bag he wipes the cloth over the steering wheel and gearshift. While Banks leans to wipe the gearshift the black cat jumps over the windshield, landing in the passenger seat. Banks flinches, startled by the movement, but relaxes when he sees it’s just a cat. The cat meows and moves toward him.)

Banks: Nice kitty.

(The cat reaches out with its front paw and swipes at Banks’ hand and the piece of cloth he holds – connecting with both. Banks retracts his hand and holds it with his other one.)

Banks: Ouch, you damn cat! (He looks down at his gloved hand and can see blood seeping out from a tear in his glove.) Tore right through the leather…(He looks back at the cat, now sitting on top of the bagged hair samples.) Fuckin’ cat.

(Banks checks the parking lot again before returning his attention to the cat.)

Banks: Shoo cat, come on I don’t have all day. What are you waiting for…(Banks puts the torn cloth back in it’s bag, trying not to get his blood on it. He looks at the cat and makes like he’s going to pet it, but the cat swipes again, this time without connecting.) Damnit!

(Banks is getting antsy. He looks around for something to use to push the cat away, finding nothing he lets out a sigh of frustration. He opens the jeep door, to maybe kick the cat off the bag, but once the door is all the way open, the cat jumps down from the seat. Banks grabs the bag and brushes it off. He turns to look at the cat, but it’s gone.)

Banks (shaking his head): Jones’ll never believe this one.

(The cat sits in the shadows near the front corner of the building and watches Banks cross the parking lot and head toward his car. The cat’s eyes follow the agent and then pass him looking beyond the parking lot down the street. In a beat up old car Deputy Blackwood sits with binoculars watching Agent Banks. Is it possible for a cat to smile?)

(Scene: Gas station, outside Fort Stockton, Texas. The red Jetta pulls up to a pump with music blaring – seriously blaring. Maria turns the engine off and looks over at Isabel expectantly. Isabel lets out a sigh and unlocks the doors. Maria opens her door and bolts for the restroom. Alex takes out his earplugs and puts them back in his pocket. He looks over at Michael, who’s watching him.)

Alex: What? (Michael just shakes his head at him and then turns to look out the window after Maria.)

Isabel: She okay?

Alex: Yea, but we won’t be if we don’t start pumpin’ some gas. (He nods in the direction of a man standing outside the door watching them intently.)

Michael (hitting the back of Isabel’s seat): Get out, I’ll do it.

(Isabel gets out of the car, followed by Michael. He walks around the car and unscrews the gas tank cap to start pumping gas. Alex, now standing at the front of the car near Isabel, looks between Michael and the direction Maria went and finally at Isabel. She raises a questioning eyebrow to him and he shrugs his shoulders. Isabel looks back at Michael and then heads for the bathroom. Alex turns around and finds Michael sitting on the hood turning over the ruined John Denver tape in his hand.)

Alex (walking up to him): So can you fix it? (Michael just looks up at him annoyed.) Right. (He sits down next to Michael) She needed a new one anyway…you can’t even hear the lyrics on that one it’s so old. It was her dad’s. (Michael stops fidgeting with it and looks down at it. He looks at Alex, then closes his eyes, inwardly cursing himself.)

(Scene cuts to the women’s restroom inside the station’s quickmart. Isabel stands outside the door leaning into it to see if she can hear Maria. She softly knocks and Maria’s sharp voice answers.)

Maria: What?

Isabel (shaking her head, obviously not sure what to do): Are you done? Can I come in?

Maria: What, so you can watch me pee?

Isabel: No. (She looks to her left and notices she’s being watched by a couple of guys. She turns back to the door.) Look, let me in, okay? People are staring.

(The door unlocks and Maria opens it letting Isabel in. Maria moves over to the sink and Isabel leans against the door watching her. Maria looks at her in the mirror with red eyes.)

Isabel: You okay?

Maria: Like you care.

Isabel: Okay, I’m not very good at this, alright?

Maria: Clearly.

Isabel: I’m trying here, take it or leave it.

Maria: And if I say leave it, you gonna lock me in here and make me listen to you anyway?

Isabel (letting out a sigh): Admittedly, I didn’t handle that very well, but you have to agree that something needed to be done…or we’d still be in Roswell.

Maria: Yea, and humiliating me just happened to be it?

Isabel (shaking her head in frustration): I’m sorry okay, what do you want from me?

Maria (leaning over the sink, quietly): Fix the tape.

Isabel: What?

Maria (looking over at her): The tape, can you fix it?

Isabel (taken aback): Yea.

Maria (turning back to the sink): Thanks.

Isabel (watching Maria closely after a long pause): Look, I don’t know what to think of Nasedo. I don’t like what he’s doing and I know Michael doesn’t either. (Maria looks at her in the mirror and she stops. She shakes her head, lets out a sigh and looks around the bathroom) At least this trip there’s no raunchy Aladdin hotel…

Maria: Yet…he could still blow up the car.

Isabel (smiling at her): True.

(They look at each other smiling and break out into laughter)

Maria (looking around the bathroom): This is definitely a step up.

(Their laughter is interrupted by a knock at the door.)

Alex (from behind the door): Uh, ladies, we’re about five seconds from getting our asses towed outta here if we don’t get a move on. (There’s a brief pause as Alex looks around the mart) Not to mention a couple of guys in big hats checkin’ me out.

(Isabel swings the door open, smiling at Alex)

Isabel: It’s cuz you’re so cute.

(She pinches his cheek as she exits the bathroom. Alex watches her go, dreamily, and Maria rolls her eyes pulling Alex along toward the exit. When they get to the car, Michael’s sitting in the drivers seat waiting for them. Alex climbs in back, followed by Maria. She makes eye contact with Michael, via the rearview mirror, before Isabel shuts the door and Michael starts the car. They pull out of the gas station as John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home Country Roads’ starts in the tape deck. Maria looks at Michael and then Alex, who hands her the tape case of the new tape Michael bought her. She takes the case, looks at the back of Michael’s head again and then turns to the window, closing her eyes and singing along. Michael watches her in the mirror, as does Isabel.)

(Scene: Sheriff’s Station. Sheriff Valenti exits the station putting his hat on and adjusting his sunglasses. He makes his way to the cruiser and gets in. After buckling up he reaches over to the front of his car door, near the dashboard, and uses the small lever to adjust his left side mirror. Finding Jones’s car off in the distance he smiles and starts the car.)

Sheriff: Let’s go for a ride.

(Scene fast-forwards about an hour or so to some random streets of Roswell. The Sheriff makes a few turns, cruising the streets and continually checking to make sure that Jones is following him. He finally turns onto Highway 380 and heads in the direction of Bitter Lake. After stopping, momentarily at Bitter Lake, he turns south on County Road 1, and swings by the town of Dexter before heading north back up to Roswell.

Jones watches the Sheriff intently, from what, in any other circumstances, would be a safe distance. He takes care to note any place the Sheriff stops at or visits repeated times and any landmarks that might be of interest. His patience is wearing thin as they enter the town of Dexter and seem to cruise its streets before getting on Highway 2 and eventually north on Highway 285.)

(Scene: Outskirts of Marathon, Texas. The Jetta pulls up to Atherton’s house and the four teens exit the car and apprehensively approach it.)

Alex (in the general direction of Isabel and Michael): You bring the key?

Isabel (waving her hand over the lock and pushing the door open): What key?

Alex (as he watches Michael, followed by Isabel, enter the house): Right, how do I keep forgetting that…?

(Maria rolls her eyes at him and follows the aliens into the house. Alex takes a long look behind him just for safe measure and then enters and closes the door. Isabel and Michael are on separate sides of the room, looking closely at the ground and shelves in the wall.)

Alex (looking up at the ceiling): Wow, how would you heat this thing? (Lowering his gaze) And why aren’t there any walls?

Michael (as he bends down to look closely at the floor): You don’t need walls. It’s the symmetry of the dome…and it heats with solar panels on the roof – the shape actually conserves heat…(He stands up and finds Isabel, Alex, and Maria staring at him.) What? (They all shake their heads and continue looking around.)

Alex (finally seeing the condition of the house): Man, somebody’s sure been here…

Isabel: It’s how we found it last time. It actually doesn’t look any different. (Looking at Maria) Don’t you think?

Maria: Couldn’t really tell you, I was on the verge of peeing my pants the whole time we were here last – wasn’t paying much attention to detail. (Michael looks at her with laughing eyes and she glares at him) Like you weren’t scared…please…we were all shitting bricks…

Isabel (calling out from the back of the house): I don’t see anything here – no rocks on the floor or lying on any shelves.

(Maria and Michael head to the part of the house where the secret door was, with Alex following. Isabel meets them there and she exchanges a hesitant glance with Michael, which Maria observes.)

Maria: You did bring the key right?

Alex: Uh, I thought we don’t need keys…

Michael (looking irritated): We don’t. (He looks at Isabel, hopeful) You can open it, right?

Isabel: Yea. (She turns to the wall and then asks over her shoulder) Where was the lock? Maria: Can’t you just wave your hand and find it?

Isabel: Can’t you just shut up and help me look for it?

Alex: Hey, I’d help, but I wasn’t invited to this party last time and I don’t know what the hell you’re looking for.

Maria (as she approaches Michael, now standing near Isabel by the wall): It’s a hidden lock to the basement.

(She watches Michael touch the wall and for some unexplainable reason she reaches out and softly touches his arm. Michael looks at her, startled, then quickly back to the wall as they can hear the dummy rock pop open.)

Maria (nonchalantly taking her hand off of Michael’s arm): Worked last time…thought I’d give it a try. (Michael stares at her, a little bewildered, before Isabel voice cuts into his thoughts.)

Isabel: It’s not working.

(Everyone watches as she waves her hand over the lock a couple of times. Michael furrows his brow and turns to look over the room. His eyes fall on Alex standing off behind them. He looks at Alex closely, like he’s trying to remember something.)

Alex (a little unnerved by the close inspection): What?

(Michael doesn’t respond but slowly moves toward Alex, watching his feet as he walks. He reaches Alex and looks up at him annoyed.)

Michael: Get off the door.

Alex: What?

Michael (pointing to the ground): Move. You’re standing on the door.

(Alex looks at the ground and doesn’t see what the hell Michael is talking about but, rather than argue, he takes a step back. Isabel waves her hand over the lock and the door pops up at Alex’s feet.)

Alex (looking up at the three faces staring at him): How was I supposed to know – never been here, remember?

(Scene: 285 North. Valenti turns off the highway and heads into Roswell, trying to figure out where to take Jones next. His stomach growls, deciding for him. Minutes later the cruiser pulls up outside the Crashdown. He exits the car and enters the Café removing his hat and glasses. Music: 3 Doors Down – Kryptonite. Looking to his right he nods at Max sitting in the first booth, fiddling with a menu. Max hesitantly acknowledges the Sheriff and watches him slowly walk over to the counter and take a seat. He’s still watching the Sheriff as Nancy comes over to his booth with a drink in her hands.)

Nancy (setting a large strawberry alien blast in front of Max): Here you go, the usual. (Max looks up at her and slightly blushes, at which Nancy smiles.) You’ll have to come over for dinner sometime Max and let me fix you a real meal…nachos don’t count.

(Max looks down at the menu he can’t seem to stop fidgeting with and then up at Nancy.)

Max (awkwardly): That would be nice…(He stops as his eyes fall on Liz entering from the back. She stops as she spots the Sheriff and then looking over at Max and her mother tilts her head in curiosity. Nancy follows Max’s gaze to her daughter and smiles at the slightly alarmed look on her face.)

Nancy (turning back to Max): You’re order will be right up…it’s a standing offer, any time you want a free dinner, a home cooked one that is.

Max (looking up at her, slightly red): Thanks, Mrs. Parker.

(She gently pats him on the shoulder and heads toward the back.)

Nancy (as she passes a suspicious Liz, heading in Max’s direction): Don’t worry…I just asked him over for dinner.

Liz (hushed): Mother!

(Nancy smiles as she goes behind the counter and over toward the Sheriff.)

Liz (as she sits down across from Max): Sorry about that.

Max: What?

Liz: Whatever she said.

Max (smiling at her): You mean you don’t want me to come over for dinner?

Liz: Do you really want to? Cuz we’ll have to do major prepping before you come…I mean Dad can be vicious with the questions.

Max: Suddenly not sure anymore.

Liz (smiling at him): Scared away that easily huh?

Max (playfully, yet so serious): Anything for you. (Liz softly sighs and reaches out to touch his hand resting on the table. Max looks at their hands and then up to Liz’s face) You hear anything yet?

Liz (looking down at her hand tracing Max’s): No. I don’t know if that’s good or bad, though. I told Alex to call if anything happened, but anything happening could include things blowing up and/or the cell phone getting tossed like last time.

Max (watching her): I’m sure they’re fine. Iz seemed to think she had it under control.

Liz: I hope she’s right for all their sakes. Alex is a pretty good co-pilot, though. I’m sure he’s got things covered…I think he even mentioned bringing earplugs – but I think he was joking about that.

Max: I’m sure they were used before reaching 285.

(They look at each other and laugh, but their laughter is interrupted by the sound of Valenti and Nancy laughing over at the counter. Liz turns to look at them and then back around to Max.)

Liz: I wonder why he’s here.

Max: Does he eat here a lot?

Liz: Only when he knows Amy’s dropping off pies or meeting with dad about ordering more supplies. Which isn’t today, on either count. (She turns back around to look at the Sheriff) Maybe he’s just hungry.

Max: Maybe.

(Scene fastforwards about fifteen - twenty minutes. Max and Liz are now finishing up a large plate of nachos.)

Liz (resting her elbows on the table and gazing at Max): So what are you doing tonight?

Max: Not having dinner with you. (She hits him and he smiles) Studying…finals are soon and for some reason I am behind in most of my classes. It’s like I didn’t study at all for a week or something. (She hits him again.)

Liz: I’ll help you study.

Max (eyeing her suspiciously): Aren’t you just as behind as I am?

Liz: We can help each other. You know you need it…

Max: Really? Who had to bail you out of Geometry?

Liz: And who had to bail you out of History, and Biology, and…

Max (surrendering defeat): Enough…I can’t tonight…I want to be home when they get back.

Liz (growing serious): When do you think that’ll be?

Max: I don’t know. Five hours there, five hours back and who knows how long at the house.

Liz: Not to mention any unnatural disasters that happen along the way.

(Max looks at the clock on the wall and sighs reluctantly.)

Max: I’ve gotta go. I have to go to the drug store and pick up some glycerin for Milton. (Liz looks at him curiously) ‘Alien blood.’

Liz: Oh. (She shifts in her seat, places her elbow on the table and rests her chin in the palm of her hand) No dessert?

Max (not catching the hopeful tone in her voice): Oh yea, Milton wants some pie.

Liz (leaning over the table to Max): And what can I get Max Evans for dessert?

(Hard to miss that one…Max looks up at her and catches his breath. He looks from her eyes to her lips and swallows.)

Max (weakly): Pie’s good.

Liz: What kind?

Max (not moving and totally rambling): Pecan…Milton’s got a thing for pecans lately, something about them blooming at weird times because of the crash…

Liz: It’s in the back.

(Scene switches to Valenti at the counter. Nancy walks up with his bill and sets it down. She looks up to see Liz leading Max into the back. Liz turns to her mother and mouths ‘pie.’ Nancy smiles and looks back to the Sheriff, also looking in the direction of the two teens.)

Valenti: Those two seem pretty serious.

Nancy: He’s a good kid. I think if it were anyone else I might be a little more worried than I am. (Remembering Kyle) No offense.

Valenti (raising his hand): None taken. I was never too sure how they ended up together. Not that I wasn’t happy about it…just never expected it to last. (He looks down at the Tabasco bottle he didn’t realize he was fiddling with.) Not sure what exactly happened between them.

Nancy (wiping the counter): Oh, I think Lizzie finally opened her eyes to see Max Evans looking at her the way he has been for the past five years. (She looks at the Sheriff) Hard to resist complete adoration.

Valenti: So that’s his secret?

Nancy: You should take notes – he might be able to help you with Amy. (They laugh) He can sure give Jeff some pointers. (She grabs the Sheriff’s empty glass) Refill?

Valenti: Better make it to go…I’ve got a lot of drivin’ to do today.

(Scene cuts to Max and Liz in the alleyway, involved in some serious action. Max keeps trying to get away but Liz has the power to pull him back. He groans inwardly – or was that outwardly? – as he tries to get the will power to leave.)

Max (desperate, between kisses): I have to go…

Liz (running her hands down his back to keep him from leaving): A little longer…

Max (fighting it): I can’t…

Liz: Please…

Max: Liz…

(Thinking she’s won Liz brings her hands back to cradling Max’s face, where upon he quickly covers them with his own hands and pushes them and her far enough away from him to rest his forehead against the top of her head. Breathing heavily he tries to collect his thoughts and regain control of his body. What does she do to him? Liz sighs at the absence of Max’s lips and opens her eyes to his.)

Max: I have to go.

Liz (pouting): It’s just been so long.

Max: I know.

Liz: After work?

Max: Yea.

(He quickly kisses her then steps away to leave.)

Liz: Max, wait…your dessert. (He turns to her and she grabs the to-go box off the dumpster and holds it out to him.) Wouldn’t want you to forget dessert.

(He takes the box from her hand and somehow manages to turn around and leave…not before giving her a look to knock the wind out of her. Max turns the corner and uncontrollably smiling, Liz slides down the wall to the ground. She sits there with her eyes closed trying to savor the lingering sensations of Max’s touch. When she opens her eyes she tilts her head and smiles. Music starts: Guster – Either Way.)

Liz: Did you come for some pie too?

(The black cat doesn’t move, just sits in the shadows a few feet away from her, watching her.)

Liz: You’re early you know? Better not let Dad catch you back here or that’ll be the end of it. And I won’t be able to help you…

(The cat seems to tilt its head as it watches her. Liz hugs her knees and looks up the wall behind her.)

Liz (with her head tilted back to her roof): I still can’t figure out how you get up there. That’s a pretty big jump…you should be careful, it’s a long way down…

(She lowers her head back to the cat, which remains unmoved. They regard each other for a few moments.)

Liz: Are you ever gonna let me pet you? I mean, don’t you think I’ve proven myself? That’s some high quality free-range chicken I’m feeding you every night…not to mention that I don’t wait around on my roof for just anyone.

(She looks down the alleyway to where Max left and smiles, biting her lip.)

Liz (letting out a soft sigh, under her breath): Not just anyone. (She looks back to the cat.) I won’t hurt you, you know? And whatever Dad says, he’s a big softy, I wouldn’t let him hurt you either. Though I would probably have to stop feeding you, and you couldn’t come up to the roof anymore. Is that what you’re afraid of, you’re just shamelessly using me for food and afraid getting attached increases our chances of getting caught?

(A noise from inside the Crashdown causes her to turn her head toward the door. She lets out a sigh and then turns her head back to the cat.)

Liz: Probably right, but I think it’s too late, I’m kind of attached. The company’s nice – it would be nicer if you’d let me pet you, but I’ll settle for you letting me talk about Max – Maria has a pretty low tolerance these days. (She pauses; watching the cat as closely as it seems to be watching her) Sometimes I even think you’re listening…Or maybe I’m just really desperate and clearly obsessed with my boyfriend.

(She laughs at herself and smiles, again biting her lip. The cat stops licking its paw and looks down the alleyway to the street. A second later the Sheriff’s cruiser passes by, followed moments later by Jones’s car. The cat takes a couple of step forward at the sight of Jones but stops and looks back at Liz.)

Liz: I should go too.

Nancy (from inside the Crashdown): Liz!

Liz (looking from the door back to the cat): Told you. I’ll see you tonight? (She raises her hands) No touching, just talking…and eating…and a lot of homework.

(She rolls her head back, resting it against the wall, and closes her eyes as the sun creeps out from behind a cloud and warms her face. When she opens her eyes and lowers her head the cat is standing only about a foot away from her. She stops moving. Keeping her arms wrapped around her knees, bent in front of her, she watches as the cat debates approaching or retreating. The door to the Crashdown opens suddenly startling both of them. When Liz looks from the door back to where the cat no longer stands. She sighs.)

Nancy (peeking her head out the door, surprised at the sight of her daughter sitting on the ground): Liz?

Liz (under her breath): Almost.

(Scene: Atherton’s House. Michael, Isabel, Alex, and Maria are downstairs in the room rummaging through what’s there. It’s clear that things have been removed but there’s still a surprising amount of stuff still left.)

Maria (while looking around the room): Why wouldn’t they just take it all?

Isabel (also looking around the room): Yea. If they took what we brought back…why wouldn’t they take this too?

Alex (sifting through a stack of papers on top of a file cabinet and picking up one): I guess they weren’t too interested in Aunt Kaitlyn’s trip to Jersey. (He looks up) Don’t know why, sounds like she had a good time.

(Michael frowns in frustration and walks over to Alex. He quickly browses through the pile)

Michael (irritated): Well, they definitely took stuff – but this is all personal.

Isabel (looking through some things on the ground): These are all bills.

Maria (squatting to look at one of the desk drawers lying beside the over turned desk): Check this out.

(Maria reaches into the drawer and looking at it sideways can tell that she hasn’t touched the bottom. She looks up and Michael walks over to her. He does the same and then closing his hand into a fist, busts through the false bottom. He pulls pack thin pieces of wood and then reaching all the way in pulls out a large folder held together with rubber bands. Michael furrows his brow and undoes the rubber bands. He glances at a couple of pieces of paper before looking over at Isabel.)

Michael (laughing): It’s his book – we should take it for Max.

Alex: What book?

Maria (reading from a paper Michael’s holding): ‘Among Us’ – (she looks sideways at Michael) how perceptive.

Alex: What’s it about?

Maria (with raised eyes): Duh? (She points to Michael and Isabel)

Alex: No, you know, what’d he write?

Isabel: I don’t know, Max didn’t finish it – just said the guy was nuts.

Alex (under his breath as he surveys the room): Yea, like the rest of us.

(Scene fastforwards about thirty minutes or so. The desk is now turned upright and the floor is covered with papers. Michael sits at the desk sifting through stacks of stuff and occasionally tossing papers onto the floor. Maria, on the floor, keeps throwing irritated glances up at him as the papers he tosses float by her. Isabel also sits on the floor surrounded by small stacks of books. Michael finishes what he’s looking at and lets out a sigh as he glances around the room.)

Michael (slightly furrowing his brow): Where’s Waldo?

Maria (not looking up from the floor): I don’t know E.T. why don’t you phone 4-1-1 and find out.

Isabel (looking up and glancing around the room): No seriously, where’s Alex?

Maria (quickly looking up): Alex? (Glancing around the room) Wasn’t he just over there? (She points to the uncovered tunnel)

Michael: Great.

(He gets up, along with Isabel and Maria, and they walk over to the tunnel. They all stick their heads inside it, looking and listening for Alex.)

Maria (with her head inside the tunnel): ALEX! (Her voice echoes off the steel tunnel walls and Michael cringes.)

Michael: Was that necessary?

Alex (from upstairs, peeking his head over the secret door opening) What?

(Isabel and Maria both jump at his voice coming form behind them)

Isabel: You scared the crap out of me!

Maria: Where have you been?

Alex: Finding the motherload – you’re not gonna believe this.

(They all look at him curiously then head up the stairs. They follow Alex outside and around the backside of the house. He stops at what looks like the remains of a very large xeorscaped garden and pathway leading to the hills behind the house. The pathway, and border wall, are both made out of small elliptical stones.)

Michael (somewhat irritated): What am I looking at here?

Alex (pointing to the ground beneath Michael’s feet): You’re standin’ on it.

(All heads look down to see a the pathway of familiar looking stones inlayed into the ground to make a relatively smooth pathway.)

Michael: What the…

Isabel (under her breath): Shit.

Maria: Oh my God! (She shoots her head up to Alex) Uh-uh. No way! (She follows the pathway with her eyes up the hill and bending out of sight and then spins to Michael) Wiggle your nose and like make ‘em glow because that (she points to the ground) is like a billion rocks and I’m so not picking them all up.

Michael (turning to her): Don’t you think if I could wiggle my nose and do anything you wouldn’t be here anymore? Huh?

(Michael and Maria glare at each other as Isabel bends down to loosen one of the stones and pick it up.)

Alex: It’s not a bad idea, you know? (Michael and Isabel look over to him)

Michael: What are you talkin’ about?

Alex (taking a deep breath): The glowing part…The way I see it, it’s either we start picking up every one of these or we try it her way (he points to Maria). You got anything better?

(Maria smiles victoriously and Michael looks away, disgusted at all the elliptical stones staring up at him.)

Isabel (standing up): He’s right, Michael. It doesn’t hurt to try – and if it works then it saves us from being here any longer than we have to be.

Michael: We don’t even know what it looks like…

(Alex walks over to his backpack, a few feet off, picks it up and begins shuffling through it. Finding a folded piece of paper he takes it out and heads toward Michael.)

Alex (holding the paper out to Michael): Here you go.

Michael (eyeing the paper suspiciously and not taking it from Alex): What’s that?

(Alex sets the pack down and unfolds the paper. He holds it up so they can see Max’s rough pencil sketch of the stones. Recognition escapes all faces.)

Alex: Was I the only one paying attention at last Thursday’s shindig? (He shakes his head and walks closer to Michael, practically shoving the picture at him) This, is what Max says it looks like, so this, I’m guessing, is what it looks like. Any more excuses I can take care of for you…thirsty? (He reaches for his backpack and pulls out a water bottle) Hungry? I’ve got that one covered too.

(Michael grabs the paper from Alex rather forcefully and Isabel moves next to him. Alex backs away and Isabel looks at the garden of stones and sighs. She takes hold of one side of the paper and holds out her hand to Michael. Michael just stares at her out stretched hand.)

Isabel: Michael, we’ll be stronger if we hold hands – it’ll let us channel our power.

(Michael looks from Isabel’s face to her hand and then reluctantly reaches for it.)

Maria (eyeing Michael carefully): Whatever you do He-Man, don’t blow her up.

(Alex grabs Maria and pulls her out of Michael’s reach before he can go after her and Isabel gently squeezes his hand, reminding him of the task before them. He shoots Maria a seriously threatening look before turning back to Isabel. He watches Isabel take a few deep breaths while concentrating on the picture. She closes her eyes, for just a second before opening them up to Michael.)

Isabel (definitely pissy): It won’t work if you don’t want it to – you have to at least try, Michael.

(He nods. They both concentrate on the picture, taking several deep breaths and then finally closing their eyes. Nothing seems to happen and after a few seconds Alex, letting out a heavy sigh, bends down to start picking up stones.)

Maria (after a few moments, hesitantly): Uh, Alex.

Alex: Suck it up Maria and start helping here.

Maria (sharply): Alex!

(He looks up at her and quickly follows her stunned gaze to Michael and Isabel. The paper they hold starts shaking as the image begins to glow. It gets brighter and brighter, as the intensity of Michael and Isabel’s focus grows.)

Alex: Now that’s some serious glowing.

Maria (grabbing Alex): Come on, we gotta look for the stones. It that’s glowin’ then they’ve gotta be….

(Scene: A dark room. The silence of the room is broken by a soft rattling as dull light slowly begins to escape from cracks in the wall. The light grows brighter and the room begins to illuminate with light reflecting off the metallic room walls. There’s a sudden burst of light, as if someone turned the lights to the room on, and the tiny room of safety deposit boxes comes into full view.)

Back to Area 51 (Section IV)