Michael heard Isabel's shout and sighed. He wanted to just keep walking, escape the pain that having to deal with things would cause and slip into the art room early to be alone. But no matter how angry he was, he couldn't just leave Isabel standing in the hallway like that. *He* wouldn't abandon *her.*

Michael stopped walking and waited for Isabel to catch up to him. But he didn't say anything. He just crossed his arm over his chest and watched her, silently waiting to hear what she would say.

Isabel felt a huge sense of relief when she noticed that Michael had stopped walking away. Sure he didn't look like he wanted to talk. But it was an opening and that was all that Isabel was after. As she reached him, she realised that he was waiting for her to talk. Isabel knew that what she said at that moment could have a lasting effect on their relationship. And that was a pressure that Isabel didn't want, but knew she had to embrace.

"I'm glad you waited, Michael," Isabel started, looking concerned at him. "I'm sorry that I didn't contact you. I know you probably don't believe that, but I am. I couldn't handle it, Michael. None of it. I needed to go away. I needed to leave Roswell behind. A part of me never wanted to come back."

Isabel took a breath, before leading Michael to the side of the hallway, giving herself an impression, no matter how false, of privacy.

Michael allowed himself to be lead without complaint. He was too busy trying to keep the anger fresh inside himself to put up a fight anyway. How did she manage to do it? She made him forget all his reasons to be angry with her and instead filled him with a sense of protectiveness for her. She made him want to take care of her when *he* was the one who had been abandoned, not her. Did she really want him to feel sorry for her and her oh-so-hard life? She should try walking even a day in his shoes and she'd see what a hard life was really like. Until you've suffered through being beaten by the person who's supposed to love you unconditionally, and been called stupid and worthless and good for nothing on a daily basis, and had to live with the fact that your value as a person can be measured by the numbers scrawled across a monthly check, there's no way that you can know what *real* pain feels like.

Michael had lived through that pain, and he'd escaped it and found a way to move on with his life. He was stronger for it. But Isabel, no matter what she said about all her "pain," had no idea what that was like. She lived in her fancy, suburban home with her two great parents and her loving brother. She had money in her pocket, food on the table and people who loved her no matter what. Isabel Evans and true pain were antithetical concepts at best. And Michael, as always, was jealous of that.

"I know you never felt like you belonged here. But I did. I loved my life. My parents, Max, you. But all I knew changed. My god, Michael, we weren't even born. It was just too much to get my head around. I did the only thing I could think of to try and get a grip on my own sanity. I didn't want to leave you, but once I was away, I didn't want to be thinking of Roswell. I know that ignoring something doesn't help. But I did what I needed to do."

Isabel by this time had tears falling down her face. Her long pleading to Michael, drawing so much emotion and energy from her.

"But do not for a second think that I don't care about you. Or that my feelings for you have changed. I need you Michael. I don't know what is going to happen with Liz, Maria and Alex, but you and Max I can't afford to lose."

Great. She was crying. And she knew good and well that he could never stand to see her cry. It must be some kind of guy thing. Because Michael had yet to meet a man who could sit there while a woman was sobbing her heart out and not push aside all his troubles to help her. It was the one great flaw with the Y Chromosome... no tolerance for female tears.

Michael didn't say anything. He was still upset at the fact that he could be so easily put aside for three months and speaking right now would just bring all that anger back to the surface. So speaking was out.

Instead, he just reached out and pulled Isabel into his arms, offering her what comfort he could and reassuring her with his touch that, although he might be angry with her, she would never lose him. Ever. She was like a sister to him and she occupied a place in his heart that couldn't be filled by anyone else.

Michael held Isabel until her sniffles died down and her trembling stopped. And as they stood there, not saying anything, he found himself thinking, yet again, about this whole destiny thing. It was times like these that he could *almost* believe it when everyone said that he and Isabel had been happy and in love in another lifetime.

****************

Amy plopped gratefully into a chair. "Thanks," she said. She then looked up and actually surveyed the room she had entered. There were the usual high school posters adjuring you to stay in school and study hard and achieve great things or whatever. These obviously came with the office as Aidan could not have had time to hang them himself and she knew him well enough to know he had better taste than that, as evidenced by the few personal items which were so very much him and his impeccable taste in clothing. Her perusal of him brought her to his Watcher ring. She had been there when they'd issued it to him and knew the pride and responsibility that was wrapped up in it for him.

Aidan thought about filling Amy in on the whole "girlfriend" ruse, but decided to wait and endure the humiliation Willow was sure to inflict once in front of everybody instead of several times as he told each person individually. So, he just kept quiet and let them talk.

"You're looking well, Aidan," she observed. "And Will! How are things? Come to see the numerous sites of the blooming metropolis of Roswell?"

Willow grinned at Amy. "Yeah, something like that."

When the door opened again, Aidan looked up to see Jeffery and Jessica. "I see the college contingency has arrived," he said with a smile.

"Of course, and right on time, too, if I made point it out," Jeffery agreed.

A big smile broke out on Jeffery's face when he saw Willow standing in the room.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he went over to give her a big hug. They might have broken up, and it might have hurt, adding to his romantic scars, but he did value Willow as a friend and she had taught him some really great spells. He was genuinely glad to see her.

"Oh, I'm just acting as a glorified Fed Ex service for the Watchers' Council," Willow replied, indicating her backpack, which sat by her feet. "It's good to see you again, Jeffery."

After giving Willow her hug, Jeffery flashed a grin at his sister. "Aim. Good to see you made it to school today. After your late start I was worried about you..."

Amy was glad to see her brother and smiled at him in greeting. By the time he reached the end of his sentence however, she was reminded of all the horrible things that had happened today. "Yeah, that was only the beginning. Don't get me started. I'll tell you my sob story tonight," she promised.

"Sob stories seem to be going around," Jessica muttered. She found a seat - a perch, rather, on Aidan's desk and settled herself before the guidance counselor/Watcher could object. "Do we wait for everyone else or start comparing notes now?"

**************

Zeke rubbed her eyes in the sunlight and kicked the truck door shut. Trucks were definatly not her thing. Sports cars, motorcycles...she liked going fast. Sure there was nothing wrong with a little brute power, but they were big and clumsy and....

...she wasn't alone.

There in front of her was the girl from the diner. That was great. She had thought she was away from the scooby clan, managed to escape and get a few minutes of peace.

Not that she minded running into this one of all of them.

"Following you? Me? Don't think so."

Impressive. No real sign of fear and a smirk on her face.

Looking around for the first time she saw the big motel sign and took note. May turn out to be a better place than the shack she was squatting in, but for now there wasn't any money in her pockets, and she couldn't afford to even think seriously about it.

"'sides, what's a scooby like you doing in a place like this?" Zeke asked, her eyebrows jumping with the question.

"I'm thinking that if I knew what a 'Scooby' was I still wouldn't be one."

She cocked her head slightly to one side shrugged. Jade took note of the angle of Zeke's shoulders and her posture. There wasn't anything threatening about it so she stayed relatively relaxed.

You don't let your guard down for any reason around a stranger but you don't have to be all prickly and spined about it either. Besides it'd be a dead give away that she was a little afraid for her to be so stiff.

Zeke watched the other girl evaluating everything about her and suddenly felt a little lost. Things usually went really quickly and suddenly. She hardly ever held actual conversation with anybody, let alone stayed far enough away that fighting wasn't an immediate consequence.

It wasn't neccessarily a bad thing though, just different. Anybody who didn't know the scoobies wasn't all bad, and if they denounced them before even getting to know them... that was even better.

"Good answer." Zeke nodded in approval.

"So are you like...an Anti Scooby or just a girl who likes to beat the hell out of really big feral guys? Or...both?"

Zeke laughed.

"Gotta say guilty on both counts. Hate all the people you met 'cept maybe one or two, and I especially like beating on that one that pounded my face in. So...I guess not only do I like beating the hell out of them, but getting the hell beaten out of me can be good for a few kicks as well."

Zeke figured that would get her a strong enough response, one way or another.

"So you like it rough."

"That a threat half-pint?" Zeke asked, looking the five-foot-nothing werewolf up and down once again.

She hardly had time to react before the other girl started talking again, and this time it almost left her speechless.

Half pint? Jade turned to look at Zeke and let her lip curl as if she was going to growl but she didn't. Instead she remembered who she was and where and let it go.

Zeke saw her tense up at the comment and laughed to herself a little. Quite a 'tude for such a small thing, she had to give her that much.

Jade really didn't mean for that come out of her mouth. Sure she thought it but rarely did she actually want to say the things she was thinking. She mentally kicked herself and waited to see how long it'd be before she got the crap kicked out of her.

She got that funny feeling again. That not quite normal scent. She turned her head toward the motel and then back to Zeke. This was going to look really bad.

"I'm Jade. Want to get a room?"

To talk! Only to talk! She blinked once and scratched at her ear that was turning burgandy.

Zeke eyes widened and her eyebrows shot up once again, but it wasn't her blushing. The upper hand...at least momentarily, would be hers.

"I didn't mean that as a come on. I meant to talk and not be obvious. Because...I'm not really very good with talking to people so that's why it came out like that. I wasn't really propositioning you for anything."

Even if she would have liked to.

"Oh..." Zeke put on a hurt expression.

"Not good enough. I get it. I guess I'll go with you, but let it be known that it's against my own free will...it's only because you're forcing me to." Which really made no sense at all, but she said it anyway.

"I don't normally do this but..."

Jade took a deep breath and sighed. She pulled out her credit card that was the last vestige of her aristocratic backround. She wasn't expecting the girl to pay anyway but that wasn't what she normally didn't do.

What she normally didn't do was say things that outted her to people she didn't know. Like what she was about to say at the moment. It sort of disturbed her in a way.

Suprised to say the least, she watched with a confused expression. This girl really didn't seem like the rich, spoiled type to her...but a personal credit card? That seemed at least a little out of place. Clearly this girl wasn't what she seemed.

"If I was going to take you forcefully you wouldn't be complaining."

she raised her brow and straightend her back with all the poise and elegance that she was brought up with. The small were went in to the office and got a room and key and nodded to door 314.

Before she could choke on her response that she hadn't yet thought up, Zeke was standing alone in the hallway. There wasn't much else she could do but follow the new girl into the room.

She opened the door and wandered in catiously before turning to face her companion.

"Okay you're not a normal human. You smell different...so what the hell are you?"

"Woah! You're telling me I'm not normal because I smell different? Y'know that's gonna get me thinking you're not quite what you lead people to belive either now are you?" Zeke shot back.

Defensive. Jade took a step back to give herself room if she needed it and raised her brows. This...wasn't the place she thought it was. Weres and hunters and funny smelling human girls that looked good figh...er funny smelling human girls that fight.

"Since you aren't all that normal I'm going to guess you know what a werewolf is."

Zeke tensed when the girl went on the defensive, and took a more ready stance.

A werewolf? That was what she was acting freaky about?

She furred out just a little, letting her teeth grow and her ears point. Eyes going black yadda yadda yadda. A light coat of fur sprouted on her forearms. Okay so it just looked like she had hairy arms but it was fur and anyone that knew it could tell the difference.

"I'm one. And...your not friends are too. So...um...back to you. What are you?"

"Uh yeah, chill out fido. I know what a werewolf is and I know about Xander and Oz...grew up around them. Which I guess brings me to me...mom's a slayer dad's an on again off again vampire. Problems, fighting, magic, shazam here I am even though I'm not born yet, and won't be for like....15 years or something like that. More magic, not going to die unless the mom kills me. Got it? Good."

*************

Liz blushed. "Um... we had this really intense relationship, and..." She paused. It wasn't like she could tell Harmony, 'Max is an alien and he's destined to be with Tess, this other alien,' but she wanted to tell her as close to the truth as possible. "...well, he kissed this other girl named Tess. He swore it was nothing, but I can tell that he has... unresolved feelings for her. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I broke up with him so he could figure things out."

It was the most she ever said on the subject to someone not inducted into the "I Know an Alien Club." But, somehow, Liz wanted to share. Maybe it would help to get an opinion from someone not bogged down in the whole idea of destiny and aliens and all the baggage that went along with that.

Glancing at Max for a moment, Liz added quietly, "I still care about Max a lot, but I don't want to be with him if I'm not sure that he can be faithful to me... Do I sound paranoid to you?"

"You don't sound paranoid to me at all. It sounds like you have rationally thought it out. But, and when you are taking anything I say about relationships, remember I have about as much experience as well...." and in that moment Harmony could not think of a witty line, "someone who doesn't have much experience"

it came out really lame and Harmony knew it. She cringed a little at her failed attempted humour. "Anyway, as I was going to say. Being rational is all well and good, but I don't think rational has much to do with love."

"And that's the whole problem." Liz bit her lip and stole another glance at Max. Her expression hardened when she saw Tess sitting at the table. Sure, yes, logically Max had to talk to her sometimes. There were only four alien/human hybrids on Earth and she was one of them, but still, seeing them together brought back that feeling she'd had when she saw them kiss. It was like someone sucked all the air out of her lungs and then punched her in the stomach.

"The problem with love," Liz said softly, "is that the more intense it feels when it's good, the more intense the pain can be." She gestured toward the table. "That would be the girl... Tess." She fidgeted for a second, wondering what to do, then she said, "Hey, wanna go get some air or something?"

Harmony looked over to where Liz had gestured and was totally unimpressed with Liz's competition. In fact she thought that Tess looked rather skanky. She was going to venture her opinion that if Max was seriously interested in Tess, than he had no taste, but thought better of it.

"Sure, why not," Harmony answered.

***************

Isabel pulled back a little and wiped the tears away from her eyes. She looked at MIchael and tried to make out what he was thinking. He obviously cared about her, the comforting way his arms held her, told Isabel that. But he seemed to be holding something back.

"Thank you," Isabel said warmly. "What can I do, Michael? What do you want me to do?"

Michael sighed, realizing that he had to say *something* now. He let his arms drop back to his sides and leaned against a locker, looking down at the toes of his sneakers. "I don't know... I just... I understand why you had to leave. If I'd been able to, I would have left, too. But it just really hurt when I realized that you and Maxwell weren't just escaping from Liz and Alex and Tess. You were escaping from me, too. And from all the stuff that seeing me made you have to face up to."

Michael gathered his courage and looked up, meeting Isabel's gaze. "I was all alone again, just like when we were kids and the Evans' found you two and I didn't see you again for so long... It just hurt. That's all."

"I'm sorry, Michael. I didn't realise it would affect you so much." Isabel answered, the guilt over her leaving overwhelming her. "I should have known, though" she continued though mainly to herself.

"Hey, it's fine. Don't worry about it," Michael assured her, finding it odd that their roles had been reversed so quickly in the course of the conversation with him as comforter when before he'd been the one in need of comfort. "I'm a big boy, remember?"

Michael attempted one of his usual smirks for Isabel's benefit. "And we all know that I don't do the tortured teen angst routine well."

Isabel had to grin back at him in return. Even if hers was tinged with a little sadness still. But she knew Michael long enough to know that when he changed the subject, he CHANGED the subject. Later on, there willbe other times to talk.

"No, but you do wonderfully as the strong silent friend," Isabel replied, before changing the subject. "How was everything here all summer. No problems or anything?"

"Aside from Tess freaking out majorly and almost blowing our cover last night?" Michael asked, his voice tinged with some left over anger. "Nope, nothing that I can't handle."

"What happenned?" Isabel asked. She couldn't understand why Tess would be so careless. Having been raised by Nesado, Tess seemed to be more paranoid and anti-social than the others. For her to come close to blurting out theri secret was strange.

"Oh, she just came to the Crashdown last night and was acting really strange, threatening random people and not even bothering to try and be discrete about it." Michael smirked, adding, "She was like me on a bad day, only ten times worse."

***********

Aidan glanced at the clock. The lunch bell had rung a long time ago. Cordelia and Xander were late. As was Doyle, though Doyle had to drive over from the elementary school, so that was understandable. And then there was the fact that Faith and Oz were both missing, as well. He didn't know if Faith was going to show up, though he assumed she wouldn't be so derelict in her duty as to skip the meeting, but Oz had definitely said he would attend.

"We're still missing five people, so, if it's important, we'd probably better wait until everyone gets here or we'll be repeating ourselves ad nauseum."

This was the first time that Cordelia had ever been at West Roswell High so she was rather confused by the tangle of hallways that she found herself and Xander in. Fearing that asking a teacher for directions would result in the revelation that the pair had spent the first half of the day at a highway diner, she grabbed Xander's hand and attempted to find a door marked GUIDANCE all by herself.

After a good ten minutes of searching she finally found the appropriate door. Giving Xander a triumphant "Ha!" she threw open the door.

Xander followed Cordelia into the office and was surprised to see a familiar but unexpected face. "Wills!" he cried, pulling his lifelong friend into a big hug. "It's great to see you!"

"It's good to see you, too, Xand," Willow replied, grinning back at him after he released her from the hug.

Xander took in her leather clad appearance and raised an eyebrow. "Looks like someone's been getting lessons from the Buff-a-nator in the fashion department."

Willow laughed. "Yeah, you could say that!"

"How is Buffy doing?" Xander asked.

"She's good. She and Angel are happy and Giles is just thrilled that she's getting back into the training thing more seriously now that we have a bit of a breather. No major apocalyptic stuff for the next few weeks. So all is of the good."

Xander smiled. "I'm glad. Send them all my love, OK?"

"Sure thing."

**************

"I'm thinking this is it."

"Wow did you use your wolfy senses and everything? Or...did you just see Queen C fling open the door?"

Oz looked up at Faith and put his hands in to his pockets. He looked over at Cordy who was just about in the office and shrugged.

"I smelled her perfume?"

"Nice combo of skills there Fuzzy."

"It's a talent."

She smirked and shook her head. Faith stood in the doorway next to Oz and raised a brow at the group. Willow. She nudged Oz who was already staring and then shrugged. They could still bail...

Oz gave her a 'no we can't' look and turned his head to Aidan. He wasn't going to state the obvious by saying 'we're here'. He didn't have to Faith did it for him.

"So...we're here. When can we go?"

Blunt as always. Oz carefully kept the twitch of a grin from his face and moved in to the office to lean back against the wall. He nodded to everyone and waited quietly.

Willow looked up when Oz and Faith walked in. Oz and Faith. Of all the people to start hanging out, they seemed like the least likely of friends. But if it made Oz happy, Willow wasn't about to complain. Ever since their breakup and his subsequent move to Roswell, Willow had missed him. But she knew that the breakup was for the best. For both of them.

She tensed slightly when she realized that she could still hear his thoughts whirling in the back of her mind. She pushed them back, trying to give him his privacy, at least.

[Well, it looks like the telepathic link that Alexandria activated between Oz and me is still very much active. I'll have to be careful with my thoughts. I don't want to make him uncomfortable.]

Willow smiled at her former boyfriend. "Hi, Oz." Her eyes moved to include Faith and Cordelia, who were also new to the room. "Faith. Cordy."

Cordelia waved at Willow. "Hey Will...I like your pants." she said. "Certainly doesn't look like your trying to impress anybody or anything." she added. Clapping her hand over her mouth she muttered an unheard "Opps!". Tact was not Cordy's thing.

Oz nodded once to Willow and kept on staring blankly at the wall. You know if the light hit it the right way it looked a little like Elvis in the corner.

Unless that was just a spider web. Oz furrowed his brow thoughtfully at that and let his mind drift.

"Red."

Faith didn't really have patience but if she was being spoken to she might as well speak back. She noted Oz's expression and would have said something but a phone started ringing.

Aidan nodded a greeting to Cordelia, Xander, Faith and Oz. Only one left unaccounted for.

"Amy, I'll let you fill Doyle in on anything he misses. We've only got a limited time here, so we'd better go ahead." He took a minute to look at all of them, the team that stood between Roswell and, perhaps, its destruction.

"Thanks for coming everyone. I think it's important that we all take a minute and compare notes. And, since he was our first scout in Roswell, Xander has agreed to start our meeting off today. He's been researching strange occurrences in this town, and has several suspicious characters to report on. Then we'll move on to things that have happened recently, like the diner brawl this morning..."

But before Xander could say much of anything, Amy's cell phone began to ring...

**************

Liz turned and headed for the main doors of the caf. Sure, her books were still sitting on the lunch table, but she could go back for them later. Run in #3 with Tess in 2 days was not something she needed right now. She would just let Max do what he would with her.

She stopped at the door and looked back. For a second, she thought she saw Max looking at her back, but then Tess said something and he looked at her. She sighed.

When they got out in the hall, she spotted Michael and Isabel talking in a quiet corner. Liz caught their attention with a wave and announced, "Tess alert." She jerked her head back in the direction of the caf and then opened the main doors.

Once she stood outside on the sidewalk, she started to feel a little better. That cramped, closed in feeling went away. She could breathe again without the steel bands closing in on her chest.

"So," Liz said, in an effort to get her mind off of Max and Tess, "Harmony, tell me about where you were from before you moved her? Was it nice?"

"Nice, well... I suppose that is a relative question," Harmony answered, wondering just how much she could tell. The total truth was out of the question. Any hope she had of keeping Liz as a friend would be out the window, as quickly as LIz would run away screaming 'freak!' if Harmony told her all about Sunnydale. But in light of what they had been discussing, and Liz's openess, made Harmony want to tell her as much as she felt to do.

"Sunnydale is a small town in California," she started. "It was nice, on the surface. But it had its problems underneath. It could be a very dangerous place at night."

***************

Amy was shocked by the distinctive sound of her cell phone ring. *I could have sworn I turned the ring off before going to class. Would have been in deep water if the silly thing had rung in the middle of a lecture. Wouldn't that have been a capper for today?* Meanwhile, the phone still rang. She retrieved it from her purse and pushed the call button. She pulled her hair off of one ear and put the phone to it, shooting an appologetic glance at Aidan and the others for the interuption. "Hello?"

***************

Isabel heard Liz announce her warning about Tess. As she looked up she noticed that they had Liz had left already.

"Do you think we should go back and see what Liz was talking about?" She asked Michael.

Michael sighed, his eyes looking down the hall and latching on to the door to the art room longingly. But he couldn't run away this time. Max and Maria were alone with Tess, at least as alone as one could be in the caf, and Michael didn't trust the blonde, possibly pulse-less alien further than he could throw her.

"Yeah, we should make sure they're alright in there with her." Of course, the "they" was really a "she." Maria. While Michael still worried about Max sometimes - okay, a lot of the time, actually - he never got this crazy, overprotective vibe around him like he did around Maria. He never felt like punching a wall in whenever someone did anything to hurt his pseudo-brother. He never felt like staying away from Max would cause him actual, physical pain. Nope, those kinds of sappy, over the top emotions were reserved for the blonde pixie girl who was probably, at this moment, having to deal with Tess being... well... Tess.

Without another word, Michael picked up his bookbag and headed back to the cafeteria, assuming that Isabel would follow him.

************

Max groaned inwardly. This was the last thing he needed. But given the fact that he and Michael and Isabel were pretty much the only family she had on the planet, she deserved some courtesy from him. Just because he didn't like her and she was solely responsible for the loss of the love of his life did not give him free reign to be mean, especially given his leadership status.

Steeling himself he answered her, "It certainly has. I've been okay. How are things with you?" He really did care how she was. He just hoped Liz wasn't misconstruing his amicable conversation for something more. He scanned the room to see if he could see her.

Tess watched him as he spoke, he could almost pass for sincere. They said she was the manipulative one...that wasn't true. They all were, just in their own ways. He did try though, she had to give him that. He had more than enough reason to hate her and never speak to her civily again, but he did.

If she cared, she could have sworn that she would have felt something resembling a twinge of sadness at the fact that she was going to have to kill him in the end.

Ah well. She'd get over that. For now though, making of the talk was what mattered.

"Me? Well...I'm fine. A little hurt by the way I've been treated lately, but that's nothing I won't get over right? Can't expect to be accepted by you right away can I?" She said.

"Look I'm sorry if you feel slighted, but you haven't exactly gone out of your way to be nice. I'm told you even threatened to break someone's neck. What's going on here, Tess?" Max decided to leave the lack of pulse problem for later.

Tess was suprised by his comments, but kept that to herself. This would be a good time to clear herself and shift the focus off the odd.

"Me? I'm the one who hasn't gone out of my way to be nice? When I came here none of you exactly accepted me with open arms. Maybe Isabel showed something more than detest, but that was pretty much it! You and Micheal hated me right off, and you never gave me a chance! It's called shooting the messenger Max. I never wanted to hurt you or even Liz, all I did was what I was told. Stop blamming me for it." She looked away from him for a short second.

"As for the neck girl...you would have wanted to do the same. Trust me. It was nothing weird, she just really, really upset me."

She almost had him going for a minute there. She had his guild meter peaked, but that last comment killed the effect. Max as not inclined to neck snapping -- ever. He was a healer, one who set things right. He did not take lives, nor often feel the overwhelming desire to.

Admittedly, he was not an expert on the psyche of Tess Harding, but he was an observer of behavior. Tess had been genuinely upset, or so it had seemed at the time, to learn that Nasedo had killed, and often. She was not as cavalier with life as she sounded now.

Max shot a look at Maria and wondered what she thought of all this. "I don't blame you for the message," Max told her, returning his gaze to his addressee. "I blame you for your delivery methods. You have been playing me and Liz from day one with your little visions. I don't like being manipulated, Tess." He was responding to what she said, not his deep seated worries, like the rampant disregard for life and the lack of pulse issue. He was careful that way. This would require a convening of the group and some discussion and everyone pooling what they knew. Hopefully working in concert could smooth some of the rough edges summer -- and this whole destiny thing -- seemed to have made. The six of them could accomplish anything...

************

Since Liz knew good and well that small towns in California didn't have evil alien problems -- that joy was reserved for Roswel, New Mexico, at least thus far -- she assumed Harmony was talking about other things that went bump in the night.

"Major crime problem, huh?" Liz nodded. "We're starting to get one of those here."

Harmony felt torn. She knew that something had to be going down in Roswell. The presence of Aidan and the others proved that. And if Liz had noticed enough to comment about a 'crime problem' starting, then there wasn't just isolated attacks. But what could she tell her? If she did tell her the truth, would she beleive her anyway. But if on the other hand if she didn't tell Liz, and something happened to her, the guilt Harmony would feel would no be able to be measured.

"Umm, look Liz, if you are getting the same type of 'crime problem' we had in Sunnydale," Harmony paused.

[I can't do this, I don't know what to say]

Taking a deep breath, Harmony continued. "My advice. Don't be caught out alone at night. Worked for me." Harmony wondered if the flippant nature of her comment, would bury her genuine warning she gave.

Liz smiled a little. "Sound advice, I'm sure." She paused. They were in that awkward stage. What to talk about now? "So... from what you said earlier, I guess there's not a special guy in... um... Sunnydale?"

Harmony was pleased that Liz hadn't pushed the problems of Sunnydale. She wanted to tell her about what was going on. For no other reason then to keep her safe. But she wanted to talk to Aidan first. For all she knew, maybe it was nothing big. Harmony didn't really beleive that, but she was trying to be optomistic.

"No,not really. I..., well I never really looked for someone. I was too busy trying to find a trophy to hang around my neck. But there was this one guy. I only really knew him for a night, but he was probably the closest thing I ever had to a genuine friend."

She looked at Liz with a resigned grin. "Sort of tells you what my track record in friends was, huh."

Liz hesitated, unsure of what to say. "Well, I've always thought true friendship depends on the actual circumstances. Sometimes, if you can't trust people, no real friendship is there. And, then, other times, you can suddenly form this amazing bond with someone you just met... It's a two-way road, I think."

Her eyes flashed toward the window of the caf. That was how it had been with her and Max in the beginning... Maria and Alex, too. And now Harmony. Life could be good sometimes.

**********

Jade didn't take offense to the fido comment. Rather she cocked her head to one side and grunted in slight confusion. Okay mother and father...then witches and weres and magic and immortality and then there was the stuff about the future.

That made no sense. She stayed slightly furred simply because it was comfortable for her and stared at Zeke for a long moment. She blinked once and raised her brows. She didn't know if she believed it or not but the way Zeke was talking led her to believe it was pretty much true.

Looking at the floor, Zeke tried to get a grip on her emotions that were threatening to teeter out of control. Why was she talking? Why was she in this room, and most of all...why the hell was she bringing up Buffy and Angel? The two quasi-people she hoped never to ever have to think of again.

"Sounds rough...and lonely."

Jade's calm voice broke her out of thought, and slowly brought her back into the real world.

"Me? Lonely? Nah. I don't *do* the lonely thing, I can handle my issues, and get by just fine."

Which she knew all about. Looking up at the slightly taller girl she nodded quietly. Okay slightly taller being maybe an inch or so. Jade cracked a dimpled grin that looked a little too feral to be reassuring to a normal person. Granted....Zeke not normal so she didn't think it'd bother her.

"And here I thought I had a handle on the angst being a hunted werewolf that got mauled by a whole pack and roaming a country not hers to find a way to not have to cage up on full moons and being nineteen and a lesbian. I can honestly say...you've got me beat."

That was...pretty sucky indeed. At least Zeke didn't have to care what happened when she got out of control, or bother to find a way to keep herself in line. It was way easier letting it roll.

"Y'know what? I'll tell you one last thing before I quit talking about myself and my screwed up family forever and ever. If this whole "issues and problems" thing is a competition, I'll gladly forfeit and not hold the title.

She was going to say something. Wanted to in fact. Jade raised a shoulder in a slight shrug and let herself shift back in to a human form. Jade blinked a few times trying to organize her thoughts on what to do next.

All kinds of walls went up, leaving her blank eyed and expressionless. It was one of those force of habit type things. Don't get hurt, don't feel, don't think, just do.

"I'm going to order a pizza. I'm sure despite my huge appetite there'll be a few slices left over. You're welcome to eat of my pizza and watch of my tv."

Her eyes narrowed slightly in question, this girl was a walking contradiction. Everything she said that made Zeke want to run was followed with an invitation to stay. Confusing to say the least.

"Pizza is good...I did just eat, but seeing as that's a rare thing, I'm willing to roll with it and not knock my luck."

That same aristocratic posture took over and she smirked slightly. It was one of the things that Tabitha used to say was so infuriating about her. From empassioned to slightly bored in less than two seconds.

"I'm guessing that anything more I ask you about the fight is going to go in to personal life thing you don't want to talk about so I'm going to leave that alone. Anything else you'd like to talk about? Like say...I don't know...does Faith have a girlfriend?"

Not that she was...asking. Um...yeah. Sorta she was. Then again Faith was a Hunter and hunter/were bad. Very Bad. But Faith hung out with Oz who was a were so maybe not so bad. Only the real question wasn't Faith having a girlfriend she just wanted to know more about these people she was supposed to be having a connection with.

And she was hoping that Zeke would say she was in to chicks but that was very minor in her head. So small it didn't really merit thought. Yet...there she was. Thinking on it.

"That would all depend on what you asked now wouldn't it? I mean, I don't mind discussing taking them all out in a huge 'to-the-end' brawl, or even why in some cases, but then there are things you could ask that I just wouldn't answer. Though rarely the strong silent type, I can do a damn good impression...got that from my dad that's for sure..." She trailed off.

"Not that any of that matters...Faith. We can talk about her, sure. She's cool, but I couldn't tell you if she has a girl or not...or even if she has a guy. I don't bother with that kind of stuff much. All I know about scooby, or quasi-scooby personal lives, is that they give the appearance of mild-mannered innocence but really, they're all screwing eachother in one way or another." Zeke mused.

*************

"Dannan, it's me," said the voice on the other end of the line in his distinctive Irish brogue. "I was just callin' ta let ye know tha' I'm not gonna be able ta get away fer the meetin' wit' Aidan today. Can ye let him know tha' I'm sorry and tell everybody hi fer me, please?"

Doyle waited patiently for Amy's answer...

"Sure thing." she told him. "I'm there now. Is there anything you want me to tell him?" she asked.

"Nah, nothin' really. At least nothin' tha' I can discuss o'er the phone." Doyle's voice dropped to a near-whisper, as if he didn't want someone in the room with him to overhear what he was saying. "Just tell him tha' we have a lot ta talk about later. Maybe we can have us a Scooby meetin' tonight or somethin' wit' the whole gang, yeah?"

"Guys," Aidan said, directing a glance at Amy, "we really ought to get started if we're going to finish before some of you get back to class... Is Doyle not coming?" It seemed the logical conclusion. After all, if he were coming, he'd be here by now, not on the phone.

Amy's brow furrowed with the conspiratorial warning and wished she could find out more. But she understood about listening ears and so forth so she let it go...for now. "Right. Will do. Have fun with the kids." Given her audience she didn't say anything sappy that would earn her teasing. She hung up and addressed herself to Aidan.

"Doyle can't get away from school," she informed him, "and it didn't sound like he was in a position to be able to talk. He thinks we ought to have another Scooby meeting tonight so he can impart what he knows."

*************

Maria didn't notice Max's look, but this probably had something to do with the fact that she was giving Tess the Evil Eye. Holding her tongue was becoming a serious issue and her decision not to get involved was rapidly losing ground to sheer fury.

"You don't know anything about me Max, how I work, why I do the things I do. I mean, you don't even care. You were so happy with the little life you had going here, the perfect family, the perfect girlfriend, even Micheal the token 'problem child' that you had to *be there for*. It wouldn't have mattered how I did anything, I couldn't have broken in, I couldn't have been accepted by you, and it didn't mattered how I tried to go about it. It was all pointless, and I should have seen that from day one. You have the whole "future-king" thing set, I mean you've already got the extreme self-centeredness down to a fine art."

She didn't care. She was only saying these things because she wanted to upset him, and because she didn't care. She didn't, she really didn't. Had she already told herself that? It was true. None of this mattered. He didn't matter...a few more times and maybe she'd believe it.

That did it.

"Look who's talking, you bit - !" Maria started.

Fortunately - although fortunately for who was open to debate - Maria's explosion was interrupted.

Michael chose that moment to saunter up to the table and stand behind Max, slightly to the right of him.

"So, is this a private conversation or can any spiky-haired delinquents join in?"

"It's open to anyone," Maria said with a venomous glare in Tess's direction. In a show of solidarity, she stood up and moved to stand by Max and Michael, ready to be Moral Support. "Feel free to add anything you want," she added. "It's not like were were going for civility here."

"When do we ever?" Michael replied with his trademark smirk.

Max frowned and shot another look at Maria. Self-centered? Him? Reserved, absolutely -- he had to be, what with the whole secret identity that could cost him his life thing. But self-centered, no way. Where did she get off making grondless accusations like that? He didn't do anything without considering how it would affect those in his inner circle.

"You're right, Tess, I may not know you, but you don't know me either if you can sit there and say that. Makes you feel pretty stupid for marring me the first time around, then huh?" And with that uncharacteristic caustic remark he got up and left the table.

Stupid? No. Dillusional? Maybe. He was convincing though, he had even managed to get himself to believe the things he was saying about his own personality. Max, even Micheal and Isabel...none of them knew anything. They all lived in their own little world, which was ironic enough, as most things seemed to be.

Tossing a bored look at Maria and Micheal, she stood up.

"I assume you to want to fight, or make-up, or both, so I'm going to leave now. Have fun kids." Tess said and walked out of the cafeteria.

Michael was floored. He couldn't think of a single thing to say or do in response to Max's unexpected and unusual actions. This wasn't how things were supposed to work. Not even close to it. Michael "I've got a chip on my shoulder the size of Texas" Guerin was supposed to be the one who got angry and stormed off at a moment's notice. And Max "My middle name is either calmness or patience, I haven't decided yet" Evans was supposed to be the one who tried to calm him down and get him to act rationally. That was the natural order of things, not to be questioned. Which is why Max's uncharacteristic outburst was so shocking to those who knew him well.

"Um... does anyone else feel like they're stuck in an episode of the Twilight Zone?" Michael mumbled, his gaze following Max's retreating back.

Maria nodded mutely. She could understand Max getting upset with Tess - the girl was enough to make anyone explode - but Max Evans never got upset with anyone. Ever. It was part of what made him Max. Tess must have really hit home there.

"I think my life just got really complicated," Maria muttered as she glared after Tess. Max was being, well, not Max and Tess was rapidly going from slightly controlling to completely psychotic. As if everything wasn't spiraling out of control already.

Without quite realizing what she was doing, she leaned against Michael's shoulder as she kept up her mutter. She was too angry to notice. "Not that I need a normal life. Oh, no. That's for people who don't have psycho aliens on power trips and who actually have boyfriends who /care/ - "

Her mouth snapped shut, but not quite soon enough. That hadn't been supposed to come out. Not that last bit. [Damnit. Damnit damnit damnit. Foot in mouth, why don't you?] She pushed away from Michael suddenly, finally realizing who she had been leaning on. He and Isabel were supposed to be together. Destiny and all that. She wasn't going to get in the way of a galatic plan. No sir.

"Sorry," she muttered, scooping up her mostly uneaten lunch. "I'm gonna go crawl under a rock now."

She had been standing so close to him, her head on his shoulder. He could still smell the sweet, fruity sent of her shampoo, which combined with the feisty aroma of her perfume, was enough to drive any red-blooded alien male crazy.

Sweet and Spicy.

Sometimes Michael thought that Maria planned it that way, just to get to him.

Planned or not, it was working. Too well.

Which just made it worse since he knew that he couldn't actually go through with 99% of the thoughts in his head at this moment. It was too dangerous... for both of them.

Michael felt like either screaming and punching something really hard, or grabbing Maria and kissing her senseless or going into the art room early and drawing. And since all but one of those options would probably result in him getting yelled at, slapped or worse... his choice was pretty clear. Which was too bad, since he was pretty sure that the eraser room was unoccupied at the moment and option B was really sounding appealing...

Suddenly, Michael had an idea that just might let him have the best of both worlds... at least for about twenty minutes or so. And it was perfectly legal, even by their special "alien destiny" rules. It wasn't the eraser room, but it was as close as he could rightfully get.

"Maria, wait a minute..." he said, reaching out and catching her arm. He tried to ignore the sparks that he always felt when he touched her. He was being good. He was. All he needed was a little self control. He could do this.

[I am a mature, responsible person,] Maria told herself firmly, although she was doing a terrible job convincing herself. Michael holding her arm was a long way from Michael kissing her, but it didn't seem /that/ far at the moment. And while the other thoughts running through her head were certainly mature, they were definitely not responsible.

He let go of her arm, deciding that he could practice that self control thing a lot better when he *wasn't* actually touching her. It even worked... somewhat. Now only about half of his Maria thoughts were worse than R rated. Progress. He just had to keep it up.

And he had to actually convince her to go with him...

Maria squashed down a twing - okay, fine, a really big twing - of disappointment when Michael let go of her arm. Responsible. Mature. Only not that kind of mature. Damnit. How come Michael was standing there all cool and collected - or as close as Michael got to cool and collected, anyway - and she was debating between smacking and smooching?

She tuned down the buzzing hormones enough to hear what Michael was saying.

"I want to show you something, Maria. Will you come with me... um... please?"

God, he'd actually said please. He *never* said please. But this was important. Drastic measures and all that...

"Uh. Sure." It came out very unsuave, but at least she hadn't made a fool of herself or squeaked or anything. Not yet. She plopped her lunch back in the garbage and gestured. "Lead the way."

'Fine, I'll just sit here and twiddle my thumbs,' Isabel thought as she watched the former partners leave her alone at the table. She couldn't help feeling a little, no scratch that, a lot of resentment towards Maria, and a little to Michael. Though in hindsight, in Michael's case, she realised that she really had to reason to complain. As she sat there, Isabel also realised that it was precisely these types of situations that made her lead Alex on. Sure she liked him, but it was the companionship she needed. Max had Liz, Michael had Maria and she had Alex. It was neat and tidy, but ultimately false. Further proof was in the way the others could only think about their estranged partners, while she only felt a sense of loneliness.

She had wondered if Tess would provide the friendship she craved. After all they were the same. At least physically. But the uneasy feeling she had towards her, had only grown in the day she had been back.

Then there were her clique. The popular, snobby girls that she hung with most of her last couple of years, BL. Before Liz. But the last year, had strained that association to the point of breaking. And when it wasn't strained, the simple fact was that Isabel had never shown her true self to them. How could she.

And that left her, where she was. Alone.

***********

Jade nodded silently and flipped on the crappy television. She blinked in surprise and the flushed at the porn channel. The were quickly changed the channel.

"That...um was ah yeah so...tv."

Again she laughed at the embarrassed look on the other girls face, and how quick she was to blush and ramble. It was kind of...cute even.

Baywatch....Jade blinked again and stared quizzically at the television looking a hell of a lot like a confused dog. Shrugging she settled on to the edge of the bed and called for a pizza.

Sitting down on the room's lone chair, Zeke stared mindlessly at the tv. The entire concept was relatively new to her, the kind of entertainment she familiar with was far advanced, the future was had brought many new and clever devices with it.

"So...you don't like the uh...Scoobies. Any particular reason? I mean Xander and Oz and Faith that is since I don't know the others. I'm just...Xander and Oz are weres and I'm alone...I'd like to know more about who I could potentially be running from."

Snorting at the mention of the scoobies, a look of disgust crossed her face.

"I don't like them because they are the direct source of my crap life, and if it wasn't for their do-gooder attitude I could just be dead now, and that would be a lot better than my current situation...present company excluded." She added quickly, not wanting to offend the other.

"Oz is ok...fun to torment actually. He get's all bothered and guilty about his wolfiness, it's good for a laugh. Faith isn't bad at all, in fact she's the only one I actively like...and as for Xander...don't even want to go there. They won't be hunting you though. They have all kinds of 'moral issues' with killing things that are human most of the time, so no worries."

She was strange and Jade knew she smelled like trouble. Of course that didn't stop Jade from studying her closely. And it really didn't stop her from getting the begining tinglies of a crush.

Which hadn't happened since Tabby. Okay so...lust feeling for people happened alot but this was a honest to goodness crush she was starting to feel. Sitting there she wondered what Tabby would be saying to her right then. 'She's pyscho dumbass...leave it alone.'

Oh...yeah well there was that part. And Tabby wouldn't hesitate to bring that up either. Jade nodded at the descriptions of Oz and Xander and Faith. They didn't seem like bad people, what with the moral highground stuff.

Watching the girl think was weird. From the looks on her face, she was going through something that Zeke really didn't want to get into. It was pained to smiling in seconds. That freaked her out, she did it enough to know that normal people...even normal werewolves with minimal emotional baggage didn't do that.

Again her thoughts were interupted by the voice.

"So...Oz is afraid of what he is. Ashamed of it. Well that makes sense from the way he was looking at me after the fight. He probably cages up during the full moon."

"Huh what?...Oh yeah, Oz. I don't know...last I heard, he was caging up but we're not exactly tight, I'm really not a good person to ask about the inner workings of their sacred circle."

She raised her brows slightly in thought and shook her head. Caging led to bad things. Like Zeke only a were and five times more feral then Jade on a bad day. Which was a Tabby. So okay then Zeke was pretty tame compared to the love of Jade's life. Jade looked up at Zeke and blinked.

Well maybe not *tame* per se but definately not what Tabitha was. Is. Is. Is. Tabby was still alive. She just chose to not be around Jade. The were scratched at her chin and chewed her lip thoughtfully again.

"Xander isn't a normal werewolf is he? Because he seems a little off and that whole rage thing....isn't really a were thing. I mean sure piss me off enough and I can tear the arms off a man but I'd have to be mid shift for that to happen. Plus...there was this feeling I got from him that reminded me of Faith for some reason."

"Xander is stupid."

Upon seeing the look on Jade's face, she realized that wasn't the answer she was looking for.

"Fine, he's a little off yeah. There was a big bad in Sunnydale awhile back, and he got hurt. Needed some blood or something...apparently Faith and Oz were the only matches. Guess what that means? I'm not making you guess out of my own smart-assedness, I just really don't know what it means. Apparently he's one pissed off part-were boy. It's weird. I don't get it, and I don't care to. He's more fun now, that's all I really know."

Faith was a whole other subject for deep thought. The girl was a Hunter. There was no mistaking that. She moved like one, smelled like one, acted like one, and then there was the leather. All predators wore leather. Then again...so did Jade. But only sometimes.

She got the impression she was being studied just as much as she was studying Zeke. She looked up absently and gave a tentative grin. There was a knock on the door saving her from having to speak.

A smile flickered across her face, it was weird. Really weird. She rarely felt like her being around was actually wanted anywhere, except for maybe once or twice. Her grandma was always there with a hug or a soft word, no matter how bad she felt it was always ok after she stepped into those warm arms that offered her hope.

The other time she wasn't going to think about. She wasn't going to focus on Lindsey, or even deal with the things that going near that brought up. It was to hard, it painful. What about him? What the hell had she done to him? He hadn't deserved to be treated that way, and yet...she did it without batting an eye.

Jade stood up and opened the door. Pizza. Taking the boxes she showed her card and signed the slip to pay. Tip included and everything. But that was going to have to be the last time she used that card for anything for a bit.

Pizza. Distractions...excellent.

Her family would be tracking her with that. Not to mention that she had a payment to make on it soon or she'd be at her limit. Jade shut the door and dropped a pizza on the table near Zeke and climbed back on to the bed with the other one.

Reaching over she opened the box and grabbed a slice, not thinking about manners until she looked up and grinned stupidly. Luckily she was distracted again when Jade asked her a question.

"I didn't...think it was possible to be halfbreed were and Hunter. Um Slayer. Whatever. I guess that answers my questions. Have any for me?"

"I didn't give a rip so I never thought about it before... but ok, thinkin about it...yeah it's weird. Xander is weird. Didn't we cover that already?" She said playfully before thinking about the last question.

"You? Where did you come from, and why to Roswell? I'm baffled."

"Spain originally. I was in Catholic school up until my Junior year when I was kicked out, from there I went to Brazil for a 'vacation' with my parents and then on to art school in France. From France to the States where I've been roaming for awhile trying to figure out how to completely control myself."

Jade winced a little at the mention of France. It wasn't just what happened to her there that made her hurt. It was leaving Ettiene behind too. For awhile he tried to find her in the States but she stayed on step ahead of him all the time.

Listening to Jade, Zeke noticed how animated she was as she spoke. At times there was intense sadness behind her eyes, but it would disappear just as quickly as it had come. Familiar much?

Sucked having to ditch one of the only friends you could count on. Still it had to be done. He couldn't be around her and not get hurt. Plus he was a far more talented artist than she was. He deserved to stay at Hall Domize and finish all his training.

"Mostly I've been visiting all the Native Reservations, Texas and New Mexico, and Montana have the most. There's a lot to be said for Animal Spirits and visions. Anyway...I've managed to learn to control some of my shifting. Enough to help when I need it. I'm working on shifting out of cycle and holding back durning the full moon but I think...I'd have to leave the States and head to Tibet or something. I've heard stories."

Well...talk about long winded explanation. Of course she left out the parts about why she got booted from Catholic school and how it was that she was so well travelled. She'd tell if she was asked about it but she didn't really want to say 'well yeah I'm a rich kid'. It seemed a little bit rude.

"Ok...so basically mommy and daddy were paying to cart you around the world because you couldn't hold still long enough to pass and move on? That is unless being a werewolf has one hell of a profit margin that I've just never heard of."

Jade lowered her head a little. She flushed slightly and shrugged.

"Actually mom and dad took me to the farthest place they could think of so I wouldn't embarress them again by getting caught making out with the arch bishop's niece in the confessional again. My family just so happens to have a large vineyard so...we're influencial. Or at least I was until I bailed on them."

She took another bite of her pizza.

"Hey, it's better than trying to kill you right?...or worse...preventing it." She muttered.

Jade raised her brows again at that.

"My family the werewolf hunters. They didn't take my status as a non human too well. They've been trying to track me ever since I left them. I guess I'm an okay were so long as I cage up."

The small were chomped in to a slice of pizza in silence. Yeah she had it rough. Everyone had their own version of rough. She wasn't going to dwell on that. Besides she wasn't doing too bad for herself as a wander. And it wasn't like her family was trying to kill her. Just...drug her and cart her back to Spain and lock her in a cage. Oh. Yeah. Also not of the good.

**********

"I'm learning that," Harmony said deep in thought. Liz's questions had brought up the memory of Jeffrey. There usually wasn't a day when she didn't wonder if he was all right. Wondered if he even noticed that she had left Sunnydale. Not for the first time, she wished she had left a note. However the other part of her brain, the pesemistic side, told her that she was blowing the friendship he showed out of proportion and so it was easier to not leave any message. That was at least she could beleive he still cared for her.

"So what do you do with yourself, Liz. Apart from school that is?" Harmony asked, thinking that it was time she made the conversation a two way street.

"Oh, yeah. Um... That would be work, mostly, since the personal life area is lacking lately. I work in my parent's restaurant downtown. You may have seen it. The Crashdown Cafe? It's kind of hokey, I guess, but what else can you expect in Roswell but alien-themed places. I guess in Anaheim and Orlando you get lots of Mouse-themed stuff, too. How about you?"

"Yeah, I guess ...." Harmony got that far before the arrival of Max. The way Liz and Max looked at each other, convinced Harmony that now was not the time to talk.

*************

Max stormed out of the cafeteria, vaguely noting that he passed his sister on the way. He got into the open air and just breathed for a minute. How was she so capable of pissing him off? He took a few more deep breaths. He hated feeling this way. He hated blowing up at people. Maybe that was what bugged him most about Tess. It was not so much her, as what he became around her. If you don't like yourself when you're around certain people, it was time to find other people to be around.

But her effect on him aside, there was definitely something seriously wrong with that girl. The conversation he'd had with Maria, especially coming as it did as a precursor to his own confrontation with her, had him severely worried. The pleasant oh-the-six-of-us-need-to-have-a-meeting thought he'd had earlier became an urgent necessity. He needed Michael's passion, Isabel's support, Liz's analytical mind, Maria's creativity and Alex's loyalty and technological expertise. Dear old "Mom" might have said he was the leader now and all that, but in a moment of clarity he realized that without anyone to lead or without good people to lead, a leader was going precisely nowhere. He thanked the architect of his human destiny -- the one that had nothing to do with football-shaped orbs and glowing apparitions -- for these people. Now he just needed to find them.

He got his duff up from the bench he had apparently sat on during that inner dialog and went in search of the Alien Initiated. Given that he was outside, he'd start there. A surge of relief overcame him as he caught a familiar set of brown hair and brown eyes out the corner of his own. He turned and saw Liz and Harmony and made a beeline for them.

"Uh, hi," he started so eloquently. "Sorry to interrupt..."

Liz looked up (even thought she was standing she still had to look up because he towered over her -- most people towered over her) to see Max standing there. Ignoring the twinge of awarness she always got at his presence, she asked quietly, "Done talking with Tess?"

"Am I ever," he muttered in response. More audibly he said, "Look, Liz, I think the six of us need to talk." He shot a look at Harmony and hoped Liz would read between the lines. Announcing that there was something wrong would only get her suspicions up. Trust wasn't something that came all that naturally to Max.

**************

Michael felt the urge to let out a huge sigh of relief, though he restrained himself. She'd said yes. She was willing to come with him. Which, granted, was not as wonderful - or against the rules - as if she'd decided to grab him and kiss him in the middle of the caf but it was much better than having her laugh in his face and storm out. So he'd take what he could get.

Michael grabbed Maria's hand and led her through the masses of people in the caf and out into the hallway, telling himself that the only reason he was holding her hand was because he didn't want to lose her in the crowd and *not* because he missed the feeling of holding her small, warm hand in his. Yeah, right. That was believable. Maybe if he told himself that lie at least 50 more times he'd actually start to believe it.

Maria didn't pull away from Michael, even though she was perfectly good at getting through crowds, mostly because she possessed some of the sharpest and most lethal elbows in the high school. She tried for a bit of self-delusion - Michael was leading the way, she might get lost - but gave up after a moment. She liked touching him. Responsible and mature were losing ground to hormonal rather more quickly than she would have liked. And, strangely, she wasn't minding in the least.

As they walked through the hallway, he avoided anyone they knew, not wanting to get stopped before they reached their destination. Knowing Maria and her chatterbox tendencies, if someone saw them and said hello, they'd be stuck "chatting" for the rest of their lunch break.

"Hi!" Maria called over her shoulder as she was whisked past friends from gym. "Hi! I'll talk to you later! Bye! Hey, do you know what - " She broke off when she realized she was trying to shout and keep up with Michael at the same time. If she had been shallower, she would have said that he was putting a crimp in her social life.

Michael turned a corner, still keeping a hold of Maria's hand, even though the crowds - and his excuse to touch her - were long gone. He wasn't quite ready to let go just yet.

A few more steps and he stopped them in front of a door to a darkened classroom. The door was locked, but that was no problem for Michael. He might suck at complex things like fixing cars, but he could handle a simple lock. He glanced over his shoulder, making sure there was no one else in the hallway, and the placed his hand over the lock. There was a red glow spreading from his fingertips to the lock. And then there was a click as his powers did their trick.

Maria glanced around to make sure there were no lurking administrative types to deal with. The last thing she needed was for a random, nosy kid to notice that Michael was unlocking doors - or worse, another Pierce.

Not a pleasant thought, that.

"What's important enough for you to break into rooms?" she whispered.

Michael opened the door quietly and reached a hand in to turn on the lights before walking into the room. Then he pulled Maria inside behind him and closed the door.

"Here we are," he announced, finally dropping Maria's hand.

They were in the art room.

"We're in the art room," Maria said with her usual knack for stating the obvious. "You dragged me to the art room?" It was a simple question - an incredulous simple question, but not phrased to offend. She suspected that art was the only thing that had kept Michael interested in school last year and she didn't want him to think she was mocking him. She was considerate of his feelings, even if they weren't exactly going out anymore.

"So what did you want to show and tell?" she asked as she perched herself on a stool?

Michael found that, now that he had her here, his courage was fading fast. He started to have some doubts about showing her this. Would she hate it? Would she just laugh at him and say he was stupid? Michael looked down at his shoes, scuffing the toe of his left sneaker on the art room floor.

"Um... it's just something that I've been, uh... working on over the summer. I kinda had to borrow some of the school's art supplies and stuff... that's why it's stored here... hidden..."

Michael looked back up, meeting Maria's eyes, trying to decide if she was about ready to start laughing yet. She didn't appear to be, though. She was just sitting on a stool and waiting patiently for him to just get on with it.

So he did.

Michael walked over to the big art closet and pulled out a medium-sized painting covered in a protective, off-white tarp from the back. He brought it over to the table beside Maria and set it down gently. Then he set about carefully unwrapping it and setting the tarp to the side.

Once he had it uncovered, he stepped back and let Maria see. He fidgetted from foot to foot, nervous because, aside from the painting of the geodesic dome, no one had ever seen any of his works. So this was very important to him, though for more than just that reason.

The painting was a landscape, but it was one that was obviously "not of this earth." The ground, covered in purple rocks and a stream that ran red, almost like blood, was not what first caught the eye. It was the sky, covered in acid green clouds with intricate swirls of black at the edges, that really struck a cord with Michael.

"I think this is... home," he said, softly, almost reverently. "I've been having dreams about this place. Just like I did about the dome. And I had to paint it just to get it out of my head. But after I finished it, I didn't know what to do with it. Normally I'd take it to Max and Izzy, but they weren't here then and now that they *are* here I'm still kinda pissed at them. And I couldn't show this to just anyone..."

Michael left the rest of his motivations unsaid. He didn't say that, regardless of what was going on with Max and Isabel, he would have still wanted Maria to be the first to see this piece of himself translated onto canvus. He didn't say that her opinion was more important to him than even that of his "family." He didn't say that no matter what happened, he wanted to be close to her. He wanted to be able to tell her anything. He wanted her to *know* him better than anyone else.

He didn't say that he still loved her.

He wasn't allowed to say those kinds of things, no matter what he wanted. Because he had to keep her safe, which meant not getting too close. So he just stood there by her side, his painting in front of them, and said nothing.

After all, there was nothing left he could say.

**************

Again that cute blushy thing. It made Zeke smile stupidly. Shaking her head, and trying to get the look off her face, she jumped up and went to the sink. Running the tap, she had a class of water to try and regroup herself. The small werewolf girl was unnerving.

"I see. The poor little rich girl right? It's cool though, I mean...it's not like I wasn't raised with money and am now bitter to everybody who was. My dad was like...260 year old or something. He managed to save a few pennies."

She understood the need to bail on the fam. That made perfect sense to her, she should have done it when she was 16. Woulda saved quite a few problems. Waited to long, got entirely screwed over because of it.

Shouldn't have said that. Didn't want to make the girl think anything, just wanted her to...be. Just sit there and let Zeke watch her. That would work.

"Family is suprising. You think they love you, and well...they don't. They never do. Love...it's such an enigma anyway..." That was an Angel word.

She hated using words he had taught her, drove her crazy to have any kind of his influence on her show through. Sometimes she just couldn't help it though.

"Whatever. How 'bout we not discuss the deeper meanings of love and family, and move onto something that doesn't bring up any kind of old issues."

"There are only three things in life that sustain the soul. Love. Family. And sex. Or so some not all that wise person once said."

Jade gave Zeke a dimpled grin and shrugged slightly. She could do superficial conversation. She'd been bred to do it afterall.

"Moving right along because I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear about my sexual conquests...and I'm pretty sure you'd laugh at some of the stuff I've gone through to get a girl's attention."

Which would lead to a whole other blushing fest. What with the running in to trees while staring and the falling out of chairs while doing doof smile face. Why did the bed feel like it wasn't there?

That was the last thought in her head as she slipped off the edge of the bed on to the floor with a thump. Jade growled angrily at the bed and sat up quickly.

"uh..."

"Yeah...you'd sure want to avoid the me laughing at you part." Zeke said through gales of laughter.

This kid was messed up, in a funny kinda way. She kept doing such silly things, having one stupid accident after another, and it led Zeke to believe that maybe it wasn't so accidental after all.

"Yeah ha ha laugh it up girlie."

Jade gave a mock glower and rubbed her slightly red elbow. The damn thing was going to bruise now and that was so unattractive.

"Call me crazy, god knows everybody else has, but no...your sex life isn't high on my list of things to talk about. In fact...I'd like to never talk about it. Not good with that kind of thing y'know?"

She probably didn't know. How could anybody? Zeke was being purposely evasive. One thing was for sure though, and that was her dislike of competition. Not that she was competing for Jade...she didn't even care. She was in it entirely for the pizza.

"Despite that almost innocent look you have sometimes I'm guessing you aren't all that innocent. But hey I'm not one to push unless...well no sex talk right?"

"Well that's gotta be a first, nobody has ever out and out called me innocent before. My problem isn't with sex talk either...even though I barely know you, that doesn't matter. That's not even the reason...and it isn't sex in general that I have a problem talking about either. It's you...no it's me...no I mean, ok...what I mean, is that I don't want to hear about who *you* sleep with? And does that make any sense at all?"

Babble. She was talking incessantly, about nothing. Not good. Not good at all, especially considering the subject matter and the fact that she was giving herself away painfully. Rolling her eyes at her self, she took a deep breath. Funny, wasn't the first deep breath she'd taken since being in the room with Jade.

Jade was only teasing. A little. Kinda. Alright teasing in that serious way but Zeke didn't know that so it was all good.

"Well I don't know about you but I didn't have a very fitful sleep and to be honest with you...I'm about ready to drop from shifting so much today. So...stay, watch, eat, sleep, whatever but I'm taking a nap."

Was she scared of the psycho? Not really. Did she want her to stay? Probably. Was she going to say so? Not in so many words. Is there a point to this paragragh? Not at all.

"Ok...um...I'm not tired. Well...I was but now I'm not. I'd rather avoid sleep in fact." Zeke said, not mentioning the horrible nightmares she suffered from.

"And I probably shouldn't stay here, so you could like, get some sleep and maybe I'll see you around later. Not like it's a big place. We're bound to bump into eachother." She said, and stood up heading for the door.

***************

When he said six, Liz wanted to scream. Did he think she would just walk into a meeting with Tess of her own free will? Avoidence was her method of coping with that problem right now. But something didn't seem right about that. It didn't ring true with his muttering comment about being done talking to the skanky blonde.

Then Liz realized what Max meant. He was talking about the six of them -- her, him, Maria, Michael, Isabel and Alex. But hadn't she told Max about Alex when they were talking before Biology? She was 99% certain that she had done so, in a desparate attempt to deflect him off the subject of their relationship. Apparently, either she was wrong or Max had forgotten.

She sighed. Thinking of Alex depressed her. She'd missed him all summer, and to have him not come home had been such a let down. But she knew he wanted to work with that professor on the psychology experiment. And, Liz had to admit, if she had been offered a job working on an experiment with a world-renowned molecular biologist instead of going to WRH and dealing with Max every day, she would have jumped at the chance.

Liz turned to Harmony. "I guess I'd better take this one. I hope we can hang out again soon, though. Come by the Crashdown this afternoon if you want to." She smiled at Harmony and then turned to Max.

'Yeah I guess," Harmony replied, trying to hide her disappointment. Not that she begrudged them time alone. It didn't take a rocket scientist, (which incidentally was a good thing), to see they had issues to talk about. It was just the disappointment of an enjoyable conversation being over, before she hoped it would be. It was a new thing, this friendship talking thing, to Harmony. But she couldn't ignore the fact that she liked it. She didn't want to.

With Liz's departure, Harmony wondered briefly what to do, before she realised that she had left a couple of books back at the table she was sitting at the start of the lunch break. She spun around and walked into the cafeteria and spotted Isabel sitting by herself. She never really got a chance to talk to Isabel before, but as she felt like she was on a roll with this conversation deal....

"Hi, Isabel, isn't it? I'm Harmony, sort of had a fleeting introduction a little earlier?" Harmony said with a smile, hoping that a friendly face may help the introduction a little.

Isabel looked up and saw Harmony standing there. Isabel's first instinct was to say hi and leave. But, the company was what she needed. The fact that it was from someone she didn't know, who didn't know her, made that decision easier.

"Yeah, I remember. Liz leave you?" Isabel replied.

Harmony took a seat, glad that Isabel had welcomed her. "Yeah, looks like she had a lot of things to talk about with Max."

Isabel nodded. "Yeah, I think they do," she replied softly.

***************

"Where?" Liz would fill him in on Alex after Harmony was out of earshot.

"Um, the reservoir?" He wasn't sure if they could risk bailing on the first day of school and convening on the lookout over the water reservoir as they usually did. He wasn't sure where else they could go where they could be sure they weren't watched or bugged. After the camera in Michael's apartment they couldn't be too careful. But he did make it a question. Liz was smart. If she had a better idea he was hoping she'd volunteer it.

Liz bit her lip. She didn't want to cut class on the first day. She checked her watch. There was still a significant portion of lunch time left. They had to be able to find somewhere safe on campus to talk.

"Why don't we try to stay here so we don't miss our next class? We could... uh... go out to the bleachers by the football field, or out in back of the gym, or the band hall... or the eraser room... it would be packed in there, but we know no one will disturb us..."

"Let's say the bleachers in ten minutes," Max said decisively. "That way we can see if anyone's watching. I'll try and find Michael and Iz, you find Maria and Alex, okay? And Liz, thanks." He grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. He really needed her right now and she was there for him.

The hand sqeeze caught her off-guard for a minute. Ignoring the sparks his touch always caused, Liz pulled her hand back as politely as she could.

"All right, the bleachers it is," she then agreed. She decided on the spur of the moment to wait and fill them all in about Alex at the same time. It would be easier to only have to tell the story once.

A thought struck her and she started walking toward the cafeteria. "It's possible that they're all in the cafeteria, though. I know we left some of them in there, right? If they aren't there, then we can split up." Liz knew that when she had left the caf, at least a few of the gang had been still sitting around the table. Michael and Isabel had been in the hallway at the time, but maybe they'd gone back in. And, if not, they'd walk right past that area of the hallway when they went inside.

Max went with her and was certainly glad that her brain was working today. His seemed to have shorted out somewhere between here and Albuquerque. "Good call," he murmured as they wended their way through mid-lunch WRHS.

They arrived in the caf and looking across the sea of tables to the place Liz had staked out at the beginning of lunch, Max saw his sister sitting with that new girl...Harmony? She did seem to be hitting it off with folks around here, he thought to himself. Max briefly wondered just how successful they would be at keeping a friendship without spilling the beans. They didn't have much of a track record with that, given the danger they seemed to keep putting people in.

"Hey," he said to them both as he and Liz arrived at the table.

The sound of her brothers voice, cut across the conversation Isabel and Harmony were enjoying. Both looked up and smiled.

"Hi" Isabel replied.

"Hey," Harmony answered. "So, did you get to talk about what you needed to?" She asked Liz.

**************

Aidan nodded. He hadn't known Doyle that long, but in Ireland the half-demon had proved himself both astute and invaluable. However, some people might not be able to meet twice in one day. He would have to think about that.

He looked around at the assembled gang. "I think we should do it, but where? I like my apartment, but it has a severe lack of furniture, and it's pretty small for all of us."

Jeffery offered, "We can meet at Casa Madison, if you don't mind a few unpacked boxes scattered around."

Aidan gave Jeffery a nod of thanks. "That sounds good." Encompassing the whole group with his gaze in turn, he said, "Let's meet at the Madison's at 6 p.m. If you can't come, we'll fill you in later, but everyone should try and make it. Being attuned to that part of the world, Doyle tends to have many good insights on demons -- and, of course, there are the visions..."

He couldn't help a small smile when his gaze fell on Willow. "Just in case it's a stumbling point, the meeting should be over early enough for those who aren't committed elsewhere to go to the Crash Festival I've heard so much about."

Willow grinned, pushing some of her firey red hair behind her ear. "Actually, it might be a good idea for at least some of you guys to make an appearance at the festival. As far as I know, everyone goes, so you could have a chance to talk to people in a less formal situation than in school. Get to know the natives, that sort of thing."

Xander nodded, glancing over at the stack of zeroxed papers that he'd set down on Aidan's desk. "Yeah, and maybe that Evans kid will be there. We need someone to talk to him, try and see what's up."

Xander picked up the stack of papers and began passing them out, making sure that everyone in the small room had a packet. "I made these up a few days ago. It's just a little packet 'o weirdness, a la Xander Harris. It has photo copied articles and pictures of all the weird stuff that's been going on, including all the disappearances and the incident at the Crashdown last year."

Willow glanced over her packet, impressed with all of Xander's work. He'd been doing his "spy" job well. She flipped through the pages, stopping on one with a picture of a young, dark haired boy who looked to be about their age. The caption underneath the picture read, "Max Evans, local West Roswell High student, was one of the students aledgedly involved in the shooting incident at the Crashdown Cafe."

"Is this the guy you wanted us to look into?" Willow asked, pointing out the picture.

"Yeah, that's him. Not only was he involved with the shooting, rumors say that he went up and placed his hands over a bullet wound in a waitress' stomach and healed her, but he was also thought to be involved in a car accident at last year's Crash Festival and a string of vandilism incidents that took place on the highway from here to a nearby fair grounds. All involved strange silver handprints, and in some cases, flashing lights and explosions. Strange stuff, if you ask me. Smacks of the supernatural."

Willow nodded, thinking it all over. She was surprised to see a name she recognized in the accompaning article. "Michael Guerin? Is he involved in all of this, too?"

Xander raised an eyebrow. "Why, he a friend of yours or something?"

Willow shrugged. "I wouldn't say friend, but we've met. He gave me a ride to the school and I gave him some hair tips. If you want, I could try talking to him. Maybe convince him to go to tonight's festival..."

Xander was surprised. Someone had managed to get close to Michael "Stonewall" Geurin? That was a surprise. He'd worked with the guy for the past couple of weeks and had yet to get more than a couple of words from the guy. But if Willow had the 'magic touch' then they'd best make good use of it while she was still here. After all, she'd be back in Sunnydale tomorrow.

Xander looked over at Aidan. "Hey, if she can get anything out of that guy, I say more power to her. I've been trying to make nice with the guy for the past two weeks and had no luck. She only needed a few minutes."

Willow smiled at Aidan. "Well, what do you think? Should I try and talk to him? See what I can find out?"

"Razor. I'm out."

Faith pushed off the wall and nodded to Oz. He was still staring at the wall thoughtfully though he was very aware of her. He turned his head slightly and nodded right back.

"On it."

Holding the door open after her Faith waited for Oz to nod his goodbyes to everyone. No offense to everyone but it was kinda hot and stuffy in that little office with all those people there...just...sitting.

Oz stuffed his hands in his pockets and moved to keep step with Faith. He thought the meeting was going to last longer but apparently things didn't go that way. Not bad for a first day with the gang.

"I'm thinkin' we need to head home for some sleep or something. Unless you got places to be."

"I'm good for now. Want a ride?"

"I can hoof it. Swing by and pick me up later?"

"Right."

And FtB them to wherever Oz's and Faith's go.

*******************

Jade jumped up off the bed and moved far too quickly to that door. She blinked at Zeke and canted her head slightly. She didn't even really know why she was stopping her just that she was.

"Let me get this right...You. Don't want to hear about Me. With anyone else?"

Zeke backed away a little suprised.

"Did anybody ever tell you, that for a tired person you move *exceedingly* fast?"

"Were ability I suppose."

She was amused. Intrigued and very amused. Not a good combination on a werewolf because that just made her five flavors of feral. Jade grinned full on furball in a human face and leaned back against the door.

"If I had higher self esteem I'd say you have a crush on the big bad wolf. Only...I'm not very big and I'm not all that bad. And..."

Ok...as if that wasn't freaky. She barely knew her, and already she was getting accused of the crushes! Normally it was at least...oh...two hours before that started.

"Nuh-uh. I do *not* have a crush on anybody that has massive body hair issues. Not good ones, bad ones, big ones or even small ones."

"So the fact that I'm a werewolf bothers you? I see..."

The feeling was mutal? Jade kept that thought to herself but it read like a book over her face. She smirked a little more and crossed her arms.

That smirk was really, *really* annoying. Being the "mysterious psycho" was infinatly better than actually talking to anybody. People...or even non-people, could really, really get tricky with things. What these "things" were, she didn't exactly know.

There was no way she was just going to sit back and take this though.

"'sides, I don't think I'd ever be able to deal with *your* pms issues anyway."

Rather than pushing past her and leaving like she had originally intended, Zeke stood there, ball in Jade's court, and smirk switching to her face.

"I guess you're right. Psycho immortals and foreign furries don't mix."

Jade stepped back to give Zeke room to leave. She was a little disappointed. THe term Crash and Burn with a huge nuclear fallout came to mind. But hey that was her life. Crush and be crushed.

"Now, that isn't what I said is it? I just said I didn't have a crush on you. Besides, I don't know what you're talking about with all this "psycho immortal" stuff, but I assume you're the foreign furry right?"

She watched Jade throw the blankets to the floor, and smiled. Couldn't stand the heat.

"I mean, after all...I'm not immortal. I could be killed, just because the current list of those who can do me in is short, doesn't mean it's always going to be. After the bitch bites the dust, I'm free game...so must notta been me you were refering to."

Good thing she squashed the feeling before it started. With a slight rise to her eyebrow she nodded to the door. She wasn't going to push it if she wasn't wanted. Jade moved back over to the bed and tossed the blankets on to the floor. She hated blankets in the heat.

"Be careful out there Zeke."

Her face fell a little. Ok...maybe it really was time to go.

"But...yeah. Ok. I'll see you another time." She said and opened the door.

**************

Aidan wanted to say something to stop them. He even opened his mouth to, but they were gone before he could get the words out. He knew that this meeting was not going according to plan, but was it his fault that someone got on the phone and they couldn't start? No. But, it looked like Faith had decided that she had no use for a Watcher. Or a team. Except, apparently, for Oz. It looked like they were going to have to handle the Roswell situation without the aid of a reliable Slayer. Aidan hoped he was wrong, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn't.

Briefly, Adrian wished Giles were there. He had always been able to keep Buffy and Faith on task -- at least, as much as anyone had been able to. But it looked like Aidan had his answer about how Faith was going to handle seeing and working with him again after their abortive attempt at a relationship. Apparently, new start was a foreign concept to her. Apparently, she had decided for no start at all.

Jeffery leaned over and gave Aidan a clap on the shoulder. He hadn't known the Watcher and the Slayer when they were a couple, but he could tell that Aidan was stressing. And brooding.

Aidan accepted the sympathy with a slight nod, and Jeffery went back to his position leaning against the wall. Aidan was standing next to his desk. Aidan and Jeffery had, miraculously, started appreciating each other, and were on the way to becoming friends. Aidan just hoped that Jeffery didn't find out about Aidan and Willow... that would put a nip in the budding friendship.

Putting Faith -- and thoughts like "can you be a Watcher if your Slayer won't listen to you?" -- out of his mind to be dealt with later, Aidan listened to Xander and Willow talk. He thumbed through his "weird stuff" packet, and was glad that at least he had other reliable people on his team.

Aidan remembered Michael Guerrin. The kid who started the whole "art craze" that morning. He nodded at Willow. "That sounds like a good idea. You've already got an 'in,' so to speak."

"You're a step ahead of the rest of us," Jessica added. "I've met Michael and he's...well, I didn't want to say antisocial, but that's the right word." She gave Willow a conspiratorial smile. "Good thing you wore that outfit today, huh?"

Willow rolled her eyes and offered Jessica a good-natured grin before glancing down at her black leather pants and red tank top, which seemed to be a major conversation starter today. "Buffy made me wear this."

Jeffery spoke up then. "About the Evans kid, Amy and I met him, and his sister, last night. They seem normal, but if he's healing, my thought is maybe he's got some witchy tendencies in him." He shot a grin at Jessica. "Jess, here, says she's going to try and charm something out of him."

Jessica nodded. "Right. I haven't met him yet, so unless someone went and said that I was a college student, I should be able to blend. And Evans can't be all that bad compared to Guerin."

Aidan nodded again. "Good plan." He had to chuckle a little. "And now that we've sent girls to charm the guys, I suppose we need a few male volunteers to charm the ladies." Thumbing through the packet again, Aidan stopped at the tabloid article about the shooting. "Liz Parker. Definitely someone we should talk to." He quickly found the small article about the accident at last year's Crash Festival. Tabloids were handy things. They reported on everything. Most people thought they were trash, but it was amazing how many actually had their finger on the true pulse of the world -- if the reporters could only figure out when to tell the truth and when to lie. "Maria DeLuca. Also a prime suspect. She's definitely involved here. And then there's Isabel Evans. She's Max's sister. She's got to know something, too. If there's something to know, of course...."

"She might not, though," Jessica pointed out. "I mean, most Sunnydale types were pretty clueless - including most of our parental units. I don't think I saw Isabel Evans mentioned all that much, so we should probably go gently there." She smiled tightly. "Sorry. Channeling my inner Mother Theresa there."

"True, it's possible that Isabel Evans may not know a thing," Aidan agreed. "But, then again, she might know everything. It all depends on the family, and I don't think we should leave anything to chance. But we should tread lightly around her. Definitely."

****************

Liz shook her head. "Actually, I have to find Maria. It's kind of important. Did either of you see which way she went?" She shot Harmony a small smile, hoping the girl would realize, though she was a bit preoccupied right now, that Liz didn't mean anything bad by it, and still hoped to get to know Harmony better later. But whatever Harmony thought, Liz knew that the six... five of them had to meet. And the sooner the better. Weird stuff was going on.

"Maria and Michael took off a little while earlier," Isabel replied. "Check out the usual areas, Eraser rooms etc," she added a little irritated. Just more reminders of her current singleness.

"Eraser room?" Harmony asked.

Isabel turned to Harmony. "Local make out room."

"Oh, well, okay," Harmony added not really having a reply to that.

"Yeah, don't let a guy trick you into going in there. Some of the jocks like to ask new girls to help them 'clean the erasers.' It's all a big scam." Liz darted Harmony another small smile, and then added to them all. "Well, I know a way to find them, then. Excuse me just a second."

Liz moved aside and pulled out her cell phone. She always kept it on vibrate during school hours, so as not to disturb any classes. She punched in Maria's number -- luckily, Maria had had insurance on the phone, so when Michael destroyed it, Maria had been able to get a new one -- and waited when she heard the rings on the other end...

When Liz turned away, Harmony turned to Isabel. "You actually have a special room. We had a lot of non-descript closets that a few people were famous for being in."

Isabel apreciated the humourous tone that Harmony was talking to her with. Her initial trepidation on making a new friend was being slowly eroded away. Talking to Harmony, even at the superfical level that it still was at, gave her a sense of normality that she craved.

"I don't know if that is how I would want to be remember for?" Isabel replied with a grin.

"I agree, though Cordelia, that was her name, was sort of queen of the school. So her reputation could handle it. While the guy, well his reputation mainly came from being Cordelia's boyfriend."

Harmony felt at home talking gossip. Even if Isabel had no idea who she was talking about. In fact it was a lot nicer that way. Harmony could tell a funny story and no one could get hurt. Afterall, what was the chances of Cordelia Chase turning up in Roswell.

"Come on, Maria. Answer. Where are you?" Liz muttered to herself as she listened to the phone ringing in her ear. If this didn't work, she didn't know how they were going to find the other two aside from randomly walking down halls and throwing open doors. Liz didn't think Maria and Michael would be in the Eraser Room. It didn't make sense after everything that had happened. However, the first time they'd wound up mugging out on the kitchen floor at the Crashdown it hadn't made sense either. Michael and Maria didn't make sense very often. And that was probably what was so great about them.

Max stood by while Liz went into action. He hung back and watched: Liz in action and his sister. Isabel had been doing very poorly indeed of late and he was worried about her. He watched her chatting amicably about inane details of the lives of people she didn't know with this new girl. She seemed relaxed and even happy. He was releaved, if very surprised.

As he waited for the phone conversation to indicate something he worried about Michael. Max needed to have handled that better. What a fabulous leader he was turning out to be...

*****************

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