Sandie's mother was in shocked by Sandie's discovery. She continually asked herself how it was possible. She came up with several different scenarios by the time Robert Gates arrived Monday evening. Sandie was excited by her discovery it meant that her life would be more full than she ever imagined. Alisha was also excited by the possibility, but was far more cautious than her young daughter. Robert was the sceptic. His military career taught him that you don't trust the obvious. He was worried that his family was in for a disappointment. It hurt him to think that his sweet little girl would be hurt by yet another attempt by those in the ranks to trick them into believing something that just couldn't be.

That evening they discussed a plan to find out for sure.

At school Tuesday Sandie invited all of her friends to come over on Friday for a private party. She said that her Father wanted a chance to meet her new friends, before he decided if he would allow her to hang around them other than at school.

This made since to Kyle, after all Sandie had told him about her father's protective nature when it came to her. He was hopeful that things would work out. The more time he spent with Sandie the more he found that he liked about her. He was enjoying her new found excitement and contributed it to the idea that her father was actually considering letting Sandie go places without parental supervision.

Throughout the week Coronal Robert Gates personally performed an unofficial search into the lives of Max and Isabel Evans, Liz Parker, Michael Guerin, Maria DeLuca, Alex Whitman, and Kyle Valenti. By pulling these names he had a few red flags come up. Things that made him question what he believed from the time he became personally involved with General Williams and his family. He felt that his world was collapsing around him, that everything he feared and hoped for was about to become a reality.

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

When Friday finally arrived Max, Michael and Isabel were nervous about meeting someone that might know more about their kind than they did. Liz, Maria, Alex, and Kyle were fearful that they might have new enemies to worry about. Someone else that would try to expose the secret that they tried so hard to protect.

As they walked from their cars up the driveway to Sandie's door they couldn't help wanting to turn and run the other way, but they knew that it wasn't an option.

Sandie's mother, Alisha opened the door and greeted them, making sure that she touched each of them while making eye contact. She then nodded to her husband which seemed to be some kind of signal between them.

"Please sit down everyone we have a few things that we need to discuss." Sandie's father quickly commanded in an official tone, one like he would normal use at work. Max squeezed Liz's hand and lead her to a seat on the couch. He knew how nervous the group was feeling, and that the tone of Sandie's father wasn't making them feel any more comfortable. "Sandie has brought to our attention that we have more in common than even you suspect."

"And what would that be?" Michael didn't like this man's tone one bit, and he was going to make sure that Sandie's father knew that Michael wasn't going to put up with anyone pushing him around. Hank did enough of that to last Michael a life time.

Robert looks at his wife, who smiles sweetly at him.

Liz observed that Robert and Alisha's expressions changes as they looked at each other. It is as if they are communicating with each other. Yet no words are spoken.

Robert looked back at the teens and continued this time talking in a more subdued voice. "We think that we know who you are looking for."

"Looking for? Who said we were looking for anyone?" Isabel asked, this was just to weird and she didn't like it one bit. She held tightly onto Alex's hand. She was sensing fear in the room, and it made her grow more uncomfortable and scared. Alex picked sensed Isabel's growing anxieties and pulled her closer to him trying to help ease her fears.

Was he wrong, were these teens not the ones that he thought they were. What if we tell them the truth and it turns out to me a mistake. Robert swallows trying to push the knot in his throat down. Here he had been face to face with death many times in his life, but he never knew the fear that he felt right now in front of this small group of teens. "I am hoping that we are right about you, about all of you."

The seven friends exchange looks. They have no idea what is going on, or where this conversation is heading. They each are feeling uneasy as they listen to what Sandie's father is saying, or trying to say.

Alisha understands why Robert is so afraid to say what he is trying to say. It's been a secret that they have guarded for so many years, and now he is trying to tell someone for the first time. She walks over beside her husband and beacons for Sandie to do the same.

What my husband is trying so hard to say is that I am like you. I was not born of this world. I am the only known survivor of the crash in 1947, and we believe that you are looking for me."

The room stays silent for what seems like an eternity. Max, Isabel, and Michael don't know whether to believe them or not. This could be a new plan of the FBI to find out their true identities. Liz, Maria, Alex and Kyle just wait for one of the trio to lead the way. It is their lives that would be most effected by this.

Max is very aware that Isabel and Michael are waiting on him. "What makes you thing that were not of this world as you put it, and why should we believe that this isn't some kind of practical joke."

Alisha notices how uncomfortable these teens are, she realizes that they are just a scared of her and her family, as her and her husband have been of them. She clasps her hands together under her mouth. The group starts to hear her thoughts in their heads. "Your afraid too. I never thought that you would be afraid of me. I just assumed that you were the ones that would finally be able to give me the answers that I have waited for all of my life. That you were here to take me back to wherever I came from."

Everyone is shocked. "How is this possible, why are we able to hear your thoughts?" Michael asks pointedly.

Alisha's surprised by the question. "Were we wrong? Aren't you off worlders?"

"No, I know what I saw Mom. Tell her, tell her the truth. You are aliens, you are, I know what I saw." Sandie is frantic she know that she didn't imagine what she saw Sunday night. She has tears forming in her eyes. Sandie was hoping so much to finally have some answers and to have some friends that her parents would be afraid of find out their secret. "Mom please show them, they don't believe us. Dad, let her show them." Robert agrees, he figures that it their situation can't get any worse than it already is.

Max and the others are still in shock. They had no clue that Sandie had seen any of what they could do, and now she's saying that she's like them. They were having a hard time absorbing all of this so quickly. Alisha clinches it for them. She sits on the floor in front of the group and the room starts to swirl and they begin to see images of her life, and they hear her voice in their heads once again.

"I was released from a stasis chamber in 1963, by the governments scientist at Area 51. The scientist there figured that biologically I was only 5 years old."

"Oh my!!!" Isabel moves her hand to her mouth. "Michael, she's your twin!"

"The fourth pod, the one that Nasado couldn't find." Finishes Liz.

Sandie, and her parent's look stunned. The room stops spinning and Alisha ask, "Twin, what do you mean twin, and who is Na see do?"

"You weren't the only survivor from the crash in ‘47' there were four others. Three children in Incubation pods and one adult. The adult was mine and Isabel's father. His real name was Pahoran, but we knew him as Nasado.

This Nasado, you knew him well?" Alisha was hoping that they would still be able to answer all, or at least most of her questions.

"No, unfortunately he was killed by Teomner, shortly after we met."

"Teomner? Is he someone that we have to watch out for?" Robert asked, while pulling Sandie closer to him. It was obvious that he truly loves his daughter.

"Nope, we took care of him." Kyle answered smuggle, while puffing out his chest.

Max, Alex, Liz, Maria, and Isabel laugh historically at Kyle's antics. Michael slaps on the back and says, "Give it rest Kyle."

‘This is really a lot to take in, I was always told that I was the only survivor. Something I don't understand is why are you so much younger than I am."

"We didn't come out of our pods until 1989, at the age of 6." Isabel informed them. "Can I ask you a question? It's really important to us right now?"

"I'll try and answer any questions you have, if you agree to do the same."

"Agreed" Everyone sits down and gets comfortable while Isabel asks, "Right now we are going through changes, some cellular changes, all of us except Kyle. Is this something we have to worry about?"

Alisha leans closer to Robert and he wraps his arm around her. "From our experience it was a good thing. May I ask how close you have become to each other?"

Max and I have been sharing our dreams longer, but Michael and Maria were the first to kiss.

"You and Max have been intimate?" Alisha tries not to come across as though she is prying, she's just trying to figure things out as well. She never had anyone else to compare experiences with. She went through all of the changes on her own, and with her human husband and family. She also has a daughter that more than likely will be going through these changes soon enough.

Max feeling defensive of Liz, he doesn't want anyone to think badly of her, and these are adults sitting in front of them. It's become second nature to only tell what they have to. "No."

Liz on the other hand feels that they need to know the whole true. That it is the only way to find out exactly what to expect. "Actually we have been, but only in our dreams. Never for real."

Alisha and Robert both look surprised. "We didn't share our dreams until after we were intimate. How is it possible that your sharing them before?"

"As couples we all are. We either need to be lying beside each other or have another way of sensing each other. We've been using the phone." Responds Isabel who looks just as stunned as Robert and Alisha. She found it hard to believe that they weren't able to share their dreams until after they had slept together. "Wait, you never had to use the phone. Do you only share your dreams when your sleeping beside each other? How did you two manage that, because once we started our bonding we couldn't stay away from each other. We used our dreams to complete the bonding process. "

"We couldn't stay away from each other either, but we didn't know about the shared dreaming until after we were intimate, we didn't need to be close to each other to share out dreams. It just started happening. We made a connection which allows us to feel.... to sense each other. That's partly why we're so protective of Sandie. We didn't want her to start down the path too young."

Sandie gives her father a look that asked, ‘Did he really have to say that'. She's so embarrassed with Kyle hearing all of this, and she wonders how he feels about everything that he's hearing..

Actually Nasado said that when we met our soul mate that we would automatically form a bond. Like it was for me with Liz. I knew that I loved her the first time I saw her. The physical bonding process doesn't occur until we reach the age of adulthood. Which for our people is around 16 years old. Once the bonding starts you either give into it or it will drive you to madness. Believe me, we know because we we're being kept apart by circumstances that were out of our control, so were Alex and Isabel. Then once we bonded in our dream the first time, Nasado lead us through the ceremony."

Ceremony, what ceremony? Alisha asks abruptly.

"It's the equivalent to a marriage ceremony. You never went though it?"

"That must have been because Nasado had to leave before you came out of your pod, and he didn't come back until a he knew that we would need him." Suggests Max

Michael wants to know more about the changes that they are under going and how it will effect all of them. "Let's get back on track here. These changes, why are they occurring to us, and what should we expect?"

"Let me tell you my" Alisha looks at Robert and Sandie and smiles lovingly, "Our story, I think that it will explain a lot of what you need to know."

"Let's take five first. This is a looong story" Robert jests "If you want anything to eat or drink you better get it now, other wise you'll never get the chance.

"You're so funny dear." Alisha jokes back.

******************* Once everyone settles back into their seats Alisha starts to tell them her story.

"My life in the beginning was pretty much as you would expect. They ran test after test after test trying to find and understand the differences between my body and theirs. I think they were a bit disappointed to find that in most ways I was the same as most 5 year old's. The only real difference was within my bodily fluids. The cells in my blood, saliva, and other bodily fluids emulated with a green glow.

By time I reached six they had pretty much run every test available to them at the time, just shy of dissection. At the time they didn't know about my powers, I didn't even know about my powers, because I hadn't developed them yet.

Over the first year Rosa and I became very close, and she convinced Truett that I posed no threat to any of them. Together they convinced the right people in the Department of Defense that I would serve them better if I learned to interact with people in regular situations; which they finally agreed to.

Rosa and Truett were allowed to raise me as their own daughter as long as they agreed to certain stipulations. Which were, if I ever showed any signs of special abilities they were to be informed immediately. I had to return to the lab every Saturday to undergo whatever test those in the lab saw fit to run.

When my powers first started to develop my father always told them, but over time we realized that they wanted me to use my powers for purposes that even scared the general. As a family we agreed not to tell them of any new abilities or of how strong they really were.

When I turned 17 I met Robert. He was a young officer, fresh out of the academy. We both felt a strong attraction to each other, but we both fought it. Me, because I was afraid of rejection if he knew the truth about me. He fought it because I was a two star General's daughter. He had no clue why I was on the base every Saturday. Later I found out that he thought that I was allowed to help my mother in the Lab, because of who my father was. He believed that Science was a passion of mine. When we eventual gave into our feelings; we had to keep our relationship hidden. That wasn't too hard after we became intimate, because we started sharing dreams. And we weren't worried about me getting pregnant, because the scientist told me that it was impossible for me to have off spring with a human.

The thing we didn't count on were the changes that occurred in our cells. At first they were really slow, but they came faster as time progressed. These changes increased my powers and Robert developed the ability to communicate with me over short distances, and he started healing faster, along with a few other powers. The biggest change was the one that caught us completely off guard; I was pregnant. We could no long hide our relationship. The people in the Department of Defense that knew about me were excited by the prospect of me having off spring, so they basically allowed Robert and I to marry and continue our relationship. I gave birth to twins, a girl and a boy, which they promptly took away from us." Alisha stopped for a few moments. She was hit with a flood of emotions as the thoughts of the event and those that followed entered her mind. She wiped away the tears that began to lightly flow from her eyes. Robert hugged his wife tightly for that moment, providing her with the comfort that she needed. After she regained her composer she continued.

"To everyone's surprise Robert, both babies, and I became very ill. They couldn't figure out why. After our son died they brought us together for the purpose of combining efforts to save us. The three of us recuperated quickly once we were back together. It was discovered that we couldn't be apart for long periods of time.

Since I wasn't raised by my birth parents, the scientist believe that it has something to do the changes that took place in our cells or that our people knew how to prevent this from happening.

Myself, I think that it's the strong connection that we share. We didn't want to be apart from each other, we could sense each other, but we were being kept from each other against our will. Sandie, Robert, and I even now share a connection, but Sandie's connection to Robert and I has become weaker over the years. It seems that the older she gets the less connected we have. We kind of figured that it has to do with her growing up."

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

Max, Isabel, and Michael shared a short and vague version of their own experiences, divulging only the necessary highlights of their lives.

"This Topolski woman, have you made any effort to notify her of the death of Teomner?" Asks Robert

Max still taking the leadership position answers for the group. "Not yet we wanted to make sure that we had all of our bases covered first. Then last weekend we discovered the changes in our cells. We haven't been able to get out to the house as often as we would like. We have had to keep up normal appearances. Work, school, parents, and even Sandie was keeping us from getting out there."