Everybody was still there, putting instruments and stuff away when Isabel entered. Alex looked up. She was standing in the doorway, her long blond hair like a shining halo around her, illuminated by the sun. It was like a vision from one of his dreams. He dropped the mass of cables he had been trying to wrestle into order and came over. Behind his back, he could feel the other guys' eyes popping out of their sockets at the sight of Isabel.

Isabel lit up with the special smile reserved just for him when she saw him jump up towards her. "Hi Alex. I hope I'm not too early? I could not wait to see you." She said in a soft voice. She took a step towards him.

They were standing really close, almost touching. He looked at her eyes and felt them resting on his lips with a thoughtful expression. Alex decided to follow his instincts and leaned in to give her a kiss. Isabel gave him another smile and touched his hand briefly.

"I'll just wait here until you guys are done." Alex turned around. The guys were still staring but quickly resumed straightening up when they felt his gaze. Within minutes they escaped and he was alone with Isabel.

"Sorry to barge in like that. I hope this is okay." Isabel apologized again almost shyly.

"Are you kidding? It's completely okay." Alex grabbed his jacket and led her out.

They went for a drive out to the woods near the reservation and walked around until they found the rock from which they'd gazed at the stars during that fateful camping trip a few weeks back.

Alex sat down and held his arms out to Isabel. She sat in the circle of his arms, her back against his chest while they looked at the sun setting behind the hills and listened to the sounds of the forest getting ready for the night.

It was a comfortable silence, both of them feeling at peace. After a few minutes, Isabel shifted in his arms to look at him while she asked: "Alex, I think it's great that your best friends are Liz and Maria, but it's kind of unusual for a guy. How did you become such good friends?"

Alex cuddled her back against him, and thought about her question for a few seconds. "Um... I guess it happened when my family first moved to Roswell back in fifth grade. I did not know anyone in school. Everybody else knew each other from Kindergarten it seems, like Maria and Liz and Kyle. I was kind of a geeky and scrawny kid back then..." he admitted.

Isabel raised an eyebrow and looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes. "Um, yeah, I see, thank god that's changed, right?" She took his hand in hers and pressed it lightly to thank him for letting her see a glimpse of that little boy he used to be.

"Anyway, one day, we were playing basket ball and I got the ball away from Kyle and his friends. He was livid. After the game, one of his friends started to beat me up. Maria saw it and you should have seen her, she jumped on top of him and pummeled him until he gave in. Her little pigtails were flying all over the place. Liz and Kyle had to drag her off the dead body. After that I decided to stick close to her."

"Oh, Alex, this is so great." Isabel started to laugh. The happy sound was doing something strange inside his body. He held her closer. The sweet scent of her neck invaded him, making him feel ever so slightly giddy.

"Liz and Maria and I were always hanging out together in school and at the Crashdown after that, and pretty soon we became like the three musketeers. The other boys kept giving me a hard time for playing with girls and stuff but I did not care. I have three older brothers at home. I love them but they're soulless dorks. It's nice to be friends with girls. Most of the time." He added with a rueful grin.

"Oh, be nice!" Isabel teased back.

They sat in silence for a while. He could have stayed here forever, her body trustingly nestled against his, as the woods were getting darker around them.

His mind wandered back to 5th grade, the year all of them first met. "Isabel, how come Michael and you and Max were not all adopted by the Evans'? You guys are so close. It's strange that Michael did not end up with you and Max."

Isabel looked away and gripped his hand again. It was almost painful, but he could tell that she needed to hold onto him.

Her voice was barely audible when she answered. "I don't remember what happened before the adoption very well. I often think about it because I would give anything for Michael to have been with us when Mom and Dad found us. But he was scared, and I could not find a way to make him join us." She stopped to explain herself. "We could not talk when we first found each other in the desert. We communicated somehow though. It was a little like I do when I dreamwalk into someone's dream."

She continued her story. "I knew that as long as I was with Max, we would be okay. Then we found Michael and we knew we belonged together the three of us. But he ran away when Mom and Dad's car came. I used to have nightmares for years until we found him again. I would relive that moment and beg him to come with us, but he was too scared. When he disappeared it felt like I had lost half of my family."

She felt the tears come to her eyes all over again. She stopped, embarrassed by her emotion. Alex was overwhelmed by her confidence, by the sadness he heard in her voice and this reminder of how strong the bonds between the three alien teenagers were.

He rocked her a little in his arms to let her know that things were going to be okay, and she relaxed her grip on his hand. "You said that you can dreamwalk into somebody else's dream?" He asked, picking up on one of the intriguing bits she'd mentioned.

Isabel flushed violently. She had not meant to talk about that. After a few seconds, she found her resolve and turned around to face him.

"Um...Alex,... I've been meaning to tell you..."

"Oh, what is there to tell me?" Alex was puzzled.

"You remember when Topolsky was giving you the third degree and trying to get you to talk about the hospital? We were really worried about what you would do and I decided to go into your dreams to find out what you were thinking and what you would do. That's how I knew at the party that we could trust you." She rushed.

"Whoa...what? You did what? " Alex felt both incredulous and slightly violated. It was one thing to know that Isabel was different, but this was like something out of the X-files. He had not quite had to face the fact of her alienness and what it might mean to him until now. He would have to think about that when his brain was working a little more clearly.

"What do you mean by that exactly?"

Isabel winced when she saw him draw back a little. But she had to tell him the truth. He deserved to know.

"Sometimes, when people sleep, I can go into their heads, and see what their dreams are. I cannot do much, mostly observe and communicate with them subconsciously."

Alex nodded. He realized how much of a step it was for her to admit this. Still, it did not seem right. Dreams were private. Of course this was Isabel, so he did not mind as much as if Max or Michael had done it, but still...Then it was Alex's turn to blush. Oh my God, he thought, what did she find out? What dream did she see? He could not count the number of nights he'd dreamed that Isabel had agreed to go on a date with him. Most of these dream dates started out with Alex sweeping Isabel off her feet with much romance and easy charm. One thing would lead to another, fairly satisfactorily from his point of view, and the dream would end with Alex overwhelming Isabel with his manly prowess. Yikes, she could not have seen one of those dreams, could she?

"I'm sorry Alex, but I had to know if you would talk. I'm glad I did go in because I found out that you're a really special guy." Isabel looked at him with her serious brown eyes. She did seem contrite. Alex assumed this was a good sign, and kept silent. "You were dreaming about inviting me to a dance, remember? It was so sweet and romantic, not like what other guys want from me. You told me I could show you who I really am...I did not stay around for more than a few minutes. I'm really sorry about the invasion of privacy and everything." She added again, flushing beautifully once more.

"Don't mention it. It's no big deal." Alex was so relieved, he leaned closer to kiss her. She took his face in her hands and returned his kiss wholeheartedly. Alex could not get enough of the taste of her, sweet and spicy and completely intoxicating. What made it all the sweeter was the knowledge that she was with him because she wanted him and no one else.

It had been a perfect evening Alex thought as he was walking back to his house after dropping her off. She had made it perfect, he realized. From the moment she showed up in his garage, and let him know wordlessly that she was not embarrassed for his big brother and his band mates to see that she was with him, his girlfriend. She had actually trusted him with her secrets and painful memories, and she had been a surprisingly good listener. They had cut the evening short during dinner because she could not stay awake. She had not been sleeping well recently she'd explained.