Michael

He looked around his apartment, wondering where the mess had materialized from. He laughed silently to himself; maybe it was one of his unknown powers? His laughter stopped abruptly. He knew why the apartment was a mess, he never bothered to clean it, Isabel always did. She would get so frustrated looking at all the untidyness, she would clean it herself. He had gotten used to this little system and hadn't worried about it in a while.

But Isabel hadn't been here in a while.

Sure, he had seen her, and they talked, but she rarely dropped by his apartment anymore, at least not on her own. When she came, she was always accompanied by someone, Max or Tess usually. She never came on her own, and he never invited her.

They never teamed up any more to check out anything unusual or to try to prove one of his theories. And sometimes he came up with a few. But with nobody around to encourage him and plenty around to discourage him, his theories died an early death.

Isabel had always been the one to believe in him, even as she argued with him.

And even though her arguments had frustrated him, he understood. She was worried, she was scared. She was though, his only real supporter, and he missed that.

He missed her.

He faced this surprisingly well. A few months ago, he would have put off realizing that he needed someone, that he missed someone. Recently though, so much had happened, and in a way, it changed him, changed the way he looked at things, changed the way he saw people. Before this change, maybe he could have gone on never even noticing what was happening between him and Isabel. He could have gone on simply seeing her whenever someone brought her over, or at the Crashdown, or at school, whenever he happened to run into her. He could have pretended things were fine, and pretended that he didn't notice that she was pretending as well.

But now things were different. And he still didn't know what to do.

He was roused from his thoughts by a knock on the door. Hoping that it was Isabel, knowing it wasn't, he answered.

It was Max.

He felt himself tense up, and he felt a sadness within him. Why had this all happened? Max was someone else he missed. Even though he saw him frequently, it was rare they met each other without arguing. Now he couldn't even see what was supposed to be his oldest and closest friend without tensing up. Without automaticaly preparing for a fight. Without wishing it was different and not knowing how to change things.

Max walked past him, "I need to talk to you", he said, his voice raspy. It got that way whenever he was emotional. Michael knew something had happened between Max and Liz, but he didn't know what. He knew it was over between them. He knew Max was hurting, he saw his pain, but he didn't know what to do.

Suddenly he was aggravated with himself. Was there any use in changing? He could see the problems, but couldn't offer any solutions. He couldn't even comfort his best friend. The one he argued with constantly.

"I need to talk to you", Max repeated, staring at Micheal. "It's about Isabel. There's something wrong with her."

She walks by me every day

Isabel

Isabel looked at herself in the mirror. She had a checklist inside her mind. Hair? Check. Make-up? Check. Clothes? Check - no wait, her shirt had a loose button. Fixed it. Okay, clothes? Check. Appropriate facial expression of cool disdain? Check.

Her going out routine over with, Isabel grabbed her coat and headed for the door. She kissed her mother goodbye, easily bypassing all motherly questions she didn't want to answer. Was she feeling alright? That question was almost laughable, but she answered with a passable false smile and affirmative. Then she walked out the door.

Tears stung her eyes as that question rolled through her mind again. Was she feeling alright? No, mom, she wasn't alright. She was an alien. No, more than that, she was an alien who had recently killed an enemy alien. Wait let's go further back. She was an alien, along with Max and Michael, who had spent her entire life harboring that secret until Max had healed Liz. Did you get that mom? Not only is your daughter an alien, but so is your son and their best friend. Yep, your son healed that cute little brunette that got shot. You suspected it mom. I know that you suspected something..

Hey mom, don't worry, it all turned out okay. Max fell in love with Liz, and Michael fell in love with Maria. I dated this guy Alex. Oh mom, Liz told them about us being aliens. They are all trustworthy and have helped us many times. Much more than we have ever helped them. They helped us when the FBI was after us, when they even had an agent in our school looking for us. They helped us when Tess came into town and help us discover she was another alien. That's right mom, just like me, Max and Micheal. You never would have thought it, huh?

They even helped us when the FBI caught Max and tortured him. We needed help then Mom. And they were there. Like I've needed you there.

Like I needed you when my so-called real mother left us a message telling us that we had lived a past life and had died. She said that we were aliens with human DNA, that our essences had been cloned. That we had enemies to defeat. Well, I defeated one of them the other day. And I hated every moment of it, even though I did it to save Tess and save myself. Oh, and before I killed her, yeah mom, did you get that, it's hard for me as well, before I killed her, she told me that in my past life that I had betrayed everyone that I loved for some great love. That I sacrificed everything, even myself.

Can you imagine how something like that can eat you up inside? Could you? All I have is the people I love, and the thought that something I used to be could be like that scares me more than I can say. Makes me feel like the Vilandra part of me will suddenly come to life inside of me and hurt everyone I love. Makes me less sure of who I am.

And we have this destiny, mom. This alien destiny that we are just supposed to accept like it's nothing. Like it's not our life. But I guess to them, whoever they are, it isn't.

Max's destiny is to be some great king and to be with Tess. Oh, you thought that he was already with someone? He was. We all were. But hey, that's destiny. Besides mom, something happened between Max and Liz. They're over now. Max is in so much pain, mom, I can feel it. Literally feel it. Can you feel it mom? Can you tell? I think you can. I think you know more than you say, more than you let on. I see a certain look in your eyes sometime.

Do you know that I'm meant to be with Michael? It doesn't matter, really. Michael doesn't believe it. He loves Maria, so much that he is letting her go. But he won't. I don't think he can.

I was with Alex. I had to let him go. I can let him go. I care about him, mom. But not like that. He is totally sweet, completely lovable, and so not for me. But for while, there was so much hope. He made me feel so special, made me feel like for once someone really saw me. But I walked away, babbling to him about friendship. I didn't want to, part of me wanted to stay so badly, but I had to. I don't want to pretend an emotion that I don't feel. It would only hurt him more later. I wouldn't blame him if he hates me though.

Oh and you know what else? Max and Micheal constantly fight and worry about so many things that they hardly speak unless they are fighting. And Michael and I hardly speak, things are awkward now. And Max is too busy, too preoccupied to notice me, and I don't want to bother him. You know what mom, I feel so utterly alone. I wish I could really tell you all this. All this and more, so much more...

Her and love are the same

Micheal

"What is it, what's wrong with her?" Michael asked, anxious on the inside, but not showing it on the outside. He knew it was one thing that he had in common with Isabel, something Max always tried and never quite succeeded at. They both had a guard that they put up to hide their real feelings, and they both did it very well.

"It's hard to explain", Max sighed, he felt awkward talking to Michael, it had been so long since they had had a conversation without arguing. "She's become so withdrawn lately-"

"We all have Maxwell." Michael interrupted impatiently. Was this all?

" I know Michael, I'm aware", Max's tone was icy.

"So?"

"Look, I know we all have our own problems to deal with, and I know that I have definitely been preoccupied, what with all that has happened, especially with what happened with Liz-"

"What happened with Liz, Max? You never said."

Max avoided the question and continued, "But I don't think we should keep ignoring each others problems, so-"

"Why not? You're good at that." Max shot Michael a hurt look, and Michael wondered why he was goading him. He became like this whenever they got together.

"She cries herself to sleep every night Michael. If she sleeps. Some nights she cries all night and never sleeps. She goes out early and stays out late and doesn't tell anyone where she's going or where she has been. She's avoiding all of us. Sometimes I'll see her at home or at school, and she'll act like everything is okay, but she always leaves very quickly. I see her at the Crashdown sometimes, but I think she only goes there so nobody will get suspicious." Max sighed. "I don't know what to do Michael. She's hurting, and I don't know what to do. And I don't even know why."

The woman has stolen my heart

Isabel

She walked constantly. Everywhere, anywhere. She walked as if the more she walked the further she would be from her thoughts. But her thoughts never left her, they were the only companinions she took on her walks. Sometimes she ran, but that didn't help either. Just made her hot and sweaty. But sometimes she felt if she ran fast enough, she would leave everything, all the problems and the pain behind. It never worked, but the upside was, those times, when she did go home, she was actually tired enough to sleep. And not dream.

She continued walking. She had started at the mall, but lately nothing there interested her. So she had walked from the mall to the Crashdown, but it was Saturday and Maria was working, and she didn't feel like looking at or talking to Michael's love. So then she walked the pod chambers. It was a long walk, but it wasn't hard. Not anymore. She was probably in the best shape of her life now.

Isabel was halfway to the pod chambers before she realized that she didn't really want to go there. They were just a reminder of who she was and all she didn't know about herself. So she turned around and started walking back to town.

She walked and thought, walked and thought. It was routine, it was normal, it was all she did now. She couldn't talk to the people closest to her, so she spent more time alone now than she ever had before.

Her routine was interrupted by a red mustang pulling up to her. She glanced inside the car uneasily and then relaxed. It was just Kyle.

He smiled uncertainly. "Do you need a ride?"

Isabel thought for a moment. A break in her routine might be what she needed, and she had nothing better to do. She was spending so much time with herself she was getting on her nerves. A little alien/human contact (in the platonic way), might be just what the doctor ordered.

She smiled, a real smile for once and got into the car. "Thanks, I was getting tired."

Kyle looked at her. "Well, you look good", he commented, and Isabel smiled.

Kyle allowed himself the luxury of basking in one of Isabel Evans' rare smiles. It occupied him for a moment, took his mind off his troubles. He and Isabel had never really spoken before, but he had definitely noticed her. What guy hadn't? She was single now he knew, but not his type. Too bad. He knew her secret, which he thought would give him an in, but at the moment he was too entranced by another blond alien to get involved with this one. He sighed.

"What's on your mind Kyle?" Isabel asked, and laughed a little as Kyle jumped.

He gazed at her intently, and she looked at him as she would a wild animal.

"What?!" She asked finally, his staring really getting to her.

"You aren't able to read minds are you?"

"Huh?"

"You know, like, as part of your alien abilities, or whatever. Your superpowers or whatever you call them."

"I don't speak idiot, Kyle."

He looked at her and almost yelled, "Can you read my mind?!"

Isabel choked back a laugh. "Yeah. You're thinking about sex." She stared at him for a minute. "Ooh, Kyle, you're nasty!"

Kyle turned deep red. He put his head against the steering wheel. "Oh God, oh God" he repeated over and over again.

Isabel looked at him oddly. Then she heard him mumble, "She really can read minds".