DISCLAIMER: ROSWELL OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS OF ROSWELL DON'T BELONG TO ME.

PAIRINGS: MAX/ TESS, THE REST WILL FOLLOW.

A/N: THIS IS MY FIRST ROSWELL FIC EVER SO DON'T KILL ME. THIS STARTS RIGHT AFTER ALEX WAS KILLED AND TESS WENT BACK TO ANTAR-PREGNANT. SOME OF THE FACTS MIGHT BE WRONG SINCE I HAVEN'T SEEN ROSWELL IN A LONG TIME AND I DIDN'T KEEP TRACK OF IT THAT WELL.  ANYWAY, THIS IS JUST A TRYING VERSION SO I'LL SEE HOW YOU GUYS LIKE IT AND MAYBE I'LL KEEP IT GOING. ANYWAY ENJOY. HOPEFULLY.


~*~

Tess spoke quietly, her voice still, distant and very harsh. She tried not to blink; afraid that the tears she has been holding back would spill. She watched Max, the man she claimed to love; waiting for his reaction as she told him in few spiteful words that he meant nothing to her and that she betrayed him. Each hateful word spoken felt like a knife through her own heart, every flinch he made was just as painful to her as it was to him but she refused to show any indication of her true feelings. She would not let him see that she was lying and that the truth was she loved him and there was nothing in this world or any other that could change that.

It pained her even more to tell Max that she was taking his child away from him, depriving him of the chance to see his son. She took one last look at his face, embedding it in her mind and prayed never to forget him. Tess stepped inside the granilith, the humming of the strange machine making her slightly dizzy. Her heart screamed at her to turn around; to go back to Max before it was too late and tell him the truth. But her mind dictated that this was the logical thing to do; the only choice left.

She hoped that she was doing the right thing and that someday, somehow, he could forgive her.

Max watched her enter the granilith. Her words were so hateful that he could have walked over to her right then and there and strangled her.  A part of him despised her; hated her for what she was and especially what she had done but as the door to the granilith closed, a sense of loss crept up on him.

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Max sat on his bed listlessly, his eyes distant but evident of the pain and anguish he kept bottled inside of him.

She betrayed me, he thought bitterly. I trusted her and she betrayed me.

It was already two months since Tess left and he was still angry. Her spiteful words were still fresh in his mind; his hurt still raw. The memory of Tess fueled his anger and even the slight mention of her name irritated him.

He heard Isabel yelling his name in the house but it didn't register in his mind until she was shaking him, gasping for air. "I…I…Alex is…Max, you have to…Michael's house," Isabel panted, making very little sense. Max frowned, slightly annoyed at her but concerned. "Come with me." She said, finally calming down. Max waited for an explanation but Isabel only yanked him out of his bed. She practically dragged him to Michael's house, urging him to run but he refused.

What Max found over at his best friend's house stunned him. Paralyzed on the spot, he looked from his sister to Michael, searching for an explanation.

"Don't look at me." Michael said, shrugging his shoulders as he looked at Alex who hadn't said a word since he showed up in front of his house. Alex sighed heavily, clasping his hands together, he stood up. He looked very troubled.

"You're alive." Max whispered lamely.

Alex frowned. "Of course, I'm alive. Now, where's Tess?" He asked and the room fell silent except for the gasp that escaped Isabel's lips.

When Max couldn't muster an explanation, Isabel replied for her brother. "She's gone."

Alex seemed to panic, blurting out an outraged, "What!" He paced in front of them, a mix of emotions crossing his face.

"She…uh…killed you." Michael declared, feeling incredibly stupid knowing full well that Alex was standing in front of all of them very much alive.

Alex looked like he was either going to burst into tears or laugh his head off like a madman. "Tess would never in a million years kill me." He said in utter certainty.

Max said nothing, only looked away, unable to believe the scene that was occurring right of front of him. Nothing made sense anymore and he felt like he was going to explode in a matter of seconds from the confusion in his mind.

"She did. We found your jeep." Isabel explained firmly; the pain of losing him still evident in her voice.

"Did she say that she killed me?" Alex questioned, arching a brow. "Did she?" He said raising his voice. Isabel flinched and Michael sighed deeply, brushing back his hair with his fingers. Max seemed dazed as he looked out the window.

"Not in so many words." He mumbled.

Alex nodded, obviously angry and frustrated. "Now she's gone. I'm too late." He mumbled. "I'm too late."

Max jerked his head and asked, "Too late for what?"

"I'm too late to stop Tess from getting herself killed." Alex replied somberly.

"She's not dead, Alex. She went home-back to Antar." Michael declared; frowning slightly. Alex was not making any sense at all.

"I know! I know! She shouldn't have. God, she never listens." Their friend replied, thoroughly infuriated.

"Maybe you should explain." Isabel suggested and Alex sighed, exasperated, upset and a lot of things.

He nodded and began.

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The three friends sat in complete shock as Alex finished his story. By then, Isabel was crying, Michael had gotten completely uncomfortable that he fidgeted every once in a while and Max was scowling deeply.

"She didn't betray us." Isabel whispered hoarsely.

"Yeah but she said all those things. She mind-warped Kyle.  She made us believe you were dead.  She-" Max trailed off. He was at loss for words. He didn't know what to say, how to justify his anger.

"She lied." Alex declared resolutely. "She lied to protect you. Protect all of us."

"But why?" Isabel asked, still slightly confused.

"Because that was all she knew, all that Nasedo taught her. She lived to die." Alex explained somberly.

"Die?" Max echoed, the word piercing his heart like a knife.

Alex nodded gravely. "Yes, for all of you."

"She's going to die like before." Michael said, his voice startling the others. He had been silent for a while, not saying a word or comment until now.

"Like before?" Max echoed, not understanding his friend's statement.

Alex nodded and Michael sighed. "I remember. On Antar, before…before our defeat, she sacrificed herself…and the baby for all of us." His very words made him hurt. The memory was not complete but it was vivid. He remembered Ava and holding her limp pregnant body in his arms, the blood from her fatal wound staining his armor, his clothes.

And he remembered the look of anguish on Zan's face that was soon mirrored on their entire army. And he remembered crying, for Vilandra who betrayed them all; for Ava, their Queen who was now lost like many others; for Zan, his best friend and king, for himself, and their people.

Michael cringed at the memory, wanting it to fade away but it lingered, eating away at him.

"We can go after her." Max suggested.

Alex shook his head. "We might be too late." He said. "Tess reached Antar by now and Kivar has her already."

"We have to try." 

Alex nodded. It was true. They did have to try. She was his friend and in many ways, his partner in crime. They had staged his death together because it was previously planned that he would go with her to Antar to watch over her and the baby.

But Tess had other plans. She never wanted Alex to come with her and endanger himself for her safety and she had offered him to go back to his life so many times. But Alex knew better. Tess was his friend and he was going to stand by her no matter what. He was doing this for her as much as for Isabel.

He loved her and if Tess' plan meant Isabel and her family's safety, then he was willing to do it without a second thought. But despite the fact that she needed a friend and ally, Tess would not let Alex go through with it. So, instead she mind-warped him into forgetting certain things and sent him all the way to France. It was the closest place she could send him since he was previously in Switzerland trying to decode the book that Tess had.

"Max, are you sure?" Isabel asked fearfully.

Max nodded his face grim with determination. This was his son and had been wife or wife to be, whichever worked, and he was not going to let them die. He felt like a traitor as he looked out into the open. Tess didn't betray him or any of them. She sacrificed her life, so that they may have a chance to live theirs.

He was the one who betrayed her. He lost his faith in her.

Max's mind raced as he tried to come up with some great plan to save Tess from the destruction that she had brought upon herself. Somehow, he had to save her and his son.

When this is over, they were going to have a major discussion about lying to him and endangering herself and his son.

~*~

A/N:  Feedback is very much appreciated.