Title: Awakening
Author: MissAnnThropic
E-Mail: miss_annthropic@yahoo.com
Spoilers: Destiny
Summary: Liz tries to let Max go so he can follow his destiny but destiny has something else in mind.
Disclaimer: None of it's mine. I'm just a sad little fangirl that spends her days writing fanfic and watching taped episodes of her favorite shows :(



A/N: this story is immediately following the Roswell season 1 finale "Destiny". Liz has just left Max, heartbroken but confident in the knowledge that she has done what is best for Max. She goes home, at first debating on whether or not to go out on her balcony. She decides against it since Max often comes to her balcony when they need to talk. She instead sits in her room, window tightly shut.



Liz sat a moment on the chair at her desk. It was admittedly a bizarre place for her to sit when she was doing absolutely nothing with the table space in front of her, but she wasn't exactly thinking about the practicality of it. She could only torture herself. Torture herself with the new fact that she could no longer be with Max. She hated the very idea, she hated the thought that Max had another who was meant to be with him, and she hated the fact that she cared too much for Max to ignore all these facts. If only she didn't have to be so... considerate. If only she could disregard all of this and resort to pursuing everything she wanted to make her life the way she dreamed of it to be. With Max. But she loved Max more than that.

Liz looked up, letting her eyes wander around her room, at least the part of her room she could see before her without having to actually turn around. She traced her eyes over some of her school awards hung on her wall by her mother, a picture of her and her grandmother Claudia, and then they traveled over slowly to her window. She couldn't stand that... she knew the memories that would be invoked. She could only keep picturing Max when he crawled over onto her balcony, saying the sweetest, perfect things to her, and then kissing her so tenderly that Liz even got to believing that she was a delicate rose, the way Max's touch implied he thought she was.

Liz finally stood, turning away from the window. She turned to her bed, falling down on her matress and burying her head in the comforter. She felt like she should have been crying, but she had no tears left. She couldn't cry anymore... she'd cried herself out on the way home. Her mother and father had not been home, gone to the store, and Liz had charged up to her room before her parents could get home. She didn't want them to see her with her tear-streaked face. She had written a note on a stickie pad and stuck it to her door. On it she wrote, "Not feeling well... sleeping, please to not disturb." She'd never tried that before, and she didn't know if it would keep her parents out, but she had to make the effort. She didn't have the endurance to face them and act brave while lying through her teeth that nothing was wrong and she was just feeling a little under the weather.

Liz rolled over on to her back, taking a gasp of breath that laying face down had denied her. She sighed heavily, her breath shaky and weak. She couldn't stop seeing it... the scene in the cave. Max and Tess... that was how it was supposed to be, even Max's own mother proclaimed it. Many had said it was the truth, but Max had insisted that he had the power to chose his own destiny. Honestly, Liz still believed that Max could do it. Max had that kind of strength... the strength to fight any kind of instincts or destiny and chose his own companion. But that was not the point. The point was that it was not what Max needed. It wasn't what was best for Max, Liz, and the others. The so many others that apparently Max was responsible for. It was too much. Destiny had to defeat love. Even if love had been the side that was going to win, Liz had to back out of the fight. She had to let Max's choice be simple... uncomplicated. That was the only thing she could really do for Max at this point. And that was what she was going to do... leave him before he had to make the choice to leave her, because she knew that if the choice were left to Max he would chose her. She was sure of it, but something deep inside her that felt doubt wanted to end it before she had to suffer the rejection of having not been chosen... it was easier this way for everyone. Still... even if it was the best thing she could do for her Max Evans, it still didn't feel good. It hurt. Hell, who was she kidding... it tore at her like a rabid wolverine in the center of her very being. It was eating away, tearing at her flesh, her heart, everything she was.

Liz groaned to herself, bringing her hands up to her face and trying to block out the world. It was not enough... she grunted angrily, then felt her lips and chin begin to quiver. She had thought she had no more tears left in her... her eyes still burned from her earlier excessive crying, but as she lay there thinking about what she had done. The salty tears came again. They rolled down her cheeks, tickling her face as they made a quick path to her covers. As the small wet spot on her covers grew damper, she once again surrendered to the racking sobs that were billowing inside her. She couldn't have held them back even if she wanted to. She told herself that she was just trying to release the built-up tension, allot herself a good cry and get it out, but the truth was that she could not keep from crying.

The telephone beside her bed suddenly began to scream. Liz jumped at the very sound, nearly twitching every appendage she could possibly imagine, and before she could even think she had grabbed up the phone. She didn't want to talk to anyone... no one. She didn't even want to have to acknowledge that anyone else was alive, but she had jerked and retrieved the phone on impulse before she could think about it. Now she held it away from her, her heart pounding. 'Please, don't let it be Max,' she muttered and prayed to herself. 'I can't handle anyone right now, but Max least of all.'

The phone was silent a long moment, obviously waiting for a greeting, but then a small voice rang out from the speaker, "Liz?"

Liz started to sigh shakily, but she withdrew it halfway and held it a moment longer. It was Maria on the other end, Liz recognized her voice. She didn't want to talk to Maria either. She didn't want to talk to or see another human being... or rather... humanoid for a while. A long while. Liz was almost to the point of just hanging up the phone without a word to Maria, but before she could Maria began to talk, "Liz? If you're there and you can hear me, I just wanted to say that Michael told me what happened... well, what happened with you and Max."

Liz heart gave a strong, almost unbearable tug. The phone rose to her ear almost of its own will. Maria had said the magic word, 'Max.' Now Liz could not resist putting the phone to her mouth and ear.

Maria was silent a moment, then asked almost fervently, "Liz? Are you there? Are you okay?"

Liz fought to find her voice, made a kind of squeaking noise as she struggled to speak, then whispered, "Yeah... I'm here."

"Thank god... Liz, I was so worried about you. Are you okay?"

Liz blinked heavily. She couldn't do this... not now. Liz cleared her throat again, then responded in a husky voice, "Maria... I can't... I can't talk right now. Please... please just give me time to think... leave me alone."

"Okay, Liz... whatever you want... I'll go."

Liz pipped in, "And don't call back... please."

Maria responded gently, "Okay... I won't, but if you need anything or feel like talking later, no matter what time it is, feel free to call me."

"Thanks," Liz muttered just seconds before she dropped the receiver back into its little nook. Liz glanced down at her phone. It seemed ominous... unpredictable. It did cross Liz's mind to take the phone off the hook, but her parents might try to call and leave her a message. If they couldn't get hold of her they would only come home sooner. That was not what Liz wanted. She'd just have to hope the phone didn't ring again.

Liz rolled on to her back again, staring at the ceiling, but somehow imagining past the ceiling. She did not see the spackle over her head, she saw the stars... those innumerable specs of hot light in the canopy of blackness, offset by the hazy meandering of the milky way galaxy. It was peaceful. It was painful because of the things it made her think about, but it was eternal. It was oblivious to what was happening to a small town girl in New Mexico... it was simply the honest serenity it only knew how to be. The thought started to lull her to sleep when the phone began to chirp again after what seemed hours of peaceful silence.

Liz startled, jerking into a sitting position then throwing her glance to the phone. She knew who it was. She could never in a million years explain how she knew, for the phone sounded no different when this person called, but Liz knew it somewhere deep inside of her. It was Max. Max was trying to call her. Whereas once she may have sprung at the phone in anxiousness to hear his soothing voice, now Liz remained still as stone. She stared at the phone as it rang again and again. After what seemed to be a thousand torturous rings (but in fact was only about three), the answering machine whirled into action. Liz listened to her own voice as the recorded message began, "Hi, this is Liz Parker. I'm not available right now, but leave a message and I'll get back to you. Bye." The answering machine beeped.

There was a long silence, and for one hopeful moment Liz thought that he was going to hang up and save her the agony, but it was not to be. Soon, Max's magical voice filled the silence.

"Liz? Liz... I know you're there. Please pick up the phone. Liz, I have to talk to you. You left too fast for me to before. You have to listen to me, Liz. This doesn't have to happen. It doesn't have to be this way. Please just talk to me. *sigh* well... I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow. I wish you would just pick up the phone. Look... don't... oh, never mind... I'll just see you later. Bye, Lizzie."

Liz's face contorted in a wince. Why did he have to call her Lizzie? It was a cute name, a term of endearment... it was not what she needed to hear, not when she was trying to convince herself that she had to stay away from the one she loved.

Liz leaned closer to the answering machine which was now flashing that she had a message.

Liz laid back against her pillow, the blankets of sleep and exhaustion from crying so strongly (not to mention the sheer mental strain upon her) starting to overtake her. She could feel sleep enveloping her, against her will. She leaned forward and pressed the play button on her answering machine. She listened to Max's voice... his tone, his compassion that was visible in only his words. She sighed heavily to herself, then pressed the play button again when the message ended. She was only able to repeat this process three more times before she feel asleep to the sound of Max's recorded voice.



Max hung up the phone, setting the receiver down heavily. His heart felt as though it were made of lead. He always thought that if he found anything about his home, his people, who he was, it would excite him. Now, however, he couldn't muster the will to even act happy. He turned away from the phone only to see Isabel walk in the door to his room.

Max looked away, "Leave me alone, Izzy."

"Max..." Isabel was stern at first, then her features softened and she continued in a slower voice, "Max... I know you're upset. I'm sorry, but you have to know that this is the only way it really could be."

Max sent her a look, one that made Isabel suspect an argument was coming, but Max didn't have the heart to fight. He grunted disapproval, then sat back further on his bed.

Isabel stepped back toward the door, but stopped before she reached the door and added, "You know this is what's right. It's the only thing that has made sense in our entire lives, Max... don't ignore that. Just have an open mind." With that, Isabel disappeared out the door.

Max turned over on his stomach, pulling a pillow into his chest as he mumbled to himself, "You're wrong, Isabel. This isn't the only thing that has ever made sense in our lives... Liz made sense in mine... always has and still does. How could this have happened?" Max dropped his head into his pillow, hiding his face from the world until the dark chasm of sleep engulfed him.



Liz looked up at the school doors as she gathered her books for the day. There was only a week left of school, and never had she wished for classes' end so desperately. She couldn't even stand the thought of school because Max would be there, and she couldn't stand to see him, it would only rip her heart to further shreds. She took a deep breath, reconciling with herself the fact that all she had to do was brave one more week, then she wouldn't have to see Max for months. Normally, that idea would have destroyed her, but things had changed. Maybe those months away from Max would be sufficient time for the severe ache in her heart to ease, at least to the point where it no longer lanced her with pain at every beat.



The day passed in a series of one excruciating minute after another. Every passing second in her classes felt like torture. She couldn't do any of her school work, she couldn't stop thinking about Max. She knew that lunch and biology would be the worst because those periods she had with Max. What was even worse was the fact that she had to take semester tests this week. In her history class, she had gotten her test and just sat there staring at the paper. After twenty minutes, the teacher came up to Liz and asked her if she was all right and why hadn't she started her test yet. Liz lied that she was just not feeling well, and that she'd have to let her other grades pull up her semester test grade. The teacher seemed concerned, tried to ask Liz if she wanted to take it later, but Liz just waved it off. Usually, she would go to any lengths to get a better grade, but she just didn't care. She couldn't even find the heart to pretend that she cared about her grades at this point.



Third period... biology. Liz had stalled out in the hallway as long as she possibly could... now she was almost going to be late. She seriously considered skipping class, but that would only draw attention to her, and she just wanted to be left alone more than anything... ignored. She approached the door slowly. What was she going to do? She hadn't seen Max today... all her other classes she would practically sprint to, the less time in the halls the smaller chance she would happen to see HIM. This class she dreaded going into. She was supposed to be Max's lab partner... what if he was sitting at their table, waiting for her to sit next to him? There was no way she could be that close to him... not so soon after all this had happened. If Max was waiting for her... no, he wouldn't be. They'd decided, she'd insisted that it was better for Max that him and Liz not be together. That was just the way it had to be, and Max would understand that, he was a level-headed guy.



Tess studied Max as they headed toward Biology class. He had not spoken to her since he left her at the cave. She'd watched him go after Liz, and she could tell by the way Liz had run away and by the following tortured look on Max's face that the two had broken up... and just plain broke inside. Tess had tried to talk to Max, gently at first and then with an attempt to show him soft reason, but Max had been listless, and if anything a little hostile. Tess had let him leave when he began to storm off, obviously needing some time to think.

She'd met up with the three 'Czechs' the next morning at school. The mood was somber, not one of jubilant discovery. Isabel and Michael were just quiet, pensive, but Max was ripped apart. Tess hated that... she knew if Max would just open up to her she could make him happy... it was her predestined capability as his mate. But no... Max Evans would not accept that. He wanted to believe he could be with Liz.

They had headed off to Biology together. Actually, Max had headed off to Biology and Tess had followed. She felt that now with the new knowledge of their destinies it was only proper that they be together whenever possible. It was what made sense to her... the four of them forever.

Max ignored her as she followed. He was a beat ahead of her, not looking back as she followed behind confidently, as if she knew without a doubt this was right. She loved the very feel she had around Max... it felt right like nothing else ever had on this planet to her.

They had entered Biology class, Max heading for his usual lab table that he had so recently shared with Liz Parker. Tess smiled slightly to herself at the fact she could use past tense with that thought, then followed after Max.

Max sat down in his stool, then immediately saw that Tess was intending to sit down next to him.

Max spoke to Tess for the first time since the cave. As she neared the stool beside Max, Max quickly said, "That's Liz's seat."

Tess startled a moment at the very fact that he had spoken to her, then the words sank in. She stared at him a moment, then said, "Max... come on."

Max returned a cold look, then asked pointedly, "Come on what? You're not my lab partner, Liz is."

Tess was stunned, flabbergasted, then she stammered, "I thought that was all over, Max."

Max's stony face did not change. He stared at her with a dead gaze, then said flatly, "What happened has absolutely nothing to do with Biology class... you're not my partner."

Tess frowned. Of course, not being one to stay quiet about something that displeases her, she set her books down in order to face Max more squarely, "Max... what is your problem?"

Max did not falter as he replied, "I don't have a problem, I'm at the right table."

Tess glowered, "That's not what I mean. I mean what is your problem with us?"

Max's eyes flashed anger for a moment, then his calm voice came back, "There is no problem, and there is no 'us', Tess."

Tess stepped back, then in again to whisper, "After all that you heard back there in the cave..."

Max looked down, "Tess... no matter what I saw or heard, I know what I feel, and I still feel I have to power to choose my own destiny."

Tess glared harder at him, "So you're saying that you're going to be with Liz, whether I like it or not?"

Max shook his head, "That is not what I said... I said I can pick my own future, which means you have no right to follow me around as if I belong to you. I don't. Aside from obvious 'similarities' I have nothing to do with you. Leave me alone."

Tess gathered her things in an angered rush and went to her old table... the lonely table. She never thought it would be like this. She thought that once her intended knew they were meant to be together she would never have to be alone again. Now, here she was again exactly where she started from. It was worse than before when they'd not known. Now it was just pure, simple rejection.

Max felt no remorse for sending Tess away. He usually would feel bad, he was just a nice guy who didn't like to have to hurt people like that, but he didn't care now. All he could think about was Liz. He wanted to talk to her, to see her, to be near her. Everything was about her.

Max waited anxiously for her to walk through the door. Every second that the class got closer to beginning the more nervous he felt... where was Liz? He wanted to see her so badly, and she hadn't come in yet.

At long last, her beautiful face came through the door only seconds before the tardy bell rang. Max's heart both soared and plummeted into the earth at the sight of her. His body grew warm and spread with an invigorating tickle at the idea she was going to be close to him, sitting on the stool mere feet from him.

Liz, however, did not feel the enthusiasm. She didn't look up from her books, did not ever cast a glance in Max's direction. In fact, she was making a special effort not to. She instead turned away from Max and her usual lab table and sat down on an empty stool next to another student whose partner was absent.

Max watched as Liz set about getting her books in order for the class experiment.

The teacher came in, looked at the class a moment, then saw the irregularity.

"Miss Parker?" He called questioningly to Liz.

Liz looked up at the teacher, her back turned to Max.

"Miss Parker, why aren't you at your table with your lab partner?"

Liz, without turning to look at Max, said, "Aaron's partner is absent today, and I know he's having trouble with this experiment. Max knows what we're doing... I thought I'd help Aaron for a while."

The teacher studied Liz a moment, then glanced at Max. Max wondered if the absolutely tortured look on his face was readable to the teacher. The teacher asked, "Mister Evans... is that right?"

Max looked at Liz, at her dark hair as she refused to face him, then decided that he had to lie. He wanted to give her what she wanted, and right now she didn't want to speak to him. He sighed heavily to himself, then said, "Yes sir, I understand this experiment... I have no problem with Liz helping Aaron for a while."

Liz visibly sighed, her shoulders heaving in a heavy sag. The teacher nodded, shrugged, then said, "Very well then. Um... Tess, would you like to work with Max since you have no partner?"

Max's eyes flew to Liz, and even from this distance he could see her freeze completely. His heart went out to her... he wanted to comfort her, but he'd never felt farther from her.

Tess interrupted his thoughts, "Thank you, sir." She stood, flashed Max an 'I forgive you' smile, then sat down next to him. Max gave her little heed. He was watching Liz, wishing things could be as they were before, even if that meant never seeing all he had... his mother, the compound, Nasedo. He'd give it all up to be with Liz again, but that wasn't possible. He sighed, his heart sinking to the pit of the earth as Tess slowly inched closer to him. Whereas before he might have had some wild unexplainable fantasy about Tess getting closer to him, now it did nothing. He was dead to the world... depressed beyond thinking about any of those things that had led to the mess with Liz in the first place. Max set about their experiment, addressing Tess only when he had to, and the whole time casting glances in Liz's direction. Only a day and he missed her like crazy.



Lunch time... Liz sighed heavily. Even though this was a period she had with Max, it was not a constricted one. She didn't HAVE to be around Max... it was in her power to safe-guard against it. She stood by the corner of the building, strategically out of sight of Max or any of the other 'Czechoslovakians'. In fact, it would make her happy if she could just disappear from the world for a few days... every second she had to actually talk to someone it just felt painful, fake, and torturous.

Liz was standing there, trying to detach herself from everything around her, when suddenly someone very near her said her name. She jumped, then jerked her eyes to look at who it was. Maria was standing beside her. Her face was sorrowful, compassionate, trustworthy.

Maria smiled slightly at her, a warm but faint smile, then nearly whispered, "Hi, Liz." Liz studied Maria solemnly for a moment. She could tell Maria was trying to see if Liz wanted her to leave. She completely understood if Liz wanted to be alone, but it killed Maria to see her friend upset and not do anything to try to comfort her.

Liz sighed heavily, realizing once again why Maria was her best friend, then said, "Hi."

Maria sighed to herself, seeing that Liz was going to let her stay, then moved in closer so that anything either of them said would only be heard by them.

Maria checked around for other people first, anyway, then leaned in, "How are you doing?"

Liz looked up at Maria, her face haggard and worn. Maria didn't have to ask, she could tell by the look on Liz's face. Liz frowned heavily, then said, "Fine... you know, considering."

Maria nodded, "Yeah, I understand. I am so sorry, Liz."

Liz nodded vacantly for a moment, then remembered to put on her brave little soldier act by then saying, "But it was my decision... I walked away. I was the one who decided it had to be done. I'm okay with it... really."

Liz looked up at Maria. She didn't believe her, but Maria wasn't going to say anything. She knew Liz needed to hear herself say that more than Maria did. Maria nodded glumly.

Liz felt her eyes begin to well up with tears. She tried to fight them, then tried to push her point with a cracking, small voice, "really..."

Maria nodded again. Liz's lips trembled... the tears in her eyes spilled over, and Liz had to choke back a sob.

Maria reached forward, pulling Liz into her by the shoulder, "Come here... it's going to be okay."

Liz broke. She started to cry, stepping into Maria and returning the strong embrace that Maria held her in.

Maria clasped her arms around her weeping friend. The feel of Liz's shoulder heaving with sobs was almost unbearable, but Maria held her tighter, her own voice becoming strained as she tried to reiterate, "It's going to be okay, Liz."

Liz couldn't tell from her position of burying her head in Maria's shoulder, but Maria herself was trying not to cry. She couldn't... not now... now she was here for Liz, but still, a little crying of her own was not completely out of line.

Maria felt warm tears slip past her eyes and over her cheeks. She blinked, trying to hold them back, but they came anyway.

Liz finally slowed her sobbing, but she did not back away from Maria. At least not for a little while longer, because this is what she really needed right now. She needed to be close to someone she knew cared about her. She needed to feel that she was still wanted, loved, taken care of. Even though her own sobs had ceased, Maria remained entangled in a hug with Liz, unbeknown to Liz but for the same reasons as her.



Max sat at the outdoor table with his sister, Michael, and Tess. Max did not look at Tess... refused to. He knew later he would probably hate himself for being so unkind to her when she had quite literally done nothing, but Max couldn't help it. Not in his present condition. He was just so torn up about Liz, and Tess was the only one close to him that he felt he could justifiably be furious with. He couldn't bring himself to be mad at Michael or Isabel, he loved them too much, but it was fine to be angered with Tess. After all, it wasn't until she showed up that Max's future with Liz began to seem precarious.

Isabel and Michael were sitting next to each other, eating in complete silence. They occasionally threw each other glances, worried glances that showed their mutual concern about Max, but they said nothing to him. Tess was sitting at the end of the table, with Max on the side across from Michael and Isabel. She looked over at Max, sitting on the bench on the side of the table alone. Tess frowned... why did it have to be this way? She should be sitting next to Max, like Michael and Isabel were sitting together... it was what was right. Why should she and Max both be alone when they could be together? She distinctly remembered, however, that when she had approached Max from behind, fully intending to sit down next to him, Michael had shot her a strange look. It was one she couldn't explain, but she heeded its strange message and pulled an empty seat over in order to sit at the end of the table.

Max had sat alone, not eating. He couldn't eat... his stomach was a rock. He instead sat with hands propped under his head and staring out into nothing. He was thinking... not any real concrete thought, just random thoughts about Liz. He could picture every feature of her, smell every small scent of her, feel the sensation of her against him with every inch of his skin, taste her as if he was kissing her at that very moment.

Max stood unexpectedly. Everyone looked up at him, concerned and surprised. Max only then noticed their curious stares.

Max glanced around the quad, then explained as he side-stepped his way out from between the table and bench, "I need to find Liz... talk to her."

Michael and Isabel sighed sadly, then nodded relentingly and looked down at their food again.

Tess watched everyone's reaction, then began to stand as she called after Max, "Max..."

Max turned on her, his voice forceful as he said practically on-the-go, "Stay out of this, Tess."

Max turned, leaving them behind. Tess watched him go, then glanced down at Michael and Isabel. They made no move to stop Max.

Tess reluctantly sat back down, watching after Max anxiously.

Isabel's voice suddenly cut in, "Tess..."

Tess turned at the soft tone. It was the first time she'd heard such a friendly tone in a long while from any of them. Tess was watching Isabel as she said, "I know you don't like what's going on with Max."

Tess nodded cautiously as Isabel continued, "And I know it's not your fault... you had nothing to do with it, but Max needs someone to be mad at. Right now, that's you."

Tess frowned, "But I don't understand why he can't see that..."

"Tess," Michael broke into the conversation. Tess got quiet and turned her attention to Michael. Michael shifted and leaned in closer, "Max loved Liz. He still does, and he misses her."

Tess sighed, "But they've only be away from each other for a day!"

Michael shook his head, "That doesn't matter. Max loves Liz... loves her with all his heart. I know you don't understand that..."

Tess grew indignant, mostly because it was true and she wished it didn't have to be, "That's not fair, you guys don't..."

"Yes we have... we've all found love... all in our own way. Isabel loves Alex, I love Maria, and Max loves Liz. Everything we've learned recently from you has done nothing but upset everything we grew to know. Everything we grew to live for has been taken away by what we learned from you, and that's why Max is angry at you."

Tess looked from Michael to Isabel, saw the agreement on their faces, then asked tentatively, "But you're not?"

Michael looked at Isabel, letting her pick up the conversation. Isabel sighed, nodded, then said, "We don't feel exactly like Max does... we've found love, and this HAS ripped up our worlds, but not like it did Max's. Max doesn't just love Liz... you can't possible understand, but Max loves Liz in a way neither of us have even come close to feeling. Max loved Liz enough to risk everything... his secret, our secret, his life, our lives... everything for Liz. Liz loves him just as much... enough to turn her world upside down for us and risk her own life for all of us. She's different, he's different," Isabel smirked, "and maybe that's why they were perfect together."

Tess's shoulders sagged, and she searched the quad unsuccessfully for Max. She sighed, then asked, "What can I do? I never meant to upset him... I only wanted to find my own people... my mate."

Isabel jumped in at the last word, saying, "Give him space... leave him alone. You're asking him to forget the only true love any of us have ever felt... that's a lot. Almost too much, in fact. He needs time... a lot of it. He'll probably always love Liz... and there is nothing you can do about that. Accept that... that's what you can do."

Tess dropped her eyes to the table as Michael and Isabel both fell silent, turning to look at each other, feeling sorry for Max.



Max scanned the cafeteria once more before heading back out to the quad. He hadn't seen Liz when he'd been looking for her, but he could 't think of where else she could be. He'd searched the cafeteria, even asked a few people, but no one had seen her, not even Max himself.

He entered the open area of the quad, eyes searching fervently for Liz. He began to walk around, searching for all the places hidden from view from Max when he'd been at his table.

He was heading toward the front of the school, intending to look around the corner for her, when he looked up and stopped. There she was, standing at edge of the wall that would lead toward the front of the school. Max stopped in his tracks, watching her. A slight breeze was rustling her dark hair, her face was cast into the wind, her eyes closing as if to let the wind carry her away from here, or at least whisk her mind out of her body and take it somewhere calmer.

Max's observations were broken when someone else entered his field of vision. Maria was heading toward Liz slowly, carefully. Max wanted to go forward, but he was afraid to talk to Liz. She didn't seem to want to see him, she wouldn't even sit next to him in class. Instead, he stood and watched, sending everything in his heart out to Liz, wishing like hell that she would feel how much he still cared for her.

Liz and Maria were too far away for Max to hear what they were talking about, but they talked for a very brief moment, then (even from the distance at which Max stood) he could see Liz start to break down. Her face contorted in sadness, and soon Maria was hugging Liz, who was crying softly.

Max's own heart twisted at the sight... the sight of his Liz sad. He wanted now more than anything to go up to her, but again that same hesitance and uncertainty causing him to only watch from an undetected distance.

When the two broke away, Max could not stand back any longer. He stepped forward, heading in their direction.

Liz, who was looking at Maria with an expression of pure appreciation, caught the movement out of the corner of her eyes and her gaze darted down to see what it was. When she saw Max she was frozen in her spot. She watched him for a moment, then her face grew pained. She looked up at Maria, said something, then began to turn. Maria was throwing a glance at Max over her shoulder as Liz turned and disappeared around the corner.

Max's pace quickened, but Maria stepped out and stood before him. She planted in front of him, then spoke as he neared her, "Don't, Max."

Max stopped reluctantly in front of Maria, then tried to explain, "I have to talk to her."

Maria's face was drawn and her eyes red from crying. She shook her head, then pleaded gently, "Leave her alone, Max. She doesn't want to see you."

Max felt a sharp pain at hearing that Liz didn't want to see him, and he had to gather a breath before he could continue, "Please, Maria... I have to see her."

"What for? To try to convince her that destiny is crap? That 'so what if it is your genetic destiny to be with Tess'? That you don't think the fact that Tess is your own species is significant? That Liz is more important to you than your entire race?"

Max's face was firm-set and serious as he answered shortly, "Exactly," then stepped around Maria and brushed past her before she could recover from her shock.



Max rounded the corner just in time to see Liz heading off in the opposite direction.

"Liz," he called gently as he took off after her.

At the sound of his voice she stopped. She didn't want to, and Max could see her fighting with herself, trying to tell herself to keep walking, but Max's voice and presence had that kind of effect on her. He hurried closer before she could manage to continue walking away from him.

He reached her side, saying again but more softly, "Liz."

Liz began to talk instantly, not even trying to conceal the pain and anguish in her voice, because she knew Max would have been able to pick up on it anyway, "Max, don't. You're only making this more difficult. You know this is what has to be done. I don't want to see you anymore."

Max stepped around to stand in front of her. He searched for her face, but she refused to look up at him. Max debated on whether or not he should guide her face upward with a hand on her chin, decided against it, then asked, "Is that really what you want?"

Liz twitched. How could she admit to that? It was farther from the truth than she could even fathom. She sighed, then confessed, "No... it's not what I want. It's what has to happen."

Max shook his head, "No it doesn't. Liz... things only have to change if we let them."

Liz interrupted, "Things change with or without our consent, Max. You and Tess are meant to be together. You belong together, the both of you."

"Liz... I belong with you... I belong to you. Belong to you with all my heart. You know that."

Liz fought tears once again, then replied, "No! Max... stop doing this. It's your destiny to be with Tess... you KNOW that."

Max finally had to touch her. He lifted her chin softly with his hand, then stated firmly but gently as he sought her evading eyes, "All I know at this point is that I love you. That I know... It is the only thing that I still feel certain about right now."

"Max..." Liz ventured to meet his gaze and immediately regretted it as she was lost for a second in his incredible hazel eyes, "you heard your mother... your MOTHER say that it was your destiny to be with Tess."

Max frowned harshly and dropped his hand from Liz's face, "Fuck destiny."

Liz was startled by his outburst. Max continued, his temper rising at this idea that his future was decided for him, "Fuck destiny, fuck Tess, and fuck my mother. She's not really my mother... she didn't raise me, I don't love her... the only thing that makes me even give her even a moment's consideration is the mere genetic fact that she's responsible for my birth."

"Max, stop it!" Liz couldn't bear to hear Max talk like this, spiteful toward his people, his own mother. She glared at him, "How can you say that? She's your mother! How can you even think that?"

Max tried to curb his anger, seeing it was upsetting Liz, then he said, "I can't help it... I can't help feeling rage at anything that tries to tear us apart."

"Even me?"

Max was taken aback a moment. Liz's sorrowful eyes dropped away as she spoke again, "I was the one who broke up with you. I'm the one who doesn't want to see you. Are you enraged at me too?"

Max was stunned, then came back with his soft, soothing voice, "No... of course not. You're the one person in the universe I could never get mad at. I love you too much to ever be that mad at you."

Liz turned as if to leave, but Max reached out and grabbed her arm. Liz grew stiff at the touch, frozen in her spot by his familiar but forbidden touch. Max stepped closer to her, his other hand coming up to her opposite shoulder, "Liz... don't give up on this. What we have... it is stronger than fate or destiny. We are meant to be together, I truly believe that... I've never wanted to be with anyone but you. If you can tell me you don't feel the same way about me, then I'll walk away."

Liz was still a long moment, then she shuddered as she tried to force the false words out. She trembled a moment, bit her lip in aggregation with herself, then nearly exploded, "Just stay away from me, Max!" Liz jerked herself out of Max's grasp, taking a large step away from him and turning to face him. Her eyes were flooding over with tears, but Max did not go forward to comfort her because Liz was shouting at him. "Just stay away from me! You have a destiny... a responsibility! Can't you accept that!? We can't be together... will you just realize that and leave me alone!!"

Liz spun around, running from him. Max had no doubt she ran right into Maria's arms as she rounded the corner, but he made no effort to go after her. He couldn't breathe, much less move his legs. Liz ... she told him to stay away from her. He didn't understand, because she had not been able to tell him the one thing he promised would send him away. She couldn't tell him that she didn't feel they were meant to be together. When he finally found his motors functions again he checked his watch and found he was five minutes late for his next class. He sighed absently, then slowly made his way toward the doors of the school, in absolutely no rush to be in class.



Liz sat on one of the stools at the counter of the Crashdown Cafe. The last week of school had seemed to last forever, but at long last it had somehow managed to end. Liz sighed deeply. At least should wouldn't have to struggle through any more classes with Max. It was getting to where, at the end, she didn't know if she could do it anymore. Needless to say her final grades in all her classes suffered greatly (hell, as far as grades were concerned, that last week had been Pearl Harbor), but she didn't care. Her parents got quite a few calls from the school, and Liz had finally mustered the strength to tell them that she had broken up with Max Evans. Of course, she had to lie and tell them that he broke up with her so that her obvious grief would make sense, but it achieved the same affect. They nodded sadly, remembered their first love, then left her alone. For that, Liz was very grateful.

Maria had started a routine of sticking around after her shift to hang out with Liz, and Liz soon found that she appreciated the gesture. More than anything she hated to be alone with her thoughts. It was only dead time she had to think about Max, and with Maria around, they kept each other's minds occupied. As was understandable, Maria and Michael had stopped seeing each other... they hadn't even spoken since that day in the cave. That damn day that seemed to rip everyone up and apart.

Liz looked up from staring into space when she heard the back door open. She was standing there in street clothes, a bag in her hand that held her uniform. She raised her hands theatrically, "I'm changed... Liz, why didn't you change your clothes?"

Liz looked down at her uniform... she was even still wearing her goofy little antennae. Liz shook her head, looked up at Maria, then said, "Sorry, I guess I spaced out."

Maria nodded, "Interesting choice of words... well, come on. You can change upstairs and we can head down to the clinic."

Maria, in an attempt to find a way to keep them both occupied, had come up with the idea of volunteering their time at the local veterinary clinic. It would give them something to focus on, and in all honesty it did help. If they were trying to handle an uncooperative dog or and unwieldy ranch horse it was really hard to think about Max.

Liz nodded, heading up the stairs with Maria behind her. Out of nowhere, Liz asked Maria when they reached the door to Liz's room, "Maria... do you believe in fate?"

Maria was startled a moment, silent in the knowledge of what Liz was thinking about, then pensive for a moment as she actually considered her response. As Liz opened her door, Maria finally answered, "No, I don't."

Liz hesitated a moment to look at her, then went into her room. Maria knew it was not the answer that would have made all this easier for Liz, but Liz really prided people on honesty. If Liz asked a question, she wanted a truthful answer. She was just Lizish that way.

Maria followed Liz in, and Liz began to unbutton her suit as she asked slowly, "Why not?"

Maria turned her back to Liz, calling over her shoulder the answer while Liz slipped out of her uniform, "I don't think anything is strong enough to overpower someone's own free will. In my opinion that is the strongest force humanly possible."

Liz muttered back, "Human."

Maria looked down, hearing Liz's agony in her voice, then she said, "Can I say something?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Maria hesitated a moment, "It's not something that's going to make you feel better about all of this."

Liz, now wearing a T-shirt, urged, "Go ahead... I don't care."

Maria nodded, then confessed, "Even after I knew the truth about what Max was, I still thought he was more human than anything... even more human than a lot of people sometimes."

Liz, now wearing ratty old jeans, gathered up her uniform to put on her bed, "Okay." Maria turned at the cue. Liz commented, "The fact remains that he's not... human. He's an alien, and he has a destiny."

Maria shrugged, "He's been told he has a destiny, and as far as his extraterrestrial status goes... I still believe he has more human in him than alien. He is everything human that mankind prides itself for. He's the perfect human... just not genetically human."

Liz broke the tension of the moment with a strained laugh, "Maria... has anyone ever told you that you're quirky?"

Maria smiled back, "Just you, but don't let that secret get out, I have a reputation to keep up."

Liz rolled her eyes, gathered her house keys, then said, "Let's get going."



When Liz got home that night she had a splitting headache. Her head had started to hurt about an hour after they got to the clinic, but Liz had stuck it out until the clinic closed. Now her head was killing her. Liz took some aspirin, then went to her room.

Lying there, trying to not think about her pounding head, she started to think about Max. She didn't want to, but she couldn't really help it. She hadn't spoken to him since that day she yelled at him and ran off. The very memory of that day still stung. She hated to say those things to Max, to take that tone with Max, but it was necessary. It absolutely had to be done.

She wondered what he was doing at that very moment. Was he sitting at home with the other three clustered around him... one of him? She rolled over, closing her eyes and finding that it helped a little with the pain in her head. She wanted to get up and turn off the lights, but to do that she'd have to stand up and open her eyes. Both sounded too painful at the moment, so she lay there, eyes shut tightly against the light filtering through her eyelids. Seconds before she drifted off to sleep late that night, heaving a heavy sigh and her eyelids relaxing as she fell asleep, the lights in her room wavered then flickered off.



Tess was standing outside her front door. A cool breeze rustled in the air, and she drew her arms tighter around her robe. She fought a shiver, hugged her arms, then looked around in the darkness. Even with her better vision in the dark she could not see him. She was standing out here waiting for Nasedo. She had come home that night to find a letter on the floor behind her front door, saying that her father (or rather, the person who had cared for her all these years like a father) needed to talk to her and to meet him outside at two in the morning.

Tess was still musing over this letter for the fifth time when a dark voice startled her by calling out from somewhere close to her, "Tess."

Tess jumped, then looked up to face the voice. She saw a tall black man materialize from the shadows. Tess knew it was Nasedo, kind of like a sixth sense, still it was a little surprising to see him show up as someone completely unfamiliar.

He stepped closer, his unfamiliar voice barely a whisper, "I couldn't chance coming here as Pierce, in case someone happened to see us."

Tess nodded, then asked, "What did you need to tell me?"

Nasedo motioned toward the house, "Inside."

Tess and Nasedo entered the house, closed the door, then Tess turned to the black man. "What did you want to tell me?"

Nasedo didn't bother to change his appearance, instead he began, "Something has happened."

Tess frowned, "What do you mean, something has happened?"

Nasedo glanced around him, then leaned in and said, "There's another one."

"Another what?"

"Another one of you."

Tess stepped back, stunned, then asked, "How can that be? There were only four pods, you were there, you knew all about us... how can there be another one? How do you know?"

Nasedo shrugged, "It doesn't make sense. There WAS another one of me... when the ship crashed, there was another survivor besides me."

Tess was stunned, "Another survivor?! Why didn't you tell me this? Where is he?"

Nasedo looked down, obviously sad, "It was my sister. She helped me take your pods to the cave, but once we got you all safely in the your hidden spot we began to talk and then we made a deal. It was agreed too dangerous for your sakes for us to stay together. We couldn't risk the chance that if they found one of us they found both of us. One of us had to be able to find you later and protect you if the other was captured or killed. She left... I never saw her again. But I could feel her... that's something we can do. I mean... you can't, not to the degree we usually do with your human bodies, but our people can feel the others, no matter where they are. I feel all of you and I could feel her and knew she was okay."

Tess was getting a little impatient, "How do you know it isn't her you're feeling? What are you trying to tell me?"

Nasedo finished his story, "I stopped feeling her a few months ago... she must have died. After that the only sensation I got was from you four..."

"But?" Tess prodded, becoming anxious.

"But... I started to feel another."

"When?"

"Very recently. I don't know who it is or where he is. This vibe is very faint, maybe this new visitor is dying or ill. The sensation is almost too weak to be noticed, but it IS there. There's another one."

Tess was silent a long moment, then asked, "How can we find him?"

Nasedo sighed, "The communicators... they have more powers than just to serve as means of communication. They have capabilities you haven't even begun to understand."

Tess nodded, then asked, "Is this new one dangerous?"

Nasedo, already heading for the door, paused a moment, then replied, "I can't tell, but I know it can't be someone who was in the crash... only you four, my sister and I survived the crash. Whoever this is, they got here by some other means, and I don't know why they would have come at all. The only reason I could think would be to find us, but there has been no attempt to contact us. I'm... I'm wary, let's just leave it at that."

Tess nodded, now frightened. Nasedo left and Tess began to pace the house, the air feeling colder than it had outside. Another one... one who was here by some other means than the crash. Tess clutched her robe tighter around her, a fast wave of gooseflesh puckering her skin in fear.



Liz woke slowly, rolling on to her back and stretching her arms over her head. She took a deep breath of air, enjoying the morning haze; the bag over her head that wouldn't let her remember right away what it was that was bothering her when she knew she was supposed to be upset about something.

Liz looked over at her clock, and for some reason knowing the time hurled her back into reality and she remembered... Max. She sighed, this time in sorrow, and she procrastinated getting out of bed. Whenever she was up and around she always found little things that would remind her of Max. No, it was always safer to just lie in bed, eyes shut, pretending none of this was happening to her.

As she lay there she remembered that her head had been hurting last night. She sat up slowly to test if it was still hurting.

Nope... headache gone. 'Good,' Liz thought, 'that was the last thing I needed.'

Liz slowly stood, looking down and realizing she was wearing her clothes from yesterday. In order not miss out on a day of lounging around the house in her pajamas, she changed into PJ's and left her room.

She shuffled into the kitchen where her mother and father were. Her dad was reading the newspaper and her mother was fixing pancakes.

Liz stumbled in the door, glanced up at them, then stopped. She looked at them both a moment, blinked heavily, looked again, then rubbed her eyes strongly with her hands. Nothing she did could clear her vision.

As she strained to fix the problem, she looked at both her mother and father. Something was wrong with her eyes. Around the face of both of her parents there was a colored haze... almost like a fog, but funny colors. Liz tried to blink away the blur, but it did no good. Her mother still had a hazy light brown around her head and face, and her dad still had fuzzy spots of baby blue around him.

Liz was snapped out of her rising panic when her mother saw her, "Liz... honey, would you like some pancakes?"

Liz jerked her eyes up, her gaze focused in a daze on the funny splotches of light brown fog that hoovered around her mother's head, "Sure."

Liz sat down, turning her eyes away from her parents. Trying to rid the distorted colors from her vision was starting to make her head hurt again. She was sure it would clear up once she was awake for a little while. To occupy her eyes, she grabbed a section of the paper her father had finished reading and read the articles on it.

Twenty minutes later a plate of pancakes was dropped on to the table in front of Liz. "Here, sweetie," her mother added cheerfully.

Liz put the paper down, thinking to herself, 'I've been up a while and my head has cleared up, I'll bet those funny colors have gone away.'

Convinced, she looked up at her mother. She tried not to visibly frown when she found nothing had changed. Her mother still had a funny haze of light brown settled around her face. The color, in fact, seemed to change to an even lighter brown as Mrs. Parker smiled at her daughter.

Liz smiled back faintly, "Thanks, Mom." Then she looked down again and concentrated on the texture and color of her food. There was nothing weird about her pancakes. They were crystal clear, their edges sharp and the color pancakes were supposed to be... nothing more. Why were her parents discolored?

Liz picked up her fork, severed a piece of pancake, then rolled it in syrup before plopping it in her mouth. With a quick gagging sound she leaned forward and deposited the hunk of pancake, unchewed, on to her plate again.

Her parents both looked up, and Mister Parker asked in a concerned voice, "Liz? Did you burn your mouth?"

Liz looked up, trying to ignore the odd color splotches that lingered around her parents' faces, and asked them both, "Do these pancakes taste funny to you guys?"

Both looked at their plates, already dug into, and both glanced at each other before facing Liz while shaking their heads. Her mother spoke, "They taste fine, dear. Is something wrong with yours?"

Liz looked down at her plate. They LOOKED fine, but they sure didn't taste like pancakes. They tasted... different. Kind of bitter, actually. Salty, as strange as that sounded, since she didn't think there even WAS salt in pancakes. Bitter and salty was the best way she could describe the taste.

Liz looked again at her mother, this time prepared to see the unfamiliar funny brown color around her mom's face, "They taste wrong... I don't know."

Mrs. Parker extended her fork toward Liz's plate, "Let me taste yours."

Mrs. Parker cut her own slice of Liz's pancakes off, let the syrup drip off of it, then brought it to her mouth. She tasted and chewed a moment, then said, "No... they taste fine, honey."

Liz pushed away the plate, sliding it toward her parents in case either one of them wanted to have her pancakes. She stood and went to the pantry, looking at all the selection of food for a moment before picking out a Granola bar. She opened the wrapping, stared at the food a moment, then brought it up to her face to smell it carefully. It smelled like a Granola bar, granted the smell did not make her want it the way food usually did when one was hungry, but she was too reoccupied with trying to figure out what else could be wrong to notice that the familiar smell of the Granola didn't make her want to eat it.

She smelled it again, frowned, shrugged, then took a bite off the bar. She had it in her mouth only a second before her face contorted and she spit the mouthful of food out into her hand. Her mother watched her as she carried the bar and the chunk in her hand to the trash cash and threw them in. Mrs. Parker asked in a worried tone, "Liz... are you all right?"

Liz looked up, again thrown off guard to see the strange brown fuzz around her mother's face, this time seemingly darker and fused with a hazy orange color. Liz recovered from her stare, then said, "Yeah... I think I must be coming down with something. My head hurt yesterday, so I must have a cold that's messing with my sinuses and making my food taste weird."

Her mother nodded, then said, "Well... I hope you get to feeling better. You're not going to Maria's, are you?"

Liz, who had been about to walk past her mother, stopped and said, "Yeah, I was... why not?"

"Well, honey, you're sick. Don't you think you should rest? And what if you give this to Maria?"

Liz quickly replied, "I don't feel that bad, my food just tastes a little weird, and as far as Maria goes, we hang out so much that if she was going to catch it she would have already. It'll be fine... please let me go."

Mrs. Parker sighed, "All right... just take it easy."

"Okay... I promise."



Maria opened the door as she heard a soft knock on it. She knew who it was. Liz had said she was going to come over that morning just to hang out.

Liz was standing outside Maria's front door when her friend opened it for her. Liz turned to look at her best friend, but instead of smiling at her she stared at her.

All the way here she could not get rid of the anomaly in her eyes. Every person she saw had a similar haze around their faces, each one a different color or combination thereof. Liz had given herself a headache trying to take in every color and haze, and she had finally resorted to dropping her eyes and watching the sidewalk as she headed toward Maria's house.

When Maria answered the door Liz had looked up in relief. It hadn't occurred to her something could be wrong with Maria, too. Liz looked up expecting to see her old friend same as always, but when she saw Maria she found that a fuzz of color clouded around her face as well. Liz's face was twisted, concentrating on the warm purple smudges of color around Maria's face when Maria began to talk to her, "Liz? Liz, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Liz snapped out of it, forcing herself to look Maria in the eye and ignore the swirls of purple around Maria's face, as she said, "Yeah... um... well, no. Something weird is going on, Maria."

Maria saw the fear and confusion on Liz's face, and she pulled Liz into the house, "Come on... let's talk about it."



Tess startled when Isabel addressed her, "What do you think, Tess?"

Tess looked up at everyone. They were sitting outside the Evans's house. On the bench that surrounded one of their trees Michael and Isabel were sitting under the shade of the tree trying to decide what they should do. Tess was standing in front of them. Tess looked around for Max. She found him about ten feet from them, sitting in the tire swing that hung from one of the branches of the tree. He had his arms wrapped around the rope, his back to the others as his feet grazed the ground and gave him the slightest of swaying motion.

Tess looked back at Isabel, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear the question."

Tess had been too preoccupied all morning to think about whatever it had been that Isabel had said. She had been wondering whether or not she should tell the others what Nasedo had said to her. She felt like she should, but then again, these others didn't really want her to make waves. They felt she'd caused enough commotion already, and she didn't want them to get even more upset with her. Besides, she still didn't know if she even wanted them to know. They didn't care... they couldn't care less about their people... their race... they wanted to be human. They were human at heart, and that still bothered Tess. Had from the beginning and probably always would.

Isabel looked briefly at Michael, then repeated the question. "Would you like to go bowling?"

Tess shrugged. Secretly, she would do just about anything they wanted to as long as she could be with them. They were all she wanted.

Isabel tried to act excited, "Great, bowling it is. Max?"

Max didn't answer.

"Max," Isabel repeated.

Max finally heard her and spun the tire around so that he could face her.

Isabel asked the question again, "We're going to go bowling, you in?"

Max said nothing for a moment, then said ,"No... you go. I'm going to stay here."

"Max," Tess began slowly, forgetting about her agreement to give Max space. Michael hadn't. He jumped in immediately, "Tess, he doesn't want to go, back off."

Tess shut her mouth, frowned, then went to leave with Michael and Isabel as they stood.

Isabel and Tess began to walk off, but Michael approached Max. He gripped Max's shoulder for a second, then asked, "You sure you don't want to come?"

Max nodded slowly, "Yeah... I'm sure. I just want to be alone."

Michael nodded, turned to leave, then paused and said over his shoulder, "You know I'm here if you change your mind."

Max nodded, then turned the tire back around as Michael left.



Maria was in shock. What Liz said was happening to her... the funny colors around people's faces and her food all tasting wrong, it was almost too much to take in at once. It worried her. She stared at her friend after she finished telling her story, then she said, "Liz, I don't know what to say."

Liz nodded, sitting on top of Maria's bed, "I know... I don't know what is happening to me."

Maria sat there a moment, then said, "So I have a cloud of color around my head?"

Liz nodded, looking up again to make sure. Yep, the purple was still there.

Maria was silent a moment, then asked, "What color is it?"

Liz answered quickly but softly, "Purple."

Maria smiled, "Wow... that's one of my favorite colors. How odd. Do you have a color?"

Liz was about to shake her head, but froze instead as she thought, then answered, "I don't know... I haven't looked in the mirror."

Maria stood, grabbing Liz's arm and dragging her toward a mirror. Liz stepped up to the mirror and looked up at her reflection. She DID have the same fog around her too.

Maria watched her a moment, then asked, "Well... do you have a color?"

Liz nodded, "Yeah... I have the same fuzzy haze of color around my face, too."

Maria smiled, getting a little excited about this, then asked, "What color is it?"

Liz focused on the color a moment, then said, "Well... it looks like an amber color. Mostly amber anyway, there's another color in it, too."

Maria moved closer, looking in the mirror too as if she would be able to see the color, "Really, what other color?"

Liz studied it a moment, but it was hard to see. The haze was not big anyway, only a small cloud of color around her head, and the other color was seemingly buried in the amber. She strained her eyes to see it, "I think... I don't know, it's hard to see. Gray maybe... yeah, light gray, I think."

Maria stepped back, "Wow... that's cool."

Liz turned to Maria and frowned, "I don't think it's cool. What the hell is it?"

Maria thought a moment, then said, "Maybe it's an aura."

"A what?"

Maria smiled, "Oh... get a little on the paranormal side and brainy Liz Parker gets a taste of what the rest of us feel like in school?"

Liz was not in the mood for teasing, she thought something was very wrong with her.

Maria saw her face, got serious, then explained, "Auras are like a blanket of color and light that surrounds a person's head. Their colors that can tell someone what kind of a person they are, what mood they're in, what they're feeling. There are certain cameras that are supposed to be able to take pictures of people's auras."

Liz mused a moment, "Auras... but they're not real."

"How do you know... what else would you call those colors and lights that you see?"

Liz couldn't think of anything, "Maybe I have a brain tumor."

Maria flinched, "Don't even joke about that. God, Liz."

Liz snapped back, the tension of the situation getting the better of her, "You believe what you want, but I don't believe in bubbles of color and light around people that tell others how they are feeling. I think there must be something wrong in my head."

Maria did not answer, just imagining how her friend must be feeling, then said, "You still want to go to work?"

Liz nodded after a pause, "Yeah... I don't want anything to look different."

"You don't want to go to the hospital and find out what is wrong with you?"

Liz was silent a moment. "I don't want to have a lot of attention on me right now..."

"But Liz, if this is..."

"However," Liz interrupted Maria's interruption, "I understand this could be something serious, so if this doesn't go away in a few days I'll go see a doctor."

Maria sighed, "Thank you, Liz. Now, let's go to work before someone notices that the cafe has no waitresses."



Max walked down the sidewalk of the main road of Roswell. He had no real place to go... he was just walking to be out and moving. He was thinking, actually. He was thinking about Tess and the others... what they were supposedly destined to do. He had to admit that he'd always felt a sense of great responsibility, and only now did he know what to attribute it to, but he wasn't sure what he thought of the idea yet. It was hard to think past the anger he felt at the whole idea because it tore him away from Liz. Sure, everything primeval in him, everything that was purely instinctual and mindless, told him to be with Tess, to be with his own kind. Everything sentient in him, though, everything in his mind and heart told him to be with Liz. It was a battle raging inside him. He knew what side he WANTED to win... he wanted to follow his heart, but people often underestimate the pull of primitive instincts. Even humans were ruled by instincts, as much as they tried to deny it. Max's love for Liz was unparalleled, but instincts were the strongest forces in the galaxy... it was a well matched battle indeed.

Max looked up, not even noticing that he had walked right up to the Crashdown Cafe without even thinking.

Max froze in his step, then took two steps back so that no one could look out the window and see him. He didn't want Liz to see him, he didn't want her to think he was stalking her.

He peeked into the window, taking care not to be seen. His mind and body were not prepared for the sight that greeted him.

Beautiful Liz Parker was there... standing at a table in her irresistibly cute alien waitress uniform. Max was transfixed, his entire soul being flipped on its head by the mere sight of her.

Max watched her, glued to his spot with eyes trained on Liz, and he thought to himself, 'why isn't this right? Tess doesn't make my stomach do flips and suck all the air out of my lungs. How is it that she can be the one when Liz does this to me?'

Max turned again to watching Liz. He saw his world go into slow motion as she began to turn, her dark pony tail swaying behind her shoulders, her arms moving in fluid, sensual motions. He felt his entire body seemingly combust from the inside as her face turned in his direction. Her beautiful face, her soft lips, her dark sexy eyes...

Max felt his entire body twitch as a vision, uncontrollable, flashed through his mind. It was chaotic, tense, and for a long second he could not focus on either it or the real world... he was swirling in the abyss of almost frenzied chaos.

Slowly, the flashing white light that proceeded the vision cleared and Max saw the mental image that was trying to be thrown at him.

He knew the scene all too well. He was in the desert... the sky was bright... pale in the height of the day. He could feel the sun on his image's bare torso, remotely sense the weight of someone in his arms. He saw immediately a scene that had become all too familiar recently. He was making out with Tess, Tess in his arms and wrapping her own around him. They were together... intended. Max felt something different in the background of this vision, however. Something that hadn't been there before. It felt like encroaching anger... rage, indignation.

The vision was flooded with light. A flash of white light, the scene of him and Tess, another flash, Tess... faster and faster the vision of him and Tess was staggered by bright flashes of light that drowned out the vision. Max felt himself getting dizzy, then he closed his eyes and felt the weight of the girl in his arms directly. Somehow, instead of being a bystander watching, he was IN the vision... he was the Max that he had always before just been watching.

Max sensed the flashes of blinding light easing off. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting to look down at Tess and instead trying to focus on the strange emotion that was now pressing in around him. It was a sense that he was doing something forbidden... he felt shock, anger, indignance... all as if directed at him from a large body of people... many were displeased with him, but why?

Max felt the weight in his arms shift, and his body immediately responded with a wild tremble. Max was surprised. Never before had this happened in his visions with Tess.

Max slowly ventured to open his eyes and look down at Tess. His eyelids lifted. At first his vision was blurred by the intense light of the almost white desert. He blinked heavily, dipped his head to shade his eyes, then opened then again. He lifted his eyes up to look Tess in the face, curious if she was feeling this same sentiment coming from a large mass of people somewhere.

Max's breath caught in his throat when he looked into the face of the girl in his arms. He did not meet the gaze of light blue eyes surrounded by blonde curls, he met dark doe eyes framed by a mahogany brown curtain of hair. Max's arms instantly and unconsciously gripped the girl tighter, pulling her closer to him. Liz. It was Liz. She was right there in front of him, looking into his eyes in that melting way she did so often in the real world. Max didn't have time to think about why it was Liz with him... the strange sense of disproval and Liz's next action preoccupied his mind. Amidst the swirling anger and hostility toward the two, Liz pulled Max's head down to her own, taking his mouth in hers and wrapping her arms tighter around his neck.

As the bright flashes began to overwhelm the scene, he felt himself holding Liz tighter to him, their bodies in closer contact than had ever been in real life. The flashes soon stopped, and Max felt the disorientation and dizziness that had been at the start of the vision.

Max blinked heavily, shook his head, then swayed on his feet as he tried to brace himself by reaching out for the wall.

When his vision cleared he suddenly realized what had happened. He'd had one of those uncontrollable fantasies again, the ones that tried to tell him his destiny, but it wasn't with Tess... it was with Liz.

Max turned, this new information unsettling. What did that mean? What was happening? Was his grief and how much he missed Liz finally getting to his head? Was he completely loosing his mind?



Michael and Isabel were walking ahead. Tess followed behind, but she was slowly dropping back. She was so tired of them pretending that they liked her. Isabel at least made an effort, and Michael was his usual, uncooperative self, but Tess was tired of it. Max hated her, Isabel and Michael didn't much care for her. She was just going to keep dropping behind until she could slip away unnoticed. That wouldn't be too hard with these two.

When Tess did stop and turn the other direction, Michael and Isabel, as expected, did not notice.



Max was sitting in the crotch of the large tree in the Evans's yard. He'd not climbed this tree in years... many years, but right now he needed someplace familiar and secluded to try to sort through the confusion in his mind and somehow he felt more at peace when he was perched in the tree.

He was still lost in deep thought when he heard his name called, "Max!"

Max jerked to attention at the sound of his name and looked down below him. Michael and Isabel were standing at the base of the tree in front of the benches, looking up at him. Michael repeated, "What are you doing up there?"

Max looked around him a moment, then answered back, "Thinking. Where's Tess?"

Michael and Isabel both looked around, didn't find her, then they glanced at each other and shrugged.

Max was turning his attention back to his thoughts when Michael told Isabel to go on in the house. Isabel did so reluctantly.

Michael stepped up on the bench then pulled himself into the tree. Max moved over to give him room.

Michael reached the large crook of the tree where Max sat, propped himself the opposite half of the parted tree, then asked with a huff, "What's up, Maxamillion?"

Max frowned, wondered if he should say anything, then leaned closer and whispered earnestly, "I had another vision today."

Michael was silent a long moment, then said, "Oh."

Max's frown deepened, the lines beside his mouth growing darker, then he continued, "Something different happened."

Michael sat forward, now interested and also wanting to help Max. Max clasped his hands together, then said, "This vision was different."

Michael asked slowly, "What were you and Tess doing this time?"

Max shook his head, "No... not Tess... well, yes, at first, but then it wasn't Tess anymore. I was with someone else."

Michael was on the edge of his branch, "Who was it?"

Max looked up at Michael, meeting his eyes seriously, then he whispered after a long pause, "Liz."

Michael was stunned to silence, and for a long time neither moved. Michael didn't know what to think... those vision were alien visions... meant to show the aliens their destiny, what was intended. Michael was dumbfounded that Max could have an alien-directed vision about a human... it made absolutely no sense. Slowly, Michael sat back, taking a deep breath, then asked in a weak voice, "What does that mean?"

Max shrugged, "I don't know. I've been thinking about it all day. Maybe I miss Liz so much that I've starting losing my mind. I do feel a little crazy without her, but I figured it was just because I miss her. Now... I don't know what to think. Is there something wrong with me?"

Michael shrugged, "I don't know... I mean, you shouldn't be having these instinct visions about a human."

Max nodded, "I know... I don't know what to think anymore."

"You might be right... it might just be you."

Max looked up at Michael's words. Michael shrugged, then said, "Maybe you want to be with her so badly that you're making these visions happen."

Max sighed, "Probably... it's the only thing that makes sense."

Michael began to climb out of the tree. Max didn't tell him about the overwhelming sense of anger and insult that had flooded him when he was with Liz in the vision. It was too... confusing. He would keep that to himself... try to figure it out on his own. God he felt screwed up.



Liz went into the back area where their lockers were. She went to hers and opened it, but instead of actually getting anything she leaned her head in to the cold darkness and closed her eyes. Her head felt like it was splitting. She was trying to concentrate on noticing the small difference in the different clouds of color that every person came in with, but it felt like she was being overloaded.

Maria came in after her, having seen her abruptly head into the back. Maria came up beside her slowly, gently touching Liz's shoulder when she was close.

Liz startled, then looked up at Maria. With all the strange array of 'auras' and colors that had come through the door that day, it got to the point where Maria's distinct warm purple was actually a somewhat comforting sight.

Maria asked gently when she caught Liz's attention, "Are you okay?"

Liz sighed, "I feel like my head is going to explode. It's all too much..."

Maria eyed her friend for a moment, then said, "I have an idea that might help you."

Liz looked up, ready to hear anything that might make this overload of information in her head ease.

Maria continued, "Stop studying it and quit trying to figure each color out."

Liz was stunned, "How did you know I was..."

"Oh please, Liz. I know you. I know you've probably been studying every aura that has come through that door and tried to understand it, break it down, decipher it. That IS an overload. This is not a science experiment..."

"So what exactly am I supposed to do?"

Maria smiled warmly, "Just accept it. See them, but don't study them. Let them go... just let them exist... nothing more."

Liz was silent. Maria was 110% percent right. She HAD been studying each one... each variation of color, every combination of tones, every new swirl of spec or color... she was trying to break it down into a language. Maybe Maria was right... maybe it wasn't a language... perhaps there was no code to the colors. Maybe they were just there, like the air or the earth.

Liz sighed heavily to gather herself, nodded, then said, "Okay... I'll try it."

"Good... it's about time you listened to me, anyway. Let's go back out there... the masses are calling for Will Smith burgers and Saturn Rings!"

Liz laughed as Maria threw her arm over Liz's shoulders and led her out into the cafe.



Tess gathered both communicators into her hands. She felt their weight, studied the design on them, then looked around her. The cave was hollow... empty. The pods that had not been used in sixteen years were deathly still and dust-covered. She shivered. She didn't want to do this here. She stuffed the two communicators into her jackets pockets, then turned to leave. It was getting late and she wanted to be home before it got dark. Not that she would get in trouble... there was no one at home to reprimand her, she just didn't want to be outside in the dark.



Liz set her dirty uniform down on her bed and turned to her dresser. Amazingly, Maria's advice that day had worked. She did what she suggested, stopped studying the auras. She just noticed them, but she didn't try to understand them. Her head didn't even BEGIN to hurt after that. In fact, she started to feel pretty good. Physically, she felt better than she had in a long time. Emotionally, of course, she was still a wreck, but her tangible body felt great.

She pulled over the chair that was in front of her desk to her dresser. She sat down, looking at her reflection. She stared at her reflection for a long moment. Hers was doing it too. She noticed that as the day progressed the clouds began larger, clearer. The colors more distinct and the size developing into an almost perfect halo of color around the person's face. It did not distort their features, only gave them a colored background, as if each face was a living portrait.

Liz's had done this too. It hadn't occurred to Liz that she was starting to see more of all the auras until she looked at Maria and she saw that her friend's head was now rimmed with a light purple glow.

Liz stared at her own. Hers was not as clear as the others. Maybe it took longer to see her own color. She concentrated on her image in the mirror, focusing her attention on the colored haze around her. She put all her mind into the amber color around her head, but not in an attempt to understand it. She couldn't explain it, but she had the feeling... a sense, that she could turn it off. She knew somehow that she could make it to where she couldn't see the colors unless she wanted to. She didn't know HOW she knew... she just knew.

She focused on her aura, projecting her will on to it. She imagined it fading... it and her ability to see it seeping into a segregated part in her brain, like a vault.

She did this for a long time, and slowly, the aura faded. The color paled, then dissipated. It grew smaller and lighter, and Liz could almost picture the vault in her mind as the power to see it and the aura itself swirled in to the door. The color was soon gone... she couldn't see the aura anymore. She mentally closed the vault, and even visualized giving the lock a combination... instead of numbers a sequence of thoughts. 'hand, orb, sun.' That was the combination. Liz blinked, looking at her image still in the mirror. Not a trace of the aura was left. It was only her the way she used to see herself.

Liz was reluctant to move. She knew it had worked, but she didn't know if it would still work once she stopped concentrating on it. Once she stepped away from the mirror and started to do other things would the vault crack open and the auras come spilling out to blanket everyone's shoulders again?

Liz finally stood and began to go about cleaning her room. She cast frequent glances at her mirror. Every time she looked she was normal. The aura had not come back. Liz smirked to herself, 'I need to work at this... I could probably get pretty good at turning this thing on and off.'

That night as Liz crawled into bed her stomach growled angrily at her. She had not been able to find anything to eat all day. She knew she could probably force some of the insanely bitter food down, but she wasn't that hungry yet. So, she hadn't eaten all day. She ignored the grumbling in her gullet and fell into a fitful sleep.



Tess set the communicators down on her front room coffee table. She stared at them a moment, afraid to use them. Did she really want to know who this other person was? Whoever it was had not come after any of them... why not just leave it alone? Why couldn't she just ignore what Nasedo had told her? Maybe he was wrong... he said it didn't make any sense how another one of them could be here on this planet, anyway.

Tess, tortured with hesitance and indecision, finally put the orbs in a secret hiding place and went to bed. She could think about it for a few days... there was nothing pressing her to find out now, anyway. Maybe if she waited long enough she wouldn't have to use them. Maybe if she was lucky this whole thing would go away.



Max rolled over on his stomach, then to his back again. He could not sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about the vision he'd had. He needed to talk to Liz... he knew it wasn't a good idea and that Liz didn't want to see him, but he had to talk to her. Maybe she had an idea what was going on. Try as Max might, he could not convince himself that it was just in his head. Something in him told him that it wasn't. Somehow he knew there was more to it. He had to find out if Liz had this same strange sense too.

Max finally got out of bed, climbing silently out his window and slipping into the night.



Liz could not focus... the turbulence was too wild. She saw only flashes of everything, causing her head to spin wildly in panic and confusion. She knew she was there with Max... she knew Tess was there, she thought she saw Max's parents, others were there... people were brimming with emotions, they swirled around as freely as the images. Anger, love, jealousy, rage, insult, disgust, disapproval, devotion, fear... it was all coming too fast, the pictures were flying around too quickly... she felt like she was tumbling into a deep chasm... a bottomless pit. She flailed, she screamed...

She sat up, fighting to adjust her eyes to the dark. The room seemed unusually light, and Liz looked around the room to orient herself. She was in bed... she had had a bad dream. She looked at her clock. It read two thirty. She took a deep breath, then checked the clock again. Two in the morning... it seemed very light for two in the morning. Her room's features were clear, not obscured in shadows, though they did have the blue tinge of darkness to them. No doubt it was night, but it was as if the full light of a full moon was pouring through her window, but it was a cloudy night.

Disregarding trying to understand it, she pushed her covers aside and stepped out of bed. She went to her mirror almost out of habit to check to see if her aura was out again. Nope... it was still gone. Liz thought to herself for a moment, then decided to try something. She pictured the vault in her mind... the solid case that held back everything to do with the auras. She concentrated on the dial, imaging her turning and stopping it in sequence as she vividly pictured the combination 'hand, orb, sun.'

She visualized the bottled-up power come pouring out of the vault. She imagined the only color she could really picture now, her own, take on almost the vague and haunty shape of a soaring bird as it escaped its prison.

Liz watched her reflection in the mirror, waiting to see if anything happened. As she expected, a vibrant light began to glow around her. The cloud rose from nothing and began to cluster around her head. Soon the amber with weak flecks of gray was nestled on her shoulders. The color, the aura, seemed to glow. She could see an almost living quality to the luminescent amber gold that clouded around her. Liz smiled to herself in accomplishment, then the thought came to her, 'what if I can't get it back in?'

She focused on putting the aura and the new talent back in the cage. It took a while, though less time than before, but soon the amber stopped glowing and faded. Liz mentally stuffed it back in the cage and closed the door, spinning the combination in again, 'hand, orb, sun.'

Liz sighed in relief... it worked... the color around her was completely gone.

She turned to go back to bed when something compelled her to look out the window. She startled to actually see someone's silhouette there. She wasn't sure which part frightened her more, though; the fact that someone was there or that she had somehow known to look. She withheld a surprised gasp, then her legs froze in their place. She knew who it was... she couldn't see him, but somehow she just knew. Max was at her window.

Liz could not move, she knew Max was looking at her, and it froze her in her spot. She felt her heart pounding, she fervently longed to be near him... longed for it more than anything, but consciously she knew it wasn't right. Max shouldn't be here.

Max moved his hand slowly. Liz didn't know why, but soon enough she found out. She heard her window unlock, and slowly Max pulled open the window.

Liz watched... she could neither move nor speak. Max bent down and soundlessly crawled in her window. He stood, facing her. Liz could clearly see his face, even with the darkness of the room that strangely didn't seem that dark. She could see his eyes... looking into her own with fiery passion. She didn't know if her own eyes were so intense, but she felt the fire inside her and knew she felt the same as he did. It was overpowering... intense. Liz finally found the ability to breathe, and with it she found her voice, "You shouldn't be here, Max." She meant for it to come out forcefully... insistent, but her voice was too charged with emotion. It came out weak and vulnerable as a result of simply being in his presence.

Max slowly stepped closer, "I know." His voice, too, was charged. Liz could detect the small changes in it, and she knew what they meant. A tremble tried to fight its way free to her skin, but she withheld it with great effort.

Liz shook her head at Max's words. She couldn't focus on anything... anything but Max. She knew he wasn't supposed to be there, she knew he was meant to be with another, she knew he was not like her, but for all her effort she could not heed anything but the strange and almost overpowering urge to go to him... to hold him and be held in return.

Max swallowed. He was having the same problem. He'd never felt such lack of control (or at least, the lack of control he could feel creeping into him)... except the time when they first found the communication orb. The sensations he felt now were the same as the time he and Liz had been uncontrollably passionate with one another before. Max swallowed again, wishing in a way that he had not come. He didn't know if he could resist the urges any better now than he had then.

Liz cleared her throat, then her voice came out in a hoarse whisper, "You can't be here, Max... you have to go."

Max stepped closer, then forced himself to stop. He couldn't be any closer to her... if he did he knew he would have to touch her... kiss her. Max nodded, then said, "Something's wrong."

Liz looked up at him, concern for him flooding her every sense. What was wrong with Max? Was he okay? It only then occurred to her that he was at her house in secret in the middle of the night. Something had to be wrong, but only now could she find the strength the think past just HIM.

Max swallowed heavily, fighting the powerful urges welling up in him, and he continued, "Something strange has been happening... I feel strange. And... I think you are involved."

"I am," Liz didn't know why she said that, she didn't know what Max was talking about, but she was speaking from somewhere other than her head. Her heart was speaking, and at this point it seemed that her heart knew hidden secret things that Liz couldn't even begin to understand yet.

Max was not stunned, he nodded as if he knew this already, then he could not stop himself from taking another step closer. Liz looked up at him from half-closed eyelids. She could feel herself shiver almost imperceptibly at his proximity. She winced, closed her eyes, then said, "No... Max, stop. We can't do this. You have... .you have Tess..."

Max closed the distance between them swiftly. He brought a finger up to her lips, shushing her gently as he quickly murmured, "Shh... Tess is nothing."

Liz looked up at him. She couldn't control herself. Whatever happened to that calm and collected Liz Parker? Where was the girl that could brave anything as long as it was what was best for Max?

Liz quivered uncontrollably, and she didn't know why. When her mind caught up with her body she realized why... he was touching her. His hand was on her, his fingers gently tracing up her arm. Liz swallowed heavily, closed her eyes, and unknowing swayed in toward him to catch the scent of him. The very smell sent another tremble through her body and she felt weak... very weak.

Even in the darkness Max saw her reaction to his smallest touch. It sent a fever through his body, a fever to touch her.

Max moved his hand away from her lips where they had quieted her. His fingertips barely grazed her skin as he traced her jaw line, then trailed his fingers down to her neck. He lingered at her shoulder, teasing the line where her shirt meet her skin.

Liz turned her head to the side, trying to fight this primeval force that was pushing her into him, but it was almost too much.

Liz tried to speak, found her breath caught in her throat, squeaked as she moved it aside, then uttered in a barely audible voice, "We can't do this, Max. We... we can't..."

Max pulled back his head somewhat, not even realizing he had been leaning into her. He made circular motions on her arm with his left hand... not even really knowing he was doing it (more of an unconscious action), then nodded with a reciprocated shudder, "Yeah... I know... it's not... it's not..."

"Right," Liz finished, turning her head back to face him. She dared to open her eyes, craving to see his face, and instantly she was captivated. She leaned in closer, her body swaying into him ever so slightly, as she asked in a small voice, "Why can't we resist this?"

Max smiled. It was a tense smile, his emotions having wound him tighter than a smile could survive. Max brought his head down, his nose grazing her cheek as he inhaled deeply the smell of her, then his voice spoke gently in her ear, "I don't know, and I'm tired of trying."

Liz pulled back, trying to catch his eye. He met her gaze, knowing the kind of sincerity she needed. He brought the hand that was on her shoulder up to cup her face, then said, "I choose you. Over destiny, over family, over anything you could ever imagine. I will always choose you."

Liz ducked her head, bitting her lip so that the noise in her throat would not escape. She took a deep, shuddering breath, then said with great effort, "I can't be responsible for that... I can't..." As she said this, she let her own hand drift upward toward him. She rested her palm on his chest... his strong, muscular chest. She could feel him tremble under her touch, and it only served to make her gesture more difficult. It was almost a refusing motion, as if she were going to push him away, but she could not find the strength to actually push him away so much as an inch, "I can't know that whatever could happen would be... would be my fault."

Max leaned in closer again, this time his cheek brushing against hers. Liz shuddered again, bringing up her other hand to rest alongside the first. It looked as if she wanted desperately to push him away, but in truth her body ached for him... screamed for him. She felt her breath escape her in a staggered rush, and she once again breathed in deeply the smell of Max.

Max moved the hand that had been on Liz's face. He dropped it down to her waist, then snaked it around to the small of her back, fighting the urge to pull Liz into him with everything he had... as closely as he had held her to him in the vision. Max whispered in Liz's ear gruffly, "It wouldn't be your fault. It never would be. You tried... you told me to stay away... I came after you. I chose you. It is my decision... I'm the only one to blame if anyone gets upset."

Liz felt her head grow heavy, as if she were drugged. She dropped her head into the nook of Max's neck. She breathed in as deeply as she could... so deeply that it felt like she could feel Max's scent in every pore of her body.

Max's arms grew tighter around her. Liz's body grew stiff... she stood straight as a rod as she felt a sudden burst of energy shoot through her. She'd never felt such power, such energy surge through her. She felt like she was glowing. Now she understood what Max had said before. She felt it this time as well. She could literally feel her heart, her body, even her toes, glow with the passion stirred up inside her when Max was close to her.

Max pulled away slowly, seeking her eyes. When she finally met them, her dark eyes nearly black in the night air, she could see the twinkling glow in Max's gaze. She felt her entire face smile, although her lips were too tight to actually smile. Still, she could feel herself, her whole body, smile at him.

Max again began to trace his hand up and down her arm slowly and rhythmically. Liz saw a light out of the corner of her eye and looked down at her arm. He was doing it again... as his hand tracked down her arm it was followed by a light that illuminated her skin. The light that ignited within her skin at Max's touch.

Liz smiled, felt like giggling like a small child, then asked as she looked up at him, "What are we going to tell them?"

Max's eyes jerked up to her, suddenly coming back to his senses at her words. "Does that mean you..."

Liz nodded, her adoring eyes fixated on Max, "How can I argue with a power this strong?"

Max smiled broadly at her, and the sight made every inch of Liz's body grow weak, as if her bones were made of water, and yet somehow making her feel stronger than she ever had in her life.

Liz looked down at the arm Max had been lighting. His hand was frozen near hers, having been stunned with joy at her words. She moved her arm, withdrawing it so that she could touch his hand with hers. She traced every inch of his hand with her fingers, memorizing every detail of him. She brought her delicate fingers up to the top of his hand, then slowly began to run her hand up his arm. She was smiling, lost in a euphoric stupor in her love for him, but her grin faded as Max's skin began to respond to her touch. As she touched him, Max's skin began to glow.

"Max," she whispered. Max looked down at his arm. Liz made patterns on his arm, each time the skin she had just touched glowing with the blue-white light that before only Max had been able to make.

They studied it for a moment, then the glowing grew more intense. Liz's fingers began to glow. Max's skin was not only responding to Liz's touch, it was sending back the same intensity that caused the glow.

Max moved his hand and soon they were palm to palm. The glow spread from their fingertips to their fingers, then their hands were both glowing.

Liz moved her hand away and the glowing of both their hands faded. She looked down at her hand, then asked in a frightened voice, "What is going on, Max? Only you could make MY skin glow... why can I do it to you, now?"

Max shrugged, "I don't know... I told you something is going on with me... it may have something to do with that."

Liz was about to tell him everything that had been happening to her, but she had no time to.

Max stepped closer to her, cupping her face with both his hands. Liz never felt safer than when Max was holding her face like that. She felt so safe... as if she could fly or evade death itself.

She tilted her head upward to gaze lovingly at him, but when she looked up to seek his eyes she was met instead by his lips. He placed his lips over hers, gently at first, then harder, more passionately. Liz knew this wasn't right, that she should stop, but she couldn't. Whatever it was inside her that had not been able to send Max away earlier was now demanding that she be one with Max.

Liz let herself go, relenting to him and returning the gesture, regardless of what was right. She couldn't resist him... deny him any longer. She surrendered herself to the moment, to the intensity, to him. Max could feel her willingness the moment she let her apprehension go and quickly their kisses became more intense.

Liz pulled away to breathe, and Max moved down to kissing her neck, his lips parting intermittently for Max's tongue to flick against her skin as if she were a piece of candy. Liz's eyes rolled back and she closed them to be able to focus all her senses on touch. The touch of Max... every inch of her body that he was in contact with him was hypersensitive to everything... to the world, to every molecule of Max Evans. Every centimeter of flesh that Max could be felt against felt to Liz as if it were molten lava.

Liz felt dizzy, like she was spinning; and then it happened. A flash of light... A blur of movement, and then the haze of a vision, a sensation Liz was familiar with.

Liz couldn't see anything... nothing clearly, it was more a sense of what was happening. She could feel Max with her close by, supporting her, she could feel people... hundreds of people, angry at her. She could vaguely place some of them by the sense she got from them... she somehow recognized Max's mother and father, her own mother as well... but they weren't like they were as she knew them. She didn't know how, but she sensed it. They weren't even human.

Liz gasped in shock and jumped back. Max let her go, not wanting to trap her, but he wanted instantly to move closer. His breath was quick and hot as he asked in a harsh (with desire) whisper, "What?"

Liz took a deep breath, finding that her own breathing was erratic. She swallowed a gulp of air, then whispered, "I had a vision... something was wrong. Someone was mad at me... a lot of people were mad at me... and you."

Max froze as he watched her. "People were angry at you?"

Liz nodded. Max fought back his zeal of passion and asked again, "Did you get the sense you had done something... something forbidden?"

Liz's eyes grew wide, "Yes... how did you know?"

Max looked down, shocked by this new development. He looked at her again, then confessed, "I had a vision too, earlier today. It was the same thing. You and I were together... people were angry... we were doing something that wasn't permitted."

Liz stared at Max, eyes wide. She tried to gather her thoughts, then asked, "What do you think is going on?"

Max tried more successfully this time to subdue the shivers of passion from his body that were still running rampant and answered, "I don't know. We should tell the others. You should come over tomorrow."

Liz nodded, then mused to herself, "I don't know what I'm going to tell my parents... they think we broke up."

Max moved closer, this time a mischievous twinkle in his eye, "Mine do too. I guess we're just going to have to do some kind of public display to get back together."

"Max," Liz looked up at him, stunned. "Public display... since when do you..."

Max reached out and pulled her into him, turning her around so that her back was against his chest when he finally clutched her to him. Liz didn't fight it, of course, but she was watching him curiously over her shoulder. Max buried his head in her hair, taking a last smell of the perfume that was Liz, then he pulled his head back to look at her, "We'll have to stage a make-up. I'll be here tomorrow, as soon as the cafe opens. Have your parents down here... somehow. I'll come by and in front of them both apologize for... whatever, and beg you to forgive me and to take me back."

Liz smiled, then clamped her own hands over Max's hands (which were still around her waist), and teased back, "I think I'm starting to get it... then I come over to your house and do the same?"

Max nodded, "Exactly... get it all out of the way, no confusion."

Liz turned her head to look at Max. God, she loved him, the very sight of him and her heart swelled until it seemed to be the only thing in her body. She studied his face, the contour of his profile with the studiousness of a predator eying prey, then she whispered gently, "I have to admit, I tried to be brave about it, but my world's complete again now that we're together."

Max pulled her tighter against him, like he'd wanted to do since he first crawled in the window, and he leaned closer to her to whisper in her ear, "I know EXACTLY how you feel." Max took great effort to pull his head back again, knowing that if he waited even a second longer he would have started to kiss her again.

Liz, surprising Max, brought her right hand up and rested it against Max's distant right cheek, then rose to her toes and planted a soft kiss on his left cheek.

Max's eyes shut for a moment, then he opened them and turned to look at her. Liz was watching, a pure love induced look in her eyes. He knew that look... he wore it now. Max swallowed as he realized his necessary next course of action. He dropped his arms from Liz and stepped away. As he did so he said regretfully, "I have to go... even though we want your parents to see us together again, I don't think they'd appreciate it being me in your room when they wake up."

Liz laughed, "No... I don't think so."

Max grinned at her, then said as he neared her window, "I'll count the minutes until I see you again."

Liz threw after him as he climbed out of the window and over the balcony, "And I shall count the seconds."



Maria looked over her shoulder at Liz for about the tenth time that morning. Liz was exuberant... energetic. And so soon after a break-up with the one man she ever truly loved? Something wasn't right.

Maria had shown up early, concerned about Liz and her new... capability. She found Liz in uniform, already going around putting down the chairs for that day's business, and she looked fine...better than fine... she looked like she was feeling great.

Maria, of course, was happy to see that Liz was not down in the dumps anymore, but she was concerned because down in the dumps was the only way it seemed fitting for Liz to be right now.

Liz looked at her watch. Ten minutes until opening. Liz glanced up at the door. No Max she discovered with a heavy sigh in her heart... she longed to see him again... it seemed like it had been so long. She remembered she needed an excuse to call her parents down.

She walked around the main counter and reached the cash register. Maria, wiping the dust off the booths at the other end of the cafe, looked up when Liz moved toward the register. Liz looked up, around, then at Maria. She brought her forefinger up to lips, ordering Maria keep quiet. Maria's face twisted... what was Liz doing?

Liz opened the register, removed thirty dollars, then turned to the open shelves in the back of the counter. She found the service trays, lifted up about three, then slid the money in between them and replaced the trays.

She gave Maria, who looked like she probably thought Liz WAS loosing her mind, another conspiring glance then called out loudly, "MOM! DAD! Come here!"

After a few minutes Mister and Mrs. Parker came down. They walked over to Liz. Mister Parker was the first one to speak, "What's wrong, Lizzie?"

Liz looked down at the register, troubled and confused. She shrugged, then said, "I was checking our money count with orders and it looks like we're missing thirty dollars. I probably misplaced it somewhere, but I wanted help looking for it before the cafe opens."

Mrs. Parker nodded and immediately started looking around, "Okay... let's look for it."

Maria, trusting her friend on faith, began to act like she was looking around for the money, making it a point to steer clear of the counter. What was Liz doing?

The door to the cafe chimed as its bell was hit by the swinging door as someone came in. Everyone stood to see who it was... it was still a little early for customers to show up.

Liz turned from looking under the table to see Max, and the first glance at him set her entire restless night at ease. It was as if she could feel every last ounce of unhappiness (or actually, anything that was not purely euphoric) flee from her body. She couldn't smile, though, in fact... she had to look upset... torn up. She frowned at him, not taking one step closer to Max, who was returning a serious, groveling look.

Mrs. Parker and her husband stood side by side, watching the scene and wondering what they should do... if anything. They knew their daughter had been dumped by this guy and that it had crushed her, but they didn't feel they had the right to interfere. Maria, of course, was the most confused of all. She knew the real story behind Max and Liz, so why the hell was Max here? What the hell was going on!?

Max ignored everyone, he kept his eyes on Liz, and that part was not acting. Liz started the act with mumbling in a tortured voice, "Max... what are you doing here?"

Max stepped closer. He was good at pretending hurt... Liz's heart ached at the expression on his face and she had to remind herself that he was actually deliriously happy.

Max began with a pleading voice, "Liz... I have to talk to you. Can we go somewhere?"

Liz got mock-angry, "I think whatever you have to say you can say it right here."

Max nodded, gathered his nerve, then said, "I was wrong, Liz. I was wrong about everything. I've been an idiot, and I only realized that when I really saw for the first time the most idiotic thing I've ever done. It was the worst thing I could ever have let happen, and it showed me how stupid I was being."

"And what was that?" Liz asked tersely.

"Losing you." Max stepped closer. He stopped after only a few steps and stated again, "I am so sorry, Liz. If you can forgive me I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you."

Liz frowned and acted as if she wanted to walk away, although she still kept eye contact with Max, "Don't make promises you can't keep."

Max shook his head, "I'm not... this is the one promise in my life I can guarantee will never be broken. I'm sorry, Liz... please forgive me. I love you."

Liz could no longer hold back her smile. Her grin cracked her face, and she slowly stepped closer to Max. She took a deep, calming breath, "You love me?"

Max nodded, "I love you, Liz. I want to be with you... if you'll have me."

Liz could finally stand it no longer. She charged forward, throwing her arms around Max's neck when her body at long last collided into his. She hugged him close to her, then said aloud, "I wouldn't have anyone else, Max."

Max hugged her back, and instantly it was as if it was only Max and Liz in the room.

Maria blinked, then looked again. Did she just get thrown into the twilight zone or something? What exactly did Max do? What was he talking about? And why were they getting back together again? They went through all this at the cave. Maria dropped her washcloth on the nearest table top in defeat... Liz had a lot of explaining to do.

Liz tore her eyes from Max, stepping back from his arms to look at her parents. She no longer had to hide the insanely happy look on her face, and she asked her father softly, "Dad... can I have today off?"

Her father, even though he didn't like the idea of his daughter with a guy, saw how happy she was. That's what he wanted more than anything, for her to be happy. He bit his tongue (wanting to be able to send Max away, but only the protective father in him), then nodded, "Sure, honey."

Liz grabbed Max's hand and started to pull him toward the employees only door that would lead them to her room so she could change.

Maria quickly took off after them.

Maria, bursting through the back door, caught them just as they were about to ascend the stairs, Liz and Max still holding hands.

"Liz!" Maria called out insistently.

Liz stopped and looked down at Maria... she'd forgotten about Maria... her best friend must have been going crazy trying to figure all this out. Liz smiled to herself, not really able to feel any other emotion at this point.

Maria glanced behind her to see that Liz's parents were not coming (they were still looking for the money), and then turned back to Liz, stepping closer so she could whisper, "What the HELL is going on?!"

Liz smiled, looked down at Max, then said, "Last night Max came to my room." She checked again herself to make sure her parents weren't standing right in the doorway... hearing Liz confess that a boy had snuck into her room in the middle of the night.

Maria's mouth popped open and her grew grew wide. What did Liz mean by he came to her room? She couldn't be implying that... She looked at Liz, then Max, then asked in a barely audible whisper after coughing to clear her throat, "You two... umm..."

Liz shot in, "No..." laughing rather too giddily, "of course not! Well... anyway, we talked about how things were and we decided..."

Maria waited for Liz to finish, but Max jumped in instead to continue the story, "Decided we couldn't stand being apart any longer, regardless of the consequences. I love her more than destiny... I won't let anything change that. We are meant to be together, ordained by love."

Maria was silent. Max had a way with words, she knew that already. He had a way of talking to where whatever he suggested sounded like the right thing to do... he had that leadership quality.

Liz gazed down at Max with adoring eyes. She looked over at Maria, who looked concerned. Liz felt grateful and sympathetic at the same time. She knew Maria was worried about Liz... she didn't want to see her best friend get hurt, and this didn't look like a good situation for Liz to put herself in. Maria frowned but couldn't find the words to say anything.

Liz grabbed Maria's attention by gently calling, "Maria."

Maria looked up at her name and watched Liz for a while. Liz sighed, her face growing serious and honest as she said softly to Maria, "I know you're worried about me. About me getting my heart broken... trust me, this is right. I can't tell you how I know... I feel it... Max is the missing part of me. I love him, and I want you to know I've fully considered the risks, I know what I'm possibly getting into."

Maria dropped her head and frowned, "I just don't want to see you get hurt anymore... I can't stand to see you so devastated."

Liz nodded, "I know... and I appreciate that. You're the best friend anyone could ask for, but trust me. I know what I'm doing."

Maria sighed. She couldn't tell Liz not to see Max, and this way seemed like the only way for Liz to be happy. She loved the idea of Max and Liz together, she just didn't want to think about what would happen if Max left her. It would absolutely kill Liz.

Maria turned her eyes to Max and smiled faintly as she ordered, "Don't hurt her, Max. I know where you live, and I swear I'll make you sorry if you hurt her."

Max smiled at Maria. Her tone and face were both teasing and playful, but Max could see in her eyes a sincerity. Max felt even prouder of Liz... she had some true friends, for he knew Alex's sentiments would be the same as Maria's.

Max nodded, "I promise."

Liz pulled Max up the stairs as Maria headed back out to the front of the cafe.

Liz reached her door but before she could turn the knob Max pulled her away from it... into him. He pulled her into his chest. Liz smiled, took a moment to bask in the closeness of Max's body, then looked up at Max's glittering eyes and teased, "You need to watch yourself, Evans. It almost sounded like you were proposing down there."

Max dipped his head to rest his own forehead against hers. He met her eyes squarely with his own, "Maybe I was," he said slowly.

Liz pulled back a little, her now stunned eyes staring at Max. She couldn't find the jest in his face... he had to be joking, right? They were only sophomores (well, juniors now, but still)!

Liz, of course, had to get it out in the open and figure it out, "You're kidding, right?"

Max didn't look hurt, he just knew how Liz's mind worked. He smiled gently, letting her go so she could reach again for her doorknob, then he said, "I was speaking from my heart. But, yes, my head knows better. We're just kids."

"Right," Liz opened her door, pausing before entering to glance at Max.

Max grinned mischievously at her, "But that would have been a grand finale, wouldn't it?"

Liz smiled, still knocked off guard by Max's startling near-confession.

Max followed Liz into her room, turning to shut the door. As he did so, he asked in a voice barely above a whisper, "What would you have said if it was?"

Liz turned, frozen in her tracks, to look at him. He was searching for an honest answer.

Liz stood staring into his eyes a moment, then said, "Max... I think you know the answer to that question."

Max stepped closer, "I need to hear it, anyway."

Liz nodded, took a breath, then said, "All right then. Yes... if you had asked me to marry you I would have said yes."

Max's face broke into an unbelievable smile. She'd never seen him so radiant. Max stepped back, ducking his head, but not before Liz saw the blush he was trying to hide. Max blushing! Liz felt her own color rise at just seeing Max flush, and she smiled warmly at him.

Max cleared his throat, then finally regained his composure, "Liz... I... I love you so much. You mean everything to me. I am nothing without you."

Liz's smile seeped into her body, filling her heart with a contentment she'd never known so completely before. She drew in a long, shaky breath, then returned the compliment, "And you to me. You are my world... actually, my universe."

Max grinned, "And I give it to you. The whole universe."

Liz broke the moment by laughing gently, then saying, "If we don't watch it we're going to end up finding our little conversations on Hall Mart cards."

Max stepped over to Liz's bed, sitting down on it as he threw up at her tauntingly, "Would that be under the 'alien/human romance' section?"

Liz threw him a playful, mock-amused face, then removed her antennae. She threw the bobbing silver antennae to the bed, then kicked off her shoes.

Only then did Max realize that he'd followed her into her room when she needed to change. Max jumped up immediately, "Sorry," he nearly spit out, then continued in a flustered voice, "I wasn't paying attention."

Liz's eyes turned dark, sultry, as she looked over at him. She cast him a strange look, then said slowly and in a low voice, "I should hope you'd pay attention... I don't do this for just anyone."

Max couldn't move, except to swallow the lump in his throat, he thought maybe he was going to either pass out or throw up.

Liz saw how... petrified he was, and she could no longer keep up the sherade. She broke into laughter. She couldn't believe she'd just flirted like that!

Max let out the breath he'd been holding. He cleared his throat, then stumbled through getting his voice to work, "Liz... um... geez... I'll go..."

Liz recovered from her wild laughter, then interjected, "I'm sorry, Max. I'm sorry, I don't know *giggles* what came over me."

Max nodded, still a deathly serious/stunned looked on his face as his feet slowly began to move again, "Yeah... I'll go wait for you downstairs."

"No," Liz quickly interjected. Max turned to look at her, knowing by her tone alone she wasn't kidding. "Huh?" Max barely managed to mutter.

Liz smiled shyly, then said, "You don't have to."

"Liz... I don't want to make you..."

Liz smiled, shrugging, "What... we're practically married, aren't we?"

Liz, trying to mask her modesty and discomfort, began to unbutton her blouse. Before she even got the third button undone, Max jumped up, interjecting, "Ahh... actually, I better go."

Liz looked up, wondering if he'd picked up on her uneasiness, despite the fact that it was Max who was in the room with her. He swallowed with great effort, then told her as he headed for the door, "I don't think it's a good idea for me to see you... do that."

Liz caught his meaning. She nodded quickly, turning her back to him before he could see her face turn crimson red. Max left the room VERY quickly.

Liz smiled to herself then turned back to her bed. She barely had time to reach out and catch herself as she fell forward on to her mattress. She propped herself up, her face twisted in a grimace of pain. Her head... it was pounding, pulsating. She felt like it was going to explode... a great pressure was seeming to swell from the inside of her brain.

Liz bit her lip... so tightly that she soon drew blood. Her arms trembled under the stress of holding her up, and her vision swam and blacked out intermittently.

Slowly she gathered herself over the pain. The torturous throbbing eased... retreating back into some dark recess of her mind. She knew it was there, she could feel it. She slowly stood again, now her heart pounding fiercely. 'Don't let me have a brain tumor now... I'm just now at a point in my life where I am happy.' Liz continued to change clothes, but a new aimlessness in her actions. She could only think sorrowfully to herself, 'I'm not ready to die yet. I have Max now.'

Liz finished changing into regular clothes, the pressure inside her head lessened. She opened her door, ready to find Max there. He was.

He turned from standing at the end of the hall, his eyes anxious to find her, but his face soon became concerned. He saw her bloody lip. He stepped forward, his hand coming up smoothly.

Liz forgot about having bitten her lip, all she could even acknowledge was that Max's hand was moving toward her face. He tenderly touched her raw lip.

Liz flinched, pulling back at the painful touch. Max frowned, then asked, "What happened?"

Liz was silent for a second, then opened her mouth to tell him everything, but she stopped. They had other things to worry about right now... this could wait an hour or two. She shook her head, "Nothing... I'll tell you later."

Max frowned, concern creasing his face, but respected Liz's wish. He nodded slowly, then asked, "Can I at least heal it for you?"

Liz smiled, or at least tried to. The sharp and quick pain in her lip killed her grin. She winced, then nodded, "Okay."

Max brought his hand up to her face, his fingers gingerly touching her lip. She sighed heavily then looked into Max's eyes to let him make the connection necessary.

It came quickly... very quickly. He'd never connected to a human so fast before, but then again... this wasn't just any human, it was Liz.

He focused his physical self on fixing the wound on Liz's lip, but his mind was occupied by the flashes that Liz's subconscious sent to him. At first, Max was sure that the scene had somehow must have come from him. It was his exact vision earlier of him and Liz in the desert, but then he felt Liz on the vision. Like a brand on the essence of the flash, he knew it WAS from Liz... and she had stored deep within her brain this same vision. It was the same as his...

Max blinked, looking down at Liz. She was watching him, her lip perfectly normal, any trace of a wound gone. Max dropped his hand, then averted his eyes as he tried to soak in what he'd seen from her.

Liz went from happy to concerned quickly as she saw the look cross his face. She frowned and asked carefully, "Max?"

Max jerked back to the real world and looked to Liz. She was obviously waiting for him to explain. He waved it off before she could say a word, "Later."

Liz nodded slowly, then muttered, "We're going to have a lot to talk about."

Max smiled tensely, "See what happens when we're apart for so long?"

"A couple of days," Liz specified.

Max nodded, "I know... a long time. Come on, let's go perform for my parents."

Liz smiled, eagerly giving Max her hand when he reached for it. The very feel of his hand in hers felt so... good.



Max reached his front door. He stopped in front of it, forcing himself to drop Liz's hand (which he had been holding ever since they left the Jeep). He turned, looking down into her dark eyes. It gave him pause for a moment, then he took a breath and whispered, "Give me about five minutes to rally the troops."

Liz smiled, "Okay," then she moved over to the facade of the house, carefully out of view of any windows. She checked her watch, then glanced up at Max as he threw her a look and entered the house.

Liz unexpectedly slumped against the wall when her head seemed to detonate from the inside. She closed her eyes tightly, bringing up both hands to clutch her head in a vice grip as the screaming pain thrust into her brain. She slid down to the ground, hitting it without even knowing that she was sitting down. She consciously felt herself go to bite her lip again, but she remembered last time what had happened and kept her mouth still. She concentrated on taking deep, slow breaths, trying to ignore the feeling of a tight water balloon growing larger and larger in her head.

Slowly, after a long extended minute seemingly warped in time, the pain began to ebb. She continued her slow breathing, concentrating on her lungs, the mechanical rise and fall of them. At last, she was able to open her eyes and look up. She felt dizzy at first, but slowly that faded away too. She sucked in a breath, then felt the need to be with Max. She looked at her watch, remembering at the thought of Max that she was here to stage a make-up. She was surprised to find that four minutes had passed. Had she been out of it that long?

She stood shakily, took a moment to regather her composure, then turned toward the door. She reached it, paused a moment longer to give Max a little more time, then knocked slowly and loudly on it.

She was standing out there in the following silence for about half a minute before she heard to doorknob turn. She straighten up.

The door slowly opened and Mrs. Evans greeted her at the door. Her face was kind of cold, neutral. Liz couldn't blame her, after all, Mrs. Evans thought it was Liz's fault that her son was so unhappy.

Liz took a deep breath, trying to look as torn up as the thought made her feel, then said, "Hello, Mrs. Evans. I'm here to see..."

Liz looked past Mrs. Evans into the house. She saw that everyone was in the living room. She could see Mister Evans sitting in his recliner, Isabel standing by the hall entrance way, and Max... there was Max. He was sitting on the couch, seemingly reading a book, but he lowered it the moment Liz saw him. He looked up, setting the book down, eyes trained on Liz. Liz was just as fixated. She couldn't tear her eyes from him. She couldn't remember anything... not the pain earlier, not Tess... nothing but the mere fact that she was so near Max. Strangely, Liz felt like she'd not seen him, been in his arms, for years.

Liz moved in, not looking up at Mrs. Evans. Max's mother had opened the door and moved aside, as if seeing that something was going on between Max and this girl at their front door.

Liz moved in a few steps, then stopped. She could only gaze at Max, this pleading look on her face.

Max slowly stood, facing her and whispering audibly, "Liz..."

Liz ducked her head slightly, trying to look apologetic, then moved forward. Max stepped closer to meet her, but stopped halfway. Liz was supposed to have dumped him, he had to remind himself, don't be too eager to go to her.

Liz stopped about three feet from him. She looked up at him, trying to find the words to say how sorry she was... how wrong she was for thinking that they could ever be with anyone else. Everything that was the truth, but it was too intense. Sh