Chapter 20
Max and Liz lay entwined in sleep as the morning sun made its way across the sky. But they were soon startled awake by the loud POUND! * POUND! * POUND! at the door. Max groaned as he untangled his limbs from Liz and he swore as sat up on the side of the bed, “Damn that Michael.” He started to get up when the doorknob rattled, but Max had fused it shut, so no one was getting in. A strange voice called out, “I know someone’s in there, open up!”
Liz grabbed his arm, “Max, that’s not Michael!” She looked alarmed, “The Skins?”
“I don’t think they could have regrouped to find us this fast.” Max assured her. He stood up and slipped his jeans on before crossing over to peek out the curtain. “Just one guy, it’s probably just the manager.”
The pounding on the door continued, Max called out, “Coming!”
“Don’t let him intimidate you, Max, be tough.” He turned to look at her and couldn’t help but smile at the sight of Liz sitting up, bare breasted as she held her hands up in fists and she flexed her small biceps with a grimace on her face. “Grrrrrrr.”
He grinned at her, “Tough, huh?” Placing a hand on each of his biceps, he left behind a couple of tattoos of the alien swirl and the foursquare, then he placed a hand over his upper chest leaving a heart tattoo with a banner across it reading ‘Liz’. Running his hands through his hair, it grew several inches to curl over his ears and around his neck. Last, he swiped his hand over his face to apply several days’ worth of beard growth. “Tough enough?”
Liz looked him up and down, taking in the scruffy look, the bare chest and low slung jeans, “Oh, yeah,” she sighed as she slid beneath the covers while Max reached for the door.
Opening the door, he kept one hand on the knob and rested his forearm on the door jam, gruffly asking with an annoyed tone. “What?”
The slightly wormy looking fellow standing on the other side was momentarily taken aback at the half naked man who answered the door. He looked like some hooligan, but then he was used to such as that around here. Puffing up his chest, he demanded, “Just how’d you get in that room? No one checked in for that room.”
Max shrugged casually, “It was late, man, we just wanted to crash.”
“These rooms ain’t free ya know.” The little man was belligerent, “But you know what? They don’t charge down at the jail. Maybe I should just call the Sheriff...” he stuck out his hand, “unless you want to cross my palm with silver...”
Affecting a bored expression, Max responded, “Cool your jets, man.” Max reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “I got ‘cha covered.” Opening it, his finger touched a dollar bill and it immediately turned into a $100 bill. But before he could offer it to the manager, they were both surprised when they heard a husky voice call out, “Mmmmm, come back to bed, baby.”
Max whirled to see Liz sitting up - a sexy pout on her face, long tousled hair fluffed out around her shoulders as she held the sheet up to cover her breasts, with one bare leg dangling off the side of the bed.
“Day...yum.” The manager had his head craned around the door and his eyes bugged it out. “That is one nice piece of...” Max moved to blocked his view, “Show’s over, here’s your money,” and put the money in the man’s shirt pocket as he pushed him back out onto the breeze way. “That should be plenty.” He went to shut the door, when the man called out, “Wait! You never said how you got into that room.”
Max gave him a humorless smile, “No, I didn’t,” and slammed the door in the man’s face. He turned back to Liz. “Uh,” he looked perplexed, “just what was that?”
She lifted a shoulder nonchalantly, but couldn’t keep the grin off her face, “Just thought maybe he’d cut you some slack if he knew you were in here banging some hot chick.”
His eyebrows flew up and his mouth fell open, “Banging some...”“ Shaking his head, “Now that sounds like something Maria would have said.” He raised his hands to change his hair back when Liz stopped him, “Ooooh, wait!” She rolled up to kneel on the bed and the covers puddled around her hips. “Not so fast.” She crooked her finger and winked, “Come here.”
Max moved to stand beside the bed and Liz slid her arms up around his neck and threaded her fingers in his longer hair. “You look pretty hot like this.” Max felt his dick twitch in response as she pressed her body up against his, “I... I do?” She tilted her face up and grazed her teeth along his scruffy chin before she murmured against his lips, “There’s just something about a...” her fingernails scrapped his nipples, “...bad boy.” He reached to cup her bottom and pulled her against the erection that pressed painfully against his jeans, “I can be bad.” “Ummm, prove it.”
But just as Liz began pushing his pants down, there was another knock on the door and Michael’s voice called out, “Maxwell? You guys alright?”
As Max’s head fell forward with a frustrated, “shit," Liz scrunched her nose in disappointment, “Guess you’d better answer that. But let me get in the bathroom first.” She scrambled off the bed and as she darted into the bathroom Max took a few seconds to admire her naked backside before he turned and opened the door.
Michael stepped inside. “Maxwell. We heard that...” Michael stopped as he stared at the transformed Max, taking in the rumpled bed that looked like a tornado had roamed around in it, the shut bathroom door. “uh... is this some perverted sex thing?”
Max’s face twisted ruefully, “Not anymore.”
~~~
As soon as Michael left, Max quickly dropped his jeans and walked into the steamy bathroom. He pulled the shower curtain back to stare at a wet, naked Liz. She turned with a smile, “You just gonna stand there, or are you getting in?” He stepped into the shower wearing nothing but a wide grin and wrapped his arms round her slippery, wet body, “Oh, I definitely plan on ‘getting in’”. Liz gave him a coy look as she pushed him back, “Hmmmm, you sound pretty sure of yourself.” He reached for the soap, “turn around, I’ll do your back.” But Liz took the little bar away from him, “I washed while you were in with Michael,” she took his hand and pressed it against her breast, “see, all squeaky clean.” Max wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her in for a kiss as his hand manipulated her plump little breast, before bending to take her nipple it into his mouth with a gentle tug. He lifted his head, “ummmm, delicious.”
Liz began to soap up his body and her hands and fingers swirled around his pecs, teasing his nipples into hard pebbles before moving across his stomach - in other words, she was driving him crazy. He reached for her, but she shook her head, “nuh, uh, gotta get you clean,” she teased as she dropped to her knees and began soaping up his calves and thighs.
Max leaned back against the shower wall and looked up at the ceiling - okay, gotta rethink this, crazy was much too tame a word. There were no words adequate to describe what she was doing to him as she soaped up every part of him, except the part that was straining for attention. When she slid her slick hands up the back of his thighs and cupped his ass, he threaded his hands in her wet strands and begged, “Liz, please... for the love of... ahhhhhhhhhh.” He moaned in pleasure when her lips finally slid over him to envelope his throbbing erection in her warm mouth. She worked her magic on him, and as her slick fingers caressed his balls, he felt the quickening and knew completion was close approaching. It took all his inner will and strength, but he pulled her away, “Liz...” she looked up at him through wet lashes with her lips glistening, and his chest tightened with desire for her. He pulled her to her feet and kissed her hard, tasting himself on her lips and his tongue plunged into her mouth. When he let go, she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered, “Make me yours again, Max.”
A shiver tore through him and in a flash he grabbed her bottom, lifted and spun around to press her against the wall. Her eyes opened wide with delight as in one slick move he buried himself deep inside her. As she wrapped her legs tightly around him, he felt the quivers as her passage began to climax around him. “Oh, yessss, Max!” It only took a few pumps for them both to hurtle over the edge of the abyss.
Still holding Liz against the wall, the little tremors still coursing through their bodies, Max pressed his forehead against Liz’s. “Do you have any idea how much I love you? You are everything I could ever want.” Liz rubbed her nose around his and with the most adorable smile, “I feel the same, Max. You are my everything.” With the warm water beating down around them, they shared a soft kiss sweet kiss.
~~~~~~~~
A few hours later the teens were on the road and on their way back to Roswell. There had been plenty of remarks and teasing of Max’s new look, and when they stopped at a fast food restaurant, sitting outside to consume burgers and fries, Isabel kept staring at Max. “You know you’ll have to change that hair when we get home?” Max shrugged as he bit into his burger, the edge of the foursquare tattoo peeking out from under the sleeve of his tee shirt. “I know, but I kinda like it.” He winked at Liz, “Think I’ll let it grow.” He earned himself a kiss on the cheek and Liz further rewarded him by dipping a fry in Tabasco before holding it up to his mouth.
“Oh, come on - you’re hand feeding him?” Kyle objected, “I think I’m gonna puke.” Liz just stuck her tongue out at him before continuing to eat her own burger.
“Gotta side with Buddha Boy on this one, ‘chica.” Maria shook her head at Liz, “You two are unusually goopy today.”
“We are not goopy,” Liz objected, “besides we went through a traumatic experience last night, we deserve a little goop.”
Maria shrugged, “What about me and Michael? You don’t see us hanging all over each other, and we were almost nuked by a maniacal munchkin.”
“Hey, wait a minute,” Michael turned to her, “Why aren’t you hanging all over me?” She fixed him with a look, “Excuse me? I’m the one who broke their crystal thingy and destroyed their husks, so if anyone should be doing any hanging…” her voice trailed off. “You’re right.” He grabbed the back of her head and laid one on her, but she pushed him away and made a face. “Ehhhh, Michael, you taste like raw onions.”
As the others laughed, Alex teased Michael, “Ouch - deeee–nied!”
When the laughter died down, Isabel looked over at Max and Liz, “Since you’ve mentioned last night... I’ve been thinking about what happened and I have a theory.” She had everyone’s attention as she explained. “The knowledge of Alisria came to you guys when you… well, in Florida. So we know that at some point, Alisria somehow became a part of Liz; either at birth, or maybe when Max healed her or maybe when you guys...” She looked uncomfortable, “you know. Then in Copper Summit you were cornered, backs to the wall, scared...” she focused on Liz, ”and you were consciously wanting Max to be able to do something to save both of you, and I think that you unknowingly manifested the powers of Alisria, somehow imparting them into Max.”
There were nods and shrugs around, and Max nodded, “I guess that makes about as much sense as anything else. Do you think that also brought on Liz’s dream?”
“I think so. When Liz fell asleep she was still reeling with what had happened earlier, and on the dreamplane her unconscious mind joined with the essence or soul of Alisria. When we were pulled into Liz’s dream, Alisria recognized Max’s essence as Zan. Now this is just a guess, but perhaps her dying in the dream was symbolic of Alisria letting go of the past and her recognition that she and Zan would live on in the two of you.” Unsure of reaction, it was with pink cheeks that she looked around, “So, what do you guys think?”
“I think that sounds pretty darned good.” Alex slung his arm around Isabel and gave her a squeeze. Liz smiled at her, “I agree, Isabel. I think that’s what I felt that at the end of the dream. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Then Isabel shrugged, “besides, I was glad to think about something else other than those Skins wanting me to be their queen.”
~~
Lunch behind them, Michael drove the Evans’ SUV with Maria beside him and Max and Liz in the back. The others rode in Tess’s SUV.
Maria sang along with the radio as the miles swept past them, when an old song came on Maria turned up the sound, “Omigosh! Lizzie remember us dancing to this?” She twisted her head to look in the backseat only to see Max and Liz lost in lalaland, hands entwined, heads close together as they whispered together. Shaking her head, she turned back to the front. After a minute she asked Michael, “Do you think we’ll ever be like that?” Michael glanced in the rearview mirror, “God, I hope not.” At Maria’s disbelieving and hurt look, he clarified, “I didn’t mean... I don’t know, maybe? But come on, not to that extent.”
When Maria looked away, he reached for her hand, only for her to pull it out of reach and cross her arms. “Darn it, Maria. Don’t get mad.” She shrugged, “I’m not mad, Michael, I don’t know what I am.” She looked at him, “I just feel like we’re standing on the edge of something, something that could change our whole lives - but we’re just afraid to move forward.” She turned to look ahead out of the windshield, “But eventually, we’re going to have to jump forward or step back altogether.”
He glanced from the road at her profile, “And which of those do you want?” His heart beat faster as he waited for her answer.
“You know what I want, Michael, and it’s not to go backwards.”
Michael took a deep breath and this time when he reached for her hand, she let him take it. “Me, neither. How about when we get back to Roswell, we’ll go out... Senor Chow’s.” He flashed her a grin, “And this time - I’ll pay.” She grinned back at him, and he continued, “And we’ll talk about that jumping.”
~~
Behind in Tess’s SUV, Kyle drove and glanced in the mirror to see Isabel looking out the window as they sped along. Alex had his laptop open and was tapping on the keyboard as he worked with the disks Liz had found. Kyle glanced over to see Tess just staring straight ahead. The silence (other than the radio playing) was getting to him. “So, was that your first time going to Arizona?” She shrugged, “I think so.” He looked at her quizzically, she added, “I don’t remember all the places we went when Nasedo first found me, we traveled a lot. I think I slept in the backseat of the car more than a bed.”
Isabel looked at Tess, “What about school?”
“I didn’t go to school, Nasedo said he could teach me everything I needed to know. Then when I was around 14 he put me in high school, said he wanted me to be able to go to school whenever we found you guys. But we moved around so much that I was only in one school a couple months or so at a time, then we were off again – new town, new school, new strangers.”
Kyle shook his head, “I can’t believe someone like Nasedo didn’t think to look for the others in the nearest town to the podchamber.”
“I think he did at first, but I guess he thought that was too obvious. Plus, there was nothing about their lives to raise any red flags – until he learned of the rumors of Liz Parker, and the FBI investigating Roswell. That’s when he left me behind and went to investigate on his own. When he came back, he had this box full of photos, mostly of Max, and said to pack up - we were headed to Roswell.”
~~
Maria’s head lolled as she dozed. Michael yawned and thought about asking Max to take over the wheel. He glanced in the mirror but didn’t see Max and Liz. “What the…?” He angled the mirror to see that they were stretched out on the backseat - making out. “Ugh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Michael’s grumbling roused Maria. “What is it?” He jerked his thumb to the back and Maria looked around the seat to see the kissing couple, Max’s hand cupping Liz’s... “Oh, for crying out loud.” She loved both Max and Liz, was happy they were together, but this was getting out of hand. She reached into her bag and retrieved a squeeze bottle of now tepid water. Removing the cap, she turned to spray the couple.
“Ack!” “Hey!” “Maria!” They objected. Not the least bit apologetic, Maria admonished them. “You act like horndogs - you get hosed.” Turning back to the front she noticed a sign as they drove past. “Michael, there’s a McDonald’s about a mile ahead, when we get there, pull over.”
Kyle saw the blinker come on and as Michael turned off wondered out loud, “What’s going on? Why are they stopping?” Tess shrugged, “Maybe they wanted dessert.”
Pulling in nearby, they watched as Maria got out, walked around and opened the door and pulled Liz out. When Maria marched in their direction, they could hear Liz objecting, “Maria! This is ridiculous.” Maria opened the back door and motioned to Isabel and Alex, “You two go ride with them, Liz and I will ride back here.”
“Maria, what’s going on?” Alex asked but Maria merely said, “Max and Liz need a little break.”
Kyle smirked, “Oh, I get it – car was filling up with goop, huh?” As Liz climbed in she thwacked Kyle on the back of the head, “Shut up, Kyle.”
“Owww! No need to get physical, or was that the problem?” As Maria took her seat she ordered, “Kyle, just drive.” Liz turned her head to the window and crossed her arms, like a sulky child.
~~
They’d been on the road about an hour when Michael noticed Max fidgeting, tapping his hands against his legs, shifting around, fiddling with the radio, adjusting the AC vents. “Max, what the hell? Leave that stuff alone.” “It’s hot in here, Michael.”
Meanwhile back in Tess’s SUV, Liz shifted trying to get comfortable – she felt hot, itchy, antsy. She was vaguely aware that the discussion had rolled around to grilling out, and Kyle discovered that Tess had never been to a ‘cook-out’ and promised they’d throw one when they got back home. She rolled her eyes as they currently discussed their like or dislike of spicy brown mustard - everyone knew yellow was best.
Maria glanced over to where Liz had her head turned away, and felt a pang. She didn’t want Liz to be mad at her. She reached over and was surprised at how clammy Liz’s arm felt. “Lizzie? Are you alright?” Liz turned glassy eyes on Maria, “Huh? Oh.., yeah, I just feel a little... odd.” Taking in Liz’s flushed face, Maria put her hand on her forehead, “Well, you don’t have a fever, but you are flushed. Are you coming down with something?”
Tess had had her suspicions of what might be happening when Maria dragged Liz back to her car, but now she was fairly certain. She debated with herself on whether to say anything, because the heavens knew it galled her to do anything to help Liz Parker, especially when she should have been the one suffering those symptoms.
Kyle called back, “What’s going on?” Maria’s eyes met his in the mirror, “I think Liz is getting sick, we need to call Michael and have him pull over.”
After the near debacle of last night, Tess badly needed to earn some brownie points. As much as she hated to be the exposition fairy, she sucked it up and announced out loud. “She’s not sick.”
Maria glared, “What do you mean? Look at her.” Tess nodded, “I know, but I think she and Max are going through something Nasedo once told me about.”
Maria looked over where Liz now had her face pressed against the glass. “You mean it’s something alien?” Kyle shook his head, “Oh great – what now? Evans give her alien herpes?”
“Kyle!” Maria reached over to pinch him. “Owwww, Maria, I’m driving here.”
Ignoring him, Maria looked at Tess, “So what is it? Can Max fix it?” Tess reached for her phone and wryly assured her, “Believe me, Max is the only one who can fix it.” When the phone on the other end was answered, Tess spoke, “Isabel, I don’t mean to be cryptic, but is Max acting strange?”
She listened to Isabel’s response, “If by strange you mean being all fidgety and freezing us with the air-conditioning, then yeah - strange. But how did you know?”
~~
Michael started looking for somewhere to pull over. Isabel pointed out a sign, “Look, there’s a rest area up ahead.” Kyle pulled in behind Michael, but when he would have parked beside him, Tess pointed him to the last spot on the row. “Trust me, we don’t want to be parked beside each other.”
As Kyle and Maria got out Tess told Liz to stay put. The others had already exited the Evan’s vehicle, and she saw Max running over. “Is Liz alright?” Seeing the flush on Max’s face, Tess held up her hand, “Believe me, you’ll know what to do.” She opened the back door and as Max climbed in, she heard Liz’s cry of “Max!” She quickly shut the door and reached a hand up to blacken the windows before walking over to join the others. As she reached them, Michael groused, “Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?”
Pointing to the cement picnic tables under some shady trees, “Might as well get comfortable, this might take a while.”
~~
When Max slid in beside her, Liz raised her head and was immediately in his arms, “Max! What’s hap...” Her cry was smothered as Max’s mouth clamped onto hers. After several deep consuming kisses, Liz’s head fell back and Max sucked on the vein in her neck, he could feel the blood pulsing through her body, matching the tempo of his own rapid beat. She cried out in confusion, “Max, wha... what’s happening to us?”
His lips moving over her skin, he replied in a raspy voice, “I don’t know.” His lips returned to consume hers as his fingers worked at the button and zipper of her shorts. “I just know that I have to be inside you - now.” His hands worked them down her legs, she helped him push his own pants down to free his erection as it sprang free at full attention. They were both lost in haze of lust. Liz straddled him and he grabbed her hips and without any preliminaries she sank down on his shaft. As Liz slid up and down, Max pushed her top up to access her breasts. Liz jerked her top off and clasped his head against her chest and he feasted first on one breast then the other. The tugging of his mouth sent shivers through her body down to where her core enveloped Max. As Max moved back to consume her mouth, she needed to feel his chest against hers and tugged at his tee shirt. He wrestled out of it, and tossed it somewhere behind him. As the pressure built, they clung to each other as their bodies pumped furiously racing toward the relief they both sought.
~~
Once everyone was sitting, Tess announced. “Max and Liz aren’t sick - they’re in heat.”
“In heat!?!” Michael looked at Tess’s SUV, “you mean they’re... right now?”
With a look of distaste, Kyle blurted, “You’ve got to be fuckin’ kidding me!”
Alex leaned over sotto voice to Maria, “Well, he’s half right.” Maria couldn’t help but giggle as she swatted at Alex. “Hush.”
Isabel glanced back at Tess’s car, then she turned to Tess, “Will this happen to the rest of us when we, uh…” she avoided looking at the others, especially Alex.
“Pop our cherries?” Michael finished for her. Maria glared, “Oh, nice Michael!”
Tess shrugged, “I’m not really sure. When Nasedo came back for me, before we moved to Roswell, he explained that we would go through something to bind us with our mates. Of course, he thought it would be the four of us partnered. He compared it to when humans go on a honeymoon. Basically - it’s mating your brains out until you form a bond with each other.”
“But Max and Liz have been ‘mating their brains out’ since Florida.” Alex noted, “shouldn’t they have already bonded?”
“Well, between Florida and this trip, it was sporadic.” Maria told him, “This is the first time they’ve had days to be together. Or maybe the delay was because Liz is more human than not, or at least she was until Alisria came bursting out all over the place last night.”
Isabel looked uncomfortable, “And now we have to wait here until they form this bond?”
Kyle groaned, “Oh, great, so we have to twiddle our thumbs so El Presidente can get his rocks off’?
Isabel rubbed her hands across her face, “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation - I can’t believe we’re talking about my brother’s sex life."
Kyle rolled his eyes, “I can’t believe your brother’s having sex right now.”
“Hey,” Alex looked around at the various expressions of distaste, misery and yes, even envy on their faces. “I know this is probably the most unorthodox situation we’ve found ourselves in, but they’re still our friends. They can’t help what’s happening.”
“Well, it’s been about 6 hours since we left the motel, so after...” Tess tossed her hand toward the car, “we’re probably good until we get back to Roswell.”
Resigned, Michael looked around, “So, anyone got a deck of cards?”
~~~~~~~
TBC ~
~ sorry this chapter is a little short, but it was post now or in a couple of weeks 
this took me much longer than I anticipated... but on with the show.