Roswell Fanatics

Three miles west

“Max, what's wrong?” It was the third time she'd asked him that question. His response was no more helpful than the preceding times.

“I told you, nothing is wrong. I just didn't sleep well last night....”

When she'd awakened alone in the cave she'd known that whatever had bothered him yesterday was bothering him still. As the morning had progressed it had quickly become obvious that things were even worse between them – and she had no idea why.

He had been distant all morning. No – worse than that – it seemed like her presence was actually unpleasant to him. It wasn't anything he said and she knew he was trying to act normal – but that was just it. It was an act. Perhaps he didn't have the social skills to realize what his body language was saying – but she did.

Besides – she'd catch him in unguarded moments when he didn't know she was watching and the expression on his face – it was just like that day at the quarry. Like the expression on his face at the quarry AFTER she had thrown the ring away.

But for Liz Parker, that was a lifetime away. She had been a girl then – wanting only her own happiness. She thought back to that day guiltily. She'd been petulant and cruel to him – and what she had done when school had started – when it was so obvious he wanted to be her lab partner - and friend – that had been cruel and stupid too. She should have accepted that Max just wasn't ready. She should have cared enough to wait for him to be ready – to give him encouragement rather than cause him pain. Somehow, she'd done it again. Done something - said something - reminded him of something. She wasn't sure how – and he certainly wasn't going to tell.

But Liz wasn't the same girl she'd been ten months before – in fact Liz wasn't a girl at all. The child that was Liz Parker had died somewhere in the first ten thousand feet of that fall., Facing death she'd been forced to decide what was really important in those precious seconds and somehow she'd looked in to her own soul then and found the answer. She had wanted to be with him then – to be close to him and let him know how much she cared in those few fleeting seconds of life that remained to them. Liz Parker the girl had died during that fall and Liz Parker the woman had been born.

So she wasn't going to be that petulant little bitch who had flung the ring away – she wasn't going to be the cruel devious person who had seen his hopes to resume their friendship and chosen Pam Troy to partner with instead - just for the joy of seeing the crushed look in his eyes. No, she was seeing that crushed look in his eyes now, and his pain was her pain now because Liz Parker was no longer a child and she had made up her mind.

Max Evans was what was most important to her – more than being the perfect Miss Parker, more than Harvard, more than life itself. Above all else, she wanted Max to be happy.

Of course, she wanted more – she supposed she had always wanted more since that dream of the two of them – and their daughter. But if she could never have that, she would have even settled for his friendship – just the friendship they'd had together for those few wonderful years. But everything about how he was acting told her she was losing even that.

She had to know why he was like this – because he hadn't been like this two days ago. When he'd shared his secret with her they had been more than friends. Horrible as the airplane crash was, she wouldn't have traded those first few days for anything. Why exactly he had changed, she didn't know. But whatever the reason – whatever was making him this way – she had to understand it because it was threatening to drive them apart and - somehow she knew - threatening Max himself. That she couldn't allow.

They had walked for a mile – when she saw it. The lava had formed gas pockets as it cooled, and over the years some gas pockets had broken - exposing deep holes and clefts in the lava. Ahead was just such a hole perhaps two foot deep but only about four inches in diameter. Max walked past it – seemingly as oblivious to it as he was to her. She winced at the thought but she knew she would do it anyway. However much it would hurt, the pain would have to be less than the pain of never understanding the reason for his rejection of her. Veering slowly away from him, she walked straight toward the hole in the ground.



Max looked up at the mountains to the east – the emptiness growing in his heart with each step. In another day of hiking they would be in the foothills and out of the malpais. Just ahead he could see what must be an old campsite. They were near enough to the edge of the lava flow that someone had packed in and camped overnight carrying firewood for a fire, the charred remains clearly visible in the small clearing ahead – the plants noticeably thicker than the almost bare lava that they had walked through for nearly a week – even a few small trees with branches large enough that they might have their own fire.

Soon they would reach the road that separated them from the Sangre de Christa mountains ahead and they would be back to civilization. That would mark the end of their journey and – he was sure – the last he would ever see of Liz.

He didn't blame her. It was – he guessed – normal that she'd want her own kind. Maybe if he'd been honest with her to begin with he could have at least stayed her friend ... but even that likely wouldn't have worked. Somehow it had become painful for him too .. painful to be near her but know he could never really be the special one in her life - to know that dream last night could never be real. He simply couldn't bear the pain of watching her and knowing she could never really be his.

Perhaps Max should have talked to her - told her how he felt, but then he was only in middle school. Even a 'normal' middle school student with normal social skills would have never have told a fellow student that he was depressed that he'd never be the love of her life - never be the one to share forever with - and Max's social skills were far below normal. No, the only path he could see was to flee - to get away from the pain of wanting so badly and realizing his want would never be fulfilled. He would get Liz back home safely and then he'd leave - go somewhere - anywhere - where he wouldn't have to see happen what would be to painful to endure - when she finally found that special someone. That would, he was sure, be best for both of them.

Liz built up her momentum as much as she could – at least without attracting Max's attention. Her shoe fit into the hole with only inches of clearance and plunged down instantly to mid-calf before her forward progress levered the shin against the eastern edge of the hole and her heel against the western side eighteen inches below. The rest was simple physics – a matter of leverage and momentum – she'd always been good at that – if not quite as good as Max - she thought in the last milliseconds before the sharp lava edge ground into her shin bone and the nerve endings of the bone screamed in protest as the momentum of her body tried to push the bone past its elastic limit. Yes, today her knowledge of physics would be useful – but not at all pleasant.

Max actually heard the snapping of the bone before he heard Liz utter a cry of pain. He turned back instantly and his eyes filled with horror. She had stepped in a hole in the lava and it had trapped her right lower leg. Her momentum had carried her onward and she'd fallen forward, breaking her right tibia as she fell. Her face was pale and she was almost quivering with pain.

He ran back to her and pulled her straight up, disentangling her leg from the pit in the lava as gently as he could. The lower right leg was deformed – part of the bone actually protruding a foot above her heel - the blood trickling down her leg from the open fracture. Liz's face looked an ashen gray despite their near week of sunburn and her breathing came in short gasps.

He carried her to the small clearing and laid her gently down in the open are of the old campsite. He placed his hands around her ankle and looked at her frightened face. “Liz, you have to look at me – look at my eyes,” he said as he used his telekinesis to put traction on the break. He connected with her -pulling into his own mind all of the pain that he could.

He'd promised himself that he would see her safely to civilization before he left her forever – he would not fail her now - he told himself as he used his telekinesis to straighten her leg and strengthened his mental connection to heal the damage the jagged bone edges and sharp lava had done to her beautiful leg.

As the connection formed - Liz shoved her mind deep inside his looking for the reason behind Max's pain - all but oblivious to her own.....

The pain of the broken leg was excruciating, sending weakness throughout her body and nausea deep into her abdomen. Liz ignored it. It didn't matter. Not the physical pain. Not the weakness. What mattered was Max. She felt his arms around her as he gently lifted her from where her leg had been trapped and carried her to the clearing.

As gentle as he tried to be the lower leg still twisted grotesquely as it dangled beneath her - sending new waves of pain and nausea into her. She put it from her mind – it wasn't important. Even when Max's eyes seemed to swim in her mind – when he appeared to pull away much of the pain as he somehow used his mind to pull her broken leg back into alignment, Liz paid no attention to what was going on with her body. She didn't need to – she knew that. On that score, Max had never failed her. He would – somehow – take care of her physical damage Besides, what happened to her body really didn't matter that much to Liz – not at least in comparison to what she needed to know.

As Max sent his healing powers through the connection, Liz sent her own mind down the paths of Max's mind. Not to the distant past this time – not to the time of the podchamber – but to the more recent time – to last year – to when he'd stopped being her friend, She searched for the memories of that time – searched desperately to learn what she needed to know before Max would finish and break the connection.

Max's mind pulled against the spasm of the large muscles of the calf – they were contracting by reflex- attempting to splint the area and keep the bone from breaking, but they were already too late. The jagged edges of the bone were already over-riding one another and threatening to pull even deeper into the muscle. If he let that happen – Max knew – it could tear arteries and nerves as the sharp bone fragments slashed through the muscle compartments. He couldn't let that happen.

Max let his consciousness flow through the connection – oblivious to everything else as he pulled against the spasm of the muscle, forcing the bone fragments outward – then into alignment. He held them there while he used his powers of molecular manipulation to create a hydroxyapatite bridge to anchor the bone ends in place. Then with his healing powers he caused the osteoblasts to flow into the fracture site and lay down new bone over the framework he had formed. Finally he healed the muscle damage – the skin – and scoured through her body to find the bacteria that had entered through the skin break and eradicate them.

Only then – only when Liz was safe – did he realize that Liz had done this on purpose – that she had seized the opportunity to send her own mind through the connection to access his memories and thoughts about her.

Max's mind reeled in horror – what if she had seen his thoughts of this last week? What if she saw the feelings he had toward her? the dreams he'd had as he lay beside her? It was bad enough that she had found out a week ago that he was an inhuman monster – but if she realized the feelings he had started having for her this last week – the desire for her not just as a friend but as a mate - she would be horrified beyond belief.

Liz had let her mind flow into his memories – she had elt the feelings he fhad elt as she tapped those memories – thought the thoughts that he had thought – and what she found staggered her to the core.

Emotionally Max was immature – he had lost six years of his childhood in the incubation pod and he had still not recovered from that – but he did love her - love her with all his heart – and in the last week had actually started to imagine the two of them together. But despite his dreams of the last week – despite his love for her – he was certain it was never going to happen.

Despite loving her - loving her as much as she had come to love him - Max absolutely did not believe that he ever could be accepted by humans - not even by her. He would have never told her about himself- about his own secret - had there been any other way to explain how he'd saved them. But most of all Max was certain that she could never accept him the way she had dreamed of having him – a dream she was surprised to see he'd actually shared - as her husband and the father of her child. Strangely enough, that dream had been the trigger for how he was now acting.

For a moment Liz was stunned. The problem was that it was obvious that nothing – absolutely nothing she could tell him would ever make him believe that she could truly accept him – could love him the way he deserved to be loved. There seemed to be no hope.

But then she saw what had started all of this – the sex education course that convinced him that he had to distance himself from her so she could find her own special someone – her own destiny.– but he had never considered that he himself might actually be that special someone – never believed that she could possibly want him. What was worse, he felt ashamed – guilty that he was attracted to her.

Max broke the connection, his face full of fear, praying that Liz hadn't seen how he felt. Losing her friendship was bad enough. He didn't want her to fear him or worse - despise him. His heart was already breaking. It got worse though when he heard her words...

Liz didn't know what to do – what to say. She shook her head in disbelief. All this had started because of that dumb class?

“Sex, Max? That's what this is about? All the problems ever since last year? They were about sex?”

“No,” Max shouted back, terror in his eyes, wondering just how much she had seen.

Liz looked at him. No, it really wasn't about sex - although that had triggered it. What it was about was Max's immaturity. What it was about was the years of being held and cuddled and loved that he'd missed during those absent six years of childhood. What it was about was the years he'd spent alienated from the rest of the world – not because of the alien DNA he possessed - but because he had believed that he was too different to ever be accepted fully even by her.

But she had seen into his mind – into his soul. Nothing she could say was going to convince him otherwise. For all the times he'd saved her, for all she cared for him, there was nothing that Liz could think of to say that would convince him that he really could be accepted. He'd had the power to save her, even falling from the sky, but she was powerless to save him from his own fears and doubts.

It wasn't right – it wasn't fair – that they couldn't have that future together. But she couldn't leave it there – Liz had no intention of giving up. Liz never gave up aon things that were important to her – and she had decided during that long Fall that nothing in her life was more important than being with Max. She had to try something..
Middle School girls didn't have alien powers – but she would use any power she did have to save Max – just as he had saved her so many times, even powers that were new to her and perhaps still somewhat frightening. The decision was made quickly.

“Well, that's too bad, Max,” she shouted back at him almost as if in anger, “because if you were human, I would have already had sex with you these last few days...”

The words shocked and stung him and he gaped at her in disbelief as her voice softened.

“Because, if you HAD been human I'd have known that we were never going to make it out of these badlands alive,” and then her voice softened further as she looked at him with loving eyes, “...and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to die without knowing that closeness – that tenderness with you. I love you far too much for that..”

Max's mind was in chaos, and he watched in disbelief as she stepped closer to him and her hands went to the buttons of her blouse....

“But if you need that now, Max, ... if you need that physical closeness to understand – to believe - to KNOW that you are loved, maybe it's time. So I'm going to give you that, Max., that tenderness and that closeness... We are going to have sex here and now and after that every time you look at me you are going to remember this and know that you are wanted, Max – that you are accepted – and that you are loved.”

He watched her hands undo the buttons one by one – from the top to the bottom – and saw her let the blouse slide off her shoulders to the ground below. His eyes met her eyes and the connection formed and he saw her thoughts and he saw that she meant every word of what she had said.

Max could tell that Liz was scared – that she felt she wasn't mature enough to do this yet – and she knew he certainly wasn't - but he could see that it was all she could think to do. They had no protection and she was at the start of her fertile period and she really didn't want to be pregnant in middle school, but as frightening as that was to her it was not nearly as frightening to her – he could tell -as losing him. And she WAS going to do it – she was reaching for the belt at her waist and had every intention of going through with it.


Yes, Liz had every intention of doing this – and he could tell that nothing he could say would change her mind. He had two choices – to refuse and reject her again which would crush her, or to go through with it and do something that – Liz was right – neither of them were yet ready for - but maybe, he decided, there was a third option.

“Stop, Liz...” he said...

Her hands stopped their motion, the tears starting to form in her eyes. She'd failed – she was sure of it.

But then he appeared to reach for her bra. She smiled gently then, hoping that it really would be alright – that by sharing this gift with him she would convince him of her acceptance and love of him. It wouldn't be the first time those hands had touched her breasts – she remembered the warmth of them – how the sting disappeared that day and at last understood what really had happened that day. He'd used his powers to heal her then also. Maybe this really would work, she thought, ...maybe afterward Max would believe.

As his hand reached toward her bra Liz smiled nervously. The only thing important was to get through to Max - to convince him that he wasn't just acceptable - but the only one she could ever want. It was the wrong place and the wrong time and they weren't ready but whatever happened - all those things could be dealt with somehow - if Max could just be convinced of her love.

The love of a good woman – even a very young one – is a powerful thing. It can even make an immature and confused young boy into a young man Max realized - besides, he'd promised Jeff Parker in that dream that when that eventually DID happen, it would be discussed and considered and - and it sure wouldn't happen on a narrow strip of sand in the middle of a lava flow. Liz deserved better than that. But he wasn't going to just say no either - he'd done that nine months ago and caused agony for both of them. No, Max was socially naive - but not THAT naive. He couldn't just reject her either - not after what she'd offered. But as he saw the pendant there - the pendant that he'd looked for for hours - that Liz must have looked for for hours - he knew what he would do....

For Liz the situation changed so quickly as his hand grasped the locket -flared briefly with a golden fire - and then took the locket away. For an instant her heart was breaking as he turned around and stepped back - sure that she'd failed. Suddenly he seemed to be not only rejecting her offer but even her friendship itself. Liz watched him reach down into the ashes of the old campfire - not understanding what he was doing as he picked up the charred fragment of wood laying in the fire circle.

His taking back the friendship pendant had hurt her – hurt her more than she would have believed possible – but as he pressed his hands together with the pendant and the charcoal and she saw the glow – she also saw his brown eyes looking at her and suddenly her heart leaped with joy. There was no rejection in those eyes – only love. Those eyes promised her that – once again – Max would make everything alright. Those eyes said that he loved her – with all of his heart. It was hard for her to tear her eyes from his – she'd waited for so long to see him look that way at her – but eventually she did. That's when she noticed Max was kneeling.

She looked as his hands were wiping the smudges of carbon from what had once been a friendship pendant and was now a ring – a ring with a crystal of carbon embedded in it that only moments ago had been charcoal. Suddenly her knees began to shake and tears of joy flowed down her face as she realized what he was doing as he looked up at her, holding out the diamond ring..

“Liz – If you wear this I will know – every time I see you – that I am accepted ... and wanted ... and loved. If you are really foolish enough to want someone who is such an idiot...”

That was all that he got out before her lips met his in the first passionate kiss either had ever had. Somehow they managed to break that kiss about 40 seconds later – although it seemed a lot longer. And when Max eventually reached down to the floor of the desert and picked up her blouse and handed it to her to put on – well, they both knew it certainly wasn't a rejection - merely a recognition that this was something neither was yet quite ready for. That day would come their eyes promised one another.

“This is going to be – complicated,” he said. “I hope you have some idea of how we are going to explain all this...”

“None whatsoever,” she said, grabbing his right hand with her left – the one with the new ring – and holding it while she smiled at him,”... but we'll either think of something or run off together because you – Mr Evans – are officially the most important person in my life right now. Come to think of it, you probably have been for quite awhile...”

Max smiled back at her, feeling the love and acceptance flow from her as she continued.

“I guess we have a lot of things to talk over. How long it will be before we actually get married...,” she said, nodding at the engagement ring, “...or before we do anything else for that matter,” she said – blushing despite her rather substantial tan, “...even how many kids we are going to have and when.”

“How do you know we can have kids at all?” he asked, just for a moment the old wary Max.

“Well, only one way to find out – I always have been better at biology than you have,” she said with a determined look in her eyes, "...and more determined. When the time comes either we will or - well, it won't be for lack of effort if we can't..."

He raised his hands in obvious surrender. “I think we'd better hold off on that particular experiment for awhile – we've still got to get into college at least.”

“The trying to have kids part I'll agree with you about, Max,” she said, looking at her ring, “... but I better not catch you even hinting that you want to back out of this engagement. As for the – well the tenderness and closeness – maybe we will just work our way up to that slowly – or maybe not...,” she said with a smile.

Max had never really understood the smile on the Mona Lisa – but today he thought he'd finally figured it out.

"You know Max, as nervous as you are about the alien business I really never believed that either your folks or my folks would be too upset about it. Explaining this to them, however," she said, smiling and holding up her new ring, "...this is going to take some real talking..."

"I think you are probably right, dear," said Max, placing his arm around her and kissing her. "You generally are about that sort of thing..."

'This,' each of them thought, '...is the happiest day of my life.'

It had been the three happiest hours of Max's life.

All they'd done was walk along - more often hand in hand than not - and just talk. Alright, there had been a kiss or two as well - tempered slightly by the self consciousness of both of them that neither had seen a toothbrush or a shower for almost a week - but even so, they had mostly just been being two normal teenagers - or rather two deeply in love teenagers - one normal and one just a little bit different - in their own private world. Which of course made the entire world - and even the malpais - a wonderful place.

They had talked about their parents - more about their concern for what they were going through than about exactly how they were going to be able to break the news to them. They had rather a LOT of news to break to them - first the fact of their survival which wasn't something they exactly wanted to do by telephone call from the nearest town because that of course brought up the immediate question of HOW they had survived which led into the discussion about Max being NEH, not-entirely-human as they had chosen to abbreviate it, but the REAL show-stopper was going to be explaining to the folks that they were engaged.

Liz had been real insistent about that last part. She had told Max that she had compromised on her original offer as far as she was going to compromise, and further compromise to her parents simply wasn't going to happen. He knew from what he'd seen in her mind that she was doing this as much for him as for herself - but it didn't seem to matter.

She had really meant that about the reassurance he needed and seeing that ring on her finger WAS reassuring, and that somehow seemed to heal a hole in his soul that he hadn't even realized was there. Liz loved him totally - without reservation and without doubts. Until three hours ago he hadn't been aware that was possible and even if it was, he hadn't believed it could ever happen to him. They'd talked about that, too. Liz figured it had to do with the pods.

Liz said that childhood was about bonding - about understanding that weak and vulnerable as you are - and there was little more weak and vulnerable than a human infant - it was alright, because somebody out there really did love you. For a human child to survive to the physical age that he and Iz and Michael had been 'born' at, they would have had to have been vulnerable for years and they would have learned that they really were loved and cared for by somebody - or they would not have survived at all. Their very vulnerability forced them to understand very quickly - usually by the terrible twos - that their parents or other caregivers love for them was unconditional. That's why two year olds could actually act like that. They had already become convinced that their parents weren't going to abandon them to their deaths no matter what happened so even at two they felt confident enough to test the limits of what they could do. The early bonding, Liz thought, had given her the confidence and self esteem to function socially. Max had never had that early bonding. No, Max had never had that sort of bonding - never really believed that - despite his fears and inadequacies and differences from everyone else - someone else would believe he was worthy of that sort of unconditional love. At least, not until three hours ago. He hadn't felt worthy of a love like that - and in fact he still didn't. But worthy or not - he was the recipient of such love. That too was undeniable.

Max looked toward the south - eyes scanning for Liz to come back to him. She'd left him only a few minutes ago - saying a lady had to 'powder her nose'. He missed her already.

She was right, he realized. Being ...bonded .... to Liz made all the difference in the world. When she was at his side - her hand in his - knowing that there was no limit to her love for him, he was a different person. He really could believe that he was worth loving despite his differences, because Liz so clearly DID love him despite them. He thought back to all the times he'd seen his mother reach out to him - try to make him understand that it was his home and not just hers - but he'd never thought he deserved it. Not her home - not even her love. He'd always held her - and his father - at arm's length, never really trusting them, never letting them in to see the real Max, because he'd been convinced that no one could possibly love the real Max. Until now. Liz's love changed everything - every assumption he'd ever made about himself and his family and even other people.

He had a lot to make up for with his parents if Liz was right - and she almost certainly was. It wasn't about deserving to be loved - he certainly didn't deserve the love that Liz had for him. The way he'd failed to trust them, he really didn't deserve the love his parents had for him either. But it wasn't about deserving. It was about them choosing to love you - like Liz had chosen to love him and he had chosen to love her. His parents had chosen to love him, Liz was sure, without reservations and he had chosen to love them with the reservation that he didn't totally trust them - she said because he'd never really needed to trust them - maybe because he'd never been that vulnerable little baby. Chances were she was right. He was - he admitted to himself - scared spitless about breaking the news to his parents about the secret.

Liz had said it would be OK - she'd promised to be there at his side - so he was going to do it. But it wouldn't be easy admitting that he'd lied to them all of his life - that he'd never really been the son to them he could of or should have been. Liz had assured him that it wouldn't matter - that they'd be so happy he was alive and so happy he could now be the kind of son they deserved, that they'd welcome him with open arms. He hoped she was right.

Max looked back to the south .... still no sign of Liz. That was only reasonable really. Guys were constructed better for peeing in the desert than girls were.

'Yeah, but viva la difference,' came the thought floating up from his subconscious - no doubt egged on by his midbrain. It'd been a long time since last his central nervous system had been contented and working for a common cause. It felt kind of good.

He looked once more back toward the south - not really worried yet, although Liz did seem to have bad karma about attracting trouble. On the other hand, there were times she did need a LITTLE privacy his brain told him. He looked ahead - east - and saw the cluster of prickly pear cacti only about 75 yards away. They appeared to be full of succulent fruit - which they needed because their gourd canteens had gone dry two hours previously. While Liz was doing her thing he could harvest some and get them ready. It was almost time for dinner anyway.

Within a few minutes Max had worked his way around the little cluster of cacti, using his powers to burn off the needles and picking the prickly pear fruit away from the older leaves while scorching the more tender young leaves of the cactus for nopalitos. The diet was getting tiresome, but the road they had seen couldn't be more than another days march away. This would likely be their last dinner in the malpais.

Max was halfway around the patch of cacti - looking back toward the west - when he realized that Liz STILL hadn't shown up. He decided as soon as he picked off the last of the prickly pears that he'd burned he'd go looking for her - even if it might interrupt her 'powdering her nose.' This was still a pretty rough place and - what the hell - they were engaged. If he saw something he shouldn't he'd just apologize and back off. It wasn't like she wouldn't still love him, he thought happily.

As he stretched up on tip-toe to reach the last - the highest - prickly pear he heard the THWWWPTT!, even before he felt the quick stab as the object hit him in the lower back. He reached back and pulled it away, turning to look at it. It was a dart with a hypodermic needle - a small drop of amber liquid still dripping from the point. Someone had shot him with a tranquilizer dart.

Normal circulation time - the time for the blood in the body to make a complete circuit - is about thirty seconds. The drug was already in the veins of his his back and in less than fifteen seconds would be pumped through his heart and up to his brain. He looked to the east - his hand raised ready to powerblast - struggling to see where the dart had come from, but if someone was there they were well hidden. Max was unsure what to do for two seconds - then old habits kicked in. Whatever else, he had to protect Liz.

If he collapsed here, Liz would be shot too when she came back. If he could draw his attacker to the north - away from Liz - she might see the attacker and escape before she came within range. It wasn't the best plan - but in twelve seconds he wouldn't have any plan at all. He took off running to the north as fast as he could.

Jim had barely slept last night and the effort to find and haul his gear to set up what was – in effect – a hunting blind had been considerable. But for the blind to work he was forced to stay inside and just quietly observe from under the camouflaged tarp. As the sun continued to rise so did the temperature – especially under the closed up tarp. It got warm – at least warm for the Tularosa Basin in the winter time, and with the full force of the sunlight on the tarp it got even warmer underneath. Not uncomfortably hot, of course, in fact laying on the mummy bag and dressed in his clothes it was actually quite comfortable. The powerbar he ate for lunch and the warmth of his hideaway and his fatigue from his poor night's sleep ultimately proved more than a match for the three caffeine-laced energy drinks he'd consumed. After two and a half hours of deadly boredom he'd fallen asleep. Even so, it hadn't been a particularly pleasant or restful sleep – too many dreams of creatures with shifting shapes and glowing hands that would reach out and kill.

Eventually though, as the sun sank toward the western mountains the shadows of the surrounding vegetation cooled off the hunting blind and the nap he'd taken – despite the nightmares - had somewhat restored him. That's when he woke up.

'Son of a bitch..., he thought as he realized where he was, 'I must have fallen asleep. Good thing I woke up,' he told himself as he quickly lifted the edge of the tarp to peer outside.
It was immediately obvious that he'd awakened not an instant too soon.

The creature seventy-five feet from him had its back to him and from that perspective seemed almost human. That it wasn't was pretty plain though. Humans didn't send some glow out of their hands that appeared to burn the needles right off the cactus – then pick the fruit and leaves. In fact he couldn't see
the creature all that well since it did have its back to him and the setting sun was almost directly behind it, but it made little difference once he knew what it was. He'd no doubt get a better look at it after he had captured it. First priority, however, was to make sure it was safe to take the shot.

Jim took his small pair of binoculars and quickly scanned the area for evidence of the other creature. He could see no sign of it. He slowly – carefully picked up the tranquilizer gun and looked through the telescopic sights. He really had no need of the telescopic sights – the thing was easily within range – but the fact that the gun had them was in a way serendipitous. When he looked through the telescopic sights he couldn't see the sun behind the beast – the whole field of view only encompassed what on a human being would have been the distance between his shoulder blades, and that was just where Jim Valenti aimed. He fired just as the creature reached up on its tip-toes to pick a fruit high on the plant which forced the dart low – striking the creature in the lower back about three inches to right of the spine, but it was a solid and effective hit. That much, Jim Valenti thought, had gone well. It was the last part of his plan that worked as designed, however.

The creature reached back and pulled the dart out and looked at it – then quickly turned to face him. Even backlit by the sun he could tell it was looking for the source of the dart and Jim tried to stay quiet and calm as he was working furiously to reload the rifle. He'd laid the second dart out, so it took only a second. He'd just gotten the rifle back on target when the creature took off to the north – his second dart missing behind the creature as its sudden departure caught him by surprise.

'Dammitt!! he thought, knowing instantly what the shapeshifter was trying. It was going for the protection of its fellow shapeshifter. The only real chance he'd ever had, Jim knew, was to take them one at a time. Now he had two choices – the first was to try to retreat to the safety of his vehicle and try to drive away. Of course, that was no guarantee the creature or its fellow wouldn't come after him. In this terrain he'd take at least two hours to get back to the truck and it'd be dark by the time he did get there. The things could obviously move faster on the lava then he could. The second option was to go after this shapeshifter in hopes that he could overtake it. The tranquilizer gun worked on black bears in less than thirty seconds. If he could chase it down – get a second shot into it he could take it out of the equation and go looking for the other one. He only considered a few seconds before electing option two. Jim stood up and slung the shotgun over his shoulder, loaded the trank gun with another dart, and started running in the direction the creature had departed.


Moving fast had given Max a chance to get away before the drug had time to make it to his brain and he hadn't missed hearing the second shot just as he'd left. Fortunately it missed. Max concentrated on moving as fast as he could to lure his assailant as far away from Liz as possible, but activity was a two edged sword. The physical exertion also increased his heart rate and circulation – decreasing the circulation time. That meant the drug started getting to his brain quicker – in less than twelve seconds. Generally with an intramuscular injection it takes time for the drug to work its way out of the muscle delaying the onset of action of the medication, but running gave the strap muscles of the lower back quite a workout which also caused large volumes of blood to go through them, bringing the blood drug up to peak levels quicker.

Before Max had gotten fifty yards he was already feeling the effects of the tranquilizer – feeling his limbs start to feel heavy, his vision start to blur, and his brain start to dull. The drive in him to protect Liz was strong though, and as soon as he heard the boots pounding on the lava behind him he knew his plan was working – if only he could keep it up long enough to lure the guy away from Liz....

'You are too friggin old to be in a footrace a mile above sea level...,' Jim Valenti told himself, even though he could see he was catching up to the creature as it seemed to become more and more uncoordinated and stumble over the lava field. He kept one eye on the creature ahead and another on the lava field to the north – ready to break off and run should he see the second creature before he'd immobilized the first one, but there was no sign of it. As he watched the creature seemed to trip and fall, but quickly pulled itself up and continued to run – although at a greatly reduced speed. He'd overtake it in a few minutes and he could see no evidence yet of the second creature the wounded one was running toward.


Max's limbs were like overcooked spaghetti and his balance was gone and the world was so blurry he could hardly see. He fell once – then again – then stumbled on as long as he could until he'd finally gone down again hard, panting from exhaustion and fatigued from the run and the effects of the drug. Here, he knew, he'd have to make whatever fight he could. If he could just injure this person badly enough perhaps they'd do whatever they intended with him and go off to lick their wounds – then Liz would be safe.


When the creature stumbled and fell hard, Jim knew he had it. He looked north once more – making sure the other shapeshifter wasn't coming to this one's aid. Then hurried to where it had fallen. He put down the tranquilizer gun and took out his handcuffs as it lay face down. Then he unstrapped the shotgun and pointed it at the creature's back. According to his father the creatures had spoken English well enough to understand commands.

“Stay flat on your stomach and put your hands behind you,” he ordered, pointing the shotgun at the fallen creature. “I've got a 12 gauge shotgun on you and if you make any sudden moves I'll blow you in two.”

Max heard something – distorted by the drugs and pretty much obscured by the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears – but he had no idea what the noise was. What he did know was that the one who'd ambushed him was near and was still a threat to Liz. He was barely remaining conscious but even so he was determined to try to neutralize this threat to Liz. He rolled over on his back to face it....

As the creature suddenly whirled to face him, Jim Valenti almost fired the shotgun – he should have fired the shotgun he knew – but seeing the creature's face momentarily shocked him. It was the face of Max Evans.

'Except it isn't Max,' his mind told him. Max and Liz were sucked out of a damaged airplane and fell four miles to the ground. Max couldn't have survived that – nor could Max have roasted the needles off cactus by waving a hand at them. That is a shapeshifter... How it had gotten Max's appearance he wasn't sure. Probably it had come across Max's body in the malpais. Hell, it might have eaten Max's corpse and somehow incorporated his appearance into itself. These things had successfully imitated two of the Special Unit guys according to his father. No, this was a shapeshifter alright.

Even so, the hesitation gave Jim Valenti time for a second look. The creature was barely conscious – fighting even to keep its eyes open. He doubted that it had even heard the warning. He looked quickly to the north to make sure its partner wasn't close and gave it another warning.

“Turn on your stomach and put your hands behind your back or I'm going to shoot you. This is your last warning.”

Max heard the noise again but still couldn't understand – the figure before him little more than an amorphous blob in his vision. Even so, he could feel the threat in the noise and see the weapon in the figure's arms. He raised his hand for a powerblast – but the drug had sapped his strength. It barely worked at all.

Jim Valenti thought that he'd been more than fair, but when the creature reached out his hand he drew back – that was the way his father had told him these things preferred to kill – a hand to your chest - it was obvious the thing wasn't going to give up easily. But when the hand glowed and he felt the warmth and realized that the thing had tried to cook him like he had those damn cacti – this thing that had probably eaten Max's body – it was too much.

“Say goodby, space creature....,” Jim said as he slowly raised the shotgun and pointed it at the center of mass of the thing that was trying to look like Max Evans. As he took up the slack in the trigger and started to gradually squeeze, his own heartbeat and labored breathing were loud in his ears – loud enough that he didn't hear the light footsteps coming from the south.
He didn't hear the 'thunk' as the cholla cactus walking stick hit the back of his skull either. By the time his auditory nerve got the sounds to his brain he was already knocked out.

“Max – wake up!”

“Unhh?”

Max had passed out only seconds after Liz had thwacked Valenti on the back of the head and sent him into la-la land and she'd been afraid that her new fiance' had been seriously injured. She was reassured when she saw the tranquilizer gun and found the only wound on him was a small puncture in the back. She wasn't terribly reassured however – remembering the problems he'd had with only trace amounts of alcohol back at the dorm. She wanted him to wake up. Fortunately, he seemed to be coming around.

“Here, Max. Drink this,” she said – propping his head up and putting the can of energy drink to his lips.

She'd found the stuff back where Deputy Valenti had ambushed him and according to the label it contained taurine, glucuronolactone, caffeine, B vitamins, sucrose, and glucose. While it had been the happiest day of her life – and since Max seemed to be coming to it was now looking likely to continue to be that – neither of them had eaten a calorie since morning and not many then.

Max had been upset before she had even been awake and the way he'd been acting had upset her so neither had eaten much breakfast. Before noon she'd done nothing but worry about him – ultimately causing her to implement her plan to force Max to connect with her and pick his brain to find out what was wrong with him.

Of course, once he'd put the ring on her finger she'd thought of little else but the ring and Max – certainly not food. She just wanted to talk with him and hold his hand and think about their future together – all of which she'd done until only the hydraulic pressure of a massively filled bladder has forced her away from him. That's why neither had eaten much all day.

She'd gotten almost to within shouting distance when she'd seen him pull that dart out of his back and take off away from her . She'd hesitated only briefly. Once she'd seen the guy carrying a rifle and a shotgun in hot pursuit she had followed as quickly as she could – trying to keep cover between her and the pursuer. When the guy had threatened Max with the shotgun she'd made a dash from her cover and used the walking stick as a shillelagh. It wasn't until she'd already handcuffed the guy that she knew it was Deputy Valenti.

“That's better,” she said as he took a couple of small swallows of the drink. The diminutive can had 110 calories – and enough caffeine to wake the dead. Max was breathing alright – she was sure if she could get some calories in him and the caffeine, he'd start to wake up. Of course, he wasn't the only one starting to wake up.

No law enforcement officer likes to be cuffed with his own handcuffs although at one time or another most of them are. Cuffing the rookie with his own cuffs as a joke is actually fairly common form of hazing by veterans when they have a new guy in the locker room. But having your own handcuffs – or your own gun – used against you is an occupational hazard for anyone in law enforcement. You take what precautions you can but the threat is always there.

As he awoke Jim Valenti found that he was not only handcuffed, but handcuffed and laying on his right side – facing in to the setting sun. Not only that, he had a throbbing headache. As he tried to open his eyes the sunlight made the throbbing worse, but he got the picture of what was going on.

Obviously the second shapeshifter had blindsided him and he could see it now – trying to assist it's drugged fellow. Both his shotgun and the tranquilizer rifle lay beyond the first shapeshifter – well out of Jim's reach but within easy reach for both of them. Jim was less surprised by the appearance of the second creature than he had been of the first. In fact, considering how totally bizarre the situation was, it almost seemed logical.

The first had copied Max's Body, the second Liz's. These creatures were sort of like super chameleons – they escaped by blending in. Both were obviously copying the last human bodies they had seen. In fact now that this area was receiving so much attention from the crash, it wouldn't be surprising if the damn things eventually decided to drive off in the Yukon – one of them looking like Jim Valenti.

'Well not if I have anything to do with it, you aren't,' Valenti thought. While the second creature was occupied helping the first, he took inventory of his situation and found cause for hope.

The bad news was that the creature had immobilized him. Not just with the handcuffs, but at the ankles as well. He recognized the webbing that was wrapped around his ankles – it was from the bottom of the sleeping bag he'd been using – designed for the purpose of tying the bag into a roll. The straps had been knotted together and tied around his boots. Once he had his hands free he could probably untie his ankles in only five or ten seconds. The good thing – the very good thing – was that he could feel his backup pistol underneath him – still in its pancake holder in his waistband and concealed by his jacket. He held his breath as he slowly slid his handcuffed hands along the top of his belt praying that what he wanted was still there and ....it was.

Like most law enforcement officer Jim kept an extra handcuff key on his person – in addition to the one on his keychain. It was intended for situations somewhat like this one. He was wearing a black leather belt and on the inside of it – taped there with a piece of black electricians tape – was Jim's spare key. He moved slowly – careful to not attract attention – as his fingernails scraped the tape from under the belt and he retrieved the precious key. Slowly – very slowly – he fitted it in the lock on the right cuff. As he turned it he felt the mechanism open and his right wrist come free. That was really all he needed so he lay still waiting his chance. He slowly moved his right arm down along the groung behind him – getting it as close as he could to the automatic pistol at his waist. All he had to do now was make a quick roll onto his back while simultaneously grabbing his gun and starting to fire. The first trigger squeeze would be the most difficult because he'd have to pull back the hammer of the pistol with that one – but the other eight rounds would be quick – as fast as he could squeeze the trigger.

Jim fought to calm himself – visualize everything he'd have to do so he could make this one smooth fast motion. He had no real idea if putting nine rounds in the back of the second creature would even stop it but he had to do it before the second creature was recovered if he was going to have any real chance at all. He willed the headache to please ease up for just a few seconds... 'OK, on three,' he thought..... One....Two....

Suddenly the creature moved and Jim froze – waiting for it to give him a better shot. Except now when he looked at it - it was looking straight at him.

“Are you waking up yet, Deputy Valenti?” the creature asked – with a voice that sounded like Liz Parker.

'Are you waking up yet, Deputy Valenti? - How could the creature have known his name?' thought Jim.

Before any semblance of an answer had come to him, the situation got even more muddled. Another voice was heard from.

“Deputy Valenti?” asked the first creature in a drugged-out drawl that otherwise sounded like Max Evans' voice, “...you mean Kyle's dad is here?”

'OK maybe the second creature – the one that's imitating Liz Parker got my name off my gear – it's stenciled all over it – but how could the one that looks like Max Evans know about Kyle? Did one of them pick my wallet and find his picture – or the next of kin card in there? But that one was hit by the trank dart – it's just waking up' Jim looked at the sun that was setting – he couldn't have been out more than fifteen minutes. No way had the first one had time to recover and rifle through his stuff.

'Is it possible that when they consumed their brains they somehow consumed their memories?' he asked himself.

The thought was both alarming and disgusting. The problem was that he just didn't know. The one that looked like Max had to be a shapeshifter – he'd seen it singe the cacti. Hell, his face was still tender from when the creature had tried to do it to him. Max couldn't have done that – no human could. But the creature certainly had, ergo, it could not be a human and ergo it couldn't be Max, however much it might sound like him. Jim positioned his right hand carefully on the ground behind him as close to the pistol as he could get – waiting for his chance to roll far enough to draw it as soon as the creature imitating Liz Parker was distracted and it did look back at the other one - too briefly though for Jim to make his move as it responded to its fellow.

“Yes, Max, … that was Kyle's dad that was chasing you.”

“But....Omigawd, Liz, I tried to powerblast him,” the creature said in the same quasi-intoxicated voice.

“Yeah, well I wouldn't feel too bad, Max, cause that was him that shot you in the back. He was about to shoot you in the head with a shotgun when you were laying their drugged and helpless, too ...so I hit him over the head with my walking stick,” said the second creature looking at Jim like a very irritated Liz Parker.

If Jim hadn't seen the first creature using powers he would have been totally confused. But he had – that was the one certainty in this whole situation. Exactly how these creatures had gotten their information he didn't know – but one or both of them being shapeshifters was the only thing that made any sense at all. Max Evans was human – and dead. Liz Parker was dead as well. These things were only toying with him and that – along with his throbbing headache – was pissing him off.

“Look – it isn't going to work,” said Jim Valenti to the second shapeshifter – the one that was on its feet. “I know that Max Evans and Liz Parker are dead – and that you two are both shapeshifters.”

The creature that looked like Liz Parker just stared at him without speaking. The other creature took the statement in briefly, then replied.

“I guess you hit him pretty hard, huh Liz?”

“Not as hard as I would have hit him if he'd actually shot you with that shotgun,” said the second creature, still glaring at him with her Liz Parker face.

“Like I said, I know what you are,” insisted Valenti, looking at Liz. “I saw that first one using his hands to burn needles off of the cactus back there. I know he's an alien shapeshifter – and I know that the real Liz Parker and Max Evans are dead.”

“Yeah, well rumors of our deaths apparently are a little premature – no thanks to you. We fell out of the airplane and … well, I admit Max is part alien – 'not entirely human,' we call it. But that's nothing new – he's been that way all his life. He just didn't trust anyone quite enough to tell them before. Anyway he was able to stop our fall. Since then we've been heading east – trying to get to the road to get back to home.”

Jim Valenti was totally confused – the throbbing headache and sun in his eyes not helping the situation. The story they told was insane – of course his father had been called worse for telling people about the shapeshifters. All Jim Valenti knew for sure is that he needed to be in control of the situation and the only way to do that was to get to his pistol. He put figuring out the story the second creature was telling on hold – how they got the information they did on hold – everything on hold. He'd give them no more information – no idea what he was planning – until he was ready to strike.

The Liz-creature looked at Jim Valenti laying there and just shook her head. She/It looked away briefly toward the other one then looked back quickly – too quickly for Jim Valenti to move, then continued to watch him as she/it talked to its fellow over its shoulder.

“Are you feeling any stronger, Max?”

“A little … also things aren't so out of focus. I'm still seeing double though.”

“I'm sorry, Max.”

“S'OK! That just means you are twice as beautiful.”

"Max, you are so sweet.." the Liz creature said, smiling and looking back at the other.

As the Liz-creature smiled and looked back over her shoulder at the Max-creature, Jim Valenti made his move. He rolled backwards away from the creatures and as his body rolled over his right arm it was free to grab the pistol concealed under his jacket. In one smooth motion he flicked it off safety and aligned the sights directly on the center of mass of the Liz-creature.

“Hands down – don't even think of raising them toward me – you are under arrest. If you move so much as an inch, I'll fire.”

Jim watched as the eyes of the Liz-creature widened – but it kept its hands down and didn't move. Not so the second creature. Drugged or not it fought its way to its knees and put it's body in the line of fire – shielding the second creature.

Jim could tell the creature was impaired – still fighting off the effects of the drug. Even so - the expression on the face he knew. He'd seen a young child by the name of Max Evans look just like that at a dog by the name of Lobo that had threatened Liz Parker. The pit bull had backed down and he could now understand why. When you looked into his eyes it was like you could almost read his mind. Nobody was getting to Liz Parker without going through Max Evans and that wasn't going to happen while he had a breath of life in him. That he was too drugged and weak to save her didn't matter – he intended to die trying.

“I sure hope you are Liz and Max,” Valenti said as he put his pistol back in his holster and picked up the key and took off his other handcuff, “...and if you are I'm sorry I shot you with the tranquilizer rifle and damn near shot you with the shotgun. Of course, if you ARE both shapeshifters, I'm going to feel real foolish real quick.”

“I guess I'm sorry I whacked you in the skull, too, Deputy. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time,” said Liz.

“What's a shapeshifter?” asked Max.

It was twenty minutes later and Liz had finished pouring the can of energy drink into Max. He was resting and recovering – while Jim Valenti and Liz were now sorting through the assortment of foods he had brought in his pack and picking up the prickly pear that Max had started to gather to fix dinner. “The prickly pears are actually pretty good, Deputy Valenti, and the nopalitos are OK - but I have to admit it'll be nice to have a little more variety,” she said as she grabbed a military-surplus meal-ready-to-eat (MRE) and started to add it to their other food.

“So what's the REAL story, Liz.”

“The real story is that Max is not totally human. He and his sister and Michael Guerin sort of hatched out of some incubator pods when they were the size of six year olds. Apparently there were four of them originally. Something – maybe one of your father's shapeshifters – apparently came in to the chamber and got whoever was in the other pod and then just wandered off content to let Max and Isabel and Michael die. Since then they've been afraid of everyone – even their own parents don't know about them. That's the story, Deputy.”

“Call me Jim, Liz. So how did Max save you this time?”

“I don't know what happened to the plane – I was asleep – but then there was a big explosion or something and I woke up just in time to find the seat I was on being sucked out a hole in the airplane. Max had been sleeping across the aisle from me – I guess the same thing happened to him. I saw him when we were falling through the air and I just clung to him – expecting to die. The last thousand foot or so the wind got louder but we were actually falling slower. Max used his mind to kind of make a tornado in the air through something called telekinesis. He shaped it into a torus. A torus is sort of like – well ...”

“Like a donut. Any cop knows that...”

Liz smiled. “Well, he decelerated us by having the torus blow up from the bottom. It took everything he had and he passed out. By the time he recovered I was hypothermic and he used his power to warm me – sort of like cooking the cactus I guess, but slower. Anyway, we've been surviving ever since.”

“So you owe your life to Max and he owes his to you then?”

“More than that,” said Liz. “I love him.”

"That" has been obvious to any observant person for a couple of years now. The first problem was always that he didn't get the message."

"Well, if that person were a little more observant they'd get the message now, Deputy Valenti," said Liz .... looking down at her left hand with a smile.

"Oh shit.... Your parents are going to come unglued. His too."

"I was hoping you'd have some ideas about that.... how to break the news that we are alive .... that Max isn't completely human .... that we are engaged.... then of course in order to get our lives back we'll have to think of some lie about how we survived falling out of the airplane when everybody who was aboard it knows we did..."

"Well nobody else did survive it, so THEY aren't going to be saying any different - I can't honestly think that after the initial shock your parents are going to actually be upset that you or Max survived ... Max isn't any more not-entirely-human now than he has been all his life .... so I doubt that'll be an issue with them - but this young love thing, Liz, I assure you it's not all it's cracked up to be. I'm not sure I want any part of helping you with that."

"Not all it's cracked up to be?" asked Liz, raising her eyebrows in disbelief. She looked away and shook her head, Jim couldn't tell if it was in sadness or disbelief, "Tell me Depu - tell me Jim, do you have any idea how much you and Max are alike?"

"Me and Max? I don't see it...."

"Max woke up one day and found out that he's been left behind by someone - apparently the someone who was supposed to take care of him. From that moment on he didn't believe that he was worth loving - or at least was afraid to take the chance. Do you know that you are the talk of the single women in the town? You don't even date. All you have is the job and going to Kyle's athletic games - football, soccer, baseball... Don't you realize that in a few years Kyle will be off to college - or have a girl of his own who will become his most important person. Then what. You're just as alienated in your own way as Max was."

"When did this become about my love life?"

"When you started to make fun of mine. The only thing is, I have one. You don't have a love life.
Don't you even realize that Maria's mom, Amy, has changed her delivery route three different times to be able to be at the Crashdown when you show up for coffee in the morning. She saves a blackberry pie - which is her best seller - for us every day, just so we'll have it for you because she knows its your favorite. I've seen you look at her - I know you like her, but .... nothing. Why won't you even ask her out?
You aren't a bad guy and you are horribly responsible - but like Max....," Liz just shook her head sadly, then continued, "You know I got so mad at Max - I tried to push him into a relationship he wasn't ready for nine months ago and when he wouldn't be pushed I lashed out at him. I hurt him so badly. I was trying to hurt him because he wouldn't love me like I dreamed about him loving me. I did the same thing when school started - I did almost the same thing a week ago up in Boulder. I was a total bitch to him.
The thing was - he always did love me and even though I was terrible to him he kept on loving me - he showed me he loved me in everything he did for me - but Max had a problem – the same sort of problem I think you have. The problem all along was he didn't believe I could love him. You see, Jim, he had to believe he was worthy of being loved before he could find his own happiness. That's been Max's problem.

I think that's been the problem with both of you. I'm sorry about what happened with Kyle's mom, but that was a long time ago – and I know you well enough to know the problem was her – not you. You need to understand that there are women out there – like Amy – who really could love you – and that you do deserve that."

The pain had never really gone away – and now it flared again. He had been crushed when Michelle had rejected him – crushed when she rejected her own son because Kyle was part of the husband she no longer cared for. Deep down inside himself he knew he was afraid – but his ego sure didn't want to admit it - or hear advice about this from a middle school girl....

"I don't need a middle school amateur psychologist analyzing me - and certainly not my - albeit not terribly torrid - love life."

"Well you need someone to do it - otherwise you are headed for where Max was heading - to a very unhappy life. The point is, someone whose own love life is so fouled up has no business criticizing Max and me.

Tell me the truth about why you think our engagement can't work. It can't be that you think Max has just been toying with my affections since before third grade – that he almost died for me – that he killed for me – as part of some elaborate practical joke on Liz Parker. Do you? Or that this has been some elaborate multi-year plan by shy old Max to seduce me – jump my bones – and then dump me?”

Even Valenti had to laugh – part in shock that 'the perfect Miss Parker' would say something like 'jump my bones' – part in tacit admission that if any young man had ever proved his commitment to a girl, Max had indeed done that.

“No,” he said, “...I guess not.”

“So that leaves me then. You think that I'm too young to really be committed to Max – that my love for him is superficial – that when the going gets rough I'll leave him, like your wife left you.”

“I didn't say that,” said Jim Valenti, which was entirely different from saying he hadn't thought it.

“I think you underestimate the commitment I'm capable of, said Liz. "I almost killed for Max today. I saw someone shoot him when he was doing absolutely nothing wrong – just picking food for us – and then pursue him – and when Max tried to defend himself the person was ready to kill him. I heard the guy who did this tell him, 'Say goodby, space creature,' and start to squeeze the trigger. I hit him as hard as I could. I intended to kill him- to just keep hitting him again and again until he stopped breathing – until I saw the 'him' was you and then because I knew you – knew there had to be some sort of a mistake – I decided to give you a second chance.”

“That was a mistake – saying that Liz. I didn't actually think it was Max.”

“So I'm capable of making a reasonable judgment – that despite you having every appearance of being a homicidal xenophobe, it was all just a misunderstanding, despite the fact that I'm intelligent and mature enough to make allowances for YOUR mistake, you doubt my judgement – or is it my commitment to Max. Do you think I'm incapable of making a lifetime commitment?”

“It's not that I believe you are incapable of commitment,” Jim lied. Liz had gotten the story right. He remembered all too well his own tormented high school and middle school years – what the taunts about his father and his father's belief in the shapeshifters had done to his own self-esteem – but worse was Michelle's desertion of him and Kyle - Michelle had hurt him so bad that he actually couldn't bring himself to believe that any woman could really feel that sort of commitment for any man – that too was what had kept him from asking Amy DeLuca out. He really couldn't bring himself to open himself up to that much pain again. Of course he couldn't admit that to Liz Parker. “....it's that I simply think you are too immature to make that sort of commitment now. You simply don't have the experience like someone older...”

“You are older – you must be getting pretty close to forty – you don't have much more experience than I do and a hell of a lot less recent experience. You've been in a holding pattern for a dozen years now. Fat lot of good your 'experience' has done you.”

“I'm just saying,” Liz, “...that I think you are naive – like today when you handcuffed me. You lacked the experience to actually restrain me properly. I got loose and we came real close to a tragedy. You wouldn't believe how very close I came to shooting Max AND you. If Max hadn't looked at me with that same look he had back on that first day I met him....”

“Max wasn't in any real danger, Deputy Valenti,” said a sober-faced Liz Parker. “You were getting a second chance … but I still love Max. I hoped there'd been some mistake and that you would come to your senses when you woke up, but if you had tried to shoot him, I would have picked up the shotgun and killed you with it. I think I'm more committed to Max than you apparently think.”

“All that does, Liz, is show your naivete'.” Jim Valenti pulled out his pistol and held it skyward opening his palm to show it to her. “this pistol holds nine rounds – one in the chamber and eight in the magazine. If I had shot today, I'd have gotten both you and him – before you'd have ever had a chance to pick up that shotgun.”

Liz shook her head. “I'm not as naïve as you think, Sheriff, and I AM committed to Max. If you had TRIED to shoot him with your pistol, you would have died.” She picked something out of her pocket – a knotted handkerchief that he recognized as his own – and threw it to him.

As he caught the handerchief, the weight of the contents surprised him momentarily – then it came to him. Nine millimeter +P cartridges 100 grain Pow'RBall loads – nine rounds, one from the chamber and eight from the magazine. He was holding an unloaded gun.... 'Liz was right,' he thought. 'With your feet tied – by the time you knew you didn't have any ammo you couldn't have stopped her from getting – and using – that shotgun.'

Jim Valenti looked at the girl … no, Jim Valenti looked at the young woman …. with new respect. Somehow – maybe during the time she was falling to Earth – Liz Parker had grown up. And Liz Parker - the woman – had chosen Max Evans and she was committed to him – a commitment that he somehow knew would last a lifetime.

Jim held the handkerchief and just looked at it for a few seconds, then looked up with a smile. “Well Liz, if you are THAT committed, I think I have an idea about how we can cover all this up. It won't be without some cost – particularly to you – but it's a cost that I think a young woman will probably be willing to pay for the young man she loves. Let me tell you and Max about it after dinner and then tell me what you think of it. Hell, maybe you can suggest some improvements.”

“You have a deal, Jim,” she said, shaking his hand, '...but now that I gave you a second chance, don't you think you ought to give yourself one? Not everyone is like your ex-wife. Most of us think you are a pretty good guy..."

“Uh, Liz …. does Amy really like me – or were you just saying that? Because I'm the one that handcuffed her and locked her up for that sit-in she organized in the county council's chambers when they approved the zoning to let the big-box store build in that area where she thought she saw a Mexican spotted owl?
I mean – handcuffing a girl and dragging her off to jail strikes me as an odd way to make a favorable impression on a gal.”

“Oh, she likes you alright. In fact, according to Maria, her mom blushes when she talks about you 'manhandling' her that day – but she has a big dopey grim whenever she speaks about you. Best sit-in she was ever in, her mom says, and she's been in quite a few. Ria thinks she fantasizes about you a lot - you and those handcuffs - but you didn't hear that from me, you understand....”

It was two hours later and Jim Valenti was watching in astonishment as Max used his powers to carved out another cave for Liz and himself to spend the night. The sight of Max just sort of willing the rock to cleave into pebbles and then willing the pebbles to fly from the excavation was like extraterrestrial magic.
In a way just watching Max was a validation of Jim's own childhood, that all the taunts of his own classmates - and that Michelle's opinion when she'd left him - had been wrong. That alone made today a milestone in the life of Jim Valenti.

Max wasn't a shapeshifter - but he pretty well proved that shapeshifters had existed - and probably still did. Of course, exactly why they had departed and left Max, Isabel, and Michael to die in the wilderness - that was still a question.

The three had had a pretty good dinner - the rest of the food that Jim had brought from the vehicle and the nopalitos Max had made - which Jim thought were actually pretty good - and the prickly pears which had been sensational.

Max, fed and rested, was now back up to his full strength and the effects of the drug - and the drug itself - were completely out of his system. Liz had come up with the idea.

Once he'd started to recover she asked if he could use his powers of molecular manipulation to fist detect the drug molecules in his body and then to analyze what his own liver was doing to get rid of it. He'd done that and then just used his own powers of molecular manipulation on the drugs to detoxify them. Most drugs that cross the blood-brain barrier are nonpolar - that is they tend to be fat-soluble or lipophilic. To get them out of the body the enzymes in the liver usually break some of the internal bonds to make the molecule water soluble - or just hook highly water soluble molecules onto the drug and force the kidneys to pee them out. Once he understood how to detoxify the drug he started doing it and even in his weakened state it didn't take long. The more he did the faster it went - sort of like compound interest.

Jim had offered to give them the sleeping bags - he was certainly better dressed than they were for staying up - but they smiled and said that spending the night in the small human-made - well, Max-made - cave was really no bother at all - that they had become used to it.

Jim figured there was probably a little more to it than that but - what the hell, anyway. They were all three of them probably lucky to be alive after that goat rope today and besides, Max and Liz were good kids - and engaged, at least until their parents heard about it. If they needed a little snuggling time, it certainly wasn't Jim's concern. They'd stayed alive in this God-forsaken place longer than he would have. Liz was right - they did better as a pair than either did as individuals.

As he sealed himself into the sleeping bag, he thought of Amy DeLuca. 'What the hell,'[/i} the voice in his head told him, '...take a chance...' The voice sounded a whole lot like Max Evans and Liz Parker who'd both said those very words to him about ten minutes ago.

In the small cavern it was already different from the night before. There was no deception - no waiting until sleep had overtaken the one before the other cuddled against them. Liz spooned back against Max immediately - turning her head for a quick kiss and a "G'night Max..."

"Goodnight, Liz," he said as he put his arm around her waist - then pulled her in tighter against him – knowing how lucky he was to be the one Liz had chosen to love. Liz snuggled closer still, making some sort of an involuntary cooing noise.

'A guy could get real used to this...,' thought Max, as the fatigue of an extraordinarily eventful day pulled him slowly into unconsciousness.

She was - of course - waiting for him in the dream-orb. Max had talked to her about Issy's dream-walking and they'd finally figured out that they had actually both been in the same dream together - that they'd been like that all these nights in the malpais.

Tonight they had expected to meet on that beach again – and they had -but even so it was a little strange. Their walks on this beach before had been spontaneous - something they had both actively participated in. They remembered decisions that altered those dreams and – in tonight's dream – could do the same.

The dreams of the last two nights; the camping trip with her parents and the dream of an older Max and Liz - long married and comfortable with each other - renewing their physical relationship after the birth of their first child had been different. In each they had participated mainly as unseen observers - there had been nothing about those dreams that they could alter. It was almost as if Liz wasn't dreaming those - just playing a recording of some future event - a precognition. That was crazy, of course, and although they talked about it this night in the dream-orb, neither really quite believed that could happen - but both also agreed it that the second dream was as beautiful to both of them as the dream of the Jeff to future son-in-law talk had been embarrassing to Max. Tonight's dream, however, they obviously were in control of.

At first they mostly walked and talked along the beach – reminiscing about the most memorable day in the lives of either of them. There was tonight an awful lot of touching. Mainly it was holding hands while they walked to begin with. But whenever they sat – or sprawled out on their beach towels – somehow his arm was always brushing hers or hers his – or somehow a leg would just happen to lie against the leg of the other. It was not foreplay - and certainly not play. Even in their dreams they were not yet ready for that step – but it was a step nonetheless. It was an affirmation by both of them of their new status. Their joining was not yet total, but even so they would never again really be separate. If they still had not yet progressed to total physical intimacy they had at least started. The touching was an unspoken message that he was hers and she was his and that – when the proper time came – a deeper physical intimacy would certainly not be unwelcome. For tonight though – even in the dream-orb, it was a night for talking about hopes and dreams and for a closeness of the spirit that was in its own way deeper and richer than than anything either had ever known. Oh, there were soft caresses and breathless kisses as well.

The bonds that had been forming since third grade had somehow been annealed by the fire of what they had gone through in the malpais and emerged not only stronger – but strong enough to see them through whatever was ahead. Oh, Max and Liz were still worried – about whether or not their parents were going to think they were too young and try to force them to do something that neither of them would do – put their love on hold. They worried that even if their parents were reasonable, Jim Valenti's plan would somehow fail to work. There were many uncertainties in the future to worry about and they talked about quite a number of them. But they no longer worried about each other. They were no longer just individuals, the ring indeed did signify that. Instead they were part of each other - which made tonight the best night of their young lives.

It was about seven AM when Liz finally awoke – the light just starting to illuminate the small cave. She could feel the warmth of Max's chest against her back – hear his soft regular breathing behind her as he slept - and then there were his hands.

Somehow during the night both of his hands had managed to wrap themselves around her waist and then find the opening between her blouse and her Levis. His right hand had headed north – to cup the bottom of her sportsbra – the other hand had headed south – to stop a hand'sbreadth below the waistband of her underwear. It was - all in all - certainly not an unpleasant state of affairs. Nonetheless this, she realized, presented a problem. It was almost certainly going to embarrass Max - except Liz wasn't going to let that happen.

Max hadn't consciously intended to do this – she was sure. He had talked about taking the physical stuff slowly – no doubt due to that dream about her father - and she by and large agreed. Max had been right when he turned down her offer and counter-offered with the ring. They both had some growing up to do and they both knew that, But she wasn't going to let Max be embarrassed by this – or perhaps feel rejected either. He'd been hurt too badly – both when she'd rejected his friendship by throwing away the pendant and when she'd rejected him as a lab partner. 'Rejecting Max is something I will never do again,' she said to herself as she slowly pulled his right hand ever so gently away from her bra.

Which is why when Max awoke five minutes later his eyes went wide with shock. Somehow during the night his left hand had gotten halfway in to Liz's pants and his right hand had actually gotten under her bra – to cup her breast softly. He tried to move his right hand slowly without awakening Liz – to extricate it from the bra - but before he could take it away he heard Liz's voice;

“Mmmm, Max....that's so nice,” she said as she stretched – arching her body backward into his - as her hands closed on top of his to press them more firmly against her. “...but you know, Max, .... Jim Valenti is only about fifteen feet away. Maybe we've shocked the poor man enough for the time being. Would it be OK if we put this...” she said, her hands caressing his, “... off until sometime and place just a little more private?”

“Uh, sure, Liz,” he said. What else could he say, under the circumstances?

She held onto his hands for a few seconds longer and -certain that he realized the point that she'd been trying to make – released them. Max's hands seemed to be shaking but even so – they lingered for a few seconds and she turned and smiled at him before giving him a kiss and saying, “As much as I love cuddling with you – we probably need to break camp and help Jim get the gear to the truck.”

Max nodded. They had a two hour hike to the Yukon, and then almost three hours to get to Albuquerque. Getting back to Roswell would be even longer – and that didn't count stops for food and gas. Realistically, it'd be after dark before they saw their parents tonight.

But the message had been far more than that it was time to get up – Max was starting to get very good at picking up the social message – at least when Liz was sending the signals.

Liz had sent him a message this morning and that message was simple. She was his and he was hers. She would never do anything to hurt him or to even hint to him that he might not be accepted by her. She was his partner, his friend, and his soulmate – now and forever - and intended to be his lover and the mother of his children.

Max had been worried about embarrassing himself and embarrassing Liz – she had told him that would never happen. He had been worried about facing their parents and worried about pulling off Jim Valenti's plan. Liz had just told him that none of that really mattered - that no matter what happened, he'd always have her. They were now one - the rest, to Liz, were just details that they would work out. The big decision had already been made.

Max knew to the very depths of his soul that with Liz at his side, he could face anything. He was, he knew, one very fortunate almost-human.

Most people are unaware of just how dirty a job law enforcement and detention are.
Even before the days of concerns about Bloodborne Pathogens, law enforcement and corrections personnel had a job with serious sanitation concerns.
It's not the glamorous part of law enforcement - dealing with drunks who barf in the back seat of your patrol car - or worse yet on you. Responding to fights where people are beat up - cut - shot - bleeding. Or the motor vehicle accidents - 35,000 a year in New Mexico, with 5000 serious injuries and 500 fatalities. You can get real messy very fast responding to an accident. Then there are the run-of-the mill derelicts who get themselves in trouble - each one accompanied by their own odd assortment of smells and oftentimes tiny livestock as well.

Of course once these people are incarcerated - even if it only for an overnighter in the drunk tank - the corrections people have to deal with them. They too get barfed upon and are exposed to bodily fluids of one sort or another. That's why each location has a locker room with a shower area.


For many years the county sheriff's office and the county jail had been co-located and the locker and shower room had been shared by both - but changing standards and court rulings had lead to the building of a new jail facility - almost two blocks away - and by the early 1960s the old jail had been converted - the non secure areas to administrative spaces and a small gymnasium - the old cells to secure storage for evidence - a secure armory for the SWAT teams gear - and some of the sturdiest conference rooms and detective offices in the state of New Mexico.

The locker and shower room too had undergone somewhat of a transformation over the years. By the early 1970s about a third of it had been walled off in response to the force accepting female officers. Where once there were over a dozen showers lined up in a somewhat stoic and functional common shower area, the new wall cut off what had been four shower nozzles and replaced them with three fiberglass shower stalls - continuing on to carve out a smaller locker room for the distaff personnel amongst the sheriff deputies - currently about a fifth of the total force. This locker room was quite nice - by locker room standards - including a dressing area with wall-mounted hair dryers. Of course, these hair dryers were used - when they were used at all - by officers who tended to wear their hair quite short, and even these ladies generally preferred to use their own hair dryers - safely stored in their lockers. They weren't really designed for long - almost waist length - hair like that of Liz Parker. That, no doubt, was why she was having so much trouble.

Everything takes longer than you think it will. Liz and Max and Jim Valenti had made - it appeared - a successful trip to Albuquerque. It had taken them longer than they thought it would - the difficulty being actually catching the person they needed alone. Once that had happened, a flash of Valenti's badge had sufficed to bring the person to the privacy of the Yukon with Max and Liz in it - and the rest had been relatively easy. Even so, it was 9PM by the time they'd finally made it back to the Roswell Sheriff's office. That made it two hours after shift-change, a time when the locker room - in all probability - would be empty for hours. It had been too good an opportunity for two teenagers who'd gone most of a week without a shower to pass up.

Jim Valenti had found them a couple of appropriately sized new sweatsuits stenciled 'Rangers' - the name of a youth basketball team the sheriff's department sponsored - and given them a couple of plastic evidence bags to put their own clothes in - they'd be needing those later - and sent each of them off to the locker rooms.

When Liz had first gotten in the warms shower it had been like heaven - quickly scrubbing off a near-week's accumulation of grime. The hair had been more of a challenge. She'd found a bottle of shampoo/conditioner and commenced to lather - using a fingernail brush to try to get the worst of the snarls from her locks before rinsing repeatedly. Then came the dryer - or at least what passed for a dryer. It might - she thought to herself - be adequate for a person with a very short hairdo - about like Jim or Max - if they had a half hour or so to spare, but not her.

She looked at the wall clock. Even now Jim Valenti was probably putting the last of his gear away. He had already made sure the building was clear of people - excepting the desk sergeant and the 911 operator - and had gotten the back conference room ready. He would be calling their parents in less than a half hour. There was no way in hell she was going to get her hair dry in the minutes she had to do it in. It was time to resign herself to the inevitable. She took a couple of bath towels from the ample supply stacked in the corner and rubbed her hair briskly with them - probably tangling them more than they had been tangled to begin with. She looked in the mirror and grimaced. It gave her kind of a Farrah Fawcett after being attacked by a kitchen mixer sort of look and a wet one at that.... but it would have to do....


The men's locker room was still a good deal more - well, industrial would be a kind way of putting it - than the women's locker room. It had, in fact, ten showers lined up in a row - much like the middle school gym, with little privacy, not that privacy was an issue between shift changes.

Max had been under the shower for nearly a half hour - dreading the coming meeting with his parents - especially his mother. Max was leaning against the wall - the showerhead spraying over his head and back and thinking of just how much he'd failed his mom and for how long he'd been failing her. Liz had said - and he trusted Liz - that everything would be alright and he hoped she was right. Liz was certainly a better reader of human nature and social stuff than he was - but even so, as the moment approached when his parents would know just what he was - he was held paralyzed with anxiety.

For most of his life - all but the day or two he and Izzy had been in Child Services custody - he knew Diane Evans been reaching out to him - struggling to get him to really accept her as his mother. For four months and eighteen days he had failed to do that - until that scary thunderstorm had forced him and Isabel to go running in to their parent's room for comfort.

But even after that, he'd failed to really accept her - failed not because there was anything wrong with Diane Evans, but because he could never really believe that if she knew what he was she'd still want him to be her son. Of course she'd showed him in a thousand ways that she loved him - done everything she could to let him know. But he'd always held her at arm's length somehow - not willing to commit emotionally to be her son because he'd been so sure that she would reject the real him.

What was worse - his mom knew. No, not about his secret - that particular bit of information would come as a surprise to her. She knew that - unlike Isabel - he'd never really felt like he belonged. And what made him feel like crap was that he knew she knew. She deserved so much better... he thought to himself - for about the thirty-seventh time since getting in the shower.....

He'd talked about that on the way back from Albuquerque - sitting in the back of the Yukon behind the tinted windows with Liz. Liz had told him - in the most supportive possible way - that he'd been a dope - that his parents had pretty well known his DNA wasn't their DNA when they'd adopted him and that of course they were going to accept him and while he'd been with her he'd actually let himself hope that might be true.

Almost as soon as they'd separated he'd started worrying though. Even if his folks did find it in themselves to accept him how do you apologize for something like that. He remembered vividly all those years - how many times she'd tried to coax him that last little bit - how badly she'd wanted him to return her affection without ever holding back - and how many times he'd failed her.

'How...,' he asked himself, ' can Mom ever forgive me for not being able to return her love?'

This whole meeting with the parents had seemed so easy with Liz's reassurance but - absent that - it seemed like an impending disaster. Telling the Parkers' would be scary enough - explaining to his folks he'd been lying to them for basically his entire life - but realizing how stupid he was - how much he'd failed his mother all these years - it just seemed like too much.

And that's why he was leaning his head against the wall and contemplating banging his head against it as well...


When she went to walk past the door and heard the shower still going, Liz knew. 'Poor Max, he's so worried...., she thought. They'd talked about it for practically three hours - most of the way from Albuquerque. He felt guilty about his mom - which of course was nonsense - but it was also vintage Max. She understood that now.

Maybe it had started with his first moments - awakening to find himself abandoned and left to die - or maybe it was the years t that was just the way Max was. He was, Liz believed, starting to handle it better - or at least she better understood it and could help him more effectively. Perhaps it was the time they'd spent sharing the same dream-orb or just the closeness they'd gotten from the hours in those sleeping caves. Whatever it was, Liz was as certain of what Max was going through inside that locker room as if she was connected to him.

Liz too had changed. She wasn't the same girl that had once thrown a pendant away in anger, or spitefully chosen another to partner with - or even the frustrated young girl who one week ago had danced with Jimmy Drevins. She wasn't a girl at all anymore - she was a young woman and the ring she wore was both a symbol of that fact and an acknowledgement that Max was hers and she was his and that they - forever more - would support and assist each other in any way that they could. Sighing deeply, she pushed the door open and entered the mens locker room.

Liz had seen Max in summers past - in swimming trunks at the public pool. Even so - he had changed. Perhaps they both had changed - some of it no doubt due to almost a week of hard physical labor - making their way through the malpais on sheer tenacity and not a whole lot of food. But it was more than just that their bodies had firmed up and that they were tanned and a little older. Perhaps it was as much the once-pendant now-ring she wore. Max was now hers - she knew that with certainty - and as she looked at him - his eyes closed and the water from the shower raining down upon his head - she realized for the first time how beautiful he was.

OK perhaps handsome was a better term - but seeing him standing there with the water cascading down his naked body - well perhaps it was the moment that was beautiful. Perhaps again it was that ring that caused her to look at him in his naked glory and obvious apprehension with such an indulgent and possessive smile. Shaking her head gently in a manner more loving than reproachful she slipped out of her shoes. Soon the sweatshirt and sweatpants joined them on the locker room floor.

Although the noise of the water dropping onto the tiles masked her approach, Max sensed her even before her arms gripped him around his waist - before he felt her body slide against his - her breasts soft against his back.

"It's going to be alright, Max, honest it is..." came the words of her voice as he brought his hands down to his waist where hers were already clasped together.

'Yes, he thought, '... it would be alright,' and he understood what she was saying - both by her words and by her actions. No, he knew that Liz couldn't tell the future - a not entirely accurate assumption as it would later turn out but what he believed at the time - but what she was telling him with her naked embrace was that they were in this together - that whatever happened he would always have her - and as Max felt his hands slide over hers and find the ring on her finger - as he felt the gentle kisses that she gave his wet shoulders - he felt the fear and the tension drain from him. As long as he had Liz, everything would somehow be alright - in fact it would be wonderful.

As she clung to him under the warm water of the shower she kissed his back. For months the perfect Miss Parker had been appalled at the antics of her over-endowed lab partner flaunting herself - teasing the males in the class with her body and extracting favors from them - teasing them with something she had no intention of ever giving to them. At the time it certainly hadn't occurred to her that she'd be showering with Max right now. Of course the situations were hardly parallel.

Unlike the situation with Miss Troy, this wasn't about advantage for Liz - at least any advantage other than calming and supporting her soulmate. Oh, she wanted to get his attention - to break through the melancholy that was possessing him - and she'd been successful at that - but it wasn't about teasing him, she had nothing that wasn't already his. It was just a matter of time until they would one day give themselves to each other. In the interim, they would enjoy their moments of closeness where they found them - and where they needed them.

"You realize," said Max, "that if you keep this up we'll both be late for Jim's presentation to our folks and they really will think he's crazy."

"We have a few minutes...." said Liz, not letting go, ".... besides, I need to be sure you are over your moping ... and what's more this is an awful lot of fun."

"Yeah, well I'd feel better about explaining to your folks that we realize we are real young to be engaged and that we'll take it real slow if I'm not OBVIOUSLY aroused by their daughter when I do so...," chided Max with a crooked smile.

"Spoilsport,..." said Liz, unclasping her hands and playfully slapping his derriere gently as she turned away.

She picked up a towel and wrapped it about herself and held one out to him as he stepped from the water. "You were sure in there a long time. You are starting to look a little pruney...," she said with a gentle smile as she handed Max the towel.

"Uh - that always looks like that."

"That was a joke, Max. I know that - I've diapered boy babies before."

"Oh..." said Max, first blushing - then smiling at her and wrapping a towel about his own waist. "Well have you seen this?" he asked, reaching out and running his hands through her hair.

She felt the warmth - both in her hair and in her heart as his fingers combed her wet locks. She reveled in the feel of his hands running through her hair - and the water seemed to drain away and the snarls untangled and within minutes her hair was dry and lustrous.

"I have been trying to get by with the lousy hair dryers in the gym for two years and you can do this?" she said in mock reproach,".... I definitely should have thrown myself at you earlier."

"Well, we better get dressed and get ready for our folks. I think there'll be drama enough tonight without Jim having to bring them here to find us.."

They turned their backs to each other - albeit not without a few lingering admiring looks, and quickly finished drying and dressing. Then - hand in hand - they left to go to the small conference room in the back of the old jail.