Pt 6

Max stared at the wall of the cave in the dark firelight, tracing the lines of the alien symbols with his fingertips. Liz stood back and watched the three aliens, as they studied the walls in fascination. She realized, as she watched them, that this was their first experience with anything like this. They had probably never expected to ever find any clues about themselves, and she had just handed them a huge one. In her world, they had been studying Nasedo’s necklace for days before River Dog had brought them to the cave. Surprises had become not so unexpected in her world, but here, everything was new to them.

She watched Max, and smiled at the way the fire bounced off of his eyes, his incredible soulful eyes. The eyes that had watched her throughout her life. She wondered how it was that she hadn’t felt his eyes on her for all the years before. Nowadays she knew when Max was watching her. She felt him whenever he was near. Liz could barely remember what her life was like before the shooting. Her life had turned around so quickly. It went from being empty, to being so full of passion and life. Liz didn’t know how she had done it before, lived her life without Max Evans. Then she frowned. What about when she got back? She had Max so completely here, but when she goes home, it’ll be right back where they left off, with a step back. She’ll have to try her life without Max as the center of it. Liz sighed. She wasn’t sure if she could do that.

At the sound of the air escaping from Liz’s lungs, Max turned and looked at her. He had been so caught up in studying the symbols that he had almost forgotten about her. His breath caught in his throat, as he studied the look on her face. She looked so sad. He stood up walked over to her, cupping her cheek with his hand.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. I was just thinking about stuff, you know?" Max nodded. He didn’t want to push her any further than she wanted to go.

"I’m here, whenever you’re ready to talk." Liz nodded, and threw a look towards Michael and Isabel, still caught up in the wall of the cave. Max understood. There were certain things she didn’t want to talk about in front of them. He quickly kissed her on the forehead, and turned back towards the paintings. Liz watched him, her eyes filled with love. She was so lucky to have him. She just hoped she would be able to let him go.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" The four friends turned quickly to the mouth of the cave, where an old Native American stood, glaring at them. "You shouldn’t be here. How did you find this place? You must leave, immediately! Don’t come back."

"No, wait! River Dog!" Liz cried franticly.

"Do I know you?"

"No, you don’t. But I know you. I know your secret, and your background with Nasedo!"

"How could you possibly know about Nasedo? I haven’t told anyone anything about him."

"I can’t explain how I know, but I do. And I’m trustworthy. So are my friends here. They’re..." Liz paused and looked at Max before continuing, "They’re visitors too. Test them. You’ll find them to be worth your time."

Nasedo walked to where the three aliens stood together, and studied them closely. After a great moment of silence he spoke. "Prove it."

Max stepped forward, and picked up a fistful of dust off of the floor of the cave. He studied it closely for a moment, letting it slowly slip between the fingers of his right hand, into the cup of his left hand. He held his right hand over the dust for a moment, before it started to glow. The dust in his hand clumped together, and reformed as a rock. Max looked up slowly, and tossed the rock to River Dog, who caught it, and held it in his hand briefly, not taking his eyes off of Max, before finally saying calmly, "You have passed the test."

There was another moment of silence before Max finally asked, "Can we come visit you more later? I have a great many questions to ask you," he chuckled, "I just have to figure out what they are."

"Of course. I will tell you whatever I can, answer whatever questions I have the right answers to."

"Thank you."

After the brief ride back from the reservation, Isabel and Michael went off to comprehend everything they had just learned, leaving Liz and Max sitting alone in his room. Max watched Liz, as she sat by his window, staring out at the blue, blue sky. She was lost in thought again. Something big was obviously on her mind.

"Do you want to go on a walk or something? Get outside, get some air. Talk. Whatever?" Max fumbled.

"Yeah." Liz responded quietly. Max took her hand and helped her out the window.

There was a cool breeze blowing through Liz’s hair as she and Max walked quietly through the streets of the town they both grew up in. Max had his arm around her, holding her close, refusing to let her go. It felt so right, the two of them being together. He finally spoke after a few blocks.

"Listen, Liz. I can tell something’s on your mind. Can I help at all?" Liz looked up into the eyes of the man who had stolen her heart, and sighed.

"It’s just this. Being here with you. It feels so right. It feels so good. I want you to know this Max. Even through everything I’m going through, the last 2 days have been some of the happiest days of my life, because I’ve been with you. It’s all meant so much to me."

Max smiled his adorable little half-smile, that he reserved only for her. "It’s meant a lot to me too, Liz."

"The only thing is this. Through all of my happiness, I can’t forget that this isn’t real. It’s not going to stay this way. Eventually I’m going to wake up and find myself back home, to the world where you’re not willing to let us be together like this, and it’s going to kill me to know what it’s like to have you, to see you every day, but to not be able to be with you. It’s going to be so hard to go back to the way things were."

"Liz, I’m an idiot. I want you to know that. When you go back, look at me, and know that I’m an idiot. I have to be if I’m the one keeping us apart. He obviously doesn’t know what he’s missing." Liz smiled. "I know it’s going to be hard for you Liz. It’s going to be hard for me too. When you leave, I will always have these memories of our time together, and I will be missing you so badly. It’s going to be torture for me, Liz. Absolute torture. I know that for certain, but I’m not going to let it affect our time together now. I can live with the eventual pain of loosing you, as long as I get to be with you now. Any time with you, no matter how short it is, is better than no time with you, Liz, because I love you."

Liz stopped dead in her tracks, and looked up at him in shock, barely believing the words she was hearing, the sweet, wonderful words she had always wanted to hear him say. "What did you say?"

"I love you, Liz. With all my heart." Max tucked his arms around her waist, holding her closely. She looked up into his eyes.

"I love you too, Max. I could never love anyone else the way that I love you. My heart is yours. No one else could ever conquer it the way that you have."

Max pulled her closer to him, his blood sizzling as their bodies met. His lips met hers in a passionate kiss, filled with all the love he felt inside of him. The two of them felt so right. Max knew, in his heart, that they belonged together, as their embrace deepened. After what would have seemed like an eternity to anyone watching, but was way too quickly for the two love stricken teenager, they broke the embrace, still holding each other, and staring at each other with love in their eyes. Liz caressed the back of Max’s neck, and he weaved his fingers through her hair, holding each other, wanting to never let go.

"We should probably get back," Max whispered huskily."

"Yeah." Liz responded, still lost in his eyes.

She finally broke his gaze. "Yeah! I completely forgot about Maria and Alex! I have to call them, make sure they’re not upset about this afternoon. God, I totally blew them off! They’re probably going to kill me!"

TBC...