“Tired?”

Isabel looked up from her spot on the couch and offered Alex a tired smile. He was holding a steaming mug toward her and she took it gratefully, automatically moving over to make room for him. “I’ve been better.”

Alex settled on the couch and resisted the urge to put his arm around her shoulder. They’d become closer throughout the entire ordeal, but he wasn’t sure if they were close enough for that yet. “You’ve looked better.”

Instinct had Isabel narrowing her eyes, but when she glanced at him she saw the humor lighting his eyes and the smile hidden behind the coffee mug. And she found herself returning his grin. “You mean you’re not turned on by blood and soot?”

Alex tried for nonchalance as he sipped his coffee, as if they were discussing the weather and not what exactly his turn-ons were as far as Isabel Evans was concerned. “I was more turned off by the leaves in your hair, but to each his own.”

Reaching up to run a hand through her hair, Isabel was disgusted to find leaves matting her hair. With a sigh, she picked one out and decided not to look for others. She wouldn’t feel human until she’d had a week in a spa anyway. “I suppose I could use a shower.”

Alex choked down another sip of coffee and forbade his mind from even trying to come up with a visual to accompany that statement. But the blush rose to his cheeks anyway. He considered it to be progress.

“So, did you check on them?” She’d been kicked out of Michael’s bedroom after the first hour. She’d known she’d been hovering, but had wanted to stay close to Max. Now, the couch was the closest she was allowed to get.

Concern brought Alex down from his high. “Yeah. They’re both still sleeping like the dead.” He checked his watch. Three hours since they’d rushed back to Michael’s to see what they could do for the two of them. “Tess and Kyle are in there trying to keep a handle on Max’s fever. It actually came down a couple of degrees, so it at least looks better for now.”

Isabel scrunched her face. “I think we missed more than one or two things when we left town.” She remembered rushing back to Michael’s and watching Kyle and Tess take over Max’s care. They’d moved together effortlessly, icing down towels and applying them to what had looked like strategic spots on his body. And she had actually watched Kyle Valenti hold a towel to her brother’s face. That had been the moment when she’d willingly left the bedroom. It had seemed like a situation she didn’t belong in. Kyle belonged beside her brother more than she did.

“You’re too hard on yourself.”

Isabel looked up at him. “What?”

Alex sighed. “It’s written all over your face. The guilt.” He laid his mug aside and shifted on the couch until he was facing Isabel. “Talk to me.”

Clinging to her mug, Isabel looked down at her lap. Alex’s gaze was probing and touched her in odd ways. And she guessed it was why she found herself talking when she ordinarily wouldn’t. “It’s just that he could be dying in there and there’s nothing I can do. I couldn’t even do anything inside of that building.”

“Ah. I don’t suppose it would do any good to tell you that you’re too hard on yourself?”

“Alex, I was useless in there. Worse than useless. I was a hindrance. I got in the way. You and Michael had to figure out a way to do everything and still drag me through the building.”

“And you sat around and painted your fingernails all day before we got in there? Come on, Isabel, you’re smarter than this. We wouldn’t have found them if it hadn’t been for the way you almost killed yourself trying to dreamwalk them all day long. You wore yourself out and never said a word. So, yeah, I guess you could say that you were useless. You know, in the sense that you were the only reason we found them in the first place and almost killed yourself doing it.”

Isabel shifted on the couch and let out a small sigh. “You just want me to admit that you might be right.”

“But that would mean you’re wrong about something and I know better than that.” Alex grinned at her, lightening the conversation as much as he could. He knew she was still worried about Max, but for the moment, she needed a shoulder to lean on.

Raising one arm, Alex shifted closer on the couch until he could drape his arm over her shoulder. She eyed him carefully for a long second, but she sighed again and leaned into the touch. Sliding along the length of the couch, she moved until she could rest her head comfortably against Alex’s shoulder.

Alex fought against the urge to sigh in contentment. Isabel’s body was reclining against his and her solid warmth was bringing up all sorts of vivid fantasies. It was officially one of the most inappropriate times ever to think about anything sexual, but his body never listened to him anyway. He kept the touch against her back light, stroking small circles. And Alex had never hated cotton before that moment, but since it was currently the only thing standing between his hand and Isabel’s skin, he vowed to boycott the cloth very soon. As soon as he woke up from this fantastic dream he was obviously having.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Uh…nothing.”

Isabel smiled against Alex’s collarbone and closed her eyes against the soothing touch. She could all but hear his thoughts, they were so loud. And she had a pretty good idea what they were about. She’d always known about his crush on her. She just hadn’t ever done anything about it. It was easier that way. But easy wasn’t always best.

Swallowing down the fear, Isabel wrapped her own arms around Alex’s waist and pushed him back until he was lying flat on his back on the couch. She took a chance and met his eyes, found them wide with wonder and disbelief, as if he were waiting for her to do something cruel and biting. And maybe once upon a time she would have, just to convince him that she was unapproachable. But she didn’t want to be unapproachable anymore.

Taking advantage of the situation, Isabel laid in the space between Alex and the back of the couch. She rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. The pain in her head had quieted some, but it was still harsh and wanted to bring her to her knees. She hadn’t allowed herself to rest yet though, not when the threat of danger was still so fresh in her mind. But here, with Alex, she knew she was safe and it was a refreshing feeling.

Slowly, Alex wound his arms around Isabel. It was a quick struggle to find the most appropriate place to rest his hands and he finally settled on her waist. There was nothing sexual in the touch. Really. And if his body obviously thought otherwise, there was nothing to be done about that. Isabel needed a friend and he was going to not touch her if it killed him.

“Alex?”

“Hmm?” Alex was almost too busy trying to place the smell of her shampoo beneath the smell of soot to hear her quiet whisper.

“Some time this week, if you’re not too busy, do you think you’d like to have dinner?”

Alex froze in the middle of a sniff. “Dinner?” He couldn’t have heard her right. Impossible. Because if he had, then…

“Yeah.” She yawned. “That thing where two people get together and eat, maybe talk about more than the weather.”

“Oh. Dinner. I’ve heard of it It was mentioned in a book I read once.”

“But I’m going to insist that you pay for everything.”

It almost made him grin. He might have if he hadn’t been positive the entire conversation was taking place in some wild fantasy his brain had conjured up. “Well, okay.”

“Because it wouldn’t be an official date if I paid for my half.” Isabel closed her eyes, letting the darkness that had been sitting on the edges of her consciousness edge in.

“Date.” The whole conversation may as well have taken place in Ancient Greek for all Alex understood. Surely, he was taking her words out of context. She was tired and half asleep and maybe she was mistaking him for one of the football players at school. Because there was no way Isabel Evans was asking him out for a first date. The world wasn’t that fair.

“Yeah. But I insist on a good night kiss at the end of the night.”

Since his mind had been nice enough to create the lovely conversation, the least he could do was play along with it. “Well, if you insist, I guess I have no choice. But just for the record, I’ve always been a fan of good night kisses happening at the beginning of the date. Kind of like eating dessert first.”

Isabel smile sleepily against his chest and moved her free hand up to Alex’s chest. “I think I can compromise.”

Some alert part of his brain began to suspect that maybe…just maybe this conversation was actually taking place. It was a jarring realization and a warm glow started somewhere deep in his chest beneath the spot where Isabel’s hand was resting. Isabel sighed and arched against him to get more comfortable. Beneath his hand, her shirt slid up an inch and the tips of his fingers encountered bare flesh. He’d seen her show more flesh than that at school, but to touch it was something else entirely. He half-expected her to move away, but she snuggled closer into his embrace. So, Alex relaxed his muscles slowly and closed his own eyes.

Maybe just this once, it was okay to believe that the good guys were going to come out on top in the end. They were all alive, Max was getting better slowly and Isabel had just asked him out on a date. It was making him question his entire stance on fairy tales and their view of happily ever after endings. Which could be a good thing. He supposed he would have to wait until he was free later in the week to see.

*~*~

“How are you doing?” Kyle looked up from where he’d been crouched over the side of Michael’s bed to examine Tess. She’d gone out to get more ice a short while ago and had been quiet ever since returning.

“I’m better.” She doused the hand towel in the bucket of icy water and wrung out the excess water before applying it to Max’s forehead. She was still groggy, but regaining her senses bit by bit. It was a relief to be in control of her mind again, but it had given her the opportunity to think things through entirely too closely.

Kyle watched her and tucked his hands inside his pockets. “I almost believed that too.”

“Alex and Isabel are asleep.”

If it had been anyone else but Tess, Kyle might have had trouble following the change in conversation. But he was used to the unexpected where she was concerned. “It’s been a long day.” Kyle couldn’t see why that would put that sad, pensive look on Tess’s face.

“They’re sleeping together. On the couch.”

“Oh.” Kyle was a bit confused. “Why is that bad?” Alex finally got the girl. About time too. But he didn’t see how that concerned Tess.

Tess sighed. Of course he didn’t get it. “Michael and Maria are sleeping on a pile of sleeping bags in the hallway.”

“Right.” He drew the word out slowly, fighting the urge to ask her outright if she really had hit her head on a rock.

“You don’t understand. Isabel is cuddling with Alex. Michael is snuggling with Maria. They just don’t do those sorts of things.”

“Ah.” And then he saw the connection. It was a couple thing. For as long as Tess had known them, Max and Liz had been the only couple, the only ones openly showing affection. And it had been easy for Tess to stand beside Michael and Isabel and be on the outside of that. But not anymore. She thought she was alone.

Kyle set the cloth down and rounded the bed slowly. He braced a hand on each of her arms and stepped just inside of the personal bubble she shielded herself with. It wasn’t an intrusion exactly, more like making her aware of his presence. “They almost lost everything they loved today. It’s the sort of occasion that warrants a bit of snuggling. We survived, Tess.”

“I know.” She let out a deep breath and tried to relax. “Nicholas is gone. There was no other way out of that building and we watched it collapse.” She wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Nasedo had raised her to hold all things Antarian high above the rest. Max had destroyed priceless artifacts and potential allies. But he’d saved all their lives in the process. She got that. Really. And when Kyle looked at her the way he was looking at her now, it was almost easy to understand why he did it too. Which was new and…odd.

“Did I mention that you kicked some serious ass in there?”

Tess snorted. “I had to. What with you running around trying to borrow alien powers.”

Kyle shook his head. “So, Liz is an idiot and I’m an even bigger one for listening and not thinking that one through. But I think that the important thing to remember is that if I hadn’t jumped in there and scared him with my stupidity, you wouldn’t be looking so good right now.”

“Well, we can all be thankful for your stupidity then.”

Kyle grinned at her, unable to help himself. He was going to fall in love with this girl. He could see it now. Their future would be filled with quarrels and mockery. She would walk a fine line between what she was taught to believe and who she really was inside. He would pull her down from the ledge when she got too close. And he would love her through every second of it.

“I think whatever they did worked.” Tess narrowed her eyes at him when he changed topics. Of course, he also had the feeling that he was grinning at her like a loon, but it was expected in a situation like this.

Tess glanced down at Max and Liz’s sleeping forms on Michael’s bed. It had been a frantic rush to get them back to the apartment, and had been even more frantic when they’d realized that Max’s temperature was degrees higher than it had been that morning. It had taken the better part of the last few hours, but it seemed that the heat was finally receding. “Do you think he’ll be okay?”

“I don’t know. They went through a lot, but they’re pretty tough.” And were currently snuggled in an embrace themselves. Even in sleep, they had sought each other out and it had almost been enough to make Kyle sigh. If he were a girl and did that sort of thing.

“They’re lucky.” It was easy to believe that Max would wake up soon and everything would be back to normal. They would all joke about it and go to the Crashdown for runny eggs. But there was no telling what sort of effects the device would have caused to Max. And there really was no way of knowing if even the loss of the fever was nothing more than the final stages of his illness. Hope was almost as alien of a concept as Faith, but she was learning to trust in them both.

“Kyle?” Tess watched the way Liz clung to Max, the way her hand curled protectively over his heart. And she was sure there had been a large silver handprint there earlier. Hadn’t there been?

Kyle caught the line of her vision and nodded. “Yeah. You’re not going crazy. They’re healing each other somehow. Liz’s arm was burned before and it isn’t now.” The consequences of it all were so staggering, he couldn’t even think of them all. Besides, it looked like a good change. So, he was going to put it aside for now and worry about it much later when he wasn’t running off of candy bars and caffeine.

“Oh.” Tess frowned. “You know, I’m beginning to think that maybe the box was only half of the cure. He was exposed to that thing again hours ago and he was still sick. Until we stopped trying to separate them.”

Weird, but she was right. Initially, they’d tried to separate the couple, but even in sleep they’d been agitated to be apart. It had only been when everyone had agreed to leave them together on Michael’s bed that their symptoms had begun to settle. “So, what? You think Liz could…heal his brain? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Not so much heal it, but maybe offer something his brain could revert back into.” Tess realized how lame the entire thing sounded and she vowed to stop watching bad horror movies with Jim at two in the morning. She huffed, wanting to explain her thoughts before she caught sight of the look Kyle was going to aim in her direction any minute. “Look. Max healed Liz. He changed her, left something of himself inside of her. Maybe he couldn’t get better without having that piece of himself to…I don’t know…anchor against.”

“Maybe.” It was too much to wrap his brain around. Frankly, if Tess’s theory was that Max was going to evolve into a purple dragon, he wouldn’t have batted an eye. Not as long as he got to hold her and maybe close his eyes for a few minutes. Max’s fever seemed to be going down on its own. They wouldn’t be needed for an hour or so. He turned back to Tess, offering her a small smile. “Are we okay? I mean, before all this happened, we were pretty hot and heavy. No regrets?”

Swallowing down the fear was easy when he kept looking at her like that. And it was even easier when she had memories of the time they’d spent clawing at each other in Kyle’s car hours ago. She’d never felt anything like that incredible need, and she wanted more of it. “Yeah. I seem to remember something about that. Imagine what could have happened if we hadn’t have run out of time.”

Personal space be damned, Kyle wrapped his arms around her waist. “So, what do you say we do some snuggling of our own? I did almost die. Several times in fact. I could use some comforting.”

Tess’s lips twisted with humor. “Snuggling?” It was the most foreign, bizarre concept she’d ever heard when applied to herself. Really, she wasn’t sure if she was capable of it. But she was willing to try. “I think I could be persuaded to give it a go. Of course, I had more than snuggling in mind, but we can do this your way.”

The glee drained from Kyle’s face. “We don’t always have to do things my way. I’m willing to try out your line of thinking.”

Tess elbowed him in the ribs and took Max’s temperature one last time. Satisfied, she turned and linked arms with Kyle. “Come on. I think I saw an armchair big enough for two.”

*~*~

Max pried his eyes open, sniffing against the tickling sensation on his nose. He rubbed at it automatically and when his hand encountered fine strands of silk, he woke completely.

Liz was asleep, lying across his chest and pinning him down against the bed. Almost as if she were trying to keep him from leaving. As if Max were considering moving. Ever. Beneath the heavy blankets, their legs were twined together in a messy sprawl of limbs that he didn’t want to untangle.

Automatically, he blinked in the darkness and looked for a clock. He came up empty handed and then remembered it wouldn’t do him any good anyway. The numbers wouldn’t make any sense. The curtains across the lone window showed that it was still dark outside, but with the hint of light coloring the sky.

With a soft sigh, Max laid his head back on the pillow they’d been sharing. He left his hand at the base of her neck, fingers slipping through the strands of hair. And he just watched her as the first rays of light splashed color against the dark walls.

It took almost a full minute to realize that there was no pain. Anywhere.

With a frown, he pushed up to an elbow and tried to think things through. He remembered seeing Nicholas, being able to understand him and the horrendous things he’d learned. There had been fear and pain, bound so tightly together they’d become one. And then nothing. He couldn’t remember Liz showing up or the long trek that had inevitably brought him to Michael’s bed as the sun rose. The lack of pain told him that perhaps whatever transformation he’d been going through was done.

Part of him wanted to wake Liz and ask what he’d missed. Then he remembered.

There was no way for Liz to explain to him what had happened. There was no way for her to ever explain or describe anything to him again. He’d made sure of it. And if the smell of smoke clinging to his skin was anything to go by, he had succeeded in blowing something up. Which meant the alien box was also gone.

Spirits crashing to the ground around him, Max soaked in the complete silence of the room. It was horrifying to discover that the only solace he had now was this, the still morning hours without voice.

His life was going to be changed completely now. He wouldn’t be able to go to school, which meant he wouldn’t graduate. He would have to tell his parents. And somehow, in all the ways he’d imagined doing it over the years, this wasn’t it. How could they look at him as anything but alien when he couldn’t even understand them?

And then there was Liz. Any hope for a future together was gone now. Even if they could have gotten past the lies, this was too much. She would try to stick by him just as she’d done in the last few days. But what kind of life was he offering her? He was going to have to relearn English like a small child. The silence would grow between them until it was a figure that loomed above them. There wouldn’t be a joint trip to college like they’d planned months ago. She would stay here to help and she would lose her only chance to be what she was meant to be. He would hold her back.

And that was unacceptable.

Taking in deep breaths to calm his racing heart, it occurred to Max that he could breathe. Which was a far cry from his condition a few hours ago when every gasp of air had been fought for. A sharp glance down to his arm showed what he suspected. The thick purple bruises that had colored his arm were gone. As were the silver fingerprints left behind by the Skins. In fact, there was absolutely no evidence that the entire day had happened.

It was staggering to even imagine how it was possible, but it also explained why Liz was dead to the world beside him. She had borrowed his healing powers to reverse the damage. And had drained herself in the process.

Almost as if she could sense his thoughts, her eyes moved beneath closed lids and opened slowly. She frowned momentarily when she woke up in unfamiliar surroundings, but when she saw Max awake, her grin grew wide.

In greeting, Max brought a hand to the side of her face and trailed his thumb along her cheekbone. She arched into the caress and closed her eyes briefly. He wanted to ask her a thousand things. He wanted to know how she’d made it past Kyle and managed to find him. He wanted to know how they’d managed to get out of the building alive. He needed reassurance that they were safe, that Nicholas wouldn’t kick the door in and sprint them away again. He needed to hear her whisper his name and tell him it would all be alright.

Instead, he settled for a kiss.

He leaned in slowly, wanting to savor the moment. The future would hold troubled times that he wasn’t even sure it was wise to try to weather together. But this moment, this one perfect moment in time was theirs. Their lips met, sliding together softly. Liz didn’t seem to be in any greater hurry than he was and she shifted until they were pressed tightly together. The kiss was soft, almost more of a long sigh than a prelude to something more.

Max’s hands tightened at her waist, letting his fingertips skim across smooth skin at the edge of her pants. Liz released a small sigh when he moved to nibble at the curve of her jaw. She arched against him just as she had every other time he had nuzzled that particular spot and the normalcy of it was too much for him. Her fingers were in his hair, fingernails biting into his scalp.

“Max.”

And he froze.

Tension pulled every muscle, every tendon until it was at the breaking point. Forcing himself to keep hope at bay, Max leaned away from Liz until he could meet her eyes. She was looking at him curiously and he felt the weight of the moment creeping up on him. This would be it, the moment that determined everything. And it had to be perfect.

Searching for the perfect words to test the impossible idea on, Max almost missed the loud noises from the hallway. But it was impossible to miss the sudden bang of the bedroom door as it swung open and hit the wall.

“For the love of god! Max, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Max looked up, horrified, to meet the face of his mother. Liz tensed in his arms and it made him realize how horrible the situation looked. An explanation was primed and ready on his lips, and then it occurred to him that he had understood his mother’s words. A smile spread slowly across his face before he could help it.

“This is no laughing matter, Maxwell Evans.” Diane strode to the side of the bed and glared at her son. “Do you have any idea how worried we were? We were all up all night looking for you kids and then we find you here. ?And…have you been smoking? God, that’s it. Out of bed now. This party is over.”

Max couldn’t contain his grin, not even when his mother started tugging on his arm. He understood her. Every word. And unless his mother had developed the ability to speak Antarian overnight, it meant that he was going to be okay. A distant part of his mind registered that his mother was still yelling at him, and he could hear voices from the living room as well. It took a few seconds but the doorway was filled with the worried faces of Michael and Isabel. They looked back and forth between Max and Diane, and Max could see the indecision in their eyes.

“Mom-“

Diane turned to Isabel and shook a finger at her. “You stay out of this. You’re in enough trouble already. Get in the car. Both of you. The Parkers will be here any second and I’m sure Alex’s father will be too. You kids are in a world of trouble.”

“Mom-“ Isabel tried again.

Diane was still tugging on Max’s arm, but Liz was clinging to Max’s other arm. Max had never been happier in his whole life to be yelled at.

“Max, what’s wrong with you? Did you hear me? I said get up.”

With his grin still intact, Max glanced up at Isabel and Michael. He saw his father lingering in the doorway behind them, but paid no attention to him for now. He squeezed Liz’s arm and closed his eyes, not wanting to see anyone’s faces if this didn’t work.

“I heard you.”

Max felt the heat of the stares directed at him. Opening his eyes, he saw the pure shock etched into Liz’s features. But even better than the shock was the understanding and recognition. He wanted to reassure her, to take her somewhere and talk to her for hours about anything and everything. He felt as if he’d just been given a rare gift, one he’d taken for granted a million times before but knew he never would again.

“Alright, Max. Enough is enough. Get up.” Phillip pushed past Isabel and Michael to stand beside his wife.

Max knew better than to even try to argue against that look. Slowly, he untangled himself from Liz and pushed to his feet. Diane gave him a small shove from behind and he took a step forward, eyes still locked on Liz. He couldn’t leave without saying something to her though.

“Liz.” He tried to say everything in that one word, mashing every bit of gratitude and love he could muster into it. It meant a thousand things. Thank you, and I love you, and a million other words that had bottled up over the last few days. He wanted to talk until he didn’t have any words left, until his throat was sore from misuse, but still never stop.

He watched as her eyes watered, closed for a second even as she smiled at him. And he knew that she had heard every word he hadn’t spoken.

“Isabel. Get in the car. Say goodbye. You’re both going to be grounded until you’re thirty.” Diane grabbed Max’s elbow and ushered him forward.

Even when Max had been pushed out of Michael’s bedroom and through the living room that held his confused and worried friends, the smile stayed on Max’s face. Even when his mother pushed him into the backseat of the car beside Isabel and continued to mutter words like responsibility and trust, Max couldn’t bring himself to contain the grin. Eventually, Isabel caught it and grinned back at him, lacing her fingers with his. Which of course only made their mother even more livid than she had been.

And with punishments being threatened until they were old enough to retire, Max could sigh without pain and think of Liz and plan. His future had just been given back to him and he had every intention of claiming it.

Part 19