In the Instant That You Love Someone
Author: Maggie dmclapp@strato.net
Rating: gentle NC17
Date: 11/25/01
Disclaimer: If all we had was Season 1, it should have ended like this. Once again doing Jason Katims’ job for him.

"I wish I could go back, Liz. Back to when things were normal." Max blinked back the exhausted tears, rubbed his eyes with his dirty hand and tried to stay on his feet. He finally sank down onto the broken sofa.

"Me too. I just wish that I could have stopped you from saving my life that day in the Crashdown," she sighed, looking at what that act had brought down on him.

He looked up at her, his heart in his eyes, his hair wet, his tears falling

freely. "Don’t say that."

Whispering her words, she tried to explain, "Max, the day you saved my life, your life just………ended." Squeezing her eyes tight, trying to stop the tears that lay just behind her lashes.

"No, that was the day my life began. Liz, when I was in that room, and they did…………what they did to me. You’re what kept me alive. The thought of you. The way your eyes look into mine. Your smile. The touch of your skin. Your lips." He tried so hard to make her understand how much she meant to him.

"Knowing you has made me human." She rolled her head slightly as if from a blow. Whether I die tomorrow, or fifty years from now, my destiny is the same; it’s you." He held out his hand. "I want to be with you, Liz. I love you."

Liz looked at the boy she loved more than life itself. Her hand reached for him. Going to her knees in front of him, she whispered into his open palm,

"I…love you."

He leaned to her and kissed her. The kiss was tender, the exhaustion nearly complete. But, searching deep within his well of strength, Max knew that they had waited long enough. That there was a place he needed to take her. A place deep down in their souls. No one would ever touch them again.

"Liz, I want to be with you," he repeated. "Please love me. I have to know that you belong to me…that I belong to you." His eyes were crying, not only with tears from the pain of where he had been; but what he still, even after all they had been through, wasn’t sure about. That she could love him, really love him.

Liz knew that she had to make him whole tonight. That his life was in her hands; his life, his soul, his heart. The responsibility was hers. He was exhausted but he still wanted to give her his body; his promise. How could she possibly say no? Why would she want to? She needed affirmation too; a promise of tomorrow.

Standing quietly, she took his hands, raised them up and slipped his shirt off over his head. He reached for her, but she said, "Shhh. Shhh, my Max. Let me show you how much I love you." Her hands trembled as she shed her jacket and t-shirt, standing in front of his blazing eyes in her bra and jeans.

She eased him back onto the old sofa, stretching out gently along his body.

Brushing his hair back off his forehead with her fingers, she kissed him.

"You kept me alive, Liz," he said again. "It hurt so much. I kept your face behind my eyes, back in that place where no one can go. I wanted to get back to you so much. I needed to see you, hold you. I knew I couldn’t die, not without seeing you one more time." His smile shown through the darkness.

Rolling her over to his side, he reached for her face. His hands cupping her cheeks, he kissed her. "I want this so much. I want you so much." His hands pressed gently along her jawline, his fingers in her hair. She felt the first tingling of their connection. Flashes, visions, images……knives, instruments, straps……….."Oh My God ! Max !" she moaned.

"Shhh. It’s okay. I’m with you now," he rubbed his thumbs along the corners of her mouth. "There was nothing they could do to me that would keep me from you. And, as long as they couldn’t reach my soul, they couldn’t reach me."

Her hands found his chest, his arms. Rubbing his skin, scratching lightly with her nails, she heard him groan deep inside his throat. "Am I hurting you?"

"No. God, No," he whimpered. "Touch me, please. I need to feel your warmth.

I was so cold." She gathered him close, wrapping him in her arms as if to protect him from what had already happened.

"Can we ….. can I……?," he stammered. "I want to feel your skin."

She eased up and slid her jeans down along her legs, dropping them to the floor. Straddling him, she pulled his mud soaked jeans off, realizing for the first time that he had no underwear on. Her sharp intake of breath made him self conscious and he moved to cover himself. Her hands stopped him.

"No, Max. I want to make you warm." She lay back down and pressed her legs and tummy against him. She could feel his excitement rubbing against her, pulsing with his need. Frightened, but sure of what she wanted; sure of him, she trailed her hand down and grasped him lightly. He shivered as she touched him for the first time. "For you, Liz. Only for you," he whispered in a strangled voice.

"When you….when we are..together," she blushed, "I will love you more than I ever have. I’ll never leave you."

"Making love to you is what I’ve always wanted. I’ll never leave you; never leave you," he whispered into her hair.

His hands caressed her soft body; his legs moved to swing her gently over onto her back. Crushed under the wonderful weight of his body, she felt him slip his fingers under the waistband of her panties. Looking into her eyes, he looked for "Yes". She nodded her head and he slid the little piece of cloth down. She pulled off her bra and they were naked in each other’s arms.

His face was in the darkness, but she knew exactly what he looked like; knew every inch of his face, his beautiful eyes. "Max?" she whispered.

"Yes?" he answered, holding his breath, as he felt his body responding to her skin.

"I love you." The words broke a dam in his heart. Feeling the love pouring out through the cracks made in a heart strong from so many years of hiding, so many years of pretending, he buried his face in her neck, feeling tears well.

As he slid into her, as she closed around him, their tears fell. Tears of completeness, of unity, of tender love. Max belonged here, within her, filling her. Liz belonged here, surrounding him, holding him. As he swelled within her, as she felt him gain confidence, she moved her hips up, pushing him further in. "My heart, Max. Touch my heart."

"I don’t want to hurt you," he groaned.

"You can’t hurt me, love. I’m as strong as you are. This is what we want. What we need. Now, Max," she gasped as he plunged deeply into her body. Her eyes widened, her breath stopped. Max was inside her. He belonged to her.

As he gained strength, as his body roared to life above her, Liz felt a joining of spirits; a combining of lives.

Suddenly, he rose up on his arms and stilled his body. "Liz?"

"Don’t stop, Max."

"But something’s happening. Can you feel it?" he whispered. She felt a tingling, a heat that hadn’t been there before. At the point where his body joined with hers, where he filled her, a glow spread up, up, reaching for their faces. "Max?" she murmured. He brought her to the edge of wanting, her body crying for a release and then over and over they tumbled through space, their bodies never tiring; their cries muffled against each other’s soft tender skin. Max took her past orgasm, past that exhausted drifting.

Her body craved his. He was like a potion that had to be drunk or she would die. "More ! More !" she cried in his ear. "Max!"

The moments stretched; time stood still. Max knew something incredible was happening……..something not normal but he was so lost in the moment; his control so gone. Pumping her sweet body with his, he took her to the edge and over but then it would start again, the wanting, the needing, the incredible sensations building. "Max?" she moaned. "What’s happening? Love me, Max."

Their faces glowing, their bodies arching into each other, Max wanted nothing but to stay here forever. Liz knew she would die if he ever left her.

It would feel as if they were being ripped apart when it was finally over.

"Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop," she panted as the minutes flew by.

In the instant that he came for the last time; in the instant that she felt that final jolt of pleasure; in the instant that they loved forever, Max and Liz knew they had loved a lifetime. That if anything did happen tomorrow or fifty years from now, they had loved a lifetime in that single hour.

Finally, softly collapsing on her tummy, Max pushed his sweat-drenched hair out of his eyes. Tenderly, combing her wet hair off her face, he kissed her

eyes, her cheek, her lips.

"Max?" she whispered. "Was that normal? Is it always like that?"

"For us, it will be," he answered her quiet question. "For us, it will always be love made by star crossed lovers, out of time and place. I found you and I’ll never let you go."

She sighed and held him tightly. She felt an ache and with a slight giggle, realized that he was still inside her. Clenching tiny muscles she didn’t even know she had, Liz urged him back to loving her. He hesitated, slipping his hand between them, taking away her pain. "Thank you," she sighed. "Now, love me again. I want to see the stars one more time."

~~

The next day, things happened. People came, people went. Max and Liz had become Max&Liz. They were beyond reach to any harm.

In the cave, after the images of his mother had faded, Max held tightly to her hand. "Everything I’ve ever told you is still true. You made me human.

I need you now more than ever."

"I know that, Max," Liz said, her voice strong. "You have a destiny. It’s my destiny too. I’ll be with you every step of the way." She squeezed his hand as he leaned to her for another sweet kiss.

"You mean everything to me," he sighed as he smoothed her hair behind her ear. "You always will."