Part 16

Liz squealed in surprise as a pair of warm hand wrapped around her waist, halting her in her path, and pulling her up against a warm, hard body. She sighed contentedly as she leaned back against Max’s chest, and closed her eyes, drinking in the sensations that swam through her: the feeling of him, his scent. She felt completely safe and at peace when she was with him.

"Hey." He greeted her softly. "You busy?"

"Of course not." She replied warmly. "I was just looking for you. Should we head home?"

"Actually, I had something else in mind…come on."

Max slid around her to walk beside her, keeping one arm slung over her shoulder as he led her out of the school, and towards his jeep.

A half an hour later they had parked the jeep at Buckley Point, and Max was leading Liz off through the woods. It was a beautiful autumn day, with the afternoon sun peaking through the thinning leaves on the trees. Many of them had already lost their leaves, and the couple found themselves giggling as they crunched through the brown foliage lining the forest floor. They had walked nearly a mile before Max finally began to speak.

"Liz…I brought you out here because I wanted to tell you something, and I’m not sure if we’d have any privacy at home…Michael and Isabel are still waiting to hear about everything we learned back in the cave, and I know that we need to tell them. Especially now that we have Tess to worry about."

Liz nodded, gesturing to Max to continue.

"Okay…today, when I left school I went to see your parents at the Crashdown."

Liz gasped in surprise. "Max! You didn’t have to do that."

"I know…but my mom asked me to let them know that you’re okay, and I wanted to. I wanted to make sure that they saw things from your point of view, Liz."

"Do they?" Liz asked pensively.

"I think they’re starting to. Your dad definitely does, although your mom took some convincing. They agreed to give you some time to cool off. So take as long as you want, Liz. You don’t have to go back there until you’re ready to."

"You know…the thing is Max…so much has happened since then already. I mean, we got our memories back from our past; I feel like a completely different person. I feel so completely at home with you, that I almost forgot that it wasn’t where I’m supposed to be. I’m not angry with them anymore. I’m hurt; I wish they didn’t lie to me, but I’m not holding a grudge or anything. I suppose I’ll never get over my hurt if I don’t go and talk to them…but the thing is…I don’t want to go. I want to stay with you, Max." She fell silent for a moment, hesitating before continuing with her next question. "Do you want me to go home?" Liz asked him cautiously, obviously fearing his answer.

Max stared at her in disbelief. "God no! Liz, how could you ever think that? I love you more than life itself. Having you with me every hour of the day is heaven to me. God, if I didn’t have you right now, it would be torture…I mean, knowing what it was like being married to you and living with you, and not being able to actually live it…I would be suffering, but having you with me all the time…I thank the stars every day for bringing us together in this life. Do I want you to go home? Never. Your home is with me. Do I want you happy? Yes, and I have to explore every possible option of keeping you happy, even the possibility of you wanting to leave me to go home."

"That’s not possible either, Max. Your home is my home. It’s where I want to be. I may leave you because I have to, but as long as we’re allowed to stay together, we will."

They walked a little further, consumed by silence, as they listened to the early evening sounds of crickets humming, and the crunching of their feet in the leaves.

"I don’t want to go home until I have to, Max, but maybe going to see my parents will help. If I can talk to them, then maybe things will be a little less tense. Maybe I can start with small steps. Going to visit them, and maybe working at the Crashdown some more. I can see them without actually having to move back in with them."

"That’s a good idea. Do you want me to come with you?"

"Yeah, I do, but I should probably do it alone. It’ll make things better on my parents I think…not to see us together right away."

Max chuckled. "Yeah, they seemed pretty shocked at the idea of us living together…but they knew that they had no control over what we did, so they just gave in." Max’s gaze grew serious. "They probably feel pretty defeated by us, Liz. Maybe that’s why they accepted it all so easily."

Liz nodded in agreement. "Maybe…" A thoughtful look flew across her face as she made her final decision. "We’d better get back, Max. We need to talk to everyone about everything we’ve learned…and figure out what to do about Tess. And tomorrow after school I’m going to go see my parents."

Liz slid an arm around Max’s waste, and she curled herself closer to his body as they headed back to the jeep, and eventually back to their home.

Afternoon had slipped into evening by the time Max pulled the jeep into the driveway, and the first stars were beginning to twinkle softly in the darkening sky.

Max and Liz made their way back to their room, unsurprised to find Michael and Isabel lounging there waiting for them.

"We’ve been waiting for you all afternoon." Michael complained as Max and Liz entered the room.

"Hi to you too." Max shot back in frustration, as he flopped down on the bed.

"We had a few things we needed to talk about first." Liz explained. "But we’re ready to talk to you now. I’ll call Maria and Alex. We should only have to explain this once."

"What about Tess?" Isabel asked.

Max and Liz shot each other nervous looks before Max answered. "Tess can’t hear any of this. Some of it has to do with her…you’ll understand once we explain."

Ten minutes later the six of them were all assembled, and everyone listened intently as Max began to speak.

"After Isabel’s party, I was feeling pretty lost…needing a friend, and Liz was there for me…we went out to the pod chamber to speak…since it’s the safest place we know. While we were there, I touched my pod, pointing it out to Liz, and it glowed, almost as if it recognized me from my time there. I tested this theory on the other pods, and none of the other three responded to me. But then, by fluke, Liz touched Tess’s pod…and it glowed too."

"What are you saying, Max." Isabel asked him.

"Liz is one of us." Max told them bluntly. "She’s my destined mate. Not Tess. Tess is an impostor, a skin, planted there to get close to us, and eventually eliminate us."

Everyone sat there staring at them, particularly Liz, in shock, trying to process what they were telling them.

"How do you know for sure?" Michael asked. "How do you know that this isn’t just one of your horny teenage fantasies come to life. I mean, she’s totally human. She doesn’t have any powers. We all know this."

"It’s true." Liz agreed. "I am totally human. I don’t have any powers. They created me that way on purpose."

"How do you know?" Isabel asked again.

"Max had an idea…he wanted to try to activate the orbs again, just the two of us. We tried, and it worked. We received another message from your mother. Everything that she told us the first time around is true…she just was cautious because Tess was there too…she couldn’t warn us at the time. She confirmed everything we told you, and explained the no powers thing. As each other’s mates, we create a symbiotic relationship with one another. You and Michael were created with a certain amount of power in you, and so were Max and I. My purpose in this mission is not to fight, as yours is, so in order to increase the power given to Max, they decreased the power given to me, recreating my essence in a completely human body, while you all have human bodies mixed with alien abilities."

"Wow…this is all so surreal." Maria marveled as she stared at Liz in amazement. "You’re so lucky Liz…you and Max get to be together after all."

"Yeah, it’s wonderful."

"Wait a minute." Maria exclaimed. "That means you’re adopted too?"

Liz’s face dropped, and she frowned softly, the hurt slipping into her eyes. "Yeah…" She replied.

"You mean your parents have been lying to you all your life?" Maria asked softly.

"Yeah…" Liz confirmed.

"Which explains why you moved in with Max." Alex realized, as he and Maria both closed in on their best friend, wrapping their arms around each other in a small group hug. The three friends sat there for a moment in silence, while the aliens watched them uncomfortably. Finally they broke apart, and returned to the group.

"That must have been really, really hard." Isabel sympathized softly to Liz. "If you ever need a…" She hesitated before continuing. "…A friend, I’m in the next room."

"Thanks." Liz smiled softly at her.

Max cleared his throat, trying to save Liz from the spotlight, and calling the group back to his attention.

"So, we wanted to make sure that everyone is aware of the situation. We all need to be particularly cautious around Tess, especially since her big blow up at lunch today. We’ve made her mad, and she’s capable of doing almost anything to us. We need to figure out how to handle her. Nobody do anything to her unless she makes the first move. We don’t want her to know that we’re on to her."

Everyone nodded in agreement, before breaking for the night. It had been a long day, and a lot of new information had just been thrown in their faces. They all needed time to process it on their own, leaving Max and Liz alone.