~ chapter 10 ~

Max shook his head at the sight. No. This wasn't right. It didn't make sense… As his mind began to grapple with what he had assumed was the impossible, a movement in the distance caught Max's eye and he gladly tore his focus away from Liz and Kyle's apparent make-out session to a figure crouching low in the loft.

He was more than grateful for the distraction. Anything that would attempt to repaint the vision he'd just captured in his memory was a welcomed sight. Narrowing his eyes Max watched carefully for signs of aggression from the unknown observer. But the figure remained motionless in its vigil. Until…

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Cole Guerin's tense body was aching. Besides the few times he dared flex the taut muscles of his calves and lower back, he remained as still as a statue. Much like a Gargoyle overseeing the entrance and exit of each visitor to a haunted castle. Silent. Watchful. Ready to magically spring to life and pounce if the moment required it.

As difficult and confusing as it was to follow the conversation, Cole certainly didn't miss the love loss between the two sparing in the imaginary ring below. Truth be known, he'd fought the urge to crack a smile a few times as Liz Parker leveled the Sheriff with her words. But that was before Sheriff Valenti began speaking in a code only Liz seemed to understand. And with understanding came fear.

Still he made no move until he saw the Sheriff move in for 'the kill' on Liz Parker. He bent forward and readied himself. That's when he saw it. A figure peering in through the window. Damn! It was the alien. Liz Parker's lover. And he was misunderstanding what was going on. Cole could see that as plainly written in his injured eyes as he could see what that same alien couldn't…the utter disgust in Liz's face. All this Max of hers could see was her back and the way she seemed to accept the Sheriff's arms as they snaked around her. And then…

He saw Cole. The breath in Cole's chest froze. In fact, Cole froze. And stared right back. In that look there was recognition…and surprise as well as open curiosity. After what seemed like an eternity, Cole instinctively shrunk back into the shadows, his foot sliding back along the old wooden planks of the loft then stilling the moment he heard the loud creak...

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Below, Liz swallowed hard and advanced forward ripping the envelope out of Kyle's hand. She cast him a defiant look then tore open the seal on the envelope to pull out the contents. Her eyes narrowed then widened as they quickly scanned the beginning of her newly written instructions. "The subject of your investigation...Max Evans."

Like the boom splitting the silence of the night, there was a loud creak from the loft above. Kyle and Liz's head snapped up at the sound. "Who's there?" Kyle's gruff voice called out as his eyes peered into the darkness. Deftly pulling his gun from its holster on his hip, Kyle pointed it upward. "Come out with your hands up and I won't shoot…"

Cole's heart pounded loudly in his chest and he unconsciously held his breath hoping that action alone would keep the Sheriff from investigating. His hopes were unfortunately set a bit too high. Kyle took a step forward and cocked his gun. "I said…come out with your hands up…"

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Outside Max took in the situation quickly. Part of him wanted to rush in and take all of the focus from the boy in the loft. But what excuse would he give? Just wanted to see if you two were done making out yet? No. That wouldn't do. Besides, it was always better to diffuse situations like this from a distance if at all possible. Lessens the chances of anyone getting hurt.

A new idea hit him and a small smile curved his lips upward. What to create? A wild animal? No. Too unexplainable if Kyle's shot was good. What about…? Perfect. Knowing now what he had to do, Max closed his eyes and concentrated. Conjured up an image. The color. The size of the wing span. The hooked beak. Reached for it in the hazy corners of his mind. Then…he let it fly…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kyle." Liz's sharp voice bounced off the factory walls. "Put the gun away. I'm sure it's nothing…"

"Don't tell me how to do my job, Liz." Kyle demanded in a low voice. "Now, someone's up there and I intend to find out…" Kyle's words were cut off by sudden sound of flapping wings and sharp, staccato-like sounds as the air was filled with the black feathers and sharp claws of a hawk as it screeched and swooped down heading directly for Kyle Valenti.

"AHHHH!" Kyle's screams boomed throughout the room and his hands instinctively raised to cover his face as he ducked falling to the ground in his fearful haste. "AHHHH! GET AWAY!!!!" As Kyle's hands began to flail outward, warding off the merciless black hunter as it swung down toward him once again, his gun flew out of his hand and hit the floor sliding into the wall. A shot rang out on impact and Liz instinctively ducked and screamed.

At the sound of Liz's scream, Max's heart stopped and the breath stilled in his chest as a wave of panic hit him full force. "Oh, God. Not Liz." Dark eyes full of worry shot open to view the damages inside. Then the rest of him flew into action in the next heartbeat. Max shot into the factory his eyes immediately searching for Liz. Seeing her on the floor, Max ran to her and dropped to her side wrapping a concerned, somewhat shaky arm around her shoulder aiding her attempt to sit up.

Liz's breath stalled in mid-inhale when she felt the fire from Max's hand as it slid up her back, under her thick veil of dark hair to gently support her neck. The light, absently placed brushes his fingers made against her skin ignited tiny sparks of desire that instantly turned to a raging hunger deep in her soul. Those fingers. That heat. Just his closeness set her body of fire. Nothing in her life had ever felt like Max Evans' touch. She instinctively knew nothing ever would. She could seriously get used to this…

Max's voice, low and urgent in her ear, calling her back to his immediate concern. "Liz. Liz, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I think..." Nodding her head as she checked herself for injuries. "I’m a little dusty, but fine." Liz's voice softened with concern as her gaze drifted upward to meet his. "Hey. Are you?"

Max blinked quickly and looked away from her discerning gaze uncomfortably as he pulled his hands back from her skin like he’d just been shocked. "Of…of course. W--why do you ask…"

Feeling the abrupt absence of his heated touch, Liz’s brows furrowed and her hand moved with a will of it own as it molded to the contour of his face. She tilted her head to the side in quiet observation of his features. "Because you looked scared." Liz’s other hand joined it’s partner and slipped up to capture his whole face in her warm grasp as her voice filled with awed concern. "Max. You…still do."

Max’s eyes drifted closed when he felt her feather-light touch against his skin. He’d only recently learned what that touch felt like. Her skin against his. Her breath on his face. His name on her lips. What if his little trick with the hawk had cost him…Liz? Max swallowed hard and pushed the thought to the back of his mind. But not too far back. He just might need it to keep him cautious in the future.

Caution. Director Valenti’s words shot through Max’s mind. "Just...be careful, ok? I'd really hate to loose an agent over a broken heart." A broken heart. Liz Parker’s hands were caressing his face like Kyle Valenti’s lips had been caressing her neck only moments before. The image leapt to his mind like a bullfrog on a lily pad, plunging his suddenly fragile heart beneath the waters of jealousy.

Max pulled out of Liz’s hold abruptly and when his eyes shifted to meet hers they were cold and distant. A flicker of pain shot through Liz's eyes as her hands slowly dropped to her lap. "Max…what is it? Did I do something…"

Max's jaw set with determination as he averted his eyes from Liz, his anger from his own guilty conscience and chose instead to focus on Kyle and his crimes. "He did." Jumping up from his kneeled position, Max headed toward Kyle with fire in his eyes. "Just what the hell do you think you were doing? You could have gotten her killed!"

"Oh, please, Evans. Don’t be such a drama queen." Kyle’s tone was droll and he rolled his eyes as he reached down for his gun. As nonchalant as he was trying to act, he couldn’t keep his hands from shaking. Couldn’t keep his mind from whispering the very same thing Max had just uttered out loud. The last thing he’d ever want to do was hurt Liz. Especially not now that they had been given a second chance and he planned on making the most of ever single second of it.

Kyle's tone did nothing to appease Max. He took a step forward his fists balling up by his side in an effort to control his anger…and if he were be honest with himself…complete envy. Envy that Kyle had once claimed Liz. She'd given him the right. Unlike this fake relationship he and Liz were playing up. She'd been forced into this as her assignment. But to Kyle, she'd willingly given herself. And it looked like she would have willingly given herself again only moments before if it hadn't been for the boy in the loft. "You think this is funny? I leave her in here with you for less than ten minutes and you endanger her by pulling your gun. What were you shooting at anyway?"

"That…that hawk that…" Kyle’s eyes widened in surprise as he turned around slowly. "…isn’t--here any more. Where did it go?"

A harsh chuckle escaped from deep inside Max. "You mean you put Liz's life in danger for a figment of your imagination? I could easily bring you up on charges for reckless endangerment by discharging a deadly weapon in the presence of a civilian."

Kyle's eyebrow raised as he turned to face Max. A momentary flicker of 'I-thought-so' moved in his steel blue eyes as his gaze flicked from Liz to Max. "Reckless endangerment? Discharging a deadly weapon? A civilian? Why Max…you seem to be spouting off a lot of pretty big legal terms there." Kyle holstered his gun and hooked his thumbs through the front belt loops of his jeans casually as he leveled his meaning-leaden question. "What line of work did you say you were in again?"

Max felt the comforting warmth of Liz's arm around his waist, the gentle squeeze of her other hand at his elbow when she came to stand next to him and the strength of her support rolling off of her providing Kyle a visual of their united front. "The IRS. Why? Do you need help evading an audit?"

Kyle smirked. "Since when do IRS agents talk about deadly weapons and civilians?"

Quickly picking up on Liz's silent warning of a trap when her arm tightened around his waist, Max covered flawlessly. "They don't. But sons of JAG officers do. Or did you forget the reason we traveled so much was that my father was a lawyer in the Army?"

Kyle chuckled. "You know, Evans, I barely knew you existed. So, I never cared enough about you to ask your eye color let alone what your father did for a living."

Max's jaw worked to keep this sudden irrational anger under control. He took the opportunity to wrap his arm around Liz's shoulder as his eyes flashed possessively, though the actual feeling rang hollow deep in his heart. "Times have changed. And I'm not so easily dismissed any more."

Blue eyes shifted to gaze meaningfully at Liz's beautiful face. "We'll see about that."

Sensing a barely controlled rage building quickly inside of Max, Liz squeezed him closer to her side and slipped a calming hand up to his hard-toned chest. The muscles rippling under her fingers didn't go unnoticed and Liz forced herself to focus on getting Max out of there and not what she'd like to do to him once she had…

Looking up at him, her mind tried to grasp the meaning for his sudden attitude change, but the reason alluded her. Perhaps it had been his phone call that furrowed his brow and put fire in his dark gaze. But that wouldn't explain his averted eyes whenever she tried to look into them. "Honey. I think we should go now. Mom and Dad are probably wondering where we are."

Max glanced down at Liz and forced himself to nod and smile. Playing the part. Knowing it wasn't real. That reality fell on him like a weight and suddenly going to make pleasantries with Liz's parents was the last thing he wanted to do right now. All he really wanted to do was wipe that smug, arrogant smile off of Kyle Valenti's face.

Since that would only hinder their investigation and a punching bag wasn't readily available, Max would have to go with the next on the list of necessary evils…sucking up to Liz's parents. "Yeah, they probably are." His gaze shifted back to Kyle meaningfully. "We've definitely wasted enough time here…"

Liz let her hand run down Max's arm to capture his hand, her eyes drifted to Kyle as well leveling her own silent message in the depths of her midnight eyes. "I agree." Tilting her head upward she flashed Max a smile. "Come on, hon. Let's go home."

Max allowed Liz to pull him forward but his eyes never strayed from the cold eyes of his newest, and oldest, nemesis. "Later, Valenti."

Kyle tore his eyes away from the challenge in Max's to rest on Liz's retreating figure. A leering grin spread over his lips purposefully as his voice lowered suggestively. "Oh, you can count on it. You can *definitely* count on it…"

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Chilled to the bone. Liz Parker suddenly understood what that cliché meant. That's exactly how she felt the moment she and Max slipped back into the car. And it had nothing to do with the air conditioner that instantly cooled the car cabin to a comfortable level of freezing.

Instead, this chill was the kind that gripped a heart. Sent shivers down a spine. Made thoughts freeze in mid-turn. It was the kind that came when the person you wanted to be with most in the world suddenly didn't want to be with you.

Max was shutting down…rapidly and completely. She could feel the invisible wall being raised between them with amazing speed. He glanced over at her once and for a moment she thought she saw a flash of concern shadow his eyes. It was enough to make her bold in a usually spineless moment. "That was a close call."

Max's response was silence.

"Yep, it sure was, Liz. Glad you're ok." Liz's curt tone made her one-way agreement with herself sound clipped and angry. Silence engulfed them momentarily as Max continued to focus on the road ahead of him not even seeming to have heard her. Liz bit her lower lip and slipped her fingers through her hair pushing it back behind her ears. Turning toward the window her fingers began a silent drumming motion against her legs and her eyelashes batted furiously to keep the angry tears in check as she let out a sigh.

She didn't know why she was angry. Or who she was more angry with. Kyle, Max…or herself. To be angry with Kyle was second nature to Liz now. It had been for years. For all he did in the past to her. For the pain he represented. For the ghosts his presence reminded her of. But he wasn't the focus of her emotions. Not now. Not since Max gave her the chance to stand up to him…

She was angry with herself. For letting Kyle get to her. For reaching for that damned envelope. For opening it to find the subject of her investigation was the man of her dreams. Her stomach turned at the very idea of spying on him. Not that watching Max Evans' every move wasn't a very potent inducement. She believed she could watch that man simply breathe for the rest of her life and not get bored. But watching for the purpose of reporting his behavior? It wasn't right. It wasn't honest. It wasn't…how she had planned on making him fall in love with her.

Not that she had a chance of that anyway. Not now…

Silently focusing on Max's reflection in her window, Liz's thoughts turned to the man by her side. Why should she be angry with him? He hadn't done anything she couldn't handle. Yeah, maybe he'd been a bit rude at first, but they got through that. Understanding his personality a little better, it had just probably been the shock of having a partner that drove him to it. They had actually begun to communicate. Flirt shamelessly, share smiles, laugh together and even talk. All on a level that had only existed in her dreams.

Her thoughts turned to the magic of his earlier gestures. They had been real. She knew they had. They'd been born out of a desire to make her smile. To make her forget. To give her a second chance to live the life in Roswell, New Mexico, that she wanted…even if it was only for a week. And it was working.

So, what had happened? When had the gestures turned from genuine to duty? Had it been after his phone call? Or before? When he knew Kyle Valenti was watching them through the shadows. *When* had he known? Had he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye as he twirled her in the slow circles of a dance that that she'd been waiting for all her life? Liz's heart sank at the thought. Or did he hear a footstep fall in the middle of their mind-numbing kiss? And her heart plummeted to the pit of her stomach. All Liz could hear in that kiss was the rapid pounding of her heart and the faint buzz of heaven as its doors were being opened to her. That he'd been able to focus on anything else but that kiss…

"Could you please stop that?" Max's hard voice pulled her from the bittersweet thoughts roaming through her brain and into the harsh reality of her situation. She was partnered with a man she'd dreamed about all her life and he could barely muster a kind request at the moment.

"What?" Liz's head snapped to the side at sound of Max's sudden question.

"Drumming your fingers. It's driving me nuts."

"Oh." Liz's glanced down at her hands and entwined her fingers placing them firmly on her lap to still their obviously annoying movement. Gathering courage at even the slightest break in the wall, even if it was sounding rather jagged, Liz took a deep breath. "So, would you mind telling me what that was all about?"

"What was what all about?" Max absently glanced in his rearview mirror.

"That little testosterone match with you and Kyle at the end there?" Liz pressed as she turned toward him.

"*That*…" Max's glance was as cold and distant as his voice. "…was my way of assuring your..." The description was practically spit out of his clenched teeth. "...ex-boyfriend's mind was occupied with besting me instead of trying to find the real cause of that noise you heard coming from the loft."

"What?" Liz's eyes widened in surprise.

"The boy. The one in the report that supposedly healed the girl at the Crashdown. He was in the loft."

Liz's mouth mimicked the earlier action of her eyes and dropped open. "You're kidding! How…how did you…"

Max shot her a silent look that clearly screamed 'Don't ask'. Liz didn't take the hint. Instead, she steeled herself against whatever may come. The coldness of silence. The heat of anger. The crushing disappointment of truth. "Right. The Evans' Factor. You just knew." Tilting her head to look at Max, her eyes flickered with uncertainty even though her voice remained steady. "Come to think of it. How did you know Kyle was there at all?"

Max's pained eyes drifted shut and he willed his heart to remain solid. He knew this would come up. This is precisely why he worked alone. It would be like Liz to not only notice but question. And in this particular situation, her continued questions would only end up hurting to answer.

That's why the distance between them was expanding. Why the wall of silence had been necessary. He'd needed time to think. To reason out his reactions. To calm the emotions crashing through him and reconcile himself once more to the fact the he, Max Evans, was placed on this earth for reasons unknown except to trudge through each long, tedious day for the rest of his life…alone. Always alone.

Max pushed the painful thought to the back of his mind and concentrated on Liz. The question she'd asked hung between them like a dark cloud. He instinctively knew why she was asking. Where her thoughts were leading her. And he wanted so much to stop the car, take her in his arms and erase all of her doubts as to why he kissed her in the factory.

He'd wanted her. With every cell of his body, every beat of his heart he had wanted to feel her lips against his, her arms slipping around his neck and hear her sighs of pleasure as he touched her in a way no one had ever done before. Deep in her soul. Wrapping himself so firmly around her heart that the chance of her ever walking away was demolished with that one kiss.

And then he noticed Kyle. Actually 'felt' him would be a more appropriate term. Over the years, Max had trained certain senses of his to dominate others. The one that had sprung to life tonight was his sense of weaponry. Max could feel a gun a mile away. So, for all of his sneaking, Kyle's presence was known the moment he slipped into the factory. Moments *after* Max and Liz's kiss had begun.

That Kyle was witness to their passion was the very reason Max had stopped her from reclaiming his lips. Sure, it had only been one kiss. But for Max, what they'd shared in that kiss held an intimacy that balked at the very idea of being openly viewed in a peeping tom show. He would not subject Liz to that kind of common inspection. Especially not from someone like Kyle Valenti. And especially not when the kiss was deeply personal and full of emotion.

But he couldn't let Liz know that. As much as it killed him to lie to her, to risk replacing the pain in her eyes he'd tried to erase, Max had to do it. For the sake of the case. For the sake of the alien-boy in the loft. Most of all, for the sake of his heart.

Liz's voice called him to attention. "Max. Are you going to answer me? How did you know Kyle was there?"

Max cleared his throat and focused on the road ahead, knowing if his eyes met hers he'd never be able to sound convincing enough for a smart woman like Liz Parker. He pushed the words through tightly closed lips. "The door creaked."

"When?" Liz swallowed hard and she didn't even notice how tightly clasped her hands were in her lap as she waited for his defining answer. When his silence filled her, Liz took one more step toward loneliness and pressed further. "Max…you know…what I’m asking…"

He heard the tremor in her voice. It broke him. His eyelashes fluttered as he blinked furiously in an effort to stop the stinging pain behind his eyes. His grip on the wheel tightened and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. If he could just find a way to say those eight words in this moment, it would be easier to say next time. Easier to believe. Easier to pretend.

His mind frantically searched for the strength and found it in the painful vision of his dreamgirl, Liz Parker in Kyle Valenti's arms. The words rolled off his tongue convincingly as his mind clutched at the image that effectively shut his heart off from every desire except survival. "It was all in the line of duty."

"Right. Line of duty." Liz's gaze shifted to the passing houses and she swallowed the lump in her throat and blinked back the sudden tears that formed as his frostily detached words froze a recently melted heart.

Chilled to the bone. Liz Parker suddenly understood what that cliché meant…

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Michael Guerin's gaze turned as Cole slipped through and carefully closed the door behind him. "Where've you been?"

Cole shifted his feet uncomfortably and hung his sandy blonde head as he stopped short just inside the kitchen doorway. "I…um…"

"Spit it out, Cole. Either way you do it, the answer's going to be the same." Michael's gruff voice advised as he turned back to the screen in front of him.

Letting out a sigh, Cole entered Michael's study just off the kitchen. He plopped down on a chair next to Michael and bit his lower lip nervously. "Promise you won't be mad."

Michael leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of him and eyeing his foster son warily. "I promise I won't yell."

Michael's promise elicited a half-smile as Cole leaned back in his chair relaxing some. "I was at the old soap factory."

Michael shrugged. "Ok. So, where's the part I'm supposed to be mad about?"

"The sheriff showed up…"

"What?" Michael sat up straight in his seat his alarmed gaze resting on Cole's reddening face.

"Now, Uncle Michael…wait. Just listen." Cole put his hands up to ward off any further outburst and continued. "He wasn't there for me. He was actually there…" Cole's gaze dropped uncomfortably. "Actually, from the sound of it he was probably more there for Liz Parker than the alien, but he and the alien sure didn't get along…"

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa." Michael placed a restraining hand on Cole's shoulder causing the teen to stop his rambling and his gaze to snap back to Michael's face. "Did you just say alien? As in…another one of us?"

Cole nodded his head. "Yeah, that's what I said."

"And you're sure?"

"Positive." Cole nodded again. "There's no mistaking it. There's a new kid in town, Uncle Michael…and he's Liz Parker's boyfriend…"