At the moment Max had gone to the pay phone to let his parents know where he was, and he had insisted that Liz stay with her parents, just in case the doctor showed up while he was gone. Without Max’s calming touch though, Liz was growing more nervous, and more anxious for the news. What was going on? Was her grandma going to be okay? The situation was driving Liz out of her mind.

She sighed in relief when Max slid back into the seat next to her, grasping her hand and squeezing it comfortingly, as he brought it up to his lips for a soft kiss.

Trying to ignore the Parkers, sitting on Liz’s other side, Max looked deeply into her eyes and softly asked her: “Are you doing okay?”

“Yes…no…I don’t know. I’ll be fine.” Max gave her a look, before reaching up and placing his arm around her shoulders, stroking the ends of her hair comfortingly.

“It’s okay…just let it all out, Liz.”

“I’m scared, Max. I want to see her right now and make sure that she’s okay. I don’t want to loose her. Is everything going to be okay, Max? Please tell me that everything’s going to be okay?”

Max sucked in a breath as her eyes cried out to him, pleading with him to say something to make it all better. Max couldn’t lie to her… “I don’t know, Liz.”

“Jeff, Nancy.” Dr. Sanchez walked in at that moment, greeting Liz’s parents.

“Thank you for coming...we're so glad you're able to be here.” Mrs. Parker responded quickly.

“Of course.” Dr. Sanchez responded warmly. He had been the Parker’s family physician for years. It was only right to have him here now.

“How is she?” Jeff asked softly, fear for his mother sneaking into his tone.

“ Jeff, your mother's had a stroke. This is serious, but she's been responding really well. Her vital signs are good. She's stabilized.”

“Is she going to be okay?” Nancy asked.

“A lot of people fully recover from a stroke like this, but it's early. We're going to need some time to determine what the repercussions are.” He explained gently.

“Thank you.”

“We have reason to be positive here.”

As Dr. Sanchez headed back into the hospital, Liz turned to Max with a huge smile plastered on her face.

“Did you hear that? She’s going to be okay!” Liz cried happily, leaning up to press a kiss on Max’s lips, much to her parents’ dismay. She whirled around to face them. “Can we see her now?”

“Sure, why don’t you kids go first? We’ll wait here until you’re done.”

“Thank you, Dad!” Liz cried out, already dragging Max down the hallway.

Her moment of pleasure was almost immediately subdued though, when Liz saw her grandmother, pale and sickly looking, lying unconscious in the hospital bed, all sorts of tubes hooked up to her.

“Oh grandma…” Liz gasped out sadly at the sight of her. Liz slowly made her way across the room, pulling a chair up beside Claudia.

“I expected her to look a lot better than this.” Liz whispered softly.

“She’s putting up a good fight, Liz. It’s taking a toll on her body…it’s okay. She’s strong. She isn’t going to stop fighting.”

“Can you…”

“I can try to connect with her…make sure she’s still in there.”

“Will you?” Liz asked softly.

“Yeah.” Max responded gently. “Of course I will. Do you want to join me?”

“What?”

“I think that since our connection with each other is so strong, I may be able to make a three way connection so that you can go in with me.”

Liz nodded. “I’d like that.”

“I think it’s going to be very different from our connection, Liz. We’re going to be going into her subconscious.”

“Lets do it.”

Max and Liz grasped each other’s hands, and looked into each other’s eyes. The connection instantly flared up between them. Max could feel Liz’s fear for her grandma, and how much she desperately wanted her to get better, and Liz was surprised to find the same feelings emerging from Max. Wasn’t it just yesterday when Max has been so nervous and afraid of her? Was it he that was nervous, or both of them? Liz couldn’t separate his thoughts and feelings from her own. They were one mind, one heart, one soul.

In complete unison, they turned and each placed a hand on Claudia’s arm, staring intently into her face, and clearing their thoughts of everything besides Claudia. Only Grandma Claudia…

The closed their eyes, and opened them to find themselves standing in the blinding sun of a hot, dry desert. They searched around with their eyes, and found Claudia standing by a cliff a few feet away, in full archaeological gear, digging wildly.

“Grandma!” Max and Liz cried out. She looked up from her work and smiled at them, without even breaking the motion of her digging.

“Liz, Max! What are you doing here? No matter… I wish I could stop to talk to you, but I have to keep digging. I can’t stop digging. If I stop digging then it’s all over.” She sighed softly. “I’m starting to get tired though. If I have to stop… Max, you told Liz, right?” Max nodded. “Good. You have to promise to take care of her forever.”

“Okay.”

“Now get out of here. I can’t keep digging with you kids distracting me.”

Max and Liz nodded. They closed their eyes again, breaking the connection, and opened them to find themselves back in the hospital room.

Max turned to Liz, and pulled her into his arms, gently pressing a kiss on her forehead.

“She’s fighting, Liz. And she’s not giving up.”

“Yeah, I know that now. All we can do is wait for her to get better. Max…what did she want you to tell me?”

“The truth about myself…that I’m an alien.”

“She knew?” Liz gasped in surprise.

“Yeah…she figured me out over the summer. I still don’t know how… I think she wanted to talk to us about it, but then all of this happened…”