Finding the box underneath the bed that he and Liz had shared while they were in the camp the previous time, Max stared at it after he put it on the bed.

"What’s inside?" Isabel was speaking in a hushed voice without realizing it.

"I don’t know. Liz and I never got around to looking." He met Isabel’s gaze. "And I wouldn’t feel right about opening it without her now."

Isabel nodded, understanding what Max was trying to say. That Liz will be coming back to open the box herself and that Izzy would only be keeping it temporarily. In Max’s heart, the box will belong to Liz no matter what.

Sitting down on his bed, Max had to close his eyes to stop the torture of remembering how Liz had felt curled up in his arms here that few nights so long ago. Taking a deep breath, he vowed that he would experience that again, even if he had to die trying…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz sat with her arms hugging her knees against the one wall. By some silent agreement, she and Sarah had given her mother the cot and Nancy was sleeping fitfully on it now. Looking at her watch, Liz saw that it was only 18:00. It felt like they had been here for ages. She was too far away from Max to feel him properly and she was getting lonely without his constant presence in her mind. On top of all the shocks she had received after listening to Sarah, another one was added. The guy holding them was one of Devin’s friends by the name of Tim. Sarah wasn’t sure if there would be any other people working with him.

Sarah was sitting cross-legged across from Liz and stared at the floor blankly. Eric was probably going out of his mind with worry by now and she prayed that he was being careful while he looked for her. So far, she had only seen Tim here and she wondered if he was working on his own. Somehow she had trouble acknowledging that some of Eric’s people were betraying him like this. He was put on earth to come finish a war that he barely remembered and meeting and falling in love with her, had made him even more uncertain about the terrible task he was here to complete. She looked over at Liz. "You seem really sad."

Liz wiped a tear from her cheek, not noticing her mother had woken up next to her. "I miss Max. I miss… his presence." Seeing Sarah’s confusion, she decided to elaborate. "Max and I we… we feel each other. All the time, but right now he’s too far away for me to really feel him."

"Wow. Eric and I, we love each other a lot, but… you and Max. You seem like two parts of a whole." Sarah sounded a little jealous.

"Uhm, yeah. That’s a good way of putting it. It’s like I can’t breathe if he’s away from me for too long, you know?" Liz’s heart ached. She wanted Max here. She wanted him to put his arms around her and make her feel safe. She wanted to tell him that she loved him one more time. She bit her lip, trying not to start crying for real. "How did you and Eric meet? How did you find out he was… alien?"

Sarah looked down. "My story is not as fairy tale like as yours, getting healed from a gunshot wound! I was… I ran away from home when I was younger. The short version is that he found me on the street one night and chased two guys off that wanted to--. Anyway, I didn’t have anywhere else to go, so he took me with him. We were friends for a long time before he finally allowed us to be more."

Smiling wistfully, Liz nodded. "Max was the same. He was so scared he would hurt me because he was different. It took him forever to kiss me! Wait a minute! How did you know Max healed me?"

Now Sarah was smiling. "We saw the story on the Internet. On one of those conspiracy sites. We just had to find out who was healed and who did the healing. We chatted with some people in Roswell, they all said that the rumor was that you got shot and that a guy named Max Evans had saved you. They always laughed while telling us this crazy story! Then I saw you with Max the other day and I just knew. The way you two were with each other. The way he looked at you. Like you were his everything…"

Neither of them realized that Nancy was listening to this whole conversation with baited breath. There was so much about her relationship with Max that Liz had never told her.

Sarah continued. "We were always travelling in a group. We were about 15 people. I woke up one night and heard some of the others arguing with Eric about me. He finally told them that he would make his own decisions and that he would tell me what he was cause I had a right to know. He told me and I realized I had always sort of known that he was different. I didn’t care. As long as he loved me."

"So you’re…?" "Human? Yeah. Just like you." Sarah paused. "Maybe not exactly like you. What happened between you and Max? Why are you two so connected?"

"We don’t know either. It was just always sort of there after he healed me." Liz didn’t want to share too much details of her life with Max with this stranger. Some things were too precious to just tell anybody.

Oh Max! I miss you…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Max was getting frustrated because all he could get from Liz were feelings, so he turned to his sister again. "I need your help."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz, love! Are you okay?

Liz leant her head back against the wall with a gasp, startling Nancy and Sarah. "It’s Max!" Max was inside her head! Talking to her!

Max! I love you! There was no time like the present to make sure that he knew that.

Me too. Next time I hear that, we will be together, I promise. Do you know where you are?

Nancy and Sarah watched in awe as Liz shook her head sadly, obviously having some discussion in her head that they couldn’t share.

No. We’re in a small room and its dark all the time. Max you have to listen to me. It’s really important. You have to find a guy named Eric. He is Sarah’s boyfriend and Max… he’s the leader of the other aliens--.

WHAT! Max’s rage nearly overwhelmed her.

No Max! You have to listen. The guy holding us. He worked with Devin and he is part of a group of Eric’s people that are trying to perpetuate a war between our two races. Liz didn’t even realize she used "our" when talking about Max’s people. Sarah is with us and she says the kidnapper’s name is Tim. Maybe Eric can help you find us. Liz had never talked so fast in her life, but she was afraid the connection would be broken before she could get all the details to Max. Max…please be careful. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you!

Liz. I…

Another presence suddenly joined the connection, making Liz shiver.

Tess.

Get out, Max. Isabel is starting to look pale.

Honey, I… I’m coming. Hold on.

Then he was gone.

Liz came out of her daze to find two pairs of eyes trained on her. Meeting Nancy’s gaze, she smiled. "Max is coming."