He rubbed his face wearily and glanced at Tess in the seat next to him. She was staring out the window, her face turned away from him. He was giving her a ride home and she would stay in the house Nacedo was still renting until the end of summer. Then they would have to get her a new place to stay or the school will get suspicious. She wasn’t very friendly towards him, but he could understand that. Everything she had ever believed to be her future is gone now. He felt a little sorry for her, but the image of Liz lying in that bed and not waking up because of her was still fresh in his memory.

His attention drifted to other more pressing problems. Maybe he could graduate sooner. He knew he could probably use his powers to process all the information he needed to study faster, but he never tried it fearing it would look suspicious. So it had always been a struggle to be a good student, but not one so good that he attracted attention. But if he managed to graduate sooner, he could be with Liz sooner. And he would have greater control over his own affairs without dragging his parents into the whole mess that was his life.

Max’s throat constricted at the thought that his parents would one day find out what he was. He didn’t think he could handle that on top of everything else right now. Maybe one day when he was older and married to Liz… Liz. If it wasn’t for her unconditional love, his life would have been unbearable for him right now. But the hope of him and Liz being together forever in the future, kept him going through the motions of being the famed alien leader that he supposedly was.

After dropping Tess off at her house, he turned the Jeep towards his home. His watch told him it was close to midnight and he had to ignore the urgent calls from his heart and his body to go to Liz. They both needed sleep and could do without the wrath of their parents. It was bad enough that they had taken such a wild chance this afternoon in Michael’s apartment, but he kept telling himself that it was extraordinary circumstances and that it would not happen again. They did not need to get caught in a situation like that! The only problem was, he has always had trouble keeping his hands off of Liz Parker and now that they were intimate on a regular basis, he was even worse. It didn’t help much that Liz apparently had the same problem with him. His heart sped up at the memory of the way she had looked at him this afternoon. So much need and longing had been in her beautiful eyes that she made him weak with desire. He smiled. His Liz…

~*~*~*~*~*~

When Marcus and Liz came out of the class, tired but satisfied, they saw Sarah being driven off on a motorcycle. Liz wondered about the quiet girl again. She seemed to be almost desperate to learn some of the techniques in the class and Liz was starting to suspect it had something to do with her boyfriend. Maybe he was hurting her… Liz shuddered. She couldn’t even contemplate being in an abusive relationship. Not when her boyfriend was the world’s gentlest guy!

Marcus waited until he was sure she was safely in her room before he waved to the guy on night duty in front of the Crashdown. His muscles were stiff already and he grimly thought that guarding Liz Parker was going to be the death of him. But hey, he was just glad to still be alive and not in one of their prison spheres after what happened with the gunman this afternoon. Max had been surprisingly calm about the whole thing for which both Marcus and Chris were eternally grateful. Its not like they haven’t seen Max in full flight while something was wrong with his Liz!

He needed to get home and start preparing for his move to the little town of Roswell NM with HIS mate. At least he would get to live in a real house for a change, but he wasn’t too sure about working for the Sheriff of the town. Max trusted the Sheriff, but it was still a big leap for a guy who spent his whole life in a camp away from human contact. He smiled when he remembered the concentration and determination with which Liz had taken part in the class just now. If the other humans were like Liz Parker, then he was prepared to take the chance.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Jeff and Nancy looked up as Liz came through the door of the apartment. Their eyes widened in surprise at her attire. "Were you at the gym?" Nancy was clearly stunned at the possibility.

Shaking her head, Liz grinned. "No, I’m taking self-defense classes with someone from the Sheriff’s office!"

This seemed to surprise her parents even more. Jeff and Nancy looked at each other. "Lizzie, could you sit down so we can talk for a moment?" Jeff’s gentle voice was tentative. This was his only darling daughter and he was really scared about what has been going on in her life.

Liz bit her lip, fear of what they were going to say taking hold of her. Please let them not forbid me to see Max! She perched gingerly on the edge of the chair that faced the couch her parents were sitting on.

Her father looked uncomfortable before he started speaking. "We just need to know what is going on in your life right now."

"What do you mean, Dad?" Her voice sounded amazingly calm to her own ears.

"We mean that there are strange things happening ever since the beginning of the summer and we need to know if… if there is something we should worry about." Her mother was looking at her intently. "It’s… it’s not drugs or something, is it?"

Liz felt her mouth drop open. "Drugs! No! How could you even think that?"

Her parents were shifting around in their seats, clearly not sure how to handle the whole conversation. "What about Max? Is he into anything illegal?"

"Mom, he saved my life today. He would never do anything that would harm me. You have to believe that!"

"But why did it look like that man that attacked you today knew him? And who were those two men that were hanging around the café all summer and that helped Max today?" Her mother was getting agitated.

Liz gripped the armrests of the chair, fighting for calm. "Mom, I don’t know who that man was. And the two men that came in probably know Max from his work at the UFO museum. It’s nothing sinister." Liz knew she was floundering and didn’t know how to get out of this situation without doing more harm to Max’s reputation.

"I think we need to talk with the Evans’--."

"Mom!"

"Liz, you’re our little girl and we love you. Surely you can understand that we worry about you being involved with Max? With any boy for that matter?" Her mother was sounding firm now.

Liz realized that fighting against this now would only cement her parents’ suspicions that something weird was going on with Max. So she merely nodded with downcast eyes.

Her mother’s voice was soft when she continued. "I saw how much he cares about you today. We just want to be sure, okay?"

Liz nodded again. Tears were starting to gather in her eyes. The day had been long and tiring. She needed Max. She needed his arms and his soft voice telling her that she is safe and loved. Her phone started ringing in her room, giving her the chance to escape. She knew it was Max before she even picked up.

"Hi Max." Her voice was thick with unshed tears.

"Hey love. Are you okay? I felt… What’s wrong?" His voice was filled with concern.

"I’m just missing you… Sorry for being so pathetic. How are you?" Liz heard the weariness in his voice and she didn’t want to add to his burden tonight. They could talk about her parents tomorrow.

He took a deep breath. "Tired. I just… I just needed to hear your voice."

Liz wanted to burst into tears. She could feel Max hanging onto normalcy like a drowning man and she desperately wanted to be able to hold him and help him gain his strength back. "I love you, Max. I’ll be here whenever you need me."

She heard his intake of breath before he said quietly. "You don’t know how much it means to hear you say that."

Liz forced a smile into her voice. "Do you think that maybe we could have one of those shared dreams of ours tonight? One of those in which I don’t have to worry about you still respecting me in the morning?"

Max’s soft chuckle warmed her heart. "We can definitely try!"

~*~*~*~*~*~