"Liz? Honey?" she heard her mom's concerned voice from the doorway.

Liz just continued to cry.

"Liz what's wrong?" Nancy said as she came to sit on her daughter’s bed and soothe her by rubbing her back lightly.

"I never feel sick and now I feel sick and my first dance is tonight." Liz mumbled into her pillow in between sobs.

"Sick? Where does it hurt? Liz?" Nancy raised and eyebrow and became worried. Liz had never gotten sick and Nancy assumed it was because of her genetic makeup. Now she wondered what Liz was feeling.

"Liz sweetie, where does it hurt?" Nancy asked again, as her daughter just continued to cry.

Liz finally turned over and looked at her mom. "My tummy hurts bad. I can't sit up." she explained and then thought about missing the dance tonight and started crying again.

"Your tummy hurts? What did you eat?" Nancy asked with a frown. Normally her daughter was a very picky eater. Nothing seemed to taste very good to Liz. She couldn't imagine what she'd eaten that could have caused this.

"I don't know. Nothing since lunch." Liz mumbled suddenly doubling over into a curled up position as another sharp pain hit her.

"Cramps! Are you having cramps?" Nancy exclaimed as she watched her daughter's actions.

"Yes. And I want to be well enough to go to the dance tonight! Now I won't be able to cause I can't even stand up, never mind dance!" she started crying again.

Nancy relaxed thinking she knew what was wrong with her daughter. It wasn’t some alien sign or problem, just the natural order of life.

"Liz, honey, I think you're going to be fine." Nancy smiled and explained it to her daughter.

************

Phillip Evans drove a chatty group of girls and a quiet Max to their first dance. He tried to smile and pretend nothing was going on. He and Diane had agreed not to talk to the children until after their dance.

Max shifted nervously in the front seat next to his dad and kept looking behind him to see Liz who was surrounded by his sisters and Maria as they all chatted happily about the night to come.

He was amazed that they actually let him go in and get Liz by himself when they’d gotten to the Crashdown. For a moment he thought maybe it was a community date and wondered if he’d have any time with Liz.

Liz too kept sneaking peeps at Max who looked so good her mouth almost dropped open when she’d seen him. He’d given her a little corsage and she’d given him one, and they’d laughed as they’d nervously tried to put each other’s on.

Then Max led her to the car and her waiting friends. She couldn’t wait to get to the dance so she could actually dance and talk to Max. The girls didn’t seem to give her a minute to ask how he was and to tell him how good he looked.

“Liz, so you’re okay now huh? Wow…did it like hurt really bad?” Tess asked biting her lip. Maria had filled them in on the fact that Liz was now the second of their group to have ‘become a woman’, since Isabel had become one 5 months ago.

Max sighed and rolled his eyes as he heard only low whispering going on behind him. He couldn’t wait to get to the dance and get Liz alone. He wanted to tell her how pretty she looked and how happy he was that she was going with him.

After his dad dropped them off, Max took Liz’s hand and ignoring the other girls’ chatter, he led Liz into the already crowded gym.

Liz held on tightly to Max’s hand until they found an opening where they could stop and stand.

Max turned to Liz and smiled at her, not letting go of her hand, but pulling her other hand around and taking that one too.

“I didn’t get to tell you how good you look tonight Liz.” Max smiled, his eyes adoring her.

Liz blushed at Max’s intense gaze but smiled and looked up into his eyes. “You look really good too Max. Thank you for taking me to the dance. I know the other guys gave you a hard time about it.” She said.

“If it means being with you, I don’t care how much teasing they give me.” He grinned and squeezed her hands briefly before he looked at her again more intently.

Liz stopped smiling as she saw Max’s all of a sudden serious expression and intense look. “What?” she asked wondering if she had something in her hair or on her dress.

“Are you okay?” he asked looking her over and again meeting her eyes intently.

Liz frowned in confusion. “Yes. Why?” she asked not knowing what was wrong with Max.

“I don’t know… you just… something seems different. You seem different. You sure you’re okay? Nothing’s happened?” he asked seriously. He didn’t know what it was, but he sensed something was different about his Liz.

Liz’s face turned red and she stiffened. “Max!” she cried out suddenly and throwing her hands over her face she ran for the bathroom.

Max was shocked and then started to follow worriedly. What had he said!?

Maria saw Liz cover her face and run crying into the bathroom and met Max at the door to the bathroom.

“Maria? What’s wrong with Liz?” He asked in total confusion and with worry clouding his eyes.

“What…what did you say?” Maria wanted to know. She had seen the stunned look on Liz’s face even though she couldn’t hear what they had been saying.

“Nothing! I just asked if she was okay. That she just seemed different.” Max answered in bewilderment.

Maria was taken back by Max’s admission and then she got a funny look on her own face. “Oh my God Max. You know, sometimes that little Alien Liz Radar can be down right spooky.” Maria said and started to go into the bathroom after her friend.

“Wait!” Max exclaimed even more confused. “What’s wrong with Liz! What did I say?” he asked desperately.

Maria took pity on him and finally sighed and smiled lightly. “Well Max, your Liz Radar was too right on tonight I guess. Something did happen to Liz today.” She smiled actually enjoying the idea of telling Max and having him get all flustered.

“What happened? Why didn’t she tell me? Is she okay?” Max asked in sudden panic. He had been right!

“Relax Romeo. Liz just became a woman today.” Maria said with an amused look.

“What?” Max looked baffled still.

“She got her period Max. And she’s a little sensitive and emotional right now. I don’t think she was planning on sharing that with you but your radar is just too intense when it comes to Liz.” Maria laughed when she saw Max turned pale and then beet red and she left him standing in front of the bathroom with his mouth open.

*********** Claudia sat down on the Parker’s couch after they had told her the news.

“I went to pick Diane up for lunch the other day when Phillip had just finished telling her he’d gotten transferred to Los Angeles.” Nancy explained as she too sat down and started wringing her hands.

“We decided not to tell any of the children until after their dance tonight.” Jeff finished and stopped his pacing to look at his mother who was still silent as she digested all they’d said.

“What are you going to do Claudia?” Nancy couldn’t help but ask for both of them.

Claudia at first had been just as panicked as her son and daughter-in-law at the news that some of her little charges were going to be taken away. But as she thought about it she thought that this might actually keep them safer until they were old enough to deal with all they would have to deal with. If they were not all together, they would be harder to find, if indeed someone was looking for them. And the little alien had told her that their enemies definitely would be looking for them.

“I think I’m going to talk with Diane and Phillip and let them know everything. Then we will go from there. This move might not be such a bad idea from a safety point of view. And as long as the Evans know the truth, I’ll be able to keep in touch with them and they can let me know if they suspect anything.” Claudia explained.

“So you won’t be telling the kids yet about themselves? You won’t tell Liz yet?” Nancy held her breath.

“No. As long as she continues to show no signs of her alien side, and doesn’t start to ask questions, we can keep this from her. The longer she is unaware, the safer she and the others will be. But the minute she starts to show signs of her alien heritage, you let me know. That will be the time to tell her.” Claudia said getting up and getting her coat on.

“But you’ll tell the Evans all of it? About Liz too?” Jeff asked.

“Yes. I think they will need to know. I’m not completely sure how this strong connection between Max and Liz will affect them once they are separated. We need Phillip and Diane to keep an eye on Max as you will with Liz and let me know if anything happens with either one of them because of this, and then we might have to rethink our plans.” Claudia sighed and headed for the door. “I might as well talk with the Evans while their children are at the dance as well.”

************

When Liz and Maria came out of the bathroom 10 minutes later, it was to see a sad Max slumped against the wall near the bathroom.

Liz’s heart went out to him. It wasn’t his fault he was so connected to her and he hadn’t meant to embarrass her. And here it was their first dance and she’d ruined their night.

She took a deep breath, done with her stupid bout of crying, and telling Maria with her eyes to go on into the dance, she headed over to Max.

“Hi Max.” she said softly and a little shyly still.

Max straightened up, his face turning red again as he met her eyes. But there was also regret in them as well.

“I’m sorry Liz! I didn’t mean to embarrass you!” Max jumped to apologize.

Liz smiled but turned red too as she took his hand. “It’s okay Max. I’m not mad. I…I just get kinda upset easy too with…ah…the changes.” She tried to explain and had to look away.

Max only nodded and then when she looked at him again under lowered lashes, Max smiled back at her and squeezed her hand.

“If it makes you feel any better, I’m going through changes too.” He whispered.

Liz looked up surprised at his admission but thought it was sweet since he was so hesitant about having admitted it, but wanting to put her at ease.

“I know…my mom told me about…about the changes guys go through when she told me about girls.” Liz swallowed thinking of those changes and blushing again.

Max turned red to the roots of his hair realizing Liz knew what he was going through, but then chuckled.

Liz met his eyes in surprise. “What?” she asked wondering what he could possibly find funny about all of this.

“Sorry, I was just remembering my dad’s talk last year and how mortified I was. It was a nightmare!” he remembered solemnly and then chuckled again.

Liz giggled, glad that the tension was lessened between them. “Yeah, I was pretty embarrassed myself.” She agreed.

Max nodded and then looked seriously at Liz again. “Liz, let’s not worry about this anymore tonight okay? Let’s just have fun. After all this is your first dance, and we haven’t even danced yet.”

“Okay.” Liz smiled relieved that Max still wanted to dance with her and be with her after the way she’d made him feel tonight.

“I’m sorry I got so emotional Max.” she started to say again.

“Shhh…. It’s okay Liz. I understand. And from now on, I’ll keep my big mouth shut if I ah…sense anything again.” He blushed.

Liz looked alarmed. “No Max! Actually, I kinda like knowing that your “Liz Radar” is strong. I’ll always feel safe knowing you can sense things about me like…like at the reservoir last year. If you try to ignore your radar, who knows what might happen. No. I promise to be honest with you if you sense something and aren’t sure what it is okay?” she smiled shyly.

Max swallowed realizing how much trust Liz was giving him. “Yeah, okay. And Liz, there isn’t anything you can’t ask me either.” He promised, meeting her eyes just as seriously.

Liz nodded feeling even closer to Max at this moment. No secrets between them, she liked that.

“Now come on, I’ve got the prettiest girl in the world to dance with and I’m going to show her off.” He teased and led her back into the gym.

************

“Oh my God. No wonder Max was drawn to Liz from the very first time he met her.” Diane Evans exclaimed. She placed the cups of coffee on the living room table and slid into a chair at the information Claudia had just given them.

“So this alien entrusted you all those years ago.” Phillip said in awe.

Claudia nodded but looked sad. “Yes, but it looks like I failed him. I almost lost them all for good.”

“Oh but if you hadn’t, Claudia, we’d not have our babies right now! I for one am so GLAD things turned out the way they did. I couldn’t imagine life without our kids.” Diane choked back her emotions at that thought.

Claudia nodded and realized that maybe things had worked out the way they should have.

“So what do we do? Just let you know how they’re doing?” Phillip asked putting his hands in his pockets as he paced, reminding Claudia of Max at that moment.

“Yes. I think that would be fine for now.” Claudia said.

“You don’t…you don’t want to tell them about themselves yet? Or tell them about Liz?” Diane asked.

“No. Max and Liz’s connection is strong as it is, if they knew all about each other I doubt we’d be able to keep them apart at all, and I think for right now it’s not a bad idea if all of the children were separated for awhile. There will be less danger if someone is looking for them.

“Well at least Phillip is only being transferred for three years. Then we’ve been promised this location permanently.” Diane sighed in relief.

“When do you have to leave?” Claudia asked.

“Phillip has to go right away, but we can wait until after the holidays to join him. The kids will start at their new school after the winter holiday break.” Diane explained.

“You will let me know of any thing unusual? Or anything odd about Max once he and Liz are separated?” Claudia asked them again. She wanted to be sure they kept her informed.

“Yes! Of course. My God! To know your childrens futures is really overwhelming.” Diane said handing the book back to Claudia.

“I probably would have been more doubtful if you hadn’t shown us that book the little alien gave you Claudia.” Phillip admitted as he watched her tuck it back into her bag.

“I know. Which was one of the main reasons I brought it with me.” She smiled and got ready to leave.

“Claudia…” Diane said as she walked the woman to the door.

Claudia turned back to Diane Evans as she opened the door.

“Thank you. Thank you for taking such good care of the children when they were in their pods and so helpless and vulnerable. My God, to think they might have been caught by the government all those years ago and had who knows what done to them.” Diane shivered.

Claudia touched her arm. “But they weren’t. And they have become beautiful strong and healthy thanks to you and Phillips love and support.” Claudia assured her.

*************

Max handed Liz a drink of punch and drank his down in one gulp. They had been dancing to the fast paced music with the other girls all night and he’d actually had fun watching his sisters and Maria and Liz dance around him showing him their new moves. He loved seeing Liz laughing and happy.

Liz too gulped down her drink as she stood by Max and watched her friends still dancing out on the dance floor.

They had gotten some of the boys who had showed up stag, to dance with them, and they were having a great time.

Then the music suddenly slowed and the lights dimmed. Max suddenly put down his drink and looked at Liz.

Liz froze with her drink half way to her lips and met Max’s intense eyes. She felt a shiver and excitement in her tummy and couldn’t help but smile shyly under her lashes at him.

Without a word, Max took her cup and placed both of their cups on the table behind him and held out his hand for hers.

Liz placed her hand in his and looked up from their joined hands to his eyes once more.

They were that intense amber mixed with brandy when he looked at her that way, and she wondered for a moment if her legs would allow her to move, they were trembling so hard.

Max swallowed, his own stomach doing flips as he led Liz back onto the dance floor.

They glided into each other’s arms so naturally, and Liz actually felt a huge sigh go through her whole body as Max’s arms came around her and she leaned her head on his chest. They had hugged before, but never like this. Never held each other like this and Liz realized this feeling must be how it felt to be drunk and she smiled.

Max’s head was spinning with the feel of Liz in his arms for the first time. All he could do was close his eyes, let the heavy slow music lead them, and hold the beautiful girl in his arms. His whole body was humming and so aware of Liz that he wondered if this is what being intoxicated felt like.

Liz felt Max’s body shaking as he held her close, and she looked up at him with such equal longing and amazement.

Max looked down at Liz and sucked in his breath when he saw the yearning in her eyes and how she suddenly licked her lips. His whole body clenched when he realized they were going to kiss for the first time.

“Liz…” Max said hoarsely. He wasn’t sure if he was just saying her name because he couldn’t not say it, or if he was asking for permission.

But either way, Liz lifted her head higher and met Max’s hot gaze with her own.

Both of them were trembling when Max stopped their slow dancing and taking a deep breath, he slowly lowered his mouth to her sweet waiting one.

Max hoped he wouldn’t faint before he actually touched her lips, for his head was spinning out of control and his ears were buzzing.

Liz held her breath in anticipation as she saw Max’s lashes lower over his eyes and he glanced at her lips and then descended his head toward hers.

The first light touch of their lips had them both gasp and pull apart. It was like a spark of electricity. They knew they had both felt it. Then Max was lowering his head again, both needing that contact once more.

Liz sighed deeply when Max’s warm mouth covered hers and she kissed him back eagerly. Her hands slid up around his neck and she hung on tight, afraid she would fall if he weren’t holding her so tightly.

When they finally came up for air, Liz blushed at the dark look she saw in Max’s eyes, but she couldn’t look away. “Max…” she whispered.

“Yeah?” Max whispered back, not sure he could really talk right now. His whole body was humming and spinning with the taste and feel of his Liz in his arms and on his lips.

“Wow…” was all she could say as she held him tighter around the neck.

Max managed a smile and nodded. “Yeah.” Was all he could reply.