When finally the silence is broken, Max reluctantly tells her he must go. That it wouldn't be good for her parents to him in her bed. She understands, but longs for him to stay by her side. He kisses her to show he understands what she wants; he wants it too, but stands and dresses anyway. He hadn't meant to stay as long as he did, and knows that it has to be this way.

Before he leaves he moves to the side of the bed, drawing up on her knees, kissing for one long moment, then pulling away. "I love you Liz Parker. I have from the first day I saw you, and I will till the day I die. There is nothing in existence that can compare to the way I feel about you."

Before releasing her hold from around his neck, Liz replies, "I love you too, Max Evans. No matter what happens, know this, I'll love you through eternity, for you own my heart, mind, and soul." With one more sweet kiss they say their farewell. Liz watches Max climb out through her window and over the ledge of her balcony where Max descends to the alley below.

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

Sunday morning Max wakes up to the sound of his alarm. He rubs the sleep from his eyes and looks at the clock, 7:30. After turning off the alarm he rolls out of bed, placing his bare feet on the floor. He struggles to make himself move, he has to be to work in an hour, but he's tired, he only had 3 hours sleep the night before. Even though he's tired a blissful smile spreads across his face as he thinks about why he's so tired.

Without warning he finds that he has a renewed burst of energy. He moves quickly to the bathroom to shower and prepare for the day. He plans to stop at the Crashdown; on his way to work; to check on Liz and make sure that she's doing okay.

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

Liz wakes up to the sound of her mother knocking on her door. She forgot to set her alarm for work this morning. "I'm up, I'm up. I'll be out in a moment." She calls out to her mom as climbs out of bed. She tries to rush to the bathroom to get ready for work. However she finds it difficult due to the mild pain between her legs. She grins shyly to herself as she recalls why she's in pain.

Upon entering her bathroom and seeing her the sheets she hand washed the night before; she makes a mental note to run them through the washer today. Quickly pulling them down off of the shower rod, she places them her dirty close hamper, figuring that even if her mother sees them, she wouldn't suspect what she had done the night before. After all, her mother wouldn't know the difference between menstrual blood and the small traces of blood that still remained on her sheets.

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

Maria is standing beside her locker at the Crashdown putting her things away when she spies Liz coming up beside her. She notices that Liz looks so happy that she's almost glowing. She figures that Max must have taken her somewhere really special in their dream last night. "Hey babe, you look happy today. Could this have to do with a really good dream?"

"More like a really good night" Liz blushes slightly.

"Oh my ....you two didn't..you know? Inquires an excited Maria. Liz turns even redder as she shakes her head slowly while biting her lower lip to keep her smile from growing too big.

"Well how are you? You okay?

"Yeah, I'm a little sore this morning, but other than that I'm fine."

"Did it hurt like they say?"

"Only briefly"

"Tell me more. I want details like - where, when, what, how, and of course I know who." Maria continues to bombarded Liz with questions, scarcely giving her time to answer them.

"Maria stop, I'm not going to tell you everything. Some things are just to personal." Maria feels a pain at those words. She told Michael the same thing about sharing information about their dreams, and her she was prying into something more personal than their dreams. This was the real thing. "Fine, I'll only ask one more question, and then I drop the subject. Deal?"

"Depends on the question, Maria."

"Don't worry, it's not *to* personal." Liz nods her head in agreement. "Was it better than in your... you know.... in your dreams?"

Just then Max walks through the door between to lounge and the kitchen. He smiles so brightly; when he sees Liz; that you would think that he was the happiest man on the face of the earth. Liz; without taking her eyes off of Max, quickly answers Maria. "Definitely!" She then walks over to Max. "Hey!"

"Hey yourself." They share a brief kiss. "I wanted to make sure that everything's all right, that your all right." Max looks concerned

"I'm fine, a little sore, but fine."

"Sore? Is it bad, because I could..."

"No, it's not that bad, and besides it would look really bad if someone saw you. Could you imagine the look on my fathers face if he walked in and saw your hand touching me there. I get shivers thinking about it. I think he'd either kill you or me for letting you.

"I see your point." Even though Max wouldn't want anything like that to happen, he can't resist grinning at the thought. "I've got to get to work, see you later?"

"You know where to find me." Max kisses her on the lips and heads out for the door. "Don't forget, you don't go anywhere alone. It's still to risky." Liz smiles and nods her head. She loves the way he's so concerned for her safety.

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

Isabel walks out of her bathroom wearing her bathrobe, her hair is still wet. She sits down on the edge of her bed and combs her hair. There's a knock on her door. "Yes?"

"Dear, it's mom can I talk to you for a moment?"

Isabel walks over to her door, opens it, and returns to her bed, combing her hair the whole while. "What's up mom?"

Diana sits down on the bed next to Isabel, "Dear, I'm hopping that you can help me with something." Isabel patiently waits for her mother to continue. "It's about your brother. He's hardly ever here anymore. He comes in late, leaves really early, and when he's here he seems so distracted. Can you help me, I'm really starting to worry about him. You know him better than anyone, Is there anything that I need to be concerned about?"

Isabel stops combing her hair, "Mom everything is fine, I promise. Max is just really busy between school, work, and Liz."

"Liz? Do you mean the girl that go shoot, the one he visited at the hospital awhile back?"

"Yeah, Liz Parker. Her parents own the Crashdown." Isabel feels uncomfortable telling her mother about Max's and Liz's relationship. She doesn't feel that it's her place to do so.

"So they're dating?" Diana breaths a sign of relief. The thought of Max finally finding a girl he likes enough to go out with brings a slight smile to her face.

Isabel gets up from the bed, walks over to the closet, and busies herself pulling out an outfit for the day. "Yeah, they've been going out for awhile now. I can't tell you much more than that, other than to say that Liz is really sweet and she's really good for Max. When they aren't working, they are usually studying at her place. She's like Max, she likes to study."

Diana stands up and move toward the door. "Thanks Is, you've really helped. I'll see you downstairs."

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

Later that day Isabel and Alex decide to pay Max a visit at the UFO museum. Max is busy putting books away on the shelves.

"Hey Max." Isabel says to get Max's attention.

Max looks from the shelf to the doorway and sees both Alex and Isabel. "Is... Alex, what are you two doing here?

"I figured you would want to know that mom was asking about you. I think she knows that you were out most of the night last night."

"Why, what did she say?"

"Basically she said you've been gone a lot lately, coming home late, leaving early. She wanted to know if I knew what you've been up to; making sure that everything is okay with you."

"Why do you think that means she knows about how late I was out last night?"

Sarcastically Isabel states, "Gee I don't know, maybe because you missed curfew, big time."

"Isabel your right, she probably does know, but there's nothing I can do about it now."

Isabel moves forward and touches Max's hand. "Max I figure you were with Liz last night, just be careful. I don't want to see anything go wrong."

Alex steps forward, moving close enough that he can be hear as he whispers, "Max, did you notice if you were still being followed this morning?"

Max answer just as quietly, "Yeah, he's still hanging around. What about you two, are you still being followed?" Max looks back and forth between Isabel and Alex. They both nod yes. "What are we going to do about them. We have to figure out a way to get them off of our tails for good."

Isabel pushes her hair back over her shoulder, and reaches for Alex's hand. "I agree, if we wait for them to lose interest; we could be waiting a long time. Besides they make me nervous."

"Not to speak of the time we are losing out at the house, or the fact that I set up a meeting with Topolski for next Sunday."

Max resumes placing books on the shelf. "We should all meet tonight, the seven of us, and see what we can come up with. Do you think we could meet at your house Alex?"

Alex looks unsure at Max's request. They've never met at his house before, and he wonders how his father is going to react seeing the whole group in the house at one time. Especially since it's not somewhere that many of them have ever been before.

"I think it would be the ideal place. We lose them somewhere, park the cars a few streets over, and meet at your house."

Isabel remembers how Mr. Whitman acted the one time she went to Alex's house, and the way he made Alex feel when he question her involvement with Alex. She has a feeling that Alex is uneasy with the prospect of them meeting there. "Max, you don't know Alex's dad. He was shocked just to see me walk in there the other day. If we all meet at Alex's his dad is bound to be curious about why. We would have to have a good explanation for why we were all there instead of say, our place."

"No, it's okay Isabel. Max is right, My place would be the best place. I'll take care of my father. Don't worry about it."

I guess it's settled then, I'll let the others know. See you Max." Isabel turns to walk away and over her shoulder she says, "By the way Max, I told mom you've been seeing Liz. She seemed interested."

Max looks up in time to see Isabel slipping out the door.

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

At the Crashdown later that afternoon; Maria and Liz have finished their shift, and after hanging up their aprons and putting their other work item into their lockers they head up stairs to talk in Liz's room. As they come through the door that joins the Crashdown and the family dwelling they both stop dead in their tracks when they see Liz's mom and Diane Evans talking at the Kitchen Table.

"Hello Mrs. Evans." They both say in unison.

"Hello girls," Diane smiles at both girls, then turns back to Nancy while standing to her feet. "Nancy, It was nice getting to know you, and I'm sure that we'll be seeing each other soon."

Liz and Maria exchange questioning looks.

"Good bye girls, it was nice seeing you both again." Diane Evans moves to the door as Jeff Parker opens it for her.

Still puzzle by Mrs. Evans presence, both Liz and Maria answer, "You... too." The puzzled tone of their voices doesn't go unnoticed by both mothers. Nancy and Diana exchange knowing glances accompanied by a slight smile.

Once Nancy Parker closes the door, Liz asks, "Mom what was Mrs. Evans doing here?"

"Nothing special dear, We ran into each other earlier and she... we realized that we have a lot in common." Nancy walks back into the kitchen and clears Diane's and her glass from the table. She notices the girls still watching her. "Is there something else you needed?"

Realizing that she's aware of them staring at her, they find and excuse to dismiss themselves from the room. "No, we better get to my room, we have..."

Maria chimes in, and finishes the sentence for Liz, "Studying to do. Liz is going to help me study for the geometry test that's coming up. Got to go." Maria takes Liz by the hand and pulls her toward the bedroom rather urgently.

They walk into Liz's room and close the door. "What's that all about? You don't think they know about you and Max, do you?"

"Maria! Don't worry. There is no way they could know." Maria doesn't look so convinced. "Think about it Maria if they knew; do you really think that my mother would be so calm. No, she would be reading me the riot act right now. Besides why are you so worried about it?"

I'm just thinking about you, babe. I don't want to see this lead to trouble for you and Max."

"I don't see that being the case here. I'm sure that they've found some common interest or something. It probably has nothing to do with Max and I." Liz looks toward the door. She not to sure that she believes anything she's saying either.

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

That same night Kyle swings by and picks up Michael and Maria. With some quick thinking and a few broken speed limits they manage to lose their tail as well. Kyle parks his car a few blocks south of Alex's and they walk the rest of the way.

Max and Isabel pick-up Liz. Isabel moves into the back seat allowing Liz to sit in the front next to Max. They drive to the out skirts of town and into the desert. Max figuring that the jeep can go places that the burgundy car following him can't, thought it the quickest way to lose the their tail. The three of them find it really fun when the car behind them attempt to follow them into the ruff terrain of the desert, and gets his car stuck in a ravine.

Max quickly heads back into town and heads for Alex's, when Isabel notices that they have picked up another tail as they did enter the city limits. "Max, it looks like we have another one, the other guy called for backup."

Max tries to shake him, but this guy is to good. After a good 15 to 20 minute chase Liz tells Max, "Head to the sheriff's station, and pull over in front of it."

"Are you crazy, we can't go to the Sheriff. We already discussed this. Tell the sheriff is to risky." warns Isabel.

"Are you sure about that. Look, by now these guys have realized that we know their following us. If we don't tell the Sheriff it's going to look like we have something to hide. We can't afford that anymore than we can afford to make the Sheriff suspicious. By reporting this, we can let the wind out of their sails, so to speak."

Max drives in the direction of the Sheriff's station. Turns to face Isabel in the back set and says, "She's got a point Is."

"Let me put it another way, Michael, yesterday managed to get that one guy to back off by confronting him. If we can do the same with this guy then it would only help our case, right?"

"Couldn't we just make this guy think that we're going to turn him in."

"We could try it, but then when we do tell the sheriff."

"If it comes to that." Isabel reminds her.

"Fine, if we tell him. How would we justify not telling him sooner?"

"I see your point, so what do we tell the Sheriff? We can't waltz in there and tell him that we've got guys following us to find someone that we killed. He would lock us away, he wouldn't even care why we did it."

"First we play like we have no clue to why we're being followed, and that it seems to be this guy," Liz motions the car behind them, " and his colleagues are following Isabel, Maria, and me."

"How do we explain why we waited this long to report this?"

"That's easy," offers Liz, "We tell him that at first we thought it was a coincidence that we kept seeing the same car, it being a small town, he should be able to accept it. We stopped thinking it was a coincidence when we noticed one of the same cars following us out into the desert, when we went out for a scenic drive."

"Before we do this, shouldn't we talk to the others about it? I mean, that was the whole purpose of the meeting?"

"There's no time for that now, Max, and besides we can't go to any meeting while we're being followed, and losing him... lets just say that's not happening." Liz finishes as Max pulls up in front of the sheriff's station.

"Okay, if we're going to do this, let's get it over with." Max glances at the licence plate number and runs it over and over in his mind, memorizing it so that he can tell the sheriff which car."