Equally as excited, Max explains more of what they have in mind. "Since we don't know when we will ever get an opportunity like this again. We thought you ladies might enjoy grabbing the sleeping bags and laying out under the stars. Being this far away from the lights in town, the stars should be really bright. So, what do you say?"

The girls exchange looks and all agree at the same time. "Sounds great."

Grabbing the sleeping bags stacked in the far corner of the study the friends head outside. The sun is getting low in the sky and they know they don't have much time to prepare before it gets dark. They walk a short distance straight out from the door. "Why don't we set up here? We can build a small fire in the middle and were close enough to the house we can see if anyone approaches."

"Looks good to me." Alex answers as he drops the two sleeping bags he was carrying.

Working together, each couple opens up a sleeping bag and spreads it out on the ground, and follows by laying the second one on top of the first. They then head out searching for stones to form a circle for the pit, and easy to burn materials such as tumble weeds, the skeleton of dead cactus, and branches from Palo Verde trees.

They finish setting up the pit just as the sun drops behind the horizon. Isabel, using her powers, starts the fire without any difficulties. Each couple lays back making themselves comfortable looking up at the sky watching the stars as they become visible in the night sky.

Liz sits up pulling her knees to her chest and looks around at her friends to her right lays Maria and Michael, who seem more interested in getting some nooky rather than looking at the stars.

Across from her, Sandie is resting her head against Kyle's chest. He has one arm propped under his head and the hand of the other running through Sandie's silky light brown hair. They are talking quietly as Sandie points to the heavens. Liz notices Kyle looks her way and smiles at her. She returns a pleasant smile as Kyle glances around the group and back at Sandie. She wonders what Sandie is saying, and assumes she's talking about the stars and constellations.

Isabel and Alex are to her left laying on their sides, facing each other, talking quietly with a periodical laugh and an occasional kiss. Alex has his arm draped over her hip tracing doodles on her back. Isabel's doing the same on his chest.

Max lays content at Liz's side watching her as her eyes drift from couple to couple. He looks to see what she sees and smiles to himself in satisfaction. He couldn't be happier, the people he cares about the most in the world, are all happy and as content as he is. He sits up beside her wrapping his arm around her shoulders pulling her closer to him.

Liz turns her head to look at Max with a contented smile on her face. Hearing his thoughts on the matter, she adds, *They all do look happy, don't they.* It was a statement more than a question. *

He glances around one more time and smiles, *They are happy, and so am I.*

Leaning into kiss Max, Liz thinks, *Me too Max, Heaven knows, me too.* She pushes him back on the bed they have made and lays down beside him deepening their kiss.

****

Kyle looks at the fire and notices Liz looking in his and Sandie's direction. He smiles briefly at her and sees her do the same. Then he glances around at the others then returns his thoughts to the stories she is telling him about the Greek gods the constellations are supposed to represent, his mind wonders yet again. He wonders if things between him and Sandie will move to the next stage in their relationship any time soon.

Realizing that Kyle isn't listing to what she is saying, she grows really quiet watching him. His eyes meet with hers and he runs his fingers through his hair smiling feeling slightly embarrassed at being caught not paying attention. "Sorry, I. . . ."

Sandie doesn't need an explanation, she's sure she knows where his mind has drifted off to. Sitting up on her knees facing him, she placed her hand over his heart. She started to lean in for a kiss when movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned her head to the side in time to see Alex and Isabel gathering their sleeping bags and head back to the house. Sandie turns back to Kyle who is now watching Isabel's and Alex's retreating forms.

Kyle watches them as the head back to the house envying them and the others just a bit. It doesn't take a genius to figure out where they are going and what they are going to do. He wants so badly to share that same kind of relationship with Sandie. It's not that he would do anything that she doesn't want to do, or that he would pressure her into doing something she doesn't feel she's ready for. He simply wants to love her completely, in every way that two people who love each other their love.

Just the idea of being so close to her makes his body ache for her touch, her kisses, the touch of her hand, the feeling of her warm body snugly up against his, touching her soft skin, being close enough to her that he can smell that smell which is so uniquely her, most of all to know what it's like to be her lover. The images and emotions that accompany those thoughts send him whirling.

When their eyes meet, his eyes are glazed over and his breathing has become shallow. One of his hands comes up to her face as the other goes around her back pulling her down on top of him and kisses her passionately on the lips.

When he releases his hold on her, she sits up straddling his hips. Her breathing is now fast and shallow and her expression is one of surprise. Not for his actions or even for the kiss, but because of his obvious physical reaction pressing up against her. "Kyle?"

Kyle's swallows hard trying to clear the lump in his throat. He knows he was really out of control, and worries he's over stepped his bounds. His own breathing mimics hers, he opens the path for her to tell him what she is thinking. "Yeah?"

She doesn't bother asking the question, instead she just leans forward and kisses him hungrily. She pulls back, not believing that she could be this swept away by her emotions. Remembering they aren't alone, she looks around nervously and realizes they're alone now. Not knowing when the others left or what they many have seen doesn't seem to matter. At least not as Kyle flips her onto her back in one swift motion and lays between her legs burying his lips into the crook of her neck. Without thought or reservation they make out heavily. Both exploring places they have only explored in their dream earlier this same day. Only when their energy is spent do they collapses into each others arms and drift off to sleep.

~*~*~*~

Michael and Maria through their private line of communication decided to take their make out session to somewhere more private. As the gathered their things. . . . * Think Sandie and Kyle are really getting close. Look.* Maria smiles and nods her head in their direction. Michael looks over his shoulder and sees them kissing heatedly. *I'd say so.* he takes Maria's hand and quickly leads her back to the house and up the stairs. He can't wait to get Maria alone. He plans to keep her awake will into the morning hours. Before entering the room they were in before they both notice the Master bedroom door is closed

*~*~*~*

Max and Liz heard Michael and Maria leaving and decide that they too want to head back to the house for more privacy. They were going to ask Sandie and Kyle to put out the fire before leaving, but figuring that would go without question and not wanting to disturb them, departed without saying a word.

Reaching the house the head back upstairs to the privacy of the only room still available up there. They both shed their own clothes. Liz kneels on one bed and watches Max curiously as he moves to the other twin bed. She nods in understanding as he pushes that bed up next to the one she is on. He sits at the foot of the bed next to her. . . .

~*~*~*~

Kyle and Sandie sit holding each other staring out over the dark desert landscape. The crackling for the fire and a light breeze blowing across the desert floor are the only things breaking silence that surrounds them. They turn to each other feeling the undeniable pull between them. Kyle removes his shirt wanting, needing to feel any part of her warm sensual body touching him. Breathing heavily, he fixes he's eyes steadfast on her beautiful face and waits for any sign that she feels that need too.

After a moment of watching his chest rise and fall, she can't hold back any longer. She touches his chest with just the tips of her fingers, and delicately explores all that she sees. Reveling in the warmth of his body and the strength of his muscles, she feels the need for more than this. Placing her hands flat against his chest she brushes her mouth across his collarbone. She looks into his face to gage his reaction, and is pleased by his obvious expression of pleasure. She returns her full attention to their mutual enjoyment of her physical exploration. Returning to his collarbone, she kisses her way to and up his neck, back down, going lower than before. She runs her tongue across his nipple and hears a hissing sound as Kyle takes in a deep breath. Enjoying his reaction she continues to move her mouth and tongue about his body.

Kyle relaxes, relishing in the feeling of her hot wet mouth on his body. He leaves his hands at his side not wanting to risk doing anything to cause her to back away. He is rewarded as she begins to kiss her way lower to his abs. while drawling her palms and finger tips up and down the sides of his body.

The strength of his building desire is more than he can stand causing him to moan out loud. He runs his fingers through her hair several times before dropping his hands to her shoulders. "Sandie, I want to touch you, taste you, to feel your skin next to mine so badly, but I'm afraid I won't want to stop there."

Sandie pulls back and looks at him trying to decide how far she's willing to go with this. Without a doubt, she knows she loves him, and that he loves her. She also knows their love will only grow stronger as time passes, and that this is the man she will share her life with. It's strange, something is different, she doesn't feel the anxiety she was feeling before. She feels completely comfortable with the idea of being with Kyle. Realizing this, she makes her decision and locks her eyes with Kyle's.

Grabbing hold of the hem of her shirt, she eased it up her body and over her head. Then unclasping the front clasp of her bra, she slides the straps off of her shoulders and down her arms. She buttoned her shorts, pushed them off of her hips, past her knees and let the fall to the ground. Standing only in a pair of light purple bikini briefs she whispers, "Then don't stop Kyle. I want this as much as you do."

*~*~* Kyle watched Sandie in disbelief as she undressed in front of him. She looks amazing with combined light from the fire, moon, and stars dancing across her hour glass figure. He didn't realize he was staring until he heard her words, which surprised him further. Looking straight into her eyes, he searched for any signs of doubt or hesitation as he asks, "Sandie, are you sure? I didn't say what I said to put pressure on you."

Sandie raises her finger to his lips to quiet his concerns, then takes his hands into hers and leads them toward her body encouraging him to touch her. He doesn't need much encouragement, he has been wanting to do this for so long, but he holds back. Knowing this is the first time she will ever be touched like this, he wants to take it slowly. First he lays her back on the sleeping bags laying beside her. She has never looked more lovely to him than she does at this moment. The light of the fire dancing in her deep blue eyes and across her olive complection. He shallows hard to push the knot down his throat, and traces his finger up her right arm, sending goose bumps over her entire body. He smiles, he can't help it, never has he received this kind of a reaction to his touch, other than her that is. He continues to glide his hands up over her shoulder, down her side just grazing a faction of each well defined breast, down to her flat smooth stomach, and out over her shapely hip.

Kyle can't believe how smooth and silky her skin feels under his coarse hands, or how intoxicating her fragrance is. He licks his lips drawing his hands slowly back up to her firm round mounds and wonders if her soft flesh will taste as sweet or sweeter than that of her neck and lips. He fought back those thoughts for the moment, being that she would always pull away from him anytime he would try to touch her breasts. He doesn't want to overwhelm her.

Conclusions drawn from the times things heated up between herself and Kyle, Sandie believed he would be gentle and loving. She is happy that she was right. The way his hands moved about her body excited her to no end. So much so she needed to feel him closer, of at least to be able to explores him as he explored her. Unable to comfortable run her hands over his chest from her current position she roles to her side, reaching for his firm pecks. She scarcely grazes him before the pushes her back pinning her down by the shoulders and takes her mouth with urgency.

Kyle literally kissed her breathless and while doing so, he ventured into place she had never let him before. She even seemed thrilled by his steady advances, caressing more and more of her breast until he fully cupped both breasts in his hands. Only when his lungs burned in need of air did he relinquish their kiss, but didn't remove his hands from her soft round peaks. Still filled with the need to taste her soft skin he lowers his lips to the side of her neck. It's not enough, he just can't stop wondering what her breast will taste like. Only one way to find out he decides, with that simple thought he begins to leave a trail of wet kisses to he longed for destination.

Sandie closes her eyes, she feels as if she is floating on cloud nine, the things he continues to do to her keep her flying high. She hears moans of pleasure, and realizes they are coming not only from her, but from Kyle as well. Feeling one of his hands venture down over her stomach to her only remaining piece of clothing, she raises her hips to make it easy for him to pull them down. She opens her eyes as she feels his warmth pulling away from her. At first she was panicked, she thought he was pulling away in order to gain control of himself, to stop where this was heading. To her relief he was doing quite the opposite. He only pulled away so that he might shed his own clothes. . . .

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

Max and Liz are enjoying one of their favorite dream locations. They are amongst the stars. The space around them is filled with glistening stars of every color of the rainbow from brilliant greens, yellows, and blues to pale oranges and purples. They are emerged in a very heated, very passionate embrace. They abruptly pull apart both feeling something strange is happening.

Sitting up, they look around with shocked expressions, and similar thoughts. How and why are we here? Max stands to his feet and begins to look around. They are back in the desert, and he can see the spiral symbol on the ground to their left. It's the same spiral symbol he and Liz traveled after they consummated their relationship in their dreams. He offers Liz his hand, helping her to feet.

Liz looks to see what Max is looking at. She also recognizes the symbol. "Max, do you know why we are here?"

Max turns in a circle looking for any clue to why they are here. Seeing nothing else he answers, "No idea."

They both half expected to hear a familiar voice answering their questions, but none come so they decide to see if they can find an answer for themselves. Max leads Liz in the direction of the symbol, but they quickly realize they aren't getting any closer. Then they try to walk in a different direction with the same result. The long they are there, the stronger they feel their presents here is important. Since they aren't able to get anywhere by walking the decide to make themselves comfortable while they wait for what ever is going to happen. Within moment after they sat down Kyle and Sandie appeared beside the symbol.

Max and Liz shared a knowing smile as they watched Kyle and Sandie look around trying to figure out where they are. It was at that moment that Max and Liz both knew what they were supposed to do. Max began to send mental thoughts to Kyle leading him to his place on the spiral. Liz did the same for Sandie. Squeezing each others hands, Max and Liz lead Kyle and Sandie to the center of the symbol. Willing them to take each others hands, and step into the unknown.

*~*~*~*

Kyle and Sandie feel as if someone is guiding them, showing them what they are supposed to do. They each take their position on the symbol and begin the path toward each other. Reaching the end of the path, they stand looking at each other. Sandie reaches her hand out to Kyle. He pauses for a moment with a smile etched on his face, and then excitedly takes her hand in his. Together they step into the unknown and are encircled by a bright light which propels them upward. They hear a voice, but not just any voice, they hear max's voice. "You ave found your one true soulmate, and in each other your void has been filled. Lean on each other for the strength to endure."

After Sandie and Kyle disappeared into the light, Liz looks into Max's eyes and asks, "Why us Max, why were we the ones to guide them through? Why not Robert and Alisha? They're Sandie's parents?"

Max didn't even need to think about the answer, it came to his as if he's always known it. "Because, I am the leader and you are my wife."

Liz is still puzzled by one thing, "Their message, how did you know what to say to them?"

Max surges his shoulders and smiles a timid smile, "I felt it."

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

Kyle and Sandie wake up at the same time. The lay on the sleeping bags looking at each other trying to figure out how they ended up wherever that was in the desert. Did they faint after . . . ?

Sandie sits up and looks around to make sure they are alone and that Max and Liz aren't some were close by. As she does, Kyle realizes something isn't as it appeared to be. "Sandie."

She turns to face him. "Yeah Kyle, what is it."

"If we just made love, then why are we still completely dressed? Did we just dream all of that? I mean it felt so real, and . . . " Kyle doesn't know what else to say, it was so real.

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

Sandie and Kyle enter the house quietly as possible not wanting to wait the others. Carrying their sleeping bags, they head down the hallway to the bedroom by the lab. They only get a few steps out of the living room and they hear a loud buzzer going off. "Oh jeez, I forgot about Alex's alarm." Kyle drops the sleeping bag he was carrying and makes a mad dash into the study.

Sandy follows casually behind, hoping Kyle turns off the annoying sound before it wakes the others. As she returns to the living room she looks up at the balcony and sees six half-necked people glaring down at her. She smiles sweetly up at them trying to hide her embarrassment at getting caught coming in at this hour.

Kyle emerges from the study proud of himself for figuring out how to reset Alex's homemade house alarm. "I got it." He says as he walks over to Sandie. Seeing that she is staring up at the balcony he turns to see what she is looking at. Seeing their friends staring down at them he flashes an apologetic smile and says, "Sorry guys, I forgot about the alarm."

Michael grumbles something incoherently and returns to his room pulling Maria along with him. She has a big grin plastered across her face and winks at Liz just before disappearing into the room.

Alex stands up straight squaring his shoulders feeling quite proud of himself, "I told you guys it would work." Isabel slips her arm into his and leads him back to their room. "Yeah, It worked so well I don't think I'll ever get back to sleep, and neither will you."

Max and Liz linger, trying to decide if they should say anything, in forms of a congratulation, to Sandie and Kyle. Max wonders if Kyle and Sandie ever realize it was more than a dream, after all he and Liz really hadn't taken it all that seriously themselves. They accepted it, and knew it was the case, but before tonight they never really looked at each other as husband and wife. At was more like they were engaged to be married. "So Kyle, that's the shortest that must be one of the shortest courtships in history. You and Sandie have only been dating for a couple of weeks, a month, something like that and you're already married. You move quickly don't you?"

Liz slugs Max in the shoulder, not hard mind you, but hard to get his attention. "Ouch, why did you do that?"

"You didn't have to say it that way!" Liz scolds

Kyle and Sandie exchange glances thinking the same thing, *It was more then a dream. It really did happen, we're married.*

Kyle smiles at Sandie and wraps his arm around waist leading her back to the hallway. Looking back over his shoulder he says, "What can I say Max, I know a good thing when I see it, and I don't waste time going after what I want like some people I know. Goodnight you two."

Liz turns and heads back into her bedroom leaving Max to stare down at the hallway entrance. As happy as he is for Kyle and Sandie he realizes that one day he is going to have to do this for his own family. When he has children is he going to be able to let them go so easily. What about Sandie's parents, how are they going to react to all that has happened? He looks to his side where Liz was standing and realizes she is gone. "I'm in here Max." Liz called to him, after hearing his questioning thought to where she went. He returns to their room and closes the door behind him.

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

Robert and Alisha are checking in on Tommy's dream. They don't want things to get to out of hand causing other problems for him.

Tommy is sitting in the quad at school sandwiched in between two of his two buddies Steve Newman and Ben Hollow. The same two guys from the hallway episode with Sandie. Steve puts his hand on Tommy's inner thigh, "Come on baby, how about we start with a kiss, and then, who knows where this could lead?"

Tommy pushes Steve to the ground quickly getting up from his seat. "I have the right to say no. Just like anybody else does. Now if you two want some action, FIND ANOTHER GIRL, I'M NOT INTERESTED!"

Alisha and Robert smile at each other. It looks like Tommy has learned something from all of this after all. Although they are a little worried, he refereed to himself as a girl. They both agree that tomorrow night, when Sandie comes home, they will put and end his nightmare.

After ending the connection with Tommy, they both sit-up on their bed. Alisha's eyes grow as big as saucer. "Honey, what's wrong?" Robert asks moving closer to her.

Her voice sounds panicked, "Don't you feel it?"

"Fell what?" Robert questions not understanding what she is referring to. He doesn't feel anything.

"The void, the empty void." Alisha realizes he still doesn't understand and elaborates further. "I can't feel Sandie, Robert I can't sense her. Do you think something has happened to her? You don't think Topolski hurt her do you? What about the others, what if she's hurt them and we can't feel Sandie to know it?"

Robert attempts to calm his wife down, and in an effort to convince himself as well as her, he says, "No, No, we would have felt something, fear, anxiety, something even if it was for only a spilt second. But we didn't, besides she's with Kyle and the others. If anything happened, they would have let us know."

"What if they never got the chance? What if they need our help? We should go out there right now? We can call the team in for back up on the way." Alisha stands-up quickly while still talking and grabs her keys and purse off of her dresser, and heads for the bedroom door.

Robert catches hold of her wrist and stops her. "First thing you have to do is calm down and think straight. If we go rushing out there, we could get ourselves caught and what good will that do. Besides, you told me they know how to use their powers well enough to defend themselves."

She takes a deep breath knowing what he says is true, and tries to calm down and think rationally.

"Alisha there is another possible explanation for the lack of connection between us and Sandie."

Robert picks up the phone and dials the first of the three numbers the group gave them. It is Liz's number. ~*~*~* We see Liz's cell phone sitting on the coffee table in the living room ringing. *~*~*~ After several rings he hangs up and tries the second number. It rings three times and an out of breath Isabel picks up the phone saying, "Hold on, this might be important." She puts the phone to her ear, "Hello?"

"Isabel?"

Alex is laying next to her mouthing the words, "Who is it?" Isabel holds one finger to tell him to hold on. "Yeah, who is this?"

"It's Robert, I know it's late or early depending on how you look at it, but this is important."

Now concerned about why he's calling, "Is everything okay?"

"That's what we need to ask you. Has anything happened to Sandie?"

"Not that I know of, she seemed fine just a few minutes ago. She and Kyle woke the whole house fifteen, twenty minutes ago by setting off Alex's alarm system. Did you pick up on her embarrassment of something? Wait, why are you calling me instead of connecting with her and asking her directly?"

"That's why we are calling. We've lost our connection to her. Something must have happened because we can't feel her like before."

"Well she seemed fine. If anything had happened to her in the last fifteen minutes, I'm sure Kyle would have let us know. I can go down and make sure if you want me to."

"No, that's all right, I'm sure your right. Just have her call us in the morning."

"Will do. Goodnight."

"Yeah, you and Alex both."

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

The next day no one emerges from their rooms until well after 10:00. Except for the occasional trip to the restroom.

Alex and Isabel are the last to arrive in the kitchen for breakfast. They stand in the doorway watching everyone else tripping over each other trying to get what they need. "Sandie, your parents want you to call them." Sandie sets her bowl and the counter and pours some cereal into it. "Yeah, did they say what about?" Sandie picks up the milk pouring it over her cereal.

"Something about not being able to feel you."

Sandie sits the milk down and looks up at Isabel. "Say that again."

Now that everyone seems to have gotten everything they needed, Isabel and Alex move into the kitchen. "Your dad called shortly after that wake-up call you gave us all. He wanted to know if something happened to you, because they couldn't feel you like before. They couldn't make the connection to you. Where you blocking them or something?"

Sandie and Kyle exchange glances, as do Max and Liz. Then the four of them exchange glances. This doesn't goo unnoticed by the other four in the room. "Okay you four, five. What happened last night?" Asks Michael insistently.

Max, Liz, and Sandie all look at Kyle, following suit Michael, Maria, Alex, and Isabel do as well. Kyle looks around the room at all seven pairs of eyes fixed on him. Isabel can't take the suspense. "Well Kyle, what happened?"

"It's nothing bad." Kyle takes Sandie's hand in his and Maria's eyes light up. "Oh my gosh, you two slept together didn't you?"

"What!?" Isabel cries out in surprise.

"Sandie doesn't want everyone to get the wrong idea. "Not like your thinking. We did, but only in our dream, and then Max . . ."

When Isabel heard Max's name associated with Sandie and Kyle's combined dream, she was shocked. Max wasn't one to enter other people's dream. He thought of it as and invasion into someone's privacy. And the thought of him entering Kyle's and Sandie's combined dream was too far of a stretch for her imagination. "Max? What has Max got to do with yours and Kyle's combined dream?"

Max explains how he and Liz were suddenly in the desert not far from the unity symbol and how they lead Kyle and Sandie through the ceremony. He also told them about knowing what to say and do, and why.

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

The day progressed too slowly for the groups liking. They didn't want to practice their powers knowing how much it drained them all the day before, so they sat around talking trying to keep each others minds off of what was going to happen within the next few hours.

A half hour before Kathleen Topolski was due to arrive, everyone took their positions.