This is an irreversible step for our race, for theirs, for the two of them.

Both Max and Liz nearly overslept the next morning. They had been lying awake most of the night, worrying and thinking, pretending that they didn’t notice the other one was doing the same thing.

Max worried about many things, not the least of which was the issue he had to discuss with Liz tomorrow night. It felt like a fist was twisting in his gut when he thought about how she might react. Although nobody probably knew Liz as well as Max did, they had only been together for a short while and uncertainties still plagued him sometimes. He had held her in an unconsciously tight grip, afraid that she might take flight.

Liz could feel the tension in Max’s body and wondered what serious thing Max had to ask her. He was obviously in a state about it and she desperately wanted to make things better for him, but that was impossible if he didn’t tell her what it was. This led to another unpleasant thought. Maybe Max was right. She would never recover from her awful experience if she didn’t get it out in the open. She took a deep breath, deciding that she really would talk to Isabel in the morning.

Liz woke first from her uneasy doze. Her face was inches away from Max’s on the same pillow and she enjoyed the few minutes of watching him sleep. His long eyelashes rested on his cheeks and his perfect lips were slightly open, making her want to kiss him. He looked restless though, his mouth moving as if he was talking to someone. She rubbed his arm, draped heavily over her stomach, in an absent attempt to calm him down.

His words suddenly became distinguishable. "Nooo… Liz. I can’t… don’t go…"

His voice was filled with such pain that Liz slid closer to him, hugging her arms around his waist. "Max! I’m here!" Her eyes were filling with tears at his tone. It reminded her of the flash she saw from when he was with Pierce. He had been filled with an indescribable, searing heartache that nearly doubled her over when she felt it too. She knew he had been reacting to a blurry picture that Pierce had been showing him, but she couldn’t make it out clearly and he wouldn’t tell her what it was.

His eyes popped open the same time his arms nearly squeezed the breath from her. He pressed his face into her neck and mumbled: "Please don’t ever leave me!"

Liz threaded her fingers through his hair soothingly. "Hey, it was only a nightmare. You’re not getting rid of me that easily."

He didn’t answer, but only kept up his crushing grip on her. She realized he was trembling so she pushed his face away from her neck, looking in his eyes and said: "I love you. Nothing will ever change that."

He rolled her over and kissed her. The kiss was filled with such force and desperation that it shocked Liz a little, but she knew immediately that she wanted to help him ride out this storm. So she opened her mouth wider, allowing him to plunder its depths and fight this demon chasing him. His one hand twisted in her hair, arching her neck as his lips moved down to her throat. His mouth was hot and hard and it felt like a brand on her skin. She kept her hand in his hair, pressing him closer still.

The despair that filled Max when he dreamt of Liz walking away from him just now was lifting little by little, and with it came the realization that he was being rough with her. He pulled away to apologize, but seeing her eyes shut in ecstasy seared away the guilt. Instead, her expression caused such a kick of desire in his body that he knew he had to get out of that bed fast. He rubbed his lips over hers one last time and sat up, trying to ignore Liz’s sound of protest.

"If we don’t get up now, They’re going to come look for us again." He tried to sound light, but he couldn’t look at her. If he did, they would never get out of here. And then tonight would never come. The knot in his stomach returned full force. Tonight…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz cornered Isabel after breakfast. "Could I… could I talk to you please?"

Isabel looked confused for a minute. Why was Liz talking to her and not to Maria? "Yeah, sure." She followed Liz into the tent, still frowning.

Once inside, Liz started pacing. Isabel watched her for a while until the pacing started getting on her nerves. "Liz, my brother is besotted with you. And yes, he can be real controlling sometimes, but if that’s why you guys fought -."

Liz had turned around to stare at Isabel. "No! We haven’t fought. Its not that."

Isabel sighed dramatically. "Then what?"

Liz came over to sit on the bed with her. "Its… its about the other night. When Tess… I need to talk to someone and Max…"

"Will just make things worse, right? It has something to do with him, doesn’t it?" Isabel looked at her closely, seeing how Liz paled at her last statement.

"Yes," she whispered.

"So tell me."

"It was horrible, Isabel. She kept showing me these images of Max… dead." Liz barely heard Isabel’s gasp. "He died over and over again. In different ways. Every time it was something I did that caused it… I couldn’t get away from it." Tears were running down her cheeks. "It was so real. I could see his blood. And I had caused that. I… All I wanted to do was never wake up so that all those things could never happen to Max."

Isabel hugged her. "Liz, the only thing that would hurt Max, is not having you with him." Her words eerily echoed Max ‘s plea of this morning. "And Tess, well, she’s lost and desperate. All she’s ever known was that Max was hers, and you were a threat to that. She wanted YOU to give up on Max, because she saw very quickly that she would never be able to get Max to give up on you. She talked to you before the cave too, didn’t she?"

Liz nodded. "She said that if I really loved him, I’d let him become who he really was. That he was someone very important to your people and that I weaken him by loving him. That I take his focus away." She bit her lip, the pain of that moment coming back to her.

"You see. She was trying to get you to leave Max." Isabel smiled. "I’m glad she didn’t succeed totally. He was a real pain to be around after you left." Secretly she thought that Max would be livid if he knew Tess was behind Liz giving up on them at the cave too. "I want you to know one thing, and remember that this comes from the person who used to gag watching the two of you together, Max was lost when you were gone. Your love makes him stronger."

The light was starting to return to Liz’s eyes. "I hope you’re right… So where is she? Tess, I mean." Liz was almost afraid to ask.

"She’s still here. But Max instructed Nick to keep her away from us all or there’d be hell to pay. Max has never been angry with you, so you won’t know this, but he can be really frightening when he’s furious. And believe me, Tess was lucky to get off so lightly. He wanted her to leave completely, but apparently she is needed for the cause or something. He put the fear of the devil into her, she’ll leave you alone now."

Liz hugged her and whispered ‘thank you’. Izzy waved it off. "Hey, you’re the reason I have Alex."

~*~*~*~*~*~

The hours dragged by with leaden feet for Liz. She was worried about tonight. Particularly after Max had fairly bolted from their tent this morning. She was working with Jans again today, but she couldn’t concentrate on her self-imposed task. She also had to admit that Jans was starting to bother her too. He kept touching her and looking at her in an intimate way. She even caught him staring at her breasts once. Damn, Maria for putting these doubts into her head. If she didn’t need him for her project…

When she finally got back to camp it was still relatively early, so she went for a shower and lay down on her bed. It felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest with nervousness about tonight. She got up when she sensed Max was near, not wanting to scare him like last night. She stopped dead in her tracks when she realized what she just did. She SENSED Max. What was happening to her?

Closing her eyes, she concentrated on Max. Yes, the Jeep just stopped near the dining tent. Liz ran outside holding her breath and sure enough, Max was getting out of the Jeep with Michael. He turned around to stare at her with wide eyes, obviously aware of what had just happened.

Max went to her immediately. He pulled her into his arms not knowing what to say. He felt her reaching out to him to pinpoint his position just now. How had she done that? And was she scared about this development? "Liz?"

Liz saw the concern in his eyes. "What just happened, Max?"

"I don’t really know. I just know that I’ve been able to feel your presence ever since we came here. I knew you were in the camp before Nick even told us. I’m not sure why its happening to you too, though. Are you… does it bother you?

Liz wondered why a desperate note was creeping back into his voice. "Its weird, but no, it doesn’t bother me." She rubbed her nose against his neck. "Does that mean I could check on whether you’re gracing some other damsel’s tent with your presence?"

He only smiled half-heartedly. "Yeah. Like that would ever be something you’d have to worry about." He disentangled himself from her. "Let me go get cleaned up. Why don’t you go have something to eat before we leave." His eyes were avoiding hers again.

Liz wanted to scream: ‘NO! Tell me what it going on!’ Instead she dutifully left to go to dinner.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The ride in the Jeep was filled with a tense silence. Max was clutching the steering wheel like it was a life raft and Liz felt her nails bite into the palms of her tightly gripped hands. She had had an awful dinner and ended up leaving not having eaten much. Their friends were nowhere to be seen and neither was Nick. Only Jans had sat in his usual place, staring at her.

Max cast a sidelong glance at Liz. His dream girl. He didn’t need to be drunk to acknowledge that fact now. He tried to swallow past the lump in his throat. He didn’t know what he would do is she didn’t…

He stopped the Jeep abruptly. Coming round the front, he helped Liz out silently. His fingers closed around hers in a crushing grip for a few seconds before he could finally get them to relax. He turned away from her, frowning. How was he going to do this when he was a mess just thinking about it?

Liz tugged him back around. "Max, if you don’t talk to me now, I’m going to have a heart attack. Please, I can’t take this anymore!"

Max knew he couldn’t postpone this any longer. He took a deep breath, steeling himself. "Liz, I love you. More than life." He stopped, trying to gauge her reaction.

She was staring up at him fearfully. "Max, please… don’t ask me to leave."

Max looked stunned for a few moments. "What! NO, never!"

Liz looked momentarily relieved. "Then what?"

"I want… no, I NEED to make a commitment to you. Somehow. And since we’re too young to get married, I thought…" How was he going to explain all of this? "I talked to Nick. I said I wanted you to be my wife. In our sense… I mean my race’s sense. There’s a ceremony…" He suddenly found he couldn’t stop staring at Liz. She was starting to glow with an inner happiness that nearly blinded him.

"Liz, please say yes. I know I’m asking a lot. But I love you and I can’t bear losing you again. We’ll get married for real someday, I prom -."