“Max, I—I never stopped loving you. I never will. You’re the only one I’ll ever want,” she admitted in a whisper. Max’s face lit up, and Liz couldn’t suppress a giggle. He smiled at her, tenderly brushing a tendril of hair off her wet face.

“I had to hear you say it, Liz,” he said quietly. “I needed you to admit it, to me and to yourself. We can do this. The world has already been changed; we are already on a different path. We’ll just have to be careful.”

Liz sighed and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, we should probably act like we’re still just friends, at least until you—until you talk to Tess,” she said earnestly, waiting for his reaction.

Max smiled ruefully. “Guess I had that one coming,” he said. “I’ll talk to her before the meeting tomorrow, I promise. I—well, my stupidity was the reason you had to go through all this in the first place. It’s only fair that I deal with the fallout.”

Liz suddenly grinned at him, startling him. “You better believe it!” she exclaimed teasingly. Max brushed her cheek again, still smiling at her.

“Do you know how incredibly beautiful you are, Liz?” he asked huskily. Liz heard the change in his voice, and closed her eyes in anticipation as he lowered his mouth to hers.

It was a soft, sweet kiss, their lips barely touching. Max’s tongue flickered at the edges of her mouth. Liz sighed in pleasure, sliding her hands into Max’s thick hair and pulling him closer.

The kiss deepened. Liz opened her mouth to Max’s exploratory touches, and hungrily he took what she offered. His tongue thrust into her mouth to find hers, drawing it out then plunging back in to drink deeply of her.

Somehow, they were lying back on Liz’s bed, all thought erased by the release of their long-held desire. Max’s hands slid under Liz’s shirt, reaching up to cup her breasts. He kneaded them through the satin fabric of her bra, gently tugging on her nipples until they stood upright under his palms.

Liz struggled with the buttons of Max’s fly, finally giving up and stroking him through his jeans. He groaned, the sound echoing her moans and gasps as he continued caressing her breasts. She began to undo the buttons on his shirt when suddenly she froze and looked at her watch.

“Shit, it’s after midnight, my parents are home! You have to get out of here!” she hissed, sitting up as she hastily redid his shirt buttons. Jumping off the bed, she hauled Max to his feet. He grabbed his jacket as she opened the window, careful not to make a sound.

“Liz,” he whispered as he reached the window, “I love you.” She kissed him fiercely, her tongue flashing in and out of his mouth almost before he registered its presence.

“I love you too, Max. I’ll see you tomorrow. Go!” she whispered back, smiling.

Max threw her a grin as he climbed out the window and headed for the ladder. As carefully as she had opened it, Liz closed the window then dove for her bed, yanking off her clothes and dropping them on the floor under the bed. She flipped off the light, pulling the covers over her and wriggling into her pajamas underneath them. She’d just settled into a pseudo sleeping position when her dad poked his head into her room.

Finding her apparently asleep, Mr. Parker smiled fondly and closed the door again, going down the hall to his own room. As soon as he was gone, Liz scooped up her clothes and deposited them into the hamper in the bathroom, where they belonged. She quickly splashed her face with cold water, so her eyes wouldn’t be all puffy from her crying in the morning, then crawled back into bed, her body still tingling from Max’s touch. She was still going over everything that had happened tonight, a contented smile on her hot lips, when sleep overtook her.

As soon as his feet hit the ground, Max sprinted away from the Crashdown. Once he was a few blocks away, he slowed, breathing rapidly. He looked up at the stars overhead, smiling, and said aloud to the night, “I choose my own destiny. I choose Liz Parker.”

Unable to stop smiling, Max crept up to his house and tried his bedroom window. It wouldn’t open. “Damn,” he muttered, stepping back and glaring at it, wondering how much trouble he was going to get in this time. He might even be grounded. But not even that prospect could dim his joy tonight.

Suddenly, the window swung open and there was Isabel, beckoning him in. Surprised, Max nevertheless took advantage of the situation and climbed through the window. Isabel closed and latched it behind him, then turned around. She surveyed him closely.

“Well, since you’re grinning like a fool, I can only guess that it went well,” she said dryly. The colour slowly crept up Max’s neck until he was blushing a bright red. He was still smiling, though.

Isabel laughed, not unkindly, and gave him a quick hug. “It’s so wonderful to see you happy again, Max.” She hesitated. “I know that I haven’t always been that supportive of Liz, and your relationship with her, but… When we dreamwalked together to warn you at the summit, I could sense how much she really cares about you. I respect that, and I respect what she did for you, even though she was scared out of her mind. So,” Isabel took a deep breath, “for what it’s worth, you have my blessing, Max. I’ll support you in this.”

Max blinked in shock, then caught her in a bear hug. Isabel giggled as she swatted him away.

“Get off me, you big lug! You’re suffocating me!” she said, smiling.

“Iz, you don’t know what this means to me. Thank you. And, thanks for bailing me out—again,” he said apologetically. “One of these days I’ll return the favour, I swear!”

Isabel waved dismissively. “You better believe it, Max! I’ll collect when I’m ready. Now, I am going to bed, because it is way past my bedtime. I’ll see you for breakfast,” she said quietly as she let herself out of his room.

Max threw himself down on his bed. He thought about the events of the night, his smile still firmly in place. Gradually he became painfully aware that he was still wearing his jeans, and laughed at himself. He got up and stripped to his boxers, climbing under the covers as he got back into bed. Even as he forcibly turned his thoughts to what he was going to say to Tess, and as he drifted off to sleep, that smile never left his lips.

At breakfast the next morning, both Max and Liz’s families noticed a change.

Mrs. Parker told Liz that she was looking especially lovely today. Liz smiled and thanked her, then asked, “Dad, Mom, is it OK if everyone comes by after close to hang out tonight? It’ll be after I’m finished my shift, and we’ll be careful, I promise.”

“All right, Liz. But not too late, you hear me?” Mr. Parker replied, smiling at his only daughter.

At the Evans home, Mrs. Evans kept remarking on how nice it was to see Max smile, he’d been so down lately. Isabel kept making kissy faces at Max when their parents weren’t looking, until he finally kicked her under the table. She wrinkled her nose at him, then smiled and the morning continued in peace.

Max was giddy all day in school. He was glad that he had P. E. on Friday morning, so he could work off some of his seemingly boundless energy. Back in the locker room after class, Michael finally asked, “Maxwell, what the hell is with you today? You’ve been bouncing off the walls since you got here this morning. I haven’t seen you like this since…actually, I’ve never seen you like this. What gives?”

Max looked around to make sure they were alone, then said very quietly, “Liz and I worked things out last night. I still need to talk to Tess, but I’m doing that today after school, before the meeting.” He broke out into another smile.

“And then, when I got home way after curfew last night, Iz actually let me in and gave us her blessing. I was floored!” he finished.

Michael just stared at him for a moment, then shook his head in amazement, a half smile on his face. “Well, far be it from me to get in the way of you and a girl who makes you this foolish. Just—don’t lose sight of the big picture, all right? Not everything is perfect because you’re in love—again.”

Max laughed. “I won’t, Michael, especially not with you around to remind me. Thanks.”

Maria took one look at Liz standing fumbling with her locker, practically glowing, and dragged her off to the nearest girl’s washroom.

“What happened, Liz?” she demanded excitedly. “You could supply the electricity for the entire town this morning. Spill!”

Liz blushed, and checked to make sure that no one else was in the washroom. She whispered, “Max had a flash when he grabbed my arm in the granolith chamber. He came back with me to the Crashdown, and we had a fight. I started crying and he held me, then he touched my face and it all came flooding out. He saw everything, Maria. We talked and argued for a long time. So long that we went up to my room so that we wouldn’t get surprised by my parents. He—he showed me how Tess and Kyle are kind of a couple now, and…”

“You mean you hadn’t noticed that?” interrupted Maria. “God, it’s been all I can do not to yak, they’re so sickening with each other!”

Liz shrugged. “Well, I guess I just thought that they were, you know, using each other. But Max showed me that they really do care about each other. He’s going to talk to Tess today, actually, before the meeting tonight.”

Maria looked puzzled. “Talk to Tess about what? Did I miss something?” Liz blushed again, and Maria giggled. Liz resumed her whispering.

“Yeah, I skipped a part because you interrupted me! Anyway, he, um, he understands what I did, he’s not mad and he still loves me.”

“Any idiot could see that,” Maria remarked, earning herself a glare.

“Anyway, I admitted that I love him too, and then…” Liz trailed off, her eyes dreamy. Maria nudged her.

“Yeah, and then WHAT?” she appealed. Liz coughed before continuing.

“Well, then he kissed me. Somehow we were lying down now—we’d been sitting on my bed—and we just kept kissing, and…” she paused, unsure of how to phrase it.

Maria jumped in helpfully. “So, how far did you get? Farther than with Kyle?”

Liz nodded, her cheeks rosy. “Yeah, like second base—but for real this time. Max’s hands were under my shirt and everywhere—and I, um, I kind of, well, touched him, too.”

“You mean—no, really?” Maria breathed. “Is he, like…”

“Maria! I’m not going to tell you that! Besides, it was through his jeans—I couldn’t get the stupid buttons undone. And then I heard my parents come in so I kind of shoved him out the window. I kissed him goodbye, and he told me he loved me before he sprinted to the ladder,” she giggled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him disappear over the railing so fast—it was after midnight when he left!”

Maria leaned back against the wall and took a good long look at her best friend, approving of what she saw. “Liz, hon, I am SO glad to see you are both where you belong now—together,” she declared, beaming.