"Liz… We WILL have a baby one-day. I promise." Max felt the same weird mixture of happiness and sadness, but uppermost in his mind right now was the doctor’s diagnosis of Liz. "Honey, they couldn’t find anything wrong with you. The doctor thinks it must be stress." He tilted her face upward with his hands. "Do you… do you think she’s right?"

She tried to evade his gaze. That gaze that saw everything and more. That saw things she wanted to hide from him. From herself. What could she tell him? That she worried about leaving him here alone with Tess around? That she knew he wouldn’t purposely get involved with Tess, but that she sometimes had trouble forgetting that kiss and how Tess had managed to invade his mind and turn him into someone none of them recognized? That she felt ill at the thought that she would not see Max for two weeks, not hear his voice or be in his arms. That she was scared of going to Boston on her own and that she was frantic about not making the grade during the course. Could all this truly be making her so sick?

"Liz…" He forced her to look into his eyes. "Is there anything I can do? Please tell me how to help you."

Not wanting to get into a discussion about all her fears and especially about Tess, Liz smiled: "You can let me out of this bed so I can start making myself pretty for our date tonight."

He looked unconvinced. "Are you sure? Cause we can just stay in…"

"No way, Max Evans! You owe me a date." She cupped his face. "I really am fine now. And I’m going to go dress upstairs, so I can make an entrance when you come get me."

Max REALLY didn’t want Liz to leave his sight right now. "You don’t have to do that. I could… wait outside in the kitchen or something."

Liz laughed, a tinkling, beautiful laugh and Max relaxed perceptibly. "No, I have this all planned out. I’m going to knock your socks off, but I need to make an entrance for that. So, I’m going upstairs." She gave him a quick kiss before climbing out of bed and starting to gather all the stuff she would need.

Max watched her, wondering what went on in her head. It really was annoying that he couldn’t control this connection, because right now, he knew she was upset about the baby and a lot of other things, but he had no idea about what. Well, tonight he planned on erasing some of her demons.

Liz struggled upstairs to her old room with her arms full of cosmetics and clothes bags. She wanted Max to never forget this night for the rest of his life. Not only has she bought a dress that’s going to make his blood pressure soar, she also bought some very sexy red underwear. Red for love. Red for desire. Red for her heart that belonged to Max.

Liz shivered when she entered her room. A weird presence seemed to linger there and she defensively clutched everything in her arms closer to her chest. She looked around carefully, but all her belongings were in their normal places, so she decided she was just overreacting from all the shocks she has had to face today. Once in the shower, she let the tears flow freely. Crying for a baby she wasn’t having and for all the fears that lived in her heart on the eve of her departure.

Max paced in their bedroom, trying to pass the time as he waited for the appointed hour when he could go upstairs to get Liz. His mind whirled with all that has happened in the last 24 hours. For a few hours, he had thought he was going to be a father. It made his knees weak to think that he could have children. For many years, Max had not allowed himself to think of the future because he had always assumed he wouldn’t have one. At least not a normal one. Not the one he would have dreamed of where a girl with chocolate colored hair and eyes loved him to distraction, accepted his alien side and gave him children and a normal life. He hadn’t even thought about going to college!

But now that he had Liz in his life, his future suddenly became something he should think about and plan for. Going to college, making sure that he could look after Liz… and their future children were all things that were becoming increasingly important. He sat down on the bed, his gaze falling on a framed picture of him and Liz. She was laughing up into his eyes and her mouth was moist and puffy from a kiss. At first he had been annoyed that Maria had sneaked up on them to take the picture, but he changed his mind when he saw the result. Now he treasured this photo of Liz being happy and in love with him.

But he hated being away from her for this hour-and-a-half she needed to get ready. Each minute was one less he could spend with her before she went away. On the other hand, he planned something really special for tonight and he should do everything in his power to make this night as memorable for Liz as he possibly could. So he went to the phone…

~*~*~*~*~*~

She made his knees weak when he finally saw her. She was in a red dress that ended just beneath mid-thigh and had a demure high neckline. Her arms were bare and her hair was piled on top of her head in elegant disorder with loose tendrils falling around her face. And her eyes! They were glowing even though a hint of sadness still lingered and tugged at his heartstrings.

"You take my breath away," he murmured quietly when he reached her. He desperately wanted to kiss her and skip the dinner and dancing part to go directly to what he had planned for later, but that would put all her efforts to look beautiful to waste. Instead he ran a caressing hand down her arm and watched as goosebumps appeared on her skin.

Liz shivered at his touch and turned her face upwards to find his dark eyes devouring her with barely suppressed hunger. "Max…"

"Hey you two!" Jeff Parker’s voice interrupted their moment. "Don’t you look spiffy!" He beamed at them with pride, not noticing that he had not managed to gain their full attention.

"Yeah, Dad, we’re going out... Bye." Liz sounded as distracted as she felt. She couldn’t manage to tear her eyes away from Max’s dark and possessive gaze to save her life.

Jeff sounded taken aback when he answered: "Oh… yeah sure. Okay, bye. Enjoy yourselves."

Then they were finally and mercifully alone and outside next to the Jeep. Liz hung onto Max’s hand when they stopped next to her side of the Jeep. "You can kiss me, you know. I can always fix my--."

He didn’t let her finish, but pulled her into his hard body and plundered her mouth. It was a kiss born out of deep need and want. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, vaguely hearing her soft sound of pleasure through his swimming senses. He ran his hands from her face, down her arms to slide around her rear and bring her closer to him. This led to a whimper from Liz, who stood on tiptoe and wrapped her arms around his neck. Max needed to touch her and he moved his right hand from her bottom to the small of her back… only to encounter bare skin!

Tearing his mouth from hers, he didn’t even try to control his ragged breathing as he moved both his hands over her back experimentally. All he encountered was smooth, gloriously bare, skin. His throat wouldn’t work, so he slowly spun her around in his arms until he faced her back. From the broad band of the dress circling her neck, her back was exposed almost to where the swell of her buttocks started. His eyes halted on the small of her back and the little mole there that he loved to kiss. He slowly traced a finger down the indentation of her spine and whispered: "God, you’re beautiful."

Liz leaned back into him and gloried in how warm his skin was. "Max… let’s just … let’s just stay home."

His hands flexed on her hips for a moment before he turned her so he could lift her into the Jeep. Running his fingers over the soft skin of her thigh, he looked up at her: "Don’t worry, we WILL be coming home. And then… then we will love each other all night long."

~*~*~*~*~*~

The restaurant was subdued and elegant. Liz took in her surroundings and did not notice all the looks she was getting from the other men in the room. Max noticed, however, and fluctuated between being flattered that his girlfriend was making such an impact and wanting to drag her out of the place so only he could see her looking like this. His eyes followed the gentle sway of her hips as she walked in front of him to their table. His hands were itching to curl around her body and make her move that way against him.

Liz felt his regard like a physical thing and her body reacted to it instinctively. Her heart pounded in her chest as she followed their waiter to a table next to a small dance floor. The place was gorgeous, but Liz hardly noticed. She was only aware of Max’s heat mere inches from her back and wondered wildly what the reaction of the other patrons would be if she turned around and—

Max made a strangled sound behind her, causing their waiter to look around in confusion. When he found nothing wrong and only the two flushed young people behind him, he shrugged and indicated their table. Max pulled out Liz’s chair, not wanting the waiter to do it and couldn’t stop himself from leaning forward and brushing his lips softly over her bare shoulder after she sat down.

Dinner was a strange mixture of intense emotions and fuzzy details. What they ate was not as important as looking in each other’s eyes. What they said with their mouths didn’t matter as much as what they were saying with their hearts.

I love you.

I want you.

I need you.

You. Only you.

Max eventually took her onto the dance floor, using the time to smooth his hands over her body and let his lips linger on her temples, her cheeks, anything he could reach. He listened for her sighs, needing them as much as he needed air.

Liz pressed herself to him as closely as she could, not caring that people were staring at them. She needed to hear his heartbeat underneath her cheek. She needed to listen to the unevenness of his breathing. She needed to feel the hard excitement of his body against hers.

Finally neither of them could take it anymore and they made their way out of the restaurant and back to the Jeep. This time Max lifted her into her seat before kissing her. He held her hands, lacing his fingers with hers as his mouth wove magic on hers. Their tongues caressed and dueled and made silent promises of more to come. And Max had to fight to keep his hands from taking that dress off her.

He drove them out of Roswell and Liz looked at him enquiringly before she realized that she knew the route. It was one they had driven many times before. It led to the Pod Chamber. Liz could feel Max’s intense need to be at the Chamber as well as his excitement about whatever he had planned for them there. Knowing Max, whatever it was, would be wonderful.

He came round the Jeep and helped her to the ground. "Are you cold?"

Liz shook her head. How could she be cold when he looked at her like that? His eyes burned into hers before slowly journeying down her body and igniting fires wherever it touched. She was a quivering mass of desire by the time he reached her feet. Kiss me, she silently begged him.

"If I start now… I’m not going to stop and… I really need to do this." He took her hand and led her up to the entrance of the chamber, opening it and stepping inside. The normal eerie glow in the chamber illuminated their faces as Max finally halted in front of his pod and turned to her. Liz held her breath as she saw his serious face.

"Liz Parker, this is where I started my existence on this planet. But… my life here started when I healed you. And… my happiness when you started loving me." He tenderly wiped a stray tear from her cheek with his forefinger. "I… I don’t know if you really know how much it means to me that I get to be with you everyday. To fall asleep beside you at night and to wake up with you in the morning. I don’t know what I did to deserve this… you… but I don’t want to ever be without you again." He took her left hand and pressed a light kiss on her palm before looking at her with shining eyes. "I know I’ve asked you before and… and you said ‘yes’, but now I’m asking you officially." Liz’s sharp intake of breath accompanied him taking out a diamond ring from his pocket. "Will you marry me, Liz Parker? And wear my ring?"

Not able to speak just yet, Liz merely nodded and bit her lip as he slid the ring onto her finger, kissing it when it was in place. They leaned against each other with their foreheads touching as they tried to recover from this intense moment. Suddenly, both of them saw a flash of a little boy skipping around in a garden. Liz jerked away from Max in surprise. "Max!"

Max was equally stunned. This was the first time they saw a future vision without the help of Nick. When he found his voice, he assured her. "That’s our son, Liz. We WILL have him one day." He moved closer to kiss her, but she pressed him back with a hand on his chest.

"I need to say some things too," she said softly. "I need to tell you that I never knew what love was until you came into my life. And that… that you are my everything, Max Evans. That I knew that day you saved me that no one will ever touch me that way again. Every moment with you is perfect. I love that I can talk to you and that you will listen. And that you think I’m beautiful. And that you have risked your life for me so many times. That you love me so well." Max swallowed around the lump in his throat. "I… I love you. So much."

He kissed her then. Gentle, loving kisses that warmed her heart and spoke of his love more eloquently than the heavy ring on her finger. His tongue swiped across her lower lip, tracing the contours and speeding up her heart rate. Then he pulled back, his hands sliding over her hips. "Let’s go outside."

Liz let him lead her outside, but cast a longing glance to the sleeping bags lying in the one corner. They never had gotten around to removing them after the need for a private place to make love far away from parental eyes had passed.

Once outside, Max stood staring up at the stars for a moment before turning to Liz. "I always thought that that was what I wanted," he motioned upwards with his hand, "all those stars up there. But now I know that the only stars I really want… are the ones in your eyes when you look at me." He smiled crookedly at his sappy comment. It was sappy, but true.

Liz turned away from him and looking at the stars with a smile. "Don’t knock those stars, one of them sent me you."