Sitting up, he realized his body was not reacting to her like it usually did. In fact, he should have been hyperventilating from excitement by now. He would have been normally, but instead he felt slightly nauseous. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Liz was flaunting her body at him. She never did that. If there was one thing he loved about Liz, it was her shy sensuality. Nothing overt or slutty, just a way of being with him that made him certain that he was the only guy she would ever be so intimate with. This is wrong. Something is SERIOUSLY wrong.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz ran down the hotel corridor barefoot to Nick’s room and knocked on the door urgently. He jerked it open seconds later, looking over her shoulder with concern. "What is wrong?"

Now that she was here, Liz wasn’t sure what to say. She had an awful feeling about Max? Something was happening to Max, but she wasn’t sure what? "Uhm…"

Nick pulled her into his room. "Did something happen to you?"

"No, I-I need Max," she finally managed. Actually, she had a feeling Max needed her, but that was beside the point now. She gripped Nick’s hand fiercely. "Please!"

Shoving the questions he still had to the back of his mind, Nick decided that he had seen enough of Liz and Max’s connection to put stock in their feelings about each other. He led her to his bed and pushed her down gently. Putting his hand on her forehead, he ordered: "Sleep. I’ll boost your connection. Then it’s up to you two…"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Max was still staring at the apparition in his room. "Who are you?"

‘Liz’ blinked and then smiled at him coyly. "What do you mean, baby? It’s me, Liz." She came around the bed.

Baby? Liz NEVER called him that. And her walk, it was all wrong. The grace of Liz’s movements had always mesmerized him, but this was… His mind suddenly cleared and he jumped off the bed, away from ‘Liz’. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the faint murmur of his connection with Liz and he felt it become marginally stronger. When he opened his eyes, ‘Liz’ was gone and a very naked Tess stood on the other side of the bed.

The rage that took hold of him was fiery hot and burned through his veins like lava. Max clenched his hands to fists next to his sides in an effort to keep himself in check. "Get out of here. Now."

"But Max—"

"Out! Now. And I never, ever want to see you again." He saw the fear in her eyes. "I mean it, Tess. If you ever come near me again, you will join Jans and Tim in our prison."

Her anger boiled over. "You are a weak idiot and ruled by your hormones, Max Evans! You are NOT what our people need. As for your little plaything, she is a pathetic human that is going to mean the end of your royal line. You mark my words. She will be your downfall! Her and that little brat she is carrying!"

But this time Max was around the bed and had taken hold of her arm. He propelled her towards the window: "Get out and go learn what it means to be human. I suggest that you do, because we are on earth now, forever." He spun her back when she started going through the window. "And hear this, if ANYTHING happens to Liz, there will be no place far enough to hide from me."

He waited until she disappeared from his sight before stumbling back to his bed and dropping down on the edge. He rubbed at his eyes furiously, trying to rid himself of the memory of everything that had happened here tonight. He started when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Max!" Isabel whispered urgently, "what happened? I heard voices…"

"Tess came." Max sounded numb. He wanted Liz, he needed her to get these images from his head.

"Are you okay?" Isabel felt horrible. She had thought that everyone was overreacting about the need to watch Max every minute. Now she realized that they were right. Tess was a psycho. And Max was really upset.

"Yeah. I woke up before she could… God, Iz, she made me dream the most horrible things about Liz! How can I ever look her in the eyes again?"

"That’s crazy, Max. It wasn’t you! Liz will understand."

He turned tortured eyes on his sister. "What if Liz sees this in my mind one day?"

"Then she’ll also feel how repulsed you were with it all, won’t she?" Isabel was trying to be reasonable, but it was clear that only Liz would be able to get him out of this mood. Why does she have to be halfway across country, right now? She watched as Max suddenly stiffened and closed his eyes. What was going on?

He whispered the answer reverently: "Liz…"

Isabel stared at Max as he seemed to faze out completely. She knew he was in trouble. Across thousands of miles, Liz KNEW. How amazing was that? Getting up silently, she left Max alone with his soulmate.

Max fell backwards on his bed, keeping his eyes closed because it helped him concentrate on his connection with Liz. It had been like the flick of a switch, one moment a faint hum, the next a dull roar in his ears as Liz’s presence flooded his consciousness. Her love washed over him in a wave and it felt like light was slowly seeping into the darkness that had engulfed him moments before.

How I wish you were here, love! I-I really need you tonight. He felt her wonderful smile and it warmed his heart a little more.

I AM there. In your dreams. Just go to sleep. I’ll wait. It was silent for a few minutes as he just basked in her aura. I was so worried, Max. I’m glad you’re okay now. You scared me.

He never wanted to hug her more in his life. Thanks for coming. For being here…

It was agonizing, trying to fall asleep. The harder he tried, the harder it was. He was literally desperate to fall asleep so he could meet her somewhere, anywhere in that dream world. So he asked her to talk to him. She told him stupid stuff from her childhood, about her toys, about Maria and Alex when they were little… until, finally, he drifted off.

~*~*~*~*~*~

It was weird. He was still lying on his bed with his eyes closed when he abruptly stood in a meadow he has never been, but that felt so familiar. But that only occupied his thoughts for a few seconds, because coming towards him was a vision. Liz seemed to float as she moved and he wanted to drop to his knees in gratitude because he could see her. She was wearing a wispy white dress that billowed around her ankles, but didn’t hide much from his hungry eyes as the breeze molded it to her body.

Max was staring at her like he couldn’t quite believe his eyes and Liz decided to take matters into her own hands. She ran to him, flinging herself in his arms and wrapping her arms and legs around his body. It felt so real, his body was hard and warm against her, like it always was. So she set the final test, she kissed him. And they both moaned at the contact.

They were coming alive in each other’s arms and it only took Max a few seconds to take charge. He held her to him with one arm, while the other hand curled into her hair and held her still while he plundered her mouth. This was what he wanted with every fiber of his being, to hold Liz and ravish her and make her his. To be in her embrace and in her body. In this he didn’t want to be normal. He didn’t want to be one of those guys lusting after anything in a skirt. He only ever wanted Liz.

Liz threw her head back and moaned his name as his lips traveled over her jaw and down her neck. He was kissing and nipping a trail of fire over her skin and she was melting from his heat. He kissed her through the thin material of the dress, but Liz squirmed because she needed his touch on her bare skin. And, because this was a dream, the dress disappeared like mist from her body. Max’s groan when his mouth suddenly encountered skin was music to her ears.

They tumbled to the grass while Max kept up his hungry, almost desperate kisses. His mouth moved over her stomach and for a fleeting moment, he remembered the few hours that he had thought his baby was in there. Lifting his head, he caught her gaze: "Liz…"

"Don’t stop, Max. Please," she whispered. She didn’t want to think about sad things. Right now, more than anything, she needed Max to make love to her. He was still hesitating, so she sat up and pushed him on his back before straddling his thighs and wishing his clothes away too. She stared down at him for a long time, her eyes moving over every inch of his body like a tangible caress. She watched as his breathing became labored and his hands clenched on her hips in reaction. She studied every minute little reaction of his body with rapt attention, the darkening of his eyes, the dull flush that crept over his cheeks, the little tremors of his muscles, the harsh sound of his breathing. "You are so incredible," she blurted out and wondered how many girls from school secretly envied her this. That this man and this body were hers.

Max hardly heard her. His heart was thundering so loudly that it drowned out all the other sounds. Could she not see that she was killing him? That he needed her hands and mouth on him or he would surely die?

She reacted like she had heard his every thought and slowly leaned forward until she could trace her fingers over him. She watched him shudder and ran her tongue over every inch of skin she could reach.

Max closed his eyes and drowned in the sensations of her caresses until it felt like he was just a hair’s breadth from exploding. He rolled her under him in one fluid move and entered her at the same time. Their sighs were the only sound in the silent meadow as they did what they were born to do, become one. One body, one soul and one heart.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Tess stormed into the motel room where she had been staying and found Nacedo waiting up for her. "It didn’t work, okay!" she yelled at him. "It’s NEVER going to work! It’s like she has put a block on his mind. I can’t get in." She was close to tears from frustration. "And he threatened me if anything happened to his precious Liz. I hate him. I hate her. I hate them all!"

"That’s good, because we are leaving," Nacedo said calmly.

She swung around to face him. "What do you mean ‘leaving’?"