Max felt the now familiar excitement take hold of him as he parked the Jeep in their driveway behind Liz’s little car. THEIR driveway – as in his and Liz’s. The house was small, but it had a yard and Max and Liz had fallen in love with it when they first arrived in Albuquerque a year ago. It had reminded them a little bit of the yard they kept seeing during their visions.

They had finished their studies at Harvard and, while they would’ve liked to stay in Boston and work at Harvard, there were no positions available at their former university, so they had decided to move closer to Roswell. Closer to Max’s people. Closer to their families. And to a place where both of them could work in their chosen fields.

Michael and Maria, who were finally living together after years of arguing about it, had moved out here four years ago, while Alex intended to follow them here when he finished his studies at MIT at the end of the year. Isabel had moved to Albuquerque when Michael and Maria did, unwilling to be too far away from all her family. She lived in an apartment in the city and was designing for a local boutique.

Studying at Harvard had been one of the most wonderful and toughest things Max had ever done. They had lived in a small apartment on campus, doing everything they could to limit financial expenses, but Max wouldn’t have traded the experience for the world. It had taught them a lot about each other, more than they had ever learned while living at the back of the Crashdown under the protective wings of their parents. They had learned to work hard to reach their goals and to still make time to love each other while being under enormous strain. They had even bickered a few times about silly things, the way married people did. The first time, it had ended with them staring at each other in surprise after which they proceeded to rip each other’s clothes off. And since then it had become an unwritten rule of sorts, any disagreement was solved before bedtime and forgotten in each other’s arms.

He was eager to get home, Liz had a few days off from work and she was busy doing some interior decorating to their house. He loved helping her. Actually, he loved doing anything with her because they mostly saw each other after work lately. They were both working at the University of New Mexico, Liz at their School of Medicine Molecular Research Center and Max at the UNM Hospital Cancer Research and Treatment Center. He also taught a class at the university as part of his job and had found to his surprise that he liked doing it. Liz teased him constantly about how much his female students swooned over him, but as usual, Max was oblivious to any female attention that didn’t bear the name Liz Evans.

The front door was locked, they had never really managed to get rid of their sense of caution. Stepping inside, he yelled: "Hi honey, I’m home!" He still got a kick out of that.

"I’m in the kitchen," Liz called back and he veered off to his left towards her voice. Only to nearly have a heart-attack when he found her perched precariously on a tall ladder, painting the ceiling.

"Liz!" he cried and hurried over to take hold of the ladder. "Get down from there!"

She blinked down at him in surprise and got that stubborn look on her face that he normally thought was really cute. "Liz," he warned her, "don’t make me come up there to get you!" He could see that she was still contemplating whether or not to actually obey him, so he added: "I’ll paint the ceiling. Please, just come down from there."

As usual, the subtle approach worked better on his wife than the authoritarian one. Liz gave an exaggerated sigh before asking impishly: "Can I decide what you wear while you’re painting?"

"What?" He was stumped, but if it got her down from there, he would agree to anything. "Yeah, sure. Whatever."

She fairly bounced from the top of the ladder, causing Max to hold his breath until he could grab her around her waist to lift her down. She resisted him and climbed down until she reached the second-to-last rung and was face-to-face with him.

Turning around, she let go of the ladder and wrapped her arms around his neck before nuzzling his face. "Hello Max," she said and swiped her tongue over his bottom lip. His lips parted instinctively as his arms slipped around her waist and pulled her closer, but she backed away before he could kiss her. "Repeat after me: Liz is not an invalid. She can do things without hurting herself."

He grinned at her, not embarrassed in the slightest that he was still so overprotective of her. "Whatever."

"Wrong answer!" She cupped his cheeks and lowered her voice suggestively: "If you say it, I might make it worth your while…"

Schooling his face into a longsuffering expression, he said: "I guess, but I’m kinda getting tired of always having to give in to your sexual advances—"

Score! Liz’s mouth fell open in shock and he burst out laughing before picking her up from the ladder and spinning her around. "I’m joking, love! I can’t believe you fell for it."

"You absolute jerk!" Liz cried. "Put me down so I can kick your butt."

He dumped her onto the kitchen counter and caught her hands in his, just to make sure she didn’t get a chance to use them on him. She was wearing cut-off denim overalls splattered with paint. Her hair was covered by an old faded bandana and she had white sneakers on her feet. She looked incredible sexy… and really pissed! Max panicked immediately and let go of her hands. "Liz, sweetheart…"

The next moment Liz had wrapped her legs around his hips and grabbed his shirt to yank him against her. Max was unprepared for her move and stumbled forward, nearly falling on top of her until he braced himself on the counter with his hands next to her hips. Liz attacked him, there was no other way to describe it. She wrapped herself around him and kissed him senseless. She kissed him until he felt faint with lack of oxygen and saw stars exploding in his head. She ripped his shirt open, buttons flying everywhere, and scratched her nails over his chest and abdomen. She sent him wicked fantasies through their connection and Max nearly went over the edge. His hands plucked the scarf from her hair, but before he could do anything else, Liz had pushed him backwards. She caught him off guard again, so she easily moved him away from her.

"Are you two at it AGAIN?" Maria’s voice floated in from the kitchen window. "Would you start acting like you’re not 17 anymore?"

Liz ran her gaze over Max deliberately. He was panting like he was about ready to die. His hair was completely mussed, his shirt was hanging open, he had marks on his chest and his mouth was showing the signs of her attack. But best of all, he seemed completely and utterly stunned and confused by the sudden changes in her actions. Liz hopped off the counter, brushing against him as she passed him on her way to the door. "Payback’s a bitch, Mr. Evans."

His groan was loud and heartfelt. Several things bugged him right now. Firstly, why on earth were they living in the same city as Maria, who apparently made it her business to show up at inopportune moments like these? Secondly, what the hell just happened? Thirdly, Liz was seemingly trying to ensure that he would not live through the next five years to see his 30th birthday. Fourthly, his body was ready to explode and there was nothing he could do about it now. Apart from taking a cold shower… Damn it, he was going to get Liz for this one!

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he passed Liz and Maria in the hallway. "Well, hello to you too, Prince Charming!" Maria grinned at him. "Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"To the shower!" he muttered with a glare in Liz’s direction. Their laughter followed him to the bathroom.

"Lizzie, you’re going to kill the guy," Maria sounded sorry for Max.

"Don’t worry, he knows very well he can get back at me easily."

Maria flung herself down on the couch in the living room. "Admit it, Liz. You love that he acts around you like he does. And if you won’t admit it now, I could lend you Michael Guerin for a while. Trust me, you’ll see the difference immediately!"

Liz was grinning. "Okay, I admit it. I love being the center of Max’s universe. But it’s only fair, since he’s the center of mine too."

"Argh! You two are the worst! How long has it been now? Nearly 10 years that you are together? And STILL you are the two biggest saps on the planet."

They heard the shower being shut off and Liz jumped to her feet. "Just excuse me a minute, Maria, I’ll be right back."

She returned with a broad smile on her face and Maria looked at her suspiciously. "What are you up to?" "Just picking out some clothes for Max," Liz answered vaguely. "I actually needed to talk to you about this weekend. Nick and his wife are coming up to come show us their new baby and I was wondering if Alex could maybe stay with you guys? I don’t think our house can take four more people!"

"Alex is coming? Great! Sure he can." Maria looked pleased. "So, we’re finally all going to be together for a weekend again, heh? It’s been a long time."

"Yeah. And I can’t wait to see Nick’s little girl!" Liz’s eyes were shining as she talked and Maria couldn’t help but wonder if Liz was starting to feel that it was time she and Max got pregnant themselves. "How’s Michael?"

"You know, grouchy and horny. Same as ever," Maria replied. "He is starting to do well with his paintings, though. I think it freaks him out a little."

Liz turned serious after a few moments. "Maria, I know we never really talked about it, but… do you think we should have forced them to go to that planet in high school? I sometimes wonder if maybe they would’ve gone if we weren’t around."

"THEY made the choice, Lizzie, not us. Michael never asked me about it, he just decided to stay and never said a word about it. Besides, did we really want to know what a planet that would embrace the blonde as a Queen would look like?"

Liz glanced in the direction of the kitchen where they could hear Max moving around. "It’s just, they have this whole other side that they continue to deny because of us, Maria. Max tries so hard to be just human sometimes that it scares me. He’s… he’s so much more. But he doesn’t allow himself to be because of me."

Maria was shaking her head. "I still say, it was THEIR choice, Liz."

"I guess," Liz answered softly. Thoughts of Max’s alien heritage had been plaguing her more and more recently and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was coming from him. That she was feeling things he was trying to hide from her and from himself. She was glad Nick was coming over the weekend, it was time she talked to him about this.

Jumping up, she waved Maria out the door. "I need to finish this house before the guests come over, so I’ll see you around."

Maria kissed her on the cheek impulsively. "Its going to be fine, Lizzie. Now go watch Max paint, I can see you are dying to!"

Liz was still grinning when she got back to the kitchen, but the grin fled her face as soon as she saw her husband. He had actually put on what she told him to and she wondered at how clueless Max can be sometimes. He truly had no idea why she had dressed him up in one of his oldest jeans and a T-shirt with the arms ripped off. Her mouth dried as she watched him stretch towards the ceiling. His jeans were riding low on his hips and the shirt let her see every movement of muscle in his arms as he worked.

He knew she was there, watching him, but he decided to finish the ceiling first before acknowledging her. Let her stew a little for working him up like that earlier. When he finally dropped the paint roller and looked over at Liz, the look on her face was incredible. She was literally stripping him with her eyes and Max felt that look reverberate through his entire body. He never tired of Liz wanting him. It was as astonishing and heady to him now as it had been in high school.

She knew every part of that body intimately. She had seen and explored it thousands of times, but it still had the power to take her breath away. Not because he was merely beautiful, but because it was HIM. Wonderful, amazing, sexy Max Evans was inside that body.

He fairly flew off the ladder and came to her, scooping her into his arms. "We’re not going to get interrupted again, are we?"

Liz laughed breathlessly. "No."

"Good," he fairly growled. "You owe me some serious loving, Mrs. Evans!"

So she began making up for earlier while he was still carrying her to their room…

~*~*~*~*~*~