She reached up to cup her hands over his cheeks and pulled his face down to her. "I love you, Max Evans. So much."

Then he kissed her.

It was a long, slow kiss that seemed intended to arouse as much as reassure. Max’s mouth moved against hers with erotic expertise. His left hand trailed down her back and settled at the base of her spine, urging her closer with a splayed-finger caress. She arched into the embrace, headily conscious of the hardening thrust of his lower body. Their tongues met and mated. The kiss deepened, became more demanding. Desire flooded her, but Liz knew she was not the only one trembling when Max finally lifted his mouth from hers.

"Let this be only about us right now," he urged in a deep, dark, velvet tone.

Lifting her right hand, Liz lightly caressed the side of Max’s face. A hint of new beard growth abraded her fingertips as she traced a line from cheekbone to chin. "Yes," she said in a throaty whisper. "Just us." And she pushed the horrible fears to the far corner of her mind.

He charted the swell of her breasts with his hands like he has done so many times before, but it never failed to electrify her. She arched into his caressing, claiming palms, shifting in an effort to increase the intimacy of the contact. His hands tightened against her flesh and something deep inside her spasmed in response.

They kissed again. Deeply. Deliberately. Not noticing that Max’s hands had begun to glow against her skin. Liz communicated the depth of her love for him through that kiss. That no matter what, she would always be by his side, supporting him.

Max’s shirt came off. Liz kissed along the hard edge of his collarbone then licked against the hollow at the base of his throat. The salty tang of his skin lingered on her tongue. His pulse, when she found it, was rapid and intense.

He lay her down on their bed gently, his hands gliding upwards between her legs.

"Please," Liz begged softly.

Max took off the last of his clothes and stretched out beside her on the bed, his hand finding the curve of her breasts. Liz was staring up at him. Her cheeks flushed with passion, her lips parted and moist. Her eyes locked with his in a long moment of wordless communication. Max whispered her name, then used his right hand to trace the arch of her brow and the slim elegance of her nose. He followed the outline of her mouth with his fingertips, a sensual thrill spearing through him when her tongue stole out to lick at him.

Their kiss was hungry and urgent. Max felt Liz’s arms encircle his neck and her fingers sliding into the dark disorder of his hair. He devoured her responses like a starving man, all thoughts of anything but Liz have fled his mind. Right now all he could concentrate on was her. Only her.

Shifting his position slightly, he kissed downward from her face. He lingered for a few seconds at the pulse point at the base of her throat. The pounding of her blood was intensely, unbearably exiting to him. His mouth found her breasts, his tongue laving and shaping their beautiful contours making her sigh.

His hand left a glowing trail as it slid down to the apex of her thighs, finding her wet heat. Those soft, intoxicating sounds that he loved were escaping Liz’s throat again, increasing his desire and feeding his possessiveness.

Liz moved her hips against his touch, slowly and inexorably edging closer to that final release. His hand was doing magic things to her, creating little explosions just underneath her skin that was more intense than usual, but she was too intent on experiencing them to wonder why that was.

Drawing on everything he knew about making love to Liz, Max held her trembling on the edge for several fevered moments, then tenderly urged her over the brink. She came apart against his hand, crying his name into the stillness of the room.

Only then did he shift himself, parting her thighs as he moved up and over her. Their gazes locked as he joined them with a single, gliding stroke.

Her hands were clutching at him and he gripped her hips, holding her still for a few seconds as he tried to stem the tidal wave of passion building within him. Every nerve in his body was clamoring for release, but he refused to give in to it.

The flashes were unexpected and nearly blinded him. He saw how much Liz wanted him during class today. He felt her desperate need for him from this afternoon, the one that had called him home. And he experienced her sadness about a baby. A pregnant Liz. The thought rocked him to his toes. "Oh God, Liz!" It was torn from him as the image of his pregnant wife formed in his mind.

Liz was beyond hearing anything. She was shaken to the core by the feeling of coming alive everywhere his hands touched. She saw herself from this morning, wearing his shirt and smiling and experienced the rush of warmth and love he had felt watching her. The awareness of her during class and the urgency to come home, knowing she needed him.

He dimly realized that something was different this time. Their feelings were more… intense. He finally started moving inside her, slowly at first but more urgently when he felt, HEARD her response. Finally!

Max felt her body clench around his as she found fulfillment. He moved one last time, driving her to a keening cry that dissolved the final shred of his control. He gave himself over to the woman in his arms and in turn received the most perfect pleasure a man could experience.

It was more than a sexual climax.

It was utter and absolute completion.

Afterwards, when his heartbeat had slowed and his breathing pattern smoothed, Max gathered Liz’s sated, seemingly boneless body into his arms and held her close to his heart. "I love you," he whispered into her hair.

His hands had not stopped glowing yet…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nick was staring at his new baby girl as his wife packed for their visit to Max and Liz. They were driving up to Albuquerque early tomorrow morning and would meet Liz at the house since Max was still working. He hadn’t seen them in the last few months due to his wife’s pregnancy and his unwillingness to leave her alone during that time. Madelaine. That was her name. The name of the newest little alien on planet earth. He took a deep breath and said a silent prayer that her life would be less complicated than his had been. Maybe one day she would also find a human that would love her as much as the ones that were involved with their royal family.

The rumblings that all was not well on Dendar had begun a few months ago. They had only received ad hoc reports since Nick was still trying to keep the fact that a last outpost of survivors from Antar was on earth a secret. His mouth thinned. They have had seven years of peace and tranquility during which he had almost stopped worrying about his King and his future. Almost.

During the times he had visited Max and Liz in Boston, he had had trouble reconciling the happy couple with the two young people who had been through so much while still at school. And he had silently continued to marvel at the depth of their love for each other.

In seven years, not one of their group had gotten close to a human. They had friends, yes, but no one has gotten involved with anyone that he knew of. It was weird. Maybe it was the genetic programming that still influenced them. Maybe it was just plain old fear. After all, it had taken Max the best part of eight years before he got together with Liz and then only after a near fatal incident.

He glanced at his sleeping daughter again. Maybe the next generation…

How would Max react to the news he would carry with him to Albuquerque this weekend? How would Liz? Nick still vividly remembered the two weeks they spent apart when Liz went to a course in Boston. And this would be so much worse. At least they didn’t have children yet.

And at least he had spent the last seven years teaching Max Evans about his history. Not a lot at a time, but he knew enough about what it entailed to be the King to be able to fulfill that role. As for the rest, Nick was surer than ever now that Max was older that he had the makings of a fine leader.

He would need all of that now.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The sun was setting and finally the earth started cooling down a bit in the New Mexican desert. Liz was still sprawled on top of Max, dozing while he kept her protectively close. She could feel from the even way his chest moved under her cheek that he was fast asleep, but she didn’t want to open her eyes yet. If she did, Max’s embrace would not stop that dark feeling that crouched at the edge of her consciousness from haunting her anymore.

She felt tears well up in her eyes and this made her roll off Max, afraid that the moisture would touch his skin and wake him up. She curled into a little ball on her side next to Max. She wanted to scream and rant, do anything to make this impending sense of doom go away. But she didn’t, because nothing would help. All she could do was pray that, when the time came, she and Max would handle what was coming well.

Max’s heat suddenly enveloped her from behind. Even in sleep, he had missed her and searched her out. He pulled her back against him so that she lay spooned against his body. Pressing his face into her hair, he muttered: "Love you, Liz..."

She squeezed her eyes shut, love for Max overwhelming her. Now that she knew what it felt like to be loved so completely, how would she ever live without it?

His arm slipped around her waist, his fingers splaying over her stomach tenderly as he kept her close to him.