He watched her getting ready for work with dark eyes, and Liz chewed her lip incessantly trying to stop herself from falling apart completely. He knew, she told herself. Of course he knew she was silently freaking out! How could he not know when she was acting so strange? Max was so in tune with her that there was no way she could hide her distress from him for any length of time. She was putting on some eyeliner when she realized that her eyes were wet with tears.

"Liz?" Max was suddenly standing behind her, looking at her in the mirror with such love and anguish on his face that she crumbled. She heard her own sobs echo through the room and the next instant he had scooped her up from the chair and was cradling her against him. She gripped his shirt and pressed her face into his neck, crying as if her heart was breaking.

Max sat down on their bed and settled her in his lap, stroking her hair with one hand as the other arm crushed her against him. Her sobs were tearing into his heart like sharp claws, each one hurting more than the next. "Please-please tell me what is wrong?" He could barely speak around the pain in his chest.

In response, Liz just cried harder and increased her grip on him. He concentrated on her feelings through their connection, deciphering fear, loneliness, uncertainty and heartache so severe it stopped his breath. His own fear that this was about him increased tenfold. "Liz… please, I-I just… please!" he begged incoherently.

His warmth was all around her and Liz slowly calmed down somewhat. She was still afraid that he would find out too much, but at least she was back in his arms for a few precious seconds.

He was shaking.

Against her, Max was shaking in reaction to her inconsolable tears and Liz’s guilt about lying to him and being distant from him spiked. Would he ever forgive her for doing this to them? Would he ever forgive her for not telling him?

"Not telling me what? Forgive you for what?" he asked frantically.

She jerked away from him in a panic, realizing belatedly that he had heard her thoughts. The hurt in his eyes when she did that nearly caused another breakdown. "I-I really want to tell you, Max, but… I can’t. Not right now… Please!"

She was starting to cry again and Max alternated between wanting to force whatever it was out of her and trying not to upset her more. "Please let me help you," he ended up whispering painfully, hoping against hope that she would give in and tell him. Her words had created a vice around his chest. ‘Forgive… doing this to them… not telling him…’ His mind was making up the most horrible scenarios of what all this could mean and he lowered his eyes from hers when she didn’t respond right away.

Wiping away the moisture from her cheeks, Liz looked down on his bent head and felt the full force of his torment slam into her. Oh God, how selfish was she being? "Max…" She ran her hand over his cheek and wrapped her arms around his neck to lean into him. He trembled against her again. "I love you," she whispered against his skin. "More than ever. More every day."

She felt him nod above her, but he didn’t say anything. "I WILL tell you. I promise. Just give me some time. Please…"

"Okay," he didn’t sound sure he was doing the right thing.

He had no experience with Liz not telling him things. Usually he was the first person to know everything she did and felt. An ache settled in his heart and it took him a few moments to identify it as loneliness, something he had never felt since he got together with Liz. He only remembered it from all those years he was watching her from afar. Seeing her experience things that he wasn’t a part of had been terrible. Knowing she was experiencing things now that he wasn’t a part of after being in her mind and body for 10 years was excruciating. Suspecting that this was happening because of him was even worse.

He drove them to work in silence. Liz had felt him starting to shut down his emotions as soon as they had gotten up from the bed after their "talk" and she was worried. She finally took his hand when he wasn’t changing gears and was silently relieved when he didn’t pull away from her physically too. When he parked in front of her lab, she flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back desperately before kissing her good-bye softly.

Liz turned around when she reached the front door of the building and saw him still sitting in the same place, his head bent, his eyes closed and his hands gripping the steering wheel. It hit her again: she was hurting him. She was hurting the most important person in her life.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Nick had organized a place for them to camp in Frazier Woods that was far away from prying eyes. He brought a few of the other men from the camp with him and they had set up tents and other essentials for the group that was coming later that afternoon.

It had been hard for him to choose, but he had to take some people from the colony with him on the trip and leave others behind. Max and his family will need protection and advice while on Dendar and needless to say, all Max’s people wanted to share in the honor of going with him. In the end, he had decided on 20 men. Enough to keep an eye on all the members of the Royal Family as well as impress the leaderships of the other planets.

He was worried about Max, though. Every time they had spoken on the phone, Max sounded more tired. And this morning was even worse. Nick was of the opinion that something was seriously wrong with Max. And that could only mean one thing. Liz. He would have to keep an eye on them tonight to see what was going on. Nick had trouble believing that after all this time and after all they’ve been through, a trip to another planet could cause problems between Max and Liz.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael, Maria, Isabel and Alex were all driving down in Isabel’s car. They had invited their parents to meet them in the woods to say good-bye since no one really knew when they were coming back. None of them were looking forward to the farewell scene.

The bickering had started even before they were in the car.

"Isabel, what the hell do you have in this bag?" Michael exclaimed as they loaded up the car.

"Shut up, Michael. Everything is weightless in space," Isabel had countered.

"Oooh! In that case, I expect to be carried around a lot, Space Boy," Maria said. She was grinning from ear-to-ear at Michael’s ‘I’m in hell’ look.

He got in the car and mumbled: "I wonder if maybe sound doesn’t carry in space either."

"I heard that!" Maria yelled from outside the car.

"I wonder if they have electricity so I can power up my lap top and take notes?" Alex was leaning against the car with a far-away look in his eyes.

Maria burst out laughing. "You’re kidding me, right? Electricity? These people heat stuff with their hands, why would they need electricity?" She fell unexpectedly quiet before suddenly screaming: "Oh. My. God. I’m going into space!" She jumped into the car and grabbed Michael’s arm. "What if we don’t come back? I’m too young to be floating around in the stars for years! And you haven’t even married me, you bastard! I’ve been living in sin for years and it’s all your fault. I can’t die now. Michael—"

"Would you quit yelling in my ear? Everything will be fine. Tess lived through this, so why won’t you?"

This halted Maria for a few seconds before she gathered steam again. "Because her hair color is fake? Because she is shorter than I am and have bigger boobs? Pick your reason!" She took a deep breath. "If something happens to me up there, I’m kicking YOUR ass, Michael Guerin! If you hadn’t abducted me in high school, I wouldn’t be in this—"

Michael eventually shut her up the only way he knew how. He kissed her.

"Finally," Alex muttered to Isabel. "Step on that pedal and let’s get there before she comes out of her daze."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Max finished a little early with his project and decided to go see if Liz could go home early too. He parked outside her lab and went in, the receptionist knew him well by now and she just waved him to the back with a smile.

His heart slammed to a halt when he found Liz being hugged by one of her co-workers. His mind was screaming at him to calm down, that this was nothing, but his heart urged him to go over there and rip the guy away from Liz. Instead he just clenched his hands into fists and hovered in the door. Liz saw him and for a fleeting moment, her face lit up like it always did when she saw him. But then that horrible distant look that he was starting to hate with every fiber of his being slipped into place again. He felt like she had kicked him in the gut.

Liz felt the dark emotions coming off him and she moved away from her colleague. She was so happy to see him, but then she remembered that she couldn’t get too close right now. She walked over to him meekly and hugged him lightly. His arms were around her immediately and he said ‘Liz’ in her ear. The tone of his voice clearly said ‘You are mine’ and Liz allowed herself to bask in his possessiveness for a few moments.

"Can we go?" His voice sounded strained.

She nodded and grabbed her stuff and Max took her hand as they walked out. This normally would’ve been a sweet gesture, but at the moment it felt more like he was trying to keep her from running off without him.

When they got home, Liz started gathering their bags in the bedroom, trying to ignore the fact that Max was watching her intently again. This was killing her.

He spoke unexpectedly, causing Liz to flinch. "Do you… Would you rather stay behind?"

Terror flew through Liz. No. No, no, no, no. "NO!" She rushed over to him, grabbing his upper arms in desperation. "No, Max, please! You can’t… you can’t leave me behind. Please…"

Tears were shimmering in her eyes and Max was taken aback momentarily by the desperation in her voice before sweet relief flooded through his body. She DID want to go with him. He touched her face gently, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Liz, you’re scaring me. Something is happening to you… to us, and I don’t know what it is or how to fix it." He pressed his forehead against hers, squeezing his eyes shut. "I really need you right now. All of you, not just the little bits you’ve been giving me this past—"

Her strangled sob interrupted him.

Liz put her arms around her husband, pushing closer until it felt like she would climb into his body. She wanted to tell him, she really did. This was too hard. Maybe he would still let her go and if he didn’t she could stow away or something.

"Liz?"