Horror tore through Max as he saw her eyes fill with tears and he sat up quickly to pull Liz back into his arms. He knew she needed him, but he was afraid of what making love with her would mean for their baby. And now there were no doctors that could tell them what would be harmful and what not. As he felt her tears against his neck, he castigated himself for making Liz cry again. That would make it two times in a few hours already. What sort of a husband was he?

After getting herself under control somewhat, Liz pulled back to look into Max’s concerned and tortured eyes. Sighing, she admitted that all her tears had accomplished was to make Max more certain that she should be coddled. Not really what she had in mind for the two of them! She wiped the moisture from her cheeks determinedly and pinned him with a gaze. "Max, I am pregnant, not ill. And what both our child and I need right now is for you to love me, not to try and keep us apart as much as possible." She could see Max wasn’t being swayed so she tried a low blow. "The baby can feel when I’m upset, Max, and that is not a good thing." His eyes grew large at her statement. "People have been making love while pregnant for centuries, so it’s not like we will be breaking any physical laws or anything," she ended. She couldn’t believe she had to resort to emotional blackmail to get her own husband to make love to her. She was used to being loved in abundance and having had very little of that for a while was disconcerting and with her pregnant hormones going nuts, Max was in deep trouble.

"Uhm… Liz…" Max was at a loss. He had all sorts of horrible images flying through his mind of what could happen to Liz if he actually had sex with her and he no idea how to explain them to his obviously perturbed wife. Heck, some of them were silly even to him!

Liz suddenly climbed out of bed, standing in front of him wearing only a few delicious scraps of silk and lace. Max felt his temperature skyrocket. She was exquisite. His eyes clung to her curves, from the lush line of her lips to the sensual flare of her hips. Oh, how he wanted to bury himself inside her once again…

She made sure he had a good look before turning to the little bathroom type thing leading from their room. "So, how do the showers on this ship work?"

He decided it was a good thing she wasn’t looking at him, because his stupidly confused expression after her unexpected question would surely have had her in stitches. He buried his face in his hands, trying to ignore how uncomfortable he was sitting around in a pair of pants while being really aroused. When he eventually felt strong enough to face her again, he found she had disappeared into the bathroom.

Her shriek seconds later had him sprinting to the other room, nearly falling over his own feet in haste.

She was standing inside a little cubicle that emitted a low hissing sound, her hands covering her eyes as she was engulfed in what looked like a fine mist. Max panicked and slammed his hand into one of the buttons next to the door of the cubicle. The sound and the mist disappeared immediately and the door slid open moments later. "Liz!" he cried as he lifted her out and hugged her tightly.

Desperately blinking the moisture from her eyes while trying to get her hair out of her face, she mumbled: "I’m fine, just soaked."

Max helped her with her hair, using his powers to dry out the moisture and leaving it lying down her back smoothly.

Still really upset with his stubborn refusal to make love with her, this irked Liz even more and she glared at him. Get your hands off me, you smug Alien idiot! Just because your hands glow you think you can do everything.

Max heard her thoughts clearly and backtracked warily. What on earth was wrong with Liz? He thought he had been helping her. They stared at each other from a few paces away. This was not at all what Max’s dreams about a possible Liz pregnancy had looked like. He had had visions of her glowing with health and enjoying every moment with him. Of being blissfully happy. Of them planning a nursery and picking out names. He definitely had not had visions of being on Liz’s bad side all the time. "What happened?" he asked cautiously.

Liz waved her hand at the cubicle. "The stupid thing went like a tornado suddenly and I couldn’t see to turn it off…" All of a sudden her mouth started twitching and she burst out laughing.

What the hell? He wasn’t sure if he would get lynched for joining in her mirth, so Max just smiled at her. "Maybe we should get someone to come show us how things work in this room," he stated dryly.

"Maybe…" Liz’s voice had turned husky again and he noticed her eyes were trained on his damp chest. His body reacted helplessly. Her naked body glistened with moisture. She was gloriously, breathtakingly sexy. He watched as she came towards him, seemingly in slow motion, and trembled as her hand splayed over his chest.

Liz leaned forward and caught a few drops of moisture from his skin with her tongue. He was so beautiful. She felt the muscles jump in reaction to her touch and she stepped even closer, opening her mouth against him. His muffled groan barely reached her ears, she was too intent on enjoying every inch of him.

He couldn’t help himself. His hands found her waist and slid down to cup her behind, lifting her to her toes and arching her into his hardness. Her hands were digging into his upper arms as she moved her assault to his neck.

"Liz…" He had meant it to be a warning, but it sounded more like a plea. She was a witch, ensnaring him in her magic and making him lose his mind.

He tasted warm, male and incredibly arousing. She trailed her open mouth over his throat, her tongue tracing little shapes against his skin. She could feel his chest heave against her and hear his labored breathing and it made her deliriously happy. Nipping at him, she thought fiercely that his body was hers. It had always been. No one else had ever done what she was doing and no one else had ever made him respond this way. Her mouth reached the firm line of his jaw, but before she could explore further, he had turned his head so that their mouths met.

He plundered her mouth with open desire, long past the stage of even trying to hide his passion and Liz reveled in every minute of it. Her body rejoiced and her heart sang when she felt Max’s surrender. Felt him giving up on trying to keep things low key between them. Finally, they would be together again…

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

There had been some confusion on the other ship when it became clear to the Dendarian hosts that the two Antarian visitors intended to share their rooms with their companions. Their hosts didn’t say much, but Maria surmised that males and females did not normally stay in one room on Dendar. She wondered if King Max had had the same problem on his ship. Probably not, he would’ve just waved his hand and everyone would’ve been falling all over themselves to do his bidding. Wait a minute, that sounded a lot like Liz… Maybe she was from Dendar too, Maria thought amusedly.

The small rooms were clearly meant for one person, but Maria left Michael under no illusion that he could kiss any type of physical interaction good-bye if he let her stay somewhere else, alone between all these aliens.

Isabel had decided to test her royal status and had asked for two adjoining rooms, which they managed to find for her. Even though she and Alex were close, she needed her space. Sharing a bed not much larger than a single was not her idea of fun.

By unspoken agreement, the four of them met each other again in what looked like a lounge type area after settling in their rooms. The chamber had a huge window/porthole from which they could watch the stars fly by.

"This is, like, so surreal," Maria said in a hushed voice. "I can’t believe I’m hurtling through space at a dizzying speed!"

"Yeah, it makes trying not to overspend on groceries at the end of the month look a little less important, doesn’t it?" Alex stated dryly.

For Isabel it was a different experience. It felt almost… familiar. Sharing a glance with Michael, she knew he felt the same. It was familiar not in the same sense as her home on earth was, but in the sense of having experienced this before. It was a little disconcerting and she scooted closer to Alex.

Maria was fiddling with buttons situated underneath the window, when suddenly a soft siren sounded from further down the hallway. Michael dragged her away and scowled at her. "Are you insane? You could open this window or launch a missile or something!"

Folding her arms across her chest, Maria stared at him irritably. "Well then get one of these very short little aliens to give us the guided tour and explain how I can get something to drink on this vessel. Or I WILL be opening this window!"

"Wuss," Alex hissed under his breath when Michael held up his hands in surrender and took off to find someone that could help them. "Thanks Maria, I could eat any type of alien food right now, that’s how hungry I am!"

"I’m a waitress and let me just say, this race will not win any wars if it depended on their hospitality!" Maria huffed. But all this bravado was a show to hide her true feelings. Maria Deluca was terrified. She was in space, for crying out loud! What was she thinking coming here? Oh yeah right, she was thinking she couldn’t let Michael go off to some other planet to meet some new alien girlfriend. She glanced bitterly at Isabel. From what she had seen of alien women, in other words Isabel and Tess, they were all beautiful. There was no way that she would allow Michael Guerin to go live among such women alone.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Max tamped down on his urgency. Under normal circumstances, he would’ve taken her quickly, but he felt that he needed to do this right this time. Liz was whimpering against his mouth, begging him silently to make them one soon, but he kept on kissing her. Sliding his tongue over hers and worshipping her with every movement of his mouth and hands.

"I love you," he had pulled back just a fraction to whisper it against her lips. He felt the shudder that racked her slim body as his breath feathered over her moist and sensitive mouth. Finally letting go of her rear, he put both his arms around her waist, hoisting her up against him until her legs dangled against his, and walked back to the bed without breaking off the kiss. He couldn’t have, even if he wanted to. He was like someone that had found a spring in the desert after dying of thirst for days. He drank his fill from her mouth. He had been starved for her kisses, something he hadn’t really admitted to himself until yesterday. It probably was an understatement to say that they kissed a lot usually, and this past week they had barely kissed once. He was mystified that he had managed to live without Liz’s kisses for so long.

He let her slide to the floor beside the bed, gasping as he felt her bare skin move against his. Electrifying. It felt so electrifying to have her in his arms like this. He lifted her arms around his neck and gently trailed his hand down her sides until he reached her upper thighs before moving them around to the back and letting them glide upwards over her bottom, the curve of her lower back and up to her shoulders. Slowly letting himself rediscover the wonders of Liz’s body. They needed oxygen, so he ended the kiss and rested his forehead against hers.

Liz’s heart was overflowing. "My love," she said softly. He had been the most wonderful husband any girl could ever wish for through all these years, and now he was going to be a wonderful father.

Max had one final moment of uncertainty. He wrapped his hands around her tiny waist, his thumbs meeting at her bellybutton. The soft glow was back immediately. "Liz, what about our baby, wouldn’t this be… weird for—"

"I told the baby to sleep so we could be alone for a while," she said with a small smile. He looked so cute when he was flustered. "No seriously, Max, our baby is only a few cells big right now. I don’t think he’d mind." She reached down to find his hands and moved them upward to her ribcage, letting them linger tantalizingly close to her breasts. Max’s gaze had dropped to follow the path of his hands. "Okay?" she asked him gently.