"What did you see?" he asked anxiously.

Too tired to try and pretend anymore, Liz simply said: "You and Tess."

Max felt his heart plummet to his feet. "Liz, I’m—"

"No Max," she stopped him. "You WERE married to her and I-I just have to deal with it. I’m acting so childish about all this." She looked away from his penetrating gaze. "I just… I need a little time to adjust. I’m sorry."

He nodded slowly. "But only if you promise not to shut me out as part of this dealing process. Please Liz, I don’t think I could take that."

"I promise. And… I’m sorry about this. I’m sorry for ever dating Kyle too, because… because now I know what you must’ve felt like."

That’s true, Max admitted grimly. He liked Kyle, he really did, but he would always remember seeing Kyle with his hands on Liz in high school and feeling like he wanted to die as a result of it. "So, we’ll work through this together then?" He had to make sure.

"Yes," Liz nodded against his chest. "I’m sorry," she repeated.

"We weren’t together then, Liz." He was obviously talking about more than the Kyle-thing. "But I’m sorry too," he added. He was sorry for so many things. For coming into Liz’s life with the baggage of a whole other life resting on his shoulders. For dragging her into all his alien messes. For the fact that they would have to watch her very carefully during her pregnancy to make sure his baby doesn’t hurt her.

So they just held each other tightly, hoping that this will pass too.

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

After an hour had passed, Shilla had politely asked the huge James to go see if maybe she couldn’t go sort out the remnants of the brunch Max and Liz had had. James had seemed reluctant, but did so anyway. She again wondered at the intense protectiveness these Antarians felt towards their royal couple. This went way beyond just making sure they were safe, it was a nearly obsessive effort to ensure their privacy too.

She was allowed into the dining area with strict instructions from James not to go anywhere else in the suite. This made her blush, because she realized that the guards were apparently under the impression that she would disturb their King and Queen having sex. This amazed her. On Dendar, men and women bonded and made children and from then on, sex was like exercise. You made a proper appointment with whomever you wanted it and left afterwards. It had no impact on your bonded mate and only depended on your physical needs. On Dendar, this level of physical closeness by two bonded people was unheard of.

Blushing even harder, she admitted to herself that she could definitely understand Liz’s willingness to remain close to Max. He was going to make waves among the women on Dendar. Just like his fake Queen had with the men.

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

Michael was in an awkward situation. He had just been approached by the ship’s second-in-command to tell him that there were women he could "schedule" to be with if he needed. He had to hastily explain that they did things differently on earth and that he would not be needing any entertainment.

But when he got back to his room, Maria was waiting for him, her foot tapping with impatience. Her stormy eyes informed him that the offering-of-women deal had become known to her somehow. He was going to kick Alex’s ass!

"So where’s your bit-on-the-side?" She asked as soon as she saw him.

"Right in front of me," he retorted, taking the wind from her sails.

"Guerin!" she yelled at him in exasperation.

"Don’t yell, DeLuca," he answered. "They don’t know… how things work with us." As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew he had made a mistake.

Maria narrowed her eyes at him. "And how DO they work with us?"

Scratching his head, Max’s second-in-command was struck speechless once again by the only girl who had ever managed that feat.

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

Watching Liz out of the corners of her eyes, Shilla wondered again what was going on with the Antarian royal couple. The atmosphere in the suite has been subdued for the past two days, even when Max was not here.

The King was busy in meetings with his Advisor and the Dendarian elders on the ship for most of the day each day, but he came back to the suite often, apparently to check on Liz. Shilla always enjoyed the soft way he spoke to his mate, but she wondered why their eyes seemed to cling together so desperately while they were together. And why they suddenly touched each other so tentatively. She could see that James was worried about them too. Having made it her business to get to know as much as she could about the hunky Antarian royal guard, she quickly noticed the anxious glances he cast at them whenever Max or Liz wasn’t looking.

This couldn’t go on any longer. Liz was miserable and she needed Max. She loved him with every fiber of her being and he loved her back. Surely they would be able to handle the odd upsetting vision between the two of them?

Max left late in the mornings, staying with her as she retched her guts out in the bathroom. He was gentle with her as always and slept with his hand on her stomach at night, but they kept each other at an emotional arm’s length, afraid of a recurrence of the flashes that reminded them of Max’s past.

It had to stop.

During the days, Liz roamed the ship with James and David at her heels or sat in the suite talking about the progress of her baby with Grace. These talks always brought tears to her eyes and made her miss Max even more.

She needed Max’s kisses and love like she needed air to breathe. She craved him. And she had to make the first move to change things.

When Shilla arrived with the dinner stuff, she found Liz pacing the lounge nervously. "You look lovely, Your Highness!" she exclaimed spontaneously. Liz wore a short black skirt and a red sweater with little baby buttons down the front that was molded to her body.

"Thank you," Liz smiled at her, but Shilla could see that the Queen’s attention was only half on her. The other half was watching the door. She was obviously waiting for Max. They saw each other a lot, in Shilla’s opinion. The King left late in the mornings and she was not allowed inside until he was gone. He had also been to see Liz earlier today and had only left her alone again just after lunch.

It amazed Shilla that these two have been bonded for so long and yet they still acted like this. On the other hand, maybe the Queen WASN’T waiting for the King. Maybe she had decided to avail herself of the male entertainment on the ship and was expecting her company any minute now. That would be strange to Shilla, because they had all heard about the huge fit the King’s Advisor had thrown when he was told to inform the King of the female "entertainment" that was available if he wanted it. The Advisor had reportedly told the informant in no uncertain terms to not even MENTION the idea to the King.

Shilla had just finished setting the table for dinner, still astonished by the Queen’s obviously jumpy attitude, when the door opened to reveal Max.

She was about to have her first lesson in ‘Max and Liz Passion 101’.

Stopping just inside the door, Max felt his heart slam to a halt when he saw Liz slowly rise from the chair she had been sitting in. It was clear that she had dressed for him. Wearing one of his favorite sweaters, the one with the seemingly millions of little buttons that drove him crazy when he wanted to get it off her, and a skirt that made his temperature skyrocket, she was a huge temptation.

Completely forgetting that she had wanted to ask Shilla to clear out once she had finished preparing the dinner, Liz could do nothing but melt in the heat of Max’s eyes. He was staring at her with questions in his eyes. Are you sure? What if…?

Taking a small step forward, she whispered: "I don’t care."

Max felt his world tilt. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them again to trace the slim lines of her calves and thighs, the curve of her hips encased in that sinful skirt and the little piece of skin visible between the cropped sweater and the top of the skirt. His gaze clung hungrily to the swell of her breasts, taking note of the agitated state of her breathing. His body was acutely aware of the fact that they had only made love once in the past two weeks.

Shilla watched as Liz took another little step that turned into a run as she fairly flew at Max. He caught her against him as if he had done it millions of times before and lifted her up into his body with one arm. Their mouths crashed together and Shilla distinctly heard the Queen’s soft moan. She was completely speechless, vacillating between being utterly shocked at the abandon she was witnessing or hopelessly charmed that two people could be like this with each other. Excessive emotion was not common on Dendar.

She knew she should leave them to themselves, but she couldn’t. They were blocking the only exit.

Liz ran her hands through Max’s hair, mussing it completely in her attempts to pull his mouth down harder on hers. His hand gripped her hair as he angled her head to allow him maximum invasion space. His tongue caressed the inside of her mouth deeply and intimately, causing all the heat in her body to pool at the juncture of her thighs in a moist rush. She arched even closer to his arousal, rubbing herself against him in an age-old effort to both incite and relieve.

Tearing his mouth away from hers, Max kissed a trail from her jaw to her throat, his body trembling at the relief of doing something so familiar again. He found the pounding pulse point at the base of her neck and rested his sensitive lips against it fleetingly.

"M-Max," Liz managed. "I love you. I missed—"

Another kiss ended her efforts to speak. He ate at her bottom-lip, causing sparks to ignite behind her closed eyelids. Sparks that made her realize she hadn’t had a flash yet. A harsh sound slipped from Max’s throat when she broke away and stared up at him with bright eyes. "Nothing," she breathed.

"Oh god, Liz," was all he could manage as his temperature spiked even higher. He forgot everything. He forgot that he was worried about what could happen to her if he made love to her too roughly. He forgot all his intentions to find out what had happened when he was married to Tess before subjecting her to more visions. He forgot about dinner and that they weren’t alone in the room.

Staring up at him, Liz saw his eyes darken and knew she had gotten through to him. "Max?"

She was asking him to make love to her. He swallowed before saying: "Yes!"