Liz gave them a superior look. "Did I say he was sleeping there ALONE?"

It was quiet for a moment in the car before Maria stated: "I was gonna say… The guy’s gonna explode." All three girls erupted into laughter after her deadpan statement.

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

Max gave Tess a sidelong glance and wondered how on earth he always seemed to end up with her the last few days. He wondered what Liz was doing, sensing her mirth through their connection made him long to be with her to share in whatever was making her laugh. His hands curled around the steering wheel at the thought of that beautiful laugh that had the power to warm his heart. He sighed wistfully, unaware that Tess was watching all of this with narrowed eyes.

"Where can I take you? Where do you live now?" Max suddenly realized he had been so wrapped up in making sure that Tess doesn’t upset Liz, that he hadn’t even bothered to ask about Tess’ life.

Tess looked flustered for a second. "Can we go talk at your house? I… I live in a dingy motel on the outskirts of town… I really don’t want to go there. Your house, it’s like a second home to me."

Max decided not to react to that last statement. "Tess, I appreciate that you have a lot to say to me, but can we keep the talking to school hours from now on? Liz is leaving soon and I’d really like to spend as much time with her as I can."

"Well, this is important to me." She sounded petulant and turned her head away until Max drove up to his house.

This time, when they went inside, no one was home. Max assumed his parents were still at work and Izzy, who knows where she was. He stopped in the living room, not wanting Tess in his bedroom with no one else there. He just watched her as she paced and wrung her hands.

"Firstly, I wanted to explain about Neil…"

"Tess, I don’t care who you date. Just please don’t put us in any danger." Max’s decent upbringing won out again. "Are you sure you want to be with him? He looks kind of…"

"Yeah, I know. But he’s obsessed with me, can you imagine that?" She smiled at him coyly.

Not really knowing what to say to that, Max just nodded. "Well, be careful. Was that all you wanted to talk about?"

"No!" She stopped in the middle of the room, staring at him accusingly. "Max, I was supposed to be the queen of our people. You took that from me! You can’t take away my right to be the mother of the next king too."

For a minute, Max was too stunned to move. "Tess--."

She walked closer to him, forcing Max to take an involuntary step back. "You owe me a baby, Max. Your first--."

"Whoa, whoa!" Max held up his hands. "Are you insane? There is no way I’m having a baby with anyone but Liz. And as for me taking away your right to be--. Why am I even explaining this to you? You need to get a life, Tess! Your own."

"No Max, you need to realize that I am right. This baby should be an alien, Max. Just like the two of us. Not some watered-down version."

It felt like all the blood was rushing to his head, making him see Tess through a red haze of anger. She wasn’t just talking about any baby, she was talking about the son he had seen in the future vision with Liz during the bonding ceremony. The one with his eyes and his mother’s laugh. And even though that little boy doesn’t exist yet, he felt fiercely protective of him already. Tess looked at him imploringly. "Liz doesn’t need to know at first--."

Deep breaths. I have to take deep breaths or I will hurt her. "I am only going to say this once and if you or Nacedo ever come to me with a stupid idea like this again, I will not be responsible for my actions. Liz and I are bonded. She is my wife now, you KNOW that. Every one of my people accepts that. I don’t intend to have children with anyone but my wife. I don’t owe you anything. The rules changed as soon as we came to earth and our own planet was destroyed."

"But Max, I WANT to be the mother of the heir."

"You see, that’s the difference between you and Liz. She is unselfish." He breathed deeply again to stay calm. "Now, will you please leave? This has gone too far. Stay away from me. Stay away from Liz. Go live your own life." He shoved his hands in his pockets in an attempt to keep himself from doing her harm.

She had given up all pretence of nicety and was staring at Max with hatred. "You are making a big mistake. What if she leaves you? How do you know--."

"Because I know her. Heart, mind, soul and body."

They stared at each other in a silent battle of wills until the slamming of car doors outside broke the silence.

"Liz is here." He said it quietly. "Could you leave now?"

Tess waited until Liz, Isabel and Maria arrived in the living room before taking her leave. Let Liz Parker see that she had met Max alone in his house. Maybe that will give the mousy earth girl a reason to pause. She was not giving up on Max Evans yet… He was going to have a great dream tonight. At least, he’s going to think he was dreaming… and not about Liz. She would be there to guide this "dream" and in the process hopefully ensure that she got pregnant…

Max couldn’t remember when last he was so glad to see Liz. He felt almost dirty after the conversation with Tess and all he wanted to do now, was to go home and lose himself in Liz. He pulled her into an embrace and held her tightly.

Isabel could see her brother was upset and worried about going through with the lie that the girls had dreamed up to help Liz surprise Max later that night. "Are you okay Max? What did she want this time?"

Liz felt Max tense up and wondered what had transpired before they arrived. She gently rubbed his back, hoping to comfort him.

"About Neil and some other stuff. Did you have fun with whatever you were up to?" He was trying to change the subject and it was obvious to everyone.

"Yeah, we went shopping, but… Liz ran into that Bio teacher of hers there." Isabel decided to go ahead with their plan. Even though Max might be upset now, he would thank her later!

Max was still not letting Liz go, so he talked to Izzy over Liz’s head that he had firmly tucked into his neck. "You did? What did he want?"

"Uhm…" Maria and Isabel looked at each other.

"He wants to see me tonight to go over some more stuff." Liz’s voice was muffled at first before she managed to at least move her head so she could look up into Max’s face. Just in time to see it fall. "I’m sorry, honey. Could you maybe have dinner with your parents? I’ll call you when I’m done."

Max didn’t like it. He wanted to go home with Liz right now. But he stopped himself, this was for her after all. "Yeah, okay, but I think my parents are going to get sick of me real soon. They haven’t seen me this much in a long time."

Maria went ahead to her car as Max and Liz trailed behind, hand-in-hand. "So what did you buy?" Max sounded indulgent.

Liz smiled up at him happily. ‘You can see on Friday night." She stopped and turned to him. "Are you sure you’d be okay eating dinner here?" She was starting to feel guilty about lying to Max since she could feel that he was still somewhat upset about his encounter with Tess.

Sighing, Max pulled her to him again. "I really wanted to go home… with you. But this is important, so I’ll live." He kissed her sweetly, threading his fingers through her hair. Then he walked her to Maria’s car and kissed her through the open window again before they drove off.

Back inside, Max ran into Isabel in the kitchen. She handed him a soda and sat down at the table. "Max I wanted to talk to you. Actually tell you something. About Tess." She saw Max’s wince at the name. "What did she say this afternoon?"

Max debated about telling Iz. He needed to tell someone, but he didn’t want the story to get back to Liz. On the other hand, he couldn’t very well talk to either Michael or Alex about it since he didn’t think either of them would understand about him wanting a baby with Liz so much it hurts. Not right now, of course, but someday.

"Max?"

Isabel’s voice interrupted his thoughts. Making a decision, he looked at her. "She wants to have a baby with me. She claims I owe it to her to let her produce the next… king." Max was still uncomfortable with the title. To him, his little boy would be just that, his son. Not the future king of some alien race he never knew.

Isabel was speechless.

He looked at his sister imploringly. "Please don’t tell Liz, okay Iz? I don’t want her to get upset about this."

Finally finding her voice, Isabel was spluttering in anger. "What… what did you say to her?"

"I told her she was insane and that she should stay away from me and Liz."

"What does Nick say about all this?" Isabel remembered Max saying earlier at school that he had gone to see Nick.

"He thought it was ridiculous. He knew that Nacedo had been sent to guard us, but he doesn’t know him personally, so he couldn’t help me too much. But he is going to Boston with Liz for me." Max paused. "I still have to tell Liz about it. She’s not going to be happy."

Isabel looked at him sharply. "Are you getting one of your premonitions about Liz again?"

He shook his head. "No. I’m just taking precautions." After being silent for a few minutes, he burst out: "I wish I could go with her. I hate being away from her for that long!"

Diane Evans had arrived just in time to hear her son’s outburst. She hugged him from behind and whispered in his ear: "Well, maybe I can help you a little bit with that problem…"

~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz was nervous. She watched from outside Max’s window as he pottered around his room. It was close to nine by now and she had been waiting for the right moment to put her plan into action. Sure, she had sometimes taken the lead in their lovemaking, but tonight she needed to be so much more. She needed to be Max’s fantasy-come-true and she was flying by the seat of her pants. Not that she wore any…

Max whirled around went he heard the soft knock on his window. He knew it was Liz even before he reached it. What was she doing at his window? And what was she doing wandering around alone in the dark? He jerked the window open and found her standing outside in a coat that nearly reached her ankles. "Liz, what--."

"Help me in, Max." She held out her hand and he took it involuntarily.

Liz climbed through gingerly, not wanting to ruin her surprise for him by letting him see what she was and wasn’t wearing underneath the coat. She looked up at him when she was finally standing inside. "Could you lock your door?"

Max was amazed. What was going on with Liz? But… he could think of only one reason why she would want him to lock the door and his eyes widened. She was still watching him steadily and he eventually complied. Walking back to her after completing the task, he halted when she held up her hand.

Her eyes fluttered away from his shyly for a moment when she started to undo the belt of the coat. Max realized he had stopped breathing as he waited for her to make the next move. Then her gaze locked with his again as she slowly opened the coat to reveal a lace nightgown. It hid nothing of her body but merely served to highlight all the erotic hills and valleys that he loved so much. She let the coat fall and he prayed his legs would not give way as he took in her beauty. The gown fitted her upper body like a second skin, it stretched over her breasts only to flare into a short skirt that ended just above mid-thigh. His eyes drank in every minute detail of her and stored it to memory. God, she is beautiful. And mine. The thought went straight to his loins.

"Tonight is for you, Max." Her voice was breathy and sultry and low. And filled with desire for him. He couldn’t speak to save his life.

Liz walked towards him slowly, swaying her hips slightly and glorying in the dazed look in his eyes. She wanted to drive him crazy with desire tonight. She wanted to give him a night he would never forget. She wanted to show him that even though he thought she was a princess and a lady, she could be something from his fantasies when they were alone like this. That she had a side only he could bring out and that only he would ever see.

Max was rooted to the spot with all the conflicting desires raging through his body. He wanted to grab her and rip the gorgeous gown off her and take her quickly. He wanted to take it slow and torture them both to just this side of insanity before finally making them one. But most of all he wanted to wait and see what she had cooked up for him in that pretty little head of hers.

Liz felt heavy with lust. Her body was screaming for his. But she had to move slowly at first, otherwise her plan of making him lose that famous control of his would never work. She watched him from underneath heavy eyelids as she carefully undid the buttons of his black shirt. Pushing the shirt from his shoulders, she raked her nails over his chest, hearing the hiss of his breath with satisfaction. He brought his hands up to capture her face so he could kiss her, but she evaded him. She waited until he let his clenched fists fall back to his sides before stepping closer again. She leaned in and ran her tongue lightly over the bunched muscles of his upper arm before moving on to his chest. He was panting by now, his eyes almost black as they followed her movements hungrily.

She took her time. It was glorious to be able to touch him like this. She tasted the saltiness of his warm skin on her tongue and reveled in the ripples under his skin wherever her hands roamed. After long moments of exploring his chest, Liz slid to her knees and nuzzled his navel.

"Ah, god, Liz!" It tumbled from his lips involuntarily.

She smiled slightly against his skin, enjoying the power she held over him at this moment. She explored the textures of his stomach, from the smooth tanned skin around his navel, to the softer, more sensitive skin just above the waistband of his jeans. He trembled violently when her tongue traced the fine arrow of hair disappearing into his pants. She pulled back slightly and looked up at him. Her Max.

He could not form a coherent thought. She looked sultry and innocent at the same time as she stared up at him with her flushed face and her moist lips. A lady and a vixen all rolled into one. She was still watching him when she licked her lips and moved her hand to trace his hardness through his jeans. He drew a harsh impeded breath and wildly tried to find something to hold onto… or he would melt at her feet.

She undid his pants and pulled them down together with his boxers before returning her hands to his body.

"Liz… Liz, I need…" He needed to sit down somewhere. He needed to be inside her. He needed her to stop caressing him so intimately. He needed her to continue.

She understood, because she got to her feet and pushed him to his bed, following him down when he collapsed on it gratefully. Liz straddled his legs and replaced her hands with her mouth on his body. Max nearly came off the bed. He tangled his hands in her hair, no longer able to keep from touching her and urged her closer, faster, harder. She did all that and more.

The only thing he could hear was the roar of his blood in his ears and the thundering of his own heartbeat. And all he could feel was her sweet hot mouth doing magic things to his body.

Pulling away from him when she felt his body tightening, Liz laced her fingers through Max’s as she moved over him. Their hands gripped tightly as they fought the urge to moan out loud. They stared at each other as she slowly sank down on him, taking him deep inside her.

She was a fever in his blood. One that he never wanted to get rid of. His eyes raked over her body that was still thinly covered by the nightgown. Her breasts heaved with her tortured breathing and her hair fell around her face in a tangled mass his fingers had created. All of a sudden, Max didn’t have the strength to take it slow anymore. He ripped his hands from her grip and curled them into her hips, holding her tightly as he moved urgently, desperately inside her. He gave up trying to be in control and to wait for Liz. Instead he let his body take over and it had only one goal – to imprint itself so deeply on Liz Parker that they could never be two entities again.

And Liz let him. She gave him free reign over all of her body. It was incredible, watching Max in the throes of a blinding ecstasy that she had brought him.

When the first signs of their release started pulsing through their bodies, Max reared up and pulled Liz against him, taking her lips forcefully to dampen the sounds they were both making. He held her and kissed her until the shudders in their bodies started dying down before falling back to the bed and taking her with him. He wanted to tell her what it meant to him that she did all this for him, but he was too tired to talk. Instead he held her cradled against his body, his arms around her like steel bands.

"Wow." It was all he could muster. He felt her smile against his skin as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

~*~*~*~*~*~