Liz had her hands bunched in Max’s sweater. She grimaced to herself thinking it was hard to believe she had been such a seductress last night when she acted like such a pathetic little girl today. The only thing that made her feel slightly better was the fact that Max was acting the same way. Like he was afraid to let her out of his sight because then she would disappear sooner.

They had been woken up this morning by a knock from Max’s mom, telling them that she made breakfast early enough for them to be able to go by their apartment before school. Liz had felt like a complete idiot when she had to borrow some of Max’s boxers and a T-shirt to be able to appear at the breakfast table. She wondered what Diane would’ve thought if she pitched up in the coat!

Max had held her hand tightly as they drove home and again when they drove to school. In fact, he hadn’t let go of her hand at all when she was remotely within touching distance. It had made for some improvising in the bio class when she had to take notes! But she knew how he felt and she was grateful that they were going through the same thing so she didn’t have to explain her need to be near him.

Tess was mysteriously missing from school today and Max could care less. His main goal for the day was to be near Liz as much as possible. Not in a sexual way, but to hear her voice and her laugh, to feel her soft skin and to smell her scent. He was really going to miss doing all those things, so he was frantic to make up for that time now. What his mom was planning was going to help and he loved her even more for it, but it still didn’t come close to him actually BEING with her for those two weeks.

The bell for the next period was ringing and Max reluctantly let Liz go. They had different classes until lunch so he whispered in her ear: "Meet me here again for next period." When he lifted his head he saw one of the guidance counselors watching them, so he stepped away from Liz and shoved his hands in his pockets.

Liz nodded her head silently. She could do this. It’s not hard. She had been without Max for most of her life, two weeks should be a breeze! She sighed as she walked away from him. Two weeks would NOT be a breeze because in the meantime she had found out what it meant to be loved completely by him. She had learnt what a pure joy it was to be held in his arms and most of all how amazing it was to be allowed to love him back.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The others left them alone during lunchtime and they ended up driving off campus to a nearby park. Max wasn’t hungry, he just wanted to hold Liz for as long as he could. He stopped under the shade of a tree and pulled her into his lap. They sat huddled together for a long time with Max sliding his fingers through Liz’s hair. He suddenly smiled and tilted her chin up: "We must look like a sorry pair from the outside!"

Her mouth smiled at him, but her eyes were sad. "I know. We can do this, Max. We did it before and we’ll do it again." She pulled his head down and kissed him, her lips warm and moist against his.

I could kiss her for days. Max held her against him, just letting their mouths say what their hearts were feeling. It was peaceful and wonderful… until the flashes started. Flashes of Tess talking to him about having a baby and that his first born should be a pure alien. Everything he so desperately wanted to keep from Liz. He should have known she would find out one way or the other…

Liz jerked back as if she was stung, her eyes wide and shocked. "That’s what she wanted? Max--."

Max put his fingers over her lips. "Sweetie, I didn’t want you to see that. She’s… she’s just talking crazy. That’s never going to happen." He looked at her closely. "You know that, don’t you?" He had to make sure. He would never forget the look on her face after she had seen him kiss Tess that time. He remembered so clearly the complete and utter panic that took hold of him when she came into the Crashdown the day after the kiss and ignored him, making him realize she had seen him with Tess. It was one of the most awful moments of his life. He had been confused and scared about what Tess was doing to him, but most of all he had, for a fleeting moment, had to face the fact that he may lose Liz. And the thought had made him frantic. Amazingly enough she had believed in him then, but he had always wondered afterwards if seeing that kiss had made her vulnerable about his faithfulness when it came to Tess.

"I know, Max. I know you won’t let that happen." She looked away from him. "It’s just… it’s Tess and we don’t know what else she will try."

Max gently pulled her back to face him. "It will NEVER happen. No matter what she tries." He pressed his lips to her forehead. "I’ll let you know if something starts happening that… that I can’t handle alone. I promise." He watched her bent head for a few seconds. "Hey. Look at me." He waited until she met his gaze. "Never. I promise. Besides, I think last night was enough to last me a lifetime!"

That made her blush, thank god! Max really wanted her to forget about his horrible discussion with Tess yesterday. They only had a day-and-a-half left before she went to Boston and he didn’t want it to be ruined with nonsense from a lunatic.

Liz squeezed her eyes shut in embarrassment. Although last night had been absolutely incredible, she felt really weird about it in the light of day. She loved that she had made Max so happy, but the things she had done! Well, suffice to say, she would only ever do them for the guy holding her right now like she was the most precious thing in his life: Max Evans.

~*~*~*~*~*~

They had made it through the day, but not without some problems. As the day progressed, Max and Liz realized that they were always being watched by some sort of authority figure. Either a teacher, a guidance counselor or somebody always seemed to be around them, so they had had to tone down their touching and hugging and it was killing them. Why had they suddenly become so interesting for the school authorities? They had been left alone until now, so what had changed?

Max waited by the Jeep for Liz. Where was she? Almost all the kids have left the school already and still no sign of his beautiful other half. He closed his eyes and concentrated until he could sense that she was somewhere in the school. So he waited some more…

Liz shifted from one foot to the other. Her bio teacher was droning on about the two-week course coming up but she just wanted to leave. She knew Max was waiting outside for her and her mind was just beginning to drift when the teacher said her name loudly. She looked up at him.

"I asked if something was bothering you, Miss Parker?"

"Uhm… No Sir. Why would you ask that?" Liz looked at him curiously.

Her teacher sounded serious. "It’s just that I don’t want you to lose your focus here. I know you’ve been dating Max Evans for a long time, but you need to remember that you are young and will still have many other boyfriends. None of us here at the school want to see you doing something stupid that may ruin your life."

Liz had stopped breathing while he talked. "What… what exactly do you mean by that?"

"I mean there are stories about you and that boy… Anyway, don’t do anything that would jeopardize your career and going to college. That’s all I’m saying…"

Liz was in a daze. The teachers were talking about her and Max? Why? She was relieved when her teacher finally let her go. She ran outside, straight into Max’s arms.

"What’s wrong?" he said worriedly. Liz was normally not someone to get so upset without a serious reason.

She told him about her weird conversation with the teacher. "It sounds like they’re going to investigate us, Max!"

He hugged her tightly. "Hey, calm down. Our parents will help us. We’ll get through this." It seems like that was all he was saying lately: We’ll get through this. How he wished that they could just get school over and turn eighteen so he could just be with Liz without all this trouble! "Why don’t we forget about all this until you come back? Right now, we need to get home because my mom has been cooking for a week for tonight!" He was glad that he managed to get her to smile.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The dinner was held in the Evans’ dining room and everyone was there. Liz’s parents, Isabel, Alex, Maria and Michael. Liz was sitting at the head of the table with Max to her right. The group was boisterous and it brought some sense back in Liz’s life. She looked around the table indulgently. This was her family – all these people. Last year she would never have thought that they would all be together like this, but here they were. One big happy group. Her eyes fell on Max who was talking to his mom earnestly and Liz marveled at how completely he gave people his attention. It was like you were the only person in the world when he was talking to you. Then she felt his hand slide over her knee, just below her skirt and she had to hide a smile and correct her previous thought. He would always have some attention left over for her, no matter who he was talking to…

~*~*~*~*~*~