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Isabel stared at Alex and contemplated her next move. She just needed a way to let him know that she wanted their relationship to . . . progress. He was so careful around her that she wasn't sure how she was going to accomplish this. The movie continued to drone on and on, and Isabel absently watched as she planned Alex Whitman's seduction. Would he be afraid of her now? He may not want to take the risk now that they had seen what had happened to Liz. She finally decided that the only thing she could do was talk to him and find out. She took a deep breath and held it for a second before letting it out.

Isabel: (turning toward him) "Alex, I need to ask you something."

Alex (not looking at her but at the movie and eating popcorn): "Sure. What?"

Isabel: "How do you feel about me, Alex?"

Alex: (choking on his popcorn and gasping for air) "What . . . (dragging air into his lungs) do you mean?"

Isabel: "I mean, are you afraid of me now?"

Alex (sufficiently recovered to speak properly now): "Uh, Isabel, I know you can do some pretty amazing things, but fear is not the emotion I would use to describe the way I feel about you."

Isabel: (rolling her eyes) "I know you're not afraid of me right now, but that's not what I mean."

Alex: (confused) "What do you mean?"

Isabel: "God, Alex! . . . (trying to find the words) What I mean is, now that we know about what happened to Liz as a result of . . . . . well, you know . . . would you be afraid to . . . . "

Alex (finally getting a clue and shocked at what she was saying): "Isabel, I may not be the most macho guy you know, but I can assure you of one thing. Fear is still not the underlying emotion I would use to describe this situation."

Isabel: (concerned) "You wouldn't be afraid that you would have the same problems as Liz."

Alex: "First of all, I'm not so sure that Liz sees her current situation as a problem. Secondly, they told us they didn't use condoms and if Liz's theory is correct, and I happen to think that it is, then there's really no risk at all."

Isabel: "Oh."

Alex: "Wait. (shaking his head) "I don't think I'm going to be able to live with that 'Oh.' What brought all this on?"

Isabel: "I was just wondering . . ."

Alex: "About . . . ?"

Isabel: (staring at his mouth now) "About us and . . . . "

Alex: (leaning forward) "I think I get the point." (pressing his lips firmly against hers)

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Max and Liz finally arrived at a cabin on a lake just outside the city.

Liz (looking over at Max): "Where are we?"

Max: (smugly) "This cabin belongs to my parents. We come up here sometimes in the summer for vacations."

Liz: (smiling) "How . . . convenient."

Max (smiling, too): "Yeah." (getting out of the jeep and walking around to open her door)

Liz: (stepping out of the jeep) "It's beautiful out here."

Max (staring at her): "Yeah. It is."

A million stars glowed in the sky tonight and the moon was full and brilliant. They had no trouble seeing their way to the front door, where Max unlocked the door with the key he found hidden nearby. He opened the door and they stepped inside. Max put the key down on the counter by the door and turned to look at Liz. She was looking around at her surroundings with a curious aire that made him smile. She was ever the investigator, and he loved it when she turned the force of her inquisitive nature in his direction. She made her way around the room and came to a stop in front of him. Placing her hands on his shoulders she waited for him. He stared down at her for a moment, trying to capture the way she looked in his mind. He wanted to always remember this night and how good it felt to be with her. She leaned in closer to him and he kissed her after what seemed like an eternity to Liz. She brought her hands together behind his head and stepped closer to him. She could feel his response to her pressed against her tummy. She smiled to herself and stepped back staring at him. He started to follow her but she held out her hand to keep him where he was. She reached up into her hair and slid the pin out that was anchoring it in place. It fell, swinging across her shoulders and cascading down her back like a waterfall. Without taking her eyes off of his face, she slid the zipper down on the side of the dress from just under her arm to her waist. Max felt his breath shorten as he watched her undressing. She slid the straps off her shoulders and peeled the material away from her body, letting it drop to the floor. Stepping out of the dress. She straightened and faced him again. She stepped toward him wearing nothing but her underwear and bra and her high heeled shoes. Max smiled at her as she ran her hands under his sweater bringing it up with her as she went and slipping it off over his head. She made another sweep with her hands and the t-shirt went the same way of the sweater. She exhaled softly, as finally, she could put her hands on his bare chest. She leaned a little closer fascinated with every little detail of his body. She brought her hands down in a slow carress all the way from his shoulders to his waist. It felt so good to touch him and she'd been aching to do this all night. She wound her hands around his waist and pressed her lips against his skin. Max felt that kiss all over his body. His brain exploded in sensation, his heart raced, and his blood slowed down to a crawl through veins that were much too constricted. He could smell the perfume she had worn tonight, and something else that was just her own scent. She left a trail of kisses across his collarbone and out to his shoulder. Her hands were splayed across his back and occasionally she flexed her fingers and he felt the hint of her fingernails pricking his skin. She retreated again, this time removing her shoes by sliding the straps off the back of her heel and letting each fall to the floor. She stepped toward him again, and this time her hands settled on the fastening of his pants. Max tried to breathe but it was getting difficult to get enough air. She slid the zipper down slowly and watched his face as the pants loosened their hold on him. His eyes narrowed slightly as he waited to see what she was going to do next. She pushed the pants the rest of the way down and he stepped out of his shoes and pants legs in one motion. He stood up and waited. She stepped toward him, dragging her hands across his chest as she walked around him to face his back. She traced his spine with her index finger from his neck to the waistband of his shorts and back up again. He shivered a little and she opened her mouth and slid her tongue down the same path her finger had just taken. Max felt his chin fall down on his chest without realizing that he had let his head drop. She slid her hands around his waist and pressed them flat against his stomach, while she continued exploring the muscles in his back with her mouth. Max felt his control slipping away like a fading memory, as he reached up to push her hands down from his stomach to where he so desperately needed her to touch him. As Liz's fingers came into contact with his shorts, she sighed in impatience and slipped her fingers over the edges and pushed them down. They fell to the ground and Liz brought her hands back up to his hips, dragging her fingernails the whole way, and then sliding across his stomach and finally . . .

Liz: (very low and sultry) "Max . . . . do you ever think about having children . . . . ?"

Max: (clenching his fists and trying hard to concentrate on what she was saying) " . . . children? . . . yeah, . . . sometimes . . . . why?"

Liz: (sliding around to face him again and putting her arms around his neck) "I've been thinking about it."

Max: (looking into her eyes and running his hand down the back of her head) "You have?"

Liz: "Well, maybe that's not exactly the right word for it. It's more like an obsession."

Max tried to think, but it was so difficult with her hands on him and her mouth sliding down his chest. She was going to torture him to death if he didn't get inside her . . . soon.

Max: "Liz? . . . (fighting against the demands of his body) . . . What do you mean by an obsession?"

Liz: (practically purring and dipping her fingers lower exploring his body) "I can't stop thinking about it. I want to have a baby."

Max: (almost torn in two by the emotions that raged inside him at her words) " Liz . . . (closing his eyes and struggling to get control) . . . . "

Liz: (bringing her hands up to either side of his face) "I'm sorry, Max. I didn't mean to upset you." (trying hard to hide the hurt she felt at his reaction)

If she hadn't been in so much pain, she would've been able to feel Max's emotions, but . . . .

Max's mind grappled with what she had said, and logic warred with instinct, as rational thought died a quick, painless death in the face of blinding need. He had never felt anything like this before in his life. He had never even imagined this kind of lust. He opened his eyes and looked at her after what had seemed like an eternity to Liz. His eyes looked so strange to her that she took a step back, and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Max knew that he had hurt her and he could feel her confusion, but he couldn't gently tell her what he was feeling right now or how her words had incited a riot inside his body. He took a step toward her and wrapping his arms around her waist, lifted her effortlessly closing his mouth over hers. This kiss was different. Liz could feel the intensity behind it as well as the force of the pressure against her lips. She was crushed against him as he held her tightly, walking toward the back of the cabin. As he carried her, Liz's mind settled and one thing became perfectly clear. Max wasn't repulsed by what she had said at all, nor was he angry, or any of the other things she had imagined. As his emotions crashed across her nerve endings, she realized the full extent of the affect that her words had had on him. He was just about a breath away from violence. The tenuous hold he had on himself was shocking, but he was beyond caring. He came to a stop beside the bed and let her slide down his body, without breaking the kiss. He brought his hands up to unfasten her bra and removed it quickly. Stepping back, he pulled her underwear down and off. He straightened and looked down at her. Her body pushed him to the brink of sanity when she had clothes on. Like this, he couldn't even think . . .

He propelled her back down onto the bed and came down on top of her. He couldn't stop or even slow down. He brought his mouth down over hers again, and this time Liz responded by opening her mouth wide and dragging his tongue inside and holding it captive there. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that she felt as out of control as he did. She wanted this. From the moment he had come down on the bed and Liz had felt him stretched out over her, she had lost all desire to be in control or even safe for that matter. Liz's thoughts had set up a litany in his brain, and every single one of them told him what she wanted from him in graphic detail. He clenched his hands on either side of her head and closed his eyes, but he couldn't stop his body's reaction to her thoughts. Liz pulled her foot up the back of his leg from his ankle to his knee. Max reached down and pulled her leg up even higher bringing her foot almost in line with his hips. Her other foot crept up seemingly of it's own free will, as Max pushed inside her body with a force that matched the need they were both feeling. Oh God, Liz thought, . . . finally. Max heard the roaring in his ears as his heart threatened to explode. It wasn't enough. Liz tangled her legs around his waist and forced her hips up as he drove into her. Then, she arched her back and shuddered at the sensitivity of her breasts pressed up against his chest. Almost there. Max pushed forward harder and deeper, no longer able to have the slightest restraint. He could hear her begging him not to stop, as he rocked her up a little higher, holding her hips. Using all of his breath, he plunged into her body one last time. He felt her release and he was pulled into the void with her.

He felt a wave of tenderness wash over him as he watched the world come crashing down all around her face. She cried, but he knew it was in reaction and not pain. His heart continued to slam against his ribs refusing to stop now even though the demand was gone. Liz opened her eyes and looked at him then. The moonlight across her face made her look surreal. She looked into his eyes as if she were searching for something. He could feel the questions in her mind and the uncertainty that came from not knowing her own body anymore. She didn't understand why, at the age of sixteen, she suddenly wanted a baby. It wasn't logical. It was instinctive and very, very strong.

Max: "Liz, I understand how you feel."

Liz: (quietly) "I don't think you can." . . . . "Wrong gender."

Max: "That's not true. I feel it, too."

Liz: "You do?"

Max: "Yeah . . . (closing his eyes as the thought wreaked havoc in his body, again) . . . Maybe this is just the way we are, and it's natural for us."

Liz: (smiling at the way he said us, including her as if she had always been one of them) "I don't think I'll ever get over it."

Max: "What?"

Liz: "Feeling more like I belong . . . like I fit somewhere, than I ever did when I was human."

Max (smiling down at her): "I can vouch for where you fit."

Liz: (smiling, too) "What do we do now, Max?"

Max: (feeling his body responding to her again) "One idea comes to mind . . . "

Liz: (serious) "That's not what I mean."

Max: "I know. I can't help it. This conversation is having a pronounced affect on me. "

Liz: "What do you mean?"

Max: "I mean that, imagining having children with you is powerfully erotic."

Liz: "Oh." . . . . .

Max: "Let's hope we can make it out of high school before it gets any worse."

Liz: (starting to relax) "Surely we can manage that. It's only two years away.

They both looked at each other, as Liz's 2 year pronouncement rang in their ears. Max groaned knowing there was no way they were going to be able to suppress these feelings for 2 years.

Liz: "Maybe they'll go away, Max. Maybe it's just seasonal or something . . ."

Max: (very skeptical) "I don't think so, Liz."

Liz: "O.k. Well, I'm on the pill, so we'll just agree that I'm going to stay on it. Right? That should take care of it. We'll just decide . . . (fading at the look in his eyes)

Max was beyond conversation at this point. These feelings were overwhelming. The very idea of Liz being pregnant was setting off small charges all over his body. He could feel the tremors course along muscles that ached to be freed into action. He kissed her again and felt her body responding to him in a hundred different ways. God, she was amazing. It was like she had been created just for him. And, in a way, she had been. The first time he made love to her, her body had changed to become half of his and she had become his mate for life. Right now, he just needed this time with her. They would just have to stick with the pills, because condoms were completely out of the question. They'd never make it. Neither one of them had the fortitude for that. But, they had to wait. They had to wait until after high school.