Liz didn’t want to think about possibilities of why she had this feeling. Every option came up terrible and unpleasant. But despite her constant flow of denial, she couldn’t let this continue.

Liz slid her body down to the floor and took another deep, soothing breath. Letting her body relax completely, her mind reached out and connected…

“MAX!” Liz shouted as she ran towards him. The background was faceless and unimportant right now. All that mattered was Max’s arms.

“Oh god, Liz,” Max murmured as Liz came running into his arms. It had been too long, just too damn long. “You’re safe, you’re safe, you’re alive.” He squeezed his love closer to him, wanting to make sure she was protected and actually right there in his arms. He smothered kisses all over her face, her forehead, the crown of her head, basically anywhere his lips could touch. “Liz, I love you so much, I love you…”

“Max,” Liz said softly, her hand resting against the side of his face. Her pleasant, harmonious voice stopped his motions and he gazed into her entrancing eyes. She smiled sweetly at him and he couldn’t help but grin goofily back at her. “What’s going on, Max? I’ve been feeling weird all day.”

Max’s eyes widened and not even the Pope could convince him to wipe off that look of total and utter fear that suddenly swept over his face. “Love, you have to stay safe, I don’t care what Adam does, he has got to protect you! Promise me you’ll be safe, promise me you won’t get hurt, and promise me that you won’t-”

“Max, what’s wrong? What’s got you so worried?” asked Liz, a bit frightened by Max’s outburst of panic. She did not like what this was amounting to.

“Liz,” Max sighed. “Maria, she- well- something’s wrong with her.” Liz jumped from Max’s arms and her eyes held the absolute horror Max’s face had just possessed.

“What do you mean something is wrong with her? What the hell is wrong with her? Oh god, tell me she’s all right! Tell me she’s okay and you guys took care of her and she’s her normal bouncy self and-”

“Liz.” It was Max’s turn to calm Liz down, but Liz wouldn’t hear of it.

“Max, if you ever want me to spend another day with you, you better tell me what the hell is going on there! Damn it, I never should have left. I could have done something! She gets tortured because of what I do. I can’t believe how dumb I am! I should have just-” Max’s finger landed on her lips suddenly.

“Calm down, Liz, I haven’t even told you what- wait, what do you mean Maria gets tortured because of what you do?” Max’s eyes rose in suspicion, suddenly aware Liz was keeping something from him. (Apart from where she was at that very moment, what Adam was doing to ensure her safety, if they were still in the same state… and just about everything else.)

“You first, what happened?” Liz directed. Max nodded in his approval.

“Alex, Michael and I were up on your balcony, securing the surveillance cameras we had. We’ve been noticing specific cars staking out your place ever since you left with Adam. They had no clue you had left. Then Isabel and Maria were downstairs in the Crashdown, and from what Isabel said, some strange guy walked in and started talking to Maria. It was like he was hypnotizing her or something, and Izzy tried to interrupt but the guy flung her across the room with his powers-”

“Powers?” Liz asked incredulously. “No, no, no, you must be mistaken. Powers means bad, so no powers, right?” Liz stared at him, begging him with her eyes to tell her she’s right.

But Max could never ever lie to his love. “He had powers. And the guy lured Maria outside. We think he was trying to get her into one of the vans. Alex picked it up on one of the monitors, so Michael and I stopped the guy. To spare you the details, there was a big confrontation involving lots of fire. The guy disappeared before we could get to him. But Maria’s bad off… she hasn’t said a coherent sentence in hours. Alex found Iz knocked out on the floor. She had a pretty bad bump on her head but I’ve already healed it.” Liz vaguely nodded, telling Max she was listening to him.

“Is she all right? Other than her rambling, which is pretty normal for Maria, is she okay?” Max’s silence answered her question. “Well then, what else? What else happened?”

“Iz and I have been trying to connect to you most of the day because Maria had a little message for me. From Khivar.” Liz’s head jerked up, looking at Max with horrified eyes.

“So the stranger-”

“Was Khivar. We all went to Michael’s after the Maria/Khivar stunt. She had been sleeping in Michael’s bed when she suddenly came vaulting out of his room, and screaming things.” Max paused. He really didn’t want to continue.

“Max. What things?”

“Well…”

“Max.” Her stern manner indicated that she wasn’t going to let him mumble himself out of this one.

“At first she was kept screaming ‘Khivar’ and ‘Leandra’. Alex tried to calm her down and it started to work when she finally turned to me. Khivar sent me a message.”

“Uh huh…”

“Yeah.”

“Max, I do believe we’re already established that he sent you a damn message. Will you just tell me what it was?” Max glanced at Liz, feeling divided between wanting to protect her from harm and wanting to protect her from the truth.

“She, uh, called me Zan. She wouldn’t let us name ourselves anything other than our alien names. Khivar’s message… uh, was, ‘You couldn’t save your princess last time and you won’t this time. Leandra is mine. Before, now and forever.’” Liz’s body began to tremble and she fell to her knees. Max felt completely guilty for doing this to her, for making her scared, for scaring her.

Max went to his knees too and put his arms around Liz’s unresponsive body. He kissed the side of her face tenderly, trying to ripple his love to her. His hands rubbed her back soothingly up and down her back, gradually gaining a reaction from her. “Liz, baby, we’ll be okay. I love you, and that’s all that matters.”

“I have to save her.” Liz’s brisk statement shook Max down to his bones. He knew she was going to do this.

“No, Liz. You can’t. Please don’t,” Max replied quietly. “What if… what if you get lost too? We don’t even know what’s wrong. I’m not going to let you go.” Max’s plead fell on Liz’s unhearing ears, but he continued. “Liz! Please listen! She’ll find her own way out, but just stay away. What if Khivar’s waiting for you in Maria’s mind? What if this is all part of his sick little game! Please, Liz, I’m begging you.”

“Max, I’ve got to rescue her! Maria… so help me god if something happens to her.” Liz ripped herself away from Max’s arms and began to fade away when Max let out an animalistic scream

“NO, LIZ! NO! I CAN’T LOSE YOU!” Max’s eyes were wild and brimming with fearful tears. Liz reached out with a fading hand and caressed the side of his cheek.