"Love you, Liz." Max cupped her face with his hands and deepened their kiss. They spend a pleasant time kissing and caressing until at last Max drew back and said breathlessly, "We'd better stop." She was such an innocent thing, he didn't want to take her beyond where she was comfortable.

Liz said seriously, "Is that what you want, Max?" She began to plant kisses randomly on his dear face. Her innocence had been stolen from her but she still had her heart and her soul and she wanted to give them to the only man she had ever loved.

Max looked into her dark eyes and read her love there. "I want what you want, Liz."

"I want you to show me how to make love, Max. I love you with all my heart and soul. I want to love you with my body, too." She gazed up at his beloved face, his eyes expressing the wonder of their love. Reaching up to caress his face with a small soft hand, her lips greeted his.

Wordlessly Max wrapped his arms around her slender body and buried his face in her hair. "God, I love you, Liz." He gently held her close to his body, awed by this incredible woman. Max was totally humbled by her display of love and trust. Gently, he began her lessons of love.

A timeless interval later the two lovers were lying intertwined and enjoying their newfound closeness. Max was stroking the silky dark strands of Liz's hair that had fallen over his chest. Liz was nestled along his side, her head resting on his shoulder. She idly stroked the contours of his muscular chest, planting an occasional kiss. She gave a happy sigh. "Thank you, Max."

Max drew her up so he could look into her eyes. "No, thank you, Liz, for giving me the most incredible gift." He smiled as he remembered the 'born again virgin' story and how cute she looked as she blushed when she told him. He reverently kissed her soft lips.

"Breakfast is almost ready!" Maria's yell from the bottom of the stairs interrupted them.

Max groaned and chuckled ruefully. "I love that woman but she has the most atrocious timing." He gathered Liz's beloved body close for one last embrace and said, "Lovely Liz, I'll let you have the shower first. I'll just lie here and plot my revenge on Maria."

Liz giggled and gave Max one more kiss. She climbed from their bed and unselfconsciously walked to her closet to get her robe. Smiling over her shoulder at Max she put it on and went to take her shower. Max rolled over and buried his face in the warm place she left and breathed in her scent.

=====

It was a pleasant breakfast and someone's 'Maria-sensors' were tingling. She was already in a extremely giddy mood because of Michael's reaction to her news and as she watched Max and Liz interact, it was all she could do to contain herself. Alex just watched with amusement and smiled at the antics of his friends. He would do his celebrating when he had Isabel safely in his arms.

The buzzer announced that someone was at the gate. Liz had been expecting a visit from Julie and she was not surprised to hear her voice over the intercom. Liz pressed the gate release and went outside to await Julie's arrival. Max explained the situation to his puzzled friends. He went to the living room and watched out the front window as Julie got out of her car and was enveloped in Liz's arms.

The two grieving women comforted each other and walked down to the lake for a visit. He was sitting on the porch still watching almost an hour later when Liz walked Julie back to her car. Liz wiped tears from Julie's face and hugged her again. Then she stood and watched as Julie drove down the driveway out of sight.

Max walked out to Liz and wrapped his arms around her from behind. He rested his chin on top of her head and waited in case she would to talk to him about her feelings. And if she wasn't ready yet, he would just offer her his presence.

Maria watched from inside and empathized with Liz's grief. She rested her hand over her developing child. She prayed that nothing would ever happen to her daughter.

Her daughter! Michael was ecstatic when he found out she was expecting and had a flash of them celebrating their daughter's birth. They had decided not to tell everyone about their news until after all this dissident mess was over. She gave a happy sigh and knowing that Max was the best medicine for Liz right now, went upstairs to work on her daughter's quilt.

After a time Max and Liz came back into the house. Liz went into her office to gather the legal papers that needed to be sent back to her lawyers. Max went into the computer room to tell Alex that they would be going into town for a short while.

And so Maria was happily occupied with her quilt and Alex was industriously integrating files, both totally unaware of the disastrous event about to occur. Their first indication that all was not well was the sound of Liz's jeep speeding up the driveway. Maria looked out Liz's window and wondered at this until she noticed that Max was the only person in the jeep. She jumped up and ran downstairs, yelling for Alex to join her outside with Max.

Max burst from the jeep and Maria grabbed him. The rage and terror on his face sent icy spikes of fear into her. "Max!" she exclaimed. Alex came running up and took Max and Maria by their arms.

"They have Liz. Oh god, they have Liz!" He broke away from them and ran into the house. They followed on his heels as he ran into the computer room and began to pound out an email message to Gregory's group here on Earth. Maria and Alex read over his shoulders.

They were shocked to read that Pokran had kidnapped Liz and that Gregory and Max had been unable to prevent it. This action proved that Gregory's suspicions about Pokran's loyalties were correct: he was a dissident. The group was to initiate security measures to cleanse itself of any other dissident infiltrators. Gregory would contact them later.

Alex quickly grasped the situation. He turned to Maria and told her to pack overnight bags for them and he would close the house up, they would be leaving immediately to help Max rescue Liz. Max heard him as he was finishing his message to the group and grimly nodded his gratitude. The three frantic friends ran for the jeep together. Max sped down the driveway and back toward town.

He briefed his friends as he sped down the road. "We're picking up Gregory. He has technology that will be useful."

Tears streamed down Maria face. She was shaking with reaction to this horrible turn of events. The look on Max's face was adding to the dread she felt when she thought about her vulnerable friend in the hands of those horrible dissidents. Maria didn't know how much more trauma Liz could endure before she shattered into too many pieces to ever be put back together. She buried her face in Liz's favorite quilt. She didn't know why but she had grabbed it on the way out of the house. But Liz always seemed to draw comfort from it. Maybe she would need it when they rescued her.

Alex prompted the silent Max, "What happened? God, I knew there was a good reason I didn't trust that bastard Pokran! Why did he take Liz? "

Max's voice was horrible to hear. The guilt and fear made it almost unrecognizable as his. "Alex, you can't see auras, but if you could… Liz…" his voice broke on her name. "Liz has the most incredible aura, full of her spirit and radiant with her energy.

"When we parted she was literally glowing with happiness. She must have been irresistible to him. We ran into Gregory and Pokran on the way to the lawyers' office. I stayed to talk to them and Liz went on alone. My god, I let her go alone."

Maria reached over and gripped his shoulder. "Max, this isn't your fault!"

Max continued, "Pokran said he had an errand to run and he left. Gregory and I were talking about what Michael and Isabel told me. I felt Liz— I felt her reach out to me and saw a flash of Pokran's face then I felt her fear and her pain and then nothing." Max stopped his narration to regain control of his voice. "When I told Gregory he tried to contact Pokran, but he was unable to locate him and so he contacted his ship."

Alex interjected, "He contacted his ship— he broke his own security rules?"

"That's right. And I must say this— his genuine concern about Liz and efforts to help find her were reassuring. I didn't think the guy had a heart." Max pulled into the driveway of a motel. Gregory came out and rapidly walked toward the jeep.

Max got out and helped him stow his bag in the back. Alex moved to the back seat and Gregory got in the front, still carrying a metal case. When Max got back in he turned to Gregory and said, "Do you have any more information?"

"We flushed two more dissidents and were able to get some information from them. It's not good." Gregory looked at Max with unquestionable regret. Max paled and swallowed hard. Maria buried her face in the quilt and began to sob as she assumed the worst. Alex pulled her into an embrace to offer comfort.

Max turned in his seat and placed his hand on Maria's shaking shoulder. "Maria. Maria, listen to me. Liz is alive. I would know if half of my heart was gone." He gave her a little shake. "Maria, Liz and I are connected just like Michael and Izzy are connected to you and Alex as mates. Trust me when I tell you I'd know."

Maria raised her tearstained face and asked, "Really?"

Max insisted, "Yes. Liz is my mate and our souls are connected. She's the reason I never settled down like Isabel and Michael."

Gregory looked interested in this revelation but then continued with what he was originally going to say. "We believe they plan to open the portal early. I have an instrument that will pinpoint the location of the portal after it opens. That's the good news. The bad news is this early activation will most assuredly result in a shorter time that the portal remains open. And we still have not located the generation ship."

Max looked at Alex. "Will you drive, Alex? I want to try to locate Liz or at least get an idea of her general direction. That way we'll be that much closer when the portal opens and we have its exact location."

Alex and Max exchanged places. Max leaned back in the cramped back seat of Liz's jeep and closed his eyes. Maria gave him Liz's quilt. "Here, I grabbed this as we left. Maybe it'll help."

Max looked down at the quilt and told her, "It was the last quilt she made for her mother. Thank you, Maria." He brought the quilt up to his face and laid his cheek on the faded fabric, concentrating and at the same time relaxing, trying to sense his mate's location. Everyone in the jeep remained as quiet as possible, trying not to offer any distraction. Max opened his eyes and pointed east. "That direction." Alex put the jeep in gear and headed east.

Maria looked curiously at Max. "How come all of a sudden you can do the locator-thingie like Liz did when you fell into the ravine? You couldn't do it before when she ran away at the festival. What changed?" And Max could tell from her expression when she realized just what had changed. He just gave her a little sad smile then closed his eyes again, striving for a clearer contact. He could tell they were already too far apart for him to attempt telepathic communication. But Max got the distinct impression that she wasn't conscious. He wondered if he'd be able to dreamwalk her.

Max leaned back in the seat and made himself as comfortable as possible. He wrapped his arms around the quilt and entered the dream plane. Liz's orb was nearby and Max called it over and looked inside. The mist inside was swirling with distorted images. He could feel her terror and refused to let her experience it alone. Enlarging the orb he stepped inside and once inside he could hear Liz's screams. "Liz!! It's Max!" He heard running footsteps and ran toward them, capturing Liz in his arms. She felt so real. He held her closely and pressed his face into her hair.

"Max! Help me! He's after me." Liz was shaking so hard she could barely get the words out. From out of the mist came an oversized figure. As it came closer Max recognized Pokran! Liz saw the nightmare Pokran and began screaming in abject terror, struggling to get away from Max so she could run.

The Pokran figure came closer and Max let Liz go and tackled him. He knew it wasn't rational, but the real Pokran wasn't available and he wanted to make *some* Pokran pay for making Liz suffer like she was.

As he was struggling with the giant Pokran another person ran up and began helping him. This young man was using martial art moves and Max recognized Liz's son Dave with a shock. Together they subdued the giant and he dissolved into the mist. The dream Dave turned and looked at Max. "Thank you for helping me protect her, sir."