Agent Festerfield walked in. He didn’t understand why Agent Hank was in such a bad mood.

"Do you know what you made me miss agent?"

Festerfield was scared. He had really thought Hank would have been happy. "No sir," he mumbled.

"I was out with some very good friends of mine when I got a call. Do you know who it was who called me?"

"I did sir."

"Yeah I know. And why? Because you found out where Parker and her friends were. Did you even think of following them? How do you know where they are now? Maybe they knew they were being followed and mislead you." Festerfield bowed his head in shame. "Larson! Get in here! This Agent Festerfield is a real agent. Until further notice you are confined to this building. You will begin working in the kitchen at 0600 hours. You are dismissed. Now Agent Larson, you need to-"

Agent Festerfield walked out. He couldn’t believe it, only his second day and he had been sent to the kitchens. Only failures were sent the kitchen. He couldn’t cook either. If they decided they didn’t need him would they kill him? He looked at his watch, 5:47. "Better head downstairs," he said to himself.

Liz climbed over a wall and landed on soft grass. The building looked deserted, they couldn’t have Max here. Slowly she crept towards a window, trying not to make a sound. She looked over her shoulder. Where was everyone else? Oh well she thought, I’ve gotta do this. She kept moving closer and closer to the building until she tripped over something and a loud beeping began pulsing. She covered her ears but it didn’t block out the noise. She had just begun running away from the building when the noise stopped and she felt herself being shaken. "Liz? Liz?" She opened her eyes. She was in her own room with her sheets all in a knot.

"Liz are you okay hunny?" her mom asked.

Everything came to her as she remembered her dream. She nodded trying to hold back tears. "Just a stupid little nightmare, it was nothing. I’m gonna get ready for school now," she told her mom. Her mom nodded and left, but she didn’t look like she believed that it was nothing. Liz lay back down on her bed. She couldn’t even remember what had happened after they found the note from Hank. She remembered sitting on the cold ground and then Alex picking her up, but after that nothing. Maybe it was all a dream she thought. It must have been, otherwise her mom would have had said something about the car. That’s it she thought. Max really wasn’t taken, when I get to school today he’s going to be fine. He’ll make me feel better about this whole thing. Then she remembered, if it all was a dream then they weren’t back together. Oh well she thought, as long as he’s ok I have a chance, and smiling she got ready and headed down the stairs for breakfast.

After breakfast Liz’s mother walked back into the room. "I called Maria and I’m going to drive you to school today. I think it’s time we had a talk."

"Um ok," Liz said. She did need to talk, but not to her mom. Her dream was extremely unsettling. When she had dreams about Max they were always the happy type where he realized he was wrong and then told her how much he loved her. She wouldn’t have one that had a bad ending for him would she? It had seemed all too real and she wanted to talk to Maria and Max about it. Max always found a way to comfort her, and Maria could make all her fears seem funny while still letting Liz know that she cared. Right now she didn’t want to be thinking of this dream so seriously, she needed to find some humor in it so it didn’t seem so real. All she wanted really though was someone to convince her that the dream didn’t mean anything, but she wasn’t sure if anyone would be able to.

Liz grabbed her bag and walked to the car. What could her mom have to say to her? The whole thing about the car and leaving late had been a dream. Once she was in the car she pulled the mirror down. She looked like crap. Must have been the dream, she never got good sleep on the few nights she had nightmares Liz thought as she tried to use cover-up to hide the circles under her eyes. Her mom got in and started the car. They drove in silence half the way, but then her mom spoke up.

"Liz hun, I’m worried about you. Over the past few weeks you haven’t been yourself. You haven’t gone out with Maria and you only leave your room for work and school. What’s up sweetheart?"

Liz plastered a smile on her face. I think it was all the stress of finals. But they’re over now and Maria and I have plans. I’m feeling better already." She really did. Sure finals were causing her stress but she had made plans that morning in the shower to talk to Max when she got to school. Knowing that she would make everything right couldn’t help but make her happy.

They arrived at school. "Liz you know you can tell me anything right?"