But so much had happened in these past years. He and Liz pretending to be friends, fighting, him trying to get her back, trying to do what Michael said. Michael was right. Max didn't know how he got so smart. Michael knew that Max couldn't make Liz stay if she didn't want to, she believed the profecy was right. Yet he knew she still loved him. She stood by him as all the evil came, she still stands by him as he contiues to fight the evil to free his parents, his mother.

But how could it be true? He knew the bad guys were real, he had seen them. But the rest of the message from his mother, they didn't even know her name- she was just his mother. He hated to think of her as just a mother, but he didn't know her. The woman, who raised him, she is his Mom, and mother, the Alien, only related biologically. She talked about destiny and plans, but things didn't go as planned. Naciato was supposed to be there, he was supposed to raise them and teach them but he wasn't there and he didn't. Max and Isabel and Michael left Tess there, doesn't that say something. The three of them left her there, maybe that's the way it was supposed to be, maybe his home planet, the people didn't know everything.

He didn't like Tess; there was something off about her. His mother, the one from his home planet, not his real one, didn't know anything about his life here. He got this message that should make total sense to him, that is if his mother's plan had gone the way it was supposed to.

He met Liz before Tess, forget Tess, he liked Liz, he loved Liz, he couldn't stand to be away from Liz. The way he could see Michael going crazy because of the four way love problems between him and Maria and Alex and Isabel. They were trying to figure things out, calmly and rationaly. They knew what they wanted, Michael wanted Maria, and Isabel wanted Alex, but the problems between Max, Liz, and Tess seemed to be affecting them all. He had to do something about it. He had to contact his mother and tell her that things couldn't be the way she said. She didn't see the way he had grown up, she didn't see how much he loved Liz. His biological mother couldn't expect things to go the way she planned when there was no control over the cirumstances surrounding him. He could see all these images of things he and his friends had been through, so much, and this woman had no idea.

"Max............................"

He looked around not sure where the voice came from. "Hello?" Max had the distinct sensation of being separated from his body, from the world. He looked in front of him and there she was, the woman who called herself his mother.

"Max, there are things that you don't understand."

"Mother, I don't care. Things didn't go the way you planned. I can still help you, we all can. We just can't do it the way you expected."

"But you don't have a choice."

"Mother, are you even listening to me?"

The expression on her face changed, softened. "You called me mother."

"Only because that's the only name you gave me to call you."

"Well I am you know."

"Only biolagically, and that's what I'm trying to tell you. You messed my life up; you royally screwed it up. I love Liz; no history in ANY world can change that. You messed Isabel up, and you messed Michael up. The only one you didn't mess up was Tess because she was raised the way you had planned. I have spent the past three years trying to fix the damage you did by sending a message that had nothing to do with our lives."

"I realize that, which is what I've come to tell you. I've talked to the others. We cleaned up after Tess. Everyone else has known what I'm going to tell you for months, everyone except you and Liz. I just told Liz. Now I'm going to tell you. I've watched you, I've seen you grow, you didn't know it, but I did. I watched you fall in love with Liz. River Dog said she would find her own destiny, I watched her find it. Tess could never give you the same support, or strength, or love that Liz did and still does. She's your SOUL mate. Tess wasn't nearly that important to you. Liz is different, you match in everyway, you love goes deeper than physicality or emotions, and something beyond what we can understand bonds you together. Liz is the one meant to help you free our people. And Michael, Isabel, Maria, and Alex understood that, that's why they could still follow their hearts to where they are now. There are two pieces of the puzzle left. Liz is ready, she's been ready since before time began, and now you are too."

Max watched his mother fade away. He saw images of her taking Tess away crying he knew he should feel bad, but he didn't. He knew he would see his mother again and would tell her that no matter what she would mean something to him, and Max would find her name. He still heard the musci from Isabel's room. He got up and walked in there. She was gone, but she had left her radio on. A song from right before the message was received was on. Something from a movie called The Road to El Dorado. The song was about finding a lost love.

Purely out of emotion Max grabbed his coat and ran out to the jeep. Funny he thought, "This trusty old jeep, I can start it and it will drive me where I want to go when I don't even know." Although he did, he was going to that rock, the one where their pods were. The sky was magical something magical. Every star shone brighter than the one before. The norther lights were out, the sun just set, the sky black yet full of color. The song changed and got louder, a song called Save Me, by Hanson, but a different version. Much soften and much sweeter, by a girl named Dido, she had just done a remake of it, he loved the song, he knew Liz too.

When he got to the rock, he saw them- Max and Maria, Isabel and Alex, standing looking up at Liz. Liz was looking up at the sky. Max walked silently and slowly; the music was already playing from the other cars. The six of them had been drawn there, there was a purpose, and his music just made the song stronger, more beautiful. He didn't think anyone had seen him. Liz was at the top of the Higher Peak, the others just a few feet below. The song was still going, long after it should have ended, it was as if time had slowed and speed up at the same time.

He reached the top, he could see Liz breathing, he could hear her, just two more feet and he could touch her. She turned around to meet him. Tears in her eyes, tears of gratitude, of contentment, of peace, of closure, of saddness for time wasted, and tears of pure and unstained satisfaction and joy. She was in his arms, picking her face up their lips meeting in a kiss.

Their mother stood back watching, Tess long gone. She saw the six children at moments of their greatest joy. She knew as she saw Max tell Liz that whatever happened and whatever they had to face, they would be together, that he was speaking only words of truth.

"Liz..."

"Max, I never stopped loving you."

"I know."

She watched them kiss and smiled to herself and knew she had done the right thing, all the children, some hers and some not, were where they belonged.