Ever since they used the orbs to discover their destiny, and learned who they were and why they were sent to Earth, they had each drifted into their own worlds. Michael had pretty much disappeared. He quit working at the CrashDown, and got a job loading haulers in a warehouse. He often worked ten to fifteen hours a day, and would go home to sleep like a dead man from exhaustion. When Max asked him why he was pushing himself so hard, he would shrug and say he was saving up to buy a car.

Isabel spent much of her time with Alex Whitman. Their relationship was flowering under the hot New Mexico sun, despite Michael's warnings about not getting too close. The last eight months had changed all of them. Being hunted by the FBI would do that to a person, but it seems that Isabel was the most changed. She'd gone from having superficial relationships with equally superficial people to being a supportive, caring woman. Max supposed that Alex, Maria and Liz could take partial credit for that.

The three aliens had all been living their lives "behind the tree", as their one-time guidance counselor had told him. Afraid to get close to humans, afraid of letting them in, afraid to trust. One instant in the CrashDown when Liz Parker was shot, and Max Evans risked everything to save her, changed all that. Why had he done it? What insanity had possessed him? It was Liz. As simple and as complex as that. Max had risked exposing not only himself, but also his sister and lifelong friend to unspeakable danger because he was obsessed with Liz Parker. And that was before he'd ever kissed her.

Kissing Liz was like nothing he'd expected. It was more than physical satisfaction. More than emotional benediction, it felt right all the way to his soul. To be surrounded by her touch, her scent, her taste... There is no word to describe the rightness of how it feels to him. He shifted slightly on his bed, as he tried to recapture the feelings from the last time he had actually kissed her. Was it only one agonizing week ago?

After escaping the FBI, they wound up taking refuge in an overturned delivery van where some homeless person had dragged in a sofa; Max told her everything: his foretold destiny with Tess, his origins, and how the aligning of the stars had awakened his reproductive and procreative drives. She was devastated to learn that the people who had designed them meant Tess to be his life mate. In fact, she took the fact that he'd been engineered as some science project in stride, an idea that he himself was still trying to come to terms with. But that he would have to leave her for Tess was unbearable. Max told her that he didn't believe in predestination, that they would make their own way, and that his destiny was with her. He told her he loved her, and miracle of miracles she told him that she loved him too.

The kisses that followed, the touching, the cuddling are indescribable. They restored him. All the pain and terror of the preceding day and months dissipated as if they never were. He knew that if he were given a choice to take back all that had happened to bring him to that moment in time, but in doing so he would have to give up Liz, he would gladly suffer all that and more. Exhausted, they fell asleep in each other's arms, content to stay there for the rest of their lives, if need be.

He felt his bed sag as someone sat on it. He hadn't even heard anyone come in. He opened his eyes, and there sat his dream girl. "Liz."

"Shh. Don't talk."

"But..." he said as she leaned closer. She touched his face, her soft hand warm against his skin. She leaned down to press her lips to his. He grabbed her to him, and was suddenly kissing her back, kissing her wildly with all of the pent up emotion their long separation had caused.

Her hands were under his shirt, touching him everywhere. Her kisses changed, became deeper, more erotic. He became aware in some part of himself that something wasn't right. The desire that had been simmering in him all afternoon began rapidly to fade. He grabbed her hands and pulled them away, and stared hard into her eyes.

"What?"

He couldn't answer. What normally felt like coming home, being in her arms, now felt so wrong, disgusting. He had to get away from her. He needed to figure out what was going on. "Liz, I can't. Please... just go."

Her beautiful face changed into a sneer. "I thought you'd be glad to see me. I though you missed me as much as I missed you, but I guess you'd rather be with Tess."

"Go!" She ran out of his bedroom, slamming the door behind her. He couldn't hear her feet going down the hall. The whole strange encounter lasted only a few seconds. Max sat there, trying to figure out what the heck just happened.

A moment later there was a knock on the door. Tess was standing there when he opened it. "Was that Liz?"

"Yeah."

"What happened? She ran out of here in a hurry. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Not really." 'Not with you,' he was thinking.

"I'll be here for you, Max, if you need me." She turned and went down the hall. Max couldn't see the malicious smile that crossed her face as she went. 'One more encounter like that with Liz,' she thought, 'and Max will be as good as mine.'

Liz was hard at work in the CrashDown Café when she happened to glance out the window that overlooked the street. Tourist season was in full swing, and the usually quiet street was bustling with cars and people. The CrashDown itself was hopping, and Liz was looking forward to four o'clock when she could go upstairs and rest. She was planning to go to Maria Deluca's tonight where both girls would help her mom make funny little alien keychains.

"Ok, so that's one Alien Blast, and a slice of Men in Blackberry pie. I'll be right back with your drink." She hurried to place the order and pick up an order that was sitting under the hot lamps waiting for her.

Sheriff Valenti came in and walked up to the counter. Liz remembered how the sight of him used to fill her with trepidation. After the day she got shot here so many months ago, the sheriff had made it his mission to go after and expose Max Evans for the alien that he is. He frightened and intimidated all of them, and even went so far as to toss Liz and Alex into jail one night to get them to cooperate. He had a change of heart, he said, after he set an alien fanatic named Everett Hubble on Max's trail. The sheriff himself had to shoot Hubble in order to keep Max safe. Max accused him of sending the crazy guy after him, and asked him if he would treat his own son, Kyle, that way. He must have hit a nerve.

Valenti had been trying to protect them ever since. Not that they'd let him. After all of the intimidation tactics, none of them were too willing to trust this new side of him. It wasn't until the FBI actually captured Max that Liz had been willing to break the vow of silence and ask for his help. It was due in part to his efforts that Max is safe and sound today.

"Hi, Sheriff. What can I get you?"

"A lemonade to go, please, Miss Parker."

She quickly filled his cup, and put a lid on it. "Ok, here you go, Sheriff." She handed it to him along with a straw. She gave him a tentative smile. "A dollar, twenty-five."

"You're looking pretty tired. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, we're just," she motioned to the noisy crowd, "busy."

"I see that." He continued to study her wan face for a moment. He pulled out his wallet and put two ones on the counter. "Keep the change."

A few minutes later, Liz's gaze was once again drawn to the windows. Max had pulled up across the street, and was helping Tess out of the jeep. She watched in disbelief as he continued to hold her hand as they walked into the UFO Center where Max worked. Just as they went inside, he looked down at Tess and smiled. All sounds faded. At that moment there was nothing in Liz Parker's world except Max smiling down on the girl he was destined to be with. Despite everything he told her, he must have realized he couldn't fight a destiny that powerful. He was created to be with Tess. There was no denying that. But it hurt to see them together. There was no denying that, either.

The determined ringing of the order bell at the counter snapped Liz out of her reverie. She hurried to serve her customers, determined to ignore the pain in her heart. Hoping that it would eventually pass. It didn't. In fact it got worse.

As the days passed, she often saw them coming and going. Holding hands, or with his arm around her shoulders. Her friends were unsympathetic, after all it was she who broke it off with him. Alex was crazy in love with Isabel, and couldn't imagine pushing her away. The same was true of Maria who continued to pine for Michael-who was avoiding her at all costs. Neither one could understand what possessed Liz to give up Max. But, then, neither one had seen what she had seen. She had been standing there in that cave when the four aliens discovered their true destiny. They were supposed to be a unit. They had been heroes on their home planet, and were destined to be heroes again. She didn't belong there. Nasedo was right. She told Max that she couldn't stand in the way of his birthright. It broke her heart. It broke his heart. But when she saw him with Tess, he looked content, strong, filled with purpose. Just like he used to look when he was with her. She felt that she had done the right thing and was determined to overcome the feelings of loss.

The only time she had doubts was when he came and sat down in his usual booth in the CrashDown. Sometimes alone, sometimes with Isabel or Michael. Never with Tess. She secretly thanked him for being that sensitive. Liz didn't know if she had the composure to calmly serve food and beverages to the woman whose prior claim on Max had destroyed her life. He would sit there and quietly watch her every move. Pleading to her with his eyes. Their conversations were irrelevant: their eyes were saying everything they couldn't say out loud. 'This is killing me.' 'Come back to me.' 'I need you.' 'I love you.' He looked so tired, like she felt.