"Maybe she's burned out trying to keep up with 'us.' I really think she might crack and put us all in danger," Michael stressed.

"Oh, Michael, Please stop straining your brain with thought. (Michael scoffed and winked at Maria. Maria winked back at Michael.) Genndy would never sell anybody down the river. No, there is something terribly wrong with Genndy. I mean..wrong-wrong," Maria added, with her hands sifting the air.

Max kept his eyes intently on Liz. Beside him, she sat seemingly focused on a scratch located directly in front of her part of the table.

"You've been obsessed with that scratch since we got here, Liz. Should I be jealous?" Max asked.

Isabel impatiently crossed her arms, made a huffing sound, rolled her eyes, and blasted out, "Save it, Max!" in her brother's direction. Max winced at his sister's gruff tone, keeping his eyes on Liz.

But Liz looked as she had not heard word one, and remained focused on the scratch on the table. "Liz?" Max questioned, then he looked around, waved the hand that wasn't holding Liz's hand under the table, and made the scratch disappear. "Liz, what are you holding back? You've been somewhere else ever since...ever since the Genndy-in-the-bathroom incident.

Liz took a deep sigh, looked at Max, forced a smile while tightening her hold on Max's hand. "It's just that...Genndy was shaking...she looked so desperate. And I..."

"Liz, please tell us," Max pressured.

"I...think...I...had a flash (she pretended to cough with attempts of distorting her last three words)." Then Liz pretended to perk up and spoke faster than Maria, "But it could have been nothing (sounded like one word)." Following an awkward silence, the worried look that only wanted to focus on a table scratch returned. Liz searched the table for a new table scratch.

Max softly kissed the worry from Liz's lips, then he locked eyes with Liz, they connected, and he saw the entire bathroom scene with Genndy and Liz. He disconnected, "Yes Liz, that was a flash...But how? And what was Genndy babbling about?"

"Flash? Okay Earth to Max and Liz," Maria interrupted, "Care to share the wealth?"

"I'm waiting..." Isabel puffed out after clearing her throat.

"Yeah, spill it," Michael ordered.

"I am soooo thirsty," Alex stated, "Man, we haven't had a refill in like 30 minutes. Max, Isabel, Michael, Liz and Maria all gave Alex the same look. "What? I'm dying of thirst here," Alex protested. Isabel did a quick take around them, and with her right index finger, tapped her water that she always orders with her diet Coke (but never drinks) and turned it into a Sprite. Alex gave Isabel a grateful look, exclaimed, "You the woman!", and took the Sprite bottoms up to his mouth. Then Alex belched and whispered 'excuse me' with a fist abashedly placed over his mouth.

Max began to explain, "I saw Liz and Genndy in the bathroom, from earlier today..."

"T.M.I.! (too much information)," Michael teased trying to lighten the tense mood." Max gave Michael a look that everyone knew to be code for, "Shut up, Michael."

"I've never seen Genndy that upset before," Max continued, "And there was an intense one second flash...it was so fast...so emotional...so colorful. Absolutely unbelievable."

"What?!" Michael and Isabel questioned with commotion at the same time to Max.

Still holding Liz's hand, with the same free hand that repaired the scratch on the table, Max held his hand palm up and stretched out to Michael and Isabel, "Pick a finger, any finger," he said in his best carnival voice. Maria and Liz giggled, because it was such a bad carnival voice impression.

Together, Isabel and Michael both grabbed Max's thumb giving each other a childish 'I was here first glare.' Max and Liz exchanged a glance that said, "The thumb isn't even 'a finger' according to science."

"Come on, already!" Michael and Isabel shouted in unison, both sharing an annoyed-with-Max look.

Max gleamed deep in their eyes and within seconds they were connected. Michael and Isabel saw and heard exactly what Max had seen and heard, then they let go of Max's thumb.

Michael dropped his jaw, Isabel found a scratch on their table in front of her and focused on it as hard as Liz had focused on her scratch on the table. Liz followed Isabel's eyes and focused on the same scratch on the table, in front of Isabel.

"Okay, no more scratches," Max said as he waved his free hand across the table making all the scratches disappear. "We need to deal with this...," Max urged before Maria cut him off.

"Deal with what?" Maria barked, "All right, kids. 'Simon Says' tell Maria what is going on!"

Alex stared longingly into his empty cup. Feeling bad for Alex in an amused kind of way, Liz unlaced her fingers from Max's, slid out of her chair, went behind the counter, filled up a pitcher of Diet Coke, Coke, and Sprite and brought them to the table, placing the entire pitcher of Sprite directly in front of Alex. She chimed, "Enjoy," then took her seat and again laced her hand with Max's hand.

Alex told Liz, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Liz gave a 'you're welcome' nod in Alex's direction.

For almost 5 minutes, Max, Isabel, and Michael could easily be mistaken for spectators watching an intriguing game of tennis. Michael's jaw was still dropped in shock and wonder.

Slurping and gulping noises were made as Alex delightfully tried to bottoms up his pitcher of Sprite. But coughing and wheezing noises followed from Alex when some of his Spite went down wrong, "I'm...okay. [cough, cough, wheeze] I'm...okay," Alex kept repeating while trying to clear his wind pipe. Liz shook her head while chuckling at Alex and his unique personality.

Then Liz directed her attention to Maria and cracked up with laughter. Maria was flustered, whining for information to Michael, who sat right beside her. She pulled and climbed all over Michael's shirt sleeve, the way a child begs her mom to be freed from a bargain basement, going-out-of-business, sale-a-thon.

Liz wished Genndy could be there at the Crashdown sharing the moment with her and the gang. She hoped Genndy was really at home resting or sleeping, as she had promised Liz she would do. More than anything, she regretted not seeing Genndy home safely. (Genndy went home from school early and Liz had to stay after school to make up the Biology test.) She also hoped Genndy was okay and that they would all soon be able to help Genndy with whatever her deal was if she was not okay. A pounding noise cut into Liz's thoughts.

Maria banged her head on the table while complaining about being left out the loop. On her 4th head bang, with a still dropped jaw, Michael playfully grabbed Maria by the head using her blond hair as a handle, "Ouch, you barbarian...!" Maria began but was silenced by a passionate kiss by Michael. "'I see said the blind man,'" Maria purred, borrowing one of Alex's tried and true quotes. Michael gently took Maria's hand, held and kissed it, then he tenderly inspected Maria's head for bruises.

"You get yourself too worked up, sometimes," Michael scolded while Maria pouted. Then he looked into her big, blue eyes, they connected and Maria finally saw and heard what almost everyone had seen and heard. "Thanks Michael," Maria whispered through a swooning sigh.

Isabel rolled her eyes in their direction, looking disgusted. Then she heard Alex belch, so she zapped her eyes toward Alex and found him obsessing over the untouched pitchers of Diet Coke and Coke, in a 'wish-they-were-Sprite' longing eye lock.

The Crashdown had emptied except for their group, the cook and their missing-in-action waitress. The cook and the waitress were in the kitchen. Isabel waved her hand over the pitchers of Coke and Diet Coke, turning them into Sprite.

"Ah, that's my girl! (Isabel blushed) You...the woman!" Alex excitedly exclaimed, as he reached out bringing both pitchers towards him while mimicking the Joker's laugh on the 'Batman Beyond' cartoon.

"You know..." Isabel closely observed Alex, 'Am I the only one picking up on Alex's strange behavior?" Alex's slurping and gulping noises almost drowned out her words.

Isabel's audible realization distracted everyone's attention to Alex. Alex took a break from slurping and gulping to defend himself, "I'm just REALLY thirsty!" A short pause fell over the table. "Okay, I admit it...Hi, my name is Alex Whitman and I'm a Sprite addict."

Max, Isabel, Michael, Liz and Maria laughed out loud in response to Alex's words. Alex soon joined them, laughing in his best cartoon Joker impression ever, which caused everyone to laugh even harder. Suddenly, Alex stopped laughing and his eyes widened with 'nature calling.' He flew from his seat practically breaking the sound barrier to get to the bathroom.