Max looked up and met his adoptive mother’s weary eyes.

“I couldn’t sleep.” He explained softly. “So I thought I’d read ahead in my history book…might as well take advantage of the time.”

Max could see the hesitation in his mother’s eyes, before she stepped all the way into Max’s bedroom, and shut the door behind her.

“Max…can I talk to you for a moment?”

Max closed his textbook with a sigh, and turned to face her.

“Sure mom…go ahead.”

Diane walked over and seated herself on the end of Max’s bed, so that she was directly opposite from where he sat at the desk. She hesitated again before starting to speak.

“Max…honey. I know that you’re a very private person. I understand that and I’ve always tried to respect that…but right now I’m very worried about you.”

“I’m fine, mom.” Max lied.

“You’re not sleeping at night. At all. I’ve noticed, Max. We’ve all noticed. You never leave your room unless you absolutely have to. You won’t even talk to your sister. There’s obviously something going on with you, Max. I’d have to be blind not to notice. Please…talk to me about what’s bothering you.”

“I’m fine mom.” Max lied again, a little more lamely this time.

His mother sat there silently for a few minutes, her eyes piercing into his own, penetrating, trying to break him open and see what was inside. Max returned her gaze flatly, unwilling to be the first to break away.

Diane finally sighed, pulling her gaze from Max’s.

“Maybe I’m not the person you want to open up to right now, but there must be someone out there that you trust whole heartedly. Please…open up to somebody, Max. Anybody. The longer you keep this bottled up inside, the harder it will be to let it all out. Please think about it, Max.”

Max nodded. “I will.”

As his mom got up and left him along, Max turned back to his history book. He tried to concentrate on it, but all of the words seemed to blur together into nothingness. Not a single word was penetrating.

Max slammed his book shut angrily and stood up, pacing around his room in frustration.

All of the anger and pain had been bottled up inside of him for so long that Max felt like he was about to explode.

Max desperately wanted to do something to release it all…he had to hold himself back so that he wouldn’t punch a hole in the wall.

Why did his mother have to try and interfere?

The answer lurked in the back of his mind, even though he tried to ignore it.

Because she loves him.

Max swore mentally at the thought. She loves him. But would she love him if she knew the truth about him?

Max pushed the thought down the moment it emerged. He didn’t even want to do there. She didn’t know about him and she never would know about him. It wasn’t even an issue.

Max thought back to what she had just said. “There must be someone out there that you trust whole heartedly.” But was there really?

Liz had always been that person to him. She knew his soul. Liz had seen his darkest thoughts and feelings, and still loved him for them.

Loved being the operative word there.

She didn’t seem to love him anymore.

“No!” Max mentally argued with himself. That just wasn’t true. She still loved him. He could see it in her eyes while she lied to him. He could feel it with every bone in his body when she was near. The spark was still humming strong between them. It was only a matter of time before it flamed up again.

She could lie to him every day if she wanted, but she couldn’t lie to herself.

Liz was a good, honest person. She hated lying. She hated it! Soon all of this lying would begin to eat at her, until she couldn’t do it anymore.

But until then…Max wasn’t sure if he could trust her whole heartedly anymore.

Whenever Max had something he couldn’t go to Liz about, Isabel was always his back up.

But Isabel had betrayed him.

He couldn’t trust Isabel anymore.

A slight knocking on his bedroom door interrupted Max’s thoughts.

“What?” He groaned out, stopping his pacing to turn to the door.

His gaze hardened as Isabel stepped into his room.

“Max, can I talk to you?” She asked him hesitantly.

“Leave me alone.” He replied shortly.

“Please, Max.”

“Please what?” He exploded suddenly, turning on Isabel with all of the fury bottled up inside of him. “Do you want to explain to me why you betrayed me? Why you disobeyed a direct order? You nearly got us all killed Isabel. And you were lying to me! You lied! I can’t even stand to look at you right now! I thought I could trust you.”

Tears welled up in Isabel’s eyes, and she slumped against the door as if she had been punched, and slid down to sit against the door, staring up at Max as she sobbed openly.

“I know…and I’m so sorry Max. I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry isn’t enough this time.” Max shot back angrily. “Courtney’s dead! Imagine if that was me, or Michael, or Tess. They could have killed you Isabel! We can’t afford to loose anyone right now.”

“I know…and I’m so sorry. I just thought I could help. It was me they wanted…not you.”

“The Vilandra Project.” Max whispered, the realization hitting him.

“They came here for me, Max. They said…oh God…they said the most awful things, Max. They said that I betrayed you in our past lives. They said that I was in love with their leader, and I gave you all up, got you all killed, to be with him. I wanted to prove them wrong, Max. I wanted to prove that I was loyal to you to the end. I wanted to get them for you. But instead I just made it all worse… I’m so sorry.”

Max slumped onto his bed, running his hand through his hair as Isabel’s words penetrated into his mind.

“Can you just…leave me alone?” Max asked quietly. “I need time…to think…”