“Just—“ Isabel began.

“I am, I am.” Michael nodded to Maria and she pulled the sheet further up Liz’s knees. Michael held his hand a few inches from the juncture of Liz’s legs. The other three grimaced at the sound of the tearing flesh, but Michael smiled faintly as the blood soaked into the towels layered underneath Liz. “You’re up,” he said.

Isabel swallowed hard and slowly slid one hand inside Liz’s body. Her eyes locked with Alex’s, drawing strength from his own determined gaze. She let her eyes shift to Max and Liz. They were so still… the faint rise and fall of Max’s chest the only indication that he was still alive. Liz didn’t even give them that.

“C’mon, little one,” she murmured. She closed her eyes and focused her energy. She could almost see the small form, head down, reaching for life. Draw closer. Come toward me. Isabel’s lips moved as the thoughts… the pleas… drifted through her mind.

--

Something shifted. Liz waited, unsure of what had happened. She had been drifting peacefully towards sleep, even though she was freezing and something in the back of her mind told her she shouldn’t fall asleep when it was so cold, when something inside of her… shifted. She lifted one stiff hand and placed it on her stomach. Maybe she was hungry.

--

She moved. Max stopped breathing as he watched Liz slowly lift her hand and lay it across her stomach. Her *flat * stomach. She wasn’t pregnant? But… but, that didn’t matter. She had moved.

“Liz! Liz!”

--

Her head jerked, like she was being pestered by a fly. Something was intruding, trying to get her attention. What was it? There was nothing here but snow. She was alone. She just wanted to sleep.

--

Isabel could feel the energy pulsating through her fingertips. It was working. She was pulling the baby forward. Easing her through Liz’s body.

Something bumped against her fingertips. Tears sprang to Isabel’s eyes. “I’ve got her,” she announced. Voices erupted around her. “I said I’ve got her, but that doesn’t mean she’s out yet.” The voices ceased and Isabel concentrated, ignoring the sweat trickling down her temples and the back of her neck.

--

Max dropped to the ground. She wasn’t waking up. She had twitched when he first called her name, but she wasn’t waking up. He couldn’t get to her. Couldn’t force her to fight… to live. So he would stay here with her and watch over her until darkness fell. And then he would wait for the bitter cold to seep into his bones… for the cold and dark to make him sleep, too.

--

Isabel held her breath as she worked her fingers underneath the little body and gently tugged.

Michael’s eyes lifted to the two bodies in front of him. The glow between them was fading. “How long has it been?” Michael shifted his attention back to Isabel as she gradually withdrew her arm and the top of the baby’s head appeared. Once Isabel had her safely delivered he would step up and heal the episiotomy he had given Liz. As good as any doctor’s, he thought proudly, and no need for stitches.

Alex glanced at his watch. “Just over six minutes.” He looked at Isabel. “Brain damage usually occurs ten minutes after the heart has stopped.”

Isabel nodded, indicating that she had heard. She knew time was getting short, but she couldn’t hurry this. This wasn’t just Max and Liz’s baby anymore. It belonged to all of them.

“You can do it.” Maria stepped up to the left of Isabel, a baby blanket ready in her hands.

Isabel shifted her hand slightly and guided the baby’s head out of Liz and into the world. The blue tinge to her skin was visible even through the blood that covered her tiny body.

“Oh no!” Isabel cried, even as she caught the rest of the body with her other hand. “I took too long.”

“No,” Maria quickly wrapped the blanket around the baby and pulled her from Isabel. With one hand she opened the tiny mouth and inserted her finger, clearing the air passage, as Alex cut the umbilical cord. “I’m not going to spank you,” she whispered to the baby as she softly rubbed it’s skin with the warm blanket. “Or hang you upside down. But if you want your Uncle Michael to buy you a pony, then you better let him know right now.”

As if on cue, the baby’s mouth opened wide and… it hiccuped. One tiny fist flailed the air as pair of dark eyes squinted in the light.

Maria flashed a look of triumph around the room, but didn’t wait for their response. She hurried to Max’s side and lifted his free hand, nudging it against the baby’s. The small hand opened at the contact and immediately grasped Max’s little finger.

All four jerked their eyes away as light flared up between the hands of the father and daughter. Warmth radiated from them as the light traveled, enveloping them both and then Liz.

--

Max looked down, shocked into awareness by a sudden heat in his lap. Curled in the crook of his leg was a bundle wrapped in a light green blanket decorated with elephants. He had seen that blanket draped over the bassinet in the corner of Liz’s bedroom.

The bundle moved.

Max slowly lifted a corner of the blanket and looked directly into the face of his daughter. His daughter… He gently brushed his thumb over one pale eyebrow… down her nose… across her bottom lip. Her mouth opened at his touch and she latched onto the tip of his thumb and tried to suck.

Max grinned. Then he remembered where he was… and why. His head shot up and he looked across the chasm. “Liz?”

He carefully lifted the baby in his arms and planted a kiss on her forehead. Then he scrambled to his feet. “Liz!” He called more forcefully. “Liz, think. Remember what I told you before. You can’t sleep here.”

She didn’t move.

But Max’s sudden motion and the harshness of his voice, the rumble in his chest, caused the baby to cry out for the first time.

--

The three were still engulfed in the light. Alex had noticed one of Max’s fingers move slightly, but there had been no sign of life from the two parents otherwise. But the baby… she was screaming.

“Oh god, what’s happening?” Maria started forward to snatch the baby up from where she had laid it on the bed.

Michael grabbed her arm, holding her back. “They have to stay together.” He looked down at her. “No matter what, the three of them belong together.”

Maria blinked against the tears forming in her eyes and turned into Michael’s arms.

--

Something was pulling her up. Dragging her to the surface. She fought against it. She didn’t like the floating feeling. She had almost reached the bottom and she would be able to lie still and let the warm water cover her. It was cold on the surface.

Her head broke free and the cold cut through her again. Then she heard the shrill cry and felt another pull. That’s what had disturbed her. It sounded like a baby, but that couldn’t be. No one would bring a baby here. It would die.

It sounded again and she forced her eyes to open. It *was * a baby. She had to find it. She had to do whatever she could to save it.

--

Max rocked her. His eyes darting from Liz to the child in his arms. He didn’t want to leave Liz, but he couldn’t let his child die here, either. The light in the room had been diminishing. It wouldn’t last much longer. He had to get her out of here… get her safely back to Isabel. He would join Liz later.

Liz’s eyes were open. Max held his breath, waiting to see if it were a trick of the light, if they had opened of their own accord and she was… gone, or if…

“Oh, please,” he whispered. “Liz?” he called out, forcing his voice to carry against the sob building in his throat. “Please answer me.”

Then she blinked. She turned her head slightly and looked in their direction, though it seemed as though she couldn’t see them.

--

There was another voice now. The baby wasn’t alone. Why were there other people here? Were they hurt? Did they need her help?

Liz. The voice had called out ‘Liz’. She struggled, trying to make her mind work. It was her name. Someone was calling her.

She turned her head in the direction of the voices. A dark patch in a blur of white. She closed her eyes and slowly opened them again. There was a man, standing some distance away.

She took a deep breath and rolled to her side. She levered one arm underneath her and pushed herself up. She sat, leaning on one hand and stared at the man.

He took a step forward and stopped, looking down at his feet. She followed the path of his eyes and saw the deep canyon that separated them. She raised her eyes to his.

“You have to come to me,” he said. He smiled, but even from that distance she could see how his jaw trembled. He stretched his hand toward her.

She gasped as memories of the past hours suddenly filled her. Her shoulders shook under the strain of holding her weight up, but she couldn’t let herself fall. If she lay down again she might never get back up. She slowly raised her head, her eyes traveling across the gulf between them.

“Max.”

--

The baby stopped crying.

Relief flooded through Max, making his knees weak. He straightened his spine and adjusted the weight in his arm.

“I’m here, Liz, but I’m not alone.” He angled the baby up so Liz could see. He brought her back close to his chest, tucking the blanket close in around her. “She’s been born, Liz. It’s all over. She’s just waiting to meet her mommy.”

He waited. Liz shifted on the ground a bit, trying to pull her knees in under her. He wasn’t sure, but he thought it had stopped growing any darker.

“Come on, baby,” Max coaxed. “It’s too cold here. We don’t want her to get sick before she’s even a day old.”

Liz managed to get one foot beneath her and was starting to shift her weight on to it when she stopped. She looked at Max. “Don’t call me ‘baby’.”

Max truly smiled. “I guess you’ll just have to come over here and stop me – baby.” The light was definitely getting brighter.

Liz straightened, swaying slightly.

Max held his breath. “Be careful.”

She took one hesitant step towards him. “How… how do I get across that?”

“I don’t know. I hoped it would disappear when you woke up.”

Liz stepped up to the edge. Max felt a cold knot of dread working it’s way through his stomach and up his chest.

“Liz, what are you doing? Don’t get so close to the edge.”

She never looked down. “Max, do you love me?”

“You know I do.”

“Do you forgive me?”

“For what? Liz, you’ve done nothing to require forgiveness.”

“Max, how did you feel when I told you I was pregnant?”

“Liz, don’t. We can talk about it later.”

“How did you feel?”

Max forced himself to keep his eyes on hers. “Scared… and angry.”

“How did you feel when you came home from work and I was gone?”

“I was afraid for you… of what might happen to you. I was mad at myself. I was mad at you.”

“Why were you mad at me?”

Max swallowed hard. It almost hurt to breathe. “I… for leaving me… you knew what that would do to me.” He dropped his eyes. He had to be honest. There hadn’t been enough of that between them.

“Max?”

“And… for… being human. For being different from me.” He slowly raised his eyes when she didn’t respond. “You couldn’t understand why I was so afraid and there was no way I could explain it to you. I’ve tried to forget what I am, Liz. I’ve tried to be human so we could be together. But I’m not and you can never know what it’s like to be me.”

“Do you forgive me?”

“Yes,” he breathed. He looked down at the little girl nestled in his arms. “I do forgive you.”

“I never wanted you to be anything other than what you are, Max. I don’t care that you’re not human. And sometimes you really make me angry because you refuse to see that. You’re right when you say that I can never know what it’s like to be you and I know there are real dangers, but sometimes I think you hide behind that. I love you and it hurts to see you withdraw from me and hide your true feelings. It hurts us. But I forgive you.

Liz stepped out over the chasm.

--

“It’s too late.” Alex dropped into the chair and stared blankly at the wall.

Maria jerked her eyes from the bed and fastened them on Alex. “What do you mean it’s too late?”

“It’s been more than twelve minutes since Liz stopped breathing. Brain damage is irreversible after ten.”

Maria shook her head. “I don’t care. Look at that.” She motioned to the still glowing trio. “That is an alien encounter. Normal human laws go out the window.” She shook her head again. “I’m not giving up.”

--

“LIZ, NO!” Max screamed as Liz stepped over the precipice.

He squeezed his eyes shut and held his child tight against him, swaying back and forth. “No… no…” he moaned.

A touch on his shoulder.

He opened his eyes. The chasm was gone. There were light footprints crossing the snow. They ended at his side.

A soft voice in his ear.

--

The light was gone. The four people in the room jerked back, startled at the suddenness of its disappearance.

Liz inhaled deeply, like she had been underwater for too long. Then she opened her eyes.

Max groaned into the mattress. He was stiff. His weight had on been on his knees, which had been on the hard floor, for too long.

The baby fussed. She had been waiting for her first meal for far too long.

The others watched in stunned silence as Max lifted the baby and settled her into her mother’s arms. Liz kissed the tip of her nose. She looked up. “There’s bottles and formula in the cupboard to the left of the sink, along with a few things that I thought we might need to add to it to make it… nutritious.” She looked up at Max. “I didn’t know if I’d be able to breastfeed with the condition I’m in or if it would even be any good for her. I figured we could add a few things to formula or one of you could alter it in some way so that she gets what she needs.”

“I’ll get it,” Michael volunteered.

Alex stood up, still looking slightly shell-shocked. “I’ll help.” He stopped by the bed and kissed Liz on the top of the head and ran one hand along the baby’s head. He smiled at Max and followed Michael to the kitchen.

Their movement seemed to snap Maria and Isabel from their daze. Isabel wrapped her arms around her brother and held him for several seconds.

“Thanks, Izzy,” he whispered in her ear.

Isabel hastily wiped away the tears that streaked down her cheeks.

Maria awkwardly embraced Liz around the baby. “I can’t believe I almost lost you. How many near-death experiences can one person have in a lifetime?”

“Well, if you count Levi Oakes’ dogs….” They both laughed, recalling that disastrous date from their sophomore year of high school.

Michael and Alex came back in with a partially filled bottle and a variety of items in their hands.

“Max, what do you think your daughter would like to eat?”

Max looked over the selection, still reeling from the changes in his life. There was the ever-faithful Tabasco sauce, along with soy sauce, cayenne pepper, horseradish and spicy brown mustard. He reached for the horseradish and turned to the baby in Liz’s arms. “Let me wiquwefy a wittow of this and we’ll be all set. Yes, we will.”

“Oh god.” Michael rolled his eyes.

Liz laughed. She never thought she’d see Max talking in baby-talk and grinning like an idiot at a baby who couldn’t even see him clearly yet, let alone recognize who he was.

“Does she have a name yet?” Isabel smiled delightedly as the baby gripped her finger.

Max and Liz looked at one another. “I did have a name picked out, but if you have something—“ Liz began.

“What is it?” Max interrupted, stroking Liz’s arm.

“Sidra Parker Evans.”

“It’s beautiful,” Maria murmured as she dropped her head on Michael’s shoulder.

Isabel nodded her agreement. “I’ve never heard the name, Sidra, before.”

Liz smiled at Max. “It means, ‘of the stars’.

Max handed her the bottle with a smile of his own. Liz offered it to the baby and Sidra latched onto it eagerly.

“If only we could get her mother to eat like that,” Max looked at Liz questioningly.

“Actually, I am rather hungry, but there’s not much food in the house.”

“I still have Max’s keys and am willing to travel,” Alex piped up. “What would you like?”

Liz grinned. “A cheeseburger with grilled onions and ketchup, onion rings and the flavor of the day from Kopp’s Frozen Custard. It’s north of here on Port Washington Road and you’ll find the exact address posted on the refrigerator under the little Club Marilyn magnet.”

“Okaaayy, something tells me you’ve been thinking about this for a while. Isabel, care to explore Milwaukee with me?”

“I’ll go, too.” Maria hopped up after giving Liz’s hand a quick squeeze.

“I got it. It’s time to leave the all-American family alone for a while.” Michael saluted the two and followed the others out the door.

Liz looked down at her tiny daughter; hardly believing that she was actually holding her in her own arms. “Max?”

“Hmmm?”

She looked up at him. “I’m ready to go home.”