“What am I going to tell him?”

She brought her hand up to chew the only fingernail that wasn’t already chewed to a ragged mess and hit the nametag still pinned to her chest. She sighed and removed the tag. She glanced at it, a faint smile curving her lips. “Liz Evans”. She never got tired of that name.

She looked up again and watched Max through the lighted windows of their small apartment. He had walked into the kitchen, checked something in a steaming kettle and adjusted the heat. She saw him glance at the clock and knew she had better go inside soon. She just couldn’t bring herself to open the door.

They had known it wouldn’t be safe for them to date back when they were in high school and they had managed to avoid it for nearly six pain-filled months. Michael, Isabel, Alex and Maria finally convinced them of their insanity, reasoning that the two spent all their time together anyway, and Liz certainly knew all of Max’s secrets, so there was nothing to hold them back. They were a couple from then on. But when college rolled around they decided it was time to end the relationship, before it could get anymore serious.

Liz rolled her eyes when she thought about how stupid and naïve they had been. As if they hadn’t been serious about each other already. As if they could just forget the last 2 years. They had consummated their relationship halfway through junior year; they were voted “Class Couple”; they were together practically 24-7. Sure they were always careful to never talk about the future. Max, Michael and Isabel had never given up on finding their home and they were sure the government hadn’t just given up on exposing them when Topolsky left, so their future together was too unstable to ever seriously discuss. But that didn’t stop either of them from thinking about it, from dreaming about it.

The “cold turkey” breakup had lasted two weeks. Then they started e-mailing each other. By that spring, they had conceded defeat and Max transferred to Liz’s college. There was no way they could both live on this planet and not be together. And Max came to the conclusion that he might never find out where he came from, might never get to go home, and if he was going to live out his entire life on earth he might as well be with someone he loved. Liz was certainly not going to argue with that. When Liz was accepted to the doctorate program for molecular biology at Loyola, Max moved to Chicago with her. Three months after he had gotten a job, they were married.

Liz shook her head and smiled, watching her husband as he caught the latest weather report on the TV news. It was so ironic that he had ended up a high school guidance counselor. Ms. Topolsky may have been a FBI agent working undercover, but she had helped Max find the right career path. He loved his work.

They had been careful. But they had always been careful. They knew that having a child was just too great a risk to take. They had never really discussed the risks of it, wouldn’t even allow themselves to think about it. Max’s parents had mentioned in passing one day how much they were looking forward to being grandparents. That night, as they lay in bed, Max had taken her hand and said, “Liz, I hope you realize, we can never have children. It just wouldn’t be safe.” That one sentence had always governed their lives – “it wouldn’t be safe”. Liz hadn’t asked him any questions, didn’t try to discuss it with him at all. She had simply nodded and said, ”I know”.

She had taken the test at work and then hid in the storage closet until she had calmed down enough to drive home. She still felt the tears stinging her eyes and blinked furiously. This should be one of the best days of their lives together, but….