Liz sat there forever, head lowered, just feeling the cold and the aches in her body and wondering when everyone would be okay. She felt the severe loss of power and absence of Max keenly. For a few wonderfully full moments, he’d been with her again- inside her- with nothing keeping them apart. And now, she could only feel the buzzing that let her know he was alive, but unconscious.

She shivered and looked up at the bodies of her friends strewn over the white tiles. God, this was a horrible place and she just wanted to leave- for good. Liz put her head back down on her arm, suddenly feeling weak. She wished someone would wake up and help her.

The explosion must have knocked everyone senseless. And, even worse, they had probably been completely drained of energy by their effort to help her. Most of them she had felt in her connection with Max, except for Maria... and Michael. And Justin. A wave of weariness slid over her body and the room tilted underneath her. Gravity was pulling her into the floor, harder and harder until she gave in. She lay still, fighting the dizziness.

She was on her back, on the cold, white tile- AGAIN. She fought to keep from closing her eyes. Someone could come in and hurt them! She had to stay awake! But her eyes closed in spite of her efforts. Now, be logical, Liz. There’s no one left to hurt them. She ticked through the list quickly. Moe and Joe she had killed with her own hands. And then she’d taken out the guy with the beady eyes just as he was cutting Max. As for the other humans, between Michael and the others’ attacks and Croazoh’s intimidation tactics, Max had said anyone that survived was gone by now. Croazoh was gone, as well as his pack of evil hounds. She’d felt their essences dissolving in the apex of that final, consuming blast.

Her stomach started to revolt. She squeezed her eyes as the body count began to make itself real to her. How could they have killed so many people so easily, even if it was in self-defense? She put a hand to her abdomen and felt the stiff fabric covering her skin. Uneasily, she opened her eyes to see the hospital gown that still clad her body. As everything started to swim before her eyes, she closed her eyes again. So she had met the others, walked around, made out with Max and fought the dark guys with a HOSPITAL GOWN on?

She groaned and turned over on her side. Good grief... She was sliding toward darkness... Can’t stop...

******

Kyle was adjusting his mini-skirt for the fiftieth time. How in the hell did girls wear these things? He shifted and crossed his left shapely and shaven leg over his right, trying to ignore the panic he still felt at seeing his body be so... feminine. That wasn’t comfortable either. But if he sat comfortably, the world freakin’ world could see right up his...

Let’s just stop that thought right there. Kyle hadn’t actually checked, but as he moved around, he’d gotten the sense that things were different DOWN THERE.

He shook his head, making mental notes of all the wrestling moves that might just be effective on a shapeshifting alien...

Which, he suddenly realized, weren’t all that many, actually. Yeah, Matpatha had a sense of humor alright. Look at these high heels! Kyle bent his knee sideways so that he could examine the shoe more closely. It was an instrument of torture, nothing less. And knowing how much they hurt, never again would he look at a tall, leggy blonde in heels and get turned on, Scout’s honor.

He jerked his foot away and stuffed it back under the seat where he couldn’t see it anymore. Nope, now that he WAS a tall, leggy blonde, there was no way in hell he could ever look at one and not remember the effort it took to walk straight, talk and flirt at the same time. Flirt? He hated to remember it, but oh yeah, he’d done it quick enough when it looked like that damn security cop was going to ask more questions about why “she” was leaving with the Sheriff. Oh yeah, he’d lowered his eyes, looked up slyly and smiled as he’d answered. How was he supposed to know that it went with the hormones? It wasn’t like this body came with an warning label or anything.

He idly wondered if girls always felt this insecure and confused by their own bodies. Maybe that was why they were so emotional all the time-

Dammit! And the inner pansy is in full bloom! Kyle shook his head and hid his face in his hands. He was going to have to get a booster shot of testosterone somehow. This was going to screw him up for life! From up ahead of him in the plane, snatches of conversation drifted back.

“...nothing for them to return to...”

“...school? They can’t just...”

“Max is dead, for all intents...”

“We still don’t know what we’ll find here...”

Kyle looked out the window and tried to close off his hearing. He’d already thought this through a million times. Joey would never come home again, could never come home again. None of the aliens could, even IF they were still in one piece now, which he readily admitted, he wasn’t the least bit sure of. But he wasn’t going to let his mind dwell on that. Joey had to be okay, that was all there was to it. He was going to find them, help them, and god-help the poor bastards who had taken Liz. If Max hadn’t already cremated them, Kyle had plans of his own, even if he had no idea what the hell to do with his boobs while swinging a left hook.

Boobs.

Nah. Don’t even go there.

******

Max woke up with a start. Liz! Adrenaline immediately flooded his body. He sat up, gently untangling Joey’s body from his own. He laid her beside him and felt for her pulse. It was steady, and her body was warm. He breathed a sigh of relief. All around him were the bodies of the twelve/thirteen, in similar poses.

Quickly, he felt for Isabel’s pulse, and Alex’s. They were fine. A quick survey told him that everyone was fine- recovering. He stood up, noticing Maria and Michael farther away, and Justin even closer up to the-

Liz! His eyes took in her prone form even as he jumped to his feet.

He choked out a cry and ran. Sliding to his knees on the tiles, he reached her side in an instant. He gently cradled her head and held his hand lightly over her mouth. In a moment, a light breath touched his hand and he sagged in relief. A smile broke out on his face, even as a few tears filled his eyes and he pulled her in his arms carefully. She had survived it.

It was over.

The long nightmare was over.

******

Joey approached Max slowly. The look on his face as he watched Liz sleep was profoundly affecting. It made her want to turn back. But everyone was getting restless. She finally stopped about three feet away.

“Uh... Max?”

He didn’t even acknowledge her presence. He slid his fingers through Liz’s hair absently. Joey felt tears clog her throat as she automatically thought of Kyle and how badly she wanted him to hold her that way. She rolled her eyes and tried again. “Max. We need to know what you want to do.”

Max blinked and looked up suddenly. His eyes grew warm and he stood awkwardly to his feet, Liz cradled in his arms. “You’re awake. Is everyone okay?”

But she could see that he knew in a glance they were alright. “Yeah. Everyone’s been awake for quite a while now. Is Liz... is she okay?”

“Liz?” The question seemed to throw him for a minute, and then he looked down at her limp body in his arms. “Oh yeah, yeah, she’s okay. She’s just sleeping pretty hard. She’s tired.”

Joey let out the deep breath that she didn’t even know she had taken in. “Good. Um, everyone wants to know if you’re ready to go. Alex is... pretty much wanting to leave this place behind him. He says he hates the color white now and might spontaneously combust if we stay in this room any longer.”

“And that‘s the least colorful option he’s come up with,” Michael added from behind her. Joey smiled and nodded in agreement.

Max nodded and walked forward. “Of course, we should leave. If Liz were awake, she’d say the same thing. Get everyone together and we’ll transfer. I think almost everyone’s had practice now, right? Just link up, play follow the leader and we‘ll move together.”

The group shifted around him, into a loose circle. Joey was glad to see that Justin wasn’t putting up a fight, although, for once, she kinda‘ wished that he would. His face was still drawn and pale, as if the fire inside him had just died out. Delia was clinging on his arm, looking fiercely determined enough for them both.

Joey felt a little guilty for being so unable to help her mate, someone that she had at one time thought she could be falling in love with. But there was no way to go back and undo all the things they’d done and said to each other. Even if she didn’t have Kyle to... want, she would still have pushed Justin away.

Joey reached down inside herself and felt the burning take over, as Max had showed her before. Then she linked her essence with that of MaxandLiz beside her. She felt Isabel join on, then Alex, then Maria, then Michael, then Tug, then Delia, then Justin, then Shelley, then Christopher, and then Nathan. Max led them, in a line of energy that felt like it went on forever. Emotions, thoughts and fears collided and circled around until she felt like she was one giant person with thirteen parts. She was MaxLizIsabelAlexMariaMichaelTugDeliaJustinShelleyChristopherNathan. It felt wonderful, but too complex to enjoy. Something wasn’t quite right, but Joey tried to relax and just let herself be. And she tried not to think about Kyle. She didn’t want everyone knowing how she felt.

******

Max pushed himself through the matter, feeling around until he knew they were outside the compound, back where Michael and the others had left their vehicles. They should be a good ways back from the road where no one would see them. He was seized by the sudden thought that maybe he should be more careful, given all that happened to them in the past. But then again, the same logic made him think that they were just about due for some good luck.

So he pushed the burning away and delicately did the same in Liz’s body. Immediately, they materialized in the green grass, as if they had always been there. Liz sighed against him, but still didn’t awaken. Max watched everyone appear around them, feeling their essences leave his one by one. But Liz was still joined to him, still connected, even though it was dormant now. And she should wake up soon. He kissed the top of her head and checked his watch.

Only eight more hours on this planet. Was she ready for this? Were any of them? His heart grew full just thinking about it.

******

“I just wish we had a body or something,” Isabel said quietly. “How do we know he‘s really dead?”

Michael nodded grimly. Loose ends like this could be their undoing.

“Well, although I’m as bloodthirsty as the next hybrid,” Alex said from his seated position beside her. “I must say that I’m glad he left things nice and tidy. I don‘t like blood on me, especially when it‘s somebody else‘s. And even worse, when it‘s attached to an extraneous body part.”

Isabel grimaced and smacked Alex on the arm.

Max’s voice surprised everyone. “I think Liz would be able to reassure you all that Croazoh’s gone for good. She’s going to wake up soon and we can ask her then.”

No one bothered asking how he knew it.

Michael nodded and felt Maria press up against him. It wigged her out to see Liz like that. He pulled Maria close, drawing in a sharp breath at the instant combination of fire and desire that slid through him- through THEM.

*Nice thoughts, space boy.*

Michael smirked. I’m just glad you’re finally going to be the one to appreciate them.