"Uh, guys, remember how we said we would tell you if anything strange was happening? Well, that was Liz, and she wants us to break her out of the hospital."

Fifteen minutes later...

"Tell me what she said again," Max demanded. They were all sitting in the Jeep outside the hospital.

"She said she fell in the bathroom and needed stitches. That was why she was here in the first place. Then she said that they were keeping her overnight for tests, and could I bring stuff for a report on Czechoslovakia..."

"And that means..."

"It was the word we used to use when we were talking about you guys. I started using it after I used the word alien one too many times in public. Plus, she said she needed three books on the subject, so that's got to be you, Michael and Isabel. Then she said the hospital reminded her of the hospital you were in last summer, which could only mean..."

"Eagle Rock." Max filled in his voice barely above a whisper.

"Right." Maria was all but counting off each of Liz's strange remarks on her fingers. "Then she asked for a sweater because the hospital gown was drafty, which means she didn't want her fanny hanging out the back of her hospital gown as we make our get away. Then the last thing she said was that the walls would get whiter if they did any tests on her during her forced captivity. Which again means the white room where you were held in Eagle Rock."

Michael was leaning against Maria's side of the door and said, "So, obviously, she afraid that any testing they do on her will lead the government back to us."

"Except," Alex pointed out, "that she's human, so there's no way the tests can do any such thing. Right? Right?"

He watched in puzzlement as the three aliens shared a brief look of understanding. The result of which had Michael swearing, Isabel closing her eyes in prayer, and the muscles in Max's jaw clenching. "All right, what the hell aren't you telling us?!" Not normally one to swear, Alex had been pushed to just about his breaking point. "Are you saying that Liz has suddenly sprouted alien parts? Is it like contagious, because I'd sure like to know."

Maria put her hand on Max's arm and asked, "Max?" She let that one word do the work of entire paragraphs. It hung in the air between them until it seemed to take on a life of its own.

Max closed his eyes in regret and admitted, "There's been a... development."

"A development?" Alex pounced.

Isabel explained, "Remember how we told you that when Max was in New York, Lonnie had nearly killed him with a falling scaffolding? It was Liz who saved him."

"Wait," Maria asked. "I don't understand. Liz was here. How could she have saved him?"

"We were at the CrashDown, Liz, Michael, Ava and me. Ava had told us that Max could be in danger from Lonnie and Rath, and I tried to dreamwalk him, you know to warn him, but he wasn't hearing me. We had given up. There was nothing more I could do when Ava spoke up and announced that Liz could get through to him where I'd failed. That somehow when Max had healed her, he had changed her in some way, and left her with some powers. Together we connected with Max, and she was able to put a warning in his mind. That warning saved his life."

"So, Liz has powers now, too?" Alex asked, mystified.

"Looks like," Michael said.

"She must be afraid of some test uncovering the change in her. That's why she wants us to get her out of here."

"Ok, I can see how that would be a concern," Maria agreed, then went on, "but what kind of tests could they do to find her powers? It's not like they're in a black box in her head, right?"

"I don't know, but do we want to take the chance of finding out?" Isabel asked.

"But what about all the attention we'll draw when she's escaped? That'll be like putting up a big red sign pointing straight at you guys, right?" Alex was always the clear-headed one.

Max took a breath and stated, "We'll check her out."

"Check her out?! This isn't like the library. You can't just check her out like she's the book of the month." Maria argued.

"We know that, but we just need to get a hold of a computer. Alex?"

"I'm there."

"Great."

"Maria, stay with the car, in case we have to make a run for it. Michael Isabel and I are going to her room. Ready?" Max asked the group in general.

Everyone nodded.

As Maria watched the others leave, she grumbled, "Oh you are going to be in so much trouble, girl friend." This whole need-to-know wall Liz had built around herself ever since Future Max had swept into her life and turned it upside down was coming down. There was no way her best friend had secret alien powers and hadn't told her. No way. Maria was going to knock her on her rump the next time she saw her for keeping this from her.

Max, Isabel and Michael entered Liz's room with as little fuss as possible. She was sitting up on the end of her bed, waiting. Max's heart turned over at the sight of her scared face. She almost looked like a child in her tiny hospital gown and bare feet. At the sight of them, however, she jumped up and ran over. "Thank god you came," she exclaimed as she reached for Max's hand.

"Liz, what's going on?" From this distance, he could see the caked and dried blood that had been left in her hair with the stitches from her earlier accident. It was gross, but there wasn't anything she could do about it at this point. She wouldn't be allowed to wash her hair for a day or two until the tender skin had set a little. Without thinking, Max held his hand over the wound and erased all evidence of the accident, blood, stitches and all.

She grabbed his wrist and pulled it away. "I think I've got a real serious problem here, guys."

"So we gathered," Michael said. "Now since being an alien isn't like a communicable disease, which is Alex's pet theory, why don't you tell us what's happening."

"Ok, but I'll get dressed while I do," Liz looked eagerly at the sack in Isabel's hands. "I've been freezing in this thing."

Isabel handed over the paper bag that contained a full set of clothes courtesy of Maria DeLuca, and Liz disappeared into the bathroom. Leaving the door ajar, she reported everything that she knew. From the silence on the other side, she assumed that either everyone else was stunned, or they had quietly sneaked out during the recital. "Guys? Am I being completely paranoid?" she asked as she finally emerged from the bathroom.

Max was the only one still in the room. Ok... she'd been kidding about the sneaking out part. "Uh, where is everyone?"

"Michael is looking for your x-rays and Isabel is standing guard outside."

He got up, his dark eyes unfathomable. "Come here."

She obediently went to stand in front of him. "Lay down," he commanded, and she knew what he was going to do.

Knowing that it would be useless to argue over this, she trustingly put herself into his hands and laid back on the uncomfortable hospital bed. Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths to relax. Max came to stand over her and slowly pulled the hem of her borrowed blouse upward until her mid-drift was exposed. Concentrating fiercely, he slowly moved his hand over the area where she'd been shot over a year ago. He was a hair's breadth away from her skin, but still she felt the warmth of his skin calling out to her. She had to force herself to remain still under his watchful gaze.

His eyes suddenly focused on her abdomen. "Liz," he whispered. "There is something here."

"What is it? Can you...?" She whispered back. There was no reason for them to keep their voices so low except the fear that was overtaking them both.

"I'll try," Max promised as he settled his hand more firmly against her, full contact with a slight downward pressure. He brought his other hand to her head to help with the connection. Gazing into her beautiful eyes, he lost himself into the essence that was Liz Parker. She was all around him, flowing over him like a warm golden river. Her scent and the feel of her were dimmed by the sheer force of her presence as it crashed all around him. For a second, he was disoriented, but he soon regained his focus and concentrated on the dark mass of tissue that was threatening her life and possibly his as well. Feeding his energy into her, he tried to manipulate the lump. Tried to dissolve it away into nothingness like he had the bullet, but it resisted his efforts. Sweat broke out on his forehead and chest. His hand began to shake. Why wasn't it working? He pushed even more energy at it to no avail. It apparently wasn't going anywhere. With a gasp, he nearly fell over onto her. His limbs were shaking badly, and he was weak, but that was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.

He thought he was dreaming when he felt her fingers in his hair, lightly stroking, offering reassurances and comfort. He felt like he didn't deserve her concern, and grabbed her fingers in his. "I couldn't do it Liz," he confessed. "It's still there."

"It's ok," she whispered.

"No, you don't understand, Liz, there really is a tumor right there," he again touched the soft spot on her belly that had been torn apart by a bullet fifteen months ago. "I couldn't fix it."

She smiled reassuringly at him, the possibility of this happening having already occurred to her as she'd waited for her friends to arrive. "Shhh," she silenced him. "I know. It's probably because I'm right, and it is the Cadmium-X causing the cancer. If it was created when you used your powers, then it makes sense that your powers would be useless against it now, but we had to be sure, right?"

"Oh god," Max exclaimed, looking at her in horror. "What if I just made it worse?"

"Max," she stated as matter-of-factly as she could. "The only way this could get any worse is if we don't get out of here before the doctors come back."