He took a few steps back out of sheer shock.

"What are you talking about? You agreed with me that things were getting out-of-hand and that Max needed to be here."

Liz stopped pacing and looked at him like he was crazy.

"When? I don't even remember having that conversation!"

Alex almost laughed.

"That's exactly the point, Liz. You're falling apart!"

Liz looked stunned, as if all the air had just left her suddenly.

"I'm fine. Why does everyone keep saying I'm not?"

Alex took a deep breath, praying that she would listen to reason. She had already tried talking Max out of coming home, and he didn't want to even think about what would happen if she and Michael got together again.

But Maria jumped up off the bed and beat him to it.

"Because you're having freaky-ass dreams that make you faint, get migraines, do glowy things and act like Little Orphan Annie on cocaine afterwards."

Liz just stared at Maria, looking completely confused. She finally sat down on the edge of the bed.

"I just don't understand," she whispered. "I don't want him to come home right now. It's not finished yet."

Alex looked over at Maria cautiously, hoping that she had some inkling of what to say to that. Of course, she didn't, but she was apparently tired of trying to make sense out of Liz's mind games.

"Well, tough it out. He's coming home; Michael's staying the hell away; and I am spending the night. Now, Alex is going to be here while I go get my stuff. Alright? Now, while I'm gone, no medicine, no glowing and no, and I mean this, NO kissing."

"Okay," Liz whispered, dazed.

Poor Liz.

She was just no match for Maria when she was on the receiving end of an "I-know-what's-good-for-you" lecture.

Never had been, never would be.

******

Liz sat frozen on her bed, her thoughts whirling.

It confused her to no end to realize that she really didn't want Max to come home. And she couldn't think of any good reason why. It had something to do with not being ready... and something to do with Michael.

She shook her head.

The fuzzy thoughts just wouldn't get any clearer.

She heard Alex rustling around in her bathroom.

While she was alone, she really wanted to get to the bottom of things, to figure out if all her friends were losing it, or if it was really just her.

A sudden thought made her stand and walk to the bedroom door. She opened it and there stood Michael, his hand raised to knock.

She wasn't surprised. She had know he would be there.

He looked at her with... was that recognition on his face?

Liz shook her head. She was feeling something strange, like strange-familiar, coming over her.

"Is Maria here," he asked.

His words startled her. He wasn't here to see Maria.

"No," she answered flatly.

"Oh."

And she watched as he pushed past her into the room without another word.

They stood regarding each other for a moment and Liz found herself fighting the strangest urge to confide in him, to tell him all of the confusing feelings bottled up inside her. He would understand, she was sure.

Then the bathroom door opened and Alex came out, closing the door behind him.

As he looked up and saw their eyes on him, he stopped.

"Michael," he asked suspiciously, "what are you doing here?"

Liz looked over at Michael, who was as unable to answer as she was.

"You should leave," Alex continued. "Because I warn you, you touch her and you die. It's that simple. Because if I don't stop you, see, Max will-"

Liz vaguely heard him continue on, but a prickling at the back of her neck made her swivel her attention back to Michael.

His face had gone slack and she immediately tensed.

"Alex," her choked cry interupted his lecture.

And he was immediately there in between them.

Liz reached out to touch Alex and rested her head against his warm back, surprised at how quickly fear had reduced her to jelly. Maybe everything wasn't alright after all.

Then Alex was pulled away from her and she looked up to see Michael's intent face moving in.

Just as she began to back away, Alex was once again in front of her, yelling at Michael and taking a swing.

Liz didn't hesitate. She turned and ran to her balcony, deciding once and for all to distrust her fickle feelings. They were telling her to stay... that everything was fine, even though fear was quickly overcoming them.

A confused sob tore through her as she grabbed the ladder and swung around to the outside. She did want Max home. She really did.

A last desperate look showed Michael climbing through the window, Alex nowhere in sight.

Her heart quickened and she descended as fast as she could, dropping to the ground a few feet up in her haste.

******

No answer.

Max forced himself to remain calm as he hung up the phone. There was probably a perfectly good reason why he couldn't get Liz on the phone. Unfortunately, he couldn't think of one single one at the moment.

Deep breath... in, out.

Okay, on to the next step in the plan.

Max turned to Isabel, picking up in their argument where they had left off.

"Please, Isabel. It has to be you and you know it," he reasoned as gently as he could.

Isabel rolled her eyes and Max thought he just might go out of his mind.

Liz's life was at stake and Isabel was worried about her precious pride!

"They won't believe me, Max," she began.

Max shoved down his emotions and walked over to her, placing his hands gently on her shoulders.

"You can make anyone believe anything, especially Dad. I can't think of any other way to do it, Isabel. Please, for me."

She took a deep breath and sighed, the brown eyes finally relenting their brittle stare.

"Fine, but you owe me. This is going to be absolutely humiliating."

Max nodded and headed back to the bedrooms.

He haphazardly grabbed luggage, then stopped and took a deep breath. Liz was fine. Alex had said he would stay with her and Michael was going to stay the hell away. And if he knew Maria, she would make sure that he did just that.

From the other room, he heard Isabel's voice and stopped to listen.

"Daddy," she said tearfully, "I'm so tired of being here. I want to come home... no, I tried that. It didn't work... I don't know anyone here... Max does not count, Daddy! Please let us come home! Please? (small, artistically done sob) Yes, I'm really that upset. I miss you! Don't you miss your little girl?"

Max smiled and hauled the bags to the waiting rental car.

Give that girl an Oscar.

They were as good as home with that performance.

******

Liz jumped when a voice came out of nowhere.

"Hi, Liz."

She turned to see Doug Shellow coming down the alley, smiling as always.

"Doug," she said, trying to calm her breathing and act as naturally as possible even though she had just been found descending an emergency fire escape ladder. "What are you doing here?"

She managed a smile as she brushed a stray hair back into place.

"Oh, I was actually coming to see you, to see if you wanted to get a Coke or something."

"And you just happened to come down the alley to do it," Liz frowned at him slightly, too overwrought to be entirely polite.

"No. I just happened to be walking by on my way in to see you and I saw you climbing down."

His smile put her at ease, and when Liz heard a scraping sound at the top of the ladder, she jumped to slip her arm through Doug's and lead him away.

Michael was still coming...

"Sure, a Coke sounds great. But not here," she enthused, trying to force herself to NOT look at the ladder.

"Great," he answered back. "Really great. My car is right over here. We can go anywhere you like."

******

What?

What is she doing with dog-boy? Didn't she tell Alex she wouldn't go out with him again?

Kyle stepped out of his car to confront them, but cursed and sat back down when they approached Doug's car.

Safer to follow and see where they're going first... I think.

Kyle cursed himself for not watching more cop shows. Shouldn't he know more about this kind of crap?

Alright, just keep Liz safe, find out what this Shellow fellow is up to... and report back to Alex for good measure.

But Alex wasn't answering his phone, so Kyle left a quick message.