“No. But it’s the best way. We have to hide you.” He sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

“And you’re sure it won’t hurt the baby?” Maria asked, reaching out from her chair next to the couch to grab Liz’s hand. Michael stood next to Maria with his hand on her shoulder. Kyle, Tess, Alex, and Isabel were gathered around Liz as well.

“But I thought you were doing this to protect the baby.” Kyle looked at Max in question.

“We are,” Tess put in. “It’s the safest way.”

“Remember what happened to my baby.” Isabel’s words were catching in her throat, and Alex put his arm around his waist, pulling her close. The year before, Isabel had been mind-raped by a Skin, one of the new generation of them, and her baby had spontaneously aborted. “I was ten weeks,” she whispered. And then, more loudly: “How far along are you?”

“Almost twelve weeks.” Max and Liz shared a smile, and he put his hand over hers on her stomach. “I’ll probably start to show soon, within the next month or so.”

“Liz!”

She started at Maria’s sudden cry.

“How could you keep this from me for almost four months?”

“I didn’t know right away.” A smile played on her lips, and she paused. “I’ve had to keep secrets from people I love for longer periods of time than that,” Liz said, referring to the incident with Future Max eight years before. Max squeezed his wife’s hand.

“Babe, have you had anything to eat yet?” Maria asked.

“You mean like dinner?” Maria nodded. “Well, I had a granola bar at the lab a couple hours ago,” Liz told her, referring to her graduate work at the University of New Mexico, where she had chosen to stay in New Mexico near Max instead of taking the fellowship she’d been offered at Johns Hopkins.

“Then Michael and I will just have to make you our specialty.” Maria beamed “You just sit tight.”

Max looked over at Michael in amusement. “So we’re having hamburgers for dinner?”

Maria had just recently coaxed her fiancé out of his bachelor’s cereal dinners, but he said, “You just wait.”

“I’ll help you out,” Tess volunteered.

“Now she is an amazing cook,” Kyle said, smiling after her as she walked into the kitchen.

“We should do it tomorrow.” Max looked at Liz, his eyes full of concern.

“Max…” Liz breathed, “that’s so soon.”

“Every moment you spend here with us is another moment that you’re vulnerable.”

Isabel walked over and kneeled down in front of her sister-in-law. “I know you want to stay here. I would, too. I”—her voice faltered—“I did, and as soon as the Skins found out… about me… They will do anything they can to keep the royal line from producing heirs. You know what they’ve done before, and they will do it again.”

“I know it’s the right thing to do—for the baby, for your race.” Liz stared down at her abdomen.

“I talked it over with Serena,” Max began, “and she already has a room prepared for you at the rebel base. You will be welcomed like family.”

“What about my studies at the university?”

“You’ve been talking about taking a semester off; it won’t surprise anyone,” Alex replied.

“We should at least wait until the end of the semester, Max.” When she saw the look of doubt on his face, she added, “It’ll only be another week and a half. Dr. Jain will understand if I tell him I’m pregnant.”

“But I thought you couldn’t tell anyone,” Kyle wondered aloud.

“I don’t see any problem with doing it right before I leave. Plus, when I come back, I’ll have this little toddler running around…” Liz’s voice trailed off as she realized what she had just said. Her baby. “Will I have to be gone that long? What am I going to tell my parents?” Liz stared blankly into space.

“Well,” Isabel began slowly, “Tess can just mind warp them once every couple weeks to make them think they’ve run into you at the grocery or something.”

“At the grocery,” Liz murmured, her eyes beginning to get puffy. “And what about when the baby comes?”

“Hey Kyle,” Alex said under his breath after edging over towards him. “I think we’d better…” He motioned with his eyebrows towards the kitchen.

“What?”

More loudly this time, Alex said, “I think they need our help in the kitchen, Kyle.”

“You can’t even fit that many people in that tiny”—Alex elbowed him, nodding his head pointedly towards Liz—“Oh. Okay then.” With that, they left the room.

“We’ll figure everything out, Liz.” Isabel glanced towards the hallway. “I’d better go check on them,” she said, getting up and leaving Max and Liz.

The room was quiet for a moment, and Liz leaned her head on Max’s shoulder.

“It’s not that I don’t want to protect our baby, Max. I do. I want to protect the baby more than anything. It’s just so far away, and I’m just… so… scared.”