“I had to get these,” Nasedo answered as he put two floppy disks on the table.

“What is it?” Max asked.

“Something that’s gonna save all of us…it’s a list of everybody the FBI special unit kidnapped, tortured, killed since 1947.”

“A list?” Isabel said shocked.

“How is it gonna help us? It’s still gonna prove the world that we exist and we die,” Michael said.

“This one will,” Nasedo picked pointed to one of the disks, then picked up the other one, “This one will put the FBI in the hot seat.”

“Why?” The sheriff asked.

“Because, unlike the other disk which contains the list of all the aliens they did capture, this disk holds the list of all the humans that were put through the same thing.”

“Humans? You mean…” Maria said.

“Well, they had to go through a lot of humans to get at least one alien,” Nasedo said.

“Ok, so what do we do with it?” Michael asked.

“We go to them. We go to the FBI and agent Stevens. We tell them what we have and what we’ll do with it.”

“Are you crazy?” Liz finally said.

“Why?” Max asked turning to her.

“You’re just gonna go to them and threaten them and you think they’ll just let you walk away?”

“Liz, it’s there’s no other way.”

“Yes, there is. We run.”

“Is that what you really want? Is that what you worked so hard for all these years? Is that the kind of life you want to give Sarah? Because I don’t,” he said passionately.

“Oh, and getting yourself killed is the way to give her a normal life?”

Max was about to say something when they heard Sarah cry, “Mommy! Mommy!”

Liz looked at him for a moment and then went upstairs to her daughter’s room.

“So, how do we do this?” Michael asked Max when Liz left. He knew it was crazy, but it was the only way.

“We contact Stevens and sat up the meeting…” Max started to explain, but Maria interrupted, “Wait, you’re actually going through with this? What about Liz? What, you’re just gonna live her alone to raise your daughter again?”

“It wasn’t his fault.” Michael tried to defend Max.

“Oh, that’s a nice excuse for not being there…it wasn’t his fault. What about not being her for the rest of her life?”

“You’re right, Maria, I wasn’t there…I wasn’t there in the beginning, I wasn’t there for 5 years of her life…but you were. Now, tell me…is that what you wanted for Sarah when you saw her for the first time? For her to look over her shoulder for the rest of her life? Never to be able to go to school, to have friends, to go on dates, to fall in love? Is that what you pictured her life to be?”

Maria thought about it. He was ight. “No,” she said looking down.

“Neither did I,” he said. “Now, I’ll go meet with Stevens.”

“I’m going with you,” Michael said.

“Michael, if something…”

“Maxwell, I’m going with you.”

Max nodded. “Me too,” Isabel said and both Max and Michael said, “No.”

Isabel was about to protest when Max came up to her and said, “Iz, I need you to stay here…in case…you know.” He looked at her pleadingly. She understood. He needed to know that Liz and everybody else was safe. She nodded in agreement.

“Thank you,” he said. “Now, we need to set up some kind of system so if anything happens, this information goes online. Alex, can you do that?”

“Oh, piece of cake,” Alex said as he got up and excitedly began talking about how it would be done.

**********************************************************************

“Hey,” Alex said to Isabel who was sitting on the porch alone. “Can’t sleep?”

She nodded. “Yeah, me too,” he said, then pointed to the seat next to her, “Do you mind?”

“Of course not,” she said as she made space for him.

“So, how you’ve been?” Alex said, trying not to think about tomorrow.

“Oh, you know…school, work, nothing exciting.”

“Well, I think I’ve had enough excitement to last me a lifetime.”

“Yeah, me too,” Isabel said. School and work sounded great right now.

They both just sat in silence looking at the stars and enjoying each other’s company.

***********************************************************************

Michael walked into a room and sat on the couch, not noticing that Maria was there. They both almost jumped up startled.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” Maria asked him.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You didn’t,” then she noticed that he looked worried, “Are you okay?” she asked him.

“Yeah, fine.”

“Good,” she said.

“Good,” he repeated after her.

They were silent for a moment, then Michael said, “Listen, sorry about the whole yelling thing back at the Crashdown.”

Maria smiled slightly then said, “It’s okay, I had the same reaction when Liz first told me.”

Michael sat next to her on the couch. “So, how’s the business?” he asked referring to Maria’s mother’s shop which Maria was running now.

“It’s good.”

“Dating?” he asked with a smile.

Maria looked at him surprised. “I tried that. But then I realized something.”

“What?”

“What was the point? I only loved one man,” she said honestly, not sure what came over her.

Michael looked at her seriously. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” he said.

Maria’s jaw almost dropped when she heard that. They both smiled.

“You’re not just saying that because you might die tomorrow?” Maria joked, but Michael answered seriously, “No.”

************************************************************************

-Early Next Morning-

Max walked into the room where Liz and Sarah slept that night. He didn’t want to wake her, but he needed to say something to her before he left. He sat next to the bed and gently stroked Liz’s hair. When Liz opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Max’s eyes. For a moment they just stared at each other. Then Max said, still stroking her hair, “I’ve loved you all my life…And now…” he looked over Liz at sleeping Sarah, “Now you gave me something that I never even dreamed possible. And I have to protect that…I have to do this, Liz.”

“I know,” Liz whispered.

Max kissed her forehead and then said, “Tell her I love her, okay?” Then he got up to leave.

Suddenly Liz rose to her knees and caught his hand. He stopped, turned his head and looked at her. She pulled him to her. And in the next moment they were kissing. The kiss held in itself everything they felt. All the loneliness and unhappiness of the past 6 years. All the passion and love they felt. And then Max got flashes…flashes of Liz pregnant, Sarah’s birth, her first step. He saw Sarah’s whole life. Liz wanted him to see it. She didn’t know if that would happen after so many years, but she had to try. She wanted him to know Sarah before he left.

They finally broke the kiss, but didn’t pull away from each other. They looked into each other’s eyes…both filled with tears.

“Don’t die…just don’t die,” Liz said crying.

“I won’t,” he said. He kissed her, this time briefly, “I’ll be back, I promise,” he said as he wiped away a tear on her cheek with his hand, gently.

They heard a car honking, which meant that Max had to go. He started to pull away, but she wouldn’t let him. She held his hand tightly. “I’ll come back,” he told her again. She broke down as she let him go.

As Max left the room, Liz sat back on the bed and hugged her knees to herself. All she wanted to do was run after him, but she knew she couldn’t. She knew, if she did, she’ll make him stay, and she knew that he had to do this. So, she sat on her bed with tears rolling down her face.

**********************************************************************

Michael, Nasedo, and sheriff Valenti were already in the car. Max was giving Isabel last hug. “If anything happens, look after them, okay?” he said to her. She wanted to say that nothing’s going to happen, but there wasn’t time to argue about it and Max needed a piece of mind right now. “I will, don’t worry,” she said instead. Then Max got into the car and they drove away.

*********************************************************************

Kyle was sitting outside with his gun ready if anything happens. Inside, Isabel and Alex sat next to each other, quietly. Maria was in the other corner of the room playing with Sarah when Liz came into the room. They all looked at her. Liz walked up to Sarah and said, “Sarah, I need to talk to you, sweetie, okay?”

Sarah nodded with a smile and taking Liz’s hand, they both walked outside.

As they sat under one of the trees and Liz put Sarah on her lap, she said to her, “There’s something I need to tell you, okay?”

“Okay.”

“You know how much I love you, right?” Sarah nodded, then said, “I love you too.”

“Good. Do you remember what I told you about your father?”

“That he couldn’t be with us and that he loved me.”

“That’s right. He still loves you very much. As much as I do.”

“Really?” Sarah smiled.

“Yes, don’t ever forget that, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Do you remember my friend Max from yesterday. The one in the car?”

“Yes.”

“Well, sweetheart, he’s…he’s your father.”

Sarah looked at her mother for a moment seriously and then a smile came across her face. “So, he can be with us now?”

Liz was barely holding the tears back. “Yes, he’ll be here…soon…Very soon,” Liz said more to herself than to her daughter, who she was now holding very tightly.

**********************************************************************

“Mr. Evans, can I just tell you what a pleasant surprise it was to get your call,” Agent Stevens, who was in charge of the special unit after “Pierce disappeared”, said. “Now, what can I do for you?”

“I think you’d be interested in something we have,” Max said.

“Oh, really, and what would that be?”

“This,” Max held a floppy disk in his hand.

When Max saw a puzzled expression on Stevens’ face, he explained, “It’s a list of all the people your agency has killed.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Really? I’m sure it would make up for an interesting read for, say, New York Times, or…”

“You’re bluffing,” Stevens said.

“Really? Try me,” Max said looking straight at him.

“All right, what do you want?”

“What do you think I want? I want you to leave my family and friends alone. You stay away from us, and this information stays safe and secure from the rest of the world. If anything and I mean anything at all happens to any of us, this information will go to every major web site in the world. Do you understand?”

Stevens didn’t look happy. “Yes,” was all he said. Then he turned around and walked to his car.

Michael walked and stood next to Max, both of them watching Stevens and his men leave. “Do you think it’s over?” Michael asked.

“For now.” Max answered, then turned around and walked to the car. It was time to go home.

**********************************************************************

Liz was outside. Kyle wanted her to stay inside because it was safer that way, but she just couldn’t. She couldn’t sit still, she couldn’t stand still. He stomach was in knots. She hated the waiting. When she heard the car driving up to the cabin, she felt her heart skip a beat and she held her breath. It was either their freedom or their death. There was not third option. When she saw the Sheriff’s car, she couldn’t stop herself. She just ran to it. Max saw Liz running towards them and when the Sheriff stopped the car, he jumped out of it and met Liz half way. In the next second they were kissing. They didn’t care about anybody watching them. Max was okay. They were okay. They were together. That’s all that mattered now. They were together.

After they broke the kiss, they just held each other for a long time. Then Max felt something pulling on his pants. When he and Liz looked down, they saw Sarah standing there looking up at him. Max looked at her, then at Liz and he knew from Liz’s eyes that Sarah knew…she knew who he was.

Max got down on one knee so their faces would be on the same level. Neither one said anything. They just looked at each other, studying each other’s faces that looked so much alike, getting to know each other.

Then suddenly Sarah put her arms around his neck and hugged him. Max was so surprised, it took him a moment to realize what she was doing. Slowly he put his arms around her too. He was afraid to breathe. And when he thought he couldn’t be happier, she said, “I love you, daddy.”

Max stood up, still holding her tightly. He took a deep breath, trying not to cry, afraid it would scare her. Then he said, “I love you, too.”

Liz covered her mouth with both hands, also not wanting to scare Sarah by crying. But despite all the effort, the tears rolled down her cheeks. This time…happy tears.

“Why is mommy crying?” Sarah asked Max. He turned around to look at Liz who stood closer to them. As Max put his arm around her, Liz said, “I’m not crying, sweetie, I’m not.” Max looked at her and then kissed her.

When they broke the kiss and turned towards the cabin, they saw everybody watching them. They looked into each other’s eyes, than Max took her hand, still holding Sarah with the other one and they walked towards the rest of the group.

As the walked up to everybody else, Max put Sarah down. Isabel gave him a quick hug. Then Max said, “Sarah, this is my sister.”

“Hi, I’m your Aunt Isabel,” Isabel said.

“Hello,” Sarah said.

“I’ll always have candy if you need it,” Isabel said.

Everyone laughed.

Then Sarah noticed Michael, who was sitting further away from everybody. She came up to him, with everyone watching them, and said, “Are you my uncle then?”

Michael looked at her, then at Max and Isabel. Then he looked back at Sarah, “Yes, I guess I am.”

“I’m Sarah. What’s your name?”

“I’m Michael,” he said as he shook her hand that she held out for him. When he looked up at Max and Liz again, he was smiling. They were all smiling.

“Wow, I have a big family,” Sarah suddenly said. And they all laughed first, but then they realized. She was right. They were a family. A big, at times, disfunctional, with it’s secrets and history, family.

Max held Liz closer to him as another realization came to him. Something that Liz already knew.

Max knew now that Sarah was the reason he was sent here. Because she was meant for something amazing.