David and Liz were supposed to be leaving for their honeymoon today, but since there was no wedding, nor party, she figured that was off too. Today was going to be a day just like any other. Liz was going to go to work, and pretend nothing had happened the day before, pretend that Max Evans hadn't shattered her heart once again.

"Why did he do it?" Liz wondered aloud? "Why did he come back if all he was going to do was hurt me again? Why did he say he'd stop by last night, and then totally stand me up? At least he could have told me the truth over the phone. That would have been better than nothing."

David leapt up from his seat the moment Liz walked through the door into the lab.

"Liz! Thank God you're finally here! What's wrong? You look awful." Liz had huge bags under her eyes, and they looked a little red. He guessed that she didn't sleep much the night before. He wondered if this had anything to do with that Max guy she told him about.

"Good morning, David. What's going on?"

"We have a huge new project to start on, Liz. We're lucky we didn't leave today. They probably would have pulled us back in to start on this new project immediately."

"What kind of a project is it?"

"They brought us a new specimen to study. They don't know what it is, but whatever it is, it's not human. We're supposed to study it and find out everything we can about this thing. Molecular structure. Special traits. Whatever. It's all ready for us over in lab 1."

"Okay then, let's get suited up. What do we know about it so far?" Liz felt a little stronger as she put on her airtight suit, which looked a lot like a space suit. They were a precaution they used when studying new species. It helped them avoid disease spread. Liz chuckled quietly to herself. When she was a kid, she used to watch the movie "Outbreak" and imagine herself wearing one of these suits as they went chasing after disease-ridden monkeys.

At least she had a project to throw herself into. It would help get her mind off Max.

"Well, it's in pretty bad condition." David replied. "The guys who brought it in said that it struggled pretty badly. They had to beat it up in order to take it. It was strong, they said. Really strong. It's brain activity appears to be a lot more advanced than ours, it can do things with it's mind that we can't, so we had to give it some of the serum in order to hold it here. It shouldn't be too dangerous right now." "Okay then."

"Just remember one thing when we go in there Liz. This thing looks human, but it's not. It's a very, very dangerous creature, capable of killing us all, if we underestimate it. We have to be careful here, Lizzie."

Liz nodded. A dangerous project. These kind of things came in on occasion from the Feds. "Well, what are we waiting for. Let's get started."

Liz headed into the lab, and immediately stopped dead in her tracks as she stared in shock at the "creature". She was glad that the suit was hiding her face, for Liz knew that her face was pale.

"What is it?" David asked from behind her.

Liz couldn't find a way to answer him, as she studied Max Evans, strapped to the examination table, from across the room. He was bruised and beaten all over, and his arm was bent at a weird angle. It looked broken to her. The sight made Liz want to cry.

Liz slowly walked over to the man she loved, and gently reached down, and stroked the hair on his forehead, brushing it slightly off to the side. She pulled her hand back as he awoke with a start.

Max lifted his head, and studied his surroundings. God, it had finally happened. There he was, stuck in some government lab. There were two people in the room, in those weird airtight suits. He couldn't even see their faces. He groaned. God he was in so much pain. He had never felt such incredible physical pain. He had always been able to heal himself when things got too bad, but he tried to do so now, and it wouldn't work. The pain remained. His powers were worthless.

The pain from his broken bones wasn't what was killing him though. It was the pain in Max's heart, which drove him crazy. He could deal with the physical pain, but he couldn't deal with the fact that he never made it to Liz's house. God, she was probably hurting so much right now. All because of him, again.

"Faceless enemies," Max thought, studying the scientists. One of them stood right over him, watching him, while the other was fussing with the equipment on the table across the room. He decided to concentrate on the one above him.

"Who are you? What do you want from me? What did you do to me?" Max croaked out. God he was in pain. It hurt too much to even struggle against the restraints holding him down.

A single tear dripped down Liz's cheek at the sound of Max's voice. He sounded so weak. Never, in the 23 years that she had known Max Evans, had he ever sounded so vulnerable to her. She couldn't take it. She had to get him out of there.

She looked over at David, who was still organizing the lab equipment. Liz walked over to the table and quickly knocked the glass sorenge off the table, and watched as it shattered on the floor.

"Oh, jeez, I can't believe I just did that! I wanted to start with a blood sample. Would you be willing to go get me another one from the storage room?"

"Sure. No problem. Are you sure you're okay this morning? I don't think I've ever seen you break equipment before."

"I'm fine. Don't worry. Just get me that sorenge."

"You'll be okay left alone with it." Liz cringed at the word. She had never considered David to be closed minded before, but it killed her to hear David talk about Max like that.

"I'll be okay! Don't worry."

"Okay, be right back." The moment David left the room, Liz rushed over to Max, and began to unfasten his restraints.

"Come on, I'm going to get you out of here."

Max looked up at the scientist in shock. "Why are you doing this? Who are you?"

Liz paused and looked at him. "You can't see through this. I completely forgot." Liz pulled off her helmet.

Love and understanding flashed into Max's eyes, as her face was revealed to him. She had never looked so radiant to him as she did in that moment.

"Liz." Max whispered. Liz flashed a tiny smile in response.

"I take it you can't heal yourself, can you? Stupid serum. Can you walk?"

Max attempted to get up, but immediately fell back down in pain.

"No," he grunted, "I think there's something wrong with my ankle too. They really got me bad, Liz."

Liz slipped his arm around her.

"You'll have to lean on me. Put as much weight on me as you can." Max pushed himself up, and Liz stumbled before finally adjusting to his weight.

"Come on. Let's go."

"Liz! What the hell are you doing?" David walked in screaming.

"I'm getting him out of here, David."

"It's dangerous, Liz. We can't have this thing roaming around free."

"Don't talk about him like that, David. Regardless of what you think, he is a person too. I can assure you, he's not a threat to anybody."

"It's just a creature, Liz. It's not even human. Just because it looks human, doesn't mean it is. And what makes you so sure that it's not a threat."

"Because I've known HIM most of my life. Please David. Trust me on this one. If the four years of our relationship meant anything to you, please let me do this. I can't leave him here. Give us some time to get out of here before you alert security."

"Alert security? What am I supposed to tell them."

"Tell them that he escaped, kidnapped me, and took me with him."

"That could be believable, but Liz, I expect a more complete explanation later to why you're throwing the biggest project we've been given all year."

"I promise I'll explain later, but we need to get out of here. Thank you David. Thank you so much." Liz and Max stumbled to the window, where she helped him out, before crawling out herself. They jumped into Liz's car and drove off, leaving the government property right as David alerted security of the escape.

Pt 4

Liz entered her bedroom and slowly approaching the figure lying there still on her bed. She sat down carefully beside him, watching him cautiously. Max peeked open one of his eyes, and smiled as best he could.

"Hi."

"Hey Max, how you feeling? I brought you some soup. Chicken soup is what my parents always fed me when I wasn't feeling well. Of course I was sick, and not injured, but I thought it might help." She handed him a mug of soup.

"Thanks." Max took a sip, and looked up at her surprised.

"Um, I mixed in some tobasco sauce for you. I wasn't sure how much you'd want, so I guessed. I hope it's okay."

"It's perfect."

I take it your powers haven't kicked back in yet."

Max sighed and shook his head.

"Damn that syrum. We need to get you healthy enough to travel. We've got to get out of Roswell. They're probably out searching for you right now."

"Wait a second. We?"

Liz babbled on, ignoring his comment. "Are Isabel and Michael still in town? Maybe one of them can heal you?"

"No. Isabel had to work, so she flew out right after the ceremony. I'm not sure where Michael is. Probably with her. They live together you know."

"Yeah, I know. So we'll just have to wait it out until the syrum wears off."

"Yeah. Liz…" Max got cut off by a loud rapping at the door.

"Liz, its David. Let me in."

Liz shot a look at Max. "I have to try and explain this to him. He already knows too much. I have to convince him to keep quiet."

Max nodded, and Liz let him into the apartment.

"Hi." She greeted him quietly.

"So you want to explain to me what the hell is going on? That isn't like you, Liz. It's not normal for you to throw our research out the door like that. What was it? Was it because this thing looked human? Because it isn't Liz. No matter what it looks like, it's not like us. Did you even bother to look at the background information we were given? It was a dangerous animal, Liz, capable of killing either of us with a thought. All I can say, is thank God we gave it the syrum, Liz, 'cause otherwise you would have been dead the moment you unbuckled those restraints."

"No, David, I wouldn't have been."

"What makes you so damn sure, Liz?"

"Come back here, David." She led him into her bedroom. Max lay still in the bed. He looked up at David and Liz calmly as they entered.

"It's here? You brought it here? What the hell's wrong with you?" David asked incredulously, barely believing the sight in front of his eyes.

"Take a deep breath and calm down, David. I want you to meet Max."

"Hi," Max greeted David weakly, grunting at the pain in his ribs.

"Max? As in the Max you told me about yesterday?"

"Yes. This is the Max I told you about yesterday."

"But its, he's, not even human."

"There were some things I left out of the story," Liz told him with a wry grin. "I didn't think you'd believe me if I told you that I was friends with aliens."

David laughed. "No, I suppose I wouldn't have believed you, yesterday. But that was before they brought…him…to us at the lab."

Max spoke up from the bed. "Thank you for helping me escape, David. You're a good man."

"And you're a damn lucky one."

"David, let's go talk in the other room. Max, I want you to try and get some rest, okay? I'll be back in to check on you in a little bit."

Max nodded, and watched her go. He felt like crying. David was right. He was so lucky to have her, but he still didn't understand what he had ever done to deserve her. She was like an angel, sent here entirely for him, and no matter how badly he ran her over, she always seemed to be there to protect him. He closed his eyes, and lay there resting, thinking beautiful thoughts about the most beautiful girl that he could ever know in the entire universe.

Liz shut the door softly, and turned to face David.

He chuckled. "So, you're in love with an alien, huh?"

"Yes."

"How did you find out about him?"

"He saved my life. When we were in high school, I got shot in the café on one of my shifts. I would have died, but Max happened to be there, and happened to have had a crush on me his entire life. Anyway, he healed me with a touch." "David, he's never killed anyone in his life. Yes, he's capable of killing with a touch, but he never would. He's a good person."

"So tell me the real story. You obviously left a lot out last night."

"Okay. I can do that. After Max healed me, many people began to suspect that he was…abnormal. The sheriff was constantly watching him, as was the FBI, waiting for him to slip up. The wanted to catch him doing something with his powers, but they never did. They sent agent after agent to watch him. The first was the guidance counselor at our high school. The second was Tess. She seduced him into trusting her, and then set him up to be caught by the Feds. Luckily Max figured it out before it was too late, but the damage had been done, and the FBI watched him more closely than ever." "On our graduation night, Tess came back. She was sick of being covert, and she wanted to catch Max before he left for college. They knew that once he left Roswell they'd never stand a chance at catching him, so she kidnapped me, and shot me. It was just in the shoulder. Not like the previous bullet from the café. I could have bled to death, but it would have taken a while. Anyway, Max, being the hero that he is, came after me. Tess left me out in the open, and the FBI watched as Max grabbed me, and healed me on the spot. They tried to take him then, but he managed to get away. He left Roswell immediately, and he never came back, until our wedding. That's the whole story. The real story."

David sat on Liz's couch, staring off into space. He was trying to process everything he had learned in the past few minutes.

"It is quite a story, Liz. I can't believe I never heard a word of it until now."

"Maria and I don't talk about it. She knew how much I missed him, and she tried to respect my feelings by avoiding the subject. I thought I was never going to see him again. That's why I decided to move on, and I accepted when you asked me out, and when you proposed to me. I didn't expect all of this to happen."

"He seems like a great guy, but what are you planning to do, Liz? They think he kidnapped you. They're going to be watching for him everywhere. He has to get out of here."

"WE have to get out of here. I'm going with him. I can't loose him now that I've got him back. The problem is that we can't go anywhere with him in this condition. It's that damn syrum. Without it, he could heal himself and we'd be out of here in the blink of an eye, but right now he's powerless. What can you tell me about it? Do you know which one they gave him."

David sighed. "They gave him the heavy duty one of course. It should last about 48 hours."

"Is there an antidote?"

"No. There isn't."

"Damn."

"Who knows, maybe his body will reject it quicker. After all, he isn't exactly human, and we don't exactly know how his systems differ from ours."

"Well, here's hoping."

"I'll do everything I can to keep the cops away from here for the next day or so. Hopefully by this time tomorrow you guys will be out of here."

"Thank you, David."

"Good luck with everything, Liz. You will keep in touch, won't you? I'm going to miss you when you're gone."

"Don't worry, David. It may be a while. I don't want them to find us so soon, but I'll be in touch for sure." "Bye Liz."

"Bye."

As David exited the apartment, Liz turned and looked at the wall separating her from the alien she loved. She wished everything was as simple as she had made it sound to her ex, but she knew there was still a great deal of stuff that she needed to work out with Max.