"Raa-thoos!" she whined in childish protest.

"Drey-aah," he mockingly drawled.

Liz woke abruptly with a gasp, her heart pounding rapidly in her throat.

As her surroundings slowly penetrated her consciousness, she realized she'd been dreaming.

She thought it had been a really pleasant dream. Peaceful even. So why was her heart pounding with fearful dread?

She was lying on her stomach at the edge of the bed, and as she shifted her eyes, she saw Michael lying on the floor in her sleeping bag, silently looking up at her.

Licking her lips, she whispered huskily, "Sorry, did I wake you?"

Michael lay there with his heart pounding, not quite sure why that was so. Shaking his head briefly, he replied, "No. I just...had a weird dream. What about you? You have another nightmare?"

Liz hesitated. It hadn't been a nightmare, had it? She had woken feeling as though she'd had one, but it hadn't really been a bad dream. Had it? Her memory of it seemed hazy. "Not- really, I don't think. I guess mine was kinda weird, too."

The fact that they both used the same word to describe their dreams made the possibility that it had been the same dream spring to mind, and Liz wondered uneasily if she'd been dream-walking again.

Hesitantly, she asked, "Um...why was your dream weird?"

Something in her hushed tone put him on the alert, and his gaze sharpened as he tried to see her face better in the dim shadows of the room. Slowly, he answered, "I don't know. I can't remember all of it. But- the parts I remember seemed pretty real, only just kind of...off, somehow."

She frowned. "What do you mean, 'off'?

Michael propped himself up on his elbow, and asked suspiciously, "Why are you asking?"

Liz lifted herself to her elbows as well, and her eyes skittered away as his sought them out in the dark. Shrugging a shoulder, she replied, "Just...curious."

"Liz," he said, his tone telling her that he knew it was something more than that.

Capitulating with a sigh, she admitted, "It's possible I've been dream-walking. This week, I mean. And I was wondering if I just did it to you."

His brows pulled down as he took that in, then he said, "What d'you mean it's possible? How can you not know whether you did or not?"

Liz shrugged helplessly. "I'm just not sure. Max and I fell asleep at his house last night, and we both had the same dream then, so we're wondering if maybe my nightmares this week have been dream-walks, too. But we're not really even sure that what I did last night was a dream-walk. I'm spending the night with Isabel tomorrow night and we're gonna experiment. See if I can really do one on my own."

For some reason, he got so hung up on all her talk about sleeping over at Max's that he barely paid attention to anything else she said. He was extremely unsettled to realize that he found the idea of her spending the night at Max's house objectionable. And he was equally disturbed at the knowledge that she had gone to Max's late last night after she'd gotten off work. She'd undoubtedly gone in through his bedroom window since it had been so late, and she'd stayed long enough for the two of them to fall asleep. So, what had they been doing in Max's bedroom before they'd fallen asleep, he wondered in suspicion.

Michael was slightly horrified by his thoughts. Was he actually feeling...jealous?

Emphatic denial rose up in him, and he silently assured himself that no way was this jealousy. He didn't feel that way about Liz. He was just... concerned that she and Max weren't being cautious enough, that's all. Didn't they remember what that Max from the future had told Liz? They were supposed to be taking things slow. Late-night bedroom visits and cozy little sleep-overs was not taking things slow!

In a dark voice, he said, "You're spending the night at Max's house. And your parents are okay with this? What kind of parents let their teenage daughter spend the night with her boyfriend?"

Surprised at this sudden attack, she said sharply, "I'm not spending the night with my boyfriend, I'm spending the night with Isabel. Who just happens to live in the same house as my boyfriend."

"How very convenient," he said caustically. "But, you didn't answer my question, Liz. Are they okay with this? Or did you lie to them? Do they even know where their little girl's gonna be sleepin' tomorrow night?"

She narrowed her eyes at him and replied tightly, "You are dangerously close to crossing the line, here, Michael. None of this is any of your business."

With a quick lift of his brows, he said tauntingly, "That might be true, but I bet I could find out." He lifted a hand to wrap around her arm in a threat to make a connection. "How long you think it would take? A minute? Two?"

Jerking her arm out of his grasp, she exclaimed indignantly, "Don't you dare!"

They both froze as her cry seemed to echo throughout the silent apartment. Neither dared to move as they strained to hear any noise that might indicate that they'd woken her parents. When nothing had stirred after a full two minutes, they finally relaxed their guard, turning their heads to look warily at one another.

In a hard voice that lost much of its affect since it was uttered in a whisper, Liz told him, "Don't you ever do that again, Michael. Threaten to use this thing against me. Or I promise you we won't ever find out another single detail about it."

He looked at her sullenly for a moment, then offered a grudging apology, embarrassed and confused over his behavior. He'd claimed that he wasn't jealous, but that had certainly seemed like a jealous outburst. He didn't understand what was making him act this way.

Apparently, neither did Liz, as she asked the same question of him. "What is with you, anyway? Why should it matter to you where I sleep?"

After a brief inner conflict, he answered shortly, "It shouldn't. It doesn't. Sleep wherever you want to." Why should he care? It was only his life on the line if they went forward with the disastrous future they'd been warned of, he thought acrimoniously. He only managed to restrain himself from making the biting comment by clamping down on his inner lip with his teeth.

Liz was utterly confused by his weird behavior, but her own seemed just as uncharacteristic. She didn't know why she always let him get to her like he did. She wasn't usually so easily provoked, but she just found it so hard to stay even-tempered these days. With all that was going on, though, who wouldn't be a little irritable, she told herself consolingly.

A yawn overtook her, and she collapsed back onto the bed after a glance at the clock. Tiredly, she whispered, "I'm gonna get some more sleep. We have to be up in two hours."

"Wait. What about this dream-walking thing you were talkin' about? You really think we just saw the same dream?"

She yawned again. "I thought you weren't interested. You seemed to have other things on your mind," she reminded him.

Irritably, he replied, "I just got a little sidetracked, alright? Tell me what your dream was about."

Lazily fighting the pull of sleep as it tried to draw her in, she tried to recall the hazy details of her dream. "Two kids, I think," she mumbled. "Playing chase, or something."

"In a field? With tall grass?" he prompted.

"Mmm-hmm. Maybe," she agreed faintly.

"Come on, Liz," he said impatiently. "You can't go to sleep yet. This is important. I think it was the same dream I was having. It was a boy and a girl, right? And the boy had something he was trying to keep the girl from getting."

When she didn't respond, he reached up to give her a light shake. "Liz!" he whispered sharply.

Liz forced her eyes open so she could glare at him. Why wouldn't he let her sleep? Hadn't he heard her tell him they had to be up in two hours?

"Was it a boy and a girl?" he asked again.

"Yes, alright? Yes, it was the same dream. Now can I go to sleep?"

Ignoring the question, he said musingly, "They said something, right before I woke up, but...I can't remember what it was, can you? It was something- weird. Do you remember?"

She honestly made an effort to recall it, just to get him off her back, but the memory somehow seemed just out of her reach. Shaking her head, she said, "I don't remember, Michael. All I remember is that the boy was being mean to the girl." She looked at him pointedly. "He reminded me a lot of you. I'm going to sleep now. We can talk about it tomorrow."

She rolled over to the opposite side of the bed, and Michael lost sight of her from his position on the floor. He lay there trying to remember more of the dream. Whatever they had said seemed important somehow, but after wracking his brain for at least half an hour, he finally gave up in weariness. His eyes slid shut as he yawned tiredly.

Liz had the right idea, he silently acknowledged. They needed all the rest they could get. They were having a big confrontation for breakfast.

~* *~~~~~~~~* ~~~~ ~~~~ *~~~~~~~~* *~

Liz sat staring at a spot high up on the wall at the opposite side of the room, jiggling her foot nervously, the sound of Michael drumming his fingers on the end table setting her teeth on edge. She was sitting on the arm of the sofa in the break room, while Michael sat at the other end, and they were waiting tensely for Maria to make an appearance.

Liz finally tore her eyes away from the wall long enough to give Michael a quelling look, and it took him only a second to realize what he was being chastised for. Obligingly, he stopped the annoying noise, removing his hand from the table to rake his fingers through his hair.

Maria was due to get there within the next five minutes or so, and just sitting here waiting for her was driving Liz insane. Jumping up from the couch, she busily began moving around the room. Discovering a forgotten dishrag on a nearby table, she began frenziedly dusting every flat surface in sight. When she got to the end table, she stacked the scattered pile of magazines there more neatly. The lamp that sat there seemed to be in the way, so she moved it to a different spot, thinking it looked much better there anyway. She wiped down the table thoroughly, then noticed that one of the pictures on the wall was slightly askew and crossed over to straighten it up. As she stood back to inspect her handiwork, she caught sight of the lamp out of the corner of her eye and frowned. It looked completely wrong there. Searching the room for a better spot, she moved it back to where it had originally sat. Much better. Stepping away from the lamp, she glanced up at the picture again. Okay, that picture was seriously crooked.

As she passed in front of the couch to straighten the already straight picture, Michael caught hold of her wrist and said, "Stop, okay? You're makin' me nuts! Sit down- and just...take a deep breath before you spontaneously combust or something."

She dropped down to sit on the edge of the seat and took a quick breath, while wringing the dishrag in her hands. Watching her, the corner of Michael's lip curved up wryly. "Why don't you take two," he suggested.

He continued to watch as she took several deep breaths, and thought that he'd never seen her so jittery before. She'd always been so cool-headed whenever they'd had a crisis before. He couldn't understand why he wasn't more nervous himself. On the ride over from his apartment a strange calm had just seemed to flood over him. He would be glad to finally get this over with. He was tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop. They'd really only been delaying the inevitable. Maria would've found out sooner or later, and the longer they tried to keep it from her, the madder she'd be when she found out. Now, all he seemed to feel was a heavy sense of dread at thinking of her reaction.

Liz tried to control her nerves, telling herself that Maria would need her to be calm. She tried to prepare what she was going to say, but it was just impossible to put together a speech when she was so unsure of what Maria was going to say. The only thing she could really anticipate from her was that she would be upset, Liz thought apprehensively.

"I'm not sure this is such a good idea," she told Michael worriedly. "I mean, telling her right before she has to go to work? She's gonna be upset, and the last thing she's gonna feel like doing is smile politely at customers for eight hours after this."

Michael made a sound of exasperation. "Well, it's a little late to be thinking of that now, Liz. She'll be here any minute. And I don't think she's gonna let us put her off again."

"Maybe she would. You know, if we just told her that this was probably going to upset her, and it might be best to wait till after work."

He shook his head. "So we tell her we have bad news, and we make her wonder and worry about it all day? How much better would that be? Besides, I don't think we should be puttin' any ideas in her head. I mean, she might not get all that upset at all. Why tell her that she will?"

Liz gave him a dark look of disbelief.

Defensively, he said, "Hey. Let me live in denial as long as I can, alright? I like it here."

Sighing, she conceded, "All right, fine. We'll tell her now. I can cover for her if she needs me to." She looked at him sternly. "But, we're not going to make this any harder than it has to be. None of your talk about delving into this thing and finding out where it leads us, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "And we should try to make it very clear that this is out of our control. She needs to know that this isn't anything we're doing of our own free will."

"I already told her that last night," he reminded her.

"Well, we'll tell her again. The point cannot be emphasized enough," she said emphatically.

Michael reached out to lightly touch her arm. "Liz, relax. She's gonna understand, okay?" he reassured her. "I mean, she has to. It's not like this is something we're doing on purpose just to hurt her or anything. She's gonna see that." Grimacing, he finished, "Eventually."

At that moment, the door to the alley opened, and Liz and Michael jumped up off the couch to face Maria as she came in.

"Hey!" Liz said with false brightness.

"Hey," Maria returned with a leery, but humorous smile. She looked from Liz to Michael.

His hands in his pockets, he asked casually, "How's it goin'?"

She nodded. "Fine," she answered with another small smile.

The both of them had been acting so weird all week. She was glad they were finally going to tell her what was going on.

In an attempt to ease into conversation, Liz asked, "So. Did you see the sheriff off okay last night?"

With a small laugh, she replied, "Yeah. He was gone by 11:00, and my mom went to bed as pure as--" she broke off as she considered how much time her mom had been spending with the sheriff lately, and how much she liked him, and made a face. "Well, as pure as she was yesterday, anyway," she finished dryly. "So, enough small talk. I want to know what's up with this..." she gestured in the air with her hand, "connection, or whatever."

Startled, Michael and Liz just looked at her.

Shrugging a little, she asked, "What?" She looked at Michael. "You were obviously leading up to something last night. I just assumed it was about this weird energy thing you guys've got going on. Was I wrong?"

Liz exchanged a look with Michael, feeling a quick dip of disappointment at Maria's words. For a second there she'd almost thought that Maria somehow already knew about this thing and hadn't seemed upset about it.

"Um...well, not really. But kind of," Liz answered.

Maria's brows rose as she said wryly, "That really clears things up. I'm glad we got a chance to have this little talk."

Jumping in to explain, Michael said, "What she means is, it does have something to do with the connection, but it's something besides what happens with our energy."

"So, what is it?" Maria asked.

The sound of dishes clattering in the kitchen momentarily drew their attention, and Liz was reminded that her parents weren't that far away. "Maybe we should go upstairs for this," she suggested.

Nodding in agreement, Maria and Michael allowed her to lead the way up to her apartment.

Liz moved up the stairs as though she were marching to her own doom, Maria thought, as she slowly climbed the steps behind her. She glanced back uneasily at Michael, who was bringing up the rear, and was not reassured by his grim expression. She was beginning to get a very bad vibe about this whole thing.

She'd stayed in her room for a while last night to give her mom and the sheriff a modicum of privacy, and she'd thought about nothing but this, trying to figure out where Michael had been going with his explanation about what was going on. When she'd left her room at around 11:00 to run the sheriff off, she'd still been no closer to figuring it all out. Since this had all started happening after Michael and Liz had done the energy blast, she'd thought at first, that maybe they were just having a hard time dealing with that. With having all that power between them. Or maybe they'd done something else with their power that she didn't know about, and that had made them uneasy. But that wouldn't explain why they'd been so angry with each other this week. Of course, Michael wasn't an easy person to deal with at the best of times, and if he were uncomfortable or unsure about something, he had to come off as a real tough guy to cover that up. Or, the word 'jerk' might be a better description, she silently amended with a twist of her lips. But, if that was what had been happening, she couldn't understand why neither of them were talking to her about it. Granted, she'd been preoccupied this week, but any time she'd even tried to bring up the subject of what was going on with them, they'd always put her off. Something about that whole explanation just hadn't jelled, and now she was beginning to wonder if she hadn't just been completely off-base with it in the first place.

The three of them silently trailed into the empty apartment, and Maria said nervously, "Something tells me maybe I should be sitting for this."

Liz gave her an apologetic look of sympathy. "Yeah, that's- probably a good idea."

Maria went to perch on the edge of a couch cushion, and Liz and Michael looked at each other questioningly, uncertain where to begin or who should start. Maria looked up at them and had the disquieting thought that they seemed to be communicating in that silent way she'd so often seen Liz do with Max.

Her heart began thumping heavily.

Was it possible that something was happening here that she'd been like, totally oblivious to? Crazy thoughts began to fill her head, thoughts about her best friend and her boyfriend doing things behind her back, but before her imagination could run away from her, she gave a nervous little laugh and said, "Okay, you two would not believe the things that are running through my mind right now. I want to know once and for all what is going on. No more stalling. Just- out with it," she demanded, trying to brace herself for news she was sure now she wasn't going to like.

Michael and Liz exchanged another quick look, then seemed to come to some kind of agreement. Liz moved to sit gingerly next to Maria, and Michael sat in the chair at the end of the sofa.

Leaning forward, he clasped his hands together between wide-spread legs, and kept his eyes on the floor. He scratched his eyebrow nervously, then re-clasped his hands and said, "Maria, remember how I was tellin' you last night about the connection Liz and I have, and about how our energy reacts to each other? How we don't have any control over it?" He paused and glanced up at her.

A sarcastic comment sprang immediately to mind, but Maria squelched it, and simply nodded.

He threw a brief look at Liz, then looked back to Maria and continued. "Well- there's also somethin' else that happens when we connect. Something we can't control any more than we can our energy." He hesitated, then blurted, "We see things." He held his breath, but when Maria didn't react, he realized he would have to explain further. "We feel things, you know, inside each other."

Why did he keep stopping and waiting for her to react, like what he was saying was clear, Maria wondered impatiently. It took a minute, but when it finally dawned on her what he was saying, she felt a piercing pain in her heart.

He had let Liz see flashes?

"Are you talking about flashes, Michael? Stop beating around the bush and just say what you mean!" she said sharply.

Liz gently lay a hand on her friend's upper arm. "It isn't flashes, Maria. It- it's more than that," she admitted with soft regret.

"More?" Maria choked in bewilderment.

Wincing slightly at the look on her friend's face, so reminiscent of Max's when she'd told him about this, Liz forced the words out to explain. "After we've connected- we just know things about each other. But it's not like it's something we actively do, it's just...the knowledge is just there, you know?"

Maria's eyes narrowed. "Like how much knowledge?" she bit out.

Liz looked away.

Quietly, Michael answered, "A lot."

She took a minute to absorb that, then said stridently, "Well, then, obviously the solution is to just stop connecting!"

She couldn't believe this. Michael Guerin, the closed-off stone-wall himself, was allowing Liz inside him to learn all his secrets, while she nearly had to pester him to death before he would even consent to spend a moment in her company. Why would he do that?! She thought he cared about her. He wasn't even all that close to Liz! Or at least he hadn't been, she thought bitterly.

At Maria's statement, Liz looked darkly at Michael and wondered if he was aware of what she was fearfully beginning to suspect. That they didn't even have to connect any more to gain new insights on one another. She knew things today that she hadn't known about him yesterday. Things like how he'd been regretful of the way he'd been treating her this week ever since Max had told him what she'd been going through lately, and she knew that one of the reasons he'd camped out on her balcony last night had been to avoid Maria. And she also knew the thoughts he'd been having as he'd lain on her floor and listened to her quietly sleep.

Jerking her eyes away from him, she turned her gaze back to her best friend. "We can try to do that, Maria, but...I don't know if we can help it. I mean, look what happened yesterday when Michael burned his hand. I didn't mean to connect to him then, it just- happened," she shrugged helplessly.

"So, basically, what you're saying is, there's absolutely nothing you can do about it, whether anybody likes it or not," Maria said wrathfully.

Wincingly, Liz apologized. "I'm sorry, Maria. We don't like it either. It's why we've been so edgy with each other lately."

Maria turned turbulent eyes on Michael. He'd grown quiet and she wondered what he had to say for himself. It was his stupid heritage that was responsible for this. Why couldn't she have fallen in love with a normal human being? Forget normal, why couldn't she just love a human being?

Michael returned her look with a stoic one of his own, and told himself to just keep his mouth shut. When her voice turned sharp like this, his defenses always came up and his first instinct was to bark right back at her. But he knew she had an honest right to be upset, and he was afraid that if he opened his mouth he'd say something that would only make things worse. So he kept quiet.

Maria could only assume he had nothing to say for himself.

Feeling the need to lash out, she said accusingly, "So you've had this guilty little secret for like a week now, and every time I asked about it you lied to me! As if it weren't bad enough that you were having these...intimate little soul-connections, but you kept me in the dark about it. Do you have any idea how that makes me feel? I'll tell you how it makes me feel. Betrayed! Like you were doing something behind my back that you knew would hurt me!" She couldn't imagine feeling much different if they'd told her they'd been sneaking around on her to have sex.

Liz bit her lip and dropped her eyes to her lap. Even Michael couldn't look her in the eye. Good! she thought. They should feel ashamed! When she thought of all the times this past week when she'd allowed them to feed her their half-truths and outright lies and then gone blithely on her way, she felt like a complete idiot. And all the while, they'd been sharing something she'd been dreaming about experiencing with Michael ever since the time Liz had told her about making a connection with Max and seeing stars. It wasn't fair, she thought resentfully. Liz already shared an other-worldly link with Max, why did she have to have some kind of invisible bond with Michael, too? What was it with her, anyway? Was her brain frequency just always tuned in to the Cosmic channel so she could receive alien wave-lengths, or what, Maria wondered irritably.

"I'm really sorry, Maria," Liz softly apologized. "You're right. We should've told you. We just...we didn't want to hurt you, that's all."

Maria looked at her stonily and said, "I just thought you weren't going to keep things from me anymore, Liz. I mean, ever since you told me about the Future Max thing..." Her gaze darted over to Michael, then she looked back at Liz and said curtly, "I assume it's okay to talk about that in front of Michael. Seeing as how he's seen inside you and all, I figure he knows about that, right?"

Lowering her eyes, Liz nodded guiltily and replied, "Yeah. He knows."

The evidence of what they were saying seemed to smack Maria right between the eyes. She knew Liz never would've willingly told Michael about all that. That meant they really did know each other's secrets. There was no telling what Liz knew about Michael that Maria, herself didn't even have a clue about. Liz probably knew more about him than she would if she were to live with him for the rest of his life on Earth. And apparently Michael knew stuff about her that even Max, with the advantage of his own connection with Liz, didn't know about. Poor Max. She felt a wave of righteous indignation on his behalf. After the way he'd pined for Liz all summer, after saving her life, this was the thanks he got.

"So, anything else you haven't told me about?" she asked acidly. Shaking her head and turning down the corners of her mouth, she shruggingly said to Michael, "Maybe you two are having dreams about each other and now Liz thinks she's having your alien baby?" She looked at Liz. "Or, wait. I've got it. A future Michael came back in time to tell you there's been a huge mistake, and you were meant to be with him all along. Oh, and that blonde chick?" She waved her hand dismissively in the air. "Hey, she was fun to mess around with and all, but she's not anybody you'd want to share a connection with."

"Maria," Michael said with exasperated protest. Sighing, he rubbed a hand over his eyes and struggled to hang onto his patience.

"Well, what am I supposed to think, Michael? You won't let me in the least little bit, and here you are like, opening your soul and inviting Liz inside."

"I didn't invite her in, alright? I told you, we don't have any control over this thing. You think I like having her walk around in my head? Well I don't. If I knew how to stop it, I would."

Maria knew that for the honest truth it was, and it erased some of her ire.

"Well, what is this thing?" she asked aggravatedly. "Why are you two even connected, anyway? Max is the one who changed her. You didn't have anything to do with it."

"We don't know why, Maria," Liz answered quietly. "We just know, whatever it is that connects us, it's really strong. There, uh...there's more you should know." Liz was loathe to bring this up now that Maria seemed somewhat closer to acceptance, but she didn't want to be guilty of keeping anything else from her. She needed to know all of it.

Maria looked at her sharply in disbelief. "You've already told me you like, know each other inside and out. How could there possibly be more than that? What?" She shrugged jerkily and pulled the first fantastic and unlikely ability she could think of out of the air. "You can like, read each other's minds or something, too?"

She saw a flicker of surprise cross Liz's face, before guilt and discomfort overtook her expression, and her eyes shifted away.

Maria's mouth dropped open slightly as she turned to look at Michael for confirmation.

He chewed on the corner of his lip and avoided her eyes.

Maria gave a huff of disbelief and shook her head. "Well, this just keeps gettin' better and better, doesn't it?" she said with sharp sarcasm.

Liz tried to explain that it wasn't as bad as it sounded. "It's only when we're connected. And it's not like we can hear each other's every thought or anything." Remembering that that hadn't been the case when they'd done the energy blast, she grimaced, and amended, "Well, not every time, I don't think. But, mostly I think it's more like we just...talk- inside our heads, you know?" she said uncomfortably.

Maria gave her a hard look of resentment. "No. Actually, I don't know."

Her eyes pleading for understanding, Liz said, "I'm sorry, Maria. You have to understand- this is not something I'm choosing to do," She glanced at Michael. "Neither of us are."

Maria stood abruptly. "Yeah, I get that part. You've said it like a hundred times now. Unfortunately, Liz, knowing that just doesn't seem to help too much at the moment

She turned to walk stiffly to the door, and Liz jumped up to chase after her. "Wait! Where are you going?"

"To get ready for work," she answered shortly. "If there's more, just...keep it from me, with my blessing. I can't deal with any more right now."

Liz caught hold of her arm before she could get out the door and asked gently, "Are you sure you feel like working? I can cover for you if you want."

"No thanks. I need something to take my mind off things right now," she replied ungraciously. She didn't know if work would actually serve that purpose or not, seeing as how she would be running into Liz and Michael every time she turned around, but it was all she had right now.

Liz nodded sadly in acceptance and let her go.

When the door had closed behind her, Liz faced Michael with a hard gaze shiny with tears, somehow feeling that he was to blame for all this.

She hated to be at odds with Maria, it gave her a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. In all their years of friendship it had only happened a handful of times, and most of that had just been over kid-stuff. This was definitely not kid-stuff.