"Everyone can relax and have fun, but try not to let your guard down completely. We don't want any surprises."

They all agreed, then followed the faint thump of music to the front doors of the complex. As they entered, the pulsing music assaulted their ears, and the group paused just inside the entrance to take in their surroundings.

Several yards in front of them, a sitting area with overstuffed chairs sat behind a railing that divided it from the dance floor. The dance floor itself, was a sunken area over to their left with a stage at its far end, and on their right was a fairly open wing where they could see various video games, and gaming tables. Next to the game room, a patio-type area with small café tables scattered about, sat in front of a pair of double doors that obviously led to the restaurant, where the charbroiled smell of cooking meat wafted out.

They were divided as to where they wanted to go first. Of course, Michael and Kyle wanted to head straight for the game room, and since the live band wasn't yet performing, Alex was leaning in that direction as well. The girls wanted to dance, and since it was a fast one, they knew they were pretty much going to be partner-less since the guys had made them promise to only ask for slow dances . Max and Liz merely wanted to find someplace private. Fast.

But before they could all separate, the song that was playing came to an end, and the DJ announced a slow one. Ivy's 'Worry About You' promptly began to play.

"I'm claiming my first dance," Isabel proclaimed, catching Alex by the arm and towing him towards the crowded dance floor.

Max and Liz looked at each other, and without saying a word, turned simultaneously to follow.

Tess sighed dejectedly as she watched the two of them go, and Kyle put his hand lightly at the small of her back and said gently, "Come on. This'll be a freebie. But so you know, five is absolutely my limit, okay?"

The corner of her lip tipped up and she nodded, allowing him to lead her behind the others.

Michael looked at Maria uncertainly and asked, "What do you wanna do?"

She shrugged. "I guess we really shouldn't stray too far from the others."

He nodded in agreement, and they brought up the rear as the eight of them walked towards the short set of steps that led down to the dance floor. They made a brief stop to check in their coats and purses, then filed down the steps to try and find an available space on the floor.

Max and Liz deliberately hung back until everyone had claimed a spot and moved together to dance, then they wove their way amongst the swaying couples to find a spot closer to the center of the floor, away from the eyes of their friends. Max held on to her hand tightly to keep them from getting separated.

Gently buffeted on every side by strangers, they finally turned to face each other, falling headlong into one another's eyes as they slowly drew closer together. As they slid their arms around each other their eyes never lost contact, and Max pulled her in close to his body.

Liz drew in a deep breath at the physical contact. It was the most profound relief to finally be touching him, but at the same time, it wasn't nearly enough, and made her almost desperate for more. She wanted to plaster herself tightly against the front of him, but she was afraid if she did she wouldn't be able to stop there, and even though she couldn't see any of their friends from this spot, it felt too risky to be very intimate when they were so close-by. Keeping that in mind, she managed to leave a paper-thin slice of air between them.

Max allowed her that much space away from the front of him, but his hands tried to make up for the lack by roaming gently up and down her back, the soft angora of her sweater tickling his palms in an added stimulus to his sense of touch. One of Liz's hands wrapped itself around the back of his neck, her fingers occasionally moving up to lose themselves within the fine strands of his hair, while the other came to lay upon his shoulder, moving against it in restless up-and-down strokes.

Her head tilted back slightly while their eyes exchanged silent messages. Such as how good it felt to be in one another's arms again, even in so small a way, and how tonight's enforced separation was absolute torture, and most importantly, how much longer did they have to do this before it might be considered safe to slip away from the others?

Max slid his hand up between her shoulder blades, applying a slight force, and she leaned her upper body in towards him, her temple coming to rest near his jaw.

"Soon," she thought she heard him murmur in promise.

Their bodies swayed together gently to the rhythm of the song, a short verse with a simple guitar accompaniment, followed by a measure of music with a softly pulsing back-beat, and Liz easily followed Max's lead, as though they'd danced together a million times.

Max could feel the soft curves of her breasts brushing teasingly against his chest with their every movement, and he swallowed convulsively while his heart stepped up its pace. His hands went on differing quests, one fisting loosely around a handful of her sweater to rub the folds of fabric together agitatedly, and the other moving to wrap his fingers up in one of her silky curls, verifying its resilience as he'd wanted to do all night.

The hand at the back of his neck went on a quest of its own, as Liz insinuated her fingers down into the collar of his shirt to stroke the bare skin at the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Max unconsciously tilted his head toward the caress, while her thumb brushed lightly over the pulse point at the base of his throat. She could feel the wild pounding of his heart there, and hers automatically quickened to match its pace. Turning her face into the curve of his neck, her eyes sank shut as she filled her lungs with the heady scent of him. Nothing smelled as good as Max, and she quickly became intoxicated by him.

Max felt her breath, hot and moist upon his skin, and turned his face down towards hers, his cheek making a nuzzling motion against her temple in a barely-there caress that just failed to make skin contact. As they slowly leaned away, their faces slid alongside one another's, the heat of their skin almost a physical entity that dragged against the other's with a sultry friction.

Their breath, heavy and ragged, washed sweetly over each other's faces as their eyes met and clung, and in that moment their connection sprang gently to life.

Their hands clutched at clothes and flesh as each felt the force of the other's yearning desire come surging into them. Liz looked up at him, entranced, as his feelings flooded over her and she immediately began to get flashes. Images of them together at different times melded seamlessly together to form a chronicle of their lives that Liz instinctively knew Max was seeing, too. His emotional reactions to the scenes perfectly mirrored her own so that it almost felt like the two of them were reacting as one. All the important events in the history of their relationship flashed before them, from Max healing her the day she got shot, to the night she and Max had shared the same dream about the White Room.

They'd been through so much together over the past year, and every event had only served to bring them closer together in the end. It felt as though the visions were a testament to that, making them feel emotionally closer, and increasing their longing for a more physical closeness

It felt like they'd stood there for hours as their entire lives seemed to unfold before them, but when Liz became aware of her surroundings again, the same song was still playing, and miraculously, she and Max were still slightly swaying to its beat.

They continued to stare into each other's eyes, both a little dazed by the way the flashes had gone almost as quickly as they'd come, but their emotions continued to flow into one another, keeping them connected.

"How does that keep happening so easily?" Liz breathed.

There was no way that Max could've heard her over the volume of the music, but when he answered with the same low tone, she had no trouble making out his words.

"Because our emotions are so heightened."

Acknowledging the truth of that with a slight nod of her head, she wrapped her arm more tightly around his neck and moved up against him, needing to be close to him. Max's arms tightened around her tiny waist to hug her close, feeling safe from their friends' curious eyes for the moment by the unfamiliar couples that pressed in around them on all sides.

They danced close until the song ended, then reluctantly parted and stood uncertainly as another song began. The lonely strains of a single electric guitar began its introduction into Creed's 'Torn', then shortly picked up its tempo slightly as it was backed up by a throbbing heavy-metal base.

The couples at one side of them parted when Isabel came pushing through, and she reached for Max's arm as she got to his side. He bent his head to hers as she said into his ear, "We're going to the game room. Are you coming?"

He looked at Liz in brief question, but he already knew her answer would be the same as his.

Shaking his head, he put his lips close to Isabel's ear to tell her, "We're gonna stay, and...dance. Cover for us?"

With lifted brows, she looked at the surrounding couples and took in the way they were dancing to the song that wasn't really an appropriate slow-dance song, but wasn't quite up-tempo enough for a fast dance. Most of the couples were wrapped around each other as their hips moved together in a grinding dance, 'Dirty Dancing' style. She couldn't picture her brother dancing with Liz like that. Her surprise only lasted a second, as she realized they had more than dancing on their minds. Suddenly their tension on the ride here made perfect sense.

Giving them a knowing look, she said, "I won't say anything. If she asks, which I'm sure she will," this said dryly, "I'll just tell her you must've lost us."

"Thanks, Is," Max said gratefully.

She nodded, her lips twisting into a half-grin as she gave him a significant look, then turned to make her way through the crowd.

While the two of them were speaking, Liz gently bumped her hips to the beat of the song and observed the dancers around them. Some of them almost made dancing look like a form of sex as they straddled their partners' legs and ground their pelvises against each other in a slow rhythm. At first she was embarrassed by the suggestive displays, but then she became almost transfixed by the sight of them and couldn't seem to look away. How could anybody do that in public, she wondered with fascination. Without being aware of it, her own motions became a little more evocative as she watched.

After Isabel left, Max looked back at Liz, and she was hit with a wave of heat as his eyes grew dark and dropped down to take in her sinuous movements. She'd vaguely heard Isabel promise to make excuses for them and knew that meant they were now free to do whatever they wanted to do, and her heart began to race with anticipation, as Max surveyed her swaying form with glittering eyes.

His heart began a slow, heavy thud as he took in the way her hips jutted smoothly to one side for a double beat before rolling to the opposite side for the same sexy beat. He found the lithe motions captivating.

Incendiary.

Almost trance-like, Max reached out to catch her gyrating hips in his hands, and without thought, hers came up to rest atop his as she continued to rock to the music. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her as she fixed heavy-lidded eyes upon his face, and her body kept time with the pulsing rhythm of the song. In response to her movements, his own body began to move, automatically trying to emulate her actions.

They hadn't made a conscious decision to dance, but now that they were, the pounding beat of the music seemed to enter their blood and become a powerful stimulant that spurred them to continue.

Liz's hands trailed from the backs of his to trace a lingering path up his arms, her head cocked to follow the movement with her eyes. She stopped momentarily at his upper arms to explore the muscles there with lazy strokes, then moved up to test the breadth of his shoulders the same way, before finally coming together to link at the back of his neck. The whole process left Max breathlessly wishing that the barrier of his sleeves hadn't separated him from her touch.

Dry-mouthed, Liz was wishing for the same thing. She felt a sudden keen desire to have his bare flesh underneath her hands. Almost as strong, was the desire to feel his hands on her in the same way.

As though he'd heard the unspoken wish, Max pulled her closer and slid one hand around her waist to slip underneath the hem of her sweater, finding the bare skin of her back with a touch that seared her. Dragging her eyes up to his, Liz was instantly captured within the smoldering heat she found there. Amber locked with deep brown, as they moved with perfect synchronicity now, their hips bumping fluidly from side to side in time with the stirring music.

Close, but not quite touching, their bodies kissed the very air that delineated each of their forms, the teasing closeness almost more stimulating than if they'd been adhered to one another.

The thumping bass of the song seemed to find its way inside his very flesh, vibrating throughout every part of him, and Max's body throbbed with heavy arousal in a matching tempo. The feel of Liz brushing lightly against him soon had him gritting his teeth, and he could no longer bear the fraction of an inch that separated them. Hauling her up against him, one hand still riding low upon her back beneath her sweater, he fused their lower bodies together.

Wide-eyed, Liz gasped at the contact, her hands curling tightly around the collar of his shirt, as she pressed forward against him, their pelvises now swaying together as one. She was being assailed by so many sensations at once, inside and out, that she could hardly assimilate them all. The feel of Max's body, hard and exciting, against her, the rush of his charged emotions intermixing with her own, the sexy rhythm of the music pumping through them, their inflaming movements against one another. The bombardment of stimulations was stirring something to life deep within her. Something hot and electric that seemed to be growing incrementally to greater proportions.

Her eyes slid closed as it swelled to fill her, and she clung tightly to Max while they continued to dance against each other with intimate friction. Completely caught up in the music, as well as the fever growing inside her, her head began to roll bonelessly from side to side in direct counterpoint to their hips.

Max was riveted by the sight of her. He'd never seen her look more sexy. Cheeks flushed, lips parted to allow her breath to escape in uneven, thready gusts, she was totally oblivious to everything but the two of them and the feelings they were creating between them. Her mounting excitement was communicating itself through their connection and caused his own to surge higher. His hand began to roam across her bare back with restless urgency and he strained to get closer to her, unsure how much more teasing he could take.

The song changed tempo slightly as an electric guitar broke into a throbbing solo, sliding up and down a musical scale in a thrilling build-up of intensity that quickened their hearts and had Liz climbing right along with it. The solo climaxed with the event of a thrashing heavy-metal back-up that seemed to crash over them, and sent Liz's head dropping back. Without even thinking about it, Max deepened the move, tipping forward a little and dipping her slightly over his arm at her back. Holding onto his upper arms for balance, she arched back, then slowly rounded up in a continuous cat-like move. Her head was the last thing to come up, and when she finally became fully upright, her face ended up only inches away from Max's.

Two sets of eyes dropped to the mouths that were a scant inch away from their own. All they would have to do was tilt their heads forward the merest bit, and they could taste each other like they'd been dying to do all night.

His breath coming hard through flared nostrils, Max was leaning forward to do just that, when someone jostled him from behind, reminding him where they were.

Abruptly, he pulled away from her.

"Let's go," he growled, taking Liz by the hand, and pushing his way through the crowd to get off the dance floor.

He didn't know where they were going to be able to go to be alone, but he was determined to find some place.