"Terrific, you dork." he told himself. "One of these nights Mr. Parker or Valenti or someone's going to see you, and if you're not taken for a pervert, you'll be taken for a teenage vampire!" He smacked himself on the forehead. Why had he been doing this night after night? He was restless, but what did he hope to find looking through the window? It wasn't like Liz was there. She was in Vermont, and it was clear from her letter that she wasn't coming back any time soon. Max felt a chill straight down to his bones. Would she ever come back? If only she would! "I could help her." Max told himself. "Whatever these changes mean, whatever is happening to her, I know I could help." He thought back to that September day nearly three years ago, that day at the Crashdown when Liz was accidentally shot. He had helped her then or thought he had. He had healed the gunshot wound, saved her life, but what had he saved her for? Was he responsible for these changes in her body? Could she live with them, learn to control them? What if she couldn't? What if they started showing up while she was in Vermont? What would people think? Would they think she was crazy . . . lock her up somewhere . . . ? Or would she be put somewhere like the White Room?

A loud crash brought Max out of his nightmare. He looked around anxiously. Was someone in there robbing the place? He glanced back through the window and saw Jeff Parker sprawled out on the floor with an overturned chair beside him. Max quickly unlocked the door alien-style and raced into the cafe. He knelt beside Jeff and touched him on the head. Nobody had knocked him out, that was for sure. He rolled Jeff onto his side and immediately saw the grimace of pain on the man's face, the way his hand clutched at his chest. No alien illness or foul play from robbers. Just a common and deadly human sort of ailment, a heart attack. Max swallowed hard and ran to the payphone against the wall. He reached into his pocket and grit his teeth. No change! He slammed the phone down when he heard Jeff moan and ran back to him. God, it was the same thing all over again, another near-death situation at the Crashdown Cafe, and he was faced with the same decision of whether or not to use his powers. He looked down at Jeff. If he raced upstairs to get Mrs. Evans, he might be wasting valuble time. In a flash he thought of Liz. What would she think if she learned that her father had died while Max was there? Without hesitating any longer, Max laid a hand over Jeff's heart. "Mr Parker, you have to look at me." Jeff's eyes opened, and Max began the connection.

As always there was a rush of images, but these were very clear, clearer than usual. He could see a speeding car, a car going so fast Max thought it was going to hit him, Jeff Parker slightly younger at the wheel, a pregnant girl next to him in the passenger seat. Then the car swerving, crashing into a tree. Then there was another image, that of the girl lying in an a delivery room, a blood-stained fetus. Max shuddered, and then he was in. He sensed Jeff's pain and he winced. Then he concentrated on one of the terribly blocked arteries. Clear it a little, just a little. he thought. It would by him some more time. He felt the tension in Jeff's body began to lessen. He was breathing easier. Max lifted his hands from Jeff's chest and ran upstairs to find Mrs. Evans.

* * *

"A good thing you happened by, young man." Dr. Conroy commented. She and Max were standing in the hallway outside Jeff Parker's hospital room. Jeff had been brought in and checked over shortly after Mrs. Evans dialed 911, and now he was resting comfortably.

"Will he be all right, sir?" Max asked. He hoped Jeff would come through this close call without there being any changes.

"I should think so. I'm really thankful that it wasn't more severe." Max averted his eyes. All he'd done was slow it down. There hadn't been a silver handprint this time, not like with Liz. So far his luck was holding. He looked up and blinked. As if his thinking of her had conjured her up, she was there, running into the hospital, straight for him and the doctor. Then she halted.

"Max," she said trying to catch her breath, and Max realized that she knew! She knew what had happened to her father, and she knew that he was involved! She didn't act like she was angry though, just scared and concerned. Max gestured toward the hospital door.

"He's in there, Liz. The doctor says he'll be OK."

"Oh yes, Lizzie girl." Conroy chimed in. "You'll want to thank this young man. He just happened to be walking past the place and saw your poor dad lying on the floor. I don't know how he managed to get in, but he raised up the stairs from the cafe and told your mom to dial 911." Max stared at the doctor. Lizzie girl? The name clearly made Liz blush. She smiled, whether for him or Dr. Conroy, Max couldn't tell.

"Yes. Thank you, Max and you too, doctor. I'll just go and see him."

"Don't tire him, please." Conroy said. "He does need to rest." Liz nodded and started toward the door. With her hand on the knob, she looked back.

"Max, stay around, will you? I want to talk to you later." Then she went inside.

"Nice girl, isn't she?" said Dr. Conroy. "I can see you like her."

"Yes." Max wasn't really paying attention. He was thinking about the talk Liz wanted to have with him. What was she going to say? Max hoped she wouldn't cuss him out for using his powers on her father. Dr. Conroy was chattering on, and Max was only half-listening until he heard that name again. "She's grown a lot since then. Hasn't gotten very tall though. Lizzie girl's very small. Petite might be a better word."

"Lizzie girl?" Max asked

Dr. Conroy blushed. "Oh, yes. A nickname. I give them to all the children I deliver." Max's eyes widened. He remembered the images he'd gotten from Jeff Parker, the wounded girl, the bloody fetus.

"You must know Liz and her family really well." Max said. Conroy blushed so much Max thought that her face would turn pink.

"Oh, yes, young man. I delivered her and all of her cousins."

"Mr Parker too?"

Conroy's smile wilted. "That was BEFORE my time, but I do remember him when he was young. We were in school together." School together! Maybe she would know.

"Did Mr. Parker have any other children?" Max asked.

Conroy's pink cheeks turned white. "I . . .Jeff and Nancy had no others, just Lizzie Girl."

"I was asking about Mr. Parker. Maybe there was someone else, before Mrs. Parker." Conroy's face turned an unhealthy shade of green.

"Really, young man! You shouldn't imply things like that!"

"Like what?" asked Max. "I just wondered if Mr. Parker had any other children by previous marriages." Conroy relaxed a little bit.

"Jeff has never been married to anyone else. Anyone who knows the Parkers should know that! Now if you'll excuse me . . ." She bustled off down the corridor. Max watched her go and felt a little concerned. Of course he figured that her answer would be no; he just hadn't expected her to get so upset about it. Why had she? The image Max had received from Liz's father was still with him, sharper and clearer than any other images he'd seen, even those about his son. Had Mr. Parker had another child by that girl Max had seen, and if so, what had happened to it? Had it been a boy or a girl? Did Liz know about it? Max couldn't explain it, but he couldn't shake the feeling that this was important.