It was Friday afternoon, six days since Maria had invited her to go out, when Liz found herself looking at slides with a microscope in the lab. Stangely enough, she actually found this sort of thing fun and interesting. So interesting that she didn't even notice when another person entered the room.

"Boo!" the person yelled while jumping up from behind Liz.

Liz gripped the table in surprise and sighed when she saw that it was her other best friend Alex, "Alex, you scared me to death! What are you doing here?" Liz asked while putting away the slides and standing up.

"I have come to rescue you!" Alex stood up straighter in mock solute.

Liz laughed and walked past him. "And what would you be rescuing me from, my knight in shining armor?"

"From countless hours of staring at microscopic organisms," he said while following her out of the room and down the hall to the break room.

"And why would staring at organisms be such a terrible thing?" Liz asked laughingly.

Alex grabbed Liz's arm and turned her around to look at him. "Liz, you can't be serious," he paused and feigned seriousness. "You have a highly distorted image of fun, and I, Alex Whitman, am here to make sure that by the end of this night, you will know what true fun is," he grinned as he finished.

Liz groaned and rolled her eyes as she turned around to continue walking. "Alex, you might as well give up now. Maria tried this last week and it didn't work then so it's not going to work now!" Liz declared resolutely while walking into the break room with Alex behind her.

"Liz!" he cried out in mock surprise.

"What?!" Liz turned around suddenly, thinking something was wrong.

"I am insulted that you would compare my idea of fun with Maria's!" Alex put a hand to his heart.

Liz arched an eyebrow and looked at him accusingly. "Alex, you and Maria are practically joined at the hip! How can your ideas of fun be any different if wherever you go, she goes too!" Liz threw up her hands and turned around to hang up her lab coat.

"Hey, can I help it if the girl admires me?" he arched his back and attempted to look suave. Liz laughed at his attempt. "And about the being attatched at the hip thing, I might add that it wasn't too long ago that you were attatched right there with us, Ms. Parker!" Alex pointed a finger at Liz.

She was at a loss for words.

"Yep, that's what I thought..." Alex shrugged and turned to walk out of the room.

"But Alex, I don't want to go. It's nothing personal, I'm just not one to go out and party," Liz whined.

"Hey, you owe it to us! We're the three muskateers, Liz!" She rolled her eyes at his reference to the gangs nickname they had thought up in the fifth grade. "We'll pick you up at seven! Be ready or else I might just have to send Maria in to harass you until you give in!" and with that Alex dissapeared down the hall.

Liz laughed softly. Just the thought of another knagging from Maria made her want to go.

Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea. Maybe she did need some fun in her life....

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Liz shut the door of her home behind her and stood in the middle of the living room, trying to place the strange feeling that had come upon her so suddenly.

The house had obviously not been touched since she had left that morning, but something felt different.

She ambled over to the couch and sat down slowly. What was wrong? Had she forgotten to do something at work? Liz went over a mental checklist of the chores that she had routinely completed before leaving the lab. No, she had done everything she was supposed to. Turned off the coffee pot, turned off the microscopes, turned off the lights, locked the doors, set the alarm. So what was it that was bothering her?

Liz couldn't come to a single conclusion. It was an uneasy feeling. Like something was about to happen.

"Of course..." Liz mumbled. It all made sense now. She was anxious about going out with Maria and Alex tonight. It would be the first night she had gone out in quite some time.

"Yeah, that's it..." she unsuccessfully tried to convince herself.

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It was 5 minutes after seven when the soft chime of the doorbell echoed through the house. Liz jumped in surprise and inwardly scolded herself for her reaction.

Taking one last look in the mirror, she nodded, satisfied with her appearance, and hurried to answer the door.

"Liz!!!" Maria immediately squealed when the door opened. "You look soo amazing! And I'm not just saying that so you won't change your mind! I am so glad that you are coming with us tonight! We are going to have the absolute best time that we have had in years!"

Liz smiled and laughed at her friends rambling. She looked past Maria to see Alex sitting in the front seat of his Ford Explorer, waiting for the two girls.

Liz sighed and shut the door behind her before joining Maria to get in the car.

'Here goes nothing...' Liz thought to herself as the Explorer pulled away from the curb and onto the road.

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A little over an hour and a half later, Alex pulled into the parking lot of a night club in Albuquerque.

"This sure was a long way to drive just to go out..." Liz began to complain.

"Liz," Maria turned before stepping out of the car, "Don't start," she warned.

After a few minutes of convincing the bouncer that Liz and Alex were over twenty-one, the three walked into the loud, and extremely crowded night club. Before them lay a considerably large dance floor. To their right was a long bar, and to their left was a large stage, currently with a live band performing.

Alex turned to look at them. "Okay, bye!" he waved at them like they were children.

"What? Where are you going?" Liz asked, confused.

"He always does this. If he stays with us, then girls think he already has a girlfriend, so they don't even approach him, so he has to go off alone and make himself available," Maria explained.

"Ohhh..." Liz nodded in understanding. "But wouldn't being seen with more than one girl just make the other girls want you more?" Liz suggested to Alex.

He pondered the idea for a moment and the spoke. "Ya know, that just might work. But tonight, I'm just going to play it safe. I'll see you guys later," he grinned mischievously and dissapeared into the crowd of dancing couples.

Maria turned to Liz. "So, what shall we do first?"

Liz looked around and considered the options. None were too appealing at this point. "Let's get something to drink..." she suggested.

"Okay!" Maria called happily over the loud music while taking Liz's arm.

They walked to sit down at the bar and the bartender looked to Liz.

"I'll have a Shirley Temple," she ordered.

The bartender laughed softly and turned to Maria.

"A martini, please," Maria said before turning to look at Liz. "Don't be too daring now! I'd hate to have to limit your intake of Sprite for the night!" Maria scolded her sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm taking baby steps..." Liz mumbled while scanning the crowd for Alex.

"Obviously..." Maria said under her breath.

The bartender served them their drinks and Liz took a sip while two guys sauntered over to where they sat at the bar.

"Hey..." one of them greeted Maria. Maria turned on her flirtiest smile and greeted him back. The one standing beside him grinned at Liz and she faked a tight-lipped smile.

They stood there for a moment in awkward silence before the one who had greeted Maria asked her to dance. She happily agreed and they dissapeared into the growing crowd of people.

Liz had almost forgotten about his friend until he spoke again. "Um, would you like to dance?" he asked nervously.

Liz looked at him, feeling sympathetic as his obvious shyness. Max's shyness was one of the things she had loved about him most...

'Stop thinking about him, Liz!' she inwardly chided herself. "Well, I'm not really much of a dancer....sorry..." Liz mumbled apologetically. He looked at her for a moment before nodding understandingly and walking away.

Liz sighed. How wonderful this night was turning out to be. Already she had managed to hurt some poor guy's feelings just because she was still hung up on Max, all while her best friends were probably having the time of their life.

She sat her drink back down on the bar and pulled out the money to pay for hers and Maria's. Standing up from the barstool, she took one last quick glance over the crowd.

She was about to turn and walk out of the club when a glimpse of someone caught her eye. She turned around again quickly to face the crowd and looked again for the familiar face. She searched from left to right and from the front to the back, but it was gone.

Liz looked down and blinked several times. This was pathetic. She had to get out of here before her mind really started playing tricks on her.

Once outside of the hot club, Liz took several deep breaths on the cool night air. Yes, this was much better than sitting in the dark, crowded and hot club, watching everyone dance. She reached the Explorer and remembered that Alex had locked all the doors before pocketing the keys. She briefly considered walking back into the club, but then decided against it, considering who knew where Alex was by now.

Walking around to the back of the car she sat down on the bumper and shut her eyes. The parking lot was empty of all people and the wind was beginning to pick up. Liz knew that she wasn't making the best of the situation, which was what she usually did when things weren't going her way. But somehow, this time, it just didn't seem right. And despite the sadness that was slowly enveloping her, she didn't feel the slighest need to go back in the club and pretend to be happy while dancing with complete strangers. It would mean nothing, and even though she knew the thought in itself was ridiculous, a part of her believed that even looking at another person besides Max would be, in some way, betraying him.

A sudden feeling pulsated through Liz's brain and interupted her from her thoughts. There it was again. That same feeling she had been confronted with earlier in the evening, upon arriving home from work.

Liz opened her eyes and looked around. The parking lot was still empty and silent, but the feeling was growing stronger within her, and beating so loudly in her ears that the silence of the night was almost unbearable.

She sat up suddenly and stood up from the bumper. Was that a noise she had just heard? Or was her mind playing those tricks on her again?

Liz turned slowly and began walking around to the passenger side of the Explorer. She reached the door and looked up just in time to see a dark figure duck behind one of the tall trucks parked a small distance from the Explorer.

Liz's heart began throbbing in her chest. Her breath became short as she involuntarily dropped her purse on the ground.

She had only seen the figure for a moment. Less than a second. Maybe a tenth of a second. But it was unmistakable. She would know him anywhere.