Max's heart was beating a mile a minute. What he saw and felt when he touched the handprint, it couldn't be true. Because if it were true, it would change everything.

When Max didn't reply to her question, Isabel turned to look at the mysterious group of teenagers. "Who are you and what are you doing here? You're with the skins aren't you?" She accused harshly.

The girl standing in front exchanged glances with the two people standing behind her, then looked back to Max and the others. She took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders. "No, we are not with the skins. Look, we're here to help you."

"Yeah, sure you are." Michael scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Everyone is real eager to help us."

"Just shut up and listen, Michael." The second girl said sarcastically.

Michael's eyes widened at her comment. "How--"

"Did she know your name?" The girl standing in front interrupted him. "Because we know you. All of you. We're from the future."

"Yeah, I heard that." Michael said as he walked closer to them. "But what I don't get is who the hell you guys are."

"There's a very simple answer to your question, Michael." The girl stated. "My name is Katie and this is Magnolia and Stanley." Katie said, motioning to the two people standing behind her.

The group just stood there staring blankly. What were those names supposed to mean to them? If these people were who they said they were, how were they supposed to know people they'd never met?

"I don't understand." Maria sighed and shook her head.

"So, who are you people, really?" Alex asked them.

"I don't know who they are," Liz said and took a hold of Max's arm and looked at the shocked expression still on his face. "But what's wrong with Max?"

Max tore his gaze away from Katie and the other two teens and gave Liz a reassuring glance to let her know he was okay. He pulled Liz next to him, taking her hand into his. Liz leaned into him and felt the tension in her body go away almost instantly. She felt so safe when he was near....

Magnolia cleared her throat. "Katie, the clock is ticking. We've gotta get a move on this if everything is going down soon."

"Get a move on what?" Tess finally spoke as she stepped up face-to-face with Katie, threateningly. "Killing us all and celebrating with the skins?"

"It would be a lot easier to tell you if you would please get your head out of my way." Katie snapped and Tess glared at her.

Michael ran up to the two and got in between them. This caused the others to step forward and surround the strangers.

"Who are you?" Michael demanded, looking at Katie in the eyes.

Katie sighed, "I told you, my name is--"

"Katie, I know that. But who are you, to us?" Michael yelled. "An enemy? A skin? What did you do to Max, why is he not saying anything?"

"Michael--" Max started to intervene. Things were getting out of control, but he still couldn't get past what he saw in the flashes.

"She's Max's daughter!" Magnolia blurted out as she stepped in front of Katie to face Michael. "And just take a guess who I am, dad!"

Michael stepped back immediately, in complete shock.

Isabel looked at the boy, who had remained quiet through the whole ordeal. "Does that mean you're--"

"Your son? Yes, I am." Stanley said as he looked her in the eyes.

The group went into total shock, much like what Max had been in ever since he touched the glowing handprint at the opening of the cave. Liz clung onto Max's arm, she couldn't feel anything, all she felt was numbness.

This was impossible. Why were they here? How did they get here? So many questions needed to be answered, that is, if they were telling the truth.

Tess shook her head defiantly. "I don't believe any of this. It's insane!" She looked to the others to back her up, but no one said anything, until Max spoke up.

"It's true, Tess. They are who they say they are." Max said softly while staring at Katie.

Tess saw their shared stare and shook her head, "I can't believe you're falling for this, Max! They're skins, they're just trying to get us to walk right into their trap!"

Isabel cleared her throat and stood by Max and Liz. "I believe them, too."

Tess looked at her, surprised. She then turned to Michael, she knew he'd back her up on this. "Michael, tell them--"

"Shut up, Tess." Everyone knew that was Michael's subtle way of telling them he believed it, too.

Tess looked around the group, and she realized they all believed what the strangers had said. "You can't be serious." She turned back around to face the strange group of teens, and stared into the eyes of Katie, who was looking back at her nervously.

"Look, I'm sorry for being rude but.... If you just give us a chance to explain we can answer all of your questions." Katie reasoned, and she saw Tess relax a little.

"Okay then, start. I'm dying to hear your story." Tess retorted and crossed her arms.

Katie sighed softly. "Something is about to happen. Something really bad.... and we're here to help."

"Just how bad are we talking?" Michael asked, raising his eyebrows.

Magnolia walked over and stood next to Katie. "One of you will die 20 years from now if we don't fix this problem."

Everyone's eyes widened and they all exchanged glances. None of them wanted to know the answer to the next question, but it had to be asked.

"Which one of us?" Tess asked cautiously.

Katie looked to the ground and the group could have swore they saw her eyes shine with tears. After a moment of silence, realizing her friend would not be able to say it, Magnolia looked straight at the group. "Liz."

Words could not describe the shock that fell upon the group at that very moment. Liz felt her heart almost stop beating and her lungs felt like they were squeezing shut. But suddenly it hit her that it wasn't from the shock of the news, it was from Max's crushing grip around her.

She quickly spun around to face him and the devastated look on his face broke her heart into a million peices. If she ever had any doubt about how deeply Max cared for her, it was gone in the instant she looked into his eyes.

The world surrounding Max ceased to exist. All he could see or think of was the girl standing in front of him. He slowly brought his hands up to cup her face and he gently traced the contours with his fingers. How could anyone this beautiful.... die? How could a person so sweet and caring and full of love, die?

He hadn't even realized he asked the question "How?" outloud until Katie cleared her throat and now everyone saw the tears in her eyes. The world came rushing back to Max and he looked at Liz, who now had tears in her eyes as well.

"19 years from now the skins are going to join forces with the FBI." Katie stated and everyone, including Max and Liz, turned their full attention towards Max's daughter. It was a silent agreement made by everyone, they would now allow whatever catastrophe that happened to Liz in the future to happen at all.

Katie started walking around slowly to avoid eye contact with any of the gropu. "Over the years, the skins have become restless. After the harvest was completed--"

"The harvest?" Michael interrupted quickly.

"The skins can only live for 50 years. They harvested other human shells so that before they died, they could take on the new skin, letting them live for another 50 years." Stanley explained.

"Right." Katie agreed, then continued. "After the harvest was completed, they went into hiding for years. So, all of you continued to live your lives as normal humans. Finally they realized that to finally destroy the royal four they needed some additional.....human help." She paused, and glanced over at her fellow time travelers. They both nodded their heads, so she continued. "They made a deal with the FBI. They would give the government all the information they had about alien lifeforms, hybrids, and secrets about their advanced technology in exchange for capturing all of you. The FBI agreed and the special unit was back. By this time, all of you were married and had children. An heir to Max's throne was born..... me. Which means the legacy of our planet was continuing, and the skins had to stop that before we became so powerful that we could return to our home planet and reclaim it."

"I don't understand what this has to do with Liz." Tess said, rolling her eyes. "If you are my daughter then--"

"I'm not your daughter." Katie stated firmly.

Tess rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "I don't believe this."

"If Tess isn't your mother then..... who is?" Liz asked and as soon as she said those words, she knew the answer. Katie was looking her straight in the eyes and Liz's breath caught in her throat. She felt as if she were looking at herself in the mirror.

Deep down, Max had known it all along. This only confirmed what he had known in his heart since the day he saved her life in the Crashdown. Liz belonged with him, and there was proof from the future that in the end.... they were together. For the first time in months, Max smiled.

Liz turned to face him, she too had a brilliant smile on her face. She could feel everything he was feeling, it was incredible. They both turned their gaze to their future child and for a moment, it was as if they were a family. Even though they had no idea who this girl was, the connection ran strong throughout the three of them. A little of Liz, and a little of Max made up the beautiful girl standing in front of them.

Suddenly it hit Liz. The future version of her..... was dead. Her daughter risked her life by going back in time to make sure that didn't happen. A million different emotions were running through her, and Max, and she couldn't believe the possessivness that she felt for her future daughter. She would do anything for this person she just met, and it was an amazing feeling.

"How did it happen?" Liz suddenly asked. "How did I......" She couldn't bring herself to say it, but it wasn't like she really needed to, everyone knew what she was implying. No one could stop thinking about it.

Katie took a deep breath and looked at her mother. It was kind of weird, seeing her mom at her age of seventeen. You never really think of how your parents were when they were teenagers, you only think of them as your lame parents that give you a curfew. But now she was seeing her mother in a completely different light. She hadn't realized how long she had heen standing there until Magnolia elbowed her in the side.

"You okay, chica?" Mags asked her best friend.

"Oh! Ummm.. yeah I'm fine." Katie muttered, then looked back at Liz. "You see, all of us are connected. I mean.... You, Dad -- I mean Max, and I are connected. It's called a soul circle. The skins knew that if they caught one of us, they could eventually get the rest in the circle. So.... they targeted you. The skins promised to give you to the FBI for testing, in turn for the special unit keeping you somewhere so that you would lure Max and me to you. As soon as they captured you, they realized that our bond was stronger than expected. And they wanted to test that......." She paused and looked at Max, "In the white room."

Max shook his head in disbelief. All the pain he felt while in the white room came flooding back to him and he nearly jumped out of his skin at the thought of Liz being in there.

A few tears escaped Katie's eyes, and she looked away. "They tried every way possible to get Liz to tell them something... anything about where to find us. But she wouldn't. She refused to tell them anything and for that......" Her voice trailed off and Magnolia walked over and pulled her into a hug.

"That was last week." Stanley said quietly, then added. "In our time, that is."

Max quickly took Liz's hand and turned her towards him. He looked straight into her eyes and stated, "I will not let that happen to you."

Liz gripped his hands tightly and gave him a slight smile. "I know Max." He pulled her into a vicious hug and she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, never wanting to let go. She could help but smile when the feeling of completeness washed over her like it did every time her and Max were touching.

"I love you, Max." She whispered softly into his ear and he pulled back a little and gave her his special smile that was only for her.

"I love you too, Liz." He whispered back and pulled her back into a fierce hug. With those words suddenly he felt like he could do accomplish anything. Not being with Liz over the past few months had thrown him off balance, but now he had found it again. Liz Parker was his balance.

"As cute as this little scene is, we should really get to work." Magnolia said with a sarcastic smile. "Besides, twenty years from now you guys are still all over each other, so there's plenty of time."

"What do we do?" Max asked the group of future teens.

Mags and Stanley looked at Katie, who was standing by the opening of the pod chamber.

Katie crossed her arms and turned to the group. "Within the next three days we have to stop the harvest, destroy the Air Force facility that houses the white room, kill the leader of the skins, and completely wipe out the special unit of the FBI."

"Oh is that all?" Michael said sarcastically and shook his head.

"Wait a minute!" Maria exclaimed suddenly and walked foward to Katie. "If Liz is your mom. And Stan is Isabel's kid, and whats her name is --"

"Magnolia." Mags supplied as she looked at her nails.

"Yeah, whatever." Maria continued. "If she's Michael's kid then.... who are the rest of the parents?"

The three future teens looked at each other, then burst into laughter.

"Yeah, like you even need to ask that question." Magnolia said in between laughs.

Maria opened her mouth....until suddenly her jaw dropped open in shock. She looked back at Michael, and he was staring back at her.