"What's going on?" Max asked as he grabbed onto Liz's hand and pulled her close to him.

"Someone's coming." Katie stated and walked a little closer to the pods.

The walls began to shake violently and dust fell from the ceiling.

"Let's get out of here!" Michael yelled over the rumbling noise coming from the Granolith. But as soon as his words were spoken, everything stopped.

They all looked around and walked towards the pods. A rustling sound came from the Granolith and Liz held her breath, afraid of what could possibly be in there.

A figure climbed out of the pod and stood upright. The cave cast a shadow over the person, and as they slowly emerged from the shadow's the future teens eyes widened in amazement.

It was a teenage boy that was dressed in similar attire to what the rest of the future teens had been wearing. His hair was dark and he was finely tanned.

"Gabriel?" Katie whispered, hardly believing what she was seeing. She felt Magnolia and Stan rush past her to greet the newest arrival, but she couldn't move. She was paralyzed in shock.

"Gabe, my man!" Stanley exclaimed as he clasped hands with his best friend.

"Hey Stan..." Gabe replied, smiling. "Hope you haven't wreaked too much techno havic in 2000 Roswell!"

As soon as Stan moved out of the way, Magnolia stood with her arms wide open. "Gabe!"

He smiled and opened his arms. "Mags! How's my favorite talkative time traveler?"

Magnolia squealed when she hugged Gabriel, then let him go. As soon as she released him, his gaze turned to Katie.

"Hey." He said cautiously as he looked her in the eyes.

"W-W-Wha--" Katie stuttered, then closed her eyes trying to regain her composure. "What are you doing here?"

Gabriel walked slowly over to her, his eyes never leaving hers. "I found out. About your mom, I mean."

"How?" Katie whispered, her voice barely audible. She felt her throat start to close up, the feelings she'd been having over the past week starting coming back to her at a crushing speed.

"Maybe we'd better--" Gabriel started, but Magnolia quickly interrupted by taking the two of them by the arm.

"You two need some privacy." Mags said hurriedly and pushed the two out of the pod chamber. With a raise of the hand the door slammed shut behind them.

Everyone looked at her, dazed.

"Who--" Max started.

"Let's put it this way." Mags said with a roll of her eyes. "They're the modern day version of Romeo and Juliet."

"That's all we need around here. Another Max and Liz." Michael rolled his eyes. "I feel like I'm trapped in an episode of Dawson's Creek."

---------------

"Why did you come here Gabe?" Katie asked, starting to panic. "I thought I made things clear last week--"

"Made things clear?" Gabe asked her, his voice broken. "My life was turned up-side down last week with what you said. I didn't understand why you were pushing me away. But now--"

"Now what?" Katie asked, shrugging her shoulders. She sniffed her nose and fought back the tears that threatened to emerge. "Now you know the truth? But what does that change?"

Gabriel took a few steps towards her and looked at her tenderly, silently willing her to understand. "It changes everything."

Katie shook her head sadly. "No... no it doesn't. We can't be together, don't you understand? We can't. Or else--"

"Or else what?" Gabe interrupted her. "You think if we're together something is going to happen to me. Like what happened to your mother. Don't you?"

Katie shook her head again. "No, that's not it."

"Yes it is." Gabe insisted and when she looked away he put his hand on her chin and tilted her face towards his again. "Don't do this. Don't throw away what we have because you're scared of what might happen."

"I can't Gabriel!" Katie said in a sharp tone and she saw a flash of hurt in his eyes. "I can't let this happen. It's too important." She whispered quietly, "You're too important."

"Do you honestly think that I can just walk away from everything... from you?" Gabe asked her incredulously. He chuckled sarcastically, then looked back at her with a serious look on his face. "You saved my life, Katie. You told me your deepest secrets. What we've shared over the past year... I wouldn't trade it for anything."

When Katie didn't say anything he stepped closer to her, so their bodies were almost touching. He let out a soft sigh. He had missed her so much over the past week, and he knew she felt the same.

"You know...." Gabriel started, his eyes dancing in the moonlight. "You are adorable when you've got that 'Leave-me-alone-I'm-trying-to-save-the-world' look on your face." He smiled when he saw her lips twitch. He knew he was getting to her.

"You, Miss Evans, are exactly like your father." Gabe concluded in a matter-of-fact voice.

She turned her head to face him and at that minute, when she looked into his eyes, that she could never walk away from him. In defeat, she smiled. "Is that so?"

With that remark, Gabe broke out into a full smile. "Yes, it is."

Suddenly the heard the pod chamber door open and Magnolia's voice said jokingly, "Is it safe to come out now?"

"Yeah." Gabriel said and gave Katie a knowing smile before turning around to face everyone. His gaze fell upon Max and Liz and suddenly he felt very awkward. Seeing his girl-friends parents at his age was weird and he could only imagine how Katie must feel.

Katie cleared her throat and motioned towards Gabriel with her hand. "Um, this is Gabriel Valenti. He's my.... boyfriend." She hated using the term 'boy-friend'. It seemed like an understatement. Soulmate was more like it.

"Valenti?!" Maria squeaked. "You mean Kyle is his father?!"

"Well.....no." Katie said slowly and glanced at her boyfriend. "Jim is his dad."

Everyone's eyes widened and Maria opened her mouth to reply when it finally dawned on her. "Oh my god!"

"What?" Michael asked her.

"He's my step-brother!" Maria exclaimed and pointed at Gabriel.

Gabe nodded his head slowly. "Hey sis."

"Sheriff Valenti marrys your mother?!" Michael asked, hardly believing this situation.

"Apparently so." Maria whispered. The group was quiet a few moments, and Maria looked Gabriel over and winked at Katie. "So..... how did you and my handsome step brother meet?"

Katie and Gabe exchanged glances. Gabe cleared his throat. "We've known each other since about third grade. But last year she sort of.... saved my life."

"Really?" Maria asked, totally engrossed. "How so?"

"He sort got.... shot at the Crashdown." Katie said and figured that the rest of them could piece together the rest of the story.

The group stood there, completely silent. Alex smiled and laughed. "It's like 'Max and Liz: The Next Generation'!"

Everyone laughed and Max and Liz stood there, amazed. They could hardly believe what was going on. It was all too surreal. Liz was having a hard time processing all of this. She had a daughter..... and her daughter had a boyfriend. And they were apparently going through everything her and Max had.

She suddenly gripped Max's hand and tugged him away from the group. They silently went back into the pod chamber where they could have some privacy.

Max smiled at her and lovingly stroked her hair. "This is amazing."

"Yeah I know." Liz smiled back, then frowned. "Max--"

"I know." He interrupted and sighed a little. "I feel it, too."

Liz bit her lip, holding back invisible tears. "Everything is so perfect right now, I can't imagine something bad--"

"Nothing bad is gonna to happen." Max assured her, bringing her into his warm embrace. "I won't let it."

They stood like that for minutes, just holding onto each other, reassuring one another that everything would be okay.

But there was something off. A nagging feeling in their hearts. Something was going to happen. Max knew that Katie felt it, too. He silently wondered if the others felt the same way, and made a mental note to ask them the next day. Tomorrow would be a big day. He had asked Katie on the ride home earlier what their next move would be, and she had told him destroying what was left of the Special Unit files at Ex-Congressman Whitakers office would be their next objective.

But for now, all Max wanted to do was spend time with the one person he loved more than anything in the entire world. Liz. And so.... he did.

-----------------------

Nikolas sat across from Kivar in Congressman Whitakers office. He tapped his foot on the ground and looked around, he was getting more and more bored with each passing second.

"I thought you said they'd be here by now." Nikolas complained.

Kivar stood up and looked out the window, the dark night cast a shadow across him, making him look even more hideous than he already was. "Kaitlyn is smarter than I thought."

"I'm beginning to think you're underestimating her." Nikolas told him, standing up and crossing his arms.

Kivar turned to him and smiled sarcastically. "You are young and inexperienced, Nikolas."

"Watch out," Nikolas retored. "You're talking to yourself ya know."

Kivar shook his head. "When you hit puberty, you'll understand."

Nikolas rolled his eyes. "Funny."