Max glanced at her quickly. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay," Liz snapped. "We're on the run from some FBI agents, your whole family just got killed, and my parents, who are still alive, I might add, are probably panicked. They probably think I was in the fire with you."

Max was silent for a minute, and Liz instantly felt guilty. Nothing that had happened was his fault; she had no right to be taking it out on him. "I understand, Liz. But you know that I can never go back."

"Why not?"

"Because they have to know by now that my body was not in that house. That means that I've disappeared to somewhere. And the FBI, or whoever the hell that was who was following us, seems to know where. They knew before--"

Max fell silent suddenly. "What?" Liz asked. "They knew before what?"

"They knew I wasn't in the house before they had finished finding the bodies. But no one was following us before Albuquerque."

Liz's mouth fell open in astonishment. "So...so they were inside your house before the fire?"

Max said nothing, but Liz could see the tears that had formed in his eyes. "Pull over," she said firmly.

He obeyed, finding a dirt side road and driving a little ways down it before parking beside the trees. Tears were running freely down his face. Liz looked at him. "If they're still alive, we'll find them," she said. "We'll search forever."

Max began to cry, the second time she had ever seen him do it. She unbuckled her seat belt and crawled over the seats to sit beside him. She wrapped her arms around him and stroked his hair, comforting as best she could.

****

Max had fallen asleep in her arms again; it seemed to be the alien's form of healing from emotional distress, Liz mused. She was hurting, herself, but she couldn't imagine being Max. Losing both his real, genetic family and his loving adoptive family at the same time was simply beyond her realm of understanding. She had lost two friends, who she would miss dearly and forever. But she didn't even try to compare her pain with the pain Max must be feeling.

Max began to stir. "Hey, you," she said softly into his hair.

He mumbled to himself and then said, "Where are we?"

She shrugged. "Somewhere in the middle of nowhere. In Arizona," she added.

It was nearly nighttime again. The sunset over the desert mountains was breathtaking. Liz sighed as she looked at the scenery, supposing that they were in the middle of the national forest. If you could even call it that; the desert trees were little more than shrubs. She supposed that they would

be sleeping here. There wasn't any shelter to protect them from harsh weather, and it was the spring time. Even in Arizona it had to rain occasionally.

"Liz?"

"Hmmm..."

"I love you, Liz."

She smiled. "I love you too, Max." She had known it for a while, despite his professions of lack of interest. Even when he told Kyle the answer was 'no' she was hurt not because she believed it but because Max lied, believing it was in both of their best interests.

He sat up, sifting her dark hair through his hands. "I'm sorry I smell bad."

Liz inhaled. "You don't smell bad at all."

He didn't believe her. "I haven't had a shower in two and a half days. I beg to differ, Liz."

"You really don't," she insisted, and he kissed her, as though to prove he had terrible breath. "Tastes good and fresh," she said with a smile. He kissed her harder, and they both fell onto the hard seats.

He interrupted her explorations of his mouth to say, "Liz, is this what you really want? Because I don't think I can stop."

"I want it," she assured him.

He kissed her breasts through her shirt, making her moan. She reached down and pulled it over her head, tossing it away, not caring where it went. Max reached for his own shirt and they were almost skin to skin, and the feeling was wonderful. Liz wanted more. She unhooked the clasp of her bra and removed it slowly, suddenly feeling shy. Was she good enough for him?

Max's sharp intake of breath was her answer. "Beautiful," he mumbled as he began to kiss his way down her chest. Wherever he touched burned when he left. When he reached her shorts, he looked up questioningly. Her hands removed themselves from his hair and hurried to help him. She removed her shorts, and then his jeans and boxers.

Liz sucked in a breath; she had no idea if this would work. Could they even fit? He was so big and she was so tiny. She felt Max tug at her panties and lifted her hips to help him.

Max kissed her again, tangling his tongue with hers and then mimicking the act they were positioning themselves for.

Max sighed and entered her slowly. She clenched her fingernails into his back at the sudden feelings that washed over her; the feelings of fullness, the sharp pain because it was her first time, and an all-around general amazement.

"Is it okay?"

Overwhelmed and unable to speak, she simply nodded. It was more than okay, it was fantastic, and she wished she could tell him that. But it would have to wait for later.

He pulled partway out of her and then thrust back in with agonizing slowness. "Is that okay?"

She squirmed. "No."

He froze like a deer before a hunter. "Am I...is it..."

"No, you're just...don't go so slow!"

"Okay," he mumbled, sounding like a little boy. A part of her somewhere inside was amazed that he hadn't sprouted horns or something equally ridiculous. Instead this beautiful boy...beautiful man, she corrected herself, was thrusting into her for all he was worth. She watched his face clench and knew that he was about to come.

"Liz?" he moaned.

"It's okay," she assured him. "Girls never come the first time."

"No...no, I want..." He showed her quickly what he wanted by finding her center and thumbing it sharply. It was too much. She screamed and dissolved into a supernova. Before she had managed to float back to earth, he had come too, finishing and filling her with warmth.

When she became aware again, Max was laying half on top of her, seemingly exhausted. "Max?"

"Sorry," he mumbled, rolling off of her.

She sat up and scooted over to cuddle next to him. "That wasn't it, Max. I just wanted to tell you that that was wonderful."

Max blushed. "Well, um, you're welcome." She had never seen him quite so flustered before.

"Do you want to go find someplace to...spend the night?" she hesitated to say 'sleep.'