He made his way across the street and smiled when he saw Liz's shadow on the blinds. The scene was familiar. She was brushing her hair. He'd watched her brushing her hair in front of her mirror a thousand times before. He stood in the shadows content with simply being near Liz again. Still something in Michael's warning worried Max. "What did he mean when he said she needed me?" Max thought. "Did he really know something or was he just..."

Max's smile faded and his mood changed when he saw a tall blond man approaching Liz's door. Max had not yet met him, but he figured the fellow must be Jackson, Liz's fiancé. A tingle of jealousy raced through Max's veins. He stared at the man as he stood before Liz's door and wondered how he and Liz started dating. "No!" Max told himself. "Don't do this to yourself. It doesn't matter. You didn't actually expect her to wait, did you?"

He hadn't expected Liz to wait, but he'd hoped all along that she would. While on Antar, he fantasized about returning to Earth and Liz. Never in any of his fantasies did Liz have a fiancé. He'd always pictured her as happy, but missing him. But it appeared Liz had moved on without him. He wondered if he would ever be as strong as her. He felt confident we would never be able to move on without Liz.

Max watched as Liz opened the door and invited Jackson to come in. She smiled at Jackson and took the green and yellow wildflowers he held behind his back. Max saw pleasure on Liz's face. Though the thought pained Max, he was glad to know Liz was happy. He valued her happiness more than his own.

Feeling he was invading her privacy, Max turned to leave. Two steps into his departure, Max froze. He heard glass breaking and a man's voice yelling. He instinctly ran towards the apartment and peered through the front window. What he saw shocked, frightened, and angered him. Liz was crouching in a corner of the kitchen. Jackson stood over her yelling about how she had betrayed him. "You're nothing but a cheap whore!"

Max had heard and seen all he could stand or would allow. He quickly moved to the front door, held his palm over the lock, and entered the apartment. Jackson jumped back in surprise when he heard the front door open.

"Is this him?" Jackson yelled. "Is this the jerk who brought you the white rose?" Jackson lunged at Max. Max responded by bringing his hand into the air and creating a glowing field between he and Jackson. (Max can go to him later to scare him into not telling anyone what he told) As soon as he created the field, he regretted it. Having 3 years of free reign to use his power without worrying had become habit to Max. He nearly forgot how dangerous revealing his powers could be on Earth.

Jackson bounced off the field and fell backwards onto the floor.

"Max, don't!" Liz screamed.

Max dropped his hand and the field disappeared.

Jackson sat on the floor in disbelief. Slowly he stood never taking his eyes off Max. "What the..." Jackson walked backwards away from Max. As he backed past a coffee table, he picked up a lamp and held in the air as defense. "What are you? Are you some kind of freak?"

Max stood silently as Jackson stared him down. Jackson slowly made his way to the door. "Don't come near me," Jackson demanded. He threw the lamp at Max and ran out the front door.

As soon as Jackson left the room, Max ran to Liz and extended his hand to help her stand. "Did he hurt you?" Max asked concerned.

"Not this time," Liz said standing and walking into the living room to sit on the couch. "I can't believe you did that."

"Sorry," Max said suddenly aware that Liz had screamed for him to stop when he brought up the shield. He joined Liz in the living room and sat facing her in an adjoining chair. "I just thought that..."

"Don't be sorry," Liz objected. "I'm glad you were here. I'm just afraid of what Jackson may do with what he saw."

Max felt great relief in hearing why Liz asked him to stop. He feared she screamed out in Jackson's protection, but now he learned it was his own protection Liz was concerned with. "Don't worry. I'll take care of him."

"How?" Liz asked widening her eyes. She recalled a time when such a comment meant that the alien trio planned to kill the person. Though they never acted on any of their threats, she knew the thought could be there now. She didn't want Jackson to die because of her. And worse than that, she didn't want to make Max a murderer on her behalf.

"Oh...no, not..." Max smiled shyly. "I'm not gonna..." he shook his head and shrugged. "I'm just gonna scare him one good time. Make him afraid to tell what he saw."

"Oh," Liz smiled thankful that the man before her was still the Max she knew so long ago.

Max lost his smile when he remembered something Liz had said just a few minutes before. She commented that Jackson had not hurt her "this time." Max feared that indicated Jackson had hurt Liz in the past. He dropped his smile and looked very seriously at Liz and asked, "Liz, has he...ever..."

"Sometimes he just gets so angry," Liz cut Max off. She looked down at her hands and fiddled with her short nails.

"Angry at you?" Max asked.

"Angry at everything. Sometimes it's me. Sometimes it's work. Sometimes it's because it's raining. Sometimes it's because it's not raining." Liz tried to force a smile. "He's not really a bad person."

"Liz, you don't have to make excuses for him," Max said and moved to the couch to sit with Liz.

"He says he loves me, but..." Liz began.

"I'm sure he does," Max interjected bringing his right hand to Liz's face to move a strand of hair behind her ear. "How could he not?" he said sincerely looking into her eyes.

Liz fought to keep her arms to herself. She wanted desperately to wrap them around Max and hold him to her. She wanted to set her grips on him and never let him leave her side again. She opened her mouth to speak and no sound came out. She struggled wanting to tell Max the truth about how Jackson has hurt her so many times before. Liz had problems admitting to herself that she needed help and, for reasons she couldn't explain, she feared telling Max. She worried that he may think less of her. She worried that he may see how she wasn't able to handle life without him. She worried that he may not love her if he she wasn't as strong as she once was.

Max sensed that Liz wanted to talk. Liz's silence hurt him deeply. The pair once shared everything. Deep, dark secrets were never kept between them. He knew he couldn't walk back into her life and expect her to flip on the old feelings like a light switch. He'd never turned them off. Still, he knew that if he and Liz would ever have what they did before he left for Antar, that getting there would take some time. Both of them needed time to get to know each other all over again. He considered how much he loved the time before when they were first getting to know each other - the sweet hello's and smiles across the room - the awkward goodnight kisses and the lasting tingles when their arms brushed.

"Liz, you know you can talk to me, right? We're..." Max nearly choked on his next word. "...friends."

Liz looked down at her lap and shook her head in agreement. "Yeah, we are." She took a deep breath and slowly released it before looking Max in the eyes and saying, "We are friends again. And your first order of business as my newest friend is..." Liz paused. Asking for help had never been easy for Liz. She'd lived most of her life a durable, independent female. She wanted to be that way again. So she swallowed her pride and leaned to Max for the support she knew she could always count on with him. "...to help me." She finished.