“Why not?” he asked.

“If you have to ask then you are thicker than I thought,” Michael replied.

“Look, I know it’s not the best idea. I mean, I know it’s dangerous, but--”

“But what? But, you’re willing to risk your life as well as the lives of me and Isabel just so you can get down Liz Parker’s pants?” he asked in a rough and sarcastic tone.

Max turned to glare at him and replied, “No, and that’s not what this is about. It’s not like that and you know it.”

“Do I? Well, it sure seems to me that you’re letting your hormones go to your head lately, Maxwell. I can remember a time when you were the one giving me and Iz the speeches about being safe and protecting ourselves from outsiders . . . now you’re ready to throw away everything – our lives – just to be with some girl that you barely even know.”

Max sighed and shook his head. “You just don’t get it,” he said wearily.

“No, you’re right, I don’t,” Michael replied.

“If you were in love, you’d understand,” Max told him.

“How can you love someone you don’t even know?” Michael asked. “I mean, I understand that you’ve had a thing for Liz for a long time now and I know that saving her life had a profound effect on you . . . but, Max, come on. Love? I hate to ruin this Hallmark moment you have going, but you don’t even know what love is.”

“And I suppose you do?” Max replied as he looked skeptically towards his friend.

“I never said that, but I know the difference between love and lust. And believe me, you’re majorly in lust with Liz Parker. No doubt about it.”

“Well, whatever. I don’t want to get into this with you again,” Max said as he reached over and started the Jeep. “We obviously can’t do anything but fight about this situation anyway.”

“Just keep in mind that your little love affair with Miss All-American won’t just be putting you at risk. My life and your sister’s life are at stake here, too. Remember that, Max,” Michael warned.

Max didn’t need to hear it. He already knew. And his friend was right, of course. He’d told Liz from the beginning that their getting involved would be a mistake. He should have listened to himself instead of letting his heart get the best of him. Now he’d have to stop his relationship with Liz before it started. It was the only way to keep himself and the others safe. And he had to keep them safe . . . nothing mattered more than that.

* * * * *

“You can’t really think that this is a *good* idea?” Maria DeLuca said to her best friend, Liz, as they sat on the patio outside Liz’s bedroom window together.

“Why not? He’s just a guy,” Liz replied.

“No, he’s not “just a guy”,” Maria replied. “He’s an alien!”

“Shh!! Would you keep quiet please?” Liz warned.

“Sorry, sorry,” Maria replied. She continued in a hushed voice, “But Liz, you don’t know anything about him except that he’s a . . . a Czechoslovakian. And we’ve had this discussion a zillion times. There are so many things that you can’t possibly know about him. You guys are just so . . . so . . . different,” Maria finally said. “And, I don’t think dating him is a good idea. That’s my opinion, but I really think that you should think this through before you go rushing into something so huge.”

Liz looked at her best friend and sighed. Maria was right, of course. She did need to think about all this before she rushed into anything with Max. And it was dangerous for them to be together. It made Kyle angry, which made him watch Max a lot more closely than he would normally and if he were to see anything at all unusual . . . well, the sheriff would most certainly find out about it. She couldn’t let Max take that risk; she just couldn’t.

“I’ll tell him tonight,” Liz said sadly.

“Tell him what?” Maria wanted to know.

“That we can’t . . . that it’s not a good idea. I’ll tell him that he was right all along and that he and I shouldn’t see each other.” Liz looked really upset by this and Maria felt terrible for her friend. She knew how much Liz wanted things with she and Max to work out. And, Maria wished that things could work out, she really did. It was just . . . it was too risky, for both of them. It was better this way . . . it just had to be better.

* * * * *

Michael looked at the tiny alarm clock beside his bed. It was 10 o’clock exactly. He wondered if Max had talked to Liz yet. Michael knew that they were supposed to go to the movies together and Max had said that after the movie he would tell Liz that he couldn’t see her again, that they’d have to stick to the original plan. They’d have to stay away from each other.

This was hard on Max; Michael knew that better than anyone. Max had been his best friend forever. They knew each other so well. And the one thing that Michael was absolutely certain of when it came to his best friend was Max’s feelings for Liz Parker. Max wasn’t careless and he wasn’t stupid. Not just anyone could have caused him to use his powers that day in the diner to save their life. If it had been one of the customers, Max probably would have watched sadly as that bullet killed them. He’d have hated it, but he wouldn’t have stepped in. But it hadn’t been just anyone; it hadn’t been just some nameless face in the diner . . . it had been Liz . . . his Liz . . .

If a person could constitute a weakness for another person, then Liz Parker was definitely Max Evans’ weakness. He’d have done anything for her. He would put his life on the line for her. Michael knew this; he knew that that day at the Crashdown would not be the last time that Max risked everything to keep Liz safe. He’d do it again and again . . . whatever it took to make sure she wasn’t in danger; to make sure that nothing bad happened to the one woman who held his heart.

It was a risk they couldn’t take. Loving Liz made Max happy, but it also made him weak. It impaired his judgement, made him apt to do things that he wouldn’t normally do. It made him lose sight of his own safety in favor of hers, and that was a very dangerous situation for Max and the others to be in.

The one way, the only way that Max could keep his focus was to stay away from the woman who distracted him. And, in staying away from her, Max would also help insure that she wasn’t in any danger herself. His distance would not only keep he, Isabel, and Michael safe, it would keep Liz safe, too. It was the best thing for everyone, the only thing that they could do.

However, Michael knew that it was also the last thing on earth that Max wanted to do. It was a last resort; one that he was taking with only the utmost reluctance. But, it was necessary. This would keep them all safe. They couldn’t let anything get too personal. That made them waver; it tied them to a place where they didn’t belong. Michael was determined not to let that happen. He would make sure that, when the time came to leave, Max would have nothing to stop him; nothing to keep him here in a place that would never, could never, be their true home.

It was the only way. Michael had to keep telling himself that. It was the only way.

* * * * *

Maria finished wiping off the last table at the Crashdown and sat down in the booth with a sigh. She looked around the empty restaurant and found herself wondering where Max and Liz were at that moment.

They’d left for the movies a few hours before so she figured they’d be coming back by here pretty soon. She decided to hurry up and leave so that she’d be gone by the time they got back. She knew that if Liz were really going to do what she’d said then her walk home with Max was something that she’d want to do away from any prying eyes. And besides, if she was going to talk her best friend into dumping the only guy she’d ever maybe been in love with, then the least Maria could do was let her do it in private.

She went to the back and finished up what she had to do, then picked up her coat and keys and headed out to the parking lot. After locking the door behind her, Maria walked across the parking lot to her mom’s little red car and got inside.

She couldn’t help but feel really bad for Liz. What she was going to do tonight would have to be the hardest thing she’d ever done. Still, it was the best thing for everyone. Max and Liz both knew that, she was sure. But, Maria had never been in love; she couldn’t even begin to imagine how hard it would be to let go of something that she’d never really felt firsthand. All she knew was that it didn’t sound like something she wanted to try.

With another heavy sigh, Maria started the car. Max and Liz would be back soon and she wanted to be long gone. She looked around once at the deserted street, then pulled away.

* * * * *

“So, thanks for the movie,” Liz said softly as she and Max walked down the dark street together. They were just a few feet from the Crashdown, only a moment from her door.

“You’re welcome,” he replied. She could hear that he was nervous. He had something to tell her and she had a feeling that it wouldn’t be good. All evening she’d had the feeling that Max needed to say something to her; something he didn’t really want to say.

“It’s okay, Max. You don’t have to say it,” she said finally. They both stopped at the same time and Max turned to face her.

“What . . . what do you mean?” he asked in surprise.

She looked down at the ground and said, “I know what you have to tell me and you don’t have to say it. Let me be the one this time.”

“Liz?”

“We can’t be together,” she said sadly. “I want us to be . . .” She looked up into his eyes as tears filled her own and said, “But we can’t.”

“I want that, too. I want to be with you,” he assured her.

“I know, I know that you do,” she replied.

“It’s just . . . us being together makes things so . . .”

“Dangerous,” she finished. “Being with me puts you at risk and I can’t let that happen.”

“I feel the same way about you. I don’t want your being with me to put you in danger.”

Liz nodded and chewed at her bottom lip to try and fight the tears that threatened her. Max looked down at her with a distraught look that completely broke her heart.

“So, this is it,” he said in a whisper.

“Yeah,” she replied hoarsely, “I guess it is.”

He reached up with one hand to tough her cheek gently. His thumb brushed away a fallen tear as he said, “I’m so sorry, Liz.”

She nodded. “Me, too.”

He took his hand away and stepped back a little. “I’ll just say goodbye quickly, then.”

“That would be best,” she agreed.

“Goodbye Liz.” His voice was choked with sorrow as he let the words escape despite the fact that all he wanted to do was bury those words forever.

“Goodbye Max,” she replied as her tears finally broke free and streamed freely down her cheeks. She watched him turn away and head back towards his Jeep. He got in and started the engine before looking back to her standing there on the sidewalk outside the café. He felt his heart tear into a million pieces just at the sight of her. With one last wave, he pulled away from the curb and drove away.

Liz watched down the street until his taillights disappeared. Though she knew that this was what they both had to do, she couldn’t help but hope that he’d change his mind and come back. He didn’t; and she decided that a tiny part of her was glad of that. There was no way that she could have turned him away twice.

She raised her hand to wave after him. He couldn’t see her, of course, but it didn’t matter. She had to say just one more goodbye. “I love you, Max . . . always,” she whispered, then she turned and ran to the door. She spent the rest of the night crying herself to sleep.

* * * * *

Maria turned her car onto Main Street and flipped on her bright lights. She’d been sitting at home for hours trying to decide if she should call Liz and had finally decided not to. She knew Liz. She’d just tell her mom to say that she was asleep or something to avoid getting on the phone. That wouldn’t do. Maria needed to make sure that her friend was really okay. So, she knew there was only one thing to do; she had to drive over there and see for herself.

She looked down for a second to flip the station on the radio, then her eyes went back to the road and she gasped. There, walking down the narrow shoulder of the dark street, was Michael. Her foot was instantly on the brakes as she stopped alongside him. She rolled down the window as he looked over at her in surprise.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked him.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said in return.

“I’m going to check on Liz.”

“Something wrong with her?”

“No, just . . . stuff.” Maria shook her head as if to clear the subject, then said, “So, where are you headed?”

“Max’s,” he answered.

“Well, I’m going past there. You need a lift?”

He looked at her, then back at the road, then finally nodded and opened the passenger’s door and got in beside her. “Uh, thanks,” he mumbled as he shut the door after him.

“No problem. You shouldn’t be out walking down a dark street at night,” she said as she pulled away from the curb and continued on.

“Not like I don’t do it every day,” he said.

“Well, still,” she shrugged. “So, what brings you out to see Max at almost midnight?”

“Uh, just checking to how things are going,” he replied. She noticed that he turned away as he said it and she was sure that he had the same reasoning for seeing Max that she had for going to see Liz.

“You know about their date tonight, I guess,” Maria said.

“Date? Well, yeah,” Michael confirmed. “I, um . . . I knew they were going out tonight. He and Liz I mean.”

“And Max must have had the same plans that Liz did,” she said.

“Plans?”

“Well, um . . . plans for this to be their last date,” Maria replied. She was watching to road, not looking at him. She found herself wondering why she was telling him all of this, but she just couldn’t seem to stop talking around this guy.

Michael looked over at her briefly, then nodded. “Yeah, he did.”

“You convinced him?” she wanted to know.

“I don’t think we should be talking about this,” he replied.

“I convinced Liz,” she confessed, as she paid no heed to his warning.

“Max and Liz dating is dangerous,” he said.

“I agree.”

“Well, surprise, surprise,” he replied.

She looked over at him, her brow creased. “What does that mean?” she asked.

“Are you kidding? The woman who thinks I go to family reunions with those Independence Day dudes is asking why I think it’s obvious that she doesn’t want one of “my kind” dating her best friend? Get serious.” He rolled his eyes and turned away.

Maria’s mouth was agape in shock. “That is *so* not fair.” She stopped the car and turned to look at him then. “The reason I don’t want Liz to date Max is not because he’s an alien,” she protested.

He turned to look at her with a self-satisfied smirk. “Okay, why then?”

“Because . . . because . . . well, it’s not safe, that’s why. You said it yourself, you told him it was dangerous,” she accused.

“I said it wasn’t safe for him,” Michael pointed out.

“And what exactly makes that different?”

“Because Max’s life is at stake,” he said.

“And Liz’s isn’t? If Valenti tried to use Liz to get to you guys then I think it’d be a safe bet that she is *anything* but out of danger.”

“Well, maybe, but the main reason I don’t want him dating her is that she distracts him. He doesn’t think clearly when they are around each other. It’s not a good idea for him to lose his focus like that,” Michael said.

“I agree with you, all I’m saying is that I only did it for both of their benefit, just like you,” she said.

“Yeah, okay, whatever,” he replied.

“You really think I hate you, don’t you? Get over yourself already,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

He turned to look at her again. His eyes locked with hers and for a moment he didn’t speak. Finally, he said, “I don’t scare you, Maria? Not even a little?”

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared back at him. “Um . . . no, no you don’t,” she replied quietly. Suddenly the air between them felt heavy and her mouth was completely dry. What was he doing to her?

Michael couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She was . . . beautiful. God, where did that come from? He hadn’t given her much of a second thought until now. She was just Liz Parker’s slightly annoying best friend who thought he hailed from the planet Zercon and had eyes growing out of the back of his head. She thought he was a freak . . . so why was she looking at him like she could devour him at any second? And why did he suddenly want to be devoured so very much?

If he had stopped to think about it, he never would have done what he did next. He’d have come up with a million reasons why it was a bad idea and why he was getting in over his head with this girl and why he should get out of the car at that very instant and run in the opposite direction as quickly as possible. But, he didn’t think first. He did what came naturally to him. He went with his instincts . . . and he kissed her.

Maria realized a second before their lips met that he intended to kiss her. If she’d really wanted to, she’d have had time to move away, to pull back and out of his reach and end this thing between them before it had a chance to begin. But, the truth was, she didn’t *want* it to end. She wanted him to kiss her, wanted it more than anything she could think of at that moment. So, she let his lips find hers and allowed herself to get caught up in the feel of his mouth against her own as the world around them dissolved for a moment and only the two of them remained. Michael, Maria, and their first kiss . . . that was all that existed in the universe for a few precious seconds. She wished that real life would never return, that she could stay here with him just like this forever.

He felt her hands against his chest as he kissed her with a hunger he hadn’t even known he could feel. Her hands didn’t push him away, though. They pulled him closer, clawing at his shirt as if she wanted to crawl inside of him and never come out. He thought that sounded like the best idea in the world right about then.

His arms circled her, pulling her body across the seat and against his as their lips continued to move against each other. She opened her mouth to him and his tongue brushed hers. Then, to his surprise, it was her tongue in his mouth, tracing his teeth and memorizing him from the inside out. One of her hands had moved to the back of his head and she was running her fingers through the short, spiky hair at the nape of his neck and pulling him closer to her. He wanted her. She wanted him. It all just seemed completely surreal to them both.

Neither wanted to break the kiss, but Maria finally felt her chest tightening from lack of oxygen and had to pull back. She sucked in a deep, shaky breath even as he moved towards her, trying to recapture her lips with his. She caught his eyes and the wild look she saw within them made all of her nerves stand on end. He looked hungry, almost feral. A deep blush covered her entire body as she realized that she was the one making him want like this. She was the one that caused the ache that was evident even in his eyes.

“We have to stop,” she said in a ragged whisper.

The sound of her voice seemed to bring him back to earth. He blinked and looked at her directly, then cleared his throat and sat back in the seat. She felt the air cool around her as he moved out of her personal space and the chill made her shiver. She already missed his intense heat and the heat that he caused within her. He was like a drug, and she was instantly addicted.

“I’m sorry, that shouldn’t have happened,” he said as he looked down at his hands. He didn’t want to say that. He didn’t want to dismiss what had just occurred between them, but it seemed like the right thing to say. He knew that they shouldn’t be doing this; they *couldn’t* be doing this. The only thing to do was to stop things before they got really out of hand.

A look of hurt flickered across Maria’s face, but then she just nodded. He was right. What had just occurred between them should not have happened. It was wrong. It was the same thing the two of them had been warning Max and Liz against for weeks now. She and Michael had to follow their own rules . . . and stay away from each other.

He opened the door then and she looked over. “Where are you going?”

“I think it’s better if I walk the rest of the way,” he replied as he got out of the car and stood by the open door.

“You don’t have to,” she said.

He nodded as he looked back in at her and the look in his eyes told her everything that his words left out. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “Yeah, I do.”

She nodded in reply, knowing exactly what he meant. This was too hard. She suddenly knew exactly what Liz meant every time she talked about how hard it was to stay away from Max. It was more than physical; more than emotional, even. It was a connection like no other; a bond that tied two people who were meant to be together but doomed to be apart. It was a fire that burned so bright that it both warmed her and burned her, leaving scars that would never fully disappear. Finding that spark in Michael Guerin had been the greatest gift and the greatest curse of her life.

She watched as he closed the car door behind him, then watched as he turned to walk back the way he had come. She assumed he was heading home, or at least heading someplace besides to see Max Evans. She understood that. She herself was no longer up to being a source of comfort to her best friend that night. She needed comfort herself.

With a twinge of regret that she couldn’t manage to suppress, Maria sighed. She pulled her eyes from the lone figure walking away from her and started her car again. She needed to go home. She needed to take a long, hot bath and try to clear her head of all the thoughts that ran rampant through it at the moment. She needed to forget the feel of his hands on her back and his lips pressed to hers and his tongue sweeping through her mouth. She needed to think of something, anything, besides the way it felt to kiss him and to hold him and to know that he was the one she wanted to be with forever. That couldn’t be, so she had to forget.

She pulled her car away from the curb, refusing to look in the rearview mirror as she started away. One look at him and she wouldn’t be able to resist turning around and then she had no clue how she’d ever stop the tidal wave of feelings that was welling up inside of her. She had to get as far away as possible and sort things out before all of this overwhelmed her. So, she drove on, hoping that she’d be able to forget this night even as she prayed that she would always remember it.