"Are you okay?" He asked with concern. She was rubbing her eyes, clearly trying to refocus after the brightness that had filled the transformation chamber when Michael and Tess had destroyed Danala. Max gently stroked his hand across her eyes, healing the damage that had been done.

Liz blinked up at him. A radiant smile burst across her face. "I am now." She threw her arms around his neck. "I couldn’t get to you Max. I was so worried that you were going to do something to Tess that you’d regret." She eyed him seriously. "I’ve never seen you that angry Max. I was scared you were going to do something crazy."

Max remembered how he had been more than willing to die if it meant being with Liz again. He didn’t think he had better let her in on that little piece of information.

"And jumping in front of a bullet wasn’t crazy?" Max asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

Liz looked momentarily embarrassed, but her eyes were glinting with a hint of anger. "I had no choice. I was NOT going to lose you again. I don’t care if you don’t remember it Max. You are mine and I will do anything to protect you. You couldn’t explain what compelled you to heal me when I was shot the first time and I didn’t think before doing what I did. I would die for you." She said fiercely.

Max gazed down at her in amazement, his heart swelling with so much love for her that it nearly brought him to his knees. She didn’t know that he had his memory back! She didn’t care if he ever got it back. She would die for him. What had he ever done to deserve her?

"You know why I did it Liz." Max whispered, pulling her against him. She shivered as he spoke into her ear. "I was YOU. If I die tomorrow or fifty years from now my destiny will be the same. It’s you." Liz had pulled back, was staring up at him, her mouth parted slightly in shock. "It will ALWAYS be you."

"Max!" He silenced her with a kiss. Her silky hair fell across his hands as he brought them up to cradle her beloved face.

The connection was instantaneous. He saw directly into her soul, saw her as a little girl, saw the first time she realized she loved him, saw the entire story that WAS Liz.

She broke the kiss, pulled his head down so that their foreheads were touching. "I love you. MY Max."

"Always." He kissed her again.

It took a moment for him to realize that someone was clearing their throat. Max brought his head up, pulled Liz close to his side. Isabel was standing there, looking a little disconcerted.

"I don’t want to interrupt guys, but I seriously think Michael is going to blow a gasket if you don’t get over there Jaxon."

Jennetta! Max started with guilt. How could he have forgotten about his sister?

Grabbing Liz by the hand, he hurried across the chamber. He called over his shoulder to his other sister. "By the way Iz. Its Max, if you don’t mind."

"WHAT!" He heard Isabel shriek. He knew that he was going to pay for THAT later.

Michael and Maria were standing near Jennetta’s pod, hopeless expressions on both of their faces. Michael had his arm around Maria’s shoulders. Max could tell that he was only holding it together for Maria’s sake. She was clearly on the verge of a breakdown.

Maria turned her stricken face to Max. "What are we going to do Max? My baby is going to be one of those zombies. If that witch Danala wasn’t gone I’d kill her myself."

"Your baby?" Alex and Isabel had come up beside them. Max had no idea where Tess and Kyle had disappeared to. Alex was staring at Maria in shock. "I think we missed that little tidbit."

"It’s a long story." Max said. "Suffice it to say for now that’s it true. Jennetta is Michael and Maria’s child." He looked at Michael warily. "How did you find out?"

Michael frowned slightly. "Not from where I should have apparently. Did you know about this too Maxwell?"

Max grimaced. "Er…I sort of found out when I tried to heal Maria earlier." Michael just sighed in annoyance.

"Why am I NOT surprised? I found a green orb near that Santa Anna Hot Spring." Michael explained. "When I touched it I got a bunch of flashes. All my memories for when we were on Illyria came back." He paused, looked pensive. "It was like they were stored in there or something."

Max felt dawning realization. "That was what I put in your bag before I threw you into the portal to come back." He grimaced. " I saw Tarsus fiddling with them before we came to get you to come back to Earth. I didn’t know what they were when I stole them from Tarsus. I thought that you guys might be able to use them to open the portal so that I could come home. I gave one to you too Maria." Max closed his eyes, anger burning through his veins as he realized that Tarsus had tricked him again. "Tarsus must have wanted me to take them, just pretended that he didn’t…"

"HOLD IT!" Isabel interrupted. "Let’s back up. Michael doesn’t seem to be the only one with his memory back. Max, how?"

Michael’s head jerked at that news. His eyes lit up with hope. "Is it true?" Maria didn’t react at all. She had moved directly in front of Jennetta’s pod and was tracing the little girl’s face through the transparent organic material.

"It came back when I healed Liz." Max explained. "The connection was so strong, it must have bumped everything back where it belonged."

"Return to where it all began…" Isabel was muttering under her breath. "Of course! That’s what Mother meant when she contacted me the first time."

"What?" Max asked, confused.

"Mother contacted me. It was how we knew that we had to go to Stonehenge to bring you back." Isabel explained. "We thought it was you at first but then I was able to contact her later too." Isabel suddenly looked upset. "Make the sacrifice." She looked at Michael in horror. "You don’t think she meant Jennetta? That we had to sacrifice her to get Max back?"

Michael’s mouth compressed into a thin line. "That is one sacrifice that I will not be making."

They all stared at each other uncomfortably. Max had no idea what to do. All he knew is that they couldn’t bring Jennetta out of the pod until the cleansing was complete. It would kill her…He didn’t know nearly enough about how the whole process worked, as it had never been successful on him. He had been brainwashed, but not cleansed.

"Isabel!" Michael exclaimed suddenly "Didn’t you talk to your mother by using the stones in the Henge?"

"Yeah, so?" Isabel said.

"I used the stone walls here to tap into enough energy to destroy Danala. You might be able to do it to contact your Mother." Michael said. "You can ask her if there’s any way to reverse the cleansing."

"We already know of a way." Maria said quietly.

Everyone whirled to stare at her. "What do you mean Maria?" Liz asked.

"Think Michael. How did your cleansing get reversed?" Maria’s face was expressionless. Max watched all the colour drain from his best friend’s face.

"The portal." He turned to Max suddenly. "Where are the orbs? We have to go back to Illyria."

"That won’t be necessary." Max felt Liz’s hand tense in his. A new voice had entered the conversation.

"Eddie!" Max glanced at Isabel uncomfortably. He was pretty sure that by now Eddie had some inkling of the truth about them, but it was still weird to see the Native American man staring at them all standing as they were in front of a bunch of pods.

"What are you doing here?" Michael demanded suspiciously. Max saw that he had moved to stand in front of Jennetta’s pod protectively. Alex put his arm around Isabel in a similar fashion.

Eddie just grinned, rolled his eyes. "You’d think that by now you’d know that things are NEVER as they appear."