"It is," he replied, making sure his voice was calm and rational; unlike his insides, which were anything but.

Alex took in everyone's attitudes. Maria was sitting on the floor, her legs pulled up to her chins. She looked exhausted and frustrated; Alex understood all that. He could also understand where Kyle was coming from, who was slowly walking around, trying to grasp all of this. He was in shock, which Alex had been in a few minutes ago.

And, finally, Alex zeroed in on Isabel; who was here, well, sorta here. She was sitting on a box or something, taking a deep breath. That one small action, which is done every few seconds, was enough to make Alex boil over with emotions.

"I'm not sure how it happened, or even why," Isabel was explaining, "but it did. I'm in Liz's body."

"If you're in there, where's Liz?" Maria asked.

Alex saw as Isabel looked at the floor, obviously guilty. "I...I don't know."

"What? You don't know?" Kyle asked, his voice alert with surprise. Isabel nodded and went back to looking at the floor. "Just great..."

"Can't you talk to her or something? I mean, you are in her head," Maria added.

Isabel shot a look at Alex, and he came over and sat beside her. He took her hand and she immediately squeezed it. Alex looked up at Isabel, and wanted to put his arm around her, but with her looking like Liz it was a little awkward.

"Isabel lost contact with her," Alex said finally.

"How could you do that?!" Kyle asked suddenly.

"Kyle," Maria said softly, wanting him to stop yelling. "That won't help."

"It was an accident, ok?" Isabel replied, her eyes blazing at Kyle. "You think I like not knowing where she is?"

Kyle didn't reply, simply running his hands through his hair and turning away.

Maria looked up at Isabel and gave her a little smile. "We understand. Look...can't you just back out of the connection some and let her...re-connect with you?"

Alex saw Isabel swallow and squeezed her hand, trying to give her some strength. "I already tried. I...it's like I even lost contact with myself."

"What do you mean?"

"When we connect with someone, we, or our minds, don't actually merge. We share feelings and memories; and that's it. But with this, I'm actually in control of her body, in her mind. Which means my body is somewhere...without me. And I can't contact it," Isabel explained.

"You mean you're stuck in Liz's body?" Kyle asked.

"Are you sure you can't?"

Isabel looked at Maria and nodded. "I can't feel it."

Alex nodded and kept going. "We need to try and find out exactly what's going on."

"How? Everyone who would know is either gone or dead," Kyle replied.

"River dog," Isabel said.

Alex shut up quick and exchanged a look with Maria. Isabel, having caught all this, looked at him. "Alex...what is it? Does it have to do with the cave?"

"You know about the cave?" Maria asked.

Isabel nodded. "Yeah. When I connected with Alex, that's where I was taken; to the cave. There was a huge boulder in the opening."

"Yeah, do you um...know how it got there?" Isabel shook her head in a 'no' response.

Alex sat a little straighter and looked at her. "You guys didn't do it?"

"No...I was wondering who did it. It must've been pretty hard to move that."

"Maybe it was that River Dog guy," Kyle spoke up. "Liz said him and that 'Eddie' dude knew what was going on."

"Eddie? Liz saw Eddie?" Isabel asked.

Maria nodded. "Yeah. He went and got Liz; told her she needed to leave the site."

"Why?" Isabel asked, her voice a little emotional.

Alex felt her shake and drew her a little closer. "We ran into some FBI," he said softly.

"What?!" she demanded, jumping up. "Already? That can't be!"

"Isabel, I know this is hard--"

"No, you don't," she replied, looking at Maria. "Max is literally breaking down without Liz, Michael's sniffing cedar oil every freaking second, and I just...I just wanna come back."

Alex stood up and pulled a sobbing Isabel/Liz into his arms, feeling a little weird with her height at the moment. "It's gonna be ok."

Kyle, seeming a little nervous, came back over. "Look...Isabel, I get this is hard on you, but it was the right choice. If you hadn't left when you did..."

Isabel pulled away a little and looked at Kyle. "How did you know we left?"

"Um...Tess left me a note."

"Burn it. No one can see it," Isabel replied.

Kyle nodded and backed away. Isabel took a deep breath and spoke up again. "Where were they?"

"The reservation," Maria replied.

Isabel seemed shocked then finally nodded. "They were pretty close," she mumbled. "Good thing that River Dog fixed the cave."

Alex, again, exchanged a glance with Maria. "God...no good news comes with that," Isabel added.

"The boulder was...melded with the rock of the cave," Alex explained.

"Like someone used a blow torch?"

"No...like someone used a wave of their hand," Maria said.

"You guys never said that," Kyle pointed out. "Who did it?"

"Would we be talkin' about it now if we knew?" Maria snapped.

"Guys," Alex warned, "we need to think."

Isabel, who know had her head in her hands, sighed. "We didn't do it."

"Are you positive? I mean, couldn't one of the others gone off and done it?" Kyle asked. "Where was everyone?"

"I was with Alex," Isabel said.

"Michael was with me," Maria answered.

"And Max was with Liz," Alex replied.

"Tess?"

Alex, Isabel, and Maria all stopped short and looked at each other. "Did you see her?"

"No, I don't think," Alex said.

"I'd remember seeing that blonde little home wrecker," Maria added grumpily.

Everyone looked at Kyle, who just shrugged. "I never saw her, just got the letter."

"You think she did it?" Alex asked.

"Why wouldn't she tell us if she did?"

"'Cause she's a little green skinned, gilled Martian skank slash tramp who can't tell the truth if her life depends on it," Maria exclaimed. After the outburst, the room got quiet.

"Well, now that we all know how Maria feels about Tess, we need to work on getting Liz back," Kyle said finally.

Isabel nodded, taking a deep breath. "Ok, I'll try to talk to her."

***

Max felt weightless, floating into a emerald sea with amber flecks. It was like being held under the sea with the sun shining down into the water; totally liberating. And without all the dying-without-air stuff.

The colors started to dissolve and Max found himself in a black room, Isabel sitting the middle in a pure white dress.

"Isabel...Izzy?" Max approached her slowly, not wanting to scare her.

"Max?" she asked, her eyes still closed.

"Yeah, it's me. Are you ok?" he asked, cruching down in front of her.

Isabel opened her eyes and looked at him. "I feel like I'm flying," she whispered. "I feel free."

Max nodded and looked around. All the colors were gone now, making everything pitch black.

"I can't talk to myself here."

"What?" Max asked.

Isabel closed her eyes once more and spread her arms out. "I'm not in my mind anymore. I'm lost."

"We know. Isabel...you need to back out of the connection. It's too dangerous. You're not ready for this," Max explained.

"I told you, I can't talk to myself here."

Max thought a moment before understanding what she was saying. Isabel's mind was split in two. One was in Liz, the other was here; and they weren't communicating.

"Do you know what's going on?" Max asked.

Isabel took a deep breath and seemed to be listening to something Max couldn't hear. "They're worried. Liz is gone."

"Gone?! Gone where?" Max exclaimed.

"We can't both be in the same mind at the same time," Isabel answered, as if that explained everything.

"Isabel, stop this," Max begged. "Talk to me, tell me what's going on."

"She's not scared."

"Who?"

Isabel frowned and seemed upset for the first time since Max arrived. "She doesn't want me to leave. She's lonely."

Max took his sister by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Isabel, who are you talking about?"

"She heard you telling her you loved her. She wants to stay."

"Liz?" Max asked. "Are you talking about Liz?"

"Of course."

Max sighed and looked around. "Where is she?"

"Around," Isabel replied.

"You need to pull out of the connection, now. I'll find Liz," Max said, getting up to go look around.

"She doesn't want me to leave."

"Where is she?" Max asked, trying to get one straight answer out of his sister.

"Just follow the broken heart," Isabel mumbled, going back to her trance.

Max got back up and walked away from his sister, into the darkness. The more he walked, the colder it got. Max could feel dispair and anger vibrating off the walls of the hallway he entered. Taking larger steps, Max saw an amber light ahead.

Practically running, Max crossed the distance of the corridor and rounded the corner. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Liz, also in a white dress, sitting on a black bed looking at a tv.

"Liz?!"

Liz spun to look at him, a smile on her face. "My Max..."

Feeling his heart beat faster at her voice, Max raced over to the bed and engulfed her in a tight embrace. "God...Liz...are you ok?"

"Of course. You're here now."

Max pulled back a little and ran his hands along her face, down her neck, everywhere, trying to remember all he could. "Liz, we need to--"

"Shh..." she whispered, placing her finger over his lips.

Max felt a warm feeling come over his body and shivered at the sudden change of temperature.

"We have all the time in the world," she added in a sexy voice. She removed her finger slowly, sliding it down his chest.

Max could feel the trail, pulling and tugging at his skin. Liz then leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, moving her lips closer and closer to his ear.

"Look," she added, glancing at the tv.

Max turned and look, finally noticing what she was watching. It was them, over the years. Liz getting shot at the Crash and him saving her, them at the festival almost kissing, talking behind the desk in chem., Max comforting her after her grandmother died, their first kiss, and then their first break-up. It showed them kissing on the stage the night of her blind date, their kiss a few days later in the back of the CrashDown and them making out in the Eraser Room.

Max felt Liz run her hand over his chest, scooting closer. He watched on the screen what happened the night at Michael's apartment, the scene ending with them asleep, in each others arms, in the desert after finding the orb.

"I never slept better," Liz murmured in his ear.

"Me neither," Max replied, closing his eyes at all the emotions Liz was stirring in him.

"Except for the other night...but we didn't really sleep that night, did we?" she asked.

"Not exactly." Max felt like he was gonna explode, he was so hot. He needed to be closer to Liz, not just sitting beside her.

"We could stay here forever, just us," Liz added, kissing his neck.

As soon as she said that, Max remembered about Isabel and what was going on. "No...we need to leave."

"Why?" she asked, backing up a little.

Max felt the heat leaving and groaned, wanting to feel her again. What was she doing to him?!! "Isabel...you and her are stuck here," Max explained.

Liz smiled and moved back toward him. "I'm not stuck if I wanna be here."

Max felt her lips getting closer and closer to his and knew if they kissed, he'd be gone. "No, Liz, you're stuck. You need to...to understand what's going on," he managed to get out.

"I understand perfectly," Liz whispered, kissing the corner of his mouth. "I want you."

"I want you too," Max replied, leaning to follow her lips as she pulled away.

Liz smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Then we can stay?"

Max automatically opened his mouth to say yes, but stopped when a picture of Isabel flashed over his eyes. He hesitated, causing Liz to back up once more.

"Liz, don't," Max reached for her, trying to stop her from getting up off the bed.

"I love you!" Liz exclaimed, tears in her eyes. "I want us to be together."

"I want that too," Max said with emotion. "More then anything; you know that."

"Then why can't we stay here?"

"Liz, Isabel took over your body by accident. It's dangerous. You could get hurt."

"It's a little late for that," Liz whispered.

Max saw the images on the tv screen change, showing a picture of Tess and Max kissing.

"Liz..."

The images on the tv kept coming, showing all the horrible things that happened. Max getting captured, them having to run from the FBI, the pod chamber and Liz walking away from him, from their relationship. It even showed Liz in the back of the Crash looking out at him, sitting in a booth.

Max glanced back up at her. "Liz...I love you. Please understand."

"It's so nice here. I can be with you and...and not have to deal with your leaving..." Liz said.

Max got up and slowly walked over to her, pulling Liz into a hug. "We're gonna get through this."

"Are we?" Liz asked. "I feel like I'm gonna die without you."

"I know the feeling," Max replied. "But we're gonna survive. You know why?" he asked, pulling back to look her in the face. "Because we belong together. We're gonna get married one day and have kids; live happily ever after."

Liz smiled through her tears. "A little girl," she added.

"Yeah...a little girl," Max agreed.

Liz nodded, leaning up to kiss him softly. "I love you."