"Hello?" she mumbled into the phone.

"Liz, it's Michael," answered an anxious voice on the other end.

Michael who? Liz shook the sleep from her mind and sat up on her elbow. "Michael, what is it?" She glanced at her clock - it was 2:00 a.m.

"I'm sorry to wake you, Liz, and I know this is a long shot, but is Max there? I've looked for him everywhere and I can't find him."

Liz felt that nervous panic start in her stomach. Something was wrong. She rolled toward Max, who was scratching his face absent-mindedly; he was still half-asleep. "Yeah, he's here, Michael. Hang on a minute." Liz covered the phone with her hand and gently touched Max's chest. "Wake up, Max. It's Michael."

Max's eyes suddenly snapped open and he sat up, the covers falling away to display his muscular chest and stomach. He took the phone from Liz. "Michael, what is it?"

Liz watched Max's expression change from concern to fright, then he was out of the bed and pulling on his clothes before he'd even finished talking to Michael. He said good bye, then tossed the phone onto the bed without a concern for hanging it up. Liz's eyes were round as she watched him struggle with his shoes.

"Max? What happened?"

He stopped mid-lace and Liz could see his hands shaking. Max let out a sigh - he realized he almost bolted without explaining anything to her. That would have been great - make love to her then inexplicably run for the door.

"Isabel's at the hospital. I don't know the details." His voice caught on his next words. "Mom took her - Liz, she doesn't know that Isabel can't be examined by regular doctors. If they run tests and stuff, they are going to find out…everything."

Liz hopped out of the bed, unabashed by her nudity and began pulling on her own clothes. "I'll go with you."

"No, Liz, you stay here. I don't want you to - "

She shook her head. "No. Look at yourself, Max. You can't drive like that. Let me take you."

He almost protested again, but he saw the love and concern in her eyes and conceded. ______________________________________________________________________

Diane Evans was pacing the hallway in the hospital when Max and Liz arrived. She noticed that Max was holding Liz's hand, an affectionate gesture she hadn't witnessed in some time.

"Mom, I'm sorry," Max said, dropping Liz's hand and embracing his mother. "Liz and I were studying and I guess I fell asleep."

"It's okay, honey," Diane said, giving him a kiss on the cheek as she broke their embrace.

"Where's Isabel?" Max asked.

Diane motioned to the door behind her. "In there."

Max swallowed hard. "Do they know what's wrong with her?" Yeah, like she's an alien? Or maybe that she's missing a few human DNA strands? Max shook the thoughts from his head.

His mother shrugged. "Not a clue."

"Mom, what happened?"

Diane drew in a breath. "Oh, Max, I have no idea. She was acting really strange - "

"Strange?"

Diane scowled. "Yeah. Just confrontational. It wasn't Izzy at all. She was all worked up about something, throwing things around her room, swearing like a truck driver. Then she just collapsed." Max could see the tears start to well up in her eyes. "She went into convulsions of some kind, Max. She was just pouring blood from her nose and seizing. God, I was so scared. I - I thought she was going to stop breathing or something."

Max embraced her again, squeezing her tight. It must've been terrifying for her to see her daughter go through that, "Did she hurt you?" he asked.

"No."

Max released her, glanced toward the door. "Can I see her?"

Diane nodded.

Max turned to Liz and gave her a little smile. "Liz, can you take Mom down and get a cup of coffee or something?" he asked, suddenly glad Liz was there.

"Of course." Liz reached out and took Diane by the arm, comforting her.

Max felt his heart swell as he watched them walk away. The warm feeling he felt inside fell away as he pushed Isabel's door open.

Isabel was curled into a fetal position on the bed, an IV drip running into her arm. Max surveyed the bag - simple saline solution, nothing that would harm them. He sat down in the chair by the bed, just watching his sister sleep. There were traces of dried blood in her nostrils and there were scratches - from her fingernails? - on her cheeks. Max waved his hand and the blood in her nose disappeared; he'd have to leave the scratches since it would be too suspicious if they were suddenly gone. But the least he could do was clean her up.

A movement by the window caught his eye and he looked to see Michael emerge from behind the curtains. Max smiled - not even third-story hospital windows stood a chance against Michael Guerin. Max left Isabel's bedside and sat on the window ledge with Michael.

"What do you think?" Max asked softly.

"I'm still baffled. Leaning towards the Species thing."

Max snorted softly. "It's okay - I thought she had an evil twin."

Michael gave his trademark non-smile. "It would make you think so, wouldn't it?" He eyed Max carefully, noted a particularly dark patch of skin on his neck. "And I think you've been a bad boy."

Max's head jerked toward Michael. "What do you mean?"

Michael pointed to Max's neck. "You have a hickey the size of west Texas on your neck."

Max reddened, his fingers touching his neck. He used a small blast of power to fade the bruise. Damn.

Michael really smiled this time, crossing his arms. "It's okay. I won't tell anyone." He caught Max's guilty glance. "C'mon, man, do you really think I don't know what happened? I found you at Liz's house at 2 in the morning. I'm not an idiot, Max."

Max laughed in embarrassment, but stopped short when he saw Isabel stir. He left Michael at the window and returned to the chair by the bed. His hand stroked her forehead, brushing her golden hair out of her eyes. "Is?" he said softly.

Isabel's dark eyes fluttered open and she swallowed with some difficulty. "Max," she breathed.

"It's okay, Isabel."

"Where am I?"

"The hospital."

Her eyes widened and she started to get up. Max gently pushed her back to the bed. "I can't be here, Max. I can't…" She looked down at the bandage over the bend of her arm. They'd taken a blood sample. She looked to Max, her face showing the panic she felt within. "Oh, no. Oh, God, Max, you've gotta get me outta here!"

Max soothed her. "I can't, Isabel. It's too suspicious. What would we tell Mom?"

"What are we going to do?" Her voice was laced with panic.

"I have an idea," he answered, looking toward Michael. Isabel hadn't noticed he was there until then. "I need to do something, though."

She eyed him warily. "Okay."

Max picked up her hand but never broke eye contact with her. "I think I may know what's going on, Isabel." The whole time he spoke he was reaching for a handkerchief in his coat pocket.

"You do?"

He nodded, making sure to keep her gaze locked on his face and not his hands. "I just need to get something to prove my theory."

"What?" she asked, wondering why she couldn't tear her gaze away from him. Was he using his power to distract her? Why would Max do that? No sooner had she had the thought than she felt a stinging pain in the palm of her hand. She gasped, but the pain was quickly gone and she watched Max fold the handkerchief and stuff it into his pocket. "What did you just do to me?" she asked, her voice small.

He kissed her briefly on the lips, a common display of affection in his family, then longer on the forehead. "I just took a little blood, that's all," he assured her. He smoothed her hair and glanced at Michael. "Michael will stay here with you until I get back. He won't let anything happen to you. Until then, I want you to sleep, okay?"

She nodded weakly and lay her head on the pillows. Max took one last glance at Michael and waved his hand over Isabel's forehead. She fell asleep immediately. ______________________________________________________________________

Liz was preparing biology equipment in her bedroom. The sun was just starting to filter through the windows behind her. Max was standing behind her, suddenly calm.

"So, you think Isabel's body was just restructuring itself in some way?" Liz asked as she pulled out a couple of slides.

Max nodded, removed the handkerchief from his pocket.

"In what way?"

"Just look," he said softly, admiring her as she worked.

Liz took the blood from the handkerchief and made a slide. She placed it under the microscope and stood back in confusion. Max smiled at her and looked through the lens.

"Doesn't make sense," Liz said.

"Yeah, it does." He picked up her hand and she looked at him warily. "Trust me," he said, drawing a small amount of blood from her finger. She never felt it. Max prepared another slide and slid it under the microscope.

Liz studied her blood, then looked at Max in shock. "That can't be! They're the same!"

Max gave a satisfied grin and sat on the bed. He held out his hand to her, offering himself in a way that he couldn't only a few days before. His expression became serious. "Check me, Liz."

Liz met his gaze, then took his hand in hers and poked his finger. He didn't flinch as she squeezed his blood onto a slide. His blood looked the same as hers and Isabel's.

"I think Michael was partially right," Max started to explain. "He had this idea that it was a mating thing."

Liz rolled her eyes. "You mean like a Species thing?"

"Exactly. It would explain her behavior at the school and with Michael. And why she was so aggressive with me - her brother. I think her body was just changing, adapting itself to life on this planet. Probably such a rush of chemical changes that it threw her whole body off kilter - physically and mentally."

Liz rationalized Max's theory, then stopped short. "Does that mean you and Michael are going to go through the same thing? I mean…" Her mind drifted back to Max's blood sample and she looked toward the microscope. "Did you already go through that? Why weren't you doing things that Isabel did?"

Max gave a little smile. "I think I did go through it - last night."

Liz's cheeks flushed as she looked away, then returned his smile.

"I felt it," Max continued, rising from the bed and taking her by the hands. "I think the difference is that I knew what I wanted to do - I wanted to be able to mate with a human - and my body adjusted. Isabel didn't have that luxury, and I think her body has been battling with itself to either be compatible with humans or aliens."

Liz's brow furrowed in thought again. "But what about Michael?"

Max looked toward the ceiling then chuckled. "I have a theory about that, too."

"Yeah?"

"Talked to Maria lately?"

Liz studied his face, then she gasped out a laugh. "Do you think?"