***

Max didn't sleep well that night. He didn't sleep at all, actually. He couldn't wait till the morning. He needed to know so many things. He had tried to talk to Isabel, but she wouldn't talk to him. She would evade his questions and she wouldn't look him in the eyes. He would have to try his chance with Michael.

He waited till 6 in the morning, then he silently got up, dressed and drove to Michael's. He wanted to get there before everyone else came for their meeting. He knocked but nobody came to answer the door, so Max just entered the small living room of Michael's apartment. He heard the shower running and figured Michael was in the shower. He sat on the couch and began to mentally prepare himself of what and how to talk to Michael. He heard the shower shut down and thought he better let Michael know that he had a visitor, so he slowly opened the bedroom door and got the full view just as Michael was exiting the bathroom in a towel wrapped around his lower body.

The thing that disturbed Max about the picture he saw, was the fact that Isabel was sleeping peacefully in Michael's bed. Max opened his mouth to speak just as Michael spotted him at the door and motioned to him to wait outside.

Michael was dressed and outside in half a minute, closing the bedroom door behind him. Max faced him the second he saw him step into the living room.

"You slept with her again?" "Good morning to you, too, Maxwell," Michael played cool. "Don't do this, Michael. What were you thinking? Can't you see that this is not a game?" "Max, we." "Don't you Max me! What are you trying to do here? Get her pregnant?!" "Relax. She came to me yesterday, told me you were bugging her. I'm not surprised. Look at your attitude, man." "I think I have the right to have an attitude." "But not towards her. She's in a really bad shape." "No way. It took me about one second to figure that out. Ok, I might have made a mistake and pushed her too much about all this. But you sure know how to help. She comes here to you for comfort, and you get her in the sack. Twice in one day!" "I didn't! We didn't do anything. We just talked, straightened some things out, and then she asked me if she could stay. I slept here, on the couch." "Oh." "Yeah, oh. Are you happy now, Mr. 'Know it all'?" "Sorry. I'm nervous, I guess," Max admitted. "About?" "About all this. Look what's happening to us. We almost get killed, some pervert is making us do things we don't wanna do," Max started explaining and suddenly asked, "talking about doing what we didn't want to do, what exactly happened yesterday with Isabel and you?" "Are you trying to say we weren't obvious enough?" Michael suddenly became defensive. "This was a very personal thing and you all got to watch it! And now you want a word for word description? Not gonna happen." "No, Michael, I'm sorry. That's not what I meant. Of course I know what happened and I didn't ask for watching it. In fact, I tried not to look. Everyone's seen me with Maria, remember? Not the best ten minutes of my life either." "Ok, let's just drop it, then." "No. I can't drop it," Max protested, "look, I have to know. I have to know what happened. How did Isabel get the power to kill all those guards? And you? You also killed five of them. And you didn't even touch them."

Michael looked at Max exasperatedly and said: "Fine. I'll tell you. But only for Isabel's sake. To spare her this talk with you I'll tell you myself." Max sat down and faced him. Michael started pacing around the room and began.

"First. We don't know what happened. It might've been normal for our species, but it certainly wasn't normal for humans." "What?"

"It was like. we were passing our energy to each other. I mean the physical thing was normal. I think. Maybe it was much more intense than the usual thing, but that's not what's weird. When she started getting ready to.you know, I could feel her being, like her energy floating around her, inside her. Inside us. And our beings mixed and I got filled with her inner energy and she got mine. We weren't aware of ourselves and we didn't even orgasm at that time. And when we continued, the feeling of power got stronger, I felt this electric charge inside of me and she did, too. She told me later. We sort of got with the flow. We couldn't stop it, not that we tried or anything..

Anyway, when we almost reached the climax, I thought we wouldn't make it. That was the most intense thing I have done in my life. It was strong, like there was something leading us. And it was not lust."

Max listened all ears as Michael continued. "I felt I could blow up and I had to get rid of some of that energy. So. I aimed it at the camera just around the time when we.finished. Then, we both came to and figured we could use our newly developed skills. We had no idea that our powers were so deadly. And we had to get you out, so that was more or less our only option."

Michael watched for Max's reaction and Max just stared ahead, putting all the information he got, together. Michael interrupted his course of thoughts. "Do you think this happens only if we do it or would it also happen if you did it, say, with Liz?" "I don't know, Michael. And I guess we'll never find out if it happens when our people get together or only when you and Isabel do." "Maybe it was like that because it was the first time for both of us." "Could be, but I don't think so. That doesn't mean you have to prove your right by seeing how it is for the second time, though." "I know. I don't intend to." "Ever?" Isabel's voice interrupted them.

They both looked up at her. "Iz, morning," Michael rested his eyes on her figure. "Morning. Hi, Max." "You didn't have to run away, you know." "But I did. And when Michael promised me to talk to you, that wasn't meant to include twenty questions of a skeleton in the closet. Let him breathe, Max." "I wasn't giving him twenty questions, Isabel. The thing is, we're dealing with personal stuff here, so I'm sorry if I was too personal yesterday, but I had to know." "So, now you know what you need to know?" Isabel asked. "Actually, there's one more thing. The one that worries me the most and it's also the most personal." "In that case, forget it, Maxwell. This is the most personal I'm willing to get with you." "No, Michael, I have the right to know. You two are my best friends and I'm worried about you. So, please, could you just answer this one for me?" "Fine," Isabel decided. "Ask away. We can still decline to answer if it's too personal."

Max swallowed hard and tried to form a sentence that would not sound too intrusive. "That energy you talked about, it caused the camera to weaken even before you blew it," Max explained to Michael, "and the picture was pretty fuzzy towards the end and the screen got blank before you finished.what I'm trying to say is, that we didn't get to see you orgasm." "Lucky us," Michael stated sarcastically. "What I need to know is, were you.were you.. careful?" "Careful?" they looked at him puzzled. "Yeah, I know you didn't have a condom or some other birth control, but." "Max, we had no options. It had to be like that," Isabel tried to explain, but Max wouldn't drop the subject and had turned to Michael. "You could've been careful. You could've gotten out of her before you finished into her!!" "Max, I told you. We were both out of control, so being careful was not an option. Don't you think I would have done it if I could? I would have done everything to protect her from getting pregnant." "Isabel's pregnant?" came the voice from the front door.

"Maria." "Isabel's pregnant?" she repeated. Michael got up from the couch and headed to Maria's direction. "We don't know, yet. She might be and we were just discussing the possibility."

Maria's face paled and Michael ran to her and helped her sit down. She jumped when Max's leg brushed over hers and Max got the clue and moved. She was a nervous wreck. She covered her face with her hands and said, "nothing will ever be the same. Those few hours yesterday changed everything. That bastard Jerome. I'd kill him if he wasn't dead already."

Everyone was staring at her. This thing had gotten to her much more than she was ready to admit. Max looked at her and said. "Maria, I know how you must feel right now." "No, you don't. Your girlfriend didn't have to sleep with someone and is not possibly becoming a parent." "Maria," Michael left Isabel's side and crouched next to her, "we didn't have a choice." "I know." "I keep apologizing to Isabel and I just realized I owe you an apology, too. I'm sorry, Maria. I'm sorry that it had to happen this way." "I know. I know you had to do it. God, I'm so confused. I can't think clearly and I can't look Max into the eyes." "You mean.," started Michael. "Yes, I feel so guilty." "Maria," Max came closer and sat on the other side, "we didn't have a choice either." "I'm aware of that. But it doesn't change the way I feel." "You know, Maria. Michael and Isabel talked about it. They haven't solved their problem yet, but it helped them. Maybe we should try it, too." "I don't know." "You should really talk to Max," said Michael, "and when you're ready, we'll talk too, OK?" "OK."

"Hey, guys. Sorry we're late." Liz and Alex were at the door. "So, what's going on?" "Well, we've done some talking and we have a lot more talking to do. Feel free to pick your partner." "No, Max," interrupted Liz, "I don't think that's a good idea." "What do you mean?" "We should all talk together. Be honest with each other. We can later talk individually, but we were all there and should work together on our problems."

"You're right, Liz," agreed Michael, "but we don't want an anarchy, right? So I suggest we set some ground rules.

1: Everyone has the right to say what he thinks, but has to wait his turn. 2: I'm holding this club, so now I'm talking. 3: Whoever has the hold of the club, is talking and the others are listening. 4: It is not allowed to grab the club from someone in the middle of the sentence. He has to give the club to you willingly. 5: No one is allowed to talk like for a half an hour at a time. Please, use your clear judgment.

Agreed?" Michael looked from one of his friends to the other for approvals or disapprovals and Isabel stood up and reached for the club, so Michael passed it to her.

"All right. I'll start. Yesterday I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking of what had happened and how am I going to ever act normal again. And it hit me. I might never be the same again. Yesterday something happened. I realized that Michael and me sleeping together opened up a possibility of me getting pregnant."

Alex's eyes widened at that but he kept silent and Isabel continued. "It is too early to tell weather this is the case or not, but if it is, I know things will change even more drastically. I came here yesterday and Michael and I talked," she glanced at Michael and smiled lightly, "I want to thank you for being as supportive as you've been. Thanks for not freaking out and leaving me alone. Thanks for understanding." She turned her face towards Alex. "Alex, what can I say. I love you. I have no idea what you must be thinking right now. You're probably angry with me and Michael. We were forced to do this and destroy our group. I told Michael that maybe, someday, if everything goes well, we'll be able to put this behind. I don't think we'll ever forget it, I'm not even sure I want to forget it, but we might be able to start living without a fear again. Maybe."

She sat on the couch and Alex approached her. She handed him the club and he sat next to her. "I love you, too. And I support you, too. I'm not angry with you and in case you are pregnant, I still want to be a part of your life. If you'll let me. I just want to point out that it's not just what you and Michael did, that had shaken our group. We were all forced to cross the line. Me and Liz kissed. Yeah, what's a kiss compared to a blowjob or having sex, right? But it's personal. It was way too personal, and if you saw us kissing like that for example at school or in her room, you would all think 'that is cheating'.

And it is. Not in our case, obviously, but it could compare. And Maria and Max. If they did what they have done under different circumstances, it would also be called cheating. On a totally different level, but nevertheless. And Michael and you were forced to go on the highest level. The most dangerous one and the level with possible consequences. A kiss is usually harmless. So is getting a guy off. But having sex can lead to getting pregnant. And this is one of the implications of your problem. The one that the others are not facing. At least not directly. But I can assure you that we all have to deal with many layers of our problems and the first thing to do is to acknowledge them. I've done that.

I've sucked Liz's face for like ten minutes. Liz is Max's girlfriend - problem one, Liz is my best friend - problem two, Liz is Maria's best friend and Maria is my best friend - problem three, my girlfriend had slept with Michael - problem four, she might be pregnant - problem five, she might not want to be with me - problem six, should I continue?"

Alex suddenly stopped talking and held the club up in the air, indicating for anyone to take it. Liz and Maria reached for it simultaneously, but Liz backed away. "You go ahead." "No, you go, I'll wait." "Fine," Liz got the hold of the club and sat down.

"I agree with Alex. It's not just one couple. It's all of us. First I want to say something to my best friend and my boyfriend. I was crushed when I saw you two together. I'm sure everybody noticed it. And I thought I will never be able to look at you again without seeing you in action. But I was wrong. I don't want anything to change between us. Maria, I love you like a sister and together we can put this behind us. And Max. I don't think there's anything to forgive here. You were strapped and helpless. We can work this out and I hope you and Maria can also work it out. I don't want you to not be able to be in the same room or not be able to look into each other's eyes. I know it might take some time, but I believe it is doable."

Liz stopped for a while to catch her breath and then continued. "Alex, we made out. We should look at it as an experiment. You know, like that kiss in the fourth grade? We had to see what it was like, so we tried it. It was like 100 times more innocent, but we could put it into that category. To make our friendship even stronger. What do you think?"

Alex touched the club as Liz was still holding it and smiled to her. "I'd like that. Friends?" "Forever."

"Isn't that nice?" asked Maria while taking the club from Liz & Alex's hands.

Truce. Liz, I'm glad you are not holding that event with Max against us. It's no biggie. Really. It's just that. I can't stop holding it against me. Max didn't do anything. I did. I said all those things and I took his pants off and I." her voice trailed off and Max decided to save her from her misery and touched one side of the club that was still in Maria's hands.

"It's not your fault, Maria. It's not. You have to see that. Maybe for a start we shouldn't try to forget it. We should learn to live with it. We can do this. I'm ready to try. Are you?" "Uhuh." "Was that a yes?" "Most likely." "Look, Maria. I don't want to lose your friendship. We must be able to talk freely and trust each other. Do you trust me?" "You know I do." "So please, trust me and let me help you get over this, OK?" "Yes."

Maria's eyes were wet and even though she was well aware that everyone was watching, she couldn't help it but gave in into her feelings and Max intuitively hugged her. He let go of the club, but Maria still held it firmly. She wiped at her teary eyes and said, "I'm not finished, yet." "Figures." "Michael, you're breaking your own rule," she indicated the fact that he was talking while she was holding the club. He got up and touched her hand. The one that was holding the club. "Close enough? Sorry for before." "Yeah, no problem."

She was in possession of the club, again. "Liz and Alex worked things out. Me and Max will, too," she smiled at Max, "that means Liz and Max are off the hook. But what about the others? I'm talking Michael here," she looked at Michael, "you're a wonderful guy. You have virtues that a lot of men don't. You might act like you don't care, but in reality you care much more than everyone else. I've grown to love you and seeing you with Isabel had torn my heart apart.

You were always such good friends. She saved your life by giving herself to you and with that she confirmed what everyone knew for a long time. You would do anything for her and she did everything for you. This is not something you see every day. I admire you. Both of you. Everyone in this room. And to show you that I am worth being one of you, I'm willing to make a sacrifice, too.

I'll walk away. I don't want to stand in your way if you're having a baby. You'll need Michael's support. Him even. And I don't want to take that away from you because you didn't let Jerome take Michael from me. If I can't be with him, I.., I want him to be with you."

Maria broke after that and Michael let her lean onto him. Isabel's look was the one of shock. She glanced into Michael's direction and saw him looking worriedly at her, too. Was he gonna say something? She figured he wasn't, so she decided to. Maria deserved a response.

Isabel gulped and said quietly, "let's forget the club crap. Maria, I'm not trying to take Michael away from you. I appreciate you're willing to sacrifice that much but I couldn't do that if I knew he was unhappy and was only doing it for the baby's sake. Besides, we shouldn't rush things. Michael and I talked things over. To a point. We talked about the possibility, he showed me that he cared and promised me to be there for me. He never promised to be with me. And I wasn't expecting it. I don't know what I'll do if I'm pregnant, but I know what I don't want to do. I don't want to break anyone up because of it.

Things might not be the same and Michael's and mine relationship has always been pretty much complicated and we might seem tough, but I assure you in both of our names that we got more than shaken by this. We try to think rationally but sometimes it's impossible to act rational. I don't see an easy way out here, so.(choke) so.I really don't know what to do."

Everyone was silent and Isabel finally choked out after a couple of minutes, "Michael, do you think it would kill you to say something? I've been talking for both of us and I'm tired of it." She put her hand on his chest and pushed him. "Say something!" He looked blankly at her, so she continued pounding on his chest and yelling while he did nothing to fight her. "Michael, do something, please."

She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown and Michael let her punch him. Max felt it was time to intervene so he nudged Alex and took hold of screaming Isabel. He pushed her into Alex's arms and Liz and Maria watched while Alex tried to calm Isabel down.

"Michael, can I talk to you?" Max more demanded than asked, "in the other room?" Michael willingly followed him and closed the door behind them. "What the hell are you doing?" Max asked him furiously. "Nothing." "Exactly! What's wrong with you? She's on the verge of collapse, almost knocks you down and you watch her calmly! Why didn't you say something?" "What was I supposed to say?" "Anything. You've done a great job yesterday evening and this morning." "Well, things change, Maxwell." "What's that supposed to mean?" "You want to know why I didn't say anything?" "Duh!" "Everyone was talking in my name. And everyone told the truth, especially Maria and Isabel. They both have a point. Each of them has a point. I didn't say anything because I don't know which one of those two points is mine."

Max froze at that and Michael continued. "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. I like Maria and I don't want to hurt her and I don't want to hurt..." "You have feelings for her, don't you?" Max asked and they both knew they were not talking about Maria any more. Max looked into Michael's eyes and saw only one thing. Confession. He didn't need to say it. Max knew him well enough.

"Michael, you have to tell her. You can't pretend that nothing's going on. You can't torture yourself like that and you can't keep torturing her." "What? I'm not torturing her." "What do you call what happened before, when she begged you to tell her what you thought? Why didn't you?" "Because. I deserved it." "Sorry?" "She had the right to punch me. I deserved it. I did this to her. She's suffering because of me. She doesn't love me, Max. She just feels an obligation for me. I'm OK with that, you know. I just wish she knew I loved her beyond all this. I've loved her before it happened. But there's no way I can convince her now. If I told her that I'd stay with her, she'd take it as a sign of sorrow or something. And it would hurt Maria. And Alex. And everyone. Maria said she was ready to make a sacrifice and Isabel said it, too. I have to make one as well."

"Michael, don't say anything that you might regret later." "Don't worry. I won't. That's why this stays between you and me. No matter what. And I mean that, Maxwell." "Ok. So, what will you do?" "What everyone expects me to do. If she turns out to be pregnant, I'll help her raise the baby. And she'll have Alex to help her, too. She'll be all right. And I'll.I'll be all right, too. With Maria, if she doesn't dump me." "And if she's not pregnant?" "Then we have no problem." "Who are you kidding, Michael?" "Don't tell me what to do, OK? You don't know what it's like!" "No, I don't. But I know one thing. I know that I want my two best friends to be happy. And if they can find happiness together, there's nothing I would want more for them than that. What do you have to lose?" "Her?" "Fair enough. And now, what do you have to gain? Also her. So, put this on the scale. Would you rather a) not have her, be miserable, pretend that everything is all right and not know her feelings, or b) give your heart to her, tell her how you feel and maybe learn that she feels the same? There's always a possibility that she doesn't. But you know her. She'd never hold it against you. She'd never just turned you down. She'd be willing to hear you out."

"I won't lose her, Max. I refuse to lose her. Promise me you won't mention anything about this to her. Promise me!" "Fine. I promise. But you promise to think about it. It can't hurt to think about it, Michael." "All right. I'll give it a thought. Now, let's get back out there."

"Guys, is everything all right?" asked Liz when they returned into the living room. "Yeah," said Max not too convincingly, "how about here?" "She's better," Maria pointed at Isabel who was sound asleep on the couch, "she needed some more rest." "We should finish this another time," suggested Michael. "Fine, I have some things to do, anyway," Liz got up and went for the door, "Maria, are you coming?" "Just a second," Maria leaned towards Michael and kissed him, "see you later."

Max was about to wake Isabel up when Michael stopped him and whispered, "don't wake her. Let her sleep. She'll come home when she wakes up." Max backed away and Michael noticed Alex standing near the door. "Alex, if you want to take her home, you're welcome to wait here." "I have to go to the market for mom, so I'll pick her up in an hour, if you don't mind?" "No, of course not. See you around eleven, then."

Alex left, and so did Max. Michael went to his bedroom to get a blanket and covered Isabel with it. She turned in her sleep but didn't wake up. Michael sat in the chair opposite her and watched her for about fifteen minutes. She looked so beautiful. Then she opened her eyes and oblivious to Michael observed him while he was deep in thoughts. He turned his stare back to her and noticed she was awake and smiling at him. He smiled back.

"Hey." "Hey." "Where is everyone?" "They left. We agreed to finish the talk another time." "Oh." She was still laying on the couch and he moved to sit next to where her head lay. She looked up at him and silently moved up, so she could lay her head on his lap.

"I didn't mean to act like that before," she broke the silence. "I know. You were right, though. I was being a jerk." "No. You're just insecure about all this." He nodded in response and she sighed.

"I should be going," Isabel made a move to get up, but he lay a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back down. "Relax some more. Alex is picking you up in half an hour." "He is? All right, then." They were silent again, they just occasionally glanced at each other when they were hoping that the other one was not watching.

"Iz?" "Huh?" "I was wondering about something." "What is it?" "What did you mean by that 'ever?' comment this morning?" he asked innocently. "What 'ever' comment?" she tried not to blush. "Oh, come on. You know what I'm talking about." "I didn't mean anything," she tried to get off the hook, "it just sort of left my mouth, you know." "Right." "It was a stupid thing to say," she tried to make him believe, "like our second time will ever happen."

He looked disappointed, but she had misread him and thought he was offended. "Sorry." "For?" was he confused. "For.bringing it up. I know you have Maria." "And you have Alex. Wait, was that a suggestion?" Michael almost couldn't believe what was happening. Looked like Isabel had been serious. Who would have thought. *Don't blow your chance now, Guerin.*

"No," she became defensive, "no, that was definitely not a suggestion," she answered in a little too loud a voice. "It wasn't?" he twisted a lock of her hair between his fingers. She was so close. He hungered for her touch and he decided to take a chance. Everything else be damned. "No, it would never work between us," she protested weakly, "we know each other too well." "That is not necessary a bad thing," he had an anti argument prepared for her.

He moved a bit closer and leaned lower towards her while she tried to argue again. "And we're supposed to be only friends." "Since when do you, Isabel Evans, care what other people think?" "And we've slept together while we weren't even dating." "It happens, I guess," was he being stubborn. "And we." "Why are you pulling me down if you have all these arguments against us being involved romantically?" he interrupted her before she could finish her next thought. "Because," she pulled him even closer to her, so that his head was just above hers, "I don't want to believe in them."

Saying that, she lifted her head up to him and filled the emptiness that was between them before. Their lips brushed lightly and they kissed. At first he just sort of lingered over her mouth, enjoying her scent, then he lightly parted her lips and enclosed his mouth over her lower lip and sucked on it for ages. She climbed on top of him, their lips never parting and kept returning his kisses. His tongue tasted her mouth gently and she moaned lightly.

Suddenly he felt her resist and pull back so he opened his eyes. She crawled out of his lap and sat next to him, looking guilty.

"We can't do this, Michael." "What? Why? I thought you wanted." "Would this ever have happened if Jerome hadn't captured us?" "Probably not," he admitted. "See? You don't want to be with me. You're doing this in case I was pregnant so that you could stay for the baby." "No, Isabel. This has nothing to do with the baby. This is about you and me. You're right, this would probably never have happened, but you know why? Not because I wouldn't want to, but because I was afraid you wouldn't want to." "What are you saying, Michael?" "I love you, Isabel." "No, you don't," she wouldn't believe him. "Yes, I do. For a very long time. It took me some time to acknowledge it and when I did, I didn't want to risk our friendship. I didn't want to lose you. And then I talked to. a friend... and now, here I am, doing exactly what I said I would never do. I'm risking it all, hoping for the best."

"This 'friend'," she smiled wickedly, "wouldn't happen to be Max, would he?" "I can only tell you that he's a very good friend." "OK, I respect that," she paused to think for a while, "I have to tell Alex about this." "Fine, but if you intend to stay with him, I don't think you should give him too many details." "You want me to stay with him??" "What? Of course not. I just thought." "I need to be honest with him, Michael. You should tell Maria. Unless you've changed your mind." "No, I haven't. But I'll try to break it to her in the most harmless way possible. I don't want to hurt her more than necessary." "Maybe we should wait for a while," Isabel suggested. "Wait?" was Michael surprised. "Look, I'm going to wait for Alex outside. He should be here any minute. We should take some time to think about all this. A few days, ok? And after that, we'll see." Michael nodded knowingly, "All right, just promise me that you won't run away from me. I've just found you." "I won't." She took her jacket and headed for the door, but turned back and sent a kiss over her shoulder to Michael, who smiled genuinely at her.