Chapter One

"Hi sweetheart!" Liz bent down and hugged her daughter. She looked to Isabel and nodded. "Come in."

Isabel walked in as Sloane ran past them to her room carrying her overnight bag. Liz watched Isabel with trepidation as she sat at the dining room table; she reached under the table and felt for the signatures as she always did. Liz sat across from her and waited.

"You should have been told, I’ll agree with that now. At the time, I didn’t Max should tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because he screwed up and wasn’t thinking, I know, what’s new? Anyway, it wasn’t a big deal. He wouldn’t have even said anything to me if it weren’t for Sloane. I know he won’t tell you this part, so I will. After it happened he came home and Sloane told him he didn’t ‘feel like mommy’ and he freaked out. Sloane knew something was wrong and I pushed him until he told me."

"Sloane knew?" Liz glanced down the hall to her daughter’s room. "She’s so amazing."

"I know. I think she’s got a lot more talent than any of us know about." Isabel smiled. "I think she’s got some powers like Leia, she’s just not as forthright about it."

"I guess we’ll wait and see," Liz smiled. Her daughter was the warrior. "You should have told me; if I would have known I wouldn’t have doubted Max like I did."

"You doubted his innocence?" Isabel looked shocked.

"Yeah, I did." She shook her head slowly. "I didn’t have a choice. Deep in my heart I knew he could never force himself on anyone, it just took a while to find that place. This hit me out of nowhere, Iz, I didn’t know what to think."

"Well, now we have to find a way to fix it."

"Fix it? How?"

"I don’t know. First off, the two of you have to make a united front about it. You kicking him out isn’t going to look good. Let him come home, soon. Next we have to figure out what happened. I need to know why this girl is saying this about my brother."

"Now you sound like me," Liz chuckled. "Always has to know the truth no matter what."

"Well, I can’t help it. This is my brother we’re talking about. This is Max." She shrugged.

"Do you have a plan?"

"First I want to talk to Michael and ask him what the hell he was thinking by arresting him."

"It’s his job, he had to."

"I don’t know," she looked thoughtfully at her sister-in-law. "Michael should have seen through this alleged rape story and this girl. He’s not stupid. Anyway, I want to talk to the girl."

"No way." Liz shook her head. "You can’t. That is like against the rules."

"Who would know besides me, her and you?"

"Whoever she tells. That’s all Max needs, his sister threatening the high school girl who accused him of rape. Not the path to take, Iz."

"Well, okay, maybe you’re right about that. That might not look so good." She threw her arms in the air. "I don’t know what to do! This is really bad and it’s killing me knowing that there is nothing I can do."

"Be there for Max."

"Because everyone else deserted him?"

"Michael and I haven’t deserted him. I don’t think anyone has except maybe my parents." She shuddered thinking about the new message on the machine form her mother telling her the name of a divorce lawyer.

Isabel thought about telling her how upset Kyle was but decided against it. Maybe it’d blow over. Right. "Fine. Will you ask him to come home?"

"Yeah, I will. For two reasons only. I don’t want to upset Sloane anymore, she doesn’t understand and to make it look good."

"Are you going to divorce him?" Isabel asked bluntly.

"I don’t know," she sighed. "I love him, I always will, but this is devastating. I just started this new job with the city and you know there’s so much talk even though I haven’t been there the last two days. Sloane’s life is disrupted; everyone’s lives are disrupted. I actually don’t know what I’m going to do from one minute to the next."

"You’re not going to get all flaky like Maria, are you?"

Liz smiled and told her about Maria’s visit. She left out the pregnancy theory, which was none of Isabel’s business.

* * * * * *

Maria walked from room to room with Leia holding onto her leg. The little girl had not detached herself from her mother since she had gotten home from school.

"Leia," Maria stood with her hands on her hips. "Did something happen at school today?" Leia shook her head. "Then why are you not letting me go?"

Leia shrugged and held on tighter. Maria sighed as thunder cracked and the windows shook. She jumped as she felt a sharp pain run through the center of her abdomen. Shocked, she touched her stomach and thought about calling for an ambulance, then thought again. What if she was right and this was some type of freaky alien thing? She would never risk exposing Michael or the others.

She dragged Leia into the kitchen to start dinner as lightening ripped across the sky. She wished Michael were home. She wanted to tell him about her theories on the phantom pregnancy.

* * * * * *

Michael parked in front of the third house on the tour of five. He jogged to the front door as rain whipped around him. Dark clouds moved overhead bringing thunder and lightening with them. He wished he were home. Taking cover underneath the eaves of the front porch, he knocked on the door. It was answered at once, he had called ahead and they were expecting him. A teen-age girl answered the door and invited him. Her name was Jesse Jones and she was a friend of Lindy Franks.

"Thanks for seeing me," he smiled and accepted her offer of a seat at the dining room table. "Don’t your parents want to be here for this?"

"I’m eighteen." The small brunette said. "By a week. I’m not in any trouble, am I?"

"Not at all, I just wanted to ask you a few questions." He set a tape recorder on the table. "I’m going to tape this instead of writing every down, I tend to lose things that way." He smiled at her and knew when she smiled back blushing she was going to be honest with him. "You are friends with Lindy Franks, correct?"

"This year we became friends." Jesse nodded. "She only started school here the year before, but we got close this school year."

"Did Lindy ever say anything to you about a teacher named Max Evans?"

"Mr. Evans, everyone loves Mr. Evans!" She grinned. "He’s got the best classes and they are so much fun. He’s my favorite teacher!" She looked at the tabletop. "At least he was before he got arrested. Lindy liked him, too. She gets good grades in his class and she was always talking about what he said. I think he really made an impression on her. She’d go out and buy whatever book he suggested to read."

"Did she ever talk about him aside form teacher relations?"

Jesse bit her bottom lip. "Well, she thought he was cute. But almost all the girls do."

"Anything else?"

"Well…At one time she said she was going to get him."

"Get him?" Michael leaned forward.

"Yeah, like get him to like her." Jesse looked uncomfortable. "We told her he was married, but she said she didn’t care. I think she was getting obsessed with him."

"Do you now if they was any physical contact between them?" Michael felt the beads of sweat on his back and under his arms.

"Not really. She used to talk about things, but no one believed her." Jesse shook her head. "She said she kissed him but none of us believed her. Sometimes you have to take Lindy with a grain of salt, if you know what I mean."

"Tell me."

"Sometimes she exaggerates. She tells stories about living on the East Coast and partying with all these celebrities and stuff. I can’t see Mr. Evans doing anything to her, Sheriff."

Michael thanked her and ventured back out into the storm. Out of the three friends of Lindy Franks’ that he had conducted impromptu interviews with, he found Jesse Jones to be the most credible. Besides the fact that he didn’t have to skate around with parents, he liked her. He told her he might want to talk to her again and she had agreed. As he was walking down the steps into the rain she had called to him from the door that she’d do anything she could to help Mr. Evans.

As Michael got back in the 4X4 he was beginning to put together a picture of Lindy Franks, a very unflattering picture of her. He drove to the next two homes and was scrutinized by a mother at the first and a father at the second. Both girls said Lindy would never lie about anything like that; and both parents said that it was a horrible thing for the school district to have employed such a monster.

He drove home after the last house to type up the transcripts and deliver them to Max’s lawyer along with his own analysis of the five girls.

* * * * * *

Liz was silent when Max came on the line on his parents’ phone.

"Liz?" He asked again after getting silence the first time. "Are you there?"

"I want you to come home." She said and cleared her throat. "It doesn’t look good for you to not be here."

"Oh."

"And I think Sloane needs you home, she doesn’t understand all this confusion."

"She misses me?"

"Yeah, she does. Can you get a ride or should I come get you?"

"My parents can bring me home Liz, thank you." His voice broke as she told he’d be there soon.

Liz hung up and felt worse than she did before. She didn’t really want Max around her yet, but she had to do what was best for everyone else. Max needed to know he wasn’t alone and Sloane needed her daddy home.

She walked to Sloane’s room and was surprised to find the little girl curled up on the floor asleep. She picked her up and put her on the bed and kissed her cheek.

"You are an angel, Sloane." She pushed long strands of hair away from her small face. "Everything’s going to be okay." And she left the room. Knowing Max, he would be there within the hour.

Thirty-four minutes later Liz heard a key in the lock. Her husband walked in and dropped his overnight bag on the floor. He took two steps towards her and waited.

"I hope you know that just because I asked you to come home doesn’t mean that everything’s okay between us." She said and he nodded. "You’re here because it looks a lot better to the public and Sloane needs you."

"You don’t need me?"

"Right now? No, Max, I’m sorry. I don’t." She watched as what was left of his confidence shattered. "You haven’t told me the truth about anything yet and I need to know. How am I suppose to believe you or trust you again if I don’t know what’s going on?"

He sat at the other end of the couch and tried to capture his wife’s eyes, he couldn’t. "Okay, I told you I was intimate with her. Three times, three separate occasions. Once in my classroom I kissed her. Once behind the library and once when I gave her a ride home."

"Did you touch her?" She asked as her leg began to bounce. He nodded. "Did she touch you?" Another nod from Max; more leg bouncing from Liz. " How far did it go Max?"

"Her breasts. I touched her breasts and she touched me, once."

"Hand or mouth?"

"Liz-"

"Hand or mouth?" She tried to keep her voice under control in fear of waking Sloane but it was so hard.

"Her hand, my mouth." He looked to he floor.

Liz stood and paced in front of him. "Why?"

"Why?"

"Why did you do it? Am I not good enough for you? Are you not happy?" Liz laughed cruelly. "You know I always say that you and I are the last people that would ever have an affair after all we had to go through to be together."

"You and Sloane are the most important people in the world to me. I can’t give you an answer as to why I did it. I don’t know. She came on to me, plain and simple. She’s pretty and I’m stupid."

"I’ll agree with that. Was it worth it? Was your little infidelity worth losing everything for? The School board called, you’ve been put on administrative leave without pay until this is resolved." Liz spat out. "But please, feel free to inquire about another teaching position if you are cleared."

"They called?" His voice was hoarse.

"After the arraignment yesterday." She walked away and then back towards him. "I thought we’d be together forever."

"Liz-"

"Now I don’t know if we’ll make it through the end of the week." She started to walk away but was drawn back by a pounding at the front door. She answered and Kyle nearly bowled her over to get in.

He saw Max on the couch and went to him, pulling him by his collar. "You’re a fucking pervert, Evans!" Kyle spoke from behind clenched teeth.

"Kyle!" Liz ran next to him. "Let him go!"

"Liz, he’s a loser." He slammed Max back against the couch. "He was fucking around with a student. He doesn’t deserve you!"

"Kyle-" Max said quietly from the couch.

"You!" Kyle pointed at him. "Shut the fuck up! You don’t have a right to say anything!"

"Kyle, calm down." Liz took his arm and escorted him to the dining room and sat him down at the table. "Keep it down, Sloane’s asleep."

"Get rid of him Liz, he’s dragging you down." Kyle motioned towards Max. "He’s never been good enough for you."

"Kyle, I know this is hard-"

"Not hard to understand, don’t say that." He interrupted her. "It‘s actually easy to understand. He was fucking around on you with one of his students. Cut and dry. After everything else he’s ever put you through, he does this and breaks your heart again. Where does it end Liz?"

"Actually, this is none of your business. This is between me and Max and you don’t know the full story so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t voice accusations."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am. Max is still my husband and I can’t tolerate you coming here, to our home, and treating him like this."

"But Liz-"

"No, that’s it Kyle. I’d like you to leave until you can come in here and not attack Max."

Kyle stood up and looked between Liz and then Max. "Well, then, I don’t know if I’ll be back." He walked out the door and slammed it shut behind him.

* * * * * *

Leia was hearing sounds coming from her parent’s bedroom; she wasn’t worried, she heard them all the time. She knew her mommy wasn’t telling her daddy things and she was scared. She sat up in bed and looked at the opposite wall.

"I’m scared." She whispered.

"Don’t be scared, be strong." She heard Sloane’s voice in her head. "She’s going to need you. She’s going to need everyone."

"But she’s my mommy," Leia wiped away tears on her round cheeks.

* * * * * *

Chapter Two

Liz went back to work and the world moved on as Max sat at home with his daughter. He didn’t have a job, he didn’t want to leave the house; friends he still had were working. Even his sister was on an all-day excursion with her new beau and his daughter. Sloane was lying on the floor in front of the television watching Muppets of some kind; Max didn’t know their name.

After his fourth trek through the house he was bored. Bored to depression. He lay down on the couch resting his head on Liz’s pillow. She had slept on the couch each of the five nights since he had been home. He inhaled her scent and wanted to cry. He missed her so much. Even though he saw her everyday, it was all so wrong and distant. Last night was the first night he had gotten her to smile at something he said. He saw a glimmer of the old Liz in the smile. The Liz that used to be proud to be Mrs. Max Evans.

Who could blame her for not being proud of him right now? He was a dark mark in an otherwise clean sky. He was accused of raping a student. What could possibly be worse for a new teacher? Michael talked to him everyday, but he could tell Michael was preoccupied with something else, probably Maria. He had eavesdropped on a conversation Liz was having on the phone with her. Maria might be pregnant.

Jared Knox, his lawyer, had told him the date of the trial, still eight more weeks away. He still wanted to call Lindy and ask her why she was doing this, but that was out of the question. He wanted to call the school and explain that it was all a mistake and beg for his job back, once again, out of the question. Jared Knox ordered Max not to talk to anyone except him.

He sighed and looked down at his daughter. What was she going to think when she was older and finds out her daddy was on trial for rape? What about if he was found guilty? He couldn’t think of that. It couldn’t happen. Innocent people don’t get sent off to jail for crimes they didn’t commit, right? Michael told him they’d get him out of it. But would that happen? Max covered his face in his hands.

Thoughts drifted through the abyss he called his mind. What he had sharpened in school and work was now dulled. Wild images of life going on without him clouded everything else. Liz would be a perfect single mother, if anyone could do it, it was Liz. She is so strong. Isabel would grieve, so would his parents and close knit circle of friends. But they would all be able to go on, to move on without the burden of having a rapist in the family. Was he actually considering killing himself? He shook his head. Never in his wildest imagination did he ever think about suicide before and now it was prominent.

"No daddy," Sloane looked up from the floor at him.

"What Tiger Eyes?" Max’s attention was brought back to the condo and his daughter in front of him.

She climbed up on his lap and wrapped her thin arms around his neck. "Don’t go away daddy."

Max squeezed his eyes shut and held his daughter tightly. "I’m not going anywhere."

"Don’t leave me and mommy," she whispered in his ear and kissed his scruffy cheek. "We need you."

"I promise baby, I’m not going anywhere." Max rubbed his daughter’s back and wondered when she had learned to read minds. That was not necessarily a good thing, although right now, it was the best thing in the entire world. Those few words from his five-year-old saved the life of Max Evans.

* * * * * *

Maria DeLuca paced in front of the couch waiting for Michael to come home. He promised he’d come home for lunch and she had been waiting for just shy of an hour. She peered out the front window and sighed heavily, no Michael. A cramp seized her stomach, stumbling she made it into the bathroom. She pulled down her jeans and saw blood in her underwear. Blood in a thin line running down her inner thigh. She panicked and tried to wipe it away with Kleenex. Eventually, only a red smear was left.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "You’re okay DeLuca, everything’s fine." She changed her pants and sat down at the kitchen table. "You’re fine. Just a little spotty, nothing to get worried about. So you haven’t had your period in four months, that means nothing. You’re fine." After several more minutes she had almost convinced herself that everything really was going to be fine.

The phone was ringing as she finished her mantra. She answered and immediately wanted to cry. It was Michael and he had to cancel their lunch date. She hung up with him and called Liz at work. She dialed the extension she had gotten from Michael and waited for voice mail. Everything was always voicemail.

"Liz Parker, I mean, Evans." Liz answered.

"Hey chica, forget your name?"

"Hi Maria, rough day." She sighed. "Everyone keeps walking by me and staring. I’m about to stand up and make a public service announcement."

"I guess you’re busy for lunch then?"

"Actually, no. I thought Michael was coming home for lunch today."

"He was," she paused. Did Michael tell her everything? "He had to cancel."

"So I’m your second choice, huh?" She said with a smile in her voice.

"Not really," Maria smiled. "Come over. I already have sandwiches made.

"I’ll be over soon." Liz promised and hung up.

"Cool," Maria walked around the kitchen and felt better already. She’d get to hang out with Liz. She missed Liz. Even though things had smoothed over with them, there was still a ripple of unfamiliarity when they were together.

She knew Liz had every right to still be pissed for Maria being so absent and bitter, but time will heal everything, isn’t that what Liz always says? She waited patiently for her friend to arrive and while waiting decided against telling her about the bleeding. She’d tell Michael when he got home.

* * * * * *

As Liz Evans made her way through the office to the front doors she felt eyes on her back. She swung around quickly and busted most of her co-workers staring after her.

"All right, that’s it!" She yelled. "I know I’m new here and you all don’t know me very well. If you did, you’d know to come right out with whatever you want to say and then move on. I know everyone here is aware that my husband was arrested for rape. But what you don’t know is my husband. If you knew him, you’d never believe this story that some girl made up about him. This is a crushed schoolgirl who had the hots for her teacher. When he wouldn’t play into her, she called rape. It’s a daily occurrence in America, don’t any of you watch ‘Lifetime’?" She knew they were listening when she heard a few chuckles. "Now, I’m going to lunch, I’ll be getting back late so you’ll have plenty of time to speculate while I’m gone. Bye!" Liz turned back around, as she walked through the front door she heard a smattering of laughter. Mission accomplished.

* * * * * *

Michael cancelled his lunch with Maria not because he was busy being the Sheriff, but because he was busy following Lindy Franks. She was becoming his obsession. He followed her as she shopped in a clothing boutique and then a music store and then as she ate lunch by herself at a fast food restaurant. He knew the way she walked, talked and drove. She was just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. There was nothing spectacular about Lindy Franks. She was very pretty and very polite to everyone she encountered. She didn’t speed and she didn’t meet anyone for a clandestine drug deal. Lindy Franks was just a girl.

Michael trailed her until she went back home. He knew her parents had pulled her out of school and wouldn’t let her leave the house for more than a couple hours at a time. He drove past her house slowly once again before cruising through the high school parking lot. School was just letting out for the day and the parking lot was alive with students. He drove slowly and stopped the 4X4 when he saw someone flagging him down. It was Jesse Jones. She bounded over to the truck smiling. Michael leaned out the window.

"Sheriff Guerin," she beamed holding her hand over her eyes blocking the sun. She held a few sheets of paper in her other hand. "Hi. I wanted to show you this. It’s a petition to get Mr. Evans his job back. Most of the students signed it. I told you he was a favorite."

"That’s great Jesse."

"Could you tell him we all miss him?"

Michael promised and returned to the department. So much to do, so little time. Jim Valenti had called earlier after speaking with a friend of his in the DA’s office. They had a strong case built on circumstantial evidence, but Lindy Franks was a model student and citizen. They were going to want a DNA sample from Max. The information was given to Jim in confidence; Michael promised he wouldn’t utter a word. He already knew what was needed for a conviction, he also knew that Max’s DNA wasn’t going to match anything found on or in Lindy Franks. It wasn’t going to match anything found on the planet. He was worried. This was a legal case; everything would be examined in front of experts from both sides. He slapped the steering wheel in disgust. He decided to call Maria from the station and tell her he was going to work late. Already knowing her feelings were hurt after canceling lunch, but he had to. He had to figure out a way to get Max out of this mess. It wasn’t only Max’s life on the line; it was all of theirs.

* * * * * *

Maria tried not to cry after hanging up the phone with Michael. He’d be late again. She looked around the empty house and sighed. At the time it had seemed like a good idea for Isabel to pick up Leia and take her and Sloane to the Children’s Museum with her new boyfriend Rick and his daughter. At her lunch with Liz she found out Max wasn’t doing all that good, not that he should be, but she still kind of felt sorry for him. Besides, she had thought to herself, Sloane needed a break form daddy the brooding. Now she rethought it. She didn’t want to be alone tonight; she wanted to tell Michael everything that she’d been experiencing and her theories. She had put it off long enough, after the incident with the bleeding, she knew she had to tell someone her fears and Michael seemed to be working all the time lately. Trying to help Max, she knew that.

On impulse she picked up the phone and called Kyle. Kyle had been there for her all through her pregnancy with Leia. He was her brother in her heart and she had abandoned him with everyone else. He was someone who had never wanted anything from her but friendship. She missed him. She missed him a lot. Although Morgan was entirely too up front for her lately, she knew why Kyle loved her.

"Hi," she said when Kyle answered.

"Maria?"

"You know my voice," she smiled into the phone. "I was wondering if maybe you want to come over and hang out."

"With you?"

She heard the hesitancy in his voice. "Yeah, with me. We can order a pizza and talk."

"You and me?"

"Kyle, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for being such a bitch to you and everyone else. I miss you; you’re my kind-of brother. We used to hang all the time and now we don’t."

"That’s not my fault."

"I know who’s fault it is," she sighed. "Do you think you can find it in your heart to forgive me? Please?"

"You buying pizza and beer?"

"Of course," she smiled so wide she felt her cheeks ache. After she hung up she felt better. Kyle would always be around for her. She could talk to him about anything. The stiffness she had felt earlier with Liz wouldn’t be there with Kyle. Kyle was, well, he was Kyle. All around good guy. She drove down to the store and picked up a twelve-pack and waited. She opened the door before Kyle could knock and embraced him in a bear hug. He laughed and hugged her back.

"Whoa!" He broke free from her. "I guess you’re happy to see me?"

"You have no idea!" She laughed and hugged him again. "I’m sorry Kyle. I’m sorry for blowing you off, it wasn’t personal."

"What’s going on with you Maria?"

"I’ll get to that later, first we order pizza!" She walked into the kitchen and called for delivery while handing Kyle a bottled beer. "Okay, thirty-five minutes." She sat at the table with Kyle across from her. "I’m sorry I didn’t celebrate your nuptials with you, I should have."

"Yeah, you should have, you’re right." He shook his head and swallowed half the bottle of beer in one drink. "I was so mad at you. I thought you were being so selfish and self-centered."

"I was," she sighed. "I’m having problems Kyle and I don’t know what’s wrong."

"With Michael?"

"No, not with Michael." She smiled saying his name. "I think I might be pregnant and I’m scared out of my mind that something’s wrong."

"You don’t know?"

"No, not really. Nothing’s right." She shook her head. She should be having this conversation with Michael first. "I don’t know what to do. I can’t go to a doctor because what if this is some freaky alien thing? What then?"

"What does Michael think?"

"He doesn’t really know about everything. He’s got so much on his mind right now, you know, this whole thing with Max is, what?" She stopped after noticing his grim expression.

"I don’t want to talk about him, I don’t really even want to hear his name, okay?"

"What’s going on?"

"I’m pissed and I want to kick his ass for what he did to Liz. Plain and simple," he raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "He’s a fucking pervert and I don’t want to be around him anymore. I’m done with him."

"Okay," she stretched out the single word. "Well, Michael’s been busy and Liz and I are trying to reconstruct our friendship and I’m scared."

"What can I do?"

"I don’t know." She rubbed her stomach. "I don’t feel pregnant most of the time. Sloane scared me at Christmas; she put her hands on my stomach and started to cry. Leia said she was trying to help me. That freaked me out," she admitted.

"Help you, like heal you?"

"I think so, she can do that, you know like Ma- her father."

"You need to talk to Michael and Isabel, they’ll know what to do." Kyle said like it was the best solution in the world.

"They won’t know anymore than I do. The man without a name, I’ve been thinking about going to him, especially after Sloane…"

"If you must, but I wouldn’t let him touch you with a ten foot pole. God, he makes me sick. Why does Liz put up with him?"

"People make mistakes," she said weakly. "So, Michael and Isabel, first, huh?"

Kyle nodded and reached across the table picking up her hand. "I’ll help you, Maria, anyway that I can. You can always count on me."

* * * * * *

Chapter Three

Michael didn’t arrive back home until after eight o’clock. Leia was home and in bed, completely worn out from an afternoon of walking through the museum and terrorizing Isabel’s new friend’s daughter, Paige. Maria was waiting for him in the kitchen. An empty pizza box and a few beer bottles sitting on the counter.

He smiled. "Did you have a party without me?"

"I invited Kyle over for dinner." She stood and walked to him, embracing him. "I have to talk to you, it’s important." She felt his shoulders sag, he was so exhausted. "I’m sorry."

"No, it’s okay. I should have been home hours ago. Let me change, I’ll be right back." Michael walked to the bedroom and took of his uniform shirt and jeans. He’d given up the matching pants when he became Sheriff. Dressed in pajama bottoms and socks he went back to the kitchen. He sat across the table from her and grinned earnestly. "What’s up?"

"Bad things," she said and shook her head. "I was bleeding today and I think there’s something wrong with the baby. I mean, if there is a baby."

"Bleeding?" He leaned closer while running his hands through his hair. "From," he motioned downward with his eyes.

"Yeah," she did the same. "Michael, I think we really lucked out with Leia because if this isn’t some funky alien thing then I might really be screwed."

"We have to get you to a doctor."

"We can’t."

"Shit!" He stood, paced the room and sat back down. "Are you in pain?"

"No, I’ve had a couple of sharp ones, but they pass within seconds. I don’t feel anything."

"Nothing strange?"

"Not really," she sighed and wished she knew one way or the other because she really wanted one of the beers in the fridge. "I’m scared, I don’t know what to do. I wanted to talk to you about this before, but then everything went bad with Max and I know you’re working hard for him. God, you work so much, and I turned away from Liz and Kyle and everyone. I just wanted to be alone or with you. Tonight with Kyle was great, I finally could tell someone everything that was going on."

"I should have been here," Michael said softly, guiltily.

"It’s okay." She smiled. "I just don’t know what to do. Remember all the jokes I made with Leia about being green with antennae? Well, I’m not joking now. Should I go see Max?"

"Well, he’s not a doctor and he’s not a medicine man, but maybe he could help."

Maria relayed the story of Sloane on Christmas day, her small hands on Maria’s belly, the tears and Leia telling her she was helping. Michael leaned back in his chair tilting it on the back legs and covered his face with his hands.

"It might have been nice to know this at the time." He said quietly. "C’mon. Get Leia up-"

"Why?"

"I want you to see Max." Michael shrugged. "You said it yourself, you wanted to see him."

"Not tonight, Michael."

"Why not?" He looked at the clock on the microwave. "This could be serious. Real serious." He walked across the room to the phone and dialed Max’s number. He answered.

"I want to bring Maria over, is now a good time?"

"For what?"

"She needs help."

"Bring her." Max said and Michael heard the disconnection.

"Let’s go," Michael walked to her and hugged her. "Don’t worry, I’ll make sure everything’s okay. I won’t let anything happen to you."

She smiled and kissed him and knew he was telling the truth. She was safe with Michael; she always was safe with him. Michael left her and went to change again while she woke up Leia and got her up. She didn’t make her change from the Star Wars nightgown she was wearing. She carried her from the bedroom and laughed when she saw Michael. Still dressed in the plaid pajama bottoms, he donned a gray sweatshirt and sneakers. He shrugged with a sideways grin and took his sleeping daughter from her arms. They piled into the Tempo after Leia had been safely buckled into the backseat. She mumbled something about ‘her not being awake’ but then drifted back off to sleep.

Upon arriving at the complex, Michael got his daughter out and carried her inside. The elevator seemed to take forever to reach the correct floor. Max was waiting in the open door and invited them in. Michael laid Leia on the couch and faced Max and Liz, who stood about six feet away from her husband.

"What’s wrong?" Max looked at Michael and then Maria.

"Tell him," Michael motioned to Maria and listened to the story again.

Max looked to Liz. "I don’t know what I can do."

"Fix her," a small voice came from the other side of the couch.

Maria jumped up and nearly ran to her daughter; she was still sleeping. "You heard her Max, fix me."

"I don’t know," he shook his head. "What am I trying to fix?"

Maria looked at him, eyes bugged. "This baby or whatever is going on inside of me." She looked back to Liz. "I don’t know."

"He’ll do what he can," Liz offered and felt like an idiot. Max wasn’t a miracle worker and he didn’t even know what the problem was.

"He’ll have to," Maria looked fretfully to him. "I haven’t always trusted you as a person, Max. I trust you with my life and my child’s life, but not other things. I just wanted you to know that."

Michael bounced on the balls of his feet. The day’s exhaustion dissipated. He wanted Maria to be well. He needed his Maria to be okay. "Can you just do your thing?"

Max nodded and knelt on the carpet in front of Maria. She smiled, embarrassed, as he lifted her shirt and placed one hand on her stomach. His eyes closed and his mouth gaped.

"What is it?" Michael kneeled down next to him. "Max?"

Max shook his head. "It’s not good, but I can’t tell why. Or what."

"Am I pregnant?" Maria asked.

Max looked to her and took a deep breath. "You were, I think."

Maria closed her eyes and swayed, Michael was at her side instantly holding her arm. He sat her down at the dining room table, kneeling in front of her. Rubbing his hands over hers. "Maria."

She shook her head as the tears she hated rolled down her cheeks. "What do you mean I was?" She looked to Max through tear soaked lashes. "I’m not now?"

"I don’t think so Maria," he touched her shoulder receiving instant gratification when she didn’t recoil. "I can’t feel life."

"Then what is wrong with me?"

Max shook his head. "I felt the traces of life."

"Traces of life," she snorted. "Are you saying that my baby is dead?"

"Max?" Michael looked to his life long friend.

"I can’t be sure Maria, I’m sorry. But something’s wrong." He wished he really could fix her and make everything better, but he didn’t know how. "Give me time to think about what to do, okay? I’ll try to figure it out."

"Are you sure the baby’s not alive?"

"Maria, I don’t know for sure it was a baby at all."

Michael opened his mouth to speak and then caught Max’s eyes. It was alien. It was Michael’s other side. He closed his eyes and rested his head on her thigh. "Let’s go home."

She nodded and stood looking at Max. "Please, try to help me." She hugged him and then Liz. She walked out the condo and waited for Michael to gather Leia.

"It was alien, wasn’t it?" Michael asked quietly although he already knew the answer.

"I think so," Max looked towards the open door. "It didn’t feel like human life."

"Fuck," he ran his hands through his hair. "Don’t tell her. Okay? I have to; this is all me. Was it the not being able to breathe on earth thing?"

"I wish I had an answer Michael, but I don’t, maybe."

"Is she hurting?"

"Yeah, inside. Physically, no. Any pain she had like tonight is gone. There’s nothing there." He put his hand on Michael’s shoulder. "I’m sorry; I know this isn’t what either of you wanted to hear and you know I could be so wrong, but I think I’m right. Now we have to figure out a way to make it okay."

Michael thanked the Evans’ and met Maria in the hall carrying the sleeping Leia.

* * * * * * *

Isabel was happy. For the first time in a long time, she was truly happy. Her life was right on track. She had cash in the bank, more to roll in with each book she wrote and she had found a cozy cottage style house barely inside the Roswell City limits. She had taken Jim Valenti with her to make sure the dwelling wouldn’t be knocked off the foundation by a gust of wind. After careful inspection, he deemed it worthy of her inhabitance. She made an offer and it was accepted within an hour. Isabel Evans was going to own her first home. She was elated. Her parents were moving in less than a week, so when her brother and sister-in-law offered her a place to stay until she closed on the house, she jumped on it. Through all of her own happiness, a scar of pain shown through. Max. His life was in turmoil. His world had fallen apart. Her brother with the kind, gentle soul and giving nature had made a huge mistake and unfortunately it might cost him everything.

Staying with the younger Evans’ might be a tough ride; at least she had Sloane to keep her company when she wasn’t babysitting Max. She smiled at that. The leader of a planet needed a babysitter. With their parents moving so soon and the trial coming up, she was actually somewhat impressed Max hadn’t sunk further into the dark hole of guilt he was so fond of. Liz was working a lot and always putting on a happy face when she got home for Sloane. Interaction between her and Max was so strained, Isabel knew Sloane could see right through it. Sloane knew everything that went on around that place.

Isabel left the confines of her temporary room, which was a guestroom that held a bed and nightstand and nothing else; there was no room for anything else, it was more like a glorified closet. She didn’t care. In about a month she was going to have a whole house to herself. She couldn’t wait. And then there was Rick and his daughter. The few times they’d spent together were fun. She felt sorry for Paige at first after learning her mother had died when she was only a baby; but then she realized what a good father Rick was. Rick Mineo, a handsome retail store manager was fun. Their relationship was still at the friendship stage, which was fine with Isabel. She didn’t want to get involved with anyone seriously for awhile. She was loving life and didn’t want to complicate it with a serious boyfriend and all the relationship crap that went along with it. Outings with Rick and Paige, sometimes bringing Sloane and Leia along were fun. She was having fun.

Way ahead of schedule on her books; she had the outlines for at least a dozen more ready to go. She had decided to milk the ‘Robin’ series for all that it was worth. She wasn’t worried about money at all. The money she had wired to get Max out of jail would probably come back to her if, no, when, he was found innocent. Either way, she didn’t care. While forking out the cash for Max’s lawyer, she didn’t even bat an eye. It was, after all, just money. Max was family.

* * * * * *

Two days passed before Max received a phone call from his lawyer. Jared Knox informed him that he was required to give a DNA sample: blood and hair. He had made an appointment for him for Monday morning giving Max the weekend to stew over it. He didn’t say anything to Isabel all afternoon or to Liz when she arrived home from work. He met Liz nearly at the door; she raised her arms as if to hug him, then remembered she didn’t do that anymore.

"Hi." She said and walked by him setting her briefcase on the table. "Did Sloane have a nice day?"

"Yeah, we all did." He shook his head and walked into the kitchen. He turned around, surprised when he felt Liz in back of him. "Need something?"

She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You."

He sighed, closing his eyes and burying his face in her neck, inhaling her scent, feeling her touch. He had missed his wife. She tilted her head and kissed his cheek quickly. His heart ached against her, fog was lifting, and the darkness had a white light glare around it. His world was not over.

* * * * * *

Maria sat on the couch with Leia halfway lying in her lap. It was almost dinnertime and Michael wasn’t home yet. No big shocker, Maria thought, he’s never home. She jumped when the front door opened and the silhouette of a Sheriff stood in the dusky light. Her Sheriff.

"I’m taking the week-end off," Michael hung his hat on a hook on the back of the door. "I want to spend a little time with my two favorite girls." Maria blushed and felt like she was back in high school. He walked to the couch and bent down to kiss her. He motioned for her to join him in the other room and walked away. Maria pried Leia off of her and stood, nearly getting banged in the head by the remote control.

"Damn it Leia!" Maria scolded her. "I told you not to do that, remember? You have to be very careful no one ever sees you doing that!"

"Isabel let’s me," Leia changed the channel with the contraband and giggled.

"Well, we’ll just have to have a little talk with Isabel now, won’t we?" Maria stood with her hands on her hips and suddenly felt like her mother. She shook her head and left her daughter to watch the live animal shows that she loved. She met Michael in the bedroom and closed the door behind her, "So, what’s up?"

"How are you?" He asked taking her into his arms. "Seriously?"

"I’m freaked out, how do you think I’d be?"

"I wish I could help you," he buried his face in her hair as he had for years. "I can’t let anything happen to you."

"Nothing will happen to me."

"It’s my fault, this is all my fault."

"What do you mean?" she asked while queasiness in her stomach materialized.

"Max. He thinks it’s an alien thing, that, you know."

Maria nodded. She had known for so long and didn’t blame Michael. She could never blame him for anything. "It’s not your fault."

"Everything is my fault." He exhaled against the smoothness of her cheek. "It’s because of my lineage that you’re going through whatever it is that’s happening. I don’t know how to make you better. I was hoping the other night with Max…"

"I told you she wasn’t awake," Leia said cracking open the door.

"What Honey?" Maria looked at her daughter.

"She wants to help you, but she wasn’t awake." Leia let out a deep breath and crossed her arms over her chest. "I told you she wasn’t awake but you didn’t listen!"

"What are you talking about?" Michael let go of Maria and knelt down on one knee in front of Leia.

"She wasn’t awake," Leia repeated clearly getting frustrated with her parents. "You have to go when she’s awake!"

"Who?" Michael asked already knowing the answer.

"Sloane! She can help mommy but she was sleeping!"

Michael turned to face Maria, her eyes wide. "Sloane."

"Yes, Sloane!" Leia clapped.

"Sloane can help mommy." Maria stated instead of asking while Michael was already reaching for the phone.

Michael called the Evans’ condo; Liz answered.

"Tell me everyone is home." Michael said breathlessly into the phone.

"All home."

"Leia. She said Sloane could help Maria. Can you bring her over?"

"Sloane?" Liz smiled. "Of course. We’ll all be right there."

Michael hung up and hugged his daughter. "You did try to tell us, didn’t you?"

Leia nodded and laughed when Michael swung her around over his head. The Guerin/DeLuca family waited in the living room for what they hoped was a miracle in the form of a little girl.

Liz, Max, Isabel and Sloane showed up within a half-hour. Isabel had been filled in on everything on the way over. Her feelings were slightly hurt that no one mentioned it to her before, but this was real life now and something’s were still private.

"Sloane," Liz escorted her to the couch. "Can you help Maria?"

Sloane shrugged and looked to Leia who nodded back at her. "I think." She walked to Maria and pulled the hem of her shirt until Maria knelt down in front to her. Sloane closed her eyes tight and put her hands on Maria’s stomach. After a couple of minutes of silence, Sloane stopped and turned around to face her father. "Can you help me?"

Max didn’t ask how, he got down on the floor next to his daughter and waited for directions. She placed her hands back on Maria and told Max to put his over hers. Max did as he was told and felt a jolt of something powerful course through his veins. He forced himself to keep his hands on his daughters. Maria felt the electrifying jolt as well and tried to push away, Liz and Isabel were there to hold her steady while Michael stood watching, his mouth gaping.

Max pressed himself closer to Sloane, was now afraid to break contact. What was his daughter doing? Maria let out something close to a sharp scream and fell to her side. Blood poured from in-between her legs soaking the cotton pants. Michael fell to her side while Isabel reached for the phone.

"No!" Sloane yelled in her passive voice. Everything stopped as Sloane smiled and crawled to Maria. She tucked Maria’s hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek. "You’re okay now."

Michael looked frantically from his fallen lover to Max who couldn’t offer him any answers. Maria sobbed while Sloane caressed her face. Max felt like all the energy had been sucked out of him, he was amazed at Sloane who seemed fine. Liz darted into the kitchen and back out with towels. Her and Isabel joined the others on the floor trying to place the towels strategically under Maria as more blood continued to soak her pants.

Michael watched in horror at the blood. "Sloane, why is she bleeding?"

"Washing away the poison," she explained continuing to stroke Maria’s cheek. Leia joined her and looped her arm through Sloane’s as they nursed Maria.

Maria looked up at the two little girls and smiled. "Thank you."

"They wouldn’t listen before," Leia explained to Sloane.

Max was still trying to catch his breath as Isabel helped him to his feet.

"What the hell happened Max?" Isabel demanded.

"I don’t know but I never felt anything like that before." He looked down at the scene on the floor. "I felt so much energy and I think it was all from Sloane."

"She healed her, you both did." Isabel felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

"I think she needed me to make the connection, otherwise it was all her." Max smiled. He leaned back down to Maria while supporting himself on Michael’s shoulder. He placed one hand on Maria and smiled. "It’s not there anymore, Maria."

* * * * * *

Chapter Four

Maria felt fine. She looked good and she felt good. She had no idea what she had gone through. She chalked it up to a freaky alien thing. The thought of carrying and losing a baby was too much for her. The weekend was good to her, she was able to spend time with Michael and Leia and actually feel like a normal person again. Well, as normal as she always was.

Michael had left a few hours ago, the first time he left her side since the ordeal with Sloane and Max. Sloane, she mused, what a wonderful little girl. She glanced briefly to the spot on the floor where she felt like she was dying. Reassurances from a five-year-old girl had given Maria the faith she needed to get through. She’d never forget the warmth and compassion she felt as Sloane caressed her face. Never, she told herself over and over, would she ever forget what Sloane and Max had done for her. Never.

* * * * * *

Michael was sitting in the Valenti’s living room with Morgan waiting for Kyle. She told him Kyle was with his dad shopping for a birthday present for Amy and should be back soon. Michael told her about Maria and Sloane. Morgan hung on his every word. Sometimes Michael got the feeling from her that she wished she were more involved in the ‘other’ part of their lives.

"Sloane? Little Sloane who talks in whispers." Morgan held her hand over her mouth. "I can’t believe it. She’s so shy. Are you sure it wasn’t more Max?" Although Morgan wasn’t privy to witnessing too much of Max’s powers, she had heard stories.

"I’m sure. Max is the one who said it. He thinks Sloane used him for a connection to Maria, he said he felt a jolt of something like he’s never felt before and it drained him. Meanwhile, Sloane gets up acting like nothing ever happened." Michael shook his head and smiled. "It was so impressive."

"And Maria’s fine now?"

"Yeah, she’s acting like her old self again and feeling great."

"That’s amazing," Morgan laughed. "So, how is Max? I’m not allowed to say the name in here anymore. I’ve been worried, but with Kyle…"

"He’s okay. He’s not great by any means. I mean he lost his job and Liz is supporting them, he just kind of sits at home and mopes around. At least Isabel is there to keep Sloane company."

"How’s it going to turn out?"

"I don’t know Morgan. He didn’t do it if that’s what you’re asking."

"I know he didn’t do it; but he’s not exactly innocent. I mean he did mess around with her, right?"

"Not much." Michael hated accepting that this was partly Max’s fault. "But he never raped her."

"Do they have a strong case against him?" Morgan asked with pity in her eyes. She liked Max; she didn’t want to see anything happen to him. Michael shrugged an answer. "How is Liz holding up? It’s hard for me to get a hold of her."

"Because of Kyle?"

"Well, yeah." She sighed. "I hate how he’s acting. I mean I know he’s pissed, but he’s acting like an overprotective boyfriend to Liz. It’s driving me crazy."

"Liz is like a little sister to him, don’t be jealous. You know Kyle and Max have had a difficult history together. Friends. Not friends. Friends again. It’ll pass, you just have to give it time."

"So, why are you here Sheriff Guerin? I never did ask if this was a business or a social call."

"Do you see my badge anywhere?" Michael asked and looked at Morgan. She was smiling until she saw his expression; there was no humor in it. She excused herself to the kitchen and returned with soft drinks. "Thanks." Michael took the can of carbonation from her and glanced at the front door as Kyle came through it.

"What are you doing here?" Kyle asked shaking Michael’s hand.

"We have to talk." Michael looked to Morgan and she left the room, Kyle watched his wife until she was out of sight.

"So, what’s going on?" Kyle asked hesitantly. He took Morgan’s spot and looked at Michael. "Am I getting arrested?"

"Why does everyone always think I’m going to arrest them?" He managed a laugh. "No, no arrests tonight. I’m off duty."

"Alrighty, what can I do for you?" He stood. "Mind if I get a beer? Want one?" Michael declined and Kyle returned with a frosty bottle in his hand. "Maria still doing okay?"

"She’s doing real good." Michael took a deep breath. "I need your help." Kyle raised his eyebrows and waited for the other shoe to drop. "Max needs your help."

"Evans can kiss my ass."

"This is serious, Kyle. I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t."

"What?"

"I need you to give the hair and blood sample for Max. He can’t. For obvious reasons neither can I."

"Forget it." Kyle shook his head. "I’ve played all the games with him for a long time. He went too far this time and will get exactly what he deserves."

"Kyle, he didn’t rape her."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I’m sure" Michael shook his head and took a sip of soda. "You’re not?"

"I don’t know anything. Did he actually rape her? I doubt it. Did he sleep with her, probably. He was screwing around with her on Liz, that’s a fact."

"Is that around school?"

"Surprisingly, no. I haven’t heard more than a murmur about that. Her friends are backing that story up, you know, the true one. However no one seems to be listening to them. There’s even a petition to get his job back." Kyle shook his head. "Unbelievable. Teacher going on trial for rape and the kids want him back."

"Maybe the students know him better than you do," Michael raised an eyebrow. "I need your help, man. This isn’t just for Max. This is for me, Isabel, Maria, Leia, Sloane and Liz. What do you think would happen if his DNA was examined? They’d take him, Liz and Sloane away. That’d be it. Game over."

Kyle shook his head. "I have to think about it." He held up his hand in protest. "I have to think about it, okay?"

"Its tomorrow. He goes in tomorrow morning."

"How the fuck do you think you’re going to do this?" Kyle raised his bottle. "This is for a trial, Michael, it’s not like peeing in a cup for someone. There will be experts watching everything to make sure it’s done accurately. Don’t you watch Court TV?"

"Leave the rest to me. Will you do it?"

"Ill call you tonight. That’s the best I can give you right now." Kyle looked to the door. "Maria? She’s seriously still okay?"

"Yeah. Sloane and Max healed her. Without them, I don’t know what would have happened to her." Michael rose and extended his hand to Kyle. "I don’t have anyone else to turn to for this, Kyle. No pressure, but if you don’t help us, I don’t know what will happen. To anyone."

Michael left and drove to DeLuca/Valenti home. He knocked once relieved when Jim answered.

"Michael, come in." Jim opened the door letting him in. "I just got back a little while ago. Kyle and I went shopping." He rolled his eyes. "What’s up?"

"Amy here?"

"No," Jim answered slowly. "Is everything okay with Maria? Leia?"

"Yeah, yeah. They’re fine." Michael sat down on the couch while Jim sat across from him in a chair. "I need some advice." Jim waited. "Max has to give a DNA sample tomorrow."

"I heard."

"I asked Kyle to help, but he said he needed time to think about it." Michael nodded. "He’s kind of pissed at Max."

"You think?" Jim shook his head. "He wants to kill him."

"Well, anyway, there is no one else. Sorry Jim, but you’re too damn old." Michael smiled. "It has to be Kyle or I don’t know what will happen. Max will go away, along with Liz and Sloane. They won’t come back. Then there’s Isabel and my family. I don’t know what to do."

"Have a little faith in Kyle, he’ll do the right thing." Jim cracked a smile. "Let him play hard-ass for awhile. He’ll come around and come through for you."

Michael nodded. "Then what?"

"What do you mean?"

"They’re taking Max’s hair and drawing blood from him in the morning. How can I switch it?"

"You see, Michael," Jim smiled. "You’re a smart man, you’ll figure it out. For years I was able to take care of everyone because of my position. Now it’s your turn to keep everyone safe. You’re in charge."

"Will you help me if I need it?"

"Of course," Jim smiled and relaxed back into the chair. "I’ll always help you, all of you, whenever you need it."

Michael stood and shook his hand. He left the house and knew what had to be done; how to do it was another story altogether. Michael Guerin went home with the plans to sit by the phone and wait for Kyle to call. He prayed Jim was right about his son.

* * * * * *

Isabel cleared the dinner dishes noticing Max was acting a little more sullen than he had in the past few days. The gloomy mood seemed to be erasing as she saw her brother and his wife reconnect.

"Isabel." Max said her name as she came back in the dining room. She looked to Liz who shrugged. "Can you sit down. I have to talk to both of you."

Isabel sat down as Sloane bounded into the room with a coloring book. She held it out to Isabel. "No sweetie, we’re going to have a grown-up talk. I’ll color with you when we’re done, okay?" Sloane hung her head and nodded as she walked into the living room.

"She loves having you stay here," Liz remarked watching her daughter leave the room. She looked to Max. "Sorry, go on."

"On Friday my lawyer called," Max drummed his fingertips on the table. "I go in for hair and blood samples in the morning. They want to match my DNA with what was on Lindy."

"Oh shit," Liz’s eyes were wide. "Why didn’t you say anything?"

"I didn’t want to worry either of you over the week-end."

"Well, now what?" Isabel felt her heart in her throat.

"I don’t know. I have to go and do it." He shrugged. "Then I guess me, Liz and Sloane plan an escape out of town and run." He shook his head. "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry."

"No one is leaving town." Liz said. "Have you talked to Michael about this?"

"No," he shook his head. "He’s had Maria to worry about; I didn’t want to put this on him too."

"Shit Max!" Isabel slapped the top of the table. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed the broken cordless phone. She brought it out to he dining room and dialed. "Michael. Max has to give blood samples in the morning-" She listened for a minute then said good-bye and hung up. "He said not to worry."

"What?" Liz questioned.

"Michael knows already," she looked to her brother. "He said to go to the appointment and not to worry."

"How can I not worry, Iz?"

"Trust Michael. He hasn’t let you down yet." Isabel stood and walked to the living room while she got on the floor with Sloane.

"What’s he thinking?" Michael asked Liz actually expecting an answer.

"I don’t know Max, I’ve been a little preoccupied with you lately to talk to him much." She fought the urge for a fight. "Why don’t you call him."

Max nodded but didn’t reach for the phone. "I think we should just go. Maybe tonight."

"’Just go’?" Her hands were splayed in front of her. "I don’t want to ‘just go’. This is my home, my family and friends. We’re not leaving Roswell, Max."

"They can’t have my DNA." Stating the obvious.

"Michael said not to worry. Isabel’s right, he’s never let you down before." Liz sighed. "Go their tomorrow and do what they ask. If Michael says it’s taken care of, then it is."

"You have a lot of faith in him." Max said with a spark of jealousy. "I wish you had that much faith in me sometimes."

"I do, Max. Well, I did." She closed her eyes. "Before all this I had more faith in you than anyone else in the world. More love and more trust. It’s going to take a while to get the trust back. You broke your wedding vows to me."

"I didn’t sleep with her."

"That doesn’t matter. You still cheated on me." Liz smiled sardonically. "You made me lose my trust in you and yes, it will take awhile to get it back. It will come back, though. We’re not getting divorced; we’re going to have a nice happy life together. I know we are. But you have to give me a little time. I do love you Max, I always will. You are my life."

"Thank you," Max said quietly. "I love you Liz." She stood and walked around the table to him. Placing her arms over his shoulders she hugged him and kissed his cheek. "Will you ever sleep in the same room with me again?"

"Eventually." After kissing the top of his head she joined Isabel and Sloane on the floor with the coloring books and the crayons.

* * * * * *

Michael did as he planned and waited by the phone. When Isabel called he nearly jumped out of his skin. Maria understood the urgency although she didn’t know all the specifics. He declined her offer to help and waited. He watched Leia and then Maria go to bed after eleven. Five minutes before midnight, Kyle finally called.

"Before I agree to anything," Kyle said. "I want to make it perfectly clear that I am not doing this for Evans. Okay? This is for everyone else that I care about, not him."

"Does that mean you’ll do it?"

"What exactly do I have to do?"

"Blood and hair, that’s it."

"Where?"

"Liz’s. She can draw the blood from you."

"Will he be there?"

"I don’t know."

"What time?"

"Can you be there after noon?"

"I’ll have to skip school." He sighed. "Twelve-thirty. I’ll be there; but you let him know I’m not doing it for him. This is for you guys, for Liz and Sloane."

Michael promised and called Liz, waking her up. "Can you be home at twelve-thirty tomorrow?"

"Sure," she yawned into the phone. "Sorry."

"Be home then and if you can, make Max disappear for awhile."

"Michael, will everything be okay?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "It’ll be fine."

Michael hung up and let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Was he lying to Liz? He didn’t know. He didn’t have a freakin’ clue what he was going to do about anything and in less than nine hours Max Evans, alien, was going to have his blood drawn.

* * * * * *

Chapter Five

Maria rolled over, surprised to find Michael looking at her. She smiled placing her arm over her eyes. "It’s early. Did you sleep at all?"

"Not really," he leaned over and kissed her lips. "I had a nice week-end with you."

"Yeah, me too. Maybe we could do it again sometime?" She pushed the blankets down exposing her bare breasts.

He groaned and reached to her, rolling her nipple with his fingers. "I don’t want to leave this bed. Ever." He moved in closer to her capping his mouth over her distended nipple and sucked. He smiled into her when a small moan escaped her mouth. The blankets moved down around their legs and Michael’s hand skimmed in between her legs. He pressed it to her and then into her. Her legs spread, her hands pulled Michael up to her. Resting on his elbows above her, staring into her eyes. "Beautiful."

She smiled love at him, caressing his unshaven cheek with the back of her hand. He maneuvered inside of her. Her legs tossed off the remainder of the blankets before they crossed around his waist. He sank into her, burying his face in her hair. Inhaling the scent of sleep. The scent of her. Keeping his eyes closed trying to block the rest of the day he had ahead of him. Focusing on Maria. Maria.

"You okay?" She asked breathlessly in his ear. He smiled and raised his head so she could see it. She smiled back at him and felt the desire in him transfer to her. Reaching forward she brushed his mess of hair back off his forehead. "You need a haircut."

He nodded and plunged deep inside of her forcing the air from her lungs. She grinned as his legs shook along side hers, his arms no longer able to hold him up. Trembling he lowered himself next to her. He nuzzled her neck keeping one arm across her chest. "I know this is going to be a crappy day, but I’m so glad it started it out good."

"What’s going to happen to Max, Michael? I mean, you can’t fake a DNA test. Can you?" She asked rolling onto her side to face him.

"Kyle," he sighed. "He’s providing the samples." He didn’t want to tell her too much. The less she knew the better off she was in case he got caught.

"How?"

"Don’t worry about how." He ran his hands through his damp hair. "I don’t want you involved in this Maria."

"Not involved? What’s really going on?"

"I don’t know everything yet, but if there’s trouble, I don’t want you involved. You’re a crappy liar."

"Is there the possibility that you’ll get caught?"

"There’s always a possibility for everything." He didn’t face her he knew the accusatory stare was evident. He got out of bed after kissing her forehead.

She heard the shower running and called Liz. Isabel answered and refused to put Liz on the phone because she was with Max and it wasn’t a life or death circumstance. Frustrated, Maria slammed the phone down and called Kyle. Morgan answered and told her Kyle already left for work. He was going in early because he had an appointment in the afternoon. Maria thought before she spoke; she said good-bye and hung up. Morgan didn’t know either, she reflected, that was probably not a good sign. Liz would know. She cursed Isabel again for not putting her on the phone. A flicker of jealousy she thought she had banished nearly caught ablaze knowing that Michael still confided almost everything in Liz. A friendship. That’s all it was, Maria got sidetracked, they’re friends and nothing more. More like siblings than friends.

Hearing the water stop brought her back to the current situation. She got out of bed, putting on her robe, and waited for Michael to come back out. She was tapping her foot, arms crossed over her chest. He opened the bathroom door with a towel wrapped low around his waist and cringed. "What the hell is going on Michael? You have to tell me, maybe I can help."

"You can’t help," Michael shook his head and sat next to her. He picked up her hand and brought it to his lips. "Just leave everything to me."

"I used to help out with a lot of things Michael, you know that? You guys used to depend on me for a lot and since I had Leia I don’t get to do anything." She pouted. "Don’t get me wrong, I love my life, but damn it! I actually miss some of the excitement. Isn’t there anything I can do?"

"No sweetheart, there isn’t."

"I don’t believe you. Anyway, what is the big plan?"

"I’ll take care of it."

"You don’t have a big plan, do you?" She cracked a smile. "You’re winging it, aren’t you?"

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I’ll take care of it Maria, okay? Let it go." He stood and walked to the closet; then turned around to face her. "Listen to me. If something happens, you have to make me a promise. If I can’t get to you, there’s enough money in the savings account to get you and Leia far away from here. Go to Isabel and have her change ID’s for you and the license plates on the car. Go away and go away fast. When, and if, it’s safe I’ll find you."

"What?" Maria held her hands out in front of her. "What are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere."

"Maria, just promise me. If something happens, take Leia and go."

"You’re scaring me, Michael."

"I’m scaring myself."

* * * * * *

Liz and Isabel watched Max leave alone to go to the hospital. They had both offered to go with him; both had been denied. He mumbled something about having to do it alone and left after hugging his wife and kissing his daughter on the top of her head. The elder Evans’ women sat at the table in silence. Max would be gone for a couple hours and all they had to do was wait for him.

Sloane seemed to understand the gravity of the morning and was content to lay on the couch coloring. Isabel walked by once and marveled at the colorful crayoning of snow-capped mountains and skiers in bright snowsuits. Isabel shook her head in awe. Her niece was a very talented artist.

"Oh, Maria called a while ago." Isabel bit her bottom lip. "You were with Max and I didn’t want to disturb you."

"What’d she want?" Liz reached for the cordless phone on the table, looking irritated by the electrical tape that was holding the phone together. She knew she could have any of other three alien-it back together, but for Liz it served as a reminder of her husbands infidelities.

Isabel shrugged. "I don’t know, but she sounded kinda funny."

"Funny like ‘off’ or funny like in ‘I’m going back into brood mode’?" Liz asked carefully before dialing.

"She sounded off a bit."

As Liz dialed a frantic knock at the door made her jump. Isabel was already out of her chair going for the door. She opened it and Maria walked in. "Isabel, next time I need to talk to Liz, damn it, put her on the freakin’ phone!"

"I told you she was with Max when you called." Isabel glared at her. "Don’t ever tell me what to do."

"Whatever," Maria dismissed her walking towards Liz. "I want to know what the hell is going on."

"Maria!" Liz smiled. "What are you talking about?

"Michael’s acting all cryptic this morning and I’m shit outta luck because I lost my secret decoder ring when I was eight." She sat in the chair next to Liz. "So, tell me. I’m not going to be left in the dark."

"Michael?" Liz recalled the phone call from him late last night.

"Yeah," she glared at Isabel as she reclaimed her chair across from Liz. "He said if there’s trouble that I should take Leia and run. Isabel’s suppose to get us new ID’s and plates."

"Run from what?"

"That’s my question!" Maria threw her hands in the air. "He said Kyle’s giving the samples for Max and that’s all he’d tell me."

"Shit!" Isabel slapped the tabletop. "He’s going to go out and do something reckless. Damn it, I should have known better. Of course he has a plan and from the way he’s acting it’s not a good one. Did he say anything else?"

Maria shook her head. "Nope, that’s it. I tried to call Kyle and got Morgan who seems as clueless as I am, maybe more."

"He told me to be home after twelve and to have Max gone." Liz looked to her friend. "I think he’s doing the switch here. Listen, if Michael knows what he’s doing, let him do it."

* * * * * *

Sheriff Guerin didn’t have a clue how he was going to make the DNA switch. The samples were going to be locked at the hospital until the following morning when they would be sent by courier to Santa Fe to begin the tests. He stood outside the exam room with Deputy Jo Davie next to him. She had insisted in coming along and without a good reason, Michael couldn’t say no.

"This must be hard on you," she commented popping another piece of fruity smelling gum into her mouth. " I mean, he’s your friend."

"He’ll be found innocent Jo." Michael looked down the empty hallway while wiping the sweat off the back of his neck. He caught a reflection of himself in a mirrored door across the hall. He stared at the image of himself; plain brown Sheriff’s shirt tucked into tight blue jeans riding low on his waist. Black work boots and hat and sunglasses. The shiny gold star pinned proudly to his chest. At that point he saw himself as a human man living in a human world.

"Are you so sure?" She cocked her pixie face to the side and seemed to admire his reflection in the mirrored door.

"Yeah, I’m sure." He pivoted from his reflection and looked down at her. "You don’t really have to stay here if you have something better do."

"Oh, no. I’m good." She cracked her gum. "Besides, I don’t know if it’s such a good idea for you to be the law enforcement witnessing this, you know, him being your friend and all."

"What the fuck are you saying Davie?" His heart rate quickened. Did she know what he was thinking?

"I’m only saying that I know you want to see Max go free as much as apparently everyone else in this creepy little town." She stood closer to him and spoke quietly. "You’re a damn good Sheriff, Guerin. I don’t want o see you do anything that would cost you your job."

"I don’t think I like what you’re insinuating." He fought the urge to take off his hat and run his hands through his hair.

"I’m not insinuating anything," she sighed as two nurses walked by. She waited until they were down the hall before speaking again. "If you’re thinking about doing anything stupid, don’t."

"Davie, you don’t really know me well enough to know what I think. I take my job very seriously and I would never do anything to jeopardize it. Got it?" Jo Davie nodded although Michael thought she looked most unconvinced. Michael looked down at her. "Is that why you’re here?" The sudden realization dawned on him. "Is that why you wanted to be here so bad? To make sure that I didn’t steal his blood and runaway?" Michael considered how close to the truth that was.

"I was only telling you that I thought." She looked up to him. "You’re a good boss, I don’t want to lose you as that."

Michael began another protest but silenced himself as he saw Max walking down the hall, his lawyer Jared Knox was with him. They nodded at Michael and Jo before entering the sterile room. Michael and Jo followed and stood back against the wall. They were the last ones to arrive. The exam room was crowded with suits. Two attorneys from the Franks family stood to the side and watched Max with distaste. Max didn’t face anyone.

The doctor taking the samples wasn’t familiar with either family and seemed to want to be anywhere but there. He had Max sit in a chair and drew blood. Sealing and labeling the blood, he handed it to the nurse in back of him. He plucked a few strands of Max’s hair and sealed them in a clear envelope. He asked Max to lower his pants for a pubic hair sample. Max did as he was told without saying a word or meeting anyone’s eyes. It was over minutes after it started. He walked from the room and down the hall without uttering a word to anyone.

Michael watched intently as each matter was taken and organized. He tried to memorize the amount of hair and blood. Tried to memorize everything that he was going to have to remember later. He watched so closely that he didn’t notice Deputy Jo Davie watching him. After the samples had been catalogued and secured and witnesses signed statements, the suits left the room talking and joking. Michael and Jo followed. They saw Max in the hallway as he disappeared around a corner with his lawyer.

"It always seems like a bigger deal on TV," Jo commented as they walked down the white corridor towards the front entrance. "I thought there would more drama."

"You don’t think that was dramatic?" Michael snorted.

"You know what I mean," she pushed through the revolving door first and waited for her boss on the other side. "Hey, if you know he’s innocent, why do you look so stressed about all this?"

Michael looked at her without an answer; there wasn’t one. "I’m not."

"Yeah, you are." She got in the passenger side of the 4X4. "Why don’t we get some coffee before we head back?"

Michael declined her invitation and drove back to the station in silence. Although he was aware of the glances Jo gave him, he ignored her. He had more important things on his mind.

* * * * * *

Kyle and Morgan arrived at the Evans’ condo at exactly twelve-thirty. They walked in and Kyle immediately looked for Max.

"He’s not here," Liz said. "He took Sloane to the park."

Morgan rolled her eyes at her husband. "I hope you don’t mind that I’m here. I knew something was going on and I insisted on being here."

"You and me both," Maria commiserated looking at the person she had not yet apologized to. She motioned Morgan away from the small crowd and stood by the kitchen door. Morgan joined her expectantly. "I’m sorry, Morgan. I should have apologized before now."

"It’s alright. I didn’t know what was going on with you, I shouldn’t have been such a bitch."

"I didn’t know either," Maria smiled. "You tried to help when no one else knew what to do. Thank you."

"I tried to help by yelling at you," Morgan finally smiled. "I’m sorry. And I’m glad that everything’s okay now."

Maria smiled and hugged her. "It was Sloane and Max, I think they might have saved my life."

"Michael told me the story the other day, it’s amazing." Their conversation was interrupted as the front door opened and Michael let himself in. "Michael."

Michael looked from face to face of his family and friends and wondered when this had turned into a party. "Why is everyone here?"

"I’m here to find out what the hell you’re going to do." Maria walked towards him. "Her too." She motioned to Morgan.

"We live here," Isabel smiled pointing to Liz and then back to herself trying to break the tension. "And Kyle is the guinea pig."

"I’ve been called worse," Kyle let some of the anger ease form him. "Alright, let’s get this show on the road."

Michael nodded and set down a little brown bag he had been holding. He explained to Liz how much blood was drawn from Max and how much hair and from where. He handed her a syringe and labeled vial and two labeled clear plastic bags. He had spent the rest of the morning making labels he thought were identical to the ones used in the hospital on his computer. After trying to make sure all traces had been erased and deleted he was confident of his work.

Kyle and Liz went into the bathroom and she set out all the necessary equipment. Kyle smiled. "I always thought you’d become a doctor or a research chick." He rolled up his sleeve and winced as she tapped his arm looking for a vein. "I never thought that you’d stay here and work here. I remember when you had the stars in your eyes."

"I still have them," she smiled. "They just changed a long time ago."

"Why are you staying with him?" Kyle asked quietly. He hadn’t spoken to her since his rampage on her husband and knew very well that this line of questioning was out of order.

"He’s my husband, Kyle." She sighed and leaned against the vanity. "He didn’t hurt that girl, you know that."

"Yeah," he nodded. "I know he didn’t hurt her physically. But I also know he did fuck around with her."

"It’s over."

"After everything he’s done to you-"

"Yeah, like making me happy. Being a wonderful husband and father?"

"You know damn well what I mean." He let out a breath. "I know we won’t agree and I hope you know that I’m not doing this for him. I’m doing this for everyone else except him."

"I know," she finally smiled. "Thank you. You’re saving all our lives."

Kyle nodded and waited for her to draw blood. He winced when she plucked hair from his head and blushed when he pulled down his pants. "I never thought you’d get in my pants."

Liz blushed and sealed up the bags. She opened the bathroom door and walked out with the contraband back in the bag. She handed it to Michael and looked at him expectantly as a crack of thunder shook the windows and set off car alarms in the parking lot below. "Now what?"

Michael shook his head. It was something that he needed to do alone. Although still a little fuzzy on exactly how to do it, he knew he had to do it alone. The front door opened and Max and Sloane walked in. Sloane immediately went to Maria and hugged her legs. Maria was near tears at the gentleness and kindness of the little girl.

"What’s going on?" Max looked to Liz after pausing on each of the faces in the room.

"We’re leaving," Kyle reached for Morgan’s hand and led her to the door. Without a look back, they left.

"Why is everyone here?" Max spoke over the rain that was now pelting the windows.

"Don’t worry about it Maxwell," Michael clapped him on the back. He kissed Maria on the cheek and walked from the condo without another word.

"Liz?"

"Just let Michael do what he’s doing."

"Which is?’

"We don’t know Max," Maria broke free of Sloane’s grasp and stood in front of him. "All I know is that Kyle just had blood drawn and hair snipped. Michael’s switching the samples somehow and he won’t tell anyone anything."

"He can’t."

"Well, he is dear brother," Isabel joined the conversation. "And he’s doing it alone."

Max looked to his wife before retreating into the bedroom.

"Okay," Isabel clapped her hands together. "That went well."

Sloane pulled on her mother’s leg trying to get her attention. Liz finally looked down at her. "He needs help."

"Who needs help, sweetheart?" Maria asked getting down on the floor in front of her. "Your daddy?"

Sloane shook her head and pointed at Maria. "Yours."

"Michael?" Maria heard the panic in her voice as Sloane nodded.

* * * * * *

Liz was worried, it was after nine and Max had left the condo almost four hours ago without a word. Michael hadn’t answered a page after the first one and Maria was no where to be found. She had put Sloane to bed an hour before and paced the living room. As she walked down the hall she heard her daughter talking. She paused outside her bedroom door and looked in. Sloane was sitting up in bed looking across the room towards the window

"I don’t know what you mean."

"Where are you?"

Lightening flashed across the room lighting Sloane’s face in bright gold. "If he’s your daddy too, why do you want to hurt him?"

Liz felt the gooseflesh as she backed away from the door. She shook her head back and forth. No. No.

* * * * * *

Chapter Six

Stealthy. Max was trying to be stealthy. He had been sitting and waiting for almost two hours in the jeep a few houses down from the Guerin/DeLuca residence and waited. What he was waiting for, he didn’t know. Michael had come and gone and was back home again. Maria hadn’t been home since the afternoon. He knew Leia was at Amy and Jim’s after driving by there and seeing Jim and Leia on the front porch. A curt wave out the window was all Max had to offer. He was on a mission.

Taking a deep breath, he stretched his legs and arms. When a face appeared in the window next to him he nearly screamed. Not expecting anyone, he saw Maria.

"What are you doing?" He asked harshly.

"Watching you, nimrod," she rolled her eyes. "I know Michael’s going to try to switch your goodies tonight and then you pull up and sit here like a stalker. What’s going on?"

"I don’t know," he shrugged. "I was waiting for Michael to do something so I could follow him."

"That was my plan!" She smiled. "I’ve been sitting in my car down the street for hours and then you showed up and just sat here, too. This is stupid."

"Michael won’t tell you anything?"

She shook her head. "No, he said he had to do it alone. And as we all know, alone is not necessarily a good thing."

"This is my fault," he looked sincerely at her. "I should be the one trying to fix it."

"That doesn’t matter. Michael’s scaring the crap out of me with this. I just want to make sure he’s going to be okay. I think his big plan is to break in and switch the samples. All in all, it doesn’t sound like a major." She looked towards her house. "But if he gets caught doing anything with your genes, then your DNA will so stand out like the Jolly Green Giant at a midget convention. Then there goes you, your sister and daughter. Probably Liz, too, you never know. Not to mention, Michael will lose his job and probably worse."

"You don’t think I’ve thought about all these things already?" Max said somewhat irritated. "Me, my person, is the last thing on my mind. I was a fucking idiot to let this happen. It’s everyone else’s safety that I care about, not my own. Unfortunately, it doesn’t end with me and Michael is putting himself on the line for everyone. Alone."

"I know!" Maria started loud but lowered her voice. "Do you have a plan?"

"No. You?"

"Hardly. This was it." She looked towards her house again and then darted in front of the jeep. She let herself in the passenger side and shut the door. "Hi."

"Hi. What do you think you’re doing?"

"Whatever you’re doing. You go, I go."

"Forget it, I don’t wa-"

"I don’t care." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked straight ahead. "This is my life at stake too, Maxie. You didn’t forget that, did you? Did you ever think that maybe we can help by working together?"

Max opened his mouth to speak then closed, nodding. "Okay DeLuca, you’re on. We’ll work together on this on one condition." She raised her eyebrows in anticipation. "You don’t ever call me Maxie again."

Maria smiled and crossed her heart with her index finger. She grabbed Max’s arm and pointed. "He’s leaving." They watched as Michael walked from the small frame house and to the Tempo in the driveway. He looked around before getting in. Max waited until Michael was out of the driveway and almost half a block away before starting the jeep. They stayed a good distance behind him trying to be inconspicuous. Both Max and Maria were so involved in not losing Michael; neither of them noticed the headlights that had pulled out in back of them.

* * * * * *

Liz felt faint. Hearing her daughter talking to someone who wasn’t there was fine. What she had said made her skin crawl. Could her sweet daughter Sloane actually be having a conversation with Max’s other child? Liz shook her head in denial. No way, there was no conceivable way that could happen. She thought about shrugging it off; but then thought better of it. If Liz Evans had learned nothing else in the last seven plus years, nothing should be ignored. Ignorance is not bliss.

She took a deep breath and walked back to her daughter’s room. Sloane was still sitting up looking towards the window but she silent now. Liz ventured in the room and said her daughter’s name softly. Sloane turned to her and smiled. "Hi mommy."

"Hi sweetheart," Liz sat down next to her. "I was walking by your room a few minutes ago and I thought I heard you talking to someone."

"I was," she picked up a stuffed giraffe, absently petting its long neck.

"Who were you talking to?" Liz felt the knot in her stomach forming. Sloane shrugged and lay down. "Sweetheart, who were you talking to?"

"I don’t know his name." She whispered.

"How were you talking to him?"

"His voice was in my head."

"Do you talk to him a lot?" Liz asked and Sloane shrugged again. "I heard you say something about daddy. Does he know daddy?"

Sloane shook her head intensely. "No!"

"Does he want to hurt daddy?"

"He said he would someday."

"Why?"

"I don’t know." Sloane looked up into her mother’s eyes. "He said he’s my brother. I don’t have a brother, do I?"

Liz mulled the question over for a full minute before answering. Everything that Max and her had decided to tell Sloane and when was barreling through her cerebral cortex. Five was too young to understand; they had originally thought thirteen, not five. "No, sweetie. You don’t have a brother." Liz took a deep breath. "I don’t think you should talk to him anymore."

"I don’t want to, but he talks in my head." Sloane closed her eyes.

"Can you turn it off?" Liz asked and rolled her eyes not believing this conversation was actually happening. Sloane shrugged and clutched her giraffe tighter to her chest.

"I don’t like him." Sloane rolled on her side ending the conversation. Liz kissed the top of her daughter’s head and left the room.

Sitting down on the couch Liz wondered if she had just made a mistake by telling Sloane she didn’t have a brother. Technically, Liz tried to convince herself, there really might not be a brother. She shook her head knowing that wasn’t the truth. In less than thirteen short years that brother was going to try to kill her baby girl.

Telling Max seemed like the best idea. Although her first instinct was to talk to Michael, she remembered that Michael had his own life to worry about and that she couldn’t run to him with all her problems. There was always Maria, but she didn’t know the story of the second coming of a futuristic Max and it would be too hard to explain at this point. Max should know if his daughter is talking to his son, even if he doesn’t know the ramifications of the future. How were they talking? Liz didn’t have a damn clue. Hearing his voice in her head was scary. He would be about three years older than Sloane and apparently already filled with hate like his mo-Tess. She cringed while thinking about her name alone. She had banished almost all images of her over the years. The tattoo covering the brand was the grand finale. Liz closed her eyes and actually tried to picture Tess’s face. A distorted image of blond curls and blue eyes was as far as she could get, as far as she wanted to get right now. The Tess saga was for another day.

She glanced at the clock, after ten. Wondering how she had wasted the last hour thinking about her own personal devil; her thoughts turned back to Max and his whereabouts. She grabbed the broken cordless and dialed Maria’s listening as the machine turned on. Next she paged Michael again. After waiting for ten minutes with no return call, she decided it was futile to keep trying. Something was going down and she wasn’t part of it. Neither was Isabel, she was still on her date with Rick. A last minute dinner invite had arrived shortly after Max left and after much deliberation, Isabel had left to meet him.

Walking around the soundless condo Liz began to worry. The worse scenarios played out in front of her like a movie. Damn it, she thought, whatever they’re doing they better be careful about it.

* * * * * *

Michel Guerin drove through the city he was sworn to protect ready to break the law, several probably. The master plan he had been trying to think of all night was non-existent. Part of him wished now that he had consulted with Max and Isabel; well, at least with Isabel.

He parked the Tempo in back of the hospital and waited. Ten o’clock on a Monday night wasn’t the most happening of times. Clearly his presence would be noticed if not questioned if he roamed the halls. Asking someone where they kept the DNA samples before they were sent to Santa Fe probably wouldn’t work either. Taking a deep breath, he shoved the bag of Kyle’s genetics inside his jacket pocket and got out of the car. If there hadn’t been so much on his mind he would have noticed the two cars with people inside of them watching him.

"He’s just going to walk in." Max said as him and Maria watched from about fifteen yards away. "Is that his big plan?"

"Maybe," Maria sighed. "Damn it! He’s going to get caught, Max. You can’t just walk in there and switch shit like this. We have to do something."

"Like what? Go traipsing in there looking for him to tell him to stop?" Max rested his head on the steering wheel. "I wish he wasn’t alone."

Maria concurred silently as she glanced in the side mirror. "Max, don’t turn around for any reason, just listen to me."

"What?" He fought the urge to raise his head and turn around with all of his will power. Now was not the time to be stupid. "What, Maria?"

"A few cars in back of us; there’s a little round car, it’s light colored, maybe white."

"Round?"

"Round," she repeated. "You know, rounded edges, like a bubble. Anyway, there’s someone inside and they’re looking in the same direction as we are. A woman, I think. She’s watching Michael."

"Shit." Max raised his head. "Do you know who it is?"

"I think it might actually be that new Deputy, Jo Davie." Maria narrowed her eyes. "I really think it’s her. Oh God, what’s she doing here?"

"This can’t be good." He shook his head and looked at his partner. "We have to get rid of her. She’s here to bust Michael. Damn, I knew she shouldn’t have been there this morning. She was there with Michael, probably setting him up to get busted."

"Why?"

"I don’t know Maria. Maybe she doesn’t like him, maybe she likes him too much, maybe she wants his job, maybe she’s a secret alien hunter and we haven’t been hiding as well as we thought we had." Max shrugged. "She’s gotta go before Michael comes back out."

Maria had her hand on the door. "I’ll go."

"Where?" Max grabbed her arm.

"I’ll go see what she’s doing," Maria shrugged. "You have any better ideas?"

Max fought his overloaded brain trying to find something and came back empty. He shook his head but didn’t release her arm. "I don’t want you to go."

"You don’t have a choice." She snipped at him.

"Yeah, I do. If I let something happen to you Michael would kill me. You’re not going anywhere. I’ll deal with her."

"What are you going to do? Blow her up? Melt her?" Maria smiled; the smile fell as soon as she saw Max’s serious expression. "Oh, no. You’ve got to be kidding me."

"I’ll do what I have to do."

"Forget it." She yanked her arm free from his grip.

"No!" He grabbed her arm again and held it tighter this time.

Maria rolled her eyes and glanced at the side mirror. "Shit! She’s leaving!"

Max turned around to see headlights making a U-turn in back of them. He started the jeep back up and sped after the car carrying Deputy Jo Davie.

"What the hell are you doing?" Maria yelled putting on her seatbelt.

Max didn’t answer her. He focused on the car in front of him. A stoplight was shining through the haze of leftover rain ahead of them. Brake lights from Jo Davie’s car basked Max and Maria in red.

Maria jumped out as soon as the jeep quit moving. Max swore after her and slammed the gearshift into neutral and stomped on the emergency brake.

Maria was already at the drivers’ side window banging on the glass. A startled Jo rolled the window half way down staring at Maria. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Why are you following Michael?"

Jo looked closer at Maria. "You’re his girlfriend, right?"

"Tell me why the fuck you’re watching him!"

"I saw him." Jo didn’t elaborate as confusion spread across her face.

Max stood behind Maria, putting his arms around her waist pulling her back from the car. "Stop it Max!"

"Maria," he said softly into her ear. "Let’s go."

"Like hell!" Maria tried to break away from him, but his grip was too tight. "Let go of me Max."

Max looked at the scared face of Jo Davie and felt sorry for her. A few minutes earlier, he would have killed her, now he just wanted her to go away. "Maria, stop fighting me."

"As soon as you let me go," she said with clenched teeth. "You asshole!"

"I’m not letting you go," he whispered in her ear. "If I let you go you’re going to do something stupid."

"That’s rich coming from you," she stared down Jo Davie. "Tell me why you’re here!" She demanded.

Jo looked from Max to Maria and felt the blood drain from her face. "I wanted-"

"Wanted what?" Maria interrupted.

Jo turned away from them and floored the gas pedal skidding out into the cross street. Within seconds her red taillights were gone. Maria waited a beat before trying to turn and face her captor.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Maria asked as big tears slid down her cheeks. Max still held onto her, although looser now. "Why?" She gave up and buried her face on his shoulder. "Why?"

He rubbed her back as they stood in the middle of the street. "I had to Maria. For Michael, I had to."

Maria cried as he led them back to the jeep. He helped her in, holding on to her hand until the last second. He walked around and got in and started the engine. Max pulled back towards the hospital and parked in the same spot. The Tempo was still there. Maria sat facing Max and eventually ended up nearly sharing his seat with him. She rested her head against him while he rubbed her back.

* * * * * *

Michael walked down the hall like he was supposed to be there. No one stopped him, well, of the one maintenance man he had seen; no one had stopped him. His breath was shallow and more audible than he would have liked as he wound his way through the identical hallways trying to locate the office of the doctor who had taken the specimens from Max. Two doors down from a dead end Michael found the doctors’ name on the door. He couldn’t pronounce it, but he knew it when he saw it. Trying the door he wasn’t surprised to find it locked. Looking down the hallway once more, he held his hand over the doorknob and heard the mechanical click from inside. He opened the door and closed it quickly behind him.

After turning on a small lamp on the desk he made his way to the file cabinet. Locked and unlocked with a wave of his hand. Flipping through he found ‘Evans, Max’ typewritten on a folder. Pulling it out and scanning the contents he learned that everything was being held in his other office, one he shared with two others, locked up tight waiting to be taken by courier in the morning. Michael noted the room number and put everything back where it belonged. Stepping back out of the office he got a sick feeling deep in his gut. Everything he had worked for to make his family happy was being put on the line. He was walking the thin line of morality. His job told him to uphold the law, his heart told him top break it. He went with his heart. No way to back out now. He was the only one who could keep them safe.

The next office was bigger with locked cabinets and freezers lining the walls. He gambled and opened three before he found what he was looking for. In a neat clear plastic box held the true identity of Max Evans. The lid popped off easily and he grabbed the contents shoving them in his pocket. From his other pocket he got out the replacements and set them inside. Snapping the lid back on, he returned the box to its temporary home.

He turned off a small light he wasn’t sure if he had turned on or not and walked back into the hallway. As he turned to walk back down the hall towards the back entrance, he heard footsteps behind him. Without looking back he quickened his pace until it was a slight jog. The footsteps, two pairs, it sounded like to him, were getting closer.

"Stop!" A husky voice called from behind him.

Michael ran at full speed through swinging doors, pausing only momentarily to slam a bar lock across them. He saw in the glass-encased chicken wire windows two security guards in pursuit. He kept his head down and ran. He heard the guards slam into the door and swear.

The sting of the cool night air punctured Michael’s lungs as he ran from the building to the Tempo. He got in the car and sped off without turning his lights on.

"Hey," the guard with the husky voice panted. "Didn’t you think that guy looked like Sheriff Guerin?" The other nodded in agreement.

"There he is and he’s hauling it to the car." Max pointed. They watched as he got in and drove away. They waited a beat and no one followed him out of the hospital. "I guess he did it."

"I don’t know," Maria shook her head. "Maybe he failed."

"I don’t think so," he started the jeep. "C’mon, I’ll take you home and see. We have to tell him about Jo Davie."

"I don’t even want to tell him we were here tonight." Maria slid back over into her own seat.

"We have to, Maria." He squeezed her hand. "Secrets are a bad thing. Remember?" She smiled at him and nodded, secrets were bad.

* * * * * *

Chapter Seven

Michael was out of breath as he drove. Running one hand through his hair while gripping the steering wheel white-knuckled with the other. He had done it; he had successfully made the switch. As soon as the lab work came back, Max Evans and everyone else would be of the hook. Only one minor problem, the two security guards at the hospital. Had they recognized him? He didn’t think he had given them a face shot, but he couldn’t be sure. Anything was possible. He wondered if they had really seen him doing anything wrong in the first place.

Maria hadn’t been home when he left, Leia was still at her grandmothers and Liz had managed to page him at least a dozen times since early evening. His options were thin. He drove to the DeLuca/Valenti residence and smiled when he saw all the lights on. No doubt, Leia was probably keeping everyone up. He pulled into the driveway as the announcer on the radio told him it was almost midnight. Great. Getting out of the car he saw the front door open and Jim Valenti step outside. He waved almost too casually and looked down the street. It was almost empty.

He met Jim on the porch steps and finally wiped the sweat from his forehead. He shook Jim’s hand with his dry one. Jim was aware of the tremor.

"You been out jogging?" Jim asked raising his eyebrows.

"Something like that." Michael kicked at the floor. "I did it."

"Did everything go smooth?"

"Almost. I need a favor." Michael said looking down at the nothingness his foot was still kicking. "I need an alibi. Can you be that?"

"What happened?" Jim’s shoulders sagged.

"Everything was cool up until I was leaving and then two security guards pretty much chased me out." He met Jim’s eyes and saw the disappointment. "I didn’t let them see my face."

"Well, that’s good." Jim shoved his hands deep in his denim pockets and glanced to the front door. "Yeah, if you need me, I’ll do it. Amy’s been gone all night at some seminar thing at the rec center; actually, she should be home by now. If anyone asks, you were here with me and Leia."

"She been okay?"

"Hellion, but yeah, she’s fine. Actually she just fell asleep on the couch in the middle of one of the last ‘Scream’ movies, I don’t know which one." Jim smiled.

"She’s six." Michael held his now steady hands out in front of him. "You’re letting her watch horror movies?"

"Uh…" Jim looked around for help. "She’s seen all the others, hell, she practically knows all the words to this one. I don’t know where she gets this stuff from." He laughed.

"Well, I better get going. I hope Maria’s home by now. Was she by here at all?"

"Tonight? Not since she dropped Leia off, but that was before dinner. You haven’t seen her tonight?" Michael shook his head. "That’s odd, she said she was spending a nice quiet evening at home."

"Well, a lot of strangeness has been floating around here lately." Michael looked to his car. "Have you talked to Kyle?"

"Not Kyle, but Morgan called. He’s still pissed at Max, very pissed. Morgan called me because he’s passed out on the couch, again. She’s worried about him. Have you noticed anything?"

"Not really, but my mind’s been on Maria and Max lately."

"According to Morgan it’s like he really hates Max." Jim shrugged. "I think it may lie a little deeper than this school thing."

"Why do you say that?"

"A feeling I get from my son." He glanced back towards the front door. "I’m going to go Michael, I don’t want your daughter waking up scared, wondering where I went."

"No, you don’t want her waking up and running through the house like a wild child tearing things up." Michael smiled knowing his daughter all too well.

"Well, that too." Jim admitted. "So, what time were you here?"

"From eight-thirty until now." Michael nodded and extended his hand to his mentor, his friend. "Thanks. I’ll pick the child up in the morning." He walked back to his car and got in. He passed a white car down the block but never saw Jo Davie ducking down inside of it.

* * * * * *

Max pulled up in front of Maria’s, they both looked to the empty driveway. "Shit." Max turned off the engine.

"Maybe he was hungry after all that running and went through a drive-thru?" Maria suggested. "Do you want to come in and wait with me?"

Max nodded and got out of the jeep. He followed her inside and made himself at home on the couch. Maria sat next to him thinking of a way to break the uncomfortable silence between them.

"I shouldn’t have gone up to her car," Maria said softly. "You were right."

"I didn’t want to see you get hurt." He shrugged. "Michael would’ve killed me if I ever let anything happen to you. He’s going to be pissed off enough that you were with me tonight."

"I got in your car, Max." She sighed. "You didn’t put a gun to my head and force me to go. He’ll get over it."

Max smiled at her. "Thanks. I’d like to tell you something but I’m afraid I’ll sound like a huge dork."

"You are a huge dork, go ahead."

"I like you. I mean, I really do. I know you’re technically Liz’s friend and Michael’s woman, but I really like you. I was scared when something was wrong." He held up his hand to avoid the interruption that was inevitable. "When I couldn’t ‘fix you’ as Leia called it, I got scared that we were all going to lose you."

"Max."

"I’m not done. When you told me that you didn’t always trust me as a person, but you trusted me with yours and Leia’s lives, I was touched." He spoke softly avoiding eye contact. "I’ve made some mistakes and they’ve been big, we all know that. I can’t promise that I won’t make another along the way sometime, but I’ll be damn careful trying not too."

"Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because I can," he looked at her and smiled. "I just wanted to let you know that I value you as a friend. My friend."

Maria fought to keep a straight face, "you really are a dork." She leaned over and hugged him. "But that’s what makes you Max."

He rolled his eyes and turned to the front door. They parted as the front door opened and Michael walked in.

Michael looked back and forth between the two of them. "Hi. I saw the jeep, but I thought it’d be Liz, not you." He nodded at Max. "So, what’s going on?"

"Did you do it?" Maria asked anxiously.

"Of course I did it," he placed his hand to his chest. "Piece of cake. Never even broke a sweat." Maria and Max looked at each and smiled both thinking about the way Michael had come running from the hospital. "What?"

"Nothing," Maria smiled at him. "We’re just glad everything went so smooth." She looked to Max who nodded an answer to her silent question. "We have to talk. Sit."

Michael sat on the coffee table across from them. "What? Tell me."

"We were kind of there tonight." Maria cringed as she said it.

"What?" Michael yelled. "What do you mean you were ‘kind of there’? Were you there or not?" He stood and paced running his hands through his hair.

"We were outside Michael," Max leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. "We just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"So you drag Maria along with you?" He yelled.

"No one dragged me anywhere Michael." Maria said shaking her head. "I got in his car voluntarily and made him take me. I forced him."

"Damn it! Couldn’t you both just listen to me. I didn’t need your help, everything went fine by myself." He decided to leave out the part about the security guards. It would probably turn out to be nothing anyway. "Why? Can you tell me why you went? Didn’t either of you think I could this by myself? Thanks for the vote of confidence."

"It’s not like Michael, don’t turn this into something it isn’t." Max let out a breath. "We knew you were perfectly capable of doing this alone; however, alone isn’t always a good thing. You have no back-up."

"I didn’t need any."

"Yeah, you know that now." Maria folded her arms over her chest. "It could have been different and you might have needed us."

"Okay," Michael lowered his voice. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at either of you. You were concerned about my safety and that’s great, but the next time I tell you I’m doing something alone, let me." Max and Maria both nodded then looked to each other. "What? Is there more?"

Max took a deep breath. "We had a slight problem while we were outside the hospital."

"Oh God, what?" Michael sat back down on the coffee table.

"We saw someone else who was following you."

"What?" He lifted his head to face Maria. "Who?"

"We were parked about fifty feet away from you and in back of us was Jo Davie." Maria winced.

"Jo Davie. My Deputy Jo Davie was following me?" He looked to the floor and watched as his life and freedom slipped away. "Damn it!" He stood back up and began to pace. "Why the fuck was she there?" He was met by silence. "Please tell me she didn’t see you two there." The look shared between Max and Maria was better than a verbal answer. "Oh God. See, this is why I wanted to be alone."

"She was watching you Michael!" Maria tried to explain. "She said she-"

"I’m sorry." Michael interrupted her. "Did you just say ‘she said’?"

"Yeah. I think she knew we were on to her and she bolted." Maria became animated telling the story. "So we followed her and at the stoplight I got out and started banging on the window asking her why the hell she was following you. She said she saw you and then she got scared and ran away."

"You know Maria, you actually tell that story like you’re proud of it." Michael spoke in a monotone afraid that if he raised his voice he’d be screaming at them. "You two," he pointed first to Max and then to Maria, "fucked up."

"Michael-" Max started.

"No. I don’t want to hear anything form you." Michael shook his head pointing at him. "Not a fucking word. I risked everything to fix your damn DNA and this is the kind of help I get? Please note, I’m using the term ‘help’ very loosely."

"Sweetie," Maria stood and faced him. "We’re sorry. We were just trying to help." Michael nodded at her.

"Thank you." Max said solemnly and received the same nod from Michael that Maria had gotten. "I guess I should go."

"No. I’ll go." Michael dug his keys out of his pocket and walked to the door with Maria a step behind him.

"Where are you going?"

"Out for awhile. I have to think a few things over and I’d like to do it alone." He looked at her then over her shoulder at Max. "Let me go over that again. A-L-O-N-E. "He spelled out. "That means no one else. Not you and not him."

"Will you be back tonight? Or are you going to stay with Liz all night?" Maria regretted it as she said it. Max stood at attention. "Wait, that’s not exactly…"

"Will I go see Liz?" He shrugged. "As long as the two of you are here, I think I might. As least she has some freakin’ common sense."

Max and Maria stood side by side and watched Michael leave. She turned to him. "Well, at least he’s mad at both of us, huh?"

"That makes it better?" Max asked. "I can’t believe he’s going to my home to see my wife."

"You could go too, if you want."

"No way. The last place I want to be is in way of the wrath of Michael right now." He looked to the couch. " I guess I can call that bed tonight, huh?"

Maria smiled and nodded. "Do you think he’ll be back anytime soon?"

"No," he shook his head. "He’s pissed and you know what? He has every right to be. We really did fuck up tonight."

"I should have never gotten out of the car."

"I was ready to melt her a few minutes before that. We used poor judgement and now we’re in trouble." He shook his head and walked back to his temporary bed. "I hope we didn’t make things worse."

"Who? Us?" Maria pointed back and forth between her and Max and grinned finally getting a smile from him. "C’mon, let’s stay up late and watch a movie. I can do your nails."

* * * * * *

The lights were low, the rain had stopped, and Liz Evans was alone. She was scared for her husband and worried about her missing friends. The sharp knock at the door nearly flung her into hysteria.

"It’s me," Michael called form the other side. Liz let him in and looked at him expectantly. "I made the switch; Max should be fine."

"Thank God," she wrapped her arms around his shoulder and kissed his lips quickly. She skimmed her memory trying to think if she had ever touched his lips before. No, she thought, she’d have remembered how soft they were. "Thank you Michael." She broke away from him and grabbed his hand tightly. "I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to tell you exactly how grateful I am."

Michael led her by the hand to the couch and sat down. Liz sat and tucked her legs under her. "If you’re wondering where Max is, he’s at my house. Two of the Three Stooges are there and at the rate they’re going a third would be disastrous." He explained his analogy to her.

"They didn’t." Liz shook her head. "God, what were they thinking?"

"See, number one problem: no one thinks, they just react." He sighed. "Anyway, can I have the couch tonight? I don’t want to go back there, I don’t know exactly what would come out of my mouth and I don’t really feel like losing either of them."

"Of course you can stay Michael, you’re always welcome here." She squeezed his knee. "I don’t know if Isabel’s coming home or not."

"Out with Rich?"

"Rick, yeah." Liz grinned. She sat back against the couch and sighed loudly. "All this because Max screwed around on me. Unbelievable."

"He’s a good guy, you know that. People make mistakes." He shrugged and looked in her eyes. "You’re his world, Liz." He tucked stray strands of hair behind her ear.

"I’m going to bed now that I know where everyone is and that they’re safe." She stood. "Remind me to tell you about Sloane tomorrow, okay? Good night Michael."

Michael watched her walk from the room and thought of Maria. He was already beginning to miss her. He thought of her and Max spending the night alone together and smiled. Not a chance of anything happening there. Maria would rather put her eye out with a pen.

* * * * * *

Liz laid in bed and thought of her husband. Max. She loved him and she missed him. It was the first night she had slept in their mutual bed since the whole Lindy incident had reared its ugly head. She inhaled the musky scent of Max and longed for him to be next to her, holding her, touching her.

Briefly her thoughts turned to Michael and his soft, soft lips. Never before, not since she had known him had she ever thought about kissing him. She didn’t think she really was now, either. Just missing her husband.

* * * * * *

Max walked into his silent condo before six in the morning. He saw a note on the couch and picked it up:

Liz- Thanks for letting me stay and for listening to me. You’re the best, don’t ever forget it- Michael.

Michael was right; Liz was the best. He walked down the hall and peeked in the guestroom, empty. He looked in on his daughter who was sleeping with her stuffed giraffe held tight against her chest. He smiled and walked across the hall, opening the bedroom door he ached when he saw his wife. She stirred and opened her eyes.

"Hi," Max walked closer to her. He sat on the edge of the bed. "I guess you know where I was last night, right?"

She nodded and yawned. "Is Michael gone?"

Max nodded looking in her eyes. "I miss you Liz."

She beckoned him to her with a finger. "I need you."

Max’s brows burrowed together leaning into her. Feeling her skin through the thin faded T-shirt she slept in. Tentatively pulling the shirt over her head, seeing skin he never thought he would again. He reached to her breast, kneading her nipple with his fingers. Wanting. Yearning. Lowering his mouth to her, slipping almost her entire breast inside. Her hands raking through his hair. She slipped her hand around his and led it to her underwear, sliding it inside.

Max looked to her as he felt the wetness. Liz worked at his button down shirt trying to get it off without removing his hand. Unsuccessful, she finally had to push him away to get him undressed. He lay down next to her and held her close to him for a few seconds. A few seconds was all she could handle. She wanted, no she needed, him inside of her. She rolled him over on top of her, brushing his scruffy face with the back of her hand.

He supported himself on his arms over her, gazing into her eyes. "I love you, Liz. I’m sorry for everything."

She nodded in acceptance as he plunged inside of her. She groaned at the missed touch, the missed feeling of belonging. Her arms wrapped around his back and pulled her to him. Feeling his heartbeat against hers was more than she could stand. Her emotions overcame her as she trembled underneath her.

Max felt the jolt of passion from her, unable to control himself, it was over. Only minutes after it had begun. He collapsed next to her, panting, kissing her almost damp neck.

"I’ll never hurt you again," he promised.

She picked up his hand and brought it to her mouth kissing it. That’s when she noticed the metallic lavender polish on his nails. "Maria?"

* * * * * *

Leia was up before the rest of the house. She had been sleeping in her room at Grandma and Grandpa Jim’s house. The room used to be her mothers, then Uncle Kyle’s but now it was hers. Staring blindly at the wall, the voice in her head was active.

"You’ll always need me." She said out loud as the tiny voice of Sloane whispered back.

"No. I won’t."

"You’re my friend."

"I can’t have any friends or they’re going to get hurt."

"Why?"

"I don’t know."

"But you’ll need me, I can help you."

"No. You can’t help me. It has to be me alone."

"Why?"

"That’s what she told me."

"Who?"

"I don’t know her name."

"Let me help, please."

"I have to be alone. No one can help me."

"Who is she?"

"She said she’s my brother’s mother."

* * * * * *

Chapter Eight

Michael called in to work the following day not wanting to see Jo Davie but had no choice but to show up the next one. No one stared at him or was waiting with handcuffs when he walked in the building, that’s a good. He strolled into his office and shut the door. Glancing at the schedule underneath the glass blotter, his shoulders sank at the sight of Jo Davie’s name for the day shift, today.

"Shit." He rested his head on the desk. Thinking about the previous twenty-four hours with Maria was making him tired all over again. He stood his ground with her and wouldn’t budge. She had b