Send in the Clones (M/L) AU 1/1 YTEEN [COMPLETE]

[Realistic Dreamer]

Gentle Readers ... I wrote this in a fit of irritation at the writers. It only took me about a half hour, cuz I was that annoyed.

RATING: YTEEN

This is strictly a one-part story. It's a sort of take-off on how the characters Max and Liz feel about everything.

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah ... the usual. I don't own the characters, I'm just borrowing them, although I'm sure they don't want me to give them back, because I know how to treat them. The characters are owned by Melinda Metz (I like her), JK (I don't like him), Fox (I have no feeling one way or the other), and maybe UPN since they had them last (again, I have no feeling either way). No infringement is intended.

And the title is sorta borrowed from the song "Send in the Clowns." Again, no infringement intended.

As always, I'd love to hear from you ...


Liz drove up to the old radio tower by Highway 42, shutting of the engine of the jetta and leaning her head back. She closed her eyes, relaxing while she waited for the familiar sounds of the jeep.

Max wasn't far behind her, she knew. This was their secret meeting place, the one they came to when the writers were through with them for the day. This is where they were free to be themselves, no restrictions placed on them.

Hearing the rumble that she was now able to identify above the sounds of any other motor, she hurried to open her door and get out. Slamming it, she leaned against the car, her hair blowing back from her face in the warm breeze, picking out the headlights of the jeep. Max pulled up and jumped out, leaving the engine running.

Liz flew to him, leaping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist. Within moments, they were devouring each other with breathless moans.

"I don't know how much longer I can do this," Liz sighed as Max's mouth began it's warm progress down her throat. He nibbled and sucked, leaving his mark on the tender skin. "I hate how much we're being kept apart."

"I'll have to get rid of that before tomorrow," Max muttered, as he laved the reddened area with his tongue. "Continuity, you know."

"Will you have to wear these scrubs again?" she asked as she plucked at the material with faint distaste.

"Yeah," he answered as he worked his way across her collarbone. "I've just gotten out of the white room, but we have the whole car chase thing, the bridge jumping, the river run, the van scene," Max raised his head to arch his eyebrow suggestively at that and she gently swatted him, "and everything that ends up in the podchamber. Or so they tell me. You got your running shoes?" he grinned.

"Put me down, Max," Liz demanded.

At his surprised expression, she wriggled out of his grasp. He looked highly disappointed.

"Liz, come on," he pled, "you know we don't get much time during the day. We've barely been together at all, what with all these changes we've been given."

"I know, Max," Liz said as she moved away from him. When Max moved to follow, she held up her hand in a stay-where-you-are gesture. She looked at him closely. Was he pouting?

"Okay," he sighed, seeing that she meant business. "What's on your mind, sweetness?"

"I'm worried," Liz frowned. "Actually, I'm very worried. All these changes are scaring me. Here I was, just thinking that after all that dancing around each other that we had to do for months on end, we were finally together and we were going to be able to stay together. Here I was, looking forward to lots of make-out scenes. And now I've got this hunch that we're on the verge of being ripped apart. It's in the wind, Max. I can feel it."

Liz began pacing, back and forth, her nervousness needing some sort of physical outlet. Max watched her, as her unsettled feelings communicated themselves to him. He, too, began to frown, because Liz was just voicing the dark suspicions that he also had about the future.

"The whole podchamber thing," she said "that's really bugging me. Why can't we know how it's going to turn out?"

"I have no idea," Max narrowed his eyes as he thought about the biggest change of all, the one they had no clue about, "but you're right; I don't like all this secrecy either."

"What can we do," Liz asked anxiously, as she stopped in front of him.

Max wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly. She was so small. It was deceptive, really. Her petite frame made her seem fragile, but she was the strongest person he'd ever known. She was spirited, intelligent, and drop-dead beautiful.

And she was his. No one was ever going to take her from him, not without a fight.

"Maybe we're wrong. Let's reserve judgment and see how it all plays out," he soothed as he rubbed her back under her shirt. Her skin was so soft, like silk to the touch. He'd missed being able to be with her all day, being stuck in the white room. He was not looking forward to going back in the morning.

"Let's make the most of being alone right now," he whispered huskily in her ear, sending shivers of delight down her spine.

Liz caught a glimpse of the cut that ran down his chest. She touched it with gentle fingers.

"Does this hurt," she asked softly.

"Nope, not a bit," Max grinned. "It will tomorrow morning again, but right now, it doesn't hurt at all."

Max and Liz were soon lost in a wave of love and passion. It was long into the night before they finally drove back, needing to be up early in the morning.

~~~~~~~

The next night, Max arrived at their secret meeting place before Liz. He stood by the jeep, waiting, much as she had the night before. His face was dark with anger.

When Liz pulled up, Max covered the distance to the jetta in hurried strides. As she got out, he reached for her and pulled her into a tight embrace.

"That was awful," Liz cried into his shirt. "It was the worst. It was beyond anything I could have possibly imagined," she pulled back to look into his eyes. "And I can imagine alot."

"Unbelievable," Max muttered.

"What's happening to me?" she moaned. "I can feel myself changing. If this keeps up, I'm going to become a doormat."

"Never," he whispered, as he tucked her hair behind her ear. "Not my brave, beautiful Liz."

"Tell me, Max," Liz demanded, "would I have walked away from you and left you to that sleazy blonde tease? After all these things that I've done to keep you in my life, do you really think some little message from your mother would have made me suddenly give up? I've been thru hell to keep you ... sorry," she apologized at his slightly aggrieved expression, "and there is no way that I would leave."

"I know," he nodded in agreement, "I feel the same way. I risked everything to save your life and be with you, and Michael manages to hold me back? And I have a wife in some past life? This can't be good."

"Of all the stupid things," Liz said. "Just how many past lives do you think you'll have? Maybe there's more than one. Maybe we'll end up making a pilgrimage to Shirley McLaine to find out which one is the one that counts," she gave in to a moment of teasing before her expression sobered.

"I think we're in trouble here. Things are starting to chip away at us. This could just be the beginning. I could end up being a doormat, and you could end up being a male slut who cheats on me," her voice was hushed as she laid her head on his chest, letting his heartbeat soothe her momentarily.

At Max's snort of laughter, she leaned back to look at him with a frown. He immediately wiped his amusement off his face.

"I'm sorry, that was bad of me. It's just that the whole idea is so against everything that you and I both are, that I found it funny. But, you could be right. Already things are looking dicey," his voice was low with anger as he thought back to the previous events.

"What are we going to do?" Liz asked.

"We have to run," Max said with determination. "We leave right now, tonight, before we're tracked down."

"Leave it all behind?" Liz's voice was small at the thought of abandoning everything and everyone she knew.

"Do you want to risk it?" he demanded. "You could end up losing your spirit, I could end up being some abuser with an illegitimate son, for all we know. Already, our edges are blurred. I don't trust this situation at all. We have to leave, before there's nothing left."

He pulled her tightly against him once again, resting his cheek on her shining hair, tangling his fingers in the silky strands.

"I'm not willing to take a chance on what's coming. Are you with me?" he asked.

Liz nodded wordlessly against his chest. He meant everything to her, just as she meant everything to him. Nothing was more important. If running was what they had to do, in order for it to remain that way, then they would run.


In the end, it was all very easy. Max and Liz disappeared quietly into the night, taking the jeep. The jetta was found by the radio tower, abandoned. It wasn't until Max became an abusive, out-of-wedlock father and Liz became a doormat, that the question came up that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't the real Max and Liz that everyone knew.

But the true Max and Liz, soulmates to the end, are out there, living the life of love, trust and passion that everyone knew they were capable of. It's just that no one knows where that is. And our not-of-this-earth hero and his dream girl have every intention of keeping it that way.