Hi everyone!
Let's get straight back into it, okay?
Ashley (Morning Dreamgirl)
YAY! He finally kissed her! But I jump ahead of myself...
I second that "YAY", since Liz is finally not the only one that is happy about Max finally having kissed her
It's probably a good thing that Sean is so impulsive. Otherwise he could have forced Liz out of the building, into his car and then gone to another location. Had that happened Max wouldn't have been able to get help nearly as easily (and probably not in time.)
Sean likes to play cat and mouse. He loves to taunt and tower above everyone else. Which means that he has a tendency to drag things out. Probably, if he had spent less time talking, he might've had some energy to actually take Liz out of the building. But with Liz resisting him and him not only wanting her to cooperate but also wanting her to
feel things for him, there just wasn't enough energy to move her away from school. And after running into Max, maybe he had a feeling that he had to be quick about it (no time to be wasted on transport). Maybe he wasn't really sure if Max would just leave it alone.
I'm curious as to where she gets the strength from. Obviously it's not directly from the gene. Otherwise all gaea females would be difficult to control (and therefore less attractive to those who might not be strong in mental abilities).
Yeah, why is that?
(I have a sneaking suspicion we won't find out immediately though.
)
Oh gosh, you know me so well...
So (I hope) that Sean just walked himself into a human jail cell type situation that (a) no one will get him out of and (b) he'll actually have other aliens facilitating that punishment to keep any suspicion off the rest of their society. At the very least he'll be banned from the school (in his present form anyways).
Will he? Or is he too protected...?
And a side note: go Maria! I think Michael would have fallen for her hard at that moment if he'd have seen her not only tear into Sean but also bossing the principal around.
Maybe that type of human behavior would impress the not so easily impressed Michael, yes
At some point the man is just going to have to realize he can't keep the lid on what he considers a private matter. It might not be the safest road but in all honesty the lid has already come off the cookie jar. So he might as well put both he and Liz out of their misery and just admit that he loves her and kiss her silly... Again and again and again!
Yay, my vote is on that one!
Now... if I could only get Max to agree to it...
He's one stubborn alien hybrid...
So he gets just as much a kick out of tormenting Max as he would have forcing a bond with Liz.
Yep, there's something going on between Max and Sean. Something personal - as you've also picked up on.
Who do I need to bribe to get us to the really good parts?
Who? You must mean "What?" Or...? Because if "who", Elizabeth is probably still your best bet. She's the only other person in the whole universe that has read the future chapters except for myself. But I'm hoping Elizabeth is on my "side" in this
Thank you thank you thank you for the analysis!
Helen (Roswelllostcause) - Someone really should put Sean in his spot. Well, I guess, Max did in some way. By bringing the principal into the whole thing. That's not gonna sit so well with Sean's dad (the sergeant), which will (possibly) hurt Sean in the end... Thank you for the feedback!
L-J-L 76 - Yes, when Max couldn't form a connection with Liz by looking into her eyes (since her eyes were closed), he tried a different route (kissing), and maybe that wasn't such a bad thing
Thank you for the feedback!
AlysLuv - No, Max's reasons to push Liz away might be "noble" or even considered "protective" in his mind, but it's really not working in his favor right now. It mostly seems to be putting Liz in more danger than before. Liz does come off as weak, since she's exhausted (mind you, not a very long time has actually passed since Liz's world was turned upside down) - emotionally and physically. But she's actually a lot stronger than she appears. Something Sean is learning "the hard way". Thank you for the feedback!
Eve (begonia9508) - Hah, yeah. The best thing for Liz would probably be to get away from this whole circus. Or...? Thank you for the feedback!
Carolyn (keepsmiling7) - Why did Max leave Liz initially? He'll explain that eventually. Thank you for the feedback!
Alien_Friend
So what just happened she shut their connection off temporarily (or permanently) why Max had to reconnect them with s physical touch? And was she fighting Sean on her own or was Max helping her?
Since Max needs to actually
heal someone on a deep level, or have sex with someone, to form a connection - and neither needed to happen to open up the connection in the previous part - it seems as if the connection was just temporarily shut off. Max just had to "coax it back". Which he needed to do by connecting with her eyes, but she was not opening her eyes - "forcing" him to chose another tactic. I.e. kissing.
Max didn't have anything to do with Liz possibly fighting Sean. The connection was not turned on (or whatever had happened to it) during that time, so Max had no access to Liz's body or mind.
I get why he left her alone. It's harder for Sean to cheat the human system especially with witnesses and the principle being there.
Spot. On.
Glad to hear your health crisis is over. I hope it stays that way for your sake.
Oh, I'm sure it will
Thank you for your concern! And thank you so much for the feedback!
From THIRTY:
Maria stated the obvious. ”She can’t walk.”
Max was already bundling my body up against his chest as he simply stated, ”I’ll carry her.”
And without any fuss, as though I were as light as a feather, he gently put an arm in the hook of my knees, shifted me up against his body and angled my body so that my head lolled against his shoulder. As if he had spent a lifetime carrying me around.
”You left me,” I whispered, too tired to even sound angry or hurt, my voice an empty monotone.
He looked down at me, his jaw muscles clenching. ”I had to.”
”You left me with him,” I continued, the throbbing in my head intensifying.
”Let’s get you to the nurse,” Max mumbled, and I knew that he had to say that. We were not alone.
Had it been just the two of us, Max probably could have fixed me up himself several minutes ago.
”Make sure she takes a drug test,” the principal said behind us, before Max cradled me even closer in his warmth and pushed the door open with his foot, leaving the boys’ gym locker room behind.
____________________________________
THIRTY-ONE
”Your head hurts, doesn’t it?” he whispered.
My eyelids were so incredibly heavy as he brushed a tendril of my hair behind my ear, looking at me closely.
I nodded, slowly blinking, and looked at the grim set to his mouth. I was lying on my side, on the bed in the nurse’s room. Max had pulled up a chair next to the bed and had, without hesitation - as if it was the most natural thing in the world - immediately taken my hand as he had sat down. He was now occasionally skimming the fingers of his free hand across my face, down my neck.
The touches were gentle and soft, but had a sense of purpose.
I wondered if he was checking my pulse when he touched the side of my neck, if he was checking if I had a fever as he brushed my forehead, and deciding if my pale cheeks were as cold as they looked as his thumb lightly stroked the sides of my face.
I had the strongest feeling that he was keeping a very close watch on my health status; second by second.
The nurse had left barely a minute ago to get some things and Maria (who had been seriously hovering, worried beyond rationality) had just admitted to having drunk about 33 ounces of Coke before she had run into Max. After a minute of restless dancing on the spot, Max had ordered her to go to the toilet.
Max and I were finally alone.
”How did he get in?” I whispered, and Max seemed to know what I was referring to, even without me having to use more explanatory words in my fatigued state.
How had Sean managed to gain access to my mind?
Max was brushing his fingers across my forehead when I asked. Even though his touch was the gentlest of touches, his eyes darkened at my question and I noticed him subtly stiffening.
”You turned off the bond.”
What? I frowned. No. I didn’t. How could I? Was that even possible? Max had told me that only aliens possessed the power to do that and in some cases not even
they could affect connections.
Reading my confusion, Max said tensely, ”Yeah, I don’t understand how you did it either. You’re not supposed to be able to do that.” His eyes were turning increasingly stormy and his hand fall away from my face.
”Are you angry with me?” I whispered, my voice breaking with the emotional strain of the conversation.
He practically glared at me before pulling away from me and straightening. Clenching his jaw, he bit out, ”Yes.”
Hurt crept into my being and I restrained my own glare before I could add more gasoline to the brewing fire. ”Why? It’s not like it was my fau-”
”Do you have any idea what kind of danger you put yourself in?” Max hissed.
”I didn’t-”
But Max wouldn’t let me defend myself. His anger was flaring up. ”I felt your fear and I reached out for you, trying to find you-”
Yes, I heard you. I thought back to his voice in my head (how had he been able to speak to me, by the way, without a close connection), asking where I was. Just before…
Shit. I had pushed him away. I hadn’t wanted Max in my head at that time.
He caught on to the moment it dawned on me and his lips tightened, ”Yes. That. Suddenly you were just gone. It was just quiet. Empty.” He lowered his head and I saw his fists clench. Barely controlling his voice, he added under his breath, ”I thought you were dead.”
My mouth went dry and my heart ached with guilt. I hadn’t meant to do that. He was the last person that I wanted to do that to. ”You really thought I turned it off on purpose? That I even know how to do that?”
Max snapped his eyes to me; dark, dangerous eyes. ”You left yourself completely at his mercy-”
As had happened before, when we had been having that conversation in my bedroom the other night, his anger seemed to feed into mine. As our feelings grew strong and were tempted to be brought out of control, it was increasingly difficult to separate his feelings from mine.
And right now, I was getting angry because he thought he had the right to be angry with me. When
he had been the one that wanted to shut down our connection.
He should be thanking me! Because I had, albeit accidentally, figured out how to turn off the bond. Just like he wanted.
He had no right to be mad at me!
”So shutting off the connection, as you call it,” my fatigue was pressed down as the anger tapped into some unknown energy reserve, ”-means that Sean was able to gain access to my mind and manipulate me?” I felt his hand tighten around mine and in response, I stubbornly pulled my hand out of his.
I could see in his eyes that he was not too happy about my withdrawal. But, right then, I couldn’t give a damn.
I pushed to widen my eyes against the fatigue, struggling to stay conscious as I bit out, my voice weakening with every word, ”So why then, are you so eager to break the connection? Do you want to remove my only protection against Sean? So that he can make me into his sex slave?”
Sex slave.
The term, and its implications, made Max pale and he didn’t have time to come up with a response before the nurse stepped back into the room.
”How’s she doing?” the nurse asked Max, as my eyes lost the battle with my eyelids.
”She has a headache,” I heard Max answer, my eyes now closed. ”And she’s exhausted.”
”And you have no idea what she could have taken?” the nurse asked.
Some alien juice? I thought and mentally shuddered.
Ugh. Don’t go there, Parker.
”No idea,” Max replied evenly and grabbed my hand again.
I tugged on it to make him let me go, but he was anticipating it this time and only tightened his grip at my resistance.
”I’m really worried about her condition,” the nurse mumbled. ”I’ve called for an ambulance. We need to transport her to the hospital.”
No. Not the hospital.
”Okay,” Max mumbled.
Max’s father would be there.
”Your dad…” I mumbled and forced one eye open to look up at Max.
His face was a blank slate, but his thumb gently brushed over my knuckles, in a warm caress, before he turned towards the nurse. ”Which hospital are they taking her to?”
”Um…” I heard the nurse open - what sounded like - plastic wrappers and there was hesitation in her voice as she answered, ”I think it was North Fulton.”
I blinked my eyes just in time to catch Max looking back at me, a reassuring half-smile on his lips. His reaction told me that Max’s father didn’t work at that particular hospital.
A faint sense of relief drifted through me as my eyes closed again. Max’s eyes were scalding my face. I could feel it even with my eyes closed. So it was no surprise that he would come up with an excuse to get the nurse out of the room again.
”Sorry, but… she was complaining before that she was really thirsty. Could you get her some water?”
There was a pause, the unpacking of material halting.
”I really need to get these blood samples.” Hesitation. Impatience.
”Please. She seemed really bothered by it.”
I imagined Max doing his wounded puppy eyes-expression and I would have smiled, if my mouth hadn’t been so tired.
The nurse sighed. ”Okay. Sure.”
I felt a soft hand on my shoulder and a soft squeeze. ”I’ll be right back, hun. Hang in there.”
I warmed from her empathy and within that brief moment of normalcy I briefly wondered if Maria had gotten lost on her trip to the toilet.
As soon as the nurse was out the door, Max let go off my hand, cradled my cold cheeks in his palms and angled my face upwards.
”Okay. We don’t have much time. I need to feed you some energy before you go off to the hospital. I can’t risk sending you off there without it.”
What will happen then? I silently thought.
Will I die? Just like mom?
”He pushed you too hard,” Max breathed, a twinge of anger behind his concern, before coaxing, ”Look at me.”
I tried. I really tried. But my fight with Max just now had robbed me of my last ounce of energy.
”Damn it, Liz,” Max grumbled impatiently, sounding almost frantic while digging his thumbs into my cheeks. ”Open your eyes.”
My head felt heavy in his hands; I wouldn’t be able to support it without his help.
”Don’t make me kiss you again,” Max said and my body at least had the energy to flush in anticipation. His voice was tight and hurried. In sharp contrast to the nature of his ’threat’.
Kiss me then. Even my thoughts were slurred.
Kiss me.
As his thumbs stroked my cheeks and the tips of his fingers warmed the bony structure underneath, my lips burned with the memory of his last kiss and my stomach tightened with wanton anticipation.
”Parker?” he mumbled and then sighed loudly. ”You’re gonna make me kiss you, aren’t you?”
I wanted to smile at that. At the annoyance and resignation in his voice.
Yes, if I can’t have you, at least I’m gonna make you kiss me.
But to be honest, my body was beyond providing any alternatives. Kissing seemed to have solved the problem before. Why, I wasn’t sure. But who cared? There were far less pleasant methods to make someone regain full control of their bodies than kissing.
”This is for your health,” he whispered and I could feel his breath on my lips with every word. He was close now. ”Okay? Only for your health.”
I felt like laughing at him. It was pathetic in a way. How he was trying to convince me that there was nothing between us; that he wasn’t looking forward to us kissing as much as I was.
But in a way it was sad. Sad that he needed to have an excuse. That he couldn’t just let it be, let us be Max and Liz.
Not worried distant alien Max and tired damaged human Liz. Just Max and Liz.
His lips softly touched mine and my whole being sighed. This time, his kiss was slow. He was taking his time tasting and exploring my lips.
I wouldn’t make the mistake of ’waking to life’ too soon this time. I had a feeling he was going to be quick at pulling away; just like he had the last time.
”Liz?” his dark voice sent vibrations across my lips and I whimpered, my lips melting further with his as I felt bouts of power pulsate into me.
My heart rate was increasing and I couldn’t tell if it was because of the sudden presence of new energy or the presence of Max.
”Liz,” he mumbled again, his voice more satisfied than prompting as his hands threaded into my hair, his fingers tangling in my tresses.
I wanted desperately to move my arms, to wrap them around his strong shoulders, and pull him even closer.
But my arms were frustratingly lethargic at the sides of my body.
”Come back to me,” he whispered and tugged my bottom lip gently between his teeth, cascading goosebumps over my whole body. ”You’re right there. Just a little…”
As he trailed off, my hazy brain understood what he meant. The connection - the telepathic part of the connection - was returning to life.
But I couldn’t focus on that now. Max lips were warm and soft, his hands were moving distractedly across my scalp, buried in my hair, and an inexplicable heat was igniting from the core of my body.
Enjoying yourself?
My eyes flew open in startled surprise at his amused voice in my head. I tumbled into his intense golden eyes and my face instantly flushed bright red.
The sensation of his lips still touching mine and his voice literally in my head, caused desire to make a beeline for my-
He quickly pulled back from me, separating our lips, and I was pretty sure he had been listening in on my every thought. The gold of his eyes had turned a darker shade of brown, like the warmest chocolate, as he stared at me, slowly licking his lips.
My breath fluttered in my breast as I looked at him. I couldn’t look away. My breathing was loud in my ears and I was fighting to stay on the bed; to not jump at him.
Max’s left eyebrow rose in a pointed look. ”Only for your health, remember?” I noticed that he also sounded breathless as he added, quietly, ”Let’s not get carried away, Ms. Parker.”
”Thank you,” I said, apparently - judging from the widening of his eyes - surprising him. I took a deep breath, focusing on pushing the longing down. We couldn’t be. Max and I couldn’t be. He kept on telling me that. I should listen. For once. ”I feel much better. Thank you.”
”Good,” he said, looking a bit awkward in light of my gratitude. But he kept his eyes trained on my face, his eyes turning pensive.
His unwavering stare made the blush warm my cheeks yet again and I had to softly implore, ”What?”
“You fought him, didn’t you?” There was admiration and something else (pride?) in his voice. ”That’s why you were so low on energy.” A soft short laugh escaped him, as if he couldn’t quite believe it as he repeated, mostly to himself, ”You fought him.”
Of course I had fought Sean. I didn’t want that creep in my head. I didn’t want him to take over my will. Take over me.
But I got the feeling - from Max - that fighting back was unusual.
I slowly licked my lips, a shiver of pleasure running through me as I realized that, before that, Max had been the last one to lick my lips. I realized that (even though he was not connected to me on a level where he could communicate with me mentally) he could probably feel every detail of what I was feeling then. This was evident from the fact that his pupils immediately dilated and drifted to my mouth, watching my tongue run over my lips.
Clearing my throat, watching Max guiltily snap his eyes back to mine, I said, ”I’m sorry for pushing you away and breaking the bond. I honestly didn’t realize I was doing it.”
He grimaced and ran a hand through his hair as he offered, ”Sorry for yelling at you. You couldn’t have known that could happen.” He looked confused and scared for a moment as he added, ”
I didn’t even know that could happen.”
I frowned at the implications. ”So how could I do that? How could I-”
Just then the nurse returned to the room, a glass of water in her hand. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw me sitting up on the bed, with probably a lot more color on my face (
a lot more) than when she had left me.
”Oh,” she breathed. ”Are you feeling better, Liz?”
”Yeah,” I replied and glanced at Max. His face had retained the concealing mask he usually wore in public. But my heart warmed as I noticed the small smile lingering on his lips.
”Great,” the nurse said, relieved, and offered me the water. ”Drink up, Liz. And we’ll get those blood samples.”
”Sure,” I replied, but tensed as I saw Max rising from his seat out of the corner of my eye.
”Since you’re feeling better, I’ll just return to class,” Max announced and my stress levels skyrocketed.
”I’m sure we’ll be fine now,” the nurse said with a smile.
I could only feel the cold seep into my bones, freezing my ability to protest.
But it appeared that I didn’t have to audible voice my protest. Max paused in his departing movements and those warm comforting eyes fell on my face. Worry was once again tightening his facial features. ”You okay?”
I mutely shook my head.
A deep crease developed between his eyebrows and he stepped up to me, looking at me closely.
He could feel my distress. Maybe even the coldness.
”Is it your head?” he asked, pointedly. Wanting me to know about everything else that he was asking at the same time, but couldn’t be spoken out loud in front of the nurse.
”Are you feeling worse again, Liz?” the nurse asked.
The glass trembled in my hand, its content vibrating against the insides of the container. Max reached out and quickly took the glass from me, before I could spill the water all over myself.
”Blood,” I whispered, finally getting my vocal cords working.
”What?” Max asked, leaning in closer.
I tried to focus on the warmth he was emitting (why was he always so warm?) instead of the thought of the needles. Of the blood.
In Max’s presence, it hadn’t worried me too much that I’d had to give blood. Maybe it was some unconscious remnant of him always being present (even though I couldn’t really remember it), during the aliens’ nightly blood sampling during my upbringing. Because from what I could remember, Max seemed to have always played the role of the comforter, of the person that removed the pain and made everything better at the end.
But with the threat of Max leaving, my fear of needles and blood came rushing back.
”Could you stay?” I asked, my voice almost too quiet to be audible.
His eyes flickered to the prepared syringes, the vacutainer and the tourniquet on the small metallic tray table next to the bed and I watched understanding hit him.
He gave me a crooked half-smile, reclaimed his seat in the chair next to the bed and grabbed my cold hand. ”Class can wait.”
TBC...
). It seems to be something that's been building for generations and will most likely (hopefully) show up in Liz. Something to do with the glowing maybe? (I have a sneaking suspicion we won't find out immediately though. 