Max watched from the alley between the restaurant and a bookstore as Liz and Fox Mulder emerged

Max watched from the alley between the restaurant and a bookstore as Liz and Fox Mulder emerged. A waiter had told him he had to wait for a table like everyone else and made him leave his spot behind the couple. He'd gone because he hadn't wanted them to hear him. So now he watched with a nausea that felt like a serpent swimming inside his stomach as they stepped out into the afternoon sun.

"Are you sure about this, Liz?" Agent Mulder asked. "It could be dangerous."

"And spending the night in the desert with you wasn't," she laughed. "Besides, all I have to do is get them there and you can take over from there."

Max watched her smile at him with that sunny, excited expression he loved.

"Are you going to be OK?" She asked and she put her hand on his arm in an alarmingly intimate gesture.

He nodded and smiled at her affectionately.

"Well, I better get ready," she said. "I'll see you tonight."

"I'll bring my net and fly swatter."

She laughed and walked away. Agent Mulder walked in the other direction. Max felt his legs turn to jell and he slid down the wall until he was sitting on the ground, unable to feel his heart beating anymore. He didn't think that Liz could hurt him any more then she already had but she'd found the one way.

* * * *
Max walked around in a fog after that, his mind swirling with excuses for what he'd seen. But he could not come up with one explanation that would justify it. Liz was friend's with, if not more, an FBI agent whom she just promised to give four aliens. Believing that she slept with Kyle had devastated him, but this--this was a betrayal he could not even fathom. It was so far out of the realm of possibility that he couldn't believe it. Wouldn't believe it.

He went to see Liz. She was going to tell him what was happening. She was going to explain it to him and it was going to make sense. It had to.

He walked up to her window and was about to knock when she came out of the bathroom. She was stunning. She had on a dark blue strapless dress that made her eyes look like dark chocolate. And her hair was curled in soft waves that looked like black silk around her face. His heart swelled with pride for a moment before he realized that she wasn't getting ready for him. He choked back something in his throat, was about to knock when her mother came in the room. Max dove to the side so she wouldn't see him.

"You look so beautiful, sweetheart," she said. "Max is going to drool when he sees you."

"Mom, I told you, I'm not going with Max. I'm just going with a group of friends."

"Then why are you wearing that perfume Max likes so much?"

Liz blushed.

"Because I like it." She picked up a handbag off of her bed. "Remember I'm going to be late."

"All right but be careful. I'm still shook up about your car getting stolen. Have you heard anything about it from Sheriff Valenti?"

"No, but I'll call him in the morning. Now I've got to go."

Max watched Liz walk out with her mom. He followed Liz, sure she wasn't going to any school dance, but he was surprised when that's exactly where she went. His head was beginning to pound and he decided that he needed to talk to someone about what was going on.

He found a pay phone and called home. His mother answered.

"Hi, honey, I was beginning to wonder if you still lived here."

"I'm sorry. I know I've been coming and going a lot."

"Well, you are a teenager. Did you get Liz's message?"

"Liz called?"

"There was a message on the machine when I got back from shopping. She said she wanted you and Michael, Isabel and Tess to get together."

Max felt his world tilt. All I have to do is get them there.

"Is Isabel there?"

"No, she went to the dance. Isn't that where you are?"

When he didn't answer she asked: "Max?" but the phone was dangling off the hook.

* * * *


Maria was scanning the crowd for Michael. She was still worried about Liz but she was glad that she hadn't canceled. It took her mind off of worrying about her best bud for a while, plus it was a great gig. They'd perform for half an hour and then a DJ would work for half and they'd switch all night. It gave her a chance to dance herself--if someone would show up to dance with her. She just wished Michael would get there. The DJ was playing and she and the Whits were about to go on and she wanted to sing a lusty love song but it would be pointless if Michael wasn't there to
hear it.

She scanned the room once more. She saw Isabel in a gorgeous red sequined dress, fidgeting with her handbag. Then Maria almost dropped the microphone when she saw Liz walking toward Isabel.

Liz made her way through the throng of dancing teenagers with relative ease. She knew she was going into a dangerous situation and she was strangely electrified by it. The DJ was playing a pulsing song that seemed to match the rhythm of her pulse. She could feel the music tingling beneath her skin. She spotted Isabel and headed in her direction. She found herself reciting the words to the song and she laughed at the irony.

Meet me in outer space.
We could spend the night;
watch the earth come up.
I've grown tired of that place;
won't you come with me?
We could start again.
How do you do it?
Make me feel like I do
How do you do it?
It's better than I ever knew

When she reached Isabel she found the blonde in a much more somber mood. She tapped her on the shoulder and she thought Isabel was going to leap out of her skin.

"Hi, are you OK?" Liz asked her.

"Oh, yeah, great," Isabel said, looking around her. "Liz, do you think this is such a good idea?"

Liz took both of her hands.

"It will be fine, I promise."

Isabel nodded. "I trust you."

"Good." Liz smiled. "Now let's do this."

And Liz led her toward the back of the gym.

* * * *

Alex and the others started playing as soon as the DJ's song ended. Maria found herself pinned to the stage, expected to sing. At the far end of the gym, Michael walked in and at a side entrance Max rushed in, scanning the crowd. Maria felt like Bambi, trapped in headlights, so many options and frozen from doing any of them. And then she was inspired.

"I'd just like to dedicated this next song to my best friend, Liz," she said into the microphone. "She's here tonight and looking just spectacular."

Both Max and Michael's heads shot up and looked at Maria. Maria bobbed her head toward the exit Liz was headed toward. For her part, Liz looked up at the stage and gave Maria a cheerful wave and then hurried Isabel outside.

Maria watched Max and Michael converge on the exit and grinned at her own cleverness. She smiled at Alex who looked at her strangely. Maria wasn't sure why until she started to sing and realized she'd just dedicated her lusty love song to Liz.

* * * *

Max opened the door to the gym and was blasted by the cool air that the body heat in the auditorium had eliminated. The school backed up to an expanse of desert that went on into the mountains in the distance. The night seemed to devour everything around him so that he couldn't see anyone. Then he saw movement a few yards away. He turned and melted the lock of the gym door shut and then he headed toward it. He wanted to confront Liz on his own. Only that wasn't possible, he realized, when he got closer and saw her standing next to Agent Mulder. The smart thing to do would have been to sneak up behind them, hear their plan. The smart thing.

"Liz," he shouted and he didn't recognize his own voice.

Neither did she at first. She turned, her eyebrows dipped and her eyes squinting into the darkness. Then she saw him and the alarm on her face was damning. She walked toward him and put a hand up to Mulder to keep him back.

"Max, what are you doing here?"

Max walked up to her, stared down at her moonlit face.

"You called and wanted to talk to me," he said, his voice raw.

"I did? Oh! Yeah, I did. I do need to talk to you, but later, OK?"

"Who is that?" He nodded at Mulder, still standing at a distance, his hand resting on something on his hip. A gun, Max realized. He swallowed.

Liz looked at Mulder and then back at Max.

"Max, please go back inside."

"You promised Agent Mulder aliens. Here I am."

Liz's mouth hinged open.

"If you want to keep your promise, I'm here, but leave Michael and Tess and Isabel out of it." He was trembling. "If I misjudged you this much then just let me pay for that mistake."

"Max...."

He didn't notice the tears welling in her eyes.

"But tell me one thing. What did he say to make you do all this? What did he do to make you pretend to sleep with Kyle, that made you betray me, betray everything that...."

"Max, stop!" She shouted and Mulder was running toward them.

Max knew it was coming to an end and he only wanted one more thing. He leaned down and found her lips, salty tasting from the tears, and he kissed her goodbye. He had intended it to be brief but, as what always happened, he lost himself in her. He felt her hands on his chest, he put his hands through her hair, he could feel the softness of her lips, smell his favorite perfume on her skin...and then the world exploded.

It was as if she'd been trying to hold back and when she lost her grip the images hit him like a slap. They crashed over him so quickly he almost couldn't comprehend them all as they piled one on top of the other.

He saw Liz, white lace over her head, staring at her mirror, reciting something, then she turned and was scared to find someone outside her window. When he leaned down to look inside, it was him--Max, staring at her.

Liz pinned against her bedroom door by Max...

Liz looking down at Max serenading her, while Max stood in the shadows behind her...

Max and Liz in the senator's office peeking through the blinds...

Max standing behind her while she undressed in her bathroom...

Max and Liz on her rooftop dancing under the stars...

Liz in her car, spinning off the road...

Liz and Agent Mulder in her car, the back windshield exploding behind them...

Then they were ripped apart. Agent Mulder had his arm and had pulled Max away from Liz. Liz stumbled back, clapping a hand over her mouth. The images fell away like broken glass between them. Mulder had his fingers dug into his flesh but Max scarcely knew he was there.

"Liz, who was that? What was that?"

Liz shook her head and took another step back.

"Liz, that wasn't me. I saw myself but I don't have any of those memories. That wasn't me."

Liz looked at Mulder and back at Max with panic in her eyes. But Max couldn't help himself.

"Liz, what happened?"

Liz let he hand fall away from her mouth. She was so scared she could barely breathe. "Agent Mulder didn't ask me to pretend to sleep with Kyle. You did."