Scully, for reasons beyond her, was still waving the gun at her attackers even when she got slammed into the ground

Scully, for reasons beyond her, was still waving the gun at her attackers even when she got slammed into the ground. Finally she heaved it at the one she was fighting with and was immensely satisfied when she hit him in the forehead. It didn't detour him anymore then three bullets to the chest had, however. She curled her legs up; ready to thrust her heels into his abdomen when suddenly he burst into dust and disappeared. Standing in his place was Mulder, holding a baseball bat.

"Hey, Scully," he said.

Scully scrambled to her feet. Mulder turned and started swinging at one of the other attackers and she saw that a petite brunette and a taller, dark haired young man, had also thrown themselves into the fray. The young man tackled one of the men attacking Isabel while Isabel herself swung the Club at one of the others. The petite brunette had a baseball bat as well and she approached the alien attacking Isabel from behind.

Liz had the baseball bat that Mulder had provided her and she was coming up on the one attacking Isabel. She pulled back her arm to swing at the spot on his back that would obliterate him when the alien shoved Isabel to the ground and turned on her. Liz gave a little squeal and backpedaled. Isabel picked herself off of the ground and grabbed the Club with both hands. Max and the alien he was wrestling with rolled right to her feet. She sent the Club crashing down on it and it burst into dust. Max blinked up at her for a moment and then he scrambled to his feet.

"Are you OK?" He asked, looking her up and down for injuries.

"Yeah," she replied.

He took the Club from her and turned to see what had happened to Liz.

Mulder finally had an alien right where he wanted him. Unfortunately, the alien didn't know it. Mulder was swinging the bat at him but the six-foot seven alien was remarkably resilient. Mulder didn't want to resort to dusting him; the point was to bring one back alive. But the bastard wasn't cooperating. Nothing was working and the alien spread his hands in a gesture that said: take your best shot. Mulder shrugged and gave him a big shove. The alien fell back a few steps, laughing. Until it hit the rock formation behind him and exploded into dust.

The alien stalking Liz backed her up against the car. She didn't think it would comply if she asked it to turn around so she would have a clear shot at it's vulnerable spot. Then she saw that it was reaching for her. She knew that she couldn't let it touch her. Her foot found the fender and she began backing up onto the hood of the car. It reached out and grabbed her ankle, it's touch was searing hot and she screamed. Then it disintegrated into dust. Mulder and Max were both standing behind where the alien had stood only a second before. Both had taken the alien out like dueling baseball hitters.

"Are you alright?" Max asked.

Liz had heard that question more times then she could count but for the first time in days she meant it when she nodded and said: "Yes."

He took her hand and pulled her into his arms. She held on as tight as she could.

Scully came up to Mulder, looking disgruntled. "Now can you tell me what the hell is going on?"

* * * * *

They all started walking back toward the gym a few minutes later. Mulder and Scully were discussing "what the hell was going on" while Liz explained in whispers to Isabel and Max what had been happening to her. As she spoke, the silence around Max was like a black cape. When she got to the part where she told them how she had told Mulder she was an alien to protect Max, it grew thicker.

"When I got to your house to explain things, I found Isabel there and she was being attacked by those aliens. We drove them off but she told me how they had been harassing her. I knew that she wanted to get rid of them and I knew agent Mulder wanted some aliens so I called his cell phone and he met me at---"

"The Chinese restaurant," Max said quietly.

Liz nodded.

"I told him that the aliens that were after me had started threatening my friends. He and I came up with a plan and I called Isabel and we met here. She agreed to be the bait." She looked at Iz. "I'm sorry we came so late. Agent Mulder and I got—", she glanced at Max, "distracted."

Isabel nodded. Liz looked to Max and found that he had stopped walking along beside her. She turned and looked at him.

"Max?"

He had his head hung and when he spoke she could barely hear him.

"Liz, I can't even begin to say how sorry I am—for all of it." Try as he might, he couldn't look her in the eyes. "I took things out context and believed the worst and the whole time you were putting your life at risk to protect me."

"I'm beginning to realize how things must have looked. I know it must have looked bad—"

"It doesn't matter. I know your heart. I should have known better."

Liz tilted her head so she could look him in the eye. His beautiful brown eyes were swimming in unshed tears.

"Max," she said quietly. "I would do anything to keep you safe."

"I know. And I'll never doubt that again." He looked her in the eye. "I swear."

She smiled. "I believe you."

And she kissed him and this time there were no revelations, except for how deep their love really went.

* * * * *

Scully glanced at her watch and then back at the couple kissing in the moonlight.

"It could be a while," Isabel said.

"Teenagers," Mulder mumbled.

Then Michael, Alex, and Maria came running up. Hearing the commotion, Liz and Max walked over to the group.

"Is everything OK?" Maria asked, casting doubtful looks at the two FBI agents.

"Yeah," Isabel assured them.

"Well, we were worried because when I tried to follow Max, the exit got jammed somehow," Michael said, looking at Max.

Max knew Michael was going to be pissed for keeping him out of it. He scratched his head and shrugged.

"I hate it when that happens," he said.

"So do I," Michael replied, looking like he wanted to hit something.

And that's when Sheriff Valenti's car came screeching to a halt next to them. The sheriff climbed out anxiously. He opened his mouth to say something, his expression grave, until he saw Liz standing there with the others. The relief on his face was evident.

"Liz! I just left your car out on the interstate—full of holes!"

"Oh good, you found it. I already told my mom that I reported it stolen."

Valenti blinked at her. "We found blood. I thought you'd been shot."

"No, Agent Mulder was the one that got shot."

Valenti looked at the FBI agent.

"Fox," he said with a guarded nod.

"Hello, Jimmy. It's been a while."

"It sure has. So what are you doing here?"

"I wish I could tell you."

"It's confidential."

"No, I really have no idea what's going on."

Liz took her que. "Agent Mulder, can I speak to you for a moment?"

He nodded and moved away from the group. But when she tried to follow, Max wouldn't let go of her hand. She smiled at him.

"It's all right."

He reluctantly let her go and she followed the agent to where his car was parked. He leaned against it and she couldn't help but think he looked like a GQ ad.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"About what?"

"You didn't get any aliens."

He laughed.

"What?" She asked.

"It wouldn't be the first time."

"Oh," she said, then she perked up. "But at least you captured Agent Krycek, right?"

"He was gone by the time the police got to the scene."

Liz's jaw dropped. "So this was a total bust for you."

"Not entirely," he said. "The important thing is that you're safe."

"Thanks." She looked down at her feet. She hated to lie to him. After everything he'd done for her she hated to still do it. "The thing with Max earlier—you see, there are some shape shifting aliens and they can look like anyone they want to and one of them came to me looking like Max and he made me do—some things—I know this is hard to believe…"

"I've met a few shape shifting aliens in my time. They're usually pretty nasty."

Liz remembered Nasato and how he had disguised himself as Max and he had let her kiss him. She remembered how much he'd enjoyed it. She shivered.

"Yeah."

She waited for more questions. There was so much she left unexplained. She tried to think of possible answers in advance. But his next question caught her completely off guard.

"You are safe now, aren't you Liz?"

She looked over her shoulder at her circle of friends. When she looked at Agent Mulder again she was smiling.

"Yes, I am."

Mulder studied her for a moment. "You have a lot of people that care about you. Maybe you are."

He stood up.

"If you need any more help or when you want to tell me the whole story, you have my number."

Liz blinked at him.

"That's it?"

He nodded and she threw her arms around him and hugged him.

"Thank you," she whispered to him.

When she let go Agent Scully was standing behind them.

"Come on, Scully. We're done here."

Scully waited until Liz went back to her friends before she turned her gaze back to Mulder.

"We're done here? Mulder you have yet to tell me what we're doing here. First you were on 'vacation' and the next thing I know you have me coming down to Roswell, ranting something about Krycek and a fly swatter! The next thing I know people are vaporizing in front of me and now you're letting a prime witness just go off to a sock hop?"

"She's just a high school student who was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

He glanced at Liz one more time before he climbed back into his car. Scully looked over at Liz too. Something in the way that Mulder looked at her seemed odd. And that's when she saw it too. Liz was standing, snuggled up to the young man named Max. She was smiling and chatting with the sheriff. Her dark hair was resting on her bare shoulders, her smile was sweet and genuine. And when she laughed, her whole face lit up.

"Samantha," Scully mumbled.

The resemblance was superficial really. They only shared the most general traits, but from pictures that Scully had seen of Mulder's long missing sister, Liz Parker may look very much like what Samantha Mulder might, had she lived that long. It gave Scully some idea of why Mulder was walking away from this with so many unanswered questions. It's also why she would let him do it.

* * * * *

Everyone walked back into the dance sometime later. The DJ was glaring at Alex and Maria for hanging him out to dry but Maria was in too good a mood to let him intimidated her. She took Michael's hand and dragged him out onto the dance floor. Michael was still mad at Max for sealing him in the gym when he may have needed him but when Maria put her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his he relaxed quite a bit.

"You promised me a dance." Alex whispered into Isabel's ear.

"I said maybe," she whispered back, but she didn't object when he took her hand. She knew that the four aliens that had been harassing her were gone but that the other one—the dangerous one—was still out there. But when Alex pulled her into his arms, she felt safe nonetheless.

Max was leading Liz out onto the dance floor but she skidded to a halt. A beautiful song was playing and she wanted to have Max's arms around her more then anything but—

"What?" Max asked.

Liz pushed her hand through her hair.

"Max, nothing has really changed."

"How can you say that?

"Because if we're together then Tess will leave and—"

Max shook his head.

"No, now I know how important she is to our survival. I have a knowledge that I didn't have before. We'll work on keeping her here, together."

Liz wanted to believe him more then anything.

"Besides, look."

He pointed toward the other end of the gym. Tess was standing at the edge of the dance floor and Kyle was trying to get her to dance. She looked rather put out to even be there but when he started doing John Travolta dance moves around her she grinned. Finally she rolled her eyes and let him take her onto the dance floor.

"I think things will be OK."

One of her favorite songs came on as he held his hand out to her.

Sometimes, I feel the fear of

uncertainty stinging clear.

And I can't help but ask

myself how much I'll let the fear take the wheel and steer.

"You just have to believe," he told her.

She smiled and looked him in the eyes.

"I want to believe," she said and she took his hand.

Whatever tomorrow brings, I'll be there

with open arms and open eyes.

He pulled her into his arms and she laid her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beating and she closed her eyes. She remembered something Future Max had told her: "After that, we never let anything come between us again." She held on to Max and knew exactly what he'd meant.

The End