Especially for you KDI! Sorry it took forever.real live and all. It's short, but I'll be back soon.

I looked down at our joined hands, then up into his amber eyes. He was just as scared as I was. "I'm afraid Michael."

"I know Liz." He was trying to put on a brave face for me.

My insecurities were taking over at this point. After Kyle let us out at the back entrance of the Crashdown, my heart started pounding, and waves were roaring in my ears. "I mean, I'm about to walk through that door and their gonna' know Michael. .I'm an alien."

Smirking slightly at my obvious lack of rational thought, he said, "We all are Liz."

Leave it to Michael to make me smile in the worst of times. "But.these are my parents, and they KNOW. I've been lying to them all of this time. I mean, God.I'm an alien!"

Michael then gave me the first real smile I had seen grace his face in these many months. Then his eyes softened, and he took my face in his strong hands. "Liz, look at me. They are your parents. That's exactly why it's going to be ok. I know Nancy and Jeff well enough to know that they will love you no matter what."

"I know. I know, but."

I saw a gleam in his eyes then. "Come on Parker. When have you been afraid of anything?"

I looked at him then. "Never when you're with me."

Something I had never seen before passed through his eyes, then he said, "Let's go in then. We can do this."

He took my hand then as I raised the other to knock on the door. I suppose we could have just walked in, but not wanting to give my parents any more of a shock, we waited. Just then, I heard footsteps coming toward us, and someone fumbling with the knob. My back went ridged, and I stopped breathing as I waited for the door to be opened.