Liz awoke the next morning with the beginnings of a throbbing
headache. She dragged herself out of bed and climbed into the shower. When she
walked downstairs thirty minutes later, wearing white slacks and a pink halter
top, she found Max already there, waiting for her. "See you later,
Dad," she said softly, kissing her father's cheek before following Max out
to his jeep and climbing in. As Max slid behind the wheel, Liz stiffened and
looked around slowly, the hairs on the back of her neck rising. Max, seeing the
fear in her eyes, also scanned the area, but saw nothing unusual. He kissed her
softly and pulled the jeep out into traffic.
"Where are Isabel and Michael today?" she
asked, trying to shake that nervous feeling. She glanced over at her brooding
boyfriend.
"Isabel has Mom's car today. She's giving
Michael a ride in." Seeing Alex up ahead he pulled the jeep up to the
sidewalk and Alex climbed aboard.
"Thanks, Max," he said, settling into the
back seat. "Hey, Liz. Feeling any better this morning?"
Liz smiled wanly. "Yeah. Everything's
great," she answered unconvincingly. She glanced behind her again. She
could feel eyes boring into her back. Max took her hand in his, squeezing
gently.
"There's nobody there, Liz," he said
softly. "I won't let anyone hurt you. You know that, don't you? Pierce is
after me, Liz. He has no reason to come after you."
Liz shivered slightly. "What if he knows,
Max?" she asked softly, her head throbbing harder now. She searched
through her bookbag, pulling out a couple of aspirin and a bottle of water. Max
frowned, watching her swallow the pills. "What if Agent Pierce knows what
you did that day?"
Max pulled into the parking lot and hopped out
of the jeep, rushing around to help Liz down. "He can't know, Liz. But
even if he did, he would still be coming after me, not you."
Liz stepped into Max's arms. "What if he
wants to study me to find out how you healed me, Max?"
Max held the petite girl close, stroking her
hair lightly. "I won't let him get near you, Liz."
Max and Alex escorted Liz into the building. And
Max walked her right up to the door of her first class. He squeezed her hand
gently before letting go and heading off to his own first class.
Liz slipped into her seat and rested her head in
her hands. The aspirin weren't helping. Her head was pounding mercilessly now.
A few minutes later, Liz left her classroom and headed to the nurse's office.
She lay silently on the cot, eyes closed, trying to drown out the pain in her
head.
Liz stayed in the nurse's office until lunch. She didn't want Max to
worry about her, so she made her way out to the quad. Finding the gang in their
usual spot she moved to them slowly and settled into Max's arms, resting her
throbbing head against his shoulder. Once again, the feeling of being watched
came over her and she shivered, looking over the quad, searching for her
stalker.
Max held her tighter and nudged Michael. Michael stood
and moved away from them, toward the building, stopping just outside the doors
and turning back toward his friends. He scanned the area thoroughly but saw
nothing out of the ordinary. Finally, after several minutes, he made his way
back to the group. "There's nobody there, Liz," he said softly.
Liz sighed in frustration. They may not be able to see
anyone, but Liz could feel eyes on her, boring into her back. She knew she
wasn't imagining it. Somebody was watching her. And whoever it was, they knew
how to avoid being seen themselves.
Why wouldn't the others believe her? She had
never lied to them. Never overreacted to a situation. Liz had always faced
things in a calm, rational manner. It was the scientist in her, she knew. So
why couldn't Michael and the others just accept that what Liz was feeling was
real? That someone really was watching her, stalking her.
"Liz, really, there's nobody out there, ok?
You're just.....imagining it or something," Michael said. "You can't
keep going on about being watched. It's all in your imagination. Think about
it.....This all started after that whole thing with Topolsky. But you heard her
doctor, Liz. Topolsky was nuts. She made that whole thing up. There is no
Pierce. Nobody's following you. I mean, really, Liz. If there was an alien
hunter out there, which there's not, but even if there was........he would be
after us, not you."
"Michael's right, Liz," Isabel said
shortly. "There's no reason for the FBI to be watching you."
Liz closed her eyes, trying to drown out their
words. They were never going to believe her. They thought she was just
imagining everything. Her own friends didn't believe her. She felt the pounding
in her head increase. She might as well accept it. Short of actually being
captured by the Special Unit, they were never going to believe her.
And they were obviously tired of listening to
her 'crazy feelings'. They didn't think there was any reason for anyone to be
after her. And maybe they were right. Maybe there wasn't a reason for Pierce to
be after her. But someone was following her. She knew it. She could feel it.
She stood up slowly, and looked down at her friends.
"I'm sorry you think I'm making this up
to.....to....get attention or something. I won't bother any of you with it again,"
she said softly. Then, before anyone could protest, she went back into the
school and returned to the nurse's office.
Liz entered the cafe and made her way slowly up the stairs to her room, crawling into bed. The pounding had subsided to a dull ache, but Liz felt completely exhausted. Her shift didn't start for another 2 hours so she decided to take advantage of the time, closing her eyes and letting sleep claim her.
