Part 3

That Night

Liz had a difficult time getting to sleep, and when she finally did get to sleep she had nightmares of Tess coming back and trying to kill them all while they were sleeping. During one of her more violent dreams Rath had been passing by her room when he heard her whimper.

He pushes the door open slowly so as not to disturb her. Liz is thrashing in her bed; the covers are flying every where. Without thinking Rath enters the dark room and moves to Liz's bed sinking down on it and bringing her into his arms. Her thrashing slowly ceased and she settled quietly into his arms.

Rath had only meant to stay in bed with her until she calmed down, but now that he was here and she was in his arms he found it hard to get up and leave her. He had never been in love before—only in lust with Lonnie, Lon was great, but he always felt like she wasn't the one for him. After he had kissed Liz that one time in the school hallway he began to dream about her and fantasize about her constantly. Doesn't mean that it's love, but he thinks that it could be close to love.

He had been fantasizing about Liz so much that Lonnie finally found out about his sex fantasies—well; it was actually his fault that Lonnie found out about his Liz fetish. One night while he was having sex with Lonnie he accidentally called out Liz's name. He still felt guilty about it…real guilty, but Lonnie was all right about it, she had told him that she saw flashes of the dreams that he had been having about Liz. She started to see them a few weeks ago. However it still took a lot of groveling to get back to the friendship they had before they had become lovers.

Rath had tried to explain but what could he say to her that wouldn't hurt her anymore than he already had? He apologized to her and told her that yes he had been having dreams, and if he could he would take back that moment but he couldn't.

Liz stirs in his arms trying to get comfortable. In and out of sleep she becomes aware of a hard surface under her cheek. Opening her eyes she sees that it was a chest she was laying on—not that she minded of course, but this wasn't Alex's chest or Kyle's.

Glancing up she spots Rath staring at her, she smiles awkwardly up at him and hesitantly moves away from his warm embrace.

"What are you doing in here?" Liz rolls her shoulder working to pop it to relieve some of the tension that gathered there.

Turning Liz around so her back is too his front Rath begins to massage her shoulder. "I was just passin' by your room and you were whimperin'. Thought I'd check it out, so I's laid down and held ya till yous calmed down."

Liz moans as Rath continues his ministrations. "Mmm, your good at that." She speaks softly. Rath digs his thumbs into her shoulder blades, eliciting a pop of sudden yet slight pain then a wave of relief as much of tension left Liz's body.

"Thanks, whenever I sleep wrong my shoulder needs that pop to feel better." Liz explains. Feeling a little daring Liz whispers low. "You know—I never did get that second kiss that I wanted."

Rath suddenly stops his massaging of her back, and Liz thinks that she said something wrong. That maybe he didn't want to kiss her. But if that was the case then how come the first time she wanted that second kiss he seemed happy to oblige?

To say that Liz shocked Rath with her remark was an understatement. He wanted to do more than just give Liz that second kiss, he wanted to have amazing sex with her, but also get to know her…not just physically but emotionally, mentally, in every way possible. He wanted forever with Liz; he wanted her to love him. Rath mentally shakes his head, he kisses her one time today and he's turning into a pussy.

"Liz, it's not that I don't want to kiss you, I do, I really do." Rath runs his fingers through his nightly spiked hair. "I just don't think I'd be able to stop after one kiss, and I don't want to scare you away."

Grinning, Liz turns in his arms slightly. "You could never scare me away." She whispers. "To tell you the truth—" Maria bolts into the room after finding Rath not in the living room with Zan.

"Liz, Rath is gone and—" she stops mid-sentence when she finds Rath in Liz's bed with Liz in between his legs staring at the door where she just entered. "Oh, never mind—you know. Umm, I'm just going to go."

Maria leaves the room thoroughly embarrassed that she barged in on Liz and Rath in a moment that was obviously private. It's really weird for her seeing Liz with the man that looks like Michael, but she also knows that it's not Michael and that she has no hold on Rath.

As she rushes down the hallway back to Liz's parents bedroom where she's sleeping for the night she almost runs into Zan. "What are you doing out here this late at night?"

"I's could ask da same ding bout yous." Zan smirks down at her and watches her with his dark soulful eyes, like he's trying to read her.

"I asked you first." Maria uses the childish excuse that she used with Liz whenever she wanted to know about something that happened to Liz.

"Well, I'm not tellin' you jack till yous tell me what I wanna know." He wets his lower lip with his tongue causing Maria to have a little tingle in her lower abdomen. She remembers the time she first saw Max in elementary school staring at Liz, she had to admit that she had been a little jealous even at that young age.

As she grew older that jealousy grew right along side. While she would never act on her feelings with Max, partly for Liz's friendship, and partly because she was too scared of rejection, she always felt that there was a small part in her heart that was reserved for Max Evans. Don't get her wrong she loved Michael, but she never quite loved him with her whole heart—and Michael deserved better than that and she hopes that he finds that person on Antar.

But while Liz and Max were dating she started to see more of his true colors. One moment he was professing his undying love to Liz, the next he was sleeping with Gerbil Girl and getting her pregnant. That's not something she wanted in a boyfriend, it was no surprise to her that not long after he betrayed Liz her crush on him faded fast.

"So are yous goin' ta tell me or what?" Zan questions letting his head fall slightly to the side a curious expression gracing his face.

"I was getting a drink of water, when I only saw you in the living room I got a little worried about Liz so I checked on her. Rath was in there with her. So now that I've answered your question are you going to give me the courtesy of answering mine?" Maria tells Zan, as she watches him waiting for an answer, she can't help but be attracted to this man.

Zan looks so much like Max, but from only spending a couple hours with him she can tell that their personalities aren't quite the same. Max was shy, where Zan was confident. Max was whiny, Zan took action. Max seemed to give orders more, and while Zan still gave orders he also sought the input of his family.

"Does dat make yous jealous? Dat yours fuck buddy's dupe is sweet on your friend?" Zan avoids Maria's question of why he was up at this hour.

"Ok you just completely glazed over my question to you, so I'm not going to answer until you give me an answer." Maria decides that she's not giving into him this time.

"Alright, alright. I woke up when Rath got up, and I watched him walk ta Liz's room. I's checked on dem when he went in there, he wasn't doin' nothin' besides laying down with her. Den I checked on Ava and Lon in the guestroom. Now—are yous jealous dat yours boy toy's double is hittin' on your friend?"

"No, I'm not jealous—not completely. As much I hate to admit it, Michael and I were practically over before he left. Even if Michael hadn't had left with his family—I'm almost 100 positive that we wouldn't have lasted more than a few months." Maria walks over to the couch that Rath had been sleeping on and breathes in a deep breath.

Zan takes a seat next to her and awkwardly wraps an arm around her waist and brings her a little closer to him. "But wait, I heard yous talkin' ta Liz earlier tonight bout how you and he had knocked boots. Why would ya think it was over?" He was curious he admits it, Maria didn't seem like the girl to have sex one moment and then the next say that the relationship was failing.

"When Michael and I made love, it wasn't because it was the right time. It was because that would have been his last night on Earth. I realized that after I left his apartment that even though he was leaving the planet I still shouldn't have slept with him. If we had been in a sexual relationship before it wouldn't have been a big deal, but that was my first time—our first time together and it was also our last." Maria's voice cracks a little, then she blushes furiously noticing for the first time that she just told Zan something that she hadn't even told Liz.

Almost as if Zan can read her mind he leans in close to her, whispering in her ear. "Your secret safe with me love." He gets up off the couch and moves into the kitchen, he's hungry and he wants to know what kind of food they got in this place.

Finding the ingredients to make a sandwich he spends five minutes trying to make one. When he comes back out, sandwich in hand, he finds that Maria has fallen asleep on the couch and snoring softly. He chuckles low in his throat and takes the blanket that he had been laying under and drapes it over her body.

"Sweet dreams beautiful." Zan smiles wide, she really is beautiful.

TBC