A.N. This is the last part. I want to thank everyone one who read and reviewed, I'm addicted to the feedback.

Part 5

While Ava and Lonnie were showering Liz and Maria went down to the Crash to talk…something that they both felt they needed. They needed to re-connect as friends. For the past year Maria and Liz have drifted apart. Partly because of the alien life that they had become ingrained in and also because neither really made an effort to keep the friendship going.

"So, uh, I noticed you and Zan this morning were kind of throwing each other flirty looks…is there somethin' going on there?" Liz makes a soothing cup of tea for her and Maria, this was Maria's suggestion. With all the worries, betrayals, and issues that have been a constant in their lives, both of them could use some comforting…even if it did come from a tea.

"Yea, I really like him, when he first walked in I practically wanted to jump him." She blurts out without thinking. Although this was supposed to be a talk where they get everything out she didn't know how Liz would take that little bit of information after all Zan is Max's dupe. But then again Liz was getting hot and heavy with Rath sooner than Maria would have ever expected, and Rath is Michael's dupe so Liz shouldn't really mind her moving on with Zan.

Surprising Maria a little Liz let out a laugh from the deep bowels of her abdomen at Maria's bluntness. "I can understand that." Liz hands Maria her tea, and slides into the stool next to her. "He definitely is yummy." She smiles and stares down into her tea.

"You can say that again. Those chiseled biceps, his washboard stomach, his deep dark eyes that you can get lost in…" Maria trails off sipping at her tea calming her nerves.

"So how long have you had a thing for Max?" Liz says out of the blue. That was not a question that she expected.

"What are you talking about?" She tries to avoid answering her friend's inquiry.

"Come on Ria, don't lie to me. For one thing you and I have been best friends for about a decade, I can tell when you like someone…it might have taken a while to figure it out but I did eventually. Also Zan and Max have the same face and body. It's not really a quantum leap to have had or still have a thing for Max if you have a thing for Zan." Liz calmly tells her not showing much emotion, making Maria a little nervous about her friend.

"I've been attracted to him since about 2nd grade. Even that young I thought he was so…" she hesitates slightly at what she thought Max was when she first saw him. "…he was just beautiful. It was almost like he glowed with an essence that I had never seen before. When did you realize I had a thing for him?"

"About 4 months after the shooting. I don't know why I didn't notice it before…I guess you were really good at hiding it, or I just wasn't paying enough attention. But for some reason I looked at you and saw this dreamy gleam enter your eyes and it was when Max walked into the Crashdown. Now how come you never told me. I never would have gone out with him if I knew you felt something toward him." Liz rests her hand over Maria's in a comforting gesture.

"But I could tell that Max had a thing for you. He had that whole staring at you like there was no one else on the planet that I just didn't want to compete with. So I swallowed my crush and just wanted him from afar." She explains, while yes she wanted Max, she valued Liz's friendship more than any guy.

"If you told me how you felt I would have told Max that he didn't have a chance with me then maybe you would have." Liz tries to tell her.

"The thing is though after he betrayed you with Tess my desire for him faded and ceased to exist. I mean yea his body was still as great as it had been but the sweetness that kept me attracted to him was gone. Suddenly he was a jerk and didn't deserve my attentions." She scratches an itch along her hairline that has become an irritant.

"I've…well, I've been thinking that maybe my attraction to Max was me just seeing Zan as Max. I know I'm getting ahead of myself but the feelings that I had for Max in the beginning is how I'm beginning to feel about Zan." Maria talks aloud to herself.

"It's definitely possible, but you didn't know Zan when you met Max." Liz notices a guilty look crossing Maria's face. "What?"

"That's not exactly true." She fiddles with her hands. "I did see Zan a few years after I first saw Max. It was during a trip that Mom took me on to New York. I saw him in the CD store. I doubt he remembers me from then I was only 11 and Ms. Two-beans-on-a-board for a chest—well I'm still kinda like that, but I was looking at the CD's and I watched him as he stole one he winked at me and ran out. Ever since then I guess I looked to Max like Zan. I was so attracted him." She runs her finger in a pattern on a counter.

"How come you never told me that? Or told Max that? You were talking to him occasionally around that time, he could have been a twin brother that he didn't know about…which it turns out he sort of was." Liz isn't trying to sound judgmental but she almost can't help it. But then again Liz has no clue what she would have done if she were in Maria's position.

"I wasn't thinking about that at the time." Maria sighs out. Sometimes Liz acted so smart like she knows everything it got rather irritating. "How come you never told me about your attraction toward Rath…which means that you also had to have at least a physical attraction to Michael." For once she wants to get the spotlight off her and on to someone else…namely Liz.

Liz mentally debates with how much to tell her, in the end she decides not to hold anything back. After all that's the whole point of this talk with Maria now, let everything come out. "It was after Michael returned my journal. He read all my deepest, darkest secrets, my most erotic to the most innocent of fantasies, my dreams, my emotions, everything I had ever felt and thought about was in that journal and he knew it all. After that, the small attraction I felt for him magnified till it practically dwarfed my attraction to Max."

"Michael was the one that stole your journal?" She shrieks at the discovery.

"Yea, he told me not to tell anybody so I didn't till now. He knew Max would be furious and he didn't want to deal with that." Liz explains hoping that she won't overreact about it. "I'm actually lucky Michael never stole my journal after that. He would have found a few fantasies that involved him."

"He is fantasy worthy isn't he?" Maria teases understanding full well why Liz was dreamin' about him. "Ok you know what we need? I know it's like 8 a.m. but we cannot have this conversation without chocolate ice cream." She smiles leaping off the stool heading straight for the restaurant freezer.

Grinning like a child Liz rushes behind the counter picking up two long spoons that the Crash uses for their root beer floats. She turns hearing the sound of the door swing open to find Rath strutting through them looking vastly different than she was used to seeing him.

His hair was wet and sticking to his face, noticing her stare he raises his hand, it glows briefly and his hair is dry and straight up in it's usual Mohawk style. Rath's t-shirt clings to his strong torso leaving nothing to the imagination. "When ya wasn't upstairs I got curious as ta where my bed mate ran off too."

She grins wickedly. "So now that you found me what do you plan to do?" Liz sways from side to side in slight nervousness yet also portraying her seductiveness.

"Well, I plan ta do what any green blooded Antarian male would do." He smirks and raises his hand, again it glows brightly and some unseen force pulls Liz toward Rath till she's securely in his strong embrace. He smirks down at her leaning in, "Take full advantage of it."

The End

A.N. I know a weird place to end, but I couldn't see writing any more for this. I saw it as this is where one chapter of their lives begins and evolves and I don't need to tell the whole story in this fic. I can tell bits and pieces of it in the sequel.