Hello!! My plans were to update a week ago, but I guess fanfiction.net had other plans. I'm sorry about that. It wouldn't let me update. But I'm here today...with a new part :D

Firstly though, I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for the feedback!

BethluvMax

Amylou

Mysticvysqiyi

Laurie-Lee

Burgandy Lily

Snohee

And two anonymous...

Thank you guys! It's because of you that I continue writing!!

Chapter 18

Max stood there in the middle of the living room - in Liz's apartment. He let the silence fill him - flow into him through every pour. He tried to gather his thoughts and his feelings. It all seemed like a sweet dream, and he feared that he would soon wake up. He was not more than six meters away from Liz. He had felt her, he had been able to touch her, he had heard her voice speak to him, and it had been sweet music to his ears. He closed his eyes and listened to the silence, trying to get himself to grasp that the real world had for once given him a break. His feet took him to her bedroom door, and he slowly turned the doorknob and slightly opened the door. It creaked a little and Max winced as the sound ripped through the silence. His eyes sought out her still figure easily. She hadn't moved since he had left her. She was deeply asleep. He quietly entered the room, carefully closing the door behind him. There she was - like an angel sent from heaven. He moved to the bed, kneeling beside her. She was laying on her side, her legs pulled up into a fetal position.

He traced her face with his eyes, letting her scent envelope him. The last time he had seen her, she had been a teenager, now she was a woman - a mother. A smile couldn't stop itself from tugging at the corners of his mouth when he thought about the fact that he was a father. That he and Liz had made a daughter together. He knew that she had changed in more than her appearance, that she was probably not exactly the same Liz he had known. He wasn't the same either. But he still recognized her. He recognized her aura that was uniquely her. He recognized her very essence in how she breathed, how her lips were slightly parted letting in the oxygen to fill her lungs. Nothing could ever changed that.

He slowly lifted his hand to her face, tracing her cheekbone. It was more prominent than what he had remembered it to be. He moved his hand to gently brush over the bruises under her eyes, and sadness filled his heart. She had been all alone all these years - raising a daughter on her own. And something was definitely wrong with her. His eyes drifted over her fragile body. She was so thin - too thin. For not the first time, he wondered what was wrong with her. Was she sick? She looked extremely weak, the exhaustion was infested in every detail of her face. He traced the delicate lines on her forehead - lines of time and hardships - and marveled over the fact that her skin was just as soft as it always had been. How could skin be so silky? He tenderly moved his hand down the back of her nose, to lightly hover over her dry and parched lips. The lips that had been so lucently red and soft. He moved his lips to her forehead, intending only to leave a brief kiss, but his lips lingered at her soft and warm skin. He reluctantly pulled away, the taste of her skin still tingling on his lips.

Liz moaned slightly as he moved away from her, and started to wiggle her body - her body unconsciously trying to seek his out again. Max sat back, watching her - his mind still not fully comprehending that he was here with her. Liz turned around, her back momentarily towards Max, before she turned again to seek out the calmness and familiarity his presence provided. She stopped moving, her body relaxed and peace settle itself over her face as she once again positioned herself facing Max. But Max was already raising from his position, having seen something on Liz's back, where her shirt had ridden up due to her movements, before she had turned towards him again. He slowly climbed up onto the bed and moved up behind Liz. He gently took a hold of the hem of Liz's shirt and pulled it upwards.

He inhaled sharply as the appearance of her back revealed itself to him. Her back was not the soft, lean and porcelain texture he remembered. Her skin was whitish, and shiny - the texture inelastic. She had been burnt - badly. Her whole back was merely scarred tissue. But that was not the worst thing. In some areas of her back were water-filled blisters, and in others were open wounds - some as big as three centimeters in length. Max was slowly slipping deeper and deeper into his sea of guilt. He had not been there for her. She was obviously in pain every day, and he hadn't been there to help her. He swallowed - feeling sick, and pulled down Liz's shirt again.

Liz started moving about again, and turned towards him. When she found what she was searching for, she sighed contentedly and snuggled closer to him. Max pushed all his feelings of self-blame and guilt away, and concentrated on the fact that Liz was here now. He laced his fingers with hers and pulled her closer. She cuddled up against him, tucking her head under his chin, covering her face in his shirt. Max felt her warmth flow into him, and his body relaxed. Slowly he drifted off to sleep.

***

"...and he eat the peanubs," Emma's voice sifted into the living room as the front door opened.

"The monkey sure did love those peanuts, didn't he," Maria said.

Emma nodded fervently. Michael stepped up behind Emma and Maria, shopping bags dangling from his hands. He was never gonna go shopping with Isabel and Maria again. Now he knew why Max always said he had other things to do when Isabel asked if he could take her to the mall. Man! After the visit to the zoo Maria and Isabel had suddenly reached the decision that Emma was in serious need of new clothes. And they had to go into every store. And that was so cute, and that was so sweet, and that was adorable. With a sigh Michael sank down on the couch, not even possessing the energy to remove the shopping bags from his wrists. On top of that, the shopping demons (read Maria and Emma) had both agreed upon that Michael needed some new clothes as well. So against his will - and co-operation - he was now the new owner of one pair of pants and two shirts.


Isabel snuck out of the living room to check on Max and Liz. She lightly knocked on the bedroom door. Hearing no reply, she carefully pushed it opened. She found them both sound asleep. Liz was snuggled close to Max, as if she was trying to crawl inside of him - shielding herself from the harsh and cold reality with his warmth and calmness. Isabel looked at her brother's peaceful face. He had not slept one entire night since Liz's disappearance, and Isabel realized that no medication in the world could have helped Max with his insomnia. Liz was his only cure. As Isabel looked at them, together again, she thought that once again everything was right in the world. Sure, they probably still had some issues to discuss, but as long as they were together again, there was hope.

***

"Are they still sleeping?" Maria asked Isabel as she came back into the living room after having checked up on Liz and Max for the second time.

Emma had joined them in the bedroom too. Somehow Emma had been able to snuggle herself in between Max and Liz, and Isabel admired that little girl for being able to break the hold Liz and Max had on each other in their sleep. Max and Liz were now sleeping on their sides, facing each other and Emma laying on her back sandwiched between them - looking very content to have it like that. Max's and Liz's hands were clasped together, resting on Emma's belly.

"Yeah, both must have been really exhausted," Isabel said.

"Liz looks really sick," Maria commented, concern and fear evident in her voice.

Isabel nodded, and turned to look at Michael who had positioned himself on the couch - the TV on.
"I think we're going to have to think about the sleeping arrangements. It looks as if we're gonna have to stay here for tonight," Isabel said to Maria.

"I'll take the couch," Michael said quickly.

"Hey," Maria protested. "Who gave you that right?"

"I said it first," Michael said simply.

"Well, the last time I checked we were not in Kindergarten...but I begin to wonder," Maria retorted.

"I deserve it 'cause I had to be a pack-ass against my will," Michael said.

"Oh, how noble of you," Isabel said sarcastically.

"Yeah, you're a true gentleman, Michael," Maria said.

"Well, I try," Michael said and shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, I'm a man, and I need to get a proper night of sleep in a proper bed to be able to regain all my powers in order to save your asses if it's required, remember?"

Isabel could practically see the steam coming out of Maria's ears.
"Well, if you are such a man, then I think you should go and buy some sleeping bags," Isabel said, before Maria had the chance to start a fight with Michael.

"I'm watching TV," Michael said, as if that was reason enough.

"Michael..." Michael heard the warning note to Isabel's voice and looked up in time to see a small hint of the Christmas Nazi returning. Michael was quickly on his feet.

"Okay then, I'll get those stupid sleeping bags. But then you have to do the woman thing, fix something to eat!" The door was closed behind him before neither of the women was able to yell at him for that sexist statement.

Maria picked up the phone and threw it to Isabel.

"Pizza?" Isabel asked.

"Yes, and extra cheese for space-pig," Maria said.

Isabel ordered the pizzas and then the women sank down on the couch, changed canal and waited for the food to arrive - ready to be eaten - like any other modern woman.

***

Max slowly drifted up to the fringes of consciousness. He felt a warm body pressed up against his. It all came rushing back to him as he noticed the small hand that was entwined with his. He slowly opened his eyes. The light of the morning sun was sifting through the window. He turned his head and his eyes fell on the two persons that meant more than life itself to him. Liz was facing him, her body close to their daughter who was positioned between them. They were both sound asleep. The covers were only partly covering Liz, since Emma evidently had tried to kick the covers off. Emma's cheeks were flustered, having been heated up by her parents' warmth. However, Liz looked cold. Due to the alien blood that flowed through his veins, Max was less receptive to cold than humans - and Emma probably had some of that as well. But as he cupped Liz's cheek with his hand he felt how icing cold her skin was. If he hadn't heard her soft and even breathing he would have feared the worst. He pulled up the covers over his two girls and rose to retrieve a blanket. If Liz was anything like the Liz he had known, she would have a blanket in the closet. On the top shelf of the closet, he found a blue and green blanket which he draped over Liz's body. With one last look at his sleeping family, he left the bedroom - closing the door quietly behind him.


Isabel looked up at him as he entered the kitchen.
"Morning, Max," she said with a smile. Max looked really relaxed, thoroughly rested. Some of the worry and sadness, that had became like an integrated part of him during the years of separation from Liz, had vanished.

"Morning, Izzie," Max said and rubbed his hand over his eyes. "How long have I've been asleep?"

"Well, dear brother...about twenty hours," Isabel answered, casting a quick glance at the kitchen clock. "You must have been really exhausted."

Max just nodded - a little absent-mindedly - and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs.

"You want coffee?" Isabel asked.

"Sure," Max answered. He watched his sister as she poured coffee in a cup and placed it in front of him. She sat down across from him and searched his face.

"Is Liz still sleeping?"

"Yes," Max answered.

"She looks really sick," Isabel said.

Max guilty avoided her eyes.

"What's wrong with her?" Isabel asked.

"I don't know," Max whispered, the guilt and self-blame extremely prominent in his voice.

Isabel worriedly searched his face.

"Max, it's not your fault," she said.

"I haven't been there for her," Max said.

"You had no chance to do so," Isabel said. "She hasn't contacted you - you didn't know where she was."

"But she's in so much pain," Max said. "Her-her whole back is burnt."

Isabel's thoughts went back to what Max had told her about that night of Liz's 'death'. He had experienced an intense pain in the back, but Isabel had dismissed it to be the cause of the knife Liz's body had been penetrated with.

"Is that what you felt?" Isabel asked.

Max nodded.

"I think so," he said.

"But you can just heal her, right?" Isabel asked.

Max nodded again, but Isabel could see that his mind was elsewhere. Something was really eating him up inside, and Isabel had a feeling that it was just not Liz's health condition.

"Max, what's really bugging you?" she asked.

"Nothing," Max said - starting to fiddle with his spoon in the cup of coffee.

"I know you, Max. There's something else."

Max took a deep breath, and then he looked up into her eyes.
"She's blocking me," he said. "She's blocking our connection."

"What do you mean?" Isabel asked.

"I can't feel her," Max said. "I've always told myself that it was probably because she wasn't close to me - that there was too great of a distance between us. But that doesn't make sense any longer. I've been...close to her now for hours and I still is unable to feel her."

They both jerked out of their reveries as they heard the bedroom door open.
They looked expectantly at the entrance to the kitchen to see who was to appear. It was Liz, and she too looked as if some hours of sleep had been good for her.

"Morning, Liz," Isabel said. Liz smiled softly, which warmed Max's heart.

"Morning,," she said and walked into the kitchen.

"You want some breakfast? Pancakes, cereals, coffee, tea..."

Liz smiled at Isabel's enumeration.
"Coffee would be great," she said.

"Coffee it is," Isabel said and turned to pour another cup of coffee. Liz sat down on the chair next to Max. She looked up into his face, and she instantly was lost in his warm eyes. She timidly reached out and put her hand over his on the table. She had this need to constantly touch him.

Isabel put down the cup in front of her.
"There you go, Liz," Isabel said and sat down again.

"Thanks," Liz said. "Why do you call me Liz?"

Isabel's hand froze in the movement of taking a slice of bread and she stared at Liz.

"That's your name," Max said, confusion in his voice as he looked at Liz.

"I thought my name was Elizabeth," Liz said.

"I guess it is," Max said, "but we've always called you Liz. Don't you remember?"

Liz shook her head.
Isabel felt lost.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I don't remember that my name used to be Liz, and I don't remember who you are," Liz answered, and Max felt unable to breathe.

"You don't remember us?" he whispered. Liz squeezed his hand, and looked deep in his eyes - her eyes so familiar to him. She had always been able to look at him as if she saw right through him - saw him as the person he really was.

"I remember you," she said in a low voice to Max.

Isabel slowly lowered her hand, staring at the girl who Max had searched for so many years - and realizing that she hadn't really hid from him, she simply hadn't remembered him.

"I think we have to talk," Max said.

***

Max closed the bedroom door to Emma's room behind him and watched Liz as she nervously walked around the room, picking up toys here and there - organizing them.

"Liz, calm down," he said.

Liz looked at him, and nodded.
"Right," she said and inhaled deeply before she positioned herself on the edge of Emma's bed.

Max looked at her, as she was nervously twitching her hands in her lap - staring down at the floor. She had no memory of them, which meant that she didn't know about his, Isabel's and Michael's true origin. She didn't know that her daughter was half-alien. He wasn't really feeling up to telling her once again that he was an alien. Been there - done that. It had not been the most pleasurable experience.

"Do you remember anything at all?" Max asked.

"I remember you," Liz said so softly that Max barely didn't hear her. "But only you as a person...not anything we've done or said."

"You haven't remembered anything during these years?" Max asked.

"I have gotten some glimpses...but it's only if I come into contact with something that reminds me of the past," Liz answered.

"You don't remember anything...uhm...special about me..and Isabel and Michael?" Max asked, hoping that she would remember, so he didn't have to give her the shock of being a mother to an alien child.

Liz looked up at him, confusion in her face. Max could see how she was searching her mind in order to truthfully answer his question.

"No," she said honestly.

"Okay," Max breathed. "Has anything...out of the ordinary..happened with Emma? Has she done anything that you couldn't quite explain?"

Liz looked down at the floor again, and Max understood that Emma had done something.

She couldn't tell him, could she? He would think that she was crazy...

"Liz, just tell me," Max said, as if he could read her thoughts. Liz looked up into his eyes and the love and reassurance she found there gave her the courage to tell him. To tell him anything and everything.

"One day she said that she had been in daddy's dream," Liz said, keeping her eyes locked with his. To her surprise he didn't even flinch - he didn't show any sign of being surprise by what she said or even thinking that she was delirious.

"Anything else?" Max asked.

"She....healed me," Liz said.

"She healed you?" Max asked.

"It's really stupi-"

"No," Max interrupted. "It's not stupid - nothing about you could ever be stupid."

A feeling of familiarity surged through her.
"Have you said that to me before?" she asked.

"I...I don't know," Max answered. "Maybe I have. Did you remember that?"

Liz nodded.
"It was like that when Emma healed my hand....there was this bright light and I remembered-"

She stopped as she realized what she was about to say.

"What?" Max asked.

"Uhm...the night...of Emma's..uhm...conception," Liz answered.

Max couldn't help but blush and he lowered his gaze to the floor.

"I want to try something," he said slowly and raised his eyes to hers again.

She nodded slowly. Max went up to the bed and sat down next to her.

"I have to touch you," Max said. Liz felt the strangest feeling of déja vu and she nodded her permission. Max tenderly cupped her face between his hands. They both tried to ignore the electricity that momentarily cursed through their bodies at the contact.

"Take some deep breaths, and let your mind go blank," Max instructed her.

Liz calmed down her breathing, drawing deep breaths in and out. She felt her whole body relax, and then she felt as if she was falling. She felt herself being wrapped up in Max - in everything that was Max. She could feel all his feelings. Most of all happiness, relief and love. She felt as if her whole heart was beginning to warm up - thaw - returning to life. That's when the images started to flow through her mind. Max's memories. She saw a small brown-haired girl playing with a friend, and she realized that she was looking at herself. She saw herself growing up from a little girl, to a young woman through Max's eyes. Every flash was etched with admiration and love. The images changed and she saw herself laying on her back on the tile floor, bleeding from a gunshot wound in her stomach. She felt Max's panic as he watched her gradually lose hold of life. Liz watched him put his hand over the wound, and there was a bright light. When Max removed his hand the wound was healed. Then she saw the fear on her own face as Max told her that he was an alien, and she felt Max's sadness. Then the images started to come faster. Max and her kissing, Max telling her that they shouldn't be together - that it wasn't meant to be, Max kissing Liz the night he had been drunk. She experienced all the heightened feelings that they both had felt during those days in February before they found the orb. She re-experienced the desire that had surged through Max as she had lightly moved her fingers over his bare chest in Michael's apartment.

Then there was fear...so much fear and panic as Max realized that Liz had been abducted by Nasedo. She relived his emotions during his captivity. She felt his confusion, his panic, his fear - fear for himself but mostly of anyone hurting any of his friends. She felt the pang of utter misery as Pierce had shown him an engineered image of her death. Then she was looking at herself in the van, feelings his longing for her. His love. The first time he had told her that he loved her. She found herself in the cave after Max, Isabel, Tess and Michael had received the message of their purpose here on Earth through the hologram. She felt Max's confusion and anxiety as she watched herself run away from him. She felt Max's loneliness when she was away during the summer in Florida. She felt how much he missed her. She experienced his pure joy and happiness as she returned to Roswell. But then she saw herself laying half-naked in her bed with Kyle, and she felt how his heart broke. That's when the feelings changed.
She felt Max's suspicion towards Liz - initially not wanting to believe what his eyes told him was true. She felt Max's alienation as she was pulling further and further away from her. The flashes were penetrated with betrayal, and anger. But she could still feel the constant love in the background, but it was buried under all the dark confusing emotions. Then she felt him feeling worried about her as she was getting paler. She felt his love for her start to come up to the surface again as she saw herself standing outside his window in the middle of the night - in the pouring rain. And she gasped as the intense feelings of joy, happiness, gratitude, and love filled her when she accepted him back into her life.

Then everything became a large blur of dark emotions. The feelings of agonizing grief and desperation devoured her. She could feel herself being pulled into a world so dark, so lonely - and she witness the cause to the gradual dying of his soul. She saw herself laying pale and cold in his arms. She saw his tears fall on her still body. She saw blood - on the ground, on his hands, in her hair. Then the images were coming faster again, but there was a lack of emotions attached to the images. It was as if there were no emotions left to experience. She only felt an overwhelming feeling of emptiness. Next she was in a church, surrounded with people she'd known more or less her whole life. Her parents, relatives, neighbors, people from high school...people she didn't even recognize. She was witnessing her own funeral. Then the images changed and she saw Emma. Several images of Emma started to flash through her mind, and they started to mix with images of her. With a gasp he pulled out of her mind.

He leaned his forehead against hers, gathering his strength. It had taken a lot to send all those images and to keep the connection open for so long.

"Max..." he heard Liz whisper, her voice cracking with emotion.

He leaned back and looked into her eyes, and he knew. He knew that it had worked.

"I remember," she said and wrapped her arms around him, holding him as close as she could. "God, Max. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Max murmured, feeling how Liz was returning to him. The Liz he knew. His Liz.

"I love you, I love you so much," Liz whispered, her voice filled with thousands of emotions.

"I was dead without you," Max murmured, closing his eyes and let his senses be filled by her. Everything that was her. "I've missed you so much."

He could feel her tears soaking through the front side of his shirt.

"Liz? I need to heal you," Max said. He could feel her nod against his chest. She knew how much it meant for him to be able to do that for her. She knew that he was withering away under his own guilt, being devoured by his conscience for not being there for her....or Emma.

Still in his arms, she began to take deep breaths, trying to calm herself down again from the intense trip on the emotional roller-coaster. She felt how he too started to relax against her. Then he was inside of her mind again.

He felt her blood flow through his veins, her heart beating in unison with his. He felt the air flow into her lungs as if it was his, and then all the pain hit him. The wind was knocked out of him, and he had to concentrate really hard to push the excruciating pain far back in his mind and instead focus on her - on their body. He searched her internal organs, finding the liver, the kidneys, the stomach, the heart, the lungs and the lympathic system to be damaged - slightly burnt. He continued to move to heal the external traces of her ill-health. He healed the bruises of her skin, and the open cuts that hadn't been able to heal properly on their own. Next he moved to the skin of her back. He started to heal the blisters and the open wounds - melding the skin together. He focused on the damaged epidermal cell layer of her skin, repairing it - repairing the damaged cell functions. He continued to look over the neural pathways connecting her brain to the rest of her body. He traced the nerves, seeing to it that they were not damaged. Finally, he checked her over and then he pulled out of her.

They both shivered from the cold the withdrawal of the other's soul left them with. Liz put her arms around her body, in an effort to fight of the cold that was penetrating into her very bone.

"Did it work?" Max asked, fearing the answer from the sad look in her eyes.

She shook her head.

Max closed his eyes, and inhaled deeply. What was wrong? He had healed her, he knew he had.

"I'm still having a headache, and the nausea is still there," Liz whispered.

"I don't understand," Max murmured, and then he looked into her eyes.

"Liz, pull up your shirt," he almost ordered her.

"What?" Liz asked, confusion written all over her face.

Max rose and sat down behind her instead, and she realized what he was doing. She took a hold of the hem of her shirt and pulled it upwards. Even though she anticipated his touch, she still inhaled sharply as he gently brushed his finger over the naked skin of her back. His hand was lightly moving across her skin, and she could feel the desire that had been buried deep inside of her for so long - awakening inside of her. A desire only his touch could bring forward.

"Max?" she asked, as he didn't say anything. "How does it look?"

"Fine....perfect," Max whispered, pain in his voice.

"What's wrong?" Liz asked slowly. There was something he wasn't telling her. He pulled the shirt down again, covering up her now flawless skin and Liz turned towards him. He was staring at his hands positioned in his lap.

"Why are you blocking me, Liz?" he asked, hurt etching his voice.

"What do you mean?" Liz asked.

Max looked up, and Liz was somewhat taken aback by the amount of emotion in his eyes. Especially the hurt.

"I can't feel you through the connection," Max said.

"Oh God, Max," Liz said slowly. "I haven't even thought about that. I can't feel you... I had no memory of the connection before...so that's probably why I blocked it."

Max nodded, her words sinking in and the hurt in his eyes gradually vanishing.

"Try to unblock it," he said, his voice encouraging.

"I-I don't know how to," Liz said insecurely. "I never had to do anything to get the connection - one day it was just there."

"Try to reach out for me," Max suggested, having no clue to what to do himself.

Liz nodded and closed her eyes in deep concentration. She concentrated on him. The way he was looking at her, the way he softly caressed her cheek, the way he brushed the hair off her forehead, the way he looked into her eyes, the way he kissed her, his smile, his scent - everything that was him. Everything he meant to her. She tried for almost two minutes, but then she had to give up - unsuccessful in her efforts.

"I can't," she whispered, her voice husky with exhaustion.

He pulled her close up against him and she gratefully sank into his arms. They both held on to each other, both desperately trying to fight off the coldness and loneliness that threatened to overtake them.

TBC...