Chapter 20

Liz clasped Max hand more firmly. They were both holding onto each other for support.

"The next thing I remember since becoming unconscious was waking up in what seemed to be a motel room. At first I was really weak, so I just laid there and tried to gather my strength. Occasionally Nasedo and Tess would come in and talk. I couldn't figure anything out since I couldn't remember anything of what had happened. But now I'm certain that they were talking about you, Max." Liz looked at the love of her life. "Obviously Tess was trying to take my place."

"No kidding," Maria said and snorted. "She must have consumed lip balm like an addict as an effect of her lips getting completely parched from all the ass-kissing."

"She's been on Max's back ever since...well, your funeral," Isabel clarified.

"But too bad for her, Max wasn't the least bit interested," Maria said.
Liz nodded.

"I remember how frustrated Tess was that things weren't going her way. I'm not quite sure why they wanted you though."

"Isn't that obvious," Maria said. "That bitch has always had some problems taking rejections and she probably just wanted Max to herself as her personal sex slave or something."

"Maria, please," Isabel pleaded. "That's my brother you're talking about."

"So? It's not like there's any chance of that happening now, is there?" Maria asked casually, shrugging her shoulders.

"No, but that doesn't keep me from getting those really weird images in my head of Tess and Max 'playing' together," Isabel said, the disgust evident in her voice.

"Okay, I'm I the only one a little uncomfortable with this subject?" Max asked.

Liz smiled at him.

"Anyway," she said, in order to save Max from the present conversation. "One day they left the door unlocked-"

"They did?" Maria asked incredulously. "Some nerds they are!"

"-and I escaped," Liz continued. "I was so tired, but I was afraid that they would come after me. I didn't have the courage to walk along the road, where it would've been easier to walk, so I walked across the desert until I saw a bed and breakfast a mile away. The man there and his mother took really good care of me. I got food, but I still paid for it-"

"How did you do that?" Michael asked.

"I had stolen some cash from Nasedo at times, and fortunately he never noticed," Liz answered.

Maria shook her head.

"Wow, leaving the door unlocked and leaving money without noticing some of it disappeared...They really weren't professionals, right," Maria said sarcastically.

"The mother of the man who owned the bed and breakfast was really sweet," Liz said and smiled at the memory. "She gave me some clothes which once belonged to her daughter. That's how I found out that my name was Elizabeth. Her daughter's name was Elizabeth and when she told me I just knew that Elizabeth was my name. That's what I've called myself since then. It was also that old woman who told me that I was-I was pregnant."

"You didn't know?" Isabel asked incredulously.

Liz shook her head.

"I couldn't remember anything and I was just the same feeling sick every hour of the day," Liz answered. "I never suspected anything. If I had...uhm...remember some things...," referring to the night of Emma's conception, "...I would perhaps have suspected it, but I didn't. I couldn't remember where I was from, how my parents looked like, how my...friends looked like. I didn't even know if I had any friends or family. For all I knew, I could've been a wanted criminal, kidnapped by enemies when trying to flee."

"But you weren't - you had friends waiting for you, missing you like hell," Maria said, her voice filled with sadness and hurt.

"I'm sorry, Maria. I would've come home immediately if I had remembered. I've always known that I was safe as long as I was with you."

"But you weren't," Max said, "we let you get hurt. We let them rip you away from us."

"Even you can't prevent everything bad from happening," Liz said. "Stop beating yourself up, Max. That's in the past...and it's more important to see what we are going to do now. Now I've found you again - or you found me more precisely - and we will get through this."
Maria watched her best friend and was amazed by the fact that even though Liz looked completely shattered to the exterior, the stubborn strong willed Liz Parker shone through brightly. That streak was probably what had saved her from laying down and dying.

"How did you find me?" Liz asked. "I've taken so many precautions to keep anyone from finding me...and it scares me that it was so easy to find me. I was lucky enough that it was you who found me first."

"It was Emma," Maria said. "You had to be blind to not see that she's a splitting image of her mother, with her father's eyes."

Liz nodded, a smile spreading in her face - a mother's pride of her daughter shining through.

"Those eyes always held a certain meaning to me. From the first time Emma opened her eyes they struck a cord inside of me - it's weird that I didn't know right then, that I didn't remember you, Max."

Max squeezed her hand, assuring her that it was okay.

"We sort of got some information out of the teacher," Michael said, turning back to the previous topic at hand.

"You did?" Liz said, her voice hinting some trace of fear. "I specifically told her not to give out any information."

"Well, it was not good at all that she did," Isabel said. "But it was pretty good for us that she did, wasn't it?"

Liz nodded - she had to admit that even though the teacher had broken her trust, she felt more like thanking her than punishing her.

"After that it was easy," Max said. "We only had your surname, but we also knew Emma's name." Liz momentarily closed her eyes to repress the dizziness that was putting its claws in her.

"Liz?" Max asked, worried.

Liz gathered her strength and opened her eyes.

"I'm fine," she said. "I just need to...lie down for a while."

"What's wrong?" Max asked.

Liz drew her hand out of Max's grip and stood up. The room spun and she put her hand on Max's shoulder for support.

"Liz?" Maria asked. Liz didn't look so good. She was pale...well, paler than before.

"I'm fine, I'm fine...I just....Max, can you help me?" Liz asked, but Max had already decided to help her even if she wanted it or not.

"Sure," he said, rising from his kneeling position beside Liz's chair and putting an arm around her small waist. Liz felt her body instinctively relaxing as she felt the side of Max's body and his strong arm around her waist. She leaned into him, letting him support most of her weight - which Max didn't mind at all.

"I'm sorry, guys," Liz said.

"Stop it, Liz," Maria said. "You need to rest, and you don't need to apologize because of it!"

Liz smiled weakly.

With the kitchen behind them, Max spoke to Liz:

"You're feeling sick, right?" he asked.

Liz hesitated for a few seconds and then nodded.

"I'm feeling dizzy...but it's pretty normal-"

"That's not normal," Max said as he slowly opened the bedroom door.

"It's normal to me," Liz said, her voice a little lower as they stepped into the bedroom, where Emma was still sleeping in the bed.

"I'm so sorry that I couldn't heal yo-"

"Max, stop it! If you apologize one more time, I'm going to yell at you," Liz said. "Nothing of this is you're fault. You did everything you could. I've learned to live with this sickness. But now you're here - supporting me, and it can never be that bad as it has been ever again."

Max smiled warmly at her and reluctantly released the grip around her waist to allow her to lay down on the bed. Emma instantaneously curled up to her mother and Liz put an arm around her daughter, holding her close. Max took the blanket (which Emma in her sleep had kicked to the floor) and spread it out over his small family. He leaned down and kissed Liz lightly on the forehead. At the contact of his lips on her skin, Liz closed her eyes as thousands of emotions rushed through her. It felt as if time stretched out, and then his lips left her skin.

"Get some sleep," Max said softly.

Liz opened her eyes and the turmoil of emotions inside of her only allowed her to nod.

Max couldn't stop himself from tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. He had this deep need to touch her. His fingers lingered at the side of the soft skin of her cheek. The touch of his fingers left a warm tingling feeling where they had touched, when Max removed them. Max smiled a little self-consciously.

"I'm just gonna..." Max said as he pointed at the bedroom door and Liz smiled.

"Yeah, you do that," she said.

"Okay," Max said and had to gather all his strength to get his feet to leave the room.


"What do we do about Tess?" Michael asked. "She hopefully doesn't know that we know."

Max clenched his fists tightly at the side of his body. "I know exactly what I wanna do with her," Max thought.

"Should I kill her for you?" Michael asked, not being completely serious. But as Max looked up in his face and Michael found himself staring into Max eyes, he doubted that his humorous touch to the statement had fulfilled its purpose. Michael had seen a lot of emotions in Max's eyes - but he had never seen what he saw there now. Max's eyes were dark with hatred - pure hatred and anger for the people who had made Liz suffer.

"Uhm..Max, I was sort of joking," Michael said.

Max flinched, seemingly jerking out of his thoughts.

"Yeah Michael, I know," he said and the intense emotions were deliberately removed from his eyes. But Max's stance still held much anger. Max took a deep breath in order to be able to think rationally again.

"I guess the best thing is to act normal. That would make us one step in front of her. She would not be suspicious of us, and we can monitor her and find out what her intentions are. We have to be very careful what we say to her - she's dangerous."

Michael nodded.

"Sooner or later, she messes up," Michael said. "And that's when we get back at her, right?"

"I don't want neither Liz nor Emma anywhere near her," Max said, his voice determined.

Michael nodded. He watched as Max rubbed his forehead - a movement that he had done millions of times since all hell broke out, namely since Liz was taken from him. "Maybe we should keep you away from her as well," Michael thought, as he watched how Max obviously was trying to get his iron control back. Michael didn't trust that Max wouldn't strangle Tess the moment he saw her.


Emma yawned and blinked with her eyes in the bright light. She turned her head and saw that mommy was sleeping beside her. Emma was just about to wake her mother as she heard voices outside the bedroom door and the events of the previous day came rushing back to her.
She pulled the blanket off her, accidentally pulling some of the blanket off her mother as well. But she was already too excited to get out to the living room to notice. She climbed out of the bed and stretched up on the tips of her toes to be able to reach the door handle and open the door.

"But something is wrong with her," she heard Max's voice - her daddy - say.

She found her daddy standing beside the couch in the living room, speaking into the telephone. She didn't see that funny blonde girl...uhm...Maria or..uhm... Isabel anywhere. Not even Michael who she had gotten to give her a piggy-ride at the zoo.

"I'm sorry, your Highness," Kira said at the other end of the line.

"Max...it's only Max," Max said tiredly. Why did they keep calling him that?!

"Max," Kira said apologetically. "We don't know why she's ill - we don't know much about human diseases."

Max rubbed his forehead and sighed. This was leading nowhere! As he let his hand fall to his side again something soft and warm captured it. He turned his head and saw Emma standing there - her face etched with concern, his hand clutched in hers. He felt a feeling of calmness flow into him, and he relaxed remarkably.

"Uhm..can't you find anything? Don't you have men in health facilities or something?" Max asked as he smiled at his daughter.

"As we never get sick we haven't felt the need to infest ourselves in health compartments and organizations," Kira answered.

"Of course," Max sighed. "But perhaps it's not human, perhaps it's alien."

"But you said that she was one hundred percent human," Kira said.

"Well, maybe she's not one hundred percent human any longer," Max said.

"Daddy?" Emma's small voice made Max turn his head towards her again.

"Not now, Emma," Max said softly.

Emma started biting on her bottom lip somewhat nervously.

"Who was that?" Kira asked suspiciously.

"That was...my daughter," Max answered.

"The heir?" Kira asked, his voice a little warmer.

"No, my daughter and she has a name. Her name is Emma," Max said.

"Yes, Emma," Kira said.

"Daddy?" Emma said again, now tugging on the bottom of his shirt.
Max covered the speaker with his hand and kneeled in front of Emma.

"What is it, Emma?" Max asked.

"I-I need to pee," Emma said.

Max just stared at her. Had she just said what he thought she said?

"Uhm..can't you do that on your own?" Max asked.

Emma shook her head.

Max took a deep breath.

"Okaaay," he said as he exhaled and removed the hand from the speaker.

"Look, Kira. I need to go."

"What's going on?" Kira asked.

"Uhmm..nothing- nothing important," Max said. "I'll call you later!"

"Okay, sir," Kira said and Max couldn't help to roll his eyes as he put down the receiver. This 'your Highness'-thing was really starting to get on his nerves.

Max put the receiver down and turned to his daughter, who was clutching her knees together, bouncing a little on the place.

"Uhmm...let's see if we can find your aunt Isabel here somewhere," Max said and took Emma's hand, leading her to the kitchen. To his horror, the kitchen was empty.

"Where is everyone?" Max mumbled. They had been here a minute ago.

"Daddy? I weally need to go potty," Emma said.

"I know, honey," Max said. "Just hold on a second."

Just then Maria stepped into the room.

"Maria!" Max exclaimed, his voice not being able to hide the relief.
Maria eyed the scene in front of her. Max looked nervous and scared, while Emma was holding his hand looking very much in the need...of a toilet.

"Emma needs to-to use the toilet, could you take her?" Max said.
Maria grinned broadly.

"Actually Max, I have other things to do," Maria said, feeling up to see Max beg.

"Please Maria. I-I-I need to call-call Alex," Max said and winced at his own lame excuse.

"You can't do that later?" Maria asked, arching her eye-brow.

"It's really important," Max said meekly.

"It will probably only take thirty seconds or so," Maria said.

"Daddy, please hurry," Emma said, her small voice strained.

Max helplessly looked from his daughter to the gloating Maria.

"Maria, please," he practically begged.

Maria made a big deal out of showing how much she was contemplating the whole thing.

"All right," she said and took Emma's other hand, "but you, girlfriend, owe me big time."

Max nodded, relieved, and released Emma's hand.

"Okay, honey. Let's go on the potty," Maria said and let herself be led away by a very-much-in-hurry four-year-old towards the bathroom.

Max sank down on the couch. Wow, this fatherhood was really..tricky. He would definitely let Liz take care of those...tricky situations...
He lifted the receiver again and pressed the re-dial button.

"Yes?" Kira answered after the second ring.

"It's me," Max said.

"The situation taken care of?" Kira asked.

"Yes," Max said. "Have you found something out?"

"None of my men know anything," Kira answered. "But you said that Liz wasn't completely human."

"Well, something might have changed in her when I healed her," Max explained.

"Right, the healing," Kira said slowly, as he contemplated this. "Maybe that's what's making her sick."

A feeling of cold spread inside Max. That was one of his worst fears. That who he was could hurt her....even kill her.

"What do you mean?" Max asked, his voice strained.

"We don't know the effects of a healing on a human. Actually, healers - of your ability - are very rare."

"How's that?"

"We all have different abilities - gifts."

"But aren't all our gifts completely human?" Max asked confused.

"Did Nasedo tell you that?" Kira answered.

"Yes," Max answered.

"He didn't tell you the whole truth. Your gifts are human, but they all have an alien basis."

"Please elaborate," Max said, once again rubbing his forehead.

"In your other life, you were a healer, Michael was a warrior, Isabel was a dreamwalker, and Tess was a mindwarper. The human mind has an immense capacity, that humans haven't even begun to comprehend yet. You were able to plug in on the right areas of the human mind to be able to use your natural gifts again."

"Okay," Max said, slowly digesting the information. "What does this have to do with Liz?"

"As I was saying, we don't know much about the consequences of the healing of a human - actually, we don't know anything about it. You might have changed the molecular structure of specialized cell functions. Cells might start to send out false signals in her body, causing the breakdown of her health that you mentioned."

Max was feeling nauseous. When he had thought that he was saving Liz from that gunshot-wound he had in fact started a process inside of her that was slowly killing her.