Even though it is a little late, Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope you had a lovely Christmas and that you haven't drown in all the Christmas stress, but just relaxed.

Thank you for the feedback!! I feel so privileged to have you as my readers!!

Since there's quite a number of chapters to this story now, and a lot has happened, I thought I should just post some kind of summary of what has happened.

So, let's review, shall we?


This is what has happened so far. As a consequence of Future Max arriving in Liz's bedroom one night, Liz sets out to try to have Max fall out of love with her. Even though Max's trust in Liz and what they once shared was badly wounded when he had to witness Liz in bed with Kyle, Max continues to watch over Liz. Liz is suffering from nightmares, and she's almost always suffering from excruitiating headaches. Being Liz, she's trying to put up a facade that everything is okay. But Max isn't fooled. He tries to convince her to connect with him. She's afraid to let him do it because of what he might find out about Future Max, and thereby everything she has worked for - all the hurt she has been going through - would be for nothing.

However, as we all know, the bond between Liz and Max is powerful, and it doesn't take long for them to get together again. Liz realizes that she feels better in Max's company. It's as if the headaches which are constantly plaguing her vanish whenever he's near. But then something goes very wrong.

Nasedo and Tess are working on finding a way home, and at the same time make their allies happy. These two conditions both involve the Granolith, which they need Max in order to activate. But to have Max activate it, he has to be willing to let go of his Earthly life, and he is not ready to ever let go off Liz. So Nasedo and Tess tries mindwarps to damage the bond between Max and Liz. They are unsuccessful. Hence, another plan takes form. Nasedo shapeshifts into Max, and plans on raping Liz while impersonating Max. Liz would never forgive Max for something like that. They didn't count on the strong connection between Max and Liz though, and Liz has somehow been reliving the moments up to the rape in her nightmares, so she's more or less prepared. But something goes wrong, and Nasedo hurts Liz so badly she almost dies.

Tess mindwarps Max, Michael and Isabel that they are seeing the dead form of Liz, while Liz is really held prisoner, unconscious, in a motel room with Nasedo. Everyone believes that Liz is dead, and so does even Max. Liz escapes from Nasedo and Tess, and starts a whole new life in Santa Fe. She suffers from amnesia; she can't even remember her own name. And she finds herself pregnant with a child, without having a clue to who the father is. Four years pass, and eventually Max meet up with his daughter - Emma, which leads him into finding Liz again. Her memories start to come back to her. But she's sick. Really sick, and she isn't getting better even though Max tries healing her.

During Liz's absence a new protector has showed up - Kira. He is the real protector to the four squad. Nasedo was an imposter. By compiling facts about what has happened, and what Kira knows about his race, they reach the conclusion that Liz is sick because she's (involuntary) blocking her connection to Max.

Okay, is it all starting to come back to you? I'll go on either way... lol

They are concerned about their safety. Kira has men all around the US, and they are reporting that their enemies are preparing for something. When she was unaware of her identity, Liz received a strange phone call, the person asking things about her daughter. Since someone are after them, Max, Liz and Emma goes into hiding - at a warehouse. During their short stay there, Max and Liz make love and the connection flare to life between them again. Liz's body slowly starts to heal itself. But then one night, Emma is taken from them, and they find out that she has been taken by Nicolas, to Antar.

So, we leave for Antar. Phew...this "summary" is getting long .. Not too much has happened yet on Antar. We have learnt of a person named Serena, who has been assigned to work with a mysterious human child held at the palace (Emma). Her mate, Aldonis, is the leader of the group loyal to Zan (or Max). Both Serena and Aldonis are part of this secret organization to free the planet from the ruling of Khivar. Liz is trying to connect to her daughter through the connection they share, but she can't get through. The connection is blocked. Michael and Isabel are also on Antar, and Alex and Maria are left behind on Earth. The hybrids are living in a small camp together with Kira and some of his men, trying to organize how to free Emma, and get them back to Earth.

Oh, and not to forget! Tess is nowhere in sight, because she melted - at the hands of the people she worked for...

And then there are some slight problems. For instance, they are on a foreign planet, without any knowledge about the language or the people. Max feels helpless because he can't make any decision without knowledge, leaving him at the mercy of Kira, who he is almost forced to trust completely in. He has no other choice. Then we have Isabel and Michael. While Liz and Max have each other, they are alone, and they are starting to realize how much the humans they were close to (Maria and Alex) mean to them. On top of all this, there is a development of Liz's powers, that Max healing somehow brought forward. The problem is that she can't control her powers, and the one and only premonition she had (before going to Antar) almost left her dead...

So, there are still many things to be dealt with....



Chapter 6


The air felt heavy and fluid. It stuck to his clothes, to his bare arms, to his face. He twirled around, laughter echoing around him. His heart was slamming in his chest so hard it felt as if it wanted to get out. But it was trapped inside of him, just like his mind was trapped in the confines of this body.
"Daddy!!"
He turned around, his eyes fervently searching for her, but he was still alone. The laughter around him grew in intensity and there were whispers growing louder and louder. He put his hands to his ears, the sharp sound of the loud whispers slicing his hearing.
"No!! Noo!!" Suddenly the laughter was close, behind him. He turned around and tumbled backwards as he looked into a pair of coal black eyes.
"Where's Emma?!" he asked the man.
The man just laughed at him. Max took a hold of the collar of the man's shirt. "Where is Emma?!!" The man stopped laughing and stared at him.
"She's dead."


Liz woke up to the sound of his agonizing whimper. She opened her eyes, and found him lying on his side, his back facing her.
"Max..." she said.
She could hear him mumbling, his legs restlessly moving around under the covers.
"Max!" This time more forcefully.
"Noooooo!!"
His agonizing cry made a part of her heart go numb, and she quickly put her arms around him, pressing his back into her chest.
"Max!" she said loudly in his ear. "Max! Wake up!"
She heard him take a deep breath and then he relaxed his tense body against her. His erratic breathing evened out and Liz closed her eyes against his shoulder, warm tears running down her cheeks.

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Serena pushed the door open to the small windowless room. The little girl was sitting by the small table, crayons spread out on the table surface. She looked up with fear in her eyes as the door opened, but when she saw who it was some of the fear disappeared and was replaced with curiosity. Serena felt the girl's eyes on her as she turned around to close the door.
"Hi Emma," Serena greeted.
The little girl gave her a faint smile and without a word she returned her attention to the drawing in front of her.
"What are you doing?" Serena asked.
"Painting," Emma said.

"What are you painting" Serena asked, cautiously moving closer to Emma. She was still afraid that she would scare the little girl. She came up beside Emma and peeked down at her paper. It was the work of a child to be sure, but it was not difficult to see what it was supposed to be.
"Is that you?" Serena asked, and pointed at the short figure Emma had painted. Emma nodded. The figure consisted of a round head with black long hair and a round body with arms. Emma had actually not painted any legs, only the feet, which she had put directly on the body. The figure made the corners of Serena's mouth to move upwards. It looked really cute. But her smile grew faint as she saw the two larger figures standing at the little figure's side.

"Who is that?" she asked Emma, although she could already guess the answer.
"That's mommy," Emma explained, pointing to the figure who looked like a copy of the little figure, only bigger, "and that's daddy." She pointed on the figure standing by the little figure. She had drawn her family.
"You don't have any siblings?" Serena asked.
Emma shook her head. "No. Only me, mommy and daddy."
Serena kneeled down beside the table and searched out Emma's eyes from under her bangs when Emma ducked her head.
"You like your mommy and daddy very much, huh?" she asked.

Emma nodded her head. There was so much Serena wanted to ask her about her parents. But she wasn't sure Emma even knew the answers to those questions. Serena wanted to have the information that could confirm what she and Aldonis had been discussing the other night. That Emma was somehow related to Zan. The most logical relation being that Emma was his child. If she was, then Serena was afraid for the little girl's safety. She was the heir to the throne in case of Zan's death, and Khivar certainly didn't want an heir to the throne.

The only reason Serena could think of that Emma would be of any greater importance to Khivar was that he would train her into becoming the ruler he wanted to replace him. Khivar wasn't married, and he didn't have any children of his own. There were, however, rumors going around that there were many bastard children out there, children brought into the world through rape. Their mothers were often concubines or servants to Khivar who he had come upon during his fits of anger and subjected them to his physical urges. It would be in Khivar's interest to raise an heir that would continue to rule Antar as he had.

Serena searched the girl's innocent face and wondered if she was really a princess. But she was human. Did that mean that she didn't have any powers? Everyone on Antar is born with the capacity to develop powers, but without training that potential often sank into oblivion. On Antar only royalty and men of command had powers. Serena had powers, but only because she had been trained through the Loyalists. If this little girl was half human, or even more than half human because Zan was mostly human, did she know how to bring forward those powers that ordinary people on Antar had such difficulties to access and utilize without training? The Levitars hadn't said anything about Emma having any powers, but on the other hand they had given her almost no information on anything. Should she just ask Emma or should she wait? She watched Emma for a while as she added black color to the hair on the figure portraying her mother.

"Your mommy is beautiful, isn't she?" Serena asked.
"She's pwetty," Emma said. "She lubs me."
Serena concentrated on translating what Emma's child language meant.
"Daddy lubs me too," Emma continued. Loves...that what she meant. Love. Love was a rare concept on Antar. For ages it had been judged to accompany one of those strong feelings that needed to be restrained in order to enhance and develop one's capabilities to the fullest. Love was never discussed. Even though it was a difficult emotion to actually retain, that didn't mean it wasn't present. However, Antarian children were never told about love. They were instead taught about loyalty. You were loyal to your parents, but you didn't love them. As she watched the dark-haired little girl, her heart once again went out to her. She had obviously been taken from a loving family. Serena hoped with all her might that Emma's mother wasn't dead as the Levitars had told her.

"When was the last time you saw your mommy?" Serena asked. To her surprise, Emma's eyes lit up, excited about the memory.
"Mommy was putting me in bed," she said. "And daddy too. And she told me that I was special."
"You were special?" Serena asked.
Emma nodded enthusiastic.
"How were you special, Emma?"
Emma opened her mouth to answer, but then she stopped herself. Serena could literally see the excitement disappearing from her eye, like a lamp had just been switched off. Emma liked the woman who was kneeling there on the floor beside her. She was the nicest one of all the people that had come into this room, but she couldn't tell her why she was special. It was her secret. And those other people – like that mean man - had known about her secret and he had hurt that puppy. She didn't want that to happen again. She didn't want the woman to know her secret.
"Emma?"

Emma looked down at her paper in front of her and put her drawing away, only to reveal a new white piece of paper underneath. She took a blue crayon and started to draw. She didn't want to answer any more questions. She just wanted to draw. It was fun to draw. She could draw everything she remembered. In the world of her drawings and her imagination, she could do whatever she wanted. She could be wherever she wanted, and she could be with whoever she wanted.
Serena observed Emma closely. Emma was obviously reluctant to answer her questions. She decided to let it go for now. Hopefully Emma would trust her enough to tell her later.

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"Michael! Michael!"
Michael jerked his head towards Max, and snapped, "What?!"
"What the hell are you doing?!" Max strode up to him and, looking past Michael, saw a fire feasting on the dry shrubs and trees. The thick smoke filled the air and blended with the sparking sound of fibrous twigs breaking and turning into ashes.
"What does it look like I'm doing?! What you told me to!!"
Max stared at him, balling his fists in anger. "I didn't tell you to blow up the entire site. Don't you realize that by doing that you are sending out a beacon to everyone to just come and find us!"
Max stretched out his hand in front of him and, with a subdued whizzing sound, the oxygen to the fire was cut off, which put an end to the blazing conflagration.
"You just want us to practice on blowing up small stones, Maxwell!! How do you think that we are going to be able to protect ourselves from our enemies if we haven't been taught to use more energy?!!"

"I didn't say small stones," Max said, "I said not to do anything too conspicuous! And then you almost set an entire forest on fire! I'm sorry if I don't agree with your idea of being conspicuous!"
"Don't you fuck with me," Michael said coldly.
Max furrowed his eyebrows in anger. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Nothing, oh fearless leader," Michael sarcastically replied and walked off without another word, leaving Max staring at his back. The anger was simmering down and was replaced with frustration over this whole situation.

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The water on Antar was probably one of the things that Liz had the most trouble getting used to. It was thicker than Earth water, and you couldn't drink it. Sometimes Liz would have this indescribable longing for water. Just to feel its cool and refreshing texture on her tongue and feel it running down her throat. Water was something you took for granted if you had access to it everyday. Liz had acquired a new understanding for people living in countries were fresh, and especially, clean water was scarce. She still had not figured out what the people did on Antar to keep clean, because this water wasn't really something you could wash yourself with.

Max manipulated the structure of Antarian water, trying to make it similar to Earth water. Trying to take away its gelatin structure and make it thinner, but it was difficult. They had constructed a substitute for a bathtub out of some kind of metal. Max would help Liz carry the water to the tub and fill it up. Then he would change the molecular structure of the water molecules - rearranging the covalent bonding - and lastly, he would heat the water to a comfortable temperature. The whole process was pretty tiring for Max, and Liz's baths became increasingly rare because she didn't want to wear Max out.

Nevertheless, Liz felt greatly in a need of a bath today. Actually, she would much rather have a warm shower at home on Earth, but the greenish water was the next best thing and she would take it. Max was off to practice his powers somewhere and it was getting late. The three moons in the green sky were slowly becoming more and more evident as the green turned darker and the red sun descended. Liz had to carefully focus her vision to be able to see in the growing darkness as she made her way from the river to the little tent that served as the 'bathroom'. Some of Kira's men were nearby. One of them was walking behind her with two buckets of the heavy water. They had been intruding on her personal space the entire day and it was beginning to get to her, even if it was because Max had ordered them not to let her out of their sight for an instant. She was irritated, and it felt as if all of her nerves were on the outside of her body. It was only a matter of time before she snapped. She walked into the tent and poured the sluggish liquid into the tub. The other man stepped up behind her and poured the contents of his two buckets in the tub as well.

"Can you please change the structure of the water?" Liz asked him. The man looked at her confused.
"What do you mean, my lady?" he asked.
Liz let out a frustrated sigh. It wasn't just that he was calling her 'my lady', which made her feel twice her age, but since her level of patience wasn't very high at the moment, it annoyed her greatly that he couldn't understand that simple request.
"Make it into the same structure as Earth water," she clarified tightly.
"Yes, my lady," the man answered, and put his hand down in the water. His palm started to glow and then the area surrounding his palm became more translucent. The area grew larger and larger and soon the water had a texture more similar to Earth water. Liz dipped her hand into the water to feel its structure.

"It's cold," she said. "Could you please heat it?"
"Yes, my lady," the man answered flatly and Liz had to stop herself from strangling him. God! Couldn't they stop with this 'my lady' crap already?! She had begged them a thousand times (just today) that she wanted them to call her Liz and nothing else. But she had to give up since they obviously couldn't understand that simple request. The man removed his hand from the tub and Liz put her hand down in it, only to quickly pull it up again with a squeal.

"It's too hot!" she cried. Aliens weren't as sensitive to hot and cold as humans were. Max's body was basically human. However, he often wasn't as susceptible to cold as Liz was.
"Sorry, my lady," the man mumbled, feeling the negative energy coming off of Liz in waves. He really didn't want to upset her. If he upset her, than he was sure he had to deal with Zan...and he really didn't feel up to that.
"Problems?"
Speak of the devil... The man turned his head towards the opening of the tent and saw his leader standing there with a grin on his face.

"Max! Could you please heat this water to a normal temperature?" Liz asked, glaring at the man. The man eased away, hoping that he hadn't upset the king. The man didn't know this king though. The man had known Zan, not Max. If he had known Max, he would have known that Max wouldn't punish anyone for something as trivial as this.
"Could you leave the two of us alone please?" Max politely asked the man while stepping into the tent.
"Of course, your Highness," the man said, bowing his head slightly in respect before he hastily scurried out of the tent. Max only shook his head in amusement. That poor man looked really frightened.

"How did you manage to scare him like that?" Max asked Liz, stepping closer to her. He had been feeling her increasing annoyance through the connection the entire day and so he had hurried home. He knew that she was near her breaking point.
"It's about damn time you showed up!" Liz said and pointed toward the tub. "I really need a bath. Where have you been?!"
"Sorry, Liz. I guess the practice took a little longer than expected," Max apologized.
"No kidding," Liz said under her breath, pretending to be interested in the tub. She needed to calm down. Max looked at her, feeling her inner turmoil. Without taking his eyes of her he put his hand in the scalding water and lowered the water temperature.
"Better?" he asked Liz. Without looking at him, Liz put her hand in the tub.
"Much better," she answered. Max frowned as she pulled up her hand again. It was unnaturally red.
"Liz, did you burn yourself?" he asked.
"Well, the water was pretty hot. I wasn't expecting it, so I put in my whole hand. That stupid alien can't do anything right!!"
"Let me see," Max said, stepping closer to Liz.
Liz put her hand behind her back. "No, Max. It's nothing."

Max searched her face while trying to figure out what was going on with her.
"Just let me see," he said again. There was a pause as Liz juggled with her emotions. Then she sighed in resignation and stretched out her red hand to Max. Max tried to capture her eyes but she kept looking into the tub. He sighed and carefully took her hand.
"Let me heal it," he said.
Liz pulled her hand away. "No, Max. It's okay."
Max stared at her. "Okay. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Liz answered. "Now can you please go outside? I need to take a bath."
"It's because of me, right?" Max stated. Liz looked up at him. "You don't want me to use my energy so much." He could feel from their connection that he had made the right conclusion.

"Liz, it's only a burn. It's not a problem for me to heal."
"Yes, Max. It's only a burn. I can live with it," Liz said and turned away from him, starting to unbutton her shirt. Max looked at her back, knowing that she was making this his cue to leave. But there was something else to this. He knew it. He stepped up behind her and put his arms around her waist. His hands captured hers, stilling her movements.
"Liz. Tell me."
There was a pause.
"I don't want you having any nightmares," Liz said. Max leaned his chin on her shoulder, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer against him.

"Honey, I don't have any nightmares," Max said, and he actually thought he was telling her the truth.
"Yes, you do," Liz said, and Max could hear the tremble in her voice. "Every time you come back from training and you're exhausted you have these nightmares. You toss around...you're so scared, Max."
Max just stood there completely paralyzed. He wasn't even aware of the fact that he had any nightmares.
"It hurts me so much to see you like that...and you don't even remember it. It's so terrible that your mind represses it."
"Liz..." Max said, his breath catching in his throat.
"When you don't wear yourself out, you don't sleep as deeply, and you don't have any nightmares. I don't want you to use anymore of your energy."
Her voice was trembling from emotion, but her statement was firm and adamant.
"Please Liz. Let me heal you."
"Max, I can handle it."

He couldn't bear seeing her hurt. But he also knew that she couldn't bear seeing him hurt either. He took a deep breath and planted a soft kiss at the crook of her neck.
"Okay," he said, releasing his grip on her. He could feel her relax through their connection, but under the feelings of relief he could also feel a hint of the pain the burn was causing her. He moved his hands to her tense shoulders, starting to rub them. A small moan of pleasure escaped her lips as he applied some healing warmth to her sore neck. She tilted her head slightly forward, giving him a better access to her shoulders. He started to rain light but lingering kisses over her neck, his hands moving under the fabric of her shirt.

"Can I join you?" Max asked huskily, his warm breath floating behind her ear. Liz tilted her head to the side, coaxing him into continuing his healing touches with his lips and hands.
"Mmmm, I think I'm in a desperate need of a full body massage," she breathed, already losing herself in him.
"Yes, I agree. You need to relax," Max said, his hands moving lightly down her arms, barely touching her. She could feel the heat of his fingers even through the fabric. His hands changed direction, wrapping around her again and coming to a stop on top of her hands, which had stilled in their task of unbuttoning her shirt as Max's otherworldly massage began. He slowly removed her hands from the buttons, his mouth tasting the soft skin of her neck, and began the task of unbuttoning her shirt himself.
"Relaxation is not exactly what I had in mind," Liz said.

TBC…