PART 44
It didn’t take them long to find a room and Max spread out the blanket Isabel had given them. At first Liz and Max could only sit in silence for a few minutes before Liz spoke. “I’m sorry about what Kyle just said, he doesn’t realize how much you mean to me.
Max shrugged, “He thinks I’m butting in on his territory, he feels threatened. I mean you two are supposed to be together, like he said, it’s your destiny.”
“Max, I don’t care about that destiny stuff. We don’t even know why the drawings in the book were like they are. And Kyle said that our protector hasn’t really told him anything. Plus if I was meant to be with someone else, why have I loved you for as long as I can remember? Why did I feel like a part of me would have died right along with you if I hadn’t healed you?” Liz asked him as much as asked herself.
“I don’t know. But I wish that day had never happened, then what just happened to you, wouldn’t have happened.” Max stated. “Pierce wouldn’t have found you.”
“And you and I wouldn’t have found each other. I never would have felt the way I feel when I’m with you, or the rush from hearing you call my name. I never would have known the taste of your lips when you kiss me.” Liz said looking him in the eyes. “Even after surviving the white room, I wouldn’t do anything differently, I wouldn’t change anything. However this whole thing will turn out…I’ll never regret a single second with you.”
“I love you,” Max whispered before he pressed his lips against hers. As he did several flashes of what happened inside the white room hit him. He felt her terror and he kissed her harder, trying to offer her comfort in some way. When he did she brought up her hands and started caressing his back. It wasn’t long before they felt as if the ground was falling away beneath them, forgetting everything that might happen when they left their sanctuary.
As the kiss grew deeper, more forceful, Max’s hands began to slowly rove across her back. Her fingers tangled in his hair, caressing the nape of his neck and making him shiver with pleasure. He knew where it was about to lead.
“Liz, are you sure that you want to be with me like this?” Max suddenly whispered wanting to make sure. “You’ve been through so much.”
“Yes, I’m sure. The only thing that matters is that I want to be with you. I love you.” She whispered in response, her soft brown eyes glinting enigmatically in the moonlight.
Once he was certain that she was sure, he plunged deeply into another kiss, hungrier this time, searching to ease the desire, yet merely serving to fuel it. The warmth of her mouth opened eagerly beneath his own; a willing partner in crime, seeking to explore and know and love completely. Hands traveled slowly, tangling in the folds of their clothing, before moving on. Max became dimly aware of her fingers on his chest questing upwards, leaving a trail of loss where they had passed.
He traced a fluttering line of kisses down her neck, making her quiver as he discovered a particularly sensitive hollow just below her left ear. With sudden curiosity he nibbled gently at the lobe, and heard her sharp intake of breath. He pulled back and asked, “Did I hurt you?”
“No,” she gulped. “It didn’t hurt.” Her eyes twinkled at him, before he drew her into another kiss, which virtually took her breath away. Her senses seem to overload as he was drawn deeper into her, breathing becoming increasingly erratic as her small hands moved purposefully, tugging his shirt loose from his pants and moving to touch the bare skin beneath. The lightness of her touch made him gasp every morsel of him straining to be caressed by her.
Max’s hands were equally occupied, daring to stray across the softness of her breasts. As he did she ran her hands inquisitively up his chest, and he rolled backwards with the bliss of the sensation, pulling her with him, enjoying the tingling fire, which spread across his skin. Max felt his eyes widening as she continued to explore with lingering kisses down his stomach, bringing his very skin to life.
He flipped her easily over, and he watched as she tilted her head towards him for a kiss. The world seemed to dissolve once more in her embrace; heart pounding madly, Max strove to discover everything he could about her.
His hands encountered the hem of her shirt and he pulled back slightly to look at her. She nodded consent. Her breathing was as unsteady as his seemed to be, and she pressed herself tightly against him. Max felt as if his fingers had turned to water, floundering badly as he slowly pulled the shirt up, revealing the softness of soft skin beneath.
His exploration paused momentarily, as his fingers encountered what looked to be an incision that stretched from her collarbone, through her breasts and ended just above her stomach. It wasn’t very deep but it looked fresh and raw. He knew it had happened in the White Room but he hadn’t seen it in the flashes he had received in their first kiss. He ran his finger around it and asked. "What did they do to you in there?”
"Don't think about it, Max. Not tonight."
But despite her words Max was transfixed to the spot, barely knowing where to look, until her felt her arms slide around his neck, and the warmth of her bare skin brushing enticingly against his own.
She caressed his shoulders, and ran a tantalizing hand purposefully down his spine, her eyes suddenly darkening into liquid pools of desire. Max moved his hand back to where it had been tracing the curve of her hip and waist. The sensation of her flesh against his filled him with a hot surge of longing, of excitement and the desire to know more, to know everything. Consciousness of anything beyond her was lost in the new wave of passion that seemed to engulf them both. Hands roved eagerly and the remnants of clothing were quickly discarded as curious fingers passed by.
Liz felt as if her body was on fire beneath his touch; the sparks and tingles he caused as he moved over her made her catch her breath. His hands gently charted the smoothness of her skin, feeling its warmth and willingness. There was a dim recollection of her response to the little hollow by her ear, and, without really thinking about it, his lips began to trace the same path. She moaned and clutched him tightly as his breath and tongue teased at her breast, arching towards him in demand for more.
“Don’t stop,” she pleaded breathlessly, eyes looking slightly glazed.
Max couldn’t help but smile against her skin as he laid fluttering kisses downwards to her stomach and feeling her muscles tense at his touch. Time seemed to blur in a most surreal fashion, enveloped in a happy haze of breathless need. There was only Liz. Nothing more. Kisses and caresses drove him onwards, his senses heightened to a fevered pitch. Needing. Wanting. Loving her. Conscious thought had disappeared long ago.
Finally he found himself looking down at her flushed and happy face, and tried to steady the breath tearing out of him in unsteady, shallow bursts. Her eyes shone lovingly in the moonlight, making him smile.
Slowly they moved together, seeking to become one. The sensation was overpowering, filling him with a feeling of extreme and almost unbearable pleasure. That was when he hit her barrier. She was in no condition to take away the pain and he looked down at her in question.
“It’ll just hurt a bit for a minute.” she whispered up at him, reaching to kiss him.
“Sure?” he managed to query, before losing the faculty of speech once more as she moved beneath him.
“Sure,” she said, chuckling slightly at his dazed expression, her quivering almost rendering him senseless.
They clung together, moving uncertainly at first. Confidence grew quickly, and reality faded once more into a sea of bliss, which Liz had never anticipated, even in her wildest dreams. Cries of pleasure broke through the thick mists that swam through her mind. The pleasure was building steadily inside both of them, lifting them higher and higher beyond anything they knew. Skin burned beneath fevered touch. He was hers. She was his.
Both of their senses threatened to explode. The intensity increased making Max gasp aloud. He heard his name, her hand caressing the tenseness of his back, and stared down into the wide darkness of her eyes. Her breathing was shallow, almost beyond control, as the sensations surged to a quivering peak within him; hovering in an agony of ecstasy for a second, every muscle rigid. The release shuddered through him, making him cry out in wonder, clutching Liz tightly in his arms. His heart hammered massively at his ribs, and she grinned breathlessly up at him, pushing his damp hair off his forehead. He collapsed totally on her, half-paralyzed.
“You okay?” He gasped as coherently as he could. He caressed her face gently in his hand and kissed her.
“More than okay,” Liz grinned, as he rolled beside her, their limbs entirely tangled together, so it was almost impossible to work out who owned which. “I’m with you. No matter what happens. You’re who I want.”
“I love you, Liz.” Max whispered just before the two lovers drifted off to sleep.
PART 45
The next morning everyone woke early and waited for Liz and Max to reappear. Out of all of them, Kyle was getting the most impatient. He was pacing the floor back and forth muttering loud enough for them to hear. “We need to get to the pod chamber. Ed will be waiting for us there.”
“How do you know that?” Isabel asked.
“Because he told me that if we got separated, to meet up at the podchamber.” Kyle answered. “And he’ll know if what the next safest step is.”
Maria could see that things were getting more tense and she decided she better intercede before Kyle went storming off to find Liz. “Fine, I’ll go see if they’re awake.”
Seeing no argument from anyone, Maria headed off in the direction Max and Liz had disappeared the night before. It took a few tries opening doors before she found the right one, and the sight she saw was not what she was expecting to see. Although she couldn’t actually see anything, it was obvious that they weren’t wearing much underneath the blanket. “Huh, guys. Rise and shine, it’s time to wake up.”
Liz and Max came awake slowly at Maria’s prodding. It took them a minute for the lethargy of sleep to wear off before they realized they weren’t alone and Max pulled up the thin blanket more to cover his and Liz’s nakedness from their intruder. “Maria! What are you doing in here?”
“Hey, I’m sorry to interrupt this whole romantic interlude in the middle of an abandoned building but you’ve got some aliens out here that are getting really antsy. If you don’t there’s going to be this big alien blowout between Michael and Kyle and I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.” Maria informed them.
Liz nodded in acknowledgement. She knew that Max and her couldn’t stay hidden away forever, they had to face the real world at some point, no matter how much either of them wanted to. She started to get up but stopped. “Uh, Maria could turn around so we can get dressed.”
“Oh, right.” Maria said turning her back to them.
“You know you don’t have to guard us.” Max said as he pulled on his boxers and pants, he couldn’t help but watch Liz as she got dressed. She was beautiful even first thing in the morning especially as he remembered the night before. Knowing that her tousled hair was because of him and their lovemaking did not help in the task of getting out of bed.
“Well I could be a nice person and leave you some privacy. But then when I got back they would ask me why I was alone and I would have to tell them that you weren’t dressed and…” Maria trailed off knowing she got her point across. She heard the rustling of clothes and knew that the two were hurrying.
“Okay point taken.” Liz said. She knew Maria was right, Michael would not be happy. As she finished tugging her clothes on, she realized that she felt stronger. She could feel that her powers were back although not to full strength. She moved her hand underneath her shirt and healed the incision Pierce’s doctors had made. She didn’t have enough power to heal it completely but the incision was closed and wouldn’t tear back open. There was only a nasty pink scar left.
She looked up and saw Max watching her with a smile on his face. She knew that he was glad that she had her powers back and could heal herself.
Once they were dressed they followed Maria out to join the others. When they got there, Michael filled Liz in on what Kyle had said about meeting at the podchamber. She agreed that they should go but on one condition. “Max, Alex, and Maria, I want you guys to stay here.”
“What?” The three of them asked.
“You’ll be safer here.” Liz tried to explain. “No one knows where we are and we don’t know if anyone from the FBI might have followed Ed. And I want to keep you safe from him. From what I’ve heard, he doesn’t exactly care for humans. I don’t want him to hurt one of you.”
Maria and Alex were about to argue more when Michael and Isabel pulled them away to talk. “Michael, I’m not leaving you to go off…”
Michael put his hand over Maria’s mouth to quiet her. “Maria, for once, can you just shut up and not argue about this? Liz is right, I’ve seen what our protector thinks of humans and I don’t want him anywhere near you. I love you too much to see you end up with a silver handprint on you chest.”
“Only you would tell me that you love me now.” Maria could see the concern as well as fear in his eyes. She ran her hand down his cheek before kissing him lightly on the mouth before pulling back to caution him. “Just be careful, I want you back here in one piece.”
Michael nodded his agreement before going to join Isabel who was saying something similar to Alex. When they reached Liz and Max, the two could tell that Max wasn’t giving in so easy. “I’m either going with you or I’ll just follow. I know where the podchamber is.”
Liz knew that Max would do exactly what as he said so she conceded. “Let’s move out of here.”
(*(*(*(*(*(*(*(**)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)
It was a tight squeeze but the five of them managed to take the jeep and drive to the podchamber. No one followed them and the chamber looked undisturbed from the outside. Liz held onto Max’s hand as she led the way up the incline and to the chamber’s entrance. She waved her hand over the opening panel and the silver handprint appeared. The door slid away and they climbed inside, Ed was there waiting for them. He looked dead at Max and said, “He’s not one of us.”
“I say he stays.” Liz said confidently, standing up to him. When he didn’t put up an argument, she asked. “Are the FBI still after us?”
“No, and we have the lovely Ms. Danielle Pierce to thank for that. She set off a fail-safe in an attempt to kill me. Although she failed, she did manage to wipe out the Unit as well as all of their files on us.” The protector informed them. “I’ve done my job to protect you.”
“You say you’re here to protect us, but you make it sound like you’re not the one in charge of us.” Liz said sorting through what he said “So then who is?”
“You are.” Ed answered.
Max, Isabel, Michael, and Kyle all looked at Liz at the protector’s words. Liz just shook her head. “No, you’re wrong. I’m no leader; I know nothing about our world. I don’t know who we are, or even what we are.”
“You will believe once I’ve shown you.”
“Then show us.” Michael demanded.
“I cannot. I only have one of the message orbs that I’ll need to give you the message.” Ed informed them. “We must go to another cave not far from here to obtain the other one as well as some other of objects.”
“You mean these, right?” Isabel questioned as she pulled out the amber colored stones, the large metal egg, and Liz’s necklace of her bag.
Ed nodded as he took the large egg out of Isabel’s hands and handed it to Michael but his face didn’t change to express anything. “Good, you have already located them.”
A duplicate metal egg appeared suddenly in the protector’s hands and he motioned to hand it over to Liz. “You and Kyle hold this message orb while Isabel and Michael holds the other. Now concentrate your energies on them and some of your questions will be answered.”
They looked at him in uncertainty, wondering if they should do as he says. Max watched the four battle their inner doubts before giving in. All four of them closed their eyes and he watched all four of their hands start to glow before the energy was sucked into the orbs. Nothing happened for a moment but suddenly the energy shot back out and formed into a beam. At the end of the beam, an image flickered to life. The image finally settled into the form of a woman.
The four opened their eyes then and stared at the image of the woman in front of them. She had long blonde hair, and looked quite a bit like Isabel and Michael. She hovered for a minute before she spoke.
‘If this message is being heard, then it means that our task has been a success, to recreate you. You died many years ago in a civil war that wages over the lands of our entire world. But a part of you, your essences were saved. Those essences were replicated and combined with human DNA so that you could be reborn. Shyla, my oldest daughter, you were the adored queen of our planet. I have sent with you, your husband as well as one of your trusted advisors. My Son and Youngest daughter, my twins, Rath and Vilandra, you were also advisors to your sister. Rath you were your sister’s second-in-command as well as the general of her great armies.
Isabel, Michael, and Liz looked at each other for a moment as the realization that what they had always felt, a type of sibling bond, was true. They were a family, and somehow they had always known. They didn’t get a chance to talk about it before the message played on.
We also sent protectors and trainers to help you learn how to use your many gifts in the hope that someday you will return to us and lead us to end this conflict and bring peace to our devastated planet. Until that time, know that I love you and wish for your safe return soon.’
The image faded away then leaving four stunned aliens as well as a bewildered human. Kyle was the first one to speak as he looked at Liz, “I knew it, we were destined for something great, together.”
The feeling of Kyle’s hand on her arm shocked Liz out of her daze and she yanked away from him. “No, this doesn’t change anything about the way I feel.”
Liz looked over and saw Max edging towards the door. She could tell he was dazed and confused and was pulling away from her. She ran forward and grabbed him before he got out of the door. “Max, I don’t care what that message says. You’re who I want to be with, I was telling the truth.”
Max shook his head. “Liz, you have a duty to your people, you’re destined to be their queen. I can’t be selfish and keep you from that.”
“But I love you.” Liz whispered. She wouldn’t believe that he was leaving her. Not after all that they had been through, not after the night they shared. They had given themselves to each other, their hearts and their bodies, it couldn’t be over. If it was, she felt she would loose a part of herself.
As Liz looked at him, Max felt his heart break. Her confused and heartbroken look spoke of someone who didn't understand what he was doing. That he was giving her up for her destiny. Max leaned down and touched his lips to hers. He pulled her closer and kissed her with the passion of a man who would never again know her comfort. It was the hardest thing Max would ever do. He was going to help her the only way he knew how. He was going to let her go.
As Max pulled away, Liz touched her fingers to her lips in wonder. Then she watched as he turned and walked out the door. It took her a minute to move before she was able to follow him. She hurried out the door but she wasn’t fast enough. By the time she reached the ledge outside of the door, Max was already half way down the cliff face. She could only stand there and watch him walk away from her.
“Go after him Liz.” Isabel instructed as she came up behind her sister.
“No.” Liz shook her head.
“Why not? You love him, he loves you. What we just found out doesn’t change any of that.” Isabel stated not understanding why her sister wasn’t fighting more.
“But he chose to walk away.” Liz snapped. “To throw ‘us’ away.”
Isabel was about to argue but Michael’s hand on her shoulder halted her. She could see the deadness in Liz’s eyes and knew now was not the time. Kyle walked up then and joined them. “What do we do now, Liz?”
“We sort out the mess our lives have become.” Liz said. She took one last glance at Max’s retreating form before she turned and went back into the chamber.
Max climbed to the bottom of the rocks and headed off into the desert thinking of how much his heart was breaking. He never knew that when he left that day, he took a part of Liz’s soul with him.
END OF SEASON 1
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Changing Places: Summer Of Destiny
LittleBit