Part 24~<br><br>Kyle walks into the apartment to a very angry looking Serena sitting in the kitchen. He stops just inside the door as her head comes up, his eyes open wide in fear and concern.<br><br>“How could you, Kyle?” Serena asks him. “How could you think I’d sleep with Max?”<br><br>Kyle takes a startled step back against the door and stutters, “I…uh…I…”<br><br>Serena stands up from the table and puts her hands on her hips. “You what? You think that I would do something like that to you? You think <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> Max</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> would do something like that?”<br><br>Kyle looks down at the floor, knowing she has every right to be mad at him, knowing that it was an absurd accusation. He doesn’t know what to say to her to explain because he has no excuse. “I’m sorry.” He whispers, not knowing what else to say.<br><br>“Kyle…” She waits until he raises his head to look at her. “We’re having a baby. I’m gonna have your baby.”<br><br>He lets out a deep breath and looks down at her stomach and raises his eyes back to hers, a slow, hopeful smile appearing on his face. He swallows once, trying to quench the dryness that’s taken over his mouth before rushing forward and gripping her into a fierce hug. “I love you…so much.” He whispers into her hair.<br><br>A quiet sob escapes from Serena as she falls into him and she says, “Oh God…Kyle…I thought you’d be so…upset, or mad. That’s why I didn’t tell you…I <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> should</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> have told you as soon as I suspected. I’m so sorry for making you worry.”<br><br>“I don’t care…everything will be ok now. I’ll take care of you, both of you.” Kyle tells her, his face buried into the crook of her neck.<br><br>Maria walks out of the courtyard to patrol the street and finds Liz sitting on a bench about a block away, her head in her hands. She sits down, suddenly overcome with intense fear and asks, “Liz? What’s wrong? What are you doing here?”<br><br>Liz sits up and looks out over the street in front of them. “Serena’s pregnant.” <br><br>The breath leaves Maria’s body in a big whoosh and she slumps down. “Oh God…I thought you were gonna say that they found us.”<br><br>Liz looks over at Maria’s relieved face and says, “I’m sorry.” She grabs Maria’s shaking hands and smiles at her. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”<br><br>Shaking herself, Maria says, “It’s ok…when I saw you here, I thought the worst.” After a few moments, she asks, “So, Serena’s pregnant?”<br><br>Liz nods and says, “I’m scared. I’m scared for them…for us. I have no idea how we’re gonna deal with this.”<br><br>“Well, I guess this is proof.” Maria looks up the street at the oncoming traffic.<br><br>Liz looks at her questioningly. “Proof?”<br><br>Maria looks over at Liz and smiles. “That life goes on…regardless of our crises. Regardless of how much we wanna put it on hold.”<br><br>Liz grimaces and says, “Oh God, Maria. I’m just…what are we gonna do? There are so many things to think about, so many things to consider. I wasn’t expecting this at all.”<br><br>“It’ll be alright. Really, Liz…we’re all here to make sure that it’ll be alright.” Maria tries to reassure her friend, knowing that she’s shouldering the responsibility of their safety even more now that there’ll be a baby.<br><br>Gathering her wits, Liz sits up straight and smiles at Maria. “You’re right. Everything will be fine.” She nods her head, not entirely convincing herself, but making an effort to show Maria that she believes what she says.<br><br>Later that night, when Max gets off work, he walks into the courtyard and internally groans when he sees Kyle sitting outside. He knew Kyle had duty tonight, but hoped that due to recent events someone else would have taken over for him. He walks slowly toward the fountain and avoids looking at Kyle as he makes his way to the stairs, but Kyle stops him.<br><br>“Max.” He says as he stands up.<br><br>Max stops but doesn’t turn around. He waits for whatever else Kyle wants to say to him, or accuse him of.<br><br>“Max…could you…look, I’m really sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking…I…I don’t have any good excuse.” Kyle offers haltingly.<br><br>Max turns to look at Kyle. “Don’t worry about it. You were right…not about me sleeping with Serena…but about the rest.”<br><br>“No…really…I had no right to say that stuff to you.”<br><br>Max raises his eyebrow and asks, “Really? You can honestly stand here and tell me that every word you said earlier isn’t something that you really think?”<br><br>Kyle sighs and runs a hand through his hair before saying, “Ok, maybe I have…you know, had some kind of resentment toward you.” He throws his hands out and says, “God, it used to be so much easier to hate you…then you had to go and save my life and my dad’s. Then I had this stupid loyalty toward you that screwed it all up.”<br><br>“Well, don’t. You and your dad wouldn’t have been put in danger if it weren’t for me anyway. You don’t owe me any kind of loyalty because of that. Besides, you would have done the same.” Max tells him.<br><br>“But see, that’s where I get conflicted. Would I have? I know you’ve never trusted me…let alone liked me…but you saved me anyway. I <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> don’t</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> know that I would have done the same thing in your place.” As Kyle talks, Max can see that this is something that’s eaten at Kyle for a while.<br><br>Max studies him for a minute, thinking about their differences…thinking about how he’s always been jealous of Kyle. And he remembers healing Kyle…the flashes of images and feelings from him that he pushed away at the time because of the danger they were in. “You would have.” Max tells him. “I saw you…the real you. And in that moment, I knew we could trust you.”<br><br>Kyle’s mouth drops open at this revelation and all he can do is look at Max for a few moments before shaking his head and saying, “Well, anyway…I wanted to apologize. You didn’t take Liz from me. She’s wasn’t mine to take. And Tess…well, I guess you had that whole alien thing going on and it’s not like we were together. Like I said, I didn’t really know what I was saying.”<br><br>Max nods and asks, “So, the next time someone announces they’re pregnant, you won’t be accusing me of sleeping with them?”<br><br>Kyle smiles and says, “Nope…I swear. No more accusations. Unless it happens to be Liz.”<br><br>Max rolls his eyes and walks to the stairs…listening to Kyle’s laughter on his way up. “Go guard something, Kyle.” He calls back over his shoulder.<br><br>Upstairs on the balcony, Serena sits back in her chair in the dark and smiles. She overheard everything Kyle said to Max and she’s proud of him for admitting how he feels about Max…his confusion about it. She’s known that Kyle has always had personal issues with Max that she never really understood…something that goes beyond Liz. And from what it sounded like down there, they just took a first step toward mending whatever barbed wire fences stand between them.<br><br>When Max walks into the apartment, it’s dark and silent and he assumes everyone must be either at work or over in the other apartment. He grabs a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and walks back to his bedroom. Taking off his jacket and throwing it in the corner, he walks back across the hall and pushes the bathroom door open with his hip as he takes off his shirt. <br><br>“Max!” His head whips up and he drops his shirt and bottle of water on the floor, startled to see Liz sitting in the bathtub, her knees up to her chest.<br><br>“Shit…I’m sorry!” He exclaims as he turns around. “It…it was dark…I…I thought no one was here.”<br><br>“It’s ok…Maria was just going to get…” Liz says, but is cut off by Maria storming down the hallway.<br><br>“I got your candles, Liz. Oh! Max!” Maria stops in the doorway and sees a half-naked and embarrassed Max with his back to Liz. “Did I interrupt something?” She grins at both of them.<br><br>Liz rolls her eyes and says, “Maria…just bring me the candles.”<br><br>Maria squeezes past Max and says, “Max…I think you dropped something.”<br><br>Max turns around and sees a grinning Maria pointing to the floor. He grabs his shirt and water and says, “Oh, yah…sorry.” completely flustered as he glances at Liz before jerking his head away and practically runs from the bathroom.<br><br>“I think you scared him.” Maria says before she sees Liz roll her eyes at her. “Ok…I’m leaving now.” She turns to walk out the door but stops and turns her head toward Liz. “I bet Max would scrub your…um…back for you.” She laughs and runs from the bathroom as a wash cloth flies at her. <br><br>On her way out, Maria stops in Max’s doorway. “Hey Max.”<br><br>He glances at her as he pulls a t-shirt on. “Maria.”<br><br>She steps into his room and sits on the bed. “So…you hear the news?”<br><br>Leaning against the dresser, he says, “About Serena? Yah.”<br><br>“So what do you think?” She asks him.<br><br>He shrugs his shoulders and says, “It’ll be complicated…but we’ll work it out.”<br><br>She looks up at him and says, “Liz is worried…really worried. She kinda freaked out earlier when she told me.”<br><br>“Really?” He asks, surprised. “She seemed fine with it when I saw her earlier.” But when he thinks about it, he thinks that she was probably more worried about him and what Kyle said to him at the time. It didn’t really hit him until she left what Serena being pregnant would mean for the rest of them and he worried about it for the rest of the day. <br><br>Maria nods, as if expecting to hear that Liz took it well. She stands up and says, “We’re all hanging out across the way if you wanna come over.”<br><br>“Ok, thanks.” Max watches Maria head to the door. “Maria?” She turns and he says, “It’ll be ok.” He assures her, thinking that she came in to talk to him because she’s worried about the baby.<br><br>“Oh, I know. I just thought that Liz might need to hear that, too.” She winks at him and leaves his room.<br><br>Max sits down on his bed and stares out the window. He did it again. He was so busy thinking about himself and what Kyle had said to him that he didn’t think that Liz might be worried about the situation. Of course she’d be worried about their safety…worried about Serena. He waits in his room until he hears Liz let the water out of the tub and walk back to her bedroom. After a few minutes he gets up and goes to her door, knocking softly.<br><br>“Come in.” Liz says from inside.<br><br>He opens the door and peeks his head in. “Are you decent?” <br><br>She laughs and says, “Yah…it’s safe.”<br><br>He walks in bashfully and says, “Hey…I thought maybe we should talk about the…uh…recent development.” He becomes mesmerized watching her rub lotion on her legs. <br><br>Liz glances up and follows the line of Max’s gaze. She quickly pulls the legs of her pajamas back down and stands up, setting her bottle of lotion on the dresser. “So…uh…yah, I’ve been thinking.” She looks to see that she has his attention. “We can do this, Max. She’ll just have to have the baby somewhere private…maybe we could find a house in the country, Amilly or Avon. I can deliver the baby…I’ll just…just…read everything I can and…”<br><br>Max steps forward and puts his hand on her arm. “Liz…” When she stops talking and looks up into his eyes, he says, “It’ll all be fine. We’ll be ok…we have some time.”<br><br>Liz sees that he’s completely calm about the situation and she feels her tension begin to melt away. He’s right. They can both heal and… ”But we only have a month, maybe less.” She thinks suddenly.<br><br>“Maybe…maybe not. They’re both human, it might be a normal nine month pregnancy. We should try to get a look at it. Do you think Serena will let you try to connect with her?” He says as he soothingly rubs his hand up and down her arm.<br><br>Liz nods her head as she looks at the far wall. “Both human…you’re right. I didn’t think about that.” She looks up into his face and says, “Yah, I’m sure she’ll let me. I’ll ask her tomorrow…after I get some books.”<br><br>“I’ll get them for you from the store in the morning.” Max tells her.<br><br>She smiles and says, “Thank you, Max. I’m just a little…worried.” <br><br>“I am too.” He smiles and takes a step back. She’s too close…he can smell her all around him and if he doesn’t leave this room right now, he’s going to do something he shouldn’t. <br><br>Liz sees the look in his eyes change…almost like they become glassier and darker. She sees him swallow and feels herself flush with the way he’s looking at her. She can’t help but catch a few stray thoughts from him, they’re so strong, and she takes a deep breath from her slightly open mouth.<br><br>Her flushed neck and face kick Max into action. “I…uh…I’m going over to the other place. Maria said that um…everyone’s over there.” He takes a couple of steps back along with a deep breath.<br><br>Before she knows it, Max is out the door and she can hear his footsteps heading toward the front door. Liz realizes in that moment that if her and Max’s relationship ever evolves past friendship, she’s going to have to make the first move. Sitting down on the edge of the bed trying to get her hormones in check, Liz can still feel her connection with Max swirling around her like a storm. <br><br>She stands up and shakes her arms. What is she thinking? Get a grip, Parker…there are about a hundred more important things to think about other than how to put the moves on Max. She’s distracted and distracted is dangerous. How could she think about starting a physical relationship with Max? Especially now that they have a baby on the way. She needs to be on alert, has to make sure they’re all safe. And Max…Max will definitely consume her, distract her, and she’ll become a puddle of useless goop anytime he’s around. <br><br>Throwing on a sweater, Liz straightens…both her head and her resolve. She shouldn’t be thinking about Max right now. She takes a deep breath and walks out into the living room. As she glances out onto the balcony, she thinks to herself. “There are more important things right now than how much I wanna jump Max.” She steps out quietly and says, “Hey Serena.”<br><br>Serena looks up and smiles. “Hey.”<br><br>“So, I was talking to Max and he had a really good idea.” Liz says.<br><br>Serena raises her eyebrows and teases, “Then what are you doing out here talking to me…and dressed?”<br><br>Liz smiles, but Serena sees that it doesn’t reach her eyes. “No, he thought I should try to connect with you…and the baby. I can make sure everything is ok, and maybe see how long the pregnancy will be.”<br><br>Serena nods and says, “Yah, that’s a good idea. Mine sounds like more fun, though.” and she grins.<br><br>“Serena…” Liz sighs. “…please. Nothing’s going to happen between Max and me. We’re friends…and right now, that’s good. And that’s all it’s gonna be.”<br><br>Serena sees that she’s pushed Liz too far and says, “I’m sorry, Liz. You know I’m just teasing you.”<br><br>“Yah, I know.” Liz stands up and fidgets. “I think I’m gonna go for a run. Go get some sleep, Serena.”<br><br>Serena nods and says, “See you tomorrow.” and watches Liz practically run to her bedroom. There goes one seriously sexually frustrated girl.<br><br>Liz quickly changes her clothes and grabs a walkie talkie before running out the door. She stops in the courtyard to tell Kyle where she’s going and he watches her take off.<br><br>“Where’s she going?” Kyle hears from above and he raises his head to see Isabel and Jesse on the balcony.<br><br>“Running.” He tells Isabel.<br><br>“Does she usually go so late at night?” Isabel asks, concerned. <br><br>“Not usually…sometimes.” Kyle answers her.<br><br>Isabel gets up and walks inside where Maria, Michael and Max are playing cards. She looks at Maria and says, “Liz just left to go running.”<br><br>Max drops his cards and looks over at Isabel. “What? It’s 10:30 at night.” He looks at Maria and Michael and says, “She shouldn’t be out running by herself this late.”<br><br>Maria shrugs her shoulders and says, “She does it sometimes…I’ve tried to talk her out of it, but you know you can’t talk Liz out of doing something she wants. She can take care of herself…and I’m sure she brought a radio.”<br><br>“Well I don’t like it.” Isabel puts her hands on her hips as Jesse walks inside, too. She walks over to the table and picks up a radio.<br><br>“Liz…Liz, are you there?” She depresses the talk button and pulls it back, turning up the volume so she can hear Liz respond.<br><br>It takes a few seconds, but they all finally hear Liz say, “Isabel? What’s wrong?”<br><br>“Nothing…besides you running in the middle of the night in Paris by yourself.”<br><br>“Isabel, I’m fine.” Liz responds. “Was there something else you needed?” They can hear Liz’s voice shake as her feet pound the pavement. <br><br>“Well, I think you should run with someone else at night. Where are you…I’ll catch up.” Isabel says.<br><br>“You can’t be serious.” They hear Liz exclaim into the other end. When Isabel doesn’t say anything back, they hear Liz bark, “Fine. I’ll circle back…I’ll be in front of the bookstore in five minutes. You better be able to keep up, because I’m not waiting.”<br><br>Isabel puts the radio back on the table and turns to Max. “Well, you better get moving…you only have five minutes to get there.”<br><br>“What?” Max’s eyes widen. “You said you were going.”<br><br>“Yah, but I just took a shower…come on…you’re already dressed for it.” Isabel pouts at him.<br><br>Rolling his eyes and walking to the door, he turns around and catches Isabel and Maria grinning at each other. He turns back toward the door, shaking his head, and walks down the stairs into the courtyard. He sits on the side of the fountain to tighten his shoelaces and glances up at Kyle.<br><br>“I’m going running, I guess.” Max tells him.<br><br>“With Liz? You better run fast if you wanna catch up to her.” Kyle smirks at him.<br><br>“She’s coming back…Isabel didn’t want her running alone.” Max stands up and walks out toward the street, leaving Kyle in the courtyard.<br><br>As Max stands in front of the bookstore waiting, he has a slim hope that Liz isn’t wearing what she usually wears to run. But when he sees her round the corner, that little hope is dashed. She has on one of her little tops with spandex pants. He groans inwardly as she approaches him.<br><br>As she gets closer, her eyes go wide and she says, “Max…what are you doing here? I thought Isabel was running with me?”<br><br>“She just showered…so she sent me.” He tells her.<br><br>Great, she thinks. How was she supposed to get Max out of her mind if he was running with her? She passes him, not slowing and calls back over her shoulder, “Well come on.”<br><br>He runs after her and falls into step beside her…their feet hitting the sidewalk in a joint rhythm. After a half hour, they feel rain drops start to fall and Max pants, “Maybe we should head back.”<br><br>She looks over at him and grins. “A little rain won’t kill you.” And she keeps running.<br><br>Another fifteen minutes and the rain is pouring down. Liz thinks it feels good as the rain cools her sweating skin. She runs slightly ahead of Max and as he watches her run with the rain pouring over her body, he feels his body react to the sight and he stumbles.<br><br>Liz senses that Max isn’t next to her anymore and she slows as she turns. She sees him about twenty feet back, leaning over with his hands on his knees. Turning around, she runs back to him and says with concern, “Max? Are you ok?”<br><br>When he looks up at her, she gasps at the look on his face. It contains pure desire and as he stands up, she looks down and can see why. She looks back up at him and can’t tell if she’s breathing hard because she’s been running or because of how she’s feeling right now seeing him like this.<br><br>They both stand in the rain, panting and looking at each other like two predators about to pounce. Liz blinks back the rain from her eyes and within moments feels Max grab her and crash his lips on hers. They devour each other like they’ve been starving for months as Max tangles one hand in her hair and presses the other against her lower back, pulling her to him. Liz lets out a whimper as she brings her hands around to grip at his back like a lifeline.<br><br>Moaning into each other’s mouths, they stumble to the side of the sidewalk and fall against the wall as Max grabs her, lifting her as she wraps her legs around his waist and he presses her back into the wall. Max is oblivious to anything around them except Liz’s heat surrounding him…the heat of her hands on his back as she yanks his wet shirt up…the heat of her breath in his ear as she bites his earlobe and moans in his ear as she grinds the heat between her legs into him. <br><br>Liz is completely lost in the feel of Max. She can feel the stone of the wall on her back as Max holds her to him with one hand on her ass. His other hand is on her breast, kneading it through the wet material as his mouth moves to her neck. She throws her head back into the wall when she feels him biting at her neck hungrily and she moans loudly.<br><br>She’s helpless to stop his thoughts from crashing into her head and as they rub frantically together, all she can hear in her mind is, ‘Liz, Liz, Liz…Oh God…Liz, Liz, Liz…’ She feels the vibration of his moaning against her neck and she grinds against him more incessantly. <br><br>Distantly, they hear voices coming from down the street…urgent voices speaking rapidly in French scrambling to get out of the rain.<br><br>Breaking away, the reality of where they’re at crashes down on Max. He lightens his grip on Liz and looks at her flushed face…her swollen lips…and says, “Liz…” as he shakes his head and lets her slide down to the ground, eliciting a groan from both of them. <br><br>She brings her hands to his chest and rests her forehead between them as she tries to calm the desire coursing through her. What is she doing? She came out here to run…to get Max out of her mind…and look at her. She’s in the middle of the street practically ready to rip his clothes off and jump him right there on the sidewalk. And not an hour ago she was telling herself she couldn’t start a physical relationship with Max. <br><br>Stepping back from him slowly, she hears a crackling sound coming from her waist. It takes her a moment to register that it’s coming from the radio and she picks it up, turning the volume up.<br><br>“Liz?” She hears crackle from the other end.<br><br>“Yah…I’m here.” She looks up at Max, suddenly overwhelmingly embarrassed at her behavior as his hands drop from her waist.<br><br>“We were just worried…it’s raining pretty hard. Maybe you should come back now.” She hears Maria say.<br><br>She nods and says, “Yah…we’re heading back now.” and clips the radio back on her waistband.<br><br>Max watches her wipe the rain off her face and glance up at him before looking down at the sidewalk and closing her eyes briefly. He has no idea what she’s thinking, but he hopes that she’s not getting ready to apologize. He doesn’t think he can take it if she regrets what happened. <br><br>Finally, she looks up at him and says, “Max…I…we um…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…”<br><br>He doesn’t let her finish. He shakes his head and holds his hand up. “Don’t, Liz. I don’t wanna hear your apologies.” <br><br>She sees the anger come to his face as he turns and starts walking back to their apartment. Why is he mad? She’s pretty sure he wanted her as much she wanted him. Her eyes widen suddenly when she realizes he thought she was apologizing for what happened between them and she takes off down the street to catch up with him.<br><br>“Max!” She yells behind him as she catches up to him and grabs his arm. “Max…I…I didn’t mean…”<br><br>”I know, Liz. I get it.” Max pulls his arm away from her.<br><br>“No, you don’t get it. I wasn’t apologizing. Well, I <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><i> was</i><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> apologizing…but not for what happened…just for getting too out of control.” She steps closer to him and brings her hand up to his chest. “If you wouldn’t have stopped us, I’m pretty sure I was minutes away from ripping your clothes off and taking you right there on the sidewalk.”<br><br>Liz looks up into his face just as his lips come down on hers. She hears him groan, “Oh God, Liz.” into her mouth as she grabs fists full of the shirt on his chest.<br><br>Max feels her pressing against him again and he grabs her hips to still their movement. Breaking away from her mouth, he says, “Liz, if you don’t stop that…God, I need you…so much.” He rests his forehead against hers and takes several deep breaths before pulling away. <br><br>The rain still pouring down around them, Liz raises her hand and traces Max’s lips with her fingers. He closes his eyes and peeks his tongue out to lick the tips of her fingers before grabbing her hand and pulling her index finger into his mouth. She stumbles forward at the sensation and moans as she watches him. Feeling his tongue gently sucking on her finger, her knees buckle and he opens his eyes to see her head thrown back and her lips slightly parted. She looks up at him and their eyes lock together as Max releases her finger. “I need you too, Max…now.” <br><br>Liz grabs his hand and pulls him down the street. “Come on…let’s go.” He smiles at forcefulness and struggles to keep up with her pace with the state of his arousal. <br><br>They walk back to the apartment in silence, and see Kyle waiting for them where the pathway to the courtyard meets the street.<br><br>“Geez…are you guys crazy? Running in the rain?” Kyle shouts at them as they get closer.<br><br>Liz smiles at Kyle and says, “Since when is a little rain gonna hurt? I don’t think we’ll melt.”<br><br>He rolls his eyes and follows Max and Liz into the courtyard. He watches them increase their pace and practically run up the stairs. Where are they going in such a hurry? Shrugging, he pulls his hood over his head and sits back under the natural umbrella of a tree…trying to avoid getting wetter than he already is.<br><br>~TBC~ <p></center><center><FONT COLOR="B22222"><i>You're going to be the death of me.</i><br>Obi Wan Kenobi to Anakin Skywalker<br><font color="B8860B"><b>Col Threadkiller is the <i>coolest!</i></b><img src=
http://www.roswell-orbs.com/smilies/coo ... </p><i></i>
