Liz smiled. "Thanks, Kyle."

Suddenly a bright light shone in their faces. "What's going on here?" a deep voice demanded.

Kyle was struck dumb with fear. This was it, the moment he'd been expecting ever since he'd found out about the aliens. This guy would turn them over to the police… or worse. Maybe he would bring them to the special unit of the government and they would do experiments on him because he'd interacted with aliens. He'd even been brought back to life by an alien…

"What are you, Housekeeping?" the voice boomed.

That didn't sound like a threat. "Uh, yeah," Kyle said. "My friend here works in this lab, and she… "

"You kids should fool around on your own time," the security guard said. He turned the flashlight away from their eyes, and now Kyle could see that the guy was barely older than they were. "Why don't you go make out in your car instead of in here?"

He walked back out into the hallway. Liz shot Kyle a relieved smile, then got up and followed the guard.

"I will never get used to this cloak-and-dagger stuff," Kyle muttered as he pulled the door closed behind them.

Max paced up and down on Liz's rooftop. Where was she? It was after one in the morning, and Liz was not in her bed. She wasn't downstairs in the Crashdown, either. He decided to check out Maria's house… Liz could be sleeping over there.

As he turned to go, he heard a car pull to a stop down in the alley. Max crept up to the edge of the roof and peered over. Below him was Kyle's pickup. Liz sat in the passenger seat, earnestly talking to Kyle.

Why are they out together in the middle oj the night? Max thought. He liked Kyle, but every so often the old jealousy reappeared.

Liz kissed Kyle on the cheek and climbed out of the pickup. Max backed away from the edge of the roof and sat down next to the window that led to Liz's bedroom. She would be up any minute.

He leaned back against the brick wall and stared into the sky. His son was up there somewhere. Tess was there, on a planet he'd never seen but that he was supposed to save. It didn't seem fair sometimes. He couldn't remember being a king. Before Tess, he couldn't remember Antar at all. There would be vague visions occasionally, but no

concrete memories. And now he didn't trust the things that Tess had helped him remember. With her mindwarp powers, she could have planted things in his mind whether they really happened or not.

But the baby was real. He knew that. He had connected with his son while he was still in Tess's womb. And then there was that vision last week… "What are you doing here, Max?"

Liz had come up to the window without his even hearing her. He jumped to his feet. "Hey! I was worried about you. Why were you out so late?" Did that sound overbearing? Max wondered. Did I sound like some possessive idiot? I'm not even officially her boyfriend… do 1 have the right to ask questions like that?

If he was any judge of Liz's reactions, she was thinking the same things. "I was at Meta-chem," Liz said.

"I saw Kyle drop you off," Max added. Instantly, he wished he hadn't said it. Now he sounded like a jealous possessive idiot.

Liz raised her eyebrows. "Just how long have you been up here?" she asked.

Max could feel his face getting hot. "Only a few minutes," he lied. He'd been here for at least half an hour. "I was just climbing up the ladder when I saw Kyle's car pull up."

Liz studied him. He wondered if she knew he was lying.

"So why were you with Kyle?" he asked, doing his best to sound curious but not jealous. It didn't really work.

"Because he works at Meta-chem too, Max. Remember?"

"But why were you there so late?" Max pressed. "You're supposed to be home by five. That was eight hours ago."

Liz averted her eyes. "Um, I forgot something in the lab," she said. "So I wanted Kyle to use his passkey to let me in."

"Oh," Max said. That seemed like a perfectly reasonable explanation. "Must've been something important to go back in the middle of the night," he commented.

"Yeah," was all Liz said. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"1 had a dream," Max told her suddenly. "It was more like a nightmare, and I wanted to see you after it. I thought if 1 could see you, I would feel better."

Liz's beautiful brown eyes met his for an instant, filled with love and concern. "Oh, Max, you poor thing," she murmured. "What was the dream about?"

"My son," he replied. "He was here on Earth, and all of a sudden I realized… "

"You know what, Max? I'm actually kind of tired," Liz interrupted. "Do you think this can wait?"

Max felt as if she'd slapped him. Here he was, trying to share his worries with her, and she didn't even want to hear them. "Sure," he said shortly. "It's not important."

"Okay," Liz said. "I'll see you later." She gave him a brief smile and closed the window, shutting him out.

Max turned slowly toward the ladder. I shouldn't have mentioned my son, he thought sadly. Liz doesn't want to hear about that part oj my life.

But he still had to find his son. No one… not even Liz… had as much claim on Max's responsibility. Would Liz ever be able to live with that?

And if not, would Max ever be able to live without Liz?

Do it today," Maris Wheeler said. "I'm sick of waiting."

Alan Sosa wouldn't look at her. She knew he didn't have the stomach for this plan of hers. "She's only been here for two days," Alan said. "It's not as if you've been waiting long."

Maris slammed her hand down on the lab table. "I have been waiting for almost two years!" she cried. "We've had this Healer's DNA for two years, and this is the first workable serum we've come up with. I want to know how it affects humans, and I want to know it now."

"I don't have the serum ready," he said.

She knew he was lying. "Alan, if you don't stop sniveling, I'm going to test it on you," she said.

"I mean I haven't figured out how to administer it without her noticing," he said.

"It's liquid. It's clear. Dump it in a bottle of water and give it to her," Maris said. "Aren't you supposed to be smart?"

He was quiet for a moment. He was all out of excuses,

and she knew it. "What you're asking me to do is illegal," he said finally. "I'm putting myself at risk."

Maris didn't like this part of her job. She preferred to organize things from afar, but every so often she simply had to be the heavy. "Alan, so far no one knows about that little… incident at your last company," Maris said pleasantly. "You know, when you were embezzling from the research fund."

"That's a lie!" Alan growled. "I was set up."

"Regardless," Maris replied, "I can prove that there's money in your bank account that isn't supposed to be there. So why don't you just do me this one little favor, and I won't tell anyone about the embezzling."

Maris watched with satisfaction as the blood drained from the face of the famous Dr. Alan Sosa. She had him right where she wanted him.

"I will remain calm and be perfectly pleasant," Liz said as she walked down the hallway to Dr. Sosa's lab. Maria had given her a mantra to say so she could deal with Dr. Sosa more easily. "I will remain calm and be perfectly pleasant."

She took a deep breath and started to open the heavy door. From inside came the sound of angry voices. Liz hesitated, holding the door a few inches open. Should she wait until Dr. Sosa finished his argument?

"It isn't right!" she heard him yell. Whoever he was talking to was much quieter. Liz pushed the door open a bit farther, hoping to hear.

Too far. The door gave a tiny squeak.

"Ah, Liz! Good morning!" cried Maris Wheeler.

Liz stopped in surprise. She had been expecting to find

Dr. Sosa fighting with another scientist, but instead she found no one but Maris. "Hi, Ms. Wheeler," Liz said.