Author: Maea Title: After the Date Category: post episode musing... couldn't sleep until this story was on paper. Archivable: sure, please lemme know where! Spoilers: The Blind Date, and anything before. Summary: Liz talks to Maria about the drunk Max Incident Feedback: much appreciated.

"I don't understand, Maria... how can he say those things and then just forget? Poof! Like that," she snapped her fingers.

"He was drunk, Liz. He's an alien. There was no way to know how he would react to alcohol."

"It's no excuse," Liz said, understandably frustrated. "The things he said felt so good... so right... and when he kissed me-God, the images I saw..."

"Images?" questioned the blonde.

"Yeah. Didn't Michael ever show you things when you used to make out it the eraser room?"

"Sure, he showed me the inhuman strength of his tongue, the amazing speed of his hands... no pictures though. Boy, I feel cheated."

"I don't know, Maria. Maybe it's only Max.. or me... or Max and I together, but I see things. Past, present... future. When we're together, alone, it's so different. Tonight when he talked to me, it didn't matter that he's not normal, or that I'm not normal for loving him. We were "normal" together. We-."

"Wait," Maria interrupted, "did you say love?"

Liz hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah, I guess I did. I do. I love him, and I know he loves me. I mean, who else can stop my heart with just one glance, make me tingle with just one touch... ignite my desires in one breath, then crush it all into dust in the very next. This... this pain I feel right now... this has to be love.

The dark-haired girl broke down into tears, and Maria ushered her close trying to comfort her best friend. "Shhh... it's okay..."

She sobbed into Maria's shoulder. "No guy will ever make me feel this way... I know it! He-he told me I make him unbalanced, I make him forget that he's different-not normal. Max does the same to me. The way his looks down into not just my eyes, but my soul, makes me feel not normal too. He makes me feel special, different... beautiful. Without him I feel empty.

"I didn't want to believe him at first," Liz continued. "I knew he was drunk, not thinking clearly, but he did it again. Told me the things I dreamed he would say to me... said we would live happily ever after.. and I felt special again... beautiful... different... I only wish he knew it... what he does to me"

"Hush," Maria whispered, smoothing Liz's dark brown hair, as she cried on, "I'm sure he knows it." Just then, she saw a fleeting glimpse of Max leaving the balcony outside of Liz's bedroom. "He knows it..."

the end