A/N: I updated chapter 27 and 28 at the same time as the epilogue so if you have reached this chapter before reading the others, I suggest you take two steps back. Once again, thank you everyone for reading! I would appreciate if you would let me know what you think.

Epilogue

"Emma! What have I told you about feeding Princess at the table?"
Emma was not the only one shrinking under Liz's scolding eyes as Liz walked further into the kitchen. Max looked up from pouring Tabasco on his donut, knowing that he would get some of that as well. Sure enough.
"And Max, you were supposed to be watching her!"
Max grimaced sheepishly. "Sorry."
Liz rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the twins, only to shriek when strong arms enveloped her waist from behind pushing her off balance. Landing on his lap, she couldn't prevent the merriment, sipping through the connection to Max and her children, from betraying the disciplinary mother front she was trying to keep up.
"Max!"
"What?" Max asked innocently, pulling her upper body further backwards so that he could look down in her face.
"Let me go!"
Even without the connection, her sparkling eyes betrayed her words.
"I think you need to lighten up, mom," Max grinned, and before she caught his intention his fingers crept around her abdomen and began to tickle her.
"Get her, kids!" Max yelled.

"No, Max, no," Liz laughed, her laughter increasing in intensity as two six-year-old hands and the small fingers of the two two-year-olds poked her, knowing every ticklish spot thanks to their father. She knew what would come next, making her effort of trying to roll away even greater. But she didn't have a chance before her ears picked up on the anticipated barking from the miniature black poodle Princess that Emma had rescued two weeks ago and her screams were suddenly muffled by the Golden Retriever Boris that Emma had healed after the dog had been hit by a car one year earlier. The two cats that Emma had saved from being drowned in plastic bags six months ago jumped up on the dining table and knowing that the humans were occupied, they took a hold of the bacon on Max's plate and with combined effort pulled it to the floor.
"No, Boris, get away," Liz gasped, trying to avoid getting dog saliva into her mouth, but finding it very difficult as she couldn't move her head much and the large dog made sure to cover her whole face.
"Mom tickish," David screamed in delight.
"Yes she is," Max agreed with his son with a grave expression, reserving the grin for Liz when he turned his eyes back to her face.
Liz got her head away from Boris long enough to mouth a promise to Max. "I'm gonna kill you."
"Love you," Max answered sweetly.
"Lub you, mommy!" the boys chimed in.

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Max snaked his arms around her waist, meeting her eyes reflected in the mirror. "Are you still mad at me?"
"For what?" Liz asked around a mouthful of toothpaste.
"God, you're sexy," Max murmured, half sarcastic, half truthful.
"Uh-huh," Liz replied and Max shook his head at her, knowing that she was trying to block her enjoyment of this conversation from him so that she could trick him into thinking that she was actually still angry for what had happened at the dining table this morning. Knowing exactly what he was doing, Max very slowly and seductively kissed the side of her neck
"Why should I be angry? I love getting Tabasco in my hair and saliva all over my face."
"I know you do," Max said against her skin and Liz admonished herself for letting the shiver of pleasure get to her. She was still unable to resist him and she knew that she would be true for as long as she lived.
"You are teaching them very evil tricks," Liz continued, trying her best to keep the tremble out of her voice simultaneously as she tried to block her feelings of desire from reaching him through the connection.
"That's my role in the family."
"That's exactly my point," Liz said, her voice stronger, rinsing her mouth before turning in his arms. "You are making me into the bad guy and you are the fun one."
Max smiled at her softly. "Come on, when has Max Evans ever been the fun one?"
Liz smacked his chest. "I'm serious."
Max's expression sobered and he cradled her cheek. "I know. I just can't be angry with them. I love them so much."
Liz's expression softened. "Max, I know you love them and that it's difficult to scold them. But they are kids. They need rules and borders otherwise they will turn wild."
"Oh…yeah, I watched this episode of 'Super Nanny' the other day and-"
Liz's finger on his lips interrupted him. "Just help me with this, okay?"
"Okay," Max nodded and captured her lips, unable to control himself any longer. He would never get tired of kissing her. Come to think of it, if he could do just that for the rest of his life he would be content. He loved feeling the vibration of her energy, her essence, under his fingers as he slid them over the exposed skin of the small of her back. He would never get enough of her.

He loved how her soft hair billowed around them when they made love. He loved that she would speak in the middle of the night, making verbal shopping lists and then deny it in the morning. He loved how she always fell asleep in front of a late night movie and how she would naturally curl up as close to him as she could get on the couch. He loved how she would spin David and Andrew in the air, laughing as much as they would. He loved how she would kiss Emma's forehead whenever she had the chance, even if it happened to be in the middle of eating dinner. Clutching her petite frame closer, he knew he was the happiest man on Earth.
But her sudden unresponsiveness to his loving administrations brought him back from the land of sensations, the chill he felt pass over the connection making him break the kiss and take a step back. He shivered when he met her unseeing, staring eyes.
"Liz?"
Taking a hold of her upper arms, he shook her lightly. "Baby?" The shakings grew in intensity when she wouldn't respond. He tried to read her through the connection, but it was closed and cold.

Not again, he thought wildly, shaking her again. The whole thing only lasted a couple of seconds, but it was enough to get Max into a wild frenzy. Liz blinked slowly, repeatedly, her eyes refocusing on his face.
"Max?"
Max crashed her close to him, melting their bodies together as he buried his face into the crook of her neck.
"Are you okay?"
"Max, you're crushing me."
Reluctantly, he pulled away. "What happened? You disappeared."
"I-I saw something," Liz stammered, still trying to make sense of what she had seen.
Almost afraid to speak the words, knowing that it had almost killed her the last time, Max asked, "Was it a premonition?"
Liz nodded slowly. "I think so."
They had both thought it was gone. She hadn't had a premonition since she had been in the warehouse almost three years ago and they had thought that maybe it had been connected to something else. Memories of conversations with Kira flooded Max's mind, the words echoing over the connection to Liz. Kira telling them that the power of being able to see into the future was good in an Antarian but acted like virus in the human, breaking down the immune system.
Liz shook her head as the remembered words whispered in her head. "But I'm okay this time. I felt in control."
Max frowned, relieved but still suspicious. Was she really okay? He could hear the resounding yes from her body in his head and he had seen for himself how she this time had just become unresponsive and not breaking down like that time in the warehouse. Maybe him bringing her back from the dead for the second time on Antar had changed her even more, made her more alien and more capable of controlling the power.

However, being so caught up in making sure that she was not injured from the premonition, they had momentarily forgotten about the content of the premonition.
"What was it about?" Max questioned, instinctively bracing himself for the answer.
Liz furrowed her forehead. The images had been very impressionistic, but she had seen the outlines of a child. She dug deeper, feeling increasingly anxious about finding the answer.
"I saw a child," she murmured, more to herself than to Max, "It's a girl. She… She has…" A soft singing voice drifted through her mind, a slippery memory from the premonition and her heart almost came to a complete halt.
"Where's Emma?"
Max's eyes widened with fear. "She's taking a bath."
"Oh no," Liz whispered, brushing past Max with the image of water and music suddenly blazingly present in her memory.
Max ran after her to the bathroom, fearing the worst as he entered the bathroom, mere inches behind Liz.
"Mom? Daddy?"
Emma looked up at them, foam in her hair, on her face and most of her body, as she tried to find the right radio station on the portable radio balancing on the edge of the bathtub. Upon hearing her parents, her hands had left the apparatus and before her eyes, Liz saw the beginning of the premonition play out as the radio started to slide. She didn't know she could move that fast, but it was with an anguished scream that she rushed forward and pulled the radio backwards by the cord, away from the water and away from electrocuting her daughter.

"Oh Emma," Max whispered, falling to his knees next to the bathtub and pulling his foamy daughter against his chest.
"What's wrong?" Emma asked in a small voice, feeling the fear and relief wash over the connection in waves.
"Baby," Liz murmured, grabbing Emma's wet head and desperately plastering kisses over her face. If she hadn't felt the desperation in her parents, Emma would've most likely protested to her mother's kisses.
"Mommy? You're scaring me," she said instead, speaking up to get their attention.
"You should've told me that you wanted to listen to music and I would've helped you," Max said, guilt fleeting through his voice. Liz stroked her daughter's hair back, her eyes flickering over her daughter's pretty face.
"It is very dangerous to put something with electricity in it close to water," Liz explained, her hands trembling from what could have happened. "If the radio had fallen into the bathtub, you would've gotten hurt."
Fear entered Emma's eyes and Liz kissed her forehead. "It's okay, baby." She inhaled deeply. "It's okay now."
"I just wanted to do it on my own," Emma whispered, tears lacing her voice.
Max grabbed Liz's hand to calm himself down, while his other hand brushed some foam away from Emma's face. "We'll help you, okay? Ask us first and we'll figure out together what we need to help you with… You are a big girl now, Em. But you still need us to help you with some things."
Emma bit her lower lip, nodding. "Okay."
"I love you, sweetie," Liz said, the trembling gradually loosening its grip on her body.
"Love you too, mommy," Emma answered.

Years had passed since Emma had been taken from them, but a piece of her innocence was forever lost to her. She had finally started to return to a semblance of normal. Her nightmares had disappeared and the house was filled with animals of all types as a testament to how she was no longer afraid to embrace her natural instinct to help others. She was a responsible young girl who took good care of her twin brothers, watching them with a hawk eye whenever they went outside; her fierce over-protectiveness the only visible remaining sign of the trauma she had suffered while being held captive and experiencing deliberately excruciating pain. Her childhood had been taken from her during those days on Antar, but some of it had been given back to her through laughter and play as she grew up with her parents and her little brothers. She would become a special girl, in more ways than one. Having been forced to grow up too quickly, and with otherworldly genetics and abilities, she was wise beyond her years. She weighed every decision, choosing every path in her life with the utmost care. But she went on to make them all proud, finishing medical school at the top of her class and going on to do what she loved doing most: helping others. One day she would even find that special someone who she could trust deeply enough to reveal parts of herself that only her family and some of her parents' friends knew about. He would be shocked at first, but his love and adoration for her would make him see past the fear of the unknown and they would get married, having two beautiful children.

The boys grew up feeling loved and secure. They only felt physical pain in the sense of scratched knees and blisters from outgrown shoes. That faraway planet only existed in their minds in the form of a bedtime story their big sister used to tell them. It was a world where people very similar to them fought a war for freedom and the right to feel, a world where good overcame evil. It was a world they would never see with their own eyes. They were surprised when they discovered their powers, their surprise quickly turning to their advantage; their common ability to read thoughts was something that was greatly misused in their teenage years to charm girls. But they eventually grew up as well. David became a wildlife veterinarian where he could display his love for animals by trying to save as many as possible from extinction. Andrew painted his first painting at the age of three and the house was soon thereafter filled by immense number of oil paintings, charcoal drawings, pencil drawings and clay statues. By the age of seventeen he gained an international reputation for being an aspiring young artist with an incredible imagination. His art depicted a planet he had never seen but which still nurtured his imagination with memories of thick water and a red sun.

Maria and Michael got married one week after David and Andrew's birth, combining their wedding with Max and Liz's. After trying to get pregnant for a year, Maria received the medical opinion that she was unable to bear children. With a somewhat intimidated husband in tow, she applied for adoption and was blessed with a two-year-old girl eleven months later. Michael found himself sitting next to the cradle during long nights to watch his daughter sleep and calling Max over to heal the child at every small sniffle.

Isabel was the one to propose to Alex, frightening everyone with her thorough preparation for the wedding which resulted in a combined sigh of relief from everyone involved when the wedding came to an end. They had four children, all with blonde curly hair. They grew up being scolded by their mother for scaring David and Andrew in their sleep after they acquired the ability to transform themselves into monsters through dreamwalking.

Max and Liz remained inseparable. They watched their children grow up and enjoy life. After a while they stopped looking over their shoulder, secure in the knowledge that no enemies from outer space were coming to hunt them down. They were separated by flesh on the day they died, only to have their souls reunited and entwined seconds later. Their souls remained as one until two new babies were formed, one in the Southern hemisphere and one in the Northern. Their need to be together, to love each other, to complete each other, reached out across the globe and brought them together again.

And so it will continue until the end of time.

THE END