Liz closed the door quietly to the apartment not wanting to alert her parents to her being home yet. She wanted time to go change. Her clothes and hair were dry, but they felt grimy from having fallen into the water. She shivered again as she remembered struggling to get uncaught from the weeds, and then realizing she was going to die. Her last thought had been of Max and she guessed that was why he had been able to find her and save her.

Liz went into her bathroom and started the shower. She was still feeling cold from her horrifying experience, and just wanted to let the hot water rain down on her body.

*********************

Max closed the door to his room and fell onto his bed in exhaustion. The fear and horrible flashes of earlier wouldn't leave him. He had almost lost Liz!

"Max honey?" he heard his mother call as she knocked on his door.

"Come in." he called and tried to look relaxed and not sick.

"Hi honey, the girls said you didn't want dinner?" Diane said as she came to sit on the edge of her son's bed and felt his head.

He smiled up at her worried eyes. "I'm not sick mom. I'm just tired." he assured her.

Diane looked her son over and realized he did look tired. "Okay honey. You rest. I'll keep a plate warm for you for when you get up." she said softly and patted his arm.

"Thanks mom." Max smiled again to reassure her and curled up on his side watching as she started to leave.

Diane hesitated at the door, wondering if she should wait until a better time. She looked at Max's exhausted face and realized that Phillip could put it off one more day before he talked with Max about the dreaded "sex" talk. But she knew it had to be soon. Phillip had told her that at Max's age his hormones were starting to wake up, and with him so close to Liz, they knew they couldn't put it off for much longer.

Max watched his mother close his door without saying whatever she was going to say and he sighed. From the look on his mother's face, whatever it was couldn't have been good.

****************

Liz was doing her homework after dinner when there was a knock on her door. She turned and saw her mother standing at the open door hesitantly. She didn’t like the look on her mom’s face; it looked like whatever she wanted to say couldn’t be good. She swallowed.

“Hi mom.” Liz acknowledged and watched as her mom came in to sit on her bed.

Nancy didn’t know how to start this conversation. She had planned it so many times in her head, but it never sounded right when she actually tried to say it out loud. She realized she should just start.

“Hi Liz honey. Can we talk?” she asked and patted the bed next to her.

Liz looked worried as she nodded and putting down her pen she climbed up onto the bed and sat Indian style facing her mom.

“Honey I know we should have had this talk probably last year or so, but I just put it off and now…well, I just need to say it.”

Liz looked even more confused as she listened to her mom trying to say something that was obviously not easy for her.

“Is Grandma okay? Dad? You?” Liz suddenly asked, her eyes full of dread. “Oh baby, we’re all fine. I’m making this worse aren’t I. I just need to talk to you about sex.” She finally blurted out.

Liz sat back in shock and then turned red. OH NO! The talk! She hadn’t seen it coming.

Nancy saw the pained expression on her daughter’s face and continued. “I know, no one likes to talk about this with their kids or their parents, but it’s so important that you get all the right information. I know there is so much out there and so many kids have heard so many different things.”

“Mom, it’s okay. I…I read up on it last year.” Liz tried.

“Oh. Well, that’s good. I mean, if you had questions you could have come to me, but I’m glad you were sensible enough to look for the answers from the right places. Ah…what did you read?” Nancy asked gently, trying to make this more comfortable for both her and her daughter.

“Mom!” Liz begged her mom not to ask her to repeat what she’d read out loud.

“I know. Okay, then let me just make sure you know some of the important things.” Nancy held up a hand and then sighing she continued, meeting her embarrassed daughter’s eyes softly. She then pulled the books away from her chest that she had brought in with her and Liz looked horrified to realize that her mom had pictures!

“Liz I know we talked about the changes to your body and your period over a year ago, but we didn’t talk about the other changes you would experience as your body developed and…well…changed.” Nancy began.

Liz was red faced, but waited. She knew she might as well just let her mother finish what she came to say. After all, the “becoming a woman” talk hadn’t been too bad. But pictures! Oh My God!

“Honey, you know that when you become a lady, which shouldn’t be too much longer now, that your body makes those changes to prepare you for…someday having a baby of your own. But…that doesn’t mean you have to start having them right away.” Nancy blurted out then laughed at the shocked look on her daughter’s face and she sighed.

“Oh sweetie, I’m not doing this right am I? Do you know how babies are made?” she finally just asked.

Liz nodded hoping that would help avoid having to look at the book. No such luck.

“Well, since there are so many stories about how babies are made out there, I want to make sure you have the right information.” Nancy took a deep breath and opened one of the books.

She handed it to Liz and let her look at the page that gave step by step pictures in a sensible way on how the process worked.

Liz felt her face burning up but she did look to make sure she did have the right information. Yep…that was what she thought. She put the book down and nodded, not able to look at her mom right then.

“Well, when your body starts to make these changes, you start to…feel things and you start to look at…well boys differently. And I just want you to know that although that’s very natural, you shouldn’t just give in to your…urges. There are so many consequences to having sex.” She continued.

“Mom, I’m not going to have sex.” Liz assured her realizing her mom was doing what she felt she had to in having this talk as uncomfortable as it was.

Liz couldn’t imagine having sex yet. She loved Max with all her heart, but right now she was happy just being around him. She knew her body was readying for him for later, and she had a feeling his was too, but she was not about to have sex! She hardly knew more than the basics, which didn’t sound like too much fun anyways.

“I know you’re not thinking of it right now honey. But you just need to know that as you do get older; your body will want things that might not always be the best to want. You might not think you’ll want sex, but someday you will, when your own body is completely ready, but just remember that you have your whole life ahead of you and if you do anything rash or sudden, you could ruin your whole life.”

“You mean like when Mary Jones had a baby in junior high and her mom sent her away?” Liz asked trying to let her mom know she did understand.

“Yes. Exactly. Her body wanted to have sex with her boyfriend, but she wasn’t old enough for the consequences. And it’s not just about having babies anymore. There are diseases you can get from sex as well.” Nancy said warming up to this now.

“Diseases?” Liz’s eyes widened. Okay maybe she hadn’t read enough. The scientific side of her wanted to know all.

“Well, yes. When two people…become intimate, have sex, they…can give each other diseases that could actually hurt you badly or kill you. You’ve heard of AIDS right?” Nancy asked.

Liz nodded her eyes widening. So THAT was how people got AIDS. “You can die from that.” She said softly.

Nancy nodded but then clarified. “Of course just because you do have sex doesn’t mean you’ll definitely get a disease, there is more to it, but what you need to be aware of right now is that you have to be very careful and not give in to your body’s urges until you know for sure it’s true love and you are old enough and have committed to the man you love forever. That way you both know you’re ready for consequences like Children and the seriousness of intimacy. Don’t ever just give away your body easily and to many men. Find the right one and wait until you’re both sure and ready and much much older!” Nancy again stumbled over her words.

Liz smiled now. She knew her mother was trying to keep her safe. “I won’t have sex with just anyone mom. It will only be with Max. And not until we are much older. I don’t want to get sick or have a baby any time soon. Okay?” she tried to reassure her mom who looked as uncomfortable with all of this as she was.

Nancy sighed in relief at the serious way Liz was handling all this. She wondered if because her daughter was…not of this earth, that the biological drives of these aliens were different. Did all aliens know their mates ahead of time and patiently wait until the time was right? But then she wondered when that was for people of a different species? My God! What if an alien needed to mate as soon as they reached puberty!

Nancy shook herself to stop her crazy thoughts. Liz would be fine. She was a very levelheaded child and seemed to take things seriously and to think things out before acting any ways. And since her relationship with Max was different than anything she’d ever seen or would see again, she figured that she didn’t have to worry about her daughter sleeping around later on. She only had to make sure that Liz and Max waited until they were old enough to face the intimacy and other consequences that went along with having sex.

“And you should know one more thing.” Nancy started hating this part. “If you do…find you can’t wait…wait for when you get married, there are ways to keep yourself safe from diseases and babies.” Nancy said. She really didn’t like to tell her daughter not to have sex but then say… ‘But if you do’ here’s what to do. But she was level headed enough to know that teens did make mistakes and at least they should be cautious and responsible.

“Like the pill or something?” Liz asked having heard about the pill.

“The pill will help you with not having babies, but that alone won’t help you not to get sick.” Nancy said and realized how difficult this was going to be.

“You need to have the man…wear something to protect both of you.” She tried.

Liz was lost. “Wear something?” she asked wide-eyed. Her natural curiosity making her forget that she might not want to hear the answers.

“Yes…well…” Nancy swallowed and then took a deep breath. Oh Lord Nancy. Why did you bring this up? She thought to herself. “The part of the…man that joins with you, has to be protected so that neither of you get diseases and it will also help you not to have babies.” Nancy finished quickly.

Liz thought about this for a second and then turned beet red. “Oh!” she exclaimed and buried her face in her pillow and giggled suddenly realizing just what she and her mother were really talking about here.

Nancy met her daughters totally embarrassed face and she too laughed. “Yeah…oh.” She grinned and shared the moment with her daughter. She knew the laughter was a natural reaction to the intense embarrassment the whole conversation brought on and it was good to laugh.

Nancy sighed realizing that the conversation was basically over and that they’d both gotten through it.

“Well. I know that I didn’t handle that as well as a film might have or a book, but I just wanted you to know how I feel about all of this stuff too. Lots of people view sex differently. Some people don’t think it’s a big deal, others thing you give it to a man to get your way or to keep him loving you, but it’s so much more than that.” She smiled down at Liz suddenly knowing that what Liz and Max had was more than that.

“Do you have any questions that I can answer baby Did you read or hear anything very different from what we’ve talked about that you need to discuss? I know this isn’t easy, but you can always come to me okay? I might not always know how to say things, but I’ll always tell you the truth.” Nancy finished.

Liz smiled and nodded. She guessed she was lucky to have a mom who cared and tried. She too was relieved it was over.

“I know mom, and thanks. But you don’t have to worry about me okay?” she assured her.

Nancy just nodded, hugged her daughter and then left.

Liz sighed and lay back on the bed realizing that she had gotten through the “Talk” in one piece.

Nancy went into the kitchen and leaned against the sink, head down, and sighed, glad she’d managed to get through that and hoped that she’d made at least enough sense to make her daughter more aware of being responsible.

************* “Oh my gosh, Liz! You had the talk!?” Maria exclaimed the next day at school as they headed toward class.

Liz turned red and hushed her friend, looking around to make sure no one had heard. “Maria, please!” she begged.

Maria giggled. “Sorry, but I can just see you and your mom trying to have this talk. She actually told you about rubbers?” Maria asked still amazed about the talk.

“Rubbers?” Liz stopped and looked at Maria unsure.

“Rubbers, that’s what your mom was talking about that guys use to protect themselves.” Maria smiled knowingly.

“How did YOU know that and how come you didn’t tell me!” Liz accused.

“Oh Liz, I heard some high school girls talking about it at the park once and looked it up. I wasn’t sure exactly what it meant until you just told me about your talk.” Maria laughed.

Liz giggled and hit her friend. Then she stopped when she saw Max standing on the stairs waiting for them.

Maria looked from Liz to Max and sighed and rolled her eyes. “Then again, maybe your mom was right to have that talk with you now.” She teased.

Liz gasped at Maria then realized she was kidding her, and she turned back to Max, her stomach doing those flips again as she approached him.

He was so cute. He had his hands in his pockets and his dark hair falling over his eyes as he stood waiting. But it was his eyes that always made Liz’s stomach do the flips. They were so…she didn’t know, but they made her so happy and feel so good.

“Hi Max.” she smiled shyly suddenly remembering her sex talk with her mom and how it pertained to Max specifically.

“Hi Liz. How are you feeling today?” he asked with concern in his eyes, as he looked her over trying to find any visible sign of her trauma yesterday.

“Good. I feel good Max. I’m fine.” She reassured him with a smile.

Max nodded and smiled at Maria who was grinning at them. “Hi Maria.” He said waiting for the teasing.

“Hi Romeo.” She giggled and headed into the building.

Max gave a lopsided grin to Liz and then met her eyes seriously again.

She caught her breath when he held out his hand for hers. They had never held hands in school before, and she realized that Max was letting everyone else know that he liked her.

There were several kids going out together in their 6th grade class, but Max had never actually said that they were, it was just assumed that they were together, but this was like Max was letting it be known.