“I can make the appointment tomorrow. And when the time comes, I’ll take the day off work.” Max reached for her hands. “I’ll be with you the whole time.”

Liz pulled her hands away, putting them behind her as she slowly backed away from him. “This isn’t happening… this isn’t happening.” She shook her head back and forth, her eyes riveted on Max’s outstretched hands.

“Liz.” Max took a step forward, reaching for her.

“No,” she shouted at him. She searched his face, eyes brimming. “No, Max. Please tell me you don’t mean this.”

“I’m sorry, but you know children are impossible for us. We’ve discussed this before.”

“But we haven’t discussed it.” Liz’s voice rose in frustration. “You TOLD me we couldn’t have them and I just agreed. We never talked about why… if it was physically impossible or…. And now, it’s too late to worry about ‘why’, Max. We’re not in high school anymore. We’re adults – married adults – and this is our child! How can you so casually talk about destroying it?”

Max had begun pacing during her tirade. “Dammit, Liz! This is not easy for me either, but we have no choice. The risks are too great.”

“Are you just worried about being exposed? You lived normally for sixteen years before there was any real threat of being found out. We can teach him or her to be careful, too.”

Max grabbed her hand and led her into their tiny living room. He guided her to the sofa and sat next to her. “That’s not the only thing to worry about. Let’s start with the basics. You have two more years of long hours and hard work ahead of you. How do you think you can possibly handle pregnancy and then a newborn? You’re barely sleeping now and you’ve already said you can’t give up any hours in the lab.”

Liz fixed him with a level stare. “I’ll drop out for a year. I have enough education and experience to get a job as a lab technician and I can use that year to start on my dissertation.”

“Fine. What if there are problems with the pregnancy? What if things don’t progress normally?”

Liz’s eyes flicked away. “What do you mean?” She tried to maintain the defiance in her voice, but she heard the tremor in it and hated herself for showing any fear.

“As far as I know, there haven’t been any other aliens that have… mated… with a human. How do we know it would be a normal pregnancy? Iz and Michael and I… we came out of incubation pods… when we were six. Liz, I don’t know if our kind are even born like human babies. I don’t know if you would be pregnant for nine months, if the baby would develop at the same rate, if you could even deliver it naturally –“

Max stopped when he saw the tears trickle down Liz’s cheeks. She didn’t make a sound, just stared at a worn spot in the carpet. Max stroked the back of her head as he gently pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Honey, I’m sorry to do this to you, but we have to look at this rationally. There are other dangers, too. You’d be under a doctor’s care. What if they discover something abnormal? And we don’t know if the FBI is still watching me. What if they are? If they see you’re pregnant…. Liz, they wouldn’t hesitate to take you, run tests on you…. And when the baby was born, they’d take it and raise it in a lab somewhere and they’d probably… well, they’d probably kill you to make sure you couldn’t say anything. Liz, I couldn’t take it if something like that happened… to either of you.”

Liz slowly nodded and raised her eyes to his. Max couldn’t breathe, the pressure on his chest was too great. He had never seen such desolation before. Her eyes were empty, like her soul had been ripped from her body. He knew in that moment that things would never be the same between them. He had lost her.

He mutely watched as she got up and walked into their bedroom. He stared at the wall as he listened to her movements… the squeak of the closet door, the rustle of clothing. Max rose and wandered into the kitchen. He flipped off the television as he thought about how different her life would have been if he’d kept his vow to stay away from her. He had been weak, selfish. He had given in to the demands of his heart rather than listening to the cold reasoning of his head. And he had destroyed her.

His eyes darted around the room, searching for answers. His breathing grew ragged and heavy as he drew one shaking hand through his hair. He swung around to the counter, leaning on it as he tried to bring his emotions under control. Suddenly, he jerked upright, drew one arm back and smashed his fist into the cupboard, shattering the cheap wood and sending a glass toppling to the floor.