Holding out for a Hero (CC, Mature) - Chapter 15 - Completed - 06/10/2020

[Parker1947]

Title: Holding out for a Hero
Author: Parker1947
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They were created once upon a time by Jason Katims and those associated with the writing staff of Roswell and before them it was the esteem creator of the Roswell High series by Melinda Metz book that captured all our attentions for more than 20 years… This story is based on the television show that started in 1999 and ended in 2002. I am just borrowing them for my own fun and imagination.
Rating: Mature
Category: CC
Characters: ALL
Synopsis: Max and Liz thought they had achieved their dream when they graduated and married while on the run from the government. If they did, then they were in for a rude awaking when they were able to go home ago, because, the past came back to haunt them, and despite their love for each other, they parted ways. So, they found new lives and chances of being together dimmed. That is until Max who is going through a life-changing personal loss is called upon to use his more conventional healing gifts to save someone precious to him as it catapults them both into new possibilities and it also leads to all kinds of new discoveries.
Changes from Show: They graduated. They fled. They married… Everything that happened on the show is their history in this story, for good and for bad. This is about the aftermath of their flight from Roswell. And if you thought they had a happy life after the show, think again because to get there, well, more bumpy and rocky pathways will have to be walked…

Author’s Note: As much as Max and Liz deserve to be together. This premise was inspired as I remembered the rumors of a potential storyline for a Season 4, if we had gotten it back when they show was struggling, and they were trying to think of ways to keep it afloat. And rumors started to leak of pitches to the network. One was to focus on the gang on the road. But eventually Liz would find herself captured… Anyways, so I found a way to not dwell on that story, but use it as the downfall of Max and Liz’s young marriage, and they will be forced to craft new lives, only for all kind of possibilities to pop up, years later…

This is very angsty. Abusive behavior is briefly shown, but it mostly about the aftermath. Attempted or other violence might show up down the line, but hopefully it will be brief and not as intense as it is not intending to be drawn out as I want to use it to bring about revelations and show heroes of all kinds...

Hope you enjoy.

****

Prologue

September 18, 2012

The day began like any other day for Max Evans as he opened his locker in the medical resident’s lounge. “Evans, you do know that your shift is starting. So, get on out there,” came a shout into the room. “Yes Dr. Lang” came his response and instead of a quick run to get out onto the floor, he continued to stare into space. As Max still did not know how this day was even a possibility. Yet it was not the first since his residency had begun that he reflected to those days that had began the climb and the build to get to this day. Eight years had passed and still he did not believe he had come to this point when it should have been Liz. It should be you Liz he mused to himself and yet it might still be her for all he knew, but then he lost that right to know. How he wished he knew what was going with her. From the beginning Liz was the one who was the scientist. She was one who was dreaming of a future in medicine or somewhere, anywhere in the science field. Liz you were going to kick butt

For Max, well, his only goals were to stay out of the hands of the government and to be able to stay on Earth and finally to love Liz. He had succeeded in all three of those goals…

After all it was obvious that he had achieved his goal of staying on Earth, although that had not come without a cost, and most of all, he had the ability to love Liz.

But he also had lost Liz…

Their dream wedding had ended in divorce. Where did it go wrong Liz? he reflected. But those questions were foolish to ask of himself because he knew where it went wrong as it had been eight years, yet it felt like it had been only eight days to Max since they signed the papers that made it official. And therefore, he did not have the honor of calling her his wife anymore... Even though Liz you will be always my wife, even if it is only in my heart.

They did not get the fairy tale ending he had dreamt and felt they were deserved when they took their vows on the road in a small church at the edge of a road in front of snow-covered mountains. Only in the ensuring months did their potential get shot down by the cold reality of being on the run from the federal government and being too young to really be able to deal with it or tamper the damage to a young marriage despite the hope that all the angst and all the pain they had endured during those three years had battle tested them, but nope, he was hopelessly naïve he would discover. Both were, they would find. And because of that naivety, they would pay the ultimate price because of that fact when they foolishly thought that they could battle the demons of the world together. Because they had history on their side.

All of them had that foolish dream. But none more than Liz.

Their band of misfits broke up. Michael and Maria went one way. Isabel and Kyle another way when it became apparent that six teenagers which included two committed couple traveling the country to celebrate their high school graduation in a van wasn’t going to be ample cover when the questions started to come about their mysterious ways.

So, it only left Max and Liz together battling the elements and the sling and arrows being shot at their love as they were soon forced to deal with the fact that it was only them. They would find out that despite being so in love, well, they were also only eighteen. And they were simply too young to battle the forces that were coming for them.

Then disaster struck.

The government caught up to them. But instead of getting at Max who had been their target. They shot Max in the heart by taking Liz when he was out of their apartment getting some groceries. Coming back to the apartment, and seeing it trashed, and knowing Liz was gone, it had driven him insane and the fact he was unable to find her. While he figured she was at a facility, still he did not know where to strike in his desperation to get his wife back… He would come to the realization that the United States was a big place, and Liz could be anywhere…

While he would sacrifice himself any day of the week to know his wife was safe, still if they got him, then they could gain access to Michael and Isabel who were out on their own, and therefore he knew that he had more to protect than only himself…

At the same time, in captivity, Liz tried to protect Max but was enduring too much and that included losing a pregnancy that was only starting to form. She was devastated at the miscarriage as she sat in custody. But in her visits to Max through her dreams, she told him to stay away because she did not want to see him inflicted by a return visit to the White Room. She figured they would not do anything to her…

She was wrong, but she was determined to withstand the torture… if it meant Max could be safe.

Knowing this weighed on Max yet still, he did as she asked, and stayed away, but it would continue to eat at him. Failing in his fruitless efforts at getting his wife free finally forced him to call in the last people he wanted to put in danger, but he knew that he needed the reinforcements. He needed the support, and the help so, he made the phone call he was hesitant to make in calling in Jeff Parker who was aghast at what had happened to his daughter, and even to Max. Because he had read the diary, he knew all about the secret that defined his daughter’s husband. Grateful that his daughter had not died at age fifteen, he immediately stood up to the government and forced them to give him and his trusty lawyer access to his daughter. The trusty lawyer of course being Phillip Evans who was terrified for his daughter-in-law because of what he had known by now to have gone down with his son. Jeff Parker it turned out had started a support group of grieving parents who had their children suddenly disappear, and the members included Sheriff Valenti who of course knew all, Phillip and Diane and Amy Deluca and they had in turn read the diary, and so, they all knew… Therefore, Phillip and his wife now knew the gritty details regarding how bad it had gotten for their son and daughter and why they had to flee their hometown. So, he was prepared to do anything to help his son and Liz.

Phillip had also brushed up on his knowledge of the procedures of criminal law, and civil rights since the debacle in Utah and as a result, they had successfully got Liz released while at the same time as they sued the government for unlawful targeting unsuspecting and unarmed teenagers when they had evidence of who actually had committed the army base massacre and arresting an American born citizen without allowing her due process and in the end they took down the whole Special Unit syndicate.

As a result of the takedown, Max and Liz were able to passionately reunite but that reunion would end up being short-lived because of the damage of their separation and what it had down to their marriage, Despite every effort in attempting to move on, well, both knew life was now too changed by what Liz had been forced to endure and the simple fact that Max couldn’t save the love of his life without putting himself in danger.

So, they were unable to save their marriage because of circumstance that came along with the quest to get Liz free when in forcing the government to take accountability for their actions and to release their hold of Liz, many secrets ended up being revealed when Max could only do one thing and that was come forward with his status so he could remove the one thing that the Special Unit had over him, his secret status so they could flip the narrative on the government. The public soon came to understand just what the government had done in targeting citizens and those who were truly innocent. So, once he had come forward and told the truth, and the pandora box was lifted and as an result all their secrets were forced out into the world and therefore in the wake of Liz’s release and the successful suit against the government, they were forced to live in a society who now knew who Max, Michael and Isabel truly were. While Max was confident, they could ride it out because not everyone was suspicious of their motives. Still, that turned out to be a pipe dream because those early days were hellish with all the speculation that was heaped on their shoulders and on their marriage. Because everyone it seemed had a opinion and they weren’t afraid to voice it and their eyes were always one on of them, suspicious of their motives and therefore it put strain on their young marriage and added to the resentment within Max because he hadn’t been able to save her himself.

Liz never blamed Max. But Max blamed himself.

But at the same time Liz was forced to deal with the aftermath of her treatment in custody and because she was not ready to talk to anyone about it, and especially not him. A wedge started to grow between them and while they were truly in love, and their sex life was not the issue, although that was also lacking. Their marriage started to fray, as it could not help but sink under the weight of the pressure put on their union.

So, they separated.

Once they split. Both were restless and unsettled about what their futures would hold. Because she was now a national celebrity who took on the government and won. Harvard rescinded their rejection and offered her admittance to the university and she accepted and left for Cambridge while Max moved to Las Cruces to try university life.

Divorce papers were arranged for and signed through the mail and fax…

At Las Cruces Max had to endure the looks and suspicions. So, he found himself throwing his head into the books and found a passion for healing and learning about the human anatomy and how to heal without making it obvious he was using his special talent so that he could help the people who needed it. It was a rough transition as people wondered if he took the easy way out, because his scores were always so high, but he credited his workaholic life and his hours studying and they eventually started to believe him as he got them on his side. Eventually he was admitted into medical school and found himself on the road to becoming a doctor.

Now he was a resident in his hometown, but single.

And he planned to keep himself that way.

And when not working and back in his home, his nights were too often filled with memories of his brief time with Liz, and when he had it all, and how he had lost it all…

“Evans, hey, Einstein. You have got to snap out of it. You seem miles away?” came a sympathetic voice of his fellow resident Faith Patterson as she came on shift and into the resident’s locker room and saw that Max was being a space cadet. Faith was trying to get through to him for the last several minutes and was having no luck. “Max, where are you?”

The voice of his friend broke through the noise in his head and as he was coming back to reality, Max tried to shake his mind and rid his brain of the images of those days when he heard her final words and knew he was better than this but for some reason today made it worse. “Sorry, I guess I didn’t sleep that well” as they walked out of the locker room and onto the floor, as she took her place behind the desk.

Doctor Faith Patterson could only smile and give a nod as though she did not believe him, and he knew it as this was a common sight she had too often seen since they came to know each other in school. Lucking out to get the same residency, they had stuck together as they battled the daily patients. “Get it together because Doctor Lang is watching you closely,” Faith snarked. “You don’t want to get on his bad side” she asked as she passed the chart to Max to look at and he could only nod as he took the chart because they both knew their chief resident was a notorious for laying down the law on his residents and given Max’s history was checkered, the Chief was always watching Max closely and he always walked a fine line in relation to his Chief Resident, and so far hadn’t gotten burned.

So, Max knew he had to get to work but froze in place for a moment at the date on the top of the chart, on the in-take form September 18th

And he was immediately taken back to that day in 1999 when his life changed.

When he got a chance at a dream.

“Watch it Max,” Faith said again as she spotted his spacy look and this time though he quickly came back to reality and got started on his shift which was slated to be a double. Which he tended to do more often than other residents or he traded off with them because he always tended to want the diversion that work usually provided as he got quickly into routine of this day and the bustling nature of the emergency room where he was working on this day as he figured he would end up focusing on emergency medicine once it was time to nail down a specific residency because of the life and death stakes of each day and he didn’t think he could handle being a surgeon but he knew that is where Faith was headed, as she hadn’t made any secret of the fact that she wanted to be a cutter, and therefore she was gearing her career towards it, and Max knew that she was likely going to be a fantastic surgeon when it came time to move into the surgery program once this part of her residency was over with…

Max planned to stay even if it meant working under Doctor Lang.

“So, why do you space out so much?” Dr. Patterson asked as they stopped a few hours later and had a moment to rest as she had long been curious about Max because she knew the rumors that always surrounded her friend’s life and still he was closed off and none of them had ever been able to get a clear answer into why that was. She knew he had some unsavory tangles early in his life, but she would have thought since he was able to live out in the open, that it would bring his life more clarity and less tension. Yet to Faith. Max was very distant and guarded, and did not seem to have a life as he took on most of the shifts that people tried to pass off… And went looking for extra shifts when people were not readily giving them up…

“I don’t…” Max said softly.

“Yes, you do, and today especially and I am not the only one who has noticed or commented on it,” Faith mused. “I am just the only one brave up enough to bring it up to your face” Faith laughed. “So, what’s up?”

“It’s nothing,” Max murmured as he never liked to dwell on the past because too many people had questions when he did choose to talk, and as a result he had closed himself off because of what had happened in his youth and because of recent events, and therefore he didn’t feel the need to get into stuff that didn’t have any hope of changing because he knew people loved the lurid of his history. He would rather just not talk about it and so he old excuse that always seemed to do the trick. “It is just family…” he lied.

“Oh,” Faith said as she softened her approach. “So, how is it with your sister these days?” Faith said softly because she did know how Max’s sister made him worry because she had seen difficult days. “She took over your parent’s place, right?”

“Yes,” Max sighed as he was forced to deal with more memories than just those associated with the end of his marriage. How he missed his parents… It was all so senseless. “Better these days. Isabel is finally happy. She is even engaged.”

“Congratulations. I know it’s been a long road for her…” Faith asked. “And Max if you need someone to talk too… I hope you do know that I am here for you and I could be a shoulder for you to talk to?”

Max nodded “I appreciate it I really do Faith, but it’s best I leave it in the past and not add to the stuff in my life that I rather not dwell on it” he murmured as he rather not talk about it as it was too recent and too new. At least he was comforted with the fact his sister at least was at peace with her life. And for him, working kept him from thinking about the past. Most days at least. But today seemed like it was one for the books for him and he wanted to just concentrate on his duties as a doctor. Why must the past always invade my life? he mused. Shaking it off, and finally, he was starting to rid the memories from his brain and concentrate on his duties as he was now watching Faith prepare to leave to meet her husband for a mutually shared appointment as he waited for his next patient so that he had something to concentrate on, as he desperately worked to forget his past...

But then he also knew that was too fanciful to wish for but it was worth a try he mused to himself when the doors swung open before Faith was able to get out so not to be risk being called back into action as in came a gurney. Max waved off Faith, as he stepped forward and listened. “Domestic abuse victim found nearly beaten to death, daughter was a witness” came the paramedics as they wheeled the woman on the gurney, and he saw a small little girl walking quietly behind as Max saw a black eye on the child and rage filled him as he fought to steel his emotions as the patient came into focus. “Bruises all over the place, broken bones likely… unconscious since the scene.”

Max zoned back into the situation and away from the past and finally because engaged and alert for the first time all day as if this was why he was a doctor, and this was why he studied and spent so many hours between these walls. To help the unfortunate, and those who needed his help. “Where is the bastard who did this?” he could not help but remark as he tried to get a good look at the patient and winced at the damage done. The face was so mangled with bruises and blood… “Why?” he murmured almost out loud and tried to get his impartial face back that he needed to have as a doctor.

“Got away,” the paramedic cursed.…“The daughter called us” as they remembered the horror when they arrived and saw the little girl so upset and so hysterical as she was pleading for her mother to survive.

“Victim is also pregnant, 28 to 30 weeks it looks like” said the lead paramedic as Max concentrated on the facts being relayed to him as he made notes, but then a flick of the brown hair on the little girl brought instant horror to face. “Oh my god,” he whispered as he settled on the little girl in front of him. “Natasha?”

The pale and bruised little girl looked up at the doctor as if it was the first time someone was engaging with her as she felt eyes on her and the horror in her eyes changed and then they widened as understanding hit her and then the realization told her that she knew this doctor. “Max…” she whispered when he recognized her as she made the same connection, he did with her, and then she whispered in a haunting tone “My Mommy…”

“Please god no,” Max whispered as Faith stopped when she saw the horror in her colleague's eyes Please don’t let this be Liz or for this to have happened to her…”

“Who is it Doctor Evans?” Faith asked as saw Max zone out and swung into action and then again when Max would not answer, so, she repeated her question. “Max, who is it. Do you know this patient?”

“Yes,” Max nodded. “It’s Liz…”

“Who is Liz to you?” Faith asked as she saw the small girl who had instantly come alive and now was looking at Max with fascination and like he was her savior and it was odd for Faith to put the pieces together, and she wondered what had descended on their emergency room.

“She’s my ex-wife” was Max was able to utter as horror settled in on him as he focused now on the patient in front him with heart wrenching weight Oh god please let this be a dream he whispered to himself as memories played out in his head…

He needed this to be a dream.

But it was not to be…

[Stefuh]

Yayy!! A new fic! I just started reading Reunion and I love it so far!

God, it must have been a shock for the world learning about Max, Isabel and Michael, and what the government had done! I'm sad that Liz and Max couldn't survive their marriage, but I understand that it must have really hard on them, especially since Liz lost her baby while in captivity and the fact that Max couldn't save her. It's heartbreaking. And God, now she's in the hospital with her girl because of her new boyfriend or husband? I sure hope Max will be able to do something about it! And I love Faith already.

Great prologue, can't wait for the rest.

Now I have Bonnie Tyler stuck in my head!

[Parker1947]

Six months earlier…

Two coffins were being released into the ground. Max stood and watched. His sister was a ghost beside him because of this dual loss added to her earlier one was too much for Isabel. Max could feel her grief and he shared it in a similar way because he didn’t know how he could go on in the aftermath of such a loss when he was losing the two people who had given them names and given them a roof to live under and now they were lost to them. And this day was a final good-bye to that life, and the beginning of only memories.

“Max,” said a whisper next him.

“We’ll be fine Isabel,” Max said softly as he took his sister’s hand in his own and squeezed it. “Mom and Dad would want us to be, and we both know that Jesse would have wanted you to be,” he murmured “You will always have me.”

Isabel nodded but he could tell that she did not believe it. They both knew the brutal truth that people did leave you and that you could not prevent it. Whether it was walking away or in death, and there was nothing neither of them could do to stop it. But for Isabel, it was also a reminder that while she and her mother might have liked to battle at times, but at the end of the day, she had known she had their parents in her corner. And it only had been crystalized once the truth came out and they did not have to lie anymore. Phillip and Diane Evans had been their rocks, and now they were gone.

Due to a drunk driver.

The loss was top of the one that she suffered with the loss of her husband, Jesse the year before from cancer. On the road, Isabel and Kyle had an ill-fated fling once they had separated from her brother, Liz and Michael and Maria. They had stopped in Las Cruces but because Isabel was on the FBI hit list. While Kyle didn’t have the same target on his back and therefore tension crept into the life that they were attempting to make together and she knew it didn’t help either of them and despite some real feelings for Kyle, she instead fled to Boston and to her husband, Jesse and somehow they were able to repair their faltering marriage. For all the pain that had existed within their union in Roswell. Starting anew in Boston had made them stronger, and it only increased in strength when the truth came out and Isabel did not have lie anymore. While it had killed Max and Liz. It had only made things stronger for his sister and her husband as they made a life for themselves, away from the glare of Roswell.

But they were cut short when Jesse passed away after a battle with cancer. Isabel now a widow came back to Roswell and spent time with her parents and with Max as she recovered from losing her husband and being left alone. Only then for the two of them to lose Phillip and Diane shortly after her return and her initial loss… as Max stood helpless, unable to bring back his parents, as his parents had pleaded with him after learning of his powers that if the time came, to never bring them back because if it ever to happen, then it was their time to go. They knew he and Isabel would have each other, and they would want to be together, instead of the agony if he was only able to save one and not both…

So, now he and Isabel were alone…

In their parent’s will, that had been read before the burial, Max and Isabel were left the family home along with the other aspects of their parent’s estate but because Max had his own place and didn’t want the memories of their childhood home. Isabel instead planned to take it over, so to keep it in the family.

And she had started to make something of her life. As she eventually had gone back to school and was studying fashion.

“Let me take you home?” came a voice and both Max and Isabel stopped the vigil as the dirt was thrown on both coffins and turned and saw Kyle.

“Kyle, thanks for coming…” Isabel said softly as she reunited with someone who had great meaning to her despite their murky history and someone she had not seen since their parting all those years ago. Because years before Kyle had returned Roswell on his own and without those who he had left town with and made his own way in the world, and shortly after had entered a marriage that didn’t work out, so he was newly divorced.

“I just got in last night and heard the news. I am deeply sorry for your loss” Kyle said softly to both Isabel and Max who nodded as they took the well wishes.

“Thank you Kyle,” Max nodded and because he knew sister deserved time with Kyle alone, so he stepped aside and went to a new corner to watch as he got more confirmation that his parents weren’t going to be at home when he came over on the weekend. Time in their family home often brought sanity amid all the angst, and now it would be no more and only his sister when he would now show up for a visit.

“Do you need a ride?” asked a voice from behind Max and he turned and saw his best friend. Gruff and quiet. Michael Guerin stood after coming out of the shadows. He hadn’t wanted to be here because he didn’t want to associate the memories of how warm Phillip and Diane were most days to him and how they treated him like a family member with the knowledge of that the two coffins being pushed down into the ground with the two people who were the only parents he would ever know. Despite his ornery behaviour, he knew Phillip and Diane were there for him, and he knew that he lost something along with Max and Isabel. As much as he wanted to stay away, he knew he could not do that to himself or to his family in Max and Isabel who had gained so much when Phillip and Diane had adopted them. So, he had stayed at a distance and watched as the three buried two people who meant something to all of them, in different ways.

For Michael, it was two people who did not care that they were special… because Phillip and Diane did not treat them as oddities, but as normal and human. Like they were any other citizen in this too often bizarre world.

And Michael appreciated it.

“I need time,” Max said simply.

Michael nodded. “Then I’ll see you at home…” he murmured as they both shared a duplex in town. Both had their own side. Michael gambled too much and found ways to pay the rent through methods Max didn’t want to think about or acknowledge, but Max had gotten a hold of his trust fund and bought the duplex when he came back to Roswell after medical school at Las Cruces, and when he got his residency in his hometown. Because he had the room, Michael moved into the other side… and managed to find the rent to pay Max most months, and the other months Max often let it slide so Michael knew he was fortunate and therefore he tried to be there for his best friends when he would rather take a beer and stay at home and to ignore the pain.

After all he and Maria had imploded while on the road and Maria was off trying to gain fame and fortune, and she was having some success or at least that was what she told people back home…and yet their relationship had lots of baggage that wasn’t completely put to bed as of yet but neither, or at least Michael didn’t want to pull the trigger on concluding their last bit of mutual baggage.

Once Michael was gone and Kyle and Isabel took their talk back to her home. Max could only stay and stare…

Another hour went by, and this time the burial crews were gone, and Max could only stare at the mounds of dirt that now covered his parents as he reflected on the past.

Mom and Dad, thank you for being here for me. I am sorry I took you for granted when you were alive. All you were doing was protecting me and loving me” he whispered into the cold air as he braved the winds and reflected on his life. “I will make you proud of me,” he said out loud into the air.

He had a day left in his leave from the residency program and knew he needed the diversion from life that work would provide him when he went back on Monday.

“Did we miss it…” came a soft voice and a voice he had not heard in so many years, and knew instantly and he twisted around and saw his past staring him

“Liz…” Max whispered as if he could not believe he was uttering the words.

“Hello Max…” Liz said softly as she held the hand of a small child. “I am deeply sorry to have missed the service, as I did try to get away earlier, but I simply couldn’t. I had wanted to show my regards to you, and your sister because I do know how much your parents loved you guys…”

“Liz…” Max asked as he could not believe this was happening, as he wondered if it were a dream, he had entered but he was adjusting his eyes, he knew it was reality. “I didn’t know…”

“I don’t. I live elsewhere…” Liz murmured.

*

Liz could only stare into the face of her past as she felt the warmth that came from the hands of the child holding her hand. A child who depended on her. She had wanted to be here before to make the service, but she was not able to leave when she wanted to…

She was not going to let him take this from her too…

He already had taken too much from her and she knew she had to protect her daughter, and she would to her dying day.

If only she could go back into the past and stop the choices she made, but she couldn’t and therefore she needed to take this step of paying her respects to a couple who showed what it meant to be happy and in love.

To bad she could not have the same thing.

She had it once. But she gave up on it.

“Max, I am sorry about your parents. I know how much they loved you and Isabel. How they did everything in their power to make sure that things were okay…” Liz murmured as she saw the awkwardness as she tried to figure out how to talk to her past. I am hopeless She long thought she made peace with their short-lived marriage. She had gone to Harvard full of hope of reclaiming a life that the government tried to take from her, and for a little while there, it seemed to work…

Until it did not…

“I know, I never appreciated them until they were gone and that will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Max murmured as he knew full well how he had hurt his parents with his actions earlier in his life, and while they had come to terms in the wake of his marriage to Liz still there was damage done and peace that wasn’t completely made and now his parents were gone, and he would have to live with what he had said and done during those days.

“They never stopped loving you,” Liz murmured as he thought of her talks with Max’s father, Phillip; her former father-in-law when he was trying to help her case. “I know, he told me. Which is why I wanted to come because your father did so much for me…” she sighed as she thought of cruelty of life. She though it would be so different than what it ended up being. “They gave me the opportunity for so much and therefore I will never be able to pay them back for helping me, you know, back then…”

“Yeah,” Max nodded as both knew what they were discussing. “I am just glad you got your chance to start over…” he murmured as he left unsaid, I wish we could have made that start over together… “You of all people deserved that chance…”

“It was all thanks to your father,” Liz murmured. “I wouldn’t be standing here without him…”

“Who is this?” Max asked as he knew that time had started to run again and the recognition that a child stood next to his ex-wife and how she looked exactly like the girl he had known so long ago. Liz.

“Natasha,” Liz said simply, and she looked down at the child who stood next to her who glanced between her mother and a stranger. “My daughter.”

“Well it is nice to meet you Natasha. My name is Max Evans and I am a friend of your mother and I go a ways back with her…” Max said softly to the little girl who looked at the older man with wide eyes and she nodded as she could see how her mother was affected by this man.

“Hi,” Natasha said softly.

“How old are you…?” Max could not help but ask.

“7” Natasha murmured as she looked up at her mother as she had not known where they were going when her mother had ushered her into the car and drove an hour to come to this graveyard. Now she was standing watching her mother interact this man, and knew this man was kinder and easier for her mother to talk to than her own father. She felt relief for her mother. She wished her mother could be happy.

“You look just like your mother did at your age?” Max murmured as he was taken back in time to that playground and the child he had had set his eyes on, and while they hadn’t talked on that day, still that girl in a cupcake dress would always be with him.

“You didn’t know me at 7,” Liz laughed.

“I did know you when you were not much older” Max murmured as she glanced down at the girl and back to his ex-wife. “Truly Liz, I am glad you got your happy ending…”

“Max” Liz murmured as she did not want to talk about any happy endings because they were rare, and they were elusive.

Feeling the coldness of the air dawn on their greeting. Max responded. “Do you want to go somewhere, maybe the Crashdown and talk or something before you have to head home?” Max asked as he did not want this encounter to end and wanted to be able to spend as much time as he could with Liz and prayed, he would get that chance.

But Liz could only shake her head. “I would appreciate if you don’t tell my parents you saw me…”

“Why, can I ask?” Max asked truly surprised by his ex-wife’s request because he did remember how important Jeff and Nancy Parker had been to their daughter, and in their brief time together, how much she had missed her parents and how much Jeff had bent over backwards in his teaming up with Max’s father to take on the government. His desperation to save his daughter had stayed with Max. If I could have saved Liz myself. Still he would always be grateful to his father and Jeff in their success at bringing the Special Unit to justice and shutting it down. So, it came as a surprise and odd for him to hear such a comment.

“It’s just how I want it to be,” Liz murmured as she did not want to discuss or think about her parents because it was too damn painful. “We need to get going,” was all she could respond with…

“Then how about an ice cream shop or something?” Max asked as he did not want Liz to go. “It might not be a warm day…” he asked as he tried everything to be able to spend more time with Liz and Liz knew it and wanted to be able to spend time with Max too, but knew she couldn’t…

“We have to get going…” Liz murmured once again. “Traffic is getting more intense and we have to get home. While I would love to stay Max… I can not stay. But even though I missed the service, I did want to come and pay my respects…”

“I do appreciate it,” Max nodded as Liz took Natasha’s hand in his own and turned to go.

“Liz…” Max said softly as he sensed in his ex-wife’s posture that there was something he was missing, and knew she was yearning for something, something he wanted to be able to provide for her, if she would only let him.

“What?” Liz asked as she turned around and faced her ex.

“If you need anything… If you did need me. I hope you know that you don’t have to hesitate in coming and finding me, okay?” Max asked as he suspected that there was something was off with his ex-wife and with the Natasha who was almost skittish about returning home and he wished that it were not this way for his ex-wife. All he ever did want for her was to be happy. If he could not be. Then he wanted that for her, as he watched as her back stiffened almost like reality was hitting her, and Natasha grasped her mother tighter and with more force. Liz took the grip. “But in the meantime, thank you for coming… My parents did always love you…”

“I cared for them too,” Liz said softly as she nodded and knew how much of Max’s life had been in isolation and knew he would be even more so now that he didn’t have his parents to guide him, and she wished it wasn’t like that… “You take care of yourself, okay?” she murmured. “I know that your parents would have wanted that for you.”

“I will,” Max promised as he looked down at the pint size version of Liz and knew mother and daughter were close and Natasha was the thing that meant the most to his ex-wife. “I do have a suggestion for you Natasha,” as Natasha nodded as she prepared to hear his words. Daddy is never this kind to me? she mused to herself as Max continued. “I want you to take care of your mother for me, okay,” he whispered as he glanced at the love of his life. “Your mother is the strongest person I know but everyone could use support every once in awhile…” he murmured as Liz struggled to keep from reacting as he grabbed her daughter’s hand with a stronger grip, as her daughter could feel her mother’s reaction. “They only need to know how to seek that support and to accept it when it’s staring them right in their face…” he murmured with a smile at the little girl who nodded with enthusiasm as Liz could tell that her daughter was smitten with her ex-husband. Max has that affect on many of a female she mused because she knew full well that anyone would be smitten by Max. After all I was that way once upon a time.

If only things had been different. Liz cursed her life and knew she had done this to herself and she had only herself to blame for her lot in life. She could only pray that she made it a better one for her little girl.

So, Natasha smiled at Max as Liz guided her daughter back to the car and got in but could only stared into space as she looked through the window shield as Max watched from afar. Natasha strapped herself into the passage seat and saw how the older man still looked at her mother, from where he stood in the graveyard and she remembered how her mother had responded to the man as Natasha glanced over to her mother and saw her mother’s far out look. Almost like she was in a trance. “Mommy…”

“Yes, honey” Liz asked as she snapped out of the trance and the wave of memories hitting her as she struggled to concentrate on her daughter. Like Max, she did see herself as a child, but unlike her ex-husband, Liz could only see a child so full of life, ambition and most of all hope even if it would fully set in for years to come, as tears started to come out of eyes and down her face as she thought of the past, and of Max’s words.

“Are you okay?” Natasha asked of her mother.

“Sure, sweetie, yeah I am” Liz murmured as he looked at herself in the mirror and saw the makeup coming off her eye, to reveal a black eye. “Do me a giant favor okay sweetheart?” she asked. “You shouldn’t tell your father where we went, okay?”

“I promise…” Natasha murmured as her mother started the car and started driving and she could sense her mother was deeply upset as she knew what not to tell her father, and had long learned this as later that night she shut her door and put her headphones on to stop from hearing the loud voices of her mother and father fighting, and loud sounds of someone falling to the floor, and crying.

As she looked up at the hanging necklace on her mirror, or the alien pendant that her mother had gifted her after a fight with her father, and with the promise if anything happened. To seek out the man she met today.

Max Evans.

*

Current day and time

Natasha felt the necklace around her neck. She knew her mother was battling for her life and her baby sister was also fighting and she felt the eyes of Max on her and she worried. “Mommy saved me...”

“Come here,” Max said to Natasha as he sought the little girl to know she was somewhere safe as Liz’s gurney was pushed into trauma room and a reminder that the child was as deeply affected by the events just as much as her mother was, and the black eye was a warning that wherever Liz and Natasha came from, life was hell for them and he needed to help Liz’s daughter. To his dying day he would protect Liz, and help her… “Faith, I know you have to go but…”

“No, I’ll call Paul and tell him to reschedule or take the appointment himself, and I’ll check in on your friend. Dr. Lang isn’t going to want you on the case given your personal connection or at least not yet until we know more…”

“I appreciate it,” Max murmured as he reached for Natasha’s hand and the child grabbed it with a death grip type of force that Faith spotted and it took her by surprise and yet Max took it in stride and almost relished it. You must have a wild back story Faith murmured as she witnessed Max take the child away.

“Sure, it’s fine Max, go… I can always look for a house tomorrow or Paul can check it out and report back to me because it is more his expertise than mine anyways” Faith laughed softly as she clearly felt for her friend. The clear-cut angst on Max’s face at the sight of his ex-wife was a sight to see, and it made Faith wonder what had happened to end her friend’s marriage, and she couldn’t help but wonder how the child factored in?

“The baby is in distress” were the words Faith heard coming into room, where Liz laid, unconscious to the world. “We might have to deliver it…”

“And the mother?” Faith as she concentrated on the striking brunette.

“It’s obvious this isn’t here first stay in the hospital, but this is the most severe” said the nurse next to the gurney reading the chart that came through on “Elizabeth Armstrong. Married to Carl Armstrong for seven years. One child, seven-year-old Natasha Marie” and now this new pregnancy which is a “baby girl” said the technician who had attached a monitor to the Liz to check the viability of the baby and was running an ultrasound.

“Where are you getting the information on the patient?” Faith asked surprised the check would come in so quickly on the patient. “Has she been at this hospital before… I don’t recall her…”

“No, but there was a welfare check on the girl that came through a few minutes ago. A comprehensive background check was included. Police provided it to us, as I guess the girl was on the watch list in the past but allowed to stay in the home” the nurse murmured. “We’re supposed to monitor the situation and call the office if it warrants…”

Faith nodded as she sighed for the little girl, and her mother.

“It says in the report that this is the second marriage for Mrs. Armstrong” spoke the nurse who was reading the file on the patient. “Whoa, she was married before…”

“To Dr. Evans, yeah I know…” Faith murmured. “How long ago?”

“Wow yeah. They divorced eight years ago,” said the nurse. “Says here he was her high school sweetheart…”

“I guess we will have to ask Max for more…” Faith murmured as she glanced through the doors and saw Max in a room talking to Natasha… “He might know more of her medical history if he goes back to when she was younger.”

“Dr. Patterson, there looks like there are deep welts on the back of Mrs. Armstrong,” one of the doctors murmured. “Looks like they are old...”

“Did the husband do it to her?” Faith asked as she worked on assessing the injuries which obvious as someone tried to turn Liz to her side so they could assess her back. There were broken bones in her arm, and multiple broken ribs, and many bruises all over her body and not just on her face. Shards of broken glass obvious...

“Unsure. There is nothing in the medical records of having treated her for them in the past…”

“Then what is her story?” Faith wondered.

“Hey, she’s the one who took on the government years ago…” came the nurse. “Under her formerly married name, Elizabeth Evans. I remember her now… It’s how everyone knows what Max can do.”

“Then let’s help her now…” Faith murmured.

*

“Are you okay?” Max was asking of the child who sat on the examination table as his heart and mind was still in the trauma room with Liz and wished he could be there but it would be tempting the fate and hopefully he could help her by helping her daughter. “You look like you are hurt?”

“Oh this,” Natasha asked of the black eye. “It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before, but this time Mommy witnessed it and she went ballistic.”

Max felt for the girl and cried out for Liz. “Your Mom didn’t know about before…”

“No, she always thought he stopped with her…” Natasha murmured as Max cringed while the child batted off the seriousness that had been inflicted on her because all she cared about was her mother. Mommy didn’t think he would touch me, and when he did, I always knew how to hide any evidence and therefore Mommy never knew until tonight, and when she saw him do it, she went ballistic.”

“What did your Mommy do?” Max asked.

“She told me to get out, to run… I tried, but I didn’t want to leave her, and I heard yells and shouts and then finally a large thump, glass shattering and he ran, and I didn’t stop him because I saw Mommy laying on the ground, unconscious.”

“Jesus…” Max swore.

“I called 911” Natasha murmured as she fingered the necklace.

“You did the right thing Natasha,” Max murmured as he looked again at the room that Liz laid. “You mother will get the best care possible, I promise” he sighed as he saw the necklace that the child was fingering and stood in shock when more of it became noticeable. “Where did you get that?”

“This?” Natasha asked as she showed the alien pendant as Max looked on thunderstruck. “Mommy. She told me it would keep me safe, and if anything happened to her… that I was to bring it to… you.”

“Why me?” Max murmured as he thought of the implications of Liz’s request to her daughter and knew regardless of what brought the child, and Liz to his doorstep. He knew he would be moving mountains until Liz was okay, and that she and her children would make it through this crisis. The seven-year-old and the unborn child as he could only assume Liz had been newly pregnant when she had come to his parent’s funeral.

“You would keep me safe. Along with her best friend, Aunt Maria, and your sister and friend Michael” Natasha murmured. “She never would tell me why. All she said was to show it to you, and that you know you would know what to do…”

“Liz, what is going on?” Max murmured to himself.

[Stefuh]

This chapter was so heartbreaking! Not only finding out that Isabelle and Max's parents died six month ago, but that Iz also lost Jesse! I'm glad Kyle went to the funeral for her. And knowing that Liz and her daughter went through so much at home, knowing how Natasha feels about her father... I hope Max will be able to help them because Carl needs to be behind bars. I'm happy that Liz told her daughter that if something happened she needed to go to Max... Hope Liz and her new baby will be okay.

[Superman86]

This story is so sad. I hope it gets more joyful soon. I'm thinking and hoping that Liz daughter Natasha is Max's. I'm hoping it's possible that the new baby could be Max'so too. After the Evans funeral Liz and Max hooks up. Tada!!! new baby....Then Liz was already pregnant with Natasha and didnt want to raise her alone ...Boom! rushed to marriage to Carl. Just some hopeful speculation

[Parker1947]

Los Angeles, California

“You are really are full of shit, Riley” Maria Deluca cursed her landlord as she packed her last box into her car outside of the home she was renting as she was being forced to move out of her roomy home as it was a culmination of three stressful months for her since that day when she was kicked off the lot of her last job because the director’s niece needed a job, and since then she hadn’t been able to get a job and she didn’t have income to justify this place so she was hoping her landlord would be decent, but she was wrong, and now she would be homeless in a matter of minutes until took the last option open to her that didn’t mean breaking the law. She would never do that, she muttered. Still she would rather stay, as she faced the idiot who was smirking at her… “I wouldn’t put out, so you go and evict me,” she murmured to the man who stood watching her pack. “That is low, even for the sleaze ball like you…”

“You didn’t pay your rent and you haven’t for the last three months. It’s my right to look for someone else…” Riley Peters murmured with satisfaction as Maria cursed. “I asked you multiple times and it has nothing to do what happened with us last night. I told you last month this place was going condo and you had the right to buy it outright.”

“I told you I lost my job, and I am without funds” Maria said. “I told you I had something coming up, and I could get it to you… but you wouldn’t wait, could you?” she murmured as she closed the trunk, and saw the many boxes and suitcases that filled her car and knew she had to figure out what her next step would be, but she wasn’t going to dignify this loser with seeing her desperate and pleading to keep the roof over her head.

“It’s out of my hands Maria,” Riley Peters admitted. “You do know that I would help you if I could, but I don’t make the decisions.”

“Something tells me you could override the decision because Daddy owns this place, but you didn’t,” Maria cursed as she stalked into the house and came out with her purse and backpack. “You will be sorry…”

“Is that a threat?” Riley asked. “Should I call the police?”

“No,” Maria muttered. “But it’s no wonder you are alone,” she said as she got in her car and slammed the door and watched as Riley walk away. “You’re a lousy kisser…” she murmured loudly. “My deadbeat husband is better than you are…” she sighed. She knew full well that there was no one better in bed than Michael she sighed to herself, but she would not go there, not again. It only reminded Maria that she was waiting for a phone call that would signify the end of the baggage that had been left unsigned.

“If he’s so good, then go back to him” Riley called though the open window. “I don’t take other people’s handouts”

“Sure, you do, all the time…” Maria muttered as she tried to lower her blood pressure and therefore, she found her cellphone and started dialing a familiar number… “Hey Petunia pick up. It is me Maria. I am out of here and planning to head down to Caribbean. Got myself a job on a cruise ship and they are giving me two free passes so how about you leave that asshole of a husband and grab Natasha and come down south with me before the doctor’s tell you that you can’t travel. Call me, love you”

Maria prayed every day that Liz would leave her asshole of a husband as she turned on the engine and shot a murderous glance at her former landlord who only laughed and turned and walked back into the apartment building as she started driving to the public storage facility where she was going to store her stuff while she went on cruise ship gig. She had not wanted to do the cruise ship because it seemed to her that it would signify that her career was going nowhere. But she did not have a choice. Not now. So, a year of a roof over her head, and a steady singing job would do her some good while she figured the game plan for the rest of her life.

Too much of her life was in upheaval. She needed it to end, and she needed some peace and quiet, so she planned to store her stuff, and then head for the airport and go for the sun and glamor of cruise ship living for the next year, and maybe by then, she will know where to go with her life.

Of course, she knew that Liz had it worse off. She snarled at the thought of her best friend’s louse of a husband. She had downright hated Carl Armstrong on sight and pleaded with her best friend on every visit to leave the scum, but Liz would not do it. She did not want to do it to Natasha and did not want the stain of a second failed marriage.

Like the first attempt was Liz’s fault Maria mused to herself because she blamed the government and Max and Liz being too young and naive to move on from all the pain that came from that time.

Somehow while to come down from her experience. Liz found the creep of the century at Harvard. Of course, Liz had been drinking too much in the wake of the divorce and trying to settle into a normal life after years spent on the run from Special Unit as they used her to try to get at Max, Michael and Isabel once they had their hands on her and in ways she didn’t even tell Max or anyone else… Maria could only assume the damage was immense in her friend because she was never the same, and especially after they took her marriage to Max from her. So, somehow, she found herself with Carl, and she found herself pregnant, and therefore married before Maria had the time to convince her friend to be a single mother and stay away from Carl. Instead, Maria watched as her friend settled into a terrible marriage.

Natasha was the one bright light, and Maria knew her friend would do anything for her daughter, and Natasha would do anything for her mother. Maria could only pray that that the two would be able to get free sometime, anytime but with a new baby on the way, Maria’s hopes were dwindling as the birth came closer. Once the baby was born, there would be no getting Liz away and that was why Maria truly wished Liz would come on her trip. Time away and time on the friendly seas would do them both good and would keep Natasha out of Carl’s grip.

When there was a ring of her phone as she was about to pull into the parking lot of the storage facility. She smiled when she saw that it was Natasha. At seven, the girl already had her own cellphone. “Hey baby doll, what’s up?” she smiled as she long loved that little girl. The child might have a terrible father, but she was the perfect part of Liz. Maria could only hope one day that she and her mother would get themselves and the baby out of the situation they were in…

“God no,” Maria sputtered when she heard a simple word. “Give me to him, now…” she murmured “Max…what is going on?” she asked as she stopped the car as she struggled to come to terms with what Natasha had just told her… “How are you involved” she moaned, and her heart stopped “How bad?”

“Gotcha,” she muttered. “And Natasha?” she asked as tears came to her eyes. “Yeah, I am coming, right away but because I am in Los Angeles, and I’m driving so I should be there sometime tomorrow” she sighed because the cruise ship had been paying her flight, and now she wasn’t going there yet, so she didn’t have the funds to fly herself.

“Max, can you keep your eye on Natasha okay… Please do not let her out of your sight… I do not care if Carl is on the run because he is downright dangerous and if he knows it will get at Liz than he will strike out and use Natasha if given the chance. Natasha and the baby are the only things Liz cares about so please take of both for me… Could you also call my mother so she can know to expect me at home, and then why don’t you call Liz’s parents, will you? She will not like it but too bad because desperate times call for desperate measures” Maria advised as a new battle plan came into focus. “Yes, I do know why they don’t speak. But it is too much of story to get into on the phone,” she sighed at the thought of the strain in her friend’s relationship with Jeff and Nancy.

“I don’t even know if they know about Natasha… Yeah, again, long story” Maria admitted as she sighed because she knew that her friend didn’t need to know that Jeff and Nancy hadn’t been happy that their daughter decision to divorce Max, and disturbance in their relationship only escalated when she found Carl and married him so quickly. Like Maria, they did not trust the bastard, and Carl did not even try to make his in-law’s like him.

For Jeff and Nancy. Max was by then a much better prospect to them, than Carl and their relationship with their daughter fractured as a result, and they had not seen each other since the day that Elizabeth announced that she had eloped with Carl. Words were said, anger expressed on both sides, and neither was able to bridge that gap that had grown and as a result Liz had not told her parents that she gave birth and that they had a grandchild. Maria on her short trips, which were another story all together, back to Roswell had to keep her mouth zipped tight. Even as she knew Jeff and Nancy missed their daughter.

“Thank you, Max,” Maria whispered as she hung up and did a massive u turn and headed right back out of the storage facility parking lot and turned onto the highway, and headed towards…

Roswell, New Mexico… “Hang on Liz, please… You have got to hang on for me,” but then Maria figured if her condition were dire than Max would do anything to make sure she survived until she got to her best friend. Although with Max in the same hospital, she knew that there would be no way Max would let Liz die on his watch.

*

Roswell, New Mexico

“My brother and Michael are giving me away,” Isabel was commenting as she looked down at the plans in front of her as she was not talking to her mother or father because she was still mourning but to Amy Deluca Valenti. The wife of her soon to be father-in-law. They were discussing plans for Isabel’s upcoming nuptials to Kyle. “I wanted both of them because they are now my only family until I marry Kyle that is…”

She hadn’t expected to want to move on this quickly, after her husband passed away and then her parents then died but seeing Kyle that day at the burial and knowing how much they had cared for each other, one thing led to another and they were taking the leap together. She knew that Jesse would want her to be happy and she finally was… She knew she had a chance at a new lease in life.

She wanted to be happy and she was. Kyle had surprised her by going to law school and now operated in her father’s old law firm. Back when he and Isabel had a fling on the road. Kyle was not sure what he wanted to do except he did not want to be a deputy or a mechanic. She knew she broke his heart when she left for Boston and ended up reunited with her late husband. But Kyle picked himself up and returned to Roswell and started at Las Cruces and made it into law school and graduated the year before, and Phillip Evans seeing his potential had hired him for the office. Only for Kyle to take over as his mentor died.

The fact she had fallen for two lawyers made her laugh. They were two different people though. Night and day. Kyle loved who Isabel was, and took pride in her abilities and while she and Jesse had managed to make something of their marriage. There was always an unspoken tension over his wife’s abilities. She did not have that with Kyle. So, she was making plans for a big wedding. Something she did not have the first time because she rushed into it with Jesse. Kyle had eloped with his ex-wife, who he had met at school and it ended badly.

They were taking the time to get it right. The wedding would not be until the following June. She wanted to be a June bride.

“You know so much already,” Amy commented with a laugh. “You would think the wedding was next month, not next summer”

“I want to get the details, just right” Isabel commented when her phone rang, and she answered it and smiled when she saw it was her brother. “It’s Max. Probably taking a rare break after working way to long at the hospital” she cracked.

Amy laughed because they knew Max was a workaholic.

“Max,” Isabel murmured. “What’s going on?” and then the laughter ended. “Oh my god, are you serious. Yes, I am at the Jim and Amy’s home going over the details for the wedding with Amy. I will let her know. She can handle the, you know, the notification.” she sighed. “Yeah, I knew. What can I say, you never wanted me to talk about it, so I didn’t” Isabel muttered “Therefore I was only following your wishes” she sighed as she thought of landmine her brother had just found out about his ex-wife not being on speaking terms with her parents. “Yeah, I’ll call Michael, and we’ll be coming over there…” she said simply as she hung up as Amy glared at her because she knew this was something bad.

“What is it?” Amy asked.

“Liz is in the hospital. She was rushed there earlier today while Max was on duty. She was apparently a victim of domestic violence by her husband. A severe beating Amy and it apparently bad,” Isabel said softly as Amy’s eyes went wide and had instant tears in them. “And it’s apparently not the first time.”

“Oh god,” Amy murmured as she thought of the girl who was like a second daughter to her.

“Yeah,” Isabel nodded. “So, he was wondering if you could tell Jeff and Nancy” she murmured. “He doesn’t think it is appropriate for it to be coming from him.”

“Of course, certainly,” Amy said getting up as she reached for her phone as she turned back to Isabel. “Wait, if Max was on duty. Then it is Roswell Memorial, right that she was admitted into?”

“Right,” Isabel nodded as she worked to collect her planning books, and as she picked them up and stopped and turned back towards her future mother in law and knew she had to deliver this news personally. “Amy, Max did want you to know that Maria has been notified about Liz, and she’s driving back here, and should be back sometime tomorrow.”

“My Maria’s coming back?” Amy asked softly of her daughter who had not been back within Roswell town limits in several years. She had longed to be able to see her daughter, but her daughter’s busy life kept her from visiting. Because Maria rarely came back and when it was, it was only an emergency that dragged her to her hometown because Liz lived elsewhere, and so if they visited each other, then Maria rarely made a side trip home. Therefore, Amy knew it was a dire situation if it was bringing her daughter back to Roswell. A town she was avoiding for numerous reasons, and most them that dealt with one individual. Michael, she murmured to herself.

“Yeah,” Isabel nodded

“Does Michael know?” Amy asked softly.

“He’s my next call,” Isabel sighed because that was going to be a hard conversation to have with her best friend, yet Michael needed to know. “Better yet, I might have to go over… and deliver the news personally…”

“Good luck,” Amy sighed as she thought of the boy her daughter had fallen for, and ran off with on the day of her high school graduation only for it to end badly, and her daughter rushing off to try to capture some fame and fortune.

“Thank you,” Isabel muttered because I will need it

*

“Get out,” Michael said turning to his bed mate. His newest bed bunny. One of the strings of someones that he always dragged home from the bars, or whatever joint he was the night before. And this time he had spent the night gambling his heart out, and amazingly came out a head and with a woman to celebrate the winnings within his bed. So, he now knew he had enough to pay his best friend the rent he owned for last month and this month. He knew his landlord was too easy on him. Most would have had him out months ago. But Max was not like that

He always gave Michael the chance to make it up to him. And this time, he had. And knew that would be off his conscious at least until next month when he could not make rent. But that was next month, and this was today. With the beers worn off, and now he was sober and therefore he wanted the girl gone, and he was not going to take more of the sex that she gave him. “I said, get out.”

“I thought we were having a good time” the raven head beauty that laid next to him asked…

“Yeah, we had a good time, but now get out” Michael muttered because he was stood sober in the cold reality of daylight for this and had to perfect excuse to get this one out of his bed. “The wife is coming home”

“You told me you were single?” Buffy asked as rage appeared on her face. “I don’t sleep with married men.”

“It seems you did last night,” Michael muttered. “Several times. So, pick up your clothes and get out and don’t call me…” he sighed as he should be better than his behavior but then it wasn’t like he was some saint. And who cares if I were to get lucky.

“Asshole,” Buffy muttered as she got out of the bed and picked her clothes and was soon out the door with Michael’s parting words, ringing through the room “Why don’t you spread it around why don’t you?” he chuckled. “My reputation can only use the reinforcement around town…”

“Jerk,” Buffy cursed one last time as Michael ignored it and instead put his pants on and chose not to put his shirt on and walked out into the living room.

“Don’t I know it as it’s my calling card in life” Michael muttered as he pushed the answering machine button to see which collection agency was calling, asking for him to pay him. “I’m a walking asshole” But it was not a collecting agency calling him when he got to the last message on the machine which caused him to frown at the message. “This is Landers, Cunningham and Morgan, and this is Andrea Landers and we are a law firm located in Los Angeles, California and we’re calling on behalf of your wife. Maria Deluca. She would like to know why you have not signed the papers yet, and the please do so otherwise we will be pursuing court action to resolve the matter. Call us, at this number as soon as possible, please and thank you…”

“And that is just perfect,” Michael muttered himself as he went into his safe that he kept all his alien artifacts and a certain envelope, and taking it out, he took out the paperwork out of the envelope and threw it on the table.

And saw the words of the action that he was delaying for reasons he could not figure out because it is not like they had a marriage, but he saw it in black and white. Maria Deluca Guerin was asking for dissolution of her marriage to Michael Guerin.

So, yeah, Maria was suing him for a divorce. Of a union that took place due a drunken dare during a night in Las Vegas after they left Max and Liz, and Isabel and Kyle. And a dare that seemed to work.

Until it didn’t because it only lasted until Maria was sure she had hit the big time and gone off to Los Angeles and he wanted to return to New Mexico to be there for his best friend after the federal government had stolen his marriage from him. Mostly, he had forgotten that he was even married and kept the ring off and, in his nightstand, and therefore most nights he said he was single. And it did not get him to utter anything different, until this morning with his encounter with Buffy that awoken the past for him.

With Buffy, it seemed that it was an easy excuse to say he was married to get out of the quagmire that he tended to crash his life into most morning after’s… Especially when the women tended to know he had money to spend. Knowing he was married tended to cut that off, which is why Michael used it and now he was forced to remember that he was…

Truly married, and it was not a con game to get out of a commitment and yet one more confirmation that Maria wanted out.

Even if they neither had any property to give the other, as it was set up to be a simple dissolution of their marriage. All he had to do was sign the papers. Unfortunately, he was stalling signing the papers. Which he had for six months now, and he still had not signed.

So, que the call from the law firm.

Almost like he was using as an excuse to not get on with life. If he signed the papers. Then Maria would be out of his life forever, and he would have to stop using her as an excuse.

Just then the door blasted open, and his best friend Isabel came in frowning the whole way Just great, like I really need Isabel today. “Really Michael, another one. I saw a woman steaming as she got into her car out front. Can’t you keep it in your pants?”

“Someone’s got to do it since we both know Max is celibate,” Max muttered as Isabel saw the papers on the table and she shook her head, and then saw the wad of cash he won the night before and neither talked about his nightly activities as he knew both Isabel and Max disapproved and yet he kept it up, because it seemed to be where his life needed him to be, while his friends were at very different places in their lives.

“Jesus Michael,” Isabel muttered. “You’re going to get yourself killed one of these days with your antics,” she sighed as it was something, she, and Max both feared would be the phone call from Jim saying someone unsavory had gotten at Michael. “You need to think about this because we can’t lose you Michael. We’ve lost too many people in our lives… and if you were also taken from us…”

“I think we both know that I have a clear advantage in that kind of fight…” Michael laughed. “So, you really don’t have to worry Isabel, because I will be fine…” he sighed because most of his friends did know to leave him alone and let him lead his life in peace because everyone in town did know his status. And they liked using his powers for their gain when it called for it, so they were not going to come up against him. And those who did not know, soon got an education in the secret life of one Michael Guerin. Still though he knew he was risking a lot, and Isabel knew it and that was why she was scared for her friend.

“I do, because one of these days you are going to have to think about us you know. Because Max and I don’t need to worry that the day is coming where Jim is going to call us both and say that they had found you floating in the river with cement shoes…” Isabel muttered as she felt the primal fear that daily rocked her core when thinking about Michael. She and Max knew that their friend was becoming too reckless and he was taking way too many chances, and one of these days the luck would run out. “I can’t help but feel that if you don’t clean up your act and soon than that day will be coming all to soon.”

“Cement shoes Isabel, really?” Michael laughed as he batted back the concern from his friend. “You’re taking my night activities way to seriously because all I am doing is having fun, and last night I came out ahead… So, trust me Is, I am fine. So, how about you go back to your wedding planning and leave me to handle my own life…”

“You make me worry,” Isabel muttered as she knew she should drop her concern into Michael’s ways because she needed to get to their other pressing concerns because for once, Michael did not rise to their chief concern. “Fine, because for today I am past worrying about whether you will be alive tomorrow because we have bigger problems…” Isabel muttered as she saw the unsigned divorce papers. She and Max had long known that Maria was suing for divorce, and Michael was stalling the action and wondered if this crisis brewing might get some resolution one way or another for her other brother. Michael’s love life was only slightly less painful than Max’s. But at least Max and Liz were divorced, even if she knew Liz remained her brother’s wife in his heart. For Michael, she worried about him because he was not moving on, and not allowing Maria to move on, despite living in different states and being separated for almost as long as Max and Liz had been over. That was a long time to stay married to someone you did not see in your bed at the end of the day. “So, maybe you can be persuaded to sign those papers when your wife is actually here in town, and not in another state?”

“How is that?” Michael asked as he paled at the name drop of his wife’s name, and he turned his smile to a death glare at his long-time best friend at the mere mention of Maria. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I should start with the fact that that Max called…” Isabel muttered as she stormed past her friend’s irritation at her invoking his past because she did know it was dicey to mention Maria’s name in front of Michael. It was almost as bad as if she invoked the word Liz in front of her brother before today. Still she did it because Michael did need to know.

“Wait, so you mean to tell me that our very own human certified alien healer has dragged himself off the graveyard shift to call us mere mortals, I am shocked, shocked I tell you” Michael laughed because he knew that while he spent way too much time on the bar circuit going from one card game to another and gambling through other means. His trusty best friend Max on the other hand spent way too much of his time at that god damn hospital trying to save lives when he should be playing the field and using their powers for the thrill of the game. Michael mused But, that will never be Maxwell. He is too much a golden boy to use his powers to gain an advantage. Now, me, on the other hand, it is right up my ally as I am constantly trying to prove to the horror of his friends. “Wow, I didn’t know he had the time?”

“Michael… for once, please can you stop with the commentary because it is bad” Isabel whispered. “I mean, truly truly bad.”

“Shit,” Michael muttered as the ghost like expression came on his friend’s face and he knew that they had trouble and he instantly woke up. “So, what is it now?”

“Michael, Liz’s is in the hospital,” Isabel blurted out and Michael went pale. “She’s been roughed up by her husband. I mean it Michael. She was used as a punching bag and has been admitted to Roswell Memorial and I hear that she’s in a bad way” Isabel sighed. “As you would expect, Max is losing it.”

“Fuck!” Michael muttered because they both knew if he was at a loss without Maria in his life then Max was even worse and as a result as he had been barely existing these eight years since he lost his marriage to Liz and lost his shot of true love. So, they both knew that if anything did happen to Liz and if Max were not able to help her than there would be no saving his friend, and they might lose him completely because there has been only Liz for his friend.

“Yeah…” Isabel muttered. “We need to get over there on the double,” she sighed as she watched as he walked back into his bedroom and grabbed his shirt and wallet and was still in ear shot when Isabel added the final piece to her bombshell. “And you should know that Maria’s coming back?”

Michael went pale as he heard and glanced at the mirror in front of him. Isabel came into the bedroom and shook her head when she saw his expression. “Yeah.” she murmured. “Sorry but she was notified, and she’s driving back from Los Angeles. She should be back tomorrow sometime…”

“Of course, she is…” Michael murmured as he thought of the wife, he still carried a torch for. “She and Liz are best friends” he muttered as he felt the weight of the knowledge on his core. “It would be unexpected for her to stay away, and not like Maria at all. So, I am not at all surprised she would be coming…”

“Anyways, I thought you should know” Isabel murmured as she could only shake her head at the obvious pain her friend was still in. “So, I say once again, I am headed over; do you want a drive?”

“Sure,” Michael nodded.

“Then meet me out front” Isabel nodded as walked back to the front door as she got out her cellphone and prepared to make a call.

*

“Found it,” Kyle Valenti muttered in his law office of Evans and Valenti, Esq. As he had not changed the name on the mailbox or the door yet out of memory for his fallen business partner, and the father in law he would never be able to call his family to his face. He also knew he kept as a tribute to Isabel’s father. Still he was able to make the practice his own. Not everyone his age could have their own practice, and he was very humbled that Phillip had wanted him to join him and be his successor if it ever came to it.

Unfortunately, it had come too soon. Anyways, after months of getting the office in shape after the tragic passing. He was finally shipping the non-transferable legal documents of the clients that had not stayed with the firm to storage. He could not legally destroy them because who knows what matters might come back to haunt those clients in the future. So, storage was the answer. And while there were not many who did not stay, still there were enough that he had spent all weekend working on the transfer. And searching for a damn key

Because of a locked drawer in the cabinet that he could not pry open because it was not like he had his fiancée’s trusty powers. And he could not find the key, so he went on a search of the whole office and finally he found it taped under Phillip’s desk Weird he thought. “What was Phillip trying to hide?” he said out loud to his empty office. His secretary was off sick, and he did not have any clients until the following day, so he was doing some office work. Paperwork, dreaded stuff but it had to be done.

And now he had found the key, and he went to the drawer in the cabinet, and opened it and was shocked to find only one file in the drawer.

Evans/Parker he saw as he picked up the file and looked at it and was stunned to find that it was Max and Liz’s divorce file.

“What is this doing in here?” Kyle muttered as he was about to read the file when the phone rang. “Yes,” he said as he picked it up. “Isabel, what’s wrong?” he asked, and he grew stunned quiet at the next words out of his fiancée’s mouth. “I’ll be there, right away… Let me close the office, and I’ll meet you at the hospital” he said immediately as he dropped the file on his overcrowded desk.

Dropping the phone. “God, Liz…” Kyle murmured he decided to take some files to the hospital in case he needed some reading to do while he waited for news, unbeknown to him, he included the file he had taken out of Phillip’s secret drawer and included it in his briefcase, and rushed off to the hospital.

[Stefuh]

I wonder how the meeting between Maria and Michael will go... and if Maria is going to stay in Roswell or not.
Michael and Max are both a mess, but they're handling it way differently. None of them are doing it healthily though.
What's in the file about Max and Liz's divorce?? I hope Kyle will read it when he'll be in the hospital, I think it's going to be important!
I'm glad that Isabel is settling with Kyle, I want her to be happy.

[Superman86]

Nice update. It opens up more questions...Why did Phillip hide that file? What does the file say about Max and Liz?....What will Michael and Maria reunion be like?...Why the isolation between Liz and her Parents? Can't wait for more

[Parker1947]

Meanwhile at the hospital, Liz had been rushed into surgery to save her baby’s life and to remove the glass and fix other injuries that she had sustained in the fight. Max was left wondering if would get a chance to see her again. Faith could not help but watch as her friend was sitting and glancing into space. And yet on the other hand, he was utterly concentrating on his ex-wife’s daughter. Finally, a nurse had taken Natasha to get an x-ray on her arm, which she was refusing to be seen but Max had noticed that she was wincing when she touched things. He finally convinced he that her mother would want them to make sure she was doing alright, and to be there for her mother, she needed to be healthy. Natasha finally relented, and Nurse Jackson took her off. Which left Max alone and feeling helpless. All his thoughts were with Liz in an operating room. He wished he could be there, or at least watching but knew that would be a no go and given everyone knew his story. They were not going to get in the gallery to watch the surgery. Now off duty. Faith stayed and sat by her friend. Both were off duty, as another doctor was covering for Max’s shifts as word got around the hospital of their colleagues’ connection to the abused woman who had come into the emergency room, and it was obviously he was in no condition to work.

“So, what’s the story?” Faith asked as she sat next to her friend and was curious about her colleague. “Given that you never wanted to talk about yourself. I am sort of sitting in the dark, here…”

“Never felt the need to,” Max muttered as he thought of his closed off life and liked his way of getting through the days. “I still don’t…”

“But obviously there is a story there,” Faith asked as she still tried pry some details from her friend about his mysterious life. “You have an ex-wife?”

“At the end of the day, everyone has a story,” Max allowed. “Some just are meant to stay in darkness…”

“True, which is why I never pushed you when it was obvious you were hurting about something, but of course not everyone has an ex-wife that they are clearly still in love with, and her child who you’ve taken too…”

“I see that you’re wondering. But sorry Faith, Natasha is not mine” Max muttered as he thought of how life could have been so different and how he and Liz had almost had a child, but that child had died because of the government. One of the things he still blamed them about. Miscarriages did happen but not everyday do someone have to deal with the torture and the poking and prodding that he had known the government had done with Liz. Liz had never wanted to talk about it and kept most of it a secret, but some stuff did seep though, and he still felt tortured by what she had been forced to endure in their version of the “White Room”.

“Are you sure?” Faith asked wearily because she had seen the child herself and the girl did have brown hair and was clearly unique.

“Unfortunately, yes because I wish she could be mine, but she’s not” Max muttered. “She’s seven. We divorced nearly eight years ago. I knew that Liz got together with her now husband shortly after we split, and she moved across the country to Cambridge to attend Harvard University.”

“Right, I remember hearing a bit about the story” Faith sighed.

“Yeah, we made national news. Harvard had rejected Liz back in high school, but they changed their minds after you know what happened…”’
‘
“When you guys took down some government offshoot who was chasing you…”

“Yeah,” Max muttered. “A Special Unit, who believed I was not human, and didn’t deserve to be in this country or alive for that matter, and they were after us for most of our high school careers and we were forced on the run. Liz and I got married on the run” Max murmured as he thought of that special day when they were so happy, despite the circumstances and despite being on the run. They finally had their chance, and they gotten their day, only for it turn so badly. “And we managed to get away from them for a long time until they found us, but instead of taking me, they chose to take Liz… Once she was released, we never were able to get back on the same track after she came home to me, and so we separated, and then she moved away, and we divorced when it was clear she was seeing someone new and wanted to start a new life with this other guy.”

“I am sorry Max,” Faith sighed as she saw that he was clearly tortured.

“I made do with what happened to me because in many ways being who I am made it almost impossible for me to avoid it but I never wanted it to touch Liz, and so if it couldn’t be me than I wanted her to be happy because I know how much it cost her to be with me, and so I wanted it to be different for her once she left Roswell, and to know what she’s had to live with and what Natasha had to have experienced in that kind of home.”

“It’s never easy…” Faith acknowledged.

“No it’s not,” Max muttered as he knew he had seen it way too much when Michael was living with Hank, and how violent it got towards the end and how most of the time Michael had been living in silence until Max finally caught on to how brutal it was for Michael to be at home with Hank, despite being special. He did not want to think of what Liz had to endure.

“Again, I am sorry Max” Faith murmured.

Max nodded as the door to the emergency soon blasted open and his sister and Michael came rushing in, and both stopped when they saw that Max was sitting by his friend Faith. “What’s going on?” they asked in unison.

“Michael, Isabel” Max murmured as he stood up and he felt comforted by having his family nearby. “Isabel you’ve met Dr. Faith Patterson before. But Michael, you have not. Faith, this is a good friend of mine, Michael Guerin. The three of us go back to being kids together, as we came to this country together, and because you will ask. Isabel, I am fine. Liz is the one we should be worried about as she is now in surgery.”

“Oh god,” Isabel murmured at the thought of surgery. “How bad is it?”

“It’s not good,” Max said simply. “She could lose her baby?”

“What! She is pregnant?” Isabel asked a she stood stunned at the thought of someone beating a pregnant woman and Michael stood passively with rage in his eyes, like Max.

“Yeah,” Max admitted. “30 weeks or so”

“Where’s the bastard?” Michael asked as he tried to take command and knew someone had to, and with Max concentrating on what he should be, Liz’s health, he would have to deal with other matters.

“Got away…” Max sighed as Faith could see how Max interacted with his sister and friend and she could tell the three did go way back and had obviously done and seen things together, and as a result, they very close… and in some was, closer than many families were.

“Well that definitely won’t last,” Michael swore as he stalked off to find the phones.

“What was that about?” Faith asked Max and Isabel.

“Who knows,” Max murmured as he glanced at his sister who could only nod. “With Michael, it could mean a lot of things and none of them are good” he sighed as he looked at Isabel who nodded her own worry because they both knew Michael had a lot of unsavory friends and did favors for people who had connections to a lot of places that Max and Isabel didn’t want to have to think about.

“Do Jeff and Nancy know?” Max simply of his sister. “If it wasn’t so odd coming from me, then I would have been the one to do it.”

“Amy’s dealing with it” Isabel confirmed. “She wanted to be the one to do it, and I wanted to come over here”

“Who are these people?” Faith murmured.

“They are Liz’s parents” Max confirmed, and Faith looked surprised.

“If her parents are in the area. Why weren’t they called by the hospital?” Faith asked.

“They own the Crashdown Café” Max murmured as he thought of how special that restaurant was for him and his ex-wife. “They got into the business when she was a kid, and therefore she has grown up around the restaurant. So, they are very heavy into the community, and people have taken them into their hearts” he sighed in more ways than the usual

“I love that place. I always go there,” Faith murmured. “They have fantastic burgers. Fun alien themes,” she smiled and then it connected with her what she had just said. “Whoa…”

“Yeah,” Max nodded as he she sensed that Faith was just getting how funny the coincidence was that the Parker family would own an alien them restaurant in Roswell of all places, and he ended up falling in love and marrying their daughter. “The uncanny coincidences are not lost of me Faith,” he sighed. “So yeah, it is town treasure alright” Max murmured as he thought of that day when he met Liz and they started on the journey would change their lives. “But apparently Liz isn’t speaking to her parents. They had a falling out or something…”

“Or something, is right,” Isabel murmured as Max nodded but didn’t want to get into it, so he begged off to go and check in on Liz and Natasha’s progress, which left his sister to talk to Faith as both could see how emotional Max was.

“Why don’t they talk?” Faith asked Isabel once her brother was out of ear sight.

“Simple. They don’t approve of Liz’s second husband,” Isabel murmured as she thought of her brother and Liz and their love affair. “And they did not really like that she wanted to divorce Max, which is funny because they never really approved of their relationship in the first place but if it was a choice between Max and Carl. Jeff and Nancy definitely would take Max?”

“Family is crazy like that,” Faith laughed. “Does Max know this?”

“No,” Isabel shook her head. “It wouldn’t do him any good to know it,” she sighed as she thought of her brother. “He only wants Liz to be happy and he’s forsaken his own happiness for her, and it’s been long been like that...”

“They loved each other…”

“They still do,” Isabel sighed.

*

Crashdown Café

The dinner rush was well in hand when Jeff Parker was unpacking a box of alien straws that he had gotten delivered earlier that day when his wife Nancy came rushing into the back. She was out front keeping an eye on the crowds, and he was doing the back of the shop duties that always came with running the restaurant that was still thankfully bustling. And he knew he had to thank his former son-in-law for it. He did not appreciate it at the time, but the unraveling of Max’s secret life got the tourist trade back into the swing of things here in Roswell. People loved to stop in and check out the restaurant where real-life aliens were known to frequent. Jeff could not help but remember his daughter’s dismay and her accusations that he only wanted her to stay with Max because of the business it brought the restaurant. Sure, that was a bonus, but he wanted her to stay with Max because he knew she was happy with him. That he loved his daughter and worshipped the ground she walked on.

A man wanted that for his daughter. To know she was loved. He might not have appreciated that back when Max was getting his daughter one in one drama filled moment after another, but now, ten years ago after the shooting that rocked his restaurant and his daughter’s life. And plus, he hated Carl Armstrong more than any teenage antics his daughter would get in with Max Evans. It made Max a more suitable suitor for his daughter.

Liz did not see it that way, and as a result they had not spoken in many years and Jeff was forever sorry for it. But he was not about to pretend to like his son-in-law. When he hated the man, and knew he was only bad news.

Nancy was always in tears and he was sorry for that. They both missed their Lizzie.

So, Nancy concentrated on the restaurant and so did he…

And now she was frowning and that did not sit right with Jeff. “What is it honey. Is something wrong out front?”

“Nope, come quick. Amy needs to speak to us,” Nancy muttered and dragged her husband up the stairs to the apartment, and practically kicked the door down and they both saw Amy sitting on the couch. She had come in the back way, buy the side doors.

“What’s going on?” Jeff asked the woman. But then he saw Amy’s expression, and she knew it was bad news and it was likely about his daughter. Liz, who they had been missing in their lives were coming on eight years.

Ever since she married Carl.

“It’s Liz isn’t it?” Jeff wondered from their long-time friend. After all their families had been tight because of how close their daughters were. Liz and Maria were like sisters and were tight since they met as small kids. And that brought Amy into the family, and they even did business years ago when Amy had ownership in a craft shop that did tourist alien artifact business. She had stopped when she had married the town Sheriff after the kids had fled town.

Both were lonely because their kids had disappeared, and they married.

Then Kyle came back. But Maria had not, as she ended up in Los Angeles, and had not returned to town except for the rarest of emergencies and they knew that had caused Amy pain.

But at least she knew where her daughter was Jeff mused to himself.

“She’s in the hospital,” Amy blurted.

“What, where?” Jeff asked immediately.

“Here in Roswell. Jeff, Nancy. Liz was a victim of a fight that she had with her husband, Carl” Amy murmured as she tried to keep it sugar coated as her friends went visible pale. “I am told she’s in a bad way. You should know Max was at the hospital when she was admitted, and he was the one who alerted me.”

“Oh my god,” Nancy said to gasps as she held her hand to her face as she could not bear to hear the news.

“Max is there?” Jeff asked uncertain how to respond.

“Yes,” Amy said simply. “I was with Isabel earlier when the call came in, and he wanted me to come and tell you because he didn’t it as appropriate given the circumstances.”

“Right,” Jeff muttered. “Amy, does she want to see us?”

“Jeff, I truly don’t know” Amy said honestly because she really did not know the circumstances or if Liz did want to see her parents or not. “All I know that it doesn’t look good, and it’s up to you whether you want to go to the hospital. I would if it were my Maria, but it’s up to you…”

“I need to go. Whether I see her or not, I need to be there…” Nancy said with honestly as she had this need to see her daughter. “I need to see my baby?”

“Go,” Jeff nodded. “Amy, can you drive my wife. I’ll stay here…” he asked as he thought of the angry words that he had said to his daughter, and those she said back to him. It was hard to live those down, and he did not know how he could as much as he wanted to see his little girl again. “I should concentrate on the business?”

Amy shook her head as she turned softly to focus on her friend “Jeff, you really should go. Whether you see her or not. Do not stay here because you really should go to the hospital because you do not know what kind of the situation, we have here… If it was me and if it was Maria who I hadn’t spoken for many years because of choices she made and yet she was in the hospital, no matter the words we may have said to each other, Jeff, I would want to be there. Whether she wanted to see me or not.”

“Amy is right Jeff. We both should go. She can decide not to see us. Or you can ultimately choose not to see her, but we need to know what is going on?” Nancy asked of her husband. “Amy can stay here, right and close up?”

“Of course, I can so go, and I’ll stay and close up and join you at the hospital if the need arises and you haven’t come back.” Amy murmured as she knew both needed to be there and see their daughter, or at least attempt it and let it be Liz who decided, if she was in any condition to make that kind of choice.

Jeff was not sure and was wavering back and forth. “He really hurt her, didn’t he?”

“Yes,” Amy confirmed as much as it hurt her to have to tell Jeff. “Obviously, I don’t know what has happened but if my daughter is rushing back then it has to be bad. Maria has not wanted to come back here unless it was a true emergency, and she is coming back Jeff. So, you need to go and see your daughter…”

“Okay,” Jeff nodded as he took his wife’s hand as they got ready to head to the hospital while Amy went downstairs and supervised the final hours of the day’s action in the restaurant.

*

Michael was taking care of an errand. Neither Max nor Isabel wanted to know what he was up to. Because it could mean almost anything. Kyle was off, outside of the hospital, talking to a client on his cellphone, and Faith was still milling around. As her husband had a dinner with clients and would not be home anyways and so she was still curious about Max’s life.

Max was still in a trance and living in a clouded reality, and nothing had yet come from the surgical and obstetrics floor yet, and therefore now he was petrified that things had turned for the worse with Liz’s condition. Isabel was keeping watch over her brother, when the door swung open and in came Natasha being watched by the same nurse who had been in charge with taking her to x-ray. Max’s attention swung out of the clouds and onto the child, who he winced was wearing a cast, and sling.

“What happened?” Max asked Nurse Jackson.

“I told them I was fine,” Natasha whined. “But they insisted that it was needed,” she sighed as she looked down at her arm.

“Paulina?” Max asked.

“She needed it. Because it was a bad fracture, almost a break but she is fortunate she was able to use it for as long as she did before treatment. Max can we talk?” Paulina Jackson asked of Max. “There is something we should discuss?”

“Sure,” Max nodded and walked away as he followed the nurse. Which left Natasha to eye Isabel with fascination. Isabel on the other hand was stunned to see the child, as she did not know how she could know her brother. Natasha could see the wariness in Isabel’s eyes and went and found a seat instead, while Isabel approached Faith. “Who is that?” Isabel asked. “How does she know my brother?”

“Natasha. She’s Liz’s daughter” Faith said softly as Isabel’s eyes went wide at the information. “She was there when it happened, and she called 911.”

“How old is she?” Isabel murmured as if stunned to see the child who was now watching Faith and Isabel talk as she knew she was the topic of discussion.

“7” Faith murmured. “You see it, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Isabel said in stunned silence. “She looks so much like them both, my brother and Liz… How is that possible?”

“Max insists that she’s not his?”

“No, yeah, that would be pretty impossible, right?” Isabel wondered. “My brother and Liz broke up close to 8 years ago. Once they split, Liz left almost immediately, and she did not come back, and there were no attempts at reconciliations, as papers were filed, and signed.”

“Max says she met someone in Cambridge, and they married?” Faith asked.

“Yeah,” Isabel murmured. “I had had moved away myself to live with my late husband in Boston and so I wasn’t here to see the fallout of what the government did to my brother and Liz, and their marriage. But I did see Liz while I was still in Boston every once while, and she did seem like she moved on. No signs that she was pregnant in the immediate aftermath of the separation between her and my brother or that she was willing to tell me, but then we were never that close to begin with...”

Faith nodded.

Across the lobby of the emergency room. Max was in deep conversation. “Thank you for taking her to get the x-ray.”

“Max,” Paulina Jackson muttered.

“What?” Max asked.

“The break is old. It did not happen in the last couple of hours since this all happened. There is evidence that it’s not a new injury.”

“Yeah,” Max said as he fought to suppress the rage filling him. “Any idea, when?”

“No,” Nurse Jackson shook her head. “But you know protocol as well as I do. I am going to have to call in Child Welfare. She obviously does not have someone to stay with, and they already have her on their watch list. This injury requires us to inform them?”

“Can you wait?” Max asked.

“Max,” Nurse Jackson muttered. “It’s protocol.”

“Can’t we wait until we know more about her mother’s condition. If you make the call then it is going to be hard to get her out of the system, especially if there is a history with the home and they have been to the address before…”

“She’s not a patient.” Paulina murmured. “You know as well as I do that, she’s an outpatient.”

“Can’t we just give it one night at least,” Max pleaded because he didn’t know how he was going to accomplish it but he needed to keep Natasha out of the system because it would only be worse for Liz if it that were to happen, whether or not Liz was the clear victim still there were going to be protocols and procedures, and it was going to be hell for Natasha when she was clearly so close to her mother “Paulina, Natasha’s mother and her baby sister are fighting for their lives, and we don’t know the outcome of their conditions, yet.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Paulina muttered because they had all seen how close Max was to the case, and how he was walking and even blurring the line. She could see that Max was taking this case personally and the Chief Resident was not going to be happy if he became wise. “In the meantime, I will try to keep the file out of Dr. Lang’s eyesight.”.

“Thank you, because do appreciate it” Max sighed as she looked back at Natasha who saw Max staring at her. So, the child got up and walked over to Max as Isabel marveled at the similarities between her brother and the girl as Kyle joined her, and asked what was happening, and she told him the story and he whistled. “Whoa” he said simply.

“Yeah,” Isabel muttered.

“Do you have someone you can stay with?” Max was asking the child. Natasha could only shake her head because she had no one.

“Mommy always said if anything happened to her that I would stay with Aunt Maria,” Natasha muttered. “But it was always you know me and her, especially when my Dad was away, but even when he was at home.”

“Did he go away often?” Max asked curious as it didn’t help the situation for Maria to be Natasha guardian because she wouldn’t be in town limits until the following day at the earliest, and Natasha needed to be placed somewhere for tonight and he couldn’t let her be put into the system because he knew it wouldn’t help, because it would be hard to get her out once she was placed in and for Liz, he had to keep her little girl safe and sound he knew.

And it did not help there was tiny baby to worry about at the same time.

“Sometimes, to cool off mostly but it never lasted…” Natasha muttered, and Max sighed.

“Okay, we’ll figure something else out…” Max muttered. “Maria won’t be here until tomorrow.”

Natasha nodded. “So, why do you care about my Mommy?” she murmured.

“She meant a lot to me,” Max murmured. “We go way back… As I said to you when last saw me," he said to the girl who only nodded and walked back to her seat, but Max hadn’t bargained for his sister to overhear.

“When did you last see Natasha?” Isabel asked quietly.

“When Liz brought her to Mom and Dad’s burial,” Max said to Isabel’s shock. “You were gone by that time so excuse me, I have to make some plans” he muttered as he went over to the reception desk, and sweet talked a nurse to get him a patient form.

And before he knew it, Natasha was a registered patient for the night. Reason stated observation with him paying the bill. Faith was impressed. She knew he was crazy but impressed at the lengths he would go to for his ex-wife and a child he kept insisting wasn’t his as a wheelchair was pushed out and Max insisted Natasha sit down so to make it legitimate as he knew they could move up to the surgical floor to await word, because news still wasn’t coming.

*

Once up on the surgical floor, they were waiting for word in the waiting room when Max saw that Jeff and Nancy hesitantly had arrived onto the floor. Max had been staring into space, thinking how he now felt to be a love one, waiting for news. Faith was off checking in with a friend who was working the floor, trying to get information for Max and Natasha when Max who come back to reality noticed Jeff. Oh god he sighed as he saw Jeff and Nancy. So, he got up and approached his former in-laws.

“Jeff, Nancy…” Max said softly as he could sense the emotion in Liz’s parents. “I am glad you were told… he sighed because he wished so much could be different and it was, but different from the life that he once imagined. “I wish it could have been me… but under the circumstances”

Jeff and Nancy nodded as Nancy took her husband’s hand in her own and tried to barricade her heart as both could see the emotion clearly on their former son-in-law and they know if that was good or bad for their daughter. “Max, how is she?” Nancy asked as Jeff stayed quiet.

“We’re still awaiting word…” Max said. “We were down in the emergency room, and just arrived up here. Given we don’t know anything then I trust that is a good omen in that will be good news for Liz, but I simply don’t know” he sighed.

“You were in the emergency room when she arrived?” Jeff asked simply. “Were you working?”

“Yes, I was fortunately working the last few hours of my regular shift when she was wheeled in. Since then she has been taken to surgery, as they work to manage her condition.” Max allowed as Nancy gasped and Jeff was not much different as they had not expected this kind of news when they came to the hospital. When they had been directed to the surgical floor, they assumed it was precaution or because the ICU was on the same level of the hospital.

“Surgery Max” Nancy asked.

“Yes,” Max nodded as across the room Natasha was sitting in her wheelchair and sitting next to Isabel and she looked up with interest to see Max talking to two adults she never had met. “Who are they?”

“They are your mother’s parents” Isabel muttered Oh god when it became clear that Liz had not introduced Natasha to her grandparents, and Liz had truly stayed away from her parents over the last eight years. “Your grandparents?”

“They are?” Natasha asked immediately intrigued by the adults. “If they are her parents, then why didn’t Mommy let me meet them?”

“You will have to ask your mother that,” Isabel sighed. What can I say, family intrigue she mused as the door opened and Faith and her friend through the door and stopped when they saw Max talking to Jeff and Nancy and because Faith having dined at the Crashdown Café knew who Jeff and Nancy were, although she hadn’t known about their relation to Max’s ex-wife, she was hesitant about the newcomers but approached anyways.

“Faith, finally” Max murmured as she watched the two women come towards Max as was unnerved because wasn’t able to assess the news they would have to share because he to had too much practice at trying to keep his emotion out of any meeting with family and sharing the condition of their love one.

“Are you Elizabeth’s parents?” Dr. Julia Lyman asked to Jeff and Nancy’s nod that they were. “I am aware you daughter was married, but given her husband is the person of interest in your daughter’s case and isn’t able to be here, then I gather you would be her next of kin, am I right?”

“Right,” Jeff said as she Max sighed. “But Max should also be told any relevance information regarding my daughter’s condition. As he and Liz were married at one time and as such was close to my daughter, and my daughter would want him to be informed of her condition. Probably more so than her mother and I” he sighed. “You should know that her mother and I haven’t been that close to our daughter in recent years?”

Dr. Lyman nodded just as they heard a “Mommy. How is my Mom?” Natasha blurted as she steamrolled herself into the adult only conversation as she was tired of waiting and so she had gotten out of her wheelchair and stalked over to the gathering as she wanted to know what was going on with her mother, and she didn’t care whether she was allowed or not. “Come on Max, pretty please, It’s Mommy, I want to know?”

At the sudden arrival of the small girl, Jeff and Nancy could only stand in stunned silence as they saw the child come towards them and their gathering and Max sighed because it was going to lead to more information because it was clear Jeff and Nancy didn’t know of their granddaughter and he felt sorry about that. “Natasha.”

“Natasha?” Jeff asked softly as she was witnessing a child who was clearly a replica of his daughter when she was a child, and it was an immediate strike to the heart to see that in the little girl and the knowledge that there was something so personal that he and his wife didn’t know regarding their daughter and only reinforced how far apart they had become from their only child.

“You’re a doctor, right. Just like Faith. So, did Mommy have my baby sister?” Natasha asked the doctor with Faith as Jeff and Nancy were rocked again.

“Did you know your mother was having a little girl?” Dr. Lyman asked of the little girl.

“Yes,” Mommy told me. “She wanted to name her Sarah Rose. She’s alright, right?” Natasha asked as she pleaded for information. “Are my Mom and my sister, alright?”

“Is she Julia?” Max asked of the doctor. “Jeff, Nancy this is Dr. Julia Lyman. One of our best doctors specializing in obstetrics here at the hospital.”

“Thank you for that, and yes,” Dr. Lyman nodded, and Max felt great relief. “She still has a tough road to go, but we were able to stabilize as of now and she’s been removed to recovery. As you probably assumed, we would have to, but we did have to delivery the baby. Yes, Natasha you do have a baby sister. She is unfortunately 10 weeks premature and is quite small, weighing 2 lbs 6 oz. and struggling but, she’s stable for now.”

“That is small…” Nancy whispered.

“Yes,” Dr. Lyman nodded. “But both are alive, and we will have to work with what we have, but we have something to start with. While the baby is small, she still has a shown a willingness to hold on, so we have increasing hope. You will be able to see Elizabeth as soon as we have her settled…”

“Thank you, Julia,” Max murmured as she left the area.

“What did that bastard do to my daughter?” Jeff asked Max as Nancy and Isabel could see that Natasha’s one good arm was grabbing Max’s and grabbing it tight.

[Superman86]

Well, well Natasha seems to look like Max according to Isabel and Faith. I really hope she's his. They already seem to have a connection. Can't wait for more