Reality Revealed (CC,M/L,MATURE) Ch 15 26/10/14 [WIP]
Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:29 pm
Story Title: Book 2 - Reality Revealed
Author: KatnotKath
Disclaimer: I don't own them, just borrowing the characters.
Couples: M/L with CC
Rating: MATURE
Summary: Taking up where Dreams and Reality left off so you might want to read that first, is Liz pregnant, what will this mean for the group, how are they going to deal with it and is there more that they still don't know?
AN: I was intending on trying to get some more of this ready before trying to start posting, but since someone posted asking about it on my author's thread, I decided, perhaps against my better judgement to go ahead and post...I hope it's okay, and I'll do my best with trying to keep to regular updates this time.
Chapter 1
A eerie silence fell over the room. No one spoke – they were all too shocked by the suggestion made it seemed. Then, finally Maria spoke, her eyes wide and hands flailing around as she turned on her friend. “WHAT? How can you be? You said you’d never…” The words which had come unbidden to her mouth died mid sentence as she realised what she was saying but her meaning was clear enough…
Flushing deeply, Liz swallowed as she looked back at her friend. “I didn’t lie to you Maria, honestly…” She tried to convince the other girl, turning pleadingly to her friend, all self-conscious thoughts flying her mind for the moment. “We haven’t done it, not really…”
“I don’t understand…? What does that mean…?” Isabel looked from one to the other repeatedly, searching for an explanation.
Her initial worry about Maria beginning to abate, Liz now felt silent, looking increasingly uncomfortable as she thought about what she had said. “I…uh…”
“In those dreams…” Max supplied softly as he slid his arm around her, looking around at the others. “W-we didn’t stop…t-they went all the way…” He admitted, shaking his head as he thought about what a mess he had made of things. So much for Isabel and Michael saying they didn’t mean anything…
“But…” His sister closed her eyes as she took in what he had said, clamming up quickly at a look from Michael, realising just how close she just came to spilling the beans…
Under the circumstances, no one really noticed her slip up though, or didn’t pick her up on it anyway… They all seemed too stunned by what was being suggested – which, considering it should have been impossible, probably wasn’t so surprising…
Maria in particular was having trouble coming to terms with it all. “S-so you mean you think that what happened in your dreams was real…?” She questioned hesitantly, looking from Liz to Max, and then back again. It just didn’t compute, they were just dreams after all…
Her friend nodded silently, swallowing and biting down on her lip. “Yeah…” She responded in little more than a whisper, a part of her still struggling to believe she had suggested this in the first place. It fit with the translation though, and her symptoms when she thought about it…
Then, as everyone sat there, Liz seemed to pale, all colour draining from her face in a way similar to when they had been at the cave. The difference here was that she didn’t faint though, but instead brought a hand to her mouth rapidly as she rose from the sofa. “I think I’m going to be sick!” She announced with a groan before rushing out of the room.
***
“LIZ! Are you okay…?” Max knocked repeatedly on the door to the bathroom having followed his girlfriend as she fled the room. By the time he reached the door however, it was locked, and while he could of course solve that in a matter of seconds, he didn’t want to ignore her right to privacy… “Liz…?”
There was the sound of the toilet flushing, followed by a weak voice. “I’m okay…”
Unfortunately, the sound of retching which followed seemed to belie that statement, and Max’s brow furrowed in concern. “Liz…” He called softly, his hand hovering on the doorknob, fighting the impulse to go barging in there…
“Come in if you want…” A small voice seemed to read his mind, as there was a temporary lull in the sounds coming from the bathroom.
That was all he needed, as Max immediately waved his hand over the lock and pushed it open, walking in and moving immediately over to where his girlfriend was leaning over the toilet.
Looking up as she heard the door open, Liz sent a weak smile in his direction, but it disappeared a moment later as her stomach again seemed to swell up and she was forced to lean over once more.
“Liz…” Max whispered softly, kneeling down next to her and reaching to hold her hair out of the way, using one hand to rub her back gently.
A few minutes later, it seemed as though the nausea had passed, at least for the moment. Liz flushed the toilet quickly, and then sank down gratefully on the now closed seat, her head bowed and breathing heavy…
Still with his arm around her, Max looked on with concern. “How are you feeling…?” He asked gently, earning a small smile as his girlfriend looked up.
“I could ask you the same question…?” She responded weakly, her tone jovial although the meaning entirely serious. It was after all, no small thing they were talking about…
“A bit shocked, but that’s not important now!” Max waved away her concerns with his hand, reaching to push her hair back from her face and look into the eyes of his dark-haired angel. “Seriously Liz…how are you feeling…?”
His girlfriend sighed as he repeated his question, shaking her head as she turned her head to meet his eyes. “A little better…I just don’t seem to be able to keep anything down…” She shrugged and offered him a weak smile of reassurance. “It’s okay though, honest…nothing I can’t handle…”
Nodding silently, Max shook his head as he spoke again. “It’s a lot to take in…”
“Yeah…”
He hesitated about saying anything else.
As always though, it seemed Liz knew exactly what he was thinking as she looked up at him. “Max…?”
He met her gaze and swallowed. “I just…I have to ask…” He trailed off a moment before continuing. “A-are you sure…?”
The young brunette looked back at him, her eyes full of emotion as she shook her head. “I’ve been thinking about that while I’ve been here…” She commented softly, running a hand through her hair and pushing it out of her face. “It sounds crazy I know, but…” She swallowed nervously, unsure how to put this next. “I-it makes sense too…well, kinda…”
It was true of course, the thought might sound fanciful, but put the translation together with the content of the dreams, her tiredness and the sickness, not to mention the other small symptoms that had been assumed to be thanks to the tummy-bug, and well…she was right…
Knowing this deep down, Max nodded as he listened to her response, reaching now to draw his girlfriend into his arms and as he pressed his lips to the top of her head. It’s okay…it’s okay…” He whispered softly.
***
Why did none of you think of this?” Maria questioned as she paced back and forth in the living room. She had wanted to follow Liz out of the room originally, but Alex had stepped forward, convincing her that it was probably best to let Max and Liz have a little time just the two of them, and encouraged her to sit back down…
The former she had done, the latter well…she just wasn’t in a sitting mood… Having said that though, she knew she was being unfair to Isabel and Michael as she questioned why they hadn’t realised…
Of course they hadn’t realised, why would they? It wasn’t as though they knew what to expect, the dreams had been yet another one of those Czechoslovakian things that they knew nothing about. “I-I’m sorry guys, I didn’t mean that…” She apologised softly as she stopped her pacing to look around at them. “There’s no reason for you to have thought that, I know that really, I’m just…shocked, I mean this whole thing is kind of scary……” She bit down on her lip.
Isabel and Michael squirmed a little in their seats as she apologised, feeling increasingly guilty not only because they hadn’t yet told their respective boyfriend and girlfriend about the dreams they had shared, but also because they had specifically reassured Max, to say that they were just dreams…
Isabel shifted in her seat uncomfortably, hesitating, before speaking. “W-we should have thought about it…” She commented softly, shaking her head.
Her boyfriend turned to look at her in surprise. “Why, I mean it’s not as though this has happened before to know what to expect, and human logic dictates it’s not possible…that all assuming of course that Liz is right, this could just be one big false alarm…”
His words were of course true, but at the same time they didn’t fool anyone in the room… Now that the suggestion had been made, it seemed as though everything was falling into place, and no one had any doubt really about the truth in the situation…
Swallowing again, Isabel glanced over towards Michael, silently apologising, before shaking her head slowly. “T-that’s not exactly true…” She admitted in a low voice, swallowing as both Maria and Alex turned to her and she became prime centre of attention… It wasn’t ideal, and it might already be too late, but she couldn’t lie anymore, and besides, they owed the others this much…
“What do you mean?” Maria shot a look at her friend.
“She means that we had the dreams – Isabel and I…” Michael stepped in, his voice little louder than a whisper as he looked over at his girlfriend. “But nothing happened with us you know, it’s not like we had feelings for one another or anything…” He tried to smooth things over by explaining, but from the look on Maria’s face, it was going to take a whole lot more than that…
Isabel knew what he was doing of course, but she knew Alex and Maria deserved more than that… She wouldn’t make it out to be smaller than it was, because that wasn’t fair… “W-we were scared guys…they were really vivid, and there was a time when I thought I might be pregnant…” She looked down, not wanting to meet Alex’s eyes and see the hurt look she was sure would be there…
“But she wasn’t!” Michael added quickly, fully aware of the furious look his girlfriend was giving him. “Isabel wasn’t pregnant, so we didn’t think that Liz could be…”
“Why didn’t you tell us? Did you mention it to Max and Liz?” Maria’s voice was full of hurt as she glared at her boyfriend and it was only too obvious she was trying to hold back the tears.
“Yes, we told him!” Isabel nodded repeatedly in response to the question. “We told him all about it when he and Liz started having the dreams, but since nothing had happened to us, we told him it was just a dream…” She bit down on her lip and swallowed. “As for why we didn’t tell you, we just didn’t want to upset you…we were freaked enough ourselves, it just seemed the right thing at the time…”
Alex, who had listened in silence to this point, now nodded. It might not have been the best in the long run, but he guessed that he could understand that… Not that he wasn’t hurt by their deception of course, and he would have hoped she felt able to tell him anything, but still…
Sliding his arm around her shoulders, he pulled his girlfriend into his side, reaching with his other hand to take hers and then squeezing it in a reassuring manner. “It’s okay…I understand, and you weren’t to know…” He paused a moment before adding. “But you should have told us…”
Michael was trying to do his own bit of apologising, as he looked over at Maria. “Can you ever forgive me…?” He questioned in a most un-Michael-like manner. For once, not even he could claim that he had done the right thing with hindsight, and he couldn’t deny he was worried about the fallout. He always had been – that was why it had been kept secret in the first place….
His girlfriend looked up at hi,. “You hurt me, you should have told me, and you should have realised that I would have dealt with it!” She told him in a horse, trembling voice. “It’s worse that you hid it from me, that you lied!”
She was right of course, had they admitted it from the start, maybe there would have been some tense moments, but keeping it secret had made it a hundred times worse…
Michael sighed and shook his head. “I know, and I’m sorry…” He told her, leaning over to try and kiss her lips somewhat hesistantly, moving slowly so that if, as he feared she might, she wanted to pull away she could… He wasn’t a jerk, and he didn’t want to act like one…so he, they had made some bad mistakes…but he was trying to put it right…
Looking up again, Maria didn’t pull back from him as their lips met. The kiss was chaste enough, no one really in the mood for anything else likely after what had come out, but the meaning was enough…he was forgiven… “Just please…don’t keep secrets from me like that again…” She whispered softly, allowing him to draw her into his arms.
Michael nodded silently. “I won’t…”
***
“Is everyone okay…?” Max questioned as he and Liz walked back into the room. No one was speaking, and it took little to guess that something had happened… Maria was wrapped in Michael’s arms, and Isabel was in a similar position with Alex… Not one of the couples said a word, and while it was entirely possible this was all because of him and Liz, somehow he doubted that…
Finally, Isabel looked up, drawing back from her boyfriend slightly to face her brother. “W-we told them…about the dreams…” She admitted softly, noting half-absently that Liz didn’t seem surprised. She assumed that Max had told her about them by now, perhaps even when they were upstairs, but of course the details were unimportant. The things that mattered was that everyone knew…
“A-are you feeling better now chica?” Maria turned her attention back towards Liz, taking the opportunity to change the subject, not wanting to dwell on what was past.
The brunette shook her head softly, biting down on her lip. “Oh you know…so-so…” She shrugged. “You might have gathered from recently that I haven’t been able to keep much down recently…” She gave a wry smile. “Guess we know why now…”
Another awkward silence followed her comment, before Isabel then spoke up. “You think it’s morning-sickness then…?”
She nodded. “Y-yeah…I guess so…” Liz trailed off, thinking again of the implications of all this. “Although a better name for it would be all-day-sickness…”
Her attempt at joviality went down like a lead balloon, and pulling her in towards his side, Max led her gently towards the spots they had just vacated on the sofa.
Maria was silent again for another few moments, watching her friend as she sat down, trying to read the expression on her face. She just couldn’t believe this was happening…
“You guys okay…?” Isabel looked towards her brother and his girlfriend.
Liz looked up weakly. “Do we have a choice…?” She swallowed and shrugged, shaking her head. “It’s just a shock…you know…”
Her friend nodded knowingly… If anyone could understand, it was her… It had been bad enough when she and Michael had the dreams… Those few days when she thought that it might actually be true had been some of the worst of her life – she had been so scared about what she might be going to have to face, and worst of all, she was terrified she could loose Alex over it…
At least Liz and Max had one another, but she imagined it didn’t make it any less scary a proposition… “You guys are going to be okay you know…and you’re not alone in this!” She stated softly, causing Liz and Max to both respond with a grateful smile. “Thanks…that means a lot…”
“Of course you know that there’s one thing that you guys are going to have to discuss…” Alex commented, his voice soft and low as he broached the issue that everyone must know was coming…
Liz nodded and swallowed, already knowing what was coming… She shot him a look which seemed to plead for a moment, which caused Alex to nod slightly, allowing her to finish it…
“The brunette seemed to pale for a moment, working up the courage and then spoke again. “We have to work out what we are going to tell our parents…” She pointed out softly, her words hanging in the air…
Author: KatnotKath
Disclaimer: I don't own them, just borrowing the characters.
Couples: M/L with CC
Rating: MATURE
Summary: Taking up where Dreams and Reality left off so you might want to read that first, is Liz pregnant, what will this mean for the group, how are they going to deal with it and is there more that they still don't know?
AN: I was intending on trying to get some more of this ready before trying to start posting, but since someone posted asking about it on my author's thread, I decided, perhaps against my better judgement to go ahead and post...I hope it's okay, and I'll do my best with trying to keep to regular updates this time.
Chapter 1
A eerie silence fell over the room. No one spoke – they were all too shocked by the suggestion made it seemed. Then, finally Maria spoke, her eyes wide and hands flailing around as she turned on her friend. “WHAT? How can you be? You said you’d never…” The words which had come unbidden to her mouth died mid sentence as she realised what she was saying but her meaning was clear enough…
Flushing deeply, Liz swallowed as she looked back at her friend. “I didn’t lie to you Maria, honestly…” She tried to convince the other girl, turning pleadingly to her friend, all self-conscious thoughts flying her mind for the moment. “We haven’t done it, not really…”
“I don’t understand…? What does that mean…?” Isabel looked from one to the other repeatedly, searching for an explanation.
Her initial worry about Maria beginning to abate, Liz now felt silent, looking increasingly uncomfortable as she thought about what she had said. “I…uh…”
“In those dreams…” Max supplied softly as he slid his arm around her, looking around at the others. “W-we didn’t stop…t-they went all the way…” He admitted, shaking his head as he thought about what a mess he had made of things. So much for Isabel and Michael saying they didn’t mean anything…
“But…” His sister closed her eyes as she took in what he had said, clamming up quickly at a look from Michael, realising just how close she just came to spilling the beans…
Under the circumstances, no one really noticed her slip up though, or didn’t pick her up on it anyway… They all seemed too stunned by what was being suggested – which, considering it should have been impossible, probably wasn’t so surprising…
Maria in particular was having trouble coming to terms with it all. “S-so you mean you think that what happened in your dreams was real…?” She questioned hesitantly, looking from Liz to Max, and then back again. It just didn’t compute, they were just dreams after all…
Her friend nodded silently, swallowing and biting down on her lip. “Yeah…” She responded in little more than a whisper, a part of her still struggling to believe she had suggested this in the first place. It fit with the translation though, and her symptoms when she thought about it…
Then, as everyone sat there, Liz seemed to pale, all colour draining from her face in a way similar to when they had been at the cave. The difference here was that she didn’t faint though, but instead brought a hand to her mouth rapidly as she rose from the sofa. “I think I’m going to be sick!” She announced with a groan before rushing out of the room.
***
“LIZ! Are you okay…?” Max knocked repeatedly on the door to the bathroom having followed his girlfriend as she fled the room. By the time he reached the door however, it was locked, and while he could of course solve that in a matter of seconds, he didn’t want to ignore her right to privacy… “Liz…?”
There was the sound of the toilet flushing, followed by a weak voice. “I’m okay…”
Unfortunately, the sound of retching which followed seemed to belie that statement, and Max’s brow furrowed in concern. “Liz…” He called softly, his hand hovering on the doorknob, fighting the impulse to go barging in there…
“Come in if you want…” A small voice seemed to read his mind, as there was a temporary lull in the sounds coming from the bathroom.
That was all he needed, as Max immediately waved his hand over the lock and pushed it open, walking in and moving immediately over to where his girlfriend was leaning over the toilet.
Looking up as she heard the door open, Liz sent a weak smile in his direction, but it disappeared a moment later as her stomach again seemed to swell up and she was forced to lean over once more.
“Liz…” Max whispered softly, kneeling down next to her and reaching to hold her hair out of the way, using one hand to rub her back gently.
A few minutes later, it seemed as though the nausea had passed, at least for the moment. Liz flushed the toilet quickly, and then sank down gratefully on the now closed seat, her head bowed and breathing heavy…
Still with his arm around her, Max looked on with concern. “How are you feeling…?” He asked gently, earning a small smile as his girlfriend looked up.
“I could ask you the same question…?” She responded weakly, her tone jovial although the meaning entirely serious. It was after all, no small thing they were talking about…
“A bit shocked, but that’s not important now!” Max waved away her concerns with his hand, reaching to push her hair back from her face and look into the eyes of his dark-haired angel. “Seriously Liz…how are you feeling…?”
His girlfriend sighed as he repeated his question, shaking her head as she turned her head to meet his eyes. “A little better…I just don’t seem to be able to keep anything down…” She shrugged and offered him a weak smile of reassurance. “It’s okay though, honest…nothing I can’t handle…”
Nodding silently, Max shook his head as he spoke again. “It’s a lot to take in…”
“Yeah…”
He hesitated about saying anything else.
As always though, it seemed Liz knew exactly what he was thinking as she looked up at him. “Max…?”
He met her gaze and swallowed. “I just…I have to ask…” He trailed off a moment before continuing. “A-are you sure…?”
The young brunette looked back at him, her eyes full of emotion as she shook her head. “I’ve been thinking about that while I’ve been here…” She commented softly, running a hand through her hair and pushing it out of her face. “It sounds crazy I know, but…” She swallowed nervously, unsure how to put this next. “I-it makes sense too…well, kinda…”
It was true of course, the thought might sound fanciful, but put the translation together with the content of the dreams, her tiredness and the sickness, not to mention the other small symptoms that had been assumed to be thanks to the tummy-bug, and well…she was right…
Knowing this deep down, Max nodded as he listened to her response, reaching now to draw his girlfriend into his arms and as he pressed his lips to the top of her head. It’s okay…it’s okay…” He whispered softly.
***
Why did none of you think of this?” Maria questioned as she paced back and forth in the living room. She had wanted to follow Liz out of the room originally, but Alex had stepped forward, convincing her that it was probably best to let Max and Liz have a little time just the two of them, and encouraged her to sit back down…
The former she had done, the latter well…she just wasn’t in a sitting mood… Having said that though, she knew she was being unfair to Isabel and Michael as she questioned why they hadn’t realised…
Of course they hadn’t realised, why would they? It wasn’t as though they knew what to expect, the dreams had been yet another one of those Czechoslovakian things that they knew nothing about. “I-I’m sorry guys, I didn’t mean that…” She apologised softly as she stopped her pacing to look around at them. “There’s no reason for you to have thought that, I know that really, I’m just…shocked, I mean this whole thing is kind of scary……” She bit down on her lip.
Isabel and Michael squirmed a little in their seats as she apologised, feeling increasingly guilty not only because they hadn’t yet told their respective boyfriend and girlfriend about the dreams they had shared, but also because they had specifically reassured Max, to say that they were just dreams…
Isabel shifted in her seat uncomfortably, hesitating, before speaking. “W-we should have thought about it…” She commented softly, shaking her head.
Her boyfriend turned to look at her in surprise. “Why, I mean it’s not as though this has happened before to know what to expect, and human logic dictates it’s not possible…that all assuming of course that Liz is right, this could just be one big false alarm…”
His words were of course true, but at the same time they didn’t fool anyone in the room… Now that the suggestion had been made, it seemed as though everything was falling into place, and no one had any doubt really about the truth in the situation…
Swallowing again, Isabel glanced over towards Michael, silently apologising, before shaking her head slowly. “T-that’s not exactly true…” She admitted in a low voice, swallowing as both Maria and Alex turned to her and she became prime centre of attention… It wasn’t ideal, and it might already be too late, but she couldn’t lie anymore, and besides, they owed the others this much…
“What do you mean?” Maria shot a look at her friend.
“She means that we had the dreams – Isabel and I…” Michael stepped in, his voice little louder than a whisper as he looked over at his girlfriend. “But nothing happened with us you know, it’s not like we had feelings for one another or anything…” He tried to smooth things over by explaining, but from the look on Maria’s face, it was going to take a whole lot more than that…
Isabel knew what he was doing of course, but she knew Alex and Maria deserved more than that… She wouldn’t make it out to be smaller than it was, because that wasn’t fair… “W-we were scared guys…they were really vivid, and there was a time when I thought I might be pregnant…” She looked down, not wanting to meet Alex’s eyes and see the hurt look she was sure would be there…
“But she wasn’t!” Michael added quickly, fully aware of the furious look his girlfriend was giving him. “Isabel wasn’t pregnant, so we didn’t think that Liz could be…”
“Why didn’t you tell us? Did you mention it to Max and Liz?” Maria’s voice was full of hurt as she glared at her boyfriend and it was only too obvious she was trying to hold back the tears.
“Yes, we told him!” Isabel nodded repeatedly in response to the question. “We told him all about it when he and Liz started having the dreams, but since nothing had happened to us, we told him it was just a dream…” She bit down on her lip and swallowed. “As for why we didn’t tell you, we just didn’t want to upset you…we were freaked enough ourselves, it just seemed the right thing at the time…”
Alex, who had listened in silence to this point, now nodded. It might not have been the best in the long run, but he guessed that he could understand that… Not that he wasn’t hurt by their deception of course, and he would have hoped she felt able to tell him anything, but still…
Sliding his arm around her shoulders, he pulled his girlfriend into his side, reaching with his other hand to take hers and then squeezing it in a reassuring manner. “It’s okay…I understand, and you weren’t to know…” He paused a moment before adding. “But you should have told us…”
Michael was trying to do his own bit of apologising, as he looked over at Maria. “Can you ever forgive me…?” He questioned in a most un-Michael-like manner. For once, not even he could claim that he had done the right thing with hindsight, and he couldn’t deny he was worried about the fallout. He always had been – that was why it had been kept secret in the first place….
His girlfriend looked up at hi,. “You hurt me, you should have told me, and you should have realised that I would have dealt with it!” She told him in a horse, trembling voice. “It’s worse that you hid it from me, that you lied!”
She was right of course, had they admitted it from the start, maybe there would have been some tense moments, but keeping it secret had made it a hundred times worse…
Michael sighed and shook his head. “I know, and I’m sorry…” He told her, leaning over to try and kiss her lips somewhat hesistantly, moving slowly so that if, as he feared she might, she wanted to pull away she could… He wasn’t a jerk, and he didn’t want to act like one…so he, they had made some bad mistakes…but he was trying to put it right…
Looking up again, Maria didn’t pull back from him as their lips met. The kiss was chaste enough, no one really in the mood for anything else likely after what had come out, but the meaning was enough…he was forgiven… “Just please…don’t keep secrets from me like that again…” She whispered softly, allowing him to draw her into his arms.
Michael nodded silently. “I won’t…”
***
“Is everyone okay…?” Max questioned as he and Liz walked back into the room. No one was speaking, and it took little to guess that something had happened… Maria was wrapped in Michael’s arms, and Isabel was in a similar position with Alex… Not one of the couples said a word, and while it was entirely possible this was all because of him and Liz, somehow he doubted that…
Finally, Isabel looked up, drawing back from her boyfriend slightly to face her brother. “W-we told them…about the dreams…” She admitted softly, noting half-absently that Liz didn’t seem surprised. She assumed that Max had told her about them by now, perhaps even when they were upstairs, but of course the details were unimportant. The things that mattered was that everyone knew…
“A-are you feeling better now chica?” Maria turned her attention back towards Liz, taking the opportunity to change the subject, not wanting to dwell on what was past.
The brunette shook her head softly, biting down on her lip. “Oh you know…so-so…” She shrugged. “You might have gathered from recently that I haven’t been able to keep much down recently…” She gave a wry smile. “Guess we know why now…”
Another awkward silence followed her comment, before Isabel then spoke up. “You think it’s morning-sickness then…?”
She nodded. “Y-yeah…I guess so…” Liz trailed off, thinking again of the implications of all this. “Although a better name for it would be all-day-sickness…”
Her attempt at joviality went down like a lead balloon, and pulling her in towards his side, Max led her gently towards the spots they had just vacated on the sofa.
Maria was silent again for another few moments, watching her friend as she sat down, trying to read the expression on her face. She just couldn’t believe this was happening…
“You guys okay…?” Isabel looked towards her brother and his girlfriend.
Liz looked up weakly. “Do we have a choice…?” She swallowed and shrugged, shaking her head. “It’s just a shock…you know…”
Her friend nodded knowingly… If anyone could understand, it was her… It had been bad enough when she and Michael had the dreams… Those few days when she thought that it might actually be true had been some of the worst of her life – she had been so scared about what she might be going to have to face, and worst of all, she was terrified she could loose Alex over it…
At least Liz and Max had one another, but she imagined it didn’t make it any less scary a proposition… “You guys are going to be okay you know…and you’re not alone in this!” She stated softly, causing Liz and Max to both respond with a grateful smile. “Thanks…that means a lot…”
“Of course you know that there’s one thing that you guys are going to have to discuss…” Alex commented, his voice soft and low as he broached the issue that everyone must know was coming…
Liz nodded and swallowed, already knowing what was coming… She shot him a look which seemed to plead for a moment, which caused Alex to nod slightly, allowing her to finish it…
“The brunette seemed to pale for a moment, working up the courage and then spoke again. “We have to work out what we are going to tell our parents…” She pointed out softly, her words hanging in the air…