PART 47
Several things happened at once. Max’s heart plummeted to his feet. Maria gasped in outrage. Michael cursed. Some of the Antarian guards rushed over.
And Max felt Liz flinch next to him. He gripped her hand tighter as James stepped between them and the oncoming Tess. Without even looking at Max, James took Tess’ arm firmly and steered her to the back of the little Antarian group. To say Max was relieved was an understatement. There was no way he wanted to have this confrontation in public and James had handled it perfectly. He had made Tess a part of their group without having her too close to Max and Liz.
Furiously tugging to get her arm out of James’ grip, Tess was fuming. “Get your hands—”
“Nice to see you again, Tess,” Michael took up position on her other side. “If you promise not to make a scene, we promise not to hurt and humiliate you in public.”
He had to fight to keep himself from glancing backwards to see what was going on with Tess, but Max knew he shouldn’t acknowledge her in any way right now as it would only add to the spectacle. So instead, he took a deep breath, pulled Liz closer to him, whispered “my Shani” in her ear, and continued walking towards the Dendar Royal group.
Liz wanted to die. If it weren’t for Max’s arm around her waist, she would’ve run away by now. Tess had managed to make her feel like the “other woman” in Max’s life. The one that stole him from his legitimate wife. She didn’t even want to know what the people of Dendar thought about her already! Then she heard him call her “my Shani”, my love, and she realized that the only opinion she cared about was his. Max Evans. Her husband three times over. So she straightened her shoulders and lifted her head proudly. She may not be seen as the true Queen of Antar, but she was the true love of the King of Antar.
The King of Dendar was exceedingly polite to them both, welcoming them to his planet and expressing the wish that Max’s presence would have a positive impact on the peace talks. He also “cordially invited” them to a function in their honor that would be held the following evening.
After saying a few words of thanks, Max motioned his group out of there. He needed to be alone with Liz. And he needed to sort out Tess.
Their suite in the Dendar palace was mansion-like. And the silence that thundered between the members of the group was overwhelming as they waited in the entrance hall for Nick and his men to finish their inspection of the place. Tess had started saying something, but Michael had slapped his hand over her mouth and kept her in pinned to his side. However, he could not stop the glares she was throwing at Max and Liz.
Max had turned his back on his former bride and pulled Liz into his arms so she could rest her head on his chest. He rubbed his hands over her back soothingly. He could feel how tired she was and he just wanted to get her to their room so she could take a nap.
Shilla was stunned yet again. She stood to the side, waiting for instructions and trying to understand the obviously strained atmosphere. She had been amazed when the “fake Queen”, as she has started referring to Tess, threw herself at Max during the reception. As far as she understood, Tess had not been bonded with Max, so what was she doing acting like he was hers? Shilla could just imagine how poor Liz was feeling. But at least it looked like Max was aware of that and trying to help her.
“Everything is fine,” Nick announced from the top of the staircase and Max turned to Michael.
“Wait here with her, please.” He took Liz and Maria upstairs. The rooms that were supposed to be his and Liz’s were magnificent. It consisted of two bedrooms and bathroom and an “informal living area”. Max halted in the door of the one bedroom, feeling that dull ache he had learned to associate with the resurfacing of his old memories suddenly pressing down on his temples. He grabbed for something to hold onto, and found only Liz.
Staggering under his unexpected weight, Liz managed to push him against the wall to hold him upright. “Max!” she cried.
“No,” he sounded weak. “Get me out of here,” his voice got a little stronger. “Please, Liz.”
They stumbled out of the room and into the other bedroom, Max started feeling better immediately.
“What did you see?” Liz asked him anxiously when he was seated on the side of the bed.
Max was still taking deep breaths in an attempt to get himself to calm down. “Uh… nothing specific. I just had… this feeling. This awful feeling.” He had felt dread and despair while going into that room. And he had seen a brief flash of Tess, grinning up at him seductively. He was betraying someone. His Shani.
“So we’ll just stay in this room then,” Liz said firmly. She had a feeling he wasn’t telling her everything, but right now, she didn’t want to know. Because whatever he wasn’t telling was bound to be about Tess.
Pulling Liz onto his lap, he nearly crushed her in a hug. “I have to go talk to her. I have to get her out of our lives for good.” He brushed her hair behind her ear. “Why don’t you take a nap until I get back?”
They kissed softly, longingly, lovingly. “I’ll be back,” Max whispered as he rested his forehead against hers. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He found Michael downstairs, glaring at Tess who was obviously trying to mind-warp the people in the hall. “Stop that, Tess.” His voice was hard and uncompromising.
She whirled towards him. “So Max Evans, King of Antar returns from the dead. Imagine my surprise to see my beloved dead husband!”
Max just got more angry at her sarcasm. “I was never your husband in this life, so just give it up. What do you want?”
She sauntered over to him. “Why King Max, I want to be Queen. How many times must I tell you this?"
“That’s not going to hap—”
“I’m not asking you to give up little Lizzie Parker—”
“It’s Liz Evans now,” he broke into her chattering, seeing her falter with satisfaction.
She recovered quickly. “Whatever. You can keep her as your mistress, just let me have the title.”
“That is never going to happen and you know it. I will never degrade Liz like that. She is my wife, my mate and my Queen and you better accept it or I will announce your scam to the planet.”
“Don’t threaten me, Max Evans. I know things about this war that you don’t. You are going to be in way over your head. And you wouldn’t want something to happen to your precious Liz while you are off fighting a war, now would you? You should have just left her at home.”
Max started towards her, but was stopped by Michael’s hand on his arm. “So help me, Tess, if anything happens to Liz, I’m coming after you.” His voice was quiet, deadly.
“You are so out of your league here. Think about my offer, I want an answer before the celebration tomorrow night.”
“You have my answer. It’s no.”
“Then I will just have to make sure that my position is clear during the party,” she announced smugly and flounced out the door.
Max was furious. He couldn’t remember ever being this angry in his life. “James…”
“I’m on it,” James answered promptly and left to follow Tess.
“What are you going to do, Maxwell?”
“I’m going to make sure she doesn’t attend that party tomorrow night, that’s what.”
Michael nodded, he didn’t really know what to say to his friend.
“Michael, have you maybe… started remembering stuff from our life on Antar? Or of being here on Dendar before?”
“No.” Michael was looking at him strangely. “Why?”
“I keep getting these-these flashes that I can’t make sense of. Nick can’t help me either. He only told me that I definitely WAS married to Tess and that it was arranged. And that I was miserable.”
“So what… are you getting flashes of you and Tess?”
“Only two. The rest are… about Liz.”
“What? Maxwell, that’s impossible. Maybe you just have her on the brain—”
“No Michael. I see her wearing these Antar Royal clothes. And I kept calling her ‘Shani’ during these flashes.”
“Ooh, calling her someone else’s name is not fine.”
“It means ‘Beloved’ in Antarian.” Max could see that Michael was completely floored.
“Whoa.”
“Yeah,” Max sighed. “It’s driving me crazy. I don’t know what to tell Liz. I don’t know what the hell happened while I was married to Tess. I don’t know if I knew Liz when we lived on Antar…” He thrust his hands through his hair in frustration.
Michael watched him pace in silence. “Yeah, I was wanting to ask you something too.”
Why did Michael sound so tentative?
“I—I uh… I want to get bonded to-to Maria,” Michael was staring at his feet causing Max to grin. This was going to lead to another ear-piercing shriek from the lively pixie. “I need you to help me, you know, plan things.”
Wiping the grin off his face so as not to increase Michael’s nervousness further, Max said solemnly: “Sure I’ll help.”
The two friends looked at each other. They had come a long way. From bickering and fighting to a place where each of them knew that the other got their back.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
James waited around the corner to see which room Tess entered. He also caught a glimpse of a man waiting for her, his back turned to the door. Well, this certainly is interesting. Maybe Shilla can find out who Tess was seeing…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max found Liz sleeping in their bed and Maria standing at the window. “Hey Maria,” he said softly, going over to join her.
“Hey,” she smiled up at him before risking a glance at Liz. “Did you get rid of the pest?”
He grinned. “Sort of. Is Liz okay?”
Maria looked over at her sleeping friend again. “I guess so. This pregnancy is not going to hurt her, is it?”
“I—I don’t know. So far she seems fine apart from the glowing stomach and morning sickness.”
“This is just killing you, isn’t it?” She stared up at him shrewdly.
“I… I would rather have done this on earth. I don’t like that I’m going to be away from her a lot while I’m here…”
“Well, she has me.”
“I know.” He hugged her spontaneously. “Thank you for accepting me in her life from the beginning.”
“Are you kidding?” Maria was laughing. “I told her you might be like those spiders that ate their mates after having sex when I found you two in Michael’s flat that first time. Boy, you two were all over each other!”
Max was blushing.
“Not that that has changed! Just so you know, I was ready to kick your ass if you did anything that would have hurt her.”
“That much I knew,” he assured her. “Do you think you could let me have some time alone with her? We could all meet for dinner later. Just tell Shilla if you need anything.”
He sat down on the side of the bed after Maria had left, softly brushing his hand over Liz’s hair. He would wait until she woke up, but it was time to make some new memories here on Dendar.
PART 48
A warmth was invading her womb, making Liz smile before she even opened her eyes. She was lying on her side and as she fought her way up through the layers of sleep, she felt Max gently caressing her stomach with the backs of his fingers. She found him lying next to her, his dark and expressive eyes resting on her face.
“Hey sleepyhead,” he said softly and lifted his hand to her face, continuing his caresses on her cheek. “Feel better now?”
“Yes,” she smiled at him. In quiet moments like these, when it was just the two of them and their love for each other, it was easy to forget that Max was anything other than her husband and the father of her unborn baby. To forget that he was the King of another planet, that he had had a destiny to fulfill and that he currently had a lot of lives depending on him. In these moments, he looked at her in a way that made her feel like they were the only two people in the universe. That she was all that mattered to him. That the universe could shiver into nothingness around them and he wouldn’t care. “And you?”
“I’m fine. I have all that I need right here next to me.” He leaned in for a kiss, tenderly brushing his lips over hers, but not allowing it to deepen too much. “I have good news,” he breathed against her mouth.
“Mmmm,” she didn’t want him to stop kissing her.
“Michael is finally going to pop the question.” He grinned when she jerked away in surprise.
“You’re kidding!”
“Nope. He is really nervous and we have to help him. So don’t tell Maria, okay?”
She flung her arms around his neck, pushing him onto his back on the bed and crawling on top of him. “Maria is going to be so happy!”
He closed his eyes to enjoy the little kisses she was raining all over his face. “Hey, if this is the response I get, I’ll have to get Michael to propose more often.”
She pulled back from him and shivered as he slid his hands under her top to caress the bare skin of her back. “You know very well that you don’t need any gimmicks to get such a response from me…” She sighed again as his hand moved higher and found the clasp of her bra.
He pressed her upper body tightly against his by flattening his one hand between her shoulder blades. His other hand moved into her hair, holding her face immobile as he trailed moist kisses from her lips to her ear. “This is the honeymoon I never had the previous time I was here.” His breath tickled her ear. “It should’ve been you…”
She kissed him urgently then, trying to eliminate whatever it was that he was remembering from the last time he was here, in this suite. “It’s me now, Max,” she promised him.
Need. Pure unadulterated need washed over her as Max finally allowed the floodgates of their connection to open. Trembling under the force of his need, Liz opened her mouth wider, allowing him complete access.
He sat them both up to slide Liz’s top and bra off in one smooth movement before pulling off his own shirt. His hands met at the small of her back and slowly trailed upwards until he could press her against his warm skin again. Both of them gasped at the electric contact.
Liz had to bite down a moan when his hands continued to roam her back and sides as he captured her lips again. Her breasts were starting to become sensitive due to her pregnancy and the friction between their bodies was exquisite. She was straddling his lap, clutching at the solid muscle of his upper arms, leaning into the kiss, her body curving into a taut bow before relaxing against his.
He kissed her eyes shut, then his mouth lingered over the smooth cream column of her throat, until he smiled against her skin and murmured: “You are so beautiful.”
They undressed each other further, getting in one another’s way and then his heated mouth found the fine skin at her waist. Liz looked down at the dark head moving against her and her heart swelled. Sudden tears blurred her vision; she lifted a hand and ran it through the black silk of his hair, cupping his cheek as he turned his face into her glowing stomach. How she loved him!
He kissed her navel, his tongue searching out the small indentation. The intimate touch sending quivers through her. “You are gorgeous too,” she told him huskily.
He laughed and kissed her mouth and her throat, and the junction of neck and shoulder, biting it gently, letting her feel his undisguised passion. It stopped her breath in her throat.
This time, their movements were unhurried. To Liz, it felt like everything had gone into slow motion. The way his hand stroked her skin, the powerful thud of her heart in her breast, her boneless lack of energy as she ran her fingers through his hair and curled her hand around his neck, feeling his life-force pulse against it. Her eyelids were weighted in anticipation.
Max’s kiss told her he had searched the universe for her, and that she was more precious to him than life itself. His touch sent fire through her, her breath lodged in her throat when he kissed her breasts. Instinctively, Liz held his head there for a long moment, reveling in the responses of her body.
She moved against him, quick, involuntary movements and she felt his reaction, growing, urgent, but instead of taking her, he said: “No, not yet.”
She protested, but he kept on caressing her, until her body was aching with the need to take him inside her.
“Touch me,” he finally said.
Drawing a long deep breath, Liz put her hand up to his shoulder, feeling the muscles bunch and quiver beneath her fingers. His skin was hot and she could smell the scent of his arousal, male and incredibly stimulating.
Slowly she ran her hand across his back, down the sleekness of his spine and over the taut muscles of his backside.
A groan was torn from deep within his throat.
Liz kissed his shoulder, then bit it, then licked the small red crescent she had made. From the corners of her eyes she noted his reaction, his smile, the way his eyes gleamed and darkened.
He touched her breasts again, causing an ache to unfurl deep within her. Her hips were moving against him and she slid her hand down his body, touching him intimately.
“No,” Max said in a strangled voice, it would be over too soon.
But Liz laughed at him, a smoky, seductive sound, before bending to flick her tongue across his chest. She pressed herself against him until he groaned something in a shaken voice and rolled her over, filling her with one hard thrust as though his life depended on it.
Stabbed by hunger, she ran her hands once more down his back before pulling his hips towards her. “I need you, Max.”
He looked at her for a long moment before replying: “I need you too.”
They moved together then, increasing their pace towards that ultimate release that they craved so much. Liz cried out as the waves of ecstasy flowed through her and Max followed instantaneously, racked by the same flood of sensation.
They lay panting in each other’s arms afterwards, basking in the completion only they could bring each other.
Max finally braced himself on his forearms and brushed her tousled hair from her face. “New memories.” It sounded like a promise.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Shilla was starting to lose hope. She had been chatting with some of the other servants in the palace at James’ request, but so far, no one was able to help her about the gentleman in Tess’ bedroom. All she had managed to find out was that there had been a steady stream of men visiting that bedroom in the past few years. If ever Shilla had doubts about the way that Max had handled his destiny and his choice, they were eradicated by this news.
She also made sure to tell the others about the amazing relationship between the Antarian Royal Couple, knowing that the news would soon reach everyone of importance in the Palace. But she kept carefully quiet about Liz’s pregnancy. By tomorrow night, there will be no doubt who Max’s real mate is…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Liz had taken Maria for a stroll through the palace grounds late the afternoon, giving the guys the chance to prepare for Michael’s proposal. They were surrounded by 10 men and no amount of pleading from Liz’s side to decrease the number had made an impression on Max. If someone wanted to get to his wife and child, they would have to go through quite a few bodies to do it. He had kissed her hard before they left, telling her to stay in contact.
“Check in time, chicca,” Maria told her with an amused grin while folding her arms and waiting for Liz to concentrate on letting Max know where they were and that they were still safe. “Boy, that man is adorable when he freaks out over you like this.”
“Haha, let’s go back and dress up for dinner.”
“Why?”
“Because… it’s our first dinner together and I-I’m trying to help Max make new memories here in this place.” Liz hoped that sounded convincing.
Maria looped her arm through Liz’s. “Eew, it must be a bit disconcerting for him to suddenly remember doing the nasty with Tess…” She felt Liz go rigid next to her and hastily tried to fix her blunder. “Damn, Lizzie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”
“It’s okay. He doesn’t exactly remember that yet. Just that they were married…”
Stopping to pull Liz around to look at her, Maria took her hands. “You know that will never happen again, right? That she might be his past but—”
“I know. Thanks for telling me again, though.”
Maria hoped that Max has remembered all he was going to remember about his marriage to Tess. And for once, she was glad she didn’t get flashes of Michael’s past when he was with her, because she was very sure that she would not take seeing him and Isabel together very well.
“He’s crazy about you, Liz. What normal husband makes love with his wife at all hours of the day after nearly eight years of marriage?” Liz was starting to grin. “Come on, I saw how you glowed when you came out of that room this afternoon!”
“Maria!”
“And I saw King Max’s silly I’ve-been-getting-happy-with-Liz smile! We’ve been seeing it for years and we were all just too polite to say anything.”
Neither of the two women noticed that all the guards were trying to hide their own grins by now.
“Let’s go get dressed, Maria.” Liz’s cheeks were flaming by now. She had no idea that they were so obvious!
Max was waiting in the entrance hall when they got back and he looked at Maria as if she was losing her mind when she burst into hysterical giggles upon seeing him.
“She’s just-just insane,” Liz assured him as she kissed his warm mouth quickly and bundled Maria upstairs to where Isabel was waiting. It was make-over time!
The guys just stayed out of the way until all the primping and dressing was done upstairs and they watched appreciatively as the girls all came down the stairs in evening wear.
“Whoa, Michael, who managed to get you into a tux?” Maria walked over to her boyfriend of many years who seemed struck dumb at the moment.
Max sighed, took Liz’s hand and led them all outside to a large balcony from where they could see the three moons that orbited Dendar. A small table with two place settings was waiting for them.
“Don’t tell me this is one of Max’s little Liz schemes—”
“Maria,” Michael interrupted her and led her over to the table while their friends stood waiting at the door.
“What?” She truly seemed at a loss and looked over at Liz who was smiling at her broadly. “What?”
“Maria…” Michael was struggling again. “This is for you. For us.”
“I don’t… Michael Guerin!” Her sudden shriek made everyone jump.
“I—I don’t want you to live in sin anymore, so will you—”
“Yes!” She flung herself at him, raining kisses all over his face before finally pulling back. “Wait, you are asking me to marry you, right?”
This made them all burst out laughing and Nick took that as his cue to appear.
Maria cried her eyes out throughout the bonding ceremony. She couldn’t believe this was finally happening. For once, she was not one of the people in the small circle around Max and Liz, but was inside, with her space boy. Surrounded by her friends. Her mother would be so proud!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Later that night, while Max was lying in bed holding Liz and staring up at the ceiling of their room, his mind returned to what had happened in that other bedroom. He knew he had to go back there and see if maybe he couldn’t remember something concrete. He gingerly moved away from Liz, but kept his hand on her bare arm until she got used to not having him plastered to her back.
Crossing the little lounge area, he walked resolutely towards the closed door. Nothing was worse than uncertainty.
Pushing the heavy door open, he immediately felt the pressure in his temples. Not even bothering to turn on a light, he fumbled his way to the bed and sat down. He heard voices in his head.
His own, indignant: “I can’t do this, Mother.”
A female voice: “It’s for the best, Zan. She is a beautiful and wonderful girl.”
His again, upset. “She’s not…”
“She’s not who? What is going on with you these last few months?”
Despair washed over him as he heard himself plead: “Please don’t ask me to do this…”
He was shivering by the time the flash ended. This at least confirmed what he already knew, he had not wanted to marry Tess. Rubbing his face tiredly, he became aware of Nick’s presence in the room, watching him silently.
“Liz sent me,” he clarified. “She thought I might be able to help you.”
“There is something about this room…” Max waved his hand.
“It was your parents’ room whenever the family stayed here. It became yours once you married.”
“Where did I sleep before...” He couldn’t even say it.
“In the room Michael and Maria are sharing.”
Damn, there was no way he was bothering those two tonight, but he desperately wanted to go to that room to see if he remembered anything from there. Maybe tomorrow…
“Nick, are you sure there was no one like Liz around on Antar? Could she have been in my life without any else’s knowledge?”
Taking a long time to answer, Nick finally stated: “I don’t know, Max. I’m beginning to think your parents showed me what they wanted me to see. If I had not heard some stories about you and-and Tess from the elders, I wouldn’t have known you were unhappily married. They certainly did not show me that. I only saw scenes from your life at war, growing up… Only one or two things from when you were married.” He met Max’s gaze in the moonlight. “If you are asking whether you might have had a mistress… I guess its possible.”
Max stared at his clasped hands. It was possible, yes, but why did he feel like he wouldn’t have done that to Liz even then? His heart rebelled at the thought. No, whatever his Shani had been in his previous life, she had not been his mistress.
tbc
The Experiment Series (ML, CC / Mautre) (Complete)
Moderators: Itzstacie, Forum Moderators
49+50
PART 49
The day of the ball was hectic. After breakfast, Nick had hustled Max out of the suite for an endless round of meetings and discussions, leaving Maria and Shilla with their hands in their hair as Liz cried her way through her first bout of nausea without Max. They managed to get her back in bed later, where she curled up clutching his pillow as her sobs turned to hiccups.
“Why do I have to share him with these people?” Normally unselfish Liz Evans was having another hormonal breakdown and if Maria didn’t fear for her life, she would have laughed hysterically. Liz was acting so… not Liz. Now Liz was punching the poor pillow in what Maria suspected was an effort to get back at Max for leaving her here. Poor guy, he would really need all his Prince Charming qualities to see through this pregnancy!
Alex was off with Michael, “scoping out” the palace, while Isabel was working on what everyone will be wearing during the function.
By mid-afternoon, Max had met a dizzying number of officials from the four planets, all of who immediately wanted him to hear their side of the story. He had politely asked all of them to wait until the talks start for real.
They had still not gotten word from James about who Tess was seeing. James had been instructed to stay glued to Liz’s side at any moment that Max was not with her, so he had posted two other men to continue monitoring Tess’ movements. She had not left her rooms all day and the men watching her had orders not to let her attend the function.
When Max got back to the suite, he found his wife in his sister’s room, being fitted for an Antarian evening dress. There really was no such thing, but Isabel had decreed that she was not going to the function in the normal top, skirt and robe. So she was “tweaking” their traditional garbs a little. He watched them in silence from the doorway for a moment, smiling as he felt Liz’s joy at his presence. Isabel would not let her turn around, though, so he walked closer and kissed Liz’s neck. “Hey.”
“Max!” Isabel said in irritation. “Don’t get in my way.”
“Hi Max,” Liz answered. “How was your day?” She sounded worried. “Did all the meetings go okay?”
Completely ignoring Isabel’s warning, he stepped closer until he was against Liz’s back and encircled her waist with his arms. “It was fine. How was yours?”
“Ugh, I was really sick this morning, but other than that, nothing to report.”
“Max Evans, get out of this room!” Isabel was glaring at him now and Max sighed before kissing Liz’s cheek.
“See you in a little bit.”
He left and found Michael and Maria on their way out to the balcony. “Hey. Would you two mind if I just went in your room for a while? It was my room when we were… here before.”
Maria immediately looked alarmed. “Are you sure you should do it now? What if—”
“I’ll be fine, Maria, don’t worry.”
“Maxwell—”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t be too long outside, we don’t want to be late for the first intergalactic party on our honor!” He gave them a small smile and waited till they had gone out before entering their rooms. He braced himself for the images that would assail him, but none came. Curious, he stepped further into the lounge and walked over to the bedroom. His bedroom. A flash of familiarity washed over him as his hand pressed against the door.
His heart was starting to pound. What would he remember when he got inside? He was so afraid that it would be something that would be horrible to Liz.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly stepped inside, his eyes finding the wide bed immediately. He had known exactly where it was in the room!
The dull ache in his temples was back, but not nearly as intense as last night. He gingerly sat down on the edge of the bed. The rush of images nearly knocked him to the floor.
It was Liz. Liz everywhere. Liz in the sun, in the moonlight, in the dark. Liz outside, in a ballroom, in a space ship, in this room.
Max fell backwards onto the bed, trying to catch his breath and calm his heart rate. He felt a desperate longing as he watched her visage floating across his mind’s eye. She was smiling at him, laughing at him, looking at him seriously. Looking at him with passion in her big doe eyes. Shani. She was always just out of his reach, and he felt his urgency increase. He needed to get a hold of her, make sure she could never just leave. Need crashed over him. “Don’t leave me, I need you.” His voice sounded strained and hoarse in the silence of the room. “Please, she means nothing to me…”
Cool hands cupped his face and he felt the sweetest relief. It lifted his body on a swell of pure gratitude as he finally managed to grab onto her and hold her to him. “You mean everything to me.” It was mumbled into her hair, the silky tresses smelling so wonderfully familiar. He was shuddering in reaction, clinging to her as if she would disappear into thin air if he allowed even a millimeter of air between them.
“Max?” The soft question invaded his churning mind, smoothing it over with a gentle touch.
“Oh God, I thought you had left me! My Shani.” He gripped her hair in his fist, pressing her face into his neck as his other hand swept down her back to urge her body into closer contact with his. “I have to do this. Please understand. I hate this… She’s not you.”
Holding him tightly, Liz tried to make sense out of all the things that he was muttering. So far, all she knew was that he seemed to believe that she had left him in his previous life.
“She’s not you,” he repeated in a defeated voice. “What can I tell them? They’ve never seen you! I can’t explain how I feel to them. This feeling inside me… it’s not something our people know.”
He pressed his mouth against her temple. “You taste so sweet. How did I know this is what you would taste like? It scares me.”
Inside his mind, Liz was sitting and listening to him intently, her head tilted to the side slightly. She had never looked more beautiful to him. But her eyes were filling with tears, causing a sharp stabbing pain in his heart. “Don’t cry. She’s not you. She can never be you, but… I don’t know what to do!”
“You have to follow your destiny.”
The soft words made him reel in shock. “Don’t ask me to give you up, please.” She was disappearing in front of his eyes. “Please…” It was a frantic sob.
It was too much for Liz. Max was literally coming apart emotionally, she felt his despair and loneliness as if it were her own. “Max!” She pulled her head back so she could press her lips against his. “Max, look at me.”
She was kissing him! Confusion assailed him as he felt her warm mouth move over his. She was kissing him! His hands found her face as he opened his mouth, kissing her back.
It was a bruising kiss. One that spoke of so many emotions.
I love you, she told him over and over through their connection. I’ll never leave again.
He couldn’t get enough of her lips. To finally be able to kiss her like this was overwhelming and glorious. Their tongues mated and he had a sudden vivid picture of them tangled together on a bed, bodies striving for the closest contact possible between two people. He trembled at how right it felt. “Liz…” His eyes blinked open at the name. Liz?
Reality came back with a rush. Max broke away from Liz, gentling his embrace as he stared at her in shock. Her mouth was puffy and red from his hard kiss and her hair was in total disarray. “Liz?” He smoothed a trembling hand over her cheek and jaw.
“You were remembering things, but you were very upset, so I came closer and-and you grabbed me.”
Comprehension was finally setting in. He remembered sitting down on the bed and then the visions had hit him. He sat up carefully, lifting Liz to sit on his lap. “Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head. “Are you okay? I was scared that you wouldn’t… come back from wherever you went.”
“Yeah. I… It was… upsetting.”
“What did you see?”
“You again. You everywhere. I was trying to explain to you about marrying Tess, I think. You were crying and you told me to follow my destiny. Then you… disappeared.” His tortured gaze found hers. “It felt like part of me was ripped out.”
“I’m sorry, Max. I’ll never leave again. I promise.” She leaned her forehead against his and repeated her vow. “I promise.”
“I don’t understand this. How could I know you, be in love with you? You are human. Antarians didn’t know love.”
“They must have known it at one stage, they have a word for ‘beloved’” she pointed out.
“Yeah.” Max’s forehead was crinkled in thought. Why did he keep seeing Liz alone in these memories? And why had they both been saying things they had said to each other in this life of his on earth? Nothing about this made sense.
“We should go get dressed for the ball,” Liz reminded him gently. “Will you be okay to go?”
He nodded and lifted her to her feet so he could stand up. He caught her hand when she turned away to go. “Liz, I-I just want to say thank you. For making this life of mine so perfect. I have never had an unhappy day since we got together.” He kissed her lightly.
Smiling up at him, Liz countered: “Well, I don’t have a previous life that I know of to relate this one to, but I can honestly say that I won’t need another one to find happiness. I love you, Max Evans.”
She gasped when he swung her up in his arms unexpectedly. “Max! What are you doing?”
“I need to take a shower. And I need for you to take it with me.” A short and simple answer, hiding so much more.
“Only if I can work the soap buttons,” she grinned up at him impishly.
They had reached the hallway, causing everyone to stop and stare at them.
“Oh crap, we are so going to be late,” Alex exclaimed after them. “Do you not fear the wrath of Princess Isabel? Are you insane? Don’t do this, Max! I beg of you! For the sake of humanity… err, Antarianity.” His dramatic antics had everyone laughing loudly.
But Max and Liz were ignoring them totally…
PART 50
Butterflies were fluttering wildly in Liz’s stomach, and for once, it had nothing to do with the half-alien baby she was carrying. They were outside the hall where the ball in their honor is being held and from the din coming through the doors, there were lots of people there. She was practically clinging to Max’s hand and arm while she concentrated on taking deep breaths to calm herself. She needed to be poised and graceful, not hysterical and embarrassing tonight. This was for Max.
She looked completely gorgeous. Max had stared at her in awe when she finally emerged wearing a snow-white dress that reminded him slightly of her wedding dress. The bodice hugged her curves while the skirt was wide and full. His Royal seal was put around the seam of the skirt as a dark green border. She looked like she was floating when she walked. He needed to thank Izzy for this later.
Now they were waiting to be officially introduced and Liz was trying very hard not to let her panic show. He pulled her in front of him, smiling down into her anxious eyes. “Don’t worry, sweet, everything will be fine.”
“How do you know? I could trip over my dress! I could spill stuff. I could—”
Max stopped her babbling by kissing her soundly. The sensations of their love-making in the shower not too long ago were still with them and the kiss quickly turned steamy. He curved his arm around her waist, bringing her as close to him as her wide skirt would allow and urged her mouth to open wider for him.
Isabel’s scandalized exclamation went unheard.
Lifting herself onto the tips of her toes, Liz kissed Max back with ardor. She gloried in him licking her lips and sucking on them. In his possessive embrace. In the way his mind whispered ‘My Shani’ to her.
A sudden silence brought Max back to his senses. The doors to the hall had opened and everyone was staring at them in complete amazement.
“Errr, the King and Queen of Antar and their families,” the announcement eventually rang out.
Max felt awful when he saw the shock on Liz’s face. Coming to a sudden decision, he stepped forward with Liz and said: “Ladies and Gentlemen, meet my Shani and my wife, Liz.”
Everyone was bowing low before them when Max dipped Liz over his arm and kissed her again. This was met with a huge roar of applause and some relieved sighs from behind Max and Liz.
“I love you, you romantic idiot!” Liz said to him when she was finally on her feet again.
“And I’m going to kick your ass,” Isabel hissed at him when she swept past.
“Glowing and grinning again, Lizzie,” Maria was laughing.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The two men guarding Tess’ door had stopped her from leaving earlier when she wanted to go to the ball. Their ears were still ringing from her furious shrieking, but now everything seems quiet in her rooms. They kept watch anxiously, knowing how important this was to their King.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
James was standing to the side of the crowds milling about in the big hall, his eyes never leaving Liz. She was surrounded by important women from Dendar, as well as various apparently fawning men. Max was on the other side of the hall, talking to the King of Dendar and some of his closest aides, but James noticed that Max also kept an eye on Liz.
Which is why it was so amazing that none of them saw anything coming. One moment all was well, the following Tess was next to an oblivious Liz with a furious expression on her face.
Max was halfway across the hall before anyone else had even moved. A terrible fear had taken hold of him and caused adrenaline to pump through his veins like crazy. James was shoving people out of the way ruthlessly as he also bore down on his Queen.
“So you think you’re the Queen now?” Tess suddenly said in Liz’s ear, grabbing her arm and holding her immobile. “I don’t think so.”
“Tess!” Max cried, but he was still too far away to really do anything.
“Oh, look! He sure is predictable. Right on cue, my darling husband.” Tess was grinning at Max’s stricken expression.
“Liz, love…” Max felt tears come to his eyes as he saw the trust in Liz’s gaze.
Everybody around them was frozen in shock as Tess held a glowing hand to Liz’s head. “Tell them she is not really your wife, and I’ll let her live.”
“Tess…” Max felt dizzy with all the emotions crashing over him. He needed to keep Liz safe and he had never hated Tess as much as he did that minute. “I’ll do anything, please… Just let her go.”
“That’s clever of you,” she smirked at him as Max watched the tears run down Liz’s cheeks helplessly. A little circle had formed around them by now, Michael, James, Isabel, Alex, Nick, Maria and some more of the guards were standing tensely on the periphery of what now seemed to be a final showdown.
“So tell these people, Zan. Tell them you really were married to me and this is just your little mistress. And while you’re at it, tell dear Lizzie how hot we were together.”
Max swallowed. “I—I love you, Liz.” He stared at her, willing her to see what a lie his next words were going to be. “I—”
“This is an outrage!” The voice of the elderly King of Dendar boomed across the strange gathering. “What is the meaning of this?” He had walked over with difficulty and was looking between Max and Tess.
“I apologize, Your Highness,” Max said quietly, his eyes never leaving Liz.
“I wish merely for the King of Antar to announce me as his true Queen and admit that this is his royal concubine,” Tess announced. “It is my rightful position and I want it officially declared.” She cast a sweet glance at the elderly King. “I’m sorry I had to resort to this, but my husband seems intent on ignoring my existence.”
“I remember you two being bonded here in this palace at a big function many rotations ago.” The King’s announcement made Tess grin as Max cringed and Liz bit her lip. “But I also remember that it was a political liaison that Zan was not too happy about.” Everyone stared at him in shock. “Also, that was previously. As to what is true during this life, that we can easily determine.”
“How?” Tess’ voice had gotten an edge. “This is a human girl, she is not Antarian—”
“That doesn’t matter. If they are bonded, there is a way.” The King turned to Max. “Do you agree to this test?”
“Yes!” Max was overjoyed. Only the glowing hand against Liz’s head kept him from any rash actions.
Liz felt a piercing heat invade her brain. “Max…” she whispered before blackness enveloped her.
A roar of pure rage erupted from Max as he jumped forward to catch Liz in his arms. He jerked her away from Tess, just as James yanked Tess away from Liz. The force broke the hold she had on Liz.
An all-consuming fear took hold of Max as he knelt on the floor, cradling Liz. She was completely still in his arms.
“Oh my God, Max!” Maria was at his side immediately. She gave his dazed face one look and shook his arm. “Snap out of it, you have to see what’s wrong! Max! Liz and the baby need you!”
He felt like everyone was talking to him down a long, dark tunnel. Liz needs you. It echoed in his mind and he took a shuddering breath before moving his hands over her head gently. “Liz, baby, you have to let me in…”
He got no response.
Your baby needs you. Maybe he could try… He put a shaking hand on Liz’s stomach, nearly sobbing in relief when the glow appeared immediately. He concentrated on the presence of his baby, finding it and using it to find Liz. “I love you. Come back to me. Please. Come back.” Even the carefully controlled Dendarians could not fail to be moved by what was happening. Maria and Isabel were in tears with Max, while Michael and Alex tried very hard not to lose it themselves.
Please help me help Mommy. We can’t be without her. Max was talking to his baby in desperation by now. While his mind knew that his baby was barely three weeks old and not much bigger than a few cells, his heart refuse to go on facts right now.
The heat under his hand became more intense and suddenly he was in! He desperately healed blood vessels and cells in Liz’s brain, as he begged her to fight.
He was nearly finished when he had a flash of himself holding the hand of a little boy as they watched the most important woman in their lives smile at them. Both Max and Liz opened their eyes at the same time, grabbing each other in a fierce grip as they trembled in relief. No words were spoken, they knew exactly how the other one felt.
Very soon, a towering rage started replacing Max’s relief and he finally looked up at Tess. She quaked when she saw his death glare. “Tess—”
The King of Dendar stepped into the fray again. “We will give you a few minutes to recuperate from this, but then I will have to make a ruling.” He looked at Tess. “You have made a serious accusation against the King of Antar and I have to warn you, if this proves false and you have threatened the life of the true Queen of Antar, there will be serious consequences.”
Max could barely control himself. “No, I want to finish this now.” He got to his feet and held Liz against his side. She was leaning against him for support.
The King nodded. “Give me your hand.” He held out his hand to Tess.
Still in the firm and hurtful grip of James, Tess held out her hand reluctantly. After motioning Max to do the same, the elderly King moved their hands until their palms faced each other, a few inches of space between them. He closed his eyes, apparently concentrating on something.
The hush in the crowd became even more quiet as a faint glow appeared between Max and Tess’ hands, depicting a swirling blue mist with no real shape or form.
The Dendar King’s face gave nothing away as he dropped Tess’ hand and lifted Liz’s. Her eyes clung to Max’s, she had no idea what the glow meant, but surely it must mean something.
As soon as their palms faced each other, a bright light appeared between them, one that slowly condensed into the form of the Antarian Royal seal. Max gripped Liz to him tighter as they saw the proof.
“Just as I suspected,” the King announced. He pointed to Max and Liz. “Bonded and consummated in this lifetime.” He waved at Tess. “Bonded but not consummated in a previous life-time.” He motioned his own guards over. “Take her away and incarcerate her.” He looked at Tess again. “Be glad we don’t punish people with death anymore, for what you did was surely enough to warrant such a sentence. As it is, you will not be seen on this planet or any other, ever again.”
Max hardly heard the other King as he apologized for what happened and told Max to take Liz for some rest and see if they can join the party again later. He lifted Liz up against his chest and left the ballroom with long strides, his little band of friends hurrying behind him.
“Max, I’m okay,” Liz tried.
“I’m not,” was all he said in reply.
Back in their suite, the others watched him take the stairs at a
near run and disappear into their rooms.
“Oh my God,” was all Maria could get out.
“Ditto,” Michael said.
“So… he didn’t sleep with Tess in his previous life? Way to go, Max!” Alex didn’t mean it to sound flippant, just amazed. How the hell were the rest of them supposed to live up to Max?
~*~*~*~*~*~
In the room, Max put Liz carefully on the bed before kneeling next to it, taking her hand and dropping his head to the mattress. Then he did something he hadn’t done in a long time.
He cried.
Liz slid to the floor and wrapped herself around him, crying with him for so many reasons. For the fear and terror they had both felt. With relief that they were safe now. For knowing that they truly were linked in the eyes of the universe. For finally having Tess out of their lives for good. And for finding the most precious love the universe could produce.
And for now knowing they were going to have a son…
tbc
The day of the ball was hectic. After breakfast, Nick had hustled Max out of the suite for an endless round of meetings and discussions, leaving Maria and Shilla with their hands in their hair as Liz cried her way through her first bout of nausea without Max. They managed to get her back in bed later, where she curled up clutching his pillow as her sobs turned to hiccups.
“Why do I have to share him with these people?” Normally unselfish Liz Evans was having another hormonal breakdown and if Maria didn’t fear for her life, she would have laughed hysterically. Liz was acting so… not Liz. Now Liz was punching the poor pillow in what Maria suspected was an effort to get back at Max for leaving her here. Poor guy, he would really need all his Prince Charming qualities to see through this pregnancy!
Alex was off with Michael, “scoping out” the palace, while Isabel was working on what everyone will be wearing during the function.
By mid-afternoon, Max had met a dizzying number of officials from the four planets, all of who immediately wanted him to hear their side of the story. He had politely asked all of them to wait until the talks start for real.
They had still not gotten word from James about who Tess was seeing. James had been instructed to stay glued to Liz’s side at any moment that Max was not with her, so he had posted two other men to continue monitoring Tess’ movements. She had not left her rooms all day and the men watching her had orders not to let her attend the function.
When Max got back to the suite, he found his wife in his sister’s room, being fitted for an Antarian evening dress. There really was no such thing, but Isabel had decreed that she was not going to the function in the normal top, skirt and robe. So she was “tweaking” their traditional garbs a little. He watched them in silence from the doorway for a moment, smiling as he felt Liz’s joy at his presence. Isabel would not let her turn around, though, so he walked closer and kissed Liz’s neck. “Hey.”
“Max!” Isabel said in irritation. “Don’t get in my way.”
“Hi Max,” Liz answered. “How was your day?” She sounded worried. “Did all the meetings go okay?”
Completely ignoring Isabel’s warning, he stepped closer until he was against Liz’s back and encircled her waist with his arms. “It was fine. How was yours?”
“Ugh, I was really sick this morning, but other than that, nothing to report.”
“Max Evans, get out of this room!” Isabel was glaring at him now and Max sighed before kissing Liz’s cheek.
“See you in a little bit.”
He left and found Michael and Maria on their way out to the balcony. “Hey. Would you two mind if I just went in your room for a while? It was my room when we were… here before.”
Maria immediately looked alarmed. “Are you sure you should do it now? What if—”
“I’ll be fine, Maria, don’t worry.”
“Maxwell—”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t be too long outside, we don’t want to be late for the first intergalactic party on our honor!” He gave them a small smile and waited till they had gone out before entering their rooms. He braced himself for the images that would assail him, but none came. Curious, he stepped further into the lounge and walked over to the bedroom. His bedroom. A flash of familiarity washed over him as his hand pressed against the door.
His heart was starting to pound. What would he remember when he got inside? He was so afraid that it would be something that would be horrible to Liz.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly stepped inside, his eyes finding the wide bed immediately. He had known exactly where it was in the room!
The dull ache in his temples was back, but not nearly as intense as last night. He gingerly sat down on the edge of the bed. The rush of images nearly knocked him to the floor.
It was Liz. Liz everywhere. Liz in the sun, in the moonlight, in the dark. Liz outside, in a ballroom, in a space ship, in this room.
Max fell backwards onto the bed, trying to catch his breath and calm his heart rate. He felt a desperate longing as he watched her visage floating across his mind’s eye. She was smiling at him, laughing at him, looking at him seriously. Looking at him with passion in her big doe eyes. Shani. She was always just out of his reach, and he felt his urgency increase. He needed to get a hold of her, make sure she could never just leave. Need crashed over him. “Don’t leave me, I need you.” His voice sounded strained and hoarse in the silence of the room. “Please, she means nothing to me…”
Cool hands cupped his face and he felt the sweetest relief. It lifted his body on a swell of pure gratitude as he finally managed to grab onto her and hold her to him. “You mean everything to me.” It was mumbled into her hair, the silky tresses smelling so wonderfully familiar. He was shuddering in reaction, clinging to her as if she would disappear into thin air if he allowed even a millimeter of air between them.
“Max?” The soft question invaded his churning mind, smoothing it over with a gentle touch.
“Oh God, I thought you had left me! My Shani.” He gripped her hair in his fist, pressing her face into his neck as his other hand swept down her back to urge her body into closer contact with his. “I have to do this. Please understand. I hate this… She’s not you.”
Holding him tightly, Liz tried to make sense out of all the things that he was muttering. So far, all she knew was that he seemed to believe that she had left him in his previous life.
“She’s not you,” he repeated in a defeated voice. “What can I tell them? They’ve never seen you! I can’t explain how I feel to them. This feeling inside me… it’s not something our people know.”
He pressed his mouth against her temple. “You taste so sweet. How did I know this is what you would taste like? It scares me.”
Inside his mind, Liz was sitting and listening to him intently, her head tilted to the side slightly. She had never looked more beautiful to him. But her eyes were filling with tears, causing a sharp stabbing pain in his heart. “Don’t cry. She’s not you. She can never be you, but… I don’t know what to do!”
“You have to follow your destiny.”
The soft words made him reel in shock. “Don’t ask me to give you up, please.” She was disappearing in front of his eyes. “Please…” It was a frantic sob.
It was too much for Liz. Max was literally coming apart emotionally, she felt his despair and loneliness as if it were her own. “Max!” She pulled her head back so she could press her lips against his. “Max, look at me.”
She was kissing him! Confusion assailed him as he felt her warm mouth move over his. She was kissing him! His hands found her face as he opened his mouth, kissing her back.
It was a bruising kiss. One that spoke of so many emotions.
I love you, she told him over and over through their connection. I’ll never leave again.
He couldn’t get enough of her lips. To finally be able to kiss her like this was overwhelming and glorious. Their tongues mated and he had a sudden vivid picture of them tangled together on a bed, bodies striving for the closest contact possible between two people. He trembled at how right it felt. “Liz…” His eyes blinked open at the name. Liz?
Reality came back with a rush. Max broke away from Liz, gentling his embrace as he stared at her in shock. Her mouth was puffy and red from his hard kiss and her hair was in total disarray. “Liz?” He smoothed a trembling hand over her cheek and jaw.
“You were remembering things, but you were very upset, so I came closer and-and you grabbed me.”
Comprehension was finally setting in. He remembered sitting down on the bed and then the visions had hit him. He sat up carefully, lifting Liz to sit on his lap. “Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head. “Are you okay? I was scared that you wouldn’t… come back from wherever you went.”
“Yeah. I… It was… upsetting.”
“What did you see?”
“You again. You everywhere. I was trying to explain to you about marrying Tess, I think. You were crying and you told me to follow my destiny. Then you… disappeared.” His tortured gaze found hers. “It felt like part of me was ripped out.”
“I’m sorry, Max. I’ll never leave again. I promise.” She leaned her forehead against his and repeated her vow. “I promise.”
“I don’t understand this. How could I know you, be in love with you? You are human. Antarians didn’t know love.”
“They must have known it at one stage, they have a word for ‘beloved’” she pointed out.
“Yeah.” Max’s forehead was crinkled in thought. Why did he keep seeing Liz alone in these memories? And why had they both been saying things they had said to each other in this life of his on earth? Nothing about this made sense.
“We should go get dressed for the ball,” Liz reminded him gently. “Will you be okay to go?”
He nodded and lifted her to her feet so he could stand up. He caught her hand when she turned away to go. “Liz, I-I just want to say thank you. For making this life of mine so perfect. I have never had an unhappy day since we got together.” He kissed her lightly.
Smiling up at him, Liz countered: “Well, I don’t have a previous life that I know of to relate this one to, but I can honestly say that I won’t need another one to find happiness. I love you, Max Evans.”
She gasped when he swung her up in his arms unexpectedly. “Max! What are you doing?”
“I need to take a shower. And I need for you to take it with me.” A short and simple answer, hiding so much more.
“Only if I can work the soap buttons,” she grinned up at him impishly.
They had reached the hallway, causing everyone to stop and stare at them.
“Oh crap, we are so going to be late,” Alex exclaimed after them. “Do you not fear the wrath of Princess Isabel? Are you insane? Don’t do this, Max! I beg of you! For the sake of humanity… err, Antarianity.” His dramatic antics had everyone laughing loudly.
But Max and Liz were ignoring them totally…
PART 50
Butterflies were fluttering wildly in Liz’s stomach, and for once, it had nothing to do with the half-alien baby she was carrying. They were outside the hall where the ball in their honor is being held and from the din coming through the doors, there were lots of people there. She was practically clinging to Max’s hand and arm while she concentrated on taking deep breaths to calm herself. She needed to be poised and graceful, not hysterical and embarrassing tonight. This was for Max.
She looked completely gorgeous. Max had stared at her in awe when she finally emerged wearing a snow-white dress that reminded him slightly of her wedding dress. The bodice hugged her curves while the skirt was wide and full. His Royal seal was put around the seam of the skirt as a dark green border. She looked like she was floating when she walked. He needed to thank Izzy for this later.
Now they were waiting to be officially introduced and Liz was trying very hard not to let her panic show. He pulled her in front of him, smiling down into her anxious eyes. “Don’t worry, sweet, everything will be fine.”
“How do you know? I could trip over my dress! I could spill stuff. I could—”
Max stopped her babbling by kissing her soundly. The sensations of their love-making in the shower not too long ago were still with them and the kiss quickly turned steamy. He curved his arm around her waist, bringing her as close to him as her wide skirt would allow and urged her mouth to open wider for him.
Isabel’s scandalized exclamation went unheard.
Lifting herself onto the tips of her toes, Liz kissed Max back with ardor. She gloried in him licking her lips and sucking on them. In his possessive embrace. In the way his mind whispered ‘My Shani’ to her.
A sudden silence brought Max back to his senses. The doors to the hall had opened and everyone was staring at them in complete amazement.
“Errr, the King and Queen of Antar and their families,” the announcement eventually rang out.
Max felt awful when he saw the shock on Liz’s face. Coming to a sudden decision, he stepped forward with Liz and said: “Ladies and Gentlemen, meet my Shani and my wife, Liz.”
Everyone was bowing low before them when Max dipped Liz over his arm and kissed her again. This was met with a huge roar of applause and some relieved sighs from behind Max and Liz.
“I love you, you romantic idiot!” Liz said to him when she was finally on her feet again.
“And I’m going to kick your ass,” Isabel hissed at him when she swept past.
“Glowing and grinning again, Lizzie,” Maria was laughing.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The two men guarding Tess’ door had stopped her from leaving earlier when she wanted to go to the ball. Their ears were still ringing from her furious shrieking, but now everything seems quiet in her rooms. They kept watch anxiously, knowing how important this was to their King.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
James was standing to the side of the crowds milling about in the big hall, his eyes never leaving Liz. She was surrounded by important women from Dendar, as well as various apparently fawning men. Max was on the other side of the hall, talking to the King of Dendar and some of his closest aides, but James noticed that Max also kept an eye on Liz.
Which is why it was so amazing that none of them saw anything coming. One moment all was well, the following Tess was next to an oblivious Liz with a furious expression on her face.
Max was halfway across the hall before anyone else had even moved. A terrible fear had taken hold of him and caused adrenaline to pump through his veins like crazy. James was shoving people out of the way ruthlessly as he also bore down on his Queen.
“So you think you’re the Queen now?” Tess suddenly said in Liz’s ear, grabbing her arm and holding her immobile. “I don’t think so.”
“Tess!” Max cried, but he was still too far away to really do anything.
“Oh, look! He sure is predictable. Right on cue, my darling husband.” Tess was grinning at Max’s stricken expression.
“Liz, love…” Max felt tears come to his eyes as he saw the trust in Liz’s gaze.
Everybody around them was frozen in shock as Tess held a glowing hand to Liz’s head. “Tell them she is not really your wife, and I’ll let her live.”
“Tess…” Max felt dizzy with all the emotions crashing over him. He needed to keep Liz safe and he had never hated Tess as much as he did that minute. “I’ll do anything, please… Just let her go.”
“That’s clever of you,” she smirked at him as Max watched the tears run down Liz’s cheeks helplessly. A little circle had formed around them by now, Michael, James, Isabel, Alex, Nick, Maria and some more of the guards were standing tensely on the periphery of what now seemed to be a final showdown.
“So tell these people, Zan. Tell them you really were married to me and this is just your little mistress. And while you’re at it, tell dear Lizzie how hot we were together.”
Max swallowed. “I—I love you, Liz.” He stared at her, willing her to see what a lie his next words were going to be. “I—”
“This is an outrage!” The voice of the elderly King of Dendar boomed across the strange gathering. “What is the meaning of this?” He had walked over with difficulty and was looking between Max and Tess.
“I apologize, Your Highness,” Max said quietly, his eyes never leaving Liz.
“I wish merely for the King of Antar to announce me as his true Queen and admit that this is his royal concubine,” Tess announced. “It is my rightful position and I want it officially declared.” She cast a sweet glance at the elderly King. “I’m sorry I had to resort to this, but my husband seems intent on ignoring my existence.”
“I remember you two being bonded here in this palace at a big function many rotations ago.” The King’s announcement made Tess grin as Max cringed and Liz bit her lip. “But I also remember that it was a political liaison that Zan was not too happy about.” Everyone stared at him in shock. “Also, that was previously. As to what is true during this life, that we can easily determine.”
“How?” Tess’ voice had gotten an edge. “This is a human girl, she is not Antarian—”
“That doesn’t matter. If they are bonded, there is a way.” The King turned to Max. “Do you agree to this test?”
“Yes!” Max was overjoyed. Only the glowing hand against Liz’s head kept him from any rash actions.
Liz felt a piercing heat invade her brain. “Max…” she whispered before blackness enveloped her.
A roar of pure rage erupted from Max as he jumped forward to catch Liz in his arms. He jerked her away from Tess, just as James yanked Tess away from Liz. The force broke the hold she had on Liz.
An all-consuming fear took hold of Max as he knelt on the floor, cradling Liz. She was completely still in his arms.
“Oh my God, Max!” Maria was at his side immediately. She gave his dazed face one look and shook his arm. “Snap out of it, you have to see what’s wrong! Max! Liz and the baby need you!”
He felt like everyone was talking to him down a long, dark tunnel. Liz needs you. It echoed in his mind and he took a shuddering breath before moving his hands over her head gently. “Liz, baby, you have to let me in…”
He got no response.
Your baby needs you. Maybe he could try… He put a shaking hand on Liz’s stomach, nearly sobbing in relief when the glow appeared immediately. He concentrated on the presence of his baby, finding it and using it to find Liz. “I love you. Come back to me. Please. Come back.” Even the carefully controlled Dendarians could not fail to be moved by what was happening. Maria and Isabel were in tears with Max, while Michael and Alex tried very hard not to lose it themselves.
Please help me help Mommy. We can’t be without her. Max was talking to his baby in desperation by now. While his mind knew that his baby was barely three weeks old and not much bigger than a few cells, his heart refuse to go on facts right now.
The heat under his hand became more intense and suddenly he was in! He desperately healed blood vessels and cells in Liz’s brain, as he begged her to fight.
He was nearly finished when he had a flash of himself holding the hand of a little boy as they watched the most important woman in their lives smile at them. Both Max and Liz opened their eyes at the same time, grabbing each other in a fierce grip as they trembled in relief. No words were spoken, they knew exactly how the other one felt.
Very soon, a towering rage started replacing Max’s relief and he finally looked up at Tess. She quaked when she saw his death glare. “Tess—”
The King of Dendar stepped into the fray again. “We will give you a few minutes to recuperate from this, but then I will have to make a ruling.” He looked at Tess. “You have made a serious accusation against the King of Antar and I have to warn you, if this proves false and you have threatened the life of the true Queen of Antar, there will be serious consequences.”
Max could barely control himself. “No, I want to finish this now.” He got to his feet and held Liz against his side. She was leaning against him for support.
The King nodded. “Give me your hand.” He held out his hand to Tess.
Still in the firm and hurtful grip of James, Tess held out her hand reluctantly. After motioning Max to do the same, the elderly King moved their hands until their palms faced each other, a few inches of space between them. He closed his eyes, apparently concentrating on something.
The hush in the crowd became even more quiet as a faint glow appeared between Max and Tess’ hands, depicting a swirling blue mist with no real shape or form.
The Dendar King’s face gave nothing away as he dropped Tess’ hand and lifted Liz’s. Her eyes clung to Max’s, she had no idea what the glow meant, but surely it must mean something.
As soon as their palms faced each other, a bright light appeared between them, one that slowly condensed into the form of the Antarian Royal seal. Max gripped Liz to him tighter as they saw the proof.
“Just as I suspected,” the King announced. He pointed to Max and Liz. “Bonded and consummated in this lifetime.” He waved at Tess. “Bonded but not consummated in a previous life-time.” He motioned his own guards over. “Take her away and incarcerate her.” He looked at Tess again. “Be glad we don’t punish people with death anymore, for what you did was surely enough to warrant such a sentence. As it is, you will not be seen on this planet or any other, ever again.”
Max hardly heard the other King as he apologized for what happened and told Max to take Liz for some rest and see if they can join the party again later. He lifted Liz up against his chest and left the ballroom with long strides, his little band of friends hurrying behind him.
“Max, I’m okay,” Liz tried.
“I’m not,” was all he said in reply.
Back in their suite, the others watched him take the stairs at a
near run and disappear into their rooms.
“Oh my God,” was all Maria could get out.
“Ditto,” Michael said.
“So… he didn’t sleep with Tess in his previous life? Way to go, Max!” Alex didn’t mean it to sound flippant, just amazed. How the hell were the rest of them supposed to live up to Max?
~*~*~*~*~*~
In the room, Max put Liz carefully on the bed before kneeling next to it, taking her hand and dropping his head to the mattress. Then he did something he hadn’t done in a long time.
He cried.
Liz slid to the floor and wrapped herself around him, crying with him for so many reasons. For the fear and terror they had both felt. With relief that they were safe now. For knowing that they truly were linked in the eyes of the universe. For finally having Tess out of their lives for good. And for finding the most precious love the universe could produce.
And for now knowing they were going to have a son…
tbc
51+52
PART 51
It was late by the time they returned to the ball as Max and Liz had had a lot to talk about. They arrived in the hall to another round of applause and more deep bows and smiles. Maria and Alex took to partying in abandon due to the relief of not being scared about Tess anymore. Maria had attempted to drag Michael onto the dance floor but he bluntly refused, so she was out there now with Alex, getting into moves that these poor Dendarians have never seen in their lives.
This time, James stayed right next to Liz, not caring if he got in the way of some fancy Dendarian that wanted to talk to her. Max had also been at her side for most of the time, but now he was talking to the old King of Dendar in the corner. Although the three girls were mostly taller than the Dendar men, it was clear that Liz, Maria and Isabel were being greatly admired for their beauty.
“So you knew me… before?” Max asked the other King.
The old man looked at him speculatively. “Yes. You do not remember?”
Carefully choosing his words, Max’s gaze found Liz in the crowd before turning back to the King. “Only bits and pieces. Did I get married here?”
“The bonding ceremony was conducted on Antar, but the celebration was held here on Dendar. The war was getting more intense, so your parents thought it best. You were… killed a few weeks after the bonding. In the war.”
Max was quiet for a long time. “This may seem like a strange question to you, but… do you know if I was… involved with someone else before the bonding?”
The King looked at him strangely. “Actually, no. Your mother always said you were a loner and she was getting worried that you would never settle down with your chosen mate. That’s why they finally pushed through the bonding with Ava… Tess.”
Max bent his head as the familiar feeling of despair flooded him again at the memories of his “wedding”. He kept feeling that he was betraying someone. Betraying Liz. “No one else, huh?”
“Not that we were aware of. Why?”
“I—I just keep remembering someone else. And no one can tell me if I really knew her or not.” His eyes met Liz’s across the room, she was surrounded by men.
“Well, you might ask some of the servants. They usually know everything. I’m sure there are still some around that might have been working here then.” The King watched Max nod but his eyes stayed on his mate. “I need to urge you to some caution about something else.” He waited until he had Max’s full attention. “Remember that these peace talks are necessary because of the threats made by Tresar. Well, the current military ruler of Tresar, Dak’or, is a hard man. It was him that asked for you to be here and I suspect he wants to make sure no one from Antar will ever bother him again. Be careful of him.”
“Where is he? Still on Tresar?”
“No, he has been here on Dendar for some time. Threatening us with war unless we all agree to Tresar’s domination in this galaxy.” The King’s eyes narrowed. “Their young King was sent on a mission many rotations ago and never returned. We all wondered what happened to him. You haven’t by any chance run into him somewhere?”
Thinking back to a strange meeting on a street in Roswell many years ago, when two former enemies had both been frantic enough about their women to forget that they used to be out to destroy one another. Max saw the strained face of Eric, the once King of Tresar in his mind’s eye as Eric told him that he just wanted to disappear and enjoy his life with his human love, Sarah. “Uhm, no, not that I know of.”
Looking over at Liz again, he saw that she now had even more guys around her. “Excuse me, Your Highness.”
None of the men were really bothering her, but Liz still felt relief when she saw Max striding over to her purposefully. She maneuvered herself away from the group and met Max halfway.
“Dance with me?”
“Always,” she told him as he pulled her into his arms.
“I wonder if those two ever do anything that doesn’t look like a slow-motion scene from a Harlequin romance,” Alex asked Maria from where they were still dancing gaily.
“No. They are Cinderella and Prince Charming or hadn’t you noticed?” Maria glanced at Michael who was watching her with brooding eyes from the side of the hall. She smiled at him brilliantly. “We got the screwed up members of the gang. On the brighter side, Lizzie is going to look like a beached whale soon because Prince Charming can’t keep his, err… hands to himself while I will still be gorgeously thin. It would probably be the only time I was the tiniest girl in this little group, so I’m gonna enjoy it while it lasts.”
Max twirled Liz around the floor, hugging her close to his body and resting his cheek against her hair. A shiver went through his body when he remembered how close he had been to losing her. “You are so precious to me, do you know that?”
She looked up at him. “Because of the precious cargo I’m carrying?”
His eyes widened in alarm. “No Liz, that’s not—”
“Don’t worry, I’m kidding. I know you love me for more than being the mother of your baby.”
“You better believe that,” he said feelingly and kissed her in front of the many witnesses.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
***TWO MONTHS LATER***
The peace talks had been dragging on for months and Max was losing patience with it all. He spent endless hours in meetings, talking to all the sides. He flew all over Dendar to various meeting places, pleading various cases, but whatever he came up with, Dak’or refused the idea. He wanted Dendar to submit to his rule peacefully, or there would be war.
In the process, Max and Liz saw very little of each other. Many nights he would come in late to find that she had tried to wait up for him and had fallen asleep on the couch. And when he was away from the palace on one of his trips, they would not see each other for days. Max was starting to hate Dak’or with a passion for keeping him away from Liz during her pregnancy. She never cried when he took his leave of her, but he knew she did as soon as he was out of sight and the knowledge would put him in a foul mood for the first part of each trip. It hadn’t taken long for his traveling companions to learn to stay out of his way after he said goodbye to Liz every time.
And at the rate things were going now, they would never sort out this mess…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max had gone to see Tess just before they put her in the sphere. He had wanted to know where Nacedo was, but she had just laughed in his face, saying that he would never find the shapeshifter again.
“And I would watch my mousy wife and kid if I were you, Max Evans. Dak’or will avenge what you have done to me once he rules everywhere. And he will let me out of here.”
That was how Max found out who Tess had been sleeping with lately.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Observing the cocky Dak’or from the other side of the negotiation room, Max wondered how the man can still be so arrogant while there were rumors of an uprising coming from Tresar. But he dismissed the thoughts from his mind as an image of Liz came into his mind’s eye. Tonight he was flying back to see her, come hell or high water. Even if he could only be with her for an hour before he needed to come back to this outpost, he would still go.
The rumblings of trouble on Tresar reached the Dendar palace too and Shilla raced down the corridor to find Liz. She eventually located her outside on the balcony with Maria. “Your Highness!” Her cry made the two women jump in surprise.
Seeing the hopeful look on Liz’s face, Shilla felt like kicking herself. Max and Michael have been away for a week and Liz was slowly wilting in Max’s absence. “Sorry for interrupting. It’s just that…” She sent Liz an apologetic glance for not bringing her the news she was hoping for. “There are rumors that the King of Tresar had returned to his planet and that he is taking back power! Dak’or is being overthrown!”
“You’re kidding!” Maria said. “Wasn’t Eric the King of—”
Liz sprang to her feet, her eyes filling with hope. What if Eric could finally end the long negotiations and Max can stop being so involved? What if this meant that she could see Max for more than a few hours at a time?
Cold fear followed hope. What if Dak’or did something desperate to the delegations of the other planets that were congregated at the outpost for the negotiations? What if something happened to Max? She put her hands over her stomach defensively. Daddy will be back, sweetheart. I know he will. But she was talking to herself more than to their little boy.
“Uhm…” Shilla was still shuffling around nervously. “There is something else…”
Liz looked at her fearfully. “What?”
“I think I have found someone that may have known Max in his previous life here. Someone that may be able to answer some of his questions.”
Not sure how to react to this news, Liz looked at Maria before asking: “You have? Who?”
“It’s an old woman. She says she was Max’s servant when he used to stay here.” Shilla hoped that she had done something good, but Liz was reacting strangely.
“I want to go see her,” Liz announced suddenly.
“Chicca, I think you should wait for Max.” Maria had risen in concern. “He’s gonna flip if you do this without him!”
“Maria, we don’t know when he is coming back and… I need to know. It’s about my life too.”
“I still think—”
But Liz was determined. “I’m going, Maria.” She turned to Shilla. “Find out if she can see me later this afternoon.”
Shilla curtsied and quickly left. What had she done now? The old woman had seemed a bit creepy, but she seemed to know a lot of things about Max. Maybe she would have some good news for Max and Liz.
Or maybe she wouldn’t…
PART 52
Smoothing her hands over her stomach and waist in front of the mirror, Liz felt tears welling in her eyes. Who was she kidding? She had no waist. This is what Max will see whenever he finally came back from the outpost. Her new, fat body! Tugging her top downwards to fit it more snugly over her curves, she thought wryly that maybe her slightly bigger breasts would make up for her growing stomach. Max had never said anything, but she knew she was not as well endowed as a lot of other women. And men like that, don’t they? What did he see in her? The tears were starting to spill over now.
“Lizzie?” Maria came in as Liz spun around guiltily from the mirror and tried to wipe away her tears. “What is wrong?”
“I’m fat!” Liz cried in despair. “And-and… how can he love me?”
“Whoa! Liz, calm down, babe. I don’t think it’s good for Max junior if you get so upset!” She hurried over and dragged Liz away from the mirror. This is another melt-down you owe me for, Max Evans! “Besides, are you high? Max practically drools over you all his life and you think he doesn’t think you’re pretty?” She patted Liz’s back when Liz collapsed on the bed. “Lizzie, love is about so much more than what the other person looks like! If I hear him one more time about your laugh or about how smart you are, I’m gonna barf. You’re his best friend too, you know.”
“I know, but—”
“No, see, you have to count your blessings, because you got the alien with actual communication skills. Me, I have to go on grunts and other nonsensical sounds to know what Michael is trying to say.”
“But I want him to like what I look like too! And I’m… not…” Liz sounded silly even to herself.
“Excuse me! Did he, or did he not drag you out of an official dinner last week when he got back?”
“Yes…” Liz answered in a small voice.
“You’re not going to tell me it was because he wanted to talk to you in private, are you?”
“No.”
“And that he couldn’t stand to see you undressed or to touch you?”
“No.” Liz was smiling by now.
“Didn’t think so. Lizzie, I wish you could see the way he looks at you sometimes when he thinks you won’t notice. He adores you.” She rubbed Liz’s arm. “And now you’re giving him something no one else ever has. A son.” She giggled. “So I’d say it’s safe to assume that you are just this side of a goddess to him right now.”
“Ugh, Maria! I am so lame! Nearly four months pregnant and really hormonal. How do you all live with me?”
“Well, mostly ‘cause we don’t have a choice! And because Max threatens us with horrible torture if we don’t pamper you.”
They laughed together until Liz sobered up. “Maria, I miss him so much!”
“I know. I miss Space Boy too…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max rubbed his face tiredly. The afternoon session was not going well. Gee, that’s a surprise. Dak’or has changed his demands yet again. Now he wanted the King of Dendar to relinquish his position as well. The man was clearly getting more power hungry as the negotiations progressed. It was like he was deliberately playing games with them all for his own amusement. Well, Max was not amused.
One of Dak’or’s advisors was droning on about the new ruling structure they envisaged for the Whirlwind galaxy when Max felt a shiver run down his spine. He looked at Nick and Michael, but neither of them was showing signs of anything but extreme boredom. His connection to Liz was still stronger than normally through his son, but they were basically on opposite sides of Dendar at the moment. This feeling wasn’t coming through their connection, it was more like a… premonition.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The old woman had consented to see Liz late the afternoon. James had thrown a huge fit when she told him to let her go alone and refused point-blank. In fact, his exact words were: ‘there is no way in hell you are going in there alone’ and when she mentioned that he was being real snippy with his Queen, he pointed out that he was only following the very specific instructions from his King. No amount of sulking from Liz’s side had worked, so when she started off to see the woman, she had James, two other men and Grace in tow.
Her name was Hora, she told Liz. They were sitting in one corner of a huge room, with Liz’s entourage watching them carefully from the other side. Hora had stated that her knowledge was for the ears of Liz alone, so everyone else had had to move back.
“I remember you,” were the first words from her mouth, making Liz shiver. She had strange, intense eyes that were watching Liz enigmatically. “I can’t believe he is making the same mistake again.”
What did that mean? “Was I here? Did I know… Zan?” Her heart was going like a trip-hammer.
“Yes,” Hora answered. “Although I wished you didn’t, you and Zan knew each other.”
A cold hand was starting to close around Liz’s throat. The woman did not look very friendly. “What do you mean? Why does no one else remember me then?”
“He snuck off to see you and only about three of us knew. He was completely besotted with you. We had never seen anything like that here on Dendar. It was like you put him in a trance and he cared about nothing else but you.”
Biting her lip, tears started forming in Liz’s eyes. “But… I loved him too, right?”
Hora looked at her coldly for a long time. “I don’t see how you could have.”
This elicited a gasp from Liz. “W—why?”
“Because you were seeing someone else too. And you got pregnant by that someone else. Ironic in the light of your present condition, isn’t it?” She leaned forward and put her hand on Liz’s stomach for a few seconds.
The tears spilled over now. Everything inside her was screaming no. No, she could never have done that to Max. “I—I don’t remember any of it.”
“Maybe that is for the best then. He never knew about the other man’s baby. You left him before he found out. He was devastated and I think it made him reckless during the war.” Those eyes pinned Liz again. “Recklessness led to his death.”
A sob escaped Liz as she placed one hand over her womb and the other over her mouth. It felt like a white-hot knife was twisting around and around in her heart. “No…”
“Yes.”
“No…” She was starting to feel dizzy. “P—please…”
James was at her side, glaring at Hora. “What did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
James looked at Liz worriedly. She was staring in front of her in a daze, her cheeks wet with moisture. “Let’s go. This was a bad idea,” he told her and gently helped her to her feet.
“You will begin to remember soon,” Hora called after her as James practically carried her out.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The memories started flooding over her after she had lain on the bed listlessly for an hour. And each one made her more sick.
Teasing Zan until he panted for her but never allowing him more than short touches and kisses. Meeting him in all sorts of places to tease him some more. Sex with some other man she couldn’t see the face of. Finding out she was pregnant about the same time Max heard about his bonding with Tess. Telling Max to follow his destiny and seeing him break down and cry, begging her not to leave him.
Her whimper brought Maria and Grace out of the chairs they had been occupying next to her bed. “Lizzie, what did she say to you? You are scaring us!”
Maybe I could just stop breathing, she thought idly. That would be so much better than to see Max’s face when he remembered what she had done to him.
“If she told you some crap story about Max not loving you, it’s a lie. You know that!” Maria tried again.
This only led to another soft moan from Liz.
One of James’ men came in quietly and spoke to Grace and James. “I can’t get hold of him. The guards are saying that the door to the negotiations room is locked and they are not allowed in, so they can’t go tell him.” Max, if ever there was a time you should rely on your connection with your wife, this would be it, James thought.
Panic permeated the Antarian royal suite. News about Liz’s complete breakdown had soon reached everyone’s ears and there was a constant stream of anxious people to the little lounge outside Max and Liz’s room. No one knew what to do and everyone was praying that Max returned soon. Also, that they would not be around to see his reaction when he saw Liz.
Liz continued to swing between hysterical thoughts that what she was remembering could not possibly be true and a horrible suspicion that she had really betrayed and used Max like that. It felt like thousands for voices were all yelling in her head at once and she didn’t know how to make them stop.
How would she ever look Max in the eyes again? How could he ever trust her? Oh god, but I’ve done nothing but love him during this life! Please let him remember that too. A helpless sob was torn from her throat. “I love him,” she whispered, causing everyone to run to the bed again.
“Where the hell is Max!” Isabel said from the doorway. “He is the damn King, why can someone not break down the door wherever he is and get him out here?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max was in agony. He had started feeling nauseous somewhere during the late afternoon and had just started to rise to get out of there when Dak’or barred the doors from the inside. Furious words were flung around the room and finally it became clear that the Tresar King had taken back his throne and was on the way to get rid of Dak’or too.
It was killing him. He needed to get home because something was going on with Liz that threatened to force all the air from his lungs. She was alive, that much he knew. But she was in absolute emotional distress.
Dak’or was still standing at the door, his men keeping an eye over the VIP’s congregated in the room when something inside Max snapped. He got to his feet determinedly, not even noticing that Michael was right behind him.
As they did that, several things happened all at once. The door was blown in from the outside, throwing Dak’or to the floor. Max felt a dull ache in his shoulder from what must have been a shot from one of the guards’ blasters. He didn’t care, he stumbled over the fallen men until he could reach Dak’or. Grabbing him by the lapels, he jerked him upright and they both came face-to-face with Eric.
“Max, nice to see you again!” Eric was beaming. “And thanks for holding him for me.”
Shoving Dak’or at his once-again King and pressing a hand against his bleeding shoulder, Max ground out: “Eric. Nice to see you again, but I have to go. Can we catch up later?”
“Sure!” Eric was puzzled, but he definitely needed to sort out some things here as well. “Say hi to Liz from Sarah and I.”
That made Max falter on the way out. “Yeah. Bring Sarah to the palace soon. Sorry about this.” But I have to go, my heart is calling me home.
Stumbling outside while ignoring the wound in his shoulder, Max shouted at his guards to get a move on so they could leave. Then he saw their faces and felt despair rip through him all over again. They all looked like they knew something terrible and didn’t want to tell him. “Let’s go,” he told them once again.
They didn’t need to tell him.
His heart was being torn into little pieces inside his chest as he could literally hear Liz’s heart break over the thousands of miles separating them. He needed to get to her before she gave up completely…
tbc
It was late by the time they returned to the ball as Max and Liz had had a lot to talk about. They arrived in the hall to another round of applause and more deep bows and smiles. Maria and Alex took to partying in abandon due to the relief of not being scared about Tess anymore. Maria had attempted to drag Michael onto the dance floor but he bluntly refused, so she was out there now with Alex, getting into moves that these poor Dendarians have never seen in their lives.
This time, James stayed right next to Liz, not caring if he got in the way of some fancy Dendarian that wanted to talk to her. Max had also been at her side for most of the time, but now he was talking to the old King of Dendar in the corner. Although the three girls were mostly taller than the Dendar men, it was clear that Liz, Maria and Isabel were being greatly admired for their beauty.
“So you knew me… before?” Max asked the other King.
The old man looked at him speculatively. “Yes. You do not remember?”
Carefully choosing his words, Max’s gaze found Liz in the crowd before turning back to the King. “Only bits and pieces. Did I get married here?”
“The bonding ceremony was conducted on Antar, but the celebration was held here on Dendar. The war was getting more intense, so your parents thought it best. You were… killed a few weeks after the bonding. In the war.”
Max was quiet for a long time. “This may seem like a strange question to you, but… do you know if I was… involved with someone else before the bonding?”
The King looked at him strangely. “Actually, no. Your mother always said you were a loner and she was getting worried that you would never settle down with your chosen mate. That’s why they finally pushed through the bonding with Ava… Tess.”
Max bent his head as the familiar feeling of despair flooded him again at the memories of his “wedding”. He kept feeling that he was betraying someone. Betraying Liz. “No one else, huh?”
“Not that we were aware of. Why?”
“I—I just keep remembering someone else. And no one can tell me if I really knew her or not.” His eyes met Liz’s across the room, she was surrounded by men.
“Well, you might ask some of the servants. They usually know everything. I’m sure there are still some around that might have been working here then.” The King watched Max nod but his eyes stayed on his mate. “I need to urge you to some caution about something else.” He waited until he had Max’s full attention. “Remember that these peace talks are necessary because of the threats made by Tresar. Well, the current military ruler of Tresar, Dak’or, is a hard man. It was him that asked for you to be here and I suspect he wants to make sure no one from Antar will ever bother him again. Be careful of him.”
“Where is he? Still on Tresar?”
“No, he has been here on Dendar for some time. Threatening us with war unless we all agree to Tresar’s domination in this galaxy.” The King’s eyes narrowed. “Their young King was sent on a mission many rotations ago and never returned. We all wondered what happened to him. You haven’t by any chance run into him somewhere?”
Thinking back to a strange meeting on a street in Roswell many years ago, when two former enemies had both been frantic enough about their women to forget that they used to be out to destroy one another. Max saw the strained face of Eric, the once King of Tresar in his mind’s eye as Eric told him that he just wanted to disappear and enjoy his life with his human love, Sarah. “Uhm, no, not that I know of.”
Looking over at Liz again, he saw that she now had even more guys around her. “Excuse me, Your Highness.”
None of the men were really bothering her, but Liz still felt relief when she saw Max striding over to her purposefully. She maneuvered herself away from the group and met Max halfway.
“Dance with me?”
“Always,” she told him as he pulled her into his arms.
“I wonder if those two ever do anything that doesn’t look like a slow-motion scene from a Harlequin romance,” Alex asked Maria from where they were still dancing gaily.
“No. They are Cinderella and Prince Charming or hadn’t you noticed?” Maria glanced at Michael who was watching her with brooding eyes from the side of the hall. She smiled at him brilliantly. “We got the screwed up members of the gang. On the brighter side, Lizzie is going to look like a beached whale soon because Prince Charming can’t keep his, err… hands to himself while I will still be gorgeously thin. It would probably be the only time I was the tiniest girl in this little group, so I’m gonna enjoy it while it lasts.”
Max twirled Liz around the floor, hugging her close to his body and resting his cheek against her hair. A shiver went through his body when he remembered how close he had been to losing her. “You are so precious to me, do you know that?”
She looked up at him. “Because of the precious cargo I’m carrying?”
His eyes widened in alarm. “No Liz, that’s not—”
“Don’t worry, I’m kidding. I know you love me for more than being the mother of your baby.”
“You better believe that,” he said feelingly and kissed her in front of the many witnesses.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
***TWO MONTHS LATER***
The peace talks had been dragging on for months and Max was losing patience with it all. He spent endless hours in meetings, talking to all the sides. He flew all over Dendar to various meeting places, pleading various cases, but whatever he came up with, Dak’or refused the idea. He wanted Dendar to submit to his rule peacefully, or there would be war.
In the process, Max and Liz saw very little of each other. Many nights he would come in late to find that she had tried to wait up for him and had fallen asleep on the couch. And when he was away from the palace on one of his trips, they would not see each other for days. Max was starting to hate Dak’or with a passion for keeping him away from Liz during her pregnancy. She never cried when he took his leave of her, but he knew she did as soon as he was out of sight and the knowledge would put him in a foul mood for the first part of each trip. It hadn’t taken long for his traveling companions to learn to stay out of his way after he said goodbye to Liz every time.
And at the rate things were going now, they would never sort out this mess…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max had gone to see Tess just before they put her in the sphere. He had wanted to know where Nacedo was, but she had just laughed in his face, saying that he would never find the shapeshifter again.
“And I would watch my mousy wife and kid if I were you, Max Evans. Dak’or will avenge what you have done to me once he rules everywhere. And he will let me out of here.”
That was how Max found out who Tess had been sleeping with lately.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Observing the cocky Dak’or from the other side of the negotiation room, Max wondered how the man can still be so arrogant while there were rumors of an uprising coming from Tresar. But he dismissed the thoughts from his mind as an image of Liz came into his mind’s eye. Tonight he was flying back to see her, come hell or high water. Even if he could only be with her for an hour before he needed to come back to this outpost, he would still go.
The rumblings of trouble on Tresar reached the Dendar palace too and Shilla raced down the corridor to find Liz. She eventually located her outside on the balcony with Maria. “Your Highness!” Her cry made the two women jump in surprise.
Seeing the hopeful look on Liz’s face, Shilla felt like kicking herself. Max and Michael have been away for a week and Liz was slowly wilting in Max’s absence. “Sorry for interrupting. It’s just that…” She sent Liz an apologetic glance for not bringing her the news she was hoping for. “There are rumors that the King of Tresar had returned to his planet and that he is taking back power! Dak’or is being overthrown!”
“You’re kidding!” Maria said. “Wasn’t Eric the King of—”
Liz sprang to her feet, her eyes filling with hope. What if Eric could finally end the long negotiations and Max can stop being so involved? What if this meant that she could see Max for more than a few hours at a time?
Cold fear followed hope. What if Dak’or did something desperate to the delegations of the other planets that were congregated at the outpost for the negotiations? What if something happened to Max? She put her hands over her stomach defensively. Daddy will be back, sweetheart. I know he will. But she was talking to herself more than to their little boy.
“Uhm…” Shilla was still shuffling around nervously. “There is something else…”
Liz looked at her fearfully. “What?”
“I think I have found someone that may have known Max in his previous life here. Someone that may be able to answer some of his questions.”
Not sure how to react to this news, Liz looked at Maria before asking: “You have? Who?”
“It’s an old woman. She says she was Max’s servant when he used to stay here.” Shilla hoped that she had done something good, but Liz was reacting strangely.
“I want to go see her,” Liz announced suddenly.
“Chicca, I think you should wait for Max.” Maria had risen in concern. “He’s gonna flip if you do this without him!”
“Maria, we don’t know when he is coming back and… I need to know. It’s about my life too.”
“I still think—”
But Liz was determined. “I’m going, Maria.” She turned to Shilla. “Find out if she can see me later this afternoon.”
Shilla curtsied and quickly left. What had she done now? The old woman had seemed a bit creepy, but she seemed to know a lot of things about Max. Maybe she would have some good news for Max and Liz.
Or maybe she wouldn’t…
PART 52
Smoothing her hands over her stomach and waist in front of the mirror, Liz felt tears welling in her eyes. Who was she kidding? She had no waist. This is what Max will see whenever he finally came back from the outpost. Her new, fat body! Tugging her top downwards to fit it more snugly over her curves, she thought wryly that maybe her slightly bigger breasts would make up for her growing stomach. Max had never said anything, but she knew she was not as well endowed as a lot of other women. And men like that, don’t they? What did he see in her? The tears were starting to spill over now.
“Lizzie?” Maria came in as Liz spun around guiltily from the mirror and tried to wipe away her tears. “What is wrong?”
“I’m fat!” Liz cried in despair. “And-and… how can he love me?”
“Whoa! Liz, calm down, babe. I don’t think it’s good for Max junior if you get so upset!” She hurried over and dragged Liz away from the mirror. This is another melt-down you owe me for, Max Evans! “Besides, are you high? Max practically drools over you all his life and you think he doesn’t think you’re pretty?” She patted Liz’s back when Liz collapsed on the bed. “Lizzie, love is about so much more than what the other person looks like! If I hear him one more time about your laugh or about how smart you are, I’m gonna barf. You’re his best friend too, you know.”
“I know, but—”
“No, see, you have to count your blessings, because you got the alien with actual communication skills. Me, I have to go on grunts and other nonsensical sounds to know what Michael is trying to say.”
“But I want him to like what I look like too! And I’m… not…” Liz sounded silly even to herself.
“Excuse me! Did he, or did he not drag you out of an official dinner last week when he got back?”
“Yes…” Liz answered in a small voice.
“You’re not going to tell me it was because he wanted to talk to you in private, are you?”
“No.”
“And that he couldn’t stand to see you undressed or to touch you?”
“No.” Liz was smiling by now.
“Didn’t think so. Lizzie, I wish you could see the way he looks at you sometimes when he thinks you won’t notice. He adores you.” She rubbed Liz’s arm. “And now you’re giving him something no one else ever has. A son.” She giggled. “So I’d say it’s safe to assume that you are just this side of a goddess to him right now.”
“Ugh, Maria! I am so lame! Nearly four months pregnant and really hormonal. How do you all live with me?”
“Well, mostly ‘cause we don’t have a choice! And because Max threatens us with horrible torture if we don’t pamper you.”
They laughed together until Liz sobered up. “Maria, I miss him so much!”
“I know. I miss Space Boy too…”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max rubbed his face tiredly. The afternoon session was not going well. Gee, that’s a surprise. Dak’or has changed his demands yet again. Now he wanted the King of Dendar to relinquish his position as well. The man was clearly getting more power hungry as the negotiations progressed. It was like he was deliberately playing games with them all for his own amusement. Well, Max was not amused.
One of Dak’or’s advisors was droning on about the new ruling structure they envisaged for the Whirlwind galaxy when Max felt a shiver run down his spine. He looked at Nick and Michael, but neither of them was showing signs of anything but extreme boredom. His connection to Liz was still stronger than normally through his son, but they were basically on opposite sides of Dendar at the moment. This feeling wasn’t coming through their connection, it was more like a… premonition.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The old woman had consented to see Liz late the afternoon. James had thrown a huge fit when she told him to let her go alone and refused point-blank. In fact, his exact words were: ‘there is no way in hell you are going in there alone’ and when she mentioned that he was being real snippy with his Queen, he pointed out that he was only following the very specific instructions from his King. No amount of sulking from Liz’s side had worked, so when she started off to see the woman, she had James, two other men and Grace in tow.
Her name was Hora, she told Liz. They were sitting in one corner of a huge room, with Liz’s entourage watching them carefully from the other side. Hora had stated that her knowledge was for the ears of Liz alone, so everyone else had had to move back.
“I remember you,” were the first words from her mouth, making Liz shiver. She had strange, intense eyes that were watching Liz enigmatically. “I can’t believe he is making the same mistake again.”
What did that mean? “Was I here? Did I know… Zan?” Her heart was going like a trip-hammer.
“Yes,” Hora answered. “Although I wished you didn’t, you and Zan knew each other.”
A cold hand was starting to close around Liz’s throat. The woman did not look very friendly. “What do you mean? Why does no one else remember me then?”
“He snuck off to see you and only about three of us knew. He was completely besotted with you. We had never seen anything like that here on Dendar. It was like you put him in a trance and he cared about nothing else but you.”
Biting her lip, tears started forming in Liz’s eyes. “But… I loved him too, right?”
Hora looked at her coldly for a long time. “I don’t see how you could have.”
This elicited a gasp from Liz. “W—why?”
“Because you were seeing someone else too. And you got pregnant by that someone else. Ironic in the light of your present condition, isn’t it?” She leaned forward and put her hand on Liz’s stomach for a few seconds.
The tears spilled over now. Everything inside her was screaming no. No, she could never have done that to Max. “I—I don’t remember any of it.”
“Maybe that is for the best then. He never knew about the other man’s baby. You left him before he found out. He was devastated and I think it made him reckless during the war.” Those eyes pinned Liz again. “Recklessness led to his death.”
A sob escaped Liz as she placed one hand over her womb and the other over her mouth. It felt like a white-hot knife was twisting around and around in her heart. “No…”
“Yes.”
“No…” She was starting to feel dizzy. “P—please…”
James was at her side, glaring at Hora. “What did you tell her?”
“The truth.”
James looked at Liz worriedly. She was staring in front of her in a daze, her cheeks wet with moisture. “Let’s go. This was a bad idea,” he told her and gently helped her to her feet.
“You will begin to remember soon,” Hora called after her as James practically carried her out.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The memories started flooding over her after she had lain on the bed listlessly for an hour. And each one made her more sick.
Teasing Zan until he panted for her but never allowing him more than short touches and kisses. Meeting him in all sorts of places to tease him some more. Sex with some other man she couldn’t see the face of. Finding out she was pregnant about the same time Max heard about his bonding with Tess. Telling Max to follow his destiny and seeing him break down and cry, begging her not to leave him.
Her whimper brought Maria and Grace out of the chairs they had been occupying next to her bed. “Lizzie, what did she say to you? You are scaring us!”
Maybe I could just stop breathing, she thought idly. That would be so much better than to see Max’s face when he remembered what she had done to him.
“If she told you some crap story about Max not loving you, it’s a lie. You know that!” Maria tried again.
This only led to another soft moan from Liz.
One of James’ men came in quietly and spoke to Grace and James. “I can’t get hold of him. The guards are saying that the door to the negotiations room is locked and they are not allowed in, so they can’t go tell him.” Max, if ever there was a time you should rely on your connection with your wife, this would be it, James thought.
Panic permeated the Antarian royal suite. News about Liz’s complete breakdown had soon reached everyone’s ears and there was a constant stream of anxious people to the little lounge outside Max and Liz’s room. No one knew what to do and everyone was praying that Max returned soon. Also, that they would not be around to see his reaction when he saw Liz.
Liz continued to swing between hysterical thoughts that what she was remembering could not possibly be true and a horrible suspicion that she had really betrayed and used Max like that. It felt like thousands for voices were all yelling in her head at once and she didn’t know how to make them stop.
How would she ever look Max in the eyes again? How could he ever trust her? Oh god, but I’ve done nothing but love him during this life! Please let him remember that too. A helpless sob was torn from her throat. “I love him,” she whispered, causing everyone to run to the bed again.
“Where the hell is Max!” Isabel said from the doorway. “He is the damn King, why can someone not break down the door wherever he is and get him out here?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max was in agony. He had started feeling nauseous somewhere during the late afternoon and had just started to rise to get out of there when Dak’or barred the doors from the inside. Furious words were flung around the room and finally it became clear that the Tresar King had taken back his throne and was on the way to get rid of Dak’or too.
It was killing him. He needed to get home because something was going on with Liz that threatened to force all the air from his lungs. She was alive, that much he knew. But she was in absolute emotional distress.
Dak’or was still standing at the door, his men keeping an eye over the VIP’s congregated in the room when something inside Max snapped. He got to his feet determinedly, not even noticing that Michael was right behind him.
As they did that, several things happened all at once. The door was blown in from the outside, throwing Dak’or to the floor. Max felt a dull ache in his shoulder from what must have been a shot from one of the guards’ blasters. He didn’t care, he stumbled over the fallen men until he could reach Dak’or. Grabbing him by the lapels, he jerked him upright and they both came face-to-face with Eric.
“Max, nice to see you again!” Eric was beaming. “And thanks for holding him for me.”
Shoving Dak’or at his once-again King and pressing a hand against his bleeding shoulder, Max ground out: “Eric. Nice to see you again, but I have to go. Can we catch up later?”
“Sure!” Eric was puzzled, but he definitely needed to sort out some things here as well. “Say hi to Liz from Sarah and I.”
That made Max falter on the way out. “Yeah. Bring Sarah to the palace soon. Sorry about this.” But I have to go, my heart is calling me home.
Stumbling outside while ignoring the wound in his shoulder, Max shouted at his guards to get a move on so they could leave. Then he saw their faces and felt despair rip through him all over again. They all looked like they knew something terrible and didn’t want to tell him. “Let’s go,” he told them once again.
They didn’t need to tell him.
His heart was being torn into little pieces inside his chest as he could literally hear Liz’s heart break over the thousands of miles separating them. He needed to get to her before she gave up completely…
tbc
53+54
PART 53
Drifting between slumber and wakefulness, Liz heard someone say: “He’s coming,” in a voice that sounded more like “Thank god, he’s coming.” A sudden soft fluttering in her womb made her jerk upright and put her hand on her stomach.
“Lizzie?” Maria and Grace rushed over again.
“He moved…” she whispered. This made her cry again, because she realized how selfish her thoughts were. She was carrying Max’s baby and she owed it to him and their son to get herself under some sort of control. Max so loved this baby… She swiped at her eyes with one hand, keeping the other over her son. A sudden bout of extreme nausea had her running for the bathroom where she threw up violently.
Shilla watched all this and wanted to cry. She had been the one to take Liz to the old woman and she was the one responsible for all this. Turning away blindly she ran straight into James, who caught her in his arms. This turned her tears into outright bawling and he took her away from Liz’s room to sit her down in the dining room.
“It’s my fault!” she burst out as soon as she was seated. “What did that horrible woman tell her?”
James rubbed her hand, absently wondering why the girl’s tears made his heart ache. “We didn’t know what she would tell Liz. We still don’t know what it was. Stop blaming yourself.” Shilla turned wide, wet eyes on him and James was jolted by a sudden desire to kiss her. He blinked.
“I need to go find out!” Shilla announced abruptly, jumping up from the table. “There must be some horrible mistake. Max wouldn’t have done anything to make her feel this way…”
“I’ll go with you,” James heard himself say. What was happening to him? He watched Shilla hurry out in front of him and felt an urge to protect her. No, he was doing this for Liz and Max. Yeah, that was it…
People scattered in front of Max as he strode into their suite. His shoulder was still hurting like hell because Nick had only been able to heal him partially. Nothing hurt as much as his heart, though. He wanted to see Liz desperately, but he was also afraid of what he would find. On the way over, the guard that had gotten the message had only told him that Liz had spoken to some lady that claimed to know him in his previous life and that she had completely broken down afterwards. He relayed James’ exact words as well: “Tell Max we are extremely concerned and he needs to come home right away.” Again, it struck Max that everyone referred to wherever Liz was as his home. And how right that sounded…
He ignored Alex’s “its about time,” and entered their bedroom in a dead panic. Maria and Grace got to their feet hastily, staring at him fearfully, but Max only had eyes for Liz who was sitting on the side of the bed. A stabbing pain ripped through his heart when he saw how forlorn she looked.
“Hi Max.” But she wouldn’t look at him. More pain sliced through him.
Everyone else rushed from the room as he sat down next to her. “Don’t I get a kiss?” He had meant it to sound light-hearted, instead it sounded desperate and scared. What could I have done that was so awful she wouldn’t even look at me?
“I—I’m afraid.”
He inhaled sharply. “Of me?”
“No!” She was shaking her head sharply. “No…”
“Then what? Liz—”
“Of what you’ll see,” she interrupted him.
That shut him up. His mind struggled to cope with the change in direction. He had been sure the old woman had told her about his past life and what he’d done… “I… Love, I don’t understand?”
“Max?” She turned agony-filled eyes on him. “You know that I love you more than life itself, don’t you? That I would never do anything…” Her voice trailed off as she saw the blood on his shoulder. “What happened to you?!” She cried, jumping up.
“Never mind that right now!” he said harshly and grabbed her hand as she was pulling the edges of his clothes out of the way so she could inspect the damage. “Tell me what the hell you are talking about!” He jerked her forward until she stumbled onto his lap.
Taking hold of her chin firmly, he urged her: “Tell me.”
It came out haltingly. “She told me that you knew me. That you were… That I had…” But her eyes kept straying to his hurt shoulder. “Max! I’m so sorry for what I did then. I would never do that to you this time, please believe me! I love you so much. Please…”
This was even more confusing. She had done something bad when he knew her before? He had trouble marrying the sweet girl with the wide emotion-filled eyes from his memories with someone that might have hurt him in some way. He pulled her against him with his good arm and pressed his lips against her temple. “I know you love me, Liz,” he assured her. “How could I not after all you’ve sacrificed for me?”
She made a small hiccuping sound and turned her head so that his lips rested against her forehead. He took advantage of the little sign, sliding his hand into her hair and tugging her face back so he could kiss her. He kissed away her tears slowly, carefully taking note of all her reactions and any sign she might want to pull away. He needed to know what the woman had told her about their past, but even more than that, he needed to kiss her and make her feel secure in his love again. So he kept on brushing his lips over her cheeks, eyes, nose and forehead, feeling her relax slightly in his arms. She was starting to cling to him now and he took it as a good sign.
Moving his mouth over hers, he whispered against it: “I will never stop loving you. You’re my Shani, in this life and any other one.”
She yanked her head back so suddenly that Max was stunned for a few seconds. “What!”
“That’s just it, Max. I think our… our love in your previous life might have been a-a lie.” Her head was bent again.
A giant fist was squeezing his chest. “Why—why do you say that?”
“Oh Max! I was a horrible person in that life!”
“No, you were not,” he sounded so sure of himself that Liz felt a momentary flicker of uncertainty. But then the images of her in that other man’s embrace appeared in her mind’s eye.
“I was…” She said in a defeated tone. She had to have been to take this beautiful man’s unconditional love and trample all over it like that.
He pulled her closer again, pressing his face in the hollow between her neck and shoulder and gently moving his hand over her womb. He barely had a chance to register the faint ache in his shoulder before the flashes hit him.
Hearing the older woman’s cold words to Liz. Telling Liz how she betrayed him. Touching Liz, touching his baby. He growled in anger when he saw that and pressed his hand over her belly harder. Faint, blurry images of Liz with another faceless man, his hands all over her. Seeing the way Liz had teased him, used him.
“Oh my god!”
“Max, I’m sorry! I don’t remember! I love you—” She was weeping again, trying to pry his hand away from her stomach.
“How the hell could she do that to you!” he cried, furious at the weird old woman for putting Liz through such torment. “And why did James allow her to put her hands on you!”
It took her a few seconds to fully comprehend that he wasn’t angry with her. She looked up at him in stunned surprise. He looked absolutely frightening. “M-Max?”
Hearing his name in her wonderful voice brought him back from the brink. There would be enough time for retribution later. Right now, he held one very fragile and precious woman in his arms. “I don’t believe any of it, Liz.” He touched her wet cheek. “That isn’t you. That is not the you I fell in love with when I didn’t even know what love meant. And that isn’t the you my heart found again when I got a second chance at life.” He tilted her face so he could look into her eyes. “Please. You shouldn’t believe that either.”
She bit her lip, wanting so desperately to have as much faith as he did. “But-but I remembered things on my own. Those things… How…”
“I don’t know.” His mouth thinned in anger. “But I sure as hell am going to find out!” He stroked her hair. “My memories of you are so clear, love. And not at all similar to what you saw.”
“Maybe you just remember stuff the way you wanted them to happen…”
“I don’t think so. I never wanted you to leave me, and you did. And it hurt like crazy.” He kissed her nose again and rested his forehead against hers. “Let me show you?”
Fear raced through her. What if what he showed her confirmed her memories? Then a little voice inside her said, ‘but what if it didn’t?’ Knowing she was doing this for them both, she finally nodded tremulously.
Putting his hands on the sides of her face, he unexpectedly brushed his lips over hers first. “I love you, okay? Remember that.”
“Yes,” she breathed, staring up into his warm amber eyes. She faintly remembered her first time seeing inside his soul, his intense words: ‘just let your mind blank out…’
The flashes were vivid and she caught her breath at the way she looked at Max during them. Her past self was just as smitten with her alien king. The flashes showed her herself in places her own memories didn’t. She was wearing different clothes and she talked and laughed and told him ‘I love you’. She heard him call her ‘Shani’. And finally, she saw a quick flash of herself when she was 8 years old wearing her cupcake dress.
Max was watching her anxiously. “Now do you believe me?” It sounded like a plea.
“I don’t remember any of those things, Max. Why do I remember other things?”
“Because we still haven’t figured out what really happened in my past life. How can you be completely human now?” He pressed his face into her hair. “Just-just know that none of that matters to me now. In this life, you have been all my dreams come true.”
“You have been mine too. I can’t imagine my life without you. And… I don’t want to,” she assured him softly.
“We’ll find out what all this means, Liz. I promise.”
They kissed again, a slight edge of desperation still lingering in the kiss. Raw need raced through their bodies in response to the contact.
His mouth traced heated paths over her cheeks and jaw line until he reached her throat and groaned: “I really want to make love to you right now, but my shoulder is killing me.”
Her shocked gasp made him smile. “Don’t worry, I forgot about it too. Let’s just go find Nick and see if he can finish what he started.” He helped her to her feet and curved her tightly to his body before opening the door to their room.
A host of anxious faces looked at them, only to clear up as they saw the possessive way in which Max and Liz held each other. A clapping started that grew to a crescendo as everyone felt the need to get rid of the negative feelings of the last few hours.
That was when Shilla and James appeared, assisting an ancient woman with unseeing eyes between them. Max felt such a rush of familiarity that he had to blink away the tears.
“Zan?” Her voice was old and raspy, but it echoed in his mind, reminding him of days long past. ‘Zan get down from there!’ ‘Zan, your father is coming, you better get cleaned up.’
“Rula?” The name tumbled from his lips unbidden.
Her brilliant smile confirmed it all. “You sound just the same.”
Shilla and James brought her closer since Max seemed to be rooted to the floor. Everyone else was staring at each other in bewilderment.
“Max? Who is this?” Liz asked softly and watched as the old woman’s head swiveled towards her. Her next words caused a silence to ripple across the room.
“Have you really finally found her?”
PART 54
“Yes,” Max answered without thinking. Then his brain caught up with his heart. “Wait, found who?” Max wondered if he sounded as befuddled as he thought.
“The girl you were dreaming of all your life.” Rula answered as they helped her down into a chair. It was eerie, she looked like she was staring right at him. “You used to tell me she had silky hair that fell like a rich waterfall down her back. Eyes that were like that of a doe, dark brown, sparkling and filled with emotion.” Everyone was turning to Liz as Rula continued. “You said her voice was husky and called you home. That she was tiny and perfect and fit right under your chin. That her laugh gave you goosebumps and seeing her made your stomach rumble.”
Max was slack-jawed. “I—I dreamt of her? You mean I never actually knew her?”
A small laugh bubbled from Rula’s throat. “No, Zan. You always were a dreamer. At first I thought it was just that, dreams. But then you grew older and you kept on telling me about what you dreamt and it seemed so real. You begged me not to tell anyone, you said she should be your secret until you finally find her. Your Shani, you called her.” This elicited a gasp from everyone in the room and Liz’s eyes were misting over.
When Max finally found his voice, all he could manage was: “Liz, this is my nanny.” He pulled Liz closer and picked up Rula’s hand. “Rula, this is my Shani. My Liz.”
It was a profound and emotional moment for the three of them. Max remembered that this woman in front of him had been like a mother to him, while Rula softly held onto the hand of the girl that had bewitched her prince even before he knew her.
“Do you feel as much for him as he does for you?” she asked of Liz.
“Yes,” Liz answered simply.
“That is good then.” She touched Liz’s face and slid her hand over her hair, her smile widening when she felt the long silky tresses beneath her fingers. She lingered over Liz’s slightly bulging stomach, saying: “Are you pregnant?”
“Yes,” the softness in Liz’s voice said a lot about how she felt about her pregnancy.
Rula’s inspection eventually found Max and Liz’s linked hands. They couldn’t bear letting go of each other, even while they were hearing the most wonderful news.
“Can I speak to Liz alone?” Rula was still holding onto their hands.
“Uhm,” Max was reluctant. He still had the vision of that other old woman touching Liz in his head. Who was she then?
“It’s okay, Max,” Liz smiled up into his worried face.
Everyone watched as Liz led Rula into her and Max’s bedroom. She cast a last glance at Max before closing the door behind them.
Max swung around to locate Nick. “Would you try getting this shoulder healed completely now?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Tell me about Zan… Max as you call him,” Rula invited as they sat down on the bed.
“Okay,” Liz wondered where to start. “He is the gentlest person I’ve ever met…” She told Rula about watching him in school, wondering about him, thinking that he was so out of her league. About that day in the Crashdown when he risked all he was to save her. She told Rula how smart he was, that he had a degree in medical research, that he really was the great leader his parents had foreseen. That he was the best husband she could have asked for. That he did little things for her out of the blue. How much he loved their son already. His loyalty to his friends and people.
“You sound just like he did all those years ago,” Rula finally interrupted her.
“I do?” Liz was embarrassed.
“Yes.” She smiled. “Completely besotted. It worried me at first, because he was so adamant that you were out there somewhere and he just needed to find you. He was living his life in his dreams. And I knew he was meant for another. The day his mother told him he had to bond with Ava, he came to me. He was so distressed. He said you would leave if you knew about her. I told him you were a dream and that he could make his dreams go the way he wanted to. He just looked at me strangely and told me, ‘she’s real and she is going to think I’m betraying her’. I thought he was exaggerating. But then I saw him again after the bonding. He was so sad. ‘She’s gone’, was all he said. And I knew then, that you were his other half. That he would not rest until he found you.”
“It was chance, really, that he was sent to earth by his parents.” And Liz would thank whatever providence had made that happen until the day she died.
“Was it really chance?” Rula rubbed her hand over Liz’s womb. “Or was it destiny?”
The word made Liz flinch. For a long time, ‘destiny’ meant that Max could not be hers.
“Tell me about the baby.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max rubbed his shoulder, which was now more or less completely healed. “Will someone please tell me who this other woman was that talked to Liz?”
James and Shilla glanced at each other and stepped forward as the others silently left the lounge for other parts of the royal suite.
Noticing that James took Shilla’s hand before she started speaking, Max suddenly realized that a romance had apparently bloomed under his nose without him noticing it. He bet Liz knew, though, she always noticed stuff about people around her.
“I was asking around to find someone that could help with what happened in your past life,” Shilla informed him. “And Hora, she contacted me. She knew so many things about your life on earth and about your bonding to Tess, that I thought…” Shilla hung her head. “I’m sorry, I should’ve waited for you to come back before telling Liz.”
“Yeah,” Max sighed, “you should’ve.” His voice was mild. “Where is this woman now?”
This time James looked reluctant. “It-it wasn’t a woman. It was… Nacedo.”
Max jumped to his feet. “Nacedo?”
“Yes, and we managed to catch him as he was leaving the palace. He’s outside with Nick.”
Max was past them before the sentence was finished. He found “Ed Harding” outside and grabbed him by the throat.
“Max!” Nick yelled. “Stay calm.”
“Did you do anything to Liz?” Max asked him angrily.
“Oh damn,” Nacedo said in a sarcastic voice, “does that mean she’s still around? I thought for sure she would kill herself after seeing her less than sterling past.”
“She is stronger than you would ever know, you bastard.” Max gripped him tighter, causing him to cough. “I saw you put your hand on her, did you do anything to her?”
“N—no,” said with difficulty around the fist gripping his neck. “Only helped her with some memory retrieval.”
Max fairly threw the man at Nick. “Take him to join his wonderful Tess. I never want to see him again.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rula finally left some hours later after Max had worn a groove in the floor outside his room. “You were right, Zan,” she told him as she was leaving. “She was worth waiting for.”
He found Liz still sitting on the bed when he rushed inside. “I love you,” he blurted out and hauled her against him.
Liz trembled violently as he groaned her name between hungry kisses. She needed to tell him their son had moved, but this moment was for them only. He was holding her so tightly that she suspected she would be slightly bruised, but she didn’t care. She wanted, needed, him to hold her like that tonight. To want her like that, with the same wild intensity that she wanted him.
He kissed her as though he couldn’t get enough of her, memories from those dreams from his previous life dancing through his mind. He remembered wanting her, dying to kiss her and never being able to. His hands shaped her body, quietly taking note of the minute changes his baby has wrought on her as he molded it against his own.
“Oh god, I want you… Shani.”
His hands were on her hips. She could feel the hardness of his body as intimately as she could feel the eager swell of her own breasts and the sharp, intense ache low down in the pit of her stomach…
He undressed both of them quickly, allowing Liz only a few moments to assure herself that his shoulder was fine now before laying her down on the bed and following her to pull her into his embrace again.
Familiarity, far from decreasing the intensity of her love and desire, had only fed it, so that now merely the act of running her fingertips caressingly down his spine was enough to stir their bodies into swift arousal.
When she kissed him, tracing the hard line of his collarbone, she heard him moan softly under his breath, his hands sliding up over her body, cupping her breasts gently, caressing them. He gathered her up against him, slowly kissing her breasts, bathing them in moist heat that instantaneously turned her bones to liquid, his hands slid to her thighs stroking shape of the firm outer flesh and then more urgently stroking her soft inner skin.
Her body was eager and waiting for him, her quick moans of pleasure joining the other sounds of their love-making; the silken stroke of skin against skin, the slow suckle of Max’s mouth, the urgency of the low groan of pleasure he gave when she touched him intimately, closing her fingers around his flesh and caressing him. He was so vulnerable to her when he was like this, so much in need, the words he whispered to her, as well a the movement of his body, openly showing the depth and intensity of his love for her.
Something about the way Max watched her when she looked at him and kissed him intimately increased her aching tenderness for him and deepened her love. Now, as she caressed him lovingly with her lips, it was an attempt to show him how much he meant to her. The fulfillment of every male fantasy, she acknowledged: a woman worshipping at the fount of a man’s most essential maleness.
Tears formed in her eyes as she felt the tender way he twined his hands in her hair as soft gasps escaped his lips. What had she ever done to deserve this man’s love?
It was his turn then. Max rolled them over and touched his mouth to her skin, her throat, her breasts, the soft, smooth, slightly swollen skin of her waist and stomach and moved lower.
Liz shuddered as she looked downwards to see his dark head pressed against her body, her fingers reaching out to tighten convulsively in his dark hair as his fingers caressed her moistness. She could feel the warmth of his breath as he touched her gently with his tongue, and her whole body started to shake.
“Max, please…” It felt like ages had passed since they were together last and she needed him desperately. When he gave in to her imploring, she could taste her body in his kiss.
Her back arched and her soft cry of pleasure as he entered her was lost beneath the fierce pressure of a kiss that mimicked the slow thrust of his body within her own.
Her body closed possessively around his, so sensitive to him that every movement he made sent new pleasure spinning through her.
“Look at me,” Max had commanded as he’d entered her, the intimacy of the shared eye contact, and the shared sensations of their connection, had heightened their experience.
Their movements increased slowly until it reached an explosion of pleasure and release, so intense that they cried out each other’s names, their eyes filling with emotional tears.
Max stared down at her, seeing her struggle to get her breathing under control, and he knew. This is what he searched for through two lifetimes. His other half. The other part of his soul.
tbc
Drifting between slumber and wakefulness, Liz heard someone say: “He’s coming,” in a voice that sounded more like “Thank god, he’s coming.” A sudden soft fluttering in her womb made her jerk upright and put her hand on her stomach.
“Lizzie?” Maria and Grace rushed over again.
“He moved…” she whispered. This made her cry again, because she realized how selfish her thoughts were. She was carrying Max’s baby and she owed it to him and their son to get herself under some sort of control. Max so loved this baby… She swiped at her eyes with one hand, keeping the other over her son. A sudden bout of extreme nausea had her running for the bathroom where she threw up violently.
Shilla watched all this and wanted to cry. She had been the one to take Liz to the old woman and she was the one responsible for all this. Turning away blindly she ran straight into James, who caught her in his arms. This turned her tears into outright bawling and he took her away from Liz’s room to sit her down in the dining room.
“It’s my fault!” she burst out as soon as she was seated. “What did that horrible woman tell her?”
James rubbed her hand, absently wondering why the girl’s tears made his heart ache. “We didn’t know what she would tell Liz. We still don’t know what it was. Stop blaming yourself.” Shilla turned wide, wet eyes on him and James was jolted by a sudden desire to kiss her. He blinked.
“I need to go find out!” Shilla announced abruptly, jumping up from the table. “There must be some horrible mistake. Max wouldn’t have done anything to make her feel this way…”
“I’ll go with you,” James heard himself say. What was happening to him? He watched Shilla hurry out in front of him and felt an urge to protect her. No, he was doing this for Liz and Max. Yeah, that was it…
People scattered in front of Max as he strode into their suite. His shoulder was still hurting like hell because Nick had only been able to heal him partially. Nothing hurt as much as his heart, though. He wanted to see Liz desperately, but he was also afraid of what he would find. On the way over, the guard that had gotten the message had only told him that Liz had spoken to some lady that claimed to know him in his previous life and that she had completely broken down afterwards. He relayed James’ exact words as well: “Tell Max we are extremely concerned and he needs to come home right away.” Again, it struck Max that everyone referred to wherever Liz was as his home. And how right that sounded…
He ignored Alex’s “its about time,” and entered their bedroom in a dead panic. Maria and Grace got to their feet hastily, staring at him fearfully, but Max only had eyes for Liz who was sitting on the side of the bed. A stabbing pain ripped through his heart when he saw how forlorn she looked.
“Hi Max.” But she wouldn’t look at him. More pain sliced through him.
Everyone else rushed from the room as he sat down next to her. “Don’t I get a kiss?” He had meant it to sound light-hearted, instead it sounded desperate and scared. What could I have done that was so awful she wouldn’t even look at me?
“I—I’m afraid.”
He inhaled sharply. “Of me?”
“No!” She was shaking her head sharply. “No…”
“Then what? Liz—”
“Of what you’ll see,” she interrupted him.
That shut him up. His mind struggled to cope with the change in direction. He had been sure the old woman had told her about his past life and what he’d done… “I… Love, I don’t understand?”
“Max?” She turned agony-filled eyes on him. “You know that I love you more than life itself, don’t you? That I would never do anything…” Her voice trailed off as she saw the blood on his shoulder. “What happened to you?!” She cried, jumping up.
“Never mind that right now!” he said harshly and grabbed her hand as she was pulling the edges of his clothes out of the way so she could inspect the damage. “Tell me what the hell you are talking about!” He jerked her forward until she stumbled onto his lap.
Taking hold of her chin firmly, he urged her: “Tell me.”
It came out haltingly. “She told me that you knew me. That you were… That I had…” But her eyes kept straying to his hurt shoulder. “Max! I’m so sorry for what I did then. I would never do that to you this time, please believe me! I love you so much. Please…”
This was even more confusing. She had done something bad when he knew her before? He had trouble marrying the sweet girl with the wide emotion-filled eyes from his memories with someone that might have hurt him in some way. He pulled her against him with his good arm and pressed his lips against her temple. “I know you love me, Liz,” he assured her. “How could I not after all you’ve sacrificed for me?”
She made a small hiccuping sound and turned her head so that his lips rested against her forehead. He took advantage of the little sign, sliding his hand into her hair and tugging her face back so he could kiss her. He kissed away her tears slowly, carefully taking note of all her reactions and any sign she might want to pull away. He needed to know what the woman had told her about their past, but even more than that, he needed to kiss her and make her feel secure in his love again. So he kept on brushing his lips over her cheeks, eyes, nose and forehead, feeling her relax slightly in his arms. She was starting to cling to him now and he took it as a good sign.
Moving his mouth over hers, he whispered against it: “I will never stop loving you. You’re my Shani, in this life and any other one.”
She yanked her head back so suddenly that Max was stunned for a few seconds. “What!”
“That’s just it, Max. I think our… our love in your previous life might have been a-a lie.” Her head was bent again.
A giant fist was squeezing his chest. “Why—why do you say that?”
“Oh Max! I was a horrible person in that life!”
“No, you were not,” he sounded so sure of himself that Liz felt a momentary flicker of uncertainty. But then the images of her in that other man’s embrace appeared in her mind’s eye.
“I was…” She said in a defeated tone. She had to have been to take this beautiful man’s unconditional love and trample all over it like that.
He pulled her closer again, pressing his face in the hollow between her neck and shoulder and gently moving his hand over her womb. He barely had a chance to register the faint ache in his shoulder before the flashes hit him.
Hearing the older woman’s cold words to Liz. Telling Liz how she betrayed him. Touching Liz, touching his baby. He growled in anger when he saw that and pressed his hand over her belly harder. Faint, blurry images of Liz with another faceless man, his hands all over her. Seeing the way Liz had teased him, used him.
“Oh my god!”
“Max, I’m sorry! I don’t remember! I love you—” She was weeping again, trying to pry his hand away from her stomach.
“How the hell could she do that to you!” he cried, furious at the weird old woman for putting Liz through such torment. “And why did James allow her to put her hands on you!”
It took her a few seconds to fully comprehend that he wasn’t angry with her. She looked up at him in stunned surprise. He looked absolutely frightening. “M-Max?”
Hearing his name in her wonderful voice brought him back from the brink. There would be enough time for retribution later. Right now, he held one very fragile and precious woman in his arms. “I don’t believe any of it, Liz.” He touched her wet cheek. “That isn’t you. That is not the you I fell in love with when I didn’t even know what love meant. And that isn’t the you my heart found again when I got a second chance at life.” He tilted her face so he could look into her eyes. “Please. You shouldn’t believe that either.”
She bit her lip, wanting so desperately to have as much faith as he did. “But-but I remembered things on my own. Those things… How…”
“I don’t know.” His mouth thinned in anger. “But I sure as hell am going to find out!” He stroked her hair. “My memories of you are so clear, love. And not at all similar to what you saw.”
“Maybe you just remember stuff the way you wanted them to happen…”
“I don’t think so. I never wanted you to leave me, and you did. And it hurt like crazy.” He kissed her nose again and rested his forehead against hers. “Let me show you?”
Fear raced through her. What if what he showed her confirmed her memories? Then a little voice inside her said, ‘but what if it didn’t?’ Knowing she was doing this for them both, she finally nodded tremulously.
Putting his hands on the sides of her face, he unexpectedly brushed his lips over hers first. “I love you, okay? Remember that.”
“Yes,” she breathed, staring up into his warm amber eyes. She faintly remembered her first time seeing inside his soul, his intense words: ‘just let your mind blank out…’
The flashes were vivid and she caught her breath at the way she looked at Max during them. Her past self was just as smitten with her alien king. The flashes showed her herself in places her own memories didn’t. She was wearing different clothes and she talked and laughed and told him ‘I love you’. She heard him call her ‘Shani’. And finally, she saw a quick flash of herself when she was 8 years old wearing her cupcake dress.
Max was watching her anxiously. “Now do you believe me?” It sounded like a plea.
“I don’t remember any of those things, Max. Why do I remember other things?”
“Because we still haven’t figured out what really happened in my past life. How can you be completely human now?” He pressed his face into her hair. “Just-just know that none of that matters to me now. In this life, you have been all my dreams come true.”
“You have been mine too. I can’t imagine my life without you. And… I don’t want to,” she assured him softly.
“We’ll find out what all this means, Liz. I promise.”
They kissed again, a slight edge of desperation still lingering in the kiss. Raw need raced through their bodies in response to the contact.
His mouth traced heated paths over her cheeks and jaw line until he reached her throat and groaned: “I really want to make love to you right now, but my shoulder is killing me.”
Her shocked gasp made him smile. “Don’t worry, I forgot about it too. Let’s just go find Nick and see if he can finish what he started.” He helped her to her feet and curved her tightly to his body before opening the door to their room.
A host of anxious faces looked at them, only to clear up as they saw the possessive way in which Max and Liz held each other. A clapping started that grew to a crescendo as everyone felt the need to get rid of the negative feelings of the last few hours.
That was when Shilla and James appeared, assisting an ancient woman with unseeing eyes between them. Max felt such a rush of familiarity that he had to blink away the tears.
“Zan?” Her voice was old and raspy, but it echoed in his mind, reminding him of days long past. ‘Zan get down from there!’ ‘Zan, your father is coming, you better get cleaned up.’
“Rula?” The name tumbled from his lips unbidden.
Her brilliant smile confirmed it all. “You sound just the same.”
Shilla and James brought her closer since Max seemed to be rooted to the floor. Everyone else was staring at each other in bewilderment.
“Max? Who is this?” Liz asked softly and watched as the old woman’s head swiveled towards her. Her next words caused a silence to ripple across the room.
“Have you really finally found her?”
PART 54
“Yes,” Max answered without thinking. Then his brain caught up with his heart. “Wait, found who?” Max wondered if he sounded as befuddled as he thought.
“The girl you were dreaming of all your life.” Rula answered as they helped her down into a chair. It was eerie, she looked like she was staring right at him. “You used to tell me she had silky hair that fell like a rich waterfall down her back. Eyes that were like that of a doe, dark brown, sparkling and filled with emotion.” Everyone was turning to Liz as Rula continued. “You said her voice was husky and called you home. That she was tiny and perfect and fit right under your chin. That her laugh gave you goosebumps and seeing her made your stomach rumble.”
Max was slack-jawed. “I—I dreamt of her? You mean I never actually knew her?”
A small laugh bubbled from Rula’s throat. “No, Zan. You always were a dreamer. At first I thought it was just that, dreams. But then you grew older and you kept on telling me about what you dreamt and it seemed so real. You begged me not to tell anyone, you said she should be your secret until you finally find her. Your Shani, you called her.” This elicited a gasp from everyone in the room and Liz’s eyes were misting over.
When Max finally found his voice, all he could manage was: “Liz, this is my nanny.” He pulled Liz closer and picked up Rula’s hand. “Rula, this is my Shani. My Liz.”
It was a profound and emotional moment for the three of them. Max remembered that this woman in front of him had been like a mother to him, while Rula softly held onto the hand of the girl that had bewitched her prince even before he knew her.
“Do you feel as much for him as he does for you?” she asked of Liz.
“Yes,” Liz answered simply.
“That is good then.” She touched Liz’s face and slid her hand over her hair, her smile widening when she felt the long silky tresses beneath her fingers. She lingered over Liz’s slightly bulging stomach, saying: “Are you pregnant?”
“Yes,” the softness in Liz’s voice said a lot about how she felt about her pregnancy.
Rula’s inspection eventually found Max and Liz’s linked hands. They couldn’t bear letting go of each other, even while they were hearing the most wonderful news.
“Can I speak to Liz alone?” Rula was still holding onto their hands.
“Uhm,” Max was reluctant. He still had the vision of that other old woman touching Liz in his head. Who was she then?
“It’s okay, Max,” Liz smiled up into his worried face.
Everyone watched as Liz led Rula into her and Max’s bedroom. She cast a last glance at Max before closing the door behind them.
Max swung around to locate Nick. “Would you try getting this shoulder healed completely now?”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Tell me about Zan… Max as you call him,” Rula invited as they sat down on the bed.
“Okay,” Liz wondered where to start. “He is the gentlest person I’ve ever met…” She told Rula about watching him in school, wondering about him, thinking that he was so out of her league. About that day in the Crashdown when he risked all he was to save her. She told Rula how smart he was, that he had a degree in medical research, that he really was the great leader his parents had foreseen. That he was the best husband she could have asked for. That he did little things for her out of the blue. How much he loved their son already. His loyalty to his friends and people.
“You sound just like he did all those years ago,” Rula finally interrupted her.
“I do?” Liz was embarrassed.
“Yes.” She smiled. “Completely besotted. It worried me at first, because he was so adamant that you were out there somewhere and he just needed to find you. He was living his life in his dreams. And I knew he was meant for another. The day his mother told him he had to bond with Ava, he came to me. He was so distressed. He said you would leave if you knew about her. I told him you were a dream and that he could make his dreams go the way he wanted to. He just looked at me strangely and told me, ‘she’s real and she is going to think I’m betraying her’. I thought he was exaggerating. But then I saw him again after the bonding. He was so sad. ‘She’s gone’, was all he said. And I knew then, that you were his other half. That he would not rest until he found you.”
“It was chance, really, that he was sent to earth by his parents.” And Liz would thank whatever providence had made that happen until the day she died.
“Was it really chance?” Rula rubbed her hand over Liz’s womb. “Or was it destiny?”
The word made Liz flinch. For a long time, ‘destiny’ meant that Max could not be hers.
“Tell me about the baby.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Max rubbed his shoulder, which was now more or less completely healed. “Will someone please tell me who this other woman was that talked to Liz?”
James and Shilla glanced at each other and stepped forward as the others silently left the lounge for other parts of the royal suite.
Noticing that James took Shilla’s hand before she started speaking, Max suddenly realized that a romance had apparently bloomed under his nose without him noticing it. He bet Liz knew, though, she always noticed stuff about people around her.
“I was asking around to find someone that could help with what happened in your past life,” Shilla informed him. “And Hora, she contacted me. She knew so many things about your life on earth and about your bonding to Tess, that I thought…” Shilla hung her head. “I’m sorry, I should’ve waited for you to come back before telling Liz.”
“Yeah,” Max sighed, “you should’ve.” His voice was mild. “Where is this woman now?”
This time James looked reluctant. “It-it wasn’t a woman. It was… Nacedo.”
Max jumped to his feet. “Nacedo?”
“Yes, and we managed to catch him as he was leaving the palace. He’s outside with Nick.”
Max was past them before the sentence was finished. He found “Ed Harding” outside and grabbed him by the throat.
“Max!” Nick yelled. “Stay calm.”
“Did you do anything to Liz?” Max asked him angrily.
“Oh damn,” Nacedo said in a sarcastic voice, “does that mean she’s still around? I thought for sure she would kill herself after seeing her less than sterling past.”
“She is stronger than you would ever know, you bastard.” Max gripped him tighter, causing him to cough. “I saw you put your hand on her, did you do anything to her?”
“N—no,” said with difficulty around the fist gripping his neck. “Only helped her with some memory retrieval.”
Max fairly threw the man at Nick. “Take him to join his wonderful Tess. I never want to see him again.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rula finally left some hours later after Max had worn a groove in the floor outside his room. “You were right, Zan,” she told him as she was leaving. “She was worth waiting for.”
He found Liz still sitting on the bed when he rushed inside. “I love you,” he blurted out and hauled her against him.
Liz trembled violently as he groaned her name between hungry kisses. She needed to tell him their son had moved, but this moment was for them only. He was holding her so tightly that she suspected she would be slightly bruised, but she didn’t care. She wanted, needed, him to hold her like that tonight. To want her like that, with the same wild intensity that she wanted him.
He kissed her as though he couldn’t get enough of her, memories from those dreams from his previous life dancing through his mind. He remembered wanting her, dying to kiss her and never being able to. His hands shaped her body, quietly taking note of the minute changes his baby has wrought on her as he molded it against his own.
“Oh god, I want you… Shani.”
His hands were on her hips. She could feel the hardness of his body as intimately as she could feel the eager swell of her own breasts and the sharp, intense ache low down in the pit of her stomach…
He undressed both of them quickly, allowing Liz only a few moments to assure herself that his shoulder was fine now before laying her down on the bed and following her to pull her into his embrace again.
Familiarity, far from decreasing the intensity of her love and desire, had only fed it, so that now merely the act of running her fingertips caressingly down his spine was enough to stir their bodies into swift arousal.
When she kissed him, tracing the hard line of his collarbone, she heard him moan softly under his breath, his hands sliding up over her body, cupping her breasts gently, caressing them. He gathered her up against him, slowly kissing her breasts, bathing them in moist heat that instantaneously turned her bones to liquid, his hands slid to her thighs stroking shape of the firm outer flesh and then more urgently stroking her soft inner skin.
Her body was eager and waiting for him, her quick moans of pleasure joining the other sounds of their love-making; the silken stroke of skin against skin, the slow suckle of Max’s mouth, the urgency of the low groan of pleasure he gave when she touched him intimately, closing her fingers around his flesh and caressing him. He was so vulnerable to her when he was like this, so much in need, the words he whispered to her, as well a the movement of his body, openly showing the depth and intensity of his love for her.
Something about the way Max watched her when she looked at him and kissed him intimately increased her aching tenderness for him and deepened her love. Now, as she caressed him lovingly with her lips, it was an attempt to show him how much he meant to her. The fulfillment of every male fantasy, she acknowledged: a woman worshipping at the fount of a man’s most essential maleness.
Tears formed in her eyes as she felt the tender way he twined his hands in her hair as soft gasps escaped his lips. What had she ever done to deserve this man’s love?
It was his turn then. Max rolled them over and touched his mouth to her skin, her throat, her breasts, the soft, smooth, slightly swollen skin of her waist and stomach and moved lower.
Liz shuddered as she looked downwards to see his dark head pressed against her body, her fingers reaching out to tighten convulsively in his dark hair as his fingers caressed her moistness. She could feel the warmth of his breath as he touched her gently with his tongue, and her whole body started to shake.
“Max, please…” It felt like ages had passed since they were together last and she needed him desperately. When he gave in to her imploring, she could taste her body in his kiss.
Her back arched and her soft cry of pleasure as he entered her was lost beneath the fierce pressure of a kiss that mimicked the slow thrust of his body within her own.
Her body closed possessively around his, so sensitive to him that every movement he made sent new pleasure spinning through her.
“Look at me,” Max had commanded as he’d entered her, the intimacy of the shared eye contact, and the shared sensations of their connection, had heightened their experience.
Their movements increased slowly until it reached an explosion of pleasure and release, so intense that they cried out each other’s names, their eyes filling with emotional tears.
Max stared down at her, seeing her struggle to get her breathing under control, and he knew. This is what he searched for through two lifetimes. His other half. The other part of his soul.
tbc
55+56
PART 55
In the darkness near dawn, Liz shifted against Max’s warm, hard body and curved instinctively closer, her hand splaying over the smooth planes of his chest, her cheek resting against his shoulder. “Max,” she breathed, he had been away for so many nights during the last few months. Instant recognition combined with an instant contentment, and she would’ve drifted away again had he not tangled a hand in the mane of her tumbled hair, tipped her mouth up and kissed her.
It was like coming alive. Every skin-cell suddenly flamed into red-hot life, a kind of frantic, feverish hunger possessing her. Her response was so intense it swallowed her alive.
“Max…” She gasped again as he pinned her to the mattress beneath him and kissed her breathless, his mouth, hard, hungry, hot, exiting her beyond bearing.
In the darkness, there was no warning before his mouth closed round the engorged bud of one swelling and sensitive breast. The sensation hit her with stunning effect. Her neck extended in an arch, a stifled moan torn from her when she felt the erotic brush of his teeth. There was no time for anything, not a single thought, nothing but the raw driving intensity of need screaming through her veins.
His lips skimmed a tormenting path over the quivering muscles of her belly, his hands parting her thighs before he was kissing her intimately.
She was at screaming-point when he moved over her, every shred of physical awareness centered on the ache of emptiness between her thighs. And then he thrust into her and she moaned and arched in one taut movement, her body clenching on a pleasure so intense that she was utterly possessed by it. Her fingers raked down his back in reaction and her teeth nipped at the strong column of his throat, reveling in the raggedness of his breathing and his groan.
After that there was nothing but the long, pulsing drive for satisfaction. It went on and on. She hit the heights fast, unable to reign back the flood of release, but he didn’t stop. She had barely hit the ground level again before the frantic climb back up began. When the second climax whooshed up inside her she was wiped out.
He shuddered above her, every muscle clenching taut. She put her arms around him, holding him tightly.
“Wow, I’m sorry,” he whispered after they had calmed down. “I’m just… starved for you, I guess.” He rested his forehead against hers.
“Me too,” she whispered back.
He pulled out of her reluctantly and moved them so she was lying with her cheek on his chest. It was quiet for a long time as they watched the room get lighter.
A faint fluttering in her womb had Liz grabbing for Max’s hand and pressing it against her. “Max!”
He stared at her in confusion. “Is something wrong?”
“No! He moved!” She met his gaze. “Our son moved!”
Max was speechless as he pressed his hand over the spot where their son was. He kept remembering the serious dark-haired little boy that had held his hand and helped get his mommy to come back to them. When nothing happened, he looked Liz. “What did it feel like?”
She touched his cheek, wishing he could experience it with her. “Like some butterflies were flying around in my tummy.”
He nodded solemnly and dropped his gaze to where his hand was covering the smooth skin of her stomach. Covering his baby. “I’d love to—” A light vibration against his hand stopped his words.
Liz saw his eyes widen and close as he concentrated on the very faint feeling.
“Wow.”
When he opened his eyes again, they were moist. He moved lower on the bed and rested his cheek against her tummy while his fingers trailed over her skin. “Hey little guy. Sorry that Mommy and I got so upset yesterday. We love you,” he glanced up at Liz, “and each other very much.” He placed little kisses around her bellybutton. “And Daddy promises to be around more from now on. For you… and for Mommy.”
It was light outside when Liz woke again. She found Max on his side next to her, his hand on her stomach. His gentle kiss was heaven.
“I love you.” He sounded like he was afraid she would have forgotten it since last night.
She laced her fingers with his. “I don’t deserve you,” she told him seriously. “How can I live up to how long you have loved me?”
Tightening his grip on her fingers, he took a deep breath. “It’s not about how long either of us loved the other, it’s about how happy we’ve made each other during the time we’ve had together. And trust me, Liz Evans, my last life-time had only a few moments of happiness, when I was dreaming of you.”
She opened her mouth to answer, but he put his finger over her lips. “And you’ve given me enough during this life-time to last me another few. Let’s just think about the future from now on, okay? The past’s demons are behind us now.”
Nodding, she kissed him for being the sweetest alien in the universe. “Do you have to go back to the negotiations?” she asked him when they finally broke apart.
“I don’t know. I have so much to tell you that I didn’t get around to last night.” He smiled crookedly at her. “Let me get us breakfast, and we’ll talk.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The reunion was sweet when Eric and Sarah arrived later that day. Sarah and Liz hugged each other tightly and Sarah and Eric were joyful when the heard that baby will make three for the Evans’ soon.
“How did you know to come back now?” Max asked Eric when they all finally settled down in the little lounge off his and Liz’ bedroom.
“I’ve had informants on my planet for years and I heard how Dak’or was running the place into the ground. I figured the best time for me to come back and get rid of him was while his attention was directed at the peace negotiations. I’m sorry it took me so long to get everything sorted out on the planet.”
“So, what about the peace talks?” Liz asked. Please let them be over so Max and I can live our normal lives again.
Eric grinned and reached out to take Sarah’s hand. “I told everyone they could keep their planets as long as they left mine alone. So, I guess you could say peace has been reached.”
The relief that washed over Liz tilted her hormones into madness again and she burst into huge racking sobs that didn’t stop even when Max pulled her into his warm embrace and let her cry against his chest. She vaguely heard him thank Eric and find out some of the final details of the talks, but she could care less. All she wanted to do was go home to their little house in Albuquerque and have her son.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In the end they stayed another week. A week that saw James and Shilla become an official item. Max had smiled warmly at them when James came to ask if Shilla could accompany them back to earth.
Max had spent a lot more time with Rula too, learning about his past. He also met with the King of Dendar and Eric to finalize the peace agreement. Nothing felt as good as signing ‘Zan’ at the end of the document.
But most importantly, he had kept his first promise to his son and stayed with Liz as much as possible, talking to his unborn baby and making up for lost time with his wife. He got quite good at handling her emotional moments, causing Maria to complain that it was unfair how perfect Liz’s life always was. When Alex pointed out that Maria could have Liz’s life if she were prepared to accept that all sorts of evil people would be trying to kill her off all the time, she changed her mind.
A huge crowd saw them off when they left. This time, they all traveled on the same ship and the atmosphere was almost party-like. Shilla had gotten a little more used to all the antics of Max and Liz’s friends, but she was still getting used to the tingly feeling that overcame her every time James was near. Not to mention the melting sensation when he kissed her!
Their reception on earth was laughably small in comparison to the fanfare of their departure from Dendar. Nick had managed to contact his people to let them know the approximate time of their arrival and when the shuttle’s doors slid open, a hushed little group of parents and members of the alien colony waited for them in the dark of Frazier Woods.
Isabel and her mom were in tears, and Max took the opportunity to hug them both. Liz was being embraced by her parents who noticed her growing stomach immediately. This led to more hysteria from their parents and Max smiled at Liz, both of them knowing that their son was going to be spoilt rotten by his grandparents.
They stayed over in Roswell for a few days, telling their parents and the Valentis all about their adventures. Needless to say, Amy was very happy to hear that Michael had finally gotten around to marrying her daughter, but she made it clear that she expected him to get the official paper here on earth too. Isabel and Alex seemed closer, but were still taking things slow. Nick, Grace and Maddie returned to their home in Roswell after Nick performed the bonding ceremony of James and Shilla. And Liz had only smiled when Shilla told her shyly afterwards that she hoped she could also experience a little of the passion that Liz knew on a daily basis.
Some things were private, though, and none of the parents ever heard about an alien prince that dreamed about his perfect mate and only met her in his second chance at life on a planet far away from his own.
PART 56
***THREE MONTHS LATER***
Max was ready to lose it. Liz has been in labor for six hours and he couldn’t take it anymore.
They had all been surprised when it became clear that their son was going to be born seven months after being conceived. When the six month alien pregnancy period had lapsed, they had all just assumed that Liz’s pregnancy would follow human rules, so Max nearly passed out when she woke him up earlier this morning to say that the baby wants to be born. A few frantic phone calls later, the birthing team was on the way and Max was left trying to cope with the first stages of Liz’s labor on his own.
He had tried not to panic, he really did, but at the first sign of the pain Liz was in, he nearly freaked. He attached himself to her side and refused to be moved, even when Grace got irritated with him for being in her way after she arrived with her birthing team. He was deathly afraid that something would go wrong and he wouldn’t be near enough to fix it. Their room in their house in Albuquerque was crowded with Grace and two other women from the colony, who had been slightly taken aback by his resolute presence at Liz’s side. So far, he ignored all the bullying looks and concentrated on Liz who was coping much better than him.
A small whimper from Liz alerted him to another contraction coming on and he pressed his face against the side of her head as he held her hand through it. He kept his other hand on her stomach, trying to send heat and healing through to Liz. He waited until she started taking great, racking, relaxing breaths before kissing her cheek. “I love you. You are doing great,” he told her.
Glancing at him wryly, Liz knew he was not as calm as he tried to sound. In fact, he looked ready to keel over. She caressed his face with a smile. “Breathe, Max.”
“God, Liz, there must be something I can do!” he burst out. She was so tiny. In spite of being seven months pregnant, she was still petite and he wasn’t sure her body could take this battering. Actually, he wasn’t sure HIS body could take the battering. Surely he could help the process along. Why did he have these stupid powers if he couldn’t use them to save Liz all this pain? Surely there was some way he could hurry up his son’s entrance into the world.
“I’m fine so far. I’ll let you know if I need help,” she promised him. To tell the truth, she felt a little sad that her little boy was not going to be part of her body anymore. She’s gotten used to having him inside her and sharing such a strong connection with him. Even though she didn’t want to have the last three weeks of her pregnancy over again (she had been HUGE), she would miss the closeness with her son.
“How long is this still going to take?” Max asked Grace.
“I’m guessing about two more hours?”
Max paled, but didn’t have a chance to say anything before he had to help Liz through another contraction.
“Maa-aax!” Liz cried as the pain sliced through her belly. The others were awful, but this one felt like a thousand hot knives were cutting into her. Tears formed in her eyes as she gripped his hand and looked wildly at him. Something wasn’t wrong, was it? She had been able to cope with the pain so far, what was going on now?
“Grace!” Max called wildly. “What is going on?”
The other two women stared at their King, they had never seen him like this before. “Calm down, Max,” Grace commanded him. “Things are just starting to move faster now. It’s normal.”
Taking deep breaths, Max tried to get a hold of himself. Little did he know, his worst nightmare was just beginning!
Liz was in a fog of pain and finally her calm fled her completely. Her eyes flew open, huge and hopelessly woebegone. “It’s horrible, Max,” she wailed.
“I know, I know,” he tried to soothe.
“You don’t know,” she cried. “It’s not you suffering this… this…” She moaned and bent forward, huddling over the pain of the contraction.
She was right to some extent, he thought frantically. Some of the pain was seeping through their connection, but none of it would be as intense as she was experiencing it. “Roll onto you side, Liz,” Max urged. “I’ll rub your back.”
“It won’t help,” she sobbed.
“I’m sorry, love, but it’s all I can do for you right now…”
“Don’t just say you’re sorry, DO something,” she moaned.
Max got his hand working in circular caresses on Liz’s lower back, adding some alien healing power to the mix, and leaned over to kiss her ear. “I love you so much. This will be over soon.”
“You’re only… saying that to make me…” Grumbled between gasps of pain.
“No!” he cried out in sheer desperation. “It WILL end soon or I’ll…” He glared at Grace. “Please hurry this up!”
“Max?” a breathless question.
“Yeah?” Lord, will this never end?
“He should have… have a name…”
He leaned forward to kiss her again. He kissed her all over her flushed, beautiful face. “You pick one. Right now, I’m too upset with him for making you suffer like this.”
Shock registered in her eyes and he knew he had said the wrong thing.
“He’s YOUR… son!”
“I know! I’m sorry, it’s just… Can he come out of there already!” He pressed his forehead against hers. “I hate seeing you like this.”
“You better… be nice to… him when he’s born. You’re… responsible…” She was starting to not make sense anymore.
“I know,” he muttered. “I’m not touching you again!”
Liz moaned again and Grace glared at Max. “Are you crazy? Stop saying stupid things to her, she is having your baby!”
Nodding meekly, Max resolved to keep his mouth shut until his son is born. He broke his own rule immediately. “So, what do you want to call him?”
“Head’s engaged,” one of Grace’s assistants informed them. “You’ll feel like bearing down soon.”
Max kept rubbing her back, hoping it helped. How useless men of all species were when it got to the crunch of actually giving birth!
A groan of sheer anguish rattled his nerves anew. Liz rolled onto her back, desperately trying to stick to a breathing pattern. He grabbed her hand and her fingers dug into his like talons as she lurched forward. He quickly slipped his arm around her shoulders, hugging her supportively. His heart was hammering.
Suddenly it was all action. Instructions and encouragement were being called out. Liz was frantically trying to follow orders. Max heard himself echoing what everyone was saying, wildly anxious for it to be over.
Then a tiny baby slipped into Grace’s hands and the distinctive cry of a newborn silenced all of them. Liz fell back onto the pillow exhausted.
“It’s okay,” Max murmured, stroking her damp hair away from her damp forehead. “He’s born. It’s over. And I love you more than I can ever say.”
She smiled weakly at him. “Me too. Can I see him?”
He dragged himself away from her reluctantly. His son was being wiped and was yelling his dislike of the outside world. He stared at the little waving arms and feet in awe.
And then the next King of Antar was placed in his arms.
He didn’t even notice the tears in his eyes as he looked at his son for the first time. A rush of such protectiveness overwhelmed him that he had to take deep breaths to get his body to work again.
“Max?” It was a profound moment for Liz, watching her son and her husband bond like that.
Her voice snapped him back and he carried the baby back to Liz and carefully laid him across her bare tummy, just under her breasts. “Liz…” It was a choked sound as they stared down at the perfect little person their love had created.
Max touched his finger to his son’s little hand and the baby grabbed it, causing a bright glow at the point of connection. Max’s harsh inhalation of breath was loud in the room and his wet gaze searched for Liz’s. “He is so perfect. You are so perfect.” His heart was literally overflowing with relief and joy.
It was a moment Max would never forget.
The most perfect moment.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Liz woke up later, groggy and disorientated and her hand automatically drifted to her tummy, a soft, spongy, deflated tummy. The baby! She’d had the baby!
Her eyes opened in a flash. The room was filled with white roses, spilling over every available surface. Emotion threatened to choke her when her gaze found Max sprawled in a chair next to the bed, his head dropped onto his chest, eyes closed, fast asleep. And next to him, still clutching his finger, their son slept too in his own little bed.
She relaxed onto her pillow and reveled in just looking at the two of them. Max was the loveliest man. His black hair was mussed, lending an endearing, almost little-boy quality to his handsome face. Of course, his eyes changed that when they were open… such powerful, riveting amber eyes. And his body was all man… the sexiest, most exiting body a woman could ever know and be pleasured by.
She was so lucky to know him, even luckier that he loved her. And it wasn’t because he was gorgeous on the outside. What was inside was best of all… gentleness and a caring, giving heart, lined up with a strength of character that didn’t shy at anything that he considered had to be done.
Her gaze shifted to their son. He was really tiny and already had a mop of black hair, just like his daddy. How could you love someone so shatteringly that you’ve only known for a few hours? And how amazing that just looking at him made the pain of bringing him into this world recede.
As if aware that she was awake, Max opened his eyes and looked at her with such tenderness that tears welled up in her eyes. He got to his feet, gingerly dragging the little bassinet closer to their bed so he didn’t have to remove his finger from their son’s grip. Perching on the side of the bed next to Liz, he slid his free arm between her shoulders and the pillows, hugging her against him tightly.
“Thank you for the roses.” She snuggled closer against his chest as he rested his chin on her hair.
“Thank you for my son.” He kissed the top of her head before pulling back slightly so he could meet her eyes. “And thank you for loving me enough to go through all that to give him to me.”
She smiled up at him. “Max, women have been going through all that to have babies forever, I’m not special.”
“You are to me. And other women did not have to worry about giving birth to a half-alien baby. Weren’t you ever worried that something strange might happen?”
“No,” she whispered. “I knew everything would be perfect.”
His fingers threaded through her hair and gently tugged her head back. He kissed her, not hungrily, not passionately, more as though he was slowly relishing and deeply valuing every nuance of her love and response.
A small whimper from their son broke them apart. Max looked at her wryly. “I think he’s hungry, but his dad is going to have to teach him better timing. I’m not having another Maria around that interrupt us every time we get intimate.” He picked the baby up and placed him in Liz’s arms and stretched himself out next to them on the bed.
“I think we should call him Matthew,” she stated firmly. “Because he is a gift.”
Nodding, Max touched his finger to his son’s cheek. “Hi Matthew.” He watched as Liz started feeding Matthew. “We’re glad you’re finally here.” He leaned over to whisper to his suckling son. “We love you.”
Later, after he put the sleeping Matthew back in his bed, he came back to join Liz, wrapping her in his warm, comforting embrace.
“I thought you weren’t touching me again,” she teased him.
Grinning, he kissed her nose. “Well, maybe no touching was a bit extreme. I just meant no sex ever again!”
Snuggling closer, she smiled to herself. She was going to enjoy changing his mind…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
***THREE YEARS LATER***
Liz heard soft whispers next to her bed and had trouble not smiling. Max had obviously decided Matthew was finally allowed to meet his new little sister and was telling him the rules about being close to mommy and little Belle-Mari. His soft and serious: “I promise, Daddy,” made Liz love her little boy even more. It reminded her of all the times during the past three years that she had found Max and Matthew talking to each other seriously. They played together a lot, but those quiet moments together were the most special to witness.
Max watched as Matthew raced to his mother first. He looked at her with anxious eyes before hesitantly touching her hand. He was his mother’s little boy and he loved her to distraction. Maria had told Max how distressed Matthew had been while Liz was giving birth and the tear-tracks had still been visible on his cheeks when Max went to get him so he could come see for himself that everyone was fine.
Matthew turned to Max, his eyes huge and concerned. “Are you sure mommy is okay?”
Walking closer, Max lifted him up so he could sit on the bed with Liz. “Yes, she is. You know how much I love mommy and that I won’t lie to you. She’s just very tired.”
“I’m fine, sweetie,” Liz didn’t want him to be so worried so she opened her eyes to reassure him.
“Mommy!” Matthew whirled to her and flung his arms around her neck, making Max wince. “I felt you hurt.”
She met Max’s eyes over Matthew’s head. Why hadn’t they thought about Matthew’s connection to both of them? No wonder he was upset. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Everything is over now.” She rubbed his back. “Why don’t you let daddy show you your sister?”
“Okay,” he bounced back like only a three-year old could.
Max took him over to look at his newborn sister and he grinned with Liz when Matthew stood on his tiptoes next to the little bed to see her. “She’s red,” he announced.
“She will be for a little while still,” Max told him.
Apparently not able to tear himself away from watching Belle-Mari, Matthew remained at her side, clinging to the sides of her bed. “Hello Belle,” he whispered, making his parents smile.
Joining Liz on the bed, Max kissed her forehead. “Did I do better this time?”
“Yes, you were much calmer,” Liz chuckled. “And you didn’t even threaten to never touch me again!”
“I learned my lesson. Look what not touching you last time brought us.” He waved at their daughter. “Besides, you were made to be touched by me.” Leaning closer, he brushed his lips over hers, kissing the girl he first fell in love with, his best friend, the woman he married and the mother of his children.
Liz wrapped her arms around his neck, glorying in the way he kissed her and the way he loved her as she had from the moment he first touched her. It was a sin that no one else would ever get to experience this. Sparing a thought for the rest of the universe’s women, she told them all silently: Sorry, ladies, he’s mine and I’m keeping him!
They never saw Matthew leaving the room to find all their family and friends waiting outside. His grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Guerin, Mr. and Mrs. Alex Whitman, Nick and Grace, James and Shilla were all waiting to get a chance to see the latest little Evans since they had been too late to attend the previous birth. Matthew looked at them with a scowl and his exasperated exclamation was loud enough for his parents to hear.
“They’re kissing again!”
A few words that meant so much more.
It meant that all was right with the world.
THE END
This is the end of the 3rd story in the series. What follows are a few short stories that I will post soon, and then the final long story, called “Loving a Prince”. Hope you’re all enjoying this!
In the darkness near dawn, Liz shifted against Max’s warm, hard body and curved instinctively closer, her hand splaying over the smooth planes of his chest, her cheek resting against his shoulder. “Max,” she breathed, he had been away for so many nights during the last few months. Instant recognition combined with an instant contentment, and she would’ve drifted away again had he not tangled a hand in the mane of her tumbled hair, tipped her mouth up and kissed her.
It was like coming alive. Every skin-cell suddenly flamed into red-hot life, a kind of frantic, feverish hunger possessing her. Her response was so intense it swallowed her alive.
“Max…” She gasped again as he pinned her to the mattress beneath him and kissed her breathless, his mouth, hard, hungry, hot, exiting her beyond bearing.
In the darkness, there was no warning before his mouth closed round the engorged bud of one swelling and sensitive breast. The sensation hit her with stunning effect. Her neck extended in an arch, a stifled moan torn from her when she felt the erotic brush of his teeth. There was no time for anything, not a single thought, nothing but the raw driving intensity of need screaming through her veins.
His lips skimmed a tormenting path over the quivering muscles of her belly, his hands parting her thighs before he was kissing her intimately.
She was at screaming-point when he moved over her, every shred of physical awareness centered on the ache of emptiness between her thighs. And then he thrust into her and she moaned and arched in one taut movement, her body clenching on a pleasure so intense that she was utterly possessed by it. Her fingers raked down his back in reaction and her teeth nipped at the strong column of his throat, reveling in the raggedness of his breathing and his groan.
After that there was nothing but the long, pulsing drive for satisfaction. It went on and on. She hit the heights fast, unable to reign back the flood of release, but he didn’t stop. She had barely hit the ground level again before the frantic climb back up began. When the second climax whooshed up inside her she was wiped out.
He shuddered above her, every muscle clenching taut. She put her arms around him, holding him tightly.
“Wow, I’m sorry,” he whispered after they had calmed down. “I’m just… starved for you, I guess.” He rested his forehead against hers.
“Me too,” she whispered back.
He pulled out of her reluctantly and moved them so she was lying with her cheek on his chest. It was quiet for a long time as they watched the room get lighter.
A faint fluttering in her womb had Liz grabbing for Max’s hand and pressing it against her. “Max!”
He stared at her in confusion. “Is something wrong?”
“No! He moved!” She met his gaze. “Our son moved!”
Max was speechless as he pressed his hand over the spot where their son was. He kept remembering the serious dark-haired little boy that had held his hand and helped get his mommy to come back to them. When nothing happened, he looked Liz. “What did it feel like?”
She touched his cheek, wishing he could experience it with her. “Like some butterflies were flying around in my tummy.”
He nodded solemnly and dropped his gaze to where his hand was covering the smooth skin of her stomach. Covering his baby. “I’d love to—” A light vibration against his hand stopped his words.
Liz saw his eyes widen and close as he concentrated on the very faint feeling.
“Wow.”
When he opened his eyes again, they were moist. He moved lower on the bed and rested his cheek against her tummy while his fingers trailed over her skin. “Hey little guy. Sorry that Mommy and I got so upset yesterday. We love you,” he glanced up at Liz, “and each other very much.” He placed little kisses around her bellybutton. “And Daddy promises to be around more from now on. For you… and for Mommy.”
It was light outside when Liz woke again. She found Max on his side next to her, his hand on her stomach. His gentle kiss was heaven.
“I love you.” He sounded like he was afraid she would have forgotten it since last night.
She laced her fingers with his. “I don’t deserve you,” she told him seriously. “How can I live up to how long you have loved me?”
Tightening his grip on her fingers, he took a deep breath. “It’s not about how long either of us loved the other, it’s about how happy we’ve made each other during the time we’ve had together. And trust me, Liz Evans, my last life-time had only a few moments of happiness, when I was dreaming of you.”
She opened her mouth to answer, but he put his finger over her lips. “And you’ve given me enough during this life-time to last me another few. Let’s just think about the future from now on, okay? The past’s demons are behind us now.”
Nodding, she kissed him for being the sweetest alien in the universe. “Do you have to go back to the negotiations?” she asked him when they finally broke apart.
“I don’t know. I have so much to tell you that I didn’t get around to last night.” He smiled crookedly at her. “Let me get us breakfast, and we’ll talk.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The reunion was sweet when Eric and Sarah arrived later that day. Sarah and Liz hugged each other tightly and Sarah and Eric were joyful when the heard that baby will make three for the Evans’ soon.
“How did you know to come back now?” Max asked Eric when they all finally settled down in the little lounge off his and Liz’ bedroom.
“I’ve had informants on my planet for years and I heard how Dak’or was running the place into the ground. I figured the best time for me to come back and get rid of him was while his attention was directed at the peace negotiations. I’m sorry it took me so long to get everything sorted out on the planet.”
“So, what about the peace talks?” Liz asked. Please let them be over so Max and I can live our normal lives again.
Eric grinned and reached out to take Sarah’s hand. “I told everyone they could keep their planets as long as they left mine alone. So, I guess you could say peace has been reached.”
The relief that washed over Liz tilted her hormones into madness again and she burst into huge racking sobs that didn’t stop even when Max pulled her into his warm embrace and let her cry against his chest. She vaguely heard him thank Eric and find out some of the final details of the talks, but she could care less. All she wanted to do was go home to their little house in Albuquerque and have her son.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In the end they stayed another week. A week that saw James and Shilla become an official item. Max had smiled warmly at them when James came to ask if Shilla could accompany them back to earth.
Max had spent a lot more time with Rula too, learning about his past. He also met with the King of Dendar and Eric to finalize the peace agreement. Nothing felt as good as signing ‘Zan’ at the end of the document.
But most importantly, he had kept his first promise to his son and stayed with Liz as much as possible, talking to his unborn baby and making up for lost time with his wife. He got quite good at handling her emotional moments, causing Maria to complain that it was unfair how perfect Liz’s life always was. When Alex pointed out that Maria could have Liz’s life if she were prepared to accept that all sorts of evil people would be trying to kill her off all the time, she changed her mind.
A huge crowd saw them off when they left. This time, they all traveled on the same ship and the atmosphere was almost party-like. Shilla had gotten a little more used to all the antics of Max and Liz’s friends, but she was still getting used to the tingly feeling that overcame her every time James was near. Not to mention the melting sensation when he kissed her!
Their reception on earth was laughably small in comparison to the fanfare of their departure from Dendar. Nick had managed to contact his people to let them know the approximate time of their arrival and when the shuttle’s doors slid open, a hushed little group of parents and members of the alien colony waited for them in the dark of Frazier Woods.
Isabel and her mom were in tears, and Max took the opportunity to hug them both. Liz was being embraced by her parents who noticed her growing stomach immediately. This led to more hysteria from their parents and Max smiled at Liz, both of them knowing that their son was going to be spoilt rotten by his grandparents.
They stayed over in Roswell for a few days, telling their parents and the Valentis all about their adventures. Needless to say, Amy was very happy to hear that Michael had finally gotten around to marrying her daughter, but she made it clear that she expected him to get the official paper here on earth too. Isabel and Alex seemed closer, but were still taking things slow. Nick, Grace and Maddie returned to their home in Roswell after Nick performed the bonding ceremony of James and Shilla. And Liz had only smiled when Shilla told her shyly afterwards that she hoped she could also experience a little of the passion that Liz knew on a daily basis.
Some things were private, though, and none of the parents ever heard about an alien prince that dreamed about his perfect mate and only met her in his second chance at life on a planet far away from his own.
PART 56
***THREE MONTHS LATER***
Max was ready to lose it. Liz has been in labor for six hours and he couldn’t take it anymore.
They had all been surprised when it became clear that their son was going to be born seven months after being conceived. When the six month alien pregnancy period had lapsed, they had all just assumed that Liz’s pregnancy would follow human rules, so Max nearly passed out when she woke him up earlier this morning to say that the baby wants to be born. A few frantic phone calls later, the birthing team was on the way and Max was left trying to cope with the first stages of Liz’s labor on his own.
He had tried not to panic, he really did, but at the first sign of the pain Liz was in, he nearly freaked. He attached himself to her side and refused to be moved, even when Grace got irritated with him for being in her way after she arrived with her birthing team. He was deathly afraid that something would go wrong and he wouldn’t be near enough to fix it. Their room in their house in Albuquerque was crowded with Grace and two other women from the colony, who had been slightly taken aback by his resolute presence at Liz’s side. So far, he ignored all the bullying looks and concentrated on Liz who was coping much better than him.
A small whimper from Liz alerted him to another contraction coming on and he pressed his face against the side of her head as he held her hand through it. He kept his other hand on her stomach, trying to send heat and healing through to Liz. He waited until she started taking great, racking, relaxing breaths before kissing her cheek. “I love you. You are doing great,” he told her.
Glancing at him wryly, Liz knew he was not as calm as he tried to sound. In fact, he looked ready to keel over. She caressed his face with a smile. “Breathe, Max.”
“God, Liz, there must be something I can do!” he burst out. She was so tiny. In spite of being seven months pregnant, she was still petite and he wasn’t sure her body could take this battering. Actually, he wasn’t sure HIS body could take the battering. Surely he could help the process along. Why did he have these stupid powers if he couldn’t use them to save Liz all this pain? Surely there was some way he could hurry up his son’s entrance into the world.
“I’m fine so far. I’ll let you know if I need help,” she promised him. To tell the truth, she felt a little sad that her little boy was not going to be part of her body anymore. She’s gotten used to having him inside her and sharing such a strong connection with him. Even though she didn’t want to have the last three weeks of her pregnancy over again (she had been HUGE), she would miss the closeness with her son.
“How long is this still going to take?” Max asked Grace.
“I’m guessing about two more hours?”
Max paled, but didn’t have a chance to say anything before he had to help Liz through another contraction.
“Maa-aax!” Liz cried as the pain sliced through her belly. The others were awful, but this one felt like a thousand hot knives were cutting into her. Tears formed in her eyes as she gripped his hand and looked wildly at him. Something wasn’t wrong, was it? She had been able to cope with the pain so far, what was going on now?
“Grace!” Max called wildly. “What is going on?”
The other two women stared at their King, they had never seen him like this before. “Calm down, Max,” Grace commanded him. “Things are just starting to move faster now. It’s normal.”
Taking deep breaths, Max tried to get a hold of himself. Little did he know, his worst nightmare was just beginning!
Liz was in a fog of pain and finally her calm fled her completely. Her eyes flew open, huge and hopelessly woebegone. “It’s horrible, Max,” she wailed.
“I know, I know,” he tried to soothe.
“You don’t know,” she cried. “It’s not you suffering this… this…” She moaned and bent forward, huddling over the pain of the contraction.
She was right to some extent, he thought frantically. Some of the pain was seeping through their connection, but none of it would be as intense as she was experiencing it. “Roll onto you side, Liz,” Max urged. “I’ll rub your back.”
“It won’t help,” she sobbed.
“I’m sorry, love, but it’s all I can do for you right now…”
“Don’t just say you’re sorry, DO something,” she moaned.
Max got his hand working in circular caresses on Liz’s lower back, adding some alien healing power to the mix, and leaned over to kiss her ear. “I love you so much. This will be over soon.”
“You’re only… saying that to make me…” Grumbled between gasps of pain.
“No!” he cried out in sheer desperation. “It WILL end soon or I’ll…” He glared at Grace. “Please hurry this up!”
“Max?” a breathless question.
“Yeah?” Lord, will this never end?
“He should have… have a name…”
He leaned forward to kiss her again. He kissed her all over her flushed, beautiful face. “You pick one. Right now, I’m too upset with him for making you suffer like this.”
Shock registered in her eyes and he knew he had said the wrong thing.
“He’s YOUR… son!”
“I know! I’m sorry, it’s just… Can he come out of there already!” He pressed his forehead against hers. “I hate seeing you like this.”
“You better… be nice to… him when he’s born. You’re… responsible…” She was starting to not make sense anymore.
“I know,” he muttered. “I’m not touching you again!”
Liz moaned again and Grace glared at Max. “Are you crazy? Stop saying stupid things to her, she is having your baby!”
Nodding meekly, Max resolved to keep his mouth shut until his son is born. He broke his own rule immediately. “So, what do you want to call him?”
“Head’s engaged,” one of Grace’s assistants informed them. “You’ll feel like bearing down soon.”
Max kept rubbing her back, hoping it helped. How useless men of all species were when it got to the crunch of actually giving birth!
A groan of sheer anguish rattled his nerves anew. Liz rolled onto her back, desperately trying to stick to a breathing pattern. He grabbed her hand and her fingers dug into his like talons as she lurched forward. He quickly slipped his arm around her shoulders, hugging her supportively. His heart was hammering.
Suddenly it was all action. Instructions and encouragement were being called out. Liz was frantically trying to follow orders. Max heard himself echoing what everyone was saying, wildly anxious for it to be over.
Then a tiny baby slipped into Grace’s hands and the distinctive cry of a newborn silenced all of them. Liz fell back onto the pillow exhausted.
“It’s okay,” Max murmured, stroking her damp hair away from her damp forehead. “He’s born. It’s over. And I love you more than I can ever say.”
She smiled weakly at him. “Me too. Can I see him?”
He dragged himself away from her reluctantly. His son was being wiped and was yelling his dislike of the outside world. He stared at the little waving arms and feet in awe.
And then the next King of Antar was placed in his arms.
He didn’t even notice the tears in his eyes as he looked at his son for the first time. A rush of such protectiveness overwhelmed him that he had to take deep breaths to get his body to work again.
“Max?” It was a profound moment for Liz, watching her son and her husband bond like that.
Her voice snapped him back and he carried the baby back to Liz and carefully laid him across her bare tummy, just under her breasts. “Liz…” It was a choked sound as they stared down at the perfect little person their love had created.
Max touched his finger to his son’s little hand and the baby grabbed it, causing a bright glow at the point of connection. Max’s harsh inhalation of breath was loud in the room and his wet gaze searched for Liz’s. “He is so perfect. You are so perfect.” His heart was literally overflowing with relief and joy.
It was a moment Max would never forget.
The most perfect moment.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Liz woke up later, groggy and disorientated and her hand automatically drifted to her tummy, a soft, spongy, deflated tummy. The baby! She’d had the baby!
Her eyes opened in a flash. The room was filled with white roses, spilling over every available surface. Emotion threatened to choke her when her gaze found Max sprawled in a chair next to the bed, his head dropped onto his chest, eyes closed, fast asleep. And next to him, still clutching his finger, their son slept too in his own little bed.
She relaxed onto her pillow and reveled in just looking at the two of them. Max was the loveliest man. His black hair was mussed, lending an endearing, almost little-boy quality to his handsome face. Of course, his eyes changed that when they were open… such powerful, riveting amber eyes. And his body was all man… the sexiest, most exiting body a woman could ever know and be pleasured by.
She was so lucky to know him, even luckier that he loved her. And it wasn’t because he was gorgeous on the outside. What was inside was best of all… gentleness and a caring, giving heart, lined up with a strength of character that didn’t shy at anything that he considered had to be done.
Her gaze shifted to their son. He was really tiny and already had a mop of black hair, just like his daddy. How could you love someone so shatteringly that you’ve only known for a few hours? And how amazing that just looking at him made the pain of bringing him into this world recede.
As if aware that she was awake, Max opened his eyes and looked at her with such tenderness that tears welled up in her eyes. He got to his feet, gingerly dragging the little bassinet closer to their bed so he didn’t have to remove his finger from their son’s grip. Perching on the side of the bed next to Liz, he slid his free arm between her shoulders and the pillows, hugging her against him tightly.
“Thank you for the roses.” She snuggled closer against his chest as he rested his chin on her hair.
“Thank you for my son.” He kissed the top of her head before pulling back slightly so he could meet her eyes. “And thank you for loving me enough to go through all that to give him to me.”
She smiled up at him. “Max, women have been going through all that to have babies forever, I’m not special.”
“You are to me. And other women did not have to worry about giving birth to a half-alien baby. Weren’t you ever worried that something strange might happen?”
“No,” she whispered. “I knew everything would be perfect.”
His fingers threaded through her hair and gently tugged her head back. He kissed her, not hungrily, not passionately, more as though he was slowly relishing and deeply valuing every nuance of her love and response.
A small whimper from their son broke them apart. Max looked at her wryly. “I think he’s hungry, but his dad is going to have to teach him better timing. I’m not having another Maria around that interrupt us every time we get intimate.” He picked the baby up and placed him in Liz’s arms and stretched himself out next to them on the bed.
“I think we should call him Matthew,” she stated firmly. “Because he is a gift.”
Nodding, Max touched his finger to his son’s cheek. “Hi Matthew.” He watched as Liz started feeding Matthew. “We’re glad you’re finally here.” He leaned over to whisper to his suckling son. “We love you.”
Later, after he put the sleeping Matthew back in his bed, he came back to join Liz, wrapping her in his warm, comforting embrace.
“I thought you weren’t touching me again,” she teased him.
Grinning, he kissed her nose. “Well, maybe no touching was a bit extreme. I just meant no sex ever again!”
Snuggling closer, she smiled to herself. She was going to enjoy changing his mind…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
***THREE YEARS LATER***
Liz heard soft whispers next to her bed and had trouble not smiling. Max had obviously decided Matthew was finally allowed to meet his new little sister and was telling him the rules about being close to mommy and little Belle-Mari. His soft and serious: “I promise, Daddy,” made Liz love her little boy even more. It reminded her of all the times during the past three years that she had found Max and Matthew talking to each other seriously. They played together a lot, but those quiet moments together were the most special to witness.
Max watched as Matthew raced to his mother first. He looked at her with anxious eyes before hesitantly touching her hand. He was his mother’s little boy and he loved her to distraction. Maria had told Max how distressed Matthew had been while Liz was giving birth and the tear-tracks had still been visible on his cheeks when Max went to get him so he could come see for himself that everyone was fine.
Matthew turned to Max, his eyes huge and concerned. “Are you sure mommy is okay?”
Walking closer, Max lifted him up so he could sit on the bed with Liz. “Yes, she is. You know how much I love mommy and that I won’t lie to you. She’s just very tired.”
“I’m fine, sweetie,” Liz didn’t want him to be so worried so she opened her eyes to reassure him.
“Mommy!” Matthew whirled to her and flung his arms around her neck, making Max wince. “I felt you hurt.”
She met Max’s eyes over Matthew’s head. Why hadn’t they thought about Matthew’s connection to both of them? No wonder he was upset. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Everything is over now.” She rubbed his back. “Why don’t you let daddy show you your sister?”
“Okay,” he bounced back like only a three-year old could.
Max took him over to look at his newborn sister and he grinned with Liz when Matthew stood on his tiptoes next to the little bed to see her. “She’s red,” he announced.
“She will be for a little while still,” Max told him.
Apparently not able to tear himself away from watching Belle-Mari, Matthew remained at her side, clinging to the sides of her bed. “Hello Belle,” he whispered, making his parents smile.
Joining Liz on the bed, Max kissed her forehead. “Did I do better this time?”
“Yes, you were much calmer,” Liz chuckled. “And you didn’t even threaten to never touch me again!”
“I learned my lesson. Look what not touching you last time brought us.” He waved at their daughter. “Besides, you were made to be touched by me.” Leaning closer, he brushed his lips over hers, kissing the girl he first fell in love with, his best friend, the woman he married and the mother of his children.
Liz wrapped her arms around his neck, glorying in the way he kissed her and the way he loved her as she had from the moment he first touched her. It was a sin that no one else would ever get to experience this. Sparing a thought for the rest of the universe’s women, she told them all silently: Sorry, ladies, he’s mine and I’m keeping him!
They never saw Matthew leaving the room to find all their family and friends waiting outside. His grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Guerin, Mr. and Mrs. Alex Whitman, Nick and Grace, James and Shilla were all waiting to get a chance to see the latest little Evans since they had been too late to attend the previous birth. Matthew looked at them with a scowl and his exasperated exclamation was loud enough for his parents to hear.
“They’re kissing again!”
A few words that meant so much more.
It meant that all was right with the world.
THE END
This is the end of the 3rd story in the series. What follows are a few short stories that I will post soon, and then the final long story, called “Loving a Prince”. Hope you’re all enjoying this!
Silver Handprints
TITLE: Little Silver Handprints
AUTHOR: LivE
E-MAIL: lieselvw@mweb.co.za
RATING: PG-13, I guess
CATEGORY: M/M (*grin* That’s Max and MATTHEW, don’t panic!) Liz is here too…
DISCLAIMER: Nothing in the Roswell universe is mine.
SUMMARY: (From my Experiment Universe) I enjoyed writing about the kids so much that I decided to try another one-parter about Matthew and his Mommy and Daddy (Belle is not born yet). Like his Daddy, Matt just wants to help…
LITTLE SILVER HANDPRINTS
“Daddy!”
A small body hurtled towards him as he strode into the Albuquerque Airport, tired from a long flight. Max Evans was immediately on guard. This was his quiet serious two-year old son Matthew, who was not normally prone to screaming in public places.
“Hey Son!” Kneeling down and dropping his bags, he caught Matt against his chest as his eyes sought the arrival’s hall for his wife. But Liz wasn’t here, he had known that as soon as he had stepped off the plane. He hugged Matt tighter, feeling his son’s little arms creep around his neck.
His trip to New York had only taken three days, but it had been too long for him to be away from his wife and son. He hated business trips with a passion. Hated them because he had to pretend while doing them, hated them as being a waste of time, and hated them because of what he missed of his son growing up while being gone. But most of all, he hated them because they took him away from the woman he needed by his side always.
Over Matt’s head, he met his life-long friend Michael Guerin’s eyes. Dread had filled him as soon as he realized Liz hadn’t come to meet him. The dread got worse when he realized his son was sniffling against his neck.
“I’m so glad you’re back, Daddy. Mommy’s sick,” little Matt mumbled into his sweater, clinging to him even harder. Max felt his stomach drop to his feet.
“Breathe, Maxwell, she’s fine.”
Only Michael could be sardonic in the light of the very visible tension suffusing Max’s body. And Max didn’t appreciate the fact that Michael looked ready to start laughing either. “What’s wrong?”
“She—she’s really... Her throat hurts. And—and...” Matt was hiccupping through his explanation, his arms curling tighter around Max’s neck, nearly choking him.
Max looked at Michael questioningly.
“Just flu,” Michael shrugged. Max wanted to wring his neck for being so casual about something that was clearly upsetting to Matt. And to himself.
His stomach cramped at the thought of Liz being ill. Vivid memories of the first time he had seen her sick assailed him as he lifted Matt higher up against his chest and stood to his feet. She had had a high fever, sore throat and a terrible cough.
And he hadn’t been able to do a thing for her.
So he had sat close to her all night, clinging to her hand. Bathing her face and body with a cool, wet cloth. Afraid to fall asleep in case she needed him. In case she got worse.
“It’s okay, Matt. Mommy will be fine,” he soothed, rubbing a calming hand over Matt’s back. “She just needs a little rest, and for us to take really good care of her in the meantime”
This time, Michael snorted audibly as he lifted one of Max’s bags and handed another over.
“What is your problem, Michael?”
But Matthew interrupted. “I—I tried to—to take care of…”
“I’m sure you did, Mattie.” Max pressed a kiss to Matt’s forehead as he glared at Michael who continued to grin. They started walking out of the airport building and Max was glad they now lived in Albuquerque so he didn’t have to face a long drive before he could finally be home.
Michael had come in Liz’s car, so Matt’s car seat was ready in the back seat, but as Max bent to strap him in, he started bawling. “I wanna sit with you, Daddy!” He curled his little fists into Max’s sweater and refused to let go. “Pleaaaase!”
Stunned by his son’s abnormal reactions, Max straightened again, wiping the tears from Matt’s cheeks with his fingers. Was Matthew this upset because Liz had the flu? Somehow, in spite of the fact that this was Matt’s first experience of illness, Max doubted it. Something else must be going on.
On the other side of the car, Michael was getting into the driver seat with a hearty chuckle. In irritation, Max wondered how risky it would be to send an energy bolt into his friend’s foot. He shifted his attention back to his visibly distressed son.
“Matt, you know how dangerous it is for you to ride in the front on someone’s lap. Mommy and Daddy have explained this before, remember?”
“B—But…” He sniffled some more, rubbing his one hand over his eyes in a gesture endearingly reminiscent of Liz.
Max was lost. “I promise I’m not going away again.” He pointed at the front seat. “See, Daddy will be right there. You will be able to see me the whole way home.” This time he got Matt into the seat.
Suddenly, Matthew looked afraid as Max let go of him. “Don’t be mad at me, Daddy!” His bottom-lip started quivering again. “But—but you weren’t there… Mommy always says you c—can kiss her better… a—and you weren’t there…”
“Don’t freak, little buddy,” Michael had turned around from the front seat and was patting Matt’s leg awkwardly. “Your Dad will be cool.”
“Michael, what the h— what are you talking about?” Max prayed for patience as he finished strapping Matt in and moved to his own seat.
“You’ll see,” Michael said enigmatically, before convulsing into fits of laughter. This seemed to distress Matthew more and his loud sniffles ended the laughter abruptly as Michael cast Matt an apologetic glance.
The whole thing puzzled Max. His son was crying more than he had ever seen him do in his short life. And Michael was finding the whole thing really amusing. Not exactly the homecoming he had dreamed of.
He was aching to see Liz and hold her. And now he would have to be careful doing that, she was probably not feeling like being pawed and groped right now.
“When did Liz start feeling sick?” Max asked, stuck on the fact that his precious wife was ill.
Sighing with exaggeration, Michael threw him a long-suffering glance. “I told you, she just has the flu. Nothing to get completely crazy about.”
“Yesterday, Daddy,” Matthew piped up from the backseat.
Turning around, Max smiled at his son. “Are you feeling better now?”
At the question, Matthew turned pale again, but he nodded as if he thought that was what Max wanted to see. His father’s frown made him clutch his stuffed toy space ship closer to his chest. His Daddy was gonna be so mad!
The closer they got to his home, the stronger his connection with Liz became and Max soaked it all in. Reveling in feeling her become part of him again. They never really lose their connection, but sometimes he’s so far away from her that it dims to a faint glimmer in the deepest recesses of his heart. But now he could feel her anticipation of seeing him, tinged with some barely controlled mirth. Ignoring Michael’s rolled eyes, Max managed to sink into his Liz world. I love you, Liz, he whispered to her silently, and even though she couldn’t really hear his thoughts, she could sense his feelings and her joy spiked another notch.
He felt her love for him too and a little place inside of him that always manage to shrivel up without her, bloomed to life again.
“Daddy?”
Max twisted in his seat so he could meet Matt’s gaze.
“You love Mommy and—and me, right?”
This tremulous question floored Max. “More than anything in the universe,” was all he could think to say.
Matt was quiet for a few minutes, but Max could see the wheels still turning in his little head. “Were you ever so… mad at Mommy that you…s—stopped loving her?”
“Never.” He said it with conviction, not sure what Matthew was working towards, but knowing that his son needed assurance for some reason. Max cast another querying glance at Michael, who ignored him with a smirk. “There is nothing anywhere in this universe, that could make me stop loving you or your mom.” As he watched, Matthew bit his lip, another little Liz characteristic. “What happened, Matt? Why are you worried that I’ll stop loving you?”
But Matthew’s eyes remained huge and filled with panic as he stayed mute. After watching him for long minutes, Max turned to Michael with a sigh. “So, how’s Maria?”
“She’s off on some bizarre aroma therapeutic healing course.” Michael grimaced. “Which means she’ll come try it on us when she gets back.” He threw Max a sardonic glance. “There’s still time to flee the planet.”
This made Max grin. Nothing had changed between Michael and Maria in all the years they’d been together. They still had the power to irritate the crap out of each other. On the other hand, Liz’s power over him just seemed to increase as the years wore on. He still remembered vividly how he had sworn never to touch her again when Matthew was born and he had had to watch helplessly as she battled through childbirth. Ha! That lasted precisely until the moment Liz had told him she was fully recovered... He had been all over her before she had even stopped speaking. He sobered. And now she was ill. “Michael—”
“Damn, man, how many times do I have to tell you it’s just the flu?” Michael sounded surly now. “Are you ever going to stop being so obsessed with every little breath she takes?”
“No,” Max relied blithely. Liz was his life and he cared not one iota if that bothered anyone else. Least of all Michael, who knew just what he and Liz had gone through to get to this peaceful place in their lives.
“Daddy?”
The small voice from the backseat interrupted his thoughts and he turned around to look at Matthew.
“Can we stop for—for ice cream?”
Ice cream? Max was torn, he desperately wanted to get home to see Liz, but he also didn’t want his son to think he didn’t matter.
“Mommy’s throat hurts and she likes ice cream for that,” Matt clarified, still looking like a deer caught in headlights. “And,” he rushed on, “and Mommy said you liked stwaw… bellies… So we could get some of them for you too.” His little hands were still clinging to his toy ship convulsively. “Please, Daddy?”
Max’s heart melted. Any sort of pleading from his wife or his son normally led to him caving. “Okay. If it’s okay with Uncle Michael, we can stop for ice cream.”
Sighing, Michael pulled into one of the side streets in Albuquerque’s shopping district. He halted the car in front of a dairy shop and waited while Max unstrapped his son from the car seat.
Again, Max wondered what was going on with Matthew. He seemed relieved that they weren’t going home yet and he eagerly ran ahead of them into the shop. Max moved to run after him, he hated having his son, his hybrid alien son, out of his sight in public places. Echoes of what had happened to him in that White Room would forever live in his soul.
“You know he’s just stalling, right?” Michael asked as he followed Max into the shop. “Poor little guy is freaking big time.”
Locating Matthew in front of one of the ice cream displays, Max looked back at Michael. “What the hell is going on, Michael?”
Michael’s grin turned into a chuckle. “You’ll see. History repeats itself,” he ended enigmatically. “By the way, I never got the strawberry fetish you and the little lady share. What’s that all about?”
His mind whirled to eight years ago—Liz carrying a bowl of strawberries into the Crashdown kitchen. What are you doing here, Max? He remembered every little thing about that moment. Her scent. The color of her lip-gloss. The exact style of her ponytail. How hot it had been in that kitchen. And how much hotter she had made him by flirting shamelessly, brushing against his body at every turn. Just friends? He still remembered how she had looked at him after he asked that final stupid question, like she had known he was grasping at straws, losing the battle against his lust. Just friends, yeah right! By the time the words had rolled off his tongue, the raging fire she had stoked in his body had been way out of control. He had yanked her against him, kissing her like he had never kissed her before. Their previous kisses had been soft, learning, romantic—this one had been hot, deep and frantic. She had made soft little sounds in her throat as he kissed her neck, his hands fisted in her uniform. He had lifted her onto one of the kitchen counters in a none-too-gentle way, stepping between her thighs and bending her over his arm as their tongues tangled and her fingers mussed his hair. It was his other hand, going out to brace them, that had knocked the bowl of strawberries off the counter, spilling them onto the floor around his feet. The top snaps of her uniform had come undone from his groping hands—
“Hello?” Michael was waving a hand in front of his face. “Geez, forget I asked! If that expression on your face is anything to go by, I really don’t want to know about the strawberries.” He felt his face flush. Damn, he wanted to get home to Liz!
Matthew took forever to decide which ice cream his mommy would want. “She likes vanilla, Mattie, you know that,” Max finally urged him, as he squatted next to Matt.
Sighing deeply, Matthew nodded in resignation. “Okay, we’ll buy her some vanilla then.”
The longsuffering way in which he said it, made Max want to chuckle. But he bit down on the urge, sure his son wouldn’t appreciate being laughed at. They ended up buying a few choices and finally they were on their way home.
Max kept an eye on Matthew while they drove and the closer they got to home, the quieter he became. What on earth was going on?
Michael got the bags from the car while Max helped Matthew out of the seat. As soon as he was free, Matthew attached himself to Max’s neck and refused to budge.
“I’m sorry, Daddy!”
“Matthew, you are really starting to worry me here, buddy! What are you so afraid about? You know I’ll fix it, whatever happened.”
He was touched when he saw the hope spring into his son’s wide eyes. Eyes just like his own. “You won’t be mad?”
Starting to move towards the front door, he tried to be fair. “Well, I can’t promise that until I know what you are apologizing for, can I? But I promise to listen to why you did what you did first, okay?”
By now, Liz had opened the door, wearing an old bulky turtleneck sweater and looking flushed. The sight made Max forget about his worries for a moment as he basked in being so close to his wife again.
“Outta the way,” Michael grunted as he shouldered past the little family congregated in the doorway. “I need to get these down before you two start reuniting,” he threw their way before he lugged the suitcases into the den. When he returned, Max had an arm around Liz, hugging her close to his side. “See ya!” Michael stopped to ruffle Matthew’s hair. “You’ll live little buddy, don’t worry!”
And with that, he was gone.
Stepping inside the house, Max kicked the door shut, still holding both Liz and Matthew. “Lord, I missed you both!”
“We missed you too,” Liz’s voice was even huskier as a result of her sore throat.
Max kissed her gently—he couldn’t get sick anyway. “You’re burning up! Why are you wearing this thing when you’re so hot?”
Matthew suddenly started to wriggle against him. “We brought you ice cream, Mommy!” he sounded panicked.
Taking Matt from Max, Liz smiled at her son. “Thank you for bringing daddy home, but I think we need to show him, so you can stop worrying, okay?”
“No, Mommy!”
Max was mystified. “Show me what?”
Grinning, Liz pulled the neck of her sweater away, revealing two little silver handprints over her throat. “Someone tried to heal his Mommy’s sore throat.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Matthew mumbled against Liz’s shoulder. “I didn’t want Mommy to hurt, but then my hands made marks…” He finally looked at Max. “And… I’m not supposed to let anyone see my hands can glow, right?”
A rush of emotion clogged Max’s throat. Could he love this son Liz has given him more? Holding out his arms, he took Matthew back from Liz, hugging him tightly. “No, you’re not supposed to let other people see what you can do with your hands, but… this was for Mommy, so I can totally understand.” Fleetingly, he remembered the silver handprint he’d left on Liz’s stomach after healing her from a gunshot wound so long ago. Just like Matthew, he hadn’t thought twice about helping Liz, even if it meant exposing himself for what he was.
Matthew was so relieved, he started sobbing loudly. While Max calmed him down and tried to explain that there were things they couldn’t fix with their hands, Liz went to get them ice cream, finally dragging off the sweater with which she had opened the door.
Max stared at her when she returned, wearing a tank top and drawstring pants. The two handprints she’d shown him weren’t the only ones. She had more on her chest too. Smiling at him, she whispered, “He did it while I was sleeping.”
Max just shook his head, still looking at the little starfish-shaped silver marks on his wife. “I guess you bring out the protective side in all the Evans males!”
After eating only a few bites of his ice cream, Matthew conked out, completely exhausted after his emotional day. He fell asleep on the lap of the man he worshipped, the daddy who could fix things with his hands, and the father who’s approval he would always seek.
They put him to bed together, Max taking a moment to lean over his son and whisper I love you before he returned to Liz’s side.
She took his hand and led him to their bedroom. “I thought since Matthew’s hand tricks didn’t work, maybe his daddy could try a few tricks with his mouth,” she told him teasingly.
He halted her in front of their mirror, hugging her from behind as he slowly waved his hand over all the little handprints to remove them. “I thought you were feeling ill?” But he was smiling at her reflection.
“Max Evans, I’m sick not dead, and I want you to replace those marks of your son with some of your own…”
“Hmmm,” he met her gaze with dark eyes, “what on earth do I have that is the size of little silver handprints?”
Turning around, she rubbed herself against his hardness. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll think of something…”
THE END
That was the first short story that fits into this series. Next one coming up soon!
AUTHOR: LivE
E-MAIL: lieselvw@mweb.co.za
RATING: PG-13, I guess
CATEGORY: M/M (*grin* That’s Max and MATTHEW, don’t panic!) Liz is here too…
DISCLAIMER: Nothing in the Roswell universe is mine.
SUMMARY: (From my Experiment Universe) I enjoyed writing about the kids so much that I decided to try another one-parter about Matthew and his Mommy and Daddy (Belle is not born yet). Like his Daddy, Matt just wants to help…
LITTLE SILVER HANDPRINTS
“Daddy!”
A small body hurtled towards him as he strode into the Albuquerque Airport, tired from a long flight. Max Evans was immediately on guard. This was his quiet serious two-year old son Matthew, who was not normally prone to screaming in public places.
“Hey Son!” Kneeling down and dropping his bags, he caught Matt against his chest as his eyes sought the arrival’s hall for his wife. But Liz wasn’t here, he had known that as soon as he had stepped off the plane. He hugged Matt tighter, feeling his son’s little arms creep around his neck.
His trip to New York had only taken three days, but it had been too long for him to be away from his wife and son. He hated business trips with a passion. Hated them because he had to pretend while doing them, hated them as being a waste of time, and hated them because of what he missed of his son growing up while being gone. But most of all, he hated them because they took him away from the woman he needed by his side always.
Over Matt’s head, he met his life-long friend Michael Guerin’s eyes. Dread had filled him as soon as he realized Liz hadn’t come to meet him. The dread got worse when he realized his son was sniffling against his neck.
“I’m so glad you’re back, Daddy. Mommy’s sick,” little Matt mumbled into his sweater, clinging to him even harder. Max felt his stomach drop to his feet.
“Breathe, Maxwell, she’s fine.”
Only Michael could be sardonic in the light of the very visible tension suffusing Max’s body. And Max didn’t appreciate the fact that Michael looked ready to start laughing either. “What’s wrong?”
“She—she’s really... Her throat hurts. And—and...” Matt was hiccupping through his explanation, his arms curling tighter around Max’s neck, nearly choking him.
Max looked at Michael questioningly.
“Just flu,” Michael shrugged. Max wanted to wring his neck for being so casual about something that was clearly upsetting to Matt. And to himself.
His stomach cramped at the thought of Liz being ill. Vivid memories of the first time he had seen her sick assailed him as he lifted Matt higher up against his chest and stood to his feet. She had had a high fever, sore throat and a terrible cough.
And he hadn’t been able to do a thing for her.
So he had sat close to her all night, clinging to her hand. Bathing her face and body with a cool, wet cloth. Afraid to fall asleep in case she needed him. In case she got worse.
“It’s okay, Matt. Mommy will be fine,” he soothed, rubbing a calming hand over Matt’s back. “She just needs a little rest, and for us to take really good care of her in the meantime”
This time, Michael snorted audibly as he lifted one of Max’s bags and handed another over.
“What is your problem, Michael?”
But Matthew interrupted. “I—I tried to—to take care of…”
“I’m sure you did, Mattie.” Max pressed a kiss to Matt’s forehead as he glared at Michael who continued to grin. They started walking out of the airport building and Max was glad they now lived in Albuquerque so he didn’t have to face a long drive before he could finally be home.
Michael had come in Liz’s car, so Matt’s car seat was ready in the back seat, but as Max bent to strap him in, he started bawling. “I wanna sit with you, Daddy!” He curled his little fists into Max’s sweater and refused to let go. “Pleaaaase!”
Stunned by his son’s abnormal reactions, Max straightened again, wiping the tears from Matt’s cheeks with his fingers. Was Matthew this upset because Liz had the flu? Somehow, in spite of the fact that this was Matt’s first experience of illness, Max doubted it. Something else must be going on.
On the other side of the car, Michael was getting into the driver seat with a hearty chuckle. In irritation, Max wondered how risky it would be to send an energy bolt into his friend’s foot. He shifted his attention back to his visibly distressed son.
“Matt, you know how dangerous it is for you to ride in the front on someone’s lap. Mommy and Daddy have explained this before, remember?”
“B—But…” He sniffled some more, rubbing his one hand over his eyes in a gesture endearingly reminiscent of Liz.
Max was lost. “I promise I’m not going away again.” He pointed at the front seat. “See, Daddy will be right there. You will be able to see me the whole way home.” This time he got Matt into the seat.
Suddenly, Matthew looked afraid as Max let go of him. “Don’t be mad at me, Daddy!” His bottom-lip started quivering again. “But—but you weren’t there… Mommy always says you c—can kiss her better… a—and you weren’t there…”
“Don’t freak, little buddy,” Michael had turned around from the front seat and was patting Matt’s leg awkwardly. “Your Dad will be cool.”
“Michael, what the h— what are you talking about?” Max prayed for patience as he finished strapping Matt in and moved to his own seat.
“You’ll see,” Michael said enigmatically, before convulsing into fits of laughter. This seemed to distress Matthew more and his loud sniffles ended the laughter abruptly as Michael cast Matt an apologetic glance.
The whole thing puzzled Max. His son was crying more than he had ever seen him do in his short life. And Michael was finding the whole thing really amusing. Not exactly the homecoming he had dreamed of.
He was aching to see Liz and hold her. And now he would have to be careful doing that, she was probably not feeling like being pawed and groped right now.
“When did Liz start feeling sick?” Max asked, stuck on the fact that his precious wife was ill.
Sighing with exaggeration, Michael threw him a long-suffering glance. “I told you, she just has the flu. Nothing to get completely crazy about.”
“Yesterday, Daddy,” Matthew piped up from the backseat.
Turning around, Max smiled at his son. “Are you feeling better now?”
At the question, Matthew turned pale again, but he nodded as if he thought that was what Max wanted to see. His father’s frown made him clutch his stuffed toy space ship closer to his chest. His Daddy was gonna be so mad!
The closer they got to his home, the stronger his connection with Liz became and Max soaked it all in. Reveling in feeling her become part of him again. They never really lose their connection, but sometimes he’s so far away from her that it dims to a faint glimmer in the deepest recesses of his heart. But now he could feel her anticipation of seeing him, tinged with some barely controlled mirth. Ignoring Michael’s rolled eyes, Max managed to sink into his Liz world. I love you, Liz, he whispered to her silently, and even though she couldn’t really hear his thoughts, she could sense his feelings and her joy spiked another notch.
He felt her love for him too and a little place inside of him that always manage to shrivel up without her, bloomed to life again.
“Daddy?”
Max twisted in his seat so he could meet Matt’s gaze.
“You love Mommy and—and me, right?”
This tremulous question floored Max. “More than anything in the universe,” was all he could think to say.
Matt was quiet for a few minutes, but Max could see the wheels still turning in his little head. “Were you ever so… mad at Mommy that you…s—stopped loving her?”
“Never.” He said it with conviction, not sure what Matthew was working towards, but knowing that his son needed assurance for some reason. Max cast another querying glance at Michael, who ignored him with a smirk. “There is nothing anywhere in this universe, that could make me stop loving you or your mom.” As he watched, Matthew bit his lip, another little Liz characteristic. “What happened, Matt? Why are you worried that I’ll stop loving you?”
But Matthew’s eyes remained huge and filled with panic as he stayed mute. After watching him for long minutes, Max turned to Michael with a sigh. “So, how’s Maria?”
“She’s off on some bizarre aroma therapeutic healing course.” Michael grimaced. “Which means she’ll come try it on us when she gets back.” He threw Max a sardonic glance. “There’s still time to flee the planet.”
This made Max grin. Nothing had changed between Michael and Maria in all the years they’d been together. They still had the power to irritate the crap out of each other. On the other hand, Liz’s power over him just seemed to increase as the years wore on. He still remembered vividly how he had sworn never to touch her again when Matthew was born and he had had to watch helplessly as she battled through childbirth. Ha! That lasted precisely until the moment Liz had told him she was fully recovered... He had been all over her before she had even stopped speaking. He sobered. And now she was ill. “Michael—”
“Damn, man, how many times do I have to tell you it’s just the flu?” Michael sounded surly now. “Are you ever going to stop being so obsessed with every little breath she takes?”
“No,” Max relied blithely. Liz was his life and he cared not one iota if that bothered anyone else. Least of all Michael, who knew just what he and Liz had gone through to get to this peaceful place in their lives.
“Daddy?”
The small voice from the backseat interrupted his thoughts and he turned around to look at Matthew.
“Can we stop for—for ice cream?”
Ice cream? Max was torn, he desperately wanted to get home to see Liz, but he also didn’t want his son to think he didn’t matter.
“Mommy’s throat hurts and she likes ice cream for that,” Matt clarified, still looking like a deer caught in headlights. “And,” he rushed on, “and Mommy said you liked stwaw… bellies… So we could get some of them for you too.” His little hands were still clinging to his toy ship convulsively. “Please, Daddy?”
Max’s heart melted. Any sort of pleading from his wife or his son normally led to him caving. “Okay. If it’s okay with Uncle Michael, we can stop for ice cream.”
Sighing, Michael pulled into one of the side streets in Albuquerque’s shopping district. He halted the car in front of a dairy shop and waited while Max unstrapped his son from the car seat.
Again, Max wondered what was going on with Matthew. He seemed relieved that they weren’t going home yet and he eagerly ran ahead of them into the shop. Max moved to run after him, he hated having his son, his hybrid alien son, out of his sight in public places. Echoes of what had happened to him in that White Room would forever live in his soul.
“You know he’s just stalling, right?” Michael asked as he followed Max into the shop. “Poor little guy is freaking big time.”
Locating Matthew in front of one of the ice cream displays, Max looked back at Michael. “What the hell is going on, Michael?”
Michael’s grin turned into a chuckle. “You’ll see. History repeats itself,” he ended enigmatically. “By the way, I never got the strawberry fetish you and the little lady share. What’s that all about?”
His mind whirled to eight years ago—Liz carrying a bowl of strawberries into the Crashdown kitchen. What are you doing here, Max? He remembered every little thing about that moment. Her scent. The color of her lip-gloss. The exact style of her ponytail. How hot it had been in that kitchen. And how much hotter she had made him by flirting shamelessly, brushing against his body at every turn. Just friends? He still remembered how she had looked at him after he asked that final stupid question, like she had known he was grasping at straws, losing the battle against his lust. Just friends, yeah right! By the time the words had rolled off his tongue, the raging fire she had stoked in his body had been way out of control. He had yanked her against him, kissing her like he had never kissed her before. Their previous kisses had been soft, learning, romantic—this one had been hot, deep and frantic. She had made soft little sounds in her throat as he kissed her neck, his hands fisted in her uniform. He had lifted her onto one of the kitchen counters in a none-too-gentle way, stepping between her thighs and bending her over his arm as their tongues tangled and her fingers mussed his hair. It was his other hand, going out to brace them, that had knocked the bowl of strawberries off the counter, spilling them onto the floor around his feet. The top snaps of her uniform had come undone from his groping hands—
“Hello?” Michael was waving a hand in front of his face. “Geez, forget I asked! If that expression on your face is anything to go by, I really don’t want to know about the strawberries.” He felt his face flush. Damn, he wanted to get home to Liz!
Matthew took forever to decide which ice cream his mommy would want. “She likes vanilla, Mattie, you know that,” Max finally urged him, as he squatted next to Matt.
Sighing deeply, Matthew nodded in resignation. “Okay, we’ll buy her some vanilla then.”
The longsuffering way in which he said it, made Max want to chuckle. But he bit down on the urge, sure his son wouldn’t appreciate being laughed at. They ended up buying a few choices and finally they were on their way home.
Max kept an eye on Matthew while they drove and the closer they got to home, the quieter he became. What on earth was going on?
Michael got the bags from the car while Max helped Matthew out of the seat. As soon as he was free, Matthew attached himself to Max’s neck and refused to budge.
“I’m sorry, Daddy!”
“Matthew, you are really starting to worry me here, buddy! What are you so afraid about? You know I’ll fix it, whatever happened.”
He was touched when he saw the hope spring into his son’s wide eyes. Eyes just like his own. “You won’t be mad?”
Starting to move towards the front door, he tried to be fair. “Well, I can’t promise that until I know what you are apologizing for, can I? But I promise to listen to why you did what you did first, okay?”
By now, Liz had opened the door, wearing an old bulky turtleneck sweater and looking flushed. The sight made Max forget about his worries for a moment as he basked in being so close to his wife again.
“Outta the way,” Michael grunted as he shouldered past the little family congregated in the doorway. “I need to get these down before you two start reuniting,” he threw their way before he lugged the suitcases into the den. When he returned, Max had an arm around Liz, hugging her close to his side. “See ya!” Michael stopped to ruffle Matthew’s hair. “You’ll live little buddy, don’t worry!”
And with that, he was gone.
Stepping inside the house, Max kicked the door shut, still holding both Liz and Matthew. “Lord, I missed you both!”
“We missed you too,” Liz’s voice was even huskier as a result of her sore throat.
Max kissed her gently—he couldn’t get sick anyway. “You’re burning up! Why are you wearing this thing when you’re so hot?”
Matthew suddenly started to wriggle against him. “We brought you ice cream, Mommy!” he sounded panicked.
Taking Matt from Max, Liz smiled at her son. “Thank you for bringing daddy home, but I think we need to show him, so you can stop worrying, okay?”
“No, Mommy!”
Max was mystified. “Show me what?”
Grinning, Liz pulled the neck of her sweater away, revealing two little silver handprints over her throat. “Someone tried to heal his Mommy’s sore throat.”
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Matthew mumbled against Liz’s shoulder. “I didn’t want Mommy to hurt, but then my hands made marks…” He finally looked at Max. “And… I’m not supposed to let anyone see my hands can glow, right?”
A rush of emotion clogged Max’s throat. Could he love this son Liz has given him more? Holding out his arms, he took Matthew back from Liz, hugging him tightly. “No, you’re not supposed to let other people see what you can do with your hands, but… this was for Mommy, so I can totally understand.” Fleetingly, he remembered the silver handprint he’d left on Liz’s stomach after healing her from a gunshot wound so long ago. Just like Matthew, he hadn’t thought twice about helping Liz, even if it meant exposing himself for what he was.
Matthew was so relieved, he started sobbing loudly. While Max calmed him down and tried to explain that there were things they couldn’t fix with their hands, Liz went to get them ice cream, finally dragging off the sweater with which she had opened the door.
Max stared at her when she returned, wearing a tank top and drawstring pants. The two handprints she’d shown him weren’t the only ones. She had more on her chest too. Smiling at him, she whispered, “He did it while I was sleeping.”
Max just shook his head, still looking at the little starfish-shaped silver marks on his wife. “I guess you bring out the protective side in all the Evans males!”
After eating only a few bites of his ice cream, Matthew conked out, completely exhausted after his emotional day. He fell asleep on the lap of the man he worshipped, the daddy who could fix things with his hands, and the father who’s approval he would always seek.
They put him to bed together, Max taking a moment to lean over his son and whisper I love you before he returned to Liz’s side.
She took his hand and led him to their bedroom. “I thought since Matthew’s hand tricks didn’t work, maybe his daddy could try a few tricks with his mouth,” she told him teasingly.
He halted her in front of their mirror, hugging her from behind as he slowly waved his hand over all the little handprints to remove them. “I thought you were feeling ill?” But he was smiling at her reflection.
“Max Evans, I’m sick not dead, and I want you to replace those marks of your son with some of your own…”
“Hmmm,” he met her gaze with dark eyes, “what on earth do I have that is the size of little silver handprints?”
Turning around, she rubbed herself against his hardness. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll think of something…”
THE END
That was the first short story that fits into this series. Next one coming up soon!
Pure Ecstacy
Author: LivE
Synopsis: Set in the (happy) future. Max and Liz got married after school, had children some years later and are still very much in love and lust!
Distribution: Only here, please!
Rating: NC-17
PURE ECSTASY
He knelt next to the tub, slowly running his hand down her bare, wet arm that was resting on the side, and watched her body’s reaction with hooded eyes. She trembled, her nipples hardening to peaks that begged for the touch of his hand or his mouth. But... not yet.
Her breath was coming in little tortured gasps and she had to fight to stop her eyes from drifting shut in ecstasy. She wanted to watch him watch her. It was indescribably erotic. His eyes were devouring her body with such heat that it felt like she was burned everywhere they went. He hadn’t done anything but touch her arm yet and already the ache low in her stomach was becoming unbearable. “Please Max...”
Her plea turned into a low moan as his hand drifted from her arm, across her flat stomach. He trailed his fingers lightly over her womb under the water, causing her to inhale sharply and arch towards him. Her hands clutched desperately at the sides of the bath, where he had placed them earlier. Her shaking increased and she wondered how long she could stay still under this gentle torture.
Leaving one hand resting low on her abdomen, he brought the other up to slide through her dark tresses. He swept the strands over her shoulder, smoothing them down until they almost covered her nipples. He brushed his trembling fingers over the silky swath repeatedly, but always stopped just before touching her breast.
The only thing that kept her from disobeying his orders about not moving her hands from the rim of the tub, was the profound effect all of this was having on him too. The snug fit of his jeans did nothing to hide his arousal. His face was flushed and his breathing ragged. But, as usual, it was his eyes that did her in. They were almost black with desire as they swept her body restlessly.
“Touch me...”
His gaze snapped up to hers, getting snagged in those doe eyes like it always has. Her eyes were speaking of her needs and her love. Slowly he let his fingers slide the last few inches down her hair to brush across her breast.
“Oh God...” His slurred voice surprised both of them.
‘PLEASE!’ Her scream echoed in his mind and galvanized him into action. He cupped her breast in his hand, caressing it urgently.
Her head fell back as she arched desperately closer to his hand, needing him to increase the pressure and tempo of his touches.
Sliding his thumb over her nipple, he reveled in the different textures of her breast. In the instinctive reaction of her body to his touch. Even after all these years, it humbled him that he had such power over her. That she would so trustingly, eagerly, put her body in his hands. Rolling the nipple between his thumb and forefinger, he watched every movement of her body with hungry eyes. Listened for every small sigh and every helpless moan he wrung from her. Her responses always brought him as much pleasure as her hands on his body.
Leaning forward, he ran his open mouth down her arm, sliding his tongue over her smooth skin. Little ripples under her skin followed his touch. Even my skin recognizes you... She had told him that a few times and it was a heady thought. That he was so ingrained in her that she didn’t need to see or hear him to know it’s him. You’re my other half, that’s why... He reached her hand and licked her fingers, each one individually, curling his tongue around them and sucking until she cried out his name.
He loved that. Hearing her call his name. It was such an instinctive thing to do. No thinking about it, just “Max!” It confirmed his possession of her... heart, mind, soul and body. And yes, he liked that. That she was his. That she had only ever been his. That no one else had ever seen her like this. That no one else’s name had tumbled from her lips in a moment of abandoned passion.
“Max...” A sigh.
How many ways she said his name! And each time with so much meaning...
“Max!” I’m so happy to see you!
“Max...” Please hold me...
“Max.” You need me, even if you won’t admit it.
“Max!” The kids need you!
“Max!” It’s time to stop being gentle!
“Max...” My lover, my love...
Kiss me! Her eyes were begging him. I need to feel you lips on mine. Her eyes were luring him in. Following his every movement and every breath with a heated gaze. He moved closer, sliding his arm between her shoulders and the tub and lifting her closer to him while his other hand continued its torturous caresses on her breasts.
She parted her lips in anticipation, slowly moistening them with her tongue. Hearing his gasp, she tore her gaze from his mouth and glanced in his eyes. They were almost black now. Dark with desire for her. He was watching her intently, studying her every response. She felt her chest starting to heave as she fought for breath. He was so close... She could feel his heat scorching her, his breath feathering across her lips. But still he didn’t kiss her. He just watched her with those amazing eyes. Watched her anticipation and desire increase. Until every pant from her included a whimper.
Her eyes widened as he moved his hand from her breast down to her stomach, leaving it to rest fleetingly against that place where he had healed her so many years ago. Against her womb with which she had given him his son four years ago and his daughter two years later. I love you. He didn’t say it, but she heard it clearly in her head. She still marveled at the fact that in moments of intense emotion, such as this, they could talk to each other telepathically. She didn’t have time to ponder it for long though, for his hand was sliding lower, brushing over the curls between her legs before finding her center.
At the first slide of his fingers on her moist core, she nearly came out of the tub, her cry ringing in their ears. He was still staring at her face, his eyes heavy-lidded and intense. Knowing exactly what he was doing to her. Knowing how the lust was slamming through her body only to converge in that one point where his fingers were caressing her. She pressed herself against his hand shamelessly, striving for that ultimate release he had made her so addicted to. The release that meant the end of all rational thinking, and the beginning of a few blissful minutes of only feeling.
She was wet and hot and her movements mesmerized him. Her eyes clung to his as she arched against his touch rhythmically. He let his fingers mimic what his body would do to her later until he felt the first fine tremors start deep in her body. Moving his hand slowly back to her stomach, he waited for, and heard, her moan of disappointment. “Not without me...” he whispered against her lips.
He twisted her hair around his hand, holding her head prisoner as he teased her mouth with his. Rubbing his lips over hers with the barest of touches before tracing her them with his tongue. Her hand curled in his shirt, her fingers bunching the material together urgently. His mouth drifted over her jaw to her ear and he blew softly before sliding his tongue over the whorls.
“Oh god, Max! Please!”
“Please what?” His spoke softly in her ear, his breath tickling the places his tongue had just wet. “Please stop?”
“Noo!” It was a helpless moan. “Please... more... I need more!”
He lifted her even closer, nuzzling her face before running his tongue over her lips again. When he spoke, she could feel each syllable against her moist mouth. “I never could say no to you... or stay away from you.”
He was torturing her purposely, but his hoarse voice indicated that he too was affected by his game. His eyes moved to her mouth, watching as she struggled for breath for a few seconds, before he dipped his head and captured her lips forcefully. Both of them moaned at the contact. It was still as electrifying as that first kiss on her balcony so many years ago, only now it was intensified by the added physical knowledge of each other. Their tongues dueled, sliding across each other intimately, knowingly. Hungrily.
He kissed like he made love. With total absorption and such wonderful expertise. It had been like that for all the years she’s known him. There never was “just a kiss” between them. It drove their friends mad that they always got so lost in each other. But for however long Max’s mouth was loving hers, they were the only two people in the universe...
Visions of the two of them flickered behind her closed eyelids. Visions of them kissing, making love, getting married, of a planet she’s never been to, the tears in his eyes when he held his son for the first time... So many happy memories that they once feared they would never have.
And through it all he kept on devouring her mouth, catching her little moans of pleasure with his lips and rewarding her with his sighs. His hands cupped her face, a gesture she had come to know as being so very Max. His fingers slid into her hair as his thumbs caressed the corners of her mouth. ‘Give in, Liz! Give in before I do...’ She heard his thoughts clearly and curled her hands more tightly around the edges of the tub. ‘Oh no, Max Evans, I’m going to win this--’.
But she didn’t. He did. Like he almost always does. He won by tearing his mouth away and leaning his forehead against hers before saying: “I want you Mrs. Evans” in that rough, sexy, only-you-can-do-this-to-me voice of his. The one that made her feel like he had traced her naked spine with a feather, causing her to shiver violently. Oh, his voice...
She startled him, so quick was her surrender. Abruptly giving up her efforts to keep her hands off him, she turned her whole body towards him, throwing her arms around his neck. His white shirt was getting soaked in the process, but neither of them cared. He half-lifted her from the tub, his breath hissing from him as her naked breasts came in contact with his chest.
“Liz!” She had been made to fit him, her body filling all the spaces in his. Having her all wet against him was incredibly erotic. His hands slid over the slick skin of her back until they could cup the cheeks of her behind. Slowly getting up, he pressed each new inch of her that was freed from the tub and the water against him, feeling the cold places where their bodies had not been touching before staring to heat up. Her scent was intoxicating. It was so... Liz. He could find her with his eyes closed.
She nipped his throat with her teeth. He tasted like heaven, so very male. His skin was salty and hot, just like the rest of him. She rubbed herself against him languidly, his wet shirt providing little impediment for her to feel the lashed steel of his muscles. Hard all over, that was Max. She felt the flex of those muscles against her as he lifted her out of the tub with one arm before letting her slide to the floor gently. But he wasn’t finished with her yet.
When he was sure she was standing on her own, he pressed his hand flat between her shoulder blades, bringing her flush with his body. He stood resting against her for a few precious moments. This was home.
She looked up into his face as he started combing his glowing hands through her hair, drying it until it lay in a smooth wave down her back. When he was finished, adoration had joined desire in her eyes. “Thank you.”
“It was for me,” his voice was still raspy, sexy. He arched her lower body into his, pressing her against his arousal. “I don’t know how I made it. All those years ago, without this...” He rubbed her against him, closing his eyes in ecstasy as she moaned.
“Oh God, Liz!” He trailed his fingers up her back tracing the indentation of her spine until a long shudder racked her body. He could smell the scent of her arousal, it filled the air around them, making him drunk with desire.
Liz was reeling from all the sensations assailing her. His magic touch, his whispered words, his heat, his excitement, his love, his expertise, his... everything.
He turned her around unexpectedly, aligning her back to his chest and slowly spun them until she could see their outlines in the misty full length mirror. It was a stark contrast: her small frame dwarfed by his size, his tanned hands against her pale skin, her nakedness against his shirt and jeans.
She tilted her head backwards until it rested against his shoulder, but kept her eyes open, watching him seduce her. He swept his hands down her sides, his fingers nearly meeting when they reached her tiny waist. But he didn’t stop there. Slowly, he inched his hands down until they had traversed her hips and found her thighs. He curled his hands inward, his fingers finding the insides and gently nudged her legs apart. She didn’t have a solid bone left in her body. Or a rational thought in her mind. So she blindly did what he was urging, opening her legs until he could slide one of his hard thighs in between. Thankfully he did, or she would have melted to the floor.
He trailed his hands back up, gliding them under her arms until he could lift them up to wrap around his neck. She clung to him helplessly, her fingers tangled in his hair and her breath heavy and tortured.
He was fascinated by the signs of arousal in her body. It was so obvious with men, but so subtle with women. His hands found her nipples again, his palms rotating against the stiff peaks as he watched her writhe against him.
She bit down a moan, not wanting to break the silence yet. The silence that was already filled with the sounds of their breathing and the shared thoughts in their minds. She pressed down against his thigh, trying to assuage the ache in the pit of her stomach, the sharp pain of need at the juncture of her legs.
Please, her mind was begging, please, please, please... “Oh please,” it spilled out of her lips.
And he gave in. A little. Moving his hand between her thighs to that place that ached to be filled by him. She arched into his hand shamelessly, opening her legs wider in anticipation.
His fingers found her center. It was hot and wet and slick. He groaned as his fingers parted her folds and entered her. He heard her cry out his name in momentary relief. He gloried in the rush of moistness covering his fingers. I did this to her. Me. My touch. My caress. Continuing the rhythmic slide of his hand against her, he lifted his other hand to her face, urging her towards him so he could kiss her. He used his tongue and fingers in sync, driving her to the brink of sanity. Kissing and touching her until she moaned with every breath.
“My name. Say my name again,” he pleaded with her, suddenly needing to hear her voice when it was filled with the passion he incited.
They stared at each other until he circled the small nub at the top of her folds with his thumb. She shuddered violently and gave him what he needed.
“Max...” It was a moan. A long drawn out moan filled with need and formed by a voice husky and low with desire. It nearly broke his control. He kissed her hard then, crushing her lips underneath his in a frenzy of lust. His tongue invaded her mouth urgently, tasting her, communicating his own needs. It was more than a kiss. It was a stamp of his ownership.
She twisted in his arms and tore at his shirt, ripping off buttons in her haste to get it off him. He didn’t help, his hands were still occupied with her body. “Max!” This time his name was an illustration of her frustration and he let go of her long enough to allow her to push the shirt from his shoulders. She slid off his thigh next, and her fingers dug into the waistband of his jeans, finding the button and working it open. His hands dropped to his sides as he drank in her every movement, her every expression.
Her eyes were glazed and heavy as she worked his zipper down with clumsy and uncoordinated hands. She slid to her knees in front of him, clinging to his thighs and moving with him as he stumbled back against the wall in reaction.
“Liz, honey...” His fingers speared into her hair, holding on for dear life as she tugged his jeans and boxers down his legs. Her nails scratched the skin of his thighs lightly, causing the muscles to jump. He kicked the clothes out of the way impatiently, his hands trying to urge her back up, but she resisted. So he gave in to the inevitable, putting his hands against the wall behind his back and praying that he would be able to stay upright.
She traced him with her eyes first. Following the length of him with her gaze until he was sure he was going to explode before she even touched him. She watched every flicker and pulse and every drop of response that he couldn’t control.
A moan started forming deep inside his chest when he saw her reach out her hand and it burst out when her finger traced the vain running on the underside of his arousal softly.
Now it was his turn to beg. Touch me, Liz! His mind cried helplessly. Please...
Her hand encircled him, carefully increasing the pressure until he jerked against her, unable to do anything but react. His breath rushed out of his lungs frantically as she leant in, nuzzling him before touching the tip of her tongue to the moisture glistening just above her fingers. He threw his head back, closing his eyes and gave himself up to her ministrations. His body went on autopilot, moving into her hands and mouth rhythmically until they both felt him tightening in preparation for release.
Her hands and mouth were suddenly gone, the air chilling the places she had just touched. Their eyes found each other and she whispered: “Not without me...”
He couldn’t play this game anymore. He needed to be inside her with a desperation bordering on insanity. Sweeping her up into his arms, he carried her into their bedroom of many years and placed her in the middle of the bed. He knelt next to her, staring down at her until she held out her hand. He let her pull him down to her and he carefully covered her body with his.
He wanted to complete his possession of her, but first he wanted to taste her. She gasped when he bent his head to her breast, letting his lips trail around her nipple. Her skin was soft and enticing and smelled of him. His tongue skimmed the line underneath her breasts, and he rested his head in the valley between them breathing in their shared scent. He knew every inch of her breasts, it was, after all, the first intimate place of her he got to know way back in high school. Her breasts have changed over the years as she went from being a teenager to an adult, from a wife to a mother and he had made it his business to learn each minute difference with a passion. He had watched her breast-feed their children with envy, having trouble sharing this part of her that he felt he owned even with his own children. He touched the tip of his tongue to her nipple, swirling it around her areola and marveling at the different textures. He kept his caresses up until her whimpers became louder.
He nudged his thigh between hers and she parted her legs wordlessly, allowing him access to her core. But he didn’t enter her immediately. Instead he moved slowly until his arousal just pressed into her heat. She was starting to arch off the bed now, silently begging him to fill her, staring into his eyes, her gaze glittering with desire.
He loved watching her while they made love. The flush that covered her whole body, the small movements she made against him so instinctively that aroused him even further. Hearing her sighs and moans, feeling her slick heat take him in inch by torturously slow inch. Seeing her eyes widen when he finally slid home, penetrating as deeply and completely as he could. Watching her eyes drift shut as she gave herself up to the sensations racking her body.
She wrapped her legs around him, locking her ankles around his thighs and urged him into her.
He resisted only for the seconds it took him to whisper: “I love you,” before making himself a part of her so resoundingly that it felt for a moment as if they would never be two separate beings again. He felt her body contract around him, welcoming him and he held himself perfectly still. He always did that, waiting for her to make the first move.
All it took to hurl him into frantic action was a small shift in her body that increased the angle. She dug her nails into his shoulders, holding on as he moved inside her with barely restrained violence. He braced one hand on the bed next to her head and curled the other around her waist, his hand finding the small of her back. He arched her into his thrusts, harder with each plunge.
She was moving against him desperately, striving for release. But he knew her too well. Knew every nuance of her body and the meaning behind every little movement she made. He wielded that knowledge expertly, holding off that final oblivion so her explosion was mind-blowing and hard.
He watched with hooded eyes as she climaxed, riding out each shuddering contraction with her, listening to her cries with every convulsion. And only after she had started quieting down, did he let himself go.
It was truly awesome experiencing him out of control and in the throes of an orgasm. He gave himself up to it with the same single-mindedness with which he loved her. Completely, totally, overpoweringly. His body arched into hers, his eyes squeezed shut and her name tumbled from his lips like a litany. She loved splaying her hands over his back, feeling the play of his muscles with every move.
They clung to each other afterwards, enjoying the little tremors that still coursed through their bodies. With their urgency dulled, they shared soft kisses, whispering of their love and their happiness. Their eyes smiled at each other, enjoying the fact that they had had some alone time before Maria would drop off the kids from pre-school. Liz didn’t even ask. She knew Max had come home from work early with exactly this in mind. They had made a promise to each other when their kids were born that they would make an effort to still be lovers. That this special relationship between them would not get lost in the responsibility of parenthood and careers.
“I love you, Max Evans.” Seeing the way his eyes still light up at the words made her blink away a few stray tears. “Thank you for saving me that day.”
“No, thank you, Liz Evans. For saving me every day since. For making me human and being my destiny.” He rested his forehead against hers tenderly, relaxing with her as they waited for their children to come home.
They had walked a long and hard road to win this peace and joy. And they would never take it for granted.
THE END
More coming up later.
Synopsis: Set in the (happy) future. Max and Liz got married after school, had children some years later and are still very much in love and lust!
Distribution: Only here, please!
Rating: NC-17
PURE ECSTASY
He knelt next to the tub, slowly running his hand down her bare, wet arm that was resting on the side, and watched her body’s reaction with hooded eyes. She trembled, her nipples hardening to peaks that begged for the touch of his hand or his mouth. But... not yet.
Her breath was coming in little tortured gasps and she had to fight to stop her eyes from drifting shut in ecstasy. She wanted to watch him watch her. It was indescribably erotic. His eyes were devouring her body with such heat that it felt like she was burned everywhere they went. He hadn’t done anything but touch her arm yet and already the ache low in her stomach was becoming unbearable. “Please Max...”
Her plea turned into a low moan as his hand drifted from her arm, across her flat stomach. He trailed his fingers lightly over her womb under the water, causing her to inhale sharply and arch towards him. Her hands clutched desperately at the sides of the bath, where he had placed them earlier. Her shaking increased and she wondered how long she could stay still under this gentle torture.
Leaving one hand resting low on her abdomen, he brought the other up to slide through her dark tresses. He swept the strands over her shoulder, smoothing them down until they almost covered her nipples. He brushed his trembling fingers over the silky swath repeatedly, but always stopped just before touching her breast.
The only thing that kept her from disobeying his orders about not moving her hands from the rim of the tub, was the profound effect all of this was having on him too. The snug fit of his jeans did nothing to hide his arousal. His face was flushed and his breathing ragged. But, as usual, it was his eyes that did her in. They were almost black with desire as they swept her body restlessly.
“Touch me...”
His gaze snapped up to hers, getting snagged in those doe eyes like it always has. Her eyes were speaking of her needs and her love. Slowly he let his fingers slide the last few inches down her hair to brush across her breast.
“Oh God...” His slurred voice surprised both of them.
‘PLEASE!’ Her scream echoed in his mind and galvanized him into action. He cupped her breast in his hand, caressing it urgently.
Her head fell back as she arched desperately closer to his hand, needing him to increase the pressure and tempo of his touches.
Sliding his thumb over her nipple, he reveled in the different textures of her breast. In the instinctive reaction of her body to his touch. Even after all these years, it humbled him that he had such power over her. That she would so trustingly, eagerly, put her body in his hands. Rolling the nipple between his thumb and forefinger, he watched every movement of her body with hungry eyes. Listened for every small sigh and every helpless moan he wrung from her. Her responses always brought him as much pleasure as her hands on his body.
Leaning forward, he ran his open mouth down her arm, sliding his tongue over her smooth skin. Little ripples under her skin followed his touch. Even my skin recognizes you... She had told him that a few times and it was a heady thought. That he was so ingrained in her that she didn’t need to see or hear him to know it’s him. You’re my other half, that’s why... He reached her hand and licked her fingers, each one individually, curling his tongue around them and sucking until she cried out his name.
He loved that. Hearing her call his name. It was such an instinctive thing to do. No thinking about it, just “Max!” It confirmed his possession of her... heart, mind, soul and body. And yes, he liked that. That she was his. That she had only ever been his. That no one else had ever seen her like this. That no one else’s name had tumbled from her lips in a moment of abandoned passion.
“Max...” A sigh.
How many ways she said his name! And each time with so much meaning...
“Max!” I’m so happy to see you!
“Max...” Please hold me...
“Max.” You need me, even if you won’t admit it.
“Max!” The kids need you!
“Max!” It’s time to stop being gentle!
“Max...” My lover, my love...
Kiss me! Her eyes were begging him. I need to feel you lips on mine. Her eyes were luring him in. Following his every movement and every breath with a heated gaze. He moved closer, sliding his arm between her shoulders and the tub and lifting her closer to him while his other hand continued its torturous caresses on her breasts.
She parted her lips in anticipation, slowly moistening them with her tongue. Hearing his gasp, she tore her gaze from his mouth and glanced in his eyes. They were almost black now. Dark with desire for her. He was watching her intently, studying her every response. She felt her chest starting to heave as she fought for breath. He was so close... She could feel his heat scorching her, his breath feathering across her lips. But still he didn’t kiss her. He just watched her with those amazing eyes. Watched her anticipation and desire increase. Until every pant from her included a whimper.
Her eyes widened as he moved his hand from her breast down to her stomach, leaving it to rest fleetingly against that place where he had healed her so many years ago. Against her womb with which she had given him his son four years ago and his daughter two years later. I love you. He didn’t say it, but she heard it clearly in her head. She still marveled at the fact that in moments of intense emotion, such as this, they could talk to each other telepathically. She didn’t have time to ponder it for long though, for his hand was sliding lower, brushing over the curls between her legs before finding her center.
At the first slide of his fingers on her moist core, she nearly came out of the tub, her cry ringing in their ears. He was still staring at her face, his eyes heavy-lidded and intense. Knowing exactly what he was doing to her. Knowing how the lust was slamming through her body only to converge in that one point where his fingers were caressing her. She pressed herself against his hand shamelessly, striving for that ultimate release he had made her so addicted to. The release that meant the end of all rational thinking, and the beginning of a few blissful minutes of only feeling.
She was wet and hot and her movements mesmerized him. Her eyes clung to his as she arched against his touch rhythmically. He let his fingers mimic what his body would do to her later until he felt the first fine tremors start deep in her body. Moving his hand slowly back to her stomach, he waited for, and heard, her moan of disappointment. “Not without me...” he whispered against her lips.
He twisted her hair around his hand, holding her head prisoner as he teased her mouth with his. Rubbing his lips over hers with the barest of touches before tracing her them with his tongue. Her hand curled in his shirt, her fingers bunching the material together urgently. His mouth drifted over her jaw to her ear and he blew softly before sliding his tongue over the whorls.
“Oh god, Max! Please!”
“Please what?” His spoke softly in her ear, his breath tickling the places his tongue had just wet. “Please stop?”
“Noo!” It was a helpless moan. “Please... more... I need more!”
He lifted her even closer, nuzzling her face before running his tongue over her lips again. When he spoke, she could feel each syllable against her moist mouth. “I never could say no to you... or stay away from you.”
He was torturing her purposely, but his hoarse voice indicated that he too was affected by his game. His eyes moved to her mouth, watching as she struggled for breath for a few seconds, before he dipped his head and captured her lips forcefully. Both of them moaned at the contact. It was still as electrifying as that first kiss on her balcony so many years ago, only now it was intensified by the added physical knowledge of each other. Their tongues dueled, sliding across each other intimately, knowingly. Hungrily.
He kissed like he made love. With total absorption and such wonderful expertise. It had been like that for all the years she’s known him. There never was “just a kiss” between them. It drove their friends mad that they always got so lost in each other. But for however long Max’s mouth was loving hers, they were the only two people in the universe...
Visions of the two of them flickered behind her closed eyelids. Visions of them kissing, making love, getting married, of a planet she’s never been to, the tears in his eyes when he held his son for the first time... So many happy memories that they once feared they would never have.
And through it all he kept on devouring her mouth, catching her little moans of pleasure with his lips and rewarding her with his sighs. His hands cupped her face, a gesture she had come to know as being so very Max. His fingers slid into her hair as his thumbs caressed the corners of her mouth. ‘Give in, Liz! Give in before I do...’ She heard his thoughts clearly and curled her hands more tightly around the edges of the tub. ‘Oh no, Max Evans, I’m going to win this--’.
But she didn’t. He did. Like he almost always does. He won by tearing his mouth away and leaning his forehead against hers before saying: “I want you Mrs. Evans” in that rough, sexy, only-you-can-do-this-to-me voice of his. The one that made her feel like he had traced her naked spine with a feather, causing her to shiver violently. Oh, his voice...
She startled him, so quick was her surrender. Abruptly giving up her efforts to keep her hands off him, she turned her whole body towards him, throwing her arms around his neck. His white shirt was getting soaked in the process, but neither of them cared. He half-lifted her from the tub, his breath hissing from him as her naked breasts came in contact with his chest.
“Liz!” She had been made to fit him, her body filling all the spaces in his. Having her all wet against him was incredibly erotic. His hands slid over the slick skin of her back until they could cup the cheeks of her behind. Slowly getting up, he pressed each new inch of her that was freed from the tub and the water against him, feeling the cold places where their bodies had not been touching before staring to heat up. Her scent was intoxicating. It was so... Liz. He could find her with his eyes closed.
She nipped his throat with her teeth. He tasted like heaven, so very male. His skin was salty and hot, just like the rest of him. She rubbed herself against him languidly, his wet shirt providing little impediment for her to feel the lashed steel of his muscles. Hard all over, that was Max. She felt the flex of those muscles against her as he lifted her out of the tub with one arm before letting her slide to the floor gently. But he wasn’t finished with her yet.
When he was sure she was standing on her own, he pressed his hand flat between her shoulder blades, bringing her flush with his body. He stood resting against her for a few precious moments. This was home.
She looked up into his face as he started combing his glowing hands through her hair, drying it until it lay in a smooth wave down her back. When he was finished, adoration had joined desire in her eyes. “Thank you.”
“It was for me,” his voice was still raspy, sexy. He arched her lower body into his, pressing her against his arousal. “I don’t know how I made it. All those years ago, without this...” He rubbed her against him, closing his eyes in ecstasy as she moaned.
“Oh God, Liz!” He trailed his fingers up her back tracing the indentation of her spine until a long shudder racked her body. He could smell the scent of her arousal, it filled the air around them, making him drunk with desire.
Liz was reeling from all the sensations assailing her. His magic touch, his whispered words, his heat, his excitement, his love, his expertise, his... everything.
He turned her around unexpectedly, aligning her back to his chest and slowly spun them until she could see their outlines in the misty full length mirror. It was a stark contrast: her small frame dwarfed by his size, his tanned hands against her pale skin, her nakedness against his shirt and jeans.
She tilted her head backwards until it rested against his shoulder, but kept her eyes open, watching him seduce her. He swept his hands down her sides, his fingers nearly meeting when they reached her tiny waist. But he didn’t stop there. Slowly, he inched his hands down until they had traversed her hips and found her thighs. He curled his hands inward, his fingers finding the insides and gently nudged her legs apart. She didn’t have a solid bone left in her body. Or a rational thought in her mind. So she blindly did what he was urging, opening her legs until he could slide one of his hard thighs in between. Thankfully he did, or she would have melted to the floor.
He trailed his hands back up, gliding them under her arms until he could lift them up to wrap around his neck. She clung to him helplessly, her fingers tangled in his hair and her breath heavy and tortured.
He was fascinated by the signs of arousal in her body. It was so obvious with men, but so subtle with women. His hands found her nipples again, his palms rotating against the stiff peaks as he watched her writhe against him.
She bit down a moan, not wanting to break the silence yet. The silence that was already filled with the sounds of their breathing and the shared thoughts in their minds. She pressed down against his thigh, trying to assuage the ache in the pit of her stomach, the sharp pain of need at the juncture of her legs.
Please, her mind was begging, please, please, please... “Oh please,” it spilled out of her lips.
And he gave in. A little. Moving his hand between her thighs to that place that ached to be filled by him. She arched into his hand shamelessly, opening her legs wider in anticipation.
His fingers found her center. It was hot and wet and slick. He groaned as his fingers parted her folds and entered her. He heard her cry out his name in momentary relief. He gloried in the rush of moistness covering his fingers. I did this to her. Me. My touch. My caress. Continuing the rhythmic slide of his hand against her, he lifted his other hand to her face, urging her towards him so he could kiss her. He used his tongue and fingers in sync, driving her to the brink of sanity. Kissing and touching her until she moaned with every breath.
“My name. Say my name again,” he pleaded with her, suddenly needing to hear her voice when it was filled with the passion he incited.
They stared at each other until he circled the small nub at the top of her folds with his thumb. She shuddered violently and gave him what he needed.
“Max...” It was a moan. A long drawn out moan filled with need and formed by a voice husky and low with desire. It nearly broke his control. He kissed her hard then, crushing her lips underneath his in a frenzy of lust. His tongue invaded her mouth urgently, tasting her, communicating his own needs. It was more than a kiss. It was a stamp of his ownership.
She twisted in his arms and tore at his shirt, ripping off buttons in her haste to get it off him. He didn’t help, his hands were still occupied with her body. “Max!” This time his name was an illustration of her frustration and he let go of her long enough to allow her to push the shirt from his shoulders. She slid off his thigh next, and her fingers dug into the waistband of his jeans, finding the button and working it open. His hands dropped to his sides as he drank in her every movement, her every expression.
Her eyes were glazed and heavy as she worked his zipper down with clumsy and uncoordinated hands. She slid to her knees in front of him, clinging to his thighs and moving with him as he stumbled back against the wall in reaction.
“Liz, honey...” His fingers speared into her hair, holding on for dear life as she tugged his jeans and boxers down his legs. Her nails scratched the skin of his thighs lightly, causing the muscles to jump. He kicked the clothes out of the way impatiently, his hands trying to urge her back up, but she resisted. So he gave in to the inevitable, putting his hands against the wall behind his back and praying that he would be able to stay upright.
She traced him with her eyes first. Following the length of him with her gaze until he was sure he was going to explode before she even touched him. She watched every flicker and pulse and every drop of response that he couldn’t control.
A moan started forming deep inside his chest when he saw her reach out her hand and it burst out when her finger traced the vain running on the underside of his arousal softly.
Now it was his turn to beg. Touch me, Liz! His mind cried helplessly. Please...
Her hand encircled him, carefully increasing the pressure until he jerked against her, unable to do anything but react. His breath rushed out of his lungs frantically as she leant in, nuzzling him before touching the tip of her tongue to the moisture glistening just above her fingers. He threw his head back, closing his eyes and gave himself up to her ministrations. His body went on autopilot, moving into her hands and mouth rhythmically until they both felt him tightening in preparation for release.
Her hands and mouth were suddenly gone, the air chilling the places she had just touched. Their eyes found each other and she whispered: “Not without me...”
He couldn’t play this game anymore. He needed to be inside her with a desperation bordering on insanity. Sweeping her up into his arms, he carried her into their bedroom of many years and placed her in the middle of the bed. He knelt next to her, staring down at her until she held out her hand. He let her pull him down to her and he carefully covered her body with his.
He wanted to complete his possession of her, but first he wanted to taste her. She gasped when he bent his head to her breast, letting his lips trail around her nipple. Her skin was soft and enticing and smelled of him. His tongue skimmed the line underneath her breasts, and he rested his head in the valley between them breathing in their shared scent. He knew every inch of her breasts, it was, after all, the first intimate place of her he got to know way back in high school. Her breasts have changed over the years as she went from being a teenager to an adult, from a wife to a mother and he had made it his business to learn each minute difference with a passion. He had watched her breast-feed their children with envy, having trouble sharing this part of her that he felt he owned even with his own children. He touched the tip of his tongue to her nipple, swirling it around her areola and marveling at the different textures. He kept his caresses up until her whimpers became louder.
He nudged his thigh between hers and she parted her legs wordlessly, allowing him access to her core. But he didn’t enter her immediately. Instead he moved slowly until his arousal just pressed into her heat. She was starting to arch off the bed now, silently begging him to fill her, staring into his eyes, her gaze glittering with desire.
He loved watching her while they made love. The flush that covered her whole body, the small movements she made against him so instinctively that aroused him even further. Hearing her sighs and moans, feeling her slick heat take him in inch by torturously slow inch. Seeing her eyes widen when he finally slid home, penetrating as deeply and completely as he could. Watching her eyes drift shut as she gave herself up to the sensations racking her body.
She wrapped her legs around him, locking her ankles around his thighs and urged him into her.
He resisted only for the seconds it took him to whisper: “I love you,” before making himself a part of her so resoundingly that it felt for a moment as if they would never be two separate beings again. He felt her body contract around him, welcoming him and he held himself perfectly still. He always did that, waiting for her to make the first move.
All it took to hurl him into frantic action was a small shift in her body that increased the angle. She dug her nails into his shoulders, holding on as he moved inside her with barely restrained violence. He braced one hand on the bed next to her head and curled the other around her waist, his hand finding the small of her back. He arched her into his thrusts, harder with each plunge.
She was moving against him desperately, striving for release. But he knew her too well. Knew every nuance of her body and the meaning behind every little movement she made. He wielded that knowledge expertly, holding off that final oblivion so her explosion was mind-blowing and hard.
He watched with hooded eyes as she climaxed, riding out each shuddering contraction with her, listening to her cries with every convulsion. And only after she had started quieting down, did he let himself go.
It was truly awesome experiencing him out of control and in the throes of an orgasm. He gave himself up to it with the same single-mindedness with which he loved her. Completely, totally, overpoweringly. His body arched into hers, his eyes squeezed shut and her name tumbled from his lips like a litany. She loved splaying her hands over his back, feeling the play of his muscles with every move.
They clung to each other afterwards, enjoying the little tremors that still coursed through their bodies. With their urgency dulled, they shared soft kisses, whispering of their love and their happiness. Their eyes smiled at each other, enjoying the fact that they had had some alone time before Maria would drop off the kids from pre-school. Liz didn’t even ask. She knew Max had come home from work early with exactly this in mind. They had made a promise to each other when their kids were born that they would make an effort to still be lovers. That this special relationship between them would not get lost in the responsibility of parenthood and careers.
“I love you, Max Evans.” Seeing the way his eyes still light up at the words made her blink away a few stray tears. “Thank you for saving me that day.”
“No, thank you, Liz Evans. For saving me every day since. For making me human and being my destiny.” He rested his forehead against hers tenderly, relaxing with her as they waited for their children to come home.
They had walked a long and hard road to win this peace and joy. And they would never take it for granted.
THE END
More coming up later.
Missing Max
TITLE: Missing Max
AUTHOR: LivE
E-MAIL: lieselvw@mweb.co.za
RATING: ADULT
CATEGORY: M/L
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to Roswell, only a vivid imagination…
SUMMARY: This is pretty sniffly in some parts, since it relates to Max having to go “out of town on business” so to speak and how his family copes with that. However, it also has his RETURN * evil grin *
DISTRIBUTION: Only here please.
MISSING MAX
A sniffle in the bed next to her drew Liz’s attention to her small daughter that was lying spooned between her and her son, Matthew. “What is it, Belle?” But she knew.
“I want Daddy,” the little voice trembled with emotion.
So do I, sweetie! Liz thought ruefully as she hugged her two-year old closer and kissed the top of her dark head. This was the first time Max has been away for longer than a night or two and could not be reached by phone. The impact on their family was palpable. Max might think that she was the center of his life and his family, but the rest of them knew different. To his wife, his son and his daughter, Max Evans was the sun and the moon.
It had been a long and upsetting discussion between her and Max about whether or not they should go with him to an interplanetary meeting in another galaxy. Of course both of them wanted them all to go together, but they knew that their precious Matthew and Belle-Mari were too young to grasp the need for not telling anyone they had traveled on a spaceship to another planet. So in the end, the decision had been out of their hands, Max would go and Liz would stay behind with their kids.
The days before he left had been awful. Max adored his children. The only person with a bigger place in his heart was his wife. And knowing that he was leaving them behind for close to a month and they were too little to understand why had broken his heart. Added to that was the fact that their children were linked to them and could sense extreme emotions, so Matthew and Belle had known their Daddy was upset and sad, and that worsened their own distress.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The night before he left, Max sat on the floor of their living room with both his kids on his lap in his arms. They were vying for his attention with stories from the day at pre-school. He had smiled at Liz over their heads and mouthed ‘I love you’ at her while he listened.
Not surprisingly, there normally was a tussle about who gets to be in Max’s arms for watching television. Everyone, from Liz to Matthew to Belle-Mari, wanted to be there and it had been quite an adjustment for Liz to have to share his hugs and embraces with their children. She loved them to death, but sometimes she lived for the moments, late at night, when Max was just hers again.
The later it got, the quieter and more withdrawn Matthew had become until the only voice still chattering was that of Belle. Matthew had moved to the couch to sit next to Liz, but Belle was clinging to Max, her chocolate eyes bright, as she told him how another little girl had pushed her off the swing. “I hurt my knee, Daddy!”
Max felt his chest constrict, it was such a stupid little thing, children scraped their knees all the time, but this reminded him of a long time ago, when another girl with chocolate eyes and pigtails had fallen on the stairs at school. It had given him a near heart attack when he saw the blood on her knees. He’d been 10-years old then and had wanted to do nothing more than rush over and help Liz. But he hadn’t. He couldn’t. Instead, he had stood watching as she wiped the blood off with a tissue while trying not to let anyone see that she wanted to cry. It had broken his heart. And nothing had changed in more than 15 years. Max Evans could still not stand to see the girls he loved, getting hurt.
“Show me, sweetie,” he urged his daughter.
“I can’t,” she told him proudly.
Eyes narrowing, Max was sensing trouble. “What do you mean you can’t?” He saw Matthew edge closer to Liz out of the corner of his eye.
Flinging her arms around her father’s neck, Belle stood on his thigh so she can whisper in his ear. “It’s all better.”
“Who made it better?” Max asked her as he kissed her cheek. She was such a sweet, loving child.
“I did!” Matthew burst out abruptly, clutching Liz’s arm. He knew very well that the only person that could save him from his father’s wrath was his mother. “It was bleeding, Daddy! And-and Belle was crying.” After risking a glance at his father, Matthew was now staring at the floor, biting his lip.
This day had to come eventually.
Liz felt how tense her little boy was where he sat next to her. While Max had never raised a hand or a voice to his children, they lived in perpetual awe of him and never wanted to disappoint him. Her eyes met Max’s, and she felt his mixed emotions at what had happened. Pride at Matthew for looking out for his younger sister and worry that their children would get exposed for what they were, alien hybrids.
Kissing her five-year old on the top of his head, Liz rose. “It will be okay,” she assured him softly as his anxious eyes pleaded with her not to leave.
She had to pry Belle off her daddy. She was determined not to let him out of her sight and to not fall asleep so she could spend more time with him before he left. Finally, Belle relented after Max promised to come read her a story later. She shared a few loud and sloppy kisses with Max and Liz took her off to bath.
Identical amber eyes regarded each other after the female half of the family was out of the room. Max moved onto the couch and lifted Matthew to sit on his knee. He told his son all he was feeling. Honesty was a very serious issue in the Evans household. He told him how much he appreciated Matthew looking out for his sister when Max couldn’t. He told Matthew how much he loved him and how special he was.
And then he told Matthew exactly how special he was.
Matthew listened with a bent head to his father’s story of who they were. He had known he was different from the day he was born. He had just not grasped precisely what that meant. He had never wondered why his mommy sometimes glowed where his father touched her or why his dad could make his mom better when she cut her hand last year. Or why he knew when his parents were near. Or how he had known that Belle was hurt and crying today.
“I took her behind the school to fix her,” he finally informed Max solemnly.
Sighing, Max tried to explain why he couldn’t just go around healing his sister and they ended up making some rules for when and how Matthew may use his powers.
After a tight an emotional hug between father and son, Max took Matthew to Belle-Mari’s room so he could read them a story.
Liz stood in the door for a long time, just watching and listening to Max. He had the most beautiful voice and their kids were draped all over him as they hung onto each word. Belle fell asleep first, but Max kept reading until Matthew also lost the fight with slumber. She helped him tuck in both the children before he took her hand and led her to their room.
Inside, he held her against him tightly. “I’m going to miss you all so much.”
It still amazed her that someone coming from a planet that didn’t really know love, could love so well. Because neither she nor their children wondered if Max loved them. They knew because he told them and showed them every day.
“I’m going to miss you,” he emphasized as he rested his cheek on the top of her head. “I’m going to miss touching your hair, hearing your voice, holding you.”
Shivers ran through her body as she heard his voice rumble in his chest. There was no place she felt more at home than in Max’s embrace. She inhaled his unique scent deeply, and it affected her like it always did. She pressed her lips against his neck, glorying in his heat and taste. This was going to be the longest period she has ever been out of his arms.
They kissed each other desperately, trying to get as close as possible before having to face the long weeks ahead alone. Max held her face in his hands, his mouth moving against hers deeply as she arched her body into closer contact with his.
He started unbuttoning her blouse but she stopped him. “I want to memorize every inch of you tonight,” she told him huskily. “Slowly.”
Holding his breath, Max let Liz pull him into their bathroom. He stood watching as she drew a bath, filling it with bubbles before turning to him. “Let’s get you out of those clothes.”
It was a languid seduction. She caressed and kissed every bit of skin she uncovered, until Max felt like he had fire in his veins instead of blood. Making him get into the tub first, she got in with him and settled herself between his legs, lying back on his chest so that the messy knot she made on top of her head tickled his nose.
How can people be satisfied with spending their lives in quiet desperation if they could be happy, Max wondered? Not everyone will meet a soul mate like he did, but everyone had it within their power to make the most of the relationships they were in, instead of hankering for something that might never be. He slid his hands under her arms and lifted her higher against him, until their cheeks rested against each other.
Quiet time with Liz. He would always ensure that his life never got so hectic that he would have to give this up. He loved his children, but he loved Liz too. And they owed each other some quality time.
Liz turned her face until her cheekbone rested against his mouth. So much was in her heart that she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. And she didn’t have to. Max felt everything she felt through their connection. “Max…” she whispered. Using his name to ward off the demons that lie in wait at the edge of her consciousness. Waiting for her to be alone so they could accost her.
His soapy hands traversed the hills and valleys of her body with familiarity. Knowing where to hover and where to skim. Knowing what made her sigh and purr. What made her arch into his touch and beg him for more.
After allowing him a few minutes of his own way, Liz finally caught his hands in hers, putting them on the sides of the tub. Then she proceeded to drive him crazy with her hands and mouth.
Until he had to stop her.
Enfolding her in a big fluffy towel after they climbed out of the tub, Max wrapped his arms around her, just holding her against him for more precious minutes. Saying good-bye was so difficult.
Back on their bed, their lovemaking was intense, but unhurried. They needed time to process each and every sensation, each and every feeling. Soft whispers of love and gentle sighs were the only sounds in the room for a long time.
Sliding inside her, Max kept the pace languorous, wanting to draw out their enjoyment for as long as possible. His hands bracketed her hips so he could dominate their rhythm. It was as glorious as always. Knowing she belonged to him, knowing she was his future.
Liz reveled in his strong and sure movements within her. It gave her a sense of security and completion to be joined to him like this. Her Max.
The end rushed upon them suddenly, enveloping their bodies in sweet release and wonderful ecstasy. Binding them even more tightly together.
Afterwards, they lay staring in each other’s eyes, talking with their souls and hearts. Saying ‘I love you’ for yet another precious time in their lives.
The farewell of the next morning was terrible. Breakfast had been a strained affair and by the time Maria came to drop off Michael, who would be going with Max, and pick up the kids for pre-school, everyone’s nerves were in tatters. Belle clung to her daddy with a trembling lip and eyes filled with tears causing Max to choke up too. He kept on kissing her sad little face, promising he’d be back as soon as he could.
Matthew was more subdued. He gave his father a hug, mumbling good-bye as he walked towards Maria’s car with his head hung low and his hands shoved in his pockets. At that moment he looked so very much like Max that Liz caught her breath.
After promising Belle that she would come pick them up at school herself, Liz managed to get the little girl strapped into her car seat. Max observed this from the patio, his heart in his throat. Belle was a little Liz, her wide eyes showing all her emotions while Matthew reminded him of himself, shutting down on emotions before they could hurt him too much.
Matthew had just opened the car door before he abruptly turned around and raced back to his father, hurtling himself against Max’s chest and into his open arms. “Bye Daddy! I’ll miss you,” he sniffled.
Max held him tightly for a few moments, having trouble controlling his emotions. “Bye Son. I love you. Look after Mommy and Belle, okay?”
Nodding against his chest, Matthew finally tore himself away and ran back to the car, wiping at his tears with the back of his hand.
As Maria drove away, Max held Liz’s hand in a crushing grip, trying to get hold of his emotions. And the hardest part, saying good-bye to Liz, was still ahead of him…
Liz drove them all to the point where they were to be picked up. It was weird doing it in the bright light of day, but the ship apparently had technology that could hide it from both radar and the naked eye. Michael, cranky because he had to leave Maria, stalked off as soon as the car came to a halt, leaving Max and Liz alone.
Not knowing what to say, Max kissed Liz for the longest time. Only stopping when Michael yelled at them that the ship was there.
Then he was gone, leaving a huge hole in the lives of his family.
~*~*~*~*~*~
After Belle had been lulled to sleep again by Liz, she lay staring at the ceiling of the room she normally shared with Max. Maria was staying with them, sleeping in the spare room, but the huge bed had been too empty, so Liz allowed the kids to sleep with her.
While Belle burst into tears at odd moments throughout the long days that Max had been gone, Matthew had retreated into a silent little world, only brightening when he was talking to Liz or Belle. He seemed to be even more protective of his sister, not letting her out of his sight unless he had to.
An unexpected tug at the edge of her consciousness nearly had Liz jumping off the bed. She and Matthew sat up simultaneously and Matthew spoke both their thoughts aloud: “Daddy!”
He had been gone for a week-and-a-half now and they had all felt the absence of their connections with him acutely. To suddenly “feel” him again was wonderful.
“Belle,” Matthew lifted his sister into a sitting position. “Daddy wants to talk to us, you have to concentrate.” He looked like he knew what he was doing, so Liz let them be.
Matthew linked hands with his mother and Belle as they all sat cross-legged on the bed. “Concentrate on Daddy,” Matthew instructed them.
A few minutes of intense concentration later, interspersed with Belle mumbling ‘daddy’, Matthew suddenly held out his one hand to the wall next to the bed and a blurry image of Max appeared.
Liz didn’t know who was more surprised, her or Max. She could see him blinking in confusion as he stared at his family congregated on his bed.
“Daddy!” Belle squealed immediately, her eyes bright with excitement.
“Hey Sweetheart.” Max had apparently recovered from his shock at being able to see them all. “I miss you all,” he told them fervently.
“We miss you too,” Liz responded. He looked so beautiful to her starved eyes. Across the light years, their gazes met and held like they always did. Talking in a language no one else had ever understood.
“I wish I could hold you now.” Max was echoing what Liz was feeling. To have been able to touch him would’ve been wonderful.
“So tell me about your weeks,” he urged their kids when he finally managed to tear his eyes away from Liz.
“I made you four pictures, Daddy!” Belle cried first, holding up three fingers.
Liz saw Max swallow emotionally. “Thank you, my baby,” he said softly.
Matthew had been quiet all through the exchange, but now he looked at his father. “Are you coming back?” he asked suddenly.
The question sounded loud in the room.
Shock registered on Max’s face as he saw the anxious look from Matthew. “Yes! Of course I’m coming back. You guys are my home,” he tried to assure his son. He looked at Liz desperately. “I love you and your Mom. I hate being away from you. I’m coming back as soon as I can. I promise.”
Matthew nodded his head and whispered. “Okay.”
Not knowing how to make her two guys feel better, Liz cast around frantically for a solution. “Maybe—maybe we can make a date for a few nights from now to talk again?”
Max threw her a relieved and thankful glance. “I would love that. What do you say, Matt? Will you help Mommy and Belle to speak to me again on Friday?”
The nod this time was so eager it brought tears to Liz’s eyes.
They chatted a few more minutes and the good-bye was supremely unsatisfying. No hugs or kisses or anything physical. But the kids seemed calmer and they fell asleep immediately.
It was another story for Liz. She was Max-deprived and she hated it. Her relationship with Max has always been very physical. Not necessarily sexual, but being in close physical proximity to him is like breathing. Holding his hand, hugging him, kissing him, touching his skin… She missed all that so much. She missed him caressing her hair at any given opportunity, she missed him brushing his lips across her forehead several times a day, the soft stroke of his fingers over the bare skin of her arm…
“Max,” she whispered into the quiet room, wondering if maybe saying his name might conjure him up somehow.
It didn’t.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The weeks dragged by with lead feet and sometimes Liz feared that time stood still to torture her on purpose. Maria was cranky and they had found out a couple of days ago that she was pregnant. On the other hand, the kids were happy now that they got to see Max regularly.
But it all made the wait worse for Liz.
She felt his absence everywhere. She felt it driving the kids to pre-school alone. She felt it in his empty space at the breakfast and dinner table. But mostly, she felt it in the empty ache in her heart and body.
“I feel horrible,” Maria wailed as she finally appeared for breakfast. Going up to the fridge, she looked at the calendar Matthew had stuck against the door, marking off the days until his daddy will come home. “Only five more days before I can wring Michael’s neck for getting me into this condition.”
Liz grinned at her. “You know it takes two, right?”
“Liz, babe, I feel crappy. Don’t make me hurt you because you’re taking Space Boy’s side!”
Holding up her hands up, Liz conceded defeat. Nothing really pacifies a grumpy pregnant woman anyway. “What do you want for breakfast then?”
“A whole plate of pancakes.” When Maria saw Liz’s raised eyebrows, she shrugged. “I’m eating for two, you know!”
“You’re what?!” Michael bellowed from the door, causing both women to jump in fright.
The next moment, two screaming kids came running into the kitchen too. “Daddy! Daddy’s home!”
It was complete chaos. Michael and Maria were arguing about whether or not she should have sent him a message through Max to let him know she was pregnant and Max was being smothered by two clinging toddlers.
Standing to the side, Liz clutched the back of a chair, trying to keep her emotions in check while what she really wanted to do was chase away everyone but Max. They had come home early!
Eyes meeting over the heads of their kids, Max and Liz said hello and I love you without words.
After a few minutes, Max said firmly that he needed to greet Mommy too and walked over to Liz with a child on each hip. Leaning over, he kissed her tenderly, leaving it to Liz to put her arms around his neck and deepen the kiss. It was too short and not at all satisfying, because it didn’t take long for Matthew and Belle to complain about the lack of attention from Max.
Michael ended up dragging Maria off to their place, but not before she insisted Liz give her pancakes to take along. Max sat at the table with Matthew and Belle-Mari and listened to three weeks of tales of their lives.
And every time Liz passed him, they shared a soft kiss or he held her hand.
It was exquisite torture. They wanted each other so much they could taste it, but real life dictated that they could not just run off to their room to be together. So they sat at the table, had breakfast with their kids and afterwards drove the kids off to pre-school together. All the while trying to hide from their perceptive children how they really felt.
Realizing the kids needed reassuring that he wasn’t going off again, Max told Liz he would walk them in to their classes. He promised them that he would pick them up that afternoon and they would go out for ice cream. This pacified both Belle and Matthew, because they knew one thing. Their Dad always kept his word.
Getting back in the Cherokee, Max gave Liz a long look before cupping her face in his hands and giving her a deep, hard kiss. “Phone your office and take the day off.”
She grinned at him and waved her cell phone in the air. “Already done.”
Max took a deep shuddering breath. “Let’s go home then.” His eyes burned into hers, setting liquid fire racing through her veins.
“Yes.”
Back at their house, Liz followed Max inside. Desire throbbed inside her as fast as her rapidly beating heart. Deprived and lost were the only words she could think of to describe how she’d felt these past few weeks without Max.
The minute the door slammed closed behind him, all her feelings came rushing to the surface. She wasn’t sure who turned first, who reached for whom first. It didn’t matter because his arms were around her and his mouth came down hard on hers. She welcomed the firmness of his lips and the sweeping thrusts of his tongue because she’d been without it for too long.
She ran her fingers through his hair, holding his head, silently pleading with him not to stop. Not to leave her. He groaned and pulled her closer, aligning their bodies so she could feel him, hard and full, throbbing against her. Liquid heat pooled inside her and trickled between her legs.
She whimpered and he moved his hand and cupped her intimately, knowing and anticipating her need. “Max.” Somehow, she found the strength to separate their lips.
With an agonized groan, he met her gaze. But he didn’t move his hand and thumb rubbed in lazy circles over the soft denim covering her, until her breath came in shallow gasps and the dampness increased.
“What is it, Liz? Tell me what you want.” It was an irrelevant question, asked more to tease.
She wanted the ache to ease. The throbbing to stop. And she never wanted it to end.
She wanted him.
But he knew that.
She tipped her head back and realized she was braced against the wall, her legs bracketed between his strong thighs. He stared back at her with a heavy-lidded gaze. “Talk to me,” he murmured. “I missed hearing your voice.”
But one of his fingers was tracing her moist lips and the sensation was both sensual and hypnotic. Clearing her mind wasn’t easy. She wasn’t even sure why she needed to speak when he could read her mind just as clearly. “I missed… I wanted… I…” Her voice trailed off as his wet finger moved from her lips to her jaw, to her collarbone, settling finally in the soft V of her top.
His gaze never left hers and that same finger pushed down on the elastic, exposing her breast to his heated gaze. Her stomach muscles contracted with need.
He sucked in a ragged breath that matched one of her own. “I missed making love to you,” he muttered.
He cupped her chin and tilted her head for a gentle kiss. A hard, demanding one would have been more welcome.
Her sigh spoke volumes. She leaned towards him and bucked her hips against his painful arousal. “Me too,” she whispered in his ear.
Only then did Max let himself look down at her breast filling his hand. He brushed his thumb over one tight peak and felt the pull straight to his own groin. He dipped his head for a taste, her moan ringing in his ears.
Her unique scent filled him as he pulled the tight bud into his mouth. He flicked and teased with his tongue and then his teeth, until her hips rocked so insistently against him, HE was in danger of losing control. Driven beyond thought or reason by weeks of abstinence from her, he reached for the snap of her jeans and between the two of them, her pants hit the floor, then his, then their underwear followed.
Lifting her, he told her hoarsely to wrap her legs around him. She did, and as he lowered her onto him, her body took him deep inside.
A muffled sound broke through his ecstasy and he opened his eyes in time to catch one lone tear drip down her cheek.
“I missed you so much, Max.” Her legs grasped him tighter and she contracted around him. He let out a groan.
Leaning forward, he licked the salty tear off her cheek. The motion had the effect of grinding the lower bodies together. The wave crashed and eased. Her soft sigh was music to his starved ears.
“Max?”
“Hmmm?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“Any slower and I might have to strangle you.”
He grinned at her, but despite his amusement, his body was hammering for release. And she’d just given him the okay.
He meant to move then, but she beat him to it, turning their union into a rocking, twisting motion that had the effect of drawing him into her, body, heart and soul. The tempo increased and they moved against each other until the swaying and twisting had their bodies reaching… cresting… peaking on a wave so strong, everything inside them was swept away.
They had made a great life together with good jobs and wonderful kids, but here, in this place that only the two of them shared, they were complete.
They were home. With nothing missing from either of them.
THE END
AUTHOR: LivE
E-MAIL: lieselvw@mweb.co.za
RATING: ADULT
CATEGORY: M/L
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to Roswell, only a vivid imagination…
SUMMARY: This is pretty sniffly in some parts, since it relates to Max having to go “out of town on business” so to speak and how his family copes with that. However, it also has his RETURN * evil grin *
DISTRIBUTION: Only here please.
MISSING MAX
A sniffle in the bed next to her drew Liz’s attention to her small daughter that was lying spooned between her and her son, Matthew. “What is it, Belle?” But she knew.
“I want Daddy,” the little voice trembled with emotion.
So do I, sweetie! Liz thought ruefully as she hugged her two-year old closer and kissed the top of her dark head. This was the first time Max has been away for longer than a night or two and could not be reached by phone. The impact on their family was palpable. Max might think that she was the center of his life and his family, but the rest of them knew different. To his wife, his son and his daughter, Max Evans was the sun and the moon.
It had been a long and upsetting discussion between her and Max about whether or not they should go with him to an interplanetary meeting in another galaxy. Of course both of them wanted them all to go together, but they knew that their precious Matthew and Belle-Mari were too young to grasp the need for not telling anyone they had traveled on a spaceship to another planet. So in the end, the decision had been out of their hands, Max would go and Liz would stay behind with their kids.
The days before he left had been awful. Max adored his children. The only person with a bigger place in his heart was his wife. And knowing that he was leaving them behind for close to a month and they were too little to understand why had broken his heart. Added to that was the fact that their children were linked to them and could sense extreme emotions, so Matthew and Belle had known their Daddy was upset and sad, and that worsened their own distress.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The night before he left, Max sat on the floor of their living room with both his kids on his lap in his arms. They were vying for his attention with stories from the day at pre-school. He had smiled at Liz over their heads and mouthed ‘I love you’ at her while he listened.
Not surprisingly, there normally was a tussle about who gets to be in Max’s arms for watching television. Everyone, from Liz to Matthew to Belle-Mari, wanted to be there and it had been quite an adjustment for Liz to have to share his hugs and embraces with their children. She loved them to death, but sometimes she lived for the moments, late at night, when Max was just hers again.
The later it got, the quieter and more withdrawn Matthew had become until the only voice still chattering was that of Belle. Matthew had moved to the couch to sit next to Liz, but Belle was clinging to Max, her chocolate eyes bright, as she told him how another little girl had pushed her off the swing. “I hurt my knee, Daddy!”
Max felt his chest constrict, it was such a stupid little thing, children scraped their knees all the time, but this reminded him of a long time ago, when another girl with chocolate eyes and pigtails had fallen on the stairs at school. It had given him a near heart attack when he saw the blood on her knees. He’d been 10-years old then and had wanted to do nothing more than rush over and help Liz. But he hadn’t. He couldn’t. Instead, he had stood watching as she wiped the blood off with a tissue while trying not to let anyone see that she wanted to cry. It had broken his heart. And nothing had changed in more than 15 years. Max Evans could still not stand to see the girls he loved, getting hurt.
“Show me, sweetie,” he urged his daughter.
“I can’t,” she told him proudly.
Eyes narrowing, Max was sensing trouble. “What do you mean you can’t?” He saw Matthew edge closer to Liz out of the corner of his eye.
Flinging her arms around her father’s neck, Belle stood on his thigh so she can whisper in his ear. “It’s all better.”
“Who made it better?” Max asked her as he kissed her cheek. She was such a sweet, loving child.
“I did!” Matthew burst out abruptly, clutching Liz’s arm. He knew very well that the only person that could save him from his father’s wrath was his mother. “It was bleeding, Daddy! And-and Belle was crying.” After risking a glance at his father, Matthew was now staring at the floor, biting his lip.
This day had to come eventually.
Liz felt how tense her little boy was where he sat next to her. While Max had never raised a hand or a voice to his children, they lived in perpetual awe of him and never wanted to disappoint him. Her eyes met Max’s, and she felt his mixed emotions at what had happened. Pride at Matthew for looking out for his younger sister and worry that their children would get exposed for what they were, alien hybrids.
Kissing her five-year old on the top of his head, Liz rose. “It will be okay,” she assured him softly as his anxious eyes pleaded with her not to leave.
She had to pry Belle off her daddy. She was determined not to let him out of her sight and to not fall asleep so she could spend more time with him before he left. Finally, Belle relented after Max promised to come read her a story later. She shared a few loud and sloppy kisses with Max and Liz took her off to bath.
Identical amber eyes regarded each other after the female half of the family was out of the room. Max moved onto the couch and lifted Matthew to sit on his knee. He told his son all he was feeling. Honesty was a very serious issue in the Evans household. He told him how much he appreciated Matthew looking out for his sister when Max couldn’t. He told Matthew how much he loved him and how special he was.
And then he told Matthew exactly how special he was.
Matthew listened with a bent head to his father’s story of who they were. He had known he was different from the day he was born. He had just not grasped precisely what that meant. He had never wondered why his mommy sometimes glowed where his father touched her or why his dad could make his mom better when she cut her hand last year. Or why he knew when his parents were near. Or how he had known that Belle was hurt and crying today.
“I took her behind the school to fix her,” he finally informed Max solemnly.
Sighing, Max tried to explain why he couldn’t just go around healing his sister and they ended up making some rules for when and how Matthew may use his powers.
After a tight an emotional hug between father and son, Max took Matthew to Belle-Mari’s room so he could read them a story.
Liz stood in the door for a long time, just watching and listening to Max. He had the most beautiful voice and their kids were draped all over him as they hung onto each word. Belle fell asleep first, but Max kept reading until Matthew also lost the fight with slumber. She helped him tuck in both the children before he took her hand and led her to their room.
Inside, he held her against him tightly. “I’m going to miss you all so much.”
It still amazed her that someone coming from a planet that didn’t really know love, could love so well. Because neither she nor their children wondered if Max loved them. They knew because he told them and showed them every day.
“I’m going to miss you,” he emphasized as he rested his cheek on the top of her head. “I’m going to miss touching your hair, hearing your voice, holding you.”
Shivers ran through her body as she heard his voice rumble in his chest. There was no place she felt more at home than in Max’s embrace. She inhaled his unique scent deeply, and it affected her like it always did. She pressed her lips against his neck, glorying in his heat and taste. This was going to be the longest period she has ever been out of his arms.
They kissed each other desperately, trying to get as close as possible before having to face the long weeks ahead alone. Max held her face in his hands, his mouth moving against hers deeply as she arched her body into closer contact with his.
He started unbuttoning her blouse but she stopped him. “I want to memorize every inch of you tonight,” she told him huskily. “Slowly.”
Holding his breath, Max let Liz pull him into their bathroom. He stood watching as she drew a bath, filling it with bubbles before turning to him. “Let’s get you out of those clothes.”
It was a languid seduction. She caressed and kissed every bit of skin she uncovered, until Max felt like he had fire in his veins instead of blood. Making him get into the tub first, she got in with him and settled herself between his legs, lying back on his chest so that the messy knot she made on top of her head tickled his nose.
How can people be satisfied with spending their lives in quiet desperation if they could be happy, Max wondered? Not everyone will meet a soul mate like he did, but everyone had it within their power to make the most of the relationships they were in, instead of hankering for something that might never be. He slid his hands under her arms and lifted her higher against him, until their cheeks rested against each other.
Quiet time with Liz. He would always ensure that his life never got so hectic that he would have to give this up. He loved his children, but he loved Liz too. And they owed each other some quality time.
Liz turned her face until her cheekbone rested against his mouth. So much was in her heart that she wanted to say, but she couldn’t. And she didn’t have to. Max felt everything she felt through their connection. “Max…” she whispered. Using his name to ward off the demons that lie in wait at the edge of her consciousness. Waiting for her to be alone so they could accost her.
His soapy hands traversed the hills and valleys of her body with familiarity. Knowing where to hover and where to skim. Knowing what made her sigh and purr. What made her arch into his touch and beg him for more.
After allowing him a few minutes of his own way, Liz finally caught his hands in hers, putting them on the sides of the tub. Then she proceeded to drive him crazy with her hands and mouth.
Until he had to stop her.
Enfolding her in a big fluffy towel after they climbed out of the tub, Max wrapped his arms around her, just holding her against him for more precious minutes. Saying good-bye was so difficult.
Back on their bed, their lovemaking was intense, but unhurried. They needed time to process each and every sensation, each and every feeling. Soft whispers of love and gentle sighs were the only sounds in the room for a long time.
Sliding inside her, Max kept the pace languorous, wanting to draw out their enjoyment for as long as possible. His hands bracketed her hips so he could dominate their rhythm. It was as glorious as always. Knowing she belonged to him, knowing she was his future.
Liz reveled in his strong and sure movements within her. It gave her a sense of security and completion to be joined to him like this. Her Max.
The end rushed upon them suddenly, enveloping their bodies in sweet release and wonderful ecstasy. Binding them even more tightly together.
Afterwards, they lay staring in each other’s eyes, talking with their souls and hearts. Saying ‘I love you’ for yet another precious time in their lives.
The farewell of the next morning was terrible. Breakfast had been a strained affair and by the time Maria came to drop off Michael, who would be going with Max, and pick up the kids for pre-school, everyone’s nerves were in tatters. Belle clung to her daddy with a trembling lip and eyes filled with tears causing Max to choke up too. He kept on kissing her sad little face, promising he’d be back as soon as he could.
Matthew was more subdued. He gave his father a hug, mumbling good-bye as he walked towards Maria’s car with his head hung low and his hands shoved in his pockets. At that moment he looked so very much like Max that Liz caught her breath.
After promising Belle that she would come pick them up at school herself, Liz managed to get the little girl strapped into her car seat. Max observed this from the patio, his heart in his throat. Belle was a little Liz, her wide eyes showing all her emotions while Matthew reminded him of himself, shutting down on emotions before they could hurt him too much.
Matthew had just opened the car door before he abruptly turned around and raced back to his father, hurtling himself against Max’s chest and into his open arms. “Bye Daddy! I’ll miss you,” he sniffled.
Max held him tightly for a few moments, having trouble controlling his emotions. “Bye Son. I love you. Look after Mommy and Belle, okay?”
Nodding against his chest, Matthew finally tore himself away and ran back to the car, wiping at his tears with the back of his hand.
As Maria drove away, Max held Liz’s hand in a crushing grip, trying to get hold of his emotions. And the hardest part, saying good-bye to Liz, was still ahead of him…
Liz drove them all to the point where they were to be picked up. It was weird doing it in the bright light of day, but the ship apparently had technology that could hide it from both radar and the naked eye. Michael, cranky because he had to leave Maria, stalked off as soon as the car came to a halt, leaving Max and Liz alone.
Not knowing what to say, Max kissed Liz for the longest time. Only stopping when Michael yelled at them that the ship was there.
Then he was gone, leaving a huge hole in the lives of his family.
~*~*~*~*~*~
After Belle had been lulled to sleep again by Liz, she lay staring at the ceiling of the room she normally shared with Max. Maria was staying with them, sleeping in the spare room, but the huge bed had been too empty, so Liz allowed the kids to sleep with her.
While Belle burst into tears at odd moments throughout the long days that Max had been gone, Matthew had retreated into a silent little world, only brightening when he was talking to Liz or Belle. He seemed to be even more protective of his sister, not letting her out of his sight unless he had to.
An unexpected tug at the edge of her consciousness nearly had Liz jumping off the bed. She and Matthew sat up simultaneously and Matthew spoke both their thoughts aloud: “Daddy!”
He had been gone for a week-and-a-half now and they had all felt the absence of their connections with him acutely. To suddenly “feel” him again was wonderful.
“Belle,” Matthew lifted his sister into a sitting position. “Daddy wants to talk to us, you have to concentrate.” He looked like he knew what he was doing, so Liz let them be.
Matthew linked hands with his mother and Belle as they all sat cross-legged on the bed. “Concentrate on Daddy,” Matthew instructed them.
A few minutes of intense concentration later, interspersed with Belle mumbling ‘daddy’, Matthew suddenly held out his one hand to the wall next to the bed and a blurry image of Max appeared.
Liz didn’t know who was more surprised, her or Max. She could see him blinking in confusion as he stared at his family congregated on his bed.
“Daddy!” Belle squealed immediately, her eyes bright with excitement.
“Hey Sweetheart.” Max had apparently recovered from his shock at being able to see them all. “I miss you all,” he told them fervently.
“We miss you too,” Liz responded. He looked so beautiful to her starved eyes. Across the light years, their gazes met and held like they always did. Talking in a language no one else had ever understood.
“I wish I could hold you now.” Max was echoing what Liz was feeling. To have been able to touch him would’ve been wonderful.
“So tell me about your weeks,” he urged their kids when he finally managed to tear his eyes away from Liz.
“I made you four pictures, Daddy!” Belle cried first, holding up three fingers.
Liz saw Max swallow emotionally. “Thank you, my baby,” he said softly.
Matthew had been quiet all through the exchange, but now he looked at his father. “Are you coming back?” he asked suddenly.
The question sounded loud in the room.
Shock registered on Max’s face as he saw the anxious look from Matthew. “Yes! Of course I’m coming back. You guys are my home,” he tried to assure his son. He looked at Liz desperately. “I love you and your Mom. I hate being away from you. I’m coming back as soon as I can. I promise.”
Matthew nodded his head and whispered. “Okay.”
Not knowing how to make her two guys feel better, Liz cast around frantically for a solution. “Maybe—maybe we can make a date for a few nights from now to talk again?”
Max threw her a relieved and thankful glance. “I would love that. What do you say, Matt? Will you help Mommy and Belle to speak to me again on Friday?”
The nod this time was so eager it brought tears to Liz’s eyes.
They chatted a few more minutes and the good-bye was supremely unsatisfying. No hugs or kisses or anything physical. But the kids seemed calmer and they fell asleep immediately.
It was another story for Liz. She was Max-deprived and she hated it. Her relationship with Max has always been very physical. Not necessarily sexual, but being in close physical proximity to him is like breathing. Holding his hand, hugging him, kissing him, touching his skin… She missed all that so much. She missed him caressing her hair at any given opportunity, she missed him brushing his lips across her forehead several times a day, the soft stroke of his fingers over the bare skin of her arm…
“Max,” she whispered into the quiet room, wondering if maybe saying his name might conjure him up somehow.
It didn’t.
~*~*~*~*~*~
The weeks dragged by with lead feet and sometimes Liz feared that time stood still to torture her on purpose. Maria was cranky and they had found out a couple of days ago that she was pregnant. On the other hand, the kids were happy now that they got to see Max regularly.
But it all made the wait worse for Liz.
She felt his absence everywhere. She felt it driving the kids to pre-school alone. She felt it in his empty space at the breakfast and dinner table. But mostly, she felt it in the empty ache in her heart and body.
“I feel horrible,” Maria wailed as she finally appeared for breakfast. Going up to the fridge, she looked at the calendar Matthew had stuck against the door, marking off the days until his daddy will come home. “Only five more days before I can wring Michael’s neck for getting me into this condition.”
Liz grinned at her. “You know it takes two, right?”
“Liz, babe, I feel crappy. Don’t make me hurt you because you’re taking Space Boy’s side!”
Holding up her hands up, Liz conceded defeat. Nothing really pacifies a grumpy pregnant woman anyway. “What do you want for breakfast then?”
“A whole plate of pancakes.” When Maria saw Liz’s raised eyebrows, she shrugged. “I’m eating for two, you know!”
“You’re what?!” Michael bellowed from the door, causing both women to jump in fright.
The next moment, two screaming kids came running into the kitchen too. “Daddy! Daddy’s home!”
It was complete chaos. Michael and Maria were arguing about whether or not she should have sent him a message through Max to let him know she was pregnant and Max was being smothered by two clinging toddlers.
Standing to the side, Liz clutched the back of a chair, trying to keep her emotions in check while what she really wanted to do was chase away everyone but Max. They had come home early!
Eyes meeting over the heads of their kids, Max and Liz said hello and I love you without words.
After a few minutes, Max said firmly that he needed to greet Mommy too and walked over to Liz with a child on each hip. Leaning over, he kissed her tenderly, leaving it to Liz to put her arms around his neck and deepen the kiss. It was too short and not at all satisfying, because it didn’t take long for Matthew and Belle to complain about the lack of attention from Max.
Michael ended up dragging Maria off to their place, but not before she insisted Liz give her pancakes to take along. Max sat at the table with Matthew and Belle-Mari and listened to three weeks of tales of their lives.
And every time Liz passed him, they shared a soft kiss or he held her hand.
It was exquisite torture. They wanted each other so much they could taste it, but real life dictated that they could not just run off to their room to be together. So they sat at the table, had breakfast with their kids and afterwards drove the kids off to pre-school together. All the while trying to hide from their perceptive children how they really felt.
Realizing the kids needed reassuring that he wasn’t going off again, Max told Liz he would walk them in to their classes. He promised them that he would pick them up that afternoon and they would go out for ice cream. This pacified both Belle and Matthew, because they knew one thing. Their Dad always kept his word.
Getting back in the Cherokee, Max gave Liz a long look before cupping her face in his hands and giving her a deep, hard kiss. “Phone your office and take the day off.”
She grinned at him and waved her cell phone in the air. “Already done.”
Max took a deep shuddering breath. “Let’s go home then.” His eyes burned into hers, setting liquid fire racing through her veins.
“Yes.”
Back at their house, Liz followed Max inside. Desire throbbed inside her as fast as her rapidly beating heart. Deprived and lost were the only words she could think of to describe how she’d felt these past few weeks without Max.
The minute the door slammed closed behind him, all her feelings came rushing to the surface. She wasn’t sure who turned first, who reached for whom first. It didn’t matter because his arms were around her and his mouth came down hard on hers. She welcomed the firmness of his lips and the sweeping thrusts of his tongue because she’d been without it for too long.
She ran her fingers through his hair, holding his head, silently pleading with him not to stop. Not to leave her. He groaned and pulled her closer, aligning their bodies so she could feel him, hard and full, throbbing against her. Liquid heat pooled inside her and trickled between her legs.
She whimpered and he moved his hand and cupped her intimately, knowing and anticipating her need. “Max.” Somehow, she found the strength to separate their lips.
With an agonized groan, he met her gaze. But he didn’t move his hand and thumb rubbed in lazy circles over the soft denim covering her, until her breath came in shallow gasps and the dampness increased.
“What is it, Liz? Tell me what you want.” It was an irrelevant question, asked more to tease.
She wanted the ache to ease. The throbbing to stop. And she never wanted it to end.
She wanted him.
But he knew that.
She tipped her head back and realized she was braced against the wall, her legs bracketed between his strong thighs. He stared back at her with a heavy-lidded gaze. “Talk to me,” he murmured. “I missed hearing your voice.”
But one of his fingers was tracing her moist lips and the sensation was both sensual and hypnotic. Clearing her mind wasn’t easy. She wasn’t even sure why she needed to speak when he could read her mind just as clearly. “I missed… I wanted… I…” Her voice trailed off as his wet finger moved from her lips to her jaw, to her collarbone, settling finally in the soft V of her top.
His gaze never left hers and that same finger pushed down on the elastic, exposing her breast to his heated gaze. Her stomach muscles contracted with need.
He sucked in a ragged breath that matched one of her own. “I missed making love to you,” he muttered.
He cupped her chin and tilted her head for a gentle kiss. A hard, demanding one would have been more welcome.
Her sigh spoke volumes. She leaned towards him and bucked her hips against his painful arousal. “Me too,” she whispered in his ear.
Only then did Max let himself look down at her breast filling his hand. He brushed his thumb over one tight peak and felt the pull straight to his own groin. He dipped his head for a taste, her moan ringing in his ears.
Her unique scent filled him as he pulled the tight bud into his mouth. He flicked and teased with his tongue and then his teeth, until her hips rocked so insistently against him, HE was in danger of losing control. Driven beyond thought or reason by weeks of abstinence from her, he reached for the snap of her jeans and between the two of them, her pants hit the floor, then his, then their underwear followed.
Lifting her, he told her hoarsely to wrap her legs around him. She did, and as he lowered her onto him, her body took him deep inside.
A muffled sound broke through his ecstasy and he opened his eyes in time to catch one lone tear drip down her cheek.
“I missed you so much, Max.” Her legs grasped him tighter and she contracted around him. He let out a groan.
Leaning forward, he licked the salty tear off her cheek. The motion had the effect of grinding the lower bodies together. The wave crashed and eased. Her soft sigh was music to his starved ears.
“Max?”
“Hmmm?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“Any slower and I might have to strangle you.”
He grinned at her, but despite his amusement, his body was hammering for release. And she’d just given him the okay.
He meant to move then, but she beat him to it, turning their union into a rocking, twisting motion that had the effect of drawing him into her, body, heart and soul. The tempo increased and they moved against each other until the swaying and twisting had their bodies reaching… cresting… peaking on a wave so strong, everything inside them was swept away.
They had made a great life together with good jobs and wonderful kids, but here, in this place that only the two of them shared, they were complete.
They were home. With nothing missing from either of them.
THE END
Valentine
TITLE: An Evans Valentine
AUTHOR: LivE
E-MAIL: lieselvw@mweb.co.za
RATING: ADULT
CATEGORY: M/L
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to Roswell, only a vivid imagination…
SUMMARY: Set in the (happy) future. Max and Liz got married after school, had children some years later and are still very much in love and lust! Liz is planning something special for Max for Valentine’s Day. (Part of my “Experiment” universe.)
DISTRIBUTION: Only here, please.
AN EVANS VALENTINE
“Daddy!” Max tried not to smile as his daughter’s stage whisper drifted towards him from the side of the bed. He had woken up when Liz got up earlier and had dimly heard his wife and children doing something in the kitchen. He knew he had to pretend to be surprised when they came in later, or Liz would kill him for disappointing their kids.
“Daddy!” A little louder.
“Hmmm,” he mumbled dutifully.
“You have to wake up now.” He felt the small body of his 3-year old daughter climbing onto the bed behind his back.
“Why?” He managed to still sound sleepy. He could feel Liz’s mirth through their connection.
“Cause mommy said I must give you a big kiss for val-valem-valemday,” Belle-Mari announced proudly.
He heard an exaggerated sigh from the direction of the door. “It’s valemtime day, Belle!” It was his five-year old son Matthew.
Turning over onto his back, his breath caught in his throat when he saw his precious little family. All he ever wanted in this life.
His beautiful miniature version of Liz was regarding him with dancing chocolate eyes before climbing onto his stomach and pasting sloppy kisses all over his face. While hugging her to him and sitting up, he smiled at his son who was holding his wife’s hand. Just like his father, Matthew liked holding hands with Liz. “Did you give Mommy a kiss, Matt?”
Matthew nodded his dark head earnestly and held up two fingers. “I gave her two!”
Meeting Liz’s loving gaze, he asked: “Is it my turn to kiss mommy now?” She was still wearing her silk pajama’s that clung to her curves.
“Uhm…” Matt sounded hesitant, he knew how his parents got when they kissed and he really wanted breakfast. “Okay, but… but only one kiss, daddy.”
Max got up, still cradling Belle and walked over to the love of his life.
They kissed with warm lips, gently sliding into the familiar territory of each other’s mouths. Max curved his free arm around her waist, arching her against him as she wrapped her free arm around his neck.
Liz parted her lips and deepened the kiss by pulling his head down to hers harder. Their tongues slid over each other, tenderly caressing and communicating for long minutes. Eventually, she pulled back slightly to whisper: “Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.”
Not having had nearly enough of her sweet mouth, Max kissed her again, but a small voice interrupted the second kiss. “Daaaaddy! I told you only one kiss!”
He leant his forehead against Liz’s with a sigh and then broke away to meet her gaze. “Later,” he promised her.
“Oh definitely,” she replied, her eyes smoldering. “I have plans for you…”
“You do?” he asked as he took her hand and walked them all to the kitchen.
“Ohh yes!” she grinned. “You better have a good breakfast.”
“We made cakes, daddy,” Belle told him.
“Pancakes, sweetie,” Liz corrected her gently as Max settled the apple of his eye at the breakfast table. They ate pancakes with various toppings of honey and Tabasco sauce. And after breakfast, Matt told his parents to stay at the table for a few minutes while he dragged his sister off.
“Have I told you that I love you yet?” Max asked as he leaned over to run his fingers up and down Liz’s bare arm, watching her shiver under his touch.
The kids came back with their hands behind their backs before she could answer. They went up to Liz first.
“We love you, Mommy!” Belle-Mari said, giving Liz a drawing of the four of them standing next to a house with lots of flowers.
“Yeah,” Matt chimed in. “You are the bestest, prettiest mommy in the world.”
“Yes, you are,” Max smiled as she hugged her children and looked up at him with moist eyes.
They came to stand in front of Max next and Belle gave him another drawing of the four of them, only this one was filled with stars and planets. “We love you, Daddy!” Belle cried and jumped into Max’s arms. It was clear that Matt had coached her on her part of the announcements.
Matt held back a little, his serious eyes meeting those of his father. “You are the bestest daddy in all the stars,” he stated slowly. For a fleeting moment, Max and his son stared at each other in absolute understanding. Matt knew his daddy was “different” and that he was too as a result. He also knew that his daddy was a very important man. But in spite of all that, his daddy was just his daddy. Someone who played with him in the back yard, who healed his scrapes when he fell, who read him stories about pirates and space men before bed and who hugged him when he cried.
Max gave Belle a kiss on her cheek and knelt on the floor so he could hug his son with his free arm. “I love you both too. You are special gifts to mommy and I.”
After more kisses were exchanged, Liz said: “Alright, everyone go get dressed.”
Matt hurried off to his room while Liz took Belle-Mari to hers and Max cleaned up the breakfast mess quickly. Liz found him in the shower a few minutes later.
Hearing the shower door open, Max swung around to find Liz staring at him hotly. She ran her eyes over every naked wet inch of his body so that it felt like she was touching him with her hands. She was still wearing the silk and he could see the hard tips of her breasts clearly. “Liz…”
She stepped into the shower, her eyes clinging to his, and was drenched in seconds. Max had never seen any thing so erotic in his life. The water made the silk nearly transparent and it clung to her from breasts to thighs. And he stood there like a statue, completely frozen as his desire increased.
Taking his hand and placing it over her breast, Liz stepped closer and moved to tiptoe. “This is a teaser for later,” she told him huskily and ran her tongue over his lips. His body came to life instantly and he dragged her against him, covering her mouth with his and plundering her depths.
Allowing them to kiss for a few brief moments, Liz broke away from him and stood in front of him. They were both panting and Max’s eyes were drawn to the agitated movement of her breasts. He lifted his hand towards her again, but she stepped away.
“Later, Mr Evans.”
Max could only stare after her stupidly as she exited the shower stall and the bathroom. How the hell did she expect him to go to work after this?
Liz had no idea how she was going to concentrate at work. She had made all the arrangements with Max’s secretary the day before, and now she only had to live through the morning. She wanted to surprise Max and make him hot. But in the process, she was exciting herself too. Goodness, she never had been able to see Max all wet and glorious and not react like a horny schoolgirl!
They finally managed to get themselves and the kids into the Cherokee and Max drove off to the kids’ pre-school first. He kept giving Liz the evil eye for her games, so she increased her teasing. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she placed her hand high on his thigh.
“Liz!” He sounded strangled. “This is so not fair!” He ran an agitated hand through his hair. “And I’m going to crash the car of you keep that up.”
But he didn’t stop her. He let her grope him to her heart’s content while he gripped the steering wheel tighter and fought to keep his breathing normal.
At the school, Liz got out with the kids after grinning at Max impishly. He was trying to get himself under control before he actually had to enter his own office so he did not walk the kids in like he normally did. Instead, he lifted Matt and Belle onto the front seat with him to give them hugs and kisses before watching them clamber out and walk into their school holding onto Liz’s hands.
The teacher was looking out the window when she saw Mrs Evans get back in the car with her husband. Her husband who immediately kissed the daylights out of her. Her small gasp drew Matt’s attention. “My daddy and mommy kiss a lot,” he told the teacher helpfully after also spying the kissing going on in the car. The teacher shook her head and watched as the Evans’ finally drove off. They depressed her with their happiness. They were great parents, always there to watch their kids taking part in school activities. The only times Liz came alone was on the few occasions when Mr Evans was away on business. They had beautiful kids and they still looked seriously in love. Maybe one of them is having an affair, she soothed herself. Such joy is just not natural.
Arriving at the lab he had quietly bought a few years ago, Max parked the Jeep in his spot and came round the front to open Liz’s door. She was wearing a dress of sheer floral-print material that ended just above her knees over a tight-fitting sheath dress. She looked good enough to eat. He held her hand as they walked into the building and enjoyed a fleeting moment of pride in his lab. He had unexpectedly found out a while ago that being an alien King meant having a lot of money and he decided to start up this lab to do some research that would assist aliens on earth, as well as alien hybrids like his children. He was mostly doing administrative and management work now, while his clever wife worked in the lab. Most of the other scientists working in the lab had been carefully screened and now knew exactly what they were doing. They were pioneers.
Liz left Max at the entrance to his office with a wink to his secretary and practically danced off to her own office. She was stunned when she got there. The room was filled with white roses and on her desk lay a simple white sheet of paper with Max’s distinctive scrawl on it. It said simply: “You own my heart.”
The morning couldn’t pass quickly enough after that.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Just before lunch, his secretary brought him a large red envelope and just grinned when Max looked at her quizzically. Inside was a key to a hotel room, a note… and a red lacy thong. Max was glad the secretary had left before he had opened it, because his arousal from this morning had come roaring back. He stuffed the thong into his pocket and opened the note.
Meet me at the Plaza at 12h00. And bring your fantasies…
L
Glancing at the clock, he saw it was a quarter to twelve and he hurriedly grabbed his jacket and the room key. Finally, some alone time with Liz! He threw a hasty goodbye in the direction of his secretary, who was laughing by now, and took off.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The heavy drapes in front of the windows were drawn, casting the room into semi-darkness. Liz had lit candles and had dressed in a transparent white teddy, over which she wore a short white silk robe. This was their afternoon for fantasies. No threat of kids interrupting, no phones ringing, just Max. Max with his dark eyes and magic hands.
She heard the key in the lock and the hesitation as Max probably found the single white rose petal she had left him on the doorstep. Straightening, she opened the robe to allow him a glimpse of what she wore underneath.
Both of them held their breath as the door swung open and Max entered the room.
His eyes were black when they found hers, sending an involuntary shudder through her body and a rush of heat pooling between her thighs. He was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. The way his dark hair fell over his forehead, his mesmerizing eyes, those kissable lips, the strong lines of his body, they all made her mouth water.
He took a step closer, shedding his jacket and letting it drop to the floor. Shoving his hand into his pocket, he pulled out a ball of red lace. “Can I put this on you later…” His voice was low and thick.
“You’re going to have to undress me first,” she replied, walking towards him with softly swaying hips.
“Okay…” His eyes were drinking her in thirstily, charting every inch of her body.
She reached him and started untying the knot of his tie. When it was undone, she pulled him forward by tugging on the ends. “Kiss me, Max…”
Max slid his arms around her waist underneath the robe and arched her into his body. He let his lips graze hers lightly and slowly ran his tongue over her top and bottom lip, wetting them. He felt the puffs of her breathing against his skin and brought her closer between his legs with a groan.
The kiss instantly deepened as they hungrily devoured each other’s mouths. Max pushed the robe from her shoulders and moved a thigh between hers, reveling in her moist heat that he could feel even through the layers of clothing.
Liz whimpered and he gentled the kiss, teasing her with light touches of his lips and tongue until she pulled back.
“Tell me your fantasy,” she whispered, causing such a riot of lust in his body that he shook with the force of it.
“You are.”
Licking her lips, she smiled a sultry smile. “Tell me your fantasy about me then.”
He groaned. Was she kidding? He had so many fantasies about her that he wouldn’t know where to start!
She licked his lips. “What do you want me to do to you, Max?”
“Oh god…”
Another lick. “What do you want to do to me?”
“Liz!”
He crushed her mouth underneath his, filling his hands with the softness of her bottom and pressing her against his hardness urgently. She arched her neck as he rubbed her against his arousal and he attacked the long sensuous line of her throat, nipping and sucking at her skin so he could hear more of the little mewling sounds she made.
He loved hearing her moan. It was such an involuntary sound. A helpless sound that indicated just how deeply he was arousing her.
Reaching the valley between her breasts that the plunging neckline of her teddy revealed, he slowly dragged his tongue around the edge of the lacy material hugging her curves.
Another low moan erupted from her.
He had just covered her breast with his mouth when she pushed him away. “This is your gift,” she lifted her hands and fluffed her hair, knowing all too well he would have trouble deciding where to look: the wet material of her teddy or the sexily tousled hair he loved so much.
“Tell me,” she urged him throatily, causing his temperature to climb another few degrees.
He cast around desperately for something to ask from her. Something that wasn’t too kinky and could be done in a hotel room without getting them arrested. His eyes fell on a big bowl of strawberries sitting on the bedside table. “I—I want you to—to eat strawberries and cream off me.” He flushed. Had he really said that aloud? “Uh… wearing this…” He waved the red thong at her. Well, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’.
Her eyes were starting to glitter.
“If-if that’s okay with you?” He watched her anxiously.
Liz had to stifle a moan. Was he kidding? Who would not want to eat off his glorious body?
“More than okay.” She tangled their hands together and pulled him towards the bed. “But we have to get you out of these clothes first.”
She undressed him leisurely, running her hands and her mouth over every part of skin she exposed. By the time she was finished, he was very, very aroused.
He stopped her when she moved to take off the teddy. “I want to. Please.”
He dropped to his knees in front of her, caressing her calves first and then her thighs before grabbing her rear and bringing her closer to his mouth. He kissed her quivering stomach through the thin material, all the while inching lower and lower until he reached the moisture between her thighs, making Liz moan. He teased her lightly with his tongue while unsnapping the teddy and allowed himself one last intimate kiss before standing to his feet and dragging the teddy up her body.
Lifting her arms dutifully so he could slide the garment off her, Liz wondered how she was going to live through her promised strawberry seduction. He was way too clever for his own good and she was just this side of release after his sensual undressing as it is. She sighed his name as his hands came back to cover her breasts immediately after tossing the teddy away.
“You are so beautiful,” he told her in a gravelly tone, snapping her out of her erotic stupor.
Putting her hands over his, she pulled them away from her body and pushed him down on the bed. He looked up at her with a mixture of lust and amusement. “The thong, remember?”
Damn, she had forgotten. She gave him a stern look and found the scrap of red lace on the floor.
He took it from her hands gently and held it out for her to slide her feet into. Leaning her hands on his shoulders, she made a show of getting the thong around her calves, hearing his soft curse with relish.
He made her pay, though. He dragged the material up her legs excruciatingly slowly, trailing his fingertips over her heated skin. Rounding her hips, he moved the thong in place carefully, taking his time to tuck it in all the right places, in the process driving Liz even more insane.
She caught his wandering hands. “Stop that, or we’ll never get to the strawberries!’
She waited until he had settled on the bed before crawling over him to straddle his thighs. Lifting up the bowl of strawberries, she ate one with relish, sucking the succulent fruit before biting it in half. Max’s eyes had widened as he watched her and she saw him clench his hands into fists by his sides.
Giving him a sultry smile that made him groan, she rubbed the fruit over his chest and leaned down to lick it off him. His breathing was becoming labored while he watched his wife’s dark hair spill over him as her tongue followed the path of stickiness over his body. She moved inexorably lower, halting every once in a while to kiss his mouth. He wasn’t sure which was more arousing, her mouth on his skin or her strawberry kisses.
Liz paused to rub more strawberry juice on his upper thighs, adding some cream too. She looked up at Max. He was lying back with his eyes squeezed shut and his hands gripping the sheets furiously.
“Max?” she called him softly. “Look at me.”
A groan was torn from deep inside his chest. “I can’t…”
A few deep breaths later, he spoke again. “Please, Liz. I want to be inside you when I… Don’t make me…”
“I won’t,” she promised him as she swooped her mouth down again.
The combination of cold cream and Liz’s warm mouth was lethal. He felt a shaking start deep inside his gut and spiral outwards until his whole body was trembling. Her lips teased him, took him in and promised him heaven.
And he was helpless in her thrall. Helpless to stop the involuntary movements of his body and helpless to stop the shuddering calls of her name tumbling from his lips.
She kept her caresses up until they both felt the anticipatory tightening of his body. He lifted her over him then, challenging her to take what she wanted, how she wanted. He was there for her, primed and positioned, and his hands slid to her bottom, squeezing her, urging her into aggressive action.
She took him, lowering herself slowly, feeling her muscles convulse around him in response to the exquisite sensation of him moving into her, deeper and deeper.
She closed her eyes and lifted herself, reveling in the reverse slide, wanting to feel it all over again, exulting in the control he had given her. His hands stroked up her back and lifted her hair forward, over her shoulders. As she moved over him, he curtained her breasts with the long silky tresses, caressing them through the soft texture in the same rhythmic movement she used on him, evoking a wild eroticism that dove her into moving faster, until suddenly she was shaking, unable to direct anything.
Max whirled her onto her back and took command, poised over her with his powerful body and the stroking inside her was different now, hard and urgent and fast. It pushed them to an incredible peak and burst into an explosion of intense melting sweetness and fused their bodies together and left them collapsed on each other, saturated in heat.
The only sounds in the room for a long time were their heavy breathing and the gentle slide of skin against skin.
They would take a shower soon, maybe make love one more time before they had to go pick up the kids.
Max pressed his forehead against Liz’s. “Wow. Thank you.” He kissed her softly, still not able to remove himself from the heaven of her embrace and her body. “I love you.”
Liz just smiled against his throat. She had probably enjoyed that more than he did. Her life was perfect.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Max.”
THE END
OK, I will start posting the parts to "Loving a Prince" soon--that is the final part of this series.
AUTHOR: LivE
E-MAIL: lieselvw@mweb.co.za
RATING: ADULT
CATEGORY: M/L
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing related to Roswell, only a vivid imagination…
SUMMARY: Set in the (happy) future. Max and Liz got married after school, had children some years later and are still very much in love and lust! Liz is planning something special for Max for Valentine’s Day. (Part of my “Experiment” universe.)
DISTRIBUTION: Only here, please.
AN EVANS VALENTINE
“Daddy!” Max tried not to smile as his daughter’s stage whisper drifted towards him from the side of the bed. He had woken up when Liz got up earlier and had dimly heard his wife and children doing something in the kitchen. He knew he had to pretend to be surprised when they came in later, or Liz would kill him for disappointing their kids.
“Daddy!” A little louder.
“Hmmm,” he mumbled dutifully.
“You have to wake up now.” He felt the small body of his 3-year old daughter climbing onto the bed behind his back.
“Why?” He managed to still sound sleepy. He could feel Liz’s mirth through their connection.
“Cause mommy said I must give you a big kiss for val-valem-valemday,” Belle-Mari announced proudly.
He heard an exaggerated sigh from the direction of the door. “It’s valemtime day, Belle!” It was his five-year old son Matthew.
Turning over onto his back, his breath caught in his throat when he saw his precious little family. All he ever wanted in this life.
His beautiful miniature version of Liz was regarding him with dancing chocolate eyes before climbing onto his stomach and pasting sloppy kisses all over his face. While hugging her to him and sitting up, he smiled at his son who was holding his wife’s hand. Just like his father, Matthew liked holding hands with Liz. “Did you give Mommy a kiss, Matt?”
Matthew nodded his dark head earnestly and held up two fingers. “I gave her two!”
Meeting Liz’s loving gaze, he asked: “Is it my turn to kiss mommy now?” She was still wearing her silk pajama’s that clung to her curves.
“Uhm…” Matt sounded hesitant, he knew how his parents got when they kissed and he really wanted breakfast. “Okay, but… but only one kiss, daddy.”
Max got up, still cradling Belle and walked over to the love of his life.
They kissed with warm lips, gently sliding into the familiar territory of each other’s mouths. Max curved his free arm around her waist, arching her against him as she wrapped her free arm around his neck.
Liz parted her lips and deepened the kiss by pulling his head down to hers harder. Their tongues slid over each other, tenderly caressing and communicating for long minutes. Eventually, she pulled back slightly to whisper: “Happy Valentine’s Day. I love you.”
Not having had nearly enough of her sweet mouth, Max kissed her again, but a small voice interrupted the second kiss. “Daaaaddy! I told you only one kiss!”
He leant his forehead against Liz’s with a sigh and then broke away to meet her gaze. “Later,” he promised her.
“Oh definitely,” she replied, her eyes smoldering. “I have plans for you…”
“You do?” he asked as he took her hand and walked them all to the kitchen.
“Ohh yes!” she grinned. “You better have a good breakfast.”
“We made cakes, daddy,” Belle told him.
“Pancakes, sweetie,” Liz corrected her gently as Max settled the apple of his eye at the breakfast table. They ate pancakes with various toppings of honey and Tabasco sauce. And after breakfast, Matt told his parents to stay at the table for a few minutes while he dragged his sister off.
“Have I told you that I love you yet?” Max asked as he leaned over to run his fingers up and down Liz’s bare arm, watching her shiver under his touch.
The kids came back with their hands behind their backs before she could answer. They went up to Liz first.
“We love you, Mommy!” Belle-Mari said, giving Liz a drawing of the four of them standing next to a house with lots of flowers.
“Yeah,” Matt chimed in. “You are the bestest, prettiest mommy in the world.”
“Yes, you are,” Max smiled as she hugged her children and looked up at him with moist eyes.
They came to stand in front of Max next and Belle gave him another drawing of the four of them, only this one was filled with stars and planets. “We love you, Daddy!” Belle cried and jumped into Max’s arms. It was clear that Matt had coached her on her part of the announcements.
Matt held back a little, his serious eyes meeting those of his father. “You are the bestest daddy in all the stars,” he stated slowly. For a fleeting moment, Max and his son stared at each other in absolute understanding. Matt knew his daddy was “different” and that he was too as a result. He also knew that his daddy was a very important man. But in spite of all that, his daddy was just his daddy. Someone who played with him in the back yard, who healed his scrapes when he fell, who read him stories about pirates and space men before bed and who hugged him when he cried.
Max gave Belle a kiss on her cheek and knelt on the floor so he could hug his son with his free arm. “I love you both too. You are special gifts to mommy and I.”
After more kisses were exchanged, Liz said: “Alright, everyone go get dressed.”
Matt hurried off to his room while Liz took Belle-Mari to hers and Max cleaned up the breakfast mess quickly. Liz found him in the shower a few minutes later.
Hearing the shower door open, Max swung around to find Liz staring at him hotly. She ran her eyes over every naked wet inch of his body so that it felt like she was touching him with her hands. She was still wearing the silk and he could see the hard tips of her breasts clearly. “Liz…”
She stepped into the shower, her eyes clinging to his, and was drenched in seconds. Max had never seen any thing so erotic in his life. The water made the silk nearly transparent and it clung to her from breasts to thighs. And he stood there like a statue, completely frozen as his desire increased.
Taking his hand and placing it over her breast, Liz stepped closer and moved to tiptoe. “This is a teaser for later,” she told him huskily and ran her tongue over his lips. His body came to life instantly and he dragged her against him, covering her mouth with his and plundering her depths.
Allowing them to kiss for a few brief moments, Liz broke away from him and stood in front of him. They were both panting and Max’s eyes were drawn to the agitated movement of her breasts. He lifted his hand towards her again, but she stepped away.
“Later, Mr Evans.”
Max could only stare after her stupidly as she exited the shower stall and the bathroom. How the hell did she expect him to go to work after this?
Liz had no idea how she was going to concentrate at work. She had made all the arrangements with Max’s secretary the day before, and now she only had to live through the morning. She wanted to surprise Max and make him hot. But in the process, she was exciting herself too. Goodness, she never had been able to see Max all wet and glorious and not react like a horny schoolgirl!
They finally managed to get themselves and the kids into the Cherokee and Max drove off to the kids’ pre-school first. He kept giving Liz the evil eye for her games, so she increased her teasing. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she placed her hand high on his thigh.
“Liz!” He sounded strangled. “This is so not fair!” He ran an agitated hand through his hair. “And I’m going to crash the car of you keep that up.”
But he didn’t stop her. He let her grope him to her heart’s content while he gripped the steering wheel tighter and fought to keep his breathing normal.
At the school, Liz got out with the kids after grinning at Max impishly. He was trying to get himself under control before he actually had to enter his own office so he did not walk the kids in like he normally did. Instead, he lifted Matt and Belle onto the front seat with him to give them hugs and kisses before watching them clamber out and walk into their school holding onto Liz’s hands.
The teacher was looking out the window when she saw Mrs Evans get back in the car with her husband. Her husband who immediately kissed the daylights out of her. Her small gasp drew Matt’s attention. “My daddy and mommy kiss a lot,” he told the teacher helpfully after also spying the kissing going on in the car. The teacher shook her head and watched as the Evans’ finally drove off. They depressed her with their happiness. They were great parents, always there to watch their kids taking part in school activities. The only times Liz came alone was on the few occasions when Mr Evans was away on business. They had beautiful kids and they still looked seriously in love. Maybe one of them is having an affair, she soothed herself. Such joy is just not natural.
Arriving at the lab he had quietly bought a few years ago, Max parked the Jeep in his spot and came round the front to open Liz’s door. She was wearing a dress of sheer floral-print material that ended just above her knees over a tight-fitting sheath dress. She looked good enough to eat. He held her hand as they walked into the building and enjoyed a fleeting moment of pride in his lab. He had unexpectedly found out a while ago that being an alien King meant having a lot of money and he decided to start up this lab to do some research that would assist aliens on earth, as well as alien hybrids like his children. He was mostly doing administrative and management work now, while his clever wife worked in the lab. Most of the other scientists working in the lab had been carefully screened and now knew exactly what they were doing. They were pioneers.
Liz left Max at the entrance to his office with a wink to his secretary and practically danced off to her own office. She was stunned when she got there. The room was filled with white roses and on her desk lay a simple white sheet of paper with Max’s distinctive scrawl on it. It said simply: “You own my heart.”
The morning couldn’t pass quickly enough after that.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Just before lunch, his secretary brought him a large red envelope and just grinned when Max looked at her quizzically. Inside was a key to a hotel room, a note… and a red lacy thong. Max was glad the secretary had left before he had opened it, because his arousal from this morning had come roaring back. He stuffed the thong into his pocket and opened the note.
Meet me at the Plaza at 12h00. And bring your fantasies…
L
Glancing at the clock, he saw it was a quarter to twelve and he hurriedly grabbed his jacket and the room key. Finally, some alone time with Liz! He threw a hasty goodbye in the direction of his secretary, who was laughing by now, and took off.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The heavy drapes in front of the windows were drawn, casting the room into semi-darkness. Liz had lit candles and had dressed in a transparent white teddy, over which she wore a short white silk robe. This was their afternoon for fantasies. No threat of kids interrupting, no phones ringing, just Max. Max with his dark eyes and magic hands.
She heard the key in the lock and the hesitation as Max probably found the single white rose petal she had left him on the doorstep. Straightening, she opened the robe to allow him a glimpse of what she wore underneath.
Both of them held their breath as the door swung open and Max entered the room.
His eyes were black when they found hers, sending an involuntary shudder through her body and a rush of heat pooling between her thighs. He was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. The way his dark hair fell over his forehead, his mesmerizing eyes, those kissable lips, the strong lines of his body, they all made her mouth water.
He took a step closer, shedding his jacket and letting it drop to the floor. Shoving his hand into his pocket, he pulled out a ball of red lace. “Can I put this on you later…” His voice was low and thick.
“You’re going to have to undress me first,” she replied, walking towards him with softly swaying hips.
“Okay…” His eyes were drinking her in thirstily, charting every inch of her body.
She reached him and started untying the knot of his tie. When it was undone, she pulled him forward by tugging on the ends. “Kiss me, Max…”
Max slid his arms around her waist underneath the robe and arched her into his body. He let his lips graze hers lightly and slowly ran his tongue over her top and bottom lip, wetting them. He felt the puffs of her breathing against his skin and brought her closer between his legs with a groan.
The kiss instantly deepened as they hungrily devoured each other’s mouths. Max pushed the robe from her shoulders and moved a thigh between hers, reveling in her moist heat that he could feel even through the layers of clothing.
Liz whimpered and he gentled the kiss, teasing her with light touches of his lips and tongue until she pulled back.
“Tell me your fantasy,” she whispered, causing such a riot of lust in his body that he shook with the force of it.
“You are.”
Licking her lips, she smiled a sultry smile. “Tell me your fantasy about me then.”
He groaned. Was she kidding? He had so many fantasies about her that he wouldn’t know where to start!
She licked his lips. “What do you want me to do to you, Max?”
“Oh god…”
Another lick. “What do you want to do to me?”
“Liz!”
He crushed her mouth underneath his, filling his hands with the softness of her bottom and pressing her against his hardness urgently. She arched her neck as he rubbed her against his arousal and he attacked the long sensuous line of her throat, nipping and sucking at her skin so he could hear more of the little mewling sounds she made.
He loved hearing her moan. It was such an involuntary sound. A helpless sound that indicated just how deeply he was arousing her.
Reaching the valley between her breasts that the plunging neckline of her teddy revealed, he slowly dragged his tongue around the edge of the lacy material hugging her curves.
Another low moan erupted from her.
He had just covered her breast with his mouth when she pushed him away. “This is your gift,” she lifted her hands and fluffed her hair, knowing all too well he would have trouble deciding where to look: the wet material of her teddy or the sexily tousled hair he loved so much.
“Tell me,” she urged him throatily, causing his temperature to climb another few degrees.
He cast around desperately for something to ask from her. Something that wasn’t too kinky and could be done in a hotel room without getting them arrested. His eyes fell on a big bowl of strawberries sitting on the bedside table. “I—I want you to—to eat strawberries and cream off me.” He flushed. Had he really said that aloud? “Uh… wearing this…” He waved the red thong at her. Well, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’.
Her eyes were starting to glitter.
“If-if that’s okay with you?” He watched her anxiously.
Liz had to stifle a moan. Was he kidding? Who would not want to eat off his glorious body?
“More than okay.” She tangled their hands together and pulled him towards the bed. “But we have to get you out of these clothes first.”
She undressed him leisurely, running her hands and her mouth over every part of skin she exposed. By the time she was finished, he was very, very aroused.
He stopped her when she moved to take off the teddy. “I want to. Please.”
He dropped to his knees in front of her, caressing her calves first and then her thighs before grabbing her rear and bringing her closer to his mouth. He kissed her quivering stomach through the thin material, all the while inching lower and lower until he reached the moisture between her thighs, making Liz moan. He teased her lightly with his tongue while unsnapping the teddy and allowed himself one last intimate kiss before standing to his feet and dragging the teddy up her body.
Lifting her arms dutifully so he could slide the garment off her, Liz wondered how she was going to live through her promised strawberry seduction. He was way too clever for his own good and she was just this side of release after his sensual undressing as it is. She sighed his name as his hands came back to cover her breasts immediately after tossing the teddy away.
“You are so beautiful,” he told her in a gravelly tone, snapping her out of her erotic stupor.
Putting her hands over his, she pulled them away from her body and pushed him down on the bed. He looked up at her with a mixture of lust and amusement. “The thong, remember?”
Damn, she had forgotten. She gave him a stern look and found the scrap of red lace on the floor.
He took it from her hands gently and held it out for her to slide her feet into. Leaning her hands on his shoulders, she made a show of getting the thong around her calves, hearing his soft curse with relish.
He made her pay, though. He dragged the material up her legs excruciatingly slowly, trailing his fingertips over her heated skin. Rounding her hips, he moved the thong in place carefully, taking his time to tuck it in all the right places, in the process driving Liz even more insane.
She caught his wandering hands. “Stop that, or we’ll never get to the strawberries!’
She waited until he had settled on the bed before crawling over him to straddle his thighs. Lifting up the bowl of strawberries, she ate one with relish, sucking the succulent fruit before biting it in half. Max’s eyes had widened as he watched her and she saw him clench his hands into fists by his sides.
Giving him a sultry smile that made him groan, she rubbed the fruit over his chest and leaned down to lick it off him. His breathing was becoming labored while he watched his wife’s dark hair spill over him as her tongue followed the path of stickiness over his body. She moved inexorably lower, halting every once in a while to kiss his mouth. He wasn’t sure which was more arousing, her mouth on his skin or her strawberry kisses.
Liz paused to rub more strawberry juice on his upper thighs, adding some cream too. She looked up at Max. He was lying back with his eyes squeezed shut and his hands gripping the sheets furiously.
“Max?” she called him softly. “Look at me.”
A groan was torn from deep inside his chest. “I can’t…”
A few deep breaths later, he spoke again. “Please, Liz. I want to be inside you when I… Don’t make me…”
“I won’t,” she promised him as she swooped her mouth down again.
The combination of cold cream and Liz’s warm mouth was lethal. He felt a shaking start deep inside his gut and spiral outwards until his whole body was trembling. Her lips teased him, took him in and promised him heaven.
And he was helpless in her thrall. Helpless to stop the involuntary movements of his body and helpless to stop the shuddering calls of her name tumbling from his lips.
She kept her caresses up until they both felt the anticipatory tightening of his body. He lifted her over him then, challenging her to take what she wanted, how she wanted. He was there for her, primed and positioned, and his hands slid to her bottom, squeezing her, urging her into aggressive action.
She took him, lowering herself slowly, feeling her muscles convulse around him in response to the exquisite sensation of him moving into her, deeper and deeper.
She closed her eyes and lifted herself, reveling in the reverse slide, wanting to feel it all over again, exulting in the control he had given her. His hands stroked up her back and lifted her hair forward, over her shoulders. As she moved over him, he curtained her breasts with the long silky tresses, caressing them through the soft texture in the same rhythmic movement she used on him, evoking a wild eroticism that dove her into moving faster, until suddenly she was shaking, unable to direct anything.
Max whirled her onto her back and took command, poised over her with his powerful body and the stroking inside her was different now, hard and urgent and fast. It pushed them to an incredible peak and burst into an explosion of intense melting sweetness and fused their bodies together and left them collapsed on each other, saturated in heat.
The only sounds in the room for a long time were their heavy breathing and the gentle slide of skin against skin.
They would take a shower soon, maybe make love one more time before they had to go pick up the kids.
Max pressed his forehead against Liz’s. “Wow. Thank you.” He kissed her softly, still not able to remove himself from the heaven of her embrace and her body. “I love you.”
Liz just smiled against his throat. She had probably enjoyed that more than he did. Her life was perfect.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Max.”
THE END
OK, I will start posting the parts to "Loving a Prince" soon--that is the final part of this series.
LAP 1
TITLE: Loving a Prince
AUTHOR: LivE
E-MAIL: lieselvw@mweb.co.za
RATING: NC-17 in some parts
CATEGORY: M/S (M/L and their kids)
DISCLAIMER: Nothing in the Roswell universe is mine.
SUMMARY: This fic is about Liz and Max’s children from my Experiment universe and is pure fluff – no huge or intricate plot. Matthew is in love and as always with the Evans men, things don’t go too smoothly! I just LOVE Max and Liz too, so they will feature a lot.
CHARACTER OVERVIEW:
Max&Liz Evans – Gee, who could THEY be?
Matthew and Belle-Mari Evans – their children (18 and 16)
Michael&Maria Guerin
Mia Guerin – their daughter (14)
James and Shilla Mulder – Liz’s Antarian guard and former Dendarian servant girl respectively
Saskia Mulder – their daughter and Matt’s love (17)
Eric and Sarah Alexander – King of Tresar (the nation that wanted to annihilate Antar) and his human wife
Luca Alexander – their son (18 )
Shing – Current King of Dendar
Aran – Son of the King of Dendar (23)
Dak’or – Former military leader of Tresar, overthrown by Eric and incarcerated for life on Dendar.
PLANETS OF THE WHIRLWIND GALAXY:
Antar – Max’s world (destroyed by Tresar)
Tresar – Former enemies of Antar
Dendar – Neutral planet where Max negotiated peace for the galaxy
Oron – Fourth planet
Karek – Fifth planet
LOVING A PRINCE
PART 1
A smile touched her face as the Jeep came to halt in the driveway. It brought back such sweet memories of Max driving another old Jeep and arriving home. Liz leaned on the counter underneath the kitchen window to see her eldest, Matthew, now 18, opening the door for the girl sitting in the back seat while the passenger door flew open and his sister Belle-Mari tumbled out. She was the exact opposite of her quiet brother.
As Liz watched, Matt waited for Saskia to get out and they stared at each other for a moment before looking away shyly after she had exited the car. He let her precede him into the house, trying, and failing, not to obviously stare at her butt. Sas was the daughter of James and Shilla, who basically moved in with Max and Liz when they moved to the huge house on the hill. James was still Liz’s most loyal bodyguard and Shilla was involved in one of Maria’s shops.
Another younger girl joined Belle and Sas from the car. It was Michael and Maria’s only daughter, Mia. She was 14, while Belle was 16 and Saskia 17. The four were together a lot as a result of their unique parentage situations. Not that the house wasn’t filled with other kids too, these four were just the most closely knit.
Liz wondered for the umpteenth time what was going on between her son and Saskia. There were clear signs that her son was interested in his life-long playmate as a girl. But they acted skittish around each other.
Sighing, Liz thought she had to talk to Max about this. He had given his son the obligatory sex talk a long time ago and Liz would never forget how uncomfortable Matt had been around them for a while afterwards. When she had asked him why, he just mumbled that he had preferred not knowing what his parents were up to when they closed their bedroom door. It was a rule in the Evans house, don’t bother Mom and Dad when their door was closed unless it was a life and death situation.
They were a demonstrative family. Lots of hugs and kisses were always being exchanged and this included their close friends. So Matt and Sas used to be quite comfortable with each other. Many nights, Liz had woken up to hear the two of them whispering in Matt’s room and Sas had fallen asleep there a lot. After talking about it with Max and Sas’ parents, they decided to not say anything about the situation until the kids got older. However, the sleeping over had stopped naturally after Matt turned 16 for some reason. Liz had wanted to ask them about it, but the shy way the two started acting around each other told her not to probe.
It was weird to observe the slow mating dance of her son from a mother’s perspective. For the first time, she really understood her parents’ panic about Max. They had had to cope with their 16 year-old daughter getting really intense with a guy and probably had many sleepless nights worrying that she would have sex and get pregnant too soon and ruin her life.
She was praying that their son was just like Max. Things had gotten very out of control for them a few times when they were young, but Max had always managed to stop their lovemaking at a reasonable point until he was more or less married to her. And after they started being intimate, he had always made sure they took precautions of some kind. A dreamy smile crossed her face. After all these years, Max still made her feel tingly.
“Dreaming about Dad again, Mom?” Belle’s voice interrupted her musings and she turned around to receive a kiss from all four.
“Well, he is a dreamboat, isn’t he?” she joked with her daughter. Both of them enjoyed annoying Max about how handsome he was.
“We’re going to go study in my room. Without you, Matt!” Belle yelled over her shoulder as the girls followed her out. Liz observed the way Matt and Saskia glanced at each other just before she departed the room.
“Are you hungry?” she asked him.
A blush crept over his cheeks as he swung his head back to meet her eyes, knowing she had caught that look. Matt knew his mother. He knew she was very perceptive about people and that there was no way he could hide his attraction to Saskia from her. “Uhm, no thanks, but I’ll get us something to drink.”
Seating herself at the table, Liz marveled again at how much Matt looked like his father. He was just as tall and had the same raven hair and amazing amber eyes. But more than that, he has inherited Max’s gentle soul.
Putting the soda in front of Liz, Matt sat down opposite her, nervously fiddling with his drink. “So, when is Dad coming home tonight?”
Liz let him talk about whatever he wanted to. He was just as good as Max at saying how he felt and pushing him would not make him tell her faster if he didn’t want to. “He said around seven. They are working on that project and he needs to meet some financiers.”
“Ooh,” Matt whistled, “he is going to be in a bad mood when he gets back then. He hates trying to sound like the lab needs money when he has all he needs already. Keeping up appearances is hard on him.”
“Yeah, I know. He had to keep secrets his whole life, Matt. He gets sick of it sometimes.”
Matt nodded and looked at his drink again. He really wanted to talk to Liz about Saskia and all the feelings he had for her, but he didn’t know how to start. And then there was the little problem that Sas apparently didn’t want to be with him. Maybe his mother could help him understand. Surely Sas couldn’t still be mad at him for his stupid actions of a year-and-a-half ago? He sighed. But she had every right to, he had treated her like a—
“So, I thought we could all go visit Eric and Sarah on Tresar for a few months as soon as your Dad and my work allows it. Would you like to go?”
Looking at Liz in surprise, Matt wondered what had brought this on. His Mom and Dad still went to the other planets in his dad’s old galaxy a lot, but mostly he and Belle were left behind. They had been to Dendar with their parents, the planet where Sas’ mom came from, but he could only vaguely remember Tresar. Eric, the current King of Tresar, and his wife Sarah were more or less heroes in the Evans household since they had helped save his mom and dad a few times when they were young. They had come to earth to visit a couple of times when he was a lot younger. They had a son around his age too, but he didn’t really know the guy. In fact, he hadn’t seen him since they were eight.
His next thought told him in just how much trouble he really was with Sas. He felt ill thinking that he would have to leave her here and go away for months. Even if she wasn’t interested in him. “Uhm, I—I—”
“We would have to take James and Shilla too, of course,” Liz added. “And I’m sure they would want to take Saskia.” Her knowing gaze locked with her son’s relieved one.
“Thanks, Mom,” he said quietly and dropped his gaze back to the tabletop. Gee, I wonder why Dad is so crazy about Mom? She really is the best, he thought. “She… I think… I really like her,” he finally blurted out.
Looking up at Liz, he could see her smile. “She is a wonderful person, Matt.”
“Yeah.” His eyes were starting to shine. “She is really smart, Mom. Did you know that? And—”
The phone interrupted his speech and they heard footsteps running down the stairs. “I’ll get it!” Belle cried and the ringing stopped.
Liz was just turning back to Matt when she saw his attention being focused over her shoulder. She knew Saskia had entered the kitchen without even looking.
“I’m just getting us some sodas if that’s okay, Mrs. Evans?” Saskia was already opening the fridge.
“Sure.”
“Matt!” Belle called from the entrance hall. “It’s that Becky again. The one who keeps mooning over you. She claims she needs your Chem notes and wants to come over.”
Saskia’s eyes had clouded over as soon as she heard Becky’s name and Matt got to his feet with a muffled curse. “Sas…” he stopped not knowing what to say to her. They weren’t together or anything, so he didn’t know how to handle this situation. He didn’t want her to think he was interested in the other girl. Even if she didn’t want him to be interested in herself…
The emotions in the room were thick and Liz desperately wanted to help these two. They would have to find their own way towards each other, but she could at least help Matt get rid of another annoying girl falling all over herself to be with him. She had been doing that for years now. Just like his father, Matt was seen as a hottie and was constantly being called by girls. “Why don’t you tell her you will type up the notes and e-mail them to her tonight?”
The appreciation in Matt’s eyes made it all worthwhile. He looked over at Saskia again. “I think I’ll go do that. Thanks, Mom.”
Saskia hightailed it out of the room after Matt, running down the hall desperately into the bathroom. She felt like hyperventilating. Matt was interested in her! She could finally admit that now. She could admit that he had been giving her these looks that made her toes curl and her heart, that has belonged to him for as long as she could remember, ache.
But… he was the son of a King. And she was, well, for all intents and purposes, the daughter of servants. This could never happen. She sank to the floor, burying her face in her hands. She had to be strong. Her parents had taught her well about the importance of Max and his son and she had been witness to the deferential way in which James and Shilla still treated their Royal Family.
Growing up on earth in the presence of Max and Liz, who barely ever acted like the Royalty they were, has not dimmed her awe of their position. They treated her like an equal, but getting involved with the Crown Prince would be something completely different. Her parents would never allow it.
So she would stay his friend and hope he finds someone to love him as he should be loved. Tears seeped from her eyelids at the thought of him with someone else. He had never dated or anything before, so her heart had been safe. But Matt was a young man who had grown up in a house where the love between his parents threatened to blind one sometimes, and he would want that too. And he needed to find it with someone that was his equal.
But oh, she loved him!
She remembered all the nights that she had fallen asleep in his bed, surrounded by his scent. He would sleep on the floor on a mattress that he had started keeping there for such occasions. And most mornings she would wake before him to watch him sleep for a few uninterrupted minutes before sneaking off to her parent’s apartment at the back of the house.
Until that fateful night when they were 16…
Their summer vacation had just started and Matt was supposed to go away with his Dad on a hiking trip the next day. They had talked until late and afterwards watched a video. And then she had fallen asleep with her head against his shoulder…
When she had woken up, Matt was sleeping too. She had been lying practically on top of him, snuggled under his arm with her leg thrown over his hips. She had been too afraid to move at first, freezing with her face pressed into his chest.
Until she felt his hand on her butt.
She nearly bolted up straight in the bed right then. His hand had been large and warm and… possessive. She had tried to roll away from him slowly, hoping he wouldn’t wake up, but he had made a sound in the back of his throat and rolled with her. She had ended up lying on her back with Matt on his side, his thigh over hers. The position had felt unbearable intimate to her. Each heated inch of him had been pressed to her, even… even THAT part of him.
One deep breath later, she had contemplated her next move. She had to get out of this bed before—
Matt had snuggled closer, muttering something again… and had moved his hand from her stomach to cup her breast.
Saskia could not have stopped the wild gasp from escaping her to save her life. Never before had she been touched this intimately.
As she lay tensely beneath him, her body had responded to his hand and she had been powerless to stop it. This was one of her guilty dreams come true.
The fluttering of his long eyelashes against the sensitive skin at the crook of her neck had been the first sign that Matthew had woken up. She had closed her eyes in mortification that he would find her like this. And also because she hadn’t wanted to see the very visible signs of her own arousal either.
Matt had obviously been stunned because it had taken him a few moments to move. When he did, he had jerked his hand away from her breast as if it burnt him while his head had shot up to look at her. She had kept her eyes squeezed shut, praying that he would think she was asleep and just leave her alone, but she had not been that lucky.
“Sas?”
She had never heard his voice sound like that before. It was hoarse, deep, and it had skittered across her senses to make her gasp again.
Her eyes had flown open to find him staring down at her with a glittering dark gaze. A deep flush had crept over his cheeks, just before his eyes had dropped to her mouth.
And made her realize she was in deep trouble.
His lips had covered hers before she even had a chance to blink and the kiss had been so much more than she had ever expected. His hands had cupped her face, angling it until he could deepen the kiss. Electricity had raced through her as he plundered her mouth. This had been her first kiss, but it had felt familiar. Like they had done it millions of times before.
His tongue had tangled with hers as his body had pressed her into the bed. Stars had swirled through her head as she felt his urgency and passion. Finally, the need for oxygen had become too immediate and he had torn his mouth away from hers to kiss a wet path over her jaw line.
“Sas…”
This time, her name had been a sigh.
And it had brought her abruptly out of the fog his caresses had enveloped her with. This was the crown prince of Antar! And he was not meant for her…
She had scrambled away from him with such speed that he had stared at her in shock. “No, Matt!” she had told him. “This is a mistake.”
She had turned away from him and sat on the edge of the bed, shaking like a leaf. He had been quiet for a long time, but she had fought the impulse to turn around to see his reaction.
When he finally spoke, his soft words had pierced her heart. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… It won’t happen again.”
She had fled the room and had only burst into tears when she reached the safety of her own bed. She had never stayed in his room again.
When Matthew returned to the kitchen, he found his mother sitting alone at the table with no sign of Saskia. That hand that squeezed his heart whenever it seemed that she was trying to get away from him returned.
Liz waited until he had settled in his chair again. “So Becky, huh?” she teased him.
He grimaced. “She doesn’t take a hint. She’s everywhere I am. I don’t want her, I want—” He stopped abruptly.
“Saskia?” Liz provided softly.
He didn’t respond at first, staring at the glass filled with soda as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Then, “yeah.”
His eyes were filled with anguish when it met hers. “But I screwed up, Mama.” He used his childhood name for her. “She doesn’t want to be with me now…”
tbc
AUTHOR: LivE
E-MAIL: lieselvw@mweb.co.za
RATING: NC-17 in some parts
CATEGORY: M/S (M/L and their kids)
DISCLAIMER: Nothing in the Roswell universe is mine.
SUMMARY: This fic is about Liz and Max’s children from my Experiment universe and is pure fluff – no huge or intricate plot. Matthew is in love and as always with the Evans men, things don’t go too smoothly! I just LOVE Max and Liz too, so they will feature a lot.
CHARACTER OVERVIEW:
Max&Liz Evans – Gee, who could THEY be?
Matthew and Belle-Mari Evans – their children (18 and 16)
Michael&Maria Guerin
Mia Guerin – their daughter (14)
James and Shilla Mulder – Liz’s Antarian guard and former Dendarian servant girl respectively
Saskia Mulder – their daughter and Matt’s love (17)
Eric and Sarah Alexander – King of Tresar (the nation that wanted to annihilate Antar) and his human wife
Luca Alexander – their son (18 )
Shing – Current King of Dendar
Aran – Son of the King of Dendar (23)
Dak’or – Former military leader of Tresar, overthrown by Eric and incarcerated for life on Dendar.
PLANETS OF THE WHIRLWIND GALAXY:
Antar – Max’s world (destroyed by Tresar)
Tresar – Former enemies of Antar
Dendar – Neutral planet where Max negotiated peace for the galaxy
Oron – Fourth planet
Karek – Fifth planet
LOVING A PRINCE
PART 1
A smile touched her face as the Jeep came to halt in the driveway. It brought back such sweet memories of Max driving another old Jeep and arriving home. Liz leaned on the counter underneath the kitchen window to see her eldest, Matthew, now 18, opening the door for the girl sitting in the back seat while the passenger door flew open and his sister Belle-Mari tumbled out. She was the exact opposite of her quiet brother.
As Liz watched, Matt waited for Saskia to get out and they stared at each other for a moment before looking away shyly after she had exited the car. He let her precede him into the house, trying, and failing, not to obviously stare at her butt. Sas was the daughter of James and Shilla, who basically moved in with Max and Liz when they moved to the huge house on the hill. James was still Liz’s most loyal bodyguard and Shilla was involved in one of Maria’s shops.
Another younger girl joined Belle and Sas from the car. It was Michael and Maria’s only daughter, Mia. She was 14, while Belle was 16 and Saskia 17. The four were together a lot as a result of their unique parentage situations. Not that the house wasn’t filled with other kids too, these four were just the most closely knit.
Liz wondered for the umpteenth time what was going on between her son and Saskia. There were clear signs that her son was interested in his life-long playmate as a girl. But they acted skittish around each other.
Sighing, Liz thought she had to talk to Max about this. He had given his son the obligatory sex talk a long time ago and Liz would never forget how uncomfortable Matt had been around them for a while afterwards. When she had asked him why, he just mumbled that he had preferred not knowing what his parents were up to when they closed their bedroom door. It was a rule in the Evans house, don’t bother Mom and Dad when their door was closed unless it was a life and death situation.
They were a demonstrative family. Lots of hugs and kisses were always being exchanged and this included their close friends. So Matt and Sas used to be quite comfortable with each other. Many nights, Liz had woken up to hear the two of them whispering in Matt’s room and Sas had fallen asleep there a lot. After talking about it with Max and Sas’ parents, they decided to not say anything about the situation until the kids got older. However, the sleeping over had stopped naturally after Matt turned 16 for some reason. Liz had wanted to ask them about it, but the shy way the two started acting around each other told her not to probe.
It was weird to observe the slow mating dance of her son from a mother’s perspective. For the first time, she really understood her parents’ panic about Max. They had had to cope with their 16 year-old daughter getting really intense with a guy and probably had many sleepless nights worrying that she would have sex and get pregnant too soon and ruin her life.
She was praying that their son was just like Max. Things had gotten very out of control for them a few times when they were young, but Max had always managed to stop their lovemaking at a reasonable point until he was more or less married to her. And after they started being intimate, he had always made sure they took precautions of some kind. A dreamy smile crossed her face. After all these years, Max still made her feel tingly.
“Dreaming about Dad again, Mom?” Belle’s voice interrupted her musings and she turned around to receive a kiss from all four.
“Well, he is a dreamboat, isn’t he?” she joked with her daughter. Both of them enjoyed annoying Max about how handsome he was.
“We’re going to go study in my room. Without you, Matt!” Belle yelled over her shoulder as the girls followed her out. Liz observed the way Matt and Saskia glanced at each other just before she departed the room.
“Are you hungry?” she asked him.
A blush crept over his cheeks as he swung his head back to meet her eyes, knowing she had caught that look. Matt knew his mother. He knew she was very perceptive about people and that there was no way he could hide his attraction to Saskia from her. “Uhm, no thanks, but I’ll get us something to drink.”
Seating herself at the table, Liz marveled again at how much Matt looked like his father. He was just as tall and had the same raven hair and amazing amber eyes. But more than that, he has inherited Max’s gentle soul.
Putting the soda in front of Liz, Matt sat down opposite her, nervously fiddling with his drink. “So, when is Dad coming home tonight?”
Liz let him talk about whatever he wanted to. He was just as good as Max at saying how he felt and pushing him would not make him tell her faster if he didn’t want to. “He said around seven. They are working on that project and he needs to meet some financiers.”
“Ooh,” Matt whistled, “he is going to be in a bad mood when he gets back then. He hates trying to sound like the lab needs money when he has all he needs already. Keeping up appearances is hard on him.”
“Yeah, I know. He had to keep secrets his whole life, Matt. He gets sick of it sometimes.”
Matt nodded and looked at his drink again. He really wanted to talk to Liz about Saskia and all the feelings he had for her, but he didn’t know how to start. And then there was the little problem that Sas apparently didn’t want to be with him. Maybe his mother could help him understand. Surely Sas couldn’t still be mad at him for his stupid actions of a year-and-a-half ago? He sighed. But she had every right to, he had treated her like a—
“So, I thought we could all go visit Eric and Sarah on Tresar for a few months as soon as your Dad and my work allows it. Would you like to go?”
Looking at Liz in surprise, Matt wondered what had brought this on. His Mom and Dad still went to the other planets in his dad’s old galaxy a lot, but mostly he and Belle were left behind. They had been to Dendar with their parents, the planet where Sas’ mom came from, but he could only vaguely remember Tresar. Eric, the current King of Tresar, and his wife Sarah were more or less heroes in the Evans household since they had helped save his mom and dad a few times when they were young. They had come to earth to visit a couple of times when he was a lot younger. They had a son around his age too, but he didn’t really know the guy. In fact, he hadn’t seen him since they were eight.
His next thought told him in just how much trouble he really was with Sas. He felt ill thinking that he would have to leave her here and go away for months. Even if she wasn’t interested in him. “Uhm, I—I—”
“We would have to take James and Shilla too, of course,” Liz added. “And I’m sure they would want to take Saskia.” Her knowing gaze locked with her son’s relieved one.
“Thanks, Mom,” he said quietly and dropped his gaze back to the tabletop. Gee, I wonder why Dad is so crazy about Mom? She really is the best, he thought. “She… I think… I really like her,” he finally blurted out.
Looking up at Liz, he could see her smile. “She is a wonderful person, Matt.”
“Yeah.” His eyes were starting to shine. “She is really smart, Mom. Did you know that? And—”
The phone interrupted his speech and they heard footsteps running down the stairs. “I’ll get it!” Belle cried and the ringing stopped.
Liz was just turning back to Matt when she saw his attention being focused over her shoulder. She knew Saskia had entered the kitchen without even looking.
“I’m just getting us some sodas if that’s okay, Mrs. Evans?” Saskia was already opening the fridge.
“Sure.”
“Matt!” Belle called from the entrance hall. “It’s that Becky again. The one who keeps mooning over you. She claims she needs your Chem notes and wants to come over.”
Saskia’s eyes had clouded over as soon as she heard Becky’s name and Matt got to his feet with a muffled curse. “Sas…” he stopped not knowing what to say to her. They weren’t together or anything, so he didn’t know how to handle this situation. He didn’t want her to think he was interested in the other girl. Even if she didn’t want him to be interested in herself…
The emotions in the room were thick and Liz desperately wanted to help these two. They would have to find their own way towards each other, but she could at least help Matt get rid of another annoying girl falling all over herself to be with him. She had been doing that for years now. Just like his father, Matt was seen as a hottie and was constantly being called by girls. “Why don’t you tell her you will type up the notes and e-mail them to her tonight?”
The appreciation in Matt’s eyes made it all worthwhile. He looked over at Saskia again. “I think I’ll go do that. Thanks, Mom.”
Saskia hightailed it out of the room after Matt, running down the hall desperately into the bathroom. She felt like hyperventilating. Matt was interested in her! She could finally admit that now. She could admit that he had been giving her these looks that made her toes curl and her heart, that has belonged to him for as long as she could remember, ache.
But… he was the son of a King. And she was, well, for all intents and purposes, the daughter of servants. This could never happen. She sank to the floor, burying her face in her hands. She had to be strong. Her parents had taught her well about the importance of Max and his son and she had been witness to the deferential way in which James and Shilla still treated their Royal Family.
Growing up on earth in the presence of Max and Liz, who barely ever acted like the Royalty they were, has not dimmed her awe of their position. They treated her like an equal, but getting involved with the Crown Prince would be something completely different. Her parents would never allow it.
So she would stay his friend and hope he finds someone to love him as he should be loved. Tears seeped from her eyelids at the thought of him with someone else. He had never dated or anything before, so her heart had been safe. But Matt was a young man who had grown up in a house where the love between his parents threatened to blind one sometimes, and he would want that too. And he needed to find it with someone that was his equal.
But oh, she loved him!
She remembered all the nights that she had fallen asleep in his bed, surrounded by his scent. He would sleep on the floor on a mattress that he had started keeping there for such occasions. And most mornings she would wake before him to watch him sleep for a few uninterrupted minutes before sneaking off to her parent’s apartment at the back of the house.
Until that fateful night when they were 16…
Their summer vacation had just started and Matt was supposed to go away with his Dad on a hiking trip the next day. They had talked until late and afterwards watched a video. And then she had fallen asleep with her head against his shoulder…
When she had woken up, Matt was sleeping too. She had been lying practically on top of him, snuggled under his arm with her leg thrown over his hips. She had been too afraid to move at first, freezing with her face pressed into his chest.
Until she felt his hand on her butt.
She nearly bolted up straight in the bed right then. His hand had been large and warm and… possessive. She had tried to roll away from him slowly, hoping he wouldn’t wake up, but he had made a sound in the back of his throat and rolled with her. She had ended up lying on her back with Matt on his side, his thigh over hers. The position had felt unbearable intimate to her. Each heated inch of him had been pressed to her, even… even THAT part of him.
One deep breath later, she had contemplated her next move. She had to get out of this bed before—
Matt had snuggled closer, muttering something again… and had moved his hand from her stomach to cup her breast.
Saskia could not have stopped the wild gasp from escaping her to save her life. Never before had she been touched this intimately.
As she lay tensely beneath him, her body had responded to his hand and she had been powerless to stop it. This was one of her guilty dreams come true.
The fluttering of his long eyelashes against the sensitive skin at the crook of her neck had been the first sign that Matthew had woken up. She had closed her eyes in mortification that he would find her like this. And also because she hadn’t wanted to see the very visible signs of her own arousal either.
Matt had obviously been stunned because it had taken him a few moments to move. When he did, he had jerked his hand away from her breast as if it burnt him while his head had shot up to look at her. She had kept her eyes squeezed shut, praying that he would think she was asleep and just leave her alone, but she had not been that lucky.
“Sas?”
She had never heard his voice sound like that before. It was hoarse, deep, and it had skittered across her senses to make her gasp again.
Her eyes had flown open to find him staring down at her with a glittering dark gaze. A deep flush had crept over his cheeks, just before his eyes had dropped to her mouth.
And made her realize she was in deep trouble.
His lips had covered hers before she even had a chance to blink and the kiss had been so much more than she had ever expected. His hands had cupped her face, angling it until he could deepen the kiss. Electricity had raced through her as he plundered her mouth. This had been her first kiss, but it had felt familiar. Like they had done it millions of times before.
His tongue had tangled with hers as his body had pressed her into the bed. Stars had swirled through her head as she felt his urgency and passion. Finally, the need for oxygen had become too immediate and he had torn his mouth away from hers to kiss a wet path over her jaw line.
“Sas…”
This time, her name had been a sigh.
And it had brought her abruptly out of the fog his caresses had enveloped her with. This was the crown prince of Antar! And he was not meant for her…
She had scrambled away from him with such speed that he had stared at her in shock. “No, Matt!” she had told him. “This is a mistake.”
She had turned away from him and sat on the edge of the bed, shaking like a leaf. He had been quiet for a long time, but she had fought the impulse to turn around to see his reaction.
When he finally spoke, his soft words had pierced her heart. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… It won’t happen again.”
She had fled the room and had only burst into tears when she reached the safety of her own bed. She had never stayed in his room again.
When Matthew returned to the kitchen, he found his mother sitting alone at the table with no sign of Saskia. That hand that squeezed his heart whenever it seemed that she was trying to get away from him returned.
Liz waited until he had settled in his chair again. “So Becky, huh?” she teased him.
He grimaced. “She doesn’t take a hint. She’s everywhere I am. I don’t want her, I want—” He stopped abruptly.
“Saskia?” Liz provided softly.
He didn’t respond at first, staring at the glass filled with soda as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Then, “yeah.”
His eyes were filled with anguish when it met hers. “But I screwed up, Mama.” He used his childhood name for her. “She doesn’t want to be with me now…”
tbc