aussietrueblue, max and liz believer, Queen Fee, Earth2Mama, begonia9508, clueless, Alien_Friend, Evansgurl01, guelbebek, Natz, dreamsatnight, RASaero611, Jason's Lover, Alien614, hazz, Mariael311, LairaBehr4, ShatteredDreamer, BehrObsession, Gater101, Alien_Friend, LegalAlien, IzzyEvans2201_PuertoRico, Michelle17
Ten
“Max, I’d like you to meet Theresa Harding, she’s your replacement,” Dave Harrison introduced the small blonde next to him.
“Theresa this is Max Evans, the newest partner here.”
Max eyed the woman in front of him. She looked about the same age as him, her hair was extremely curly and her body curvy.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Max smiled politely and held out his hand.
Tess couldn’t believe the hunk standing in front of her. Her eyes immediately went to his hand to see if there was a wedding band and she almost jumped for joy in front of Max when she found there wasn’t.
“Max if you don’t mind I’ll leave Theresa in your hands to show her around,” Dave smiled before he disappeared.
“So Theresa…” Max begun.
“It’s Tess actually,” Tess quickly corrected him.
“Ok, well welcome Tess,” Max smiled.
“Thanks. I’m really excited to be here,” she admitted.
Max spent the morning showing Tess around the office and started to brief her on a few of the cases that she would be taking from him.
“So you must be excited about being a partner,” Tess smiled at Max from across the desk.
They were sitting in Max’s newer and bigger office and there were a few photos on his desk but Tess was unsure yet if any of them were serious girlfriends or potential competition.
Tess Harding was an only child and she was used to getting what she wanted. Her parents had been fairly well off and her mother had died when she was little. Her father compensated his long hours and their continuous moving by buying Tess everything she wanted, including a place at Yale Law.
What Tess learnt though was the most prestigious and decent law firms actually expected you to do well at school, something Tess learnt too late.
She knew she was lucky to have scored the job at Harrison. Dave Harrison was an old friend of her fathers and once again Daddy had come to the party for her. Tess wasn’t a stupid girl by any means she just preferred to concentrate on things that are more important.
“Yeah,” Max replied.
“How long have you worked here?” She asked then.
Max looked up from his file then, “About 5 years,” he said.
“Wow,” Tess whistled she couldn’t imagine working anywhere for that long.
“So are you married Max?” She asked then bluntly.
Max looked up again startled by her blunt and extremely personal question.
“I’m sorry that was really rude of me,” she blushed and apologised.
Max smiled at her politely, “No its ok, no I’m not married.”
“I’m sorry, it’s just that I’m new in town and I don’t really know anyone.”
“Well people here are very friendly and you seem nice so I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding friends.”
“Yeah,” Tess smiled.
***
Liz popped herself up on one elbow and looked over at Max.
They were at his apartment tonight and it felt somewhat strange for Liz to be sleeping there.
“So what’s your replacement like?” She asked.
Max literally groaned at the mention of Tess.
“That good?” Liz laughed at his response.
“She’s interesting,” he admitted.
“She?” Liz asked surprised.
“Yeah Theresa Harding, not the person I would have picked but….”
“What’s wrong with her?” Liz asked.
“Well firstly she has no idea what she’s doing. She graduated from Yale but her grades were shocking, I’m surprised she graduated at all. I can’t work out why Dave would have hired her to replace me.”
Liz shared a confused look with Max. She knew Dave Harrison and he took his work very seriously.
“Did you say Harding?” She asked.
“Yeah,” Max nodded.
“Wasn’t one of the men that was at that dinner last year a Harding?” Liz asked.
Liz was thinking back to a dinner she had agreed to go with Max to at the last minute. It had been the most boring night for both her and Max as they sat around and listened to a group of pompous men talk about their accomplishments while their wives talked about their latest shopping spree.
Max thought back to the night too.
“Yeah I think you’re right,” he replied as he remembered the bald man Liz was referring too.
“Well that explains the job,” Liz grinned.
Max groaned again, “Great, that’s all I need. I get stuck babysitting an underqualified daddy’s princess.”
Liz giggled again. Her giggles faded when Max’s hand slid onto her naked abdomen.
Max looked at her thoughtfully.
“We should know next week,” she informed him.
Max couldn’t hide his smile as he thought about the possibility that his child cold be growing inside of Liz at that very second.
He knew it was doubtful that things would work that quickly for them but he couldn’t help the small shimmer of hope.
“What do you want, a boy for a girl?” He asked Liz then.
A smile immediately fell over Liz’s face. “Well both eventually, but I’ll be happy with what ever God blesses us with.”
“Me too,” he agreed.
“I know it’s unlikely I’m pregnant but I can’t help but hope I am,” Liz voiced to Max as her hand covered his over her abdomen.
“Our life’s going to really change when you are,” Max mused then.
“Yeah, we’ll have to come clean with our families,” Liz added.
It was easy to put off telling anyone while nothing was going but they both knew that eventually they would have to tell there families everything and just hope that they could accept the decision they had made.
Liz knew Maria and Isabel would be upset that she hadn’t told them but her conversation with them the other day only reinforced that she was right to keep this between her and Max only.
“Yeah I know,” Max agreed.
He turned and smiled at Liz then before he leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, a gesture which he had used for years. But for the first time Liz longed for the kiss to be on her lips instead of her forehead.
“Let’s get some sleep we both have a big day tomorrow,” Max suggested.
Liz agreed with a nod and rolled over. Soon Max was spooning behind her, his large arm wrapped tightly around her and they both slipped into a peaceful sleep.
***
Liz was woken the next morning by the sound of the phone. Disorientated she reached for the bedside table and picked it up.
“Hello?” She said huskily.
“Hi, who’s this?” The voice on the other end asked.
Liz shook her head to clear her thoughts. Her eyes opened and she realised that she wasn’t in her own bedroom, and she remembered she was at Max’s.
“Who’s this?” She asked instead of answering the question.
“Isabel, Max’s sister could you please put him on,” she snapped. Since when was Max dating someone, and why hadn’t he told her. There were a million thoughts going on in Isabel’s head.
Liz looked at the clock and groaned. It was only 7am and it was too early to have your head snapped off by Isabel.
“Take a chill pill Iz, it’s too early to be freezing people,” she replied before leaning over and shoving Max.
“Liz?” Isabel questioned.
“Uh huh.”
“Wha…” a disorientated Max asked as he woke up.
“Your sister,” Liz mouthed to him and held the phone up.
“Yeah it’s me Iz,” Liz replied to Isabel’s question.
“What are you doing at Max’s?” She asked.
Max’s eyes went wide and he shook his head to indicate he didn’t want to talk to her.
“Sleep over,” Liz replied to Isabel.
“You guys still have sleepovers?” Isabel asked horrified and Liz giggled.
“Yep, here’s Max Iz I’m going to go take a shower,” she said before throwing the phone in Max’s lap and slipping out of the bed.
Liz had no intention of answering Isabel’s questions this early.
Max picked up the phone as he started at Liz, who walked completely naked to his bathroom.
“Max!” Isabel yelled.
“Hi Iz,” Max finally answered after Liz had disappeared into the bathroom.
“What’s wrong with you?” She asked.
“Well for a starters you woke me up,” he replied.
“I figured you’d be up by now,” Isabel replied.
“Well normally I would be but Liz and I were having a bit of a sleep in,” he answered defensively.
Liz had been so tired the past couple of days so he had set his alarm back so she would sleep a little longer.
“Aren’t the two of you a little old for sleepovers?” Isabel said then.
How did Max ever expect to find someone if he was acting that way with Liz.
“Nope,” Max grinned as he remembered how much better their sleepovers were these days than they were when they were younger.
“God anyone would think the two of you were sleeping together,” she said sarcastically and Max’s eyes went wide.
“But I know that’s not happening, Liz made that perfectly clear the other day that she wasn’t interested in you,” she sighed.
“Look Iz, no offence but was there something that you wanted?” He asked.
Right not he wanted to join Liz in the shower and to do that he needed to get Isabel off the phone.
“Oh I was ringing to invite you over for tea tonight,” she said.
“Sounds great,” Max smiled.
“Liz is invited too,” she added then.
“Great,” Max smiled.
“Ok well about 7.30 ok and bring a bottle of wine.”
“Yes Isabel,” Max rolled his eyes.
“Cheerio,” She said before hanging up.
Max threw the phone down and ran towards the bathroom. Liz was just turning off the water when Max opened the curtain.
“Can I convince you to stay in a little longer?” He asked.
Liz laughed, “Yep.”
Max stepped into the shower and pulled Liz against his body, bending down to kiss her neck.
“What did Isabel want?” She asked.
“We’re going for dinner,” he mumbled just before his hand cupped her breasts.
There wasn’t time for words after that as Max took her gently against the wall of his shower.