I Wake Up Screaming (AU,CC,MATURE) COMPLETE - 2/6/13

[mary mary]

Title: Wake Up Screaming

Author: Ginger

Genre: A/U C/C Mature

Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with the show Roswell or any of its constituents…I have merely borrowed the names of the characters because I like them.

Summary: Max met Liz many years ago when she worked in her Uncle’s little café for a summer where he developed a very deep crush on the girl. She would have nothing to do with him…it’s now many years later and they have been reintroduced and some surprising news is brought to light.


*~*~*~*~*

Wake Up Screamin’
By: Gary Allen


Used to sleep through the night peacefully
Not a care in the world got to me
But now I lay me down to sleep
I’m afraid of what I might see
I wake up screamin’ when your dream goes by

Used to feel like a man in control
Unaware of the storm in my soul
The sight of you took away my breath
Look so good it scares me half to death
I wake up screamin when your dream goes by

Now in this dream I’m in a room
All dressed up just like a groom
Watches shadows dance on the ledge
Suddenly you then appear, whisper in my ear
And I jump right over the edge

Just a dream that I seem to recall
Can’t you tell me which doctor to call
Tell him please I’m not feelin too well
Every night I’m hearin weddin bells
I wake up screamin when your dream goes by

I lay there in a an ice cold sweat
Sheets are torn and they’re soakin wet
I wake up screamin’ when your dream goes by
I wake up screamin’ when your dream goes by
I wake up screamin’ when your dream goes by

Chapter: 1


Max Evans walked into the busy hospital reception area and asked where he might find Michael Guerin who had been moved since he had left the hospital that morning. The cute little candy striper sitting at her station asked how to spell his name and shortly Max was on his way to the surgical ward to find his friend. He stepped off the elevator on the third floor, looked around, and there with her head bent over a tray of blood samples, Max was met with a vision from somewhere he thought he would never go again. He felt it was his imagination playing with him; he stopped dead in his tracks. It couldn’t be! He had been dreaming of her for years and there she was in the flesh…No! She couldn’t be the cause of his nightmares for all these years. It just wasn’t possible, there’s no way this was happening.

*

Three days earlier, at peak traffic, Michael Guerin was driving in the far left lane of the Golden State Freeway, making his way through a downpour, headed to a meeting with Producers to discuss his client and best friend’s negotiations for his new TV series. He had left his office in plenty of time to be there by 6:00 but the down pour was slowing traffic to practically a dead crawl…visibility was almost nil in some spots when suddenly Michael met the rear end of a small Volkswagen that was literally stopped in the fast lane of a major Los Angeles freeway. He later found out that the woman driving the vehicle couldn’t see so she stopped…when she stopped she also stopped several other vehicles behind her, many vehicles as a matter of fact and Michael was one of those vehicles.

Many, many emergency vehicles had to be dispatched to the scene, taking people to various hospitals as quickly as possible. The female wasn’t hurt at all naturally but the number of casualties her insurance company was going to be responsible for was going to be phenomenal, Michael’s claim right in there among the rest of them. Michael had multiple contusions and abrasions from broken glass but the main concern was his leg, which had been wedged into a position so that they had to pull the door off and then cut the side panel out to remove his body. He was lucky to have survived. The impact to the vehicle in front of him wouldn’t have been so bad if it hadn’t been for the vehicle behind him pushing him into the median wall of the freeway as all the vehicles behind that one kept on coming. The force of the vehicle that hit Michael was like a wave that kept gaining momentum as it traveled forward. They were lucky to have been able to save his leg altogether but his rehabilitation was going to be quite extensive.

To say that Max was in a state of shock over his friend’s accident was an understatement. He was just sick to think that this happened over a meeting regarding him. Michael wasn’t conscious enough to realize what his friend was doing to himself but he would set him straight when he was thinking straight and not all drugged up.

In the meantime Max had spent the biggest part of Michaels stay in the hospital right at his side. The nurses were getting used to seeing him sitting by his friend’s bedside and the novelty was wearing off for them to stop making excuses to go into Michael’s room just to look at the handsome young actor.

“Max buddy, you look like hell.” Max heard and he jumped, literally jumped, to his friends side, grabbed his hand while he had this huge smile on his face. He was so relieved to hear Michael’s voice that he almost forgot the man was in horrible shape.

“Damn Michael, I am so sorry man…so sorry. You’ll never know how sorry I am that this happened.” Max was practically in tears for many reasons, happiness, guilt, relief…he was feeling them all right along with Max only for different reasons…he didn’t want his friend feeling so badly and it was tearing him up.
He could see all of these emotions running across Max’s face and he had a vague memory of what occurred but not that clear just yet.

“What the hell are you talking about Max? What are you sorry about?” Michael wanted to know.

“I’m sorry you were out in that weather on account of me Michael.” Max was feeling rotten…

“Max buddy, I’m not remembering a whole hell of a lot right now but what I do remember was I was doing my job, which I am well paid for by the way. So the way I see it you have nothing to be sorry for. I’m sure it will come back to me when I have time to think about it and I’m not so doped up but I do know you had nothing to do with me being here. How did the meeting go anyway, did you guys reach any decisions?”

“Ah, you know how they are; push everything to the limit before we’re labeled a show for sensationalism instead of something that has some substance. I think I’d rather produce it myself, hire some good writers and put something out there that the age group over 40 might enjoy. I know the biggest complaint of my mom, even my grandmother, is that they can’t find anything worth watching anymore. We’ll give it a chance and if it looks like it’s going into the toilet maybe I’ll just take over the production and see how that goes.”

“You might be onto something there Max, let me know what you decide; I might just join you on that. Now, besides the fact that I think I hit a brick wall what the hell happened out there and how long ago was it?”

“Well buddy, it seems the lady in front of you decided she couldn’t see very well and stopped. “

“You’re shittin’ me. She just stopped in the fast lane of the freeway! Jeezus Criminy, where the hell did she buy her driver’s license? I can’t believe it! How many of us bit the dust?” Michael was in shock at this revelation.

“Well, the evening news reported 23 cars with seriously injured passengers and God knows how many more vehicles just had some minor damage. The visibility caused it to be worse than it should have been. People heard it before they saw it. It’s a little hard to wrap your mind around right now but the good news is the broad that stopped got a little scratch above her eye, that’s it. You pushed her out of the way when you hit her but then the car behind you and the one behind him just kept pushing you forward it wasn’t pretty Michael.”

“Boy, it doesn’t sound like it that’s for sure. What the hell happened to me anyway…what did they have to do to fix me up?”

“Well, aside from the contusions and abrasions you had some serious damage to your leg and will need quite a bit of physical therapy, which I understand will start very soon. They don’t want you getting all locked up and nothing working so they’ll probably start that tomorrow. In the meantime you’re doing very well according to the doctors. Can I get you anything?”

“No man, I can’t feel anything, honest. They must have me on some pretty good stuff here because I really don’t feel anything.”

Max got a little concerned, what did he mean he couldn’t feel anything?

About that time a doctor came in to check on his patient and was shocked to see Michael awake and carrying on a conversation…

“When did you wake up Michael?” The doctor asked as he nodded to Max whom the doctor expected to see there; the man hadn’t left the patients side since he was notified of the accident.

“About half an hour ago, wouldn’t you say Max?”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” And the doctor and Michael noticed that Max seemed preoccupied when questioned and this was unusual…

“Well how do you feel?” The doctor asked.

“Actually pretty good, I can’t feel a thing.” Michael answered.

The doctor frowned and then caught a glimpse of Max’s face and knew immediately what was bothering the young man.

*~*~*~*

[mary mary]

Carolyn:Let's hope I keep hearing stories in songs and seeing them in pictures...it certainly keeps me out of stores! Even a quart of milk winds up costing me 25.00 for all of the other stuff I can't live without. The banner was an accident, I had to copy it over from word and that's how it turned out so we can thank my new computer for that! At least we can thank it for something. Still fighting Dell and Microsoft. As for the pile up, well a friend of mine and I were coming from one of those "come buy something things" her mother was having and on our way home we hit a dense patch of fog in the middle of an intersection and she stopped cold and wouldn't (couldn't) move. I had to get out of the passenger seat and go around to the drivers side, pull her out and get her situated while the whole time she's yelling at me that she can't see. I told her to shut up she was going to get us killed and then she asks, she had an old VW bug, can you drive a stick. I looked at her and glared, told her there was no time like the present to learn ( I learned to drive on a standard transmission, but it wouldn't have mattered) and got our asses out of there before we were road kill. Trust me, the woman never drove me anywhere after that and it didn't make any difference whose car we took.Our husbands just laughed at the both of us..wasn't a damned bit funny...not then not now.
Michelle:Never fear, I never post until they're complete and sometime it's hard not to share because I've got one going now that I really am having fun with.
Sarah:Welcome to my world of fluff and thank you. I'll be back next week barring crashes and all acts of God.
Lizza:Thank you, I'll be back soon, promise.

Eve and Michelle: I'm not sure what the law is now but it used to be that the car that caused the pile up was responsible for the entire mess...I think it has changed (maybe) and the one hitting the one in front of him is responsible for the one in front of him. Can't really be sure, but in my story it's the old way. God knows how they determine what the score is now...I think it's more speed than rationalization

****

Chapter: 2

Max:

Doctor George immediately took a pen from his jacket pocket and lifted the blanket laying across Michael’s lap, bared his foot and smiled at Michael, the smile didn’t work…neither one of us was buying it.

“Okay Michael, I’m going to run the pen over the bottom of your foot and you tell me when you feel it, alright.” The doctor watched Michael while he kept the smile plastered on his face, like it was on a statue. As I said before, we weren’t buying it.

I watched closely as the doctor ran the pen up and down Michael’s feet, waiting for a response from Michael and nothing…nada! I wanted to cry and Michael finally looked at the doctor and asked…

“Well doc, are you waiting for an invitation or what?” I gasped and Michael took look at my face and knew.

“Michael, I think we need to take you down for some ex-rays and see what else is going on with you besides this leg. I don’t want you to get anxious about this but when they brought you in your leg was in sorry shape and we worked on the obvious, now we are going on a hunting expedition so to speak and we’re going to find out why you can’t feel anything.

Can you move your foot or even your toes? Sometime the brain will make your body do things when you think about it while your reflexes are not performing at 100%.”

Michael nodded and it was obvious that he was giving it his best shot but nothing happened. I wanted to die right at that moment but I knew we would get through this. If there was anything or anyone on this earth that could help him we would find him, never doubt it.

The doctor left Michael and me alone while he went out to make arrangements for some more tests and neither of us could say anything to the other…it was one of those moments when you know things are shitty and there’s nothing to discuss.

We sat in silence and waited, and waited and waited. It seemed like forever and then they wheeled in a gurney and lifted Michael onto it and took him down to ex-ray. I had no idea how long it was going to take for them to do the tests but I really needed to get out of there for a while. I gathered my thoughts about me and grabbed my jacket, found my way to the elevator and pressed the down button after the doors closed me in. I was the only one on the contraption and suddenly the tears started…there was no control. No matter what Michael said I still felt responsible for this, the woman behind the wheel was merely the instrument, I was the reason for him being there and I cried.

When the elevator reached the main floor I read the sign through my tears that was posted on the wall giving directions to the various sections of the hospital, children’s ward, cafeteria, pharmacy, chapel…Chapel, that’s what I’m looking for. I’m going to be a hypocrite and go in and have a talk with God. I was long overdue in that area that’s for sure and if there was ever a time to take care of that it was now.

The door was open to this very dimly lit room with a stained glass window right at the front; there were pews on either side of the main aisle and an altar in front of the window. A large wooden cross was hanging above the altar and a statue of Mary was on a little shelf to the left. I took a seat in one of the pews, the place was empty, and I sat there and cried some more…I didn’t know what to do or say that wouldn’t sound pathetic but pathetic was what I was so I just sat and let the tears flow. My mother would have said that God knew what was in my heart anyway and to go ahead and let them fall so I did.

I must have been in there for over an hour when a young pixie looking little blond walked in and took a seat in the pew across the aisle from me and it looked as though her eyes and heart were in the same condition as mine. She had a small bandage across her forehead and a wrist support on her right hand; she sat across from me and sobbed, literally sobbed for what seemed like forever and I felt as though I was intruding into something that was too private to say anything. I didn’t know what to say to her anyway as I knew if I tried to speak I most likely would have started crying again myself so I sat and wallowed in my own self-pity, absorbed in my own thoughts.

When she finally calmed down I picked up the nerve to go over and sit next to her and took her hand in mine and smiled. I don’t know where this courage came from but it wasn’t like I was putting the make on her or anything, I surely wouldn’t do that in church…now a bar was something else.

“Hi, it looks like you could use a friend about now.” I smiled and she looked at me for a second and then I recognized the look of recognition the minute it hit and she smiled through her tear stained face.

“Hello Max Evans, I’m Maria De Luca…I know why you’re here but do you know why I am?”

I smiled,

“Hello Maria DeLuca, now how would I know why you’re here?” And I continued to hold her hand as she looked at me with those beautiful green eyes. Michael would love those eyes, I can tell you that right now.

“I’m not so sure you’ll want to be a friend of mine when you find out who I am Max Evans,”

I looked at her puzzled and then assured her that would not be the case…

She gave me the saddest look I have ever seen in my life and started to cry all over again. I reached over and pulled her into a hug and she cried even harder, then she said,

“I’m the reason your friend is in here Max…I’m the one that stopped on the freeway in a moment of panic.” And she sobbed even harder if that was possible.

Well, all I can say is God works in strange ways, up until an hour ago I wanted this woman hung from the highest tree and here she is, just as heartbroken as I am. I continued to hold her as mixed emotions ran through my body but the strongest emotion was sorrow. I felt nothing but sorrow for this woman and for my friend. I had no idea I could be able to feel this way about the person that caused this accident, I never imagined that she would feel this way. I had never given it a thought and now God had made me aware of more than I knew I was capable of and I thanked him as I held this poor woman while she cried her heart out.

When she finally calmed down I suggested that we go have some coffee and she smiled in agreement. I don’t think she knew what else to do. So we left the chapel, two saddened souls, and headed to the coffee shop to console each other while my friend had his tests. It was going to be a long afternoon.

“So Maria DeLuca, tell me about yourself.” I said as we made ourselves as comfortable as we could in the hospital cafeteria.

“Oh Max, there’s not that much to tell and we both know what you really want to know don’t we?” It was like she needed to punish herself or something.

“Ah Maria, don’t be like that. I can’t imagine how you are feeling, I only know how I’m feeling and neither of us is feeling that great I’m sure. You can at least be thankful that no one died.” I didn’t know what else to say to her so I just shot straight from the hip so to speak, what I said was the truth.

She looked like she was about to start crying again and I shushed her and grabbed her hands into mine.

“Maria, apparently you have no idea what I’m truly like, nobody does, but I’m going to tell you something, I am very straight forward as a rule and if I say something here it isn’t to make you feel bad or to hurt you so just say what’s on your mind and you can be sure that I will.” And I smiled as she nodded and smiled through wet eyes once more.

“Thank you Max, I don’t want you to think I’m an air head or anything and I am a responsible person, usually, but I panicked. I saw a wall of fog and the rain was coming down too fast for my windshield wipers and I just panicked and I hit my brakes. The dumbest damned stunt anyone could have ever done Max and I would give anything to be able to go back and fix this but life doesn’t work that way.” And she started crying again.

My heart ached for her as we sat and talked about nothing and everything through our tears and when we, yes we, went back to Michael’s room he was back in his bed looking none the worse for wear. I don’t know what they had him on but I would have surely enjoyed some of it.

I introduced a very anxious Maria to Michael and you know how… when you remember why you love someone… that you suddenly feel a warmth you hadn’t felt in a long time come over you? Well that’s what happened to me the second Michael looked at Maria. He just knew who she was and he smiled, a very warm and open smile and I suddenly knew why I loved my friend, he was a better man than I would ever hope to be and I loved him for it. Maria looked as though she was going to start crying all over again and I gave her shoulder a squeeze and Michael motioned her to come to his side. He took her hand in his and placed a kiss on her knuckles and told her that sometime things just happen and to forgive herself because he already had. She smiled and the tears ran freely down her cheeks once again. The woman has probably lost ten pounds in water in the last three hours I swear. Then I said as much and we all laughed, we needed it, it was getting way too serious for us and then the doctor came in to talk with Michael.

*****

[mary mary]

Lizza; Hey there, thank you for reading and let's hope this is soon enough for you. I hope you are having a nice 4th of July with your family.
Carolyn: Thank you and happy 4th to you and yours.
Michele: BINGO! One of the hardest things for people to do is to forgive themselves, after that they need to do the same to those who have offended them. Tough sometimes but so true. Hope you're enjoying your day....
Eve: Sometime it's very hard to be that understanding but it's the easiest way to get through a tough situation. No sense throwing sticks after the war is over.

***



Chapter: 3

“Well doctor, did you find out anything from your fancy equipment…was I photogenic enough or will we have to do this again?” Michael asked and the doctor sort of smiled, ‘not as pasted on this time which tells me he’s not happy with the results of the ex-rays’.

“I think you photographed very well Michael, I have some colleagues coming in to take a look at the pictures either later this afternoon or tomorrow morning. We’ll make some decisions at that time.”

“Well, I’m not the most patient man on earth doc so just give me some preliminaries here so I can prepare myself. Will I walk again?” Now Maria took in a huge gulp, I grabbed her to me and Michael smiled. ‘My God he is one strong person’. Maria thought to herself.

“Michael, if I tell you what I think and I’m wrong I’ll hate myself. Let’s wait for a few hours.”

“Well, judging from that statement, I would say that you think that chances are in my favor but you don’t want to commit yourself; that’s not good enough doc. I want to know what you think now because you are the man in charge are you not?”

“Yes I am Michael but I still would like to see if there’s something I missed before committing myself to any statements regarding your condition; just wait a couple of hours, it really isn’t that long. In the meantime I think you should get some rest.”

*
Maria:

‘Oh God, I can’t believe that this man would be so forgiving, I want to just crawl into a hole and die I feel so rotten. And then Max, this is one of the biggest shocks of my life to think he would take the time to try and help me, this is not the way the tabloids write him. They make him sound like a womanizing, selfish spoiled prick. He is nothing like that at all; he is warm and caring and so easy to talk to. This is unbelievable in every way. And then there’s Michael, how can he not want to hurt me? I want to hurt me.

I can’t believe I did something as stupid as I did and to think that I’m the one to walk away practically unharmed. I wonder why the police didn’t lock me up for a psychological evaluation when they discovered that I was stone cold sober, honest to God…only an insane person would stop on a freeway, stop dead still but I don’t think I have ever been so afraid in my life, well that’s not totally true, right now I’m just as terrified, maybe more, as I was then. I am terrified that this beautiful man will never walk again and it’s all my fault.’

*

“Come on Maria, Max…you two need to relax a little. Max, you look like shit! Why don’t you go home and get some rest. I’m going to be fine; I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. Go on, please, it will make me feel better man. I can’t stand looking at you. At least go take a shower, change your clothes and shave for God’s sake. You really do look like hell man.”

Maria started to giggle, Michael looked over at her and winked and then asked,

“When was the last time you saw a bed Maria? You don’t look like you’ve been resting all that well either.”

Maria suddenly became her old self for just a second there and raised an eyebrow and stared Michael down and he laughed, out and out laughed. He was going to like this little pixie of a girl, he just knew it

“Well thank you very much Michael.”

“You’re welcome Maria.” And Max stood and watched the interchange of quips between the two of them and smiled.

“Maria, would you like to go down to the cafeteria and have a bite to eat?” Max asked after the room got a little quiet.

“Oh no thank you Max, I’m waiting for my friend to get her dinner break and then I was going to have something with her. I just needed someone to talk to and she is my best friend, has been since pre-school. I’ll just go out to the waiting room and sit. You go ahead and go home and shave like Michael asked.”

Michael smiled and then suggested,

“Maria, you can stay here and talk to me while Max goes home for a bit, I know he’ll be back later and there’s no way to stop him so just stay here why don’t you?”

“I’ll be glad to stay with you Michael. How long do you think you’ll be gone Max, I don’t want to leave him alone so I’ll need to tell Liz, my friend, where I am.”

“I won’t be gone long Maria, if I’m going to be detained I’ll call and let you know.”

“Great, the cafeteria shuts down at six and I don’t want Liz to miss her dinner since she doesn’t get off until 3:00. She works three to three with only two thirty minute breaks and one is at 6:00 so she sort of eats on the run, literally.” And then she giggled…Max could tell that Michael was getting more impressed with this Maria girl by the minute, and he couldn’t have been happier; he only wished that the circumstances could have been different and then he wanted to cry all over again, he needed to get out of here and fast, he was tired and hungry and his nerves were shot. He doubted that he cried as much when he was a baby as he had cried in the couple of days.

“Michael, I’m going to leave you for a couple of hours, I promise I’ll be back as soon as I can and can I bring you anything?” Max was stumbling over his words now and Michael knew he had to do something to calm him down…

“Hey, take your time man, I’m sure Maria can spare me a few hours and if you want to you can have a basket of orbit rings flown in from Roswell for me.”

Max laughed and told him he’d get right on it and turned toward the door before Michael could see the tears start to flow once more.

“What are ‘orbit rings’ Michael? And where is this Roswell? Is it the one in New Mexico?” Maria was just full of questions, she was starting to stumble too and it wasn’t a very comfortable feeling.

“Well, let’s see if I can take care of these questions of yours Maria. The orbit rings come from a little café located in Roswell, New Mexico. They are actually onion rings but the café is an alien themed restaurant and the entire menu is made up of these different alien names. There are ‘orbit rings’, Saturn rings, Men in Blackberry pie, blue moon burgers and the list goes on and on. It’s a great hang out for kids and I spent most of my young adult life there. I was actually a short order cook my later teen years and then we graduated and Max and I moved to L. A. The rest is history.”

Maria smiled and then looked at Michael with a serious expression for a minute before speaking…

“Liz’s aunt and uncle own a restaurant in Roswell, New Mexico and she visited there one summer when she was younger…she said she wore a turquoise uniform and actual silver glitter antenna on her head, The Crashdown is what she called it, is that the one Michael?”

“That’s the one Maria; it is a small world isn’t it? Wait a minute, is that Liz Parker?”

“Yes it is Michael…small indeed.”

“You know Max had an awful crush on that niece that summer but she blew him off big time. I think its Liz we’re talking about here, cute little brunette?”

“That’s her…I can’t believe it. You know she’s the charge nurse in the surgical section of this hospital now; she works 3 twelves and we room together. I was on my way to meet her the other night when I caused all of this turmoil. Her car was in the shop and I told her not to call a cab because things were so bad out. I am so sorry Michael…so sorry.” And she started crying all over again.

“Hey Maria, stop it. This is going to be fine honest, I just know it is and don’t ask me how, I just know. Okay?” And Michael patted the side of his bed for Maria to have a seat next to him. He needed to hold her hand and reassure her that everything was going to be alright; he had his doubts but Maria needed that reassurance, she couldn’t go on like this and he knew it…she was going to have a nervous break down if she kept it up.

Maria slowly approached Michael and took a seat as he had indicated and soon she had her head on his pillow and he was stroking her hair and telling her to just relax. She hadn’t slept in almost three days either and it wasn’t long before she was sound asleep in Michael’s arms and he allowed a few tears to escape his eyes as he himself tried to relax as well. He only hoped that things worked out for him because right now hope was all he had.

When Max left Michael’s room he looked down the hall he waited for the elevator and there, right before his eyes, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, it couldn’t be! He knew he was tired but he couldn’t believe the vision in his nightmares would visit him while he was awake, this wasn’t happening and then he blinked and that quickly the vision disappeared. He shook his head to clear his eyes and his thoughts as he heard the ding of the elevator door and stepped in for the ride to the first floor. He really did need to rest; he was sure of that now, his only hope was that his nightmare would not haunt him tonight; he had enough on his plate.
****

[mary mary]

Carolyn: I'm sure any normal man would have given her a bad time but we are talking "MAX" here... And stupid doesn't even come close to describing what the woman did, I know, I have a friend who pulled that and thank God no one was injured, including us...I believe I left a full blown description of that incident in one of my other replies, she really did it.
Lizza: Thank you so much, I hope you continue to enjoy.
Eve: I hope I explain the cause of the nightmares to everyone's satisfaction. God knows what brought them on really, but Max thinks he's got it figured out and Liz, being totally unaware of the nightmares, makes a good point too.

*

Chapter: 4

Max made his way to his home nestled in a quiet little neighborhood outside the boundaries of Griffith Park in a very old section of Los Angeles County. It wasn’t the ritziest part of the city but it was very well kept, very old and according to Max very comfortable. It made him feel at home. He pulled into his driveway and set the alarm in his car and pushed the garage door opener; he was parked and locked within minutes. He made his way through the back entry, hung his jacket over a kitchen chair and headed straight for his bedroom. He couldn’t decide whether he wanted a shower or his bed, it was almost a toss up, he chose the bed and collapsed right across the top, not even bothering to grab a pillow and was out almost instantly.

The dreams started almost immediately; he was in a room, all dressed up like a groom and the shadows were dancing on a ledge, suddenly the brunette appeared and whispered in his ear; he jumped right out of his bed. It was a dream that he seemed to recall constantly, he needed to call a doctor and quickly, he felt like he was losing his mind…He made his way to his bathroom and threw cold water onto his face, looked into the mirror and practically scared himself to death just looking at his reflection.

Michael was right; he looked like hell and that damned dream. He’d had it so many times that he wished he could just erase the memory…and then seeing her while he was wide-awake wasn’t helping. He knew he was tired but this was bordering on insanity. He really needed to figure out a way to get rid of it. Maybe a hypnotist could help. He stripped down and stepped into a cold shower to wake himself up before turning the hot water on to warm it. Maybe that would help.

A couple of hours later he was back in the hospital and on his way up to Michael’s room once again, feeling a little better but not much. He got off the elevator and was almost afraid to look down the hallway in any direction except toward Michael’s room and even that bothered him. Why would he be worried about being dressed like a groom anyway, that wasn’t so frightening was it?

He made his way to Michael’s room and the scene set before him there was one of surprise and then again it wasn’t. Maria was still all curled up next to Michael sound asleep and Michael was just as asleep as Maria. It was the most natural looking scene Max thought he had ever seen. They actually fit together like two peas in a pod, Max smiled as he made his way over to one of the chairs against the wall and stretched out to make himself comfortable. It wasn’t long before he was asleep once again and he seemed to be resting fairly normal this time. It would be nice if he didn’t scream and wake the entire third floor.

Liz Parker had a message from Maria that she was in Michael Guerin’s room and would meet her in the cafeteria so when Maria hadn’t shown up Liz went ahead and had some dinner before seeking Maria out…she didn’t have time to do both and make it back to the nurses’ station in time to relieve the other two nurses who hadn’t had their breaks as yet. They always brought their dinner so Liz took the first break and allowed them to eat together since the cafeteria only had coffee and a soda machine after six.


When the two nurses returned around 7:10 Liz told them she was going to make some rounds and do some checking and they nodded, this was not unusual, and they went about getting trays ready for 8:00 meds.

Liz made her way down the hallway to Michael’s room and when she walked in she was totally taken by surprise. She recognized Michael’s name immediately when they brought him up from surgery and she was more than concerned when she discovered that he was the product of Maria’s minute of panic but to find Maria asleep with him was more than she had bargained for. Talk about shocked, that was an understatement to say the least.

Then she looked over at the other person in the room and shook her head…the man was like a bad penny, he just kept showing up. She wished he would move to another planet or something; he was the most arrogant person she had ever met in her life. She had spent one whole summer in Roswell, New Mexico when her dad and mom went to Europe for three months and he never left her alone.

Everywhere she went, every time she turned around there he was and now here he is again. He probably thought he was king of the world now that he was this big Hollywood stud…at least in Roswell he only thought he was king of the town. And she shivered as she remembered the lengths she went to just to get away from him. Oh, he was handsome all right, so damned handsome it was scary. At least it scared her and she could never figure out why.

All of a sudden Max started to move and Liz vacated the room immediately, she didn’t want any kind of encounter with him… at all. She made her way back down to the nurses’ station and checked the meds before the other two young nurses headed out with their trays and the evening orders.

She checked the monitors on her counter and noted the results into the various charts sitting on the desk and worked diligently to compare the results with normal levels before closing the files. She checked lab results and filed those into the charts as well and by the time her two co-workers were back from their rounds, just about 10:00 or so, she had completed most of the evening updates and was ready to take her next 30 minute break. She asked her co-worker…

“Hey, did you check on Michael Guerin?”

“Yes,” one answered, “he seems to be resting quite nicely I might add. We didn’t see any reason to wake him up we just checked his IV drip; made sure he had enough morphine for a while and left him alone. Isn’t that your friend in there with him?”

“Yes, that’s Maria. She’s had a rough couple of days…I saw her in there earlier and decided that she didn’t seem to be hurting anyone and they looked quite comfortable so I left them alone. I’m going to head on down to the cafeteria for a couple of minutes and if she wakes up and wants to know where I am just tell her to come on down. “

“Will do, but I don’t think she’s going to be waking up any time soon. She looks awfully comfortable.”

“Yes, she does, doesn’t she?” And Liz giggled as she headed to the elevator next to the nurses’ station. From what little she remembered of Michael he seemed like a very nice young man, now she was sure he was just as nice as she remembered and she made her way to the cafeteria to have some coffee and to put her feet up for a few minutes. It had been a long three days for Liz as well trying to calm Maria down and keep her sane throughout this entire ordeal…she felt as responsible for all of this as Maria did. If it hadn’t been for her car in the shop Maria would have never been out on that freeway in the first place.

It seems as though Guilt was running rampant throughout the minds of these people and the only one not suffering from it was the injured party who looked at it as merely an unfortunate incident.

*

Liz made her way into Michael’s room before leaving the floor to head on home right at 3:15 a.m. and poked her head in to see how the three sleepers were doing. She looked over at Max and knew from experience that the man was going to wake up with some major aches and pains and Maria and Michael hadn’t moved in hours. She was torn between waking Maria up and taking her home or just catching up with her later in the day…she chose the latter and although she didn’t care for Max Evans all that much she did feel sorry for him sitting with his head practically resting on his chest.

Before she headed to the elevator she stopped to talk to the head nurse just coming on duty and explained the situation in Guerin’s room and asked if someone could look in on the guy sitting in the chair and see if maintenance couldn’t move one of the couches from the lobby into the room and put the chairs out in the lobby. Serena, the nurse to whom Liz was speaking looked at her like she was nuts.

“You don’t understand Serena, those two visitors are not going to leave that man’s side no matter how illegal it is so you just might as well make them comfortable. Oh, and the woman in bed with Michael, that’s Maria. She’s the one that caused the mess on the freeway, just leave her alone. She just met Michael today and it looks like he’s dealing with his predicament better than she is. Just leave her alone; psychologically she needs this…maybe Michael and Max do as well. Oh, and Serena, stick a patient pack on the stand by Michaels bed for Maria. She’s going to want a toothbrush and comb when she wakes up. Max may want one also. You can wait and ask him. Give him a pillow and blanket as well, otherwise we’ll have him as a patient in here as well.”

“God Liz, you’re actin like we’re running a motel here instead of a hospital.”

“Yeah, it is a little over the top isn’t it? But…these people need each other and I’m sure Max Evans can make a lot of noise about this if he wants to. He has an ego the size of the Grand Canyon.”

“The Max Evans…he’s the one asleep in there?”

“The one and only, so go make him comfortable and I’m outta here. I really am tired. Just get the man a couch to sleep on and I’ll see you in about 11 hours. If I don’t soon get out of here I just might as well curl up in there too. Good night. The natives are all down for the count.”

Serena watched as Liz made her way to the elevator and called maintenance and asked them to come up to third floor surgery and then she told them what she wanted them to do. When the two men showed up they had a couch with them and Serena smiled. She went to the supply closet and retrieved a pillow and blanket and a patient hygiene kit and followed the two men into Michael’s room and woke Max up. He looked about as comfortable as an elephant on a thimble.

Serena whispered…

“Mr. Evans, if you will sit up for a minute we have something more comfortable for you to sleep on.”

Max stirred for a minute and then looked at the pretty red head standing over him and he looked around for a second wondering where the hell he was and then it all came back. He stood up and nodded at the nurse standing there in her maroon scrubs and stood aside until the maintenance men sat the couch in place and Serena handed him a pillow and a blanket. Max smiled as he took the supplies and said

“Thank you,” he quickly read the badge, “Serena. This is very nice of you.”

“Oh, I’m just following the charge nurse’s orders. She looked in before going home and said that we should do this. I had no idea the room was so occupied.”

Max did a quick check and noticed Maria was still in bed with Michael and grinned….

“She needs this Serena.”

“That’s what Liz said before she left. She said to leave a patient kit for her on the night table. If you’re awake when she wakes up tell her it’s for her will you?”

“Of course, I’m sure she’ll still be here. We need to know what the ex-rays showed and what the plans are. She’s pretty upset about it all, as are we.”

“Well I can understand that Mr. Evans, I would be too.”

“Max, you can call me Max, not to sound cliché but my dad is Mr. Evans.”

“Thank you Max, I know that isn’t going to be the most comfortable place you’ve ever slept but it’s better than that chair. Good night.”

“Good night Serena, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Yes, I’m sure you will too.” And with that Serena left Max with his pillow, blanket and couch. He certainly was a dream that’s for sure, she thought as she closed the door to room 345.

*~*~*

[mary mary]

Lizza: Hey there, as you so often tell me with your pm's, 'you will have to wait to see what will happen'
Eve: You are so right, sometimes those egos are just too much.
Michelle: I hope you had a good sleep...and I love your poetry. It's AWESOME!!!
Carolyn: In this story Michael is not the impulsive teen-ager he was in the series. He's sort of mellowed out and I think maybe 'education' might have a lot to do with it. As for Max, well, his ego really wasn't his big 'problem' in high school so much as the fact that he knew what he wanted and just couldn't get it...maybe?
Ken: LOL...yes I have. I've also been introduced to Sue Grafton novels lately and she has a tendency to make you really like and empathize with a character before she offs them. That really gets my goat, but after reading about 20 of them I'm used to it now, really fun books to read, even though they're mysteries their light reading. One a day actually.
Michelle: Hey, I know what you mean. When i lived in So. Cal. I worked for Standard Oil and there was one woman in the office that I absolutely could not stand. Then one morning, as I was pulling into the parking lot, a group of women were standing on the sidewalk all seeming to try and calm her down. I rolled the window down and asked what was wrong and when they told me I told her to get in and we took off. Neither one of us bothered to tell our boss we were taking off but it didn't matter at the time. After that we became the best of friends...oh and the daughter was fine, 16 year old on her way to school and had a fender bender.
Hey Lizza: Here I am!!!


Chapter: 5

As Liz made her way across the Golden State freeway to the apartment complex where she and Maria shared a nice cozy three-bedroom place on a nice quiet street she had mixed emotions about Max Evans running through her mind. He had been ubiquitous when they were teenagers. Everywhere she turned the boy was there, it was like he had built in radar where she was concerned and he made her so uncomfortable that it still gave her the shivers.

She could never put her finger on just what it was that bothered her so much about him. He was always polite even when she was being rude and it never seemed to bother him. He just kept on with his annoyance.

Another thing that bothered her was the fact that she didn’t want him to be in pain tomorrow because he had slept in an uncomfortable position. That fact made absolutely no sense to her at all, why would she care except for the fact that he was “THE Max Evans” and he could really make the hospital look less than hospitable if he wanted to. The teenyboppers were all over him and he certainly didn’t have any trouble finding dates. He was pictured with a new starlet on his arm every month. The tabloids loved him and although he wasn’t a big star when he lived in Roswell he didn’t have any trouble getting the ladies then either.

That Pam Troy was always looking for him…as a matter of fact, and Liz giggled, Max used to sneak out the back door of the Crash when she came in the front. Uncle Ed knew he was doing it and never said a word. Then she wondered what had ever happened to Pam. She would ask Michael if there was ever an opportunity to talk to him without Max and now Maria in the vicinity. Interesting…

*

Max had made himself as comfortable as he could on the couch the hospital had put into Michael’s room and Serena was certainly right, it wasn’t the most comfortable bed he had ever slept on but it certainly was better than the chair he had fallen asleep in. The pillow made a world of difference though and for that he was truly grateful…his neck was really stiff from hanging down on his chest. After looking over at his friend and smiling he curled himself up around the pillow, put the blanket over his legs and was back to sleep in no time at all.

Across town Liz was having some difficulty falling to sleep and finally got up and made her way to her kitchen, opened the refrigerator door and looked for something, anything, that would put her at ease and let her fall to sleep. It had been a long day and she was so glad that Maria found an outlet for her stress but it was doing nothing for the way she herself was feeling.

The refrigerator was a bust, nothing looked good…she went to the cupboard and pulled a clean cup down from the shelf, filled it with water, stuck it in the microwave and then went in search of Maria’s private stash of herbal teas. Maria swore by them bur Liz personally hated the taste…the smell reminded her of fresh mowed grass and she wanted no part of that but she was tired and willing to try anything.

She flipped on the TV while she waited for the water to heat up and tried to find a movie or something but there must have been a Max Evans marathon on because all of the channels she flipped through, there he was!

“GRRRR”

She made a loud growl as she walked back into the kitchen, made herself some tea and fished through some magazines on the coffee table. Everywhere she looked there was his face plastered all over everything in sight. She took her tea to her room, found an old book that she had started reading ages ago and started flipping through the pages trying to find a place to start and decided to hell with it, just start from the beginning. It had been so long that she wouldn’t remember anything about it anyway.

After a few sips of the tea she started to relax and was beginning to feel sleepy, ‘well I’ll be damned, it works!’ She thought and put the book back on the table, turned the light off and was asleep in nothing flat. It was now 5:00 a.m. Thank God for night shades!!!

At 7:00 a.m. people started to stir in Michael’s room and Maria couldn’t believe she was still in his bed with him. ‘God, Liz must think I’m some kind of a nut or something…I’m sure she knows I’m in here. I wonder what time it is.’ She thought to herself.

About that time Serena came in and smiled,

“Hi Maria…Liz gave us strict orders to leave you alone. She said you hadn’t slept in three days so we did as she suggested. I put a patient kit on the table for you. It’s not much…toothbrush, comb and stuff like that. You can freshen up in the bathroom while I get Michael’s vitals if you want to. Or… you can just go on home.”

“My God Serena, what time is it?” Maria was shocked that Liz was gone.

“It’s a little after seven…you were out like a light.”

“Oh my God, what must Michael think of me, and look at Max over there. Didn’t he go home either?

“Nope...” and about that time Max Evans came up off that couch with a blood curdling scream and scared the hell out of everyone in the room but Michael.

“Max buddy, wake up, it’s alright… just a dream man, take it easy.” Michael tried soothing his friend from his hospital bed…

Max looked around the room and immediately turned beet red…

“Hey, I’m sorry…I haven’t done that in a long time. I don’t know what triggered it but I hope that was it for another long time.” Max apologized and Michael grinned.

“Getting’ married again Max?”

“Yeah, I guess. The problem is Michael, why would I be so upset about it. I mean marriage doesn’t bother me that much…granted I don’t have any plans of doing that for a very long time but this dream is terrifying.”

“I know man; I thought you had outgrown that a long time ago. Still think about her huh?”

“No, not really…it’s just that I could have sworn I saw her yesterday and it all started up again.”

“Well, you probably weren’t seeing things Max. According to the pixie here she’s the charge nurse on this ward and also the pixie’s best friend and roommate.”

“You’re shittin’ me.”

“Swear to God…she’ll probably be back at 3:00. Maria said she works three twelves.”

“Damn, it was her…shit!”

“That it was, now what are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing Michael, nothing at all. I’ve been down that road once, shot down and recuperated... not going to happen again, ever.”

“That’s a long time Maxwell, you might want to rethink that or those dreams will getcha man.”

“Maybe so, but I’m not stupid.”

“I’m not so sure Max…maybe you just came on too strong before. Give her some space, let her alone and just act like a normal person around her…all she remembers is that pain in the ass horny teenager. I hope you’ve grown up some since then.”

“Was I really that bad Michael?”

“Worse…”

“Shit…”

“Yeah...”

About that time Maria came out of the bathroom looking a little better than she had a few minutes ago and Max looked up at her and smiled. He had folded his blanket and pillow and set it aside to make room for people to sit and Maria smiled at him and thanked him for all he had done for her the day before.

“I didn’t do anything Maria, but you’re welcome for whatever you think I did.”

“You know very well what you did Max and you too Michael…and thank you both. I’m still feeling pretty rotten about this whole mess but at least I managed to get some sleep. I have to get home and get dressed if I’m going to make it to work this morning. So thank you…I need to call a cab since my ride left me here last night. Not that it was unpleasant and I won’t apologize but I really need to go. Thank you both, again, really.”

“Come on Maria, I’ll drive you home, how far is it?”

“About fifteen minutes on the freeway but you don’t have to do that Max.”

“I know, but I want to. Now come on, let’s get you home so you won’t be fretting about being late for work. Do you have a way to get there?”

“Well Liz has taken me the past couple of days since my car is in the repair shop. I’ll just wake her.”

“No, don’t do that, I’ll take you and we’d better hurry. I’ll be back shortly Michael…can I bring anything back for you?”

“Yeah man, how about an order of waffles from I-Hop…you know the kind.”

“Waffles it is. I won’t be long.”

And with that Maria and Max made their way out to the parking lot across from the hospital and took off for the nice apartment complex across town where Liz Parker was sleeping like a baby.

*!*!*

[mary mary]

Michelle: Never said the man was dumb!!! Just a little pushy maybe???
Carolyn: "Teenager" is the miracle word here Carolyn,
Lizza: As promised, it's Thursday!!!
Eve: Max wasn't used to girls brushing him off, but Liz felt she had a legitimate reason. Just keep reading, it will all come to light, eventually!
Ken: How sad!!! She actually pitched hay? Damn, what a disappointment. Some of the nuns I had in school, grammar and High school, were really quite pretty. I remember my friend, the cop I once told you about, saw one when my daughter was in the hospital and all he could say was "Damn! What a waste!" Oh so true...
Michelle: Almost mispelled your name again, but remember I dearly love the Michele with the one "L". As for the fic, you're right about Max but let's give Liz a chance...at 16 she really thought she had a good point.

***
Chapter: 6
When Max and Maria arrived at Maria’s place Max smiled; he knew they would live somewhere happy and this place was definitely a happy place. Max pulled into a vacant parking spot and told Maria he’d wait for her in the car…

“Max, thank you but you have done more than enough already. If I can’t get Liz up I’ll just call a cab.”

“I wouldn’t hear of it Maria…I’ll just sit here and wait for you.”

“Well if you’re going to wait it sure isn’t going to be out here, now come on. You can put a pot of coffee on while I shower and get dressed. It won’t take me but thirty minutes tops and I’ll be ready to go.”

“Come on Maria, thirty minutes? That’s a virtual impossibility for any woman.”

“Well Max, I can guarantee you that I’ll be out of here in thirty minutes tops so if you want coffee you’d better come on.”

Max jumped out of his car and was hot on Maria’s heels. She opened the indoor for them and pointed to the kitchen as she made her way to her room; she spoke as she walked…

“The coffee is over the cupboard above the coffee pot and the cups are in the one to the left.”

Max smiled as he made his way to her kitchen and he hummed as he made himself at home. Liz slept like the dead throughout the entire activity and Max never gave it another thought.

It was exactly thirty minutes later that Maria showed up in the kitchen with a big smile on her face, freshly scrubbed and ready to go. Max did a double take; he didn’t know it was possible for a woman to get herself ready to go anywhere in thirty minutes, not even to bed. It took Isabelle a whole hour just to brush her teeth for God’s sake…and he laughed. Maria reached down under the cabinet that held the coffee pot and retrieved a thermos cup with a lid and proceeded to fill it with hot coffee; then she smiled at Max…

“Would you like a lidded cup to take your coffee with you?”

Max grinned and nodded yes and then said…

“I can’t believe you got yourself ready in such a short time Maria, my sister can’t get ready for bed in that short of a time.”

Maria giggled …

“There’s a secret to it Max, one is short hair and the other is I’m not trying to impress anybody. I work in a lab…a music lab as a matter of fact. I clean up demos for producers to listen to; mostly the pop artists but a lot of newbies too. I rarely see another human being for eight hours in any given day. Now, if I want to continue on in this position, and I really do like it, I need to get going.”

And on that note Maria and Max left the cozy little apartment and headed back out to the parking lot where a few young women had congregated around the nice new Mercedes that was parked there. When they saw whom it belonged to they got really excited and Max made his way past them without blinking an eye. Normally he would not be this closed off but Maria was counting on him and he didn’t have time to be the congenial public figure. Maria nodded to her neighbors as Max held her door for her, he nodded to the ladies when he was sure Maria was secured then he made his way to the driver’s side of the vehicle and got in, started the engine and took off.

“Where to Maria?”

“Do you know where Capital is?”

“Yeah…”

“Well, that’s where I work.”

“Great…we’ll be there in no time.”

Maria giggled….

“I know.”

And Max was right, it didn’t take them but fifteen minutes to pull into the parking garage under the building and Maria thanked Max for everything.

“Maria, it was an accident…don’t you ever forget it and if you come back to the hospital I will see you there.”

Maria reached across the seat and kissed Max on the cheek before exiting the car and Max smiled at her as she took the elevator not far from where he was parked…then he drove off.

Next stop I-Hop.

*
By the time Max got back to the hospital the doctors had time to read Michael’s ex-rays and there were four of them standing next to Michael’s bed…

“Well Doc, it looks like you brought your friends with you today, what’s the news?”

“Michael, it seems one of the lumbar vertebrae is compressed and pushing on some nerves that control the lower limbs. We have a couple of different options available to us here but right now I think that therapy should be tried before anything else. I don’t like the idea of surgery at this time. We can put you on some equipment that will stretch out your spine, especially in the lumbar area, and see how that works. It looks pretty good. The other option is surgery. We would have to go in and actually ‘move’ the vertebra so to speak and push it back into place…but with surgery there is always risk and right now I don’t feel comfortable taking that risk. I think the therapy will work.”

“You think…well just how certain are these thoughts you have rattling around in your brain Doc.”

“Michael, I can’t promise you something that I’m not certain of. You’re a smart man and we both know that not everyone responds to the same treatment. All I can say for certain is that therapy in this case is our best option right now.”

“Well, since you’re the expert,” and Michael made air quotes, “I guess I have no choice but to trust your judgment. Now when do we start this therapy?”

“This afternoon if you’re willing.”

“Of course I’m willing.”

“Oh, and Michael, we aren’t really supposed to have over night guests in our rooms, especially co-bedding.” And the doctor was almost too embarrassed to bring up the subject.

“For your information Doc., I just met the young lady in question yesterday and she needed reassured that I did not hold her responsible for my condition. As you said, we all heal in different ways and she needed to be healed. So if holding her, and letting her know I don’t hold any grudges, helps she can stay here as many nights as it takes for her to heal also.”

“She’s a new acquaintance?”

“That she is and she is one fine young woman. Now, since I’m the one paying for this room let’s consider it my room and get on with this “therapy” you have decided I need.”

“Very good Michael.” The doctors nodded to Max as they headed out the door and Max approached Michael’s bed with a to go box from I-Hop.

“Maybe we can get this nuked Michael.” Max said with a grin and Michael just nodded his head and pointed to the roll around tray.

“It’s fine Maxwell…how’s Maria?”

“She’s good…I took her home, made coffee while I waited for her and then dropped her off at Capital Records. She’s a technician there, seems to like it pretty well and Michael the most impressive thing about her is that she was showered and dressed in thirty minutes flat. I couldn’t believe it, my coffee was still too hot to drink and she was ready to go.”

“Now that is amazing. I’ve never heard of a woman being able to dress that fast. Are you sure she showered?”

“Hell yeah, I heard the water. She said the secret is short hair…and you know what else, she didn’t look like she was wearing any makeup. Whatever she uses has to be some pretty great stuff.”

“Well, I imagine that Liz knows some pretty good secrets being a nurse and all. Maybe they make their own.”

“There’s a thought, never thought of that.” And both men grinned….

“Was Liz there?”

“Yeah, but she was in bed. They have a really nice place…very homey, very clean and orderly. Nice complex. I think they might have three bedrooms which is unusual for an apartment.”

“Yeah that is unusual, you sure it wasn’t a condo?”

“No, I don’t think so…it’s in one of the older sections like my place.”

“Yeah, but a lot of those older places only look older because they have been built or rebuilt to look that way.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Not important.” Then Max took on a serious expression and Michael was ready for it by now, they’d had enough superficial conversation…

“What do you think of the doctors decision regarding the therapy?”

“Well, I have to trust them don’t I? I don’t know a damned thing about medicine but it makes sense. If it’s compressed then it needs stretched out, let’s give it a try. I guess it could be worse.”

“I suppose. You know that if you need anything, anything at all or even if you want another opinion we’ll get it.”

“I know that Maxwell, let’s just give it a chance. This is only the fourth day. Hell, maybe if you just give my good leg a yank it might stretch it into place.”

“Christ Michael, are you nuts?!?” And both men started laughing.

About that time Serena stuck her nose into the room and saw Michael chowing down on waffles and grinned.

“No wonder you wouldn’t eat your breakfast. We were concerned…I guess we shouldn’t have been but you do know I have to put that on your chart Michael so if you intend to have your meals delivered let us know so we can at least record the fact that you ate something.”

“Sure enough, I never thought about that.” And Michael gave her a killer smile as Max watched on.

*~*~*

[mary mary]

Lizza: Well here you go Lizza, a day early. Michelle e-mailed me and said she needed something to read so I told her I'd post an update...enoy!
Eve: I have a daughter-in-law and two granddaughters who take forever to get ready to go anywhere...me, I'm in and out of the shower, hair blow dried and make up and out the door, 30 minutes flat. I don't let any grooming keep me from my sleep!!!
Ken: Hi! And Thanks!!!!
Carolyn: The only way I would want to go through those teen years again would be if I knew what I know now. God, would things have been different!!! \
Muichelle: Oh you hit the nail right on the head...read my response to Carolyn. Now with a second chance at the whole thing, many many many changes...But I'd like to start with conception!!!

*****


Chapter: 7

Liz woke up about 12:30 and couldn’t believe the time. She wasn’t in the habit of setting an alarm because she generally slept six hours and felt great but not having been able to get to sleep this morning threw her whole schedule off kilter. ‘I wonder how Maria got to work this morning.’ She thought to herself. 'God, I hope she didn’t call a cab'…then she checked her dresser and her keys were lying there right where she put them. ‘Shit, she might still be asleep with Michael for all I know…she hadn’t been to sleep in three days…damn, maybe that wasn’t such a good idea after all, leaving her there like that.’

She made her way to her bathroom and took care of an immediate urgency, brushed her teeth, ran her hands through her hair to get rid of some of the wild woman look and made her way to the kitchen. The coffee pot was half full, that meant she had been home…’damn, a cab’ she thought then she noticed a coffee cup in the sink and two, yes two of the thermos cups missing. ‘Hmmm, She’d never do that to me! Would she?’ It took her a minute to calm herself down and then she thought about it s I wonder who was here?’ And then the lights came on in her brain…’No! She wouldn’t have brought him here!eriously…’why not? Apparently he was looking out for her just like Michael was and that was a good thing. ‘ She thought about that for a minute and then she said out loud…”thank you Martha Stewart ‘that was a good thing’.”
*

Back at Capital Records Maria DeLuca was humming along with one of the demo’s she was working on, singing in perfect harmony with the star on the label, as an executive of the company was passing by. It wasn’t his usual place to be seen but he needed to get in touch with one of the department heads immediately and didn’t want to wait for all of the usual hoops so he just took off on his own.

The man stopped and looked in at the technician and watched her as she diligently and expertly cut and pasted, listened and reworked the tape to get the best sound possible and then the man really listened. This girl was good, probably better than the one on the demo. He went back to his original mission to find the department head but made a mental note as he searched the person out.

*

Back at the hospital Max and Michael had nodded to each other as the physical therapist came into the room with a very strange looking device and helped Michael roll over to one side so the therapist, John, could raise Michael up a little and lift him onto to the device. He hooked up several levers and pulley type mechanisms, plugged the machine into the outlet behind Michael’s bed and turned it on. It started to stretch Michael’s hips and back into a straight line for lack of a better term and Michael just lay there quietly, silently thinking about the procedure that was going on. It didn’t seem to be painful at all.

“Don’t try to help the machine Michael, let it do the work; your only part in this is to relax.” John had a very pleasant voice if nothing else and Michael nodded as the machine continued to do its work, And Max prayed.

Across town Maria DeLuca was totally oblivious to the two executives who had stepped into a screening room, turned on some speakers and listened to what they considered to be one of the purest voices they had ever heard. She was totally living in her own little world as some phone calls were being made on her behalf.

Had she been aware of the goings on behind these doors she might have had a few words with the men who thought they were the reincarnation of God. She had already had dealings with record producers who wanted to make her into something she did not nor would not concede to be. The world had enough “Britney Spears” in it as far as she was concerned. And she continued along her merry way cutting and splicing demos, completely in the dark regarding her bosses.

Not far away, in another part of town one Liz Parker was very tempted to call in to work and tell them she thought she might be coming down with a contagious virus of some kind. She did not want to be faced with possibility of running into Max Evans and she knew, without a doubt, that it was quite inevitable.

She sipped her coffee as she perused the morning paper, which she was now reading quite early in the afternoon, and her eyes bounced to the lead in article on the entertainment page regarding a new series Max Evans would be starring in. “Shit!” She said out loud, ‘I can’t even enjoy my ‘morning’ coffee without looking at him and I’m pretty damned sure the man knows where I live now. Let’s just hope he’s grown up some in the last ten years…I don’t think I can go through that again and by the sounds of the media he’s worse. His ego was the size of the Grand Canyon when he was a teenager, what the hell is it like now?’

Liz finished her paper and decided it was time to put on her big girl panties and get herself ready for work. As she headed in to her bedroom the house phone started ringing and she stopped and looked at it as though it had grown a head. No one ever called that number and then she thought…Mom!

“Hello…”

“Hey Liz…how are you sweetie?”

“Hey Dad, is anything wrong?”

“Why do you ask that Liz?” Her father asked, just a little taken aback.

“Well, we usually use the computer or you call my cell phone…what’s with the house phone?” She asked, still not sure things were okay…

“Oh honey, I didn’t even think, I just chose “Liz” from the menu and didn’t even look at the number. I was just calling to see how you were, I suddenly felt lonesome to hear your voice and it never occurred to me to check numbers. How is Maria…we heard from Amy and she told us about the mess on the freeway.”

“She’s doing fine dad. She spent a couple of guilt ridden days but she’s at work and I know for a fact she had a good night’s rest last night so things are coming around. It was unfortunate, but it’s done and we can’t change it.”

“No, I suppose you’re right. How are you sweetie?”

“I’m great dad, no complaints, really, how about you and mom? What have you been to?”

“Oh, your mom wants to take a trip to see Aunt Beth and we were thinking maybe we could just rent a car and take an extra couple of days and come out to see you too. Do you have any time coming?”

“Dad you know I work three twelves every week which gives me four days off every week so if you and mom come out to California I’ll have four full days to devote to you…so when do you want to do this?”

“Well, here’s the thing Liz, Amy wants to come too, she’s anxious about Maria. I know you’re telling me she’s fine but Amy needs to see for herself.”

“Dad, bring Amy too…Maria won’t have the time off that I will but we’ll figure it out. Now, when do you want to do this?”

“Is next week too soon?”

“Absolutely not, I’ll be off Thursday thru Sunday and Maria may be able to squeeze an extra day or two in for you but I wouldn’t count on it, she’s pretty busy.”

“Do you have enough room for all of us?”

“By all of you, you’re talking you, mom and Amy right?”

“Well Aunt Beth and Uncle John might want to come too.” And Jeff heard a pause, one that he wanted to laugh about. That was a lot of people to drop in for a couple of days.

“Dad, bring them all, we’ll make room. Amy can bunk in with Maria, you and mom in the spare room and Aunt Beth and Uncle John on the pull out in the living room. We’ll have plenty of room.”

Jeff laughed out loud now….

“Lizzie, I’m kidding honey, but if Beth brings it up I’ll tell her okay, how’s that?”

“Its fine dad, we’ll work it out. I’ll talk to you later and I’ll fill Maria in on what’s going on just in case she needs to change her sheets or something.”

Jeff laughed again…”okay Lizzie. You take care sweetie and we’ll talk again before next week.”

“Okay dad, and if you want to be sure and get hold of me call my cell okay…we’re not always here.”

“Okay Liz, you be careful.”

“Bye dad.”

“Bye sweetie.” And they rang off….

Liz checked the clock and she really had to hurry now if she wanted to be to work on time…Damn, she hated sleeping in like this, and she was off and running.

*

[mary mary]

Lizza;Hey there, guess what, it's Thursday and they speak!!!
Ken: I have actually had to use my motor home for spare bedrooms and blow up mattresses on the living room floor and I have a three bedroom house with a hideabed in the family room. This place used to be so overcrowded with people that we couldn't even remember seeing all of them sometime. Now my son comes about once a month and my daughter comes once a year. That's about it unless there's a mountain bike race going on, then my oldest and youngest grandsons come to spend the week-end but I hardly see them because they leave early in the morning and come back late at night. Grandma's motel! I love it.
Carolyn: That's what life's all about though...ah the fun!
Eve: There's a good chance that things might have turned out not so good but I doubt it. I certainly would have never moved to California, and I definitely would have gone into a different profession. I was going to go into nurses training but the first time I saw a cadaver that was it. I was out of there. It takes a much bigger person than me to handle that.
Michelle: Oh my, would things have changed...although I really don't want to think about life without my kids but it definitely would have different. Speaking of 'crowns', I lost three fillings that I just had put in last year and they'll be taking care of the last two next Thursday...different dentist I might add. A real bitch about inefficeincy...comes with being the oldest i'm told. Anyway, I will pm you with an alert.

**~*~*


Chapter: 8

Liz pulled into the employees parking at 2:45 and made a bee line for the employees entrance at the lower level parking lot, God she hated being this late, it just threw everything off for her. She made it to the time clock right at 2:55 and was on her way up to the third floor as the therapist from Michael’s room was on his way up as well. He was going to see Michael’s doctor before he started making his afternoon rounds and he smiled at Liz as she punched in number three as well.

“Hi Ms. Parker…are you on night shift again?”

“That’s right Mr.…” and Liz looked at his tag, “John. It’s my usual shift…where are you headed?”

“Oh, I wanted to talk to Michael Guerin’s doctor before he started his rounds…I’m headed to three also.”

“Oh, is there some new development with Michael? I’m his charge nurse so it’s okay if you tell me anything about him you know.”

“Yes, I know who you are. No there’s nothing new to report actually, there’s just another type of treatment I would like to run by the doctor before he leaves. We have some new equipment that just came in and I think Michael is a good candidate for it.”

“Oh that would be great John. I’m so pleased to hear that, my friend will be happy to hear this news also.”

“Oh, do you know Michael?”

“Yes, we worked together one summer when we were teenagers. He’s a very nice man…and my friend thinks he’s pretty cool too. Well, good luck John, I’m sure Serena is waiting to fill me in on all the new business.”

And Liz exited the elevator with John going one way while she went the other. Max had made it his business to be stationed at Michael’s door just at 3:00 in the hopes of getting a glimpse of his onetime crush and he was not disappointed…she was even more beautiful now than she was then and his heart started beating double time. Michael watched and grinned…still hooked; damn… after all these years. Who would have thought?

“Well, I thought maybe you forgot what day this was there for a minute girlfriend…what happened, if anything?”

“Yeah, I’m running just a little late today, my dad called and kept me a little longer than usual. If he would have called me on my cell I think things could have progressed a little faster but he was on the land line and that kind of limits my mobility around the house.”

“Don’t tell me you have one of those cord phones Liz.”

“Okay, I won’t tell you, it was in the apartment when we rented it and we just never bothered to take it out…we never use the damned thing. It’s included in the rent and God knows how dad got the number but apparently it’s listed in his addresses on his phone so he called it. I can’t believe it.”

“Well, I hope it was good news, I think you’ve had your share of bad news for one week.”

“Yeah, he, mom and Maria’s mom are coming in to see us next week. It really will be nice to see them. Mom wanted to visit Aunt Beth but I’m sure, when we hear the entire story it will be that mom didn’t want Amy coming to California alone. Amy has a tendency to get a little dramatic about things if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do…like Maria huh?”

“Right, the apple doesn’t fall from the tree. I’m not sure if Maria is ready to see her mom after this fiasco or not but she’s just going to have to suck it up because she’s coming. Is there anything important that I should be aware of before you head out?”

“No, nothing since you took off at 3:00 a.m.….same old stuff, different day.” And Serena smiled as she grabbed her little change purse from the drawer under the counter and got ready to take off.

“Okay Serena, see you next Monday, enjoy.”

“You bet, Sam and I are flying up to the Wine Country for a long week-end. It’s been so long since we’ve taken time for ourselves. Mom is going to come over to watch the kids for us; it’s going to be so nice just to get away.”

“I’ll bet. Have fun.” And Liz waved as the elevator doors rolled shut on her friend.

Liz started to busy herself catching up on the charts of her patients, making sure she was ready for the evening ahead just as her phone started ringing.

“Hey Liz, it’s Maria, would it be okay if I spoke with Michael?”

“Let me go check and see if he’s busy with doctors or the therapist first Maria, then I’ll have him call you…how are you feeling. You looked awfully comfortable when I left; I thought you would call me when you were ready to come home.”

“I was going to call a cab but Max said he’d drive me home. Serena gave me a toothbrush and stuff and they brought a couch in for Max to rest on. Liz, he’s really a very nice person.”

“I’m sure he is Maria…let me have Michael give you a call, I’m really busy here. Are you coming over for dinner before you head on home?”

“Yeah, I planned on it, is that okay?”

“Of course it’s okay, why wouldn’t it be? Besides I have some news to share with you so I’ll see you about six?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you then, don’t forget to tell Michael to call me.”

“I won’t Maria…be careful.”

“Good bye Liz.” Maria was a little miffed that Liz would tell her to be careful, of course she would be careful…damn, will they ever forget?

Liz hung up the third floor west phone and looked around, not one of her nurses was in the vicinity so she had to do this private little chore herself. Sometime she felt she would be better off without friends and she made her way to Michael’s room. When she got there John and three other doctors were there putting Michael through some pretty extensive tests and she had to stop and watch.

She wanted this man to get better so badly that it hurt, for more reasons than one…it would be so much easier for Maria to live with herself if he recovered completely. Then she noticed the intense stare on Max Evans’ face and her heart ached for the man. He was standing there with very moist eyes taking in all of the procedures that were going on at Michael’s bedside and she could almost feel the ache in his heart for his friend. Maria was right about one thing; he had some good points. This was a side of Max she didn’t know.

Liz tapped Max on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow her out of Michael’s room, something she would have never dreamed happening in a million years…neither would Max for that matter. Max smiled as he turned toward the door with her and when they got outside Liz handed Max a note with a phone number written on it.

“Max, Maria called and wanted to talk with Michael and I knew John wanted to see his doctors so I told her I would have Michael call her back when he was free. Would you give him her phone number?”

“Of course Liz; how have you been? It’s been a very long time.”

“Yes it has Max, a very long time indeed. I’m so sorry about Michael but he is in excellent care and if anyone can pull him through this those men in there can. It’s been nice talking to you Max, I have to get back to work now.”

“Yes it has been nice Liz. I’ll probably be seeing you around.”

“No doubt, I’m here Monday through Wednesday.” And she smiled as she turned and headed back to the nurses’ station. Max just stood and watched her exit with a strange look on his face…

Liz started reading her charts once again and made sure there weren’t any changes in meds or procedures before her crew got back from making their rounds, doing vitals and overseeing showers. Some of the patients refused to get out of bed so it was necessary to sort of force their hygiene issues which seemed almost ridiculous considering their ages. The elderly were a little bit easier to understand but some of them were just plain un-groomed for lack of a better term and she smiled as she thought about it. I guess they figured they had the right to do whatever they wanted to do.

[mary mary]

Carolyn: I hope they mend their fences too, they are my fdavorite couple you know...
Ken: I've never read the book but I once saw a movie about the same storyline. I was quite young as I recall and it scared the bejeezus out of me. As for Liz's reason for 'dissing' on Max, I haven't made that clear yet so you haven't missed anything. Hope you're feeling better.
Eve: I spent two weeks in the hospital when I was 9 years old and got an injection every four hours for 10 of those of 14 days. Some things we never forget. When I went home my bottom looked like a pin cushion and was I sore. As for Max and Liz, I think things are going to start picking up before long. It's me, fluffy, remember.
Lizza: We're moving right along here and I think things are going to be picking up for you soon.

*~*~*


Chapter: 9

Back at Capital records there were a few executives in a serious discussion with their New York office when they released the name of the tech they were talking about.

“Sir, are you talking about a cute blond, slight of build…that Maria DeLuca?”

“You know her?”

“Yes we had her here when she was just eighteen and she wouldn’t cooperate with any of us and walked out. She told us she wasn’t another Britney Spears and had no ambition to be. She had her own style and if she couldn’t do her own music her way then she would just go home and she did.”

The executives laughed. After listening to the young woman in the demo booth they could understand why she didn’t want to listen to those fools trying to reach the teenie-boppers crowd only. There are other people who listen to music as well…real people. That’s why country has become so popular with so many, you can understand the words. There’s a place for everyone in this world and Mr. Ericson made a decision.

“Marge, get Maria in here for me will you?”

“Maria who?” His secretary answered the intercom, not knowing who the hell the man was talking about.

“The girl in the mixing booth cleaning up demos.”

“Yes sir.”

So Marge made a call to the recording department and asked the senior technician to send Maria to Mr. Ericson’s office immediately. The senior tech had to think for a minute as to whom they were talking about and then he went and knocked on the door and waited, he didn’t want to interrupt anything important that might be going on.

Maria heard the knock but chose to ignore it at the moment; she was in the middle of a great passage and wasn’t about to screw it up because someone chose that particular moment to need her elsewhere. After she was finished with what she was doing she opened the locked door and raised one eyebrow as she looked at her immediate superior who she positively could not stand even on a good day, and said,

“What?”

“Mr. Ericson wants to see you in his office ASAP.”

“Who the hell is Mr. Ericson?” Maria asked; she had no idea who any of the big wigs were and didn’t really care to know for that matter.

“He’s the CEO Maria, he wants to see you.”

“Are you sure?”

“You’re the only Maria we have down here so it must be you…he’s on the top floor. Take the express elevator.”

“Okay, but if this is a joke you’ll pay.”

“Gotcha’”

And Maria was off to the express elevator to go see Ericson.

When she arrived at the top floor the elevator doors opened to an expanse of glass, mahogany furniture everywhere and a large desk with one small red head sitting behind it. Maria made her way over to the receptionist and announced herself…

“Hi, I’m Maria from the recording studio. I was told that a Mr. Ericson wants to see me.”

“Yes Maria, have a seat. Mr. Ericson will be right with you.”

“Okay, fine…but do you have any idea what this is about?”

“None, your guess is as good as mine.”

And with that Maria made her way over to a cushy looking chair and had a seat, took in the scenery and waited.

It wasn’t but a few minutes later than the door to what looked like a private office opened and a rather well built middle aged looking gentleman came out and introduced himself.

“Hello Maria, my name is Bill Ericson; I heard you singing along with one of the demos and I wanted to talk to you about recording for us.”

“You don’t waste time do you Mr. Ericson? Let me put it this way, I’ve been there and the deal is no deal. I sing my music my way, bottom line, it’s all I have actually and I won’t compromise it for the almighty dollar or Capital records. It’s been nice meeting you now I have work to do.”

Bill Ericson started laughing and Maria stopped on her way toward the door, turned and looked at the man and the look on her face was priceless.

“Seriously Maria, I have talked to my New York office and I can assure you that I want you to record for us and you do not have to do anything you don’t like. I promise, you can sing your own kind of music as the old song goes. Honest.”

“Well, in that case you set it up but if one person changes one beat, one note, one passage I’m outa’ there…understand. My music is personal and there isn’t enough money on earth to change my mind.”

Bill Ericson laughed once again and held out his hand, this was one woman he was going to enjoy doing business with.

“We know where to find you Maria; it has been a real pleasure meeting you.”

“We’ll see how pleased you are about this after my first recording session. I will walk if they try anything.”

“So I’ve been told.” And with that Maria left a smiling Bill Ericson.

*

After the doctors left Michael’s room Max smiled and went over and grabbed his friend’s good leg and gave it a little shake and Michael winced.

“Hey, did you feel that Michael?” Max almost shouted…

“Hell yeah I felt that, what the hell’s the matter with you?” And before Max gave Michael an answer he ran to the door and almost yelled to the doctors backs as they walked down the hall. All three men turned and looked at the anxious face of Max Evans and they all turned back toward Michael’s door.

About that time Michael realized what had just happened and he got the goofiest grin on his face and was almost laughing by the time the doctors reached his bed.

“Michael, what happened?”

“Max hit my leg and I felt it.” Michael said through laughter…and they all smiled.

“Well John, it looks like you’ll have to wait to try out that new equipment, the old machine seems to be doing a fair job.”

“Seems as though.” John smiled and Michael’s doctor took out his pen and started working on the bottom of Michael’s foot again. Michael couldn’t feel the pen so the doctor asked Max to repeat what he had done and Max was more than happy to oblige, and Michael felt Max grab his leg once again.

“Well Michael, it seems we need to continue with the therapy a little longer, I won’t promise anything but it’s looking good.” Michael smiled and nodded to the three men and then they left his room again.

“Oh Michael, Maria called. Liz gave me her number for you to call her back when you were free. Do you want me to dial the number for you?”

“Yeah Max, that would be great. When was this?”

“When you had all the company the first time; Liz just stopped in, looked around and got me to go out into the hall with her. I told her that I would give you the message.”

“Did Liz know who you were?”

Max looked at Michael like he had suffered brain damage instead of lower limb damage and Michael rolled his eyes.

“You know damned well what I mean…did she recognize you?”

“Yes.” And Max smiled a genuine smile, Michael didn’t see many of those from his old friend and it made him feel good.

“Great, did she run?”

Max laughed….”No, she didn’t run. As a matter of fact she was quite civil.”

“Good, now make the call for me.” And Max dialed the number and handed the receiver to Michael and left the room.

It was almost six by this time and Max figured Maria would be showing up any time now for dinner with Liz and he sort of made his way down to the nurses’ station where Liz was busy writing something on a paper attached to a clip board. She looked up about that time and noticed Max standing around looking like a lost puppy…

“Is something wrong Max?”

“No, I just dialed Maria for Michael and I thought I’d give him some privacy. Did you hear the good news?”

“As a matter of fact I did…that’s what I’m doing right now; entering the news into Michael’s chart for the next therapist this evening. John left at 5:00 and the night guy will be up here about 7:00 for a repeat of this afternoon’s visit. Let’s just hope we see some more good results.”

“Yeah.” About that time the elevator door opened and Maria stepped out with her phone to her ear and Liz smiled…she knew who she was talking to.

“I’m here Michael, I’ll be right in…Liz, do you mind if I skip dinner this evening? I have so much to tell you but I’ll wait until your eleven o’clock break, okay?”

“Go ahead Maria, he’s got some good news of his own…enjoy your visit.”

And with that Maria made her way to Michael’s room practically on a dead run. Max and Liz watched after her and they both smiled….what a wonderful sight.

“Liz, would you mind if I had dinner with you, I don’t think they should be disturbed for a little while. I know Michael wants to share his good news with her and I know she needs to hear it.”

“You’re right Max…come on, the cafeteria is going to have everything put away if we don’t get down there soon.” And they made their way to the elevator, Liz pushed ‘lower level’ and they were on their way. She felt comfortable with Max for some reason as they stood next to each other.

“So when did you move to L.A. Liz?” Max asked, trying to break the ice with his dream girl…damn, and she was too, the cause of many night mares actually.

“Oh, after I graduated nurses training and then went on to get my masters Maria wanted a change of scenery; she has a masters from Julliard you know. We just picked up and moved out here with nothing to look forward to except the rest of our lives and we sort of dug in. I love my job, the people I work with and I feel like I’m contributing something worthwhile. The pay isn’t bad either.” And Max laughed.

“So what got you into show business Max?”

“Well, a talent scout actually. He stopped in Roswell just as a freeway stopover and I was coming out of the UFO museum; he stopped and asked if I ever thought of modeling. I laughed in his face and kept on going. He stopped me again, shoved a card into my hand and said “Call Me” so when Mike and I graduated I called him and here we are. I never looked back. I’m not so sure I’m doing anything worthwhile but the pay isn’t bad.” And they both laughed at his attempt at humor.

“I guess not.” Liz said after she quit giggling.

The food wasn’t anything to write a rave review over but it was passable and the two old acquaintances had a very nice conversation for exactly one half hour and then it was time to head back upstairs.

“It was nice talking to you Max…I’ll be seeing more of you I’m sure. Now I really have to get busy. I always double check the meds before my nurses distribute them…we double check everything we do up here, after all people’s lives are at stake you know.”

“Yes I know…I’ll see you later Liz. Thank you for allowing me to join you.”

And on that note Max headed toward Michael’s room where he heard light laughter and he smiled. This was good; they need each other right now.

[mary mary]

Carolyn: Yes, it seems that things are starting to happen doesn't it. It's been so long since I wrote this that some of it is a surprise to me too.
Lizza: Hi there, we seem to be moving right along here, I hope this helps your anxiousness a little.
Michelle: Thank you for your kind words to Ken and thank you for reading.

*
Chapter: 10

When Max entered Michael’s room he found Maria sitting Indian fashion next to Michael and she was holding his hand as he told her some silly story about the Crashdown Café and Liz Parker. Maria was listening as tough she was mesmerized and they both had this comfortable look about them that Max found hard to describe. He had never seem Michael this way with a woman before, relaxed and himself and it was a good feeling.

Maria and Michael both watched as Max made his way over to the bedside chair then he asked,

“Has Michael shared his good news with you?”

When Maria smiled back at Max her eyes were dancing she was so happy and he knew immediately that she had heard,

“Yes…isn’t it wonderful. I am so happy Max, you have no idea what a relief it is to know that he has feeling and will be able to walk. I wanted to die, literally die, when I thought he would be crippled for life. This is wonderful, absolutely the best news I have ever had.”

Max smiled in acknowledgement, realizing that he felt the exact same way and he had a feeling Liz Parker felt that way too although the subject was only passed over in the short time they had together.

“I know how you feel Maria, I feel the same way.”

Then Michael interjected his news, well Maria’s news actually, he’d heard enough about himself.

“Maria has some good news too Max, the chief honcho at Capital heard her singing along with a demo she was working on and they want to record her.”

Max looked astonished…

“Well, that’s the deal they presented to me but if I can’t do my music my way I won’t have any part of it, but the deal was presented in such a way that it sounds possible.”

“What do you mean Maria, do you sing? Liz mentioned that you graduated from Julliard but she didn’t say anything about singing.”

“Yes, my degree is in music. I once did a demo for Capital as a matter of fact, and they tried to turn me into a teenie-bopper; I walked before I would let them do that to my music. My music is personal to me, it’s a part of me, and I won’t have it bastardized by anyone.”

Max and Michael looked at each other and they both grinned…

“Do you feel comfortable without representation Maria?” Max asked while looking at Michael.

“Well, I know when I’m being fed a line of bullshit if that’s what you mean. But I guess I should consider someone to take care of things if this materializes.”

Max nodded and then said,

“You know Michael is my rep. don’t you?”

“No, I didn’t know that. I just thought you two were friends.”

“Well, we’re both actually. Michael did graduate from UCLA with a degree in Business Law and he only has one client at the moment but I’m sure he would be able to take on another if it suited him.”

Michael shook his head at Max and smiled a little before saying…

“Maria, if you want me to look over a contract or something just let me know. I’ll be more than glad to do it for you. Just be careful when you read it and highlight anything you don’t like or don’t understand. Make them write it up in plain English, something any fourth grader can understand, don’t let them stick any clauses in there that would leave you vulnerable…make notes in the margins and if they can’t rewrite the thing to suit you make them initial the notes. Be careful, they can tie you into something that would cost you your first born if you let them.”

“Thank you Michael, I’ll be sure to bring any papers they give me to sign to you before making a commitment. So Max, where did you go when I got here? I expected to see you when I arrived.”

“Oh, I went to the cafeteria with Liz for a bite to eat. We had a nice catch up session. She seems to have relaxed some since the first time we knew each other.”

“Well, let’s just say she’s older and I hope you are too and let it go at that.”

All three of them started to laugh and then Max got a little serious for a minute,

“Is she seeing anyone Maria?”

“You mean like a boyfriend?”

“Yeah, exactly like a boyfriend.”

“Nope, she’s single on all counts Max. She spends her days off sightseeing, working at the animal shelter and just lazing around. She’s not into a whole lot of night life although we do go clubbing occasionally but mostly it’s just lazing about, reading and a lot of volunteer work. She likes the planetarium too. She spends a lot of time studying the stars for some reason, like she’s obsessed with them. I don’t understand that but it’s who she is. She has a telescope set up in our spare bedroom and I spend a lot of my free time writing songs. It’s a secret passion of mine.”

“I see, do you have a lot of songs?” Michael asked,

“As a matter of fact I have a file cabinet in my closet full of songs, my passion.”

And both men smiled.

And the rest of the evening flew by for the new friends and soon it was 10:45…

“Well guys, you don’t know how much I’ve enjoyed this little visit but I have to get on home and sleep in my own bed tonight. I’m going to head on out and have coffee with Liz before I go home but I’ll see you tomorrow Michael. I hope the therapist works some more miracles on your back and Max, maybe you should go home and sleep in bed tonight also. You look a little weary if you want to know the truth.”

“Well thank you Maria DeLuca, my day has been made now that I’ve been insulted from the woman I have spent most of the day worrying about.”

The three started laughing and then Michael looked over at his friend and smiled.

“She’s right Max, go home and rest.”

“Maybe a little later I have a lunch meeting tomorrow with the execs but I can leave from here.”

Michael nodded and grabbed Maria’s hand as she made her way to get off his bed. She hadn’t left his side since she arrived earlier and she smiled.

“Good night Michael…and you too Max. Both of you rest well, I’ll be by tomorrow evening. Can I bring you anything?”

“Nah, I’m good…good night Maria and be careful.”

“I promise.” And she was off…

“I really like her Max.”

“I can tell, I do to.”

Maria and Liz found a quiet table way in the back of the cafeteria after purchasing a cup of tea from the vending machine and sat down to have a little rest before Maria headed on home. She was usually home after having dinner with Liz but things were slightly out of kilter for her and for Liz by association.

“Well it seems as though you had a relaxing rest last night Maria, what happened anyway?”

“Not much really, Max and I ran into each other in the chapel and I guess I was crying pretty badly…so was he. He moved over to my pew and took my hand and talked to me. Liz, I don’t know if I would have been able to take another day of the torture if it hadn’t been for his comfort. Then he insisted I go up to Michael’s room with him and when Michael saw me he seemed to know who I was and he held his arms out to me. Liz, I have never met two more caring men in my life. I fell asleep as you know and that’s the way I woke up this morning and Max was on a couch that hadn’t been there when I first got into the room; I have a feeling you might have had something to do with that.”

Liz smiled as she sipped her tea…Maria had looked so peaceful that she could never have disturbed her…she had been up for practically two days straight with her and Michael was what she needed….

“So tell me, did you and Max mend any fences?”

“I’m not so sure there were any fences to mend Maria. We’ve both grown up I guess.” Liz said thoughtfully. “He and Michael came to L.A. right out of high school; Michael started at a community college here, got his AA in gen. ed. and then moved on to Law school at UCLA. Max started out as a male model and paid for Michael’s education and now Michael represents him and takes care of all of his affairs. It’s a match made in heaven…” And Liz giggled over her Styrofoam cup.

“Well, I have some good news of my own maybe, besides making new friends. The CEO of Capital heard me singing in the sound booth earlier today, if you can believe it, and wants me to make a demo.”

Liz practically choked on her own saliva…

“Maria, you’ve been down that road before, are you sure you want to do this?”

“Well, you were busy so I discussed it with Max and Michael and Michael told me to let him look at the contract, if and when any shows up, and that he would represent me and make sure there weren’t any surprises for me so I guess I’ll go ahead and give it a try.”

Liz got this huge smile on her face, got up from her chair and went around the table and gave her friend a great big hug.

“I am so happy for you Maria…oh, and on a happier note, our folks are coming to visit us next week.”

Liz raised her hands in the air and said “Wheee” as she wriggled her body back and forth and Maria had to laugh at her; had she given her this news yesterday she most likely would have had a fit but she felt better about things now and would be able to deal with it. ‘DAMN’ she thought to herself…’just what I need, a hysterical mother. Oh well, that’s life.’

It was now time for Liz to make her way back upstairs; she told Maria to take her car that she’d catch a ride with Jenny since they didn’t live that far from each other and Maria smiled in agreement and took off for the parking elevator as Liz headed for the employee elevator.