Snapshot (AU M/L MATURE) Final Chapter 31st of Dec

[max and liz believer]

Thank you!!

nibbles2 - Hey! Welcome

If everybody wrote Max and Liz this way, I think I'd be a dreamer.

Thank you so much!

Ellie
coccy - Your analysis is pretty much straight on there
Ms_BuffyAnneSummers
Eve
suie

I wonder why they wanted to take Liz with them to Paris.

I actually have an answer for that one If you take a look at the chapter before the Paris one, it was when Liz got assaulted by that rich boy. This is Nancy's (again, nothing is clear-cut when it concerns her) way of "saving" her daughter. To take Liz to a new environment. But of course, Liz doesn't know the real reason she's being dragged along on this trip since she still doesn't know that her mother witnessed her being assaulted.

yayaliens
RoswellFanForever

To bring Liz to a foreign country where she KNEW Liz would be a fish out of water and likely not to want to leave the hotel room was just plain cruel.

Yeah, that's how it turned out. And maybe if her mother had told her that the reason she was being dragged along for the ride was her mother's way of "protecting" her against whatever could happen at home, after seeing her daughter getting assaulted just a while earlier. But of course, when it comes to Nancy everything gets blurred and messed up and her intentions never really turn out the way they should.

Alien_Friend

But I think I did a bit of that this week through texting. He managed to apologize so as long as he really gets it and is finally taking me seriously on the matter I think we have a shot at moving forward. We both agreed we miss each other and love each other so that's something. We also agreed to talk soon. So we shall see how that goes. But I feel bit more relief than I have in last few months.

I'm so happy to hear that *hugs*

Natalie36
Bim

I remember a couple of years ago being in love with someone who was a good friend to me, except it certainly didn't go well when I confessed my feelings (everyone warned me he was an asshole and couldn't understand where I was coming from).

I'm sorry to hear that.

As for parts I'd like to see - can you write, oh I don't know, around 100 more chapters???

Haha, I'll do my best

Sara
LilithAnn
sunrise102
Destiny

and

Elizabeth

And some words from the boy who I've based this Max on. The boy who can't be mine. This is what he wrote me about a week ago when I was hating my life.

I’m here to tell you that you’re beautiful. And that I love you.

And I know it’s maybe not the best kind of love for you. But it’s a love deep. It’s a love that will stretch through the snow and through the molten rock, through to the time when atoms cease spinning and black becomes a different colour.

Gives me hope that there are beautiful souls out there, so I just wanted to give you the same piece of hope.

On that note, let's go back to the fictional world...


Updated Timeline

60. Déjà vu

The Evans’ Residence
(2034) Max is 49, Liz is 48

“She won’t talk to me,” Max said.

Liz shrugged out of her jacket, while she closed the front door behind her. “Who?”

Leaning against the doorframe, Max’s stance seemed casual to the outside observer but his face told the truth about Max’s state of mind.

Max Evans was worried.

Really worried.

“Bree.”

Liz frowned and started to remove her shoes. “She’s still in her room?”

“What if something really bad happened?”

Liz straightened and looked at her troubled husband. “She hasn’t talked to Zoe either?”

Max shook his head and pushed off the doorframe. Grabbing Liz’s hand, Max pulled his wife towards him and into his arms.

Crushed against Max’s chest, Liz frowned. “You’re really worried, aren’t you?”

“She’s crying.”

Liz pulled out her arms from where Max had crushed them between their bodies and put them around his waist instead, returning his hug.

Max hated it when his daughters cried. He couldn’t stand it. He wanted to crawl out of his skin.

But to Liz, crying was a good sign. It was much better than the stone dead silence Brianna had given them over the last 24 hours.

“I’ll try and talk to her.”

Max kissed the top of her head before releasing her.

Giving him a sympathetic smile, Liz rose to the tip of her toes and kissed him lightly. “Stop worrying. It’s not good for you.”

It was not like Liz was immune to the troubles of her daughter. Brianna’s odd behavior had been on her mind every second since it had started. But Liz knew how worried Max got, how he couldn’t quite handle it, so there was no need that she added to the whole thing by showing him how truly worried she was herself.

She was good at repressing her feelings to a place where they got manageable.

A life-time in Max’s presence had taught her that.

--------------------------------------------------------

Brianna’s bedroom

Liz knocked lightly on the door and opened it slightly. “Bree?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” came the mumbled reply.

“You sure? It might make you feel better.”

“Dad sent you?”

“He’s about to collapse with worry.”

There was a sniffle and then she whispered, “Fine.”

Liz quietly closed the door behind her and walked up to the bed, where her 16-year-old girl was curled up in a fetal position.

Laying down behind her, Liz put her cheek against her daughter’s wet cheek, a gesture which resulted in a fresh river of tears from Brianna.

Liz put an arm across Brianna’s waist, fighting her own tears. It made her heart ache seeing her own flesh and blood in so much pain.

They just laid there for about fifteen minutes, neither saying a word. Brianna crying in the comfort of her mother’s embrace while Liz waited for Brianna to get ready to talk.

Then the crying stopped, the sniffles grew further apart and with a simple quietness Brianna opened her heart.

“I lost my virginity.”

Liz tensed.

For some reason, out of all possible things she had expected Brianna to say, that hadn’t been one of them. Which was odd, it should’ve been on that plausible list of things.

Liz forced herself to relax. It was weird to think of her 16-year-old girl having sex, but at the same time, she’d only been two years older than that herself when she had lost her virginity.

Kissing Brianna’s temple, Liz mumbled softly, “Sweetie…”

Brianna sniffled. “It was Jacob.”

For some reason, this comforted Liz. It felt good that her baby girl had shared her first time with someone that she knew so well.

“And now everything is awkward,” Brianna sobbed, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

Liz placed another kiss on Brianna’s kiss and stroked her hair back.

“I think he hates me.”

Liz didn’t even hesitate. “He doesn’t hate you.”

“He’s avoiding me,” Brianna sobbed. “I feel disgusting. Like a retard. Like I did everything wrong. Like he was disappointed in me or found me…gross or something and now he regrets it.”

Her words were stabbing Liz’s heart. The disgust Brianna showed for herself was so similar to how Liz had felt growing up that Liz knew far too well what those feelings were about.

“Did you know that Dad was my first?” Liz said.

Liz wasn’t sure her daughter wanted that much information about her parents, but she thought she would at least give it a shot.

“No,” Brianna sobbed, her voice neutral, with a barely concealed hint of interest.

“And we completely screwed it up. We barely talked afterwards.”

Brianna turned onto her back at this, staring at her mother in shock. Growing up, she had heard plenty of stories from Uncle Michael and Aunt Maria about how her parents used to fight a lot before they became a couple, but she had never heard much of it directly from the horse’s mouth.

“Why?”

It was difficult for Brianna to imagine that there had been a time when her parents hadn’t been sickeningly in love with each other because that was all she had ever seen. They were always all over each other, embarrassing her in front of her friends and making her boyfriends feel awkward.

“We didn’t talk because I thought your father didn’t love me and that he had just been using me.” Brianna’s eyes widened. “At the same time, he was busy beating himself up about how he had ruined my first time.”

Brianna grimaced. “Was it really that bad?”

“We were both drunk-“

“Oh my God,” Brianna whispered, starting to feel a lot better. Maybe there was still hope for her if her parents could turn such a screwed up history into something so good. “You’ve never told us this.”

Liz smiled. “Is there ever a good opportunity to tell your daughters that your relationship with their father started as a catastrophe?

Brianna returned the smile. “I guess not.”

“I was really ashamed too. I sort of tricked Max into it.”

“What?” Brianna almost laughed. Her mother was revealing an alternative version of herself that Brianna had troubles believing in just as much as she had troubles believing in Santa Claus.

“Not intentionally. He thought I wasn’t a virgin. So when we got drunk and we took things a bit further than we had planned, he didn’t know he was actually taking part of something big until it was too late.”

“Shit,” Brianna mumbled.

“Yeah, that’s one way to describe it,” Liz said with a rueful smile.

“So how did you sort it out?”

Liz grimaced. She didn’t really want to tell her distressed daughter that it took about four years before they sorted it out. So she decided to leave out that small detail. “Finally, we talked. We should’ve done it so much sooner. It would’ve prevented so many misunderstandings.”

Brianna wiped the tears off her cheeks. “So…what you’re telling me is that I should talk to him, huh?”

“You’re best friends, Bree. Do you want this to get in the way of that?”

Brianna sighed and looked miserable again. “How can we still be friends after what happened? He’s seen me naked! It freaks me out thinking about that. He used to put mud in my hair and now he’s seen me naked and touched me in a way no person ever has.”

Liz took a deep breath, happy on one level that Brianna was being so honest with her but also a bit unsure of how to take in that information. “This is a big thing, Bree. I’m not gonna tell you anything differently. But if you think about it, aren’t you happy it was him in a way? He knows you so well. Wasn’t it for the best that your first time was with him?”

Brianna shook her head. “I’m having trouble appreciating that right now with the image of naked Jacob in my head.”

Liz laughed before she could stop herself.

“Mooom.”

Putting a hand in front of her mouth, Liz mumbled, “Sorry.”

Brianna took one look at her mother and then they both burst out laughing. A good laugh later, Liz pulled her daughter into a hug. “Jacob doesn’t hate you. He’s your best friend. He wouldn’t have slept with you if it hadn’t meant something to him. There’s just too much at risk for that. He doesn’t want to lose you so he wouldn’t gamble with that if he didn’t actually love you more than a friend.”

“You know what the stupidest thing is?”

“What’s that?”

“It wasn’t awkward when it was happening. It was just us, you know. It was so…normal in a way. And it was so…beautiful. Like Jacob let me see this whole new side of him and it was so…beautiful, you know.”

Liz pulled back and stroked the hair off Brianna’s forehead. “Talk to him, okay. You’ve just taken this major step together and you need to talk about it. I’m sure he feels the same way; that he really needs to talk to his best friend about this. Problem is that you and his best friend are the same person. And the reason why it’s awkward right now is because neither of you know how to breach the subject.”

“Just talk, huh?”

“The best way to solve it,” Liz assured her.

“And you don’t think he’s going to run away screaming when I walk up to him to confront him?”

“Bree. It’s Jacob. Do you really think he would do that to you?”

She didn’t have to think about that one. Shaking her head, she looked relieved. Smiling shyly, as if it had just hit her that she had just had the most intimate conversation of her life with her own mother, she bent her head and mumbled, “Thanks, Mom.”

Capturing Brianna’s head in between her hands, Liz kissed her forehead. “Thank you, sweetie.”

Because Liz was just so happy that Brianna had felt that she could confide in her in that way. It felt like they – too – had taken a major step that night.

“You’re not gonna tell Dad are you?” Brianna asked with a tad of worry.

“Eh… we might want to keep Jacob alive for a bit longer, don’t we?”

Brianna laughed. “For now anyway.”

“Yeah…” Liz shook her head. “So we definitely shouldn’t tell your dad about this.”

“Love you, Mom.”

“Love you too, Bree.”

----------------------------------------------

The kitchen

Max was preparing a sandwich for himself when Liz walked into the kitchen. He tried to appear casual as she hopped up on the kitchen counter and settle in to watch him move around the kitchen. But she could tell that he was itching to ask her what Brianna had said.

“So…” he put the bread knife in the kitchen sink “…you were in there a long time.”

“Yep,” Liz said simply, breaking off a piece of cheese from Max’s sandwich which was next to her on the counter.

“Did she tell you? What’s been going on?”

“She did.”

Max smiled, knowing that she was making this hard on him on purpose. Walking up to her and putting one hand on each side of her hip and leaning into her, his lips were almost brushing against hers as he said, “What did she say?”

Liz shrugged, trying to act unaffected by Max’s close presence. “Not much.”

There was a warning note to his voice, as he slowly said, “Kitten…”

Liz gave him a small smile. “I’m sure you’ll sleep better if you don’t know the details.”

His eyes widened slightly at this as a gaze of worry crossed his eyes. “What happened?”

Liz placed a hand against his cheek in a comforting gesture. “Don’t worry, Evans. She’s gonna be fine. She’s having some boy troubles.”

Max relaxed some. It was not uncommon for Brianna to have boy troubles.

Max frowned as his thoughts continued down that track. Even if Brianna had lots of boy troubles, she had never reacted this badly before.

“What’s so different about this guy?”

Liz looked at him for a long second, hesitation in her eyes, wondering how much she could let him know before he would figure things out and Brianna would be mortified about her father knowing the whole truth.

“It’s Jacob.”

Max visibly relaxed, but there was confusion in the furrowing of his eyebrows. “Oh.”

“They had a fight.”

In the beginning of their friendship, Max had been very wary of Jacob’s part in Brianna’s life. Judging from his own life, he knew what a friendship between a boy and a girl could very much lead to and that made him nervous. But as the years had gone by, Max had warmed up to Brianna’s best friend. Time and time again, Jacob had proved himself worthy of looking after Brianna.

That still didn’t mean that Max had abolished all of his carefulness when it came to Jacob. Jacob was after all a boy. A testosterone-driven boy that spent a lot of time with his beautiful 16-year-old. Again, judging from his own experiences, teenage boys could never be trusted.

“What did he do?”

Liz laughed softly and shook her head. “What makes you think he’s to blame?”

“He’s the boy,” Max answered simply.

Liz laughed. “If I hadn’t seen proof of the opposite with my own eyes, I would’ve accused you of being a girl with you blaming everything on the male race.”

Max shrugged. “I don’t blame everything on the male race. I mean, the male race is pretty awesome, you have to admit that-“

Liz smiled, the twinkle in her eye agreeing with that statement.

“-but when it concerns my daughters, I have close to zero trust in the male species.”

“Fair enough.”

“So what did he do to her?”

Just then Brianna descended the stairs, her entrance attracting the attention of both of her parents. She pretended that she wasn’t aware of the fact that they were following her with their eyes as she pulled open the door to the refrigerator.

As the silence continued to embrace the kitchen, with Max and Liz watching their daughter rummage through the refrigerator, Brianna took a hold of the peanut butter jar and murmured, “Subtle, guys.”

Max glanced at his wife and smiled. “What’s up, Bree?”

Brianna turned around to face her father. “Not much.”

Max nodded slowly, “Cool.”

Liz pulled out the kitchen drawer next to her and found a spoon. She held it out to Brianna, “Spoon?”

Brianna smiled easily. “Thanks.”

Discarding the lid on the counter, Brianna dug the spoon into the peanut butter. “Jacob’s coming over soon.”

Liz smiled, feeling relieved at that announcement. Jacob was ready to talk.

“It’s a school night,” Max remarked.

Liz glared at him, even though she knew it was Max’s way of showing that he didn’t think Jacob deserved to come over after making his daughter cry so many tears.

“He won’t stay for long,” Brianna said easily.

“That’s fine, sweetie.” Liz and Brianna shared a secret smile before Brianna spun on her heel and headed for the stairs.

Her father’s hand on her arm stopped her. “Bribear…”

Turning obediently to face him, she had a kind of foreboding on her face, afraid that he had somehow figured out what had happened.

As he pulled her into his arms and pressed a kiss to her forehead she found herself instead fighting tears. She wanted nothing more than to break down and have her dad comfort her the way only he could.

But she knew with frank certainty that the knowledge of her losing her virginity wasn’t something her father should acquire at this moment. Maybe it was something she should never tell him.

“If you need me, I’m here.”

Brianna looked up into her father’s dark protective eyes and gave him a soft smile from her heart. “I know. Thanks, Daddy.”

When Brianna had disappeared up the stairs, Max turned and walked up to his wife. Leaning into her, he softly kissed her lips. “So, everything’s okay?”

Liz nodded. “Our baby’s growing up.”

Max didn’t seem overly happy about this prospect. “Yeah, I’m starting to realize that.”

“She’ll do just fine.”

Max nodded. “I know. But I still worry.”

Liz placed a light kiss on his lips. “Me too. Me too.”


TBC...

[max and liz believer]

Hellooo everyone!

So I'm posting something before Xmas here. I'll see if I get around to post yet another chapter before the end of the year, but I'm going away for New Year's, so we'll just have to wait and see...

Thank you!

Ellie
Eve
coccy
BlueStar8

The note from your friend made me tear up. I guess you know where to deposit your feelings and I understand why you feel like you feel. If somebody who could write what he wrote feels that way about you, even if it cannot be, I would take that, make it into a little bundle, put it inside my heart and feel pretty good about myself because I can make somebody so awesome feel that way about me! And then, put all that into a precious little box, put that box on a shelf, don't forget about it but just be aware of it and look ahead into the future, secure on the knowledge that if you are capable of this, you are capable of inspiring the same feelings on another guy that is just as awesome and wonderful and incredible as this one!

That's exactly what I've done I put all my memories of him into a little box that I put away. He means a lot to me. He actually almost means even more to me as a friend, because I feel that I have a larger chance at being in his life forever as a friend than as a girlfriend. If you know what I mean.

(Are you sure he is not gay? because males full of testosterone do not write this way - they are macho and do not uncover how they feel - only gay guys can do that (gggrrrrr)).

I've considered this myself, but yes, I'm 110% sure he's not gay. But what separates him from other testosterone-driven boys is that he's suffered deep depressions, so he has another appreciation of life and is very self-reflective and critical. So...that makes him different.

sunrise102
Sara
scorpio6
yayaliens
Natalie
Alien_Friend
kismet
LilithAnn
keepsmiling7
Bim

And as for my little confession of love to my friend who was not very sensitive to my feelings - I got over it eventually. And, now I'm with someone who I can say is the love of my life. So, there you go - you never know when something good will come along!

Oh good *hugs*

behrluv32
Emma
Laira
Amanda
Roswell Fan Forever
Kate
Ms_BuffyAnneSummers

and

Elizabeth


Updated Timeline

61. From another point of view

Michael and Maria’s Apartment
(2012) Max is 27, Liz is 26


~Michael~

Of course they annoy me.

My sister and my best friend had a thing together behind my back and I did feel betrayed for a long time. I’m still not really sure why it bothered me so much. Maybe it was because in essence he had stolen my baby sister away from me even before I knew anything about it. Or maybe it was because he was my best friend and never told me about what was going on. They both made me believe that everything was okay.

They even had me believe that they hated each other.

They made me look like a fool.

Maria moves past in a whirlwind of activity and presses our one year old daughter into my arms. I must’ve looked at her in way that had another meaning to her than it had to me because she groans and says, “Why can’t you just help out?”

She’s gone before I have time to ask what I’ve done wrong this time and I look down at Alba. “Your mommy’s insane, you know that right?”

Alba smiles broadly and produces saliva bubbles along with her excited giggle.

Is it sad that the only person that I can put up with for more than twenty minutes without wanting to use her head as a basketball is a one-year old?

“Hey Mike,” a voice says behind me and I turn to face my sister. She smiles as she sees Alba and reaches out to touch Alba’s chubby cheeks. “Hey sweetie.”

“Hey,” I reply and, with some effort I must add, she looks up from Alba and kisses me on the cheek. “Where’s the other one?”

She raises a warning eyebrow, not looking too impressed with my choice of words, and answers, “He’s trying to find parking.”

“Alright,” I answer and take a closer look at Liz’s face. Without pondering why, I push Alba into her arms and say, “Could you hold her for a sec? I think Maria needs my help.”

Before she can protest, I walk away. When I reach the entrance to the kitchen, I turn to see my sister standing in the middle of the living room, her finger tracing Alba’s nose, with a faraway smile on her face. She might’ve been frozen in that same position forever if Max hadn’t entered the room.

Oblivious to the fact that they’re being watched, Max walks up to Liz, puts his arms around her waist and kisses her temple.

I feel odd standing there watching them. In that moment, it’s like Alba is not even my child. It’s like she belongs to that special circle created by Max’s arms and Liz’s smile. A perfect family.

“Michael!” Maria yells behind me and I look over my shoulder in the direction of her voice to find her staring at me impatiently with a spatula in hand.

Uh-oh.

As I’m about to face the wrath of my wife, I briefly glance over at Max and Liz and find Max watching me.

“Hey man,” Max says.

“Hey,” I answer.

I try not to stare as Max’s hand whispers across Liz’s cheek in a loving gesture before he turns and walks towards me. There’s something disconcerting about watching how obviously in love they are with each other. My mind is still muddled with memories of them screaming at each other and throwing hateful words in each other’s direction.

Max takes my hand in a firm hold and squeezes my shoulder in a greeting. “How’s life?”

I raise an eyebrow and decide to throw him a curveball, “I see you knocked up my sister.”

Max tenses at my statement, but smiles when he sees the amused glint in my eyes. His attention drifts to his wife as he murmurs, “She’s so happy.”

I look over at my glowing little sister, the bump obvious under her dress, and I feel myself smile. “Yeah.”

I don’t know how long we stand there like two fools, watching the person that means so much to us both before I decide that there’s a limit to how much a brother should stare at his sister. I clear my throat and say, “Uhm… I think I should go and give Ria a hand.”

Max tears his eyes away from Liz and gives me a sympathetic smile. “She…ah…seems a bit tense.”

I roll my eyes. That’s the understatement of the year. “Freaking hostess role has gone to her head.”

He claps me on the shoulder, understanding in his eyes, and asks, “Do you need help?”

My eyes automatically drift to Liz and I’m watching the pregnancy glow surround my baby sister as I answer, “No. Maria would probably come up with some reason why that would be wrong as well. I can just hear it now; ‘Michael, they’re supposed to be our guests!’”

I looked away from Liz just in time to see Max’s grin slip off his face and I’m already expecting her voice behind me.

“Michael.”

Yep, she heard me alright. Guess I’m sleeping in the doghouse tonight.

“Coming, sweetheart,” I answer, and if Maria hadn’t been watching me like a hawk I probably would’ve rolled my eyes at Max.

But it’s not like we’re like this all the time. Things have just been…trying…lately. With Alba suffering from bouts of colic and screaming through most of the hours of the night, both Maria and I have been more on edge.

So as I turn around to face Maria’s wrath, I watch the stoic mask on her face slip a bit as I take her hand in mine.

Lowering my voice, I step closer to her, feeling the comfortable heat of her body. God, I miss her. Not just in the most primal of ways – because I do – but mostly as the fun girl who used to match me in everything.

“Relax, baby,” I tell her and want to believe that for a second I can glimpse that old girl I used to know in her eyes.

“Once the food’s done,” she answers tersely. “Maybe you should help out a bit.”

I resist the urge to give into my own exhaustion and nod. Losing my patience right now certainly wouldn’t help the situation.



~Maria~

God, I miss him.

I miss how easy everything used to be.

Before nappy changes and bottle reheating.

Before endless sleepless nights with a screaming baby.

And I know that I have to stick through this. Because I love him so much. And I love my daughter to pieces. But it’s just so hard to try and stay together without breaking apart.

Because it wouldn’t really help the situation if I just completely lost it right now, would it? Someone has to pull all the ends together. But I can’t do that with a happy face right now. I just can’t.

I watch Michael disappear into the kitchen and I can’t help but feel bad about how I’m treating him. So is it strange that I feel jealous when I look at Max and Liz together?

I cock my head and study them for awhile. Did Michael and I ever have that? That glow?

Liz looks over at me and she smiles. I attempt a smile in return and I must’ve done a pretty bad job, because her smile quickly fades and with a whisper in Max’s ear she starts walking towards me.

“Hey,” she says, a comforting but worried smile on her lips. “How’re you holding up?”

I straighten a bit. “Can I ask you a question?”

Putting a concerned hand on my shoulder, Liz nods. “Of course.”

“Were Michael and I ever like you two?”

She looks confused. Of course my loose train of thought makes no sense to an outsider.

She opens her mouth to ask for clarification, but I beat her to it, “All look-deep-into-each-other’s-eyes and glowing like you and Max?”

Liz frowns. Maybe she’s not following my train of thought at all.

“Ria, what’s wrong? Is everything okay between you and Michael?”

I nod, putting every ounce of my feeble assertion into my nod, “I’m fine. We’re fine.”

She doesn’t look very convinced and before I can suspect what she’s about to do, she pulls me into a hug.

“You look exhausted, Maria,” she whispers into my ear.

Her words hit hard. It’s the truth, but they tempt to break the dam I’m trying to keep contained inside.

“Gee, thanks Liz.”

She squeezes me harder. “Not like that, Maria.”

Pulling back, she pushes the hair away from my face, a maternal look in her eyes. “You’re gorgeous, sweetie. Inside and out. Whatever might be going on right now, you can get through it. You’re the strongest person I know.”

I swallow back the tears I’ve been working so hard on keeping in check. “I just don’t want to lose him.”

Damn. My voice is breaking.

Liz’s face grows more worried as she probably heard the same inconsistency in my voice. “You’re not gonna lose him. You’re having a tough patch just now. It’ll pass. You guys love each other. And as for your question; You still look like that. You don’t see it, because you’re right in the middle of it, but when Michael looks at you… I’m his sister; I know when he means business. And you’re his business, Maria. His eyes adore you. He adores you.”

Dam is breaking. Dam is breaking.

Tears roll down my cheeks as I nod. “You still see that? You’re just not saying that?”

She laughs a little bit. Her laughter breaks apart my worries and makes them seem a bit ridiculous. “He loves you, Maria. But you have to hold onto him. He’s not the brightest crayon in the box all the time.”

I snort. She’s got that right.

“Yeah…”

She smiles and pulls me into another hug. “And if you need me to look after Alba one day, just let me know. Take a night off or something. Some hanky panky with the hubby.”

I laugh and return her hug hard. She’s my best friend. She truly is. “Thanks babe. I’ll call you when I’m horny.”

She joins my laugh. “Ehh… That just sounds wrong...”

She pulls back and removes the tears on my cheek with the pads of her thumbs. “Don’t cry.”



~Liz~

If Maria only knew how much I envy her.

Sure, I have Max and a baby on the way. But she’s so many steps ahead. My baby is still in my womb, hers is running around. A healthy beautiful baby girl.

And I wasn’t lying to her when I said that Michael absolutely adores her.

I look over at Max and I feel a tingle in the center of my stomach as I watch him smile as he talks to his dad.

I didn’t think I could ever love him more than when I first fell, but I do. I love him more for every day. I would never admit it out loud, because even in my head it sounds completely cheesy, but since this is my head I’m allowed to at least think it.

My hand brushes down the small bump on my front and my heart flutters in anticipation. I can’t wait to see what the baby is going to look like. If it’s a boy or a girl. Max and I have decided to wait to find out the sex of the baby. We like to be surprised.

However, it does make shopping more difficult. I’m already itching to buy baby clothes, but unfortunately a lot of baby clothes are boy and girl-oriented. It doesn’t matter that they’re only onesies, apparently they still have to be either blue or pink.

Max has suggested that we should get everything in either white or yellow. I’m not too excited about either of those colors.

As if he can feel that I’m looking at him, he turns and smiles at me, before returning to his conversation with his father. They’ve come a long way in their relationship since Philip had his emotional meltdown when Max’s mom died.

At the time, it was probably a good thing that Philip got around to arrange an apartment for Max not too long thereafter so that Max could escape.

Although, Max did manage to get himself evicted from that place.

Speaking of, what ever happened there?

I frown and I’m right in the process of trying to figure that out as my husband walks up to me.

He puts his arms around my waist and lightly kisses my lips.

I love his kisses. I love his lips. I could just kiss him for hours and hours and hours.

But he certainly doesn’t need to know that. I just let him know subtly.

“Mmm…hello husband.”

I can feel his lips curl into a smile against my lips. “Hello wife.”

“You know, I was thinking…”

He grimaces, looking absolutely adorable as he rests his forehead against mine. “Again?”

Ignoring his comment, I continue, “Remember that apartment you used to have?”

“The first one?”

“Yeah. What ever happened there? Suddenly you were just living in our guestroom.”

He shrugs. “Landlord didn’t like me, that’s all.”

For some reason, call it intuition, call it experience, I don’t believe him at all. “Really?”

Looking up at him, he looks appropriately innocent as he says seriously, “I was playing some music one night and he thought it was a bit loud, so he threw me out.”

I look at him dubiously. “They can’t throw you out because you play your music ‘a bit loud’.”

He rolls his eyes with a dramatic sigh. “Okay fine. It was a lot louder than ‘a bit’…and I might’ve been a bit impolite when the landlord came to tell me to turn it down.”

I can’t help but laugh. Go figure. “Excellent.”

He seems amused by my sarcastic remark.

“What did your dad have to say about it?”

“Why are we talking about this now, Parker? That was ages ago.”

I shrug. “I just thought about it. I realized I never heard the story behind it all.”

He nods, seemingly at peace with that explanation. Hitching his chin towards the kitchen, he asks, “Is Maria okay?”

I follow his gaze and share his observation of Maria as she mills around the kitchen, instructing Michael as she goes. “She’s…” I try to come up with the right word. “…tired.”

“She looks it,” Max says empathically.

“Just don’t tell her that,” I warn him.

“Of course not. I have some tact.”

I laugh. “No, you don’t.”

He looks almost offended as he looks down at me. “Oh, come on. I’m the perfect gentleman.”

His expression is tickling my laughter and if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s completely annoying, I would’ve laughed straight out.

I settle for an expression of disbelief. “Right. That’s not exactly the picture I’ve gotten of Mr. Max Evans.”

He looks completely helpless, throwing puppy eyes at me that normally would have the power to make me melt. “I’m just very misunderstood.”

“Naaaw,” I say with mock sympathy.

“Speaking of gentlemen, I couldn’t help but notice that Michael and Maria have a pretty big bathroom.”

I look at him like he’s gone insane. “Huh?” What in the world has that got to do with gentlemen?


~Max~

I can’t help but laugh at her expression. Stepping closer to her, I enjoy seeing her pupils widen as I lean in to brush my lips against the upper part of the shell of her ear before I whisper, “I thought I would treat you. Like a gentleman.”

Stepping back, she’s still looking at me like I’ve just grown a second head. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Looking around us, I make sure that no one sees me as I take a hold of the top of her jeans and let a finger slide down just inside to lightly stroke her skin.

She gasps, her head moving to the side, probably to make sure that Maria is not standing there tapping her foot in annoyance at the fact that we can’t keep our hands off each other. “Max…”

I place a slow kiss on her cheek and whisper, “How about you and me. Bathroom. In ten minutes.”

Liz looks almost horrified as she whispers, “We can’t do that. We’re guests.”

“Are you sure?” I throw in a wink for good measure and I can see her hesitating.

Liz might come across as innocent to some people, but I learned a long time ago that she wants it just as much as me. People might think I’m a sex maniac, but that’s only because I have a tendency to flaunt it.

She’s dragging her eyes down my face now, down the front of my shirt, and I can see her really considering it.

“Just a quickie,” I suggest and I see her cheek flush.

Don’t get me wrong; I love making love to my wife, but how we get there is almost more rewarding than the actual sex.

Almost.

Watching her hesitate, even though she obviously wants to, is tempting me to change the schedule from meeting in the bathroom in 10 minutes to meeting in 1.

Casting another look around her to make sure that no one is listening in, she leans in and surprises me to the core by saying, “5 minutes.”

I feel a thrill rush through my body and I ask, “Are you serious?” before I see the teasing look in her eye. I smile and lean down to gentle kiss her. “What’s that look about?”

She pulls away and gives me a smile meant just for me. “I’m way ahead of you, Evans. I also noticed that the walk in closet in the bedroom is pretty big.”

I laugh. She still manages to blow me away. “I love you.”

“How about you prove that in…” looking down at her watch she finishes, “…four minutes and ten seconds.”

“You’re the coolest wife ever,” I announce.


~Philip~

“Coolest wife ever, huh?” I ask, since I couldn’t help to overhear the last part of their conversation.

My son turns with a look as if he has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar and if he weren’t married I might’ve jumped on the opportunity to grill him a bit. But there’s no reason why he should feel bad about talking to his wife. Whatever they might’ve been talking about.

Which I’m not even really sure I want to know about.

My daughter-in-law turns to me with an easy smile, looking the optimal contrast to my blushing son, as she puts her arms around me in a warm hug. “Hey, Dad. How are you?”

‘Dad’ is the perfect word. She feels like a daughter to me. Always has. But even more so since she married my son.

I feel her pregnant abdomen bump into me as she wraps her arms around me and I can’t stop the smile from blossoming on my face.

“I’m good, Liz. How are you?” Looking down at the bump I add, “How’s my grandchild?”

She smiles warmly and I can’t help but notice how she automatically grabs Max’s hand and braid their fingers together. “Taking karate lessons, I suspect.”

I laugh. “Lots of energy then?”

Liz joins in with my laughter. “You can say that.”

I look over at my son, my only child, and for not the first time I feel my heart swell with pride. He’s done so well for himself. He found the woman of his dreams and now they’re starting a family.

When Diane died, I was very worried that he would get lost, just like me. But I soon realized that Liz wouldn’t allow that. She was there, annoying him back to life.

I smile at my own thoughts and Liz looks at me curiously. “What are you thinking, Grandpa?”

Grandpa. My smile broadens. I like the sound of that.

Grandpa.

“Nothing. I’ll leave you kids alone. To do, whatever you were about to do.”

I watch Max to see his reaction, and he doesn’t disappoint. His face turns tomato red and Liz laughs as she and I share a knowing look.

“Thanks,” she whispers, giving my arm a squeeze as I leave them.


~Serena~

No one seems to be hearing my knocks, so I try the door handle, finding the door unlocked.

The smells of Maria’s excellent cooking bombard my senses as I step over the threshold into Michael and Maria’s apartment.

“Hello?”

Still no reply.

I can hear the blending noise of various voices mixed with the clinks of china and laughter. The right sounds of a party.

Shrugging, I take off my coat, find a place to hang it and peek around the corner of the small hallway.

I smile as I see Max and Liz making out in a corner. Those kids still can’t keep their hands off each other.

I frown as I see Maria yell something over her shoulder at Michael, who is looking completely resigned. Hmm…I might have to have a chat with Maria about what that whole thing is about.

I see Philip Evans twirling Alba around in the middle of the dining room, almost hitting a vase. Maria comes out from nowhere and asks a somewhat guilty-looking Philip to be a bit careful.

I laugh. Welcome to a normal get together at the Parkers’ residence.

I take a deep breath and walk straight into the mess to make another attempt at announcing my arrival.

[max and liz believer]

Hey everyone!

I hope you had a very merry Christmas and wish you all a Happy New Year!!

Sorry for the delay in this chapter, but straight after Christmas I went on a short Europe trip with my Malaysian friend. We visited Berlin, celebrated New Years in Vienna and finished it off in Prague. I just returned on Thursday and then I had managed to take along a little friend; a cold virus. So I was out of commission for about two days, but now I'm back. Fortunately, I sent off a chapter to be edited before I left and it was waiting for me in my inbox. Plus, I have another edited (shorter) part in my computer that I'm gonna put in somewhere as well. So don't fear, people!

First off, most important part, thank you

Laira
Kris
Ellie
Ginger
Ms_BuffyAnneSummers
Alien_Friend

I so wanted to hug M/M, it was such a real relationship moment. I felt for them. They so totally love each other as much as M/L.

I'm so happy you can see that

scorpio6
Eve
Azure_horizon
coccy

M&L are adorable <3 this chapter made me remember that we have a snapshot of the moment when Liz told him that she was pregnant with their second child but we didn't already read a snapshot about their first pregnancy... when she told him, how they reacted about it... The first child is the *first* child and at the time they were trying to have one, no? So i guess that when she discovered the news she was totally excited but at the same time a bit scared.

see there're so many moments that you can still write

Tihi, you read my mind...and now you can read mine *hint* below - the new chapter

kismet
LilithAnn
Sara
BlueStar8

I love you! You are a great writer. You know how to get in the heart, find the strings that will cause the most damage (damage as in "will caress those parts of your brain" that make you remember the best times you have ever had in your life, regardless of how old you are), make you tear up, smile a smile that lasts the entire day .. .and week ... and everytime you remember, and makes your life just a little bit better because they read what you wrote.

Magnificent!

Thank you.

Sweetie, seriously, you're making me cry. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

yayaliens
sunrise102
Destiny

and

Elizabeth


P.S. I'm so happy that you all seemed to enjoy the change of pace there; that I decided to make a multi-POV in the present form. It was a bit risky, but I'm so relieved you all seemed to like it. Thank you!

Updated Timeline

62. Baby News

Max and Liz’s Apartment
(2012) Max is 27, Liz is 26


Max kicked off his shoes and closed the door behind him. “Parker?”

Walking past the kitchen, he put the keys on the kitchen counter and proceeded through the living room. “Baby? You here?”

They had decided to go out for dinner tonight, it being their anniversary, but he was running a bit late. “I’m sorry. I needed to ask the lecturer something and apparently so did everyone else.” He pushed open the bedroom door, removing clothes as he went to save time. “There was the longest line and this one girl was just not getting-“

His words came to an abrupt halt as he finished pulling his sweater over his head, which revealed his wife sitting on the floor; tears running down her cheeks with a shoe in her hand.

“The heel’s broken,” she whispered.

He paused. Why was she crying?

Slowly falling to his knees in front of her, he put his hands on her folded knees and looked up into her wet eyes. “Kitten, what’s wrong?”

“It’s my favorite shoe,” she sobbed and pushed the shoe in between them for him to see. “I put them on to be ready when you came home and I must’ve stumbled or something-“

The palm of his hand encased her moist cheek. “Okay, don’t worry. Maybe I can fix it.”

She bit her lower lip, heavy tears hanging from her eyelashes as she firmly shook her head and looked skywards in resignation. “No…no.”

Concern was starting to turn into fear. It was a situation that might have been laughable if it weren’t for the fact that Liz was not a very materialistic girl and her tears were therefore scaring him more than serving as amusement.

“We can take it to one of those shoe people…” Max racked his brain for the right word; hoping that if he could just say the correct words she would stop crying. “You know, the…the shoemakers.”

“And they were out of chocolate-glazed donuts.”

Either Max had completely lost his gift in reading Liz or her body had been possessed in the hours since him leaving the apartment earlier that morning.

“Uhm…eh…that’s too…bad?”

She wiped her hand across her face, looking so vulnerable that he just wanted to encase her in love in any way he could. “I looked everywhere. But none of the stores I went to had them.”

“Would you rather stay at home?” Max asked, trying to figure out what she was trying to tell him. Because she couldn’t just be talking about shoes and donuts. There must be something else behind all of this. There just had to be.

She turned tear-filled eyes to him and sniffled, “We’re not going out?”

“Of course we are,” Max assured her in a hurry. “I just need to get ready.”

“I probably look horrible,” she sobbed.

“No, no, you’re beaut-“

“I didn’t mean to ruin this night.”

“You haven’t ruined it-“

“But I just… I really needed some chocolate-glazed donuts.”

Max frowned, his brain hurting from trying to decipher the code. “We’ll try to find some on the way-“

She looked down at her broken shoe, sobbed and mumbled so he barely heard her, “I’m pregnant.”

His world halted.

He stared at her.

He must’ve heard wrong.

“What did you say, Lizzie?”

She looked up at him, the tears already drying on her cheeks as she said, “I missed my period-“

Max stared at her. “You missed your-“

“And so I thought I had just counted the days wrong or something.”

Was there really as much air in the room as before? It was difficult to breathe. Or maybe it was the whole remembering-to-breathe thing that made it difficult. His words were empty and dazed as he said, “Yeah, that could happen.”

“So I waited a couple of days,” Liz continued, biting her lower lip as her gaze was transfixed on his face. “But nothing happened. It’s been four weeks or something.”

“You’re pregnant?” he whispered

“I went to the doctor,” she said quietly.

“We’re pregnant?” he repeated.

“He took this blood sample,” she continued. “I wanted to be sure. It’s better with blood, you know, than peeing on a stick. And I didn’t want to do that. Pee on a stick that is.”

“We’re gonna have a baby?”

Taking a deep breath, she stilled and looked at him. Two slow nods confirmed his question.

A slow smile started to spread across his lips with her answer. An infectious smile that had a tingling start in the uttermost layers of Liz’s skin and spread inwards like a slow blaze igniting her with happiness.

His arms were around her in a second, crushing her frame to his, raining kisses across her shoulders and anywhere he could reach. He pressed his head against hers, cheek against cheek as he held her tightly. “We’re gonna have a baby.”

New tears started to fall down her cheeks as she continued nodding and her words were tight in her throat as she whispered, “Yes… Yes… We’re gonna have a baby.”

He pulled back, cradling her face between his hands. “We did it!”

Liz laughed at his proud expression, sniffling and sobbing. “I guess all that practice paid off.”

“I love you,” he said softly and kissed her lips. “I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

--------------------------------------------------

Three months later

Max looked at her worriedly. “You okay?”

She nodded, her eyes empty as they unseeingly tracked the scenery through the car window.

Max took her hand, lacing their fingers together, and she looked up at him with the hint of a smile. “We don’t have to do this.”

The worry on her face softened at his words. He still thought he could shield her from reality. “Yes, we do.”

“She’ll find out eventually anyway.”

“When the baby’s five and starts asking for her grandparents?”

He smiled sheepishly. “Something like that.”

Her eyes returned to the surrounding landscape. “She deserves to know.”

Max shook his head. “No… She really doesn’t. We’re only doing this out of courtesy.”

“She’s my mother, Max,” Liz said tiredly.

“Not as long as she doesn’t act like it.”

Liz sighed. She was tired of having this conversation. Max hadn’t seen much of how her mother had treated her when they were growing up; it had been done behind closed doors. But Liz had told him quite a lot about it since they got together and the condescending tone her mother used every time she met Max nowadays didn’t really help in warming him up to her.

The last straw had probably been the wedding and how Mrs. Parker still hadn’t accepted that Liz had chosen to spend the rest of her life with Max. In Nancy’s eyes, Max belonged to the lowest level of society, something that she would find under her shoe. She had absolutely no respect for Max, so Liz could certainly understand the dislike Max seemed to harbor for Nancy Parker.

The funny thing was that Liz had a feeling Max didn’t care at all that Mrs. Parker didn’t like him. What upset him was how Nancy treated Liz.

Max glanced over at Liz’s tired profile and squeezed her fingers. “Sorry, babe. I’ll play nice.”

She huffed in disbelief, while hiding a smile behind her lips.

Max smiled to himself and moved their interlaced hands over the lower part of her abdomen. “How’s Nunchuk?”

The smile itching to break through did and she looked down at their hands over the slight bulge under her tunic.

Since they didn’t know the sex of the child and they didn’t want to know until the baby actually entered the world, Max had already named it to make the whole he/she thing easier. He and Liz had been playing a lot of Wii recently and there it was. The perfect temporary name for his child.

“Maybe you shouldn’t call the baby that in front of my mother,” Liz said.

He looked away from the road for a second to wink at her. “Oh, I will. Count on it.”

She laughed softly, shaking her head in non-surprised disbelief.

“You want me to take a trip around the block?” Max asked, which had Liz looking up from their hands and noticing that they were approaching her childhood home.

Max was observing her every reaction out of the corner of his eye. He could postpone this forever if she wanted to.

She inhaled deeply, steeling herself. “Nah, let’s get this over with.”

“You’re really looking forward to this, aren’t you?” Max teased in attempt to drain some of the tension off her face.

“Shut up,” she mumbled, but he could pick up the nuance of amusement in her voice.

Parking on the driveway, Max turned off the ignition and raised her hand to his lips, planting a soft kiss there.

Looking at him closely, Liz said, “If you embarrass me, I’ll kill you.”

He smirked. “Me? Embarrass you? I would do no such thing!”

She looked at his arrogant face and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

Truth was; Max wouldn’t embarrass her on purpose. But in his attempt to put her mother in her spot, Max had on more occasions than one indirectly pulled Liz into the whole thing.

She turned to open the car door, but his hand on the back of her neck stopped her. As she looked at him he pulled her close for a soft kiss on the lips. Resting his forehead against hers, he whispered honestly, “I’ll be good, okay?”

Liz returned his gaze with hesitation. “You will?”

He smiled brightly. “For Nunchuk.”

She laughed. “For Nunchuk.”

Quickly kissing his lips, she inhaled deeply. “Here we go.”

As she was about to turn away from him, Max stopped her again. “Hey.”

She looked at him with one raised eyebrow.

He brought his hand to her face and gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. “You look beautiful.”

Liz smiled warmly. “You too.”

He shrugged. “I always do.”

She laughed and pushed the car door open.

They came together, side by side, in front of the car. Max took her hand and together they walked up to the house, its façade towering over them.

A press on the doorbell and there Gabriela was.

“Miss Liz!” she exclaimed and pulled Liz into a tight hug.

Max squeezed Liz’s hand, still holding on, as she smiled at him over Gabriela’s shoulder.

“Hi Gabriela,” Liz said.

A couple of seconds later, Gabriela let go only to encase Liz’s face between her hard-worked hands. “Let me look at you, Miss Liz.”

A fresh blush rose on Liz’s cheeks at being so closely scrutinized, especially when she could feel Max’s laughing eyes observing the whole spectacle. But on the inside, she loved it. She loved Gabriela dearly.

“Oooh,” Gabriela exclaimed. “You become more and more beautiful every day.”

“Like a princess,” Max added and almost laughed as Liz dug her nails into the back of his hand.

His comment made Gabriela aware of his presence and she let go off Liz to smile brightly at Max. “Mr. Max. How are you?”

Max smiled and pulled Gabriela into a hug. Now it was Gabriela’s turn to blush. Max released her and said, “Very good, Gabriela. And you?”

She had to clear her throat before speaking. That little boy who used to play in the dirt and then drag it all over her newly polished floor sure had grown up nicely.

“Very good,” Gabriela said in his words, with an added accent. Addressing them both, she added, “Dinner’s ready.”

Max felt the tremble run through Liz’s hand and pulled her into his side. Kissing her temple, he whispered, “For Nunchuk.”

She nodded, straightened her back and answered without conviction, “Yeah.”

With his arm around her shoulders, Max and Liz entered the mansion and were almost immediately faced by Mrs. Parker.

“Elizabeth,” she said and smiled warmly.

Max let Liz go, to hug her mother. The hug was, as always, polite and orderly.

Stepping back, Nancy’s smile was immediately forced as her eyes landed on Liz’s husband. “Maxwell.”

Max nodded back. “Nancy.”

Not appreciating being called by her first name, Nancy’s face hardened and Liz gave him a ‘please-behave’-look.

Turning her attention back to her daughter, Nancy asked, “How was the drive?”

“Good,” Liz nodded.

“Good, your father told me that they were doing some reconstruction down by Murray Lane.”

“They weren’t working there now.”

“Oh good.”

“Yeah.”

Silence followed, and the subsequent awkwardness had Liz automatically take Max’s hand. Something she almost regretted the second she did as she watched how Nancy’s eyes followed the movement and how her eyes darkened in disapproval.

Before anyone had a chance to comment, Gabriela broke through the thick silence, “Dinner’s served.”

“Oh, good,” Nancy said and walked ahead.

Liz looked up at Max with horror in her eyes. “I’m gonna die.”

He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead. “We’ll survive. She’s just one person. We’re two….actually three.” He glanced at her stomach with a smile. “We’ll win hands down.”

“I’m glad you’re finding this funny,” Liz said tensely, looking towards the ominous dining room.

“You know I don’t,” he said seriously.

She sighed and looked up at him with an apologetic expression. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“Let’s go in there and face the dragon.”

“Max!” Liz exclaimed in a horrified whisper.

-----------------------------------------------------------

“So…where’s Dad?”

Her question was meant to be an ice breaker so she didn’t anticipate the shadow that fell across her mother’s face.

Nancy slowly wiped her mouth with the starched serviette and made sure it was folded and neatly tucked under the edge of her plate before she answered. “I’m sorry, honey. He couldn’t make it.”

“That’s okay,” Liz said quickly, wanting to leave this wrong move behind her as soon as possible.

“He had to work late again,” Nancy added, an expression of attempted pride on her face.

“Okay,” Liz mumbled, looking down at her plate and unconsciously poking the chicken she’d been served.

“So,” Nancy said with a deep breath and started cutting into her chicken breast. “Elizabeth, have you found a job yet?”

Liz cleared her throat and felt Max’s eyes on the side of her face as she answered, “Uhm…I’m not really looking actually.”

Her mother’s mouth transformed into a sharp line of disapproval. “How do you plan to support yourself?”

“Max is working,” Liz answered.

Nancy barely glanced in her son-in-law’s direction. There was a strong note of condescension as she asked, “Is that enough?”

Liz’s jaw tightened. As if her husband couldn’t support two people on his sub-standard pay-check, or whatever her mother was thinking. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Is he keeping two jobs?”

Max cleared his throat and answered evenly, “My salary is quite enough, Mrs. Parker.”

Nancy turned her attention to Max. “What is your job, really?”

“Right now it’s still bartending-“ Max ignored the snort Nancy produced at that announcement, “but that’s only because I’m studying at the same time.”

“And you can pay your tuition and support my daughter on a bartending salary?”

“I’ve got some savings,” Liz cut in.

“Did your father give you money?” Nancy asked.

Liz tightened her fists under the table, something noted by Max as he crossed the short distance between them and took her hand in his, opened her fist and braided their fingers together.

“No, he didn’t,” Liz answered tightly. “I have earned some money.”

Nancy frowned. “What I don’t understand is why you’re not working.”

Liz took a deep breath to control her emotions and stop this from turning into the civil war she didn’t want right now. “We actually have something to tell you.”

There was a small hint of interest in Nancy’s eyes. “Oh?”

Liz looked at Max who in response squeezed her fingers.

“I’m pregnant.”

The announcement was followed by complete silence. Liz’s heart was pounding painfully in her chest as she awaited her mother’s reaction.

Nancy’s face was blank.

“Mom?”

Liz voice was small as that one word pleaded with her mother to, for once, be happy for her daughter.

Nancy’s left eye twitched some. Then she rose from the table, so rapidly that she almost tripped the chair over, and with an “Excuse me”, she left the room.

Max’s attention had remained on Liz’s face throughout the announcement. “Liz?”

“Querida,” Gabriela murmured, coming out of nowhere and pulling Liz out of her chair before the ramifications of how her mother had just behaved had the chance to fully hit her.

Gabriela flushed the small woman, who was like her own daughter, to her chest, tears running down her cheeks. “Congratulations, querida. I’m so happy for you. So happy.” She moved back to kiss Liz’s cheeks, drowning her in loving words in Spanish while Liz stood like a statue.

The image of her mother leaving the table without a word kept replaying itself inside her head.

Gabriela quickly moved on to Max, kissing his cheeks and telling him what a good boy he was.

Turning to Liz once again, Gabriela said, “Don’t worry about your mother. She’s always wanted grandchild. She’s shocked. Only shocked.”

Liz gave a mute nod.

“I am getting dessert,” Gabriela said and started removing the half-finished dinner plates.

There was silence in the room, except for the clinking of the dinner plates as Gabriela cleared the table and Liz sank down in her seat.

Max remained standing, looking at her worriedly, feeling the anger build inside his chest and spread out into every corner of his body. He wanted to take that woman that called herself Liz’s mother and shake her until she understood how she was hurting her own flesh and blood.

“Kitten?”

Liz turned her face away, putting up a hand to cover her struggle with the tears.

“Don’t,” she whispered.

Max pulled up his chair next to her and sat down, his knees touching the side of her thigh. Placing his chin on her shoulder, letting the smell of her hair envelop him, he said, barely keeping the tremor of anger out of his voice, “Do you want me to talk to her?”

“No,” she whispered and then straightened with determination. She was not going to feel sorry for herself.

Sniffling back tears that never fell, she grabbed the water glass and took a sip.

Max watched her carefully. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head. “No.”

He placed a kiss against her temple and her eyes closed at the act, once again struggling to fight the tears. “You’re gonna make me fall apart.”

He straightened. “I’ll go and talk to her.”

“Max…no…”

Just as Max stood from the chair to go and find Nancy, the missing mother returned.

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth,” Nancy said as she entered the room, taking the opportunity for Max to be the first one to speak away from him.

Her voice was surprisingly apologetic, enough so that Max found himself speechless and temporarily without the words to yell at her.

Nancy swallowed and there was a visible struggle on her face as she spoke softly, “I’m very happy for you two, Elizabeth.”

Nancy placed a small rectangular book on the dining table, an act that served to once again fuel Max’s anger.

It was a check book.

“How much do you think you-“

“What the hell are you doing?!” Max’s voice rose in accordance to his ascension from his chair.

Liz tiredly squeezed her eyes closed, wishing that she was somewhere else, as Nancy snapped her eyes up to her son-in-law.

“Let’s be reasonable, Maxwell. I might have been able to accept you supporting my daughter on a bartender salary when it was just the two of you, but now you’re bringing a child into the world. You obviously need help.”

“This is not a business proposal,” Max growled.

“I’m not making this into a business proposal,” Nancy objected, her voice hard again, “You are.”

“All your daughter wanted from you was for you to be happy about her having a baby-“

“I am happy-“

“-and just give both her and our future child the love that you have failed so miserably to provide so far.”

“Young man, you have no right to speak to me like that.”

Gesturing towards his wife, Max bit out darkly, “She’s giving you a chance here. A chance for you to get to know your grandchild; to be part of your grandchild’s life.”

“Well, Maxwell, if you would just listen to me, that’s what I’m trying to-“

“No, you’re not. You’re trying to buy off your grandchild just like you’ve done to Liz since the day she was born.”

Nancy stood up, her eyes glowing with fire. “You have no idea how I’ve raised my daughter-“

“Oh, I’ve seen the ramifications of it, believe me-“

At this point, Liz also rose from her chair. Her hands flew to her ears and with her eyes still closed she screamed, “Stop it. Stop it!!”

The tears that she had fought so hard previously to keep at bay were now streaming down her face. Not looking at either of them, her voice was teary and tired in the silence following her scream of desperation, “I want to go home now.”

“Elizabeth, let’s talk about this,” Nancy tried and there was something they’ve never heard in her voice before.

Pleading.

But Liz was too hurt, too disappointed to listen, while Max wanted to continue screaming at his mother-in-law.

“No,” Liz sobbed. “No. I might be willing to stick around for this. But I’m not letting my child be in this awful environment one second longer.”

“If not money,” Nancy tried, “is there anything else I can get you? A stroller? Toys? Diapers?”

Liz looked up with glistening eyes and sighed; her broken appearance stopping Max from responding to Nancy’s plead.

“I just wanted you to know. Max and I are having a baby and we’re really excited about it. And I wanted you and Dad to know. That’s all. So I’m just gonna leave now. And when you’ve decided that you’re ready to treat my baby better than you’ve ever treated me, let me know.”

Liz looked away from her mother’s fallen face, not being able to stand the hurt look in her mother’s eyes. The look confused Liz. She was not used to seeing her mother so broken, like she was the misunderstood one.

Max supported Liz by the elbow as she moved away from the dining table.

Gabriela met them in the doorway, but Liz was so acutely aware of her mother’s scorching look attached to the back of her head that she barely noticed Gabriela’s empathetic look and the quick hug she was pulled into.

Max got her jacket and without another word, the couple left the house.

As the front door slammed shut, Gabriela moved into the dining area. Gabriela had on rare occasions spoken her mind to Mrs. Nancy Parker concerning the relationship between Nancy and Liz. But with fear of being fired, Gabriela had always kept it low key.

But she couldn’t hold it back this time around.

Slamming a golden rimmed plate with chocolate cake down in front of the mother, Gabriela basically snarled, “I hope you’re happy. You hurt her for the last time. She’s never coming back.”

With that, the Mexican woman walked off, leaving Nancy alone in the humble hue from the candles.

Nancy stared at the plate in front of her; seeing her daughter’s betrayed face and hearing Gabriela’s final words in her mind.

She’s never coming back

A tear landed in the soft frosting covering the delicious chocolate cake.

Then another.

And another.

Soon the tears were pooling on the top of the cake and staining the white plate with mascara.

Looking to the side of the plate, she came upon the check book.

She looked at it for three long seconds before she picked it up and with a scream threw it against the wall, hitting an antique vase in its path which smashed to the floor into so many pieces that it would remain unfixable.


TBC...

[max and liz believer]

Hi everyone!

I hope you're having a great weekend I'm working on finishing this story. I should do it...soon. This story was meant to be around 10 chapters in length, now I'm approaching 70, soooo...I should stop.

Until I do...here's another chapter

Thank you, everyone that took the time to leave me some feedback I truly truly appreciate it.

Alison - Alison, you crack me up. I very much like your type of herpes . Thank you so much for the compliments, I value it so much.
Ms_BuffyAnneSummers
Eve
Ellie
Alien_Friend - It makes me kinda happy that you see that other side of Nancy, because it surely is there. There is a reason to her madness, even though it truly is madness.
nibbles2 - You're so right about Max. We all love him, but in his desperation to protect Liz from any harm he can sometimes make things worse.
Natalie
Alysluv
Ginger
coccy - You have some very good thoughts about Nancy. You're saying that she doesn't know how to love, which might just be it. But also, maybe she just doesn't dare to love.
Kate
sunrise102
Sara
Destiny

I loved the mascara line--just perfect!

Thank you

and

Elizabeth

Updated Timeline

63. Homeless

Roswell High School
(2003) Max is 18, Liz is 17


“Is that Tess Harding?” Maria asked as she sat down next to Liz.

Liz took a big bite out of her sandwich and nodded non-committally.

“And you’re fine with that?”

Liz narrowed her eyes and looked over at Maria, asking around a mouthful of chicken, “Why wouldn’d I be fine wid dat?”

“Oh, sorry.”

Liz put her sandwich down, staring at Maria. “What?”

“I forgot that we are not talking about that.”

“Talking about what?”

“Max Evans.”

“Why are we not talking about Max Evans?”

“Because every time I mention him you go all funny.”

Liz huffed and looked away, her eyes falling upon Max as he was sitting against one of the trees, Tess next to him. “You’re crazy.”

“Really? Okay. So tell me about Tess Harding.”

Liz shrugged casually. “She’s a skank.”

Maria shook her head in amusement. Why was she not surprised with that answer? “Based on what?”

“She’s all over him.”

“She’s just sitting next to him and talking.”

“He asked her to the prom.”

“Aaah,” Maria said, as if it explained everything.

Liz looked at her oddly. “What?”

“That’s what’s got your panties in a twist.”

“Nooo,” Liz said slowly. “I’m annoyed because Max is encouraging her advances even though she’s obviously a ho.”

Maria sighed. “Seriously Lizzie. You need to get over him.”

“When was I ever under him?”

Liz realized what she had said as Maria laughed.

“Yeah, when were you under him? I’ve always wondered about that.”

“Shut up.”

“For someone you claim to hate, you sure do waste a lot of energy on keeping track of him and talking about him.”

Liz pulled her water bottle out of her bag, rolling her eyes at Maria’s statements. Maria did this every second day or so. She would come with all these weird speculations and accusations about Liz’s relationship with Max. Liz found her very odd. But Maria had been Liz’s only female friend since fifth grade when Liz had knocked over a girl that had been trying to take Maria’s lunch money so they were gonna stick together for some time to come.

“Fine. You want to know a secret?”

Maria’s eyes widened with enthusiasm and conspiracy. “Do I?” and then hurriedly added, “And that’s a statement not a question.”

“You can’t tell anyone, okay?”

Maria nodded enthusiastically. “Promise.”

Liz looked at her seriously for a second, hesitating slightly. She didn’t want this piece of information to get out, but Maria was her friend. She should be able to talk to her friend about this kind of stuff, right?

“He’s homeless.”

Maria scrunched her nose in bewilderment. “Huh?”

“Max is homeless.”

Horror filtered across Maria’s face. “Since when?”

“Uh…” Liz did a quick calculation in her head. “Three weeks now.”

“Three weeks?” Maria exclaimed and Liz nodded in confirmation.

“Which means that I have to see his sorry face every morning, and have been doing so for three weeks.”

“You’re telling me that Max Evans is living in your house?”

“In our guest room.”

“Why’s he homeless?”

“Apparently the landlord accused him of being too loud so he kicked him out.”

“Was he? Loud?”

Liz shrugged. “How should I know?”

“So…what’s it like to be sharing house with him?”

Liz glanced over at Max sitting under the tree just as he raised his head and looked in her direction. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments before Liz turned back to Maria.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s just odd,” Maria said slowly.

“What is?”

“You’ve barely mentioned Max these last few weeks. I would’ve thought you would be more annoyed with him from living with him compared to before.”

Liz shrugged. “I guess I’m getting used to him or something.”

Her mind briefly wandered two nights before, when Max had uninvited walked into her room.

“So, have you ever kissed?”

Liz turned to Maria with something akin to a reindeer-caught-in-the-headlight look in her eyes. “Eh…not really.”

Maria looked unconvinced. “Hmm…that’s odd. I overheard this one conversation a couple of days ago and for some reason your name popped up. Apparently you were in a closet with him back in like eight grade or something.”

“Ninth,” Liz grumbled.

“Oh,” Maria said interested. “How come I never knew about this?”

“Because I didn’t tell you?”

“Why not?”

“There was nothing to tell, I guess.”

“Did you kiss?”

“Well, we were in a closet-“

Maria’s face brightened. “So how was it?”

Liz shrugged. “It was a kiss.”

“You’re a freak, Lizzie, you know that? That guy obviously has a thing for you. You kissed and you didn’t start anything then? What’s wrong with you?”

“Maybe I’m not interested in him. Did that ever cross your mind?”

Maria looked absolutely unconvinced, but decided to stop bugging Liz. For now, anyway. “Whatever.”

---------------------------------------------------

The Parkers’ Residence

“How long is he going to stay here?”

It was not difficult for Liz to figure out that the voices she heard from the kitchen as she headed in that direction were discussing Max’s future living arrangements. Liz had, from the start, gotten the feeling that her mother had only approved of Max staying over as a way to show her neighbors that she was good-hearted.

Like she deserved a medal for taking in a boy from another social class.

Liz humphed. Yep, she was Mother freaking Teresa.

“He’s looking for a place, mom. It won’t be much longer,” Liz heard Michael answer with a hint of irritation in his voice.

It had always irked Michael that their mother wouldn’t accept his best friend. As it should. Mrs. Parker never really held back when it came to criticizing the boy from the lower class.

Liz slipped into the kitchen, ignoring her family members, and headed straight for the refrigerator. She was starving.

“There must be plenty of other places he could stay at. Why is it so difficult for him to find a place?”

Michael sighed. “Because, compared to you mother, he doesn’t have a lot of money. He needs to find something affordable and those are a bit more difficult to come by.”

“He’s obviously only using that as an excuse-“

“Please, he’s not.”

Liz rolled her eyes in the refrigerator as she eavesdropped on their conversation while rummaging through the contents of the refrigerator. What did she feel like?

Roast beef? Nah.

Some chili lamb chops? Hmm…no.

“I saw this place the other day, down High Street. Seemed like a good-sized place.”

Liz could hear the grimace in Michael’s voice. “Sure. But apparently there’s water damage, the pipes are falling apart, there’s cockroaches milling around on the floor-“

“If you really want a place, sometimes you have to settle for less.”

Michael snorted. “Hah. So, you’re saying that if we lost this house and needed to find a place, you would buy that one just to buy the first one available?”

There was definitive irritation in Nancy’s voice. “Of course not.”

Liz pulled out the fried chicken, turned and closed the refrigerator door behind her with her foot.

“Besides, that’s an unrealistic argument, since there’s no risk of us losing this house-“

Michael opened his mouth to reply, but Nancy cut him off as she spotted Liz cutting up pieces of the fried chicken.

“Elizabeth.”

Liz inhaled deeply and exhaled loudly through her mouth before turning to face her mother. Pasting a fake smile on her face, she said, “Yes, mother?”

“You should not eat that. Think of your weight.”

Liz rolled her eyes.

“And don’t you roll your eyes at me, young lady.”

“Honestly, mother. I don’t give a fuck about my weight right now.”

Liz registered Michael’s amused grin behind Nancy’s paling figure before Nancy exclaimed, “Where did you pick up on these manners?”

“I’m just tired of you always hassling me about my weight. I’ve never been fat and I don’t eat more than anyone else. So why do you always assume I would just one day expand?”

“Every lady has to watch what they eat. You might not know this, Elizabeth, but we’re always being judged. There’s always someone looking. What do you think they would say if they saw you eating fried chicken.”

“For God’s sake,” Liz sighed. “Why do we then even have fried chicken at home?”

“Michael wanted it.”

Liz bit her bottom lip hard to hold back what she really wanted to say. “Obviously it’s okay for him to eat this stuff… What’s that called again? Riiight, discrimination.”

“It’s not discriminating, darling. It’s a medical fact. Boys usually have a higher metabolism and they need more energy than a woman does-“

“Oh fuck this,” Liz interrupted, grabbed the whole plate of fried chicken and walked out of the kitchen.

She could hear her upset mother calling her name as she ascended the stairs to her room.

Just in protest, she was going to eat the whole freaking chicken. Even if it made her stomach explode.

“Fuck you, Mom,” Liz mumbled and pushed open the door to her room.

And grew to a complete halt.

“Oh, cool. You brought food.”

Liz felt the air leave her. Tiredly, she asked, “What are you doing here?”

Max rose from the chair and crossed the floor to snag a piece of chicken off her plate with a grin. “Thanks.”

“Max. Get out of my room.”

Sitting back down on the chair, Max refocused on the computer, as if it was his room and she should leave.

“I’m just borrowing your computer. That’s okay, right?”

“Why are you not on Mike’s computer?”

“Because he’s using it right now.”

“No, he’s not.”

“He was just a second ago.”

“He’s downstairs, talking to mom.”

Max shrugged. “Okay then. I’m almost done.”

Liz bit her lips tightly together. “Max. Leave.”

“Come on, I’m just checking my email.”

“This is my room. You didn’t even ask if you could use my computer.”

“I asked Mike.”

Liz huffed. “Are you serious? Since when did you think it was okay to get permission from Mike to use my stuff?”

“He said it would be okay; that you were downstairs.”

“It’s not okay.”

Max jumped up from the chair and walked up to Liz. Taking another piece of chicken, he was only inches from her face as he smiled. “Thanks for the loan, Shorty.”

Before she had the chance to react he pressed his lips against her cheek.

She froze, the intimate yet casual touch completely surprising her.

He was out the door before she woke up from her frozen state, standing in the middle of her room, with a plate of fried chicken in her hand that she really didn’t feel like eating anymore.

TBC...

[max and liz believer]

Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for your encouraging words about my job situation (or lack thereof). It helps. And thanks for the well wishes on the possible publication. I'll let you all know if it happens and where to find the book The agreement is to have it as an ebook first of all, but if that goes well we might go paper. Which would be awesome

Ellie
yayaliens

nancy always makes me so mad! thanks for the update though..and it's funny because i just ate some KFC! yummm fried chicken

That makes me so jealous! We don't have KFC in Sweden. Stupid stupid country. But I got addicted to it when I was living in Australia.... Now I really miss it. And thank you so much for all the saving bumps!

Ginger
Kris
Alien_Friend
Alison
Em
coccy
behrluv32
Eve
Sara
Destiny

Ok-well I see Maria's point. I have a fairly thorough knowledge of fifteen-year-olds, and I'm thinking that if little freshman Lizzie Parker had kissed Max Evans in the closet--Maria would have known. Freshman girls are not that great at keeping secrets.

True. But then Liz is not really like the other freshman girls. And at the time she thought that kissing Max Evans was the most embarrassing thing ever. So she wasn't really about to go and spread the news to the masses. But yes, your theory is probably most commonly associated with the norm than not.

sunrise102

not ready to say goodbye to this fic. really. by a long shot.

Thank you, hun.

Kate
kismet
Laira
scorpio6
roswell3053
Ashley
suie
Ms_BuffyAnneSummers
Juls - Hey sweets! Sent you a message on facebook. Miss you too.
Steph - I'm so eternally grateful that you have been keeping a record of your comments over the course of reading this story. I loved reading all the comments and trying to figure out which chapter you were talking about. Hehe. Yep, I'm easily entertained

That was the first Roswell fanfic that I’ve ever read and I’m sure there won’t be any more awesome Max/Liz fic. Seriously. I cried and laughed and was angry. And every questions that I would have asked for this fanfic were already all pointed out. Thanks to have keep those, it helped me to understand your characters.

Thank you so much! And I'm sure there's gonna be so many more good M/L fics. There are a lot of great ones in this forum. I'm just so happy to hear that there's still new people, discovering Roswell fanfiction for the first time.

Thank you to have written such a beautiful fanfic. I’m happy that you wrote almost 70 chapters instead of 10. You really deserve all those awards! And I’m sad to know that this is ending soon...

*muah* Thank you!

Elle - Hey Elle! I know you I love that you found your way over here. Welcome (even though it happens to be towards the end) and thank you!


So...how is everyone?

Good?

Yeah?

Happy about spring arriving?

Cool. Excellent.

Well, I have two new chapters for you. You won't get them both at the same time, because I'm...well, mean. Ahum. But here's one of them, with the promise of the next one in the very close future.

Updated Timeline

64. Hello Kitty

The Parker’s residence, moving onto the Evans’ residence
(1992) Michael is 8, Max is 7, Liz is 6

She found them at the bottom of the stairs, voices conspiratorial but not as quiet as they should’ve been.

“Okay. You can name three of them. But I want to do the rest.”

“I know exactly what names to give.”

In the true typical competitive spirit of a seven-year-old, Max pushed his chest out and said proudly. “I have the coolest names for mine.”

“Who are you naming?” Her question, signifying her presence, had the two boys turn hastily, a look of reindeers-caught-in-the-headlights coloring their eyes.

Finding his voice, Michael declared loudly, “It’s a secret.”

“What is it?” Liz asked, her curiosity piqued.

“It’s not for girls,” Max said, managing to make ‘girls’ sound like the most detested thing in the universe.

Her face hardened at the unfairness of his words and her arms tightened around her waist in a stoic stance. “Why not?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Michael said, his words brushing her out of the discussion with complete finality.

“It’s not for little girls,” Max repeated, smiling triumphantly with new permanent front teeth that were still slightly too big for his mouth.

Liz, who had just started to lose her baby teeth, fought against the tears. Contrary to what they said, she was a big girl now, but tears would only prove that they were right.

“Why can’t I come?” Liz asked, turning large innocent questioning eyes onto her brother.

She might be young but she had already figured out that if she looked sad enough she could get her brother to follow her wishes.

But Max’s presence always made it that much harder. She hadn’t quite figured out why yet, but whenever Max was around, her brother was harder and more resistant to his little sister. And Liz always found herself struggling to be part of the games when Max was there.

Wavering slightly, Michael looked to his friend. “Can she come?”

Max looked reluctant. Bringing little Lizzie Parker along hadn’t been part of his plan. For the first time since her arrival, Max allowed himself to look at the young girl and felt his plan melt away to nothingness. He sighed deeply. “Fine. But she won’t get to name any.”

Those words put an end to the discussion and it was with highest secrecy that the trio made its way over to Max’s house. The sound of their steps was hushed by Max’s silencing finger as they approached the little shed at the back of the Evans’ garden.

Next Liz heard the sounds of three-weeks-old kittens and her whole being was hushed in anticipation. She had never seen kittens before, not in real life. Only on TV.

“We have to be quiet, so we don’t scare them,” Max said, sounding important.

Liz nodded; her mouth slightly open in silent wonder.

The hinges whined with old age as Max pulled the door open. Peeking inside, Michael was the first one in. Liz followed closely by, unconsciously holding onto the back of Michael’s shirt as she entered the dark shed.

Light rays were creeping through the individual planks making up the wall, spreading a humble light across the interior of the shed.

“Where are they?” Liz whispered loudly.

“Shhhh,” Michael admonished. “You might scare them.”

“Are they wild?” Liz asked, wondering if these kittens were like the tiger cubs she had seen on The Discovery Channel. Which would mean that she wouldn’t be able to hold one.

Max’s voice sounded loud behind her, even though he was also whispering. “No. But the mom doesn’t want us to touch her kittens, so we don’t want her to hear that we’re here.”

“Where is she?” Liz wondered as she watched Max move around her to the corner of the shed.

“Stop asking so many questions,” Michael sighed. Why was his little sister so embarrassing? Why couldn’t she just quietly come along and be cool, instead of being annoying?

“Sorry,” Liz said tightly, but the unfairness of how her brother was treating her quickly melted away as Max removed a meowing tabby kitten out of the litter of kittens.

Her mouth fell open and her eyes grew big as she stared at the small life that was being handed to her. She bit her lower lip as Max carefully placed the kitten in her hands with a “Be careful”. She nodded as she continued staring at the kitten. Then a surprised giggle escaped her as the kitten started to crawl up along her neck in an attempt to escape. “It tickles.”

“Shhh,” Michael said, but Liz didn’t care this time. She was too busy trying to pull the kitten off her shoulder by removing its small claws one by one from her skin.

“What’s this one called?” Liz asked.

“We haven’t named them yet,” Max answered as he handed a black kitten to Michael.

“Yeah, that’s our job,” Michael said, not even trying to hide his pride.

“Uh-huh,” Liz mumbled, constraining the kitten in her hands. “So what names do you have?”

“We haven’t come up with any yet,” Michael answered annoyed.

“Is this a girl or a boy?” Liz asked.

“Eh,” Max said uncertainly. Staring at the head of the kitten Liz was holding, as if that would announce its sex to him, he eventually put back the kitten he himself had been holding and walked up to Liz. He knew that he was supposed to look under the tail for the sex. But that was about it. Picking the kitten up from Liz, he pulled the tail to the sky and donned a serious expression as he scrutinized the kitten’s behind.

A few seconds later, he announced, “This is a boy,” and handed the female kitten back to Liz.

The male kittens of the litter were going to grow up with female names and vice versa, with only one kitten being named correctly – mostly out of chance than due to the skill of gender detection.

“Can I name him?” Liz begged.

“No, we told you that you weren’t allowed to name any,” Michael replied.

Max watched Liz’s face fall and he felt bad. “Uhm…maybe just one.”

Liz’s face was the optimum of surprise as she looked up at Michael’s friend. “I can?”

“Max,” Michael objected.

“She can have one of mine,” Max said, so that Michael wouldn’t be pissed off to get to name one less. “She can name the one she’s holding.”

Liz’s smile put a warm cozy glow around Max’s heart. “Thank you.”

“It’s okay,” Max said quickly and returned to the kittens to once again pick up the kitten he had been holding onto before.

“So? What do you name him?” Michael asked Liz.

“Phantom,” Liz answered simply.

Michael looked at his little sister incredulously while Max mostly looked confused. “Like your comics?”

Liz nodded. “Uh-huh.” Looking down at the kitten that was just settling, Liz added, “He looks like a Phantom.”

“Right,” Michael sighed.

Max nodded to himself, secretly finding the name too awesome for words. But he would of course never admit it to the younger girl. Now he just had to think of a name that was just as awesome.

“This one should be Hobbes then,” Michael said, pointing at the second tabby cat in the bunch. “Because he looks like a tiger.”

No one had any objections to that, and so the naming continued in the honor of comic characters. In the end they had Calvin, Hobbes, Phantom, Catwoman, and Doctor Doom. Plus the names which had been slightly altered; Invisible Cat and Supercat.

After 10 minutes or so of cuddling the kittens, Max announced, “We should leave. So that the mom doesn’t find us. My mom says that if the cat mom finds humans with her kittens she might move them somewhere else.”

“Oh no,” Liz whispered, having already fallen in love with her Phantom. “Let’s put them back.”

The siblings handed their kittens to Max and he was in charge of placing them back with each other in the makeshift bed the mother cat had made for her babies.

-------------------------------------------------

The next day

“Hello, Lizzie,” Diane greeted the little girl as she stood shyly on the other side of the kitchen door.

“Hi, Mrs. Evans.”

“And how can I help you today?” Diane asked with a smile, suspecting that Liz might be here to pick up her brother. She was expecting to answer that Michael wasn’t here today when Liz asked, “Can I play with the kittens?”

Diane’s mile broadened. “The kittens?”

“The kittens in your shed,” Liz clarified.

Diane knew very well about the kittens. She was just surprised that Max had told anyone. He had been so overprotective of the kittens upon discovery, announcing that he wouldn’t let anyone else meet them. That he would keep them safe.

“Did Max show you?” Diane asked curiously.

Liz nodded, chewing on her bottom lip. “Uh-huh.”

“Maybe we should ask Max then?”

Something flickered in the little brunette’s eyes before she firmly shook her head. “No. I don’t think….I don’t know if I’m allowed to play with them.”

“Of course you are, honey,” Diane said. “The kittens don’t belong to anyone. Except their mother. And as long as you’re careful with them, you can play with them. They are still a bit young, but I’m sure you’re very careful with them, aren’t you, Lizzie?”

Liz nodded seriously. “Yes.”

“I’m sure that Max doesn’t mind,” Diane added.

Liz grimaced. “Does he have to know?”

Diane’s forehead furrowed in contemplation. Why was it that Liz was so weary of Max knowing? Had her boy been mean to Lizzie? This hypothetical scenario only further served to fuel her need to call Max downstairs. “Max won’t mind at all. And if he’s there with you, he can help you with the kittens. I would help you, but I’m in the middle of making dinner. Let me get Max.”

Liz looked worried for a second and then, as if capitulating to the situation, she sighed, “Okay.”

As Max came down the stairs, he was surprised, to say the least, to find Liz waiting for him. “Hi, Lizzie.”

Diane quietly pulled back to the kitchen, a secret smile on her lips.

Liz straightened, trying to make herself look older than she was. It felt weird to be talking to Max without having Michael around. “Hi, Max.”

A couple of seconds of silence followed as Max waited for Liz to announce why she was there. Since that didn’t seem to happen any time soon, Max eventually asked in his most 7-year-old blunt manner, “What do you want?”

“Can I play with the kittens?” Liz asked.

Max looked at her carefully, not sure if he really wanted her to play with the kittens. She was not supposed to have been in on it to start with and then after yesterday he thought that would be the last time. He wanted to keep strangers away from the kitten because he really didn’t want the cat mom to move the kittens somewhere else.

But then, Liz had contributed with that cool cat name.

“Okay,” he said simply and turned to yell to the kitchen, “Moooom. I’m going out to play with the kittens.”

“Okay, hun,” Diane answered from the kitchen.

“Come on,” Max said and stepped out next to Liz, pulling the door closed behind him.

Liz couldn’t believe her luck. That Max Evans actually would let her play with his kittens. Even though Michael wasn’t around. And as Max opened the door to the shed and led her through the semi-darkness, she had the strangest feeling that Max was a completely different person that day. She wasn’t really sure why, but he just seemed…nicer.

That was the start of several secret play dates between Max and Liz that spring, without Michael being involved. The days Liz had ascertained that Michael was not at Max’s, Liz would ride her back over to the Evans’ residence and together Max and her would go and hang out with the kittens.

-----------------------------------------------------

Two weeks later

“Where are you going?”

Liz stopped dead in her tracks. She thought that Michael was at football practice. But obviously she had been wrong. Liz turned and shrugged. “Out.”

Michael looked at her closely. His sister had been spending a lot of time outside the house lately and he had started to suspect that she might have a secret. Maybe she had found a really good place to play or a good old tree to climb. Ever since they were little, they had been trying to find that perfect tree to build a tree house. Maybe Liz had eventually found it, but for some reason she hadn’t told Michael about it.

“Watcha going to do?” Michael asked simply.

Liz shrugged again, swallowing the truth. The truth that she had really been on her way over to Max’s place to visit the kittens. “Dunno. Ride my bike.”

“I’m going to Max’s. Do you want to come?”

Liz started worrying her lip. She hadn’t played with the kittens all weekend and she really missed them. This might be her only chance in a couple of days. Knowing that she was taking the risk that her secret play time with the kittens might be exposed, Liz agreed, “Fine.”


As they walked up to the Evans’ front door, Liz felt nervous. She was now certain that everything was going to be destroyed. That Michael was going to find out. And since Max was Michael’s best friend, Michael was going to be angry that he had been left out of the loop.

Max was visibly surprised as he found both Liz and Michael on the other side of the door as he swung it open. “Hi.”

“Could we play with the kittens?” Michael said, getting straight to the point.

Max looked at Liz, wondering if she had told, without knowing that Liz was wondering the same thing about him. Even though none of them had spelled it out, it had been silently agreed upon that it was to be their secret. They had both realized that hanging out with each other, excluding Michael’s additional presence, was a lot more fun than when they were three.

“Okay,” Max answered.

They started to walk towards the shed and Michael was the only one that seemed able to form sentences, “Are they big now?”

“Kinda,” Max answered.

“Are you there a lot?” Michael continued.

“Yeah,” Max answered, “Ever since L-“ His mouth shut closed, having almost revealed the whole thing. Looking at Liz, he could see her anxiously awaiting his next move while he simultaneously could feel Michael looking at the side of his head. “Ever since the little kitten started walking around on his own.”

Liz forced a smile on her face and Michael nodded, not having noticed any discrepancies with that reply. “They’re walking?”

“Yeah,” Max replied. “I’ve been playing a lot with one of the kittens.”

Liz frowned. They had been playing with all the kittens. Max looked at her pointedly and her young brain put two and two together. Was Max talking about her? Her world brightened as she suddenly felt like she had fallen into one of her bellowed Phantom comics. Max was using an alias for her. He was talking in code.

Trying not to get too excited, Liz smiled softly at Max, hoping that he would understand that she had gotten the message.

Max felt a thrill of adrenaline go through him at Liz’s telling smile. She had got it. Suddenly their secret had been taken to a whole new level. It was like they were secret agents, out on Kitten Mission.

“Do you have a favorite kitten?” Michael asked as they stepped into the shed.

Suddenly feeling shy and exposed, Max dropped his head as he answered, “Yes.”

Liz looked at his profile curiously.

“Which one?” Michael asked.

Max went up to the litter and picked up the one called Invisible Cat. It was the most fun kitten. It was playful one minute but was calm and purring the next. “This one.”

“Is that one of yours?”

“Uh-huh,” Max answered.

“Cool,” Michael said and reached into the litter to try and find Doctor Doom, one of his kittens.

“Lizzie? Do you want to hold Phantom?” Max asked.

Liz nodded and walked up to accept Phantom as Max held it out for her. As Max put the kitten in her hands, her eyes met his and Max had a feeling her “Thank you” was more than just gratitude for him handing her the kitten.


They played with the kittens for about an hour, until Diane poked her head in and told Max that it was dinner time.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Max asked Michael as they walked out of the shed.

“Tennis,” Michael answered.

“Oh, okay.”

“Whatcha doing?” Michael asked.

Max shrugged. “Dunno.” Glancing in Liz’s direction he added, “I think I’ll play with the kitten tomorrow.”

Liz smiled, gladly accepting the invitation.

“Cool,” Michael said simply. “See ya.”

“Yeah,” Max replied and ran off towards the kitchen door.

From that spring onwards, Liz would remain Max’s favorite kitten.


TBC...

[max and liz believer]

Hi everyone, I have returned

I was so happy to read that you all seemed to enjoy the last chapter - and that it answered some questions.

Ellie
polar vixen
Rice Krispy - Is that a photo of your own bunny in the signature? Because it's just so darn cute!
Alien_Friend
sunrise102
Ginger
Sara
AlysLuv
Kris
Natalie
Stefuh
Kay
Ms_BuffyAnneSummers
dreambeliever
yayaliens - Your post... Awww, I just melted. You keep re-reading this? That is like the best compliment ever!
roswell3053
kismet
Coccy

reminded me of when i was a little girl myself and my friend's cat had her kitten and we used to play with them i experienced a dejavu

Yep, same for me. I grew up on a farm and the main thing we did as spring came around - and all through summer - was searching for litters of kittens in the hay.

Eve
suie

I really loved this chapter, kinda reminded me of my childhood. I love kittens and it was always a big event for me if we got some new ones. And we had the same problems with the sex determination

Hehe, yeah. Sex determination is tricky

twilight

and

Elizabeth

Thank you everyone so much for the feedback!!

Next, we take a peek into the future (again).

Updated Timeline

65. Peanuts and Puppies

Roswell Regional Hospital
(2018) Max is 32, Liz is 32

She had managed to keep it together fairly well. Until Max burst through the door.

His worry slammed into her like a train and she could literally feel something break inside of her. As his worried eyes frantically moved from the hospital bed where their daughter lay to the chair where Liz sat, large tears began to roll down Liz’s face.

He was in front of her in a second, his arms wrapped around her, his fingers buried in her hair as he pressed his wind-cold face into the almost feverish side of her neck.

His voice was trembling, not bearing any resemblance to the strong confident husband she was used to. “Is she okay?”

Her arms tightened around his body as it hit her again. How close they’d been to losing their daughter. “The doctor says…” she had to pause to find the words among the tears, “she’s going to be…” she sobbed in relief, “okay.”

He pulled back and looked at her with tears running down his own cheeks. Nodding slowly, he attempted a brave smile. For her. “Okay.”

His thumbs brushed the tears off her cheeks and he stroked her hair back with the edge of his fingertips. “Tell me what happened.”

“It was a cookie,” Liz sobbed. “A damn cookie.”

He nodded, unconsciously hushing her resignation and frustration.

“I’m not sure how it happened,” Liz was shaking her head. “She knows not to eat them.”

“She probably didn’t know the cookies had nuts in them, kitten,” Max said softly.

Liz licked the tears off her lips and nodded, taking a deep breath. “I’m not upset with her. She knows how dangerous it is. I’m upset with those teachers of hers that felt it was a good idea to distribute cookies with nuts in them.”

Max nodded, “Yeah,” and cast a look at his sleeping daughter. He swallowed. She looked so small and vulnerable in that huge hospital bed.

“We have to talk to the teachers,” he added as he tore his eyes away from Zoe.

Liz met his worried eyes and gave him a weak smile as she hitched her head in the direction of the small girl. “Go and say hi.”

Looking like he was going to cry again, which had Liz’s heart aching, Max sniffled and brushed the tears off his cheeks with the back of his hand. Leaning in and kissing her softly on the lips, his eyes an inch from hers told her everything she needed to know in that instant.

She had to bite her lip to stop the tears from turning into a waterfall.

They had found out when Zoe was merely a toddler and got a hold of a peanut, that their daughter was allergic to nuts. It had been a trip to the emergency then as well, with their daughter gasping for air in her arms as Max drove the car through the heavy traffic like he was a possessed madman.

Never again. That’s what they had told themselves. They never wanted to make that same trip again.

But then it had happened again, today. A cookie that had looked harmless had contained some invisible traces of nuts and one bite had been enough to send Zoe into an anaphylactic state.

Zoe’s voice brought Liz back from her reverie. “Hi dad.”

The weight in Liz’s heart eased off a little bit and a relieved sniffle escaped her. But she remained in her spot, wanting to give Zoe some one-on-one with her father.

Max kissed Zoe’s forehead as he struggled to keep up the strong façade. “Hey baby. I heard you got into some trouble.”

Zoe smiled sheepishly, weakly, at his joking jab. “Yeah…a little bit.”

Max nodded and hugged her carefully. He felt the strong need to keep touching her, to make sure that she was still there. Still breathing. Still alive.

Only Liz picked up on the tremble in his voice. “How’re you feeling?”

“Tired,” Zoe answered.

“Can I get you anything?”

“Uhm…” she bit her lower lip, an action so similar to her mom that Max’s heart sighed another sigh of relief. “You know that pony we discussed?”

He was so surprised at her words that he choked on his tears. He looked at her in disbelief, amusement in his eyes. “Pony?”

“Come on, daddy. All the other girls have one.”

A sobbing laughter was heard from Liz’s corner and Max rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure. All the other girls in the middle of the suburb have a pony.”

Zoe pouted her lips in protest but the twinkle of amusement in her eyes let both her parents know that she knew very well that the whole pony thing would never work. But if the conversation calmed her worried parents down some, that’s all she wanted.

“A white one,” Zoe said. “Wouldn’t that be soo cute?”

Max raised an eyebrow. “And where are you gonna put this pony? In the garage? The kitchen? Under your bed?”

Liz shook her head. “Naah, there’s too many stuffed animals and horse magazines under her bed. It wouldn’t fit.”

“What’s this fascination with horses?” Max wondered, seemingly to himself.

“They’re pretty.”

“They eat grass.”

Zoe shrugged. “So?”

“They smell.”

“They’re magnificent.”

“They cost money.”

“I could ride her in competitions and win money.”

“Which brings us right back to the issue of that we don’t have a farm. We barely have a garden.”

Zoe sighed dramatically. “Okay. Fine.”

“How about a hamster?” Max tried, hating to see his daughter so resigned while not being able to read through her charade at all, his worry blinding him from the truth.

Zoe couldn’t help but smile and rose up slightly off the pillows, her arms stretched out, inviting him into a hug.

He gladly enveloped her in his arms, kissing the top of her head.

“I love you, daddy.”

“Love you too, peanut.”

The first time Max had called Zoe ‘peanut’ after her first anaphylactic shock, Liz had almost killed him for the inappropriateness. But it had been like a disease that Max couldn’t stop. Almost like how he had called Liz ‘kitten’ for so many years. Zoe was now his ‘peanut’, and it was not until the word was out of his mouth that he realized that Liz might be hurt by that word right this moment.

But her quiet ‘I can’t believe you just said that’-chuckle from behind him reassured him of the opposite.

“And please make mom stop crying,” Zoe said into his ear, loud enough for Liz to hear.

Max smiled as he pulled back and reached out to mess up her hair. For once, Zoe let him.

“I’m fine,” Liz said defensively. “It’s happy tears.”

Max looked at her lovingly. “Come here, Parker.”

Liz got up from her seat and pressed herself up against Max’s side as he wrapped one arm around her waist. He planted a kiss on her forehead, before they both returned their attention to their daughter.

Freaked out by the unwavering attention, Zoe frowned. “What?”

“Don’t you ever scare us like that again,” Max said seriously.

“Ever,” Liz parroted.

The admonishment begged for an eye-roll, but the seriousness of the situation stopped Zoe from doing just that. “I’ll be more careful.”

Liz softened. “It’s not your fault, baby. We’re just so…” A sob put an end to her words.

“Worried…about you,” Max filled in.

“I’m fine,” Zoe assured her parents with a look much more mature than her meager age of five.

Max pressed a kiss to Zoe’s forehead and tried to will his nerves to relax. Fine. They were fine.

----------------------------------------------------

One week later

“Hoooney, I’m hooome!”

Liz gave Max an incredulous look as he appeared in the hallway. Seeing her amused face, he smiled and shrugged. “I’ve always wanted to say that.”

She just shook her head, a faint smile on her lips, before she returned her attention to adding frosting to the cupcakes. As her attention was diverted, Max stepped outside the front door and picked up the cardboard box he had deposited there just a few seconds earlier.

It was not the shuffling sound of the box being placed inside the hallway that caught Liz’s attention, but the high-pitched sporadic whines. The cupcakes once again forgotten, she turned to stare first at the box and then at her husband. “What’s that?”

Max looked appropriately pleased with himself. “It’s a gift.”

“A whining gift?”

Max nodded. “Uh-huh.”

Liz frowned. “For whom?”

“Zoe.”

Slowly the pieces started to fall in place and Liz’s mouth fell open. “You didn’t…”

Max nodded slowly, his eyes lightening with excitement.

Trying to contain her excitement, to act like the responsible parent, Liz whispered loudly, “You got her a dog?”

“Yup.”

“But… Max, no. We can’t. That’s a lot of responsibility. Besides-“

“It’s not just for her,” Max interrupted. “It’s supposed to be for the whole family.”

Liz met Max’s eyes and knew that she would never be able to stop him. She just didn’t even want to. She had always wanted to give Max a dog, ever since his own dog got run over when he was a boy. Plus, she herself had wished for a pet since she was in her early teens. And maybe the timing wasn’t perfect, Liz being pregnant with their second child, but there was nothing Liz wanted more than to open that box herself and welcome that puppy into their home.

She fell to her knees in front of the box and almost melted as the sniffing sounds from a wet nose got up close to one of the many circular breathing holes. Pressing a finger to the hole, she received an instantaneous lick. “Max…”

Max smiled at her wondrous whisper. “Should I get her?”

Too excited to speak, Liz merely managed to nod. Struggling to not rip the box open, Liz tightened her fists and got to her feet. As she took a step away from the box, she heard the excited footsteps of their daughter approaching.

“A present? What is it, daddy?”

“You’ll have to wait and see,” Max answered and Liz had to bite her bottom lip to quench the excitement as Zoe came up next to her. Liz looked down at her daughter, who was staring at the box intently.

“What is it?”

“Go ahead,” Max said.

Zoe feet quickly swallowed the short distance between her and the box. As her small hands worked to open the box, the box itself started to move thanks to its lively inhabitant. As the top flew open, a wet long tongue attacked Zoe’s face.

“It’s a dog!” Zoe exclaimed excitedly among giggles as a Labrador puppy rolled out of the box, trying to sneak a taste of every part of Zoe’s face as the box was pushed away behind him.

Spotting the rest of the humans, the dog bounced off to jump on Liz, who wanted nothing rather than to giggle and run around excitedly just like her five-year-old was doing.

“Hey sweetie,” Liz cooed and was just about to scratch the dog behind the ear when the puppy was distracted by Max and flew over to him. But quickly realizing that Max was too tall and therefore the human’s face was out of reach, the dog attention reverted to the little girl sitting on the floor. Running at her with full speed, the dog caused Zoe to fall backwards laughing as he crawled around on top of her, covering her in saliva.

Liz laughed and looked in Max’s direction only to find Max looking at her silently.

“Is it okay?” he asked softly.

Smiling widely, she walked up to him and pressed a kiss on his lips. “It’s perfect.”

“Is he staying?” Zoe got out through laughter as she tried to get back into a seated position, all the while an exuberant dog crawling all over her.

“Of course he is,” Max answered. “This is his home now.”

“Yaaaaay!!” Zoe screamed and hugged the dog, who immediately tried to wriggle out of the embrace so that he could determine on his own condition where to move. “What’s his name?”

“He doesn’t have one yet,” Max answered.

Struggling to get back to her feet, Zoe panted, “Can I name him?”

“Of course, baby,” Liz answered.

“Uncle Michael.”

Liz bit her lip hard to stop herself from laughing, while Max was less successful. A surprised laugh flew across his lips before he cleared his throat and struggled to make his facial features serious. “You want to name the dog after Uncle Michael?”

Her parents’ initial response had added a certain determination to Zoe’s suggestion as she now looked back and forth between her parents with an unfaltering gaze. “Yes.”

“But that name is already taken,” Liz tried, struggling to not laugh as she imagined the reaction on her brother’s face as he found out that a hairy drooling dog had been named after him.

“But I like Uncle Michael,” Zoe insisted.

“Isn’t it a bit long?” Max tried, even though he was secretly amused that the dog would be named after Michael.

Zoe looked at her father as if he had the intelligence quota of a cucumber. “But ooooh, we can just call him Mike. Like we do with Uncle Michael.”

“Right,” Liz smiled.

Max cleared his throat, not daring to look in his wife’s direction out of fear that he would completely lose the constraint he had on his feelings. “Mike it is.”

“Yaaaay!” Zoe exclaimed and started bouncing with joy. Excited about the display of happiness, Mike the Dog joined in by jumping on his back legs, trying to alternatively lick and nibble the moving human arms.

Max stepped up to Liz, put an arm around her and pulled her into his side while he nuzzled his mouth against the side of her neck. “He’s gonna think I named him.”

Liz chuckled. “Yep.”

“But I would never be able to come up with something this good,” Max admitted.

Liz smiled. “Nope.”

“God, I love that kid.”

Liz laughed. Together they watched Mike the Dog run around Zoe as Zoe spun in circles in the hallway, giggling as the dog tried to catch her.


TBC...

[max and liz believer]

Hiya! I have returned

The upcoming two chapters are both written on requests from you guys; to explain some points.

Eve

And Liz is pregnant again? What's is going to be? boy? or girl again?

That would be Brianna Sorry, that's the confusing bit about my story, the jumping around

dreambeliever
Natalie
Ms_BuffyAnneSummers
coccy
kismet
Ellie
sunrise102
Stefuh
yayaliens

this was a wonderful birthday present

It was your birthday?! Happy belated birthday!!! I hope you had a great one

Ginger
Alien_Friend
Guel
RiceKrispy

He still has the same facial expressions, though, and will always sit somewhere and stare at you like he's judging you.

Awww. Cute!

What kind of puppy did they get?

A Labrador

roswell3053
Kris
BlueStar8

I am really interested in finding out what the heck they put in the water in Sweden that they grow people like you! Your emphaty, your kindness, your insight, your maturity - there are no words, so I am just not going to attempt to tell you what you do to your readers. Let's just say that I am very happy you are here while I am here and I can enjoy the wonder of your brain!

I'm speechless here.... Blushing like an idiot. Thank you! I guess the water is good here

suie

I re-read this whole story and I have to say that I still wonder how Ryan Andersons party ended. Michael was at the same party and from the future parts I guess he never found out about the closet. Either there was a major event (e.g. an explosion ) also taking place so that this "small incident" got forgotten or he found out and didn´t care... which I also doubt

Well, Michael appears clueless, but he's not. He rather act blind about the whole thing than have to think about what it would actually mean if what he was fearing was actually true. I don't think I'll be writing a chapter about what happened just after Ryan Anderson's party, but there was definitely gossiping (as you already suspected). And this was kinda what fueled the future gossiping about Max and Liz's relationship in the small community of Roswell. But Michael chose to ignore it. He knew that a lot of rumours generally are fake and he saw with his own eyes how Max and Liz interacted - seemingly hating each other. So he chose to ignore those small suspicions he occasionally had that the rumours might be true.

Also what about Maria? Did Liz tell her? And how did Max react to the school gossip, which probably picked up on the whole incident?

Liz kinda told Liz in chapter 63 (Homeless), so when Liz was 17.

And I also wonder if we ever gonna find out what Max thought when Liz was spinning the bottle. He must have realised that it was a pretty bad decision to put Liz into that circle. At least I hope so

Hmmmm...maybe I'll write a short Max POV on that...Maybe...

Sara
somewhere87

Random note: You're from Sweden too? Jag med *high five*

A fellow Swede? Sweeet. Det finns inte så svenskar på det här forumet längre, så jättekul

Jess

This story is great, it keeps you on your toes and it's so refreshing that you never know what's going to happen next because you never know what part of the timeline is going to be next.

I think it's great that this story can bring your to both sides of the spectrum. Your either fighting tears of sadness and sympthy or like I said above fighting belly jiggling laughter.

It's great, your doing a wonderful job and I can't wait to find out what's next.

Aww, hun. Thank you!

You know, I would really love to find out what's going on in Nancy's head. Why she acts the way she does and find out how she feels when confronted with the knowledge that she's constantly hurting her daughter. Maybe at the Fouth of July picnic we haven't heard anything about yet.

Ask and you shall receive...

Elle

You've done such a great job of developing the characters. I think the best stories are those driven by character development rather than plot and you're very good at it.

Character development is the most interesting and fun part about writing, in my opinion

Destiny

and

Elizabeth


Let's just dive straight back into it, shall we? Thank you everyone so much for the feedback!!

Updated Timeline

66. Colorblind

On the street outside of Max and Liz’s house
(2018) Max is 33, Liz is 32

She had arrived a bit too early. One hour to be exact. So she had parked further down the street to avoid detection. Shooting the hundred-fifteenth look at her watch, she noticed that time was steadily ticking closer to the actual arrival time.

She was nervous, but not really sure why. It was not like she was meeting strangers. Two of the people in the small house she were to visit were her own flesh and blood. She had carried them for nine months each – one for a little bit more than that even.

They had been protected then. She had been their protector. That wasn’t the case anymore.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled down the sunshield and checked her make-up. As per usual, it was flawless. Not a single hair was out of place. That was the way she liked it. It provided her with a sense of security, of order. As long as she had control, nothing would surprise or scare her. She would always be prepared.

Except when it concerned her children. And lately, her marriage.

She shook the drowning feelings of failure off her the second they decided to assault her. She wasn’t a martyr and she would rather die than turn into one.

She glanced at her watch. Nine minutes to spare. The next breath fluttered in her chest with nervousness.

Mentally preparing herself, she grabbed her purse from the leathered passenger seat and stepped out of the expensive car. The car had been a gift. But she couldn’t see it as anything else than a bribe. A bribe for her silence, for her compliance. A bribe to make her blind to her husband’s extracurricular activities.

The car was locked with the typical ‘beep beep’ of a central lock system and she headed for the small beige house up the street.

The rays from the bright midday sun were beating down on her as she ran her hands over her dress one last time before ringing the door bell.

She could hear commotion on the other side of the door. Maybe she wasn’t too early. It sounded like the party was already in full swing. Or maybe she was late. Maybe she had misread the invitation. Maybe they had given her another time. Maybe they-

Her anxious train of thought was abruptly interrupted as the door opened and her eyes blinked down to the curly dark head of her past. It was as if her own daughter was standing in front of her, having regressed to a four-year-old girl.

“Grandma!!” the little girl erupted and Nancy was stiff with something akin to shock as the little girl threw her arms around her grandmother’s waist.

She had never met her granddaughter before. She had wanted to, but time had passed by too fast. Much too fast. Now the baby she had wanted to help support financially four years ago was very much a small person on her own, beautiful in a yellow sundress with pink flowers.

Nancy managed to get the child’s name across her lips before the door was opened even further in front of her, revealing the blank face of her son-in-law. His expressionless face made the nervousness escalate and in automatic response her spine straightened and she donned her own facial mask of blankness.

“Zoe,” Max said, the warmness in his voice when he addressed his daughter in sharp contrast with the coldness in his eyes as he looked at his mother-in-law. “Go and help your mom. She’s taking the cookies out of the oven.”

Zoe’s face brightened even further as Nancy looked down into the face of Elizabeth’s replica. A coldness washed over Nancy as Zoe’s warm arms let go of her grandmother. Zoe turned and basically skipped towards the kitchen. Before she turned the corner she turned around and locked eyes with Nancy. “I’m so happy you’re here, Grandma.”

A bittersweet warmth flooded Nancy’s heart. A feeling of deep inexplicable love for the little girl, but also a feeling of treason. She didn’t deserve the little girl’s love, not after having been missing from her life…for her whole life.

Looking back at Max, Nancy suspected those same thoughts were currently running through his mind.

“Nancy,” he said evenly.

She could practically feel her face hardening. “Maxwell.”

There was a pause and, against her will, Nancy wondered what was going on in Max’s head. His face was completely unreadable.

“Welcome,” Max said and something softer seemed to grace his features. “Please, come in. Everyone’s in the kitchen.”

Nancy frowned. “I thought I was early.” Unbeknownst to Nancy, there was the regular accusative bite to her voice that made Max’s voice sharper as he answered, “They all arrived early, wanting to help out with the food.”

Nancy remained silent. She wanted to say something back, but Max’s statement already spoke volumes of why he didn’t like her. She hadn’t come early and offered her pregnant daughter to help with the food.

With Max’s words ringing in her ears, the bright chaos in the kitchen only served to make her feel even more out of place.

“Watch out! It’s hot-“

“Lizzie, do you have any chili powder?”

“It’s on the second shelf, next to the salt.”

“Ser, you can use this one instead. It has some more bite in it.”

“Michael! No free tastings of the muffins!”

“Are we having potatoes?”

“We’re gonna eat it later anyway, why can’t I give it my approval right now?”

“They’re on the stove. Actually, they should be done now. Dad, could you pour the water off the potatoes?”

“Oooh, Maria, come here. She’s kicking!”

“Michael, get out of the way!”

“Oh, hi mother.”

Feeling appropriately overwhelmed in the crammed kitchen with all the helping hands, Nancy almost jumped when Michael stepped up to her. His words were like poison and the room grew quiet in a heartbeat. Nancy swallowed as she met everyone’s eyes. But her words were proper and, thank God, controlled as she answered, “Hello, Michael.”

Liz’s voice sounded happy from the corner of the kitchen as she said, “Mother.” She waded through the ocean of staring people and put her arms around her mother. “I’m so happy you came.”

Nancy felt like she had ended up in an alternate universe. Her daughter released her with a smile and before Nancy had a chance to reply, Liz announced, “Everyone, this is my mother. Mother, this is Serena, Daniel, Maria you know, Philip… And… you know the rest.” There were polite smiles on the faces of the people she had never met, while the people belonging to ‘the rest’ gave her mixed facial expressions.

“Hello,” Nancy answered stiffly, trying to swallow back the nervousness that was threatening to drown her.

Liz grabbed her daughter’s hand and led her in front of her, in front of Nancy. “And this, is Zoe.”

“She knows,” Zoe answered pointedly, which had Michael laugh behind them.

“Okay,” he said with a clap. “I’m starving. Let’s get this show on the road.”

His words broke the silence and the mayhem was back on. With the sounds enveloping them in a private cocoon, Liz said, “Thank you for coming.”

Nancy looked into her daughter’s eyes and silently pleaded with her to not bring up the reason why she was at a party without her husband. She really didn’t need her daughter’s pity.

“Thank you for the invitation,” Nancy said politely.

Liz smiled and squeezed her arm. Liz turned to Zoe, who was watching Nancy intently. “Zoe, how about you go and show Grandma where the napkins are and maybe you can put them out on the table together.”

“Yes,” Zoe said with confidence. “I know where they are.”

Liz smiled. “Perfect.”

Liz gave Nancy a tentative smile as she told Zoe to, “Take care of your Grandma now, hun.”

Zoe seemed to grow two inches with the important task. “I will.”

Not knowing what to say, Nancy followed the young girl into the living room. Zoe pointed to a drawer. “Mom keeps the napkins in there, but I can’t open it.”

“I can do it,” Nancy said, happy to have something to do.

As she pulled out the drawer, multiple-colored napkins were revealed. Inwardly, Nancy cringed. It didn’t help matters that the napkins were also out of paper, not fabric.

“Let’s get the orange ones!” Zoe exclaimed and since this was out of her comfort zone anyway, Nancy obliged and pulled out the bright orange paper napkins.

“The table’s out here,” Zoe pointed and disappeared out on the veranda and it was with certain trepidation that Nancy followed.

-----------------------------------------------------

Thirty minutes later

“…and then Mike comes in and he gives me this look, as if I’ve done something wrong-“

“You did!,” Michael cried out, but no really believed him as everyone laughed.

Maria reached over and slapped her husband on the arm. “Hush you. I’m telling the story.”

Nancy tuned them out as her thoughts once again turn introspective. She had barely uttered three words since they had sat down at the table. She had forced herself not to make a face as Max handed her a plastic fork. A plastic fork! And even though her behind was tired from the very uncomfortable outdoor plastic chair, she hadn’t complained. Not even when her own son started to speak with food in his mouth did she speak up, even though her hands were itching to pull the dead piece of cow out of his hand as he was gnawing on it while trying to prove that he hadn’t been the one to turn Maria’s blouse from white to pink.

But as Liz started to discuss her pregnancy, Nancy couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Have you been looking at a new place?”

The table grew silent as seven pairs of eyes locked onto her face.

“No,” Liz answered. “No, we haven’t.”

“We’re happy here,” Max interjected, shooting Liz a look that Nancy failed to interpret.

“But isn’t it… a little crammed?” Nancy asked, trying to choose her words carefully. She had learnt to understand that her own sense of space and her daughter’s sense of space didn’t really correspond with each other.

“It’s fine,” Max answered, a tightness to his voice.

Nancy followed Liz’s hand as it covered Max’s hand, which was resting on the table.

“We have an extra room,” Liz said evenly. “Right now it’s Max’s study, but he doesn’t really need it. We’re gonna make it into a nursery.”

Nancy desperately tried to see their logic. “Is it not easier to purchase a new home?”

“This is our home,” Liz answered.

“If it is about money, I can assist you,” Nancy tried. Her grandchildren should at least have the space to move around.

“It’s not about money,” Max bit out.

Nancy frowned, irritation putting its claws into her. Why did he always have to intervene?

“Max, please,” Liz said, looking around the table at the increasing discomfort the conversation was causing the rest of her guests.

“Nancy, could I speak with you? In private?” Max asked.

Nancy looked at her daughter and then sighed. It was with a hint of sarcasm that she answered, “Of course.”

She followed her son-in-law into the living room and closed the veranda door behind them.

“Look,” Max said and turned to face her. “If you haven’t caught onto it yet, Liz gave you a second chance here. For God knows what reasons, she wants to make things work between you two. She wants Zoe to get to know her grandmother. So really, Nancy, the ball is in your court. You can go ahead and mess this up, the way you know best, or you can try and act like a compassionate human being for once and appreciate what your daughter is trying to do here.”

Nancy stared at Max. The once skinny dark-haired boy that had played mud war with Michael and had dared Elizabeth to swallow a fly. Who was he to tell her what to do? Who was he to have the right to bear judgment on her character; who she was or wasn’t?

“Don’t presume to tell me what to do,” she said darkly.

As if she was a lost cause, Max sighed, “Fine. I’m just trying to give you a pointer. Because that’s not just Lizzie we’re talking about in there, that’s my daughter. And I will not refrain from hurting you really badly if you even attempt to mess her up.”

Nancy shivered in the warmness of the house. “Are you threatening me?” She had on several occasions tried to figure out why Max Evans seemed so adamant about disliking her. What had she ever done to him? She had allowed him to play with Michael. She hadn’t stopped her daughter from seeing him. But for some reason he seemed to be on a mission to throw her out of her daughter’s life.

Max looked at her grimly. “Do you love her?”

Nancy crossed her arms tightly over her chest, feeling cornered. “Who?”

“Liz,” Max answered simply.

“Of course I do.”

“And do you want to remain in her life?”

“What kind of absurd question is that?”

“Then I suggest that you start to listen to what I have to say. You might think that I want to get rid of you. That I want you to have no contact with Liz. Obviously, it would make things easier. But all I’m really interested in is that Liz is happy. And right now, she thinks that having you in her life is gonna make her happy. Because of that, I’m gonna do everything in my power to fulfill her wish. But you, Nancy, are making it really hard.”

“What do you have against me?”

Max looked at her incredulously. “What do I have against you?”

Nancy frowned. Was he stupid? “Yes.”

“I’ve been under the impression that you are the one having something against me.”

Nancy huffed. Well, it wasn’t a lie. Things would be much better if he hadn’t been part of them. If Elizabeth had instead married someone of her own kind. Someone with money, who could provide her with the financial security she needs.

“You’re not exactly the type of person I would’ve chosen for my Elizabeth.”

Max gave a humorless laugh. “Yeah, thank God.”

“I don’t think you are capable of seeing this from my point of view-“ Nancy started.

Max spread his arms out in invitation. “Well then. Enlighten me.”

Annoyed by his sarcasm, Nancy continued, “I’ve always wanted the best for my children. I invested a lot of energy into teaching Elizabeth and Michael proper manners. I was never worried about Michael. He’s a boy; society is easier on him. Besides, he was going to inherit some of Jeffrey’s wealth. Because of that, I did not mind too much who he decided to marry, as long as she had a proper job and a purpose in life. Not a dancer or a waitress-“

Max rolled his eyes and injected acidly, “Of course not.”

Nancy’s body tightened at his rudeness. “But Elizabeth…. Society has become nicer to the female gender, but she is still in a man’s world. I raised her to be the most appealing to the majority of men, so that she could have whatever man she wanted.”

“Within your class,” Max added.

The lines around Nancy’s mouth tightened. “Yes. Within our class. I wanted to give her the financial security, but I still wanted her to be able to choose the man she wanted. Is that such a bad thing? I only wished the best for my daughter.”

“Fine,” Max said. “But I’m not sure you really see Liz’s point of view.”

“She was too young to understand. If you hadn’t distracted her, she would’ve married some eligible stable man and she would’ve appreciated what I had been trying to do.”

“You called her fat-“

“I most certainly did not-“

“You called her cheap.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“She wasn’t pretty enough-“

“She needed to dress better.”

“And I believe you even called her a whore once.”

“She needed to be alerted to the road she was very close to traveling down.”

Max shook his head. “I guess you have an excuse for everything.”

“They’re not excuses.”

“But even if you have excuses for how you treated her, the fact still remains that Liz is eternally scarred psychologically because of your parenting methods.”

Nancy didn’t want to discuss this any longer. This was absurd. “Then why, if I hurt her so much and she hates me so much, does she still call me? Why does she still come to visit?”

“Why is it that today is the first time you’ve met your grandchild?”

“That’s not my fault.”

“I didn’t see you making any effort to contact Zoe.”

Nancy started to feel unfairly treated. “Maybe if I had been treated a bit more nicely and had felt a bit more welcome, I would’ve been more likely to try and make contact.”

Max raised his eyebrows. “Oh, so it’s our fault?”

Nancy’s arms tightened across her chest. “Part of it, yes.”

Max opened his mouth to retaliate, but seemed to change his mind and instead sighed. “Look. I don’t want to rehash all of that. That’s a conversation between you and Liz. I just wanted you to know that maybe you should watch what you say because if I find that you’re stepping over the line, you’re out of here. Understood?”

“Listen to me, young man.” She was not going to be lectured by a boy half her age. “That is my daughter in there and unless she throws me out, I’m welcome here.”

Max sighed. “Fucking unbelievable.” While he put his hand on the door handle and pulled it open, he mumbled, “Like talking to a wall.”

Nancy stared at his departure, feeling flustered as the mixed feelings of sadness, anger and injustice moved through her.

---------------------------------------------------

Three hours later

“How’re you holding up?”

Nancy turned at the voice and struggled to get her emotions in check. She had been watching her grandchildren play in the garden and sadness had gripped her. A sense of that she had missed this part with her own kids. Max’s earlier words had hit her hard and she had been running them back and forth in her head. Things were not as black and white as she had tried to make them. So she had been standing here, watching, and wondering if she had truly messed her children’s lives up, like Max had claimed.

She was surprised to find Max’s father standing behind her. “Uhm… I’m doing well.”

“I remember my first Max and Liz party,” Philip said with a smile. “Actually, no. First time was a Michael and Maria party. But they’re kinda the same. Only difference is the location.”

“Right,” Nancy said politely, trying to figure out where this was all going. And why he was even talking to her. Not a single person had addressed her since Max had left her in the living room three hours earlier. Even Zoe had been too busy playing to notice that Nancy might be in the need of a granddaughter hug.

“I was exhausted by the end of it. Chaos. Everyone talking at once. And one second they’re laughing, then Maria is yelling at Michael and soon thereafter the babies start screaming.”

Nancy appreciated the gesture and forced a smile on her lips. But it felt like her face was being strained in an odd way. “It’s a bit much.”

Philip nodded slowly. “Yeah. But you get used to it. And now I almost fall asleep when I go to ‘normal’ parties. I’ve got addicted to the drama, I guess.”

The corners of Nancy’s mouth twitched. “’Drama’ is the right word.”

“But it’s helped. They’re kinda my therapy group.”

Nancy searched her memory for what he was referring to and darkly came up with the death of his wife several years ago. The death of Max’s mother. She had conveniently forgotten about that in her need to dislike Max. Being reminded once again brought forward sympathy for the boy. A sympathy she hadn’t felt since the day of Diane’s funeral. She had heard rumors of how distraught Philip had been. How he hadn’t left the house and how Max had moved out shortly thereafter.

Somehow, it gave her hope. Here was a man that had suffered immense grief and as a result had alienated the people around him. Yet, here he was. Back to living in the real world. Back to smiling and making jokes.

“A very interesting choice of therapy,” Nancy remarked.

Philip laugh was deep and warm. “Yes. Very.”

They fell into a comfortable silence as their attention was drawn back to the laughing kids chasing each other across a lawn that was in desperate need of being mowed.

Philip cleared his throat. “Okay, well. I’m gonna get going.”

Nancy looked at him surprised. Already? It felt like she had finally found someone that she could feel comfortable around and now he was about to leave. “Oh, really?”

“Yes,” Philip said. “But it was really nice meeting you again, Nancy. It’s been awhile.”

She nodded and the smile came more naturally this time. “It has.”

“I hope it won’t be too long until we meet again,” Philip said pointedly.

Nancy’s smile widened. “Me neither.”

He tipped his head to her, as if he was respectfully tipping a hat to her, and left her alone.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to see if she could help out with anything. She might as well make herself useful. She wasn’t ready to go home to that large empty mansion yet.

She immediately spotted her daughter by the barbecue. As she watched, Max walked up to Liz and both being unaware that they had an audience, Max put an arm around Liz’s waist and kissed the side of her neck.

Liz’s laughter was carried across the lawn to where Nancy was standing and it hit Nancy that her daughter looked really happy. Happier than she could ever remember seeing Liz while she was living under Nancy’s roof. Nancy watched in silence as Max tickled Liz and how Liz would try and push him away, her pregnant belly bumping into the barbecue. A minute later, Max left Liz alone and disappeared into the house.

Nancy seized this moment to walk up to Liz. She looked up with a blushing face, as a result of her husband’s escapades, and her smile faltered some when she saw her mother. “Mother. Hi.”

There was a sting in Nancy’s heart. She had herself taught her kids to call her ‘mother’, but in the last couple of hours she had desperately yearned for a simple ‘mom’.

“I’m sorry,” Nancy whispered.

Liz’s face turned puzzled and then serious. She put down the cleaning cloth and turned to face her mother fully. “About what?”

“About everything,” Nancy replied.

Liz frowned. “What are you talking about, Mother?”

“That,” Nancy said softly. “Amongst other things.”

Liz looked even more confused. “You’re not making any sense…”

“Your husband-“ Nancy started but winced at her own choice of words before correcting herself, “Max told me a few things earlier.”

Liz suddenly looked somewhat scared and nervous. “Okay…”

“Maybe I haven’t been fair to you.”

“About what…?” There was insecurity in Liz’s voice that gave Nancy the impression that Liz knew exactly what Nancy was talking about.

“About your choices in life. About Max. About where you want to belong in the world. I wanted you to be part of my world, but I can see now that maybe it wasn’t for you.”

Liz seemed shocked to the point that Nancy got a bit worried. The color had drained from her daughter’s face and she had grown utterly silent.

“I wanted to give you what I didn’t have. I never got to fall in love. My life was laid out in front of me even before I was old enough to comprehend it. And I understand that it might seem as if I’ve done the same thing to you, but that was not my intention. I wanted you to have everything you wanted. I wanted you to be able to choose. But when you got together with Max I was so afraid that he would hurt you and leave you. And if he stayed, he wouldn’t be able to support you…financially. I wanted to push you to reach your full potential. I wanted to protect you, but I can see my errors now. Maybe it’s because of your father, but things are looking different now.”

Nancy cradled Liz’s cheek in her hand as a lonesome tear tumbled down it and her voice softened as she said, “Maybe it’s because you are now a beautiful woman, a mother yourself, that I see things differently. And I’ve tried really hard to not acknowledge it before, but it’s obvious how much Max loves you.”

More tears tumbled down Liz’s cheeks and she nodded slowly, a faint smile on her lips.

“So,” Nancy said. “Will you forgive me? It might take me a while to change, but I’m gonna do my best.”

Liz laughed a bit through the sobs and dropped her head as she wiped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand. “I think I’m dreaming.”

“I’m sorry,” Nancy repeated. She felt like she was outside of her body. But at the same time, she felt more at home in her own skin than she had done for years. In a way, Jeffrey cheating on her was liberating. She felt free for the first time since she got married. Looking at her crying daughter, she desperately hoped that she would be able to change. That she would be able to see past everything in Liz’s life that still clashed with her own beliefs. Because watching her grandchildren run around playing had made her realized that she didn’t want to lose out on any more childhoods.

“You hurt me, Mother,” Liz whispered. “You did. And it’s not something I’m just gonna forget. But… I’ve always hoped that this day would come. So now when it seems like it’s here, I won’t let you get away.”

Nancy felt her own eyes moisten. What an odd feeling. She hadn’t cried since she was a young woman.
“Thank you, Elizabeth.”

Liz laughed softly. “Okay. Let’s start there.” She reached out her hand and Nancy looked at it oddly. At the pointed look Liz was giving her, Nancy eventually grabbed it.

“Hi. I’m Elizabeth. But please call me Liz.”

Warmth flowed through Nancy’s heart and she smiled. “Nice to meet you. I’m Mom.”

Liz smiled and pulled her mother into a hug. One that wasn’t as awkward as the previous ones. “Thank you, Mom.”


TBC...

[max and liz believer]

Hi everyone!

Okay, here's the deal. As I've been saying for a couple of chapters now, this story is getting close to its end. I was hoping that I would be able to finish it in the close future, but as it happens, I've just landed my first vet job. It's a substitute position for three months, but it will give me some experience which is excellent since it's been my previous lack of experience that has made it hard for me to get a job. The job, however, is in Norway. The very northern part. Apparently they have the world's most northern Subway And in the summer, the sun doesn't set. So it's gonna be an experience. And I'm leaving tomorrow.

So, this probably means (knowing myself) that I'll write more than ever when I'm there, because I'll be having a lot of time to get through after work. But of course, I can't make any promises, because maybe there'll be a lot of things going on so I won't have time.

But in any case, I'm leaving you with an update now and hoping that you won't have to wait 3 months until you see me again.

coccy
beautifyldreamer
Moomin
Ellie

Very nice...so happy that Nancy is going to try and be "human" for lack of a better term, it's about time. And what's with Philip? Is this some new happening?

Ginger

You got those vibes too? I didn't post anything about it because ... well, that would be too weird, dontcha think?

Ahum...weeeell

Eve
Ginger
yayaliens
Alien_Friend
sunrise102
dreambeliever
Natalie
roswell3053
Sara
Stefuh
AlysLuv
Kay
LoveIsForever
Kismet
Laira
Kate

and

Elizabeth


We're not gonna venture too far away from the previous chapter...

Updated Timeline


67. Twenty Questions

Max and Liz’s bedroom
(2018) Max is 32, Liz is 31

“Do you think we have a lot of sex?”

Liz looked at him amused. “As in ‘too much’ sex?”

Max slowly traced his hand along the curvature of Liz’s spine. “I was just thinking… It’s kinda insane if everyone else is having this much sex.”

Liz raised an eyebrow. “Insane?”

“I don’t even want to picture that about some people,” Max mused.

Liz laughed and turned to face him. Placing a soft kiss against his bottom lip, she looked up into his eyes and said, “Apparently sex is good for your health.”

“Oh, I’m really not objecting,” Max hurried to say, not wanting Liz to get the wrong idea.

She moved to more fully drape her body across his. “No?”

“Hell no,” Max said. “It’s just… you’d tell me if it was too much, right?”

“You want me to let you know if I’m feeling used?” Liz asked, a twinkle in her eye.

“Basically.”

“Deal,” Liz agreed. “But I don’t think there’s much risk of that happening. I think we are equally to blame for all the hot lovin’.”

He smirked and kissed the tip of her nose. “Really?”

“Really,” she answered.

“Love you,” he whispered, wrapping his arms around her back.

“Ditto,” Liz retorted.

“So…we’re telling Zoe tomorrow?”

Liz nodded. “Yep. Do you wanna do it together?”

“Definitely,” Max replied.

“You’re on, dude.”

--------------------------------------------------

The next day
Zoe’s bedroom

“Mommy, are you going to read me a story tonight?”

“Daddy and I have something to tell you,” Liz answered and pulled back the covers on the bed. “Come here, sweetheart.”

Zoe jumped into the bed and pushed her legs underneath the cool covers. Liz pulled the covers back up and Max walked into the room as Liz was tucking Zoe in. “There. Snug as a bug.”

Zoe rubbed her eye with the back of her hand as she yawned.

“Maybe we should tell her tomorrow,” Max said, kneeling next to Liz, next to the bed. “She’s tired.”

“I’m not tired,” Zoe protested weakly, her eyelids heavy.

“Let’s give it a shot,” Liz said, pushing the dark curls back from Zoe’s face. “What would you say about getting a little brother or sister?”

Zoe blinked. “Brother or sister?”

Max chuckled. “She’s too tired, Parker.”

“Yeah, you will soon have a little brother or sister,” Liz said, ignoring her husband’s statement.

Zoe bit her lower lip. “Why don’t you know?”

“Know what, peanut?” Max asked.

“Is it a brother or a sister?”

“You don’t get to choose,” Liz answered.

“But…” Zoe’s forehead furrowed with concentration as she tried to sort out the facts of what she knew and didn’t know about siblings. “Don’t you get to pick at the baby store?”

“The baby store?”

“Where you get the babies,” Zoe insisted, as if her parents were the misinformed ones.

Liz smiled. “Oh.”

“No, hun,” Max answered. “The baby is in mommy’s tummy.”

“Huh?” Zoe rubbed her eyes and stared at her mother’s stomach. “Mommy ate the baby?”

Max hid his smile in the curve of Liz’s neck and whispered, “This is getting complicated.”

“No, honey. I didn’t eat the baby. The baby grows in my tummy. You did too.”

Zoe frowned. “I did?”

“Uh-huh,” Max nodded. “Mommy keeps the baby safe and warm and cozy in her tummy. And then when the baby is a bit bigger, he or she will come out.”

“Huh,” Zoe mused, chewing her bottom lip. “And then I will have a brother or sister?”

“Yep,” Liz answered.

“Sweeet,” Zoe said with a big smile and Liz rolled her eyes. The words her husband was teaching their daughter.

“Would you like that?” Liz asked.

Zoe nodded. “Yes.”

“Okay, baby,” Liz smiled. “Now, Daddy will read to you tonight, okay?”

Zoe nodded and Liz leaned over and pressed a kiss to Zoe’s forehead. “I love you.”

“Love you.”

Before Liz pulled away, Zoe asked, “Is the baby in your tummy right now?”

Liz nodded. “Yep. The baby is there now and will grow bigger every day. You will see my tummy getting bigger then as well.”

“Hmmm,” Zoe mused with a smile. “Cool.”

Max nodded. “Very cool.”

“Alright you two. Good night.”

“Night, mommy.”

“See you later,” Max said, stealing a kiss before Liz moved out of his reach.

----------------------------------------------------------

4 months later
Max and Liz’s kitchen

Alba and Zoe were sitting at the dining table, eating waffles hot from the iron. Up to this point, the girls had been discussing what clothes their Barbies would wear to the party they were taking the Barbies to after they had eaten.

Then Zoe said, “My mommy has my brother or sister in her tummy.”

Alba nodded and stated matter-of-factly, “I know. That’s where my mom had Lucas.”

“Oh,” Zoe said slowly. She seemed to think for awhile as Alba munched on the ice-cream covered waffle. “But how do they get out of the tummy?”

Liz discreetly glanced over at the girls, hoping that they wouldn’t ask her. She wasn’t really up for that conversation today.

To her relief, the older girl had an answer for that too. “The baby comes out of the belly button.”

Liz choked back a laugh. She was not going to argue with that.

Max chose that moment to walk into the kitchen. He put an arm around Liz’s waist, letting his hand momentarily slide across her pregnant abdomen, while he snaked a waffle from the pile of freshly made waffles.

“Hey girlie,” he said around a mouthful of waffles. “Mmm…delicious.”

“Thanks,” Liz smiled.

Max walked up to the girls at the dining table. “Hey, guys. What are you up to?”

“We’re not guys,” Alba pointed out.

Max appeared apologetic. “Oh gosh. I’m sorry. You’re totally right.”

“Honey, they don’t get sarcasm,” Liz pointed out.

“What’s ‘sarcasm’?” Zoe asked.

“It’s silly,” Max answered and kissed the top of her head. “Are you having fun?”

Zoe nodded and licked some ice cream out of the corner of her mouth, blissfully unaware of all the ice cream remaining on her cheeks. “Uh-huh.”

“How’s the nursery going?” Liz asked, putting the plate of latest baked waffles on the table.

Max caught her hand and spun her into his arms. “Seriously, this is really yummy.”

Liz laughed. “You sound surprised.”

“It’s freaking tasty,” he insisted before rubbing the ice cream on his lips onto her cheek.

“Max, nooooo,” Liz cried out.

To the background noise of two laughing girls, Liz tried to get away from Max as he tried to put waffles in her hair.

“Your mommy and daddy are funny,” Alba decided when Liz hastily left the kitchen in the search of a mirror so that she could remove the food from her hair.

“Mmmm,” Zoe answered noncommittally, her attention refocused on the ice cream. Her parents’ antics were nothing new.

“My mom hits my dad a lot,” Alba shared.

“I know,” Zoe replied, having witness the relationship between Uncle Michael and Aunt Maria first hand.

“But my dad says that’s how mommy says ‘I love you’.”

Zoe nodded. “Mommies and daddies are weird.”

Alba agreed. “Yep.”


TBC...

[max and liz believer]

So, I'm here. With the second last chapter.

First of all, thank you soooo much to those of you who have stuck around - even after this long hiatus. I appreciate it beyond words.

Thank you thank you thank you

And Elizabeth (Gigo), thank you.

Updated Timeline

68. The Next Generation
Max and Liz’s home
(2034) Max is 49, Liz is 48

“Hey.”

Bree felt her cheeks grow hot at his voice and swallowed quietly before looking up from her biology book at the person standing awkwardly in the doorway.

Her heart painfully missed a beat as his eyes avoided hers.

“Hey,” she managed though her mouth suddenly felt ridiculously dry.

“You wanted to talk?” He was still standing in the doorway, as if the floor of her room was a minefield.

She nodded. “Yeah.”

He mimicked her nod and pushed his hands into his front pockets with a deep sigh and edged his way into her room. He couldn’t count all the times he had entered that room during his lifetime, but suddenly it felt like he had never been there before. Everything was different now.

“I told mom.”

Her breathless words made him freeze and his eyes met hers for the first time since he arrived. He stumbled on the words, “You...you told...told her?”

“Could you please close the door?”

His eyes were glued to her hands, white from gripping the edge of her biology book too hard. It took a moment before her words sunk in. In an almost nervous sprint he backtracked and closed the door behind him.

Then silence enveloped them. Jacob had never found it difficult to speak to Brianna. She was one of the few people he could tell everything to. She was his best friend. But last time they met, they had done things best friends usually don’t. Which apparently had robbed him of his ability to speak and behave normally around her.

She glanced up at him, while slowly chewing on her bottom lip.

“Soo...” he whispered and broke the silence with a subsequent harsh nervous cough.

Brianna put the biology book to the side and straightened her back. “Is this how it’s going to be from now on?”

Jacob’s chest tightened at the annoyed tone in her voice. “What?”

“We can’t be in the same room anymore?”

He frowned, growing cold. What was she saying? “Of course we can.”

She threw her arms out the sides and erupted, “So what is this? Huh?”

“Bree...” Jacob mumbled, shifting nervously.

“We had sex, Jake!”

He swallowed. “Yeah.”

“‘Yeah’? That’s all you have to say?”

Her angry energy was starting to dampen his nervousness. “I thought you-”

“I gave you my virginity,” Bree interrupted.

“I know, babe.”

A painful tear rolled down her cheek as she brokenly whispered, “Then why won’t you even look at me?”

He felt out of place. Like it didn’t matter what he said; he was going to hurt her either way.

“Because...” the sentence died out on its own.

“Because what?” Bree demanded.

“Because I don’t know how to feel about all of this.”

Brianna stared at her long-time friend, hurt silently exploding in her large brown eyes. Her hands went around her knees as she slowly pulled her legs up against her chest. “You think it was a mistake.”

He started shaking his head, itching closer to the bed. “No. No.”

“That’s okay,” she whispered, staring at a Converse shoe that had been left behind on the floor, her heart closing up. “We’ll just go back to how we were. Before.”

His 16-year-old mind was confused. She thought it was a mistake?

“I love you,” he said softly and saw her freeze. “You know that, right?”

“Like a friend...?” she asked quietly, her voice very small.

He came to sit down next to her on the bed. “Like a best friend...”

She struggled not to collapse into tears as his words ripped at the fundamental construction of her heart.

“...and hopefully a boyfriend.”

She stilled, her heart pausing its initiated demolition, and looked up at him carefully. “What?”

Then his right hand was against her cheek, his thumb stroking away the tears, and he was looking her straight in the eye. Her breath was still on her lips as she observed his beautiful face for translation, before he moved closer and softly touched his lips to hers. His warm, soft, gentle lips.

Her breath ripped in her throat along with a grateful sob.

And just as soon as it had started the gentle kiss ended and he pulled back only to lean his forehead against hers while his hand was still on her warm cheek. “I’ve been in love with you forever. I won’t settle with being just your friend.”

“Are you serious?” she whispered.

“I wouldn’t have slept with you otherwise. You’re too important to me.”

She sighed with relief. “Oh thank God.” Her hand moved into the thick reddish hair at the back of his head. It would take a while for her to be absolutely comfortable with touching him like that.

“We’re good?”

“Are you kidding?” she asked and leaned in for another kiss. Pulling back, she smiled. “We’re amazing.”

---------------------------------------

“I’m home!” Zoe yelled out and threw her duffel bag on the floor while peeling off her jacket.

“We’re in here!” Liz announced from the living room.

Zoe skipped into the living room where her parents were curled up together in front of the TV. Grabbing a handful of chips from the bowl in front of them, Zoe shamelessly pushed herself down in between her parents.

Smiling innocently at her father as he groaned in protest at being separated from Liz, Zoe asked, “What are we watching?”

“You know, there’s a whole other couch over there,” Max informed.

“Oh come on,” Zoe said, “You can have Mom all to yourself later.” Zoe could almost feel the eye roll her dad made at her mom and she smiled inwardly. To the world, she was always kinda annoyed with her parents’ affection for each other, but on the inside she loved it. It was something of a mystery to her how her parents could still be into each other after so many years. Most of the parents of her friends were either divorced or just in an unhappy marriage. Her friends certainly didn’t have the trouble of walking in on their parents making out first thing in the morning on a daily basis.

“Whatever,” Max mumbled and tried to put on a disappointing tone.

Liz reached forward and grabbed some chips. “It’s some kind of love story.”

“You sound utterly bored,” Zoe noted.

“Eh,” Liz shrugged. “Same old same old. Girl meets boy. Boy hurts girl. Other boy who has always been secretly in love with girl comes to the rescue. Girl realizes that she’s always secretly loved the boy too. Girl and boy get together.”

“Like you guys,” Zoe said simply.

“Yeah,” Max said with a hint of boredom. “Been there, done that.”

“We should’ve picked ‘Paranormal Activity’ instead,” Liz murmured and started playing with Zoe’s hair.

“I prefer romantic movies,” Zoe said and shifted to put her head in her mother’s lap, putting her legs in Max’s lap.

“Of course you do,” Max said and Zoe could hear the smile in his voice. He grabbed one of her feet and started rubbing it. “So, what’s new, Peanut? Where’s your Prince Charming?”

“Hmm,” Zoe mumbled and yawned. “I think he got lost.”

“Poor guy,” Liz contemplated.

“Mmm,” Zoe agreed, feeling tired as her mother continued to run fingers through her hair and her father rubbed her feet. Life could be worse. “Where’s Bree?”

“In her room. With Jacob.”

Zoe bolted upwards and stared at her mom. “Really?”

She could almost feel her father narrowing his eyes behind her.

Her mother gave her a pointed look which had Zoe suspect that her little sister had let her mother in on the latest development between Jacob and her. And she had a feeling that her father didn’t know.

“Oh,” Zoe said with forced calm and made herself lay down again. “That’s good.”

“Why do I feel like you all know something I don’t?” Max wondered, a tinge of hurt in his voice.

“It’s for your own good, baby,” Liz said and Zoe smiled. That was really not gonna make her father drop the case.

“I’m gonna find out,” Max threatened and added, “I have my means.”

Zoe scrunched her nose in slight disgust at the innuendo in her father’s voice. “Hey, daughter present. Save the flirting for later.”

“Sure,” Max agreed with a smile.

-----------------------------------

Three hours later

Liz laughed as Max threw himself on top of her, making him place a hand over her mouth. “Shhh, you’re gonna wake them up.”

Liz shook her head in amusement. “I don’t even think they’re asleep yet.”

Max took a hold of the bottom of her T-shirt and started pulling it upwards. “Even more reason to be quiet then.”

Liz giggled. “Sometimes I wonder what they think of us.”

Max’s lips nibbled across her flat stomach. “Who?”

Liz pulled the shirt over her head, leaving her front exposed to her husband. “Well, everyone. The girls’ friends. The friends’ parents. The neighbors. My mother.”

Max halted in his ministrations of his wife’s tanned skin and looked up at her. “You sure know how to kill the mood.”

She laughed softly. “Sorry.”

He donned a contemplative expression and moved up her body, his shirt pressing against her breasts as his face came close to hers. “What are you talking about, kitten?”

“Us never growing up,” she said softly.

He winked and unable to keep his hands off her any longer, he started kissing down her neck. “Whatever do you mean?”

“Come on. We’re still like two horny teenagers. I don’t know about you, but I still have this need to always touch you - in some way or another.”

He paused just north of her left nipple and smiled up at her crookedly, “I’m partial to the ‘another’ option myself.”

“I know you are,” she said and gasped as his tongue circled her nipple. “I just wonder if they find us annoying. Like we’re trying to prove something. Or rubbing our relationship in their faces.”

Max shrugged and took a hold of her pajama bottoms to pull them downwards. “So what? They probably do think that.”

“I mean, most people know that my mother didn’t exactly approve of our relationship and some have probably even heard bits of our history. Maybe they actually think that our relationship is cracking at the seams and we’re just putting on a show to prove that we didn’t make the wrong decision by being together.”

His hand slid up along the outside of her thigh. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

“Just look at our daughters,” Liz continued. “Bree is barely out of her I’m-so-embarrassed-by-my-parents-smooching-in-public phase and just today Zoe insinuated twice that we should take our flirting elsewhere.”

Max scrunched his nose, sat back on his heels while straddling her hips, and said, “‘Smooching’?” while pulling his shirt over his head. “Really? ‘Smooching’?”

She laughed. “Yeah.”

He bent down and kissed her slowly, running his tongue against the inside of the bottom of her lip. “You make me feel like I’m 80.”

“Oh,” she gasped, bringing her feet up to hook her toes into the waist of his sweatpants. “I like older guys. You know that.”

He raised an eyebrow, grabbing a hold of her left foot and removing it from his waist. “80? That’s quite a stretch. Even for you.”

He squeezed her foot before releasing it and crawling off her to get his pants off. The pants fell to the floor as he paused to look at her naked body laid out on the bed.

He smiled, which had her smiling too. “What?”

He crawled back into bed, crawled up along her body and flushed skin against skin. “You’re still gorgeous.”

“Thanks,” she smiled and kissed him, feeling parts of him coming to life.

He grabbed her hands, interlacing their fingers and pushed her hands above her head, continuing the kiss. She moaned into his mouth. Would she ever get tired of kissing him?

“So when are you going to tell me Bree’s big secret?” Max asked as he pulled away.

Not being the least prepared for the question, she looked at him breathlessly, her lips swollen from his assaults and her body tingling in anticipation. “Really? You wanna talk about this now?”

He moved his lower body against her center and she bit her bottom lip to stop the gasp from resonating too loudly.

“I can multitask.”

She shook her head. “Nah-uh. We’ll talk later.”

“Promise?”

“Just have your way with me, Evans.”

He grinned, “Deal”, and locked their lips together as he pushed into her.

--------------------------------------

“You’re up,” he announced as he curled his sweaty body around her back, brushing her hair away from his face so that he could press his cheek into the curve of her neck.

“Let’s talk about it tomorrow,” Liz murmured, completely sated and depleted of energy from her husband’s antics.

“No, you don’t,” Max protested. “You promised.”

“How about you just trust my judgement that you’re better off not knowing.”

“It’s about Jacob, isn’t it?”

Liz closed her eyes with a sigh. “Yeah.”

There was a pause as Max’s hand drew invisible circles against her stomach. “Did they have sex?”

From their close proximity, he could feel her whole body stiffen at the question, and he had his answer. “They did, didn’t they?”

“Don’t...” Liz started, but tried to change track. “She was really upset about it.”

Max pulled away from her and rolled onto his back. “Why? What did he do?”

Liz turned around and looked at his profile. She traced how he clenched his jawline, trying to control the urge to run into Bree’s room right there and then. “Bree reacted like me, I guess.”

Max turned to look at her, confused. “Like you?”

“She lost her virginity to her best friend, felt really awkward about it and wanted to run away.”

Max sighed and confirmed. “Like you.”

“So instead of her ending up in a destructive relationship with Jacob for the next 10 years, I told her to talk to him and tell him how she feels.”

Max swallowed and stared up in the white ceiling. “She really does love him, doesn’t she?”

“I think she does,” Liz whispered and inhaled deeply. “And she would want to sink through the floor if you were to go to her and discuss this with her.”

He turned to look at her, almost offended. “I wouldn’t do that.”

“You don’t think she’s too young?” Liz asked and gave him a pointed look.

He tried to act like he didn’t care and said lightly, “It’s her choice what to do with her body and whom to do it with.”

Liz gave a short laugh. “Right.”

“Hey,” Max said and turned on his side to face her. “Okay, yeah. So I’m not totally cool with my baby girl having...sex. That’s just... weird. But I kinda like Jacob. And she’s almost a grown-up now. Time for her to live her own life and make her own mistakes.”

“Hm,” Liz said softly. “I have to say, Evans. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

Max couldn’t contain his grin. “Don’t get your hopes up too much. The real test is what happens when I see that boy next time.”

“You’ll be nice,” Liz stated, as if set in stone.

“But if he ever makes her cry again, I’ll kill him.”

Liz rolled her eyes. These overprotective fathers. “Okay. Easy there, tiger.”

[max and liz believer]

Hi everyone!

I thought I would finish off 2012 by finishing "Snapshot"...

It's been a rather long journey (starting in 2008) and I'm so grateful for everyone who has been with me on this journey. I hope that most of the people that started reading this fic will find their way back now when it's finished - so you'll get some closure

This is probably my very last fanfic, but I never say never. Fanfiction has been a huge part of my life and I will always treasure those years I hung out at this place. My plan now is to finish "Lethal Whispers", but who knows if I have any inspiration left for that one after all this time (I hate to leave things unfinished).

To those of you who returned to read and comment after the previous (long-overdue) update; Michelle17, Ms_BuffyAnneSummers, katydid, azure, keepsmiling7, trulov, xilaj, begonia9508, angiebrenna (thank you ), yayaliens, mary mary, Stefuh, Earth2Mama, sarammlover, Alien_Friend and Gigo.

Elizabeth (Gigo), thank you for all the help, editing, advising and patience during all these years. You've been an angel.

As a side note: I've started a larger project of making all my stories into hardcopy books, so I can have them on my shelf instead of on a computer. Most of the stories are based on Roswell and I can therefore not publish them publically without risking plagiarism. But since "Snapshot" is not based on aliens, I've been able to publish that for everyone. I've just changed the names. So if any of you want a copy, you can click on the links below.

(Due to length, the book has been divided up into two parts - Book1 and Book2)

Snapshot - Book 1
Snapshot - Book 2

So this is it. I can not thank you enough. I just rewatched "Roswell" last week and I still love it just as much, if not more, as I did the first time I saw it. In that way, "Roswell" will never die.

Here's the last chapter of "Snapshot" - back to when it all began.

Love you all. Gonna miss you <3

Updated Timeline


69. From This Moment On

(1998) Max is 12, Liz is 12

It was two days after her birthday and it was the first sunny day in a week plagued by summer showers.

Ever since her birthday, she’d been sitting with her nose pressed up against the window pane, frustrated watching the rain flood the outside of the large windows. There was absolutely nothing to do in the house. Her brother was away on basketball camp, her parents were on a business trip and she was basically left to her own devices with only the service staff around.

Amongst numerous parcels of expensive clothes, bags and shoes, a bicycle had been delivered for her birthday. Even though she wasn’t overly delighted about the two-wheeled transport vehicle, it represented an escape from the house. She desperately needed to get away from there. However, she didn’t feel like riding a bike in the rain.

So here she was, waiting for the rain to stop so that she could try out that new shiny bike.

Hence, when she had woken up that morning, on the 24th of June, and the rain droplets from the last rain the night before glistened on the leaves in the morning sunlight, Gabriela almost had to tie the girl to the chair to get her to eat breakfast before she was out the door. She didn’t have a particular plan on where to go. She just needed to get away. Her only plan was to ride the bike around for the rest of the day, because she really didn’t feel like going back to the big, empty, boring mansion any time soon.

Gabriela’s “Be careful!” fell on deaf ears as the girl hurried out the front door.

-----------------------------

The boy, almost one year older than the girl, slowly awoke to the smell of pancakes that same morning. He barely even registered the sunny weather that had gotten the sister of his best friend so excited as he drowsily followed his nose towards the kitchen.

“Morning, baby,” his mother cooed and ruffled his hair as he sank down in the chair.

He gave a mumbled protest at a) being called ‘baby’ and b) getting his hair ruffled. But the protest was half-hearted at best as the smell of freshly baked pancakes was rapidly awakening his senses.

“You want some pancakes?”

He nodded slowly, blinking away sleep as he slowly yawned, “Yes, please.”

The boy’s mother smiled to herself as she put two pancakes on the plate in front of her son. It was in the morning sleepy behavior of her son that she could spot how that same boy might behave as a difficult-to-talk-to-teenager. The kind that mutters in response and barely acknowledges their surroundings.

Her smile widened. She couldn’t wait.

“Is there ice cream?” he asked and she started shaking her head.

Ice cream for breakfast? Ah, why not. “Sure, hun.”

“Thanks, Mom,” was the boy’s reply as he started shoveling the first pancake, his hungry stomach not having the patience to wait for the ice cream, into his mouth.

Diane put the ice cream container down in front of him and Max nodded a ‘thank you’ as his mouth chewed away.

She sank down on the chair opposite her hungry son and took a sip from the hot black coffee. “Have you got any plans for today?”

Max shook his head. “Not really. But I might check out if they have anything new at the music store.”

“Do you need money?” Diane asked.

She had raised Max to save up his own money and so it was on very rare occasions that she found herself giving him extra money outside of his regular allowance. But his birthday was coming up and she saw no harm in bending the rules somewhat this time.

“Nah, I’m fine,” Max replied.

Diane smiled and started buttering up a slice of bread. “Speaking of… What do you want for your birthday?”

Having attracted his attention, he looked up from his pancake munching. “Uhm…” He shrugged. “I dunno.”

Diane looked at him incredulously. “Nothing?”

“I haven’t thought about it much,” Max said simply.

“Any new clothes? Any video games?” Diane tried.

She preferred it if he would give her a shopping list. It was so hard to buy presents for him. Every time she tried to shop something for him, she ended up in the girl’s section, thinking about all the small things she could have gotten if she’d had a girl. Boys were just so much harder to buy things for.

But Max wasn’t helping. He offered her another shrug.

Diane smiled. “Okay. If you think of something, let me know.”

“Sure,” Max replied and reached for another pancake.

--------------------------

It was not that she wasn’t paying enough attention to the road or that she wasn’t proficient at riding a bike. She had been riding bicycles since she was four. But some things just can’t be avoided.

It only took one larger stone in the wrong spot for Liz to lose control over the bike. It only took the fraction of a second of imbalance for the bike to tip over and for the girl to land in the ditch. As she landed, her foot twisted underneath the weight of her body as the shoe laces got caught in the chain.

With a cry of pain she barely felt the weight of the bike on top of her as the nerves in her twisted ankle screamed in pain. Her eyes prickling with tears, she pulled herself up into seated position to push the bike off her, mumbling repeated syllables of pain.

Sniffling, she managed to get the bike off and leaned forward to examine the foot. Tears were running down her cheeks and her hands were shaking as she tried to move the foot closer to her body so that she could remove the shoe.

“Parker?”

She jumped in surprise at his voice, the sniffles intensifying as she looked up and saw his familiar shape throw his bike to the side and run up to her.

“I’m okay, I’m fine,” Liz mumbled as Max slid to his knees next to her.

“What happened?”

Liz tried to keep her emotions in check, which proved difficult as her foot throbbed with pain. “I fell.”

A cry of barely restrained pain escaped through her lips, which made the blood in Max’s veins chill by a couple of degrees.

Max’s eyes flickered across her face, feeling somewhat unsure about how to act and where to look in the onslaught of her raw feelings of pain.

“Are you hurt?” The question felt stupid as soon as it left his mouth, since it was obvious to anyone that the girl in front of him was in a lot of pain.

“My foot,” Liz hiccuped. “I think it’s broken.”

He followed her gaze to the foot. “Can I take a look at it?”

She sniffled, her whole body shaking with the pain. “Yes…”

As he bent forward and was about take a hold of the hem of the jeans, she added with an edge of fearfulness, “Careful.”

He nodded and mumbled, “Yeah,” as he concentrated on being as careful as possible.

He pulled up the pants leg and cringed as he heard her sharp intake of air. He reached for the shoe laces and carefully unlaced her shoe. She whimpered, which had him sit back on his heels and wonder how he would go about taking the shoe off without making it hurt.

Reaching a decision, as he literally saw her ankle swell before his eyes, he said, “Maybe we should leave the shoe on.”

She sniffled and nodded in agreement. “Yes.”

“Maybe I should get your parents,” Max said, looking back at her flustered face.

His heart clenched painfully at the sight of her. He never knew that seeing someone in pain could make him hurt even more than himself being in pain.

“No… no,” Liz said. “They’re not home.”

Max nodded, thinking quickly. He was on his feet before Liz had time to react. “I’ll get my mom.”

Her hand grabbed his tightly. “Don’t…”

He caught her eyes, noticing the fear shining brightly through the moisture of her tears.

“…leave me,” she finished on a weak note.

“I have to get help, Lizzie,” Max said slowly.

She shook her head and repeated in a whisper, “Don’t leave me.”

Max looked around with the desperate hope that the solution would fall from the sky. He felt her small hand squeeze his desperately, and honestly, leaving her alone didn’t feel like something he wanted to do.

But what other choice was there?

“Should we wait here until someone comes by?” Max asked.

It couldn’t take that long before someone decided to drive by, could it?

She nodded, wiping her cheeks with the back of her free hand, but new tears followed her movement.

“Okay,” Max agreed and sat down next to her.

Looking at her bare arms and feeling the tremors through her hand, which was still holding tightly onto his, Max asked, “Are you cold?”

She shook her head. “No.” Then she added, “I don’t think so.”

A sharp intake of air shook her body as the pain fought across her effort to keep everything under control.

He shrugged out of his sweater, trusting that the T-shirt underneath was more than enough to keep himself warm, and pulled it over her head before she had time to protest.

Surrounded by his smell, Liz felt herself calming down. He wasn’t going to leave her. She wasn’t alone. He was going to stay until someone came by to help.

The action of giving her his sweater was followed by the two longest minutes in Max’s life as Liz alternated between sniffling, whimpering and short sporadic soft cries of pain.

“Is there anything I can do?” Max asked, feeling every part of the role of the hopeless bystander.

“Just stay,” Liz mumbled, biting her bottom lip against the pain.

---------------------------

It was not too long thereafter that someone actually did decide to drive past. Max jumped to his feet, almost dragging Liz along with him before he at the last second remembered to release the grip on her hand.

Waving his hands in the air, Max called out for the car to notice them, “Hey, stop! Stooop!”

The car came to an abrupt stop and an elderly man stepped out of the car, a worried expression on his face as he took in the scene of the young girl in the ditch, with red swollen eyes and dirt on her cheeks and the frantic boy that was running up to meet him.

“We need help,” the boy said urgently.

From there on, the man called George took over.

With an authority that imbued Max with immediate relief, George carried Liz into the backseat of his car. Hopping into the driver’s seat, the man guessed that the children were siblings, judging from how close they seemed to be as the girl pressed up against the boy’s side as soon as he jumped into the backseat with her.

He never would’ve guessed that most of the time the two youngsters were barely on speaking terms.

-----------------------------

As they arrived at the hospital, the man that had given them a ride immediately went to inform the nurses what had happened.

One of the nurses leaned over the desk to address Liz, “What’s your name, honey?”

“Elizabeth Parker,” Liz answered with a strained voice.

She was being carried by George since there was no possibility of her walking on the injured foot. Her face was devoid of any color as the pain continued to push its way through her.

“Okay,” the nurse confirmed and typed the information into the computer. After taking some additional personal information, the nurse came by with a wheelchair into which Liz was transferred.

Max took charge of the wheelchair and directed it towards the waiting area, where he parked the wheelchair and took a seat in a blue plastic chair next to Liz.

-----------------------------

It would take another 40 minutes before they would see a doctor. In those 40 minutes something happened to Max. He stopped seeing Liz as the one year younger sister of his best friend and started to see her as her own person.

As they got into the examination room, he watched the facial expressions fly across her face as the doctor examined her foot and started to take note of the small changes that he in his haste to grow up himself had failed to see. How her face had started to lose the childish roundness and her lips suddenly seemed more luscious.

He unconsciously licked his lips as his eyes continued to scan the changes. And just like that, it struck him; how beautiful Liz Parker was.

The world seemed to spin to a halt.

He swallowed slowly as his eyes traced the curve of her neck, which was dusted with a fresh summer tan. He felt his teenage heart beat faster, his breath flow quicker across his drying lips… and then Liz screamed in pain as the doctor pressed against the swelling of her foot and the world was put back into motion.

The subdued sounds around him were turned back on with full volume and he pushed out of the chair. Circling his fingers around her fingers that were gripping the edge of the bed, he transferred her grip to his hand.

And it was when Liz turned to him with fresh tears rolling down her cheeks, squeezing his hand as if her life depended on it, and whispered brokenly, “Make it go away. Please, make it go away,” that Max fell.

That day, in a hospital room with blue-and-white wallpapers, in the presence of a white-haired grumpy doctor, a smiley young nurse and his own mother getting chocolate bars from the vending machine in the waiting room, Max Evans fell in love with Liz Parker.

And the rest is history.


THE END