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Well, here it is! The epilogue!!!

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In a weird twist of symmetry, I'm actually posting this, the first story I've ever finished, on the same day that I'm posting the first story I ever started, a one-parter over in CC.

It's a bit strange to post this ... this story's shorter than most of my others, but I've become very fond of it. Thank you to everybody - to my readers, my beta, and to Poison_Ivy for trusting me with her challenge. You guys are great.


Some Enchanted Evening

Epilogue

Max threw a baby blanket over his shoulder and then reached down to pick up his daughter, who was crawling towards him on the hotel bed. She was dressed in a white dress with a gold-colored sash around the waist. Her shoes were white with gold bows, and her hair – what little of it there was – was tied in on top with a white and gold ribbons.

“All right, princess! It’s a big job you have today. Think you can handle it?”

She gurgled in response.

“Well, if it gets too tough for you, your cousin will be there too, and you guys can share.”

She bounced her arms up and down and gurgled again, with a big smile on her face. Max didn’t know how, but somehow whenever his daughter heard the word “cousin”, she became all happy and excited, as if she knew what it meant already.

Max couldn’t believe how much his life had changed in the last eighteen months. His work now was so much more fulfilling than business contracts had been; though his present suit was time-consuming, it gave him a sense of purpose and made him feel like he was making changes that would benefit many people for years to come. Though the lawsuit was years away from being over, he was already being approached to take on other cases, large and small. Max thought that maybe after working such a huge case, it might be nice to work on a few smaller ones for a while. It’d be trickier trying to keep several different clients happy at the same time, but it wouldn’t require as many hours.

And then there was his family, which had grown to include an old one-night stand from two Christmases ago, someone he thought he’d never see again, someone he lived with now. The day after they’d met again, Max suggested that they look for an apartment that they could share somewhere between where he was living in Half Moon Bay, and where she was living in Monterey. Liz agreed without hesitating. As if by luck, they found a three-bedroom apartment in their price range in Santa Clara. It wasn’t right on the water, but no more than a few miles away. Max handled the move entirely for both himself and Liz. By the time Nancy came for her visit, Liz’s apartment was filled with boxes, bubble wrap and packing tape.

And then, of course, there was his beautiful daughter, who hadn’t stopped amazing him since the moment he learned of her existence ...

*flashback*

“You’re having a baby …” Max forced the words out. Suddenly he felt monumentally stupid for having held on to his dreams of her for so long. It had never been particularly realistic, since he’d been on the opposite side of the country from where he’d met her, but he couldn’t stop his thoughts from turning to her every so often. And now that she was here in front of him, he’d give anything to be 3,000 miles away again.

Liz couldn’t seem to remember the English language. Not a single word. Well, besides ‘Hi’, that is. But now she’d exhausted that great arsenal of eloquence and could only continue in what she imagined had to be a dead-on impression of a goldfish, opening and closing her mouth without managing to make any sound come out.

Meanwhile, Max couldn’t seem to stop himself from doing a quick bit of math in his head. If she was about to give birth, that meant she’d been pregnant for about or around 40 weeks (having a pregnant sister had made Max much more familiar with the ins and outs of pregnancy than he’d ever wanted to be), and if he’d met her in December, then that meant … oh, God. He’d made love to this woman when she’d been carrying another man’s baby.

He had to get out of there.

“Well, um, congratulations.” Max began to step back into the hallway. “I’ll let you go, I’m sure you want to—”

“No!” Liz’s voice returned just in time to keep him from walking away. “No, please don’t leave me!”

She sounded so small, so scared. “Isn’t there someone here with you?” he asked, dreading the answer. Liz shook her head no.

He was at her side in an instant.

Liz started to cry. The events of the last hour were catching up with her; her baby, her impending C-section, seven months worth of loneliness … she just couldn’t help the tears that began to fall.

“Hey,” Max wiped away her tears with his hand. “It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“No, Max, I,” Liz tried to speak through the choking sobs. “I have to te-tell you …”

“Tell me what?”

“It-it-it’s your … your…”

Max’s eyes grew wide. “Mine?”

Her eyes gave him his answer.

“Christ, Liz, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I tried. I-I went back to th-the building…”

“I moved out,” he said.

“No, the office building … with the elevator.”

“I didn’t even work--”

“Okay, Liz,” Max was interrupted by the return of Dr. Amajoyia and a sea of green scrubs. “The nurses are going to take you to the OR, and—”

“Wait, wait!” Max stood up, instinctively trying to keep the new arrivals from taking Liz and his baby – his baby – away from him. “Where are you taking her?”

“She’s about to go have her baby.”

“She’s not having it here?”

“No, she needs to have a C-section. Who are you?”

Max just looked back down at Liz. “You’re having a C-section?”

“Max, she said … the baby can’t get out safely, and her heart rate’s bad … they have to …”

Max shuddered. His baby was in danger? Surely he hadn’t found Liz and his baby just to have the one - or heaven forbid, both - taken away again.

“I’m going with you,” he said firmly.

“Excuse me,” Dr. Amajoyia was tired of being polite. “But who are you?”

“I’m the father, and I’m going with her,” Max told her loudly.

Dr. Amajoyia turned to Liz. She’d never even mentioned a father before, but if Liz wanted him in there, he would go. Liz was going to need all the help she could get. “Liz?”

Liz nodded to the doctor and squeezed Max’s hand.

“Well, okay, let’s get you guys scrubbed in.”

Just as they wheeled Liz out the door, Alex exited from Isabel’s room. “Hey, Max, I was just coming to look for … Liz?”

“Alex?”

“What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Isabel’s water broke. Are you all right?”

“I’m having a C-section.”

“Yes, one that we really have to get going for,” Dr. Amajoyia interjected and signaled to the nursing team to keep moving.

“I’ll come find you after, Liz. Max, you coming?”

Liz looked up at Max. “You know him?”

“He’s engaged to my sister. Alex, I’m going with her, I’ll see you later. And tell Izzie to … keep her knees together or something!”

Liz’s eyes glazed over. “You’re Isabel’s brother?”

“Yeah, you know her?”

Liz nodded. “Alex and I grew up together in Atlanta.”

“You’re the friend who moved here?” Max couldn’t believe it – all this time, they’d been so close to each other, and they’d never even known it.

Liz’s tears started flowing again as she realized they’d been so near, and yet so far.

*end flashback*


“Having fun?” a voice said from the doorway to the bathroom. Max turned to see Liz looking radiant in a champagne-colored V-neck halter dress with thick straps and an asymmetric hem that showed off her beautiful legs and the sexiest strappy gold shoes he’d ever seen.

His daughter hit his face lightly and gave a laugh, and Max suddenly realized he hadn’t said anything since Liz had come out of the bathroom.

“That good, huh?” she said, and did a little twirl.

Max growled and moved closer to put his arm around her waist. “We don’t really have to go to this thing, do we?” he suggested in a low voice.

Liz pushed him away. “Max! It’s your sister’s wedding, and it’s the first time my dad has seen you and Aimee. I’d really like to not have to explain to either of them where we were during the ceremony.”

That did the trick – Max was terrified enough of Jeff Parker, who was proving much more difficult to charm than most parents Max had encountered in the past. He never spoke to Max if he could avoid it, and tended to refer to him as “that boy”. Even getting Liz to explain what had happened and using Alex as a character witness had not managed to get Jeff to change his opinions.

“Besides,” Liz continued as she grabbed her purse and headed towards the door, “You’re the best man, I’m the maid of honor, and Aimee’s a flower girl. It’s not as though they wouldn’t miss us.”

“Fine. But afterwards, ... you’re mine, Parker.”

Liz looked over her shoulder at him. “Looking forward to it, Evans. Now get moving.”

Max grabbed the diaper bag from the floor. “You got a room key?” he called.

“Yeah!” Liz yelled back. With that, Max carried his daughter out into the hallway and closed the door behind him, then headed towards Liz, who had already called an elevator.

~*~*~*~
Posted in 2 parts due to length

~*~*~*~

“Here you go, Mom,” Liz handed the diaper bag to her mother, who was already holding Aimee in one arm. Mrs. Parker was already dressed in a gold pencil skirt and blazer with a white shirt underneath. She’d gotten her hair and make-up done before going into the lobby to wait for her daughter.

As Max looked at his daughter’s beautiful face, he couldn’t help but think that Liz had picked the perfect name for her.

*flashback*

“Does she have a name yet?” Max asked as he gripped Liz’s hand with both of his. The doctors had just erected a curtain over Liz’s stomach, and Liz had a death-grip on his hand. He wanted to distract her from what was happening and get her to focus on the fact that, in a few minutes, they’d both be parents.

Parents. Of all the lovers that Max had had in his life, he couldn’t think of a single one that he’d rather share that title with.

Liz tried hard not to think about things that she could not quite feel happening to her lower stomach. If she concentrated, she could swear that she could feel the scalpel separating one piece of skin from another; she didn’t feel any pain from it, just the action itself. She had to start thinking about something else.

“I was thinking of Aimee,” Liz said in a stressed voice. “Ay-eye-em-ee-ee. In French, it means “loved” for a girl. As in, ‘She is loved.’” Liz smiled weakly. “I didn’t know if I’d … if I’d ever see you again, and I wanted her to know that … even if she didn’t have her father … that she was loved.”

Unable to help himself, Max raised one of his hands to cup her cheek, and kissed her deeply. He tried to tell her with his kiss that he was thankful, and that she was right – their baby was loved very, very much.

He let himself get lost for just a moment in her taste, her scent, her feel again; but all too soon for both of them, he pulled his lips away from hers. This wasn’t the time to get caught up in all the things that made it impossible for him to forget her. But he kept his forehead against hers, and his hand against her cheek, and together they breathed, and waited for the moment when a small but strong cry pierced the tension in the operating room air.

Both of them looked up, and waited for what seemed like an eternity for someone to remember that the little creature they were extracting had parents who were waiting for her. They saw a masked sea-green blob break away from the rest of the group and go to a small table along the wall. The cries moved with it. And still Max and Liz waited … and waited … and waited … until finally the blob walked towards them and the voice of Dr. Amajoyia said, “Eighteen inches, five pounds eight ounces, a strong heartbeat and a good set of lungs. Meet your new baby girl.”

And then the doctor settled into Liz’s arms the most loved little girl in the whole world.

“She looks just like I thought she would,” Liz whispered in awe. Max looped one arm around the back of Liz’s shoulders to help her sit up, and the other hand couldn’t stop delicately touching his daughter. He couldn’t believe, just couldn’t believe she was a part of him, him and Liz, and an amazing reminder of their night together.

Liz looked at Max, who couldn’t take his eyes off of the small treasure that Max already knew he’d give his life for. “She has your eyes,” she told him. He looked back up at her; that was when he realized that he was holding his family in his arms, and the tears began to fall.

*end flashback*


By the time Max got back to Isabel’s room, it was swarming with its own birthing team. He announced over the din that he was a father to Aimee, the most beautiful girl that had ever been born.

Isabel, who was completely unaware of what had been happening, screamed out, “WHAT?!” Her doctor forced Max out of the room so that he wouldn’t disturb his patient.

While Isabel neared the end of her labor across the hall, Liz told Max why she’d panicked and left his apartment, about her break-up with Kyle, her doctor’s appointment where she’d learned that she was pregnant, and her second trip to New York to try to find him. Max told her about moving to California and of his segue into a different branch of law that brought him closer to his specialty. “Like your grandfather,” Liz said. Max couldn’t believe that she remembered that.

After only seven hours in labor, Isabel gave birth to a girl of her own, a healthy daughter of eight pounds, nine ounces, and nineteen and fifteen-sixteenth inches. Liz was sleeping across the hall, but Max brought his daughter in straight away to meet her cousin and explain to Isabel how it was that he’d gotten a girl pregnant and not known about it. Alex was able to fill in a few of the blanks that Liz hadn’t had time to tell Max about, like how she’d decided to move to California only a few weeks after Max had.

Isabel too began to drift off to sleep, but not before hearing about how Liz had come up with the name for her baby girl. Isabel liked it so much, she and Alex decided to name their daughter Katherine Aimee instead of Katherine Ashley. After Liz woke up, she and Max reciprocated the gesture by naming their daughter Aimee Katherine. Even as newborns, the two babies seemed to recognize each other and to share a bond like the ones their parents shared as twins. The four parents were already beginning to fear the kinds of stunts their daughters would pull as they got older.

“Max,” a hand began to shake Max out of his memories and back to the hotel lobby, “Max!” He turned to find Alex standing behind him. “Come on, man. We gotta get going. Isabel will kill me if I make her late on her wedding day.”

Max leaned down and gave Liz a quick peck on the lips. “See you in church,” he said with a wink. Liz laughed before she followed her mother towards the room off the hotel lobby where the bridal party was getting ready.

As he and Alex walked out the front door to the waiting limo, Alex said. “Nice blankee. I think Tom Cruise has one just like it.”

After Max realized what he was talking about, he grabbed the blanket that still hung on his shoulder and flicked it at Alex. “Shut up,” he laughed.

~*~*~*~

Most of the wedding party was made up of Isabel’s and Alex’s college friends. The women wore champagne-colored dresses with sashes along the empire waist and spaghetti straps. Liz, as the maid of honor, was the only one whose dress had a different design. The groomsmen all wore black tuxedos with gold ties, and Max, as the best man, wore a gold cumber bun, as did Alex, Mr. Whitman, and Mr. Evans. With all the excitement, the front of the church was hectic with activity for quite some time before everyone settled down enough to take their places and proceed together into the church.

Liz gave Isabel a light hug, trying hard not to wrinkle the beautiful satin wedding dress she wore that had once been her mother’s. “You look beautiful, Isabel! I’m so happy for you and Alex.”

“Thank you, Liz,” Isabel smiled widely. She’d been smiling widely all day. It was beginning to hurt a little, but she didn’t care. She just couldn’t seem to stop.

Max raised his sister’s veil and kissed her on the cheek, then said, “I love you, Izzie. Congratulations. Alex is a luck guy.”

“I love you too, Max.” Isabel began to tear up.

From seemingly nowhere, Mrs. Evans produced a handkerchief. “Oh sweetie, don’t start crying yet, you’ll ruin your make-up. Oh, dear. Does anyone have any eyeliner?”

“No, it’s okay, Mom,” Isabel said as a tear fell down her cheek; still, she didn’t stop smiling. “I didn’t know it was possible to be so happy.”

“Okay!” called the wedding planner. “Is everybody ready?” Everybody took their places, with Philip and Isabel standing a little apart from the others, sharing soft words that only a bride and her father share on her wedding day. The wedding planner gave the signal, and a string quartet at the front of the church began to play Pachabel’s Canon in D Major.

Max took Liz’s hand and slid her arm through his own. Her hair was pulled up away from her face, like all the bridesmaids, but Liz’s had a few loose strands hanging down in curls. Her make-up was done thin and natural, not piled on thick like some of the other bridesmaids. She looked breathtaking.

One by one, the five bridesmaids and their escorts walked down the aisle to the front of the church. Then Max and Liz proceeded in. Liz’s gaze immediately sought out Maria, who had flown in from New York with Michael for the wedding. The two of them sat with Maria’s mom on the groom’s side of the church. Max’s attention was not so pleasantly occupied; Jeff Parker glared him down from his place in the second pew of the church on Alex’s side, making Max feel like a bug about to be squashed undertow. He squeezed Liz’s hand once before they went to their respective positions, and Max hoped that if Liz didn’t offer any protection from her father, perhaps Alex might.

Alex, though, was more agreeably engaged. He watched as his father escorted Mrs. Evans, who looked resplendent in a champagne-colored satin dress with elbow-length sleeves. Next came Mrs. Parker, carrying Aimee; and with her walked Mrs. Whitman, who wore a white skirt and blazer with a gold shirt beneath. And in his mother’s arms was his daughter, Katie, who wore a dress that matched her cousin’s, except that hers was gold with a white sash. All the people he loved and cared about where here in the church … with only one exception.

Once Mrs. Parker and Mrs. Whitman had taken their places, the Canon ended and ‘Ave Maria’ began. Everybody stood up and looked towards the back of the church. Alex had to keep himself from yelling at them to all sit down again so that he could see his bride to be, for tall as he was, he couldn’t see over the sea of people.

When finally she came unobstructed into his view, he forgot to breathe. Nothing and no one had ever looked so beautiful.

He never remembered shaking hands with Mr. Evans. In fact, it was only when the priest had to clear his throat to get his attention that Alex remembered he was there to get married.

~*~*~*~*~

Max placed a kiss on his daughter’s sweet-smelling head as he held her in his arms. “You did a great job today, sweetheart,” he said. He looked up at the dance floor and saw his sister dancing with Alex, his mother dancing with one of the groomsmen, the firecracker known as Maria dancing with her rather quiet and brooding boyfriend, and Mrs. Parker dancing with Mr. Whitman.

Max’s eyes continued their search until they found his … until they found Liz dancing with her father, laughing and having a great time. She smiled at something he said to her, and Max couldn’t help but smile when she did. She’d had that effect on him ever since that night in the elevator. Still did.

The whole group was back at the hotel for the reception. Dinner had been served, along with lots of wine, and everyone was having a wonderful time. Max had told Liz that she didn’t have to worry about drinking tonight; she still wasn’t much of a drinker, but Max wanted her to let loose tonight and have some fun. She’d already carried so much on her own shoulders, and Max was still trying to find ways to take on some of her burden for himself.

“Hey, Max,” his father said as he sat down next to him. “Nice service.”

“It was,” Max smiled.

“Let me see her?” Philip Evans’s lips quirked up as his granddaughter noticed him. Max lifted her up, and she automatically held her arms out for him. “Hey, honey! I’m Grandpa! Can you say ‘Grandpa’?” Aimee spewed out something utterly incomprehensible. “That’s okay, you will someday.” Philip laughed. “You know, son, I don’t think you can imagine what a shock it was for your mother and I when we got to the hospital and found two grandkids instead of one.”

Max scoffed. “You should have seen Nancy Parker when she got in. She shot daggers through her eyes at me for a week.”

“She seems to like you well enough now,” Philip said.

“Yeah, well, her husband’s another story.”

“Don’t be too hard on the guy. After all, if I had my ‘druthers, I doubt that Alex would be over there with all his limbs intact. A father’s worst nightmare for his daughter is that she gets left pregnant and alone. I know it wasn’t your fault, but that’s still pretty much what it boils down to. And now you guys are living together, and he’s still twenty-five hundred miles away and powerless to keep her from getting hurt again.”

“I’m not going to hurt her,” Max said with certainty.

“I know that, and you know that, and maybe Liz even knows that. But Jeff Parker doesn’t. All he sees is that you’re the guy who knocked up his daughter and lives with her, but isn’t married to her. And son, don’t take this the wrong way, but what are you and Liz doing exactly? Is she your girlfriend? Just a roommate? What?”

Max knew what his father was talking about; and honestly, he just didn’t have a good answer. He and Liz had merged their lives and fallen into a pattern that was as enjoyable as it was effortless. It was as if it had simply happened of its own accord, without either of them working particularly hard at it. It had only been six months, but Max could hardly remember what it was like not living with her. Before Nancy’s arrival, Max had stayed on Liz’s sofa, not wanting to be away from his daughter and her mother even for a single night. But the first night Nancy was there, Liz had taken his hand and led him into her bedroom. They hadn’t made love that night, nor since, but they hadn’t slept apart for a single night since, either. They kissed, they flirted, they touched, they were affectionate, but they had refrained from renewing their sexual intimacy. They were determined to do it right this time.

Which was part of why it was so tricky. Philip had a point, Max knew; Liz was more than a girlfriend, definitely more than a roommate, almost a lover, closer than a friend. There was another word that Max had in mind too, one he hadn’t mentioned to Liz yet. But he would soon.

Philip continued, “A father wants his daughter’s relationship to follow a very specific order: first love, then marriage, then babies. Months before she told us she was pregnant, Isabel told your mother and me about when she and Alex talked about getting married. And they were engaged before Katie was born. You and Liz have already had a baby without going through the other steps first. Get the rest to fall in line, and Jeff’ll change his mind.” He shifted Aimee in his arms so that she faced Max. “Just wait until this one gets older. You’ll understand.”

Max already understood; he already knew that he’d despise anyone who got his daughter pregnant. He wasn’t even sure if her being married would change that much. He’d have to remember to ask Liz how she felt about locking their daughter in a tower until she was sixty.

But Max had something just a little more important to do, something that definitely couldn’t wait until Aimee was sixty. He wanted to tell his father about it, but had resolved that no one was going to know about this before Liz. She was going to be the first one to learn that he’d been carrying a ring around in his pocket for the last week, just waiting for the right moment. As he locked eyes with Liz, he had a feeling that the moment would be tonight.



With great sadness, I must say, The End.