Roswell Fanatics

Finally! A new part. I know, it took me long enough but the important thing is; it's here.

Now, I read through the nominations list today and I see that I got enough votes to be on the nominations list. Well, I've never been nominated before... ever... so I'm both honored and flattered.


Best Supporting Portayal of Isabel Evans

Have fun reading. I hope the next part will come sooner

Part 21

"Hello… Isabel James", Isabel said, answering the phone on the first ring, which was more or less normal for Isabel when she was at work.

"Iz… it's Tess. I need to talk to you", Tess whispered on the other end of the phone.

"You are talking to me… and you sound a little strange. You are still in bed, right?", Isabel asked cocking her eyebrows.

"Well… not exactly. I'm kinda calling from the restroom", Tess said, a small amount of panic evident in her voice

"Okay Tess, please… don't ever call me from there again", Isabel said, a little disgusted at the idea of calling with someone on the restroom.

"I have to. It's the only place I can go where Kyle can't hear me", she whispered

"Already so much trouble in paradise that you had to go into hiding?", Isabel laughed, amused at the situation, "So what happened?"

"He said he loved me… and I don't think I handled it that well", Tess said.

"He said what?!", Isabel shouted and then glanced around the office. Nobody seemed to have heard her. “What’d you say?", Isabel whispered, intrigued now

"Well… surprisingly little. Someone interrupted us and I've been avoiding the subject after that", Tess explained, "What the hell am I gonna do?!"

"Okay… so do you love him?", Isabel asked

"I don't know Iz… I mean I really really like him and maybe I do love him… but I'm so not ready for this", Tess said in a panic.

"Okay okay, I'll come by at the end of the afternoon", Isabel said, her voice betraying the fact that she found the situation rather funny.

"Do you think this is funny or something?", Tess shrieked

"Well… yeah!", Isabel admitted

"Well it's not! If I say something stupid, I'll ruin everything", Tess sighed

"Oh no! If only you had some control over what you say…", Isabel laughed and she didn't have to see Tess to visualize the scowl that would undoubtedly be on her face, "…but okay, I'll stop by this afternoon"

"Okay, thanks Iz… I'll see you later", Tess whispered, disconnecting the call and tucking the phone in her pocket. When she opened the restroom door, she looked right in the eye of Michelle; the nurse who accompanied her there.

"So… had an important call to make?", she smirked.

"Uh... what do you mean?", Tess said innocently

Michelle smiled widely at her again and then decided to drop the subject. "Not a thing. Anyway, I heard one of your friends is going to a wedding with Max Evans"

Tess smiled. "Yeah, I actually heard that… she told me like, four times in the half hour she was with me", she said

"And I also heard that Michael Guerin is dating one of your friends too… you know, your friends are taking away all the gorgeous guys from here", Michelle exclaimed

"Aaaaw, that must be so hard on you", Tess mocked

"Shut up", Michelle exclaimed in a friendly tone

"What? I'm just saying!", Tess said with a smile

~~

"Uh… is anybody here?", Alex loudly queried as he peered through the large double doors into Nasedo’s workplace. Alex had knocked but nobody answered.

“What?!”, a skinny middle-aged man said in an annoyed tone as he jumped in front of the double doors, startling Alex.

“I’m Alex… I … have an appointment with Nasedo”, Alex said cautiously, obviously taken aback by the man’s offensive attitude.

“Nasedo, I am”, the man said as he opened the double doors widely, allowing Alex to step inside, which he quickly did. “Your problem, you will tell me”, he said

“You know, I think you’ve seen Star Wars one too many times”, Alex joked but by the look of his expression, Nasedo didn’t seem to appreciate the joke. Alex then took the damaged painting out of the bag he was holding and showed it to Nasedo.

Upon seeing the painting, Nasedo held his hands over his heart as if he was having a heart-attack. “Holy Yoda!”, he said loudly before grabbing the painting from Alex and examined it closely.

“Is it fixable?”, Alex cautiously asked after a few seconds

“Of course! You didn’t come to me because I’m such a charming person”, Nasedo said with a small smile

“You’re right about that”, Alex said very softly

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that. Come back in an hour!”, he said and rudely waved his hands towards the door, making it very clear that he wanted Alex to leave.

“An hour? You can fix that in an hour?”, Alex said

Nasedo looked at him sternly. “Why are you still here?”, Nasedo asked

~~

"So whatcha watching?", Kyle asked Tess. Tess was sitting on her bed with the laptop on her lap, but instead of typing, she was intently staring at the screen.

Tess didn't reply and stared at the screen as if the great mysteries of the universe were described there.

"Tess?", Kyle asked again

"Gilmore Girls. This is a good one", Tess said quickly, not taking the time to look away from the screen.

"Hmmm, I saw you more as an Alias kind of girl", Kyle commented

"That's boring", Tess commented, again without tearing her eyes away from the screen.

"You're calling an undercover CIA agent who saves the world boring and two women who talk too much is exciting?", Kyle asked in a confused voice

Tess pushed a button on her laptop to pause the movie en turned her head towards Kyle. "No, I'm saying that real women who deal with real problems are more interesting than some mentally disturbed girl who flies from one location to another to kill people… not to mention the fact that the plot that is so far-fetched it makes Star Wars seem like a true story", Tess countered

"Far-fetched?!", Kyle said indignantly

"Don't tell me you're an Alias fan", Tess said, raising her eyebrows

"Well… I wouldn't say fan…", Kyle stammered

"You just watch three episodes every night before you go to bed", Tess stated

"No!… more like two", Kyle said softly

Tess laughed at his expression. "Kyle, you have to be the most transparent guy I ever met", she laughed

"Is that a good thing?", Kyle asked, looking at Tess expectantly

Tess gave herself a mental slap. She could almost feel it sting. She had tried so hard to avoid these kind of topics. "Yeah, I guess it is", she admitted

"You… guess… it is?", Kyle asked, tilting his head and smiling at her

"Uh-huh, now be quiet and let me continue watching two women who talk too much", Tess said before quickly turning back towards the laptop.

At that moment, dr Max Evans walked into the room. "Good afternoon", he said cheerfully

"Mornin", Tess said, her gaze focussed on the laptop

"Yeah, mornin…", Kyle added

"Let me guess…”, Max said with a smile on his face, “… Gilmore Girls?”

Tess looked away from the screen at Max. “You know, Liz talks way too much”, she said

“She also mentioned your favorite movie”, Max said, barely able to keep from laughing. He wasn’t doing a very good job at hiding it however.

“Don’t you dare say it!”, Tess said sharply

“Oh come on! Now I wanna know”, Kyle complained

“Yeah, he wants to know”, Max said with a big smile

“You know, I can tell you a thing or two about Liz that she doesn’t want you to know”, Tess said, eager to get back at Liz

“Oh… like what?”, Max said, suddenly very interested

“Don’t change the subject, Tess”, Kyle interrupted, “… if it makes you feel any better, my favorite movie is American Pie. It can’t get much worse than that”

“Oh my God!”, Max said loudly before laughing his ass off

“I should really learn to keep my mouth shut”, Kyle mumbled

“Oh, don’t sweat it Kyle; Tess here likes Legally Blonde… see, it actually can be worse”, Max said, still laughing

“Are you always ridiculing your patients like this…?”, Tess asked

“… because that would explain all the empty beds”, Kyle added

Max took a few seconds to stop laughing and then regained his composure. “Sorry… I’m just… I don’t know, I’ve been like this all day”, Max admitted

“And does this overly cheerful and secret-spilling mood have something to do with a girl you suckered into going to a wedding with you?”, Tess asked

“Suckered?!... Well, I have to admit I’m a little nervous”, Max said

“A little? You’re like Santa on crack”, Tess added

“You don’t think Liz is gonna notice, do you?”, Max asked nervously

“Probably”, Tess said with a big smile, “I mean, you didn’t seriously expect me to say that she wouldn’t notice this lalala-attitude, did you?”

“Oh Jesus”, Max softly cursed before walking out of the ward, bumping into Isabel as he left the room. He gave her a quick smile and then scampered off

“You don’t really think she’s gonna notice, do you?”, Kyle whispered to Tess

“Are you kidding? Liz is completely blind when she’s got the hots for someone… which, by the way, kind of explains how she ended up with Brad before”, Tess said with a big smile

“Then why did you tell him…. never mind, I got it”, Kyle quickly figured

“Hello children!", Isabel said cheerfully as she walked into the ward

“Oh my God, I think the lalala-attitude is contagious”, Kyle whispered to Tess

“Okay… me and Iz are going for a walk”, Tess quickly said to Kyle

“What?!”, Kyle shot out

Isabel smiled. “She meant that she’s gonna sit in a wheelchair and I’m gonna walk… on a side note, I don’t think I got the better end of the deal there”, she explained

“Oh… well why don’t you pick up something decent to eat downstairs then; this hospital food is making me sick… which is funny considering it’s their job to make me feel better”, Kyle ranted

“Yeah, I kinda have to agree with him there”, Tess said to Isabel

“Fine, we’ll pick something up”, Isabel said as she rolled a wheelchair from the corner of the room towards Tess bed and helped her in it.

“See you later honey, don’t wait up”, Isabel said loudly as she and Tess walked out of the room.

Neither one of them saw Peter Jackson standing around the corner, watching the two of them leave. “This is almost too easy”, he whispered with a small smile. He then walked towards Kyle’s room and cautiously peeked inside the room and saw Kyle lying in bed; trying to get to sleep.

“Can I help you with something?”, a male voice suddenly sounded behind him. He looked back and saw Michael standing right behind him

“I’m just here to visit someone”, Jackson replied

“Sorry man, but you’re gonna have to come back during visiting hours”, Michael said sternly

“Oh come on, I’m here now. Can’t you make an exception”, Jackson tried

“Sorry, but the patients need their rest. We didn’t come up with the whole visiting-hours thing just to annoy people”, Michael explained

“Okay, I’m gonna go then”, Jackson said, silently cursing. “Thanks anyway”, he added through gritted teeth but with a small fake smile on his face

When he left, Michael peeked into the ward he saw Jackson peek in. He just saw Kyle; sleeping. He then shrugged and walked three rooms ahead where he was due to visit one of his own patients.

~~

“Oh my God”, Alex said, looking at the painting with wide eyes.

It had been an hour later, down to the minute, that Alex knocked on Nasedo’s door. Nasedo appreciated the punctuality and let Alex in to show him what he did to the painting. It was amazing; he fixed the canvas so well that Alex couldn’t even see the cuts and holes anymore unless he looked very, very closely

“How did you… how did you…”, Alex stammered. He had expected some small touch-ups but he never expected the painting to look as new

“Tell you, I will not”, Nasedo replied, “Ava, I did not even tell”

“Well whatever… what do I owe you?”, Alex said with a big smile on his face

Nasedo shrugged. “Fifty dollars”, he said

“Fifty bucks?!”, Alex replied, “…no wonder you’re not a millionaire”

Nasedo smiled at the comment and took the fifty dollars that Alex handed to him. Alex in turn picked up the painting and put it in the protective bag he had with him.

“Well, it was a real pleasure doing business with you, sir”, Alex said unable to keep the smile from his face as he pictured Isabel’s expression when she saw it.

“Likewise. Now, out you go. Work, I have”, he said as he guided Alex outside and closed the door behind him.

“Weird guy… brilliant… but weird”, Alex muttered

~~

At Liz’ place, Liz was shifting through her wardrobe as Maria sat on the bed, looking at Liz with a smile on her face.

“Too depressing… too cold… too slutty… not slutty enough…”, Liz said as she found something wrong with each and every outfit that she had.

“How about that one?”, Maria said as she pointed towards a classy purple-colored dress.

“Yeah, I wore that dress on my first real date with Brad”, Liz said with a sorry expression, “It’s too bad though because the dress really is perfect”

“Are you going to blame the dress for your failed marriage?”, Maria asked, raising an eyebrow

“No, but I think it’s a little weird to wear the same dress now”, Liz replied

“I disagree but if it bothers you... why don’t you try the pinkish one?”, Maria tried

“Maria, no way on earth am I gonna wear that to a wedding!”, Liz sharply replied

“Liz, you’re impossible”, Maria sighed

“This one!”, Liz said excitedly as she pulled a long navy-blue dress out of the closet.

“Isn’t that the dress that…”, Maria started

“…that you tried to pull out of my hands when we went shopping together. Yes”, Liz finished

“No way, I clearly saw the dress first and you just grabbed it right in front of my eyes”, Maria squealed, “…but I think it’s perfect for tonight”

“Good. We both agree”, Liz said, satisfied with her choice.

“I still say the dress should have been mine though”, Maria clarified

“Of course you do”, Liz replied with a smile, “…so what are you gonna wear tonight?”

“What? What’s wrong with what I have on now?”, Maria asked with a puzzled expression

Liz looked Maria up and down. She looked good, as Maria usually did, but the short light-blue T-shirt, the dark blue jeans and black Nikes weren’t exactly dating material. “Maria, it’s not that you don’t look great… but if I have to dress up, so do you”, she said with a smile

“But I like these clothes”, Maria objected

“Maria, how many times did a guy cook dinner for you?”, Liz asked

“Are you trying to depress me?”, Maria asked

“No, I’m just saying; this could be the night”, Liz said excitedly, “Okay, first we need to decide on lingerie”

“Whoa whoa slow down, or better yet, stop completely!”, Maria shouted, “He’s cooking me dinner, it’s not like we’re gonna be doing it right after. Just cut it out, Liz!”

“Sorry”, Liz said softly

“And besides, are you sure you’re not just projecting on me what you want to do to that cute Evans guy?”, Maria countered

“That is so not true. He’s nice and all but I barely know him and I’m not exactly looking for a new husband on the same day I divorced my old one”, Liz said

“Who said anything about marrying? I know what you want; I can see it in your eyes”, Maria said knowingly, “You want Max Evans’ arms wrapped around you. You want him to undress you and you want him to look you in the eyes when he…”

“Stop! Please”, Liz yelled as her cheeks already started to get red, “Okay, you proved your point. But I do have some self-restraint”

“If you say so”, Maria laughed

~~

“Okay, I have to tell him something”, Tess said to Isabel as the two of them sat outside in the sun; Tess in her wheelchair and Isabel on a bench beside her

“It looked like you were doing great”, Isabel said

“Yeah, we are. He’s really great and he’s not pushing me or anything… but every once in awhile, he gives me one of those looks”, Tess said

“You mean a ‘God, you’re beautiful’-look”, Isabel asked

“More a ‘Please tell me you love me too’-look”, Tess clarified

“Then why don’t you just tell him you’re not ready to say all those things yet? If he’s really such a great guy he’ll understand”, Isabel said

“I don’t know”, Tess said with a sigh, “What if I hurt his feelings?”

“Are you sure it’s not because a part of you wants to tell him that you love him too?”, Isabel queries

“Stop watching so much dr Phil, Isabel”, Tess joked

“Tess, just be honest. You’re in love with him too, aren’t you?”, Isabel asked expectantly

“How can I be in love with him; I just met him”, Tess said

“Time means nothing, Tess. When it’s right, you can just feel it. I have the same thing with Alex”, Isabel admitted

“You mean you’re in love with Alex?!”, Tess squealed

“Well… I think so. But we’re talking about you now. If you think you love him why don’t you tell him? It’s obviously what you really want”

“Are you gonna tell Alex that you’re in love with him?”, Tess asked in return

“God no. I don’t wanna scare him away”, Isabel said wide-eyed

“It’s really been a crazy couple of days; me and Kyle, you and Alex, Liz and dr Evans, Maria and dr Guerin… maybe it’s destiny”, Tess suggested

“Maybe”, Isabel said with a smile

“So how do I tell him?”, Tess said softly

Isabel smiled. “I’m sure you can figure that out by yourself. You got plenty of alone-time together… why don’t you let him read what you wrote?”, Isabel suggested

“But, if he reads that…”, Tess started

“…he’ll know exactly how you feel. He’ll see the real you”, Isabel said

“Oh boy, I think I’m gonna faint”, Tess said softly

TBC

Thanks for the replies everyone.. I really appreciate it. Seems I'm back on schedule; now let's hope I can keep it that way.
I've introduced several supporting characters. Which one(s) so you want to see more of?
-Courtney (Michael's ex)
-Laurie (Isabel's assistant)
-Malamud (Kyle's collegue)
-Michelle (the nurse)
-Nasedo (Yoda2)
-Victor (Maria's gay friend)
-Vivian (Max' ex)

harroc83 wrote:My god they need to tell the hospital staff how this jackass that used 2 hit Tess looks like. Cause if Michael didn't come in when he did, that freak could have killed Kyle. Dont they usually have a cop mind the hospital rooms. I know they do if the person in the room is in danger.

You are so right... they need to let the hospital personnel know what Jackson looks like and get security... but you'll find out why they didn't soon enough.

RhondaAnn wrote:So tonight's the night Michael's cooking for Maria? That should be interesting also. Wonder if either one of them is going to address or face their intimacy issues? Oh, probably not yet right.

Would I make it that easy?

tequathisy wrote:Max has to take things slow with Liz and stop pressuring her into going out on dates with him. She's in a very vulnerable place in her life and Max needs to see that. If he does undress her after the wedding then he'll be deducted a LOT of points.

You're keeping a score of mr Right points too? How many points do they all have?

tequathisy wrote:ps - if visiting hours were over when Jacka$$ arrived, then why was Isabel allowed to visit Tess and wheel her around the hospital in a wheelchair?

I'll answer that question in a later part. Let's just say that Isabel can be very convincing.

Part 22

The sound of the doorbell echoed through the large Parker residence. "I'm coming! I'm coming!", Liz shouted from upstairs which sent shivers through Max' spine. Somehow, Liz in an entirely different situation screaming that exactly same thing came to mind.

"I'm so in over my head here", Max mumbled

When Liz opened the door, they spent a moment in silence. Max admired Liz' beautiful form; the stylish navy-blue dress was nearing perfection and it did justice to her incredible figure. Liz in turn couldn't help but admit that Max looked absolutely scrumptious in his navy-blue suit which perfectly matched her own dress.

"You… you look really beautiful", Max finally said, handing Liz a long red rose that he held in his hand.

"Well… ditto", Liz replied nervously as she took the rose from his hand and smelled it. "Thank you, Max", she said with a smile

"Care to crash a wedding with me?", he asked with a half-smile

"Well, I'm already dressed up and all so what the heck", Liz replied as she closed the front door behind her and followed Max. When they reached Max' car, he opened the passenger door for her like a real gentleman and the two of them drove off.

“So… who are getting married?”, Liz asked expectantly

“Tom and Jennifer… so, are you nervous?”, Max asked with a smile

“Not really... you?”, Liz replied

"Uh… well actually, yes, kind of”, Max admitted

“Why is that?”, Liz asked

“Because my parents are gonna be there too”, Max said with a sigh

“Is there something wrong with your parents?”, Liz asked cautiously

“Undoubtedly… look Liz, they very much disliked my ex-girlfriend and when they don’t like someone, they don’t make any effort to hide it”, Max explained

“Well, in all fairness, your ex-girlfriend was a lying, cheating tramp”, Liz said calmly

”Meow!”, Max said with a grin

“Shut up… you don’t think they’re gonna dislike me too, do you?”, Liz asked nervously

“Well, I hope not… I mean, no!”, Max quickly corrected himself which was, of course, too late

”So how are your parents? Are they as difficult as mine”, Max asked casually

“I haven’t spoken to my parents since I married Brad… they were not exactly Brad-supporters. In the end, they said that they wouldn’t come to the wedding and there was this whole big argument… and in the end, I told them to go to hell and I left”, Liz explained without showing any emotion on her face

“So… didn’t you tell him that you and Brad divorced?”, Max asked

“I said I haven’t spoken to them after I got married, didn’t I?”, Liz snapped, before calming down, “Sorry… I just don’t like talking about my parents”

“Okay… well anyway, you’re gonna love my brother Zan… just let me know when he gets too pushy; he does that”, Max said with a smile, quickly recovering from his earlier mistake

“You have a brother? You never told me”, Liz said, her interest peaked

“He’s actually my twin brother… my identical twin… but you don’t have to worry about mixing us up. He’s more into the punk-look”, Max said

“You as a punk… I have got to see that”, Liz said with a grin

“Yeah, but I heard Kara, his on-off-on-off girlfriend dumped his ass again a few days ago so he’s bound to be prowling the wedding for beautiful women without a wedding ring…”, Max said, eyeing Liz, "… and in case you didn't get it, I meant you"

“He wouldn’t hit on his own brother’s date, would he?”, Liz asked, strangely excited by the idea of two Maxes fighting over her

“Oh, he will… believe me, he will”, Max said with a smile, “But don’t worry, he may look menacing but he’s a big fluffy puppy inside”

“Any other things I need to keep in mind?”, Liz asked, raising her eyebrows

“Well, you might want to… oh, you’re kidding”, Max said, realizing just a second too late that Liz wasn’t serious, “Don’t worry… just be yourself and everything will be fine”

"Ok, now I'm nervous", Liz sighed

~~

When Maria stepped out of the car, she stared at a nice, medium-sized corner house. From the outside, it looked well-maintained.

"You can admire my house from the inside too", Michael said with a smile as he walked from the car towards his front door. Michael had agreed to pick Maria up, drive to his place and he would cook dinner for her. Normally, she would never have agreed to something so bold, but this one time, she gladly made an exception.

"Well, I was just admiring it from outside before I step inside. You know what they say about guys living alone…", Maria smirked

"Yeah, I know what you mean", he said as he escorted Maria inside. Once she stepped inside, Maria did a quick double take. This was not at all what she expected. Everything was just so… neat.

"Surprised?", Michael grinned as he looked at Maria's confused face, "You thought you'd find beer bottles in the corner and a table filled with empty pizza boxes?"

"Well… yes”, Maria admitted

“She doesn’t even try to deny it… disappointed?”, Michael asked, gesturing for Maria to sit down on a large comfortable-looking couch.

“Nuh-uh”, Maria quickly said as she sat down

~~

About thirty minutes later, Michael and Maria has discussed topics as the weather, politics and global warming… also known as the safe-topics… and Michael figured it was time. “So, you hungry?”, he asked

“Starving. You know, I know this great Chinese restaurant two blocks away…”, Maria said, maintaining a serious expression

He didn’t react as she expected. “Sound good. Shall we go out or do you want me to order in?”, Michael casually asked. He wasn’t gonna bite and he smiled widely when he saw the confused look on her face. “Follow me”, he said, motioning Maria to follow him.

When they arrived in the kitchen, Maria’s mouth fell open in amazement. The kitchen wasn’t overly big like the one in her restaurant but it had all the latest equipment and looked even more sterile than the rest of the place. There was also a small table with two chairs and Michael motioned Maria to sit down and watch.

“You know, you can close your mouth now”, Michael joked as Maria’s mouth was still half-open

“It’s just… I half-expected your kitchen furniture to exist of a microwave and a refrigerator filled with microwave dinners”, Maria admitted

“Well, I like to cook and I like to have something decent to eat… what I get at the hospital often resembles something you step in on the sidewalk so when I’m home for dinner, I cook”, Michael explained

“So, do you cook for girls often?”, Maria asked

“No”, Michael said, not clarifying at all.

“So… how many girls did you cook for?”, Maria asked. She figured she was allowed to prod a little.

“Wouldn't you like to know”, Michael said with a sly grin on his face

“So what are you gonna cook?", Maria asked, somewhat excited and curious

~~

Maria was amazed. In about thirty minutes, Michael had managed to prepare a meal that almost made her mouth water. When she watched him cook, she knew exactly why he suggested that he cook for her; he was amazing at it.

"I think you're wasting your time curing cancer Michael… I can fire my cook at the restaurant and you can take his place", Maria said after tasting a few bites

"Well thanks, but no thanks", Michael said with a smile; this went even better than he hoped

"So… how come a good-looking doctor who can even cook is still single?", Maria asked. It was out before she even had a chance to consider her words. She really needed to get this think-before-you-say thing down before she really said the wrong thing.

"You know, maybe I'm just hallucinating… but did you just call me good-looking?", Michael asked, a wide smirk plastered on his face. He was loving this way too much.

"You wish! I uh… I was talking about Max", Maria said, just to see his reaction

"Yeah, Max and cooking… that's like asking the pope to play Doom3", Michael laughed, "I don't think Max will do a lot of cooking any time soon… he'll probably leave that to Liz"

"What? Liz? Please, she can give you food poisoning just by looking at the food", Maria said with a smile, "There's a reason she hired a cook, you know"

"A cook who turned out to screw her husband… and Max", Michael stated

"Don't remind me. If I ever see that bitch again, I'm gonna do some serious damage", Maria said, a frown on her face

"Ouch. Wouldn't want to get on your bad side", Michael said

"And don’t you forget that”, Maria said with a smirk

~~

It was four minutes to seven; four minutes until Alex would come to pick her up for another romantic evening. Isabel didn't know why, but she got the feeling that Alex was planning something big and Isabel couldn't wait but find out why. The doorbell rang and Isabel opened the door, completely ready for one of the best nights of her life to begin.

“Good evening. Have you admitted Jesus Christ into your heart?”, a middle-aged woman with long blonde hair asked her.

Isabel frowned, looked at the woman and then pointed to a small sign right next to the door. It read: Jehovah’s witnesses, please come back in the year 2056.

The woman wasn’t amused but managed to stay polite. “I’m sorry to have bothered you. Good evening”. The woman turned around and almost bumped into Alex as he walked towards Isabel’s door. Isabel, who saw him coming, was waiting in the doorway.

Damn, she had this whole dialog prepared… damned Jehovah’s witness! “Hi Alex”, Isabel said with a small smile as she gestured him to come in. She then closed the door behind him.

Only when he stood in the middle of the hallway, looking at her nervously, did she notice the large bag in his hands. “What’s that?”, Isabel asked curiously

“This?... This is a surprise”, Alex said with a nervous smile

“Okay… what is it?”, Isabel asked

“Well, if I told you that, that would kind of ruin the surprise”, Alex said

“Well, give me a hint”, Isabel said

“I’m no good at that… so I'll just give it to you”, Alex admitted with a small smile as he took the picture out of the bag and held it for Isabel to see.

Isabel’s attitude crumbled immediately and she covered her mouth with her hand, and Alex could see that she was trying desperately not to cry… something Isabel figured she did enough yesterday. “I hope you like it”, Alex said softly. Looking at Isabel like this made his own eyes water.

"But… how?", Isabel asked, her voice trembling

"I talked to Tess and she sent me to a guy called Nasedo", Alex explained

Isabel smiled as she seemed to get over the shock. "She sent you to Nasedo? She didn't mention any of that to me", she said

"Well, I did mention to you that this was supposed to be a surprise… right?", Alex said suggestively

"Thank you Alex… thank you", she said as she threw her arms around him

"You’re very welcome, milady”, Alex said, making a small bow, “Now, shall we go?”

“Well… you know… if you want, we can stay home tonight?”, Isabel asked suggestively

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea… but I guarantee that you’ll have fun tonight”, Alex said

Isabel nodded softly and after re-placing her painting at its rightful spot above the fireplace (actually, it was more of a radiator but fireplace sounds nicer), she accompanied Alex towards the restaurant they’d be going to. Alex said the restaurant was only a few blocks away so they decided to walk.

But all the while, Isabel only thought one thing… did Alex just say no to me?

~~

I don’t know what to do; I don’t know what I feel. It’s liberating and suffocating at the same time. Is this what it’s like to fall in love? Well, all I know is that I never felt like this before. Do I like it? I don’t know... but I don’t want to loose it.

Kyle told me he loved me. I know he meant it and I’m sure he’s waiting for me to say the same thing now. If I do love him too, why is it so hard to just say it? Isabel said that maybe I should let him read this. I want to, but what if he’s disappointed? What if I’m not who he expects me to be?

Why does that frighten me so much?

Tess looked up from the laptop screen that she was typing on and looked towards Kyle. He was asleep in his bed, as he had been doing for the past four hours. When she found him asleep when she and Isabel got back, she was glad that she had some more time to think about it, but now, the waiting was killing her.

Still, there was no thought in her mind about waking him up. Even though he seemed alright when they talked, he was recovering from a near-fatal wound and that has its consequences.

When she looked at him, she could feel this strange tingle and she couldn’t help but smile at him.

“You know, some people don’t like it when you watch them sleep”, Kyle said with his eyes still closed

“Well… you’re obviously not asleep so that doesn’t count”, Tess said

“Yeah, you got a point there”, he said with a small chunk chuckle as he opened his eyes

“How do you feel?”, Tess asked

“A little hungry… but otherwise great”, Kyle said, slowly sitting up

“Yeah well, I got you a warm sandwich from downstairs… but after four hours, it got kinda cold”, Tess shrugged

“Four hours?”, Kyle asked surprised

“Yeah”, Tess replied, “You must have been really tired”

“I guess I was… so how are you feeling?”, Kyle answered

“I’m not sure yet. Can you ask me again in five minutes?”, Tess said with a forced smile

“What’s wrong?”, Kyle asked in a concerned voice, “Did the Celtics loose or something?”

“Well, actually yes… but I’m more of a White Sox fan”, Tess answered

“Whoa whoa… are you telling me that I’m sharing a room with a White Sox fan?!”, Kyle asked, trying to sound upset

“Don’t worry Kyle, I won’t think any less of you… even now that I know you’re a Celtics fan”, Tess replied with a smile.

“Well, I guess nobody’s perfect…”, Kyle smirked, “…but if we ever have kids, you are forbidden to discuss football with them”. Kyle looked at Tess, who had a very nervous look on her face. “Sorry, I only meant it as a joke”

“Did you really?”, Tess asked

Kyle sighed and looked at her. “I already told you I loved you, Tess”

“I want to say the same thing to you Kyle… but I don’t know how”, Tess whispered before she glanced to her laptop and handed it to Kyle. “What you read here is how I feel… and I want you to read it”, she said as she handed Kyle the laptop

~~

Max and Liz had just arrived at the church where Tom and Jennifer were getting married. At seven o’clock, they walked into the church where the ceremony was supposed to be held.

“So why are they getting married in the evening?”, Liz whispered to Max as a young woman escorted them to their seats

“Beats me”, Max laughed, “I always imagined getting married on a sunny afternoon”

“Yeah, me too”, Liz agreed as she and Max both sat down

“Max?”, a voice asked behind them

When Max turned his head, he saw his parents sitting directly behind them. “Uh… hi”, Max muttered

“Come on Maxwell, where’s your manners? Why don’t you introduce us to your friend?”, mrs Evans said

When Liz turned around too, her mouth fell open. “Hello mrs Evans”, Liz said with a meek smile

“Miss Parker”, mrs Evans said as she turned to mr Evans and

“You know each other?”, Max whispered to Liz in a confused voice

“You could have mentioned that your mother was a judge”, Liz whispered back

“They both are”, Max whispered back

“Elizabeth, can I talk to you for a few seconds… in private?”, mrs Evans said as she looked at Liz sharply

TBC

Well, another week, another chapter. I hope you like because I've totally been neglecting another fic to get it done on time. I see most of you want to see more of Victor so he's gonna make another appearance soon, but if I see room for any of the others, I won't hesitate. Anyway, Kara, your name was not used intentionally but I'm sure you wouldn't mind ýour name belonging to Zan's girlfriend.

RhondaAnn wrote: I loved Isabel's Jehovah's witnesses sign! Where can I get one?

Well, I actually saw that sign on a door in my neighbourhood once. But if you want it, I'm sure you can have it made for you

Antarian Chick wrote:OMG this fic is HILARIOUS and...and...just add any of the superlatives you can think of because I most certainly can't at the moment...think, I mean

And for the record, after all the sci-fi classic authors I've read I thought no man is actually able to write insightfully and wittingly about feelings but you've just proved me wrong...So a big thank you for that...

Ego inflation complete. Thank you.

To_Kiss_A_Frog wrote:Well that was a fun chapter, lots going on though you definitely confused me during the Kyle/Tess conversation. Celtics...White Sox and football??? Were they just joking around by talking about three different sports?

Okay, ego deflated again. I should have sticked to sports I know something about, American sports like football and baseball and such are not well known in Europe

vampyrax wrote:I wonder what Mrs. Evans is going to say to Liz? I hope we don't have the change the title of this story to we hate moms.

Lol, don't worry, the title will stay as it is.

Part 23

"Mrs Evans… it sure is a surprise to see you", Liz stammered when Diane had guided the two of them all the way to the other side of the church. Diane didn’t look happy at all.

"Miss Parker, what do you think you're doing?", Diane asked with a sharp voice. This wasn't gonna be pretty; Liz could tell that much.

"Nothing mrs Evans… Max invited me", Liz said, being very careful with her answers

"Don't try the sweet and innocent act with me, Elizabeth!", Diane said, snarling Liz’ name with venom, "I was fooled by it this afternoon but trust me when I say I rarely make the same mistake twice. Don't…"

"I'm sorry mrs Evans, but…", Liz tried to say

"Please be quiet, dear", Diane said coldly, "I'll get to the point; have fun tonight… drink, dance, laugh… and then you're gonna stay away from my son"

Liz eyes narrowed. "Are you done?", Liz asked but got no response, "I don't know why you're judging me here but I just happen to like Max"

"Leave him alone Elizabeth or you're going to be sorry", Diane threatened

~

On the other side of the church, Max and his father Phillip had a little father/son conversation.

"Okay Max… who is she?", Phillip asked

"She's just a friend, dad", Max sighed. He knew his parents weren't gonna be happy; somehow he just knew.

"Yeah right Max!", Phillip laughed, "You know, I was young once too, you know?"

“You weren’t born with your suit on?”, Max asked with a smile

Phillip didn’t even answer that question and steered the conversation right back to Liz. “So how long have you and Liz been together?”, he asked

"We're just friends", Max said with a sigh

"But you're hoping for more…", Phillip said suggestively. Max could see why his father was a lawyer.

"Yeah… but she's not ready for that yet. She just got divorced", Max said. "Tell me the truth dad… I think mom handled her divorce case… should I be afraid?", Max asked, glancing towards the other side of the church.

Phillip let out a short laugh and then got serious. "Be afraid, son… but don't let her get to you. I've been deprived the title of grandfather for far too long", Phillip said in an amused voice

"Well, at the moment I'm more concerned of the conversation between mom and Liz", Max said with a worried look

"Don't worry Max. I'm sure they're just having a nice calm chat", Phillip assured Max

~

Meanwhile, back on the other side of the church…

"Are you threatening me?", Liz asked, fuming in anger. It wasn't like she and Max were really a couple but this woman was getting on her nerves

"Just consider it a fair warning. I know your type, miss Parker and I won't let you hurt my son", she said calmly but firmly before turning her back to Liz and attempting to walk back towards Max and Phillip

“Hey!”, Liz shouted, causing Diane to stop in her tracks and turn back towards Liz. “I don’t get why you’re so hostile to me…”, Liz said, “…but to tell you the truth, I don’t really care. Max is a really nice guy and I sure as hell am not going to stop seeing him because some overprotective judgemental mother-person has a problem with it!”

Diane’s eyes grew wide and took the three steps she place away from Liz back and looked her straight in the eyes.

~

“See, son? They’re already learning to get along?”, Phillip said as he saw Diane take a few steps back to Liz

“You don’t think they’re gonna kill each other?”, Max asked cautiously

“No, your mom left her favorite hunting knife at home this evening. Your girlfriend is safe for now”, Phillip joked

“Actually, it’s mom I'm worrying about”, Max said with a small smile

~

“Don’t think for one second that you can intimidate me with your big mouth”, Diane hissed in Liz’ face.

“Look, I’m sorry…”, Liz said, trying to make peace, “I’m not trying to hurt Max. He’s a nice guy… he knows all about my divorce and he’s okay with it. Why can’t you respect his decision?”

“Because he’s making a mistake”, Diane said sharply before turning around again and walking back to Max and Phillip.

“Wow… Max didn’t exaggerate”, Liz mumbled

~~

Tess watched nervously as Kyle read through the pages she had written. A million thoughts flowed through Tess mind, most of them starting with 'Oh God…'. Every minute or so, Kyle would exchange a look with her before returning his attention to the laptop. Finally, he looked at her again and didn't divert his gaze. It looked like he had read it all.

"For God's sake, say something Kyle", Tess whispered when Kyle didn't say anything for a few seconds.

"I uh… wow", Kyle said, still trying to sort out all the information he just read.

"Wow?", Tess asked, confused

"Is this really how you feel?", Kyle asked, looking straight at Tess

Tess took a deep breath. "Yes", she said

"So you really think I'm like a superhero?", Kyle said with a grin, trying to keep the mood light, "I already fight crime, so all I need is some superpowers"

"Don't forget the cape", Tess said, a smile breaking through her nervous expression

"Tess?", Kyle said, serious again, "I love you… but I never expected you to say it back right away. Seriously, I can wait"

"I wanna say it, Kyle… but I…", Tess started

"Shhhh… those three words are not what's important. I know that once you're ready and you say the words, that you really mean it", Kyle said

Tess didn't answer him so he moved on. "And until you do, I'll just have to comfort myself with the knowledge that you think I'm… 'the sweetest guy you ever met'", he quoted with a smile plastered on his face

"You're enjoying this way too much", Tess said, not being able to push back a smile as she said it

"Well, you're sort of the first girl who thought that about me… the first girl who admitted it anyway", Kyle said with a grin, "… and I've been thinking about a moment like this for a long time"

"You mean the past days?", Tess asked, clearly not finding a few days a long time

"You don't remember, do you?", Kyle asked softly

"Remember what?", Tess asked in a confused tone

"We have actually met a few months ago. He-who-shall-not-be-named took you to a party from work. He introduced you to me there", Kyle said softly

"And you…", Tess started

"Yes", Kyle interrupted.” I knew that I wanted you, right there and then, I knew. But you were with him then", Kyle sighed

"I'm not with him now", Tess smiled

"No you're not", Kyle smiled

~~

"You know Michael, that was really good", Maria said after she ate the last piece of food on her plate.

"Well thank you… coming from you, that really means a lot", he smiled proudly

"Well it should. So, do you have any other skills I should know about?", Maria asked with a grin

"Wouldn't you like to know…", Michael grinned, "…but now that we're talking about skills, care to tell me about yours?"

"Did I mention I have a black belt in karate?", Maria asked, unable to hold a grin from her face when Michael have her a surprised look, "Yeah, me and Liz took some lessons when we started college and since we liked it, we kept doing it. You know, nothing feels better than kicking a huge guy in the…”

“Whoa, whoa, that hurts when you just talk about it”, Michael protested

“You baby”, Maria scoffed

“Hey, that’s…”, Michael started when suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Michael looked at Maria for a second and then glanced at the front door. “If you’re selling something, piss off… if you’re not selling something, piss off even more!”, Michael shouted before turning his attention to Maria. When the doorbell rang again, Michael sighed and gave Maria an apologetic look before answering the door.

If he had known who was behind the door, he wouldn’t have opened it. There stood his ex-girlfriend Courtney. “I deserve an explanation, Michael”, Courtney said

“Courtney, now is not a good time”, Michael said softly

“The hell it is!”, Courtney shouted desperately, “I’ve been waiting for days for you to give me some sort of explanation… I talk to Max who gives me this crazy story about me breaking up with you… what the hell is going on?!”

When Maria appeared behind Michael, Courtney’s mouth literally fell open. “You’re seeing someone else, aren’t you?”, she asked in a hurt voice

“Michael, do you know her?”, Maria asked

“Yeah, that’s Courtney… my ex-girlfriend”, Michael explained, not looking either woman in the eye

“It didn’t take you long to move on, did it? What, it took you all of four days to get over us and find some blonde bimbo”, Courtney snapped

“Hey!”, Maria shouted

“Okay ladies, please just stay calm”, Michael pleaded

“Calm?!”, Courtney shouted, “I feel a lot of things right now but calm is not one of them. Michael, if you were busy fucking some bitch instead of me, you could have at least been man enough to admit it”

“Hey, I have not been ‘fucking’ anyone. I just invited her over for dinner… that’s all, okay!”, Michael exclaimed, ”God, I don’t even know why I’m explaining myself to you!”

“Michael, why are you doing this to me?”, Courtney screamed, “We didn’t have any problems together, we had a lot of things in common, we never had any fights… why, after three months, did you suddenly dump me like I was yesterday’s garbage?”

Maria looked at Michael and Courtney. “You know, it sounds like the two of you have some talking to do, so I’m just gonna…”, Maria said, grabbing her coat and walking outside, past Courtney.

“Maria! Wait!”, Michael shouted but Maria pretended not to hear it. “Maria, please!”, Michael shouted but all that did was make Maria walk away even faster.

Angry beyond words, Michael turned to Courtney. “What the fuck are you doing?”, he shouted

“Like I said…”, Courtney started

“You want an explanation?”, Michael asked in a cynic tone. “Fine. You’re stubborn, you’re vain, you’re unbearable the first two hours of each day and I absolutely can’t stand any of your friends! Is that what you wanted to hear?”, he said loudly

Courtney didn’t respond but just looked at Michael with a look of hurt. “I’m sorry”, Michael said, a little surprised by himself, “I shouldn’t have said that”

“If I was that bad, why did you stay with me for so long?”, Courtney snapped

“Because I liked you... and I didn’t know how to tell you that…”, Michael started

“That you didn’t love me”, Courtney finished Michael’s sentence, “I guess you always knew… that’s why we never had sex”

“Yes”, Michael sighed, “I want my first time to be with the person I truly love… and as much as I wanted it to be you… it just wasn’t”

“Well, looks like I got my answer”, Courtney said softly before turning around and slowly walking away

“Courtney wait”, Michael said, suddenly feeling like a complete ass

“Michael, if the next words out of your mouth are ‘we can still be friends’… just don’t”, Courtney said as she walked away.

“I hope you’ll find the right person someday”, Michael said

“Don’t worry about me…”, Courtney said, “You have worries of your own right about now”

“Yeah”, he said softly. Michael knew she was right. He had to give Maria one hell of an explanation.

~~

After the actual wedding, Liz and Max attended the reception. After congratulating the bride and groom, Max started telling Liz stories about his family…

“And over there is uncle Bernard… he’s the oldest living Evans, pushing well over a hundred and four years old. But don’t think he’s senile or anything; he still kicks my ass every time we play chess”, Max said with a smile

“Ah, and that is aunt May… she’s the gossip in the family. If you want news to spread fast, tell it to her”, Max explained

When Liz didn’t respond, Max knew that something was wrong. “Are you alright, you’ve been kind of quiet”, he asked

“It’s nothing”, Liz said with a small smile

“Alright”, Max sighed, “What did she say to you?”

“What? Who?”, Liz feigned ignorance. She really didn’t want to put Max against his mother.

“The queen of England…”, Max said sarcastically, while Liz gave him a confused look, “My mother, Liz… what did she say to upset you?”

“Look Max, it’s not important”, Liz reasoned

“Liz…”, Max said, looking straight at her, “…she obviously upset you and I want to talk to her about it. I need to know what she said”

Liz thought about it for a second and decided that she might as well tell him. “Fine. She told me to stay away from you”, Liz said

“Well, if it’s any consolation, I think my dad likes you”, Max said with a smile, “Just wait here, okay?”, he said as he stood up and walked towards his parents.

As soon as he left, another guy sat down next to her with features similar to Max. She realized that must be his brother Zan. But he didn’t look like a punk, except for several piercings on his face. “Hey, I’m Zan”, he said, introducing himself

“Hi, I’m Liz”, she said.

“Yeah, I heard. You know, you’re a lot hotter than Maxie’s last girlfriend”, Zan opened

“Uh thanks… I guess”, Liz said with a smile.

“So what’s a fella gotta do to earn a dance from you?”, he said, straight to the point

“Well, he could start by asking?”, she said wittily

“Alright Liz… wanna dance?”, he asked

“Well…”, Liz said, regretting her earlier words and glancing in Max direction who seemed to be in a heated argument with his parents, “…Oh, why not?”, she agreed

“That’s my girl… come on”, he said as he pulled Liz up and guided her to the dance floor.

~

On the other side of the room, Max was arguing with his parents; more precisely his mother. “I really don’t see why you don’t like Liz. She’s been married before… well as much as I resent the guy who cheated on her, I really don’t see how that affects your judgement about Liz”, Max said loudly

“She’s a leech, Max. Her husband cheated on her but only because she pulled away from him the moment they got married. From a legal point of view, she did an excellent job, but that’s not what I want for you”, Diane said

“What you want?!”, Max repeated. “What about what I want? You’re judging someone by something you know nothing about!”, Max shouted

“Don’t you use that tone on me, young man!”, Diane said sternly

“Honey, Max has a point”, Phillip intervened, “You don’t know anything for a fact. How’s about we give her a fair chance?”

Diane sighed. “I just hope you know what you’re getting yourself into, Max”, Diane said softly

“I know it sounds strange, but I trust her. I don’t expect you to like her right away, but the least you can do is be civil”, Max said calmly

“Of course we will, son”, Phillip intervened, not leaving any room for objections, “…where is she anyway?”

Max looked at where Liz was seated but she was now gone. Maybe she went to the bathroom or something, he thought. But then his eye fell on the dance floor where his brother and Liz were dancing. Max watched from afar as Zan’s hand slid down Liz’ back, stopping just in time before she could protest. “I’m so gonna kill him”, Max muttered

~~

Well over 10pm Isabel rang the doorbell of Maria’s place. After a few seconds, Maria opened the door and let Isabel in. “You’re the first”, Maria commented as she and Isabel sat down in the living room. “I’m guessing your date didn’t go well”, Maria commented

“No, it was okay”, Isabel said unconvincingly

“Yeah right… and that’s why you’re here talking to me”, Maria said sarcastically, “You seem to really like Alex… was the sex that bad?”

“No, he said he didn’t want to”, Isabel said in a confused voice

“He’s a guy… and you’re, admittedly, a good-looking girl… and he turned down a night of hot passionate sex? Wow”, Maria said

“Wow?”, Isabel asked

“Hey, this happens to me on every single date I go on”, Maria commented

“Well, not with me!”, Isabel countered, “I always get it if I want it”

“You know, you’re sounding like a spoiled schoolgirl here, Iz”, Maria commented

“Yeah, I know… it’s just… I don’t understand him. He went through so much trouble; he even went through Tess to get my painting fixed. What other reason could there be?”, Isabel questioned

“Maybe he’s gay”, Maria said jokingly

“I don’t think so… we were dancing tonight and I definitely felt something… on my hip, that is”, Isabel said

“Okay, so maybe he just wants to take things slow”, Maria said

“Yeah, probably”, Isabel said before changing the subject, “So how did your date go?”

“Well, it went really great. He’s a great cook and have I ever said how you can tell a lot about a guy by the house he lives in?”, Maria said

“You might have mentioned it once or twice”, Isabel commented

“Yeah, his place is so organized, not to mention clean”, Maria said excitedly

“So does the fact that your garden looks like a war zone have some hidden meaning?”, Isabel asked with a smile

“No. It’s only applicable to guys”, Maria said, not reacting to Isabel’s joke

“Ah… so everything went well tonight?”, Isabel asked excitedly

Maria sighed deep. “Well, until his ex-girlfriend came by”, she sighed

“So what happened?”, Isabel asked

“I don’t know. I kinda left”, Maria admitted

Isabel looked at Maria for a second. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll explain everything to you”, Isabel reassured Maria

“I hope so”, Maria admitted

TBC

Alright, I'll keep it short. New part; have fun.
I'll try to squeeze another part in this year.

Part 24

"He is so dead", Max muttered under his breath. Zan must have known that Liz was here with Max but he didn't seem to care much as he danced with Liz, obviously trying to come on to her.

"Who's the cutie?", a young teenager asks, positioning himself right next to Max. he couldn't be much older than fifteen or sixteen. Max shot a small smile at the comment but didn't take his eye off Liz.

"Liz… if you wanna dance with her, good luck trying to pry Zan off her", Max said sarcastically

"Didn't she come here with you?", the boy said

"Yeah", Max said

"Dude… looks like you were just dumped", the boy said

"Nicholas… shut up", Max said calmly but sternly

Max watched in horror as he saw Zan's hand sliding lower and lower on Liz' back. Max took a step in the direction of the dance floor, ready to have a serious word with his brother until suddenly, in one fluent motion, Liz let go of Zan's shoulder with one hand, used that hand to slap the hand that was practically on her ass hard and move her hand back to Zan's shoulder. She then continued dancing like nothing happened.

"Ow woman… what was that for?", Zan hissed, secretly hoping that no one saw that. He was not so lucky; the wide grin on his face indicated that Max saw it all too well.

"The last person who tried what you just did, returned home with a broken leg", Liz said

"You broke his leg?", Zan asked, amazed and a little scared

"Well… actually he tripped over the carpet when he went back to his seat but that's not the point", Liz said

"Right", Zan said with a smile

"Move your hands there again and we're gonna have a problem", Liz said sternly

"You mean here?", Zan said defiantly as he grabbed Liz' ass with both hands. Liz didn't hesitate and grabbed Zan's thumbs with her hands and started twisting. Within seconds, Liz saw the cocky smile on Zan's face turn into a grimace.

"That's exactly where I meant. You don't hear the word 'no' a lot, do you?", Liz said as Zan tried to keep his face in check.

When she finally let go, Zan quickly pulled his hands back and started rubbing them in pain. "Did anyone ever tell you you're a little scary?", Zan said, a little impressed as well as a little embarrassed

"All the time", Liz said with a smile

"Zander Andrew Evans!", a voice sounded from a few feet away, causing Zan to take a step away from Liz

"Hey Kara", Zan said meekly

"Don't 'hey Kara' me. What was that?", Kara said sternly

"What? We're just dancing… right, Liz?", Zan said indignantly.

Liz realized that Zan and Kara were both staring at her, waiting for an answer. "Yes, we were just dancing. You must be his girlfriend Kara… I heard a lot about you", Liz said, leaving away the fact that she got the information from Max and not from Zan

"Well, I'm sure most of it is not true", Kara said with a bright smile, "I don't think we've met before… Liz was it?"

"Yes. Liz Parker", Liz said with a small smile extending her hand towards Kara

"Kara Jones", she said, shaking Liz hand.

"You're not related to Bradley Jones, are you?", Liz said hesitantly

"What if I am?", Kara said with a smile

"I would be very disappointed", Liz replied

Kara laughed. Ex-boyfriend, huh… well, there's no one named Bradley or anything close to it in my family", she said with a chuckle

"That's good to hear", Liz said with a smile

"So what do you do for a living, Liz?", Kara asked, a little curious about the new girl

"I'm in the restaurant business", Liz said

"Is that a fancy way of saying you're a waitress?", Zan asked bluntly

"Zan!", Kara shouted as she punched him against the shoulder

"What? What did I say?", he asked indignantly

"No… actually, I own a restaurant", Liz said with a smile

"Wow… so how'd you meet Max?", Kara asked

"Well, I met him at the hospital where he works", Liz said

"Why do women always go for the doctors?", Zan asked

"Well, I uh…", Liz said, trying to find the words she's looking for

"Don't pay any attention to him", Kara interrupted kindly

"Well, Max is a nice guy and that's all that really matters", Liz said

"I am?", Max asked with a big smile, appearing from behind Liz

"Well, you have your moments", Liz said as Max stood right next to her

"So what do you do for a living, Zan? You're a doctor too… or did you follow in your mother's footsteps?", she asked

"Hell no! It'll be a cold day in hell before I step inside a courtroom", Zan exclaimed

"So what do you do then?", Liz asked curiously

"I own a computer company; Antar Systems", Zan said

"Wow", Liz said

"Well, we won't bother you anymore", Kara interrupted and dragged Zan away from Max and Liz

When Zan and Kara were gone, Max reached out his hand and made a small bow. “May I have this dance?”, he asked. Liz smiled and took his hand and they started to slowdance.

“Do you think I went too far?”, Liz asked

“Are you kidding?”, Max answered, with raised eyebrows, “You had my full blessing to punch him in the face”

“Ouch. Not a very brotherly gesture”, Liz said with a smile

“What can I say? He was asking for it”, Max said with a grin

~~

“So he’s a good cook?”, Isabel asked, a wide grin forming on her face

“He’s like Jamie Oliver, only better-looking”, Maria said with a smile

“That’s not much of a comparison, you know”, Isabel laughed

Maria smiled a little but the smile faded away just as quickly. "Yeah, I know", Maria sighed

"Oh, come on Maria", Isabel said, "He's gonna come to explain himself very soon; I'm sure of it

"I hope so", Maria replied softly

"Oh chica… you got it so bad", Isabel said with a small smile

"Shut up", Maria said with a smile

"Please! It's a well-known fact that when you talk about a guy like he's perfection personified, that's when you're in love", Isabel smirks

"I am not in love, okay!", Maria countered, "I barely know the guy, he annoys me more often than not, and for all I know, he's screwing his ex-girlfriend as we speak"

"You're so in denial. It's cute, really", Isabel said with a smile

Maria frowned. "Well if you're such an expert on love… why are you so stressed out because Alex didn't wanna have sex with you?", she said, tilting her head as she looked at Isabel

"That's a low blow", Isabel said softly, "And what does him turning me down have to do with love?", she said with a frown

"Maybe he just didn't want it to feel as payment for what he did", Maria said

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?", Isabel replied loudly. She was getting pissed off and a pissed off Isabel was hardly a controlled Isabel.

"Hey, no need to kill the messenger", Maria said, holding her hands up, "I'm just saying that Alex probably didn't want you to do something that you'd regret the next morning"

"So you think I'm stressing out over nothing?", Isabel deducted

"Give the girl a cookie", Maria said loudly

~~

Kyle looked at the large clock that hung above the entrance to the ward. It was only nine-thirty but right next to him, Tess was already sound asleep. Glancing towards Tess to make sure she was really asleep, he took his cell phone off the small table next to his bed, flipped it open and called a number.

After it rang a few times, a man with a very low voice answered the phone. "Holloway", the voice just said

"It's Kyle Valenti", Kyle said, trying to keep his voice down so Tess wouldn't wake up but making sure the man on the other side heard him too.

"What can I do for you, Valenti?", he man asked semi-friendly

"You can place the goddamn officer at the hospital like you said you would", Kyle hissed

"Calm down. If Jackson wanted to harm you at the hospital, he would have done so already", the man said calmly

"Don't give me that crap, Lance!", Kyle said a little louder, taking a quick glance towards Tess to make sure she was still asleep

"That's commissioner Holloway to you, Valenti. And as soon as we’ve finished the murders and rapes in this district, we'll send someone over to baby-sit you", Holloway said sarcastically

"I have a bad feeling about tonight, Lance", Kyle said softly, "What if he sneaks in tonight and hurts Tess?... Send me the fucking officer, now!"

"Good night, Kyle", Holloway said in an annoyed voice before he broke the connection

"Shit!", Kyle hissed as he heard the dial tone. He quickly dialled another number.

"Yeah", the person on the other side said

"Man, you gotta work on your phone skills", Valenti said with a small smile, "I need a favor"

~~

“Oh shit, you gotta be kidding me”, Michael muttered as he spotted Maria and Isabel through the front window of Maria’s place. Maria was standing and was using dramatic gestures to explain something to Isabel.

Michael felt a shiver run down his spine and instinctively looked towards the house next-door. When he spotted Victor sitting in his house, staring at him, he looked down and shook his head. “He’s like an eight-year-old woman”, he muttered again.

When Victor motioned him to come over, Michael glanced towards Maria and Isabel before moving towards Victor. He then quickly decided that anything to postpone imminent doom for a few minutes was a good thing.

When Michael arrived at the window, he noticed the window was half-open. “You screwed up again, didn’t you?”, Victor asked without any preamble

“Well, that depends on how you look at it”, Michael defended

“Well, you show up with a rose… which, by the way is a very sweet thing but you should have gotten a white one… and that means something went wrong and you think it’s your fault”, Victor deducted, not stopping to breathe the entire sentence

“Cut the psych crap, okay?”, Michael said

“So what’d you do?”, Victor asked

“Well…”, Michael hesitated

“Come on Mickey-G, spit it out!”, Victor pushed

“My ex-girlfriend showed up”, Michael whispered

“Oooh, naughty”, Victor said with a grin

“What? I didn’t invite her!”, Michael said with a disgusted tone

“Oh… so what happened?”, Victor asked

“Courtney wanted to talk and…”, Michael started

“It has a name”, Victor scoffed

“Yes!... well anyway, before I could protest, Maria left”, Michael said

“And you didn’t follow her?!”, Victor shouted, “What kind of moron are you?”

“Hey, I kinda had a catastrophy of the ex-girlfriend kind to attend to”, Michael shouted indignantly and then looked around to see if anyone heard him, which didn’t seem to be the case.

“Yeah, that sounds like a real catastrophy. You know… boils, locusts, earthquakes, ex-girlfriends…”, Victor mocked

“You always know how to cheer a guy up”, Michael said with a fake smile

“Well, mission accomplished then”, Victor said, motioning towards Maria’s door

“Yeah, I don’t know if that is such a good idea. Her friend; the tall blonde one, is there too. I heard she’s scary”, Michael said hesitantly

“You’re not saying you’re scared of a woman here, are you?”, Victor asked

“Aren’t you?”, Michael asked

“No… but then again, I didn’t just give them a reason to beat me to death with a shovel”, Victor said, which caused Michael to wince before he realized that Victor was deliberately scaring him. “Anyway, if you’re waiting for her to leave, you’re gonna be waiting a long time”

“How do you know that?”, Michael asked

“What, you think screwed-up dates are new territory for her… or her friends for that matter?...”, Victor asked, “Just go on in, man. You don’t even know for sure if she’s mad at you or not”

“Well, I saw Maria gesturing to the tall blonde…”, Michael started

“Isabel”, Victor chimed in

“…and she was either saying ‘Grab the table on both sides’ or ‘I will rip his arms off’”, Michael finished

“Well, she did buy an absolutely gorgeous coffee table a week ago”, Victor said with a smile

“Come on, this is serious!”, Michael said

“No, you’re being ridiculous here. Just go there, apologize, take the slap in the face you’ll undoubtedly get like a man and everything will be alright”, Victor said

“If only it were that simple”, Michael said

“Make it that simple”, Victor encouraged

~~

“The rest of the evening had gone extremely well for Liz. Zan had thanked her later for not telling Kara about his little slip up and Max’ parent had treated her with some decency. They weren’t nice to her by a stretch but it was a definite start.

It was a little past midnight when Max’ car stopped in front of Liz’ house and the both of them got out. “Thanks for tonight, Max”, Liz said as the two of them walked towards Liz’ front door.

“It was definitely my pleasure”, Max said with a smile

“Do you think your mother would ever like me?”, Liz suddenly asked

“Yes”, Max said confidently, “...it’s just gonna take some time”

“Okay”, Liz said softly as the two of them came to a halt in front of the front door. “So… do you wanna come in for a cup of coffee?”, Liz asked hesitantly

Max thought for a few seconds. On the one hand, he would love nothing more than to go in there… but on the other hand, he had promised himself before the evening began that he wouldn’t go too far. “I’d love to, Liz… but I have an early shift at the hospital tomorrow… I should go home”, he said.

He then leaned forward and placed a small gentle kiss on Liz lips. “Good night, Liz”, he said and he walked back to his car.

“Goodnight”, Liz said softly as she watched him walk away

She then smiled, opened her front door and walked inside. When Max got into his car, he sat down behind the wheel and blankly stared in front of him for a few seconds before he started his car and drove away.

When Liz stepped inside her house, she immediately noticed a light coming from the living room. “I didn’t leave that on”, Liz softly whispered to herself as she moved towards the living room. When she opened the door to the living room, a frown appeared on her forehead.

“What the hell do you want?”, she asked angrily

TBC

I’m so sorry for the delay. I’ve been catching up with a few great fics and that took up a lot of time. But anyway, here’s part 25 and I hope part 26 will come sooner. Who knows, maybe I’ll get inspired this weekend.

RhondaAnn wrote:I just absolutely love Victor! You must include him in at least every other chapter! He's really going to keep Michael on his toes!

Well, I can't guarantee he's gonna be in every other chapter, but you'll definitely see more of him

Empress_luci wrote:So is there any chance of some more action with zan in this fic or is that the last time will hear of him??

There will be more Zan action (at least, that's the plan).

Alright, have fun reading. I’m having mixed feelings about this one so tell me what you think of it.

Part 25

“I’ll repeat myself only once…”, Liz said with an angry expression as she walked right to the person sitting in her living room, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry to barge in here and all but…”, the man said

“No, you’re not. Now what do you want?”, Liz demanded to know

“Look, I know we’ve had our differences but…”, the man said

“Differences?”, Liz asked in a disgusted tone, “Weren’t your exact words… If you marry that son of a bitch, you are not a daughter of mine? Tell me, dad… are those the differences you were referring to?”

“Liz, it was never my intention to drive you away…”, Jeff said

“Well… job well done then”, Liz said sarcastically

“I’m sorry. Is that what you want me to say?”, Jeff said, a bit agitated himself now

“What I want you to say is why you are here and how you got in”, Liz said, trying to sound calm

“Well, the key was in one of the flower pots just like you used to do at home…”, Jeff said with an apologetic shrug

"So you thought… my daughter and I are so close, she won't mind if I take the key and make myself comfortable in her house?", Liz said sarcastically

"Would you stop this?!", Jeff shouted

"What'd you expect?", Liz asked with a dead-serious expression

"I said I was sorry, didn't I? What else can I say?", Jeff asked

Liz finally relented and sighed deeply. "Fine… so why are you here?", Liz asked

"It's your mother… she's… well, she would really like to see you", Jeff said softly

Despite the fact that she hadn't seen her father in almost a year, she could read him pretty well and the concerned tone in his voice did not bode well. "Is everything okay with her?", Liz asked hesitantly

"No…", Jeff answered softly, "…she's not"

"What's wrong with her?", Liz asked, a bit more receptive

"She has what the doctor called Squamuous Cell Carcinoma… it's basically a form of lung cancer. The doctor told us that the chances of recovery are almost zero", Jeff said hanging his head before looking back at Liz. "I know we have our differences but it would mean a lot to me if you visited her"

Liz looked back at her father. He looked broken… empty… and she could feel her anger disappear. "Okay", Liz said softly

"You will? I know your mother misses you a lot", Jeff said, lighting up just a little

"Of course. How can I say no?", Liz said softly

"Thank you", Jeff said softly. "She's at Roswell General, ward 5D. Do you want us to go together?", he asked in a slightly hopeful tone.

"Sure", Liz whispered

"I'll pick you up at ten-thirty, okay?", Jeff asked

"Okay", Liz answered softly as she slowly sat down on the couch.

Jeff stood up, pleased that the conversation went as well as it did and turned towards the door. He looked back towards Liz, who was staring at the window, seemingly at nothing. He wanted to say something… but he didn't know what, so he turned back towards the door and left.

~~

"Okay, I can do this", Michael softly said to himself as he approached Maria's front door. Taking a deep breath, he rang the doorbell and waited for a few seconds before Maria herself answered the door.

"Uh… hi", Michael said with an involuntary sheep smile

"Michael!", Maria yelped in surprise. It's not like she didn't expect him to come by and explain things but she never expected that to be tonight.

"I uh… I was hoping we could talk", Michael said

"How are things with the ex-girlfriend?", Isabel's voice echoed from the living room

Maria put her hands behind her ears and mouthed 'ears like a wolf' to Michael as she shrugged.

"She's exactly that… an EX-girlfriend", Michael said to Maria

As soon as Maria seemed to ask a question, Michael spoke first. "Yes, I broke up with her recently. No, I don't want her back. No, I'm not in love with her. And no, she won't bother us again", Michael said in one breath

Maria was silent for a second. "…I was gonna ask if you wanted to come in", she said

"Oh…", Michael said. When Maria stepped aside, he stepped in.

"Is that for me?", Maria asked, eyeing the white rose in Michael's hand.

"Yeah, that weird Victor guy next-door told me you liked white ones", Michael admitted before he handed her the rose which Maria gracefully accepted

"He did, did he?", Maria said, squinting her eyes as she thought of ways to get back at him for being so nosy.

"Yeah… and I'm kinda glad he did", Michael said

"We're still waiting for an explanation", Isabel shouted from the other room, surprising both Michael and Maria

"I'm a jerk", Michael shouted back towards where Isabel's voice came from

"Tell us something we don't know!", was the immediate response he got heard from Isabel

"Look Maria…", Michael said softly so that Isabel wouldn't hear, "I didn't break up with Courtney because we didn't get along; we did. I broke up with her because I realized that I didn't really love her. I wanted to tell her but I didn't know how… so I guess I may have been a little vague. Don't hate her; she's a great person… she was just confused"

"But you explained everything to her?", Maria asked hesitantly

"Yes", Michael answered and as he took a step in Maria's direction, he felt his confidence returning when she didn't jump back. He took another slow step in her direction and brought his face closer and closer to hers…

"Alrighty!", Isabel said loudly as she walked right past them towards the front door, causing Michael and Maria to jump apart. "Well, I'm gonna go now. And remember Maria, the best contraceptive is the word 'no', repeated over and over", she laughed before she was literally pushed out the door by a very embarrassed Maria.

"Sorry about that", Maria said to Michael with an embarrassed smile.

"You know I would never… you know… right?", Michael asked

"I know", Maria said with a small smile as she leaded Michael towards her living room.

"Well, it seems like you get to see my house too", Maria said

"I've seen your house before", Michael responded with a smirk

"Well, this time you can focus on something else than the girl who collapsed in the hallway", Maria said

"Or someone else", Michael suggested

"Right", Maria muttered as they both sat down

From outside, a figure watched from the shadows, obviously not happy with the situation. "Bitch", the figure hissed.

~~

A few hours later, when the town slept, the entire hospital was quiet. Except for a light coming out of the nurses' quarters on the far end of the hallway, everything was dark. The storage room door squeaked softly when it was opened from the inside.

Quickly peeking out of the storage room and into the hallway, Jackson was pleased to see that the hallway was empty. He decided that he had waited far too long with this. Tess and Kyle… one of them he could handle, but the two of them could ruin everything he had worked for all his life. They could see to it that his friends would never talk to him again, that he would loose his job, that he would go to jail… and those were things he couldn't allow to happen.

The storage room was only two doors away from the ward that he knew Kyle and Tess were staying in. He glanced at his watch again; it was a little over one o'clock. He stealthily stepped out of the storage room and moved towards Kyle and Tess' ward. He quickly slipped into the ward just as a nurse walked out of the nurses' room and walked into one of the wards close to it.

Jackson peeked around the corner until he saw the nurse coming out of the ward and walking back into the nurses' room. Only then did he turn back towards the ward. At the moment, he was standing at the entrance of the ward with a changing room on one side and a bathroom on the other side. He took a few steps forward and saw two beds right next to each other. He couldn't see exactly who they were from this distance but it had to be Kyle and Tess.

Reaching inside his jacket, he pulled out a large hunting knife. He supposed a gun would work even better but he needed something silent and untraceable so a knife seemed like a better choice. He had his gun in coat pocket too though… you never know when things get rough. He took a few steps more into the room and smiled when he saw that it were indeed Kyle and Tess who were lying in the bed. He took a few more steps towards Tess bed, moonlight from the window shining on her face.

Jackson held his knife tightly in front of his chest as he stopped and looked at Tess. God, she was beautiful, he never had any doubt about that in the past. But could he really kill her? He stood as frozen for what seemed like an eternity as he stared at her.

"God, I can’t do this", he whispered, almost inaudibly as he lowered the knife. He knew all to well that keeping them alive would be the end of him… but deep down, he knew it was too late anyway. He could run, but he also knew they'd catch him sooner or later. He really was screwed. He had no choice here.

He looked at the bed next to her and saw Kyle Valenti laying there; the man he almost killed. It had never been much of a secret to him that Kyle had a thing for his girlfriend, and for a second, Jackson figured that Kyle was probably happy to be lying next to Tess right now.

"Sorry baby, but I don't have a choice here", he whispered. He raised the knife again as he took another step towards Kyle and Tess.

"That's close enough", a voice echoed through the room. Before Jackson knew it, someone flipped the light switch and a bright light filled the room. He looked around and then spotted Malamud sitting on a chair in the corner of the ward.

"Malamud… what the fuck are you doing here?", Jackson asked

"Stupid question", Malamud answered dryly. Jackson finally noticed the gun in Malamud's hands.

"Actually, stupid questions are more your thing. Remember our first day on the street?…", Jackson said, trying to appeal to Malamud by bringing up some past memories, "…You know, when you found that homeless guy lying in the gutter and you asked what he was doing?"

"If I remember correctly, the guy said he finally found a parking space and now his wife was getting the car", Malamud said with a small smile

"True… and for a few seconds, you actually believed him", Jackson said with another small smile

"Well, I'm not that naïve anymore. You know, when I heard that you were accused of murder, I didn't want to believe it", Malamud said

"He threatened me with a gun and I defended myself", Jackson said, defending his actions when he shot Kyle.

"And now you want to finish the job?", Malamud asked

"I don't have a choice here. I'm looking at years in prison if they both testify against me", he said, looking back towards Kyle and Tess. He was amazed they were both still asleep; he and Malamud weren't exactly whispering.

"You're not gonna shoot me. Kyle didn't have the balls for it and neither do you", Jackson said as he took another step in Tess direction.

"Jackson!", Malamud said firmly, "You take one more step and I will shoot you. Drop the knife"

With his back turned towards Malamud, Jackson covertly reached into his coat, grabbing the gun out of his pocket. He dropped the knife and it fell on the floor with a loud clang.

When Tess opened her eyes, startled by the loud noise she just heard, the bright light hurt her eyes but she could clearly see Peter Jackson stand in front of her bed.

She noticed Malamud in the corner of the room with a gun pointed at Jackson. She then noticed Jackson covertly pulling a gun out of his pocket and she saw Malamud slowly lowering his gun.

"He has a gun!", Tess screamed, her scream echoing through the hospital…

From the courtyard of the hospital, two doctors came in for an emergence surgery when they heard three loud shots echoing through the night.

~~

The loud sound of the doorbell rang loudly through Liz' head. She sat in the living room, waiting nervously for her father to come and pick her up. She didn't sleep much last night, which was to be expected and with a yawn, she got up and opened the front door.

"How's my favorite girl?", Alex asked with a sheepish smile

"Better not let Isabel know you said that", Isabel said with a small smile. It's crazy but Alex made her feel more at ease than she had felt all night.

"Yeah, I better find a new way to greet you", Alex said with a grin as he stepped inside

"Just don't call me your second-favorite girl… I have some pride, you know?", Liz said as she walked towards the living room

Alex followed her and as Liz sat down, Alex sat down opposite to her. "So how was the date with Max?", Alex asked cautiously

"Pretty good. I mean, his mother hates me but other than that, it went really well… and it was not a date; we're just friends", Liz said, correcting the nature of the non-date at the last second

"Well, the reason I'm here… you're a girl and I really need some advice on girls", Alex said

"Girl… or Isabel?", Liz asked with a smile

"Isabel… she invited me to spend the night yesterday, and when I said it was a little too soon for that… well, let's just say that she was a little distant that evening", Alex said, clearly using an understatement

"So let me understand this correctly… you shot her down when she asked you to have a night of hot passionate sex and you're surprised that she's giving you the cold looks?", Liz asked with a smirk

"I treated her with respect and she's giving me the silent-treatment for it", Alex corrected indignantly

"Alex, you did the right thing; if you’re not ready for it, you shouldn’t do it… but Isabel has a lot of pride. And it’s amazing how much of that she actually swallowed in the last few days but getting shot down like that was probably just too much for her… but don’t worry, she’ll get over it”, Liz tried to reassure Alex.

“You know, I wish I could understand these relationship rules that Isabel lives by”, Alex sighed

“Well, that can be arranged”, Liz laughed and left the room, only to return a minute later with a dusty notebook in her hands. “This is something we wrote a few years ago when we were all really really drunk… you may find it enlightening, Liz said as she handed the notebook to Alex.

Alex wasted no time and opened the notebook on page 1. He read aloud: “Twenty rules women wish men knew…” before he turned to Liz. “You’re kidding me, right?”

Liz chuckled and shook her head. “Oh no, we were very serious… not to mention drunk, did I mention that?”, she laughed. Alex smiled and looked down at the rules that were neatly written down.

Rule one: if you don’t act like prince Charming, don’t expect us to look like a princess
Rule two: handbags are as exciting for us as beer is for you
Rule three: if running, weightlifting and fighting are sports, then shopping is a sport too
Rule four: it will take us two hours to get ready. If we’re done any faster, we expect a compliment for it
Rule five: the toilet seat must always be put down

“My God, you four put way too much thought into this”, Alex laughed as he read on.

Rule six: yes and no are not acceptable answers to a question
Rule seven: contrary to what you may think, burping, spitting and scratching your butt are not attractive traits. Cut it out!
Rule eight: don’t push us for something we don’t want but don’t hold us back from something we do want
Rule nine: if we ask you how we look, you have one second to come up with something good
Rule ten: two words… size matters

Alex wanted to turn the page to read the other rules but the loud ring of the doorbell interrupted him. When Liz opened the door, she saw her father standing there and immediately the situation with her parents came flooding back into her mind. For a few minutes, she had actually forgotten about it.

“Are you ready?”, Jeff asked softly

“As ready as I’ll ever be”, Liz sighed

TBC

Sorry for the long wait everyone, but I'm back again. One of the reasons this fic has been delayed is because I also posted another fic here called 'The Lucky Ones', which I wanted to give a jumpstart. Well, everyone thanks for the replies; keep em coming; I love reading what you think about it. Enjoy...

RhondaAnn wrote:Those rules are perfect! Will we be able to read the others sometime?

Yes, and sooner than you think

Mariael311 wrote:LMFAO!!! I'm still cracking up about the Nasedo Yoda! But...so much drama....don't tell me that Courtney watching and that Liz' ex is going to make a comeback!!!

Fine, I won't say a word

tequathisy wrote:Are you sure you're a man? Because those rules are totally spot on. You must make a great boyfriend - if you obey them.

That's what it says on my passport.

Part 26

“Tell me exactly what happened”, detective Tina Bristow asked Malamud as the two of them sat at a table in the same ward as Tess and Kyle were in. In a normal situation, he would have been downtown, but seeing as he was a police officer and the fact that Tess and Kyle couldn’t exactly go anywhere to be questioned, she decided to ask her questions right then and there.

“He drew a gun… I didn’t have any choice”, Malamud said softly

“I can explain”, Kyle interrupted

“Mr Valenti”, Tina nodded, motioning him to continue

“Tess here was his girlfriend. I walked in on him almost killing her. I was afraid he was going to hurt us here so I asked detective Malamud to watch over us because the captain couldn’t spare the manpower. He did, Jackson showed up and mr Malamud saved”, Kyle explained.

“Do you have anything to add to that, detective?”, she asked while looking at Malamud.

“I didn’t set out to kill him. I just wanted my friends to be safe”, he added

“Miss Harding… is that exactly what happened?”, Tina asked, now looking at Tess.

Tess didn’t move or speak. She just stared in front of her.

“Miss Harding?”, Tina asked.

When she didn’t answer again, Kyle started to get worried too. He turned on his side and looked directly at Tess. "Tess, baby listen to me", Kyle whispered to an unresponsive Tess. Tess, in turn, was still staring blankly in front of her.

"Tess?", Michelle asked as she walked in the room. She walked over to Tess, leaned forward and placed her face close to Tess', who still did not respond the slightest bit. She gently placed her hand on Tess forehead, causing Tess to jerk her face away with a scared expression on her face.

"You don't have to be afraid of me, Tess", Michelle said with a friendly smile as she slowly reached out for Tess again. In some sort of panic, Tess jumped out of her bed and walked towards the door. Being in bed for so long didn't do her legs any good though and her legs gave in a few steps on the way and she had to grab a hold of one of the other beds to keep from falling.

"Tess, I…", Michelle started

"Michelle, why don’t you go check ward nine!", a voice shouted from the doorway. Michelle looked up to see Max standing there.

“I’m sorry dr Evans but she’s…”, Michell protested

“Please”, Max said in a collected tone

When Michelle complied and left the room, Max walked towards Tess, maintaining a safe distance. Tina and Malamud just watched; they didn’t know what to do.

“Tess!”, Kyle yelled, “Is she okay?”, he asked, looking at Max

“She’s in shock”, Max replied and then turned his attention back to Tess, “Tess, you need to rest. I promise you you’ll feel better in the morning”

“Please Tess, listen to him”, Kyle added

Tess looked up at Max with tears in her eyes. “He… he…”, he stammered

“I know…”, he said reassuringly before turning towards Tina and Malamud, “My patients need to rest; this is a hospital after all. I need to ask the two of you to leave”

“I have some questions for you too, dr Evans”, Tina tried.

“In a minute”, Max offered, an answer that seemed to be good enough for Tina.

As Malamud and Tina stood up and left the room, Max turned back towards Tess who managed to walk back to her own bed. “The two of you need to rest. I will have the nurse bring you two something to sleep. No objections; just use it”, Max ordered

With that, he walked out of the room where Tina

~~

When Maria arrived at work the next day, the smiled brightly as she walked towards the backroom where two employees; Jose and Anna, were already waiting.

“Good morning everyone”, Maria said brightly as she hung her coat on the coatrack in the corner of the room.

Anna and Jose gave each other a puzzled look before turning back to Maria. “Oh my, could it be a guy actually survived a date with you”, Jose asked without even blinking.

“You know, I’m not even gonna dignify that remark with a response”, Maria said with a wide smile on her face

“You had sex, didn’t you?”, Anna said with a shocked expression

“I did not!”, Maria shouted, feeling that she had to correct Anna even though it really wasn’t any of her business

“Oh come on, you can tell us; you have to tell us”, Anna said with an expecing stare.

Maria shot both of them a shy smile. “Well, his name is Michael and…”, she started

“Is he a hottie? What does he do for a living? How was the sex and does he have a single best friend?”, Anna rambled

“Anna!”, Maria said, a little shocked. But when both Anna and Jose kept giving her the glances, she decided to answer the questions anyway. “Okay fine… he’s a total hottie, he’s a doctor, I already told you we didn’t have sex and if you hit on his best friend, Liz is gonna kill you”, Maria said, smiling at the dissapointed look Anna gave at that last bit

“Well well… a doctor, huh?”, Jose said with a grin, “Is he like a gynacologist or something?”

Maria laughed. “Funny, I said the same thing when I first met him. He used some medical term to describe what he did and I have no idea what it means”, she admitted

"Well, does he know you work here?", Jose asked

"He does… why?", Maria asked, confused at why they asked

"So we can expect a hundred roses to arrive here anytime in the next few hours?", Anna asked with a smile

"White ones, of course", Jose said, cutting Maria off before she could say a word

"This place could use some flowers", Anna interrupted again, "That boss of mine is such a cheapskate when it comes to those things"

"Thin ice!", Maria said loudly

"I'm sure she meant Liz", Jose defended Anna, knowing very well that she didn't

"Well, I'll relay the message to Liz then", Maria said with a smirk

"So when do we get to meet the brave man?", Jose asked

"Probably around… never", Maria said as she took a few steps towards the kitchen

"Come on, he can't be that bad", Jose protested

"He's not… you two are", Maria said with a smile as she walked towards the kitchen, “By the way… where the hell is Eve?”

“You fired her yesterday, remember… the whole cash-register incident?”, Jose said with a smile

“Oh… right”, Maria said with an embarassed smile as she left the room

Jose looked at Anna who was quiet now. Anna looked up at him. "You don't think she's really gonna tell Liz, do you?", she asked nervously

Jose just laughed at that.

~~

Alex was still sitting on the living room couch of Liz' place. Liz said he could stay and make himself at home so that's exactly what he did. He was still laughing inwardly at the first ten rules as he continued to read on.

Rule eleven: our questions are always important and insightful. Think before you answer. If there's any possibility we will be offended by what you say, say something else.
Rule twelve: your ex-girlfriend is a bitch and in no way prettier than me
Rule thirteen: you are never allowed to be skinnier than me. If you can fit into my pants, you can't get into my pants
Rule fourteen: nagging is us repeating the truth over and over until you finally accept it
Rule fifteen: we will decide when to pull the PMS-card; not you.
Rule sixteen: remember the day we meet, when we first date, when we first have sex, when we get engaged and when we get married. Those days will be called anniversaries from that moment. Never forget one.
Rule seventeen: if you ever tell us we look fat, we reserve the right to pound this notebook on your head a few times
Rule eighteen: giving us flowers, buying us dinner and taking us to the movies is good; but it does not equal foreplay.
Rule nineteen: if you want to break up, be a man and do it. Don't act like a jerk until we do it for you
Rule twenty: don’t tell me you love me if you don’t. Tell me as often as possible if you do

“Wow, they sure put a lot of thought into this”, Alex muttered aloud

“Yeah, they did”, a voice sounded from across the room

Alex looked up with a surprised expression. On the other end of the room stood the last person he’d expected would show up here; Brad.

“What the hell are you doing here?”, Alex asked, more surprised than angry.

“Hey, don’t get your panties in a twist. I’ve just come to get some of my personal stuff”, he said with a shrug, “Can’t imagine Liz would have a big problem with it”

“It that why you waited until she was gone?”, Alex asked, straight to the point

“Okay, you got a point there”, Brad shrugged again, not really caring either way

”Is all of this just some cruel joke to you, Bradley”, Alex asked

“I’m not the one going on a big date the same day I got divorced”, Brad quipped and before Alex could react, Brad continued as if he read his mind, “Yeah, I know about that. She must have really been itching to get rid of me”

Alex cocked his eyebrow. “If I remember correctly, it was you who had an itch, so to say”, Alex quipped

“An itch I must rather have had Liz scratch for me… you know, I think she planned this from the beginning”, Brad spoke ominously, “You know, it wasn’t me who hired the maid or the fucking cook; Liz did”

“That’s all good and well…”, Alex said, “…but you’re forgetting one thing”

“And what might that be?”, Brad asked

“I know Liz a lot better than you think and there is no way on Earth she would do that”, Alex insisted

“She wouldn’t? Interesting… seems to me like you don’t know her at all, or her friends for that matter”, Brad said, finally stepping into the room and towards the small built-in fridge where he poured himself a glass of orange juice. “Want some?”, he asked in an amused voice when he noticed his last remark triggered Alex’ curiousity

“No. But what is that supposed to mean”, Alex said, trying not to let his emotions show

“You know what that means”, Brad said with a smile. “I’m a rich man and I have a lot of connections. Don’t kid yourself into thinking you can have a real relationship with any of them, especially the one you’re after. She’s got a track record that matches a prostitute, except she doesn’t get paid… wait a minute, I think there’s a word for such a person”, Brad said, tapping his chin as he pretended to look for the right word

“You are so full of it”, Alex countered, “I can see the humor in your statement that Liz basically forced you to fuck someone else, but I fail to see the humor in you calling Isabel some sort of slut”

Brad pointed his finger at Alex in a ‘you got it’-gesture. “Right, that’s the word I was looking for. Truth hurts, doesn’t it”, he said with a wicked smile

“Don’t you have something more important to do than tell fiction tales to me?”, Alex said, looking at Brad with an angry glare

“Hey, I wouldn’t want anyone to end up in their claws like I did. Say Alex, you’re not a rich guy, are you?”, Brad asked as he cocked his eyebrow again

“Pack your fucking things and leave”, Alex said, his voice strained but calm

“Okay”, Brad said in an upbeat tone as he stood up and walked upstairs. Within three minutes, he came down again with a large gym bag and walked towards the front door.

“Bye bye now”, Brad said and left the house, leaving Alex alone again.

Two seconds after he closed the door behind him, his cell phone rang. With the speed of a true businessman, he reached into his coat pocket and answered the call before the second ring. "Brad Jones"

"Brad, where are you?", a female voice on the other end sounded

"Just havin' a little fun with the ex-wife. Don't get your panties in a twist… I will do that for you later", he said with a smirk on his face

~~

"Thank you for doing this, Lizzie", Jeff said as the two of them walked through the hospital halls, headed towards the ward that her mother was in

"Don't worry about it", Liz said softly. What was she supposed to say? She couldn't just forget about what they did, but given the situation she felt that she couldn't stay mad at them.

"It's here", Jeff said, motioning towards a room on their right. There, in the corner, she already saw her mother sitting in her bed. When she saw her daughter coming into the room, her expression brightened.

"Lizzie", she squealed loudly. Not knowing what else to do, Liz walked towards her mother and hugged her.

From across the room, Jeff watched at his wife and daughter. A single thought then crossed his mind; 'what will happen when she finds out?'

TBC

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I know it's been awhile since my last update, but I've been busy with other fics. I've done a challenge at Chronicles (which I even won; yay me), did some Beta work and wrote the first three chapters of a new fic due to start this month; Cadmium Sun (check my authors page for details).

Still, I feel like I've neglected my two existing fics so here's the next part. The Lucky Ones is next on my ToDo-list.

I've changed my punctuation-style a little; I've been told that this is a more correct way of writing. Do you think it's easier to read this way?

Part 27

Maria’s good mood lasted longer than she had imagined. She worked a few hours in the restaurant before she decided to go visit Tess and all that time, she had the same happy grin on her face. When she arrived in the hospital, she quickly paced towards Tess’ room, completely unaware of what she would find there.

The moment she entered the corridor that led to Tess and Kyle’s ward, she knew something was wrong. Call it instinct, call it a sixth sense, call it whatever you like; she knew, and as soon as she saw the yellow tape marking Kyle and Tess’ ward as off-limits, the smile finally disappeared. Wanting to know what was going on, Maria lowered herself to slide underneath the tape.

“Are you blind or do you just not care what that tape says?” a male voice sounded behind her. Maria quickly jumped back up and faced the person behind her.

“Max!” Maria shouted in surprise.

“Maria? Sorry, I didn’t recognize you.” he said. Surely, he would have said something different if he knew who it was, but he only saw her back.

“Max, what happened? No, let me rephrase: what the fuck happened!?” Maria said loudly.

“Somebody broke into the hospital last night…” Max started.

“What?! Is Tess okay? She didn’t get hurt did she? How could you not call me? Don’t you people have any security? Where is she? What…” Maria said, firing off every question that came to mind.

“Maria, please calm down.” Max said in a calm tone. “Tess and Kyle are both fine; the attacked has been killed and I relocated them to another ward, because this one is now a crime scene.”

“So, can I see her?” Maria asked

“She’s not there at the moment. She’s with dr Ford now and I don’t know how long it’ll take.” Max said, ready for the next outburst.

“Who the hell is dr Ford?” Maria asked angrily. Wasn’t Max her doctor?

“Dr Ford is a psychologist; she’s one of the best.” Max answered.

“A psychologist? Isn’t that the kind of person who crazy people go to talk to?” Maria asked

“No, a psychologist helps people with their mental problems.” Max said and as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew those were not the right words.

Maria’s eyes opened wide. “Mental problems? If anyone’s having mental problems right now, it’s me… from talking to you right now!” Maria shouted.

“Keep your voice down! You’re not at the local club; you’re at a hospital.” Max scolded. “What I meant was that Peter Jackson got killed right in front of her, and added to the fact that she’s been physically abused for months, I thought she could use someone to talk to.”

When he saw Maria’s face fall, he knew he hadn’t been very careful with his words again. What the hell was wrong with him? “Sorry; I’m not trying to say that she can’t talk to you or to Liz, but I think it’s not so bad that she talks to a professional.”

“You’re talking about her like she’s gone completely psycho.” Maria said angry

“She’s not crazy, but at the moment, I think she has more issues than Vogue Magazine.” Max replied.

Maria thought for a long time before talking again. “What happened last night?” she asked softly.

He hid in one of the other rooms and came out long after midnight. He went to Tess’ room and tried to…” Max said, not feeling the need to finish that sentence. “But one of Kyle’s cop friends was holding watch over them. A fight erupted and Peter Jackson got the short end of the stick. Tess woke up just before it happened. She was in shock, but she’s doing better now.”

“Can I wait for her?” Maria asked softly

“Of course. I’ll show you where you can wait.” Max said in a comforting tone as he guided Maria away

~~

“Dr Ford? Why exactly am I here?” Tess asked as she sat on a very comfortable chair in dr Ford’s office. She looked straight at the redheaded woman but for some reason, Tess instinctively looked away when dr Ford returned her stare.

“I understand you had quite a frightening experience last night.” dr Jones answered.

“Yeah well, it’s over now. I’m fine.” Tess said with a calm voice.

“You know what fine really means?” dr Ford asked with a small smile

“Yeah; Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional… I saw The Italian Job.” Tess answered with a smile

“Ah, good to see someone who appreciates a good movie. So, are you?” dr Ford asked

“What?” Tess asked in confusion

“Fine.” dr Ford clarified

“Yeah, sure.” Tess said, a little less convincing than before

“Are you really?” dr Ford asked again

“You know dr Ford, if you’re just planning to ask me until I say I’m an emotional wreck or something, we’re gonna be here a long time.” Tess said with a frown

“Well, my next appointment isn’t for another five hours…” dr Ford replied. “And please call me Allison. Dr Ford is my father.” she finished

“Okay, Allison, what do you want?” Tess asked with an involuntary sigh

“Tell me about last night.” Allison said as she sat back in her own chair.

“Peter tried to kill me again. It’s funny; I should be used to it by now.” Tess joked, but Allison didn’t seem amused

“Why don’t you tell me about this Peter. Who is he?” Allison asked

“He’s my ex-boyfriend.” Tess explained

“So why do you think he tried to kill you? I know your perfume choice is not exactly top notch, but that’s hardly a reason to kill someone.” Allison asked, trying to add a little humor

“There is nothing wrong with my perfume!” Tess defended. “And I guess Peter was afraid I would press charges for assault. He’s the reason I’m in the hospital in the first place.”

“What did he do?” Allison asked

“I don’t wanna talk about that.” Tess evaded, turning her head away

“Okay, what do you want to talk about?” Allison asked

“Nothing! I just wanna get out of here? There is nothing wrong with me. If I hadn’t promised Kyle I wouldn’t, I would be home right now with a cup of coffee and a movie.”

“Oh really? And who is this Kyle?” Allison pried, completely ignoring the first part of Tess’ words.

“He’s my hero.” Tess said dreamily for a second before she suddenly snapped out of it and silently cursed to herself.

“Tess, everything we talk about stays between us.” Allison reassured Tess “Now, you can’t tell me this Kyle-guy is a hero and then not expand on it. Spill!”

“Well, he rescued me when Peter… when he uh…” Tess stammered for a few seconds. “Kyle brought me here, and the doctors said I probably wouldn’t have survived if he hadn’t brought me here in time.”

“Sound like a hero to me. Does he have any bad sides?” Allison asked

“Well, he likes Alias…” Tess said with a grimace

“Ouch! I take it you’re more of a Gilmore Girls kind of person.” Allison replied

Tess chuckled. “You’re good.” she said

“Well, I didn’t get my masters degree in psychology because of my smile.” Allison said with a smile

“Could have had me fooled.” Tess replied

“Well, you would be surprised what kind of complex issues I can help you with.” Allison said

“I told you…” Tess started but she didn’t even get a chance to finish her sentence

“Yes I know; there’s nothing wrong with you, what happened didn’t affect you and the only reason you’re still here is because of Kyle.” Allison said disbelievingly

“You know, I think I’m wasting both our time here.” Tess said with a frown as she stood up and cautiously walked towards the door. Allison didn’t reply and let Tess open the door and walk out without another word.

“Well, that went well.” she mocked herself

~~

“I’m sorry miss, but you’re going to have to leave. The patients need their rest now.” a male nurse said to Liz as she was sitting at her mother’s bed. At the nurse’s words, Liz obediently stood up and gave her mother a small hug. After her father did the same thing, the two of them quickly left the room. She was surprised she had been allowed to stay this long so she wasn’t complaining.

“Thank you for doing this Lizzie.” Jeff said when they were out of the ward.

“Dad, I need to ask you something?” Liz said hesitantly

“You want to know why we didn’t accept your marriage to Brad?” Jeff asked knowingly. When Liz nodded softly, Jeff took Liz’ hands. “We should have. We should have supported you in the choice you made… I just hoped that I could make you see what you’re seeing now.“

“What? That he’s a lying cheating jerk who should have been castrated at birth?” Liz snapped.

“Yeah, that’s about it.” Jeff said with a chuckle “So, do you want me to drop you off home?”

“No thanks, I’m gonna pay a quick visit to Tess.” Liz replied

“Alright, just remember that you’re always welcome to visit.” Jeff said, not trying to push his luck too far all at once.

“Okay, I’ll see you.” Liz said softly before she and Jeff both walked in different directions.

Liz thought about what had happened. ‘What on Earth am I doing; he’s the father who cut me out of his life because he didn’t like the guy I was with.’ Liz thought as she bumped straight into a doctor who wasn’t looking where he was walking either because he was shifting through some charts while he walked.

The doctor managed to grab Liz before she could fall. “Whoa… Liz?” Michael asked. “What are you doing here; your friend’s ward is on another floor.”

“Sorry. I was just visiting my mother.” Liz said absentmindedly

“Nancy Parker?” Michael asked. Liz nodded. “Don’t worry Liz; she’s in good hands.”

“Are you flying in some miracle doctor or something?” Liz asked, a little curious

Michael held his hand over his heart like he’d just been shot. “Ow. That hurt!”

Only then did Liz understand what Michael meant and she shot him a small smile. “Sorry.” she apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m dating Maria now; I’m getting used to it.” Michael quipped before turning a little more serious. “Don’t worry about your mother; there’s every reason to believe she’s gonna be fine.”

“Right” Liz whispered “I’m gonna get out of your hair now. Thanks for the comforting words.”

“Don’t mention it.” Michael said and with that, he smiled and walked past Liz, probably towards one of his patients.

It was a few seconds later that a thought suddenly occurred to Liz and she jerked her body back towards Michael. “Wait a minute!” Liz said loudly “When you said she’s gonna be fine…”

“I meant it” Michael said in a comforting tone “She has Squamuous Cell Carcinoma, which can be treated very well. If there’s no unexpected complications, she’s gonna walk out of here on her own two feet in a couple of weeks.”

With that, he walked away again, leaving Liz with a single thought. ‘He said she was gonna die’

~~

“Maxwell Evans.” Max said as he picked up the phone in his office.

“Hey bro.” a voice said on the other line

“Zan. What can I do for you?” Max asked, pleasantly surprised that Zan called. Even though they were twins, they definitely weren’t close.

“I’m just calling to warn ya Max. I was visiting yesterday and she’s on the warpath again. For some obscure reason, she doesn’t like that girlfriend of yours.” Zan said

“I already told her that Liz is not my girlfriend.” Max said

“You’re not talking to Mike here; you’re talking to your twin brother here.” Zan reminded him “Just be careful. You know how ma gets when she’s obsessed with something; remember how we had to eat frittata for two weeks when she finally found something she could cook? Well, multiply that by a hundred.”

“Thanks for the warning Zan, but if I want to keep seeing Liz, I don’t think there’s anything she can do against it.” Max said calmly

“Hey, I just thought I’d give you a heads up. A hot babe like that belongs in our family, you know?” Zan half-joked

“Okay, thanks for the warning. I’m gonna get back to work now.” Max said with a smile, the image of Liz twisting Zan’s arm suddenly flashing in his mind.

“Right bro. Later!” Zan said before he hung up.

~~

After Tess had left Allison’s office, she managed to walk towards a waiting room down the hallway before she was so tired that she absolutely had to sit down. With a loud sigh, she dropped herself on one of the chairs there, thankful that there was nobody in the waiting room. After a minute or two, Allison walked past the waiting room and noticed Tess sitting there, catching her breath.

“Do you want me to bring you back to your ward?” Allison asked in a helpful tone.

“Does it look like I need help?” Tess asked, a little hurt in her pride

“Yes.” Allison replied with a smirk, which made Tess smile a little too

“Then please.” Tess said.

Allison then fetched the wheelchair from her office that Tess left there and used it to ride Tess through the hallways, back to her own ward.

“You know next time you want to leave, you can just ask me to bring you back.” Allison said as they walked though the hallways.

When they entered their destination, Kyle was chatting with Maria. ”…If you haven’t tasted my food, you haven’t lived!” Maria argued before she and Kyle noticed Tess moving in the room.

“Tess, how’d it go?” Kyle asked expectantly

When Tess hesitated for a second, Allison spoke up instead. “I think we had a good first session. I’ll see you tomorrow; same time, same place.” Allison said as she walked away, giving Kyle and Maria a polite smile.

TBC

Hi everyone. Surgery went well; the doctors said I was lucky as hell to come out of this without any permanent damage. I’m still recovering but I didn’t want my fics to be unattended for too long so I wrote another part. I honestly don’t know if it’s any good; I’ll let you be the judge of that, but it’s slightly shorter than usual. I just can’t seem to focus for long.

Also, I’d like to take this opportunity to point out a new fic I started (I had some stuff pre-written) called Cadmium Sun and it’s in the AU With Aliens Forum. Give it a try.

WHM 28

The second that Isabel opened her eyes, the beams of sunlight flowing through the window almost blinded her, but it made her smile nonetheless. She remembered how she had been upset that Alex had turned her down last night, but now, she realized now that he really didn’t mean anything with it; he was just being a gentleman. It’s so strange that a night of sleep and reflection could make such a big difference; Isabel remembered that she was really upset last night, but those thoughts were all gone now. It was a new day with new opportunities. She had no idea how late it was, but Isabel knew it definitely wasn’t early. She felt someone draw small circles on her tummy, which she guessed was what woke her up in the first place.

“Mmmm, Alex.” she said dreamily. This felt so great. She didn’t even remember getting together again last night, but it made sense. He must have come by later that evening, which would explain why she felt so completely relaxed.

“Actually, it’s Don.” a very unfamiliar dark voice said; a much too unfamiliar voice. Isabel opened her eyes wide and with a jolt, she sat herself up straight.

“Oooh!”, she moaned in pain as the very familiar hangover-headache penetrated her senses. She looked next to her and saw a tall lanky guy with sort hair in bed next to her. He was naked and Isabel suddenly realized that she was too. In a panic, she grabbed the bed sheets and quickly covered herself.

“What’s wrong?” he asked with raised eyebrows. He seemed genuinely concerned.

“Oh God, this can’t be true.” Isabel whispered

“What? Come on baby, you didn’t seem so reluctant last night.” he said with a small smile as he leaned over for a kiss.

“I have a boyfriend.” Isabel said as she jerked her head away, tears almost coming to her eyes

“I have a wife but you don’t see me complaining.” he said bluntly.

“What? You can’t be serious.” Isabel said with wide-opened eyes,

“Sure I am. It’s not the end of the world, you know?” Don noted.

“Okay, get dressed and get out. And if you want to do that in another order, you have my blessing as well.” Isabel said softly.

“Bitch!” he whispered softly as Isabel was staring blankly in front of her. “You know, last night you practically dragged me in here!”

“I… I don’t remember any of that.” she said softly

“Pfff, very convenient.” he scoffed, obviously not buying a single word of what Isabel just said.

“This was a mistake.” Isabel said softly. How could she have let this happen? She should have never gotten drunk… but it was far too late for those words of wisdom at this moment.

“You’re goddamn right it was a mistake!” Don said angrily. He couldn’t believe what he heard. He was pretty sure she came onto him and now she was making him the bad guy in all this.

“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to blame you for anything. I just…” Isabel said, stopping mid-sentence

“Well, if that’s how you feel about it, I guess I’d better get going.” Don said with a little sympathy for Isabel’s situation. With that, he casually hopped out of bed and started to dress himself.

“Doesn’t the fact that you’re married bother you at all?” Isabel asked when she realized how relaxed Don was being.

“Not really. We have an open marriage; she’s probably screwing the tennis instructor as we speak.” he said casually as he zipped his pants.

“Wow.” Isabel whispered, appalled at the mere idea of an open marriage.

Don turned around. He obviously heard what she said. “Don’t act all high and mighty with me here. You’re the one who screwed your so-called boyfriend over, not me.”

Isabel swallowed the comeback she had ready because she knew he was right. She screwed up big-time and wasn’t exactly in the position to be judging anybody. When Don was ready getting dressed, he took one last look at Isabel and then made his way out the door. Isabel still laid in bed, covering herself with the bed sheets.

~~

Max was busy going over the charts of a patient that was due for surgery the next day. The patient in question would be undergoing severe heart surgery and Max just wanted to make sure he had gone through the information once more. He always hated it when other doctors and nurses would make a mistake because they weren’t well enough informed, no matter how small it was, so he always made sure he was well prepared.

When he heard a soft knock at his door though, he welcomed the distraction. “Come in.” he said in a welcoming voice.

When Liz walked in, Max smiled. This was certainly a surprised of the best kind. The serious expression on Liz’ face made his smile disappear soon enough though. He quickly motioned for Liz to sit down and he did the same. “What’s wrong?” he asked with concern.

“I was wondering if I could maybe; ask your opinion about something. I would ask Maria, or Isabel or Tess but I just want to hear it from someone who doesn’t know about the whole…” Liz ranted until Max stopped her.

“Liz, please, take a seat.” Max said in an inviting tone. She was nervous and didn’t sound like it was about her friends or about him, he could tell that much. “What happened?”

“I uh… I saw my dad yesterday.” Liz said hesitantly.

“Didn’t you say you hadn’t spoken to him in months?” Max asked.

Liz smiled slightly. He had actually listened to what she said. “Yeah, but last night he suddenly he came to my house to tell me that my mother was in the hospital. He asked me to come and visit her today.”

“Is she alright?” Max asked worriedly

“He said she wasn’t. And then I spoke to her doctor by accident and he said she was gonna be fine.” Liz blurted out. “He made me think my own mother was dying so he could have his way again.”

“That sounds a bit harsh, don’t you think?” Max said, trying to calm Liz down a little.

“I sat with her for an hour, thinking that she wasn’t going to make next Christmas and all that time, he knew it was a lie. How could he? No really, I ask you as a representative of the male species what the fuck goes on in your heads?” Liz said loudly

“You want my opinion?” Max asked and Liz nodded. “Fine. Your father showed that he would do a lot to get you in his life again and even though I think it was a low trick he played, he probably felt like he didn’t have much of a choice.”

“So you agree with him?!” Liz asked with her eyes wide open.

“I think you should talk to him.” Max clarified.

“And let him fill my head with all kinds of nonsense again? No thank you.” Liz protested.

“He’s you father, Liz.” Max said softly but as soon as he said that and noticed Liz’ shocked expression, he knew he should have kept that last line to himself.

Giving Max a strange glare, she stood up and walked out of his office. “Thanks for the help.” she muttered.

~~

“Tess, Tess!” Isabel squealed as she entered Tess’ ward where Tess was typing on her laptop and Kyle was busy making one of those weird Japanese number puzzles.

“Isabel, where’s the fire?” Tess asked with a smile as she stopped typing.

“I did something stupid; something very very stupid.” Isabel said in a panic

“Well, if that something is sleeping with Alex, let me be the first to congratulate you, girl.” Tess said with a smile

“That’s not it. I…” Isabel said before suddenly turning her attention to Kyle. “Repeat any of this to anyone and you’re a dead man.”

Kyle looked up from his puzzle. “Great. You know, my day is never really complete without a proper death-threat.”

Isabel turned back to Tess. “I uh…” she started and Tess’ eyes already grew wide.

“You didn’t?!” Tess asked, already getting what Isabel was trying to say.

“I did. I was just depressed and I…” Isabel said before Tess interrupted her

“And to think I thought you finally changed.” Tess said softly

“Hey!” Isabel interrupted

“How could you?” Tess asked

“Hey, this isn’t just my fault, you know?” Isabel said defensively.

“You screwed another guy. How could that possibly be anyone else’s fault?” Tess pressed

“I need to find a way to fix this. Please Tess, you gotta help me.” Isabel pleaded.

“Fix this? Unless you can turn back time, I honestly don’t see how.” Tess said matter-of-factly

“There has to be a way.” Isabel whispered

“Tell him.” Kyle interrupted. “Tell him everything, and hope that he’ll forgive you.”

“Would you?” Isabel asked

Kyle took a small pause. “No.” Kyle said honestly

“I can’t tell him.” Isabel said in a panic “He’ll be devastated, call me a slut and leave.”

“It’s gonna come out sooner or later anyway.” Tess said “If you don’t tell him and he finds out another way...”

“So you think I should tell him too?” Isabel asked Tess

“He’s a great guy. Maybe he’ll forgive you, considering how early it is in the relationship.” Tess noted

“Thanks.” Isabel said softly as she turned around and walked out of the room again. She hadn’t known what to expect from Tess and Kyle, but this conversation had only made her more depressed.

“So do you think he’ll understand?” Kyle asked Tess when Isabel had left the room.

“I honestly don’t know.” Tess answered

“Life is never boring with you girls, is it?” Kyle said with a small smile

“No, I guess it isn’t.” Tess answered with a small smile.

TBC
Sorry for the small part. I hope the next part will be longer.

Well, thanks for the bumps everyone. I know it’s been far too long since my last update, but I just couldn’t get anything decent written. But I hope that’s over now.
Anyway, enjoy the new part and, as always, let me know what you think about it.

Tequathisy: Max told Liz what his opinion was. Guess he has some things to learn about what women want to hear.
Sternbetrachter: Ouch. Not much sympathy for Isabel I see.
KarenEvans: Another voice in the Isabel-is-an-idiot chior. In her defense, she’s only known Alex for a week or so.
BehrObsession: True. All the girls have issues; some of them are just a little more apparent than others.
roswell3053: We’ll just have to see.
RhondaAnn: Finally someone who’s willing to forgive Isabel.
POM: An honest opinion is better than no opinion at all? Well, I think a lot of women would disagree.
Empress_luci: Well, the update wasn’t exactly pronto. Forgive me?
Guelbebek: Thanks
Killjoy: Yeah, I can imagine that scene: “Hi Max, I’m just coming to rant. Please agree with me.”
Michelle in Yonkers: Your feeling is not completely wrong, nor is it completely right.
incognito-sticks: Oh don’t worry. There will be grovelling, and lots of it.
Strawberry88: She was unreasonable, but she gets straightened out in this part.
Stargazer’s Delight: How can you say that? That painting cost Alex fifty bucks!

Part 29

“I’m singing in the rain. I’m singing in the rain. Wha…” Maria sang in the kitchen of DeLuca’s while she vacuumed. That is, until she saw Liz standing in the doorway which made her jump in surprise. Maria quickly turned off the vacuum cleaner and turned towards Liz. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I wouldn’t either if I was singing in the rain without getting wet.” Liz said with a smile

“Well, as long as you weren’t here when I sang sir Mixalot’s song, we’re cool” Maria said as she sat down on the couch.

“You know, I don’t want to keep you from your work.” Liz said, looking at the vacuum cleaner.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve been vacuuming for at least four minutes; I needed a break anyway.” Maria answered. She then waiting until Liz sat down as well before continuing. “Let me guess, you’re here to discuss quantum mechanics with me.”

“No. Something much more complicated.” Liz said

“Ah, there is only one topic more complicated. So what do you want to know about men, young grasshopper?” Maria said with a terrible Japanese accent.

“Why do they all lie, cheat and deceive?” Liz asked.

“Well, I’m pretty sure those three things are all the same… and I take it your visit with your parents didn’t go too well?” Maria said, instantly knowing from Liz’ expression that she hit the right mark.

“I told you that my mother was sick, right? Well, she’s gonna be up and about in a matter of weeks.” Liz said

“Wow, that’s good news! That is good news, right?” Maria asked cautiously

“He told me straight to my face that my mother was dying.” Liz said loudly

“And by he, I assume you mean your father?” Maria asked, just to be on the safe side.

“Yes, and I’m so confused now.” Liz sighed.

“Confused? You don’t mean mightily pissed off?” Maria asked with raised eyebrows.

“Oh don’t get me wrong; I am angry as hell, but I just don’t know what to do now. And the worst thing is; I asked Max what he thought and I don’t think I handled it very well when he didn’t say what I wanted to hear.” Liz said guiltily.

“Don’t worry, Max will get over it.” Maria said.

“I know.” Liz said with a small smile. She knew for a fact that Max wouldn’t hold her behavior against her; that just wasn’t him. “But that still doesn’t help me with the other issue.”

“Well, you can either forgive him for lying and try again, or you can drive over to his house, yell at him and then never speak to him again.” Maria said.

“I know my options Maria, I just don’t know which option to choose.” Liz said, slightly annoyed.

“You don’t want to hear my opinion on this.” Maria said in a serious voice.

“I do.” Liz disagreed.

“Fine.” Maria said. “I haven’t seen my father since my tenth birthday and every year, I silently hope that he’ll show up. The only thing Isabel has of her father is a painting, and Tess’ parents left her at the friggin nunnery when she was a baby. Now your father lied to you to get you to visit your mother. Tell me, which father do you prefer?”

Liz looked away and was silent for quite a few seconds before she looked back to Maria. “It’s not that simple.” Liz said softly

“The things that matter are never simple.” Maria said. “But if my father would show to me that he wants me in his life like your father did, I would give it every chance to make it work.”

“Maybe I’m not as forgiving as you.” Liz said softly.

“This has nothing to do with being forgiving, Liz. It’s about what you want; what you need. And what you really need right now… is to grab a mop and help me clean this place.” Maria said, smiling at Liz’ confused reaction.

“Come on Rie, you know I hate cleaning.” Liz whined.

“And you think I orgasm every five minutes when I’m cleaning?” Maria said sarcastically, staring at Liz until Liz finally relented and grabbed a mop.

“So, how were things with Tess?” Liz asked.

“She’s glad that everything’s over, but if you ask me, it’s good that she’s seeing a shrink.” Maria said.

Liz stopped in her tracks and stared at Maria. “What do you mean, she’s seeing a shrink? And this thing with her ex is not over until he’s securely locked in a four by four room with bars in front of the window.”

“Uh, Liz… you did hear that Tess ex tried to kill her last night… right?” Maria asked cautiously.

“What?” Liz gasped softly

“Oh, she’s okay.” Maria immediately reassured her. “The ex got the short end of the stick and ate a bullet… that’s TV-talk for saying he’s dead.” Maria clarified.

“Okay…” Liz said, taking it all in. “But she’s not hurt or anything?”

“No more than she was before.” Maria answered. “But she’s pretty shook up so dr Evans suggested that she spoke to a shrink.”

Liz chuckled. “Tess would never agree to that.” Liz said with a small smile

“She would if there’s a handsome young policeman lying next to her, saying that she should.” Maria said.

“He convinced Tess to spill her heart to a perfect stranger?! Wow.” Liz said

“I think she’s in love. And he’s got it even worse than her.” Maria said with a smile.

“Yeah, I noticed. It’s kinda hard not to.” Liz laughed, imagining the look that was usually on Kyle’s face when he looked at Tess. A look that didn’t leave much to the imagination. “But still, Tess isn’t exactly someone to open up easily.”

~~

“Here we are again.” Tess said as she sat on a chair in dr Allison Ford’s office again. Even though she had been really nice to Tess the day before, Tess was in no way interested in another shrink-session.

“Indeed we are. How are you today, Tess?” Allison asked.

“I’m great.” Tess said

Allison did not seem convinced. “I see you learned something from our last session. Did you sleep well?” Allison asked.

“Who are you; my mother?! And no, actually, I didn’t… but that’s besides the point.” Tess said, quickly covering up. She wanted this session to be over as soon as possible and the best way was to make Allison believe that she was doing well.

“Nightmares?” Allison asked cautiously. She knew that if she pushed just a little bit too far that Tess would shut down completely and not tell her anything.

“No, just some friend stuff. It’s not important.” Tess said with a smile.

“Everything is important in this office.” Allison stated. “Why don’t you tell me about it?”

“Oh no, I don’t think so. Isabel would totally kill me, rip my skin off and set me on fire if I tell anyone… and I can only hope she’ll do it in that order.” Tess said.

“Tess, I’m not the town gossip. Everything you tell me stays between us so you can tell me anything you want.” Allison asked, a small smile creeping on her face when Tess didn’t object.

“Isabel is one of my best friends and for about a week, she’s been seeing this guy Alex.” Tess said, pausing for a few seconds and it looked like she was deciding on whether or not to continue. “Yesterday, Isabel told me that she screwed someone else and asked me how to fix things with Alex.”

“So what did you tell her?” Allison asked.

“Well, I wanted to slap her in the face for being so stupid but she was out of my reach.” Tess said.

“It made you feel angry?” Allison asked.

“Well yeah! I’ve known Alex for about a week, but I can already tell that he’s the kind of guy that comes along only once in a lifetime and she’s completely screwing it up!” Tess said loudly

“Well, it’s her life. Why does it make you feel angry?” Allison pried.

“How the hell should I know?! Why don’t you tell me?” Tess exclaimed.

“Your relationships have never been exactly fulfilling and you saw Isabel and Alex as living proof that it is possible. And now that living proof is just… poof.” Allison said, making a poof-gesture with her hands. “How am I doing so far?” Allison asked. Tess didn’t answer and Allison took that as an encouragement to go on. “You are angry because your friend crushed your hopes and that…”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Tess said softly and Allison stopped mid-sentence.

“You know, I understand what you’re feeling. My best friend once told me that she cheated on her boyfriend. I really liked her boyfriend and I was really disappointed in her.” Allison said.

“So what happened?” Tess asked.

“Well, she didn’t tell him for weeks and every time I saw them, I felt angry. When she finally told him what happened, he left her. For the next couple of weeks, she tried to win him back and eventually, they got back together and they’re celebrating their eleventh wedding anniversary in three weeks.” Allison continued

“So he still wanted to be with her, even though she betrayed him?” Tess asked.

“He just wanted to be happy. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be happy.” Allison said with a smile.

“Nothing wrong? She betrayed him; how can he ever even begin trust her again?“ Tess asked.

“Just because you get burned doesn’t mean you should fear the fire.” Allison said, knowing somehow that it would provoke a reaction.

“Yes, you should fear the fire because the only thing it does is burn you!” Tess shouted.

“Is that what happened with your ex-boyfriend?” Allison asked

Tess paused for a second and frowned. She took a deep breath and seemed to calm down. “Weren’t we talking about Alex and Isabel?” she asked.

“No, we weren’t!” Allison said definitively. “ We were talking about how it makes you feel. That’s why we’re here, Tess”

“Well, I already said I didn’t want to talk about Peter.” Tess said with an angry frown. This was exactly why she didn’t want to come here. “Can you take me back now?” She asked.

“Whatever you want.” Allison said

~~

Max was sitting on the couch in his living room, holding a cup of coffee with one hand and the sports section of the newspaper in the other. It was his day off and he was looking forward to doing absolutely nothing at all. Needless to say, the sound of the doorbell ringing wasn’t exactly met with much enthusiasm. But, he figured, it could be Liz so he stood up, putting his coffee on the table and walked towards the front door and opened it.

“Hello Max.” a familiar voice said with a wide smile.

“Hi mom.” Max said with much enthusiasm.

“Now now Max, mind your manners. If I didn’t know any better, I’d almost think you’re not glad to see me.” Diane said, looking straight in Max’ eyes.

Max paused for a second and looked back at Diane. “Then it’s good you know better, isn’t it.” He said without much emotion.

“Are you still upset because I wasn’t very fond of your new girlfriend that other night?” Diane asked.

“Mom, why are you here? You never drop by unannounced.” Max asked out of the blue.

“Oh, it’s nothing much.” Diane said, not noticing Max rolling his eyes.

Max knew what this meant: trouble. “Okay mom, is this gonna cost me my day off or my dignity?” Max asked, straight to the point.

“What kind of question is that?” Diane asked with a frown. “Phillip and me just want to invite you to dinner tonight.”

“Well, I uh… can’t think of anything I’m doing tonight.” Max said, thinking really hard.

“Great, then it’s settled. Say, six-thirty? You think you’ll still be able to find our house?” Diane said, deciding not to pass the opportunity to point out the fact that he hasn’t been there in almost two months.

“I’ll bring a map.” Max countered. It may not have been very nice to say, but he was still upset about how she treated Liz and he just knew that tonight was gonna be hell.

“Just be on time honey.” Diane said, flashing a fake smile. “See you tonight.”

And with that, she turned around and walked away. “This would be a good day to get the flu.”, Max silently muttered.

~~

At the same time, in the hospital, Jeff came to visit his wife. “Hello Jeffrey.” Nancy said as he entered the ward. She was happy to see him, but she kind of hoped that Liz would be there too.

“I’m sure she’ll come visit again soon, honey.” Jeff said as if he read his wife’s mind. “…And if she doesn’t, I’ll have to drag her here kicking and screaming.” He added with a smile.

Nancy chuckled at the thought. “I’m thinking that she would do the kicking, and you would do the screaming.” She said with a smile.

“Yeah, probably.” Jeff said with a smile as he sat down on a chair next to the bed.

“I’m scared Jeffrey; scared of what will happen when she finds out.” Nancy said.

“She’s our daughter, Nance. I’m sure she’ll understand.” Jeffrey said.

“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid, Jeffrey! She won’t understand and the longer we keep lying to her, the less chance we have of getting our daughter back.” Nancy said with a frown.

“Do you want me to tell her the truth?” Jeffrey asked.

Nancy took a long pause. “Yes. Ask her to come here and we’ll tell her together.” She finally said.

“Alright. Well, they say the truth will set you free.” Jeff said with a sigh. “But it’s gonna piss her off mightily first.”

“You know, there’s a saying: when in doubt, tell the truth.” Nancy said

“Ït’s too late for that.”.Jeffrey said. “We never should have lied to her.”

“Well, this is our chance to make it right.” Nancy said.

TBC

Thanks for the replies everyone. I see everyone is wondering what Liz’ parents are hiding from her. Well, I’ll tell you that it’s not just the fact that they lied about Nancy’s illness… it’s something else; something big . That’s all the spoilers I’m gonna give. You’re all too good at guessing anyway.

Have fun and let me know what you think.

Part 30

The sound of the doorbell echoed loudly through the entire house, breaking the almost serene silence in the place. Isabel snapped out of the trance-like state she was in and sighed deeply. She had decided that she had no choice but to tell Alex what had happened. The truth would come out eventually and he was better off hearing it from her, so she called him and said she wanted to talk. He immediately offered to come over and Isabel had been sitting on the couch since then, waiting for him to arrive, which happened after about fifteen minutes.

Hesitantly, she stood up from the couch and walked to the door. Gathering her willpower, she took the door handle and opened the door. Alex immediately smiled as he saw her. He won’t be smiling for long, Isabel silently said to herself.

“Alex, please come in,” Isabel said. It was more than apparent in her voice that something was bothering her; something important. Somehow, Alex knew he was not going to like this.

“Isabel, what’s wrong?” he asked, genuinely concerned, as he stepped inside and turned to face her. She had an expression on her face that almost frightened him.

“Alex, I… I did something stupid,” she whispered.

“You didn’t rob a bank, did you? Cause I heard you can get arrested for that,” Alex said, trying to lighten the mood a little. What other choice did he have; she looked like she was about to crack and if she kept it up, he wouldn’t be doing much better.

It even worked as a smile quickly flashed over Isabel’s face before it disappeared. “No, I didn’t rob a bank. I…” Isabel said. She tried to tell him, but she felt like she lost her voice at that moment. Alex looked into her eyes; eyes filled with guilt, and something suddenly snapped in his mind.

“You didn’t,” he said softly, silently pleading her to tell him he was wrong.

“I did. I slept with another man,” Isabel said softly “I really wish I could take it back. Alex, I’m so sorry.”

Alex took a few seconds to process it, his expression turning from shock to pain. “You’re sorry?” he asked, looking at Isabel with a hurt expression.

“I’ve never been more sorry about anything. Alex, I l…” she started before Alex interrupted.

“Don’t! Say it.” He said loudly. “You’re not perfect and I can accept that, but this...” He said, not being able to finish his sentence. He then took a last look at Isabel before turning around and walking out the front door and back towards his car, leaving Isabel in the doorway.

She stood there for a second, completely dazed, trying to find something to say. “Alex, please!” she shouted with lack of better words.

Alex stopped and turned around to face Isabel. “Isabel, we are just two friends who went out on a date. If you have the need to sleep around, that’s your business,” He knew he shouldn’t say things like this and that he would regret it tomorrow, but what’d she expect?

“You make it sound like I’m the town whore or something!” Isabel cried out, not caring that if anyone walked by, they could hear her.

“Your words, not mine! ” Alex bit back, swallowing an even nastier comeback that was on his lips.

“Can’t we just start over, without everything that happened in the last few days?” Isabel pleaded.

“I don’t think we can,” Alex said, letting out a deep breath. “I don‘t think of you as the town whore… but if you cared about me, you wouldn’t have done what you did.”

“I do care about you, Alex. I was just…” Isabel said, but didn’t know how to finish.

“Lonely and wasted?” Alex asked, instantly knowing he had it right. “You know Isabel, you might want to consider getting help.”

“I will… but I can’t do it without you,” Isabel pleaded. If anyone would have told Alex a week ago that Isabel would be practically begging him to take her back, he would have told him he was completely crazy. Yet here it was. Alex honestly didn’t know what to do anymore; he cared about her, but he couldn’t just ignore what had happened.

“I need some time to think,” Alex said and without another word, he sped towards his car and drove off.

~~

Maria sighed deeply as she fell back on her couch, completely exhausted. The new waitress at the restaurant was a walking disaster who so far managed to maintain an average of one dropped plate per hour, the delivery guy forgot to include beer in the delivery, two weasels managed to sneak out of the restaurant without paying, and two of the cooks got into such a big argument that ‘fucks’ and ‘dorks’ echoed loudly through the crowded restaurant.

Maria remembered she felt like tearing her hair out when she tried to break them up, but they wouldn’t listen or even acknowledge her presence for that matter. Great authority figure she was. Just as she was about to go insane, Liz happened to step in the restaurant and for the first time in hours, Maria managed to smile. Work-Liz could be scary and a single foul look from her made the two cooks shut up and cower away. But thankfully, her day was finally over and she contemplated not getting off the couch for a while.

Suddenly, Maria shot up. How could she not have seen that the window was broken? As she walked to the window, wondering how this happened, she noticed a stone brick lying on her living room floor with a note wrapped around it. “God, how lame,” Maria muttered, but unwrapped the paper from the brick.

‘Bitch!’ was all it said on the piece of paper “What, no death-threats?” Maria said with a frown, meanwhile looking out the window. Maybe the brickthrower was still nearby, enjoying his, or her, handiwork.

Maria looked at the piece of paper again and walked to the phone. After a day like hers, her sense of humor was gone, so she decided to call the police. After dialing the number, she waited impatiently for someone to answer the phone.

“Good afternoon, Roswell PD. Agent Suvari speaking,” a cheerful female voice sounded through the phone. The cheerfulness and volume of the voice made Maria recoil.

“This is Maria DeLuca. Someone threw a brick through my window and…”

“Hold on, let me connect you to our vandalism department,” agent Suvari interrupted and Maria’s call was immediately transferred.

“Vandalism department. This is agent Wilson,” a grumpy voice sounded through the phone. Maria liked it much more than that overly cheerful voice of agent Suvari.

“Yes hello, I’m Maria DeLuca. Someone threw a brick through my window with a note attached to it…”

“What the hell are you doing at Vandalism? I’ll give you agent Lee; he specializes in threats,” the man said as if Maria was a total bitch for disrupting his day of slacking off at work. Maria was about to object but she was transferred before she could say anything.

“Hello, agent Lee. What can I do for you?” a male voice sounded.

“Someone threw a brick through my window.” Maria said, not bothering with any pleasantries. “There was a note with the word Bitch attached to it,” she continued.

“That’s it?” agent Lee asked

“Well, I could wait for someone to throw the rest of the pavement through my window,” Maria said annoyed.

“…Let me transfer you with agent Suvari.”

“No, I already t…” Maria said, but it was no use; he already transferred her.

“Good afternoon, Roswell PD. Agent Suvari speaking,” the agent said with the same cheerful voice. The fact that she used the exact same words, made Maria think that her cheerfulness was not very genuine.

“Hello, this is Maria DeLuca again,” Maria said.

“The lady who got a brick through her window?” agent Suvari asked.

“Yes, and none of you want to do anything about it,” Maria said frustratingly.

“How about I ask one of our agents to stop with a murder investigation to come look at your window?” agent Suvari said, suddenly a whole lot less friendly. Her bad mood was apparently more infectious than she thought.

“Look, I don’t think I like your attitude here,” Maria said in an unfriendly voice. “Hello… Hello?” Maria asked before smashing the horn on the phone. “Bitch,” she muttered as she looked at the brick, contemplating to throw it back through the window just to make herself feel better.

When the doorbell rang, Maria stomped over to the door and opened it widely with one violent tug. “What?!” she hissed, but then instantly calmed down when she saw Michael standing in the doorway.

“Is that your normal way to greet people, or were you expecting a contingent of Jehovah’s witnesses?” Michael asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Sorry. Bad day,” Maria said softly.

“So you decided to blame the window?” Michael asked, looking at the broken window and the brick in Maria’s hand.

“Funny. Apparently, someone doesn’t like me very much,” Maria said, holding up the note for Michael to read.

“And you have such a charming personality,” Michael grinned, making Maria smile too.

“Shut up,” Maria said playfully. Just half a minute with Michael and her bad mood had almost disappeared. “So what are you doing here?”

“You and me, dinner and a movie, remember?” Michael said with a grin, realizing that she had forgotten.

“Sorry, I just…”

“…had a bad day?” Michael finished for Maria. “You want me to come back tomorrow?” he offered.

“Only if it doesn’t mean you’ll go away now,” Maria said with a grin as she gestured him to come in.

~~

Max sighed loudly as he drove his car up the driveway of his parents’ place. He seriously considered inviting Liz to accompany him, but ultimately, he figured that this was a good a time as any to discuss the matter with his parents face to face. And that was a conversation that he definitely didn’t want to put Liz in the middle of.

On the other hand, his mother was up to something. He’d known her long enough to be certain of that. It was that moment that he saw another car parked in the driveway that definitely didn’t belong to his parents. Max looked at the car, but he had no idea who it belonged to. It looked expensive though.

After parking the car, Max exited the car and walked to the front door. Diane had apparently already seen him coming, because she held the door open as he approached. “Good evening honey,” she said as she smiled warmly at her son.

“Hi mom,” Max said, giving his mother a short hug and then walking in.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I forgot that we had already invited some guests over,” Diane said with a smile. Someone who didn’t know her would probably buy this casual excuse, but Max knew better.

“Well, I expected no less,” Max said flatly. “So, who are the unlucky victims?”

“Maxwell!” Diane scolded him. “We invited George, Linda and their daughter Laurie.”

Max took a second to think about it. “You mean Laurie as in Viv’s roommate?” Max asked incredulously.

Diane pretended to think about it for a few seconds. “I suppose that’s possible,” she said. “But she’s really a nice girl and you’re not going to be rude to her just because her roommate cheated on you, are you?”

“Don’t worry mom. I’ll behave the way you raised me,” Max said, a small smile creeping on his face.

“Well, George and Linda are good friends of ours and I just don’t want you to embarrass us by acting all hostile.” Diane pressed again. Max snorted; who was she to lecture him about that, but Diane ignored it and flashed one last smile at him before disappearing into the kitchen.

Max was still thinking of a sarcastic comment when he heard his father’s voice. “We really did invite them several weeks ago, but I would understand if you want to come back another time.”

“No, I’ll stay. But if she starts trashing Liz, I’m going to leave and I don’t care how it looks to her honored guests.” Max said firmly.

Phillip nodded in agreement and escorted Max to the living room.

~~

“This was absolutely delicious Diane,” Linda said as they were drinking a cup of coffee at the dinner table after they were done eating. Diane hadn’t said a word about Liz all evening and the mood was light enough for Max to actually have a good time. Having dated her roommate, Max knew Laurie well, which almost made him forget the fact that this was obviously a setup.

Diane smiled brightly. Max knew that cooking was one of her hobbies and her creations didn’t always come out well. Just thinking about the killer-frittatas made Max shiver. Neither Max nor Phillip had said anything though as to not hurt her feelings, but she got the point when she tasted it herself.

Now that dinner was over, Max patiently waited for all the parents to leave the room, which happened in less than five minutes. He smiled when they made up some lame excuse to leave the room with George and Linda; they were so predictable.

“They’re a little obvious, aren’t they?” Laurie said with a smile.

“They don’t like my girlfriend. They’re desperate,” Max said, flashing a smile back at her.

“I’m sorry, Max. I didn’t mean to ruin your evening.”

“Don’t be silly; it’s not your fault. Besides, it’s not like it’s not nice to see you again.”

Laurie smirked. “Flattery was always your strong point.”

“And fishing for compliments was always one of yours,” Max laughed. “So… have you told your parents yet?”

“Well, it’s not exactly something you say over the phone.”

“Then why not tell them in person?”

“Dad might strangle me if he finds out his only daughter is gay… that is, if he doesn’t have a heart attack first,” Laurie protested.

“You have a point, but you have to tell them at some point.”

“Max, you’re depressing me,” Laurie said with a playful frown. “Tell me about your girlfriend. Why don’t your parents like her?”

“Are you trying to depress me now?” Max said with a smile. “Fine, I’ll give you a cliff notes version. Her name’s Liz Parker and mom hates her because Liz was divorced last week. Mom handled the divorce case and she’s convinced that Liz is some kind of gold digger.”

“Come on Max; it’s not like you’re Donald Trump.” Laurie said with a smile.

“Her ex-husband came close enough, and she got half of the money in the divorce, which made her a multi-millionaire.”

“And your mother doesn’t want you dating her?! Strange parents you have; if my parents knew I was gay, they would try to set me up with her.”

“They’re wrong about her,” Max said, feeling a little bit of anger boil in his stomach.

“Wait a minute, Liz Parker… brunette with brown eyes, petite figure and killer legs?” Laurie asked, picturing Liz in her mind.

“If you want your parents to know you’re gay, you could just say something like that… and yes, that’s her. You know her?”

“Yeah, she’s one of my boss’ friends. She’s nice.”

“Are you sure the killer legs weren’t distracting you?” Max said, barely able to contain his laughter when Laurie shot him a sharp look.

“Sure, you go ahead and make fun of poor Laurie.”

“Don’t worry. I will,” Max said with a smile.

“So why didn’t you invite her tonight? That would have been a statement.”

“I figured I could have a sit-down with my parents. You know; sit around the campfire and smoke the peace pipe or something. Besides, Liz has some parental problems of her own,” Max said, his last conversation with Liz fresh in his mind.

“Max, you just have to make it clear to your mother that she doesn’t control your life.”

“Easier said than done.”

~~

Half an hour before it opened, Don Kreder stepped into the nightclub ‘The Eraser Room’. It was pretty much deserted, save for a few employees running around. Don took one step inside, but his way was immediately blocked by a big bouncer who stepped in front if him.

“We’re closed,” the bouncer said in an unfriendly manner.

“Dude, you gotta work on your people skills,” Don said dryly. “I wanna see the man.”

“And I wanna own a condo on Hawaii. We’re both gonna be disappointed,” the bouncer said with a frown. “Now piss off!”

“I don’t have time to argue with a Rambo wannabee. Step aside.”

The bouncer did exactly what he was supposed to do and grabbed Don with the intention of kicking him out by force. Don anticipated this however and in one fluent movement, evaded the bouncer’s grasp and landed a blow on his head, which caused him to crumble on the floor.

“Sorry for that,” Don said casually as he stepped over the bouncer and walked towards the back room. When he stepped through the door, he saw a tall, relatively good-looking Latino guy in his late twenties sitting on a couch with a two young, good-looking blondes on the couch with him.

The man immediately noticed him and turned towards the two girls who were all over him. “We need to discuss some business for a few minutes. Why don’t you go get a drink or something?” he said and the blondes immediately left the room.

The man turned back towards Don. “Is it done?”

“Of course. There’s no woman immune to my charm,” Don smirked.

“You mean, there’s no woman immune to the drug you pass in their drink,” the man said knowingly. “Your money’s in the case over there,” he added, pointing at a small case in the corner of the room. Don quickly walked over to the case and picked it up.

“Just out of curiosity… how was she?” the man asked with a smirk.

“Hey, I’m not gonna take the chance that I’ll get charged with rape. I just undressed her and got into bed with her.”

“That’s not what we agreed,” the man said with a frown.

“Stop whining Ramirez! She thinks she did, and that’s all that matters, right?”

“Right.”

TBC