Roswell Fanatics

“Okay, first of all… Britney?” she repeated incredulously, wondering how the young woman could have come up with something like that. “So not a good example… and secondly… well, secondly, you should really be more reasonable…” Laura wasn’t even sure what she was supposed to answer to that, but really it wasn’t as if they had time for jokes now.

“Oh, believe me… you don’t know me… but this… yes, this is me being reasonable…” if she weren’t, Liz would have probably found a way to crawl out of there and she would surely not be having her child in this particular place, as it looked more and more like she would.
Across town, Max was just getting out of his meeting and leaving the building where it had been held when he heard his cell phone beeping once, indicating that he had missed a call or a message.

Quickly he looked at the screen and then couldn’t help but frown when he realized he had a new message on his voice mail when he hadn’t even heard the phone ring in the first place.

Checking out his missed calls, his confusion only increased at first when he found none, but a second later he understood that he had obviously not had any reception inside the huge twenty-something stories building and that whoever had called had most likely been sent directly to voice mail.

Anxiously so, he listened to the message and couldn’t stop his heart from pummeling to his shoes when he instantly recognized Liz’s voice. Her message and her tone more particularly left him shaking from head to toes and he all but jumped into his car as he realized that it had already been more than half an hour since she had called.

Despite Liz’s warnings, he drove faster than he knew he should, hoping all the while that he wouldn’t get arrested or that he would find an understanding cop if he did, slowing down not being an option. Not when he didn’t know what was going on or if Liz was alright. She had seemed alright, a little upset and irritated sure, but alright nonetheless, and he hoped with all his might that it was still the case.

The last thing he wanted was to think that it could be otherwise, but he still remembered all too well what had happened the last time he had received such urgent call.
Max rushed through the doors of the hospital, his heart hammering in his chest so loudly, he was sure that anyone passing him by on his way could hear it.

It felt like he hadn’t been able to breathe properly since he had received Kyle’s call nearly twenty minutes ago and he was sure he wouldn’t until he would have seen Liz and made sure that she and the baby were alright.

Kyle hadn’t said much unfortunately, beside the fact that there had been an incident at school and that he had to get to the hospital as soon as possible because they were taking Liz there, but that was about it.

Not knowing what to expect so, Max ran to the nurse station as soon as he spotted it, but before he could even reach it, he was called by one obviously nervous Kyle and immediately changed direction.

“Kyle, what happened? How is she? Where i-is she?” the words stumbled from his mouth the second he joined the other man, his voice cracking slightly despite his efforts to appear collected.

Kyle seemed to understand however, if the sympathetic look he gave him was any indication.

“Someone at school… a student… he involuntarily bumped into her and she fell a few stairs before she was able to get her footing back…” Kyle started, only to see from Max’s horrified expression that he probably shouldn’t have blurted it all out like that. “She’s okay but…”

“The baby? Is the baby okay, t-too?” Max interrupted him before he could go any further, catching from Kyle’s tone that something could be wrong nonetheless despite his weak reassurance.

“I-I don’t know, Max… bastards wouldn’t let me see her!” Kyle admitted dejectedly and Max understood that he had probably tried and tried, only to be turned down every time. He wasn’t family after all and Max, more than anyone, knew well how that worked.

“Where is she then?” he asked urgently, more determined to get to Liz now than he had even been earlier if that were possible.

“She’s in there… room 1023…” Kyle replied, pointing at a room a few doors down apparently. “But Max… she’s… you have to know… they’re trying but… she’s kind of…” he pursued hesitantly but knew immediately that Max wouldn’t listen to him a second longer once he knew where his wife was.

He was not surprised though. He would most likely do the same if he were in Max’s shoes and it were his wife and child in possible danger.

With only one thought in mind, Max pushed past Kyle before he could finish and strode to the room he had indicated, knowing that if they refused to divulge any information to Kyle, they would have no choice with him.

Truthfully Max had actually been prepared to see different things when entering: Liz sitting or lying on a hospital bed, probably scared out of her mind and waiting for him to arrive and promise her that everything would be alright. Doctors and nurses near her, hovering and checking on her. Monitors around, just to make sure everything was fine with her and the baby. That would have been normal. What he had surely not expected was to find Liz all but backed into a corner of the room with three people around her trying to catch her flying arms while she did her very best to ward them off and yelled at them like a woman possessed.

“Hey! What’s going on here?... what are you doing to her? Let her go!” Max didn’t even stop to wonder who those people whom Liz obviously didn’t want to have anything to do with were, although he suspected that they were part of the hospital staff, he just charged forward with the intention of getting them as far away as possible from Liz as he could if that was what he had to do to see her calm down.

It was little wonder so, if he was surprised when Liz seemed to want to reject him, too.

“Don’t t-touch me… I-I won’t let you take my baby… you c-can’t take my baby…” Liz cried out when she saw someone else attempting to reach her, and the way her voice broke a little more with each word she spoke was enough to break Max’s own heart.

He didn’t even mind that the fist that landed on his chin as she fought off his approach was sure to leave a bruise later, Liz was the only thing that mattered at that moment. She seemed hysterical, tears rolling uncontrolled down her cheeks, eyes unfocused, which obviously explained why she didn’t even seem to recognize him, and Max couldn’t help wondering what they could have told her or done to her to put her in such a state.

He didn’t have more than a few seconds to ponder that thought however, because the next moment Liz seemed to double over in pain and he was by her side and gathering her in his arms in an instant.

“Shh… shh… It’s me, Liz… It’s me… It’s Max…” he soothed gently as he tried to stop her from pushing him away once more, his task made somewhat easier by the fact that Liz was now holding her stomach protectively with one arm. “Shh, baby… it’s okay… I’m here now!”

Liz struggled against him still a few seconds, until his tender voice registered in her brain and all fight finally left her. With a harsh sob that tore at Max’s heart, she sagged against him and let him held her as close to him as he could with her five months pregnant belly between them.

“Max?... Max… they want… they want to take o-our baby… don’t let them take our baby, M-Max…” Liz’s words were muffled against Max’s chest but they had the same impact on him as if she had been shouting them, her obvious desperation chilling him all over.

“Shh… no one’s going to take our baby, sweetie…” Max cajoled as he held her for dear life but before he could stop himself, his eyes locked on the doctor who stood barely a few feet from them, a concerned look on her face.

“Don’t let them… you can’t l-let them…” Liz repeated brokenly, the way she clung to Max nearly cutting his air supply but nothing would have made him ask her to let go.

“What’s going on? What the hell have you done to her?” he addressed the doctor, a middle-aged woman whose nametag read ‘Dr. Silver’, as he continued to run his fingers through Liz’s hair and down her back.

She trembled in his arms as she kept crying her heart out and Max knew it wouldn’t be long before she just collapsed completely.

“We were just trying to help her…” Dr Silver ventured tentatively but was almost immediately stopped in her attempt to explain when Max favored her with an incredulous stare that said as much as his next words did.

“Help her?... you call this helping her?” despite himself his voice raised a few notches higher than necessary, and if he didn’t care one way or another about what the doctor and the other people present in the room could think of him because of it, he almost instantly regretted it nonetheless when he felt Liz wince in his embrace and sob even harder if that were possible.

“I assume you’re Mr. Evans?” the doctor ignored his tone and his words for now, wanting to confirm her suspicions before she gave him any further information concerning the woman they were trying to treat, and only when she saw him nod quickly at her own question, did she feel safe to go on. “Well, like I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Mr. Evans, your wife suffered a fall…” she pursued, sure that he had heard all about it from the other young man who had accompanied Mrs. Evans here and had been the first to relate to them what had happened.

Considering how concerned for his friend he had seemed to be, concerned to the point everyone had at first assumed he was the woman’s husband, she was quite sure he was still around somewhere, waiting for some news.

“Yes… is she… is she alright?” Max found himself asking apprehensively, not sure about the answer, given Liz’s state and the fact that so far, all she had said had been barely coherent.

“Your wife is fine as far as we could tell, although we suspect she sprained her wrist…” the doctor informed Max and she wasn’t at all surprised to see his worried gaze drift down to his wife, or how delicately he reached for her left arm to assess the damage himself.

“You suspect?” Max repeated, the look on his face clearly stating that there was no way it could be otherwise, considering the bluish color the skin of her wrist had already taken. If there was a chance it wasn’t broken, there was no doubt it was indeed sprained.

“She hasn’t let us approach her close enough to really see or treat her yet…” the doctor revealed, although she seemed to be a little uncomfortable about the fact.

Usually they didn’t have so much trouble with patients, even ‘pregnant’ patients, but Mrs. Evans apparently seemed to have issues none of them were able to understand, if the way she had reacted when they had tried to examine her and her baby, or even if all those things she had been yelling about them wanting to take her baby away from her, were any indication.

There was probably more to that than they knew, but she hoped that Mr. Evans would be able to calm her down nonetheless now, at least long enough for them to be able to help her and see if nothing was wrong with her child.

“Liz?” Max whispered softly as he pulled slightly away from her, just far enough to look at her and try to understand why she wasn’t letting them touch her and treat her injury when he had no doubt that she had to be suffering a great deal because of it.

“They want to t-take our baby…” Liz moaned out for all explanation when their eyes met and Max had to swallow thickly not to sob himself when he took notice of the incredible pain reflected in her eyes.

“Is something wrong with the baby?” he turned to the other woman in the room again and asked apprehensively, his heart thudding erratically against his ribcage at the thought that they could have maybe said something to Liz about their child. Something that she couldn’t bear and something that made her think that she had to protect their baby from them.

“That’s what we were trying to determine when your wife… when she…” Dr. Silver started explaining, only stopping short of saying something along the lines of ‘when your wife turned all hysterical on us’ when she realized that that was probably not something she should say out loud, no matter how true it had actually been. “Anyway… apparently the high level of stress is causing your wife to have contractions and…”

“C-Contractions?” Max interrupted her before she could say more in what sounded more like a shriek than a simple word. “But she c-can’t have contractions now… it’s… it’s way too soon…”

Max felt dizzy suddenly with what this could imply, but he refused to think the worst of it. He couldn’t think the worst of it or he knew he would lose it as surely as Liz had and one of them had to be strong here if they hoped to get through this somehow.

“It is too soon, indeed… which is why we were trying to give your wife a sedative in the hopes that if we managed to calm her down some, it would be enough to control them and stop them…” the doctor replied, barely succeeding in reassuring Max however.

He might not know much about pregnancies, but he knew enough to understand what would happen if they didn’t manage to stop those contractions. And he knew, too, what it would mean for Liz.

“If you could just hold her a minute…” one of the male nurses who were in the room but hadn’t said a word so far, suddenly suggested out of the blue and advanced to Max and Liz with a syringe in hand.

Before he could reach them though, Liz started getting agitated again and Max had no choice but to take a step back, seeing as she had obviously noticed the man and understood what he intended to do and still didn’t want him to come anywhere close to her.

“It’s just an injection… it will help…” the man insisted, but the mildly irritated tone he used and that suggested to Max that he was slowly but surely losing patience with Liz was enough for his own anger to bubble forth.

“You touch her before she’s ready and I’ll break both of your arms!” Max all but growled menacingly, causing the nurse to look at him like he had lost his mind, but he took a prudent step back nonetheless the second he understood that the other man was all too serious and wouldn’t hesitate to do just that if he felt that was the only way to protect his wife.

“Mr. Evans…” Dr. Silver stepped forward as well this time and placed herself between the two men before this could degenerate, but she didn’t need to say more than his name for Max to know that this was really serious and that they had to act fast if they wanted to make things right.

If only he could convince Liz of that.

“Just give me a minute with my wife, okay!” Max retorted a little more curtly than he meant to, but he couldn’t bring himself to care about being polite when all he could think about was how much this was, and still had the potential of hurting Liz.

As gently as he could to not frighten her off, he tried to pull away so he could talk to her, but he soon understood that he wouldn’t have much luck this way. Her grip on him tightened even more the second he tried to move her and he refused to push her too far, too soon.

“Okay, sweetie… just come here…” he breathed gently into her hair, barely a second before he scooped her up into his arms and cradled her protectively against his body, glaring openly at the nurse when he wasn’t quick enough to move out of his way for his liking.

Liz wrapped her arms around Max’s neck and held on like she meant to never let go and Max wasn’t surprised to hear her whimpering in protest when he sat down on the hospital bed, like she actually thought he meant to force her to lie down on said bed and leave her there at the doctor and nurses’ mercy.

“Don’t go, M-Max…” she whined before Max could reassure her and it broke his heart a little more to see how insecure she was being all of a sudden.

Yeah, like he could be anywhere else than where he was being right then. Or like he could even want to. Nothing and no one in the world could make him leave her side, not until she would be alright again at least.

“I’m not going anywhere, sweetheart… I’m right here…” Max assured her, kissing her crown tenderly and moving her around just enough so she would be comfortable on his lap and he wouldn’t be hurting her or the baby in any way. “Baby, you have to let the doctor take a look at you and at the baby… you have to let her do her job…” he continued softly and immediately felt Liz go completely rigid in his arms the second she heard his suggestion.

“No… n-no… they want to take our baby… you… you c-can’t let them take our baby…” Liz wailed and shook her head vehemently and Max was sure she would have all but bolted off his lap and ran out of there if he hadn’t been holding her so tightly.

“That’s not what they’re trying to do, Liz… they’re just trying to help you…” Max contradicted quietly, one hand caressing her back while the other one rubbed gently over her protruding stomach.

The tender and slow gesture seemed to quiet Liz some, but obviously not enough for her to believe him completely since she kept shaking her head despite his words, leading Max to consider changing tactics.

“Sweetie, look at me…” he sighed softly, trying to make her lift her head from where she hid it into the crook of his neck. He wasn’t more surprised than that to see that it took him a few seconds of gentle coaxing to bring her to comply.

“You remember… the first time you told me… a-about the baby?...” he questioned in a soft breath, smiling lovingly at Liz when she looked back at him and nodded despite her tears. “You promised me the most beautiful gift you could give me that day… nothing could have made me happier in fact than hearing you say that we were finally having this baby, you know that, right?”

“I-I know…” Liz replied weakly, still remembering that day and his reaction when she had confirmed what he had seen like it was yesterday.

“And you remember how we b-both… how we both said that we were a l-little scared, too…” he continued carefully, one of his thumbs brushing Liz’s tears away, despite the fact that it seemed to be useless since they seemed to still come faster than he was able to catch them.

“Y-Yes…” Liz croaked out, her voice cracking on the single word, because if she had been scared back then, now she was terrified.

“I’m still scared, Liz… I’m so scared right now I feel like I c-can barely breathe…” Max admitted throatily, his own eyes filling with tears as Liz choked on a sob at his confession. “But baby, that day… that day I p-promised you that I wouldn’t let anything happen to you or to our child… and that’s still true, baby… I swear, Liz… nothing and no one will make me break that promise to you… but I need your help for that… you trust me, right?”

Another nod was all the answer he got again this time, but that was enough for him for now.

“You know that I would do anything for you… but as much as I wish I could take it all away, I can’t… I c-can’t help you right now… but they do… all you have to do is have that small injection…” he went on and had to wrap his arms around Liz just a little tighter when he felt her struggling against him again the moment she heard him.

“No, they’re gonna hurt our baby…” she cried out and Max had to swallow past the huge lump that clogged his throat when she pinned him with a glistening and betrayed look.

“Listen to me, Liz… you know that I love you more than anything else in this world… I-I mean, you, and Janelle, and this baby… and I would never ask you to do anything if I thought it could hurt either of you in any way…” fingers threading through the hair at her temple, Max barely breathed the words above a murmur, his forehead against hers now, the scene looking so intimate it made the three other people in the room feel almost uncomfortable as they witnessed it, even if they actually couldn’t hear a word of what was being said between them.

“Please, Max… p-please, don’t let them do this…” Liz begged hoarsely, the look of anguish she gave him causing Max’s own tears to fall at last.

“Shh… shh… I know you’re scared, sweetie… but I need you to do this for me… just this once, Liz… I need you to trust me and do this f-for me, okay?... it will just take a minute… and then you won’t feel any more pain…” Max started to rock her gently, although his eyes never left hers all the while.

“M-Max…”

“Just a minute… just a short m-minute, I-I promise… just hold on to me, baby… I’ve got you… everything’s gonna be alright…” Max kept on whispering in the same gentle tone, but this time he cradled her even closer while he continued rocking her and he was glad when Liz buried her face into his chest at last so she wouldn’t see or hear anything else but him. “We’re gonna be alright…”

His swaying motions lasted for a few minutes until Liz seemed to calm down enough for him to concentrate again on what was happening around him, although all the while, much to his dismay, she didn’t stop crying.

Very carefully so to not startle her again, he disentangled one of her arms from where she had it firmly wrapped around his neck, stroked it gently up and down for a few precious seconds, and then let it slide behind him, though he kept holding it so he would maintain it extended.

When she didn’t fight him despite the small moan of protest he still heard coming from her lips, he searched for the doctor with his eyes, giving her a look that seemed to say ‘if you want to do whatever it is you need to do, you do it but you do it now!’ as soon as he found her.

He knew that they had all been extremely patient with them, but Max was lucid enough to know that there was only so much he could do and that Liz’s relatively sudden quietness wouldn’t last long if they didn’t hurry.

The nurse that had already tried to approach Liz several times earlier, started advancing towards them again but he had only taken a couple of steps when Dr. Silver stopped him with an ‘I got it’ and he had no other choice but to give her the syringe he had still been holding all this time.

Doctor Silver was tempted to suggest to Max that he laid his wife down for this, but the way he wrapped her completely into his embrace then, clearly showed that they would have to do it his way or no way at all because he had apparently absolutely no intention of letting her go, or even less letting her get through this alone.

As gently as she could herself, she took Liz’s arm to do her job, Max not needing to see the action to know exactly the second she touched her when he felt Liz stiffen first and then wince and whimper when she apparently injected her.

“Shh… it’s nothing… it’s okay… I’m right here…” Max soothed, trying to smile through his tears when Liz pulled away long enough to give him one last teary look.

Whatever they had given her, it seemed to be acting quite fast, Max realized as her eyelids already started to droop after only a mere couple of minutes, Liz blinking repeatedly to apparently fight the effect.

Cupping her face in his hands, Max softly brushed his lips against hers, his tears mixing with her own, although Liz barely responded to his kisses. For once he didn’t mind however, because this was probably more for him than it was for her.

“I love you…” he murmured thickly then, not really waiting for an answer but needing her to remember nonetheless.

Liz’s head slowly fell forward until it was resting against his shoulder again, Max’s fingers finding their way through her hair once more the second she was settled.

“Don’t… don’t let them take our b-baby again, M-Max…” was the last thing Liz said before she finally closed her eyes and let the medication they had given her work its magic, and if Max hadn’t already suspected before why Liz had been acting so uncharacteristically and why she had been so unreasonable about all this, that last sentence would certainly have been explanation enough on its own.

Even if they hadn’t talked about it again since that first day when Liz had told him about the baby, the fear of anything going wrong and them losing it had never been too far from their minds for all that, although they never let it rule them, but Max knew now that that had probably been the only thing Liz had been able to think about today. She had probably thought about it the second she had fallen, without much consideration for her own injury, and all the way to the hospital, only to completely lose it when they had tried to examine her. As illogical or far from the truth as it could have been, Liz had most likely convinced herself that if she let them get anywhere close to her or the baby, they would only hurt him or her, instead of just checking on them and helping them like they meant to. Yes, only the fear of losing another child could have made Liz act like she had.

Remembering how she had looked completely out of control and on the verge of a nervous breakdown when he had first entered this room was enough for Max to feel like he was suffocating, but he forced himself to push that thought to the back of his mind, knowing that if he didn’t, they would probably have to give him something, too, when he finally lost it himself.

As he tried to compose himself, he noticed the doctor looking at him questioningly and it made him realize that being so close now, she had most likely heard what Liz had said this time.

“Uh… Liz… she… she had a m-miscarriage last year…” he coughed and stood up with Liz in his arms, but refused to look at any of the people in the room, not wanting to see pity or whatever else in their eyes. All he wanted was to make them understand that Liz wasn’t crazy and that there had been something -something that still hurt too much to bear a repeat- behind the way she had behaved.

“Oh… I understand…” the doctor nodded and whispered, the pieces of the puzzle finally coming together.

She had thought earlier that there had to be something more, something they were missing, and now she knew exactly what kind of traumatic experience this couple, and more particularly this young woman had gone through to make her so frightened of being approached or touched.

At that, Max just made a weird throaty sound that seemed to say he doubted she really did if as a woman she hadn’t gone through the same as well herself, and then indicated the bed with a jerk of his head. “Could you just…”

“Sure!” the doctor instantly understood what he wanted to do and she was quick to push the covers down so he could lie Liz down.

He did so like he was handling the most precious thing in the world to him and the doctor didn’t doubt that that was exactly how he viewed his wife. It was in every touch, in every word he had spoken to her, in every look he bestowed upon her. One would have to be completely blind not to see just how much he loved this woman.

He pulled the covers back over her with the same gentle care, like he was afraid he would wake her up if he was too brusque with her, placed a loving kiss upon her forehead after having tenderly brushed a few tendrils of hair back, and then finally turned to her again.

“Can you… can you make sure they’re both alright, now?” he demanded quite emotionally then, showing that he had apparently only kept it together before for his wife’s sake and wasn’t far from breaking down himself now.

“Of course.” She conceded easily, since she had already planned to do just that, and she took her stethoscope from around her neck before moving to Liz’s side.

Max’s eyes never left her all the while and he could feel himself breaking into a sweat with each minute that passed. Her examination seemed to last an eternity to him and he couldn’t even tell if the sigh she expelled once she seemed to be done and she finally stepped back again was one of relief or of worry.

“Is she going to be okay? And the baby… is the baby going to be alright, too?” his gaze seemed to be pleading with her to give him some news at last and Dr. Silver favored him with a small smile, even if she knew that that would probably not be reassurance enough.

“Yes, they should be… as long as we manage to keep your wife calm… they should be fine… I’d like to run some tests just to be sure there are no complications and we’ll be monitoring both of them closely for the next few hours, but her contractions were fortunately still far between and that’s good… I mean, all facts considered…” Dr. Silver told him, hoping that it would appease him some, at least for the time being.

He would certainly not feel completely better until she could tell him without the slightest doubt or hesitation that his baby was completely out of danger, but hopefully this was a start.

“O-Okay… thank you!” Max murmured gratefully, taking his position by Liz’s side as soon as he could without getting in the doctor’s way.

The first thing he did once he was settled down, was to brush away the few traces of tears that were still left on Liz’s cheeks and then he took her hand in his, his eyes drifting to her hurt one almost in the next second, which didn’t go unnoticed by the doctor.

“I’ll send someone to take care of that in a minute…” she announced immediately, not wanting him to think that she had forgotten about it or that they would leave her unattended. She had indeed seen for herself that her wrist was sprained and would most likely need to be immobilized for a while if she wanted it to heal fast when she had checked on her barely a few minutes ago. “Okay, I’ll leave you with your wife now then… if you have any question or if you need anything… feel free to ask a nurse to page me, okay?” she added when he nodded at her first statement and squeezed his shoulder encouragingly before she could stop herself.

“Sure, I will… thanks!” Max answered a little distractedly as he concentrated again on Liz, his eyes following the steady up and down motions of her chest as she slowly breathed in and out, but he smiled back, at least as best as he could under such circumstances, when she did herself just before she moved to exit the room.

The next instants were a blur of activity, between the different nurses coming and going and taking care of Liz in a way or another.

When they were finished, nearly an hour had passed but Max was at least comforted by the regular beeping sound that indicated Liz’s strong heartbeat and the reassuring oscillations of their baby’s own rhythm he could see on the monitors they had hooked up and installed near Liz’s bed.

Liz had actually slept during the whole procedure despite all the noise they could have been making, but Max was glad for the fact. The less stress she underwent right now, the better. She looked peaceful right now, and he really wanted to keep it that way for as long as it was possible. He was clearly in no way ready to see a repeat of the scene he had witnessed earlier. He would already have a hard enough time forgetting the sight of Liz in such a state.


Another hour or so had gone by since the last time anyone had come in to check on Liz and the baby. Not that Max would really be able to say precisely or that it really mattered. His eyes had stayed on Liz’s still form all the while, the only moment he had actually momentarily left the chair he was still currently sitting on was when a nurse had come in to inform him that his ‘friend’ was still there and was asking for information on Liz’s state.

Max had talked with Kyle a few minutes to reassure him and thank him for having come with Liz, but had told him that he could go back to the school when Kyle had offered to stay if he wanted him to. As much as he appreciated the offer though, Max had declined nonetheless, knowing that there wouldn’t be much more Kyle would be able to do here anyway and that the school would probably be glad to have some news as well. He knew just how appreciated and liked Liz was there and that Jim and most of her colleagues, who had surely all heard about what had happened to her by now if they hadn’t before, would be just as worried about her as Kyle had been.

Now he sat there, fingers caressing the hand he had held on to all the time, but careful not to mess with the device they had clipped on her index finger to monitor her heart almost as soon as they had finished examining her. Liz had barely moved at all since then, but holding her warm hand, lacing his fingers with hers was at least comforting and appeasing.

His other hand couldn’t help running over her rounded belly, as he found himself needing some kind of contact with his baby as well. From time to time, he could feel slight movement under his touch, and as soft and brief as the motions could be, Max didn’t think he had ever felt happier than to still be able to feel his son or daughter move so easily.

Liz’s contractions had stopped practically on their own like the doctor had predicted, but she had also warned Max the last time she had come in, that it would be up to him to keep Liz calm once the medication would have worn off and she would wake up, so that what had happened earlier couldn’t occur again.

Those contractions had apparently been only stress-induced, like had been the doctor’s first supposition, and there was definitely nothing wrong with the baby, but Dr. Silver had insisted on the fact that the first few minutes after waking up, Liz might feel a little confused and disoriented and that he would have to stop her from panicking again, which could definitely happen when she would realize she was in a strange bed, in a strange hospital room and she remembered what had happened and how scared she had been before they had sedated her.

Max had no intention of letting that happen of course, and not knowing what else to do for now, he found himself speaking before he could think about it twice or realize what he was doing.

“Hey, sweetie… it’s daddy…” he whispered against her stomach, like he had done about a hundred of times before since he had learned that Liz was carrying his child, only he was careful to keep his voice real low this time, so he wouldn’t disturb Liz in any way. “I know I have said this many times before but this time… I r-really hope that you can hear me… I know you’re still little, honey… but you have to do something for me… I… mommy and I… we love you so much… you… you mean the world to us and the l-last…god, the last thing we want is seeing anything happening to you… and your mother… y-your mother… she’s just the most amazing woman in the world…” his voice cracked slightly on the words, but he forced himself to go on, his fingers strumming over Liz’s stomach in the sweetest, gentlest way so the baby would hopefully not only hear him but feel him close, too.

“Sh-She really is, you know… and I’m not just saying that because I love her… although I do, very much… she’s owned my heart for a long time now… you b-better get used to it, I guess… I’ve heard…” he stopped briefly to cast a loving look upon Liz’s serene face and make sure that she wasn’t listening to him babble his heart out to their unborn child. “I’ve heard that I tend to get a little carried away and way too demonstrative when it comes to her… so you’ll probably see things you wish you wouldn’t have to see sooner or later… just ask your sister…” he chuckled softly as he recalled how many times he had had to hear Janelle say that they were ‘yucky’ because they were always kissing now and unable to keep from touching almost every time they were in the same room together.

“Anyway… she is… your mommy… a-amazing, that is… and I know that she’ll protect you with her life if you let her… the same as I-I will… I swear, once you’re out of there… I’ll protect you till my l-last breath, sweetie, because… well, that’s my job… that’s what d-daddies do… and because I-I love you so much already, i-it would just kill me if… if anything ever happened to you… but right now… right now it’s too soon… mommy and I… we really can’t wait to see you but now… it’s just too soon… I c-can’t… I can’t p-protect you right now… as much as I want to…” it broke his heart to have to say as much but Max knew all too well how true it unfortunately was, that thought making him feel more useless than he had ever felt in his whole life. “I-I can’t, but mommy… m-mommy, she’s trying… I know she will do her best to protect you and keep you safe as long as you’re in there… she will do her part… but you have to help a little, too… you know, be a good baby for mommy… b-be strong… and stay patiently in there until it’s really time for you to come out… let her take care of you… and don’t… just… just d-don’t hurt her, okay?... that’s all I’m asking of you…” he finished in a chocked breath, but couldn’t help the small trembling smile that tugged at his lips when he felt a sudden move under his fingertips. “See… I knew you’d get it… I keep telling your mom but she…”

“Max?” his name being called softly from the doorway interrupted his thoughts and his monologue, and when he turned around he wasn’t surprised to see his mother standing there, a concerned frown on her face.

Very slowly, he let go of Liz’s fingers and delicately placed her hand over the left bandaged one that was already resting over her belly, and after having kissed her lips softly, he moved to the door, exiting the room quietly to speak with his mother.

“Hey, mom.”

“Hey, sweetie.” Diane engulfed her son in a strong hug as soon as he reached her and then brushed away the tears he had not even been aware he had been crying again. “How are they? Everything’s alright?”

Considering his state, she wasn’t sure it was the case, but she really hoped with all her might that both Liz and her grandchild would be okay. She wasn’t sure how Max would cope if it indeed weren’t the case.

“Yeah… yeah, they’re good… the doctor said they should be fine…” he repeated what he had been told himself earlier, but his mother could see that he would only really believe it when Liz would be out of there and safe at home, where he could take care of her and pamper her like he had done till now, for every second of her pregnancy.

“Then, I’m sure they will be… they’ll be alright, Max.” Diane said with way more assurance than he felt himself, wanting to be positive here.

If the doctor was being optimistic, there was no reason for them to not be as well.

“They have to… I… they j-just have to… because I-I don’t think we can go through this again… L-Liz… it would… it would kill her if anything happened to the b-baby…” tears filled his eyes again before he could stop himself and it was only when he saw his mother looking at him with a shocked expression on her face that he realized what he had just said.

“A-Again… what do you mean by again, Max?” she asked the question he knew she would, and he wasn’t in the least surprised.

Max had said too much, of course, his parents or anyone else for that matter beside Kyle and Maria not having any idea of what Liz had already been through. They had seen no reason to bring it all up and talk about it truthfully, because no matter what, there was nothing any of them could have done about it.

Only now he had let the cat out of the bag so to speak and he knew he would have to explain. Twice in a day he had to say the words, and they seemed to just hurt a little more each time.

“L-Last year when… when we were at odds… L-Liz… she had a miscarriage… she d-doesn’t talk about it anymore… but if anything happened now…” he trailed off before he could say more, but Diane didn’t need him to, to know exactly what he meant.

“Oh, honey… I’m so sorry!” she moaned out and didn’t think about it twice before engulfing her son into another hug.

Only this time Max held her back with about as much strength, needing the comfort, even if it were only for a few precious minutes. And no one gave better hugs, beside Liz of course, than his mother could.

“How… how’s Janelle?” Max asked when they pulled apart and he had wiped his tears away with the back of his hand, not wanting to let himself think too long about what had happened in the past or he knew he would just drown.

He felt a little guilty to not have inquired about Janelle before, but with all that had been happening, he had barely had time to think about anything. He knew that his daughter was in good hands though, which was why he had called his mother the second he had gotten into his car and had taken the direction of the hospital, asking her to go and pick Janelle from school for them after he had told her what little he knew of what had happened. His only instruction had actually been that she didn’t take her to the hospital, even if it stopped her from coming as well until his father was off work, but he had thought it better until he had more information concerning Liz’s state.

“She’s fine… I told her Chestnut was missing her and that she could spend the night and she didn’t ask anymore question… your father is with her now… I-I didn’t know if you wanted me to tell her or…” she explained, hoping that it would be alright.

He hadn’t told her what he wanted Janelle to know or not, so she had decided to wait until she had more news before she scared that little girl, and using her dog to explain why she was the one picking her up instead of her mother had been the only thing she could think about to not alarm her at the moment.

Phillip had agreed with her when he had gotten home himself and then she had rushed here as soon as she had had someone to stay with Janelle, anxious to know more about Liz’s state herself.

“No, that’s alright… no reason to scare her…” Max confirmed before she could even finish, glad that she had taken care of that for him. He didn’t want to say anything to Janelle for now, hoping that even if Liz had to spend the night here, she would at least hopefully be released the next day and Janelle would be none the wiser about what had happened. “Thank you, mom.”

“Oh, no need to thank me, Max… you know how much we love having her anyway…” Diane stated with a smile, having Janelle home being always a pleasure, even when she was being a handful, and that happened quite often now since they had the dog at their house. “You just concentrate on Liz for now, okay!... Janelle will be alright with us!”

“Okay… I… I should probably go back with Liz… I don’t want her to be alone if she wakes up… j-just in case, you know…” Max acquiesced and then couldn’t help glancing back inside the room, checking that Liz was still peacefully asleep.

“Of course…” Diane nodded, completely understanding his desire to be near his wife. “Do you want me to stay with you?” she couldn’t help offering nonetheless, even if she knew there probably wouldn’t be much she would be able to do, except waiting with him.

“No, that’s okay… Liz will probably be out of it for a while anyway… even if she wakes up soon… but I’ll call you as soon as I know more.” Max said, not seeing any reason for his mother to stay waiting around. He didn’t feel like talking much himself right now anyway, and she would certainly be more useful at home with Janelle.

“Okay… if you’re sure…” Diane conceded after a moment, not wanting to force him in any way.

“Thank you again, mom.” Max breathed out and after having kissed her cheek, he pulled her into his arms once more. “Tell Janelle that we love her and that I’ll call her later tonight.” he added once they parted, promising himself that he would do so before it was time for her to go to bed.

Hopefully, Liz would be okay and feeling a little better, too, then, and she would be able to talk with her as well, otherwise Janelle would surely wonder where her mother was, and that wasn’t something he was looking forward to explain to her.

“Sure, I will.” Diane answered right away, quite reluctant to have to leave, but knowing that she had little choice in the matter. After all, that was what Max wanted. “Okay, I’ll talk to you later then… take good care of Liz… and don’t worry too much, okay?... everything will be alright in the end.” were her departing words and she hoped that Max wouldn’t have to call her a liar later on.

“I will… bye, mom.” Max replied, smiling sadly nonetheless when his mother answered with a soft ‘bye’ of her own and then moved down the hall, although it seemed to cost her a great deal to have to leave her son alone in this hospital.

Max watched her go for a few seconds and when she stopped walking half-backwards and looking at him like she was about to cry herself and run back to him, he stepped back inside Liz’s room, reclaiming his seat at her bedside again and praying that she would soon open her eyes and tell him that she was feeling well enough for him to take her home again.
Max could without problem say now that that day had honestly been one of the longest of his life, but fortunately his mother had been right and everything had indeed gone alright in the end.

Liz had actually woken up not so long after his mother had left the hospital and like he had been instructed, he had done all he could to keep her calm. Despite his success though, there had been a lot of tears, on both sides, but they had gone through it all together, closer through their pain and fear than they had ever been.

Dr Silver had been reassuring once she had examined an awaken Liz, although it had taken a great deal of patience on her part to convince Liz that staying overnight was only a precaution and didn’t mean in any way that anything was wrong with the baby or with her.

Max himself had probably never been more ecstatic than he had been when he had finally been able to take Liz home the next afternoon and he had scrupulously followed the doctor’s instructions to not let Liz strain herself for at least a week after and had even promised to take her back to the hospital, right away, no matter how much she could protest, the second they thought something was wrong.

Fortunately for them, that trip had been the first and last one they had had to take to the hospital during Liz’s pregnancy and beside the regular monthly checkups, Liz hadn’t had to go and see a doctor since then.

Now though, Max felt the same kind of fear he had felt that day months ago, and he could only hope that nothing was really wrong with Liz.

He had tried to call her back on his way, only to have her pick up and yell at him to ‘get the hell here, now’ before she hung on him the next second, and ever since then he had been trying to come up with any possible argument that could convince him that she was just feeling tired and irritated, or not feeling so well and only wanted to go home sooner than it was planned, and that it wasn’t actually something worse.

Reaching the school at last and spotting the ambulance parked just in front of it pretty much sent those thoughts flying right through the window however, and Max had to wonder how he didn’t crash the car in the last few meters before he was able to park himself.

He didn’t even bother locking the doors, he just jumped right out and ran through the school hallways like a man who felt his life could very well be hanging in the balance, cursing all the way the damned roadblock that had forced him to take back roads to get there and made him waste some precious time.

At first he had no idea of where he would be finding Liz, but seeing the mass of people crowded together just in front of her classroom pretty much clued him in right away.

He was almost there when Liz’s cry pierced the air and his heart and he pushed his legs even faster, only stopping briefly to push past the students who were all trying to get a peek at what was going on inside.

“Excuse me!” he nearly had to elbow his way through them, which already irritated him greatly, but then he couldn’t help glaring sharply when one of them made a comment Max wished he would never have to hear coming out of the mouth of another man, no matter how true he thought the statement was himself.

“Can you believe it? Even like that she’s still fucking hot!” one student whispered to his friend, completely unaware of who was standing right behind him now.

“Hey! That’s my wife you’re talking about!” Max growled before he could stop himself, not even needing to follow his line of vision to know he was indeed talking about Liz, and then he pushed the guy out of his way until he was himself standing on the doorway and blocking everyone’s vision of what was going on inside, at least as best as he could.

“Oh, s-sorry… hi… Mr. E-Evans…” the young man had at least the grace to blush and appear sheepish as he indeed recognized his teacher’s husband, but that didn’t stop Max from looking at him like he should really run if he didn’t want to get hurt.

“Yeah… Mr. Evans… as in husband of a very married, very happy and very much pregnant with his child Mrs. Evans… don’t you forget it!” Max retorted quite possessively and then couldn’t help closing the door right on all those curious’ faces, wondering briefly why no one had thought about doing just that before.

That thought was quickly forgotten however, when he heard Liz scream in pain again and he immediately turned around, momentarily freezing on the spot when he saw her on one of those gym mattresses, legs slightly parted, with a woman at her feet and another one behind her, apparently supporting her weight, while a third one coached her and reminded her to breathe deeply.

The next second her scream turned into a long growl and he was even more astounded to hear the words that came out of her mouth next.

“… and someone move those desks or something, dammit… I don’t want the whole student body to have a look at m-my… pudenda… this is no free peep show… you perverts!” she yelped as she doubled over in pain and Max realized that she had apparently not seen him yet or realized that he had closed the door.

Choosing not to dwell on her words for now, he rushed to her side, the woman behind her who he now recognized as the school nurse spotting him before Liz could herself and giving him what he believed to be a grateful and relieved smile.

Max didn’t understand it right away, but it all became clear when she almost immediately moved to let him take her place and he understood then that she had apparently only moderately appreciated to have her hand all but crushed into dust.

“Hey, baby!” Max whispered softly as he settled down behind Liz and instantly took her hand in his.

“M-Max!” Liz moaned out in obvious relief when the fog caused by the incommensurable pain she was feeling cleared some and she saw he had finally arrived.

“Shh… it’s okay, sweetheart… I’m here now…” he soothed gently, kissing her crown as she leant more firmly against his strong chest, and then he couldn’t help looking apprehensively at the EMT that was at Liz’s feet. “What’s going on?... and what are you still doing here?...why are you not taking her to the hospital?” he demanded, seeming strangely calm considering it seemed evident that Liz would be giving birth today, but all that apparent fake calmness crashed right through the window in the next second when what he already suspected was confirmed.

“A-Apparently the baby’s coming t-too fast… she didn’t want to take any risks!” Liz was the one to answer him, repeating what ‘Laura’ had told her earlier, and Max felt himself blanch slightly when he heard her.

“Fast? As in now?... I mean, l-like… now?” he stuttered before he could stop himself, suddenly feeling dizzy.

Oh. God.

“Yes, now, Max!” Liz all but growled as she was hit with another contraction and she had to bite her bottom lip nearly to the blood to not scream her lungs off again.

God, she didn’t know how much longer she could go through this with barely any drugs at all.

“But there’s still three weeks to go…” Max knew he was pointing the obvious, but he didn’t know what else to say or how to react.

He remembered Liz’s obstetrician saying that it wouldn’t be surprising or abnormal if the baby came sooner than what they had been said at first but he couldn’t help wondering if it weren’t still too soon.

“Well, apparently J-Junior here didn’t get that memo!” Liz gritted out as she went through another strong contraction. Obviously they were really coming faster now. “OOhhh, g-gooooood!”

“Oh… oh, but is he… the baby’s okay, right?” Max asked anxiously, his eyes locked with the paramedic’s, begging her to tell him that he was.

“As far as I can tell the baby is perfectly fine, but we have to get it out of there… if only your wife wouldn’t refuse to push…” the uniformed woman revealed, the scolding evident in her voice and Max understood right away that she wasn’t exactly happy with Liz. Not that he could blame her right now.

“What? Liz!” he all but cried out incredulously himself, staring down at Liz with a look that said that she better have a good explanation for that.

“I-I was waiting for you…” Liz said in a small voice that was enough to make Max forget about everything else and cause his heart to swell with love.

“Oh, okay… o-okay, well… I’m here now, sweetheart…” he murmured after a few seconds spent just looking at her, and then he brushed a few strands of damp hair off her forehead. “Let’s have this baby, then… I can’t wait to meet our son…” he added in a throaty sigh, placing a soft kiss on her temple and smiling down at her.

“O-Okay!” Liz’s own whisper ended up in a groan as pain shot through her womb once more, but at least with Max there now, she felt ready to do this. Or as ready as she would ever be, she guessed.

Liz was actually hoping that this would go fast and that she wouldn’t have to feel like her insides were being shred to pieces time and time over again for too long, but unfortunately it took way longer than what the EMT had first assumed and she would probably have had time to go to the hospital and back twice, freaking roadblock or not, that she still would have not delivered the baby.

“Push, Liz… that’s it… push…” the paramedic coaxed her for what seemed to be the millionth time to Liz and she had to force herself to not yell at her what she exactly thought of her at the moment.

“Keep pushing, baby…” Max encouraged himself, although he was grimacing behind Liz as she clutched his hand in a death grip once more that made him wonder where the hell she had suddenly gotten all that strength from.

He could barely feel his fingers anymore and was seriously pondering if it were possible for Liz to just break his hand with her own bare and small one.

“I am pushing, dammit… j-just what the hell do you think I’ve been d-doing so far?... taking a walk in the park?” Liz all but yelled quite unkindly at him, but Max didn’t let that faze him anymore.

He couldn’t even believe himself some of the things that had already spurted out of Liz’s normally sweet mouth and he was sure she would have been able to make even the toughest trucker blush at times, although the paramedic had told him that that was pretty normal, given the fact that Liz was giving birth ‘naturally’ and basically feeling every second of it. She had heard worse apparently, since this wasn’t the first birth she had assisted in, but Max himself could clearly not remember having heard Liz being so… ‘vocal’… when Janelle herself had been born, and she was their first.

“Well, push harder then… it’s almost over…” Max insisted but his tone was nothing but tender and soothing.

He hated seeing Liz like this, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do for her right now but be there and support her as best as he could.

“A-Almost over… my ass…” Liz grumbled, not even wanting to count anymore how many times she had already heard him say so since she had started pushing. “G-God… it huuuuurts!”

“I know, honey… but you’re doing great…” Max answered patiently, squeezing Liz’s hand in encouragement once more.

“Well, you should be the one doing this… that would be even g-greater…” she retorted breathlessly as the paramedic told her she could stop pushing for a few seconds, her words causing Max to shudder just at the thought. There were a lot of things he would do for Liz, and gladly, but that… yeah, mind you, he would surely pass. “And g-god… I loved this dress… and now, you just ruined it…”

“I ruined…” Max trailed off awkwardly, wondering what the hell she was talking about now and how it could be his fault. How could he have ruined her dress? “Liz?”

“Come on, Liz… forget about the dress for now and concentrate… here we go again…” Laura told Liz before she could answer anything to Max, wanting her to be ready to push again at her signal.

“Yes, baby… just a little more… you can do it… I know you can do it… I love you…” Max cajoled lovingly, deciding to forget about Liz’s incoherencies for now as well.

She probably wasn’t thinking very clearly right now.

“I so hate you right now!” Liz groaned out as Laura gave her the go ahead and she started to push with all her might once more.

“I’m sure you do…” Max chuckled despite himself, this being almost nothing compared to some of the things he had heard today.

“Oh, you think I’m kidding?” Liz asked between two deep breaths. “You j-just wait… let me just… aaah… expel… y-your son out of my body… and then… then I am so killing you…”

“Whatever you want, baby…” Max tried to placate her yet again, choosing not to take her threat too seriously, and Liz proved him he was right to do so with her next sentence as she found another target for her anger or frustration.

“G-God… he couldn’t even wait a little l-longer… noooo, he just had to decide to come to the world in my freaking classroom… of all the places…” Liz complained, clenching her teeth once more and then expelling a very long, tired breath.

“Well, our daughter wants to become a lawyer now… maybe this one already knows he wants to be a scientist… or a biology teacher, just like his mommy… who knows?” Max wiped at Liz’s sweaty forehead and joked good-naturedly which apparently, at the moment, wasn’t exactly to Liz’s liking and didn’t make her laugh. At all.

“This is so not funny, Max!” Liz all but shrieked and it almost immediately made Max regret his bad attempt at humor.

Obviously right now, Liz was in no mood to deal with it.

“I know, I’m sorry… but I promise to make it up to you later…” he apologized and promised in a tender whisper, but to say that he was in no way prepared for Liz’s reaction to his words would have been the mother of understatement.

“Oh, no… you won’t… you so won’t… I know all too well how you m-make up for… aaa-ahhhh… god, everything… you damned pervert… and I’m telling you… you are not… t-touching me… ever… again…” Liz threatened in a grunt, causing Max to blush to the roots of his hair first when he noticed the EMT stifle a laugh, and then to look completely appalled at the thought of really not being able to touch her again. She wasn’t serious, right? She couldn’t be?

“Ah, L-Liz?” Max stammered hesitantly, hoping that she would tell him it was only a joke.

It had to be, because seriously, it had barely been two weeks since the last time they had really made love and he felt like he was going crazy most of the time, he surely wouldn’t survive a life of abstinence.

“Lovely wife you have here, Mr. Evans…” Laura chuckled softly but she sobered up rather quickly when said wife threw her a glare that was enough to chill her all over and make her want to clamp her mouth shut forever. “Come on, Liz… you’re almost there… we have the head now…” she pursued more seriously again and even tried to smile reassuringly at Liz, though it didn’t seem to have the effect she had been going for.

“Oh, the head… thank God for you… and here I was sure I-I just felt a f-freaking watermelon slipping through my legs after tearing my insides apart… but if you tell me it’s j-just the head … who a-am I to say you’re wrong, huh?” Liz spat out sarcastically and even Max cringed at her tone.

It was that scary and foreign to him, but seriously, like she could have missed it when she had suddenly felt like she was split in two.

“Come on, love… it’s almost done… in a few minutes we’ll see our son…” Max breathed out thickly, barely able to take the wait any longer now. And not just because he really wanted to see their baby more than anything in the world at that instant, but also because he wasn’t sure how much more Liz could still take.

“Oh, go-oooood…” Liz’s next cry had most likely been heard all the way to the other side of the school, but really like hell didn’t even begin to describe just how much this hurt. She clearly had to have completely forgotten all about the pain from the last time to really have been so eager to go through this again. “Oh, L-Lord… I’m sure he’s g-got your ears… he must have gotten y-your ears… that’s why… ughhnnn… that’s why he couldn’t g-get out of there without tearing me apart and c-causing me irreversible damages…” she rambled on then and Max found himself wondering how she could have said so much in only one breath and while she was still pushing.

“Oh, man…” Max didn’t know if he should chuckle or just growl at that but he surely couldn’t help rolling his eyes heavenwards. “Liz, I love you, baby… I really do… but if you don’t stop messing with that little guy… you and I… we’re gonna have a problem…”

“You’re the one who’s gonna… a-aah… have a freaking problem when…” Liz started to shoot back but the rest of the words died in her throat when the first cry of their son split the air, making anything she could have said next completely insignificant compared to that magical sound. “M-Max…”

“You did it, sweetie… you d-did it…” Max had a hard time controlling the emotion in his own voice and he was practically sure that if he wasn’t yet, he would be crying soon as he caught his first brief glimpse of his son.

“Oh-kay… we’ve got him now… You want to cut the cord, daddy?” Laura offered as she held their son securely and after having checked him up briefly, extended the instrument she had in her other hand to the proud father, Max unable to do a thing but nod, the ball in his throat preventing him from saying a word.

He followed her instructions and did exactly what she said with trembling fingers, feeling the same incredible wonder he had felt more than six years ago when Janelle had been born herself and he had done this, too, and it was through blurred eyes that he and Liz followed their son as he was passed to and tended to by the second paramedic who hadn’t done much until then.

Laura concentrated again on Liz then, helping her deliver the afterbirth, but Liz herself couldn’t hear or see a thing beside her baby.

“Is he alright? Max?... M-Max… go see if he’s alright!” she all but begged after a few long interminable minutes, having not even gotten a clear look at her son yet.

She knew they had to check on him and clean him some up, but he was still crying and she just wanted to take him in her arms already. The few feet separating her from where he stood in the arms of the paramedic seemed like miles away to her. She wanted her son.

“Shhh… don’t worry… he obviously is… can’t you hear him screaming?... our son has quite a set of lungs on him!” Max reassured her quickly and he couldn’t have kept the edge of pride off his voice if he had been paid for it.

God, he had a son!

“You s-sure… he’s just…” Liz couldn’t help but insist nonetheless, vaguely noticing that she was being cleaned up herself as well but unable to care at the moment.

“Yes, he’s fine, baby…” Max replied and tenderly cupped the side of her face to force her to look up at him for a few minutes. “Hey, I’ve got something for you.” He told her then once he got her attention, even if he knew that it probably wouldn’t be for long, and then he searched his shirt pocket for what he wanted to give her.

Liz followed his hand and when she saw him pull a very small round box out, she couldn’t help looking at him questioningly. At least until he opened it and asked her to give him her left wrist. When he took off the charm bracelet he had given her months before when they had barely reconciled and added two new charms to it, she knew exactly what they were before even seeing them clearly.

“How did you…” she breathed softly, looking at her bracelet and seeing that she had now a new ‘J’ and a new heart added to the others and to the ‘L’ and ‘M’ that represented all of their initials. It was absolutely perfect, Max having disposed the last heart so one would be between and around all the initials again, hers and Max’s in the middle with a ‘J’ for their children’s names on each side, but she still couldn’t help wondering how he had thought to take the new ones with him just today.

“I’ve been carrying them everywhere around with me for a few weeks now, just in case…” Max revealed with a tender smile that made Liz melt about as much as his words already did.

She was just about to open her mouth to thank him and tell him how much that meant to her then, when Laura coming back to them with a little bundle in her arms made her forget all about what she had been about to say.

“Oh, god… M-Max…” Liz choked out as the paramedic slowly lowered her son to lay him down on his mommy’s chest.

“Here he is…” Laura whispered so to not startle the baby who had just barely stopped crying at the top of his lungs. “So… does this little treasure have a name already?” she inquired then as she let Liz hold her son for the very first time, not surprised to see tears filling the mother’s eyes, or how much her fingers were trembling as she ran them all over her blanket-wrapped baby.

“Y-Yeah…” Max barely got out himself through the huge lump of emotion and tears that clogged his throat, no more able to take his eyes off of his son than Liz could herself. “J-Jared… Jared Maxwell Tyler Evans…” he whispered throatily, feeling so much love for this tiny little person already that he felt it difficult to breathe.

“That’s a beautiful name.” Laura acknowledged, smiling as she started gathering her things for the trip back and let them enjoy a moment with the new addition to the family.

“Y-Yeah…” Max just said distractedly, remembering how Liz had said he should choose their son’s first name since she had been the one with the final say in the end the last time, then she had added ‘Maxwell’ because she wanted their baby to have his daddy’s name, too, and then finally they had let Janelle add a name that she liked as well and she had come up with ‘Tyler’. “Welcome to the world, son.” he murmured then as his son blinked at him, even if he was sure he wasn’t seeing a thing yet.

It didn’t matter though, because at that instant he felt more complete than he had ever felt in his whole life and he knew he could wait for his son to really know him.

“God, he’s so… p-perfect…” he couldn’t help blurting out emotionally after long minutes spent just taking him in, in silence.

His son had a small mop of dark hair already, round rosy cheeks and if he wasn’t mistaken, his eyes, too, although he couldn’t be sure about that because he had them closed now, apparently having found peace almost the second he had found himself in Liz’s embrace. He surely couldn’t blame him however, because he knew firsthand himself that there wasn’t safer place in the world than Liz’s loving arms.

“Yes, he is… and he l-looks so much like you…” Liz smiled through her own tears, seeing so much of Max in their son already, she just couldn’t help thinking of all the hearts he would surely break in the future.

“You think so?” Max wondered out loud but then couldn’t stop himself from laughing softly when a thought crossed his mind. “Hey… it looks like I got my Valentine’s present after all.”

Max had actually planned to surprise Liz with a romantic dinner that same night. He had everything organized already in fact, from the restaurant, to who would baby-sit Janelle for them while they were out, but in the end he had gotten quite a surprise of his own. Such a wonderful surprise in fact, that he couldn’t even mind that all his plans were now sure to fall through.

“Yeah, you did… though I can’t say I saw that one coming…” Liz joined in, clearly thinking that she couldn’t have done it better if she had planned it all herself. “He’s beautiful, Max…” she then turned more serious again, chocking on a strangled breath before she could control herself.

“You are beautiful!” Max stated hoarsely, though he could surely not dispute her words, and framed her face tenderly when she looked up at him, the loving kiss he brushed against her lips then saying even more than words could at that instant about how much this meant to him and what a precious gift she had given him. “I love you!”

“Love you, too!” Liz returned immediately, both of them having completely forgotten everything that had been said or that had happened earlier when Liz had all but threatened his very life, now that they were able to hold their son at last.

Well, almost everything was forgotten.

“You were right… he got my ears alright, poor thing…” Max commented with a small grimace as he noticed that his son’s ears, considering how they protruded even just slightly, were at least one feature he could definitely not have gotten from Liz’s side. “Sorry about that…”

“N-No, I love your ears… and they’re cute on him…” Liz contradicted right away, tracing the rim of one small, perfect ear with a delicate finger.

“Trust me, he won’t find them cute in a few years…” Max snorted, remembering all too well how much he had hated them himself once he had hit his teen years, sure that no girl, and particularly not Liz, would ever want to date him with ears like those nature had gifted him with.

“I don’t care… he’ll still be absolutely perfect to me…” Liz assured him, convinced that nothing in the world could ever make her think otherwise about her baby.

“So… is the new little family ready to go to the hospital now?” Laura interrupted their discussion despite how reluctant she seemed to be, but she knew that it was now time to take Liz and the baby to get thoroughly examined and make sure they were both really alright.

She had done all she could herself, but that didn’t mean that this was finished and mother and baby could probably use some rest as well anyway. This had certainly been one emotional and tiring day for both of them.

“Yes!” both Max and Liz answered at the same time, and then Max slid from behind Liz at last, hurrying to pick her up and help the paramedics place her half-sitting, half-lying on the gurney they had pulled up now.

Liz for her part didn’t let go of the baby, all her attention was solely on him, and Max couldn’t do a thing but smile and hold tightly on one of the metal railings of the gurney as they rolled her away and out of her classroom.

He hadn’t been thinking so much about whoever could still be in front of Liz’s classroom however and consequently was not really prepared for the round of applauses that greeted them the second they came into view of the crowd still gathered outside.

Students and teachers cheered them enthusiastically as they passed, however as much as he appreciated the thought and congratulations they received on their way, he wasn’t sure how good such a noise could be for the baby. Liz herself seemed to be thinking the same if the way she cradled Jared protectively against her bosom and covered his ear was any indication. Fortunately, if the baby clearly seemed to be somewhat disturbed by all the sudden noise around him, at least he kept from crying again and Max guessed that was a good thing.

It didn’t stop him from being glad nonetheless when a few teachers seemed to understand when to stop, at least for the baby’s sake, and they managed to calm the others some down and even prevented a few eager students from following them completely outside. A few words from them were eventually enough to get them to scatter away and go back to what they had been doing before the news traveled that one of the school teachers was giving birth in her own classroom, only mere feet from them.

Max thought they were actually free to go at last when they finally managed to exit the school and started to make their way back to the ambulance, but they hadn’t even reached it yet that they were stopped once more by the dumbfounded man that recognized Max before he could himself.

“What the… Max?” Kyle’s voice showed his obvious surprise at seeing Max there, walking along a gurney, the sight making him panic slightly since he had definitely not missed the ambulance parked in front of the school and couldn’t help but worry that something had happened to Liz again, but that was still nothing compared to how he sounded when he took a better look at the person sitting there, a small bundle wrapped in her arms, and he finally understood what had gone on. “Oh, you have got to be shitting me? You gave birth?... How the hell could you give birth? I was gone only a few hours!”

Liz would have actually laughed at Kyle’s completely incredulous expression, if she hadn’t completely understood where he was coming from. This morning after all he had been with her, hovering near almost constantly while they worked on the last preparations for the fundraising, telling her what he considered she could do and what she couldn’t in her condition, and now here she was, having given birth when nothing had apparently prepared him for that. For all everyone knew, she wasn’t anywhere near that stage, even if she had started suspecting herself that this would happen, earlier in the morning already.

“You were gone long enough apparently!” Max replied before Liz could herself, knowing that she was certainly not seeing it Kyle’s way.

What might have felt like mere hours for him, had certainly felt like an eternity of pain for Liz, he had no doubt about that, even if he couldn’t imagine that she regretted having gone through it when she looked at her accomplishment now.

“Let me see him!” Kyle asked excitedly once the shock had worn off some and he had to be shushed down by Liz when she saw Jared frown almost the second Kyle talked, obviously a little too loudly for his liking. “Oh, man… he looks just like you!” Kyle whispered to Max the next second when Liz barely uncovered the baby so he could have a look at him and he noticed the baby’s striking resemblance with his father.

“Yes, he does, doesn’t he?” Max answered proudly, although he would have been just as pleased and proud if Jared had looked all like Liz. “What? Did you expect him to look like you?” he couldn’t help adding jokingly a moment later, causing Kyle to look at him with a mischievous smile of his own.

“Man, wouldn’t that have been neat?!” Kyle retorted right away, making Liz roll her eyes at both his and Max’s antics, although she was glad nonetheless to see that they had reached a point where they could actually joke together about what had happened in the past.

“Ass!” Max punched Kyle’s arm in retaliation, before helping the paramedics roll the gurney away again when Laura made him understand that they should really get going. “Make yourself useful… take my car to the hospital if you don’t mind, I’m riding with them in the ambulance!” he then added, throwing his keys to the other man before he could even answer, knowing that Kyle would surely not refuse anyway.

“Sure, I guess I can do that for you!” Kyle agreed right away, like Max suspected he would, and they all moved towards the ambulance.

The few feet that still separated them for the vehicle were spent answering Kyle’s numerous questions –from the name they had given the baby and that had still been a secret even if its sex had been revealed once Liz and Max had discovered it themselves, to whom they were going to choose as godparents, or when they thought Liz and the baby would be out of the hospital so they could all celebrate- and as much as Max truly appreciated Kyle’s obvious interest, he was almost relieved for the quiet that suddenly surrounded them once the ambulance doors eventually closed behind them.

Laura invited Max to sit in the back of the car near Liz’s head while she took a seat by her feet herself, and while she radioed the hospital to warn them of their impeding arrival, Max leaned over Liz, brushing her hair away and placing a tender kiss on her forehead.

“You okay?” he questioned softly as he saw her blinking repeatedly, obviously fighting with herself to keep her eyes open.

“Yes… I just… I’m so tired…” Liz admitted in a sigh, those last few hours having certainly been the longest of her life.

“I know… but you did well… you were just incredible, Liz… I’m so proud of you… and god, I love you so much…” he whispered to her with the proudest smile he could muster, but Liz was stopped from answering when Jared emitted a soft long sigh that had both of them momentarily holding their breaths.

“I just… I-I can’t seem to be able to take my eyes off of him…” Liz murmured when she was sure they hadn’t woken the baby up.

“Neither do I… but Liz, it’s okay… you can close your eyes, baby… he will still be here when you open them again…” Max promised with an affectionate smile, completely understanding where she was coming from.

He didn’t want to let their son out of his sight either, it was just too soon yet, but after what she had just gone through, he could only imagine just how tired she truly was in reality.

“What about him… I-I can’t just…” Liz started arguing but a finger on her lips stopped her from going any further.

Max knew exactly what she meant without her needing to voice it and was gently taking the baby from her arms before she could finish. He held him so delicately, like he was afraid he would break him if he weren’t careful enough, and Liz had to swallow past the huge ball of emotion in her throat then, barely able to resist the urge she felt to cry at the sight of Jared in his father’s arms now.

“Rest, love… I’ve got him… I’ve got our son…” Max breathed out, staring down in awe at the little bundle in his arms, not even believing himself that he had really helped creating such a small but perfect thing.

Liz nodded then, too exhausted to protest any longer, moreover when she knew that she could blindly trust Max to take care of Jared while she rested her eyes just for a little while. She trusted him with his life just like she had always trusted him with hers.

She was glad for the cramped space however, since it allowed her to be close enough to Max and the baby to be able to feel them near even with her eyes closed.

Max seemed to sense her need anyway, and he took one of her hands almost right away, letting it rest on his thigh so he could keep some kind of contact with her as well.

Later on, he would have to think about all he had yet to do -like call his parents and Isabel, call Liz’s parents as well, and Michael and Maria, and Alex, too, and have his parents bring Janelle to the hospital so she could meet her baby brother- but as they finally pulled away from the school premises, Max found himself musing over how different his life had been only a year ago.

Last Valentine’s Day, at more or less the same time, he had been utterly miserable, having wondered almost all day if he should go see Liz, if he should bring her the present he couldn’t stop himself from buying even if he had already been convinced it wouldn’t change a thing to their situation or to the fact that he believed his wife to be in love with another man, only to chicken out in the end and drink his sorrows away with Michael instead.

God, how much a year could do. Since then, all the misunderstandings that had nearly torn them apart from good had been long cleared, he had taken back his position in his wife and daughter’s lives and if he had to be asked right at that very second, Max would say that he probably couldn’t be more in love with Liz even if he tried.

Life had already been about just as perfect as it could be but now this… Max wasn’t even sure he could find the words to describe what he felt in that instant as he gazed down at his wife and son, but if he had to at least try, he would most likely say it was simply pure bliss… utter and complete happiness and contentment.

He just couldn’t help thinking of how much of a miracle it felt to be here and be able to experience this now.

Jared was in fact they very own and personal little miracle, the child neither he or Liz, at one point and not so long ago, had thought they would ever have, and if Max knew that they would never make any differences between their two children, or that they would always love them both just as much, he couldn’t deny either that Jared would probably always be somewhat ‘special’ in their eyes, and not only because he was even born on this particular day and in a way embodied the perfect symbol of their re-found love.

Jared simply erased everything that had gone wrong between him and Liz and was the living proof that they had made it through despite all the hurdles life had thrown at them and emerged even stronger, despite how hard or insuperable they had seemed at times, and there was no doubt in Max’s mind that there was a lot to learn from that.

As he looked at his son now, Max couldn’t help picturing all he would do with him, all he would teach him, like how to ride a bike one day, or how to play football, baseball, or any other sports he had learned from his own father himself. All the things that a father had to teach his son.

Yet, even as he thought about the future and how perfect he wanted his son’s life to be, Max still knew that he would probably make mistakes concerning Jared’s education. He was only human after all and was surely not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but Max vowed to himself nonetheless that he would never give him any reason to not be proud of him or to ever doubt just how much he could mean to him or how much his father could love him.

He would support him and protect him with his life, give him the best of himself, and do his best to pass down to him the values that had been dear to his parents and had become his as well.

He would teach him to respect himself and be proud of what he was… oh, and respect women, too, and his mother in particular. Yes, that seemed important.

But if there was one of thing… yes, just one thing Max really wanted his son to be, it was a fighter. He wished that whatever Jared become, whatever he did, or whatever happened in his life, even when he wouldn’t be there anymore to protect and guide him himself, he would never, ever give up, no matter what.

If there was one thing this last year had taught to Max, it was that no matter what life threw at you, nothing was insurmountable, at least if you were willing to try and fight for what you desired, what you needed or wanted, and he really hoped with all his might that his son would never forget that as well.

Never forget that nothing was gained forever, but nothing was completely lost either, not until you decided so, and that with love, patience, understanding and communication, anything was possible… yes, anything… even when you thought it was too late.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, those two words there… really weird, not sure I’ll get used to it… I mean I’ve already written them a few times before but it seems so different now I guess it’s because this is like probably the hugest fic I’ll ever write and it’s finally done after I don’t even want to remember how many years

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all so much, because I know perfectly well that I wouldn’t have been able to do this without you and without your support. All those pieces of feedback, from the two-words long, to the longest ones, are what made me promise myself that I would finish this story, no matter how long it took, and I did, hopefully without disappointing any of you. I know how much I owe you, so just know that each feedback, I’ll treasure, because they are what kept me going even when my muse took too many breaks and I didn’t have much inspiration, and they will probably again the next time it happens

So, THANK YOU guys!!

I’d also like to thank more in particular:

‘Laira’, because you really never gave up on me, even when I felt like it, and kept forcing my ass into gear You really are one of the reason I finished this

Alana, porqué eres probablemente la fan la mas ‘loca’ que podia encontrar por aqui, pero no sabes cuanto me alegria cada vez que veia unos de tus mensajes Tia, no cambies!! Y sigue haciendo me reir ! (Ah, y viva Jesus Vazquez !!)

Tanya, because your stories are such a great source of inspiration and because even if don’t say it quite often enough ‘I heart your style’ lol… Don’t ever stop writing Max&Liz the way you do!

Sherrie, because you’re such a great ego-booster and you were always so kind to me and yeah, I miss you!

Flohmac, because I can’t forget that you’re the one who got me to start all this (for better or worse ) so thank you

Chris, because you probably won’t ever read this, but your friendship means the world to me and I know you always have my back! Love you!

Angie… *sigh*… what can I say… because I met you here only a few years back, but just like Tiph, you know me better than many people and I could always count on you to cheer me up or just listen to me when I needed it… because you don't judge me, no matter what I can tell you or how lost I sound sometimes ... because I just love your mom LMAO… and because of that week in Toulouse that was fun, wasn’t it? Ready to go again? ... god, there'd still be so many 'because', but yeah... I miss you and I really hope we’ll talk soon again… we have to talk soon! Thanks for always being… you! Love you girl!

Tiph, (see Angie’s thanks first I know you'll know what applies to you, too! ) because you almost always see things my way and when you don’t, you always respect my way of thinking nonetheless… and because of all those discussions we had about Max and Liz’s love and the way we saw it or wanted it Thanks for the pre-reading, too, and always giving me your honest opinion (particularly when Max is being an ass ) Love you, too!! (Threesome sometime soon? )

A., because you were just there, no question asked, and helped me when I needed it probably the most, and I won’t forget it!

And last but certainly not least, Jason simply because my Maxes wouldn’t be who they are or how they are if it weren’t for you and because my deadline was your birthday and for once I made it… guess I just needed the right motivation LMAO!

Well, I guess that’s it… take care, guys, and see you soon hopefully… wherever inspiration takes us!

(gee, this is really weird )

Rebecca.