[Hello, welcome to my fanfic... I have been rewatching Greek and I can't get over poor Max, so I've brought him back in my own CaseyxMax story. If you like, please favorite and review. Next chapters coming imminently 3 ]

Chapter 1

It was a perfectly normal day in May - one of those nice ones where the sprinkle of summer could be felt on the wind, but the pleasant weather of a DC spring remained. Casey Cartwright walked down in the direction of her Cleveland Park apartment. She tucked a loose piece of blonde hair that had fallen out of her bun back behind her ear, which contained an earbud playing a low fi pop song. Casey yearned for home - some ice cream, whatever was on Bravo... these were the little pleasures in her life. With a tinge of melancholy, she recalled how this kind of conduct would have been frowned upon back in college - wanting to stay in all the time and veg out, that is. Sorority girls were peppy and social. Parties were regular. But everyone's gotta grow up, she reflected to herself. Adulthood was all about work. And law school. And law school was work. With Cappie long gone, and Ashleigh in New York, and Rusty still at CRU... those times seemed like a world away.

Not that she didn't love DC - the energy, the look of it, the power emanating for the many government buildings downtown - it was just a long ways away from what she personally referred to these days as her "past life".

Little did she know how much one person was about to change that.

However, right now, she was simply walking home. She moved past storefronts; bakeries and restaurants and bars filling up with the Thursday night after work crowd. Her mind drifted to school and what she needed to do, assignments and so on, and what paperwork she needed to finish at her day job at a law office. Ok, so she wasn't a high powered lawyer or strong willed politician yet. But, everyone needed to start somewhere. Her momentary post graduation dalliances at CRU had cost her. But, better late than never.

Reaching the end of the block of many shops and restaurants, she came to a halt as the walk light was red. Looking innocently around, a tall stranger two people down caught her eye. He carried a brown paper bag resting against his torso with one arm, and a grey messenger bag swung from his other lanky shoulder. When he turned his head straight again, she almost choked.

"Max?!" she exclaimed, mostly to herself out loud. She pulled out her headphones. The tall dark haired man looked around wildly. When he caught her eye he looked as surprised as she did.

"Max Tyler!" she repeated.

Of all the street corners to be in at, in all the random Thursday nights, in all the cities in the world.

The light changed and the crowd around them crossed the street, but Max stayed frozen. He was staring at her with his mouth slightly parted and his dark eyes wide, like he didn't know what to do with himself. Or that he was paralyzed with surprise, perhaps.

Time had been good to Max, Casey surmised as she looked him over for a few seconds. He still had his thick dark hair and boyish features, but more… mature looking. His hair seemed to have the semblance of an actual haircut, and the short sleeved plaid shirts and hiking boots were replaced with a blue button down shirt with rolled up sleeves, and dark slacks with black brogues.

"It's me…." she said, breaking into a friendly smile. "Casey… Cartwright?"

He blinked, and nodded fast.

"I know," he replied quickly. "I mean- I just didn't think…. hi."

She laughed in spite of herself, and stepped closer. Max Tyler. It truly was nice to see him, actually, despite all that had happened… normally seeing an ex would be awkward, or something to be avoided if possible. But she was so surprised to see him, and it had been so long… a familiar face of any kind was a pleasure to come across.

"I didn't know you were in D.C.," she said. He nodded.

"Er, sorry, yeah… I'm at Goddard."

He stuck out a hand. She broke into an amused smile again. A handshake? She accepted it, out of place as it felt. His big hand felt warm round hers for the few seconds he held it.

"The NASA center?"

"Yeah. Out at Greenbelt. But I live here. I didn't… know you were here either."

His stammer and awkwardness took her back to a simpler time. That short time they knew each other in senior year, before they had dated. The Casino Night at Omega Chi. That black suit she'd picked out for him at the thrift store. Counting cards. A lot of memories were rushing back to her.

"I'm finishing up my law degree at George Washington," she informed him. "And a day job in an office. Just for rent and tuition, you know how it is…."

She trailed off, suddenly aware of how cheerful and upbeat she sounded. She was subconsciously forcing it. Casey bit her tongue and waited for him to say something.

"Ah, right…" he replied, shifting his weight.

"How'd you get to NASA? I mean, back to NASA." she asked when he was silent, recalling what she'd learned about him that long long time ago.

"I finished my degree at Cambridge. In England. And NASA offered me a job."

"That's… that's really great."

She smiled up at him. Ok, she admitted to herself, he was still pretty cute. Really cute. The whole experience felt surreal - she'd almost forgotten where she was and where she was headed. The surrounding world had kinda all become a mess of noise and color in the sense that she was so wrapped up in memories and recollections that it had removed her from the moment.

"Yeah." he said, giving her a small smile that added warmth to his deep brown eyes. "How's Rusty?"

"Finishing up at CRU. He's pretty happy, he's got his eyes on some scholarships for grad school. He's going places."

"I always thought he would."

It was a kind statement, and she knew he meant it. He was still as genuine as she'd remembered.

He looked down at the package he held against his side.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to hold you up," Casey said quickly. But she didn't want him to go. She wanted to talk to him more. She wanted to see how he'd gotten here. She wanted to know what he'd been up to for the past two plus years.

"Er, yeah…." he muttered. "It was ah, nice to see you."

He looked at her with his big dark eyes shining with some emotions she couldn't read, and gave her a small smile.

"It was nice to see you too," she replied, fingering the strap of her purse. "Here's my card…"

She reached into her bag and fumbled around till she found one, and held it out to him. He looked at it for a few seconds before pocketing it and procuring one of his own.

"Well, have a good night," she said, feeling somewhat overwhelmed. "Maybe we can get together some time, catch up? Gripe about our jobs?"

He blinked at her again, and ran his tongue over his upper lip.

"Ah - jobs, right. Goodnight yourself, Casey Cartwright."

She smirked.

"You too, Max Tyler." she replied, parroting his use of her last name. He grinned all of a sudden then looked down at the ground and started crossing the street when he saw the light had changed.

She stayed grounded in her spot, watching his receding back as he turned a corner across the street.

Max Tyler, Deputy Director, Polymer Science Division, read his business card in neat block letters. A small glossy NASA logo sat on the other end of the card. And there were a few phone numbers - cell, work, fax, so on. She put the card in an inside purse pocket and fished around for her phone, selecting a contact before instigating her street crossing, finally.

"Hey Case!"

A cheerful feminine voice answered. It was always nice to hear the voice of her long time best friend, Ashleigh.

"Hi, Ash," Casey said, smiling. "What's up?"

"Just shopping on Fifth Avenue, you know…" Ashleigh's voice replied happily.

"Fifth Avenue, huh?"

Ashleigh had married a rich young New York broker a few months ago - she was now Ashleigh Howard-Horner. And Casey always thought there was no one more in need of a large disposable income than Ash, who was never one for money, or jobs, but always was one for shopping.

"Yep! What's up with you, you're the one who called, my sweet little office drone,"

"Hey, I'm taking that personally…." Casey chuckled. "Anyway, you'll never guess who I met on the street just now."

"Ooh! Angelina Jolie!"

"No… but someone I thought it would be even less likely to see. Max Tyler."

"Max? Like, CRU Max?"

Ashleigh sounded as surprised as the man in question himself had looked, just a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, that Max."

"You mean, gave-up-CalTech-for-you, dumped-him-at-a-party Max? That one?"

"Ash…." Casey said in a hurt tone, feeling genuinely bad in that moment. Many things she hadn't thought about in a very long time were suddenly coming back, all too fast.

"Sorry," her friend said, "That was meeeean. But, wow, what's he doing in DC?"

"Working for NASA, he said."

"What was he like?"

"Tall. A bit awkward."

"...and?"

Casey knew her perceptive friend could see right through her, even though she couldn't actually see her.

"And…. handsome. A little."

"Hah! I knew it!" Ash said triumphantly. "He's still hot. Did you get his digits?"

"What is this, 2006? Digits? I got his business card."

"You should ask him out!"

"He's my ex….," Casey replied hesitantly after a pause. "I need to…. process. He might hate my guts. Plus… I don't know what…. I want."

"That's pretty strong. And vague."

"Well… it was a rough breakup. Jesus, feels like it's junior year all over again."

Ashleigh laughed musically.

"Ah, so many surreal moments and awkward encounters."

"You can say that again." Casey said, chuckling. She felt herself slipping too far into the memories hole. Max's surprised face was still floating through her mind.

Time to change the subject.

"So, tell me more about Fifth Avenue…"

But even as Ashleigh started prattling on excitedly about this store and that one, she still couldn't stop thinking about the encounter. About the guy she'd left so many years ago. And what she would possibly have to do with him in the future.