It was September of 1944. Max was reading a newspaper article about a young man named Fred Moore who returned home the day before after being captured by the Nazis for nearly a year. A true hero, Max thought, and he laughed aloud. That could have been him, had he been drafted. But he hadn't, so Max hadn't gone overseas. He looked up from the paper as the door to his office opened and in walked a beautiful woman with brown hair put up in the classic victory rolls of the 1940's. It was Evelyn Saunders, the star of his latest Broadway smash, Anything Comes, and the love of his life. He and Evelyn were due to marry next week, and Max couldn't wait for her to become Evelyn Bialystock.

"Good morning, my gorgeous fiancée," Max said, folding up the paper and standing as she approached his desk.

"Why, good morning, my darling Max," Evelyn said to him, placing a kiss on his lips.

"What brings you here to my office at this hour? Shouldn't you be getting ready for tonight's show?" Max asked her, taking her hands in his.

"I should be, yes, but I wanted to see you first. I missed you, Max, darling…" Evelyn told him, taking one of her hands and tracing the line of his jaw. Max shivered with delight, and he lifted her up and sat her on his desk.

"And I've missed you, Evie," he said to her, and he kissed her. On his face were the beginnings of a moustache that he had been wanting to grow, and Evelyn liked the idea. She rather enjoyed the tickling of his moustache on her face. They were kissing with more passion now, and just as Max had begun to undo his pants, a knock was heard at the door. He groaned, redid his pants and went to answer the door. Standing outside of it was a woman with curly mousy brown hair and a young boy who was probably about seven or eight that looked very much like her.

"Excuse me, Mr. Bialystock!" the woman exclaimed, knowing she disturbed him from something important, based on the expression on his face. "My son and I were passing by this building and he got so excited… He's such a huge fan of your plays, sir, and he wanted to say hello!" Max's irritated expression softened, and he looked down at the boy with a smile. He knelt down next to him and held out his hand.

"Why, hello, little boy! And what, might I ask, is your name?" he asked him. The little boy nervously took his hand and shook it, a blue blanket in his other hand.

"M-my name is L-Leopald Bloom, sir…" said the boy nervously.

"Oh, don't be shy, Leopald! Mr. Bialystock is a friendly man!" his mother exclaimed, though the little boy remained hidden behind his blue blanket.

"Oh, that's all right!" Max exclaimed, his friendliest smile still shining in the boy's direction.

"Who is it at the door, Max, darling?" came Evelyn's voice from the door, and Max looked up at his curious fiancée.

"This wonderful boy named Leopald Bloom and his mother," Max replied, standing. Evelyn knelt down to the boy and smiled at him as well.

"Well, hello, Mr. Bloom!" she said. The little boy shook her hand as well, and then hid behind his mother's legs.

"Oh, I'm so sorry… He gets so nervous sometimes! Thank you so much for letting him meet you!" exclaimed the boy's mother, picking up her nervous son and holding him on her hip. The boy was rather small for his age.

"Oh, it's my pleasure!" Max exclaimed, and the woman smiled and said her thanks once more before leaving.

"What a sweet little boy," Evelyn said, walking back into the office as Max closed the door. She turned, and Max was right in front of her in a second with his hands on her waist.

"Now, I believe we were in the middle of something?" Max asked her, and Evelyn giggled.

"I believe we were…" she told him, and she leaned into Max's face and kissed him. They then collapsed on the couch…

…

That night, Anything Comes had had the best night in its history. Max and the male members of the cast were celebrating with drinks at a bar nearby, and the women were having their own little party elsewhere.

"To Max Bialystock!" exclaimed one of the cast members, raising his glass. Everyone else mimicked him, and they drank from their glasses. Max was enjoying a conversation with some of the cast members, when someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Mr. Bialystock? May I speak to you for a moment?" asked a beautiful young woman with glossy dark hair.

"S-sure…" said Max, slurring his words slightly, as he was now very drunk. He stood and wobbled after the woman who had called his attention. They were now standing outside of the bar, and the woman approached him.

"Your show was wonderful tonight, Mr. Bialystock," the woman told him. She leaned into his ear and spoke in a seductive tone. "Wonderful enough for me to chase your beautiful ass…"

"I l-like da way you… you talk, Miss…" Max slurred, grabbing onto a pole for balance.

"Why don't we go back to your place then? Just you and I…" said the woman, and she went to call a cab. A cab came up, and the woman led Max into it. Once the cab got to the building where Max's office was, the woman got out and pulled Max out with it.

"You go too fast, driver! You… you should be fired…" Max said to the driver, who drove away with amusement.

"Come, Maxie…" the woman said to him, and she led him up to his office.

…

About an hour later, Evelyn, exhausted, had finally gotten back to the office. She climbed the stairs, expecting Max to be waiting for her at his desk, and opened the door. She turned on the light and let out a huge gasp. Max – her Max – was making out with some woman, who was clearly more beautiful than she, on the couch!

"Max Bialystock!" Evelyn exclaimed, causing the two on the couch to separate. Max turned and looked at her, and even though he was drunk, he knew that he had done a horrible thing.

"Evelyn… Evie, dis ain't what it look like…" Max slurred, standing and nearly falling over.

"Than what is it, Max? Because to me, it looks like you're having sex with another woman on the couch!" Evelyn exclaimed.

"No, Evie! Dis is a misunderstanding…" Max told her, standing and swaying.

"A misunderstanding… I should have known to watch my ass with you, Max. Now, I'll let you finish with that whore… Goodbye, Max," Evelyn said, and she left the office in a rush.

"Evie! Evie!"

…

"EVIE!" Max cried, sitting up abruptly and gasping for breath.

"Max?" came Leo's voice from the bathroom, and he opened the door and rushed to Max's side. "Max, are you all right?"

"I… I'm fine… Just… A nightmare, that's all…" Max told Leo, not wanting to tell him the flashback that he had had.

"Oh… All right, then," said Leo, knowing very well that Max was lying. "Well… I hope you enjoyed your nap, then." Max looked at him with an are-you-kidding-me look.

"Yes… I enjoyed my nap. That's why I was screaming and you came running to my side," Max told him sarcastically, and Leo looked down.

"Right… sorry…" Leo said to him.

"I don't mean to be grouchy, Leo. I've been thinking a lot lately…" Max told him, looking away.

"Oh, no! No, it's perfectly reasonable for you to be… grouchy…" Leo told him, placing his hands on Max's shoulders. The couch was a lot more comfortable for Max now that he was thinner and could fully fit on it when lying down, and it also gave Leo room to sit on the couch and comfort him. "Just do what you told me: don't think about her. The memory of her will only hurt you."

"Thank you, Leo, for using what I said against me," Max told him in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, no! No, no! Not against you! I'm just telling you to use the words that you used to help me to help yourself!" Leo exclaimed, taking out his blue blanket and wiping some of the sweat off of Max's forehead. "Do you need anything while I'm here?"

"An aspirin and a glass of water would be nice…" Max replied, and Leo got right to it. Within seconds, or so it seemed to Max, Leo had the pill and a glass of water. Max took the pill, popped it into his mouth and drank the glass of water in one gulp. "Thanks." Max liked having Leo there to take care of him. When Max took care of Leo, he knew that Leo liked it, and Max hoped that Leo knew that he liked Leo taking care of him as well.

"I hope you're not feeling ill," Leo told him, using his blanket to wipe even more sweat from Max's face.

"No… No, I'm fine," Max told Leo. "It was just a nightmare. Nothing more."

"Well, do you wanna talk about it?"

"No!" Max replied quickly, causing Leo to shrink back. He sighed. "Im sorry, Leo… I think I'm just gonna shower and go out for a bit."

"All right," said Leo, standing. "If… If you need me, just let me know, okay?" Max gave no response as he walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Leo sighed and went to the desk, sitting down. He heard the shower start, and then he looked down at the drawer in Max's desk. This was the drawer that he threw that picture in, Leo thought, and, knowing that Max wouldn't hear a thing over the roar of the shower, opened the drawer. He reached in and pulled out a picture of a beautiful woman with dark hair in a black and white photo. On the photo were the words, 'To my dearest Max, I love you with all of my being. Love, Evelyn Saunders'. Leo looked at the picture, and suddenly, a memory flashed through his mind.

"Well, hello, Mr. Bloom!"

He now remembered that fateful day, the day that his mother was struck by a car when crossing the street, when he had met Evelyn Saunders and Max for the first time. He replaced the picture exactly where he had found it, trying not to remember that day, and then picked up a closed envelope. He opened the envelope, and inside was a letter scratched in the same handwriting as the words on the picture that said:

My dearest Max,

I know that my reaction was sudden and probably unfair. You were as drunk as a sailor and probably thought that that woman was me. But if I am wrong, well… I'm sorry to say that I don't think we can keep up our relationship. I had been thinking about it for a long time, now. With me as a Broadway star and you as a Broadway producer, things are going to get hard. I don't want our children, if we were to have any, to be growing up with two incredibly famous parents for reasons that I know you'd understand. I hope you understand what I am saying, Max. I still love you, and I probably always will, but for the sake of both ourselves and our futures, I believe that we should call off our engagement. Don't come after me, Max, and don't come looking for me, either. Just know that I love you, and that you are always in my heart.

With love,

Your Evelyn A. Saunders

What Leo had just read was the letter that Max had told him about the day before. It was the letter that had called off his and Evelyn's engagement. He heard the water in the bathroom stop, and he quickly replaced the letter in the envelope, resealed it and put it back where he found it. Just as he had closed the drawer and opened one of the books, the bathroom door opened and Max exited wearing his red robe and his dark hair dripping wet. Leo said nothing as Max silently went into the tiny bedroom that was there to change, and looked down at the books. He had been disloyal to Max, snooping through his stuff, but he now knew Max's true feelings about Evelyn Saunders. If she did still love him, perhaps she was waiting for him? Not long after Evelyn had left Max, she had fallen out of Broadway shows, very much like how Max had fallen out of producing hits. And so, Leo decided that he would help out his best friend in finding the love of his life. But how he was going to go about it was unbeknownst to him. He just hoped against hope that Max wouldn't find out about his plan, or that Max wouldn't be upset if he did find out.