Part Two

Roswell New Mexico: 10 years prior

"You weren't in class today," Liz said quietly, going for casual and not quite making it. To cover, she rubbed her hand across her blue jeans, kicked at a knot of sand and used her left forearm to wipe away the sweat on her face before sighing. Even though she'd made sure to walk up ever so quietly behind his seated frame, Max didn't startle at the sound of her voice. This fact both miffed and pleased her.

"How do you know?" He responded, while using a stick to poke around in the sand beneath his tattered lawn chair.

"I was there. I didn't see you."

"Well" he replied while finally turning to face her, "I guess you're right then. I wasn't there."

She took in the black eye and split lip passively, when he got in this mood, the best thing for everyone was to ignore the bait.

"You know they're gonna fail you if you keep not showing up?"

He shrugged non-committedly and turned back the other way.

The brunette looked at his back for a moment before starting to walk toward him and slowly putting her hand on his shoulder, "Happy birthday, birthday boy."

He flinched a little at that and she grinned knowingly.

"How does it feel to turn 17?"

"The same as it did to turn 16," he said, still looking at the ground in front of him.

Trying to shock him out of his funk, she rounded the chair quickly and plopped down into his blue jean clad lap with her arm thrown across his shoulders. Max turned around towards her with a shocked look and she grinned even broader, another small victory.

"I have a present for you," she said for his ears only, suddenly thinking about his father and not wanting Mr. Guerin to hear their conversation if he was home.

He searched her face for a moment before turning his upper body into hers and throwing his free arm across her legs. Liz took a deep breath before releasing it, even beat up, he was still gorgeous. They sat together for a moment longer in silence as she watched him watch her. Saw his eyes darken, become hooded, watched his mouth part and thought about letting him do what it looked like he wanted to do.

She wanted to, had wanted to for a while actually, but when she thought about his black eye, his split lip, his family life…he needed a friend more than he needed a girlfriend and sex would only add complications to an already complicated life.

He was moving towards her slowly, giving her time to take an out and she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, "That's not your present."

He pulled back and smiled, "No?"

She shook her head with a laugh, "No."

"Cause I thought I was getting some signals," he continued.

"Well you weren't."

His smile softened as he looked at her, "Cause of Kyle."

"No, because of Pam," she replied flippantly.

His eyes narrowed in confusion, "I don't date her."

"I don't date him; he's just a nice guy I know."

"He's your friend," he asked sarcastically.

"Yes."

"Like we're friends?"

"No," she replied seriously, "none of my other friends are like you."

Without waiting for a reply, she got off of his lap, reached into her backpack and threw him his gift.

"Open it."

He stared at her for a second before looking down at the present and starting to unwrap it.

"You know it's not Christmas right?" he asked with a smirk referring to the reindeer decorating the paper.

"Yeah but you'll take what you can get."

That got a laugh from him as he took the item out and looked at it.

"I saw you reading one of his books in the library once," she said quickly suddenly nervous.

She watched him turn the hard back of Steinbeck's Cup Of Gold over with a smile.

"You didn't have to get me anything," he said quietly. "I know you're saving for school."

She waved that thought off with the flick of a hand, "It was on sale because it's his first novel and nobody thinks it's very good. He wrote it before he found his voice; it's about a pirate or something."

She smiled broadly suddenly, "You'll never guess the price."

He set the book on his lap and Liz glanced at his torn knuckles before looking away.

"20 bucks."

"10 dollars. You'll never beat that books quality or price," she said smugly with hands firmly planted on waist. "Do you concede?"

"Never," he replied confidently, "I've got two months to look for something better and cheaper than 10.00. I think I can find it."

She shrugged, "You sure can try."

Liz watched him look over the book in happiness while she decided the best way to phrase her next question so he wouldn't get all moody. With Max though, strait up was always the best way to go.

"Where's Mr. Guerin?"

The grin slipped from his face but he never looked away from the novel, "He might be home in an hour, he might not come back at all. I don't keep tabs on him."

"You should come back with me," she said quietly.

He looked up sharply with narrowed eyes at that statement.

"Calm down," she replied, "You're not a baby. I'm not trying to take care of …"

"Good," he cut in, "I don't need protection."

"I can see that," she responded solemnly, making sure he saw her looking at his knuckles.

Max slid his hands into his pockets and out of her sight, "Yeah well, I'm not 7 anymore. I can give as good as I get."

Looking at him now, with his chin in the air, and his bruised face and the pain he tried so hard to hide that she could see so clearly…seeing him at this moment made her want to cry but she held back. Now wasn't the time to get into that old conversation of him getting out. Today was his birthday and she was going to show him a good time even if she had to guilt him into it.

"Jesus Max," she said, trying to steer the conversation in another direction. "I just wanted you to come over because my parents are going to be out really late tonight and I don't like being there alone," she made sure to add a slight whine to the end of the sentence even though it killed her. She hated acting this way, Liz was a smart capable woman, but the house was kinda scary when empty at night and if it got her some company and him away from his father, she'd whine a little.

"You never mentioned that before," he said suspiciously.

"Well Maria usually comes to stay with me but she's got a huge paper due and I don't want to bother her."

"Who?"

It took her a second to figure out his question before she answered, "Maria, a friend of mine who would probably be a friend of yours if you ever showed up to school."

She could see him wavering and moved in for the kill, "I thought we could bake you a birthday cake and watch a movie. It'll be fun." She stopped for a moment and pushed all of the truth she could muster into her next words, "That house is really creepy at night. I'd rather not be alone."

He looked up at her with a sigh and watched her smile, "Fine. How did you get here?"

"I caught the bus halfway and walked the rest."

She watched him stand up, walk to her backpack, throw the book inside and sling it onto his back, "Well let's…"

Present Day

Liz's eyes opened slowly and blinked against the harsh morning light streaming in through her open window. As much as she loved James, his habit of opening all the curtains in the house when he got up was really starting to piss her off.

She must have made some sort of noise because he peeked at her from around the corner with a big smile, "Rise and shine baby," he glanced at his watch, "You've gotta be at work in 3 hours." He raised his arms and gave two sharp claps, "Chop! Chop!," before his head disappeared again.

She grimaced as she climbed out of her warm cocoon and threw on her robe. That 'Chop! Chop!' was another thing she could live without. She went into the bathroom and took a shower, brushed her teeth, blow dried her hair and applied a modest amount of make-up before putting her robe back on and exiting the room to see what smelled so good.

James turned at her entrance gave her a peck good morning, "Got time for bacon and eggs?"

She looked over her shoulder to the clock, 8:00. She had to be on the subway by 8:45 but if he'd taken time to cook it, she'd take time to sit ad eat some of it.

"Let me get dressed first."

He nodded absently, already back to watching the stove as she made her way to the closet and put on a pinstriped grey skirt, white blouse, and modest but still nice black pumps with the mandatory pair of stalking's. Today, she decided to go with nude.

"That was quick," he said sparing her a glance. "I don't think you've ever gotten ready for work in only 15 minutes."

"Well I wanted to be able to sit with you for a while."

He smiled at that and took the last of the bacon out of the pan.

"Go sit down and bring this with you," he mumbled, shoving the plate in her direction and moving toward the sink with the dirty pan.

She took a seat and waited until he was across from her to make a plate.

"Thank you breakfast James," she said with the small smile.

"You're welcome. You know I like to cook."

She nodded and took a bite of bacon when he spoke up again.

"Good," he cut in, "I don't need protection."

She barely held onto her fork and licked her lips slowly as the night's dream suddenly came flooding back into her consciousness.

"…work this week."

The brunette shook her head and looked up to see James looking at her from across the table with concern.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," she said, quickly getting up and grabbing her purse.

"What's…"

"Nothing. I'm going to be late," she murmured while leaning over the table and kissing his cheek. "Gotta go."

-0-

Max walked up to the front desk of the Pfizer complex and waited for the cute blonde working behind the desk to notice him. He rubbed his eyes and thought about getting another cup of coffee before starting work when he looked up to see her looking at him with a wide eyed expression. He smiled cockily and leaned forward, "I'm from Ever Green Landscape architects. We're supposed to be redoing the courtyard today and we need to know if we're clear to start now."

When she kept just looking and not speaking, Max reassessed her face and thought he saw less of her being shocked at how good looking he was and more like she'd seen a ghost. He studied her for a moment more and actually thought she looked slightly familiar.

"Do I know you?"

The blond opened mouth like she wanted to say something but turned away quickly instead, having thought better of it.

"No sir, I don't think we've ever met."

He thought she was lying but decided not to push it. She was probably just some girl he'd met in a club, maybe taken home with him, and she'd rather not relive it. To be honest, he'd rather not either.

"Mr. Cutter said feel free to start whenever you'd like. Just tape off the portions you're working."

He nodded and made his way out of the building into its center courtyard with the front desk girl watching his every step.

-0-

Liz answered the phone distracted by the stack of forms that had appeared on her desk between 8.00 A.M. and now, "Elizabeth Parkers office."

"Liz!"

She narrowed her eyes at Maria's hushed voice, "You're not supposed to be using the phone at the front desk and I'm busy…"

"I know," she replied, "You need to meet me for lunch."

"Uhhh 'Ria, I have too much work. I'm gonna…"

"Come to lunch with me," she interrupted.

Liz put the piece of paper whose writing she was trying to decipher down and listened.

"What's going on?," she asked, voice lowered and serious.

"Ahh," Maria replied, "Now you want to hear what I have to say."

"Yes," the brunette of the pair replied impatiently.

"Well meet me at the McDonalds on the corner in 20 minutes."

With that she hung up.

"Maria!," Liz whisper screamed into the phone even though she could hear the dial tone.

She looked around, frazzled by all the work that needed to be done that wasn't, the memory that had come to her in a dream from nowhere last night and now by the sound of Maria's voice in that call. She kneaded her temple for a moment before getting up, shoving her cell phone into her lab coats pocket and making her way down to the first floor of the building to the front desk. She looked around anxiously for a sign of her friend when a man working out in the courtyard caught her attention.

Olive complexion, soft full lips, dark hair that was curled ever so slightly at the edges because he'd gone too long without a cut.

Her hand floated up towards her face of its own volition as she openly stared at a man she hadn't seen since she was 17. The man who broke her heart. She was breathing hard, too hard. Her heart was pounding out of her chest and she just wanted to turn around and go back upstairs. Pretend that the last 10 minutes had never happened and go on with life as usual but she was already at the door, then she was through it and standing right behind him.

This was it.

The moment she'd been waiting for. The idea of running off to get that red corset dress flitted through her mind briefly and disappeared before becoming fully formed.

"Hello Max," she said quietly, so low in fact that she thought he may not have heard had it not been for the fact that he suddenly went very still.

She heard him breath deep before watching him drop his shovel and turn toward her slowly.

"Hey Liz."