Chapter 4. Eventually.

Max and Buffy arrive at the house and ate dinner. Throughout the whole dinner Buffy kept her eyes away from Max's. Max just stayed quiet about it.

After dinner, the two head over to the living room. Max could not take it anymore and decides to speak up, but is interrupted by Buffy's mom. They both turn to her as she enters the living room.

"So, Max, what brings you to Sunnydale?" asks Joyce.

"Business," replies Max. "I need to settle some business. Thank you, Mrs. Summers for your hospitality, but I must be going." Max turns to Buffy. "It's getting late." Max then grabs his jacket and heads for the door.

"Wait," says Buffy as she catches up to him at the door. "Don't go." Buffy turns to her mom. "Can Max stay over, Mom? He can sleep on the sofa."

Max turns around and is surprised that Buffy asked him to stay at her house. He sees her look at him, with an apologetic expression. Then they both turn to Joyce to see what her answer would be. Joyce looks at them both and nods her head.

"Alright," says Joyce. "It's not safe out at night. Just for tonight."

"Thanks, Mrs. Summers," says Max with much gratitude. Even with all his alien powers, he too was scared to walk out that door and encounter a vampire or any other creature from the dark. He walks over to Buffy.

"I'll get some blankets upstairs," says Buffy.

"I'm going to bed, sweetheart," says Joyce. "I've had a long day. Goodnight." Joyce kisses her daughter on her forehead. "Goodnight, Max."

"Goodnight, Mrs. Summers," replies Max. Max then turns to Buffy. Buffy heads upstairs to get the blankets, so she can set up a bed for him in the living room. Max walks over into the living room and paces the room once, then he sees Buffy come down the stairs.

"I'm sorry," says Buffy as she starts to make his bed on the sofa. He helps her pull the sheets.

"It's okay," replies Max.

Buffy bows her head, then hands him the pillow. She turns around and heads upstairs. Buffy stops halfway, then sticks her head out.

"I'm going to take a shower," says Buffy. "If you want to use the bathroom, I'll let you know when I get out."

"Only one bathroom in the house?"

"Yeah, it's crazy."

"It'd be crazy if you had a sister."

"Very crazy." Buffy smiles at him and makes her way upstairs.

Max heads outside to his jeep and gets his bag. He re-enters the house and sits down on the sofa, then begins to think. He really wants to help Buffy, but somehow, he isn't able to give her and her friends explicit details on how Buffy dies. Max doesn't want to see Buffy die, again. She is too young, just like Liz, back in Roswell. Buffy reminds him so much of Liz. It's no wonder he finds her appealing.

Less than an half an hour later, Buffy comes down to tell him that she is out of the bathroom. She is wearing a small, purple tank top with turquoise shorts. Max walks over to her and stops at the stairs. The two stare at each other for a second.

"Um, let me show you where the bathroom is," says Buffy. She runs up the stairs and Max follows her. The two walk down the hall and Buffy opens the door to the bathroom. "There are towels under the sink."

"Thanks," replies Max. He turns around and gives her that serious yet monotone stare that he does. Buffy tries to break contact and looks at the wall. After a second, Max closes the door. Buffy decides to walk away, but something pulls her back to the bathroom door. She touches the door slightly and looks down at the door. From inside, Max does the same. Buffy pulls away and returns to her room.

After Max finishes his shower, he exits the bathroom and sees that Buffy's door is open and her light is on. He closes the bathroom door lightly, then heads for the stairs. Max looks back at Buffy's room and then nods his head and continues to go downstairs.

The moment that Max goes down, Buffy peeks out of her room to see if he is there, but she doesn't see him. She does however smell his cologne. It's very refreshing. She heads over to the foot of the stairs, but as she takes a step down the first step, the lights downstairs go out. Buffy then goes back to her room and closes her door.

She had wished she wasn't so mean to Max while on patrol. It sometimes gets to Buffy when guys want to save her and protect her and think that she can't handle herself. She does understand that Max is here to help her and make his vision of her dying not come true. Buffy pulls the covers her and falls asleep.

About an hour asleep, Buffy begins to stir in her bed. She is having a nightmare or a prophetic dream and it's not of the good. Buffy is sweating bullets and moves coarsely around in her bed. She suddenly wakes up abruptly with tears in her eyes and breathing heavily. Buffy pushes off her covers and gets out of her bed. She walks out of her room and heads downstairs.

Max hears her come down the stairs and opens his eyes. He sees her at the foot of the stairs and it seems as though she is staring at him.

"Buffy," says Max softly, but loud enough for her to hear and be startled by it. He pushes his covers off and gets off of the sofa. Buffy walks into the living room and Max grabs hold of her. She touches his chest, which she notices that it is bare, then lays her head on it. Max hears her sobs. "It's okay, Buffy." Max tries to soothe and help her sit down on the sofa.

Buffy doesn't say anything, she just cries softly in Max's arms. Max rocks her a little and Buffy rubs her head on his chest because she is shaking as she continues to cry. She then tries to pull herself together and lifts her head up to look at Max. Buffy hates breaking down, especially in front of someone she barely knows. Max stares into her teary, green eyes and caresses her cheek. He then begins to have some of those flashes he had earlier, but he tries to ignore them.

Max could not resist her pouty lips any longer and he leans down to her. At the moment that his lips touched hers, Buffy begins to have the same flashes as Max did. She ignores it too and continues to kiss Max. The two fall back onto the sofa and continue their make out session.

They fall asleep, with Buffy falling asleep on top of Max. Buffy has her head on his chest and one of her arms is wrapped around his neck. Max has one hand wrapped around her waist.

The next morning, Buffy wakes up and is wondering why she is downstairs as her eyes adjust to her surroundings. She pulls her hand up and thinks she is rubbing the sofa, then she realizes that she is lying on top of Max. She doesn't remember how she got downstairs and on top of Max. Max wakes up just as surprised as she is.

"Buffy, sweetheart," calls Joyce from upstairs. "Are you downstairs?" Buffy's mom starts coming down the stairs.

"Oh, my gosh," says Buffy as she stares at the stairs, then quickly looks at Max. "My mom." Buffy loses her balance on the sofa and falls off.

"Buffy…" says her mom at the foot of the stairs, seeing her fall off the sofa.

Buffy sticks her head up from the floor. She gives her mom an innocent smile. Joyce glares at her daughter.

"Buffy, can I speak with you?"

Buffy quickly gets up and walks over to her mother. The two then head over to the dining room.

"Mom, it's not what you think," says Buffy trying to explain. "I woke up in the middle of the night, came down here, we talked and we fell asleep. It was completely innocent."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Yes."

"Buffy, I said he could stay because I didn't want him going out at night with all those, you know what, I didn't want..."

"Mom, I understand and I'm grateful that you asked him to stay. I promise that this would never happen again."

"Alright. I have to go in early today at the gallery. You'll have to make breakfast. Try not to burn anything." Joyce heads over to the door. "Maybe you should let him…"

"Mom." Buffy rolls her eyes at her mother.

"Honey, you know where the fire extinguisher is?"

"Leave."

Joyce kisses her daughter on the cheek and waves to Max as she exits the house. Buffy closes the door and looks at Max. Max is already dressed and walks over to Buffy.

"We need to talk," says Max.

"Lets have breakfast first," says Buffy as she leads him over to the kitchen.