Kudos to anyone who finds the LARGE, GLARING error in the previous chapter. I'd done some editing on the chapter and posted it before having my Beta look at it. (Bad, Bad, Bad Idea!) I'm too lazy to go back and change it now, but I might get around to it eventually.

Thanks for all the reveiws, suggestions and questions. It really is inspiring. Sorry I've been remiss in getting this chapter up. To be brutally honest, I've been having too much fun enjoying other people's creative genius instead of exercising my own.

Let me know what y'all think. I'd hate to lose the few and valued readers I have!

Chapter 8

Liz stood eyeing the bridal boutique Isabel had insisted they stop at. She was uncomfortable to be with her. By tacit agreement, none of them had spoken about Jeremy's occupation since it was announced. Liz's gaze focused on the store front window where a mannequin modeling an outlandishly puffy dress and was surrounded by a bower of red roses. "I don't know if this is my kind of place Iz," she said skeptically.

"Oh come on Chica! You never know what you'll find in there, come on!" Maria yanked on her arm as she opened the door. Liz sighed and followed her inside. It didn't take long for her two bridesmaids to pick over a dozen dresses for her to try. She was about to enter the dressing room when a very simple satin dress caught her eye. She fingered the material thoughtfully before lugging the dress into the huge dressing room with her.

Having Isabel help her try on dresses was fantastic. She would simply wave her hand, and the dresses would be buttoned and sized to fit her. As they decided one after another that she looked like she belonged on some kind of cake or in a cotton candy machine in them, the dresses would be hung up automatically. Liz stifled a giggle as the last dress she tried on stayed on a heap on the floor. "That does not deserve to be hung up," Isabel declared. "It should be burned!"

Liz held her sides as she laughed. "I'm so happy you two are with me," she said as she gasped for air.

Maria came up behind her and poked her side. "Like we'd have let you come alone!" She walked over to the last dress that Liz had picked herself. "Hmm…pretty," she stated as she unbuttoned the dress and helped Liz into it. The second it was buttoned, Maria gasped, "That's it!"

Liz turned around and looked in the mirror. Isabel and just finished altering it so that it fit like a glove. The dress was a white sleeveless satin ball gown with a high neckline and deep V in the back. There were buttons all the way to the floor and the small train had a simple design embroidered around the edge. "Hang on a sec." Maria ran out of the dressing room and came back with a short veil. She stood in front of Liz as she carefully placed it on her head. When she stood back, she had tears in her eyes.

Liz shook her head at her friend's emotionalism and looked at herself in the mirror.

Flash

Max was holding her hand to help her out of a taxi cab. Then he picked her up and swirled her around. She giggled as she held her bouquet tightly. The white dress that she was wearing billowed around her as they moved. He brushed her veil away from her face tenderly and then he kissed her deeply under the neon lights of the casino.

Liz gasped and slowly slid to the floor. "Are you okay?" Maria asked as she knelt beside her friend. "You look really pale."

Liz shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I uh, yeah I'm fine. I think maybe I'm hungry. What time is it anyways?"

"It's almost one," Maria answered.

Isabel folded her arms over her chest. "If I didn't know better…" she whispered to herself. "No impossible," she said more forcibly.

"What do you mean impossible, we did try on all those dresses." Maria gestured to the huge pile of white dresses that had accumulated on one side of the room. Maria helped Liz to her feet and then looked at the dress again. "Take one more look at this one, and then if you still like it we can come back later." She said as she took an armload of dresses back to the bridal consultant that had come to ask if they needed any help.

After she left, Liz looked again in the mirror. So this was the dress I wore to marry Max, she thought. She turned around again and absorbed every detail. She loved the dress, but she would not buy it. She was marrying Jeremy, not Max.

Isabel stayed in the same place and watched Liz closely. She could still see the flash lingering in the smaller girl's eyes. Finally she stepped towards her and touched her arm. "What did you see?"

Liz looked up at her. "What are you talking about?"

"You just had a flash, I can tell."

At that moment, Maria imperiously reappeared through the curtain. "They're having a sale right now, and if you buy the dress, the veil is half off." She continued to chatter as she helped Liz out of the dress. As she began to hang up the dress and Liz threw on her tank top and jeans, she noticed the silence of the other girls. "What?" she demanded.

"Let's go outside," Liz said as they left the dressing area. The three girls thanked the saleswoman and left the boutique.

Once outside Maria grabbed Liz's arm. "What did I miss?" She asked again. Liz unlocked the doors to her SUV and climbed into the driver's seat.

Once all three girls were in, Liz sighed. "There's something I didn't tell you about Future Max, Isabel." Liz adjusted her rearview mirror so she could see Iz.

"She knows about Future Max too?" Maria gasped.

Liz nodded. "She found out the other day when I told her about Alex." Maria looked confused but nodded. "Future Max told me that in his timeline, we eloped and got married in Vegas when we were 19. You, Alex, Michael and Maria came." She sighed. "I think I just had a flash of our wedding." Liz saw Isabel's eyes widen and she heard Maria gasp. "I think that was the dress I wore to marry Max."

"Oh Babe…" Maria pulled her into a tight hug.

"But that doesn't make sense. How can you have a flash of something that didn't happen?" Isabel asked.

"I don't know, but from what I understand, Max had a similar flash when we were in Vegas," Liz answered.

"What?" both girls exclaimed simultaneously. "You never told me that!" Maria cried.

Liz shrugged and started the engine. "There wasn't a whole lot to say Maria. Besides, Max never told me all the details just that he thought he had a flash that seemed like we had just gotten married." She put the car into drive and pulled out of the parking lot feeling extremely uneasy. The silence that filled the car did nothing to alleviate the feeling.

Max awoke to a blinding light filling his bedroom. He blinked and looked at his alarm clock. It was 1 am. Then he saw his sister standing in the doorway. "Iz, it's one in the morning… when did you get back?"

"I just did," she replied as she sat on his bed. "Tell me about the flash you had when we went to Las Vegas."

Max rubbed his eyes groggily. "What flash?" He froze, remembering the flash of Liz wearing a wedding dress and veil. He could have sworn they had just gotten married. "How do you know about that?" Max sat up, fully awake.

"Liz told me. What did you see?"

"Nothing, just the two of us getting out of a taxi," he replied.

"What was Liz wearing?"

Max hesitated a moment. "A wedding dress," he said softly.

Isabel's eyes glinted with excitement as she flipped her French braid over her shoulder. "What did it look like Max?"

"I don't know it was white, she had a veil and gloves on too."

"Did it look like this?" Isabel asked as she projected the image of Liz trying on the wedding dress at the boutique.

"Yeah actually, it kind of does… Iz, what's this about?" Max asked as the image faded.

Isabel opened her mouth and then closed it. "I don't know yet." She stood. "I just needed to ask you."

Max rolled out of bed and stood next to his sister. "How did you know what the dress looked like?" he asked.

Isabel shrugged. "Liz told me."

Max ran a hand through his hair and sat back on the bed. "I do not want to have to deal with this," he muttered.

Isabel sat down next to him again. "Deal with what?"

"These stupid, unexplainable flashes," Max said.

Isabel cocked her head. "You mean you've had more than one?"

"After Zan died, I started getting these flashes. Most of them were about Liz doing certain things. First I thought maybe it was our connection, and that somehow I was able to know what she was doing. But as the flashes got longer, I could tell that wasn't it. A lot of the flashes were of us dancing or talking. But they were never in places we'd actually been, or doing things we had never done." Max shook his head. "Then I started getting flashes of us being together…"

Isabel raised her eyebrows "As in together, together?"

Max nodded and then ducked his head. He could feel the heat of a blush working its way up his neck to his face. "Anyways, a lot of what happened to me had to do with those flashes. I also started to see us battling our foes and losing. Finally, I saw you and Michael die. I just… couldn't handle it."

Isabel gasped. Was it possible that somehow he still had Future Max's memories? Was much of his torment from that, and NOT Kivar?

Max's voice cracked "What's worse is I kept seeing how I left Liz all alone. When I left her like that..." Max couldn't continue.

"Like what Max?"

"We left them here with a killer on the loose. She could have been next, and I still left her for that whore who betrayed us," he rasped.

Isabel put a comforting hand on Max's shoulder. "It's okay Max. Liz is fine, and we're all safe."

Max exhaled and shook his head. "Did you know she didn't sleep with Kyle?"

Isabel nodded. "Yeah I just found out."

"I don't get it Iz. I thought she loved me, but… God this hurts. What makes it worse is the flashes are coming back again. I don't know if I can stand this Izzie." He looked mournfully into Isabel's eyes.

Isabel nodded. "I know." She sighed. "I'm so sorry Max. I wish I had known…"

Max shrugged. "It's not like there was anything you could do about it…" after a moment of silence he added "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How did Liz know what kind of dress she was wearing in my flash?"

Isabel chuckled. "She had a flash too."

Those four words flew through Max's mind like a wildfire. "She had a flash?"

Isabel had to laugh at the look on her brother's face. It was one of complete shock. "Yeah, the only reason I can figure is since you changed her, maybe when things get intense, she can see things too. I had no idea you were having them too."

"But why? She's marrying Jeremy. Why would she be having a flash of US getting married?" He kicked at the shoe lying at the foot of his bed thoughtfully. "Has she had any other flashes?"

Isabel knew that she was dancing around something she had no right to tell him nor did she think he was capable of handling yet, so she simply shrugged. "I don't know; I guess it surprised me so much I didn't think to ask. Anyways I had to come and ask you. I'm sorry I woke you up. I'll talk to you more in the morning." She hugged Max tightly and then wearily walked to the door.

"Izzie?"

"Yeah?" she turned.

"Is she happy?"

Isabel sighed. "I think she is." Max nodded and laid back on the bed as Isabel turned out the light.

Max laid in the dark thinking about everything that had happened in the last four years. He'd become a father, a prisoner, and a King. He'd fought against an evil monarch and restored the balance of power. The granolith was safe, and so were his people. Yet, he'd given up being with Liz. As much as the flashes he was getting disturbed him, they had also given him hope that one day he and Liz would be together. He rolled over and punched his pillow vengefully. Those flashes weren't helping him now that he was so near her, yet she was farther out of reach than she'd ever been.