Chapter 25


Liz looked at Max when Isabel closed the door behind her, after giving Michelle a good-bye kiss.
"Is everything okay?"
Max just put his arms around Michelle when she crawled up into his lap, snuggling with her nose in his shirt.
"It's fine," he answered evasively.
"She seemed upset," Liz said quietly. She had a strong feeling that it had something to do with her.
"She's just…being Isabel," Max answered and smiled weakly. But the smile never reached his eyes and he shifted uncomfortably.
"Are you okay?" Liz whispered.
"Uncle Max is sad," Michelle answered in his place.
Liz and Max turned their heads in unison towards the little girl.
"Why is he sad, Michelle?" Liz asked.
Max looked at Liz when Michelle answered, "He don't like to fight. He don't like when mommy is angry."
Max dropped his eyes when Liz shifted her eyes to him and then placed a tender kiss on the top of Michelle's blonde head.
"You're right, Michelle," he whispered, "I don't like to fight. But mommy isn't angry, she is just a little upset right now."

Big brown innocent eyes looked up into his. "Why?"
"She wants me to do something I don't want to do," Max answered quietly.
"Oh," Michelle said, biting her lower lip. "Is it like when mommy wants me to sleep and I's don't wanna?"
Max smiled. "Exactly, sweetie."
"Can me show Liz my room?" Michelle asked, her eyes suddenly sparking with anticipation and excitement.
Max raised his eye-brows in silent question to Liz. She smiled and answered his question out loud, "I would love to see your room. I didn't know you had a room here."
"Uncle Max gave me one," Michelle answered and began to inch her way out of Max's lap.
They all rose from the bed, with Michelle bouncing away towards the door the second her small feet connected with the floor.
"Hurry, hurry." Michelle's voice held the same bouncy as her feet as she was jumping on her place next to the door.
Liz laughed. "Okay, okay."
Max followed close behind, but was stopped by Michelle's determined hands on the front of his legs.
"Only girls," she announced in her best educational voice.
"Oh," Max scratched his ear, "Okay."
Liz sent him an apologetic smile when she was being dragged away by Michelle's small hand.
"I'll just make us something to eat then," Max said.
With mixed feelings he watched them disappear down the corridor, before turning towards the stairs.


"There's Josh's room," Michelle pointed towards one of the doors.
"It is?" Liz looked at the closed door, a twinge of sadness twitching in her chest.
"He doesn't live there anymore. He lives in heaven now. With the cows and the angels."
"Oh," Liz couldn't think of anything else to say.
"But Uncle Max has let me bworrow Josh's teddybears. But not all. Just some."
"Do you remember Josh?" Liz asked.
"No," Michelle answered. "But he lived here. Before. When Michelle was a little baby. He didn't only visit, like me, he stayed here all the time."
Michelle's eyes grew wide with the unbelievable aspects of that.
"Have you ever been in his room?" Liz asked, when Michelle opened the door to another room.
"No," Michelle answered, "It's locked. I's can't go in."
Liz nodded, her gaze lingering at the closed door.
"C'mere." Michelle tugged on their joined hands and Liz stepped into the small room. It was a typical girl room and if Liz hadn't known better she could actually have believed that Michelle always lived there. It didn't have the sense of being only a "guestroom". It was completely furnished with a small bed and a small table with four small chairs, where four different teddy bears were sitting. There were pink curtains in the window and the wallpapers were white with small pink flowers.

Michelle gave her the grand tour, introducing her to her blue teddy rabbit, a teddy bear without an ear, her doll Lucy, one red and one green mouse. Everyone had their own name, even the plants in the window.
"That's Thornman," Michelle pointed at the cactus in the window, before quickly moving on to point at the small dog in porcelain, "And that's Blacky. He is guawding Thornman. Because Thornman is magic."
"Really?" Liz asked interested. "What can he do?"
"He pwotects the pwincess," Michelle answered matter-of-factly.
Liz smiled. "Aha, the princess."
"Dose," Michelle pointed at the thorns, "is magic, and bad men wants them."
"What can you do if you have one of those thorns?" Liz questioned.
"You get three wishes and you can decide a lot of fings," Michelle explained carefully.
"Oh okay, I see," Liz whispered, her eyes going wide with wonder.
Michelle giggled. "You funny!"

There was a knock behind them and they turned around, finding Max leaning against the doorframe. Liz could feel her heart speeding up at the sight and she dropped her head to hide the colorful blush that was rising on her cheeks.
"Have you shown her everything, Michelle?" he asked.
"Yep," Michelle said and nodded proudly. "Eeeeevifing!"
"I bet you are really hungry now then," Max said, stealing a glance in Liz's direction. His heart fluttered in reaction to the sight of her and he had to tear his eyes away to refocus on Michelle.
"Can't we play first?" Michelle pleaded.
"We can play after we've eaten," Max said.
Michelle pouted and looked at Liz for assistance. Holding up her index finger Michelle said seriously, "Just one hour."
Liz laughed softly and brushed some errand strands of blonde hair back from Michelle's forehead. "An hour is a really long time."
"A minute then," Michelle negotiated.
"We can play much longer if we go and eat first," Liz tried.
"It's only a minute," Max said, beginning to cave.
"Yay!!" Michelle exclaimed, starting to bounce up and down, since she knew that she had already won the argument.

Liz just smiled and shook her head. Max gave her a helpless what-can-I-do shrug and started to walk into the room. When he passed Liz, she whispered to him, so close that he could feel the warmth of her breath against his ear. "Sucker!"
"It's only for a minute," Max tried to defend himself.
"Right," Liz smiled. She might not have been around children that much, but she just had to rely on common sense to know that they wouldn't only play for a minute.

"Let's play house," Michelle dictated, starting to rearrange among the teddy bears. Some ended up on the floor and others on the bed.
"You can sit there," Michelle pointed out the seats for Liz and Max.
Liz laughed quietly when Max gave her an uncomfortable look before doing his best to sit down on the miniscule wooden chairs. Liz was a little bit smaller so it didn't prove to be as problematic to her as it was for Max.
"You are mommy and you are daddy," Michelle said.
Liz could feel Max's eyes on her when she smiled at the little girl. "And what are you going to be?"
"Pwincess," Michelle answered, like it was the most well-known fact in the world.
"But then we should be king and queen instead," Max said.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you," Liz teased.
Max looked at her, surprised by the flirtatious tone of her voice.
"'Kay," Michelle agreed, ignorant to the exchange going on between Max and Liz. She started to arrange cups and plates on the table.
"We's having tea," Michelle explained, pouring imaginary tea into Liz and Max's cups. Liz had to bit her lips to prevent the bubbling laughter inside of her from erupting. The mixture of Max's slightly embarrassed shifting and Michelle's bossy attitude was just too funny.
Liz pushed her cup closer to Michelle to help the little girl hit the cup with the invisible liquid. "Thank you," she said with British accent, easily getting into the role.

Michelle giggled and barely had time to put down the pot before she was off, running to the other side of the room. Max and Liz watched her amused as she searched through the drawers in the bookstand. Picking out a piece of scissors she pulled out a drawing paper and started to cut the paper into small pieces. Max asked her to be careful at least four times during the minute she was cutting the paper. In a swirl of air she ran back to the table and placed small pieces of paper on Liz and Max's plates.
"Cookies," she said.
"Thank you," Max and Liz said in unison and shared a private smile.

"And now the king is gonna work," Michelle said after they had spent a couple of seconds "eating" the cookies. Eating constituted in holding the paper against their lips, hiding it in their hands and pretending to chew, and then place the pieces under the plates.
"Okay," Max said and started to rise from the chair.
"And you have to kiss," Michelle said.
Max froze, the air in his lungs stopped to flow. His eyes fell on Liz and quickly traveled to her partly parted lips. He could see the surprise that he knew was matching his on her face.
"Wh-what do you mean, Michelle?" Max stuttered.
Michelle sighed dramatically at Max's obvious ignorance. "You's mawied. Daddy kisses mommy aaaaalll the time. And they's mawied."
"Okay," Max said, not quite knowing what else to say. He shifted his eyes to slowly look at Liz. She was looking down at the table and he smiled mentally when he noticed how she was once again turning the ring around her pinkie, a typical sign that she was nervous.
"Hurry," Michelle said. "The king has a lot to do twoday. He has to start early."
Max's heart sped up when he watched Liz lick her lips before she lifted her head to look him directly in the eyes. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Well, let's give the girl what she wants."

She gave him a nervous smile, a smile that made his heart soar with wonder and excitement.
"Yes, we probably should," he said, looking pretty nervous himself.
Michelle was looking at them in impatience. For her it was a simple game, for Max and Liz it was anything but.
Max swallowed and then leaned over the table. Liz smiled self-consciously before rising. Her eyes were focused on his lips and she didn't think she had ever been this nervous before. A chill of pleasure ran down her spine when one of Max's hands softly cradled her cheek. She could feel the racing of her heart in her chest and she was having difficulties to breathe. But it was a wonderful feeling; a feeling of excitement and anticipation. Her suddenly highly sensitive skin could feel every millimeter of the small circles Max's thumb was making against her cheek, unconsciously calming her down. Then he leaned closer, his fingers moving further back around her head, burying them into her hair and gently pushing her head closer.

It felt like time stood still, but after what seemed like an eternity, his lips softly touched hers. Her body trembled at the contact. His lips were soft and his touch gentle. If she had been able to think the kiss probably would've reminded her of her very first kiss when she had been six. The tentativeness was the same, but certainty of the kiss was very different. Compared to the six-year-old on the playground Max knew what he was doing.

She pressed her lips harder against his, opening her mouth slightly, the taste of him intoxicating her. By its own free will her hand moved into his hair, trying to make him come closer. Closer than possible.
"Hello? Hello? Heeeelllloooo? King must go to work!"
Partly, Michelle's voice, in true Isabel spirit, drifted through the cocoon they had formed around them. Max pulled back, his eyes slowly opening, his breath ragged, the softness of her lips forever imprinted in his mind. His eyes met her warm and dark eyes. She was looking at him in awe, her chest heaving up and down with the inability to breathe properly after the sensory overload. His hand slowly left her cheek, his fingers lingering along her skin as he pulled back, the feathery touch sending sparkles of electricity into her.
"You should go," Liz said breathlessly, looking into his eyes intently. She couldn't stop looking at him.
"Yes," Max breathed.
"Now Liz is gonna pway with Michelle," Michelle announced.
Liz took a deep breath and self-consciously brushed her hair away from her face. "Uhm, maybe we should go and eat now, Michelle."
Michelle's expression fell and the familiar pout settled over her rosy lips. "Do we have to?"
Liz looked up at Max, who had stopped by the door. He was looking at her intently and the look he was giving her was enough to make her legs go weak. She didn't think she would be able to stand up.

Clearing her throat, she said, "Max and I haven't eaten anything yet. We are hungry."
She looked up at Max to have him confirm it and the air once again hitched in her throat, but this time for a completely different reason than when he had been leaning forward towards her only a minute ago. There was a difference in his eyes. When her eyes met his, he looked away, avoiding her gaze. Her lips were still tingling from his touch, but she knew with a painful certainty, just by watching him now, that something had gone terribly wrong.
"Uncle Max?" Michelle asked next to her, when Liz found herself without her voice. Liz couldn't stop looking at him. The sudden coldness now surrounding his body was so tangible that goose bumps were forming on her bare arms.
Max looked up then and looked straight at Liz. But he could as well have been keeping his eyes closed. There really was no one looking. Max wasn't there anymore. His eyes were dead. He turned his eyes to Michelle and smiled, but even though he could fool a five-year-old there was nothing real about that smile.

"Liz is right, Michelle. We should get something to eat."
For some reason, Michelle didn't object. It has often been claimed that children, as well as animals, have some kind of sixth sense, enabling them to feel emotions in another way. Something stopped Michelle from protesting, like she felt that it would be a really bad idea.
"Okay," she mumbled and started for the door.
Liz slowly started to walk towards the door, her eyes traveling over Max's tense form as he was waiting in the door frame, his eyes locked on Michelle. He ruffled Michelle's hair when she passed, eliciting a giggle from her.
"Max?" Her voice couldn't hide the trembles coursing through her. Fear.
Max looked up at her, his face blank and emotionless. "Yeah?"
"What just-"
Max dropped his eyes and shook his head, forcing himself to smile, as he interrupted her, "Michelle sure has some weird ideas sometimes."
Liz looked at him closely, feeling her heart dropping further and further down in her stomach. "I'm sorry if-"
Max looked up at her again and she swallowed. She was standing so close that she could feel his breath on her face, but it felt as if he was miles away, on the other side of the world. "Let's get something to eat."
Her hand moved, without her being able to stop it, and dropped on his arm. He froze at the touch, fixing his eyes on the point where her hand was touching the bare skin of his arm. His eyes drifted close and he tried to fight the feelings her touch stirred inside of him.
"I just want you to know that…that I don't expect anything from you, Max. I won't…" He didn't hear her deep intake of air to calm herself down. His attention was still focused on the part of his arm where they were physically linked. "I won't pressure you."

"It was just a game," Max whispered and looked up. Her eyes were big and concerned, the emotions he saw there, emotions for him, were so real that he had to avert his eyes again. "We were just playing," he emphasized. "We were just playing."
Something broke inside of Liz. She could feel it in her chest, like a sharp pain. It was like nothing she had ever felt before. But she knew what it was. Hope. Her hope was falling apart, one big part just plummeting down her stomach. Hope about a new chance of life. She felt nauseous. She wanted to get out of there. She felt the instinctive need to protect herself from getting hurt.
"Yeah," she whispered, swallowing back hot tears, "It was just a game." The kiss didn't mean anything. It didn't mean anything to Max. To her, it had been the most powerful moment of her life. She would never forget it.
"I think…" She swallowed. "I think that I have to go. I shouldn't disturb you anymore."
She needed to get out of here. Maybe she was being ridiculous. It had only been a game. But she couldn't stop the suffocating feelings from drowning her. She needed air.
"Okay," Max said softly. One part of him wanted to prevent her from leaving, but the other part was stronger. He couldn't have her here any longer. He couldn't control himself around her.
Liz tried to get past him. "I'm just gonna…"
He stepped away from the doorway to give her room. "Sure."
He watched her as she disappeared down the hall, towards the guestroom, and he took a deep breath. But it didn't help. It didn't help him to get the air more easily into his lungs. The solution to the pain spreading inside of him was easy and automatic, after years of practicing it. With a final look down the hall, watching her disappear into the room, he turned his head towards the stairs and pushed it all to the back of his head. He mentally started to bury his heart again. The sand of denial quickly covered the feelings Liz Parker had started to dig up.



TBC...