Let's continue right away...

Chapter 25


Max slowly opened the door and was met by Maria's fresh face.

"Hey Max," Maria chirped, but grew silent as she saw his expression. She immediately knew that something was wrong and without a word she pulled him into her arms.

"What happened?" she asked softly.

"I-I don't know," Max whispered.

Maria pulled out of the embrace and held him at arm's length, looking him sternly in the eye. "What happened?"

Her heart ached as she gazed at his face. She had never seen him like that before. Completely devastated and forlorn.

"I kissed Liz."

Under other circumstances, Maria would have been squealing and bouncing with joy, but the fact that he seemed on the verge of tears stopped her from doing anything remotely close to that.

"I take it that it didn't turn out so well."

Max closed his eyes, sighed, and shook his head.

"Where is she?"

"She's in my bedroom."

"Let me talk to her," Maria offered.

"You really don't ha-"

"Max," Maria put a hand against his cheek and forced him to look at her, "Let me help."

He looked at her for a few seconds and then nodded. It couldn't make it any worse, could it?

"Okay," he replied. Maria didn't know if she should cry, be angry with the woman who had put that expression on his face, or just remain calm. She pulled him into another hug.

"Don't worry, Max," she said, "We'll fix this."

She could feel him nod against her shoulder.

Maria pulled out of his tight grip and offered him a weak smile of comfort. "Wait here."

Like a little boy at a supermarket who had lost his mother, he nodded.

Maria turned around and marched up to the bedroom door. She didn't bother knocking and just ripped the door open.

Liz was sitting on the floor, packing her bag, her head jerking up at the sound of the door opening with fear on her face. When she saw that it was only Maria she relaxed a little.

"Going somewhere?" Maria asked casually. She couldn't hide the slight cold tone to her voice.

"I'm going back to New York," Liz answered quietly.

Maria took a good look at the woman in front of her and felt anger bubbling in her veins. Max had never even hurt a fly and no one was going to hurt him like she just had.

"Oh," Maria feigned surprise, "I thought you were going to stay here for a week."

"Things change," Liz murmured, shifting a little.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" Maria asked with just a touch of venom in her voice.

Liz looked up at her with an unreadable expression. "No."

"So, why the sudden urge to go back to New York?"

"I have work to do."

"You couldn't have realized that before you spent hours on a plane flying across the country?" Maria asked incredulously.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is the third degree?"

Maria clenched her hand into a tight fist to control the anger building up at Liz's nonchalant question.

"Do you know just how much you've hurt Max?"

Liz looked up at her, pain flashing over her face. Without answering, she stood up and moved over to the nightstand to gather some of her things.

"I trusted you," Maria ground out through gritted teeth.

Liz snorted, her back towards Maria. "Trusted me? You don't even know me!"

"It's the kind of trust you acquire from hearing someone else talk about you. From hearing Max talk about you I actually thought I could trust you as much as he obviously does," Maria said, "But I guess that's difficult for you to understand. You've probably never trusted anyone."

Liz's position prevented Maria from seeing her pained expression.

"Max had only had nice things to say about you and I actually wanted you to be together."

Liz swirled around. "Together?" she asked incredulously. "We were just friends."

"'Were'? Are you just going to abandon him now? Do you know how crushed he is at the moment? I've never seen him like that. And I'm not gonna let you, or anyone else, make him feel that way. You don't even know him, because if you did, you would never do this to him!"

"I didn't do anything," Liz murmured.

"Then tell me what happened."

"I have no obligation to tell you anything."

"What?" Maria snorted, "You don't have an 'obligation'? This is no business proposal, honey. We're talking about the most selfless person in the world. And I might not know you, but I'm going to be the one to pick up the pieces of Max's broken heart after you ditch him so I have the right to know just what the hell happened!!"

"This kind person you're talking about tried to kiss me... did kiss me," Liz said angrily.

Maria shrugged her shoulders. "So? What's the big deal? He only kissed you."

"I didn't want to," Liz replied hotly.

"Yeah, okay. But then you only had to tell him to back off, you didn't have to completely give him the cold shoulder."

"You don't know what happened," Liz said quietly, moving to sit down by her bag again.

"No. No, I don't. So why don't you enlighten me?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Maria stepped closer, using all her strength to control her anger. "Listen missy! You might be able to just bash your eyelashes at Max and wrap him around your little finger, but don't think that you can brush me off that easily!"

Maria was too angry to notice Liz's discomfort as she fearfully started to inch further away from the boiling Maria.

"You might be able to stomp all over everyone else's hearts. But you leave Max alone!!"

"Maria!"

Maria turned her head towards the doorway to find Max looking at her sternly. "Stop it!"

"She should know just what-"

"No," Max interrupted adamantly. It had only taken him one look at Liz's face to know that Maria was only words away from causing a disaster. "Leave her alone."

"What? You're defending her?!"

"I violated her personal space," Max said, ignoring the fact that it had actually been Liz who had kissed him, "so she has every right to feel this way."

"No," Maria protested.

"Maria," Max looked at her pleadingly, "please...just let it go. If Liz wants to leave then she can leave."

Maria wanted to scream at Liz for the pained expression on Max's face during his last sentence. And she wasn't too happy with Max for defending Liz either.

"Maria, just let me talk to her."

Maria knew that she had lost the battle even before she looked into his eyes. It was such a rare occasion that Max actually told anyone to do anything that when he did there was no doubt about what she should do. Comply.

Maria swung her head into Liz's direction. She knew that Max could take care of himself, but even if he seemed strong now she knew that he was breaking apart inside. And it was hurting Maria to the bones that he was breaking apart over someone he didn't even know yet.
"But Max..."

She met his eyes and grew quiet. "Okay," she mumbled and left Max and Liz alone.

Liz wasn't looking at him, but was instead very focused on organizing her bag as if she hadn't even been in the same room as the steaming Maria just moments before.

"So, you're going home again? Back to New York?"

"Yes," she answered shortly, "I don't think it was the right choice to leave my father. He might suffer another heart failure."

Max knew for a fact that her father was just as healthy as anyone without a heart problem, but he couldn't really tell her that.

"Liz, I'm sorry I kissed you."

She didn't answer.

"It was wrong of me to take advantage of you like that." She had been immersed in a nightmare, probably still with her mind trapped in that dream state, but he had been overcome by his senses. He could've pulled back, but he hadn't. Being the person he was, he couldn't help but feel responsible for what had happened.

Her hands were shaking as she reorganized the pile of clothes in her bag. Now sorting them by color instead of type. She was unconsciously buying herself more time, but still avoided his eyes. Max stepped closer but stopped as she shifted uncomfortably.

"Liz, please talk to me. I- I..." I don't want to lose you. "I don't want you to leave."

"Max, I can't stay," she mumbled, her vision blurring with tears.

She was confused. Her inner state of emotions had become bundled up into confusing and indecipherable codes. She didn't have the ability to read them, never mind understand them. Simultaneously, she was at the mercy of those emotions. For each and every emotion inside of her there was a counterpart. She was afraid, but at the same time felt safe. She was nervous, but also calm. She felt that Max had broken an unwritten trust between them, but she also felt that she could trust him with her life. She wanted to go home to the safety of her apartment, go back to her ordinary life where she knew what to expect. But she also wanted to break free and experience life. She wanted to live.

She could feel him looking at her intensely but she couldn't make herself look at him.

"Tell me what's wrong."

The statement was short and firm, but what made Liz look up at him was the determination in his voice. She looked into his eyes and she could feel her heart falling apart. His eyes were shimmering with unshed tears and he looked so lost. Nevertheless, his eyes now held a determination she hadn't seen there before. It intimidated her.

"I can't," she whispered, holding his gaze.

"Why?"

"Please, Max. Just leave me alone."

"Tell me why."

Liz could feel frustration about her loss of control over the situation bubble up inside of her. "I don't want to tell you."

"You can't just leave because of a kiss, Liz. We have to talk about it. You can't just run away."

"I told you this would happen," she whispered. He had to strain his hearing to hear what she said.

"What do you mean?"

"I told you I would hurt you."

"Yes, you did tell me that. But I chose to stay and I think I deserve to know what's going on."

Liz felt the frustration burning and turning into anger. She slowly rose from her seated position and turned her head away from him. "I never asked for you to be in my life, Max! I don't owe you anything!"


"Do you really believe that?" Max stared at her back. She couldn't even face him as she talked.

"Liz..." He stepped closer to her, his voice softening. "Something is terribly wrong...and I can't let you go back to New York."

Liz swirled around, her eyes boring into Max. "Let me? You can't 'let me'? I'm sorry, Max, but I haven't asked you to make decision for me."

"You don't have to, I can see it in your eyes."

Liz frowned, staring at him, and with a snort she said, "You don't see me-"

"That's because you don't let me!" His voice increased in intensity as he stepped closer to her.

"No, Max..." It was as if she had put on a mask for a play. Her features smoothed out and her face became indifferent, impersonal and apathetic. "I don't want to tell you anything."

Max met her cold eyes, not letting himself be intimidated by the fact that the person before him was no longer Elizabeth Parker. "I don't believe you."

She sighed. It was a tired sigh of resignation. "Just leave me alone, Max. I'm telling you now - once and for all. I don't need your help. I don't want your help. And I want you to stop digging into my past. That's my past and no one else's. You have no right to use me as some sort of science project - investigating me! I was doing just fine before you came along-"

"You were about to be raped! Is that what you wanted?"

"Of course not!! And I will always be grateful to you for saving me, but right now I need to be alone and I can't have you or your weird friends looking over my shoulder, studying every move I make. God! You make me feel like a freak!"

Max cringed at her words. That was what he had always hated being called himself - even though people hadn't used that exact word. But he had heard enough of it when he was little and had been a bit of a prodigy. He would never wish that upon anyone else, to be looked upon as something abnormal. Not special, but a freak. He wondered if he had really made her feel like a freak. He didn't realize that it wasn't Liz talking to him right now. It was her defense system. Max was getting too close and he had to be pushed away to a safe distance.

"I want to talk about this..." Max tried.

Liz raked her fingers through her hair, pulling the loose strands up into a bun at the crown of her head and then releasing them to fall back against her shoulders. The act was repeated three times before she answered.

"Sometimes talking isn't enough."

Max sighed in frustration. God, she was so stubborn! One part of him just wanted to get out of there and let her have her wish, but another part of him - the one in charge at the moment - was telling him to keep pushing her for answers and not to let her get her wish. Somehow he had the strangest feeling that if he let Liz have her way now and go back to New York, something terrible would happen. He shivered as his mind was assailed by some of the images from his premonition. Images where he held Liz's still and lifeless form in his arms, blood trickling down her cheek and legs, her eyes hollow and empty.

"Then tell me what to do."

"Simple; leave me alone."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily."

She sighed. "Well, I'm returning to New York."

"Then I'm coming with you," he countered stubbornly.

"I don't want you with me," Liz snapped.

"That's not your choice. You won't even know I'm there. I will not interfere with your life any longer, but you can't stop me from watching over you."

"It's called stalking," Liz bit out.

"No, it's called protection."

"Don't you hear a word of what I'm trying to tell you? I don't need your protection, Max!"
Liz didn't know what to think or feel. Her mind and heart were going into two different directions, ripping her apart. Her mind was coaxing her to return to the safe shelter behind the protective walls she had built up around her personality, while her heart was pleading with her to stay with Max. Pleading her to talk to him and confide in him. She felt like a rubber band being stretched close to the breaking point. She felt that at any moment she could break - separating her mind from her heart. And she feared that wouldn't be too good. That would be the end of it.

Max look at her as the silence surrounded them.

She averted her eyes and took a step back, fiddling with her watch.

"Can't you see that I only want to help you?" Max asked quietly.

"I don't want your help," she mumbled. Max started to slowly walk towards her. She raised her eyes and watched him come closer. That's when the whispers began.

"Max?"

Max stopped at the sound of her small voice. There was something vastly different about it compared to the voice she had used a couple of minutes before. He could feel a thread pulling around his heart, cutting into the cardiac walls, as he saw her face crumble in fear.

"Liz?"

She closed her eyes, trying to block out the voices filling the room. She could feel herself get cold and her breath kept catching in her throat. It sounded as if she was choking, gasping for air.

Max hastily stepped up to her, and took a firm grip around her upper arms. "Liz, what's wrong?"

She opened her eyes, took a hold of Max's wrist, and tried to pry his hands from her.

"Liz...?" He held on stronger, as she started wiggle in his arms. She whimpered, tears starting to cascade down her cheeks. She doubled over when a fierce, hot pain stabbed through her lower abdomen, and nearly knocked Max down.

"Liz, what's wrong?" He was frightened now. What was going on?

"Just kill me," she whispered.

"What?" Not sure he had heard her correctly.

"Just do it." Her voice was strained and she was holding her arms around her stomach, still gasping for air.

Max could feel his heart slam against his ribs as he tried to get her to straighten up again. "I'm not gonna kill you."

"Get it over with." It was as if he wasn't even there. As if it wasn't really him she was talking to, but some invisible ghost.

"You've taken everything from me. I don't wanna live."

"What are you talking about, Liz?!"

He could feel her legs giving out under her as she sagged against him.

"No… Liz?!"

"Kill me." Her voice was hollow and indifferent. No emotions attached.

"What's going on?"

The outside voice somehow changed everything. Liz stilled in his arms and she stopped gasping for air. Instead she was overtaken by powerful sobs.

"Max? What's happening? What's wrong?"

Max didn't even turn around to look at Maria. "Liz?"

"They took my baby. They killed my baby."

He felt his throat tightening, and suddenly it was he who was having difficulties breathing. "Who did, Liz?"

"I don't know. I don't know."

Was that the reason to everything? Her baby had been taken from her, and she had repressed it so much that it had become dangerous. Now it was spilling over, everything at once, and it was too much for her. But as Max lifted Liz up and placed her on the edge of the bed, kneeling between her knees and pushing aside her damp hair to look into her shimmering eyes, he deeply doubted that that was the real reason.

"Is she okay?" He could hear Maria walk up behind him. He stroked a couple of loose strands of Liz's hair away, which had become plastered to her face by her tears.

"I don't know." His heart cried as he let the words float over his lips. He felt more helpless than ever before and it was killing him.

She looked up into his eyes and Max gasped at the intensity of the misery he saw within her.

"Liz?" He could feel tears stinging his own eyes. "Please talk to me."

"Max?"

"Yes, it's me," he said softly.

"Please promise me something," Liz whispered.

Max eyes searched her face. "Anything."

"Promise me that you will never leave me," Liz said.

"I won't," he said, his hand pushing away another one of the damp strands of hair from her forehead.

"No, Max." Liz took a hold of his hand and moved it away from her face, cradling it between both of hers. "Promise me, Max."

He tore his eyes away from her fearful ones for the fraction of a second it took to look at their entwined hands.

"Please, promise me." Her voice was more desperate now and he looked up to meet her eyes again.

"I promise with all my heart," he said softly, but firmly.

That was it for Liz. The last barriers she had fought so hard to hold up broke, and she started sobbing uncontrollably, leaning forward to lean her forehead against his chest. He put his arms around her and pulled her towards him. She sank into him, sliding off the bed and collapsing in his arms on the floor.

Maria looked at the couple, crestfallen. What the hell had just happened?

TBC...

A/N: Okay, I know that you are probably more confused now than ever, but everything will be explained – eventually... I will try not to leave you high and dry for too long. :-D Thank you for reading!! *Hugs*