Part Twenty-Five

"I'll see you later, okay?" whispered Max softly in Liz's ear the next morning.

It was barely dawn, but they'd agreed last night that it would be best if he left the flat as early as possible in the hope that he wouldn't be seen by anyone. It had been incredibly difficult to untangle himself from Liz's arms and leave the warm comfort of her bed a few minutes ago, but he knew he had to go. He'd tried not to wake her as he moved around the bedroom, pulling on his clothes and gathering up his belongings, knowing that she must be pretty exhausted after their activities yesterday, but as soon as he'd slipped out of the bed, he'd heard her breathing change and knew that she was no longer asleep.

"Mmm," murmured Liz, nodding slightly in response to his whispered words,

Her eyes remained closed as she snuggled deeper under the covers and he bit his lip, wishing to God that he could stay there and curl up in bed with her again.

"Can't wait until tonight," he added softly, the mattress dipping slightly under his weight as he perched on the edge of the bed and leaned down over her. "You're going to look amazing."

He watched as Liz pried her eyes open and shifted to face him with a small, sleepy, alluring smile that had the blood rushing straight to his groin and he moaned slightly in response.

"I don't even have anything to wear yet," she teased gently, her hand reaching out to touch his arm. "All the dresses are in your hotel room."

"Doesn't matter," he shrugged, his lips tugging up into a smirk as he gazed down at her lovely face. "You're gonna look amazing whatever you wear."

Her smile widened into a happy grin and she rolled her eyes self-consciously, causing Max to give a small chuckle, before he impulsively lowered his mouth to hers for a sweet kiss. Liz let out a low moan of disapproval when he pulled away and reluctantly stood up.

"Don't go," she pouted, reaching for him again and this time grabbing his wrist to hold him there.

"I have to," he told her gently. "If I don't go now, I'll never leave and then we'll end up having a repeat of yesterday."

"Yeah, and?" she raised an eyebrow, giving him an expectant look. "I wouldn't exactly be complaining about that."

He just chuckled at her words and shook his head, "I'm going now. Have a good day at work, okay? I'll see you later at the hotel."

"Sure, I'll head over there after work," nodded Liz, before stretching languidly in the bed, exposing most of her chest to him as she did so. "Have fun."

Max sighed as he forced himself to look away from the expanse of bare skin before him. She looked so tempting, but he had to be strong. He had to get out of there before he ended up back in bed with her.

"Bye," he murmured, although it didn't come out as firmly as he had been intending.

He leaned down to kiss her one last time before grabbing his jacket and heading out of the apartment. He'd already called ahead for his driver to pick him up from round the corner, so all he had to do now was get out of Liz's building and into the car without being seen. Pulling a hat out of his jacket pocket, he shoved it onto his head. He thought about adding sunglasses to the ensemble as well, but it was still fairly dark outside and they probably weren't necessary. As he reached the main door to the building, he took a quick glance out of the small window next to it and, seeing no one out there, he pulled it open. Head down, he made his way to the car that was waiting to take him back to his hotel and got in.

The day passed all too slowly for Liz. After Max had gone, she'd tried to get back to sleep, but she just couldn't settle again all by herself in the big, empty bed, so she relented and got up instead. By seven a.m., she'd already showered, dressed and eaten her breakfast and was now sitting on the sofa, twiddling her thumbs and wracking her brains for something to keep her mind off the fact that max wasn't here and she had to wait another eleven hours to see him again. In the end, she decided to leave for work early and as a result she was one of the first to arrive at the office that morning.

As nine a.m. approached, her colleagues began appearing one-by-one and she felt slightly guilty when they all asked how she was feeling and if she was over the food poisoning yet, but she couldn't bring herself to regret staying at home with Max yesterday. Thankfully though, none of them seemed to twig that her absence could have possibly been related to the fact that Max Evans was in town for the premiere of his new movie tonight.

Liz tried to get stuck into her work, but she just couldn't concentrate on what she was doing; her thoughts were too consumed by the knowledge that right now Max was only a couple of miles away from her. It was difficult enough to cope with being apart from him when he was in California, but knowing that he was so close, yet she wasn't able to see or touch him, was almost unbearable. She was so relieved when five o'clock finally rolled around and she could get out of there and head over to his hotel to get ready for the premiere.

It was in typical fashion that after sitting through the longest day ever today, praying for the evening to come, the next few hours just flew by. From picking out the perfect 'premiere' dress from Isabel's selection—a floaty, red garment that accentuated her curves perfectly without being too sexy—and walking the red carpet, to admiring Max's performance in the movie (for the second time) and heading back to his hotel room afterwards for a 'night cap', it all went so quickly.

All too soon, it was early Thursday morning and Max had to leave for L.A. At first, he tried to persuade her that it would be better for her if he headed to Heathrow alone, but she insisted on coming with him to the airport, if only to spend as much time with him as possible.

She noticed that Max seemed tense as they pulled up outside the terminal, picked up his bags from the boot and headed inside to the check-in desks, but Liz didn't care, she just wrapped arm around his forearm and entwined her fingers with his as they walked. She knew that there would be a few paps around and she also spied some teenagers pointing camera phones in their direction, but right now, they didn't matter to her. She stood with Max as he checked in at the first class desk and then walked with him towards the security area. Just before they got to security, Max guided her towards a quiet corner and came to a stop in front of her.

"I'm sorry you can't come any further with me," he murmured, regret in his voice. "I guess this is where we say goodbye."

"Yeah," replied Liz, although it came out more as a sad sigh. She looked up into his eyes, seeing the same reluctant expression there as she was sure was mirrored in her own.

He exhaled heavily, "Liz, I…"

"I don't want you to go," she burst out suddenly, trying desperately to not to let the full extent of her emotions show. She didn't want to burst into tears in public. "Stay. Please."

"I wish I could," he replied, with a sad shake of his head. "You don't know how much I wish that."

"I'm gonna miss you so much."

"Me too," he nodded.

"How long until you come back?"

"Well, I fly into Berlin in a couple of weeks and then I'll be in Paris from the second week of May," he told her. "But I don't know when–"

"Max…" she cut him off with an understanding nod, her emotions bubbling to the surface now as a tear crept down her cheek. "I–"

"Hey, it's okay, come here," he said soothingly, pulling her into a tight hug. "We'll get through this, all right? We will. I promise."

Liz closed her eyes as she let herself relax against him, savouring the feel of his warm chest pressed against her.

"It'll be okay," he murmured, pulling back slightly and lifting his hand to her cheek, wiping away the tears there.

In response, she opened her eyes again and turned her face towards him. He gave her a breathtaking smile before lowering his mouth to hers, caressing her lips with a meaningful kiss. Completely caught up in her emotions and forgetting where she was, Liz let herself sink into his embrace, kissing him with everything she had, as if she would never see him again.

"I have to go," he murmured gently when they finally pulled apart. "I'll see you soon, okay?"

"Yeah," whispered Liz, struggling to get the words out. "See you soon."

Max took a step back, disentangling himself from her arms. He took a couple of backward steps towards the security area, his eyes locked with hers the whole time. She saw him suck in a deep breath and then exhale, before he mouthed the word 'bye' and then finally turned and made his way through the barrier. Liz struggled to keep her emotions in check as she watched him until he disappeared from view. She wouldn't break down now, she couldn't. She had to stay strong. No matter how much she just wanted to curl up in bed and wallow in her misery, she had to pick herself up and carry on with things, such as going to work… which she was going to be late for if she didn't leave the airport very soon.

Sending one last, longing glance in the direction Max had just walked in, she turned towards the door and made her way outside to where Max's driver was waiting to drive her back into London. Unfortunately though, the short walk was not uneventful, because the paparazzi that had previously just been snapping pictures from a distance suddenly descended on her. They shoved cameras in her face and started bombarding her with inane questions like, 'Was that Max Evans you just saw off?', 'When will you see him again?', 'It looked like an emotional goodbye you were having' and even, 'Is it true the two of you are engaged now?'. Liz kept her head down and muttered a quick 'No comment' in response to each question, just wishing to be left alone. When she finally made it to the car, she climbed inside and let her head fall back against the expensive seats.

Did these people not understand the meaning of the word 'privacy'?

The next few days were the most difficult so far and by the middle of the next week, Liz was getting very frustrated. Although it had been wonderful seeing Max again, if only for two days, his leaving had only reinforced what she'd known before: that she couldn't keep doing this for much longer. She couldn't keep saying goodbye. Then there were the issues with the paparazzi. First, it was only little things, like the cameras at the airport the week before or the odd person taking her picture in the street, but tonight they'd stepped it up a notch.

She was having dinner with Maria and Michael in her flat and when she went into the kitchen to retrieve dessert from the fridge, Maria let out a surprised exclamation.

"Oh my God, Liz!" she cried out suddenly. "Get in here."

"What? What is it?" wondered Liz as she came into the living room, a bowl of homemade strawberry trifle in hand.

"Look at this," said Maria, gesturing for her to join her at the window, where she was peering out through the curtains.

Frowning in confusion, Liz placed the trifle down on the coffee table in front of Michael who was sitting in the armchair beside the sofa, and moved to stand next to Maria.

"What's going on?"

"There are tons of them out here, Liz," Maria told her. "Paparazzi… look."

Her heart suddenly began beating loudly in her chest as her friend's words sank in and Liz stepped forward anxiously to take a peek outside. Sure enough, Maria was right. There were several cars parked in the street outside her house and she could make out a couple of people sitting in them, cameras lifted to their faces. Looking closer, she could also see one or two people crouching down next to some bushes.

"Damn it," she muttered. "How did they find out where I live?"

Maria gave her an odd look, "Um, Liz, did you not read Heat magazine this week?"

"No," she shook her head. "Why?"

Her friend rolled her eyes in frustration, "There was a picture in there of Max leaving your flat a few days ago. It was early in the morning and he had a hat pulled down over his forehead, but they knew it was him."

"Shit," hissed Liz. "They must have followed him from the airport." She frowned. "Hang on, if they knew where I lived last week, then how come they haven't been here until now?"

Maria shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe they've been lurking around all along but you just didn't notice until now?"

"Maybe…" she murmured, looking out of the window one last time before sighing, moving away and flopping down on the couch. "God, this is so hard."

"What's wrong, sweetie?" asked Maria softly as she perched beside her on the sofa.

"Nothing," mumbled Liz. "Everything. I just can't do this without him."

"Oh, honey," said Maria sympathetically as she rubbed Liz's arm comfortingly. "I'm sorry."

"I don't know what to do, Maria," she admitted. "He lives in L.A. and I live here; we're so far apart, but I just want to be with him all the time."

"So, go be with him all the time," said Maria, as if it were obvious.

"It's not that simple," protested Liz. "My life is here; my job, my flat, my friends and family, not to mention the fact that even if I wanted to move there we'd have to get married and it can take months to get a visa for that. God, I can't just up and leave… and neither can Max." She turned to Maria, "Anna told me she'd seen him looking at houses in London and visas to come to the UK, but he can't move here, Maria. All the opportunities are there, in Los Angeles, it would harm his career if he came to live here."

"Max is thinking of moving here?" exclaimed Maria, her eyes wide. "Wow, he's really got it bad for you."

"'Ria," dismissed Liz, with an embarrassed smile. "He hasn't even mentioned it to me… I only know because of what Anna said. And besides, I'm not gonna let him do that for me."

"What about going back to school?" piped up Michael just then. "You could get a student visa and go to grad school in California. I mean, I did it when I came here – it's not that hard."

"Hmm," Liz's brow furrowed at his suggestion. "Well, I guess I did consider doing a masters before I got the job here in London… but isn't it really expensive to go to university in the States though? I don't know that I could afford it."

"Doesn't have to be," shrugged Michael. "I mean, if you can get a TA assistantship the school will pay you and fund your studies. It would mean being an undergrad teaching assistant and grading papers and things, but at least you won't have to pay to study there."

"Yeah… a student visa…" mused Liz as she considered the possibility. "If I could study at a university in Los Angeles, I could be close to Max…"

"Sounds like a great idea to me, Lizzie," nodded Maria with a grin.

"I guess I could look into it," she murmured with a small smile. "I mean, I don't even know if I could get in, but there's no harm in doing a bit of research, right?"

"Of course not," agreed Maria enthusiastically.

"Do you know anything about American student visas, Mike? Are they hard to get?"

"Not really," he shook his head, "at least, I don't think so. There's a guy from Australia in one of my classes here who studied in the States before coming to London – I remember him saying it was pretty straightforward to get his US visa."

"Okay, well that sounds good," said Liz, her smile widening now as the thought of becoming a student in L.A. really began to sank in. "Well, it's definitely something to think about."

"I think it's a great idea, Lizzie," beamed Maria and Liz nodded in response. "But right now, I'm dying to try some of that delicious trifle you've got there."

Liz sent Maria a grin as she stood up and went into the kitchen to grab some bowls and spoons. As she walked back into the living room again, she found herself seriously contemplating Michael's suggestion. Maybe he was right and there really was a way for her to be with Max in L.A… maybe things were starting to look up for her again.

TBC…