Part Twenty Six

Liz sighed and Maria glanced over to her before looking back at Michael. Christmas this year had been hard for Liz; it was the first Christmas for what felt like forever that she hadn't spent with Max. She hadn't even called him to wish him a Merry Christmas and she hated it. He hadn't responded to the Christmas card she had sent him and Michael had informed her that he hadn't seen the funny side of it.

Clearly the message had been a little too subtle for his dense as rock brain to understand.

Boxing day had come and gone in a blur of hung over dish-cleaning and gift-putting-away and a studious attempt to avoid the skinny jeans she had been going to wear to the party Michael and Maria were throwing later in the week. She did not want to think of how much food she had tried to drown herself in on Christmas day.

Her cell chirped on her bed and she reached over to it, flipping it round the right way and she stared at the screen for a second before grinning slightly. She hadn't heard from John since before Max had left and as soon as she saw his name she felt a small tug that her let know she'd missed him more than she cared to think about. Instead of replying with a text, Liz lifted the cell to her ear and waited for him to answer.

"Well hello downtown," John said cheerfully in lieu of an actual greeting and Liz giggled slightly. "Happy belated Christmas, Elizabeth," he said and Liz wondered just how much he'd had to drink.

"Happy belated Christmas to you too, John," she replied lightly and lowered herself until she was perched on the edge of her bed. She leant forward onto her elbows and tilted her head, letting her tired eyes drift closed.

"I was wondering if I could pull a Max and come sleep at your place?" Liz straightened slightly both at Max's name being said and John's question. John never asked to stay at hers. Ever.

"Of course," she replied instead of questioning and the line suddenly went dead. She pulled her cell away and glanced at it as someone knocked on her front door. "Ah," she said with a small smile and she stood, moving towards the door. When she swung it open, John leant forward, gripped her head between his hands and pushed his lips against hers. She didn't respond, too shocked really, and John pulled back almost instantly, gazing down at her with a confused expression on his face. "What?" Liz asked and lifted her eyebrow as John sighed.

"I was just wondering if I was missing something." Liz's eyebrows raised of their own accord as John sidled passed her and into her hallway. She shut the door and turned to him, one hand on her hip. "No offence, Lizzy, but I don't know see what the draw is."

Liz took it as a challenge.

"Well if you had given me the chance to respond instead of just molesting my lips for a second or two you might have some basis to that theory, sir," she said acidly and she hoped John knew her tone was not entirely serious. She would admit that she was a little irked by his dismissal of her kissing abilities. But she also thought it was extremely amusing that John had kissed her.

"If I kiss you, will you kiss me back?" Liz thought for a second then nodded. "Okay..."

John stepped up to her again and Liz tilted her head up to look at him. He sighed again and Liz lifted herself up onto her tiptoes. John met her halfway and touched his lips to hers. He was hesitant and slow so Liz wrapped her hand around his neck and tugged him closer to her. He deepened the kiss with his tongue, brushing it against Liz's and while it wasn't a bad kiss, it wasn't exactly... anything else, either.

They pulled back and Liz raised her eyebrow in question as John ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

"I will admit that you are a good kisser," John conceded and Liz smirked while wondering if it was possible that she was still a little drunk. "But it doesn't really do it for me." Liz snorted.

"What's all this in aid of?"

John shrugged.

"Just wanted to see what all of the fuss was about."

Liz frowned again and motioned for John to precede her into the lounge. Once they were seated John turned to her and watched her closely.

"I ran into Kyle. He told me Max left. And what he knew of why."

Liz gasped slightly and looked away from John's eyes.

"You didn't know he'd left?" She asked eventually, stupidly. John shook his head. "He's an idiot."

John laughed and nodded.

"Yes, he is." Liz smiled up at him. "But so are you." Liz glared at him. "Liz, that man has been in love with you for longer than I care to imagine. Definitely for as long as I've known him; probably even longer."

Liz snorted. She'd heard this before, from Maria and Michael but she refused to believe it. If Max truly was in love with her, something would have happened while they lived together at college. He wouldn't have dated John. He wouldn't be gay.

But then the other side of Liz's brain kicked in and told her that she had dated Soren while she'd been in love with Max, that she'd managed to live with him and not jump him, despite his quite blatant open invitations to help ease some tension he felt from class.

"Yeah, right."

John shrugged his shoulders.

"And it's because you can't see that that you're an idiot." He pursed his lips and reached out to the end of Liz's hair. "You need a hair cut," he said, changing the subject so abruptly that Liz couldn't hold back the incredulous burst of laughter that tried to escape. "What?" John said innocently, his eyes glistening with mirth. "You do."

"I'll drop by," Liz said to acquiesce him and John nodded.

"Before you go see Max in SF?"

Liz snorted again.

"I'm not going to see Max, in San Francisco or anywhere else."

John shrugged.

"If you say so." Liz eyed him with a glare but he simply shrugged his shoulders. "Do I get to share your bed, too?"

Liz rolled her eyes but motioned for him to follow her anyway.

--

"Max called you, did you know that?" Michael said to her as she let herself into his and Maria's apartment. Liz stopped, her back still to him with her hand pressed to the door and felt her shoulders tense. "On Christmas day." Liz's throat made a strange squeaking noise and she closed her eyes against it. "Your cell was off."

She let out a small breath at that, feeling tears prickle at the back of her eyes. She'd kept her phone off all day so that she wouldn't be disappointed when he didn't call. She should have known her genius plan would backfire.

"Why didn't he leave a message?" She asked quietly, unable to turn to Michael.

"I don't know," he said eventually, just as quietly as she had spoken and it forced Liz to turn to him.

"I miss him, Michael," she said brokenly and Michael shifted on the spot.

"He misses you, too."

"Then why won't he come home?"

Michael's stare hardened for a moment and Liz flinched under his stare, knowing that she'd managed to set him off again.

"Maybe it's not his turn."

Liz eyed him for a moment, looking for the meaning to his words. When he quirked his eyebrow in her direction, she knew what she had to do.

"You're right."

"Of course I am."

--

She'd gotten his address from Michael and paid ridiculous sums of money for her plane ticket. She'd been wished happy new year by random people on the street more times than she could count and she had long since lost feeling in her hand that held the four litre tub of paint.

It would all be worth it, she reminded herself as she walked down a chilly, wind-tunnel of a street towards what was hopefully the correct building. She'd tried hailing a cab but the streets were dormant and she'd been forced to walk. It could have been worse; it could have been Boston temperatures and there could have been ice.

She checked the address on her phone against the building in front of her and she felt her heart rate double then triple until it beat a relentless staccato against her rib cage. She could do this. Of course she could do this. It was just Max.

It was Max.

Oh God, she couldn't do this. How could she do this? Did she really expect him to be okay with her just showing up on his doorstep? He obviously didn't want to see her. He hadn't even given her his phone number.

"You're here now," she argued aloud. "Don't let that thousand dollar flight go to waste."

She climbed the stairs, stopping only at the front of the door to his apartment. She could hear him moving about, the sounds incredibly muffled through the door but she could hear him nonetheless. She closed her eyes.

"You can do this."

She knocked, and stood her ground even as her heart slammed about in her chest, trying to break free. Even as her legs threatened to cave in beneath her. She shifted the paint from one hand to the other, her arms vibrating. His muffled sounds grew louder and he called out and Liz almost lost it right there and then. Her breath caught as she heard the door unlock and she froze, her body a solid sculpture in the hallway when the door opened and he was half naked and oh my god she wanted to touch him, anywhere. Somewhere.

She said something ridiculous, the words sounding more confident than she felt.

He stared at her blankly, his eyes moving across her for a second with no recognition in them and for a moment Liz felt ice spread through her veins until the fire that erupted in his eyes burned the little crystals away.

"Liz..."

She pulled her lips between her teeth and ducked her head, closing her eyes for a moment before she met his eyes again. They were dark. His chest was bare.

Was he alone?

"Max..." She breathed out and waited. He seemed to be waiting, too. For her to disappear, perhaps? For her to leave? To come in? God, she'd never been so confused or terrified or...

"What are you doing here?"

She looked down again and bit back the pain that erupted in her chest at his cool tone. She took a breath, then another and battled back the tear.

"I miss you," she said quietly, unevenly and she felt a tear trickle down her cheek.

She dropped the tub of paint with a loud thud when she felt Max's arms wrap around her and she let out the sob that had been threatening, flinging her body into his and wrapping her arms around him as tightly as she could. She sobbed into his neck, breathing in his scent as his lips grazed the skin at her neck.

"I've missed you, too..."

He pulled her tighter against him and Liz pulled herself up against him.

She was home.