Part 12
"Are you sure you don't mind coming?" Max asked quietly. "I just really needed to get back here. I'll take you back to Izzy's as soon as I check on Ben."
"Max, it's okay." Liz replied. "I wouldn't mind seeing him again myself." She flushed when Max looked surprised. "I wasn't kidding when I told you that I felt something when I was with him Max. I think I just [I]knew[/I] that he was yours. I know he's okay, but it'll make me feel better to see him again." She tried to ignore the pleased expression that crossed his face.
They had driven the rest of the way back to Michael and Max's apartment in virtual silence, each lost in their own thoughts. The quiet had not been tense this time though. Instead, it had been comfortable, familiar.
It had been [I]too[/I] comfortable. Comfortable enough that if Liz closed her eyes, she could pretend she was seventeen again, flying down the highway in Max's old Chevelle, the wind blowing through her long hair. She could almost imagine breathlessly awaiting Max's touch, because she knew it was coming sooner or later.
When they were seventeen they could barely keep their hands off of each other. It had sometimes seemed like she couldn't breathe properly until she was in Max's arms.
It was why she had been willing to forgive him for Tess, had been willing to let him back into her life. She had asked him if he thought she was so pathetic that she would wait for him for her entire life, but being in his company again... it reminded her of [I]why[/I] she had been willing to take another chance on him after finding out about the baby and before he had left her.
Nothing was right when they were apart. She remembered his words to her on the rocks near the pod chamber, after Tess had left, taking Max's son with her...
[I]"I've been really wrong about a lot. But I was right about one thing: to get you into my life, to be around you, to [/I]love[I] you."[/I]
He had been right. It was why she had let him back in. Loving each other had [I]never[/I] been wrong. It had never been what had screwed up everything. It had been staying away from each other that had caused all the problems. And, so, she had been willing to do anything to make sure that they were never apart again, including helping him find his son.
Because they were [I]meant[/I] to be together. Max and Liz. [I]Not[/I] Max and Tess. Not Liz and anyone else.
But there [I]had[/I] been someone else for him - someone else he had loved enough to give up a throne for.
His story - the one about Zan and Kadiya - it had disturbed her more than she had let him know. To know that he had been so attached to someone else - anyone else...Even in a past life...
It had hurt.
It was ridiculous and insane and silly. She was engaged to someone else - someone she loved. She had long accepted that Max&Liz were [I]not[/] meant to be, and yet she was upset because he had been in love with someone else in a [I]past[/I] life.
It was insane but true. She had to admit it to herself.
She was used to Tess, could have accepted the great love story of Zan and Ava. In fact, it probably would have made her feel better about Ben - to have that acknowledgment that there was no way she could have stopped what had happened between Max and Tess, that it [I]had[/I] been destined.
It was beginning to dawn on her that the idea that maybe Max and Tess had ended up together on Antar had always been a possibility in the back of her mind. She hadn't liked it - because of what she had done to Alex and because of what Tess was - but she had accepted that maybe it had been best for Max to leave her when he had - when she still had the chance to make a new life for herself, while they were still young. Maybe he had found his destiny on Antar - with [I]her[/I]. Because Liz didn't doubt for a minute that Tess still wanted Max, even if she had betrayed him to their enemies.
Because who wouldn't want Max? At least that's what her eighteen year old heart had wondered.
Yes, it would be better if he was with Tess. He would be with his son and maybe he could fix whatever it was that was wrong with Tess.
Tess needed him.
Max and Liz were [I]not[/I] meant to be after all. She had accepted it, moved on, found Dan.
Because what would she, Liz, have done if they had stayed together and married and committed to each other for life and he left her anyway?
And he would have left her. Ben would have been found, one way or another. Wasn't it better that it had been sooner? And wasn't it right that Max and Tess had been together so that Ben could exist?
All of this was going through Liz's mind as she followed Max into the apartment, as she tried to sort out what she was feeling [I]now[/I]. Now that he was back.
Because it changed everything again. She didn't want it to, but if their conversation had told her one thing, if her feelings and her jealousy over Kadiya had told her [I]anything[/I], it was that she was not over him.
But all this seemed inconsequential a split second later when she ran right into Max's back.
He had stopped abruptly. It was only when Liz peered around him that she saw that the main room of the apartment was in a complete shambles.
It looked like it had been torn apart by a hurricane. Or a wild animal.
Or something not of this Earth.
"Oh my God!" Liz gasped. "Max!"
But Max was already on the move, yelling as he ran into the bedroom. "Ben! Michael, where are you???"
Liz watched him for a moment, frozen. She could hear the panic in Max's voice as he called out again. "BEN!"
She managed to croak Max's son's name. "Ben?" And then, more strongly. "BEN!" She hurried in the direction of the kitchen. "Michael! Are you here?"
Max joined her there a minute later. He was turning in circles, his hands up at his temples, his manner completely frantic. "Oh God. Liz! Where are they?"
She grabbed his arms, pulled them down from where they were running wildly through his short dark hair. "Max! Calm down! You need to calm down!" He was staring at her, his eyes wide with horror.
"Liz! Where is he???"
"Max, this looks [I]really[/I] bad. I know it does. But we [I]need[/I] to calm down." She could see him struggling to get a hold of himself. "We need to think. Could Michael and Ben have made this mess themselves?"
"Why the hell would they tear the entire apartment apart?" Max demanded, sounding angry.
"They wouldn't." Liz agreed. She was searching her mind desperately for an answer. None presented itself. For the life of her, it looked like someone - or [I]something[/I] - had invaded the apartment and had taken everyone in it away with them. And yet...She frowned slightly, deep in thought. "But maybe whoever did this didn't find what they were looking for. Because, Max, think about it. Why would they destroy an apartment if they had what they had come for?"
She saw a flash of hope on Max's face. "You're right!" He was staring at the wall, his eyes darting around. She could practically hear the wheels turning in his head. "They didn't find him. Obviously. Michael must have gotten him out in time."
Liz raised an eyebrow. "[I]Who[/I] didn't find him Max?" She asked suspiciously. "I thought you told me that you were perfectly safe here."
Max didn't reply, just continued to stare at the wall, a slight frown appearing on his face. "What a minute..." He turned on his heel, hurried back into one of the bedrooms.
Liz hurried after him. "What? Max! I think we should call Kyle. He can put an APB for Michael and Ben. We should call Isabel. She needs to know about this. She might be in danger. She and Lexi and Jesse. Max!"
But Max didn't answer. When she entered the bedroom, he was standing in the centre of the room, staring at the wall [I]there[/I]. She looked around the room, searching for whatever it was that had brought him back in here. She felt her stomach turn over at the disaster that had been wreaked on Ben's bedroom. Because there could be little doubt that it belonged to Max's son. There were a few action figures from the final Star Wars movie on the bed, looking incongruous on a mattress that had been ripped to shreds. There was a poster for the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team on the wall and a picture of the Earth from space, very similar to the one that had hung on the wall in Max's old bedroom in Roswell.
It was a simple room but it was also clear that Max had done his best to make it a place a little human boy would want to be, even in the short time they had been in Albuquerque.
Liz watched Max in consternation as he moved towards the white wall that had the Coyotes poster on it. He ripped it off the wall, began to run his hands over it.
"Max, what on Earth are you doing?" Liz demanded, seriously concerned about his mental state. Had he completely lost his mind? How had he managed to accomplish anything on Antar if this was how he reacted in an emergency?
But she should have known better. Max was at his best in a crisis, always had been. Flashes of the episode with Pierce and all the various Skin-related disasters passed through her memory. Max had never faltered when lives had been in danger.
At least when he had known about the danger. He had not been able to save Alex. But, then, none of them had known about the snake in their midst.
"Liz, there used to be a closet here." Max told her over his shoulder. "This is a mind-warp."
"A mind-warp?" Liz felt a frisson of fear descend her spine. "Max, is Tess..."
"Tess is dead." Max replied firmly. "It's Ben. It's his gift. He inherited it from her." He began to pound on the wall, which for all the world seemed like a solid mass to Liz. "Ben! Are you in there buddy? It's Dad. Let me in!"
Liz watched him for a moment, still uncertain. But she suddenly remembered the time Tess had mindwarped an entire room out of existence in the Crashdown - the time Nicholas had been after them in Roswell, when he had made all the humans in town disappear. It was entirely possible that Max was right. She rushed over to Max, joined him in pounding on the wall. "Ben? Come on out Honey. It's Liz. I'm here with your dad. You're safe Sweetie."
Nothing happened.
Liz turned to Max. He rubbed his hand across his face wearily, continued to knock. "Ben, it's Dad. I swear it is."
"Max, are you sure that you're right about this?" Liz ventured carefully. "I mean, didn't Tess have to know [I]who[/I] she was mindwarping for it to work? Shouldn't we be able to see the door? Ben wouldn't know we're here."
"Yes I'm sure." Max snapped. She jumped slightly, despite herself. She could tell that he noticed and that he instantly regretted his tone. She didn't blame him though. He was freaking out with worry after all. "I'm sorry Liz." He said, his tone calmer. "I had to learn a lot about mindwarping when I found out it was Ben's gift - so that I could help him develop it. Tess didn't [I]always[/I] have to know exactly who she was mindwarping." Max explained. "Remember that time when I had to change Pierce's bones?" Liz nodded. "She only knew a number then - not [I]who[/], but how many. Which means that there were two or more people here. And he doesn't know they're gone and so he's still mindwarping two minds and we just stepped into it."
"I guess that makes sense." Liz shrugged. She gestured at the wall helplessly. "But he obviously doesn't believe it's us. What are we going to do?"
"I need to figure out a way for him to know it's us." Max sighed heavily, ran a hand through his hair. Liz felt a pang when she saw how tired he looked. She realized that his entire being radiated weariness, had since she had first laid eyes on him. She had noticed, she reflected, but had chosen to ignore it because of how angry she was at him.
"Why don't you try something that only the two of you would know?" Liz suggested, grasping at straws.
Max's eyes lit up. "Good idea." He turned back towards the wall, brought his hands up and laid them flat against the hard surface. "Ben, it's me buddy. I'm going to tell you something - something only you and I know. And then you'll know that it's really me and Liz out here. Okay? So just listen and when you know it's us, you can stop mindwarping."
Liz couldn't help herself. She brought her hand up, laid it on his arm, supporting him. He turned his head, his eyes meeting hers for a split second. Something flared there that made her heart skip a beat, but she refused to stop touching him.
He needed her. It would be the last time that she would be in a position to help him and she was going to do it.
They were friends. If nothing else, they always would be. And friends helped each other.
"Okay. Are you listening kiddo?" Max began to speak in a soothing voice. "Do you remember what I told you about on the ship when we were coming back here?" He paused, swallowed. "I told you all about all the people you were going to meet when we got here - I told you about Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Izzy and Michael...and even about Maria and Kyle and the Sheriff." Liz felt tears beginning to fill her eyes. She lowered her head, rested her forehead against Max's arm. Because she knew what was coming next. She just [I]knew[/I]. "And I told you about Liz. I didn't tell you her name but I told you that she was my best friend and that she was going to love you. Do you remember I told you that? I told you that when she found out who you were, she was going to love you more than anyone in the world."
Liz frowned slightly. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute. There was something strange in the way he said that: [I]when she found out who you were...[/I] Like she didn't [I]already[/I] know who Ben was.
But, he was right. Ben was Max's son. And she did love him. Just because he was a part of Max.
Max, who until this minute, she had refused to recognize she still loved. In spite of everything, she still loved him.
Max was still speaking. "And she does Ben. Already. She told me."
"It's true Ben." Liz interjected. "Your dad is right."
"She doesn't even know yet Ben, but she loves you." Max continued. He had brought one of his arms down from the wall, used it now to pull Liz more closely against his side.
Liz raised her head, stared up at Max. "Know what Max?" She whispered.
But Max just smiled sadly, continued to speak to his son. "Because we're the only two who know the truth, right Benny? No one else knows, but I told [I]you[/I] because you deserved to know who you really are. And because I wanted you to know how special who you are makes you."
Liz lowered her eyes, just listened, knew that whatever Max was about to say was going to change everything.
But somehow she knew it would not be in a bad way. She waited breathlessly.
"I wanted you to know how special you were because you had a father who was good and brave and completely loved by all of his friends. You are so special because you are the gift he left behind when he left us. And so I told you that I wasn't your [I]real[/I] father, even though I am so lucky that I get to be your dad."
And Liz knew. The truth came to her so abruptly, she gasped, stumbled.
She felt Max tighten his arm around her, as though he knew her legs were about to give out on her. Liz's throat was closing up as tears began to stream down her face.
"I told you something that no one else knows. I told you that a man named Alex Whitman was your real father and that he had died protecting his best friends."
Liz barely saw the mindwarp dissolve. She had fallen to her knees, despite Max's best efforts to hold her upright. He was down beside her, not touching her any longer, because his arms were full of little boy.
Ben.
She felt Maria's arms coming around her, heard her best friends sobs through her own daze of grief.
And yet...Liz knew that grief was not the reason she was crying.
Because her eyes were full of the child in Max's arms, the child to whom she had felt an instant connection, just like she had felt one to his father all those years ago.
[I]"Hi. I'm Alex Whitman." The ghost of the boy Liz had known stuck his hand in her face. "We met last year, but you forgot about me."
"Oh. Sorry." Liz stared at him. Who was this strange boy? She had wanted to sit beside Maria but Ms. Elmer had a seating plan. Who needed a seating plan in Grade Five anyway? Liz thought in annoyance. But her irritation did not last because he passed her a piece of gum.
"It's okay." The brown-haired boy replied cheerfully. "We have the whole year to make up for lost time. We're going to be best friends you know." He grinned at her.
And Liz smiled back.[/I]
"Alex." Liz felt a smile break across her face, through her tears.
And, as her eyes met Max's dark ones over Ben's head, she knew that she was in serious trouble.
"Are you sure you don't mind coming?" Max asked quietly. "I just really needed to get back here. I'll take you back to Izzy's as soon as I check on Ben."
"Max, it's okay." Liz replied. "I wouldn't mind seeing him again myself." She flushed when Max looked surprised. "I wasn't kidding when I told you that I felt something when I was with him Max. I think I just [I]knew[/I] that he was yours. I know he's okay, but it'll make me feel better to see him again." She tried to ignore the pleased expression that crossed his face.
They had driven the rest of the way back to Michael and Max's apartment in virtual silence, each lost in their own thoughts. The quiet had not been tense this time though. Instead, it had been comfortable, familiar.
It had been [I]too[/I] comfortable. Comfortable enough that if Liz closed her eyes, she could pretend she was seventeen again, flying down the highway in Max's old Chevelle, the wind blowing through her long hair. She could almost imagine breathlessly awaiting Max's touch, because she knew it was coming sooner or later.
When they were seventeen they could barely keep their hands off of each other. It had sometimes seemed like she couldn't breathe properly until she was in Max's arms.
It was why she had been willing to forgive him for Tess, had been willing to let him back into her life. She had asked him if he thought she was so pathetic that she would wait for him for her entire life, but being in his company again... it reminded her of [I]why[/I] she had been willing to take another chance on him after finding out about the baby and before he had left her.
Nothing was right when they were apart. She remembered his words to her on the rocks near the pod chamber, after Tess had left, taking Max's son with her...
[I]"I've been really wrong about a lot. But I was right about one thing: to get you into my life, to be around you, to [/I]love[I] you."[/I]
He had been right. It was why she had let him back in. Loving each other had [I]never[/I] been wrong. It had never been what had screwed up everything. It had been staying away from each other that had caused all the problems. And, so, she had been willing to do anything to make sure that they were never apart again, including helping him find his son.
Because they were [I]meant[/I] to be together. Max and Liz. [I]Not[/I] Max and Tess. Not Liz and anyone else.
But there [I]had[/I] been someone else for him - someone else he had loved enough to give up a throne for.
His story - the one about Zan and Kadiya - it had disturbed her more than she had let him know. To know that he had been so attached to someone else - anyone else...Even in a past life...
It had hurt.
It was ridiculous and insane and silly. She was engaged to someone else - someone she loved. She had long accepted that Max&Liz were [I]not[/] meant to be, and yet she was upset because he had been in love with someone else in a [I]past[/I] life.
It was insane but true. She had to admit it to herself.
She was used to Tess, could have accepted the great love story of Zan and Ava. In fact, it probably would have made her feel better about Ben - to have that acknowledgment that there was no way she could have stopped what had happened between Max and Tess, that it [I]had[/I] been destined.
It was beginning to dawn on her that the idea that maybe Max and Tess had ended up together on Antar had always been a possibility in the back of her mind. She hadn't liked it - because of what she had done to Alex and because of what Tess was - but she had accepted that maybe it had been best for Max to leave her when he had - when she still had the chance to make a new life for herself, while they were still young. Maybe he had found his destiny on Antar - with [I]her[/I]. Because Liz didn't doubt for a minute that Tess still wanted Max, even if she had betrayed him to their enemies.
Because who wouldn't want Max? At least that's what her eighteen year old heart had wondered.
Yes, it would be better if he was with Tess. He would be with his son and maybe he could fix whatever it was that was wrong with Tess.
Tess needed him.
Max and Liz were [I]not[/I] meant to be after all. She had accepted it, moved on, found Dan.
Because what would she, Liz, have done if they had stayed together and married and committed to each other for life and he left her anyway?
And he would have left her. Ben would have been found, one way or another. Wasn't it better that it had been sooner? And wasn't it right that Max and Tess had been together so that Ben could exist?
All of this was going through Liz's mind as she followed Max into the apartment, as she tried to sort out what she was feeling [I]now[/I]. Now that he was back.
Because it changed everything again. She didn't want it to, but if their conversation had told her one thing, if her feelings and her jealousy over Kadiya had told her [I]anything[/I], it was that she was not over him.
But all this seemed inconsequential a split second later when she ran right into Max's back.
He had stopped abruptly. It was only when Liz peered around him that she saw that the main room of the apartment was in a complete shambles.
It looked like it had been torn apart by a hurricane. Or a wild animal.
Or something not of this Earth.
"Oh my God!" Liz gasped. "Max!"
But Max was already on the move, yelling as he ran into the bedroom. "Ben! Michael, where are you???"
Liz watched him for a moment, frozen. She could hear the panic in Max's voice as he called out again. "BEN!"
She managed to croak Max's son's name. "Ben?" And then, more strongly. "BEN!" She hurried in the direction of the kitchen. "Michael! Are you here?"
Max joined her there a minute later. He was turning in circles, his hands up at his temples, his manner completely frantic. "Oh God. Liz! Where are they?"
She grabbed his arms, pulled them down from where they were running wildly through his short dark hair. "Max! Calm down! You need to calm down!" He was staring at her, his eyes wide with horror.
"Liz! Where is he???"
"Max, this looks [I]really[/I] bad. I know it does. But we [I]need[/I] to calm down." She could see him struggling to get a hold of himself. "We need to think. Could Michael and Ben have made this mess themselves?"
"Why the hell would they tear the entire apartment apart?" Max demanded, sounding angry.
"They wouldn't." Liz agreed. She was searching her mind desperately for an answer. None presented itself. For the life of her, it looked like someone - or [I]something[/I] - had invaded the apartment and had taken everyone in it away with them. And yet...She frowned slightly, deep in thought. "But maybe whoever did this didn't find what they were looking for. Because, Max, think about it. Why would they destroy an apartment if they had what they had come for?"
She saw a flash of hope on Max's face. "You're right!" He was staring at the wall, his eyes darting around. She could practically hear the wheels turning in his head. "They didn't find him. Obviously. Michael must have gotten him out in time."
Liz raised an eyebrow. "[I]Who[/I] didn't find him Max?" She asked suspiciously. "I thought you told me that you were perfectly safe here."
Max didn't reply, just continued to stare at the wall, a slight frown appearing on his face. "What a minute..." He turned on his heel, hurried back into one of the bedrooms.
Liz hurried after him. "What? Max! I think we should call Kyle. He can put an APB for Michael and Ben. We should call Isabel. She needs to know about this. She might be in danger. She and Lexi and Jesse. Max!"
But Max didn't answer. When she entered the bedroom, he was standing in the centre of the room, staring at the wall [I]there[/I]. She looked around the room, searching for whatever it was that had brought him back in here. She felt her stomach turn over at the disaster that had been wreaked on Ben's bedroom. Because there could be little doubt that it belonged to Max's son. There were a few action figures from the final Star Wars movie on the bed, looking incongruous on a mattress that had been ripped to shreds. There was a poster for the Phoenix Coyotes hockey team on the wall and a picture of the Earth from space, very similar to the one that had hung on the wall in Max's old bedroom in Roswell.
It was a simple room but it was also clear that Max had done his best to make it a place a little human boy would want to be, even in the short time they had been in Albuquerque.
Liz watched Max in consternation as he moved towards the white wall that had the Coyotes poster on it. He ripped it off the wall, began to run his hands over it.
"Max, what on Earth are you doing?" Liz demanded, seriously concerned about his mental state. Had he completely lost his mind? How had he managed to accomplish anything on Antar if this was how he reacted in an emergency?
But she should have known better. Max was at his best in a crisis, always had been. Flashes of the episode with Pierce and all the various Skin-related disasters passed through her memory. Max had never faltered when lives had been in danger.
At least when he had known about the danger. He had not been able to save Alex. But, then, none of them had known about the snake in their midst.
"Liz, there used to be a closet here." Max told her over his shoulder. "This is a mind-warp."
"A mind-warp?" Liz felt a frisson of fear descend her spine. "Max, is Tess..."
"Tess is dead." Max replied firmly. "It's Ben. It's his gift. He inherited it from her." He began to pound on the wall, which for all the world seemed like a solid mass to Liz. "Ben! Are you in there buddy? It's Dad. Let me in!"
Liz watched him for a moment, still uncertain. But she suddenly remembered the time Tess had mindwarped an entire room out of existence in the Crashdown - the time Nicholas had been after them in Roswell, when he had made all the humans in town disappear. It was entirely possible that Max was right. She rushed over to Max, joined him in pounding on the wall. "Ben? Come on out Honey. It's Liz. I'm here with your dad. You're safe Sweetie."
Nothing happened.
Liz turned to Max. He rubbed his hand across his face wearily, continued to knock. "Ben, it's Dad. I swear it is."
"Max, are you sure that you're right about this?" Liz ventured carefully. "I mean, didn't Tess have to know [I]who[/I] she was mindwarping for it to work? Shouldn't we be able to see the door? Ben wouldn't know we're here."
"Yes I'm sure." Max snapped. She jumped slightly, despite herself. She could tell that he noticed and that he instantly regretted his tone. She didn't blame him though. He was freaking out with worry after all. "I'm sorry Liz." He said, his tone calmer. "I had to learn a lot about mindwarping when I found out it was Ben's gift - so that I could help him develop it. Tess didn't [I]always[/I] have to know exactly who she was mindwarping." Max explained. "Remember that time when I had to change Pierce's bones?" Liz nodded. "She only knew a number then - not [I]who[/], but how many. Which means that there were two or more people here. And he doesn't know they're gone and so he's still mindwarping two minds and we just stepped into it."
"I guess that makes sense." Liz shrugged. She gestured at the wall helplessly. "But he obviously doesn't believe it's us. What are we going to do?"
"I need to figure out a way for him to know it's us." Max sighed heavily, ran a hand through his hair. Liz felt a pang when she saw how tired he looked. She realized that his entire being radiated weariness, had since she had first laid eyes on him. She had noticed, she reflected, but had chosen to ignore it because of how angry she was at him.
"Why don't you try something that only the two of you would know?" Liz suggested, grasping at straws.
Max's eyes lit up. "Good idea." He turned back towards the wall, brought his hands up and laid them flat against the hard surface. "Ben, it's me buddy. I'm going to tell you something - something only you and I know. And then you'll know that it's really me and Liz out here. Okay? So just listen and when you know it's us, you can stop mindwarping."
Liz couldn't help herself. She brought her hand up, laid it on his arm, supporting him. He turned his head, his eyes meeting hers for a split second. Something flared there that made her heart skip a beat, but she refused to stop touching him.
He needed her. It would be the last time that she would be in a position to help him and she was going to do it.
They were friends. If nothing else, they always would be. And friends helped each other.
"Okay. Are you listening kiddo?" Max began to speak in a soothing voice. "Do you remember what I told you about on the ship when we were coming back here?" He paused, swallowed. "I told you all about all the people you were going to meet when we got here - I told you about Grandma and Grandpa and Auntie Izzy and Michael...and even about Maria and Kyle and the Sheriff." Liz felt tears beginning to fill her eyes. She lowered her head, rested her forehead against Max's arm. Because she knew what was coming next. She just [I]knew[/I]. "And I told you about Liz. I didn't tell you her name but I told you that she was my best friend and that she was going to love you. Do you remember I told you that? I told you that when she found out who you were, she was going to love you more than anyone in the world."
Liz frowned slightly. Her heart was beating a million miles a minute. There was something strange in the way he said that: [I]when she found out who you were...[/I] Like she didn't [I]already[/I] know who Ben was.
But, he was right. Ben was Max's son. And she did love him. Just because he was a part of Max.
Max, who until this minute, she had refused to recognize she still loved. In spite of everything, she still loved him.
Max was still speaking. "And she does Ben. Already. She told me."
"It's true Ben." Liz interjected. "Your dad is right."
"She doesn't even know yet Ben, but she loves you." Max continued. He had brought one of his arms down from the wall, used it now to pull Liz more closely against his side.
Liz raised her head, stared up at Max. "Know what Max?" She whispered.
But Max just smiled sadly, continued to speak to his son. "Because we're the only two who know the truth, right Benny? No one else knows, but I told [I]you[/I] because you deserved to know who you really are. And because I wanted you to know how special who you are makes you."
Liz lowered her eyes, just listened, knew that whatever Max was about to say was going to change everything.
But somehow she knew it would not be in a bad way. She waited breathlessly.
"I wanted you to know how special you were because you had a father who was good and brave and completely loved by all of his friends. You are so special because you are the gift he left behind when he left us. And so I told you that I wasn't your [I]real[/I] father, even though I am so lucky that I get to be your dad."
And Liz knew. The truth came to her so abruptly, she gasped, stumbled.
She felt Max tighten his arm around her, as though he knew her legs were about to give out on her. Liz's throat was closing up as tears began to stream down her face.
"I told you something that no one else knows. I told you that a man named Alex Whitman was your real father and that he had died protecting his best friends."
Liz barely saw the mindwarp dissolve. She had fallen to her knees, despite Max's best efforts to hold her upright. He was down beside her, not touching her any longer, because his arms were full of little boy.
Ben.
She felt Maria's arms coming around her, heard her best friends sobs through her own daze of grief.
And yet...Liz knew that grief was not the reason she was crying.
Because her eyes were full of the child in Max's arms, the child to whom she had felt an instant connection, just like she had felt one to his father all those years ago.
[I]"Hi. I'm Alex Whitman." The ghost of the boy Liz had known stuck his hand in her face. "We met last year, but you forgot about me."
"Oh. Sorry." Liz stared at him. Who was this strange boy? She had wanted to sit beside Maria but Ms. Elmer had a seating plan. Who needed a seating plan in Grade Five anyway? Liz thought in annoyance. But her irritation did not last because he passed her a piece of gum.
"It's okay." The brown-haired boy replied cheerfully. "We have the whole year to make up for lost time. We're going to be best friends you know." He grinned at her.
And Liz smiled back.[/I]
"Alex." Liz felt a smile break across her face, through her tears.
And, as her eyes met Max's dark ones over Ben's head, she knew that she was in serious trouble.