From the Ashes
Authors Note: Chapter 4 is up lol. This chapter is all Zaxie. Thanks for the feedback for Chapter 3 (
I flipped on GH the other day and watched as Ric confirmed the charred Body found in the boiler room to be Zander's...well I don't believe that for a single second. The current spoilers out there are so confusing. I can't make heads or tails out of a lot of them. Anyway, my fic isn't going to include any of those spoilers/potential spoilers. I wrote my own What Happened to Zander thing here because the show is going down the tubes with this trying to make some lame-o storyline out of it.
Okay, with that said...back to my fic. Everyone else is sleeping during this chapter and they will be back in the next chapter.
And finally...don't forget to review! I love reading reviews and it encourages me to write more and more often than if I didn't get any lol
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Maxie couldn't believe it...the man she thought was dead for the last year was actually alive. She fell silent as she looked into his eyes. Was she dreaming?? Maxie didn't want to blink or anything in fear that when she would open her eyes, Zander would be gone. She noticed he was dressed in black, which she figured would make him harder to see. He most definitely gave her a scare.
She finally found the power to talk again. She licked her lips before she spoke. "Am I dreaming?" she asked him. Maxie knew it sounded stupid, but that's what she was afraid of. She had dreamed about Zander before....for a while actually. From the time of the fire up to two months after it happened.
Zander took a seat on the foot of her bed. "Nah, you are not dreaming Maxie." He said with a slight grin. That grin quickly fell into a face that was serious. "I didn't mean to frighten you, you weren't supposed to see me." Zander didn't want her involved in his life again. He just wanted to let her know that he was alive, he didn't plan on her seeing him again.
Maxie quickly moved over next to him on the foot of her bed. She knew she wasn't dreaming now...she heard his voice. Just in case, she reached out and touched his arm. She pulled back... he was real all right. "Just making sure." She said with a slight smile. She wanted to tell Zander how much she missed him, but opted not to for the time being.
She had so many questions for Zander....How did he get out of the fire? Why didn't he want her seeing him, why hadn't he picked up the phone and told her he was alive? She finally decided to go ahead and ask some of her questions. "How did you survive the fire?" she asked as she looked into his eyes.
Zander got up and walked over to the light switch and turned it on lighting up the entire room. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Someone let me out." He replied as memories of the event flooded his mind.
**Flashback**
The room was in flames; a circle of fire surrounded an unconscious Zander Smith.
Zander's eyes slowly opened and he looked around him. The realization of the fire hit him like a ton of bricks. He got up on his feat and felt the intense heat of the flames. Panic ran through him...he didn't want to die this way, he wanted to live. Zander studied the circle of fire and knew he had to get out before he burnt to death. The fumes were starting to sicken him; he knew he didn't have much time to get out. Zander quickly pulled his shirt over his head. He tried to beat down the fire with it enough so he could get out....it worked a little bit. Zander knew he had two options...jump through the fire or try and leap over it. Zander decided to try and jump over it since beating it down seemed to weaken it.
He backed up as far as he could, got two and took a giant leap, barely clearing the fire. He landed on the ground with a thud and felt pain go through his body. He quickly forced himself to get up and went for the door banging on it.
"Someone let me out of here!" he yelled over and over again. Zander was now coughing pretty hard and he was about to give up and try to prepare himself for death when the door opened. He saw the face of an electrical man and so glad to see someone.
The man seemed shocked to see someone down there. "Are you okay sir?" he asked.
Zander quickly nodded. "I'm fine....thank you!. He quickly went through the door, which led out to the lobby of the hotel and looked back at the man. "Aren't you coming?" he asked as he noticed he wasn't coming with him. He was actually going down the stairs.
"I'm going to try and put the fire out and figure out if what I think happened, happened that caused this fire." The man called out to him.
Zander then realized he had 2 fire extinguishers but he knew it was still dangerous "You don't want to go in there...its about engulfed in flames!"
Zander knew he got through to him. He saw the man nod and turn around heading up the stairs.
Zander looked around the lobby. It wasn't completely engulfed in flames yet. "I'm going to try the back way out of here." He said.
The man tossed him a fire extinguisher. "Take this. I'll be right back.."
Before Zander could say or do anything, the man returned back to the boiler room. Zander stood there wanting to see the man get out of there since he saved his life. A minute or so later, a man's scream filled the air which caused Zander to run, the best he could, since his injured leg still hurt from being shot, towards the stairs . Zander noticed one of the heavy metal machines had fallen on top of the man. Zander decided he had to try and save him since the man saved him. "If you can hear me...don't move, I'm coming."
Zander made his way over to the man and managed to pull him out from underneath the machine. He noticed his head was bashed in and quickly felt for a pulse. Nothing....there was no pulse. The man that saved Zander from burning alive in the boiler room was dead. Zander heard people upstairs and figured out that they had to be the cops from what he could hear the distant voices were saying. He decided he would let the cops save the body. Zander quickly made his way over to the stairs and exited the boiler room leaving the door open but not noticing it closed right behind him instantly.. Zander made his way towards the back of the lobby towards the exit door.
Upon arriving at the lobby's back exit, he used his fire extinguisher a few times that probably saved his life. Without it, there was no way he could have gotten this far. Zander turned the knob and opened the door feeling the cool air on his skin. Freedom...Zander knew he wasn't going to die now. He quickly went through the door exiting the burning hotel and vanished into the night.....
**End of Flashback**
Zander looked back over at Maxie. "An electrical man happened to come down there and let me out....otherwise, I would have burned to death down there." He said.
Maxie stood up and walked towards him. "Thank God that you got out." She said. "How was Canada?" she asked. Maxie remembered him telling her that he planned on going to Canada once he got out of the hotel and out of Port Charles. She knew he had gone there.
Zander was a little puzzled by how she mentioned Canada. He didn't think he told her about going there. It then clicked that he had indeed told her about going there the last time they talked before the fire. "It was okay, I hid out for a long time while there and got rested and healed up." He explained. He paused....he had a few questions of his own. "How have you been Maxie?" he asked.
Maxie sighed softly. "Not so well. The whole event of the fire really had an impact on me. I wasn't the same since. My father Mac, he got severely injured in the fire...and then you were presumed to be lost...." She paused as she remembered about someone else who was lost in the fire...Cameron. "Zander, there is something you need to know....its about your dad." She said softly. Maxie had to tell him now before he found out some other way. She hoped he would find some sort of comfort in her telling him instead of someone else or from another source.
Zander knew something was wrong from the tone of her voice and the look in her eyes. He felt a sickening feeling come over him. "What is it?" he asked.
Maxie looked down for a second and then looked back up at Zander. "He is dead...." She started. "He died in the Port Charles fire saving Lucky Spencer....I am so sorry Zander."
Zander felt a sharp pain in his side. Zander and Cameron never really got along because of their past history, but Cameron was still his father. Zander never wanted him to die. Zander looked away for a moment letting it all sink in. "The fire...who else died?" he asked hoping nobody else that he cared about died.
Maxie knew the list of names off the top of her head. "Just Officer Brian Beck and Officer Capelli." She replied.
Zander looked back at Maxie at the mention of Brian Beck....the man he was accused of shooting. "Am I still a fugitive? Did they find the man that really shot Beck?" he asked.
Maxie shrugged. "I'm not sure how that works since Brian is dead...but Capelli was the one who shot and killed him....I bet he was the one who shot him the first time, a court would believe that."
"Any court under Lansing's thumb would lock me up and throw away the key if I ever decided to reveal myself." Zander said as he looked out her bedroom window. "It was a bitch getting in here." He said with a slight grin. "I had to climb the tree and everything...I haven't done that in a while."
Maxie laughed slightly. "I bet it was...you know, you could have picked up the phone and called me or something."
Zander raised a brow. "I'm far more creative than that...besides, I don't know your number and I couldn't get my hands on a phone book." He said. "I stumped you with my note didn't I?"
Maxie nodded smiling. "You sure did...your writing looks like my father's so I thought it was his....and then I thought for a split second that it was from my sister's boyfriend...then I didn't know who it was from."
"So how has everyone else in Port Charles been?" Zander asked curiously.
Maxie pressed her lips together in thought. "Well...my sister got back together with her ex boyfriend....Mac recovered...my mom came home for a little bit and then split, Alexis is doing a good job raising Kristina... Nikolas and Emily got married..." she paused and then felt like an idiot for bringing up Emily. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought her up." She apologized.
Zander shook his head. "I've had a lot of time to think about Emily and other things while I was in Canada. I realized that I am never getting her back. The Emily Quartermaine that loved me is gone....only Nikolas is in her heart now. I was so numb once I lost her...that's why I did such stupid things like getting involved with Faith Roscoe. A part of me will always love Emily but that chapter of my life is closed and I'm going to not let loosing Emily spiral me out of control again."
"Are you going to be okay?" Maxie asked him as her heart went out to him. She knew it must have hurt him coming to this...giving up on Emily. The way he described the prom that he took her to...the way he felt about her. That was love.
He sighed slightly. "Yeah, I'm okay now I think." Zander replied deciding to change the subject off of Emily. "Speaking of messed up love lives...is that jerk that stomped on your heart still in town?" he asked.
Maxie shook her head. "No...Kyle left town after high school ended." She said. "He went to some other college...most certainly not the one I'm going to. I'm going to a community college here in Port Charles."
"The college days...you are a freshmen right?" Zander asked figuring she had to be.
Maxie nodded and before she realized it, she was starting to ramble. "Yeah, and I'm living at home since my family is tight on money. When Mac got hurt, we had expensive medical bills and expenses..." she paused as she looked into his eyes.
She was tired of dancing around what was really going through her mind....how she felt. "I missed you." She said out of the blue. "I was never the same once I thought you were gone...I can't explain it, but everything was so different..." tears started to form in her eyes. She looked away. "Great, here come the water works...." She said trying not to let the tears fall.
Zander hated to see Maxie upset like this. He reached out and gently wiped her tears away. "Its okay..." he said.
Maxie shook her head. "I've always been strong since the fire around everyone...when Mac was hurt, I was strong for Georgie and for Mac....but when I'm alone, I break down and for some reason I can't be strong now. I can't hide my emotions right now...this is all so overwhelming....."
Before she realized it, Zander pulled her into a hug. Maxie held onto him tightly as the tears fell. She finally composed herself enough to let go. She sniffled slightly and then wiped her eyes.
"I have a favor to ask." Zander said and grinned slightly. "I know I've used up all my favors a long time ago, but heck....I'm asking for another one."
That made Maxie laugh slightly. She did do Zander quite a bit of favors, but she didn't mind...it was for a good cause. "Sure, what do you need?" she asked.
"A place to crash for a little bit. I've been living in my car since I left Canada and its freezing cold in there at night." Zander said as shivered slightly at the thought of spending another night in there. One night in that car was enough.
Maxie jumped at the opportunity of having Zander around. "Sure, you can stay here. You can sleep on the floor and when you hear someone coming, you can hide in the closet like you did before." Maxie said with a slight smile. "And I am going to put something in front of the door too...just incase someone like my nosy sister decides to pop in during the night for whatever reason."
Zander and Maxie pushed her dresser in front of the door and looked at it in satisfaction. "We better get some sleep. I don't want to keep you up all night Maxie." Zander said as he noticed her yawn.
"I guess you are right...let me make you up a bed first. I have a sleeping bag in the closet, extra pillows and blankets too." Maxie said going over to her closet. She opened it up and stepped up on her tiptoes to reach the top shelf where she kept all of those things. One by one, Maxie got everything down and once she was done, she closed her closet door. She laid out the sleeping bag on her floor next to her bed and set the pillow down on top of it where his head would go and set the blankets to the side. "Its no 5 star bed, but it works." She said as she went over to the light switch and shut the it off. Maxie then went over to her own bed and got in it.
Zander got into the sleeping bag and set the blanket on top of him. "Not bad actually." He said. "Just remember to watch were you are stepping if you have to get up during the night."
"I'll remember that." Maxie said as she started to get under the covers.
"You are going to sleep in your clothes?" Zander asked her.
Maxie paused and realized that she was dressed in her regular clothes yet. She shrugged figuring it would be a waste of time getting ready for bed and then having it get dressed a few hours later. "I might as well, since its already tomorrow." She replied getting underneath the covers. Maxie reached across to her lamp to shut it off and stopped for a second. "Hey Zander....promise me you will still be here in the morning."
Zander looked up at her from his sleeping bag on the floor. "I promise." He said with a slight grin.
Maxie then turned off the light and the whole room was pitch black. She laid there as she stared at the ceiling not able to fall asleep. She tried to go to sleep closing her eyes and trying to relax, but all she could think about was what just happened. All her wishes and dreams about Zander had come true. The sweet guy that she remembered dancing with was alive after all. Maxie wondered if Zander was asleep and rolled over and looked down at him on the floor. "Zander?? Are you awake?" she whispered.
Zander hadn't had much better luck falling asleep. Between the floor hurting his back and his deep thoughts about seeing Maxie again and his memories resurfacing about the fire, he hadn't fallen asleep yet. He heard Maxie whisper something about him being awake to him and sat up. "I'm awake." He said looking up at her. He rose to his feet and flicked on the lamp again, lighting up the room once more.
Maxie shut her eyes her eyes a little sensitive to the light at first. She opened them and looked over at Zander. "Since we both can't sleep...why don't we watch some TV together? You can come up here on my bed so you can see it."
Zander wasn't so sure about that. He could definitely tell that Maxie wasn't a kid and was no longer a high school girl but figured it would be okay...it was innocent and besides, they were friends. He nodded, turned off the lamp again and crawled up onto her bed lying down next to Maxie.
Maxie smiled slightly as she found her remote and flicked on her TV. There was some movie on....but neither Zander or Maxie were really interested in it.
Zander looked over at Maxie after a while and noticed that she was fast asleep. Rather than getting up and risking waking Maxie up, Zander figured he would stay put and sleep next to her for the night. He looked at her while she slept. "Goodnight Maxie." He whispered to the one person who believed in him when everyone lost faith in him and then closed his eyes drifting off to sleep.
Authors Note: Chapter 4 is up lol. This chapter is all Zaxie. Thanks for the feedback for Chapter 3 (
I flipped on GH the other day and watched as Ric confirmed the charred Body found in the boiler room to be Zander's...well I don't believe that for a single second. The current spoilers out there are so confusing. I can't make heads or tails out of a lot of them. Anyway, my fic isn't going to include any of those spoilers/potential spoilers. I wrote my own What Happened to Zander thing here because the show is going down the tubes with this trying to make some lame-o storyline out of it.
Okay, with that said...back to my fic. Everyone else is sleeping during this chapter and they will be back in the next chapter.
And finally...don't forget to review! I love reading reviews and it encourages me to write more and more often than if I didn't get any lol
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Maxie couldn't believe it...the man she thought was dead for the last year was actually alive. She fell silent as she looked into his eyes. Was she dreaming?? Maxie didn't want to blink or anything in fear that when she would open her eyes, Zander would be gone. She noticed he was dressed in black, which she figured would make him harder to see. He most definitely gave her a scare.
She finally found the power to talk again. She licked her lips before she spoke. "Am I dreaming?" she asked him. Maxie knew it sounded stupid, but that's what she was afraid of. She had dreamed about Zander before....for a while actually. From the time of the fire up to two months after it happened.
Zander took a seat on the foot of her bed. "Nah, you are not dreaming Maxie." He said with a slight grin. That grin quickly fell into a face that was serious. "I didn't mean to frighten you, you weren't supposed to see me." Zander didn't want her involved in his life again. He just wanted to let her know that he was alive, he didn't plan on her seeing him again.
Maxie quickly moved over next to him on the foot of her bed. She knew she wasn't dreaming now...she heard his voice. Just in case, she reached out and touched his arm. She pulled back... he was real all right. "Just making sure." She said with a slight smile. She wanted to tell Zander how much she missed him, but opted not to for the time being.
She had so many questions for Zander....How did he get out of the fire? Why didn't he want her seeing him, why hadn't he picked up the phone and told her he was alive? She finally decided to go ahead and ask some of her questions. "How did you survive the fire?" she asked as she looked into his eyes.
Zander got up and walked over to the light switch and turned it on lighting up the entire room. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Someone let me out." He replied as memories of the event flooded his mind.
**Flashback**
The room was in flames; a circle of fire surrounded an unconscious Zander Smith.
Zander's eyes slowly opened and he looked around him. The realization of the fire hit him like a ton of bricks. He got up on his feat and felt the intense heat of the flames. Panic ran through him...he didn't want to die this way, he wanted to live. Zander studied the circle of fire and knew he had to get out before he burnt to death. The fumes were starting to sicken him; he knew he didn't have much time to get out. Zander quickly pulled his shirt over his head. He tried to beat down the fire with it enough so he could get out....it worked a little bit. Zander knew he had two options...jump through the fire or try and leap over it. Zander decided to try and jump over it since beating it down seemed to weaken it.
He backed up as far as he could, got two and took a giant leap, barely clearing the fire. He landed on the ground with a thud and felt pain go through his body. He quickly forced himself to get up and went for the door banging on it.
"Someone let me out of here!" he yelled over and over again. Zander was now coughing pretty hard and he was about to give up and try to prepare himself for death when the door opened. He saw the face of an electrical man and so glad to see someone.
The man seemed shocked to see someone down there. "Are you okay sir?" he asked.
Zander quickly nodded. "I'm fine....thank you!. He quickly went through the door, which led out to the lobby of the hotel and looked back at the man. "Aren't you coming?" he asked as he noticed he wasn't coming with him. He was actually going down the stairs.
"I'm going to try and put the fire out and figure out if what I think happened, happened that caused this fire." The man called out to him.
Zander then realized he had 2 fire extinguishers but he knew it was still dangerous "You don't want to go in there...its about engulfed in flames!"
Zander knew he got through to him. He saw the man nod and turn around heading up the stairs.
Zander looked around the lobby. It wasn't completely engulfed in flames yet. "I'm going to try the back way out of here." He said.
The man tossed him a fire extinguisher. "Take this. I'll be right back.."
Before Zander could say or do anything, the man returned back to the boiler room. Zander stood there wanting to see the man get out of there since he saved his life. A minute or so later, a man's scream filled the air which caused Zander to run, the best he could, since his injured leg still hurt from being shot, towards the stairs . Zander noticed one of the heavy metal machines had fallen on top of the man. Zander decided he had to try and save him since the man saved him. "If you can hear me...don't move, I'm coming."
Zander made his way over to the man and managed to pull him out from underneath the machine. He noticed his head was bashed in and quickly felt for a pulse. Nothing....there was no pulse. The man that saved Zander from burning alive in the boiler room was dead. Zander heard people upstairs and figured out that they had to be the cops from what he could hear the distant voices were saying. He decided he would let the cops save the body. Zander quickly made his way over to the stairs and exited the boiler room leaving the door open but not noticing it closed right behind him instantly.. Zander made his way towards the back of the lobby towards the exit door.
Upon arriving at the lobby's back exit, he used his fire extinguisher a few times that probably saved his life. Without it, there was no way he could have gotten this far. Zander turned the knob and opened the door feeling the cool air on his skin. Freedom...Zander knew he wasn't going to die now. He quickly went through the door exiting the burning hotel and vanished into the night.....
**End of Flashback**
Zander looked back over at Maxie. "An electrical man happened to come down there and let me out....otherwise, I would have burned to death down there." He said.
Maxie stood up and walked towards him. "Thank God that you got out." She said. "How was Canada?" she asked. Maxie remembered him telling her that he planned on going to Canada once he got out of the hotel and out of Port Charles. She knew he had gone there.
Zander was a little puzzled by how she mentioned Canada. He didn't think he told her about going there. It then clicked that he had indeed told her about going there the last time they talked before the fire. "It was okay, I hid out for a long time while there and got rested and healed up." He explained. He paused....he had a few questions of his own. "How have you been Maxie?" he asked.
Maxie sighed softly. "Not so well. The whole event of the fire really had an impact on me. I wasn't the same since. My father Mac, he got severely injured in the fire...and then you were presumed to be lost...." She paused as she remembered about someone else who was lost in the fire...Cameron. "Zander, there is something you need to know....its about your dad." She said softly. Maxie had to tell him now before he found out some other way. She hoped he would find some sort of comfort in her telling him instead of someone else or from another source.
Zander knew something was wrong from the tone of her voice and the look in her eyes. He felt a sickening feeling come over him. "What is it?" he asked.
Maxie looked down for a second and then looked back up at Zander. "He is dead...." She started. "He died in the Port Charles fire saving Lucky Spencer....I am so sorry Zander."
Zander felt a sharp pain in his side. Zander and Cameron never really got along because of their past history, but Cameron was still his father. Zander never wanted him to die. Zander looked away for a moment letting it all sink in. "The fire...who else died?" he asked hoping nobody else that he cared about died.
Maxie knew the list of names off the top of her head. "Just Officer Brian Beck and Officer Capelli." She replied.
Zander looked back at Maxie at the mention of Brian Beck....the man he was accused of shooting. "Am I still a fugitive? Did they find the man that really shot Beck?" he asked.
Maxie shrugged. "I'm not sure how that works since Brian is dead...but Capelli was the one who shot and killed him....I bet he was the one who shot him the first time, a court would believe that."
"Any court under Lansing's thumb would lock me up and throw away the key if I ever decided to reveal myself." Zander said as he looked out her bedroom window. "It was a bitch getting in here." He said with a slight grin. "I had to climb the tree and everything...I haven't done that in a while."
Maxie laughed slightly. "I bet it was...you know, you could have picked up the phone and called me or something."
Zander raised a brow. "I'm far more creative than that...besides, I don't know your number and I couldn't get my hands on a phone book." He said. "I stumped you with my note didn't I?"
Maxie nodded smiling. "You sure did...your writing looks like my father's so I thought it was his....and then I thought for a split second that it was from my sister's boyfriend...then I didn't know who it was from."
"So how has everyone else in Port Charles been?" Zander asked curiously.
Maxie pressed her lips together in thought. "Well...my sister got back together with her ex boyfriend....Mac recovered...my mom came home for a little bit and then split, Alexis is doing a good job raising Kristina... Nikolas and Emily got married..." she paused and then felt like an idiot for bringing up Emily. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought her up." She apologized.
Zander shook his head. "I've had a lot of time to think about Emily and other things while I was in Canada. I realized that I am never getting her back. The Emily Quartermaine that loved me is gone....only Nikolas is in her heart now. I was so numb once I lost her...that's why I did such stupid things like getting involved with Faith Roscoe. A part of me will always love Emily but that chapter of my life is closed and I'm going to not let loosing Emily spiral me out of control again."
"Are you going to be okay?" Maxie asked him as her heart went out to him. She knew it must have hurt him coming to this...giving up on Emily. The way he described the prom that he took her to...the way he felt about her. That was love.
He sighed slightly. "Yeah, I'm okay now I think." Zander replied deciding to change the subject off of Emily. "Speaking of messed up love lives...is that jerk that stomped on your heart still in town?" he asked.
Maxie shook her head. "No...Kyle left town after high school ended." She said. "He went to some other college...most certainly not the one I'm going to. I'm going to a community college here in Port Charles."
"The college days...you are a freshmen right?" Zander asked figuring she had to be.
Maxie nodded and before she realized it, she was starting to ramble. "Yeah, and I'm living at home since my family is tight on money. When Mac got hurt, we had expensive medical bills and expenses..." she paused as she looked into his eyes.
She was tired of dancing around what was really going through her mind....how she felt. "I missed you." She said out of the blue. "I was never the same once I thought you were gone...I can't explain it, but everything was so different..." tears started to form in her eyes. She looked away. "Great, here come the water works...." She said trying not to let the tears fall.
Zander hated to see Maxie upset like this. He reached out and gently wiped her tears away. "Its okay..." he said.
Maxie shook her head. "I've always been strong since the fire around everyone...when Mac was hurt, I was strong for Georgie and for Mac....but when I'm alone, I break down and for some reason I can't be strong now. I can't hide my emotions right now...this is all so overwhelming....."
Before she realized it, Zander pulled her into a hug. Maxie held onto him tightly as the tears fell. She finally composed herself enough to let go. She sniffled slightly and then wiped her eyes.
"I have a favor to ask." Zander said and grinned slightly. "I know I've used up all my favors a long time ago, but heck....I'm asking for another one."
That made Maxie laugh slightly. She did do Zander quite a bit of favors, but she didn't mind...it was for a good cause. "Sure, what do you need?" she asked.
"A place to crash for a little bit. I've been living in my car since I left Canada and its freezing cold in there at night." Zander said as shivered slightly at the thought of spending another night in there. One night in that car was enough.
Maxie jumped at the opportunity of having Zander around. "Sure, you can stay here. You can sleep on the floor and when you hear someone coming, you can hide in the closet like you did before." Maxie said with a slight smile. "And I am going to put something in front of the door too...just incase someone like my nosy sister decides to pop in during the night for whatever reason."
Zander and Maxie pushed her dresser in front of the door and looked at it in satisfaction. "We better get some sleep. I don't want to keep you up all night Maxie." Zander said as he noticed her yawn.
"I guess you are right...let me make you up a bed first. I have a sleeping bag in the closet, extra pillows and blankets too." Maxie said going over to her closet. She opened it up and stepped up on her tiptoes to reach the top shelf where she kept all of those things. One by one, Maxie got everything down and once she was done, she closed her closet door. She laid out the sleeping bag on her floor next to her bed and set the pillow down on top of it where his head would go and set the blankets to the side. "Its no 5 star bed, but it works." She said as she went over to the light switch and shut the it off. Maxie then went over to her own bed and got in it.
Zander got into the sleeping bag and set the blanket on top of him. "Not bad actually." He said. "Just remember to watch were you are stepping if you have to get up during the night."
"I'll remember that." Maxie said as she started to get under the covers.
"You are going to sleep in your clothes?" Zander asked her.
Maxie paused and realized that she was dressed in her regular clothes yet. She shrugged figuring it would be a waste of time getting ready for bed and then having it get dressed a few hours later. "I might as well, since its already tomorrow." She replied getting underneath the covers. Maxie reached across to her lamp to shut it off and stopped for a second. "Hey Zander....promise me you will still be here in the morning."
Zander looked up at her from his sleeping bag on the floor. "I promise." He said with a slight grin.
Maxie then turned off the light and the whole room was pitch black. She laid there as she stared at the ceiling not able to fall asleep. She tried to go to sleep closing her eyes and trying to relax, but all she could think about was what just happened. All her wishes and dreams about Zander had come true. The sweet guy that she remembered dancing with was alive after all. Maxie wondered if Zander was asleep and rolled over and looked down at him on the floor. "Zander?? Are you awake?" she whispered.
Zander hadn't had much better luck falling asleep. Between the floor hurting his back and his deep thoughts about seeing Maxie again and his memories resurfacing about the fire, he hadn't fallen asleep yet. He heard Maxie whisper something about him being awake to him and sat up. "I'm awake." He said looking up at her. He rose to his feet and flicked on the lamp again, lighting up the room once more.
Maxie shut her eyes her eyes a little sensitive to the light at first. She opened them and looked over at Zander. "Since we both can't sleep...why don't we watch some TV together? You can come up here on my bed so you can see it."
Zander wasn't so sure about that. He could definitely tell that Maxie wasn't a kid and was no longer a high school girl but figured it would be okay...it was innocent and besides, they were friends. He nodded, turned off the lamp again and crawled up onto her bed lying down next to Maxie.
Maxie smiled slightly as she found her remote and flicked on her TV. There was some movie on....but neither Zander or Maxie were really interested in it.
Zander looked over at Maxie after a while and noticed that she was fast asleep. Rather than getting up and risking waking Maxie up, Zander figured he would stay put and sleep next to her for the night. He looked at her while she slept. "Goodnight Maxie." He whispered to the one person who believed in him when everyone lost faith in him and then closed his eyes drifting off to sleep.
