Thank you guys for being so patient and waiting for this! I know it's been a long time but my comp has been acting up. We just got DSL today and so now I can post alot more, actually the next part is almost done! Won't be long, and summer is coming! Thanks again. Hope you enjoy it!

Lissa

Challenge 921

"Look, look!" Max followed Lily into where she had been playing a little too quietly for about fifteen minutes.

"But, Max." Aidan whined. They had just gotten to the good part of building their city. They were on their way to destruction. "We gotta smash it now!"

"Well, let me go see what Lilybird wants me to see." Max promised. "Then we'll crash it with the loudest noise you've ever heard."

"Yeah!" His mother never let him smash his city with massive amounts of noise.

"Look, look!" Lily pointed to the bedroom.

Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to leave her alone for such large amounts of time.

His answer was confirmed when he stepped into the room and saw red marker all over the wall. "Look, look." Max wished he hadn't

"Lilybird." He sighed, he was planning on painting those walls anyway. Really.

She proudly moved over to the door and pushed it shut to show him that she had even taken the time to decorate the back side.

"Not me!" Aidan said happy that it wasn't him who was going to get the heat for this. He had learned a long time ago that one doesn't write on the walls, especially in crayon.

"Let's go wash you off, Lilybird, and then we have to start cleaning this." He thought of Lily with a bucket of water and decided to wait till later to clean up the mess.

"We gotta smash it, Max." Aidan pulled on his leg. "Please."

"We'll do it once Lilybird goes down for a nap." He whispered the last word man to man. He winked at Aidan to make it understood that only babies and girls needed naps.

"I don't need one." Aidan shook his head already looking forward to the time when he would be able to spend time alone with Max. "Boys don't need naps."

Lily looked disturbed by the threat of a nap and folded her arms in defiance of the word. "No." She shook her head, curls flying prettily.

"I'm afraid so, Lilybird."

"Yeah, only boys can stay up."

Her lip pouted and Aidan melted. "Alright, Lily, you can stay up too."

"Aidan sleep too." Lily nodded.

Aidan cringed but would do anything for Lily. "Ok."

"We'll go wash her up and go potty, then we'll all go lie down for a little while." Max agreed. Two children under the age of five was really a difficult task.

"Hello?" Liz pushed open the door, quiet noticing the complete silence in the house.

"I'm in here, Liz." Max called.

"What are you doing?" Liz asked quietly. The two children were passed out on the bed. Lily's head buried underneath her pink blanket and the newest edition to her sleeping collection, a plastic doll she had found at a garage sale and wouldn't let go of, that buried deep inside Max's back when she crawled into bed with him at night.

"I think my baby girl's going to be an artist." Max pointed to the red marker on the wall. He was working on the second wall and hadn't even successfully removed the entire marker from the first.

"Who left the marker down?" Liz questioned. She tried to hold back a grin but was didn't quite make it.

"Daddy did." Max said sheepishly. "She was so proud of herself; you should have seen her face."

"I'm sure she was." Liz said, slipping her hands into her pocket. "Aidan used to get a kick out of marking up the walls. You have time for a snack break and then I'll help you scrub."

"Sure." Max stood and stretched. Despite the rain the past night, it was warm and sunny today and he was shirtless. Liz stared at his muscled chest as he stretched, unaware of her gaze.

Then their eyes met. Sure she had seen him over the summer in the swimming pool and such, but his body never ceased to amaze her. Her gaze made its way up to his eyes who were staring right back at her. A rush of heat went through her body and she blushed heavily before turning and walking out of the bedroom.

She went to the kitchen and divided the sandwiches she had picked up. "Where are the knives?" Liz asked.

"Right here." She hadn't realized that he had followed her into the kitchen.

He reached across the counter and picked up a magnet. "You have to do it like this." His breath was right next to her ear. "Lilybird figured out how to get her hand inside the drawers with just the clip." Easily, he clipped open the drawer with the magnet but didn't move. "I've missed you." He whispered against her ear.

Heat flew through Liz's body as it pressed against his bare chest. "Me too." She nodded her agreement.

"I love you, Liz." He whispered before turning her around and kissing her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed closer.

"I love you too." She whispered when she they broke for breath. "So much." She laid her head against his chest to catch her breath and calm her heart. "My dad came by today, right after you left."

"What'd he say?" Max pulled back a little bit, not sure what she wanted him to do.

"He wants to get to know Aidan better. I guess he's finally decided he's missed out on enough." Liz said she was aglow with happiness. "It has been the best day, besides the heat."

"Yeah." He agreed and pulled her close to his body. "Are you ready to tell me about Jonathan?" He hadn't wanted to press, but he decided

She took a deep breath and nodded. She had debated whether or not she was going to but knew now was the time.

"Come, let's finish here." She slid into the kitchen table, not really interested in food but knowing the food would keep Max from asking too many questions.

"When I was fourteen, as I told you before, I hung out with Alex's friends mostly during the summer, when I was home from Vermont. Most of his friends treated me like a little sister, but then there was John. He was the same age as Alex, as were most of his friends. He was taller, his red hair never really seemed groomed. His piercing brown eyes were something that couldn't be competed with." She started to explain.

Max made a grunting sound, signaling for her to continue.

"Nothing happened that first summer, but when I turned fifteen, and came back from school, I was angry, frustrated, and so very alone. All the other girls had somebody to be with. They had best friends, boyfriends, and all went to West Roswell High, including Alex. Time at home during the summer was torture. It was one of these days, I was sent to John's house around the corner to bring Alex home."

"Liz, his mother gave me a huge smile as she had taken a special liking to me. She told me to go on back and get the boys. Alex and John had been friends since they were ten, so the Parkers knew me."

She was starting to fidget and Max knew she was getting nervous.

"I found them in a room, deep in conversation. I had never seen them in that room before, it had always been shut." She was taken back to the time when she had met the real Jonathan Parker.

[i] Nothing much was on her mind except the summer dance Nancy was insisting she attend. All the other girls there were going to have a date, but she would not because she had yet to find one. It was the girl's responsibility to ask. Because she didn't attend West Roswell, she had very little options.

Alex, of course, had already been asked by the tall brunette across the street.

"Alex, Nancy wants you home now." She had stepped inside the room loudly so as not to startle them.

"Liz!" John had acted surprised to see her and his face turned a hue to match his hair.

"Liz." Alex had said, his voice low, looking at her. "Come on." He tried to remove her from the room.

"No, Alex, I think she should know." John took his arm and looked at him.

Alex straightened, he was lanky but prepared to fight for his sister. "No, John."

"Alex, I think it's time." John straightened himself. As the boys were the same height they came eye to eye, but John had more muscle on him.

"You guys." Liz stood between them.

"Alex, please excuse us, and shut the door."

Liz's heart pounded. At fifteen and to be left alone in a room with a boy was a huge event, no doubt.

Alex gave John an angry look before turning to walk out and shut the door behind him.

Liz finally began to look around. Her breath stuck in her throat and she looked at him.

Pictures of her from the age of nine filled the room. She had always known he had wanted to be a photographer, she didn't know she was so often his subject. There were many where she was aware of him taking pictures and she had smiled for his camera. But there were some that she didn't know he had taken.

Her working in her embarrassing Crashdown uniform.

Sitting at the desk studying in the study she and Alex shared.

Her with the little boy she babysat walking home from the public pool.

"John?" She asked.

"You know, I've always had my camera with me." He blushed.

"Yes." She nodded slowly.

"Well, you've always been my most willing and interesting subject." He told her. "I like taking pictures of you. Especially when you don't know I'm taking them." He moved forward. "You have a stunning smile, but look here, where you're concentrating on Ancient cultures, your eyebrow is creasing. Look at the determination on your face." He got excited. "Then look here, with the Johnson kid, you're glowing. You do want children, don't you, Elizabeth?" He was the only one who called her by her full name and it never seemed to bother her.

"Yes." She nodded still looking at him. "But why me?"

"I'm in love with you." He said it casually.

Her heart stopped. It was something all fifteen year olds had wanted to hear.

"I love taking pictures of you, I love being around you, I love you."

She looked up at him hoping to God that she had found someone. "Would you go to the summer dance with me? Nancy really wants me to go this year, and I don't know anyone else who would be willing to go. I can't go by myself, but if I don't get a date, Nancy will force me to."

"Of course, I wanted you to ask me last year." He told her, gently lifting her face to look at him.. "Would you be my girlfriend?"

She nodded vigorously. He hugged her and pressed a kiss to her cheek before showing her more pictures.

Alex hadn't been very happy at first but had gotten used to the idea.

Liz had been terrified going back to school in Vermont that summer knowing she would be separated from him for three months before Christmas.

But they had held out and eventually had gotten married, Liz straight from high school as suggested by a so very helpful Nancy.

[/i]

"I remember the day he died. I hadn't been so sure about him leaving." She fidgeted again. "I was eighteen weeks pregnant by that point, and my doctor didn't think it was wise for me to travel. He was gone to photograph light houses for a two weeks, I was staying with his parents because I was having difficulties with the pregnancy."

Her eyes filled with tears now. "He wasn't supposed to come home that day. He wanted to be there for Valentine's Day and our six month anniversary. We weren't really planning on Aidan yet, but we were ecstatic just the same. I remember getting the call. I didn't believe it at first. Here I was, pregnant, and now a widow."

She stopped and collected herself.

"What happened to him?" Max asked softly.

"He was being shuttled across the tarmac to board onto his final flight home. There wasn't efficient communication between plane and shuttle. Thirty-two people."

Max went to her and held her. He understood her hatred for planes now.

"Cry, Liz, love." Max said.

"I've done enough of that, my tummy was just starting to round. John was getting so excited to take pictures of me pregnant. I've never seen anyone so excited." Liz said. "And now Aidan looks like him. Thank you for the time you gave me to get to this point, Max." Liz said. "Most men would have demanded that they know everything, right away."

"But I did, Liz. Remember?"

"Yeah, but you still gave me time." She told him. "Thank you for understanding, and waiting"

"I love you, Liz, and I would wait forever."

[b] TBC[/b]