A/N: I went back and was rereading the story. I just noticed that I make
adoption sound like a bad thing or I look down on it, when in reality I
actually think quite the opposite. I'm adopted myself so I think it's a
wonderful thing. I just portray it as a way most teen mothers feel or go
through when deciding what to do with an unplanned pregnancy.
Also, Max isn't going to get it as easy as he thinks he is, Liz is a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for. Remember, she's no longer the seventeen-year-old daughter of Nancy and Jeff Parker, one of the richest families in town, she's now the twenty three year old mother of a four year old little girl of her own. So don't worry, it's not all going to fall into place as it's supposed to.
[b]Chapter 16[/b]
Liz turned around slowly and studied him.
He grew a few inches taller; his hair still fell in the same way. He was dressed casually although his stance was anything but. He stood with his hands in his pocket his head tucked down, like Hannah did when she wasn't sure about something.
"Hannah bean, go downstairs and wait for Kyle please." Liz told her daughter without taking her eyes from Max.
Both held their gaze steady. Max wanted to get a look at his little girl again but Liz was blocking his view. She was running around somewhere in the apartment.
"Hannah, hurry, and tell Kyle to come up." Liz said.
"Alright." She slid by her father, unknowingly, and held tightly to the railing that led down to the parking lot where Kyle was to pick her up.
"Stay by the stairs Hannah and don't move."
"What are you doing here, Max?" Liz asked setting her purse down.
"I came to see you." He said simply.
Liz was grateful that Serena had gone ahead with Alex and Maria and had already gone down to church. All the lights in their apartment were out and she was silently happy that they wouldn't come out and see him here.
"You came to see me. After four years, you came to see me?" Liz asked to clarify.
Max flinched. It just sounded wrong. "It's not like that, Liz." He said quietly. How was he going to explain it?
"Max, you can't just show up on my doorstep some Saturday night. You've not tried to find me in the past four years; you could have at least called before showing up. Now I'm going to have to explain to my daughter who you are."
"Our daughter." He said quietly.
"No, Max. Until this moment you have not been a part of her life. You wanted to send her off to be adopted. Right now, she is not our daughter, she is very much, my daughter." Liz said firmly.
Max looked at her shocked at strong she had become.
"Kyle!" Hannah said excitedly.
"Hannah?" Liz called.
"She's here, Liz, what's up?" Kyle said stepping onto the second floor. "You ready to go?"
"Yes, Kyle, I am." Liz nodded.
"Who's this?" He said putting Hannah down.
"Kyle, this is Max, Max, this is Kyle." She introduced.
"Max? As in Max?" He asked.
Liz nodded looking from Hannah to Max to Kyle. Her brain, her heart, her soul, was confused beyond help.
"Max?" Hannah asked hanging onto Kyle's hand.
"I'll explain later. Kyle, I'll meet you down by the car ok? Just give me a second." She looked at him. "Take her with."
Liz watched as they disappeared down the steps.
"So he knows about me, are you seeing him?"
"Yes, and it's not really your business." Liz raised her chin daring him to challenge her. "Max, we have her graduation ceremony to go to. Hannah's going to start Kindergarten in the fall, we're all going down there for the little party that they have for the four year olds. We're going to be late if I don't leave."
"Oh, ok." He said not knowing what to say. "Here's my number." He gave it to her. "Call me when you can?" He asked.
"I'll do that." She shut the door behind her. "I'll walk you down."
They walked down the stairs to an awaiting Kyle and Hannah.
Hannah eyed Max carefully and stayed on the opposite side of Kyle who was on the opposite side of Liz. She sensed something was wrong, her mother always introduced her to someone new. The man was staring at her again and she shrank behind Kyle's legs.
"You ready to go?"
"Les, Mommy." Hannah nodded and reached for Kyle who took her.
Hannah rested her head on his shoulder. Max's heart lurched at the comfort that his daughter took in another man's arms. Kyle noticed Max's face change for a quick instant and smirked at him before Liz could see.
"I'll see you around, Max." Liz said before turning and walking to the car.
****
Max sat outside in the church parking lot. He had absolutely no right to be going to the ceremony, but he couldn't stop himself from walking up to the auditorium he had watched many other people enter.
Walking into the auditorium he wondered if he had made a mistake. Maybe he wouldn't alert Liz to the fact that he was here.
He took a seat in the back of the auditorium where no one would notice him.
The lights flickered once, twice, and everyone hushed. Well as much as hushed could be. With it only being a four-year-old graduation, there were many younger siblings in the crowd.
Pretty soon they called the name of each of the little kids. There were only about fifteen kids moving onto the big bad dangerous world of kindergarten so the announcer also the pastor at the church asked each child a few questions to the amusement of the audience.
Hannah was one of the last kids called.
[I] Hannah Bella-Marie Parker. [/I]
Max sat a little straighter when he heard her name called. Her name flowed together perfectly, just like everything else Liz did. She walked onto stage with a huge grin on her face. She held her robe up with both hands. She was shorter than the other kids Max noticed. Liz had always been shorter than the others, knowing this made him smile a bit, she had inherited another trait from her mother.
[I] "Hello, Miss Hannah." The pastor said.
"Hello, Pastor." She said back smiling. Her r's weren't pronounced all the way.
"Who did you come with tonight?" He asked kindly.
"Wif Mommy and Kyle. Gwama Amy and Gwampa Jim too." She turned to the crowd and waved happily.
"I bet they're all very proud of you. Do you think so?"
"Yes. Aunt Mwia said is hard and she supwised Kyle did it. But don't know how she means because Kyle's smawt." [/I]
There was a chuckle from the crowd and a quick "Hannah" which he knew came from Liz. He knew automatically that the spunk was something completely and uniquely Hannah.
[I] "Alright, Miss Hannah. Congratulations. [/I]
She walked down and straight to Liz.
Liz must have said something she didn't like because she turned and glared.
Two more names were called before the ceremony was over. Max watched as a small crowd of people surrounded Hannah and he couldn't see her anymore. Max stood quietly and made his way out of the auditorium before he was noticed by anyone.
****
Hannah snuggled her head more comfortably into Kyle's neck. He stopped outside the door while Liz unlocked it. He had draped his coat around Hannah's shoulders and it had nearly swallowed her up. He made a quick check and made sure the ring was still in there. Underneath Liz's façade of being happy he could sense her confusion. He was going to wait till she sorted through that confusion to ask her.
After all, he had some confusion to work out on his own. He was reminded of that when Serena walked up to Maria's and Alex's door with them.
"I thought you guys would have been here earlier than this." Serena said happily to Liz.
"We went for ice cream." Liz said opening the door. "You can go set her on the bed." She instructed absently studying the way Kyle had looked at Serena.
"So what have you been telling my daughter, Maria?" Once she made sure Kyle was in, she turned to talk to her friends across the way.
"Nothing." She grinned. "That was told in complete confidence between girls."
"You're teaching her things, Maria." Liz smiled. "I'm a girl, care to share?"
"I know. But you're Mommy and it was just Aunt Mwia and Hannah talk." She smiled.
"Mommy!"
"Speak of the angel." Maria laughed.
"I thought she was sleeping." Liz said annoyed.
"Uh, Liz!" It was Kyle this time.
"I'm coming." Liz called. "Those two." Liz didn't finish her sentence before she turned around and entered the house.
"See we should have gone with them, Maria, then I could have carried Hannah up and she wouldn't be awake now, and Liz could go straight to sleep." Alex said crossing his arms.
"Alex, if we would have gone with them, you wouldn't have gotten to hang around afterwards with us and Hannah's aunt." Maria said smartly.
"Who said I wanted to hang out with Hannah's aunt?"
"You said so yourself on the way home, she's nice and sweet and unbelievably gorgeous." Maria repeated.
"She is." Alex shrugged casually and turned inside the apartment "Looking at Hannah, beauty runs in the family."
"Yes, it does. God help Liz with Max." Maria whispered and shut the door.
****
"Mommy, who was dat man?" Hannah asked through a yawn as she watched her mother prepare for bed.
Liz turned to meet her daughter's questioning eyes. She was sitting cross legged on her bed with her head resting on her hands.
Liz thought a moment before she spoke. She didn't want to lie to her daughter about who Max was, but she wasn't quite ready to tell her his true identity. She wanted a chance to meet him, talk to him. She was going to call him Monday, make him wait a day, to seem like she wasn't in any rush. Then she had Kyle to think about. What was she going to do about him? Hannah was extremely close to him and Kyle loved Hannah very much. She didn't want to hurt either of them with what was going to happen. She, herself, didn't even know what was going to happen.
So she stuck with the truth,
"That man was a old friend of Mommy's." Liz sat on the bed.
"He has eye's like Aunt Isabel."
"You didn't see him that long, how do you know he has eyes like Aunt Isabel?"
"Cuz." Was all she answered. "I see him again?"
"Maybe."
"What is his name?"
"Max." She repeated testing it on her tongue. She took the bottle filled with water. She was old but she was only allowed water and when she was going to bed. Liz wasn't even sure if she actually drank anything rather than hold onto it, like a security blanket. She had asked Amy Valenti about it and she said she'd eventually grow out it.
****
"What are you doing, Liz? You're supposed to be at work." Serena stood over her.
"I don't have work, and be quiet, Hannah's sleeping." She said opening her eyes and staring directly into Serena's green eyes. "I'm relaxing."
"On the floor?"
"Yes. It's quite comfortable." She shut her eyes again.
"What are your plans today?"
"Stay at home and spend time with Hannah."
"Sounds like fun, I'm going over to Maria's and Alex's. Oh yeah, I was supposed to ask you, do you have Isabel's number? Alex wants it."
"It's in my phone book. Why does Alex want it?"
"Because he likes her." Serena said simply turning on her heel.
"Alex likes a girl?"
"Yeah, Hannah's aunt."
At that moment Hannah strolled in and situated herself directly on Liz, bottle in hand. "Hannah, give the bottle to Mommy."
She sighed and handed over the bottle but didn't relinquish her position.
"Liz, where's your address book?" She called from the bedroom.
"In the nightstand." Liz called back. Hannah looked around happily.
"Liz, are you gonna."
"Don't say it." Liz warned.
"What I was only going to ask."
"Don't ask what you're going to ask." Liz glared.
"I just wanted to know."
"Serena, please, don't ask."
"If Kyle was coming over."
Liz shut her eyes, counted to five and braced herself. "Kyle's coming?" Hannah sat up.
"Thank you, Serena, Hannah, Mommy can't breath when you're sitting on my tummy." Liz huffed. "And no, I wasn't planning on Kyle coming over."
"Please?" Hannah asked bouncing on her tummy. "I wanna see Kyle."
"Maybe he'll come over for dinner." Liz sat up. "But I have things that I need to do, just Mommy and Hannah things." Liz stood up.
"Swena too?"
"No, Hannah, Serena's going out." Serena closed the door to leave them be by themselves.
****
Liz rolled over exhausted next to Hannah. She had finally gotten the four year old to sleep, without a bottle.
She loved spending entire days with Hannah. It was rare thing that they did and she knew from Hannah's deep breathing that she loved them as well.
Liz quietly peeled the tiny hand from it's sharp grasp on her shirt and stood from the bed, stretching. Tiredness was something she was used to, she had things to do.
She watched Hannah sleep for a few more minutes before she slid out of the door and closed it half way so she wouldn't wake her.
She picked up the phone and dialed the number on the paper in her hand, and waited.
****
"Hello?" Isabel answered the phone.
"Hi, Isabel."
"Liz? Hi! How are you?" Isabel asked shutting her door.
"I'm alright, Isabel, I need to talk to your brother." Liz said shakily.
"Oh, yes." Isabel stood from the bed and shouldered the phone to scoop the dog off the bed. "Liz, if I would have known he was planning on going over there on Saturday night, I would have told you. I really should have known, he was not himself the past week." Isabel apologized.
"It's alright, it would only had me worried and nervous all day. Now can I talk to him before I lose my nerve and Hannah wakes up?"
"Yes. Just a second." She left her room and walked over to Max's room.
"Max, wake up." Liz heard through the phone.
Liz heard the familiar grunt and something being tossed. "Max!" Isabel shrieked.
"I'm sorry, Liz." She emphasized the name and his head shot up. "Max seems to have had a very exhausting day in court."
"I can call back later." Liz said hurriedly happy for a postponement.
"No, no, he's up now." She smiled and handed the phone to him. Her face turned from amusement to complete seriousness. She pushed the mute button on the phone and looked him in the eye. "Max, be careful. It's not about you and Liz anymore. It's about you and Hannah. Maybe, just maybe in the future, it might be about you and Liz." She pressed talk and handed him the phone before exiting the room.
"Liz?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yes, it's me." She breathed and closed her eyes. "Max, we need to talk."
"Yes, yes I know." Max said trying to calm his nerves, just the sound of her voice, after so many years was reeking turmoil on him. "Do you want to meet or something, so we don't have to do this over the phone?"
"Yes, that would probably be better." Liz nodded. She moved and stood in the doorway of the bed where Hannah was sleeping peacefully. "We have a lot to talk about." Hannah stirred slightly and Liz returned to the kitchen.
"Do you want to come over here?" He asked tentatively.
"That would be fine. I can have Serena pick up Hannah from the Valentis, and I can stop by on my way home from work, say Thursday?" She spoke quickly once her mind was set.
"That sounds good, what time do you get off?" Max asked smiling. It was nice to hear her voice casually.
"Um," she paused. "It depends on how busy the clinic is that day. Usually I'm off around 5, but it takes forever with traffic to get home, usually around 6:30. That's kind of late." She said going off again.
"That will be fine, do you want to meet for dinner?" He asked hopefully.
"No, I eat dinner with Hannah. Gosh, that causes another problem, maybe Thursday's not such a good day."
"You can bring her along." He suggested.
"No." Short. Plain. Simple.
"Alright." He backed off, not used to that tone of voice directed at him.
"I want to talk to you first before you meet her." Liz said. "Before she meets you."
"I understand." He nodded.
"Good." She said. "Let's say, I don't know, Max. I work a lot and when I'm not working I like to spend my time with her." She admitted.
Max cringed. The reason why she worked so much was because she was raising a daughter on her own, their daughter on her own.
"Liz, I." Max started to apologize.
"Don't say anything, Max. Alright, I figured it out. Isabel was asking to take Hannah anyway on Saturday. While she's with her, I'll meet you."
"Sounds good, wait, Isabel knows Hannah?"
"Yes." Liz said into the phone. "I have to go, Hannah's waking up. Ask Is for the final details."
"I'll do that. Goodbye, Liz, and thank you."
"Goodbye." She was all she said before hanging up the phone. Hannah was still sound asleep.
Liz went back to the bed and laid down next to her daughter. The tiny girl curled up to her mother and took hold of her shirt once more. Liz let the tears fall silently as she watched her innocent baby sleep. She had no idea what she was going to do, how she was going to explain any of this to her. She had never asked questions about her father. She just knew she didn't have one.
Just last week instead of proudly displaying that week's final project, she had quietly slipped it from her backpack and into the trash. Later that night when she had been sleeping Liz had gone to retrieve it and it was a Happy Father's Day card. Liz had cried silently that night as well.
She had always imagined a perfect life with Max. She would be happy. Not that she wasn't now. Her entire life was sleeping soundly beside her and she couldn't have wanted anything more. Except for Max to be there, with them, and the thought terrified her.
[b]TBC[/b]
Also, Max isn't going to get it as easy as he thinks he is, Liz is a lot stronger than she gives herself credit for. Remember, she's no longer the seventeen-year-old daughter of Nancy and Jeff Parker, one of the richest families in town, she's now the twenty three year old mother of a four year old little girl of her own. So don't worry, it's not all going to fall into place as it's supposed to.
[b]Chapter 16[/b]
Liz turned around slowly and studied him.
He grew a few inches taller; his hair still fell in the same way. He was dressed casually although his stance was anything but. He stood with his hands in his pocket his head tucked down, like Hannah did when she wasn't sure about something.
"Hannah bean, go downstairs and wait for Kyle please." Liz told her daughter without taking her eyes from Max.
Both held their gaze steady. Max wanted to get a look at his little girl again but Liz was blocking his view. She was running around somewhere in the apartment.
"Hannah, hurry, and tell Kyle to come up." Liz said.
"Alright." She slid by her father, unknowingly, and held tightly to the railing that led down to the parking lot where Kyle was to pick her up.
"Stay by the stairs Hannah and don't move."
"What are you doing here, Max?" Liz asked setting her purse down.
"I came to see you." He said simply.
Liz was grateful that Serena had gone ahead with Alex and Maria and had already gone down to church. All the lights in their apartment were out and she was silently happy that they wouldn't come out and see him here.
"You came to see me. After four years, you came to see me?" Liz asked to clarify.
Max flinched. It just sounded wrong. "It's not like that, Liz." He said quietly. How was he going to explain it?
"Max, you can't just show up on my doorstep some Saturday night. You've not tried to find me in the past four years; you could have at least called before showing up. Now I'm going to have to explain to my daughter who you are."
"Our daughter." He said quietly.
"No, Max. Until this moment you have not been a part of her life. You wanted to send her off to be adopted. Right now, she is not our daughter, she is very much, my daughter." Liz said firmly.
Max looked at her shocked at strong she had become.
"Kyle!" Hannah said excitedly.
"Hannah?" Liz called.
"She's here, Liz, what's up?" Kyle said stepping onto the second floor. "You ready to go?"
"Yes, Kyle, I am." Liz nodded.
"Who's this?" He said putting Hannah down.
"Kyle, this is Max, Max, this is Kyle." She introduced.
"Max? As in Max?" He asked.
Liz nodded looking from Hannah to Max to Kyle. Her brain, her heart, her soul, was confused beyond help.
"Max?" Hannah asked hanging onto Kyle's hand.
"I'll explain later. Kyle, I'll meet you down by the car ok? Just give me a second." She looked at him. "Take her with."
Liz watched as they disappeared down the steps.
"So he knows about me, are you seeing him?"
"Yes, and it's not really your business." Liz raised her chin daring him to challenge her. "Max, we have her graduation ceremony to go to. Hannah's going to start Kindergarten in the fall, we're all going down there for the little party that they have for the four year olds. We're going to be late if I don't leave."
"Oh, ok." He said not knowing what to say. "Here's my number." He gave it to her. "Call me when you can?" He asked.
"I'll do that." She shut the door behind her. "I'll walk you down."
They walked down the stairs to an awaiting Kyle and Hannah.
Hannah eyed Max carefully and stayed on the opposite side of Kyle who was on the opposite side of Liz. She sensed something was wrong, her mother always introduced her to someone new. The man was staring at her again and she shrank behind Kyle's legs.
"You ready to go?"
"Les, Mommy." Hannah nodded and reached for Kyle who took her.
Hannah rested her head on his shoulder. Max's heart lurched at the comfort that his daughter took in another man's arms. Kyle noticed Max's face change for a quick instant and smirked at him before Liz could see.
"I'll see you around, Max." Liz said before turning and walking to the car.
****
Max sat outside in the church parking lot. He had absolutely no right to be going to the ceremony, but he couldn't stop himself from walking up to the auditorium he had watched many other people enter.
Walking into the auditorium he wondered if he had made a mistake. Maybe he wouldn't alert Liz to the fact that he was here.
He took a seat in the back of the auditorium where no one would notice him.
The lights flickered once, twice, and everyone hushed. Well as much as hushed could be. With it only being a four-year-old graduation, there were many younger siblings in the crowd.
Pretty soon they called the name of each of the little kids. There were only about fifteen kids moving onto the big bad dangerous world of kindergarten so the announcer also the pastor at the church asked each child a few questions to the amusement of the audience.
Hannah was one of the last kids called.
[I] Hannah Bella-Marie Parker. [/I]
Max sat a little straighter when he heard her name called. Her name flowed together perfectly, just like everything else Liz did. She walked onto stage with a huge grin on her face. She held her robe up with both hands. She was shorter than the other kids Max noticed. Liz had always been shorter than the others, knowing this made him smile a bit, she had inherited another trait from her mother.
[I] "Hello, Miss Hannah." The pastor said.
"Hello, Pastor." She said back smiling. Her r's weren't pronounced all the way.
"Who did you come with tonight?" He asked kindly.
"Wif Mommy and Kyle. Gwama Amy and Gwampa Jim too." She turned to the crowd and waved happily.
"I bet they're all very proud of you. Do you think so?"
"Yes. Aunt Mwia said is hard and she supwised Kyle did it. But don't know how she means because Kyle's smawt." [/I]
There was a chuckle from the crowd and a quick "Hannah" which he knew came from Liz. He knew automatically that the spunk was something completely and uniquely Hannah.
[I] "Alright, Miss Hannah. Congratulations. [/I]
She walked down and straight to Liz.
Liz must have said something she didn't like because she turned and glared.
Two more names were called before the ceremony was over. Max watched as a small crowd of people surrounded Hannah and he couldn't see her anymore. Max stood quietly and made his way out of the auditorium before he was noticed by anyone.
****
Hannah snuggled her head more comfortably into Kyle's neck. He stopped outside the door while Liz unlocked it. He had draped his coat around Hannah's shoulders and it had nearly swallowed her up. He made a quick check and made sure the ring was still in there. Underneath Liz's façade of being happy he could sense her confusion. He was going to wait till she sorted through that confusion to ask her.
After all, he had some confusion to work out on his own. He was reminded of that when Serena walked up to Maria's and Alex's door with them.
"I thought you guys would have been here earlier than this." Serena said happily to Liz.
"We went for ice cream." Liz said opening the door. "You can go set her on the bed." She instructed absently studying the way Kyle had looked at Serena.
"So what have you been telling my daughter, Maria?" Once she made sure Kyle was in, she turned to talk to her friends across the way.
"Nothing." She grinned. "That was told in complete confidence between girls."
"You're teaching her things, Maria." Liz smiled. "I'm a girl, care to share?"
"I know. But you're Mommy and it was just Aunt Mwia and Hannah talk." She smiled.
"Mommy!"
"Speak of the angel." Maria laughed.
"I thought she was sleeping." Liz said annoyed.
"Uh, Liz!" It was Kyle this time.
"I'm coming." Liz called. "Those two." Liz didn't finish her sentence before she turned around and entered the house.
"See we should have gone with them, Maria, then I could have carried Hannah up and she wouldn't be awake now, and Liz could go straight to sleep." Alex said crossing his arms.
"Alex, if we would have gone with them, you wouldn't have gotten to hang around afterwards with us and Hannah's aunt." Maria said smartly.
"Who said I wanted to hang out with Hannah's aunt?"
"You said so yourself on the way home, she's nice and sweet and unbelievably gorgeous." Maria repeated.
"She is." Alex shrugged casually and turned inside the apartment "Looking at Hannah, beauty runs in the family."
"Yes, it does. God help Liz with Max." Maria whispered and shut the door.
****
"Mommy, who was dat man?" Hannah asked through a yawn as she watched her mother prepare for bed.
Liz turned to meet her daughter's questioning eyes. She was sitting cross legged on her bed with her head resting on her hands.
Liz thought a moment before she spoke. She didn't want to lie to her daughter about who Max was, but she wasn't quite ready to tell her his true identity. She wanted a chance to meet him, talk to him. She was going to call him Monday, make him wait a day, to seem like she wasn't in any rush. Then she had Kyle to think about. What was she going to do about him? Hannah was extremely close to him and Kyle loved Hannah very much. She didn't want to hurt either of them with what was going to happen. She, herself, didn't even know what was going to happen.
So she stuck with the truth,
"That man was a old friend of Mommy's." Liz sat on the bed.
"He has eye's like Aunt Isabel."
"You didn't see him that long, how do you know he has eyes like Aunt Isabel?"
"Cuz." Was all she answered. "I see him again?"
"Maybe."
"What is his name?"
"Max." She repeated testing it on her tongue. She took the bottle filled with water. She was old but she was only allowed water and when she was going to bed. Liz wasn't even sure if she actually drank anything rather than hold onto it, like a security blanket. She had asked Amy Valenti about it and she said she'd eventually grow out it.
****
"What are you doing, Liz? You're supposed to be at work." Serena stood over her.
"I don't have work, and be quiet, Hannah's sleeping." She said opening her eyes and staring directly into Serena's green eyes. "I'm relaxing."
"On the floor?"
"Yes. It's quite comfortable." She shut her eyes again.
"What are your plans today?"
"Stay at home and spend time with Hannah."
"Sounds like fun, I'm going over to Maria's and Alex's. Oh yeah, I was supposed to ask you, do you have Isabel's number? Alex wants it."
"It's in my phone book. Why does Alex want it?"
"Because he likes her." Serena said simply turning on her heel.
"Alex likes a girl?"
"Yeah, Hannah's aunt."
At that moment Hannah strolled in and situated herself directly on Liz, bottle in hand. "Hannah, give the bottle to Mommy."
She sighed and handed over the bottle but didn't relinquish her position.
"Liz, where's your address book?" She called from the bedroom.
"In the nightstand." Liz called back. Hannah looked around happily.
"Liz, are you gonna."
"Don't say it." Liz warned.
"What I was only going to ask."
"Don't ask what you're going to ask." Liz glared.
"I just wanted to know."
"Serena, please, don't ask."
"If Kyle was coming over."
Liz shut her eyes, counted to five and braced herself. "Kyle's coming?" Hannah sat up.
"Thank you, Serena, Hannah, Mommy can't breath when you're sitting on my tummy." Liz huffed. "And no, I wasn't planning on Kyle coming over."
"Please?" Hannah asked bouncing on her tummy. "I wanna see Kyle."
"Maybe he'll come over for dinner." Liz sat up. "But I have things that I need to do, just Mommy and Hannah things." Liz stood up.
"Swena too?"
"No, Hannah, Serena's going out." Serena closed the door to leave them be by themselves.
****
Liz rolled over exhausted next to Hannah. She had finally gotten the four year old to sleep, without a bottle.
She loved spending entire days with Hannah. It was rare thing that they did and she knew from Hannah's deep breathing that she loved them as well.
Liz quietly peeled the tiny hand from it's sharp grasp on her shirt and stood from the bed, stretching. Tiredness was something she was used to, she had things to do.
She watched Hannah sleep for a few more minutes before she slid out of the door and closed it half way so she wouldn't wake her.
She picked up the phone and dialed the number on the paper in her hand, and waited.
****
"Hello?" Isabel answered the phone.
"Hi, Isabel."
"Liz? Hi! How are you?" Isabel asked shutting her door.
"I'm alright, Isabel, I need to talk to your brother." Liz said shakily.
"Oh, yes." Isabel stood from the bed and shouldered the phone to scoop the dog off the bed. "Liz, if I would have known he was planning on going over there on Saturday night, I would have told you. I really should have known, he was not himself the past week." Isabel apologized.
"It's alright, it would only had me worried and nervous all day. Now can I talk to him before I lose my nerve and Hannah wakes up?"
"Yes. Just a second." She left her room and walked over to Max's room.
"Max, wake up." Liz heard through the phone.
Liz heard the familiar grunt and something being tossed. "Max!" Isabel shrieked.
"I'm sorry, Liz." She emphasized the name and his head shot up. "Max seems to have had a very exhausting day in court."
"I can call back later." Liz said hurriedly happy for a postponement.
"No, no, he's up now." She smiled and handed the phone to him. Her face turned from amusement to complete seriousness. She pushed the mute button on the phone and looked him in the eye. "Max, be careful. It's not about you and Liz anymore. It's about you and Hannah. Maybe, just maybe in the future, it might be about you and Liz." She pressed talk and handed him the phone before exiting the room.
"Liz?" He asked hesitantly.
"Yes, it's me." She breathed and closed her eyes. "Max, we need to talk."
"Yes, yes I know." Max said trying to calm his nerves, just the sound of her voice, after so many years was reeking turmoil on him. "Do you want to meet or something, so we don't have to do this over the phone?"
"Yes, that would probably be better." Liz nodded. She moved and stood in the doorway of the bed where Hannah was sleeping peacefully. "We have a lot to talk about." Hannah stirred slightly and Liz returned to the kitchen.
"Do you want to come over here?" He asked tentatively.
"That would be fine. I can have Serena pick up Hannah from the Valentis, and I can stop by on my way home from work, say Thursday?" She spoke quickly once her mind was set.
"That sounds good, what time do you get off?" Max asked smiling. It was nice to hear her voice casually.
"Um," she paused. "It depends on how busy the clinic is that day. Usually I'm off around 5, but it takes forever with traffic to get home, usually around 6:30. That's kind of late." She said going off again.
"That will be fine, do you want to meet for dinner?" He asked hopefully.
"No, I eat dinner with Hannah. Gosh, that causes another problem, maybe Thursday's not such a good day."
"You can bring her along." He suggested.
"No." Short. Plain. Simple.
"Alright." He backed off, not used to that tone of voice directed at him.
"I want to talk to you first before you meet her." Liz said. "Before she meets you."
"I understand." He nodded.
"Good." She said. "Let's say, I don't know, Max. I work a lot and when I'm not working I like to spend my time with her." She admitted.
Max cringed. The reason why she worked so much was because she was raising a daughter on her own, their daughter on her own.
"Liz, I." Max started to apologize.
"Don't say anything, Max. Alright, I figured it out. Isabel was asking to take Hannah anyway on Saturday. While she's with her, I'll meet you."
"Sounds good, wait, Isabel knows Hannah?"
"Yes." Liz said into the phone. "I have to go, Hannah's waking up. Ask Is for the final details."
"I'll do that. Goodbye, Liz, and thank you."
"Goodbye." She was all she said before hanging up the phone. Hannah was still sound asleep.
Liz went back to the bed and laid down next to her daughter. The tiny girl curled up to her mother and took hold of her shirt once more. Liz let the tears fall silently as she watched her innocent baby sleep. She had no idea what she was going to do, how she was going to explain any of this to her. She had never asked questions about her father. She just knew she didn't have one.
Just last week instead of proudly displaying that week's final project, she had quietly slipped it from her backpack and into the trash. Later that night when she had been sleeping Liz had gone to retrieve it and it was a Happy Father's Day card. Liz had cried silently that night as well.
She had always imagined a perfect life with Max. She would be happy. Not that she wasn't now. Her entire life was sleeping soundly beside her and she couldn't have wanted anything more. Except for Max to be there, with them, and the thought terrified her.
[b]TBC[/b]