Chapter 28

"Hi, can I speak to Dr. Kyle Valenti, please?" Max walked into the ER.

"Yes, if you'll have a seat I'll page him for you."

Fifteen minutes later Kyle found Max in the sitting room.

"What's this about?" Kyle didn't sit but folded his arms across his chest. "Is something wrong with Hannah?"

"No, well, she's a bit depressed." Max said. "She's tired of being shut up in that room, how much pull do you have on the doctors in the children's ward?"

"Enough as long as it doesn't put Hannah into any danger." He looked skeptically at Max.

"Well, that will have to do. This is what I'm planning to do."

"Isabel, can you get Alex on the phone for me?" Max asked, entering the kitchen of the Town home they shared.

"Why?" She put down the fashion magazine she indulged herself in.

"I need to ask him about something for Hannah."

"Alright." She slid off her stool, "Why do you need to talk to Alex?"

"You'll see later." He took the number and went to his room.

[i]Sunday afternoon[/i]

"Thank you so much, Mr. Barkley, for bringing Natalie here." Max shook his hands. "Especially with a new baby."

"Oh, it's no problem; we'd hope someone would do the same for one of our children. Melissa says I'm just in the way with a new baby anyway."

"Can I go see Hannah now?" Natalie was bouncing. Her hair was wrapped in a tight bun as Kyle had told her was required.

"Well, first we have to get you all suited up if you're ready. Do you want to do this?" Kyle bent down to her level.

"Yes." She said happily. "We'll be back , Daddy." She called waving.

Taking Hannah into the nurses station, Kyle took a surgical robe and put it on her, cutting the bottom so she wouldn't trip over it. Then he tied it tight behind her and pinned it into place. He pulled a cap over her head and pinned it with bobby pins he had taken from his mother's drawer. The gloves were a little loose but there wasn't much that he could do about that. Last he pulled on a surgical mask over her face so she wouldn't spread any germs to Hannah.

Kyle himself, thought it was a little much but it was the best he could do to get the doctors to cooperate with him and Max.

"All set?" Kyle asked. "Now, I'm going to take you to Hannah's father and he'll take you to Hannah, alright?"

She nodded.

"Are you comfortable?"

She nodded and pulled up her robe a little so she could walk better.

"Alright, Max, it's all up to you. Here she is, I have to get back to work." The two men stood facing each other.

"Thank you, Kyle." Max shook his hand.

"You're welcome." Kyle gave Max a look that told him he had something to say but wouldn't say it just yet.

"Alright." Max nodded. "I'll be seeing you around. Come on Natalie."

"Good luck."

"Hannah, somebody's here to see you." Max knocked on the door. She was sitting in Liz's lap watching Finding Nemo for the hundredth time on his laptop.

She turned towards the door excited just to see Max but looked suspiciously at the small person walking next to him.

"Hannah." Natalie asked as she stepped into the room. It looked a lot different from the room her mother stayed in when she had the baby.

"Natalie!" Hannah squealed in delight.

"Hi! How did you come?" Hannah asked in surprise. Liz closed the laptop and put it aside so Natalie would have room to climb into her lap as well.

"Yes, how did you?" Liz asked looking at Max.

He shrugged and stood in the doorway.

After settling the two girls on the chair Liz moved to go speak with Max. "How'd you do it?"

"Kyle helped me." Max said, shyly. "She looked depressed and I wanted to make it better."

"You can't always just make things better for her, Max." Liz said looking up at her. "It's part of life."

"She's four, I think I can, just this once." He went on the defensive.

"I'm not criticizing you; I think I'm just jealous that I didn't think of it before." Liz said looking down.

They looked into the room and Hannah was chatting happily with Natalie about the new baby and their first break.

"Ethan's going to high school, and he's going to be on the swim team." Natalie boasted for her big brother. "He took me swimming with him yesterday and taught me how. I don't need floaties no more."

"I already can swim." Hannah said proudly. "My mommy says I swim like a fish."

"Your daddy gave me this to show you." She held up a CD.

"Mommy, Natalie has something to show me, come.'' Hannah called inside the room.

"What does she have?" Liz asked stepping back into the room, looking suspiciously at Max.

"Go find out." Max smiled proudly. "I sort of got the idea from that Teletubbies show she always insists on watching."

Liz sat back down. Natalie handed her a CD so she put it into the computer.

A few seconds later Natalie appeared on the screen.

"Hi, Hannah, you're still in the hospital so your daddy asked me to help him do this for you." She stood in the doorway of her house.

She turned around and whoever was holding the camera followed her inside. She walked to the back bedroom where her mother was holding a sleeping baby.

"This is my baby sister, Francesca Hope." She said proudly. "And you already know my mommy."

"Hi, Hannah." Melissa Barkley said at the camera. "I hope you feel better soon."

"This is my brother, Ethan. He wasn't here when you came over last week." The boy was tall and had Natalie's dark hair and eyes. He waved at the camera before going on with his whatever he was working on.

"You already met, Jennifer, Autumn, Ben, and Conner." She said walking around the house. All the children looked exactly the same.

"Your daddy says we're going somewhere else now, I'll see you there."

A few seconds later the camera turned on again and now it was a house well familiar to Hannah.

"This, as you know, is your Grandma Amy's house." Natalie's voice filtered through.

The camera followed her into the house where her entire extended family, bar her mother, were.

"Hi, Hannah." They all chanted together.

Hannah's face split into a huge grin when she saw everyone.

"Kailyn says hi." Amy held up the tiny girl who smiled briefly for the camera. Hannah touched the screen in yearning to see the baby again.

Hannah stared fascinated at the screen as Maria and Jim sang a song for her, and everyone told her of news of home. Natalie's familiar voice narrated the entire time and the movie lasted about fifteen minutes.

Hannah talked to Natalie for a few more minutes before Max took her back down to her father.

Liz worked on calming Hannah down enough to get her ready for her afternoon tests.

Later in the evening, as Max was gathering his stuff to go, Hannah turned to him. "Stay."

Max stopped and looked at his daughter on the bed. She looked dwarfed, but her eyes were bright. "Please, stay."

"I don't know, little girl." Max walked towards the bed.

"Ask Mommy." Hannah took his hand. "Please?"

Liz walked back from restroom and they both turned to look at her. "He can stay, Mommy?"

Liz looked at Max and then to Hannah on the bed. Having him go home at night was her only defense against him. She needed that short eight hours to get her head back and control.

The pleading look in Hannah's eyes wouldn't allow her to say no. "Alright."

Hannah beamed, "Thank you."

Liz smiled and sat down in the chair. "I'll have them bring an extra cot in tonight."

"No, I'll just stay in the chair."

"It's not that comfortable, Max." Liz told him.

"I'll be fine." He assured her.

Hannah chatted to Max, until the nurse came in telling her it was time for bed.

Liz settled her into bed and let her watch the video a few more times. Each time she watched it seemed like she was more and more determined to find something she had missed. In the fourth round, her eyes drifted shut.

"I thought she'd never get tired of that." Max rubbed his eyes and leaned back in the chair.

"Neither did I, I think it's going to replace Nemo." She reached into her purse to dig out a brush. She let down her hair from it's ponytail with a sigh, before she began brushing it out. When she was done she replaced the brush, "That feels better." She shook her head and let her hair shake against her back.

She faced Max to find he was staring at her once again. She froze as she was about to cross to her cot.

"What?"

Max shook his head and looked down at his hands.

Liz was beginning to think about whether it was a good idea to let him stay. He had made her stomach flutter by just the way he had been looking at her. She needed her time to get herself together. She excused herself to the bathroom and Max cursed himself for staying.

Liz stared at herself in the mirror and wondered what she was doing. Max stood outside the door with her sleeping daughter in bed. She should have sent him home she had her reasons for doing so before. She didn't know what had gotten into her but she needed to get things in her head to go straight, once more, or else everything would begin to be messed up. Her control that she had so valiantly held onto was going to slip away and she would fall back into Max's arms without thought. The kiss they had shared the day before had been almost too overwhelming. Just that short moment had transformed her back to that young girl that she had been when she was younger. She quickly reminded herself that she was indeed not that same girl. She would not just go back to him. She had come a long way from where she had once been. She had relied on herself before Max had come back into the picture and she would continue to do so now.

When she stepped outside, Max was waiting for her by the door. He pulled her into his arms. She didn't have time to protest. "Shhh, you'll wake Hannah."

She tried to push him away but his arms around her were secure and she wasn't going to move anywhere. The feeling of being in his arms again was incredible. She wanted to stay in them forever. Without giving her a choice he bent his head to kiss her.

She turned her head, but not in time. His lips landed smoothly on hers. She resisted at first but soon, with his gentle insistence gave in and surrendered her mouth to him.

Liz forgot where she was, who she was, for the few moments the kiss lasted. But as soon as they surfaced for air, reality set in. She looked up at him, her eyes gleaming with tears, tired of fighting, tired of lying to herself, she rested her head against his chest. He pulled her closer as he heard her sniffles, and wondered if he had pushed her too far. When he tried to dislodge her, she clung tighter to him.

Looking up at him, she spoke.

"Max, what are we going to do?"

tbc