Chapter 33

Hannah had finally fallen asleep later in the evening. She had sat on the step for more than an hour. Liz, in that time, bathed Kailyn and put her to sleep. She wandered around the house waiting for Hannah to return. She wasn't going to bring her back in, she'd come in on her own time.

When she had returned her eyes were read and her face tear-streaked. She had let Liz cuddle her for a while before taking her bath and going to bed.

Liz was now sitting alone on the couch staring at the phone. She had to call Max. She needed to talk to him about what happened earlier. Liz couldn't let that happen again.

Serena walked in a few minutes later to find Liz in that same position.

"Is Hannah in bed already?"

"Yes." Liz nodded.

"I was hoping to ask her how everything went." Serena sat on the couch next to her.

"She'll be happy to tell you about it tomorrow." Liz tried to smile at her.

"How do you think it went, Liz?" She asked.

"Everything went fine Hannah was happy when she came home, he stayed and had dinner with us, and then he had to leave." Tears filled her eyes. "And that's when it got bad. She didn't understand why he had to leave. She sat out on that step for an hour, Serena, waiting for him to come back. I can't do that again."

"Come here, sweetie." Serena patted her lap and Liz laid down and rested her head on it. "What do you plan to do about it?"

"I don't know, Serena. I don't know this Max Evans. The Max I left had been a high school boy, still under his mother's dictates. Now, I don't know anymore, Serena. I want to take the time to get to know him again—for me. I still love him. But Hannah's reaction to him leaving, we're going to have to move faster. That hurt her too much, and it tore me apart."

Serena stroked her hair and just listened to Liz's dilemma. "Maybe having Hannah here and forcing you to go faster is a good thing. Who knows how long it would take you to get back with him otherwise. I think that Hannah is a good judge of a person and the fact that she's so attached to him already is an indicator that Max only has good intentions. I think he's just as eager to get to know you again as you are to know him."

"What do you think I should do?" Liz asked.

"Go for it, Liz. You're going to end up marrying him anyway. Don't put yourself, Hannah, and Max through the torture of waiting. Max would wait, but what about your little girl?"

"Who says I'm going to marry him?" Liz asked with a smile.

"You're eyes." Serena gently removed her head from her lap. "I'm going to bed. I have an early shift tomorrow. Sleep well."

"Thank you, Serena." Liz looked back at the phone.

"Just call him, I'll see you in the morning." She shut the door to her room quietly.

"Maria, what can you tell me about Kailyn?"

"What do you want to know?" Maria had been stunned when Max had called her phone that evening.

"Her last name for starters." Max said patiently.

"Hamilton, I think. Why are you asking me this, Max?"

"How sure are your parents about Kailyn's return to her mother?"

"About 99%" Maria said.

"Is there anyway, even the slightest chance that she could not be given back and would be adopted out?"

"Very slim, Max." Maria answered honestly. "The court will always favor the birth family. Why do you want to know?"

"I was thinking about Liz, how attached she and Hannah are to that baby. Would there be any use trying to place her with Liz?"

"There would be no use, but even if there was a chance, Liz isn't capable of handling another baby by herself, with no help."

"She wouldn't be by herself." Max said with a quiet firmness.

"Max, I'm going to tell you something and it can't go further than this conversation." Maria started. "If you found a way to keep tabs on that baby, I guarantee you she will end up back in the system by the time she is five years old. You're capable of doing it, Max, I know you are. It would be in Kailyn's best interest as well."

"Alright." He wrote her name down. "Thank you, Maria."

"Good luck, Max, be good to Liz."

Max hung up the phone and rubbed his eyes. Going to the computer and grateful for going into family law scrolled through the list of court cases scheduled for the upcoming Tuesday.

[i] Hamilton v. County of Orange [/i] That had to be it.

Max clicked on it and reviewed the basic information.

There was little chance that Max could redirect this case. After a quick call to the attorney assigned to the case, it was pretty much a sure thing Kailyn was going home. The look on Hannah's face when she had told him made him ache. The look on Hannah's face when he left had almost killed him. He wanted to be with his baby girl now and he wanted Liz with him.

The phone rang and Max picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Max."

It was Liz. "How is she?"

"Sleeping. Max, we can't do that again." Liz said quickly.

"I know, I don't think I could take it again." He answered back honestly. "Don't ask me to do that again." He added later.

"She sat on the steps for an hour after you left. What are we going to do about it, Max? If it was just between you and me we could take our sweet time. We have Hannah, Max, she's hurting as much—if not more—than we are."

"I know." Max told her. "Meet me for lunch on Monday?"

"I'm at the clinic up in LA on Mondays, I can't." Liz shook her head even though he couldn't see her. "I have Wednesday though, I work at the restaurant on Wednesdays."

"Wednesday then." Max said.

"Ok."

Hannah jerked her hand away from Liz, on Wednesday morning, and stomped into the classroom. With an angry phrase at Liz in French she ignored her mother as she joined Natalie.

The teacher casually walked over and smiled. "Good morning, Miss Parker."

"Good morning. We're having a rough day." Liz pushed her hair back.

"I can see that, Hannah's usually all smiles in the morning. Did you think about the play, I didn't see you or Mr. Evans on Monday or Tuesday?"

"Yes, I have. I think it would be wonderful to have Hannah join the play. She really wants to do it and there's no reason for her not to."

"I see." She said delighted. "I'll let them know. Hopefully you'll have a better morning, Miss Parker."

"Thank you."

They went out to a restaurant of Max's choosing.

He sat Liz in a seat and then took his place across from her.

"Thank you, Max." She said studying her surroundings.

"My pleasure." He nodded.

"Max, we have to sort things out about Hannah." Liz said quickly. "She's been quiet lately."

"I know." He toyed with his silverware. "I don't know what to do."

"I do." She said quietly.

"What do you suggest?"

"She wants a family, Max." She looked him in the eye. "A real family where she doesn't spend one weekend with Mom and one with Dad. She wants us to live together, and have little sisters for her to play with. She wants a family like Natalie's. She wants the dream life she deserves. Something I've always wanted to give her—but couldn't." She looked down. "I can now. You've offered me the ability to give the one thing to my daughter—our daughter—she's always wanted. What I've always wanted, but we have to settle things between us, before we can move forward to be that family."

His eyes lit up. She might have just admitted that she loved him.

"Yes, we have many things to settle." He wanted to explain his reasoning for leaving them for so long.

"We'll settle them, we'll go back to my place after and talk there, and we have more freedom." Liz looked around. This wasn't a place to discuss anything they needed to discuss.

"Alright, you can come to my place and meet M. Cuddles if you want." He said, he wanted her to come to his townhouse.

"Fine." She nodded.

After the meal they walked back to the car.

"This was so nice, Max, thank you. I don't think I've been here before."

"It's nothing, Liz." He opened the car door for her and waited for her to get in.

"It really is." She said seriously. "We're, well, Hannah's not really used to this. I grew away from it."

"I know."

"Max life isn't going to just go back to the way it was. I don't want Hannah to be raised like that. Your parents were more open and loving, mine were closed off, totally involved in their work. I refuse to raise Hannah that way." She shook her head.

"I wouldn't want her to be." Max agreed. "But, my position, as a lawyer sometimes demands endless hours of work, and sometimes those corporate parties you were so fond of."

"I know, they wouldn't be very often would they?"

"No." He shook his head. "Actually, um, Liz." He looked at her shyly.

"Yes?" She raised an eyebrow but it was belied by a smiled.

"I have a party, on Saturday evening, and I was wondering if you would attend it with me." He felt like a young school boy asking his first girl on a date. "I normally would have taken Isabel but she's going with Alex, and I don't know another woman I'd like to spend time with."

"I haven't been to one of those things in so long, Max." She shook her head.

"I know, but you were an expert at them for the short time you did go to them, please?"

"I don't have anything to wear."

"We'll go shopping Saturday, with Hannah." Max said quickly. "Please, Liz, I want you there with me."

She played with the material of her pant leg for a few moments and studied her options. It would be fun to dress up again, in expensive clothing.

"We'll see." She said quietly and looked out her window.

"Don't 'we'll see' me, Liz." Max said impatiently.

"Fine, yes, I'll go." She said a spark of annoyance in her eye. "Hannah would love to spend the night with Amy and Jim."

"Alright." He sat back and gave her a smug smile.

"This is him." He pointed to the cage.

"He doesn't do anything." She looked at it.

"No he doesn't." Max smiled. "Hannah likes him though. Do you mind if I let Ella out? She'll have a fit if I don't."

"No problem." She smiled as the dog bounded from the room.

"She'll just plop herself down here with us. Would you like anything to drink?"

"No." She shook her head. "I'm fine. Max, let's just get this over with."

"Alright." He sat across from her.

"Let's go back to when we were seventeen, Max." Liz crossed her legs. "What was going through your mind when I first announced I was pregnant?"

"When you just told me or when you told our parents?"

"When I told you." She said. He had held her in his arms and made her feel so safe.

"Everything I told you that day holds, Liz." Max said.

"You never told me you loved me." She said. "That day when we told our parents, it was the first time I told you." She swallowed. "You didn't say it back."

"I know. I didn't know if you met them, and at that time I just thought emotions were high. I didn't know what I felt, I look back now and I know that I loved you. I've loved you forever, Liz." It was now or never. "The morning you left, Liz, my life fell apart." He stated truthfully.

"My world just came crashing down around me. Isabel knew you were gone and when she said 'she's gone', it wouldn't sink in, I couldn't believe it. But when you were gone for a week, two, I knew it was true. Then I made myself determined to be worthy of getting you back. You were brave and strong enough to leave in the face of our parents. You had the courage to protect our child when I couldn't." He took her hands.

"I studied hard, not wanting to waste time and get back to you as soon as possible. I wanted myself established so I could provide for you and Hannah. I wanted to make it safe for my child to grow up. I thought I was doing right. That missing you so terribly was right because I wasn't brave enough, smart enough, strong enough, to leave with you, or see it to make you stay. Missing you was my punishment. That changed when I saw Hannah for the first time. I saw what I missed, that I hadn't only punished myself, I punished myself, I punished Hannah, and I punished you, Liz. The very one I wanted to protect."

"I want to change that, I want to make it better, give Hannah the family she wants so badly, if you'd just give me a chance. Give me the chance to prove to you that I can make it better." He stroked the tear from her cheek. "Please, marry me, Liz, so I can make it better."

"Yes." She nodded. "One condition."

"What, anything."

"You're not going to make it better, we'll make it better." She took his hand and squeezed gently. "Together."

"Ok, we'll do it together." He nodded, his face beaming.

"I love you, Max." She leaned forward and placed a kiss on his lips. "I love you, I love you." She said it over and over again once she could say it she wanted to keep saying it. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

"I love you too, Liz." He held her tight.

"Hold me?" She asked, her face streaked with tears.

He pulled her closer to him. "I'll hold you forever."

TBC