A/N : Hey guys I'm back. Thanks for the reviews(and flames)...glad to see there are more believers out there. I intend to keep posting as long as people are still reading because they're all great characters and i can't let Roswell just die like some people (the WB) can. As for the delay, I'm really sorry about that..school and boys.. what can i say. Anyways on with the show... let me know what you think....:-)
"—so what do you think?" Dean Carmichael asked, staring intently at Max. Max had been listening; he really had, but every once in a while his thoughts would drift away to his goddess. Max knew what he was talking about. "I think that it's a great opportunity for me and I'd be honored. But first I have to talk to my fiancé. We're getting married this summer and I can't make any commitments about our future until I talk to her." Max said. The dean nodded.
"Understandable, Evans. Congratulations on your engagement, by the way. That's wonderful, is she a student here?" Suddenly, Max felt a mixture of emotions swirl through his mind. Worry at the dean's sudden interest in their relationship but then pride in his relationship. He wasn't ashamed of loving her.
"No, sir. She's a graduate student at Harvard. She's getting her Masters in biology."
"Impressive. You must be very proud of her." The dean said, with a bright smile crossing his lips.
"I am sir." Max said slowly.
"You should bring her to the reception. It will be a marvelous affair."
"Uh.. reception, sir?" Max asked, confused.
"Yes. The Alumni Ball, it's invitation only, naturally, but I can arrange an invite for you and your lovely fiancé."
"I'll have to talk it over with her. She may have plans."
"Does she make all of the decisions in the relationship?" the dean laughed. Max could feel the sudden anger rising in his body.
"No, we just make sure that everything is plausible before we commit to anything. With our hectic schedules we have to."
"I see. Well, talk it over with her and please, I need your response by Monday morning."
"Thank you sir. I'll have a decision by then." Max said, standing up to leave. The dean nodded and went back to his paperwork.
"And Max," he started, waiting for Max to turn around. He did. "Have a good weekend."
Max walked down the loud streets of Cambridge. 'Me? A professor?' he thought. He needed Isabel. Turning away from the curb, he headed back towards the city. It was a beautiful spring day in the city. He loved it there. It was a perfect place for them all to blend in, especially with Liz and Kyle's powers developing. Kyle's were progressing while Liz was quite possibly as strong as she'd ever be. He unlocked the door to their apartment and listened to see if she was here. As he neared Isabel's bedroom he could hear her screaming. He didn't know why or at who but he was gonna find out. He rushed to the door and knocked loudly. "Iz? Are you okay?" he called out to her. She continued screaming at whomever she was with. He checked the knob. It was locked. He didn't have a key. Letting go of all of his thoughts he concentrated on the structure of the door. He manipulated the lock with his mind and the door popped open.
Isabel stood with her ear to the phone. It was Jesse, arguing over their divorce settlement. She hadn't wanted to argue with him. She didn't want the divorce to begin with but it had been his call. She knew in the end it would be better for them to be apart. He couldn't accept what she was. She never wanted him to find out the way he did. If Max hadn't gotten killed, and if she hadn't gotten shot, he wouldn't have. But those events happened and they couldn't be taken back easily, if at all. "I'm sorry that you don't like what's going on." She cried. "You wanted the divorce!" she cried. Suddenly she heard the door pop open. She turned and extended her hand to use her powers on the intruder only to find her brother Max standing before her. She dropped her hand. "Max..." she sighed. He gave her a smile and seated himself on her bed after shutting the door. "Jesse... Jesse... Look I gotta go. Yeah, whatever, Goodbye." Tossing the phone across the room, she sat next to Max on her bed and rested her head on his shoulder. "Why is all this happening?" she sighed. Max hated to see her so upset. The divorce was taking its toll on her. She missed him. Max knew she did. How could he possibly ask her about what to do about his life when hers was taking a turn for the worse? He sat with her and listened as she told him of the day's events. Jesse was upset about the settlement. He thought that she shouldn't get that much from him because they hadn't been married too long. But they had still been married. Once again she was alone. Max held her close to him. "Izzy, I know he's put you through a lot. And I also know that you think it's for the best that you two are apart but it's gonna hurt really bad. I'll be with you all the way." Max said. She rested her head on his shoulder. He'd always been there for her. She sniffled, then sat up.
"What'd you need?" she asked him.
"I wanted to talk to you, but it's nothing that can't wait until things settle down." He said giving her a gentle reassuring smile. She hugged him. He was good to her, always had been. He left her almost an hour after he'd busted in and retreated to his room.
Sitting at the meticulously neat desk, he glanced around at all of the pictures. The one that caught his eye was the one that Maria had taken. She had caught them off guard as usual and snapped the photo. It had been snowing and they had all gone out sledding. Liz was all bundled up and her cheeks were rosy but she was smiling brilliantly up at Max, equally bundled. The snow was falling around them making it a perfect moment. He smiled on the memory and thought back on all of their experiences. They had been through so much together, not just he and Liz, but their group as a whole. Isabel and Jesse's marriage had fallen apart. Maria and Michael's relationship had taken the next step. Kyle and Isabel had become best friends and after they graduated Kyle was taking the role of Isabel's roommate. He and Liz were set to get married in the coming summer. He couldn't wait until they had their own home. He couldn't wait until she was officially his. Mrs. Liz Evans.
Liz Parker stood in front of the booth of middle school kids. One of the boys at the table reminded her of Max and how quiet and mannerly he was. He ended every sentence with "please". After ringing the order in, Liz went to lean against the counter. Her thoughts drifted back to her Max, as they often did. "Sooo, I heard you asked Greg if you could borrow the place tonight." Lindsey, one of the waitresses, said. "Yeah." Liz answered.
"Something special for ol' Maxie?"
"Yeah." She answered dreamily.
"He must be a great guy. You always do stuff like this for him?"
"I always try to show him how happy I am and how lucky I consider myself."
"Well, I think he knows." Lindsey said, glancing down at the diamond ring adorning Liz's delicate finger. It was simple but elegant. She remembered so clearly the day he'd given it to her. It had been snowing and they had been walking along the Charles as they always did. She remembered him stopping and calling her over to him. Once she was close enough, he got down on his knee and asked her to be his wife. She cried. Everyone knew she would cry.
"Earth to Liz... table six is ready for their check." Lindsey said with a slight giggle in her voice.
"Right." Liz smiled. She headed over to the table and gave them their check. Due to heavy thoughts of Max, her shift went by quickly. Her vision clouded with his heavenly amber eyes.
Soon it was closing time, and everyone was on their way out. "Have fun tonight honey." Lindsey said grabbing her jacket heading for the door. Liz smiled brightly, but deviously at the same time. "Okay Lizzie, make sure you lock up when you leave and I'll see you tomorrow." Greg said ruffling her hair as he also exited. Greg Vanderbilt had become a good friend to Liz in the six years she'd been in Boston. Although at first he had a crush on her, that soon faded into a friendship. Liz cleaned up the restaurant and set the table in the center of the dining room. She turned the radio to a soft rock station to hear one of her favorite songs. She prepared dinner for them while she danced around the kitchen. Glancing up at the clock, she realized that he would be there soon. She finished everything up and went to change. She took off her usual work clothes, which consisted of a pair of khakis and a button-down black shirt, and emerged clad in a knee length red strapless dress. Promptly at 11:15, Max appeared at the doors of the restaurant. She unlocked the door and let him in, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him as he entered. His arms circled her waist to pull her closer, deepening the kiss. She ran her fingers along the nape of his neck. They finally pulled apart and took their breaths. "Hi Liz." He said, as a blush slowly crept up his face. "Max..." she smiled. She stepped back from him and led him to the table she'd set up for them. "Have a seat, I'm going to go get the food." She said as she headed into the back. Max sat at the table. She hadn't lit the candles, so he obliged her with a touch of his finger. He was becoming better acquainted with his powers. She came back carrying a tray with two banana splits, heavy on chocolate syrup. She sat one in front of him and one at her place. "How do you know which one is yours?" he asked her. "Yours is heavy on Tabasco, and mine isn't." she said with a smile. She sat down across from him and started to eat her banana split. "So how was your day?"
"Long and somewhat productive." He told her in between bites of his sundae.
"Fill me in." she said, her eyes twinkling.
"That meeting I had with the dean went...well." He said. He wasn't sure what to make of that meeting yet. He didn't know what he wanted to do yet, but he knew he had to do something. He couldn't very well marry Liz and not have a way to support her.
"Well?"
"He offered me a teaching position." Max said, his eyes not meeting hers.
"Max... that's.. that's wonderful!" Liz squealed. She smiled brightly at her. "Is that what you want to do?"
"I'm not sure...I know the material. But there's always that voice in my head, telling me that I should be a doctor. That I could do so much good to society." He said. "Even after I declared myself a physicist it was nagging me to go to med school."
"You would be an excellent doctor."
"But with being a doctor also comes the long hours and I don't know about you but I don't know if I want to spend all that time away from my family." Liz nodded in understanding. "Carmichael offered me the astronomy program."
"Max that's great, if you worked in astronomy then you'd know what was going on out there, all the time. You know, if there were any mysterious sightings and stuff."
"Exactly, that's why it'd be good for me." He said with a slight smile. "What do you think?"
"It's your decision. I'll support and be happy with whatever choice you make." She said taking his hand.
"Then I'll take the job." He said. She smiled and brought his hand to her lips and let them glide over his knuckles. She raised her bowl and he followed.
"To you, Professor Evans." She said with a smile. He touched his bowl to hers and then continued eating. They ate in a companionable silence. His eyes meeting hers every so often. She smiled. How did I get so lucky, she thought.
Maria DeLuca lay sprawled out on her bed. She'd been grading papers all evening. She heard the door to her apartment open then close softly. "Michael...Isabel was looking for you earlier." Maria called out. The tall young man entered her bedroom and sat on the bed next to her. He yawned and ran his hand through his chin length light brown hair. "She say what she wanted?" he asked.
"Nope, but she sounded upset." Maria told him as she sat up. "I asked her if she had any ideas for our bridesmaids dresses for Max and Liz's wedding and she said that Liz had decided on the color and we had to pick the style. "
"Their wedding isn't for another three months." Michael sighed
"You have to plan early for things like this. Max wants Liz to have the wedding of her dreams." She said wrapping her arms around his neck. He ran his hands along her back. "Liz is so excited. She's worried that Max is taking on too much."
"It's Max, he's always taking on too much." Michael joked. "He always takes complete responsibility for everything and everyone."
"Anyways you know how he is with Liz. He wants her to have a big human wedding with everyone she's ever met there." Maria went on before suddenly realizing. "Michael, he's going to make a public display of himself." Michael looked at her, slightly puzzled before he too had begun to realize. Max Evans had always hidden in plain sight. He was there but never there enough for anyone to notice or remember, and that was the way it had to be according to him. He'd never wanted to be in the spotlight for anything. Even at their high school graduation, when he'd walked on stage to receive his diploma he'd kept his head ducked. He was coming out into the world for her. He was going to put himself in the center of attention for her. Maria's eyes began to glisten. She'd always sort of envied her best friend for having found her soul mate at an early age. True, she felt that Michael was her one and only but they would never have what Liz and Max had. They didn't need it. They had the Maria-Michael love and that was enough for her.