Kenny stared at her, and tried to comprehend what she just told him. She looked away, and struggled not to cry. Kenny reached out slowly, and gently turned her back around. "Max? What did you just say?"

Max shook her head. "Kaylee . . . she isn't Jimmy's daughter. I was pregnant before that."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You didn't give me a chance to," Max whispered. "You left."

Kenny looked down at the little girl in Max's arms before saying anything else. "You're serious about this? We have a daughter together?"

"I brought her to Philadelphia with me, and I wanted her to meet her Dad. She was barely a month old then."

"Oh Max," he said softly, as he rested his hand on her cheek.

"It's why I tried so hard to find you. Even if you didn't want me in your life anymore, I thought that you should know."

"We have a kid," he trailed off. "You brought her to Philadelphia? That means my parents knew. How couldn't they tell me that?"

"There was a lot going on. I'm not their favorite person, and they probably wanted you to concentrate on getting better."

"Max . . . I'm sorry I wasn't there. You don't know how much."

"You had cancer. You didn't know."

"I know now."

"It doesn't change anything between us."

"It does. Max, we have a daughter. I may not deserve to be part of her life, I don't know her, but I want to. If you'd let me."

She looked up at him, and steeled herself against the feelings that were rushing back. "How do I know that you won't hurt her the same way you hurt me?"

"You don't, but Max . . . Please."

She relented. "Okay."

151515151515

"Do you think that Kenny found her?" Littleton asked.

"I don't," Skeeter trailed off, as he studied the computer screen in front of him. "A social security number gives you a lot of information though. I don't know if he knew hers, and he didn't have access to all of our files."

"And we have a phone number and address," Littleton finished. "I don't know what to tell Kim either . . . She just started to get past this."

"How about a cage match?"

"Not funny. Are you going to tell Kenny?"

Skeeter shook his head. "I don't have a phone number or anything, and I don't really want to. Let him look, like Max did. He certainly didn't make it easy on her."

"Payback?"

"She is by no way blameless for any of this, but I don't want to inflict the past on her if I don't have to. There is a child involved now."

"You still want to get in contact with her?"

"Maybe warn her or something?"

151515151515

"Whoa. Sorry, I don't want to interrupt," Aaron said, coming up behind the threesome. "Hi honey. I got your ring back from the jewelers. Sorry for the wait, Darling."

"Aaron."

"Ssh," he insisted, sliding the ring on her finger. "There back where it belongs, beautiful. What no kiss?"

"Aaron, wait," Max protested, as he planted a kiss on her lips. "Aaron! I told him!"

"So I just kissed you for no reason?" he asked, as he pulled back. "Thanks for the warning."

"I tried," Max retorted, as she looked down at the ring. "Where did you get this? It's huge."

"And fake. Do you remember Rodney? The drag queen? I borrowed it from him," Aaron replied, as Kaylee hugged his leg. "Ah, here is my real girlfriend. How are you doing, Princess? I brought you a present too. Surprise."

Kaylee squealed when he pulled the stuffed dinosaur out from his bag. "Like! Aaron."

"You spoil her," Max commented, very aware of Kenny's presence next to her, as she handed him the ring. "I'm sure Rodney wants this back."

"I'm sure he does," Aaron replied, eyeing the other man. "Are you the asshole who ran out on his pregnant girlfriend? I'm actually surprised that she didn't kick you in the balls."

"I'm sure she wanted to," Kenny replied, watching as the other man scooped his daughter up in his arms. "You're Aaron? The gay neighbor and fake fiancé?"

"That's me," he verified, as glanced down at Max. "Tell you what, Neighbor. How about if I take my girlfriend out for an ice cream cone, while you two catch up?"

Max paused. "I'm sure she'd like that . . . Okay. Come inside for a second, and I'll get her stuff together for you."

"I know where it is. Don't worry, stay here," he replied, giving the two an appraising look. "We'll be back soon. Maybe we'll even hit a few stores, and buy Mom a present too. What do you say Kay? Want to go on an adventure?"

"Yea!" she cried, running back over to Max. "Mommy?"

"Have fun, Sweetie," Max replied, kissing her on the cheek. "Be good for Aaron."

"Bye-bye."

"So that was him?" Kenny asked after a moment. "Kaylee seems attached to him."

"He's a good friend," Max replied. "He likes to spoil her though, but they adore each other."

"He knows about us?"

"I told him a few days ago, after I told him about our engagement. He's the one who told me to be honest with you. He's a good guy, really. I told him the whole sordid story, and he didn't run screaming from me. "

"You trust him to take Kaylee out by himself? How well do you really know this guy, Max?"

"Well," she replied. "And he has been wonderful to her."

"I don't know if some stranger should be taking our daughter out."

"Our daughter? You've known her for ten minutes Kenny, and Aaron isn't a stranger to me."

"I want to get to know her, you know that," he retorted, trying not to be jealous of the other man's closeness to both Max and Kaylee. The closeness that they used to share. "I want to know you again too."

"What happened?" she asked, changing the subject. "I know you said that you woke up one day, but how? Dr. Chalmers said it was just about hopeless. Are you healthy? Is it going to come back?"

"I just woke up," he repeated. "It was strange, Sweetheart . . . sorry. I had all of these dreams, a lot with you in them, and I felt like I was wandering for a longtime. Lost, I suppose, One day though, everything just started to feel again. I could hear people talking, and feel them touching me. It took a long time, but . . . I just opened my eyes one day."

"Then what?"

"My parents came to see me. It was hard to talk and move for a while. Everything felt so sluggish, but I had a ton of physical therapy. Learning to walk and talk again, it was humbling."

Max nodded slowly. "I'm sorry you had to go through it."

"I'm okay ,Max. The tumor is gone, and there is good chance that it won't come back."

"I'm glad that you're okay," she replied. "You look a lot better then the last time I saw you."

Kenny paused. "Max, when I was going through all of that therapy . . . all I could think of was getting back to you. Making things right between us. I love you, Sweetheart, I'll always love you."

"No," she whispered. "Don't say that."

"I love you," he repeated, taking her hand in his, "I made a mistake Max, leaving you. I know that. I never stopped loving and thinking about you. Even when I was unconscious."

She shook her head, as she pulled away from him. "It took me so long to get over you."

151515151515

"This is a surprise," Littleton said, as Kim knocked on the doorframe. "I thought that you had class today."

"Done for the day," she replied, kissing him quickly, "Hi Skeeter."

"Hey Kim. How are you? Congratulations, by the way."

"Thanks . . . I'm not interrupting anything?"

Littleton shook his head, as he and Skeeter exchanged a look. "No, we were just looking some information up. Skeeter?"

"Your call."

Littleton sighed, as he filled her in on what Skeeter told him earlier. "So yeah, we got curious."

"You looked for Max?" Kim whispered. "Why? Hasn't she caused enough heartache for my family? Why would you want to bring her back into our life?"

"We don't," Littleton stressed. "Believe me."

"Seeing Kenny again piqued my interest," Skeeter admitted. "And I wanted to give her a heads up, so her life doesn't implode again."

"Why? She deserves it."

"Kim," Littleton said. "Wait."

"I'm going. Bye."

151515151515

"You better go," Max finished, as she stood up.

"Max, wait."

"I mean it," she whispered, choking on her tears. "If you meant what you said, just go."

"Sweetheart."

"You did it once before. This should be easy."

He stood, as he took another step closer to her. "I walked away once when I shouldn't have. I'll never do that again. Not to you or Kaylee. I love you. Ssh, don't cry Max, don't cry."

She shook her head, as she brushed the tears away. "I can't do this with you again! Just go! Leave me alone!"

"Max."

"I can't," she repeated. "Don't you get it? You didn't just break my heart Kenny! You destroyed it! I've finally got my life somewhat pulled back together, and you pull this! How dare you think that I'd just jump back into your arms! Do you know how long it took me not to think and wonder about you everyday? You can't just come back into my life and expect me to be happy about it!"

"Max, wait," Kenny begged. "Would you just listen to me?"

"I think we've said enough."

"Fine, for now. What about Kaylee?"

"What about her?"

"You can hate me if you want, for now. I still want to know our daughter."

Max swallowed back her tears. "Okay. Later though. I'll call you."

151515151515

"She's pissed," Skeeter commented. "Go after her Jon."

"I'm going," he replied. "Thanks."

Skeeter watched him go, as he picked up the phone. "Shit. I don't why I'm doing this."

151515151515

Max sunk back into her sofa, and hugged the pillow close to her chest. Wiping away the last of her tears, she stared up at the ceiling. How am I going to do this, she wondered, how am I going to handle him being around? I can't. Kaylee. How do I make this right for Kaylee? He's her father . . . I can't keep her away from him, even if I don't know how to be around him.

Now what, she thought, as the phone rang. "Hello?"

"Max?"

"Yes?"

"Hey, it's been a longtime," Skeeter said. "Do you know who this is?"

"No."

"Bud Skeeter. How are you?"

This day just keeps getting worse, she thought. "Skeeter, uh, hi. How are you? Why are you calling me? I didn't figure you or anyone else would want to."

"It came as a surprise for me too," Skeeter trailed off. "Florida? That's a far cry for our Wisconsin winters."

"It's a change," she agreed. "How's Rome?"

"Different. I'm Sheriff now. Jon and Kim are getting married, and she is raising the boys. Joey is the town doctor. How is Kaylee?"

"Wonderful. She's a little person now, and . . . she's great."

"I actually called to tell you something. I figured that you had a right to know," Skeeter trailed off. "Kenny showed up a few days ago looking for you. I gave him a run through on the last few years. Everything but the fact that he is a father. He's looking for you, Max."

"He found me," she replied softly. "And I told him about Kaylee."

"How did he take it?"

"He wants to be part of her life."

"Are you two back together?"

"No! We're not going to be either."

"Max," Skeeter began, glad to talk to his old friend. "Listen to me for a minute. A lot has happened, and not all of it is water on the bridge yet. I doubt most of it will be."

"Me too."

"You didn't kill Jimmy. Whatever was between you two . . . it happened. You and Kenny, you two were so happy. Maybe this is a second chance. Don't deny yourself anymore happiness because of past mistakes."

"He wouldn't have died is we hadn't," Max trailed off. "He shouldn't of died Skeeter."

"No he shouldn't have," he agreed. "You have a lot to think about. Would you mind if I called again?"

"That would be great."

151515151515

Kenny swirled the beer in his mug, and contemplated what to do next. She's never going to forgive me, he thought, not that I deserve it. I don't know why I thought she would. Maybe she's hung up on Jimmy? No . . . not possible.

"I'll make it up to her," he vowed.