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Fichic – You wondered how old Emma was. She's five. :-D

Chapter 25

Emma yawned.

"Em, you're tired?" Liz asked with a smile.

Emma firmly shook her head.

"Na huh...I'm"
yawn
"not"
yawn
"tired"

"Of course you aren't," Liz said. "So how about getting some sleep before you fall off your chair."

Emma started to giggle at the visions her head conjured at that statement.

"Yep, she's tired all right," Maria stated, watching the little girl giggle uncontrollably.

Liz rose from her chair and lifted Emma from her chair.

"C'mere honey, I'll read you a book."

"I want daddy to dwead a book," Emma said and yawned again.

Liz turned and, with a smile on her face, captured Max's eyes. Liz arched one of her eyebrows in a questioning expression. Max shrugged.

"Of course, sweety," Max said and rose. He relieved Liz from her daughter's weight, placing her on his hip - nestling her small, yet compact, body against his. Emma yawned again and leaned her head on Max's shoulder, her arms and legs dangling limply in the air from exhaustion. Max held her securely with both hands around her waist. Liz gave Emma a kiss on the cheek, Max stealing a sniff of the smell of her hair as she came close. Strawberry and vanilla.

Liz smothered Emma's hair.

"Okay honey. You be nice to your daddy. Deal?"

"Uh huh," Emma nodded with her eyes half open. Max chuckled.

"I don't think she will be too much of a problem," he said softly.

"Don't let her cute appearance fool you," Liz said with a secretive smile. "Night, pumpkin."

"Nite, mommy," Emma said and she and her daddy was off to bed.

"Okay Liz. We have a lot to talk about," Maria said. "You know, in a non-testosterone environment."


***


Liz closed the front door after Maria's departure. Michael had left after dinner, which he had cooked (and it had tasted wonderfully!), leaving only Max, Emma, Liz and Maria. After thirty minutes of girl-talk, Maria reluctantly announced that she probably should get going and she had called for Michael to pick her up. They all had school to go back to in the morning - including Max. But so far, he hadn't said a word about what he planned on doing about that. Liz didn't know if he was going back to school tomorrow or was to skip classes or what. She knew that she probably had to work, so it would be of no greater use for him to stick around in the apartment tomorrow anyway.

Liz walked back into the kitchen, took her cup of tea and headed for Emma's room intending to find out the reason to Max's extended absence. She knew that Emma could suddenly turn into a bundle of energy just when she was about to go to sleep, no matter how tired she might have been earlier, and it was difficult to get her to lay down and relax. And Max had been 'tucking her in' for about thirty minutes now. As she approached the door to Emma's room, which had been left slightly ajar, she heard no voices. It was very quiet. She silently pushed the door open and leaned against the door frame, her cup in her hand, taking in the picture in front of her. Emma was laying in her bed - sound asleep. Max was sitting in Indian style on the floor beside Emma's bed, watching his daughter with admiration, pride and love shining in his eyes. He was sitting there, watching his daughter as he used to watch Liz hour after hour in the CrashDown. He made no indication of revealing that he knew that Liz was there, until he spoke. His voice soft and tender, yet so full of emotions.

"I can't believe that we made this wonderful child."

Liz felt her heart swell and she couldn't help but smile.

"Well, we did," she said as she slowly made her way into the room. She put her tea cup on Emma's chest of drawers and sat down next to Max on the floor. His eyes didn't leave Emma's still figure for a second, as his hand reached out and took a hold of Liz's. Liz laced her fingers with his, placing their entwined hands in her lap.

"We did a good job, huh?" Liz asked.

"You did a good job," Max corrected, squeezing her hand. "She's perfect, Liz. She's smart, warm, caring and just as beautiful as her mother."

Liz blushed.

"Thank you, Liz," Max said.

Liz nodded, understanding just how much laid behind those simple words.

"Actually, I don't think I raised her. I think she raised me," Liz said. "Without her I would have been six feet under by now."

"I don't agree with you," Max said. Liz looked at him.

"What do you mean, Max Evans?" She asked impishly.

"I'll never met anyone as strong-willed as you. I've never met anyone with a greater will to survive and live. And I don't think I ever will. I don't doubt for a second that Emma kept you going - gave you meaning to life. However, I also know that the Liz Parker I knew would not give up without a fight - how long and difficult that fight might ever be."

Liz felt tears stinging her eyes, moved by his sincere words, but mostly touched by the faith and trust he still had for her. They sat in silence for a while, watching their daughter sleep peacefully. Emma still lived in oblivion to the life she had been given. She was still happily unaware of the fact that she was really an alien princess on a far away planet - even if she wanted it or not.

Liz lovingly stroke Emma's hair with her right hand, holding Max's hand in her other. She could feel that Max had something on his mind, but he wasn't talking. She could still read him, as he could read her - even without the connection.

"What are you thinking?" Liz asked.

"What?" Max asked, pulled out of his thoughts by her gentle voice.

"Would you like to tell me what's on your mind, Max?" Liz asked.

"It's just... I wasn't here," Max said. Liz closed her eyes, letting his voice fill her - absorbing it, taking his words to her heart. "I wasn't here when she was born. I wasn't here when she got her first tooth. I wasn't here when she said her first word. I wasn't here when she took her first steps. I've missed out on so many things, Liz."

Liz took a deep breath. She knew that he was going to feel like this. Max had never chosen to be away from his child. If he had known that he had a child - if he had been able to get to her - he would have. He would do anything to be with his child, to be a part of his child's successes, accomplishments and failures. And he had tried - he had done everything in his power and even more than that to find his child and the love of his life. But a person who didn't want to be found was not impossible to find, but very hard.
Liz moved around to face Max. She took his other hand, making him turn towards her. She took both of his hands in hers and looked him deeply in the eyes.

"Max, I'm sorry that you missed so much of your daughter's life. But Emma and I have managed pretty well anyway, haven't we?" Max did not look convinced. "Okay, as well as could be expected under the circumstances. But you didn't choose to do this Max. If you had known that you had a child and known where that child was you would never abandon it - never. The point here Max is that we have the rest of our lives to spend together. She's four. She still has so many things left to experience. Her first crush, her first date, her driver's license, her graduation, her first boyfriend, her wedding. Max, we can't go back. You've missed some big things with her, but there are so many things left to go through."

Tears were pooling Max's eyes as he leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips over hers - his lips lingering a bit too long to count as a brief kiss. Liz inhaled deeply as feelings awoke and sizzled through her - feelings only Max's kisses could awake.

With her eyes still closed, Liz murmured, "I have something for you."

Max tried to get his emotions under control, trying very hard not to let his imagination go places it shouldn't go at Liz's statement.

"You have something for me?" he asked slowly.

Liz opened her eyes and smiled at him.
"Yes, I do," she affirmed, her voice secretive as she rose from her sitting position, pulling Max along with her. "Follow me."

Max looked at her confused, but complied without any questions.

Liz dragged him out of Emma's bedroom, into the living room.

"Sit," she ordered Max and he speechlessly sat down on the couch.

"What are you doing, Liz?" he asked as Liz started removing books from the plain bookshelf.

"Just hold on a sec," she said. From the bookshelf she started to unload videotapes. They were small - the ones you put in a video camera. She opened a drawer and took out a regular-sized videotape, which had a space for the smaller videotape to be placed in - so that the small videotape could be run in a regular VCR. She placed one of the small videotapes in the big one, plugging it into the VCR. She turned on the TV and took a seat beside Max. Max's eyes followed her every move, his facial expression a mixture of sheer bewilderment, curiosity and excitement. Without a word, Liz picked up the remote control and pressed 'play'.

At first the TV screen was black, but then the image shifted to display the legs of a chair. Then a little baby came into view. Liz watched Max's face the whole time. His eyes were fixed on the TV screen, but his whole face was like an open book. Thousand emotions flickered over his face as he saw the baby sleeping soundly on the screen, her beautiful brown eyes closed and her chubby cheeks rosy. As he realized that he was watching a home video of his daughter as a baby his eyes pooled up with tears, and he reached out and pulled Liz close to his side. Without a word, he affectionately kissed the crown of her head, putting more feeling and emotion in that small act that any words could describe. Liz had documented it all on film. She had been there to film all the things Max regretted missing. She had given him an indirect link to the years he had missed.

***


Max removed the remote control from Liz's hand and turned off the VCR and the TV. Liz laid with her head positioned in his lap, her legs pulled up in a fetal position - sound asleep. He wiped away the tears that had silently fallen down his cheeks. Careful not to wake her, he disentangled himself from her warm and comforting weight. It wasn't easy. She had a handful of his shirt in her hand, and even in her sleep she struggled not to be separated from him. He pried of her hand and took a pillow, which he gently put under her head. He found a blanket and draped it over her. With a kiss on her forehead he left the living room and walked back into Emma's bedroom. He sat in there into the small hours of the morning, just watching her sleep.

***

Liz awoke with a feeling of disorientation and pulled the blanket closer to her body, trying to fight off the morning chill that threatened to invade her body. It was still dark outside, and she looked at her watch and found it to be 4.30 a.m. She clutched the blanket close to her body and rose, feeling a faint feeling resembling headache, a warning of the headache that was gradually returning. Her bare feet made no sound as she made her way towards her bedroom. She was still half asleep, as she made her way inside the complete darkness of her room. She felt her way to the bed and pulled away the covers and with a yawn she crawled into bed. However, she soon discovered that she was not alone, she was not the only one to reach the decision to sleep in that bed tonight. As she crept down under the covers, she felt a small familiar warm body beside her. She inwardly smiled and crept up to the small body, relishing in the warm human contact. As she put her arm around her daughter's still form, her hand touched skin, which texture was slightly different from her daughter's, and her sleep-induced brain vaguely came to the conclusion that it was Max before she with a content smile drifted off to sleep again.

TBC...