Hi guys! *blushes* I'm sooo sorry that I haven't been updating in awhile. I promise, it is not my intention at all, real life is just sucking the energy out of me... But here is the next part..um... maybe I should like post two just to make up for the absence and thank you for your support and feedback. Yes, I think I'll do that :D

Thank you sooo much for reading!!

Chapter 26

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Liz groaned and turned, pulling the covers over her head to block out the annoying sound and the bright morning light.

"Mommy, mommy," Emma mumbled beside her. "I want pancakes."

"Uh huh," Liz murmured and pulled the covers closer, having no intention of going anytime soon, definitely not to make pancakes. She felt someone snuggle closer to her and then she suddenly had her daughter tucked in under her chin.

"Mommy, pwease wake up! I'm hungwy!" Emma said, letting in the light as she started to pull away the covers. Liz blinked and groaned, as she simultaneously fought Emma for the cover.

"Liz," a soft voice said and then the owner of that beautiful voice was working as a accomplice to her daughter, pulling the covers away from her head and effectively removing her refuge.

"Liz, it's morning," he said again and she felt his hand thread through her hair, gently removing the traces of sleep.

"Uh huh," Liz said, not feeling too excited about leaving the warm and cozy bed.

Max smiled at her. She was laying on her side, the covers up to her ears with Emma having crawled under the covers, completely vanishing from underneath it. Emma was not the most tranquil child. She was moving around - fully awake and with new energy, removing the covers more and more in the process. However, Liz was not the first to give and she held on to the covers for dear life. Max took away his hand from her hair and reached under the covers to pull out Emma. Emma was as easy to catch as an eel and Max had to put quite some effort in removing her from her mother.

"Emma, c'mere. Let's leave your mommy alone and we can go and make some breakfast," Max said temptingly.

Bribes certainly worked.

"Yay!" Emma cried and started bouncing up and down in the bed.

"Emma, please," Liz mumbled in a pleading voice.

Max caught Emma in mid air and lifted her out of the bed.

"Okay, calm down little lady," he said.

Liz could hear Emma's giggles as she and Max left the room. She took a deep breath and rolled on her back, staring at the ceiling - trying to accustom her eyes to the light. Her heart swelled with love as she heard her daughter's and Max's voices mixing with the kitchen noises out in the kitchen. That was something she had never thought she would hear. She had given up years ago on ever leading a normal life. She had taken what she had, and tried to make her daughter's existence as tolerable as possible - but that was about all she could concentrate on. She would have had difficulties going on with her life if she was to start contemplating about her miserable situation. By focusing on her daughter and keeping her daughter happy she found an easy way out of her reality. She lazily stretched her arms out above her head, yawning as her body stretched out. She looked at the time on the bedside clock. She really should get up. It was Monday morning and she had to get Emma to day care and then head off to work. She didn't really know what she should do. She and Max still hadn't discussed the future yet. They had somehow left it hanging - perhaps too afraid to discuss it. That discussion would probably bring forward too many emotions. Liz was almost convinced that she didn't have a future, that she could soon die....and Max was afraid of the very same thing although he didn't want to face the truth yet - even though it was staring him straight in the eye.

Liz pulled her legs out from underneath the covers and shivered as her bare feet touched the cold floor. She realized that she was still in her regular clothes from yesterday and her whole body screamed for a shower. Retrieving a robe from the closet, she made her way out of the bedroom - the smell of pancakes teasing her sense of smell during her journey to the bathroom.


"Emma, why don't you sit down and I'll get the syrup," Max said as he placed his hands under Emma's arms and lifted her off the counter she had mounted in order to retrieve the bottle of syrup from one of the cabinets. Max put her down in her chair and got the syrup himself.

"Daddy, will you take me to the day ware today?" Emma asked, trying to cut the pancake into pieces only using a fork as a tool.

"I guess I can go with you and your mommy today as she gets you there," Max said, pouring coffee into two cups.

"Can we go in your big car?" Emma asked excited.

Max smiled for himself as he pulled out two spoons from one of the drawers.

"Yes, we can go in my car," he answered.

"Yay!!" Emma cried enthusiastically.

Emma had given up on cutting the pancake into pieces and reached for the syrup, practically drowning the pancake in syrup. With sticky fingers she tried to eat the pancake by biting bits directly off the pancake instead. Perhaps it had been somewhat successful if she had managed to keep the pancake on the plate but this is a four-year-old we're talking about here. She took the pancake in her small hands, finding her hands a much more useful tool than the fork, and moved it to her mouth, dripping syrup in her lap and over her chin as she took the first bite.

Max turned around just in time to witness his daughter's imaginative solution to not being able to slice food by herself, and not asking for help.

"Emma," he sighed, and grimaced as he gently took the sticky pancake from her. "Haven't your mommy told you that you're suppose to eat pancakes with syrup, not syrup with pancakes."

Emma looked up at him in confusion.

"I lub syrub," she said with a wide grin, syrup still dripping from her chin.

"Okay," Max said. "Let's get you washed up."

"I wanna do dat," Emma said and headed for the bathroom, where she had her own stool to stand on in order to reach up to the sink. Max trotted after her, having learned his homework when it came to leaving Emma alone, oblivious to the fact that Liz was right now in the very same bathroom he was directing his steps towards - taking her morning shower.

"Mommy!" Emma cried as she opened the bathroom door.

Max stopped dead in his tracks.

"We're gonna go in daddy's big car and I'm stwicky," Emma announced in one breath.

Max was still standing outside the bathroom, wondering if he should go in or not.

"What's that, honey?" Liz said, the running water muffling her voice and all sounds trying to reach her.

"I'm gonna wash!" Emma said a little louder.

"Okay pumpkin," Liz said.

Max was still trying to decide his next move. Sure, he had seen Liz...uhm..naked before - they had been intimate. The problem was that was five years ago. Emma decided to make the decision 'easier' for him.

"Daddy," she said, her breathing heavy from having pulled out the stool and climbed up on it.

"I need helb! I cannot get the swoab."

Max took a deep breath and stepped into the bathroom. The bathroom mirror was steamed up from the heat from Liz's shower. But that was of no interest at all to Max as his attention was caught by the form partly visible through the shower curtain. The curtain partly dimmed the contours of her body, but Max could easily make up for the rest with the use of his imagination.

"Daddy, can you helb me?" Emma asked again, a hint of annoyance in her stance and voice.
Daddy jerked his head away from mommy and tried to re-focus on the daughter. He reached for the soap, but his hand stopped in mid-air as Liz poked her head out from the curtain.

"Emma, can you-" Then she noticed that Max was there too and her voice trailed off.

"Oh..hey Max. I didn't know you were in here as well," she said, her face turning beet red, and it was not from the warmth of the showers.

"I-I-I was just gonna..uh.."

"Daddy's helbing me clean my fingers," Emma said. Liz pulled her gaze away from Max. God, she had forgotten how good....okay, gorgeous..he looked in the mornings. It didn't really ease the situation that she was standing stark naked in the same room as him with only a curtain between them - a white curtain that was semi-translucent. Liz looked at her daughter and couldn't help but giggle as she noticed her appearance.

"What have you done, sweetie?" she asked. "Did you guys have a food fight or something?"
She directed her eyes back to Max, for the moment forgetting about her nudity and the situation they had found themselves in.


"We...uh...we were making pancakes," Max said, embarrassed at his lack in skills in taking care of one four-year-old.

"You were, huh?" Liz smiled. "Why don't you help her with the soap and I'll be right out. I can't wait to see the kitchen!"


Max quickly took the soap and handed it to Emma. In the following minutes he learned that syrup sure was sticky and difficult to get rid of, but with some discreet cheating with powers the problem was soon solved. Two minutes later, Emma was as good as new. Well, she certainly needed a change of clothes as well, but Max didn't want to change her into anything new as long as she had yet to finish her breakfast.

Emma hopped down from the stool and before Max had a chance to react, Emma was out of the bathroom, vanishing from his vision. He was just about to go after her when Liz's voice reached his ears.

"Max...are you still there?"

"Yeah," he said. "But I'll leave you alone now."

"No," Liz quickly said. Max stopped. "Can you hand me a towel?"

"Sure," Max said.

"They're in the cabinet under the sink," Liz said.

Max crouched in front of the cabinet, opened it and pulled out a large white towel. He went up to the shower.

"Here," he said and looked the other way as Liz extended her arm out from the shower, taking the towel from him.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," Max said.

There was a pause.

"Maybe you should go," Liz said, and Max realized that he was still standing beside the shower curtain, time seemingly having stopped as her wet hand had touched his as she was taking the towel from him.

"Oh, sorry," Max mumbled and left the bathroom. Liz smiled as she stepped out of the shower. He was just so adorable!

----------------------------------------------------.

Liz was sitting on the bus, heading home. She had just finished her shift at the first work of the day and she was to take a shower, change clothes and then fetch Emma from the day care. When they came home they were to eat something and have some time together. Later in the evening - after Liz had tucked Emma in bed and gotten some sleep herself, normally the baby-sitter would arrive to take care of Emma as Liz departed for her shift at her night work. However, today Maria had said she would watch Emma as she slept instead. So Maria would be getting there in about four hours.

The bus came to a halt and she stepped off it. The bus station wasn't located too far away from her apartment, which was really good. She had approximately fifty meters of walking ahead of her. As she walked she thought about the morning. After Max and she had cleaned up after Emma's syrup adventure (which actually only had taken Max a sweep of his hand to clean up), and Liz had cut Emma's pancakes into smaller pieces, they had all sat down and enjoyed eating breakfast together - like a normal family. Max had told them a little about what he was doing now and to Emma's great disappointment he had been forced to inform her that she had to go back to day care and he had to go back to his school because he had lessons to go to. Max had driven Liz and Emma to the day care. Liz didn't own a car - she didn't have too much money, and most of the money she made went to Emma, either directly or indirectly. Some went to a fund Liz had put up to be able to give Emma a good education. After saying good-bye to Emma, and Emma had reluctantly released her daddy from the bear hug she had captured him in, Max had taken Liz to her work and with a 'Call me if you need anything' he had been off.

Liz walked up to her apartment door and put the key in the lock and turned. She frowned as the key didn't turn in the lock and unconsciously she pressed down the door handle. The door drifted open and she realized that it hadn't been locked. Fear gripped her as she slowly pushed the door open. Leading an isolated life and always looking over her shoulder, she would never forget to lock the door. That's what paranoia did to you. As the door opened up and she was looking into her apartment she gasped and took a step back, her heart slamming in her chest.

The living room was a mess. The few books that she had were spread over the floor, the couch was destroyed, its upholstery spread over the floor. Glass had been broken, the content of a trash bin had been scattered over the floor. It seemed as if someone had been searching for something. Liz felt her legs shaking. She felt watched and naked. Vulnerable. She hastily backed out from the apartment and without knowing how, she made it around the corner of the house. Leaning against the wall, she pulled out the cell phone Max had bought her the other day and dialed Max's cell phone.

--------------------------------------------.

"Hi Max!"


Max tensed up at the sound of her voice, and he had to take deep breaths to get his anger under control before he turned around and met Tess's face.

"Oh, hi Tess," he said, as he closed the door to his dorm room. He was surprised at how calm he managed to sound. Those years of hiding a secret, and controlling his emotions certainly paid off.

"So, what have you've been up to this weekend?" Tess said casually. "All of you guys were just like missing in action."

Max looked at her, trying to understand how he could ever have considered her as his friend. How he could have turned to her for comfort as he had found Liz in bed with Kyle. Here she stood, the woman who had deliberately planned to destroy his life - and almost succeeding as well. The woman...bitch...who had stolen four years of his daughter's life from him. He clenched his fist tighter, before he returned his thinking to the plan to act normal and not suspiciously.

"We took a trip to Las Cruces," Max said, his voice even and calm, not in any way giving away the lie.


"Oh," Tess said.

"Yeah, Kyle said you were busy," Max said, tucking his hands in the pockets of his jeans to keep them from strangling Tess.

"Really...he did?" Tess asked.

"Yeah, he did," Max said as they started walking down the corridor, heading for their next and first lesson which they just 'happened' to have together. Another one of Tess's methods of always 'being there' for Max.

"He told me that you had this date with that Billy guy," Max continued.

Kyle actually had told Max that Tess had a date, but Kyle had also informed Max that Tess had never been the least interested in Billy - she had more or less hated his guts. Hence, Kyle had found it a bit odd that Tess suddenly was dating him.

"Oh...right, I had," Tess said, inwardly kicking herself for picking such a bad day to make Max jealous on. If she had decided to go out on a date with that moron Billy another day, she would have been free to go with them, or she had a reason to ask why she didn't get invited if they didn't ask her to come along. She knew that she wasn't wanted on whatever they had been up to all weekend. But as she eyed Max out of the corner of her eye, even she noticed that something was different about him. She was certain he was trying his best to act casual and his ordinary self. But some of the sadness in his readable eyes was gone and he seemed more relaxed - some of the regular tension in his body had disappeared.

"So how was it?" Tess said and Max turned his head towards her. Was that suspicion in his eyes? But just as soon as Tess thought she had seen something different in his eyes it was gone, replaced with calmness.

"How was what like?" he asked, slightly confused.

"The trip. To Las Cruces," Tess clarified, a frown of suspicion settling on her forehead.

"Oh, it was great," Max said. "How was your date?"

Tess couldn't help but smirk at the fact that he had asked about the date. So, he was interested!

"It was just wonderful!" she chirped.

"That's good," Max said, his voice more or less indifferent. Tess eyed him sourly. Wasn't he the least jealous?!

Just then Max's cell phone rang.

"Excuse me for one sec, Tess," Max said as he hauled up the cell phone from his pocket and pressed the 'connect'-button.

"Hello?" he said.

"Max," a voice sobbed.

Max jerked his head up in Tess's direction, seeing that he was under strict surveillance. He lowered his voice some, careful not to let his voice reveal how distressed and frightened he was at hearing the state of her voice.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I need you," she said, her voice shaking. "Someone broke into the apartment. They might still be there."

"Stay right where you are. I'll be there as fast as I can, okay?" Max said.

"Okay," she whispered. Max wanted to tell her that he loved her, but he knew that he couldn't do that as long as Tess was listening.

"I'll be right there," Max said and disconnected the call.

"Who was that?" Tess asked, trying to sound interested.

Max looked at her, Liz's frightened and sobbing voice still fresh in his memory, and tried to figure out why he had decided to not make Tess suffer.

"It was Isabel - her car broke down. I'll have to go and help her," Max said. "Can you do me a favor, Tess?"

"Sure," Tess said and lightened up. She loved when Max asked her to do things. That meant that she could make him happy and if he was happy then maybe he would see how good she was for him and he could turn to her. And then they would get together. Yep, real Tess-logic there.

"Can you tell the professor that I had a family emergency," which was actually the truth, "and that I had to leave?"

"Sure," Tess said.

"Thanks," Max said.

Before Tess had a chance to tell him that she would do anything for him, Max was disappearing down the hallway, his steps hurried. As Tess watched his retreating back she thought she saw some of the old tension settling in his shoulders again. She instinctively knew that something was going on and forgetting all about doing Max any favors, she started walking down the corridor - having her own car as destination.

TBC...