A/N: Hey guys, thanks for the reviews. Since the last chapter of this story had several readers wanting to lynch Max, I thought I'd better update ASAP. So here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Same as always.

ACT: 13

When the doctor kindly explained to Liz that she would never be able to have children she thought he was joking. In fact, she even told him so.

"This is a joke right?" she'd asked, laughing hollowly her eyes wide and frightened.

"I'm afraid not Miss Parker. You see…"

And that was that.

It appeared that the car accident had severed more things than they'd all first realized. While the Parker's had been confronted with Tyler's back injury immediately, Liz's infertility had not made its self known for several months. It was only after too many hit or miss periods that the devastating reality was brought to light.

Liz had listened as the doctor used words like etopic pregnancy and ovarian damage perpetuated by the crash. He'd gone on to state how they'd removed one of her ovaries to stop the hemorrhaging. Unfortunately, her only remaining ovary didn't seem to be working too well now, either. In the end, it all boiled down to her having a less than twenty percent chance of ever conceiving.

To say she had been devastated was like saying the Holocaust was a tragedy or that 911 was a shock. There were just no words to describe the way she felt. She'd been left with no choice but to carry this sorrow within her heart like an unhealed wound. And now, with just a few words, Max had unwittingly ripped the bandage off.

Worst of all, he sat there smiling proudly while her heart was in the process of shattering. But she couldn't blame him. Didn't blame him. He had never even known she'd been pregnant. Let alone the fact that she couldn't bare children. So get it together Liz! Which she did, plastering a fake smile on her face before saying:

"That's… so great Max," she choked out, swallowing deeply as bile rose to the back of her throat.

Max grinned shyly as he pulled a picture from his wallet. "I think she's beautiful too. Maybe I'm biased," he shrugged as he held it out to Liz.

The moment was surreal. It reminded Liz of a line from the 90's movie Speed. Pop quiz hotshot. Whatta you do when a maniac's got a gun to your head? Whatta you do? Of course she reached for the picture. And if her hand trembled a bit when making contact well…she hoped Max filed it under don't ask don't tell. Or, that he was too kind to acknowledge it.

"She's beautiful Max," Liz smiled genuinely, blinking back tears. And she really was too. If ever there was an angelic looking child, it was Jessica Ann Evans. The dark-haired, gape toothed, amber eyed little beauty, smiled mischievously into the camera as she posed with her hands folded under her cheek and her head tilted to the side. The layered white dress and halo she wore on her head put the icing on the cake.

"It was taken last Christmas eve," Max mumbled, his smile slightly embarrassed as Liz handed the picture back to him. "She and Isabel were at the mall."

"How old is she?" Liz asked with real interest setting aside her own feelings, as she'd become accustomed to doing in the last few years.

"She's six," Max said and watched the smile dissolve from Liz's face.

"Six?" Liz questioned in disbelief, the words strangling in her throat. That was the same age their child would have been.

Max was puzzled by her reaction. What had he said to leech the color from her face and put such a look of deep hurt in her eyes? He watched her mouth tremble as her eyes beseeched him to what? Deny it? And that's when the reason for her distress hit him.

"Oh my God Liz," he murmured, "you think I was sleeping with someone else while we were together?"

"What other explanation is there?" she sniffed back tears of anguish.

Calmly, patiently, he gave her one.

He told her about going back to school that following September. About how he was just going through the motions of senior year, unable to get over losing her or Steven's death. About the surprising call he received from Steven's former girlfriend Sondra, asking him to meet her for lunch. He told Liz about hardly recognizing Sondra as he'd only seen her once, from a distance, and without a slightly rounder figure.

How he'd received the shock of his life when Sondra explained to him that not only was she pregnant, but that it was Steven's baby. His shock had multiplied when in the same sentence she told him she was putting it up for adoption. That she was a college student herself, a scholarship student in fact, with no support system. She had actually cried while telling Max she couldn't provide for the baby. And that the only reason she was having it at all was because it was Steven's. She'd explained to Max about going to his father for help, only to be turned away with disdain and disgust.

Max described to Liz the look of shock on Sondra's face when he suggested adopting the baby. How it had taken more than an hour to convince her before she agreed. He told Liz about using a trust fund left to him by his late grandmother to pay for Sondra's prenatal care and child birth cost. About falling in love with Jessie from the first moment he saw her, and how she had been his daughter every since.

"Wow," Liz said in serious awe. She'd known from the beginning that Max was a caring compassionate guy, but this was just…

He shrugged in embarrassment. "It was the right thing to do. And I've never regretted it."

"How did you manage it?"

Max shook his head as he reflected. "It wasn't easy, I'll tell you that much. I ended up getting a two bedroom apartment near school, and a nanny to take care of Jessie during the day. The first year or so was…a comedy of errors," he smiled self deprecatingly.

"I bet."

Max frowned before speaking again. "It didn't help that my parent's fought me for custody."

"What? How could they?" Liz's eyes widened in horror. She couldn't imagine turning over an innocent child to Philip Evans to raise. The man was about as warm as an iceberg.

"I know right. Especially after my father refused to help Sondra in the first place. Unfortunately, he never told my mother. It was only after it became apparent that Jessie had inherited my grandmother's amber colored eyes that my father believed she was Steven's. By then it was too late. He didn't have a leg to stand on."

What a bastard, Liz thought, not for the first time. "How is your relationship with your parent's now?"

"Surprisingly pretty good. My father has actually mellowed over the years. If you can believe that," Max laughed before turning serious. "What about you?" he asked.

"What about me?"

"How are your parent's and—umm—your brother?" The name stoke in Max's throat. While he'd been given one year probation for Reckless Endangerment for his actions following Steven's death, Tyler had gotten away with murder. Literally. The judge had deemed it an accidental shooting, feeling sorry for poor wheel chair bound Tyler who played it to the hilt. He'd also escaped gun charges by rolling over on one of his friends, a known drug dealer. To say Max had no love for the guy...

"They're doing ok I guess," Liz answered after a brief pause, staring down at the table. "I don't get to see them much these days. Too busy with work. You know how it is," she shrugged.

Max would have loved to take her words at face value, but there were just too many undercurrents in her expression. It wasn't just what she said, but what she didn't say. Reaching over to touch her hand, Max waited until Liz's startled doe like eyes met his before speaking.

"I want to say something, and I know this isn't the right place." He stroked her hand while speaking. "But I don't want you to say anything until I'm done."

Liz nodded slowly, feeling apprehensive. She watched Max swallow deeply before beginning.

"This is harder than I thought it would be," he said quietly. "I just wanted you to know—to tell you—how sorry I am for running you off the road that night."

"Max…"

"You gotta let me finish this," he strangled out. "I don't know what possessed me to do what I did. I was just so angry and upset that my mind just went blank," he squeezed her hand as his eyes pleaded for understanding. "Honest to God Liz I didn't know you were in the car. And when I pulled the door open and saw you lying there…" he shuddered with anguish, shaking his head in denial. "I couldn't believe it. And all I wanted to do was die."

"Max don't." Liz pressed a kiss to the hand that was curled around hers as she stared into tear bright amber eyes. "It's the past and can't be changed. You gotta let it go."

"Like I let you go?"

And like that the tears she'd kept in check streamed down her face.

"I never got over you, you know?" Max said using the thumb of his other hand to gently wipe the tears from her cheeks. "And now I realize I never will," he paused, waiting for her response.

Oh God! What am I supposed to say? Liz wondered.

A/N: Hmm, not to satisfied with this chapter. I think there were too many revelations. Tell me what you guys think. Question: is everyone as tired of these Acts as I am. Boy do I miss real chapter titles. When this is finally finished, I intend to go back and rename ever chapter. I already have half of them picked out.