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On with the next chapter...

Chapter 6


"Hi Max," Isabel said with a warm smile and pulled her brother into a hug, "Where's Madison?"

"Uhm... She couldn't come," Max answered.

Isabel pulled back and looked him into the eyes. "You didn't ask her?"

It was more of a statement than a question. Max dropped his eyes. Isabel sighed, despite herself.

"Max, I like Madison. You like Madison. Just because she's not, like, the love of your life doesn't mean that she can't tag along."

"She's just a friend, Isabel," Max said.

Isabel ruffled his hair. "I know, little brother. But even though she's just a friend, she does eat, right?"

"Uncle Max, Uncle Max, Uncle Max!!!"

A big smile spread over Max's face as his niece came running towards him. "Oh! Who's that?"
The little blonde girl giggled at her uncle's tactics. "It's me, silly. Michelle!"

Max squinted his eyes and tapped his finger lightly against his chin as he seemed to ponder whether he knew this girl or not. Then his eyes widened in surprise and recognition. "Right... Now I remember. You're Michelle!"

Michelle rolled her eyes. "That's what I said!"

Isabel just shook her head with a bright smile caressing her delicate features.

Max smiled and went down on his knees, opening his arms invitingly. Michelle easily slipped into his arms and he hugged her to him tightly. Isabel had to choke back a sob at the sight. The connection her daughter shared with Max was just amazing and every time she saw it she was reminded of everything that Max had been deprived of; not only his wife, but also his own son.

"Please, invite her next time, okay?" Isabel said.

Max rose, with Michelle in his arms and he nodded obediently. "Your wish is my command, sis."

Michelle scrunched her nose in confusion. "What's a 'domand'?"

"I do anything you tell me too," Max clarified seriously.

Michelle brightened and her forehead creased in deep thought. "Could you bark like a dog?"

"Uhm…well..."

Isabel winked at Max as his expression revealed that perhaps he shouldn't have made such a promise. "Dinner's ready soon, you guys."

"Max!"

Isabel's husband entered the hallway, saving Max from a rather embarrassing experience of ending up barking like a dog. He had a serious problem resisting fulfilling Michelle's every whim.

"Alex." Max couldn't hide the relief in his voice.

"How are you, man?" Max moved Michelle to rest against his hip and took Alex's hand.

"Good, and might I just say, Alex, that you better keep an eye on this young lady," Max turned towards Michelle and kissed her on the tip of her nose which elicited a giggle from the little girl, "because soon she'll have all the boys running after her."

Michelle scrunched her nose. "I don't want boys runnin' after me. They'w mean… and gross!"
Her father ruffled her hair, "Yeah, stick to that belief, honey. Let's go into the dining room, Max."

"You wanna know what I did today?" Michelle asked.

"What did you do today?" Max asked.

"I painted three pictures," Michelle proudly held up two fingers and Max smiled, "I made one special for you."

Max's eyes widened in surprise, "Special for me?"

"MmmHmmm," Michelle nodded proudly, "I'll get it now."

"Okay." Max put Michelle on the ground and watched her run towards the stairs.

"Everything's going okay at work?" Alex asked.

Max nodded. "Yeah, the kids are great. How's the advertisement coming along?"

"It's going really well," Alex said, "I think we'll be able to finish it by the end of the week."

"Here it is!"

Max and Alex turned to see Michelle running towards them as fast as her short legs would allow. Max pulled out a chair and sat down. Michelle immediately climbed up into his lap.
A little out of breath, but with a big smile on her face she gave him her drawing. It was a big round circle with a lot of different colors. Some had ended up inside the circle, others hadn't been that lucky.

"Wow," Max said, trying desperately to figure out what she had painted.

"That's a reino...ren..rino.." Michelle sighed exasperatedly and turned to her father. "Daddy, what's the word?"

"A rhinoceros," Alex smiled and turned to Max, "They've been reading about them in school."

"Yeah, a rinosos," Michelle said, and proceeded with pointing out a sun, a flower and a sea on the picture.

"That's beautiful, Michelle," Max said.

"And it's a pwesent for you," Michelle said happily.

Max chuckled. "Thank you, sweetheart." His gaze flickered over the dining table. "Are we expecting more people?"

"Oh," Alex brightened up, "Yeah, Michael's coming too."

"He is? I thought he was out of town this week," Max said, surprised.

"Yeah, well he was, but there was a change of plans," Alex said cryptically. Max squinted his eyes at him. "What are you implying?"

"He's bringing a date," Alex said, at which Max almost fell off his chair.

"Michael?" he asked incredulously. "Michael Guerin?"

"Yep," Alex answered.

"As in he…" Max abruptly cut himself off and glanced down at the blonde bundle of innocence sitting in his lap, "heck-will-freeze-over-before-I-resort-to-something-as-unnecessary-as-dating Michael Guerin?"

"That would be him," Isabel answered as she walked into the dining room, putting down the bowl of salad on the table.

"You're kidding me," Max said.

"No kidding," Michelle chirped in.

The doorbell rang.

"I got it!!" Michelle slipped off Max lap and ran towards the door, her hair flying wildly in the air.

"That would be them now," Alex announced and started to walk out towards the front door.

"I told you to bring Madison," Isabel told him as she walked past him.

Max watched Isabel disappear out of the room, a myriad of emotions speeding through him. Michael had, up until now, been a safe card. He was something Max could always count on to be more or less single. Max knew that he was being ridiculous and selfish. It was only one date, but the whole thing had awoken a deep fear within Max. A fear of being the only one left, of spending his whole life alone. Despite the fact that he sometimes thought that he was only entitled to the memories of his life and the dreams of what his life might have been, he didn't want to end up alone. He wanted to live on, with someone by his side. But he was scared. Scared of taking that step again. Michael's inability to make a commitment to anyone had always offered him some sort of comfort. As long as Michael couldn't do it, Max didn't need to do it either. And now Isabel was afraid that he would feel like the third wheel, which wasn't entirely untrue.

He took a deep breath and walked out towards the happy voices that reached him from the hallway.

"...no, that's fine. Thank you."

"Long time no see, huh?" he heard Alex say as he rounded the corner. Michael just pulled Isabel into a hug, but Max's eyes drifted to the person standing beside Michael.

"Max, hey man. She managed to drag you here too?"

Max turned his head towards the voice of his best friend. "Hi Michael. I didn't know you were in town."

Michael shrugged. "I wasn't really, but Maria wanted to meet the infamous gang. Max, this is Maria."

"Hi, Max," the blonde girl said with a smile and offered him her hand.

"It's nice to meet you," Max said while shaking her hand.

"Well, let's move into the dining area, shall we?" Isabel, ever the good hostess, said, "You must all be starving."

---------------------------------



"So, Maria. What do you do for a living?"

"I'm in the service oriented business," Maria smiled.

"She's a waitress," Michael filled in.

Maria cast something towards Michael very similar to a glare. Max exchanged an amused look with Isabel. "Um... I'm actually not a waitress. I was when I was younger. My mom owned a restaurant. She still does, actually. But now we are partners, so I'm taking care of the money. I would consider myself an accountant."

"And she waits on people," Michael filled in.

"I do not," Maria glared at Michael and then turned to the others with an apologetic smile. "I do not."

Isabel laughed lightly. "Well, it sounds like an interesting job. Where are you from?"

"Roswell. Born and raised."

"How did you guys meet?" Alex asked. "Roswell's pretty far from here."

"Michael was in Albuquerque in business, as was I. And we sort of ran into each other," Maria explained.

"She took my suitcase," Michael clarified.

"What?" Isabel laughed.

Maria smiled broadly. "We had the same suitcases, so I mistakenly took his. Somehow, he managed to spot me before I left the airport, or more exactly the suitcase. I was happy that he did. I wouldn't want to come home and find a lot of men's clothes in my suitcase instead of my usual clothes."

Alex chuckled. "Especially not Michael's dirty ones." He scrunched his nose to emphasise the statement and his daughter scrunched her nose beside him.

"Thank you so much Alex for sharing that piece of information," Michael said sarcastically.

"I don't really know how, but somehow we ended up in a restaurant and then…well, here I am," Maria filled in.

"Typical you, Michael, to hook up with someone at an airport," Alex said with an amused grin.

"So, Max. What are you up to?" Maria asked.

The dark-haired man intrigued her. He hadn't said more than five words to her during the whole dinner. His silence interested her. The person he had shared most words with was the three-year-old Michelle. They seemed to have an understanding that went past words and if Maria had read Max correctly this far, she would've guessed that he was a man of few words and that he often conveyed his message in other ways. It was difficult to see where he fitted in the group. Isabel, his sister, was outgoing and talkative. Alex was pulling jokes every second minute and Michael... Well, Michael was Michael. Maybe Michael wasn't the most social guy she'd ever dated, but he talked more than Max did.

"I'm a teacher," Max answered.

"Oh," Maria smiled, "which grade are you teaching?"

"First," Max answered. Maria could see him lighten up. Something in his eyes came to life and it hit Maria how much emotion Max's eyes could express. Maria's forehead momentarily frowned in contemplation as she studied Max's face. What had put that blank expression in his eyes? That look devoid of emotions.

Maria's gaze on him was making Max uncomfortable. For a year after the death of his wife, he had been forced to deal with lots of looks and patronizing whispers. People had started to accept that he wasn't going to go back to the Max Evans he had been before. They had been forced to accept this new solemn and quiet and washed out version of his former self. However, he hadn't experienced the deeply scrutinizing looks in a year, until now from a girl he had only just met. She was looking at him as if he were a puzzle she was trying to figure out. And it was unnerving him.

He dropped his eyes and unconsciously started to fidget with the edge of his napkin.

"I love children," Maria said, breaking the silence. She was obviously making him uncomfortable. That was not what she intended to do, "And especially at that age. The questions they ask and the things they say… they're just hilarious sometimes."
Max looked up at her, his eyes softening. "They're great. They see so much of the world that we don't see."

Maria smiled, her fascination with this man growing by the second. "Yes, I agree. We could probably learn a lot from them."

Max nodded.


The rest of dinner continued with more comfortable topics of conversation. It didn't go unnoticed by anyone how eager Maria seemed to be to pull Max out of his shell. The others silently applauded her for having the patience. Max had always been closed off. Even before the accident. Isabel had caught herself smiling several times during the dinner. Maria reminded her of Tess in some ways, especially in her interactions with Max. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind and she more or less discreetly forced Max to take part in her conversations with her honesty. It was fascinating to see.

---------------------------------------------------



"Are you ready to go?" Michael asked.

"Yes," Maria answered, "I just want to say good-bye to Max first. You know where he is?"
Michael chuckled. "Upstairs, second room to the left. If I know him correctly."
Maria shot him a look of confusion before walking up the stairs. Before she had reached the top of the stairs she could hear his voice. It was floating out of the door that was slightly ajar to her left. She stepped up to the door and silently pushed the door open a little. The inhabitants of the room were so engrossed in what they were doing that they didn't notice her presence.

"The angry Captain Crook was skillful with the sword," Max voice was soft and low, but at the next sentence his voice became more forceful, "But Peter Pan was quicker and up on the rig Crook slipped and fell."

A smile started to spread over Maria's face as the little girl covered her eyes as if she already knew what Max was going to read next. Max's voice grew softer, but still held a tone of anticipation.

"The hungry crocodile was waiting for the captain, who, with a splash," Max added a splashing sound, "fell into the water just in time for the crocodile's dinner."

"Will the cwokodile eat Cwook?" Michelle asked in a small voice.

"Nah," Max said reassuringly, "I don't think he tastes good."

Michelle scrunched her nose. "I don't phink so either."

Max smiled lovingly at the girl and pressed a kiss to the top of her head before his gaze fell on the book in his lap and he continued reading.

"'Help! Save me!' Crook cried and swam as fast as he could towards the distant shore..."

Coming to the decision that the scene in front of her was too beautiful to destroy, Maria silently closed the door and walked down the stairs.

TBC...