Hey! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback!!

I'm posting the end of chapter 11 as a small reminder. Thank you for reading!

End of Chapter 11


"Then you have probably already met my brother," Isabel said.
Brother. So that was the connection to Michelle. The man she had met hadn't been Michelle's father, but her uncle.
Isabel took Liz's hand, a gesture that made Liz feel like she had been friends with this woman for eternity. It was a very comfortable feeling and she let herself be lead out of the hallway into a big room where a large table was set. She was met with a mixture of wonderful smells and she realized how hungry she was. But her stomach wasn't reacting just to the smells of newly-made food, but was churning with nervousness. Was she going to see him again?
"Max, I want you to meet someone," she heard Isabel say in front of her. She took a deep breath and stepped into the doorway. She saw his back the fraction of a second before he turned around.

Something moved within her and she was hit with a warm wave. All she could see was his eyes flashing in recognition.
"Liz, this is my brother Max. Max, meet Liz."
Max... That was his name.




Chapter 12


"Max, I want you to meet someone."
Isabel's voice pulled him out of his reverie and he shook the image of Tess' face out of his mind. Taking a deep breath, he turned around.

And the air got caught in his airways.

"Liz, this is my brother Max. Max, meet Liz."

It was her, the woman who he had met just briefly, but who had left an eternal impression on him. The woman he had been unable to forget since the day at the mall, which was both a good and bad thing.
"Hi," she said softly as he became entranced with her face.
God, she was beautiful. How could he have missed that the last time? But then, he had been more or less panicking about his missing niece.
"Max."

She was wearing her hair down, with some strands pulled up at the back of her head. The soft light in the kitchen made her hair appear almost black and her big dark-brown eyes take on an enchanting glow. And her lips were-
"Hey, Max!"
He forced himself to tear his eyes away from her face to his sister's glaring eyes. She gave him a look of warning, but it didn't have any effect on him. His eyes automatically traveled back to Liz's face and he noticed the reddish blush coloring her cheeks and realized that he had probably embarrassed her. Nice work there, Evans. Stare at her like a psycho.
"Hi," he answered softly.

Isabel looked back and forth between Liz and Max, trying to figure out what she was witnessing. They weren't saying a word, but Isabel couldn't decide if she should help them talk with each other or if they were comfortable continuing what they were doing. Whatever it was...
"So, Liz. If I understood my daughter correctly, you have already met?" Isabel asked.

Liz was biting her lower lip in contemplation, trying to read the emotions in his eyes. He really had beautiful eyes. But even though he seemed genuine happy to meet her, there was this sadness still lingering in the background. She had noticed the same sadness when she had met him at the mall, but under the circumstances she hadn't really thought about it. But if the sadness had only been correlated to having lost his niece, why was it still there? What had happened to cause him to harbor that aura of loss?
"Liz?"
Liz turned her head towards Isabel. "Excuse me?"
"You two," Isabel clarified, gesturing between Liz and Max, "have you met before?"
"Yes," Liz said, capturing Max's eyes again, "Max was looking for Michelle and... I helped him."

Isabel nodded. Of course Max had met her. He had probably asked her to help him search for Michelle. Isabel frowned as she once again felt like she was merely a bystander. Like she was just a passive observer. Isabel watched as Max gave a start, as if he was awoken from a deep sleep and he stepped up to Liz, offering her his hand.
"It's nice meeting you again," he said.
She smiled warmly and took his hand. Max jerked slightly at the contact and his eyes automatically snapped up to meet hers where he saw the amazement he was feeling reflected in her eyes.
"Likewise," she said.
Next to them, Isabel cleared her throat. "Well, dinner's ready. We should eat."
Liz slowly let go of Max's hand and then forced herself to return to reality. "It smells just wonderful," she said, turning towards Isabel, "What is it?"
Isabel smiled and moved to take the dish from the counter. "It's one of my specialties," she said proudly, walking into the dining room.

Liz followed, all the time very much aware of Max's eyes on her.
"I hope everyone is hungry," Isabel said to her guests, putting the dish in the center of the table.
"I'm starving," Alex announced, plopping down on one of the chairs.
"I could eat a whole cow," Michael said, "and some camels."
Everybody laughed and sat down around the table.

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



Five hours later

Liz felt the familiar tingle in her nose and she sharply inhaled, before sneezing.
"Bless you," Max said.
"Thank you," Liz smiled, pulling the blanket higher up.
Max watched her with a twinge of worry. "You sure you're not cold?"
She smiled at him reassuringly. "I'm perfectly fine."
And she was. Her clothes were still wet under the blanket, the cool fabric sticking to her skin. But she had never been better. She had never felt more free. More at ease.
"You want me to turn up the heater?" Max asked, moving his hand towards the controls.
Without thinking, Liz reached out with her hand and took Max's hand, with the purpose of removing it. They both paused in their movements as skin touched skin. Liz stared at their hands. She could feel a tingle in her stomach and an indescribable feeling of not wanting to let go. She let her eyes travel to his. Her breath caught in her throat as she was floored with the emotion in his eyes. She quickly looked away and removed her hand from his.

"That's-that's really not necessary," she stuttered, "The temperature is just right."
There was a pause before he answered.
"Okay," he said softly.
Silence wrapped itself around them again, only the soft clattering of the rain against the ceiling broke through the silence.
"You know," Max said after a while, "this actually happened to me once before."
She turned to look at him. "Getting trapped in a car out in the rain with a woman?"
He chuckled. "I wish!"
She smiled. "No rain?"
"No beautiful woman," he corrected.
"Ah," she said playfully.
"I think I was about...nine and my parents decided that we should go on this camping trip."
He turned in his seat so that he was more fully facing her. "Believe me, the Evans family was not made to go camping."

Liz giggled. "No?"
Max winced. "Definitely not. My mom is really...homey. And she is great - at home."
Liz bit her lip in amusement.
"Isabel's...well, she's not really into sleeping in tents and she can get really cranky without running water."
"Your dad?" Liz asked hopefully.
Max grimaced. "Not that much better. I mean, he tried, but unfortunately that wasn't enough."
Liz laughed softly at Max's expression.
"The plan was to start off early. Mom had prepared sandwiches to eat during the ride the night before and all we had to do was wake up and get dressed. Well, Isabel spent about one hour in the bathroom. The other family members had no chance to get in there. She guarded that bathroom better than the National Guard."
Liz laughed softly and turned in her seat, so that she was now sitting with her side leaning into the seat and her legs tucked in under her.

"When the next person was supposed to take a shower - which happened to be me, the unknowing participant – they discovered that my big sister had taken all the hot water. Not a pleasant experience."
Liz laughed. "Poor Max."
Max grinned at her, despite himself, and continued, "Well, we were supposed to leave the house at five in the morning. We were out of the house at nine. And not only did we forget the sandwiches, but also one of the tents."
"Sounds like a good start," Liz said, a twinkle in her eyes.
"To make a long story short, we ended up in a motel. Believe me, we tried to put up that one tent, but my dad kept blaming the producers for not sending along a more elaborate manual and we ended up in the motel, after eating at MacDonalds."
"Sounds like a regular camping trip," Liz mused.
"At least Isabel was satisfied."
"I guess she was."

"So, after two nights in that hotel, we were to return home. The plan was to start off early, to avoid the morning rush."
"Of course," Liz agreed, already knowing where this was going.
"We checked out at 2 p.m.," Max rolled his eyes as if saying 'surprise', "and halfway home the car broke down. It was a very old car. And it was raining. Stuck out in nowhere with Isabel. I wouldn't wish that even on my worst enemy."
Liz laughed. "She's really that bad?"
Max nodded with a tortured grimace, as if just the thought of that memory caused him pain. "The first hour she went on about this guy she had a crush on. The next hour she talked about what her friend Karen had done when she had dyed her hair green instead of blonde and what a catastrophe that was. The subsequent two hours she was whining about how the moisture in the air was going to make her hair all frizzy."
Liz looked at him with sympathy. "How long were you out there?"
Max face took on a contemplative expression. "Uhm... four hours... yeah... four hours. But that was enough."
"I can imagine," Liz smiled. "They are really great though. Isabel, Alex, Michelle and Michael. They really made me feel welcome. It was a wonderful dinner."

"It was nice to have you there," Max said. Liz looked at him. It seemed as if he wanted to say something else, but he remained silent.
"What were the chances that we would meet again, huh?" Liz asked casually, silently thanking the stars for having them meet again.
"Yeah, that was weird," Max said, giving her a half-smile.
"I never would have imagined in a million years that we would meet again."
"I guess someone wanted it otherwise," Max said slowly.
Liz smiled softly and nodded, "Yeah."
Max looked forward again, but still looked at Liz out of the corner of his eye.
"Do you have any siblings?" Max asked.
A hint of something passed over Liz's face, something that didn't go Max unnoticed, and he turned to look at her again. She ducked her head and began fingering with the edge of the blanket.
"No," she answered.
"You've probably not missed out on so much," Max said, trying to put her at ease. Something about his question had made her uncomfortable.

She gave him a weak smile, but kept her eyes on her hands in her lap. Max watched her.
"Liz, I'm sorry. If I- I didn't mean to..."
Liz shook her head at his apologizes, "No, Max. It's okay. I just... I..."
Why couldn't she just tell him? That her parents didn't have any more children because she had been sick. For some reason she didn't want Max to know that. She didn't want him to know that she felt responsible for her parents not getting a normal healthy child. She didn't want Max to know those things. This whole night had been so relaxed and so much fun. And much of that was probably because he didn't know about her condition.
"It's okay," Max said.
"My parents wanted other children, but they were unable to," Liz said. That wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't a lie either.
Max nodded, silently wondering about the seemingly strong reaction she seemed to have towards the subject.
"You wanted siblings?" Max asked.
Liz smiled softly. "I always wanted to have siblings. Once, when I was five, I asked for a sister for my Christmas present."
"You did?" Max grinned.
Liz nodded. "But then, after hearing about Isabel, maybe I should be grateful that I'm an only child."
Max chuckled. "Uh-huh."

"Oh no!" Liz exclaimed.
Max frowned at her sudden change of mood. "What's wrong?"
Liz bent forward and hauled up her purse. "I can't believe I forgot..."
Max watched her hasty search through her purse. She looked up at him with an expression of annoyance. Annoyance with herself.
"I can't find my phone. Could I borrow yours?"
"Sure," Max answered and gave her his cell.
"Thank you," Liz smiled and pressed in the number. The silence lowered itself over the car again as Liz waited for someone on the other end of the line to pick up the phone.
"No answer?" Max asked as Liz pressed the disconnect button.
Liz shook her head in negative.
"Do you think it will take long before the truck gets here?"
"It should be here any minute," Max said.
"It's just... No one knows where I am," Liz tried to explain. It wasn't that she wasn't enjoying Max's company, but she knew that Kevin would freak if she wasn't home.
Max nodded. "I understand. Maybe you should try to call Maria."
"Yeah..." Liz dialed Maria's number. But she only got a busy tone.
"Busy," she said as she disconnected the call.
Max looked up in the rearview mirror as lights reflected into the car. "I think that's the tow truck now."
"Okay," Liz said with a deep breath. She really didn't want to go home, but she didn't want to worry Kevin any more. Because he would be worried by now, that was for sure.

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



2.30 a.m.
In the backseat of a cab

Max glanced over at the sleeping form beside him. She was still wrapped up in the blanket Max had given her earlier. His eyes traced her face. When she was asleep like this he could revel in her beauty without restraint. Not for the first time this evening, he was struck by how different she was from Tess. They were each other's polar opposites. Tess had been fair with her light curly hair and sparkling blue eyes. Liz was dark, like an Egyptian queen, with her dark and warm eyes and dark straight hair. Yet Tess and Liz had so much in common. He barely knew Liz and he had known Tess for years, but there was something about Liz that was familiar. Something that made him compare her with Tess. No one had ever made him think these thoughts since Tess' death. No woman had ever interested him. No woman since Tess had attracted him. Until now.

And that frightened him. The small petite woman sleeping beside him had managed to awaken feelings within him that he thought he had buried two years ago, and she had done it without even lifting a finger.

He tore his eyes away from her curled up body, trying to force the image of her head resting against the door out of his mind. He squeezed his eyes shut tight and tried to take deep breaths to force her presence out of that part of his mind and heart that belonged to Tess. He had made a promise to Tess to never forget her. He was not interested in letting anyone in. He was not interested in loving anyone else.

The guilt was eating him up. He felt like he was cheating on his wife by feeling things for another woman. Feelings that he had reserved for her. Maybe he was being irrational, but he couldn't get rid of the feelings of betrayal. He shouldn't think these things about someone else.

He glanced over at her again. God, she was beautiful. In the last couple of hours he had spent in her company, he had felt more alive than he had in two years. Something about her made him want to continue living. Because truth was, lately life hadn't been that enjoyable.

A large shudder went through here body and he worriedly let his eyes move over the blanket to see if it was tucked properly around her. Noticing that the blanket had begun to slip off, he reached over with the purpose of correcting it. Something made him pause in his movements. Maybe it was the soft and feminine scent surrounding her. Maybe it was how peaceful her face looked when she slept. Maybe it was the sight of the dark lashes resting on her slightly flushed cheeks or her full, red lips. He took a deep shuddering breath and brought his focus back to the mission at hand. Taking a hold of the blanket, he brought it further up her body, gently tucking it around her the best he could.

With another deep breath he pulled away and rubbed his hands over his face in frustration. His mind felt torn into pieces. The guilt was eating him up, but he couldn't deny everything Liz's presence had stirred in him. He couldn't put a finger on any of those feelings yet. He only knew that for the first time in a long time he felt alive.

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



40 minutes later

Max opened the passenger door for Liz.
"Thank you so much for the ride," Liz said.
Max scratched behind his ear with his hand, with a guilty expression on his face. "Well, sorry about the..."
Liz laughed. "It was fun. It was an experience."
Max grinned. "I hope I didn't ruin your night."
Liz glanced at the house in the background. "No, no. Of course not. I had a great time. Thank you."

"Thank you," Max said, looking intently into her eyes. Liz felt herself being pulled in by his flaming eyes and the world stopped spinning for a enchanting moment. With a deep breath she reluctantly pulled herself free.
"I have to go," she said apologetically and gestured towards the house in the background.
"Yeah, okay," Max said.
"See you another time?" Liz asked, before she could stop herself.
"I'd like that," Max said honestly.
"Well, I should go then," Liz said.
"Yeah," Max said.
"Oh," Liz said, pulling off the blanket that was still wrapped around her shoulders. "Maybe you want..." Max held up his hand when he saw what she was doing, stopping her in her movements.

"That's okay, you can return it the next time we meet," Max said. There was something in his eyes that made Liz's cheeks turn hot and she ducked her head shyly.
"Yeah," she agreed with a nod.
"You should probably..." Max said, pointing at the house.
"Yeah," Liz answered. And then she laughed. Max let her laughter wash over her, her happiness filling him with happiness and a half smile formed on his face.
"What?" he asked smiling.
"We could keep doing this all night," Liz said.
Max looked at her slightly confused, wondering about the hidden meanings of her sentence.
"I mean, saying goodnight," Liz clarified.
Max chuckled. "Yes, well goodnight, Liz Parker."
Liz smiled. "Goodnight, Max Evans."

She had to take a deep breath to make herself stop falling into his eyes and turned towards the house. She could feel him watching her as she walked across the lawn. The thought that he made sure she was safely inside before leaving made her feel immensely secure, but it couldn't guard against the feeling of unease that had suddenly fallen over her.

She barely had the chance to put the key in the lock when the door was ripped open and she was crushed against a hard chest.
"Thank God you're okay!"
The next second she was abruptly pushed away from her boyfriend's body and her eyes met his aggravated ones.
"Where the hell have you been? Do you know how worried I've been?"
Liz felt the guilt crash over her.
"I'm sorry," she said regretfully. But he wasn't hearing her.
"I called the police and all hospitals. Why didn't you have your cell phone with you?"
"I must've forgotten-" Liz tried to interject, but Kevin cut her off.
"Haven't you learned by now that you should always have your cell with you?"
"I tried calling you, but there was no answ-"

"I've called your parents..."
Liz stared at him with disbelief. "You called my parents?!""
"And Maria had no clue to where you were, even though you were supposed to be with her!"
She could feel the irritation grow and she snapped, "She isn't my keeper-"
"I didn't know if you had forgotten your pills or..." Kevin interrupted. She could just as well not be there.
Her whole body sighed with frustration and fatigue. "I always remember my pills, Kevin."
Kevin opened his mouth to continue his questions, when he noticed the disheveled state of her hair. It was wet, having begun to dry. His eyes traveled down the length of her body, for the first time noticing that she was wrapped in a blanket and that her clothes were wet underneath. His eyes shifted back to her face, his temper being fueled with her obvious carelessness to her own health. "Why are you wet? You might catch a cold. Do you know how dangerous a cold is to you?"
That was it. "Damnit Kevin! Would you just listen to me?!" Liz cried.
Kevin grew quiet, looking at her, his look demanding an explanation. Liz hated that look. It made her feel like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
"Kevin, I'm really sorry. I forgot the cell phone and I was given a ride home, but the car broke down. I tried to reach you, but there was no answer. I tried to call Maria, but all I got was a busy tone."

Kevin's mouth was pulled into a thin bitter line. "I thought you had a heart attack. I was afraid that you were dead!"
"I'm sorry," Liz said, guilt evident in her voice.
Kevin shook his head. "No, that's not good enough."
Liz frowned. "Excuse me?"
"How am I supposed to watch out for you, Elizabeth, if you are not meeting me half-way?"
Liz stared at him. "I don't need you to watch out for me."
"Do you really think that I could've gone through every hospital visit with you, that heart attack and you almost dying without looking out for you?!" Kevin asked indignantly.
"You're smothering me, Kevin!" Liz accused, regretting it the same moment the words left her lips.
"What?! I care about you, Elizabeth!"
"You're treating me like a child!"
Kevin raised his eyebrows and looked at her like she had just announced to the world that she had discovered the solution to world starvation. "I am not treating you like a child. If I am, it's only because you've brought it on yourself by acting so irresponsibly, as you did today."

Liz bit her lower lip to prevent herself from saying what she really wanted to say. "I'm sorry, Kevin." She sighed resignedly. "What more can I say?"
"Why are you wet?"
"It's raining outside," her voice was filled with acid now. She really didn't have the energy for this. It was in the middle of the night and she could feel the protest her heart was making at her ever increasing upset condition.
"Whose the blanket?" Kevin continued.
"I got a ride and he was kind enough to offer me a blanket," Liz answered.
"He?" Unmistakable jealousy flashed in his eyes and Liz immediately knew where this was going.

"Yes, he. Maria wanted to stay with Michael and he offered me a ride home."
"How long have you known him?" Kevin asked, his eyes dark with suspicion.
"I'm not having this conversation!"
"I think I have the right to know if you are catching rides with complete strangers!"
Liz's hand unconsciously moved up to press against her painfully pounding heart. "Why can't you trust me?"
"This isn't about trust, Elizabeth."
"Yes, it is. When you can't have enough faith in me that I'm capable of making my own decisions, it is about trust."
Liz felt exhaustion course through her body so strongly that she swayed on her feet.
"What's wrong?" Kevin asked concerned, but still with a tinge to his voice.
Liz fumbled behind her with her hand to find a chair or something to sit on.
"I just... I just need to sit down for a second."
Her heart was beating erratically in her chest, missing some beats and adding others.
But she never got to the point of actually sitting down before her legs gave out under her. The last thing she heard before darkness devoured her was Kevin frantically calling out her name.


TBC...