"Future Max?" Michael repeated and Liz knew this was going to be a long night.
"It's a long story Michael. I'm going to give you the most important information. I've got a kid in that room that I can't leave in there for this whole discussion. Future Max from High School never left," she shook her head and paced the room, "it's so hard to wrap your head around sometimes. Look, I thought he left but he didn't. Something happened, something when wrong and his essence stayed. He said it stayed dormant and when Tess left on the Granolith it kicked him back into his body. I don't completely understand. The point is he's here. He's angry. He's half crazy because he doesn't have a world. His time doesn't exist because we changed it and he doesn't belong here. Which is why I even let him into our lives. He was an outcast. I let him in for some time until Ava and I both saw just how screwed up he is. He's just like Max, Michael. He's controlling. He thinks of me as a possesion. I warned him to keep away. I told him we'd run, expose him, kill him. I made a million threats and he finally got it." Liz knew she was babling but she had to get it out so Michael could start to yell and it could all be over. "I guess he saw you. Which also means he's been watching us."
She was more worried than she'd let Michael and Ava to believe. She'd seen Zander mad, she'd seen his powers. She'd seen his mind and thoughts and he was scarier than present Max would ever be. But if she didn't let Ava and Michael believe she had it taken care of then she would fall apart and show how scared she truly was.
"Zander?" He was pinching his nose and nodding.
And for an instant Liz let her guard down and she smiled quickly. This was what she missed. Michael's little quirk. His eyes, his posture, his voice, his…everything was why her heart still beat. Because for the last 3 years she'd grown to love this man.
"That's what we call him. Ava and I. We didn't want Parker to get mixed up. Max, Future Max. So, when he comes around, we call him Zan or Zander." She nodded.
"He still wants you? He still loves you, doesn't he?" Michael asked and he stared straight into his eyes.
Liz didn't know what emotion crossed his eyes but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. Pain? Guilt?
"I'm an obsession, Michael. Nothing else. I don't think Max ever truly loved me. Our Max or this one. I'm a possesion, nothing else." Shivers ran up her arms, "Everything Max is, Zander is three fold. He scares me Michael. We haven't ran because I feel if we do, Parker will be vulnerable. We don't know where to go. It would be easier if it were just Ava and I. She goes one way and I go the other. But she won't leave me. Not with Parker being in any kind of danger. Three people can't run quietly, especially if he's been watching us. And he's been watching closer than I thought. He knew exactly when you'd left. He knew Ava was on her own with Zander. Thank God you got here in broad deadlight God knows what would have happened if you'd gotten here tonight. He'd have fought Ava. I'm sure of it."
And that was enough for Michael to explode. "Damn you, Liz! How dare you put my son thru this! How dare you let HIM in! Did you not have enough with Max? Did you miss it? HUH? Did you miss having him around? So you thought the future version of him would sufice!"
"GODDAMN you Michael! I've never missed him! Max has been nothing to me for 4 years! I know I was wrong!" Liz broke because she knew she'd been a bad mother to let Parker be in that position. Her tears spilled over her eyes onto her face. She hated herself for her errors. "He came to us, asking for help. Asking for family. He played the sympathy card and we fell for it. I fell for it! I felt horrible. I felt guilty for what I'd done. For sleeping with his brother! But GODDAMMIT, I never NEVER missed Max! Zan turned into a much scarier Max than I'd ever seen and I feel horrible for putting Parker in that situation! If it weren't for me, Parker would be safe! He wouldn't be scared! But I can't change anything! I can't change it! So I deal with it! I deal with it everyday! By myself!"
"Damn you! You could have had ME! I could have helped you! I could have been here!" Michael exploded once more. He half growled and all the glasses in the bar shattered.
"I was too proud to call you." Liz spoke lower. Scared of what was to come when she told him the full story. "I didn't call you about Parker because I was scared of what would happen. And I admit I was selfish. But I couldn't call you to let you know how stupid I'd been to fall for Zander's story. I convinced myself I could handle it."
She walked over to the glass that spread the floor and counter and used her powers to turn it into powder and then faded into nothing.
"I want to hear the whole story, Liz. I want to know what happened step by step." Michael's breathing was heavy.
Liz nodded. "We'll talk tonight."
"Let's get Parker out of the room." Michael was ahead of her and used his powers to undo what she'd done. "What time does he go to bed?"
"8 but he'll probably stay up as late as he can manage to stay with you." She waved a hand over her face to make sure no tears showed on her face.
"I finished my food. Can I watch Xmen now?" Parkers adorable face appeared from his room.
Liz nodded. "I said you could. Give me your plate."
Within minutes, Parker and Michael were watching Xmen on tv while she picked up around the apartment. She made sure all the windows and walls were rigged and sealed in case Zander wanted to re-appear.
The next 2 hours were spent with Parker asking a million questions to Michael about himself and his Auntie Isabel and Uncles Kyle and Max.
Both Michael and Liz were on edge. They paid attention to every sound, every movement outside of the apartment.
At about 9 that night, just as Parker was falling asleep, the doorbell rang.
Michael was on his feet in seconds, hand up.
"Put your hand down. It probably just Ava." Liz pushed by Michael to look through her peep hole.
"Open up." Ava's voice rang in her ears.
Liz opened the door and Ava walked in.
"Just came by to say goodnight to my nephew." She reached Parker who was still laying on the couch. She gave him a kiss. "Night, squirt."
Parker mumbled something which Liz knew was probably also a goodnight.
Liz picked up her son.
"He's sticking around. Not too close. He's staying by the back pool, hiding by the trees. I'm going to work. I don't think he'll try anything. Especially because Mikey's here."
"Don't you think you should stay in, Ava? I don't want you going out there with him watching our every move." Liz bit her lip. Ava was more than her best friend. She was now a part of her. Ava would always be her sister.
"Sweets, he's not after me." Ava turned around and walked back to the door. "Take care of my people Mikey."
"Should she be going out?" Michael asked her and followed her into Parker's room as she changed her son for bed.
Liz shrugged. "Ava does what she wants. If she thinks she's safe, there's no arguing with her."
Minutes later, both Michael and Liz sat on the couch. Liz didn't know how she was going to tell Michael about Zander. So much of it was layered with her own pain and things she'd gone through with her depression.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Michael was going to be pissed off by the end of it.
"Zander came up to me a couple of months after Parker was born." She was pacing to keep her mind occupied and slowly she started to relive her memories. "He approached me day at the grocery store. He let me know he was future Max. The Max who had helped me brake up with our Max in high school. He answered all my questions correctly, so I knew it was really him. I really freaked out at first. Cause I thought we had screwed up the future again or something horrible was about to happen." She stopped to catch her breath, she still felt like such an idiot for falling for his lies.
"He said not to worry. He said that when he dissapeared there was nowhere for him to go. His future did not exist. He didn't belong anywhere. He explained to me that his essence was somehow perserved in the Granolith. And when Tess took off with it, somehow it freed him into his body. But he told me he'd lost all memory of all that had happened. It took him a long time to regain his powers and heal. By this time he figured out the jist of why he was here and stayed away." Liz shook her head. Still angry at what he'd done with his time. He'd led the FBI straight to them in high school. "He told me, he moved away and tried to start his own life, away from all the drama. I believed him."
"Where did-?"
"Please Michael. Just let me get through this. I swear all your questions will be answered."
Michael nodded and she took in a deep breath.
"Although I believed him, I didn't trust him. He was still Max. So, he would meet me for lunch sometimes or pick me up from work when mine took a crap. He seemed more and more depressed every time we met. He said he didn't have anyone and he wanted to be part of a family again. He made me feel so bad because I still wouldn't let him come around Ava or Parker. He didn't know about Parker being mine. He thought it was Ava's at first. When he finally met them and found out who Parker belonged to, he was very quiet and didn't come around for some time. When he came back he apologized and that he had needed time to wrap his mind around Parker being our child." Liz took another breath and regained for composure. Living in the past was not doing her any good. She refused to ever let herself go back to those dark days.
"I could understand that. It took Ava a little longer to let him in but I don't think she ever really trusted him. She wouldn't let him do anything with Parker alone. She always insisted on being there or having me tag along. I've learned to rely on her instincts. He took a while to show his true colors. I didn't notice it at first. He was very closed off about my decisions. Ava pushed me to try to start dating. I had no use for it but to please her, I started seeing my co worker's brother. Zan wasn't happy. By my fourth date, he'd all but lost his mind. He urged me to stop talking to the guy and when I didn't listen he grew very angry. I was set to go out and my date never showed. I learned the next day that he'd had an accident and was in the hospital in critical condition. It frightened me. I asked Zan to stop coming around. He didn't deny sending the guy to the hospital but he also didn't admit it…till later. I was devastated. My co worker who I love because he's such a great guy had almost lost his brother because of me. Zan kept trying to weasel his was back in my life but I kept him away. He started stalking me, calling my work. He sent me roses and chocolates, later when he grew angrier, he sent me dead flowers. I'd leave to go to work and there'd be a note in my car." Liz chocked on the memory of a dead cat in her pasanger seat. "I decided to confront him once and for all. Ava thought it was a bad idea. I was to the point where I wanted him out of our lives and I'd threaten him to keep away if I had to."
She laughed at how silly and stupid she'd been. Zan didn't care what it took to make her his.
"I met him at a park. A park out of town. It's away from everything and very secluded. I didn't want him doing anything to expose us. I didn't want witnesses. I told him to leave us alone. That we'd leave. I told him that if he didn't leave us alone that Ava and I were prepared to fight him. He was so angry." Liz couldn't stop the tears from coming. Her fear and repulsion for what he'd done next crept up on her. She turned her back on Michael. "He grabbed me. Said I'd be nobody else's but his. He said he'd die before he let anyone else have me! He cussed at me as he brought the back of his hand on my face. It disgusted him that I'd been yours. That I'd had your child." Liz touched her face, feeling the sting of the slap. "You were supposed to be barren!" She gasped. "That's what he yelled out at me. He knocked me to the floor, his hand over me. I couldn't breathe. And then he said, "It's the only reason I came back to the change the future!" I stopped struggling. I was in shock. I didn't know what he meant. He took pleasure in that. He let go of my neck and stepped back. He said he'd tell me what he meant. Said he would tell me the truth before he killed me."
Liz had noticed how still and quiet Michael had become. Even not looking at him, she could feel him.
"He didn't show any emotion as he spoke. As he told me why he was really back. I couldn't get pregnant in the future. That's why the battle started. He couldn't or I couldn't produce an heir so there was a riot. Someone rose against him. A battle started on earth. He went to the granolith and learned if he came back and changed the past that Tess would give him a son. It happened just as he planned. He knew Tess was working with Nasado and Nikolas. He knew Tess would kill Alex. He didn't care. Alex's death was only one sacrafice he thought I could handle. He knew Tess would leave and come back with Zan. He knew she would die. He knew we'd get back together. He wanted a son, he wanted a future with me. He wanted it all. He didn't care who it hurted. He just didn't count on me growing a brain. So, before he came to find me, he went to the granolith and programmed it to absorb his essence. I think he was hoping to merge our present Max with himself. I altered his future. I refused to marry him. Maria left, which gave me more determination to make my own life, away from Max. Away from him. And when he learned Parker was yours, he was angry because I had completely ruined his chances at getting what he wanted. And how could I have your son when I couldn't have his." Liz heart pained everytime she thought of why her friend had died. Poor Alex was dead for nothing.
"It set me off, what he said next. He said he'd get rid of me and raise Parker. He hates him but he'd take him because we had taken his future. Parker would be his and be raised to hate you. I don't know if he has any plans for him and I don't want to know. Just the thought of Parker with him makes me feel like I have acid in my stomach. So, without thinking about it, I raised my hand and blew him in the air."
She'd do it again if she had to. "He wasn't breathing when I left. I was halfway home when I felt a car behind me. It was him. He was driving at least a hundred miles an hour on his bike. He was feet away from me when I saw him raise his arm in the rearview mirror. Next thing I knew, the car was rolling on the road. It stopped after what it seemes like forever. I pretended to be passed out. He set the car on fire and got on his bike, leaving me for dead. I got out just in time. He was far away so when I aimed, my blast hit the bike not him. It sent the bike and him 20 feet in the air and the bike came down and skidded into the trees. I ran to it. He was out again. Imelted the tires down and tore the bike to scraps. I bent down and somehow, and I don't know how, I was able to connect to him. I was somehoe able to clear his most recent memories and put him in a haze. He was coming to then. He was bad off. Broken legs and ribs. How he didn't break his neck, I'll never know. When he saw me, he asked for my help. I told him to stay away or I'd finsih him off. Then, I knocked him out and left. I cleaned myself up. I called Ava who came to pick me up. She didn't ask about Zan and it took me a while before I could tell her what happened. She doesn't know the details. Not like you."
Liz collected herself before she turned to finally face Michael. What would he say? Zan was so evil. How would he react that she'd let their son around such a person?