"My niece?" Michael asked stunned. If he had a niece that could only mean one of two things and he could barely allow himself to believe it, "Liz? Did you and Max have a…"
Liz shook her head emphatically, "No. No, Michael. Alexis, is Kyle and Isabel's daughter. They got married about three years ago and Miss Alexis Michaela James, made her grand entrance a little over a year later." Her voice caught with emotion, "She'd be two by now."
Michael could hardly believe what he was hearing and a strange sense of relief that the child wasn't Liz and Max's. "Alexis Michaela? After Alex and…me?"
Liz nodded and smiled, "Yeah. You know you're Isabel's brother too. She misses you. She understands, but she still misses you."
"I miss them too." Michael said regretfully, then his eyes widened as something Liz said, and the sorrowful tone of her voice, caught up with him, "D-Did something happen to Alexis? You said 'She'd be two by now.' I mean, is she d…" His heart constricted already breaking for the niece he might never know.
Liz's own eyes widened at what Michael had thought, "Oh God! No Michael. She's perfectly healthy. I just miss her is all. I was there or the first year of her life and now I've missed one." When she saw Michael let out a relieved breath she continued, laughing softly, "You'd love her, Michael. She has a smile that lights up the room. Reminds me a lot of Kyle. Keeps Isabel on her toes."
Michael could help but share in Liz's laughter, "I would expect the spawn of Kyle Valenti…I mean, Kyle James, to do nothing less." He scratched his eyebrow, "I don't suppose you have any pictures do you?"
Liz stood up, pulling a worn photo out of her back pocket, handing it to him. It was a candid, "family" shot, obviously taken by Max, as Liz Isabel, Kyle and a smiling baby girl, Alexis, were huddled into the picture. She was a pretty little thing, light brown, loosely curled hair and a toothy grin, well as toothy as a still teething child could be. But what also stuck Michael about the picture was Liz's smile. It seemed genuine, unforced. She was looking down at Alexis, the little girl, Michael imagined, being the only one who could get her to smile like that. It was stunning.
After staring at the picture for another minute, Liz spoke, "That was taken at her first birthday party," she told him, "I have a whole album full of photos you can look at later. I mean if you want to."
Michael nodded, still smiling down at the photo, "I'd like that." He chuckled, "Alexis is beautiful, like Isabel. But you're right, she does have Kyle's smile. She is definitely going to be trouble."
Liz saw the sadness in Michael's eyes at missing out on his niece's life. Michael had always been great with kids, despite his gruff exterior. She surmised it had something to do with having little or no childhood of his own.
"Alexis knows who you are, Michael." She told him, knowing he needed to hear it.
Michael looked up at her in confusion, "She does? How?"
"Pictures Isabel and I have of you." Liz explained, "When I left she was just learning how to talk, but she calls you 'Unca Grumpy'. Because in nearly every picture you're scowling."
Michael snorted, but knew it was probably accurate, "Thanks, I mean for telling her about me."
"You're her family, Michael. It's important she at least knows about you." Liz said gently.
He tried to hand the picture back to Liz, but she waved him off telling him to hold onto it. He thanked her, then shook his head as he looked at again, "Kyle and Isabel James…. and parents to boot. I can't believe it. I mean I had a feeling they might hook up, but…Wow. The whole domesticated life?"
Liz laughed, she too had been amazed by Kyle and Isabel's transformation and she'd seen it with her own eyes, "Yeah, but it really suits them. Kyle owns an auto shop; makes decent money and Isabel works part-time at an interior design firm, but Alexis is their life. Kyle is such a great dad. And Isabel… you'd hardly recognize her Michael. She gets down in the mud and plays with her. Finger paints, food fights…"
Michael's jaw dropped, "You mean Isabel actually gets…messy?"
Liz nodded proudly, "Gone are the days of designer handbags and two hundred dollar shoes. She's a down and dirty jeans and t-shirt mommy now. Her job at the design firm gives her all the fashion fix she needs."
"Well, they say parenthood changes you." Michael observed.
"Yeah." Liz replied quietly and a bit mournfully. "I left two weeks after that photo was taken."
Michael tore his eyes away from the photo to see the smile Liz had been wearing a moment early had faded. It had obviously torn Liz apart to leave the little sprite, "Liz? If you loved Alexis so much, what about her made you leave?"
Liz shook her head and sat back down facing Michael, "It wasn't Alexis' fault I left. If anything, she made it more difficult to leave." She sighed heavily, "I'm not explaining this very well. I'm sorry." She bit her lips against the tears she was fighting.
On instinct, Michael took her hands in his own, a small gesture of reassurance, "You're doing fine."
Liz smiled slightly and took a calming breath, "It wasn't so much Alexis, specifically. It was what her birth brought out in Max." she explained.
Michael could practically hear the autopilot switch on inside Liz. He had always hated it when she did that, and she'd done it a lot in the months before he left the group, but he knew if she were going to get through her story, she'd have to try and detach herself a bit.
"When Isabel got pregnant," Liz began, "Max was furious to say the least. He felt that she and Kyle should have learned from his experience with Tess and Zan, that our lives are far too dangerous to bring a baby in to."
Michael raised an eyebrow; "I'm guessing Mr. and Mrs. James set him straight about that?" He knew at least Isabel, wouldn't take crap from Max, especially when it came to her life…and her body.
"Oh, there were more than a few screaming matches and royal tantrums on both sides." Liz confirmed, "Kyle even decked Max one night."
Michael couldn't help blurting out an amused laugh, but apologized quickly. Liz shook her head, "Don't be sorry. I won't repeat what he said, but sufficed to say, Max deserved it."
"So what happened after Alexis was born?" Michael pressed.
"Alexis, like Kyle and Isabel, is the consummate charmer, and knows how to wrap any man around her tiny, little finger; Max was no exception." Liz said with a genuine smile, but it quickly faded, "Max saw that we could lead normal lives, have families. The FBI or extraterrestrial enemies stopped looking for us a long time ago. Seeing Kyle, Isabel and Alexis…it made Max realize what he'd given up when he put Zan up for adoption."
Michael ran a hand over his face roughly, knowing what was coming next, "Oh Christ…"
"Yeah… He wanted us to start a family of or own." Liz said mournfully, "Things were falling apart between Max and I before you left, Michael. You saw it yourself. You can just imagine how it had deteriorated even more over the years. How could I possibly even consider the idea of bringing a child into a marriage that had died years ago?"
"What did you tell him?" Michael asked, wondering how the hell Liz had managed to get out of that situation.
"I told him I wasn't ready yet." Liz explained, "That there were things I still wanted to do… He was disappointed, of course, but I think he just figured I needed a little more time and that eventually I'd be ready. The truth was…"
"You never would be." Michael finished. How could Max expect her to… was he really that blind?
Liz nodded silently, "It worked for about six months and Alexis actually provided Max with his 'baby' fix, but every time we'd go back to our house after visiting her… I could tell it was weighing on Max. And he's never really been that patient. So he started bringing it up again."
"And when Max gets an idea in his head…" Michael rolled his eyes.
"He's immoveable. He became obsessed, Michael." Liz concurred with a heavy sigh. She stood up off the chair and leaned against the balcony railing, "Of course the fact that we hadn't had sex since he'd first brought up having a baby didn't exactly escape his notice either. By the time I left it had been nearly a year. Figures that would agitate him."
"Pffft. Try more than five years without it. Now that's agitation." Michael muttered a little too loudly.
Liz turned around, her eyes wide, "You mean…you haven't had…since…"
"Since before Maria left? Yeah." Michael said, his face reddening. He cleared his throat, "But we're not talking about me right now. So…what was the final straw with Max? I mean I can tell you loved Alexis…and Kyle and Isabel."
Liz pushed off the balcony railing settling back on the lawn chair, staring up at the stars as she remembered the night that closed the chapter of Max Evans in her life.
"We'd just come back from Alexis' birthday party and Max started in on me again about a baby the second we stepped inside the house. He said 'It was time to get serious and a start a family of our own instead of living through Kyle and Isabel. Besides, Alexis needs a cousin, Liz. Someone to play with.'
He said a baby would '…bring us closer together. Fix the problems we've been having.' He felt he had something missing from his life since giving Zan up, and that a baby of our own might help fill that empty space. Space? It was a fucking chasm nothing could fill." The anger in her voice palpable, "It was all the same arguments he made before…just more adamantly.
"So…He figured what? He could bully you into having a baby?" Michael asked, incredulous that Max would do that to Liz. You couldn't just force someone to have a baby against her will?
"Why not?" Liz said sarcastically, " I'd let him bully me into giving up on all of my dreams. Why not one more thing? Remember me Liz Phillips… no spine included."
A fear gripped Michael at what Max might have been capable of and she has said he was… "Adamant". "Liz? Did Max…did he hurt you at all?"
Liz sat up, her heart softening at the concern she read on Michael's face. They'd all felt the brunt end of Max's notorious temper at one time or another. When backed into a corner, he tended to lash out violently.
Liz shook her head, "Sorta... I mean, I don't know. He grabbed me, hard, and shook me." She unconsciously rubbed her upper arms, still feeling the bruises Max's crushing and angry grip had left behind, even a year later. "He demanded to know the real reason why I had been putting him off and that he'd indulged me for too long."
She took a heavy breath, before continuing, "How could I bring a child into that? I snapped. Told him how dead I was inside and that not only had I stopped loving myself, but also I had long since stopped loving him. That there was no way in hell I could have a baby with him. Ever."
"Wow." Michael said numbly, "I'm betting Max didn't take that well."
"To say the least." Liz confirmed, her brow furrowing, 'But something happened Michael. He got so quiet. I'll never forget it. I have never heard a silence like that."
"Calm before the storm?" Michael provided, remembering the hushed way Max liked to fume before exploding completely.
"Kinda." She replied, "He let go of my arms and just sat in his armchair. Just still. I don't even think he breathed. Then an hour later he snapped his fingers and stood up. He started pacing back and forth frantically. He said we could get marriage counseling and that we could find our way back to each other. Then we could start a family."
Liz let out a frustrated growl as every word of that conversation came back to her, "I knew then that Max would never give up and while, somehow, I had justified sacrificing my own happiness, I could never subject an innocent child to that."
"I'm sorry, Liz." Michael whispered, now regretting ever leaving her on those porch steps all those years ago. He should have stayed and protected her.
"I knew that night I had to find a way to leave. So, for the next two weeks I planned and packed. With a little help from Kyle and Isabel, I pulled off a Michael. No note. No letter. Just disappeared into the night." She told him.
"Kyle and Isabel helped you leave Max?" Michael asked a little stunned.
Liz nodded, "They knew how unhappy I was and when I told them Max's plan… they didn't want to see me go, but they knew I had no other options, so they helped." Liz wiped tears away from her eyes, "I call them when I can, to let them know I'm okay and to check on Alexis."
"Does Max know anything? What does he think happened?" Michael asked, trying to gauge what kind of threat Max might be, if at all.
"He doesn't know why I left, even though everyone else does. For a while he thought I'd been kidnapped, until Isabel finally told him that she had heard from me and that I was fine. Up until that point he couldn't be convinced that I'd left of my own free will. Kyle says that just made him want to look harder, so we could work things out." She said, wearing the frustration in her body language and in her voice.
Michael shook his head, "So, you've been running this whole time?"
"Not really." She shrugged her shoulders, "Max has never really come close to finding me. Kyle and Isabel usually give me a heads up if he's getting too close and I move on. I wanted to find a place that fit you know? A place where I can face him, and when he finds me, it's because I let him. Besides, I have to get a divorce eventually."
"Yeah." Michael agreed, "You know, New Orleans is a great lady. And if you treat her right, she'll do right by you. Sweet told me that when we met and I'll be damned if he wasn't right."
Liz chuckled, "You sound like a local."
Michael shrugged his shoulders, "I've kinda become one. This is home. A little on the lonely side, but it's home. So, what's mine is yours for as long as you like. If you need to move on at some point I won't stop you."
"I know." Liz said unconsciously placing her hand on his knee, the gave him an amused smile, "Since when did you learn how to share?"
Michael kept a straight face, holding her eyes with his own, "Since I stopped having anyone to share anything with." He saw Liz's loss for words and he realized what he'd said held a little more meaning for himself than he'd intended, even if it was the truth.
He shifted in his chair and swiftly changed the subject, "So, where did you go when you left? Your parents? Maria?"
Liz let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and took her hand off Michael's knee when he shifted, trying to focus on his words, "My parents? No. I call them from various places, but I haven't seen them since we all left. We all hate it, but until we're sure the FBI has stopped watching them…" her voice choked at the sadness of missing her parents, but she quickly pushed it aside, "As for Maria. No. That would have been the first place Max would have looked. And while I adore the diva, she would have told him where I was."
"Still needing to believe in perfect love." Michael scoffed.
Liz rolled her eyes, "Lofty ideal, but there's no such thing. It shouldn't be perfect, where's the fun? But I don't love Max anymore, and neither he nor Maria can accept that. Not exactly the environment needed to find ones self."
"To say the least." Michael added.
"Anyway," Liz continued, "When I left, I took about half of our savings and just traveled. Trying to figure out who I am without Max. I needed to find out if Liz Jeffries has the same dreams Liz Parker did. Which I do, but I found some new ones and I'm letting go of some old ones. I knew that's what I had to do before I really started looking for 'Ulysses'. Turns out in a way, Ulysses found me."
"Ah," Michael said folding his hands, "Kyle would call the karmic direction."
"Or one hell of a coincidence. Either way, I think I'm supposed to be here now. It feels right." She said taking the last sip of her sweltering lemonade.
Michael merely nodded, keeping his gratefulness at her presence to himself at the moment. But something did bother him a bit, "I know I told you to find me, Liz…and I knew someday you might, but why would you want to?"
Liz looked up at him in confusion, "I don't understand."
Michael scratched his eyebrow, trying to find the right words, "Like it or not, I'm part of that old life that dragged you down. I'm a constant reminder of the precise moment your life changed. I guess I figured part of you independence would mean avoiding reminders like me. I mean, I would have understood."
Liz smiled, Michael still wore his insecurities on his sleeve, and she was grateful that part of him hadn't changed. Here he was offering her a place in his home, and in a sense his life and he was worried about intruding on hers.
"You are right in more ways than one, Michael." She told him cryptically, "Yes, you are a part of that old life, but a good part. In finding my new future I have to look to my past and one thing I found that had been a constant, was you. I realized I counted on you more than anyone, even Max. With you there were no pretenses and niceties. You lay it all out on the table no matter what.
So, blow me a way when I discover, that upon reflection, you didn't hate me or resent me, at least not after a while. You always had my back, believed in me, even when it scared you to do so. Not because you felt you had to, but because you wanted to."
"Well, and don't go spreading this around," Michael whispered, "more often than not…you were right, Liz." He hung his head for moment then looked back up, "But I stopped being your constant when I left."
Liz shook her head in disagreement, "Even when you left, you showed me that freedom, and life without Max was possible. I didn't know where you were or if you had found any kind of happiness, but just knowing someone I knew was really free… that got me through the years and helped me eventually get away. If I didn't know it was possible…I might not have done it."
"Yeah you would have." Michael countered, "You're a lot stronger than you realize. I told you that when I left. I still mean it. You can be strong without me in your life."
"I know I can, Michael. I have been for the past year." She looked heavenward to pluck some kind of answer from the sky, but found nothing, "I don't pretend to know why I need you in my life. I just know I do. Your's is the one friendship I have truly missed over these past five years…" she ran a hand through her hair in frustration, "I'm not making any kind of sense am I?"
"You are." Michael reassured her, giving her a patented Guerin smirk, "I missed you too, Parker."
"Jeffries. Mr. Joyce." Liz corrected with a smile, "Jeffries."
"You'll always be Parker to me, Liz." He countered.
Liz could no longer stifle he fatigue and let out a rather large yawn. Michael realized how tired she must have been and stood up off his chair extending his hand, "Let's get you to bed. Bar doesn't open until eleven anyway. We can talk more in the morning."
Liz took his hand graciously, more than ready for what she knew would be her first good night's sleep since he'd left her all those years earlier. She wasn't sure why, but she kept her hand locked with Michael's as they walked through the studio and into the hallway until they were in front of her room. It was almost as if she was afraid that if she took her hand away, he might disappear. In the past year she had enjoyed her freedom, independence and discovery, but she found that she'd really missed the comfort and safety Michael's presence provided her with.
Michael opened the door to Liz's room for her and she stepped inside, releasing his hand. He shook his head as he watched her seat herself on the bed, "I still can't believe you're here, Liz."
"Me either." She laughed, then bit her lip, "You sure it's okay?"
"Yeah." Michael said confidently, reassuring her, " It's okay. Really. It's kinda nice to have the company. Sweet's a great friend, but he has a terrible body." He half joked, " Now, get some sleep."
"Okay." Liz nodded with a yawn, and then remembered something else, calling out to Michael as he was closing the door behind him, "Michael?"
"Yeah?" he asked, popping his head back into the room.
"Um, that waitress job… Is it still open?" she asked a bit nervously.
"Nope." Michael said shaking his head, "Already filled it."
Liz's shoulders sagged in disappointment and she avoided his eyes, "Oh…well then I'll guess I'll find something…"
"Liz." Michael chuckled, "You start tomorrow night."
Liz smiled brightly for a moment, before glaring comically at the tall man's amusement. She grabbed a pillow, throwing at Michael's well coiffed noggin, mussing the hair before he ducked.
"Jerk." She muttered, trying not to laugh.
Michael laughed heartily, and then winked at her, "You know you love me." He said shutting the door before she could reload.
"Or I could" Liz whispered wistfully.
"If only you could." Michael mumbled, on the other side of the door, before retiring to his room.