Thanks for the FB everyone!
Wait - you're going to tell us what happened in chapter five and not drag it out and tease us for months? That's an unusual way of writing fic. But I like it.
Strange but true Nibbles
When it starts flowing and I get chapters ahead I just can't resist posting them cuz I am the world's most impatient person and I know how much I hate waiting
Probably not the smartest way to post a fic, but there ya have it
Wow, I love the interaction we've seen so far. The boys are getting absolutely trampled by the girls and Alex is actually making some headway with the ice princess. Alex, by the way, seems like such a nice guy. I love him.
Wow Allison, coming from you that is such a huge compliment. I love this Alex too, and I think you all might love him a little more after this part if I did it right.
His encounter with Isabel was funny and pretty embarrassing....but so him. It was so cute howhe tried to make it better.
Oh thank you chanks! When I get a good comment from you on anything Stargazer it makes my day. I love my gazers, but it is the hardest for me to write for some reason? I never feel like I do the two justice, so I'm glad you liked it!
Oh, and good Candy comments from RhondaAnn and Nibbles? *thud* I love my Candy as much as the Dreamers, and I always hope to write them in character, even if it is a without alien. Thank you so much for your kind words
This chapter is actually how this story started in my mind, I just never wrote it because I just don't think I do angst justice. Fluffy funny I think I can do ok I guess, but angst? When I jumped out of my alien comfort zone I decided to just jump out with both feet and do the sad thing too.
I wanted the initial story to come from someone that was involved, but not there, and this conversation is what started it all in my head. We'll have Alex, Liz, and Maria weighing in on this in chapters to come, but I envisioned the discovery to be a rip the band aid off kind of thing, and it is going to mess with poor Max's mind considerably
Feedback on this one would be greatly appreciated, because I am way the hell out of my writing comfort zone right now
I hope it moves you, if only a little.
Chapter 5
Max shifted his weight once more, his butt falling asleep from sitting so long. He brought his ever present coffee to his lips, drinking slowly, willing the dark liquid to warm his body. It was turning cold way to fast for his liking. It was only October, but it already felt like December. He took a deep breath and watched the air expel from his lungs. It almost smelled like snow was on it's way.
He looked down the familiar streets of Washington DC, the place he called home for the majority of his life. He looked down at the printed version of the newspaper clipping that had brought him here and couldn't help but grin a little as he took in Liz's Parker's radiant smile beaming back at him.
After days of finding nothing, learning nothing about his subject Max had finally started digging. As Michael so delicately pointed out, he wasn't going to learn anything by simply stalking Liz Parker.
He wasn't stalking her, really, just seeing her daily habits. You know, who she talked to, what she did. He might find someone to question. Much to his annoyance he got caught every time he followed her, that damn dog her constant company. The horse had spotted him yesterday when he was watching her run, seeing if she ever ran with a partner besides the beast, and as she slowed to a walk, got a water bottle out of the dog's backpack and poured him some water, that damn thing had looked right at him in his hiding place behind the bushes and narrowed it's eyes.
He sweared to Christ that damn dog had narrowed his eyes at him.
Liz had looked up to see what he was looking at, and Max silently cursed to himself. A smile broke out on her face as she scratched the beast from hell's ears.
"Who's a good boy?" she asked sweetly as Nitro wiggled his monstrously big body, elated with her praise. "Aww, who's Momma's little baby?" she said in that baby talk voice she used with him sometimes, which was absolutely ridiculous but incredibly adorable at the same time. She leaned down and gave him a kiss on his head and a big hug.
'Lucky son of a bitch,' Max had thought.
The dog had drank some water, Liz had picked up the makeshift bowl, put it back into his pack, and walked right past Max like he didn't exist. The dog didn't though.
"I swear Isabel," Max had told his sister later that day. "The fucking dog was amused. If he could stick out his tongue I'm sure he would have, followed by a ha! ha! ha! I won."
"Max, you do realize that you are jealous of a dog, don't you?" Isabel said, a twinkle in her eye that Max Did.Not.Like.
"Why would I be jealous of a dog?" he asked looking at his sister like she was crazy.
"Clueless," she muttered as she left the room. "Absolutely clueless."
She had been saying that a lot the last couple of days, to both him and Michael.
Max broke away from his recent memories, and looked at the picture again. He couldn't help but trace the lines of her face. She was perfectly lovely, glowing with such happiness.
It had taken his breath away when he had found it, Liz in an adorable strapless princess like dress with the crown on her head, waving from the parade float. After finding many dead links when searching for Liz Parker or Elizabeth Parker in Roswell New Mexico, Max had a flash of inspiration.
He had sometimes heard Maria and Alex call her Lizzie. So when he typed Lizzie Parker, Roswell New Mexico in the search engine, this little gem had popped up. He was sure all those broken links surrounding Liz or Elizabeth Parker in the Roswell Gazette were courtesy of Alex, but he had missed this one.
He could tell the difference in her. Sure, everyone is different when they are 17, but she looked so carefree, so happy. This Liz Parker didn't know that bad things happened in this world. She was innocent and invincible, as 17 years olds should be.
The real prize wasn't the adorable picture of a radiant Ms. Parker, no it had been the headline that had captured his attention at second glance.
"Kyle Valenti and Lizzie Parker Named Homecoming King and Queen"
It was then that he noticed the boy sitting next to her on the float, looking like the All-American teenager in his football uniform. While Liz smiled widely for the camera, Kyle stared adoringly at Liz.
He had quickly read the article. Liz's dream was going to Harvard. She wanted to be a molecular biologist since the 6th grade. Kyle wanted to join the Army after high school, make a career out of it.
And he had. Max knew this because Kyle was an acquaintance of his, they had spent some time together in Afghanistan and around the world. Why him or Michael hadn't thought of Kyle, who was teased relentlessly because of his hometown, was beyond Max. 'Some FBI Agent I'll make,' he snorted to himself.
He had immediately got on the phone, calling some old Army buddies, and within 4 degrees of separation he had found out that Kyle was in Washington for a couple of days before heading out to Georgia.
So that's why he sat here, outside the little bar, waiting for Kyle to show up. One of the guys had told him all the Army personnel went here, they offered cheap drinks to the boys in green and there were plenty of hot women.
If there was one thing Max had learned about Kyle, he liked to drink, and he liked the women. He briefly wondered if Liz and Kyle had a thing in high school, but quickly dismissed it. They were to different.
He thought he had a time line of when things happened now too. This was the fall of their Junior year in high school, and the Liz in this picture didn't watch shadows. Whatever happened to them had happened between then and the end of their Senior year, probably sooner since they had all had been at college for their first year and would have needed to apply by at least the beginning of their Senior year to get in.
Whatever caused Lizzie Parker's dreams to change so drastically must have happened the second part of her Junior year.
Max shifted again, wishing Kyle would just show up already. Max was a patient man. He knew stake outs were a part of the job, and he could be relentlessly patient when he wanted something.
As if some fairy godmother had heard his wish, he saw Kyle walking down the street, blowing warm air into his hands and rubbing them together. Max waited for him to enter the bar, waited five minutes, and followed.
His trained eyes quickly found Kyle sitting at the large square bar, his back to Max. Cautiously Max made his way to the other side of the bar, and got the bartender's attention.
"Hey buddy, I need a favor," Max said. "You see, I'm hear to meet some old Army buddies of mine, but I have a really long drive home. I can't afford to get trashed and be a hazard on the road, but I don't know how long I'll be able to resist the temptation once they start in on me being a wimp."
The bartender smiled at the responsible young man. If only more were like him. "Don't worry, I got your back," he said. "If you do shots, just make sure you ask for Vodka."
Max said his thanks and walked back around to the front of the bar.
"Holy Shit! Kyle Valenti you dirty dog you," Max said loudly, geniunely happy to see Kyle.
"EVAAAAANS! Evans! Evans! Evans!" Kyle yelled, jumping off his bar stool and grabbing Max in a great big bear hug. "It's been what, 3 years? Holy shit, are you turning into a hippy?" he asked, eyeing Max's longer than regulation locks.
"Never!" Max said, slapping Kyle on the back. "The ladies sure like it though," he said, winking at Kyle as they sat down at the bar.
"Yeah, in a boy band kind of way I bet," Kyle laughed. "You aren't trolling junior high schools or anything, right?"
Max rolled his eyes. He had forgotten about Kyle's dry sense of humor. They sat there for awhile, catching up, doing a couple of shots, Max's filled with water, Kyle's vodka.
"Woah, I better slow down," Kyle said after downing his third shot.
"Valenti? Slow down?" Max asked as he looked at him like he was insane.
Kyle held up his left hand. "A lot has changed in three years," he said, showing the platinum band on his ring finger. "I have a kid on the way too, my wife, Tess, well she is in Georgia waiting on me."
Max slapped Kyle on the back. "Congrats man," he said sincerely.
"Thanks," he said. "Someday it'll be you."
"I highly doubt that," Max said sarcastically.
"Believe what you want," Kyle said with a mysterious smile. "If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think there was someone in your life now. Before you would have left this place with that red head over there," he pointed to the comely red head, "or that blonde over there," he said, pointing to a blonde who was busting out of her top, "or, knowing you, possibly both of them," he said with a wicked grin. "You haven't noticed either of them, or any of the other women in here."
Max shrugged. "Not in the mood tonight."
Kyle threw his head back and laughed. "Max, we are in our early to mid twenties. We are ALWAYS in the mood, just sometimes something happens and we are only in the mood for one person."
Max just shook his head at Kyle's antics. "Ok, Ok, I won't make you admit you are in luuuurve," he said laughing.
"Alright, enough of this," Max said, changing the subject. "So are you ever going to tell me where you got that scar?"
Kyle's laughter died down, as a serious expression crossed his face, looking foreign on his usually jovial features. Back in Afghanistan they all had traded scar stories, everyone that was holed up for the night, and Kyle never once told why he had the small scar by his eye, in fact he had gotten angry, so angry everyone backed off.
"Would you believe me if I said it was from a computer geek that barely weighed 130 pounds soaking wet, back in high school? That he beat the piss out of me?" Kyle asked.
'Alex,' Max thought.
"What, were you not the muscle boy we know and love back then?" Max asked, raising his eyebrows.
"Oh, more so. I was a football player back then, I trained relentlessly," he said, looking into his drink, swirling it around.
"So what, were you unconscious? Did you do his Mom or something?" Max asked, trying to be lighthearted.
"No, nothing like that," Kyle said quietly. "I hurt one of his best friends."
"You may be a jackass Valenti, but you don't seem the type to go around hurting innocent geeks," Max said, pushing the guilt down deep, the guilt that he was using his friend. He had to remind himself that this was for an assignment, a very important assignment. It was work. It would help him help people who needed it the most one day.
Kyle rolled his eyes. "His best friends were girls," he said. "One of them was my first love," he said almost wistfully.
"Ah," Max said, hating himself this very moment. "You dumped her?"
Kyle laughed bitterly. "Don't I wish," he said, shaking his head sadly. "No, what I did was much worse than that."
Max wanted to tell him to stop, wanted to confess his true intentions, but it seemed that now that he was talking, Kyle just couldn't stop.
"Some bad shit went down during spring break our Junior year," Kyle said. "I'm not getting into that, because I just may throw up all over the bar, thinking about it."
Max nodded and just listened. Gone was the Max investigating Liz Parker, replaced by the Max that was Kyle's friend. It was right there, within his grasp, but if Kyle didn't want to talk about it, Max decided that he wasn't going to ask.
"I was your typical high school jock, banging cheerleaders, partying. Then I started spending time with her," he said, a sad smile on his features. "We were even nominated Homecoming King and Queen our Junior year. She was...is special Max, so special. I fell head over heals for her, I mean I had it BAD."
Kyle sighed. "For the first time in my teenage life, I was afraid of asking a girl out. We were friends, sure, but I kept thinking she would never go out with me. She was a straight A student, wanted to go to Harvard, and I was just a dumb jock who wanted to be in the Army."
Kyle picked up his glass and swirled it around for Max to see. "Then, on Valentine's Day our Junior year I got seriously wasted, I mean out of my mind wasted," he laughed to himself. "I confessed my feelings to her, how I felt about her, how I didn't think I was good enough." He ran his fingers through is hair. "Christ Max I never would have believed that a girl who probably weighed no more then a buck five could make me feel that vulnerable."
"So yeah, she yelled at me Max," he said, a small smile playing on his lips. "She then began, very scientifically I might add, to list all my strong points on her fingers. Street Smart. Loyal. Fun. Brave. Big Heart. She told me if I ever came down on myself like that again she would beat the hell out of me, and Max, I believed her," Kyle laughed.
"She sounds like a great girl," Max said softly.
"The best, the very best," Kyle said as Max swallowed a lump forming in his throat as he noticed the unshed tears in Kyle's eyes. "Anyway," he said, discreetly brushing his eyes with his hands, "she told me to go home and that when I was sober she would allow me to kiss her," he said as he and Max chuckled.
"I had six weeks of pure bliss, I was completely over the moon," Kyle said dreamily. "I'm not naive, I know it would have come to an end even if they never would have left for that damn trip. She always saw the best in people Max, and God was she stubborn. We would have been that flaming couple that burnt out the minute they went their separate ways for college, and God how I wish that's how it went down."
"Kyle, you don't have to tell me..." Max started to say
"I want to Max, I have to...to tell somebody," he said shakily. "They left for Florida for Spring Break. I was so pissed at my Dad, he wouldn't let me go even though there was a chaperon. I was pissed at Lizzie for leaving me, for going off with Alex and Maria," he said as Max gripped the bar tightly. It had been easy to remove himself from the situation, to pretend it didn't happen to people he knew. Hearing their names made the bile come up Max's throat.
"I mean, I couldn't imagine going a day without seeing her, you know? It...It hurt that she could. Even though I wouldn't admit it, I was so jealous of Alex and Maria. They had been friends since they were in diapers, and Lizzie wasn't the type of girl to just dump her friends, no matter how much I wanted her to," he said, nodding his head at the bartender as he sat another drink in front of him.
The bartender looked at Max with questioning eyes, and Max just shook his head. The old bartender had seen many broken soldiers in his time at this bar. Sometimes they just needed to let it out.
"They didn't come back Max," Kyle said as he shuddered. "They...they were taken. Taken by very bad people."
Max's hand flew to his mouth, not just in shock, but to keep the vomit down. It was becoming clear now. Human trafficking.
"Fortunately for Liz I wasn't quite the Casanova I thought I was," Kyle said. "They were kept in a filthy dark room, beaten, humiliated, but they were spared the gang rapes the other kids endured."
"Virgins are worth a lot of money," Max said quietly.
Kyle nodded stiffly. "Liz and Maria were declared virgins, Alex a virgin in another way," he said as Max nodded. He knew boys that were taken were never meant for women. "I don't think they even wanted Alex, he was to tall to pass off as a young...boy," Kyle shuddered, "but he had insisted on coming along when the 'modeling' people had approached Maria. Lizzie wouldn't let her go alone either, and I'm sure their mouths were just watering with how small she was," Kyle spit out.
"So the bidding began, and when a huge amount of money was moved from an off shore account, the FBI caught on, had been watching the group. I mean, until that point no one would have dreamed...Hell the local police figured they had ran away because that's usually what happened, but none of their parents bought it, none of them would let it go thankfully," Kyle said. "They may not have had money or power, but dear God help you if Amy Deluca is on your tail, and the FBI put two and two together," he said smiling sadly.
"The only reason I believe in God is because they found them in time," Kyle continued. "They were missing for five days, which I swear to God felt like five years. I can just imagine how it felt for them, cold, filthy, beaten....Knowing what was coming..."
Max nodded trying to keep his own eyes from welling up.
"Then they were home. Alex had to have surgery, they had broken both his arms when he tried to protect Liz and Maria. The girls, they were pretty roughed up. Split lips, black eyes...They're both so small Max, I couldn't understand how anyone could do that to someone so small," Kyle said, the tears rolling down his face in earnest, without shame.
It took every concentrated ounce of energy in Max not to cry. He didn't cry, he hadn't since the day he was returned to his parents. He reached out and squeezed Kyle's shoulder.
"They made everyone uncomfortable, no matter how wrong it was. All anyone could say was how lucky they were that they weren't raped. Like that made it ok to be taken against your will, beaten, threatened about things to come," Kyle said bitterly. "Lizzie and I stayed together, eventually she healed, except for a small scar."
'Right above her eye,' Max thought, closing his eyes.
"It was tough, really tough Max. I...I didn't know how to deal with it. My Father and I fought constantly. I blamed him for not letting me go, not letting me protect her," he said.
"You were just a kid Kyle," Max said softly.
Kyle nodded. "That's the general consensus, but it doesn't help when someone you love, really love has went through something like that. You feel terrible for them, then you feel bad for yourself, then you feel guilty for feeling bad when they had went through so much. It's a vicious fucking cycle," he said. "Then it seemed that she wanted to be around Maria and Alex all the time. Lizzie was real good at keeping up appearances, but it was almost like she was afraid they'd disappear."
"Kind of like how when guys return from war they like to stick together, because no one else understands," Max said more to himself than to Kyle.
"Yeah," Kyle said. "I get that now, but I didn't then. They kept a low profile, finishing their junior year from home, staying away from the general public until the start of our Senior year. It wasn't long into the year that the rumors started. Kids are so fucking cruel."
"Yes they are," Max said.
"A rumor started on how Alex was really in the hospital for reconstructive surgery on his ass," Kyle spit out. "how someone's mom's friend knew the doctor that had examined Maria and Liz and that they had sex with more men then they could count, that everybody was lying for them to protect them. It was fucking vicious."
Max was trembling with rage...rage and fear. This is exactly what Isabel had been so afraid of, so afraid of what would happen if people found out about them.
"You know what's funny Max? If I had one wish, and I wasn't allowed to wish that whole trip away, I would hope that everyone of those kids who started those rumors, that every single one of them look in the mirror each day and realize they are no better then the monsters that took those three," Kyle said bitterly. "It wasn't everyone you know. Just a few vicious bitches who were jealous, a few guys who couldn't understand why Alex would be such good friends with girls."
"But the rest of us, me included, started to wonder if they were right. People began whispering. The sad thing is until all that shit went down Liz, Maria, and Alex were holding up pretty well considering. Their parents got them the best help they could afford. They went through major therapy that summer, and were even known to laugh every once in awhile before the gossip started." Kyle said and suddenly got quiet.
Finally he spoke. "So the scar, right," he said smiling sadly. "I bet you didn't bargain for a story like this."
Max just offered a small smile and squeezed Kyle's shoulders, not trusting his own voice.
"After Winter Formal, Lizzie and I had decided that we were going to...you know," Kyle said, Max giving him a small smile at how Kyle had suddenly became shy about sex. Kyle Valenti of all people.
"I think...I think she wanted us to be alright, she wanted us to go back to normal, but there was no going back Max, there just wasn't," Kyle said as his bottom lip started quivering. "I...Mostly I think she wanted to make me feel better. That's just how she is."
Kyle took a deep breath, ran his hands over his eyes and just let it out. "I had heard the stories, the snickers, the whispers. I thought...I thought Liz was trying to protect me Max, I really did. She always swore that she was still a virgin, but I...I didn't believe her. I didn't believe the most trustworthy person in my life."
Max felt sick again, knowing where this was going.
"Have you ever taken someone's virginity Max?" he asked as Max shook his head no. "You should be gentle, and careful, and patient..."
"And you weren't," Max said quietly.
Kyle violently shook his head no, the tears returning in abundance. Max reached out and grabbed his friend in a hug while Kyle sobbed openly. He didn't care if people were staring, even though not many were. They understood a soldier breaking down after coming back from a war.
Slowly his sobs subsided, and he let go of Max. "When I said I hurt her, I did it in every way possible. Physically," he said, grimacing, "and emotionally. She knew, oh she knew then and there that I believed those rumors. No matter how long I live, I will never forget the shattered look on her face."
Kyle drew in a ragged breath. "She went running out of the room, presumably to Alex and Maria. The next day Alex found me. I'm probably lucky that he found me first because if it had been Maria I probably wouldn't be sitting here today," he said with almost a fond smile.
"So you let him kick the crap out of you, because you felt you deserved it," Max said.
Surprisingly to Max, a laugh bubbled out of Kyle's throat. "Oh for the sake of my male pride I wish that was true," he said, smiling through the tears. "I wanted to fight him. Fight him for 'letting' Liz get taken, fight him because he was the one she ran to, but you see Max, part of their therapy had been self defense classes, and Whitman was a quick study."
"So the geek kicked the crap out of you," Max said, smiling now that Kyle was smiling.
"Yes, yes, I admit it. I, Kyle Valenti, was beaten up by a nerd," he said laughing. The laughter slowly died down, the smile falling from his lips. "I swear Max, I would rather go a round with you or Michael than face off again with him. You want to know the most unbelievable part? He felt bad after the anger was gone. He helped me up, cleaned me up and apologized. He said no human being has the right to do that to another, no matter how angry they are."
"You know what I think about everyday Max? Every. Single. Day?" Kyle asked softly. "I look in that mirror and I pray, I pray that God will give me the strength to be half the man that Alex Whitman is. He may be a geek, a nerd, whatever, but I am convinced I will never meet a better man."
"I can see why," Max said, almost to himself. "So did you ever, you know, straighten things out with Liz?"
"Not at first, not for a few years actually," he said. "After she got over the hurt, she was pissed off. She didn't want a damn thing to do with me, and I can't say I blame her."
"Me either," Max said as Kyle punched him in the arm.
"Then about a year and a half ago, she contacted me, said she wanted to talk to me, that she needed to talk to me. I wanted to say no so bad," Kyle said guiltily. "I wanted to just leave all that shit in the past, you know? But I couldn't do that, I just couldn't. I owed her that much."
Kyle smiled. "I was going to be in Norfolk, and she drove out to meet me. She goes to school somewhere around DC I think," Kyle said. "Anyway, she shows up with this dog, this huge fucking dog Max. I mean, it could take my leg off with one bite," he explained as Max nodded in understanding.
"So we sat on a bench by the beach, with the damn dog wedged between us, and I swear, it kept looking me at me like 'try anything buddy, and I'll have your liver for breakfast' or something like that. I think Liz thought it was funny that I was afraid of her 'little baby', a baby that had a head like a freakin' lion," Kyle said, holding up two fingers. "Scouts honor."
"Oh, I believe you Kyle," Max said, glad that someone else realized how damn freaky that dog was.
"So she tells me how she is going to be ok, how she wants me to be ok too," Kyle said, smiling at the thought. "After how I acted, after what I had....done...she was worried if I was ok."
"She sounds really amazing," Max said.
"And some," Kyle said, taking a sip of his drink. "She knew from her parents that my Dad and I didn't talk anymore. That bothered her. She explained that herself, Alex and Maria weren't the only victims in the situation. Those men, well they took all our innocence. The kids, the ones that spread the rumors, well she thought they probably did it because they were scared, scared to think something like that could happen to them. It was easier to be cruel then terrified," Kyle said, "and she's probably right. I mean nothing bad has happened in Roswell New Mexico since aliens crashed in '47."
"What?" Max said, choking on his own drink.
"Kidding, just some local humor," Kyle said, smiling. "Anyway, she said that she wasn't a victim anymore, and she didn't want me to be either, that we could be survivors. She wanted me to be happy, she wanted to be happy, and she just couldn't be if she knew I was still miserable, still blaming myself. She didn't want those men to win, to still be terrorizing us."
"So big shock, I cried," Kyle said, rolling his eyes. "Then I asked her if she wasn't going to be a victim anymore, why was she toting around a beast for protection, you know, my lame attempt at humor in an awkward situation."
"So what'd she say?" Max asked, wanting to know the answer himself.
"She just laughed at me and said that Nitro couldn't hurt a fly," Kyle said, making the universal crazy gesture with his index finger. "Then she told me something that changed my attitude about the dog. She said that Nitro had given her hope."
When Max looked at him quizzically Kyle continued. "When she got him he was abused. Beaten, left in a cage for days on end hoping they could get him to become a fighter, but he was just an innocent puppy. He didn't let them break him, he wouldn't fight, and one day, he was rescued. Liz said he 'chose her' whatever that means, and that she finally knew, that if this puppy, this animal who had never known anything but cruelty and neglect could be so full of love, so trusting of her to take care of him, well that maybe she could trust too, maybe she would find someone that would make her feel that safe and loved."
Kyle paused for a moment. "I love that freaky ass dog!" he exclaimed.
"Me too," Max said, nodding in earnest.
"You know you are the only person I have told the whole story to other than Tess," Kyle said. "It helped," Kyle said, smiling at Max.
Max smiled back. "So you and your Dad?" Max asked.
"My Dad and I, well we made up soon after my talk with Liz, and it wasn't long after that when I met Tess. We are having a baby girl," he said with a smile. "Her name is going to be Elizabeth."
"That's a great name Kyle," Max said. "It really is."
Max was now sitting in his jeep, gripping the steering wheel, trying to get his emotions in check. Kyle and him had shared a long hug goodbye, with Kyle joking that Max should charge by the hour. He had watched him walk away, feeling sad, because he was sure he would never see him again. They had served each other's purposes in life.
He took a few cleansing breaths, picked up his cell phone and called Michael.
"It's about damn time!" Michael exclaimed into the phone.
"Hello to you too Michael," Max said, concentrating on keeping his breathing even.
"Tell me you found out Max, because if you didn't, we are screwed," Michael said.
Max took a deep breath. "He didn't know anything Michael, he barely remembered her," he lied, praying Michael would buy it.
"Fuck!" Michael exclaimed.
Max didn't feel guilty as he hung up the phone. He knew his brother better than anyone in the world, and he knew without a doubt that he would have done the same damn thing.
It was then that Max felt his hands start to shake, felt his jaw tremble, his lips quiver. It was then that he felt the wetness sliding down his face, a feeling he hadn't felt in 20 years. He began to sob uncontrollably, crying like he had when he was just a small boy clinging to his sister and some strange boy in a dark room, wondering what he had done so bad, wondering why his Mom and Dad didn't come and take him home.
