“Jesus Christ,” came a mutter as Michael said he let himself into the hotel room that contained Max. Given his friend hadn’t shown up to a planned breakfast before the morning session of the conference, and when it was apparent he wasn’t showing. Michael came looking and checked his hotel room after sweet taking a receptionist at the front desk into giving him the room number. Using his special powers; he let himself into the room and saw the mess his friend had made the night before as he found a passed-out Max on the couch, with several empty beers around him. “Snap out of it” he said as he collected some water and went back to the couch.
Instead of giving it to his friend, he threw it on his friend to wake him up from a boozed filled coma. “What…what,” Max said as he woke up to a splash of water thrown on his face as he saw the thrower was Michael. “What… wait, what time is it?”
“7:30 a.m. as the conference starts in 90 minutes,” Michael said as he saw the disheveled clothing of Max and the empty bottles surrounding him. “You didn’t show up to breakfast, God Max, what did you do to yourself?”
“Sorry,” Max said as he tried to pull himself up and found himself failing. “I didn’t think I was that far gone…”
“Considering you drank as much as you did while we were at the Hard Rock, well, I shouldn’t be surprised but I am because I thought you didn’t drink.”
“I told you I was different,” Max said as he finally threw himself together long enough to get up and stagger to the bathroom where he threw more water on his face to wake up. “I am not the same person I was…” he said as he came out of the bathroom.
“Neither am I, but I don’t go throwing myself over a cliff.”
“Honestly, it’s only recently that I have been so underwater because until then I was pretty settled with my life,” Max admitted as he threw off his shirt he was wearing and picked up another one from the suitcase and threw it on. “Until it did, things were okay” he muttered.
Serena would dispute that, and the fact I had a new woman for the days of the week.
“Is it Liz?” Michael couldn’t help but ask.
“Michael don’t,” Max said with a warning shot.
“You know you are just as impossible as Liz is. She could use a friend, and maybe you need one too.”
“I have all the friends I need,” Max muttered. “Look I need to check in with my partner, I’ll be with you in a minute” as he dials Serena’s
number. “Hey Serena, how’s everything?”
Michael couldn’t help but listen to the conversation and wonder who this Serena was as he could tell for once Max seemed human when talking to this person. “How is Molly?” Max asked. “Really?” he smiled. “Tell her I miss her too, and I’ll see her tomorrow. I’ll check in before I get my flight. I should be home at my place later tonight if you want to stop by” he said as he hung up and saw Michael’s expression. “What?”
“Whose Serena?” Michael asked. “And who is Molly?”
“Serena is a friend. She’s my partner on the force. Before you think anything, she’s married with kids. And Molly is a latest case of mine, a little girl abused in her home and saved from certain death… she’s recovering and we’re trying to figure out the path forward for her…”
“I hate when that happens to children,” Michael muttered.
“I know, Molly is a precious little thing and seeing all the abuse she took, and she’s still fighting it does make me want thing to work out for her” Max muttered as he picked up his wallet. “I guess we better go.”
“If you think you can handle it,” Michael asked.
“I guess it’s full circle,” Max muttered under his breath and Michael could only look amused as they left the room and went to catch a quick breakfast before they had to be at the conference for the morning session.
“I guess so,” Michael responded as he only shook his head as he followed his friend.
*
Roswell,
“What’s going on,” Isabel asked as Maria arrived at the Crashdown for a breakfast between the two and Betty, before Betty had to get to day camp. “Did you hear from Michael, which I assume you did.”
“I did,” Maria nodded as they put in their orders with Jeff who was back working in the restaurant as Nancy was visiting with their daughter. “You wouldn’t believe it.”
“What?” Isabel asked.
“Michael ran into Max at the conference,” Maria spilled, and Isabel’s jaw dropped. “I know.”
“What is he doing there?” Isabel asked as she couldn’t believe how much her brother was coming into the story lately after a decade of being silent and she didn’t know how she was supposed to take it.
“I guess he was asked to speak at the conference,” Maria admitted. “They saw each other after the close of yesterday’s session. I guess Max is due to speak today.”
“Whoa,” Isabel muttered.
“I know,” Maria smiled.
“Whose Max?” Elizabeth “Betty” Guerin asked as the little girl at 8 years old was as curious as her mother and as guarded as her father at times and therefore she was intrigued by the conversation her mother and god-mother were having.
“My brother,” Isabel said quietly.
“You have a brother?” Betty asked as she looked Isabel with new eyes. “Why haven’t I met him?”
“Because he moved away before you were born, and he hasn’t been around” Isabel said quietly as she thought of all what her brother had missed around Roswell, in the group’s lives and with their mother and father. “We miss him.”
“Weird,” Betty murmured.
“It is,” Maria agreed as she exchanged a look with her friend who only frowned because she knew how close Isabel and her brother were at one time and for Max to be gone, it had torn Isabel up for a long time. “I am sorry Isabel.”
“It’s okay,” Isabel whispered.
“Mom, why don’t I have brother or sister?” Betty asked as she stared at her mother.
Maria’s mouth dropped open, and Isabel could only look amuse at the change in topics. Betty was so precious and adorable.
“Mommy,” Betty asked.
“Go ahead answer her Maria,” Isabel cracked.
Maria only shook her head and threw her napkin at a chuckling Isabel as their breakfast orders arrived as she didn’t really want to answer that question. There were a lot of reasons why, and she didn’t feel like telling her eight-year-old.
*
Las Vegas,
The morning session, which turned out to be final session preceded as scheduled with Max delivering the speech he was required to make, and it was received extremely well, and Michael felt Isabella’s case got enough exposure and was thrilled that everything went as scheduled.
And before long, Max and Michael were meeting for a lunch before they headed back to their individual homes. They elected to meet at diner for coffee for both instead going to something more established for anything more… It met what both needed, and especially Max as he felt he was still dragging from his exploits the previous night.
“What about you?” Max asked. “We have talked about almost everything else, but you. How is everything?”
“All is great,” Michael acknowledged. “I have my own private investigative business. Maria and I are married, and we have an eight-year-old little girl.”
“Whoa,” Max said. “You two are married, and are parents?”
“Yes, we made it work. It wasn’t easy after you left town and we had some obstacles to overcome, but we made it work for us. Maria eventually found herself in journalism as you could see in the video of the interview.”
“It was a very impressive interview,” Max allowed.
“She will be thrilled to know you think so. She’s newly promoted solo anchor, and she loves it. It wasn’t what she was looking for when we graduated from West Roswell, but one thing after another gave her the opportunity and she took it and ran with it.”
“I am impressed,” Max smiled as she took a sip of coffee and picked at his sandwich and fries.
“What are you going home too?” Michael asked he felt distain for how Max seemed to be living his life and didn’t hesitate to show him, and Max just shook his head as he listened to the lecture, because he knew there was some truth to it, yet he didn’t want to here at the same time.
“I do have a job at home Michael.” Max sighed. “I am happy. Okay, not all aspects of my life are what I might dream them to be. But I am happy, which is a great deal better than where I was five years ago.
“It didn’t seem like it last night, or this morning,” Michael asked as reminders of how he had to drag his foster father out of bed after a bender was still too fresh in his memory despite the decade and more since he went out on his own and he never expected to revisit it in Max. He always figured it would be him, not straight lace Max.
“We all have those nights,” Max allowed.
“It seems unlike you” Michael asked of his friend.
“Maybe ten years ago, but I am very different than who I was back then. My life is very different.”
“We all are very different.”
Not everyone is as fortunate as you are to marry their high school sweetheart or have a child to love and cherish every single day” Max
muttered. “You need to realize not everyone has what you have.”
“Oh, I know it,” Michael said shaking his head at what Max didn’t know about his own damn life. “You could have what I have, but you chose to walk away.”
“I walked away for many reasons,” Max gritted. “I will always regret that I did walk away, and maybe that is my penance for believing Tess or for being so fooled so completely by Tess. I lost Liz and lost my life.”
“We all were fooled by Tess,” Michael muttered. “You weren’t the only one.”
“I am the only one who killed a relationship because of her,” Max muttered.
“You can’t go back to the past Max as much as we all wish we could, but we can’t. We can only embrace the future” Michael reasoned. “So, you screwed up in high school. I think you will find many people also do... and they make questionable choices, and we all did that. You will find that Liz is the not the same person as she has made her own choices that I doubt she holds it against you.”
“She clearly has much more important things to worry about,” Max reasoned as he was awash in memories of the gorgeous brunette from his dreams. “I don’t want to burden her… as neither of us need the headaches.”
“It’s up to you,” Michael acknowledged. “But know I think you would be surprised by what you might find back in Roswell,” he sighed. “As I said, she could use a friend… a friend that goes ways back than only five years or so. We knew you when Max, and maybe you need those friends right now… we don’t judge.”
“You don’t judge?” Max asked wary of the claim.
“We have too much history,” Michael smiled. “To think we judge each other. I might question some of your choices, but it’s all part of how we live our lives. Maybe it’s time you face the past.”
“I’ll give it some thought,” Max conceded as he saw ticking time before he had to get home.
“You do that,” Michael asked as he checked the time and realized time was running short as he had to return to his hotel room and pick up his stuff before catching his flight. As he wanted to be home for dinner with Maria and Betty.
“Look I do appreciate the advice,” Max sighed. “I wish we all could take a time machine and go back and change things.”
“We definitely would have a list of “might have been’s,” Michael conceded. “Whatever happens, I hope you don’t find yourself a stranger. I don’t want it to be another decade before any of us see you again, okay?”
Max nodded as they parted. He stood as he watched Michael walk off… sighing to himself he wondered what was going to happen now, as he wondered back to his room and saw the mess he had made the night before. Playing the tape that was in the machine, he saw Liz’s face again… this time in a home movie with little Bella when she was five or six.
They were so happy playing together with Maria and her daughter at a playground. He could tell that Bella and Betty were thick as thieves, and Liz reveled in her daughter.
“Mommy, I love you so much” he heard Isabella say to her mother and his heart swelled and, in that minute, he knew he would always love Liz, and still loved her but it made deciding what to do all the harder as he stopped the tape, and finished cleaning up and collected his bags and checked out.
Max knew that if nothing else he could accomplish, and if he couldn’t go home again. He could at least help Liz.
*
Roswell,
“I am sorry for putting you in a spot with Betty earlier,” Isabel smiled as she and Maria returned from a spur of the moment shopping expedition in the town over, as Isabel wanted to do some retail therapy to deal with her issues over Max’s appearance back in her life, and how she didn’t know how it was going to go. With Michael and on vacation, Maria had the time, so they decided why not.
“It’s alright,” Maria smiled. “Fortunately, she got diverted to another matter,” she thought as a friend from camp came in, and they got talking before Maria had to take her to camp.
“Do you think about it?” Isabel asked.
“Sometimes,” Maria said. “We’re happy with Betty, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have more, and it’s not like we haven’t tried but it hasn’t happened and so we just devote ourselves to our daughter.”
“I am sorry for bringing up a touchy subject,” Isabel said softly.
“As I said, it’s alright.” Maria nodded as they pulled up to her house, and in the corner of her eye, she saw a cab arriving at the same time. “I can’t believe it, he’s home.”
“I didn’t he was going to be home until later?” Isabel asked as he saw Michael getting out of the cab with his bags.
“Me either,” Maria smiled as she parked, and she got out and ran to kiss her husband, as Isabel sighed as she loved how much Maria made Michael happy and how they had created their special little family. She just wished she could see her brother. Memories of the past brought some bittersweetness to them she thought as she got out of the car, and she greeted her longtime friend. “You are home” she asked her best friend.
“The conference finished up earlier, or at least the parts that needed my attention. So, I caught an earlier flight.”
“I am glad to see you,” Maria sighed as she hugged Michael and they kissed again.
“So, you did some damage to the credit cards?” Michael asked as he saw the bags the women had brought out of the car. “I shouldn’t be surprised.”
“Betty is at camp. They are having a campfire tonight, so we don’t have to pick her up until later… She’s going to thrilled to see you when she gets home.”
“I can’t wait,” Michael smiled as they went all into the house, and it was a short-time later when he had a snack in front of him, Isabel cornered him while Maria was off putting a load of laundry into the dryer.
“You saw Max?” Isabel asked. “Maria filled me in.”
“Yeah I did,” Michael sighed as he thought of his friend. “It was a shocker alright.”
“How is he Michael. Tell me, how is my brother?” Isabel asked.
Michael glanced at his friend and was unsure how to say it, because for the last decade even worse than him, he had known how Isabel had missed Max and graved her brother to return home. “He’s different.”
“How different?” Isabel asked, fearful for the answer.
“He’s not the Max we knew…” Michael sighed as he saw Isabel’s face fall and hopes dashed. “And I don’t know if we’ll ever see that Max again…”