Picking Up The Pieces (AU,M/L, ADULT) Pt 22 A/N 4/27 (WIP)

[Icequeen]

TITLE: Picking up the Pieces

AUTHOR: Ice queen (with help from Lovinguerin2much)

CATEGORY: A/U- Aliens M/L,M/M

RATING: MATURE for now ADULT Eventually

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing!! Especially pertaining to Roswell and any characters. They belong to other people. Please don’t sue me.

SUMMARY: Liz returns home due to a family emergency. She meets someone who changes her life and helps her pick up the pieces.

A/N: This is my FIRST fic. After hours of talking with Lovinguerin2much she convinced me to post this. Feedback is appreciated…good or bad.






The alarm clock rings and she stretches her arms above her head. She get’s up and pulls the blinds apart letting in the California sunshine in. She then realizes that today is going to be really hard on her. Today is the beginning of the rest of her life without her mother. Since Liz was 1 years old her mother had raised her alone. Her father, Jeff left them and she has never spoken to him. She‘s only seen a few pictures that she found while playing with her mothers make up. When her mother became sick Liz quickly left school to take care of her. Her mother was upset but there was no way that Liz was going to stay back in Boston while her mother was dying of Cancer. Her mother started on Chemo and was doing well for a while. She started to grow her hair back but then one night she had to be rushed to the hospital, that’s when the doctor told Liz that the Cancer had spread and that there was nothing more that could be done. Liz brought her mother back to their apartment that they shared above the restaurant that had been in her family for years. She cared for her ailing mother while she tried to run the restaurant. If it weren’t for the help of her best friend Maria Deluca she would have went crazy. She had helped her mother out while she was in High school in the restaurant but she didn’t know anything regarding the bookkeeping and ordering of products. That was back in July it was now November and she is getting ready to bury her mother.

She went over to the closet and started looking for something appropriate to wear when she heard Maria coming up the stairs quietly.

“How you holding up?” asks Maria sympathetically.

“I’m ok Maria. I mean this is just all happening so fast you know. One minute she was doing so well and the next the doctor is saying that she only has 4 months to live.” Liz had tears welling up in her eyes.

Maria moved toward her in a very comforting voice and says “Liz I’m here for you, you know that. If you feel like you can’t handle things...just let me know. I also don’t like the idea of you staying here alone.”

“Maria, you know I don’t mind staying here, this is the only home I’ve ever known as home.” Says Liz while rummaging thru her drawer.

“Ok Liz, stop trying to keep yourself busy and look at me for minute” Maria says sternly. Liz sighs and sits on the bed next to Maria. “Alright something else is bothering you, and don’t lie and say nothing, I know you too well...so spill. “

“Maria, you have done enough already I don’t want to bother you anymore.” Maria starts laughing out loud. “What could you possibly find so funny?” asks Liz while crossing her arms.

“Liz, babe, how long have we been friends?”

“Umm...I don’ know like forever why Maria?”

“Ok, so, since forever, right? That would mean that we have been thru a lot and that we have been there for each other then right? Right! So then what is all this I don’t want to bother you Maria business.” Says Maria mocking Liz.

Liz can’t help but crack a smile. Do I really sound that whiney? “Alright, I’ll tell you...but don’t think that I’m obligating you in anyway of that I’m pulling some kind of best friend favor on you. I don’t know if I can run the restaurant alone. I mean I have no experience and I can’t afford to hire a manager but I mean this restaurant has been in my family forever and I can’t let it go to someone else.” There I said it.

“Liz, no offence, but I already knew all that. I know how much this restaurant means to you and meant to you mother.” At the mention of her mother Liz’s eyes tear up. “And I also knew that you have no idea how to run the restaurant. I know a little about managing a business from helping my mother out.”

“Umm...Maria...no offence, but selling oils and candles is a little different then running a restaurant/Bar.” Says Liz not trying to offend her friend

“How different can I be? Besides, between the two of us we can wing it.” Says Maria winking at Liz.

“Yeah, sure Maria, just wing it. Mean while, I’ll be starving and have no place to live and I’ll just tell the landlords oh we’re winging it don’t mind us.” Liz states

“Look, let’s just see how things go Liz. If after a few months we haven’t figured it out...then we’ll look into other options, ok?”

“Alright, I guess that sounds ok Maria. Let me finish getting dressed then we can head out to the funeral.” Liz still can’t believe that she is burying her mother today. She still felt like a little girl she felt like she needed her mother still. She felt that there was so much to learn from her and she didn’t get a chance to yet. She wanted her mother to see her get married and to see her grandchildren. She wanted her mother to retire and enjoy like a little with no work to do before she died. “Alright let’s go, time to face reality.” Liz says sadly.

The service was beautiful. Maria sang Amazing grace. There weren’t many people there but the people that were most important to Nancy and Liz were there. After the burial everyone headed to a house that Maria was renting since it was bigger then Liz and her mothers apartment. The restaurant was closed for the day but Liz didn’t want to have the gathering there. The rest of the day was filled with “ I’m sorry’s and if there is anything we can do just call us.” Liz was grateful but she would never ask for anyone’s help, well except Maria that is. She was so glad to have Maria in her life. They had been friends since as far back as she can remember and were there for each other thru everything. When Maria’s father left her and her mom Liz was there for her. Maria would stay up all night in the living room waiting for him to come back. She was only 8 then and did that for the next 6 months. Then she just gave up on the idea and bounced back from it. That’s Maria she never let’s anything get her down or get in the way of her dreams. She had always dreamed of being a singer songwriter and that’s what she did. She was always a great singer but she liked the freedom of writing for other artists. This way she didn’t have to be tied down to schedules and promotional things. When she found out that Liz’s mother was sick she was in New York but caught the first flight back to California to be with Liz.

After saying goodbye to everyone at Maria’s house she headed back home. She drew herself a bath and soaked for a while thinking about her mother. After the bath she put on her silk pajamas and started to go thru the boxes of paperwork that her mother had for the business. She was going thru all the invoices for the past month to get a feel for how much inventory was kept and how much revenue they made. She never realized all the paperwork that was involved with running a business. She desperately needed some help with all of this. “There is no way Maria and I are going to pull this off without professional help.” Liz thought to herself while rummaging thru the endless paperwork. She found a red folder in the bottom of the filing cabinet her mother had in her office. “This looks out of place.” Her mother had a system Green folders for bills, Yellow folders for profit charts and Blue folders for Payroll information. She took the folder out and found a letter that looked old folded an paper clipped inside the folder. She didn’t recognize the handwriting at first, her mothers was very neat and very feminine looking this writing looked messy. She hesitated for a minute and opened the letter. What she found when she read it was the last thing she could have ever expected. EVER.

Dear Nancy and my sweet Lizzy,

I am very sorry for having to leave you the way that I did. I know that I hurt you Nancy but you know that I have always been selfish. I never expected to have a child and while I do love her I can’t be tied down. I have kept a lot of secrets from you but I want to do this to make things better. This will help make life easier for you and my daughter and for you. I know that you might not want to take it but please don’t let your stubbornness keep you from giving my child a happy life. I am enclosing 100,000 in a bank account under yours and Liz’s name. You are in control of it until she is 18. When she turns 21 there will be another 50,000 deposited automatically into the account. I hope that that will be enough to pay for some of her schooling. I know that I wasn’t much of a father but this is the least that I could do. I’m very sorry for not marrying you but I couldn’t tell my parents about our relationship much less that I had a child and wanted to get married . I know that you are a strong woman Nancy and that you will provide for our daughter. Take care of yourself.

Jeff.

“Oh, my God” Liz gasped. She couldn’t believe that her father was ashamed of his relationship with her mother. She was the most perfect strong intelligent woman that she ever knew. “How dare he?! I’m glad that mother never took that money.” Liz stated angry and hurt. She felt that he was ashamed of her also How could he turn his back on his daughter like that? “And to think that he could just throw some money at us and say sorry I’m a jerk but here some money.” I don’t think so Liz thought as she placed the letter back into the folder. She noticed a black book for what looked like a checking account. She couldn’t help herself and decided to look at it. She opened it up and saw her name on it as well as her mothers name. She looked at all the entries and saw that her mother deposited 50.00 every two weeks. At site of this tears started spilling down her face. “ She was so great.” Liz thought and the tears continued to roll down her face. She scanned down to the last entry made back in June and saw the total in the account. Liz’s eyes grew wide at this. “ No way. This can’t be right, there is no way in hell there is this much in there.” She closed the book and put it back in the folder. She took the folder with her upstairs and went to bed. She had a long day and tomorrow she would officially take over the Crash Down.

TBC???[/img]

[Icequeen]

A/N: i'd like to thank SarahWhitman, dreamer19, sam25_2003, purpleant, roswellluver and DestinyDreamer for reading and for your feedback. A VERY sepcial thank you to Crashdown_51 and lovinguerin2much for all our help and encouragement .

Disclaimer: I own nothing...sadly

Chapter 2

The next morning, Liz awoke to the smell of coffee brewing. “It was all a dream.” she said happily. She quickly threw her robe on and ran out of her room. “Mom?” She called out “I had the worst nightmare you had cancer and…….” She stopped when she saw Maria standing in the kitchen reaching for a mug to pour coffee in . “Oh, hi Maria.” Liz greeted with a frown as tears stared to well up in her eyes, but she quickly shook them off.

“Oh, Lizzy, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have let myself in like this. I just wanted to be here for you and help you with getting everything sorted out this morning with the Crash, I’m sorry if I upset you Liz.”

“It’s ok. It was stupid of me I thought it was all a dream, so how about that coffee.“

They sat and drank their coffee while reminiscing about their childhood. They put their mugs in the sink and went to Liz’s room so she can get dressed. While Liz was in the shower Maria was looking at pictures she had on her dresser. They were mostly pictures of Maria and her as children, then of their graduation and a picture of Maria in the record studio. She noticed a red folder laying on her nightstand and went to check out what it was. She couldn’t help herself and opened it. “If it was private she should have put it away” Maria thought to herself. She found the letter written by Jeff and couldn’t believe what she was reading. “Why didn’t Nancy tell her?” Maria thought to herself. She opened the black checkbook and scanned to the last page. “ Whoa, that’s a lot of money.” She quickly tried to cover the evidence that she was looking thru Liz’s stuff but was caught in the act.

“What are you doing Maria?” Liz asked annoyed. “Why are you looking thru my stuff?”

“Liz, I’m sorry...I...I saw it sitting there and well, you know how I am. I had to see what it was. I didn’t mean to pry Liz.”

“Ugh, it’s ok Maria. I should have put it away anyways.” Liz grabbed the folder and put it in her desk drawer. “Let’s just go downstairs...I want to speak to the staff just to let them know that we aren’t closing and that I’m going to officially take over.” Liz said heading downstairs “Marcos, could you please get everyone to meet me in my mothers office? I would like to have a meeting with everyone really quick. Is everyone here by the way?”

“Yeah, Liz we are all here...I’m...I’m sorry about your mother by the way. She was the only one that would give me a job when I came to this country, now look at me, I’m a manager of a successful restaurant.”

“Thank you, Marcos. She was an incredible lady. I can see that she had good instincts too.” Liz smiled at Marcos

“Everyone is ready, Liz.” Marcos informed her. Liz walked nervously into her mother’s office where the staff was waiting for her. She didn’t realize that there were so many employees working in the restaurant. “ “How did she handle it all?” Liz pondered.

“Hello everyone. I want to thank you all for your thoughts during this time. I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be officially taking over the Crash Down along with Maria. I would like everything to run the same as usual. Any questions that you would have brought to my mother should be directed to either myself or Maria. I would like to have a meeting with all the individual managers at this time please. “

Marcos, Kylie, Bryan and Summer all stayed behind while the rest of the staff returned to work.
“I hope that Liz is as gullible as her mother.” Elisa whispered to another bartender.

“Elisa have some respect. Nancy just died a few days ago”

“Whatever.” Elisa said walking over to the bar.

“One day that girl is going to get hers” Rachel said also walking to the bar.

“Yeah, I just wish today was that day.” Adam added.

“Ok, so as you guys know I don’t have much experience running this place so I’m really going to rely on you guys to help me out for while until I learn the ropes.” Liz said looking at each of the managers faces.

“Sure, Liz. No problem. We are more then happy to help.” Bryan answered. Bryan, the blonde hair, blue eyed, California hunk who always had a thing for Liz ever since he started working at the Crash Down. Liz went out with him once but he just wasn’t her type. He was way too into himself, but he was a hell of a bartender and a great manager. He was definitely a people person.

“Thank you guys. I hope it won’t take me too long to learn the ropes around here. Thats all for now.” They all left the office and Liz turned around to see Maria looking at her. ”What?” Maria didn’t say anything. “WHAT Maria?” Liz asked getting annoyed. She hated when Maria looked at her like that. She knew that she was brewing up a plan in that crazy head of hers.

“Oh nothing, Liz.”

“Yeah nice try. Tell me now!.”

“Well, let me say if first...before you say no, ok?” Maria asked giving Liz puppy dog eyes.

“Alright Maria go ahead”

“Ok, well, you know how I “accidentally” found that folder in your room?” Liz tried to mute her laugh at that one.

“Yeah” She managed to say out loud.

“Ok, well, since you have all this money...why don’t you just hire a business consultant?” Maria suggested casually.

“Maria, I don’t want to take that money. That would mean that I forgive him or something and I don’t I couldn’t ever, especially after reading the letter. Besides I don’t want him thinking that I need his money all of the sudden.

“Liz don’t be stupid forget about what he thinks. Don’t you realize how much it would help you to get some help, professional help around here. Think about the Crash...don’t think about him. He never did a thing for you except provide you with this money, don’t just let it sit there.” Maria sighed frustrated. “Besides, I could use a little shopping spree and as your best friend in the whole wide world...I say that you need one too.” Maria said pinching Liz’s cheeks.

“I don’t know Maria, let me think about it ok?”

“Alright, but I’m giving you till the end of the week to decide then I’m hiring someone with or without you.”

“Well I guess that’s the answer then.” Liz said, watching Maria walk out of the office.

The rest of the week went by smoothly. Liz was grateful for the help she was getting from the managers but it was all so much work. She didn’t know how her mother did it and still manage to spend time with her. Maria started to notice that Liz was getting frustrated with all the work that went into the restaurant. It wasn’t so much the work it was more that Liz didn’t know her way around her mother system for paperwork and such. At the end of the week Maria had enough after Liz bit her head off over ordering supplies. After hours of looking at the books Maria decided to hire a financial Analyst to help them out. She went to her computer and searched for analyst in the local yellow pages online. “Ugh, I hate when people name their company A-1 Blah blah. They only do that so they can be the first ones to come up.” Aggravated at the situation, she randomly chooses a page and the first name to come up is Evans & Assoc. She notices that they have a website so she checked it out. “Hmm, the site looks well done.” She continues to click on various links. “Wow, they have a lot of big clients. I don’t think that they will be able to help us.” Something told Maria to call anyway she picked up the phone and dialed their toll free number. “Good afternoon, Evans & Associates How may I direct your call?” Says a female voice. “Yes, hello? I need to speak with someone regarding some financial planning for a business.” States Maria calmly

“Ok, may I have your name please?”

“Maria Deluca.”

“Please hold” The operator states. Maria begins to nervously tap her pen on the pad that is on her desk in front of her.

“At least the hold music is good” She thinks. About 2 minutes later someone answers the phone

“Ok Miss Deluca, we have an opening today at 2:00. Would you be able to stop by and speak with Mr. Evans then?”

“Uh, yeah sure. 2:00 would be great.” Maria jots down driving directions and gets ready to head out.

She pulls up the office building, parks her car, and heads for the entrance. The security officer directs her to take the elevator to the 30th floor. Evans’ consulting has the entire floor. The elevator opens up where she sees the receptionist talking on the phone to what she assumes is a client. “Please have a seat. I’ll be with you in a moment.” She said directing her to a seating area.

Maria sits on a leather sofa in the waiting room and picks up a magazine. A few minutes later the receptionist motions for her to come over there. “Hello I’m Isabel and you must be Miss Deluca.”

“Yes I am, how did you know?” Maria asks puzzled

“Oh I have a knack for these things. Please, let me show you to Mr. Evans office.” They begin to walk down a hallway decorated with modern art paintings. There are many doors with various names on them She notices there are two Evan’s names. One says Maxwell and the other says Phillip.

“Are Philip and Maxwell related?” Asks Maria

“Yes, Phillip is my father and Max is my bother. I’m Isabel Evans. And here we are.” Maria enters a very masculine looking office. There is a mahogany desk and a large bookcase on the other side of the wall filled with books. There is a large window overlooking the city. She notices more of the modern artwork that she sees in the hallway.

“I wonder who the artist is? I would love to have some of their work.” Maria thinks to herself. A few minutes later a very handsome looking older man comes in. His hair is light brown and he is wearing black pants and a white sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

“Hello, I’m Phillip Evans”

“Hello, Maria Deluca”

“Ok, so tell me. What we can do for you?” Maria begins describing the situation with the Crash Down, but as usual, Maria ends up telling him Liz’s entire life story. She couldn’t help herself it just came out. About half an hour later she finally finished talking “Wow, Miss Deluca well first let me say that I am sorry for what happened to your friend. I think that we can help you out. We don’t usually take on small business, but you have softened me to the situation. Why don’t we set up a meeting sometime this week? I would like to come down and take a look at the books.”

“Oh sure no problem any day you’re available is fine with me Mr. Evans.” States Maria

“Ok let me check my calendar.” He opens up his date book and skims thru it. “How about the day after tomorrow? That would be a Friday at around 1:00. It will also give me a feel for how busy you get.”

“Ok, Mr. Evans. Friday. 1:00. Thank you so much for taking us on as a client.” Maria extends her hand to Phillip. He shakes her hand and bids her goodbye. Maria leaves his office and walk’s towards the elevator. She pushed the down button and patiently waits. “Why do they have to be so far up?” She thinks “I hate waiting for elevators.” She hears the bell rings signaling that the elevator has gotten to her floor and waits for the doors to open. As soon as they slide open a man with spiky brown hair and a Metallica T- Shirt comes bolting out not even noticing that he almost ran right into Maria. He stops and turns to give Maria a smirk while shrugging his shoulders. They stare at each other for a few seconds but it seems like a few hours to them both. She finally snaps out of it and thinks “What a beast! But those eyes...so mysterious.”

Mean while Michael Guerrin is walking to Max’s office thinking, “ Wow those lips! They look so soft.” He walks into Max’s office without knocking and asks, “ Who was the girl that was just here?”

Max looks at his puzzled. “I don’t know, I haven’t seen any clients today. I just got back a few minutes ago. Maybe she saw my dad. Why do you ask?” Michael is lost in thought of her mouth and what he would like to do to them. “Hello? Earth to Michael, you there?” Max is snapping his fingers in front of Michaels face.

“What? Oh yeah, yeah I’m here.” Michael realizes that he was out of it for a minute.

“So what did you want Michael?”

“Yeah I need to talk to you about the renovations for Mr. Harding’s club.”

“What about them?” asks Max.”

“I’m not doing it anymore, I can’t work with him of that annoying little brat of his any longer. So you need to find someone else. Every time we finish something, he comes in to complain. He keeps changing the original plans and then to top it off I have that brat of his constantly follows me around asking about you.”

Max is trying to hold back his laughter. Ever since Michael began working on this job 4 months ago it has been constant bickering back and forth. Tess on Michaels back was not helping either.
“Look, Michael. I’ll see if I can talk to Mr. Harding about changing the plans on you, as far as Tess though...I don’t think that I can help you there. “

“Great, Maxwell. I feel like I’m babysitting or something, why don’t you just take the little brat out on a date so she can get off my back.” Michael is pacing back in forth in front of Max’s desk.

“Ok, first off no way!! You know I don’t like Tess...she actually repulses me. Ever since that day when I had a meeting at her fathers office and she threw herself at me.”
“Fine. Whatever. But Maxwell, I’m telling you that if you don’t get him to stop being a pain in the ass, I’m taking my men and getting the hell out of there. I don’t need this shit from him.” Michael storms out of Max’s office and walks right past Isabel. He doesn’t even stop and say hello.

“Nice to see you too Michael.” Isabel calls after him.

Michael is fuming as he waits for the elevator. “I should never have taken this job! I should have just stayed in New York and continued to paint.” Michael thinks to himself.

[Icequeen]

Thank you to : stargrl678, behrlover18, dreamer19, roswellluver and purpleant.

HoLLyBEHRy: Yay! I’m glad you like it. Thank you for reading

Crashdown_51 & LovinGuerin2much: Thank you for telling me over and over that the Story doesn’t totally suck. LOL.

~~~~~~Chapter 3~~~~~~~

At 8:00PM Maria walked into the Crash Down and went to the office where she saw Liz sorting out paperwork and shook her head. “How long have you been here, Liz?”

“What? Oh, hey Maria...umm...not long I guess. Why?” Liz looked up for a second before returning to concentrate of the paperwork that was taking over the desk.

“Well it looks like a tornado came thru this office. Why don’t you come out to the front for a while and check things out. We can have a drink and relax a little.”

“Maria. I can’t. I have so much to do here and I don’t want to be distracted right now. Can you keep an eye on things for me please?” Liz pleaded.

“Ugh, fine! Stay in here all night. Oh and by the way, someone is coming in on Friday to help you sort out this mess. And before you say no, I already made an appointment and if your not going to pay for it, then I am. Call it an investment.” Maria said matter of factly. Liz got up and walked around her desk.

“Are you for real, Maria? Why would you do that? How could you do that? I told you that I can’t afford to pay someone and I don’t want to take your money. It’s bad enough that I pulled you from your work to help me out here. NO, I will not take your money and I will not have a meeting with whoever you hired, I’m sorry Maria I just can’t.” Maria walked out of Liz’s office to avoid further argument.

“She’ll come around. I know Liz. She’ll think about it and realize that she needs this help.” Maria walked over to the bar area and ordered an Apple Martini. She looked around and saw that it was a busy for a Thursday night. After a quick look at everything that was going on she decided to head home to her empty house.
On the drive over there she was thinking about what she would be doing if she was in New York right now.

“ Probably arguing with a record producer or something.”

She didn’t regret leaving to come help Liz but she wasn’t used to not having a crazy schedule. She really didn’t know how to relax.

“ This is crazy I should be enjoying this time off. I just need something to keep me busy during the day and someone to come home too.” she thought.



The next morning she meets Liz for breakfast. “Girl, I think we need a full day at the spa. Come on. What do you think?” Maria asked persistently.

“Maria, I can’t. I have to make sure things are running ok at the Crash Down.”

“Liz, I think that things will be ok for a few hours, besides what do you think that you mother was there 24/7 watching the place? I don’t want to hear any excuses your coming and that’s it. I’ve already made the appointments anyway so you have to come.” They finish up breakfast and head to the salon. Liz is switching stations on the radio while Maria concentrated on the road. “So, Liz, tell me. Any mystery men left behind in Boston that I don’t know about?”

“Maria you know I haven’t seen anyone since Kyle then all this came up with my mother the last thing on my mind is being in a relationship.”

“Yeah, sure. Blame it on time. You’ve only had one boyfriend and he turned out to be a total jerk Liz. I never understood why you stayed with him for so long anyways, everyone saw it but you, I guess love really is blind.”

“Maria, you hated Kyle from the minute we started dating. You’ve always had something against him even before everything happened.” Liz replied, saddening by the conversation. Sensing that Liz was upset Maria decided to change topics.

“Ok, so we need to hook you up then. How about meeting someone online?”

“Maria, no way!!! You can’t be for real.” Liz says laughing

“Ok. Ok. Bad idea. Who knows, maybe someone will come into your life when you least expect it.”

They pull into the spa and valet the car. Maria checks them in and they are escorted to a room to have their massage first. Maria decides this is the best time to tell Liz about the meeting tomorrow. “Uh, Liz. What are you doing tomorrow around 1:00?”

“I’m not sure. I think nothing why?”

“Oh nothing just that I set up a meeting with a consultant for you” Maria waits for Liz to scream

“You did WHAT?! Maria why would you do that? I told you I would think about it why did you go ahead and set up a meeting without asking me first?”

“Liz, relax. I was getting tired of seeing you so frustrated with all the paperwork and I started to look for consultants online and the next thing I knew I was having a meeting with Mr. Evans and…” Maria is cut off by Liz.

“Evans? Did you say Evans? As in Evans & Associates? That’s can’t be right there is no way that Evans & Associates took us on as a client. No there must be a mistake.”

“Why? What’s the big deal?” Maria is perplexed.

“Uh, the big deal is that Evans & Associates is THE biggest firm in California that’s the big deal. The handle everything from corporate law, takeovers, expansions and financial planning” Liz exclaims.

“Well, the bottom line is that they took us on and Mr. Evans will be at the Crash Down tomorrow at 1:00. Now let’s get our hair and nails done.” Maria says dragging Liz off to the next room.

About 3 hours later, they decide to do some clothes shopping then head back to the Crash Down. Liz makes sure that everything is ok then heads up to her apartment. She decides to get everything in order for the meeting tomorrow.

Liz lights some candles and before she know it she is in a deep sleep. She dreams of a dark haired man with the most beautiful amber colored eyes she has ever seen coming into the Crash Down and sweeping her off her feet carrying her upstairs. The man begins to kiss her franticly whispering words of love and desire to her. She feels a strong connection to this man as if she knows him from somewhere as if they have done this before. He begins to take her clothes off and tells her that he loves her when her smoke alarm goes off.

“What the hell!?” Liz is startled and quickly opens the window to let the smoke out of the room. “How the hell could I have been so stupid? I could have burned the place down!” After airing out her room, she goes back to sleep only to be haunted again by this mystery man.

In the morning she debates on weather or not to tell Maria about her dream. “No, she will just think that it’s a sign or something and read into it too much.”

As if on cue Maria walks in to the kitchen “Morning.”

“Morning Maria.” Liz is still groggy from not sleeping well due to her dreams

“What’s wrong? You look like hell girl. Did you sleep ok?”

“Not so well, I guess. But I’ll be ok after I have some coffee.”

“So what’s on the agenda for this morning?” Maria asked while pouring coffee.

“Maria, I want you to know that if you feel like getting back to your life in New York...it’s ok...I’ll understand.”

“Liz, stop it. I want to be here. I’m your best friend, of course I want to be here. Everything else can wait. Now what is up for today?” Liz laughs at her friend she knew that Maria would put anything off if Liz needed her. She still couldn’t help but feel like a burden to her. Maria just dropped everything to come back to LA for Liz.

“Alright, I think we need to look over the inventory and make sure we have everything stocked up and then I need to prepare for my meeting this afternoon”

“Alright, well let’s get to it then.”

They clear up the dishes and head downstairs. After looking over the inventory Maria asks
“ Alright do you have everything you need for this afternoon. Knowing you you’ve got a list made up of questions already.”

“ Maria I do not have a list, ok maybe I do but there’s just so much that I don’t know and need to learn. I’m still in shock that they took us on to tell you the truth.”

“ Girl would you just let it go already they took us on now get over it!”

The rest of the morning went by quickly Liz placed orders for the things that she needed and looked up at the clock and noticed it was 12:30. She went to the kitchen a grabbed a sandwich and went back to her office to eat.

Maria received a call from Isabel telling her that Phillip had to tend to an emergency that came up in New York but that Max was going to come in his place since he was going to head over to another client later that afternoon.



“Max, you have to see Dad’s 1:00 today since he went to New York.” Isabel informed him.

“Where is it?”

“It’s in Santa Monica. A place called the Crash down.”

“Crash Down?” Max repeated.

“Here’s the file dad started. look it over before you go, so you don’t look unprepared.”

Isabel hands him the file and walks out of his office.

“They are very small I wonder why dad took them on?” Max questioned after familiarizing himself with what was needed and what his father proposed. He grabbed his jacked and headed out. “I’ll be back around 5 Iz, then I’ll take you home”

“Max, I can lock up by myself. I’m a big girl you know, and besides, Alex is going to come by and pick me up, so you don’t have to worry. Besides there is a security guard downstairs 24 hours you know.”

“Alright, but call me if he’s running late anyway. I don‘t like you being here so late by yourself even if there’s a guard downstairs.” Max says then head out of the office towards the elevator

“Jeez, he’s so overprotective.” Isabel thinks to herself.

Max gets into his silver Mercedes CLK and decides to put the top down. He takes the scenic route and drives by the beach. The smell of the ocean always calms him. Before he knows it he is in front of the crash down. He parks his car and heads into the restaurant.

“Liz, just a heads up. Mr. Evans couldn’t make it but his son Max Evans is coming instead. Something about him having to go to New York for a client.”

“That’s fine. Maria just send him in when he gets here. I guess he’s running late.” Liz is looking at cock and notices its 1:15.

“Maybe he got lost or something.” Maria assumes with a shrug.

“Yeah. Maybe” Liz thinks.

Max walked into the Crash Down where he was greeted by a waitress with way too much makeup for his taste. “Welcome to the Crash Down please sit wherever you’d like” Says Elisa

“Well, actually I’m here to see Liz Parker.” Max announces.

“Why?” Elisa questioned a little irritated

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry. I mean may I ask what it is pertaining to?”

“Yes, I have an 1:00 meeting with her my name is Max Evans.”

“Evans? You wouldn‘t happen to work for Evans & Associates would you?” Elisa asked curiously.

“Yes, I do.” Max answers, a little irritated and the chit chat she was trying to make with him.

“ Wow so what brings you here? Are you representing a client that wants to take over this place or something?” Elisa sat down on the stool next to Max and was desperately trying to flirt with him

“ Uhh no could you please let Miss Parker know that I’m here I have a schedule to keep.” Max was annoyed at this point. He hated girls like this. Shamelessly throwing themselves at him because of who he was.

“ Oh yeah sure I’ll let her know. By the way my name is Elisa and I’m a bartender here if you ever decide to come back as a customer.”

“ Yeah I’ll keep that in mind.” Max said

“Ok I’ll go let her know that you are here.” Elisa walks back to Liz’s office she knocks on the door and tells Liz that Max Evans is here for her .

“Send him in please Elisa.” Liz calls out.

[Icequeen]

A/N: Thank you to everyone that has left me feedback and to everyone who is reading my fic. I appreciate it more than you know!! I hope this part is not too disappointing . Thank you again!!!


~~~~Chapter 4~~~~

Max followed Elisa toward the back and into Liz’s office. Liz had her back turned away from him and was talking on the phone.

“I’m sorry just give me one minute, please have a seat.” Liz directed as she turned half way from her seat.

Max sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk and looked around the small office. He began to take out various paperwork that he would need for the meeting and laid them out on the desk. He felt a tingling sensation ever since he walked in the office. Deciding to ignore it he resumed to setting up his presentation. He noticed the music playing on the radio and said

“I love Gomez! I wonder if she likes them too or if it’s a coincidence” He thought

As soon as he thought this the radio went from soft background music to full blast. Liz was startled and almost fell off her chair.

Liz was on the phone dealing with a problem with one of her vendors that had just called. She felt the hair behind her neck and arms rise the minute Max walked into the office but didn’t pay attention to it. After she almost fell of the chair she got off the phone quickly.

She sat in her chair so embarrassed at this point and then she saw Max Evans for the first time. She thought that he looked familiar and it took her a second to place him.

“Oh my God, it’s him! The guy from my dreams.” She thought.

She went to turn the radio down.

“ I’m sorry I don’t know what’s wrong with this thing. “ She said nervously

“Hello. I’m Liz Parker, it’s nice to meet you.” The minute he touched her hand the radio began to change stations as if someone was doing it manually. Liz could of sworn that the lights flickered too but didn’t pay too much attention to it. To Max this did not go unnoticed.

“Hello. I’m Max Evans. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Please have a seat Mr. Evans.” Liz said signaling toward the chair he just got up from.

“Please. Call me Max, Mr. Evans is my father. And it makes me feel old.” Max let out a chuckle.

“Ok then, Max. Thank you so much for taking time out to come here. I know that you must be very busy.”

“It was no problem at all. I’m sorry that my father could come as originally planned.” Thank goodness for small favors Max thought to himself.

“It’s ok.” It’s more than Ok. Liz thought

“Well let’s get started then.” Max began to show Liz the proposal he had for her.

“Wow, this looks complicated.” Said Liz

“It’s not really. Once you get the hang of the system it will be easy.”

“Well, I’m still not even sure that we can afford your services and I have to ask because it has been bothering me for a while now. Evans & Associates is huge. Why would you take this on? I mean we out a little out of that league. Liz felt embarrassed but she had to ask

“Well to tell you the truth I was a little surprised myself but my father decided to take it on and in looking over everything I’m glad they we did.” oh great that sounded stupid.

“Well I’m glad that you did also because as you can see I need all the help I can get” Liz pointed to the stack of papers on her desk.

“Ok then, what I propose is to get everything into the computer that way it will be easier to keep track of inventory and bills. I would also like to look at all the financial records for the past two years to get a feel for your earnings and things like that. I also want to set you up with a payroll company that should help with your taxes.”

“Ok that sounds great one problem though, I don’t really know how to use the computer so well and l think that the one that I have here needs to be upgraded or something because it keeps freezing on me.” Liz was biting the bottom of her lip something she did when she got nervous. Max let out a small chuckle. “God she looks sexy when she does that.” As he thought that the lights began to flicker again. They both noticed this time and looked up .

“I have to get the electricity checked out I guess.”

“Yeah maybe you have some faulty wiring.” Max stated

Ok well let me take a look at your computer, maybe I can see what’s wrong with it you might have a virus or something.

“ I don’t think you can do anything to it since it’s frozen. I was trying to print a letter.”

The minute Max touched the mouse the printer began to spit out the document she was trying to print.

“ Wow how did you do that? I mean you didn’t even touch anything?” Liz thought that was odd.

“ Shit!! What the hell is going on with me?” Max thought to himself.

“ Um maybe it just doesn’t like you or something?” Max shrugged
They both began to laugh at that.

“ Yeah maybe. But like I said I’m not really good at the whole computer thing so I don’t know if I will be able to follow your plan.”

“Ok well I can get my sister Isabel to help you out with that. Her boyfriend is a wiz at the computer and she has picked up a lot of it. She does all of our scheduling and used to do the bookkeeping before we expanded.”

“Oh that would be great! Thank you.” a little excited are we?

“Ok then I’ll check with her schedule and have her give you a call when she’s available and you can let her know what time is good for you.” Max began to gather his paperwork.

”Well, thank you again Max. Do you have time to look around a little I would like to show you’re the restaurant?” Max looked at his watch and remembered that he had to go to the Harding place after this and he was already going to be late.

“I’m sorry I have another appointment to get to but I would like to get a rain check if that’s ok with you?”

“Sure. Whenever your available.”


Las Vegas, NV

Jeff parker walked out the small casino a loser once again. Ever since his father died he has been spending his part of the Parker family fortune in Vegas. The problem was that he was a lousy gambler and a drunk.

He started off staying in the most expensive suites where he was catered to. He was treated like a V.I. P. but as his pile of chips began to dwindle so did his pampering. No longer able to place 1000 dollar bets he moved on to smaller casinos where there were no such things as high rollers.

"How the hell did I let this happen to me?" Jeff thought as he got into a cab and headed to the Motel that he currently called home.

In a few short months he went from having dinner with the governor to staying at a roach infested motel. Jesus if my friends could see me now. Would they even talk to me? He entered his room and sat on the bed. He noticed a white box in the corner of the room and forgot what was in there for a minute.

He got up and brought the box back with him to the bed. He lifted the lid and began looking thru the contents. He can remember now how all of his things got into this white box to being with.

It was a few weeks after his fathers death and they had gathered at his father’s lawyers office to go over the will. Jeff was expecting to receive almost all of this fathers fortune but was given the shock of his life instead.

The lawyer was reading and Jeff could not believe what he was hearing.

“No freaking way, the old max has lost his damn mind.” Jeff though.

He stood up and began to protest. He said that his father was not in his right mind. The lawyer then got out a video tape that was done 2 months’ before his death. Jeff’s father was reading most of what was written in the will.

“ I David Parker do hereby leave the bulk of my estate to the Save the music foundation and other charities as noted in my will.

I know that this must come as a shock to many of may family members but it the last years of my life I have come to realize that you don’t deserve it.

My real estate are all paid for, your only responsibility should you choose to continue to keep them would be to pay the taxes yearly. Should you decide to sell them the earnings will go to the charities I have selected.

I have paid the staff their salary for the next year and have let them go. You will no longer live the life of luxury you have become accustomed to with no responsibility. It is now time to earn the lifestyle I have given you.

Jeff stood up and began to yell “ I can’t believe this, this is a freaking nightmare. How the hell could he do this?”

Jeff’s mother Kate began to cry. Jeff thought at least I was an only child, that should give me a pretty penny. After all was said and done Jeff was left with 1.2 million.

He went back to the house he had lived in for most of his life and decided that all that he needed would fit into this white box. He figures the money would last him a while but after buying a few sports cars, jewelry and a new bachelor pad on top of paying for escort services he was down to 30,000.

Now that is a lot of money but not to someone who likes to drops 20,000 a night minimum in Vegas.

Jeff looked thru the various photos that were in the box and came across one that he hadn’t seen in a very long time.

It was a picture of a little girl with long brown hair and the brightest eyes you’d ever see posing for a class picture. He turned the picture over and it read Liz Parker 3rd grade. He couldn’t remember now why Nancy sent this to him or why he even kept it but it somehow made it into this box.

He found a book underneath everything that was in the box and eyed is strangely as he’d never seen it before. He picked it up and some papers fell out. He look at them and saw that they were drafts of a letter that he had written to Nancy. A smile spread across his face in reading the letter. “ I got it, this is it. This is my way back to life I want.” he put the letters back in the box and headed for the airport.

[Icequeen]

A/N: I've never been to California so i have to idea if Santa Monica has a Downtown area with restaurants but in my fic it does. I had a really hard time with this part so i hope it's not too bad. THANK YOU soo much to everyone who has been reading this and to everyone that has left Feedback. A special thank you to Crashdown_51 and luvinguerin2much for all your help .

~~Chapter 5~~

For the past week Liz had been haunted every night by the mystery man on and off. Although she knew that it was Max Evans she couldn’t bring herself to admit it.
“ Why is he still in my dreams?” She thought to herself.
She had a meeting set up with Isabel so she can show her around the computer. Ever since Max touched her computer it had been working great.

“I still wonder what he did?” Liz thought

“Maria should be on her way let me get dressed and put some coffee on.”

Maria came upstairs and was telling Liz about some chat room that she was in about one of the artist that she writes for.

“ Maria why on earth would you do that?”

“ I wanted to see what people thought about her new album considering I wrote all the songs.”

They both laughed at that.

“ Alright well I want to do some shopping today so what do you say?” Maria asked while clearing the dishes

“ I can’t Maria I have to meet with Isabel Evans she going to show me how to use the new programs on the computer that Max suggested.”

“ Max? Oh so your on first name basis after what, one meeting?” Maria was curious

“ What? Oh no um…he asked me to call him Max so….” Liz was nervous

“ Soooo what? Is there something your not telling me Liz?” Maria had her hands on her hips

“ Something I’m not telling her humm……how about that I’ve been dreaming about him even before I met him? Or how about how I’ve never felt so alive since he came into my office that day? Or how about that I’m tying to think of ways to get another meeting with him?” Liz thought to herself.

“ No Maria. What makes you say that?” Liz was wiping down the counter so hard Maria thought she was going to wear a hole into it.

“ Maybe because you’ve been wiping the same spot for the past 10 minutes.”

Liz dropped the towel into the sink and walked over the living room. She needed to get a way from Maria. Maria always knew when something was up. She would see right threw Liz in a second!

“ Liz Parker don’t you dare try to pretend your cleaning. Your not getting out of this, no way this is very interesting.” Maria was following Liz around the living room.

“ What are you talking about? You read into things too much Maria. Nothing is going on. I would tell you if there was.” Liz was trying to seem busy picking things up in the living room

Maria looked into Liz’s eyes

“ Humph, well I know that there is something going on but if you want me to drop it I will.” Maria said reluctantly

“Yeah right I need to find out more about this Max and what he has done to Liz to make her act like this.” Maria thought to herself.

After asking Liz 20 more times is she was sure she didn’t want go shopping Maria left.

Liz was sitting at her desk trying to see if she can figure out one of the programs on her own when someone knocked on her door to tell her that Isabel Evans was here to see her.

“ Send her in please.”

Liz cleaned up her desk quickly and made space for Isabel.

Isabel entered the office and the first thing Liz noticed wad how classy she looked. She looked like a life sized Barbie minus the big boobs.

Isabel had on a long silver colored skirt with a shiny fuchsia wrap around shirt . Her hair was in a sleek pony tail and her makeup was very clean and simple. She brought her laptop with her since she had the same programs on there as the computer at the office.

“ Hello I’m Isabel you must be Liz.” Isabel extended her perfectly manicured hand to Liz

“ Hi, nice to meet you. Thank you so much for coming. I could really use the help.”

“ Oh it’s not problem. ” Isabel began to turn her laptop on and set her stuff on the empty space on the desk.

“ Ok so are you familiar with Excel at all? Isabel asks

“ ummm.. No sorry.” Liz stated nervously

“ That’s ok, it’s not really that hard. We’ll start with that first. You can do a lot of things using that program.”

Isabel went thru the basics of the program showing Liz step by step what to do. Liz caught on fairly quickly.

“ Have you had lunch yet? We could take a break. I could have something made for us?” Liz needed a break and was hungry

“ Uh no I haven’t, how about we get out of here for a while. A little change of scenery?” Isabel wanted to talk to Liz on a more personal level and getting out of the restaurant would be the prefect opportunity.

“ Ok that sounds nice. Let me just tell someone that I’m leaving.”

They headed out to a restaurant that Isabel frequents often. When she walks in the Maitre D quickly recognizes her.

“ Ahhh the beautiful Isabel. So nice to see you again, let me show you to your favorite table.”

Liz was is awe of the restaurant. It was way fancier than the Crash Down. The tables were covered in Gold colored linen with elegant dinner wear and wine glasses. The waiters and waitresses were wearing tuxedo like outfits.
They were shown to a table towards the back. They ordered drinks and an appetizer.

“ So Liz how long have you owned the Crash Down?” Isabel asks while taking a sip of her drink

“ Well not too long actually I took it over with a friend of mine just recently after my mother passed away. “ Liz was saddened as she thought of her mother

“ Oh I’m so sorry I didn’t know.”

“ It’s ok. So yeah my friend Maria decided that we needed help so she called your firm and well you know the rest.”

“ Oh yes I remember her she had a meeting with my father a few weeks ago.”

“ Yup that was her. But I do have to say that I’m glad that she made the call because after talking to Max I realized that I didn’t have a clue how to run this business.” Liz blushed at the mention or Max’s name

Isabel noticed the way Liz said Max’s name and that she was blushing now.

“ That’s something that needs to be looked into.” She thought

“ Well I hope that my brother behaved himself he can have a short temper sometimes. He usually doesn’t meet with new clients.”

“ No he was fine…. I mean it was good….I mean the meeting went well.

“ Ok I’m officially a bumbling idiot!”

Isabel noticed her stumbling over her words and thought it was sweet.
Their food came and Isabel decided to make chit chat with Liz

“ So Liz what were you doing before you took over the Crash Down?” Isabel asks while cutting her food in a way that looked like a perfectly orchestrated dance to Liz.

“ Well I was attending Harvard University I was Pre-Med.” Liz took a bite of her pasta

“ Pre-Med? Wow that’s great! It must have been hard for you to leave all your friend behind huh?”

“ No not really the only friend I had was Maria and she was in New York at the time.”

“ So no one special back in Boston waiting for you?” Isabel asked jokingly

“ What? Oh umm.. No, no one special” Liz admitted sadly

“ Well that’s too bad.”

“ So tell me about this Maria.” Liz was mesmerized by the way Isabel ate. It was perfect. She was so sophisticated

“ Oh well she has been my friend since we were kids. After high school graduation we had the most amazing summer before going off to college. I was in Boston and she was in New York. She’s really more like a sister to me than anything. So when my mom passed away she left New York to help me out here.” Liz was beaming.

“ Wow she sounds like a good friend? So what does she do? Oh I’m sorry I don’t mean to sound nosey I’m just inquisitive, bad habit I guess. “ Isabel felt a little embarrassed but she wanted to know more about This girl especially after the way Max was acting when he came home last night.

~~~The night before~~~

Isabel was in the living room when she heard the door open.

“ Max is that you?” She asked knowing it was him

“ Are you whistling?” Isabel asked hiding back a giggle

“ I feel like dancing Isabel. Let’s go out dancing!” He began to spin Isabel around the room.

“ Are you ok? I mean are you drunk or something?”

“ No can’t I just be happy?” Max stopped spinning her around

“ Well considering where you just came from I just assumed you were drunk?” Isabel stated

“ What?” Max was lost

“ Didn’t you go over to see Ed Harding? You were supposed to go over there after your 1:00.” Isabel was getting annoyed Max was whistling again

“Oh yeah the Meeting with Ed. Uh no I decided not to go. I was having such a good day and I didn’t want to ruin my day.”

“ Max are you crazy! How could you just blow Mr. Harding off like that! He’s going to flip out! Dad is going to freak out. Great now I’ll have to deal with him calling tomorrow morning.” Isabel had her hand on her hips

“ Max just looked at her and started laughing.”

“ What the hell is so funny Max?” Isabel was about to scream but kept her composure

“Nothing Iz you need to lighten up.” Max took off his tie and walked into the kitchen. Isabel followed and began to warm up a plate of food for him.

Max poured himself a glass of wine a habit he picked up when he spent a year in Italy a year in after his college graduation.

“ So where did you go after your meeting in Santa Monica?” Isabel poured herself some wine also

“ I decided to stop and walk down the beach for a while.” Max thought back to his meeting thoughts of Liz were running thru his mind while he was walking on the beach.

“Well I guess you took the long way home considering it the time.” Isabel noticed it was now 7PM.

“ Alright well I have plans with Alex tonight, are you going to stay home?” Isabel rinsed out her glass and set in in the drain

“ I don’t think so. Where are you and Alex going to?” Max was finishing off the last of his chicken

“ I don’t know we might go out for a drink and then go out dancing.” Isabel stated

“ Hey I asked you to go out dancing and you looked at me like I was crazy.” Max was pretending to be hurt

“ Yeah well first off you NEVER dance and second I’m not going to go out dancing with my overprotective brother so you can give dirty looks to every guy at the place like you always do.”

“ Hey I’m just trying to protect you.” Max made his was to the living room and turned on the television he noticed that Brave Heart was on.
“ I got to call Michael and tell him this is on.” Max picked up the phone and called Michael.

“ Ugh you guys are so pathetic! Do you have to watch that movie Every singe time it’s on. You have it on DVD. Two copies of it might I add plus Michaels two copies.” Isabel was Irritated that Max was ignoring her

“Isabel let’s not go thru this again please. I’ve explained the reason for have two copies. It’s the same reason you have 5 pairs of the same shoes. I don‘t want one of them to get worn out.”

“Point taken but I still think your crazy.” Isabel walked to her side of the house.

She had been living with max for the past three years. She was going to get a place of her own but Max came up with the idea of having Michael build a house for her and him to share. Isabel insisted on privacy so the house was built in a way that one hallway would lead to a bedroom with private bath, a guest bedroom, a den, and a sitting area. Max’s side of the house was similar except he had a stair case that led to a game room upstairs complete with a big screen TV and various video games. Michael had insisted on this. Isabel didn’t mind though because she could entertain in the main living room.

She got dressed and said goodbye to Max who was on the phone talking to Michael about Brave Heart while they were watching it.


“ So Maxwell how’d it go with Ed today? Did you two get into it again?” Michael was munching on popcorn

“ Can you not eat while your on the phone? It’s gross you sound like a pig. And I didn’t go to the meeting.” Max answered quickly

“ What?! Have you lost your mind? You know that Ed is going to call your father first thing in the morning and tell him about this.” Michael took a sip of his Raspberry Snapple.

“ Yeah I know.” Max sighed “ And I really don’t care. I’m sick of dealing with him. I always have to run over there every time he gets upset or every time you tell him where he can shove this job.” Max put his feet up on the ottoman

“ Yeah Max but that’s part of the job. Whatever I’m done talking about Ed. What’s up for tomorrow nigh?”

“ I was thinking we could go out to a new restaurant I just heard about.”

“ Where is it?” Michael asked

“ It’s in Santa Monica. It’s called the Crash Down” Max said casually

“ Crash Down? What kind of name is that? Alright if you say it’s good then I’ll check it out with you.” Michael replied

“ Hey Michael let me ask you a question.” Max was getting nervous he knew that what he was about to ask was going to get about 1000 questions thrown back at him

“ Shoot”

“ Ummm……well….. Uh…..” Max didn’t know how to word this right

“ Maxwell What is it?!” Michael was getting irritated.

“ Ok umm have you ever lost control of your powers before?” Three….two….

“ Why the hell are you asking me that? What happened? Who saw you? What were you doing? What the hell Maxwell you better start talking now!!” Michael was pacing in front of the sofa

“ Well you see I had this meeting today.” Max was cut off before he could finish

“ Where? “

“ Santa Monica. This..” Max was cut off

“What time?” Michael cut in

“ This will go faster if you let me finish Michael.” Max was getting irritated

“ Sorry. Go ahead.” Michael stopped pacing but still couldn’t sit down

“Ok so I had a meeting in Santa Monica this afternoon and when I walked into the office I heard the radio playing and I thought how much I liked the song then all of the sudden the radio went full blast.” Max told Michael everything else that happened still in shock himself for losing control of his powers the way he did. He was always in control of everything. It was something he prided himself on, his strength and control except for one night 6 years ago. He quickly pushed those thoughts aside.

“ Damn Maxwell this is not good. Wait a minute! You said you wanted to go to a new place in Santa Monica? This wouldn’t happen to be the same place would it? Michael couldn’t believe this was happening. Max was always the best at controlling his powers.

“ Well…” Michael didn’t let Max finish

“ Are you out of your freaking mind?!” Now Michael was pissed

“Michael don’t get like that. I just want to go check it out. Nothing is going to happen.” For some reason he felt like he needed to be there tomorrow night. Something inside him was telling him to go.

“ Well then it’s a good thing that I’m coming with you. In case anything happens.”

They hung up and Max decided to take a shower.

After a long hot shower Max responded to some e-mails that he had and decided to go to bed.
~~~~~~~

Max awoke early since he went to be fairly early. He heard a noise in the kitchen and looked at the clock.

“ 7AM there is no way that Isabel is up this early on a Saturday.” Max got up and threw on a T-shirt. He brushed his teeth and made his way towards the kitchen.

“ Isabel what are doing up this early?” As soon as he said that he noticed that she was wearing the same clothes that she had on when she left the night before

“ Oh hi Max.” Damn it I tired to be quiet

“ Are you just getting home?” Max was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed across his chest

“ Yes and don’t go into protective mode on me I’m not in the mood for it. I had the best time last night and well.. I into this morning.” Isabel was trying to make her way to her room with Max following behind her

“ Isabel I’m going to have to talk to Alex. This is not right you shouldn’t be getting home at this hour. What the hell were you guys doing anyways.” Max knew that Alex adores Isabel. He was also aware of the fact they had been dating for three years now so it was safe to assume that they had slept together. He still didn’t like his sister getting home so late. To him she will always be his little sister even though she was a year older than him.

“ Max you will do no such thing! You can’t treat me like this!” She was loosing her cool, something she rarely did. She sighed “ Max look I know that you feel like you need to protect me all the time but you don’t. I can take care of myself and you’ve said it before Alex is a really good guy Max. I love him and he loves me so please stop worrying about me.” She gave him a hug

“Alright I’ll try but I’m not making any promises.” He kissed her on the cheek and went to get some breakfast.

After eating alight breakfast he decided to go for a run on the beach. He loved living near the beach. Something about the smell of the salt make him feel relaxed. Running was therapeutic for him. He ran on the beach then headed back home to shower.

As he walked in the door Isabel was watching TV.

“ Hey Max you have a nice run?” Isabel knew that Max liked to run on the beach every morning

“ Yeah so what are you up to today?” Max was talking of his shirt that was now drenched in sweat

“ Please put that in the washing machine right away I don’t want to stink up the laundry room. I’m going to meet with Liz Parker this afternoon.” She knew that would get his attention

“ Oh! I mean Oh that’s nice of you.” Smooth you know Isabel can read people she going to know right away something is up.

“ Yeah it was the only time that we both had free, I don’t mind though I like going Santa Monica.”

“ Well I hope you have a good time. When will you be home?” Max was trying to act casual

“ I’m not sure depends on how long it takes her to get comfortable with everything. I’ll see you later I guess.” Isabel headed to her room to catch up on some sleep before the meeting

As soon as Isabel left Max went to his study. At the mention of Liz’s name he couldn’t help but to think about her again. Then he remembered everything that happened at their meeting.

“ She’s probably thinking I’m a freak or something.” Max thought
There was no way that she could have figured out that Max was the one that was causing those strange things to happen but Max was always worried about people finding out his “ Secret”. He hoped that Isabel wouldn’t be too nosey especially if she got a hint of how he felt about her.

“ Hopefully she will be there tonight. I might get a chance to talk to her again minus any strange occurrences. “ Max thought

He heard Isabel leaving a few hours later and decided to stop by Michaels to play some basketball.

A few hours later he was back home. He thought Isabel would have been home by then but she wasn’t. He never realized how big the house really was until he was the only one home. He hated being home alone. He felt so bored. Deciding to burn some time he switched on the Television. After switched thru almost 300 channels he decided to listen to some music.

Isabel walked in and found Max asleep on the sofa.

“ Max wake up.” She shook his shoulder

“ Oh hey Iz. What time is it?” Max was rubbing his eyes

“ It’s about 4:30. How long you been asleep?” Isabel sat down on the sofa next to Max

“ Damn I guess I while. I need to get ready Michael is going to be here at 6.” Max got up and walked toward his room. Isabel followed

“So where are you guys going?” Isabel noticed that Max was standing in his closet having no clue on what to wear.

“ Oh um to Santa Monica for dinner.” Max tried to sound casual about it

“ Anyplace I know of?” Isabel knew exactly where he was going

“ Actually yeah. The Crash down.” Max pulled out his Armani jeans and was now looking for a shirt to wear

“ The Crash Down huh? Well speaking of which I had a very nice meeting with Liz today. I took her out to lunch too.” She knew that would get his attention

“ Oh really where did you go?” Max way dying to ask Isabel about every detail of the meeting but was holding back

“Over to Buona Sera. We had a nice time, she is very sweet.” Isabel was just reeling him in

“ That’s nice, I’m glad that you had a nice time. What did you guys talk about?” Damn it so much for playing to cool.

“Oh you know first business then the usual girl stuff.” I got him. This was too easy Isabel thought.

“ Well thank you for seeing her on your day off. I’m sure you had other things planned. So should I wear the Black t-shirt or the olive green button down shirt?” Max was trying to change the subject before he spilled the beans on how much he was interested in Liz plus he needed Isabel’s help.

“ Umm I think you should wear the olive green dress shirt tucked out.” That should get Liz’s attention. Max always looked good in that color. Isabel though

“ Thanks. I’m going to shower I need to hurry up.” Max walked into his bathroom and shut the door.

“ I need to get it together or else I’m going to look like a total idiot in front of Liz when I see her. Wait a minute I’m just assuming that she’s going to be there and out front no less. Get a grip Max.

After a long shower he stepped in front of the mirror and began to shave. As he was putting on his pants he heard Michael talking to Isabel.

“ Max are you ready yet?” Michael called out

“ Your early and no I’m not.” Max put on a t-shirt so he can fix his hair without getting his dress shirt messed up.

“ Well hurry up. “ Michael plopped himself on Max’s bed and turned on the Stereo.

Isabel stopped by Max’s room to tell him she was on her way to Alex’s and not to wait up for her.

“ Oh and by the way we aren’t taking your car because I don’t want my hair to get messed up.” Michael said

“ Fine then I guess we can take yours. I’m ready just let me get my keys and we are out of here.” Max walked out to the kitchen and got his keys and wallet.

They got into Michaels black Range rover and headed to the restaurant. Max was trying to find some music to listen to

“ Michael you have 20 Cd’s in your changer in they are ALL Metallica.”

“ Yeah so? I like them. What the problem? Michael asked

“ Nothing.” Max was laughing

“ So Maxwell where are is this place again?” Michael turned onto the highway

“It’s in downtown Santa Monica. I’ll show you where to turn.”

“ So this is where you had the meeting the other day huh? And you want to go back for some unknown reason?” Michael was trying to figure out what was going on with Max

“ Not some unknown reason, I just feel like checking it out. I want to go someplace different that’s all.”

“Nice, keep it cool and he won’t suspect” Max thought

“ Sure Max. I’ll let it go if you want.” Michael said

They Valet the car and walked into the restaurant. They were greeted by Elisa

“ Oh hi Max! So you decided to come back huh? Elisa asked

Oh shit! Max thought

“ Hello. I forgot your name. I um think we are just going to head over to the bar.” Max pulled Michael along with him

“ What the hell was that about? I thought we were here to eat. You know we don’t drink.” Michael was annoyed

“ I know that! It’s just that I met that girl when I came for the meeting and she was trying to throw herself all over me. She’s a waitress too and I knew she would seat us in her section if I gave her the chance. Lets just sit here until she goes away then we’ll sit and eat.” Max said

They ordered two mineral waters and sat and waited. Max noticed Liz standing at the other end of the bar talking to a blond haired girl. They were both laughing at something. He noticed she had the most beautiful smile.

“ Max! Max I’m talking to you!” Michael was trying to get his attention

“ Sorry. What were you saying?” Max turned so he can see Michael and Liz over Michaels head.

“ So what are we going to do about Ed? I really want out of the deal I don’t care about the money at this point.”

They continued to talk

“ Liz there is some guy at the end of the bar that’s been staring at you.” Maria pointed towards Max

“ Where? No way Maria maybe they are looking at someone else but certainly not me.” Liz shook her head
“ Well I know that he’s been looking at YOU. Every time I look over I see him staring directly at you. When he saw you laughing he smiled too. Why don’t you look. I happen to think he’s very cute.” Maria again pointed towards Max, this time she saw that he and Michael were talking.

Liz looked and noticed it was Max.

“ Oh my God. What is he doing here I look like total crap. Oh man this is great just great. “ Liz was freaking out

“ Girl relax you look cute.” Maria was wondering why he was talking to the mystery man from the elevator

“ Cute! I don’t think so. I need to go upstairs and change or something.” Liz then realized that she would have to walk right past him to get upstairs.

“You can’t just walk right past him Liz. Just stop and say hello at least.” Maria said

Mean while Max was thinking that she looked beautiful. A natural beauty. Max never liked when women would get all dolled up and put on pounds of makeup.

Liz sighed and walked over towards Max and Michael.

[Icequeen]

A/N: I hope this part is ok. I didn't have anyone proof it before i sent it. . I wanted to get this posted before i left for Philly to see GOMEZ !!!!! I hope you guys like it. I want to once again thank everyone that has left Feed back and to everyone who is reading this.

~~~CHAPTER 6~~~

Max noticed that Liz was heading his way.

“ Ok keep it cool.” He thought to himself

“ What’s wrong with you Max you look nervous” As soon as Michael said this he noticed that Liz was headed towards them

“ So I take it that that’s the girl you came here to see huh?”

“ I didn’t come here to see her, I told you I wanted to check out someplace new.” Max said

Max was trying to look for Liz but instead found Elisa in front of him

“ Hey Max you guys want to sit now I have a table free.” She leaned closer to max and said “ In my section.”

“No thank you” Max said

“ Maxwell I’m hungry I want to si….” Max elbowed Michael in the side

“ No thanks we are fine here.” Michael said reluctantly

Elisa sighed and walked away.

“ What the hell was that for?” Michael was rubbing his side

“Hello Liz.” Max stated

Liz felt the hairs on her arms rise as soon as she heard his voice

“ Hi Max. What brings you here?”

“ God she really was beautiful.” He thought

“ Oh well I just wanted to check the food out here. Oh I’m sorry I haven’t introduced you two. This is my very good friend Michael Guerrin.” Max nodded towards Michael

“ Hello I’m Liz.” Liz shook Michaels hand

“ Nice to meet you.” Michael was noticing the way Max was looking at Liz

“ So can I get you guys a re-fill? What are you drinking?” As Liz said this Maria walked over towards them

“ Max Michael this is my best friend Maria Deluca.” Liz pointed toward max and Michael

Michael noticed that she was the girl from the elevator at Max’s office.

“ Nice to meet you Max. You look familiar.” She pointed towards Michael

“ Um yeah I think we met briefly in Max’s office a few days ago.” Michael was surprised she remembered him. He stood up to shake her hand. When he touched her they both felt a small shock. They both looked at each other for a minute wondering if the other noticed it.

“ Oh yeah so your the jerk from the elevator.” Maria was trying to act like she hadn’t noticed him earlier

“ Yeah sorry about that. I was having a bad day.”

“ Well you could have said sorry at least.” Maria thought he looked good. He had on jeans and a white dress shirt with a black vintage Guns and Roses t- shirt underneath.

“DeLuca is it? That name sounds familiar. You wouldn’t happen to be in the music business would you?” Michael wondered

“ Actually yes I am. I’m a song writer.” Maria was surprised by this she never got recognized.

“ Yeah I’m a big fan of Beth Orton and I see that you write a lot for her. I remember your name being on the booklet of a few of her CD’s.” Michael felt a little embarrassed

“ You like Beth Orton? And you read the booklet that comes with the Cd? “ Maria was really surprised now.

“ Yeah I like her. What I don’t look like the type or something?” Michael was trying to get a rise out of her.

“ Actually no you don’t.”

“ Ouch that hurt.” Michael thought

“ So do you work at Evans & Assoc?” Maria asked

“ Actually no I do a lot of business with them but I have my own company. Guerrin construction.” Michael was proud of his company

“ Oh that’s nice.” Maria Said

“ That was a first.” Michael thought

Every time he told women that he owned his own business they would all of the sudden be more interested in him.

“ So do you happen to know who did the paintings that are all over Evans & Assoc offices? I would really like to try and buy some.” Maria asked

“ Do you like them?”

“ Well yeah why else would I ask? So do you know who it is or not?” Maria asked

“ Umm no not off hand but I can find out for you.” That was a lie but he didn’t want to tell her that it was him that painted those. Not just yet

“ Yeah thanks that would be great. I’ve been trying to find out who it was for a week now. “


Meanwhile Max and Liz where in conversation

“So this is a surprise.” Liz said

“ Yeah I really did want to check this place out so I came with Michael.” Max took a sip of his water

“ You don’t drink?” Liz asked

“ Not really I only have a glass of wine with dinner but nothing besides that.”

“ Oh. So I met with Isabel this afternoon?” Liz sat at a stool next to Max

“ Yes she told me that it went well.” Max swung around to face her

“ Yes it did. We had lunch at a very nice restaurant too. I wish the Crash Down was that fancy.” Liz said

“ Speaking of , I wanted to set up a meeting with you to talk to you about some plans that I have.” Max said

“ Oh already. Well anytime you have available is fine with me. “ Liz wondered what type of plans he had

“ Actually we can talk about it tomorrow afternoon if you’d like. We can make it a lunch meeting. Unless you have plans I know it’s the weekend and all.” Max felt embarrassed

“ No I don’t have anything planed. Would you like to come here or did you want me to meet you someplace?” Liz hoped that he wanted to go out someplace

“ Actually there is a restaurant I would like to take you to. I can come by and pick you up” Max hoped that she would say yes.

“ Oh you don‘t have to go thru all the trouble I can meet you there?” Liz said

“ It’s not problem at all. I’ll pick you up tomorrow around 12:30. Is that ok? Max asked

“ That’s fine. ” Liz asked

“ Maxwell I’m hungry can we sit down now?” Michael tapped Max on the shoulder interrupting his conversation.

“Yeah sure Michael.” Max gave the paper to Liz.

“ Would you like to join us?” Max asked pointing to Maria and Liz.

“ No that’s ok I should get go and let you guys enjoy your evening.” Liz wanted to stay but she wanted to change also.


~~~~~~ Next day~~~~

The previous evening Liz had another dream of Max but this time she saw herself in a huge house with him with two kids running around. She saw Max scoop us a little girl that was an exact replica of Liz. She saw a little boy running towards them also. The dream ended when they came running towards Liz both kids calling her Mommy.

“ What they hell is wrong with me? This is freaking weird.” Liz thought

Meanwhile Max woke up from a similar dream. His dream went a little more detailed. He saw himself proposing to her. He saw them getting married on the beach. He saw her face when he brought he to their home for the first time. His dream was more like flashes.

Max got out of bed and got ready for his run. He felt something attracting him to Liz parker that he’s never felt before. It was like he needed to be around her. He was already thinking of a way to see her again after his meeting this afternoon.

“ I have to get a grip. I have other clients to see too. I can’t just meet with her everyday.” He thought

But he knew that he would still find ways to be around her.

~~~Liz’s room~~~

“ So what are you going to wear today?” Maria asked as she looked thru Liz’s closet

“ I don’t know something casual I haven’t really thought about it.” Liz was brushing her hair. She lied though she spent the better part of the morning thinking of what she should wear but she couldn’t tell Maria that.

“ Ok so where is he taking you again?” Maria had pulled out several outfits for Liz to try on

“ I don’t know he just said there was someplace he would like to take me and that he would pick me up.” Liz forgot to ask him what type of place they were going to. She didn’t want to over dress or under dress.

“ Liz you need to ask these things. How am I supposed to pick you outfit out if I don’t know where you are going?” Maria was pacing back and forth in front of the closet.

“ Ok this is simple. You’ll just have to call him.” Maria picked up the phone and handed it to Liz

“ Uhhh yeah right. No freaking way. Are you insane? I’m not calling him to ask what I should wear.” Liz was shaking her head no

“ Would you rather look like an idiot in front of him?” Maria raised an eyebrow at Liz

“ I would SOUND like an idiot calling him to ask that.” Liz pointed out

“ Liz just call and ask. He has a sister right? Then he would understand how females are about this type of thing. Call him… call him…call him” Maria chanted

“ALRIGHT!! Jeez when did you get to be such a pain.” Liz hit Maria with a pillow

“ Hey I’m just looking out for you babe.” Maria hit Liz right back with the pillow

“ Ok stop I’m going to call but you can’t be in the room.” Liz said

“ Why the hell not?” Maria was hurt

“ Please Maria jut let me do this …….alone?”

“ Uhhh fine I’m going to get a drink.” Maria went out to the kitchen

Liz looked at the piece of paper that Max had written his number on. She studied the handwriting. So masculine she thought. She stared at his phone number for what seemed like forever and then she just decided to call him. She dialed the numbers and waited for him to pick up.

“ Hello” She heard Isabel say

“ Hello it’s may I speak with Max please?” Liz asked nervously

“ Oh hi Liz it’s Isabel um let me check if she’s in his room hold on a second.” Isabel walked towards Max’s room and knocked on the door.

“ Come in.” He said

“ Hey It’s Liz on the phone for you.” Isabel handed the phone out to him

“Thanks.” He waited for her to leave and leaned up against his head board

“ Hi Liz this is a surprise what’s up?” Max asked

“ Please don’t let her be canceling.” He thought

“ Hi Max I was calling to ask what type or place are we going to for lunch? I mean I don’t know how to dress.” Liz was wrapping the cord around her finger nervously

“ Oh sorry I forgot to tell you. It’s a casual place.” Max was wondering what she was thinking of wearing. Hoping that she would wear her hair down like when he first met her.

“ Oh ok then so I’ll see you at 12:30 then right?” Liz asked

“ I’ll see you then. Goodbye Liz.”

“Bye” Max hung up the phone and turned the radio up. His favorite song was on. Gomez’s Sweet Virginia. He laid in his bed for a while just thinking of Liz and how beautiful her smile was. The song ended and another song came on that turned his thoughts from pure bliss to pure hell. It was the only time that Max wasn’t in full control. He tried to tell himself that he didn’t have a choice that more then just his life would be at risk but that didn’t help with the guilt.

No one could understand. No one had the gift that he had and no one had to make the choice that he had to make that day. The image of one face would always haunt him. He spent many sleepless night for almost two years after that day.

Although ever since he met Liz he hadn’t seen that face. He never told anyone except Michael. He didn’t want Isabel to worry and she wouldn’t be able to understand either. She wasn’t like him or Michael. Max was adopted into the Evans family when he was 3 years old. Michael was adopted a few months later by very good friends of the Evans’ the Guerins. Max and Michael always thought they were brothers because of the way they were found but they just looked so different.

Neither one of their parents treated them any different and neither did Isabel. To her she had two brothers. He was so greatfull for everything his parents did for him and he loved them very much. His father would soon be leaving the firm and he would be taking on more responsibility. He had his Law degree but focused more on the investment side of Evans & Assoc.

He heard a knock on the door and he got up thankful for the break from his thoughts.

“ Hey Max so that was Liz huh?” Isabel stood in the doorway

“ Yeah it was.” Max said with a huge smile on his face

Isabel definitely knew something was up when she saw the way his face lit up.

“ So you guys are going out today?” Isabel asked

“ No it’s just a lunch meeting.” Max was once again looking for something to wear

“ Well that’s nice. Where are you taking her?” Isabel sat on the edge of the bed

“ Umm Ivy.” Max was now pulling socks out of his drawer

“ Ivy huh? Well she must be someone special for you to take her there.” Isabel went over to Max’s closet and picked out a different shirt for him to wear

“ What makes you say that? And what’s wrong with this shirt?” Max was holding up a maroon button down shirt

“ First off your not wearing a dress shirt to a lunch meeting and the reason I said that was because you always have your lunch meetings at Dolce.” Isabel went to pick out a pair of pants for him

“ Isabel I love you but please get out. I am capable of dressing myself you know.” Max said as he gently pushed her out of his room.

About 30 minutes later he was on his way to pick up Liz. The whole ride there his stomach was In knots. He felt nervous. He felt like he was going on his first date. He decided to turn on the radio to help calm him down.

After switching stations for a while he decided to pop in a CD. Gomez’s Tijuana Lady came on and he turned it up. Before he knew it he was in front of the crash down. He sat in his car for a minute to get himself together.

He stepped out of the car and walked into the restaurant. He knew that she lived above the restaurant but didn’t know how to go straight to her place. As soon as he walked in he saw Elisa make a bee line for him.

“ Jeez man can’t she take a hint.” He muttered to himself

“ Hey Max damn you look good today. She rubber her hand up his arm.

“ Uh thanks. I’m here to see Liz do you know where she is?” Max stepped away from her only to have her move closer.

“ What cologne is that?” She asked as she moved in closer to take a sniff of him.

“ Um Elisa I don’t know if you heard me but I’m here to see Liz.” Max emphasized Liz.

“ Yeah I heard you but why on earth are you here to see her when you and me can be having a good time.” She huffed

“ Excuse me?” Max was really getting annoyed by her at this point

“ I mean come on Max. Liz is so…..well…you know.” She stated

“ No I don’t know. She’s what? Not easy? Or not the type of girl to throw herself at a man? Cause if that’s what you mean then I don’t see anything wrong with that.” Max said angrily

“ Ugh fine good look trying to get with her. She’s a virgin you know. “ Elisa threw that out as if it was going to turn Max away from Liz.

“ Thank Goodness she’s gone.” He thought

He sat in one of the booths after he told Marcos that he was here for Liz and waited for her.

He saw her come out of the door and he felt like his heart stopped. She was wearing a cream colored linen skirt and a maroon tank top with sandals. Her hair was wavy and her makeup was simple.

“ God she is gorgeous.” Max thought

Liz looked at Max and had to blink. She couldn’t believe how good he looked. He has on a black tight fitted t-shirt with Vintage jeans on. She noticed the way you could see his muscles move when he got up from the stool to greet her.

“ Hello.” she said

“ Hi. You look beautiful.” Max said


“ Thank you. Am I dressed ok for where we are going?” She bit her bottom lip. She thought she was too over dressed now.

“ No not at all. You look great. Are you ready to go?” Max asked

“ Yeah.” He grabbed her hand and led her out front

He opened the door for her first and helped her into the car. As soon as he touched her she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

Max felt a tingle go thru his body and quickly pulled away. As he walked around he thought to himself that he needed to get in control or else he would have a lot of explaining to do.

“ This is a nice car.” She said

“ Thanks. Do you mind if I leave the top down? I like to smell the ocean.” He asked

“ No not at all. I’ve never been in a convertible.” She tied up her hair so it wouldn’t get in her face

They drove off and fell into a silence. Max decided to break the silence

“ So um do you like the band Gomez?” He thought that she did because she was listening to it in her office that day

“ Yes I like them a lot.” Liz couldn’t believe that he liked Gomez too.

Max put on their CD and they drove the rest of the way talking about a variety of topics. Mostly music. Liz wanted to stay away from questions about her past for now. Little did she know that Max felt the same way.

They pulled up to Ivy and the valet came around to help Liz out of the car.

“ Good afternoon Miss.” He greeted her

“ Hello.” She said

Max came around and took her hand as they walked in to the restaurant.

“ How did you get a reservation here on such short notice?” She asked

“ Oh I don’t have one. I used to come here a lot and my father comes here a lot too. Besides Michael designed the place so I know the owner and staff pretty well.”

They walked in and Liz was taken back once again. She had never been in such fancy places. The lunch she had with Isabel was a nice place but this was just like a dream.

They were taken to a quiet table and put in their drink orders.

“ So what sort of plans do you have for the Crash Down?” Liz asked

“ Well I was thinking that maybe you could think about making the restaurant more of a club. What I mean is that we could open the place up and add a dance floor. We could make the bar area bigger. I noticed that there was an empty space next door. “ Max saw that Liz was looking at him strangely.

“ Is something wrong? I mean is that not something that you want to do? Max asked nervously. He knew that he was thinking too big.

“ No not at all.” Liz said

“ What the hell is wrong with me? “ The whole time that Max was talking all she could think about was her dream.

“ So what do you think?” Max said

“ Umm I think it sounds expensive.” Liz said

“ Well I’m not going to lie. It will be pricey but I think that it’s worth it. I have some profit charts to show you how much your income would jump up if you did this. “ Max said

At hearing the word chart Liz began to giggle.

“Umm did I say something funny?” Max was lost

“ No ,no well yeah. It’s just that I make charts for things too and Maria is always telling me that I’m the only one that does that sort of thing.

“ Oh yeah well I like to make charts a lot too.” Max said with a chuckle.

He went to grab her hand and the lights began to flicker. They both looked up and Max was getting nervous. Thankfully Liz didn’t say anything.

The rest of the meal went by with chit chat here and there. Max had ordered coffee while Liz ate dessert. She ordered strawberry cheesecake and she decided to eat the strawberries last. She picked up the strawberry and brought it up to her mouth. Max was watching her every move something that was not noticed by Liz.

He was gripping his coffee cup for dear life. When he looked down he saw that it was boiling.

“ Shit!” He thought

“ What’s wrong?” Liz asked he has a strange look on his face

“ Oh nothing. This coffee is just too hot that’s all.” Max tried to pay it off

“ Really? It’s been sitting there for a while. I’m surprised it’s still warm much less hot.” Liz said

“ Shit! I’m busted.” He thought

Thankfully she let it go.

“So you said that you had some charts. When can I see them?” Liz asked as she was wiping the corners of her mouth

Max thought he was going to die right there.

“ Doesn’t she realize how sexy she is? She’s killing me over here.” He thought

“ Well I have them at my house. It’s just a few blocks from here if you really want to see them we could stop by.” That sounded lame

“ That would be great.” A little too enthusiastic are we?

“ Ok them let me get the check then we can go.” Max signaled to the waiter that he was ready for the check. A minute later the owner of the restaurant Gabriel came over to the table.

“ Hey Max how’s it going?” Gabriel asked. He was a true ladies man in every sense of the word. He was always seen with a different woman every night and if he wanted a woman he would have her not matter what. Max never really liked him much but he was a good client so he dealt with him.

“ Hi Gabriel this is Liz Parker a new client of mine.” Max said pointing towards Liz

“ Well hello Liz Parker.” Gabriel grabbed Liz’s hand and kissed it

Max was fuming when he saw Gabriel touch her. The bottles at the bar began to shake and one of them fell off the ledge.

Liz and Gabriel both turned around to see what happened when they heard the bottle fall and smash on the ground.

“ We better get going. It was nice to see you Gabriel.” Max said.
He knew they had to get out of there before Max destroyed anything else.

They walked out and waited for his car. When they brought it around he helped Liz in once again and got in the car.

“That guy seemed like a creep.” Liz said

“ Yeah he is. He a real player.” Max said while he put in another Gomez CD. He needed to calm down.

“ Ooooh I love this song.” Liz leaned over and turned the radio up. She began to sing along with Sweet Virginia another Gomez song.

Max thought she was the most beautiful thing he ever saw even though she couldn’t sing very well.

They pulled into the driveway of Max’s house and Liz let out a gasp.

“ Wow this is your house?” She asked

“ Actually I live here with Isabel.” He got out of the car.

“ Wow It’s really nice. I love the style.” Liz was in Awe of the house. From the outside it looked enormous. It was in at the end of a cul- de sac and looked like it was on the top of a hill.

“ Ok so let’s go in then.” Max said as he took a hold of her hand. This time he got a flash from her. He saw her in a white dress standing on the beach. He hair had little flowers in it and was wavy and down. Then he saw himself kissing her. He pulled away quickly when he saw her staring up at him with her eyes wide.

[Icequeen]

A/N: Thank you again to everyone to has left FB and to everyone who is reading. I appreciate it so much.
I HAVE to give a very very special thank you to crashdown_51 and to luvinguerin2much for ALL of your help. I can't say thank you enough!! .

~~Chapter 7~~

“ Ok so let’s go in then.” Max said as he took a hold of her hand. This time he got a flash from her. He saw her in a white dress standing on the beach. He hair had little flowers in it and was wavy and down. Then he saw himself kissing her. He pulled away quickly when he saw her staring up at him with her eyes wide.


Liz looked up and saw that behind him Isabel was in a heavy make out session with a guy who she assumed was her boyfriend from the way they were kissing.

“ Wow.” was all Liz could say

“ I think we might be interrupting something.” Liz said

Max couldn’t hear what Liz was saying. He was staring at her the whole time he had the flashes, he was looking at her mouth and saw that her lips were moving but couldn’t make out what she was saying. All he could think of was having her lips on his. When he snapped out of it he heard her say kiss.

“ Huh? What? Kiss?” Was all Max could get out. He could complete a sentence all he could keep thinking of were the flashes.

“ I was saying that Isabel is kissing someone in the pool.” Liz pointed to where Alex and Isabel were. They hadn’t noticed Max and Liz were there.

Max turned around “ Oh yeah that’s Alex her boyfriend. They weren‘t expecting me so there they are” He shrugged his shoulders

“ You’re taking this lightly considering the way Isabel said your so protective of her.” Liz was trying not to stare at Isabel and Alex but couldn’t help it. They looked so much in love. Alex was leaning against the side of the pool with Isabel between his legs. She had her arms wrapped around him.

“ Yeah Alex is cool. He and Iz have been together for a while now so I’m used to him. It wasn’t easy at first but I‘ve gotten used to it.” He said with a smile on his face.

He was worried that maybe somehow she felt what was going on.

“ No there is no way she could have. Relax Max.” he thought to himself.

“ Let’s go in the house and let them know that we are here.” Max gently put his hand on the small of her back and led her into the house.

They walked into the foyer and Liz looked up and saw the vaulted ceiling and the huge chandelier that hung in the middle.

“ Isabel did all the decorating except for my office and the game room.” Max said as he was showing Liz around

“ So she decorated your bedroom too?” As soon as Liz asked that she felt embarrassed

“ I can’t believe I said that. Am I trying to flirt with him?” She thought

Max thought she was so adorable when she got nervous. He could see the red in her cheeks after she made that comment.

“ Yeah she did. I bought some white sheets and a blue comforter but she would have none of that. When she asked me what feel I was going for and I looked at her and started laughing she took over.” They stopped in the kitchen

“ Would you like something to drink?” Max opened the fridge and was bending over to look at what they had

Liz was staring at his tight butt and didn‘t notice that he had turned his head to the side and noticed that she was looking at him.

Liz was looking at him with her head to the side and lost her balance on the stool that she was sitting on. She slipped off the chair and landed on the floor. Max ran over to her.

“ Are you ok?” He asked worriedly

“ Yeah I’m fine.” Liz was mortified.

“ Oh my God what a klutz.” She thought

Max knew why she fell off the chair and felt bad but at the same time he wanted to laugh.

“ Ok well let’s go out back and break up the two lovebirds shall we?” Max ushered Liz to the back yard

The yard was decorated in a Moroccan theme. There was a sitting area with lots of pillows. There was also a built in grill with a sink and a small refrigerator underneath. Liz noticed there were lots of candles everywhere also. It was very romantic looking.

“ Max Liz hi!” Isabel said startled.

“ Hi Isabel.” Liz said smiling shyly. She felt like she was interrupting

“Hey Iz, Alex.” Max said as he sat in one of the lounge chairs

He motioned for Liz to come sit next to him. Isabel and Alex got out of the Jacuzzi and wrapped themselves in towels and joined Max and Liz.

They sat around talking for a while and Isabel decided that Liz should stay for dinner.

“ Liz you should stay for dinner. We could grill some steaks and watch a movie or something.” Isabel said

Isabel wanted to see how Max would act around her. She also wanted to find out more about Liz.

“ Oh I don’t know I should get back to the restaurant. It is early for dinner also.” Liz wanted to stay but she couldn’t just leave Maria alone

“ Oh come on Liz. I need to do some shopping, you could come with me while the guys here do the food shopping.” She pointed to Max and Alex who were shooting hoops in the small court that was set up on the side of the house.

“ I don’t know. Let me call Maria and see if she doesn’t mind.” Liz walked to around to the other side of the pool to call Maria on her cell.

“ What’s up?” Maria asked. She knew it was Liz from the caller ID

“ Hey Maria. How is everything?” Liz asked as she was pacing nervously around the pool.

“ Everything is fine. You know that. How was your lunch?”

“ Oh it was fine. Listen I wanted to ask you if you were ok by yourself for tonight? Isabel invited me to go shopping and to stay for dinner. Would you mind?” Liz was hoping that she would say yes.

“Shopping huh? Well you can stay but you have to promise to go shopping with me too.” Maria was laughing

“ Ok Maria. Promise you’ll call if you need help ok?”

“Liz relax. Have a good time. And I want details later and you know what I’m talking about.”

“ Details on what?” Liz asked trying to act innocent

“ Girl don’t try to act all innocent on me you know exactly what I’m talking about. I’m talking about that stud that you had lunch with who you are now having dinner with.” Maria said pointedly

“ I have no idea what your talking about?” Liz said

“ Yeah ok. See you later. Bye.”

“ Bye Maria and thanks again.” Liz hung up


The entire time she was on the phone Max was looking at Liz. He loved the was she was pacing around the pool and the way she twisted her hair. He loved her smile. And how her whole face lit up when she laughed. Isabel also noticed how Max was staring at Liz. It was good to see him happy she thought. She had a good feeling about Liz and wanted to see if she was right.

“ I’m going in to change.” She said

“ Ok. Maria is going to watch the restaurant for me.” Liz announced

“ Good. Let’s go to my room Liz.” Isabel led Liz inside

“ You have a beautiful house.” Liz said

“ Thank you. Did you know that Michael designed it?” Isabel was walking toward her part of the house

“ He made it so that Max and I would be on opposite sides of the house with the kitchen and main living room in the middle.” They walked past her living room.

“ SO you have your own living room over her too?” Liz asked surprised

“ Yeah so I can entertain more privately. Max side has one too. It’s the same as my side except it has access to the game room.” Isabel said

“ Yeah he told me about that. Wow you room is beautiful.” Liz was admiring Isabel’s room. It was decorated in mostly white with soft lilac and yellow. Her bed has lots of pillows on it and was really high up. She had a dressing area and a large walk in closet that was almost the size of Liz’s bedroom.

“ Thank you. I love decorating. I love planning things out and organizing. I’m just going to pick something out and take a quick shower. Feel free to look around if you like. I have lots of embarrassing pictures of Max in the study.” Isabel winked at Liz.

Isabel walked into the bathroom and Liz just sat on the bed for a minute. She didn’t want to poke around in Isabel’s room but was curious to see the pictures of Max that she was talking about. She finally decided to go into the study and take a quick look.

She walked into the office that was mostly mahogany. There were lots of pictures framed on the wall and a bookshelf filled with pictures also. Most of them were black and white.

She saw pictures of Max, Michael and Isabel as children. The pictures were set up in chronological order. She noticed there were a lot of pictures of Isabel and Alex also. She was admiring a painting that was hanging when Max walked in.

He saw her standing there and thought she was beautiful. He couldn’t get over how beautiful she looked just doing simple things. He decided to make himself noticed and cleared his throat.

“ Hey I just wanted to came check on you.” Max said

“ Oh you didn’t have to do that. I was just looking around while Isabel took a shower.” Liz turned to face him and noticed that he had his shirt off and was sweaty.

“ Oh my God he looks sexy.” She thought

She was admiring his perfectly toned body.

“ So do you want anything special from the grocery store. Alex and I are going to pick up a few things while you and Iz go out shopping.” Max was standing in the doorway

“ Um no whatever you get is fine with me.” Liz noticed that there was a picture of Max dressed up in a cowboy outfit in the bookshelf and began to laugh

“ Oh my God that is the cutest thing ever.” She said pointing to the picture

Max walked over to have a better look and turned red from embarrassment.

“ Wow I didn’t know she had that picture in here. That was taken when we went up to our parents cabin when I was like 5.” Max said

“ You looked so cute.”

“ Looked? I didn’t thin I changed that much.” Max said with a chuckle

“ Oh I uh didn’t mean..” Liz was stumbling over her words

“ I was just kidding. I think I hear Iz let’s go see if she’s ready.” Max led her out of the study

“ Hey do you want anything special from the store?” Max asked as he threw himself on her bed

“ Max you going to mess up the sheets. Get off!” She shooed him off the bed.

“ I have a list ready right here.” Isabel handed him a piece of paper with about 40 things on it.

“ Iz I’m not going full on grocery shopping here. I’m just getting the stuff for tonight.” Max was reviewing the list

“ Yeah I know. This is all the stuff we need for tonight.” Isabel was pointing to the list

“ Ok so how many people did you invite cause this is way too much stuff for just the four of us.” Max was rubbing his head

Liz was wondering if she did invite anyone else. The list was kind of long.

“ Max just get the stuff on the list please. I didn’t invite anyone else.” Isabel walked into her closet to look for a pair of shoes. She called Liz over.

Liz walked into the closet and noticed that Isabel had all her shoes in boxes with Polaroid pictures taped on the outside so she can see what was inside.

All of her clothes were hung from light to dark with pants on the top and shirts on the bottom. In the middle of the closet there was an island with different lotions and perfumes.

“ I’m just going to put some shoes on and we can get going. I called you in so Max could leave.” Isabel said while pulling out a box that had a pair of beige sandals

“ You are very organized. How long did it take you to get your closet like this.” Liz asked

“ Oh not too long about a few weeks. I had some help though.”

Isabel put her shoes on and they were on their way out. She told Max and Alex that she would be back in a few hours and gave instructions on what to do when they got back from the store.

They got into Isabel’s black Mercedes SLK and headed out.

“ Your not going to put the top down?” Liz asked

“ No way I don’t want my hair to get messed up.” She check herself in the mirror

“ Oh.” Liz said with a smile

They drove to rodeo drive and went into what seemed like 100 stores to Liz.

Isabel was an expert shopper. She made Liz try on several outfits and suggested some colors that would look good on her. They went to the Clinique counter and got some make up tips. Isabel insisted that Liz buy some products that would look good on her.

They stopped and bought some shoes and Liz bought a bathing suit. Isabel was appalled that she had been using the same one since last year.

They stopped at a local coffee shop and had iced latte’s.

“ So Liz how was your lunch with Max?” Isabel was sipping her latte.

“ Oh it was very nice until that creep Gabriel came over and kissed my had.” Liz said with a look of disgust

“ Ugh I can’t stand him. He tried to ask me out a few times. After about a month of refusing he finally gave up.” Isabel said

“ Yeah I think that you and Alex are cute together.” Liz took a sip of her latte

“ Alex is wonderful. He’s so sweet and funny. We have been together for three years now. It wasn’t all smooth sailing but we are stronger now than ever.” Isabel said

“ Yeah I wish I could find someone like that. The last guy I was with was well…In a word… a jerk!” Liz spat out

“ Don’t worry I know you will. There is someone out there ready to treat you like a queen.” Isabel noticed how Liz had a far away look

Liz was thinking that she wished that man would be Max. She felt herself getting feelings for him. They hadn’t even kissed and she was thinking about him all the time. She was wondering what it would feel like to be held in his strong arms and kissed by his soft lips.

“ Liz are you ok?” Isabel asked

“ Yeah I’m fine.” Liz came out of her dream like state

“ So what happened with this guy if you don’t mind me asking?”

Liz felt at ease with Isabel. Like she could tell her anything. So she began to tell the story of her and Kyle and how he broke up with her because she wouldn’t sleep with him. She told Isabel how he broke her heart.

“ Wow that guy was a jerk. But your better off I just know it.” Isabel said with a wink

“ I hope so I could use some happiness right now.” Liz said with a slight frown

Isabel’s heart went out to Liz.

“ I got to talk to Max and give him a nudge in the right direction. These two belong together.” She thought

“ Well let’s get going. I’m dying to see if Max was able to get everything on the list. Knowing him I’ll need to run back and get the things he forgot.” Isabel picked up her many bags and they headed for the car.

The drive back was spent with Isabel and Liz talking about a variety of topics. Isabel convinced Liz to let her give her a mini make over. Liz mentioned that Maria would like that so it was decided that they would meet on Friday.

They pulled up to the house and Isabel called for Max and Alex to help bring some of the bags in.

“ Was there anything left?” Max asked

He got a death glare from Isabel. Max looked towards Alex for help but Alex knew better then to comment on Isabel and her shopping habits.

“Max just bring them to my room please and save the comments.” Isabel said shortly

“ Jeez Ice princess in full effect.” Max whispered

“ What was that?” Isabel turned around

“ Nothing! I didn’t say anything.” Max defended himself best he could.

Alex and Liz were trying to muffle their laughter but when Isabel pushed the bags that she was holding into Max’s arms knocking him over the began to laugh hysterically.

“Thanks Alex your supposed to me on my side. We’re men, we should stick together.” Max said as he was dusting himself off.

“ No way Max. I’m not getting on Isabel’s bad side. Last time I came to your rescue she didn’t talk to me for a week. Do you know how much I spent on flowers that week alone?!” Alex said

“ Yeah yeah. Excuses excuses.” Max said with a smirk

They grabbed the rest if the stuff and headed inside when they heard Isabel slamming the cabinets shut.

“ Maxwell!!” She called

“ Oh shit!” Max said

“ I knew we forgot something.” Alex said heading as fast as he could to Isabel’s room to not get caught in the fire

“ Max did you refer to my list at all when you went to the store?” She said with her hand on her hips

“ Y.. Yes.” Max gulped. He was trying to figure out what he forgot. He could have sworn they got everything on the damn list

“ Oh so then where are the sodas?” She asked

Max began to laugh. The sodas were in the fridge outside. He saw her getting more agitated and decided to tell her before she hurt him.

“ Iz they are in the fridge outside.” Max said trying to catch his breath

Isabel stormed out of the kitchen and went outside to check. Sure enough they were there.

“I’m going to my room to put my things away” She walked towards her room

She saw Alex showing Liz how he could twist his arms around and bring them over his head while Liz sat on her sofa with her hands over her mouth laughing. Isabel loved Alex so much. He was perfect for her in every way. She was more uptight then him but he balanced her out.

“ Alex don’t scare her away.” She said as she walked into her room

“ I’m not scaring her. She was laughing wasn’t she?” Alex said shrugging his shoulders

“I’ve never seen anyone that can do that.” Liz said

“ Ok Alex go help Max.” She ushered him out of the room

“ Do you mind if I put these things away now or would you rather join the guys?” Isabel asked as she started to unload the bags onto her bed

“ No I don’t mind at all. I could help if you just show me how you want everything.” Liz got up and walked towards the bed

“ No that’s ok you’re a guest here. I’m not going to put you to work.” Isabel walked over to her closet to get some hangers and began to hang up the shirts he bought

After about an hour she was done. They walked into the kitchen where Max was seasoning the steaks that they would have for dinner.

“ You don’t look like the type that cooks.” Liz said as she sat on one of the stools

“ Yeah I love to cook. I like that I can start with all these raw ingredients and make something so tasty out of it.” Max said

Isabel noticed the way they were so at ease with each other and decided to sneak out to the back and join Alex.

“ Could I help?” Liz asked

“ Well I’m about to make an apple pie. You could help me with that. The meat has to marinate for a while anyways.” Max began to get the ingredients that he would need to make the pie from scratch

“ Where is the pie shell?” Liz asked

Max let out a chuckle.

“ I’m making it completely from scratch.” He said

“ Oh.” Liz was intrigued now. The man has the body of a God. He seems nice and he can cook, from scratch no less.

“ Ok first lets wash our hands.” Max began to soap up, Liz followed right behind him

“ Ok where do we start? I have to warn you though I’ve never cooked anything before so I don’t know how much help I’m really going to be.” She said with a smirk

“ That’s ok It’s a pretty easy recipe. Let’s start with peeling the Apples.” Max handed her a bag of Granny smith apples and a peeler.

Liz grabbed an apple out and began to peel it.

“ This is pretty easy.” she thought

She quickly got distracted watching Max float around the kitchen. Before she knew it she had cut herself with the peeler.

“ Ouch! Damn it! She said

Max ran over to her.

“ What happened?” He asked worried

“ I cut myself with the peeler.”

“ Let me see.” Liz was holding her fingers with her other hand. Her fingers were throbbing.

Max saw that she sliced herself pretty bad on two of her fingers. Instinct then kicked in and before he knew it he ran his hand over her fingers and took the pain away. The cuts were pretty much healed now and there was no more bleeding. He didn’t fully heal her, that would to be too hard to explain. Max quickly got some ice and wrapped it in a towel and put it in her hand.

“ Here this should help.” He said as he put the bag in her hand

“ Wow that feels better already.” Liz said shocked on how much the ice really did help

“ Come with me to the bathroom. I’ll put a bandage on it. Max thought that if he covered it she wouldn’t notice that it was healed already.

She followed Max into the bathroom. He told her to sit on the small bench that was in front of a vanity mirror.

“ So I guess your done helping me huh?” Max said with a smile

“ I’m sorry. I’m such a klutz.” she was embarrassed

“ It’s ok. Don’t feel embarrassed. It can happen to anyone.” He said reassuringly.

Max bandaged her up and helped her off the bench. They looked into each other eyes and just stood there. Max wanted to kiss her so badly but he didn’t want their first kiss to be in the bathroom.

Liz wanted to throw herself at him and feel those lips on hers. She wanted to feel his strong arms wrapped around her.

They were staring at each other and were moving in closer and closer.

“ This is it. He’s going to kiss me.” She thought

“ This is it. I’m just going to do it. I can’t help myself.” He thought

He moved within inches of her face. She could feel his staggering breath on her face. She could smell his spicy sweet smell. She could see the small mole that was on his lip.

He could smell her hair the soft scent of strawberry.

“So close.” He thought

He moved in

“ Max? Liz?” Where are you guys?” Isabel called

“ Fuck!” He thought

Liz could help let out a soft groan.

“ Almost.” She thought

“ Um we better uh…get…going.” Max said reluctantly

“ Yeah I guess we should.” Liz said looking down

She wanted to look anywhere but his eyes right now. She felt like she wanted to jump him right there. She wanted to kiss him so bad.

Max took in a deep breath and headed out.

“ Yeah Iz. What is it?” He asked walking back towards the kitchen

“ Where were you? Where’s Liz?” She asked looking for Liz

“ We were in the bathroom. She cut herself so I but a bandage on it.” Max said getting back to peeling apples

“ Is she ok?” Isabel asked concerned

“ Yeah she’s fine.”

Liz came out of the bathroom and joined Max and Liz in the kitchen.

Max finished preparing dinner and they sat outside and ate.

“ Max this is delicious.” Isabel said while bringing a piece of steak to her mouth

“ Yeah Max this is really good.” Liz said taking a sip of her water

“ Hey what about me? I helped too.” Alex said

“ Uh Alex pulling the steaks off the grill when I tell you to is not really helping.” Max said

Isabel and Liz began to laugh when they saw the hurt expression on Alex’s face.

The rest of the dinner went by with smooth conversation between the four of them. Liz seemed to fit right in with them. She joined Isabel against the guys. After dinner they decided to have their desert in the family room while watching a movie.

Isabel wanted to watch a girly movie and the guys wanted to watch Brave heart of course.

“ Max no! Absolutely not! Isabel had her hands on her hips

“ Isabel come on. It has something for everyone. It’s a love story..Sort of.” He said the last part quietly

“ Are you damaged. How the hell can you say it’s a love story?! I don’t care because I’m not watching that. Let’s watch Signs.

“ Fine!” Max gave in

They put in the movie and Isabel sat on the love seat snuggled up to Alex while they both ate their ice cream. Max and Liz shared the bigger sofa. Max sat on one end hoping that Liz would sit next to him but she sat closer to the other end.

They were all eating their ice cream. By the middle of the movie Liz had inched her way over to Max and was now sitting leaned up against him. He loved how she felt against him. The smell of her hair was intoxicating to him.

Liz was in heaven, she could feel his ribs move up and down with his breathing. She was taking in his scent like it was the air that she needed to live. She never wanted to leave his side.

She looked over and noticed that Isabel was asleep in Alex’s arms. They looked so cute together. Liz longed to have that. She started to drift off to sleep when she felt her phone vibrating.

She looked at the called ID and saw that it was Maria.

“ Hey is everything ok?” She asked

“ Uh well no…not really.” Maria said nervously she was pacing around Liz’s office

“ Maria what’s wrong?” Liz bolted up from under Max’s arm causing him to straighten up also.

“ Well you see what happened was that Marcos’ came to the back right? And well I was looking over some stuff in your office, you know bills and…”

“ Maria!!! Your rambling just tell me what’s wrong please!” Liz was getting nervous.

Max was looking at her trying to get a feel for what was going on.

“ Ok well your father is here looking for you.” Maria spat out

Liz froze at hearing this. She didn’t know what to say.

“ I’ll uh. I.. I’ll be r… right there.” She was stuttering

“ Liz relax ok. It’s going to be ok. Don’t worry about him.” Maria was trying to calm her down.

“I’ll be right there Maria. Give me half an hour.”

She hung up and turned to Max. He was looking at her with a worried expression on his face.

“ Is everything ok?” He asked concerned

“ Yeah, I just uh have to go. I’m sorry.” Liz got up to gather her things

“ Its ok. Let me just leave Iz a note.” Max didn’t want to wake them up.

Max noticed that Liz was shaking and walked over to her. She was sitting in a chair next to the door waiting for him.

“ Hey.” He knelt down in front of her. “ It’s going to be ok. Whatever it is it will be ok.” He said as he touched her cheek. He felt a tear come down her face and wondered what was so wrong. He kissed her on the top of her head and grabbed her hand to help her up.

[Icequeen]

Thank you once again for all the Feed back. I'm glad that people are enjoying this as much as i enjoy writing it

As always thanks to crashdown_51 and to lovinguerrin2much for all your help and encouragement.

~~Chapter 8~~

The ride back was very quiet. Max was trying to concentrate on the road while trying to figure out was has upset Liz so much. He looked over and saw her staring out of the passenger side window.

“ Liz do you want to talk about it?” He asked softly

“ It’s my father.” She said quietly

“ Is something wrong with him?” Max thought he was sick or something

“ No, nothing like that. It’s just that I haven’t seen him in a long time.” She didn’t want to tell him everything.

“ Well maybe if you talk to him you’ll feel batter.” He said

“ Yeah maybe. Well you see the thing is that I don’t want to talk to him. I know that I should but I don’t. I just can’t.” She turned to face max.

He was looking at her with such compassion in his eyes. He noticed that tears were streaming down her face and it was breaking his heart to see her like this.

He decided to pull over to the side of the road.

“ Why are we stopping?” Liz was puzzled

“ I just want to be able to look at you when you talk. I want to see your eyes.” He said as he pulled the car to a stop

“ I’m sorry you barely know me and here I am crying about family issues.” she was wiping the tears from her eyes

“ It‘s ok. You have to let it out.” He stroked her face.

She felt liker she was on fire. His touch was electrifying. His hand felt so warm and soft. She wanted him to take her in his arms and hold her forever. She felt so at ease with him around.

“ I just don’t know what to do? What am I supposed to say? Oh hi sure it’s ok that you left my mother with a small child on her own I forgive you.” She was getting angry now at thinking of her mother and how alone she must have been when he left

“Just say whatever your feeling. That’s always the best thing. Go with what your heart tells you to say.” He said with a smile on his face

Liz was staring into his honey colored eyes. She could get lost in his eyes.

Max was feeling a pull towards her. They were inching toward each other.

“ Well at least Isabel is not around this time.” He thought

He stroked her face. “ You’re so beautiful do you know that?” He whispered

She closed her eyes and basked in the feel of him touching her. All the worries she had seemed to welt away. She was calm.

“ Liz…I I need to..” He couldn’t finish his sentence.

He leaned in further and gently brushed his lips against hers. They were touching forehead to forehead. Max was inhaling her sent.

The essence of her was driving him crazy. He couldn’t help himself and placed his lips on her again. This time he parted her lips and their tongues began to do a dance. He gently stroked her tongue then began to deepen the kiss. Liz softly moaned.

She wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him in closer. She felt herself wanting more. He was making her feel like he was bringing her to life.

Max felt himself wanting to taste her more and more. He lightly bit the bottom of her lip then pulled away. They were both trying to catch their breath now.

“ I’m sorry I didn’t mean to..” Max said blushing

“ No, no it’s ok. I mean I wanted to.” Liz said

“ You did?!” Max was surprised

“ Yeah.” Liz looked down.

Max was looking into her eyes. He didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable but he couldn’t help himself. At that moment it felt like they were the only two people in the world.

He slid back into his seat and turned the radio on. Max brought Liz’s hand up and softly kissed it. He put the car in gear and drove off.

Liz was anxious on the ride back. She didn’t know what to say to her father. She didn’t know how she would feel once she saw him. She knew that she didn’t want to cry. She would not let him see her cry. She had so much anger built up. Max was resting his hand on top of hers. He was rubbing his thumb back and forth over her hand. The rhythm was so soothing Liz thought. When they arrived in front of the crash down she had butterflies in her stomach.

“ We’re here. Are you ready?” Max turned to look at her

“ Yeah as ready as I’ll ever be.” She said with a slight smile on her face. She was glad that he was here with her.

They got out of the car and headed across the street. Liz walked in and saw Maria.

“ Thank God your finally here.” She noticed that Max was standing next to Liz with his hand on the small of her back in a reassuring way. Maria smiled at the site of this.

“ Hi Max. Thank you for bringing Liz over here so quickly. I’m sorry that I had to interrupt your night.” Maria said

“ It’s ok. I’m glad that I could be here.” Max had a feeling that he needed to be here for her.

“ So where is he?” Liz asked

“ Um he’s over on table 9. Last I saw him he was drinking tequila and flirting with Elisa. That bastard.” Maria pointed to where he was sitting

“ Well I guess I better call him into my office. I wouldn’t want to make a scene in front of all these people. Maria would you mind telling him to meet me back there?” Liz asked

“ No problem. Let me go tell him. Do you want to be alone for this or should I come with him too?”

Liz wasn’t sure if she wanted Maria there. She knew that Maria had a temper and she didn’t want her to get upset. Liz also wanted Max there with her but didn’t want Maria to get upset.

“ Umm you can come but you have to promise not to say anything ok?” Liz asked

“ Me? Come on Liz I would never. Well ok your right, maybe it would be better if I’m not there come to think of it. Max would you mind going with Liz. I don’t want her to be alone and I sure as hell can’t be in there.” Maria turned to Max

Liz was trying to hide a smile. She was glad that Maria was the one that suggested Max go with her that way she wouldn’t have to make the decision.

“ You don’t have to. I mean this has nothing to do with you and I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you in any way.” Liz bit the bottom of her lip

“ It’s not problem at all. I’m glad to be there for you.” Max smiled at Liz and winked at Maria

“ Ok them give me like 5 minutes ok Maria?”

“ Sure no problem.” Maria walked towards Jeff.

Liz and Max headed to her office. When they got in her office Max turned her around to face him.

“ Hey, you know I’m here for you. You know it‘s going to be ok right?” He asked as he looked into her eyes

“ Yeah I know. Thank you. I’m sorry to drag you into this. You really don’t have to stay I can deal with him. It’s still early I’m sure there is someplace you’d rather be.” Liz turned away from him

“ Hey. Look at me.” He put his hand under her chin and turned her to look at him.

“ There is no place I’d rather be right now. I mean that.” He placed a kiss on top of her head.

“ Thank you.” She walked over to her bookshelf and looked at a picture of her mother. It was taken a year before she got sick. Max had joined her and saw the tear that was sliding down her face.

“ She was beautiful. You look just like her.” He wiped the tear away.

“ Thank you. She was great. I miss her.” She put the picture back down when she heard a knock on the door.

“ This is it.” She said facing Max

He took a hold of her hand and squeezed it give her reassurance that he was there with her.

“ Come in.” She squeaked out.

Jeff Parker walked towards the office with a aurora of arrogance. The whole time he was sitting at the table he was thinking of how easy it’s going to be to get into his “little girls” good graces.

He knew that she would just be so happy to see him again that she would forget about that fact that he left them. I mean he did leave her some money right? He knew that Nancy never re married and that she never had a serious relationship so he figured that Liz would crave a father figure in her life right now.

He didn’t really want to be her father at this point, he had another agenda. One that had nothing to do with being a parent or a person who cares for that matter. His agenda was money and nothing was going to get in his way.

He has an old friend check out the bank account the he left for Liz all those years ago and happened to know that it had not been touched. As a matter of fact the sum had grown. His plan was about to go into full effect he thought as he turned the knob.

“Lizzy Wow you look just like your mother.” Jeff moved towards Liz to try to hug her but Liz backed away

“ Don’t come near me and don’t call me Lizzy.” Liz moved closer to Max who was now had his arm around her protectively. He could tell that she was apprehensive

“ Lizz..Liz don’t be like that baby. Come here and give your father a hug please. I’ve missed you so much and I’m so sorry for everything.” He tried to sound sincere.

“ She’s going to make this hard I can tell.” he thought


“ Your sorry!! Are your for real?” Liz couldn’t believe this guy was he mental?

“ Yes I am sorry for everything. I thought it would be better if I wasn’t around. I wasn’t ready to be a father and that was the only thing I could think of. To go away. I did it for you can’t you see that.” He tried to shed some tears but it wasn’t working

“ Oh yeah well in that case I understand. You were looking out for me, for my best interest. Thank you.” Liz said

“ So you forgive me then?” Jeff let out a breath in relief

The whole time Jeff was talking Max was eyeing him suspiciously. Something was up with this guy. Max was getting a really bad vibe off of him. He could see right thru his bullshit and hoped that Liz would also.

Liz began to laugh hysterically. Jeff and Max both looked at her puzzled.

“ Y..you can’t really believe that I bought that crap did you?” She asked trying to catch her breath.

When she saw the look on Jeff’s face she began to laugh again

“ Oh my God you did didn’t you? This is too funny. You must really think I’m an idiot don’t you. Do you think that you can just come here after what…almost 20 years and I’m going to be so happy to see my “ Daddy” that I’m just going to forget everything that you put us thru, that you put my mother thru. You’re a selfish bastard and I never want to see you again. Your nothing but a sperm donor as far as I’m concerned. I’m ashamed to even have your last name.” Liz spat out at him.

Max was looking at her with eyes wide. He would have never thought that she could get that angry. He was smiling to himself. He was proud of her for standing her ground.

Jeff was not amused by this at all.

“ She’s going to make me work for what I need. Well I’ll show her. She’s not going to get rid of me that easily. I have some tricks up my sleeve.” He thought

“ Liz I know your upset right now honey but if you..” Jeff was cut off by Liz

“ Don’t call me honey or any other names other than Liz.” I told you that I didn’t want to hear anything that you have to say. There is absolutely nothing that you could say to make me want to give you the time of day right now.” Liz was getting angrier by the second. She felt tears starting to well up in her eyes. Tears of rage.

“ Liz listen to me please. I need your help and believe me you’re the last person that I wanted to bother about this. Just please hear me out then I’ll go if you want.” Jeff was trying anything to get into her good graces. She was his last shot, his only shot.

“ Get out!” She said pointing towards the door.

Jeff got up and Max and Liz thought he was heading toward the door but he turned around heading straight for Liz. His eyes were that of a man that was desperate.

“ I can’t let her ruin everything. I need this.” He thought

Max could see Jeff heading toward Liz and stopped him in his tracks.

“ She said get out.” He stood towering over Jeff with his arms crossed.

“ Get out of my way! This is between my daughter and me.” Jeff tried to get past Max to no avail.

“Just leave me alone. Your not welcome here. I said get out. Now leave.” Liz said angrily

Jeff had to think of something to say to get thru to her. He could not mess this up. He was trying to think of things to say and said the first thing that came to mind.

“ I’m dying.” He said

“Liar!” Liz snorted

“ I’m not lying. I am dying of…C Cancer.” He was just spitting out the first thing that came to mind at this point.


“ Shit I hope this works.” He thought

Liz was eyeing him suspiciously. She didn’t believe him for one second.

Max was still standing in front of Jeff. Jeff wanted to barrel past him to look at Liz face to face but knew that he couldn’t.

“ Where?” Liz asked

“ Where what?” Jeff was lost

“ Where is the cancer?”

“ Oh umm…” Jeff was stuck

“ Shit…where. Think Jeff think.” He thought to himself
He was thinking back to something he heard on TV about a deadly cancer. There was a special about it so it must be pretty bad he thought.

“ Ovarian” He said recalling the name of it. He then had a smug look on his face

“ I got her now.” He thought. His feeling of triumph was soon overshadowed by the sound of Max and Liz both laughing hysterically.

“ Oh my God man that sad, just sad.” Max said. He could barely breathe he was laughing so hard.

“ Oh my God. I can’t ..I….I can’t breathe.” Was all Liz could manage to get out

“ What the hell is so funny. I just told you that I was dying and you and this guy here are laughing!” Jeff was outraged.

“ Uh sorry buddy but you might just want to re think what you just said there.” Max said shaking his head.

“ What the hell are you taking about? This is serious.” Jeff was screaming

“ Your right it is serious.” Liz adjusted her shirt

“ Thank you!” Jeff breathed a sigh of relief

“ Yeah Ovarian cancer is very serious. Many WOMEN are diagnosed with it everyday. And without treatment many die.” Liz said

“ Did you just say women?” Jeff asked puzzled

“ Yeah. Ovarian cancer is only present in women. So the jig is up buddy. Time to go.” Max tried to get Jeff to leave but he wasn’t going to go easily.

“ Get your fucking hands off of me!” He barked at Max

“ Just get out. You’re pathetic.” Liz said

“ You little..” Jeff lunged toward Liz but felt a pair of strong hands grab him before he could reach her.

“ What the hell do you think your doing?” Max was in Jeff’s face

“ Stay out of this asshole. Like I said this had nothing to do with you.” Jeff was trying to get out of Max’s vice like grip.

“ Oh it has something to do with me when your trying to attack women. Are you that desperate?” Max asked him giving Jeff a look of disgust

“ You don’t know the first thing about me. For the last time let go of me!” Jeff screamed

“ I’ll let go if you leave quietly and never come back.” Max stated

“ Yeah yeah whatever just let me go ok?” Jeff put his hands up in surrender

Max let him go and saw that he was adjusting his shirt. He looked over at Liz and asked her if she was ok. Getting a nod of approval from her he felt more at ease. Max walked over to stand next to Liz. Jeff was eyeing him trying to think of a way to get to Liz. Max felt his phone vibrating and reached into his pocket. He turned to answer it.

“ Hey Iz, no is not a good time I’ll call you back in a few.” Max closed his phone and when he turned back around Jeff had Liz by the arm.

“ Look your going to listen to me weather you like it or not.” He said into her ear.

“ What do you want from me? Leave me alone.” Liz cried

Max stood up and what he saw made him furious. He saw Jeff holding Liz by the arm tightly. He could see his knuckles turning white which meant he has a tight grip on Liz. Liz’s desk began to shake. The small lamp that was hanging from the ceiling began to shake as well. The books and pictures on the bookshelf were falling off.

Liz and Jeff were shocked. Max was just standing there looking at Jeff like he wanted to kill him. Liz couldn’t believe what was happening. Jeff was the first to speak

“ What the fuck is that? An earthquake or something?” Jeff was shocked

“ I don’t know?” Liz said just as shocked

“ Max are you ok?” Jeff had let go of her and everything stopped.

“ Yeah I’m fine. Are you ok?” He asked still looking at Jeff.

“ Yeah” She rubbed her arm where Jeff had his grip on her

“ Let me see your arm.” Max said

He looked and saw that it was red, He knew that she would have bruises in a few days because of that jerk. He ran his hand up and down her arm. Liz didn’t realize that he was healing her. She just thought it was a sweet gesture for him to do that.

“ How sweet.” Jeff said mockingly

“ Why are you still here?” Liz asked

“Ok look so I lied about the Cancer thing. I’m sorry but I really do need your help with something.” Jeff was grasping at straws now. He needed her help.

“ So what do you need?” Liz was getting annoyed now

“ In a word. Money.” Jeff spat out

“ What makes you think that I have money to give to you and if I did what would make you think that I would give it to you?” Liz had her hands on her hips.

“ I know that you still have the money that I left you all those years ago. I had someone check it out.” No sense in lying now

“ Wow you really are a dirt bag aren’t you? I have to say you have managed to disgust me and make me hate someone more then ever in my life.” Liz stated

“ Liz please I’m begging you here. I have nothing. I have no one.” Jeff really was begging

“ Well sorry. I can’t help you. My money is all tied up right now.” Liz glanced over at Max and winked at him

“ What do you mean tied up?” Jeff was curious

“ What does it matter to you? It’s none of your business. You were the one that left, it what I do stopped being your business the day you left.” Liz walked towards Max. He took her hand in his

“ For the tenth time would you leave please.” Liz said

“ Fine I’ll go but just remember that your going to have to lice with your decision. I’m going to be homeless because of you. You hear me? Your father the only parent you have left is going to be in the street because of you!” Jeff was angry

“ I think I’ll be able to sleep at night thank you. Oh yeah and the only parent I EVER had passed away.” Liz was a little sad at thinking of her mother

“ Fine bye.” Jeff spat out as he left

“ Well that was interesting.” Liz said

“ Oh shit. She’s going to ask me what the hell happened. What the hell am I supposed to say?” Max was panicking

“ So umm do you think it was a little earthquake?” Liz asked

“ Shit if I say yes she will easily find out it wasn’t true. Shit, shit shit.” Max was trying to think of something to say

“Uhhh maybe.” Max said with all the certainty he could muster which was none

“ Humm. Well so that was my father.” Liz said with a small chuckle

“ Yeah.” Max said glad for the change in subject

“ So I wanted to thank you for being here for me. Your must think I’m so screwed up right now. I really didn’t think that he would act like that though. I guess I didn’t know what to expect at all.” Liz was rambling due to her nervousness.

“ Yeah he really was a jerk and that line about the ovarian cancer.” Liz and Max began to laugh again.

Maria saw Jeff run out the doors muttering something to himself. She decided to go check on Liz.

When Maria reached Liz’s office she heard laughing.

“ Ok that’s strange. Didn’t think that they would be laughing after the way Jeff walked out of here.” she thought to herself.

She knocked on the door not wanting to interrupt

“ Come in “ Liz said

She knew it was Maria

“ Hey everything ok?” Maria noticed that Liz’s office was a wreck and thought the worst.

“ What the hell happened in here? Who did this?” She was surprised to see her office like this

“Oh Um I really don’t know. We thought it was a small earthquake or something.” Liz was also looking at the mess in her office now

Max was dying inside. How the hell would he explain this?

“ Weird but I guess stranger things have happened right?” Maria began to pick up some papers that were on the floor.

“Well I’m going to get going. Your ok now?” Max asked

“ Yeah I’m fine. Thank you again.” Liz was blushing

Max wanted to kiss her so badly but he didn’t want to embarrass her in front of Maria

“ No problem. So I’ll call you tomorrow then ok?” He asked

“ Yeah that would be great.”

Max kissed her on top of her head and left.

“ By Maria.” He called out

“ Bye Max.” She turned towards liz with an eyebrow raised

“ What was that all about?” She asked

“ What? I don’t know what your talking about.” Liz was picking up more papers that were on the floor

“ Ok I want details from the minute you left this morning till right now when Max walked out the door. Don’t you dare leave anything out.” Maria sat on the sofa.

“ Oh my God Maria I had the best day of my life then he had to come and ruin it. Ok let me start at the beginning.” Liz began to tell Maria everything.

Jeff parker stood across the street from the Crash Down. He saw Max coming out and get into his car.

“ Well she sure has done well for herself.” He thought as he saw the car the Max was driving.

“ She hasn’t seen the last of me. This is not over by a long shot.” He thought as he got in his car and headed off.

[Icequeen]

A/N: Check out my banner made by the very talented crashdown_51!

Thanks to all everyone who is reading this and to everyone who has left feed Back i REALLY appreciate it.

Thanks crashdown_51 for all your help with this part.

~~Chapter9~~


The next morning Max woke up early and went for his run. He needed to get to the office and take care of some things. He came back home and took a shower.

“ I’m leaving now. I’ll be home around 4 today.” Max said to Isabel who was sitting on the sofa watching TV.

“ Alright I’m going to go in late today. I’m training a new girl this afternoon.” Isabel said taking a sip of her coffee

Max got into his car and made the 30 minute drive to his office.

When he got into his office he saw that he had several faxes and a bunch of e-mails to read.

“ Hey Max how did it go with that client last week?” Phillip asked his son

“ Oh hey dad. I didn’t know that you were back. The meeting went well” Max was sorting out some paperwork.

“ Yeah I got back yesterday. Your mother is complaining about never seeing you and your sister. You might want to drop by one day soon.

“ Ok dad I’ll let Iz know.”

Max was busy replying to some e-mails when he got a call from Michel.

“ Max you need to get down here right away!.” Michael sounded annoyed

“ What’s wrong? Where are you?” Max was getting worried.

“ I’m over at the Harding club. Just get here right away. I’m not going to be held responsible for what I do tot his man in about a minute.” Michael was pacing back and forth outside the club

“ What happened? Just relax Michael ok? I’ll be there as soon as I can . I’m leaving now.” Max grabbed his jacket and headed out.

“What the hell could have happened” Max thought as he was speeding his way there.

Max pulled up in front of the Harding club and saw that Michael was sitting on the curb.

“ Hey.” Max walked up to him

“ I can’t do this I’m going to blast that man to kingdom come!” Michael stood up and was facing Max now

“ Ok relax and tell me what happened.” Max was trying to calm Michael down

“ Ok so today we were supposed to install the countertop for the bar and install the flooring. So this ass decided to say that it looks like it’s made of Formica and that it’s not what he ordered when he knows that it was. Then he insists that the floor is the wrong thing too. And to top it all off he wants the bar in a completely different area when the plumbing is already put in!” Michael was shouting

“ Ok let me go and talk to him. Are you going to be ok out here?” Max asked

“ Oh trust me you don’t want me to go in there. I’m good right here.” Michael sat back down

Max walked inside and saw Ed yelling at one of the workers.

“ Hello Ed how are you?” Max was trying to be polite

“ How am I? Well let’s see your friend here is trying to screw me out of money but other then that I’m fine.” Ed said throwing his hands in the air

“ Well I highly doubt that’s the case here. Why don’t we go over what’s wring and see if we can fix it.” Max was looking over some purchase orders

“ Ok well it looks like everything is here exactly as ordered and quoted.” Max handed Ed the invoices

“ I don’t care what your stupid paperwork says. All I know is that this stuff looks like it came from home depot and trust me I didn’t pay home depot prices!” Ed was slamming his fists on the counter

“ Well regardless of what you think about the products you Okayed them, your signatures are right here along with pictures that you initialed.” Max pointed out

“ Yeah whatever I don’t care the bottom line is that I’m not happy so you need to do whatever you need to do to fix this or else I’m going to get someone else who can do things the right way.” Ed stormed off.

Michael came in just as Ed made his latest statement.

“ Maxwell I can’t do this anymore man. I’m not happy and I haven’t been for a while. I think I’m going to turn the job over to someone else and go back to New York. Alex can run things without me for a while.” Michael was at a crossroads. He loved what he did but lately it was becoming too much like work and he didn’t like arguing everyday. He wanted to get back to painting and he couldn’t do that here.

“ Michael wait. You can’t just turn it over to someone else like that. You have a responsibility. And what do you mean your going back to New York?” Max was following Michael out to his car

“ Max it’s done. There is nothing you can say to make me want to stay. The end of the week I’m outta here.” Michael got into his SUV and drove off.

Max was left standing in the parking lot speechless. He knew that Michael loved New York but never thought that he would move back there.

Max made it back home to find Isabel in the dining room with about 20 bridal magazines opened and post it’s sticking out the sides.

“ I see you’ve been busy today.” Max said draping his jacket on the back of the chair

“ Yeah there is so much to plan but I love every minute of it.” Isabel said smiling brightly

Max didn’t want to tell Isabel what Michael said but knew that if he didn’t and she found out he didn’t she would be very angry with him. He decided to tell her later.

“ Oh I got tickets to an opening over that the new art house downtown. Do you want to go?” Isabel asked him showing the tickets she had

“ Umm I don’t know.” Max really didn’t want to go

“ Well I was thinking of inviting Liz and her friend since I have all these tickets. Michael is going so you should too.” Isabel knew that her telling him that Michael was going wasn’t the deal clincher it was the mention of Liz.

“ Well alright then since Michael is going and I assume your making Alex go too.” At hearing Liz name Max was immediately interested.

“ Yeah cause Michael is going.” Isabel said as an afterthought

Max went into the study to finish off some paperwork and Isabel called Liz

“ Hey Liz it’s Iz. I was wondering if you were doing anything tonight. I have these tickets to an art exhibit and I thought you and Maria might like to come.” Isabel was flipping thru a magazine

“ Ummm let me check with Maria but yeah I’m up for it. I’ll call you back in a few ok?” Liz was in her office going over some paperwork

“ Alright I’ll be here.” Isabel hung up

“Maria Isabel just invited us to an art exhibit tonight. Do you want to go. She has tickets.?” Liz was on the pone with Maria

“ Uhh yeah that sounds cool. Where is it?” Maria asked while painting her toes

“ Oh you know what I didn’t ask her. Let me call her and get all the details then I’ll call you back.” Liz said hanging up the phone

Liz called Isabel and got the details from her. They decided to meet at the Crash Down since it was closer to the exhibit.

Max was in his room getting ready when he started to think about Liz again. It seemed like so long since he last saw her and he was worried about how she was doing after the situation with her father. He was also thinking of the kiss. To Max the kiss was perfect. He could still taste her lips. He thought of calling her 100 times today but kept getting distracted with work and other things. He wondered what she would be wearing tonight. He hoped that he would get a chance to talk to her alone but with Michael and Iz there he doubted that would happen.

“ Iz you ready?” Max walked over to her room

“ Yeah almost. Could you help me with this necklace please?” Isabel handed him a necklace with three diamonds on it.

“ You look great Iz as always.” Max said putting the necklace on.

“ Thanks.” She said giving him a small peck on the cheek

They headed out to pick up Michael and Alex then to head to the crash.

About an hour later they were in front of the crash and Isabel decided to go in and get the girls.

She walked in and scanned the restaurant for Liz or Maria. Instead Elisa came up to her.

“ Oh My your Isabel Evans aren’t you? I’ve seen your pictures in the society section a bunch of times. What brings you here?” Elisa asked trying to kiss butt as much as possible

“ Yeah that’s me. Listen have to seen Liz or Maria around. I’m supposed to be meeting them.” Isabel was still scanning the place for them

“ Uh last time I saw them they were out back moving some boxes. They are going somewhere with you?” She asked shocked that Isabel would associate with them

“ Yes they are? Why is there a problem?” Isabel was getting annoyed

“ No it’s just that I didn’t think that you would associate with them on a social level. I just thought you were here on business like your brother.” Elisa was really starting to hate Liz now.

“ Yeah well I’m pretty sure my brother is here for more then just business.” Isabel knew what her game was and she was playing with the wrong one.

Spotting Maria and Liz she walked away from Elisa.

“ Um maybe you should get back to work.” She said as she made her way to the girls

“ You guys look great!” Isabel said

“ Thanks you look good too.” Maria said

“ Thanks. Let’s go the guys are waiting for us. Michael is probable having a fit right now. I’ve been waiting here for you guys.” Isabel said walking to the front door.

“ Wait a minute you didn’t tell me that he was going.” Maria stopped walking and looked at Liz

“ I didn’t know Maria I swear.” Liz said innocently

“ Michael will be in his best behavior. Trust me.” Isabel gave Maria a wink

“ Max is going to die when he sees you.” Isabel said loud enough for Elisa to hear as they walked out

They were outside looking for the guys but they were not where to be found.

“ I wonder where they went. I wasn’t gone that long was I?” Isabel asked scanning the street for them.

“ Maybe they are across the street with the car?” Liz asked

“ No we were parked right here in front. They wouldn’t have moved it across the street. I’m going to call Max.” Isabel pulled out her cell phone and hit the speed dial to Max’s number

“ Hello?” Max answered

“ Where the hell are you?” Isabel was pissed

“ We’ll be there in 2 minutes. We had to circle around, no place to park.” Max said

“ What are you talking about I see like 5 spaces right here. And you were parked. Why did you move?” Isabel said irritated

“ Iz just chill ok. We’ll be there in a second.” She heard Michael yell then he hung up

“ They said they will be here in a second” Isabel said shrugging her shoulders

A second later they saw a limo pull up with Alex hanging gout of the sunroof with a red rose in his mouth.

“ What are you doing? Are you crazy?” Isabel asked laughing

“ Well we wouldn’t have all fit and since you seemed to look that over which by the way shocked the hell out of us, Max here decided to get a limo. We wanted to surprise you too.

“ Well you surprised me all right.” Isabel said laughing as she got into the limo

“ Hi.” Max said as soon as he saw Liz

“ Hi.” Liz blushed

Isabel elbowed Michael when she saw he didn’t say hello to Maria.

“Ouch!” He yelled getting a glare from Isabel. She then looked over at Maria giving him a signal to say something

“Hi.” He said

“ Hey.” Maria said as she sat next to him

“ So how long till we get there?” Michael asked

“ Jeez Michael could you try not to act like we dragged you here please. Besides I would thin you would be into this type of thing.” Isabel said

“ What do you mean? You like art?” Maria asked

“ Well yeah Michael here is a ..” Isabel was cut off by Michael

“ How about a drink?” Michael said holding up a bottle of vodka

“ Umm not thanks.” Pretty much everyone said”

“ Well you ladies look great might I say.” Alex said trying to break the ice

Max and Liz were stealing glances at each other while Maria looked like she was trying to figure something out. Isabel just stared at Max and Liz for a while then was looking at Michael.

“ Thank you. I wasn‘t sure if I was dressed ok.” Liz was the first to answer.

“ You look beautiful.” Max whispered in her ear.

Liz was smiling form ear to ear. This didn’t go unnoticed by the rest of the group

They pulled up and pilled out of the limo. The place was decorated very elegantly with waiters walking around with champagne and cheese and crackers.

“ Alright so do we split up or stay together?” Isabel asked

“ I think it would be better if we split up.” Michael said

“ Ok then we’re off. I’ll see you guys later” Isabel and Alex walked off together


“ Do you want me to stay with you Maria?” Liz asked biting her lip.

“ Nah it’s ok I’ll just look around. I’ll see you later.” Maria said walking the other way

“Michael. Be nice ok?” Max whispered to him before heading off with Liz.

Michael noticed that Maria was staring at a picture intently. He was looking at her and thought she looked great tonight. Deciding to take a chance he made his way over to her

“ You like that one?” He asked

“ Yeah it’s beautiful.” Maria sighed

“ It is isn’t it?” Michael asked looking right at Maria

“ I love the colors and the was it’s so abstract.” Maria said not noticing that Michael was looking at her and not the painting

“ Me too.” Michael said deciding to look at the painting before he was busted staring at her

“ So you come to exhibits often?” Maria asked

“ Uh yeah I have an interest in art you could say.” Michael was getting nervous

“ Really? I love art too. I love paintings” Maria said moving over to the next painting


~~~~~
Mean while Max and Liz were looking at a black and white photo of a woman with a baby

“ This is so beautiful.” Liz said

“ It is.” Max said trying not to stare at her

“ So How are you doing? I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to call you after last night.” Max said sitting down on a bench in front of the photo

“ Oh I’m fine. Thank you for asking. I’m just glad that he left without causing too much trouble.” Liz sat next to him

Max noticed that there was a gazebo outside and asked if Liz would like to sit out there with him

They made their way out and walked thru a large garden before getting to the gazebo. It was in the middle of the garden with a water fountain across from it. The gazebo itself was white and decorated with small white lights around. Just enough to illuminate the surround area.

“ Are you cold?” Max asked ready to take his jacket off.

“ No I’m fine. I’m used to colder weather then this being from Boston.” Liz said

“ That’s right you were going to school there weren’t you” Max said remembering she was from Boston

“ Yeah I was.” Liz said with some reluctance. She did miss school. She always loved school

Noticing that she seemed upset Max decided to change the subject.

“ So I was thinking of stopping by with Michael so we can go over the plans for the expansion if that’s ok with you?” Max asked

“ Sure whenever you want just stop by.” Liz said

“ Ok then. “ Max wanted to touch her so badly He reached over and took hold of her hand

Liz smiled at him. They looked into each others eyes for what seemed like forever. Liz leaned back against Max and stared up at the stars. Max loved the way she felt against him. He could feel her warmth through his jacket.

Liz felt so safe feeling Max underneath her. She wanted to stay like this forever. Max leaned down and placed a kiss on her head. Liz turned to look up and Max kissed her softly at first but the kiss quickly grew more serious. He wanted to taste her more and more. He could smell her perfume and it was driving him crazy. He wanted to feel more of her but was holding back.

Liz rested her hand on Max’s chest. She could feel his breathing become erratic. She could feel his muscles underneath his shirt. She wanted to feel more. Something came over her and she began to unbutton his shirt. She needed to feel his skin. Max didn’t know what to think. Part of him wanted to stop her. Tell her to take things slower but honestly he wanted to do the same to her. Sa soon as she touched his bar skin he felt like a bolt of electricity went through him.

At firs contact with his soft skin Liz felt electrified. He hands roamed over his bare skin and their tongues dueled with each other. The kiss was growing more and more intense. Liz was moaning into Max’s mouth. Max was letting out a low growl. Max was the one that broke contact.

“Liz baby we need to stop.” Max hissed out

“ I’m sorry I don’t know what got into me.” Liz said blushing

“ Hey look at me. Don’t be sorry. I liked it. It’s just that I don’t want this to happen here, like this.” Max said looking into her eyes.

Liz looked into his amber colored eyes and felt like she was looking into his soul. She felt so safe with him. She also felt this need to be with him, to touch him.

“ Let’s go back inside ok?” Max asked getting up from the bench


~~ Back inside~~~



Michael and Maria were making rounds looking at all the different paintings and sculptures

“ SO you lived in New York for a while too huh?” Maria asked Michael

“ Yeah I was there for almost two years. I took a break from the business world.” Michael said with a smirk

“ So what did you do in those two years?” Maria wanted to get to know him more. He seemed more at ease now that they were alone

“ Oh nothing really. Just hung out and relaxed.” that was a lie all he did was paint

“ Michael Guerrin? Is that really you?” An elderly man came up to Michael and shook his hand

“ Well I haven’t seen you since New York. I didn’t know you were here now?” The man said

“Yeah I’ve been here for a while. Let me introduce you to Maria Deluca. This is William Kane an old friend of mine.

“ Very nice to meet you miss.” He said shaking Maria’s hand

“ SO you got anything showing here? I didn’t see you name on the list.” William asked looking at a pamphlet.

“ Umm no, no I don’t” Shit Michael thought. I’m busted

“ Well that’s too bad. When am I going to see your latest? I’m in need of a few pieces for my home in Italy.” William asked

“ Umm well I haven’t done anything in a while.” Michael scratched his brow.


“ Well let me know when you do. I would love to come by and see them.” William shook Michael and Maria’s hand and left

“ What was that about? You’re a painter?” Maria asked with her hands on her hips

“ Umm no.” Michael was screwed

“ NO? Liar! I just heard that guy said wanted to but some of your stuff. What was that about then?” Maria was still standing with her hand on her hips pointing a finger at Michael

“ I’m not a painter. I’m an artist.” Michael said smugly

“ Ugh your impossible, Why didn’t you tell me before? Maria was now sitting on a bench

“ I don’t know I just don’t like telling people that’s all.” Michael sat next to her

“ Well I would love to see some of your work.” Maria said

“ Ok umm you could come by one day. I have some stuff at my house I can show you.” Michael said

“ yeah I would like that.” Maria felt like she needed some air and suggested they go outside

They were walking out just as Max and Liz were walking in.

“ you two look cozy.” Maria said noticing that Max had his had around Liz with Liz’s hands around his waist

“ Maria! Hi.” Liz felt embarrassed that maybe they saw what happened seconds before.

“ Do you guys want to leave already?” Max asked thinking that Michael was looking for him

“ No do you?” Michael asked.

“ No I was just going back in to look around some more.” Max said

Michael and Maria made their was to the gazebo.

“ They look so cute together. Max seems like a nice guy.” Maria said settling down in the bench

“ Yeah Max is a great guy. He like a brother to me.” Michael said taking his jacket off to place it around Maria’s shoulders.

“ Thanks” She whispered

“ Your welcome.” She said looking into her emerald colored eyes.

“ So are you having a good time?” Michael was trying to break the ice.

Maria leaned over and kissed Michael. She caught him by surprise

“ Sorry but I’ve been wanting to do that all night.” She said as she back away from him

“ No it’s ok. I’ve wanted to do that too.” He said with a smile on his face.

They both laughed. So tell me more about New York and your artwork. I can’t wait to see your work,

“ Oh yeah about that, You umm already have actually.” Michael said

“ I have? Where?” Maria was trying to think to where she could have seen his work

“ At Evans and Assoc. You asked me about it remember?” Michael looked at her nervously

“ You little liar. I asked you if you knew who did them and you said no.” Maria lightly punched him in the arm

“ I loved those paintings.” Maria said softly

“ Thank you. It’s till hard for me to get over the fact that people like my work. But thank you, it means a lot.” Michael took her hand in his

“ Your very talented.” Maria said getting a tingling sensation thru her body

“ Thanks.” Michael was getting uncomfortable

Mara was stoking his hand with her thumb. This was driving Michael crazy. He never had feelings like this for a girl. Just the slightest touch from her and he felt like a little boy again. He was staring at her full lips and wanted to kiss her properly this time. He leaned in and gently kissed her. He took her head in his hands and the kiss grew more intense. She gently parted her lips to allow his tongue to meet with hers. Back and for the their tongues were dancing. Maria needed to come up for air and broke away.

“ We should go back inside. I’m sure they are wondering what we are doing out here.” Maria said as she got up handing Michael back his jacket.

They walked back and before they made it in Michael kissed her lightly again.

“ I want you to still come by and look at my other stuff. I have some pieces I think you will like.” He said to her.

“ Ok.” She said before walking in

They met up with Isabel and the rest of the gang and headed out into the limo. The ride back to the crash down was quiet. All the couples were in their own little world.

“ They look so happy.” Isabel whispered to Alex

“ Yes they do. Both of them. I’m glad we all came tonight.” Alex said while kissing Isabel in top of her head

“ Me too.” She sighed as she leaned into his chest.

Max saw that everyone in the limo looked so happy right now. How was he going to tell Isabel that Michael was leaving. How would Maria react. Max knew that they just met but he still felt that there was something there. He didn’t want the night to end. The feeling of having Liz leaned up against him was like heaven to him. He could stay in this limo like this forever. He was dreading them getting back to the Crash Down so soon. He silently cursed the driver for taking short cuts.

When they pulled up Max and Michael got out to walk the girls in. Maria decided to head home so Michael walked her to her car. They made plans to meet tomorrow at his place so she could see his artwork.

Max walked Liz to her apartment and saw how to get in without having to go thru the restaurant.

“ Thank Isabel again for inviting us. I had a great time.” Liz said reaching the top step

“ Thank you for coming. I had a good time too.” Max was one step lower then her but was still her height.

“ Ok then I’m going to go in. I’ll see you soon though right?” Liz asked remembering that they still had business to take care of

“ Yeah real soon.” Max licked his lips He wanted to kiss her again

“ Ok then Good Night.” Liz turned to walk inside but Max turned her around


He attacked her lips with his. Liz let out a small shriek but then quickly gave in and began to kiss him back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in closer. He ran his hand up and down her back just wanting to feel her. Liz felt like she wanted to crawl into his skin she wanted him so badly. Feeling the need for air Max broke the kiss off.

“Good Night.” He said kissing her softly on her pout lips

Michel was walking Maria to her car.

“ So tomorrow afternoon then.” Michael said when they got to her car

“ Yeah I’ll call you in the morning just in case though.” Maria said opening the car door.

“ Ok drive safely.” Michael said as she turned the ignition

“ Thanks. Oh yeah I had a really good time tonight.” She said as she rolled down the window.

“ Yeah me too.” Michael bent down to talk to her

He leaned in for a kiss. The kiss was softer then last time. Michael parted her lips with this tongue and was massaging hers with his.

“ Umm Michael I got to go.” Maria moaned into his mouth

“ Ok.” Michael said as he parted from her lips

“ Tomorrow.” They both said at the same time

They laughed and Maria drove off.

Michael made his way back to the car where everyone was waiting for him

After dropping everyone off Isabel and Max were the last ones’ to get home.

“ Well tonight was really nice.” Isabel said taking her shoed off

“ Yeah it was I’m glad that I went.” Max was talking off his tie.

“ Michel looked happy. You did too by the way.” Isabel said with a wink

“ Yeah he did. It’s a shame he’s leaving though.” Shit did I say that out loud

“ What are you talking about?” Isabel asked

“ Nothing.” Max tried to make his way into the kitchen

“ Maxwell Evans tell me know!” Isabel followed him

“ I talked to Michael today over at the Harding club and he’s going to turn over the job to someone else.” Max was playing with his watch nervously. He knew he had to tell her he was leaving

“ Yeah and. I don’t get it where is Michel going to?” Isabel was puzzled

“ Michael wants to go back to New York. He wants to leave at the end of the week.” Max was watching Isabel’s face for a reaction.

Isabel stood up and stormed off to her bedroom. Max was quickly behind her.

“ Iz come on. It’s not as bad as it seems. Don’t be like this please.” Max was pleading with her.

“ Not that bad! He just came back not a year ago and now he’s leaving again!” Isabel slammed the door to her room leaving max on the other side.

Max knew how Isabel felt, he felt the same way. Michael was their brother and they missed him when he was in New York painting. When he came back Isabel was so happy. A year seemed so short now that he thought about it. Not knowing what else to say Max went out to the living room. He had to think of a way for Michael to stay. Isabel would be so upset if he left.

[Icequeen]

Thank you to everyone who is reading. I appreciate all your FeedBack

Special thanks to Crashdown_51 for help with last minute details

~~Chapter 10~~

The next morning Liz awoke to sunshine breaking through her window. She got up and pulled back the blinds to reveal a clear blue sky. Not a cloud in site.

“ Seems like it‘s going to be a good day.” She said and made her way to the bathroom

She got in the shower and quickly got dresses to head downstairs. She began to look over the previous nights earnings and enter them in the computer like Isabel taught her. Before she knew it was lunchtime. There was a knock on the door.

“ Come in.” She said

“ Hey girl. Got a delivery here.” Maria handed her a vase full of white roses

Liz saw that there was a note and opened it.

“ Who are they from?” Maria asked

“ I don’t know.” Liz opened the note


Dear Liz,

They fail to compare to your beauty. I’m so sorry that I won’t be able to meet with you this afternoon. I would like to make it up to you tonight.

Max


“ Well?” Maria was growing impatient

“ There from Max.” Liz had the biggest smile on her face.

“White roses. Your favorite.” Marisa said smelling the flowers

“ Yeah.” Liz sighed holding the note close to her

“ So what did the note say?” Maria sat down

“ That he wouldn’t be able to come this afternoon and that he wanted to make it up to me tonight.” Liz said putting the note in her desk drawer

“ Ohh that sounds promising.” Maria cooed

“ Maria get your head out of the gutter.” Liz shook her head at Maria’s antics

“ What? all I’m saying is that you have a perfectly fine specimen of a man that’s pining over you. I’m happy for you.” Maria said

“ Yeah well I’m not sure about the pining part. Anyway what about you. You looked cozy with Michael last night.” Liz was happy for the change in subject

“ He seems nice. Did you know that he was an artist?” Maria asked

“ No I didn’t.” Liz said

“ Yeah well he did those painting that are in Evans and Assoc. that I told you I liked. I’m going to his place later to see more of his work.” Maria threw out casually

“ Hi place huh?” Liz asked

“ Strictly professional. I’m going as a potential buyer.” Maria said expressly

“ Yeah ok. If that’s what you need to tell yourself. “ Liz turned back to her paperwork

About an hour later there was another knock on her door. Knowing that Maria left she wondered who it was.

“ Come in.’” Liz said

It was one of the waitresses

“ Hey Liz there’s a delivery for you.” She walked in with a turquoise bag

“ Thank you.” Liz got up and took the bag from her.

She opened the bag and saw that there was a Tiffany &Co. box inside with a white ribbon around it. She opened the box to reveal a platinum necklace with a string of three diamonds hanging down.

“ Oh my God this is beautiful.” Liz gasped when she saw the necklace

She saw that there was note in the bag also.

Liz,

I hope you liked it. Not as elegant as you but it will do. Since I know that women always worry about what to wear the dress for tonight is formal. I will pick you up at 6:00.

Love,
Max


“ Love Max?” Liz wondered what that meant.

She quickly decided to call Maria. She was going to need help in picking something out.

“ Yes?” Maria answered her phone

“ Maria your not going to believe this!” Liz was so excited

Liz told Maria about the necklace and the note. Maria decided she would meet Liz after she went to Michaels to help her pick out an outfit.

~~ ~~~

Maria pulled up to the address that Michael gave her when she called him.

“ Nice digs.” She thought

Seeing her pull up thru the security camera that he had Michael headed to the door.

“ I see you found the place alright.” Michael said

“ Yeah. This place is really nice.” She said

“ Thanks” Michael was feeling nervous about having her here

“ Well come in.” He ushered her in the house

Michael showed her around a little before taking her outside to his studio. That is where he had most of his work displayed

“ Wow nice pool.” Maria said noticing an infinity pool with Jacuzzi. The pool was painted black on the bottom making it look like a pond. There were rocks all around adding to the effect.

“ Thanks.” Michael smirked at her

He ushered her into the studio

“ Oh Michael your work is beautiful.” Maria was looking around at all the paintings he had on the walls. She also noticed he had made some sculptures too. She made her way to a painting that was similar to the one that was in Evans and Assoc.

“ I love this one.” She pointed to a painting of an ocean landscape.

“ Yeah it’s one of my favorites too. I did that one when I was in New York. Guess I was missing the ocean.” Michael shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t used to the attention he got from his art.

Maria reached down and took hold of his hand. He felt his pulse quicken from just the slightest touch from her. Maria turned to look into his eyes. So intense she thought.
He brought his hand up an lightly touched her face. Such soft skin he thought. Maria closed her eyes when he touched her.

She revered in the feel of his masculine hand on her face. She felt her temperature rise and his touch.

He bent down and his lips found hers. The kiss was both sweet and hot. It began with gently but quickly turned steamy. His tongue parted her lips seeking out her own tongue. She parted her lips allowing him to explore every part of her mouth. They quickly fell into a prefect rhythm back and forth.

Maria was moaning into his mouth. This was driving Michael crazy. He wanted more much more. Mouth still attached he led them to a sofa that was in the corner of the room. He gently placed her on the sofa breaking from her lips for a minute. He looked down at her now swollen lips then to her soulful eyes seeking her approval.

She smiled up at him and he knew he was wanted He sat next to her and began to play with her hair. He ran his fingers thru her hair then pulled her in for another attack on her lips. Feeling the desperate need for air he broke away. They were both breathing heavily.

“ Well that was unexpected.” Maria said

Michael quickly got up feeling that she was regretting it.

“ Hey where are you going?” Maria was puzzled

“ I’m sorry I thought that you….” Michael was confused he thought she wanted to do this

“ What are you taking about? Of course I wanted to. I was just saying that it was Wow. It was nice.” Maria said softly

“ Yeah it was wasn’t it.” Michael sat down next to her

“ So how much for that one?” Maria asked pointing to the picture that she was looking at earlier

“ Umm how about we make a deal for that one.” Michael said with a mischievous look in his eye.

“ Humm what kind of deal?” Maria was looking at him suspiciously

“ I’ll let you have it if you go out to dinner with me.” Michael said

“ Humm I don’t know. Dinner with you for a beautiful painting?” Maria was pretending to think about it.

“ Ok sounds like a deal but I have to say I think your getting the short end of this deal. I mean I’m sure you could have sold that painting for a nice chunk of change.” Maria said getting up

“ No trust me I’m not.” Michael said

“ You leaving?” He asked

“ Yes I’m sorry I have to go. Max invited Liz out to dinner tonight and she needs help picking something out. She doesn’t have anything formal so we might have to go out and buy something.” Maria said straightening her clothes

“ That’s Max for you. Always wanting to do something romantic.” Michael snorted

“ Are you trying to tell me something?” Maria asked

“ No, no not at all. I’m just saying that it seems like he really likes her.” Michael said trying not to make her mad.

“ Yeah he seems like he does. I just hope he doesn’t break her heart. She doesn’t need that after everything she’s been through.” Maria said

“ Well trust me Max is not in the heart breaking business. He’s only had one serious girlfriend back in college and well…..anyway it’s over.” Michael cut himself off. He knew he said too much already,

“ Oh no you don’t. You can’t tell me something like that and not finish. Tell me.” Maria was looking right into his eyes when she said this showing him that she was not playing around.

“ I really don’t feel comfortable about this. Please don’t make me tell you. It’s Max’s story to tell and I feel like if he wants you to know he will tell you. Don’t worry thought it’s nothing bad. Liz has nothing to worry about. Max is a really good guy. He won’t hurt her. I just hope that she doesn’t hurt him.” Michael said he really didn’t want to tell Maria what happened.

“ Ok I’m sorry for pushing you. I’m just trying to look out for Liz. Her last boyfriend was a real jerk.” Michael pulled Maria into a hug and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“ Hey trust me ok everything will be ok. I’ve known Max all my life he’s a good man.” Michael and turned to look her in the eye’s when he said this

“ Ok well I better get going.” Maria walked out the studio with Michael behind

“ Hey we never set up a day for our dinner.” Michael said as they were walking to the front door

“How about tomorrow night?” Michael asked

“ Sure that sounds good.” Maria was getting into her car

“ Ok then why don’t you come by here around 7.” Michael had planned on cooking for her

“ Alright I’ll see you then.” Maria waved goodbye as she drove off


~~~

Max had enlisted Isabel’s help with his plans for Liz. He still had a lot of things to take of at the office and wanted everything to be perfect. Isabel was the prefect person for this.

She had managed to get everything done just as Max wanted. She picked up his tux from the dry cleaners and had his shoes and everything ready for him. All he had to do was change at the office and pick up Liz.

The day seemed to drag on for Max. He sat thru two meetings and couldn’t tell you now what they had talked about.

His mind was on Liz and hoping that she would like what he had planned for tonight. He wanted to call her 100 times but stopped himself. He was afraid that he would not be able to keep the secret from her.

That’s why he sent her the note with the gift. He would have loved to see her face when she opened it. He could imagine her beautiful smile when she opened it. Well he had another surprise for her and hopefully he could see that smile when she opened this one. Isabel had went to pick them up.

At first Max was afraid of telling her what he was doing but he didn’t have to pick it up himself so he had to call her. He was afraid of what she would think or that she wouldn’t approve.

He got the shock of his life when Isabel practically jumped for joy when he told her. Isabel went on and on about how much she liked Liz and how perfect she thought they were for each other.

Max looked at his watch for the 10th time and saw that he still had three hours before it was time to go get Liz. The longest three hours of his life.


~~~~~
After going through everything that Liz had in her closet plus whatever Maria brought over Maria decided that Liz didn’t have anything to wear for tonight.

“ Sorry Liz looks like we need to go shopping. Hurry up we only have a few hours.” Maria was getting her stuff ready to leave

“ Maria I’m sure we can find something in here.” Liz was still rummaging through the pile of clothes that was not on the floor

“ Give it up. there is nothing there. Your wasting precious time. Let’s go!” Maria pulled Liz off the floor and grabbed her purse


Ten stores and about 40 dresses later they found to prefect dress and shoes. Now all they had to do was get her hair and makeup done.

Trying to decide how to wear her hair was tougher then Liz thought. She had wanted to just wear it down and straight but Maria refused.

“ Girl your getting all dressed up and you want to just wear your hair like you do everyday. No way. Sorry not going to happen.” Maria was sorting through some make up trying to find the prefect colors

“ Fine then do what you want just don’t make it too over the top ok?” Liz said as she sat facing the mirror

Three different hairstyles later they decided that she would wear her hair wavy and down with one side picked up with an old barrette that belonged to Liz’s mother. Maria kept her make up pretty simple but insisted on Liz wearing red lipstick since she was wearing a red dress.

“ You look hot girl.” Maria said as Liz stood in front of her full length mirror

“ You don’t think it’s too much? Is the dress to tight? Is the make up too much?” Liz was getting nervous. She never got this dressed up. She felt like she was going to a ball or something.

“Liz relax. You look beautiful. Your going to knock the socks off of him.” Maria stood next to Liz

“ Maria I feel so elegant right now. I haven’t been this dressed up since our prom.” Liz sad putting on some lotion

“ Well I hope you have a good time. So you know where your going?” Maria asked

“ No all the note said was that he would be here at 6 and that the dress was formal. “ Liz picked up the necklace he gave her and asked Maria to help her with it

“ This is really nice Liz. It’s so classy.” Maria said closing the clasp on the necklace

“ I need to take a picture.” Maria reached for her bag to pull out her digital camera

“ Your crazy. You carry that thing around all the time?” Liz asked

“ Yeah why?” Maria thought everyone carried around a camera in their purse

They took a few pictures and headed downstairs

“ So Maria how did it go at Michaels this afternoon?” Liz asked

“ Oh it went well. He’s really talented.” Liz was noticing the way Maria was blushing. Maria never blushed

“ Yeah and what else?” Liz knew something happened to make Maria act this way

“ What? Nothing.” Maria tried to play it off.

“ Maria please. You never blush so tell me what happened.” Liz was curious now

As Maria was about to speak There was a knock on the door

“ Excuse me Liz. There’s someone outside for you.” Marcos said to Liz

“ OOOHHH he’s here!” Maria squealed.

Liz took in a deep breath and headed outside with Maria closely behind.

“ Where the hell is she going?” Elisa asked very annoyed

“ She has a date obviously.” Marcos snorted

“ Yeah maybe she set it up herself because I can’t possibly think of anyone who would want to take her out. Much less to someplace that requires her to dress like that. Yup definitely an escort service thing.” She mad her way to the door to get a look at the guy that Liz “ Hired” for the night.

She got the shock of her life when she say none other then Max Evans with a rose in his hand smiling no less.

“ This is unbelievable.” She thought to herself

“What the hell does this bitch have that I don’t. I practically threw myself at him the other day and nothing. Now he’s out with her.”

She walked away needing to find some relief from the situation.

Liz walked out to find Max leaning on the side of a black limo with a single white rose in his hand.

At first site of her Max’s breath hitched in his throat. She looked like an angel. He noticed that she was wearing the necklace that he got her and thought she looked beautiful

“ You look exquisite.” He said handing her the rose and giving her a kiss on the cheek

“ Thank you. You look very handsome.” Liz took the rose from him and turned to say good bye to Maria

“ Tell me everything later.” Maria said while she gave her a hug

Liz stepped into the limo and sat down. Max came in right after her

“ So where are we going?” Liz asked

“ Humm that’s a surprise. You’ll find out soon enough” Max reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small black box.

“ What’s that?” Liz asked looking at the box

“ Something for you. To match the necklace.” Max handed her the box

Liz opened the box and gasped at what she saw. Inside was a diamond tennis bracelet.

“ Let me put it on you.” Max took the bracelet out of the box

“ Max I can‘t accept this. It’s too much.” Liz said looking at the bracelet

“ It’s not too much. You deserve it. Liz from the moment that I saw you I’ve been attracted to you. I want to make you feel special. You deserve this and more and I want to be the one to give you that. If you’d let me.” Max realized that he might have come on too strong but he wanted to let her know how he felt.

“ Max thank you, really. But I just can’t. The necklace was too much and now this. I just don’t want you to feel like you have to give me gifts. I’m sorry.” Liz turned to look out the window.

Max was looking at the bracelet and closed the box. He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. He wanted her to feel special but didn’t want her to feel like he was trying to buy her. He decided to wait for another time to give her the bracelet.


“ Mr. Evans? We’re here.” The limo driver announces

“ Where are we?” Liz tried to look out the window to see where she was but couldn’t see anything.

“ Sorry but you have to put this on.” Max took out a blindfold. He wanted to surprise her

“ What? Are you for real?” Liz was laughing

“ Yes. Now turn around.” Max put the silk scarf around her eyes and fastened it around her head

They got out of the limo and make their way to Evans and Associates’ private jet. Max helped Liz up the stairs leading to the inside of the Jet.

“ Where are we? What’s all the noise?” Liz asked hearing the jet’s engine

“ You’ll see in a minute.” Max was smiling for ear to ear.

“ Ok sit here.” He moved her over to one of the leather seats

Max removed the blindfold. Liz took in her surroundings. She couldn’t believe it she had never thought that she would be on a private plane in her life.

“ Max where are we going?” She was surprised to say the least she was sitting in a large leather chair. To her right there were two benches with a table in between.

“ That my dear I can not divulge at this point but you’ll find out in about an hour.” Max kissed her on the cheek

“ Mr. Evans we are all clear to go. Estimated arrival time will be about 1 hour 10 minutes.” The captain come over the speaker

“ When am I going to know where we are going?” Liz was really curious now

“ Ok ok I’ll tell you. We are going to San Diego to watch the Philharmonic orchestra then we’re going to dinner at a very special place.” Max was seated next to her.

“ Wow that wounds amazing. I can’t wait.” Liz looked out the window and saw that they were in the air.

“ Would you like some wine?” Max had a bottle of his favorite wine chilled

“ Um sure.” Liz said taking off her shawl

When she took off her shawl Max say her exposed back. So soft and delicate he thought. He could just imagine his hand running up and down her smooth back. He decided to attend to getting the wine bottle opened.

After having a two glasses of wine they landed in San Diego and took the limo to the convention center where the symphony was playing. They were ushered to their seats in the top balcony in the corner.

“ It’s so beautiful here.” Liz said taking in the view. They could see everything from where they were.

“ These seats are perfect.” She said sitting back in her chair

There was an elderly couple being seated next to them. The old woman smiled at Liz then recognized Max.

“ Maxwell Evans is that you my dear?” She said leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek

“ Hi Mrs. Brent how are you?” Max asked her

“ Oh I’m fine dear. Who is this lovely young lady here?” She pointed towards Liz

“ Oh I’m sorry this is Elizabeth Parker.” Max introduced Liz

“ How lovely to meet you. What a beautiful necklace.” she admired the necklace Max bought her

“ Thank you.” Liz blushed

Liz sat back down.

“ She’s lovely Max. You hold on to that one.” Mrs. Brent said before sitting down I her chair

The concert was enchanting. They played Mozart. Liz was in awe. She loved every minute of it. Max was watching her the whole time taking in how much she was enjoying all of it. He loved that she was interested in the type of music. He could never find anyone that would actually sit through a whole concert and not ask to leave.

They made their way to the limo and to their next destination.

“ Max thank you so much for tonight. I’m having the best time.” Liz said as they made their way to the restaurant

“ The night is not over yet princess.” He whispered in her ear

The is sent chills down Liz’s spine. The sound of his voice made her hairs stand up. His scent was driving her wild. Max kissed her on her neck and Liz let out a moan. He was trailing kisses on her neck making his way to her mouth. Liz threw her head back to allow him better access. She didn’t see it but everyplace that he kissed left a faint glow. He neck was glowing a light pink color. Max was thankful that she was enjoying the moment to notice it.

Sensing that it he was getting carried away max pulled away from her lips. Liz let out a small moan and adjusted her hair.

They felt the limo stop and got out of the car.

“ Are we here?” Liz asked looking around.

She didn’t see anything that looked opened.

“ I think we are in the wrong place?” She said

“ No it’s just over here.” Max said leading her to their destination

He knew the owner of the restaurant and asked him to set up a special dinner for just he and Liz. The place looked closed but as soon as Max tapped on the door the lights were turned on to reveal what he did for her.

They walked in and all the tables were moved out except one. It was decorated with a sheer silver tablecloth and one four wick candle in the middle. The entire restaurant was lit by candle light that left the aroma of vanilla in the air.

“ Do you like it?” He asked

“ I love it. It’s beautiful.” Liz thought she was in a dream

They sat down and a waiter came out to take their order.

“ I’m glad that your enjoying yourself. You have the most beautiful smile.” Max was holding her hand

“ I feel like this is a dream.” Liz said

“ This is only the beginning. I want to make all of your dreams come true.” Max kissed her hand

Liz was blushing now. She was trying to look anywhere but at his soulful eyes.

“ What’s wrong?” He noticed her looking away

“ Nothing. It’s just all so much. No one had ever done anything like this for me before.” Liz took her hand away from him and was looking down

“ Now that’s hard to believe. Any man would be luck to have you and should treat you like the princess that you are.” Max brought his chair next to hers

“ Yeah right.” Liz snorted

“ Don’t be like that. I mean it. I feel like the luckiest man alive right now to have you here with me.” Max kissed her on the cheek

There food came and Max moved back to the other side of the table. They ate in silence giving each other longing stares and smiles here and there. After desert they headed back to t he limo for the plane ride home.

They boarded the plane and Liz took off her shoes.

“ So did you have a good time?” Max asked taking off his jacket.

“ Are you kidding I had the best time. I don’t want to go to sleep. I want to remember everything.” Liz said taking the clip out of her hair.

Max let out a small chuckle.

“ I’m glad. I want this to be one night of many.” He said

Liz sighed an leaned against Max’s chest. She quickly fell asleep for the rest of the ride.


“ Liz sweet heart we’re here.” Max was placing butterfly kisses on her face.

“ mmmm” Liz moaned

She got up and stretched. They got their things and headed into the limo.

Max got out an walked Liz to the door.

“ Good night.” Liz said giving him a kiss on the cheek

“ Thank you again. I had a wonderful time.” Liz was unlocking the door

“ You welcome. It was my pleasure. To see the smile on your face was worth it enough for me.” Max gently stroked her cheek.

He licked her lips and she parted them to allow him entrance. His tongue explored every crevice of her mouth. Max was taking in the essence that was Liz.

She leaned against him feeling his strong hands around her back. He gently pulled her flush against him running his hands through her hair. She wrapped her arms around his neck and the kiss grew hungrier.

All Max was thinking of was her. He didn’t realize that he release a flash to her. A flash of the first time he saw her.

Liz was seeing herself through someone else’s eyes. She was seeing someone walking towards her. She saw herself on the phone in her office. She didn’t know what was going on.

She just knew that she didn’t want to tear away from Max. She saw herself again at the Crash Down talking to Maria behind the bar. Once again she was seeing herself through someone else’s eyes.

Max was leaned against her door with Liz pressed up against him. He was running his hands up and down her back in a soothing motion. He was now leaving a trail of kisses on her neck once again. Nibbling on her throat.

“ Max we need to stop.” Liz panted out.

“ I know.” Max said breathlessly

“ Mmmmmm” Liz moaned again. She plunged her tongue into his mouth. It was her turn to explore him. Tongues dueling with each other to take over. Liz turned the knob and leaned into him making Max stumble in.

They made their way in bumping into things as they walked towards the sofa. Max backed up and when he felt the back of his legs hit the sofa he sat down. Lips never once parting. Taking small breaths here and there but never pulling away.

“ Liz…please” Max was begging her to stop out loud but inside he wanted more.

She began to undo his shirt. One button at a time. She parted her lips from his and he was kissing her collarbone now.

“ So …Beautiful.” He said between kisses.

Liz managed to get his shirt undone and was beginning to take it off.

Max didn’t want to take it any further. He reluctantly grabbed her hand to stop her.

“ Baby, not like this…please.” He said between kisses

“ Max.” She moaned

He placed a kiss on each of her tiny hands.

“Liz I want nothing more then to stay with you right here like this but we can’t. Not tonight, not like this baby.” He looked into her chocolate eyes.

Liz looked down at him and the tears were about to spill from here eyes.

“ I’m…I…I’m sorry.” She managed to get out and sat on the other end of the sofa

“ Hey.” Max scooted close to her and took her in his arms

“ Liz when we get to that point. I want it to be special for you. I want you to be totally ready. I don’t want you to do something that you will regret later. I can wait. I’ll wait as long as it takes but I want it to be special.” Max was looking into her eyes.

Liz couldn’t help but let the tears come out. Not because she was upset but on how beautiful his words were. She never had anyone want to make her feel special. Most guys would be more then happy to have a girl throw themselves at them.

“ What’s wrong?” He wiped the tears that were sliding down her face.

“ N…Nothing. It’s just that I thought you didn’t want me or something. Thank you. Thank you for wanting to wait. Thank you for being so good to me.” She began to cry again. Tears of happiness

“ Hey no more crying ok?” He kissed her tear soaked face

Liz began to giggle.

“ Ok.” She said wiping the tears from her face.

“ Ok. Well I better get going.” Max buttoned up his shirt and grabbed his jacket.

Liz walked him out and began to get ready for bed.

She fell asleep pretty quickly and was soon in a dream like state.

She started to dream of Max. She dreamt of him and her at the beach playing in the water. She then saw a little boy in a playground holding a bird. The boy looked familiar but she couldn’t place him. She saw the boy hold the bird in his hands. The bird was wounded. The boy ran his hands over the bird and it flew high into the sky. She then saw a little girl run up to the boy.

“ Max, Max come on let’s go.” She heard the girl say.

They boy looked up at the sky and turned to follow the girl.

Liz bolted up from the bed and grabbed the phone.