you can catch up from the beginning at the links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, and 45.
part 46 continues after the jump...
Part 46
A grave-faced Max stood on the other side of the windowpane. She slid the pane up, and smiled at him in greeting.
“In or out?” she asked.
“Hey, can we talk out here?”
“Sure, what’s on your mind?” Liz asked as she climbed out onto her balcony.
Max looked around before settling down on one of the mismatched lawn chairs, “You got more furniture here,” he stated innocuously.
“Yeah, Michael brought that one when he moved in. But you don’t want to talk about my furniture do you?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Just tell me.”
“You know what this is about.”
“The confrontation,” Liz sighed.
Max looked at her intently before looking up at the star-filled sky. “Yeah,” he whispered.
“What about it? We know the time and we know the place. Are you worried we won’t be prepared? Because Michael and I have been training and so have Kyle and Isabel.”
“I wish you weren’t involved.”
“Max, what are you saying? You brought me into this. You saved my life. Are you wishing you had let me die?”
“No, God no. Liz, it’s just, this isn’t a game. This is a war. And I just don’t want you hurt.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I know. And you have Michael. I know that too.”
“Max, what’s going on? What is this really about?”
“It’s just. That threat it’s real. And as prepared as we think we are, we really aren’t. We don’t know what we’re up against.”
“But we’ve got each other Max. We can do it if we stick together.”
Max smiled sadly. He looked at Liz with all the love in his eyes, “Yeah, I just want you to promise me something.”
“Of course Max,” Liz knew that there was something more to what Max was saying, she just couldn’t figure it out. She knew he was okay with her relationship with Michael, but she also knew he hadn’t stopped loving her. And she still loved him. She always would, but it was real with Michael.
“Just promise me that you’ll be happy and that you won’t let anything stop your wedding from happening.”
“Max that’s an easy promise to make. But why—"
“Don’t worry about it. I just needed to hear you say the words.”
“To say goodbye?” she asked him confused. The conversation felt so final.
“Yeah,” he smiled at her and stood. She stood with him and grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. They stared into each other’s eyes, sorrow and regret etched into their souls.
“Max I—" he cut her off with his lips on hers. Shocked she didn’t react before responding. For one last time, she and Max saw into each other’s heart. It was a kaleidoscope of flashes of their entire relationship, from the moment he first saw her on the playground in the third grade to the conversation they just had. And just as quickly as it started it was done.
“Goodbye Liz,” Max whispered as he climbed down the ladder.
*****
It was hours later when Michael walked out onto the balcony.
“Hey baby, what are you doing out here by yourself? I was looking for you.”
“Max and I kissed,” Liz blurted out, raising a tear-streaked gaze to look at her fiancé.
Michael felt a sharp pain in his gut, like a thorn-riddled vise clenching the blood from his heart, “What?” he asked.
Liz grasped his hand before he could run away from her, “It’s not like that,” she said.
“How the hell was it like then?” Michael growled the words. The searing pain clawing at his insides. He couldn’t understand why this was happening. How could he lose Liz a week and a half before their wedding?
“There’s something he’s hiding. I don’t—" Liz’s words spilled from her lips slowly, as if she were underwater and speaking meant she would drown.
“Why’d you kiss him?” Michael wanted answers, not excuses. He wanted to have a precise explanation for the betrayal he was feeling.
“To say goodbye,” Liz replied still in a daze.
Michael pulled at his hand, he wanted to go off and let his powers run rampant. Holding himself in this much was killing him. Right now he needed whole mountains to implode. When he tried to shake her off, it seemed to pull her from whatever place she’d gone to mentally. She flung herself into his arms, holding him tightly. She rained kisses on his face and pulled at the tension coiled within him until he relaxed in her embrace.
“I’m so sorry I scared you that way,” Liz apologized.
“So it didn’t happen?” Michael asked hopefully.
“No, it did. But not why you think. Something’s going on with Max. He really just wanted to say goodbye. Wish us well.”
“So he kissed you?”
“I’m sorry about that. I won’t lie and say it didn’t mean anything. It did. But what it meant was that we were over in a way we had never been over before. I know this sounds confusing Michael. I love you with every fiber of my being. But Max always will have a place in my heart, like Maria will in yours. I’m not sure what tonight was about. But it happened.”
“And you expect me to be okay with that?”
“I need you to be okay with it. I know it’s not fair. But what happened tonight wasn’t about us. Max came here because he’s worried about this weekend. He feels bad about my being involved with this.”
“What does he want—to turn back time to just before that bullet almost killed you?”
“That’s what I said. We can’t change anything that’s gotten us to this point in time. Frankly, I wouldn’t want to. But he’s worried something is going to happen.”
“He should be. Hell, I am. That threat is ominous. I’m worried about you too. I don’t want you involved any more than he does, I just know I can’t fight it. Because I’d rather go to battle with you by my side than have you be anywhere else. And I know that’s completely selfish of me, but that’s how I feel.”
“It’s not selfish because there is nowhere I’d rather be.”
“He made me promise to be happy, and that I wouldn’t let anything stand in the way of our wedding.”
“Right and then he kisses you to just make sure and make that promise difficult to keep,” Michael replied sarcastically.
“What frightens me is how final about it he was. Like he thinks he won’t be around to see us be married or be happy?”
“Do you think he’s going to try and catch a ride with them? Leave Earth?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Should I go talk to him? Ask him what he’s thinking?”
“Can you do that without blowing anything up?”
Michael thought about it for a second before replying, “No. Maybe you should ask Isabel to talk to him.”
“I will. Michael?”
“Yeah,”
“Are you still angry?” Liz asked
“No, I—"
“Don’t lie.”
“I’m not. I don’t understand is all. Why do you still need him?” he asked frustrated.
“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain that.”
Michael sighed, “I know. It’s okay.”
“I need you to know something,” Liz looked up into his eyes. She could see the demons of his insecurities rising up in the caramel colored depths.
“What is it?” he asked wearily.
“It’s you,” she said simply.
Michael scratched his eyebrow, now she was just confusing him, “It’s me?”
She took his hand and placed it over her left breast. Through the warmth of her skin and the thin cotton barrier of her shirt, he could feel her heartbeat. “You’re the reason. You’re my reason. I’m so sorry I hurt you tonight. I love you so much—"
“Love means never having to say you’re sorry.”
“Michael—"
“Shh. It may be one of the corniest lines ever uttered in movie history, but I mean it. Don’t apologize to me. Just kiss me and make it all better. Holding you in my arms makes the whole world better.”
Liz looked at the amazing man she held in a loose embrace and clasped her arms more tightly around him. He made her heart soar with his love. And she was going to return the favor. She’d spend her life returning the favor. Their lips meshed and they were beyond anything but themselves. It wasn’t just mouths, lips, tongue, teeth, it was heart and soul. It was everything they were made of. It was their kiss. A kiss like no other. A kiss that made them whole.
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