Fan Fic and More

TITLE: Something Blue...A Christmas Story
Author: Christina/fehrbaby
Disclaimer: I don't own...yada, yada, yada. And, of course, I don't own the lyrics to "Blue Christmas" - that honor alone belongs to Elvis.
Category: M/L - AU
Summary: Liz returns to her hometown 10 years after being away for her best-friend's Christmas wedding, and encounters someone she's spent the last ten years trying to forget.
Rating: Teen

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<I>And when those blue snow flakes start falling
That's when those blue memories start calling
You'll be doing all right
With your Christmas of white
But I'll have a blue
Blue blue blue Christmas</I>

<I>You got that right, Elvis,</I> Liz Parker thought as she listened to the King belt his woes over the airplane headphones.

God, she hated the holidays. She hated everything about them...the shopping, the music, and especially all the so-called Christmas cheer. Desperate people running around looking for that one perfect gift at the last minute and having a smile on their face? Oh, yeah, that was realistic.

It had been nearly ten years since she'd had any reason to feel cheerful around the holidays...

She sighed irritably, not wanting to think about the past. If she had it her way, she'd be at work right now, piled arm-deep in paperwork and far away from the myriad sounds of carolers, holiday music and jolly greetings.

Alas, she found herself flying at ten thousand feet towards her home town, being served some runny white goop masquerading as chicken a’la king by flight attendants dressed (and smiling) like deranged elves and listening to Bing Crosby and the like crooning on about holiday spirit. And all because her best friend had made the ridiculous decision to get married Christmas day.

That was actually something to smile about. <I>Miss anti-establishment-Maria was getting married!</I> Wild horses wouldn't keep her away from this, she had decided three months ago when she first heard the news, even if it did mean taking time out of her busy plans of moping in the dark with a bottle of scotch - something she only did around this time of year.

<I>There will be none of that this year,</I> she reminded herself sternly. Christmas or not, Maria's wedding was something to be celebrated. And she was going to play the part of thrilled maid of honor the entire time, even if it killed her.

<I>Come hell or high water, I'm not going to be the 'something blue' at Maria's wedding.</I>

*****

"Liz!"

<I>Time to put your game face on,</I> Liz told herself as she heard the excited cry of her life-long best friend. Her shorter frame prevented her from locating her, as she couldn't see over the mass of people exiting the airplane terminal ahead of her, but her friend had clearly spotted her.

No sooner had she stepped off the gate was she being dragged off to the side, and swept into her friend's anxious arms. "Merry Christmas! My god," Maria DeLuca exclaimed with tears in her eyes, "it's so good to see you."

"Likewise," Liz said warmly, returning the sentiment - without the "Merry Christmas" part, of course. "And what a sight to see!" she declared, stepping back to eye her friend in surprise. "You look so..."

"Thin?" Maria supplied.

That about summed it up, Liz decided as she stared at her best friend. The last time she'd seen Maria - sheesh! Was it really ten years ago? - her friend had been about sixty pounds overweight, had a bit of an acne problem and wore her hair in a short, boyish style. Now, not only were the excess pounds and acne gone, and her shiny blond hair long and flowing, but Maria, the self-pronounced eternal tom-boy, was actually wearing a dress!

"I was going to say different," Liz said.

"Speaking of different, check you out! You've turned into quite the hottie!"

"Oh, well..." Hottie was pushing it, she thought, but she had changed a lot since the last time Maria had seen her, and for the better. Gone were the oversized, black-framed glasses she'd always wore before, having been replaced with contacts. She'd also stopped wearing her hair in unflattering buns and pony tails, and exchanged her trademark sweater-and-jean ensemble for more fashionable, form-fitting clothes. "So tell me, did hell freeze over when I wasn't looking?"

"Huh? Oh, the dress." Maria shrugged. "What can I say? Things change."

"I'll say. I can't believe that in less than forty-eight hours, you're getting married. You! The girl who used to preach that marriage was nothing but a patriarchal institution designed to imprison the spirits of strong women. What happened to that girl by the way?"

Maria giggled - giggled! - and her face took an a dreamy appearance. "She found a man who made her see that being in love didn't mean you had to lose yourself." She then shook her head and rolled her eyes. "God, I sound like such a sap."

Liz shook her head, smiling warmly. "No, you sound really happy. You <I>look</I> really happy."

"I am," Maria confessed shyly, then broke into a classic, break-neck speed, DeLuca-style rant. "Oh, but the last week has been an absolute nightmare with all the wedding preparations. My caterer came down with food poisoning - apparently not from his own food - and the wedding invitations were printed with the wrong address, which I was too busy to notice, so all my RSVP cards were getting sent back to the sender."

"Oh, no," Liz sympathized, rubbing her friend's back. "Did you get it all cleared up?"

"Yes, the caterer's assistant will be taking over and my mom contacted all the guests for confirmations. She has been a life-saver, I tell ya. I'll just be so relieved when all of this is over and I can relax." Maria linked her arm with Liz's. "We better make our way to baggage claim if we want to get to the rehearsal dinner on time."

"Where are you and...Michael, is it?" Liz began as they walked arm-in-arm.

"Yeah, Michael Guerin."

"Will it be Maria Guerin, then?"

"I will be Mrs. Maria DeLuca-Guerin, thank you very much."

Liz smirked. She may be getting married, but Maria was still adamant about keeping her identity, it seemed. "Anyway, where will you be going for your honeymoon?"

"We'll be spending the week in a cabin in the Colorado Rockies that belongs to Michael's bother's and sister's parents."

Liz nodded, then frowned when she realized what Maria had just said made no sense at all. "Wouldn't that make them Michael's parents too?"

"Well, they aren't really his siblings. They just call each other that since he spent so much time at their house growing up. I just met Michael's brother for the first time yesterday. He's some kind of professional sports player, I can't remember which sport, but he's the best man. You'll be dancing the first dance with him, and let me tell you, he is a total hottie."

"And that's vital information for you to share because...?"

"Well, you're single, he's single, I was thinking that maybe you and he could, well, you know, enjoy being single together." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Nice try, DeLuca, but there will be none of that. I'm here strictly in a maid of honor capacity."

Maria's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Why can't you do both?"

"Because I'm not interested in men."

"Not interested in men?" Maria demanded loudly, causing more than a couple of heads around them to turn as they stepped onto the downward escalator.

"Shh," Liz hissed, her face flaming. "Maria, please."

"What do you mean you aren't interested in men?" Maria asked, voice lowered. "Oooh - are you gay? Not that there's <I>anything</I> wrong with that," she added quickly, holding her hands up in innocence.

Liz laughed despite herself. "No, I'm not gay. I probably would have mentioned it a long time ago if I was."

"Well, you never know. Lot's of people still keep it in the closet, like Pam Troy, for example."

"Really?" Liz asked, mildly surprised. Pam Troy, her high school arch-enemy and only competitor in the run for valedictorian, had always been pursued by the football jocks, but it had been a well known fact that she never put out. Perhaps that explained why.

"Mmm-hmm. So if you're not gay, then what's with the no-men thing?"

"Well, men are assholes," Liz replied simply, thinking that summed it up pretty well.

"Hey, not <I>all</I> of them are," Maria argued.

"Fine, so you've found that one rare gem amongst all that fools-gold..."

"Oh, no, that's not who I'm talking about. Michael, if anything, is the king of assholes. I was thinking of Alex."

Liz smiled, having to agree. Alex was their childhood friend, a man who treated all women with respect - a rare gem, indeed. "Wait, if Michael's such an asshole, then why on earth are you marrying him?"

"Because the sex is incredible!"

"Maria! Keep your voice down!" she hissed, sending an apologetic smile to the elderly woman glaring at them from two steps down.

Maria glanced at the offended woman in total disinterest. "What?" she asked innocently.

"So you're marrying this guy because of heat?" Liz asked, returning the conversation to the topic at hand.

"No, that's not the only reason. Michael may be a world-class jerk on the surface, but he's actually kind of sweet on the inside. Kind of like a Tootsie-Pop." Maria smiled a rather wicked smile. "You just have to lick your way through the layers. Did I ever tell you how we met?"

"Not that I recall, no," Liz said loudly enough to be heard over the roaring din in baggage claim. The place was teeming with noisy and impatient travelers, all waiting for their luggage to come around the carousel.

"It's far from the stuff fairy tales are made of. He was one of my cases."

Maria was a certified recovery agent (a.k.a. a bounty hunter) for her step father's company, which never struck Liz as too odd when she'd thought her friend was the larger and angrier feminist she used to be in high school. Now, it was just plain worrisome to think of waifish Maria going up against dangerous criminals.

Speaking of which... "You're marrying a criminal!"

"No," Maria said. "His twin brother, who Michael didn't even know existed, had found out about him and was using his identity on the streets. Drug dealing, and all."

Liz breathed a sigh of relief. "Sounds like a great brother," she added dryly.

"Oh yeah, he's a real peach. Anyway, Jim called in a favor with one of his security friends in Austin and found Michael at his residence, going about his normal routine. He was going to send Kyle to recover him, but Kyle was out on another case, so it was either lose out on the twenty-five thousand dollars we'd get for bringing him in, or send me. And we needed the money. It takes cash to fund our cases and we'd been running desperately low for quite a while."

"Wait, there's my bag," Liz said, stepping closer to the carousel to retrieve it. "Okay, continue."

"So I drove to Austin, armed to the teeth, and show up on his doorway just as he's getting ready to go to leave. I give him the drill, tell him to turn around and spread 'em, and after a second he does it. But he's smiling, and I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why. Turns out it's his birthday and he thinks his friends hired me as entertainment. Took him a minute to realize how serious I was."

"What'd he do?"

"Nothing. He cooperated. I mean, he gave me the usual 'I'm innocent' drill, but he came along with no resistance. Well, to make a long story short, we talked along the way, and I pretty quickly began to believe that he was innocent, and when we stopped for the night at a hotel at the half-way point home, I decided to take advantage of having him hand-cuffed to the bed."

"Maria," Liz cried in disbelief, "what if he really had been a criminal? He could have killed you or...or raped you."

"Come on, he was tied to the bed. And besides, you can't rape the willing, and I was more than willing after the things he'd been saying to me all day."

"Please tell me you at least used protection. I mean, you didn't know for a fact that he wasn't who you thought he was, and a drug dealer..." she trailed off, thinking the rest didn't need to be said.

"Of course! I'm not stupid."

"I don't know. Sleeping with a possible criminal sounds pretty stupid to me. I hope you don't do that with every bail jumper you encounter."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Of course not. This was a special case. Besides, we were able to clear his name, pin down his brother, and everything worked out. I mean, hello, we're getting married."

"I guess you're right," Liz said, though she couldn't help worrying for her friend's safety. Or sanity, for that matter, if these were the kind of decisions she made on the job.

By then they had reached Maria's red Jetta. Liz tossed her bag into the backseat of the car and then looked at her friend. "You're unbelievable, you know that?"

Maria's eyes glittered. "Yeah, but you still love me, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

They climbed into the car and buckled themselves in, but Maria didn't start the car immediately. "Everything okay?" Liz asked, noticing the emotional look on her friend‘s face.

"Yeah," Maria said, smiling slightly. "It's just...look, I know the holidays have been a hard time of year for you ever since...well, it‘s best we not talk about it. But I just wanted you to know how much it means to me that you're here."

Liz smiled sadly. There really wasn't much to say on that note. Except maybe, "I'm honored that you wanted me to be a part of your special day."

"Are you kidding me? I couldn't do this without you," Maria asserted as she started the car. "Besides, who else is going to talk me in off the ledge two minutes before I'm supposed to walk down the aisle?"

*****

Max Evans dreaded weddings like most people dreaded the dentist. It wasn't the getting dressed up that bothered him, not the stupid dances that everyone did, or even the trying to act happy when he was really bored out of his mind. No, what really got his gourd was the inevitable questions about when he would be joining the ranks of married men.

Michael's wedding would be no exception. In fact, it would be worse, considering that all their relatives would be there. Not to mention that no one ever expected Michael to get married, so everyone would be thinking that if Michael could take the plunge, Max would easily follow in his footsteps.

They were wrong, though. Max wasn't planning on getting married any time soon - if ever. It's not that he didn't want to have a family, eventually, but there were several factors that prevented it from happening in the foreseeable future. The first being his job with the New York Rangers, which kept him on the road more often than not, and he couldn't justify starting a family just to be away from them for a good portion of the year. The second being that as a pro-hockey player, the kind of girls he typically encountered were brainless bimbos more interested in his bank account than him.

Granted, they were fun for a little tension release, but not the type he would be interested in marrying. In fact, he couldn't remember ever meeting a woman that he could see himself settling down with.

Well, actually, no, that wasn't true. There had been one, but she had disappeared from his life before he even got to explore what could have been.

To this day, he still wondered what happened to her. He'd even considered hiring a team of investigators to hunt her down, but realized that would be stupid considering she was probably married with children by now. And even if she wasn't, he was probably the last person she ever wanted to see again.

<I>C'est la vie. Such is life.</I>

"Here you go, sir," the craggy old man behind the counter at <I>"Costumes! Costumes!"</I> said, handing him a huge white box that possessed the last thing he thought he'd be buying the day before Christmas.

"Thanks."

"Remember what I said about waiting till the last minute," the man reminded him. "You might not get so lucky next time."

"Yes, sir. You have yourself a Merry Christmas," he said, nodding and walking out of the store, but not without hearing the old-timer grumbling about "Kids, these days."

He was hardly a kid at twenty-nine years old, but next to the shop owner, who had to be pushing eighty, he was just a baby.

He stepped outside the shop into the beautiful sixty-degree weather and glanced down at his watch. <I>Shit!</I> He was supposed to meet Michael two blocks away almost fifteen minutes ago. Michael was going to be pissed that he was late, but there was no helping that now. Besides, if it wasn't his tardiness, Michael surely would have found another reason to be pissed with Max, so it didn't really matter. Michael was pissy with everyone. Everyone except his soon-to-be-bride, who he couldn't seem to keep his hands off.

Actually, the more Max thought about it, he realized that Michael did seem to get pissy with Maria, but, from what he'd seen, she seemed to enjoy it immensely. Perhaps it was some sort of weird foreplay for them, the masochists.

He was still grinning at that thought when he spotted Michael, pacing his way up and down the brick tiles of the movie theater where they'd promised to meet up.

"Where the hell have you been?" Michael demanded instantly.

"I told you, I had to pick something up."

"What?" He reached for the box before Max could pull it away. "What the hell is this?"

"Look, I promised Alex I'd play Santa Claus for Celeste tonight. They have this whole plan to stay up all night and catch Santa on tape."

Michael snickered. "Sucker."

"Shut up."

"Just don't let Isabel catch word of this. The Christmas Nazi will never let you live it down if she found out you dressed up as Santa. Especially after all those years of refusing to take part in all her crazy plays and Santa houses."

"Believe me, I know I'm committing Christmas suicide by doing this. But maybe she'll be nice about it, seeing as how I'm doing it for Celeste."

"I wouldn't count on it. D'ya get a hold of your coach?"

"Yeah. The trainer is keeping me on the IRL for at least two more weeks. Wants to make sure the knee is nice and healed." Max had been forced to have an arthroscopy four weeks ago to repair some damaged cartilage in his left knee, and had been off the rink ever since.

Michael climbed into the seat of his '65 Mustang, which was in front of the theater. "Kind of fortunate, if you think about it."

"How is it fortunate?" Max demanded, throwing the box in the backseat.

"Well, you would have had to miss the wedding if you'd still had two good knees. Don't you guys have a game tomorrow?"

"Actually, it's the day after. Against Toronto, I think. Should be a good game."

"Especially with you off the ice."

Max laughed. "Bite me. So," he continued, changing the subject. "Tell me about this maid of honor Maria's been talking about."

*****

"Alex!" Liz cried out as she spotted her friend amongst the crowd at the rehearsal dinner. It was taking place at Little Athens, a Greek restaurant that hadn't been there when she'd lived there, but Maria swore served food to die for.

Alex, who was talking to a stunning blond woman about twenty feet away, turned as he heard his named called, and his face broke into a smile. Leaving the woman behind, he jogged forward, wrapped his arms around her and spun her around several times.

"Stop, I'm getting dizzy," Liz said between laughs.

He put her down and grinned. "Lizzie, I'm so glad you're here. I wasn't sure you were going to make it."

"Did you really think I would miss such a monumental event as Maria's wedding?"

"Well, no, but I saw on the news that most the airports east of Chicago had been closed because of the snow."

"Yeah, I hear Kennedy closed down about an hour after take off. I was lucky that I booked my flight for the early morning."

"Indeed. So, how you been?"

"Good," she said. "You know, working a lot. And you?"

"I have no complaints."

Liz noticed at that moment that the woman he'd been talking to had followed and taken her place beside Alex. Liz also noticed that she wrapped her hand in Alex's, semi-possessively. "Who's this?" she asked Alex, not unkindly.

She was even more stunning up close, Liz thought. Tall and leggy, she stood with an air of confidence that belied her possessiveness of Alex. She wasn't waifish thin like Maria, but curvy, and in all the right places. She was impeccably dressed in a pair of brown slacks and a cream-colored cable-cord turtleneck sweater that displayed all those curves.

"Oh, Isabel, this is Liz Parker. Liz, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Isabel Evans."

Isabel's smile instantly widened as she extended her hand. "Liz, it is such a pleasure to finally meet you. Alex has told me all about you."

"Hopefully not all bad," Liz joked, taking her hand.

"Not at all. He's been looking forward to seeing you."

"And I, him."

Alex smiled and squeezed Liz's hand. "Well, how about I get you ladies a drink?"

"I'll have a red wine," Isabel informed him.

Alex nodded. "And for you, Lizzie?"

"The same," Liz told him. "And it’s just Liz, now."

"You'll always be Lizzie to me," Alex said, then departed to get their drinks.

She watched him go, then smiled at Isabel. "How long have you and Alex known each other?"

"About a year. We actually met through Maria."

"Oh? How did you know her?"

"Through Michael. He's my brother."

So this was the sister that wasn't his sister. Maria never mentioned that she was dating Alex. "So you're one of the bridesmaids, then?" And when Isabel nodded, she said, "Okay, so you can give me the scoop. How horrible are the bridesmaid dresses?"

Isabel laughed. "You haven't seen them yet?"

"No, we came right here from the airport."

"Well, they're nice. They're red halters, with a bit of furry white sash around the trim. Kind of Mrs. Claus meets Santa's naughty little helper."

"Wonderful," Liz muttered dryly. Not only did she have to pretend to be happy on Christmas, but now she was being forced to look the part of the happy Christmas bridesmaid.

"I swear, they're not that bad."

"Mommy?"

Liz looked down to see a young girl, three or four years at most, attach herself to Isabel's leg. God, did Alex have a kid and nobody told her? No, that wasn't possible. After all, this girl was too old and hadn't Isabel just said they'd only met a year ago?

"What is it, sweetie?"

"I can't find Uncle Maxi."

"Well, he's probably not here yet. He's coming with Uncle Mikey."

"When will they be here?"

"Soon, sweetie. Celeste, can you say hi to Alex's friend Liz?"

The little girl shouted an emphatic "No!" and ran away.

Isabel smiled apologetically at Liz. "Sorry, she's quite the little terror."

"No problem," Liz replied, watching the little girl run away. "How old?"

"She turned three in November, and hasn't quite grown out of her terrible two-some's."

"Lucky for you. Regardless, she's a real cutie. I bet Alex just adores her." He always did love children.

"Thank you, and not as much as she adores him. The two of them are thick as thieves."

Liz laughed, just imagining how much Alex probably encouraged the little bit to be as bad as she could be. Speaking of which, she could now see Alex hobbling to their side with their drinks in hand and the young terror attached to his leg.

"Ladies, your red wines," he said, handing them out, then swinging Celeste into the air, much to the little girl's delight.

"Do it again! Do it again!"

"Not now," Alex protested, "but if you're good, we'll play roller coaster later."

"Yay!"

"Alex," Isabel reminded him, "it's Christmas eve. If you play roller coaster, we'll never get her to bed."

"We're not going to bed tonight," the little girl informed her mother. "We're hunting Santa tonight."

Isabel raised an eyebrow at Alex. "Oh we are, are we?"

"Shhh, that was supposed to be our secret," Alex whispered to Celeste, then released her to run wild.

"Alex?" Isabel demanded.

Alex smiled sheepishly. "Well, I kind of told her we could stay up all night and try to catch Santa on video tape," he admitted.

"And what are we supposed to do when Santa doesn't come?"

"Uncle Max agreed to be Santa."

Isabel's eyes lit up, and her face beamed, but it looked too sinister to be confused with excitement. "Oh, he did, did he?"

At that moment, Alex looked towards Liz and noticed how stiff she'd gone.

And rightly so since she just remembered that Isabel's last name was Evans, and her brother's name was Max.

Liz cleared her throat, which felt like it had a million cotton balls lodged into it. "Y-you have a brother named Max? Max Evans?"

Isabel nodded and rolled her eyes good naturedly. "Yes, and to answer your question, he is the Max Evans that plays for the Rangers."

"I didn't know you were a hockey fan?" Alex commented.

Oh god, they thought she was freaking out because he was a big shot hockey player. But no, that wasn't it at all. That name meant something entirely different to Liz.

Liz forced herself to smile, while inside she was panicking. No, it couldn't be the same Max Evans, could it? Max was a common enough name. In fact, it was the number one name owners gave their dogs in 2002, if she recalled correctly. Which was altogether fitting, she'd thought when she read the online article, since the Max she'd known had been the biggest low-down dirty dog she'd ever known.

Calm down, she told herself. It probably wasn't the Max Evans she was thinking about, the college hockey star Max Evans who took her virginity ten years ago and then disappeared without a trace.

<I>Exactly, cause it's entirely possible that it's another Max Evans who just happens to play hockey. Sure, I bet they're as common as comets.</I>

Oh god, of course it was him! And of course this would happen at Christmas time, exactly ten years after he set her life into a tailspin.

"Liz, you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Liz replied after seeing the worry shadowing Alex's face. <I>Oh, yeah. Just fan-frickin-tastic!</I>

"Look! Here he is now," Isabel announced, standing on her tip-toes. "I'll introduce you. Yoo-hoo! Max!"

Liz had to force herself not to scream, "No!" Instead, she kept her back turned, holding onto the hope that she wasn't going to be coming face to face with the man that symbolized the worse Christmas of her life.

*****

Liz stayed with her back turned until she had no other choice but to turn face the music. It <I>was</I> him, of course. She's know him from a mile away, even with the slightly crooked nose that she hoped was the result of some other woman he screwed over - okay, fine, it was probably the result of a wayward hockey puck, but she could dream that some woman had given him his comeuppance, right?

Regardless, he was still the same beautiful man she'd known in college. She'd never forget that short, dark brown hair which had felt so nice in her fingertips the night they'd made love, or those chocolate brown eyes that seemed to stare right into a person's soul.

It wasn't fair! In the last few seconds, she'd entertained herself by hoping that if it had to be him, hopefully he'd suffered some disfiguring injury that left him resembling Quasimodo. Instead, he looked more like the Prince Charming she'd known before. The one who charmed the pants right off her ten years ago - literally.

"Max, what took you guys so long?"

"I was having trouble finding something," he said with a significant look at Alex.

Isabel crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him smugly. "Santa costume, I'm guessing?"

Max sighed and sent an exasperated look in Alex's direction. "You told her? I told you not to tell her. Now I'm never going to live this down."

"Not in this lifetime." Isabel laughed maliciously, obviously delighted. "Oh, Max, let me introduce you to Liz Parker, the maid of honor."

Liz sucked in a breath, resisting the temptation to run away.

"Nice to meet you," he said, giving her a smile so sexy that it made her want to vomit. His eyes slid down from her face, checking out the rest of her in one fell swoop. When he met her eyes again, it was with a lofty wink.

She smiled, one so brittle that she expected it to crumble any second under the pressure. It had been on her tongue to say it was nice to meet him, too, but they had already met, for one, and there was nothing nice about seeing him again. Why lie?

"Hey, Alex, where can I get a drink around here?"

Liz watched him leave in the direction Alex had pointed, her mouth gaping.

<I>The bastard! He doesn't even recognize me! I haven't changed that much!

Who are you kidding? Why should he recognize you? You're just one in a million girls he's probably charmed into bed in his lifetime. Probably hard to keep them all straight.</I>

She probably would have mentally kicked his ass for a few more minutes if the unmistakable voice of Amy Deluca didn't call out, "If everyone could take their seats, they'll be serving dinner in just a few minutes!"

Smiling, Alex offered his arms to both Liz and Isabel and escorted them to the table where the wedding party would be sitting. Forgetting the disaster that was her life for the moment, Liz looked around for Maria and her husband to be, curious as to the man she would be walking down the aisle with.

She spotted them instantly, standing to the side of the table and apparently arguing about something. Nope, not arguing, she decided, when she saw him grab her and plant a killer kiss on her mouth mid-speech. Foreplay?

I can't fault her tastes in men, she thought, studying him as she took her seat. He was just a little taller than Maria, and had a slender, but not too thin, body. His nose was a little on the large side, but it blended nicely with his puffy lips and whiskey-colored eyes. She liked his deliberately messy hair, which pointed in every direction, and the stubborn set to his jaw. Hmm, despite his unsavory relations to a man who she was refusing to think about, she decided he looked like just the type of man who could keep up with the likes of Maria.

And if not, good luck to him.

Maria met Liz's gaze instantly pulled Michael forward. "This is her," she told Michael. "Michael, meet Liz."

"Hey," he said, giving her a quick nod.

Liz held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"You, too," he replied, not even glancing at her hand as he tossed back the rest of his drink.

"This seat taken?" a familiar voice asked at that moment, instantly causing Liz to stiffen. She looked up into Max's face, but said nothing. She was too busy trying to come up an answer that would place him far away from him.

"Uh, I'm saving this seat for Alex," she said, thinking of the first thing that came to mind.

"I think he's sitting with my sister," he said, pointing to a couple of seats down to where Alex and Isabel had clearly claimed their seats.

"Oh."

"Any other objections?"

<I>Yes, because I hate you! You ruined my life! You're a misogynistic, chauvinist pig who doesn't deserve a seat!</I>

"Whatever," she said lamely, cursing herself for not being able to come up with another excuse. She looked up at Maria for help, but there was no help to be offered there. Maria looked pleased that Max had taken a seat next to her, even wiggled her eyebrows as their gazes first met, and now, she and Michael were abandoning her for their own seats.

<I>Thanks a lot.</I>

"So, Maria tells me you're from New York?" Max tried to engage her into conversation even after she as far away from him as she could.

"Yeah," she answered, hoping that if she answered in monosyllables he would quickly lose interest and turn to someone more entertaining.

"Me, too. Manhattan."

"Neat."

"What about you?"

"Same."

"Wow, small world. Whereabouts?"

You have no idea how small, she thought, sighing. "Lower Manhattan. By Columbia University."

"Do you work for the college?"

"Yeah."

"Well, doing what?"

"Research."

"Anything interesting?"

She sighed again, remembering he never had been too interested in science. It was why they met, after all, and she had no desire to remind him of that. "Not by your standards, I imagine."

He grinned, not in the least discouraged by her condescending tone. "Try me."

"I'd rather not," she said shortly. "I mean, I'm on vacation and the last thing I want to talk about is work."

"Fair enough. So, we live close to each other. Well, not too close. I mean, my apartment is on the Upper East side, but it's kind of funny that we had to come to Roswell to meet each other."

She gave him a bland look, silently seething inside. Why not just slap her in the face with the reminder of how forgettable he found her? "Why is it funny? Manhattan is a big place."

He shrugged. "Not that big. In fact, I'm sure we've crossed paths at one time or another. You do look vaguely familiar. We haven't met before, have we?"

"I seriously doubt it."

"You know, me too, cause I know for a fact I'd never forget someone as beautiful as you," he said with a devastatingly sexy grin.

She wanted to kick him, hurt him, slap him over the head with his hockey stick and yell what an asshole he was to the whole goddamn wedding party, but that wouldn't do. This was Maria's party, and she wouldn't dare make a scene. Instead, she changed the subject. "So, Upper East side. I bet it's easy to afford such an apartment when you're making such a difference in the world by slapping a puck around."

"Not a big fan of hockey?" he asked, his smile fading at the bitterness of her tone. At least he'd noticed.

"I'm not a big fan of any pro-sport that pays their players millions of dollars for doing something so menial as tossing a ball or playing with sticks, while the people who really try to make a difference in the world can barely afford to scrape by a living."

"I'm gathering research doesn't pay too well."

She shrugged. "I survive."

He nodded, appearing uncomfortable. Good. "Anyway, I was going to suggest that maybe we could meet for coffee once we get back to the city."

"Uh, I don't think so." <I>Make that “Hell no!</I>

"Why not?"

"Look, I'm sure you're very nice," she tried not to choke on the words, "but I'm not interested."

She knew for a fact he wasn't used to being rejected, and she wanted to pump her arms in the air and say "So there!" when she saw the look of surprise on his face. Instead, she excused herself to the ladies room, needing a minute to compose herself, and, upon returning, she saw that he'd moved over to the empty seat by the groom.

<I>Hallelujah, and good riddance!</I>

*****

"How are things going with you and Liz?" Maria pounced as soon as Max took a seat next to Michael.

"Not good. She blew me off," he confessed.

"What? Why? What did you do to her?"

"Nothing," Max cried in innocence, seeing the protective look in Maria's eyes. "We were talking, and, I don't know, she kept acting like I killed her dog, or something."

"Well, did you say anything to make her mad?"

"No, I was a perfect gentleman, scouts honor. I told her she was beautiful, and asked her out, but she flat out told me she wasn't interested."

Maria sighed. "Huh, I thought she'd totally go for you. I mean, you're her type, if I remember correctly. Though it has been a while."

Too bad. That Liz was incredibly sexy, beautiful, and clearly intelligent. Just what he was looking for in a woman. <I>Too bad she acted like an uptight prig that needed to get laid.</I> The thought was intended to make him feel better, but it only made him feel worse. She was anything but uptight, he realized, watching her as she walked back out onto the patio, smiling warmly at everyone around her. That smile could melt a glacier. So, clearly, her problem was with him. Why? What did he do to her?

"I'll talk to her later," Maria promised.

He wanted to tell her not to bother, but he was too intrigued not to be curious. What had he done to make such a bad impression? He was no God's gift to women, but he knew he was attractive. So what was so different about Liz that made her want to have nothing to do with him? Come to think of it, she seemed to hate him on sight.

"You must be losing your touch, lover boy," Michael whispered, giving his first sign that he'd been paying attention to their conversation.

Max snorted. "Must be."

*****

The next couple of hours went smooth enough for Liz, now that Max had finally taken the hint that she wanted nothing to do with him. After eating a minimal dinner of dolmathes and Xoriatiki (tomato, cucumber, and feta cheese salad), which was all she could manage to stomach, she listened to the toasts presented by the parents, opened the bridesmaid gift (an elegant thin-chained gold necklace with a ruby charm, to wear with her dress), and met several people she didn't know and got reacquainted with those she hadn't seen in years.

There was only one snag to the evening. That was when Maria came up and inquired about Max. "He's very interested in you."

"Maria, I told you, I'm not interested in men. And I'm definitely not interested in him."

"Okay, so maybe he's not your type, but at least you could become friends. Can't you at least try to be nice to him?"

"Who said I wasn't nice? I was perfectly friendly."

Maria's raised her eyebrows. "As a glacier, from what he says. He spent the last hour trying to figure out what he did to offend you? So tell me, what's going on?"

Liz didn't want to tell Maria that the best man was anything but, not at this time, at least, but she knew Maria well enough to know she wouldn't let it go until she had. "Fine, I'll tell you, but only if you promise not to say anything."

"Of course."

Liz leaned in and whispered in Maria's ear.

Maria jumped back as if fire had shot from Liz's mouth. Her wide eyes went from Liz's face, to Max's, then back to Liz. "That's <I>him?</I>"

"Shh, Maria, please keep your voice down."

"That's him?" she said again, quieter now. "You mean..." She glanced down and back up quickly.

Liz felt the tears she thought had dried up years ago resurface in her eyes. "Yes, and I hate him!"

Maria looked furious. "I'm guessing he doesn't remember you?"

"No. The bastard!" Liz said bitterly.

"Oh, I'll kill him!" Maria spat, already moving towards him.

Liz anchored Maria's arm with her own. "No, you promised! Besides, I don't want him to remember me."

"But someone needs to punish him!"

"No, they don't. We both wanted it, Maria, I just didn't understand that was all he wanted from me at the time. Anyway, it was a long time ago. It's over. I just want to forget about it."

Maria studied her face for a long time, then finally nodded. “Okay, I'll let it go. <I>For now.</I>“

Part 2

Max was making his big exit by walking on the roof of his sister’s house when the realization slammed into him like a wrecking ball to the gut.

<I>Liz Parker…Elizabeth Parker!</I>

“Shit,” he cried as he lost his footing and began sliding down the steep arch of the roof. He crouched down, trying to steady himself, but the white stones meant to detract the sun slipped under his hands and before he knew it, he was sliding head-first off the roof. He grabbed the frame at the last possible second, causing his body to flip over. He tried to hang on, but there were too many stones under his palms, and he ended up losing his grip and falling into the bush directly underneath him.

“Christ,” he muttered, shaking his head. He crab-crawled back out of the bush and then flopped on his back and groaned.

<I>Elizabeth Parker!</I>

It was her. <I>Her</I>, her. The only girl he had ever really cared about. The girl who had vanished off the face of the earth ten years ago. And he hadn't even recognized her!

<i>Shit!</i>

How could he not recognize her?

No, he knew the answer to that. She had changed so much in the last ten years, both in appearance and mannerisms. The Liz Parker he had met tonight had been a strong, sexy and <I>confident</I> woman who spoke her mind in a clear voice and was quick and easy with the wit; the college coed he remembered had been on the exact opposite side of the spectrum.

Back then, Liz (he'd always called her Elizabeth because that was the name student services gave him when he signed up for a chemistry tutor) had been a rather plain and painfully shy. At least that’s what he thought when he first met her. She had buried herself in frumpy sweaters and jeans, wore glasses so big that they seemed to distort her face, pulled her hair back into knots at the top of her head, and often trailed off into insecure mumbles whenever she spoke. The only time she spoke with any confidence was when they were working - she had sure known her stuff.

Soon, though, he started noticing some changes in her whenever he was around. She started opening up to him; smiling and laughing, occasionally poking fun at him for being a jock. Those smiles…damn, they made her entire face light up in a way that made him see that there was nothing plain about her; that underneath it all, she was truly beautiful.

He wasn’t sure when it had happened, but soon, he was madly attracted to her - he kept it from her, of course, not wanting to scare her off - and began looking forward to every tutoring session with anticipation. And then, that last night, the night before finals…

*****

<I>TEN YEARS AGO

“Classify,” Elizabeth instructed, holding up an index card with her impeccably neat handwriting on it.

Max stared at the reaction on the card. <I>Nickel and Fluorine combine to make Nickel Fluoride.</I> He mentally calculated the oxidation numbers, while she watched him patiently. “Redox synthesis,” he finally said.

Elizabeth nodded her head in answer, then cocked an eyebrow. “Now, tell me why.”

“It’s redox because the oxidation numbers of both Nickel and Fluorine change, and it’s synthesis because the two substances combine to make one substance.”

“Good job. Next…” she held up another card.

“Redox single-replacement…nonredox double replacement…redox and combustion.”

Finally, after fifteen minutes, she put the cards down and smiled gently. “Well, I think you’re ready.”

Max sighed. “Yeah, if I don’t forget it all. I have no problem remembering when I‘m here, but when I get to class…”

“You won’t forget anything, I know it. Listen to me. You know this stuff. You just have to believe in yourself.”

He snorted. “Easier said than done.”

“Well, <b>I</b> believe in you.”

Those words, they meant the world to him.

No one had ever believed in him before, not in an academic sense. It was one of the downfalls of being into sports. Most people figured that someone as successful in academics as him didn’t need to use his brains - and to be truthful, he had only exercised his brain enough to pass, just so he could stay on the eligibility list.

It wasn’t until the beginning of the semester when his Chemistry 100 professor had humiliated him in front of the entire class by suggesting he go sign up for beginning Pottery instead, insinuating he didn’t have the brains to pass chemistry, that he decided he was sick of being stereotyped as the dumb jock, and he was going to prove them all wrong, starting with the professor. As soon as class was over, he’d marched straight to student services and signed up for a tutor.

Max stared at Elizabeth in awe, and then, before he could talk himself out it, as he had been doing for the last month, he bent forward and kissed her.

She pulled back, stunned. Her hand flew to her lips, and her soft brown eyes were showing white all around. “Why’d you do that?” she whispered.

He reached for her free hand and gently encased it in both of his. “Because I wanted to, and <I>have</I> wanted to for months.”

Elizabeth continued to stare at him, a mix of emotions flying over her face.

“Tell me what you‘re thinking,” he urged, feeling like he was going to fly in a hundred different directions.

Her eyes trailed down to her lap. She fidgeted uncomfortably. “No one has ever done that before,” she whispered.

“What? Kissed you without permission?”

Her face was flaming red when she looked up, and she wouldn‘t quite meet his eyes. “No, that was my…um…my first kiss.”

Max sighed and rubbed his face, feeling like a world-class ass. Having a sister had taught him enough about girls to know that they all wanted their first kiss to be special, and here, he’d just ruined that for her…

“Do it again.”

The softly spoken plea jolted Max from his thoughts. She was looking at him now, a mix of fear and worry in her eyes, but there was also hope. “Are you sure?”

Her nod was almost imperceptible. But it was a nod, nonetheless, and Max told himself he was going to do it right this time. He scooted closer to her on the bed and placed on hand on her neck and the other on her cheek. Then very slowly, he pressed his lips to hers.

Her eyes remained closed a few seconds after he kissed her, and when she opened them, Max saw a smile pulling at her lips.

“How was that?” he whispered, laying his forehead against hers.

A slow smile spread across her face. “That was nice. Do it again.”

He grinned at her sudden bossiness, but he never was one to look a gift horse in the mouth. So he kissed her again. And again. Over and over, and in every way imaginable. And before he knew it, clothes were slowly coming off and he was reaching for a condom…

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Positive? I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to.”

“No, I want to.”

“I promise to be gentle.”

“I trust you…”

Max wasn’t a virgin, but he suddenly felt like one, so in awe was he of her unwavering trust in him to take care of her. He went extra slow, trying to keep her pain to a minimum. He didn’t know how much it helped, as she looked quite uncomfortable in the beginning, but soon enough, he felt her relax and she began to participate more.

Neither of them climaxed that night; Elizabeth, because it was still too painful; Max, because he wouldn‘t allow himself to. Nevertheless, he left her the following morning with a high like no other. He couldn’t even put what she had made him feel into words. All he knew was that it was the single most emotionally significant moment of his life.

He smiled all through his chemistry exam, feeling none of the anxiety that he usually felt during a test. He even smiled at the jack-off professor when he dropped the test off at his desk. He had aced it, and he knew it. And all because of Elizabeth…

God, he couldn’t wait to see her again. He had promised to call as soon as the test was done, but he wanted to tell her in person. He just couldn‘t wait to see her again.

He was just down the hill from her dorm when his cell phone rang, delivering the most horrible news of his life…</I>

Max sighed, remembering how devastated he had been to return to school the following month to discover that Elizabeth had disappeared.

If only he had known, he would have called her beforehand, explained why he had to go. In fact, he would have done it regardless if he had been thinking rationally, but the news that his sister was lying in a hospital bed had wiped all rational thoughts from his mind. It hadn't occurred to him until later what she must have thought had happened; that he had used her. He had prepared himself for some major groveling as soon as he got back to school, and began making preparations for how he was going to make it up to her, but by the time the first day of the spring semester had rolled around, she was already gone.

He had spent months trying to figure out what had happened to her, but she was so skilled at living in the background of things that hardly anyone could remember she had ever existed. He finally learned from her R.A. that she had withdrawn during the winter break, but the reason why remained a complete mystery.

He never had forgotten her. And always promised himself he would make it up to her somehow if he was ever given the chance.

Of course, tonight he’d been given that chance, and he’d completely fucked up. Even worse, he vaguely remembered telling her something along the lines of “I’d never forget someone as beautiful as you.” No wonder she‘d been so cold to him.

He had to applaud her restraint; if he were her, he would have slapped him in the face.

He considered for one impulsive moment driving over to Maria’s, where she was staying, and begging for forgiveness, but quickly decided against it. After all, it was past midnight and he was still wearing his Santa Suit. Not to mention that he was probably the last person she wanted to see right now.

And even if it was a better time, would she even listen? And if she listened, would she even care? He had obviously hurt her badly when he never called, and had ten years to make her mind up about his character. Was it even possible to salvage her opinion of him?

<I>Well, there’s only one way to find out,</I> he thought, deciding he <I>had</I> to at least try. Fate had brought her back into his life, and he’d be damned if she walked right out of it without knowing the truth.

*****

<I>I’ve died and gone to Christmas Hell!</I> Liz thought sourly the next morning as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing the dress Maria had chosen for her to wear. It was slightly different than the halters she had chosen for the bridesmaids…and infinitely worse . It was a strapless, A-line gown made of heavy red velvet, and trimmed at the breast line and hem with white maribou feathers. <I>Where did she find these? Fredricks of Hollywood?</I>

“Oh, that looks great on you!” Maria cried, entering the guest bedroom without knocking.

Liz turned around a forced a smile. “Yeah, it’s great.”

Maria’s grin quickly dissolved. “Oh, no, you hate it, don’t you?”

Liz sighed, realizing how bitchy she had sounded. “No, I like the dress. The dress is great. I’m just in a lousy mood this morning.”

Maria nodded sympathetically. “Max?”

“Yes. No. It’s just <I>everything</I>. Max…driving by the Crashdown last night…then opening presents with your family this morning…I just really began missing my parents.”

She closed her eyes as the tears she’d been suppressing all morning rose to her eyes. <I>Not gonna cry!</I>.

“Oh, sweetie!” Maria cried, rushing forward, and before she knew it, the floodgates had opened and she was sobbing and hiccupping into Maria’s shoulder.

Maria rubbed her back supportively, waiting until the worst of it was over before speaking. “I knew this was going to be hard for you, but you said you were okay with it, and I guess I believed you. God, I’m a terrible, selfish friend.”

Liz pulled back and swiped at her eyes. “No, I’m the one that’s being selfish. This is <I>your</I> big day, and here I am, dragging you down because of my issues. God, and I swore to myself that I wasn’t going to do this.”

“Oh, phooey. What kind of friend would I be if I expected you to pretend to be all la-de-da when you’re dealing with some pretty heavy emotions inside?”

Liz gave her a watery smile, feeling a little better now that she had cried and gotten some of it out of her system. “Sheesh, you running for sainthood or something?”

Maria snorted. “Me? A saint? Please.”

“It is pretty unlikely,” Liz teased. She took the tissue Maria had offered her and wiped at her eyes and nose. “Thank you. I just needed to get that out. I‘m better now.”

Maria winked and kissed her on the head. “Just do me a favor, huh? No crying during the wedding photos?”

“Absolutely not,” Liz said firmly. “From this moment on, the only tears I shed will be out of happiness.”

“Okay, but not before the ceremony. You’ll wreck your mascara. Speaking of which,” she said when the doorbell rang. “That’ll be Kyle’s Aunt Teresa and her girlfriend, here to do our hair and make-up.”

“Great, now I’m going to be all puffy,” Liz complained.

“No biggie. Just wash your face with some cold water - you’ll be a good as new.”

Liz smiled softly, amazed at how understanding Maria was being about all this. “Okay. I’ll be down in a minute.”

Maria blew her a kiss and left her alone, and Liz began getting undressed.

*****

Max was checking his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes when he noticed Michael scowling at him.

“What’s gotten into you, Max? One would think you were the one getting married.”

Max shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

Of course that was a lie. He’d been preparing what he wanted to say to Liz since last night, and the closer they got to zero hour, the more anxious he grew. He couldn’t help it.

“Max! Snap out of it!” Michael yelled, slapping him upside the head.

“Christ!” he yelled, rubbing his head. “What?”

“You have the rings, right?” he demanded with a look that said he would strangle him if he didn’t.

“Of course,“ he said, covertly patting the pocket in his tuxedo jacket, just to make sure he hadn’t forgotten them. <I>Whew.</I> “How you holding up?” he asked, reminding himself that, as best man, he should be asking these questions.

“I’m fine.” He tugged at the neck of his shirt. “I just wish this thing would get started. This tie is killing me, and these pants keep sliding up the crack of my ass.”

Max actually smirked. “That wouldn’t happen if you wore some briefs.”

“Briefs are for wimps. Real men go commando.”

“Then I guess I’m not a real man. What can I say? I prefer not to have calluses on my dick.”

“Shut your mouth,” Michael hissed. “Maria’s mother is coming.

They both straightened as Amy Deluca arrived. “Michael, we’re ready.”

Max clapped Michael on the shoulder. “See you down there.”

*****

“Oh, god, I think I’m going to throw up,” Maria moaned as they all waited in the casita her mother had rented for the girls to get dressed in.

Liz kept trying to convince herself that she no longer cared, but her stomach was so twisted in knots at the thought of facing Max again that she thought she might vomit, too. But now was not the time for her problems. As maid of honor, she had certain responsibilities; the first of which was keeping the bride calm. Not to mention, she felt she owed it to Maria after the way she had been so understanding earlier that morning. “You‘re not going to throw up. You‘re going to be fine. Come one, take a deep breath,” she urged, inhaling and exhaling loudly, motioning for Maria to do the same. “Good,” she said soothingly. “Feel better?”

Maria shook her head and Isabel appeared with a paper bag. “Here. Breathe into this. It will make you feel better.”

Maria took the rolled up bag and began to breathe into it. “Oh, you all look so beautiful,” she told Liz, Isabel, and Kyle’s wife, Tess, her voice muffled by the bag attached to her mouth. Her eyes began to fill with tears.

“No, none of that,” Isabel cried in a panicked voice. “You’ll screw up your makeup!”

Suddenly Maria dropped the bag and reached for Liz’s wrist. “I don’t think I can do this.”

“Yes, yes you can,” Liz said. “You just need to calm down.”

“But what if I’m making a huge mistake?” Maria cried, her eyes full of desperation.

“You’re not. Look, you love him, right?”

Maria nodded fervently “Yes.”

“And you can’t imagine spending the rest of your life with anyone else, right?”

“No. He‘s perfect.”

“So what are you waiting for? Go get married. Then you can go on your honeymoon and have lots of amazing sex.” She raised her eyebrows, hoping that would get her attention.

“It is pretty amazing,” Maria said, smiling wistfully. “Okay,” she stood up, a determined look on her face. “Let’s do this.”

Liz sighed in relief. <I>Crisis averted.</I>

Maria marched over to the mirror and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. Then she turned and looked down at Celeste. “You ready to strut your stuff, little one?”

Celeste, who had been spinning around and watching her pinafore style dress flare out at the waist for the last few minutes, stopped just long enough to nod.

Isabel‘s hands flew to her face. “Celeste, stop, you‘re going to spill all the flowers!”

Jim Valenti, Maria’s stepfather, appeared at the door, looking very debonair in his black tux and red satin tie and cummerbund. “It‘s time. We ready in here?”

Liz handed Maria her bouquet of red roses. Maria mouthed a grateful ‘Thank you’ at Liz before joining her stepfather at the door. “All right. Let’s get this show on the road.”

*****

Liz was surprised by the number of people who showed up at the wedding, with it being Christmas day, and all. She swore that half the town of Roswell and a good number of people from Austin were seated in the ceremony hall.

The music began and everyone “aw’d” when Celeste walked down the aisle, giggling and tossing the flowers over her head. Isabel, who was peeking in through the door the girl’s would be entering through, looked a little embarrassed, but Maria thought it was darling.

Liz made some last minute adjustments to Maria’s skirt to occupy herself as Tess, and then Isabel, met their men at the mouth of the aisle and walked down to the alter together. And then it was her turn.

Suddenly she felt like she had swallowed a hummingbird and it was now fluttering in her stomach. She forced a bright smile as she walked towards Max, and took his strong arm when he offered it. Then she made the mistake of looking into his face. She saw something flash in his eyes, and for one awful second, she wondered if he hadn’t chosen this moment to recognize her. Those fears were quelled when he gave her the same smile from last night, the one that reeked of new interest. “You look gorgeous,” he whispered as they began to walk.

“Thanks,” she said tersely.

That walk seemed to last forever. She kept her eyes on the altar the entire time, counting down the moments until she could be free of his disturbing touch.

<I>Just five more steps.

Four…

Three…

Two…almost there…</i>

“You know,” Max decided to say at that exact moment, “I knew an Elizabeth Parker in college.”

<i>Crap!</I>

Part 3a

For the second time in two days, Liz found herself ducking into the bathroom, needing a moment to compose herself. She was actually kind of proud of herself. It had taken every ounce of control she possessed, but she had managed to appear completely unaffected by Max’s comment before the wedding, and had sustained that control on the walk out, and all through the photos, the meal and the toasts.

<I>Only one more hurdle left,</I> she told herself as she checked her make up. Of course, that last hurdle was the dance with Max, and it was going to be the most difficult. Dancing was a perfect forum for talking, and Max would no doubt bring up the subject again.

This time, however, she’d be ready for him. He only <I>thought</I> he knew who she was. He wouldn’t have phrased his statement that way if he’d been sure. So, she had decided over dinner that she was going to play on that, make him doubt himself, and, if there was any justice in the world, make him feel like a complete ass for thinking she was someone she wasn’t.

She left the bathroom feeling a lot more confident than when she’d entered. She made her way back to the front table, laughing off Alex’s inquiry as to why she’d been gone so long. She then took her seat, and drank her wine, focused her attention on the dance floor.

Michael and Maria were out there, having their first dance as man and wife. Michael looked a little stiff, but he was staring at Maria with such open adoration that it made her throat grow tight. For the second time that night, she felt tears of happiness rise in her eyes as she watched them laughing and whispering in each others ears. The first time had been when Maria came down the aisle on her stepfather‘s arm. Her own problems had completely drifted away as she saw her friend, glowing with love and happiness and basking in the attention of her loved ones. She’d actually felt a little jealous. Not of the attention, but that her friend had managed to find someone she truly loved, while she, herself, had yet to be in a relationship that lasted longer than a month.

She clapped loudly when the D.J. called for applause for the new couple, and then sighed when he asked for the wedding party to join the bride and her father on the dance floor. Instantly, Max was at her side. “Shall we?”

Liz eyed Max’s extended hand warily. <I>Here we go.</I>

His palm seemed to swallow her hand as they walked to the dance floor, and she wondered if he could feel her pulse pounding at her wrist. <I>Be confident,</I> she reminded herself.

She lifted her head as they walked to the dance floor and gave him a luke-warm smile as he wrapped his arms around her tightly. Her breath hitched, because they felt so nice, so right… <I>It’s too close. Way too close.</I> She pulled back to a less disturbing distance. That was a joke, of course, because he’d have to be across the globe for her to be truly comfortable.

He shrugged and flashed her a grin that said he had to at least try, then they began dancing. She looked away and pretended to study the red and pink roses decorating the pillars that bordered the dance floor.

“She was beautiful, like you.”

Liz started when she heard the whisper in her ear. <I>He doesn‘t waste any time, does he?</I> She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry?”

“Elizabeth Parker. The girl I knew in college.”

“Oh, that’s…nice.” She said it in the same way one would say “I don’t know why you’re telling me this, but okay.” Inside, though, she was thinking, <I>He thought I was beautiful?</I>

“She was a <I>nice</I> girl. Painfully shy, but really sweet.”

She smiled politely. “Hmm.”

“She was a science wiz, too. Wanted to be a macro-biologist.”

<I>Micro-biologist, you dolt!</I> She knew that he knew the difference between the two - she had only explained it to him enough times <I>He’s trying to bait me. Not going to fall for that one.</I> “Nice,” she said again, putting just the right mix of annoyance and boredom in her voice.

“Yeah. And then she up and vanished on me.”

Liz‘s head snapped up. “<I>I</I> vanished on <I>you</I>?”

Max stared at her for a long moment. “It <I>is</I> you, then.”

Liz shrugged irritably and looked away again, silently cursing herself. <I>And I was doing so well...</I>

“Why didn’t you say something last night?” Max murmured.

“And subject myself to further humiliation after you spouted off about how unforgettable a face like mine was?” she muttered wryly. She made a scoffing sound, then decided to go on the offensive. “Tell me, do you forget all your conquests so easily?”

“Conquests?”

“Oh--my bad. You have to be desired by <I>many</I> to be a conquest. So what was I then? A pity-fuck? You showing gratitude for all the hours I helped you by introducing me, the poor, pathetic virgin, to the world of sex?”

He jerked back from her as if she had struck him. “That’s not how it was, Liz.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “How was it, then? Let me guess - you were feeling a little restless and I was the closest warm body?”

A look of outrage on his face, Max opened his mouth to argue, but the words never came. Something else had drawn his attention, and Liz followed his gaze to see they had garnered a small audience of their closest friends and family. Maria was watching them like a hawk, alternating glares at Max and frowns of concern at Liz. Alex and Isabel were watching, too, both wearing similar looks of confusion. Michael wore his usual bored expression.

<I>Great, now we’re creating a scene.</I>

“We should finish this conversation somewhere more private,” Max suggested in an undertone.

Liz looked at the hand he’d offered her and snorted. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

“How about later, then? After the reception?”

“I don‘t think so.”

“Please? All I‘m asking is for the chance to explain.”

She shook her head. “That’s the thing. There’s nothing to explain. It was ten years ago. I no longer care. I‘m over it.”

“Well, I’m not. And I don’t think you are either.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“If you were truly over what happened between us, you wouldn’t still be so angry after all this time.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“No, I think I do. In fact, I have a theory.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “Oh, this should be enlightening.”

“My theory is that you’re scared.”

“Scared of what?”

“You’re scared that maybe I’ll tell you my story, and you’ll find out that I’m not the asshole you think I am.”

“And why would that scare me?”

“Because you’d have to realize that there are people out there you can trust, and even more terrifying, that I’m one of them. You don’t want to know that I didn’t screw you over, that I meant every single word I said to you that night, and that there hasn’t been a day that’s passed in the last ten years when I didn’t think of you. Because if you did, it would throw your perfectly controlled world you live in into upheaval, and then what would you do with yourself?”

Liz stared at him, blank, amazed, and very shaken. She knew he was just guessing - he couldn’t possibly know that about her - but he’d hit the nail right on the head. There hadn’t been many constants in her life, but believing Max was a user and a bastard had always been one of them. She didn’t know if she was ready to let that go.

His voice lowered. “And maybe, just maybe, you’d have to let down some of those walls you’ve erected around your heart, and face the fact that you still care about me, too.”

She shook her head weakly, still unable to say anything.

“We had something pretty spectacular once. I know we can find that again. You just have to take a chance on me.”

She had to get out of there. If she stayed for another second, she thought she might begin crying and she couldn’t bear to do that in front of Max. Somehow, she managed to find her voice. “I took a chance on you once before, and it almost destroyed me. I‘m not strong enough to go through that again.” She turned to leave.

“Liz, wait!” he placed his palm on her arm, and suddenly Alex was there.

“Liz, may I have this dance?” He shot a dark look at Max, daring him to protest.

“Absolutely,” she replied with a weak, but grateful smile. Alex winked and pulled her farther out onto the dance floor. Liz was still shaking when rested her cheek on his shoulder, covertly watching Max’s retreating back as he stalked off the dance floor. She waited until he was out of her eye-line before looking up at Alex. “Thank you.”

“Anytime. Things were looking a little tense. I thought you might appreciate an ‘out.’ Are you okay?” he asked, his puppy-dog eyes full of concern.

She shook her head. “Not really.”

Part 3b

Max watched Liz and Alex grimly from the bar as one song segued into another and his cousin Robert approached, asking Liz for the next dance. Liz nodded once at Alex, and took Robert’s hand with a soft smile that set Max’s teeth on edge.

<I>And she thinks I’m a pig...</I> Robert Evans hadn’t had a job in almost eight years. Instead, he bounced from woman to woman, sponging off them until they grew wise enough to toss him out on his ass.

He rolled his eyes in disgust and tossed the rest of his bourbon back. As a rule, he usually stayed away from hard alcohol, but he was so anxious tonight that he had to cool his nerves somehow.

For one heart-stopping moment, he had known he was getting through to Liz out there. He’d seen that flash in her eyes, known he’d planted the seed of doubt she needed…and then he tried to go after her, and Alex had shown up. As much as he liked Alex, and thought he was just perfect for his sister, he wanted to strangle him at that moment.

<I>All it would have taken was one more minute. One more minute and she would have listened.</I>

That wasn’t to say he was going to give up. Whether she realized it or not, she’d admitted she still had feelings for him, and because of that, he knew he just had to keep trying. Eventually, she’d listen. And then, regardless of how she responded to what he had to say, he’d do whatever it took to earn her trust again.

“Can I get another?” he asked, shaking his empty glass at the bartended.

The bartender poured his drink and Max tossed a couple more bucks into the tip jar. Then he turned his attention back to Liz, only to find her attention was on him. For one split second, her eyes took on that deer-in-headlights look, and then she looked away hastily.

<I>God, I’d pay a million bucks to know what she’s thinking, right now.</I>

“What the <I>hell</I> do you think you’re doing?”

Max sighed and turned his head towards the owner of the voice. “Hello, Maria. Lovely wedding.”

The new bride was standing just to his side, arms crossed over her chest and with a murderous look in her eyes. “Don’t ‘Hello, Maria’ me. I know what you did to her.”

“No, you really don’t.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You only know her side of the story. I have a side, too.”

“Well, forgive me when I say your side means <I>dick</I> to me. I want you to stay away from her.”

Max shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t do that.”

“What, you haven’t caused her enough pain? Just won’t be satisfied until you rub it in a little more?”

Max had to take a deep breath to stop himself from shaking her. “Look, I know you’re just looking out for your friend, and I admire…<I>christ!</I>” he cried as Maria grabbed his balls and squeezed them with her clawed nails.

“I don’t want your admiration,” she growled, her voice deathly low, “I just want you to leave her the hell alone. Do you get me?” she asked, her grip tightening so hard that spots flashed before his eyes.

“Yes, now get your hands off me.”

He had to stop himself from doubling over in relief when she released him and flashed a saccharine-sweet smile in his direction. “You have yourself a nice night, Max.”

<I>Aw, fuck…</I> He discreetly reached for his jewels, making sure they were still intact. <I>Whew! Still there, but throbbing like a…</I> He turned to the smirking bartender. “Can I get some ice, here?”

*****

Liz stared at Maria with an incredulous expression. “You did <I>WHAT</I>?”

Maria chuckled as she and Liz shared a piece of the wedding cake. “Hey, I just gave him some incentive to leave you alone.”

“By reducing his chances of ever having children?”

“Please, I did the world a favor. Jerks like him shouldn’t be allowed to procreate.”

Liz frowned as she sucked on the thick piece of frosting on her fork. “But…what if he…?” She trailed off and shook her head. <I>Was I actually going to defend him? What is wrong with me?</I>

Maria‘s eyebrow rose. “What if he, what?”

“Nevermind. You’re right. He’s a jerk.” <I>That’s right, Liz, remember? He’s a jerk. He’s a jerk. He’s a jerk…</I>

“Duh.”

Maria‘s stepfather suddenly appeared at their side. “It’s time to throw the bouquet, sweetheart.”

Maria looked at Liz, her eyes twinkling.

Liz shook her head. “Uh-uh, don’t even think about it.”

*****

Even though Liz did her best to hide behind the throng of desperate women who actually wanted to catch the bouquet, it still managed to fly right into her hands. <I>Of course.</I> She mock-glared at Maria, who was laughing and clapping her hands.

Liz then laughed herself as the cheesy stripper-music began. Maria made a great presentation out of adjusting her long, white gloves, and fluffing out her skirt, before lifting one shapely leg and placing it on the chair that had been brought out. Most of the guests in the hall began cat-calling as Michael brought his mouth to her ankle, trailed his lips all the way up to her thigh, and pulled the red satin garter off with his teeth. He twirled it around his finger and then shot it like a sling-shot directly towards his best man.

The laugh died on Liz’s lips as Max met her eyes and motioned towards the chair. Thankfully, Maria spared her from having to go sit on his lap for pictures by rushing up and asking her to help her change into her traveling outfit.

*****

“Have fun!” Liz told Maria, kissing her on the cheek.

Maria laughed. “Oh, we will. I’ll call you when we get back.”

Liz nodded and watched as she and Michael ran towards the limo that would take them to the airport, both ducking the rice raining down on their heads. She snuck away as the well-wishers followed the couple out, and beat a hasty retreat to the parking lot. <I>Time to get the hell out of Dodge.</I>

She and Maria had arranged for her to use the Jetta for the rest of the following day, and then leave it at the airport when she went back to New York. That way, Maria and Michael had transportation home when they returned from Colorado, and Liz didn’t have to depend on anyone else for a ride.

She was fishing the keys out of her purse when she ran smack-dab into Max. She exhaled loudly as exhaustion overtook her. She’d been hoping to avoid this. “Leave me alone, Max.”

“No, not until you hear me out.”

She shook her head and stepped past him. He followed. “Liz, please, just give me five minutes. All I want to do is explain.”

She slowed, too exhausted to keep arguing. And, she hated to admit, she <I>was</I> a little curious. “Five minutes, and then you’ll leave me alone?”

“If you want.”

She looked down at her watch. “Fine, start talking.”

Part 3c - CONCLUSION

Max sighed in relief, then looked around. A parking lot in the late evening wasn’t his ideal venue for this conversation. “Here? Now?”

“It’s now or never.”

“Fine,” he sighed, consoling himself with the fact that she was at least going to listen. He opened his mouth to speak, then noticed Liz’s flesh pebbling with goosebumps. He removed his jacket. “Here.”

“I’m fine,” she said stubbornly.

Max sighed in exasperation. “No, you’re not. You’re freezing.”

She flinched when he moved to place the jacket over her shoulders, so he handed it to her instead.

She eyed it suspiciously for a moment before taking it. He watched as she slid her arms into the jacket and pulled it tight around her slim body. “Thank you,” she grumbled grudgingly, avoiding his eyes.

“My pleasure.”

She shook her head and rose her chin. “Clock’s ticking.”

“Right,” he murmured, realizing this was his only chance to convince her how he felt. “Okay…I wanna start off by telling you that every thing I said on the dance floor tonight was the absolute truth. Nothing I did that night had to do with pity, or me being grateful for your help. I kissed you because you were so damn sweet and beautiful that I couldn’t help myself, and I really had been wanting to do it for months. I was just too scared.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “You were scared. Right.”

“It‘s the truth. Liz, you weren’t like the other girls I was usually attracted to…”

“You mean I didn’t automatically throw my legs in the air because you were a hot-shot athlete?”

Max‘s jaw clenched. He had known she wasn‘t going to make this easy, but damn… “You know, I’m going to need more than five minutes if you keep interrupting.”

Liz sighed and pressed her lips together.

“You were so serious, so shy. It took months for you to open up to me, get comfortable being around me. I watched you around other people and knew that didn’t happen very often. I was scared that if I left you know how I was feeling, you’d shut down on me again, or reject me. The last thing I wanted to do was destroy that trust you started to show in me.

“Then, that last night, you said something that blew me away. You told me you believed in me. It may not seem like that big of a deal, but no one ever believed I could do anything but kick ass on the hockey rink. I can’t even describe how your words made me feel. I felt like…like if I didn’t kiss you, I might die. May sound overly dramatic, but it’s the absolute truth. And then, when you responded…

“That night taught me the difference between sex and making love. The ultimate goal of sex is release. What we did…it wasn’t about goals. It was about touching, and feeling, and connecting. You made me feel things that I never knew I could feel. By far, it was the best night of my life.”

“If it was so great, then why did you leave?”

Max shook his head when he heard Liz’s soft voice, and realized that while he’d been speaking, his gaze had been millions of miles away. He turned back to look at her. Her eyes, wide and unseeing, were focused on the ground. He knew he was getting through to her. He just needed to keep going.

“I didn’t want to. In fact, I was coming to see you when my mom called to tell me that my sister was in the hospital.”

She looked up sharply. “Isabel?”

He nodded grimly. “She‘d been hurt, badly, by someone she thought she could trust, and the doctors didn’t know if she was going to survive.”

“Seriously?” she asked, looking a tad suspicious.

Max’s fists clenched. He may be a lot of things, but he would never make up stories about his family, especially his sister, just to get her to trust him. He opened his mouth to tell her this, but someone else spoke first.

“It’s the truth.”

Both their heads whipped to the side to see Isabel and Alex stepping out from behind a column together. “What are you guys doing out here?” Max demanded.

Alex met his gaze. “We saw Liz come out here. We just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”

“It’s the truth,” Isabel said again, looking Liz in the face. “He left because of me, and he stayed by my side the entire time I was in the hospital, telling me stories about this wonderful girl he was falling for back at school. And from what we just…heard, I‘m assuming you‘re her?” She looked to Max for confirmation, and he nodded.

Alex suddenly looked very lost. “Wait, what’s going on here?”

“I’ll fill you in,” Isabel told Alex, “Let’s give them some privacy.”

Alex looked reluctant to go with her. “Liz?”

Liz wouldn’t meet his eyes, but she spoke softly. “Go ahead.”

Max waited until they were completely gone before turning back to Liz. “Well, that was unexpected.”

Liz looked shaken. “You still could have called.”

“I know. But after I heard the news, the only thing I could think of was getting to her. I ran back to my room, packed the essentials and was on the first plane home within the hour. It didn‘t occur to me what conclusions you would probably come to until I got home, and by then, I knew you would have already left for winter break. And then I began making plans to make it up to you, but by the time I came back, you were already gone. I thought I lost you forever, though I never forgot about you. But here you are, back in my life again. There’s got to be a reason for that. Look…all I’m asking is for a chance to make it up to you.”

There. He’d said what he meant to. The next move was up to her. And as much as his gut twisted at the though, he would respect her wishes if she wanted him to leave her alone.

The next minute was the most painful of his life. She stood completely still, completely silent. The expression on her face gave nothing away, though he could tell she was weighing what he’d said. He could only pray that the scale tipped in his favor.

Finally, when he thought he would scream if she didn’t say something soon, she spoke. “Come with me.”

“What?”

She turned around and began marching towards Maria’s car. “You coming?”

It took Max a moment to realize that she wasn’t telling him to go away. Not that that meant anything, but he had to admit it gave him hope. He fell into step beside her. “Where are we going?”

“Back in time.”

*****

“Desert Hills Cemetery?” Max asked as she pulled the car to a stop.

Liz opened her car door and stepped out. “Come on.” She could only imagine what he was thinking at this moment, but he had shared his story with her, now she wanted to share her story with him.

She believed his story, and would have, even if Isabel hadn‘t shown up. She’d seen the remorse in his eyes, the regret, and known he’d never meant to hurt her.

That wasn’t to say she could let it all go. The anger and pain had been with her so long that she didn’t know if that would ever be possible. Regardless, she was going to give it a try; starting with getting to the source of her anger. Her conscience wouldn’t let her put the blame entirely on him anymore.

“Just over this hill,” she told him over her shoulder, hiking the dress up around her knees to prevent it from getting all muddy.

“You’re not going to bury me and make it look like an accident, are you?”

A smile pulled at her lips. She <I>was</I> hoping to bury him, but not in the way he thought. She came to a stop as a solitary headstone came into view and pointed. “There.”

Max paused beside her, a confused look on his face. Then he walked forward to check it out. “Your parents?” he asked softly, reading the names engraved on the marble.

Breathing deeply, she took those last few steps and joined him at his side. “Look at the date.”

“December 24, 1995...ten years ago yesterday.” he sighed, and closed his eyes. “Oh, god, Liz…”

“Sit down.”

“Sit down?”

“Please?” They both lowered themselves onto the grass, and faced each other. She inhaled and exhaled shakily. “I want to tell you my story, but I’m not sure where to start.”

“Start from the beginning.”

She picked at a piece of grass and began twirling it between her fingers, as she tried to figure out where that was. “I guess that would be the day after we made love. I could have left for break at anytime, I was already done with my finals, but you promised me you would call, so I waited around. Well, your final came and went, and I still didn’t hear from you. And then, afternoon slipped into evening, and by the end of the night, I thought maybe you’d got caught up with the guys on the team, and that maybe you weren’t calling because it was so late, and were trying to be considerate. I told myself that you would definitely call the next day, so, instead of going home, I waited around again. And I kept waiting until Friday afternoon when they finally kicked me out of the dorm. By then, I finally forced myself to accept the fact that I had been used.”

“I’m serious, Liz, that’s not what happened.”

“No…I know. But back then…”

Max nodded, and she continued. “Do you remember me telling you that I went to NYU because it was so close to my grandmother?”

“Vaguely.”

“Well, my parents had decided that I should stay with her over the break and they would come to us for Christmas. They took a plane on the twenty-third, and made it to Chicago okay, but the weather was so bad that their flight was grounded. My dad refused to miss Christmas with us, so he and my mom rented a car and planned to drive the rest of the way. They called that night to tell us their plans, but I was still so upset over what happened between you and me that I didn’t want to talk. I asked my grandma to tell them I‘d see them when I got there.”

“And then never made it, did they?”

“No, a semi-truck lost control and jack-knifed a hundred feet ahead of them. The roads were just too icy…” she stopped as her throat clogged with tears. Dredging all this history up, and in front of the person she associated it starting with, made the pain feel as acute as when it first happened. “They died instantly,” she finished on a choked whisper.

Max rubbed his face. “Oh, man. And because of me, you never got to tell them goodbye. No wonder you hate me.”

Liz wiped at her eyes and sniffed. “I didn’t hate you. I was just so full of grief and anger - mostly at myself for being so self-involved that I couldn‘t even take a few minutes to say hi, and tell them I loved them - that I had to put the blame on someone. You were the obvious choice.”

“I can see that.”

Liz took a shuddering breath and continued. “My grandma didn’t take the news well. She had already had a heart attack the year before - that’s why I chose NYU over Harvard in the first place - and she had another when she found out her only son was dead. By some stroke of luck, she pulled through, but her heart was still weak. I felt like I had no other choice but to leave school and stay with her.”

Max took her hand, and she let him. It felt nice…warm…<I>soothing</I>. She almost laughed, realizing that if it was two hours earlier, she would have been checking herself into a mental institution for incorporating ‘Max Evans’ and ‘soothing’ in the same thought. Funny how things could change so suddenly.

“That was very good of you.”

She looked up from their hands and into his handsome face. “It had nothing to do with being good, Max. She was the only family I had left. My grandfather had died years before, and my mom was estranged from her parents. I had to be there for her, for however long she had left.”

“How long was that?” he asked quietly.

“Three months.”

“Damn. And the punches just kept on coming.”

“Yeah. I lost my entire family in a three month period, all starting around the holidays. And I’ve pretty much been alone ever since,” Liz whispered.

Max watched her for a long moment, his eyes growing intense. “You never have to be alone again,” he told her in a low voice.

Liz’s heart jumped into her throat. She didn’t know what to say.

Max shifted his body in closer, so that knees were on her side and their faces were only inches apart. “Listen to me, Liz,” he pleaded, placing a hand on her cheek. “I have never cared about anyone in my entire life the way I cared about you. The way I still care. I know how much I hurt you back then, but I promise that, if you let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

Liz’s eyes widened fractionally. “That’s a long time.”

Max caressed her face with the pad of his thumb. “We’ve been apart for a long time. We have a lot to make up for.”

She closed her eyes. “I don’t know…it’s been so long…”

“Look at me,” he urged, and she opened her eyes. “I’m not asking to pick up where we left off. We can start out slow, get to know each other again. I‘ll give you as much time as you need to work out your feelings. Just give us a chance.”

The heartfelt sincerity in his voice had her eyes swimming with tears. He knew how to say all the right things, and while a part of her still wanted to doubt him, the other part was telling her she could believe him.

“What do you say, Liz?”

“Yes.”

His mouth gaped for about five seconds. “Yes?”

She nodded and smiled, feeling the tears slipping past the rims of her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. “Yes.”

He grinned and automatically leaned in to kiss her, but stopped at the last second. “Uh…I know I said slow, but do you mind?”

“Not at all.”

He pressed his lips to hers, caressing her mouth more than kissing it. Shockwaves of awareness shot through her body at the gentle contact, and she suddenly remembered how powerful his kisses were.

“How was that?” he asked, his lips fluttering against her own.

She grinned as a long buried memory of their first kiss surfaced. “Do it again,” she ordered.

He chuckled. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

THE END

Oh man, that was freaking excellent, dude! You ROCK

Thank you. So glad you liked it.

Christina

What an excellent story. I laughed and I cried. Awesome work! :D

You cried? Really? LOL!!

I'm just teasing, but I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

Christina

: Yeah, the ending got me a little misty. What can I say? I'm a sap!

I remember reading this story awhile back over at LOD. I really enjoyed re-reading this tonight :D I hope you will write a sequel someday. It would be nice to glimpse M/L dating and maybe even gathering for their wedding Thanks for sharing your time and talent :!: