Liz jumped at the sound of Max’s voice in the darkened living room. She quickly clicked on the lamp to find him sitting at the base of the stairs waiting for her. “I told you I’d be a little late,” Liz explained lamely, shutting the front door and leaning back against it.

“Yeah, you did,” Max stated with calmness he did not feel, “but you didn’t tell me why or where you were for that matter. So it’s nearly 11:00 p.m….where have you been?”

“I’ve been hanging with Alex…and Maria.”

At the mention of Maria, Max hung his head in shame, instinctively knowing that Liz knew the truth. “So you talked to Maria, huh?” he said, his voice suddenly hoarse and dry, “Well, I guess there’s some things I need to explain then…” He lifted his head to find Liz standing directly in front of him. He kept his eyes glued at her waist, unable to look at her. “Liz?”

“Shh,” Liz admonished, kneeling before him. Taking his face between her hands, she gave him a long, slow kiss. At first Max was too startled, too confused to respond but after a few moments he began tentatively kissing her back. When she finally pulled away, Max licked his lips, savoring the taste of her. He closed his eyes, mentally strengthening himself for what he was about to do, “Liz, I have to tell you something-,”

“I don’t want to talk,” Liz interrupted quickly, pressing her finger against his lips, “….Max, make love to me.”

Max shook his head in confusion. “Liz, I have to tell y-,”

“Just take me to bed…please?”

“Liz,” he continued persistently, “I have something I need to tell you.” Abruptly, Liz rose to her feet, lifting the edge of her shirt as she did. She whisked it over her head and tossed it across the room. When she reached behind her back to unclasp her bra, Max said softly, “Liz, don’t…” Liz let her bra fall forward. It slipped down her arms and landed at her feet. She then hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her sweatpants, dragging them, along with her panties, over her hips and past her knees. After she’d kicked out of her pants she looked back at Max, completely naked, her expression beseeching. “Are you still going to say no?”

“No,” Max breathed as he stared at her. He rose slowly to his feet.

“No?”

“No,” he said again, before taking her mouth captive in a desperate kiss. He backed her against the wall, holding her face captured between his between his hands while his mouth slanted over hers again and again. Liz groped for the edge of his shirt, dragging it over his head and tossing it away. The moment he was free of it their mouths fused once more. Together they worked his jeans downs his hips.

With his pants pooled around his ankles, Max lifted Liz up so that she could wrap her legs around his waist, pinning her against the wall. He entered her in one sudden thrust. Their eyes met for an electric moment while they’re shared a mutual gasp of pleasure. And then Max buried his face in the crook of her neck and gave himself up, to Liz; to the passionate desperate that claimed him whenever she was near. He pounded into her mindlessly, only wanting to reach the goal, to have her there with him.

Liz dug her nails into his naked back, biting her lip to keep from crying out. She locked her ankles at the small of his back, arching against him to allow his stroking body deeper access inside her own. Her orgasm came in a wave of blinding pleasure that caused her to moan long and loud. Max followed her quickly after, jerking her body down onto his one last before spilling his seed, his life, and his love, into her.

After it was over they were both exhausted and panting, glistening with perspiration. Because Max’s knees could no longer hold him, he sank to the floor, taking Liz with him. They lay back against the wall, still entwined, their foreheads resting against each other.

“Were you ever going to tell me the truth?” Liz asked him when her heart finally stopped thundering.

“I wanted to, Liz…I just didn’t know what to say…”

“Are you in love with her?” Liz suddenly asked in a breath. Her tone was sad, fearful.

Max heard her fear and it broke his heart. He stroked her cheek, gazing deep into her eyes when he said, “No, I’m not, Liz.”

“But you thought you were,” Liz guessed, seeing the truth in his eyes even though he didn’t answer her with words.

Liz’s agonized expression was too much for him and he dropped his gaze to where their legs were entangled. “We just kissed once, Liz,” he admitted in a hollow voice, “Nothing more happened between us.”

“Max,” Liz said with a bittersweet smile, “that was enough.”

“Are you going to leave me now?”

The sad, boyish candor of his words made Liz smile in spit of everything. “Where would I go?” she asked him quietly, “You’re my home.”

Her words humbled him and caused tears to glisten in his eyes. “I just want you to know that…it’s over between Maria and me. She came by this morning and said some things…but that doesn’t matter, Liz, none of that matters because I want to be with you. I don’t want to hurt Maria,” he finished solemnly, “but I don’t want to be with her either.”

“I don’t want you staying with me out of pity, Max. I couldn’t stand that.”

Max looked down at her in amazement, unable to believe she had actually conceived of such an idea. “Liz, I love you,” he told her with fierce conviction, “I can’t even breathe without you.” He sealed that statement with a breath-stealing kiss.

When they broke apart a few moments later Liz said, “I saw Maria’s baby today.”

“Adrienne?”

“She’s beautiful…like a miniature version of Maria in every way. Seeing her made me think of…” she trailed off, her expression bereft. She glued her eyes on his chest, unable to look at him, to see the hurt she knew would mirror her own.

“I know,” Max answered her, not needing for Liz to finish her sentence to know what she had been about to say. “Do you still think about him?” It was a needless question, because Max knew very well that she did. So did he. He asked more out of encouragement. She needed to talk about their son and so did he.

“I think about him all the time…” she said sorrowfully, “He would have been eight months old at the end of the week…did you know that?”

“Yeah,” Max whispered hoarsely, “I knew that.”

“When you got rid of the baby stuff…it killed me,” Liz admitted in a small, muffled voice, “While you were at work I used to go into his nursery and stare at the bare walls for hours…”

“I didn’t think you’d even noticed,” Max told her in surprise, “…I thought you didn’t care.”

“I cared…I care a lot. I just knew that if I acknowledged it…if I let myself feel that pain, I would have started screaming and I would have never stopped. All those months I lay around like a zombie I was desperately trying to hang on to my sanity, Max. The day I tried to commit suicide I just decided to let go…”

“Why?”

“Cause you had moved on without me,” Liz said with quivering emotion, “I just thought maybe you were better off that way.”

“Liz, I had no choice…who was going to take care of Claudia? Who was going to keep our life together?”

“And is that what Maria did for you…kept your life together?”

“She was a friend, Liz,” Max whispered, forcing her gaze to his, “I needed someone…and she was just there…”

“I know,” Liz conceded, dropping her eyes, “…you shared everything…”

Max ducked his head low to see her face. “Not everything, Liz.” After a long moment, Liz finally lifted her head to look at him. “I haven’t been to Jeffrey’s grave site since the funeral,” Max confided in a low tone, “I’ve been waiting for you…I think we need to say our good-byes together.”

Liz nodded her agreement, knowing he was right, but not looking forward to the prospect of going and reliving the memories she had been hiding from for months. And because she didn’t want to think about it any longer, she changed the subject. “Do you remember when we first found out that we were having a boy?”

“Yeah…,” Max said with a glimmering smile of remembrance, “I walked around for days grinning like an absolute idiot.”

“And you bought all those cigars, remember? You ending up getting so sick because you tried to smoke one.”

“I remember that,” Max said chuckling, “What on earth had possessed me to do something so hair-brained?” he asked, his brows knit in confusion. He and Liz looked at each, coming to the answer simultaneously, “Michael!” They both burst out laughing in memory.

“You turned sooo green…” Liz giggled, “Whenever anyone even mentioned a cigar you would go completely pale. See!” Liz exclaimed when she looked up and found Max’s face blanched of color, “you’re doing it now!”

“I’m glad you find the idea of me being nauseous so funny,” Max quipped irritably, but he was smiling. However, as their laughter began to drain away, Max’s thoughts were again turned to their original dilemma. “So what now?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean are we together? Apart? I mean, what are we going to do now that you know the truth?”

Liz bit her lip, pretending to consider his questions gravely. “Well,” Liz sighed, tapping her finger against her bottom lip, “I’m not exactly sure…”

Max almost took her seriously until he spied a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. He hugged her against him affectionately. “What exactly can I do to convince you?” he whispered into her ear.

Liz looked at him seriously then, using her fingertips to skim his face reverently. “Love me, Max,” Liz said softly, “…just love me for the rest of your life.”