Writing down the number to her hotel, Max swallowed as he thought of sleeping alone tonight. "I’m going to stay with my parents this week, okay Liz? If you need me, I’ll be there…"

"Okay," she said softly.

"I’ll call before you go to sleep later. And…" He faltered, not knowing what to say. He didn’t want to be talking to her, he wanted to be WITH her. "I really want to hold you right now!"

Silence greeted his fierce statement, before Liz said: "I love you, Max. I-I’ll talk to you later."

Cursing himself for only upsetting her further, he mumbled: "Yeah. Bye sweetheart."

Milton came bustling into the office and gave him strange look. "What happened to you? Cat died?"

Giving him a weak smile, Max tried to get a hold of himself. "No, Liz is in Boston."

"Ooooh," Milton said as if that explained everything. In fact, to Milton, it did. Max has been working for him for a long time and he would have to be blind not to notice how besotted the guy was with his Liz. Milton patted Max on the back sympathetically. "First time without her, heh? You’ll live."

Max sighed. "Yeah, I know."

Milton grinned. "But I can see that you would miss her. A cute thing, your Liz. And what guy wouldn’t miss being looked at like you are the best thing since chocolate!"

Max couldn’t help but chuckle at that comment. Milton was a funny guy.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz was just starting to seriously mope when Nick came to get her, announcing that he was taking her out to dinner. After seeing her less than enthusiastic response, Nick decided to take action: "I’ll make you a deal," he said, "you tell me when you need Max and I’ll boost your connection. I know you’ll miss him all the time, but he wouldn’t want you to not at least enjoy SOME of the trip, okay?"

Taking a deep breath, Liz realized he was right. Being pathetic all the time was not an option. She was a big girl and she could surely live for a week without Max by her side. She had his love and she could phone him at any time. And Nick was here to help her when things got unbearable. Getting up, she squared her shoulders and pinned Nick with a determined gaze: "Deal! Let’s go have dinner."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Max was catching up on some reading later that night when Michael appeared at his window. "Wow, this brings back some memories!" Max said drily. "What are you doing here?"

Looking sheepish, Michael scratched his head. "Maria made me come. She didn’t think you should be alone tonight."

Not knowing what to say, Max merely nodded his head. Maria was apparently in ‘Operation-Never-Leave-Max-Alone-for-an-Instant’ mode again. Not that he complained, he had had a weird feeling of being watched all afternoon.

Michael flung himself on Max’s bed, dissatisfaction with his current location screaming from every line in his body. Max suddenly felt guilty. "Hey, you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I’m sure I’ll be okay."

"Yeah, you don’t know Maria. She threatened me with horrible punishments if I left here tonight." Michael sounded surly.

Grinning, Max felt some of the tension leave his body. His friends would be here for him, he shouldn’t even have tried to handle all this alone. "Like what?"

"Like no sex for a week."

Max winced. "Hey, that’s too cruel. I’ll have to talk to her."

Michael sighed long-sufferingly. "She’s a hard woman, I tell you." He was quiet for a moment before continuing: "You know that time you said friends didn’t keep such things from each other?"

Nodding, Max remembered talking to Michael about seeing flashes when kissing Liz and Michael had claimed to have experienced that several times.

"Well, Maxwell, you should’ve told me it would be so amazing. You know, being with her."

This elicited a full-blown grin from Max. "I had no clue you would take so long to take the final plunge, so to speak! You and Maria were always so hot and heavy, I thought—"

"Yeah, whatever." It was clear that this whole discussion made Michael uncomfortable. "Let’s just say, I’ll do whatever she tells me now."

They looked at each other with understanding. "Man, we’re whipped!" Michael stated disgustedly.

"It still beats being without them," Max said matter-of-factly. This only reminded him of Liz again and he rubbed his hands over his face before glancing at his bed. This would be the first time in over a year that he would sleep without Liz in his arms…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Tess stood outside Max’s window and glared at Michael’s sleeping form on the floor. What the hell was he doing here? Everywhere Max went today, he had been surrounded by people and she was getting irritated. Also, Max wasn’t asleep right now. He was lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling and Tess just KNEW he was thinking of HER. It was disgusting, really. She turned away from his window angrily and jumped in her car, adjusting the mirror so she could see herself. What was wrong with Max Evans? She was gorgeous! How could he not want her? How could he keep lusting after Liz Parker when she was so… so boring! She had no chest to speak of and always wore such prim outfits. And her hair! It was BROWN, for crying out loud. Brown and flat. Tess jerked the mirror back in place and took off with squealing tires. Tomorrow night… she would get him tomorrow night.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Max only vaguely registered the sound of screeching tires outside, his mind was focused on Liz. When he had spoken to her a while ago, she had sounded better and had told him about the little restaurant near the harbor where Nick had taken her. They also planned to do some sightseeing the next day and Max was relieved that Nick was looking after her so well. Now if he could only get through this night, it would be one less he had to live through before he could see her again. Turning on his side, his eyes fell on a picture of her he had on his nightstand. The moonlight helped him pick out her features, but most of all, the picture had captured her sparkling eyes. Oh god, I miss her.

Closing his eyes, he could still hear her parting words. Dream of me, Max. And he did…

~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz was surprised when she actually enjoyed Sunday. Nick took her all over Boston and they even made a quick stop at the college where she was taking her course so she could see the place. She still found herself looking around for Max to show him something or tell him something, but luckily Nick seemed to understand and didn’t comment on her lapses. She got tired late in the afternoon and Nick grinned when he saw her yawning behind her hand for the umpteenth time.

"Sorry!" she said with a blush. "I didn’t sleep much last night."

"So I gathered. Why don’t we make it an early night tonight? We have to be up early for your course tomorrow."

"Oh Nick, you really don’t have to go with me. I’m sure I’ll be—"

But he interrupted her. "You’re kidding me, right? You might not be in awe of Max’s position, but I sure am. I grew up hearing about him and there’s no way I’m letting you out of my sight these two weeks. Even if you technically outrank me and can order me away!" He smiled at her embarrassed countenance. "I’m just pulling your leg. I want to go with you. For Max and for me. You are like my sister, you know!"

Liz couldn’t help but smile at him for saying such sweet things. "Thank you."

Nick shook his head, thinking that that was such a Liz thing to say.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabel sat with Max in his room and he gathered that it was her turn to watch over him tonight. They had spent the day with their parents, something that was rare these days, and Diane had made a ton of food for Sunday lunch to celebrate. But now that the sun was setting and the normal Sunday afternoon quiet was stealing over their small town, Max was feeling melancholy. Normally, he would be in bed with Liz right now, either napping or talking or making love. Anything that included a lot of cuddling was part of their late Sunday afternoon ritual. He missed that. He missed being able to touch her and talk to her. He missed Liz.

Isabel saw everything that went through her brother’s mind on his face. "Do you want me to help you dreamwalk her tonight?"

Max was tempted for a few seconds, but he needed to be alone with Liz, not have Izzy there too. "No, its okay. I’ll phone her later."

"How are things with her?"

"Nick says she’s fine. You know, doing stuff like preparing for the course."

"You sound bummed," Isabel said with a small laugh. "Not liking that she didn’t fall apart completely without you? And what’s with the ‘Nick says’ thing? Is he reporting in every night or something?"

Max didn’t answer immediately.

"He is!" Isabel cried. "Max, I can’t believe you!"

"Whoa," he held up his hands, "he just tells me how she is. It’s not like I’m spying on her or anything. I just… I want to know that she’s okay, that’s all. And you know Liz, she would not tell me if something’s wrong."

Isabel just shook her head. "Well, I’ll be next door if you need me. Tell Liz I said hi when you talk to her."

~*~*~*~*~*~

Much later, after he had talked to both Liz and Nick, and had taken a long shower, Max finally dropped into bed. He had trouble sleeping last night and the only real rest he had was when he was dreaming about Liz. Thank goodness, it had not been an erotic dream. He had plenty of those about Liz normally and he would’ve hated for Michael to hear him or something!

But tonight, he was finally alone in his room, so he could dream whatever he liked. He put his hands under his head and stared up at the ceiling until the flutter of the drapes in front of his window reminded him of the night Liz came here wearing that sexy nightgown and a coat. A small smile stole over his lips as he remembered how innocent and provocative she had been all at once. His mind had no trouble conjuring up the image of her, he knew every part of her body like the back of his hand. It had been so strange in the beginning. Making love came naturally, but being naked and allowing each other the freedom to explore had been something else. Liz had this thing that she was not voluptuous or sexy enough and that he would get tired of her body. So he had to patiently and tenderly break down all her reserves about herself. He had shown her over and over again what she did to him. How much he wanted her. He smiled ruefully. And now a year later, he wanted her even more. He never got tired of looking at her. She was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.