“Are you all right?” she asked gently. Maria took a quick glance over Max’s body. His whole frame was stiff and rigid, emitting closed off emotions. His eyes were tightly shut, and remnants of tear tracks lay on his face. His breathing was deep and shallow. He was dressed though, his slacks fitting comfortably on his legs, and his dress shirt resting open on his body.

“No,” Max murmured. Maria wrapped her arms around his waist in a friendly hug. “I need her, Maria. I can’t stand knowing she’s out there somewhere without me and someone wants to hurt her. I hate knowing that at the most important moment, when I had to protect her, I failed. Miserably.”

“No, Max, you didn’t,” Maria said. “None of us even know what the hell happened. Liz seemed to skip the details with us earlier, although justly. But we still don’t know what happened, and blaming ourselves isn’t going to do us any good.” She sighed, turning away and leaning her body against Liz’s desk. “I guess I shouldn’t have yelled at Michael.” Max turned too, facing her.

“You too?” Maria nodded.

“Yeah, I kind of went off on him. I feel bad, but god, he just makes me so mad sometimes. He shouldn’t be making such a big deal of things that aren’t even his business and don’t matter right now. He should be thinking about other things especially when Liz is- er, when things are crazy.” Max sighed, and sat down on the bed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a velvet black box, placing it on the bed. Maria’s eyes amplified at the box, quickly looking up at Max’s face.

“You didn’t get to…” Maria stopped, unable to finish. Max just shook his head.

“No, we sort of got, uh, sidetracked last night. I was going to ask her this morning, but alas, fate hates me.” He rested his elbows on his knees, and smothered his face in his hands. “I love her, Maria. I’ll die if anything happens to her.”