Liz waited at gate B28 for about three hours before the plane arrived. She’d come to the airport early on purpose. Partly, it was because there was nothing to do at home, and partly because... she knew she wouldn’t be able to do anything else when she knew Max would be coming soon.

“Oh my gosh, how is he going to take the news?”

When Liz found out about her being pregnant, she moved, leaving the college. She needed to be somewhere sunny, where problems didn’t seem to exist. She moved to Florida... she’d also been accepted to a college there, and finally took up that offer.

She still had a lot of unanswered questions. She’d been with Max two years ago... why did she become pregnant now? Shouldn’t her baby have been born by now? She wasn’t an expert on science, but she knew a baby should be born in nine months.

Since she and Max had slept together, she’s taken pregnancy tests, but finally stopped. A year went by. When she got morning sickness, she took one more, and it showed positive. Was that possible?

**********

Max walked out of the plane and immediately saw Liz. Her hair had grown, and she’d curled it slightly at the ends. He watched her as she nervously bit her nails. He slowly walked towards where she was.

“Liz?”

Liz looked up, startled.

“Max.”

She stood up from the bench, and the two stared into each other’s eyes. Max gently reached out and held her hand for a moment. She slowly smiled and looked up again into his eyes.

“Hi.”

*********

The drive to Liz’s apartment wasn’t long. They mainly sat in silence. Max tried to make small talk with what was going up with Michael and Maria, and Liz told him what was up with Alex and Isabel.

They had dinner and Liz showed him to the spare room. She showered and changed into some clean clothes. She went over to her bed and sat down. She drew in a shaky breath and thought for a while. When would she tell him? She knew he was way more than curious at the moment. What was going to happen now?

She hugged her knees and a tear ran down one cheek. “I’m so confused.” she thought. “Why did I even ask him to come? I could cope with this by myself. Alone. I‘m just bothering his life.” The tears ran faster and she hugged her knees tighter.

Max heard small noises coming in from Liz’s room and slowly opened her door. He saw her crying and quickly walked over and sat himself next to her.

“Liz? What’s wrong?” He wiped away her tears and made her look into his eyes. “Liz.. why did you need me here? I think you owe me an explanation.” He smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek. Her skin was soft, as always, and her eyelashes brushed against his cheek as he pulled away.

“Max?”

“Yes?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“Oh.” His heart sank, but he realized she needed someone there for her. But why him? Why not Maria or Alex or...

“With your baby”

“Oh.........”

Liz averted her gaze towards the floor and cried a little more. “I’m sorry.”

“Liz... it’s been a whole year... is this even possible?”

“Max, I haven’t... been with anyone else...”

“Then do you think it’s because of ... my”

Liz buried her head in his shoulder. “I’m sorry.” came her voice as she voiced her apology again.