Liz was the reason he got up every morning. True, the past few months had been hell without her, but knowing she was somewhere near him gave him the bare sustenance he needed to survive. Liz was the hole that had been missing from him for so long. He hadn’t been sure before if she was it, but he knew now. The two of them together created an energy that others dreamed about, searched their entire lives for, and many times never found.

Max had been scared before. He would be lying if he said he had completely rid of his fear, but he knew if Liz was with him, he could overcome it. Because even though Max couldn’t be sure of a lot of things, the one thing he was certain about was that he and Liz were meant to be.

*****

Liz Parker had once thought her heaven was the setting she was in. She loved the serene, tranquil setting of the ocean, and knew that her dream job of being a marine biologist would fit in perfectly. But now, that place was no longer heaven. Heaven was in Max Evans’ arms. Heaven was his touch, his smoldering eyes, his presence -- everything that made him better than anything she could ever imagine. She couldn’t even remember life before him -- or did she even have a life before him?

She had so much to thank him for, and she knew she could never repay him. He saved her from dying, but in more ways than he would ever know. Before his gentle touch, she was nothing. She was living her monotonous life, with no hope of ever leaving the endless cycle of tedium. But Max changed all that. His valiant acted breathed life into her soul. He had rescued her from things she could only begin to imagine. She could tell him she was grateful, but it could never equal what he gave her.

Liz had always heard of love, and being in love. She had thought it would come to her in a single instant -- an instant when she knew what love was. And in some ways, it was true. When Max had saved her life, she felt it. But getting to know him as a person, and spending time with him made her grow to love him more every day. It was gradual, and now, as she thought about it, it felt like it had appeared out of nowhere. But it was definite. She was positive of this feeling -- more so than anything she had ever felt before.

Sometimes, that feeling scared her. She was only sixteen. It almost seemed wrong to have found love. But Max was no ordinary person. He was perfection. Being with him was like being in paradise. The phrase “pure bliss” was an understatement -- it could barely begin to describe the feeling of having found him.