Max had also been in the cafe earlier that day, right before Sean had come in, in fact. In a brief conversation they`d had Liz had mentioned that she`d probably be up late studying. At this time Max was driving his jeep down a street not far from her house, and he eyed a book on the dashboard that he`d borrowed from her a long time ago. He was finished with it but kept forgetting to get it back to her. He looked at the clock-it was 9:12. Kind of late to swing by her house, he thought. But as long as she would be up late studying...maybe she could use some brief company.

Liz was now at the sink scrubbing at dishes. Sean would surely leave now if he saw she had things to do. But instead he seemed bothered that she wasn`t looking at him or something; as she worked he paced around the kitchen and talked to her about the most random things. It was a rarity that Liz actually responded to his words, but he kept saying little once-in-a-while comments.

Finally Sean stopped messing around and he crept up behind Liz`s back. He peeked over her shoulder from behind and reached his hands around toward hers. Gripping her hands that were holding a wet plate, he said quietly, "Why don`t you put that down for a while."

Max had long since developed a trust with Liz where he could just come up her balcony and into her room at any time. He found her window open but the bedroom lights were off. That was odd; she usually studied in there at her desk. Hoping her parents weren`t there to notice his breaking in, he went through her bedroom door and out into the hall.

At once he heard the sound of Liz saying something to another person in the house, and he didn`t like the sound of it at all:

"Stop it, get your hands off me, Sean-STOP!"

Max ran toward the voice. He didn`t have to look to see what was going on when he found Liz and Sean right outside the kitchen; he already knew. He just went ahead and flung himself at Sean, getting him off of Liz, and thrust him against the wall. "You filthy bastard-can`t even come in and keep the fuck off." Max grabbed Sean again around the collar of his shirt and slammed a fist across his face, sending him to the floor. Liz scurried away from the two of them, holding her face like she just wanted to shrivel away into nothingness right then.

Max got Sean out the back door, pushing him out onto the ground and shouting, "Stay the hell away."

He slammed the door shut and then it was over. Max went back upstairs and leaned against a wall, breathing out heavily. At the moment he was filled up with a deep, hot anger. No one was supposed to touch Liz, not in that way-no one was supposed to hurt her like that. Max clenched his right fist together, still throbbing from how hard he`d punched Sean, and ran his other fingers across the sore knuckles. What if he hadn`t gotten here early enough? What if Sean had really gotten that far and taken something from her?

As his anger cooled down and a certain ring in his ears went away, Max`s hearing started to make out the sound of weeping in the other room. Max ran across the house and found Liz sprawled across the floor, her tears wetting the carpet. He dropped to the floor beside her and said, "Liz..." Her shirt was unbuttoned and hanging open and she seemed to not even be aware of it. She didn`t seem to be aware of anything-not even his presence there. Max leaned forward, bringing his face against hers. He closed his eyes and whispered again, "Liz." He touched her face with his hand and wiped away a tear. She opened her eyes and they were distant and sad. She cried, "It`s my fault...I should have known he would try to..."

"Shhh....no. No, don`t worry about it." Max wrapped his arm around her shoulders to pull her up into a sitting postion and together they leaned against a wall, Liz basically lying against him. She didn`t say anything and he didn`t expect her to. After a few minutes he reached down and slowly buttoned her blouse back together with the loving gentleness that Sean could never show her. One of the buttons had ripped off, leaving behind a tiny tuft of thread, and in that place on her shirt there was a gap hanging open to reveal the lace of her bra. She looked up at him and her voice cracked weakly as she said, "What if he tries it again?"

"I won`t let him," Max promised. He held her tightly and said, "Don`t worry about telling anyone. I`ll take care of it."

She closed her eyes again and buried her face against the warm fabric of his shirt. She thought, if he stays here another minute I`ll fall in love with him all over again. "Why are you still here?"

"To take care of you." Max rubbed his hand down her back and softly kissed her forehead. She just remained silent, kept her eyes closed. As time went by the fright of the moment aged and started to pass on more and more. Everything was going to be okay. Liz relaxed and she stayed there in Max`s arm until she fell asleep. Even after she had gone to sleep, Max stayed there sitting against the wall with her for a while. He thought that she`d probably feel safer with his heart beating against hers, and she didn`t want her to be scared, not even in her dreams.