He sat up on his bed, a quiet numbness about him. He was numb to everything, oblivious to everything, even his mothers shouts up to him from the kitchen.

"Max! I made pancakes," her voice sounded but Max didn't hear it. He heard something, but he processed nothing. The door flung open suddenly.

"Max!" Isabel's voice called from the doorway, but Max didn't budge, he didn't even acknowledge her presence. "Max," she called again, then angry yet at the same time worried, she walked over to him and callled again. His facial expression hadn't changed at all, he had the same blank look on his face, the same dead look in his eyes. "Max, answer me!" she yelled, growing concerned and Max just blinked his eyes slowly, staring off into space.

"I'll be down," he uttered slowly and softly yet he wondered if he actually had the strength to get up from where he rested on the bed, whether he had the energy to walk downstairs, face his parents, have them ask about his night with Liz last night. It seemed so long ago that he had gone out with Liz, so long ago that they had both been happy. The night had just started on a simple dinner date. Liz had been happy, he for the most part had been happy. It was when he returned home and he began to think about everything that the doubts and the horrible thougts crawled back into his mind.

"Max - look at me!" Isabel cried again, his soft response not doing anything to assuage her concern and fears.

"I'll be down," he replied again but didn't stir from his position on the bed and he glanced to his sister out of the corner of his eye and it was then that Isabel detected the emotion that had been absent from his face in his eye. It was something with Liz. Something bad. "Just leave me alone."

Mrs. Evans set down the stacked plate of pancakes in the middle of the table as Isabel pulled out her chair and sat down. Both she and her husband looked to their daughter. "Is he coming?" she inquired and Isabel just nodded her head.

"He said he was," she merely nodded, leaving out the part about his appearance and the way he had ignored her until she was screaming into his ear. No sooner had she sat down then Max came trudging over to the table. His feet felt like dead weight, just picking them up took so much energy.

"Max isn't that what you wore yesterday?" his mother broke the quiet silence as they all watched him walk slowly over to his chair and sit down. "Were you up all night?" she questioned again, then looking at his still damp jeans continued her interrogation. "Were you outside in the rain?" Max couldn't deal with this right now, being under attack from his mother, the stare he was getting from his father.

"I went for a walk," he nearly whispered placing his napkin on his lap. Neither parent reacted to the comment at first and Isabel just kept her mouth shut. She knew something was amiss with her brother, more specifically with her brother and Liz but she left the issue quiet. If Max wanted to talk he would. It seemed both parents felt the same way because Mr. Parker immedietly shifted the topic of conversation to Isabel.

"So Izzy? Who is this Alex character who keeps calling?" he asked as he poured syrup over his pancakes, smiling broadly. He and his wife were both used to taking messages for Isabel from boys, Alex was a bit more persistant however, he called much more frequently. Not to mention the fact that when they told her Alex was on the phone she actually took the call. Isabelle blushed slightly.

"No one..Alex is, he's just a friend," she attempted to dismiss, pouring orange juice into her glass.

"Isn't he the boy who picked you up for school the other day?" Mrs. Evans questioned and again Isabel's cheeks began to flush. The conversation immedietly turned to Isabel, about her life and no questions were steered towards Max, who sat with an untouched pancake on his plate and was in much the same manner he had been when he came to the table. He looked blankly across the table, and though they tried not to, both parents found themselves looking at Max worriedly. At the way that out of nowhere his face would tighten up and his mouth would begin to quiver. He swallowed suddenly, as if to be suppressing a cry, all the while staring out at nothing and sitting upright in his chair.

"Max is everything okay?" his mother finally couldn't help but question and he glanced to her out of the corner of his eye, just as he had to Isabel. And just like Isabel his mother could detect all the pain in that tiny glance that he wasn't revealing on his face. He swallowed again, and the look on his face almost seemed to be one of discomfort.

"I'm fine," he managed to say weakly and he shifted his eyes back to the emptiness he'd been staring at before. "I'm fine," he lied.

It took Liz hours to fall asleep and when she had it wasn't even a peaceful sleep. She had fortunately not had any disturbing dreams at least not any that she remembered, but she'd woken up so many times throughout the night. She did remember that she'd gotten the feeling that she'd been watched last night. Sometime around daybreak she'd awoken with the all too familiar feeling of someone's eyes on her. It had taken her a while to fall asleep but after a while the feeling became somewhat comforting. Almost soothing.

She sat awake on her bed now. It was close to noon and she'd just woken up less than a half hour ago. She never slept this late and when questioned by her parents about it she merely responded that she had gotten in late last night. Out with Max? her father had kidded her and at the comment she was unable to even fake a smile. Before he could even get around to asking what time she'd gotten in, Liz excused herself back up to her room. And that was where she remained.

At this point she was confused as to how she should feel She felt like she had cried more than she thought it had been possible to cry last night. At first her overwhelming instinct had been to call Maria and cry over the phone to her, but she had simply sat alone in her room and hugged her knees to her chest crying to herself while thousands of thoughts raced through her head. Should she be upset at Max? Angry? Should she be depressed? Should she have given in so easily last night? Should she have tried to kiss him one last time, have tried to make him remember all that he'd be giving up? Should she have chased after him? Should she be over there right now pleading with him to reconsider instead of sitting in her room with her knees pulled in to her chest? Was this going to be a continuing thing for her now? Was this how her life was supposed to be now without Max?

She simply sat and stared and the thoughts raced through her mind. Her eyes rested on the plastic bag of chocolate covered Gummi Bears Max had bought for her only three days ago. She remembered her reaction when he had first given them to her. He had delivered them to her out of nowhere Wednesday afternoon after basketball practice. She had made a face when he told her what they were. She liked chocolate and she liked Gummi Bears but the idea of them together didn't appeal to her too much. In fact it sounded absolutely disgusting. He insisted that they were delicious and had actually had to feed it to her to make her try them. Max had taken the chocolate candy between his thumb and forefinger and held it up to her mouth. Giggling the entire time she had lingered a bit longer than necessary taking the candy from his fingers. A smile played on her lips but it was quickly shed as her memory was broken up by the entrance of Maria.

"You okay, Liz?" Maria repeated and Liz snapped her head up to look at her friend.

"Ye-ah..." she drew out the word.

" 'cos your uh - your parents said you seemed kinda.." Liz looked at Maria awaiting the completion of the sentence. Seemed kinda what? What did her parents think was wrong? "That you slept 'til like 11:30 and I mean - the latest I've known you to sleep is nine, so..." her voice drifted as she looked at Liz. Her parents had every right to be concerned. Liz didn't look okay. "So you okay?" she finally asked, and she couldn't help but notice a picture of Liz and Max resting next to a damp spot on Liz's pillow. Liz was quiet.

She wanted to confide to Maria, she needed someone to talk to, but at the same time she didn't. She couldn't help but notice that over the past weeks the snide remarks Maria shot to Michael were being accompanied by flirtatious glances and actions. And that Michael returned them. She didn't need to burden Maria with her problems. Not like she wouldn't the minute she and Max were in the same room. She didn't even know if she could be in the same room as Max right now the way she felt. She didn't know if she were to see him whether she would just break into tears and throw her arms around him or simply ignore him completely. Right now she knew she was leaning towards the former. She knew right now that she couldn't so much as look at Max right no without becoming catatonic.

"No..." Liz admitted looking up to Maria and she couldn't help the tear that fell down her face. "Not really."

"Liz, talk to me - what's, what's -" Maria stumbled.

"Max..." was all Liz was able to make out. She couldn't bring herself to say the rest. To recount to Maria what had happened. Her eyes focused on the picture of she and Max and Maria saw it.

"What happened with Max, Liz?" Maria asked worriedly, "is he - is he okay?"

"I don't know," Liz mumbled and paused as two more tears dripped down her face and she stifled back a sob, " 'cos he kind of broke up with me."

"What do you mean broke up with her?" Michael bellowed down in the Crashdown as Maria recounted to Michael what Liz had told her earlier in the day. Maria raised her eyebrows at Michael's response, he himself was surprised with his reaction. Out of everybody it seemed he was the person most upset by Max and Liz's relationship. He said that it made Max vulnerable, that it put his life at risk, his life too, Isabelle's life. But as he sat at the booth of the Crashdown and talked with Maria, something he found himself almost uncontrollably doing more and more often, he began to see why Max behaved the way he did around Liz. He began to understand.

"I mean Liz said he just showed up and told her that it was over," Maria told Michael and he seemed dumbfounded by the statement as well. That didn't sound like Max at all. Max who spent every waking moment thinking about Liz, Max who always told Michael how he couldn't live without her.

"That doesn't sound right..." was all he could say and Maria just glared at him.

"Right, like Liz just made it up," she groaned and rolled her eyes.

"I'm just saying that doesn't sound like Max," Michael raised his voice.

"Way to state the obvious," she sighed, "maybe you could - I don't know think of a reason as to why he'd do that? Maybe since you talk to him a little more than I do?"

"Maybe if you stopped attacking me once in a while I could," Michael retaliated a bit defensively. He couldn't tell Maria he had a slight idea as to why Max had done what he had apparently done. He and Max had had a conversation last week that Max had seemed to be more than troubled over. Max had been unable to dismiss a comment Michael had made weeks ago about the ridiculousness of the idea of he and Liz together. Because of his other-earthly status. Michael remained quiet however, he was careful to reveal nothing to Maria. He had almost let his tongue slip three times already this week while he had been talking to her. When she'd questioned him about his use of tabasco, he'd nearly responded with the truth. And he began to understand why Max had told Liz the truth. Because if he hadn't there would be a strain on his relationship, there would always be that element of secrecy, of distrust. And despite his attempts to push the feelings he had back, Michael wanted to trust Maria.

The minute Isabel entered the Crashdown, Michael soon shared the news about Liz and Max with her and she quickly shared it with Alex. And everyone had the same reaction. The words just didn't go together - Maz, Liz, break-up.

"All he ever says is how she's his entire life," Isabel shook her head in disbelief as her meal sat untouched in front of her. She looked over at Alex, who was looking intently at her. His meal remained equally untouched, though she was sure his reason was a bit different. "I mean really it's enough to make you gag - I have to live with it, she's all he ever talks about." She paused briefly, sadness seeming to grow over her a bit. "And Max is like - he's my brother and the fact that he didn't tell me this, any of this...the last time I checked in on he and Liz they were going out to dinner, he brought her...God, he bought her bubble bath," Isabel said it with a disgusted, but at the same time confused face.