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 Max stood by his favorite booth watching as Mr. Parker came around the corner. At first the look was one of shock, then surprise then absolute joy, Max had never seen him smile that big before.
"You did good, Max. It was time to come home. Here” Kyle hands Max a cup of coffee. Max takes a long drink and smiles.
"Thanks, I sure missed the Crashdown coffee. I don't know why, but there's nothing like it."
"I know why...because it reminds you of home."
"When did you get so smart Kyle?"
"Nothing like being locked in a cave with strange glowing blue crystals to improve a person's insight." Kyle and Max look toward Liz and her father, she is waving to Max to come over to them. “Well, looks like it's time to answer to the father-in-law.”
“Thanks for your new insight…wish me luck.”
“Max, thank you so much for bringing everyone home!” Geoff walks over to Max and gives him a hug. `This is a good thing, I think.' Max thinks, returning the hug.
“I thought it was time, sir. I think we can defend ourselves better here than on the road.”
“Let's talk about that later. Right now I think I'll call the morning staff and tell them not to come in until about 11:00, that should give us all plenty of time. Then I'm going to call your parents and have everyone meet here.”
“Dad, we were kinda hoping to surprise them.” Liz didn't want to ruin the others surprises.
“I can do that, trust me.” He turns to head up the stairs to make the calls. On the way up he runs into Nancy.
“Geoff, what's going on? You didn't come back up; I started to get worried…”
“Oh, sorry, I was hiring a new cook and two new waitresses.” He smiles at her. At first she didn't get it, and then when she realized what he meant, she ran down the stairs. “Ten, nine, eight, seven…” He hears the excited squeals of his wife and daughter and he smiles.
He called the morning help and told them that they weren't needed because of a water leak, but they could come in at 11:00 to help with the lunch shift. Then he began the other calls, the Evans would be first, he hated to call them at 5:30 to give them a cryptic message about the kids, but he figured it would be worth it once they got here. He waited for the phone to be picked up.
Phillip Evans kept hearing the alarm go off…or was it? Rolling over, he looked at the clock; he thought it said 5:30. Who could that be calling at this ungodly hour? “Hello, who is this? Don't you know that it's 5:30 in the morning?”
“Phillip, I hate to wake you this early, but we um sort of have a situation with the kids.” Geoff was smiling, he hopes Phillip didn't pick up his excitement over the phone.
Phillip was wide awake now. “A situation? What kind of situation? Is everything okay?”
“I can't really talk about it now, if you know what I mean.” They always worried about their phones being bugged. “Could you and Diane come over here in about 45 minutes? I can explain it then.”
“We'll be there!” Hanging up the phone, he shakes Diane. “Wake up, we have to go over to the Crashdown, something has happened and Geoff needs us there.”
“What? Is it serious…?”
“I don't know, he couldn't talk, but he wants us there in about 45 minutes.” He got out of bed; Diane looks at the clock, moans then falls back down on the bed. Realizing what she was doing, she jumps up to get dressed.
 Geoff felt bad not being able to tell them, but it was what the kids wanted. Picking up the phone, he calls Jim Valenti and Amy DeLuca. Everyone would be here soon!
Going back down stairs, he sees Nancy, Liz and Maria talking. Max was standing by himself, watching them. Walking over to Max, he wraps his arm around Max's shoulder. “Son, I think it's time we had a talk.” Max swallows hard and follows him to the other side of the dining room where there is more privacy.
“Max, first of all I want to thank you for what you did for Liz that day, how you put yourself on the line for her…then I want to apologize for being such a jerk towards you after Utah…”
“Please, none of that is necessary, you only did what a father would do, you protected your daughter.” Looking towards Liz and her mother Max could feel his heart pound as he remembered the day he almost lost her. If he had failed that day, he might as well have died with her because everything he needed to live for would have been gone. Geoff watched as Liz turned to look at Max, it was like they were the only two people in the room and they didn't even need to speak to each other, it was all there in that one look. Turning to look at Geoff, he continues. “Sir, I would gladly die for her, she's what brings me to life.” Thinking back to some of what he had read in Liz's diary, he realized that Max had given his life for her and she had done the same for him. It seemed that they were old souls that traveled through time to be together, that they would always go as far as it took to complete their destinies.
“Max, please quit calling me “sir”, it makes me feel old. You can call me dad, or if that makes you uncomfortable, call me Geoff, just please, no more sir.” He looks at the seriousness of Max's face, knowing that there was something more he wanted to say. “Okay, spill it, I know that you want to say something else…is it something we need to worry about?”
“This probably isn't the time and place to tell you, but it's important. I don't know how much she told you about why she went to Vermont, but it will make a difference in everyone's life.”
“She just said that her life was falling apart, that she needed to get away…was there something else?” He was beginning to worry.
“Well, because I healed her, she started changing…she started to become more like…like…”
“Please, please, no matter how bad it is, we can deal with it.”
“She is becoming alien, like us.” He waited for his reaction; none came, so he went on. “I didn't know this could happen, we didn't find out until Ava, you know the girl from New York…”
“The one with the purple hair?”
Max nods, “She told Liz and Isabel that since I brought her back that she would be different. That's how she knew certain things, she can see the future. I think it was meant to be, that's what saved our lives at graduation…she saw it in a dream. Her powers are getting stronger and we don't know what to expect. Just today she found something we didn't know even existed. I feel that it must be something important and that it was only meant for her to find, maybe as a verification that she is changing into who she was meant to be. I know that this is scary for you, heck it's scary for us and we've lived with it for a lot longer. We can only hope to be able to figure out everything…a little at a time”
Geoff was stunned by the news; he looked at Liz then at Max. What a wonder it was, this love and this destiny that they shared. Never had two people been blessed to have found each other, but he began to feel that it was their fate and that their love might one day save everyone.
“Okay, Max. Let's start over, but first I want to tell you that I am in awe of what you two have. I feel I am greatly honored to be a part of this…this strange new world that is opening in front of me. Once again thank you, I'm proud to call you my son.” He smiles at Max with tears in his eyes, Max returns the look, this would be their new beginning...
Liz turned just in time to see Max offer his hand to her father and the look of admiration passing between them. Her mother looks at her wondering what caused the tear that was rolling down her cheek, just as she was about to ask, Liz points towards the two men, the most important men in their lives and she knew.
Suddenly there was a knock on the front door. “Well, I guess it's show time!”
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