Part 23

There was a comforting stillness in the air as Liz stepped out of the taxi that dropped her off in front of Bridges. The anticipation, the desperation, the insanity…it had all faded, leaving Liz feeling peaceful and happy, the atmosphere hushed, as she stepped through the double doors into the restaurant.

The restaurant’s host greeted her at the doorway with a smile.

"Right this way, Ms. Parker."

Liz smiled appreciatively as he led her towards the back corner of the restaurant, past dozens of dinner parties and businessmen…the rich and famous…no one who was anything like her and Max. Everyone was watching as she moved through the room towards her love, knowing that this couple was a phenomenon beyond the norm…you could feel it in the air that crackled around them, throughout the entire restaurant.

Liz’s eyes found Max before he saw her, and instantly her breath caught in her throat. He looked dashingly handsome in a classic black tuxedo…more so than normal. Stunned, Liz stopped dead in her tracks and studied him silently, drinking in the image of the beautiful candlelit table with a bottle of champagne stuck in a bucket of ice hanging off the side….and Max…Max was sitting at the table, sipping anxiously on a glass of water.

As if he could sense her presence…or maybe it was just her eyes glued to him, Max suddenly looked up, meeting her heavy gaze with a dark, passionate look of his own.

Before Liz knew it, he was on his feet, approaching her in slow, easy steps in a picturesque moment that Liz knew would stay trapped in her memory forever.

The candlelight dances across his features, casting an exotic, unearthly glow around him that caused Liz's heart to pound wildly in her chest. His tuxedo fit him perfectly, in all of the right places, and Liz felt her body reacting as desire boiled up within her. And his eyes…his eyes seemed darker and more mysterious than normal as his eyes glued themselves to her own with a look filled with so much love that her knees grew weak and shaky.

Silently, he stood before her, gazing down at her under hooded eyes, as he slid his hand into hers and brought it to his lips, lightly sliding them over her knuckles in the softest caress of a kiss.

"More beautiful than I could have ever possibly dreamed." Max murmured against her hand, as he leaned back up and held her eyes. His voice was husky, and Liz’s heart ached from the love and desire that stood apparent in his voice. Tears rushed into her eyes as she beamed back up at him.

"Max…" Liz breathed passionately, unable to form any other words besides his name. "Max…" She sighed again.

"Liz…" Max replied steadily, while smiling gently at her. "You take my breath away."

Max couldn’t help being amused with himself. He knew he was coming off as being so calm and confident right now…but those feelings had only settled over him the moment his eyes met Liz’s.

He had been sitting in the restaurant for over an hour now, running his plan for the evening by the staff, getting the table set up perfectly, and then he had been left here, stuck sitting and waiting for her arrival.

And that was when all the insecurities and doubts came bubbling to the surface. Would Liz be angry with him for not meeting her? Would something else go wrong...what if she didn’t show up? He had planned everything so precisely…but what if she missed a note, or didn’t understand the directions? And of course there was the big question running screaming through his head.

Would she say yes?

What if she didn’t even want to marry him? Maybe she wasn’t ready to take that step with him yet. They had only been back together for a few weeks…an incredibly short amount of time. Most would think too short for a marriage proposal. But this was he and Liz…their hearts had been together for much, much longer than just a few weeks.

Waiting…leaving Max alone with his own personal doubts…was hell, torture.

But the moment he saw Liz, he knew that the time was right.

Offering her his hand, Max led Liz back to their table, escorting her to her seat, before making his way around to his own. Glancing up at their server, he poured each of them a glass of champagne, before bowing away, leaving them to each other.

"Max, this is so beautiful." Liz marveled. "I can’t believe you did all of this. So…tell me. What’s the occasion?"

"You." Max replied immediately in a calm, steady voice. "You’re the occasion, Liz."

Liz blushed, her cheeks turning an adorable shade of pink that brought a grin to Max’s face, as he studied her over his glass, before taking a sip of his champagne.

Liz’s eyes immediately widened in horror. "Max! What are you doing?"

Max laughed aloud at her reaction. "Alcohol free champagne, Liz. Don’t worry…I’m not going to slip again after all of these years. I know my limitation…which is nothing. But that doesn’t mean I can’t still take my dreamgirl out to a fancy dinner and treat her to a bottle of San Francisco’s finest virgin champagne."

Liz smiled, dropping her eyes shyly, before peaking back up at him. Their eyes met, and they lost each other in the love bursting openly from both their gazes, barely even noticing as their meal was placed before them, and their waiter hurried away.

Liz’s eyes drank Max in hungrily from across the table, finding herself once again amazed at how she, Liz Parker, a small town girl with absolutely nothing special about her, was lucky enough to have the most amazing man not only on the planet, but in the whole universe as the love of her life. He was constantly surprising her, constantly taking her breath away as he showered her with more love than she ever dreamed of finding in her life.

This wasn’t even fairy tale love…it was beyond fairy tale love.

Liz had no idea what she had done to deserve his love…but she knew without a doubt that she would love him and cherish him in return for the rest of his life.

Clearing his throat, Max broke her gaze reluctantly.

"So…we should probably eat." He suggested softly.

"Yeah…" Liz replied slightly dazed. "Because that’s what you do in a restaurant…eat."

Liz blushed, realizing what she had just said, and she shook herself back to reality. "God, leave it to me to point out the obvious."

"Just one of a million things I love about you." Max comforted her gently.

Slowly, they went through the course of their meal, eating and drinking as they made small talk, both of them slightly distracted. Liz, because Max looked so desirable in his tuxedo, and Max because of the small box that was burning a hole in his pocket.

Finally, their plates were removed, and it was just the two of them again. Taking a deep breath to steady his pounding heart, Max scooted his chair around the table so that he could clasp Liz’s hands within his own, as he gazed deeply into her eyes and began to speak.

"Liz…my love…I knew from the first moment I laid my eyes on you that you were the one…the only one. When I was younger, I never thought it was possible for us to be together the way that we are today. There were too many complications…I was too different…and I was scared. So I just watched you, worshipped you from afar, desperately clinging to any moment when you were near…even though I believed that it could never be something."

"And then the shooting happened…and I saw you lying there, dying on the floor of the Café, and my own heart was dying right with you. It was like I couldn’t breathe…I couldn’t think…all I could do was feel the gut wrenching pain deep inside my heart…and in an instant a realization hit me. Damn the consequences…life isn’t worth living without Liz Parker as a part of it."

"Suddenly I wasn’t the only one doing the worshipping from the background…you were returning my gazes, and I was so rapturously happy that I thought I could fly…and I did, Liz. My heart was soaring higher than I ever dreamed it could the first time that you let me kiss your sweet lips…"

"I knew it then, Liz, and I know it now…even more so after all we’ve been through. That you’re the only one who will ever be able to fill my heart…make me complete. I can’t live without you, Liz Parker. You’re my heart, my soul, my whole world…the purpose of my existence. And even more than that too…you’re the only home I have ever known."

"There’s one more dream left to fulfill, Liz…only one step remaining before you can truly be mine, and I yours."

Pausing, Max slid the velvet box out of his pocket and sank to his knees before Liz, opening the box to revel a beautiful, mystical ring to her, made of a simple silver band with a strange, stone that seemed to almost glow with a beautiful unearthly light of all the colors of the rainbow swirling around within it.

"Liz Parker…will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife, and sealing our love until the end of time? Will you marry me?"

Liz’s mouth hung open in amazement and tears of happiness shined brightly in her eyes, as she leaned forward and cupped Max’s face in her hands, burying her forehead against his own. Tears streamed openly down her cheeks now, and Max could feel her wet tears against his face.

"Yes!" She gasped out passionately. "Yes…yes…yes…"

Her lips pressed against his forehead, his cheeks, his eyes, his jaw, over and over again as Liz smothered him with soft, light kisses, sighing out the one word over and over again between each kiss.

"Yes Max." She cried happily. "Of course I will marry you."