Secret Garden
Category: M/L
Rating: NC-17
Spoilers:  The first season.
Author: Jezebel (imfromupnorth@yahoo.com)
Author’s Note:  Just a little bit of closure, post Destiny. If you’re wondering where this sudden minor fic came from, I was just listening to the song "Secret Garden" by Bruce Springsteen.  Every single time I hear this song, it makes me cry.  The lyrics are below.

She'll let you in her house
If you come knockin' late at night
She'll let you in her mouth
If the words you say are right
If you pay the price
She'll let you deep inside
But there's a secret garden she hides

She'll let you in her car
To go drivin' round
She'll let you into the parts of herself
That'll bring you down
She'll let you in her heart
If you got a hammer and a vise
But into her secret garden, don't think twice

You've gone a million miles
How far'd you get
To that place where you can't remember
And you can't forget

She'll lead you down a path
There'll be tenderness in the air
She'll let you come just far enough
So you know she's really there
She'll look at you and smile
And her eyes will say
She's got a secret garden
Where everything you want
Where everything you need
Will always stay
A million miles away

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz stared at the pouring rain, feeling her eyes sting and tear when she didn’t close them.  She couldn’t bring herself to blink her eyelids.  If she did, she was certain, the sight outside her window would vanish like the apparition that it seemed to be.

Max looked back at her, not smiling, praying that she would see, and understand.  He wasn’t certain what to say to her.  "Hello, Liz.  Michael and Isabel were wrong; Tess wasn’t my destiny.  I can’t feel anything for her and never will."  That was wrong.  Liz already knew that he felt that way.  "Liz, I know I hurt you.  I can never forgive myself." "Liz, I love you.  Please come back to me."

It didn’t matter what he said, in truth.  They were separated by a physical wall and an emotional canyon.

Liz rose from the deep cushiony chair and stumbled a little.  The floor felt as though it was spinning.  She walked to the door and threw the bolt over, and walked onto her balcony.  She was instantly as drenched as Max was.

They were only a few feet apart, but the distance between them still seemed wide.  "Max," Liz whispered, but her lips could form no words beyond that one.

"Liz…Liz, I don’t know what to say."

She closed her eyes and smiled at the sound of his voice, nearly forgotten over the months of unspoken glances and painful anger.  "You don’t need to say anything."

"I have to, Liz.  I can’t ever forgive myself for what I did to you.  I couldn’t ever…ask you to forgive me.  But…" Tears fell down his face as he choked on the words.  Liz couldn’t see them in the rain, but she knew they were there, as certainly as Max was.

Liz took the few steps through the puddles that had fallen on her balcony, and wrapped him in her arms.  He sagged in her embrace, feeling the warmth that radiated from her through their soaked clothes.  He laid his head on her shoulder, wishing that the last few months could simply vanish into the realm of never-have-been.  That Tess and Nasedo had never existed, and that his ancestry had never torn them apart.  That he and Liz were together, like it was supposed to be.

She rubbed his back, massaging the stiff, tense muscles that she found there.  It felt wonderful to be in his arms, to inhale his familiar scent, to feel his chest rise and fall against hers.

"This isn’t right, Liz," Max said gravely, lifting her chin to look up at him.  "You shouldn’t have to comfort me.  You’re the one—"

Liz shook her head and smiled.  "Max, just shut up.  Let’s just forget about everything.  Let’s forget that these last few months ever happened.  Let’s pick up where we left off, and never turn back."  And she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth to his.

Max groaned inwardly at the familiarity of her lips.  Soft, silky, delicious.  He lifted her off her feet briefly, spinning her around.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

They wandered backwards together, not bothering to shut the door on the falling rain.  The soft roar masked any sound her parents might hear.  Max kissed her deeply, trying to make up for months of no contact in a few short minutes.  He moved his lips down her bare neck, pushing her nightgown aside as he reached it.

Liz threw her head back and abandoned herself to his ministrations.  He kissed her throat and reached for the bottom of the soaked nightgown.  She smiled at him and let him pull it gently over her head.  She didn’t wear a bra to bed, as he soon discovered.

Max had to blink to remind himself that he was really here, in Liz’s bedroom, going further with her than he ever had before.  The sight of her was breathtaking.  He felt her hands on his chest, reaching for his T-shirt.  He helped her remove it, and then stepped out of his shorts to even the score between them.

He bent over and tasted her bare wet skin, teasing her already-hard nipples.  Liz moaned in ecstasy, barely able to stand the feelings on her sensitized skin.  He dropped to his knees and trailed his tongue down her stomach.

Max reached under the elastic band of her panties and slipped them down her legs, groaning as he felt himself harden even more in his boxers.  She stepped out of them and he tossed them away.  Not able to stand it anymore, he lifted her off her feet and set her gently on the bed.

"Liz…are you sure this is what you want?"

She opened her eyes and he could see in them how aroused she was.  "What does it look like?"  She reached for him, and pulled him on top of her, stroking his length through his boxers.

Max almost grimaced at the intensity of the sensations as she helped him pull the last piece of clothing between them away.  He laid his body over hers, careful not to put too much weight on her.  She kissed him and moaned into his mouth as he parted her folds and slipped inside her.

It was almost too much for him to take.  He felt her wince a little in pain, and then relax.  He began to move, surrounded by her wet warmth.

Liz arched her back in pleasure as she wrapped her legs around him.  She reached up to touch his face, amazed at the intensity of his expression.  She took one of his hands and guided it toward her clit, where she needed to be touched more than anything.

The slightest brush of his hand against her set her off, and she came with a low, guttural moan.  Max felt her muscles contract around him and let go, filling her with warmth.  He collapsed on top of her, totally exhausted as she came down from her high and stroked his back.

After a few minutes he became aware again.  "Am I too heavy for you?"

"No.  No, don’t move.  I want to feel you here, all around me and inside of me."

Max complied.  He would stay inside of her forever if she would let him.  He couldn’t imagine now how he had let her get away from him.  "Liz, I love you."

He felt her stir a little below him.  "I know you do, Max. I love you too.  And I always knew you would come back to me, someday."

Max closed his eyes, feeling as though his world was complete once again.  He knew that they would be together, forever and always.
 

*END*