The cold shoulder Liz felt she was getting from Max hurt her deeply. She silently nodded and walked toward the door.

Max watched Liz walk away. His heart was being pulled in opposite directions. On one hand, he was angry at Liz for lying to him about something so important. On the other hand, he loved her and wanted to believe that if she felt strong enough about her decision to act out of character, then he should respect her decision and try his best to understand. Regardless, a voice rung loudly in his ears reminding him that a girl he trusted with his life had lied to him. Without doubt, he knew he would one day move past the emotions that currently clouded his brain. But at the time, he couldn't see when that day would arrive.

Liz stopped in the doorway and turned to face Max. She stared into his brown eyes for a brief moment. "Max," she wanted to talk to him, but she was afraid of how he might react. She feared that using the wrong words may motivate Max to say something they would both regret. So, she shared the one emotion that filled her heart. "I'm sorry."

When Max did not respond, Liz turned back around and left the room.

Max moved closer to Maria and sat on the edge of her bed. While waiting for her to awake, he rehearsed. "Hi, Maria. Long time no see." Max laughed at himself and shook his head. "Maria, how's it been going?" He frowned, "Too casual. Okay, um...We're baa-ack," he said sounding like the little girl from Poltergeists. He took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Maria, you're never gonna believe this, but..."

"You're right," Maria interrupted in a groggy voice.

Max whirled around to look at Maria.

"Am I dreaming?" Maria asked as she pulled herself into a sitting position on the bed. Her questioning face turned toward the bedside table where her two Grammys rested. She pleaded, "Please tell me this is not a dream."

Max smiled and answered, "It's not a dream." He moved his eyes to her awards. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Maria answered slowly. "If this is not a dream...wait," Maria rolled her eyes. "I have brain damage, right?"

Max shook his head.

"Okay," Maria replied. "I'm schizophrenic?"

Max laughed and shook his head again.

"It's the drugs," Maria said looking for her IV that had been removed earlier that morning. "No, the drugs my parents did in the 70's have finally come back to haunt me!"

Max laughed again and reached out to touch Maria's arm to reassure her he was very real. "Maria," he began slowly hoping she would not faint again. "We came back."

"We?" Maria asked looking intently at Max.

Max nodded. He examined her face looking for any positive reaction to share later with Michael.

"So," Maria spoke taking in the stunning news Max brought her. "You, Isabel, Tess, and...Michael?

Max saw hope in Maria's face. He thought Maria looked a tiny bit hopeful that Michael had returned as well.

"Not all of us," Max said. Before he could tell Maria that Tess was the only one to remain on Antar, he observed what Michael would be thrilled to see. Maria's face immediately drooped into a frown. "Tess didn't come back with us," Max finished and watched as Maria's scowled face recovered.

"Oh....well, when? How? Where is everybody?" Maria asked excitedly.

Max took a deep breath and began. "When? We came back about five years ago..."

"Five years ago?!" Maria broke in.

"Now, before you get mad," Max spoke declining Maria the opportunity to get too upset early in the conversation. He had plenty more to share. "Don't forget that you were the one who told Liz not tell you if we ever came back.

Maria examined Max's face searching for answers. "How did you know that?"

"She told us," Max answered. "We just found out about you three days ago."

"How much did she tell you?" Maria asked still observing every movement of his face. She wondered just how much Liz told him. She wondered if Liz told Max about Hope.

Max lowered his eyebrows. Maria's paranoia concerned him.

The changed expression on Max's face led Maria to believe he must surely know everything. "Figures," she said nodding her head. "So, I guess you're the reason she and Jackson broke up." Maria looked at Max waiting for him to confirm her suspicions.

"Sorta," Max answered slowly.

"Good riddens," Maria smiled. "So you and Liz are..."

"Friends," Max whispered hating the word.

Maria could not believe her ears. "Why?" she asked shocked.

Max shook his head. "It's not for lack of trying." He sighed. "I guess the timing's just been off."

"For five years?" Maria asked sarcastically doubting there was any truth to Max's answer.

"Sometimes," Max said turning his head to look out the hospital window. "Sometimes, I can feel guilt when I touch her."

Maria saw torment in Max's face and heard anguish in his words. She asked, "What does Liz have to feel guilty about?"

Max dropped his face and smiled. Through the hurt, he looked at Maria and answered, "You, mostly."

Maria pulled back and grimaced. She searched Max's eyes for an explanation. She studied the emotions that played across his face. Suddenly she knew. "She won't have you if I can't have..." Maria stopped short. She realized Max's sympathetic gaze could mean only one thing. She smiled knowingly and said, "He's with Isabel, isn't he?" Though she'd posed the thought as a question, Maria already knew the answer in her heart. She laughed sardonically. "And that's what you're here to tell me. You're here to tell me this so there can be some kind of closure, so there can be some kind of resolution. Then you and Liz can move forward and..."

"No," Max interrupting demanding Maria halt her presumptions. "Isabel and Michael are not together."

She stared at Max for a moment and then dropped her face and closed her eyes. Her breath caught in her chest and her heart raced. Fear seized her body, but she needed to know. She forced air into her lungs and asked, "Is he..."

"He wants to see you," Max spoke plainly. "But he's afraid that you still want...nothing to do with him."

Maria's eyes grew wide with amazement. "He's afraid?" she asked. Maria looked away and answered her own question. "He's afraid." Maria reached for her purse that sat on the bedside table. She retrieved a small brown bottle and quickly brought it to her nose. She breathed deeply again and again.

"Cypress oil?" Max smiled knowingly.

Maria nodded her head and continued to breathe deeply.

"Yeah, Hope said..." Max started to speak remembering the conversation he and Michael had with Hope a few days earlier.

"Hope?" Maria nearly shouted. "You've met Hope?"

"Yeah," Max answered confused by the stunned look on Maria's face.

"Ohhhhhh," Maria moaned and brought her hand to her head. "Does Michael know?"

"Know what?" Max asked.

Maria quickly lifted her eyes to meet Max's. She studied them for a moment before concluding that Liz and Alex had not told the aliens that Hope belonged to Michael. "Nothing," Maria answered and looked away. She knew the response would only bring about more questions, but she was not thinking clearly at the moment and was not able to come up with a better answer on such short notice.

"Maria?" Max asked with skepticism.

"Ohhhhhh," Maria moaned again and lifted her head to stare at the ceiling. "My whole world is caving in around me," she laughed apprehensively still staring at the ceiling.

Max watched as Maria fidgeted and squirmed. He thought about the conversation with Hope. He remembered the way she changed television channels without the remote control. He considered all the tales of her and Mom and of her and Uncle Alex...there were not tales of her and Dad. Max had assumed that Dad was simply not someone Maria had married, but the anxiety that had engulfed Maria had Max thinking differently.

"Maria," Max spoke slowly. "How old is Hope?"

Maria looked into Max's eyes and answered, "She's seven, Max." Maria knew that Max suspected the truth. She accepted her defeat and continued, "She's only asked a few times, but each time I said I didn't know where her father was. And it was the truth. I knew he was gone, but I didn't know exactly where." Maria stopped to catch her breath and regain control thoughts before going on. "All this time. He's missed so much." Maria shook her head sadly. "I wish he could have seen her singing at kindergarten graduation...her first steps...her birth..."

"He saw that....he saw her being born," Max said hoping to comfort Maria. "He got flashes from you when..."

Maria wrinkled her brow. "When?" She asked confused. "Has he been here?" She smiled at the idea that Michael had visited her in the hospital.

Max knew it was time to do what he'd come to do. "He saved your life, Maria."

Her smiled dropped as all the pieces came together and she knew. "Dr. Guerin."

Max nodded his head to confirm her assumption.

"Ma'am?" a nurse said as she pushed on the door. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know you had a visitor. The paperwork is ready for you to sign. Are you ready to go home?" the nurse asked smiling as she wheeled Maria's chair to the bedside.

Maria's eyes never left Max's. "I'm ready to go home," she answered. She looked at the smiling nurse. "I can walk," she stated.

"If you're rolled in, you're rolled out," the nurse replied pointing to the seat of the wheelchair.

Maria moved into the chair. Maria knew she had no right to be angry at Michael, but she couldn't help but think about the conversation she'd had with him as her doctor. She felt that he'd taken advantage of her temporary blindness by not revealing himself to her at that time. Still, Max had said Michael was afraid of her rejecting him. Maria assumed he was just as afraid then.