This is it, your final chapter. I have officially finished something that I started. I actually posted up 2 chapters today, so if you just jumped straight to the lastest chapter to continue the story please make sure you've read the previous one first.

Liz picked at her tray of food unenthusiastically. She had only been stuck in this hospital bed for a few hours and already she was bored.

Though, at least she wasn't alone. Her dad had been sitting silently next to her bed for the last 40 minutes. It was pretty clear he had no idea what to say to her. She had no idea what anyone should say to her. She wished everything could go back to normal, but she also didn't feel like she knew how to be normal anymore. So instead she sat in silence with her dad and was comforted just by his presence.

Things had happened pretty quickly once the police had arrived. She had answered their questions with the responses that Valenti had coached her through and whenever she hadn't been sure what to say she'd simply started crying and babbling about the pain and how scared she was that her baby might not be okay. She wanted to claim that she was an excellent actress, but the truth was those were the moments she wasn't acting. In fact, she'd spontaneously burst into tears twice more just since her dinner had arrived.

The police had taken photos of her injuries and had taken her shoes and the clothes she had arrived at Michael's in as evidence. Then they'd released her to the EMTs and assured her that her parents were already on the way to the hospital to meet her. She'd asked if one of her friends could ride with her, but they'd insisted on questioning them separately first.

And so she'd spent the last hours with only her parents at the hospital, with no idea whether the story they'd spun for Hanson was holding up. Not knowing what they'd done with Tess's body while she was in the bathroom with Max. Wondering how Max was feeling about the bombshells she'd dropped on him and thinking about all of the things she failed to mention, the things that she should have explained when she had the chance.

At least there were plenty of distractions. They'd done scans and taken blood tests to check on the baby. They'd set her arm and put it in a cast, explaining the procedure for when and how it would be removed. They'd sent in some flavour of counsellor, she hadn't been paying attention when they explained who she was, to talk to her about dealing with trauma. And then they'd wheeled her into a private room where she could sit in silence with her parents, not sure how to talk to them.

She felt like this was her new reality. She imagined a decade of silent family dinners and muted interactions. She cringed at the thought but still couldn't imagine chatting with them again the way they used to.

Liz glanced over as the door opened, expecting to see her mother returning after her trip home to pick up some things. Her pulse jumped at the sight of Max stepping into the room.

"Hi," Max spoke quietly.

"Hi," Liz breathed her response.

"Max," Her dad spoke up from the chair beside her.

"Mr Parker," Max nodded at her dad before turning back to Liz. He gestured feebly towards her stomach, "Is it – Is everything okay?"

Liz nodded, "The scans look fine, but we're still waiting on the blood tests. They're concerned about undernutrition. Tess got better about feeding me later, but at first she… she sort of forgot a few times. They said it's not all that likely but apparently the highest risk problems from that would be developmental issues that wouldn't be visible straightaway."

Liz met Max's eyes and found turmoil there to match her own.

"Dad," She kept her eyes on Max, "Can I speak to Max alone for a bit?"

"Lizzy –" Her dad began uncertainly.

"Please, Dad," She turned to give him a nod, "I'm not going anywhere. I just need to talk to Max."

Her dad sighed and nodded, "Okay, sweetie. I'll be right outside."

They waited in silence as her dad moved past Max and out the door, closing it behind him to give them privacy.

Liz fidgeted with her spoon while Max stood quietly next to her.

"How did it go with the police?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"Fine," Max replied, "It went just the way Valenti expected. With your injuries as evidence of what she'd done, no one was surprised at the idea that Tess ran when she heard you'd shown up at Michael's. There'll be a manhunt for her and a full investigation, but Valenti says that you won't be interrogated more or called on to testify when they haven't got anyone to arrest. Basically, since we know they'll never find her it's over for us."

"I'm sorry," Liz changed the topic abruptly, "I know I kind of dumped a lot of disjointed information on you. I'm sure there was a better way to tell you."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Max stepped within arm's reach, but Liz still felt like he was miles away. Though there was less anger and disappointment in his voice than she'd feared.

"A lot of reasons," She admitted, "Maria kept trying to convince me to just tell you but… Future Max said that no one could ever know he'd been here and I believed him, right up until Alex died when I realised that he didn't have any idea how his presence would affect things. Plus, I didn't know how to tell you something like that. That I'd cheated on you in such a weird way. I didn't think anyone would believe that story.

"And also," She stared down at her hands, unable to meet his gaze, "I didn't want to make you feel obligated. Genetically, this might be your child, but it wasn't your choices or your mistakes that created it, so you shouldn't have to feel responsible."

"Liz," Max reached out at last and took her hand and Liz felt the warm wave of his power move through her wrist as he healed it within the cast, her pain disappearing the way it so often did when he was there. "I can't pretend that this situation isn't complicated and confusing. There are a lot of feelings and thoughts that I haven't sorted out yet. But there're a few things that I do know. I know that my life is always better when you are a part of it. I know that through all of the mistakes I've made and problems I've created, you've always been there for me. I know that you make me feel happy and content, but also safe and optimistic. You make me believe that anything is possible. You give me faith in the future. Even when you're telling me that it's bleak.

"I don't know how to make this work now. There are so many factors to consider and things to figure out. But when I thought that I had lost you it put things in perspective. And when I think about that baby – honestly, I'm not sure what I'm meant to feel – but I know I want to be a part of it. I imagine you leaving like you'd planned and it hurts. I want to be with you, Liz; but I also want to be a father to your child, to our child. And whatever we have to do, whatever compromises or counselling or paper work we have to go through, I'm prepared to face any of that to make this work."

Liz felt tears prick her eyes for the third time that hour, but, for the first time since she'd heard the words "Alex is dead" so many days ago, she felt hopeful. A weight she hadn't even realised she'd been carrying for months lifted and suddenly all of the things she'd been dreading seemed bearable. Maybe it would take her forever to remember how to talk to her parents, maybe she would have to deal with a child that had some kind of birth defect, maybe 14 years from now they would have to fight off an alien invasion, or maybe everything would fall in her favour and she would only have to decide what she wanted out of the rest of her life. All of the things that had felt insurmountable just a few minutes ago felt possible with Max beside her.

"I want that too," Liz smiled, "And I have a suggestion for the first step to making this work. No more lies. Keeping secrets from you is what led us here. So from now on, no secrets from each other for any reason."

"No more secrets," He agreed, "Unless Maria is planning a surprise party, because I fear her wrath if I ruined that more than I fear all of the crazy aliens in the universe."

Liz laughed. She couldn't even remember when she'd last laughed honestly except that it had been too long. She knew she wasn't done crying yet, but in that moment she decided that if she could just laugh as much as she cried, then she could get through this. That meant she was going to have to find a lot of things to laugh about, but at least she knew she could count on Max to help her with that.

Their lives were never going to be easy, but as long as they looked after each other they could face anything.

Well, that's it from me. I know it's not exactly a happily ever after ending, but it's about the closest I'm willing to get. Because after everything they've been through happy would take time and care, but hope is something they can have straight away.

This has been an interesting experience for me as my first foray into actually publishing things that I write. Please review and let me know how you feel about the story. I'm chock full of self doubt on these things so hearing what you think was good and what you think could be better is great. I have started another long story that is quite a bit more complicated than this one, but I found it kind of stressful trying to post when I hadn't actually finished writing the story, so it might be a while before I post anything new.

Thanks for reading! I hope you had fun.