Maria stared in wonder at her mother. "Wha...what do you mean you're getting married?"

Amy pulled back from Maria and looked every place but her daughter. "On the trip, honey me and Jim got engaged, and um...now we're getting married."

Maria couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Why? How? You and the sheriff are getting married?"

Amy knew her daughter would probably be upset but she wasn't really prepared for it. "I love Jim honey and he loves me. Can you please be happy for us?It's been so long since I've had anybody love me...and I'm really happy with him Maria..."

Maria had been flabbergasted with the news. Hadn't she told Max about this possibility two days ago? Max, she hadn't thought about him since her mom came running in here with the news that Maria Deluca would now be Maria Valenti. God! This week had been such a mess!

Maria looked up at her mom and realized that she was being selfish. In a way she wanted her mother all to herself and she guessed that's why she could never see just how happy her mom was with the sheriff. Maria reached up on her tippy toes and gave her mom a huge bear hug. "I'm happy for you mom, I just don't want to lose you."

Amy was touched at her daughter's confession. "I love you, too, and you won't lose me honey."

Amy pulled out of the hug and smiled through her tears at her daughter." Well don't just stand there honey, help me bring my stuff in!"

Maria laughed. She welcomed anyhing the didn't make her think of Max and what she'd done even though she knew the time would come when she'd have to face it.

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Alex stared at Max through wide eyes. "You SLEPT with Maria!"

Max nodded silently.

"How the hell did that happen?" Alex was purely baffled. "And what happened to Liz?"

Max didn't know what to say, he had asked himself that same question plenty of times but it didn't matter it wouldn't take back what he did.

Alex watched Max, whose head was hanging down. He knew why Max had come to him , Liz and Maria were his best friends in the world, so Alex was supposed to be non-biased. But that didn't mean Alex knew how to help Max. Alex walked over to where Max was sitting against the wall and sunk down beside him.

"Do you still love her?"

Max stared blankly at the ground. "I don't know."

Alex knew then exactly what was going on. Max didn't love Liz anymore, because if he had he wouldn't have been unsure about it. Max was sure about everything he did. Alex knew then that Max had probably fallen in love with Maria.

"I don't know what to say man. I mean, it's like this, you messed around with your girl's best friend, hell she's my best friend!"

Max almost smiled at the way Alex had phrased his view of the situation. "Liz isn't my girl...not anymore."

Alex glanced at Max before asking his question. "So how...how does Maria feel about all of this?"

"You know she's probably going through hell right now, right?" Alex knew Maria and one thing Alex knew was that she always overreacted.

"How do you feel about her?" Alex asked.

"I don't know , but I know that I care about her a lot and I know I put her in the middle of me and Liz's situation. And I shouldn't have."

Alex looked at Max closely and felt bad for him. Because nothing he did would make his situation better. "I don't know what to tell you Maxwell. You screwed up, and I don't think there's anyway to fix it without someone getting hurt."

Max knew full well about this, and he knew that it was going to be impossible from here on in.

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Tess and Kyle were sitting in the Valenti living room watching T.V. and cuddling when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it," Tess said as she rose from the couch.

Maria stood outside the door, trying hard not to just forget about her mom's request to "bond" with her new family and book it before someone opened the door.

Tess opened the door at the same time she saw Maria turn on her heel. "Hi Maria, what brings you by?"

Maria turned back around to face Tess. "I guess you guys already know about the wedding," Maria mumbled.

"Yeah, what did your mom want you to come over and bond with us or something?" Tess said sarcastically. And she almost laughed at the murderous look Maria gave her. "Sure, come on in Deluca...join the party."

Maria silently walked through the door, deciding already that she wasn't going to give an effort to like these guys. She'd had a hard enough day already and she had more hard days in front of her.

Tess lightly pushed Maria's unwilling body into the TV room.

Tess smiled before answering, "Oh...Just your new stepsister!"

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Liz ran up the steps to Alex's house. She had run here straight after work, hopefully he knew where Max was, so she could tell him about the truth behind her and Kyle.

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Alex and Max were sitting watching TV. Well, Alex was, Max was staring off into space thinking about what he should do. Alex looked over at Max and wished he could help him, but Max got himself into this mess and he would just have to get himself out. Alex had already phoned Isabel and told her that Max was ok, she had chewed Max out on the phone for almost half an hour.

Alex got up from the couch as he heard the doorbell ring When he opened the door and saw Liz there he was tempted to shut it back in her a face. God! Why did she have to pick today to come by, poor Max.

"Hey Lizzy, what's up?"

Liz brushed past Alex into the familar surroundings. "Hey, I was wondering if you'd seen Max. I've been looking for him everywhere cause I've got something really important to tell him and..." Liz turned her head as she saw Alex point to someplace behind her.

Max looked up when he saw Liz enter the Living Room. "Uh...Hey Liz"

Liz was so happy she'd found him. "Hey Max." Liz saw Alex retreating into his bedroom and went to sit down next to Max. "I was looking for you this morning at your window, but I guess you were really tired."

Max thought of why he was so tired and blushed furiously.

Liz smiled and then proceeded to tell him why she was here. "I have...um...something to tell you about me and...um....Kyle."

Max really didn't think he wanted to hear about them being together. "Liz, you don't have to explain, I..."

"No, no the thing is...nothing really happened..." Liz said anxiously.

"What do you mean nothing happened?"

"It's a long story..." Liz glanced up at Max to see his reaction.

Max looked at Liz strangely, "I've got all day"

Liz looked at Max and then proceeded to tell him what really happened.

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Maria laughed at Kyle trying to impress Tess by throwing popcorn in the air and attempting to catch it with his mouth. Even though she had intially hated Tess because of Liz, now that she had spent some time with her, she actually liked her. Tess was open and kind, considering how Maria had treated her before. She glanced at Kyle, and knew that it wouldn't be so bad to have him as a brother, at least she wouldn't home alone all the time when her mother went off on her trips.

Tess smiled at Maria. She and Maria had been getting along pretty well , but Tess could tell there was something troubling her. She had asked Maria what was wrong but Maria had denied anything was troubling her.She hoped she was ok.

Kyle glanced at Maria, he guessed it would be ok to have her as a sister. She wasn't so bad , and they had already gotten along pretty well after the whole wipe out thing happened. He was actually looking forward to it.

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Max was on his way home, after he had heard Liz's story he had needed some time alone. It wasn't that he didn't believe her, it was just that it was hard to take in. The worst part was thinking he could have been with Liz this whole time and he would never have slept with Maria and wouldn't have fallen in love with her.

But what Max couldn't believe was that Maria had known all this time and hadn't said anything!! Why wouldn't she have told him? Well that's why he was going to see her. To find out why she had hidden it from him!