Snapshot · (Roswell Fanfiction) · √

66. Peanuts and Puppies

Roswell Regional Hospital
(2018) Max is 32, Liz is 32

She had managed to keep it together fairly well. Until Max burst through the door.

His worry slammed into her like a train and she could literally feel something break inside of her. As his worried eyes frantically moved from the hospital bed where their daughter laid to the chair where Liz sat, large tears began to roll down Liz's face.

He was in front of her in a second, his arms wrapped around her, his fingers buried in her hair as he pressed his wind-cold face into the almost feverish side of her neck.

His voice was trembling, not bearing any resemblance to the strong confident husband she was used to. "Is she okay?"

Her arms tightened around his body as it hit her again. How close they'd been to losing their daughter.

"The doctor says..." she had to pause to find the words among the tears, "she's going to be..." she sobbed in relief, "okay."

He pulled back and looked at her with tears running down his own cheeks. Nodding slowly, he attempted a brave smile. For her. "Okay."

His thumbs brushed the tears off her cheeks and he stroked her hair back with the edge of his fingertips. "Tell me what happened."

"It was a cookie," Liz sobbed. "A damn cookie."

He nodded, unconsciously hushing her resignation and frustration.

"I'm not sure how it happened," Liz was shaking her head. "She knows not to eat them."

"She probably didn't know the cookies had nuts in them, kitten," Max said softly.

Liz licked the tears off her lips and nodded, taking a deep breath. "I'm not upset with her. She knows how dangerous it is. I'm upset with those teachers of hers that felt it was a good idea to distribute cookies with nuts in them."

Max nodded, "Yeah," and cast a look at his sleeping daughter.

He swallowed. She looked so small and vulnerable in that huge hospital bed.

"We have to talk to the teachers," he added as he tore his eyes away from Zoe.

Liz met his worried eyes and gave him a weak smile as she hitched her head in the direction of the small girl. "Go and say hi."

Looking like he was going to cry again, which had Liz's heart aching, Max sniffled and brushed the tears off his cheeks with the back of his hand. Leaning in and kissing her softly on the lips, his eyes an inch from hers, told her everything she needed to know in that instant.

She had to bite her lip to stop the tears from turning into a waterfall.

They had found out when Zoe was merely a toddler and got hold of a peanut, that their daughter was allergic to nuts. It had been a trip to the emergency then as well, with their daughter gasping for air in her arms as Max drove the car through the heavy traffic like he was a possessed madman.

Never again. That's what they had told themselves. They never wanted to make that same trip again.

But then it had happened again, today. A cookie that had looked harmless had contained some invisible traces of nuts and one bite had been enough to send Zoe into an anaphylactic state.

Zoe's voice brought Liz back from her reverie. "Hi, Dad."

The weight in Liz's heart eased off a little bit and a relieved sniffle escaped her. But she remained in her spot, wanting to give Zoe some one-on-one with her father.