Disclaimer: Blah Blah, Blibbidy Blah blah. I dont own anything. But I wouldn’t mind giving up my two bratty sisters...or my old stuffed animals.

Category: Future fic, M/L.

Summary: Its an alternate kind of universe. Pretend the whole Crashdown shooting and everything else NEVER HAPPENED. Max and Liz have never met before, but one chance meeting leaves them bound forever.

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The most interesting person I’ve ever met, was someone I did not expect to meet at all. It was what people call a chance meeting, something totally out of the blue that grabs you, and totally throws you off balance. This person seemed like a god at first, very noticeable, but highly untouchable. A paradigm of high society and etiquette. Someone like me -- a middle class, average woman -- would never meet someone like him. Not in this lifetime anyway. But we did meet, and it was magic.

He walked my way a couple of times in the subway station on 54th Street. I noticed him, every girl did. You’d have to be blind not to notice him. He was the classic tall, dark, and handsome, with these cute ears that were kind of big, but still adorable. He was also rich. He always wore Armani suits and carried around a Sampsonite breifcase. And he always kept to himself, nose buried in the sports section of the morning newspaper. He never acted like he was everything to everyone, but he knew he was. Maybe he acted that way on purpose. Maybe he was some sort of stereotypical clichéd version of a rich person; had everything in the world and more, and yet was never satisfied. I was hoping that wasn’t the case.

I was on line at the ticket booth for the subway. I noticed a tall, towering figure behind me. I tensed, turned around, and saw HIM. He looked at me, and I tensed even more. A slow smile spread across his face, lighting up his deep brown eyes. My mother always said people’s eyes were the gateway to their soul. And in this case, she was right. The minute I saw them I was lost. I snapped out of it and smiled, then turned back around. I was right at the booth when I felt a light tap on my left shoulder. I turned around and his smile spread across his face again.

“Look, I’m sorry to bother you miss, but do you have change for a five?”

A simple question, I know, but those simple words completely left me awestruck. I tried to speak, but, as suspected, my voice box clamped. I cleared my throat and tried again.

“Oh, um, yes. Sure, hold on.” I rummaged around in my purse, got out my wallet and handed him the change. Our fingers touched just for a second, but that second could have created enough power to jump start a car. Corny I know, but all true at the same time. He mumbled a simple thanks and I turned back around. I walked away, berating myself for acting like an idiot. This was just a guy. Granted he was a very rich and handsome guy, but just a guy all the same. He was a normal person, but yet, he wasn’t. It was like he put a force on everyone. People would fall all over themselves just to get near him. Merely brush his shoulder, or graze his leather briefcase. Maybe they thought it would make him notice them, or some other reason that was petty, and shallow. But whatever it was, he would never notice them. They could probably fall on him from the sky, and he would simply stand up, brush himself off, and continue on his merry way. I didn’t understand it. How could somone know that everyone wants them, but never do anything about it?

My thoughts were interrupted when someone came up behind me and bashed right into me, sending my purse and myself flying forward. I crashed to the ground with a thud. I laid on the ground for a second, and looked around, searching for my purse. I went to grab it, but someone grabbed it first. Then I suddenly felt large hands grabbing onto my shoulders lifting me up, reavealing to me, that wonderful face everyone was in love with. His face was apologetic, and I knew it was him who knocked into me. Maybe it was fate we met again, but it would be beside myself to think that. “He probably didn’t see where he was going because he had his nose so far into the paper.” I told myself. I laughed lightly and his face seemed to brighten.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you. I guess I wasn’t paying much attention to where I was going.” he rambled. It almost sounded like he was nervous. Like speaking to me was taking a lot of courage. He handed me my purse, and I realized I was staring at him. I couldn’t really help it. Everything that I had been yelling at myself for before, flew right out the window, because I was doing it now. He was just enchanting.

“It’s ok really. I wasn’t really paying much attention either. I have a tendency to day dream in the most unusual and inconvenient places.” I said, looking around at where we were. Day-dreaming in a crowded, busy subway station definitely was not a good idea.

We were having a staring match. Him looking at me, was, to say the least, making me uncomfortable, but I couldn’t turn away. I realized then that he had never let go of my purse. I looked down, and he let go of it sheepishly. The people around us started to file into the subway car, and I knew that my time with this Mr. Dream Man was over. He seemed to read my mind, because right then he said, “I guess we better go. I’m sorry for running into you. Oh yeah, and thank you for the change before.” He then ran off. I didn’t have a chance to even mutter a single reply or thank you. All I could do was stare.

I thought about him while I got on the subway. Although he must be on everyone’s mind. But he had a different impact on mine. He let me see a piece of him that no one else had seen before. He let me see the insecure, shy, vulnerable part that no one ever expects, or looks for. I thought about him a lot that day, and I think about him a lot now. After that day he never came back. It was highly unusual, and I heard people mutter silly concepts into eachother’s ears. Stupid little binds that he could have gotten himself into. Things like, “He lost all of his money, and he is now living on the street somewhere near Broadway.” Another one was, “He got shot and then thrown in a dumpster.”

Ridiculous as it may seem, no one ever told them otherwise. He was just a rumor. Everything about him was a rumor. No truth was told, no explanations given. But see, for this man, you just had to assume. You were never given an explanation. That is probably why people found him so fascinating; because they made up fantastic stories about him to make their lives more exciting. Maybe this man knew this, maybe he didn’t. My guess would be that he did. And maybe he saw it when he looked at me. My eyes probably told him the whole truth about what people really thought about him. But the truth is, no one ever knew the real him. They never will.

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