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.Stopping for a moment, “Hey Alex, welcome back.Liz should be in her office.” She told her.“Hi Shelby, Hi Amanda, where are you two off to?”“We are going to try out the new burger place down the street.” Amanda said.“A good burger sounds really good right about now.” Alex looked at them.“Why don’t you join us?” Amanda asked her.Shelby was surprised.“Thanks kiddo, but I need to go see Liz before I go up and crash for a few days.” She tweaked Amanda’s nose before she walked off.“Come on Manda, let’s go get a burger.” They walked out onto the sidewalk.The sun was beginning to set as they walked down the street.The sunset reminded Shelby of the night in Mexico when she had been on the patio and the late summer storm blew in.She pushed the thoughts away.She wasn’t going to think about Max; not anymore.He was gone, and she had to move on no matter what tomorrow would bring.They walked into the restaurant, and a waitress sat them in a booth towards the back.The menus were on the table, and as the waitress waited to take their order her phone buzzed.She looked down and saw that it was Max.She pushed the ignore button.What could he possibly have to say to her? She was going to enjoy her evening with Amanda.They ordered their dinner and sat chatting while they waited for their food.Their food arrived pretty quickly and soon they were both eating their burgers and drinking the huge malt that Shelby had ordered.Amanda laughed at Shelby when she saw just how big it was.Amanda grabbed a straw and began to help her drink the silky smooth drink.They both knew she wouldn’t be able to drink it all by herself, but it was still good and so were the burgers.They finished their meals and headed back to TAG.As they walked back Shelby's thoughts drifted back to the events of the day.Once again she was left with picking up the pieces once he was gone.Except this time she was the one who ended it, but it didn't make the pain hurt any less.She had planned on telling him about Amanda after the assignment was over, but now there was no point.When they got home, they both changed into their pajamas and settled in to watch a movie.Shelby popped some popcorn even though they were both completely stuffed from dinner, but it just didn't seem right to watch a movie without the finger licking buttery popcorn.Sitting next to Amanda on the couch, she snuggled up next to her as they scrolled through the movies to see what was available they settled on My Fair Lady.She felt Amanda’s deep breathing next to her short after the movie started.It had been a long time since she had fallen asleep in her arms.She laid her down on the couch and covered her up with a blanket.Picking up the phone, she called Liz.“Is it too late for that dessert?” she asked.“Of course not, come on up.Alex is here.” Liz told her.“Great, I’ll be up in a few minutes.” She hung up walking over to Amanda she reached down to nudge her daughter awake.“Amanda, honey I’m going upstairs to visit with Liz for a little bit.”“Ok,” She said sleepily before she lay her head back down on the pillow pulling her blanket up around her chin.Shelby kissed her on the head before she left.###She walked into Liz’s apartment a short while later and found Alex, Tabby and Jo sitting at the table.Liz was pulling a cheesecake out of the fridge.She walked over and pulled out the plates from the cabinet and sat them down on the table as Liz was cutting the cheesecake.They each grabbed a fork and slid a slice onto their plate.“Ladies as always you did an awesome job.” Liz lifted her fork in a salute.“Was there any doubt that we would? Tomorrow we will kick butt?” Tabby declared.“Speaking of, aren’t you supposed to be getting ready?” Shelby snapped at Tabby.She couldn’t quite feel the enthusiasm.She was still upset about the way Max had reacted to the virus.She had wanted things to end on a positive note, but it hadn’t.“We are flying in later this evening and will be ready to go in whenever we get the authorization from Liz.” Jo said looking at Shelby.Liz was watching her closely.“Shelby, they will execute the warrants first thing in the morning and should have the indictment by the end of the month.” Liz told her.“That’s great.I’m glad that we were able to help them with all of it.” she said reluctantly.“Shelby, what’s going on?” Jo asked her.“You of all people should be happy about this.If it wasn’t for your technology we wouldn’t have been able to get the evidence.”“Max saw the virus in my office.” She looked at Liz waiting for a reaction.“What do you mean? Shelby?” Liz asked cautiously.“When I met with you to tell you that we had the evidence, I left the console open and the virus was up on the screen.Max had gone to tell John, but when I got back both of them were in my office staring at the screen.Max demanded to know what it was and then threatened that if I didn't explain it he would have no choice but to interfere or possibly arrest me.” She stopped to take a sip of water.“I lost my temper and told him that he'd have to have evidence before he could do that, just like he needed evidence to arrest Oleg and Patricia.” She saw the shocked look on everyone’s faces.“Shelby, I’m sorry.” Tabby said as she looked to Liz, and before she could get it out.“Denied Tabby.You can’t interfere with Max.Shelby will take care of him.” Liz warned her.Tabby deflated at Liz’s warning, but she still had her feathers ruffled.“Tabby, really I’m ok.I knew it probably wasn't going to last, and it was best this way.” she said, but couldn’t convince herself that it was true.Tabby and Jo left a little while later to get ready to help John's team the next day.Liz, Shelby and Alex sat around the table in silence.“I told him about my sister.” she whispered.“Oh Shelby, why?” Liz asked her.“He made me so angry and he'd been questioning why I didn’t like Roger and it just came rushing out.” Her eyes began to water as she looked at Alex.“What is going on with you? You’ve been so quiet and reserved lately.” She wanted to change the subject.She saw her hesitate, “What do you know about Agent McCade?” she asked them.They both looked at her in surprise.“We met him initially with Max the day that John asked for our help.He went with Tabby and Jo to New York the night before they found the videos.Why?” Liz asked“He was on the plane with Tabby and Jo?” Alex asked her.“Yes.Alex I personally went with them to the airport and watched them get on the plane.” Shelby said.“Plus I watched him in the club as Jo and Tabby scoped out the back room.He’s the one who spotted Pretrovsky.”“It’s just that I met him in Las Vegas or so I thought.” Alex pushed her palms against her eyes.“I’m really tired, so I’m going downstairs to take a really long bath and go to bed.” she said as she got up from the table.“Alex, if you need anything you only have to ask.” Shelby told her.They both watched her leave.Liz turned back to her.“Shelby are you going to be alright?”“Yes Liz I’ll be alright.It’s just going to hurt for a while.I made the mistake of falling in love with him again.I didn’t want too, but I did.He was able to walk in to my life and just as easily walk right back out.” She got up from the table.“That long bath sounds really good right now, so I'm going to go and then get some much needed sleep.I’ll be in my office early in the morning ready to go.” She walked to the elevator.“Shelby, is there anything I can do?” Liz asked her.“No, this is one thing that no one can help with.” She got on the elevator and went home.###Max was sitting in the spare bedroom of John’s loft thinking about Shelby [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]