With the holiday season neatly tucked behind them, Max went back into his normal routine of rehearsing of parts, preparing for auditions and reading of scripts offered up by various film makers. He spent most of his time at home, not wanting to be underfoot at the Shanachie. The theater was quite busy, all of the time. And now that Mataya had inherited the dance studios as well, even more so. Max had no objections to Mataya's working long days and sometimes nights because it was what she loved to do. Show business was in her blood and he knew better than to get into the way of that. At this moment in time, Max was in the bedroom, curled up on the bed. He was dozing, the abandoned manuscript he'd been reading beside him. Somewhere in the house, Elena and Juno were doing something, and Max would have been very interested. But the manuscript was as dull as saw dust and had made him sleepy.

The sound of the front door opening and closing was the usual alert that Mataya had returned home, and for once, she'd managed to get herself home on time. Evidently the pay rise they had forwarded to Charles for taking over the management of the studios as well as the theater had been money well spent. The sounds of feminine voices filtered through the house to where Max dozed as she greeted her foster daughter and sister, exchanging quiet words with the latter to make sure Elena was still doing okay. They were expecting Tess and her family to descend on them tomorrow, along with the girls' mother, Rosita, and the main focus of the house right now was to make sure that Elena wasn't freaking out about it. Tony not being in Rhy'Din right now was a blessing in disguise when it came to this - he and Elena had had words the last time they'd been together, and no one was expecting the reunion, when it happened, to be pretty. Having established her return with Juno and Elena, 'Taya left the girls to it, making her way up the stairs to the master bedroom where Max was sprawled on the bed. She paused in the doorway, smirking at the sweet sight of him. "And people call you Manly Max," she murmured to herself, laughing. "Like that's true in this house."

The sound of the front door opening and closing had jostled him out of dreamy land, but not completely out of sleep. With a snort and a smile, he hugged the pillow to his head and fell back into a nice nap. That is, until Mataya spoke from the bedroom door. Making a small grunt and rolling onto his back with a stretch that involved every muscle in his body, dark eyes opened and landed on the interrupter of sleep. He smiled and then closed his eyes, sighing happily. "I don't want to wake up if I'm dreaming."

She chuckled, throwing her bag at him to land squarely on his midriff. One thing 'Taya had never been was gentle with Max, and if he didn't like it, he'd never complained. "What, me being home on time is a dream now, hot stuff?" she asked laughingly, holding onto the door frame for a moment to unbuckle the straps on her ankles and step out of her shoes before making her way over to crawl up onto the bed with him. Her lips touched the corner of his mouth with a smile. "Sweet dreams, huh?"

"Ooof!" he snorted/groaned when the bag hit his stomach. Bringing his arms down from his eyes, the bag got pushed to the side. "You're always a sweet dream, Babe." His smile was crooked and still lined with sleep. He made room, letting 'Taya enjoy the comforts of the warm spot he'd made on the comforter. "How was your day, hot stuff" Charlie getting the hang of you schedule yet?" He smiled when she kissed him, and turned his head to steal another kiss.

She curled up against him comfortably, hooking her legs over his thighs as he kissed her. "Yeah, I think he's got things better in hand than I ever did over at the Cat," she agreed with a smile that was touched with sadness. It would be a long time before she'd be able to refer to Riley or Riley's studios without a little upset, but she was slowly getting better. "I'm glad we're having an off-season month, though. With Riley gone, I've gotta come up with something to keep the ballet students interested, or they're gonna just bleed away, and I can't do that to her memory. It'd be such a betrayal."

Max had been saddened by the passing of their friend as well and he shared in the sadness of expression at the mention of the studios. He curled tighter into Mataya, pressing her shoulder into his chest. "How about a show to celebrate her life" Let her students express their mourning and respect for Riley through their dance."

"But that only keeps them going for one show," his fiancee murmured quietly. "I, uh ....I had a different idea. I know it's kinda cheeky, since there's Katarina's troupe across town, but, um ....Well, if we had a ballet company attached to the theater that took its new intake from the studio ..." She looked up at Max, hoping he'd catch where she was going with this.

"Then it'd give the students something to aspire to." He was gazing down at her and nodded. "That's a brilliant idea, but who are you going to get to run a dance troupe" You've already got your hands full with the theater." Even with her assistants, Max knew how hands on Mataya was about her theater. Concern etched the lines around his eyes.

She laughed, rolling her eyes. "Oh god, I wouldn't be able to handle ballet," she agreed with him, not needing him to point out how overworked that would make her. "I don't dance it anymore, and Sylvie at the studios isn't the right kind of temperament to run a company, but, uh ..." She paused, shifting up onto her elbow to look down at Max. "You know we've been stressing out over Tony still being on Earth, right' How he said he wasn't going to engage with El's mishaps, even though there's a damned good chance Nicoletti'll try and use him to get to El" Well, what if Tony came here out of his own free will" He'd be brilliant at managing and running a ballet troupe, and you know, he might be able to get Anya back with him if he could offer her a ballerina spot, and if he was here, he'd be safe." Of course, none of them would be safe until Tony and Elena had dealt with their issues, but that was a small price to pay. "What do you think?"

"Maybe we should sequester her there," Max chuckled, teasingly. He'd love to see Jon go just a little nutso. They were friends, and he wouldn't wish any harm to either Jon or Vicki. But a practical joke was pretty funny every now and then. "So, did you use the family guilt trip on Tony' It usually works like a charm. At least he'll come to visit, then."

'Taya didn't even want to go there with imagining what Jon would do to her if she let Max lock Vicki in an office. But it was a funny thought, nonetheless. As the conversation returned to Tony, however, she sighed. "Max, it's really hard to explain," she tried quietly. "It's not that Tony doesn't want to be around us, it's just ....Well, it's mainly El. You know she's been one big disaster zone the last few years, and he tried to help her out and she kinda threw it back in his face. This stuff with Nicoletti, it was just the last straw. Tony's almost given up her, or at least, that's what he wants her to think. And I do see where he's coming from. I'm just hoping Elena's growing up enough now to understand what our ballerino is all about."

Max nodded his head and smoothed a hand down Mataya's back. "Once she admits that the decisions were hers and that they were bad ones, it's down hill from there. Until she does, not much else is going to matter." Though Elena was living in their home, Max hadn't gone out of his way to talk to her. He'd been down a similar path before, self destructive and immature as it was. It took losing Mataya the first time to bring Max around to reality. "It'll happen, 'Tay. She'll grow up, someday."

"She's twenty-four, Max," Mataya said ruefully. "We can't coddle her forever. It's killing Mama that she can't help her baby girl." She sighed unhappily, frowning. As much as she loved her little sister, Elena had always been a troublemaker, but things had become much, much worse when their father had left when they were children. "Maybe, if she stays sober this time, I can get her auditioned for the Shanachie. Get her a steady job doing what she loves that will keep her out of the public perception on Earth for a while."

"Physically, she's about forty and getting worse. Mentally she's the same age as when your old man flew the coop. She doesn't need a job or coddling, she needs a psychiatrist and lots of good drugs." He couldn't help but sound a bit angry. He'd pulled himself through, without the help of anybody. And, as somewhat of an outsider to their childhoods, he could look at things more objectively, he thought.

'Taya sighed again. "We're going to argue about this, aren't we?" she said quietly, knowing him well enough to be able to spot the warning signs well in advance this time around. "I'm not going to leave her to pull herself through her addiction and the trauma of what she's seen all on her own, Max. I had Tony and you pushing at me, and I only just made it. And you know I still struggle. She needs all the help she can get, even if she's being difficult now. She'll get over it."

"No, babe, I'm not going to argue with you," he sighed and visibly relaxed his shoulders. "We both know that she has the support of all of us, but we can't force her. She has to want to get cleaned up. Once she makes that decision, then it's all hands on deck to help out. I'm just worried that you're getting your hopes up, that's all. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"That's what family does," she shrugged lightly. "We love each other too much not to hurt each other when things go badly wrong. She'll be fine. I mean, she's got Juno watching her like a hawk. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy." She snickered wickedly, poking at Max's stomach playfully.

"Better her than me. I'm just glad that Juno knows that auntie El isn't the best role model. Can you imagine if she'd come out of her cocoon and El was the one there?" He couldn't help but shudder at the thought of his precious darling being corrupted. "Anyway, I hope El pulls through it, but if it doesn't happen, I'm going to still be here for you and her. Okay?"

"Okay." She smiled, rolling over on top of him, offering an unparalleled view down the loose neckline of her dress for a brief moment before she caught his lips in a slow kiss. "You, Maximilian Yakovski, are awesome."

When she rolled, his hands moved to her hips and rested there. He enjoyed the view, all two seconds of it before he was enjoying her mouth to his even more. He sighed when there was space between their faces again, a smile upon his lips. "I'm just reflecting back to my leading lady. Now you should see her in action. She's absolutely amazing."

"Busy little bee, is she?" she asked impishly, settled comfortably over him where he was stretched out on the bed. A papery scrunch between them announced that the script he'd been reading over was being reduced to a mass of wrinkled pages, but for now, that didn't matter.

And it wouldn't matter later. Max had lost interest in the script long before Mataya had gotten home. His smile grew and his hands pressed onto her backside. "Busy as a bee with a honeypot so sweet that even Winnie the Pooh is jealous." He waggled his thick dark brows and lifted his legs to curl around hers.

"Mmm, thinking of working up an appetite before dinner, hot stuff?" she asked laughingly, leaning down to nip at his lower lip. That was one big relief of having Juno more grown up than she had been a year ago; they had the leisure to indulge themselves while she was still awake and trust in the knowledge that her little telepathy trick assured them of privacy until they were done. Besides, Elena and Juno were doing weird and wonderful things with chocolate and pastry in the kitchen, and were likely to be busy for a long while yet.