Witchy Woman (M/L,TEEN) 1/1 COMPLETE, 10/29/05

[Applebylicious]

Title: Witchy Woman
Author: Lindsay
Category: Max/Liz
Rating: TEEN
Disclaimer: The characters of Roswell belong to The WB, Melinda Metz, and UPN.
Summary: Dreamer companion piece to Black Magic Woman. Exactly what happened between Max and Liz that night? Missing scene from season one, taking place shortly after Leaving Normal.

Witchy Woman


“Liz! What do you think of this thing?”

Alone in her own world of melting amber eyes and shy half-smiles, it took Liz Parker a moment to realize that her best friend was speaking to her. Spider webbing from the nearby dollar store clung to her fingertips and she gazed down upon the thready material with a faraway expression as Maria’s words echoed in her mind.

“Liz!”

She jumped, nearly falling from the stepstool she was standing on. “What?” she wondered, distracted as she met Maria’s deep green gaze.

She could feel both of her friends staring at her, knew that they were concerned over her actions of the past week since Grandma Claudia had died. But Liz didn’t want to think about that; she’d managed to succeed in pushing it to the far recesses of her mind until she knew she’d have the strength to grieve.

Besides, there were far more many things she could choose to worry about. She threw a quick glance to the door of the Crashdown, swallowing hard in anxiousness. Would he come?

She’d caught Max before biology earlier that day and told him about the Halloween party she, Alex and Maria were orchestrating at her family’s restaurant. She still felt shaky from the entire event…nervous that he wouldn’t accept, and even more nervous that he would. She bit back a groan, wondering why falling for someone had to be so extremely complicated. Then again, Max wasn’t your run-of-the-mill tenth grade boy.

“W-What did you ask, Maria?” she asked softly, stepping down and staring so hard at the Halloween decorations that she could feel her eyes beginning to burn.

“This pumpkin,” Maria explained, turning the carved jack-o-lantern toward Liz. “What do you think of it? And be honest – I can take it.”

Liz studied the pumpkin for a moment, and then shrugged her shoulders. “Eh,” she sighed, dropping listlessly into one of the booths. A furtive glance at her watch revealed that it was nearly seven o’clock and people would soon be arriving. Her pulse raced.

“What does that mean?” Maria growled, slamming the carving knife down onto the table.

“It just needs a little character,” she heard Alex say easily, and glanced over to see him begin making incisions in Maria’s pumpkin. She nearly giggled at the intense concentration on his face, standing back up and grabbing her webbing to continue decorating as Maria glowered behind him.

A moment later, he let out a sound of triumph and put the knife back on the table, brushing his hands together with a pleased expression coloring his face. “There.”

Maria scrambled forward, practically shoving Alex out of the way to see what he’d done. She turned the pumpkin this way and that, studying it from all angles before finally pronouncing, “I don’t see anything different.” Then she started and added, “Oh, wait…you gave him a…is that a…?”

“Scar,” Alex grinned, and Liz stifled a giggle as she realized the pumpkin now bore a lightening-shaped cut in its forehead. When Maria made a disgusted face, Alex sighed, “Oh come on, Maria. The kids will love it. Harry Potter’s all anyone’s talking about these days.”

“You are such a dork,” she heard Maria reply in a mournful voice, but she began to tune out of the odd conversation as thoughts of Max crept upon her again.

She gave an absent answer to whatever else Maria added before leaving the room, lost in hazy images of the soulful alien who had saved her life. She knew it was a hopeless endeavor…they could never be together. Max had made that more than perfectly clear. Yet, she couldn’t keep from dreaming…

A group of children ran by the café, shrieking with laughter and snapped her from her fantasies. Blinking slightly, she glanced around the Crashdown, taking in the Halloween décor. Grinning aliens now mingled with leering vampires and other assorted ghouls, while cobwebs dangled from every corner. John Carpenter’s chilling theme for Halloween was playing overhead, and Liz resisted the urge to shiver.

There was a sense of magic in the air, an air of possibility that only existed one night during the year. She suddenly had the strangest feeling that anything could, and would, happen. Her blood raced and her heart pounded with excitement, then the spell was broken as the back door slammed and Maria re-entered the restaurant.

“Well, that should take care of that,” she said, propping her hands on her hips. “Now it’s time to get dressed. Liz, stop fiddling with those cobwebs and let’s doll up, doll. We can’t make the guys beg wearing these things.”

Looking down at the hideous aquamarine Star Trek rip-off uniforms, Liz had to laugh in agreement. With care so as not to fall, she descended from the stool and took off her alien antennae. She shot a look at Alex, who was busy plucking the strings of his bass guitar idly. “Where’s your costume, Alex?”

“You’re looking at it, woman,” he returned with a cocky grin. “Take a wild guess who I am.”

Before she could reply, Maria’s sarcastic tone broke in. “Pathetic loser? What?”

Liz snorted, tossing Alex a grin as he stood up and struck a pose in his black suit. “I’m James Bond from the Sean Connery years, specifically from Dr. No, and not so specifically from the scene where—”

“La la la, not listening!” Maria shook her head and began backing away. She took her hands from her ears long enough to throw out, “Get thee to Party City and find a real costume. Not the suit you wore to your cousin Marcy’s wedding two years ago, Whitman.”

She grabbed Liz’s arm and practically dragged her across the room as Alex’s heated denials rang in their ears. The two girls giggled while entering the bathroom where they’d earlier stashed their respective costumes.

“I think you might have really offended him,” Liz pointed out, pulling out the silky black wig she’d purchased to cover her own dark brown hair. Staring into the mirror, she arranged the wig and glanced at Maria through the glass.

“Oh, please,” Maria snorted, shimmying into a pair of black fishnet stockings. “He was asking for it with that costume. No imagination whatsoever!”

“Maybe,” Liz agreed, reaching for the rest of her witch costume. “Or else he’s still traumatized from fifth grade when he went as the Energizer Bunny and all the kids were making those ‘keeps going, going, going’ cracks.”

“Hmm. That might be true,” Maria conceded. “Alex does get squicky at the hint of anything sexual. The poor boy. One day he’ll hit puberty, and the world shall rejoice.”

“Maria,” Liz laughed, shaking her head at her friend’s wicked tone. “Just because Alex doesn’t feel the need to describe each base he gets to, doesn’t mean he’s not curious.”

“And what about you?” Maria countered, turning and propping a hip on the counter as Liz carefully applied her makeup. “Are you curious?”

All at once, an image of Max popped into her brain and she felt a blush work its way up her neck. “Of course,” she managed to choke out, fluffing her wig and hoping Maria couldn’t read the truth in her eyes. “It’s perfectly normal, Maria.”

Her best friend eyed her speculatively and Liz knew that she knew. But Maria simply gave a wistful sigh and grumbled, “Too bad there aren’t any guys in Roswell worth being curious about. Seriously, this town is lacking in cutie potential.”

Liz gave a weak smile. “Right.”

“Well, I’m ready to go knock ‘em dead,” Maria pronounced, smacking her lips together as she finished applying a shade of red to them that reminded Liz of a fire engine. Which, considering the rest of Maria’s costume, was sort of ironic.

She stared at herself in the mirror for a long moment once she was alone, taking in the ordinary features that she’d never worried about before. But now…she found herself wondering what Max Evans thought when he saw her, now that she knew the truth about him, Michael and Isabel.

Finally, she let out a disgusted breath. “Just stop,” she ordered herself firmly. “There’s nothing…there can’t be anything…” Her voice broke, and she blinked rapidly to avoid the tears that threatened to blur her vision.

As she walked back inside of the main café, she caught sight of a familiar head of hair and the eyes that haunted her in her sleep, and every waking moment between. She stared at Max, drinking him in as she did whenever he didn’t realize she was looking.

Maria let out an airy laugh, reacting to whatever Alex had said before she’d entered. “You’re so funny, snookums.” With that, she patted him on the cheek as she pranced by. “Max, you’re early.”

Appearing as if he’d been struck dumb, Max cleared his throat and murmured, “Yeah. I know. Actually, I was wondering if Liz was around?”

She drew in a breath, savoring his somber voice and taking a shaky step forward. She called his name softly, watching as his gaze swung around to meet hers. His eyes flared in recognition, and then grew warm with appreciation as they seemed to drift toward one another, completely oblivious to the others around them.

Stopping only inches away from him, she managed to get out, “I didn’t know if you’d come.”

He hesitated, briefly drawing his lip between his teeth before replying so quietly that she had to struggle to hear. “I…shouldn’t have.” Despite his words, an intense longing crossed his features, and she stifled a gasp. “Liz, you know we shouldn’t be…”

She felt Alex’s curious gaze upon her and equal parts frustration and guilt filled her as she looked over at him. It was obvious that he didn’t understand what was going on, and that it hurt him that she and Maria were hiding things from him. While he never asked, he never hid his reaction.

“Let’s go into the back room. There’s something I want to show you,” she said quickly, laying her hand lightly upon Max’s arm. He jerked, then allowed her to lead him away as the sound of front door jingling signaled the arrival of guests.

She shut the door behind them, turning to face him within the small confines of the break room. He was staring around, an uncomfortable expression coloring his handsome features. He looked for all the world like he’d rather be anywhere but alone with her. The realization sapped all of the excitement and happiness of his arrival from her, and she gave him a weak smile as he finally looked at her. “Hi.”

“Hi,” he answered quietly. “I know you’re probably wondering why I’m here…”

“Max, I invited you here,” she laughed, hoping for a light tone and not one that echoed her disappointment.

“Oh. Right,” he mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I really just came to see if you’re okay.” Looking up at her from beneath thick lashes, he added softly, “We haven’t really talked since…your grandmother…”

“Oh.” All at once, the horrible grief she’d tried so desperately to hide came back to the forefront, and she swallowed thickly. “No, I’m…I’m okay. Thank you.”

“You are?” He didn’t appear convinced, and took a step closer as he watched her with an intensity only Max Evans could pull off. “Because you didn’t really seem okay…you know…”

Immediately she was reminded of their embrace outside of this very place a week ago. Heat flooded her cheeks and she bit her bottom lip as he came closer. “I’m sorry about that,” she whispered. “I was just…you were there…”

“I know.” And from the tone of his voice, it seemed he also understood the pain being separated from him was costing her. “Liz, I—”

“Your face healed up,” she interrupted, a wild panic taking over her as she read his intentions. She just didn’t think she was up to hearing another diatribe on why it was important they avoid one another. “Max, I’m so sorry about Kyle.”

“I don’t care about Kyle,” he said fiercely, eyes flashing in the dim light. “I just want to know that you’re all right. I shouldn’t have come, this was a bad idea. And yet I can’t stay away without knowing…”

“I’m okay,” she said in a tearful voice, wishing he would just take her in his arms and make all of the pain go away as he’d done before. And knowing it was too much to ask.

They stared at each other for a long moment, then his head dropped and he replied in one of the most defeated voices she’d ever heard, “I’m not.”

“Max…”

“Please, don’t say anything,” he begged hoarsely, and began backing away before she could reach out and touch him. “Forget I said it. Forget I was here…I’m only making things worse.”

“I wish things were different,” she whispered, blinking tears away. “I wish…”

“I know.”

The music began to pound from the café, and Liz hurriedly wiped her eyes before turning her back to him. “I’m glad you came,” she managed in a shaky voice. “I-I hope you’ll at least stay for awhile and have some fun.”

“It’s a bad idea.”

“Of course it is,” she answered, unable to hide the bitterness clogging her throat.

“Liz…” a feather-light touch stroked down her wig then was gone in a flash. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I am,” she said, turning back to find him so close that she had to look up to meet his gaze. Tension sizzled between them, emotions that couldn’t he hidden and would never be fulfilled. “Happy Halloween, Max,” she whispered.

His eyes burned, and he nodded slowly. “See you in school.” And he disappeared without another word, leaving her breathing raggedly, listening to the haunting music coming from the other room.

"Echoed voices in the night
she's a restless spirit on an endless flight..."