Solar Eclipse Book 2 (CC,M/L,MATURE) COMPLETE

Finished Canon/Conventional Couple Fics. These stories pick up from events in the show. All complete stories from the main Canon/CC board will eventually be moved here.

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max and liz believer
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Post by max and liz believer »

Guess what? I have a new update!

Thank you soo much all you beautiful people that read this story (and don't give up on me in my times of absence) and thank you for taking the time to leave feedback!

aurorasky
VeronicB
BehrObsession
frenchkiss70
Crystal
mitra
WomanofMystery
Sali103
I am a dreamer
Liz86000
Tanya
roswelluver
Norma Bates
Amiee


Thank you!!

Hugs,

Jo


Chapter 27


It was a tingle in his fingers that pulled him back to consciousness. It was as if small bursts of electricity were rushing through his fingers, up his arm and spreading out into the chest. Even though it was familiar electricity, it still held some foreign features. As the dream world started to disintegrate around him and reality started to solidify, the conscious awareness of her became even more pronounced. She was surrounding him in a way that he had never felt her before. It wasn’t as if her essence was an addition to his soul, but her soul was so deeply intertwined with his that it had become a part of him. It was the most relieving, relaxing, passionate, warm, exciting feeling he had ever felt in his whole life. He slowly opened his eyes and the smile to match his feelings spread over his face. She was asleep. He could see the gentle rising and falling of her chest. Her long dark lashes were resting calmly against the red cheeks, the color telling of her regained health. Her long dark hair was tousled, lying in disarray on the pillow, some strands sneaking out and resting softly over her cheek. It was still lacking its long-forgotten shine, but Max new that it would come back. He could feel it just as certain as he could feel the beating of his own heart. She was okay. She would be okay.

His eyes traced the gentle features of her face. It was a long time since he had allowed himself to do so. Just look at her. The guilt about not being able to help her when she needed him had consumed him, paralyzed him, until he had barely been able to touch her. He had missed feeling her skin under his fingers as unhindered as his hand was now resting on her stomach, skin to skin. It was the return of the tingle in his fingers that brought his attention to her stomach. Slowly and carefully, to not wake her, he pulled up her shirt, revealing her stomach. He had to take a deep breath as her skin came into view. There were bruises – all over her abdomen. They were fading, but it hurt to see them nonetheless. He closed his eyes against the guilt that came rushing down on him. Their connection was so strong right now that if he started to wallow around in self-blame again, Liz would wake up. She needed her rest. Right now it felt as if he would do major harm to whoever disturbed her right now – himself included. He took a deep breath and swallowed heavily and tried to refocus on what he was supposed to do. It wasn’t that difficult to find the source of the tingles.

Bright light was shining, spreading out underneath his hand, to follow the contours of his hand, making it appear as if his hand was glowing. But it wasn’t him. With fascinated slowness, he lifted his hand and felt the connection pull back. It was as if there had been a rubber band in his arm and as he removed his hand it flew back up. Carefully, he placed his hand on her abdomen yet again and the tingles started. A smile spread over his face. They were talking to him again. They were communicating their joy that their mother was feeling better again. He could sense that they were tired too, but that the anxiety to feel him respond to them had won over the need to sleep. However, as they felt his gentle love spread over them through the connection, they started to pull away as sleep claimed their small bodies. Max felt as if his heart was going to explode. The relief was so great he wasn’t sure how he was going to contain the emotion. Both Liz and his sons were alive. His eyes moved over to the little girl sleeping with her body pressed up against Liz’s back. Her hair was just as dark as her mother’s, just a little thicker and wilder, spread all over the white pillow. Her hands were pulled up to her face, both made into small fists. Her knees were pulled up to her stomach, but not as tightly as when they had first found her on Antar and she had wanted to escape reality. He was still worried about her. He could see the strain in her face, but it felt as if it would be easier to help her now that Liz was feeling better.

His heart clenched worriedly as a soft helpless whimper escaped his daughter’s lips. He slowly rose from the bed, moving very carefully as the bed shifted at the loss of his weight and made his way over to her side. He lay down behind her and gently put his hand on her arm. She moved underneath his touch and he moved his hand up to her face, to brush the hair away from the side of her face. She stilled beneath his touch and he stayed there for a while, breathing in the smell of the peach soap Liz used to wash Emma. He loved her so much. A flash of how carefree she had once been, before Khivar had taken her from them, entered his mind and not for the first time – and certainly not the last – he cursed the existence of Khivar. He cursed his past and his destiny. Why couldn’t he give them a normal life? Emma hadn’t asked to be born the child of an alien king. She was such a wonderful child, why did he have to find Liz and her, and destroy it all? But the answer was so quickly in his head and so clear that he glanced over at Liz, suspecting that she was telling him. But she was asleep. He could feel through the connection that she was still unconscious. The voice was telling him what he already knew, but what he had a tendency to forget when he ended up in one of his vicious mind loops. If he hadn’t found Liz, she would’ve died because of the cut off connection. Which again, was his fault. If he hadn’t saved her that September day in 1999 on the floor in the Crashdown, she would never had been tied to him through an otherworldly connection and she would never have to be so sick because the connection wasn’t open. But then again, as the voice of reason in his head once again pointed out, if he hadn’t saved her then either, she would have died. She was teetering on the brink of death when he had run up to her that day. He could still see it as fresh in his mind as if it had been yesterday. That’s when his life had begun.

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Emma’s forehead, before pushing up from the bed and as quietly as he could, crossing the floor and pressing down the door handle. He was momentarily taken aback when the door wouldn’t open. Frowning, he pressed the door handle down again and pushed a little harder on the door. He found the root of the problem. Michael was lying in front of the door. He was now looking up at him groggily. Max looked further to the right and found Maria partly sitting, partly lying down next to the door, her lap occupied by Michael’s head. They had both fallen asleep outside the door.
“Hey,” Michael murmured, pushing himself up in a sitting position. He glanced back at Maria to see so that he hadn’t woken her, but he didn’t think there would be any greater risk of that happening since Maria had barely just fallen asleep after worrying all night about what was going on behind the closed bedroom door.
“Have you slept here all night?” Max whispered, a confused frown marring his forehead.
Michael slowly rose to his feet, wincing as his tired body protested. The consequences of the weird position his body had been lying in for a couple of hours was making themselves known.
“Maria came over last night to visit Liz and Mrs. Parker stopped her from going into your room. She freaked out after Mrs. Parker told her what had happened and called me. I called Isabel and Alex-“ Michael nodded towards the TV couch and Max noticed that both had taken up residence there; Isabel curled up next to Alex, with her head on his chest. “-and we all waited out here. When you didn’t come out, we figured that you were either…uhm… dead or you had fallen asleep. Everyone hoped for the latter alternative.”
“Right,” Max nodded.
“How about some coffee, man?” Michael started to walk towards the kitchen and Max followed.
“That would be great,” he answered.

Michael made his way out into the kitchen and started to rummage through the cabinets. Max silently sat down by the table. His thoughts were all over the place, but at the same time he felt a deep feeling of peace within.
“You okay?” Michael asked and Max looked up at him in surprise. He still hadn’t gotten used to the new Michael. The Michael that had been born out of the events on Antar. The one that looked after people and showed concern.
“Yeah, yeah,” Max answered absent-mindedly. “I just have a lot on my mind.”
Michael pressed the on button on the coffee maker and sat down opposite Max. “Right. So how is Liz feeling?”
There had already been too many turnovers the past few months. Liz had gotten worse only to be healed by Max, then starting to get worse again until she was successfully healed by Max again. Every time it happened, Max thought that it would be the last time; that she would get better. Now, even though he could feel through the connection that something was different this time, he was afraid to put too much hope in it. So there was only the shadow of a smile on his face when he answered.
“I think she’s gonna be okay.”
“You think?” Michael repeated carefully.
“Yeah, and the twins are doing fine as well.”
“Okay,” Michael agreed, letting Max get away with the vagueness of his answers. “She’s asleep?”
A warm smile played in the corners of Max’s mouth and he nodded. Michael couldn’t help but feel his heart getting warmer at the sight. If someone finally deserved to be happy, it was Max and Liz. They had fought hard enough to be together. They had paid for their sins for several lifetimes ahead by now.

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to you lately,” Max said. “How are you, Michael?”
Michael snorted, as if it was preposterous that Max would ask such a thing. He was fine, he had always been fine.
“I’m doing all right,” he answered with a wistful smile that Max immediately picked up on.
Max gave him a pointed look. “And how’s Maria doing?”
Michael hesitated before he answered, but he couldn’t hide the secret smile from lingering on his lips. “Actually, there’s something I want to talk to you about…”
Maria took this opportunity to walk into the kitchen.
“Max,” she stated. “I thought I heard your voice.”
“Hey Maria,” Max said softly and nodded towards the living room. “Sorry about worrying you guys.”
“Is she okay?” Maria asked, taking the chair next to him and looking at him with big worried blue eyes.
“I think so,” Max answered.
“You think so?” Maria asked. She obviously wasn’t going to settle for that answer as easily as Michael had.
Max closed his eyes for a second, relishing in the sound of Liz’s heartbeats through the connection. “I’m positive.”
Tears formed in Maria’s eyes and she looked up at him hopefully. “Really?”
Max smiled now, a smile that could’ve thawed ice. “Really.”
Maria’s smile matched his through the tears and she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Max felt some of the weight normally resting on his shoulders melt away as he heard Maria’s grateful whisper against his ear. “Thank you, Max. Thank you.”

“I want to see her,” Maria stated as she pulled back from Max, wiping the tears of relief and happiness from her cheeks. She had been so worried the last couple of weeks. She had known deep in her heart, even if no one else were telling her the truth straight out, that Liz was getting closer to death with every passing day. She had been so afraid that she would lose her best friend and that Emma would lose her mother. She had barely dared to let herself think about how Max would react. She remembered with clarity how he had reacted the first time he thought that Liz had died, before they found Liz. She never wanted to see her friend like that again. It would have been worse this time, because he and Liz were if possible even closer now.
“She's sleeping,” Max answered.
“I’m just gonna go in there and watch her,” Maria said and took an honest hold of Max’s eyes. “Is that okay?”
He hesitated for a second or two. Even though he knew that Liz needed her rest, he also knew that Maria had been just as worried as he had been and nothing could’ve stopped him from seeing Liz, so why should he be the one to stop Maria from doing the same thing?
He smiled. “Sure.”
Maria inhaled shakily, as if she was about to perform in front of an audience of over a thousand people… or just meeting her best friend.
“Thank you,” she whispered and before they knew it she had left the kitchen.
“She doesn’t say it, but she’s been really worried,” Michael said, causing Max to turn his eyes towards him. “She’s been crying herself to sleep the last couple of weeks. I couldn’t comfort her. It didn’t matter what I said to her, because I wasn’t the one she wanted to listen to. She needed Liz.”
“We all do,” Max said quietly.
Michael nodded slowly. “True that.”


Memories of a time never to be forgotten washed over Maria as she slowly, and as quietly as she could, opened the door to Liz’s childhood room. Memories of how they had both, with their long hair tied up in pigtails, been running through this door, which at the time had been covered in posters of kittens and horses. She could almost see the children in front of her, running past her into the room as she opened it. She could see them collapse in fits of laughter on the bed and just as soon as they had been rolling around on the bed with their laughter filling the room, they were off again to the Barbie doll house on the floor. Maria remembered that house with such clarity. They had both wanted that house so much for one Christmas. Liz had got hers, but Maria hadn’t because her mother couldn’t afford it. This resulted in a lot of sleepovers when they would sneak out of bed after Liz’s parents had tucked them in and continue to play in the fantastic imaginary world of plastic food and sparkling evening gowns. The image of them as children slowly faded away as her eyes turned to the family sleeping in the large bed. When had they grown up? Liz was a mother and had a family of her own.

For some reason, which Maria couldn’t quite put her finger on, a wave of cold loneliness streamed through her, and she reflexively put her arms around herself. Nothing had ever gone back to the same after Max saved Liz that day in 1999. Maybe it was the secret of Max’s identity and what had really happened that had changed something in their once so indestructible friendship. Or maybe it was just the thought of growing up; changing and taking up another role in the world. Suddenly they were not only daughters and best friends, but also girlfriends and eventually lovers. Maybe it was when Liz had been getting sick after she and Max drifted apart the first time, and once again Liz hadn’t let Maria in. It all came down to the secrets. The secrets had created holes in their friendship and shortly after Liz had been kidnapped, presumed dead and been living another life without knowing her real identity. Maybe it was just plain jealousy. Ever since Max came into Liz’s life, Maria’s role has changed. Now Liz didn’t need to tell Maria everything because she could tell Max some of those things.

Maria slowly circled the bed, to come face to face with Liz’s sleeping countenance and something was released inside of her. Something broke apart, like when a bad stone of cell growth disintegrate due to the effect of the eager chemicals in chemotherapy, and she sank down in the chair next to the bed. Her hands turned into fists, trying to direct the turmoil of her feelings into her hands so that she wouldn’t cry. But her body was not going to be voluntarily controlled right now and her fists opened up to stop the flow of tears from her eyes from reaching her cheeks. Her gaze was locked on Liz’s face, on the weariness that was still evident on her friend’s face, as her bottom lip was trembling with relief and the tears in her eyes were dripping with gratitude for having her friend back.

Maria audibly gasped as Liz’s eyelids started to rise, blinking, and she tried to will herself to silence the sniffles coming out of her mouth.
“Maria?” Liz asked sleepily.
This only made Maria cry even more, because it was the voice of her friend, not the bleak ghost of her friend.
“Don’t cry,” Liz whispered when all she got in reply from Maria was sniffles. “Come here.”
She patted the space next to her, where Max had been sleeping before and Maria didn’t need anymore persuasion than that. Brushing the tears, which wouldn’t stop running, away with the back of her hand, she made her way over to the bed and laid down next to Liz. Liz immediately put one arm around Maria and pulled her into a hug.
“I was so afraid...” Maria sniffled into Liz’s shoulder. “I was so afraid that you were going to die.”
“I wasn’t going anywhere,” Liz answered, her voice gaining more strength with the gradual increase in wakefulness.
“Please, Liz, tell me that you were afraid. I need to hear that you were afraid.”
There was a moment of silence as Liz struggled to overcome her constant need to reassure people that she was okay.
“I was terrified. I really thought I was going to die. It seemed so hopeless and Max didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t ready to go and it scared me so much. Death in itself didn’t scare me. My body was longing to not feel pain any longer. What scared me was leaving all of you. Max, Emma, Alex, my parents, Michael, Isabel, and you; my sweet, sweet dearest friend.”
Silence followed before Maria answered. “Thank you. It’s good to hear that you are human after all.”
Liz laughed softly. “Ironic that you should say that when I’m probably the least human that I’ve ever been right now.”
Maria looked up at her and realized what she was referring to and joined Liz’s laughter. “I love you, Liz.”
“Love you too, sweetie,” Liz answered and hugged her again.


TBC...
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Penuska
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Post by Penuska »

I'm so excited to hear that you will be finishing this story!! :D I can't wait!! Thanks- Kim
We come to love not by finding a perfect person but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly-Sam Keen

I liked you better when you were brooding and paranoid.- Michael
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max and liz believer
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Post by max and liz believer »

I'm so relieved so many people are around still... I sat down and wrote on this story yesterday, thinking that I needed a few chapters to finish it off. But to my surprise, I only came up with one short chapter and an epilogue. I'm posting the chapter today and the epilogue (which is currently with my beta) in the near future and then this story will be finished... It's a bit sad actually, but I have to let go :roll:

Thank you, everyone!


Chapter 28

Max carefully closed the bedroom door behind him and warmth, passionate in its presence, spread through every cell of his body when his eyes connected with hers across the room.
“Hey,” she said softly.
“Hey,” he answered, standing there almost content by just watching her. But he knew that it wasn’t enough. It was never enough. He needed to touch her. He needed to make sure that the feelings he felt wash over their connection were true. He needed to confirm that the life he felt from her, tingling every nerve ending in his body, was real. He needed to make sure that the feeling of her heart beating in sync with his was not a hallucination on his part.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, his eyes still carrying some concern. Concern that would always be part of him. Concern that he would always feel for her until he drew his last breath. Because he would continue to watch over her, worried that something might cause her harm or snatch her away. She knew that by now. Thus, when she saw the concern in his eyes she wasn’t afraid, she didn’t feel like scolding him, she was warmed to the core. Because the concern was in absence of everything else she had seen in his eyes the last couple of months. Fear, guilt, shame, loneliness, anguish. This was Max. She could see him again. She could feel him again. Something was telling her that this time, it was forever.
“Haven’t you heard? An alien king swooped in and saved my life. Again.”
Max smiled. “That’s not the story I heard.”
Liz raised one eyebrow in mock disbelief. “Really?”

Max sat down on the side of the bed, looking down into her beautiful face, looking up at him with complete confidence and unwavering love. He raised his hand and gently pushed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. Like he used to do. Like he had always done. Liz’s eyes drifted close at the sensation of him touching her so gently. She would never get used to the tenderness he treated her with. The love he put into everything he did; every kiss, every touch, every word. She had almost forgotten what it felt like. He had drifted away from her so far that the feelings she felt at the moment seemed almost surreal. Feelings she had been so intimate with a couple of months back were now new and foreign.
“From what I heard, this alien is not a king. Not any longer.”
“Oh,” Liz retorted deadpanned.
“He decided to return to Earth and try to lead a human life with his children and his beautiful wife.”
“A normal life?” Liz asked, feigning surprise.
Max leaned over her and tenderly captured her lips with his. Simultaneously, Liz felt heat following the featherlike movement of Max’s hand along her bare arm. She didn’t have to look to know what he was doing, having seen the light trail emitting from his hands several time when he was caressing her body. She looked up into his eyes, still tasting him on her lips, and waited to speak until he opened his eyes and met hers.
“Completely normal,” Max answered the amusement in her eyes.
“Well, it’s a good thing that I caught him before he turned strictly human,” Liz mumbled, her fingers now tracing the outlines of his strong jaw. “Otherwise he might have been reluctant to heal me.”
“On the contrary,” Max answered, pausing to place soft kisses on the side of her neck while moving his body to more fully cover hers. “I would say that he would make an exception for you.”


Three months later

“Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Liiiiiz. Happy Birthday to you.”
Liz laughed warmly as Emma started clapping her hands excitedly. The last two months Max and Liz had worked hard on making Emma feel secure enough to give her the courage to return to the real world. Max had dreamwalked Emma every night to be able to hold Emma’s hand when she was standing in front of Khivar in one of her ever reoccurring nightmares. He was there to kiss her forehead and hold her tightly when the men in her dream would hurt puppies just to see if she would heal them. A week back, Emma had had her first dreamless night since her rescue from Khivar. They were making progress.

It was like watching a flower blossoming in front of their eyes, as the child Emma had been before being kidnapped was gradually returning. Emma was now looking at her mother with excitement, barely able to stop herself from helping Liz to blow out her candles. In her opinion, Liz was taking forever.
Feeling Emma’s eager impatience through the connection, Liz pulled her daughter over to her side of the table. Emma followed with a giggle as Liz in the process tickled her stomach.
“I think I need some help, Em. There are so many candles.”
Liz heard Maria’s snicker behind her and rolled her eyes.
“On three, okay sweetie?”
“Mmhmm,” Emma nodded, her eyes large as she with acute concentration stared at the candles.
Joining in, their loved ones standing around them in a circle chimed in; “One… Two… Three!”
But the candles were still burning and neither Liz nor her smaller replica made any indication of blowing candles, their faces imitating each other from the frown on the forehead to the biting of the bottom lip. In the few seconds that Liz’s parents, Max’s parents, Isabel, Alex, Michael and Maria tried to figure out what was going on, Max broke through the mass of people and rushed forward to Liz. Everyone who was excluded from the connection between Max, Liz and Emma watched speechlessly as Max kissed Liz’s forehead, his hand coming down to gently touch Liz’s protruding stomach.

Maria was the first one to voice what everyone wanted to know. “Uhm…guys? What’s going on?”
A few seconds of silence followed before Emma jumped up, as if broken out of a trance, with a cry of joy that made everyone jump from its suddenness.
“My brothers are coming! My brothers are coming!”
Still getting used to the extraterrestrial touch to Liz and Max’s family, Nancy and Jeff watched the little girl run around the dining table, knowing that she was saying something but not being able to fully fathom grasp the meaning of this bizarre situation.
“Oh my God,” Maria gasped behind Nancy and followed Max’s example by rushing up to Liz, almost pushing Max out of the way in the process. She pulled Liz into a tight hug.
“Okay guys, calm down,” Liz said, trying to breathe in Maria’s crushing embrace. “These kinds of things take time. This was just the first one.”
On the other side of Liz, Diane blinked rapidly as it hit her. “Sweetheart, are you in labor?”
Max looked up at his mother, his radiating smile telling her the answer before his voice did. “Yes.”
Max’s one worded answer rustled life back into everyone in the group and Liz was adored with hugs from everyone.
“Isabel!” Max yelled out to be heard over the buzz of voices, moving away from Liz to find his sister.
“Max,” Isabel said, a smile from ear to ear, and hugged her brother tightly.
Max relaxed in her arms for the duration of the hug, but as soon as she stepped back the nervousness hit him with full force. Isabel took one look into Max’s eyes and read him like an open book. Laughing, she affectionately patted the top of his head. “Don’t worry, Max. I’ve got it covered.”
She couldn’t help but be amused by his anxiety. After everything they gone through the last couple of months, Max shouldn’t have to worry about Liz giving birth. If he had been able to bring her back from the brink of death – twice – he could handle labor. But Max obviously didn’t see it that way, his nervous attempt at a smile quickly turning into a grimace. Smiling, Isabel shook her head at his hopelessness.
“Don’t worry, okay?” she said slowly, emphasizing every word, even though she knew that there was nothing she could say that would stop him from doing just that.

Their conversation was interrupted by Liz’s voice, loud and commanding but interlaced with happiness and bemusement. “Okay. Everyone. Calm down!”
The buzz quieted down some, until only Maria and Emma’s bubbling conversation was audible.
“…then we can go to the park and play on the swings!” Em cried out, looking happily at Maria for confirmation. But Maria was looking away from the little girl, looking around her with a sheepish smile as they had become the focal point in the presently quiet room. Liz shook her head at her favorite girls. Trust them to get the most worked up about this.
“I don’t know about you, but I really want some cake,” Liz continued.
Emma, with the typical attention span of a child, rushed up to the cake, momentarily forgetting about her brothers. As commotion and voices commenced anew, plates being distributed and cake being cut, Liz rose and followed the string of the connection that was vibrating with anxiety towards the bathroom. She leaned against the doorframe, watching him rummage through the cabinet, spreading towels over the floor. Watching his fervent search for the right towels, knowing that the poor towels had to fulfill very specific criteria in softness and texture, her love for him washed over her. Watching the muscles move under his thin white shirt, knowing that he was so worried for her wellbeing at this point that he hadn’t even noticed that she was standing there, the increased strength in the connection usually a dead give away, making hide and seek games with Emma close to impossible. She opened her mouth to reveal her existence when another contraction rippled through her lower abdomen, temporarily knocking the wind out of her. Through the blur of sharp pain, she saw Max bend forward in a motion mimicking hers, experiencing about half the pain she was feeling. She registered that he pushed himself off the floor, knowing that she was there, and helped her down on the toilet. Kneeling in front of her and pressing his forehead against hers, their heavy breathing was synchronized as time ticked them through the contraction.

“It’s too soon,” Max whispered when the pain subsided, referring to the fact that the second contraction had only been about five minutes after the first one.
Liz smiled and pressed a gentle kiss on his lips. “I think they are in a hurry.”
But Max didn’t respond to her smile with a smile of his own, his worried eyes tracing her features. “What should we do about them?”
Liz’s ears tuned in to the laughter and excitement coming from the living room, her smile growing larger. “I guess we should clear the area.”
Cradling his cheek, her small thumb brushing over his newly shaved skin, she murmured, “Relax. This is the good part.”
He mustered up a smile and turning his head in her hand, he kissed the soft surface of her palm. “Let’s get this show rolling.”


TBC...
-----------------
The epilogue coming soon....
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max and liz believer
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Post by max and liz believer »

First off, don't miss chapter 28 on the previous page.

When I started this story in 2002, I was still very new to fanfiction. This was my very first attempt at writing for an audience. The numerous stories I have at home are testament of my pre-existing joy of writing, but those stories have only been read by a handful of people. The opportunity to obtain feedback, a response to my words, was incredible and it has certainly helped me, both in encouragement and inspiration. So now when I (finally) have reached the end of this story, I would like to thank everyone who ever posted a reply to my story. Some of you might have left Roswell fanfiction behind you, some of you might have given up on this story and my very infrequent updates, but some of you capture my heart in your persistence and trust in that I would finish this story.

Thank you!

EmmyBehr, frenchkiss70, Tabasco Liz, NATEVANS, Dia, roswelluver, Pixie, alabama, clueless, behrstars, Batman, moonieADT, Little Mermie22, sweetygurl, nayney, Angelic, Breathless, tamira, Stefanie, cglenn, LPorter, mlover25, mareli, Asabetha, marteloise, salonica, AlienDreamer101, buffylicious, Snowdove30, jjjane, begonia9508, Twilighteyes1974, wallit, Eternal_Dreamer, Eccentric One, PhoebeAnn, 4everLover, LeighAnn, Gigo, Crimson, woodwinds, LizHalliwell, kiwigirl, qt4167013, Lullaby, mezzi, Lilac Stardust, angeleyes, Angelalien, dreamcandystars, jamie, Snowdove30, VickiV, dreamer17, BehrObsession, rosssli, nusacme, moonlight, LizzieEvans, Jeni, kissme4ever123, girlie_girl, HBGO, Tea, neolani, LizzyBug, sally, Liz Parker Evans, youre my dreamgirl, roswellchick03, LoveIsForever, Lizzie_Parker17, Razz214, panthergirl2002, Maia, out of this world, FloridaGirl, cherie, maxnlizbeliever4eva, PuReDrEaMeR05, Chipsflickan, rar1942, Norma Bates, AmeliaML4, mmcherron, Nan, mitra, Sali103, AnnMore, aurorasky, ~Dreamer~, Ms Yu, kendra, kittens, I am a dreamer, Smac, I love Orli, Phaedra223, Love Of My Life, VeronicB, Butterflies, Jason’s Lover, BrinatheDreama’, WomanofMystery, JasonMorganGirl, Liz86000, Behrsgirl77, 83 AlienAngel, Ellie, ruthandnina, Natz, Penuska, and tequathisy

A special thank you to Elizabeth, who has helped me in editing more than half of this story. Thank you, sweetie!!


And now, for the last time we’ll go back to Liz, Max and Emma. And of course the small addition to the family…


Epilogue

“Emma! What have I told you about feeding Princess at the table?”
Emma was not the only one shrinking under Liz’s scolding eyes as Liz walked further into the kitchen. Max looked up from pouring Tabasco on his donut, knowing that he would get some of that as well. Sure enough.
“And Max, you were supposed to be watching her!”
Max grimaced sheepishly. “Sorry.”
Liz rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the twins, only to shriek when strong arms enveloped her waist from behind pushing her off balance. Landing on his lap, she couldn’t prevent the merriment, sipping through the connection to Max and her children, from betraying the disciplinary mother front she was trying to keep up.
“Max!”
“What?” Max asked innocently, pulling her upper body further backwards so that he could look down in her face.
“Let me go!”
Even without the connection, her sparkling eyes betrayed her words.
“I think you need to lighten up, mom,” Max grinned, and before she caught his intention his fingers crept around her abdomen and began to tickle her.
“Get her, kids!” Max yelled.

“No, Max, no,” Liz laughed, her laughter increasing in intensity as two six-year-old hands and the small fingers of the two two-year-olds poked her, knowing every ticklish spot thanks to their father. She knew what would come next, making her effort of trying to roll away even greater. But she didn’t have a chance before her ears picked up on the anticipated barking from the miniature black poodle Princess that Emma had rescued two weeks ago and her screams were suddenly muffled by the Golden Retriever Boris that Emma had healed after the dog had been hit by a car one year earlier. The two cats that Emma had saved from being drowned in plastic bags six months ago jumped up on the dining table and knowing that the humans were occupied, they took a hold of the bacon on Max’s plate and with combined effort pulled it to the floor.
“No, Boris, get away,” Liz gasped, trying to avoid getting dog saliva into her mouth, but finding it very difficult as she couldn’t move her head much and the large dog made sure to cover her whole face.
“Mom tickish,” David screamed in delight.
“Yes she is,” Max agreed with his son with a grave expression, reserving the grin for Liz when he turned his eyes back to her face.
Liz got her head away from Boris long enough to mouth a promise to Max. “I’m gonna kill you.”
“Love you,” Max answered sweetly.
“Lub you, mommy!” the boys chimed in.

<center>-------------------------------------------------------</center>

Max snaked his arms around her waist, meeting her eyes reflected in the mirror. “Are you still mad at me?”
“For what?” Liz asked around a mouthful of toothpaste.
“God, you’re sexy,” Max murmured, half sarcastic, half truthful.
“Uh-huh,” Liz replied and Max shook his head at her, knowing that she was trying to block her enjoyment of this conversation from him so that she could trick him into thinking that she was actually still angry for what had happened at the dining table this morning. Knowing exactly what he was doing, Max very slowly and seductively kissed the side of her neck
“Why should I be angry? I love getting Tabasco in my hair and saliva all over my face.”
“I know you do,” Max said against her skin and Liz admonished herself for letting the shiver of pleasure get to her. She was still unable to resist him and she knew that she would be true for as long as she lived.
“You are teaching them very evil tricks,” Liz continued, trying her best to keep the tremble out of her voice simultaneously as she tried to block her feelings of desire from reaching him through the connection.
“That’s my role in the family.”
“That’s exactly my point,” Liz said, her voice stronger, rinsing her mouth before turning in his arms. “You are making me into the bad guy and you are the fun one.”
Max smiled at her softly. “Come on, when has Max Evans ever been the fun one?”
Liz smacked his chest. “I’m serious.”
Max’s expression sobered and he cradled her cheek. “I know. I just can’t be angry with them. I love them so much.”
Liz’s expression softened. “Max, I know you love them and that it’s difficult to scold them. But they are kids. They need rules and borders otherwise they will turn wild.”
“Oh…yeah, I watched this episode of ‘Super Nanny’ the other day and-“
Liz’s finger on his lips interrupted him. “Just help me with this, okay?”
“Okay,” Max nodded and captured her lips, unable to control himself any longer. He would never get tired of kissing her. Come to think of it, if he could do just that for the rest of his life he would be content. He loved feeling the vibration of her energy, her essence, under his fingers as he slid them over the exposed skin of the small of her back. He would never get enough of her.

He loved how her soft hair billowed around them when they made love. He loved that she would speak in the middle of the night, making verbal shopping lists and then deny it in the morning. He loved how she always fell asleep in front of a late night movie and how she would naturally curl up as close to him as she could get on the couch. He loved how she would spin David and Andrew in the air, laughing as much as they would. He loved how she would kiss Emma’s forehead whenever she had the chance, even if it happened to be in the middle of eating dinner. Clutching her petite frame closer, he knew he was the happiest man on Earth.
But her sudden unresponsiveness to his loving administrations brought him back from the land of sensations, the chill he felt pass over the connection making him break the kiss and take a step back. He shivered when he met her unseeing, staring eyes.
“Liz?”
Taking a hold of her upper arms, he shook her lightly. “Baby?” The shakings grew in intensity when she wouldn’t respond. He tried to read her through the connection, but it was closed and cold.

Not again, he thought wildly, shaking her again. The whole thing only lasted a couple of seconds, but it was enough to get Max into a wild frenzy. Liz blinked slowly, repeatedly, her eyes refocusing on his face.
“Max?”
Max crashed her close to him, melting their bodies together as he buried his face into the crook of her neck.
“Are you okay?”
“Max, you’re crushing me.”
Reluctantly, he pulled away. “What happened? You disappeared.”
“I-I saw something,” Liz stammered, still trying to make sense of what she had seen.
Almost afraid to speak the words, knowing that it had almost killed her the last time, Max asked, “Was it a premonition?”
Liz nodded slowly. “I think so.”
They had both thought it was gone. She hadn’t had a premonition since she had been in the warehouse almost three years ago and they had thought that maybe it had been connected to something else. Memories of conversations with Kira flooded Max’s mind, the words echoing over the connection to Liz. Kira telling them that the power of being able to see into the future was good in an Antarian but acted like virus in the human, breaking down the immune system.
Liz shook her head as the remembered words whispered in her head. “But I’m okay this time. I felt in control.”
Max frowned, relieved but still suspicious. Was she really okay? He could hear the resounding yes from her body in his head and he had seen for himself how she this time had just become unresponsive and not breaking down like that time in the warehouse. Maybe him bringing her back from the dead for the second time on Antar had changed her even more, made her more alien and more capable of controlling the power.

However, being so caught up in making sure that she was not injured from the premonition, they had momentarily forgotten about the content of the premonition.
“What was it about?” Max questioned, instinctively bracing himself for the answer.
Liz furrowed her forehead. The images had been very impressionistic, but she had seen the outlines of a child. She dug deeper, feeling increasingly anxious about finding the answer.
“I saw a child,” she murmured, more to herself than to Max, “It’s a girl. She… She has…” A soft singing voice drifted through her mind, a slippery memory from the premonition and her heart almost came to a complete halt.
“Where’s Emma?”
Max’s eyes widened with fear. “She’s taking a bath.”
“Oh no,” Liz whispered, brushing past Max with the image of water and music suddenly blazingly present in her memory.
Max ran after her to the bathroom, fearing the worst as he entered the bathroom, mere inches behind Liz.
“Mom? Daddy?”
Emma looked up at them, foam in her hair, on her face and most of her body, as she tried to find the right radio station on the portable radio balancing on the edge of the bathtub. Upon hearing her parents, her hands had left the apparatus and before her eyes, Liz saw the beginning of the premonition play out as the radio started to slide. She didn’t know she could move that fast, but it was with an anguished scream that she rushed forward and pulled the radio backwards by the cord, away from the water and away from electrocuting her daughter.

“Oh Emma,” Max whispered, falling to his knees next to the bathtub and pulling his foamy daughter against his chest.
“What’s wrong?” Emma asked in a small voice, feeling the fear and relief wash over the connection in waves.
“Baby,” Liz murmured, grabbing Emma’s wet head and desperately plastering kisses over her face. If she hadn’t felt the desperation in her parents, Emma would’ve most likely protested to her mother’s kisses.
“Mommy? You’re scaring me,” she said instead, speaking up to get their attention.
“You should’ve told me that you wanted to listen to music and I would’ve helped you,” Max said, guilt fleeting through his voice. Liz stroked her daughter’s hair back, her eyes flickering over her daughter’s pretty face.
“It is very dangerous to put something with electricity in it close to water,” Liz explained, her hands trembling from what could have happened. “If the radio had fallen into the bathtub, you would’ve gotten hurt.”
Fear entered Emma’s eyes and Liz kissed her forehead. “It’s okay, baby.” She inhaled deeply. “It’s okay now.”
“I just wanted to do it on my own,” Emma whispered, tears lacing her voice.
Max grabbed Liz’s hand to calm himself down, while his other hand brushed some foam away from Emma’s face. “We’ll help you, okay? Ask us first and we’ll figure out together what we need to help you with… You are a big girl now, Em. But you still need us to help you with some things.”
Emma bit her lower lip, nodding. “Okay.”
“I love you, sweetie,” Liz said, the trembling gradually loosening its grip on her body.
“Love you too, mommy,” Emma answered.

Years had passed since Emma had been taken from them, but a piece of her innocence was forever lost to her. She had finally started to return to a semblance of normal. Her nightmares had disappeared and the house was filled with animals of all types as a testament to how she was no longer afraid to embrace her natural instinct to help others. She was a responsible young girl who took good care of her twin brothers, watching them with a hawk eye whenever they went outside; her fierce over-protectiveness the only visible remaining sign of the trauma she had suffered while being held captive and experiencing deliberately excruciating pain. Her childhood had been taken from her during those days on Antar, but some of it had been given back to her through laughter and play as she grew up with her parents and her little brothers. She would become a special girl, in more ways than one. Having been forced to grow up too quickly, and with otherworldly genetics and abilities, she was wise beyond her years. She weighed every decision, choosing every path in her life with the utmost care. But she went on to make them all proud, finishing medical school at the top of her class and going on to do what she loved doing most: helping others. One day she would even find that special someone who she could trust deeply enough to reveal parts of herself that only her family and some of her parents’ friends knew about. He would be shocked at first, but his love and adoration for her would make him see past the fear of the unknown and they would get married, having two beautiful children.

The boys grew up feeling loved and secure. They only felt physical pain in the sense of scratched knees and blisters from outgrown shoes. That faraway planet only existed in their minds in the form of a bedtime story their big sister used to tell them. It was a world where people very similar to them fought a war for freedom and the right to feel, a world where good overcame evil. It was a world they would never see with their own eyes. They were surprised when they discovered their powers, their surprise quickly turning to their advantage; their common ability to read thoughts was something that was greatly misused in their teenage years to charm girls. But they eventually grew up as well. David became a wildlife veterinarian where he could display his love for animals by trying to save as many as possible from extinction. Andrew painted his first painting at the age of three and the house was soon thereafter filled by immense number of oil paintings, charcoal drawings, pencil drawings and clay statues. By the age of seventeen he gained an international reputation for being an aspiring young artist with an incredible imagination. His art depicted a planet he had never seen but which still nurtured his imagination with memories of thick water and a red sun.

Maria and Michael got married one week after David and Andrew‘s birth, combining their wedding with Max and Liz’s. After trying to get pregnant for a year, Maria received the medical opinion that she was unable to bear children. With a somewhat intimidated husband in tow, she applied for adoption and was blessed with a two-year-old girl eleven months later. Michael found himself sitting next to the cradle during long nights to watch his daughter sleep and calling Max over to heal the child at every small sniffle.

Isabel was the one to propose to Alex, frightening everyone with her thorough preparation for the wedding which resulted in a combined sigh of relief from everyone involved when the wedding came to an end. They had four children, all with blonde curly hair. They grew up being scolded by their mother for scaring David and Andrew in their sleep after they acquired the ability to transform themselves into monsters through dreamwalking.

Max and Liz remained inseparable. They watched their children grow up and enjoy life. After a while they stopped looking over their shoulder, secure in the knowledge that no enemies from outer space were coming to hunt them down. They were separated by flesh on the day they died, only to have their souls reunited and entwined seconds later. Their souls remained as one until two new babies were formed, one in the Southern hemisphere and one in the Northern. Their need to be together, to love each other, to complete each other, reached out across the globe and brought them together again.

And so it will continue until the end of time.



<center>THE END</center>
Last edited by max and liz believer on Wed Jul 26, 2006 7:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Unbreakable (M/L, AU)
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My Imagination

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