Outside on the veranda, Liz was trying to come to terms and still seem to be some fantasy. “It can’t be true,” Liz insisted as she felt the warmth of Max’s arm and stepped back out of that warmth and glanced at the man she had loved since that day when she was fifteen as she struggled to come to some acceptance of this new reality of hers. She thought of the little boy, who was the topic of conversation, and knew how much he looked like Max, but never did she think of any of her in him, as it seems to far fetch as she sighed. “Whenever I looked at Zane before I left, and even since I came back Max, how I wished he could have been ours but no, there is no way this could have happened, and you know it as well as I do,” she murmured as she thought of the little boy who looked so much like Max and how it made her hurt to see him, and to see Max in those eyes.
“You don’t have to convince me Liz, because as much as I want to have known it as possibility but I am not in some dreamland or movie, and I know it couldn’t have happened, so I don’t know how it is because I trust Serena, and I know she wouldn’t be trying to con us because this is not a con that would be interesting to those who want a piece of me up on Antar.”
“It’s crazy,” Liz murmured as they embraced as she looked out on the falling sunlight, as it was getting later, and she wished for some clarity.
“I was taken, and I get why they would have something of me…” Max murmured as he hated thinking about that time. “Coming out of that, I had to watch you walk away, and it wasn’t easy for my mental state that summer to have gone through that and then to lose you.”
“I am sorry,” Liz murmured as she thought of her decision to go to Florida. “That year was so whirlwind, and I needed time.”
“I know it and I don’t blame you, because you did need it. I just wish you had stayed, and we could have tried again, and we hadn’t had to wait so long, and have what happened, happen.”
“So much could have been prevented if I had stayed,” Liz sighed as thought of that summer… and how much she had dreamt of Max and tried to move on, and concentrate on life without him in it and as much she tried, she knew Max was never going to be someone she could truly get over as she thought of all she did that summer to try to get over Max and then a sudden thought came to her, and she went pale. “No… shit, no”
“What is it?” Max asked deeply to concern by the frown that came to Liz as if she was almost stricken by a memory.
“Oh god,” Liz murmured as she felt sick, and she raced into the house, and up to Max’s room and Max went after her, mystifying Michael and Maria as Isabel had just left to go meet up with Kyle.
*
Upstairs, she wanted to barricade herself in the bathroom as she felt sick. She knew she wasn’t pregnant again, because this felt different as it was memories as she heard knocking on the door and knowing it was Max. “I am fine.”
“No, you not” Max insisted. “Let me in…”
“I am fine,” Liz murmured. “Please Max go back downstairs, and I’ll be down shortly. You don’t have to worry about me.”
“I am so please let me see you and I will know everything is alright” came Max as she sighed and opened the door and stood before Max and tried to present an image of complete calm when inside she was flipping out. “Go Max, I am fine, and I will be down shortly as I have to go pick up Aria” as she was suddenly reminded why she was happy to have her daughter in her life when once upon a time the idea was so bleak.
“Aria is doing fine, as your parents are doting on her as you well know” Max said softly as he had checked in before and knew the little girl had grandparents who loved her unconditionally and was caring for her. “But if you want me to go, then I will…”
“Thank you…” Liz said as she looked back in the mirror as she remembered before she collected herself and walked downstairs and faced her friends.
“What is going on Liz?” Max murmured.
“I am sorry about before because I did remember something,” Liz sighed as she fought the memories. “It’s about when I went to Florida that summer. I spent it with my aunt.”
“Right,” Max nodded as he was forced to remember how much that summer had sucked without Liz in his life and being forced to come to terms with the White Room.
“You barely wrote…” Maria asked. “We talked but you only came back shortly before school started.
“And I tried to detach myself from the chaos,” Liz remembered. “It didn’t work but I tried because everything the previous year had been so confusing, and I needed time but then…”
“Then?” Max asked.
“I got sick…” Liz sighed as a frantic look came to Max as he clutched her hands, as she tried to reassure “Not seriously,” she sighed softly
If only. “Not like Mia did, but when I was in Florida… I was feeling run down, and I had some tests done and I didn’t tell my parents as I told my aunt to keep it a secret. I was so stressed because of everything that I had been under since the shooting, and while I loved you Max… still, I was sixteen and I couldn’t handle it” she murmured and saw the pain on Max’s face as they both knew that time was so whirlwind, and painful for both of them and for him when she walked away.
“What did the tests show?” Maria asked.
“I had a cancer scare,” Liz admitted to the outrage of Max. “It was only a scare in the end, but they told me that I might not be able to have children… and they had to run tests and they did, and the testing was pretty invasive but I didn’t tell anyone, not even my aunt how serious it could have been. Anyways, in the end, I got a clean bill of health which made when I found out about Aria even more poignant despite the situation because of what I once was told. Since then, every checkup has been clean… and when I broke down once again due to the stress in senior year, that was something completely different…”
“What was this testing?” Maria asked. “And you were manifesting your gifts during senior year?”
“Yeah abut back to the earlier testing, it was you know the usual, exams and blood testing” Liz sighed.
“Was there anytime you were unconscious?” Michael asked as he looked at Max and knew his worries and they shared the same.
“Not really,” Liz sighed and knew this was the revelation that was going to rock. “But…”
“But… what?” Max asked softly.
“My aunt loaned me the money so I could freeze some of my eggs. It got me thinking that if I wasn’t going to be able to have children if I was indeed sick and needed further treatment then I wanted the option of one day trying to see if I could be successful with whatever method was open to me at the time” Liz said softly and she saw the shock on the faces of her friends, and Max. “I know okay, so I went through and my aunt helped me because she hadn’t been able to have children and she wanted me to have the ability one day to try.”
“Which means?”
“I went through with the procedure, and only my aunt knew” Liz admitted. “And then in the end, I got my clean bill of health and was told it was a scare and I went on with life, came back to Roswell and which is why I tried to detach myself. I blame the stress of everything. What I discovered. Tess. Everything, and I tried to concentrate on a future for myself, but little by little I got drawn back in and when things went haywire, I went off to university and forgot about what I experienced that summer because so much more had replaced it with it’s seriousness, and if I was healthy, why would have remember it.”
“You have eggs on ice in some lab in Florida?” Michael asked to the glare of Maria who wanted to tell him to be more sensitive, but Liz could only laugh because it was such a response that she expected from Michael, and it seemed normal as she saw in Max’s face confusion.
She shared that confusion.
“Yes,” Liz admitted. “Mostly I forgot about it but every once awhile I was reminded by a call or a request and in the end, I ended up donating one later to someone in need” she murmured and knew that revelation landed loudly. “But I kept the rest in case because you never know, but then I got pregnant with Aria and I figured I would make the decision to donate any remaining viable ones but hadn’t signed any paperwork for that because I was dealing with everything else in the wake of my divorce”
“Have you checked that everything is on the up and up at the lab?” Max asked as he was rocked by the idea and then a sudden thought came his mind. “That the eggs are still there…”
“I mostly forgot about it. It was around the time I graduated from high school that I donated or earlier,” Liz admitted and then her face went pale and they caught It as the revulsion of the thought crystalizing in her formalized. “You don’t think?”
“Whoever was responsible for the creation of Zane, well, they found out, and used one of the eggs?” Michael asked. “And conned you into thinking it was going to someone in need.”
“Jesus Christ,” Maria murmured.
“I thought it was all on the up and up?” Liz asked.
“Some how they found out, got one of the eggs and then used Max when they got his sample from the White Room. Tess might have been legitimately pregnant, but she lost it, but they had you and Max to experiment with, and they came up with Zane via Tess. But Zane was too human and Khivar rejected him, or maybe he didn’t reject him, and still Tess who was now a sitting duck with a date with the death chamber who would have wanted to save her life so she knew this and snatched the kid and raced back here to Earth, and tried to rope in Max because he knew she had been pregnant.”
“And I fell for it” Max asked.
“So, she went on her suicide mission but lived and ended up in jail and to save Zane, she used Max’s need to be there for his son and got to put Max’s ring on her finger and she sat and waited it out...” Maria wondered.
“We fell into her trap. But Aria ended up being a girl” Liz asked.
“She almost killed you, and I killed her” Max sighed.
“And now we have Zane and Aria?” Maria asked and theorized. “Zane has abilities but is too human for Tess’s taste and Aria is too young to know, and Tess thought she was going to be the leader to bring back to Antar to overthrow Khivar?” she sighed. “She was hoping to get off this earth by taking the baby Liz was to deliver and hope that this child would be keep her alive. Whether that would work, who knows…”
“God, this is too much” Liz cried and rushed off again, and this time Max didn’t follow her because he was also trying to figure out how this all worked…
“I am sorry Max…” Michael murmured.
“What is this hell…” Max wondered as he looked at Liz had moved back onto the veranda and this time Maria went after her, and it left him wondering if this was going to be too much…
“Did Tess know?” Michael muttered.
“She knew” Max considered. “She knew what she was playing with all this time. She knew what it meant to have me marry her, knowing that Zane was my kid with Liz and then to watch Liz walk away because it was too much, when she was walking away from her son.”
“The bitch…” Michael sighed.
“Thank god she’s dead!” Max vowed.
“What happens next…” Michael couldn’t help but wonder.
“Hell, if I know…” Max sighed.
*
“I walked away from my own kid,” Liz asked as she talked on the veranda with Maria who had turned on the lights to the deck now that it was dark as they were trying to make sense of their latest theory. “Why… would she want that, why would anyone want that…”
“You didn’t know, and you couldn’t have known they would have done something like this” Maria mused
that this was too insane to be true. “Max doesn’t blame you, hell no one would have blamed you.”
“He looks so much like Max, and how I wished he was ours… but this…”
“Is too bizarre,” Maria observed as she thought of the insane set of circumstances “It would be understandable if you don’t want it. You wanted Max and Aria. Zane was part of the package, but now this…”
“How am I going to handle this…” Liz wondered. “Zane is mine…”
“Yes, he is,” Maria murmured. “When I think about it. He does seem like the perfect part of both of you. He’s pretty cute, and pretty compassionate and seems like the perfect little boy as he never seemed to have any part of Tess in him.”
Liz could only nod. “Can I handle this?” she asked.
“You always were going to if you wanted Max, because Zane was part of the package but now it has this added reality and you will have to figure out how this works for you and Max, and the kids.”
“He’s going to know I walked away…” Liz asked. “When he’s old enough, he’s going to know…”
“So, you and Max will explain it to him when he is older, and he’ll understand and maybe he already does since he seems to know more than we do most days. He has known things were odd, considering what Michael has told me about his first five years. He didn’t have a mother all this time, but he has a chance to have one now… If you want to be there for him…”
“Can I handle this?” Liz asked again.
“I pretty sure you can. Whether this ends up good or bad for you and Max. You have this chance, and it’s incredible, and once in a lifetime and I don’t see how you will want to give it up?” Maria asked.
“Why couldn’t it be simple?” Liz asked.
“Did you really think it could be simple. Nothing has been simple for you and Max,” Maria laughed. “So, this shouldn’t be shocker except that you share two kids together… instead of one, and it’s a very bizarre situation” Maria murmured. “And I thought my wedding weekend was going be simple…”
“I am sorry,” Liz muttered as she realized what was supposed to be happening this coming weekend. “I know you wanted it smooth.”
“But then when has Michael and I ever been that smooth,” Maria laughed. “I am saying this as the woman who has twin daughters born via two different fathers” Maria laughed. “So yes, your situation should only rival mine I guess… and even surpass it”
Liz could only nod and smile as they looked through the glass as she saw Max smiling at her and the same flutters that she had as a fifteen year old still remained within her, and to know she has a chance now to make a life with him felt still a dream, but truly was a reality she was getting used to as he and Michael came out and almost immediate Maria pulled Michael back into the house, so to let her friend to speak to Max alone “Hi…” she said softly.
“Liz, I am so sorry. If only I hadn’t screwed up your life…” Max asked as he knew she was overwhelmed, and it was too much and he feared losing her because of it. “I know you didn’t ask for this, and I wish I could relieve your confusion.”
“You didn’t screw up my life Max… You saved it because I would be dead otherwise,” Liz said softly. “I can’t be sorry for that…” Liz murmured and knew it was the truth. She would be dead if Max hadn’t saved her life, and their bond had brought something to her life, and she couldn’t be sorry about that. “You opened a new world for me…”
“I brought you danger, and I brought you pain. You deserve happiness. You deserve safety. Both you and the kids deserve this, and being with me, I brought you danger…” Max feared. “I can’t help but wonder if it’s too much…”
“We have two children together…” Liz murmured.
“How about that…” Max murmured as he took her into his arms, and they hugged and lightly kissed and both felt like something right was happening, but they couldn’t deny that it wouldn’t be complicated.
“I am a big girl Max. I came back here because I knew what I was getting into, and I wanted you and I wanted Aria to know you. I didn’t know this was what I was walking into, but I can’t say being away from you would bring any safety to our world, or keep the kids pain free. You’re too much a part of me. I tried for that normal life, and I found it lacking. I don’t want that for the kids.”
“I just wish…” Max murmured.
“Our kids are special. We don’t know if Aria has any gifts, but something tells me she will, and they need to be with someone who can help them explore their capabilities but also show them to be careful. Being out there, solo won’t help them."
“If only…” Max asked.
“Max, I saw normal. I had that chance with Brian, and it wasn’t something I wanted. The kids will be better for the life they have a chance at… I am not going to say it will be easy, and we might not be able to work. But we deserve a chance. I came back because I wanted you, and that doesn’t change because we now share
two children.”
“It won’t be easy,” Max sighed.
“Then let’s work on it,” Liz murmured because even thought she had doubts, she knew this is the life she wanted, and it would take a lot of work, but she wanted to try. “Let’s try…” she asked as Max nodded and embraced as they walked up to the bedroom together and fell asleep in each other’s arms as they prayed for some sanity. “I do love you” Liz heard faintly as she was falling asleep.
I love you too” Liz murmured as she felt like she was fading into the world of make believe and dreams.
“We do have a chance if only we believe in that…” Max murmured as they fell asleep in each other’s arms while across town in his best friend’s home, Zane was dreaming.
Of Max and Liz who he was calling Mom and Dad. Along with his baby sister Aria.
He dreamt of chasing his sister in backyard of their home and he knew down the line a new baby would be coming into their homes, just a little later than his parents would have liked, and that would cause tension until they were able to bring the joyous little one into their home.
And then next morning as he sat in his grandparent’s home as Phillip and Diane were forced to deal with one more revelation that would change their family in ways they hadn’t expected as Max and Liz walked in together and found Aria who had brought over by Isabel to be on her big brother’s lap. Watching them together, Max and Liz knew that they truly did have a have a chance of making this work as Max walked over and picked up his daughter for the first time in three months and stood there with the tiny little girl who instantly settled in her father’s arms, and Max felt a inner peace come through him as Liz smiled as she watched Max with their daughter, and Zane was looking at them with a wide smile on his face.
Max and Liz knew it would work out…
And then days later after they watched Michael and Maria exchange vows and being pronounced husband and wife and take off with Mia and Bree on a family honeymoon in California where a sizable portion would be spent at Disneyland. Max took Liz’s hand and led her up the aisle and out of the small church and into a new life as they got into the car they had packed up that morning and with Zane sitting tight with his seat belt attached and Aria in her car seat, they set off on a new adventure.
Which was their life together.
******
Author's Note.... Merry Christmas! I decided to go be slightly more normal means to make it possible. I didn't come into the story with the quest to twist Zane's paternity all around to make this miracle. This was supposed a simple sexy story that ultimately got Max and Liz together. It found its way in more complicated way... So, yes, there is a little suspension of belief but then Liz went away for the summer. So, who knows what she was up to LOL. Trying to get the egg through other means and more hazardous ways to Liz's safety wasn't the story I wanted to show, as that is a whole other story possibility. So, I used a little different way. And made it a plausible or I hope I did.
Anyways, happy holidays. And there is
ONE more chapter. Which is more of a epilogue as we see if the future works out for Max and Liz, and everyone... It should be coming after Christmas, before the end of the year.