Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Aftermath
Part 11
“You finally told me the truth about where you hid it,” Pierce stood next to Max, staring down at the orbs in his hands. “Now make them work.”
“I can’t.”
“Do it!” Pierce shouted in his face.
“I’m telling you the truth now, too,” Max whispered.
“Make them work,” Pierce’s cruel voice held the promise of more torture to come. “Make the orbs work!”
Trembling in fear, his eyes swam with tears as he pleaded with Pierce to listen. “I don’t know how.”
All hope died inside Max seeing the cold look in Pierce’s eyes, and hearing the even colder tone of his voice.
“Let’s begin.”
Technicians swarmed the room with an array of surgical equipment and Max’s eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t take anymore of this. Please, dear God, he couldn’t survive the horrors.
“I can take you apart piece by piece, and make sure that you stay conscious enough to feel every second of it,” Pierce taunted, seeming to enjoy every minute of the torture he was inflicting.
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” Max begged. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know!”
“Bring in the surgeons.”
Strapped down to a table now, Pierce hovered over him with savage cruelty. “This man will hurt you,” he pointed to a white clad figure holding a scalpel. “This man will help you,” he said of the man holding a large green syringe. “Tell me what I need to know, and he will take the pain away.”
In a voice devoid of hope, Max whispered, “Who’s inhuman now?”
With hate driving him, Pierce spit out the most chilling words Max had ever heard.
“Open him up.”
Max’s eyes darted back and forth below his lids, trapped in the horrors of his dream. His hands, free of the bonds that restrained him in his mind, pushed at invisible phantoms. Malevolent ghosts haunted his mind, threatening to strip away his sanity. A whimper rose in his throat, gaining in pitch, a cry filled with pain and fear and suffering.
Liz surfaced from the depths of sleep, roused by the frightening but familiar sound. It took her only a moment to orient to her surroundings and then she heard the sound again, coming from beside her. An animal crying out in terror, thrashing from some unseen torture. Max, tormented by his nightmares.
“Max!” she whispered forcefully, trying to wake him. “MAX!” If she didn’t wake him soon, his shouts would wake her parents. She grabbed at his struggling hands trying to calm him, which made him struggle all the more.
“No! NO!” he shouted, fighting against the hands that were holding him down.
“Max!” she leaned over him with her lips close to his ear. “Max, it’s me. Liz. Max, wake up. Wake up.” Her hand cupped his cheek as she continued to speak soothingly into his ear and finally his tremors began to subside. His ragged breathing culminated in a sudden gasp and his eyes popped open as he fled the dream. Terror filled him until his vision focused and her worried face came into view.
“Liz . . .” his voice shook. Inside he was trembling as well.
“It was just a dream, Max,” Liz stroked his cheek trying to calm him. “It wasn’t real.”
But it was real. Every single second of the dream had been real, and he relived the nightmare of it each and every night.
“Liz,” he said again and his arms tightened around her. One hand clutched at the back of the shirt she wore while the other fisted in her hair. He was trying valiantly to quell his lingering fear, but his stuttered breathing and trembling body gave him away. Liz held him tightly in her arms, silently cursing the monsters that had done this to him in that torture chamber he had been imprisoned in.
He fought off the images of the dream, the blade of the scalpel glinting in the light, the cold steel touching the skin of his chest, his red blood flowing as white hot fire burned a trail from his sternum to his navel. Just a dream, he shuddered. It was over now. Pierce was dead and couldn’t hurt him anymore. It was over, he repeated silently, trying to make himself believe it. He closed his eyes, squeezing them shut, but the images wouldn’t go away. They were there. Always there. Ready to pull him back into the abyss.
Liz held him tightly in her arms hearing the pounding beat of his heart in her ear. Their breathing was the only sound in the room as they clutched each other, Max holding on to her desperately while he tried to bury the memories and Liz gravely wishing she could strip the nightmares away from him.
Minutes passed, and as his heart rate gradually slowed, she lifted her head from his chest and asked softly, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he nodded and tried unsuccessfully to smile. Brushing her disheveled hair away from her face, he said, “It was just a dream. It’s over now.”
“You keep having them, don’t you?” she asked. This wasn’t the first time she had seen him like this. “The dreams?” The nightmares.
His eyes traveled over her face, shadowed by the dimness of the room. He could lie to her, tell her everything was fine so she wouldn’t worry, but as much as he wanted to protect her and shield her from the horrors of his life, he knew he couldn’t lie to her about it. About anything. Slowly, he nodded.
“Do you have them often?” she slipped her hand into his, entwining their fingers, their linked hands lying upon his chest. He nodded again and her eyes closed briefly as the depth of his torment hit her. Tears clouded her vision as she asked, “Every night?”
He didn’t answer for a minute, but when he did, he answered with a voice so low she could barely hear.
“Yeah.”
“Oh Max,” Liz grieved for him.
“It’ll be okay,” Max stroked his hand through her hair, needing the contact as much as she did. “They’ll go away.” At least he hoped the dreams would go away.
They lay together, listening to the silence of the house, and as morning began to chase away the shadows of the night, Max knew it was time to go. Reluctantly, they separated after a parting kiss, and Max climbed from the bed and made his way to the window. He turned back to look at her, seeing the morning light casting a soft glow on her face, and he hurried back to her for one more kiss.
“So I’ll see you later, at school,” he said when their lips parted.
“I’ll be there,” she smiled. He sighed deeply and then forced himself away. Climbing through the window, he hurried over her balcony and with a final smile in her direction he disappeared down the ladder. Liz let her head fall back on the pillow, thinking about the nightmares that plagued him, and wondering how she could help him.
* * * * *
“We’re going to school,” Max drove through the streets headed toward West Roswell High, feeling Michael’s blazing gaze burning into the side of his head, knowing that another argument was only moments away. He silently prayed that Michael would just leave it alone for once, but no such luck.
“How can you just act like nothing has happened?” Michael ranted in exasperation from the passenger seat of the jeep. “You expect us to just go to school today? Listen to stupid teachers? Take stupid tests when God knows who might be out to get us?”
“Michael,” Max tried to keep the irritation out of his voice. “If someone is hunting us, we can’t go running off blindly. Yes, Tess’s house was broken into yesterday, but we don’t know for sure why, or if anything was taken. It might not have anything alien to do with it.”
“Dream on, Max,” Michael huffed.
“Running would bring more suspicion on us right now than staying put and acting normal,” Max tried to make him see reason. “Nasedo has the FBI under control. Jim Valenti is keeping an eye open for anything unusual through his government and military contacts. As far as anything alien-”
“You heard that message in the cave,” Michael interrupted. “It said we have enemies. Alien enemies. We’re just sitting ducks here. They tried to get to Tess yesterday. Who’s next? Me? You? Isabel?”
“We don’t know that,” Max tightened his hands around the steering wheel, trying to hold his anger in. Why couldn’t Michael listen? “It might not have had anything to do with Tess. Besides, we have more resources staying put and acting like normal high school kids than we’d have if we went into hiding. We-”
His voice trailed off as the Harding house came into view. Police vehicles sat in the driveway with lights flashing. The Sheriff’s cruiser was parked in front. Max slowed and when he saw Jim Valenti on the porch, he pulled the jeep to a stop. Their eyes met and Jim waved him over.
Inside the house, Tess had already made her way to the bedroom to check on the only item that she cared about. Secreted within the walls of her closet, a box full of photographs was hidden, and one very important alien artifact. Checking to make sure none of the deputies were nearby, Tess waved her hand over the wall and an opening appeared. Reaching inside, she breathed a sigh of relief and pulled the box out. Opening the lid, she pawed through the hundreds of surveillance pictures of Max until her hand encountered the metallic page from the Destiny book with its strange depiction. She pulled it to the surface.
Liz’s face, etched into the metal, stared up at her. She was looking at it so intently, she never heard the movement behind her.
“Tess?” Max said, standing in her closet doorway.
* * * * *
“Well it looks like there’s nothing to worry about here,” Valenti drew Michael and Isabel aside.
“It doesn’t look that way to me,” Michael surveyed the ransacked room. His posture was tense, on alert.
“It appears this didn’t have anything to do with, well, you know,” Jim hedged and then lowered his voice. “Aliens.”
“How do you know that?” Michael needed more convincing than just Jim’s word.
“We found out who did this,” Jim answered. “Hanson caught Paul Harris and Greg Belcher breaking into a house just a couple of blocks from here. Seems it was an end of the school year prank. They hit this house, one over on Front Street and then they got caught in the act over on Puente. They admitted to breaking into all three.”
“So it didn’t have anything to do with . . .” Isabel said hopefully.
“No,” Jim shook his head. “Just stupid kids making stupid choices.”
“Thank God,” Michael sighed in relief. So Max was right this time after all. It didn’t make him feel any better.
* * * * *
Tess jumped in fright at the sound of his voice and the page from the Destiny book slipped from her hand. She whirled around to see Max standing only a few feet behind her. Scrambling to hide what she’d been looking at, her voice came out tight and strained.
“Max! What are you doing here?”
“I saw the Sheriff’s car out front, so we stopped,” he said, craning his neck to look beyond her. Was that a flash of metal that he saw? What was Tess doing on the floor of her closet?
“We?” Tess concentrated on creating an illusion.
“Isabel and . . . Michael . . . and I . . .” he said absently, looking at the box she was blocking. Shoes? It was full of shoes. What was so important about shoes?
Tess lifted the page from the Destiny book, mindwarped to look like a pair of shoes, out of the box and she shoved it into her backpack. Closing the lid of the box, she pushed it out of the way and rose to her feet. Max backed out of the doorway to let her by, glancing back into the closet as she passed by him, feeling vaguely disquieted. Why did girls have so many shoes?
Shaking it off, Max followed behind Tess as they made their way back into the living room. They met up with Michael and Isabel and Jim gave Max an update of what he had learned. Nodding his thanks to the Sheriff, Max led the others outside to the jeep. School would be starting soon and it was time to get on with their normal day’s activities.
As Tess climbed into the back seat next to Isabel, she held her backpack close, as if the contents inside were pure gold.
* * * * *
“Max said her house was totally ransacked,” Liz stood in the hallway of West Roswell High filling Maria in on the events of the night before. “Clothes everywhere. Furniture upside down. A complete mess.”
“What do you think they were looking for?” Maria clutched her books tightly to her chest.
“We don’t even know who ‘they’ are,” Liz said conspiratorially. “They could have been the FBI or the military or another branch of the government or . . . more aliens for all we know.”
“You’re giving me the creeps,” Maria shuddered.
“Think about it Maria,” Liz said emphatically. “There could be more aliens out there-”
“Please God, no,” Kyle’s voice interrupted them and Maria nearly dropped her books.
“Kyle!” Liz said with a start.
“More aliens?” Kyle continued his rant. “Tell them there’s no more room at my house. They’ll just have to find their own place.”
“So, Kyle,” Maria smirked. “You have your own little alien right under your roof.”
“Don’t remind me,” he groaned. “My dad already gave her my bedroom. She’s taking over the place and she hasn’t even been there 24 hours! She’s so . . .” he struggled for the word.
“Alien?” Maria suggested.
“Female!” Kyle blurted out.
Liz and Maria burst out laughing just as Alex came up to join them. “What’s so funny?”
“Kyle is,” Liz tried to gather herself back together. “He thinks Tess is . . . female,” she started laughing again. It felt good, after all the tension they’d been experiencing.
Looking at Kyle, Alex deadpanned, “I thought your dad had that little talk with you. You know, the one about the birds and the bees.”
“Very funny, Whitman,” Kyle shot back.
“Maria,” Alex turned more serious. “The band’s getting together tonight to practice. We got that gig.”
“What gig?” Liz asked.
“The Saturn Club, in a couple weeks. We need to practice.”
“That new teen club? Over in Hondo?” Liz arched her eyebrows. “How exciting!”
“Yeah,” Alex beamed. “We –”
“Alert . . .alert,” Maria’s voice rose to gain their attention. “The Pod Squad has entered the building.”
Three sets of eyes followed hers to the set of double doors across the commons. Sure enough, four familiar faces had just stepped through the doors in a group. One big happy family, Liz thought disconcertedly. They were talking animatedly amongst themselves. Max and Isabel, Michael and Tess. Why was it she always thought of them in pairs? Male/female pairs. Max and Isabel. Michael and Tess. Max and Tess. Michael and Isabel. She knew there was some meaning to it, she just didn’t know what.
Liz got that sense of separation again. Them and Us, Them versus Us, until Max noticed her and his whole face lit up. He hurried in her direction, with the others following behind.
“Hey,” Max smiled when he reached Liz. He wrapped his arm around her, kissing her warmly, not caring who saw.
Isabel tried to ignore her brother’s public display of affection toward his girlfriend. Michael’s jaw twitched with poorly concealed disfavor. Tess refused to look at the two lovebirds sucking face. Maria watched with a smile, nodding her head in approval. Alex shifted his weight from one foot to the other trying not to stare at Isabel. Kyle glared at Tess, still thinking about the way she’d snapped his underwear this morning and he’d gone running to his dad.
The first bell rang and the group broke into pairs. Max and Liz, arm in arm headed toward biology. Maria and Michael walked stiffly side by side toward English. Isabel and Alex talked about his band as they headed toward their Computer Applications class. Kyle eyed Tess out of the corner of his eye as they headed off toward Math.
At lunch and throughout the day, they all gravitate toward each other. Two sets of four. Four aliens. Four humans. The leader of each group bringing them all together.
Meet me here next Sunday for the next part
Aftermath (ML / Adult) (Complete)
Moderators: Itzstacie, Forum Moderators
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Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Aftermath Part 12
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Aftermath
Part 12
In the darkness of the room, a soft moan broke the silence. A thin sliver of moonlight filtered through the curtains and illuminated the foot of the bed. The sleeping figure was shrouded in darkness, wrapped in muted coverings, and dreaming in vivid color. His legs moved under the sheets as another moan escaped his lips.
“Liz . . .” he sighed in his sleep.
Max was in the midst of a dream. A very good dream. A damn amazing dream, one he wished wasn’t a dream at all . . .
“Liz . . .” he looked up at her dark eyes, feeling his breath catch in his throat. He could see the fire dancing in her eyes as she hovered above him and he reached up to touch her face. The moonlight that streamed into the room framed her in its silvery glow but her face remained in shadows.
“Max . . .” she sighed as his fingers touched her. Her lips kissed him tenderly on the palm of his hand. She arched her back and tossed her head, sending her hair flying through the air, cascading down her back in a sensual wave. In the faint light that filtered in through the window, the silhouette of her body rocked in a gentle rhythm. His hand dropped from her face, down along her throat, caressing her skin as he captured a soft breast, bobbing in the air above him.
“Max . . .” she sighed his name again.
He could see her eyes slide closed, her lips part slightly, hear the panting of her breaths as the air moved in and out of her lungs. His right hand dropped from her breast, moving down along her ribs, past her narrow waist until it settled on her hip, flanking his left hand, guiding the slow and sensual rocking of her hips.
“Liz . . .” he moaned again.
* * * * *
“Does Max always fall asleep so early?” Tess asked. She stretched out on Isabel’s bed, lying on her stomach with her knees bent and her bare feet absently waving back and forth in the air. She’d come over at 7:00, just like she had the night before, to suggest they work on the memory retrieval, but much to her disappointment, Max had been sound asleep. It was late now, and he still hadn’t stirred.
“No, not usually,” Isabel repaired a torn fingernail with a glowing fingertip. “But he spent last night with Liz and I don’t think he slept much.”
“With Liz?” Tess fumed inside. He’d dumped her off at the sheriff’s and then gone running over to Liz? That bastard –
“He was freaked,” Isabel said, as if that explained everything. She opened a bottle of fingernail polish filling her room with the pungent smell. “He made Michael stay here and he went over to protect Liz. He didn’t want anyone to be alone last night, not after what happened at your place.”
What the fuck did Liz have to do with anything, Tess wondered? Why’d he have to go off and protect her? She was just a human. None of them were important. Only the four of them mattered. That’s what Nasedo always said. Why couldn’t the rest of them see that? Humans were just worthless –
“You know how Max is about Liz,” Isabel rolled her eyes.
Tired of hearing about her, Tess changed the subject. Flipping through Isabel’s yearbook she asked, “So how long have you been able to dreamwalk?”
“I don’t know,” Isabel shrugged. She applied another coat of polish to the toenails on her left foot, and then capped the lid and put the small bottle on her nightstand. “For as long as I can remember.”
“Can you dreamwalk everyone?” Tess flipped another page and then smirked, turning the book for Isabel to see. “What was she thinking? Wearing a dress like that?”
“Pam Troy has never had any style,” Isabel jeered at the photograph.
Flipping another page, Tess narrow her eyes when she saw the picture of Liz, holding a beaker, decked out in a white lab coat, smiling for the camera. ‘Liz Parker – President, Science Club’ the caption read below the picture.
“There’s Liz. Looking very . . . clinical.” She’d been about to say nerdy, but bit her tongue.
“Little Miss Scientist,” Isabel mocked. “I don’t know what my brother sees in her.”
‘Me either,’ Tess thought to herself and fought the urge to set the page on fire. Turning the conversation back in the direction she wanted to go, she repeated, “So, can you dreamwalk anyone?”
“Yeah, just about,” Isabel picked up the latest issue of Glamour and began to leaf through it.
“And Michael and Max can’t do it?”
“No,” she shook her head. “I tried to teach Max, but it never worked for him. Michael either.”
“Could you try to teach me?” Tess asked, trying to look innocent.
Isabel met her gaze and then shrugged. “Sure.”
* * * * *
Her skin glistened with a fine sheen of sweat, warm and salty as their bodies rocked together. His cock slid into her depths at a slow and leisurely pace, enjoying the sensations of her tight walls surrounding him. He could feel her hair on his skin, erotically stimulating his flesh as she leaned over him, hands pressed against his chest, head dropped forward, whimpering softly, feeling the exotic ache building in her core.
He could hear the hitch in her throat as she road him, grinding her sex against his body harder now, digging her fingers into the muscles of his chest, moaning louder with each deep thrust of his cock into her tingling passage. He maintained a measured pace while she quivered above him, pumping his thick cock past her tight walls, enjoying the sight of her losing control.
“God . . . Max . . . yes . . . like that . . . just like that . . .”
Her fingernails bit into his chest but he didn’t care. In fact he liked it. Liked knowing he could make her ache like this, knowing he was about to quench that ache. Her breaths where coming in gasps now and he knew she was close, so very close. He looked down to where they were joined, watching her rub her body against his trying to relieve that ache. Her movements were becoming more frantic and he tightened his hold on her hips trying to maintain his own control. Her gasps grew steadily louder and louder until she drew in a sharp breath and her body began to shudder.
“Max! Oh God, yes . . .” she threw her head back, arching her back as her body quivered in ecstasy. Her inner walls clamped around him, throbbing and pulsating in erotic pleasure. She bucked against him with the intensity of her climax, shaking and shuddering as her orgasm raged through her body, while Max watched the ecstatic look on her face, feeling her juices flowing over him, biting back his own climax. No, he wasn’t done yet. Far from it.
* * * * *
Turning through the pages, Isabel looked for a face that would interest her. Most people’s dream were either stupid or scary or on sexual overdrive. Mark Peterson was always beating someone to a bloody pulp which had shocked her greatly the first time she saw it. He was one of the quietest boys in the junior class. Mia Hanson dreamt about walking down the runway of a beauty pageant and having the heel of her shoe break, sending her flat on her face to the floor. Kyle Valenti was always getting laid, always with a different girl. Wishful thinking probably, Isabel smirked.
Turning another page, a mischievous smile lit her face. Alex Whitman stared up at her from the yearbook. His dreams tended to be interesting, like the one he had last year where he was a FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer. The killer had been Michael. That had been funny enough, but then she saw who Michael’s next victim was intended to be and she’d almost split a gut. Alex Whitman, FBI man of action, risking life and limb to save one Isabel Evans.
“Let me see if Alex is sleeping,” Isabel smiled at Tess. With a nod of encouragement from the petite blonde, Isabel settled her fingers over Alex’s smiling face and then closed her eyes. The darkness cloaked around her as she reached her mind into the void and the gray mists began to swirl. She heard the music first, the steady insistent beat, before the image began to form. As the mist slowly parted, Isabel took in the sight with a wry grin.
Alex stood on stage, eyes downcast as he concentrated on the strings of his guitar. The other members of the band were spread around him, but he stood center stage. Alex Whitman. Rock and Roll star.
Isabel grudging admitted that the tune had a little . . . something . . . to it, and she found herself moving to the beat. Alex was good. Very good. Amazingly good. He looked up from his guitar and scanned the crowd and then his eyes seemed to focus on one particular face. That crooked smile of his, the one that was so damn cute, spread across his face and she wondered who had caught his attention. Turning her head, her eyes swept over the throng of moving bodies until she saw who he was looking at.
“Oh that’s just disgusting,” she blurted out, her words lost in the music.
Alex was nodding his head now as he played, thoroughly enjoying the show playing out in front of the stage. Standing there, in full Technicolor, with her eyes riveted to Alex, swaying to the steady beat of the music, was one Isabel Evans, bra in hand, twirling it around her head, while she boldly undulated in front of him. Her heavy breasts, thankfully still covered by a pale blue sweater, bounced mightily, swaying back and forth, up and down, ready to knock out anyone who stepped too close.
“Oh for God’s sake!” she hissed at her dream reflection.
* * * * *
Her hair lay draped across his pillow, just the way he’d always wanted it to be, dark, silky, luxurious. He hovered above her, watching the heat burning in her eyes, slowly lowering his face to kiss the tender skin of her throat. He could feel her pulse, strong and vibrant, throbbing with life as the blood pumped through her veins. His lips, soft and warm and sensuous, moved down the tender curve of that throat, her skin sweet, yet salty from the beads of perspiration that his intense lovemaking had caused.
“Liz . . .” he sighed as his lips kissed a fiery trail down her chest. Her skin was like the finest red wine. Sweet, robust, full bodied, delicious beyond compare . . . and his. Unlike the wine which was forbidden to him, Liz Parker was all his.
His lips felt the swell of her breast and then the hard protrusion of her nipple came into reach. His lips closed over her, feeling that sweet nipple on his tongue, tasting it, hearing the soft moans in her throat as he claimed it. He loved the shape and feel of her breasts. Soft. Warm. Supple. Perfectly sized for her body.
Her hand stroked through the hair at the back of his head, sending a thrill through his entire body. His cock throbbed, aching for release, but tonight was all about Liz. Whatever Liz wanted, Max wanted. His lips moved lower, down along her ribs, pausing at her navel, touching her there with his tongue and smiling when she groaned audibly. His mouth moved lower, smelling her heat, smelling the way her desire for him flamed inside her.
“Max . . .” she sighed, feeling his lips kiss down her belly and then through her neatly trimmed patch of curls. She moaned appreciatively when he neared her hot spots and as his tongue began to part her feminine folds, she drew in a ragged breath, waiting to feel the magic.
“Max . . . what you do to me.”
* * * * *
“Well?” Tess asked when Isabel sat up quickly, shaking off the dreamwalk. “What happened? Was he dreaming?”
“No,” Isabel said quickly, too quickly. Her cheeks had a pink tint to them now, embarrassed by the dream. Is that how Alex saw her? Just a pair of tits to ogle over? She thought Alex – well it didn’t matter. She couldn’t get involved. With anyone. It was out of the question. Especially now, knowing what they knew.
“Should we try someone else?” Tess asked. She watched Isabel out of the corner of her eye, sensing that something had just happened but not sure what. Something probably to do with Alex. She filed that away in the back of her mind, thinking it might come in handy later. Turning the page in the yearbook, she pointed at a picture and said, “How about Maria?”
“Okay,” Isabel tossed her head sending her hair flying, chasing away Alex’s dream. “But you know Maria. Her dreams are . . . weird.” She touched her fingertip to Maria’s face and closed her eyes, slipping easily into the human girl’s mind. After a moment, her eyes popped open and a grin spread across her face. “You’ve got to see this!”
* * * * *
Max held her tight, feeling her body convulse beneath him, her hips pushing her heat into his face. He continued to lap at her until her shudders began to lessen and her fingers loosened the tight grip she had on his hair. He couldn’t care less how hard she pulled, though. He was making her come apart, with his hands and his mouth, and loving every minute of it.
“You like that?” Max asked huskily and chuckled, watching Liz nod her head. Her chest heaved as she drew deep breaths into her lungs, coming down from the sexual high he had sent her to. He kissed his way back up her body, lips on her flat stomach, her ribs, her breasts, lingering over one pouty nipple and then the other, feeling her hands in his hair, on his shoulders, moving over his back as he kissed his way up her throat.
Hovering over her face, he looked down into her sated eyes and said, “Me too.”
“I like everything you do to me, Max,” her husky tone matched his. Her hand swept his bangs from his face, gently caressing his cheek. “Everything.”
“This?” he asked, kissing her lips tenderly.
“Yes,” she sighed.
“This?” he ran his tongue along her lower lip.
“Yes,” she chased after him and he backed away with a laugh.
“This?” he asked, nuzzling his nose behind her ear, in the tender spot he knew made her pulse race. He smiled, feeling her breath against his throat as she sighed in pleasure. He kissed her there, feeling her arch underneath him as his lips touched her sweet skin. Her nails scraped across his back and his playful tone changed. His hands seized her legs, separating them while his straining cock parted the folds of her weeping sex. His face hovered above hers, hungry with lust, and with his hands holding her hips he thrust into her hard and deep.
“This!” he growled through gritted teeth.
“Oh God, Yes!”
* * * * *
Isabel and Tess watched Maria as she moved across the restaurant, juggling an assortment of breakfast plates. Just as she reached the table, the bell above the Crashdown doors rang and she looked in that direction. Michael, with his hands in his pockets and a hesitant look in his eyes slowly entered, darting a glance in her direction. Maria dropped the plates.
“Oh shit!” Tess laughed, covering her hand with her mouth.
“Watch this!” Isabel snorted.
Maria knelt on the floor, her cheeks beet red with embarrassment, looking at the horrible mess. Eggs and hashbrowns and pancakes and waffles littered the floor while the hungry customers glared at her.
Michael rushed across the restaurant, dropping to his knees beside her, saying with deep concern, “Maria? Are you alright?”
“Look at this,” she cried with her hand covering her mouth.
“But you’re alright?” he seized her arms, pulling her close to him. His hand stroked through her hair trying to calm his own fears. “You’re not hurt? You didn’t get cut or anything?”
“I’m fine, Michael,” Maria purred into his big strong chest.
“Thank God. Maria. My dear, sweet Maria.” He lifted her chin and his lips found hers, kissing her deeply.
“Oh God!” Tess’s shoulders were shaking from laughter. “Michael never acts that way!”
“If that’s what Maria wants out of him,” Isabel shook her head, “she’ll have to wait ‘til hell freezes over! Now Max, I can see Max acting that way over Liz, but Michael? Never.”
The dream shifted and Isabel’s eyes grew wide, watching the image of Maria and Michael standing in her bedroom, next to her bed, groping each other heatedly. Rolling her eyes, she said, “Okay, let’s get out of here.”
“But it’s just getting interesting!” Tess pouted.
Their eyes popped open at the same time with Isabel shuddering at the dream. It was bad enough to see Michael and Maria’s little love dance in the real world, but to watch it in their dreams was just too much.
“That was so cool!” Tess declared.
“That was awful,” Isabel countered and then rose from the bed. “I’m going to go get something to drink. Do you want anything?”
“No, I’m fine,” Tess smiled. She watched Isabel leave the room and then she turned back to the yearbook. Could she do it on her own? Isabel had shown her how to dreamwalk Maria, but had helped her enter the dream. Maybe she should try to do it on her own now, while Isabel was gone. She flipped the page again until she found his picture. Max. Smiling up at her. She knew he was in his room sleeping, but was he dreaming? What did he dream about? And who?
Tess touched her finger to his picture, just the way Isabel had shown her, and let her mind drift.
* * * * *
“Max . . . oh Max . . . yes . . .” Liz quivered beneath him. Her breath was hot in his ear, her kisses along his throat were like trails of fire. His throbbing cock slid deeply into her delicious body, enveloped by the pillowy softness of her inner walls. She arched under him, quivering from the passion he was bringing out in her.
“Liz . . .” he mumbled. His Liz. No one else’s. She belonged to only him. “You’re so beautiful . . .”
His large hands held her hips while he thrust into her, deep, hard thrusts, filling her inner chamber with his engorged cock. Her hands scraped at his back, his butt, digging into his skin as her passion flared out of control. Her hips slammed up to meet him, their bodies crashing together as they raced toward the inevitable, the sweat between them mingling, running in rivulets down their sides. Her legs wrapped around his hips, drawing his body deeper into hers, to the depths of her very soul.
Yes, this was what he had always wanted. His soul touching her soul. Her body wrapped around his. Their minds sharing each other, becoming one. She whimpered as he fanned the flames of her desire, stroking into her, their bodies grinding together with passion, her slick walls stretching tightly around him, quivering with need . . . yes . . . yes . . . both of them racing toward that ultimate moment . . .
“Max . . . oh . . . oh . . . Max!” She cried out his name with her hips convulsing beneath him in ecstasy. Her silken walls clenched his cock as he pounded into her relentlessly, his seed spurting from him as he joined her, their orgasm exploding between them, fire spreading throughout their bodies. They convulsed together, their bodies on sexual overdrive, quivering and shaking as wave after wave of bliss coursed through their bodies, her inner walls dripping with her juices, his seed filling her in pulsing bursts. Their orgasm raging on until he collapsed onto her, weak and spent.
“Liz . . .” he sighed and a small laugh escaped his throat. God, she felt so wonderful. His lips moved along her throat and then up the side of her face until he found her lips. His hands rose to cup her face with his kiss possessive, claiming her as his own. No one else would ever have her. Only him.
He lifted his lips from hers, opening his smiling eyes to look into her beautiful face . . . and his mouth dropped open in horror. There beneath him, her hair damp with passion, her cheeks rosy from exertion, her blue eyes shining in satisfaction . . . Tess.
Max bolted out of his dream, shaking with both ecstasy and disgust. He ran a trembling hand through his hair and threw his covers aside, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. The front of his boxers were wet, drenched with his semen. The dream was still vivid in his mind, the way Liz had felt, moved, tasted, the sound of her voice. Everything he wanted most in the world. Perfection. Loving Liz and her loving him back. And then all of it ruined when he opened his eyes and saw Tess lying beneath him. His body shuddered with revulsion.
Lifting his shaking hand, he waved it over his semen saturated boxers and the wetness disappeared. Rising from the bed, he headed for the bathroom, in desperate need of a shower.
As always, come back next Sunday for the next part
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Aftermath
Part 12
In the darkness of the room, a soft moan broke the silence. A thin sliver of moonlight filtered through the curtains and illuminated the foot of the bed. The sleeping figure was shrouded in darkness, wrapped in muted coverings, and dreaming in vivid color. His legs moved under the sheets as another moan escaped his lips.
“Liz . . .” he sighed in his sleep.
Max was in the midst of a dream. A very good dream. A damn amazing dream, one he wished wasn’t a dream at all . . .
“Liz . . .” he looked up at her dark eyes, feeling his breath catch in his throat. He could see the fire dancing in her eyes as she hovered above him and he reached up to touch her face. The moonlight that streamed into the room framed her in its silvery glow but her face remained in shadows.
“Max . . .” she sighed as his fingers touched her. Her lips kissed him tenderly on the palm of his hand. She arched her back and tossed her head, sending her hair flying through the air, cascading down her back in a sensual wave. In the faint light that filtered in through the window, the silhouette of her body rocked in a gentle rhythm. His hand dropped from her face, down along her throat, caressing her skin as he captured a soft breast, bobbing in the air above him.
“Max . . .” she sighed his name again.
He could see her eyes slide closed, her lips part slightly, hear the panting of her breaths as the air moved in and out of her lungs. His right hand dropped from her breast, moving down along her ribs, past her narrow waist until it settled on her hip, flanking his left hand, guiding the slow and sensual rocking of her hips.
“Liz . . .” he moaned again.
* * * * *
“Does Max always fall asleep so early?” Tess asked. She stretched out on Isabel’s bed, lying on her stomach with her knees bent and her bare feet absently waving back and forth in the air. She’d come over at 7:00, just like she had the night before, to suggest they work on the memory retrieval, but much to her disappointment, Max had been sound asleep. It was late now, and he still hadn’t stirred.
“No, not usually,” Isabel repaired a torn fingernail with a glowing fingertip. “But he spent last night with Liz and I don’t think he slept much.”
“With Liz?” Tess fumed inside. He’d dumped her off at the sheriff’s and then gone running over to Liz? That bastard –
“He was freaked,” Isabel said, as if that explained everything. She opened a bottle of fingernail polish filling her room with the pungent smell. “He made Michael stay here and he went over to protect Liz. He didn’t want anyone to be alone last night, not after what happened at your place.”
What the fuck did Liz have to do with anything, Tess wondered? Why’d he have to go off and protect her? She was just a human. None of them were important. Only the four of them mattered. That’s what Nasedo always said. Why couldn’t the rest of them see that? Humans were just worthless –
“You know how Max is about Liz,” Isabel rolled her eyes.
Tired of hearing about her, Tess changed the subject. Flipping through Isabel’s yearbook she asked, “So how long have you been able to dreamwalk?”
“I don’t know,” Isabel shrugged. She applied another coat of polish to the toenails on her left foot, and then capped the lid and put the small bottle on her nightstand. “For as long as I can remember.”
“Can you dreamwalk everyone?” Tess flipped another page and then smirked, turning the book for Isabel to see. “What was she thinking? Wearing a dress like that?”
“Pam Troy has never had any style,” Isabel jeered at the photograph.
Flipping another page, Tess narrow her eyes when she saw the picture of Liz, holding a beaker, decked out in a white lab coat, smiling for the camera. ‘Liz Parker – President, Science Club’ the caption read below the picture.
“There’s Liz. Looking very . . . clinical.” She’d been about to say nerdy, but bit her tongue.
“Little Miss Scientist,” Isabel mocked. “I don’t know what my brother sees in her.”
‘Me either,’ Tess thought to herself and fought the urge to set the page on fire. Turning the conversation back in the direction she wanted to go, she repeated, “So, can you dreamwalk anyone?”
“Yeah, just about,” Isabel picked up the latest issue of Glamour and began to leaf through it.
“And Michael and Max can’t do it?”
“No,” she shook her head. “I tried to teach Max, but it never worked for him. Michael either.”
“Could you try to teach me?” Tess asked, trying to look innocent.
Isabel met her gaze and then shrugged. “Sure.”
* * * * *
Her skin glistened with a fine sheen of sweat, warm and salty as their bodies rocked together. His cock slid into her depths at a slow and leisurely pace, enjoying the sensations of her tight walls surrounding him. He could feel her hair on his skin, erotically stimulating his flesh as she leaned over him, hands pressed against his chest, head dropped forward, whimpering softly, feeling the exotic ache building in her core.
He could hear the hitch in her throat as she road him, grinding her sex against his body harder now, digging her fingers into the muscles of his chest, moaning louder with each deep thrust of his cock into her tingling passage. He maintained a measured pace while she quivered above him, pumping his thick cock past her tight walls, enjoying the sight of her losing control.
“God . . . Max . . . yes . . . like that . . . just like that . . .”
Her fingernails bit into his chest but he didn’t care. In fact he liked it. Liked knowing he could make her ache like this, knowing he was about to quench that ache. Her breaths where coming in gasps now and he knew she was close, so very close. He looked down to where they were joined, watching her rub her body against his trying to relieve that ache. Her movements were becoming more frantic and he tightened his hold on her hips trying to maintain his own control. Her gasps grew steadily louder and louder until she drew in a sharp breath and her body began to shudder.
“Max! Oh God, yes . . .” she threw her head back, arching her back as her body quivered in ecstasy. Her inner walls clamped around him, throbbing and pulsating in erotic pleasure. She bucked against him with the intensity of her climax, shaking and shuddering as her orgasm raged through her body, while Max watched the ecstatic look on her face, feeling her juices flowing over him, biting back his own climax. No, he wasn’t done yet. Far from it.
* * * * *
Turning through the pages, Isabel looked for a face that would interest her. Most people’s dream were either stupid or scary or on sexual overdrive. Mark Peterson was always beating someone to a bloody pulp which had shocked her greatly the first time she saw it. He was one of the quietest boys in the junior class. Mia Hanson dreamt about walking down the runway of a beauty pageant and having the heel of her shoe break, sending her flat on her face to the floor. Kyle Valenti was always getting laid, always with a different girl. Wishful thinking probably, Isabel smirked.
Turning another page, a mischievous smile lit her face. Alex Whitman stared up at her from the yearbook. His dreams tended to be interesting, like the one he had last year where he was a FBI agent on the trail of a serial killer. The killer had been Michael. That had been funny enough, but then she saw who Michael’s next victim was intended to be and she’d almost split a gut. Alex Whitman, FBI man of action, risking life and limb to save one Isabel Evans.
“Let me see if Alex is sleeping,” Isabel smiled at Tess. With a nod of encouragement from the petite blonde, Isabel settled her fingers over Alex’s smiling face and then closed her eyes. The darkness cloaked around her as she reached her mind into the void and the gray mists began to swirl. She heard the music first, the steady insistent beat, before the image began to form. As the mist slowly parted, Isabel took in the sight with a wry grin.
Alex stood on stage, eyes downcast as he concentrated on the strings of his guitar. The other members of the band were spread around him, but he stood center stage. Alex Whitman. Rock and Roll star.
Isabel grudging admitted that the tune had a little . . . something . . . to it, and she found herself moving to the beat. Alex was good. Very good. Amazingly good. He looked up from his guitar and scanned the crowd and then his eyes seemed to focus on one particular face. That crooked smile of his, the one that was so damn cute, spread across his face and she wondered who had caught his attention. Turning her head, her eyes swept over the throng of moving bodies until she saw who he was looking at.
“Oh that’s just disgusting,” she blurted out, her words lost in the music.
Alex was nodding his head now as he played, thoroughly enjoying the show playing out in front of the stage. Standing there, in full Technicolor, with her eyes riveted to Alex, swaying to the steady beat of the music, was one Isabel Evans, bra in hand, twirling it around her head, while she boldly undulated in front of him. Her heavy breasts, thankfully still covered by a pale blue sweater, bounced mightily, swaying back and forth, up and down, ready to knock out anyone who stepped too close.
“Oh for God’s sake!” she hissed at her dream reflection.
* * * * *
Her hair lay draped across his pillow, just the way he’d always wanted it to be, dark, silky, luxurious. He hovered above her, watching the heat burning in her eyes, slowly lowering his face to kiss the tender skin of her throat. He could feel her pulse, strong and vibrant, throbbing with life as the blood pumped through her veins. His lips, soft and warm and sensuous, moved down the tender curve of that throat, her skin sweet, yet salty from the beads of perspiration that his intense lovemaking had caused.
“Liz . . .” he sighed as his lips kissed a fiery trail down her chest. Her skin was like the finest red wine. Sweet, robust, full bodied, delicious beyond compare . . . and his. Unlike the wine which was forbidden to him, Liz Parker was all his.
His lips felt the swell of her breast and then the hard protrusion of her nipple came into reach. His lips closed over her, feeling that sweet nipple on his tongue, tasting it, hearing the soft moans in her throat as he claimed it. He loved the shape and feel of her breasts. Soft. Warm. Supple. Perfectly sized for her body.
Her hand stroked through the hair at the back of his head, sending a thrill through his entire body. His cock throbbed, aching for release, but tonight was all about Liz. Whatever Liz wanted, Max wanted. His lips moved lower, down along her ribs, pausing at her navel, touching her there with his tongue and smiling when she groaned audibly. His mouth moved lower, smelling her heat, smelling the way her desire for him flamed inside her.
“Max . . .” she sighed, feeling his lips kiss down her belly and then through her neatly trimmed patch of curls. She moaned appreciatively when he neared her hot spots and as his tongue began to part her feminine folds, she drew in a ragged breath, waiting to feel the magic.
“Max . . . what you do to me.”
* * * * *
“Well?” Tess asked when Isabel sat up quickly, shaking off the dreamwalk. “What happened? Was he dreaming?”
“No,” Isabel said quickly, too quickly. Her cheeks had a pink tint to them now, embarrassed by the dream. Is that how Alex saw her? Just a pair of tits to ogle over? She thought Alex – well it didn’t matter. She couldn’t get involved. With anyone. It was out of the question. Especially now, knowing what they knew.
“Should we try someone else?” Tess asked. She watched Isabel out of the corner of her eye, sensing that something had just happened but not sure what. Something probably to do with Alex. She filed that away in the back of her mind, thinking it might come in handy later. Turning the page in the yearbook, she pointed at a picture and said, “How about Maria?”
“Okay,” Isabel tossed her head sending her hair flying, chasing away Alex’s dream. “But you know Maria. Her dreams are . . . weird.” She touched her fingertip to Maria’s face and closed her eyes, slipping easily into the human girl’s mind. After a moment, her eyes popped open and a grin spread across her face. “You’ve got to see this!”
* * * * *
Max held her tight, feeling her body convulse beneath him, her hips pushing her heat into his face. He continued to lap at her until her shudders began to lessen and her fingers loosened the tight grip she had on his hair. He couldn’t care less how hard she pulled, though. He was making her come apart, with his hands and his mouth, and loving every minute of it.
“You like that?” Max asked huskily and chuckled, watching Liz nod her head. Her chest heaved as she drew deep breaths into her lungs, coming down from the sexual high he had sent her to. He kissed his way back up her body, lips on her flat stomach, her ribs, her breasts, lingering over one pouty nipple and then the other, feeling her hands in his hair, on his shoulders, moving over his back as he kissed his way up her throat.
Hovering over her face, he looked down into her sated eyes and said, “Me too.”
“I like everything you do to me, Max,” her husky tone matched his. Her hand swept his bangs from his face, gently caressing his cheek. “Everything.”
“This?” he asked, kissing her lips tenderly.
“Yes,” she sighed.
“This?” he ran his tongue along her lower lip.
“Yes,” she chased after him and he backed away with a laugh.
“This?” he asked, nuzzling his nose behind her ear, in the tender spot he knew made her pulse race. He smiled, feeling her breath against his throat as she sighed in pleasure. He kissed her there, feeling her arch underneath him as his lips touched her sweet skin. Her nails scraped across his back and his playful tone changed. His hands seized her legs, separating them while his straining cock parted the folds of her weeping sex. His face hovered above hers, hungry with lust, and with his hands holding her hips he thrust into her hard and deep.
“This!” he growled through gritted teeth.
“Oh God, Yes!”
* * * * *
Isabel and Tess watched Maria as she moved across the restaurant, juggling an assortment of breakfast plates. Just as she reached the table, the bell above the Crashdown doors rang and she looked in that direction. Michael, with his hands in his pockets and a hesitant look in his eyes slowly entered, darting a glance in her direction. Maria dropped the plates.
“Oh shit!” Tess laughed, covering her hand with her mouth.
“Watch this!” Isabel snorted.
Maria knelt on the floor, her cheeks beet red with embarrassment, looking at the horrible mess. Eggs and hashbrowns and pancakes and waffles littered the floor while the hungry customers glared at her.
Michael rushed across the restaurant, dropping to his knees beside her, saying with deep concern, “Maria? Are you alright?”
“Look at this,” she cried with her hand covering her mouth.
“But you’re alright?” he seized her arms, pulling her close to him. His hand stroked through her hair trying to calm his own fears. “You’re not hurt? You didn’t get cut or anything?”
“I’m fine, Michael,” Maria purred into his big strong chest.
“Thank God. Maria. My dear, sweet Maria.” He lifted her chin and his lips found hers, kissing her deeply.
“Oh God!” Tess’s shoulders were shaking from laughter. “Michael never acts that way!”
“If that’s what Maria wants out of him,” Isabel shook her head, “she’ll have to wait ‘til hell freezes over! Now Max, I can see Max acting that way over Liz, but Michael? Never.”
The dream shifted and Isabel’s eyes grew wide, watching the image of Maria and Michael standing in her bedroom, next to her bed, groping each other heatedly. Rolling her eyes, she said, “Okay, let’s get out of here.”
“But it’s just getting interesting!” Tess pouted.
Their eyes popped open at the same time with Isabel shuddering at the dream. It was bad enough to see Michael and Maria’s little love dance in the real world, but to watch it in their dreams was just too much.
“That was so cool!” Tess declared.
“That was awful,” Isabel countered and then rose from the bed. “I’m going to go get something to drink. Do you want anything?”
“No, I’m fine,” Tess smiled. She watched Isabel leave the room and then she turned back to the yearbook. Could she do it on her own? Isabel had shown her how to dreamwalk Maria, but had helped her enter the dream. Maybe she should try to do it on her own now, while Isabel was gone. She flipped the page again until she found his picture. Max. Smiling up at her. She knew he was in his room sleeping, but was he dreaming? What did he dream about? And who?
Tess touched her finger to his picture, just the way Isabel had shown her, and let her mind drift.
* * * * *
“Max . . . oh Max . . . yes . . .” Liz quivered beneath him. Her breath was hot in his ear, her kisses along his throat were like trails of fire. His throbbing cock slid deeply into her delicious body, enveloped by the pillowy softness of her inner walls. She arched under him, quivering from the passion he was bringing out in her.
“Liz . . .” he mumbled. His Liz. No one else’s. She belonged to only him. “You’re so beautiful . . .”
His large hands held her hips while he thrust into her, deep, hard thrusts, filling her inner chamber with his engorged cock. Her hands scraped at his back, his butt, digging into his skin as her passion flared out of control. Her hips slammed up to meet him, their bodies crashing together as they raced toward the inevitable, the sweat between them mingling, running in rivulets down their sides. Her legs wrapped around his hips, drawing his body deeper into hers, to the depths of her very soul.
Yes, this was what he had always wanted. His soul touching her soul. Her body wrapped around his. Their minds sharing each other, becoming one. She whimpered as he fanned the flames of her desire, stroking into her, their bodies grinding together with passion, her slick walls stretching tightly around him, quivering with need . . . yes . . . yes . . . both of them racing toward that ultimate moment . . .
“Max . . . oh . . . oh . . . Max!” She cried out his name with her hips convulsing beneath him in ecstasy. Her silken walls clenched his cock as he pounded into her relentlessly, his seed spurting from him as he joined her, their orgasm exploding between them, fire spreading throughout their bodies. They convulsed together, their bodies on sexual overdrive, quivering and shaking as wave after wave of bliss coursed through their bodies, her inner walls dripping with her juices, his seed filling her in pulsing bursts. Their orgasm raging on until he collapsed onto her, weak and spent.
“Liz . . .” he sighed and a small laugh escaped his throat. God, she felt so wonderful. His lips moved along her throat and then up the side of her face until he found her lips. His hands rose to cup her face with his kiss possessive, claiming her as his own. No one else would ever have her. Only him.
He lifted his lips from hers, opening his smiling eyes to look into her beautiful face . . . and his mouth dropped open in horror. There beneath him, her hair damp with passion, her cheeks rosy from exertion, her blue eyes shining in satisfaction . . . Tess.
Max bolted out of his dream, shaking with both ecstasy and disgust. He ran a trembling hand through his hair and threw his covers aside, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. The front of his boxers were wet, drenched with his semen. The dream was still vivid in his mind, the way Liz had felt, moved, tasted, the sound of her voice. Everything he wanted most in the world. Perfection. Loving Liz and her loving him back. And then all of it ruined when he opened his eyes and saw Tess lying beneath him. His body shuddered with revulsion.
Lifting his shaking hand, he waved it over his semen saturated boxers and the wetness disappeared. Rising from the bed, he headed for the bathroom, in desperate need of a shower.
As always, come back next Sunday for the next part
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Aftermath Part 13
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Note: Just to ease your worries, the UC above is primarily for what you have seen so far. I know some want to revoke my Dreamer card, but I haven’t swung over to the, what is it called, the rebel side? I don’t even remember all the shipper distinctions anymore.
Aftermath
Part 13
Max grabbed his towel off the back of his chair and crossed over to his bedroom door, anxious to wash off the residue of his tarnished dream. Opening it, he stepped out into the hall, headed for the bathroom. Yes, a shower was definitely what he needed. He felt sweaty from the intensity of the dream he’d had, almost as if it had been real, but the end had left him feeling dirty. Unclean. Why would he dream of Tess? Just the thought of touching her that way made him shiver in disgust.
The dream had been so wonderful, making love to Liz, touching her intimately, hearing the passion in her sighs and moans. Hearing her cry out his name when he made her come. But why in God’s name would she change into Tess? He shuddered again, remembering the sight of those blue eyes staring up at him, looking so satisfied. He reached for the handle just as the bathroom door opened and he stopped dead in his tracks.
What the fuck was she doing here?
Tess had just finished running a cool washcloth over her heated skin, trying to calm down after experiencing that dream. Holy shit! Is that what Max was like in bed? Fuck! She had to get herself some of that! She’d been around the block a few times, but nothing compared to that! Was his dream based on real experience, or just an oversexed teenage boy’s active imagination? Because, Damn! If that was how he fucked, she definitely wanted some of that! She draped the washcloth over the towel bar and opened the bathroom door, staring right into his face.
“Max!”
“Tess,” he said uncomfortably, looking around like he wanted to run.
He was standing there, in front of her, wearing only a pair of Calvin Klein’s, and she couldn’t help but let her eyes travel over his body. He obviously worked out. A lot. His chest was a chiseled masterpiece, covered in a fine sheen of sweat, muscles on muscles, etched to perfection. His nipples were dark circles, a sight to behold, and the hard little tips were just begging to be licked. His biceps were huge, powerful, making her want to reach out and squeeze him. His stomach was flat, ridged, without an ounce of fat visible anywhere, his navel no more than a dimple in that rich golden skin. His boxers hung low on his narrow hips and she could see the way his abdominal muscles formed a V, drawing her gaze lower. His shorts couldn’t hide the bulge of his cock, his quite impressive cock by the looks of it. Yes, he filled those boxers out quite well. The phrase “hung like a horse’ came to mind. What would he do if she just reached out and grabbed him, she wondered?
Based on the look on his face right now, he’d probably scream like a girl.
“Um,” Max said in embarrassment. “I was . . . I was just gonna take a shower . . .”
He moved the towel he was holding to the front of his shorts, trying to hide his near nudity. Fuck! He should have thrown on a shirt. And a pair of pants. And shoes and socks. But shit! He was in his own house! He shouldn’t have to get fully dressed just to take a fucking shower! How was he to know that she’d be here?
“Sorry,” Tess laughed, trying to counter the tension between them. “I’ll just get out of your way.”
She moved out into the hallway and Max skirted around her, avoiding looking at her face. He didn’t want to look into those eyes. Those crystal blue eyes. Those eyes that had looked at him in his dream, looking so satisfied. He felt another shiver run down his spine. He didn’t want to think of Tess, naked and sweaty beneath him. He tried to banish the image from his mind.
Entering the bathroom, he closed the door and locked it. He draped his towel over the towel bar and then stripped off his boxers, letting them fall to the floor. Crossing over to the shower, he pulled the curtain aside and turned on the water, adjusting the spigot to divert the water to the showerhead and not the tub. He put his hand in the spray, testing the temperature, and then turned the dial colder. He definitely was in need of a cool shower.
Tess walked back to Isabel’s room with a smug smile on her face. Dreamwalking was a new power that just might come in very handy. And fun too! She’d slipped into Max’s dream easily, watching from the shadows as he fucked the daylights out of that prissy Liz Parker and then at the end, when she was so hot and bothered she could hardly stand it, she’d willed herself across the room, into his bed, beneath him, controlling the dream as she took Liz’s place. His kiss had been amazing, not to mention the feel of his cock inside her, and so what if he looked like he was going to hurl when he looked down at her face. She’d change that look soon enough. With a little more practice, she’d have him panting for her, begging her for it. Yes, she’d have to try dreamwalking Max again very soon.
First she was going to enjoy fucking with his mind, and then she was going to enjoy fucking him for real.
* * * * *
Max rinsed the soap from his body and shut the water off. His hand pulled back the shower curtain and he reached for the towel he’d brought into the bathroom with him, drying his body quickly before stepping over the rim of the tub. He wrapped the towel around his hips and then picked his dirty boxers up off the floor before making his way to the door. Slowly opening it, he peered into the hallway, making sure no one was there. With the coast clear, he hurried back to his bedroom.
Tess watched him from the end of the hall, hiding from him when he looked in her direction so that he wouldn’t see her. His towel hugged his body, showing off the things his loose boxers had kept hidden. The white towel only served to accent the rich color of his skin. She could see little rivulets of water running down the nape of his neck and dripping down his broad back. The towel hugged his butt, that muscular looking butt, and his legs, what she could see of them from the knees down, were covered with fine dark hair. He paused in his bedroom doorway and the side view she glimpsed of him gave her quite a show. The towel couldn’t hide the huge bulge of his cock making her wonder what it would look like hard and begging for action.
With a sigh of relief that he hadn’t run into Tess again, Max entered his bedroom and closed the door, locking it just to make sure he had privacy. He tossed his boxers onto his hamper and then crossed over to sit on the side of his bed. Looking at the picture of Liz that sat on his nightstand, he finally started to relax.
The dream had disturbed him. Not the part with Liz. He always dreamed about Liz. For years he’d dreamed about her, and now they were more vivid than ever. After making love to her on the night he escaped from the White Room, he knew what the real thing was like now. He didn’t have to just imagine it. He couldn’t wait until he could be with her again. He wanted her so badly.
No, the part of the dream that still disturbed him was the end, when Liz had changed into Tess. Why had that happened? Was there some hidden meaning to it? Weren’t dreams supposed to be your mind’s way of telling you something? Why would his mind replace Liz with Tess? He didn’t want to think about it. He wanted Liz, and only Liz. He would never want Tess. Not like that. He didn’t care if they never learned the secrets about why they were here. He was never going to sleep with Tess.
He focused on Liz’s picture again, wanting only thoughts of her. Needing to hear the sound of her voice again, his hand reached for the phone.
* * * * *
Liz closed the cover on her journal and slipped out of bed, padding silently across her room to return it to its hiding place. She kept it secreted away now, ever since last year when it disappeared, when Michael had taken it. She slipped it into the wall, replaced the brick, and then hurried back to her bed. It was cool in her room, and wearing only panties and a tank top, she was starting to get goose bumps.
On second thought, maybe the goose bumps weren’t caused by the cold, she decided when her eyes fell on Max’s picture on her nightstand. Sometimes, when Max was looking at her, she’d break out in goose bumps. Just out of the blue, they’d pop out on her skin and then she’d turn to look and sure enough, he’d be looking right at her. She was starting to wonder if it was an alien thing, that his staring at her caused the goose bumps. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, she kind of thought it was a good thing. In fact, it kind of turned her on. In fact, she knew it turned her on.
She glanced at her window, just to make sure he wasn’t there, even though she knew he wasn’t. She could always sense him when he was on her balcony, but these goose bumps were telling her something. Maybe he was thinking about her, she decided. Maybe through that alien connection they shared, she could sense when he was thinking about her.
Her phone rang and startled her. Glancing at her clock, noticing the late hour, she picked it up quickly so it wouldn’t disturb her parents. It might be Maria, or it might be Kyle calling her about that history report, but if her goose bumps were any indication, she had a feeling she knew exactly who it was.
Keeping her voice low, Liz said, “Hello?”
“Hi,” Max smiled, feeling himself relaxing already.
“Hi,” Liz smiled too.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting ready for bed,” she answered.
“Really?” he felt his pulse quicken. Was she getting undressed? Was she naked under the covers? Did she sleep naked? Did she think about him when she was sleeping naked? His hand absently stroked across the front of his towel.
“Yeah,” she nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see. “What are you doing?”
“I just got out of the shower,” he answered.
“Oh,” she kept her voice neutral. The shower? Was he standing naked in his room? Dripping on his carpet? Rivulets of water running down his skin, down his shoulders and his chest and over his flat stomach and dripping from his –
“You still want me to pick you up in the morning, right?” he asked. There were only a couple more weeks of school left and then they’d be out for the summer. A long, hot summer.
“Sure,” she tried to concentrate on what he was saying, and not what she was imagining. She could still see that water, drip, drip, dripping, falling from his –
“I thought maybe I could pick you up early,” he suggested. “So maybe we can go over our notes for the Biology final.”
“Sure,” she said again, feeling the familiar heat spread between her legs. God, his voice was so sexy. Those goose bumps were popping out all over. “Where do you want to . . . study?”
“Oh, um,” he hedged. He stood up and crossed over to his hamper, stripping off his towel and draping it over the top. Then he moved over to his dresser, holding the portable phone to his ear. He opened a drawer, taking out a clean pair of boxers and a t-shirt. Headed back to his bed, he said, “Well, the eraser room’s kinda . . . private.”
“The eraser room?” she raised her eyebrows. She could feel the moisture pooling between her legs, soaking her panties.
“Well, it’s quiet there,” he reasoned. “Conducive to studying.” He dropped his clothes on the bed and sat back down, listening for her response.
“Well, yes,” she said. “It is quiet there.”
Except when you’re kissing me, she thought with a smile. Then it gets damn noisy in there. Her panties were uncomfortably wet now, so she decided to take them off. She tossed them to the foot of her bed and slid under her sheets, propping her pillows behind her and leaning back.
“We could get a lot of . . . studying . . . done.” He swung his legs onto his bed, stretching his naked frame out over his covers, staring up at the ceiling, picturing them in the eraser room . . . studying . . . biology. His hand moved over his flat stomach, on his way to scratch an itch.
“It’s an important final,” Liz acknowledged. “A third of our grade.” They really should study . . . hard . . . for it. The thought of studying was definitely making her pulse beat faster.
“It would definitely hurt our grades if we bombed. You know me and biology. I need all the help I can get.” His hand had scratched that itch, and now was moving lower, needing to relieve another.
“Oh,” Liz laughed softly. “I don’t know about that. I think biology is one of your best subjects. You always get straight A’s.” Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. Her other lips were already wet. Dripping wet. Just ask her fingers.
“I get A’s because of you,” Max reminded her. “You’re my partner.” His hand was around his cock now, rock hard and demanding attention. He closed his eyes, pumping his hand slowly, listening to the sound of her breathing in his ear. “We make good partners.”
“We certainly do,” Liz sighed. She could feel a sheen of sweat popping out of her skin while her fingers worked at relieving a certain ache she was feeling.
“So,” Max said, trying to remember what they were talking about. “What time?” His hips were moving now too, in rhythm with his hand, listening to the sounds she was making. Was that a moan? Had he just heard her moan? Was she moaning on the phone?
“Time?” she forced the word out and then moved the phone away from her mouth. She bit her lip, trying to keep the noise level down. She didn’t want him to hear. Her hand moved faster, bordering right on the brink. Was he panting on the other end of the phone, or was that just her?
“Yeah. Time,” Max said through clenched teeth. “Um . . . pick you up?” He couldn’t stop now if he wanted to.
“Six? Six thirty?” she breathed out, almost ready to fly.
“Six,” he said hoarsely. “I’ll pick you up at six.” His hand was pumping furiously and then he thought he heard her sharp intake of breath, a sensual gasp. It must have just been his imagination, but it was enough. A strangled groan tore from his throat.
“Six,” her voice sounded two octaves higher than normal. Her hips undulated as the fire spread throughout her belly while her fingers worked it for all it was worth.
“Liz . . .” he sighed deeply. “I’ll see you at six.”
“I’ll be ready,” she said breathlessly. “Goodnight Max.”
“Goodnight Liz.” He pressed the off button and let the phone fall to the bed beside him. Looking down at the milky liquid pooling on his stomach, he sighed again. He needed another shower.
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Note: Just to ease your worries, the UC above is primarily for what you have seen so far. I know some want to revoke my Dreamer card, but I haven’t swung over to the, what is it called, the rebel side? I don’t even remember all the shipper distinctions anymore.
Aftermath
Part 13
Max grabbed his towel off the back of his chair and crossed over to his bedroom door, anxious to wash off the residue of his tarnished dream. Opening it, he stepped out into the hall, headed for the bathroom. Yes, a shower was definitely what he needed. He felt sweaty from the intensity of the dream he’d had, almost as if it had been real, but the end had left him feeling dirty. Unclean. Why would he dream of Tess? Just the thought of touching her that way made him shiver in disgust.
The dream had been so wonderful, making love to Liz, touching her intimately, hearing the passion in her sighs and moans. Hearing her cry out his name when he made her come. But why in God’s name would she change into Tess? He shuddered again, remembering the sight of those blue eyes staring up at him, looking so satisfied. He reached for the handle just as the bathroom door opened and he stopped dead in his tracks.
What the fuck was she doing here?
Tess had just finished running a cool washcloth over her heated skin, trying to calm down after experiencing that dream. Holy shit! Is that what Max was like in bed? Fuck! She had to get herself some of that! She’d been around the block a few times, but nothing compared to that! Was his dream based on real experience, or just an oversexed teenage boy’s active imagination? Because, Damn! If that was how he fucked, she definitely wanted some of that! She draped the washcloth over the towel bar and opened the bathroom door, staring right into his face.
“Max!”
“Tess,” he said uncomfortably, looking around like he wanted to run.
He was standing there, in front of her, wearing only a pair of Calvin Klein’s, and she couldn’t help but let her eyes travel over his body. He obviously worked out. A lot. His chest was a chiseled masterpiece, covered in a fine sheen of sweat, muscles on muscles, etched to perfection. His nipples were dark circles, a sight to behold, and the hard little tips were just begging to be licked. His biceps were huge, powerful, making her want to reach out and squeeze him. His stomach was flat, ridged, without an ounce of fat visible anywhere, his navel no more than a dimple in that rich golden skin. His boxers hung low on his narrow hips and she could see the way his abdominal muscles formed a V, drawing her gaze lower. His shorts couldn’t hide the bulge of his cock, his quite impressive cock by the looks of it. Yes, he filled those boxers out quite well. The phrase “hung like a horse’ came to mind. What would he do if she just reached out and grabbed him, she wondered?
Based on the look on his face right now, he’d probably scream like a girl.
“Um,” Max said in embarrassment. “I was . . . I was just gonna take a shower . . .”
He moved the towel he was holding to the front of his shorts, trying to hide his near nudity. Fuck! He should have thrown on a shirt. And a pair of pants. And shoes and socks. But shit! He was in his own house! He shouldn’t have to get fully dressed just to take a fucking shower! How was he to know that she’d be here?
“Sorry,” Tess laughed, trying to counter the tension between them. “I’ll just get out of your way.”
She moved out into the hallway and Max skirted around her, avoiding looking at her face. He didn’t want to look into those eyes. Those crystal blue eyes. Those eyes that had looked at him in his dream, looking so satisfied. He felt another shiver run down his spine. He didn’t want to think of Tess, naked and sweaty beneath him. He tried to banish the image from his mind.
Entering the bathroom, he closed the door and locked it. He draped his towel over the towel bar and then stripped off his boxers, letting them fall to the floor. Crossing over to the shower, he pulled the curtain aside and turned on the water, adjusting the spigot to divert the water to the showerhead and not the tub. He put his hand in the spray, testing the temperature, and then turned the dial colder. He definitely was in need of a cool shower.
Tess walked back to Isabel’s room with a smug smile on her face. Dreamwalking was a new power that just might come in very handy. And fun too! She’d slipped into Max’s dream easily, watching from the shadows as he fucked the daylights out of that prissy Liz Parker and then at the end, when she was so hot and bothered she could hardly stand it, she’d willed herself across the room, into his bed, beneath him, controlling the dream as she took Liz’s place. His kiss had been amazing, not to mention the feel of his cock inside her, and so what if he looked like he was going to hurl when he looked down at her face. She’d change that look soon enough. With a little more practice, she’d have him panting for her, begging her for it. Yes, she’d have to try dreamwalking Max again very soon.
First she was going to enjoy fucking with his mind, and then she was going to enjoy fucking him for real.
* * * * *
Max rinsed the soap from his body and shut the water off. His hand pulled back the shower curtain and he reached for the towel he’d brought into the bathroom with him, drying his body quickly before stepping over the rim of the tub. He wrapped the towel around his hips and then picked his dirty boxers up off the floor before making his way to the door. Slowly opening it, he peered into the hallway, making sure no one was there. With the coast clear, he hurried back to his bedroom.
Tess watched him from the end of the hall, hiding from him when he looked in her direction so that he wouldn’t see her. His towel hugged his body, showing off the things his loose boxers had kept hidden. The white towel only served to accent the rich color of his skin. She could see little rivulets of water running down the nape of his neck and dripping down his broad back. The towel hugged his butt, that muscular looking butt, and his legs, what she could see of them from the knees down, were covered with fine dark hair. He paused in his bedroom doorway and the side view she glimpsed of him gave her quite a show. The towel couldn’t hide the huge bulge of his cock making her wonder what it would look like hard and begging for action.
With a sigh of relief that he hadn’t run into Tess again, Max entered his bedroom and closed the door, locking it just to make sure he had privacy. He tossed his boxers onto his hamper and then crossed over to sit on the side of his bed. Looking at the picture of Liz that sat on his nightstand, he finally started to relax.
The dream had disturbed him. Not the part with Liz. He always dreamed about Liz. For years he’d dreamed about her, and now they were more vivid than ever. After making love to her on the night he escaped from the White Room, he knew what the real thing was like now. He didn’t have to just imagine it. He couldn’t wait until he could be with her again. He wanted her so badly.
No, the part of the dream that still disturbed him was the end, when Liz had changed into Tess. Why had that happened? Was there some hidden meaning to it? Weren’t dreams supposed to be your mind’s way of telling you something? Why would his mind replace Liz with Tess? He didn’t want to think about it. He wanted Liz, and only Liz. He would never want Tess. Not like that. He didn’t care if they never learned the secrets about why they were here. He was never going to sleep with Tess.
He focused on Liz’s picture again, wanting only thoughts of her. Needing to hear the sound of her voice again, his hand reached for the phone.
* * * * *
Liz closed the cover on her journal and slipped out of bed, padding silently across her room to return it to its hiding place. She kept it secreted away now, ever since last year when it disappeared, when Michael had taken it. She slipped it into the wall, replaced the brick, and then hurried back to her bed. It was cool in her room, and wearing only panties and a tank top, she was starting to get goose bumps.
On second thought, maybe the goose bumps weren’t caused by the cold, she decided when her eyes fell on Max’s picture on her nightstand. Sometimes, when Max was looking at her, she’d break out in goose bumps. Just out of the blue, they’d pop out on her skin and then she’d turn to look and sure enough, he’d be looking right at her. She was starting to wonder if it was an alien thing, that his staring at her caused the goose bumps. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, she kind of thought it was a good thing. In fact, it kind of turned her on. In fact, she knew it turned her on.
She glanced at her window, just to make sure he wasn’t there, even though she knew he wasn’t. She could always sense him when he was on her balcony, but these goose bumps were telling her something. Maybe he was thinking about her, she decided. Maybe through that alien connection they shared, she could sense when he was thinking about her.
Her phone rang and startled her. Glancing at her clock, noticing the late hour, she picked it up quickly so it wouldn’t disturb her parents. It might be Maria, or it might be Kyle calling her about that history report, but if her goose bumps were any indication, she had a feeling she knew exactly who it was.
Keeping her voice low, Liz said, “Hello?”
“Hi,” Max smiled, feeling himself relaxing already.
“Hi,” Liz smiled too.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Getting ready for bed,” she answered.
“Really?” he felt his pulse quicken. Was she getting undressed? Was she naked under the covers? Did she sleep naked? Did she think about him when she was sleeping naked? His hand absently stroked across the front of his towel.
“Yeah,” she nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see. “What are you doing?”
“I just got out of the shower,” he answered.
“Oh,” she kept her voice neutral. The shower? Was he standing naked in his room? Dripping on his carpet? Rivulets of water running down his skin, down his shoulders and his chest and over his flat stomach and dripping from his –
“You still want me to pick you up in the morning, right?” he asked. There were only a couple more weeks of school left and then they’d be out for the summer. A long, hot summer.
“Sure,” she tried to concentrate on what he was saying, and not what she was imagining. She could still see that water, drip, drip, dripping, falling from his –
“I thought maybe I could pick you up early,” he suggested. “So maybe we can go over our notes for the Biology final.”
“Sure,” she said again, feeling the familiar heat spread between her legs. God, his voice was so sexy. Those goose bumps were popping out all over. “Where do you want to . . . study?”
“Oh, um,” he hedged. He stood up and crossed over to his hamper, stripping off his towel and draping it over the top. Then he moved over to his dresser, holding the portable phone to his ear. He opened a drawer, taking out a clean pair of boxers and a t-shirt. Headed back to his bed, he said, “Well, the eraser room’s kinda . . . private.”
“The eraser room?” she raised her eyebrows. She could feel the moisture pooling between her legs, soaking her panties.
“Well, it’s quiet there,” he reasoned. “Conducive to studying.” He dropped his clothes on the bed and sat back down, listening for her response.
“Well, yes,” she said. “It is quiet there.”
Except when you’re kissing me, she thought with a smile. Then it gets damn noisy in there. Her panties were uncomfortably wet now, so she decided to take them off. She tossed them to the foot of her bed and slid under her sheets, propping her pillows behind her and leaning back.
“We could get a lot of . . . studying . . . done.” He swung his legs onto his bed, stretching his naked frame out over his covers, staring up at the ceiling, picturing them in the eraser room . . . studying . . . biology. His hand moved over his flat stomach, on his way to scratch an itch.
“It’s an important final,” Liz acknowledged. “A third of our grade.” They really should study . . . hard . . . for it. The thought of studying was definitely making her pulse beat faster.
“It would definitely hurt our grades if we bombed. You know me and biology. I need all the help I can get.” His hand had scratched that itch, and now was moving lower, needing to relieve another.
“Oh,” Liz laughed softly. “I don’t know about that. I think biology is one of your best subjects. You always get straight A’s.” Her tongue darted out to wet her lips. Her other lips were already wet. Dripping wet. Just ask her fingers.
“I get A’s because of you,” Max reminded her. “You’re my partner.” His hand was around his cock now, rock hard and demanding attention. He closed his eyes, pumping his hand slowly, listening to the sound of her breathing in his ear. “We make good partners.”
“We certainly do,” Liz sighed. She could feel a sheen of sweat popping out of her skin while her fingers worked at relieving a certain ache she was feeling.
“So,” Max said, trying to remember what they were talking about. “What time?” His hips were moving now too, in rhythm with his hand, listening to the sounds she was making. Was that a moan? Had he just heard her moan? Was she moaning on the phone?
“Time?” she forced the word out and then moved the phone away from her mouth. She bit her lip, trying to keep the noise level down. She didn’t want him to hear. Her hand moved faster, bordering right on the brink. Was he panting on the other end of the phone, or was that just her?
“Yeah. Time,” Max said through clenched teeth. “Um . . . pick you up?” He couldn’t stop now if he wanted to.
“Six? Six thirty?” she breathed out, almost ready to fly.
“Six,” he said hoarsely. “I’ll pick you up at six.” His hand was pumping furiously and then he thought he heard her sharp intake of breath, a sensual gasp. It must have just been his imagination, but it was enough. A strangled groan tore from his throat.
“Six,” her voice sounded two octaves higher than normal. Her hips undulated as the fire spread throughout her belly while her fingers worked it for all it was worth.
“Liz . . .” he sighed deeply. “I’ll see you at six.”
“I’ll be ready,” she said breathlessly. “Goodnight Max.”
“Goodnight Liz.” He pressed the off button and let the phone fall to the bed beside him. Looking down at the milky liquid pooling on his stomach, he sighed again. He needed another shower.
-
Breathless
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- Posts: 254
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Aftermath Part 14
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: Everything through The White Room is the same. The pod squad heard a message in the cave, but in this story the aliens didn't live former lives. Max was never a King, Tess was never his bride, Isabel was not a Princess.
isis7777, after a rhyme like that, how can I not post the next update! Sorry about being MIA for a week. I needed a break, and then I came down with a virus, but I'm better now. On with the next part . . .
Aftermath
Part 14
“C’mon,” Max had a firm hold on Liz’s hand as he pulled her down the hallway. He had that sexy grin on his face and Liz could tell he was anxious to get to their destination . . . the eraser room . . . so they could study for their Biology final.
Yeah, right.
Max checked to see if anyone was watching but the halls were empty. It was early, and they had plenty of time. He opened the door quickly and they rushed inside. He closed the door, locked it securely, and then he swept Liz into his arms, kissing her with all the pent up passion he had been feeling lately pouring out of him. His lips smothered hers as he leaned her back against the wall, pressing his overheated body against hers.
He wasn’t the only one headed into overdrive. Liz eagerly kissed him back, slipping her tongue along his lips until he opened up to let her in. Her hands roamed over his back, pressing her fingers into his muscles, kneading him through the fabric of his shirt. He was wearing that olive green one that she liked so much, but she couldn’t help thinking she’d like him better without it on at all.
His lips were all over her, moving from her mouth to her chin and down her throat and then back up, in constant motion over her heated skin until he claimed her mouth again. His hand threaded through her hair, feeling her soft tresses fall between his fingers, crushing her to him, his lips hard against hers as he devoured her. The way he was holding his hand to the back of her head, she wasn’t going to be getting away from him anytime soon.
His tongue swept through her mouth and then suddenly his mind was filled with images flashing across his brain . . .
“Put your tongue back in your mouth, Liz,” Maria smirked as she passed by with a steaming plate of food.
Startled, Liz almost dropped the coffeepot. “I . . .” she stammered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“I saw you looking at him,” Maria smiled and slung the plate in front of the customer at the counter.
“Him?” Liz feigned ignorance. “Who is ‘him’?”
“You know who,” Maria leaned against the counter, watching her friend’s cheeks turn rosy. “Max Evans, of course.”
“I was not looking at him,” Liz denied hotly.
But she was. In fact, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was outside, on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, talking to that Michael guy. He had on a tank top and a snug pair of jeans and she wondered if he had been working out because his biceps were huge . . . and his chest looked so muscular . . . and the way his hair fell over his forehead was so sexy . . . and he had such a long, elegant neck . . . and, and holy shit! He was coming this way! He was coming into the restaurant! She looked like shit! She wasn’t wearing any make-up and her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing this stupid uniform and he was gonna think she was a complete dweeb. Just look at the antennae bouncing on her head!
DWEEB, DWEEB, DWEEB!
“Where are you going?” Maria shouted as Liz ran for the backroom.
The flash changed, bouncing through time, but the theme remained the same . . .
“Why don’t you talk to him?” Maria said around a mouthful of ice cream. “He’s in here all the time.”
“Maria, he doesn’t even know I exist,” Liz pushed at her melting ice cream with her spoon.
“Are you blind?” Maria gasped. “He can’t take his eyes off you.”
“That is like, sooo not true,” Liz sighed.
“Are we talking about the same guy?” Maria snickered. “Cuz I’m talking about Max Evans. You know, that quiet broody guy? The dark and mysterious Max Evans. You know, the one you’ve been in love with for years?”
“I am not!” Liz blurted out in shock.
“You’re not,” Maria shook her head at her delusional best friend.
“No!” Liz set her straight.
“Right,” Maria said sarcastically.
“Maria,” Liz sagged, knowing she couldn’t hide anything from her. Maria could only smile.
The flash changed again, moving from the Crashdown to a very familiar classroom . . .
“This is an intensive course and we have a lot of ground to cover,” Ms. Hardy stood in front of the classroom. “I’ll start off by assigning lab partners.” Checking her list she began calling names. “Atwater and Collins . . . Martin and Perez . . .”
“Please, please, please, please,” Liz whispered under her breath. She crossed the fingers on both hands as she stared at Ms. Hardy. She couldn’t look at him. If she looked at him she would surely die. What if she looked at him and he was looking at some other girl? Part of her was praying that she would get paired with him, and part of her was dreading that she actually would. She couldn’t make up her mind which would be worse, but being partners with Max Evans was winning at the moment.
They were all milling around the bio lab, waiting for their names to be called so they could take their seats. The waiting was torture. Pure unadulterated torture. She glanced in his direction, she couldn’t help it, but he was oblivious to her, staring down at the floor while he waited to hear his name called. He probably wanted to be partners with that Shelly Peterson. She was the prettiest girl in the class, and stacked. The kind of body she’d never have. Why couldn’t Ms. Hardy hurry up already? She was going crazy, waiting to hear her name –
“Parker and . . .”
‘Oh my god oh my god oh my god –
“. . . Evans.”
‘YESSSSSSS!’ Oh my god, now what? That meant she’d have to talk to him! Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t look over there to see what his reaction is. DON’T LOOK. She had to look. Crestfallen, he registered no reaction at all. He didn’t even look in her direction. Oh shit. He was probably pissed that he got stuck with the geek. Oh damn. Maybe it wasn’t too late to change classes. Oh god, he just looked at her. Oh no. Now he was headed her way. Her hands suddenly became very interesting. She’d just concentrate on her fingernails instead of watching him heading her way. Oh no. He’s here already.
“So . . .”
His voice is so . . . dreamy.
“. . . um . . .”
She could feel goose bumps breaking out on her arms.
“. . . I guess were partners.”
Oh god, his eyes! Look at those amazing eyes!
Max tore his lips away from Liz, staring at her while his lungs sucked in deep breaths of air. Is that what she’d thought? What she’d felt? All that time, had she always felt that way about him too?
“What?” Liz said breathlessly. Why was he looking at her that way?
“Nothing,” he shook his head and dove in for another kiss.
* * * * *
Maria opened the door and climbed from her Jetta, feeling the whoosh of air and hearing the roar of the engine as a motorcycle sped past her. Glaring at the helmet-clad rider, she shouted, “Asshole!”
She glared at him, waiting to see who the jerk was that almost ran her over and as he took his helmet off and looked in her direction, she sneered and mumbled, “Great. Just great.”
“Did you say something to me?” Michael asked as he climbed from his bike.
“Why would I do that?” she mumbled. Mister ‘I can’t get involved’. Why was she still standing here?
“What was that?” he hooked his helmet onto his handle bars and headed in her direction.
“I didn’t say anything,” she turned on her heels and headed for the main entrance. Michael glanced at the heavens with a ‘why me?’ look and then chased after her.
* * * * *
They slid slowly down the wall until they could go no further, until their bodies reached the floor and brought them to a stop. Their mouths were hungry, craving the taste of the other. Their hands eager, touching and caressing, their bodies ready to share what they’d only felt once before. Their daytime fantasies were blending with their nighttime dreams, so close to becoming a reality.
Max leaned them sideways and their bodies stretched out on the hard concrete floor. This wasn’t the way he wanted it, wasn’t the way he had always pictured it with her, but he was helpless to stop what his body was craving for. One taste of her just wasn’t enough. He would surely go mad if he didn’t have her again. Soon.
Hovering above her, he remembered the dream he’d had last night. The dream of making love to her in his own bed. Of hearing her cry out his name in passion. Of feeling her body quivering all around him. Looking down into her eyes, he wanted to make her feel all those things again. But not here, not like this.
Liz stared up into his face seeing a myriad of emotions reflected there. She couldn’t feel the hard floor beneath her. She didn’t feel the cold seeping through the tiles into her bones. All she felt was the warmth of his body pressing down on hers and she knew she wanted more of that. Her hand rose up the back of his neck and threaded through his hair, pulling him down to her waiting lips.
He couldn’t stop, not when she showed him how much she wanted him. Not when she touched him the way she was touching him now. Not when her legs spread to let him slide between them. He took her mouth hungrily, wanting to do the same to her body. Was that his hand or hers, pulling her skirt up? Was it her hips rocking up against him, or was he the one that was grinding his body into her? Or was it both of them, her hand on the button of his jeans, his hand on the zipper, tugging it lower.
* * * * *
“Michael,” Maria gave up trying to ignore him. “What do you want?” She could sense that he was right behind her. Why couldn’t he just go away? He’d already told her that there couldn’t be anything between them, because he was an alien and his life was too dangerous. She continued marching down the hallway, holding her books in front of her, refusing to look at him.
“Maria . . .” he said and waited for her to stop. She didn’t stop. How were they supposed to have a conversation if she wouldn’t stop?
“Maria . . .” he said again, giving her the chance to stop. Damnit! Why wouldn’t she stop? Where the hell was she going in such an all fire hurry? “Maria, can we talk?”
She stopped.
Now what? Now she was waiting for him to talk. Shit! He couldn’t talk out here, in the hallway. He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the end of the hall.
* * * * *
The need was so powerful, Max couldn’t think straight. His mouth fused with hers while his cock rubbed furiously against her heat, feeling her wetness through the layers of their undergarments. Her moans were muffled by their kisses but the sound of them still inflamed him. It would be so simple to remove the last barriers between them and sink into her depths. To feel her encompass him within the shelter of her body. To feel her slick walls close around him as he filled her passage.
His hand slid up the inside of her thigh, moving higher and higher until he touched the elastic at the top of her leg. He yanked the silky fabric aside and his fingers dipped into her moistness. Her juices covered him as he touched the places he’d once only dreamed of. A groan rumbled deep in his own throat when he felt her small hand slip beneath the top band of his boxers and wrap around his throbbing sex. Oh god! He was ready to explode.
The room suddenly filled with sound as the door clicked open. Voices broke though his sexual haze and Max scrambled to get off Liz. They rose to their feet while trying desperately to straighten their disheveled clothing.
“Michael, what is this?” Maria stormed in exasperation. Why was he dragging her into the eraser room? There was no eraser room business between them. They hadn’t cleaned erasers together in a long long time. “What do you want to talk about?”
Michael closed the door and focused on Maria’s face. His hands rose to her shoulders and he said, “I want to talk about this.” Without giving her any time to think about it, he dove in and kissed her. Hard. Just the way she liked it. Maria was so surprised she dropped her books – right on his toe.
Michael was just about to howl in pain when a different sound filled the air around them. It was a distinctive sound. One they were all very familiar with. The sound of metal against metal. A zipper.
Oh shit, Max cringed as Michael and Maria snapped their heads in his direction. Liz was standing in front of him, shielding him while he stuffed himself back into his pants. He had no idea his zipper would sound so loud in here. Christ Almighty! Why did zippers have to make so much noise? Now Michael and Maria were going to know exactly what they’d been doing in here.
Maria’s mouth opened wide, looking at the sight before her. Liz’s hair was a wild mess and her cheeks were flaming red and her clothes were hanging all askew. Max twitched his head in that nervous way he had, trying to get his hair out of his eyes. His clothes were a wreck too and he was trying to tug his shirt back into place. Of course it was obvious what he had just been doing with his pants.
“Um . . . Maria,” Liz tried to act like nothing was going on. “Michael. What are you guys . . . doing?” She self-consciously raked her fingers through her hair, drawing it back from her face. Max stood behind her, saying nothing.
“What were you guys doing?” Maria said bluntly. She was enjoying this.
“Um . . . studying,” Liz tried to bluff. She glanced back at Max and their eyes met briefly before she turned back to Maria, continuing, “For our final.”
“What subject?” Maria goaded her.
“Biology,” she blurted out and instantly regretted it. Michael was trying to stifle a laugh.
“Really?” Maria raised her eyebrows.
Flustered, Liz took a step toward her backpack with the intention of pulling out her biology book, but Max held her in place in front of him with his hands on her hips. He wasn’t ready for her to move yet. Maybe in a few minutes, when things had . . . calmed down a little.
In the hallway, Isabel thought sure she heard familiar voices. She cocked her head to the side, certain of it now. Just then, Alex walked by and asked, “Have you seen Liz or Maria?”
“No,” she answered, “but I think I know where they are.” With two quick strides she crossed to the eraser room and pulled the door open. Seeing Michael, Maria, Max and Liz, she demanded, “What’s going on in here?”
“Biology lessons,” Maria replied and Michael burst out laughing. He couldn’t help himself.
One look was all it took for Isabel to understand and then her own cheeks began to burn with embarrassment. So Michael and Maria must have walked in on Max and Liz going at it. That was pretty obvious by the look of them. When had her quiet, shy brother turned into such a sex maniac? Going at it in the eraser room? Oh for God’s sake, what was the matter with him?
The room was becoming quite crowded now with the six of them in there. Max didn’t think he had ever been more embarrassed but at least he’d calmed down enough that he didn’t need to hide behind Liz anymore. He was pointedly trying to ignore the way Isabel was glaring at him. Alex leaned against the supply cabinet, keeping his mouth shut and enjoying the scene. Michael was trying to stop laughing, but every time he looked at Max he’d start over again. Maria was just smiling knowingly at Liz and taking it all in.
In the hallway, Tess and Kyle rounded the corner walking side by side. He’d driven them both to school this morning and he was still irked that she’d hogged the bathroom all morning. What did girls do in there all that time? Tess’s eyes narrowed when she saw the open eraser room door and recognized who was inside. With a frown, she said, “What’s going on over there?”
She walked across the hall with Kyle at her side and they joined the overcrowded assembly. Tess looked over their faces and asked, “What are you guys doing in here?”
“Biology lessons,” four voices spoke at once and Max and Liz shifted uncomfortably with their faces flaming red again.
Now there were eight people in the confined space and they were practically falling all over each other. Maria looked around their strange group and asked the obvious. “What are we all doing in here?”
“Having an orgy?” Kyle said hopefully. No? Oh well, you couldn’t blame a guy for asking.
I'll be back next Sunday for the next part.
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: Everything through The White Room is the same. The pod squad heard a message in the cave, but in this story the aliens didn't live former lives. Max was never a King, Tess was never his bride, Isabel was not a Princess.
isis7777, after a rhyme like that, how can I not post the next update! Sorry about being MIA for a week. I needed a break, and then I came down with a virus, but I'm better now. On with the next part . . .
Aftermath
Part 14
“C’mon,” Max had a firm hold on Liz’s hand as he pulled her down the hallway. He had that sexy grin on his face and Liz could tell he was anxious to get to their destination . . . the eraser room . . . so they could study for their Biology final.
Yeah, right.
Max checked to see if anyone was watching but the halls were empty. It was early, and they had plenty of time. He opened the door quickly and they rushed inside. He closed the door, locked it securely, and then he swept Liz into his arms, kissing her with all the pent up passion he had been feeling lately pouring out of him. His lips smothered hers as he leaned her back against the wall, pressing his overheated body against hers.
He wasn’t the only one headed into overdrive. Liz eagerly kissed him back, slipping her tongue along his lips until he opened up to let her in. Her hands roamed over his back, pressing her fingers into his muscles, kneading him through the fabric of his shirt. He was wearing that olive green one that she liked so much, but she couldn’t help thinking she’d like him better without it on at all.
His lips were all over her, moving from her mouth to her chin and down her throat and then back up, in constant motion over her heated skin until he claimed her mouth again. His hand threaded through her hair, feeling her soft tresses fall between his fingers, crushing her to him, his lips hard against hers as he devoured her. The way he was holding his hand to the back of her head, she wasn’t going to be getting away from him anytime soon.
His tongue swept through her mouth and then suddenly his mind was filled with images flashing across his brain . . .
“Put your tongue back in your mouth, Liz,” Maria smirked as she passed by with a steaming plate of food.
Startled, Liz almost dropped the coffeepot. “I . . .” she stammered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“I saw you looking at him,” Maria smiled and slung the plate in front of the customer at the counter.
“Him?” Liz feigned ignorance. “Who is ‘him’?”
“You know who,” Maria leaned against the counter, watching her friend’s cheeks turn rosy. “Max Evans, of course.”
“I was not looking at him,” Liz denied hotly.
But she was. In fact, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was outside, on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, talking to that Michael guy. He had on a tank top and a snug pair of jeans and she wondered if he had been working out because his biceps were huge . . . and his chest looked so muscular . . . and the way his hair fell over his forehead was so sexy . . . and he had such a long, elegant neck . . . and, and holy shit! He was coming this way! He was coming into the restaurant! She looked like shit! She wasn’t wearing any make-up and her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing this stupid uniform and he was gonna think she was a complete dweeb. Just look at the antennae bouncing on her head!
DWEEB, DWEEB, DWEEB!
“Where are you going?” Maria shouted as Liz ran for the backroom.
The flash changed, bouncing through time, but the theme remained the same . . .
“Why don’t you talk to him?” Maria said around a mouthful of ice cream. “He’s in here all the time.”
“Maria, he doesn’t even know I exist,” Liz pushed at her melting ice cream with her spoon.
“Are you blind?” Maria gasped. “He can’t take his eyes off you.”
“That is like, sooo not true,” Liz sighed.
“Are we talking about the same guy?” Maria snickered. “Cuz I’m talking about Max Evans. You know, that quiet broody guy? The dark and mysterious Max Evans. You know, the one you’ve been in love with for years?”
“I am not!” Liz blurted out in shock.
“You’re not,” Maria shook her head at her delusional best friend.
“No!” Liz set her straight.
“Right,” Maria said sarcastically.
“Maria,” Liz sagged, knowing she couldn’t hide anything from her. Maria could only smile.
The flash changed again, moving from the Crashdown to a very familiar classroom . . .
“This is an intensive course and we have a lot of ground to cover,” Ms. Hardy stood in front of the classroom. “I’ll start off by assigning lab partners.” Checking her list she began calling names. “Atwater and Collins . . . Martin and Perez . . .”
“Please, please, please, please,” Liz whispered under her breath. She crossed the fingers on both hands as she stared at Ms. Hardy. She couldn’t look at him. If she looked at him she would surely die. What if she looked at him and he was looking at some other girl? Part of her was praying that she would get paired with him, and part of her was dreading that she actually would. She couldn’t make up her mind which would be worse, but being partners with Max Evans was winning at the moment.
They were all milling around the bio lab, waiting for their names to be called so they could take their seats. The waiting was torture. Pure unadulterated torture. She glanced in his direction, she couldn’t help it, but he was oblivious to her, staring down at the floor while he waited to hear his name called. He probably wanted to be partners with that Shelly Peterson. She was the prettiest girl in the class, and stacked. The kind of body she’d never have. Why couldn’t Ms. Hardy hurry up already? She was going crazy, waiting to hear her name –
“Parker and . . .”
‘Oh my god oh my god oh my god –
“. . . Evans.”
‘YESSSSSSS!’ Oh my god, now what? That meant she’d have to talk to him! Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t look over there to see what his reaction is. DON’T LOOK. She had to look. Crestfallen, he registered no reaction at all. He didn’t even look in her direction. Oh shit. He was probably pissed that he got stuck with the geek. Oh damn. Maybe it wasn’t too late to change classes. Oh god, he just looked at her. Oh no. Now he was headed her way. Her hands suddenly became very interesting. She’d just concentrate on her fingernails instead of watching him heading her way. Oh no. He’s here already.
“So . . .”
His voice is so . . . dreamy.
“. . . um . . .”
She could feel goose bumps breaking out on her arms.
“. . . I guess were partners.”
Oh god, his eyes! Look at those amazing eyes!
Max tore his lips away from Liz, staring at her while his lungs sucked in deep breaths of air. Is that what she’d thought? What she’d felt? All that time, had she always felt that way about him too?
“What?” Liz said breathlessly. Why was he looking at her that way?
“Nothing,” he shook his head and dove in for another kiss.
* * * * *
Maria opened the door and climbed from her Jetta, feeling the whoosh of air and hearing the roar of the engine as a motorcycle sped past her. Glaring at the helmet-clad rider, she shouted, “Asshole!”
She glared at him, waiting to see who the jerk was that almost ran her over and as he took his helmet off and looked in her direction, she sneered and mumbled, “Great. Just great.”
“Did you say something to me?” Michael asked as he climbed from his bike.
“Why would I do that?” she mumbled. Mister ‘I can’t get involved’. Why was she still standing here?
“What was that?” he hooked his helmet onto his handle bars and headed in her direction.
“I didn’t say anything,” she turned on her heels and headed for the main entrance. Michael glanced at the heavens with a ‘why me?’ look and then chased after her.
* * * * *
They slid slowly down the wall until they could go no further, until their bodies reached the floor and brought them to a stop. Their mouths were hungry, craving the taste of the other. Their hands eager, touching and caressing, their bodies ready to share what they’d only felt once before. Their daytime fantasies were blending with their nighttime dreams, so close to becoming a reality.
Max leaned them sideways and their bodies stretched out on the hard concrete floor. This wasn’t the way he wanted it, wasn’t the way he had always pictured it with her, but he was helpless to stop what his body was craving for. One taste of her just wasn’t enough. He would surely go mad if he didn’t have her again. Soon.
Hovering above her, he remembered the dream he’d had last night. The dream of making love to her in his own bed. Of hearing her cry out his name in passion. Of feeling her body quivering all around him. Looking down into her eyes, he wanted to make her feel all those things again. But not here, not like this.
Liz stared up into his face seeing a myriad of emotions reflected there. She couldn’t feel the hard floor beneath her. She didn’t feel the cold seeping through the tiles into her bones. All she felt was the warmth of his body pressing down on hers and she knew she wanted more of that. Her hand rose up the back of his neck and threaded through his hair, pulling him down to her waiting lips.
He couldn’t stop, not when she showed him how much she wanted him. Not when she touched him the way she was touching him now. Not when her legs spread to let him slide between them. He took her mouth hungrily, wanting to do the same to her body. Was that his hand or hers, pulling her skirt up? Was it her hips rocking up against him, or was he the one that was grinding his body into her? Or was it both of them, her hand on the button of his jeans, his hand on the zipper, tugging it lower.
* * * * *
“Michael,” Maria gave up trying to ignore him. “What do you want?” She could sense that he was right behind her. Why couldn’t he just go away? He’d already told her that there couldn’t be anything between them, because he was an alien and his life was too dangerous. She continued marching down the hallway, holding her books in front of her, refusing to look at him.
“Maria . . .” he said and waited for her to stop. She didn’t stop. How were they supposed to have a conversation if she wouldn’t stop?
“Maria . . .” he said again, giving her the chance to stop. Damnit! Why wouldn’t she stop? Where the hell was she going in such an all fire hurry? “Maria, can we talk?”
She stopped.
Now what? Now she was waiting for him to talk. Shit! He couldn’t talk out here, in the hallway. He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the end of the hall.
* * * * *
The need was so powerful, Max couldn’t think straight. His mouth fused with hers while his cock rubbed furiously against her heat, feeling her wetness through the layers of their undergarments. Her moans were muffled by their kisses but the sound of them still inflamed him. It would be so simple to remove the last barriers between them and sink into her depths. To feel her encompass him within the shelter of her body. To feel her slick walls close around him as he filled her passage.
His hand slid up the inside of her thigh, moving higher and higher until he touched the elastic at the top of her leg. He yanked the silky fabric aside and his fingers dipped into her moistness. Her juices covered him as he touched the places he’d once only dreamed of. A groan rumbled deep in his own throat when he felt her small hand slip beneath the top band of his boxers and wrap around his throbbing sex. Oh god! He was ready to explode.
The room suddenly filled with sound as the door clicked open. Voices broke though his sexual haze and Max scrambled to get off Liz. They rose to their feet while trying desperately to straighten their disheveled clothing.
“Michael, what is this?” Maria stormed in exasperation. Why was he dragging her into the eraser room? There was no eraser room business between them. They hadn’t cleaned erasers together in a long long time. “What do you want to talk about?”
Michael closed the door and focused on Maria’s face. His hands rose to her shoulders and he said, “I want to talk about this.” Without giving her any time to think about it, he dove in and kissed her. Hard. Just the way she liked it. Maria was so surprised she dropped her books – right on his toe.
Michael was just about to howl in pain when a different sound filled the air around them. It was a distinctive sound. One they were all very familiar with. The sound of metal against metal. A zipper.
Oh shit, Max cringed as Michael and Maria snapped their heads in his direction. Liz was standing in front of him, shielding him while he stuffed himself back into his pants. He had no idea his zipper would sound so loud in here. Christ Almighty! Why did zippers have to make so much noise? Now Michael and Maria were going to know exactly what they’d been doing in here.
Maria’s mouth opened wide, looking at the sight before her. Liz’s hair was a wild mess and her cheeks were flaming red and her clothes were hanging all askew. Max twitched his head in that nervous way he had, trying to get his hair out of his eyes. His clothes were a wreck too and he was trying to tug his shirt back into place. Of course it was obvious what he had just been doing with his pants.
“Um . . . Maria,” Liz tried to act like nothing was going on. “Michael. What are you guys . . . doing?” She self-consciously raked her fingers through her hair, drawing it back from her face. Max stood behind her, saying nothing.
“What were you guys doing?” Maria said bluntly. She was enjoying this.
“Um . . . studying,” Liz tried to bluff. She glanced back at Max and their eyes met briefly before she turned back to Maria, continuing, “For our final.”
“What subject?” Maria goaded her.
“Biology,” she blurted out and instantly regretted it. Michael was trying to stifle a laugh.
“Really?” Maria raised her eyebrows.
Flustered, Liz took a step toward her backpack with the intention of pulling out her biology book, but Max held her in place in front of him with his hands on her hips. He wasn’t ready for her to move yet. Maybe in a few minutes, when things had . . . calmed down a little.
In the hallway, Isabel thought sure she heard familiar voices. She cocked her head to the side, certain of it now. Just then, Alex walked by and asked, “Have you seen Liz or Maria?”
“No,” she answered, “but I think I know where they are.” With two quick strides she crossed to the eraser room and pulled the door open. Seeing Michael, Maria, Max and Liz, she demanded, “What’s going on in here?”
“Biology lessons,” Maria replied and Michael burst out laughing. He couldn’t help himself.
One look was all it took for Isabel to understand and then her own cheeks began to burn with embarrassment. So Michael and Maria must have walked in on Max and Liz going at it. That was pretty obvious by the look of them. When had her quiet, shy brother turned into such a sex maniac? Going at it in the eraser room? Oh for God’s sake, what was the matter with him?
The room was becoming quite crowded now with the six of them in there. Max didn’t think he had ever been more embarrassed but at least he’d calmed down enough that he didn’t need to hide behind Liz anymore. He was pointedly trying to ignore the way Isabel was glaring at him. Alex leaned against the supply cabinet, keeping his mouth shut and enjoying the scene. Michael was trying to stop laughing, but every time he looked at Max he’d start over again. Maria was just smiling knowingly at Liz and taking it all in.
In the hallway, Tess and Kyle rounded the corner walking side by side. He’d driven them both to school this morning and he was still irked that she’d hogged the bathroom all morning. What did girls do in there all that time? Tess’s eyes narrowed when she saw the open eraser room door and recognized who was inside. With a frown, she said, “What’s going on over there?”
She walked across the hall with Kyle at her side and they joined the overcrowded assembly. Tess looked over their faces and asked, “What are you guys doing in here?”
“Biology lessons,” four voices spoke at once and Max and Liz shifted uncomfortably with their faces flaming red again.
Now there were eight people in the confined space and they were practically falling all over each other. Maria looked around their strange group and asked the obvious. “What are we all doing in here?”
“Having an orgy?” Kyle said hopefully. No? Oh well, you couldn’t blame a guy for asking.
I'll be back next Sunday for the next part.
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Aftermath Part 15
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Author note: I have some good news, and some bad news. The good news is – here’s the new part. The bad news is – this is the last post for a couple of weeks. I’m going on vacation on Friday so I probably won’t be able to post again until the end of the month. Until then, you can stew over this part . . .
Aftermath
Part 15
Tess finished brushing her teeth and rinsed her toothbrush before putting it in the ceramic holder to dry. She could have just used her alien powers to dry it instantaneously, but as she looked at the other toothbrushes there, she didn’t want to. For some unfathomable reason, she wanted it to dry like the others. She wanted it to . . . fit in.
Now that was a stupid thought, she berated herself. She waved her hand over the brush and the bristles dried instantly. With a quick flick of her wrist she dried the others as well, Jim and Kyle’s.
Lifting her eyes, she looked at herself in the mirror, taking a close look at the girl staring back at her. She’d always thought she had a clear purpose, a direction, a destiny waiting to be fulfilled, but lately things had become muddled in her mind.
She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all.
Her life had been set the moment her cells began to multiply, long before she emerged from the pod. Nasedo had told her all that she needed to know. Her life had a chosen path and falling victim to human weaknesses, human emotion, had no part in it. Her human side was to be shunned, fought against, buried where it would never see the light of day. Human was weak, bad, wrong. Alien was strong. Alien was right. Whether alien was good or bad had never crossed her mind. It was all she knew.
Shaking away her doubts, she refocused on what she had to do. Distractions weren’t allowed. Pulling open the bathroom door, she marched across the hall knowing what the next step should be. She pushed open her bedroom door and stopped in her tracks, startled when she saw Kyle standing by the bed.
“Sorry,” he said hastily. “I just need something out of my closet. I mean, your closet. I mean, the closet.”
“Sure,” Tess shrugged. She glanced at her backpack feeling relieved that it didn’t appear tampered with. She had no way to explain what was hidden in its depths. She would have to find a new hiding place for it soon. She had yet to devise a plan to decipher the Destiny book, but once she did and the language had been broken, she knew its secrets would be all hers.
Kyle retrieved his letterman jacket out of the closet and made his way toward the door. He paused there, and then slowly turned back to look at her.
“Tess, I . . .” he stammered. “What I mean is . . .” A tentative smile broke over his face and he said, “I’m glad you’re here. I know I was kind of a shithead at first, but . . . it’s nice to have you around.”
“Kyle . . .” Tess said in surprise, not knowing what else to say. He thought it was nice to have her around? No one had ever said anything like that to her before. Ever.
“Well, I just wanted you to know that as far as I’m concerned, you can stay here as long as you need to, or want to, or whatever . . .”
“Thanks, Kyle,” Tess responded, feeling an unfamiliar fluttering in the pit of her stomach.
“It might not be much,” Kyle shrugged, taking in the decidedly masculine décor of the room, “but its home.”
“Home . . .” Tess echoed.
She’d never had a home before. Not really. She’d moved from place to place over the years with Nasedo, but none of those houses she’d lived in had ever been called home. It was a new word for her. A new implication, one she was ill equipped to deal with.
* * * * *
Max stood in the shadows watching Liz through the window as she moved around the Crashdown. He’d finished his shift at the UFO Center a few minutes before and come over to see Liz as soon as he was done locking up the place. The Crashdown was closed now too and Liz was busy sweeping the floor and wiping down the tables. He watched her as she moved, the way he’d watched her for so many years, from the shadows where she couldn’t see him.
Today, in the eraser room, before Michael and Maria had barged in, he’d seen things in Liz that he’d never seen before. There had always been flashes between them, when they touched or they kissed, but the memories he saw today, her memories, had surprised him. He hadn’t realized the way she felt about him, even before that day he saved her life. It had been startling. Eye opening. Arousing.
Just watching her now was causing those reactions in him again. It was painfully obvious he was having a hard time controlling himself around her. He’d always wanted her, always loved her, but he’d always been able to keep it in check. Now, he was doing things like attacking her in the eraser room. When had he, Max Evans, lost control?
He absently lifted his hand to tug at his upper lip and his nostrils flared. He could still smell her on his fingertips. The scent of her aroused sex. The nectar of her body. Her wetness coated his fingers earlier and the essence still remained. It was intoxicating. Invigorating. Exciting. Awakening.
Lowering his hand, he moved forward, out of the shadows until he stood in front of the closed doors of the Crashdown. Her movements stilled, her hand pushing the broom froze in mid air. Her eyes slowly lifted to meet his.
And then she did the one thing that always affected him the most. She smiled. It made his knees weak.
Leaning the broom against the counter, Liz crossed the short distance to the front doors and turned the lock. She pushed one door open and as Max stepped through into the dim interior of the restaurant, she softly said, “Hi.”
“Hi,” Max smiled down at her, for some reason feeling awkward and shy. He knew that didn’t make much sense, not after what they’d been through lately and all that had happened between them, but he felt it just the same. Maybe it was because of the flashes he’d seen in her earlier and he was finally coming to realize that the feelings he had always had for her weren’t as one sided as he’d always thought.
“I didn’t think we’d get a chance to see each other tonight, what with both of us working,” she said.
“I know,” he replied, but he couldn’t stay away. He was drawn to her. He always had been. “I can’t stay long, but I just wanted to see you.”
His hand lifted to touch her face, because he just had to touch her, and then she did it again. That smile. That smile that made his heart melt. She leaned her cheek into his palm and he almost lost his resolve to keep things chaste between them. His actions in the eraser room had been out of line, attacking her in school like that. He’d been so out of control lately he was afraid of overwhelming her with how much he needed her.
Her hand slipped into his and she drew him over to the counter, asking, “Do you want something?”
He arched his eyebrows and her cheeks blushed when he asked, “And just what do you have in mind?”
“I meant,” she pushed him onto one of the stools, “something to eat. The grill’s closed, but I could make you a sandwich, or there’s cake . . . or ice cream . . . or . . .” she couldn’t concentrate when he was looking at her like that. His eyes were so intense.
“Do you want anything?” he asked. The question had double meaning.
She hovered next to him and leaned toward his ear, whispering, “Just you.”
The words shot through his body with a rush, and his hand flew up to clutch the back of her head. His lips covered hers quickly and there was nothing chaste about it. He held her tightly and she leaned into him, kissing him passionately, heatedly, almost wantonly.
Trembling with the desire he felt for her, their lips parted and he said shakily, “I thought you wanted to take things slow.”
“Now why would I want to do that?” she said huskily and demanded another kiss.
Sucking in air between kisses he breathed out, “Last week – after that message in the cave – you said –”
“Never mind what I said,” she mumbled against his lips. “That was then. This is now.”
“And now . . .?” his heart beat out a pounding rhythm in his chest.
“And now this is what I want,” her mouth covered his again and her hand rested on his thigh briefly before sliding higher. The bulge in his pants grew rapidly in size as her hand found its intimate target.
“Liz,” Max said in a strained voice and pulled her hand away. “Your parents . . . your dad . . .”
“Sorry,” she flushed pink. “You’re right. I got . . .” she was breathing hard, “carried away.”
He looked into her dark eyes, so full of desire for him; he almost gave in to his own raging hormones. He was so close to lifting her up and laying her out on the countertop. So close to tearing her uniform right off her body so he could once more glimpse the perfection that lay beneath. So close to wrenching her legs apart and pounding his body into hers until he made her scream from the most intense pleasure known to man. His hands closed around her upper arms and with all the will power he could muster, he pushed her back and rose to his feet.
“I should go before,” he stammered, “before your dad comes in and finds me ravishing you right here in the restaurant.” Staring down into her heated eyes he could feel the pull, the desire taking over and he forced himself to move toward the doors.
Her voice stopped him when she asked, “Will I see you tomorrow?”
He turned around to see her standing right behind him, looking up at him with those big dark eyes he found so alluring. It was one of the first things he’d ever noticed about her, the depth of her beautiful eyes, like he was seeing not just the girl on the surface, but the person underneath.
“Of course I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said and drew her into his arms for one final goodnight kiss. They would be together again soon, he silently vowed, but tonight was not the night. It took every ounce of his willpower to break his lips away from hers, to leave the warmth of her arms, to walk away from the heat of her kiss.
Liz followed him to the door, their fingertips still touching, both clinging to the contact until the last minute, when he stepped through the door, out into the shadows of the night.
* * * * *
Tess tossed and turned in bed, unable to get to sleep with all the confusing thoughts tumbling through her mind. The things Kyle said earlier kept replaying through her brain like a scene out of an old movie on late night TV, and she wasn’t sure what to make of them. She was feeling things she had never felt before and she had no idea how to process it.
Things had been so clear with Nasedo. Emotions didn’t exist. They had sometimes gone for days without speaking to each other even though they were in the same room together. He said speech wasted on idle chatter was pointless and a poor use of valuable time and she’d always agreed with him. She knew no other way of life.
Dinners had always been silent affairs, and television was only allowed as a teaching tool, to show her the mores of Earth society, so that she would blend in. In her entire life she had never sat on a couch with a plate in her hand, and yelled at the TV when someone dropped the ball, or cheered when they caught it. Or given anyone a high five. Or had anyone tuck her into bed at the end of the day. Or read her a bedtime story. Or give her a goodnight kiss. She’d never missed those things, because she never knew what it was like to have them.
But in the days and weeks that she’d been in Roswell, a different way of life was opening up to her. So what if jokes were pointless and a waste of time. They were funny. They made her laugh. They made her feel good. When Kyle made the orgy comment this morning in the eraser room, she’d thought it was funny. She covered her mouth to hide her smile, but when Isabel glared at him and then kicked him out of the room, she couldn’t help but laugh, especially when Kyle stood in the hall with his hands up in the air saying, ‘What did I say?’
She thought he looked adorable when he put on that innocent face. And when he smiled. And . . . and just stop it! Just quit thinking about Kyle. He was nothing. Just a human. Nasedo always said so. His days were numbered anyway. They all were living on borrowed time. All the humans, that is.
Unable to sleep, she drew the covers aside and went to the bookcase on the far wall. She would shut off these unwelcome human thoughts and put her time to good use. Hooking her fingers around the binding of the West Roswell High School Yearbook, she pulled it out and returned with it to the bed. Sitting cross-legged, she flipped through the pages until she came to the picture she wanted. Max’s subdued features looked up at her from the book, and she let her fingers touch his face, just the way Isabel had shown her. She closed her eyes and the gray mists swirled, and then she felt the pull as she entered his dream . . .
“The orbs,” Pierce shouted in his face. “Make them work!”
“I can’t,” Max cried in desperation.
“Do it!” Pierce shouted again.
Trembling, his voice cracked under the weight of his fear. “I don’t know how.”
With his face full of hate, Pierce looked down at Max like he was nothing more than an animal. “Let’s begin.”
Technicians swarmed the room with an array of surgical equipment and Tess saw Max’s eyes widened in shock and fear and horror. She could see that he was at his breaking point.
“I can take you apart piece by piece, and make sure that you stay conscious enough to feel every second of it,” Pierce taunted him.
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” Max begged. Shaking his head, he sobbed, “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
Pierce’s cold voice sent a chill straight to Max’s heart. “Bring in the surgeons.”
Tess could see Max strapped down to a table now, Pierce hovering over him with savage cruelty etched on his face. “This man will hurt you,” he pointed to a white clad figure holding a scalpel. “This man will help you,” he said of the man holding a large green syringe. “Tell me what I need to know, and he will take the pain away.”
“Who’s inhuman now?” Max whisper, with no hope left.
“Open him up!” Pierce spit out the words.
Tess bolted out of the dream with the echo of Max’s scream still ringing in her ears. The echo of past memories began to stir in her mind, the cry of a frightened child in the dark, and she quickly closed them down, forcing them back into the dark corners of her mind, refusing to remember.
She had to focus on what was happening now, on the task at hand, on what she had to do.
* * * * *
Max sat on his bed, trying to shake off the terror of his nightmare. He was drenched in sweat and his hand trembled as he touched his chest. He knew the skin was smooth there, he’d healed it himself barely more than a week ago, but the dream had felt so real, he half expected the wound to be there again, dripping with his blood. The pain still lingered in his mind.
He swung his bare legs over the side of the bed and leaned his head into his hands. He thought the nightmares would start diminishing by now, but they hadn’t. He was trying to put it behind him, and he thought he did a pretty good job of keeping it hidden during the day, but at night, his dreams wouldn’t let him rest. He’d nearly scared Liz to death when he woke in her bed, fighting the demons in his head. And the night they fell asleep on her balcony, he’d knocked her backwards when he lashed out at the figments in his dream. He could have hurt her. He shuddered at the thought.
Rising from his bed, he paced around the room, the way he had almost every night since his escape from the White Room. When he was with Liz, she helped chase the nightmares away, but here, in his room alone, the images lingered, the memories sharp and clear in his mind, the pain and suffering as vivid as the day it happened. That’s why he could feel the ache in his chest now, feel the skin peeling back as the blade sliced into him, as if it was happening all over again. He wanted to call her, just to hear her reassuring voice in his ear, but looking at the clock on his nightstand he knew it was too late. It was after two in the morning and she would have been asleep for hours now.
Giving up the idea of going back to sleep any time soon, he slipped on a pair of pants and headed toward the kitchen to get something to eat, but he really wasn’t hungry. He opened the refrigerator door and stared at the contents, but nothing looked interesting or remotely edible. In frustration, he closed the door and silently walked back to his room.
* * * * *
Above the Crashdown, Liz turned over in her sleep, dreaming pleasant dreams . . .
She stood in front of a mirror turning from side to side, admiring the way the dress swished and swirled as she moved. She picked up the square of lace and draped it over her dark hair, smiling at her reflection in the mirror. This was the most important day of her life, and so far everything was perfect.
Suddenly his image was looming behind her and she turned to him with a radiant smile lighting her face. His tux was neat and crisp, his shoes polished and shining, and he was looking at her with a twinkle in his eyes. He held a small bud, white and adorned with ribbon, clutched tightly in his hand.
“How do you put this thing on?” he looked at her with that shy smile of his she found so irresistible.
Taking the boutonniere out of his hand she smiled up at him, saying, “You’re not supposed to be here. You’re not supposed to see me. It’s bad luck.”
“That’s an old wives tale,” Max caressed her cheek as she fastened the boutonniere to his lapel. “50 Years from now, when you’re my old wife, then we’ll talk about bad luck.” Liz laughed lightly and Max drew her into his arms, laughing with her.
Tess stood in the corner of the room, watching the dream play out before her. Did Liz really think Max was going to marry her someday? In 50 years, Max wasn’t even going to remember her. In fact, if things went according to plan, by the end of the summer Max wouldn’t even remember her name.
Tess concentrated on the dream, blending it with memories, changing it to test her skill. Nasedo would be pleased with her for acquiring this new power.
Max took a step back from Liz, holding her out at arms length, staring at her sadly. His voice dropped low, the tone hopeless and forlorn. “I’m sorry Liz. You know I can’t marry you. It’s not safe, for you, and me . . . it’s not safe.”
“I don’t care,” Liz frowned. “I just want us . . .”
“Liz, I really, really wish that this could be . . . something . . . more . . . but it can’t. We’re just too . . .”
“Different,” Liz finished for him. A tear spilled from her eye and ran down her cheek.
“Yeah,” Max nodded unhappily. “We were . . . never meant to be. You and me. I’m sorry . . .”
Liz turned from him, covering her face with her hands, her quiet sobs echoing in the room. Max lifted his hand to touch her shoulder and then pulled it back. With his head down he slowly walked away from her . . .
Liz whimpered in the darkness of her room. The dream that had brought a smile to her lips when it began now had her crying in her sleep.
In another part of town, Tess removed her fingers from the picture of the dark haired girl. To break Max and Liz apart she would have to work on both of them, planting seeds of doubt deep in their subconscious minds. Tonight was just the beginning.
When Nasedo came back, he would be expecting results. He wouldn’t be happy with her if she didn’t present him with good results.
Tess had learned a long time ago not to make Nasedo unhappy.
TBC…..
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Author note: I have some good news, and some bad news. The good news is – here’s the new part. The bad news is – this is the last post for a couple of weeks. I’m going on vacation on Friday so I probably won’t be able to post again until the end of the month. Until then, you can stew over this part . . .
Aftermath
Part 15
Tess finished brushing her teeth and rinsed her toothbrush before putting it in the ceramic holder to dry. She could have just used her alien powers to dry it instantaneously, but as she looked at the other toothbrushes there, she didn’t want to. For some unfathomable reason, she wanted it to dry like the others. She wanted it to . . . fit in.
Now that was a stupid thought, she berated herself. She waved her hand over the brush and the bristles dried instantly. With a quick flick of her wrist she dried the others as well, Jim and Kyle’s.
Lifting her eyes, she looked at herself in the mirror, taking a close look at the girl staring back at her. She’d always thought she had a clear purpose, a direction, a destiny waiting to be fulfilled, but lately things had become muddled in her mind.
She didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all.
Her life had been set the moment her cells began to multiply, long before she emerged from the pod. Nasedo had told her all that she needed to know. Her life had a chosen path and falling victim to human weaknesses, human emotion, had no part in it. Her human side was to be shunned, fought against, buried where it would never see the light of day. Human was weak, bad, wrong. Alien was strong. Alien was right. Whether alien was good or bad had never crossed her mind. It was all she knew.
Shaking away her doubts, she refocused on what she had to do. Distractions weren’t allowed. Pulling open the bathroom door, she marched across the hall knowing what the next step should be. She pushed open her bedroom door and stopped in her tracks, startled when she saw Kyle standing by the bed.
“Sorry,” he said hastily. “I just need something out of my closet. I mean, your closet. I mean, the closet.”
“Sure,” Tess shrugged. She glanced at her backpack feeling relieved that it didn’t appear tampered with. She had no way to explain what was hidden in its depths. She would have to find a new hiding place for it soon. She had yet to devise a plan to decipher the Destiny book, but once she did and the language had been broken, she knew its secrets would be all hers.
Kyle retrieved his letterman jacket out of the closet and made his way toward the door. He paused there, and then slowly turned back to look at her.
“Tess, I . . .” he stammered. “What I mean is . . .” A tentative smile broke over his face and he said, “I’m glad you’re here. I know I was kind of a shithead at first, but . . . it’s nice to have you around.”
“Kyle . . .” Tess said in surprise, not knowing what else to say. He thought it was nice to have her around? No one had ever said anything like that to her before. Ever.
“Well, I just wanted you to know that as far as I’m concerned, you can stay here as long as you need to, or want to, or whatever . . .”
“Thanks, Kyle,” Tess responded, feeling an unfamiliar fluttering in the pit of her stomach.
“It might not be much,” Kyle shrugged, taking in the decidedly masculine décor of the room, “but its home.”
“Home . . .” Tess echoed.
She’d never had a home before. Not really. She’d moved from place to place over the years with Nasedo, but none of those houses she’d lived in had ever been called home. It was a new word for her. A new implication, one she was ill equipped to deal with.
* * * * *
Max stood in the shadows watching Liz through the window as she moved around the Crashdown. He’d finished his shift at the UFO Center a few minutes before and come over to see Liz as soon as he was done locking up the place. The Crashdown was closed now too and Liz was busy sweeping the floor and wiping down the tables. He watched her as she moved, the way he’d watched her for so many years, from the shadows where she couldn’t see him.
Today, in the eraser room, before Michael and Maria had barged in, he’d seen things in Liz that he’d never seen before. There had always been flashes between them, when they touched or they kissed, but the memories he saw today, her memories, had surprised him. He hadn’t realized the way she felt about him, even before that day he saved her life. It had been startling. Eye opening. Arousing.
Just watching her now was causing those reactions in him again. It was painfully obvious he was having a hard time controlling himself around her. He’d always wanted her, always loved her, but he’d always been able to keep it in check. Now, he was doing things like attacking her in the eraser room. When had he, Max Evans, lost control?
He absently lifted his hand to tug at his upper lip and his nostrils flared. He could still smell her on his fingertips. The scent of her aroused sex. The nectar of her body. Her wetness coated his fingers earlier and the essence still remained. It was intoxicating. Invigorating. Exciting. Awakening.
Lowering his hand, he moved forward, out of the shadows until he stood in front of the closed doors of the Crashdown. Her movements stilled, her hand pushing the broom froze in mid air. Her eyes slowly lifted to meet his.
And then she did the one thing that always affected him the most. She smiled. It made his knees weak.
Leaning the broom against the counter, Liz crossed the short distance to the front doors and turned the lock. She pushed one door open and as Max stepped through into the dim interior of the restaurant, she softly said, “Hi.”
“Hi,” Max smiled down at her, for some reason feeling awkward and shy. He knew that didn’t make much sense, not after what they’d been through lately and all that had happened between them, but he felt it just the same. Maybe it was because of the flashes he’d seen in her earlier and he was finally coming to realize that the feelings he had always had for her weren’t as one sided as he’d always thought.
“I didn’t think we’d get a chance to see each other tonight, what with both of us working,” she said.
“I know,” he replied, but he couldn’t stay away. He was drawn to her. He always had been. “I can’t stay long, but I just wanted to see you.”
His hand lifted to touch her face, because he just had to touch her, and then she did it again. That smile. That smile that made his heart melt. She leaned her cheek into his palm and he almost lost his resolve to keep things chaste between them. His actions in the eraser room had been out of line, attacking her in school like that. He’d been so out of control lately he was afraid of overwhelming her with how much he needed her.
Her hand slipped into his and she drew him over to the counter, asking, “Do you want something?”
He arched his eyebrows and her cheeks blushed when he asked, “And just what do you have in mind?”
“I meant,” she pushed him onto one of the stools, “something to eat. The grill’s closed, but I could make you a sandwich, or there’s cake . . . or ice cream . . . or . . .” she couldn’t concentrate when he was looking at her like that. His eyes were so intense.
“Do you want anything?” he asked. The question had double meaning.
She hovered next to him and leaned toward his ear, whispering, “Just you.”
The words shot through his body with a rush, and his hand flew up to clutch the back of her head. His lips covered hers quickly and there was nothing chaste about it. He held her tightly and she leaned into him, kissing him passionately, heatedly, almost wantonly.
Trembling with the desire he felt for her, their lips parted and he said shakily, “I thought you wanted to take things slow.”
“Now why would I want to do that?” she said huskily and demanded another kiss.
Sucking in air between kisses he breathed out, “Last week – after that message in the cave – you said –”
“Never mind what I said,” she mumbled against his lips. “That was then. This is now.”
“And now . . .?” his heart beat out a pounding rhythm in his chest.
“And now this is what I want,” her mouth covered his again and her hand rested on his thigh briefly before sliding higher. The bulge in his pants grew rapidly in size as her hand found its intimate target.
“Liz,” Max said in a strained voice and pulled her hand away. “Your parents . . . your dad . . .”
“Sorry,” she flushed pink. “You’re right. I got . . .” she was breathing hard, “carried away.”
He looked into her dark eyes, so full of desire for him; he almost gave in to his own raging hormones. He was so close to lifting her up and laying her out on the countertop. So close to tearing her uniform right off her body so he could once more glimpse the perfection that lay beneath. So close to wrenching her legs apart and pounding his body into hers until he made her scream from the most intense pleasure known to man. His hands closed around her upper arms and with all the will power he could muster, he pushed her back and rose to his feet.
“I should go before,” he stammered, “before your dad comes in and finds me ravishing you right here in the restaurant.” Staring down into her heated eyes he could feel the pull, the desire taking over and he forced himself to move toward the doors.
Her voice stopped him when she asked, “Will I see you tomorrow?”
He turned around to see her standing right behind him, looking up at him with those big dark eyes he found so alluring. It was one of the first things he’d ever noticed about her, the depth of her beautiful eyes, like he was seeing not just the girl on the surface, but the person underneath.
“Of course I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said and drew her into his arms for one final goodnight kiss. They would be together again soon, he silently vowed, but tonight was not the night. It took every ounce of his willpower to break his lips away from hers, to leave the warmth of her arms, to walk away from the heat of her kiss.
Liz followed him to the door, their fingertips still touching, both clinging to the contact until the last minute, when he stepped through the door, out into the shadows of the night.
* * * * *
Tess tossed and turned in bed, unable to get to sleep with all the confusing thoughts tumbling through her mind. The things Kyle said earlier kept replaying through her brain like a scene out of an old movie on late night TV, and she wasn’t sure what to make of them. She was feeling things she had never felt before and she had no idea how to process it.
Things had been so clear with Nasedo. Emotions didn’t exist. They had sometimes gone for days without speaking to each other even though they were in the same room together. He said speech wasted on idle chatter was pointless and a poor use of valuable time and she’d always agreed with him. She knew no other way of life.
Dinners had always been silent affairs, and television was only allowed as a teaching tool, to show her the mores of Earth society, so that she would blend in. In her entire life she had never sat on a couch with a plate in her hand, and yelled at the TV when someone dropped the ball, or cheered when they caught it. Or given anyone a high five. Or had anyone tuck her into bed at the end of the day. Or read her a bedtime story. Or give her a goodnight kiss. She’d never missed those things, because she never knew what it was like to have them.
But in the days and weeks that she’d been in Roswell, a different way of life was opening up to her. So what if jokes were pointless and a waste of time. They were funny. They made her laugh. They made her feel good. When Kyle made the orgy comment this morning in the eraser room, she’d thought it was funny. She covered her mouth to hide her smile, but when Isabel glared at him and then kicked him out of the room, she couldn’t help but laugh, especially when Kyle stood in the hall with his hands up in the air saying, ‘What did I say?’
She thought he looked adorable when he put on that innocent face. And when he smiled. And . . . and just stop it! Just quit thinking about Kyle. He was nothing. Just a human. Nasedo always said so. His days were numbered anyway. They all were living on borrowed time. All the humans, that is.
Unable to sleep, she drew the covers aside and went to the bookcase on the far wall. She would shut off these unwelcome human thoughts and put her time to good use. Hooking her fingers around the binding of the West Roswell High School Yearbook, she pulled it out and returned with it to the bed. Sitting cross-legged, she flipped through the pages until she came to the picture she wanted. Max’s subdued features looked up at her from the book, and she let her fingers touch his face, just the way Isabel had shown her. She closed her eyes and the gray mists swirled, and then she felt the pull as she entered his dream . . .
“The orbs,” Pierce shouted in his face. “Make them work!”
“I can’t,” Max cried in desperation.
“Do it!” Pierce shouted again.
Trembling, his voice cracked under the weight of his fear. “I don’t know how.”
With his face full of hate, Pierce looked down at Max like he was nothing more than an animal. “Let’s begin.”
Technicians swarmed the room with an array of surgical equipment and Tess saw Max’s eyes widened in shock and fear and horror. She could see that he was at his breaking point.
“I can take you apart piece by piece, and make sure that you stay conscious enough to feel every second of it,” Pierce taunted him.
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” Max begged. Shaking his head, he sobbed, “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
Pierce’s cold voice sent a chill straight to Max’s heart. “Bring in the surgeons.”
Tess could see Max strapped down to a table now, Pierce hovering over him with savage cruelty etched on his face. “This man will hurt you,” he pointed to a white clad figure holding a scalpel. “This man will help you,” he said of the man holding a large green syringe. “Tell me what I need to know, and he will take the pain away.”
“Who’s inhuman now?” Max whisper, with no hope left.
“Open him up!” Pierce spit out the words.
Tess bolted out of the dream with the echo of Max’s scream still ringing in her ears. The echo of past memories began to stir in her mind, the cry of a frightened child in the dark, and she quickly closed them down, forcing them back into the dark corners of her mind, refusing to remember.
She had to focus on what was happening now, on the task at hand, on what she had to do.
* * * * *
Max sat on his bed, trying to shake off the terror of his nightmare. He was drenched in sweat and his hand trembled as he touched his chest. He knew the skin was smooth there, he’d healed it himself barely more than a week ago, but the dream had felt so real, he half expected the wound to be there again, dripping with his blood. The pain still lingered in his mind.
He swung his bare legs over the side of the bed and leaned his head into his hands. He thought the nightmares would start diminishing by now, but they hadn’t. He was trying to put it behind him, and he thought he did a pretty good job of keeping it hidden during the day, but at night, his dreams wouldn’t let him rest. He’d nearly scared Liz to death when he woke in her bed, fighting the demons in his head. And the night they fell asleep on her balcony, he’d knocked her backwards when he lashed out at the figments in his dream. He could have hurt her. He shuddered at the thought.
Rising from his bed, he paced around the room, the way he had almost every night since his escape from the White Room. When he was with Liz, she helped chase the nightmares away, but here, in his room alone, the images lingered, the memories sharp and clear in his mind, the pain and suffering as vivid as the day it happened. That’s why he could feel the ache in his chest now, feel the skin peeling back as the blade sliced into him, as if it was happening all over again. He wanted to call her, just to hear her reassuring voice in his ear, but looking at the clock on his nightstand he knew it was too late. It was after two in the morning and she would have been asleep for hours now.
Giving up the idea of going back to sleep any time soon, he slipped on a pair of pants and headed toward the kitchen to get something to eat, but he really wasn’t hungry. He opened the refrigerator door and stared at the contents, but nothing looked interesting or remotely edible. In frustration, he closed the door and silently walked back to his room.
* * * * *
Above the Crashdown, Liz turned over in her sleep, dreaming pleasant dreams . . .
She stood in front of a mirror turning from side to side, admiring the way the dress swished and swirled as she moved. She picked up the square of lace and draped it over her dark hair, smiling at her reflection in the mirror. This was the most important day of her life, and so far everything was perfect.
Suddenly his image was looming behind her and she turned to him with a radiant smile lighting her face. His tux was neat and crisp, his shoes polished and shining, and he was looking at her with a twinkle in his eyes. He held a small bud, white and adorned with ribbon, clutched tightly in his hand.
“How do you put this thing on?” he looked at her with that shy smile of his she found so irresistible.
Taking the boutonniere out of his hand she smiled up at him, saying, “You’re not supposed to be here. You’re not supposed to see me. It’s bad luck.”
“That’s an old wives tale,” Max caressed her cheek as she fastened the boutonniere to his lapel. “50 Years from now, when you’re my old wife, then we’ll talk about bad luck.” Liz laughed lightly and Max drew her into his arms, laughing with her.
Tess stood in the corner of the room, watching the dream play out before her. Did Liz really think Max was going to marry her someday? In 50 years, Max wasn’t even going to remember her. In fact, if things went according to plan, by the end of the summer Max wouldn’t even remember her name.
Tess concentrated on the dream, blending it with memories, changing it to test her skill. Nasedo would be pleased with her for acquiring this new power.
Max took a step back from Liz, holding her out at arms length, staring at her sadly. His voice dropped low, the tone hopeless and forlorn. “I’m sorry Liz. You know I can’t marry you. It’s not safe, for you, and me . . . it’s not safe.”
“I don’t care,” Liz frowned. “I just want us . . .”
“Liz, I really, really wish that this could be . . . something . . . more . . . but it can’t. We’re just too . . .”
“Different,” Liz finished for him. A tear spilled from her eye and ran down her cheek.
“Yeah,” Max nodded unhappily. “We were . . . never meant to be. You and me. I’m sorry . . .”
Liz turned from him, covering her face with her hands, her quiet sobs echoing in the room. Max lifted his hand to touch her shoulder and then pulled it back. With his head down he slowly walked away from her . . .
Liz whimpered in the darkness of her room. The dream that had brought a smile to her lips when it began now had her crying in her sleep.
In another part of town, Tess removed her fingers from the picture of the dark haired girl. To break Max and Liz apart she would have to work on both of them, planting seeds of doubt deep in their subconscious minds. Tonight was just the beginning.
When Nasedo came back, he would be expecting results. He wouldn’t be happy with her if she didn’t present him with good results.
Tess had learned a long time ago not to make Nasedo unhappy.
TBC…..
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Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
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- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Aftermath Part 16
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Aftermath
Part 16
Max sat in his favorite booth, picking at his breakfast with his fork but not really aware of it. He was too busy watching Liz. All of his attention was focused on her. She was hustling around the restaurant, serving customers, racing from one table to another, swamped in the middle of a Saturday breakfast crowd. He wished she could come over and sit next to him, if only for a few minutes, but her father was working behind the counter and she couldn’t take the risk. He’d be pissed if she spent all her time sitting in the booth with him instead of taking care of her customers.
He watched her as she filled empty coffee cups and water glasses, and then she finally made her way to his table. She glanced at her father quickly and when she saw his attention was occupied ringing up a customer, she quickly slid into the booth across from Max.
“Sorry. It’s a madhouse in here today. The tourist season must be starting early this year.”
“That’s okay,” he reached out to take her hand. “I have to go to work in a minute anyway.”
“What time do you get off?” Liz asked, staring at his honey toned eyes. Sometimes they looked golden brown like now, sometimes they filled with rich flecks of gold, and other times she thought they were the sexiest hazel green she had ever seen. Maybe it was an alien thing, the way his eyes made her melt inside.
“I get off at four today,” Max told her and gave her hand a squeeze.
“That’s when I start the dinner shift,” Liz frowned. She was working a split shift today. Agnes was fighting yet another summer cold.
“I know,” Max nodded. “That’s why I told Tess she could come over after I got off work. I knew you and I couldn’t do anything together.”
“So you and Tess . . .?” Liz started to ask but the words just kind of stuck in her throat. She knew the two of them had to work on the memory retrieval, but she wasn’t happy about it. She didn’t trust Tess.
“Yeah,” Max dropped his eyes down to their joined hands. He didn’t like this anymore than she did. “Michael has been pressuring me. He wants the answers. Hell, we all want the answers, but . . .”
“But you’re not real comfortable with it?” Liz asked.
“I wish you could be there with me,” Max answered. He trusted Liz more than anyone else in the world. More than Michael. More than Isabel. Certainly more than Tess. “But Tess says we need to do this without any distractions. It takes lots of concentration. You understand, don’t you Liz?” He shifted uncomfortably, wishing their lives could be simple, instead of full of complications and uncertainties.
“Of course,” Liz reassured him. He didn’t need any more pressure than he was already feeling. Her hand rose to cup his cheek, wanting him to understand that she trusted him implicitly. The world around them might be crazy, but one thing she knew was how he felt about her, and how she felt about him. “Don’t worry. It’s perfect timing. You meet with Tess while I’m working and when we’re both done, then we can do something together.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Max smiled, teasing her lightly.
“That’s me,” Liz smiled back. “Liz ‘got to have a plan’ Parker.”
“That’s the Liz I love,” Max told her in all seriousness, with his hand tightening on hers. She stared at him for a moment, reveling in what he said and just when she was trying to formulate a reply, her dad interrupted their intimate moment.
“Liz! Table 5’s up!”
“I’m sorry,” she apologized as she rose to her feet. She wanted to kiss him so badly, but she knew her father would go ballistic. “Call me tonight? When you and Tess are done? I’d like to know what happened.”
“Of course,” Max’s eyes followed her as she rose to her feet. “I don’t want any secrets between us.”
“LIZ!” Jeff Parker yelled.
“I have to go.” She hovered at the end of the table for a moment longer and then she was gone. Max watched her rush to the pass-through and the waiting stack of breakfast plates and then he slowly rose to his feet. It would be a long day without being able to see her, but maybe tonight they could make up for all the lost time during the day. It gave him something to look forward to as he turned toward the door.
* * * * *
Tess stood impatiently on the porch, waiting for someone to answer her knock on the door. She turned her wrist and looked at her watch, wondering if Max was home. He had said to meet him here at 4:30. Well, it was 4:30, so where the hell was he?
Max crossed the living room into the front foyer and paused in front of the door, closing his eyes momentarily as he steeled himself for the upcoming encounter with Tess. He hadn’t wanted to be left alone with her, so he’d begged Isabel to stay home tonight. She was in her room now, and he didn’t care how wussy it made him seem. He was glad his sister would be just down the hall if he needed her.
Max opened the door and as the petite blonde came into view, he said, “Hi, Tess.”
“Hi Max,” she replied sweetly. She felt a brief sense of satisfaction when his eyes swept over her, taking in the outfit she was wearing. She had put it on just for him. The pale blue tank top complimented her eye color and the ample cleavage displayed was sure to gain any boy’s attention. She’d pinched her nipples before she knocked on the door so they would be nice and prominent for Max to see. The top was cropped short, showing the expanse of her flat stomach and her dark jeans were skintight and slung low on her hips. With smug self-assurance, she thought, how could Max resist a package like this?
They stood staring at each other, Max inside the house feeling awkward and uncomfortable, and Tess standing outside waiting to be invited in. He took in her appearance and quickly looked away with a deepening sense of discomfort. He was a guy after all, and here was a girl standing in front of him almost falling out of her clothes. Would she take offense if he asked her to put on a sweater?
“Um, come on in,” Max finally offered and stepped back to let her in.
“Thanks,” she smiled, but she was frowning on the inside. She wasn’t getting the reaction she wanted. He should be drooling by now, or at least staring at her chest unable to tear his eyes away, but he wasn’t even looking at her. She was starting to get irritated, and his attitude was making her feel unwanted.
“Well,” Max slid his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “Um . . . we can . . . I guess we can go back to my room.”
“Okay,” Tess replied, biting back her own tension. It should be easier than this. Max should have wanted her from the moment she arrived in Roswell. It was what she’d always been told. Instead, he acted like she was some kind of outcast, instead of one of his own kind.
Max stood there unmoving, not comfortable at all with her being here, not here in his house. He’d rather do this on the couch in the living room, or at the kitchen table, but his parents might return from Bitterlake at any time, and he couldn’t take the risk. “Um,” he finally muttered, “this way.”
Tess knew perfectly well where his room was. Did he think she was stupid? She followed along behind him and when he came to a sudden stop, she almost ran right into his back.
“Do you want something to drink?” Max asked, turning back to look at her. “Are you hungry?”
“No,” she answered, and Max nodded before heading off toward his bedroom again. Looking at his tense back, she wondered why he couldn’t accept his destiny. They were meant to be together. Nasedo said so. Things would fall into place once he gave up his earthly desires and accepted his alien side.
* * * * *
“So where’s Moondoggie?” Maria asked as she wiped off the counter. The Pod Squad booth stood empty on the far side of the restaurant and she was surprised Max wasn’t in his usual spot, wearing a hole in the seat with his butt.
“He’s with Tess,” Liz said with her hand on the milkshake machine. Her eyes darted to Maria, showing her discomfort, and then she went back to scrubbing the already immaculately clean piece of equipment.
Maria’s eyes narrowed, and then she spit out, “What’s he doing with her?”
She shot a look at Maria again, hastening to say, “They’re trying the-” her voice dropped conspiratorially, “the memory retrieval. They’re over at his house.”
“Do you think it’s going to work?” Maria asked, leaning closer to Liz so no one could overhear their conversation. The Crashdown was quiet at the moment, the lull before the dinner crowd hit, but they couldn’t take any chances.
Liz stared into Maria’s eyes and then softly, vulnerably, she said, “It has to work. The other option . . . this has to work, Maria.”
* * * * *
“So . . .” Max stood in the middle of his room, trying to look at anything except Tess. “How do you want to do this?”
“Let’s just get comfortable,” Tess suggested, “like we did the other day.” She climbed onto his bed and sat in the middle of it. He reluctantly joined her.
Sitting cross-legged, face to face, Max could no longer avoid looking at her. He couldn’t help but notice she didn’t wear a bra under her tank top and he wondered if she had dressed this way on purpose, to try to get a reaction out of him. Did she think sex was going to work on him? He’d have to be blind not to notice to the way she was jiggling and her nipples were poking through the thin material of her top, but if she thought that was going to entice him, then she didn’t know him very well. He wasn’t attracted to her. He felt no affinity toward her. He felt no connection to her at all.
Not like the connection he felt toward Liz from the first moment he saw her, on that playground back in grade school. He’d recognized her instantly, known that she was someone important in his life, someone he wanted to be with, needed to be with, and it was only his alien secret that had kept him away from her for so many years. It wasn’t just her body that he wanted. It was her. Liz. The essence of who she was. Everything that went together to make Liz Parker. Her body. Her mind. Her soul. All of it combined to make Liz the girl of his dreams.
Tess couldn’t be that. She could never be Liz.
“Relax, Max,” Tess smiled sweetly and raised her hands to cup his face. “Relax, and let your mind blank out, like we did the other day.”
“Okay,” he nodded, and closed his eyes.
He fought to dispel the image of her nearly exposed breasts from his mind, not wanting her to see that he had noticed. He tried to let his mind drift. Images of Liz in the eraser room flashed before him, her passion, her intensity, her love, and within moments his body answered to her calling with a sudden raging hard-on. This was what Liz did to him. No one else could ever make him feel this way. Just the thought of her was enough to make him tremble with desire, to fill him with uncontrollable need, to change him from the quiet, shy boy who stayed in the background into a man who wouldn’t let anything stand in the way of what he wanted.
“Wait a minute,” Max pulled away from Tess, not wanting her to see his thoughts of Liz. Somehow, he knew he needed to protect that. What he felt for Liz was private, only to be shared between the two of them.
Tess dropped her hands from his face and let her eyes wandered down his body. A knowing smile flashed across her face, which she tried to hide quickly. She’d been right to wear this outfit, after all. He was nearly bursting out of his pants, he wanted her so badly. What guy could resist a pair of tits like she had? He was probably dying to tear her top off and suck on them. She thought about suggesting it, or just lowering her top in unspoken consent, but then she decided to let him stew in his own juices for a while. Soon, he wouldn’t even think of Liz Parker anymore.
Max took a deep breath and pushed thoughts of Liz to the recesses of his mind where he could keep her safe. He needed to keep her hidden from Tess’s probing mind.
“Okay,” Max looked at Tess, ready to try again. He leaned forward and her hands rose to his face again, touching his temples gently. He closed his eyes, letting his mind drift, thinking of nothing and no one, opening his mind to let Tess in.
* * * * *
Liz glanced up at the clock on the wall, the green alien head clock with the huge black eyes, and noticed it was passed 7:00. She felt a stirring in the pit of her stomach, worry that Max hadn’t come by or called yet. Was he still with Tess? Were they still . . .?
“Hey Chica, didn’t you hear Michael?” Maria asked. “Table 7’s order is getting cold.” Liz jumped and Maria raised her eyebrows at her friend. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Liz said quickly, but she couldn’t hide anything from Maria. They knew each other too well.
“Tell me what’s going on in that brain of yours,” Maria took Liz by the arm and led her over to the pass-through so they could talk with more privacy.
“It’s nothing,” Liz tried to cover but Maria wasn’t going to be fooled. She gave Liz the ‘Maria eye’ and Liz sighed, ready to spill. “It’s Max. I was hoping he’d call by now, or come by, but I guess . . . I guess he’s still with . . . Tess-”
Just then the bell rang as the front doors opened and there he was, striding through the doors with a smile lighting his face and his eyes glued to Liz. Relief flooded through her and she returned his smile, until she saw Tess walk in behind him, followed by Isabel bringing up the rear. The restaurant was full, but his booth was empty, as if it was waiting for him. He crossed over to it with his shadows following behind him. Max waited while Isabel and Tess slid into the booth side by side and then he sat across from them, the whole time his attention focused on Liz.
Isabel reached for the menu, trying to decide how hungry she was, and Tess stared at the sappy look on Max’s face, fuming inwardly. Soon, if everything worked correctly, he wouldn’t be looking at Liz that way anymore. Not after today’s session with him and the things she’d planted in his mind. Soon he’d be running away from Liz, not running to her. And once that happened, once she broke that hold Liz had on him, he’d be all hers. She could hardly wait to see it happen.
“Hi,” Liz sidled up to the end of the table with her order book in her hand. Her eyes were focused on Max, as his were on her. “Can I get you anything?”
“Just you,” Max smiled and his hand moved from the top of the table to touch the back of her leg, just below the short hem of her uniform. Liz couldn’t help the pink color that suffused her cheeks. When his hand rose a little higher she looked around to make sure no one was noticing, especially her dad. Looking up at her hopefully, he asked, “Can you sit down for a minute?”
After a quick glance around the room again, she nodded her head, “Just for a second. My dad went in the back room but he’ll be back in a minute.”
Max made room for her and as she slid in next to him, his hand brushed across her butt, caressing her for just a moment before letting it rise up to settle on her shoulder. He pulled her close, and after a quick look toward the back of the restaurant to make sure her father wasn’t around, he gave her a much needed kiss.
He didn’t notice the fire flaring in Tess’s eyes at their disgusting display of affection. How could he stand to touch a human like that?
“How’d it go?” Liz asked when their lips separated. His hand rose from her shoulder, up to thread his fingers through her hair until his hand was cupping the back of her head. They concentrated only on each other, staring raptly into each other’s eyes.
He kissed her again, because he just had to, and then with their faces just inches apart, he said, “Nothing yet.” He saw the disappointment flash through her eyes and he added softly, “Don’t worry about it. It’ll work. I’ll make sure it works. We knew it might take a little time.”
“I know.” She had faith in him. He’d waited all his life to learn the secrets of his existence. They couldn’t expect everything to just fall into his lap now. They had to be patient.
“Ahem . . .” Isabel cleared her throat. When Max and Liz looked at her curiously, she flicked her eyes toward the back of the restaurant. “Parent alert.”
Liz turned around just in time to see her father coming through the swinging door from the back, eyeing her in obvious disapproval. She was supposed to be working, not cuddling with her boyfriend. She rose to her feet quickly while Max raked his hand through his hair with a sigh. Damn. Busted.
“So,” Liz took out her pencil. “Anything to drink?”
Max moved to the edge of the seat so he could be close to her and said, “I’ll have the usual.”
Liz wrote it down with a knowing smile and then she turned to the girls. “Isabel?”
“I’ll have . . . an Aurora Berryalis smoothie.”
“Tess?”
“I’ll have the same thing Max is having.”
Liz looked up from her order pad, wondering if Tess even knew what Max’s ‘usual’ was. If she remembered right, she didn’t think Tess even liked cherry coke. This would be interesting. Tucking the order pad into her apron, Liz said cheerily, “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
She poured the sodas and mixed the smoothie, and then returned to the booth, setting down Max’s first, then Isabel’s and lastly, Tess’s. Max took a sip and smiled his thanks. Isabel stirred her smoothie with the straw and then sucked up a mouthful, enjoying the sweet taste. Tess took a drink and choked on the foul taste. She glared at the offending drink and then at Liz who was trying valiantly not to snicker.
“Anything to eat?” Liz asked, seeing that Isabel was still looking at the menu.
“The usual,” Max answered, again with that infectious grin of his.
“Martian Mudd Pie,” Isabel closed the menu and tucked it behind the napkin dispenser.
“Tess?” Liz turned her eyes to the blonde, wondering what she would say this time.
Tess shifted uncomfortably before answering, “I’m not hungry right now.”
“Okay,” Liz finished writing on her pad. “One Martian Mudd pie, and one order of Saturn rings, coming right up.” She smiled to herself as she walked toward the kitchen. Max had been ordering Saturn rings on Saturday nights for longer than she could remember, and it was obvious that Tess didn’t know that. It made her feel good that she knew Max so well, and Tess was clueless to the things he liked.
* * * * *
“Busy night?” Max walked up behind Liz as she turned the key to lock the front doors. His hands slipped around her waist and a moment later their bodies were pressing together, his front to her back. When the lock clicked into place she turned around, looking up into his handsome face.
“Very,” she nodded. Sometimes he seemed to just tower over her, and this was one of those times. She felt so warm and protected when he held her like this.
“You want my help cleaning up?” he asked, giving her that secretive smile of his. The sooner the restaurant was clean, the sooner he could meet her upstairs on her balcony and they could really be alone.
“What did you have in mind?” she arched her eyebrows. “Washing the floors? Cleaning the grill? Scrubbing the counters clean?”
“How about this?” Max lifted his hand and swept it across the room. Within seconds everything was sparkling clean.
“Max!” Liz’s mouth dropped open, still amazed by the things he could do. She darted a look toward the windows and exclaimed, “Someone will see!”
“All they’ll see is this,” Max focused on her lips and leaned down to take her in a long, loving kiss. His arms surrounded her and she sagged against him when the things he was doing made her knees weak. He’d wanted to kiss her like this all night, but when her dad was around, he was watching them like a hawk and making them uncomfortable. Now that they were alone, they both felt at ease.
“That was worth the wait,” Liz said breathlessly when their lips parted.
“Let’s go upstairs, so I can show you what else I’ve been waiting to do to you.”
“Max . . .” Liz blushed but didn’t push away from him.
“I’m sorry,” he nuzzled his lips next to her ear. “It’s just . . . when I’m near you . . . I just can’t help it.”
“My parents are still up,” Liz reminded him.
“I’ll be quiet,” Max kissed along her throat, smiling at the little moans he could hear. He was getting harder by the minute, listening to her sensual sounds. He wanted to bend her over right now and grind his body into hers. He wanted to lean her backwards onto his favorite table, tear her uniform open and ravish her until she screamed. He wanted to pound his body into hers, feeling her hot, slick walls stretching around him, quivering and throbbing when he took her to the places no one else ever could. He wanted to make love to her all night long, upstairs in her room, where she felt safe and secure.
“I can never be quiet, not when you touch me,” Liz sighed.
“Me either,” he groaned in pleasure when she pressed her body closer to his.
“We’ll have to though, until they go to sleep,” Liz warned.
“I can do that,” Max agreed. Her parents were old. Forty, forty five maybe. Old people went to sleep early.
“Meet me upstairs?” Her voice was full of desire.
“I’m there already,” he smiled back before closing his mouth over hers again. He kissed her long and hard with his arms crushing her to him, and then he pulled away. He waved his hand over the lock and stepped outside, watching her as she relocked it and they stared heatedly at each other through the glass. Pulling the key out slowly, she stuffed it in her uniform pocket with her tongue darting out to moisten her lips. That small, erotic movement caused the smoldering fire in him to blaze and he raced for the ladder. Liz too, turned on her heels, running for the stairs that would reunite them once again.
Her room, her refuge, was just at the top of those stairs, and she could sense that he was waiting for her there already.
Come back next Sunday for the next part.
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Aftermath
Part 16
Max sat in his favorite booth, picking at his breakfast with his fork but not really aware of it. He was too busy watching Liz. All of his attention was focused on her. She was hustling around the restaurant, serving customers, racing from one table to another, swamped in the middle of a Saturday breakfast crowd. He wished she could come over and sit next to him, if only for a few minutes, but her father was working behind the counter and she couldn’t take the risk. He’d be pissed if she spent all her time sitting in the booth with him instead of taking care of her customers.
He watched her as she filled empty coffee cups and water glasses, and then she finally made her way to his table. She glanced at her father quickly and when she saw his attention was occupied ringing up a customer, she quickly slid into the booth across from Max.
“Sorry. It’s a madhouse in here today. The tourist season must be starting early this year.”
“That’s okay,” he reached out to take her hand. “I have to go to work in a minute anyway.”
“What time do you get off?” Liz asked, staring at his honey toned eyes. Sometimes they looked golden brown like now, sometimes they filled with rich flecks of gold, and other times she thought they were the sexiest hazel green she had ever seen. Maybe it was an alien thing, the way his eyes made her melt inside.
“I get off at four today,” Max told her and gave her hand a squeeze.
“That’s when I start the dinner shift,” Liz frowned. She was working a split shift today. Agnes was fighting yet another summer cold.
“I know,” Max nodded. “That’s why I told Tess she could come over after I got off work. I knew you and I couldn’t do anything together.”
“So you and Tess . . .?” Liz started to ask but the words just kind of stuck in her throat. She knew the two of them had to work on the memory retrieval, but she wasn’t happy about it. She didn’t trust Tess.
“Yeah,” Max dropped his eyes down to their joined hands. He didn’t like this anymore than she did. “Michael has been pressuring me. He wants the answers. Hell, we all want the answers, but . . .”
“But you’re not real comfortable with it?” Liz asked.
“I wish you could be there with me,” Max answered. He trusted Liz more than anyone else in the world. More than Michael. More than Isabel. Certainly more than Tess. “But Tess says we need to do this without any distractions. It takes lots of concentration. You understand, don’t you Liz?” He shifted uncomfortably, wishing their lives could be simple, instead of full of complications and uncertainties.
“Of course,” Liz reassured him. He didn’t need any more pressure than he was already feeling. Her hand rose to cup his cheek, wanting him to understand that she trusted him implicitly. The world around them might be crazy, but one thing she knew was how he felt about her, and how she felt about him. “Don’t worry. It’s perfect timing. You meet with Tess while I’m working and when we’re both done, then we can do something together.”
“That sounds like a plan,” Max smiled, teasing her lightly.
“That’s me,” Liz smiled back. “Liz ‘got to have a plan’ Parker.”
“That’s the Liz I love,” Max told her in all seriousness, with his hand tightening on hers. She stared at him for a moment, reveling in what he said and just when she was trying to formulate a reply, her dad interrupted their intimate moment.
“Liz! Table 5’s up!”
“I’m sorry,” she apologized as she rose to her feet. She wanted to kiss him so badly, but she knew her father would go ballistic. “Call me tonight? When you and Tess are done? I’d like to know what happened.”
“Of course,” Max’s eyes followed her as she rose to her feet. “I don’t want any secrets between us.”
“LIZ!” Jeff Parker yelled.
“I have to go.” She hovered at the end of the table for a moment longer and then she was gone. Max watched her rush to the pass-through and the waiting stack of breakfast plates and then he slowly rose to his feet. It would be a long day without being able to see her, but maybe tonight they could make up for all the lost time during the day. It gave him something to look forward to as he turned toward the door.
* * * * *
Tess stood impatiently on the porch, waiting for someone to answer her knock on the door. She turned her wrist and looked at her watch, wondering if Max was home. He had said to meet him here at 4:30. Well, it was 4:30, so where the hell was he?
Max crossed the living room into the front foyer and paused in front of the door, closing his eyes momentarily as he steeled himself for the upcoming encounter with Tess. He hadn’t wanted to be left alone with her, so he’d begged Isabel to stay home tonight. She was in her room now, and he didn’t care how wussy it made him seem. He was glad his sister would be just down the hall if he needed her.
Max opened the door and as the petite blonde came into view, he said, “Hi, Tess.”
“Hi Max,” she replied sweetly. She felt a brief sense of satisfaction when his eyes swept over her, taking in the outfit she was wearing. She had put it on just for him. The pale blue tank top complimented her eye color and the ample cleavage displayed was sure to gain any boy’s attention. She’d pinched her nipples before she knocked on the door so they would be nice and prominent for Max to see. The top was cropped short, showing the expanse of her flat stomach and her dark jeans were skintight and slung low on her hips. With smug self-assurance, she thought, how could Max resist a package like this?
They stood staring at each other, Max inside the house feeling awkward and uncomfortable, and Tess standing outside waiting to be invited in. He took in her appearance and quickly looked away with a deepening sense of discomfort. He was a guy after all, and here was a girl standing in front of him almost falling out of her clothes. Would she take offense if he asked her to put on a sweater?
“Um, come on in,” Max finally offered and stepped back to let her in.
“Thanks,” she smiled, but she was frowning on the inside. She wasn’t getting the reaction she wanted. He should be drooling by now, or at least staring at her chest unable to tear his eyes away, but he wasn’t even looking at her. She was starting to get irritated, and his attitude was making her feel unwanted.
“Well,” Max slid his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “Um . . . we can . . . I guess we can go back to my room.”
“Okay,” Tess replied, biting back her own tension. It should be easier than this. Max should have wanted her from the moment she arrived in Roswell. It was what she’d always been told. Instead, he acted like she was some kind of outcast, instead of one of his own kind.
Max stood there unmoving, not comfortable at all with her being here, not here in his house. He’d rather do this on the couch in the living room, or at the kitchen table, but his parents might return from Bitterlake at any time, and he couldn’t take the risk. “Um,” he finally muttered, “this way.”
Tess knew perfectly well where his room was. Did he think she was stupid? She followed along behind him and when he came to a sudden stop, she almost ran right into his back.
“Do you want something to drink?” Max asked, turning back to look at her. “Are you hungry?”
“No,” she answered, and Max nodded before heading off toward his bedroom again. Looking at his tense back, she wondered why he couldn’t accept his destiny. They were meant to be together. Nasedo said so. Things would fall into place once he gave up his earthly desires and accepted his alien side.
* * * * *
“So where’s Moondoggie?” Maria asked as she wiped off the counter. The Pod Squad booth stood empty on the far side of the restaurant and she was surprised Max wasn’t in his usual spot, wearing a hole in the seat with his butt.
“He’s with Tess,” Liz said with her hand on the milkshake machine. Her eyes darted to Maria, showing her discomfort, and then she went back to scrubbing the already immaculately clean piece of equipment.
Maria’s eyes narrowed, and then she spit out, “What’s he doing with her?”
She shot a look at Maria again, hastening to say, “They’re trying the-” her voice dropped conspiratorially, “the memory retrieval. They’re over at his house.”
“Do you think it’s going to work?” Maria asked, leaning closer to Liz so no one could overhear their conversation. The Crashdown was quiet at the moment, the lull before the dinner crowd hit, but they couldn’t take any chances.
Liz stared into Maria’s eyes and then softly, vulnerably, she said, “It has to work. The other option . . . this has to work, Maria.”
* * * * *
“So . . .” Max stood in the middle of his room, trying to look at anything except Tess. “How do you want to do this?”
“Let’s just get comfortable,” Tess suggested, “like we did the other day.” She climbed onto his bed and sat in the middle of it. He reluctantly joined her.
Sitting cross-legged, face to face, Max could no longer avoid looking at her. He couldn’t help but notice she didn’t wear a bra under her tank top and he wondered if she had dressed this way on purpose, to try to get a reaction out of him. Did she think sex was going to work on him? He’d have to be blind not to notice to the way she was jiggling and her nipples were poking through the thin material of her top, but if she thought that was going to entice him, then she didn’t know him very well. He wasn’t attracted to her. He felt no affinity toward her. He felt no connection to her at all.
Not like the connection he felt toward Liz from the first moment he saw her, on that playground back in grade school. He’d recognized her instantly, known that she was someone important in his life, someone he wanted to be with, needed to be with, and it was only his alien secret that had kept him away from her for so many years. It wasn’t just her body that he wanted. It was her. Liz. The essence of who she was. Everything that went together to make Liz Parker. Her body. Her mind. Her soul. All of it combined to make Liz the girl of his dreams.
Tess couldn’t be that. She could never be Liz.
“Relax, Max,” Tess smiled sweetly and raised her hands to cup his face. “Relax, and let your mind blank out, like we did the other day.”
“Okay,” he nodded, and closed his eyes.
He fought to dispel the image of her nearly exposed breasts from his mind, not wanting her to see that he had noticed. He tried to let his mind drift. Images of Liz in the eraser room flashed before him, her passion, her intensity, her love, and within moments his body answered to her calling with a sudden raging hard-on. This was what Liz did to him. No one else could ever make him feel this way. Just the thought of her was enough to make him tremble with desire, to fill him with uncontrollable need, to change him from the quiet, shy boy who stayed in the background into a man who wouldn’t let anything stand in the way of what he wanted.
“Wait a minute,” Max pulled away from Tess, not wanting her to see his thoughts of Liz. Somehow, he knew he needed to protect that. What he felt for Liz was private, only to be shared between the two of them.
Tess dropped her hands from his face and let her eyes wandered down his body. A knowing smile flashed across her face, which she tried to hide quickly. She’d been right to wear this outfit, after all. He was nearly bursting out of his pants, he wanted her so badly. What guy could resist a pair of tits like she had? He was probably dying to tear her top off and suck on them. She thought about suggesting it, or just lowering her top in unspoken consent, but then she decided to let him stew in his own juices for a while. Soon, he wouldn’t even think of Liz Parker anymore.
Max took a deep breath and pushed thoughts of Liz to the recesses of his mind where he could keep her safe. He needed to keep her hidden from Tess’s probing mind.
“Okay,” Max looked at Tess, ready to try again. He leaned forward and her hands rose to his face again, touching his temples gently. He closed his eyes, letting his mind drift, thinking of nothing and no one, opening his mind to let Tess in.
* * * * *
Liz glanced up at the clock on the wall, the green alien head clock with the huge black eyes, and noticed it was passed 7:00. She felt a stirring in the pit of her stomach, worry that Max hadn’t come by or called yet. Was he still with Tess? Were they still . . .?
“Hey Chica, didn’t you hear Michael?” Maria asked. “Table 7’s order is getting cold.” Liz jumped and Maria raised her eyebrows at her friend. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” Liz said quickly, but she couldn’t hide anything from Maria. They knew each other too well.
“Tell me what’s going on in that brain of yours,” Maria took Liz by the arm and led her over to the pass-through so they could talk with more privacy.
“It’s nothing,” Liz tried to cover but Maria wasn’t going to be fooled. She gave Liz the ‘Maria eye’ and Liz sighed, ready to spill. “It’s Max. I was hoping he’d call by now, or come by, but I guess . . . I guess he’s still with . . . Tess-”
Just then the bell rang as the front doors opened and there he was, striding through the doors with a smile lighting his face and his eyes glued to Liz. Relief flooded through her and she returned his smile, until she saw Tess walk in behind him, followed by Isabel bringing up the rear. The restaurant was full, but his booth was empty, as if it was waiting for him. He crossed over to it with his shadows following behind him. Max waited while Isabel and Tess slid into the booth side by side and then he sat across from them, the whole time his attention focused on Liz.
Isabel reached for the menu, trying to decide how hungry she was, and Tess stared at the sappy look on Max’s face, fuming inwardly. Soon, if everything worked correctly, he wouldn’t be looking at Liz that way anymore. Not after today’s session with him and the things she’d planted in his mind. Soon he’d be running away from Liz, not running to her. And once that happened, once she broke that hold Liz had on him, he’d be all hers. She could hardly wait to see it happen.
“Hi,” Liz sidled up to the end of the table with her order book in her hand. Her eyes were focused on Max, as his were on her. “Can I get you anything?”
“Just you,” Max smiled and his hand moved from the top of the table to touch the back of her leg, just below the short hem of her uniform. Liz couldn’t help the pink color that suffused her cheeks. When his hand rose a little higher she looked around to make sure no one was noticing, especially her dad. Looking up at her hopefully, he asked, “Can you sit down for a minute?”
After a quick glance around the room again, she nodded her head, “Just for a second. My dad went in the back room but he’ll be back in a minute.”
Max made room for her and as she slid in next to him, his hand brushed across her butt, caressing her for just a moment before letting it rise up to settle on her shoulder. He pulled her close, and after a quick look toward the back of the restaurant to make sure her father wasn’t around, he gave her a much needed kiss.
He didn’t notice the fire flaring in Tess’s eyes at their disgusting display of affection. How could he stand to touch a human like that?
“How’d it go?” Liz asked when their lips separated. His hand rose from her shoulder, up to thread his fingers through her hair until his hand was cupping the back of her head. They concentrated only on each other, staring raptly into each other’s eyes.
He kissed her again, because he just had to, and then with their faces just inches apart, he said, “Nothing yet.” He saw the disappointment flash through her eyes and he added softly, “Don’t worry about it. It’ll work. I’ll make sure it works. We knew it might take a little time.”
“I know.” She had faith in him. He’d waited all his life to learn the secrets of his existence. They couldn’t expect everything to just fall into his lap now. They had to be patient.
“Ahem . . .” Isabel cleared her throat. When Max and Liz looked at her curiously, she flicked her eyes toward the back of the restaurant. “Parent alert.”
Liz turned around just in time to see her father coming through the swinging door from the back, eyeing her in obvious disapproval. She was supposed to be working, not cuddling with her boyfriend. She rose to her feet quickly while Max raked his hand through his hair with a sigh. Damn. Busted.
“So,” Liz took out her pencil. “Anything to drink?”
Max moved to the edge of the seat so he could be close to her and said, “I’ll have the usual.”
Liz wrote it down with a knowing smile and then she turned to the girls. “Isabel?”
“I’ll have . . . an Aurora Berryalis smoothie.”
“Tess?”
“I’ll have the same thing Max is having.”
Liz looked up from her order pad, wondering if Tess even knew what Max’s ‘usual’ was. If she remembered right, she didn’t think Tess even liked cherry coke. This would be interesting. Tucking the order pad into her apron, Liz said cheerily, “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
She poured the sodas and mixed the smoothie, and then returned to the booth, setting down Max’s first, then Isabel’s and lastly, Tess’s. Max took a sip and smiled his thanks. Isabel stirred her smoothie with the straw and then sucked up a mouthful, enjoying the sweet taste. Tess took a drink and choked on the foul taste. She glared at the offending drink and then at Liz who was trying valiantly not to snicker.
“Anything to eat?” Liz asked, seeing that Isabel was still looking at the menu.
“The usual,” Max answered, again with that infectious grin of his.
“Martian Mudd Pie,” Isabel closed the menu and tucked it behind the napkin dispenser.
“Tess?” Liz turned her eyes to the blonde, wondering what she would say this time.
Tess shifted uncomfortably before answering, “I’m not hungry right now.”
“Okay,” Liz finished writing on her pad. “One Martian Mudd pie, and one order of Saturn rings, coming right up.” She smiled to herself as she walked toward the kitchen. Max had been ordering Saturn rings on Saturday nights for longer than she could remember, and it was obvious that Tess didn’t know that. It made her feel good that she knew Max so well, and Tess was clueless to the things he liked.
* * * * *
“Busy night?” Max walked up behind Liz as she turned the key to lock the front doors. His hands slipped around her waist and a moment later their bodies were pressing together, his front to her back. When the lock clicked into place she turned around, looking up into his handsome face.
“Very,” she nodded. Sometimes he seemed to just tower over her, and this was one of those times. She felt so warm and protected when he held her like this.
“You want my help cleaning up?” he asked, giving her that secretive smile of his. The sooner the restaurant was clean, the sooner he could meet her upstairs on her balcony and they could really be alone.
“What did you have in mind?” she arched her eyebrows. “Washing the floors? Cleaning the grill? Scrubbing the counters clean?”
“How about this?” Max lifted his hand and swept it across the room. Within seconds everything was sparkling clean.
“Max!” Liz’s mouth dropped open, still amazed by the things he could do. She darted a look toward the windows and exclaimed, “Someone will see!”
“All they’ll see is this,” Max focused on her lips and leaned down to take her in a long, loving kiss. His arms surrounded her and she sagged against him when the things he was doing made her knees weak. He’d wanted to kiss her like this all night, but when her dad was around, he was watching them like a hawk and making them uncomfortable. Now that they were alone, they both felt at ease.
“That was worth the wait,” Liz said breathlessly when their lips parted.
“Let’s go upstairs, so I can show you what else I’ve been waiting to do to you.”
“Max . . .” Liz blushed but didn’t push away from him.
“I’m sorry,” he nuzzled his lips next to her ear. “It’s just . . . when I’m near you . . . I just can’t help it.”
“My parents are still up,” Liz reminded him.
“I’ll be quiet,” Max kissed along her throat, smiling at the little moans he could hear. He was getting harder by the minute, listening to her sensual sounds. He wanted to bend her over right now and grind his body into hers. He wanted to lean her backwards onto his favorite table, tear her uniform open and ravish her until she screamed. He wanted to pound his body into hers, feeling her hot, slick walls stretching around him, quivering and throbbing when he took her to the places no one else ever could. He wanted to make love to her all night long, upstairs in her room, where she felt safe and secure.
“I can never be quiet, not when you touch me,” Liz sighed.
“Me either,” he groaned in pleasure when she pressed her body closer to his.
“We’ll have to though, until they go to sleep,” Liz warned.
“I can do that,” Max agreed. Her parents were old. Forty, forty five maybe. Old people went to sleep early.
“Meet me upstairs?” Her voice was full of desire.
“I’m there already,” he smiled back before closing his mouth over hers again. He kissed her long and hard with his arms crushing her to him, and then he pulled away. He waved his hand over the lock and stepped outside, watching her as she relocked it and they stared heatedly at each other through the glass. Pulling the key out slowly, she stuffed it in her uniform pocket with her tongue darting out to moisten her lips. That small, erotic movement caused the smoldering fire in him to blaze and he raced for the ladder. Liz too, turned on her heels, running for the stairs that would reunite them once again.
Her room, her refuge, was just at the top of those stairs, and she could sense that he was waiting for her there already.
Come back next Sunday for the next part.
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Aftermath Part 17
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: I think I should include this with each part since the feedback tells me some of you are forgetting the setup. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life.
The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? Tess is not trying to get into Max’s pants to force him to go back to Antar. Tess just wants in his pants!
Also, keep in mind that it’s only been just over a week since Max escaped from the white room.
Sophia observed in the last part that Tess likes cherry coke with lime. My bad. I should have done more research, but it was Tess and I didn’t want to! So, for the purposes of this story, Tess doesn’t like cherry coke. (The lime makes all the difference!)
Author note: Calm before the storm? Wow. It’s like you guys know me or something!
Aftermath
Part 17
Cloaked in night shadows Max could hear Liz’s voice coming from the hallway beyond her bedroom door. As the sound grew closer he hid against the brick wall so her parents wouldn’t see him if they followed Liz into her room. He thought he was pretty safe out here on the balcony but it sometimes seemed like Jeff Parker was more blood hound than human, able to sniff out any boy that was hanging around his daughter. He supposed if he and Liz ever had a little girl, he’d act the same way.
Whoa! Where’d that thought come from? A little girl? He and Liz? No, no, no! They were way too young to think thoughts like that. Besides, it would probably never work between them, with their cells being so different. Would she ever want to marry him, knowing they could never have kids? He had a feeling she would want them someday, and was it just selfish of him to deny her that?
Was there any possibility, for the two of them to have a family someday?
Not according to the things Pierce told him. On the outside he looked human. On the inside he was alien. He was certain it would never work between them. His cells were incompatible with hers. They could never have a family, but could Liz live with that? Would it be too much to ask her to spend a lifetime with him, knowing he could never give her that? Would she grow to resent him for all that she had to give up, just to be with him?
The bedroom door opened and within moments Liz was standing at the window, looking out into the dark trying to find him, and all his worries disappeared as soon as he saw her face. Thoughts of the future seemed so far away when they were still struggling just to survive high school.
“Max?” she whispered.
“Here,” he stepped out of the shadows and came to stand by the window. He crouched down to her level and asked, “Are your parents going to bed yet?”
“No,” Liz huffed. “My dad started watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show and he wants me to watch it with him!”
“What did you say?” Max was crestfallen.
“I told him no,” Liz smiled and Max’s face lit up. “I told him I was tired and he believed me.”
“Good,” Max beamed at her. He wasn’t ready to say goodnight yet.
“We have to be quiet though,” Liz warned. “If he hears you, I’ll be in big trouble.”
“Come outside then,” Max held out his hand to her. “They won’t hear us out here.”
Liz climbed through the window and Max pulled her to her feet. His lips were on hers instantly, before she even had a chance to stand up straight. His hands roamed over her back, needing to touch her. His body pressed against hers, needing to feel her. She kissed him back heartily and then gently pushed him back.
“I better get out of this uniform,” Liz said innocently.
“That’s an idea,” Max smiled and couldn’t help letting his eyes travel down her body.
“I mean,” Liz stuttered, “if my mom or dad comes in to talk to me, if I’m still wearing my uniform they might get suspicious.”
“Right,” Max agreed. He chewed at his lower lip and then said, slowly, hesitantly, as if she might rebuff him, “I’ll just, ah . . . help you.”
She stared up at him with the innocence of angels on her face, and the heat of the devil in her eyes. He moved his hands around her back to the ties of the silver apron. He tugged on one of the tails and the silver material pulled free, falling loosely around her hips before dropping to the ground.
She looked down at her dress and then up at his face, silently telling him to continue. He willingly complied with her request, bringing his hands forward to the snaps on the front of the dress. One by one, under the firm pressure of his hands, the snaps popped open, one after another. In no time at all, the dress was hanging loosely, open in the front. Max swallowed hard as his fingers pushed the fabric off her shoulders and the dress fell away to join the apron on the ground.
She stood before him now in only her panties and a bra, lacy white material that felt silky when he touched it. One hand rose up to cup that lace, feeling her nipple harden against his palm through the material, with his own answering hardness begging for attention. His left hand rested on the small of her back for a moment, then dipped lower, under the elastic of her panties, to cup the softness of her butt. God, she felt good.
“Max,” Liz cautioned. He could hear the warning in the tone of her voice. What if her parents came into her room and saw them like this. Liz nearly naked and Max with his hand down her underpants. Her father would pop a gasket.
“Take your bra off,” Max said heatedly into her ear.
“We can’t -”
“I just want to see you,” Max whispered.
She looked up at the heat in his eyes, shining brightly even though his face was in shadows. Seeing that raw desire, she knew she couldn’t refuse him. Self-consciously, her fingers went to the clasp on the front of her bra. She knew she didn’t have much to shout about and she hoped he wasn’t disappointed with her size. She was tiny, compared to others, like Isabel and . . . Tess.
He watched as her fingers deftly unclasped her bra and then slowly, she peeled it off her body and let it fall to the ground with her dress. She stood in front of him with her eyes downcast and after a moment of silence, her hands crossed over her chest to hide herself.
“Don’t,” he said softly, gently pushing her arms back down. “You’re beautiful Liz. You’re perfect.” He cupped an exposed breast, touching her reverently. “You’re so absolutely perfect.”
He lifted her chin and their lips came together, kissing gently while his hand explored her, slowly moving up and down her back, grazing along her side and then forward, up her ribs to cup the swell of her breast again. He rubbed his thumb lightly across her nipple, feeling it change, becoming harder, reacting to his touch. She sighed against his throat.
His lips moved down to her chin, then to her throat, and then down along her chest. Her breath hitched when she felt his tongue, hot and wet, touch her sensitized nipple. In no time at all, his mouth was covering her, sucking her nipple inside, swirling his tongue around her and Liz couldn’t contain her moans. His hand slid down the front of her panties.
“Max, no,” she protested. “We can’t do this . . .”
“No?” he mumbled. His lips rose up her throat again, open-mouthed kisses burning into her skin. His mouth took hers in a searing kiss, pushing his tongue between her lips while his fingers parted her lower ones.
“Max, what if we’re caught?” she moaned out. Her parents were right in the other room.
“We won’t get caught,” he mumbled against her mouth.
He couldn’t think straight. He wanted to rip his pants off and bury himself inside her. He wanted to feel her skin rubbing against his. He wanted to feel her nipples against his bare chest, and her thighs wrapped around his. He wanted to feel his cock slide into her wet heat, and he wanted to savor that incredible moment when the world would stop and his body would explode with the most pleasurable sensation the universe had ever known.
“God, Max,” Liz panted as he slipped a finger inside her.
“Touch me,” he begged against her mouth. “I need you to touch me,” he took her hand and pressed it against his stiff cock, so hard he was about to burst.
She cupped him though his jeans, feeling the hard length of him, hearing his breath hiss out of his mouth at the contact. He pulled his hand out of her panties and fumbled with his zipper, tearing it open so she could touch all of him. Her hand reached inside his boxers, circling his cock with her tight little fist.
“I need you,” he moved against her hand. He couldn’t help it. His body was screaming for her. His biological drives were drowning out the voice of caution in his head.
“I want –”
Her throaty whisper was cut off by a sudden loud knock at her bedroom door. Max and Liz clutched at each other, instantly switching from sexually aroused to frightened and panicked.
“Lizzie?” Jeff Parker called through his daughter’s door and then opened it a crack. “Lizzie? Are you decent?”
“Shit!” Max hissed, looking for somewhere to hide. She pushed him toward a dark corner of her balcony. He zipped up and leaned his head back against the brick wall, not knowing whether to scream or to cry.
With eyes as big as saucers, Liz bent over and grabbed her uniform from the floor, clutching it to her body. She scurried over to the window, poking her head inside, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. “Dad!” she shouted loudly. “I’m changing! Don’t come in here!”
“Sorry, honey,” Jeff pulled the door nearly closed. “I forgot to tell you something.”
Max watched Liz scramble into her bedroom and hurry to her dresser. She dropped her uniform to the floor and he groaned at the way the light in her room highlighted her body. Her skin glowed, rich and healthy, firm and slim, soft and supple, skin he craved to touch and taste. She pulled an oversized t-shirt out of her dresser drawer with the words West Roswell High Football in faded letters across the front causing a flare of jealousy. Did Kyle give her that shirt? Did she wear Kyle’s old football jersey to bed? Did Kyle know his shirt hugged her naked flesh when she slept? He knew he shouldn’t be jealous, it was just a damn shirt, but he couldn’t help it. Liz was his.
Her arms rose in the air as she pulled the shirt over her head and Max got his last look at her firm breasts before she was covered by the cotton material. She took a deep breath, looked at the window and motioned Max back into the shadows, and then opened her bedroom door. With his back against the wall again, Max listened to their conversation.
“What is it Dad?” Liz asked.
“I forgot to tell you we got a call from your uncle earlier this evening. Cousin Becky had her baby today. A girl. 7 lbs and 10 oz. We’re driving up to Albuquerque in the morning to visit.”
“Becky had her baby?” Liz said excitedly. “A girl?”
“Yep. Mother and daughter are doing fine,” Jeff smiled.
Frowning suddenly Liz said disappointedly, “But Dad, I’m scheduled to work tomorrow. I can’t go.”
“I knew you’d want to come and see the baby so I called Heather in to cover your shift,” Jeff patted her on the shoulder. “Now, you better hit the rack. We’re leaving early. It’s a three hour drive to Albuquerque.”
“Okay, Dad,” Liz smiled and he kissed her on the forehead.
“Goodnight Lizzie,” he smiled at her before turning to leave her room.
“G’night.”
Max stepped out of the shadows when he heard the bedroom door close and moved over to the window, crouching down beside it. He’d gotten his hormones to calm down while Liz talked to her father and he knew he should go. He’d been totally out of control, wanting to take her like that when her parents were so close, and he didn’t want to risk that happening again. One close call was enough.
“Did you hear?” she asked, poking her head out of the window.
“Yeah,” Max nodded. “I should go, so that you can get some sleep.”
“You don’t have-”
He silenced her with his fingertips touching her lips. “You need a good night’s sleep, so you can enjoy your trip.”
“But we –”
“There’s plenty of time for us later.”
“I’ll miss you,” Liz kissed his fingertips.
“I’ll miss you too, but I have to work all day anyway,” he reasoned. “When do you think you might get back?”
“I don’t know. When my dad and Uncle Bob start talking, they never stop.” She saw the disappointed look on his face and added, “I’ll call you when I get home.”
“Okay.”
He didn’t want to go, but he knew he should. Things had gotten too far out of control earlier, stripping Liz out of her clothes like that with her parents right in the other room. He didn’t regret doing it, but they had to be more careful. He had to. He couldn’t just attack Liz anytime the mood struck him, no matter how much he wanted her.
He leaned into her window and kissed her, holding back his passion to prevent things from getting out of hand again. Pulling back from her, he stroked his thumb over her cheek and said, “Goodnight, Liz.”
“Night,” she smiled at him radiantly.
He rose to his feet and crossed her balcony, forcing himself to go. He would have liked nothing better than to tumble into her bed with her, to make love to her all night long, but tonight was not the night. Their time would come; he just had to be patient. He swung his leg over the ladder and looked at her once more before climbing down.
On the drive home, he contemplated which one of his shirts he should give her to sleep in. A smile lit his face at the thought of her in olive green.
Come back next Sunday for the next part.
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: I think I should include this with each part since the feedback tells me some of you are forgetting the setup. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life.
The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? Tess is not trying to get into Max’s pants to force him to go back to Antar. Tess just wants in his pants!
Also, keep in mind that it’s only been just over a week since Max escaped from the white room.
Sophia observed in the last part that Tess likes cherry coke with lime. My bad. I should have done more research, but it was Tess and I didn’t want to! So, for the purposes of this story, Tess doesn’t like cherry coke. (The lime makes all the difference!)
Author note: Calm before the storm? Wow. It’s like you guys know me or something!
Aftermath
Part 17
Cloaked in night shadows Max could hear Liz’s voice coming from the hallway beyond her bedroom door. As the sound grew closer he hid against the brick wall so her parents wouldn’t see him if they followed Liz into her room. He thought he was pretty safe out here on the balcony but it sometimes seemed like Jeff Parker was more blood hound than human, able to sniff out any boy that was hanging around his daughter. He supposed if he and Liz ever had a little girl, he’d act the same way.
Whoa! Where’d that thought come from? A little girl? He and Liz? No, no, no! They were way too young to think thoughts like that. Besides, it would probably never work between them, with their cells being so different. Would she ever want to marry him, knowing they could never have kids? He had a feeling she would want them someday, and was it just selfish of him to deny her that?
Was there any possibility, for the two of them to have a family someday?
Not according to the things Pierce told him. On the outside he looked human. On the inside he was alien. He was certain it would never work between them. His cells were incompatible with hers. They could never have a family, but could Liz live with that? Would it be too much to ask her to spend a lifetime with him, knowing he could never give her that? Would she grow to resent him for all that she had to give up, just to be with him?
The bedroom door opened and within moments Liz was standing at the window, looking out into the dark trying to find him, and all his worries disappeared as soon as he saw her face. Thoughts of the future seemed so far away when they were still struggling just to survive high school.
“Max?” she whispered.
“Here,” he stepped out of the shadows and came to stand by the window. He crouched down to her level and asked, “Are your parents going to bed yet?”
“No,” Liz huffed. “My dad started watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show and he wants me to watch it with him!”
“What did you say?” Max was crestfallen.
“I told him no,” Liz smiled and Max’s face lit up. “I told him I was tired and he believed me.”
“Good,” Max beamed at her. He wasn’t ready to say goodnight yet.
“We have to be quiet though,” Liz warned. “If he hears you, I’ll be in big trouble.”
“Come outside then,” Max held out his hand to her. “They won’t hear us out here.”
Liz climbed through the window and Max pulled her to her feet. His lips were on hers instantly, before she even had a chance to stand up straight. His hands roamed over her back, needing to touch her. His body pressed against hers, needing to feel her. She kissed him back heartily and then gently pushed him back.
“I better get out of this uniform,” Liz said innocently.
“That’s an idea,” Max smiled and couldn’t help letting his eyes travel down her body.
“I mean,” Liz stuttered, “if my mom or dad comes in to talk to me, if I’m still wearing my uniform they might get suspicious.”
“Right,” Max agreed. He chewed at his lower lip and then said, slowly, hesitantly, as if she might rebuff him, “I’ll just, ah . . . help you.”
She stared up at him with the innocence of angels on her face, and the heat of the devil in her eyes. He moved his hands around her back to the ties of the silver apron. He tugged on one of the tails and the silver material pulled free, falling loosely around her hips before dropping to the ground.
She looked down at her dress and then up at his face, silently telling him to continue. He willingly complied with her request, bringing his hands forward to the snaps on the front of the dress. One by one, under the firm pressure of his hands, the snaps popped open, one after another. In no time at all, the dress was hanging loosely, open in the front. Max swallowed hard as his fingers pushed the fabric off her shoulders and the dress fell away to join the apron on the ground.
She stood before him now in only her panties and a bra, lacy white material that felt silky when he touched it. One hand rose up to cup that lace, feeling her nipple harden against his palm through the material, with his own answering hardness begging for attention. His left hand rested on the small of her back for a moment, then dipped lower, under the elastic of her panties, to cup the softness of her butt. God, she felt good.
“Max,” Liz cautioned. He could hear the warning in the tone of her voice. What if her parents came into her room and saw them like this. Liz nearly naked and Max with his hand down her underpants. Her father would pop a gasket.
“Take your bra off,” Max said heatedly into her ear.
“We can’t -”
“I just want to see you,” Max whispered.
She looked up at the heat in his eyes, shining brightly even though his face was in shadows. Seeing that raw desire, she knew she couldn’t refuse him. Self-consciously, her fingers went to the clasp on the front of her bra. She knew she didn’t have much to shout about and she hoped he wasn’t disappointed with her size. She was tiny, compared to others, like Isabel and . . . Tess.
He watched as her fingers deftly unclasped her bra and then slowly, she peeled it off her body and let it fall to the ground with her dress. She stood in front of him with her eyes downcast and after a moment of silence, her hands crossed over her chest to hide herself.
“Don’t,” he said softly, gently pushing her arms back down. “You’re beautiful Liz. You’re perfect.” He cupped an exposed breast, touching her reverently. “You’re so absolutely perfect.”
He lifted her chin and their lips came together, kissing gently while his hand explored her, slowly moving up and down her back, grazing along her side and then forward, up her ribs to cup the swell of her breast again. He rubbed his thumb lightly across her nipple, feeling it change, becoming harder, reacting to his touch. She sighed against his throat.
His lips moved down to her chin, then to her throat, and then down along her chest. Her breath hitched when she felt his tongue, hot and wet, touch her sensitized nipple. In no time at all, his mouth was covering her, sucking her nipple inside, swirling his tongue around her and Liz couldn’t contain her moans. His hand slid down the front of her panties.
“Max, no,” she protested. “We can’t do this . . .”
“No?” he mumbled. His lips rose up her throat again, open-mouthed kisses burning into her skin. His mouth took hers in a searing kiss, pushing his tongue between her lips while his fingers parted her lower ones.
“Max, what if we’re caught?” she moaned out. Her parents were right in the other room.
“We won’t get caught,” he mumbled against her mouth.
He couldn’t think straight. He wanted to rip his pants off and bury himself inside her. He wanted to feel her skin rubbing against his. He wanted to feel her nipples against his bare chest, and her thighs wrapped around his. He wanted to feel his cock slide into her wet heat, and he wanted to savor that incredible moment when the world would stop and his body would explode with the most pleasurable sensation the universe had ever known.
“God, Max,” Liz panted as he slipped a finger inside her.
“Touch me,” he begged against her mouth. “I need you to touch me,” he took her hand and pressed it against his stiff cock, so hard he was about to burst.
She cupped him though his jeans, feeling the hard length of him, hearing his breath hiss out of his mouth at the contact. He pulled his hand out of her panties and fumbled with his zipper, tearing it open so she could touch all of him. Her hand reached inside his boxers, circling his cock with her tight little fist.
“I need you,” he moved against her hand. He couldn’t help it. His body was screaming for her. His biological drives were drowning out the voice of caution in his head.
“I want –”
Her throaty whisper was cut off by a sudden loud knock at her bedroom door. Max and Liz clutched at each other, instantly switching from sexually aroused to frightened and panicked.
“Lizzie?” Jeff Parker called through his daughter’s door and then opened it a crack. “Lizzie? Are you decent?”
“Shit!” Max hissed, looking for somewhere to hide. She pushed him toward a dark corner of her balcony. He zipped up and leaned his head back against the brick wall, not knowing whether to scream or to cry.
With eyes as big as saucers, Liz bent over and grabbed her uniform from the floor, clutching it to her body. She scurried over to the window, poking her head inside, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. “Dad!” she shouted loudly. “I’m changing! Don’t come in here!”
“Sorry, honey,” Jeff pulled the door nearly closed. “I forgot to tell you something.”
Max watched Liz scramble into her bedroom and hurry to her dresser. She dropped her uniform to the floor and he groaned at the way the light in her room highlighted her body. Her skin glowed, rich and healthy, firm and slim, soft and supple, skin he craved to touch and taste. She pulled an oversized t-shirt out of her dresser drawer with the words West Roswell High Football in faded letters across the front causing a flare of jealousy. Did Kyle give her that shirt? Did she wear Kyle’s old football jersey to bed? Did Kyle know his shirt hugged her naked flesh when she slept? He knew he shouldn’t be jealous, it was just a damn shirt, but he couldn’t help it. Liz was his.
Her arms rose in the air as she pulled the shirt over her head and Max got his last look at her firm breasts before she was covered by the cotton material. She took a deep breath, looked at the window and motioned Max back into the shadows, and then opened her bedroom door. With his back against the wall again, Max listened to their conversation.
“What is it Dad?” Liz asked.
“I forgot to tell you we got a call from your uncle earlier this evening. Cousin Becky had her baby today. A girl. 7 lbs and 10 oz. We’re driving up to Albuquerque in the morning to visit.”
“Becky had her baby?” Liz said excitedly. “A girl?”
“Yep. Mother and daughter are doing fine,” Jeff smiled.
Frowning suddenly Liz said disappointedly, “But Dad, I’m scheduled to work tomorrow. I can’t go.”
“I knew you’d want to come and see the baby so I called Heather in to cover your shift,” Jeff patted her on the shoulder. “Now, you better hit the rack. We’re leaving early. It’s a three hour drive to Albuquerque.”
“Okay, Dad,” Liz smiled and he kissed her on the forehead.
“Goodnight Lizzie,” he smiled at her before turning to leave her room.
“G’night.”
Max stepped out of the shadows when he heard the bedroom door close and moved over to the window, crouching down beside it. He’d gotten his hormones to calm down while Liz talked to her father and he knew he should go. He’d been totally out of control, wanting to take her like that when her parents were so close, and he didn’t want to risk that happening again. One close call was enough.
“Did you hear?” she asked, poking her head out of the window.
“Yeah,” Max nodded. “I should go, so that you can get some sleep.”
“You don’t have-”
He silenced her with his fingertips touching her lips. “You need a good night’s sleep, so you can enjoy your trip.”
“But we –”
“There’s plenty of time for us later.”
“I’ll miss you,” Liz kissed his fingertips.
“I’ll miss you too, but I have to work all day anyway,” he reasoned. “When do you think you might get back?”
“I don’t know. When my dad and Uncle Bob start talking, they never stop.” She saw the disappointed look on his face and added, “I’ll call you when I get home.”
“Okay.”
He didn’t want to go, but he knew he should. Things had gotten too far out of control earlier, stripping Liz out of her clothes like that with her parents right in the other room. He didn’t regret doing it, but they had to be more careful. He had to. He couldn’t just attack Liz anytime the mood struck him, no matter how much he wanted her.
He leaned into her window and kissed her, holding back his passion to prevent things from getting out of hand again. Pulling back from her, he stroked his thumb over her cheek and said, “Goodnight, Liz.”
“Night,” she smiled at him radiantly.
He rose to his feet and crossed her balcony, forcing himself to go. He would have liked nothing better than to tumble into her bed with her, to make love to her all night long, but tonight was not the night. Their time would come; he just had to be patient. He swung his leg over the ladder and looked at her once more before climbing down.
On the drive home, he contemplated which one of his shirts he should give her to sleep in. A smile lit his face at the thought of her in olive green.
Come back next Sunday for the next part.
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Aftermath Part 18
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what?
Author note: Why is it that kids wait until the night before an assignment is due to actually start it? He hogged the computer all damn day and I haven’t been able to get near it. Grrrr.
Is there anyone out there interested in making a banner for me? If so, just PM me, or use my email addy on page 1 of this thread.
On to the story . . .
Aftermath
Part 18
The night was quiet and the room dark, with shuttered drapes holding back the moonlight. Max slept peacefully on his bed, with one leg sticking out of his covers and his hand resting on his naked chest.
The air filled his lungs in a slow, steady rhythm, until the dream began and his heart rate began to climb . . .
He entered his bedroom with rivulets of water running down his back from his wet hair. He paused for a moment when he caught sight of his reflection in the dresser mirror, noticing the pumped up muscles of his chest. He’d just spent an hour working out, lifting weights, doing pull ups in his doorway, doing crunches on the floor to keep his stomach muscles tight. He thought his physique looked pretty good, even if he did say so himself. He could tell Liz liked it, and that was all that really mattered anyway.
He wandered over to his CD player and fingered through a stack until he found the one he wanted. He hit the button and the tray slid out. He inserted the disk, listening to the sounds as Radiohead began to play. The unusual melody floated out from his speakers as he headed back toward his dresser to get a pair of boxers. It was a warm night and he decided that was all he needed. Maybe he’d even leave the window open a bit, to get some fresh air. Turning in that direction, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
He wasn’t alone.
“Liz?” he raised the window. She was standing there, on the ground outside his window with the moonlight shining on her hair. “What are you doing here?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” her eyes swept over his towel-clad body. “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” he said with a heady smile and held out his hand to help her. She took it gratefully.
Her foot caught on the sill causing her to fall against his chest. His large hands grabbed her, helping to steady her, none too eager to let her get away. With one hand pressing against his hard, bare pectoral muscles, she straightened and mumbled “Sorry.”
“Not a problem,” Max helped her regain her feet and continued to hold her until she pulled away. She began to wander around his room while he looked her up and down, noticing she was wearing only a tank top and a pair of shorts. Short shorts. Very short shorts. “What brought you over here at this time of night?”
“I wanted to see you,” Liz answered and turned to face him. He could see her nipples through the white material of her tank top and he could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra. Did she have any underwear on underneath her shorts? The bulge at the front of his towel was starting to stand out like a tent.
“Max, I know I said we should take things slow,” Liz let her eyes drop from his, slowly traveling down his chest and stomach and then stopping when her gaze reached the toweled area below his waist. “I, ah . . . after the, um . . . eraser room, well . . .maybe I don’t want to do that anymore.”
“Not . . . do it . . . anymore?” Max echoed disappointedly. She didn’t want to be with him anymore? Did he push her too hard? Did he expect too much out of her? Did he want more than she was willing to give? Was she rejecting him because he was . . . just too different?
“Right,” she nodded. “I don’t want to take things slow anymore.”
“Oh,” Max sighed in relief and dropped to sit on the end of his bed. Thank God. He thought she was breaking up with him, but it was the opposite. She wanted to deepen their relationship. Good. So did he.
“Max,” she knelt in front of him with her hands on his towel-covered thighs. “I think we should be together. Completely. Your life is crazy, yes, and we don’t know what the future holds, but I know I want my future to be with you.”
“Liz,” he smiled, happy beyond words. He raised his hand to cup her face. “I want that too.”
He leaned toward her and she stretched up to reach him, with their lips meeting in the middle. The tent in his towel was once more standing tall. His legs spread apart as she wiggled between them and the movement caused the towel to dislodge, leaving his nudity exposed. Their kiss broke off and she looked down, just in time to see him trying to cover himself, but that was easier said than done. His erection was standing too proud.
“Don’t,” she pushed his hand away. She wanted to see him.
He sat still, watching her face as she stared at him. Was she going to touch him? God, he wanted her to touch him. Ever since their night in the van, every time they tried to be together, everything was always so rushed. All they’d had were stolen moments in the eraser room and groping in the back seat of his jeep or on her balcony, always interrupted.
But this time they were alone in his room and his parents were gone and Isabel was gone and no one was around to stop things once they got started. He held his breath, waiting to see what she would do.
Her hand rose up the inside of his thigh, moving so slowly he thought he would lose his mind. When she finally touched him his whole body sighed. Her small fingers circled around his engorged flesh and he couldn’t help the groan that rumbled in his throat. Yes . . . yes, he thought, touch me there . . . oh God . . . touch me right there . . .
“Max . . .” Liz said in wonder as her hand closed around him. “You’re so . . . your skin is so soft, but you’re so hard . . .”
“You do that to me, Liz,” he sighed.
Her hand began to move up and down his length and his eyes closed in ecstasy. He could feel drops of fluid leaking from his tip he was so excited, he couldn’t contain the groans of pleasure escaping from his throat. Her fingers stimulated the rim of his cock, the way he had shown her once before, and he knew he wouldn’t last long. She was inexperienced, but so was he, and they were learning this together.
He felt her shift between his legs and then the air rushed out of his lungs when something warm and wet touched the head of his cock. His eyes popped open and he looked down, just in time to see her tongue sweep around the rim. She looked up at him and he could see the uncertainty in her eyes, wondering if she was doing this right. He didn’t know either, but the feeling was incredible. He thought he was about to black out from a pleasure overload and then her mouth closed around him and he felt himself slide into heaven.
“God, Liz,” he said heatedly.
Her long hair tickled his thighs and danced over his balls as she bobbed her head up and down, taking him deep into her mouth and then rising to the tip again. His groans of pleasure filled the air while his hips moved upward to meet her mouth. He couldn’t help it. It was a natural response.
“Liz . . .”
His eyes closed again, feeling his orgasm approaching rapidly. She was doing the most amazing things to him. She must be a fast learner, he thought as her small hand cupped his balls and her fingers pressed on a particularly sensitive spot. His balls tightened under her expert ministrations. His ragged breath was forced past the groans deep in his throat. His pounding heart beat furiously in his chest while her mouth sucked him in the most delicious ways.
He whimpered, almost ready to explode, and tried to pull her off so he wouldn’t come in her mouth. His hands threaded into her hair, but it wasn’t long, or straight, or dark anymore. His eyes popped open feeling the curls between his fingers, blonde curls, and his mouth opened in horror.
“Tess!”
Max bolted out of his dream shouting, “FUCK!”
His erection shrank faster than a popped balloon. He kicked off his covers and jumped from the bed, cursing as he paced back and forth beside it.
“God damnit!”
Twice! Twice now he’d dreamed of loving Liz, only to have her morph into Tess at the end. Why was that happening? Did it have anything to do with the message they’d heard in the cave? Was his mind trying to tell him something? No! He refused to accept it. Nothing and no one was going to force him to be with Tess.
But why was he having these dreams? Tonight’s started out just as he would expect the real thing to be with Liz. She was hesitant and unsure and her inexperience showed, just like his did, and then at the end he’d felt the change, her hands suddenly knew exactly where to touch and her mouth sucked him like a pro, and he realized that must have been the moment she changed into Tess.
Fuck! A shudder of revulsion coursed through his body and he felt sick. Why would he dream of Tess doing that to him? He felt dirty and unclean and like he’d just betrayed Liz. God damnit! Why was this happening?
A sudden thought occurred to him and it made his blood run cold. Could it . . . was it possible . . . could she . . .? He took a quick stride toward his bedroom door and then turned around, moving quickly over to his dresser. He pulled on an oversized t-shirt and then wrenched his door open and marched into the hall.
* * * * *
Tess popped open her eyes and pulled in a deep breath. She took a moment to steady her heart rate before closing the cover on the Roswell yearbook, with thoughts of Max filling her mind. His dreams showed his inexperience, but she could teach him everything he needed to know. They were meant to be together, and through his dreams she was going to show him glimpses of what was waiting for him when he finally opened his eyes.
She could give him the kind of sex boys like him couldn’t even dream of. Alien sex, something these primitives couldn’t even imagine.
It was just a matter of time before Max woke up and realized what he was missing.
* * * * *
“Iz,” Max whispered sharply as he entered her room. “Iz . . . Isabel . . .”
He walked softly over to her bed, keeping the noise down so he wouldn’t wake their parents. When he reached the side of her bed he shook her shoulder to rouse her from sleep. “Iz . . . Isabel . . . Isabel!”
“What?” her eyes popped open, unfocused and confused. She clutched the blanket to her chest and lifted her head from the pillow before focusing on her brother’s face, hovering over her in the dark. “Max? What’s going on?”
“Shhhh,” he cautioned.
“What time is it?” she looked from his shadowed features to the lighted clock on her nightstand. 2:40? 2:40 in the morning? What the hell was he doing waking her up at 2:40 in the morning? What in God’s name was wrong with him? Was something wrong? Oh shit! Something was wrong! She sat up and turned on her bedside lamp.
“What? What is it!”
His eyes blinked in the sudden light. He began to pace by the side of her bed, just as he had in his own room a few minutes before. He raked his hand through his hair showing Isabel just how agitated he really was.
“Max,” she hissed, trying to get his attention. “What’s the matter?”
He stopped suddenly and stared down at her, asking bluntly, “Did you teach Tess to dreamwalk?”
“What?” she frowned at him. Why did he have to wake her up in the dead of night to ask her that?
“Isabel, did you teach Tess to dreamwalk?” he demanded.
She could see the anger in his eyes and she wondered what this was all about. The shroud of sleep began to lift from her mind and understanding seeped in. Had something happened in his dreams?
“Isabel-”
“No,” she hastily replied before he gave himself a stroke. “We tried, when she was here the other night, but it didn’t work. Just like it never worked when I tried to teach you and Michael.”
“It didn’t?” he said uncertainly, with the anger fading out of his eyes.
“No, it didn’t,” she shook her head. “I could bring her into a dream, just like I can do with you and Michael, but she couldn’t stay there on her own. We tried it several times, but each time I pulled out of a dream, she came out of it too. And she said she couldn’t initiate one on her own.”
“Are you sure?” His tone was different now, upset instead of angry.
“What happened, Max?” Isabel asked with concern. Something was upsetting him.
“Nothing,” Max stopped his pacing and rubbed his hand over his face. So it wasn’t something Tess was doing to him. Damn. In a way, even though the idea of Tess dreamwalking him was infuriating, at least it meant he wasn’t responsible for the dream. But now, if Tess had nothing to do with it, then he was causing it, something psychological inside him causing the image of Liz to shift into Tess.
Why? Why would he do that, and what did it mean?
Come back next Sunday for the next part
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what?
Author note: Why is it that kids wait until the night before an assignment is due to actually start it? He hogged the computer all damn day and I haven’t been able to get near it. Grrrr.
Is there anyone out there interested in making a banner for me? If so, just PM me, or use my email addy on page 1 of this thread.
On to the story . . .
Aftermath
Part 18
The night was quiet and the room dark, with shuttered drapes holding back the moonlight. Max slept peacefully on his bed, with one leg sticking out of his covers and his hand resting on his naked chest.
The air filled his lungs in a slow, steady rhythm, until the dream began and his heart rate began to climb . . .
He entered his bedroom with rivulets of water running down his back from his wet hair. He paused for a moment when he caught sight of his reflection in the dresser mirror, noticing the pumped up muscles of his chest. He’d just spent an hour working out, lifting weights, doing pull ups in his doorway, doing crunches on the floor to keep his stomach muscles tight. He thought his physique looked pretty good, even if he did say so himself. He could tell Liz liked it, and that was all that really mattered anyway.
He wandered over to his CD player and fingered through a stack until he found the one he wanted. He hit the button and the tray slid out. He inserted the disk, listening to the sounds as Radiohead began to play. The unusual melody floated out from his speakers as he headed back toward his dresser to get a pair of boxers. It was a warm night and he decided that was all he needed. Maybe he’d even leave the window open a bit, to get some fresh air. Turning in that direction, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks.
He wasn’t alone.
“Liz?” he raised the window. She was standing there, on the ground outside his window with the moonlight shining on her hair. “What are you doing here?”
“I couldn’t sleep,” her eyes swept over his towel-clad body. “Can I come in?”
“Sure,” he said with a heady smile and held out his hand to help her. She took it gratefully.
Her foot caught on the sill causing her to fall against his chest. His large hands grabbed her, helping to steady her, none too eager to let her get away. With one hand pressing against his hard, bare pectoral muscles, she straightened and mumbled “Sorry.”
“Not a problem,” Max helped her regain her feet and continued to hold her until she pulled away. She began to wander around his room while he looked her up and down, noticing she was wearing only a tank top and a pair of shorts. Short shorts. Very short shorts. “What brought you over here at this time of night?”
“I wanted to see you,” Liz answered and turned to face him. He could see her nipples through the white material of her tank top and he could tell she wasn’t wearing a bra. Did she have any underwear on underneath her shorts? The bulge at the front of his towel was starting to stand out like a tent.
“Max, I know I said we should take things slow,” Liz let her eyes drop from his, slowly traveling down his chest and stomach and then stopping when her gaze reached the toweled area below his waist. “I, ah . . . after the, um . . . eraser room, well . . .maybe I don’t want to do that anymore.”
“Not . . . do it . . . anymore?” Max echoed disappointedly. She didn’t want to be with him anymore? Did he push her too hard? Did he expect too much out of her? Did he want more than she was willing to give? Was she rejecting him because he was . . . just too different?
“Right,” she nodded. “I don’t want to take things slow anymore.”
“Oh,” Max sighed in relief and dropped to sit on the end of his bed. Thank God. He thought she was breaking up with him, but it was the opposite. She wanted to deepen their relationship. Good. So did he.
“Max,” she knelt in front of him with her hands on his towel-covered thighs. “I think we should be together. Completely. Your life is crazy, yes, and we don’t know what the future holds, but I know I want my future to be with you.”
“Liz,” he smiled, happy beyond words. He raised his hand to cup her face. “I want that too.”
He leaned toward her and she stretched up to reach him, with their lips meeting in the middle. The tent in his towel was once more standing tall. His legs spread apart as she wiggled between them and the movement caused the towel to dislodge, leaving his nudity exposed. Their kiss broke off and she looked down, just in time to see him trying to cover himself, but that was easier said than done. His erection was standing too proud.
“Don’t,” she pushed his hand away. She wanted to see him.
He sat still, watching her face as she stared at him. Was she going to touch him? God, he wanted her to touch him. Ever since their night in the van, every time they tried to be together, everything was always so rushed. All they’d had were stolen moments in the eraser room and groping in the back seat of his jeep or on her balcony, always interrupted.
But this time they were alone in his room and his parents were gone and Isabel was gone and no one was around to stop things once they got started. He held his breath, waiting to see what she would do.
Her hand rose up the inside of his thigh, moving so slowly he thought he would lose his mind. When she finally touched him his whole body sighed. Her small fingers circled around his engorged flesh and he couldn’t help the groan that rumbled in his throat. Yes . . . yes, he thought, touch me there . . . oh God . . . touch me right there . . .
“Max . . .” Liz said in wonder as her hand closed around him. “You’re so . . . your skin is so soft, but you’re so hard . . .”
“You do that to me, Liz,” he sighed.
Her hand began to move up and down his length and his eyes closed in ecstasy. He could feel drops of fluid leaking from his tip he was so excited, he couldn’t contain the groans of pleasure escaping from his throat. Her fingers stimulated the rim of his cock, the way he had shown her once before, and he knew he wouldn’t last long. She was inexperienced, but so was he, and they were learning this together.
He felt her shift between his legs and then the air rushed out of his lungs when something warm and wet touched the head of his cock. His eyes popped open and he looked down, just in time to see her tongue sweep around the rim. She looked up at him and he could see the uncertainty in her eyes, wondering if she was doing this right. He didn’t know either, but the feeling was incredible. He thought he was about to black out from a pleasure overload and then her mouth closed around him and he felt himself slide into heaven.
“God, Liz,” he said heatedly.
Her long hair tickled his thighs and danced over his balls as she bobbed her head up and down, taking him deep into her mouth and then rising to the tip again. His groans of pleasure filled the air while his hips moved upward to meet her mouth. He couldn’t help it. It was a natural response.
“Liz . . .”
His eyes closed again, feeling his orgasm approaching rapidly. She was doing the most amazing things to him. She must be a fast learner, he thought as her small hand cupped his balls and her fingers pressed on a particularly sensitive spot. His balls tightened under her expert ministrations. His ragged breath was forced past the groans deep in his throat. His pounding heart beat furiously in his chest while her mouth sucked him in the most delicious ways.
He whimpered, almost ready to explode, and tried to pull her off so he wouldn’t come in her mouth. His hands threaded into her hair, but it wasn’t long, or straight, or dark anymore. His eyes popped open feeling the curls between his fingers, blonde curls, and his mouth opened in horror.
“Tess!”
Max bolted out of his dream shouting, “FUCK!”
His erection shrank faster than a popped balloon. He kicked off his covers and jumped from the bed, cursing as he paced back and forth beside it.
“God damnit!”
Twice! Twice now he’d dreamed of loving Liz, only to have her morph into Tess at the end. Why was that happening? Did it have anything to do with the message they’d heard in the cave? Was his mind trying to tell him something? No! He refused to accept it. Nothing and no one was going to force him to be with Tess.
But why was he having these dreams? Tonight’s started out just as he would expect the real thing to be with Liz. She was hesitant and unsure and her inexperience showed, just like his did, and then at the end he’d felt the change, her hands suddenly knew exactly where to touch and her mouth sucked him like a pro, and he realized that must have been the moment she changed into Tess.
Fuck! A shudder of revulsion coursed through his body and he felt sick. Why would he dream of Tess doing that to him? He felt dirty and unclean and like he’d just betrayed Liz. God damnit! Why was this happening?
A sudden thought occurred to him and it made his blood run cold. Could it . . . was it possible . . . could she . . .? He took a quick stride toward his bedroom door and then turned around, moving quickly over to his dresser. He pulled on an oversized t-shirt and then wrenched his door open and marched into the hall.
* * * * *
Tess popped open her eyes and pulled in a deep breath. She took a moment to steady her heart rate before closing the cover on the Roswell yearbook, with thoughts of Max filling her mind. His dreams showed his inexperience, but she could teach him everything he needed to know. They were meant to be together, and through his dreams she was going to show him glimpses of what was waiting for him when he finally opened his eyes.
She could give him the kind of sex boys like him couldn’t even dream of. Alien sex, something these primitives couldn’t even imagine.
It was just a matter of time before Max woke up and realized what he was missing.
* * * * *
“Iz,” Max whispered sharply as he entered her room. “Iz . . . Isabel . . .”
He walked softly over to her bed, keeping the noise down so he wouldn’t wake their parents. When he reached the side of her bed he shook her shoulder to rouse her from sleep. “Iz . . . Isabel . . . Isabel!”
“What?” her eyes popped open, unfocused and confused. She clutched the blanket to her chest and lifted her head from the pillow before focusing on her brother’s face, hovering over her in the dark. “Max? What’s going on?”
“Shhhh,” he cautioned.
“What time is it?” she looked from his shadowed features to the lighted clock on her nightstand. 2:40? 2:40 in the morning? What the hell was he doing waking her up at 2:40 in the morning? What in God’s name was wrong with him? Was something wrong? Oh shit! Something was wrong! She sat up and turned on her bedside lamp.
“What? What is it!”
His eyes blinked in the sudden light. He began to pace by the side of her bed, just as he had in his own room a few minutes before. He raked his hand through his hair showing Isabel just how agitated he really was.
“Max,” she hissed, trying to get his attention. “What’s the matter?”
He stopped suddenly and stared down at her, asking bluntly, “Did you teach Tess to dreamwalk?”
“What?” she frowned at him. Why did he have to wake her up in the dead of night to ask her that?
“Isabel, did you teach Tess to dreamwalk?” he demanded.
She could see the anger in his eyes and she wondered what this was all about. The shroud of sleep began to lift from her mind and understanding seeped in. Had something happened in his dreams?
“Isabel-”
“No,” she hastily replied before he gave himself a stroke. “We tried, when she was here the other night, but it didn’t work. Just like it never worked when I tried to teach you and Michael.”
“It didn’t?” he said uncertainly, with the anger fading out of his eyes.
“No, it didn’t,” she shook her head. “I could bring her into a dream, just like I can do with you and Michael, but she couldn’t stay there on her own. We tried it several times, but each time I pulled out of a dream, she came out of it too. And she said she couldn’t initiate one on her own.”
“Are you sure?” His tone was different now, upset instead of angry.
“What happened, Max?” Isabel asked with concern. Something was upsetting him.
“Nothing,” Max stopped his pacing and rubbed his hand over his face. So it wasn’t something Tess was doing to him. Damn. In a way, even though the idea of Tess dreamwalking him was infuriating, at least it meant he wasn’t responsible for the dream. But now, if Tess had nothing to do with it, then he was causing it, something psychological inside him causing the image of Liz to shift into Tess.
Why? Why would he do that, and what did it mean?
Come back next Sunday for the next part
-
Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 19
Max left the UFO Center at precisely 6:00 o'clock when his shift ended. He stood on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, staring at the Crashdown across the street, wondering if Liz was home yet. Probably not, he decided, it was too early for her to get back yet, but he’d go over there anyway, just to make sure. His jeep was still parked behind the UFO Center and he decided to leave it there.
He ran across the street, dodging traffic and pulled open the doors to the restaurant, hoping that he’d see her smiling face, but not surprised when he didn’t. Spying Maria behind the counter, he walked that way and sat on one of the stools.
“Hey,” he smiled when she turned her head in his direction.
“Hey Max,” she smiled back and moved closer. She leaned against the counter and flicked teasingly at his little yellow vest. “Just get off work?”
“Yeah,” he smiled bashfully at her dig. His UFO uniform was lame, but who was she to talk? Did she expect anyone to take her seriously when she had fake antennas bouncing around on her head?
“Is Liz back yet?"
“Nope,” she answered. “Sorry. You’ll just have to settle for me.”
“I could do worse,” he teased.
“You certainly could,” her eyes narrowed.
She was staring at the door and when he heard the bell, he turned on the stool to see who she was looking at. He felt his blood run cold when he saw the curly blonde hair and ice blue eyes. The dream from last night flashed across his mind and creeped him out and he silently prayed he never had another dream like that again, not one where she was in it.
“Hi Max,” Tess smiled sweetly and moved in his direction.
“Hey,” he acknowledged her and then his eyes shifted to her companion. “Hey Kyle.”
“Evans,” Kyle nodded. He wasn’t sure why he was here, but when they were passing by on the street, Tess suggested they stop by so he shrugged and agreed. If he’d known Evans was in here, he might have said no. He was still harboring resentment toward him, for stealing his girlfriend and making him look like a fool in front of the guys. And then he was still trying to process all that alien shit.
Taking a seat at the counter next to Tess, he had to admit he was jealous of Evans. Liz had dumped him for that asshole alien, and now Tess looked like she was throwing herself at him too. When had Max Evans turned into hot shit? He was always just there before, someone who faded into the background and nobody really noticed. Why were the hottest girls after his scrawny ass now?
Shaking off his negative thoughts, Kyle reminded himself that Evans had saved his life, even if in the process he’d turned it upside down. Deep down, he knew he actually liked the guy, if he’d just keep his fucking hands off his girls. Okay, he’d let Max have Liz. For some god only knows reason, she liked him, but he couldn’t have them both. If Max wanted Liz, and that was pretty obvious after Friday in the eraser room, then he couldn’t have Tess too.
“Kyle,” Maria’s voice broke into his thoughts. “What would you like?”
“World peace?” he contemplated.
“Besides that,” she smirked.
“How about an Alien Invasion?” he smiled.
“What do you mean by that?” Tess shot him a harsh look.
“An Alien Invasion,” Kyle pointed at the menu. She read the words above his finger and visibly relaxed. It was just a milkshake flavor.
Kyle eyed her for a minute, wondering if she was on the rag or something. Aliens could sure be touchy sometimes.
“So Max,” Tess reached over and touched him on the arm. “Should we go back to your place and try again?”
Max pulled his arm back, uncomfortable with her over familiarity and tried to make it look like he was just reaching for a French fry on his plate. He didn’t want to embarrass her, but he didn’t want to encourage her by letting her invade his space. She didn’t seem to get the hint though. She moved her hand from his lower arm to his bicep and squeezed. Max looked over at Maria to see if she’d noticed. She had.
Deliberately removing her hand from his arm, Max said, “Not tonight. I’m waiting for Liz to get back from Albuquerque.”
“Albuquerque?” Kyle said, coming back to the counter from the bathroom. “Why’d Liz go to Albuquerque?”
“You know her cousin Becky?” Maria interjected before Max could reply. “She had her baby. She’s been trying for like five years and it finally happened for her. Liz was really excited.”
“Oh,” Kyle said. Girls got so weird about babies.
“Five years?” Max said and Maria nodded. “That’s a long time.”
“I know,” Maria agreed. “Liz said Becky had almost given up. She wanted kids so bad, I’m glad it finally worked out for her.”
Max dropped his eyes to his plate, not really seeing the food there. Becky wasn’t the only one in the Parker family who wanted kids. He knew Liz wanted them someday too, even if she wouldn’t admit it to him. Was he just being unfair, wanting her all to himself, knowing he could never give her the things she really wanted? How much could he ask her to give up, just to be with him?
Tess watched Max from the corner of her eye. Based on the conversation, she could guess what his thoughts were. After all, she’d planted those doubts in him yesterday during their ‘memory retrieval’ session. She’d seen his insecurities and spent their time together bringing them to the forefront of his consciousness. Whether he could or couldn’t get Liz pregnant someday was beside the point. He thought he couldn’t, and that’s all that mattered. She sat beside him, confident she was driving a wedge between them, without them even knowing it.
* * * * *
“Max,” Maria tapped him on the arm. “We’re closing now.”
“What?” Max raised his head, roused from his thoughts. He looked around the restaurant and saw that he was the only customer left. He glanced down at his wristwatch to check the time and then frowned.
Seeing him looking around again, Maria answered his unasked question. “No, she’s not back yet.”
Max shrugged his shoulders trying not to show his disappointment, but he couldn’t hide from Maria.
“She’ll be home soon. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” Max said, meeting her eyes.
“Of course you’re not,” Maria agreed, knowing better. These aliens could be so stupid sometimes. “Look, I have to lock up down here, so why don’t you just go upstairs and wait for Liz there? She has school tomorrow, I’m sure she won’t be much longer.”
“You think I should?” Max asked.
“Either go upstairs and wait for her, or go home,” Maria gave him his two choices.
“I’ll go upstairs,” Max decided and Maria smiled at him. She never had a doubt in her mind what his choice would be.
He headed for the back room and the stairs that would take him up to Liz’s apartment. Maria watched him with a sympathetic eye, and when he reached the door she called out, “Goodnight Max. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”
“Goodnight Maria,” he turned and smiled right back at her. After all those years of hiding their secret, he was glad Maria knew now. It was nice to be able to have friends to talk to, to rely on, to count on. Maria might be a lot of things, and she and Michael might be having problems, but she was trustworthy, and loyal, and Max loved her like a sister. In a soft voice, he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
* * * * *
Max stared up at the stars from the lounger on Liz’s balcony, wondering when she would get home. He knew he should go. It was late, and his parents would probably be pissed that he wasn’t home yet. Tomorrow was the first day of the last week of school, and he had that English paper due on Tuesday that he hadn’t finished yet.
Still, if it was a choice of waiting here for Liz, or working on homework, well, was there really any choice at all? He stared up at the sky, wondering for the millionth time if one of those stars was from where he came from. What was it like there? Did they look like him, or were they . . . different?
Underneath this human exterior, just how alien was he?
Pierce had said his x-rays showed him to be human. Bones, muscle, vital organs, all human. But his cell structure was alien. As much as he wanted to be, he could never be human. But what of that alien side? What kinds of secrets were hidden there? So far, they knew almost nothing of their alien origins. The message in the cave said it was up to them – to him – to save their entire race, but they were no closer to the answers to how to accomplish that than on the day he first heard that shocking message.
It was easier not to think about it at all, than to live day in and day out with that kind of knowledge weighing on his shoulders. He couldn’t – wouldn’t – submit to what the message in the cave said. Tess was not his destiny. He refused to believe it. Liz was. He had always known it, from the first moment he saw her. He’d waited his whole life to be with her, and now that he was, he wasn’t going to give her up. He’d die first.
Lying on his back in the dark, he found his eyelids growing heavy. Maybe he’d just rest for a few minutes, waiting for Liz to get home. It’d been a long day, and he’d had a restless night the night before and closing his eyes for a few minutes would feel so good.
As he drifted off to sleep, his thoughts were of Liz, wondering when she would get home, until the nightmares began . . .
“You finally told me the truth about where you hid it,” Pierce stood next to Max, staring down at the orbs in his hands. “Now make them work.”
“I can’t,” Max said in desperation.
“Do it!” Pierce shouted in his face.
“I’m telling you the truth now, too,” Max whispered.
“Make them work,” Pierce’s cruel voice held the promise of more torture to come. “Make the orbs work.”
Trembling in fear, his eyes filled with tears as he cried, “Why won’t you believe me? I don’t know how.”
Pierce didn’t bother to hide the anger and hate on his face as he stepped back from the table. His voice was cold, chilling, lacking any human warmth when he said, “Let’s begin.”
Technicians swarmed the room with an array of surgical equipment and Max’s eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t take anymore of this. Please, dear God, he couldn’t survive the horrors.
“I can take you apart piece by piece, and make sure that you stay conscious enough to feel every second of it.”
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” Max begged. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
“Bring in the surgeon.”
Panic swept over Max but a part of him had already accepted his own death. Pierce would never let him leave here. The cold sound of heels clicking on the tile floors sent tendrils of fear up his back and he knew he was breathing his final breaths. His blood ran cold at the sight of a hand, small and delicate, reaching for the scalpel on the metal tray. The arm was shrouded in white cloth, a lab coat, the type worn by scientists when they experimented on animals. That’s all he was now, an animal to be experimented on, and if he died, so what? After all, he wasn’t human.
Her hand picked up the scalpel with the overhead light glinting off the blade. Her? How did he know it was a her? Her hand was so small; it couldn’t belong to a man. It was a woman who was about to flay him open like a piece of meat. Somehow that seemed even worse, that a woman could act so heartless, so cold, so savagely.
“Tell me what I want to know!” Pierce demanded with his eyes burning madly.
“I’m telling you the truth,” Max cried. “I don’t know anything.”
“Open him up!” Pierce hissed in a rage.
This was it. Max’s mind began to shut down. They were going to cut him open to try to find out how he ticked. He watched the small hand lift the blade and press it against his chest. He wasn’t ready for the pain that knifed through him as the blade cut into his flesh, through the muscle, cutting down to the bone. He screamed from the pain, arching up against his restraints as his eyes moved up the offending arm of his torturer. He could feel his skin peeling apart, separating as the blade cut from his breastbone, down toward his navel. Through the shock and the pain he looked up to see who could be so inhuman to do this to him.
As his eyes reached her face his scream died in his throat, and his heart and his soul died with it.
No. Oh God, no. It couldn’t be her. She couldn’t do this to him. She could never do this to him, to anyone.
No . . .
Max bolted out of his dream, an occurrence that was becoming all too familiar. His scream echoed in the air all around him matching the violent beat of his heart pounding in his chest. He covered his face with his hands, knowing this was the worst one yet. Why? Why wouldn’t these dreams go away? Pierce was dead. He couldn't hurt him anymore. He wasn’t in the White Room. He wasn’t tied down to a table anymore, subjected to whatever those monsters wanted to do to him.
So why couldn’t he forget it? Why did it still haunt him? Why did the dreams seem so real, when he knew they couldn’t be? It wasn’t possible. She hadn’t done those things to him . . . had she?
A light switched on in the bedroom suddenly and Max shot to his feet. Liz was home. She’d finally made it back from Albuquerque, but instead of hurrying toward her, he backed away. He couldn’t let her see him. Not right now. Not until he’d had time to think.
His hand was shaking as he reached for the handrail of the ladder. He kept telling himself that the last part of his dream hadn’t been real, that it hadn’t been her, but reality and dream were all mixing together in his mind. Trying to rationalize it, he told himself he just needed to go home, and tomorrow things would seem different. Tomorrow things would feel better.
Tomorrow, in the light of day, the face of his torturer wouldn’t look like Liz.
TBC next Sunday
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 19
Max left the UFO Center at precisely 6:00 o'clock when his shift ended. He stood on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets, staring at the Crashdown across the street, wondering if Liz was home yet. Probably not, he decided, it was too early for her to get back yet, but he’d go over there anyway, just to make sure. His jeep was still parked behind the UFO Center and he decided to leave it there.
He ran across the street, dodging traffic and pulled open the doors to the restaurant, hoping that he’d see her smiling face, but not surprised when he didn’t. Spying Maria behind the counter, he walked that way and sat on one of the stools.
“Hey,” he smiled when she turned her head in his direction.
“Hey Max,” she smiled back and moved closer. She leaned against the counter and flicked teasingly at his little yellow vest. “Just get off work?”
“Yeah,” he smiled bashfully at her dig. His UFO uniform was lame, but who was she to talk? Did she expect anyone to take her seriously when she had fake antennas bouncing around on her head?
“Is Liz back yet?"
“Nope,” she answered. “Sorry. You’ll just have to settle for me.”
“I could do worse,” he teased.
“You certainly could,” her eyes narrowed.
She was staring at the door and when he heard the bell, he turned on the stool to see who she was looking at. He felt his blood run cold when he saw the curly blonde hair and ice blue eyes. The dream from last night flashed across his mind and creeped him out and he silently prayed he never had another dream like that again, not one where she was in it.
“Hi Max,” Tess smiled sweetly and moved in his direction.
“Hey,” he acknowledged her and then his eyes shifted to her companion. “Hey Kyle.”
“Evans,” Kyle nodded. He wasn’t sure why he was here, but when they were passing by on the street, Tess suggested they stop by so he shrugged and agreed. If he’d known Evans was in here, he might have said no. He was still harboring resentment toward him, for stealing his girlfriend and making him look like a fool in front of the guys. And then he was still trying to process all that alien shit.
Taking a seat at the counter next to Tess, he had to admit he was jealous of Evans. Liz had dumped him for that asshole alien, and now Tess looked like she was throwing herself at him too. When had Max Evans turned into hot shit? He was always just there before, someone who faded into the background and nobody really noticed. Why were the hottest girls after his scrawny ass now?
Shaking off his negative thoughts, Kyle reminded himself that Evans had saved his life, even if in the process he’d turned it upside down. Deep down, he knew he actually liked the guy, if he’d just keep his fucking hands off his girls. Okay, he’d let Max have Liz. For some god only knows reason, she liked him, but he couldn’t have them both. If Max wanted Liz, and that was pretty obvious after Friday in the eraser room, then he couldn’t have Tess too.
“Kyle,” Maria’s voice broke into his thoughts. “What would you like?”
“World peace?” he contemplated.
“Besides that,” she smirked.
“How about an Alien Invasion?” he smiled.
“What do you mean by that?” Tess shot him a harsh look.
“An Alien Invasion,” Kyle pointed at the menu. She read the words above his finger and visibly relaxed. It was just a milkshake flavor.
Kyle eyed her for a minute, wondering if she was on the rag or something. Aliens could sure be touchy sometimes.
“So Max,” Tess reached over and touched him on the arm. “Should we go back to your place and try again?”
Max pulled his arm back, uncomfortable with her over familiarity and tried to make it look like he was just reaching for a French fry on his plate. He didn’t want to embarrass her, but he didn’t want to encourage her by letting her invade his space. She didn’t seem to get the hint though. She moved her hand from his lower arm to his bicep and squeezed. Max looked over at Maria to see if she’d noticed. She had.
Deliberately removing her hand from his arm, Max said, “Not tonight. I’m waiting for Liz to get back from Albuquerque.”
“Albuquerque?” Kyle said, coming back to the counter from the bathroom. “Why’d Liz go to Albuquerque?”
“You know her cousin Becky?” Maria interjected before Max could reply. “She had her baby. She’s been trying for like five years and it finally happened for her. Liz was really excited.”
“Oh,” Kyle said. Girls got so weird about babies.
“Five years?” Max said and Maria nodded. “That’s a long time.”
“I know,” Maria agreed. “Liz said Becky had almost given up. She wanted kids so bad, I’m glad it finally worked out for her.”
Max dropped his eyes to his plate, not really seeing the food there. Becky wasn’t the only one in the Parker family who wanted kids. He knew Liz wanted them someday too, even if she wouldn’t admit it to him. Was he just being unfair, wanting her all to himself, knowing he could never give her the things she really wanted? How much could he ask her to give up, just to be with him?
Tess watched Max from the corner of her eye. Based on the conversation, she could guess what his thoughts were. After all, she’d planted those doubts in him yesterday during their ‘memory retrieval’ session. She’d seen his insecurities and spent their time together bringing them to the forefront of his consciousness. Whether he could or couldn’t get Liz pregnant someday was beside the point. He thought he couldn’t, and that’s all that mattered. She sat beside him, confident she was driving a wedge between them, without them even knowing it.
* * * * *
“Max,” Maria tapped him on the arm. “We’re closing now.”
“What?” Max raised his head, roused from his thoughts. He looked around the restaurant and saw that he was the only customer left. He glanced down at his wristwatch to check the time and then frowned.
Seeing him looking around again, Maria answered his unasked question. “No, she’s not back yet.”
Max shrugged his shoulders trying not to show his disappointment, but he couldn’t hide from Maria.
“She’ll be home soon. Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” Max said, meeting her eyes.
“Of course you’re not,” Maria agreed, knowing better. These aliens could be so stupid sometimes. “Look, I have to lock up down here, so why don’t you just go upstairs and wait for Liz there? She has school tomorrow, I’m sure she won’t be much longer.”
“You think I should?” Max asked.
“Either go upstairs and wait for her, or go home,” Maria gave him his two choices.
“I’ll go upstairs,” Max decided and Maria smiled at him. She never had a doubt in her mind what his choice would be.
He headed for the back room and the stairs that would take him up to Liz’s apartment. Maria watched him with a sympathetic eye, and when he reached the door she called out, “Goodnight Max. I’ll see you tomorrow at school.”
“Goodnight Maria,” he turned and smiled right back at her. After all those years of hiding their secret, he was glad Maria knew now. It was nice to be able to have friends to talk to, to rely on, to count on. Maria might be a lot of things, and she and Michael might be having problems, but she was trustworthy, and loyal, and Max loved her like a sister. In a soft voice, he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
* * * * *
Max stared up at the stars from the lounger on Liz’s balcony, wondering when she would get home. He knew he should go. It was late, and his parents would probably be pissed that he wasn’t home yet. Tomorrow was the first day of the last week of school, and he had that English paper due on Tuesday that he hadn’t finished yet.
Still, if it was a choice of waiting here for Liz, or working on homework, well, was there really any choice at all? He stared up at the sky, wondering for the millionth time if one of those stars was from where he came from. What was it like there? Did they look like him, or were they . . . different?
Underneath this human exterior, just how alien was he?
Pierce had said his x-rays showed him to be human. Bones, muscle, vital organs, all human. But his cell structure was alien. As much as he wanted to be, he could never be human. But what of that alien side? What kinds of secrets were hidden there? So far, they knew almost nothing of their alien origins. The message in the cave said it was up to them – to him – to save their entire race, but they were no closer to the answers to how to accomplish that than on the day he first heard that shocking message.
It was easier not to think about it at all, than to live day in and day out with that kind of knowledge weighing on his shoulders. He couldn’t – wouldn’t – submit to what the message in the cave said. Tess was not his destiny. He refused to believe it. Liz was. He had always known it, from the first moment he saw her. He’d waited his whole life to be with her, and now that he was, he wasn’t going to give her up. He’d die first.
Lying on his back in the dark, he found his eyelids growing heavy. Maybe he’d just rest for a few minutes, waiting for Liz to get home. It’d been a long day, and he’d had a restless night the night before and closing his eyes for a few minutes would feel so good.
As he drifted off to sleep, his thoughts were of Liz, wondering when she would get home, until the nightmares began . . .
“You finally told me the truth about where you hid it,” Pierce stood next to Max, staring down at the orbs in his hands. “Now make them work.”
“I can’t,” Max said in desperation.
“Do it!” Pierce shouted in his face.
“I’m telling you the truth now, too,” Max whispered.
“Make them work,” Pierce’s cruel voice held the promise of more torture to come. “Make the orbs work.”
Trembling in fear, his eyes filled with tears as he cried, “Why won’t you believe me? I don’t know how.”
Pierce didn’t bother to hide the anger and hate on his face as he stepped back from the table. His voice was cold, chilling, lacking any human warmth when he said, “Let’s begin.”
Technicians swarmed the room with an array of surgical equipment and Max’s eyes widened in shock. He couldn’t take anymore of this. Please, dear God, he couldn’t survive the horrors.
“I can take you apart piece by piece, and make sure that you stay conscious enough to feel every second of it.”
“I can’t tell you what I don’t know,” Max begged. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
“Bring in the surgeon.”
Panic swept over Max but a part of him had already accepted his own death. Pierce would never let him leave here. The cold sound of heels clicking on the tile floors sent tendrils of fear up his back and he knew he was breathing his final breaths. His blood ran cold at the sight of a hand, small and delicate, reaching for the scalpel on the metal tray. The arm was shrouded in white cloth, a lab coat, the type worn by scientists when they experimented on animals. That’s all he was now, an animal to be experimented on, and if he died, so what? After all, he wasn’t human.
Her hand picked up the scalpel with the overhead light glinting off the blade. Her? How did he know it was a her? Her hand was so small; it couldn’t belong to a man. It was a woman who was about to flay him open like a piece of meat. Somehow that seemed even worse, that a woman could act so heartless, so cold, so savagely.
“Tell me what I want to know!” Pierce demanded with his eyes burning madly.
“I’m telling you the truth,” Max cried. “I don’t know anything.”
“Open him up!” Pierce hissed in a rage.
This was it. Max’s mind began to shut down. They were going to cut him open to try to find out how he ticked. He watched the small hand lift the blade and press it against his chest. He wasn’t ready for the pain that knifed through him as the blade cut into his flesh, through the muscle, cutting down to the bone. He screamed from the pain, arching up against his restraints as his eyes moved up the offending arm of his torturer. He could feel his skin peeling apart, separating as the blade cut from his breastbone, down toward his navel. Through the shock and the pain he looked up to see who could be so inhuman to do this to him.
As his eyes reached her face his scream died in his throat, and his heart and his soul died with it.
No. Oh God, no. It couldn’t be her. She couldn’t do this to him. She could never do this to him, to anyone.
No . . .
Max bolted out of his dream, an occurrence that was becoming all too familiar. His scream echoed in the air all around him matching the violent beat of his heart pounding in his chest. He covered his face with his hands, knowing this was the worst one yet. Why? Why wouldn’t these dreams go away? Pierce was dead. He couldn't hurt him anymore. He wasn’t in the White Room. He wasn’t tied down to a table anymore, subjected to whatever those monsters wanted to do to him.
So why couldn’t he forget it? Why did it still haunt him? Why did the dreams seem so real, when he knew they couldn’t be? It wasn’t possible. She hadn’t done those things to him . . . had she?
A light switched on in the bedroom suddenly and Max shot to his feet. Liz was home. She’d finally made it back from Albuquerque, but instead of hurrying toward her, he backed away. He couldn’t let her see him. Not right now. Not until he’d had time to think.
His hand was shaking as he reached for the handrail of the ladder. He kept telling himself that the last part of his dream hadn’t been real, that it hadn’t been her, but reality and dream were all mixing together in his mind. Trying to rationalize it, he told himself he just needed to go home, and tomorrow things would seem different. Tomorrow things would feel better.
Tomorrow, in the light of day, the face of his torturer wouldn’t look like Liz.
TBC next Sunday
Last edited by Breathless on Mon Jun 16, 2003 12:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Breathless
- Addicted Roswellian
- Posts: 254
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2001 4:58 pm
- Location: Somewhere in ficland
Aftermath Part 20
Author: Debbi aka Breathless
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 20
Liz stood on the sidewalk in front of the Crashdown wondering what could be taking Max so long. She looked at her watch, for what had to be the hundredth time in the last five minutes, realizing she was quite probably going to be late for school. Where could he be?
A familiar car pulled up in front of her and the driver leaned over the passenger seat to roll down the window.
“Need a ride?” Maria asked.
Liz looked down the street once more but the jeep was nowhere in sight. With a frown, she nodded her head and climbed inside the Jetta.
“So where’s Moondoggie?” Maria asked. “Wasn’t he supposed to pick you up today?”
“I thought so,” Liz answered, “but he never showed up. I hope every thing’s okay. I haven’t talked to him since Saturday night.”
“You didn’t see him last night?” Maria turned to look at her.
“No,” Liz met her gaze. “Why would I have seen him last night?”
“Well,” Maria pulled back into traffic, headed toward school. “When the Crashdown closed, he went up to your balcony to wait for you. He wasn’t there when you got home?”
“No,” Liz shook her head. “We got back from Albuquerque really late. I tried calling him, but there wasn’t any answer.”
“Oh,” Maria focused on the road in front of her. “That’s strange. He was dying to see you last night.”
“He was?” Liz’s worried tone turned softer.
“Yes,” Maria grinned after hearing her friend sigh. “He was. After Tess left, he moped around the Crash for two hours-”
“He was with Tess last night?” Liz felt her apprehension growing again.
“Yeah. She and Kyle were there for a while.”
“Oh . . .” Liz looked out the windshield, deep in thought.
“Liz,” Maria reached over and took her friend’s chin in her hand, turning her face back to her. “He loves you, Liz. Tess doesn’t mean anything to him.”
“I know that,” Liz smiled, trying to hide the anxiety eating away at her guts. It wasn’t Max she was worried about. She didn’t trust Tess, or what Tess might be capable of doing to him. She wasn’t like the others. Not like Max and Isabel and Michael. There was something more . . . alien about her.
* * * * *
Max whipped the jeep into the school parking lot wondering if he was going to make it on time. He’d been up half the night, unable to sleep, and then this morning he’d overslept because of it. Liz was already gone by the time he made it to the Crashdown to pick her up, and now if he didn’t hurry, he was going to be late for first period.
He brought the jeep to a screeching stop and grabbed his backpack off the passenger seat before sprinting toward the school doors. He raced down the hallway, noting the lack of any other students present. When he got to the biology room door, he could hear Mr. Seligman’s voice droning on the inside. Shit. He was late. Opening the door, he tried to sneak inside without being seen, but his teacher stopped in mid-lecture and drilled him with a look. Shit. Busted.
“So, Mr. Evans,” Seligman asked impatiently. “You’ve decided to join us after all?”
“Sorry,” Max ducked his head apologetically and made his way to his lab table. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the classroom on him, but it was only Liz that he was worried about. Did she think he stood her up this morning?
Liz let out an audible sigh as soon as Max entered the classroom. She’d been fretting about him all morning, wondering where he was and if he was all right. When she saw him enter the room she felt relieved, but that was now changing to concern. His face looked strained and he had dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept well. Was something wrong? Is that why she hadn’t been able to reach him last night when she tried to call him?
“Max?” she whispered as he came around behind her.
“Hi,” he whispered as he slid on the stool beside her. He set his books on the edge of the lab table. “Sorry about this morning. I overslept.”
“That’s okay. I caught a ride with Maria.”
She couldn’t help but notice the way he fidgeted with his notebook, and his eyes wouldn’t quite meet hers. Mr. Seligman droned on at the front of the class, and Liz tried to concentrate on taking notes, but it was a lost cause.
“I missed you yesterday,” Max whispered close to her ear.
“Me too,” she whispered back and leaned closer to him.
Their stools were just inches apart, close enough they could feel each other’s body heat. Below the table, his leg touched hers along her thigh. His pencil rolled across the table and came to a stop next to her arm. She picked it up to hand it back to him, but the smile on his face made her pause. The look he was giving her told her the pencil hadn’t moved on it’s own, but rather with a little alien impetus, and as she return it to him, he slipped his hand into hers, holding on to her for as long as he could get away with it. Sitting beside her like this, smelling her sweet scent, feeling her soft skin, seeing the smile on her face, the dream from last night retreated into the background. It wasn’t real, he reminded himself once again. Just relax. It had only been a bad dream.
Tess looked through the window in the biology room door and her eyes narrowed in anger and frustration. Inside the room, sitting side by side, snug and cozy, Max was looking at Liz with those insipid puppy dog eyes and the most saccharine smile she had ever seen. How could that be? She thought she would see a change in him by now.
Her hand fisted around the bathroom pass, crumpling it beneath her white knuckles as her anger grew. The paper began to crinkle and smoke before bursting into flame. Barely noticing it, she opened her hand and the ashes drifted to the floor. Turning on her heels, she headed down the deserted hallway, back toward her class.
* * * * *
Max stared at the frog on the tray in the middle of the table. It lay there on its back, spread eagle, with its belly exposed and vulnerable. Max knew it was dead. He knew it was just a frog. He knew this was just a class assignment, their final lab of the year, but he couldn’t stop the shivers coursing up and down his spine.
Liz listened intently to Mr. Seligman’s oration at the front of the class, while Max tried to fight his panic. He couldn’t take his eyes off the frog.
“The first incision should be made just below . . .”
Liz followed her teacher’s instructions, gripping the scalpel in her hand and placing the blade against the frog’s skin, then pressing down. The blade sliced deeply and Max felt his world spinning. Phantom pain flared in his chest and beads of sweat popped out on his forehead. A scream lodged in his throat and it was only the force of his own willpower that prevented him from screaming out loud. He watched in growing horror as Liz drew the blade down the frog’s chest. The skin peeled apart as she flayed it open, exposing muscle and internal organs.
Pushing back from the table, Max knew he was going to be sick. He couldn’t stop shaking and the sight of the frog, with its belly now sliced open was making it all come rushing back. The hard metal table. The intense light shining into his eyes. The cold steel blade slicing into his skin like white hot fire. He clutched at his chest, reliving the torture of the White Room.
“Max?” Liz turned at his sudden movement, concern shifting quickly into shock. His face was as white as a ghost and he looked terrified. His eyes were fixed on the frog with his hand clutching at his chest and it didn’t take her long to realize what was happening to him.
“Max,” she said softly. “Don’t look at it.”
At the sound of her voice, his eyes moved from the frog to her face, and then with growing horror, down her arm, to her hand. She was holding it, just like before. The cold steel blade was poised and ready to slice into his flesh. It glinted in the light from the overhead fluorescent lamps and he stumbled back from her. His stool tipped over and crashed to the floor and Max bolted from the room.
“Max,” Liz whispered as she watched him flee. She dropped the scalpel and scrambled off her stool to chase after him, ignoring the sniggers of the boys at the table behind her.
“I never knew Evans was such a girl . . .”
“What a wuss, afraid of a little frog . . .”
“Loser . . .”
“Miss Parker,” Mr. Seligman’s stern voice stopped her. “Please return to your seat.”
“But . . . but . . .” she stammered. She needed to help Max. She knew what was happening to him, reliving the nightmare of the White Room triggered by their lab experiment, and she needed to go to him.
“Return to your seat, Miss Parker,” Seligman insisted. It always happened, one of his students turning faint during the frog dissection, but he was surprised that it was Evans this time. He didn’t think the boy had a weak stomach but sometimes the kids surprised him.
In the boy’s bathroom, Max was on his knees in front of the toilet, in the throes of dry heaves. If he’d taken the time to eat breakfast this morning, he would have lost it all, but his stomach was empty. All that came up was bile. He shook uncontrollably and when the retching finally passed, he collapsed onto the floor of the bathroom stall.
* * * * *
Liz stood outside the English room, frantically trying to get Michael’s attention. It had taken her forever to convince Mr. Seligman to give her a bathroom pass, and time was running out. She saw Michael shift in his chair, obviously bored, and then his eyes glanced her way and he saw her. She waved at him frantically again, trying to tell him to come outside. He turned in his chair, looking behind him to see who she was waving at.
Maria sat in the back row of the class and Michael wondered if Liz wanted her. Was she having some girly crisis? Had she broken a fingernail? Had she found a split hair? Was her world about to collapse because she had a run in her pantyhose?
Turning back to look at Liz, he pointed back toward Maria, silently asking if she wanted him to get her attention. He was surprised when Liz shook her head adamantly. She pointed at him, and Michael raised his eyebrows and mouthed the word, ‘Me?’ She nodded aggressively and motioned emphatically for him to come outside.
His English teacher walked by mumbling shit about some dead guy and Michael rose to his feet asking, “Can I have a bathroom pass?”
Miss Fuller shot an annoyed look in his direction and asked, “Can’t you wait 20 minutes until class gets out?”
“I got a weak bladder,” Michael shot back defiantly. The boys around him snickered.
“That’s I have a weak bladder, Mr. Guerin,” Fuller pointed out his grammatical error.
“You, too?” Michael shot back and the classroom erupted in laughter.
Miss Fuller sighed loudly and retrieved a pass from her desk and handed it to him, wondering why he bothered coming to class at all. He usually just slept through it anyway.
Stepping out into the hallway, Michael frowned down at Liz. “What-”
“Michael,” she cut him off and began dragging him down the hall by his arm. “You have to come quick!”
“Hey!” he yanked his arm out of her grip. “What the fu-”
“Michael, its Max!” Liz hissed at him, trying to keep her voice down so she wouldn’t draw the attention of any teachers.
“What?” he shouted, and then lowered his voice to match hers. “What’s going on?”
“You have to help Max,” Liz pleaded and started to pull him down the hallway again. He didn’t fight her this time. “He won’t let me near him.”
“Where is he?” Michael could feel her panic now and it was seeping into him. He’d never seen Liz this upset before.
“He’s in here,” Liz banged open the door to the boy’s bathroom and barged right in.
That alone made Michael’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. When did Liz Parker begin to frequent the men’s room? She pulled him into the bathroom while firing off a non-stop vocalization at a rate that could rival Maria.
“We were in biology and we had to dissect a frog and Max always has me do things like that and I didn’t think anything of it until I looked over at him and he looked sick and really, really scared and then he ran out of the room and Mr. Seligman wouldn’t let me leave-”
“Maxwell!” Michael shouted when his friend’s huddled form came into view.
Max lay on the floor in one of the stalls, shaking uncontrollably, with his eyes appearing glazed and unfocused. Michael fell to his knees next to his friend and when Max jerked back from him in fear, Michael looked at Liz again, frantically asking, “What happened to him?”
She was holding her hand over her mouth now, shocked by Max’s condition, and the words that been rushing out of her mouth just a minute before were now stuck there.
“Liz!” Michael yelled. One catatonic person was enough right now. “Tell me what happened!”
With great effort, she turned her eyes from Max and focused on Michael. “We were dissecting a frog in biology-”
“I got that part,” Michael interrupted impatiently.
“When I cut the frog open, I think it reminded him of what they did to him in the White Room. I think he’s having a delayed reaction to . . . to . . .” she could feel her eyes filling with tears. “He ran out of the room and this is how I found him. He . . . he wouldn’t let me near him. He . . . when I tried to touch him, he . . . he acted like I was hurting him.”
She could feel the bruise forming on the inside of her arm where he’d slapped it away when she reached out to him. He’d looked terrified of her, as if she was the one who had hurt him.
“We have to get him out of here,” Michael voiced the obvious. It was why she had pulled him out of his class; so they could get Max away before anyone else saw him like this. First period would be over soon. They didn’t have much time. Turning back to Max, Michael reached out to touch him.
“Max . . .” Michael’s hand closed around his arm and Max flinched away with a keening sound in his throat.
“Oh God . . .” Liz cried softly with her hands over her mouth. What were they going to do? How could they help him?
“Liz?” Max said her name so softly she wasn’t sure she had heard him. His eyes seemed to swim back into focus, and then he said it again, louder, sounding like he was in so much pain. “Liz . . .”
“I’m here,” she moved closer and Michael moved out of the way. She dropped to her knees beside him and tentatively reached her hand out to touch him. Would he slap her away again?
“Liz,” he sobbed, and then his arms were around her and he was burying his face against her chest. She closed her eyes in relief and just held him. He’d been lost in his nightmare world for a while, but he was back now.
He clutched her, holding on like she was his lifeline, his anchor to the real world. The vision that he’d had – the nightmare – whatever you wanted to call it, it wasn’t real. She was real. Holding her was real. The vision was telling him she was bad, out to hurt him, eager to cause him pain, but he knew that was a lie. She was the only one who truly loved him, no matter what. She would never inflict pain on him.
“Liz?” he lifted his head, finally able to focus on her. “What happened?”
“We need to go someplace,” Liz smoothed her hand through his hair. “Somewhere we can talk.”
She looked at Michael and nodded, the two of them silently agreeing that Max was out of immediate danger. He seemed to be ‘back’ now, out of that dark world he’d slipped into when he watched her cut into the frog. She turned back to Max, speaking to him with a tender, loving tone. “Everything’s fine now. You’ll be just fine.”
She could only hope that it was true.
Max didn’t know how to explain what had happened. One minute he was fine, and then the next he saw Liz with a scalpel in her hand and he couldn’t contain the panic. Maybe it was because of the dream he’d had last night, where she was in the White Room, wearing the white lab coat, holding the steel blade, cutting into his –
No, he didn’t want to think about that. That was just a dream. A horrible, horrible dream. It wasn’t real. Liz could never do that to him. To anyone. Holding her in his arms like he was right now, feeling her soft hands touching him, soothing him, he knew she could never hurt anyone. Not Liz.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly, leaning slightly back from him so she could see his face. Her fingers stroked through his hair trying to give him all her love and support. He’d been through so much lately; it was no wonder he was suffering in the aftermath. Was he experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome? Who wouldn’t, after the things Pierce had done to him?
“I’m okay,” Max said shakily and tried to smile, unsuccessfully. His hand moved down her arm and as he neared her wrist, he saw her wince. His eyes dropped to look at the inside of her right arm, and widened at the sight of the bruise that was forming there. It was fresh, recent, and the discoloration was evidence of the strength of the impact. His fingers touched it, seeing how she flinched in pain again, and then he got the flash . . .
“Max?” Liz called out, rushing into the bathroom. “Max! Are you here?”
Her eyes swept the room, frightened eyes, worried eyes, searching for him, wanting to help him. A tortured moan came from one of the stalls and she ran to it, knowing it was him. She pushed the door open and her hand covered her mouth to hold back her cry.
Max lay huddled on the cold tiles on the floor of the bathroom stall, his body visibly trembling, shaking from some unseen fear. His eyes appeared glazed and she suspected that what he was seeing wasn’t the graffiti covered wall of the boy’s bathroom. No, the room he saw in his mind was a stark shade of white.
“Max,” she whispered and knelt down beside him. “Max, it’s me. Let me help you.”
Her hand reached out to touch him and he cried out, like a wounded animal. He struck out at her, knocking her right arm away forcefully. His voice rose, shouting at her, “You’re killing me. You’re killing me!”
The pain was sharp, reverberating up her entire arm, but she couldn’t let that stop her. Max needed her help. He wasn’t responsible for his actions. She leaned forward again and he scrambled back as if he was afraid of her touch. Like she was the one hurting him.
“Why are you doing this to me?” his whispered words tore at her heart. He pulled himself up into a fetal ball, with his legs tightly pressed against his chest and his arms around them.
Looking around, she knew she needed help. He wouldn’t let her touch him, and his cries were going to attract attention soon.
“Max?” she leaned forward and he flinched back from her again. “I’m going to go find Michael. It’s okay, Max. You’ll be okay. Michael will help you . . .”
The image began to fade and Max came out of the flash, shocked as the truth hit him. He’d hurt Liz. She’d been reaching out to help him and he’d reacted by striking her, with the evidence there before him in the angry bruise forming on her arm.
“Liz,” he said with pain and remorse in his voice, “I did that to you? I hurt you?”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she soothed him. “You didn’t know it was me. You were trying to protect yourself.”
“But . . .” he stuttered, feeling his world spinning. He wasn’t so sure what she said was true. On some level, he had known it was her. His mind had seen her as the enemy, holding the scalpel in her hand ready to slice him apart. How could he even think that? He loved her more than life itself, and he knew she felt the same about him. How could his mind conjure up such a harrowing image? Looking at the black and blue mark spreading over her arm, he said the only thing he could.
“Liz, I’m so sorry.”
“We have to go,” Michael interrupted. First period was almost over and they wouldn’t be alone in here for long. “Max, can you walk? Do you need help?”
“I . . . I’m okay,” Max said uncertainly. He pushed himself up from the floor with Liz helping him, putting her shoulder under his arm to support him. He looked at her thankfully and raised his hand to her cheek, telling her, “I’m okay now, Liz.”
“Let’s get you out of here,” she urged.
“Where?” Michael asked. It was obvious Max wasn’t ready to just go back to class.
“I know a safe place,” Liz looked from one face to the other. With her arm around his back, and Max leaning against her for support, Liz led the way.
* * * * *
Max and Liz sat side by side on the cold floor of the eraser room with their backs against the wall. Through the locked door they could hear the commotion of students passing by in the hallway, headed toward second period, living normal lives.
“What happened?” Liz asked quietly. She held his hand in hers, trying to show him all her love and support, willing to skip not just second period, but the entire day, if that’s what he needed.
“I don’t know,” Max stared at their clasped hands. “I saw the frog, lying there, and then . . .” His eyes fluttered closed and his right hand lifted up to press against his chest. “I was . . . it just . . .”
Liz knew the scars no longer marred his chest, but they still lived in his mind. The horrors that had been inflicted on him were still fresh, still there, ready to overwhelm him. He needed to let it out, not keep the pain of it locked up inside him. He needed someone to talk to, to share the pain with, to help him come to terms with it and move beyond it.
“Don’t keep it inside, Max,” Liz leaned close, urging him to let it out.
Max lifted his eyes to look at her, wanting to talk to her, wanting to tell her everything, and knowing he couldn’t do that to her. She’d seen enough, that night in the van when they kissed, and all the images flooded into her. She’d been shocked, and he hated burdening her with the knowledge of what they’d done to him.
And how could he tell her of the rest of it? Of his dream, his nightmare, where she was his torturer? It was just a dream, after all. He couldn’t tell her about the knife he saw in her hand, and how she pressed it against his skin. It wasn’t real. He knew it wasn’t real. She didn’t need to know, to worry about something that wasn’t real.
“Liz,” he turned her arm so he could see the bruise he had caused. His fingers touched it lightly. “I’m so sorry about this. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“I know that, Max,” Liz looked up into his distressed eyes. “Don’t blame yourself.”
“I do, though,” he voiced dejectedly, unable to look at her. “I hurt you.”
“Max . . .”
She saw the guilt on his face and she lifted her hand to his chin, turning his face back to hers. She knew there was one thing she could do that would say so much more than mere words could. She leaned forward, and slowly, tenderly, her lips touched his, saying everything she needed to. She could feel the way his body let go of his tension, like an inward sigh, as his lips joined hers. At the same time, his hand settled over the bruise on her inner arm and it glowed, emitting a soft yellow light as he healed the damage he had inflicted on her.
When their lips parted, she looked down at the now unblemished skin and smiled. She raised her eyes to his once more, and said softly, “Thank you.”
He tried to smile in return, but his face was too strained. The smile never reached his eyes. She might think there was nothing to forgive, but he couldn’t forgive himself. He’d struck her, hurt her, and whether he was responsible for his actions or not was beside the point. He couldn’t bear the thought of hurting her.
He wrapped his arms around her and slipped his fingers into her hair, drawing her head to his chest. He closed his eyes and leaned his cheek against her, silently praying that nothing like this would ever happen again.
They sat huddled together on the floor, taking solace in the comfort of each other’s arms, blocking off the outside world while they tried to heal.
Stop by next Sunday to see what happens next . . .
Category: Max and Liz, CC/UC
Rating: PG 13 to NC 17
Summary: This story takes place after Max’s rescue from the White Room, and deals with the aftermath of his ordeal there. In this story there is NO Royal Four. Max was not a King in a previous life, and Tess was not his wife. In fact, none of them lived a previous life. The message in the cave said Max was a ‘leader’ and that’s true in this story, but the question is, leader of what? What is their reason for being on Earth? And what’s it going to take for the truth to come out?
Aftermath
Part 20
Liz stood on the sidewalk in front of the Crashdown wondering what could be taking Max so long. She looked at her watch, for what had to be the hundredth time in the last five minutes, realizing she was quite probably going to be late for school. Where could he be?
A familiar car pulled up in front of her and the driver leaned over the passenger seat to roll down the window.
“Need a ride?” Maria asked.
Liz looked down the street once more but the jeep was nowhere in sight. With a frown, she nodded her head and climbed inside the Jetta.
“So where’s Moondoggie?” Maria asked. “Wasn’t he supposed to pick you up today?”
“I thought so,” Liz answered, “but he never showed up. I hope every thing’s okay. I haven’t talked to him since Saturday night.”
“You didn’t see him last night?” Maria turned to look at her.
“No,” Liz met her gaze. “Why would I have seen him last night?”
“Well,” Maria pulled back into traffic, headed toward school. “When the Crashdown closed, he went up to your balcony to wait for you. He wasn’t there when you got home?”
“No,” Liz shook her head. “We got back from Albuquerque really late. I tried calling him, but there wasn’t any answer.”
“Oh,” Maria focused on the road in front of her. “That’s strange. He was dying to see you last night.”
“He was?” Liz’s worried tone turned softer.
“Yes,” Maria grinned after hearing her friend sigh. “He was. After Tess left, he moped around the Crash for two hours-”
“He was with Tess last night?” Liz felt her apprehension growing again.
“Yeah. She and Kyle were there for a while.”
“Oh . . .” Liz looked out the windshield, deep in thought.
“Liz,” Maria reached over and took her friend’s chin in her hand, turning her face back to her. “He loves you, Liz. Tess doesn’t mean anything to him.”
“I know that,” Liz smiled, trying to hide the anxiety eating away at her guts. It wasn’t Max she was worried about. She didn’t trust Tess, or what Tess might be capable of doing to him. She wasn’t like the others. Not like Max and Isabel and Michael. There was something more . . . alien about her.
* * * * *
Max whipped the jeep into the school parking lot wondering if he was going to make it on time. He’d been up half the night, unable to sleep, and then this morning he’d overslept because of it. Liz was already gone by the time he made it to the Crashdown to pick her up, and now if he didn’t hurry, he was going to be late for first period.
He brought the jeep to a screeching stop and grabbed his backpack off the passenger seat before sprinting toward the school doors. He raced down the hallway, noting the lack of any other students present. When he got to the biology room door, he could hear Mr. Seligman’s voice droning on the inside. Shit. He was late. Opening the door, he tried to sneak inside without being seen, but his teacher stopped in mid-lecture and drilled him with a look. Shit. Busted.
“So, Mr. Evans,” Seligman asked impatiently. “You’ve decided to join us after all?”
“Sorry,” Max ducked his head apologetically and made his way to his lab table. He could feel the eyes of everyone in the classroom on him, but it was only Liz that he was worried about. Did she think he stood her up this morning?
Liz let out an audible sigh as soon as Max entered the classroom. She’d been fretting about him all morning, wondering where he was and if he was all right. When she saw him enter the room she felt relieved, but that was now changing to concern. His face looked strained and he had dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept well. Was something wrong? Is that why she hadn’t been able to reach him last night when she tried to call him?
“Max?” she whispered as he came around behind her.
“Hi,” he whispered as he slid on the stool beside her. He set his books on the edge of the lab table. “Sorry about this morning. I overslept.”
“That’s okay. I caught a ride with Maria.”
She couldn’t help but notice the way he fidgeted with his notebook, and his eyes wouldn’t quite meet hers. Mr. Seligman droned on at the front of the class, and Liz tried to concentrate on taking notes, but it was a lost cause.
“I missed you yesterday,” Max whispered close to her ear.
“Me too,” she whispered back and leaned closer to him.
Their stools were just inches apart, close enough they could feel each other’s body heat. Below the table, his leg touched hers along her thigh. His pencil rolled across the table and came to a stop next to her arm. She picked it up to hand it back to him, but the smile on his face made her pause. The look he was giving her told her the pencil hadn’t moved on it’s own, but rather with a little alien impetus, and as she return it to him, he slipped his hand into hers, holding on to her for as long as he could get away with it. Sitting beside her like this, smelling her sweet scent, feeling her soft skin, seeing the smile on her face, the dream from last night retreated into the background. It wasn’t real, he reminded himself once again. Just relax. It had only been a bad dream.
Tess looked through the window in the biology room door and her eyes narrowed in anger and frustration. Inside the room, sitting side by side, snug and cozy, Max was looking at Liz with those insipid puppy dog eyes and the most saccharine smile she had ever seen. How could that be? She thought she would see a change in him by now.
Her hand fisted around the bathroom pass, crumpling it beneath her white knuckles as her anger grew. The paper began to crinkle and smoke before bursting into flame. Barely noticing it, she opened her hand and the ashes drifted to the floor. Turning on her heels, she headed down the deserted hallway, back toward her class.
* * * * *
Max stared at the frog on the tray in the middle of the table. It lay there on its back, spread eagle, with its belly exposed and vulnerable. Max knew it was dead. He knew it was just a frog. He knew this was just a class assignment, their final lab of the year, but he couldn’t stop the shivers coursing up and down his spine.
Liz listened intently to Mr. Seligman’s oration at the front of the class, while Max tried to fight his panic. He couldn’t take his eyes off the frog.
“The first incision should be made just below . . .”
Liz followed her teacher’s instructions, gripping the scalpel in her hand and placing the blade against the frog’s skin, then pressing down. The blade sliced deeply and Max felt his world spinning. Phantom pain flared in his chest and beads of sweat popped out on his forehead. A scream lodged in his throat and it was only the force of his own willpower that prevented him from screaming out loud. He watched in growing horror as Liz drew the blade down the frog’s chest. The skin peeled apart as she flayed it open, exposing muscle and internal organs.
Pushing back from the table, Max knew he was going to be sick. He couldn’t stop shaking and the sight of the frog, with its belly now sliced open was making it all come rushing back. The hard metal table. The intense light shining into his eyes. The cold steel blade slicing into his skin like white hot fire. He clutched at his chest, reliving the torture of the White Room.
“Max?” Liz turned at his sudden movement, concern shifting quickly into shock. His face was as white as a ghost and he looked terrified. His eyes were fixed on the frog with his hand clutching at his chest and it didn’t take her long to realize what was happening to him.
“Max,” she said softly. “Don’t look at it.”
At the sound of her voice, his eyes moved from the frog to her face, and then with growing horror, down her arm, to her hand. She was holding it, just like before. The cold steel blade was poised and ready to slice into his flesh. It glinted in the light from the overhead fluorescent lamps and he stumbled back from her. His stool tipped over and crashed to the floor and Max bolted from the room.
“Max,” Liz whispered as she watched him flee. She dropped the scalpel and scrambled off her stool to chase after him, ignoring the sniggers of the boys at the table behind her.
“I never knew Evans was such a girl . . .”
“What a wuss, afraid of a little frog . . .”
“Loser . . .”
“Miss Parker,” Mr. Seligman’s stern voice stopped her. “Please return to your seat.”
“But . . . but . . .” she stammered. She needed to help Max. She knew what was happening to him, reliving the nightmare of the White Room triggered by their lab experiment, and she needed to go to him.
“Return to your seat, Miss Parker,” Seligman insisted. It always happened, one of his students turning faint during the frog dissection, but he was surprised that it was Evans this time. He didn’t think the boy had a weak stomach but sometimes the kids surprised him.
In the boy’s bathroom, Max was on his knees in front of the toilet, in the throes of dry heaves. If he’d taken the time to eat breakfast this morning, he would have lost it all, but his stomach was empty. All that came up was bile. He shook uncontrollably and when the retching finally passed, he collapsed onto the floor of the bathroom stall.
* * * * *
Liz stood outside the English room, frantically trying to get Michael’s attention. It had taken her forever to convince Mr. Seligman to give her a bathroom pass, and time was running out. She saw Michael shift in his chair, obviously bored, and then his eyes glanced her way and he saw her. She waved at him frantically again, trying to tell him to come outside. He turned in his chair, looking behind him to see who she was waving at.
Maria sat in the back row of the class and Michael wondered if Liz wanted her. Was she having some girly crisis? Had she broken a fingernail? Had she found a split hair? Was her world about to collapse because she had a run in her pantyhose?
Turning back to look at Liz, he pointed back toward Maria, silently asking if she wanted him to get her attention. He was surprised when Liz shook her head adamantly. She pointed at him, and Michael raised his eyebrows and mouthed the word, ‘Me?’ She nodded aggressively and motioned emphatically for him to come outside.
His English teacher walked by mumbling shit about some dead guy and Michael rose to his feet asking, “Can I have a bathroom pass?”
Miss Fuller shot an annoyed look in his direction and asked, “Can’t you wait 20 minutes until class gets out?”
“I got a weak bladder,” Michael shot back defiantly. The boys around him snickered.
“That’s I have a weak bladder, Mr. Guerin,” Fuller pointed out his grammatical error.
“You, too?” Michael shot back and the classroom erupted in laughter.
Miss Fuller sighed loudly and retrieved a pass from her desk and handed it to him, wondering why he bothered coming to class at all. He usually just slept through it anyway.
Stepping out into the hallway, Michael frowned down at Liz. “What-”
“Michael,” she cut him off and began dragging him down the hall by his arm. “You have to come quick!”
“Hey!” he yanked his arm out of her grip. “What the fu-”
“Michael, its Max!” Liz hissed at him, trying to keep her voice down so she wouldn’t draw the attention of any teachers.
“What?” he shouted, and then lowered his voice to match hers. “What’s going on?”
“You have to help Max,” Liz pleaded and started to pull him down the hallway again. He didn’t fight her this time. “He won’t let me near him.”
“Where is he?” Michael could feel her panic now and it was seeping into him. He’d never seen Liz this upset before.
“He’s in here,” Liz banged open the door to the boy’s bathroom and barged right in.
That alone made Michael’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. When did Liz Parker begin to frequent the men’s room? She pulled him into the bathroom while firing off a non-stop vocalization at a rate that could rival Maria.
“We were in biology and we had to dissect a frog and Max always has me do things like that and I didn’t think anything of it until I looked over at him and he looked sick and really, really scared and then he ran out of the room and Mr. Seligman wouldn’t let me leave-”
“Maxwell!” Michael shouted when his friend’s huddled form came into view.
Max lay on the floor in one of the stalls, shaking uncontrollably, with his eyes appearing glazed and unfocused. Michael fell to his knees next to his friend and when Max jerked back from him in fear, Michael looked at Liz again, frantically asking, “What happened to him?”
She was holding her hand over her mouth now, shocked by Max’s condition, and the words that been rushing out of her mouth just a minute before were now stuck there.
“Liz!” Michael yelled. One catatonic person was enough right now. “Tell me what happened!”
With great effort, she turned her eyes from Max and focused on Michael. “We were dissecting a frog in biology-”
“I got that part,” Michael interrupted impatiently.
“When I cut the frog open, I think it reminded him of what they did to him in the White Room. I think he’s having a delayed reaction to . . . to . . .” she could feel her eyes filling with tears. “He ran out of the room and this is how I found him. He . . . he wouldn’t let me near him. He . . . when I tried to touch him, he . . . he acted like I was hurting him.”
She could feel the bruise forming on the inside of her arm where he’d slapped it away when she reached out to him. He’d looked terrified of her, as if she was the one who had hurt him.
“We have to get him out of here,” Michael voiced the obvious. It was why she had pulled him out of his class; so they could get Max away before anyone else saw him like this. First period would be over soon. They didn’t have much time. Turning back to Max, Michael reached out to touch him.
“Max . . .” Michael’s hand closed around his arm and Max flinched away with a keening sound in his throat.
“Oh God . . .” Liz cried softly with her hands over her mouth. What were they going to do? How could they help him?
“Liz?” Max said her name so softly she wasn’t sure she had heard him. His eyes seemed to swim back into focus, and then he said it again, louder, sounding like he was in so much pain. “Liz . . .”
“I’m here,” she moved closer and Michael moved out of the way. She dropped to her knees beside him and tentatively reached her hand out to touch him. Would he slap her away again?
“Liz,” he sobbed, and then his arms were around her and he was burying his face against her chest. She closed her eyes in relief and just held him. He’d been lost in his nightmare world for a while, but he was back now.
He clutched her, holding on like she was his lifeline, his anchor to the real world. The vision that he’d had – the nightmare – whatever you wanted to call it, it wasn’t real. She was real. Holding her was real. The vision was telling him she was bad, out to hurt him, eager to cause him pain, but he knew that was a lie. She was the only one who truly loved him, no matter what. She would never inflict pain on him.
“Liz?” he lifted his head, finally able to focus on her. “What happened?”
“We need to go someplace,” Liz smoothed her hand through his hair. “Somewhere we can talk.”
She looked at Michael and nodded, the two of them silently agreeing that Max was out of immediate danger. He seemed to be ‘back’ now, out of that dark world he’d slipped into when he watched her cut into the frog. She turned back to Max, speaking to him with a tender, loving tone. “Everything’s fine now. You’ll be just fine.”
She could only hope that it was true.
Max didn’t know how to explain what had happened. One minute he was fine, and then the next he saw Liz with a scalpel in her hand and he couldn’t contain the panic. Maybe it was because of the dream he’d had last night, where she was in the White Room, wearing the white lab coat, holding the steel blade, cutting into his –
No, he didn’t want to think about that. That was just a dream. A horrible, horrible dream. It wasn’t real. Liz could never do that to him. To anyone. Holding her in his arms like he was right now, feeling her soft hands touching him, soothing him, he knew she could never hurt anyone. Not Liz.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly, leaning slightly back from him so she could see his face. Her fingers stroked through his hair trying to give him all her love and support. He’d been through so much lately; it was no wonder he was suffering in the aftermath. Was he experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome? Who wouldn’t, after the things Pierce had done to him?
“I’m okay,” Max said shakily and tried to smile, unsuccessfully. His hand moved down her arm and as he neared her wrist, he saw her wince. His eyes dropped to look at the inside of her right arm, and widened at the sight of the bruise that was forming there. It was fresh, recent, and the discoloration was evidence of the strength of the impact. His fingers touched it, seeing how she flinched in pain again, and then he got the flash . . .
“Max?” Liz called out, rushing into the bathroom. “Max! Are you here?”
Her eyes swept the room, frightened eyes, worried eyes, searching for him, wanting to help him. A tortured moan came from one of the stalls and she ran to it, knowing it was him. She pushed the door open and her hand covered her mouth to hold back her cry.
Max lay huddled on the cold tiles on the floor of the bathroom stall, his body visibly trembling, shaking from some unseen fear. His eyes appeared glazed and she suspected that what he was seeing wasn’t the graffiti covered wall of the boy’s bathroom. No, the room he saw in his mind was a stark shade of white.
“Max,” she whispered and knelt down beside him. “Max, it’s me. Let me help you.”
Her hand reached out to touch him and he cried out, like a wounded animal. He struck out at her, knocking her right arm away forcefully. His voice rose, shouting at her, “You’re killing me. You’re killing me!”
The pain was sharp, reverberating up her entire arm, but she couldn’t let that stop her. Max needed her help. He wasn’t responsible for his actions. She leaned forward again and he scrambled back as if he was afraid of her touch. Like she was the one hurting him.
“Why are you doing this to me?” his whispered words tore at her heart. He pulled himself up into a fetal ball, with his legs tightly pressed against his chest and his arms around them.
Looking around, she knew she needed help. He wouldn’t let her touch him, and his cries were going to attract attention soon.
“Max?” she leaned forward and he flinched back from her again. “I’m going to go find Michael. It’s okay, Max. You’ll be okay. Michael will help you . . .”
The image began to fade and Max came out of the flash, shocked as the truth hit him. He’d hurt Liz. She’d been reaching out to help him and he’d reacted by striking her, with the evidence there before him in the angry bruise forming on her arm.
“Liz,” he said with pain and remorse in his voice, “I did that to you? I hurt you?”
“It wasn’t your fault,” she soothed him. “You didn’t know it was me. You were trying to protect yourself.”
“But . . .” he stuttered, feeling his world spinning. He wasn’t so sure what she said was true. On some level, he had known it was her. His mind had seen her as the enemy, holding the scalpel in her hand ready to slice him apart. How could he even think that? He loved her more than life itself, and he knew she felt the same about him. How could his mind conjure up such a harrowing image? Looking at the black and blue mark spreading over her arm, he said the only thing he could.
“Liz, I’m so sorry.”
“We have to go,” Michael interrupted. First period was almost over and they wouldn’t be alone in here for long. “Max, can you walk? Do you need help?”
“I . . . I’m okay,” Max said uncertainly. He pushed himself up from the floor with Liz helping him, putting her shoulder under his arm to support him. He looked at her thankfully and raised his hand to her cheek, telling her, “I’m okay now, Liz.”
“Let’s get you out of here,” she urged.
“Where?” Michael asked. It was obvious Max wasn’t ready to just go back to class.
“I know a safe place,” Liz looked from one face to the other. With her arm around his back, and Max leaning against her for support, Liz led the way.
* * * * *
Max and Liz sat side by side on the cold floor of the eraser room with their backs against the wall. Through the locked door they could hear the commotion of students passing by in the hallway, headed toward second period, living normal lives.
“What happened?” Liz asked quietly. She held his hand in hers, trying to show him all her love and support, willing to skip not just second period, but the entire day, if that’s what he needed.
“I don’t know,” Max stared at their clasped hands. “I saw the frog, lying there, and then . . .” His eyes fluttered closed and his right hand lifted up to press against his chest. “I was . . . it just . . .”
Liz knew the scars no longer marred his chest, but they still lived in his mind. The horrors that had been inflicted on him were still fresh, still there, ready to overwhelm him. He needed to let it out, not keep the pain of it locked up inside him. He needed someone to talk to, to share the pain with, to help him come to terms with it and move beyond it.
“Don’t keep it inside, Max,” Liz leaned close, urging him to let it out.
Max lifted his eyes to look at her, wanting to talk to her, wanting to tell her everything, and knowing he couldn’t do that to her. She’d seen enough, that night in the van when they kissed, and all the images flooded into her. She’d been shocked, and he hated burdening her with the knowledge of what they’d done to him.
And how could he tell her of the rest of it? Of his dream, his nightmare, where she was his torturer? It was just a dream, after all. He couldn’t tell her about the knife he saw in her hand, and how she pressed it against his skin. It wasn’t real. He knew it wasn’t real. She didn’t need to know, to worry about something that wasn’t real.
“Liz,” he turned her arm so he could see the bruise he had caused. His fingers touched it lightly. “I’m so sorry about this. I didn’t know what I was doing.”
“I know that, Max,” Liz looked up into his distressed eyes. “Don’t blame yourself.”
“I do, though,” he voiced dejectedly, unable to look at her. “I hurt you.”
“Max . . .”
She saw the guilt on his face and she lifted her hand to his chin, turning his face back to hers. She knew there was one thing she could do that would say so much more than mere words could. She leaned forward, and slowly, tenderly, her lips touched his, saying everything she needed to. She could feel the way his body let go of his tension, like an inward sigh, as his lips joined hers. At the same time, his hand settled over the bruise on her inner arm and it glowed, emitting a soft yellow light as he healed the damage he had inflicted on her.
When their lips parted, she looked down at the now unblemished skin and smiled. She raised her eyes to his once more, and said softly, “Thank you.”
He tried to smile in return, but his face was too strained. The smile never reached his eyes. She might think there was nothing to forgive, but he couldn’t forgive himself. He’d struck her, hurt her, and whether he was responsible for his actions or not was beside the point. He couldn’t bear the thought of hurting her.
He wrapped his arms around her and slipped his fingers into her hair, drawing her head to his chest. He closed his eyes and leaned his cheek against her, silently praying that nothing like this would ever happen again.
They sat huddled together on the floor, taking solace in the comfort of each other’s arms, blocking off the outside world while they tried to heal.
Stop by next Sunday to see what happens next . . .