Author: Parker1947
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They were created once upon a time by Jason Katims and those associated with the writing staff of Roswell and before them it was the esteem creator of the Roswell High series by Melinda Metz book that captured all our attentions for more than 20 years… This story is based on the television show that started in 1999 and ended in 2002. I am just borrowing them for my own fun and imagination.
Rating: Mature
Category: CC
Characters: ALL
Synopsis: Max and Liz thought they had achieved their dream when they graduated and married while on the run from the government. If they did, then they were in for a rude awaking when they were able to go home ago, because, the past came back to haunt them, and despite their love for each other, they parted ways. So, they found new lives and chances of being together dimmed. That is until Max who is going through a life-changing personal loss is called upon to use his more conventional healing gifts to save someone precious to him as it catapults them both into new possibilities and it also leads to all kinds of new discoveries.
Changes from Show: They graduated. They fled. They married… Everything that happened on the show is their history in this story, for good and for bad. This is about the aftermath of their flight from Roswell. And if you thought they had a happy life after the show, think again because to get there, well, more bumpy and rocky pathways will have to be walked…
Author’s Note: As much as Max and Liz deserve to be together. This premise was inspired as I remembered the rumors of a potential storyline for a Season 4, if we had gotten it back when they show was struggling, and they were trying to think of ways to keep it afloat. And rumors started to leak of pitches to the network. One was to focus on the gang on the road. But eventually Liz would find herself captured… Anyways, so I found a way to not dwell on that story, but use it as the downfall of Max and Liz’s young marriage, and they will be forced to craft new lives, only for all kind of possibilities to pop up, years later…
This is very angsty. Abusive behavior is briefly shown, but it mostly about the aftermath. Attempted or other violence might show up down the line, but hopefully it will be brief and not as intense as it is not intending to be drawn out as I want to use it to bring about revelations and show heroes of all kinds...
Hope you enjoy.
The day began like any other day for Max Evans as he opened his locker in the medical resident’s lounge. “Evans, you do know that your shift is starting. So, get on out there,” came a shout into the room. “Yes Dr. Lang” came his response and instead of a quick run to get out onto the floor, he continued to stare into space. As Max still did not know how this day was even a possibility. Yet it was not the first since his residency had begun that he reflected to those days that had began the climb and the build to get to this day. Eight years had passed and still he did not believe he had come to this point when it should have been Liz. It should be you Liz he mused to himself and yet it might still be her for all he knew, but then he lost that right to know. How he wished he knew what was going with her. From the beginning Liz was the one who was the scientist. She was one who was dreaming of a future in medicine or somewhere, anywhere in the science field. Liz you were going to kick butt
For Max, well, his only goals were to stay out of the hands of the government and to be able to stay on Earth and finally to love Liz. He had succeeded in all three of those goals…
After all it was obvious that he had achieved his goal of staying on Earth, although that had not come without a cost, and most of all, he had the ability to love Liz.
But he also had lost Liz…
Their dream wedding had ended in divorce. Where did it go wrong Liz? he reflected. But those questions were foolish to ask of himself because he knew where it went wrong as it had been eight years, yet it felt like it had been only eight days to Max since they signed the papers that made it official. And therefore, he did not have the honor of calling her his wife anymore... Even though Liz you will be always my wife, even if it is only in my heart.
They did not get the fairy tale ending he had dreamt and felt they were deserved when they took their vows on the road in a small church at the edge of a road in front of snow-covered mountains. Only in the ensuring months did their potential get shot down by the cold reality of being on the run from the federal government and being too young to really be able to deal with it or tamper the damage to a young marriage despite the hope that all the angst and all the pain they had endured during those three years had battle tested them, but nope, he was hopelessly naïve he would discover. Both were, they would find. And because of that naivety, they would pay the ultimate price because of that fact when they foolishly thought that they could battle the demons of the world together. Because they had history on their side.
All of them had that foolish dream. But none more than Liz.
Their band of misfits broke up. Michael and Maria went one way. Isabel and Kyle another way when it became apparent that six teenagers which included two committed couple traveling the country to celebrate their high school graduation in a van wasn’t going to be ample cover when the questions started to come about their mysterious ways.
So, it only left Max and Liz together battling the elements and the sling and arrows being shot at their love as they were soon forced to deal with the fact that it was only them. They would find out that despite being so in love, well, they were also only eighteen. And they were simply too young to battle the forces that were coming for them.
Then disaster struck.
The government caught up to them. But instead of getting at Max who had been their target. They shot Max in the heart by taking Liz when he was out of their apartment getting some groceries. Coming back to the apartment, and seeing it trashed, and knowing Liz was gone, it had driven him insane and the fact he was unable to find her. While he figured she was at a facility, still he did not know where to strike in his desperation to get his wife back… He would come to the realization that the United States was a big place, and Liz could be anywhere…
While he would sacrifice himself any day of the week to know his wife was safe, still if they got him, then they could gain access to Michael and Isabel who were out on their own, and therefore he knew that he had more to protect than only himself…
At the same time, in captivity, Liz tried to protect Max but was enduring too much and that included losing a pregnancy that was only starting to form. She was devastated at the miscarriage as she sat in custody. But in her visits to Max through her dreams, she told him to stay away because she did not want to see him inflicted by a return visit to the White Room. She figured they would not do anything to her…
She was wrong, but she was determined to withstand the torture… if it meant Max could be safe.
Knowing this weighed on Max yet still, he did as she asked, and stayed away, but it would continue to eat at him. Failing in his fruitless efforts at getting his wife free finally forced him to call in the last people he wanted to put in danger, but he knew that he needed the reinforcements. He needed the support, and the help so, he made the phone call he was hesitant to make in calling in Jeff Parker who was aghast at what had happened to his daughter, and even to Max. Because he had read the diary, he knew all about the secret that defined his daughter’s husband. Grateful that his daughter had not died at age fifteen, he immediately stood up to the government and forced them to give him and his trusty lawyer access to his daughter. The trusty lawyer of course being Phillip Evans who was terrified for his daughter-in-law because of what he had known by now to have gone down with his son. Jeff Parker it turned out had started a support group of grieving parents who had their children suddenly disappear, and the members included Sheriff Valenti who of course knew all, Phillip and Diane and Amy Deluca and they had in turn read the diary, and so, they all knew… Therefore, Phillip and his wife now knew the gritty details regarding how bad it had gotten for their son and daughter and why they had to flee their hometown. So, he was prepared to do anything to help his son and Liz.
Phillip had also brushed up on his knowledge of the procedures of criminal law, and civil rights since the debacle in Utah and as a result, they had successfully got Liz released while at the same time as they sued the government for unlawful targeting unsuspecting and unarmed teenagers when they had evidence of who actually had committed the army base massacre and arresting an American born citizen without allowing her due process and in the end they took down the whole Special Unit syndicate.
As a result of the takedown, Max and Liz were able to passionately reunite but that reunion would end up being short-lived because of the damage of their separation and what it had down to their marriage, Despite every effort in attempting to move on, well, both knew life was now too changed by what Liz had been forced to endure and the simple fact that Max couldn’t save the love of his life without putting himself in danger.
So, they were unable to save their marriage because of circumstance that came along with the quest to get Liz free when in forcing the government to take accountability for their actions and to release their hold of Liz, many secrets ended up being revealed when Max could only do one thing and that was come forward with his status so he could remove the one thing that the Special Unit had over him, his secret status so they could flip the narrative on the government. The public soon came to understand just what the government had done in targeting citizens and those who were truly innocent. So, once he had come forward and told the truth, and the pandora box was lifted and as an result all their secrets were forced out into the world and therefore in the wake of Liz’s release and the successful suit against the government, they were forced to live in a society who now knew who Max, Michael and Isabel truly were. While Max was confident, they could ride it out because not everyone was suspicious of their motives. Still, that turned out to be a pipe dream because those early days were hellish with all the speculation that was heaped on their shoulders and on their marriage. Because everyone it seemed had a opinion and they weren’t afraid to voice it and their eyes were always one on of them, suspicious of their motives and therefore it put strain on their young marriage and added to the resentment within Max because he hadn’t been able to save her himself.
Liz never blamed Max. But Max blamed himself.
But at the same time Liz was forced to deal with the aftermath of her treatment in custody and because she was not ready to talk to anyone about it, and especially not him. A wedge started to grow between them and while they were truly in love, and their sex life was not the issue, although that was also lacking. Their marriage started to fray, as it could not help but sink under the weight of the pressure put on their union.
So, they separated.
Once they split. Both were restless and unsettled about what their futures would hold. Because she was now a national celebrity who took on the government and won. Harvard rescinded their rejection and offered her admittance to the university and she accepted and left for Cambridge while Max moved to Las Cruces to try university life.
Divorce papers were arranged for and signed through the mail and fax…
At Las Cruces Max had to endure the looks and suspicions. So, he found himself throwing his head into the books and found a passion for healing and learning about the human anatomy and how to heal without making it obvious he was using his special talent so that he could help the people who needed it. It was a rough transition as people wondered if he took the easy way out, because his scores were always so high, but he credited his workaholic life and his hours studying and they eventually started to believe him as he got them on his side. Eventually he was admitted into medical school and found himself on the road to becoming a doctor.
Now he was a resident in his hometown, but single.
And he planned to keep himself that way.
And when not working and back in his home, his nights were too often filled with memories of his brief time with Liz, and when he had it all, and how he had lost it all…
“Evans, hey, Einstein. You have got to snap out of it. You seem miles away?” came a sympathetic voice of his fellow resident Faith Patterson as she came on shift and into the resident’s locker room and saw that Max was being a space cadet. Faith was trying to get through to him for the last several minutes and was having no luck. “Max, where are you?”
The voice of his friend broke through the noise in his head and as he was coming back to reality, Max tried to shake his mind and rid his brain of the images of those days when he heard her final words and knew he was better than this but for some reason today made it worse. “Sorry, I guess I didn’t sleep that well” as they walked out of the locker room and onto the floor, as she took her place behind the desk.
Doctor Faith Patterson could only smile and give a nod as though she did not believe him, and he knew it as this was a common sight she had too often seen since they came to know each other in school. Lucking out to get the same residency, they had stuck together as they battled the daily patients. “Get it together because Doctor Lang is watching you closely,” Faith snarked. “You don’t want to get on his bad side” she asked as she passed the chart to Max to look at and he could only nod as he took the chart because they both knew their chief resident was a notorious for laying down the law on his residents and given Max’s history was checkered, the Chief was always watching Max closely and he always walked a fine line in relation to his Chief Resident, and so far hadn’t gotten burned.
So, Max knew he had to get to work but froze in place for a moment at the date on the top of the chart, on the in-take form September 18th
And he was immediately taken back to that day in 1999 when his life changed.
When he got a chance at a dream.
“Watch it Max,” Faith said again as she spotted his spacy look and this time though he quickly came back to reality and got started on his shift which was slated to be a double. Which he tended to do more often than other residents or he traded off with them because he always tended to want the diversion that work usually provided as he got quickly into routine of this day and the bustling nature of the emergency room where he was working on this day as he figured he would end up focusing on emergency medicine once it was time to nail down a specific residency because of the life and death stakes of each day and he didn’t think he could handle being a surgeon but he knew that is where Faith was headed, as she hadn’t made any secret of the fact that she wanted to be a cutter, and therefore she was gearing her career towards it, and Max knew that she was likely going to be a fantastic surgeon when it came time to move into the surgery program once this part of her residency was over with…
Max planned to stay even if it meant working under Doctor Lang.
“So, why do you space out so much?” Dr. Patterson asked as they stopped a few hours later and had a moment to rest as she had long been curious about Max because she knew the rumors that always surrounded her friend’s life and still he was closed off and none of them had ever been able to get a clear answer into why that was. She knew he had some unsavory tangles early in his life, but she would have thought since he was able to live out in the open, that it would bring his life more clarity and less tension. Yet to Faith. Max was very distant and guarded, and did not seem to have a life as he took on most of the shifts that people tried to pass off… And went looking for extra shifts when people were not readily giving them up…
“I don’t…” Max said softly.
“Yes, you do, and today especially and I am not the only one who has noticed or commented on it,” Faith mused. “I am just the only one brave up enough to bring it up to your face” Faith laughed. “So, what’s up?”
“It’s nothing,” Max murmured as he never liked to dwell on the past because too many people had questions when he did choose to talk, and as a result he had closed himself off because of what had happened in his youth and because of recent events, and therefore he didn’t feel the need to get into stuff that didn’t have any hope of changing because he knew people loved the lurid of his history. He would rather just not talk about it and so he old excuse that always seemed to do the trick. “It is just family…” he lied.
“Oh,” Faith said as she softened her approach. “So, how is it with your sister these days?” Faith said softly because she did know how Max’s sister made him worry because she had seen difficult days. “She took over your parent’s place, right?”
“Yes,” Max sighed as he was forced to deal with more memories than just those associated with the end of his marriage. How he missed his parents… It was all so senseless. “Better these days. Isabel is finally happy. She is even engaged.”
“Congratulations. I know it’s been a long road for her…” Faith asked. “And Max if you need someone to talk too… I hope you do know that I am here for you and I could be a shoulder for you to talk to?”
Max nodded “I appreciate it I really do Faith, but it’s best I leave it in the past and not add to the stuff in my life that I rather not dwell on it” he murmured as he rather not talk about it as it was too recent and too new. At least he was comforted with the fact his sister at least was at peace with her life. And for him, working kept him from thinking about the past. Most days at least. But today seemed like it was one for the books for him and he wanted to just concentrate on his duties as a doctor. Why must the past always invade my life? he mused. Shaking it off, and finally, he was starting to rid the memories from his brain and concentrate on his duties as he was now watching Faith prepare to leave to meet her husband for a mutually shared appointment as he waited for his next patient so that he had something to concentrate on, as he desperately worked to forget his past...
But then he also knew that was too fanciful to wish for but it was worth a try he mused to himself when the doors swung open before Faith was able to get out so not to be risk being called back into action as in came a gurney. Max waved off Faith, as he stepped forward and listened. “Domestic abuse victim found nearly beaten to death, daughter was a witness” came the paramedics as they wheeled the woman on the gurney, and he saw a small little girl walking quietly behind as Max saw a black eye on the child and rage filled him as he fought to steel his emotions as the patient came into focus. “Bruises all over the place, broken bones likely… unconscious since the scene.”
Max zoned back into the situation and away from the past and finally because engaged and alert for the first time all day as if this was why he was a doctor, and this was why he studied and spent so many hours between these walls. To help the unfortunate, and those who needed his help. “Where is the bastard who did this?” he could not help but remark as he tried to get a good look at the patient and winced at the damage done. The face was so mangled with bruises and blood… “Why?” he murmured almost out loud and tried to get his impartial face back that he needed to have as a doctor.
“Got away,” the paramedic cursed.…“The daughter called us” as they remembered the horror when they arrived and saw the little girl so upset and so hysterical as she was pleading for her mother to survive.
“Victim is also pregnant, 28 to 30 weeks it looks like” said the lead paramedic as Max concentrated on the facts being relayed to him as he made notes, but then a flick of the brown hair on the little girl brought instant horror to face. “Oh my god,” he whispered as he settled on the little girl in front of him. “Natasha?”
The pale and bruised little girl looked up at the doctor as if it was the first time someone was engaging with her as she felt eyes on her and the horror in her eyes changed and then they widened as understanding hit her and then the realization told her that she knew this doctor. “Max…” she whispered when he recognized her as she made the same connection, he did with her, and then she whispered in a haunting tone “My Mommy…”
“Please god no,” Max whispered as Faith stopped when she saw the horror in her colleague's eyes Please don’t let this be Liz or for this to have happened to her…”
“Who is it Doctor Evans?” Faith asked as saw Max zone out and swung into action and then again when Max would not answer, so, she repeated her question. “Max, who is it. Do you know this patient?”
“Yes,” Max nodded. “It’s Liz…”
“Who is Liz to you?” Faith asked as she saw the small girl who had instantly come alive and now was looking at Max with fascination and like he was her savior and it was odd for Faith to put the pieces together, and she wondered what had descended on their emergency room.
“She’s my ex-wife” was Max was able to utter as horror settled in on him as he focused now on the patient in front him with heart wrenching weight Oh god please let this be a dream he whispered to himself as memories played out in his head…
He needed this to be a dream.
But it was not to be…