The Promise (CC,M/L,Mature), part 10, 17 jun [WIP]

[willowbv]

TITLE: THE PROMISE
COUPLE: M/L
RATING:Mature
AUTHOR: willowbv


Chapter 1: The Old and New Converge



DESCRIPTION: this is in response to a post EOTW challenge by LoveIsForever, I read it and thought it was fab, so here it is. Check out the challenge at: http://www.roswellfanatics.net/viewtopic.php?t=997 if you want to whole story, but for those of you who don't here's a summary: Liz couldn't keep Future Max a secret from Max and one night a week after Future Max's visit, Liz tells her Max the truth...

AN/Disclaimer: This is my first fic challenge, I hope I do it justice. The fic is started at the moment Max sees Liz and Kyle in bed together, so the dialogue for the first section is straight from the eppy, it just felt right starting from there and I didn't want to change any of the dialogue...so do sue or throw me out : I do not own it, either do I own the Roswell characters, they belong to JK and his writers...anway, enough about the legalities (that's what's holding up the DVD's right?;) ) back to the fic.

Dedicated to LoveIsForever for her great idea...enjoy...oh wait (this is really the last time, I promise...)




Liz met his eyes, his shock reflected in his brown pools of pain, and her breathing ceased. Her heart like fragile glass under heated pressure softly and gently cracked, the pain seeping through the cracks, as she drowned in his anguish. His feet slowly backing away from her window drew painful sharp breaths from her lungs until she had to inhale again. Welcomed tears flooded her eyes, blurring her vision, releasing her pain. Suddenly feeling cold, naked and vulnerable, abandoned and utterly alone, she tightly clutched her bed sheets to her chest.

Kyle's quiet voice pierced the air. "I guess it worked".

Liz nodded soundlessly as her heart continued to crumble at the realization that it had actually happened, that in that second of eternity when their eyes had met, she had lost her soulmate.

****

His mind sentenced to stunned silence, Max's feet functioned on autopilot, his emotions numb. The images flashed through his mind with such violent intensity that his feet couldn't hold him up any longer. Max sank onto the park bench. He faintly registered where he was before the ice protecting his heart melted and he began to feel. The pain overwhelmed him with tidal wave force leaving him drawing sharp pained breaths.

Liz with Kyle. Laughing. Both of them. Together. In her bed. Flesh. Naked. Her naked thigh. No clothing. Their guilt. Her guilt. Surprise at seeing him.

The words reverberated through his whole being.

Liz had sex with Kyle.

My Liz made love to someone else...my love.

After all they had been through, after weeks of trying he had hoped that maybe-

but obviously not, he thought bitterly. She found a normal boy in Kyle. That's why she wanted to set me up with Tess, so she wouldn't feel bad when she was with Kyle.

"Are you okay?". The soft voice drew him to a pair of concerned blue eyes.

The spirit to fight his destiny, to fight contact with her at all, had slowly drained from his soul as the images of Liz and her betrayal bombarded his mind. Instead of asking her why she here or to tell her a lie and make her go away, Max lowered his eyes back to the ground and gave her an honest answer. "No".

He heard soft foot steps stop next to him.

"Can I sit down?" she asked softly.

With no coherent thought streaming through his mind, Max answered her question with a simple unemotional. "Sure"

****

"I've fought a thousand battles..." began future Max, "but watching you do that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

Sat cross legged on her lounge chair, Liz wiped the relentless streams of tears away from her eyes momentarily able to see. "The look on his face... on your face," she added. Every time his face appeared in her mind, she felt her heart break again, her insides curl up in anguish...but it was nothing compared to the pain she had inflicted on Max.

Her future husband's next words instantly dried up her fountain of tears and left her reeling with a shock to being slapped sharply across the cheek.

"Maybe it's for the best. For you, too."
Swinging herself around to face him she asked astonished, "What are you talking about?".

How could he think that having her soul mate, the only person on this planet who made her feel utterly and completely at peace and whole-

"I saw you with Kyle," he continued, " He's turning out to be a...a great guy. Maybe it would be better for you to be with a human"

The drought of tears over, her vision blurred again. A human?! Species didn't matter to her, it had never mattered. What did matter was the way her body glowed and came alive at his touch, the way his eyes consumed her every being, the way she knew that he was her one and only. He was her other half and she couldn't imagine life without his loving touch, his sweet explosive kisses. How could he not know that?

Her eyes burning with passionate conviction she said. "Don't you realize what you are to me...and you're always gonna be? You're the love of my life. Everyone else is gonna be second best. There'll never be another you."

****
"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked.

Max felt like crying, like blowing up something really big, like screaming that: heck no he didn't want to talk about the fact that the love of his life, the girl he had risked his life for, had just a few minutes or hours ago been having sex in her bed with her ex-boyfriend. "No" he replied simply.
He felt her nod yet his eyes never left the soil he had been blankly staring at.

"Do you want me to leave?" came her other question.

Max sighed. He didn't want to think, he didn't want to move and she was here, Tess, his wife, she was always here for him. "No".

****
The night was still, the silence she had once enjoyed was now a painful reminder of the laughter she would never get to experience with him. Instead his laughter and his smiles would be directed at another. "So Max and...Tess are going to be together now".

Liz unconsciously clenched her jaw after the mention of her name. She would enjoy her Max, his love, his gentle kindess-

"I don't know" he replied in a faraway voice. The brown eyes that had once held a wealth of knowledge were empty, the mind filled with memories of a future that would never be. "I don't know anything now. This is a different world".

No, it was the same world but without Max it was different, it was empty. Her eyes dropped to the ground. " I'm gonna be alone", she despaired.

" Maybe". He gently lifted her chin with his fingers to meet his eyes." Maybe not", a small secret smile oblivious to Liz faintly swept his lips, "From now on, the future is to be determined. It's what I've always said to you, Liz. We create our own destiny."

Liz nodded blindly...but her destiny wasn't with Max. His destiny was with Tess, she was helping him fulfill his destiny instead of the one with her, where she woke up to see him beside her in the morning, of making love to him. And before all of that, of eloping at 19, getting married in a Vegas Chapel and dancing the night away.

Maybe I could have that, she thought sadly. " Could you dance with me?" she asked hopefully.

His eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"I wanna have my wedding dance" she replied softly.

He stared at her for a moment and she knew he understood...that giving her this one thing was something that would help her breathe when nothing else would, it was something she could treasure of the life she would never have.

Standing in front of her, he held his hand out to her. Liz accepted it and sighed happily, losing herself in his arms, forgetting that this would never happen, swaying and twirling to the music played on their wedding day.

I Shall Believe.

At the moment the chorus played in her mind for one last time, at the moment Liz was preparing to offer her hand back to Max, reality came crashing down on her as vacant air and her empty balcony greeted her instead.
He's gone. Our future is gone. Max is gone. I'll never have the day.

Stinging tears filled her eyes, her loss suddenly and painfully evident, Liz slumped against her wall and sank to the ground.

****

Tess sat beside him, her mind feverishly at work. Slowly and tentatively her hand travelled down to cover his hand...and he didn’t move it away. Taking it as encouragement she gently squeezed it and he held on. Tess stared at their hands intertwined in stunned amazement. Whatever had happened to Max, it was very serious, she concluded.

Serious enough for him to actually let me touch him, she thought.

Her eyes travelled back to his tortured face. Tess was awestruck to find that she could not only see his pain but she could feel too. It emanated from him in waves, potent, constricting her throat until she too found it hard to breathe properly...because her husband, for the second time she could remember looked like a child separated from all he knew, stranded in an unfamiliar world, utterly and heartbreakingly lost. She guessed that only one person in his life had that power over him at present...Liz.

“I went to her bedroom... to convince her to go to a Gomez concert with me,” he began.

Tess frowned, dreading to hear about how poor torn Lizzie told him no. Max skipped ahead to the conclusion which made her eyes threaten to escape their sockets. A simple four worded statement. “She slept with Kyle”.

Concluding that he didn't mean slept in the context of mere friendship, she responded with a quiet.“Oh”. Internally, adrenaline coursed fiercely propelling her mind into hyper drive.

I guess since the whole turn-Tess-into-Liz plan didn't work, Bambi eyes found another way to help him move on. Sleeping with Kyle. Way to go Parker.

Her mind worked furiously. For this to work, she couldn’t say “Yes! Leave her and come back to me”. She knew Max, he wouldn’t come to her that easily; instead, from this moment on, every move she made had to be calculated, carefully planned and precise.

So instead of jumping for joy at the expense of his current temporary heartbreak, she softly squeezed his hand. “You know I’m not one for the Max and Liz fan club, but I really am sorry”.

His small smile signified his acceptance of her condolences, her heart soared as he gently yet firmly squeezed her hand.

****

Enveloped by the silence of the night, neither person said a thing.

Images flashed through Max’s mind of Liz: saving her, running his fingers through her silky hair at the crash festival, kissing her, loving her.

He couldn’t understand why she would betray him like that…she couldn’t.

There has to be an explanation, he thought resolutely.

****

When Tess found his hand slipping away from her, she knew. “You’re gong back to her..aren’t you?”

Without glancing at her he nodded and rose from the bench.

Tess followed.

“But she betrayed you Max, slept with Kyle of all people! You can’t just go back to her!”.

She nearly walked into him as he abruptly turned to face her, his intense brown eyes clashing with her electrifying blue windows.

“Tess, I know Liz…she wouldn’t to this” he said passionately.

“But she did Max” she insisted.

He shook his head. “There has to be an explanation...I have to know why”.

Tess relented, he was as stubborn as Zan in his past life; he was going to go back. She didn’t know how long Parker would hold out but she knew that Max wasn’t going to give up on them easily, not in something he believed in with all his heart.

Well, I’m just going to have to help him along, she decided.

She stood watching him as he turned to leave. Her heart stopped when he stopped and turned back to her. He placed his hands in his front pockets and smiled shyly, “Um, thanks for tonight”

Charmed by his endearing shy awkwardness, Tess shrugged and smiled.“No problem."

He nodded faintly acknowledging her reply. “Um, I'd walk you but..."

"Yeah" she nodded with understanding. He had to go and try to save his doomed relationship.

" Do you want me to call you a cab home?” he offered.

Tess broke into an amused grin. “Max, I’m an alien... I think I can handle myself…besides, I think I’ll stay here for a while”.

He nodded, “ ’night Tess”.

“’Night Max” she whispered as she sat back on the bench and watched him go. Her fingers trailed the place where their hands a few minutes ago had been comfortably to entwined. She closed her eyes, breathed deeply the cool night's air and relieved the memory.

[willowbv]

****

Liz jerked her head up in surprise when she finally recognised the familiar sensation flowing through her, as real and not a figment of her desperate imagination. From her huddled position on the floor, her gaze was drawn to his intense eyes…shimmering with felt pain, uncertainty...and maybe love?

Convinced by some irrational part of her mind that by uttering his name he would disappear, she whispered it instead. "Max". She struggled to her feet while self-consciously rubbing the tears away from her eyes.

He didn't move from the spot he stood, so she went to him, careful to keep them some distance apart, knowing that if they came into skin to skin contact, she would break.

He didn’t smile, he didn’t breathe her name, instead he stared at her with some a purpose unknown to her.

“Liz," he began, his voice controlled and his words clear and firm,"I know what I saw, but what I saw couldn’t be true because..." Her eyes flooded with tears as his voice caught in his throat and his control wavered,"because, I know you". The passion and conviction in voice as he said those words shook her, his eyes pierced into her soul and grabbed her heart with such force that it left her taking long quiet, slow breaths of air, she could feel herself starting to crumble"…and you would never do anything to betray us”.

His last words filled her with simultaneous joy and unbearable pain. He wasn’t giving up on them…but he had to, she had to make him or else their lives, that of their friends and the lives of people on earth would be destroyed.

“I’m sorry Max..." she choked out the words,"but it’s true”.

He stared at her unable to believe his ears. He wasn't quite sure why he didn't believe it, he had seen her with Kyle and what she had told him earlier tonight about wanting normal boys made sense and now she was vocally admitting it and it still seemed unreal, as if he would wake up and it would all be over. His heart was screaming at him despite everything that it wasn't true, that something else was going on, it just wasn't possible. This was the girl he had been in love with since setting eyes on her, the girl who had risked her life for him on several occasions, the girl who loved him back. “You’re lying”.

Her words of denial lodged firmly in her throat, she shook her head vehemently.

Max caught a fleeting expression across her face but it told him all he needed to know. His heart pounding with the drums of hope, he advanced towards her. “Yes you are Liz, you’re lying to me now just like you lied to me in my room tonight when you said you didn’t want to die for me. By knowing me...," his voice softened as desperate and earnest, separated by an arm's length of space, he stood in front of her,"...by loving me, you’re prepared to die for me, from the very beginning.”

“No”, came her forced whisper. He was too close, if he touched her then it was all over, after all the planning and everything she had gone through, if Max touched her, she knew she would have no choice but to tell him everything. She shook her head to try and gain some control over the situation and in the process side-stepped him as he attempted to close the gap between them. The reality was that she had to make him leave, make him believe without a doubt or else they would be burying Michael, Isabel probably Alex, Maria and Kyle's dead bodies if she didn't make Max follow his destiny. The words painted horrifying images and the images gave her the strength to whirl around to face him and in a clear collected voice say, “No, Max…what I said, it was all true and I did sleep with Kyle…Max, we’re over. Done. You’re with Tess…we aren’t meant to be, don’t you understand that?!”

He stared at her, searching her and it took all of Liz's energy to build up an impenetrable wall.

“So you slept with Kyle” he stated numbly. He felt a sense of deja vu as like earlier in the evening, the ugly bitter truth slammed straight into and through him.

“Yes” she said softly. He wasn't even looking at her, his eyes had a vacant expression and when they finally met hers again Liz's eyes watered, he wasn't empty, he was lost and confused.

“Why?” he asked helplessly.

Liz clenched her jaw in anger as she prepared to inflict more pain on her love. “For lots of reasons" she grappled for explanations,"...he was there for me and then…then..." she sighed,"it was a mistake”.

He recoiled as if she had just slapped him across the face. “A mistake” he repeated. His soft features hardened as he held her gaze in disbelief, she felt him draw away from her and suddenly the her heart couldn't stay silent, “Max...” she trailed off as he physically pulled away from her.

That very act pierced her soul that she almost doubled over in pain, her vision blurred and she felt him walk past her and heard his footsteps on her ladder grow faint as he descended into the alley.

Liz stood frozen to the spot on her balcony until finally she turned and felt a small shock at realising that the mission had been accomplished, Max had left and wasn't coming back.

There was no hope of him ever coming back to her, because she had made Max Evans, the love of her life, the only one she wanted to spend her life with, she had made him fall out of love with her and maybe even hate her. Her legs failed to support her and her body slowly crumbled to the ground with every step he took as he walked out of the alley.

****

Isabel was surprised to hear the Counting Crows blaring from Max’s room, she figured he had talked Liz into going to see Gomez but apparently not. He only played them when he was depressed, so she concluded that Parker must have said no.

She was equally surprised when her mother and father practically ambushed her as she hung her coat up in the hallway. It was then that Isabel noticed the worry in their eyes. Instantly filled with dread, she asked, “What’s wrong?”.

“Isabel is your brother okay?” her mother asked.

Isabel gave an audible sigh of relief. Max's relationship problems, she could deal with. “Liz turned him down again”, she smiled sadly.

Yet still the worried expression on their faces.

Isabel eyed them carefully. “What aren’t you telling me?”

“It’s just he was different tonight," explained her father," he came in looking very…I’ve never seen him like this before, he went straight up to his room and has been playing that music louder than usual and it's very late…something’s very wrong and he won’t talk to me or your mother...”

Isabel sighed, she was grateful for Liz's part in opening them up to the world of friendship and love but this girl was now causing serious problems, problems she didn't need to deal with when alien enemies were hidden and everywhere. “I’ll check it out” she said.

****

She waited till her parents went back to the living room before ascending up the stairs to her brother’s room.

She knocked loudly on his door, “Hey! Turn the noise down”.

The volume stayed the same. She placed her hand over the door and unlocked it, hoping to surprise him, she swung it open.

He was on his bed, staring at the ceiling. His heard jerked in her direction, she took a step and hastily retreated as with a flick of his hand, the door was shut violently in her face.

Isabel stepped back in shock at the uncharacteristic outburst. She was the one who usually used her powers to slam doors in his face. In those few seconds that she had been allowed entrance, she had caught a glimpse of immeasurable pain and anger. She considered for a nano second to try entering the room again but logic told her that it would be dangerous. Max for the first time in his life wasn’t in control, an out of control Max was unpredictable, it wasn’t safe for her to walk in.

I have to leave it, give him tonight, let the anger cool off and hope that tomorrow he will at least leave his room.

Downstairs she comforted her expectant parents. “He um just needs some time, he’ll be fine”.

****

Back in her room, she dialed Liz’s number.

A tired, groggy, shaky voice greeted her. “Hello?”

Taken aback by the strange voice she asked, “Liz is that you?”.

“Isabel” came the reply.

Isabel was in no mood for pleasantries and had no patience for tact. “What happened between you and Max-"

“-Isabel, I really can’t talk about it-“

An incredulous Isabel cut her off. “-Liz. He’s really upset, he’s more than upset...”

A tired sad sigh silenced her, her throat constricted as painful sobs reached her ear, Liz was crying.

“I know," she choked , "don’t you think I know that!”

Instantly sorry for her cold demanding tone, Isabel tried to apologise, “Liz..." she began softly.

“I have to go,” she said and suddenly there was a click and Isabel was left listening to a dialing tone.

She held the phone dazed. What exactly went on tonight? She wondered, what was it that had left both of them in such turmoil?

****

Kyle sat in his room staring at the ceiling. He had allowed his body to be used as a vessel but now, that didn’t feel too rewarding. Liz had sworn him to secrecy, so he had. Whatever the reasons she’d had, he could tell that she was still in love with Max. Whatever her plan was, it was screwed because now they were both hurting.

His door swung open, the shadowed figure of Tess stood in the doorway with a smirk on her face. “Well, I guess you don’t need me to help trim your lamp anymore” she quipped.

Kyle sighed and sat up to face her. “How did you find out?” he asked.

“Max” she replied.

He nodded understanding the implications of her reply. “Well, I guess now that he and Liz are over, you and I won’t…”, he gestured to him and her suggestively.

She shook her head and sauntered towards him. Kyle gulped as she bent down and whispered in his ears, her breath cool against his rapidly hot skin.

“Let me tell you something Buddha boy, you could handle Little Miss Parker, but believe me, you couldn’t have handled me.”

“Oh,” he gulped.

****

She leaned back and met his eyes and laughed with amusement. “Men are soo easy to get hyped up.”

Kyle felt a hope he had been unaware of dashed to the ground as she playfully ruffled his hair.
“Well I'm glad I'm a source of amusement to you” he responded dryly.

Tess grinned. Kyle was an okay guy for a human and if she wasn’t in love with Max, then maybe…but Max was her love, the one she was destined to be with, the destiny she had to remind him of and get him to accept.

She kissed Kyle fondly on the cheek before leaving. “'Nite Buddha boy.”

****

As the door closed, Kyle dropped back and groaned into his pillow, deciding there and then that he needed a cold shower.


****
In her room, Tess put her plan into action. She went through her mental list of possible candidates until she reached the person she was looking for.

Judy Simmons picked up on the third ring.

Tess frowned as she brightly spoke into the phone. “Hi Jude, sorry to call so late,” she began.

“Don’t mention it, you don’t sound so good what’s up?”.

Tess grinned and rolled her eyes at her mock concern. As if the girl actually cared.

“Well it’s just…you have a lot of guy friends…so you’ve dealt with break-ups right?”she asked baiting her.

“Right” replied Judy.

Tess shook her head amazed at how easy it was to get her to bite. “I need some advice.”

“For who?”.

Right on cue, she thought with pleasure. Adopting a concerned tone she replied. “Max”.

“Max Evans?!”came the surprised outburst.

Tess could practically see her mind working and the hungry for gossip in her eyes.

“Yeah," she continued in the same concerned tone, " he just found out that Liz Parker slept with Kyle Valenti, you know her ex? he went to her bedroom all ready to whisk her away to a concert for a romantic evening and he found them…" she paused for effect, "...together.”

“No!” came the entertained, shocked but expectant response.

Tess almost burst out laughing at how smoothly this part of her plan was working out. Struggling to keep from giggling, she continued,“Yes…he’s really broken about it as you can imagine. He thought that she was the One and then she goes and sleeps with her ex?! And you know Max, he’s such a sweetheart.”

“I know," came the sympathy,"how awful.”

Tess adjusted her position on her bed to a more comfortable position. “So you got any advice on how to help him? He’s in a real fragile state you know?”

“Yeah, well first off…”

Tess rolled her eyes, managed to paint her nails, said that "yes she understood" at the appropriate points until finally Jude finished her advice diatribe.

“Thanks Jude” she said with her well rehearsed grateful tone.

“Don’t mention it," came the equally practiced reply.

“Oh and do you think that you can keep this to yourself?...I don’t think Max wants it to be made public, he’s really shy.”

“Sure.”

Tess rolled her eyes in disbelief.

“Good, see you in school.”

“Bye.”

Tess hang up the phone with a satisfied grin. The news would be all over school by Monday. Jude Simmons viewed her as an enemy, like Tess actually cared. They had a frenemy relationship and used each other when necessary and today Jude had come in real good use.

By Liz would be the evil cold hearted girlfriend and Max would be the wounded ex. Liz would have probably held out tonight and tonight was all Tess needed.

She knew about egos and pride and maybe without it being publicly known Max could have maybe tried to get back with Liz but to be reminded of it everyday and by everyone? No one could take that, not even saint Max. He would give up what little hope he had of a future with Liz and turn to his destiny with her, and she planned to help him every step of the way.

[willowbv]

PART 2
****
Kyle was awoken by the increasingly loud, annoying, persistent knocks on the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he muttered. As he dragged himself from the sofa to the door, a thought occurred to him that it might be one of those kill-kill-kill skins that he now had to watch out for.

But why would they knock? came the rational part of his mind.

When Kyle opened the door to find Max Evans standing in front of him, he wished desperately for that kill-kill-kill skin. Sleep vanished from his eyes the instant their eyes met. His heart stopped and then began thumping wildly. If he was Max and had his power and felt the way Max did about Liz, then only one thought would cross him mind.

Evaporate the dude who landed his girl.

Gripping the door in preparation to slam it and run for dear life, Kyle managed was a casual and calm "Max!... hey".

The fact that Max's expression was unreadable did nothing to help slow down Kyle's racing pulse. He searched for any emotion, anger, pain, at least he would know where he stood but this, this was making him very uneasy.

"Hey," he nodded.

Kyle nodded back not sure what to do.

"I came to see Tess," he said finally.


"Oh...", he nodded with relief. Max had come to see Tess and not to do some alien damage to him, there was a God. "...just wait here, I'll go get her".

He opened the door and let Max in before hurriedly making his way to Tess' room.

****

Tess' beauty sleep was disturbed by an annoying, insistent knocking and hissing of "Tess, wake up!". Not moving off her bed, with a wave of her arm, Tess opened the door.

"What?" she asked with closed eyes.

Kyle's tone was anxious and hushed. "Max is here."

Her eyes flew open and she gave Kyle her undivided attention. "He's here?" she asked.

What would he be doing here in the morning?

My plan hasn't even taken full effect yet, he can't be that easy.

"Yep, waiting in the living room," Kyle replied.

Tess nodded and considered changing for her night wear.

Wait, I'm in baby dolls, she thought as she walked of her room out with Kyle behind her, how innocently sexy can you get?

As the neared the living room, Tess noticed Kyle's uneasiness as he walked behind her. His hand placed lightly on her back almost pushing her forward was a dead giveaway.

"You're scared of him aren't you?" she teased.

"Think I shouldn't be?" he asked.

"Nope," she replied.

Grinning, she left him at the entrance to the living room and then watched him disappear back down the hallway. Tess turned her attention back to Max who seemed unaware of her presence. Tess took this as an opportunity to study him and come up with a strategy. He looked awful and worn out, he still looked lost and all she wanted to do was hold him. But that would come later.

He turned and met her eyes.

"Hi," she said crossing the room.

"Hi," he greeted her in monotone.

She was slightly disappointed that his eyes did not seem to notice her baby dolls but then again, he was here to see her and that was all that mattered.

He stood awkwardly in front of her and hastily stuffed his hand in his pockets. Tess suppressed a grin, did he know how cute that was?

"Max?" she coaxed.

"Um, I just wanted to say thanks for the other night," he said.

"Not a problem," she replied. Intrigued by the fact that he wouldn't meet her eyes, Tess said, "not that I don't appreciate it, but you came here, early, to tell me that?"

He finally met her eyes. "I need a favor."

Ah, now we get to the point.

"Anything," she said.

As long as it doesn't involve you trying to talk to Liz or helping you and Liz get back together.

"I need you to help me switch classes," he said.

Tess felt like jumping for joy, controlling the urge to smile, she forced herself to keep the concerned-friend expression going strong.

"The ones you have with Liz."

He nodded, "I know it's asking a lot..."

I'd do more, if I could, she thought joyously.

"Max, I'll do it-"

"...it's just, it would be too painful to be around her..."

"Max-" she said.

He really needs to stop his compulsion to explain everything, she thought amused.

"I need a clean break-"

"Max!" she shouted to get his attention. " I got it, it's fine. Just give me a few to get ready and we'll do this okay?"

He sighed with relief. "Thanks Tess."

She grinned and went to get ready.

****

Kyle quickly stood up from her bed as she entered her room.

"How is he?" he asked cautiously.

Tess almost burst out laughing, the expression of fear on his face was priceless. "I don't think he'll kill you...but I'm guessing you should talk."

"Talk?". He said the word as if it was alien to him.

"Yep..." she nodded patting him on the back," you know, come to an understanding, exchange words of hate, anything 'cause I need my room back."

Kyle groaned as she ushered him out.

"I can't wait till we clear up that spare room and I can finally have a hide out," he muttered.

****

Max turned to see Kyle standing awkwardly in his boxers in the living room.

"She'll be ready in a few," he said.

"Oh," he nodded.

He hadn't expected Kyle to open the door. He had prepared himself to how he'd react to him, but as soon as he laid eyes on him, he realized that nothing could have prepared him for the surge of emotions: anger, anguish, the urge to turn Kyle into dust, to punch him, envy that he was a normal boy and then resignation.

Kyle's voice broke the uncomfortable silence that ensued.

"Um, do you want anything to eat?" he asked.

"No thanks," he replied.

"Okay".

Sounds of clatter and opening cupboards were heard. Then Kyle re-emerged with nothing.

"Look Max, about Liz, I'm sorr-"

"Don't apologize Kyle, you have nothing to apologize for...Liz and I weren't together," he added sadly.

Kyle opened his mouth and closed it again. Max guessed from his manner what the unspoken question was.

"I don't hate you Kyle," he said,"it took two for that to happen."

Kyle nodded and visibly relaxed. "Do you hate her?" he asked.

Max sighed. Did he hate Liz Parker? The answer to that question alternated but mostly he was immensely immersed in pain, memories and pain to come to a final answer to that question.

Kyle was unsure of how to interpret the silence. What he did know was that Max was in a pain he couldn't comprehend and he had played a part in causing it. Max and Liz together officially or apart officially, were never apart. He felt guilty, even though nothing really happened.

Tess' entrance broke the silence that had once again descended on the pair.

"Sorry it took long, ready to go?"

Kyle glanced at her and sighed wistfully knowing that he would never have her now that Max was single and available.

"Later Kyle," she waved as they walked out the door.

"Later," he said dryly.

****

Tess had taken the fastest shower of her life and thanks to her alien powers, dressing up had been a cinch. She slid into the passenger seat next to Max and it felt like home, where she should be, by his side.

"Thanks again for doing this Tess," he said.

"Max, really it's okay, what are friends for?" she enthused.

He gave her a small grateful smile."I owe you".

And I aim to collect, she thought mischievously as he revved up the engine.

****

Journal Entry
28th February

Why does the world keep turning?
Day turns into night, night turns into day and the cycle keeps going on when it should have stopped the night Max climbed down my ladder. Why does everything keep going on as if nothing's changed? Why am I still breathing when it hurts to? And now I have to go to school, walk through the halls and sit in my seat in biology first period with him, knowing that he hates me, knowing that I hurt him.

I'm going through life as a passive responder, just reacting to situations because I don't want to be here, I don't want to think or to feel, I just want to curl up on my bed and feel nothing and be nothing just for a little while because it hurts...a lot. I know I saved us, saved the world but right now I don't care, why did it have to be at the price of my happiness? And I hate her. I thought I hated Pam Troy but I just dislike her, I hate Tess for ruining my future with Max, I hate her more than I have ever hated anyone in my life, but that doesn't matter either because I still don't have Max. I don't have that day in Vegas, I don't have our future.

****

Tess grinned at Max as he strolled out of the principal's office. The relief on his face told her all she needed to know.

"Mission accomplished?" she asked.

"Accomplished," nodded Max as he fell in step beside her.

It had been pretty easy to get the Principal out of his office, Tess had just had to mindwarped him into thinking the janitor had called him to see some graffiti on the far end of school. Then she mindwarped the secretary into seeing the Principal and had him tell her to change Max's schedule immediately. While Tess distracted the real Principal, Max walked into the office and picked up his new schedule.

"So what do you wanna do now? We have some time to burn before we should even be at school" she joked.

"I don't know, I don't care, anywhere," he shrugged.

Tess frowned, he was so lost and still in pain.

All over plain-jane Liz Parker, she thought bitterly.

Quenching the jealousy that accompanied the thought, she said, "Okay, how about we just sit in your jeep, stare at the sky, whatever," she shrugged imitating his tone.

He smiled, a genuine amused smile.

Progress, celebrated Tess.

****

Tess was true to her word, instead of making him talk about it, they just sat in his jeep in silence. Max was grateful for the silence for a while but then he wanted to talk. What struck him was that he had been trying to avoid Tess all this time and when he needed someone to just sit with him or talk, it wasn't with Isabel or Michael or Maria, it was Tess. She was there, just at the right time.

"I slammed a door at Isabel using my powers," he admitted." I got kind of crazy over the weekend, I used my powers a lot, carelessly...I just felt so much that it seemed to be the only way I could express anything-"

"without it being painful physically" she finished softly.

Her words startled him, "exactly, how did-"

"You did that a few times," she replied.

He looked at her in confusion.

She met his perplexed eyes and gave a small smile, "You know, in Antar."

"Oh..."

Antar, his past life. The source of all his problems. In the past few days however, he had began to wonder whether it could be the solution to his problems, that maybe Antar had always been the solution.

"I forgot that you have memories" he continued,"...so I did that a lot?"

"Not really," she grinned, her smile faded as her eyes were lit with a faraway look. "When people died, soldiers, families...when it got bad. It hurt you a lot...and when we were alone, you'd just flick your hand instead of getting up to get a glass, wave your hand over your clothes instead of dressing up the normal way."

"How much of our lives back on Antar do you remember?" he asked.

"Most of it," she replied, "some bits are vague but the feelings are distinct, or when you, Michael or Isabel do something, it strikes a familiar chord."

Max nodded. He considered what it would be like to remember his home, the life he lived before...with Tess by his side. Would it take the pain away? Would his life make sense again?

"Did you apologize to Iz?"asked Tess.

"Yeah, we made up," he replied. "She was a lot surprised." he continued as the memory of Isabel's reaction to his behavior resurfaced,"... I think I scared her but she understood why."

"So, is she catching a ride with Alex or someone?"

He shook his head. " He has the flu, so she's taking the bus".

"Iz, taking the school bus?" she asked incredulous.

Max managed a small smile. "I know, but she wanted to," he shrugged.

Another wave of silence descended, a phenomena that Max was growing increasingly fond of because the pain was easier to handle that way.

"So, how are you?" she asked finally.

"Better," he replied.

"Right", she nodded while her brows creased in confusion.

"I know," he agreed, " how vague is that? it's just, I can't describe how it feels to know that it's over with someone. That this person who you thought you'd be spending your life with-to see them someone else...", eloquence failed him,"... it sucks"

"Hey, you're preaching to the choir," she said lightly.

It was then that the reality of their situation occurred to him again. Tess was his wife on Antar and he had chosen Liz over her. She knew exactly what he was going through.

"Two failed relationships on two planets, that must be some kind of record," he said dryly.

"Well ours didn't exactly fail," she said.

Max shot her a quizzical look.

"I mean," she continued," we're here talking as friends, there's no harsh name calling, we can still be in a room with each other and so far there have been no exchange of energy balls, so I think it was really quite an amicable relationship separation," she finished.

Max pursed his lips as a small smile struggled to escape. "You're funny," he said.

"I try," she shrugged.

****

[willowbv]

****

Isabel sighed as she got on the bus.

"The things, I do for my brother,"she muttered as with a frown she looked around the bus for a place to sit.

Her eyes settled on a despondent figure staring out of the window. Liz looked like her heart had been trampled over, she observed. But then again, so had her brother's. Max had given up everything, risked his and their lives for his precious Liz Parker and she had repaid him by taking his fragile heart and running over it with a truck.

Fire lighting her eyes, Isabel purposely made her way over to her.

Liz engrossed in feeling nothing, in pretending to be invisible, didn't notice Isabel's presence till a cold, controlled, "Hey," brought her back to her sub-zero reality.

Startled, Liz turned to meet the cool eyes of Isabel Evans. "Isabel!".

"Liz."

Her manner told Liz all she needed to know. She wanted to talk about Max, Liz needed to maintain her composure and talking about Max was a sure fire way of demolishing it.

"Look if it's about Max-"

"No it's about you Liz."

Her clueless expression signaled Isabel to continue."It's about you and me Liz. Remember when Michael took Maria's car to Marathon?"

She nodded. What did Marathon have to do with why Isabel was talking to her now?

"Remember, when we stopped over for gas and you told me that you wouldn't take Max away from me and I sort of said I wouldn't take him away from you?"

"Yes," she replied guardedly. She wasn't sure where this was going but she definitely knew it wasn't to a conclusion which would bring a smile to her face.

"I just realised that I was fearing the wrong thing," Isabel continued," what I should have been weary of, was of you destroying my brother ...and that's what you've done Liz, you've taken his heart, ripped it apart and left his world upside down."

Isabel saw her flinch at her words and unsympathetically half rolled her eyes. She wasn't the victim here and there was no point in trying to win pity points. The Max-agenda was over now as Isabel's own anger at being betrayed took over, " I actually thought that we could be friends, but I was deluded " she spat. "We may have to work together to keep our lives safe Liz, but we're not friends and you," she paused and looked at her in disgust,"are something I cannot even begin to describe."

With that, she stood up and left without so much as a backward glance.

Liz looked after her through blurred vision. She deserved that, she had ripped Max apart, she had seen it in his eyes the night he walked away from her but what she hadn't prepared herself to see was the anger masking the hurt in Isabel's eyes. The reaction from the others was something she had been unprepared for. They probably all hated her, it had taken them a while to trust her and become friends with her and most importantly of all, trust her with Max. She had broken that trust, granted for a good reason which they had no clue about, but she had broken it none the less and now would have to live with the consequences.

****

As she stepped off the bus, Isabel thanked God that she took the bus, at least now she could some damage control.

"Later Isabel, " waved Cindy Jones.

"Later," she waved before hurrying to find Max.

****

As Max walked down the halls to his locker, he knew something was wrong. Almost everywhere he looked were curious eyes and sympathetic looks. He met Tess' equally mystified eyes.

"Max is there something-"

"Hey Evans". The solemn sympathetic greeting was followed by a pat on the back.

Max turned to find Eric Stevens from his Civics class behind him. "Heard about Parker screwing you over with Valenti..." he continued.

What?!

Max's heart stopped, his eyelashes flew up in surprise as Eric gave him one last pat in the back,"...tough break man, hang in there".

"Thanks," he responded in monotone.

"Sure," he nodded before disappearing down the hall.

Max finally allowed himself to breathe normally. Turning to an equally stunned Tess he asked, "How did he find out?".

"I have no clue," she shrugged.

Great, just great, he thought. Not only did he have to handle the whole Liz and Kyle issue, he now had to handle it under public scrutiny.

"You okay?"she asked softly.

Max shook his head , he just wanted the whole nightmare to be over. "I just wanna get to my locker," he replied.

The journey to his locker felt like slow, painful hours. Max gripped with paranoia, felt eyes on him, heard whispers from every direction and the for millionth time since Friday, wanted to be invisible. Having Tess beside him helped, at least he wasn't alone. Both he and Tess screeched to a halt as Isabel came out of nowhere.

"Max-" she began breathlessly.

"We know, the news is out and the gossip mill is on fire," said Tess dryly.

Isabel turned to him, her brown eyes instantly filling with concern. "You okay?".

No, he replied silently.

"I'm managing" he replied aloud.

"Good" she said, " 'cause, it's gonna get worse."

"What do you mean?"he asked. How could it get any worse than it already had?

"On the bus, four girls gave me their numbers to give to you" she replied.

"And..."he asked cluelessly. What did phone numbers have to do with the situation getting worse?

"Max?! Hello?!, You were unattainable, then you dated Liz, now you're wounded, available and looking for a rebound-" she said in one breath.

"So desperate females are ready to give you sympathy," finished Tess.

Max dropped his head with defeat. "Great".

"But don't worry, it's bad but not that bad" said Isabel.

He stopped a few feet from his locker as he eyes landed on his locker door. "Are you sure?" he asked dryly. He pointed to the balloon and teddy on his locker door.

Isabel grabbed the card. "Gwen Allen..." she frowned, "that girl has no shame."

His life was a nightmare. Max sighed as he opened his locker, blindly searched for books and tried to believe Isabel's reassurances.

"...but seriously Max, we can handle this-"

"-Evans!.."

Max removed his head from his locker and followed the voice to Neil Matthews, a guy he had gym with, "and heard the news man, hang in there buddy!", came the call.

Max raised an incredulous eyebrow at Isabel. "I gotta go," he said brushing past her.

"Max".

Ignoring her call, Max pushed open the boys bathroom door and retreated there for some solace.

****

Isabel looked helplessly at her brother's retreating figure. Hadn't he been through enough? Now some loud mouth seemed determined to make matters worse. Her eyes drifted to Tess beside her ,whose eyes were fixed on the boys bathroom door, and a sudden thought occurred to her. "Well, you must be happy," she said.

"Why?" asked Tess.

"Well, you always wanted max and Liz apart," she accused.

"I won't lie," she shrugged, "but this is not how I wanted it go down. I care about Max, Isabel and to see him like this...it makes me sad...and mad".

Isabel nodded. Anger was definitely a shared sentiment. "You and me both...I uh had a little talk with Liz on the bus".

Understanding the extent of the "little talk", Tess nodded and with a suppressed smile said,"I guess you expressed it for both of us."

"Hey". They turned to find Michael standing in front of them." What's up with the balloons?" he asked.

"Haven't you heard?" asked Isabel.

"Heard what?" he asked.

"Max is in the bathroom, make sure he's okay and he'll fill you in," said Isabel.

"Why don't you?" he asked. Whatever this was, it didn't sound good.

"Because we want to make sure he's okay," said Tess.

"bu-"
"Just go!" they ordered in unison.
Michael held up his hands to shield himself from the verbal assault."Okay," he said before retreating to the boys bathroom.
****
"Hey Maxwell, you in here?!" he called.
"Yeah" came the monotone reply.
This is definitely not good, he thought. Max sounded dead, drained, lifeless and Michael knew of only one thing that would create that effect. Liz Parker.

"The girls wanted me to make sure that you were okay..." his words trailed off as a cubicle door opened and out stepped Max. Drained, tired and defeated. Michael had never seen him like that, the only word he could think of to describe Max at that moment was, hopeless and that definitely wasn't Max. This was serious. "What's going on?" he asked.

"You mean you don't already know" he responded lifelessly.

His expression worried Michael, the whole situation worried him. It also irritated him because it worried him. "That's why I'm asking" he responded.

Max crossed the floor and standing next him, opened the tap, washed his face, finally met Michael's troubled and confused eyes in the mirror with an answer Michael could have never guessed. "Liz slept with Kyle."

There was a moment of stunned silence before Michael responded.
"Come again?".
****
Max left the boys toilets just as the bell for first period began. Michael had kept him in there longer than he had intended to stay. He just didn't quite seem to believe it and Max had had to take him step by step relieving each painful moment.

He stepped back as he nearly bumped into Tess.

"Hey" she said.

"Hey," he said.

Max joined her as she turned and started walking down the hall

"You were in there for a while, you okay?" she asked.

"No thanks to Michael but I'm managing" he replied.

"Not exactly Mr sensitive is he", she said.

"Well there's that" he replied with a rueful smile," but suprisingly, he couldn't let it go, like he didn't believe me."

"That's weird," she said.

"I know, but I think I finally convinced him."

"Max," she held his arm to stop him from walking, "I don't know about you but after our early morning mission, I'm kinda hungry. I was thinking of hitting taco bell, you wanna join me?" she asked.

"Now? But we have a lesson," he objected.

"Max, missing one lesson won't leave you miles behind," she said, " besides, don't you think you need some air after the drama in the halls?".

Max considered her proposal for a few seconds before agreeing. He did need some time to prepare for the school nightmare.

"Great, because you have the keys and the car," she grinned, "now lets go before we get spotted.

****

Michael emerged from the bathroom troubled and puzzled. The Liz and max saga had taken another confusing twist. Michael couldn't believe that Liz betrayed Max, he had read her journal, he knew how deeply she felt, she would never do that. Determined to extract the truth from her, Michael decided to skip Spanish and wait for Liz to come out of bio.

*****

Liz blindly wrote down what Mr. Seligman was writing on the board while her mind processed the revelation he had given her a few minutes earlier. She had prepared herself to face Max in bio, to sit next to him and just be civil. But all her practice was brought to nothing because Max had changed his timetable . He would no longer be her bio-partner. She assumed he had managed to switch his other lessons too and in doing so, his message was clear: he hated her and wanted to stay away from her. The truth of his feelings, signified by the empty seat next to her, was publicly obvious.

Liz gulped down the lump that threatened to explode into sobs and tears. Max had a destiny, one which didn't included her, she had to get over it. The only problem was Liz, wasn't sure if she could.

****

Things grew worse when exiting her class, she came face to face with an expressionless Michael.

She sidestepped him, "Michael not now" .

He grabbed her hand and led her to a small corner. "Yes now," he said.

"What?" she asked in defeat. She was too tired to fight, it took energy which she didn't have.

"What?!" he exclaimed," I come to school and the gossip mill is raging about you and Kyle-"

Liz's heart stopped and her heart felt his pain. "It's all over school?! Does Max know?" she asked.

"What do you think?" came Michael's angry reply.

"Oh no," she mummered. The whole issue was getting blown out of proportion. Max knew, the school knew and soon Maria would too. Liz was thankful that for now, she had drama practice, she could avoid her for at least a few hours.

"He's crushed and that's an understatement. Now suppose you tell me the truth," he demanded.

Avoiding his scrutinizing eyes, she said, "that is the truth".

He instantly dismissed her words. "Like hell! Liz, I read your journal, I know how you really feel-"

"Things change" she argued.

"Not that much", he retorted.

Liz began to panic, Michael wasn't going to let it go, she knew she couldn't argue for a too long before she cracked and she couldn't let that happen. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself against the pain and with a frustrated run of her fingers thorough her hair, she met his eyes.

"Look Michael, Max and I are over," she said cooly," I slept with Kyle. I don't want him, deal with it."

****

Maria closed the door to the Crashdown. After a busy night, she was ready to unwind and take care of one little problem.

"Liz chica, we have a little problem to take care of," she said as she slid onto a stool.

After hearing the news in the girls toilets, Maria had tried to talk to Liz but she had disappeared at lunch and always seemed to be in a hurry to her lesson.

"What's up?" she asked.

"There's a rumor going around that you and Kyle- you know...". Maria couldn't even say the words, the whole thing was ludicrous."...that you two slept together, but don't worry, we'll get the real word out and get it sorted."

"There's nothing to sort out because it's true," she said.

Maria paused for a moment in stunned disbelief. "I'm sorry, I think I'm suffering from an auditory hallucination because it sounded like you said it was true."

"It is," she confirmed.

"You slept with Kyle?" she asked shocked, "Kyle Valenti, when Max was going to take you to Gomez?!."

Liz merely nodded, a calm action which infuriated Maria.

"Liz why would you do that?!- forget that, why didn't you tell me?" she demanded.

"I didn't want to," she responded as they headed out to the back room.

"Why?" asked Maria," Did he like do something to you ?" a whole number of scenarios played in her head,"Did he-"

"No! Maria, I was upset about Max, and Kyle, he helped me and was there for me and-"

"You proceeded to sleep with him," she finished in utter amazement.

"It was a mistake," said Liz.

"A mistake?!". Maria couldn't belief that she was talking to Liz Parker, her best friend, committed to marrying and saving herself for Max Evans, who had just lost it to Kyle Valenti?!. " Liz what is up with you?" she ranted as she waved her hands in the air, "I mean you lose it to Kyle, not tell me your best friend in the whole world and what about Max?".

"Will everyone stop asking about Max!...".

Her outburst shocked Maria speechless and the cold emotionless tone which followed left Maria hurt, confused and outraged.

"...We're over, he's got his destiny and I'm moving on with my life. Deal with it, get over it because I have."

Liz knew she was hurting Maria but she had no choice. She had to be cold, she had to act like she didn't care or they would find out just how much she cared and that would mean the end of the world. Drained of all energy to fight, Liz knew she had to end it quickly.

"Look, " she sighed, "I'm tired right now," she turned and walked up the stairs to her room, " I'll talk to you later."

Behind her, a hurt insulted Maria waved her arms in the air in frustrated defeat. "Whatever."

****

Tess hummed as she filed her nails. Her plan was working better than she had expected. The news was everywhere, Max was crushed, their relationship had made more progress in one day than it had since she first came and to top it off, Isabel was anti-Liz.

Tess knew Max loved Liz but she also knew that he loved her...he just didn't remember yet. She would help him get over doe-eyed Liz and help him remember how much she meant to him. And unlike little Liz, when things got difficult, she wouldn't quit on him like a coward and end their relationship. Max Evans was a great guy and Liz had been a fool to give up on him, let him go and put the nail in the coffin by sleeping with Kyle. Tess was determined not to make the same mistake.

****

[willowbv]

Say hello to Tuesday, enjoy

TUESDAY

Max walked along the bleachers thankful for the peace and quiet and general absence of people. He had just had trigonometry, one of the classes he couldn't change on his timetable, with Liz. With no free seats available, they had been forced to sit next to each other. As if being subjected to sit next to her wasn't enough, her strawberry scent closed the distanced between them, he had been trapped by it. He couldn't help noticing the way she pushed her hair behind her ears out of the corner of his eye and he couldn't forget that he couldn't touch her like that ever, that she didn't want him to anyway.

"Whoa, hold on there cowboy" came a female voice.

Max jolted out of his dark abyss of pain and realized that he nearly walked into the legs belonging to a raven haired beauty.

Struck immediately by her luxuriously chocolate brown eyes, he quickly mumbled. "Sorry."

"Don't sweat it," she shrugged, " no harm no foul." She offered him her hand, "Name's Mackenzie, but my friends call me Mac."

Unsure of what to do, Max automatically shook it. "Max, Max Evans."

"Max is short for..."

"Maxwell, but only one friend calls me that and that's when he's mad at me," he added as an after-thought.

"Didn't need the long story but okay," she said.

Her blunt answer captured even more of Max's attention.

Who is she? he wondered.

She obviously hasn't heard the news, he thought bitterly.

"Are you going to join me or carry on with your solitary stroll?" she asked.

Fascinated by her carefree attitude and the way she easily dismissed him, Max sat down beside her. They sat in silence for a while. A silence which made Max increasingly uneasy and curious. He sneaked a few glances at her to try and read her but got nowhere, she just comfortably stared down onto the football pitch.

Her silence intrigued him.

"So, how come you're up here?" he asked finally.

"Same reason as you." she replied. Meeting his questioning eyes, she continued, " hiding from romantic turmoil."

Max nodded and looked back onto the pitch, the cheerleaders were working on new routines.

So she does know who I am.

"You're kind of public property right now," she said, "...which is good for me 'cause I'm in the shadows."

Her answer created another moment of silence in which Max tried to solve the enigma that was Mackenzie.

She's escaping from romantic turmoil, she's here for the same reason as me...but Liz and I broke up, which means....

With his eyes still on the pitch, he asked, "What happened with your boyfriend?".

"What makes you think it was a boyfriend and not a girlfriend?" she challenged.

Max looked at her with apologetic eyes.

Why must I assume?!

"I didn't kn-"

"Relax Max", she cut him off with a smile, " I'm a raging hetero. You tell me your story and I'll tell you mine."

"But you know mine," he replied.

"I've heard the rumors," she shrugged and looked at him, "there's a difference between rumor and truth."

Max considered not telling, he shouldn't tell her because she was this stranger that he had just met, but somehow in those seconds their eyes locked, all his doubt slipped away. Looking back to the pitch, he took a deep breath and began, "Her name's Liz Parker and as you know, and I've been in love with her from the moment I saw her..."

Max gave her a detailed account of his and Liz's relationship, skimming and vagueing up the alien related parts. When he finally finished, he realised that it was strange, but even though his relationship with Liz ended with heartbreak, if he could, he wouldn't take anything back.

"So what's your story?" he asked.

"Surprisingly same as you," she replied.

"You're kidding!," he said suprised.

Either this was an extreme coincidence or she was lying and trying as Tess put it, to get into his pants. Max decided to believe the former, Mackenzie seemed different, he wasn't the only one in the world suffering from heartbreak.

She shook her head, "Nope. Swap Kyle for a best friend, sorry ex-best friend, and Liz's bed room for a drunken party bedroom and your after scene with a during scene and you basically have my story. Oh and I fell in love with Jason in high school, not kindergarten," she added.

"Whoa," he breathed as he processed the enormity of what she had just said. He had seen Liz and Kyle in bed together after they slept together while Mackenzie had been subjected to pain of seeing them in the act.

"So you caught them in the act?" he asked to clarify his thought.

Avoiding his eyes, she glanced down at the pitch, "Saw everything. Lucky for me we go to different schools so the hoopla is a minimum. When I caught them, I wanted to throw down right there and then."

"Throw down?" he asked.

"You know," she turned to face him, " get violent? But self restrain kicked in and I just left. Happened two weeks ago...feels a lot earlier though...So what caused you to escape here?"

Max was again struck by her sudden shift of behaviour, from bitterness to a carefree flippancy and a swift change of subject. She was in pain, that was for sure but she somehow seemed to be able to manage it better than he was.

"I had my first class with her and after, I just felt like being away from people, it hurt to be around her," he answered.

"I hear you loud and clear. Jake and I hang out in the same circle out of school, so I've been kind of a recluse...that's why I'm up here."

"It's peaceful," he agreed.

"Quiet, calming, pick your adjective, it basically rocks for people like us," she added.

Max smiled and shook his head in amusement, Mackenzie really was something. She was naturally beautiful, her raven hair hanging loose, her olive skin offsetting her intelligent eyes, it would be easy to think of her as frail and weak. Max was beginning to realise that she was anything but, he liked her. That in itself, considering the turmoil that was his life, was surprising, what was even more amazing was his reaction to her offer. Without actually resolving it in his mind, he took it.

"Max Evans, this is your lucky day," she said suddenly.

"Why?"he asked.

"Because how often do you meet someone who knows exactly what you're going through and offers to show you how to navigate the ropes of heart break?" she finished with a smile. Mac presented him with a card. Max glanced at it.

"First one's my cell, second my home, third, my pager but," she warned," if you're blowing up my pager, it better be major".

Max looked at her and then back at the card, once again unsure of how to react. Rational kicked in as he reviewed the facts: He has just met her, didn't know much about her other than her romantic life, he didn't need to call her.
His heart also added to the debate: She was nice, had an air of hidden strength, was different to anyone in his life at the moment and he was interested in being around her.

"You're in the can't sleep or if I do, it's really late stage right?" she asked, breaking into his thoughts.

His silence was answer enough.

"I'm a late sleeper," she smiled, "give me a call to talk or whatever. You don't have to say anything" she added before he could respond, " or say you will but you won't out of politeness. I won't be sitting by the phone waiting for your call."

Max didn't even try to hide his astonishment at her words.

Talk about brutal honesty, he thought amazed. Mac saved him the trouble of even beginning to verbally respond to her offer .

"Gotta blaze," she said glancing at her watch " time for bio," she added standing up.

She glanced down at him and flashed him a quick smile before swiftly walking past him. "Later Evans."

Dazed and intrigued, his eyes followed her as she made her way along the bleachers. "Bye Mackenzie," he called

She stopped and turned, "call me Mac."

He smiled. "You're not from around here are you?" he asked.

She cocked her head to the right and with a raised eyebrow and a voice filled with amusement, asked, "What gave me away? My urban style, my slang or the fact that I have a pager and a cell?".

"All of the above" he answered, "...why do you have both?" he asked.

"Max, no offense but you live under a rock in the middle of nowhere and sometimes, the reception on a cell sucks, a girl's gotta be prepared."

He shook his head in amused agreement."Where are you from?" he curious.

In the distance, the bell for class rang loud enough to draw Mac's attention. "Not that I'm not fascinated by this Q and A, but I gotta jet, later."she waved.

"Later," Max responded softly as he watched her hop down the rest of the bleachers.

****

At 2am that night, Max picked up his phone and dialed Mac's home line. The phone rang for a while before someone picked it up.

"This better be life or death," came a deeply irritated sleepy voice .

"Um Mac?" Max managed.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

"Talk fast," came the reply.

Definitely a bad idea, but I can't back off now, he resolved.

"It's Max, Max Evans from today, you said-"

"Sure yeah, what's up Max?" she asked.

"Am I calling at a bad time?"

"No, I just have exquisite phone manners," she replied dryly.

Max smiled, yep that's Mac.

"I thought you slept late," he teased.

"Well, I severely underestimated how hectic my day would be," she replied, her voice void of any tiredness.

"Oh," he said.

"So what's going on?"she asked.

Max took a deep breath. He had stayed up so far thinking and Mac was the only one who wasn't too close to home that he could talk to. "Well, remember Liz?"

"The girl of your dreams, the one and only, broke your heart, the one who all pale in comparison to, that Liz?"she replied.

"Yeah," he smiled ruefully, " well...she's not the only girl in my life."

"I'm listening."

Max shifted uncomfortably in his bed, unsure of where to start, he started from the beginning of Tess's arrival in Roswell. "A few months ago, my ex, Tess-"

"Tess Harding?"she asked.

"Yeah, you know her?" he asked.

"Heard about her," she quickly replied, " but anyway continue. Tess is your ex and..."

"Sort of...we kind of didn't officially break up...Liz and I broke up over that last year, she says Tess is my destiny, that I still," he struggled to say the words,"... that I still, love her."

"And do you?"she asked.

Max rested the back of his head against his wall, "I don't know," he sighed, " Liz was all there was. I thought that she was it, but now that I may have been wrong, my feelings for Tess are...awakening."

"Are you sure she isn't rebound girl?"Mac asked skeptically.

"Definitely," he replied.

"And you know this because..."

"I just know...She's no rebound."

He couldn't explain the flashes he had seen of him and Tess this afternoon. In English, she brushed past him to sit down and he got a flash of the two of them together, not kissing passionately like before, but sitting together in a park. He was gently stroking her hair, he was reading a book and the simple yet powerful love he felt, had left him reeling. Tess herself seemed completely unaware of the flash but that was probably because she was already there, she remembered their love. Then when he dropped her off home, without even touching him, with just a lock of their eyes as she closed the door with a wave, she had left him with the image of them kissing softly in his kitchen.

"Max? You there?" asked Mac.

Shaking away the memory, Max focused his attention on Mac. "Sorry, yeah, I'm here" he replied.

"I was saying that since Liz was obviously wrong for you, maybe Tess actually is who you should be with. I mean, you said when you were with Liz, you didn't even want to consider Tess as a possiblity....but maybe that's because she was the one and you were too scared to admit it."

"You think so?"he asked. It made sense, considering how things turned out, it made perfect sense.

"I think it's an option you need to explore, you need to know what you feel about each of them... clearly."

He nodded. "Thanks."

"No big...I just thought of something while we were dealing with your angst, you free tomorrow afternoon?"she asked.

"I have my two last periods off, why?"he replied.

"I thought you could kick it with me and mine."

"You want me to hang out with your friends," he asked to clarify.

"Yes."

"I don't know..."

"Max, I have two weeks up on you so trust me. When your world basically sucks the way yours and mine do, you need to detach yourself from it, do something completely removed from your normal life and me and mine, definitely fit that category," she argued.

Max pondered this for a moment before replying. "Well since you put it that way..."

"Great, what's your last class?"

"Trig, room 203" he replied.

"I'll meet you after class then."

"Okay," he agreed.

"That's the spirit."

"Mac?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for this."

"Later Max."

Max smiled into the phone, "Later".

****

In her highly comfortable double bed, Mackenzie felt incredibly uncomfortable. Sitting up on her bed, she reached over and turned on her bedside lamp, opened her drawer and took out the only thing that would make her feel good about what she was doing.

Unfolding it, she read the letter as if for the first time.

Serena,
What I am asking you to do has be to precise and calculated, the lives of all of us, and the people on earth hang in the balance...

Her eyes lingered a moment more on the last line before carefully folding the letter and placing it back in her drawer. She turned off the light and settled in to get some sleep. She had a busy day ahead of her.

[willowbv]

Wednesday – Part 1

"Hey," Michael greeted Max as he sat down opposite him. Max replied in the monotone tone Michael had grown accustomed to since Liz's betrayal. Michael studied him as, expressionless, he chewed his sandwich. In his assessment, nothing had changed, the dark circles were still under his eye and he was still basically a shell, existing but not really actively participating in life. What Michael found strange was that Liz exhibited the same symptoms, she wasn't acting like a girl who didn't want to be with her boyfriend. It was as if they were both in mourning, which he couldn't understand because only one of them should be.

For all his protests against their relationship, Michael had to concede that Max was better with Liz and vice versa. That was why he still had difficulty believing that Liz had really done the deed with Kyle. It didn't make sense because, she was the faithful, sappy type, she would never betray Max. The dominant motive behind his disbelief was his established faith in their love, which if exposed, he would vehemently deny. They were his hope that the world didn't suck, that it could really work. If it didn't work for Max and Liz, what hope did he any of them have?. So whatever the drama was behind this turn of events, Michael was determined to keep his eyes open to find it.

"Long night?" he asked. He had stopped asking whether he was okay or not, the words had been used until they were meaningless.

"I feel like crap but-"

"But..." he queried. Could there be a possible silver lining?

"I'm beginning to think, that maybe what happened was a good thing."

"Come again?"he asked dumbly.

"I've been thinking that if what I felt for Liz, what I thought she felt for me, if our whole relationship wasn't what I thought it was, then maybe..."

"Then maybe what?" he asked. He certainly did not like where this was headed.

"Maybe, the destiny I've been fighting with Tess, is the right thing," he replied.

Michael's silver lining theory was shot to hell in one simple sentence.

"Maxwell," he began," you're nursing a broken heart, you're not thinking straight."

"I think being with Liz stopped me from seeing things clearly Michael," he protested," from feeling what was right in front of me, my destiny with Tess."

Michael wanted to reach across the table and shake the insanity out of him. He went for a non-violent approach instead. "I was destined to be with Izzy, but that will never happen," he argued.

"You were betrothed, I was married, there's a difference," he replied.

Michael went for a different strategy. He knew it was low but desperate times called for desperate measures. "Are you saying that Liz was just keeping you warm for Tess? That you risked our lives for nothing?" he asked with feigned anger.

"No, I'm saying that Liz and I didn't work out for a reason, I never want to take back what I did, but now... there's Tess."

Michael felt like getting up and leaving the table but opted for a restrained response. "Don't make her the rebound girl Max," he warned.

"I'm not!...I've been getting flashes, memories of her since yesterday and today when I saw her-"

"Spare me the details," he interrupted. He shook his head in disapproval, first Liz, now Max. The two people in the world he relied on to be sane and rational, had suddenly lost their minds.

"I have to see where this leads Michael," he pleaded.

"And what about Liz?" he asked.

"Liz and I are over", he replied sadly,"I have to let her go because she let me go".

****
"So, you talked to Liz yet?", asked Alex as he unwrapped his sandwich. His first day back at school had greeted him with chaos. First there was news, confirmed by Maria, that Liz had slept with Kyle Valenti. Secondly, that she callously broke Max's heart and then, that her and Maria were not talking to each other.

Alex could understand that though, Liz and Maria were like sisters and there was some female code that meant that failure to share big life events like one's loss of virginity, would lead to an incredibly icy atmosphere.

Like the one that's about to descend on me right now, he realised, as he saw Liz approaching them.

"No," replied Maria.

"Well, here's your chance." Before Maria could protest, he rose up and collected his belongings as Liz reached them.

"Hi," he greeted her, "Later," he smiled before seeking refugee somewhere else. The alien table was a no go area, he spotted Tess and Isabel headed over to sit down. Tess had been a factor in the Max and Liz breakup and the madness which had obviously possessed Liz, which meant that there would be tension and Alex certainly did not want to be in the center of anymore tension unless he had to be.

He spied the members of the Whits at a table.

Ahh, safety.

****

Liz sat down opposite Maria, her amused smile at Alex's hasty departure faded as her focus returned to the present situation. Maria was her best friend and of course she was hurt. She knew that if the roles had been reversed, she too would be hurt and angry. Maria deserved an explanation, but it was one Liz couldn't give, so instead, she would apologize for not telling her about Kyle and for snapping at her and of course, lie. Things would be okay between them, there would still be a rift but things would be okay between them and Liz was happy with that. She already had Max hating her, she didn't want to be isolated from Maria more than she already had to be, more than she had to be to everyone, by keeping the secret Future Max had given her to carry.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Maria looked at her expectantly.
Liz sighed. Here come the lies.

"I should have told you about Kyle..." she began, "I was upset about Max and I slept with Kyle to make the pain go away...I was selfish really," she shrugged and smiled sadly, "not exactly the way I planned to lose my virginity."

Maria's eyes softened with concern, "I'm sorry, I got mad-"

"You had every right to be," Liz protested.

"I should have known it was a Max thing-"

"Maria!". Her commanding voice finally silenced her. Softening her voice, she continued "it's me who should be apologizing, not you, so let me okay?"

"Okay", she smiled," apology accepted."

"Thanks."

"Speaking of Max," she began and noticing the way Liz tensed at the mention of his name decided to take a softer approach, " I know you're hurting Liz, you're both my friends, but he's hurting more...he's got more reason to."

Liz nodded in agreement, as the image of Max's pained expression flashed before her ."I know, but he seems to be managing just fine," she added miserably.

"What do you mean?" asked Maria.

"Earlier this morning, I spied Pam Troy hitting on Max, Tess was behind me. She rushed over and saved him from her claws".

"And..."

"And" she continued," then they got all chatty and comfortable, she touched his arm like they were together and he seemed to like it...he smiled and laughed Maria, he seemed happy...", Liz momentarily closed her eyes to prevent the tears from falling. She had to stay strong. "I know we're not together and I don't want us to be," she lied, " it's just...I didn't think he'd get over me that fast."

"He's not over you," argued Maria, "I don't know what you saw but Max and Tess are definitely not together."

Liz was distracted by movement on Max's table. She watched as Max gently led Tess away from the table and into the school building.

"Wanna bet?" she challenged pointing to the disappearing pair.

"I'm sure there's an explanation," said Maria.

"It doesn't matter," she said shaking her head, " what he does with Tess is his business, not mine." Her eyes lingered on the building before turning back to focus on Maria who had wisely changed the subject.

****

"Max, what's up?" Tess asked. She hoped the reason for this talk was the one she had planned for. She smiled as she watched him stuff his hands in his pockets.

Maybe, just maybe...

"Yesterday and today...I got...flashes of you, of us, together," he said.

Tess smiled briefly before asserting her face to one of innocence. "What kind of flashes?".

"We were in my kitchen...kissing, in another one, we were sat on my bed and you were laughing into my chest..." she nodded knowledgeably as he trailed off.

"I've had them too," she said.

And I mindwarped you to have them too, she silently added with glee.

"When?" he asked.

"When we first met," she replied, " it's just our mind reminding us of...well it doesn't matter really does it?" she lied.

This was playing out just as she'd planned, now all she had to do was play it cool and nonchalant and he would come to her.

"I don't know...Tess," his pleading apologetic brown eyes met hers, " I know things between us didn't start well...but these past few days, you've helped me and stood by me and I just want to apologize about the way I treated you."

"Apology accepted," she smiled, "...and my offer to teach you the memory retrieval technique is still open...we could do it after school," she suggested.

Immediately she saw him pull away. Bad move, she chided herself, it's too soon. What happened to playing it cool? A voice asked her. Tess smiled wryly, playing it cool had gone down the drain the moment Max had aimed his chocolate browns in her direction.

"Thanks," he said, " but I don't think, I'm ready for that stage...yet."

"Not a problem, " she shrugged, "I'm ready whenever you are."

He stared at her for a while before speaking and Tess was only happy to stand under his gaze, "You're really great, you know that?" he said," To wait for me after everything with Liz...why?"

"All I can say is that in our past life, you must have been a great husband," she grinned as he blushed. He was so worth the wait. "...and don't worry Max, we'll take it slow."

This day was turning out to be great, thought Tess joyously. First off the little morning show, she had given Liz after getting rid of Pam Troy, the hurt and surprise on her face had been priceless, if only she knew that it was all in her mind. Secondly and more importantly, now Max was finally beginning to see things her way. Both victories were achieved with a little help from her mindwarp, a power she was really beginning to appreciate.

****

[willowbv]

Wednesday – Part 2

When the bell rang, ending his last official lesson of the day, for the first time that week, Max bounded out of his classroom. Mac had arrived ten minutes earlier and had spent that time distracting him with her witty exploits. She had spent that time observing his fellow classmates, deciding on their character, and then proceeding to make eye contact with him and either frown, roll her eyes or mouth "hot boy." And with regards to the latter, it had taken him about three attempts to understand what she was saying and when he did, he silently chuckled.

Mac had entered his life just when he needed something, someone to take away his pain in a non self-destructive way and that had earned his trust.

"Good lesson?" she asked innocently as he fell in step with her.

"Last ten minutes were the highlight," he retorted.

Max followed her lead as she gracefully wove her way through the sea of students currently making their way to class.
They finally reached the exit which led to the car park. "You got some hotties in your class Max," she said as they made their way to her car, "present company included of course, maybe I should switch classes."

"Aren't you supposed to be nursing a broken heart?" he asked goodnaturedly.

"I've had two weeks to nurse it," they came to a standstill in front of a silver Porsche, "plus a girl's gotta know what's on offer," she finished.

While his hearing was receptive to her words, the rest of Max's attention was drawn to the expensive piece of car technology in front of him. "Is this yours?" he asked impressed.

"Yep," she answered proudly," isn't it the bomb?".

Trailing his fingers along the hood of the car, he replied, "She's something".

"Something?! This is a 911 GT3, with a flat 6 24 valve engine," she began passionately,"goes from 0 to 62miles per hour in 4.5 seconds and the maximum speed is 190, it's more than something,"

"You know a lot about cars," he said impressed.

"What like girls aren't supposed to?" she challenged.

Colour flooded his cheeks. "Of course not- why do I always find myself apologizing or defending myself to you?" he asked.

"Because I make you think," she replied bluntly," I'm cool like that, " she grinned. She nodded her head towards the passenger door. "Get in."

Max hesitated for a moment before sliding into the car's leather interior.

He only had one life to live, at least one he could remember, it was time he freed himself a little.

Mac slipped into the driver's seat beside him. "Fasten your seatbelt," she warned.

The tires squealed, the music blared and Max anticipated the various destinations of his adventure.

Twenty minutes later, voices were buzzing with excited news of Max Evans and the new girl. The news reached Tess, who wondered if she was new competition to eradicate. It reached Maria who decided it was wise not to tell Liz, while Isabel, worried that Max had fallen into the rebound trap with some scheming witch.

****

"Where are we going?" he asked anxiously as desert scenery flew by. Mac's adherence to the speed limit had ceased a few miles back when they turned into unused desert roads and speed made Max very nervous.

"Relax, we're almost there," she smiled. "Can you grab my Mya album from the glove compartment please?" she added.

"Sure," Max replied. Opening the compartment, he rifled through a collection of c.d's, found the desired album and stumbled across Mac's driving license. Slipping the c.d. in, he turned his attention to her license, first off why did she have it in her car and not in her purse or something? And secondly, what did the S stand for?

"Mackenzie S. James," he said aloud, " what does the S stand for?" he asked.

"That, you will never find out my friend," she replied.

"You tell me yours and I'll tell you mine," he baited.

She didn't bite. "You don't have a middle name," she smirked.

"How do you know?" he challenged.

"You told me your full name, you're a straight arrow Max, you would have told me your middle name when we first met," she replied triumphantly.

Max smiled ruefully. "Your middle name's that bad huh?" he asked.

"You have no idea," she replied.

Her tone implied heavy subtext which Max tried to extract from her expression but just like the first time they met, she was giving nothing away. The squeal of car tires, revving up of engines and joyous shouts stopped him from pursuing the issue further.

"We're here," she said as she pulled into the chaos and parked next to a brightly decorated green car.

Porsches, Mustangs, Lexus, Audi's cars were everywhere, different types and different colours. Max's attention was drawn to the circular clouds of dust, which rose, as a car continuously circled around a pole at an amazing speed.

Ahead, a line of rising dust indicated a race between two cars, a red one and a black one. The evidence was clear and unquestionable, yet Max still wanted to hear the actual words said loud and confirmed by someone other than himself. There was just no way that he, Max Evans, was in the midst of illegal street racing.

Slowly, he unfastened his seatbelt. "Where's here exactly?"

Mac turned off the engine, opened the door and got out of the car.

I guess the evidence pretty much speaks for itself, he told himself. Acknowledging that staying in the car would get him nowhere, Max had no choice to but follow her lead.

Propping her arm on the roof of the car, Mac explained. "We pick different points of the desert," she said, "places where people don't go, so as no one not involved gets hurt."

Max nodded as he once more surveyed his surroundings in amazement. No longer protected by the cocoon of being inside the car, denial was nowhere to be found as the truth dawned on Max with powerful clarity. "You street race," he stated.

"Desert race," she corrected him.

He met her shinning brown eyes. "It's suicide, it's illegal," he added.

"Not suicide actually," she corrected him as they leaned on the hood of the car, "dangerous? Yes. Life threatening? Definitely, but not suicide and yeah" she shrugged, " it's illegal...but fun."

Max looked around him, he still enthusiastic about his quest for freedom, but this had to be his limit. "Mac," he began apprehensively," this is insane, you can't seriously be expecting me to let you do this?".

She turned to face him. "Well for one, you can't stop me and I expect you to watch me and then join me."

Max was momentarily stunned into silence. Her serious expression was responded to be one equally as serious and honest. "No," he said shaking his head," this is not me."

"Exactly the point," she said. "Look Max, we're not fools, we know the risks and we're as careful as we can be, but, " she shrugged helplessly, "we have a need for speed."

Max looked around, noticed the smiling faces and the energy that seemed to be emanating from the whole set up.

It does look kind of fun...but I don't have a need for speed, this is more of Michael's thing. I'm the reliable, rational one...but what if for once I'm not?

A victorious grin spread across Mac's face as she watched his anxious disapproving expression change to one of curiosity. There was hope for him yet.

She slapped his back back to reality."Come on," she said as she led him to her friends, "I'll introduce you."

Max followed as she led him to a group of two girls and two guys leaning against a car talking.

"Hi guys," said Mac.

" 'Whassup Macky Mac," greeted a blond haired guy with a black hat. Max watched with interest as he pulled Mac into a bear hug.

None of us greet each other like that as friends...apart from Liz, Maria and Alex...but that's because they're normal teenagers and I'm...not, he thought sadly.
He tuned back in just in time to hear Mac introduce him. "I want you to meet my friend Max," punching his arm lightly she joked, "Max here is a straight arrow, but we're gonna liven him up a bit" she grinned.

"Max," she pointed to a blond haired girl with the red top, "that's Eva," to the male brunette with the metallica t-shirt, she referred to him as Bren, Jen was the " cool-chick" and Ace was the blond haired guy with the black hat.

Max marveled at the various ways they greeted him. Eva greeted him with a "Yo" and a nod, Bren shook his hand with a "Hi", Jen hi-fived him and Ace offered him his fisted hand which Max tentatively met with his own.

"Well, I gotta go race," said Mac suddenly. Max turned to face her and frantically and silently tried to express his discomfort at her suggestion.

She can't leave me in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of people I don't know, he panicked.

Ignoring Max's alarmed look, she continued, "I'll let Ace show you around," she beamed and with that she was gone.

Max slowly turned back and smiled nervously at the group who were busy studying him. Unnerved by their scrutiny and feeling very much like he was auditioning,he unconsciously stuffed his hands in his pockets and frequently glanced at his shoes. Finally Ace wrapped his arm around his shoulder and with a laugh said, "Come on, I'll show you around."

[willowbv]

Ace was larger than life, always smiling and always joking, he treated Max like an ordinary guy and they were just hanging out. It made him feel normal. Ace's tour introduced Max to the cars and people of desert racing in Roswell. Most of them went to other schools and were, as signified by their cars, quite wealthy, there were a few from West Roswell but Max neatly avoided them. The whole point of this expedition was to detach himself from the familiar, to deviate from his normal "straight arrow" life and racing was just that. He marveled at the sight of a car driven by Luca draw a figure-eight on the ground without stopping.

An introductory tune blared out from a large stereo and immediately a crowd started to form in front of approaching clouds of dust.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"I Want A Girl Like You," said Ace, as if that explained it all. Seeing Max's clueless expression, he pushed his way through the crowd until they got to the front. "It's Mac favourite song, which means it's time for Honey."

"Honey?" he asked as he watched three cars speeding towards them. A red and black one one either side parallel to each other and Mac's silver Porsche a few feet behind.

"Yeah," nodded Ace, " Mac's gonna drive between those two cars."

"Are you kidding?!" he asked incredulous.

"No," he replied, "that girl's got some mad skills," he added with heavy admiration.

Max watched in amazement as Mac's car filled the space left in the middle of the two cars. All three cars drove side by side in a parallel formation for a while before Mac's car sped ahead and came to a screeching halt a few feet from the crowd. There was silence as the dust settled, then the crowd erupted into deafening cheers, Max looked around dazed . This was dangerous and these people were probably crazy but, in the midst an alien environment he found himself feeling at home.

He watched as Mac hopped out of her car did a graceful victory dance as she made her way to him.

"Well, see anything you like?" she asked.

"I still stand by my opinion," he replied but was unable to stop himself from smiling.

Mac nodded with understanding and broke out into a wide smile, "But, you're willing to come out with me?".

Naturally, fear gripped him but he took a breath and shrugged it off.

No more over-thinking to the point of paralysis, he coached himself.

He nodded. "Why not".

****

"Stop the car!" he said through gritted teeth. Mac finally obliged to his request and skidded the car to a stop. Without saying a word, Max unfastened his seatbelt and exited the car. It felt good to feel the ground under his feet with his feet, in fact, it felt good to be alive.

Mac went around the car and stood in front of him. "Max-"

"This was a bad idea," he said.

"Maybe," she conceded," but tell me this, in any of that time, did you even once think about Liz?"

"I was too busy thinking we were going to careen out of control !," he replied.

"My point exactly!..." she retorted.

Max ran a frustrated hand through his hair. She really was crazy.

"...No Liz thoughts at all," she continued, "and you have to admit, there is nothing like the rush you get out it, you gotta give me that," she added softly.

"Okay" he conceded. She was right on all counts, being in a car and pushing its limits was terrifying, ergo no thoughts about Liz. Being in a car and pushing its limits also raised his adrenaline levels to an all time high and adrenaline was a drug he could lose himself in with no side effects except maybe death but then that side-effect contributed to the increase in adrenaline levels.

Mac dangled her keys in front of him. "So how about you get into the driving seat?"

"Give me a minute," he replied. The fear was there, the adrenaline was there but his feet still craved solid steady ground, he needed some time to recover from his first "need for speed" experience

****

An hour later, Max came to a screeching halt and grinned with satisfaction as the dust he had created settled.

"Max, you're a natural," enthused Mac.

"Thanks," he grinned.

Driving was a rush, the first couple of attempts had ended badly until Mac coached him how to handle the car and not let it handle him, after that, it had been smooth sailing all the way.

Both were startled by the loud banging on the driver's window. Max rolled down the window and was greeted by an array of compliments.

"You've got some skill!" enthused Ace.

"Yeah, not bad for a straight arrow," smirked Bren.

Max breathed a silent laugh as he got out of the car. "Thanks," he blushed.

"Tell me you're coming next week," said Ace.

"Um..."

"Of course he is," answered Mac. Max considered debating the subject but it was four against one, he'd talk to her about it another time.

Max spent the rest of his time there sat on the hoods of cars with his new found friends, watched others race, listened to music and generally had a good time. When the music died down and farewells were exchanged, he felt happy, content that today he had been a normal teen boy with no over-burdening concerns.

It was just fun.

****

"So what's the news on Tess?" asked Mac.
They were driving back to Roswell and Mac had picked the topic which brought Max crashing down to ground zero.

The disaster that was his life and his attempts to rebuild it.

"She invited me over to her house tonight, but I said no," he replied.

"Why?" she asked slowly.

"Because I'm not ready for-"

Max broke off as Mac suddenly pulled the car over to the side of the road.

"Hey-"

"Max," she interrupted, " I haven't known you that long but I've got your number, you will think too much to the point of paralysis..."

Has she read my mind? He thought surprised to hear the familiar words.

"... you over analyse. Liz is done, Tess is an option you need to explore, so go explore it," she ordered softly.

Max sighed in defeat, she was right as usual. "I can't just go over now," he protested.

"Of course you can...at least after we eat, you hungry?" she asked.

Max stared at her for a moment surprised at her quick change of subject. Right there and then, he decided to give up with his quest to understand the workings of Mac's mind and just enjoy the ride. "Sure," he replied.

They stopped off at Zen's Burrito bar. Max ordered a burrito and asked for some Tabasco sauce. Mac ordered a burrito, asked for some Tabasco sauce and sugar and proceeded to mix the two in the burrito.

Noticing Max's disgusted expression, she retorted, "You don't hear or see me wrinkling my nose at your Tabasco overload."

"You have some too," he countered, "and sugar?"

She shrugged, " it's my thing, you should try pizza and apple sauce, I discovered that one after losing a race."

"Excuse me?" he asked.

"Didn't Ace tell you?".

Max shook his head. "I thought you raced for money".

"Money we have plenty of Max..it's all about torture...the loser of a race has to perform a dare chosen by the winner. I unfortunately lost on one occasion, way way back when I was a rookie in Seattle and had to eat a large pizza with apple sauce...joke was on her though 'cause I liked it."

"Seattle, that's where you're from?" he asked.

"Where I spent most of my life, but I'm actually from Roswell, well my parents were, we have a house here so I visited a lot," she replied.

"So then they decided to move back?" he asked.

"Not that simple. My parents died, car accident,"

"I'm-"

" Don't say you're sorry, it's...well, what it is" she shrugged helplessly. " Lucky for me they were loaded because I'm well provided for. My aunt was my guardian but..um, we didn't get on too well, so when I turned 18, I took control of my family estate and decided to move back here."

"You're 18?" he asked as his mind tired to process the information she had just given him.

"I kind of skipped out on a year of school during my early teen rebellion," she replied sheepishly.

"So you live alone?", he asked.

"Not really, I have a live-in cook, maid and chauffeur slash butler who I've grown up with so they're practically family."

Max was tempted to pity her but stopped himself, she didn't seem upset about it or indicate that she was deprived in anyway and he had a feeling that Mac wouldn't appreciate pity. "Why did you come back to Roswell?," he asked instead.

"Jason", she replied. "Our families have been friends for a long time,our families had a business merger so we were always together. We actually got together in high school in Seattle and then he moved here, but we continued long distance. So I figured what better place to move to, to be with my boyfriend and all my friends? So moved here, caught him cheating on me, heartbreak, meeting you, which brings us to the present."

"You've been through a lot," he said.

"That's life," she grinned ruefully, " but you know what? It's not too bad, where I am is fine...despite everything."

"I know what you mean" he agreed, "...this whole thing with Liz, I wouldn't have met you or your friends if it hadn't have happened and I'm smiling and grinning right now because of you Mac. I could be spending this time staring at the ceiling in my room and drowning in my pain and pity...which I will later,but I'm doing it less," Max took a breath as he tried to explain just how much he owed his sanity to her, " I'm here with you having fun..." he covered her hands with his, "you've saved me from extreme depression, Mac, from the dark hole I know I would be in for a very long time..." suddenly embarrassed by his intensity he trailed off.

Mac leaned in till their noses almost touched. "Don't fall for me Evans," she said.

"I didn't-"

He caught her smile, "I really need to relax," he nodded anticipating her response.

"Yes, yes you do," she nodded, "now let's get in the car and let's get you to Tess so you can be on your way to sorting through, the deep darkhole," she added in a melodramatic tone.

"Shut up," he smiled.

****

Max knocked on the door, he turned and saw that Mac was still parked, watching him. He shook his head amused. She really had been serious when she'd said that she would wait to make sure he didn't bolt at the door...something which Max was considering doing. Tess opened the door thus sealing his fate.

"Max" she said surprised.

"Hi," he replied nervously.

Was he ready to do this? To remember everything, his planet his home, Tess?

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Um yeah" he replied.

I can't do this.

The loud car beeping drew his attention. He met Mac's raised eyebrow and knew what he had to do.

He turned back to Tess. "I was wondering if this is a good time to...try the memory retrieval techniques."

"Uh sure, Kyle's out with a few of his jock buddies, he's become the man since the thing with Liz..." she trailed off as she saw him flinch at her words. "Sorry"

"It's okay," he said. Hearing about Liz and Kyle was something he was getting used to dealing with, he had to because later on it would probably be Liz with some other guy, a normal boy.

"Do you wanna come in?" she asked.

"Sure" he added. He turned and waved at Mac, their signal of mission completed. Mac nodded and drove off.

Tess watched Max as his eyes followed the car disappeared around a corner, what really captured her attention was the fond smile that crossed his mouth.

"Oh hey," she asked," who was that?".

"Just a friend," he replied as he followed her in.

Just a friend you don't want to talk about, she added silently. Her research at school had come up empty, all anyone knew about the girl was that she was new, kept to herself, definitely wasn't from Roswell and was now in the dreams of every guy at West Roswell but that she had taken a liking to Max. A liking which Tess wasn't in support of because it seemed to be reciprocated.

"Does she have a name?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Tess, I didn't come here to talk about Mac," he replied.

Mac, that's her name. Tess had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. It was such a boyish name.

"Let's get step up in my room, it's more comfortable," she suggested.

****

"Now just relax and breathe," she coached, " let your mind go and imagine yourself in the middle of an open field."

They were sat cross-legged opposite each other on her bed. The setting was perfect, all she needed to do now, was get to work.

"You there?" she asked although she already knew the answer.

"Yes," he replied

"Okay," she smiled," now concentrate on your surroundings."

His voice twinged with excitement, he said, "They're changing."

"What do you see?" she asked.

"The sky, it's blue and there are two suns, bright," he replied in awe.

Of course, she knew that too. There was nothing wrong with helping Max along. He would remember soon enough but not soon enough for her. Max loved her, she knew that and eventually he would remember, the mindwarp was just getting him there faster.

"What else?," she asked.
She knew exactly what he was seeing because it was straight out of her memories.

"The water, it's thick like jello and..."

"and what...Max?" she asked her voice barely a whisper.

Tess opened her eyes as she felt him withdraw his hands. She met eyes brimming with an emotion she had only seen in her memories. He lifted his hand and gently stroked her cheek.

"I remember you," he said softly.

The door bell interrupted their moment.

"I'll get it," she volunteered through gritted teeth.

Who ever it is better have a good reason to be here, she fumed as she swung open the door.

The girl...Mac, who Max didn't want to talk about was on her doorstep.

"Hey," she said, " is Max in? he left his book bag in my car."

It only took Tess a second to decide between truth and lie. "No, he left a few minutes ago, sorry."

"Are you sure?" asked Mac.

The girl really was beautiful, Tess noted enviously.

"Um yeah, we talked for a little while and then he left," she replied.

"Okay, I guess I'll just drop it by his house then."

"That'll probably be best."

"Thanks."

"No problem," she smiled as she closed the door.

"Hey".

She turned to find Max standing in the entrance to the living room. "Hey," she replied brightly.

"Who was at the door?" he asked.

"Oh, no one important, just someone selling something as usual," she replied in a dismissive tone.

"Oh."

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, just a little bit-"

"Overwhelmed with information?" she finished.

"Yeah."

"You can go if you like, I won't be offended."

Tess struggled to keep herself from smiling, Max was too easy to manipulate.

And can I act or what? She thought joyously.

"Really? Because I just need a little time to process," he explained.

"Max, I understand. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay".

****

"Hello Miss James, how was school today?"asked Carmen.

"The usual," replied Mac as she headed for the living room, "went to class, schemed, lied," she dropped onto the sofa, it's good to be home."

"I'll bring up our usual," grinned Carmen, " and Days of Our Lives is already in the video."

"Thanks Carmen, I'll wait for you"she added.

Mac curled up comfortably on the sofa and was about to pick up the phone when it rang.

"Hello?"

"Mac? It's Max."

"Hey" she grinned.

"I just got back from Tess's ".

Her smile vanished. "What do you mean you just got back from Tess's?".

"Exactly that," he replied

"You mean you've been at her house all this time?" she asked sitting up.

"Since you left, yeah," he replied. "Thanks for dropping off my bag by the way."

"No problem," she responded distracted as her mind worked," listen just give me an overview of what happened first. You talked for a while and..."

"We talked in her room, then the door bell rang, it was someone selling something and then we talked a little and I left."

"Oh," she nodded with pursued lips as the truth became blindingly clear.

Tess was one major piece of work.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, so let's get into the details..."she replied.

As Max recounted his visit, all Mac could think of was how to get back at Tess. She hadn't been happy about screwing over her future best friend or fixing her other future and present friend with someone who he who wasn't his soul mate...but it was all to save the world and she was fine with that. What she wasn't fine with was having Tess play around with her. If she had had no reason to dislike her before, Tess had just given Mac a reason she had been looking for. It seemed her and Max were getting along, which was the plan. Tess playing around with Mac was not part of the plan, so now she had to give a little get back.

"What are you doing after school tomorrow?" she asked.

"Well I have to meet my friends but that's later on, why?" he asked.

"Well how about coming over to my palatial house and keeping me company?" she asked mischievously.

That was a sure fire way to tick Tess off and she had plenty more planned.

"Sure," he replied.

"Great".

"See you tomorrow."

"Later."

****

[willowbv]

Thursday (part 1)

The beautiful sond of the bell signaling the dismissal of classes for lunch, was well received by the students in Mrs Harney's History class, all except Liz. The bell to her signaled the beginning of a make or break conversation with Max. Their last conversation had led to more pain and heartbreak.

Maybe this one can reassemble a friendship, she thought hopefully.

Gathering her books quickly, she hurried to catch up with Max who was already disappearing into the wave of students escaping into the hallway. Her quest to catch up with him was halted by a hand holding her back. The skin to skin contact generated heat that by the time she turned to face her, had flared up in her eyes.

"I know what you're about to do Liz, and if I were you, I wouldn't," warned Tess.

Liz thought about wrenching her arm viciously away from her and then proceeding to smack her a couple of times around the face because it really was what she wanted to do. To her disappointment, as usual, rationale and self constraint prevented her from fulfilling her desire. Instead she settled to for stiffly breaking out of her rather tight grip. "Well you're not me Tess," she responded coldly before continuing on her quest.

He's probably gone by now,she despaired, looking down both sides of the hall. To her surprise,she spotted movement at the far end of the hallway. Max was standing at the corner and he looked like he was waiting for someone, Liz didn't stop to wonder who it was, she just hoped that he would listen to her.

He seemed oblivious to her approach. Something which she appreciated because, she had no clue what she would do if he had seen her coming and then just walked away. Crushed was hardly the word to describe how she would feel.

She stood a few feet away from him, it was safe distance which would either shorten or lengthen depending on his reaction. "Max," she called softly.

She saw him stiffen in surprise before he even turned to face her. "Liz," he said surprised. She saw the pain in his eyes, the moment he said her name and felt her chest tighten.

She had never thought the day would come when her name would connote pain, to anyone, especially Max. The one person in the world who said her name and made her feel like a Queen.

Taking the fact that he didn't walk away or even move as a sign of encouragement, Liz took a few cautious steps towards him. "Look Max," she began, "about what happened- I know you need space and that's fine, but..." she was close now, she had officially entered "their" space. An arm's length apart, it was usually where all she wanted to do was rush into his arms and have him hold her and kiss her and tell her he loved her. Nothing had changed, except now the feelings were not reciprocated. "we were friends, before we become lovers," she smiled faintly at the word which brought up an array of memories, "do you think, that we could go back to that?" she finished hopefully.

He held her gaze for what seemed like forever, leaving Liz desperately craving air. "Right now Liz," he sighed tiredly, "I don't know."

"Oh," she nodded slightly. Disappointment etched in her face.

It's too soon, she thought sadly, what were you expecting? to break his heart, give him and few days and then go back to normal?

"Just..." she paused as she struggled over whether to finish the next sentence, whether she could bear his reaction. "Just don't hate me, okay?".

"Hey?", the voice grabbed Max's attention in an instant, "you ready to go?". Liz glanced at the girl who had joined them. She was taller than her, with beautiful skin and long dark hair. In a simple word, she was stunning. Despite of Maria's better efforts to prevent her from hearing the rumors about Max and Mac, the information had been received when Liz was in one of the cubicles of the girls bathroom. She had brushed it off as a rumor, rationalizing that Max couldn't be with someone else that fast, but standing there in their presence, studying their interaction, a sick feeling gripped her as she watched Max relax under her smile.

How could he not go for her?

"Um Mac, this is Liz." The tone of the introduction revealed a heavy subtext, which caused Liz to conclude that Max had told Mac about them.

Mac focused her attention on Liz and subjected her to a thorough sizing up which left her feeling incredibly inadequate. She held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Mac."

Liz automatically shook and smiled even though she was crying out in pain. "Nice to meet you."

Mac gave her a brief smile. "You too."

****

Tess watched as Mac and Liz stood with Max.

This is not good, she thought assessing the situation. Liz had probably said something which was threatening to drag Max back into her and while Tess had enjoyed watching her pale in the presence of Mac, she didn't want her working any of her magic on Max.

She was the wife, the other two were just bugs to get out of the way.

Time to break up the party, she thought as she made her way over to the trio.

****

Liz groaned inwardly as Tess joined them.

Can this get any worse?

She had no idea why she was still standing there. This was when she was supposed to go, but she just wanted to be around Max for a little while longer, she'd just have to try and pretend that Tess wasn't there.

"Hi Max," she smiled sweetly, " coming for lunch?".

Liz couldn't help but roll her eyes in jealousy and disgust.

She was soo obvious, it was sickening.

"I can't," replied Max, who looked increasingly uncomfortable. Liz deduced this by the way his hands seemed permanently attached to his back pockets. "I have plans with Mac. By the way, have you two met?" he asked.

"Yeah, hi" nodded Mac in greeting.

"Hi," responded Tess before continuing with her mission. "You two can join us for lunch if you like," she suggested.

Max shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably, "Um..."

"It's kind of private, one-on-one time if you know what I mean," explained Mac.

Liz suppressed a smile, this whole thing was warped, her standing there while two girls fought over her boyfriend. On the one hand, she was glad Tess was put in her place, but on the other hand, Max was going to spend one-on-one time with Mac, who unfortunately seemed funny, was beautiful, obviously headstrong and witty. And the worst part of it all, even in their brief exchange, Liz had begun to like her.

Did it ever end? First she lost Max and had to break his heart and in the process break hers and then she had to watch him be happy with someone else?

****

Maria halted as she turned around the corner with Alex. Ahead of them at the other end of the hallway stood, Liz, Max, Tess and Mac.

"We should save her," said Alex in a low voice.

"Oh no," disagreed Maria, " the ex-wife, the ex girlfriend and the new love interest at the same place and you want us to go over there?"

Still not seeing the problem with his suggestion, Alex nodded, "Yeah".

"Alex, you know the term if looks could kill?" she asked.

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Well, I don't doubt that they can in that gathering and I for one, don't want to be caught in the crossfire". Maria studied their body language, "besides," she added, "Liz is okay for now, I think she'll probably leave soon."

Moments later, Liz left the group and started walking towards them. Maria congratulated herself on once again being able to read her best friend. She also noticed the way Max looked after her, with a mixture of pain and longing and her heart felt for him.

Realising that Liz would know that they had been spying on her, Maria pushed Alex back down the hall.

"What?" he asked surprised.

"We don't want her to think we've been spying on her," she whispered quickly.

Alex nodded understanding. Although she and Maria had made up, there still seemed to be a rift between them, between each of them and Liz, a certain part of her was closed off from the them that hadn't previously been. It was the part that included Max, a huge part of her as they had surprisingly discovered and she didn't want to talk about it.

They began their walk and "accidentally" bumped into her.

"Hey," said Maria brightly.

"Hey," responded Liz in the monotone voice they had become used to. She still had dark circles under her eyes and look quite simply drained of all life.

"You ready for lunch?" asked Maria.

"Um, I'm just gonna go somewhere and sit. I'm not that hungry," she replied.

"Want company?" offered Alex.

"No thanks" she replied.

"Okay." Her smile hid the helplessness she felt. She couldn't help her, she didn't want her help. It hurt but Maria was not going to give up on her. "See you later then" .

Liz managed a small smile before continuing down the hall.

They looked worriedly after her. "I don't think she's doing to well," said Alex.

"Me either," she agreed.

"Do you think that she'll be okay with this afternoon?" he asked.

Maria nodded, "I talked with her about it, barely, and she said that she would be fine because and I quote, "It's not about me and Max, it's about all of us."

"It is about all of us," said Alex.

"But it's also about her and Max, it started with them and-"

"I know what you mean," agreed Alex, "they've always been the example, never giving up on each other. I still don't think they will."

"Alex, have you not been watching the weekly events?" she asked in disbelief. She had hope that Max and Liz would work it out but she had to admit that it had been lessening with every day and every time she looked at either of them.

"I have Maria, but this is Max and Liz," he shrugged, "they're not normal. They beat the odds everytime and while this is their greatest challenge, I still think that they'll get through it," he replied earnestly.

"I hope you're right," she said, "but what do we do in the mean time? because this is bad, I have never seen Liz or Max like this."

"We can't do anything, I don't know about Max, but Liz won't let us in. I think she has to deal with it herself, but she's not right now, she's just," Alex sighed helplessly, "I don't know. I guess we have to be there when she needs us, that's all we can do right now. And then Max,"

"Well according to gossip and more importantly, Michael, he seems to be hanging with Mac a lot. She's helping him out in that area but I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing."

Alex nodded. "So what's the plan for this afternoon? Max, Liz and Kyle in the same space."

Maria gave him a tight nervous smile, "We'll have to play damage control by ear," she replied.

****
"Max, would you mind if I borrowed Tess for just a second?" she asked sweetly.

"No, sure go ahead," he replied.

Mac nodded sweetly before gripping Tess's arm and dragging beyond Max's earshot.

"Hey-", began Tess.

"Don't hey me, or even try the sugar sweetness routine, because I have your number Tess" she said heatedly. She knew Max was watching their interaction so she kept smiling and portrayed an expression of friendly conversation, when it was hardly that.

Tess obviously was thinking along the same lines because her words and her facial expressions were the exact opposite. "And?".

"And I want you to know a couple of things. You want Max, that's fine, I don't care but what I don't appreciate is you playing games with me. Max has become a good friend over the past couple of days. We're friends. I'm pretty sure Max doesn't know this side of you, but I do and I don't like being played with and I don't like my friends to be played with..." she trailed off as she felt an energy wave go through head. She knew it instinctively, after the momentary shock, her anger reached an all time high.

She's trying to mindwarp me! probably to forget this conversation or wipe out what I know. The nerve! the audacity!

Mac wanted to whack her across the cheek and shot out an energy blast that would send her into and through, the lockers opposite them. Instead, she clenched her jaw for restraint and self-control.

"Tess, if you wanna go then let's go," she whispered harshly through gritted teeth, her words were slow, controlled and filled with hidden meaning, " because if I ever, catch you playing around with me or Max, believe me...I will not leave you standing. Are we clear?"

Tess smiled tightly, "Crystal."

Mac flashed her an bright smile. "Good." She could see the confusion in her eyes at the failure of her mindwarp. Mac took it as temporary consolation. "Have a good lunch, by the way," she added sweetly before heading back to Max.

"Is everything okay?" he asked when she reached him.

"Sure," she replied causally with a smile. Smiling right now, was the only way she could release her anger and utter disbelief at Tess' actions in a productive way.

He appeared unconvinced so she added, "We were just having a girly chat, there's nothing to worry about."

"Oh I'm not worried about you," he responded with a smile, "I know you can hold your own, but still Tess and Isabel, who you haven't me yet, well, they can be pretty...protective of me."

"I don't doubt that," she agreed, she had only known him for a few days and she was already protective of him, " but you seriously don't need to one because when it comes to me," she added with a secret smile," Tess is kitten without claws".


****

Tess joined the alien duo at the lunch table in confusion. Why hadn't her mindwarp worked? was there something wrong with her power? or maybe it was Mac, maybe she was immune to it or something and if she was, did that mean that she was an alien? did she know that Tess had attempted to mindwarp her? she hadn't reacted like it, so maybe...

Tess sighed in frustration, there were too many maybes and too much riding on not finding out the answer.

"Where's Max?" asked Isabel, "I thought you were going to be his bodyguard from the desperate rebound wannabes and bring him over".

"He has his own bodyguard," she frowned, "Mac."

"He's with her again?" asked Isabel.

From Isabel's reaction, it seemed that they were all in the same situation, all were curious about the new girl who Max didn't want to talk about.

Maybe I can use this, she realised, I need a little extra help on this Mac issue.

She nodded. "Do you know anything about her except that she's new and hot property?" she asked.

Isabel shook her head. "Max won't even talk about her with me, he just tells me that she's a friend."

"Same here," she agreed.

All eyes turned expectantly on Michael.

"Hey, don't look at me, I haven't had a chance to talk to Max about her yet. Anyway, I don't see the problem, she seems to be doing him some kind of good, I mean the time he's spending with her is stopping him from potentially taking a header off a cliff."

"The problem is Michael," she began, "is that we know next to nothing about this girl, except that she's new and has her sights set on Max."

"What and you're jealous?" he asked.

"Hardly," she replied with a withering glare, "You of all people should be as suspicious as I am because new faces are never a good thing for us."

"You think that she could be a skin?" asked Isabel worriedly.

"Or another ex-wife from Antar?" quipped Michael.

"I don't know," she fixed with another withering glare. What was his problem anyway?. She turned her gaze onto Isabel, "but I think we should find out" she finished.

"How?" asked Michael.

"Isabel could dreamwalk her, see what makes her tick," she suggested.

"How about you take a sanity pill," he objected, "you can't just go around invading people's privacy just because they're new and are hanging around Max, she could actually be human and she could actually be a friend or whatever else to Max. Full stop, end of story."

"Michael's right Tess, I don't think we should be jumping to conclusions," said Isabel.

"Besides after everything that's happened, I think Maxwell knows what to look for when it comes to new faces," he said pointedly.

"Usually probably," she agreed, "but he's still in some deep Liz abyss, which means he's hardly in any state to spot a wolf in sheep's clothing when it comes to...well anything else."

"She does have a point," conceded Isabel.

Michael sighed in defeat. "I'll talk to him later after we show the others the granolith"

"Why not sooner, after school?" she asked.

She was sure she could see him suppressing a smile. "Uh, he's going over to Mac's house."

"Oh," she said. So not only did she have to counter the effects of Max spending time in Liz's presence at the Pod Chamber but she also had to counter the effect spending time with Mac at her house, doing who knows what.

When would it all end?

****

[willowbv]

Thursday (part 2)

"See you guys later!" Max waved at his departing friends before stepping aside to let Mac close the door. Leaning against it, she met his quizzical smile.

"What?" she asked.

"You threw them out because they're not fans of Days of Our Lives?"

"No," she said heading for the living room, "I threw them out because they can't stand Days Of Our Lives and enjoy mimicking the actors and basically disturbing my concentration."

"Ahh", he nodded. After school, he and Mac had met up with Ace, Bren and Jen and had headed up to Mac's house. Her description of her house, had not been exaggerated, it certainly was palatial. With marble floors, curving staircases, expensive vases and paintings, despite the death of her parents, Mac certainly wasn't without.

She caught his wondering awed gaze. "Guess you're not quite over the awe bit huh?" she joked.

"Not quite yet, especially when you've promised to show me around the whole place after," he replied.

"Speaking of which," turning to the door she shouted, "Carmen!".

"Can she even hear you?" he asked.

"We have an intercom system but," she shrugged carelessly, " besides, I have an attention grabbing voice."

"Coming!" came the reply.

"See," she grinned.

"Bring some popcorn!" she shouted.

"I'll bring sandwiches and some fruit," came the decisive reply.

Mac met his gaze and shrugged helplessly, "she's like my surrogate mother," she explained.

Within a few minutes, Carmen appeared with, indeed, a tray of sandwiches and fruit.

"Enjoy," she beamed.

"Thanks Carmen," grinned Mac.

Mac's relationship with her employees had initially surprised Max. While, they were in essence, her maid, butlers and chauffeurs, they had an informal relationship and treated each other like family. It was a hard thing to balance, being someone's friend and boss, but in his opinion, somehow Mac seemed to have managed it.

After watching that day's episode of Days of Our Lives, Mac took Max on a tour of the rest of the house. The amazing thing about it wasn't its sheer size but the fact that it all belonged to Mac, a girl his age.

"Doesn't it get lonely?" he asked when they were touring her room.

"Sometimes," she replied as she riffled in her video collection, "but I'm not alone, I have Carmen, James, Jasmine and Nate, who are like family. Nate and Carmen live here and when their families come to visit, they stay here. I've kind of been adopted into all their families though," she continued," during holidays, I go to Carmen's or Jasmine's. I did that even when I was in Seattle. This Christmas for example, everyone is coming here so it should be a blast."

"That's great," he said.

"Here, we go," she said as she gathered up several DVD's.

"Thanks," he said accepting them, "You'll have them back in about-"

"Don't even bother setting a time limit," she said, "I never stick to them, besides, I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay."

"We can leave them downstairs on our way to see my girls," she said.

"Your girls?" he asked confused.

****

"Yep, my girls," said Mac proudly.

Max looked around him in wonder. Three large garages each with a door linking them to each other, filled with cars ! He felt like he was at an auto show, a very expensive auto show.

"Are all these yours?" he asked, his voice echoing in the room.

"Now they are," she pointed to the far end of the first room, "the classics like that Mustang were my Dad's," she walked over to a red viper," now these are mine. Vipers, Porsches, Ferrari's, Saabs, don't you just love them?"

"Definitely," he agreed.

"Wanna take 'em for a spin sometime?" she asked.

"You want to trust me with these very expensive cars?" he asked incredulous.

"Well yeah," she said.

"Okay."

Laughing, she dragged him along with her, "Come on, I know you want to take a look inside, we'll pop them open and take a look."

****

Max didn't know how much time had passed or even what time it was. He and Mac had spent time in the garage checking out navigation systems, revving up engines to hear the sound and just having fun with the cars. Now, they were in the pool area. Mac had an indoor and outdoor pool. They had toured the outdoor one and were walking along the edges of the indoor one when Mac suddenly said, "Wanna go for a swim?"

"You're kidding right?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"I don't have any trunks."

"You have boxers," she said.

"How did you know?" he asked.

"You seem like the boxer type," she answered.

"And what does a boxer type look like?" he asked.

"Don't try to change the subject," she said, "come on live a little".

She gave him a playful shove, one which jolted Max's balance and sent him straight into the pool.

Surfacing to the top, Max saw Mac standing poolside with a shocked hand over her mouth.

"I am soo sorry, are you okay?," she asked.

"Yeah," he answered wading towards her. He held out his hand, "I just need a little help getting out."

She took it, he pulled her in.

"Max!" she shrieked as she surfaced. "You're such a-"

"Fun guy?" he supplied.

She replied by splashing him with water.

"Oh, so is that what you want now?" he asked and splashed her without waiting for a reply.

Behind the backdrop of the setting sun, laughter and shrieks filled the air as a splashing match began, followed by a dunking match which was followed by the best afternoon Max had had in a very long time.

****

“He’s half an hour late guys, this isn’t like Max,” said Isabel worriedly.

“He hasn’t been his usual self all week Iz,” added Michael softly.

Isabel agreed with pursed lips as tired eyes settled on the cause of her brother’s recent behaviour adjustment. Emotions had been expressed, glares and cold looks weren’t needed anymore.

They were a given.

Alex’s reassuring arm pulled her closer to him. “Maybe you better try again,” he said softly, “ even though things are the way they are, Max wouldn’t miss this, it’s too important.”

Isabel nodded. That’s what worries me, she added silently. If Max is still his usual self when it comes to alien matters, then he would have been here earlier… unless an alien matter is what’s keeping him from being here.

“I’ll try him again,” offered Tess.

****