Again (CC, Mature) - Chapter 23 - 07/12/2025

[Parker1947]

Three months later,

Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U plays…

It’s been seven hours and 15 days
Since you took your love away
I go out every night and sleep all day
Since you took your love away
Since you been gone, I can do whatever I want
I can see whomever I choose
I can eat my dinner in a fancy restaurant
But nothing
I said nothing can take away these blues
‘Cause nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
It's been so lonely without you here
Like a bird without a song
Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling
Tell me baby, where did I go wrong?
I could put my arms around every boy I see
But they’d only remind me of you
I went to the doctor, guess what he told me
Guess what he told me
He said, “Girl you better try to have fun, no matter what you do”
But he’s a fool
‘Cause nothing compares, nothing compares to you
All the flowers that you planted mama
In the back yard
All died when you went away
I know that living with you baby was sometimes hard
But I’m willing to give it another try
Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you
Nothing compares
Nothing compares to you

She only wished there was a chance with him again but as the song was fading away, she was listening to music on her iPod. She did not know why she was doing this to herself. Because she was barely standing up right, and in fact she was not even able to even stand at the moment because she was in not control of her life. Any semblance of control lasted about three weeks once she and Callie had gone back to their home in Bethesda. Initially, she had thought that had been the best option for her. She still did not regret it. Even where it would lead her. Because it meant getting the hell out of Roswell, and back to the life that did not have her mourning the loss of the greatest love of her lifetime. The reason I am even alive to try to achieve the glory that always wanted to achieve. But once she came back to life in Bethesda. And even if Max was not part of the life. She still had to remember that she did not the one person that had been responsible for her getting her to this point.

Because he was dead.

Still, she and Callie had gone home, with the hope of getting out of Roswell would be the best thing for her. It beats staying there and not seeing Max in any capacity because she still had a great amount of guilt about the events that led to his passing. Because I will always treasure the fact, we got to spend time together.

And boy did we spend time together she knew. But it was a mess, and she had ended it, and if only she had not ended it, he might not have walking out of the house and into a hail of gunfire. The whys did not matter to her.

She knew why Jim had closed the investigation because there was no evidence of the shooter anywhere. And given Max was who he was she knew that there was the reason to believe his ultimate passing could very well be for reasons that did not even matter to the life that he had been leading. Because it could be any number of enemies and she knew there were enemies, so it was not so far fetched, and if that was to have happened then Liz knew Jim would not have the jurisdiction to get justice.

So, he had to close it and rule it unsolved. Pending any discovery of evidence to reassess the investigation. She knew the tabloids were all over why there was so early of a closure of the case. Was there something the town did not know of, they would cry. Why is the Sheriff closing the investigation? rang the headlines. Because they had been fascinated by the lurid details of his last hours, but they really were more interested in the soapy nature of it all than to mull over the manner of his death, and what or who was the cause of Max’s death. Even if Liz was no longer around to be made mincemeat in the public over her affair with a married man. She was out of their limelight. So, Liz did not even care whether it was solved or not. All that matter to her was Max was no longer living.

What does it matter if it we found out who did it, because it cannot bring Max back to life she thought. Because I already got that miracle once before.

You are never going to get that again she knew.

And therefore, he was someone she could not see…

But as the days went on, she was sure she was seeing him.

It was insanity.

Because everywhere she was going. Even when she was trying to stay sane and was in her everyday life. A life that had no reason whatsoever for Max to have any part of it. Because everyone here does not know how unique Max was… Still memories, and images of her former boyfriend still popped up.

And she had eventually lost it.

Completely. Having a meltdown at an industry event, which was not very good and therefore she was officially on stress leave medical leave, and she was not sure once she was deemed sane enough go back to her life. That her job would be there waiting. Even though they had go through the motions and hold it for her.

She did not even know if she wanted it to be waiting for…

And after all, it was only her now at home. Because the ability to care for herself, and even more so a child only lasted those three weeks before Callie went back to Roswell to spend the summer with her grandparents. Even though she had wanted to stay home and be a comfort for her mother, but Liz knew that was no life for a growing child.

She wanted Callie to have fun. And Jeff and Nancy were up for it. But she had not told her parents why it was needed. She only said Callie had some free time. Plans that she had had gone by the wayside because Liz was in no state to enact them.

So, they grabbed onto the chance.

But that had been a mistake because Callie had been a barrier of sorts for her, and once gone, and she was really left alone. Then she really lost it once she was home all alone.

And seeing Max everywhere.

It made no sense.

But it was like a ghost story she thought. And it did not help that she got dealt an additional personal loss once Callie was gone, that rivaled losing Max in the first place. It was something she still was not reason to talk about, and she knew it was the only reason she would be getting her release papers.

Talking she thought. She needed to talk about the personal tragedies to get out of this place. Because with Callie gone, she had really lost it.

And admitted to the Bethesda Mental Hospital. Self admittance. The official reason was exhaustion, but she knew they were thinking she was crazy.

Loopy.

She knew there had to be some reason why she was seeing Max everywhere she looked. Don’t they know I see things that many others would not be able to see she thought of her gift. Often dormant before her return to Roswell. Because she had not wanted the link to Max, but once he was gone, and she realized that she still had the gift. It had been lifeline, but it made her question her sanity.

So, she sought help…

And therefore, it was where she was, and had been for the last many weeks… She wanted to go home. But she was not getting the clearance. “We called your parents,” came the words of her doctor as they opened the door to her hospital room. “I know you did not want us to do it.”

Yes, I did not want you to do it “What gives you the right?” she said miffed. “I did not want to worry them.”

“They were worried all on their own,” Doctor Thelma Irving said as assessed her patient. “They have been trying to get in touch with you for weeks, and finally they contacted our police department, and asked that they track you down. Apparently, your parents are personal friends with their town Sheriff, who made a few calls, and finally was able to track you down because of his sources.”

Damn it Jim Liz muttered to herself. Yeah, I know why they know the town Sheriff she thought. “What did they say?”

“They wanted to know that you are, okay?” Dr. Irving asked. “So, how are you today, Liz?”

“That is for you to judge,” Liz muttered. “If it was up to me, I would have already gone home” she thought even though she was treating the last few weeks as a spa vacation so that she did not have to think about home. And being alone.

And not even having Max to dream about.

“It is,” Dr. Irving nodded. “If you want to get out of here then we need to be satisfied that you can handle yourself on the outside. Your father will be arriving tomorrow…” she said softly. “He will be taking you back to their home…”

“Damn it,” Liz muttered. “That is the last thing I wanted. Dr. Irving, I cannot go back to Roswell,” she said. “You can let me out, and I will go anywhere else. I will get all the help I can on the outside. I will have someone live with me, but I cannot go back to Roswell.”

“Why not?” Dr. Irving asked. “Is it your family that is the issue?” she asked.

“Hell no, they are the best people in the world” Liz muttered. And they are. Mom and Dad were the best parents she thought. Not a trouble in the world she thought, I am the one who complicated their lives when I became involved with the alien invasion and changed my whole destiny she muttered and she stayed silent, as there was so much that she could not say.

It was why she should not be in some mental hospital.

Because they ask too many damn questions she muttered. But she needed to be away from her daily life, and in a place that would not be easy to be found in, and yet now I have been found.

What does it mean?

Liz did not know but she could see the concern on her doctor’s face. Because she had said too much, and so little at the same time. “Then why can’t you go back to your hometown?” Dr. Irving asked. “Your daughter currently is there, right now?” she asked. “You have talked a great deal of Callie, right?” she asked. “Why not go back to see her?”

“I love my daughter,” Liz murmured “I love my family,” she said. “They are not why I am here,” she sighed. And not why I cannot go back she mused to herself.

“Then why are you here?” Dr. Irving. Because she knew Dr. Elizabeth Parker’s case is a mystery one for me, she acknowledges. Most long-term patients would give me a sense of why they are here, but Liz is not talking…

About anything…

Except her daughter. All she says is that she experienced a great loss, but she cannot talk about it, and she has kept to it the doctor assessed which meant that she knew that her patient was keeping a whole lot to herself. And it was becoming a burdensome exercise.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Liz said softly.

“So, if you won’t talk about it. Then we don’t know if well enough to be released. Because we are not sure. The only way out of here is for your parents to help you,” she said softly. “They were greatly concerned when they realized you were here…”

“I bet they were,” Liz muttered. Sorry Mom and Dad “I don’t want to go home.”

“What do you want?”

“I want Max to be alive,” Liz said softly.

“Whose Max?” Dr. Irving asked of the new kernel of information.

*

Max was the greatest love of her life. And she was at a loss without him. She had been able to get through a decade with out him because she had known he was alive, but to know he was not alive. Well, that was something she could not handle. She simply went silent because to tell the story of her and Max would be talking about something she could not talk about. Even if she kept it simple. And left the topic broad enough that those who were not initiated into the story of Max and Liz, well, they would not be looking between the lines.

Only she knew the warts of the story.

And those who were back in Roswell.

Because there was nothing simple between her and Max.

So, she stopped talking, and the doctor left frustrated at getting nothing out of her patient. “She’s not going to get better if she does not talk,” she said to a fellow doctor.

Liz knew this. She knew enough about the fragile mind.

But once the doors closed, she simply went silent until she spotted an image out of the corner of her eyes. A ghost story all right. “Max,” she said softly.

As she felt comforted by seeing someone who was not there…

Yeah, people had a right to be concerned about her.

But was her brain just trying to process something that did not make a lot of sense. And was it trying to tell herself something.

Why would she be seeing someone who was not there.

Who was dead.

Who could not come back to life.

*

It had happened before. But this was a different situation, and back in Roswell. Everyone was starting to question if they were taking the right tact in the situation because once word of Liz’s current state was making its waves around the gossipvine. They started to gather and start to talk. Because some were not happy with the situation as it was. “This is all our fault,” Maria muttered as she glared at her husband and stepfather. “If we had been honest with her…” she muttered. “She would not have admitted herself to some mental hospital.”

“We were trying to protect her,” Jim said softly. Of course, he knew there had been many ways around how they made the situation. None of them were expecting this result. The Liz Parker I knew was pretty strong he thought.

But the Liz Parker had not been shattered by the permanent loss of someone she truly loved.

“Well, we did a lousy job,” Maria muttered. “Extremely,” she said, and she had made that opinion clearly many of a times during the last three months, even before she had learned of the latest crisis. I am sorry Petunia.

“We thought it would be over by now,” Michael said softly. “But there are no bites out Yvonne,” he muttered as he asked the town Sheriff. “There was little that could have be done…”

“There was plenty we could have done,” Maria reasoned as she glared at her husband “We could have told her the truth. Keeping everything so secretive is not helping the situation. Making people believe what are making them believe is unfair, to everyone,” she muttered. “At least the children are children. We should be protecting them. Because Yvonne still could come after them. But Liz, Liz is different. She would want to protect the situation as it exists” she demanded. “We allowed this to happen.”

“We though we were making the right decision,” Jim sighed.

“We were,” Michael sighed. Because of course, he had gotten Maria’s side of it over the last three months. So, he had seen the darker side of his wife’s personality. She is not always sunshine he knew. Therefore, I want this over as much as anyone. “Anything from Deluca?”

“Nope,” Jim shook his head. As he knew now with Maria’s recent marriage, the only Deluca would be of the Sean variety. “She’s still down south,” he said softly as he looked at his stepdaughter. “Sean is on lookout.”

“Then it’s our fault that we let this happen,” Maria muttered as she did not know if her cousin was being level about the situation, as she got up from her chair because she was feeling a lot of emotion given the situation. As she prepared to storm out of the office. “Liz deserves to know the truth. Because if she knew the truth…”

“She would not have left…” Jim muttered. “She would not have let any of this happen…”

“Precisely,” Maria muttered. “She is going to be furious that we used her because we caused all of this hurt for her,” she sighed, because she knew there was no easy answer to any of this. Of course, there was one, and they had not thought it to be possible to use because they had not seen that it would have prevented so much of the hurt that had been caused by this. Therefore, they will be biting themselves in the end…


Because it would have been so easy.

“She’s going to be upset,” Michael acknowledged. “But there was one person who will be more pissed off when they find out how bad we have screwed this up for Liz…”

“That is true,” Jim acknowledged. “Who is going to tell him?

“I will,” Michael said solemnly.

Jim could only imagine the reaction that would be coming. “When you do see the individual that we are talking about,” he said with a sigh. “Tell him to be careful,” Jim warned.

“I will,” Michael sighed. “But I doubt it’s going to be help…” Once he knows Liz is hurting this much…

*

Unfortunately for Michael. He would not be having the talk he needed to be having right away, because life got in the way. And before he knew it, it was forty-eight hours later when he was making a very important drive. While Maria was at the Crashdown treating the three most important kids in her life to a dinner. While her mother helped Nancy run the restaurant with Jeff making a very important trip to the East coast. Over the last three months, Maria had spent a great deal with Ella and Noah Evans as they dealt with the devastating loss. So much change in their lives she could not help but think. And in this case, another child was joining them. Callie Jean Parker.

Because Maria was also taking time to spend with her because she knew that the eight-year-old did not know anything more then the newly turned nine-year-olds. The fact Max had to miss their birthdays is on us she thought.

But only a certain number of people would know it.

And certainly, the twins did not know what the adults knew. Or what certain adults knew. And Callie had been spending time with the twins since her arrival back in Roswell, and as a result they had become close friends. Which made Maria happy that the three had each other. But it is a very confusing situation for the kids, and I know it Maria thought. “How is school?” she asked the three.

Given the situation with Liz, Callie had begun the school year here in Roswell. Which is why Maria had spent so much time with her because she knew Jeff and Nancy had not bargained for parenthood at their stage in their life. Which is why Liz had taken in Callie in the beginning once they found out that Jeff’s long-lost son was a father, and the child had survived the crash that had taken both parent’s lives.

Fortunately, alcohol was not a factor in this crash, but it was indeed still a crash that had left two dead. And child without her parents, and she had moved in with her single biological aunt, and Liz would eventually adopt the orphan which made Callie legally a Parker.

But it was still a lot for Jeff and Nancy. So, when Callie showed up. Maria had helped them keep an eye on the child.

And then they received the call they had been dreading because they had known something was going on with Liz if she had sent Callie back to Roswell after keeping her away for so much of her life. But they had not known that her Petunia had been hurting so much. I am sorry Liz she muttered.

But because Callie had not gone back home, she had started the school year. She was still so young, switching schools up would not have a dramatic effect on her, she thought, not yet anyways. So, Callie was going to the twin’s school. Although she was a grade behind because of the slight differences in their ages.

“It’s cool I guess,” Callie said. “Although I miss my school back home.”

“I know you do,” Maria smiled. “One of these days you will be going back,” she said. “Your mother needed you to be here for now.”

I know Callie muttered, but she also did not know at the same time. “Is she okay?” Callie asked. She missed her mother. She did not get what was going on. All she knew was that she knew something was going on because she remembered how out of sorts her mother had been when she was back at home.

Which was unusual for her mother because as long as she knew her, and certainly as she was growing up and becoming more aware, she had only know her mother to be the straightest lace, put together woman on the planet.

She rarely saw her mother out of sorts.

Until she did.

And now I am back here because of it, Callie thought. Because she knew her mother had sent her away because she was a mess. But she did not know if her mother was doing alright because while they talked on the phone over the time apart, still she knew you can say one thing and be another when you were on the phone.

“She is going to be alright,” Maria could only mutter because she hated the situation.

“It is just I miss my mother,” Callie sighed, as she saw the frown on the twin’s face, both of them. “Sorry,” she sighed softly because she knew how much the twins missed their father. Ella and Noah often talked about Max to her. While they loved their aunt, and uncle in Kyle who had been helping Isabel with the twins since they all moved back into Isabel’s house after a month with their grandparents.

“It’s okay,” Ella muttered. Because she knew how much Callie missed her mother, and Ella thought she knew more than either her brother or best friend of the situation because she was a pretty good eavesdropping. Noah is no slouch either she knew, but her mother just did not get it like she did at times. Although she was too young to know it meant anything more than being a perceptive young girl. She was not up on the specialness of their abilities, not yet anyways Maria knew. “We miss Daddy,” she said softly.

“I suggest that you two remember the good memories,” was all Maria could say. “Your father was an incredible man,” she muttered as she hated to have to use the word, was.

Ella and Noah nodded. Still because they had a little interaction with Liz before the unspeakable happened, they could not help but be curious about the person who had brought a spark to their father’s eyes. At eight when everything happened, they of course did not know what it all meant. But they were getting a sense. “Is Callie’s mother coming back?”

“Yes, she is” Maria muttered. “One of these days,” she muttered because she did not know when. After all, Jeff had run out of the Crashdown and got on the first flight he could the day before, and flown to Bethesda, Maryland to help his daughter.

When asked, Nancy only would say that Liz was out of the hospital and Jeff was helping her. Which made Maria happy, but she missed her friend, and she hated how much she knew, and had not been able to tell her best friend. So, she hated how she might have helped accelerate her best friend’s state at the moment.

“One of these days,” Maria muttered.

*

One of those days was this one. And a call was preparing to pull up outside the Crashdown. Just as Isabel and Kyle were walking down the street to meet up with Maria and the kids for dessert. It had been a date night for them. One of the few since Isabel had taken over as the twin’s guardian, and they moved into her place. They had more of ability to go out before hand, but since, Isabel had not wanted to leave them for long.

“Fun movie,” Kyle was saying as they walked down the street.

“Yes, it was” Isabel smiled. She knew she and Kyle had needed. The last three months had escalated their relationship in ways that you would have thought would have happened long before since they had been doing this dance for more years than it was good to count at this moment, and yet they had kept things very slow until the last few months, which out of necessity had moved things a long way from where they had started.

It was not for her sake. But for the twin’s sake. Having two adults in the same house does wonders when you are dealing with two mischievous young children who don’t get why they don’t have their father in their lives anymore.

Noah and Ella had to get used to not having a mother, they should not have to get used not to having my brother in their lives Isabel could not help but think. But it’s this way because it has to be… Although some might quibble about the decisions that we have made she knew, but she had not been thinking straight at the time.

None of us were, and we had to act first…

So, having Kyle there for he once she and the twins had moved back to her home. After a month with her parents. Because like Max often found, being back in their childhood home for long sometimes led to clashes, not that Isabel did not understand things, but given the circumstances, and the help she had gotten with the twins, still though she could not have stayed there much longer, and so she, Ella and Noah had moved into her home.

Kyle followed.

Neither grown up knew if the arrangement would last once Isabel got over the hurdler of sudden parenthood. She had always been on record as the guardian for the twins if anything ever was going to happen to her brother, of course I would take the children if it became necessary, she would think.

She never imagined it would become a necessarily. And that Max could not help himself. Of course, not she now knew. He’s a healer, but he cannot help himself from the unimaginable she thought. So, she was rocked when she suddenly became a parent. She had always been the fun aunt. She never was the parent.

Now she was.

But it was supposed to be temporary, right? she thought of the reasons for it. That very few people knew about.

But unfortunately, they had just hit the three month point after this saga had begun. With no end in sight.

She desperately wanted to reach the end, if only for this to be over. And maybe we can go back to normal she thought. But then she had doubts that they would ever be able to go back to normal. Back to where life had been once.

“Maybe we can do it again soon,” Kyle murmured.

“Yeah, maybe” Isabel said softly as she tried to come back to today’s reality. “The kids are starting to feel more settled,” she acknowledged as saw the concern on Kyle’s face and knew he knew that she had been spacing out again. Something that was not a rarity. “I do appreciate how much help you have been to me,” she said with a sigh. “Kyle, you did not have to do all this for us.”

“I love you Isabel,” Kyle said. A sentiment that did not get said as much as he would like. Because neither wanted to think of how serious their current situation was and did not want feelings to get in the way of what needed to be done. But it was a reality for him. I love her he thought.

“I love you too” Isabel smiled. “I know it must be hard to love me.”

“I have loved you since we were teenagers,” Kyle smiled. “Even when I had to sit and watch you with Jesse, so I understand that things can be complicated,” he sighed with a smile. “I know how you were worried to go further with the two of us.”

“Because I did not want to screw up again.”

“You did not screw up the first time,” Kyle muttered. “Jesse was a good guy. But you were young, and we make mistakes we are young. We go into them thinking we know best, and unfortunately life has a way of showing us what it all is meant to be. You had a chance, and even though it did not work out. It should not scare you to try again, because it does not always have to go badly.”

“I know you are right” Isabel said. “I just wanted to make sure it was right the next time, I went there, because I went into a little too blindly with Jesse and look where it got me” she sighed. “I never want that feeling again.”

“A lot was going on back then.” Kyle conceded.

“Yes, there was” Isabel nodded. “I just don’t want to be rush into anything now, because of certain changes in my circumstances.”

“You have not rushed into anything,” Kyle said with a laugh, as he reminded Isabel that their courtship had not been exactly fast. “We have been doing this dance of us, for nearly the whole time we have been back in Roswell,” he said softly. “I don’t think anyone would describe us as going too fast.”

“You are right,” Isabel smiled. We are the definition of going slow she knew. “I know you wanted more…”

“I did,” Kyle said. “But I am where I want to be,” he said with a smile. “Sure, it is unconventional, but it works for us, and it’s up to us where we go from here” he allowed. “The last three months have been a change, sure, but we need to see it out, but once it’s all over, then…”

“Then what?” Isabel asked.

“Then we can see where we are at,” Kyle said with a smile. “I think we will know where we stand by the end of this, and where we want to be at” he said with a look that got Isabel to smile too, as he knew where he was at, and sensed he knew where Isabel was at, but you don’t rush her, and we do have all the time in the world.

“Life is short,” Isabel muttered. We have seen it too clearly.

“Yes, it is” Kyle agreed as they saw a car slowly come up the street and pause in front of the Crashdown “Uh oh,” he murmured.

“What?” Isabel asked.

“Someone’s back,” was all Kyle said as they witnessed the car pull up in front of the Crashdown. As someone is making their return, they both thought.

Which meant anything was possible now.

“This is not what we need” Isabel muttered.

“Jeff and Nancy don’t know what we know,” Kyle murmured. Hell Liz does not even know what we know he sighed. “They want to help their daughter. I bet Roswell is the last place that she wants to be.”

Isabel nodded.

“She misses your brother,” Kyle murmured.

[totallizfan]

It might help Liz to be back in Roswell because she can at least talk about Max with her family and friends.
I wonder if Maria will continue to keep the secret from Liz.

[Parker1947]

We all miss Max was all Isabel could mutter to herself as the car stopped, but nothing happened. No one was getting out, not yet anyways as Isabel and Kyle could only watch as the door quickly opened, and Jeff Parker came out of the driver’s seat. Jeff spotted Isabel and Kyle and nodded.

Neither Isabel nor Kyle was quick to watch over because both had the sense to know that this situation did not call for it, as the seconds, and minutes wore on, but the passenger door was not opening until Jeff only sighed and walked over, and opened in. “Come on Lizzie, we are here” he was saying as he was trying to coax his daughter to get out of the family car. “I need to park in the back.”

“I know where we are Dad,” Liz muttered as she finally got out because she knew she could not stay inside the car. People would be noticing. She already knew too many people noticed her, and she bet it would not be any calmer now three months later as she was back to the sight of the day everything changed, in more ways than one she thought. So, yes, she got out and she saw Kyle and Isabel were watching.

And she froze.

“Honey,” Jeff was saying.

This is too much Liz was thinking. “I cannot go in there,” she said softly to her father. Aware she was gathering eyes of on lookers because she was not an ordinary person coming to eat at the restaurant. She was more. She was the prodigal daughter coming home, after three months, sure it’s not ten years anymore, but I left in more of an infamous manner than I did in the first place she thought.

But all she could do was look at the doors that swung open and close to the family business. “I need time,” she said, and that time was even more apparent when she saw Isabel staring at her. She did not care about Kyle watching her, because she knew he was not judging her. But it was also what Isabel held she is my link to someone who is lost.

“If you don’t want to go in, go up the back way, okay?” Jeff asked, as he was prepared for this. “You can use the stairs. Your mother is up in the apartment.”

“Thank you,” Liz said softly as she turned and walked away…

Leaving Jeff to sigh because he hated seeing his daughter so pained. As Isabel and Kyle only moved when Liz was no longer in their eyesight.

“Mr. Parker,” Isabel said softly.

“You know it’s Jeff,” Jeff murmured. “You guys have been in my restaurant more than enough times over the years.”

Both Isabel and Kyle nodded.

“Lizzie needed time” was all Jeff could say.

“We know,” Kyle said softly. “I am sure the restaurant provides a lot of memories for your daughter.”

“I don’t know why,” Jeff muttered. Sure, I know why, but still it’s a little weird he was thinking but both Isabel and Kyle knew why.

“So much of my brother and your daughter was started in the restaurant,” Isabel knew. She and Michael might not have gotten the bond between her brother and Liz. Or the fact that Max risked everything because it put everything into peril, but Isabel did understand that it had to be hard to go back into the restaurant when so much monumental was started in those walls. And given what did happen in the end…

Jeff nodded. “All I want to do is support my daughter.”

“How is she doing?” Kyle asked. Because it hurt him as much as it did Maria when they received word about Liz’s condition.

“She’s doing well enough,” Jeff sighed. “She did not want to come here. But the condition of her release was that she could not be alone, at least not yet he thought.

Kyle nodded. “Her job?”

“Is over,” Jeff was all he was willing to say.

“What happened?” Isabel asked. “I don’t know much of what she was doing back there of course. Only my brother did, but I know she had accomplished a lot,” she sighed. “I remember how much you and Nancy were boasting about her success” she said of all the times she had come into the Crashdown, alone or with someone else. “So, what happened?”

“Rumors made their way to her boss,” was all Jeff was saying. “And they decided that they could not take the risk of having Liz come back. Even if work was probably the only thing that would get her to not concentrate on the past and use the distraction to get back on her feet. So, she had no choice but to come back here to Roswell.”

“That is a shame,” Isabel sighed as she looked at Kyle who frowned. “It’s the last thing she needed to do. Is to start at zero again…”

“Who passed on those rumors?” Kyle asked.

“We don’t know,” Jeff said.

*

So-called morality clauses Liz cursed as she walked to the back of her family’s restaurant and prepared to go up to the apartment without having to go through the restaurant because she was not mentally prepared yet to see the inside of the Crashdown. Because her father had kept it so close to what it had been back in 1999 and the early 2000’s when everything was fresh and unknown, and then the invasion happened, and nothing would be the same from that September day.

She did not want to have those memories, not yet anyways she thought because she had so many other memories and wanted to have guarded them until she was better prepared. She had not wanted to come back.

She never wanted to come back. Not after she left three months earlier.

And why she had left.

The memories were too fresh, but she was left with little choice. No one at home to keep an eye on me she knew. In case I take drastic measures to relieve my loneliness. So, that had been the condition the psychiatrist had given her father when he was demanding they release his daughter.

Largely because she was forcing the issue. Saying that she did not want to be in the hospital a moment later.

But of course, once home, she assumed that she could persuade her father that if she could return to her job than she would have something to concentrate on and he could go home, and therefore, he and her mother would not be so worried for her, because she was determined to not go back to Roswell.

They were not going to force me she muttered to her at the time.

But I did not get my way she mutters to herself now. Because all her plans were for naught because once home, she had opened her mail and found a termination notice. With an accompanying final paycheck. Basically, paying me off so I don’t make waves she cursed. As she remembered what the notice said, which was that she had not meant the standards of their so-called morality clause, and therefore, her employment would cease. Sure, it did not help that melted down at that industry event, but I sought help, and you cannot fire someone if they are seeking mental help.

But then it’s only 2012 she thought. Life is not that enlightening yet on the duress people might feel she thought. But she called her boss and was told that certain rumors had reached them of her time in Roswell.

Her boss had not been forthcoming on said rumors, but Liz knew that the rumors had to be lurid for her boss to give her the heave ho, despite all she had done for the company, and while her father wanted to know who had told Liz’s job those rumors. Liz knew.

She suspected the person. But she did not voice her suspicion.

Because only one person would want revenge over her… And would actively work on wrecking the life she had so painstakingly built.

So now she was back in Roswell because this person wanted revenge. Could she not see that if I had something to stay in Maryland for, then I would not be coming back to Roswell she thought. Because she did not want to return to Roswell.

And even without a job, she still did not want to come back to her hometown. But Jeff was adamant that if she could not stay home alone. And especially if she did not have a job to return too, then she was listening to the doctors, and coming back with him.

Liz did not have much choice.

Now she was back, as she walked up the stairs and opened the door to the apartment that was her childhood home. Most people have homes or move around so often that they never really have a home she thought, but that is not me she thought. I have this place she thought. This apartment. Most would think it would be too small for a growing family, to be over a restaurant but given she had worked downstairs once I was allowed too, she thought, it oddly worked.

“Oh my god Liz,” Nancy said as she heard the door open, and she had come out of the bedroom.

“You knew I was coming right?” Liz asked, a little wary.

“Of course, I did Liz, and it’s so good to see you” Nancy said as she walked over to her daughter and hugged her. “Are you okay?”

“Not really, but enough okay for those doctors to release me” Liz said softly.

“Well, you can stay here as long as you want.” Nancy murmured because she hated thinking that her daughter was so out of sorts that she needed to seek help, and could not come back…

She should have come back here Nancy muttered to herself, but she knew of course why her daughter was unable to come back. Even now, she wondered if it was a good thing. But it was good to see her daughter.

To see some color back in her face, it was lacking when she left us.

“I would be gone tomorrow if I had anything to go back too,” Liz muttered as she looked around the apartment. “I suppose Dad told you that my job does not want me back.”

“Yes, your father did mention it” Nancy sighed. That is brazen for them to do it given my daughter was seeking help she thought to herself.

“Of course, he did,” Liz sighed. “it is not exactly how I wanted to come back here,” she muttered. “Left with no choice.”

Although that is how it would have to happen because I had no intention of ever coming back to this town she knew. So, Liz could only shake her head.

“You will do what you want to do when the time is right” Nancy sighed. “Come in and get something to eat. I am sure it’s been a long day,” she said softly.

“Yes, it was” Liz conceded. “I am a little hungry.”

Nancy smiled.

“I guess I will be here longer than I want to be, because it is not like I have anything to go back too” Liz muttered once more as she looked around to see where her daughter was. “Where is Callie?” she said as she thought of the only reason she had come back. And not run out on her father, because she wanted to see her daughter.

“She is downstairs having dinner with Maria,” Nancy said softly. “She has been a great help with the girl,” she said with a smile. “She has made it her mission to help out, but on this night, they were joined by Ella and Noah…”

“Oh,” Liz said softly and nodded, because she did not know what to say to that little tidbit, as she looked around. Trying to think of what she could say. So, she concentrated on the easy. “I hope she has been good for you and Dad?” she said as she was thankful that her best friend had been there for her daughter, when I cannot be there, she muttered. It should not have been like this she knew.

It did not feel good to know she could not handle the last couple of months.

“She’s been wonderful honey,” Nancy smiled. “She’s doing very well in school” she said. “She’s thriving.”

“I am glad,” Liz sighed. Because she did not know what she could say. Or the fact her daughter had to start the school year here in Roswell because she couldn’t be back at home with her, and therefore, she knew this had to be a different experience for her daughter. Roswell is a very different town.

She did not know where either of them went from here.

“You two are welcome to stay as long as you want too” Nancy said softly as Jeff walked into the apartment, and she smiled when she looked at her husband. Someone she had loved for a very long time. “Thank you for getting our daughter.”

“Well, I was not going to let her stay in that place a minute longer than she should have been there” Jeff sighed as he glanced over at their daughter. “If only you had told us earlier where you were, than we might have come sooner, and gotten you out of there.”

“I know you would have” Liz sighed. And that is the problem because she knew exactly what her parents would have done, because it was exactly what they had done.

Bring me home.

A home that does not have Max.

“We want to help you,” Jeff said softly.

“I know you do,” Liz muttered. I don’t know how you can help me she thought because she did not know where she was in any of this. “You have been helping me by keeping an eye on Callie for me, and I did not need you to do anything more than that” she muttered. “Because if I had told you where I was, I know what would have happened.”

“We would have been there for you, honey,” Nancy sighed.

“I needed you with Callie,” Liz sighed. “I did not need you there with me,” she said. “I made a mess of myself, and it was my mess to clean up” she said. “I did not want to come back here,” she said.

Of this town.

“It’s your home Lizzie,” Jeff murmured.

“It was once my home,” Liz sighed. “But it’s not what it was…”

“Honey,” Nancy sighed.

“It’s fine Mom,” Liz said softly. “I am here now, whether I want to be here or not” she muttered. “I can spend time with Callie and figure out where we go from here” she sighed. “It’s not like I have a job to go back too in Maryland.”

“They should not have treated you like that,” Jeff sighed. Which is why he had wanted to let his daughter sit back in her home, and come home without here, because he knew it was not what she needed. But then I don’t know what she needed.

Liz knew exactly what she needed, but she could not have what she needed.

Because Max is gone.

“They have a facility to manage” Liz muttered. “The higher ups don’t like their workers to have issues,” she sighed. “Especially if they are working on breakthroughs,” she sighed. “So, I understand it.”

“They still should have seen you were seeking help.” Jeff sighed.

“I know why they let me go Dad,” Liz sighed. “They heard of the rumors of back here…”

“There was nothing for them to be concerned off, and how did they know of it exactly” Nancy asked. “Roswell is still a small town, and a dot on the map” she sighed, despite the enthusiasts who come here looking for aliens.

After all, we cater to that crowd.

“Who would have told them?” Jeff asked.

“One person unfortunately,” Liz sighed. But she did not elaborate and stopped talking because she did not want to talk about it.

*

Downstairs,

Within the restaurant. Isabel and Kyle had now joined the table for dessert, which had been ordered. A good time was trying to be had, but it was hard. They all knew it, but they were trying to being cheerful about it. With some success, as the kids had picked their desserts, and the orders were placed. When the back door slid open, and Nancy appeared. Maria noticed and decided to get up from the table and walk towards Nancy. Which is something that Ella Evans also noticed, but Callie and Noah were too immersed with talking about something going on at school. It was something the adults wanted, because real life was way too complicated, and it should not have been like this for the children. They deserve an easier go of it they would think.

Unfortunately, that is not what life has provided them so far.

“Are you okay Nancy?” Maria asked. And she still felt it was strange to be calling her best friend’s mother by her name. Because for so long in her life, it was Mrs. Parker even if unofficially she had been her boss at one time.

“Yes, I am fine” Nancy said. “How is Callie?” she asked.

“They are having a good time, almost finished. Dessert is being ordered” Maria smiled. “Is there something I should know?”

“Oh, nothing” Nancy sighed. “It’s just that she should come up to the apartment.”

“Really?” Maria asked.

“Yes,” Nancy said softly.

And Maria got it, oh, really, she thought but wisely chose not to say it so that no one would suspect a thing. But then she did not think it was a surprise that her friend had not come through the restaurant, because all through dinner she had one eye trained at the front door, hoping for Liz to come through, and she also knew Callie did too.

But fortunately, Callie was still a child and was able to find herself immersed with her friends.

“When she has is ready,” Nancy sighed. “It does not have to be a rush…”

“Is she okay?” Maria asked, without elaborating, or naming names.

Of course, Nancy knew who Maria was referring too, and she nodded. If only it could be the truth she thought. “But she has had better days,” Nancy said softly. “Maria, she’s so unhappy.”

Maria knew that, even though she had not seen her friend in three months. But she could imagine. Unfortunately, I can imagine what it would feel like she thought, if I had to deal with it with Michael she thought, but fortunately for her, she did not have to deal with it, with Michael. She was still in the honeymoon phase of her life even if that honeymoon phase is very different looking than what I was imagining it could be. “I wish it was not like that,” she said.

“Unfortunately, it is” Nancy said softly. “I better go up, because Jeff will need to come back here” she allowed.

“It’s not that busy,” Maria said softly.

“But it’s our life,” Nancy said softly as she smiled, and turned and head back upstairs. And Maria hated this, because it was not what she wanted for her friend, and she was a loss to know how to handle.

Maria hated how to even think it, it was easier when she was gone so I did not have to think she thought. To know what I know she sighed.

Now she is back she thought as she looked over at the table where Isabel and Kyle were located with the kids, Kyle caught her eye, and nodded, because they were both thinking the same things. It’s hell they both knew.

As she walked over to table.

“Anything?” Kyle said briefly.

“All is well,” Maria said softly. “Eat your dessert,” she said to Callie who looked up at her honorary aunt. She had seen her grandmother and Maria talking, and she could not help but wonder what it was about. “Although when you are done, your grandmother would like to join them upstairs.”

“Really, why?” Callie asked.

“You will see” Maria smiled. “You might have a surprise waiting for you?”

“What kind of surprise?” Callie asked, and Ella could not help but look at her twin brother and they exchanged a look, but they knew the sensitivities of their feelings were being taken into consideration, and a lot was not being spoken off because they were without someone precious that they both truly loved.

And neither of them knew why.

Why was being asked by a lot of people. And it was an answer that no one really knew.

“You will see,” Maria said softly.

“I guess,” Callie murmured as she went back to her sundae.

*

Upstairs,

She resisted going into her old room. Even though that was the only other room in the apartment. And it was where her father had placed her suitcase. She insisted that she would sleep on the couch, but her parents were not going to have that. So, Liz knew that battle was for another time but all she knew was that she could not go back into her old bedroom.

Because she was trying not to bring the memories back to her…

I am just out of a mental hospital she thought, and she knew fully well that she had managed to make it through my dreaming of Max. Somehow summoning the memory of her great love to her, and that was last thing she needed now as she had to prove to her parents that she was sane, and she was not going to lose her grip on reality once more.

“Honey, you are not going to stay on the couch” Nancy said brushing that thought away from being sensible. “Your daughter wants you to stay in your old room with her,” she said softly. “We have already put a new bed in there, for you.”

Of course, you did Liz muttered to herself. You did not want to ask me what I want she sighed and knew at the heart of this was the simple fact. This whole escapade was doing what someone else wanted and not what I wanted, but then I am just out of a mental hospital, so I don’t have a lot of say she would have to concede. But it did not mean she could not put up a fight. “That is not necessary, but I am not going to be staying in my old room” Liz said with a curse. “I am trying to move on, and the last thing I should do is spent time in that room” she muttered. “Callie does not need me in her room, Mom” she said softly. “It’s her room while we are here…”

“Callie is only eight,” Nancy said. “She does not need privacy yet, and the room is big enough.”

I know how big it is she sighed, of the special attachment that also was connected to the room. “I am not going into that bedroom,” Liz said softly with more a more adamant tone. “I slept on the couch the last time I was here.”

“That was only for a night, honey” Nancy said. It is all you gave us she thought. “But this time is different because you don’t know when you will be leaving, right?” she said.

“Unfortunately.” Liz admitted. Because it’s not like I have a life to go back too… “But regardless, the couch was comfortable for me last time, and it will be for while I am here. Because as soon as I have something figured out. I am sure Callie, and I will be out of here,” she said softly because the last thing she wanted was to be in this apartment.

And the memories attached to it.

“Why are you so skittish to be in this apartment, honey” Nancy asked. “This is your home.”

It’s my home alright she thought. It is where I grew up, but it not the same place anymore she thought.

“Honey,” Nancy asked.

“It’s the memories,” came a sudden voice. A new arrival to the apartment. As the door had opened and in walked Maria and Callie…

“Mommy,” Callie cried as she raced into the apartment and rushed over to her mother and was enveloped into a huge hug.

“Oh Callie,” Liz said softly. Smelling the innocence of the child and wanting that to continue longer. As she had not realized how much she had needed to see her daughter. As the last several months had been the longest that they had been apart. As she quickly assessed the girl, the time here in Roswell has done her well she thought. “You look so grown up.”

“I am the same as I was when you last saw me” Callie said.

No, you are different Liz thought. Or is it that I am different she asked as she took the happiness of her daughter’s glow of seeing her and saw the smile on her best friend’s face. “Hello Maria.”

“Hello Liz” Max said. “Welcome home.”

Home, am I home? Liz asked.

*

She did not know. She did not have the right answer. Because she had come back Roswell kicking and screaming because she had not wanted to be here. She did not want the memories. Of actions she taken, and the fact the one person who meant even more than her family was no longer around for her to stare at him even though she knew she had messed up so royally the last time she had been here, that it had ultimately caused her job back in her old life. So, of course, she did not have a home in Maryland. Even though she still had a home, and life there, but nothing that was drawing her back there.

At least not yet.

“Thank you for spending time with Callie” was all Liz could think to say. She hated how things have been working out. She used to love Roswell, and the charm of the small town and yet now she had so conflicting emotions in her, maybe being back will force me to confront them she wondered.

“My pleasure, and I have the night to myself as Michael is out of town” Maria said softly and tried to keep it simple. Even though the situation is not simple in the least she thought.

“Oh, where is he?” Liz asked.

“Working,” Maria said simply. “A case.”

“Oh,” Liz only nodded because she knew that Michael was working a private investigator. Doing selective cases when he felt like it. With Maria owning the bar, she had to stay closer to home, so she was unlikely to go with Michael unless it was called for. “I appreciate it, I know you are busy. That you could take time off from the bar?”

“The bar is holding its own, I have someone I trust keeping an eye on it” Maria said softly. “Callie matters to me.”

“She matters to me too,” Liz said as she felt guilty with how she had behaved these past few months. As if Max is the be all and end all she thought when she had more looking up at her, and worried about her. I should be worried about Callie’s future.

“We know she does,” Maria said as Callie had gone over to talk to her grandparents. “She has been doing very well,” she said softly. “She has been making herself at home here and making friends.”

“I am glad” Liz said softly. I wish she did not have too she thought. “I wish she could have stayed home with me…”

“But you were not in that frame of mind, huh?” Maria asked even though she knew she was in dangerous waters. By what she knew, and what she could not say at this point, although we have way down the road so who knows what is going to happen now, she thought.

Although Michael would have my head if I said something she thought.

She did not know if this course of action that she was allowing to be untaken was the right one because nothing had come from it, but still…

“She was better off here,” Liz said softly.

“Obviously, it was the right decision” Maria said. “Although you could have told us you know that you needed help.”

“I knew what would have happened,” Liz muttered. Exactly what ended up happening she mused. “I didn’t want to come back here.”

“But you are here, now” Maria asked.

“Unfortunately,” Liz muttered. “But all I know is that we will be leaving as soon as we can” she murmured. “Even if it’s not back to our home in Maryland. We will be going somewhere else…”

You might think you are Maria sighed, but she had her doubts. Because she knew they were on troubled grounds, and no one knew what was going to happen next.

[totallizfan]

So Liz has lost her job.
Her state of mind is worrying.
Maybe being with Callie, her family and friends will be the distraction she needs to help her cope with loosing Max.
Callie seems very content in Roswell, maybe eventually Liz will too.