A friend suggested I start posting some of my stories here. You may have seen this one before - it was posted on another board and a few Yahoo groups - but it's never been posted on this board. I hope you'll enjoy
Could Have, Should Have, Would Have...
Author: Valerie Y. (indiana266@hotmail.com)
Disclaimer: I do not own Roswell. It belongs to 20th Century Fox, Regency Television, Jason Katims Production, Melinda Metz and a whole lot of other people that are not me. No money is being made and no infringement is intended.
Category: Max and Liz
Rating: TEEN Anything else is merely suggested.
Summary: A slice of what life could have been had Future Max not come back to screw everything up!
Author’s note: This is nothing but pure dreamer fluff, and I make no apologies for it. Sometimes, it’s just what the doctor ordered.
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Part 1
He loved the way her face looked when the first rays of sunlight touched it in the morning. He shifted slightly to get a better view, his arms still around her. She stirred in her sleep but didn’t wake up. A strand of her long, silky brown hair fell on her face and he pushed it away delicately, letting his hand linger on her cheek for a moment. He brushed the soft skin tenderly with the tip of his fingers. She smiled and her eyes fluttered open.
“Morning, Sunshine,” he whispered.
“Morning, Max,” she whispered back, still smiling.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Like a baby. How long have you been awake?”
“I just woke up,” he lied. He had spent the last 40 minutes just staring at the beautiful young woman asleep in his arms.
She punched his shoulder lightly. “Liar,” she said, unable to keep the grin off her face. She knew he had been watching her.
“Okay, I admit it,” he surrendered, his grin as wide as hers. “Have I ever told you how much you look like an angel when you sleep?”
“Only every morning we wake up together.”
“That’s not nearly often enough,” he sighed. He cupped her face in his hand and kissed her lips softly.
Noises in the hall made them jump.
Liz looked at the door, afraid that it would open at any moment, but the footsteps moved away from her room. She looked at Max.
“I know,” he sighed.
Liz bit her lip. “We can’t let my parents find you here. What if they keep us from seeing each other? ”
“I know, and you’re right. But I don’t have to like it.” He kissed her again and got up. Liz watched as he reached down to pick his shirt up from the floor. She would never get enough of the sight of his naked back… She let her gaze wander downwards. She would never get enough of his naked hiney, either. She suddenly found it very hard to breathe as she remembered the way her fingers, then her lips, had traced every line and covered every inch of Max’s body the night before. He put his clothes on quickly, breaking the spell, and turned to her once again.
“I’ll go home and have a quick shower, then I’ll come back and take you out to breakfast.”
Liz just nodded, and inexplicably found herself in Max’s arms again. Her fingers became entwined in his hair of their own free will, and her lips glued themselves to his as though drawn there by a magnetic force. His hands caressed the skin of her lower back and his tongue met hers inside the warmth of her mouth.
They heard more footsteps in the hall, coming to a stop in front of her door.
“Go!” she whispered frantically, breaking away from him and pushing him toward the window. He stole one last kiss and quickly disappeared down the fire escape.
Liz grabbed her night gown from the floor and struggled to put it on. She heard knocking and saw the doorknob turning slowly. There was no time to try and get dressed. She rapidly kicked the pink night dress under her bed. She jumped on the bed and quickly drew the covers over her head.
“Lizzie? Are you awake?” she heard her father say.
She peeked from under the covers.
“Morning, dad,” she said, stifling a yawn she hoped looked natural.
“Good morning, sweetie. Are you coming down to breakfast?”
“Sure… I’ll just shower first.”
“See you down in a bit,” her father said before closing the door.
Liz let out a sigh a relief and pushed the sheets away. She got up and made her way to the shower. The hot water on her skin felt good, but it was nothing compared to the ghost of Max’s touch that lingered there.
This had not been the first night they had spent together. She had lost count of how many times they had waken up in each other’s arms since that night they didn’t make it to the Gomez concert in Santa Fe. Each night was just as special. Max had that way of making her feel like she was the only girl in the entire universe. The way his deep golden brown eyes looked into hers telling her everything that was in Max’s soul, the way his hands moved all over her body… Liz shivered despite the hot water. She missed Max already.
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Max pushed his still wet bangs off his forehead and knocked on the door. Jeff Parker opened it a few moments later.
“Good morning, Max,” he said, not really surprised to see the young man outside his door so early on a Saturday morning.
“Hello, Mr. Parker. Is Liz up yet?” the teen asked as casually as possible.
“Yes, she is.” He moved aside to let Max in and closed the door behind him. They started toward the kitchen. “You know, I should start charging you rent.”
“Sir?” Max swallowed hard and tried to look innocent.
“What time was it when you left last night?”
“Oh! Um… Shortly after midnight, I think.”
“Exactly. And here you are again, less than 10 hours later.”
Max wasn’t sure what kind of reply Mr. Parker was expecting from him, so he just smiled timidly. His attention was soon diverted by the sight of his dream girl.
It had been less than half an hour since he had last seen her, but he had missed her nonetheless. Ever since they had first made love, he couldn’t go very long before his body started aching for her. She was his drug.
“Oh, hi Max,” Liz said, smiling mischievously at him and giving him a quick peck on the lips.
The quick kiss sent a lightning bolt of energy through his body, and his hand raised to rest on the nape of her neck, but Liz had already moved away from him. He just stood there with his arm up for a moment, until he noticed Liz’s mother staring at him.
“Good morning, Mrs. Parker,” he said promptly, lowering his hand and straightening himself up as he did so.
“Good morning, Max,” she said, a oh-so-subtle hint of disapproval in her voice.
Max smiled shyly at Liz’s mom and, turning his attention to his girlfriend, said hopefully, “Liz, I wanted to know if you’d like to come to breakfast?”
“I already made waffles. Would you care to join us?” Mr. Parker said.
Liz gave Max an apologetic smile and patted the chair next to hers.
“Sure, Mr. Parker,” Max answered. He made his way to Liz’s side and sat down next to her, lightly brushing her shoulders. The gesture didn’t go unnoticed by Liz’s parents. They looked at each other, a mix of resignation and amusement in their eyes.
They made small talk for a while, talking about school and Max’s job at the UFO Center.
“Would you like more waffles, Max?” Mr. Parker asked after a while.
“Yes, please,” Max answered politely. “It’s delicious.”
Nancy Parker grinned, looking at her husband. “Max, I think you just made his day.”
Jeff just shrugged at his wife, but his smile gave him away. He put a stack of waffles on Max’s plate.
“That’s way too many, sir!” Max protested.
“Here, let me help you with that, then,” Liz said, stealing a couple of waffles from Max’s plate and putting them on her own. They both reached for the maple syrup at the same time.
“Go ahead,” Max said, leaving his hand over Liz’s for as long as possible without being too obvious about it. It didn’t fool anyone.
Liz poured the last of the syrup on her waffles.
“Hey, what about me?” Max complained, sounding like a little boy. He grinned at Liz. She nudged him lightly with her shoulder.
“Big baby,” she said, happily. “I’ll get you some more.”
“Thanks, that’d be nice,” Max said softly, leaning in towards Liz. Mr. Parker cleared his throat. The couple broke apart, blushing. Liz got up and went to the refrigerator to get more syrup for Max. She poured a small quantity of the golden liquid in a plastic cup and opened the cupboard. The phone rang.
“I’ll get it,” Mrs. Parker said. She picked up the phone in the living room.
Liz removed the Tabasco bottle from the cupboard and mixed a few drops of the red liquid with the maple syrup. She handed the mixture to Max as she sat down next to him. He smiled his thanks and poured some on his food.
“Jeff? Could you come here a minute? It’s the suppliers, they need some info and it’ll be faster if we’re both looking through the books,” Nancy called from the living room.
“I’m coming, dear,” Jeff said, wiping some syrup from the corner of his mouth with his napkin. He got up and looked at the couple seated across from him.
“You kids behave yourself,” he said sternly, looking at Max.
“Yes, sir,” Max replied, swallowing and not quite meeting Jeff Parker’s eyes. Liz’s father looked at him for a moment longer, then turned to join his wife in the other room.
Liz looked at Max, smirking.
“You can breathe now, you know,” she teased him.
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“You make me forget that other people live in this world too. I almost kissed you just then,” Max said, taking a strand of her hair between his fingers and hooking it behind her ear.
“Why didn’t you?” she whispered moving closer to him.
Liz’s mother walked into the room and removed a tattered notebook from the drawer next to the sink. She looked pointedly in the couple’s direction. Max took his hand away from Liz’s hair, but Liz stubbornly didn’t move an inch. Nancy sighed and went back to the living room.
“I guess that might be why,” Max said, meeting her eyes. “And the fact that, for one second, your beautiful face was replaced by a vision of your dad chasing me down the street with a shotgun.”
She moved even closer to breathe in his ear, “You have a very vivid imagination, Mr. Evans.”
“You have no idea,” he replied huskily, one hand weaving through her hair and the other slowly lifting the hem of her shirt. Their lips finally met in one long, slow kiss and they didn’t pull apart until they heard Liz’s parents hang up the phone.
“You did it again,” Max said reproachfully. He shot a worried glance in the direction of his girlfriend’s parents, but if they knew what the teenagers had been up to, and how could they not, Max wondered, they didn’t let on.
“Better get used to it,” Liz said playfully, resting her hand on his knee under the table. Max started at her touch, but covered remarkably well. He took a bite of his lukewarm waffles and looked at her with an expression that said ‘just you wait until I get you alone’, thinking of ways he could get his sweet revenge on his girlfriend.
She reached over him to grab the orange juice. “Is that a promise?” she whispered. She giggled when his face took on a darker shade of red. “Damn connection,” he said under his breath. She laughed even more. She knew he wasn’t really mad.
“So, what are you kids doing today?” Mr. Parker asked, looking at his daughter. She tried to regain her seriousness and only half succeeded.
“Well, Maria and I are going shopping for prom dresses after our shift.”
“And I’m working all afternoon until closing,” Max joined in.
“And later,” Liz continued, “Max and I are going to the movies.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Jeff Parker said, but the teenagers were not listening to him anymore. Max’s eyes widened and he looked at Liz when he saw that her father had poured some of the special maple syrup on his waffles and was just about to take a big bite.
“Um, dad!” Liz started, trying not to burst out laughing at the expression of sheer panic on Max’s face. “I wouldn’t –"
“What the hell?!” Mr, Parker yelled, spitting out his food.
“ – eat that if I were you,” Liz finished. She couldn’t contain herself any longer. She started giggling uncontrollably. The look of indignation of her father’s face did nothing to calm her down, and soon she was wiping tears from the corner of her eyes. She looked over at Max, who had put his hand over his mouth in an effort to hide his own widening grin.
“What did you put in the syrup?! It tasted like… like… Tabasco!”
Max kept a straight face long enough to say in all seriousness, “I didn’t want to say anything, I thought that’s how you always ate it here.”
That did it. Liz fell off her chair.
tbc
Thanks for reading!!