Falling Through Again (CC; Mature) AN and Outline [WIP]

[JO]

banner by Blanca
TITLE: Falling Through Again
AUTHOR: JO (aka JOLovesRoswell)
CATEGORY: CC; post-EotW AU, post-Control
RATING: Mature
DISCLAIMER: The characters of Roswell are the property of Twentieth Century Fox Television and Regency Productions. All original characters and concepts are the property of the author. No profit has been made from the distribution of this work of fiction. Lyrics from Closer by Better Than Ezra.

SUMMARY: Max and the gang must struggle to find Liz and reverse the incidents that seem to be leading to the end of the world. Sequel to Trick of the Light and Brave New World

Author's Note: Well, this fic has seen better days. Like the days before my disk became unreadable about, oh, two years ago. Anyway, I've decided to finish this fic (and the trilogy). If you want to read Trick or BNW (which I recommend), pm me.

Author's Note No. 2: I'm also working on Intersection, Fly For Freedom, another fic, and some original material. I think this fic should be 20 parts or so. My only request is for patience. I'll post new parts as soon as I write them. Thanks!!


Closer than this life,
falling through again.
Giving more than anything
that you could hope to win

Part 1

Max drove to Michael’s apartment knowing his unexpected arrival would succeed in two things: waking Michael up, and pissing Michael off. Michael worked best when he was pissed, and Max needed Michael, and all of his friends, to be at their best. Liz needed them, more now than she ever had before.

He knocked sharply on the door of Michael’s apartment and heard Michael’s morning screech in objection to the intrusion. His jaw twitched involuntarily and Max thrust his hands into his pockets as he heard Michael fumble with the locks.

“What,” Michael groaned, his eyes mere slits against the breaking sunlight. He stood in front of Max in a black Metallica t-shirt and a pair of gray boxers.

“Something’s happened,” Max replied without making eye contact, brushing past Michael into the living room of the apartment.

“Who is it, Michael,” Maria questioned as she stepped from Michael’s bedroom into the living room, wearing Michael’s tuxedo shirt. “Max,” she whispered, one hand pulling the shirt down in front and the other closing the collar around her throat. “What are you doing here?”

Max’s jaw flexed and he glanced between Michael and Maria, their apparel telling him without them having to that they had spent the night together. Less than twelve hours earlier, Liz had been wearing his tuxedo shirt, the collar spilling open at her throat, her laughter filling the desert and now she was missing. “Sit down,” he barked at his two friends, pointing to Michael’s couch. He waited for them to comply which took longer than he’d expected.

“What the hell’s going on, Maxwell? You wake us up at the butt crack of dawn to yell at us? Who pissed in your Raisin Bran?”

“Shut up, Michael,” Max snarled. “Just shut up.” Maria gasp in response, which Max quickly ignored, as she knotted her legs underneath her in an attempt to maintain some dignity. “Liz is missing.”

“Missing? What do you mean? What are you talking about, Max?”

“Liz is gone. Someone broke into the Parkers’ apartment last night and took her. They tried to make it look like a robbery.”

“But nothing was taken?”

“Nothing except Liz.”

“What are you going to do about it,” Michael questioned, although all three in the room already knew what the answer would be.

“Find her,” Max replied with conviction. “Get dressed and we’ll meet at my house in an hour.” And as brusquely as he had entered the apartment, Max left.

* * *

Sunlight filtered through the backseat, hitting Alex directly in the eye. He winced and tried to sit up when he felt an unusual weight on his chest. It took him several moments to realize that the unusual weight not only lay on his chest, it lay along the entire length of his body. He opened his eyes fully, surprised to find the unusual weight had a name: Isabel Evans.

Isabel stirred against him, a soft moan echoing through his car and Alex thought he would come unglued at the seams. Isabel was lying on top of him in the backseat of his car! They had spent the night together! Granted, both of them were fully dressed, at least from his limited vantage point; he could make out the A-line flare of Isabel’s strapless red prom dress interspersed with the black of his trouser pants. He saw her matching red purse and shoes in the passenger seat, his discarded tuxedo jacket draped across her tanned shoulders. He exhaled and thanked his lucky stars for such a gift, leaning forward to brush his lips across her forehead. Another soft moan escaped her lips followed immediately by a boom against the driver’s side window, causing Alex to jump and Isabel to wake up.

“It wasn’t a dream,” she whispered as she placed a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

“Nope,” Alex replied, accepting her kiss then began to mentally chide himself for his lack of enthusiasm at their predicament. Before he could respond, the same boom that had startled him repeated, this time accompanied by Max’s face peering into the car.

“Max,” Isabel groaned, raising herself off Alex to unlock the front door. She plopped back down beside Alex, both of them now in a seated position, and wrapped her arms around Alex’s right arm. She rested her head onto Alex’s shoulder with a heavy sigh as Max raised the driver’s seat forward. “Where’s Liz?”

“That’s what we’ve got to talk about,” Max barked and Alex turned slightly when Isabel’s body stiffened at Max’s tone. “Get out of the car.”

“What do you mean? What’s going on, Max? Where’s Liz?”

“Liz is missing. We’re having a meeting in forty-five minutes at our house. I’ve got to go get Kyle. Don’t be late.”

He slammed the car door closed and Alex and Isabel sat in silence until the Jeep drove away. “What’s up his ass,” Alex mused, carefully placing a stray lock of hair behind Isabel’s right ear.

“I don’t know,” Isabel replied with a shrug. “But you know, if it’s about Liz, it’s got to be serious.”

“Maybe we should go inside,” Alex suggested as he pointed to the front door of the Evans home, visible from their parked spot on the opposite side of the street. “We could actually lay on a bed for forty-five minutes.”

“You don’t like having me in the backseat of your car,” Isabel questioned, a playful grin on her lips as she arched her eyebrow. “I thought you couldn’t wait to have me back here.”

“Oh, man,” Alex said with an embarrassed laugh. “I’d never try anything on you, Isabel, and even if I did, I wouldn’t expect it to go anywhere, especially in the backseat of my car, no matter how nice this backseat actually is. I clean it every two days and I use my dad’s shop vac to make sure everything is spic and span. You can’t be too careful when you’re dealing with car maintenance -”

“Alex.”

“Yeah?”

“Shut up and kiss me. We’ve still got forty minutes.”

“Okay,” Alex agreed, knowing he didn’t have to be asked twice to kiss Isabel Evans.

* * *

Kyle sat on the sofa, his tuxedo jacket open, his black bow tie folded loosely around his neck. He yawned and pulled his hands down the length of his face, the gold of his fake crown glittering in the morning sun on the coffee table in front of him. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he felt like something was wrong, something alien. He shook his head quickly, trying to dispel the bad vibes running through his brain as he stood and walked to the kitchen. His father had greeted him at the door on his way in almost four hours earlier and Kyle smiled to himself as he suspected Jim had a breakfast date with Amy DeLuca.

He opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk, bringing the carton to his lips without a second thought. After he was sufficiently satisfied, he returned the carton to the refrigerator and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He stood in the kitchen doorway, an eerie feeling of deja vu plaguing him. He patted his jacket, searching for something to help him identify why he was having this kind of memory. Last year, he had gotten drunk at Pam Troy’s after prom party and woken up in the front seat of his Mustang, still parked outside Pam Troy’s house. Shaking the memory away, he dug further into his subconscious, trying not to focus on what he was wearing and what he had done the previous evening.

After several seconds with no revelations, Kyle shrugged the feeling off and headed toward his bedroom when a knock at his door startled him. He turned and looked at the clock in the kitchen. It was almost 8:00 in the morning and Kyle felt a terror seize his heart like nothing he’d ever felt before. He all but ran to the front door, somehow knowing it would be Max on the other sided.

He swung the front door open, the door knob making a small hole in the interior wall as it crashed against it but Kyle didn’t care. His instincts were right and he knew that if Max Evans was standing on his front porch at 8:00 in the morning, something had to be wrong with Liz. “What’s wrong with Liz,” Kyle questioned immediately.

“How did you know something was wrong with Liz?”

“I...I don’t know. It was just a feeling I had, like that something was wrong. So what’s wrong?”

“Liz is missing.”

Kyle stepped backwards as the weight of those words registered in his brain. Max maintained his stone-like expression as he stood on the front porch, his hands firmly imbedded in the pockets of his khaki pants. “What can I do,” Kyle asked and as the words left his mouth, Kyle Valenti knew he had lived this moment before.

[JO]

Part 2

“Well, I’m still pissed at him,” Michael replied, intending for only Maria, Alex and Isabel to hear his remarks. Max and Kyle stood in the laundry room of the Evans house, the kitchen filled with their friends present only because of Max’s order. Max held up his hand to silence Kyle and Kyle nodded in understanding, the two of them remaining hidden as Michael continued. “Who does he think he is barging into my apartment like that?”

“He’s Max,” Isabel countered as she closed the refrigerator door with her elbow, handing the carton of milk to Alex.

“And he’s concerned about Liz,” Maria offered. “Max loves Liz and they’ve been through hell and back. If he thinks Liz is missing, I’d like to know as many details about it as I can.”

“So you believe him? What if Liz just went for a walk or to the library?”

“Max and Liz have been apart for almost a year, Michael,” Alex argued as he filled his mouth with Fruit Loops. “The parents gave them hell because of the pregnancy. I was surprised they even let Liz go to the prom with Max. It just seems a little too weird for something like this to happen now.”

“If Liz were in town, they’d certainly be together,” Maria agreed. “They’d be joined at the hip after not being together for a year. I think Max is right. Something happened to Liz.”

“You’re suggesting an alien conspiracy,” Michael groaned and Max’s jaw twitched. He took two determined steps and was inside the kitchen, Kyle on his heels.

“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting,” Max replied, careful to look each of his friends and his sister directly in the eyes. “What other reason is there to hurt Liz? To get to me. To hurt me.”

“You don’t know that, Max,” Isabel said as she stepped toward Max and Kyle.

“I know Liz didn’t go for a walk.”

“Listen, Maxwell, if Liz is in as much danger as you say she is, then you know I’m going to help you. My big problem was how you made the announcement, not when or why.”

“I thought your enemies were gone,” Alex questioned as he dropped his spoon into his empty bowl, Isabel taking it from the table immediately and placing it in the sink. “I mean, isn’t that what the second Future Max did? Isn’t that what happened in Copper Summit?”

“He destroyed the skins, the followers,” Max slowly replied, taking a seat at the kitchen table beside Maria and Alex while Michael, Isabel and Kyle gathered around him. “He didn’t destroy Khivar, the leader.”

* * *

“No,” Isabel said, her voice shaky as she pushed away from the kitchen table and out of Alex’s comforting arm. “No, it can’t be true. Khivar is dead. He’s dead, Max. He has to be dead.”

“We don’t know anything about him, Iz,” Max countered as Isabel stood up from the kitchen table and leaned against the island. “We don’t know if he’s alive, or how he can manifest himself. We don’t know anything.”

“We killed his followers. You, Max, you killed his followers. I watched you do it.”

“Max Evans killed the skins, but not the Max Evans you’re staring at right now. A different Max Evans, one that lost Liz and slept with Tess, a desperate man, a different man.”

“You sound pretty desperate right now,” Isabel almost screeched, the fear in her voice now undeniable. “Khivar is dead. He’s not coming for us. No one is coming for us or looking for us or plotting to kill us.”

“We don’t know that,” Max forcefully replied as he grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. “Why would I make this up? Why would I tell you that Mr. Parker heard something he didn’t hear? Why? I know what Khivar was to Vilandra.”

“I’m not her,” Isabel screamed. Breaking out of Max’s hold on her shoulders, she ran out of the kitchen, leaving Max and her remaining friends to deal with the wake of her emotions.

“She’s right,” Michael offered after several seconds of silence, Max reluctantly sitting down in Isabel’s vacant chair. “Isabel’s not Vilandra. None of us are who we once were.”

“I’m not saying we are those…beings, Michael. I’m simply going off of what Mr. Parker said. He specifically heard the word ‘Khivar.’ He couldn’t pronounce it but once I said it, he agreed immediately.”

“It could have been a warp,” Maria said as she walked past Max toward the kitchen sink, her arms full with breakfast dishes. “Mr. Parker said there were a lot of them, right, or at least he felt like there were a lot of them. Maybe someone warped him into thinking he heard Khivar’s name.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Alex argued while Maria ran warm water over the dishes. “Why would you mindwarp a person into believing something they didn’t know? Why even give the warpee, for lack of a better description, that kind of information?” He hesitantly glanced around the room, surprised to see Max, Kyle and Michael with the same expression on their faces; it was an expression of interest and curiosity. “I’m not saying I know what Mr. Parker heard but if he thinks he heard something that sounded like the word ‘Khivar,’ then I’m going to believe the man.” He shrugged half-heartedly and stood up to help Maria finish cleaning their breakfast dishes.

“Have you been to Liz’s room,” Kyle asked, Maria and Alex continuing to clean as they listened. “Isn’t there some type of flash you could get? Wouldn’t there be some kind of impression or…thingy still floating around?”

“Thingy,” Alex questioned with a laugh. “Is that some kind of new technical term taught only in remedial science?”

“I’ll remedial science your ass, Whitman, if you keep it up,” Kyle countered.

“Guys,” Maria groaned and rolled her eyes once she saw that Kyle and Alex were only playing. She plunged her hands into the soapy water and washed the last of the dishes, handing them to Alex to dry and return to their rightful place in the cabinets.

“Kyle’s right,” Max said in a low voice. “I didn’t even step foot into Liz’s room, and I’ll bet the Sheriff didn’t allow anyone else in there either. It’s a crime scene. Nothing would have been touched. If he had, they certainly wouldn’t be able to pick up a flash about Liz.”

“One of the pluses of alien mojo,” Kyle mumbled underneath his breath as he reclined his arm across the back of the nearby kitchen chair. “That certainly comes in handy every now and then. If only I could use it to get into Kristen James’ pants then it would be real handy.”

“Gross,” Maria replied as she dried her hands on a small kitchen towel. Kyle looked in her direction and held his palm outward to her, then began contorting his hand into several suggestive positions. “Gutter brain,” Maria exclaimed, tossing the towel at Kyle’s head, hitting him squarely on the chin. “In all seriousness, Max,” she continued while crossing the kitchen to sit beside Michael, “I think you should go to Liz’s room. I’ll bet you could pick up some distinct impressions, especially if things were as crazy as Mr. Parker described them.

“Impressions, thank you,” Kyle said with a snap of his fingers. “That was the word I was looking for.”

“Yes, well, I passed remedial science,” Maria jabbed. “I seem to recall a certain Valenti spending more time sleeping.” She glared knowingly at Kyle who only shrugged in response, both Michael and Alex chuckling at their banter. “Max? Max, are you okay?”

Max raised his drooping forehead and stared around the table at his friends. His eyelids had never felt this heavy before and instead of words he heard strange noises of static. He hadn’t heard the last few moments of conversation in their entirety, only knowing that his friends, particularly Maria, were looking at him with concerned faces. He blinked several times and tried to readjust his vision. “Yeah, I…I think so. I’m just tired, I guess.”

“You should go to sleep,” Maria suggested. “Michael and I will go to the Parkers and make sure nothing in Liz’s room is disturbed. You need to rest. Liz needs you to be well if we’re going to find her.”

“We’re going to find her, Maria,” Max growled, slowly standing up from his chair. He braced himself against the back of the chair for a second for support, his vision suddenly blurry and his mind disoriented. “Maybe I should go lie down.”

“I’ll check with Dad to see if he can tell me anything, off the record.” Kyle stood from his chair and crossed behind Max toward the door. “Get some rest, Evans. I’ll talk to you later.” He patted Max on the shoulder as he walked out of the Evans’ back door, his Mustang engine revving to life seconds later.

“We’ll go too, Max,” Maria replied. “The kitchen is clean. If your mom’s not happy with it, Isabel will just have to wave her magic finger and undo anything that’s out of place. We’ll call you when we know something.” She looped her arm through Michael’s and together they walked out of the kitchen.

“Thanks, guys,” Max whispered then turned his attention to Alex, who was fidgeting back and forth in some type of dance-like move at the corner of the kitchen table. “What are you going to do, Alex?”

“I’ll follow you upstairs,” Alex said. “To check on Isabel, of course,” he quickly added. Max smiled, his eyelids half-open. One by one, he and Alex made their way upstairs, Max to his room and Alex to Isabel’s.

[JO]

Part 3

As he closed the door to his bedroom, he saw Isabel’s door open and Alex disappear into his sister’s room. Max knew Isabel was upset, especially now that she knew Max believed Khivar could have played a part in Liz’s disappearance. Part of him wanted to go to her and tell her he knew she wasn’t Vilandra, that who they were in their past lives didn’t reflect on who they were now. His other half, however, could only think of Liz.

Removing his shirt and shoes, he stretched out onto his bed, hoping Liz’s disappearance was a nightmare he would wake from soon. Just as they had been given a chance to be together once again, any remaining obstacles removed from their path, she had been violently ripped from his life. The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that Liz’s kidnapping was not a random occurrence.

He grabbed his framed picture of Liz from his nightstand and rolled onto his right side, his back to his bedroom door. His entire body ached and his mind screamed for a moment’s peace. He placed Liz’s photograph on the pillow beside him and his eyes fluttered to a close.

The peace his brain needed, however, did not come to him as he had hoped.

I won't leave you.

No, no, no. Max, you have to.

If I'm successful, if I can do this, you and I won't exist. Not as we do now.

Max, if you don't do this, we're gonna die. Everyone will. Max, you have to do this. You have to try it.

I'll never see you again.

Thank you.

For what?

For every kiss, every smile.

Max, I don't have any regrets.

* * *

Every time I blink or close my eyes to try and sleep, I see the two of you in bed together. I...I look at you right now and all I can see is you...in bed...with him. I...I can’t trust you anymore. I...I can’t trust anything about how I feel about you.

* * *

He’s the one thing we both did perfectly.

* * *

You have to do it, Max. You have to try.

What if it doesn’t work? What if -

There’s no time for ‘what ifs,’ Max. We’re all going to die if you don’t.
They’re out there, Maria. You’ll be left behind. I...Michael would never forgive me for letting them take you.

If you’re successful, Max, we won’t have to worry about that. And I’d rather die trying this than to let them take me. You know they’ll never take me alive.

This is crazy, you know.

We’d be crazy not to try it.

* * *

Max, wake up.

* * *

I loved you. I loved you and you destroyed me.

* * *

When you healed me, you changed me, Max. And now, I’m different.

* * *

We don’t have to be together. I don’t care anything about you. I just want to protect -

Michael and Isabel. But I know you, Max, and deep down, underneath those layers of hate and anger, you want to be with me. You would damn your destiny a million times if you thought it would change anything about our lives. Things between us may be irreconcilable but they aren’t between the other Max and Liz. That’s why you need me. You aren’t seeing things clearly. You’re not seeing the whole picture.

* * *

I want to change my life, Liz Parker, and I’m starting with you. You’ve been holding me back for too long.

* * *

Max, please honey, we need you to wake up.

* * *

Into your heart, I’ll beat again.

* * *

We have a child together, Liz. You’re the mother of my son.

* * *

His name is Colby.

* * *

When Khivar found out I was pregnant, or that I could be pregnant, he took me to Carlsbad.


An unfamiliar noise ripped him from his dreams about Liz. A name, a place remained in the forefront of his mind but he couldn’t recall it. Shielding his eyes from the sunlight filtering into his room, he slowly sat up and leaned against his headboard. He reminded himself to ask Isabel to sift through his mind after breakfast.

“Oh, thank God,” Diane said, startling Max from his thoughts. She fell to her knees and grabbed onto Max’s arm, and Max felt his mother’s cool tears against his skin.

“Mom?” He shifted toward her, for the first time noticing Isabel in his room. She looked terrible - her messy hair sticking up at odd angles, her face marred by tear tracks, her eyes bloodshot, and she was still wearing her pajamas. “Isabel? What’s going on?”

“We were worried,” Isabel whispered and Max noticed her lips began to tremble as she moved to the edge of his bed. “We’ve been so worried, Max.”

“Why? I’ve just been asleep.”

“You’ve been asleep for three days.”



----------

lines of dialogue taken from The End of the World and Trick of the Light

[JO]

Part 4

Max stood from his bed and immediately swayed. Diane and Isabel grabbed for him; he swatted them away as he moved unsteadily toward his closet. “I’m changing clothes now,” he called from inside the closet, leaving Diane and Isabel no choice but to leave his room.

Moments later, Max bounded down the stairs into the kitchen, ignoring Diane’s and Isabel’s worried expressions. He opened the refrigerator and tipped the container of orange juice to his lips.

“Oh, Max, use a glass,” Diane said, reaching into the cupboard for a small juice glass. She sat the glass on the counter but Max did not accept it, and returned the container to the refrigerator when he had drank his fill.

Sidestepping Isabel, who had mysteriously appeared in his path to the back door, Max rolled his eyes while his sister tried to anticipate his movements in a drastic attempt to keep him from leaving the house. “You shouldn’t be going anywhere, Max.”

“It’s been three days, Iz. I think I’ve had enough time to relax. Please get out of my way.”

“Don’t do this, Max,” Diane begged as Isabel acquiesced and allowed Max to pass her. “Please, sweetie. We don’t know why you slept for three days.”

“Maybe I just needed some sleep, Mom,” Max answered and instantly regretted his hateful tone.

“Your mother is worried, Max,” Philip offered, lowering the morning paper. Max turned toward the kitchen table where his father sat, the newspaper he had been reading neatly folded beside his cup of coffee. “Your sister is worried and I’m worried. You were asleep for three days with a temperature that shattered three thermometers. We thought you were…..”

“But I’m fine now, Dad, and I’ve got a lot of catch up work to do.” Max turned toward his parents and Isabel and watched as they remained unconvinced of his health. “Liz is missing. Someone took her, my enemies took her. And they have at least a week’s head start.”

“Just what are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to find Liz,” Max replied, his voice roaring with conviction as he exited the house, slamming the back door behind him.

* * *

“Howdy,” Sheriff Jim Valenti said with a tip of his hat as he bellied up to the counter at the Crashdown. It was slow at the café though Jim hoped business picked up, at least for the mental well-being of Jeff and Nancy Parker. He had tried to imagine what he would do if Kyle was missing, but found himself unable to comprehend such an event. He could only imagine the grief and fear that coursed through the Parkers, the tension evident as they worked side by side in the café.

“Mornin’ Sheriff,” Jeff replied with a small smile, filling the coffee cup in front of Jim with steaming black coffee. Jeff stared at Jim for a split second before retrieving an order from the pick-up window.

“How you doing,” Jim asked when Jeff reappeared to take his order. Jim typically ordered the same meal each time he ate at the café: sausage, three eggs over easy, and a small stack of pancakes. It was a routine he had perfected over the years so for Jeff to ask Jim for his order only proved that Jeff wasn’t handling Liz’s disappearance well.

“I just want to find her,” Jeff said, his voice quaking with emotion. “It’s been a week and nothing. The waiting…..it’s pure torture. If she’s dead…”

“We don’t know that,” Jim reassured, knowing he couldn’t offer the Parkers any more than a comforting word. In the week he had been searching for Liz, he had almost exhausted his resources. It was as if the teen had simply never existed.

“Max said he could find her,” Jeff continued after wiping his eyes and nose with a handkerchief. “How can he find her when no one else can?”

Jim wrapped both of his hands around the coffee cup, letting its warmth spill onto his skin. He mentally debated his answer, unsure of what he could say to comfort Jeff. “If Max says he’ll find Liz, he’ll find her, Jeff, no matter what.”

“You’re so sure?”

“Yea,” Jim replied with a nod of his head. “I am.”

* * *

Max cautiously stepped onto Liz’s balcony. He willed his senses to their fullest state of alert, hoping he would be able to pick up a flash or some sort of clue to Liz’s whereabouts. He knew his dream had meant something, that there had been a reason he had been asleep for three days; he just didn’t know what that reason was.

He opened the window to Liz’s bedroom and slid inside. Immediately, his mind was assaulted with thoughts and images of Liz. Unable to control them, he stumbled and fell onto the floor at the foot of Liz’s bed, his palms locked around his head. The images passed so quickly through his mind, he couldn’t determine if they held clues to who had taken Liz or why. He said a silent prayer that the images would remain in his subconscious, and he made plans to ask Isabel for help in retrieving them.

“Max,” Nancy Parker questioned as she and Jeff appeared in the doorway of Liz’s bedroom when Max regained his footing. “Max? What are you doing here?”

“Looking for clues,” he replied in a low voice, inching his way toward Liz’s desk. He drummed his fingers over the desk’s surface. When nothing came to him, he stepped back toward the bed, aware that the Parkers were staring at him with confusion on their faces.

“You came here to find Liz,” Jeff asked when Max moved to the edge of Liz’s bed, his fingers trailing across the bedspread. “To search for clues?”

“Mr. Parker, I know it doesn’t make sense to you, but my abilities…I can pick up certain emotions or images.”

“And did you find something?” The hope in Mrs. Parker’s voice was undeniable. Max stared at the floor, scuffing the toes of his shoes together. How could he tell them the trail was cold, especially when he didn’t want to believe it himself?

Before he could answer, Jeff Parker stepped in front of him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “We don’t know what happened here, Max. We just know we want Liz to come home.” Mr. Parker paused and turned toward Mrs. Parker for a moment, his hand never leaving Max’s shoulder.

“I’ll find Liz, Mr. Parker. I promise I will. I…I love her. I…I can’t be here without her.”

“We know you love Liz, Max, and I’m sorry for ever doubting that love. Everyone should be so lucky. And if you say you can find Liz, we’ll do anything we can to help you.”

* * *

With her knees tucked against her chest, Liz rocked herself back and forth on the cold concrete. Her limbs shook with hunger but she had refused every ounce of food offered to her since her captivity. Her mind reached for Max, unable to feel even the slightest bit of a connection to him. Slamming her fist onto the floor, she felt the sting as her blood surfaced through the fresh wounds.

“I hear you have refused my food.” It was a man’s voice, coming from the darkest corner of the room. Liz stopped rocking, bracing herself for any impact from the unknown presence. “My food will not harm you. I need you alive, Liz Parker.”

“I don’t care what you need,” Liz spat, groping her way up the wall. She feared her legs would buckle underneath her so she kept her palms pressed firmly against the concrete for support.

“Feisty one, you are. I had heard that about you.”

“Max will never give into you. No matter what you say, no matter what you do to me, he’ll never agree to your terms.”

“You don’t even know what my terms are,” the voice said, a syrupy-sweet inflection echoing through the seemingly empty room. “But I believe Max Evans will bow to me once he knows I possess you and that his unborn child will be my heir.”

She was unable to suppress the gasp that seeped from her lips. What Ava had said the night of her kidnapping had been true – she was pregnant. Her hands automatically splayed against her womb and a slight twinge of warmth filled them. Her baby. Max’s baby.

“You will eat,” the voice commanded and Liz heard the steel door close with a sonic boom. From the shadows, a girl appeared carrying a tray of food. Leather straps rested on her shoulders and Liz noticed a hypodermic needle on the tray as well.

“Let’s not do this the hard way,” the woman said with a smile, placing the tray at Liz’s feet. “You eat and I won’t have to hurt your baby.”

[JO]

Part 5

Max returned home, slamming the kitchen door closed with his foot. Liz’s trail had gone cold. He didn’t want to believe it, didn’t want to admit he might have failed her. Anger coursed through his veins and he struggled to maintain control of his emotions.

“Are you okay,” Isabel questioned, rising from the kitchen table. She tentatively stepped toward Max and she could not hide the concern etched on her face.

“I…I can’t find her.”

“Liz,” Isabel replied, understanding at once to whom Max was referring. She paused, searching for something to say to Max to offer hope or comfort but could find nothing. Instead, she gently patted his shoulder as she passed him.

“There’s nothing in Liz’s room. It’s been wiped clean.”

“We don’t know Khivar took her, Max,” Isabel argued, spinning around to face Max once again. “We don’t know anything other than Liz is gone.”

“There’s another way, Is. I know I can find Liz. I know I can.”

“What do you mean?”

Leaning against the countertop, Max motioned for Isabel to come back into the kitchen. She agreed and hopped onto the countertop beside him. “When I was asleep, I know I dreamed about Liz. Liz and the lives we could have had. And there’s a place, a name…it’s on the tip of my tongue.” He gritted his teeth in frustration. “But I can’t remember it. I can’t get to it.”

“And you want my help.”

“You can get inside my mind, Is, my dreams.”

“That’s a lot of responsibility, Max. What if you only imagined you dreamt of Liz? What if your memories aren’t really your memories? Do you think I want to be the one to tell you that, to make you lose hope?”

Sighing, Max folded his hands over Isabel’s. “I have to know, and you’re the only one that can help me. Please say you’ll do it. Please say you’ll try.”

“Okay,” Isabel replied softly. “I’ll try.”

* * *

“She ain’t nothin’ to me. She don’t matter one little bit. He just don’t see that. He don’t see the little nothin’ I see when I look at her.” Lonnie kicked at several small pebbles outside Khivar’s compound, she and Rath sharing a cigarette.

“Let’s take ‘er out,” Rath suggested, passing the smoke to Lonnie. “They done killed their Ava. We can kill ours. Screw the four square.”

“Yeah,” Lonnie agreed, a smoke ring floating from her lips. “Yeah. Screw the four square.”

* * *

“Does she eat?”

“She eats. She and her baby are well, Khivar. But it will only be a matter of time before Max Evans finds her. We both know he won’t stop until he does.”

“Then we’ll have to send him a distraction. Bring Ava to me.”

* * *

“So it’s true,” Liz questioned Ava, the two girls sitting side by side in Liz’s cell. “I’m pregnant.”

“True dat,” Ava replied with a nod, allowing her head to bang backwards against the cinder block wall. “Let’s be honest, ‘kay.”

“Okay.”

“I know you love Max. I seen it.” Tears fill Ava’s eyes and she struggles to regain her composure. “And I don’t know what Lonnie’s got planned. She just wants to get home, ya know, and it don’t matter who she hurts.”

“Ava,” Liz began, offering a comforting hand the small blonde. “We don’t have to talk about this. I know it upsets you to think about Zan.”

“Zan’s dead,” Ava interrupted, wiping her tears from her face. “I’m talking ‘bout you. I’m gonna help you, Liz. I’m gonna help you escape.”

[JO]

Part 6

“Is your food okay,” the thin brunette asked as she entered Liz’s cell. Liz sat at the small table, an empty tray in front of her.

“It was edible,” Liz replied, never looking the brunette’s direction. She wrapped her arms around her waist and turned away from the other woman when she collected the tray.

“Is there something particular you’d like?”

“I’d like to go home.”

“To eat, I mean.”

“No,” Liz replied, hunger swelling within her once again. She massaged her small, round stomach and gave a small smile when she felt her child move in response to her touch.

“Is the baby moving,” the woman said, stepping toward Liz. Quick to her feet, Liz stepped out of her reach, her hands splaying across her womb in a protective measure. Truthfully, Liz knew she would be no match for the skin should she feel so inclined to hurt her. Then again, no one had hurt her yet. Threatened, yes, but no physical pain had come to her.

“We’ve gotten off to the wrong foot, Liz.”

“Threatening me and my child isn’t what I’d call trying to make friends.” Liz didn’t dare announce that Ava had visited her several times. It was Thursday, she thought. Ava always visited her on Thursdays. She was looking forward to it more than she would like to admit, especially since Ava had played a part in kidnapping her.

“Ava won’t be visiting you anymore, Liz. I’m sorry.”

The shock in her eyes gave her away instantly but Liz tried to recover and calm herself. She had forgotten skins could get inside her head. “Did something happen to Ava?”

“You could say that,” the brunette replied as she stepped toward the gray cell door. “Khivar sent her to Roswell. To distract Max. And my name is Serina, by the way. I’ll be the only visitor you’ll have for a long while.”

* * *

“You so good to me, baby,” Lonnie purred against Khivar’s neck, draping him with her body. “No one can do me like you.”

“I bet you say that to all your lovers,” Khivar replied, tossing her onto the ground with a wave of his hand. “And you have a lot of lovers, don’t you Vilandra?”

“There’s no one but you, Khivar. Ain’t gonna be neither.”

Khivar didn’t answer her as she stood before him naked, ready for whatever he was willing to give her. He stood from the bed and brushed past her without a second glance, standing in front of the large-pane window overlooking the caverns.

“You want to go again, baby,” Lonnie questioned, wrapping her arms around him from behind, her fingers dancing down his hips. “I can get someone else, you know. Anyone you want.”

“No, you can’t,” he spat, swatting her hands away.

“What ‘bout Ava? You always liked doin’ her.”

“As much as that’s true, Ava isn’t here. She’s in Roswell.”

* * *

Isabel sat beside Max’s bed in a chair, her hands clasp tightly around his. She watched him carefully, waiting for sleep to fully claim him. When she saw his eyelids flutter and his breathing even out, she closed her eyes and concentrated. In moments, she was inside his mind.

We have a child together, Liz. You’re the mother of my son.

* * *

We don’t have to be together. I don’t care anything about you. I just want to protect -

Michael and Isabel. But I know you, Max, and deep down, underneath those layers of hate and anger, you want to be with me. You would damn your destiny a million times if you thought it would change anything about our lives. Things between us may be irreconcilable but they aren’t between the other Max and Liz. That’s why you need me. You aren’t seeing things clearly. You’re not seeing the whole picture.

* * *

I loved you. I loved you and you destroyed me.

* * *
I won't leave you.

No, no, no. Max, you have to.

If I'm successful, if I can do this, you and I won't exist. Not as we do now.
Max, if you don't do this, we're gonna die. Everyone will. Max, you have to do this. You have to try it.

I'll never see you again.

Thank you.

For what?

For every kiss, every smile.

Max, I don't have any regrets.

* * *

Every time I blink or close my eyes to try and sleep, I see the two of you in bed together. I...I look at you right now and all I can see is you...in bed...with him. I...I can’t trust you anymore. I...I can’t trust anything about how I feel about you.

* * *

He’s the one thing we both did perfectly.

* * *

When you healed me, you changed me, Max. And now, I’m different.

* * *

I want to change my life, Liz Parker, and I’m starting with you. You’ve been holding me back for too long.

* * *

You have to do it, Max. You have to try.

What if it doesn’t work? What if -

There’s no time for ‘what ifs,’ Max. We’re all going to die if you don’t.
They’re out there, Maria. You’ll be left behind. I...Michael would never forgive me for letting them take you.

If you’re successful, Max, we won’t have to worry about that. And I’d rather die trying this than to let them take me. You know they’ll never take me alive.

This is crazy, you know.

We’d be crazy not to try it.

* * *

Into your heart, I’ll beat again.

* * *

His name is Colby.

* * *

When Khivar found out I was pregnant, or that I could be pregnant, he took me to Carlsbad.


“Carlsbad,” Isabel exhaled, gently squeezing Max’s hand. “I heard Liz say that Khivar took her to Carlsbad.” She rested her head against the edge of the bed, memories of previous lifetimes still flashing through her brain.

“Then we go to Carlsbad and bring Liz home.”

[JO]

Part 7

“How come you send Ava to Roswell,” Lonnie asked as she straddled Khivar, her palms splayed against his broad chest. “Ain’t nothing in Roswell.”

“Ava’s playing the part of distraction, Vilandra. You don’t have to worry about her.”

* * *

Blonde curls rolled in front of her eyes, momentarily blinding her. She pressed her foot on the brakes and pulled off the road in front of an apartment building. She couldn’t see the address but she had a very good feeling Michael Guerin lived there.

Something alien in the air, she could sense it.

Glancing over her shoulders, a paralyzing thought entered her mind. What if Khivar had sent a spy, one of his cronies to follow her and make sure she kept Max Evans occupied? She wanted to keep Max occupied; occupied with a plan she had formed on her drive from Carlsbad of how to get Liz away from Khivar.

* * *

He stood in the shadows, watching Ava as she walked into the apartment building. She was going for Rath – Guerin. This second seemed a bit more loyal that his own had.

The twinkle of a plan formed in his mind and he stepped from his hiding place, following her into Guerin’s apartment building.

* * *

“Nice bump,” Lonnie mused, stepping into Liz’s cell. Isabel’s twin looked like hell: her hair mussed, skin pale, the smell of sex oozing from her pores. “Bet you’s tight.”

“What do you want,” Liz questioned, her hands wrapping protectively around the swell of her stomach. Her child responded to her movements, her womb rolled to accommodate them.

“Just wanted to see, ya know. I ain’t never been knocked up and I wanted to see. Can I touch,” she asked, stepping toward Liz with her left hand outstretched.

“Get away from me,” Liz cautioned, her own hands raised in a defensive motion. She saw Lonnie grin, her black eyes never telegraphing her next move. That’s what made Lonnie so dangerous in Liz’s estimation. Lonnie didn’t care. She was a predator, taking whatever she wanted when she wanted it. If Lonnie wanted to hurt her or her baby, there would be no way for Liz to prevent it.

“Easy duchess.” Lonnie waved her hands in mock surrender and stepped backwards toward the door. “It’s cool. Just wanted to see what side you were on.”

“What side of what?”

“What side of this war I’m fixin’ to bring.” She sneered and lowered her chin onto her chest. “See, I ain’t got no use for you, other than to get Maxie boy to tell me where the Granolith is. And Khivar, well, he’s jonesin’ to get you between the sheets as soon as you pop out Junior. Where will that leave me?” She stared at Liz through hooded eyes. “I’ll tell ya, Liz. That’ll leave me out in the cold and I don’t like the cold.”

“Are you planning to kill…me?”

Lonnie’s laughter echoed through the empty room. “If I kill you, that’s a sure way to get myself killed. Either Khivar or Max’ll hunt me down.” She partially opened the steel door then turned to face Liz once again. “Naw, I ain’t gonna kill you. Not yet anyway.” She slammed the door behind her, leaving Liz in silence.

Once alone, it didn’t take long for Liz’s mind to fill in the blanks from Lonnie’s ominous message. She was going to kill Khivar.

* * *

“All we have to go on is your memories, Maxwell,” Michael argued, his voice carrying out into the hallway. “I can’t believe I’m saying this but we need a better plan.”

“Liz doesn’t have time for us to make a plan. What if she’s in danger right now?”

“She’s not,” Ava replied, startling the six other inhabitants of the Michael’s apartment.

“Tess?”

“Ava,” Max corrected. Ava nodded and shook her head, the blonde ringlets disappearing, replaced by pink and black streaks. “Liz is fine.”

“Why should we trust you,” Isabel began, standing to join Max and Michael. “Aren’t you the one that took her in the first place? Didn’t you help Lonnie and Rath?”

“I was with them, yeah, but I can take you to Liz. I can help you get her out of Khivar’s compound.”

“You haven’t told me why I should believe you,” Max growled, Isabel’s steady hand on his shoulder the only thing keeping him from launching himself at Ava.

“Cause Liz is pregnant.”

“That’s gonna cause a real problem,” a voice in the hallway said. He stepped into the open apartment.

“Zan.”

* * *

“You have to listen to me,” Liz explained, her voice cracking as she placed her hands on Serina’s shoulders. “Lonnie is going to try to kill Khivar.”

“There’s no way that will happen, Liz,” Serina offered, gently removing Liz’s hands from her shoulders and guiding her to the bed. “Khivar’s guards are loyal, and will protect him to the death. Lonnie is all talk.”

“It’s happened before, Serina, in another lifetime. Chalk it up to the ravings of a pregnant woman, but you have to tell Khivar. He has to know his life is in danger.”

[JO]

Author's Note:

I wanted to thank everyone for your continued support of me and my writing these past 5 years. I have enjoyed every moment of it, and have loved getting to know all of you. I have made some lifelong friendships through my involvement with Roswell; you cannot know how happy that has made me.

That being said, I am unable to properly finish the trilogy I began with Trick of the Light and Brave New World. My heart has moved on to other writing opportunities and original characters. With that, here's the outline for what would have been the final parts of Falling Through Again.

-----

Zan tells the Roswell group they’ll have to kill Lonnie, Rath and Khivar to get Liz back.

Lonnie plots with Rath to kill Khivar because Khivar has begun to favor Liz over her. Rath agrees to help but gets himself killed in the process. Lonnie manages to kill Khivar and attempts to kill Liz. Liz is able to survive with the help of Serina.

Max and everyone from Roswell arrive at the compound in the midst of this uprising (Khivar’s followers vs. Lonnie and her followers). They find Liz with Serina; Zan orders them to take Liz and leave. Ava wants to stay and fight with him but he refuses. He and Lonnie have a showdown. Zan kills her, and he and Serina escape before destroying the compound. The Roswell group think he’s dead but Ava knows he’s alive.

Liz is reunited with her parents and the Parkers gain a new respect for Max.

Ava returns to Roswell, and Kyle makes a romantic attempt. They end up together. Michael and Maria together. Alex and Isabel good friends, some romance but they eventually are together. Liz and Max marry in Las Vegas and Liz gives birth to Colby.

-----

Thank you all again from the bottom of my heart. I'll look for you on the flip side!

Hugs to all!!

JO