Author: Karen
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Pairings/Couples/Category: CC – M&L
Rating: TEEN
Summary: Max teaches Liz how to use her new powers; takes place sometime after Max in the City
Author's Note: Okay, here’s the scoop. Some of you probably already know that I started this fic about FIVE YEARS ago. Then I hit writers block and couldn’t finish it. That has always bothered me, so I’ve finally decided to put an end to it. I think I was trying to make more of the story than necessary and all it really needed was a conclusion. It won’t be long, probably only four or five parts. As I reread this, I realized that my writing style and the way I see the characters has really changed over the last five years
Part One
Liz watched Max as he absent-mindedly scratched his face while he watched TV. Her eyes followed his fingers as they traced the curve of his jaw, the indent of his cheek beneath his cheekbone. She didn’t think she’d ever grow tired of watching Max, of looking at his unearthly beauty. At first her constant staring had unnerved him, but now he acted as though he didn’t even notice.
They were sitting on Liz’s couch watching a movie Max had rented on his way over. Liz turned sideways on the couch and pulled her knees up to her chest so she could watch him without having to twist her neck. Suddenly she realized that as Max scratched, the five o’clock shadow he’d acquired disappeared beneath his fingers.
“How do you do that?” she asked.
Max jumped slightly at the sudden sound of her voice and turned dark eyes to her. “Do what?”
“That shaving thing you’re doing,” Liz answered.
Max looked at his fingertips, shrugged. “I didn’t realize I was doing it,” he confessed, then scrubbed his hand across his clean-shaven face.
“I mean, where does it go?” Liz prompted.
Max raised his eyebrows. “Go?”
“The stubble – where does it go?”
Max shrugged again. “I don’t know. Maybe it just disappears.”
She cocked her pretty head. “It can’t just disappear, Max. Conservation of mass and energy – remember? It has to go somewhere. It defies the laws of science.”
Max gave her a small smile. “Liz, my very existence defies the laws of science.”
Liz giggled and slapped him playfully on the arm. “No, really. Tell me how you do it.”
Max gave a sigh, saw there was no appeasing her. “I was just watching the movie, thinking I needed a shave and it happened.”
She eyed him curiously, silently.
“Why?” he asked.
Liz shrugged. “Just curious.”
But she didn’t seem satisfied. Max waited, brows slightly raised, for her to continue. She didn’t. “Liz?”
She looked at him and gave him a little smile. “I just wonder if…if I could do that.”
At this Max’s attention turned fully from the movie to his petite girlfriend seated beside him. She’d never given any indication that she wanted to learn to use her new abilities, not since she’d saved Max’s life in New York. Max had assumed that she didn’t want to know, that the fact she was now ‘different’ had somehow frightened her.
“I don’t know if you could,” he answered honestly and watched Liz’s hopeful expression fade. “I don’t know what kind of powers you may have.” He needed to approach the subject carefully – this needed to be her decision. “Do you know what powers you have, Liz?”
Liz met his gaze and shook her head. She knew Max was asking her if she’d been experimenting on her own. “Other than the projection thing Isabel helped me do, no.”
Max reached over and pulled up the leg of her jeans, ran his hand along her shin and frowned. Liz watched him curiously.
“You shaved this morning,” he said disappointedly.
Liz gave a little laugh. “Well, yeah. I knew my boyfriend was coming over.”
Max reddened, but chuckled. “I guess shaving is out, then.” He dropped her pant leg and thought for a moment. Taking her tiny hand in his, he stroked the back of it with his thumb. “Do you want to try, Liz?”
She suddenly looked wary.
He quickly covered himself. “I mean, it’s up to you, but do you want to do some checking, see what abilities you have?”
“Max, I…” Her voice drifted off, then she looked very determined. “Yeah, I think I do.”
Max tried to conceal his delight, but his goofy grin betrayed him. Secretly, he’d always wished that Liz would explore her new world, that she would accept that she was a little more than human now, that she was more like him. It was an odd sense of acceptance that she wanted to be the same as him.
“Okay,” he said eagerly. What to do first? “I think we should start slow.”
“Okay,” Liz agreed. She thought for a moment. “What about that connection thing you guys can do? Do you think I can connect with people too?”
Max shrugged. “I don’t know. Let’s try it.” He picked up her hands and put them on either side of his head. It was going to be hard to not interfere with her attempts to connect with him. Since connecting was second nature to him, he could connect with her in a matter of seconds. He couldn’t let his abilities over ride hers, which meant he sort of had to resist her but not block her entirely. “Take deep breaths,” he said. “Match mine. Look into my eyes. Think about me. Only me.”
Liz did as she was commanded, but found that she was thinking more about not being to connect with him than actually doing it. She felt her body start to tense with the struggle.
“Relax,” Max said, his voice a soft whisper. “Think about me, Liz. About what I mean to you.”
She tried, but the thoughts of failure pushed to the fore again and she let out a defeated sigh. She looked to the floor, upset with herself. Max lifted her chin and smiled at her.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Maybe you don’t have that gift.” He kissed the side of her head and returned to the TV.
Liz looked at him incredulously. Just like that? He was giving up? “Max?” she said and he turned to look at her. “Maybe I can do something else.”
Max tried to not smile. He’d hoped she would want to try other things and he’d managed to maneuver her into asking. “Maybe,” he said, his eyes sparkling. “Let’s go for a ride.”
* * * * *
Max pulled the jeep to a stop in the desert. The sun had set over their shoulders on the drive and the sky was now dotted with thousands of stars. Max looked over at Liz, gave her a smile and swung his body out of the jeep. Liz followed him and tentatively took his hand.
“What do we do?” she asked.
Max’s smile widened. “We’re going to blow stuff up.”
Liz laughed. “Blow stuff up?”
Max nodded eagerly. “Watch,” he said. He dropped her hand and lifted his toward a cactus a few yards away. Drawing in a deep breath, he concentrated, then a powerful burst of energy erupted from his palm and splattered the cactus into a million pieces. In the dark, the light was a very white, very bright intrusion. Liz put up a hand to shield her eyes and a soggy piece of cactus slapped her arm.
“Wow,” she said. She’d never seen Max use his powers of destruction before. She’d witnessed Michael stop the hummer when they were escaping from the FBI and kill Agent Pierce with his energy blast, but she never thought Max had that ability. It touched her that he never used it. Max was a creator, a preserver, not a destroyer.
“Let’s see if you can do it,” Max prompted. “Lift your hand.” Liz obeyed. “Straighten your fingers.” He stood behind her and aimed her open hand at a small bush. “Reach deep down,” he told her. “Pool all of your energy toward your hand. Think of it like you are collecting electricity from throughout your body and sending it into your hand.”
Liz did as she was told and she thought she could feel a tingling in her stomach, but as soon as she had the thought the feeling was gone. She sighed in defeat, started to drop her hand as she turned to talk to Max. As she turned, a small bolt suddenly leapt from her palm and incinerated the passenger side mirror on the jeep. Max let out an involuntary shriek and dropped flat on the ground. Liz screamed and started to lift her hands to her face. Quickly, Max jumped back to his feet and pulled her hands high above her head, pointed her palms skyward. Gasping, he looked down into her face.
“Don’t touch yourself,” he ordered, perhaps a little more tersely than he’d intended. Liz’s round eyes started to fill with tears, partly from fright, partly from Max’s tone. His gaze softened, but he didn’t dare release her hands to comfort her. “It’s okay, Liz,” he said gently. “You just scared me, that’s all.” Then he started to laugh. Liz had a power! “You did it. You really did it!”
Liz glanced over at the jeep, at the smoking remains of the mirror.
“Thank God your aim sucks,” Max continued, laughing. “We could be looking at a very long walk home.”
At that Liz laughed a little. Her heart had started to slow and she realized that she had an odd buzzing feeling coursing through her body – she hadn’t spent the energy she’d built up. It was a good thing that Max was still holding her hands over her head.
“I don’t think I’m done,” she said in embarrassment.
“I know you’re not,” Max agreed, nodding his head. “This is what we are going to do – we are going to very slowly lower your hands toward that bush. I want you to concentrate on holding the blast in; I don’t want you to let it go until I tell you, okay?” Liz nodded. “Control is very important, Liz. You have an immense amount of power and you could really do some damage.” Max had a brief thought of Michael, of his struggles with control in his younger years. He hoped Liz wasn’t going to have the same problem.
He turned her body toward the bush and circled around behind her, never letting her hands go. Once he was safely out of her range, he started to slowly lower her arms. He could feel her body trembling with the struggle to hold in the burst. When her hands had reached about a forty-five degree angle to the horizon, Max was catapulted backward as the energy burst from her palms and disappeared harmlessly into the night sky. Liz tumbled on top of him and Max let out a rush of air as she pinned him to the ground.
They lay like that for a while, Liz flattened on top of Max, Max gasping for air. Once he cautiously looked to see where her hands were and thankfully they were against the ground.
“I’m sorry,” Liz said, her voice sounding small.
Max reached over and smoothed her hair. “I know, but don’t be.” His voice was gentle. “Wow, Liz, you have powers. What a wonderful thing.”
Liz lifted her head to look at him and she gave him a wide smile. “I do, don’t I?” Secretly, she was wondering what else she could do. Could she heal? Could she dream walk? Who was going to teach her all of these things? The possibilities were endless – and very exciting.
Then Liz realized that she and Max were in an extremely compromising position. They were in the desert, they were all alone, she was sprawled on top of him – and she had powers that made her more like him than she’d ever dreamed. It was oddly erotic. She bit her lip. “Max?”
He caught the look in her eyes and he suddenly felt just as excited as she did. “Yeah?” he responded.
Liz looked questioningly down to his zipper. Then Max remembered what had transpired only a few minutes before and his desire waned.
“Liz,” he began, “do you honestly think I am going to let you touch me there?”
tbc
