Sixteen Moments to Cherish (AU, M/L, Teen) COMPLETE

[DreamerLaure]

<center>Sixteen Moments to Cherish
</center>
Title Sixteen Moments to Cherish
Author Dreamerlaure
Disclaimer I don’t own the characters nor the premise of falling in love with an alien – that credit belongs to the makers, creators, and thinkers behind Roswell the tv series and the book. I only want to spin a Christmas story for you.
Category AU with Aliens, M/L
Rating Teen
Summary He’s going “home” in sixteen days, and she’s a girl from the other side of the tracks who’s lost everything in her life she’s ever needed. Her special connection to the snow will bring something special to her life this year.
Dedication To the magic of Christmas

Author’s Note I wrote this fic for the Roswell Heaven Exception to the Rules Winter Challenge. It’s about how meeting the right person when you’re the saddest you’ve ever been can be a light in the dark. That’s what it’s like for Max and Liz in this fic when that does happen – it’s like the title suggests, they get sixteen moments to cherish. This fic was a new experience for me because I wanted so much to get their story right.

It wasn’t an easy story to tell, but I loved writing it. I loved getting to know these characters. I’ve never written Liz in this light before, but it was interesting to see how she developed. It’s my first completed fic, and my first POV fic also – I love, love, love writing in this style now. I didn’t intend to make it so angsty, lol, but it happened. It’s a lot angstier than what I’ve written, and I’m a new writer so even mild angst is an accomplishment.

Updates will be frequent since I've already finished writing this, and if they're not, just know that I've probably got RL stuff I'm taking care of.

I think feedback is lovely. I'm still a new writer, and it took me a while to muster up enough courage to post this fic. The subsequent parts will be longer. I hope you enjoy.

<center>Prologue</center>

“All my life I waited. First I waited for the cancer growing in my mother’s lungs to evaporate as quickly as it came one summer. But waiting didn’t help because my patience and my wishes fell on deaf ears, and she was only with us five months longer. Soon after, jasmine, her scent, followed me wherever I went. I closed every day after school sitting on the curb, waiting for my father to come and take me home. He never came. He simply forgot. Every other smiling kid left with his or her mother and father one by one until I was the only one left; I felt like a toy no one wanted. Everyone else was always going somewhere, and I was left waiting.

I was nine when I started walking home alone and to make the walk shorter, I played games and took to imagining what could be. I would imagine an entire future that featured a Liz Parker who had everything she wanted. When I did make it home, the telltale signs of a daughter who has learned to take care of herself were etched all over me. My lips were chapped, my tongue dry, my knees skinned from the little trips my shoelaces sent me on, and my braids were undone. I learned that year that I had to take care of myself, even when I couldn’t and needed help the most. I had to because there was no one else.

But, what brought a smile to my face, even after the teasing from the other kids at school, and the long walk home was the flurry of snow that lined my windowsill. It is perfection every time I see it. Flat, soft to the touch, and pure. In one gentle sweep, it can coat my palm. I almost never notice then that it is cold, or that it’s slowly breaking apart, melting away. Instead I focus on how it makes me feel, and how incredible it is to have and hold – even if it won’t last.

I would open my window in the still cool of the morning, leaving my still warm bed to first look out. Each time it snowed, my world was covered in a blanket that stretched forever. I could only see as far as the gates of the park across from our trailer to the tippy top layer that stuck up like cream on the roof of my father’s Honda, but I knew the sight had miles to its tail. The sight of it made me smile like the happiest girl on Earth. Each December morning I got up a little bit earlier to look out and see if it was there yet. I wanted to know if I had been blessed with another wonderful sight, and I’d only wake up even earlier as Christmas drew nigh.

The Christmas I saw him, it hadn’t snowed yet. It was a particularly warm New Mexico winter. It’s strange that New Mexico gets snow because presumably, snow is an eastern and northern curse…it’s not meant to fall where we live. But every winter since my mother passed, the snow somehow came on my schedule. Sometimes it snowed a lot and sometimes only once or twice, but it always snowed in time for Christmas. Each time it happened I would stop in awe to stare at the wonder in progress.

The winter Max Evans gave me the best gift of all, in every small and large way, my heart hadn’t changed and I still looked out for my snowfall. Other things had changed though. I wasn’t the same girl who waited for snow because it could wash her tears away. There were new hopes that were simply pipe dreams and could never really happen. There were fresh disappointments, and new tears that fell each night, drenching my pillowcase. And there were days that stretched on forever, each one dripping seamlessly into the next so when I started my new day it was like time was indefinite, stretching on forever too.

When I was with him, the days changed, switching up their pattern on me. Each day then had an invisible thread linking it to the last. It was like a kite string that grew heavy in the pouch of memory itself, attaching to me for all of my life. I didn’t want to think of it like that though. I got into the heat of the moments, and I lost myself in the magic created in each one. Sometimes they were sweet, sometimes beautiful, and sometimes, the moments were sad. Moments like those defined my life, and they were ones fulfilled by a dream I once had.

It might have been dangerous to do so, to lose myself into it, but looking back, I can only smile and think fondly of that Christmas and that winter. Logical thoughts went out of the window, and the flurry of each one reminded me of a snowflake: each moment was different and shaped by a sight unseen. The most magical thing about those moments was that I could keep them; they wouldn’t melt away under the sunlight of a new day. There are more than sixteen that can happen in the sixteen days you fall in love, but there were some that I could call my own. I found sixteen moments to cherish; sixteen moments I could prize forever….And it all started with a glimpse of someone I hardly knew.

[DreamerLaure]

Wow I'm so happy you like it so far - really it's making me blush.

Thank you Alizaleven, Emz80m, polar vixen, and Flamehair.

<center>Part 1</center>


“I hate this,” Maria whined. She held a champagne glass in her hand and though she held it delicately, she was wiping it furiously. She wiped it so hard that I eyed it carefully – it looked as if she might break it. “I mean, we’re here on a Saturday night, for a party we cannot attend,” she was pouting then, and she let out an exasperated breath of air as she pushed the glass under the counter.

“I think we should call it working,” I reminded her. I brushed a few stray strands behind my ear, and reached to pick up the tray of hors d'oeuvres. "Besides," I continued, "we were lucky to even find this job on short notice. And we’re only temping for tonight."

I looked at her satisfied when I saw she had no reply. She looked back at me frowning, and as I left the kitchen, I heard her snort a minute too late, "Yeah, but I wonder who didn't show up!"

We were lucky, I reminded myself as I glided through the crowd. I was lucky. Three jobs in the past six months let me go, and I was thankful that this opportunity had opened up. It wasn’t anything permanent – we were only temping for a catering company that needed two people to cover tonight’s party. I met with the manager on Monday, and he told me that there was only an opening if I could bring a reliable friend to work with me. Maria had certainly whined and protested when I told her yesterday, but eventually she relented. She always does what I ask her for something, but I think she likes to put up a tough front so I won’t always ask her. I sigh inwardly as I glide through the crowd, pausing to pass out some hors d’oeuvres. . . Soon I can’t turn to Maria. In six months, I’m starting over if everything goes according to the plan. And you always have to have a plan.

I had been working for the past year and a half. Mostly I took up small jobs, but they've also been ones that paid enough to cover the bulk of the rent and the expenses. Then I would save the excess in my savings account. And expenses didn’t take up a huge chunk of my money. I would buy enough groceries to make the fridge look well stocked, and that wasn’t hard to do. I didn’t eat breakfast, and usually lunch at school covered me for the day. Sometimes if the budget allowed, I made dinner, but that was usually once a week. I had already saved six grand, and if I had kept going at the rate I was from the last month, I would have been ready in June to leave Roswell. It wasn’t looking that way anymore though. I had lost my part-time job the week before.

It was a cashier job at a boutique one town over, and the pay was good. The shift started at four, and I had an hour from when school ended at three to take the bus over. I pulled in ten percent from the sales I rang up, and the hourly wage was a seventy-five percent bump on minimum wage. There really weren’t any problems with the job – the hours were negotiable, the coworkers were friendly, and the customers were easy to help.

Science club got in the way though. Science club ended at four-thirty on Wednesdays, and the shift started at four. The first few weeks I made excuses to leave from science club early, but without that extra hour, I was always late. I even tried rotating which one I would flake on when my shift overlapped with the club, but last week the boss pulled me aside and so did Mrs. O’Donnell, the science club faculty member; they were both concerned. The weight of someone else’s concern was a little too much and I didn’t want to worry them – I didn’t really want to be noticed. The only reason high school was bearable was because I wasn’t noticed.

I had to pick though, and I had to make science club the priority. Mrs. O'Donnell sat me down; she was worried that I was leaving so many of the meetings early. I wanted so badly to tell her right there and then, but I felt I couldn't. I only looked back at her and nodded, agreeing that I would try to make better attendance.

The boss didn't given me any leeway when I explained and he simply said, "Take it or leave it, but please don't waste my time." It was a hard decision because the money I pulled in from the sales I got, I really needed. Money wasn’t such a burden that month, and the shift alone was four times as much as at the funeral parlor I tried the month before. I shuddered as I gave another plate of mushrooms to one of the guests; that was definitely a creepy job. After one hour of staying late to lock up, I was ready to bolt and never look back.

This job wasn't too bad. I really liked the catering company, and the manager had even promised Maria and me that we could take home our pick of the leftovers. The job itself was waitressing mostly, but Maria and I found time to help the chef make cannolis. I was having fun that night. It was almost tolerable then to have stretches like this where I was on my feet for twenty minutes. I shot a quick smile at Maria over my shoulder when I saw her scowling at the back of a man who had come for a napkin. She met my smile and feigned fatigue by placing her hand over her forehead. She's a doll, I thought, a great friend, and I remembered thinking at least one thing was good in my life.

I moved like a cat between the businessmen and their wives, keeping a hint of a smile on my face. The manager John told Maria and me that if we kept smiling, the guests would remember that the servers had been friendly. The guests seemed to like the crab cakes with the sautéed onions and melted mozzarella because after doing the room twice, there were only two left on the tray.

I noticed the curtain by the back doors swaying as if a breeze were pushing them. I frowned because it was cold out, and the guests were dressed in their finest – rich lavish European dresses and tuxedoes. It was a party to celebrate. The guests were laughing loudly, and the men were either smoking cigars or shaking each other’s hands excitedly. A fire as roasting in the middle of the room and it lit the room with a soft warm glow. If everyone looked lively before the firelight, he looked enchanting under the moonlight. The thought did cross my mind that it was weird that he was sitting outside on a bench all alone, but I decided to push my questions aside.

I pushed aside the curtain and stepped onto the terrace too. There was a small stone path leading to his bench in an alcove of trees and rosebushes. The leaves were gone, but some petals remained scattered on the ground. “Would you like some?” I asked. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” I added when he turned suddenly from the view to look at me.

“Sure,” he said, and I went closer to him.

“Max, right?”

He looked up at me startled again, and he frowned, “How do you –”

“We go to West Roswell together,” I interrupt, and I watch as the frown disappears into an easy smile. It’s his trademark smile. How many times have I seen him smile like that with the current girlfriend he’s going with? It’s a convincing smile too, and probably easy to misinterpret. I was determined though not to fall for him so I only brought the tray closer.

“Right, I think I’ve seen you around,” he said.

That’s definitely a lie. Max Evans and I do not travel in the same circles, but I could see we were playing a little game there so I agreed, “Yeah, probably.”

He reached his hand out to pick a crab cake and I could see him scrutinizing each one carefully, and I said, “They’re all the same.”

“No, they’re not. I want one with more mozzarella,” he replied.

“You’re so picky,” I laughed, and he frowned back at me. I waited a few more seconds as he selected the “perfect” one, then he took a bite and smiled widely, “Yeah, this one’s perfect.”

I smiled, and I was about to go back inside to refill the tray and continue my round when he asked, “Do you have a minute?”

I looked over my shoulder at the window that showed the inside of the house, and from as far as I could see, it didn't look like I was needed. All of the guests were still laughing and talking. I couldn’t see Maria but I figured it was around my break anyway, and instead of answering, I sat down on the bench beside him, and held the empty tray between my legs.

The party was at the president’s house in his sitting room, but from the terrace, we could see the rest of Roswell. The house sat on a hill, and the town spread out below us like a fan. I could see all of the shining lights, each separated by a few inches from another, and it was a gorgeous view.

“I like seeing it like this.”

“What?” I asked uncertainly. I was curious as to what he likes to see. Max has never struck me as a deep person with deep thoughts, or maybe I’m shallow for thinking that. And I almost regret that I asked and start blushing when he looked back at me, “I like seeing the city like this. It doesn’t look like this down there when we’re living in it.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Living it is a lot harder than seeing it.”

“Exactly.”

“What are you doing out here?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you supposed to be in there,” I gestured to the scene behind us; it was getting louder inside as the minutes passed. “Aren’t you supposed to be celebrating?”

“What’s there to celebrate?”

I didn’t answer, but I wanted to. In so few words he has hit upon the heart of something – what is there to celebrate. I didn’t have the ideal life or situation right now, and I couldn’t even remember the last time I was happy. There was always something to worry about….If it wasn't bills, it was my father coming in late at night from the bar, or homework I should have finished but was too overwhelmed by everything else to even start. I didn’t even have time for myself because everything I did was out of necessity. So no, there wasn’t anything to celebrate.

Besides this was Max Evans I was sitting with. He’s the son of Philip Evans who signed a contract to merge his railroad company with a more successful company. In exactly five minutes, they were going to countdown to the most powerful merger in the southwest in ten years. In five minutes, Max Evans wouldn’t be the son of a powerful businessman - he would be the son of a multi-millionaire. I knew all of this and he probably did too…we have nothing in common, and I answered, “You’ve got something to celebrate.”

“Then if I do, you do too,” he said, trying to joke with me, and probably even make me smile. I knew Max likes to joke around because I had been in enough of his classes to know that it’s his way of avoiding dealing with something straightforwardly. I was firm though and I repeated, “You’ve got something to celebrate.”

“Lizzie, where are you?” It’s Maria of course, and I stood from the bench and step out of the alcove to meet her. “Oh, there you are,” she said relieved.

“Were you looking for me long?” I asked, frowning. “What’s wrong?”

“Umm,” she paused and she stared. When Max stepped out of the alcove too, she’s even smiling and she looks somewhat surprised to see him. I know Maria so well, and I can see what she’s thinking as her eyes flit between us. When she’s finally done, she catches me glaring. “Oh, umm, John said we don’t have to stay for the countdown. We’re done for the night.”

“Finally,” I said smiling.

“Do you want any cannolis?” she asks.

“Yeah, get three for me?” I ask and she nods. I’m holding her wrist, and gently pushing her back to the door. This time she gets the hint, and said, “Bye, Max.”

He nodded in her direction as a goodbye, and I could feel his eyes watching me even before I turned around to meet them with my own. He was staring a hole into my back. “So, I guess you’re heading out?”

“Yeah,” I said and I head back into the alcove to pick up the tray. “This really isn’t my sort of thing.”

“What – you don’t do parties?”

“No, but I um, have fun.” I stepped back out to him, and I’m even blushing as I explain myself.

He laughs when he sees my face bright red. “I’ve never heard anyone said that before. It’s either you have fun or you don’t.”

“I –” Great, I’m stuttering now. I look back at him and I see he’s smiling like a fool. I really want to wipe that smile off his face because he thinks that he’s gotten me. Why does he feel like he knows me so well though? It’s unnerving. “I do,” I answer more firmly. I have the tray in my hand and there’s nothing left for me to do than to leave, but for whatever reason my legs aren’t moving. I feel like staying.

“I do have fun,” I repeat.

“I never said you didn’t,” he said.

I can hear them counting down inside, and I hear the men’s voices carrying louder as they start with ten.

He’s staring out at Roswell again, and from where I’m standing, I decide the unreadable expression from before isn’t boredom. In fact it’s a lot like the one I have all the time…like you’re lost and hurt, and you feel like there’s no way to fix how you feel. It’s a look of helplessness. I’m staring in his direction, but more accurately, I’m staring at a part of the gate while I’m thinking of Max. When I look back at him, he’s smiling up at the sky. “It’s snowing.”

This time I smile too, “Yeah it is.” The flakes are small and soft, and they cascade down randomly, without pattern. I start catching some in my hand; I can’t help that the snow makes me feel like a child every time I see it. I hear him laughing too as we both enjoy the feel of the snow showering down on us. Inside the house, they’ve counted down to one and we hear everyone scream and cheer. They’re so excited inside the house, and here I am with Max Evans, and for the first time in years, I feel happy too.

Once the cheering subsides, they turned the music up louder. I stop in front of Max, and I giggle, “They’re cranking the music now. It won’t be long before they pull out the tequilla.”

“And then it’ll be a real party,” Max adds.

I nod smiling, “That would be an interesting sight. It’s late though,” I sigh. I didn’t want to go, but I thought I had to. I thought I couldn’t step outside of all of my problems and worries – there were a ton of things to do at home that night, the next and the nights that would follow. My life was like a cycle, filled with things to do that I could never neglect. I really didn’t have time for fun. “Bye, Max.”

I started walking back to the door, and when my hand touched the handle to pull it open, I heard him whisper, “Bye, Lizzie.” I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to hear it, and I surprised him when I turned around, “You can call me Liz.”

“Liz,” he said back, getting used to it. “Bye, Liz.” I smiled and opened the door to go back inside. It was late and I needed to head home; work couldn’t be an escape for much longer. As I made my way through the party, it struck me why Liz sounds better – it’s what my Mother used to call me. I think my dad nicknamed me Lizzie, and I let the unwanted name stick with me. I’ve never liked it though, and hearing Max say “Liz” sounded right.

I took off my cloth apron and left it in the kitchen on the hook behind the door. I left the tray behind, and pulled on my jacket before heading outside to meet Maria. I wasn’t conscious then that Max Evans was watching me as I left.

[DreamerLaure]

Thank you Flamehair, Begonia9508, and ken_r.

<center>Part 2</center>


Maria and I pushed the back door of the house together and when it finally budged, we tumbled out into the driveway of the house. She was breathing as heavily as I was from all of the effort we had to put in, and pretty soon she was laughing, “Can you believe we both needed to push for like ten minutes.”

“Yeah, it was so heavy,” I agreed. “Maybe they thought a robber might stop by.”

“Ha, didn’t you see the security. It was just strange. Let’s never go to a merger countdown party again.”

“Oh, we won’t – that was awful.”

“I never knew those even existed,” she laughed.

“Well, people have parties for everything these days,” I smiled. We opened our doors to the Jetta and crawled inside. It was still snowing outside, and the car needed a few minutes to warm up. After Maria blew on her hands and turned on the windshield wiper, she turned to me, “So you never told me what happened out there…” her voice trailing off. She was waiting for me to fill in the blank, but I didn’t want to give her that satisfaction and I decided to be coy instead.

“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”

“Lizzie! Come on, I’m dying here,” she said, her voice getting louder.

“Maria,” I said, smiling. She gets so irritated when I do that, and I reassured her, “It’s no big deal. It’s nothing. Nothing happened,” I glanced over at Maria and saw how doubtful she was so I rushed to add, “We were talking when you came about stuff, and it was more like we were passing time. You were there, Maria - that party was awful.”

“Yes, but when it became awful, I hid in the kitchen baking a cake.”

“You baked a cake?” I asked incredulously. Maria loved to bake and any chance she got she would. The great thing about her cakes was that they weren’t just good to eat – they were fantastic. I reached towards the container she wrapped for me, and pulled at the plastic, “Where is it?”

“I finished it,” she laughed. “It’s finished. We all finished it – me and the chef, and a few of the other servers. I saved you a piece though,” she added, and my smile grew a few inches at her admission. Sometimes Maria was the best thing that had ever happened to me. She was probably the only good thing going in my life then. She continued with, “But you know what I mean, Lizzie. It really did look like I interrupted something,.”

“Not really,” I said, but the admission of that felt weird to my own ears. Did Maria interrupt anything? Max was just talking to me for lack of company. Not many kids even go to a merger party, and when he saw me, someone his age that he could talk to, he was relieved to find someone. He could have chosen to talk to any one else if they were there too… It couldn’t have been anything else.

Maria’s voice got more serious as she asked, “Do you know what you’re getting into?”

“What do you mean?” I asked her cautiously.

“This is Max Evans right? He’s popular, a tri-varsity athlete, star of our football team, and generally lusted after by the entire female population. He’s like in his own world compared to …”

“Girls like us,” I finished. “People like us.”

“You know what I mean,” she added when she heard my reply, her voice softening. She looked over at me and I knew that even in the dark of the car she could probably see how hurt I was. It was true that we weren’t even in the same atmosphere as Max and all of his friends, but I hated remembering that. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Maria accepted my silence, and she decided to be quiet too for the rest of the ride. At ten-thirty, we pulled up by the entrance to the park, and she smiled wryly, “We’ll talk about this later?”

When I didn’t answer, she sighed in frustration and said, “Vamoose sweetie, I’ve got to get home before curfew.”

“Yeah, curfew,” I repeated. Curfews are a privilege that normal kids have, and Maria’s more normal than I could ever hope to be. Maria may have only had her mother like I only had my father but if she ever needed something, she could turn to her. I was alone. I looked over my shoulder at our trailer and saw that it was dark again – no one was home. I don’t know what I was expecting. I reached out to close the door, and said, “I’ll see you on Monday, Maria.”

She slowly drove away from the curb, and when she rounded the corner, she waved her hand to me in the rearview mirror and I waved back. With a heavy heart, I turned to make the short walk home. Years ago when Maria’s mom used to taxi us around, I always asked to be let off here, and from the entrance to the park, it’s just a short five minute walk. Maria’s never been to the trailer, and she wouldn’t be missing out on anything either. It’s hard enough to take care of myself, the bills, and on occasion my Dad, without having to also worry about a trailer that won’t give back, a place that won’t allow itself to be a home.

But even if I tried to fight it, at the end of the day I always had to go back. Sometimes I felt so hopeless.



‘How’d he know I like, no - love the park?’ I wondered. It was ten o’clock when I got there, right on time, but it looked like I was first. I sat on top of a park bench, my feet resting on the bench part. It was still snowing steadily from the night before and the snow was sticking to the ground. Six inches had fallen during the night of the party and over the weekend, and it didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon. The weather report that morning said it was the like a snow cloud itself had descended upon Roswell; it was the biggest storm in thirteen years and I couldn’t have been happier to see it.

There was only one day left of school that week before winter vacation would officially begin. But, anything that could have gone wrong did and by the end of Monday I felt awful.

I got a late start because my father spilled beer on an essay due that morning. I knew I couldn’t hand it in like that and asking for an extension would bring my extension requests from this term alone to six. So, I did what I had to do. I retyped the pages that were soaked. When I ran out of the house to get the bus, my father called after me, “Aren’t you late, Lizzie?” Of course I had no response. How could I have begun to answer a question like that? Could I have gotten angry and responded infuriated, or would it even be worth it?

I saw the bus stop was empty from a block away and I swallowed hard because it would only mean that I would have to wait for the next bus. The buses arrive every half an hour and a late start was rapidly progressing into tardiness. I sat down anyway and pulled out my mittens. Then I opened up my English book, Scarlet Letterd began to read. The formal style kept me occupied and more than half an hour escaped before I realized the bus was late also.

I did happen to look up once and I think if I hadn’t Max wouldn’t have stopped his jeep.

“Liz?” he asked.

“Oh, hi Max,” I said. He was in his car and it looked brand new. There wasn’t even snow on the top of it, suggesting the car too lived inside of a house.

We were both quiet for a minute before he asked uncertainly, “You need a ride?”

“Yeah, that’d be nice,” I said and I climbed into the car. There was even heat at my feet, and just within seconds I felt like I hadn’t been outside at all.

“You’re late too?” he asked as he drove off. “I forgot to set my alarm.”

“I had to retype something,” I said, and I unzipped my bag to put away my essay.

“Right, isn’t that for Kramer’s class?”

“Yeah, it took me forever though.”

He caught me staring out of the window during the ride and once or twice when I looked over to him, he was openly looking at me.

“What?”

“What were you looking at?”

I smiled. “The snow. It’s perfect this time of year.”

“You really like the snow?” he asked.

“No,” I said, “I love it.”

It’s quiet again for the rest of the ride, but when he pulls the car into the lot, he doesn’t make any movements to leave. I don’t either but I watch him out of the corner of my eye.

“Liz?”

“Yeah,” I said, turning to face him.

“What are you doing tonight?” he asks in a rush.

“Um, probably getting a start on a lab that’s due on Friday. Nothing special though.”

“Do you want to spend some time at the park?”

“The park?”

“Yeah, we can have fun for a little bit. There’s a lot of snow there, and I like it too.”

“Max, what are you asking?”

“It’s not a date,” he rushed to admit, and even though I knew it shouldn’t have affected me, it did and I frowned.

“Because we’re different?”

“Huh?” he asked, and I noticed how uncertain he looked at that moment. I thought he was choosing to be blissfully unaware of how different we were – we literally lived on two different sides of the railroad. I didn’t catch the fear in his voice.

“I mean,” I paused, and I tried to form the right words, “you’ve got all of these really popular friends, and your father’s really prominent in Roswell. Max, I’m just an ordinary girl.”

“That’s true, but you’re not just an ordinary girl. I like spending time with you, and talking to you that night at the party made me think of things I haven’t thought of in a long time. I didn’t mean that it’s not a date because we’re different, but I do want to go to the park.”

I nodded slowly, weighing his words and then I agreed, “I’d love to go.”

“Ten o’clock?” he asked uncertainly.

“That’s fine,” I laughed.

Morrison Park split our town in half. The rich and wealthy lived on one side of it, the part with the nicer equipment and the more scenic layout. I lived on the other side, but that’s not to say I didn’t love it. It was more woodsy and in the fall, the branches crowded each other. I could see this end of the park perfectly from where I lived and the snow suited it. I was very surprised that Max would choose this side of the park, my side, to meet.

I heard him before I saw him and he stopped in front of me.

“What are we doing here, Max?” I asked.

“We’re going to have fun,” he said, and he grabbed my hand and guided me towards the hill before I could protest properly.

I could see where he was leading me – it was to the hill all of the kids like to sled down to prove that they’re tough. “I’m not going to sled down this hill,” I sang out to him, and he laughed.

“Don’t worry, I don’t like to go sledding either. I want to go over there,” he added pointing towards a building, an eyesore of a building I’ve never seen before.

“I’ve never seen that before,” I said, “and I’ve lived by here all of my life. When did this get here?”

He guided me around the hill and through the trees so we could avoid going down the hill to get there. He walked in front of me and let me follow in his footsteps, but he didn’t answer my question. It was like he was thinking of a lie to tell me. I thought it was strange but my mind was reeling from the feeling of his warm hand in mine, so I didn’t repeat my question as I normally would have.

“My father knows the new mayor and he said they added a rink, but they were waiting to unveil it in January. Let’s call this a perk of knowing an Evans.”

I nodded slowly, “Right.” I processed this; he knows so many people, and has so many connections. I still couldn’t figure out why he was spending time with me.

“Rink?” I repeated.

“Yeah, a new rink. We’re going ice-skating.”

“Yeah, like I’m going ice-skating,” I snorted. The idea is hilarious. I’ve never been ice-skating my entire life. I love the snow, but only as a spectator. I’ve never done stuff with the snow other than watch it in the past ten years. I like to watch it collect when it falls, and I like to walk in it, but nothing more. Ten years is a long time, but everything I’ve ever loved to do stopped right after my Mother passed away. She always smiled during whatever she did, and doing the same things she used to love is not the same without her energy. Max didn’t answer my chide and though I was lost in thought, he waited for me to look back up at him.

“Okay,” I said slowly, “but don’t let me fall,” I warned.

“I never will,” he promised and he smiled at me. I wanted to resist smiling back because it’s getting old. We keep smiling at each other like we’ve known each other for a long time and we’re continuing to build on our own monument of memories. I’ve only known him, or met this side of him, less than twenty-four hours ago, but it didn’t feel strange. It felt new. As he pushed open the door and let me inside, I felt really excited for what’s going to happen next.

“What size shoe are you?” he asked

“Six and a half,” I answered He let go of my hand to turn on the light, and when he does, the room floods with a color so pure and warm that I gasped right away. The rink, if I couldn’t see it before, now shined like a diamond winking in the sun. All around the rink itself there are little lights every few feet that glistened too, and pretty soon my feet are walking right towards it; I felt so swept up in its beauty.

“It’s so beautiful.”

“Yeah, you are,” he said.

“What?”

“Huh?” he repeats and he stractches his forehead abashedly. “Let’s get these skates on you,” he saids, and he sits down on the bench and waits for me to come over.

“I could have sworn you said –”

“What?”

“Never mind,” I said, but I eyed him cautiously. What exactly did he say, I wondered, because it didn’t sound like something a friend would have said…Great…in twenty-two hours Max Evans has managed to make all of my thoughts muddled.

“All set,” he said and he set my feet down gently. I waited for him to get his on too and to my surprise he jumps up before I do, and reaches his hands out for me to hold. I stand with him and my knees were wobbling – it’s weird to go from putting all your weight on your heels and toes to a thin blade. You have to trust either your body not to panic or to trust the person you’re with. Max held my arm as we went towards the door to the rink.

Then he pushed it open for me and helped me slide onto the rink before joining me. It wasn’t scary at all and the ice felt smooth under us. We glided around the rink for an hour without exchanging any words. Being around each other was the most comforting thing I’d felt in years. That’s what it was – I could never tell Maria in so many words so that she could understand but that’s how I felt. It was like smiling was enough, or knowing he was right there. When we were going to turn around, I gripped his arm even tighter and he only smiled. When I wanted to glide without skating he let me go and skated beside me just within reach. And he never let me fall once. I didn’t so much as wobble or teeter, plunging down towards the ice – he kept his promise.

“How did you know I would have liked this? It was a pretty big risk considering that you don’t really know me and also that I don’t know how to skate.”

“You sound like you don’t trust me,” he said smiling.

“Well, it’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s that I don’t know you.”

“You know how to skate now.”

I let go of his hand and put my hands out at my sides and glided away from him.

He laughed, and said, “Parker, don’t do that to me.”

I smiled, “Do what? Go away?”

“Well, yeah. I thought I was teaching you how to skate.”

“Well, now the student surpasses the teacher,” I teased lightly.

He skated towards me and even went past me, forcing me to turned around to see where he was. When I did, I found him sitting on the ice by the other side of the rink, his back to the wall and his legs stretched in front of him.

“Tired?” I asked.

“Yes, you are very heavy.”

“Am I now?” I ask, and I slide over to him and sit beside him. The night felt like it was stretching for us – like we had all the time in the world. But still a small part of me knew it would end, and that it would very soon. Jeff Parker would be coming home in four hours, at six, to an empty house. I don’t think he’s ever come home from one of his bar trips without tumbling into my room and waking me up, and I’d like to think it’s best like that. He would only be angry. Well, I don’t know actually. People can surprise you sometimes. I didn’t want to think about it though – sometimes my life was too much.

I brushed my hair behind my ears and turned to look at Max. I could tell he was looking at me; I could feel it. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

I placed my hand on the ice, inched closer, and leaned my head on his shoulder.

“Are you really tired?” he asked.

“Yeah, you’ve tired me out,” I admitted, and I stretched my legs out on the ice like him, settling more into his shoulder. “What do you like Max?”

“I like coffee, and long walks on the beach…”

“No,” I laughed. “I’m serious. What do you like?”

“I like driving in my Jeep because I feel free whenever I do. I like chocolate chip ice cream with the chunks – it’s always a good surprise,” I smiled at that one because it was true for me too. I sit and listen to the sound of his voice. It’s really comforting. “Once we went on a road trip to the Grand Canyon and ever since I collect postcards from anywhere I go. I like the snow. When I was younger, my Mother used to take me and Is walking in the snow. She wanted us to see our garden in the backyard covered in the snow so we could understand that nothing dies in the snow – it’s only sleeping, waiting to spring to life again.”

“That’s wonderful. I like the snow too, but not for the same reasons. I like it because it made everything white and pure the night after my Mom went into the hospital – it was like the world was brand new when I woke up. It’s like that everytime it snows now and I love that feeling…It doesn’t last though,” I said.

“Yeah, it doesn’t last because it melts away.”

“Right,” I could feel myself drifting off so I turned the tables to him, “Your turn.”

“What are you scared of, Liz?”

“I don’t like the dark,” I admit. “Ever since I was younger, I’ve hated the dark – just opening my eyes and not seeing what I should. Does that sound weird?”

“No,” he was quick to reassure me and I fell asleep against my best wishes. He noticed that I fell asleep and he spread his hand out over the ice, rising its temperature to a point that it wouldn’t melt and also wouldn’t be cool to the touch. Then he settled deeper against the wall to better support me. He told me later that while I was drifting off, he said, “My biggest fear is that I’m going to break my promise to you.”

[DreamerLaure]

Thank you natalie36, begonia9508, Addicted2AmberEyes, Alizaleven, Flamehair, and Strawberry88. You're so wonderful! I'm glad you're enjoying this.

<center>Part 3</center>

I woke up at seven, and he did too. It took me a few seconds to realize where I was…and then the next thought was how I was. I heard a loud pounding in my ears and I could not figure out why my alarm clock would have such a terrifying setting. Then I could feel how wet my hands were and I thought that was strange too. I felt my knee on someone else’s, and of course that’s when it came flooding back to me. Max’s thoughts might have been moving at the same pace as mine because only seconds after I put everything together, we both moved to spring apart.

“Ow,” I whined at the same time he groaned, “Ow!”

He hit his head against the rink’s wall, and I had only slid down onto the ice, my legs slipping out and taking me with them. The ridiculousness of the situation hit both of us and we started laughing uncontrollably. I hadn’t laughed so hard in months and we laughed for so long that I was clutching my stomach when it subsided. He slowly got up and helped me to my feet too.

“Did you have fun?” he asked breathlessly. The effect of laughing made him weak, and he grabbed the side of the wall after he asked, waiting for my answer.

I smiled, “Yeah, I had fun. Thank you, Max.”

“You’re welcome,” he said.

“We should get going though, because I really don’t want to explain this to my parents,” he laughed.

“Yeah, I guess that’d be hard to explain.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I said smiling lightly. I didn’t want thoughts of my father and home to come crashing back into me again, so I let go of his hand and waddled to the door of the skating rink. “But, if I don’t get these skates off my feet, I think they’ll fall off on their own.”

He laughed with me and added, “Me too.”

He offered to drive me home, but I turned down that invitation to a ride in a warm car by explaining that I lived really close. He pressed again unintentionally when he said that he wouldn’t mind driving me even a short distance.

For whatever reason – maybe it was his brown eyes or maybe I was still tired – for whatever reason, I said yes.

He drove the five minute distance quietly, and we exchanged a few awkward smiles when we happened to glance in the same direction. I blushed when I gestured towards the trailer park and he drove in. The lights were still out in ours, and I felt grateful that the wonderful night and morning wouldn’t be ruined just yet.

“Christmas is in three days,” he said.

“Yeah,” I shrugged. “It’s always the same though.”

“Presents and dinner,” he smiled.

“Yeah, that. And of course, your parents always buy you the wrong present and dinner gets burned.”

“Or your grandmother pinches your cheeks in front of everyone.”

“No,” I gasped.

“Yes,” he confirmed it, and I giggled, “I’m sure she means well.”

“I guess,” he shrugged. “It’s an overdone holiday though. People have forgotten the magic behind Christmas.”

“Which is?” I asked, my breath caught.

“Seeing things in the best light. Seeing the world like it’s yours. That’s what Christmas is about for me.”

I reached over to hold his hand, “That’s really beautiful, Max.”

“Thanks,” he said and he uncertainly looked down at my hand on his. I knew what to expect because I’ve been kissed before, but right before, I felt like something was happening. We were looking at each other, trying to really see the other person. Then he reached forward and brushed my hair back behind my ear for me.

“Did you have fun?” he asked softly.

I smiled, “Yeah, I had fun. Thank you, Max,” I added and I tentatively leaned forward. I placed my hand on his chest and brushed my lips against his cheek. Maybe I was teasing him though. It really was an incredible night and I think he thought so too. He brushed his fingertips on my cheek when I was about to pull away and our lips found one another’s.

It was a soft kiss first, like mine on his cheek had been, his lips testing the feel of mine. Then it got more heated…I think he liked it. His hand stayed on my cheek and his other hand wrapped loosely around my waist, but tightly enough to pull me closer to him. I think I opened my mouth first, and he found his way in. When he did, it was incredible. I’ve been kissed before but this felt so passionate that it was enough to make me dizzy. At that moment, I got the feeling again. I knew something special was happening with me and Max Evans. I don’t think I knew how special it was, but I knew I was falling fast.



I didn’t see Max until Christmas after that day. He called later that night, then the following day, and pretty soon I got into the habit of waiting for the phone to ring. Maria was over my house on Christmas Eve. After skating with Max, I felt a change come over me. It wasn’t sudden like something had hit me, but it was like a realization. I felt happy. He made me feel happy, like I was someone worth talking to. I hadn’t felt that way in a long time. After skating with Max, I even invited Maria over.

We were baking when the phone rang, and she stopped mixing her batter to sit down at the table to watch me.

I was giggling when I hung up and went back to the counter. “What?” I asked innocently.

“Lizzie, who was that?”

“Oh, um, that was Max. He wanted to know if I wanted to go out tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow, on Christmas?” she asked.

“Yeah. He wants to show me something.”

“Lizzie, do you know what you’re doing?”

“Liz. Can you please call me Liz?” I asked, my voice getting irritated. It was the third time that week that I’d ask Maria to start calling me Liz, but she was having a hard time breaking the habit.

“Is that what he calls you?”

“I like it better,” I said simply.

“I hope this is real. I hope he’s for real because I wouldn’t –”

“Want me to get hurt?” I echoed. How many times had she bandied that around lately? That was enough to irritate me too, and I said, “Maria, it is for real.”

“I hope so, Liz,” she said softer, and she picked up her spoon to mix the batter some more. “I really hope so.”



“Are you okay?” Max asked gently. I had been quiet the entire evening and he noticed. We had dinner with our families earlier in the afternoon, and we met up at nine in the park. And he gave me a locket for Christmas – a silver heart with a snowflake inscription inside of it. He and I had spoken on the phone so much on the phone that I felt like I knew him so well, but Maria’s words still haunted me. Was this for real? It was almost too perfect.

“What’s wrong, Liz,” he repeated. He was holding my hand then; when had he taken it in his? I kept thinking that his hand felt really soft, and my palm fit his perfectly. I could also feel myself getting confused. Was he for real?

“Max, I feel really confused,” I said, and I pulled him over to the park bench to sit with me. He didn’t answer right away and it was quiet again.

I tried another tact, “I feel like everything between us is happening really fast, like it’s moving so quickly. It almost doesn’t feel real.”

“It feels real to me,” he said, and when he saw the skepticism on my face, he added, “But I understand.”

“It feels real and unreal at the same time,” I said.

“Yeah,” Max said. He stood up, walked over to the fountain behind us and sat on the ledge. I followed him and sat right in front of him.

“Liz, I’m leaving in a few days.”

“What?” I asked slowly, and I watched his face for any sign that he might be kidding. “You’re not kidding?”

“No,” he said. He exhaled heavily and looked away from me, out to the park in front of us. “You know my sister Isabel and my friend Michael?”

“Yeah,” I said nodding slowly. They were also really popular at our school. Isabel was a cheerleader and Michael a basketball player. They were some of the kids who were always surrounded by friends – they didn’t want for anything.

“What do they have to do with you … going?”

He turned to look back at me before he reached his palm out to touch the ice that was in the fountain. “I’m sorry, Liz. I’m so sorry.”

It was like he was Midas and the world was his to change. As soon as fingers made contact, the ice got rougher and the surface bobbed until it was unfrozen again. Then water slipped out of the spout of the fountain; it was like the winter had never changed it.

I stared at the fountain dumfoundedly.

“I’m not … human. When we were six, my parents and the Guerins were driving home from a Christmas trip in Seattle. They found us, three kids wandering in the road, abandoned and our parents were nowhere in sight. They adopted us, and things were normal for a few years.”

I stared at Max and I tried inhaling and exhaling slowly, but that wasn’t working.

“When we were ten, our powers, our abilities, started to surface. Michael could move things by force. All he had to do was raise his arm. Isabel could dreamwalk, which is like visiting another person’s dreams.”

“And you?”

“I can heal people, and change…things.”

I was finding it hard to breathe then and I tried waiting for him to stop, but he didn’t.

“We figured out over the years that our abilties and who we were didn’t fit the description of normal. Liz, I’m an alien.”

I began thinking if I closed my eyes, it wouldn’t be true – it would all be a dream. That didn’t work either. . .When I opened my eyes, he was still sitting in front of me, and he was still telling me about it.

“We got contacted a few weeks ago. They want us to come home.”

“When?” I asked hoarsely, my third word since his fountain trick.

“January 1st.”

He reached out to touch my hand and I flinched. He saw my reaction and he stopped trying to hold my hand. He could see how hurt I was, and he plead, “I’m so sorry, Liz. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’ve liked you for a long time, and I wanted to get to know you before I left. I didn’t mean to…”

“What?”

I could feel the words coming before he said them and I waited. “I didn’t mean to fall in love with you.”

“Max, you can’t love me.”

“Why not? Liz, I’ve never felt this strongly about anyone else, and I feel it even down in my heart. I love you.”

“You can’t love me. Max, you’re leaving. In five days you’re leaving me.”

“I know, but it doesn’t change how I feel.”

“That’s the thing, Max. It’s supposed to.”

He didn’t say anything for a while, and he just stared out at the park that was before us, our park. I closed my eyes, and gripped my hands in my lap. “Liz,” he said softly.

I opened my eyes, and the dream had ended. There was Max right in front of me. His eyes were soft and caring. He looked at me and I couldn’t see any doubts or regrets in his eyes. He loved me, and the only thing I could do was walk away. I couldn’t love Max Evans. He was leaving.

“Max, I have to go,” I said abruptly, and I stood up from the bench and walked out of the park. Even a mile away when I turned to look back at him, I caught him watching me and I could see how vulnerable his eyes were from the edge of the park. And five miles away from the park, when I was in my room, lying on my bed, I felt him crying.

[DreamerLaure]

Thank you Em, Natz, Shi, Eve, Flamehair, and Addicted2AmberEyes. I'm so happy that you're enjoying this. Thank you so much.

<center>Part 4</center>


“Maria, I can’t fix it,” I wailed. It was December 31st, and Maria was in my room, cradling my head in her lap. I had called her and she came over right away, and when she did I started crying. She was stroking my hair and patting my back reassuringly, and it was helping a little bit.

I didn’t cry the night I walked away from Max because I knew it would really bring it home if I did. He was leaving the day after the 31st, and just knowing that he was made me ache. Max was leaving, and he was never coming back. It was real, and I would never see him again or even get to tell him how I felt. Everything was ruined.

“Shh, Liz, it’s okay.”

“He’s leaving,” I burbled as I sat up. She brought her legs onto the bed and folded them underneath her.

“He’s leaving?” she echoed. “To go to college? This is kind of early…”

“No, He’s leaving the country leaving. That kind of leaving.”

“When did you find out, Liz?”

“Three days ago.”

“So did you say goodbye?” she asked gently.

I wiped the tears in my eyes and pushed a few strands of my hair back. I didn’t answer right away and Maria saw the look in my eyes and she sighed, “Lizzie.”

“You know people have to leave sometimes. You’re forgetting the best thing about that though.”

“What,” I sniffed and I looked back at her.

“They come back,” she said with a smile. “Life is short, and things can happen very quickly. But, people – the friends and the ones you loved always come back. They can come back in your memories or in dreams. In some way they come back. He’s still here, Liz. You don’t have to part with him yet.”

“I can’t though – I can’t fix it.”

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because he said he loved me, and I didn’t say it back.”

“You don’t have to say it until you’re ready, but I think you should at least say goodbye. If you don’t Liz, you’ll miss him even more. Go and end it right before it’s too late.”



Max wasn’t at home when I went over there, and his mom suggested that I try going to his friend’s house but he wasn’t there either. I stayed by his house for twenty minutes, hoping he might come back, but the thought that he might have already left filled me with despair. Eventually I gave up. It was eleven when I did and the hours had all but slipped by.

I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner, that he would be at the park waiting. It was no longer snowing out, but it still looked like a winter wonderland. He was sitting on the bench I sat at before we went skating the week before.

“Hi,” I said, and I pushed my hands into my pockets. I left my mittens at home because I hadn’t expected to be out this late. He didn’t answer, but he looked up at me to acknowledge that I was there.

“Can I sit?” I asked, and he nodded.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry,” I started. “I shouldn’t have walked away that quickly, but what you said messed with my head a little bit: I wasn’t sure what to think. I know I should have said something sooner, but I just needed time.”

“That’s the one thing we don’t have,” he said defeatedly. “I don’t want to hurt you by leaving. And, it’s getting late – I don’t want to start a new year with you if I can't enjoy it with you. I won’t be here tomorrow.”

“I know, but we can still make the most of it.”

He kissed me for the first time in nearly a week, and I hadn’t realized how much I had missed that too. When we broke apart, our foreheads were pressed together and our breathing was labored. I smiled as he reached out his hands to memorize my face. He traced his fingertips along my cheeks and around my eyes. He threaded his fingers through my hair and he held my face in his hands. Then he brushed away my tears and kissed me again.

“Max,” I said, pulling away, “I want to show you something.”

We walked towards the hill, and we stopped a hundred yards from the edge.

“I thought you didn’t like to go sledding?”

“We’re not,” I giggled.

I dropped his hand and plopped down on the snow. I looked up and I saw him staring at me. “Max, get down here.”

“Oh no, I just know we’re going to get cold and wet from this.”

“That’s fine. You could use you powers to get us dry,” I slipped in, and I cast a sidewards glance to see if he realized I was okay with it.

“Really?” he joked.

“I’m only kidding,” I laughed. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, let’s see who’ll finish first.”

“Okay.”

I lay down in the snow beside Max and we both swept our arms and legs sideways, sweeping the snow this way and that. After a minute, Max sat up and he started brushing some of the snow off of him. I finished a few seconds later and I smiled, “No fair, your arms are bigger.”

“And my legs, too. You’re littler than I am.”

“Littler?” I protested, “That’s definitely not a word.”

“No, but it describes you perfectly.”

He took my arms, and pulled me to my feet. I rested my head against his chest and we looked down at the imprint of the snow angels below us.

“What else do you want to do?” he asked.

“Can we just walk? I want to spend midnight with you.”

He smiled and kissed me. “Anything you want.”

“Wait,” he called, as I started to lead him to a path I loved to walk down. “Let me…” and he reached his hand out to dry my hair.

My head felt warm when he lifted his hand away, and I smiled up at him, “Thank you.”

We walked through the park that night and even into the morning. At one, we were both cold, and we couldn’t delay what was going to happen much longer. In front of my house, in his car, he turned up the heat and left the engine running.

“How is it going to happen?” I asked.

“There’s a device they sent over a month ago when we first got the message.”

“How soon?”

“We’re scheduled to leave in an hour.”

“So, this is it?” I asked, and he didn’t answer. There weren’t much else for us to say. Reality was settling – Max was leaving and I would never see him again.

“I’ll come back to you,” he promised.

“Max, you don’t know that,” I said, and I wiped the tears that were falling freely. “We don’t know anything.”

“Have I broken any of my promises?”

“No, you haven’t.”

“Then trust me, Liz. I’ll come back for you.”

“Max, I love you,” I said, and to lighten the mood, I added, “too.”

He smiled and kissed my forehead, “I love you too, Liz.”

I watched his car drive away an hour later after a proper goodbye, and I felt my heart swell with longing. I really couldn’t wait for him to come back. I stood outside watching the car make the turn at the corner, and just when I thought I couldn’t see the sliver of his car’s hood, something even better came into view. It started snowing again.

[DreamerLaure]

Thank you Emz80m, Flamehair, Strawberry88, begonia9508, and Alien614 your feedback; your comments are making me blush.

The last part is below, but before I part with this, I'd like to dedicate this fic to the magic of Christmas. I'm going to miss this Max and Liz - they were so fun to write. I'd like to thank Drogyn for the beautiful banner, and, I also want to thank everyone for reading. I only hope you enjoyed it as much as I did writing it, and I hope there wasn't too much tearjerking along the way. Without further ado:

<center>Epilogue</center>


“How far do you have to go before you get what you need? I only had to go a year. Max came back the next Christmas, and he was the same but different all at once. His eyes were more tired and I could tell a million stories were inside of them.

And of course, it was snowing when he came back.

Maria came with me when I left Roswell and we moved to Albuquerque. It was far enough from home to put the memories we didn’t want behind us but close enough to visit if we wanted to. I visited our park everytime we returned.

I was staying in Roswell that Christmas season at a hotel in the main part of town. It was eleven o’clock on New Year’s Eve and Maria was at her mother’s house with the knitting brigade. They had a party every year and somehow Maria could never get rid of her invitation to it.

I was cooking a second dinner when I heard someone knock on the door. I knew it was him even before I opened the door. My heart had felt something all day, and seeing him face to face confirmed it; he was back.

And underneath the mistletoe, he kissed me senseless – a kiss to make up for the days that had kept us apart.

Those were my sixteen moments to cherish – some were bittersweet, some were heartbreaking, but all of them are beautiful in their own way. I don’t regret a single one of them. It all started with a glimpse of Max Evans – he let me in and I chose to let him in too. There’s nothing to regret because it was meant to be. It was love with the right person, at the right moment, and at the right time.”

My daughter Kelidah’s eyes are shining when I finish and she’s staring at me. Her legs are tucked under her much like mine were when I was young and in love at her age; she’s a lot like me. “How did you get here?” she asks awestruck.

“First we spent five nights for lost times – we shared stories, and memories, filling each other with whatever we’d missed. At the end of those nights I felt as if I’d been there every step of the way with him. I felt like I’d seen castles spring up again from the rubble of years ago. I could feel every emotion that ran through him as he lead meetings for amnesty and peace. I felt his heart break as the device ripped a thread in time, making enough of a ripple for just him, Isabel and Michael to go. Every thing that happened to us we shared – we didn’t want to not know.

“Then he brought me here. He even offered to stay on Earth with me, but I knew where he belonged and I knew I had to find a way to be there with him.”

“You were so lucky,” she says, and she brushes away the tear forming in her eye impatiently. “I hope I’ll be too.”

“No, it was my destiny. Luck played no part, and looking back all of the heartache was worth it.”

I stand to leave and as I do, my robe fans out on the floor, making soft swishing noises. I don’t wear shoes here because it’s safe in our palace and I rarely leave.

“I wish you’d told me the rest of that story sooner,” she adds.

Over the years, it’s been her favorite bedtime story to hear how her father and I fell in love, but I’ve only told her about how we met. She thought that meeting made us fall in love, when in actuality, that was just the first spark of magic. The rest of the story needed to be told, and now she’s the same age I was when Max returned to me. “Sometimes a little waiting is good. Sweet dreams.”



Outside on the terrace, my husband waits for me. He is standing under the moonlight, his hands clapsed behind his back – he’s in his favorite stance. It’s unassuming and modest, but kingly at the same time. His back is to me when I go towards him, and when he feels me coming, he turns around. I can see the love shining in his eyes and we smile at each other as I close the distance between us.

He takes my hand and leads me to the balcony edge. Below us the royal city is sprawled out like a carpet of lights. It looks stunning. I lean closer to him and rest my head against his chest. His heart is beating lightly, my own lullaby. He holds my head and embraces my body so there is no distance between us.

We have long conversations without words now. Sometimes it’s fueled by our emotions. He can be on the other side of the world and I can feel every doubt. Then I’ll close my eyes and fill his heart with love and confidence – I believe in him. He’s with me every night before I fall asleep. He comes to me as I close my eyes, a part of him comes to me. It’s a knowing presence, like he’s an ethereal form I’ve been blessed with – distance isn’t a barrier anymore. Sometimes we have long conversations within each touch and feel. Each kiss is full of longing and want. Some of my flashes are of our sixteen moments, of the times we learned how to love, and others are so recent that the differences between mine and his blur. Our moments are one and the same now. Tonight I hold him. He’s back again, and I’ve missed him so much in his absence.

He lifts his hand and I close my eyes. The skies answer his call and a shower of snowflakes descend upon us. Each night we bless Antar, our home planet now, with snow. The flakes are not perfect and no two flakes are the same, but each is special. Each flake that sprinkles my hair and my nose, and sprinkles us as we kiss is special. It’s moments like these that I don’t forget because they happen everyday now. I also know in my heart that they’ll keep happening forever.

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The End</center>