![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v635/LysCat/lysCata3.jpg)
Title: Sensibility
Author: Alysia
Category: Alternate Universe without aliens
Couple(s): Alex/Tess, mentions of Alex/Liz, Isabel/Michael, some M/L moments, but no real romance.
Summery: After discovering her best friend and former lover is getting married, Liz realizes that she’s in love with him. What will she do?
Disclaimer: I don’t own any characters familiar to Roswell.
Author’s note: Anytime that you see writing in italics, that means that it is a flashback.
Prologue
“How was dinner?” Serena Goss asked, as her sister walked through the front door. She immediately grew worried when her sister leaned against the door, her shoulders shaking. “Liz?” She asked again. When there was no response, her concern grew as she approached the woman. “Lizzie, what happened?” She demanded, forcefully turning the crying woman around.
The last thing that she ever expected was for her sister to return from dinner with her best friend in tears.
“He’s getting married!” Liz said through her sobs and cries.
Serena’s eyes widened at the unexpected news. “What?” Sure, he and Liz hadn’t kept constant contact since he’d moved away, but judging by her sister’s reaction, he hadn’t even mentioned that he was dating someone.
“That’s exactly what I said,” Liz sniveled. “I...I can’t believe it. I mean...I know that things got weird between us, but I didn’t even know that he was in a serious relationship.”
Serena lead her sister to the couch and told her start from the beginning.
"Hey stranger,” Liz greeted as she approached his table. She’d taken extra care in getting ready for that night. She made sure that her hair was curled just the way he’d always liked it, she’d even worn a dress that she picked specifically for him, because she knew he loved her in red. She didn’t want to make it look like she had tried too hard, so she kept her make up natural, but she wanted to make him notice that she took an interest in looking good for him.
Hearing her voice, he turned around, his mouth falling open in surprise. He’d seen Liz dressed up before, but not like this...not for him. “Wow, you are so beautiful,” he complimented her.
Smiling shyly, Liz looked down to his dress shirt before meeting his gaze once again. He looked specially handsome in his blue dress shirt. “You don’t look so bad yourself,” she replied, playing with the breast pocket.
“Come here.” He embraced her into his arms for a welcoming hug.
Breathing in his familiar scent, Liz’s eyes fluttered shut. This was it, it was their second chance. She knew that she made a mess of things before he left, but she hoped that like her, he was looking to maybe start things up again, maybe even go in it for the long haul. She didn’t appreciate him the last time around, but the past eight months without him, made her realize that it was torture without his everyday presence in her life. No, this time, she wouldn’t take advantage of him or what he brought to her life.
“I can’t believe that I’m finally seeing you again,” she confessed, lying her head on his collar bone. He was always so much taller then her.
“I know,” he agreed, once they finally pulled away. Ever the gentleman, he escorted Liz to her seat before claiming his own once again. “I hope you don’t mind, but I ordered you a drink. You still drink Rum and Coke, don’t you?”
Liz nodded. “Thank you. So, tell me...what’s been going on?”
“Oh...you know, the usual,” he brushed off as he took a sip of his own alcoholic drink. “You know, I had this whole evening planned. I was going to get through dinner before I really intended on saying what I wanted to, but...now that you’re here, I just can’t wait.”
Hope flared within Liz upon hearing his statement. “Oh?” She asked, trying to play it cool. “And what’s that?”
“You’re my dearest friend, and I...I’m sorry for the way I left town so abruptly. I hope you accept my apology, but under the circumstances, I thought it would be better.”
His words brought forth painful memories, but she pushed them all aside. That was the past, and now...they could concentrate on the future. “I do...and you’re right. We weren’t , it wasn’t the best situation for either of us.” She looked down to notice his hand resting on the table. She grabbed it within in her own. “And I hope you forgive me for the things that I did. I was so callous and...selfish. I’m so sorry for pushing you away the way that I did.”
He nodded, not pulling his hand away. “I know,” he admitted. “For a while after I left, I was angry with you, but...now I realize that, even though that was a painful time for me, I wouldn’t be where I am today if it hadn’t happened.” He looked down at their joined hands and smiled before pulling her hand up from the table and trapping it between both of his. “I meant to come down sooner, but between my job and everything else...”
Liz smiled and acknowledged his excuse. “It’s tough getting away.”
He nodded. “It is. The reason why I came out here is...I’m getting married.”
Liz was shocked into silence with his admission. He was getting married? No, that couldn’t be right. It had only been eight months since they were last together, and he was never one to jump into a relationship. No, she must have heard that wrong. “What?”
“Her name’s Tess Harding...she’s just graduated from college and...she’s absolutely perfect. I never thought that when I met her that anything would come from us, but...I guess life had other plans for us.”
“God, I’m so stupid!” Liz cried out. “Here I was, so excited to see him again, I dressed up for him, thinking that he had come here for a reconciliation, when all along, he just wanted to tell me his upcoming nuptials,” she whined.
Serena’s heart broke for her sister. “You’re not stupid, Liz,” she denied softly.
Her sister had the bad break of being unlucky in love. Her first serious boyfriend wound up being married. That was a difficult time in itself, first loves were hard to get over. Luckily, her sister bounced back easily enough...after a month of mourning. It was her next boyfriend that ruined things. Kyle fucking Valenti, just the thought of him, made Serena’s blood boil. He whisked Liz off her feet, whispering promises of love and forever. It was almost forever too, until Liz discovered that he was cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend...a week before their wedding. Now this...
“I am,” Liz argued. “I had this perfect guy. I mean we grew up together, we were always close...and I ruined it all, and now I’ve lost him.”
“Liz...” Serena trailed off, not exactly sure what to say to comfort her.
“God! Alex! I can’t believe he’s getting married!” It wasn’t fair! After all the bad hands that she’d been dealt...he should be her’s. She knew it wasn’t right, after all, she’d had her chance...and she’d blown it.
“I can’t stay here...I can’t live like this,” Alex exploded, jumping out of bed and gathering his clothes.
“Like what?” Liz asked as she stood up as well, holding the sheet around her small frame.
“Like...this!” He gestured to the room around them. “I...put in for a transfer at work...I leave at the end of next week.
Her heart dropped into her stomach. “And you were just...never going to tell me?” She demanded. A week and a half? That’s all they had left?
He angrily threw on his clothes before marching up to her. “I was waiting for...” he trailed off with a sigh.
Genuinely confused, she stared into his blue eyes. “For what?”
“For something more.”
What was he waiting for? What more could he want? They were together weren’t they? Sure it wasn’t conventional, but it worked for them...didn’t it? She hadn’t seen any problems for them. “Like what?”
“I can’t do this anymore Liz. I...we’ve connected on this other level now and...I want it to be real...I want it to be forever.”
“What?” Forever? Liz felt her heart thump in trepidation. No, she couldn’t go there again, didn’t he understand that? She couldn’t be in another relationship, that was why she thought what they had worked so well.
“I’m in love with you!” He cried out in a frustrated breath. “I...always have been. Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited to get you into my arms? Or kiss you so passionately and make love to you? Years. I never thought that you’d look in my direction and then...these past few months have been incredible.”
Liz nodded. “They have been.” She’d never connected with anyone in such a way, then again, he was only her second lover, but still...the feelings were there.
“But your issues with intimacy are just...too much,” Alex explained. “It’s like in bed, you let yourself be free and things are just so...amazing between us, but out of bed, you become so cold and distant.”
“I do not,” Liz denied.
“Oh yeah? Why is it then, that whenever you talk about me, you still call me your ‘friend’ Alex?”
“Oh...I don’t know,” Liz replied sarcastically. “Maybe because we’re friends?”
Alex snorted in disbelief. “We’re a hell of a lot more then that, and you know it!” He reminded her. “Friends don’t know the things that we do about each other.”
Liz began shaking her head. “You can’t leave me Alex, I need you...I want you in my life.”
Pausing, Alex considered her words. He knew that she did care about him, that was never a question. “All right, I’ll stay...if you tell me you love me.”
At his words, Liz’s mouth opened, ready to respond.
For half a minute, Alex waited for her to respond, but when she didn’t, he shook his head. “I can’t stay here and be around you, feeling the way I do, when you can’t feel the same.”