Author: AllAboutEyesS09
Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell...If I did it would be different
Summary: Liz realizes life isn't long enough to live in regret.
Note: This is my first fic in a LONG time..go easy on me.
Liz stood in the center of the dance floor watching her best friends both enjoying themselves. Maria was all smiles now that Michael proved her wrong. It wasn’t fair how Maria and Liz always figured the worst about him. Though the idea of love and affection made him emotionally itchy he was a great guy. He would do anything for Maria, including cutting ties off from her completely to keep her safe.
Alex seemed glad but slightly uncomfortable being back together with Isabel. After the kiss they shared him smiled down at her, but as soon as she buried her grin into his shoulder a frown lingered on his face as it seemed his mind wondered elsewhere.
Liz’s mind wondered back to her painful conversation with Max not even a half an hour ago. Who had seemed to have left the gymnasium. She looked around in search for him and sighed when she could find him no where. She didn’t want to ruin this night for either one of them, but it seemed that she found it hard to keep her trap shut. Walking across the dance floor she went to sit where both she and Max had been sitting uncomfortably for a little while before their first and last dance.
All the smiles and laughs that seemed to engulf her in this room made her want to crumble onto the table top, as if she had lost her best friend. She lost him a long time ago, but the true bitter emptiness was slowly sinking into her skin. She didn’t want to be alone. It wasn’t fair that a girl only seventeen had to throw her feelings out the window to save the planet because of one little blonde bitch that couldn’t except the fact that her previous husband was with someone else, loved someone else, though it had literally been a lifetime since they were together.
I wondered through fiction to look for the truth
Buried beneath all the lies
And I stood at a distance
To feel who you are
Hiding myself in your eyes
People did it everyday, in the one lifetime. They married happily and divorced. They watched one another move on to other lives, and other people. Though the pain may almost conquer all that they were inside, they walked the line of fire, they trudged through the bitter winters of loneliness. And they healed, the grew, and they continued to love on another, but they let the other move on to happier times and allowed themselves to do the same.
And hold on before it's too late
Until we leave this behind
Don't fall just be who you are
It's all that we need in our lives
A reality hit Liz square in the chest as she came to understand that she couldn’t hide from him anymore. She couldn’t keep herself from the one man she loved more than life itself. She couldn’t allow one day to come where, god forbid, he was facing life and death, and remember that she had told him that not only would she not die for him, but that he suffocated her. When the truth was that even though the pain was overwhelming for the past year, she wouldn’t give it up. Because she could watch him and love him, knowing that through all the unnecessary angst they both still loved one another. Through and through.
Standing from the table she had decided in that moment that she was going to find Max. If it meant she had to walk the whole five miles to his house in her high heels, she would. Just to know that he knew the truth she would be happy and at ease. But to hold him in her arms, and feel his lips on her own, and touch his beautiful face, would all be a heaven. And in that moment that she opened the gymnasium doors, she decided that even if she had to move heaven and earth to do it, she would get the man of her dreams back. She would make this work. She refused to except anything else.
But she wasn’t quite prepared to see what she did as soon as she made it out into the lobby. She had wished in that moment that she had to walk the five miles in her high heels than have to watch the scene unfold before her. She was hit in the chest once again, but by defeat. He cradled Tess’s face in his strong hand as he deepened the kiss on his own. Not being able to watch Liz turned to go out of the exit door just a few feet away down the hall. But she froze in place, not concerned whether he could see her if he briefly opened his eyes. It was then she felt a flicker of hope dance around her heart. She knew that Max’s broken heart had a tendency of leading him back to Tess, because she was the only safe thing he knew. Even if he were to sleep with every tramp in town she would still be sitting there, waiting for him.
But that wasn’t what he wanted. Liz glanced over her shoulder back at the boy that she loved. Ignoring the passionate kiss that he was sharing with the person she had been pushing him toward for so long now.
He wanted love. He wanted the kind of love that only he and Liz shared. A love that Liz knew Tess could never feel for him, or him for her. The connection between Max and Liz would never fade, and it would never be outshined. Because Liz truly believed for once in her time with Max, that no matter what galaxy and planet he came from, once he entered earths atmosphere he was meant to be with her.
She didn’t care that he was king of another planet. She would be at his side every minute, if that meant being with him, she would fight wars and take on the world and all of its ugliness, she would.
And the risk that might break you
Is the one that would save
A life you dont live is still lost
So stand on the edge with me
Hold back your fear and see
Nothing is real til it's gone
Acting purely on a whim she walked hastily to the gymnasium doors and pulled them wide open, revealing a couple of jocks standing at the door. She smiled and reached up and locked the doors into place. They watched her as she did this with suspicion in there eyes.
“ I’ll pay you two to open up every single door in the gym like this.” she approached them pulling two twenties out of her bra.
Their eyes widened at her favor and even wider at her slim fingers diving into her dress and then pulling money out. They snatched the money as the bulkier of the two said, “ Anything after you do that sweetheart.”
She grinned brightly as they walked towards the doors opposite from each other. Locking those open they moved to the next set of doors. Liz looked towards the stage where the boy that was cooing her emotions and her actions was singing the beautiful song that seemed to be guiding her. On pure emotion she jogged towards the stage, her curled long dark tresses flowing behind her, her hand gripping her dress just so it wouldn’t embarrassingly fly up so that she was pulling a Marilyn Monroe on all of her classmates. She hip hopped up the stairs because of her heels.
The boy was now playing his guitar by itself as he nodded his head thoroughly enveloped by his own music. She leaned down next to him and whispered something not audible to anyone else but her and him. He nodded and smiled at her, pulling his mic away from his mouth saying over and over, “ that’s cool, that’s cool.”
Out in the lobby there kiss had finally come to an end, and Tess shivered from a sudden breeze that hit her in the back. They both felt it looking behind Tess finding that all four gymnasium doors were propped open along with the ones further down the hallway. Their quiet area had quickly turned into an extension to the prom. The idea of people laughing and dancing made Max want to hurl at the particular moment. He knew he had to leave and fast.
“ Why don’t we get out of here? Are you hungry? We could go get some food. “ He asked Tess. She smiled still in a daze from their kiss. But she herself wasn’t feeling to comfortable with what had just happened a moment ago.
She had just been told by Kyle that she was like a sister to him. It angered her, even more than it hurt her. She was opening herself to him even more so than she opened herself to Max, and he was her ex-husband. A husband she fully remembered every aspect about. And the idea of Kyle thinking of her like a sister, hurt more than the man that she was created to be with wanting to be with another woman.
She smiled ever so softly , yet again reminding Max of something that she helped him remember about her. But then she did something that even surprised him. She shook her head slightly.
“ I know that this is probably the last person you would want to hear about but… Um..” she trailed off looking down the hallway, “ I really like Kyle, Max. And I feel like something got screwed up along the way. And..”
She watched as his face fell, and though she never wanted to see him with another woman she knew it was only right, “ I don’t think you should give up Max.”
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, confused. “ I know that I came to Roswell basically crying out Destiny and fate. But in reality, destiny and fate changed as soon as we hit Earths soil. And I think that the day you saved Liz, though I wasn‘t really there, changed the course of everything. Maybe for the better.”
He watched her with intrigue. She was growing up right in front of him. And he was very happy for her. She was finally finding her place in this world, doing something to make herself feel like she belonged.
“ We don’t have to be lovers to be King and Queen.” She smiled realizing that maybe it wasn’t what she had wanted all along. All she ever wanted was to belong. And though she felt she did with Isabel, Michael and Max. Kyle gets her, and she gets him. She would do anything to make him see that.
Max grabbed her hand and held it gently in his own, “ You know you are really great.”
She shrugged and smiled, “ I know.”
But she watched as his eyes were still glazed over. “ Like I said though, I think things with me and Liz are definitely done.”
A high pitched ring of a mic was heard then, and even Max and Tess cringed at the sound.
It echoed through the gymnasium into the lobby, “ Excuse me… I’m sorry to kind of crash the prom. But this will only take a few seconds.”
Max and Tess walked into the gymnasium hand in hand towards what seemed to be a familiar voice. Tess started laughing as soon as she saw who it was. She let go of Max’s hand seeing that he too was at a loss for words. It was very unlike Liz Parker to do what she was doing. But everyone, including classmates that Liz barely knew listened attentively.
Liz held onto the microphone nervously as she glanced around the very full room of faces that were solely on her at the moment. She began to sweat profusely as her heart pounded. in her chest She hadn’t quite thought of what to say once she got up there. So there she was frozen in front of the entire class. Looking like a fool. But then her eyes swept over the face that she was doing all of this for. And from then it all just flowed through her.
“ I’m a liar and I am a fake.” Everyone was silent as she spoke out to them all, “ Since I came back from Florida this summer, I have been trying to fool myself into being this person that I am not. I have made my fair share of mistakes. Such as spreading a rumor that wasn’t true. I’m sure you have all heard by now about Kyle Valenti and I.. Doing the deed.”
Kyle shifted uncomfortable under the spotlight that was suddenly right overhead. His glass of punch in hand he looked up at Liz with a smile. Though he was getting thoroughly pissed off the man with the lighting controls, he knew that Liz needed to free herself from those chains.
“ Didn’t really happen. It was all a fake. Like me.” She swallowed hard as her emotions began to come up from the dark place she had been hiding them for so long. “ the truth is, I am Liz Parker. A girl who lost her way after she found out that the heart is a very fragile thing, that gets bruised and broken. But I hadn’t quite yet realized that it could heal to.”
“ And I truly believe with all my heart that memories are the best place to turn when in doubt of yourself. Tonight I sat at that table and I wondered what I was doing here. And I remembered that before I broke the heart of one person that I care about more than anything in this world AGAIN, that I came here on a little thing called hope. and I carry a memory with me always that brings me hope.”
And hold on before its too late
Until we leave this behind
Don't fall just be who you are
It's all that we need in our lives
She paused as she shifted her eyes directly to Max. Her heart swelled up at the next thing she let pour out of her, “ The memory of an overturned van, where I slept on a really tiny ratty old couch, waking up with a neck ache in the morning. But I was the happiest girl on that crappy couch, because I was with a man that I loved with every corner of my being, and that I knew loved me. Loved me a way that no one else ever could or would.”
Max’s breath had ceased. He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t know whether it was how stunning she looked up on that stage with her heart in her hands reaching out for him to take it or if it was from the words that she was saying. But he knew in that moment all he wanted was to hold her in his arms. Questions would come later.
“ I will explain everything to this wonderful guy of mine, if only he promises to give me one more chance…Give us one more chance.”
After Tess gave him a little push forward Max sped walked up to the stage and hopped over the barrier. His heart was beating wildly in his chest as she was standing before him completely open and her eyes searching him for answers. For some kind of recognition. As she parted her lips to speak to him, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against, him.
So live like you mean it
Love til you feel it
It's all that we need in our lives
So stand on the edge with me
Hold back your fear and see
Nothing is real til it's gone
Everyone in the crowed was in awe, laughing and smiling for the newly pronounced couple that they had seen in the hallways and in their classrooms everyday, falling more and more in love. Many clapped for the two and brought hands to their mouths as their own hearts dancing lightly in their chest hoping to feel the same about someone in their lives.
Max rested his head onto her as the boy behind them started to play the song again.
Hold on before its too late
Until we leave this behind
Don't fall just be who you are
It's all that we need in our lives
“ I love you Liz Parker.” Max said almost breathlessly.
“ I think we both know that I love you too..”
He smiled the brightest that Liz had ever seen him smile before. Then capturing her lips with his own in a deep and passionate kiss he lifted her up and twirled her never once bringing his lips away from hers. Loving the old and familiar feeling that he had longed for so much.
Alex howled from the back of the room, as Isabel leaned into his chest chuckling along with the crowd overwhelmed with happiness for her brother, seeing him happier than she had seen him for years. Kyle whistled at them glad that people would finally stop talking about him nailing Liz Parker.
It was then that he felt a small hand slide into his own. Turning to his side he saw Tess, with her hair that was pinned up earlier, now covering her shoulders in beautiful soft locks.
She smiled up at him, “ Kyle.. Even if it may not change how you feel, I need you to know, I don’t thing of you as a brother. Now even close. And somehow I know that you don’t think of me as a sister. You just haven’t lived with a girl before so I think you just assumed that’s what it was that you were feeling.”
He shook his head. “ Tess I have had crushes before.. I know how it works. I feel differently about you.. It’s not like all the other times.
She interrupted him, “ I know the feeling.”
“ It feels like your heart is going to come out of your chest at points. It drops into your stomach, and at points feel sick when you feel something may be wrong with me.”
He smiled at her, hoping that she had realized where he was coming from now. Though secretly he still wanted to trim her lamp… Was that incestuous? He wondered.
“ Yeah I have felt that. I felt it for Max in our past life, and now…” His smile faded as her small hand traveled up his jacket. The sensation was so warm and so perfect. His heart pounding wildly, knowing that what she was about to say was the truth. And he felt like a fool for thinking it was something else like brotherly love.
“ I feel it for you.” She kissed him then. Soft yet meaningful peck on the lips, “ I love you.”
Max hopped off of the stage holding his arms out to Liz. She let him grab her waist and lift her, to rest her feet onto the floor. Sliding his arm around her shoulders they looked into one another’s eyes before kissing one another once again, smiling brightly as they brushed their noses together. Walking past the dance floor they passed the table where Max grabbed Liz’s small purse and handed it to her before they walked out through the gymnasium doors.
They drove until the ended up at the base of the ladder to Liz’s balcony. Before traveling up the ladder Max pressed her up against the cold brick wall where he kissed her with all the passion in his body. He let lose all the tension he had felt over the past few months. The tension in being physically so close but not being able to touch her or hold her. Her breath hitched as his hand had cupped her breast. He smiled at her as he left a trail of soft kisses from her jaw line to the space between her cleavage. She giggled bringing his face back up to hers to take his lips and smother them with her own.
Once they had finally made it to her balcony Max sat in one of the chairs waiting patiently as she finally poked her head through the window. With two cups of coco in hand she handed one to him. He smiled pulling her down for yet again another kiss.
She sat across from him in her lawn chair . Now dressed in a pair of lose jeans and a Roswell High School tee-shirt. “ So, where do you want me to start?”
He smiled and set his cup down, leaning his elbows on his knees. “ The beginning.”
Hold on before its too late
Until we leave this behind
Don't fall just be who you are
It's all that we need in our lives
It's all that we need in our lives
It's all that I need in my life
( Before its too late- Goo Goo Dolls)