Roswell Fanatics

Thank you to everyone who's been kind enough to leave feedback for me!

I seem to be on a roll at the moment with writing new parts! Here's part 11 for you now and I'm hoping to finish part 12 either tonight or tomorrow so it should be up by the end of the week.

Part Eleven

Max left Michael’s apartment block with an uneasy sensation in his chest. What had he just done? He had not anticipated Michael flying off the handle like that and now he was going to be snooping through Tess’s personal belongings.

Oh well, at least Isabel hadn’t been mad at him for getting in so late last night. In fact she had been surprisingly chipper at breakfast this morning. He wondered what had happened in the last few hours to cause such a drastic change in her mood. Maybe their conversation yesterday had helped. It would be good for to get away from Roswell for a while and although he knew she was hesitant to leave him and Michael for any length of time and he would really miss her, it could help her in the end.

A smile flickered across his face at the thought of his sister. She was actually the one good, consistent presence in his life right now (apart from their parents of course, but they still didn’t know everything about them) and he knew they would always be there for each other, no matter what.

His musings were halted abruptly, when something bumped into him from behind. Max spun round quickly, ready to face whatever had hit him, only to find that he had obviously gotten in the way of a young teenage boy running out of the Crashdown doors and across the street to his friends.

Wait, the Crashdown?

He hadn’t even realised he’d been walking this way; it wasn’t actually on route from Michael’s place to his house. He inwardly rolled his eyes at himself for his apparent inability to stay away from this place.

Nevertheless, since he was here…

Max pulled open the door to the café and swiftly took a seat at his usual booth. Despite the fact that he was slightly mad at her for her inadequate explanation last night, part of him was hoping to see Liz here this morning, but as he slid into his seat he remembered that before her incredible confession last night, she’d mentioned that she and her mom were going to visit relatives in Las Cruces today.

Under the guise of looking inconspicuous and like just any normal customer, he grabbed a menu and scanned over it, even though he already knew exactly what he was going to order.

“Welcome to the Crashdown, may I take your order?”

He looked up in surprise. It was Maria. So much for not being noticed today.

She smirked, “Can’t seem to stay away, huh?” When he just grinned sheepishly, she added, “Liz isn’t here, you know. She’s out of town.”

Max sighed. “Yeah, I know,” he replied, not really wanting to get into the subject of Liz with her. Luckily, she changed the subject.

“Hey, Max, have you seen Michael yet today? I tried calling him just now, but he’s not picking up,” her brow furrowed in concern. “I hope he’s not mad at me,” she said.

When Max raised his eyebrows in question, she elaborated. “I kinda left him at home alone with my mom last night. He wasn’t exactly happy with me.”

Max grinned again, “So that’s what it was!”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen him; I stopped by his place earlier to discuss something with him, but he practically bit my head off,” he explained. “I thought maybe he was mad at me, but obviously not,” he smirked. “So why did you leave him there?”

Maria looked down, slightly uncomfortable. “Oh, I um,” She decided to just spit it out. “I got a call from Liz, she needed someone to talk to,” she said meaningfully.

Max understood and dropped his gaze back down to the menu in his hands. “Oh.”

“Yeah, she told me what happened, that you discovered something about Alex…”

Max raised his eyes to her once again, “Yeah, we did, but we don’t know what it means yet.”

Maria nodded; she was going to have to get the whole story about that. She’d left in such a hurry last night, she hadn’t learned what it was they’d found. She broached the next subject carefully, “She also told me about…” she trailed off; hoping Max would know what she was talking about.

“Her visitor from the future?” he supplied quietly.

“Yeah.”

Maria glanced around the restaurant. It was quiet now, so she slid into the seat opposite Max and leaned in towards him.

“So, now you know, huh?”

Max was confused, “What? You already knew about this?” he questioned. “How?”

“Well, she needed someone to talk to about it and when I heard about the thing with Kyle, I kinda forced it out of her.”

Max froze. Kyle? What did Kyle have to do with this? He was about to question her statement, but decided against it. Liz clearly hadn’t told him everything, but she’d obviously confided it in Maria.

“I’m glad she finally told you, you know. It was so hard for her to deal with everything afterwards,” Maria continued, oblivious to Max’s confusion. Obviously there was much more to this story than Liz had alluded to. He was so busy contemplating what that could mean that he missed the first part of Maria’s next sentence.

“…and everything she gave up for you,” she finished. Max’s ears perked up and he leaned in closer to Liz’s best friend.

“Gave up for me? What do you mean, Maria?”

It was Maria’s turn to look bewildered for a moment, before realisation hit…

Oh, God! Liz hadn’t told him the whole story!

Maria closed her eyes in dismay. That was what Liz had been trying to tell her last night before she ran off!

“I’m guessing she exactly didn’t tell you everything, then?” she asked and Max shook his head. “Look, I think maybe you should speak to Liz about this,” she suggested.

“I tried, Maria! She wouldn’t talk to me!” he exclaimed.

“I still think you should…”

“No! If you know something, Maria, if you know she’s keeping something from me, then I think I deserve to know what it is.”

She sighed in defeat. This was not going to be easy. Why couldn’t Liz have just told him the truth, instead of trying to protect everyone once again?

“Okay, Max. But not here, okay?” she glanced at the clock on the wall. “Look, I get off in half an hour. I’ll meet you here, and we’ll go somewhere to talk, okay?”

Max nodded and she stood up. Putting on a professional air, she asked, “So, what can I get you?”

“Just some space fries and a cherry coke, thanks Maria.” He didn’t feel particularly hungry anymore.

***

Forty-five minutes later, he and Maria were speeding down the freeway in the Jetta. They needed to have this discussion somewhere quiet, somewhere away from the café, so Max suggested going to one of the small clearings in Frazier Woods where there was little chance of being interrupted.

Max let out a sigh of relief when Maria pulled into the clearing and stopped the car. However, his gaze remained fixed on the trees outside the window. He had been going crazy the last three quarters of an hour, his mind full of questions: What was Liz not telling him? Why had she felt she couldn’t confide in him? What did Maria mean by ‘everything she gave up for you’? And what exactly did her little tryst with Kyle have to do with it?

“Okay, Max,” she turned to him. “Why don’t you tell me what you already know, and then we can go from there?”

He nodded, but continued to stare out of the window.

“Well, she told me that a few months ago, someone visited her from fourteen years in the future and told her that the world was coming to the end. She had to do something to change the future and stop our enemies from taking over the world. She also believed that it was her fault that Alex died because he was alive in that future.”

“That’s it?” Maria was surprised.

“That’s it,” he confirmed. He looked at her expectantly, “So, Maria, are you going to tell me what really happened?”

“Well, I did promise Liz that I wouldn’t but you deserve to know the truth. I even tried to get Liz to tell you herself, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She truly believed that if anyone else found out, there could be a danger that the future would play out as it did before,” she explained.

Max nodded in understanding, but waited for Maria to continue.

She took a deep breath, bracing herself for his reaction. “Okay, here we go. Max, what Liz didn’t tell you was that her visitor from the future was you.”

What? Max whirled round in his seat to face her properly.

“Me?” he almost squeaked. “As in me? Aged…” he did a quick calculation in his head. “Thirty-one?”

She nodded.

“But…why? And what did she have to do to change the future?”

“Okay, I’m just gonna start from the beginning here. The night he…you came here from the future, I dragged Liz and Alex to my Mom’s psychic Madam Vivien in Hondo.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Max couldn’t help rolling his eyes at the thought.

“Hey, I saw that!” she admonished, but then turned serious again. “Anyway, she told Liz that the guy in her life was special, a leader, and that he would choose her, choose love over his destiny,” she looked at him meaningfully. “She told her that she would marry her true love.”

She watched as Max took his in, a small optimistic glimmer visible in his eyes. But she had to continue.

“Liz told me that when she got home, she stood in front of the mirror, reciting her wedding vows,” she rolled her eyes, but Max had to smile at the thought of Liz becoming his wife. “But the next thing she knew, there was a flash of light and someone that looked like you appeared at the window.”

Max took that in.

“Liz didn’t believe it at first, she thought that he was a shape-shifter or something, but he knew things, Max. Like the fact that the present you was at that moment, standing in the alley behind the Crashdown, about to sing to her in Spanish,”

Max lifted a hand to his face at the memory of that night, “Oh my God, I can’t believe she told you about that!”

“Well, she did and in case you don’t believe that her visitor really was you, I also happen to know that you spent a whole week learning the lyrics from Mr. Delgado.”

Max lowered his hand in amazement. “I never told anyone about that, Maria. I can’t believe that another version of me was there that night and I didn’t even know about it,” he said and then paused, collecting his thoughts. “So what did I…he say to her about the future?” he asked, although he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to know the answer.

“He said that the world was coming to an end because you guys couldn’t defeat the enemies and that the reason you couldn’t, was because Tess wasn’t with you. She’d left Roswell years before.” she explained. “The Royal Four, the four-square had to be complete in order for you to win. Without Tess, it just wasn’t possible.”

Max was beginning to understand. “So, Liz had to make sure that Tess stayed in Roswell. How? I mean, what did she do?”

Maria sighed. “This is where it gets complicated. Tess left because she couldn’t be with you. And she couldn’t be with you because you and Liz got back together.”

She watched as Max’s eyes lit up with what she could only describe as hope and she hated that she was about to shatter that hope. “He told Liz that you and Tess had to be together to save the world and that she had to make that happen,” she continued. Maria closed her eyes briefly before dropping the bombshell. She had to make you fall out of love with her.”

Max was completely silent for a few seconds, before...

“Oh my God, I can’t believe this!” he cried. “That’s what it was all about? When she tried to set me up with Tess? When she told me she didn’t want to die for me?” his eyes were stinging with unshed tears.

Maria nodded. “And Kyle.”

“Kyle?” he asked, his heart skipping a beat. Dare he hope?

“Max, Liz didn’t sleep with Kyle. It was all a set up.”

Max felt something close to relief wash over him. “What?”

“The night of the Gomez concert, she knew you would be coming by to persuade her to go with you and, since none of her previous efforts had worked, making you think she’d slept with someone else was the only thing she could think of to make you hate her.”

Max absorbed her words. “But I could never hate her, Maria.” He just couldn’t believe that he’d been right all along when he wouldn’t accept that Liz really had slept with Kyle.

“Maybe not,” she replied. “But you were angry enough that it worked. Your future self disappeared. He ceased to exist and that future was no more.”

Max took that in. All this time, he had resented Liz for not giving him a chance, for not believing in their love, when in reality she had selflessly given up her future happiness and her future relationship with him to save the world!

He knew he shouldn’t ask, it would only make things harder, but he had to know. “You said Liz and I got back together in the other timeline. What would have happened if Liz hadn’t changed the future?”

Maria paused. “Are you sure you want to know, Max?”

He nodded.

“That night you saw Liz with Kyle, the night of Gomez? That was the night you would have first, you know, done the deed,” she wiggled her eyebrows as she said this. Max took in a sharp breath at this statement. He felt his eyes welling up again, but he forced himself to speak.

“We made love?” he asked. At her nod, he continued, “And after that, we were together?”

Maria nodded.

“Did we…get married?” he wasn’t sure if he dared hope.

“Yeah, you did.”

“How? When?” he was eager now.

“Max, I don’t really know all the details. I think this is something you should discuss with Liz.”

He agreed reluctantly. After all, he was going to have to talk to her about all that Maria had just told him. This was all so overwhelming. On the one hand, he was somewhat angry that Liz had not come to him about this when it happened; maybe then they could have worked something out, something that didn’t involve her trying to make him hate her. But on the other hand, he was so proud of her. For putting him and everyone else first, above her own happiness and for saving their lives. And maybe now that he finally knew the truth they could work at rebuilding the trust between them.

Max suddenly couldn’t wait until Liz got back from Las Cruces and he could talk to her properly.

TBC…

Okay, here's part 12...and thank you again for the feedback .

Part Twelve

Michael had stationed himself outside the Valenti residence at 10 am and had been watching the building since then. He’d already seen Valenti and Kyle driving off about 10.30, discussing how many fish they were going to catch down at the river today. Now he was just waiting for Tess to leave.

He glanced down at his watch for what must have been the twentieth time today. 1:14 pm. Surely Tess would have somewhere to go soon, she couldn’t stay at home all day; it was the weekend, for God’s sake!

It was another half an hour before Michael could finally get on with finding what he came for. Tess finally exited the house and got into her white jeep. She was talking on her cell phone, to Isabel, it seemed. They appeared to be arranging to go shopping at the mall.

Good. That meant he would have enough time to go through her room and he’d heard Kyle talking once about the fishing trips he and his father took together; they’d be lucky if they made it home before dark.

He waited until Tess had gone down the road and round the corner before he made his move. He crept round to the back, where he knew Kyle’s room (well, Tess’ room now) was. He made his way carefully to the bedroom window and used his powers to open it silently.

Once inside the room, he wasted no time in beginning his search for something, anything that might clue him in on Tess’ true intentions.

After a good hour of rummaging through drawers and cupboards, Michael had discovered absolutely nothing and as much as he didn’t want to, he was just about ready to concede that perhaps Max had been right after all.

But something suddenly caught his eye. There on the floor, concealed within a pile of girly magazines that he hadn’t thought were worth going through, was a thin, dark blue, leather-bound book. Bending down to retrieve it, Michael suddenly realised what it was.

A journal.

As he cautiously opened it to the first page, he realised something else.

It didn’t belong to Tess Harding.

***

Liz spent the entire car ride back to Roswell from Las Cruces staring out of the window. But she wasn’t paying any attention to the passing scenery; her mind was too focused on how she was going to continue working with Max without revealing Future Max’s identity to him. She could tell that Max had barely bought her explanation last night and of course he would want, no need to know what she’d been holding back from him, hell, if she’d been in his shoes last night, she would have flat out insisted that her tell her the truth and would not have backed down until she got it.

Liz knew that sooner or later he would come knocking on her door, demanding answers. The problem was, she didn’t know if she would be ready to give them.

It was dark when the Parker’s finally pulled up at the Crashdown. Despite everything, Liz had actually had a good day; it had been fun spending time with her cousins and, as they were leaving her aunt’s house, she realised that she’d barely had time to think about Max, or anything else all day. However, once she’d gotten into her parents’ car and they drove away, it all came flooding back to her.

It was still early when they got home, but the minute they arrived, Liz locked herself away in her room, giving her parents the excuse that she had a ton of homework to finish by the morning, when in actual fact, it had been complete since Friday.

Out on her balcony, Liz lay back on the chaise longue and gazed up at the stars. She usually found that observing the universe relaxed and calmed her and enabled her to think. Tonight however, she just couldn’t seem to focus. On top of worrying how the hell she was going to deal with Max the next time he saw him, there was also this nagging feeling about the files they had discovered the day before. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something was preventing her from believing that this was all a mistake, that Alex hadn’t really known what he was doing when he created that document about her.

She didn’t know how long she had been lying there with her face turned towards the stars, when the sudden noise startled her. She promptly sat up, her hand flying up to cover her heart. She’d gotten so used to the quiet of the balcony that the unexpected sound of something hitting metal almost scared the life out of her. Her heart was beating fast and she had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself.

It sounded like the disturbance had come from the alley below the balcony. She was just about to get up and go check it out when the source of the noise appeared at the top of her ladder.

She let out a sigh of relief. “Max!” she exclaimed. “You scared me to death! What are you doing here?”

He didn’t say anything at first, just stared at her, his gaze unnerving; but then he swiftly clambered over the wall and landed on the solid ground a few feet from her. At the same time, Liz swung her legs off the chair and stood up, intending to greet him.

She didn’t get a chance to say anything however, because barely a second later Max had crossed the small space between them, coming to stand right in front of her. She stood there dumbly, watching as his face moved closer to her. She gasped when he leant down and captured her lips with his.

For a second she was so stunned that she could only stand there, her arms at her side while he tenderly caressed and nipped at her mouth. But then realisation set in.

Max was here and he was kissing her and it was everything she’d dreamed about for the last few months.

Suddenly she couldn’t hold back any longer and, as her arms came up to loop around his neck, holding him to her tightly, she responded to him eagerly. Her head was spinning and the feel of Max’s hand moving in small circles over her lower back as the other moved up to cup her neck, caused tingles to shoot all through her body.

This was heaven and although she and Max weren’t sharing flashes along with their kisses, Liz found herself overwhelmed with the sensations of love and awe radiating from him, which were coming through in his gentle caresses.

God, could it really be true? Was it possible that Max still had feelings for her, still loved her?

When he’d begun climbing the ladder to Liz’s balcony behind the Crashdown just a few minutes ago, Max had certainly not intended to just go to her without a word and attack her like he had just done barely five minutes ago. But, when he’d reached the top of the ladder, the sight of her sat there on the chaise longue, coupled with the memory of what Maria had revealed to him that afternoon simply mesmerised him.

All he could think about was how brave she’d been through all of this. Moreover, how much it must have hurt her to know that they could have been together but, because of something that he’d asked her to do, she’d had to give that possibility up forever; for his safety, for the safety of Michael and Isabel and Tess and the entire world.

And at that moment, his heart had swelled with so much love for her that he could do only one thing: take her in his arms and show her exactly how much he still loved her. For the first few seconds after his lips touched hers, he wondered if he had just made the biggest mistake of his life. Here he was, pouring his heart and soul into this kiss and Liz was just standing there, completely still, barely moving a muscle.

However, when he decided it would be best if he just pulled away and apologised profusely for his actions, he felt Liz begin to respond. His heart soared as her arms wrapped around his neck to pull him close to her and he finally felt her lips move against his, her mouth parting slightly to let him in. He mustered up enough courage then, to bring his hand up to support her neck, his fingers delicately caressing the soft, warm skin of the back of her neck and tangling in her silky hair.

A small moan escaped from her lips into his at the movements of his hands and it was then that he finally realised that this was meant to be, that now he had tasted her one more time, he wouldn’t be able to continue on with his life as he had done these past few months: without her.

With that thought in mind, he reluctantly pulled away from her, detaching his lips from hers. He opened his eyes to gaze down at her, only to find that she was already staring up at him, both surprise and awe evident in her expression.

“Max…?” Liz questioned breathlessly. Her mind was in a state of confusion. What had suddenly possessed him to kiss her out of the blue like that? Not that she minded, of course, but considering the state of their ‘relationship’ of late, his actions were completely unexpected.

“I just…I…” Max could barely form a coherent thought. This what happens when I’m around her! He mentally shook his head to clear it of the haziness that he was now feeling. “Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself,” he admitted shyly. “It’s just…I saw you standing there and everything fell into place; it just felt like the right thing to do and… I’m sorry,” he finished helplessly.

Liz smiled at his babbling. “Why do I get the feeling that there’s something you’re not telling me?”

“You’re right,” he agreed and then gestured to the seat behind them “Why don’t we sit down?”

Liz nodded and took a seat at the head of the chaise, allowing enough room for Max to settle on the end and face her. They sat in silence for a few moments before Max spoke.

“I spoke to Maria today,” he said softly.

It took Liz a minute to read between the lines of his statement, but then the meaning of his words hit her.

“Oh,” she replied, not knowing what else she could say.

From her expression, Max knew that she understood what that meant, but he clarified it anyway. “She told me what really happened; what you had to go through; what you did for me, for all of us,” he emphasised.

He could see her face fall; the implications of the fact that he now knew the truth and that she’d been lying to him all this time.

“Liz,” he said, gently lifting her chin so she could look at him, “I’m not angry with you. Well, okay that’s not entirely true; at first I was little angry that you felt you couldn’t come to me about this, but I’m not now. If anything, I’m proud of you,” he stated, an admiring glint in his eyes.

At her look of wonder and disbelief at his words, he attempted to explain. “Liz, you gave up your hopes and dreams, your future, our future, to save me and Michael and Isabel and even Tess. You put us first, above your own happiness and that just proves to me what a wonderful, incredible person you are. I’m not sure I would have been strong enough to give you up if the situation was reversed.”

Liz gazed at him in wonder, as tears threatened to roll down her cheeks. “Max, I…”

Whatever she’d been about to say was cut off as Max reached up and tenderly brushed away the few stray tears that had now escaped from her eyes. She couldn’t believe that it was all out in the open, that he finally knew the truth. Right at this moment, she was so happy. She just wanted to bask in the warmth she could feel coming from Max and forget about the fact that him knowing the truth still didn’t mean they could be together now.

Fortunately, she didn’t have a chance to dwell on that thought as Max uttered a single sentence that brought her mind straight back to the present.

“So, Maria told me that we got married in that other future…?” it came out as a question, although he already knew it was true.

“Yeah,” she said wistfully. “We eloped.”

Max practically did a double take. “We eloped?”

She nodded, “When we were nineteen,” she confirmed.

“Nineteen…” he echoed. “Wow.”

“We went to Vegas, to the Elvis Chapel,” continued Liz.

“The Elvis…” Max repeated again. “Wait! The other week, when we were there…and I had that strange flash of us…like we were getting married in Vegas…” he left the sentence hanging, but Liz understood and nodded.

“It really happened, Max. At least, it did in his life.”

“Wow…” he said again. “And we were together, we were married…until –”

“The end of the world,” she confirmed.

A brief look of apprehension crossed his face. “Happily, I hope,” he asked cautiously.

“Yes, happily. We were happy, Max”

“God, how did he manage to give that up?” he wondered.

“I don’t think it was easy for him,” said Liz. “But he had to. Isabel had died a few days earlier and he told me that right before he left, he held Michael in his arms. He was dead too,” she confessed. “I think we were the only ones left, Max.”

Max was beginning to understand the severity of the whole situation and why Liz kept it to herself all this time; she couldn’t risk the same thing happening again. But maybe since the two of them hadn’t got back together that night and Tess hadn’t left town, the future had been changed enough that the end of the world would not occur. He would make sure that Tess did not leave Roswell, that the four-square remained intact and that they would be prepared for any possible attacks by their enemies.

He decided there and then, that it was time for a new start. He was not going to let Liz go again; he didn’t think he could handle being without her any longer and this time it would be forever, he would make sure of it.

“Liz, I think I understand a little better now why you kept all of this to yourself for this long and why you had to give me up, but you know what? I can’t do this any longer.” A look of hurt appeared on her face and Max was quick to clarify his statement. “I mean, I can’t go on being just friends with you, Liz. I need more.”

“But, Tess…and the future…we can’t be together, Max. No matter how much we might want it,” she protested.

“Do you really think it still matters, Liz? We didn’t make love that night of the concert; Tess didn’t leave town; we already know about the future threat. I think the future’s been changed enough now that it won’t happen again, don’t you?”

Liz didn’t want to believe it could be that simple. She shook her head, “We don’t know that, Max.”

“No, the end of the world is not going to happen. I won’t let it,” he said determinedly, while grasping her hands in his. “Have faith in me; in us. Please, Liz…” he begged.

The combination of the lost little boy expression on his face and the determination clearly evident in his words melted the last wall around Liz’s heart. Her gaze softened and she found herself nodding.

“Okay,” she whispered, so softly that Max only just caught it. But when he did, a huge grin quickly spread across his face and he pulled her into a hug.

“Thank you,” he whispered into the side of her neck. “I promise you won’t regret this,” he swore as he held her tight.

Liz held him to her in silence for several minutes before she pulled back to look into his eyes.

“So, we’re really gonna do this? We’re back together again?” She just wanted to be sure.

“Yes, we’re back together,” he smiled and nodded. “And now that we’ve got that out of the way, can I kiss you?” he asked.

Liz let slip a small giggle. “I thought you already had!”

“Well, okay I have, but we weren’t actually together then,” he teased.

“Oh, well in that case, go right ahead,” she grinned.

Max closed his eyes as he lowered his head towards her once again; ready to savour the sweet taste of her lips and the faint scent of her fragrant perfume. Their lips were just a hair’s breadth apart, when they were interrupted by the unusually loud sound of his cell phone. He let out a frustrated sigh and opened his eyes, but made now move to answer it.

“Don’t you think maybe you should answer it, Max?” came Liz’s amused voice, seemingly out of nowhere.

With a defeated nod, he reluctantly pulled away from her and reached into his pocket to retrieve the phone.

“Yes?” he spoke into it harshly, quickly regretting his impatient tone when he heard the person on the other end.

“Where are you? I’ve been looking for you all night!” there was urgency in Michael’s voice. “I just got back from Tess’. Maxwell, we’ve got a problem.”

TBC…

Here's part 13.

I'm going to be pretty busy this week, so I'm not sure when I'll get the next part done. Hopefully by the weekend though .

Part Thirteen

Twenty minutes later, Max found himself back at Michael’s place. He felt awful leaving Liz like he had, especially when they’d just worked things out and were starting afresh; but at the same time, if what Michael had found was nearly as important as he’d made it out to be, he knew he had to go.

At first, he’d planned to bring Liz with him. After all, she was the one that started this whole investigation, but when he had mentioned it to Michael he’d been adamant that Max should come alone. That, in itself, was worrying to Max because, if it was best that Liz wasn’t around to hear what Michael had to say, then that most likely implied that he’d discovered something that implicated her in all of this, just as Alex’s file had suggested.

Thus, he’d apologised guiltily to her, promised he’d make it up to her and gave her a brief, but emotion-filled kiss before he left. He hated having to leave her out of this, but until he knew exactly what they were dealing with, maybe it was for the best.

“So, what’s this all about, Michael?” he asked as his friend remerged from his room carrying a book of some kind.

Michael held up the object in his hands. “This, Max.”

“And what is…this exactly?”

“This is what I found in Tess’ bedroom,” replied Michael, almost smugly. “You wanna know what it is? It’s a diary, well a journal, actually.”

Now he had Max’s full attention. “A journal?” he questioned, an awful feeling flooding over him. It couldn’t be Liz’s journal. Could it?

But Michael was already ahead of him. “I know what you’re thinking Maxwell, and no, it’s not Liz’s. But it’s not Tess’ either,” he clarified.

“So that means…”

He nodded grimly, “It’s Alex’s.”

“And…?” Max was getting impatient with Michael’s apparent inability to get to the point.

“I don’t really know how to say this, Max…”

Max frowned, “What is it?” he sounded concerned.

Michael couldn’t look him in the eye. “I think Liz might actually be involved in this after all,” he rushed out.

“What? How?”

“Before Alex…you know…he was experiencing some strange things. He wrote in here,” he held up the journal again. “That he would black out sometimes and when he came to, he would have no idea what happened, or why, but each time he’d have the feeling that Liz had been there with him, like she was the last thing he saw before he woke up again.”

Max shook his head. “No…no, that can’t be true, Michael! Liz didn’t do anything and she doesn’t know anything either. She told me that last night,” he said. At Michael’s sceptical look, he added, “and I believe her.”

His response was a snort. “Of course you believe her, Maxwell, you’re fucking in love with girl!” he cried. Managing to calm himself down a little, he added, “Look, whether Liz had something to do with it or not, we need to find out the truth. Tomorrow, I’m going to see Tess and I’m gonna find out exactly what she knows. Are you in?”

Max sighed in defeat. Of course he would be going with him to confront Tess; he couldn’t not go. He just hoped that his friend wasn’t right about this.

***

Liz played with the food on her plate, her fork just pushing everything from one side to the other. She wasn’t hungry, but had piled the food onto her plate and taken the seat in the quad to keep up the pretence that everything was fine.

But it wasn’t fine, not really.

It was lunchtime and she had not seen nor heard from Max all day. She’d been disappointed when he’d had to leave her last night to talk to Michael; especially after what they’d just shared.

She had wanted to go with him, but she also understood that sometimes things between Michael and Max just did not concern her, so she’d kissed him one more time and sent him on his way.

But then she’d found herself at a loss; all her homework was done, it was too late to invite Maria over again and she wasn’t in the mood to think any more about what had happened over the last two days. So, in the end, she’d spent the remainder of the evening watching TV in the living room with her parents; a perfect family night in. Except there was so much other stuff going on in her life at the moment that she barely noticed the cosy family atmosphere.

She had cheered up a little when, just as she’d gotten into bed the phone rang. It was Max calling to tell her goodnight and that he’d see her in the morning. It had been on the tip of her tongue to enquire about what Michael wanted, but his tone of voice suggested that he wasn’t in the mood to talk about it.

But, she hadn’t seen Max in the morning and now, sitting alone in the quad she wondered, not for the first time today, where the hell he was and why he hadn’t told her he wasn’t going to be able to meet her this morning.

***

He could not believe Michael.

He’d just arrived at school this morning and was on his way to meet Liz at her locker, when he was grabbed by a hand and found himself being pulled roughly round the corner.

“God, Michael! What are you doing?” he cried, more than annoyed with his friend.

“You said you were coming with me to see Tess, so let’s go!”

“What, Now? Michael, it’s Monday morning,” he glanced around quickly, “And in case it escaped your attention, we’re currently at school, we can’t just go running off looking for Tess! Can’t this wait until tonight?” he asked.

“Look, Max, I can’t make it tonight, I have to work,” he hissed. “I’m doing this now, so you have a choice to make. You can either cut class to find out what’s really going on, or you can stay here and go to your lessons like a good little boy. So, what’s it gonna be?”

As much as he hated Michael’s idea, there was no way he was just going to stand by while Michael went off to say God-knows-what to Tess.

“Fine,” he replied and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder properly. “Let’s go.” He spotted Tess across the parking lot and started to move towards her, but Michael stopped him with a hand against his chest.

“No, I’ll get Tess, you go wait in the jeep. I’ll meet you there with her in a couple of minutes,” he told him.

“But – ”

“Hey, we need wheels and you’ve got ‘em. Plus, we might need to make a quick escape so we don’t get noticed,” explained Michael.

Not wishing to argue with him any more, Max just sighed and shook his head, making his way back over to his jeep. He wasn’t going to have a chance to tell Liz where he was; he just hoped she didn’t get too mad at him later.

***

“I told you I don’t know anything; I’m just as confused about all this as you are!” cried Tess.

“Oh, I think you do; but you’re just trying to protect yourself!” shouted Michael. It was a good thing they were out in the desert; otherwise they would have been heard.

Max gazed tiredly at the scene in front of him. Michael and Tess were facing off against each other and had been like that for the last fifteen minutes. Unfortunately, the more Michael pushed for answers from Tess, the more Tess insisted she didn’t know anything and consequently, the more worked up they both became.

As much as Max wanted to find out the truth as soon as possible, this conversation (if you could even call it that) was not getting them anywhere. Maybe they needed a different approach.

“Michael, stop!” he said firmly, which caused Michael to stop glaring at Tess for a moment and glance in his direction. “This isn’t the way to go about it.”

Arms crossed over his chest, Michael retorted, “Well, how else do you propose we do this, Maxwell?”

Max stood from his seat on a nearby rock and, picking up his backpack, strode over to them. Putting a restraining hand on Michael’s shoulder he said quietly, so Tess couldn’t hear him, “Why don’t you let me try this? I’ll talk to her and see if she knows anything.”

He didn’t want to, but Michael found himself agreeing stiffly and when Max nodded his thanks and moved towards Tess he rolled his eyes in annoyance and marched back to the jeep. He watched as Max took the other alien by the arm and led her gently towards the base of the rocks.

When he’d reached a suitable spot, Max let go of her arm and turned to face her.

“Okay, Tess, let’s start from the beginning; why don’t you tell me exactly what’s going on and what you know and we’ll go from there,” he suggested.

“Max, I told you the other night, I don’t know what’s going on or what’s happening to me. I feel like just as much a victim here as anyone else!”

Max just stared at her for a moment, trying to discern whether or not she was really telling the truth, but then he unzipped his backpack and pulled something out, holding it up for Tess to see.

“Well, what can you tell me about this then, Tess? It was in your room.”

Tess’ expression turned to one of shock. “W…What?” she asked shakily. “You went through my stuff?” she asked in disbelief. “No, wait, I know you wouldn’t do that, Max, but I do know someone else that would,” she gritted out, with an angry stare in the direction of the jeep.

“Look, Tess, we’re trying to find out what’s going on here. Now maybe what Michael did wasn’t the best idea, but he needed to know; I need to know. So can you please explain to me what you do know and how Alex’s journal got into your room in the first place?”

Tess stared at the volume in Max’s hand for a few seconds before her bottom lip trembled and she looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

“I don’t know, Max, okay? I don’t know anything anymore!”

She could see that Max was waiting for an explanation, so she forced herself to continue.

“I told you before about these strange things happening to me that I couldn’t explain. Well, they’ve been happening occasionally for months, but these last couple of weeks have been bad. Last week, the morning after Alex died, I woke up feeling really disorientated and when I went to get ready for the day, I found that on the floor by my bed,” she pointed at the journal. “I don’t know how it got there, Max, but I think someone’s trying to set me up.”

Max absorbed this. Tess’ story was not looking good for Michael’s theory. “Did you read it?” he hadn’t been able to take a proper look at it himself yet, since Michael had kept it at his place last night.

She nodded miserably, “Yes,” she whispered, her eyes focusing on the ground.

“What does it say?” asked Max curiously. He was eager to find out if her story matched with what Michael had told him was in the diary.

Her head snapped up, “You don’t know?” she was surprised he hadn’t read it cover to cover by now.

He shook his head, “I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.”

“Max, Alex was experiencing similar things to me; blackouts in the middle of the day, unexplained loss of time and strange blanks instead of memories,” she paused for a second before continuing. “But, Max, there’s something else; whenever he did wake up, his first thought was always that Liz had been there with him.” She watched him to gauge his reaction.

The colour drained from his face; that was what Michael had said too. “Liz…?”

He didn’t want to believe she could have had anything to do with this, but maybe this explained why Alex was investigating her. If weird and unexplainable things were happening to him, and the only thing that came to mind after them was Liz, then why wouldn’t he suspect that she had something to do with it?

He let out a shaky breath and lowered the journal to his side. “Tess, I…I’m sorry, okay? I know you’re confused, we all are; and we’re just trying to get to the bottom of this,” he apologised. “I think I need to go find Liz and talk to her about this.”

His mind was a complete muddle again. He had believed Liz when she’d told him that she had no idea why Alex had a file on her. They’d just gotten back together and he was finally happy again and now he didn’t know what to think

Could she really have been lying to him this whole time?

TBC…

Wow, part 13 seems to have caused some confusion! But don't worry, it's supposed to be confusing right now, but it should all become clear in the end !

And thank you all for your feedback .

extingman wrote:So Max is just going to back off again? After everything?

He is not necessarily backing off, he's still suspicious of Tess, but he felt he should apologise to her for accusing her without all the facts.

extingman wrote:Ok and Tess although seemed believable, something is way off there. You just don't hide a journal in your room that points to Liz being responsible for whats going on with herself and Alex and not want to show Max and the others.

To be honest, I didn't really think about why Tess didn't show the journal to anyone else when I wrote the part, but I've tried to explain a little of what she was thinking in this next part.


Here's part 14 - a little earlier than I thought I'd be able to get it finished .

Hope you enjoy...

Part Fourteen

It was 3 pm when Max finally drove Tess and Michael back home and then made his way over to the Crashdown to see Liz. Before they left the desert, he’d asked Tess why she had not come to him and told him about the journal sooner, why she didn’t mention her blackouts and memory loss before all of this happened. All she could come up with was that she didn’t think that anyone would believe her, that they would just suspect her of making things up. Although Max had reassured her that that wouldn’t have been the case, he half-wondered whether or not he would have actually believed her if she had said something.

If he was honest, right now, all he could think about was finding out what exactly was going on with Liz and he was trying to convince himself that he was wrong and Liz really had nothing to do with what happened to Alex.

When he reached the Crashdown, Max parked the jeep just outside. Instead of climbing up to the balcony, he entered the building through the main doors of the restaurant. Just as he had suspected, Liz was in the process of rushing around the café dressed in the turquoise alien-themed uniform, which, as much as it embarrassed him to admit it, he’d always found a complete turn on. Even now, when he was confused and potentially angry with her for lying to him, he still found himself practically drooling at the sight of her. He mentally slapped himself for thinking that way at a time like this before he made his way over to her.

Liz’s face lit up the second she saw Max walking towards her and when he reached her side, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. He wasn’t exactly prepared for her reaction to his presence, but the moment he felt her soft, warm lips graze his, he was lost. He had gone so long, too long without holding or touching her, that his heart took over and he was powerless to prevent it.

When he finally came to his senses, he pulled away from her slightly. “Liz, we’re in the middle of the Crashdown, everyone is looking at us!”

“I don’t care,” she said, pulling his head down towards her again. He allowed himself to get tangled her embrace once again, until this time she was the one to break the kiss.

“Not that I’m not happy to see you, Max, but where were you today? I thought we agreed to meet this morning and then you never showed up. What happened?”

Max glanced around at the almost full café and the many customers looking their way. “Sorry about that, I didn’t mean to stand you up, but something came up, something I couldn’t really get out of and I wasn’t able to let you know about it. Look, can we talk somewhere else? Somewhere a little more private?”

Liz glanced round apologetically, “Sorry, Max, we’re really swamped here and I can’t take a break right now. But I finish at six; can we talk then? Please?”

Max smiled and nodded in understanding, but inside his stomach was in knots; he wasn’t sure if he would be able to wait that long to have this conversation with her.

“Sure, no problem. I should probably go find out what I missed in class today,” he said sheepishly. “I’ll see you at six, okay?”

He turned to leave, but was stopped by her hand on his arm. She spun him back round and planted one last kiss on his lips. It had been so long since she’d been able to kiss him that she was having trouble stopping now.

It was so great to have him back in her life again.

***

The four walls of this bedroom were becoming achingly familiar. Part wood, part wallpaper, these walls had become a sanctuary as of late. A lot of time had been spent in this room recently, as the need to be alone and away from prying eyes increased. The puzzling feelings of possible resurfacing memories were taking over and it had been getting more and more difficult to consider that anyone they confided in would actually believe their story and take their side in all of this.

Now the truth was out, at least as much of it as anyone knew right now and the feeling of relief was immense. Maybe the story hadn’t been taken completely seriously, but at least it was out in the open now.

In the corner of the room, the tap at the sink was turned on and the feeling of cold water hitting the sensitive skin on their face was refreshing. A towel was grabbed from the hook on the wall next to the sink and used to pat the now damp skin dry. The towel was released from shaking fingers and dropped to the floor as eyes locked in the mirror.

The face staring back at her looked tired and drawn and the more she stared at her reflection, the more unfamiliar the face staring back seemed to become.

Something had been happening to her and the more she thought about it, the less sense it all made.

Right at this moment, Tess Harding hated what her life had become.

***

Six o’clock couldn’t roll around fast enough for Max. Despite what he’d told Liz, he hadn’t managed to catch up on the work he’d missed in school today. He’d gone straight home and had once again poured over the printouts from Alex’s laptop and the entries in his journal. He had to admit that this whole investigation that Alex had been undertaking made a lot more sense now that he had the journal as well.

It appeared that Alex had started writing in the diary a couple of months ago, soon after he experienced the first blackouts. He’d used the book to recount what had happened on these occasions and each entry suggested the same thing: that somehow he’d had a feeling that Liz had been there with him during the time he couldn’t account for. Whether or not this feeling was a memory, or just his mind playing tricks on him was another matter, one that he’d been trying to get to the bottom of before he died.

Max was torn. On the one hand, in his heart he believed that Liz was innocent in all of this. Alex was one of her best friends, why would she want to harm him? However, the words written in Alex’s journal and his files suggested another story entirely; and Max had no idea what to believe.

At twenty to six, he couldn’t stand the wait any longer and he left the house, with Alex’s journal safely tucked inside his backpack and walked back to the Crashdown. It was still early when he got there and Liz had not yet finished her shift, so he took the liberty of waiting for her on the balcony outside her bedroom.

Liz was rather surprised when she arrived in her bedroom not ten minutes later, to find him sitting rather comfortably on the chaise longue just outside her window. But he had his back to the window and hadn’t yet noticed that she was in the room, so she took the opportunity to grab a change of clothes and duck into the bathroom.

She emerged barely two minutes later to find him sitting in the exact same place, facing away from her, so this time she unlatched the window and pushed it up.

“Are you going to just sit out there all day?” she called playfully, sniggering when he jumped before turning to face her. “Come on in, Max.”

“Thanks,” he replied, picking up his bag. He climbed through the window and came to a stop just inside Liz’s room.

Liz moved to him and slid the backpack off his shoulder letting it fall to the ground beside them. She rested her hands flat against his chest and standing on tiptoes, she leaned up to kiss him, relishing in the fact that she could now do this whenever she wanted. Max responded to her instantly, but forced himself to stop barely a minute later.

“Liz, I really have to talk to you about something,” he managed to get out.

Abandoning his mouth, she chose to nuzzle his neck instead. “Can’t it wait? Just a few more minutes…”

He moved his hands up to her shoulders and gently pried her away from him. Looking into her eyes, he slowly shook his head, “I’m sorry, but it really can’t. It’s important.”

Liz stilled, mid-smile. “This is about what Michael found, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

“So…?” she stepped away from him so she could look at him properly.

He took a deep breath. “Michael thought that Tess had something to do with what we’re investigating, so he snuck into her house yesterday and went through her stuff,” he paused.

“And?” questioned Liz.

“And he found something. It was a journal, Alex’s journal, hidden in her room. So I skipped school today and went out to the desert with Michael to question her about it.”

“So it was Tess? She did this?” Liz was angry now.

Max paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. “Okay, here’s the thing,” he started. “Alex and Tess had each been suffering from strange blackouts and missing periods of time that couldn’t be explained. The morning after Alex died, Tess told me that she woke up and found the journal in her room. Liz, she thinks someone was trying to set her up, you know, frame her for killing Alex; making it look like she had something to do with it.”

“What? Who?”

“This is where it gets strange and kind of confusing. Liz, both Alex and Tess were under the impression that you were with them after they passed out,” he stopped to let that sink in and waited for the reaction.

“Oh my God! Me? How could they think I had anything to do with this? Alex was my best friend!” she was shocked. “Oh God, the files! Alex thought I was doing something awful to him? Like I was trying to manipulate him or something? I didn’t do anything, Max!”

“I don’t know what to think anymore, Liz," he said tiredly. "Part of me, a big part doesn’t want to believe it either. I trust you, Liz; I know you. But Alex and Tess claimed that whenever they came to, they always had a vague memory of you being there with them just before they woke up.”

“Max, you have to believe me on this, I don’t know anything about how Alex died. I have no idea what they were talking about!” she exclaimed.

“Liz, I – ”

She cut him off stalking towards him. “You don’t believe me, Max? Then connect with me; share flashes with me. I’ll show you that I don’t know anything.” She was just inches away from him now. Her hands grabbed his and brought them up to her face so that he was cradling her head in his hands. “Connect with me, Max. Please?” she said again, softly this time.

Unable to do much else, he nodded weakly and locked eyes with her. Within a couple of seconds, he felt himself being pulled into her memories.

What he saw there made him gasp.

TBC…

Thank you to everyone who has left feedback for the last part. I really enjoy reading all your opinions .

Here's part 15...

A/N: I've borrowed a couple of lines and ideas from End of the World in this part.

Part Fifteen

Nothing.

That’s what he saw in her memories.

There was absolutely nothing in Liz’s mind or her soul to indicate that she had done anything to either Alex or Tess or that she had any knowledge whatsoever of what they had experienced over the past few weeks and months. She was as much in the dark as he was.

So, what was going on? Why did Alex and Tess think that Liz was somehow responsible for this mess? Had someone been manipulating them in order to lay the blame on Liz, or even worse, was it possible that Liz’s memories had also been manipulated?

Frantically, Max searched through their connection for any anomalies or discrepancies in her mind which could indicate that something wasn’t right, that she’d been mindwarped or something. However, he could find none. Liz truly had nothing to do with this.

But what did that mean for their investigation?

Max prepared himself to release her head from his hands and break the connection, but before he could do so, an image flashed into his mind.

A man with long dark hair and black leather clothing; a man that looked a lot like…

Oh my God.

This was his future self. He was seeing Liz’s memories of the night he came to her from the future.

Max couldn’t describe the feelings that rushed through him as the images played out in his mind. He could feel everything that Liz had been feeling those few days back in October.

He felt her elation and happiness at the prospect of spending the rest of her life with him. He felt her shock at the realisation of who exactly had suddenly appeared in her room and then her confusion and need to understand exactly how he had got there.

But what stood out most to him within the jumble of emotions, was the complete and utter despair Liz experienced the moment she truly understood what the future version of him was telling her and what she inevitably had to do in order to prevent the same events playing out again.

He experienced the jealousy she felt when she had to watch him and Tess together, her hope as Future Max described their wedding day followed by her sadness that she would never experience that day for herself. He sensed the conflict between her head and her heart as she forced herself to tell him that she didn’t want to die for him and he felt her heart break when she realised that he had seen her with Kyle.

He saw the two of them, Liz and his future self, talking afterwards. Him telling her that watching her do what she did was the hardest thing he’d ever done and her disbelief when he suggested that maybe she try a relationship with a human.

The last image to flit across his mind was of he and Liz re-enacting their wedding dance. An old Sheryl Crow song, along with an echo of Liz’s earlier words accompanied the vision,

“Don’t you realise what you are to me, what you’re always gonna be? You’re the love of my life. Everyone else is gonna be second best. There’ll never be another you.”

Max felt the tears slipping down his face, as the connection between them was broken. He gazed down at Liz, finding her eyes brimming with tears too; obviously, she had shared the flashes with him. As he looked at her, his heart swelled with love and he moved his left hand slightly, allowing his fingers to trail tenderly through her hair. His right hand slid down to cup her cheek and he whispered her name as his lips descended to hers.

Both Max and Liz allowed themselves to get lost in the kiss, everything else forgotten except the flashes they’d just experienced and the knowledge that Liz was innocent in all of this.

Max was the one to pull back. He locked eyes with Liz as he spoke.

“Liz…” he used his fingers to tuck her hair behind her ears and gazed down at her lovingly. “I love you,” he whispered.

Liz gasped a quick intake of breath. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard him utter those words, but this time it meant so much to her. They had been apart for months, both unsure of the other’s feelings and she’d feared that once Max knew the truth he would change his mind about loving her. Nevertheless, here it was, plain as day and she knew in her heart that his words were the absolute truth.

“I love you too,” she returned and when he heard her confession, Max pulled her to him tightly, this time his arms wrapping around her waist as they kissed again. Before he realised what he was doing, Max had managed to manoeuvre Liz towards the bed in the middle of her room. It was only when the back of her legs hit the edge that they broke apart breathlessly and stared at each other in question.

Well in actual fact, it was Liz giving the questioning stare; Max found himself too preoccupied with the ravished appearance of her face, which in his opinion, made her look extremely sexy. His gaze travelled from the dark pools of her eyes, down over her lips and came to land on the creamy exposed skin of her neck. It looked so alluring and inviting that he couldn’t help himself and he leaned down to nuzzle the soft skin there.

Max placed gentle kisses on the side of her neck, making Liz shiver in delight. She knew she ought to make him stop and she knew that they desperately needed to calm down and get their hormones under control, but as Max’s tongue shot out to taste her, she was transported back to the time last year when they first experienced the flashes.

As memories of bowls of strawberries, make-out sessions in the Eraser Room and a half-naked Max in Michael’s apartment washed over her, Liz found herself responding to him eagerly. Her hands slid up his chest and crept under his jacket to ease it from his broad shoulders. As the garment fell to the floor, her hands skimmed down the length of his back. When she reached the hem of his T-shirt, she let her hands slip underneath it, her fingers gently caressing his warm, bare skin.

“Liz…” whispered Max feverishly as he began kissing his way back up to her mouth. He stopped, his lips barely a millimetre away from hers, “Is this too fast? Maybe we should stop…”

Her response was to glide her hands further up under his shirt, tightening her grip on his back.

“You know what?” she whispered back. “Maybe it is, but right now, I don’t care. Kiss me, Max.”
Mouths fused together once again and passion escalated quickly. Liz felt Max’s tongue run along her bottom lip and she willingly opened to him, his tongue sliding inside to tangle with hers.

Liz found herself being pulled flush up against him, her chest pressed to his, their thighs touching. She let out a sigh at the feel of him so close to her and her knees weakened, causing her to fall back onto the bed, pulling Max down with her.

Not releasing their grip on each other, Max and Liz moved to lie more fully on the bed. Max waved his hand and the sounds of Sheryl Crow’s I Shall Believe filled the room. Liz gasped and broke the kiss to gaze up at him, an awed smile on her face.

“Max…?”

He grinned and whispered, “Just wanted to create an atmosphere.”

His grin was infectious and Liz found herself mirroring his expression. Then a thought occurred to her and the smile vanished from her face, “Max, are we really gonna do this? You know, this?” she indicated to their current position on her bed, him lying on top of her, their legs tangled together.

Max considered her for a moment, “Well, what do you want to do? I mean, we don’t have to – ”

She cut him off with a finger to his lips, “No! I mean, I want to, Max. I just thought maybe we’re going too fast. We’ve only been back together a day.”

“Maybe we are, but right this moment, there is nothing I want to do more than make love to you, Liz,” he replied softly, his words heartfelt.

The smile returned to her face and she pulled his head towards her again, “Me too,” she replied just before sealing their lips together. A second later, she pulled back again. “Wait, Max! You do, you know, have protection, don’t you? Cos I don’t have anything…”

“Liz, I heard what he…I said to you that night, so I know you know the answer to that one,” he said, taking her hand and guiding it to the back pocket of his jeans. “It’s still there.”

Max shivered as Liz slid her hand into his pocket and retrieved the small square packet. He watched as she reached over to place it on the table next to the bed and then hooked her arms around his neck.

“Make love to me, Max”

***

Michael and Maria were curled up on the couch in his living room. The TV was on, but neither one was really paying attention to it. Maria had hunted Michael down at the Crashdown after school, demanding to know where he’d been all day and why he hadn’t called her. He told her that it was complicated and had managed to placate her by telling her that if she came round to his after his shift, he would explain everything to her.

Therefore, at 8.30 pm, he sat her down on the couch and explained exactly what had happened with finding Alex’s journal and confronting Tess about it. As we was telling her this, Maria realised that with all the excitement she still had not been told what it was that Liz and Max had found at Alex’s, so she quizzed him about that too.

When he finished, she let out a gasp. “No, Michael, that can’t be true. Liz would never do anything to hurt Max! She gave up her own happiness to save his life, to save all of our lives. There’s no way that she could have done something to Alex. She loved him.”

Michael ran a hand through his unruly hair, “Look, Maria, I don’t have all the answers here. No one does right now. I’m just telling you what I know, what Tess said and what Alex wrote in that journal,” he stopped. “Wait a minute. What do you mean, Liz gave up her happiness to save our lives?”

Oops.

Maria closed her eyes in dismay and covered her mouth with her hand, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Just forget it.”

He frowned. “No, Maria. Do tell,” he demanded.

She sighed and began the story of Future Max’s visit. So much for promising never to tell anyone about this, she thought.

Thirty minutes later, they were still sitting in the same positions on the couch. Michael seemed to be unable to say anything other than, “Wow.”

“So you see,” Maria finished, “There is no way Liz could have betrayed Max, or any of us. Not after what she did for us.”

Michael let out a tired sigh. “I don’t understand, Maria. How it is that both Alex and Tess thought she had something to do with their blackouts?”

“I don’t know, Michael. That’s what we need to find out,” she said, turning to him and curling up at his side.

They sat in contemplative silence, the TV on quietly in the background, until a frantic knocking at the door interrupted the quiet. Michael shot Maria a puzzled glance before getting up and going to answer the door.

It was Isabel, a worried look on her face. “Are you guys alright?” she asked anxiously.

Michael looked over to Maria and then turned back to Isabel. “Yeah, we’re fine. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, Michael, but something’s not right. I just got this awful feeling, like something’s about to happen. Something alien.”

***

Max and Liz were sleeping peacefully together in Liz’s bed. Just a sheet covered their lower bodies, where their legs where intimately tangled together, leaving their torsos bare. Her head was resting on his shoulder, her arm splayed across his chest and Max’s arm was around her, holding her to his side.

Suddenly, something ran through Liz’s body, making it jerk. Her eyes flew open and she let out a gasp. As quickly as it has happened, the feeling disappeared and she relaxed against Max once again, her eyes drifting closed.

Barely five minutes later, Liz’s eyes opened again slowly, fluttering slightly as they focused on her surroundings. She looked up at Max’s sleeping face and traced his cheek with her fingers.

“Soon, my love,” she whispered.

She let her hand drop from his face and turned to her side, facing away from him.

A grin spread across her face and a strange glint appeared in her purple-tinted eyes.

TBC…

A/N #2: I apologise if this part caused even more confusion than before, but don't worry, everything will be explained in the end .

Okay, here's part 16...

Thank you for the feedback, everyone !

Part Sixteen

Max opened his eyes sleepily, the sun shining through the thin curtains having woken him. He wondered for a moment where he was, but as he glanced down at the warm body sleeping next to him, the previous night’s events came flooding back.

A contented grin spread across his face as he remembered the wonderful and new experience they’d shared with each other just a few hours ago. Unconsciously, his arm squeezed tighter around Liz and he nuzzled the top of her head, taking in the fragrant scent of her hair. However, as he did so, she shifted in her sleep and turned onto her side, away from him, leaving him staring at her smooth, naked back. Max frowned slightly at this, but rather than just accepting it and sleep alone, he took the opportunity to curl up behind her and slip his arm around her waist, pulling her close to him.

He lay comfortably behind her for several minutes and was on the verge of falling back to sleep again, when an unexpected movement caused his eyes to snap open in surprise.

Liz was shifting… no; make that grinding…against him. A gasp of pleasure escaped his lips at the effect of her movements on his body. The thought that Liz’s actions seemed a little strange, considering how shy she had been with him last night, crossed his mind briefly, but it was dismissed quickly as her hand reached round to grab his leg and slip it between her thighs. His hand slid up over the soft skin of her stomach until it encountered her small, pert breasts. He heard her moan as his finger circled her left nipple and then again, as he took her breast in his palm and massaged it gently.

He manoeuvred his right arm underneath her so that it was between her body and the mattress and he moved his hand down to the juncture of her thighs. His fingers slipped through her curls to find her clit and as he rubbed it lightly, she let out a gasp. Max placed soft kisses on the side of her neck and with his left hand, he reached down to lift her leg slightly, preparing to enter her; but before he realised what was happening, he’d been flipped onto his back, a naked Liz straddling his stomach.

“What –?” he tried to question.

“Shh,” she whispered, her dark eyes sparkling. The look in them was…well, he didn’t really know how to describe it; it was a look he had never seen her give him before. However, he didn’t have time to dwell on it, as Liz’s lips were suddenly on his own, her tongue probing his mouth.

He responded eagerly and moaned into her mouth as she moved her body down slightly and he felt her bottom pressing against his erection. Not breaking the kiss, he placed his hands on her hips, lifting her up, ready for more.

At that moment, with Liz poised gracefully over him, his erection brushing her folds, the last thing on his mind was protection or even the impracticability of the situation, with Liz’s parents in the same apartment, just down the hall. The only thing his mind could process was the fact that he was finally with Liz and on the verge of making love to her for the second time in twelve hours.

He closed his eyes when he felt her hands slid gently up over his chest and come to rest on his chest, supporting her weight as she began to lower herself onto him.

“Liz…” he hissed as he felt her hot, wet passage envelop him. There was no better feeling in the world than being one with Liz Parker. “I love you,” he whispered.

Suddenly he found himself being pushed roughly into the mattress as Liz rose up off him and scrambled off the bed. Max opened his eyes in bewilderment, to see her quickly grab her robe from the desk chair and wrap it tightly around herself. Looking down at his naked body, he grabbed the sheet at the end of the bed and pulled it around his waist to cover up.

“Liz, what’s wrong,” he asked, concerned. She was standing with her back to him, her arms wrapped around herself tightly. “Are you okay? What just happened here?”

He heard her let out a soft snort and saw her shake her head. “After everything,” she said in a deceptively soft tone. “After everything I’ve done for you, this is how you repay me?”

“What? Liz, I don’t understand. What are you talking about?” Max was getting worried, what was he supposed to have done. She couldn’t be talking about what happened just now, could she? After all, she was the one who had taken control of the situation.

“Don’t call me that!” she spun round swiftly and Max gasped, this time in horror.

Her eyes were purple.

***

Isabel shifted uncomfortably on Michael’s couch. She had been unable to sleep, the uneasy feeling in her chest preventing her from doing so. She had been sitting at home last night, curled up of the sofa, watching TV and trying to keep her mind off Alex, when suddenly she felt a lurch in her chest.

Something was wrong.

Her first thought had been to go to Max, but then she remembered that he had gone out earlier and would not be back until late. Therefore, she had sought out Michael and he had been kind enough to let her crash on his couch for the night.

When she’d first arrived at his apartment, she’d felt both guilty for interrupting his evening with Maria and embarrassed that she was making such a big deal about just one strange feeling.

But quite unexpectedly, Michael had taken her words seriously and demanded that she tell him exactly what she’d felt. Surprised by his behaviour, she’d pleaded with him to tell her what was going on and eventually the whole story about Alex and Tess and Liz had come out. With Maria’s help, Michael had carefully explained what Liz and Max had been investigating, what they’d already found out and why they hadn’t told her about it.

She’d really had no other choice but to simply accept what they were telling her and be grateful that she now knew everything.

When Michael got to the part in his story where he’d been spying on the Valenti household and had then broken into Tess’ room, he remembered that Tess had been going to meet Isabel for a shopping trip and immediately pounced on the idea that Tess had done something to Isabel the day before. Nevertheless, Isabel argued that nothing at all out of the ordinary had occurred during their time at the Mall and that she just instinctively knew that this new feeling had nothing to do with Tess. It was something else, something she’d never felt before and it scared her.

Maybe this was a sign that a new evil was in their midst, and that they now had to find some way to fight it.

She sighed; she just hoped that she had been able to talk to Max about this.

***

“Liz?” Max questioned softly, fearfully.

“My name is not Liz,” she ground out angrily. She gave a harsh chuckle, “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet, Zan.”

“Zan…?” his eyes narrowed suddenly, “Who are you?” he demanded, gripping the sheet around him tightly and rising from the bed, stalking towards her. “What have you done to Liz?”

Her lips formed a mocking smirk, her eyes challenging, menacing. “I haven’t done anything to Liz,” she spat. “She is me; I am her.”

A disbelieving expression settled over Max’s face. “And again I say, who exactly are you?” he was now towering over her, a dangerous glint in his eye.

“You don’t recognise me, Zan? You really don’t remember me, from before?” her eyes narrowed.

A confused, but still angry frown appeared on his face, “I don’t remember anything, other than my life here in Roswell. So, stop playing games with me and tell me who the hell you are. Now.”

She let out an incredulous snort. “You say you don’t remember, but you will, my love. Maybe this will ring a bell. I am Ariana,” she stated confidently.

Max shook his head slightly. “Ariana? I don’t…” his voice trailed off as he became caught in her stare, his eyes drawn to hers. He felt something pass through him, something wild and uncontrollable. Something alien.

However, he made himself fight the overpowering sensations she was somehow creating in him. He shook his head and forcefully tore his gaze from hers. “No. This…what is this? Who are you to me?” he grabbed her arm, holding her in place. The face of Liz, the woman he loved, stared up at him and he almost felt guilty for hurting her, but quickly he pushed the feeling aside. This obviously wasn’t Liz and he had to find a way to get her back.

She smirked, “This is what we’ve been waiting for all these years, Zan, and we can finally together again. You’re my soul mate.”

Max took in a calming breath, “So, you’re telling me that you believe that you were my soul mate back on Antar and are now possessing my girlfriend to try to win me back?” he questioned sceptically. “But, I already had a wife on Antar, Tess…Ava…She was my queen.”

Ariana snorted, “She may have been your wife, but she was not your lover. I was,” she declared “You hated Ava, your marriage was one of convenience, a political arrangement. You were in love with me. But we couldn’t be together, so I did what I had to do; I killed her. For you, Zan. So that we could finally admit our feelings for each other,” she told him, staring defiantly into his shocked eyes. “But I am not possessing anyone,” she looked down at her free hand, turning it over, admiring it. “This is my body as much as it is Liz Parker’s. It’s always been mine, it’s just that I’ve never been in possession of it until now.”

As she spoke, Max’s grip on her lessened gradually until her arm slipped free and returned to her side. Max was now staring at her in confusion, his mouth opening and closing aimlessly. He could not believe what he was hearing.

“You’ve…you…you’re part of Liz? You’ve been in there this whole time?” he repeated. “Then why have I never felt your presence? And why have you only appeared now?”

She rolled her eyes in annoyance; did he really not know anything? “Back on Antar, I swore to you that I would do anything to be with you, that I would wait a lifetime for you, Zan. And that is exactly what I’ve done.”

“Wait, you said you killed Ava. I thought we all died at Kivar’s hands.”

“The rest of you did. You. Rath. Even Vilandra. However, Ava was not with you at that time, she was already gone. We were finally together, at least in private, when Kivar’s men stuck, bringing the three of you down. When I heard of your mother’s intention to clone you and send you here, I devised an plan of my own that would reunite us here on Earth,” she told him, a hint of pride in her tone.

“I had to find a suitable host for my essence, someone that would be of similar age to you when you awoke and left the pods so that, through her, we could finally be together again,” Max took in a sharp breath, but she continued, regardless. “What I hadn’t counted on was Ava being sent here with you and Liz pushing you towards her, or the fact that once my spirit was transferred into this body, I would be trapped inside it; undetected, unable to take control of it, to speak up. I’ve just been sitting here for the past seventeen years, waiting to be released.”

Realisation flashed across Max’s features, “And what happened between us last night? Liz and I making love was what triggered your release?” she nodded triumphantly.

“Yes.”

“So what do I do now? How do I get her back?” he asked desperately.

“You don’t.”

TBC…

Okay, part 17 is finished ! It's a little shorter than usual, but I felt it was a good place to stop.

Once again, thank you for your comments on this story

Hope you enjoy...


Part Seventeen

“W…What?” Ariana’s words rang in Max’s ears, as fear overtook his body.

“You don’t get Liz back, at least not as she was before,” she said. At the confusion evident in Max’s features, she was forced to explain. “This is still Liz’s body, and she is still in here,” she tapped the side of her head. “But, now I’m in here too. Like I said before Zan, we are the same. I am part of her and she is part of me; and now we share the same body.” She let that sink in. “Right this minute, I’m the one in control, but I don’t know how long I can keep her at bay in here,” she said as she tapped the side of her head.

“I…” Max closed his eyes as he struggled to speak. He felt dizzy, faint; his perfect world (as least where his relationship with Liz was concerned) had just come crashing down around him and he had no idea what to do or how to react to this sudden development. “What do you want from me? What do you –” he fought to stay awake and lucid, but unconsciousness was beginning to take over.

“I want you, Zan; and I will do whatever I have to, for us to be together with no one else around to get in our way,” were the last words he heard before his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the floor.

***

“Max!”

He woke to find someone leaning over him, shaking his shoulder gently. Dark hair fell across his face and as he breathed in the scent of her shampoo, the memories of what happened before he passed out returned to the forefront of his mind. Oh God! Bile rose up in his throat and he fought the urge to throw up.

“Liz?” he whispered hopefully, looking up into her eyes. With a sigh of relief, he realised that they had returned to their usual deep brown.

“It’s me, Max. What happened? I woke up and found you lying here. You were passed out on the floor, the sheet wrapped around you like this,” she said. “And why did I have my robe on in bed? I seem to recall that I wasn’t wearing much of anything when we fell asleep last night,” she teased, a grin lighting up the whole face, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

“Ughh,” he groaned as he tried to sit up. His head was spinning, the words of this so-called ‘Ariana’ playing back repeatedly in his mind. Had it actually happened? Did Liz really have the spirit of his past lover trapped inside her body?

Grasping the sheet around his waist with one hand, Max used the other hand to hoist himself upright, holding onto Liz for support when he was finally standing. She led him back to the bed and then sat down next to him on the edge.

She stroked his cheek and leaned in to give him a tender kiss on the lips. Max allowed himself to get lost in the feel of her for a moment before reality invaded his senses and he broke their embrace.

“Max, what’s wrong?”

“Liz,” he turned to look at her, taking her hand in his. “What do you remember? From last night, I mean. And this morning?”

Her brow furrowed, “I’m really not sure what you’re trying to say, Max,” she was confused. However, then she smiled, “Last night was…the best night of my life. I remember falling asleep, curled up at your side, your arms around me…” she trailed off as she got lost in the memory. “But, when I woke up this morning, you were lying on the floor and I was wearing this,” she gestured to her bathrobe in confusion.

She caught Max’s eyes, seeing the fearful look in them. “Max, did something happen while I was asleep?” she asked cautiously.

A strangled sound erupted from his throat and he looked down at their joined hands. How was he supposed to tell Liz what had just happened to him? To her? It would destroy her.

“Max, tell me. Please. What’s going on?”

Swallowing forcefully, Max finally found his voice, “That’s exactly what I’d like to know,” he mumbled wearily. A glance back up to her face let him know that he had to do better than that. It was now or never. “Liz, something did happen this morning. But, it happened to you, not me.”

She shook her head, “What? No. No, that can’t be right. Nothing happened to me. I’ve only just woken up!”

He sucked in a deep breath, tracing the back of her hand with his thumb. “Please, just hear me out on this,” he practically begged. At her confused and reluctant nod, he continued, “Earlier, when I woke up, you woke up too. We were…we were um, fooling around,” he looked embarrassed as he said it. “And I told you I loved you,” he paused when Liz blushed slightly, “But, suddenly you scrambled off the bed and pulled on your robe. You told me your name wasn’t Liz; it was Ariana. You claimed that you were my…mistress, I suppose…back on Antar.” Liz’s jaw went slack at this, but he sent her a pleading look and she let him continue, despite the absurdity of his words. “You – she – claimed that she was responsible for Ava’s death and that when I was killed in that life, she devised a plan to allow us to be together here on Earth. Her essence was implanted in you; she claims to be a part of you. That she always has been.”

Liz’s eyes were round in disbelief, “Max, would you listen to yourself? Do you hear what you’re saying? That is the craziest thing I have ever heard!” she stood up from the bed, ripping her hand free from his grasp and began pacing the room.

“Liz,” he stood too and reach out to grab her, mid-stride. “Liz, you have to listen to me. I’m not making this up.” However, she wouldn’t look at him. “Liz!” he cried, forcefully and her eyes finally flew to his. “It’s true. When you were talking to me, telling me all of those things…Liz, your eyes…they were purple.”

But, she still refused to believe what he was telling her, “Max, if this…person…were really inside me, in my head, surely I would have known about it. And surely, you would have seen it when we connected last night. But you didn’t. You didn’t see anything. How do you explain that?”

He relaxed slightly, loosening his grip on her; she was just as confused as he was. “That was exactly my reaction too, Liz. But, as much as I don’t what to believe it, I think it might be true. And the reason we didn’t know about it…her,” he corrected. “Was because she’s been trapped inside you all these years, waiting to be released, waiting for something to happen that would give her access to your body. And that something was…” he trailed off, not wanting to voice the words. But, realisation dawned and Liz beat him to it.

“Us. We did this. Last night, when we made love; that was what caused her release!”

Max could do nothing but nod miserably.

“Max, show me,” she said suddenly.

“What?”

“Show me what happened this morning, you know, through our connection.”

He was hesitant, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” her answer was accompanied by a firm nod.

“Okay,” he let out a resigned sigh and cupped her face with his hands. Leaning down, he closed the distance between them and their lips met, the connection immediately springing to life.

But, barely a minute later, they sprung apart, Liz jumping back from him in shock.

“Oh my God, Max. This is real, isn’t it?” she cried in despair. “There really is something alien inside of me, trying to take control of my body and there’s nothing I can do about it!” she gazed at him tearfully. “How am I going deal with this? How do I stop this thing from taking over my body again? How will you be able to look at me…love me…anymore, knowing that this crazy person is living inside of me? Oh God, what am I going to do, Max? I’m not me anymore.”

Max’s expression softened and he drew her into his arms. “Liz, you are you, you always will be.” He reached up to stroke her cheek tenderly. “We’ll get through this, okay? I’m not going to let anything happen to you, I love you and nothing in this world or the next is ever going to stop me from loving you. I’m not letting you go, not again. Just remember that, okay? No matter what happens in the future, I’ll never let you go.”

He felt her nod against his chest, he couldn’t even imagine how she must be feeling right now, but he was going to do everything in his power to help her, to keep her safe.

There were still so many questions they didn’t have the answers to yet. The most puzzling one of all being, that if this Ariana had really been inside Liz all this time and their lovemaking had triggered her release, then why had their future-selves not experienced the same thing the night of the Gomez concert? How had they able to experience twelve years of married bliss, with no sign of Ariana? Or had they? Maybe there was a way for them to control this and they just had to figure out how.

Feeling slightly reassured; Max held Liz close, one hand stroking her hair tenderly. Nevertheless, despite his resolve that they would get through this, that everything would be all right in the end, there was a niggling thought in the back of this mind, that there was still something they didn’t know. Something important and as he placed a soft kiss on the top of Liz’s head, he swore to himself that he would find out exactly what that was.

TBC…

Once again, I apologise for not updating sooner. I've had major writing block with this story the last couple of weeks, but hopefully that's over now.

Thank you for your feedback, and for being patient.

Here's part 18...

Part Eighteen

Several minutes passed as Max held Liz tightly in his arms. However, as he stroked her soft hair, he realised that there was something they needed to do.

“Liz?” he pulled back slightly from their embrace.

“What is it, Max?” her tear-stained face staring up at him questioningly.

“I think…I think we need to let the others know; about the investigation; about everything. And I think we need to do it now. Today.”

Still looking at him, she nodded miserably, “Okay, Max; but what about this… Ariana? What if she comes back and I can’t do anything to stop it?”

Max stroked her arms with his thumbs and said thoughtfully, “We’ll deal with it, okay? And if it happens while the others are there, well then, we’ll all be there to help you; to prevent her from doing anything to you or to any of us.”

“Okay,” she agreed.

He smiled down at her gratefully, “Okay, I’ll round everyone up at school today and we’ll drive out to the quarry at lunch, all right?”

“Sure.”

“Okay,” he whispered tenderly. “I should really get home and grab my books before my parents realise I never came back last night. Will you be all right if I go? I’ll come by and pick you up for school.”

Touched by his thoughtfulness, she smiled and nodded, “I’ll be fine, Max. Go. Don’t worry about me.”

“But I do worry about you, Liz. I can’t help it,” he gazed at her lovingly and she blushed under his attention.

“Put some clothes on and go,” insisted Liz, several moments later, breaking the staring contest they seemed to be engaged in. She gave him a small push and indicated to his clothes, which were scattered across the floor

“Okay, okay, I’m going,” he replied with a small smile. He picked up his shirt and pants and pulled them on. He slipped his bare feet into his sneakers and grabbed his bag. When he was ready, he dropped a quick, tender kiss on her lips and made his way to the window. “I’ll be back in less than an hour,” he promised and Liz nodded in reply.

She watched him as he walked across the balcony and swung his legs over the top of the ladder. Just before his head disappeared, he sent her another small smile and it warmed her heart.

Once he had gone, Liz stumbled back, sinking down into her desk chair with a sinking feeling in her chest. She knew they were right to include everyone else in all this, but she couldn’t help feeling scared of their reactions; especially Isabel’s.

Her gaze drifted to the bed, the place where she had lost her virginity just a few short hours ago. God, if only she had known of the consequences their actions would bring, she never would have gone through with it. As wonderful and breathtaking as it had been, was it really worth letting some crazy alien take over her body, especially one who was in love with her boyfriend?

If only there had been a way to prevent this ever happening. Obviously, this person, this thing, had been inside her and had been part of her, her entire life. Maybe if they had known more about Max, Isabel’s and Michael’s past lives on Antar, if they had known about Ariana, maybe they could have done something to stop this.

Wait a minute!

Maybe somebody already had tried to stop this!

Her thoughts flew to Future Max and his quest to change the future. Perhaps he had not been telling the truth when he gave his reasons for getting Max to fall out of love with her. What if, in his timeline, Ariana had been released that night, the night of Gomez? And what if he really came back to prevent the alien from ever appearing? What if somewhere down the line – in fourteen years, perhaps, she had become a danger to them all? Could she; Liz, Ariana, whoever, possibly have been responsible for the end of the world?

Oh God! What had she done?

Wrapping the bathrobe around her more tightly, she stood up and stumbled over to dislodge the loose brick in her wall, the secret place where she kept her diary. She had not written in it since last year, before Tess happened, before Max had discovered his destiny, before she had run away and left him at the pod chamber and before Future Max appeared right here in her room and changed her life.

She pulled out the journal carefully and carried it to her bed. She sat down, placing the book on her lap. It was her intention to comb over everything she had ever written in there, in order to try to find some clue, any clue that they might have been able to prevent this from happening.

She was flicking through the last few entries of the journal, when something caught her eye. It was an envelope, lodged in between the pages. Curiously, but with a shaking hand, she pulled it out.

It looked like a letter, but how had it gotten there? She was the only person who knew about the loose brick in the wall; she was the only one who knew where she kept the journal. She turned the envelope over and there it was, written on the front, her name, Liz.

She slid her finger under the seal and pulled out several folded pieces of paper and another, smaller envelope. Putting the second envelope to the side for a second, she carefully unfolded the letter and, taking a shaky breath, she began to read the words written in extremely familiar handwriting.

My dearest Liz,

As I’m sitting here at your desk, writing you this letter, you’re out doing what I asked: talking to me, the other me, and knowing that right now you’re standing in my old room, telling me that you don’t want to be with me, just breaks my heart.

However, there is something else that I need to tell you. I wasn’t completely honest with you when I told you the reason for the end of the world. It wasn’t Tess. Yes, she did leave town and we were weaker without her but her absence from our group wasn’t what eventually caused us to lose the battle.

God, this is so hard for me to write, and I know that I should have told you this face to face, but I just couldn’t. I know it’s selfish, but I couldn’t bear to see your heart break as I told you what I have to say.

But first, I need you to know that I love you. I always have. Ever since I first laid eyes on you back in third grade, I knew that you were the person I was supposed to be with. And that still holds true, despite what I’m about to tell you.

Liz, the real reason that we can’t be together, is because when we made love that night of the concert, the night that hopefully will have already passed once you read this letter, something happened; something none of us could have predicted and it changed our lives forever.

We were still happy, for the most part. We did get married and we had twelve wonderful years together, but we were not alone, not all the time. I know this probably sounds crazy, but the night we first made love, we released something; it was the essence, the spirit of someone I supposedly knew on Antar. Her name was Ariana and she was my…mistress, I guess, in my past life. When I died and was sent here, she came up with a plan to reunite us on Earth. Her plan involved planting her spirit inside a human; inside you, Liz, so that when I was old enough, we would meet again.

However, everything went horribly wrong. When our actions caused her release, she tried to take over your body completely. At first, we had no idea how to stop her or control when she would infiltrate your mind and it almost tore us apart.

Luckily, a couple of months afterwards, someone else appeared in Roswell, someone who knew of our past and could help us. Her name was Serena and she was an old family friend and Royal scientist on Antar and had been sent down to Earth to keep an eye on Ariana. She told us the full story of who Ariana was and what her intentions were.

Her plan, once she had been released and had control of your body, was to do whatever it took to have me for herself. Serena explained that if we didn’t learn how to stop her appearances, she would go after the people we loved. So, she taught us how to prevent anything happening to you and we were able to live a fairly normal, peaceful life.

However, just a few months before I came back here, we lost any influence we’d once had over her and she took over. Using your body, she tried to kill our friends and families. For the large part, she was unsuccessful, but then she turned to someone else. Kivar, our enemy. She joined forces with him and left Roswell in your body, with you trapped inside.

I didn’t see you for months, Liz. I was so worried about you. I couldn’t eat or sleep; I thought I’d never see you again. When you disappeared, Serena began working on a way to banish her from your body for good. She eventually found something and before she died, she gave instructions to me of how to do it if I ever found you again.

She finally returned when Kivar attacked us. There was still no sign of you; you were trapped deep inside your mind, unable to get out. By that point, Ariana had gone from loving me to wanting revenge on me for loving you and not her. So, she killed Isabel, right in front of me. She stood there, over her limp body, smirking triumphantly, but it was your face, your eyes staring back at me.

I could do nothing but watch, my body was frozen; but that image haunted me for the next two weeks, until I saw her again. This time, she went after Michael. I didn’t see her do it, but I got there just in time to see him fall to the ground. I ran to him and held him in my arms, but it was too late.

When I turned to Ariana, full of anger, something happened. She collapsed to the floor, her purple eyes gazing up at me and told me this was it, it was just the two of us now, and she fainted.

When she woke, you were back in control again and you remembered everything she had done. So, you came up with an idea. Several months before, Serena had been working on a way to allow time travel in the Granilith. She had shown you the plans and told you how it could be done. We decided that I would go back and try to stop Ariana’s release. I had to make sure that we never got close enough to make love to each other.

Liz, I want to tell you how sorry I am that I couldn’t be honest with you in person, but it’s better this way. I will place this in your journal in hopes that you will write in it after I am gone.

I pray that you find and read this letter and that one you have, you will understand why we can never give into temptation and be together.

If, however, for any reason, something happens and you don’t find this in time, I have included, in another envelope, a way for you and Max to put a stop to Ariana’s influence forever.

All I want is for you to be safe.

I love you, Liz Parker.

Yours forever,
Max.

Liz was in tears by the end of his letter; they were both tears of shock and of shame. Shame that she hadn’t found it sooner, shame that she had ignored his warnings and had slept with Max anyway and therefore had unknowingly released a great danger; but mixed into that shame was anger, both at herself and at Max for not telling her the whole truth.

How could she have been so stupid? She’d done it again! She had made love to him and now that could mean the end of the world once again.

Unsteadily, she reached for the other envelope. Sliding it open, she found a folded piece of white paper and a photograph tucked inside. She opened the paper and her eyes scanned the words written there, her eyes widening in wonder.

Then her gaze fell on the photograph that she held in her hand and she gasped. It was a picture of the two of them on their wedding day, their arms were wrapped around each other and they had huge smiles on their faces.

Suddenly she felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe Serena’s idea would work and she and Max could finally be happy together.

TBC…

Okay, here's part 19 - finally !

I'm really sorry about not updating sooner than this. I had planned to have a new part up weeks ago, but my muse seemed to go on strike and every time I tried to start the chapter, nothing happened .

I'm going to try to get the next part written more quickly than this one, so hopefully it'll be up soon (fingers crossed)

Thank you for the feedback :

Timelord31
Gater101
Erina258
Earth2Mama
lazza
kismet
Zanity
Ellie

Just a quick note that I forgot to add at the beginning of the last part. I have assumed that Liz didn't write in her journal after Prom, which means that the last time she wrote in it was in season 1 (I think it was in the episode Sexual Healing) - otherwise having Liz only find the letter now doesn't make sense.


Part Nineteen

Liz was still clutching the contents of the envelope that Future Max had left for her to her chest, when Max called forty-five minutes later, to let her know he was on his way over to pick her up. Wiping a lone tear from her eye, she carefully placed the letter, along with the folded sheet of paper and the photograph, back inside the envelope and quickly got ready for school. Although it was the last place she wanted to be right now, she knew that she had to keep going on with her life as normal and push her current worries to the back of her mind, at least for now. And besides, they were going to tell the others everything today.

When Max arrived at the Crashdown, Liz was still feeling shell-shocked by what Future Max had told her in the letter: that in the end, she had been the one to inadvertently cause the end of the world. It had all been her fault, or at least, the fault of the thing that was living inside her.

As she climbed into the jeep and kissed Max good morning for the second time that day, she resolved to tell him about the letter and the possible method of defeating Ariana as soon as she could. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen on the way to school, since it took less than ten minutes to get there by car and there wasn’t nearly enough time to go into details before first period.

“Did you talk to Isabel about going out to the quarry today?” she asked as Max pulled into the school parking lot.

He nodded, “Yeah, I did. She’s going to meet us out here at the beginning of lunch period. Can you find Maria and tell her? I still need to talk to Michael and Tess about it.”

“Sure, I have first period with Maria, so that’s no problem. But, Max? Are you sure about inviting Tess as well? We’ve never completely trusted her. Are you sure it’s such a great idea to involve her too?” Liz asked, biting her lip anxiously.

Max placed his hand on her upper arm, stroking gently, “Look, I know that none of us have ever fully accepted Tess into the group, but something strange is happening to her right now and we still have to figure out what happened with Alex and why she had that journal. I think she needs to be there.”

Liz didn’t like it, but she could find no fault with Max’s argument. “Okay, you go tell Tess and Michael and I’ll find Maria,” she agreed finally. She looked into his eyes, “So, I guess I’ll see you at lunch then, since we have no classes together this morning.” He nodded reluctantly and Liz added, “But I really need to talk to you later, Max. It’s important.”

He frowned, “What is it, Liz? Did you find something else after I left this morning?”

Liz let out a deep sigh, “Yeah, I did. Max, I think I’ve found a way to stop Ariana.”

A small gasp of surprise escaped his lips, “Liz. That’s great. What do we have to do?”

Liz shook her head regretfully, “Not now, Max. We really don’t have time to get into it all now.”

“Liz, this is kind of a big deal! We need to figure all this out as soon as possible!” He exclaimed and then stopped to think over their options for a moment. “Listen, you have third period free, don’t you? I’m going to blow off Math and I’ll meet you in the Eraser room, okay? We can talk then.”

“Max, I don’t think that’s such a good idea, especially since you skipped school yesterday. Maybe we should wait until after school…”

“No, is really big, Liz, and I’m not going to wait another six hours to hear what you have to say. I’ll see you in third, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed with a sigh, knowing there was no changing Max’s mind when he had his heart set on something.

“Great. Thanks,” he smiled. “So we better get to class now or we’ll be in trouble.”

Liz turned to get out of the jeep, but Max’s voice stopped her.

“Wait!”

“What, Max?” she asked turning back to him.

“Nothing,” he smiled. “Just…”

He leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “No matter what’s happening right now, I just want you to know that last night was the best night of my life. I love you, Liz.”

She smiled, “I love you too.” With that said, they both got out of the jeep and made their way into the school.

Liz entered the building to find Maria standing just in the entrance, looking out for her.

“Hey, Maria,” she smiled at her friend.

“Hey, yourself, Miss Lizzie. So, you wanna tell me exactly what was going on with you and Maxie in the jeep over there?” she asked slyly. “You guys are back together aren’t you?” At the blush on Liz’s cheeks, she knew she’d hit the nail on the head. “So, I guess you talked things out then.”

“Yeah, we did. No thanks to you, though,” huffed Liz.

Maria looked sheepish, “Yeah, sorry about that. I thought he already knew.”

“Yeah, I figured that,” Liz returned, good-naturedly. “But right now, that’s the least of our problems. We’re having a meeting out at the quarry at lunch. Can you make it?”

Maria instantly sobered, “Sure, Liz. Of course, I’ll be there. Does this have anything to do with what you told me the other night about Alex?”

“Maybe. Look, something important has come up and Max and I need to talk to you guys about it.”

“Okay, I’ll be there,” repeated Maria, shifting the book bag on her shoulder. “Come on, we’d better go. Classes await.”

***

Liz had tried her hardest to concentrate in first and second periods, but her mind kept wandering to Max. What would he say when he read the letter and saw the picture of the two of them on their wedding day? There was no way she could keep that photograph from him; he deserved to see it.

She let out a sigh of relief when the bell rang, indicating the end of second period and she jumped up, exiting the room quickly, with only one destination in mind: the Eraser room.

Max was already there when she slipped inside the room, careful not to be seen as she did so.

“Hey,” he couldn’t help the smile that lit up his face as Liz appeared in front of him. Despite the circumstances and everything that was going on around them, there was no forgetting or dismissing the huge step forward they’d taken last night and just the sight of Liz was enough to make his blood boil.

“Hi,” she smiled back, crossing the room to reach him. He met her halfway and their lips met in a soft, yet heated kiss.

“You know, I still can’t quite believe that you’re back in my arms again,” whispered Max, tenderly caressing her cheek with his index finger.

“I know,” murmured Liz, losing herself in the moment. But then she remembered exactly why they were meeting in the Eraser room in the middle of the school day and shook her head. “Max, there’s something you need to see.”

She took his hand and led him to take a seat next to her on the floor. They sat with their backs against the wall and Liz reached into her bag for the envelope. She pulled it out, clutching it in her hand as she turned back to Max, who was looking on, curiosity burning in his eyes.

“After you left this morning, I took out my journal, something I haven’t done since before Tess showed up last year,” she admitted and Max sent her a sympathetic glance. “I wanted to see if there was anything that I’d missed the first time around. Anyway,” she cleared her throat. “When I opened it up, something fell out. An envelope. It was addressed to me.”

“What? But no one knows where you keep your journal, Liz. How could anyone leave a letter in there?” Max was confused.

She shook her head, “Don’t say anything, just yet, Max.. Just hear me out, okay?” When he reluctantly nodded, she continued, “Inside, there was a letter. I want you to read it.”

Liz pulled out Future Max’s letter and handed it to him. Carefully, he opened it up and gasped as he recognised the handwriting.

“Liz, this is…” he looked up at her in disbelief

“I know,” she agreed softly. “Go ahead, read it.”

She watched intently as his eyes scanned the words written on the white paper, observing his face as he reacted to what was written there.

“Liz,” he whispered, tears shining in his eyes as he read of the future, of Liz’s, or rather, Ariana’s part in all of it. “Oh my God…”

Liz reached over and placed a reassuring hand on his lower arm, her heart breaking for him as she watched the emotions playing across his face. He finished the letter and looked up into her eyes.

“I can’t believe all that they – we – went through, just because they were together,” he managed, moving his hand to cup her face. “And now, we’ve gone and done it again. I’m so sorry, Liz, I shouldn’t have lost control like that last night.”

“No, Max. This is not your fault. If anything, it’s mine. I knew that we couldn’t be together and I gave in anyway. And now we’ve released our worst nightmare into the world.”

“Liz,” he whispered again, shaking his head. “The letter…he said there was a cure. Maybe we can fix this. Do you have the other envelope?”

“Yeah, it’s right here,” replied Liz. She pulled out the other sheet of paper, leaving the photograph inside the smaller envelope for now, and handed it to him.

Max took it from her and unfolded it. Scanning the words written there, he glanced back up at her. “You know, I think this might just work,” he gave her a tentative half-smile. “But we’ll have to wait until later to do this. We still need to talk to the others about all of this.” When Liz nodded in agreement, he continued apprehensively, “And let’s just hope that Ariana doesn’t show her face again anytime soon.”

They shared a moment of resolve, before Liz remembered about the photo in her hand.

“Max, there was something else in the envelope as well,” she told him. “And I think you should see it. It’s nothing bad,” she reassured him when his expression turned worried. “But it might be a little, well…” she shook her head. “Never mind, just…here you go.” She pulled the picture out of the envelope and gently handed it to him.

Tears formed in Max’s eyes once again, as he realised what he was holding and he took in a sharp breath.

“It was taken on our wedding day. In the other life, that is,” Liz explained. “I think he wanted me to know that we were happy together, at least for most of that time.”

“You look beautiful, Liz,” Max murmured, his gaze fixed on the picture in his hand. “I want us to have that for real some day,” he raised his eyes to her face again and Liz blushed slightly.

“I want that too, Max,” he told him. “Do you really think it’s possible?”

“Well, I’m not going to rule it out,” he said. “But we have a lot to get through first, before we can even consider something like that. There’s nothing I’d love more in the world than to marry you some day, Liz Parker.”

Her face lit up at his sweet words. “Me too,” she whispered. “We have to work all of this out, Max, and find the truth. We have to.”

“I know; and we will,” he reassured her, before leaning in to kiss her once more.

It was a kiss full of promise and determination.

TBC…

Thank you for your feedback (and for being patient) :

Earth2Mama
Zanity
Erina
LoveIsForever - Thanks, I'm glad you like it .
Ellie
vampyrax - , I'm always glad to have new readers - sorry you had to wait so long for a new part .
Timelord31
lazza
83 AlienAngel - Thanks, since it's been several weeks, I hope you've managed to read some more of this story .
Gater101 - Thanks . I didn't really think about how hard it would be for Liz to see the photo, I just thought she ought to have some insight into the world FM came from.
Luvya - Again, I'm glad you like it (and that you find the plot believable - it's always hard to know what will work and what won't)
BETHANN - Thanks for posting - I'm sorry you've had to wait so long for a new part .

I know some of you are interested in the plan to stop Ariana - unfortunately this part (that I've had so much trouble with) had to be written before that could happen .


As it's been a while (understatement!) since the last update (really sorry about that - this part was supposed to be out before Christmas!), so if you need to refresh your memory, you can find part 19 on page 11 .

My beta is away this weekend, but I was eager to post sooner rather than later, so here's the unbeta'd part ...


***

Part Twenty

“So, what’s all this about then, Max?” asked Isabel, crossing her arms over her chest.

They were all out at the quarry, standing in their usual circle. Max, Isabel and Tess had ridden in the jeep, whilst Maria, Michael, Liz and Kyle drove there in Maria’s Jetta. Max and Liz had decided earlier that it would be best to travel there separately, since the only person that knew they were back together was Maria and they didn’t want to arouse suspicion, especially considering that before Alex’s death, they hadn’t exactly been the best of friends.

“Well,” Max began authoritatively, sending a quick glance towards Liz, who responded with a small encouraging smile. “A lot has happened over the past few days and I think it’s time we were all brought up to date.”

“Uh, Max? What’s being happening exactly?” demanded Isabel, irritated. “Because this is the first I’ve heard of it.”

“I know, Iz, and there’s a reason for that,” Max told her. “If you – all of you – can be patient, I’ll explain.”

He waited until everyone in the group had nodded their consent before continuing.

“Okay. Well, you all know what was said at the wake last week; first, I want to apologise for getting angry and refusing to listen to what Liz had to say. I realised that I was wrong and I told her so that night,” he sent Liz a smile as he spoke. “I also told her that I honestly did believe there was a possibility that what happened to Alex was alien related,” he paused as there was a quiet gasp from those in the group who were not yet in the loop on this. “And I offered to help her find out the truth.”

“You what? And with Liz; just the two of you?” cried Isabel angrily. “Why didn’t you tell me about this? You knew how much Alex meant to me and you didn’t even consider that I might want a say in it too? ”

“Iz, that’s the exact reason why I didn’t tell you. You were upset and grieving. I couldn’t burden you with it,” he explained gently, watching as she absorbed his words and finally nodded in acceptance.

“Okay,” she sighed eventually. “So what did you find out?”

“Okay, some of you already know some of this, but I’m just going to start from the beginning.”

“Yeah, the beginning would be great, since I seem to have been left completely out of the loop on this one,” Kyle interjected sarcastically, half expecting Max to send him a hostile look, like he had done quite frequently since he found him with Liz a few months ago, but Max merely nodded at him cordially and then continued with his speech.

“Well, Liz and I talked at school on Friday and we decided that the best course of action was to visit Alex’s house to see if we could find any clues that might indicate what really happened.”

“And?” interrupted Isabel anxiously.

“We did find one strange thing on Alex’s computer. For some reason, he had been compiling a detailed file on Liz before he died. We don’t know the full story yet, but it appears that he was investigating her.”

Michael and Maria already knew this and so did not react, but Isabel, Tess and Kyle looked shocked.

“What?” Isabel whispered.

“Look, we really don’t know everything right now, but there is a lot more that you guys need to know,” Max told them, moving closer to Liz. “We printed off Alex’s files and Liz and I met up on Saturday night to look through them, but we didn’t get any closer to finding out the truth.”

“But then, later on, I saw Tess,” he nodded in her direction, “who told me that she was confused and experiencing strange blackouts. It also turned out that Alex had been keeping a journal and it had mysteriously made its way into Tess’ room,” Max described to the others, carefully omitting the part about Michael sneaking into the Valenti’s and the confrontation in the desert. “The journal described that Alex had also been experiencing similar blackouts and we wondered whether the two were linked.”

“You mean that Alex and Tess were being manipulated by something?” Isabel questioned, with a nod in Tess’ direction. “But that doesn’t explain why he was investigating Liz.”

“You’re right, based on that alone, Iz,” Max said. “But there was something else. Alex wrote in his diary that the first thing he sensed after each blackout was that Liz,” he sent her an apologetic glance, “had somehow been there with him; which is why he started the whole investigation of her. The thing is, we still don’t know why he thought that.”

“This is just crazy!” Kyle burst out suddenly. “Do you hear what you’re saying? You’re accusing Liz of killing Alex!”

“Wait! Kyle, stop,” Max held up a hand. “That’s not what we’re saying at all. After we found the journal, Liz and I discussed what he’d written and she let me connect with her. Liz had nothing to do with this.” He reached for her hand, squeezing it comfortingly, but Liz remained stoic and focused, barely paying any thought to him.

Max dropped her hand as quickly as he’d taken hold of it. Obviously, Liz wasn’t comfortable with the others knowing the status of their relationship just yet; hell, he wasn’t even sure that he wanted them to know. He cast his gaze round the circle of his friends, checking to make sure he hadn’t overwhelmed them with this new information. He stopped, however, when his eyes fell on Tess. She had gone pale, her hands clenched tightly at the sides.

“Tess? Are you okay?” he questioned.

“I…” she started, but was cut off by a familiar yet at the same time, completely foreign voice.

“She’s just feeling guilty. She thinks she has something to do with what’s going on,” sneered the voice and everyone turned in the direction it came from.

“Liz?” Max began fearfully, but he knew he wasn’t speaking to Liz anymore; he was talking to Ariana.

But she ignored him, continuing to approach Tess. “See, she’s been feeling it, too,” she pressed. “Haven’t you, Tess?”

“Liz? What’s the matter with you?” demanded Maria, her hands on her hips. “You can’t just go around accusing people – ”

“I’m just telling it like it is, Maria,” Liz spat, cutting her off. “See, Tess here has been experiencing the same things as Alex did before he died. And now she’s wondering if maybe she had something to do with his death after all.”

“W-what?” whispered Tess, her eyes wide. “No, I – ”

“Liz?” Isabel questioned softly, wondering what exactly was going through her mind right now that was causing her to act like this. But then she turned her gaze toward Max, finding him also watching Liz carefully. However, there was something else in his eyes; something that told her he knew what was going on. “Max?”

“Oh my God, Liz! What’s happening to your eyes?” cried Maria suddenly and Isabel watched as Max’s head snapped up and he began to stride over to Liz.

“That’s enough,” he stated firmly, grabbing onto her arms from behind to hold her in place.

“Really?” Liz questioned, tilting her head backwards in his direction. Her eyes held a tint of purple and an evil smirk played on her lips. “Because I was under the impression that the rest of our little gang might want to know that Alex’s killer is standing right here in front of me.”

“No,” whispered Tess, a lone tear sliding down her cheek. “I didn’t kill anyone…”

“Ariana…” Max warned softly, so that the others wouldn’t hear. But he wasn’t as successful as he’d thought.

“What was that, Maxwell?” Michael cut in accusingly.

“Yes, ‘Maxwell’, why don’t you tell everyone what you just called me? I mean, they deserve to know who they’re really speaking to, don’t you think?”

“What the hell is going on here?!”

The sudden outburst came from Kyle this time, although the others also expressed their confusion with the situation.

Max sent a quick warning glare towards Ariana before speaking.

“Okay, guys. There’s something you need to know,” he told them. “But first, I just have to do this.” He held his hand up to the side of Liz’s head and let it emit a bright glow. As he supporting her weight in his other arm, everyone watched as Liz’s strange coloured eyes closed and she collapsed against him, unconscious.

Maria and Isabel’s eyes widened and Maria immediately opened her mouth in protest; but before she could say anything, Max swept Liz up in his arms and carried her to his jeep, laying her in the back before returning to the group.

“Look, I didn’t hurt her, okay? That was the only thing I could do to keep her quiet for now.”

“Right,” Michael nodded sceptically. “So, you mind letting us in on what’s going on now?”

“Okay, well,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. It looked like he was going to have to tell them about he and Liz after all. “I guess the first thing you should know is that Liz and I got back together this weekend.” He stopped to wait for their reactions, but none came. To most of them, they’d seen this coming for a while, despite the awkwardness between the two of them of late; it was just a question of when they decided to give in to their feelings. And of course, Maria already knew about their new-found relationship, so she didn’t look surprised. “The thing is, last night we…” he searched for the right words. “We slept together and when I woke up this morning, her eyes were purple and she was like that,” he nodded to where Liz was passed out in the jeep.

“God! What happened to her, Max?” It was Isabel who spoke first.

He looked round the circle at his friends.

“Are you sure you want to hear all of this? Because it may take a while…”

He looked round at the circle of faces, a mixture of confusion and curiosity etched on their faces.

Well, here goes nothing, he thought to himself as he sucked in a breath and began to retell the events of the past few hours.

TBC…