Roswell Fanatics

Thank you all for the great feedback. I'm glad I'm back to post. So, without further ado. Here's Part 2 of Chapter 87


Chapter 87: Part 2

[Maria]

“A joke?” I wondered. “Max Evans made a joke?”

He chuckled again with a raised eyebrow. “What?” he said. “I make jokes, ask Liz.”

We quickly stopped laughing because although we were making light of a serious situation, it was still a serious situation and we couldn’t just pretend like it wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t want to admit it out loud, but Max was right, there was that possibility that Liz was hurt. I pressed down on the gas pedal a little harder once we reached the highway.

“Why don’t you try her cell again?” I suggested.

We still had about a ten minute drive. Max nodded in agreement and pulled out his cell and dialed only a few numbers since Liz was on his speed dial. He listened intently to the ring tone, which I could clearly hear. It rang only a few times—maybe only two or three—before that recording of a woman came on stating that the number Max was dialed was not within reach.

He sighed heavily and snapped his phone shut angrily. “We won’t be able to get to her if she’s still in the cave.”

“She’ll be ok,” I assured him. “If she’s in the cave, Tess can’t hurt her as long as that thing’s on. I mean, there’s no reason for her to turn it off.”

Max slowly turned to me.

“Right?” I asked.

“Can we go any faster?” Max said hurriedly.

The car was probably going to explode if I went over 100, so I accelerated while keeping my speed near the 90 mph mark. I sped through the desert with my mother’s Jetta jumping whenever we hit a small bump.

Two minutes into the desert and we could see the Chevelle in the distance. Max kept his eyes glued to the car as we drove nearer and nearer. After shaking nearly every single loose engine part out of my mom’s car, thanks to the not-so-smooth-ride, I skidded to a stop at the foot of the rock formation.

I didn’t even bother shutting the car off, Max and I just sprinted up the hill as fast as we could. As we expected, it was opened, and inside we could hear Tess speaking, but in a whisper and in pain. We didn’t doubt for a second that Tess was talking to Liz. So Max quickly climbed in first and I followed closely.

Tess was sitting on the floor and Liz was gradually lowering her arm.

“You made a big mistake, Liz,” Tess said, and slowly she lifted her arm.

“NOOOOOOOO!”

Max ran forward but a bright light in the shape and form to the same likeness of Saturn’s rings split the cave horizontally. The spirals contained in the image of the rings were all hues of blue and purple. They shot out from Tess’s hand so quickly that it only took a split second to reach me and Max who were way across the cave from her. It knocked us off our feet, and knocked Liz farther away from our reach.

Like a bomb thrown at her feet, Liz was blasted across the room. I watched in horror as she hit the wall like rag doll, dropping to floor so limply like nothing. She held her eyes closed tightly and as soon as she hit the stone wall, her expression died and her face expressed nothingness.

In the time it took Max and me to get to our feet, Tess had stared at the wall and I witnessed it crumble and collapse on Liz. My jaw dropped down in horror as a bullet of pain hit my chest.

“Max!” I cried.

Pieces of the wall from the size of peas to chairs blanketed Liz. We couldn’t see her and I couldn’t even see the mound of rocks through my tears. All there was was the brightness of the sun seeping through the hole newly created in the former wall.

Tess stood on her feet, but not for long. Max hit her with such force without making contact with her. He sent her through the hole she created just moments earlier. I didn’t care if there was a cliff on the other side of the hole or not. I was just happy that in order to get out through the hole, Tess broke through, having to make the hole big enough for herself.

Once she was done and taken care of, Max ran to Liz, throwing rocks off of the top of the mound. I couldn’t move, frozen in shock at what I had just witnessed. Max fell to his knees in front of the mountain rocks and began throwing manageable pieces to the side, trying to uncover Liz.

“MARIA!” Max shouted. He paused to look over his shoulder at me. He was already covered in sweat and tears. “Maria, help me!”

I rushed right over and joined Max by getting on my knees. We worked together to pull large pieces of debris off the mound. There was too much of it and not enough of us. Sweat began to form on my forehead almost immediately.

Max took care of the large rocks while I did what I could. He was now on his feet, delicately removing large rocks at the top of the hill. He was careful not to send everything tumbling down. Otherwise, Liz might be crushed if she wasn’t already. We tried to work as fast as we could to release the hundreds of pounds of rocks that covered her.

I grabbed a fragment of the wall, ready to hurl it over my shoulder, but when I picked it up and moved it away, Liz’s lifeless hand dropped to the floor. “Max…” I said. I stared at in horror. It was limp and just lying there on a rock. There were few cuts and bruises scattered around it.

Max quickly tossed aside the boulder he carried and brought his attention to me, then to the pale hand protruding from the mountain of rocks. Max grabbed at my arm and pulled me to my feet. “Step back,” he ordered.

“Wait, what are you going to do?”

“It’s taking us too long to move these rocks,” he started. “Liz is under there and we won’t get her out soon, but we can if I just blow these rocks off her.”

He took a few steps back himself and then raised his arm, his hand open and pointed it at the rather large pile of rocks. I patiently waited as Max breathed deeply, concentrating.

“Maria?” Max called.

I took a step forward. “Yeah?”

“Duck.”

I dropped to the floor, covering my head and protecting my vital organs as another bright flash exploded into the cave. There was a loud crackle that occurred when the light was emitted and then an explosion. Sand and rocks blew all over the cave, several hitting me. When the rain of debris subsided, I opened my eyes and found an unburied Liz lying on the ground.

Her body was strewn about the floor in an awkward position. It was a horrible sight. Crimson red blood trickled out from the corner of her mouth and poured onto the floor. Although she laid in the shadow of the remnants of wall and rock, I could see the paleness of her skin, which was covered with sot. Scrapes, cuts, and bruises decorated her face, which expressed no emotion, no life. As she lied on the cave floor, her foot was now positioned near her butt in an unusual matter. One of her arms became the thickness of her lower leg. Her body was turned to one side while her face was turned in the opposite direction. A silver stream of tears remained on her cheek.

“Is she…?” I started to cry.

Max had froze at the sight of Liz’s body, because that’s what it was, just a body. What we were staring at held no life, not our Liz’s life.

“No,” Max refused to believe. “NO!” He crouched down to Liz’s side and reached towards her head to take her pulse.

“Stop!” I commanded. “D—Don’t touch her!”

Max hooked his eyebrow and stared at me. “What?”

I stared down at Liz and observed the way her head was turned. “Don’t touch her,” I repeated. “Her…neck, it—it might be broken.”

Max snatched his hand back as if some dog snapped at it. “Oh my God,” he whispered to himself. “I—I didn’t think about that.”

He wasn’t thinking straight and it was completely understandable. In my mind, memories, thoughts, ideas, feelings, and facts were running amuck. It must’ve been the same way in Max's head, most likely, worse.

“What do we do?” I wondered, sweeping the tears away with my fingers.

Max shook his head from side to side. “I don’t know,” he said softly. He studied Liz’s body as he gradually stopped shaking his head. When he stopped, he stopped abruptly. He came to a realization. “I’ve got to heal her,” he said.

“Do it,” I insisted eagerly. There was no doubt in my mind. I wanted him to heal Liz. I wanted him to bring my sister back.

“If she’s…” Max began, gulping loudly. “If she’s…” He couldn’t say it. “I can’t heal her.”

“Just do it,” I ordered.

Max widened his stance. He spread his knees shoulders length apart and awkwardly moved his hand from Liz’s leg to her abdomen to her chest, never resting at each spot for long. “I—I don’t know where to…I—I have to put my hand on her head and neck, Maria.”

I nodded obediently, scared to approach Max in fear that I might disturb him or distract him as he carefully placed his hand under Liz’s neck and head.

“Be careful,” I warned.

I walked to the opposite side to observe Max. He closed his eyes and bit down hard. The sweat on his forehead increased. More beads of sweat formed and his face turned a reddish hue. Currently, there was no evidence of Max's healing. So we didn’t know whether or not Max was really healing Liz or trying to bring her back from…which is something he didn’t have the ability to do.

Max struggled for air, stumbling slightly forward. I cringed as he did, worried that he might hurt Liz more than she already was, but he didn’t. Liz was still safe in Max's hands.

However, the time passed and Liz hadn’t woken up. I stood and watched for a good ten minutes as Max slowly ran out of energy. He didn’t care about himself, he wasn’t going to stop until he healed Liz.

“Max…” I warned.

He didn’t stir. To him, I wasn’t there, only Liz. He had blocked me and everything out.

Then Max stumbled a little more. This time, his hand slipped and the crack was loud and clear.

TBC

To end the suspense...I bring you Part 3. (Thanks SO much for all the FB, by the way.)

Chapter 87: Part 3

{Max}

As soon as I heard the few cracks and felt the bones grind against each other, my eyes shot open. Liz’s head moved more freely in my hand than I wanted. I had tried to keep her neck as still as possible, but I was just trying so hard. I was trying to bring her back, like she did to me. I owed it to her, but I might have done just the opposite.

“Did you just…?” Maria asked. She slowly removed her hand from over her mouth and stared at me in shock.

I still held Liz’s head and neck in my hands, her body so limp and frail. My life was literally in my hands. My heart slowly began to die, and I knew that if that was happening, then Liz was slowly dying too, or maybe already…I couldn’t think about it.

I tried to think about bringing her back. I thought of the memories, the feelings and emotions, good or bad, and I tried to restore them in a lifeless Liz. I wanted to bring her back and that’s all I thought about. Maybe I should have been paying more attention. I know I should have been paying more attention. I was careless. I was too blind to see past what I wanted.

“Maria, check her pulse!” I ordered. “Her wrist.”

She knelt down on her knees and carefully placed her index and middle fingers on Liz’s wrist while I still supported her head and neck. She slid her fingers up and down and pressed hard, but eventually shook her head. “I—I can’t find it,” she said.

I dropped my head and cried. “No,” I wept. “No! Keep trying.”

Maria nodded obediently and continued to feel Liz’s wrist for a pulse while I sat with Liz’s head and neck in my hands. I loved watching Liz sleep, she always looked so peaceful, but she didn’t look peaceful now. Liz didn’t look like much of anything in my hands.

“Max…” Maria said softly and solemnly.

And I slowly nodded my head in agreement. “I know,” I whispered. “I know.”

I bit down hard to swallow my tears, but failed. Maria sat by me, crying just as hard.

“Max, do something,” she cried.

I shook my head. “She’s…” I whispered. “There’s nothing I can do.” I carefully lied Liz down on the dirt surface and watched her “sleep”.

I can’t lie and say that I’ve never thought about the day Liz would die. It’s never too soon to think about something like that. I mean, I’ve died before. Our lives are unpredictable, despite those supposed “destinies”. So sometimes I would lie and bed and think about the day that I would lose Liz. I would lose her eventually or she would lose me. So it was a thought that crossed my mind, sadly, one too many times. Every single time, I never pictured it this way. I never thought that Liz would die so young. I always thought that I would feel different, like a piece of me would be gone or my heart would have died, but I felt no different than I was five minutes ago. I said I had felt that my heart was slowly dying, but it wasn’t dead.

I wiped away my tears and shook my head. “No!” I said sternly. “She’s not gone yet. Keep trying.”

Maria sniffled a few tears and shook her head in confusion. “What? How do you know?”

“Because,” I replied, lowering my ear to Liz’s nose. “I wouldn’t feel like this! I just wouldn’t feel this way, Maria. If I really lost Liz, I would feel like my heart was torn in two or that I’ve died with her or my soul left my body with hers, but I don’t feel that way. So she’s not dead.”

Maria grabbed Liz’s hand again and searched for Liz’s pulse at the point where Liz’s arm met her hand. I listened closely for signs of breathing. I stared at her chest, waiting for it to rise.

And I waited, listened, and tried to feel Liz’s soul. It was still in her, deep inside of her, lying dormant.

“Come on, Liz,” I whispered. “Please…”

I closed my eyes tight and wished as hard as I could and let the images of my wife flow into my mind; her beautiful brown eyes, her cute little nose, her bright smile, and her lips, especially when she spoke and her bottom lip would drag a little.

“MAX!”

I opened my eyes to find Maria with a hopeful and shining smile on her face. She stared at Liz’s chest, which slowly rose as she inhaled.

I breathed out a laugh, almost a sigh. “Ok,” I smiled. “Maria, step back. I’ll take care of her.”

Maria nodded and scooted away as I held Liz’s face in my hands, creating a sort of sandwich. I smiled at the fight my wife still had in her.

“Come on, Liz,” I whispered. “Come back to me.”

I closed my eyes once more and kept them closed until I felt that my Liz was smiling back at me.

“Max…”

TBC

Chapter 87: Part 4

{Max}

“Max…” Maria said again.

Nothing in her tone sounded reassuring, but I opened my eyes anyway. I was suddenly filled with energy and love and life when I found Liz blinking her own eyes open. There was life still inside of her, and life back inside of me. All the bruises, cuts, and scrapes had disappeared. Her tears and blood wear cleaned away and I laughed happily at the sight but then quickly frowned at the despondent look on Liz’s face.

“Liz???”

She blinked a few more times.

“Liz?” I said more cautiously.

Just because she had opened her eyes, it didn’t mean that Liz was back. However, she grinned. “Hi,” she whispered.

My head turned to Maria and we instantly locked eyes, and laughed. We brought our attention back to Liz.

“It’s you?” I asked.

Liz slowly nodded her head. “Yeah,” she giggled. “Why? What happened?”

Maria and I exchanged glances of worry. Liz had come to the pod chamber to deal with Tess herself, a compulsive and insane mistake. I couldn’t blame her, because I should have gotten rid of Tess a long time ago. Yet, Liz shouldn’t have come to the pod chamber at all. It was a dangerous and unwise choice, but I wasn’t going to inform Liz, or punish her for the choice that she was practically forced to make.

“What?” Liz questioned again. “What happened?”

“Liz, what’s the last thing you remember?” I asked her.

She looked up at the corroded ceiling for a moment to think and then shook her head in confusion. “I was in our apartment, sitting on the couch,” she replied. “Tell me what’s happened.”

I looked to Maria who was nothing but bewildered and subtly shook my head, then turned I back to Liz. “Nothing happened,” I told my wife. “I wanted to come to the pod chamber—where we are now—to deal with Tess and you didn’t want me to come alone, so you insisted that you protect me,” I chuckled. “You wanted the whole family to come along again, but only Maria was the only one that could make it. So we met her here and we came here, and I guess the heat got to you ‘cause you passed out.”

Liz squinted with doubt, but she had no choice but to believe me. “Ok,” she said skeptically. She took a deep breath and looked around the pod chamber with new skylight. Liz looked up at me with concern. “Well, where’s Tess now?”



[Maria]

Once Max got Liz to stand up on her own two feet, he ran out of the pod chamber as fast as his feet could take him.

“Where’s he going?” Liz wondered.

I turned to my right and gestured towards the new pod chamber window. “To look for Tess.”

Liz’s right eyebrow lifted. “She’s missing?”

“I don’t think so,” I laughed.

Tess flew out of the small hole, breaking through and making the hole much larger. If she wasn’t hurt when she was forcibly pushed through that hole, then the two story fall down to the desert floor had to have affected Tess somewhat, hopefully very bad.

“Come on,” I told Liz. “We should go down there.”

“Maria, what the hell is going on?” she demanded to know. “Where’s Tess?”

I pushed Liz towards the main entrance of the pod chamber and explained to her what had happened while sticking to the storyline that Max had set. The walk down the hill wasn’t long enough to answer all of Liz’s protruding questions. I just had to reply with, “You’re going to have to ask Max.”

“Ok, well let me just get this straight,” Liz said. “The three of us came here to the pod chamber to talk to Tess…”

I nodded my head in affirmation.

“She was taunting me and so Max got angry?” Liz asked with wonder.

I continued to bob my head.

Liz shook her head in confusion and fell into step behind me. “Max told you to turn off the pentagon,” she went on, “so that he could deal with her physically. Somehow she managed to sneak in a little blow to me and that’s when I passed out?”

“Yeah,” I lied.

“Max then blew a hole in the wall and threw Tess out of it?” she said very skeptically.

I was laughing inside at how odd it sounded, but I didn’t know how to explain why Tess was outside of the pod chamber instead of inside. “Well…Max loves you,” I replied. “He wouldn’t let her touch you and if she did, which she did, she’d have to pay.” Inside, I smiled proudly. I thought it was a great answer.

But Liz scoffed at my reply. “Maria, that’s more bull than they’ve got at Home Depot.”

“Oh come on,” I laughed. “Give me a break!”

Rounding the corner laughing, Liz and I stopped instantly at the sight of Max squatting and hanging his head down low.

Liz slowly approached her husband. “What is it?” she asked.

She stood behind him a fair distance away and so I don’t believe she saw Tess lying in front of Max. I couldn’t either, thank God. And although we were a good distance away from Max, I could still hear him sigh heavily.

“Call the others,” he said. “Tell them to get here, quick.”

Sorry it's taken so long to update, but here's Chapter 88. Don't get too mad...

Chapter 88

{Isabel}

“What the hell do you think it could be?” I asked.

Jesse kept his eyes on the desert and shook his head. “What I want to know is why the hell they went to the pod chamber without letting us know.”

But I shook my head and dismissed the concern. “It’s not like they’re in danger,” I replied. “If that thing’s on, then they’re ok.”

“What if they turned it off?”

I looked over my shoulder and glared at Kyle in the back seat. “There’s no reason for them to turn it off.”

I relaxed back in my seat and watched the pod chamber come into view and eventually grow larger and larger. Behind us, Michael and Valenti were following close behind.

“Maria’s car’s still running,” Kyle announced as he stepped out of our car.

When the shutting of car doors stopped, Maria and Liz jogged around from behind the pod chamber.

“What were you two doing back there?” I wondered.

“Something’s happened,” Maria replied. “Come on. Max will explain everything.”

We followed the two girls around the pod chamber to find Max crouching down with his back to us. The girls stopped plenty of feet away from him and we—the rest of the group—had stopped along side of them.

“What’s going on?” Jesse said, breaking the silence that had permeated.

Maria stared ahead at Max. “It’s Tess,” she replied.

“What?!” I exclaimed. “What’s she doing out of the pod chamber?”

Both Maria and Liz looked up at the rock formation. There was a cave I had never seen before in the desert mountain.

“Another cave? What?” I demanded to know.

Liz shook her head. “No, it’s the pod chamber,” she answered. “It’s a long story, but Tess kind of…flew out of that hole up there.”

Michael and I laughed. “She flew?” we said in unison.

“Well, more like forced to fly,” Maria grinned. “Max threw her out the window...in the alien sense, not physically…um…yeah…you know what I mean.”

Valenti was bobbing his head, comprehending. “Ok, so what’s going on?”

Maria and Liz shook their heads and let their eyes drift to the floor. “We’re not sure. We just didn’t want to…um…see the uh…”

“Oh,” I replied. “Max?” I called out to my brother.

From where we stood we could hear Max sigh. “You guys can come over,” he shouted back at us.

We all stood around, waiting and wondering who would be the first to step forward and see the gruesome sight. I took a deep breath and stepped through our small crowd, and they soon followed close behind me.

As we approached Max, he finally stood up and turned around, stepping to the side. I braced myself to see a dead Tess lying on the desert floor, but what I, and I know the others, expected to see was not there. I could feel all our eyes fall to the desert floor and stare at the sand. It was just sand and a black outline of a circle.

“Where the hell is Tess???” I growled.

We lifted our eyes to fall upon Max who stared at the circle and shook his head.

“She’s gone,” he said, disappointed. “She escaped.”

“What?!”

It was a sentiment expressed by everyone.

I rubbed at my forehead. “What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean she’s gone,” Max reiterated. “Tess has left the planet.”

Maria scoffed. “Left? Left how?”

We watched Max crouch back down and we followed his hand as he felt the sand and the circle on the sand. “She left through the portal,” he announced. “She created a portal and she left. The portal burnt the sand and that’s why there’s this black circle. That’s how I know.”

Michael whipped around and kicked the sand, angrily. The wind kicked the sand back at us, hitting the back of our legs.

“DAMNIT!” he shouted. He was angry, that was obvious. “HOW THE HELL COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!”

He didn’t really direct his anger or shouting towards anyone, but Max was the first to speak.

“It’s a long story,” my brother said. He glanced down at Liz awkwardly and then back to the rest of us. “I’ll have to explain it to you later.”

I stared at him eerily. There was something about the way he spoke and the way he had looked at Liz. Max wasn’t telling us something.



[Kyle]

You could see the anger and disappointment in both Michael and Isabel’s faces. A while back, all the alien trio wanted to do was discover what they were, who they were. And for a long while, they kept running into dead ends and they had called a halt to their quest of self-discovery.

But then Tess came strolling into town. Everything changed. Suddenly, Max, Michael, and Isabel were thrust back into their quest and they were closer to finding themselves more than ever before.

Tess had all the answers and now…now it wasn’t a matter of wanting answers, but needing answers. Max's life was on the line, everyday. We had no idea how to stop it. And even if Tess didn’t know what we were talking about, she had the resources, the knowledge, to help us, to help me.

Now I was stuck with curse that Max, Isabel, and Michael carried. As if my life wasn’t bad enough.

We just stood around in the desert near the thin black circle in the sand. No one said anything, we just stood in the silence. Liz had moved next to Max, her husband. As soon as she made a step towards him, Max lifted his arm and let Liz walk into him and then he lovingly put his arm around Liz’s shoulders. She circled his waist with her arms. I looked around our little group and Michael and Maria, and Isabel and Jesse were pretty much the same way.

Max and Liz always, always, had and loved each other even when I was with her. Michael and Maria found happiness in their love-hate relationship. Isabel met a man, a good, honest man, and fell in love, for the second time, and got married. Even my father was going to get the love he so patiently waited for.

As for me? I’m not so lucky. I thought I loved Liz, but she loved Max. I’m happy for them, I really am. I mean, I got over it. It wasn’t even really love. Maybe it could have been, but it turned out for the best, ‘cause I mean, there was Tess, right? I could always turn to her and I did, and I fell for her too, and then realized she was more my sister than anything else. That was all before we found out that she used me, killed Alex, seduced Max, left the planet with his son, and came back to take Max away. Just my luck…

To make matters worse, I’m turning into one of them. I’m sure it’s great for them, but the aliens have someone. I’ve got no one. Who’s going to want me, a blossoming alien? “Hey, how you doin’? My name’s Kyle. I’m 5’ 8”, 160 pounds, and I’m available. I like long walks on the beach and puppies. Oh, and I’m a about one-fourth alien. So, what do you say? Can I get your number?” Some pick-up line.

It’s not like I’m wishing Tess was here so that I could have someone. I wish Tess was here to tell me how to rid the curse of being alien. There must be some way to get the alien out of me. Max had tried it out in the desert with Liz. Maybe it was possible. We would never know for sure now that Tess had escaped.

The questions we all had could have been answered with Tess, but now she was gone and hello dead end.

“What happens now, Max?”



{Max}

I glared over my shoulder at my sister. “Do you always have to ask me that?”

Isabel’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

I sighed heavily and shook my head. “Never mind.”

We stood around in silence, staring at the black circle of charred sand. Tess survived the fall and she escaped back to Antar or to some other planet unbeknownst to us. Once again, we were back in danger.

“Really, Max,” Kyle sighed. “What do we do now? Tess left and she took all the answers with her.”

“We just let her go,” I replied. “There’s nothing we can do. She might come back, she might stay wherever she went, I don’t know. We just have to keep our eyes open.”

Michael bobbed his head in understanding. He had eventually calmed down. I knew he would be angry, everyone was. “But now we don’t know who or what the hell the conscious was…is,” he added.

“Max,” Valenti beckoned.

I turned to Valenti and caught a small black beeper thrown at me. “What’s this for?” I asked, studying the beeper.

“You’re going to have that pager on you at all times, 24/7,” he replied.

With a hiked up eyebrow, I gave a little chuckle and tossed the beeper back. “I think I’ll be ok,” I replied to the suggestion. “Right now we’ve got to discuss what to do about the conscious.”

Valenti launched the beeper back at me and nodded. “And right now, this is the only solution we’ve got. That beeper’s on vibrate,” he explained. “You guys said the conscious was broken by physical contact. That beeper will make contact with you when it vibrates, thus, hopefully, saving your life.”

“Who’s going to set it off?” Jesse wondered. “I mean, someone’s got to call it. And how do we know when to call it if no ones with Max?”

“Well, it’s got an alarm,” Valenti continued to explain. “There was a set schedule to the conscious and all you have to do is set the times and set it to repeat on the days the conscious supposedly strikes. If the conscious so happens to change the schedule, then we’ll just call it every hour on the hour whenever Max isn’t with any one of us.”

The beeper had been a good idea up until the point of vibration “every hour on the hour” came up. I shook my head and laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding,” I scoffed.

No one could disagree.

“Max, it’ll have to do,” Liz said. It was the first time in a while she had spoken.

I was still angry at her for coming to the pod chamber without permission and unaccompanied, but I wasn’t going to express it or bring it up for that matter. I just shook my head in disbelief and fastened the beeper onto the waistband of my pants. “How long will I have to wear this thing?”

Valenti looked to Michael with apprehension. “Until we figure out what or who’s behind the conscious.”

“Well we might never find out!” I cried out.

Everyone hung their heads low, not being able to look into my eyes, confirming the truth of it. I guess I didn’t want to believe it. I had let the reality of it all slip out of my mind.

I bit down hard in disappointment and bobbed my head. “Let’s go home.”

Sorry, it's been so long since I've updated. I haven't had internet access in a long time. Too long if you ask me. But anywho, thank you as always for the great FB. I'm so grateful and I really appreciate it. So thank you. Here's the next chapter...

Chapter 89

{Max}

I kept both hands on the wheel as we drove out of the desert. Valenti was leading the convoy of cars with Kyle, Isabel and Jesse were behind them, Michael and Maria were driving ahead of Liz and I as we held up the tail end.

With the top up, the radio off, and the windows rolled up, the Chevelle was dead silent. Even the keychain full of keys barely rattled as we drove through the uneven desert.

I kept to myself while Liz sat as far away from me as possible. She must have sensed that something was wrong, that I wasn’t necessarily happy with her at the moment.

She cleared her throat to break the ice. “I know,” she said softly.

I exhaled sharply. “Know what?”

“Tess escaped because of me.”

We had barely been on the highway when I pulled the car over back onto the desert. The train of cars ahead of us continued driving.

I shut the engine off and lowered my stare down to my lap. “How?” I asked.

“You didn’t explain to the others how Tess was outside of the pod chamber because you didn’t want to elaborate on the reasons that led to you throwing Tess out the window. You didn’t want me to know that Tess’s escape was the consequence of something I did.”

I gave a little laugh and turned my head eerily towards Liz. “Really?” I scoffed.

Liz rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t play with me, Max. Don’t lie to me, either. Stop protecting me.”

“IT’S MY JOB TO PROTECT YOU!!!” I shouted. I remained sitting facing the steering wheel, which I had tightened my grip on to release my anger. I sighed heavily and shook my head. “Liz, I’m your husband and you’re my wife. I don’t want to lose you and so I have to protect you.”

“I can protect myself.”

I laughed. “No, Liz, you can’t. Do you know what exactly happened today? You were right. Tess escaped because you went to the pod chamber.”

Liz lowered her head, ashamed.

“You came to the pod chamber, Liz. BY YOURSELF!” I yelled. Now I was turned towards her, attacking her verbally. “You came to the pod chamber to deal with Tess. You turned off the pentagon and you stupidly thought you could take Tess on. Liz, yes, you’ve got powers, but you’re not invincible!

“God, Liz! Tess had come back from our home planet,” I continued. “She probably got stronger, and it looked like she did.”

Liz still held her head low.

“Liz, she threw you against a wall and collapsed it on top of you!” I continued to shout. “So out of anger and as a reflex, I blew Tess out the wall. Maria and I were left in the pod chamber with you under a mountain of rocks. WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!” I remembered the sight; the paleness of her skin, the blood and trickle of tears.

I hung my head low. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Liz spying at me the same. Though her head was lowered, I could see the moonlight hitting her trail of tears, giving off a little twinkle.



{Liz}

He suddenly shoved his hands at the steering wheel, shaking the whole car. I jumped in fright as Max threw his door open. He climbed out and then slammed the door shut. Like Michael had done earlier, Max kicked at the sand, causing a cloud of desert dust to kick up. The small particles of rocks hit the car and rattled.

Max strode to the front of the car and placed his hands on the hood. Through the windshield I watched him make a fist and then slam the fist down onto the car. “DAMNIT!” he shouted.

I went back to staring at my hands folded in my lap and cried. I let the tears flow. He had seen me cry. He knew I was afraid of him and now he was regretting it.

I wiped my tears away and stepped out of the car, pushing the door shut lightly. Max looked up and then quickly looked away. I stayed on my side of the car and watched him break down.

“I shouldn’t be angry at you,” he realized, thus taking the frustration in himself out on the car. “Me not wanting to deal with Tess pushed you to deal with her yourself. So I shouldn’t be angry. I should be glad you’re alive, and I am. I’m so glad. I shouldn’t have yelled at you and I definitely shouldn’t have called you stupid, either. I’m sorry,” he said. “I was totally out of line.”

But I shook my head and had to disagree. “Don’t apologize,” I told him. “It really was a stupid idea to go to Tess by myself.” I had remembered everything when Max threw it in my face. I’m glad he did.

“I—I shouldn’t have yelled,” Max said softly. He stood with his hands on the car and his head slightly down. “I shouldn’t have patronized you. I’m sorry.”

“Would you stop?” I laughed disgustedly. “Just stop apologizing. I deserve the yelling. I deserve the belittling. I deserve the blame. I deserve it all, Max.”

He snapped head up and shook his head. “No, don’t take the blame. I should’ve—”

“MAX!” I shouted. “It doesn’t really matter who’s to blame. We won’t point fingers, but it is my fault.”

Max opened his mouth.

“Don’t,” I ordered. “Don’t say anything.”

He shut his mouth and nodded.

I sighed. “We’re going to keep doing this little game of tug-of-war, Max, and it’s got to stop, ok?”

He nodded his head, lowering it, as I walked around the car to his side. He turned around and leaned against the car and I sat beside him against the car.

“It is my fault, Max,” I repeated. “But are you going to condemn or punish me for it more than you have?” I asked.

Max then shook his head.

“There’s no use of blaming or placing fault on anyone then. We both screwed up. There? You happy?”

Max sighed heavily and nodded his head. “I…I just wish things were different, you know?”

“So do I, so much.”

Max gave a little smirk and placed a kiss on the top of my forehead, wrapping his arm around me. I turned onto Max, facing him, with my chin against his chest, placing a kiss.

“Ok, well, you do have to admit that in a wide perspective of things,” Max began, “that all of this is my fault.”

I slammed my head against his chest and sighed. “Fine, I give,” I replied. “Yes, Max Evans, it’s your fault. You just always have to be chivalrous or gentlemanly, don’t you?”

Max gave a little chuckle and kissed the top of my head once more. He combed the back of my head with his hand, smoothening out my hair while he left his lips on the top of my head, then I felt him lift off and heard him sigh quietly. “And even through all of this, Liz,” he began, “you still love me?”

I looked down at the desert floor and stared at for a while, thinking about the past few years that I had known Max, Michael, and Isabel. My life would have been so different without the three of them. It would have been a life without love.

I pulled away and looked up at Max. I grabbed his face and pulled him into a fervent kiss. I let our tongues do a little dance and then pulled away.

“I will always love you.”

*~*

“I’m sorry this isn’t Santa Barbara,” Max panted, “but we’ll take a second honeymoon, I promise.”

I bobbed my head assertively and pulled Max back on top of me. “Oh, we will,” I told him.

Then I took his mouth into mine, forcing my tongue against his. I let my nails dig into his skin, causing him to flinch slightly in pain, but he didn’t let it get to him.

Instead, Max worked at getting my top off. There wasn’t near enough room in the Chevelle as big as it was, but it was cold outside and we were at the lake, which was still slightly frozen over. Sure, making love would keep us warm, but I wasn’t ready to make love out in a public place, so to speak.

Max stopped and tossed his head back. “I don’t have a condom,” he sighed.

“We didn’t have one the first time either,” I reminded him.

“I can drive fast.”

But I shook my head, kiss his chest, then his lips. “It’s ok,” I told him.

“Liz, we’re 18, what if you get pregnant?”

I let my arms drop from around Max and rolled my eyes. “You know, you’re really killing the mood.”

One of Max's eyebrows rose as he laughed. “You’re not scared of getting pregnant?”

“No, I’ve got it covered,” I replied.

“Care to explain?”

I rolled my eyes again and turned over.

“What’s that?” Max asked, feeling the patch on my lower back.

I turned back over. “It’s Orthoevra, the birth control patch. I’ve been using it for a while now.”

Max gave a sly grin. “You’re prepared, aren’t you? You’ve planned ahead.”

“I heard that the last time we did this,” I smiled. “And like I told you then, ‘I’ve been waiting a long time for you, for this.’”

Max looked down and swallowed the lump in his throat. “Thank you, Liz,” he said softly. He combed the hair away from my face and tucked it behind my ear as he looked deep into my eyes. “Thank you for saving yourself for me. Thank you for waiting for me.”

I stared into his amber eyes and smiled. “I would wait forever for you.”

Next update: Epilogue

First and foremost, I have to thank, you, the readers, for all the support, the feedback, and interest. I'm happy to have shared this story with you, and I'm definitely looking forward to share more. I am completely grateful to you all for reading. I have never completed a story, but now I can say I have, and it's thanks to all of you. Thank you so much. I don't know how else to say it.

I have to especially give thanks to my wonderful beta, lovalien, and my first beta, LysCat. Deb, you've been the absolute greatest beta. You're always quick to respond and you give such great response, and when I ask of something from you, you're willing to give me what I need. I value it all. Thank you so much.

I also want to say that it has been such a great pleasure to write this story. I've had so much fun doing so. Ideas, dialogue, and motions would come to me at all points and times during the day and I've enjoyed every second of making it into a story.

I'm so sad to see this story end, I actually prolonged posting this because I didn't want it to be over, but it is and so this story is done. But where this story ends, another begins.

Once again, thank you for letting me share this with you all and thank you for accepting it so greatly.

-hoLLyBEHRy



Epilogue

February 19, 2003

I’m Liz Evans. It’s February 19th and one year, five days ago, my husband and I came to life.

February 14th, 2002. It wasn’t just another Valentine’s Day, it was the day that Max Evans and I, the former Liz Parker, got married. It had been a long, strange trip up to that day, but nonetheless, that day finally came and Max and I were married in front of our family and friends.

Aside from Michael getting my wedding band stuck on his finger and Max getting a little choked up, the beautiful wedding ceremony went on without a hitch. Yet, the wedding was only a few minutes of our wedding day. I can’t deny that I was so overjoyed and happy and so in love on my wedding day, because I was. I was so ecstatic, joyful, and madly in love. But being in Roswell, New Mexico, I also can’t deny the fact that the day was full of anger, betrayal, and pain from several of us, because it was. There was all this built up hate, frustration, and hurt. Most of it came from buried deep within ourselves, but in the end, everything came in full circle and Max's and my love conquered all. I hate to use the cliché, but it just fits, believe me.

It had been a long, strange trip up to that day…
I won’t go into detail about all the events that led up to our wedding day because then this wouldn’t be a journal entry, it would be an epic poem, like the Iliad or the Odyssey.

While I won’t have the memory of those events written down, I have them stored in my mind. I can’t just forget about all those events/issues. I don’t think I want to. They’re what made me stronger and they’re what made me have more faith in and love for my husband, and I like to think that it goes both ways.

My husband. He goes by the name Max Evans, Maxwell Jeremy Evans, if you want to get all technical. In a life before the one that I know now, he was Zan, a king on another planet in another universe. As Zan, he had made consequential decisions in that past life, resulting in the destruction of his former self.

It’s truly sad that he perished in that life, but in my opinion, that’s a load of garbage. I don’t think it’s sad at all. If Zan didn’t perish, then I wouldn’t have Max, and I wouldn’t be alive today. I shouldn’t benefit or be happy as a result of a…being’s death, but I have and I am.

Finding love, making friends, discovering pasts, learning of destinies, learning about ourselves, letting go of love, losing friends, realizing true destinies, losing love a few times, and making dreams reality are just some of the things that my friends, and Max and I have experienced. They are just some of the events that occurred the three years before Max and I were married.

Despite all the bad and the ugly, Max and I were married. I can’t emphasize that enough only because I know that it wasn’t supposed to happen. Max and I were never supposed to get married because apparently, it led to the end of the world because our marriage resulted in losing a key part of the Royal Four. I was the key now, though, and the world isn’t going to end. So maybe I was wrong before: Max and I really are supposed to be husband and wife.

We never have heard from Tess since she disappeared. None of us really cared. We were happy as long as she was out of our lives, but we do keep our eyes open in case she happens to make another unexpected visit. We just don’t bet on it.

A month after Max and I were married, we went on a “second” honeymoon to Santa Barbara. He had said we were going on a little drive. The “little drive” ended in Santa Barbara where it was nothing but beautiful beach and scenery and serenity. Max managed to find this little beach house that was on its own stretch of private beach. He rented it for a month and so we spent a month together in seclusion, and as beautiful as the rest of Santa Barbara may be, Max and I never saw it. We never strayed far away from the beach house, and if we did, Max and I were always together. Every morning I’d wake up to breakfast in bed, because my husband woke up with the sun, and for the rest of the day we’d spend it on the beach or in the beautiful beach house. There were no TVs, computers, or stereos, but Max did bring CDs along, and when we didn’t feel like listening to a CD play over and over again, Max and I would make our own music.

A week after we got back from the honeymoon, Max was promoted to director of medical affairs and clinical research at Behr&Appleby in Boston, a job which he took to put some money in the bank. I graduated from West Roswell High School with Michael, Kyle, and Maria. I gave my valedictorian speech that put tears in my husband’s eyes, and a month before our big move across the country, Max graduated from medical school.

Max has been working for six months as director of medical affairs and clinical research at Behr&Appleby: Boston and just decided to start his residency at Boston General Hospital. I’m finishing up my first year at Harvard at the top of the freshman class.

Maria was accepted into the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She’s going to school full time and playing clubs at night. Michael tagged along with three of us to Massachusetts where he’s planning to open a club he’ll call ’47. He hopes to open the bar with the financial support of Max. The two of them live with Max and me in our four bedroom home in Cambridge. Jesse and Isabel have bought a home just across the street from us. When Jesse’s two weeks notice are done at my father-in-law’s law firm, they’re flying over.

Kyle’s doing great in college, he helped the University of Southern California win an NCAA championship title. Something about a 13th inning and him hitting a homerun. Max and Michael have seen him on ESPN a few times. Kyle’s getting a lot of news.

We’ll see him in Roswell in a few days to anticipate the birth of his and Maria’s half-brother or sister. Valenti and Amy decided on James Alexander if they have a boy and Jamie Alexandra if Maria and Kyle get a little sister. The Valentis would have given their child the first name of Alexander or Alexandra, but Isabel claims to have dibbs on it.

I’d like to say that a Max Jr. or a little Liz is running around the house, but I can’t. Right now, Max and I are enjoying life as a married couple. I know that our life will only get better with a baby. We’ll just have to live each day as it comes.

I watch my husband as he sleeps. Five days ago was our one year anniversary. I had a wonderful first year as Mrs. Liz Evans, Max's wife. I can’t help but smile knowing that I’ll have that title and that I’m going to be his wife for all the years to come.

It’s been a year and five days since I got married. I used to go by the name Liz Parker. That name didn’t change on the day my husband and I got married. It changed on the day my husband saved my life, nearly three years before our wedding.

I’m Liz Evans, and I’m happy.


On the next season of Roswell
The Right Way: Complications

{Michael}

“Michael, we’re going to have to open the club without Max,” Jesse said.

Giving another glance at my watch and looking over the heads of the people in the crowd waiting outside, I shook my head. “No,” I replied “We’ll wait another five minutes.”

I continued to worriedly look out the glass doors thankful that I had my back to the girls and Jesse. They wouldn’t see the worried expression on my face. Damn it, Maxwell. Where the hell are you?

***

[Kyle]

I could hear her cries. “KYLE!!!” she shouted. “Kyle! Wake up…please…”

***

{Max}

I winced in pain as the officer snapped the handcuffs around my wrists. “Max Evans,” he said. “You are under arrest for the murder of former FBI agent Anthony Burns.”

***

{Liz}

“Happy 2nd wedding anniversary,” Max grinned, handing me a box while trying unsuccessfully to hide his smile.

The velvet box opened with a creak and revealed a beautiful necklace with heart-shaped diamonds.

“You spoil me, Max,” I smiled.

“Only because you deserve the best.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “You do too,” I replied. “You deserve all you want.”

Max shook his head and grabbed my hand. “I’ve got all I want.”

I couldn’t conceal my smile as I stared at Max and I holding hands. I moved my husband’s hand off my lap and placed it flat against my stomach. “Now you do,” I told him.

“What?” Max laughed.

“Well, now you’ve got the family you wanted. You—and I—have a baby too,” I smiled. “I’m pregnant.”

***

{Max}

“Wait!” I ordered. They proceeded to wheel Liz’s bed out the room anyway. “Wait! Where the hell are you taking her, Paul?”

The doctor stopped as the nurses went on without him. “Max, there are some complications,” he said gently. “Liz is going into premature labor. Your baby wants out and so we’re taking Liz to surgery. She’s going to need a Caesarian.” All the while he spoke, Paul glanced down at the floor or off to the side. He couldn’t stand to look into my eyes.

I had made a mistake…

I hope those of you who have asked about a sequel got the answer you were looking for. You can actually check out the banner for the next story here, where the story will also be posted with music. Thank you all once again.