I’ll Never Let You Go (CC M/L MATURE) COMPLETE

[Heavenli24]

Banner by Amara.

Title: I’ll Never Let You Go
Author: Heavenli24
Pairings/Couples/Category: M/L
Rating: TEEN/MATURE
Disclaimer: The characters of "Roswell" belong to Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, WB, and UPN. They are not mine and no infringement is intended.
Summary: This is the sequel to Lean on Me, which was set at the end of Cry Your Name (you can find it here). In Lean On Me, Max told Liz that he was going to help her find out the truth about Alex’s death. This story begins the morning after.
Author's Note: I couldn’t tell from the episode Cry Your Name if Alex’s funeral was held during the week or at the weekend, but for this fic I have assumed that it was held on a Thursday and so the next day is a school day. The title is taken from the Third Eye Blind song, Never Let You Go
Author's Note 2: Sorry about the delay in posting this. It's just been a crazy week for me, but hopefully I'll now have more time to sit down and write new parts for this.


***
Part One

The loud beeping of the alarm clock woke Liz at 7am. She was confused at first when she opened her eyes and reached up to rub the sleep from them. She didn’t remember climbing the stairs to her room, let alone going to bed. A few moments later it dawned on her: Max had come over last night; he’d comforted her and apologised to her and then had been kind enough to hold her until she fell asleep.

Liz smiled as she remembered how safe she had felt in his arms and turned her head towards where he had been lying beside her. Her smile faltered when she realised that he was no longer there, but she then realised that he must have returned home to his parents and Isabel. They would probably be worried if he had been out all night.

Her thoughts turned to Isabel. God, how was she coping with all of this? It had taken a lot for her to finally let someone in and to allow herself to get close to Alex and now any chance they had to be together had been taken away. Liz made a mental note to ask Isabel if there was anything she could do for her when she next saw her. She had heard from Maria that Isabel was planning on graduating a year early and going off to college in San Francisco. To Liz, it sounded an awful lot like she was running away from the situation which was possibly not the best thing to do right now.

After a couple of minutes of contemplation over the events of the night before, especially of Max’s insistence that they would discover the truth about Alex together, Liz decided that it was probably best get out of bed and face the day. She had no idea how she was going to act around Max when she saw him. Was the closeness between them last night just a momentary lapse due to everything that was happening around them or could it really be that they were on the way to becoming good friends again?

Liz had really missed spending time with Max. There had been so many times over the last few months that she’d been on the verge of going to him and blurting out the truth about what he’d seen the night of the Gomez concert back in October. Seeing the hurt on his face every time he’d looked at her afterwards had almost torn her apart. She just wanted to tell him that it had all been a lie and that she was still in love with him.
But whenever she caught a glimpse of him with Michael or Isabel or Tess she was reminded of their destiny and what might happen if their four-square was ever broken up.

Liz shook her head to rouse herself from the deep thoughts consuming her and returned to getting ready for the school day. Maria had promised to give her a ride to school so that together they could face the whispers and stares that Liz knew would be aimed at them by the rest of the student body. She was glad that she wouldn’t have to brave it alone.

As she got dressed and brushed her hair, Liz wondered how Max was holding up this morning. When they had spoken last night, she had been so caught up in her own emotions that she hadn’t thought to ask him how he was handling everything. She couldn’t even imagine how he must have felt being the one to climb into that van and attempt to save Alex. It must have been devastating for him to realise that he couldn’t help him.

Liz placed the hairbrush down on her dressing table, staring at herself in the mirror as a lone tear escaped from the corner of her eye, slowly making its way down her cheek.

***

Max was awake long before his alarm sounded that morning; in fact, he’d barely gotten any sleep at all, his mind consumed with thoughts of Liz. He hadn’t wanted to leave her alone, but he’d known that his family would be wondering where he was. So he’d waited until she was sleeping peacefully before he’d slipped out onto her balcony and down the ladder into the alley behind the Crashdown.

Actually, that wasn’t strictly true; it took all of his willpower to leave her asleep on her bed. After removing his arm from behind her head and making sure that she was comfortable, he had just sat on the edge of the bed and watched her sleep.

As his eyes roamed over her drawn, yet still incredibly beautiful face he’d questioned how it was that they had grown so far apart. They had almost been like strangers to each other recently and he hated that. Although he still felt hurt and betrayed by what he had stumbled upon in her bedroom that night in October, he had to admit that he needed Liz in his life, especially now. He wasn’t sure how much more he could handle. Seeing Alex lying in that van outside the morgue and realising that he could not heal him, had affected him more than anything else had in his entire life. All he’d wanted just then was to break down, to fall apart in someone’s arms. But instead, he’d had to be the strong one, comforting everyone else; desperately attempting to convince them all that everything would be okay.

That was partly why he’d gone to see Liz the night before, to talk to someone, but when he’d seen how distraught she was, he immediately pushed his own feelings aside, focusing on her alone. At that moment Liz’s feelings were more important to him than his own and he would have done anything to help ease her pain. Max hoped that Liz would be okay, that she would recover from all of this. He’d truly meant what he’d told her, about working with her to find out the truth. He was more than willing to put the past few months behind them and start over.

However, there was still the question of Tess and their supposed destiny. He didn’t think that he could just abandon that part of his life, no matter how screwed up it was all becoming. Tess would most likely be offended if he told her that he no longer wished to work on memory retrieval exercises with her. To be honest though, he’d much rather concentrate on the present and his life on Earth than on a past life that no longer existed. Thinking about it, he realised that he had mostly gone along with it for her sake, not because he had any real desire to explore his past.

Liz had told him that she knew he’d kissed Tess at the Prom, and that she was okay with it. But he knew that deep down she probably wasn’t. His own blood boiled at the mere thought of Liz even touching anyone else, let alone kissing them and if she had once felt about him even close to the way he’d felt about her all these years, he guessed that maybe she was not as okay with it as she claimed.

With that thought, he decided that he had to talk to Liz again, to explain exactly why he and Tess had kissed, that it really wasn’t what she obviously thought it was and that he wasn’t okay with it. In truth, he really had no idea what had possessed him to kiss her. One minute he was merely telling her that he had remembered their first kiss back on Antar and the next they were re-enacting it! How exactly had that happened?

Max was startled out of his thoughts by the blaring of his radio, indicating that the time was now 7.15am and he realised that he needed to stop contemplating and get his ass out of bed if he was going to make it to first period. As he pulled on a clean blue T-shirt and his favourite faded jeans, he made a resolved decision to find Liz at school today and talk to her. Deciding that he would track her down during fourth period (which fortunately they both had free) he sighed and swinging his backpack onto his shoulder, he made his way out of the house towards the jeep, where Isabel was already sat waiting for him.

***

Liz was still seated at the dresser when she heard the impatient beep of a car horn, the sound coming from outside her window. That’s probably Maria she thought and stood up to gather her books for the school day. Her suspicions were confirmed when her mother’s voice drifted through the apartment.

“Liz, are you ready? Maria’s here.”

“I’ll be right down Mom” she called, frantically stuffing everything into her backpack and pulling it onto her shoulder. She made her way through the apartment and down the stairs to the Crashdown.

“Bye, Mom, I’ll see you later,” she said, giving her a quick hug before walking through the swinging door into the café. She picked up a muffin from the counter and half walked-half ran outside to Maria’s Jetta.

“Hey, Maria,” she murmured as she slid into the passenger seat of the car. They exchanged a quick reassuring hug.

“Morning, Liz. How are you holding up after everything?” asked Maria, her voice filled with concern for her closest friend.

“I’m surviving, practically,” she sighed. “It’s just so hard, you know? To realise that he’s really gone.”

“I know what you mean. I keep reaching for the phone to give him a call, but I get halfway through punching in the numbers before I remember that he’s not there to pick up.”

“Oh God, Maria, what are we going to do?” Liz was distressed. “I haven’t even been here for you over the past few days. How are you doing? Is Michael taking care of you?”

A small smile graced Maria’s face at the mention of Michael. He had been so supportive and loving towards her. “Oh, Liz, he’s been so great. He’s even been spending time with me and my Mom while Sean’s out of town.”

Liz blanched and looked out of the window when Maria spoke about Sean. She really did not want to think about him right now. Instead she turned back to face Maria.

“You are so lucky to have him, Maria,” she said.

“I know; can you believe it? Who would’ve thought that Michael Guerin was capable of being so sensitive and caring towards another human being, right?” said Maria. Liz smiled at her in return.

“He’s not driving with us this morning?” she queried.

“No. He said he had something he wanted to do before school, so we arranged to meet up later,” replied Maria.

She then seemed to suddenly remember something. “Look, Liz, I’m sorry about that whole argument that happened between all of us yesterday. I know that you have a theory about what happened to Alex, but as far as I’m concerned it was an accident. I love you, Liz, but I don’t think my brain can handle any more than that right now, so do you think that we can agree to disagree about it and leave it at that?” Maria was practically pleading with her by this point.

“Maria, I can understand how you feel, but I don’t think I can drop it. I need to know what really happened, not just for my own peace of mind but for Alex’s sake as well ” She held up a hand to stop Maria before she could even begin to protest. “But I won’t try to drag you or anyone else into it,” she chose not to mention her agreement with Max in her speech. She felt that right now it should just be kept between the two of them. She continued, “And if I do find out the truth and you don’t want to know about it, I won’t tell you. But please understand that this is something I have to do.” She finished with unshed tears glistening in her eyes. Maria noticed this and immediately softened.

“Oh honey, if it’s that important to you, I won’t stand in your way. And thank you for accepting my feelings.” She pulled Liz into another quick hug. As she withdrew she caught a glimpse of the dashboard clock. “Oh God, Liz, we’re gonna be so late for school. We’d better go.”

With that she started the car and swiftly manoeuvred it onto the road heading towards the school.

Five minutes and some borderline dangerous driving later, the Jetta pulled up outside the school. Several students were still milling around outside, indicating that they had made it on time Liz stepped out of the car and clutching the shoulder straps of her backpack braced herself for the day ahead. Maria saw this and approached her, linking an arm through hers.

“Come on, girl, we can do this,” she said, her tone determined. She glanced in the direction of the group of students at the school’s entrance; already there were a few stares directed towards them. “Just ignore everyone else,” she advised and then tugged on Liz’s arm to get her moving.

Liz took a deep breath. “Okay,” she exhaled, “I’m ready, let’s go.”

Ignoring the speculative gazes of their peers, the two girls made their way into the school towards homeroom.

***

A few moments after Liz and Maria had entered the school, an old army jeep pulled into the car park and Isabel and Max got stepped out quickly. They too were late because of a conversation between them. As he made his way into the school building, Max recalled their words a few minutes earlier.

Max was apprehensive as he approached the jeep parked in the Evans’ driveway. Isabel was leaning against the side of the vehicle, her arms folded across her chest and a very annoyed expression showing on her face.

“Where were you last night, Max? Mom and Dad were worried. We needed you here Max; I needed you here. Do you have any idea what it’s been like for me the last few days?” she cried, her eyes filling with fresh tears. She tried to will them away, but it was no use.

Max’s expression softened and he pulled her into a comforting hug. “I’m sorry, Iz, I really am.” He pulled back to look into her eyes. “I didn’t mean to be gone that long, I lost track of time,” he explained. He had honestly been intending on checking on Isabel when he’d arrived home, but it was so late and he had truly been exhausted.

Isabel wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Where were you, Max?” she asked again.

“I went to see Liz,” he said and Isabel’s features softened in understanding.

“Oh God, I didn’t even think about how Liz was feeling. She and Alex were so close. She seemed so together and determined yesterday. How is she?” she enquired.

“She wasn’t doing so good last night. So I stayed with her for a while,” Max explained. “I apologised to her as well, you know for how I spoke to her at the Whitman’s yesterday. I was angry with myself but took it out on her. We talked through some things and we’re okay now,” he paused momentarily. “I’m sorry that I wasn’t here for you last night, but it was so late when I got back. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Max, it’s okay, I understand. But about what Liz said yesterday, what if she’s right and it wasn’t an accident? We don’t know who could be out there, looking for us. Oh God, what if it was Kivar? What if what happened to Alex is my fault? What if he used him to get to me? What if…” she was cut off when Max placed a consoling hand on her shoulder.

“Iz, calm down. It wasn’t your fault, ok? Alex knew the dangers involved with knowing us and he still stuck around. He still wanted to be with you. I would never blame you for something like this, none of us could, not even Alex himself,” he reassured her.

She raised her tear filled eyes to his and gave him a small watery smile. “Thank you, Max.” He smiled back at her.

“Come on, it’s getting late and we’d better get to school.” He pulled her into a quick hug and helping her into the passenger seat of the jeep before getting in himself. He gave her a quick, reassuring glance before pulling out of the driveway.

As he drove, he thought back to their discussion. He hadn’t offered any more information regarding his conversation with Liz. He didn’t think that either Isabel or Michael would approve of he and Liz investigating the accident right now, especially with Isabel’s decision that she was going to graduate early and move away to college in the fall.

He grimaced as he recalled that information, he would have to talk to her about it later. In his opinion, his sister was using college as an excuse to run from her emotions and that wasn’t going to solve anything. It was also important for all of them to stick together right now, particularly if he and Liz did manage to uncover something in their search.

A smile crept onto Max’s face at the thought of Liz. He would be able to see and talk to her again in a just couple of hours.

An urgent tug on his arm pulled Max out of his memories. He looked up; Isabel was standing at his side looking at him with an incredibly vulnerable expression. He nodded at her briefly and took her arm, linking it with his reassuringly before continuing into the school.

He understood completely how she was feeling at the moment. She was afraid to face their peers, unwilling to deal with the stares and whispers behind her back. He gave her arm a gentle squeeze as they swiftly walked through the corridors towards homeroom and the beginning of the school day.

[Heavenli24]

Part Two

Liz sighed as she turned the corner and headed towards the library. She was intending on spending her free fourth period doing her homework so that she could have a free evening. She didn’t want to admit it but her other reason for deciding to study rather than spend the hour with Maria was that she just was not in the mood to talk to anyone about the last few days. She just wanted some peace and quiet.

She reached the library and took a seat, removing her books from her book bag and placing them on the table in front of her. However, when she opened the reading material, she found that she just could not concentrate.

Her mind drifted back to earlier in English class. She had arrived a few minutes early and had found the classroom empty except for one student. Isabel. Remembering her worry over Isabel’s situation that morning, Liz took the opportunity to ask her how she was holding up and if there was anything she could do. Isabel had thanked her politely for her concern and told her she appreciated the offer, but that she just needed some space for a while. Liz was a little hesitant to leave it like that, but she felt she had to respect the girl’s wishes and not push any further.

With a nod to Isabel she’d then moved to take her seat ready for the beginning of the class.

Liz was roused from her musings by a gentle tap on her shoulder. Startled, she gave a small jump and whipped her head round to see who had interrupted her. It was Max.

“Hey,” she whispered.

“Hey,” he smiled back. “I just wanted to see how you were this morning. Er, can we talk?”

“I’m better today thanks, Max. Uh, sure we can talk,” she glanced around the quiet room. “Not here though.”

“I know. I have to go hand in a paper, but can you meet me in the Eraser Room in five minutes?”

“Uh, sure, Max,” she said. “I just have to go put these books in my locker and I’ll be there.”

“Okay, great. I’ll see you in five, Liz.” He smiled and then turned and quickly made his way out of the library.

Liz gathered up her work and carried it out of the room. No need to put it back in her book bag since it was going straight into her locker. She was glad that Max had approached her this morning.

She’d been looking out for him earlier but hadn’t seen him until just now. They needed to talk about what they had discussed last night and how they were going to find out what really took place the night Alex was killed.

Four minutes later Liz was standing outside the Eraser Room door. She was a little nervous about being alone with Max again. Despite how comfortable they had been with each other the night before, they were still not the best of friends, and being alone with him in the Eraser Room, with memories of some pretty heavy make-out sessions last year still lingering, could prove to be more than slightly awkward for not just Liz but Max too.

She took a deep breath, opened the door and stepped inside. Her breath caught in her throat; Max was leaning against the table in the corner, his arms folded across his chest. He looked gorgeous. Liz could see the defined muscles of his upper arms peeking out from the short sleeves of his t-shirt. Even though they weren’t together, no couldn’t be together, Liz was still extremely attracted to Max.

Actually, if she was totally honest, she was still in love with him and the thought of he and Tess together made her want to throw up. Yet she knew that the two of them belonged with each other and that the fate of the world rested on them being together.

Liz hastily pushed all thoughts of Tess aside and concentrated on the upcoming conversation between her and Max.

Unbeknownst to her, Max was also trying resolutely to push away his feelings for her. He knew that they were no longer a couple and, if he was honest he hadn’t completely gotten over her betrayal with Kyle a few months ago. However, he still sensed her the moment she reached the Eraser Room door and that feeling caused a rapid fluttering of butterflies in his stomach.

He crossed his arms over his chest in an attempt to calm himself, but all that did was make him even more on edge. When the door opened and she entered the room, his senses went into complete overload. She was still the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Sure, they had managed to keep things platonic between them for the past few months and he was opening up more to Tess, but that didn’t mean that his breath didn’t catch in his throat every time he saw her. He’d been in love with her for over ten years, for God’s sake!

Suddenly realising that he was staring at her, Max knew he had to break the silence.

“Hey,” he smiled.

“Hey, Max,” she replied. “What’s going on?”

“I just thought we should talk, you know, about what we’re going to do,” he said, his eyes on her face.

“Yeah, we should,” she replied, but then remembered something. “Max, before we do, I wanted to ask how you’re handling all of this. Last night I was so caught up in my own feelings, I didn’t even ask how you were doing. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it must have been for you go into that van and not be able to use your powers to bring Alex back.”

A pained expression crossed Max’s face as she spoke. He suddenly found himself fighting tears and attempting to swallow the sob that had just risen up in his throat. He looked away.

“Liz,” he choked out. “Don’t worry about me I’m…”

“No! Don’t do that, Max; don’t tell me you’re fine, because I know you’re not,” she scolded. “Talk to me Max, let me help you now. I can handle it”

Max looked back and saw the resolution and determination in her eyes. There was something else too, compassion. Compassion for him. That was all it took. His chest heaved and a sob escaped from his lips. He lifted his left hand from where it was folded in front on him and covered his face, wanting desperately to compose himself.

Liz was at his side in an instant, her hand rubbing soothingly up and down his arm. She looked up at his hand-covered face and saw that he was quickly losing control.

Without another thought she stepped in front of him and wound her arms around his neck. Almost immediately his right hand moved around to support her back whilst his left hand cupped the back of her head. He pulled her to him tightly, as if holding on for dear life.

“Hey, it’s okay,” she soothed. “Tell me.”

“It’s just, I was terrified, Liz,” he confessed. “I didn’t want to do it. I think I knew deep down that I wouldn’t be able to save him; that it was too late. But everyone was relying on me, putting so much faith in me that I had to at least try.

“But he was so cold and there was so much blood…” he couldn’t continue.

“Oh God, Max, what did we do? How could we have made you do that? I’m so sorry,” cried Liz, clutching him tighter.

The tears were now falling uncontrollably and Max buried his face in Liz’s neck. Her fingers twisted in his hair as she stroked it. She held him like that for several minutes while he let out his grief.

Liz found that she too was struggling to hold back tears as she comforted him.

Max slowed calmed down and pulled back from her to wipe his eyes with his fingers.

Liz gave him a small sad smile. “Feeling better now?” she asked as her eyes searched his.

Max took a deep breath before answering. “Yeah, a little. Thanks, Liz, I needed that.”

“Anytime, Max. That’s what friends are for.”

Max smiled briefly at her. Although he wasn’t completely satisfied with them being just friends, he could live with it for the moment. That wasn’t what was important right now anyway. They had other things to worry about. Like finding a killer.

Once Liz was sure that Max was okay and had composed himself again, she took a step back to face him fully. She looked up at him, making eye contact.

“So…” she began.

“So…” echoed Max tentatively.

“So what do we do now? Where do we start?” Liz asked.

Max felt uncertain at this point. Honestly, he had no idea how they would go about this. He was ready to assure her that everything would work out fine and that he would come up with something, but he realised that he needed to be completely honest with her.

They had to do this together.

She was so determined and invested in the idea that Alex’s death was not accidental that he couldn’t expect her to let him take charge and tell her what to do when.

“Truthfully, Liz? I have no idea at this point. I mean, I’ve seen the police files and the evidence and we’ve both talked to Valenti. Realistically, where else can we look for information about this? Do you have any suggestions?”

“Well, I was thinking, I found those concert tickets in Alex’s room. We could go through his things in his bedroom. Maybe there’s something else there that could help us,” Liz proposed.

“Are you sure we could do that, Liz? I mean, that’s almost an invasion of privacy. How would his parents feel about that?”

“I think they would be okay with it, I mean his dad let me sit in there for a few minutes yesterday. That’s how I found those tickets.” She paused for a moment, trying to think. Suddenly it came to her. “Wait a minute, Maria mentioned something in first period about doing a spread about Alex for the yearbook we could tell his Mom and Dad that we’re gathering things of his for the tribute.”

Max looked doubtful. “Are you sure about this? It seems a little risky.” Liz’s expression turned determined at this and Max knew it was best to back off, at least for now.

“Max, this could be the only way. Maybe there’s some information on his computer or something, I mean his, like, whole life is recorded on that thing, he was always using it for some reason or another.”

“Okay, Liz. I get it,” he responded quietly. “Tomorrow is Saturday, why don’t we head over to the Whitman’s in the morning and see what we can do?”

Liz looked relieved and somewhat pacified. “Okay, that sounds good, I get off work at 11am so we can go after that.” She agreed. “Thanks again, Max, you know for helping me out.”

“It’s no problem, Liz. And it’s not just for you, I want to know the truth too.”

They shared a smile that was intended to be brief on both parts, but somehow the minute their eyes locked, it became something more. Neither could find the strength or the desire for that matter to look away.

They each found themselves somehow drawn to the other and the short distance between them began to close. Their lips were just inches from each other and Liz’s eyes started to close of their own accord. She ran her tongue over her lips in anticipation, momentarily forgetting that they weren’t supposed to be doing this.

Max too was on the verge of giving in to his lingering feelings for Liz, but as he leaned in towards her, an image of her and Kyle flashed through his mind and he pulled back abruptly.

“Okay, so we’ll meet tomorrow and go over to the Whitman’s, see what we can find. How about I pick you up after your shift at eleven?” he said hurriedly.

Liz’s eyes snapped open at the sudden sound of his voice. She looked hurt for a second before remembering their situation and quickly pasted a smile on her face to cover it.

“Okay sure, Max. Tomorrow at eleven.”

She turned to leave the room. At the door she looked back at him. “Bye Max, I’ll see you later,” she smiled almost sadly and slipped through the door leaving Max standing in the middle of the small room, a dejected look on his face.

TBC...

A/N: I don't have a beta for my fics yet. Would anyone be interested? Please let me know. I can go and post a request on the Looking for a Beta thread if that's easier.

[Heavenli24]

Hey everyone, here's part 3.

Thanks to mlover25 for offering to beta for me

Part Three

The remainder of the day passed pretty uneventfully for both Max and Liz, although Liz was much more interested in thinking about Max and their meeting in the Eraser Room earlier than concentrating on her class work. She couldn’t believe that she’d almost given into temptation and kissed him right there! She was the one who’d pushed him away in the first place, insisting that they couldn’t be together. What was he going to think if she just turned around and did the complete opposite?

She glanced over at Max, who was seated near the front of the class, by the window. He appeared to be listening intently to their teacher, looking completely engrossed in the lesson. Liz took the opportunity to study him whilst he was unaware of the attention. The afternoon sunlight from the window bathed his features in a warm glow, which Liz thought made him look even more handsome than usual. She thought back to the previous evening at the Crashdown. She was still marvelling over the fact that Max was willing to put the events of the past few months behind him and help her uncover the truth. She wasn’t sure if she could be that forgiving if the circumstances were reversed.

Liz continued to watch him until she realised that he had started fidgeting, as if he knew that someone was watching him. She quickly averted her eyes and attempted to concentrate on the textbook in front of her.

Across the room, Max was quite unexpectedly getting totally involved in the topic being discussed by their teacher. After Liz had left him alone and just a little confused in the Eraser Room, he hadn’t thought he’d be able to concentrate on anything else. But rather than dwell on what had or rather had not happened between them for, he had decided to put it to the back of his mind for the moment. If he spent all his time analysing it, he would never be able to concentrate on anything else.

As the teacher began to wind down his speech, Max felt a strange tingle at the base of his neck, as if somebody was scrutinising him. He glanced round the room and his eyes rested on Liz. She looked completely absorbed in taking notes, something that made him smile to himself. He’d felt a small sparks of hope that perhaps she had been watching him, but she didn’t appear to have acknowledged his presence in the slightest. He turned his head back towards the front of the room. Adjusting his position slightly at his desk, he quickly brushed the strange feeling away and returned his attention back to the work. He was just being paranoid, that’s all it was.

He was extremely relieved when the bell rang to signal the end of the day. He could finally go home and just rest; it had been a tough week and he was glad that the weekend had finally arrived. Maybe he could take some time tonight to think about and possibly come up with some kind of strategy for going about his upcoming investigation with Liz

***

Max returned home from school to find his mother hard at work in the kitchen, although considering how her dishes usually turned out, he wasn’t sure he particularly wished to find out what she was cooking for dinner.

He gave an involuntary shudder as his thoughts drifted back to the frittata recipe his mother had tried a few months ago. He and Iz had to practically force themselves to swallow each mouthful.

Diane Evans chose that moment to turn around and notice her son standing in the doorway causing Max to hastily replace his slightly disgusted expression with a pleasant smile.

“Oh, hi honey, I didn’t see you there,” said Diane, looking a little flustered. The new recipe she was trying out was currently making no sense to her. “Did you just get in?”

“Hey, Mom. Uh yeah, I did,” he told her. “Is that dinner?” he asked.

“Oh, yes it is. I thought I’d try something new. I found an interesting casserole recipe that I just knew you kids would love,” she announced proudly as Max struggled to keep the smile plastered on his face. He could only imagine what ‘interesting’ ingredients might be going into it.

“Sounds great, Mom, I can’t wait to taste it,” he covered. “I’m just gonna go to my room. Uh, can you let me know when we’ll be eating?”

“Sure honey,” she smiled.

Max turned to leave the kitchen, but before he could take a step his mother’s voice stopped him.

“Oh, Max, have you seen your sister? Didn’t she come home with you?” asked Diane.

“No, she said she wanted to walk home today. I think she just needs some time to herself,” explained Max.

Diane’s face softened and she gave an understanding nod. Of course, her children had had so much to deal with in the last week.

“But she’s doing okay, isn’t she, Max? And you? You’ve been so strong about this, how are you doing?”

The expression on his face became sombre at her words and he found himself blinking back tears. Tears for Isabel, and for his mother’s innocence in all of this. She had no idea what their lives were really like, what they really had to deal with every day.

“I’m fine, Mom,” he tried to assure her, but she just gave him a look. “Okay, so I’m not really that fine, but I need to be here for Izzy right now. That’s what’s important.”

Max was struggling to keep it together. His mother’s question had brought back the memory of Liz asking him the same thing earlier that day, and the pain that had come with his tears.

“Honey…”

“No, Mom. Don’t, please. I can’t talk about this right now,” he pleaded. “I’m going to my room. I’ll see you at dinner.”

With that, he adjusted his backpack on his shoulder and quickly made his way towards his bedroom, leaving Diane staring sadly after her son.

***

Max closed his bedroom door behind him and leaned his head back against it, the backpack falling to his side. He squeezed his eyes shut tight in an attempt to stop the tears that were threatening to fall.

Everything was so messed up.

One of their group and Isabel’s almost boyfriend, was dead; Isabel wanted to move away; he and Michael spent most of their time at each other’s throats; he and Liz were barely even friends anymore and on top of all that; he was supposed to be king of a planet he’d never even seen and husband to a woman he did not love.

God, he was no king; he was barely even a man!

How did it all go so wrong in just a year?

Max let out a long sigh as he felt the tears begin to escape. Resting his head in his hands, he allowed his body to sink to the ground, exhausted from the stress of the whole situation.

He was unable to prevent a strangled sob escaping from his lips. He tried to get himself together, but the tears just kept coming. He could do nothing but let it out.

He had no idea how long he just sat there against the door, overcome by his emotions. When he did eventually lift his head from his hands, he realised that almost half an hour had passed. He briefly wondered if Isabel had returned home yet. He hadn’t heard her arrive, but then he had been a little preoccupied.

Glancing at the clock again, he realised he had to calm down and freshen up; he would be called him for dinner soon.

As if on cue, the sound of his mother’s voice floated towards his room.

“Max, dinner’s ready!”

Max wiped his eyes and quickly cleared his throat before replying.

“I’ll be there in a minute, Mom,” he called.

On his way to the kitchen, Max ducked into the bathroom. Thank god for alien powers, he thought as he passed his hand over his face, erasing all evidence of his mini breakdown.

Satisfied with his appearance, he left the bathroom, walking into the kitchen and taking a seat at the table where the food was now dished out and his mother and Isabel were already sat.

“Hey, Mom, Iz,” he smiled at each of them in turn as he spoke their names. “Where’s Dad?”

His mom turned to face him. “Your father will be down in a minute,” she said and then suddenly smiled eagerly. “He said to start without us, so go on kids, tuck in.”

Max and Isabel exchanged apprehensive glances before reluctantly digging in.

***

After dinner, Max sat on his bed with his back propped up against the headboard, his legs stretched out in front of him and a book open in his lap. He was supposedly trying to get a head start on next week’s reading assignment for English, but his mind was elsewhere.

He was thinking back over the last few weeks. Had anything been different recently? Any clue that something was not right? If Alex’s death was indeed not accidental, then surely something should have warned them that danger was on its way.

The only thing he could think of that had changed was that Alex had gained confidence since his trip to Sweden. Which was a good thing, although maybe not so much for Isabel, who had been more than a little disappointed that he’d been so cool with her after his return.

But who would even want Alex dead? He was not really that involved in all the alien stuff, apart from helping them out occasionally and the only things about him that stood out were his exceptional skills with a computer and his association with Isabel.

What if Liz had been right and someone had used Alex to get to Isabel and send a message to the Royal Four? But if that was the case, what significance did his death have, what did it mean?

The many questions were whirling through Max’s head. Logically he knew that thinking about it so much wasn’t going to help anything. He wouldn’t know anything more until he went with Liz to Alex’s house in the morning.

Max was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts by a tapping at his window. He removed the open book from his lap and wearily made his way towards noise. He didn’t dare to hope that it might be Liz; why would she be here anyway? He chastised himself. No, it was probably just Michael, ready to chew him out for something or other.

He pulled back the curtain, and through the glass came face to face with the one person that he really had not given much thought to during the last couple of days.

He reached forward to swing open the window.

“Tess,” he acknowledged flatly. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with her and her ideas of destiny right now.

“Max. Hey,” she gave a small, tentative smile. “This isn’t a bad time is it?”

Max gritted his teeth and forced a smile onto his face. “No, of course not, Tess.” He just couldn’t bring himself to be unkind to her and turn her away; it wasn’t in his nature.

They stood there looking at each other for a few seconds, before Tess grew uncomfortable and shifted her weight uneasily.

“Um, do you think I could come in, Max?”

“Oh, uh sure,” he said and moved aside to let her in.

She now stood in the middle of his room, her back to him as she glanced around. Her hands rested almost anxiously at the top of her thighs.

“What are you doing here, Tess?” he asked tiredly once she’d climbed through.

At his question, she turned to face him.

She took a deep breath, “You know, we haven’t really talked about what happened between us at Prom. I thought maybe we could do that now.”

Max’s expression was unreadable as he regarded her silently for a second before replying.

“Tess,” he said in a warning tone. “I really don’t think that this is the time to be discussing this. With everything that’s happened this week, discussing Prom is not exactly on my list of priorities.” He crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive gesture.

To be honest, he really had not been looking forward to talking with her about their supposed ‘relationship’ and he couldn’t believe that she had just brought it up like this. It was like, the least important thing to be thinking about right now.

“I know that, Max, but - ”

He cut her off, “But nothing, Tess. I’m not going to talk with you about this now,” he told her firmly. He brought one hand up to rub his forehead, and then returned it’s previous position. “Please, just go home. We’ll speak about all this in a few days when things have calmed down a bit.”

Tess reluctantly nodded her head, feeling defeated. She had hoped that she and Max could have talked about that kiss at the Prom, and in return she would have offered him comfort and a shoulder to cry on. Maybe that would have brought them closer, she thought as she made her way back to the window.

As she passed Max, she made a spilt-second decision and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck in a hug. Max stood frozen his arms trapped between them, what the hell did she think she was doing?

“Tess - ”

“Don’t worry, Max,” she said, her face buried in his shoulder. “I’ll be here for you. If you need someone to talk to about all this.” She pulled back and looked up at him.

He had no idea how to react.

“Uh, thanks, Tess,” he forced a tight smile.

“No problem,” she smiled back, forgetting for a moment that he’d asked her to leave.

“Look, I’m really tired, Tess…” he trailed off, hoping that she would take the hint. Luckily, she did.

“Oh, sorry,” she glanced at him one more time before turning back to the window and climbing back through. She gave him a slight wave and then left.

Max stared after her as she walked away, even more confused than before.

He closed the window and walked to his bed. Turning out the light he sank down under the covers and tried to get comfortable. After a few minutes of tossing and turning he realised that he was not going to get to sleep anytime soon.

God, what was he going to do?

TBC...

[Heavenli24]

Okay, here's part 4

Part Four

Liz sighed wearily and leaned on the table she was cleaning. One arm held her up as the other swiped across her forehead and her eyes closed automatically. It was almost 9 am on what had to be the busiest Saturday morning the Crashdown had seen in the last two months and there were no signs of it calming down anytime soon.

She was already exhausted and there were still two hours before she would be meeting with Max. She really hadn’t slept well last night, her mind spinning with possible theories and ideas. She also had to admit that some of the time had been spent thinking of Max and how she might possibly survive working so closely with him without giving into temptation.

Her eyes flew open in surprise and she jumped when a tray loaded with dirty dishes was dramatically dropped onto the table. Glancing to her side, Liz saw that Maria was standing next to her and she looked pretty annoyed.

“Man, I can’t believe this day!” she exclaimed. “It’s not even 9 and this place is packed! You’d think these people would have something better to do with their time than come here for breakfast!” she finished. Her voice had risen considerably by the end and some of the patrons had tuned to look at her.

“You know, Maria, keep talking so the customers can hear and pretty soon you’ll get your wish,” Liz retorted, although she made sure that her voice was significantly lower than Maria’s had been.

Maria’s response to this was to roll her eyes and make a face at her friend.

Liz saw and realised how she’d sounded. “Sorry,” she apologised. “I know what you mean though, I feel like I’m gonna fall asleep any minute.”

Maria’s expression turned to one of concern. “Didn’t sleep well, huh?” she asked. The look on Liz’s face told her that the assumption was correct. “Me either. I was tossing and turning all night.”

“It’s just that with everything - ” started Liz.

“Hey, I know,” Maria interrupted softly, her eyes full of understanding. “We’re all trying to deal with this right now, you don’t have to explain anything to me.”

Liz gave her a sad smile in response and Maria squeezed her arm in a comforting gesture.

“Come on, let’s get moving, or we’re going to have some very annoyed customers soon,” she said in a slightly more cheerful tone as she picked up the tray again and made her way towards the kitchen.

Liz stared after her for a few seconds before looking back down to the table she had begun to clean. Only one hour and fifty-five minutes until Max would be here, she realised as she continued on with her shift, somewhat comforted by the thought of seeing him again so soon.

***

Max reached the Crashdown at exactly 11 am. He parked outside and made his way towards the door. As he opened it and walked through, he caught a glimpse of Liz disappearing into the back room. No doubt she had just finished her shift and had gone upstairs to change.

As he waited for her to reappear, he thought back to the realisation that he’d come to in the early hours of the morning.

These last few days around Liz were the only times over the last year that he had felt like himself, like he had felt back in Sophomore year. Ever since that awful night last October, no, before that; when Liz had walked away from him and gone off to Florida last May, he had been feeling off-kilter.

He’d allowed himself to be sucked into a life full of alien issues and the responsibility of being a leader, and in the process he had lost sight of who he really was; his human side, and now he desperately wanted it back. His life was empty without it.

Max didn’t know how exactly he was going to get it, but somehow he knew that it would involve his relationship with Liz, in whatever capacity that may be.

He put his thoughts on hold as he saw Liz walk back through the swinging door; she looked amazing dressed in dark jeans and a green spaghetti strap top.

Liz smiled as she caught sight of him standing by the cash register. He almost looked nervous, she thought.

“Hey, Max,” said Liz once she reached him.

A small smile graced his face as he replied. “Hi, Liz. Are you ready to go?” he questioned.

“Yeah, Maria’s working until 12, so I’m free to leave now.”

“Okay,” he said and gestured to the door, inviting her to go through first. “Shall we?”

Liz smiled, “Thanks, Max.” She stepped past him to push the door open, and they left the café.

Reaching the jeep, Max held out a hand to Liz to help her up before getting in himself.

The short journey to the Whitman’s was made in almost complete silence, with only the odd word spoken between them. It wasn’t intentional, but Liz was trying desperately to stay awake after her bad night’s sleep, and at the same time Max was lost in thought.

They reached the house quickly and Mr. Whitman was happy to let them sit in his son’s room for a while. He told them that he understood how hard this must be for them and all of Alex’s friends and anything that he could do to help them was his pleasure.

Once they had entered Alex’s room and shut the door behind them, Liz immediately pushed aside her fatigue and headed straight for a stack of papers by the desk. She began rummaging around for anything that might give them a clue to Alex’s state of mind at the time.

Max stood with his back against the door and observed her frantic movements with a troubled frown.

“Liz,” he said urgently. But Liz appeared not to have heard him and continued her search, opening and closing the desk drawers in earnest.

“Liz,” he tried again. There was still no indication that she had heard. Max made his way over to her side and placed his hands over hers, halting her movements.

“What?” she snapped. She kept her eyes locked on the pile of papers she was holding, not willing to acknowledge the feel of his hands touching hers.

“Liz,” Max said softly. “Stop.” She turned her head to look at him and he could see the tears that had begun to fall down her face.

“What are you talking about, Max?” she sniffed, trying to keep the tears out of her voice. “We need to find out whatever we can while we’re here and we don’t have much time.”

“I know we do, Liz,” he comforted. “But we can’t just dive in and turn the room upside down. We need to be calm and rational about this. You know, think it through first.”

Liz’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s just…” she trailed off.

“Hey, it’s alright. I understand,” said Max. “Let’s go sit down, okay?”

He led her over to the bed and they took a seat on the end. “You mentioned yesterday about Alex’s computer,” Max started. “Why don’t we start there?”

Liz didn’t look at him but nodded her head anyway and reached up to brush away her tears.

Max continued, “Do you know how to get into it?” he asked, glancing over to the desktop where the laptop was lying.

“I think so,” replied Liz. “But there might be passwords set up.”

“Why don’t you have a go and I’ll take a look at the other things near the desk?”

“Okay,” Liz smiled at him and gave a slight nod. As she stood up to go to the desk, Max squeezed her hand in an encouraging gesture. Liz glanced briefly at him before making her way across the room.

Max watched her as the sat at the desk and opened the laptop. He realised that this was probably harder for her than for him. She and Alex had been close friends for a lot longer than he had really known Alex, or Liz for that matter. He knew that she was trying to be strong but he could also understand her desperation to find out the truth.

He was glad that he could be there to help her through everything. Maybe after they had solved this mystery he would talk to her seriously about their relationship (or rather, current lack of it) and try to work things out between them.

He had decided that perhaps it was time to put the past behind him. He’d really missed being in her presence, and in his opinion the main thing keeping them apart right now was the fact that she had slept with Kyle. So maybe it was time to forgive and forget. Deep down, Max knew that despite their so-called past relationship on Antar, he could never be truly happy with Tess and it was time that he set both her and Liz straight on that fact.

Renewed determination coursed through Max’s body as he mentally prepared to confront Liz with this decision, his attention now focused on how he might get through to her rather than on the task at hand.

He had yet to move from the bed.

Sitting in front of the computer, waiting for a file to load, Liz realised that the room had gone awfully quiet. It appeared Max had not yet made any attempt to begin searching and she felt a sudden rush of annoyance towards him.

Was he really here to help her, or did he just volunteer so he could keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t uncover anything that might put them in danger.

Ignoring the whirring of the laptop for a second, she whipped her head round to the bed where she was sure Max was still sitting. Sure enough, there he was, in the exact same position as he had been when she’d left him. She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but the moment her eyes met his, the words stuck in her throat.

The look in his eyes drew her in. It was a look that she hadn’t seen on his face in a long time and it made her uncomfortable. But no matter how much she wished she had the strength to, she just couldn’t tear her eyes away from him.

His gaze was almost…hungry; no, it was heated. And it caused a flush to creep up her neck and her stomach to give a flip.

Time seemed to stand still for the both of them.

Several moments passed and Liz wasn’t sure how much more she could take of this staring contest they seemed to be in. She made one last desperate attempt to break both the gaze and the silence that had descended upon the room. She felt a wave of relief when she finally managed to clear her throat and speak his name.

“Max…”

Unfortunately, it came out in more of a breathless whisper than an urgent signal to get his attention.

She tried again, “Max!”

This time it came out clearly and Max snapped out of his trance. He blinked and shook his head slightly, slowly realising where he was and what had just happened.

“Sorry, I must have spaced out for a second,” he tried to cover, his face burning. “Is something wrong, Liz?”

Liz glanced at the screen behind her quickly before replying, she tried desperately to push her feelings to one side, “No, nothings wrong, Max,” she assured him. “But weren’t you going to look through the rest of this stuff?” she asked, gesturing towards the mess on her left.

“What?” he asked quizzically. Then it dawned on him; he was supposed to be helping her search for evidence. He quickly thought of an excuse as to why he’d been staring at her. “Oh, yeah, of course. Sorry, I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“It’s okay,” she smiled. “I didn’t either” He sent her a sympathetic look and stood up to help.

They spent the next few minutes in silence, Liz searching through files and folders on the computer, Max leafing through Alex’s notebooks and schoolwork.

Liz was just about ready to give up, when something in the folder she was going through caught her attention. She double-clicked on the file and it opened up.

“Max! Come look at this!”

Max’s head snapped up at her sudden exclamation and he quickly made his way to her side, gazing over her shoulder at the screen.

He dropped the notepad he was holding.

“Oh my God!”

TBC...

8/15/05 - quick edit to change one of Liz's lines when she and Max meet at the Crashdown - Maria can't have just been starting her shift at 11 am so Liz could leave, because I had her waiting tables with her at 9 am! I can't believe I did that!

[Heavenli24]

Thanks again to everyone who has left feedback for this story, I look forward to hearing what you think.
I've been trying to get each part written and posted within a week, but as you can see it's not quite happening at the moment. I am trying my best, though!

Anyway, here's part 5...

Part Five

Max stared at the computer screen in shock. What was this?

The document was a thorough character profile, complete with pictures, personal information and a detailed life history.

That, in itself, was not exactly a cause for concern.

What was shocking to both Max and Liz was the subject of the profile, which was given in the title.

Elizabeth Parker.

Liz let out the breath she’d been holding, “What the hell?” she exclaimed, quite uncharacteristically for her.

Max scanned the file frantically. At the bottom there were several unanswered questions about Liz and her life as well as a section titled Theories. It appeared that Alex had been investigating Liz.

But, why? What would Liz have to hide? And why now? His mind was racing with questions. What was going on?

Max was so caught up in these thoughts that he missed the distraught look that had settled on Liz’s face. He finally noticed it when she spoke again.

“Max, what’s going on?” she sounded so vulnerable that Max’s attention immediately focused on her. “What was Alex doing?”

“I don’t know, Liz. But we’re going to find out,” he reassured her determinedly. He looked back to the screen, “This must be a mistake,” he said, almost to himself.

They both stared at the file for several moments, reading what was written there, attempting to take it all in. But Max soon realised that it was gonna take a good while to go through it completely and they wouldn’t be able to stay in Alex’s room for much longer without Mr. Whitman wondering what they were up to.

He glanced around the room quickly, until his eyes rested on the printer in the corner by the window. He turned back to Liz.

“Why don’t we print this off and then we can take a better look at home?”

Her eyes still fixed on the screen, she reluctantly nodded her head yes. Max leaned over her to select the print option with the mouse. The printer came to life and they waited for the document to print. Max collected the freshly printed pages from the printer and handing a few to Liz.

“I printed two copies so we can both take one,” he explained. She nodded again and took the sheets from him, looking down at them. He noticed that what they contained had really shaken her up and he attempted to put her mind at ease.

“Look, Liz. We don’t know what this means yet. Just don’t worry too much about it right now, okay?” She raised her eyes to his face in acknowledgement.

Max smiled at her. “You look pretty tired, why don’t we meet up again later to look over this properly? I have to work this afternoon, but you could go home and get some rest this afternoon?” he suggested.

Liz smiled at him gratefully. As much as she wanted to analyse the printout of the file, she really was exhausted. “Okay, Max. I think I will,” she agreed. “But we’ll take a look at this again later, right?”

“Yeah. I’ll come over to the Crashdown after my shift and we can talk about this.”

“Okay, but can you meet me on the balcony?” she requested. Max shot her a puzzled look. Why does she want me to do that? Liz caught his expression and elaborated. “I’d rather not have to explain what we’re doing to my parents. They’d probably try to stop me looking into this.”

“Oh,” Max said in understanding. “Okay. Well, that’s fine. I’ll be there around 7.30.”

“Great,” said Liz. “Well, we might as well get going then. I don’t think I could handle any more investigating right now.”

She headed towards the door. “I’ll just go tell Mr. Whitman that we’re leaving now. I’ll meet you by the jeep, okay?”

Max nodded and watched her leave the room. He sighed and made his way out of the house to the car. He hoped, for Liz’s sake, that the content of the document that Alex had been working on had nothing to do with his death and their investigation. It was just for a school project or something, he told himself. You know, like a 'profile of your best friend' kind of thing.

Yeah, that’s what it was.

***

Max only had to wait a couple of minutes for Liz to emerge from the house. He helped her into the jeep again and they drove off. When they pulled up at the Crashdown, Max didn’t drive away immediately, but stayed and watched Liz until she disappeared inside the building.

He still had some time before he had to get to work and so decided to return home and grab something to eat. When he arrived at the house, he found Isabel sitting alone in the kitchen. She was staring into space, a forlorn expression gracing her features.

Max reached over to grab an apple from the fruit bowl in the middle of the table and then sat down across from her.

“Hey, Iz.”

The sound of her brother’s voice startled Isabel and she jumped, her hand moving to cover her heart.

“God, Max! Don’t do that,” she exclaimed.

He winced and then looked slightly sheepish. “Sorry.”

“I thought you were working today, Max,” said Isabel, slightly annoyed that he’d interrupted her thoughts.

“I am, but I don’t start for another hour,” he explained.

They sat in silence for a couple of minutes until Max couldn’t take it any longer. He turned to his sister.

“So what’s wrong, Iz?” he asked meaningfully.

“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong, Max,” she exclaimed, a little too quickly.

He just stared at her with a knowing look on his face. “Come on, Isabel. I know when something’s up.”

She sighed, “It’s nothing.” Max raised his eyebrows and Isabel gave up.

She held her hands up in surrender. “Okay! Okay, I’ll tell you.”

He just smiled at her gratefully and waited for her to continue.

She lowered her elbows to the table and rested her head on her hands, her fingers combing through her long blonde hair.

“Well, you know I was planning on going to college in San Francisco this Fall…” she started.

Max knew all right. In fact he had some things to say to her on that front.

However, for the moment he bit his tongue. He owed it to his sister to hear her out right now. His issues with her all too sudden decision could wait for now.

“Yeah,” he agreed, trying to keep the apprehension he felt out of his voice.

“Well, I’ve been thinking…” she trailed off uncertainly.

“Hey, it’s okay, Iz. You can talk to me about anything, you know that,” Max reassured her, as he reached out to take her hand across the table.

She took a deep breath and smiled at him a little. “I know.”

“I just, I don’t know what it is, but I feel like I should be here in Roswell, like something’s trying to keep me here” she stopped for a moment to really look at him. “But Max, I really want to go. No, I need to go. I just have to get away from here for a while.”

“Iz…”

“Look, Max. If you’re going to give me some lecture about how we all have to stay together and that it’s not a good idea to leave right now, then just stop right now. I don’t want to hear it, okay?” she snapped, tears beginning to form in her eyes.

“I wasn’t going to,” he replied indignantly. He tried again, “Look, I know you’re hurting and upset right now and who could blame you, but…” he stopped. “You wanna know what I think?”

“What?” she sniffed, not unkindly.

“I think that the only way that you think you can cope with what happened to Alex, is to get away from Roswell and everything that reminds you of him.” He continued quickly before she could interrupt, “Which is perfectly understandable, given the circumstances. But Izzy,” he paused briefly. “Are you sure that going away to a college hundreds of miles away, for four long years is really going to allow you to deal with everything that’s happened here?”


“Max, you don’t understand what it’s like for me here now,” Isabel burst out angrily. “Everywhere I go, I see and hear things that remind me of things Alex said or did and can’t handle it!”

“I do understand!” Max found himself raising his voice at her. “You don’t think I feel like that sometimes as well? Alex was my friend too!” he cried. “I was the one that had to going into that van to try and heal him. And I did try, Iz, but there was too much blood and he was so cold!” There was a pause. “There was nothing I could do and it kills me that I couldn’t help him.”

“Oh Max,” whispered Isabel. “I had no idea. I’ve been so busy trying to escape from everything that I haven’t even thought about anyone else.”

Max managed to calm himself down enough to give her a sympathetic smile and lower his voice.

“Look, I’m not saying that you can’t go anywhere, but right now I think that this is grief talking and it’s probably not the best time to be making big, life-changing decisions like that. But,” he continued, “You do deserve a break from Roswell. There’s only a couple more weeks left of school, how about you go stay with Aunt Sarah up in Colorado for a few weeks? I’m sure she’d love to see you,” he paused for a second. “You could still graduate early, but it would give you some time to think,. You know, away from everything,” he suggested.

Isabel was silent. Her immediate reaction was to tell her brother to stop interfering. It was her life and she could do whatever she wanted!

But deep down, she realised that her decision had been completely spur of the moment and to be honest, she hadn’t really thought it through properly, beyond getting out of Roswell.

“You know what, Max? Maybe you’re right. All I can think of right now is leaving this place. And I know that I’m being rash and impulsive, but I just can’t help it.”

“Hey, it’s okay to feel that way. But you know I’ll always be here for you. And so will everyone else. We’re all in this together, remember?”

His words comforted Isabel, and she smiled. “Thanks, Max. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’re my sister, Izzy. You won’t get rid of me. Ever,” he teased, trying to lighten the atmosphere. He was rewarded with a slight smile from her.

Max placed his forgotten apple on the table, stood up and made his way over to her. Realising his intentions, Isabel also got to her feet and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you, “ she whispered into his shoulder.

“Anytime,” he whispered back, giving her a comforting hug.

After a few moments he pulled back to look at her. “Are you okay now?” he asked.

“I think so. For now,” she replied.

“Okay,” he smiled. “I have to go get ready for work now, so I’d better…” he made a gesturing motion towards his room with his hand.

Isabel nodded, “Alright. But you’ll be around later?”

Max didn’t want to lie to her, but he didn’t feel that Isabel would be particularly receptive of the fact that he was going to be spending time with Liz tonight instead of with her.

“Oh, um, I’m not sure. I might have to stay behind and do inventory or something, so I might be back late,” he said quickly.

“Oh, well okay,” said Isabel, her face falling slightly. “But you’ll definitely be here tomorrow?” she knew she sounded needy, but right now she didn’t care.

“Yeah, of course. We’ll spent some time together tomorrow, just you and me, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed.

He reached out to touch her arm briefly before turning and leaving the kitchen.

Isabel watched him retreat to his bedroom with a still sad, but more reassured feeling than she’d had a few minutes ago.

TBC…

There is a line in here that is similar to a line in Cry Your Name, spoken my Max about trying to heal Alex. I didn't intend for it to be similar, but it was the only way that I could think to describe what Max saw and felt, and I thought I should acknowledge it.

[Heavenli24]

Okay, I managed to finish part 6, although I haven't had much time to check it over.

The next part will probably be out in a couple of weeks.

Part Six

Liz was woken that evening by a loud knocking at her window. As Max had so easily noticed earlier, she had been extremely tired and the second she entered her room after Max had dropped her home, she made a beeline for the bed.

Now, several hours later, and not completely aware of her surroundings, she merely shifted under the covers, squeezed her eyes shut tighter and ignored the incessant knocking in the hopes that it would eventually go away. She needed all the rest she could get before Max came over and they continued with their research.

Wait a minute! Max! An awful feeling swept over her. Shit, what was the time?

She cautiously opened one eye to look at the clock. Unfortunately, instead of glowing, red numbers being in front of her, she was directly facing the window, and the source of the noise that had roused her from her slumber.

Max. Kneeling by the window, gazing into her bedroom, a mischievous smirk playing on his lips.

Oh God! She groaned quietly and buried her face in the pillow. I can’t believe I slept that long! I’m not ready for him to be here yet!

It was then that she realised the knocking had ceased and she knew that if she didn’t get up and let Max in now, he would most likely take it upon himself to use his powers to undo the latch and come in anyway. And once he was inside he would just sit there and wait for her to wake up. She really didn’t want to face that awkwardness.

Liz slowly sat up in the bed, this time taking note of the time: 7.45. Wait, 7.45? Max said he would arrive around 7.30. Had he been here that long? Trying to get her attention for fifteen whole minutes? God, this was so embarrassing!

Slowly, unwillingly she turned her head back towards Max and their eyes met. The look on his face managed to be both apologetic and sympathetic at the same time. Liz reached up to run her fingers through her hair, which she was certain was no longer neat and tidy, and got out of the bed. She reached the window and slid it up to greet him.

“Hi,” she said sheepishly.

He grinned at her, “I guess you really were tired then.”

“Yeah, I guess I was!” she replied, a slight laugh in her voice. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t think to set my alarm. I didn’t expected to sleep that long,” she explained, before asking, “Have you been here long?”

“Only a couple of minutes,” he lied. “I had to stay at work later than I expected.”

Liz let out a small sigh of relief. “Look, why don’t you come in and I’ll just go freshen up in the bathroom?”

Max nodded and climbed through the window while Liz gathered some non-wrinkled clothes to change into and headed for the bathroom. She invited him to take a seat and make himself comfortable and told him she would be with him in few minutes.

Since the bed was unmade, Max took a seat at Liz’s desk and awaited her return. He felt slightly guilty for lying to her just now, but she probably would have killed him if he told her the truth.

And the truth was, he’d actually arrived on Liz’s balcony a few minutes earlier than their arranged meeting time. He’d hoped that she wouldn’t mind him being a little early, but when he approached her window, he saw that she was still asleep. His first thought was that he should leave and come back in a few minutes when she was awake, but for some reason he could not tears his eyes away from the vision in front of him. So he contented himself with sitting outside her window and watching herself sleep.

Lying there in sleep, she looked so peaceful and unaffected by the tragic events of the last week and Max wished so much that he could simply wave his hand and make all of her hurt and sadness and grief disappear. But he couldn’t and it made him feel helpless, that this time he did not have the power to heal the girl he loved.

Before he knew it, the beeping alarm on Max’s watch alerted him to the fact that the time was now 7.30pm and as he looked back at Liz in the bed, he realised that she had not yet arisen. He decided that he should wait a few more minutes to see if she would wake up naturally, and if not then he would try to get her attention by knocking on the window. He didn’t really mind waiting; after all, what was better than watching the person you were in love with sleep. Sitting here, with no one else around, Max allowed himself to imagine what it might be like to actually sleep beside her every night and wake up with her each morning. The idea seemed so… normal that it almost brought tears to his eyes. If only their lives could be normal.

The minutes passed and at 7.43, with no movement yet from Liz, Max decided that he’d better knock on the window. He tried several times, but still nothing and so decided to do it continuously in the hope that she would stir. As he raised his hand back up to the window, he mentally rolled his eyes at his dilemma. Was she always such a deep sleeper? And if so, how difficult was it going to be to get her up in the mornings?

Whoa, hold on there a second, Max! He thought. You’re getting a little ahead of yourself there!

He didn’t have too much time to dwell on her thoughts, because a couple of minutes later he saw Liz stir. He stopped knocking and found he couldn’t keep the smirk off his face when he saw her cautiously pry open one eye. He realised that she must have seen him at the window, because barely a second later she turned pale, as if she’d seen a ghost, and buried her face in her pillow.

He only had to wait a few moments before she sat up and ran her fingers through her hair, no doubt trying to look more presentable. However, Max could not have cared less about her appearance. To him, she always looked beautiful.

When she’d approached the window and opened it to speak to him, he’d found himself wondering how on Earth (or any other planet, for that matter) he was going to get through the rest of the evening alone with her in her room.

Now, sitting in her room, facing the bed, with its covers strewn about the bed in the most alluring way and the thought of Liz half naked in the bathroom, Max knew he was in trouble.

***

Across town, in a small two-bedroom bungalow, someone else was having trouble sorting through their emotions. However, these were not feelings of love or even of lust, but feelings of dread and fear.

Everything was so jumbled and confused in the person’s mind that no sense could be made of anything.

Something had happened. Actually, something was still happening. Changing. Something in the air was different.

But what? And why?

The questions just kept coming and the confusion continued. It was like something was missing, like a memory that was just out of reach, but if recovered, could uncover the truth.

This couldn’t be happening.

How had everything changed so much in the space of only a few months?

In the small room across town, the individual was trying to cope with the constant feeling that someone was trying to get into their mind, to push them out of the way. Like something was trying to take control of both their mind and body.

But what? Or who?

Something was seriously wrong and they had no clue what that was or how to fix it

These thoughts and questions continued to plague the mind of the person lying on the single bed in the bungalow. Questions that had prevented them from sleeping the past few nights and which had now put a stop the possibility of relaxation during the waking hours.

Would anyone even listen if they tried to explain that something was not right about the happenings of the last few weeks and months?

Would anyone even care?

***

By the time Liz emerged from the bathroom, Max had managed to push his personal feelings to the back of his mind and was ready to discuss the morning’s events; namely, the file that they had discovered on Alex’s computer.

As she came out of the bathroom, Liz wondered for a moment why Max had chosen to sit on the uncomfortable chair by her desk and not on her bed. But as her gaze slid to the bed she realised why. It was a mess! The covers were hanging over the side, threatening to fall any second. The sheets were rumpled and there was a huge dip in the pillow where her head had been resting. No wonder he didn’t want to sit there.

She sent him an apologetic glance and quickly grabbed hold of the duvet, hurriedly making the bed look more presentable. When she was done she took a seat on the end and faced Max.

“So…” she trailed off uncertainly.

“So,” Max started, but then found he didn’t really know what to say. Luckily Liz chose the next moment to shift into research mode and began firing questions into the air.

“What’s going on here, Max? Why did Alex have all that stuff about me on his computer? I mean, what possible reason could he have for trying to investigate me? Was he lying last year when he told me that he was okay with all this alien stuff? Did he not trust me? Was that it?” She finally managed to pause long enough to take a breath, but then continued in a forlorn tone. “Oh, God. Did he think that I’d done something to put you guys in danger? Cos Max I could never do that to you, I swear.” Her eyes were pleading with him.

“I know that, Liz,” he replied, in comfort.

He felt an overwhelming sense of dismay that obviously Alex hadn’t merely been carrying out a school project. But really he’d known that all along. He just hadn’t wanted to admit to himself that there actually was something strange going on here.

“Look, I don’t know, Liz. Do you have those sheets we printed out earlier? We should go through them properly and see if we can find any clues.”

Liz took a deep breath to calm herself down. “Okay.”

She reached for her backpack and pulled out the printed file and a pencil to make notes with. While she was doing that, Max pulled the papers from his back pocket and skimmed over them. He looked up at Liz and saw that she was ready to begin.

“Right, okay, well the first page just has your personal information on it. Nothing out of the ordinary,” he stated.

Liz watched him with baited breath. She hadn’t dared look at the file since that morning, a little afraid of what she might find. “What about the next one?” she asked.

Max looked up in surprise. “You haven’t read it yet?”

“Uh, no,” she looked up at him sheepishly. “I couldn’t bring myself to look at it, you know?” she explained.

Max nodded in understanding, holding her gaze for a second before looked back down at the pages and continued.

“Well, the second page is pretty confusing. He’s written all these questions about you, but he doesn’t seem to have answered them.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Like where you were on certain dates and at certain dates. But, Liz, all of these times were when you would have been at work or at school… or out socialising.” He had to mask a grimace at the thought of Liz going out and having fun with people that weren’t him, guys that weren’t him. After what she’d obviously done with Kyle, who knew how many other guys she’d gone out with since? He knew he was just being jealous and irrational, but he couldn’t help it.

“But, why would he be suspicious of you, Liz? It just doesn’t make sense!”

Liz could only nod mutely, her eyes fixed on Max’s hands holding the pages.

She had no idea why.

A shiver ran down her spine at the thought of Alex probing into her life like that.

She wasn’t sure she really wanted to find out.

TBC…

A/N: I'm afraid not much happened in this part. I didn't have time to include everything that I'd planned to and I wanted to get it posted before I went away. The next part should have more happening in it!

[Heavenli24]

Well, I finally managed to get rid of the writer's block and finish part 7 . It's a little shorter than usual, but I felt that I'd already reached a suitable place to end it.

Hopefully, I'll get part 8 out in the next few days.

Hope you enjoy...

Part Seven

Two hours later, they were still no closer to discovering what had been going through Alex’s mind in the months before his death.

What they had determined though, was that Alex had been absolutely certain that Liz was up to something and that she knew more about the aliens than she was letting on.

But what obviously didn’t add up was that Liz truly had no idea what he thought she had done.

Even if she was a good enough liar to convince Max that she had no other knowledge of Michael, Isabel or him, other than what they’d found out together, when in reality she did, there was no way she could possibly lie to herself.

She had no memory or knowledge of being or knowing anything other than what it was to be human. All she knew was her life spent growing up in Roswell.

In fact, Liz Parker had not even believed that aliens existed until she met Max Evans and discovered his amazing secret.

There must have been some kind of a mix up, maybe someone had got to Alex and had messed with his mind, convincing him that she was a traitor and was working against him and humanity in favour of an alien race.

But who would do that? And for what reason?

To create a rift between the group in an attempt to get rid of her, perhaps?

But that didn’t make any sense. Why would anyone target her, an innocent human, whose only real ties to extraterrestrial life were her all-encompassing feelings for one?

Why not go after the Royal Four directly?

However, there was a nagging thought in the back of her mind that just wouldn’t go away.

Tess.

She had the ability to mindwarp, to make people see things that weren’t real. And if Liz was completely honest with herself, she knew that Tess probably still considered her a threat when it came to Max, despite the fact that she’d backed away from him, leaving the coast clear for Tess to make her move.

She shook her head. What was she thinking?

Sure, Tess might have a jealous streak when it came to Max, but she’d never really been mean or vindictive.

In fact, over the last few months she’d seemed to settle in well with the Valenti’s and life in Roswell. She’d helped them out on so many occasions now and after those first few awkward weeks when she’d first arrived in Roswell, she’d never given any of them a reason to be suspicious of her.

Liz thought back bitterly to that night when Future Max had come to her and told her that he and Tess were meant to be together; that she had to make his younger self fall out of love with her so that he would turn to Tess and, along with Michael and Isabel, the four of them would then become a complete unit with the strength to defeat their enemies.

Suddenly, thoughts of Future Max and what she’d given up for him engulfed her and she became completely oblivious to her surroundings and the fact that Max was sitting right across from her on the bed. As her mind ran through the events of the few short days that a 31-year-old Max Evans had been in her life, she suddenly realised something.

Alex’s death really was her fault.

But not in the way that the printed file in front of her implied.

With a cold feeling of dread, Liz realised the awful ramifications that her decision to help the battle-weary, older Max Evans change the future had caused.

Her brain was stuck on one simple phrase of speech. It was whirling around and around in her mind, not giving her a second’s peace.

“We had a great wedding. You called Maria, Michael, Isabel, and Alex, and had them meet us halfway.”

Alex.

Alex had been at their wedding. When they were nineteen.

In that timeline he had still been alive.

If she hadn’t made Max believe she had slept with Kyle and therefore changed the future then he would be alive now.

At that awful thought, Liz closed her eyes in silent despair, her hand coming up to her mouth to muffle the strangled sound that suddenly erupted from her throat.

This was all her fault.

The sudden, unexpected noise that broke the somewhat comfortable silence that had settled over the room caused Max to look up sharply. He had been staring once again at the file, deep in thought. He just couldn’t fathom how Alex might have gotten it into his head that Liz was working against him, against them all. Where could he have got the notion that she was a traitor?

He hated to admit that his first thought was that Tess was somehow involved.

Although she had been accepted into their tight-knit group and they had been gradually forging a tentative relationship, he still wasn’t certain that he completely trusted her.

He had to admit that she had given them no real reason to be wary of her motives, there was something about the way that kiss happened at Prom and her sudden appearance at his window last night, when she gave no indication that she knew her appearance was ill-timed and inappropriate, which made him feel a little uncomfortable around her, although he had been careful not to show it.

He was just beginning to feel frustrated with himself for not being able to come up with any ideas that would help them, when the muffled sound from Liz reminded him that he was actually not alone in the bedroom.

When he looked up and saw her sitting cross-legged in front of him with her eyes closed, brow furrowed and right hand covering her mouth, he immediately forgot about his search and sat up straight, gazing at her in concern.

“Liz? What’s wrong?” he asked worriedly, it wasn’t like her to just break down like this, especially in the presence of others.

There was barely a response from her, just a slight shake of her head and another stifled sob.

Max leaned forward towards her. “Liz?” He reached over and placed a comforting hand on her knee.

She opened her eyes slightly and he saw the tears glistening in them, threatening to spill down her face.

“Oh God,” she whispered from beneath her hand, not really seeing him. “It’s all my fault.”

Max was confused, she couldn’t honestly think that she did have something to do with Alex’s death? He knew there was no way she had done anything wrong. He had seen into her soul, remember?

“What’s all your fault, Liz?”

This time his voice seemed to snap her out of it and she gave him a fearful glance, realising that she’d spoken aloud. He was not meant to hear that.

She removed her hand, placing it in her lap and tried to compose herself. “Nothing, I…I didn’t…” She didn’t get any further because the tears finally fell and she couldn’t do anything to stop them.

“Liz,” Max started. “Look, I know something’s wrong. Please, just tell me what it is,” he asked softly, his eyes pleading with hers.

“Surely you can’t think that any of this is true?” he questioned, gesturing to the pieces of paper strewn about the bed

“No, but – “ Max cut her off.

“I know…we both know, that you were not involved in Alex’s death in any way.”

At his fierce declaration, her bottom lip began to tremble once again. What was she going to do?

While it was true that she had not been directly involved in Alex’s recent demise, she did hold some of the blame. But how could she tell Max that without revealing the truth about Future Max and she and Kyle the night of the Gomez concert?

She could see Max’s concerned and worried expression as she studied her face carefully and it was then that she knew she had to tell him.

But, maybe she would be able to bend the truth slightly and not divulge to him everything that she’d done.

She was suddenly plagued with doubts. What if he could tell that she wasn’t being completely honest with him? Would he believe her story no questions asked, or would he see through it and force her to tell him the whole truth?

There was only one way to find out.

She lifted her chin boldly and looked straight into his soft, pleading eyes.

She took a deep breath, “Max, there’s something I need to tell you.”

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Part Eight

There’s something I need to tell you.

Liz’s words rang deafeningly in Max’s ears and his heart beat wildly in his chest. What did she have to say to him? Had she been lying earlier? Did she know something about all this that she’d been keeping from him?

He realised then, as the questions ran through his mind, that he had been staring at her and hadn’t yet responded to her statement.

“What,” he swallowed audibly. “What is it, Liz?”

When she didn’t say anything straight away, he tried another tack. “You know you can tell me anything, Liz. I’m not going to judge you.”

“Yeah…I know, Max” Liz nodded and then mentally prepared herself to begin. It had taken almost all of her courage just to say that opening sentence that now she wasn’t sure she’d have the nerve to actually go ahead with it and confess the truth to him.

But his obvious concern for her, despite their shaky relationship recently, gave her the confidence to continue.

“What I said just now, Max, about it being my fault…I was talking about what happened to Alex,” she said, staring down at her hands.

Max looked bewildered, “What? But that’s just not possible – ” Liz cut him off hastily.

“I’m not talking about his actual death, Max. I know I had nothing to do with that,” she reassured.

“Then, what – ”

She stopped him again, “There’s something you don’t know, Max; something that happened to me a while ago. I never told you about it because I was sworn to secrecy, but I think that Alex dying last week may have been a consequence of it,” her voice shook as she tried to explain the best she could.

Now Max was utterly confused. He didn’t have a clue what Liz was talking about. How could she think that something she’d done months ago could somehow be the cause of the mysterious death of one of her best friends?

“Liz, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said tentatively.

Liz raised her eyes to his in understanding. “I know. And I’m going to try my best to explain it to you, but you’ll just have to bear with me, okay?”

He still seemed sceptical, but nodded nonetheless. “Okay.”

“Well, one evening a few months ago,” she started. “I received an unexpected visitor; someone I never, ever imagined would appear at my door.”

Max looked at her quizzically, but said nothing.

“In fact, at first I refused to believe that they were really standing in my bedroom, right in front of me; I thought it was a trick.” She paused, trying to gauge his reaction. When she received nothing but a now curious expression, she continued. “See, Max, this person, this visitor I had, they told me they were from the future. Fourteen years in the future to be exact.”

Now that got a reaction out of him. “What?” he cried incredulously, sitting up straight. “Liz, what are you talking about? Time travel is physically impossible!”

She looked at him in understanding. “That was exactly my reaction too, Max. But this person knew things about the future and they knew what was going to happen just before it actually did.”

“And you believed them?” he asked, his voice tinged with scepticism.

“Yes,” she said simply. “I had no reason not to. And I knew them. I trusted them.”

His eyes narrowed. “You keep saying them, Liz. Who was it? You obviously knew this person. And if they did really travel through time, how did they manage to do it?”

Liz put her head in her hands and sighed. “Max, I really can’t tell you a whole lot about it – ”

“And why not, Liz? You can’t just tell me this out of the blue and expect me not to ask questions about it.” He was annoyed now. She couldn’t just dump this all on him with no explanation and expect him to just sit back and accept it. And what exactly did this have to do with Alex anyway? “Because you were sworn to secrecy?” he asked sarcastically.

“Yes!” she sat up and exclaimed. “Look, Max, I know you’re confused, but will you please let me get this out? This is hard for me too, you know?”

He sighed and looked away. “Fine, go ahead.”

“First of all, I can’t tell you who it was, not right now, so can you please just drop it, okay?” she asked and waited for his affirming nod before continuing. “Thank you. Now to answer your other question, they used the Granilith to travel here from the future.”

His eyes snapped back to her. “The Granilith? It’s a time machine? Wait, is that how you knew to warn me about it, before I went to New York?” It was like a light bulb had suddenly switched on in his head. He was beginning to think that there might be some truth to her words after all. How else could she have known about the Granilith back then?

Liz answered his questions in the order he’d asked. “Not exactly, I was told that it had somehow been modified to enable time travel,” she explained. “And yes, that’s how I knew about it.” She paused for a second, eyeing him carefully. “So, does this mean you believe me now, about the time travel?”

“Well, I’m still trying to get my head around all this. But I guess all I can do right now is accept what you’re telling me.” He replied, his mind was still full of confusion. He himself had no idea what the Granilith’s real purpose was, so he couldn’t really query the possibility that it was capable of faster-than-light travel, or that Liz was telling the truth.

“So why did this person travel back in time? Why did they come to you? And what does this have to do with Alex?”

Liz took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. She really wasn’t doing a very good job of explaining this.

“Okay, look, I’m not doing this very well, so I’m just going to get this all out in one go and then you can ask questions when I’m done. Is that okay?”

Max nodded reluctantly and motioned for her to start over.

“Right. Well, this person told me that fourteen years in the future the Earth was attacked by enemies of the Royal Four and there was no way to stop it. Everyone was dying and the Earth had been taken over. So, they came back in time to change the future and to stop the end of the world from happening.” She paused for a second to gather her thoughts. “They came to me because there was something that I specifically could do to help. There was something that I had to change in this time so that in the future the war could be defeated. Something had occurred in their time which prevented them from being prepared and it was up to me to make it right”

She saw Max open his mouth to ask what she’d done, but she held up a hand to stop him. “Don’t,” she said simply. “I can’t tell you what I did, or why I had to be the one to do it, but just know that I did it and that it worked.” She quickly forged ahead, not allowing him a chance to protest, knowing that she’d never get it out otherwise. “The problem is that while I was helping my visitor, I managed to find out a couple of things about the future. Which, again I can’t tell you so don’t ask, but the thing is, in that timeline, Alex was still alive. He didn’t die in a ‘car crash’. He was alive and well.”

Her features began to crumple and her bottom lip trembled once more. “You see, Max, if I hadn’t listened, if I hadn’t changed the future, then none of this would have happened and Alex would be alive.” Tears had begun making their way down her face and she was powerless to stop them.

When he heard her final sentence, Max was somehow able to push the overwhelming information he’d just received about people from the future to the back of his mind for later consideration. Right now he had to make Liz understand that whatever it was that she’d done couldn’t have been the cause of Alex’s death.

Okay, so maybe Alex had still been alive in that timeline, but there was no way that she could have known what would happen because of her choices. In changing the future she had prevented the deaths of so many others who would have otherwise died.

He moved to sit next to her on the bed and enveloped her in his arms. She seemed so torn up about what she thought she’d done, that making her see that she really wasn’t to blame was the most important thing right now and he couldn’t bear seeing her in so much pain, no matter what the cause. After he’d reassured her and calmed her down, then he could sort through the muddled mess that was his brain try to make sense of what he’d just heard.

“Liz, I might be feeling totally confused and overwhelmed right now, but the one thing I know for sure at this moment is that nothing you’ve done could possibly be the cause for Alex’s death, so please don’t blame yourself, okay?”

He held her head to his chest and stroked her hair gently as he spoke. “If what you’ve just told me is true and you really did change the future, then I know you did it to save the world and for that I’m truly grateful to you, but there is no way that you could have foreseen any of the events that have occurred since then. Please don’t spend your time worrying about it and thinking you could have done something to prevent it. It’s just not worth it, okay?”

He waited. There was no response from her at first, but a few moments later he felt her head move against him in agreement.

Max knew that there was more to the story than she’d let on. There was something that she was purposely leaving out and when they’d gotten through this evening, he was determined to sit her down and get the whole truth from her. He had to admit that he was pretty angry with her for not yet telling him the identity of her visitor and he couldn’t just accept her tale as it was.

The information was extremely important to the group and their lives and he couldn’t fathom why she wouldn’t tell him. What did it really matter who it was? After all it must have been someone that they knew and trusted now, in the present, otherwise Liz would never have believed them.

But why wouldn’t she say? Unless something had happened in the future and her visitor brought bad news.

He suddenly had a thought.

Pulling away from Liz a little, he looked at her tear-stained face. “Liz,” he started. “This visitor you had, it wasn’t…you, was it? From the future, I mean.”

Liz’s eyes snapped up to meet his. Of all the things he could have said, that was what she’d least expected. She hadn’t even considered that he might think that. She was more concerned that he would guess that the visitor had been him.

She shook her head quickly. “No, Max, it wasn’t me. It wouldn’t have been possible.”

He moved away from her a little, now sitting facing her on the edge of the bed. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I didn’t really understand it at the time, but I was told that if two versions of the same person came into contact with each other, there would be a reaction and both people would cease to exist.” Max looked bewildered so she explained further. “It’s to do with Quantum Physics: no two particles can exist in the same quantum state at the same time – it’s Pauli’s Exclusion Principle.” Now Max didn’t just look perplexed, but also vaguely amused which caused Liz to go on the defensive. “So I went to the library afterward and looked it up,” she shrugged awkwardly. “Big deal.”

She turned serious once again. “So, no it wasn’t me, it was someone else. And the reason I couldn’t tell anyone was because it could have had an effect on future events and I couldn’t risk that.”

Max just nodded, he supposed he understood, somewhat, at least. But he was suddenly feeling extremely tired – drained from the whole conversation. He needed time alone to think, to get his head around the incredible story Liz had just disclosed to him and make sense of the whole thing. Rather abruptly, he stood up and started to gather his belongings.

He turned to Liz, still sat miserably on the bed. “Look, Liz, I think maybe it would be best if I leave now, I really need some time to think about all this. I don’t want to leave you in the middle of all this, but I just don’t think I have the energy to think about this thing with Alex any more tonight. I’m sorry,” he sighed, retrieving his backpack from the bed, hoisting it onto his shoulder.

Liz simply accepted his apology, not know what else to do. He had a right to feel the way he did about her confession and it would probably be best if they both had a few hours to themselves to come to terms with everything.

“Okay,” she whispered.

He gave her a slightly tense smile and gestured towards the window through which he had entered. “Well, I’d better…” he left the sentence hanging and Liz nodded again in agreement. She watched as he slid the window up and he gracefully climbed through. He made his way to the balcony ladder and swung his leg over the top, giving her one last sad glance before he descended down the ladder.

Now alone in her bedroom, Liz let out a huge sigh and, ignoring the papers scattered across the bedspread, she sank down onto the pillow, curling up on her side. The evening had not gone as well as she’d hoped and she prayed that Max wouldn’t be too angry with her for not telling him sooner.

When she’d explained to him why she couldn’t tell anyone about her visit from the future, she’d deliberately left out the part about coming clean to Maria. She knew she wouldn’t be able to tell him without including the exact reason why she’d had to tell her, which would mean revealing the rest of the story and she really didn’t think that was the best idea right now.

Nothing had changed; she was destined to be alone, but Max’s destiny was still Tess; it always would be and there was nothing she could do to alter that.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

I'm finally back with the next part - it took me longer than I'd expected to finish it, but here it is...

Part Nine

Max walked back to his jeep, which he’d left opposite the Crashdown before his shift. When he’d told Liz he had to leave, he’d intended on going straight home and shutting himself in his room to think, but as he made his way across the street, he realised that Isabel would most likely be waiting for him there and as much as he loved his sister, he really wasn’t in the mood for company at this particular moment.

So when he got into the vehicle and started the engine, he found himself heading in the opposite direction. It took a few minutes for his brain to register exactly where he was going and why, but as he left the town behind and drove through the desert; he became more and more focused on his destination: the Pod Chamber.

He had to see the Granilith again, to figure out if there was anything he’d missed before; anything that might indicate it’s purpose or it’s ability to travel through time.

He was determined as he pulled up in front of the rocks that housed the pod chamber. As he strode across the desert floor and began the climb up the rocks to the concealed entrance of his birthplace, he was so focused on his task that he completely missed the other vehicle parked a few hundred yards from his own.

Max reached the rock face that contained the hidden door and waved his right hand over the spot where he knew the silver handprint would appear. The rock slid across to reveal the cave and he stepped inside.

Immediately he could sense that something was off. He wasn’t alone in the chamber. Someone else was here.

He couldn’t see anyone, but he could sense them. A quick glance around the small, empty cavern told him that the intruder must have found the other chamber. He cautiously crept towards the entrance to the Granilith and peered inside.

He let out a sigh of relief.

It was Tess.

She was sat with her back against the wall staring at the glowing object in front of her, her knees pulled up to her chest.

Max quietly stepped inside the small room and observed her for a second before he spoke.

“Tess?”

She jumped slightly and her head whipped round to face him.

“Max! You scared me,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” he apologised. “What are you doing here?”

“Not much, just thinking,” she replied, her eyes leaving Max’s face and settling on the Granilith once again. “You?”

“Oh, I, er…” Max fumbled. He couldn’t tell her about his recent conversation with Liz, or the reason he’d come here. “I just wanted to check out something up here,” he thought quickly. “I couldn’t sleep,” he added as if in explanation.

“Oh,” was all she said.

Max moved closer to her and took a seat on the floor a couple of yards away. He couldn’t stand there all night, but he still wasn’t all that comfortable being alone with her in such a small, enclosed space.

“So, what were you thinking about,” he asked.

She appeared deep in thought for a moment before turning to him once again. “Max, I want to apologise to you for last night.” Max frowned, but let her continue. “I shouldn’t have come to see you out of the blue like that. It was insensitive of me. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Yes it was, Tess,” he agreed carefully, wondering what brought this on. “Why are you telling me this now?”

She sighed, looking away again, “I’ve just been feeling so confused lately. It’s like I’m missing something, like moments in time, but I don’t know why and it scares me.”

He froze. “What do you mean, moments in time?”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure really. It’s just…” she trailed off, searching for the right words. “Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, it takes me a few moments to remember what I did the night before and other times I’ll just drift off in the middle of the day, like I’m in a daydream and I don’t even notice the time passing.”

Max’s head was spinning now. Not only had he just had the strangest, mind-boggling conversation of his life with Liz, now his supposed ex from another planet was telling him stories of missing memories and passages of time.

It was too much for his brain to deal with. He closed his eyes briefly to calm himself.

“Look, Tess,” he said quietly. “We’ve all been through a lot this past week. You know, maybe it’s just stress,” he tried to reason, but he didn’t think he sounded very convincing.

It most likely wasn’t stress. Both he and Tess knew that, but he also wasn’t in the right frame of mind at this time to consider any other possibilities or causes.

Tess managed a brief nod, an acknowledgement that she’d heard him, but her expression was wary.

Max noticed this and felt the need to apologise. “I’m sorry, I’ve not exactly had a great night tonight and I really not feel capable of thinking clearly about this today. I’ve got some stuff going on right now, how about we sit down and talk about this in a couple of days when we’re both feeling up to it?”

She nodded again, resigned. When he’d shown up a few minutes ago, she’d hoped that he’d be able to help her, that he might care enough about her to assist her in her problems. No such luck, however. Something was obviously bothering him and she’d bet her life that it had something to do with Liz Parker.

“Sure, okay. A couple of days.” She said as she stood up. She had no desire to stay any longer.

“Where are you going?”

She shrugged. “I’m going home, Max. I’ve had enough of sitting here in the dark, contemplating my life for one night. But you stay, by all means. Don’t worry about me,” she told him and walked quickly out of the room.

“Tess?” Max questioned worriedly, but she was already gone.

Once outside the chamber, she broke into a half-run as she scrambled down the rocks towards her car. Why had she ever thought he would take an interest in her problems and help her?

Back inside the cave, Max was bewildered. What had just happened here? And why did he suddenly feel like it was his fault?

He let out an exhausted sigh and leaned his head back against the silver coloured wall.

Everything was even more messed up than before.

***

An hour later, Liz was still lying on her bed, one hand hugging a pillow to her chest. Her cheeks were stained with now dry tears and her eyes were fixed on the object held in her other hand.

It was the strip of photos of her and Max. The one she’d told Future Max was private all those months ago.

She sighed. Man, she really needed someone to talk to about this. She reached across for the phone on her bedside table and dialled a number she knew by heart.

“Maria? Hey, it’s me. I really need to talk to you. Can you come over?” she asked and then listened for Maria’s response. “Okay, I’ll see you in a few. Thanks, Maria.”

Liz returned the phone to its cradle and sat up. She looked down at the mess of papers and stationary scattered across the bed in front of her. Maria would be here with in a matter of minutes and her room was in complete disarray. Tiredly, she began tidying the clutter and attempted to get place looking more presentable.

Maria was the only person she could talk to about this, the only one who knew the truth. Despite the unspoken agreement between Max and Liz that they would not involve anyone else in their investigation, she couldn’t continue feeling the way she did about the whole situation and not confide in her best friend. She needed reassurance that she’d done the right thing by telling Max what she had.

She was still straightening the room when Maria arrived fifteen minutes later. Abandoning her task, Liz let her friend in and they both took a seat on Liz’s bed.

“So hun, what was so important that you had to drag me away from an evening in with Michael?” Maria asked, watching her carefully. Something was definitely up with her. She looked tired and drawn.

“An evening in…? Maria, why didn’t you tell me you were busy? I wouldn’t have asked you to come over if I’d known!” exclaimed Liz.

Maria made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Lizzie, you’re my best friend. I’m not going to just abandon you for Michael when you obviously need me,” she rolled her eyes. “You know me better than that.”

“But what about Michael?” Liz wondered.

“Oh, he’s just fine. Probably making small talk with my mother as we speak,” she shrugged.

“You left him at your place? Alone with your mother?” Liz was both incredulous and slightly amused at the thought of Michael and Amy DeLuca trying to hold a friendly conversation.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that my mother and my boyfriend are getting along just fine at the moment!” Maria replied indignantly, but then her face softened, a smile gracing her features. “He’s just been so great to us both this past week, and my mom seems to have finally accepted him.” She gave Liz a ‘who would’ve thought it?’ look and rolled her eyes again.

Liz smiled softly. She was glad her friend had someone to look after her, someone to love her. “That’s great, Maria,” she agreed.

“So, enough about me. Come on then, girl, tell me what’s up.”

Liz sighed. It was now or never. “Okay. Look, I know I promised yesterday that I wouldn’t involve you in all this, but something’s come up with the whole Alex situation.”

Maria sighed. She couldn’t think about this again now, it was all too fresh in her mind. “Liz, please don’t,” she implored, shaking her head.

Liz looked up at her sympathetically. She hated to upset her best friend, especially when she’d already agreed not to bring up the subject again. “Maria, this is something I have to say, okay. It involves more than just a theory I have. It’s gotten complicated and I really need to talk to you about it. Please understand, I’m not doing this to hurt you or spite you. I just don’t know what to do,” she broke off, the day’s events catching up to her once again.

Maria took a closed her eyes and took deep breath. When she opened them again, her expression was softer. “Okay, Liz, just hit me with it - I’ll deal.” A thought suddenly struck her, “Wait; does this have something to do with the fact that Max picked you up from the Crashdown this morning? Cos last I saw, you two were at each other’s throats,” she said, eyeing Liz suspiciously.

Liz smiled in relief and began. “It kind of has to do with Max, yeah,” she admitted first. “What I didn’t tell you yesterday was that Max came to see me at the Crashdown Thursday night. He wanted to apologise for what he said at the wake and I needed to say sorry to him for getting riled up like I did. Anyway, I was kind of upset when he arrived, so he helped me calm down and then told me that he wanted to help me find out what happened to Alex.”

Maria interrupted at this point. “He wanted to help? But he was the one who was adamant that it was just an accident!”

“Yeah, well he told me that I was right, that he hadn’t wanted to believe it because he did feel responsible. But he realised that there was a possibility that something else could have happened and that he wanted to do what he could to help.” She paused, awaiting Maria’s reaction.

“Wow,” she exhaled. “Never would’ve thought he’d back down like that,” she mused. “You must have more influence over him than he lets on, Liz,” she grinned.

Now it was Liz’s turn to roll her eyes, but she ignored the comment and continued. “So, anyway, we talked at school yesterday and decided to go to Alex’s today, you know, to see if we could find anything. That’s where we went after we left the Crash this morning,” she clarified.

“So, not that I agree with what you did, but did you? Find anything, I mean.”

Liz let her eyes sweep over the room as she thought about what exactly they had found. “Yeah, we did, although we don’t know what it means yet. I don’t have to tell you about it if you don’t want me to.”

Maria was surprised. She hadn’t expected that they would actually discover anything unusual. As far as she was concerned there was nothing to suggest that it had been anything other than a car crash. And she didn’t think her brain was quite ready to cope with the implications of evidence to the contrary.

“If you’ve really found something, Liz, then I guess I should know what it is. But not just yet, okay? Give me a few minutes to process all this first,” she lowered her head, cupping her forehead with her hand.

Liz nodded in understanding, but she was glad that Maria was willing to listen. “Okay, I can do that. It’s not actually the biggest problem right now anyway.”

Maria lifted her head in question.

“I realised something today, about Future Max.”

Maria’s brow furrowed. “Future Max?” She was confused. What did Future Max have to do with this?

“Earlier, when Max was here – ”

She was interrupted. “Wait! Max was here? As in here, in this room?” she exclaimed and received a nod from Liz. “Why?”

Liz sighed, at this rate she was never going to get her story out. “Yes, he was here. He had to work this afternoon, so he came over afterwards so we could discuss what we’d found at Alex’s,” she explained but quickly continued so she didn’t get interrupted again. “But while he was here, I remembered something that Future Max told me. He said that when we got married, everyone drove to Phoenix to celebrate with us. Everyone,” she stressed. “Including Alex.”

She let that sink in.

Maria looked confused for a moment, but then realisation dawned. “Liz, you can’t possibly think – ”

“That I’m responsible for Alex’s death? Yeah, I did think that at first, but Max made me realise that I’m not. Not directly anyway.”

“Max did? But then that means…” she trailed off. “You told him?”

Liz nodded. “I had to. I was upset and he was right there. I couldn’t not tell him what was wrong, I was practically in tears.”

“So then he knows about your visit from the future?” she asked.

“Yes, but not – ” She was interrupted by the ringing of Maria’s cell phone. She was sent an apologetic glance as her friend reached into her purse and pulled out the offending object.

Liz let her mind wander as Maria answered the phone. She was eager to finish their conversation and get her dilemma out in the open. Luckily Maria’s call only lasted a couple of minutes.

“…Okay, bye.” Maria hung up the phone and turned to Liz. “Liz, I’m so sorry, I really have to get home. I think my mother’s about to kill Michael.” She apologised. “I know we’re in the middle of this, but can we finish it tomorrow? Please?”

Liz sighed and reluctantly nodded. The longer she waited to confide in someone, the more she would go over and over it in her mind. “Okay, sure. You go save your boyfriend,” she managed a weak smile.

“Thanks hun,” Maria bent to give her a quick hug before collecting her purse and standing up. “And we will definitely finish this tomorrow,” she vowed. “I’m so sorry for standing you up like this.”

“It’s okay,” Liz’s reply fell on deaf ears as Maria rushed out of the room, cursing whoever’s ingenious idea it was to leave Michael at her place, with her mother no less, while she was out.

Liz watched her leave with a heavy heart. She’d wanted some advice regarding her actions. She wanted to know if she was doing the right thing and was now feeling no better than she had been earlier.

She also hadn’t had the chance to tell Maria that Max didn’t know the whole story yet.

TBC…

[Heavenli24]

Where are you *Looks Around* Are you coming back to finish this? this is just getting more and more interesting and i really want you to come back soon!

I'm still here ! I managed to get this next part finished and sent to my beta a couple of days ago. I was hoping to post it this morning, but I didn't have time before I left for work.

Anyway, here's part 10 now. Sorry for the wait and I hope you enjoy it ...

Part Ten

It was gone midnight when Max finally emerged from the pod chamber. He’d spent the last couple of hours in there, just staring at the Granilith, hoping that it would somehow provide him with some answers.

It didn’t, unfortunately, but he had managed to get his thoughts in order a little better than they were earlier. After Tess had left the chamber so abruptly, he decided it would be best to sort through everything calmly and rationally and one at a time.

He found that what it all really boiled down to, could be summed up in three points:

1. Before he died, Alex had been investigating Liz.

2. Time travel was possible and Liz had somehow changed the future.

3. Something strange was happening to Tess.

As he managed to reduce the whirling mess of thoughts in his mind down to those three statements, Max realised that he really needed to talk to someone about what he and Liz were doing and also about Tess. But he felt that the whole issue of Liz and this unknown guest from the future was something he had to discuss with her, and get the truth out of her by himself.

He knew he ought to inform the others of this new development – after all it did involve their own futures, but he couldn’t do that properly without knowing and comprehending the whole story.

So now the question was, whom did he talk to about the other two problems? Isabel was out, at least for now. She was too sensitive about Alex right now and he didn’t want to bring everything up again unnecessarily. Liz was pretty much out as well, considering what had happened in the last few hours. The only logical choice at this moment was Michael.

But as eager as he was to solve all these problems, what he needed most at this moment was sleep. After a restless night last night and then the draining day he’d had today, his body was exhausted.

Max reached the jeep and got in with a sigh. Putting the vehicle in gear, he gave the high rocks one last glance before driving off towards home and the nice comfortable bed waiting for him.

***

Michael was rudely awakened the next morning by the sounds of a loud argument coming from his next-door neighbours. The young couple had moved in a few months ago and, although they seemed nice enough at first, they had now taken to engaging in loud, angry rows in the early hours of the morning.

Slowly opening one eye, Michael glanced quickly at the alarm clock by his bed, before groaning and pulling a pillow over his head. 8.30am; no one should be awake at this unearthly hour of the day.

Only a few seconds passed before the pillow was thrown to one side to reveal him lying on his back. He let out a frustrated grunt; there would be no getting back to sleep this morning.

His mind travelled back to the previous evening. He couldn’t believe Maria, his usually kind and loving girlfriend, had ditched him for her best friend on a Saturday night. Leaving him at her place, alone with her mother, no less!

Okay, if he was honest, he hadn’t really minded that much; you know, if Liz was having a problem and needed a friend, who was he to stop Maria from going to help her? No, his problem was with the fact that he’d been forced to make uncomfortable small talk with Amy Deluca, without the presence of his girlfriend to ease the tension.

While it was true that Ms. Deluca had given him her blessing to be with Maria, I had been obvious that she’d only been willing to finally accept him for her daughter’s benefit. Unfortunately, when he’d informed Maria of this little development, she’d immediately come to the conclusion that her mother and her boyfriend were becoming fast friends and had insisted he stay and keep her mom company while she was out.

Big mistake.

They’d managed to make it through a whole twelve minutes before Michael had unintentionally put his foot in his mouth and before he knew it, the tension in the room had skyrocketed and he had no idea how to fix it. So finally, out of desperation, he’d called Maria and practically begged her to come back. He couldn’t take it anymore.

Once Maria had got home, diffused the situation and he had apologised to her for making her come back, she just smiled and quietly berated herself for hoping that he and her mom might finally get along. Then she kissed him sweetly and sent him on his way.

He’d been tempted to persuade her to come back with him, but he knew he shouldn’t. Although they’d been getting very close recently, he knew Maria was not quite ready for anything more and he didn’t even want to consider Amy’s reaction to Maria spending the night in his apartment.

So he’d returned home alone and, with a sigh of annoyance over the whole situation, he fell into bed.

Now, nine hours later, he was lying on the bed, his hands behind his head, trying to come up with ways to impress Ms. Deluca and to make her like him. He snorted at himself, since when did he worry about what Amy Deluca thought of him?

His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock at the door. Another peek at the clock told him that more than thirty minutes had passed. Grudgingly, he got out to bed and, running a hand through his hair, made his way to the door. Maybe it was Maria, here to apologise for last night and offering to make it up to him. A smile crept across his face at that thought.

He pulled open the door enthusiastically, only to find…

“Max.” His smile dropped; Max being here this early on a Sunday morning couldn’t be good.

“Hey, Michael,” Max shuffled slightly uncomfortably on the other side of the threshold. “I need to talk to you. Can I come in?”

Michael just raised an eyebrow and moved aside to let him through.

“So, what’s up, Max?” he asked tiredly as he watched the former alien king paced back and forth across his living room. “‘Cos ya know...I was asleep.”

Max’s head snapped towards him as if he’d just realised where he was at this time in the morning. He sighed, “Sorry, Michael, it’s just…There’s a lot going on right now, and…” He made eye contact with his friend, “I need your help,” he stated.

Michael could see the seriousness in his gaze and immediately sat up straight, giving him his full attention. “What’s wrong, Max?”

Max took a seat on his friends couch and began, “You know what Liz said at the Whitman’s the other day, about Alex’s death not being an accident, but that he was murdered?”

Michael just nodded, not sure whether he should say anything at this point.

“Well, I thought about what she said and I told her I’d help her find out what really happened,” he winced as he waited for Michael’s response to that.

“What?” And there it was. “Max, what are you thinking? Of course it was accident, how can you even consider anything else?” Michael’s eyes were blazing.

“Liz said that I didn’t want to think that because it would mean that I was responsible, remember? Well, she was right. That’s exactly how I felt.”

“But, Max? Murder?”

“I know, I don’t want to think it either, but you have to admit that what Liz suggested could be true: that someone used Alex to get to us,” he said.

For a second, Michael looked like he was going to deny the possibility flat out. Instead, he sank down onto the couch next to Max and let out a defeated sigh.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he confessed. He turned his head towards his friend, “But I don’t want to believe it.”

“Me either,” said Max.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Michael spoke again.

“So, have you found anything yet?”

Max nodded, “Liz and I went over to the Whitman’s yesterday to see if there were any clues in Alex’s room. We found a file on his laptop, but –” he paused.

“But what, Max? What did you find?” Michael asked impatiently.

Max ran a hand over his face. “We don’t understand why, but it seems that Alex was conducting some kind of investigation. On Liz,” he clarified.

“Liz?” Michael brow furrowed in confusion.

“We don’t know why,” he answered the silent question. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out, but I’m not having any luck.”

“So what do you want me do about it?” Michael wasn’t clear on Max’s reason for telling him all this.

“There’s something else,” said Max, glancing over at Michael.

“Something else,” Michael stated flatly.

“It’s about Tess.”

Michael braced himself; he really wasn’t in the mood to hear about Max’s blossoming relationship with the other alien. He didn’t care if she was technically one of them, he still didn’t completely trust her.

“Look, I know you don’t really get on with her, but there’s something wrong with her. I saw her last night and she told me she’s been experiencing these strange moments, like loss of time and memories, and she has no idea why. Michael, we need to help her to figure out what’s going on here.”

Michael had been sitting quietly, absorbing the information when realisation struck. Of course!

“Max, don’t you see what’s going on here? It’s Tess! I didn’t trust her from the start, and with good reason too!”

“Michael, what are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet? It’s so obvious, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before,” Michael rose quickly from the couch and began pacing the length of the room impatiently.

Max watched him, bewildered. “Michael, stop,” he said firmly. It took only a moment for the pacing to cease. “What’s going on?”

“Max, think about it. Who can manipulate people’s thoughts and memories? Who would want Liz out of the way so she can have you all to herself? Tess. She did this. Whatever happened to Alex, I’m telling you, Max, it’s her fault.”

“But, that can’t be,” Max didn’t want to believe that. “Michael, Tess is the one who’s losing memories here. How could she have done anything?”

“Don’t you get it? It’s a cover; it has to be. If we believe that something’s happening to her too, then why would we accuse her of anything? It’s the perfect excuse.”

Max considered this for a moment, but wasn’t quite ready to believe his friend’s theory just yet. “But what about what we found at Alex’s? The file on Liz? You know, it suggested that she could be working against us. Where did that come from?”

Michael shot him a look that clearly said ‘how stupid can you get?’, “Max, did you even consider the possibility that that file is a set-up, that someone is trying to make Liz the bad guy here?” he exclaimed. “Look, Maxwell, I know you and Liz haven’t exactly been seeing eye-to-eye lately and that you and Tess have got some kind of quasi-relationship going on, but are you really going to side with your alien ex-wife on this?”

That made Max stop. Could it have been Tess? The file, Alex, all of it? He had to admit that Michael’s theory at least made some sense, but there was still a part of him that didn’t truly believe that Tess could have done something like that.

“Michael, I…I just don’t know anymore. I don’t know what to do,” his face fell as he remembered the mess his life was currently in.

“Well, I do,” stated Michael firmly. “I’m going over to Valenti’s today and when the house is empty, I’m going to find out exactly what that bitch is hiding!”

“Michael, I really don’t think going through her stuff is–” he was cut off.

“No, Max. You’re not going to order me around this time. I’m going and that’s final,” he marched toward the bedroom, too pissed off to do anything else. “You can see yourself out,” he stated, before entering his bedroom and shutting the door firmly behind him, leaving a perplexed Max alone in the living room.


***

Back in the small bungalow on the other side of town, a body was just beginning to stir. For the first few seconds after waking, life seemed to be back to normal, but then the same dreadful feeling from the day before washed over them.

How could they continue on like this? Always looking over their shoulder, praying that nothing odd would happen today.

They had tried talking to someone else about all of this, but that hadn’t helped, the world was still as confusing and scary as it had been before.

They had no clues, no leads to indicate what was going on. Well, that wasn’t completely true. There was one thing that was as confusing as everything else: the fact that the first thing that came to mind when they awoke in this small room each morning was Liz Parker.

TBC…