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Title: Solar Eclipse
Author: Max and Liz believer, a.k.a. Josephin
Disclaimer: You know the drill...I don’t own any of the Roswell characters, I’m just borrowing them for a while and I will return them when I’m finished.
Rating: MATURE
Category: M/L
Summary: Everything up to ”Max in the City” has happened. Liz is starting to get sick and no one knows what’s wrong. Simultaneously, she is haunted by nightmares - are they premonitions of the future or just dreams?
Author’s note: Okay, after reading tons of Roswell fanfic I decided to give it a try myself. So, I hope you’ll enjoy this fanfic just as much as I’ll enjoy writing it. Oh oh, and I LOVE feedback!
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Prologue
She could feel the distance decreasing between them, the sound of his footsteps growing nearer. He was gaining on her. Her breathing was labored and her chest ached. She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up. But she couldn't let him catch her.that would be the end.
He awoke with a startle. Turning on the lamp on the bedside table he worriedly scanned the room. There was nothing there. His room was the same quiet room as ever. Why did he feel like he was in danger?
A stone protruding from the ground put an end to her run and she tumbled to the ground, exhausted. She closed her eyes and waited for the end.
Unsuccessful in trying to push away his feelings of threat, he stood up from his bed and crossed the floor to check on his sister.
Someone, the person following her, turned her around as she was helplessly lying on the ground. She kept her eyes closed. She did not want to look at the man who held the same face as the man she loved more than life itself. The last thing she did in her life would not be to look into the same eyes that otherwise held so much love but now only held malice and hatred. She did not have any energy left to fight him. but she would not go without a fight, if it was the last thing she did. Groping in the dark, her bloody hands came into contact with a nose. "Just a little higher" she thought and found her target. Without a conscious thought, acting merely on survival instinct, she pressed her fingers into his eyes, feeling her nails sink deep into the vitreous body of his eyes. The man wanting her dead let out a cry in pain and released his grip on her, in order to examine the damage she had caused. Seizing the opportunity, she rolled out from underneath him and tried to stand up. But she was too weak. She could feel a numbness spreading in her body. "Nononononono" she thought on the verge on hysterics. She could not pass out know. She had to fight it. It was either that or her life. Then she felt it. The numbness in her body was being replaced with a burning pain, which started in the small of her back and started to spread throughout her whole body. It felt as if she was on fire. Her agonized cry of pain echoed in the black night.
Walking back from his sister's room he suddenly felt an immense amount of pain in his back. He felt like he was being burned alive and he sunk to his knees with one agonizing cry, "Nooooo. Liiiiizzzz!!"
BOOK 1
Chapter 1
Roswell 2000 - one week earlier
"I really think you should tell him, Liz," Maria said casting a glance in Max's direction, sitting in his regular booth at the CrashDown Café. He was not looking her way, but was instead staring at the unfinished food at his plate in front of him.
Maria had with sadness followed the withering of Max, of Max's soul, since Liz left him so he could fulfill his destiny. As if that was not enough, the little hope of getting Liz back that had remained in the core of Max's heart had finally completely dissolved into nothingness when Liz had (in Max's eyes) cheated on him with Kyle. Maria had been the closest friend to Max during the summer.
While Michael had tried to come to terms with his own destiny of being a second in command to Max he had slowly started to drift further apart from his friends, especially his human friends. He spent most of his time, when he was not working or sleeping, practicing his powers. To prepare himself for the inevitable future - a future being at war. He did not have time, or more precisely, the patience to try to convince Max that they had a destiny and it was better that he stopped sulking it all away over a girl that had obviously already started to move on.
Isabel had also started to pull away from the others. She had to deal with the fact that she in another life-time had betrayed her brother and in that basically had killed not only her brother but also Michael, Tess and herself. As if that was not enough she was practically also responsible for millions of lives that were lost in the hours, days, months and years after her betrayal to her brother.
Maria had sadly witnessed the process of the dissolving of the once hard- knitted group. Her attention was now on the petite brown-haired girl with the back turned to her behind the counter at the CrashDown, pretending to be very busy with filling the sugar dispensers. "Liz, are you even listening to me?" Maria asked her long-time friend since Liz had yet to answer her. "What?" Liz said and turned towards her. When Maria found herself staring into the blank dark-brown eyes of her friend, she wondered (and not for the first time) what had happened to the girl she once knew that appreciated every small thing on earth, always took time to watch out for everyone nearby - even if their intentions weren't all good. The girl once so full of life, and love. Had she died that day on the floor of the CrashDown Café, when Max had healed her?
"You can't continue doing this, you know", Maria said watching Liz's face grow more suspicious. "What, Maria?!" she exclaimed, her voice edged with annoyance. "I think you should talk to him." Maria said, with her hand drifting out in the direction of Max's booth. "Maria.", Liz sighed, "I talk with him every day. We're okay, you know!" "Liz", Maria said and looked sternly on Liz. "You are NOT okay!" "Maria, stop it okay! There is nothing left to discuss. He has a destiny.with Tess" Maria saw Liz eyes glaze over with sadness at the mentioning of Max's destined mate. "We are friends, and I am happy that we can be so much. We cannot be more than that, you know that. So would you just stop it, Maria!" Liz eyes had a warning look in them.telling Maria to back off.
Maria through her hands up into the air clearly giving up. "Why do I even try?" she said with a dramatic sigh and turned to Michael. "Hey Michael! Where's my order?" "You'll get your order when it's ready!" Michael grunted without turning to Maria. "It is sooo revealing that you every day at least can look forward to having such wonderful, happy and optimistic couple of friends when everything else is crap.," Maria sarcastically announced with a fake smile and turned towards the dining area to serve the new customers that had arrived.
With a tired sigh Liz leaned against the counter and held her hand to her forehead. She had been bothered by this headache all day long and it was really starting to affect her mood. She still felt him in the room. She could feel his eyes burning at the back of her head. Everyday was a torture. She was just going through the emotions, she had lost control of her life. Sure, it was great that she and Max could be friends. But they both knew that they could never just have a normal friendship. Especially not after what she had done to him. She so wanted to tell him about how the future version of him had told her to betray Max. She longed to feel his arms around her again, telling her that everything was going to be okay. As long as they were together they could do anything. But she couldn't tell him. She would not risk the safety of her friends just so that she could have a relationship.
When she started to fill coffee into the coffee-machine she once again thought about the fact that Max and Tess did not seem to be anymore romantically involved with each other than they had been before future Max decided to pay her a visit. In some way it brought her relief that she did not have to witness Max and Tess making go-go-eyes at each other or even worse - kissing! However, at the same time it felt as if she was doing her sacrifice, living this hell, for nothing. She had succeeded in making Tess stay in Roswell, and was that not the plan.? No, of course, there was that small detail concerning the fact that future Max told her that Max had to fall out of love with her. Some days it felt as if she had succeeded in that as well. Especially when she looked into his eyes - those amber eyes - and saw the hurt, the hurt she knew she had put there, she was convinced that he could no longer love her. But then, when she was working and he sat in his regular booth watching her it was as it had been before the day of the shooting. He was still watching out for her, and the fact that he seemed to still care made her start to question how much success her betrayal really had gained.
A sudden pain in the back of her head disturbed her train of thoughts. She clenched her fists and concentrated not to groan in pain as the feeling as like a knife being inserted in the back of her head and slowly turned washed over her.
Max's eyes once again drifted to Liz working behind the counter. He could not help himself. Even though she had hurt him more than he ever thought she would, he could not stop himself from always seeking her out. Her mere presence had a calming effect on him. Even though she was the source of most his nightmares, troubled feelings and thoughts, she still remained his sole comfort. With an almost unnoticeable shake of his head he wondered to himself how come he always came crawling back - asking for more. Maria had joined Liz behind the counter, but Liz had yet to face her. With how those two were acting it might to a stranger seem as if Maria and Liz barely knew each other, as if their relationship was purely professional. Maria was going on about something, but Liz didn't pay her any attention. Max sadly wondered if the whole group was falling apart - collapsing like a pyramid built by a stack of cards. Even the strong friendship between Maria and Liz had started to dwindle.
Maria finally got Liz's attention but Max sensed Liz's annoyance more than saw it and soon Maria turned to Michael to finally with a face masked with hopelessness and a fake smile accompanying that, headed out into the dining area to collect orders again. Max continued to watch Liz. How her hair, pulled up into a ponytail, swayed from side to side with her movements. The way she moved around her work place with such easiness that spoke volumes of how well she knew her job. Max sat up a little straighter when he saw Liz lean against the counter, with her hand against her forehead. She had done that all day. Throughout the day her face been strained. Max knew with his mind that it was probably just a headache. However, his heart said that something was wrong. Liz clenched her fists, an act that was so small that it was not notice by anyone else. But it was not unnoticed by Max and he just knew he had to approach her, to see if she was okay. He rose from the booth and quickly strode over to Liz. Just then she straightened up, as if she could sense that he was approaching and stood away from the counter.
Through the pain Liz could feel him getting closer and she focused hard to repress the pain and relax. Then she straightened up and opened her eyes, which she had squeezed shut in an effort to close off the pain. She turned around and was suddenly looking deep into the concerned eyes she knew so well. "Hay," Max said softly while looking at her over in an attempt to convince himself that she was okay. "Oh, hi Max," Liz said and noticed to her disappointment that her voice trembled. She recognized the consequences of that on Max's face as the crease of worry in his forehead deepened. "Liz, are you okay?" Max asked, instinctively reaching over to take her hand. Liz drew her hand away from his just before he touched her and plastered a fake smile on her face. "Yeah, Max. I'm fine," she said.
Liz's smile, that never truly reached her eyes, only increased his worries.
"Maybe you should take a break," he said. He immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing feeling Liz pull away from him, shutting off her feelings and putting on a stubborn face. "Max, I'm fine, don't worry!" she said and as if to further emphasis just that she took the ordering book from the pocket of her apron and swished past Max to take the orders of the incoming customers. Max turned around towards her and watched her.
He could not explain how it was that since he had healed her and a connection had been made, he could sense her feelings. He could not sense her feelings all the time, only the very intense ones. Like anger, sadness.and pain. Liz had been in much pain lately - not physical pain but mostly emotional pain. She was hurt, just like he was. However, he could not thoroughly understand that. Why was she hurt? She had moved on, she had slept with Kyle for God's sake! If that was not moving on, then what was? That could not stop him from the troubled thoughts that he felt in his heart though. His heart told him that she lied to him, and was still lying. That she was hiding something from him. He had tried to confront her about it, when they were in Copper Summit, but she was even then pulling away from him. He could feel how she was drifting further and further away from him. And the only thing he could do was just to watch it happen. He could not reach her. He had lost control over the situation. That was something that he was not used to - losing control - and he was not sure what to do. Besides, it hurt too much to think about it logically.
"Can I get you anything else?" Liz asked the mother of the family in the booth. The two children in the family were loudly (and in very whining voices) demanding ice-creams from their mother. "No!" the mother said firmly with an irritated voice, directed at her children. "You have already eaten one ice-cream today. You will not get another one. Peter, you should have eaten more of that hamburger instead, then you would have been too full to want ice-cream!" "But, Moooom", the boy called Peter whined. "I said.NO!" the mother said. Liz patiently waited by the table for their argument to end, while feeling her headache growing worse by the minute. "Look", Liz said, turned to the children. "Instead of ice-cream, you can get these really cool alien dolls, would you like that?" "I don't play with dolls", Peter said and turned up his nose. "That's a girlie thing to do!" "But these aliens are really cool", Liz said again and bit back a cry of pain as the pain at the back of her head intensified and started spreading to other areas of her head - slowly immobilizing her. "I am certain that these aliens, that crashed on Earth - you have heard of the UFO crash, haven't you?" Peter nodded his head. "Well, these aliens were perhaps coming to Earth in order to prepare for the war." "There was a war?" Peter interrupted, interest in his voice now. "You see, on the aliens' planet there was a war between two different races of aliens", Liz continued with a small smile at the boy's sudden enthusiasm, changing some minor details t the story she knew by heart. "But the king and queen came up with the plan to fly to another planet - Earth - to prepare for the war. With them the king and queen took the head of the army - the king's second in command - and his wife. But they were followed by some of their enemies and while the king and his men were preparing on Earth, their enemies were waiting for the right opportunity to kill the king and his men." Liz grew silent when black dots appeared in front of her eyes and the room started to spin.
Max had listened to the story with a small smile on his lips. He could not get rid of the feeling that something was very wrong with Liz and that she needed to rest or something. But seeing her interact so naturally with the boy, even though she was in pain, made him so much prouder of her. "What happened then?" Peter asked when Liz stopped her story. Max worriedly observed how Liz closed her eyes and how her chest fell and rose in a fashion that witnessed of labored breathing. When she swayed a little on her place, Max stepped up to her and took her gentle by her upper arm. "Liz," he said softly. "I think you better sit down" When he touched her he could not only feel how unnaturally warm her skin was, but their connection was turned up and he could feel her in pain. He felt this sudden need to cradle her in his arms and carry her to her bed to force her to rest. But with their fragile friendship, he did not want to jeopardize too much of what they had rebuilt in the last couple of weeks by invading her personal space.
Without opening her eyes, she answered him, "Max. I'm soon.finished. I'm just.gonna tell.this story.., okay?" Her voice was very strained and so soft that he almost did not hear her. "No, Liz," Max said firmly. Hearing her voice he came to the decision that she was going to rest even if he had to force her. "I'll go tell Maria, and she can take your customers. You need to rest!" The mother of the children looked at the girl in front of her. She did not look well. Even her children had grown quiet and looked at the girl. The girl looked like she was ready to faint at any second. The mother was revealed when a dark-haired man had stepped up and told her to get some rest. The mother could see drops of perspiration starting to form on the girl's forehead and she looked very flustered. "I think she might have a fever", the mother informed Max. But Max did not hear her. His whole attention was focused on Liz, waiting for her reply. "I just.need..a second..Max," Liz said. "I.have had.this..eh..eh..headache all.day.I will.be okay.soon." "I'm getting Maria", Max said not believing a word Liz said. He was really worried now. Something was definitely not right here. For two seconds his mind dealt with the conflict of leaving Liz's side to get Maria or to stay, before he gently let go of his grip on Liz's arm and went to get Maria.
When Liz felt Max let go of her, she felt the coldness wash over her and the dark dots behind her eyelids grew larger before she drowned in a sea of darkness.
Chapter 2
Max sensed Liz fell before he heard her and turned around to the sight of Liz crumbling to the floor. Without a further thought he gathered her in his arms - with a small concerned thought to the fact that she was so light, too light - and quickly walked towards the back of the restaurant, heading towards Liz's apartment. "Max, what." Maria began but Max just brushed past her with the pale unconscious Liz in his arms. Michael left the frying of the hamburger that was at the moment occupying him and followed Maria up to Liz's apartment.
Max laid Liz gently on the bed and put his hand on her forehead. Before she had lost consciousness, she had been extremely hot. But now she was very cold. "Max, what happened?" Maria asked as she came into the room. "She fainted," Max said without leaving Liz with his eyes. "Has she said anything about being sick?" "No.," Maria said. "But honestly Max, she hasn't been eating right the last couple of weeks." Max pushed a strand of hair away from Liz's forehead and silently punished himself for not noticing anything sooner. Just then Liz's eyelids started to flutter and she slowly opened her eyes.
Liz slowly pulled herself out of the state of unconsciousness and was met by Max's face hovering above her. "Max.what.," she started but Max hushed her. "Liz.it's okay, you fainted," Max said, trying his best to calm Liz to stop her from making her own condition worse. Max's worried face did not go unnoticed by Liz but her attention was quickly diverged to her best friend who pushed Max to the side, demanding to reach Liz. "Liz, babe. are you okay?" Maria asked Just then, Michael stormed into the room. "What's going on.Max?" "Liz fainted," Max answered with his eyes still glued on Liz's face, which had started to get a little more color. He had been pushed to the side by Maria, but his hand was still placed around Liz's.
Liz was very aware of the fact that Max held her hand. She did not want him to let go of her hand so she pretended to be ignorant of the fact that Max held her hand ever so tenderly. "Liz, you almost scared me half to death!" Maria continued. "Tell me everything is okay." "I'm fine, Maria" Liz said and managed to produce a small smile. "I guess the headache got the better of me." "You don't faint from a headache, Liz," Max said. Liz looked in his direction and was for a second lost in the depths of his eyes. But then she saw the hurt hidden behind his concern for her and she quickly looked away. "Perhaps I just need to eat something," Liz said and tried to rise from her bed. "Oh no you don't, chica," Maria said and firmly pushed Liz back. "You have to rest! I can handle the CrashDown by myself. Believe me, we do not have that many customers! Get better okay and we're gonna have a talk later tonight, all right?" Too tired to object, Liz weakly nodded. "Okay.Michael come here, we have a job to take care of," Maria said and took a strong grip on Michaels arm and half dragged him out of Liz's room, leaving Max and Liz alone.
"Liz, Maria said you have not been eaten right," Max said as he scooted back to his previous position, kneeling beside Liz's bed. "Yeah., but you know it's just that I've been so busy, you know, and I sometimes forget to eat.," Liz said, carefully avoiding looking Max in the eyes. "Are you sleeping okay?" Max asked, recognizing the signs on Liz from his own insomnia. "Yes, Max.well, I have had some nightmares, but their just nightmares, you know.," Liz said, starting to fumble with the ring on her index finger. "What kind of nightmares," Max asked sharply. By the tone of his voice, Liz looked up at Max anxiously afraid he might be angry with her. "Please don't be angry," she said.
Max looked confused. "Why should I be angry?" he asked. "I don't know," Liz said, realizing she had misread him. "I really try to eat, but sometimes I'm just not hungry." Her divergence from the subject of nightmares did not work so well. "Liz, can you tell me.about the nightmares?" Max asked gently. Liz started to shake her head. "There just nightmares, Max. And I don't have them every night," she said. Max knew when to not push her anymore and stopped questioning her. Perhaps her nightmares were personal, like the image of Kyle and Liz in bed together that kept haunting him. Without a deliberate thought Max placed his hand on Liz's cheek and caressed her cheek with his thumb.
When Liz felt Max's hand she closed her eyes. The act was so full of love that it almost brought tears to her eyes. Max had been so far away since he had seen Kyle and her together and she could never dream that she should feel him like this again. But it was over very quickly, when Max realized what he had done. Liz felt the withdrawal of his hand like a slap in her face. She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to stop the feeling of coldness.
Max did not want to take away his hand, but he was afraid that he had crossed an invisible line. It was perhaps not as friendly act as it should have been. He saw Liz wrap her arms around her and he realized that she might be cold. She was still looking pale. He quickly rose from his position and took the blanket that laid at Liz's feet and spread it over her.
Liz gave him a small smile of gratitude. "Thanks," she said. "You just get some rest now, Liz. You need it," Max said. Liz nodded her head and her eyes started to drift close again. Max stopped in the doorway and watched his angel fell asleep. Fighting the urge to stay with her, to wrap his arms around her to keep her warm, he left her room.
It was really dark. Even the moon was afraid to show its countenance. She hurried down the street. A cold feeling was spreading down her spine. She was being followed. When she turned the next corner she bumped into a hard body. Frightened she looked up to be met by brown eyes. "Max," she exclaimed surprised. But strangely she was not relieved. She still felt that she was in danger. Perhaps even more now than before. "Liz, what are you doing here? It could be dangerous to be out so late," Max said. "I was just heading home," Liz said and tried to walk past Max but he put out an arm and stopped her. Her heart slammed in her chest, her mouth went dry - all her senses were on high alert now.
"I can walk with you. You shouldn't walk alone," Max said. Without looking at him, just feeling with her heart, Liz was certain that she should be afraid of Max. That he was danger. "No really, Max I'm fine!" she said and freed herself out of his grip. "Really Liz, it's no problem," Max said and put an arm around her waist. Liz felt a sudden chilliness spread around her waist along with Max's arm and her mind was screaming at her to get away from him. "Okay," she said slowly and hoped that nothing would happen if she just acted as she suspected nothing wrong.
Max twisted and turned in his bed. He could not find peace. Finally, he gave up trying and rose from his bed. He dragged a pair of jeans on and pulled a sweatshirt over his head. Having tied his shoes he climbed out his window. The night was cool and it was relaxing his senses. He took deep breaths and tried to calm his storming feelings down. As if some invisible rope had dragged him there, he found himself standing outside the CrashDown Café, looking up at Liz's balcony. "I'm just gonna see how she is," Max thought and climbed the ladder to Liz's balcony. When he neared her window, his emotions were more and more turned up - like the volume of a radio. He looked inside and saw Liz lying in her bed. Her covers were only partly covering her, leaving her upper body free for exposure. She wore a halter top, which had slid up exposing a part of her stomach. Max thought to himself that he had never seen her anymore beautiful. But then he saw that she was clutching the edges of the covers in her small hands like it was her life-line. She was flipping her head slightly from side to side in an agonizing manner.
Without thinking, Max put his hand over the lock of the window, manipulating its molecular structure to unlock it. He slowly opened the window to not disturb Liz and slid inside as quietly as he could. Turning his back to Liz for a few seconds he closed the window and then made his way towards Liz. When he came closer he observed that she was sweating. The reddish nuance to her cheeks made her look flustered. Max kneeled beside her bed and carefully put his cool hand on her forehead, feeling for her temperature. She was hot again. "No, please." The plea came as a whisper over Liz's lips. Max's eyes wandered from her lips to her hands and the manner in which she clutched the covers. Rising a little from his kneeling position, Max tried to bend Liz's left hand free from the grip on the covers. "Nooo!" Liz wailed.
"Liz, calm down. It's okay," Max said softly to not scare her of his presence. However, she made no sign that she knew that he was there. When he got Liz's hand to let go of the covers, the hand quickly grabbed Max's hand and held it strongly. Max looked from the grip of her hand on his to her face and then he stretched over her to take away the other hand from the covers. When that grip as well loosened, Liz took a hold of Max's other hand. Max now found himself in a bit compromising position. He was leaning over Liz while she held both of his hands in a death-grip. Since she was obviously frightened, he had no intention of making her let go of his hands. So he carefully laid himself down beside Liz. Laying on his side, facing Liz's profile he had one of his arms positioned over her stomach.
Liz turned on her side, still asleep, so that she was now facing Max and in amazement Max saw how all the worried lines in Liz's face straightened out and her erratic breathing calmed down and steadied. Letting go of one of Max's hands but still holding the one that had been laying across her stomach she curled up against Max - positioning herself with her face in his chest. Max found himself in heaven - with his angel. Liz still felt a little too warm to be normal but to him it was absolute paradise to have Liz scooting so close to him like she wanted to crawl inside him.
A wave of exhaustion flowed over him, a result of several sleepless nights, and sleep finally claimed him.
Liz had never felt so safe before. She felt completely protected. When the clouds of sleep started to dissipate she became aware of the fact that her pillow felt very warm and it was moving up and down. She slowly opened her eyes. She did not know if she should scream, dance or cry as a response to the sight that greeted her. She had her head on a chest - a warm, secure and strong chest. Letting her eyes drift higher she found what she already suspected - that it was in fact Max (that somehow at this instance slept in her bed). Her legs were tangled with his and she was almost pinning him to the bed, having half of her body on top of Max's, who was impersonating as her pillow.
As if sensing her sleepless state, Max slowly opened his eyes and found that his dream was in fact not only a dream but reality. He was in a bed with Liz Parker. She was now looking down on him with a sleepy expression on her face - her hair was tousled by sleep. She was the most beautiful sight he thought for himself.
When Liz saw Max opening her eyes she could not help but smile. When he had been sleeping, all the worry and concern, all the responsibilities he normally had to carry on his shoulders were washed away from his face. He looked peaceful. In the moment after he had began to wake and she could look into his eyes and it was the same eyes that she had known so long ago. They were filled with care, warmth, but most of all love. The immense feeling of love washed over her. However, then Max realized where he was and a curtain fell in his eyes. His eyes now once again held that to Liz now familiar hurt in them.
"Good morning," Max said softly. "Good morning," Liz said and smiled again. Friend or not friend, her friend Max did look very sexy in the morning - and the fact that he was in bed with her, under her, did not help the matter very much. "May I ask what you are doing here?" Liz asked in a playing voice. Max face fell. "Mmm.I..I. was worried about you., so I came to watch how you were doing," Max stuttered. "Okay.," Liz said slowly. "How did you end up in my bed?"
Max suddenly realized that Liz was almost laying on top of him and her legs were tangled with his. He started to move about to free himself from Liz. Not that he didn't want to stay in that position - like forever - but he didn't want to ruin anything with Liz. Liz understood what he was trying to do and rolled of him, feeling the coldness and emptiness the second his body left her. Max sat up and looked at the clock on Liz's bedside table. It was seven a.m. Lucky for him it was Saturday and hopefully no parents would be storming into Liz's room for a couple of hours yet. Liz also sat up and pulled the covers up around her, trying to warm herself up. Max - misinterpreting her actions as if she was feeling exposed - moved away from the bed and stood up.
"I.you.you had a nightmare.and I just wanted to calm you down," Max started to explain and saw a small smile spread on Liz's face. "You were really frightened and I just thought that if I stayed with you, you would calm down." Max cast down his eyes, waiting for the verdict. "Thank you," Liz whispered softly. Max looked up, searching her eyes. "You're not mad?" he asked a little surprised. "Of course I'm not mad, Max," Liz said. "It was really kind of you to show up.and.and take care of me, you know." Looking down at her hands clutching the covers around her she said: "I haven't slept that well since.since.a very long time ago." Her mind drifted off to the time she and Max had fallen asleep outside the radio tower after they had found the orb. Even though they had been sleeping on the ground, she had never felt so good and protected as she had that night sleeping with Max's arms around her.
Max looked away feeling a little uncomfortable. Here he was in Liz's bedroom and he had just spent the night with her - his friend. Should a person feel this way about a friend? Looking back at Liz as she sat in her bed, nervously playing with the covers wrapped around her, with a sleepy expression on her face and her tousled he realized in that instant that she was his whole world. There would never be any other for him - it was her or no one. Her smile that had greeted him when he had opened his eyes in the morning - the first real smile she had given him in ages - had implanted some new hope in his heart. A hope that things might be okay between them.
"I guess I better get home," Max said. "Before Isabel or my parents.or you're parents find out that we have not.slept alone tonight." Liz smiled again. "I have really missed that smile," Max thought. "Yeah, that would probably be the best thing to do," Liz said. "I guess I'll see you in the CrashDown later?" "Yeah.no wait, I have to work today," Max said regretfully. "Oh." "Was that disappointment?" Max thought, feeling a sense of hope. "Well, so I see you when I see you then," Liz said and rose from her bed and started walking towards Max. "What is she doing?" Max thought. "Thank you," Liz said softly and rose on the tips of her toes and let her warm lips brush Max's cheek. "Thank you for being there for me when I needed you." "Sure," Max said, surprised that his voice did not tremble. "Bye Liz." "Bye," Liz said and watched Max open the window, climb through and disappear down the ladder of her balcony.
She closed the window after him and sank down on the edge of her bed. She was feeling good for the first time in months. When she thought about it, she had not felt this good since before Tess came to town. It was with the arrival of Tess that everything had started to fall apart -for obvious reasons. With a sad smile she once again realized that she could never really be happy if she could not be with Max. And being with Max - in any way that was more than a friend - was not even a possibility being with Max. "It would," she sarcastically thought when she started to prepare herself for yet another day working at the CrashDown, "mean the end of the world."