Roswell Fanatics

Title: Again
Author: Parker1947
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They were created once upon a time by Jason Katims and those associated with the writing staff of Roswell and before them it was the esteem creator of the Roswell High series by Melinda Metz. A book that captured all our attentions for 25 years and counting … This story is based on the television show that started in 1999 and ended in 2002. I am just borrowing them for my own fun and imagination or creating new ones to go along with what we were given, in terms of storyline or characters.
Rating: Mature
Category: CC
Characters: ALL
Synopsis: Post Graduation: Things did not work out as it was imagined for Max and Liz. Life on the road only lasted about a month before things were over, for the gang and for Max and Liz. As a result, they would mutually decide to part before the wedding took place. And life went on for good and for bad. Time went on, and now it’s ten years later, and life has definitely changed for them both in ways they had not anticipated. So, where do they stand with each other?
Music Credits: Songs by Sheryl Crow, Sinead O’Connor, Bryan Adams, Lionel Richie/Diana Ross to appear…
Changes from the Show: Graduation of course happened. With slight alterations to the final scenes. Because the wedding did not happen. Life on the road was rockier, but it ended before it they were able to stop and tie the knot. And most importantly, there will have been certain changes to the Parker history as we know it by the time Max and Liz meet up again, while keeping what we watched true. I am trying to adjust it to what we knew, but with certain changes designed to bring some drama. But what I have wrought could not possibly known at the time of the show. Because discoveries would be made in the ensuing months, years.

This is a sexy and morally challenging tale. Despite my best efforts, very angsty as well but it’s mostly very unlike what we would expect from Max and Liz. Of course, they are being who they are and once they see each other, well, they cannot help themselves and set off an escalating set of events that force them to be dealt lasting complications that will either help them or end them. Which will it be?

We shall see…







“I have to do this Max,” came the eighteen-year girl as she looked at the love of her life as they have come to this moment. After a month on the road. They were now back at home. Back to their lives. Or they were trying to get back to what they once had. But too much was different, and they were trying to figure out where their future was in this different world. Because so much was decided when things were thought to be more dire. And therefore, the young woman whose future was a lot more uncertain was at a crossroads. Because she had accepted a marriage proposal when she was not so sure she had a future. Despite sitting on a university acceptance. That any other teenager in their town would have craved.

And would have jumped on given a chance.

Although it was not for this girl, the one she expected to have gotten. But given the circumstances of the last year, it was one anyways. So, she should be happy. But she was not gung-ho in immediately accepting it because she would not have the boy that she loved with her. Even though he had talked a big game about joining her, and while on some level, she knew he would, but down deep Liz was not sure he would have been able to leave his home, and his family to come with her to a brand-new life for both of them, away from the daily dangers that their hometown had brought to both of them. And as if the heavens were interceding, and before she could make that kind of decision. Life turned on its head, and life became more treacherous. And different decisions would have to be made. And she had to put a pin on her dreams of a university experience. When she did not know if she would live.

And when she would have the boy that she loves with all her heart wanting to spend whatever time they had left with her, and when the diamond came out.

She had said yes.

She had been in awe, and in the moment, she said yes, And she did not regret it, all these days and weeks later. But a lot had happened in the past month, and she had been looking at a different life than the one they were looking at now. And as much as she wanted to spend her life with the love of her life. She now saw a life out there for her to grab.

And Max was not ready to come with her.

He was not saying that to her, but she could see it. In his eyes. And because of all the ways she was now different. Ever since that day when her life had changed. Therefore, she was now too different. Because she saw what he was really thinking. Even though she did not have that ability. She had a clearer cut, seeing what was going on. Although it was still in the infancy stages, and she did not know exactly what she was capable of.

Or whether she wanted to delve into the ability.

But she could see that he did not have the intense desire to follow her. Now that his sister was back, and Michael too. They would not be able to be apart from each other.

It was a different world, than the one they had been looking at only weeks before…

So, she looked at the acceptance in her hand. A piece of paper that she had picked up from her desk in her bedroom. After walking into the room and seeing it with different eyes but she needed to see it in the way she once did. And so that is why she was making this decision. “Northwestern still wants me, and I want them.”

“You don’t want me?” Max asked as he looked at the girl that he had love before he even knew the word, and what it all meant, or the feelings. Until the day when everything was different, and she was giving him the time of day.

“I want you,” Liz said softly, as she looked in the eyes. “But I think we should put off the wedding,” she said softly. “I love you Max, and I want to see what my future is and what I can make for myself. The past month has open my eyes to all that I was going give up if it had not ended in the manner that it did.”

“We can still get married, and I can come with you” Max asked softly as she looked into the eyes of his dream girl. “It is not like I have anything waiting for me here,” he said. And knew that he had just barely managed to graduate even if his grades indicated a more robust academic record, but it did not show the reality of this past school year in particular. Still, he had graduated which was an accomplishment. But unlike his girlfriend. He did not have a university wanting him, because he had not even applied. So, he was looking at an uncertain life in front of him. So, he was open to anything.

Almost anything.

Still, he would have done anything for Liz.

It was always like that. Now that they had a chance to be together and have a chance to grow together.

But Liz saw the reality of such a choice. “Can you leave Isabel and Michael?” Liz asked. “You talked about it before, sure, but the last month reenforced that you need to be close to them.”

“They have their own lives. Michael and Maria are trying to make it work. And Isabel is dealing with her own life,” he muttered as he was thinking of the recent demise of his sister’s marriage. And the knowledge that she might have begun something with Kyle on the road. Although it was only an assumption at this point. Because he tried to be oblivious about his sister’s love life. Even if Isabel did not share the same courtesy. “They won’t need me as much” he was saying. “And we are not in danger anymore. And we have more leverage on the government than they have on us.”

Which meant it was game over for the daily danger, and the ability to embrace the now.

“I know,” Liz said softly. Although she knew only too well that everything was different. And they did not have the sirens over their heads anymore. And money would be in their bank accounts before too long which would make them likely to have very different lives than even, they could have imagined or dreamt about not too long ago. “But reality is very different than dreams Max, and we have certainly seen that, have we not. You rely on Michael and Isabel too much to think that you can be across the country if all hell breaks loose once more.”

“Sounds like you don’t want me with you?” Max asked.

“I would love you to be with me, but I know the reality of our lives” Liz said softly, as she took Max’s hand and held it, and he revelled in the touch. “Too much of our life is different, and I am no longer the girl I was. And therefore, I need to see who I am without the worry. Not only for me, but so I don’t to worry that I might see the day where I will come home from classes and find that you are not there anymore. And you would not have left me, but because one of your enemies will have come and taken you off.”

Max could feel the fear and the worry in the girl he loved. And he hated that he had changed everything for her on that day when he had stepped into the fire to save her life. Although he would never regret that he had saved her life. Because he got to know her these last three years, even if the road had been rocky, and hell to get through at times. And somehow, they had managed, but it was not so easy.

Even though he had asked her to marry him, and she said yes, but they had been forced on the road. And experienced a lot of headaches before it all started to calm, and now they were back in Roswell, and at a crossroad with each other.

“I need time Max,” Liz said softly. “I don’t know what I will find. But I need the chance. I love you.”

“Good, because you are the world to me Liz,” Max murmured. “And I love you so much.”

Liz wished that was what she needed right now. She knew she might regret it one day, but she had to take the chance that only a month on the road gave her, and everything that had transpired to be giving her a new chance. “I wish I could marry you, and I don’t regret saying yes, but a lot was going on during that time. I did want to be with you. But today is different than it was six weeks ago.”

Max nodded. “So, if I give you that time. Will you come back to me?” and knew he would give her all the time in the world if she would come back to him.

“I cannot say what I will do. But right now, I have a chance to go to Northwestern. It might not be my dream school, but it is an amazing school, and I won’t have money being a problem,” she said citing the settlement with the government that was arranged for them. “I owe that to myself, and I owe it to you so that I don’t resent what I would have given up if I don’t try, and I don’t want you to come with me and change your life for me Max… when I know that is not something you are up for.”

Max sighed. But knew how much burden he had given to her by saving her life. “I would come with you in a second?”

“I know you would, but you would have to change too much of your life for me. You deserve to figure out what you want for your life, because you should not rely on me for your happiness. I know so much of your life has been in hiding and you could not come up with a plan for yourself.”

“My plan for myself came into fruition” Max muttered. “I wanted to stay alive, and I wanted you to love. I didn’t have much else.”

“You deserve to have more to look forward to,” Liz said softly. Because it did not feel good to know Max was looking at her as his salvation, and not to have anything else to look for in his life. Yet those eyes told how much he loved her. She loved him too. Speaking to that notion. “Love has never been the issue for you and me. Because I do love you Max and I will never forget you or resent the fact that we loved each other.”

“I love you,” Max said softly as he pulled her into a kiss. “There is no past tense in what I feel for you,” he said softly. “So, come back to me,” he said softly. “I will be counting the days while I wait,” as the kiss grew heated, and passionate and Liz hated to have to tear herself away from it.

But she did.

As she turned and walked away and got into the car driven by her best friend, Maria who could only sigh as she saw the tears going down her friend’s face, and even on Max’s face from afar as she watched their car start. “Are you sure about this?” Maria asked of her friend.

She wanted to say no, but she could not. So, she said “Yes.” Liz said softly as the car started and drove off towards to the exit of their town, and towards the airport that would take her far from all she knew.

As Max prayed to the god that he did not believe in that she would come back to him.

Looking forward to more.

She would not come back to him. Or to Roswell for that matter. And she had not been back in ten years. She always told everyone who listened to her on the subject that she was busy. And I was she sighed. It takes a lot to go through university, and then medical school she would mutter to herself of the questions being broached of why she was not going back to her hometown. But she also knew the truth.

She could not deal with going back.

She was staying away for a reason. Not a reason that made a lot of sense even to her brain. Because she had no reason to stay away. Especially when she had family back in Roswell. And sure, her parents understood that she was dealing with her studies. Because it was something they wanted for her after coming so close to losing her before high school was even out, and once more in those days after her high school graduation. But it did not stop them from asking in their own ways, but they understand her resistance. As she would always make an excuse. And they would come to her.

So, why should I come back when they can come to me Liz would reason to herself, but today she was not able to stay away. She was coming back because she loved one person more than the any logical reason to stay away. Even if it meant that she would see him. She knew the chances of seeing him was going to happen. She would never be able to stay away from any encounters in this return. But her career which had given her a ready excuse before today, was now telling her that she needed to come back to her hometown. Because a lot was being ignored. And it was all coming a head. So that was why she was driving down the back roads of New Mexico, on the way back to the town that had raised her.

She was singing out loud, entertaining herself and that of her companion in the car. Fortunately, for herself, it was allowing her to ignore the likelihood that she would see the person she had been staying away from because he had wanted her to come back to him. After she had gotten everything, she dreamt of. Northwestern had been the best decision she could have made because it was not her dream school so it did not have to disappoint her, and she had been able to gain every kernel of knowledge she could without the distraction of danger lurking, even though she would not have the love of her life with her.

A love of her life that still ranked number one for her today, ten years from that day when she had left its boarders and left a dejected Max behind. The decision to part had been mutual, but they both knew it was more her than him. Because he would have wanted to try. He could not have come with me she muttered. While Max took life changes with a lot more ease than his best friend, she knew he would have had to have changed too much to be supportive to her dreams. I did not want him to change for me, she sighed, and plus, she did not know if the flags were still out there that would make a grab at him, and she would have her heart broken if they had been. Staying in Roswell was about safety she was telling herself, sure tell yourself that Liz she muttered to herself as she looked out onto the road. And the sunshine that was dotting the highway. Because it was later in the day than she had wished it to be with her plan for arriving. She had already stayed away longer than she should have given the occasion she was coming back to her hometown for.

Maria had wanted her to come back before now, and she had rejected it because she always had a reason for staying away until now. Better ones than the reason for not coming back before now. But at least she was coming back, and that matters most so she knew she had to be in Roswell before darkness totally set in. Because the weekend was calling, and it was her best friend’s wedding that was calling her.

Because her best friend was finally getting Michael Guerin to commit. Which was a feat in itself. Because it had been ten years and despite somehow managing to make their relationship work. They never had managed to make it far enough to get in front of the altar until now, and this weekend was the weekend, and that meant Liz was not able to stay away from the occasion nor did she want too because she wanted to be there for her best friend.

Correction. She needed to be there for her best friend.

I cannot stay away she told herself. Even if she dreaded the moment that she knew would happen.

But she also knew it would mean that she would be getting a little bit back to who she was originally after ten years of trying to be someone she was not. Because she knew she had leaned too easily on trying to prove that she was not who she was when she left Roswell. And who people thought she was. She had tamped down on her old persona a little too much, and she was now suffering for it because she did not know who she was.

Except on the occasions when she saw her parents, but it was never back in Roswell. It was always wherever she was living. Now, she was coming back to town, and she would have deal with trying to figure out who she was really, and who she was meant to be. Because on the surface of it, she was Dr. Elizabeth Parker. And to those who knew, would not think of who she had been as a teenager, although they knew there was an uproar as she was graduating high school. And certainly, she had some gossip hounds in her early years as she was trying to rise from those days go into her past and dig up information and therefore ask the uncomfortable questions.

But she always able to get out of those close encounters and continue to climb the ladder she had been rising on since she finished medical school. So, no one really knew who she truly was. Or her murky underneath. Which is why she was living a different life, and she found herself a little overwhelmed so this weekend was what she needed even though she knew what coming back for Maria and Michael’s wedding would mean.

Because she would see him.

And open a lot of wounds. And maybe start some new ones. For not only herself but her family, so as she continued to drive down the highway as her car got closer to her destination. “Mommy?” came a soft voice from the back seat.

“Yes,” she asked as she looked in the mirror that could bring the blonde hair little girl into view.

“Are we almost there?” the child as she as she had been sleeping for most of this last leg of the trip. Since they had left the restaurant that they had stopped off to get some lunch. Liz knew the experience had been tiring for the child. If it’s tiring for me, then it would be tiring for a child, so she felt for the child, and thankfully we are almost there she sighed, thank god because she was almost ready to be at their destination despite all it meant.

“Almost,” Liz said softly. “I know it’s been a long drive.”

“Yeah, it has” the child muttered as she looked out at the road and the desert. “Wow, it’s really sandy here” she murmured with a sense of awe. Because she was a child of other places, more notably bigger city centers. Therefore, she was not used to the land that had Roswell in its grips. So, there would be a lot of new experiences for both of them, but most notably the girl.

“Yes, it is. It’s the New Mexico desert.”

“Cool,” said the child.

“Yes, it is” Liz agreed. As she was coming to realize just how much she had missed the sand, and the atmosphere of her home state. She might not have lived here in many years, nor had she visited, but she should have. There is something about this place she knew. But of course, she knew why there was something about this place, this state.

And why it captivated her.

For many ways than just warm weather, most of the time and the atmosphere. But it was lifting her spirits. “You are going to like it here; I did when I was growing up.”

“Mommy, if you grew up here. Why did you move away?” the girl asked, as if it was an easy question to answer.

It was not. “Callie,” Liz said with a sigh. “That is a very long story, and you are way too young to hear it” she said as she continued to drive because the last thing the eight-year-old needed to know was the warts and all of her prior life in her hometown. She is way too young to really know it all she thought. She already knows her life story is confusing enough as it is she sighed as she knew there would be a lot explaining as Callie got older. “I moved on, because I wanted to further my education, and I never really came back.”

That is an understatement she knew. “Until now,” she murmured. “But sweetheart, you will find a fascinating town.”

The child nodded. “Will Grandpa be happy to see me?”

That is a question Liz muttered to herself softly. With a lot of history behind it as she thought of the behind-the-scenes drama that was not only her romance with Max, but also without her own Parker family. Life changed dramatically once I left town she thought. Facts became known.

That were eerily like what I experienced before leaving this place she thought as she saw the Roswell sign that indicated how close she was, and she sighed, because coming back to Roswell was going to be drama filled on a whole host of avenues, but you have to come home again, right?

You would think Liz muttered to herself.

“Mommy?” Callie asked. As the eight-year-old looked at the concern look on her mother’s face. She was smart enough, and old enough to know the oddities of her life, and she knew her mother wanted to hide the truth of it, but she knew how to eavesdrop, and therefore, she had gotten some of the truth of the situation, so she was daring to ask a loaded question.

“He will be happy to see you” Liz smiled as she looked back toward the little girl. “I can say that for sure,” she sighed, now my mother might be a different story she said and kept that unsaid to herself, and to the innocent child who did not need to know the warts of the Parker history. She loved her mother and father and prayed that this all had a happy ending.

“Do they know we are coming?” Callie asked.

Do they, that was an excellent question and Liz did not know if she could answer it, as Callie was waiting for the answer and knew her mother was not going to answer the question very easily, and she was about ready to give up on it, both she and her mother both heard the gurgle of the car sputtering and stuttering, oh shit Liz would think and before long, she found the car coming to a stop.

With no more moving to be had. “Mom?” Callie asked.

“It’s going to be fine,” Liz muttered. But would it she was telling herself, as she looked down at her phone attached to the map on the car. Even though for the last couple of hours, she had known exactly where she was heading, and going and therefore the map was not needed, but it was there to reassure herself that she was not going to drive somewhere else and miss Maria’s wedding.

Even she wondered why she was returning.

Now.

After so many years of not coming back. But Maria mattered.

Everything mattered.

She could not stay away. Nor did she want too.

But maybe her car had a different opinion on the matter and was forcing her to stop, so she picked up her phone, and looked around at the darkening night. And knew she had to get to Roswell. But how.

She dialed and waited for the person she wanted to answer it, “Come on” she muttered as she waited. “We will be fine Callie.”

Would they Callie did not know but she trusted her mother.







A car was driving. It was anywhere than where his family wanted him. Or more so, his wife wanted him to be. Of course, he knew this. But work called. And he had already booked off most of the day and knew he could have asked for the night off also. Because after all, his boss was a close personal friend and would have given him the day off. But no, he had only asked for the first hours off of his shift, and now he was back and working.

And he knew his children were fine with it. They told him to go to work. When he said that he could call in. But they knew his job was important. And this was only one day. Although it was very important for his daughter. But she wanted him to go to work. But his wife was another story, and he was thinking of that little matter coming to a head as he concentrated on the job. And it’s not like he had days off to spend with his wife. Because he knew he had to take the next day off. Even if his boss would have it off too.

Because his boss was giving the bride away.

And he would be standing at the altar as best man. Watching as his best friend finally became a married man, something I know a little of, too many times to count.

It was slow tonight. Which was one of the benefits of working in such a small town. Because most of the time, it was only small-time crimes that he had to report too and write up. Nothing major.

Nothing like what I committed when I was a teenager he thought. Which told him that he was lucky that he had this job, because most towns would unlikely have hired him as a deputy, but Jim Valenti had believed in him and given him the job because he had not known what he was going to when he came back to town after a short-lived flight after graduation.

And had lost his reason for living.

The love of his life.

And the wedding that was in the cards, well, that was up in the flames, and he had to figure out how to make a life for himself. So, he started working as an unpaid consultant at the Department, and it had led him to a fulltime job as a deputy, and here he was, enforcing the town laws when he was hiding who he was from the town.

Only his boss knew the truth.

And a small fraternity.

But the job allowed him to try to forget what he lost all those years ago, and nights like this one was what he liked most of all because it allowed him to fret about his life. Even as he tried to forget the woman who had captured his heart at a tender age. And loved with all his might I loved her so much he muttered.

And still did.

Which makes him need nights like this when he was out in the car and driving around the town. So, that he did not feel like a louse for putting his wife through this, and it’s not even my first marriage he mutters but unfortunately his first wife had passed away suddenly and left him a widower.

And a single father.

And then he tried to do the right thing and move on, it was not like I was an expert on that he thought of his children. He had wanted to curse the gods for taking Liz away from him and then taking Edie from him. But for his children’s sake, he had moved on, and unfortunately, he was still married, and knew their marriage was a mistake. But neither of them was ready to call it a day.

And therefore, he was not giving Yvonne what she wanted and go with her to take his children to the date with ice cream after his daughter’s ballet recital. Ella understands he reasoned with himself. She and Noah know I have to work as his children were surprisingly chill with the idea that he not spending time going to her after Ella’s recital or spending time with Yvonne. He did not know if that meant anything more than the surface, nor did he want to ask those kind of questions.

So, he acted as if he had to work. But of course, he did not have to work. He would not be on today’s schedule except he had added himself.

And then the phone rang, Great, probably the wife telling me to come home.

“Yvonne, I told you I still have time left on shift…”

“It’s not Yvonne,” came the voice on the other side of the phone. “Why aren’t you at the Crashdown with the kids?” came the voice of someone very familiar.

“Maria, I am working” Max Evans muttered. There are many reasons why I am not at the Crashdown. “Jim was understaffed tonight. So, I had to come in,” he muttered even though he knew Jim would have given him the full shift off. And he had other people he could have forced to come in and fill the roster.

“Yeah, and I believe that one” Maria Deluca muttered from the other side of the phone. As she sat in her house. Twelve more hours until I get Michael to put a ring on my finger she muttered. “But I am not going to give you heck for not being home with your wife and kids,” she allowed because it was not like she liked Max’s wife. Edie was so much better. Yvonne is just too annoying she muttered but she knew how bad the marriage was, so she almost felt sorry for Max’s wife.

Almost Maria muttered. “Anyways, I have a favor to ask you” she said softly without going into it, not that Max was asking too many questions because he took the offer as away to actually do something even though Maria knew what he would going towards, and the drama that would start to flicker.

“Tell me,” Max said.

And so, Maria did.

And Max headed off without knowing what he would find.






The drive towards where Liz and Callie were took more than forty-five minutes, and therefore the car still sat unmoving, and Liz had to deal with not being able to move. And a child who wanted to get out of the car, but her mother knew that was the last thing they should be doing given that it was getting later, and she was driving alone, and had a small child with her. I might be able to take car of myself.

In more ways than simply having take self defence lessons when she had moved to Illinois. Which is something she had done because she did not trust herself and the abilities she had gained because of her association to Max and his friends. They were still so unproven at that time.

And still were to this day she knew. Because she had let them go dormant, and she had used more human ways of protecting herself. But still, being alone in a car with a young child. She knew she was well defended, but you never know, do you.

No, you don’t.

Callie was growing tired and finally she had gotten child to fall asleep in the car, and so Liz was sitting in the car and watching the sleeping child like a hawk but also keeping an eye on the outside because she did not dare leave the car. Not like she had to walk to find a phone, like she might have had to do in the olden days. Times have changed she muttered in so many years as she watched the night get darker and darker, and time felt like it was only dripping off ever so slowly.

Until she saw the glow of a car that was coming her way. Must be help she sighed. Maria was unable to come because she and Michael had dinner planned with Maria’s mother, and the family that was now in from out of town. Maria’s other family members. She wondered if Sean Deluca was coming to the wedding. That is someone I have not thought of in a long time she thought of the guy who had once had a crush on her, and she had played with while a junior in high school. And he was older, not much, but it kept me busy she though when things were going badly with Max.

When were things not going badly with Max she thought. Why we thought we could make it she thought, as she thought of her attempt at being with some else. Sean had wanted her, but I wanted Max, and I went back to him even with what I knew she thought. So, she had only herself to blame for the hurt she had experienced.

Even though it was mutual when she and Max had finally ended it. And she had moved on, so she did not know who was going to be coming to her rescue. She wondered if it was Kyle. After he could call in favors if he could not come personally.

She had not factored in someone more invested in her would come to her rescue.

Sighing as she wondered who she would see. But it would be only a matter of time. Because the car stopped steps from her own, and the door open, and the identity of her rescuer was marred by the glasses and hat, even in the darkness that was falling. She knew it was common in Roswell for people to wear sunglasses at any time because you never know with the glare of the sun, and sometimes it will help keep people from looking at you.

So, it would not help her identify her rescuer, but certainly his build did, and her heart stopped for moment.

No, it cannot be, can it be? Liz murmured ever so softly so not to get Callie to wake up, because she had no way of knowing how long it would take to get on the road once more, so the child should sleep. I should be sleeping.

But nope, she muttered herself as the person who had come to her rescue came closer and closer, and she knew now she was right, please god, why? she muttered to herself as she felt herself stop in place. She might be sitting down, and not standing, well, she knew she could faint.

It cannot be, right? she was trying to convince herself even though her protestations were nothing because yes, it is she muttered as the figure came closer.

Max.

Max Evans, she muttered to herself. Of all the people?

Maria Deluca almost Guerin you are cruel she muttered because she knew the only reason the person coming would be her former fiancée was because of her best friend. Damn it Maria, she told herself as she kept all this close to her vest because Callie was still sleeping.

A knock on the window came, and she was forced to roll it down, and look at her rescuer. “Thank you for coming…”

Silence came at her, as the guy by the window looked in and he was at almost ready to faint.

“Liz,” came the soft voice of a very familiar person.

“Hello Max,” Liz muttered as she looked at the imposing build of the man who was the boy she once loved and still did if she was being honest with herself, nothing comes close to Max she told herself once more. As if that knowledge was not playing on loop constantly in her brain, as she never fully was able to move on.

Holy Shit they would both think to themselves.

The plot thickens.

Silence descended on the area. As if there was anything in their vicinity to make a sound but there was not anything to be found because Liz had the good sense to find a quiet area to be stranded in, whether it was a good thing or not was certainly open to be debate. But they knew that it could go either way, but it also meant that there would be no one around to see the reunion of the decade happen. Even though it was not as if either participant was jumping up and down.

Nope.

They were too shocked. And as the night dawned and they were both looking at the person who got away. And neither knew how to handle it or to respond because for Max, this was the last thing he had expected because when Maria had called up and asked him for a favor. I should have known he told himself. Maria is unlikely to call unless it was an emergency. But he foolishly figured it was a wedding guest in town for the ceremony the next day getting lost because they did not know the area.

Roswell is straightforward he muttered, but tourists do not always agree with me on that matter and numerous times would someone get stranded out here, and someone would have to come running he muttered. It might be getting cooler, but the days were pretty hot out here, and that can be a dicey proposition, so Max did not know who he was coming for, as he had not asked, nor had Maria told him.

So, it had been an easy guess that it would be someone coming into town for the wedding.

On that score, he was partially right, but he would be off in terms of that it would be a stranger for him because it was true that most of Maria’s family who was from Amy’s side rarely came to Roswell, so he was not that familiar with the Deluca clan, with the exception being Sean Deluca he muttered.

He only knew of the kin of Maria’s because he had come to town during a down period in his life and came in between him and Liz, not that we were even together at the time he sighed, because it was a mess, but Sean was a temptation there for a moment or two. Before Max and Liz straightened things out, however temporary it turned out to be, because until graduation beckoned, they barely had a happy moment.

And then the happy moment they had been able to have, well, that fell apart pretty quickly after graduation he muttered.

He would always be grateful for the chance to love Liz. No matter how it ended for us he thought,[/i] and I do not regret it, or hate that I moved on,[/i] he thought, maybe that I picked the wrong relationships. Although he still mourned Edie. She was a good woman, unfortunately thought, life would have their own thoughts on her longevity, and he would move with Yvonne to give the kids a sense of family, now I know I should have stayed single a little longer, but it did not make him want to leave the marriage.

Because he did not want that for the kids.

They like Yvonne he thought.

Or he wanted to believe they did, because he had not had the talk with his children about the status of their life. But that was not relevant to this moment in time where he was standing in shock and looking at the one who got away.

“Liz” Max whispered as his throat began to make a sound as he quickly took of his glasses, and put them away, and had a good look at the woman who had walked away from him.

“Hello Max, thank you for coming” Liz murmured softly. Ever so softly, that he almost did not catch it. “I assume Maria is the one who called you?”

Maria Max said as reality started to return to her. As he struggled to stammer through it and find something to say. Say something Max, come on man.

We broke up. It was mutual. You should not be asking like this.

You are married after all.

That was the one thing he was ruing at the moment. I am married he muttered to himself. Is Liz? he wondered.

Of course, he did not know because he had refused to talk to Maria about the subject that had became forbidden to discuss. Not that either wanted to broach it. But Max did not want the temptation of asking about his former girlfriend, former fiancée.

“What are you doing here?” Max said softly, as he found his voice.

“Obviously nothing,” Liz muttered. “Going nowhere,” she sighed. “Car broke down. No gas or some other issue, I don’t know, as I have never been into dealing with that stuff.”

I know Max said with a smile to a memory of their escapades on the road, in their brief moment of sunshine, before the end came of course. “I know that” he said as he was finding his voice. “I mean, here.”

“You really though I would miss the wedding?” Liz asked a little incredulously at the man she once loved and still did. And from the way Max was looking at her Liz did not know what to think or say to her former boyfriend. As every emotion was coursing through her body and bringing about too many conflicting emotions within her for her to think clearly. Come on, is he serious here, he actually thinks I would think that I would miss the wedding? She wondered to herself. That is insane she whispered to herself and would say as much out loud. “Maria is a sister to me, Max. Why would I stay away?”

Yeah, why?

Of course, she was choosing to ignore the very fact that she had stayed away for the last decade and was only coming back because she could not stay away from such an important moment. Without important questions being asked. So, she knew she was a hypocrite on that level. And Max was in his right to question it, but she would never want to miss such an event because she knew how much she loved Maria.

And knew how much Maria loved Michael, and finally they were going to be married, and she was not going to miss it, even knowing what she would be facing back here in her hometown. Because she had no good reason for staying away. I am not trying to hide anything or from anyone she muttered to herself as she saw the weary look on her former boyfriend’s face. And knew she deserved to have her words judged.

And for Max, it was almost as if he could read her mind. But I cannot he knew, I am not a mind reader he sighed of the many abilities his little fraternity was known to have, but that one was not his. And a lot of their issues could have been prevented by his not trusting the one who had the power. Still, he was looking at the woman who was the girl he once loved. And still do. “Well, you stayed away until now, didn’t you?” he asked as he glanced at his past and with his head swimming with many uneasy questions, he could not help but ask. “Where have you been?”

That is a loaded question she knew. “Leading my life,” which was a soft ball answer to such a question as she muttered and cursed to herself. “I was busy,” she would say and from the look on Max’s face, clearly it told her that it was an understatement, as much as it was true.

A very large one.

“Maria understood why I could not come back before now,” Liz murmured even if Maria does not but there were many reasons why she had chosen to stay away. And none of them were any good except for the dreaded truth, I did not want to see that I had made the wrong decision.

That was the simple truth.

At the absurdity of this whole situation, Max wanted to laugh at the notion, but all he could do was sigh because he did not know why he was interrogating his former love like he was. She has every reason to want to have a life, he would mutter. It is what I wanted for her after all.

Right?

And it was why he had saved her life in the beginning, right?

She deserves all the best, Max softly told himself. And clearly, she has been getting that for herself even as he knew her exploits had made it to town. He had not wanted to hear them, because they would get in the way of the life he was trying to lead, as if the ghost of the love that got away had not impacted his life but still, her good fortune did get around occasionally.

Liz bristled. As much as she deserved to be questioned, still, she did not want to have to explain it to one who got away. “It did not matter why I waited to return,” Liz would mutter as she brought him back to earth and her. “I am here, now.”

Yes, you are, Max agreed, and he was almost coming back to the realities of the situation. Their situation he muttered. It is why I am here after all? And he knew he needed to get back to why he was here. So, abruptly changing his expression. “So, you need some help?” as he tried to get back to the professionalism he should be always giving out as a member of the Roswell Sheriff department. It is always our duty to serve; he thought of the department’s motto. No matter how our pasts may link.

“Obviously,” Liz muttered as she felt relief that they were moving away from their other discussion to more pressing matters. “Thank you for coming,” she would say once more as Max chose to nod and stay silent. And the way he looked. He was always hot; she would murmur to herself. But that was not all she was now realizing about her former love, is he that much of a former? she was asking herself. Because nothing and no one have come even close to how I used to feel about Max she thought, and maybe still do.

As she focused more on the present situation. And not the past. She saw the jacket he was wearing and the hat he was sporting. Holy Shit she mumbled to herself. He is a cop? she muttered A Sheriff Department Deputy more like it.

“You have a badge?” Liz asked in stunned silence.

“Yes,” Max nodded as he did not have to look down to know how he looked, or how it would be a surprise to his former girlfriend. “I work for Jim.”

“Wow,” Liz murmured to herself as she did not know how to react.

Max could see the shock in his former girlfriend. Of course, it would shock her. Back in the day, the last thing she would think would be for me to join the neighbourhood Sheriff department after all the headaches we gave them, and how lucky we managed to stay out of trouble. “I guess it would not be what you were expecting for me, or to be, when you told me to get a life.”

The snide remark only made Liz sigh as she still had memories of that day. Of how it ended for them, and what she had said.

To get her freedom.

Not that she had wanted her freedom from Max.

Just the situation she told herself.

I wanted to know if I could have that normal life that she craved from that day when a bullet had collided with her body and changed her life forever. When she was removed from the track she was, and the life she had been dreaming about.

When she was given a love of a lifetime. But she had been so young, and she needed to see what else was out there.

Without Max with her. As much as I wanted him to be with me.

And she had wanted him to be with her. She felt once more like a hypocrite because she had loved him so much and she knew that he would have given up everything for her if she had asked him too.

But she did not want him too either. Because that would have been unfair to him, but she knew how it appeared. And how it would have sounded to him at the time. Which is why she had clung to the idea that it was a mutual parting.

“That is unfair,” she finally muttered as memories flashed of that day. “I wanted you to find what you most wanted for your life.”

“I did,” Max muttered. “You,” he sighed. “But you did not want me.”

I wanted you she told herself. I wanted you desperately, she thought. I don’t regret it. “I needed something different, and we agreed that it was for the best.”

“You decided what you wanted, and I went along with it,” because he knew the scale of their mutual parting was weighted more heavily on Liz’s side. And he would have wanted her to leave or ask her to leave. I wanted to marry her, he thought, which is why he was living his present life the way he was.

“Max,” Liz sighed.

But Max did not say anything more. As the realities of their now came back to him. “It does not matter. What was said, was said,” he sighed. “So, you need help?” he asked once more to divert from the past. “How can I help?”

“I don’t know.” And that is the truth.

Max nodded as he gave the car a once over. “I guess I can check the engine,” Max asked as he walked to the front of the car without saying anything more. “How old is the vehicle?”

“I bought it last year, but I have put a lot of miles on it,” she sighed as she was forced to realize that she had missed the last scheduled checkup because of her work schedule. I never called to reschedule, she now sighed. Which is something I should have done before making this trip. When she knew that she was going to make this trip, it is not like we were just heading to the next town she sighed, because it had been a long and drawn-out trip.

And now she was close to her destination.

Max nodded. And knew he wanted to say something else but wisely chose not too. “It needs a tune up badly,” he said softly as he looked under the hood for a solution. “Engine is completely shot.”

Fuck Liz muttered. “Can you help me?” she asked of the unspoken knowledge between the two of them. Max was handy for a lot of things,

“I can try,” Max muttered. She knows so much more about me than either of my wives did or do he would think of his current marriage to Yvonne. Yes, Max, you are married he muttered to himself as he glanced at his lost love. "No promises though.”

Liz nodded and watched as Max worked on the engine. But only moments later, the verdict was reached. “Sorry,” Max said as he shut the hood. “Too dead.”

Are you kidding me? Liz asked with a sigh. He can bring me back from the dead, but he cannot save a damn car? she muttered to herself a little incredulously.

Max could only smirk as he sensed what she was thinking. “Yeah, I know, right?”

Liz nodded. “Anyways, thank you for checking,” she would sigh. But the pressing matter was more in that she had no way of getting to town, And I have to be at that wedding, she thought. “What am I going to do?” she would say.

“I guess, I could get someone to come and get the car and take it to a shop,” Max sighed. “And drive you back to town?” to wherever you are staying was unspoken.

Silence filled up the area. And before Liz could react to Max’s offer. Ever the gentleman Max was, she was thinking, as she did not want to think that he might have been offering it because it was his duty as a deputy. Before she could think that or react. Another voice piped up and into the conversation and changed the whole complexion of how Max and Liz were looking at the situation.

Can you drive me too?” Callie Parker asked as she jumped up and scared the daylights out of Max.

“What the hell?” Max sputtered in shock. There was a child in the car, all this time?

Yes, there was.

Can't wait for the Liz....Maria reunion. And how Callie Parker figures in to the story.

There had indeed been a child witnessing the melodrama. Because all the while, Callie had been listening to the whole conversation as she was only pretending to be sleeping. So not to make her mother more nervous as the darkness was setting in, and especially since she had woken up when Max had approached the vehicle. And could not help but listen in.

And therefore, listening to her mother and the strange man had been amusing to the eight-year-old as it was contrary to anything she had experienced since she had been living with her mother. Mommy has been a self-described celibate the eight-year-old could not help but think. Of course, she did not say that to me, she thought to herself. [iI don’t even know what celibate is[/i] ‘I heard her say that to Molly’s mother,’ she thought of her friend back home.

So, to open her eyes and see how her mother was reacting to this strange man was an eye-opening experience for the child. She knew enough not to say anything.

But she could see the panic in the man’s eyes as she looked between Callie and her mother.




And it was a panic that was very adult and something Liz was witnessing firsthand. Damn it, she thought to herself. I forgot that I was not alone, she would tell herself as she also sighed as she knew how easy it was for her and Max to feel like they were in their own universe where it was hard for anything to break through and so she had to remind herself that she was not alone. And she could see what Max was thinking, and exactly what he was thinking. Because she remembered what she and Max had done before she left him, and this town.

A month of doing exactly what they should have been doing all along but they were too into being upstanding All American teenagers who would not even think of it, oh, we did think about it but we always got busted but there came a time when he had put a ring on her finger that they had finally fallen to their urges and they managed some hot passion, and it was hot both would agree. But eventually Liz would walk away, and now Max was looking at the blonde-haired little girl in the car, and there was, yes, panic in his eyes.

She does not look like me Max muttered and does not look that much like Liz at all either he thought, but there looked to be some familiarity between the child and his former girlfriend. “Liz, who is this child?”

“My name is Callie,” the child smiled. “Mommy, who is this man?”

Mommy Max wordlessly said to himself. God…

“Max, this is Callie.” Liz said softly. “And Callie, this is Max Evans. He is an old friend from my old life here in Roswell,” she said as she knew Max was almost choking at the old friend label. Yeah, old friend my ass she was thinking. Because Max had been more than a friend.

Much more they both knew.

But the child was too young to know how close her mother had been to this man, and Liz did not want to have to explain it. One day, I might, she sighed. “We ran into trouble with the car, you remember, right,” she said softly. “You were sleeping, and this man came to help us out.”

“Hello, Mr. Evans,” Callie said softly. I was sleeping, yeah right, when I could see exactly what was happening, she smiled, but did not say the words. Still, ever the polite young girl. “Were you able to help us out?”

“Unfortunately, the car needs some help” Liz said softly as by the silence that Max was exhibiting, she knew he was accessing and trying to come to a logical conclusion to explain Callie presence in her car, and he was still clearly too stunned to clearly think.

“Which means?” Callie asked.

Yeah, what does it mean? Liz asked as she was looking at her former boyfriend and could see the stunned expression, and she knew he was going to erupt in some fashion. “Max, can we take this outside,” she said softly as she opened her door. “You stay in the car, okay, we won’t be far,” she sighed.

“Sure,” Callie nodded. Unsure what was happening between the adults.

“Promise me okay, don’t leave this car” Liz murmured.

“I promise, okay” Callie murmured, why would leave? When I have a show here to watch, she said of the entertainment as she saw her mother finish opening the door and getting out of the car and walking to the other side after shutting the car door.

Forgetting that the passenger window was slightly open.




“What is going on here Liz?” was all Max could ask as they took a few steps away from the car, but neither was wanting to go far from the car. “Is that child your daughter?” he asked, as his mind was thinking of the other reasons why the child would call his former girlfriend Mommy he said as he was trying to convince himself that he was going down a rabbit hole for no good reason. He was…

“Yes,” Liz said simply and without any elaboration as a way of explaining.

Bristling at the simple answer. “No one told me you had a child,” he said softly as he thought of the many times he talked to Michael, or Maria, or even the Parker's, and while Liz was a subject he tended to stay away from, for obvious reasons he knew. Still, the topic could not go unsaid at times. Especially when you live in a town for ten years, and the prodigal daughter had not come to town in that time to see her best friend or most of all, her parents.

Although he was aware that Jeff and Nancy had gone to see Liz.

Where, he did not know. But he knew there were visits, but those visits were not reciprocal, and Liz did not come to see her parents. Now, he was looking at the situation with different eyes. Does Jeff even know that he has a grandchild? he wondered to himself. As if it was his place to be asking that kind of question. "What is going on Liz?" he asked.

"Is it any of your business?" Liz asked, and knew she was walking into quicksand with what she was not saying about Callie's situation.

"Is it?" Max asked. Is it? he pleaded with his eyes.

"No," Liz said simply. "She is not yours' Max."

"She is not?" Max wondered as the pin busted the balloon of hope as he glanced over at the car. "Whose is she?"

"That is none of your business," Liz said with a glare that told him that he was treading on dangerous ground, which is something he did acknowledge of course, but one could never knew for sure, therefore he felt that he had a right to ask, did he not? I know what Liz and I was doing before she left town; he muttered to himself. "I left a decade ago” she would continue on to say.

You don't have to remind me of that fact; I know that Max muttered to himself. And kept it at a simple, "I know," he sighed. "So?"

"Callie is 8 years old" Liz said simply. "So, yeah, I would say she is not your child." Aliens are capable of a lot, but not a gestation of nearly two years.

That does not answer my question, whose is she? Max muttered to himself, but he knew enough to know he might get a slap or a punch if he tried to say that to his former girlfriend once more. Even though he hated the idea that she had been with someone else and had a child with them. Forgetting for a moment, that he had been with other women and had three children to show for it. Two that I am raising, one who was put up from adoption and has lived a whole other life that I am not involved with he sighed of his firstborn son. He knew enough of the home that formerly named Zan lived, to know the child was happy, and healthy and lived away from Roswell. Acknowledging this, he simply nodded. "Do your parents know they have a grandchild?"

"Of course, they do,” Liz bristled at the mere notion, because there is a so much more to the story than he knows but it did make her wince at the thought he would think her family would not know. Just because you might not know she sighed “Why would I have kept it from them?" Liz asked as it rattled around her brain just how her parents would have known about the child's existence, but it was something she was not going to share with her former boyfriend.

Or not tonight she sighed.

"Well, you stayed away all this time did you not?" Max muttered. "So, it is a reasonable question to ask?"

It was and Liz knew it. At least from Max's perspective I imagine she sighed. "I still saw my parents Max. I just did not come back here to Roswell to do it," she muttered. "They came to me."

Put back in his place. Max simply nodded.

Because he did not know what to say.

And from Callie's place in the car, she was having a good time watching a live soap opera. Wow she whispered. Because nothing on the television for the child could be this vivid, and imaginative and passionate when they were only talking and she was hearing what her mother was saying, and she knew the truth of what her mother was saying, if only Max knew what the truth was, she was thinking. She at eight knew enough of it, even if her mother kept some of the grittiness from her, because of her age. But she could see the emotion on Max's face, and the same on her mother's face.

She saw the man looking over, and staring at her and wondering, and she knew what she was wondering because she had overheard much of their conversation. She had watched too many soap operas on television with her babysitters not to know some of human nature with adults, I am old for my age I am often told she sighed.

Liz now looked over and frowned because she saw that they were being watched. "This is not getting us anywhere Max," she sighed. "I have to get to town."

"I know," Max said softly. "I am still on duty," he muttered knowing he was taking too much time on the job, not that I am being called anywhere. "I can have someone come for the car Liz, I am serious about that," he sighed. "I can take you and Callie wherever you are staying."

"We are staying with Maria," Liz said softly. "We will be staying at her place while she and Michael go off on their honeymoon."

"You will?" Max wondered. Why did I not know this he sighed. "How long are you staying?"

"I don't know," Liz said softly. "I guess it now depends on my lemon of a car, and how soon it can be fixed up enough..."

Max nodded, as he tried to figure out how to get a handle on this situation that was clearly spinning out of control. And he needed to figure out how to get more of a control of it, but it was clearly spinning, just as he was spinning, And it was not he did a good job when he was spinning, sometimes I make the biggest mistakes of my life when I am spinning, he thought, and it was not something that had stayed with his years of high school. Nope, it continued well after he muttered to himself as he looked at the woman he once loved and still do but he wanted to believe their past was the past, and the present was a whole different thing.

Which it was, but the past had a meaningful allure to it. And having Liz in his sight made him want to go back in time, but he did not, because he had needed to stay in the present. There is no good going back into the past he would think as he glanced once more at Liz, and his former girlfriend felt the glare of his eyes, and she was struggling how to deal with it because he knew that coming back to Roswell meant he would have to get a handle on lot, but she did not think it would be this quickly.

"Liz?" Max asked.

"Yes," Liz asked right back.

"Can I give you a ride back to Roswell?" Max asked, wondering where all this was going to go.

"I guess I don't have much choice," Liz sighed. "I have to get to town," she allowed. "There is no way I can miss the wedding," she put in, and Max nodded. As they looked over at the car once more, Callie cannot stay in the car forever.

"Then let us go" Max said softly as they walked to the car, as Max got on his phone and called into the station. "Need a tow to pick up a car on the side of the road, out by the old diner, you will see it" he muttered into the communication device. "Take it to the Garage on Main Street and have them call Elizabeth Parker at 555-0134 to discuss the vehicle," he was muttering into the phone as he and Liz walked silently over to the car.

"Thank you, Max," Liz said softly. Unsure of what to say.

Max nodded, accepting the gratitude from his former girlfriend, even as he was unsure how to manage the situation. "No problem, I was on duty."

"Would you have come to my rescue, if you were not working?" Liz asked.

Would he have Max asked of himself.

But he knew the truth, and there was no question of it. Of course, I would Max muttered to himself. If she needed me, I would come.

It might have been ten years, but it could be ten minutes, and he would have come running. But would she have called me he muttered to himself. Owning the fact that it had taken Maria to call him, to come to his former girlfriend's aid. "If you need me, I will be there" he said softly.

She knew the truth of the situation because Liz believed him. And if you ever need me, I will be there but still she did have the courage to say anything. So, she did her own nodding at the implications of his words, and what they could mean because she had no idea of what kind of man he was today, and what kind of life he was leading. Nor did he know what kind of life she had been leading, and she had already giving him some surprise, and she sensed that her stay in Roswell would be full of them.

As they arrived at the car, "Come on Callie," she said as she opened the door. "Mr. Evans will be giving us a drive into town," she said. "Let us grab our stuff," she said as Max wordlessly opened up the trunk and got out the suitcases.

"Sure," Callie said as she got out of the car. "Mr. Evans? she sighed as she was unsure of how to handle the situation. Because she was not used to it.

"You can call me Max," Max said softly.

"Max," Callie said a smile even though she looked at her mother a little uncertainty, but her mother nodded so, she relaxed as they walked to the car that Max drove, and soon the car was packed, and they were driving towards town.

and an uncertain future.






"Take care Aunt Eloise," Maria was saying at the door of her house. Once she closed her door, she looked at her mother. "She is always good for a laugh," she said of her aunt. Someone she did not see a lot of over the years, in fact it had been a long time but because of the wedding. Long lost family was in town for the ceremony. It was good to see them. But it was also a reminder of how much had changed in the last decade when her life was going one way, and then it was changed completely in ways she had never imagined in any way.

And now, she would not have her life any different. My Space boy changed my life she would mutter as she turned back and headed into the living room. "What are you still doing here Sean," she muttered to her cousin. Someone else who she had not seen in a long time, more like more than a decade she thought. Who had surprised her by accepting an invitation to the wedding. Why she had invited him she did not know when they were like oil and water, we do not mix well she thought.

The last time he had been here, he had been trying to figure out how to rescue himself from admittedly a low point. And got tangled up in some drama with her best friend, and he had left town to get away from it, and over the years, he had gotten his life together, except that he was single.

"I was spending time with Aunt Amy," Sean said eyebrow raising. "Why?" he asked.

"It's nothing," Maria muttered. "I thought you would have gone off with your mother, who just left." she sighed.

"I'll meet Mom back at the motel," he said of his mother. "So, you are finally getting Guerin to commit, huh?" he asked about his cousin. Because it still amazed him that his cousin was getting married, especially to Michael because it did not seem like they jived together, but I have been wrong before...

"That is the plan," Maria smiled. "In some twelve hours, give or take" she sighed as she looked at Sean. "Why did you come?"

"I was invited," Sean said with some amusement.

"I know you were," Maria said as she wanted her extended family here at the wedding because Michael did not have anyone coming except for Max and Isabel, and therefore, she wanted it to feel big and grand even in its simplicity, now if only my best friend would get here, she sighed of her maid of honor. Fashionable late she muttered, and she did not know why it was taking Liz so long to get here... But she also knew why Liz was likely late.

Because I sent Max to her...

And therefore, she had known she was asking for trouble. But it was a spur of a moment impulse.

Therefore, she did not like that her cousin was newly in town.

Even though she had invited him to her wedding.

She had never imagined he would have taken her up on it, because he had spurn any other invitation, mostly out of a sense of force because we are family she thought, but still, she had put the invitation out there, not thinking he would take her up on it, and actually come town. She supposed she had her Aunt Eloise to thank for it.

Sean's mother.

"I don't need you causing trouble okay," Maria asked.

"I am only in town for your wedding," Sean reminded his cousin. "Why do you think so badly of me," he muttered. "I turned my life around, and do I remind you that it was your friend who caused some of that drama the last time I was around these parts," he muttered as a sudden thought of Liz came to his mind. And why he had left town all those years before, suddenly he would mutter, and without a thought of where he might go. Because dealing with Liz was turning out to be too much drama he muttered. "So, is Liz going to be at the wedding?"

Of course, she is. "Leave her alone."

"Why would I want to go there?" Sean muttered. "She was into some other guy, so why put my time into something that will not work out."

We ask that of ourselves all the time Maria would think. Of those who were, were not her cousin. As she could only sigh and hope that drama did not come from the Sean wing of the story. "Liz does not need you interfering with her..."

"Your friend is a big girl, isn't she?" Sean asked of his cousin.

I know, Maria muttered. "I want my wedding to be fun, and I don't need drama" she sighed even though she wondered if that was possible because it was not like she was marrying into some stale family, nope, I am marrying into a diverse and unique family she told herself, and I know what I am getting into but it still did not mean she wanted a memorable wedding, which is something she did want.

"Something tells me that is going to be hopeless," Sean said with a smile. "Don't look at me like that, because I am not going to rain on your parade here Maria," he muttered. "I came here for a wedding, and not anything more. Although it would be good to see Liz..."

"Sean," Maria muttered as she watched her cousin only laughed and walked away, leaving her to huff and mutter. "I know there is going to be trouble," she sighed a little bit out loud and to herself.

Would there be, and if there was, from what corner of the room would it come?






Was there going to be trouble? Max and Liz hoped not, as they silently drove into town. It was a long forty-five-minute drive, after they waited for the tow truck to come and get the car. Liz had not wanted to leave the car without knowing that it would be taken into Roswell. So, once on the way, neither adult knew how to handle being the same car together. Callie was watching it all with amusement before the tired young girl fell asleep, and Liz could see Max watching through the driver's mirror, at the child, and knew what she was thinking. "She is not yours Max" she muttered.

She was annoyed that he would not believe her. She supposed she had history with telling Max one thing, for the opposite to come true, but not this time, and not about Callie she thought of the child who was sleeping peacefully in the back of the car.

"Are you sure?" Max muttered.

"I am sure," Liz said. "You are capable of a lot, but Callie was not born until well after the standard nine months."

"Then what is her story?" Max asked softly, as he was not sure how to classify anything this night had brought him. As he did not know how to handle any of it. So much of the last ten years was about moving on and finding a way to deal with life's disappointments and those life disappointments were not all involving Liz, she does take a lot of those slots he would mutter, but still he had found a way forward, and now that was all crumbling down.

"It's complicated," Liz sighed. "A very long story."

Max nodded. "I would like to know some of that story," he sighed because he was well aware that he did not know much of Liz's life. Only that she had gotten her degree and was working in the science world. He knew Jeff and Nancy boasted about her success, but when they saw Max come into the Crashdown. They also closed up and kept quiet, and he had wanted it for so long because he had needed it to survive.

To move on.

He had built a wall. Which had allowed him to marry Edie, and to have his children, twins Ella (named for his sister), and a son Noah Michael. After Edie's brother who had died when she was a child. He had told himself he was happy, and he was but then Edie had died too young, and he was alone.

And he found himself in a relationship with Yvonne, probably way too fast he thought, but he had entered it with no regrets.

Until now, that was. Now…

"I know you would, but I am not ready to talk about it" Liz said softly. "Callie's father is a dear man, but he is not in the picture anymore, and that is all you need to know" she said softly. "You are definitely not her father."

"So, you say?" Max muttered.

"I do say" Liz muttered. "If I had your child, I would never have kept it from you" she sighed. "I would have come back,” she murmured with a disagree of certainty in her tone, but it was met with a lot of skepticism in Max…

"Would you?" Max asked with a tone that said he had his doubts I am not so sure she would have come back he thought given what having child would have meant for her. "You would have left your great new life to come back to me, when you did not want to stay in the first place."

"Max," Liz sighed and knew the shot of skepticism in his eyes was warranted but she knew she would have. "It was not you. It was the situation. I needed to go out there in the world, and I needed to see what I was capable of. Those last six weeks scared me, and everything before it, and I needed to figure out what I wanted for myself and see what would come from it. If there had been a child, regardless of what it meant for the two of us. I would have let you know,” she thought.

"I hope you would have," Max said softly. "But you went there with some else,” he thought as if it was the same thing.

When it was not.

"Callie's father is a wonderful man," Liz sighed as she knew full well the impression she was leaving with her former boyfriend, but she was not ready to get into the story of Callie, and what meant for the two of them. So, she was satisfied with the story she was spinning to Max, and the implications that was being left with him.

But Max did not want to hear how wonderful Callie's father was, because it meant that Liz had found someone soon after they had parted and had a child and that was not what he had gotten to have with Liz. So, he concentrated on the drive into town. "Whatever," he muttered. "As long as you are happy."

"Yes, I am Max" Liz said softly.

"I am glad," Max sighed as they were now close to Maria's house. The house where she lives with Michael, but Michael would not be there tonight as the pending bride and groom were upholding tradition and Michael would be at his house. While Maria would be alone.

Not alone totally, he would think now. Liz would be with her.

"How long are you planning to stay?" Max wondered as he glanced over at his former girlfriend. "You did not answer me before?"

"I don't know the answer," was all Liz would say and cut off any more of what she could say to shine some light into her situation. So, she changed the subject completely. "Max, I do want to thank you for helping me. I don't know how I would have handled it on my own."

"You would have found a way," Max said softly with confidence. You don't have to keep thanking me he would mutter. Still though, the one thing he did have confidence in was that his former girlfriend would have found a way to handle any situation. She obviously has so far, he muttered to himself as she did stay away for all these years before she came back to Roswell he elected to think and knew that it was not him who had brought her back.

She never came back to me Max muttered as he pulled into the driveway of the Deluca/Guerin household, which is why I moved on he thought because she came back to me.

And so, I moved on... Max said, but as he turned down the engine to the off position even though he had to get moving. He knew he would be eating himself on a lot of scores. "You needed the help, and it's my job as I said" Max said as he got out of the car, and Callie rushed out of the car. Just as the door opened, and Maria and someone they both had not seen in many years came out of the house.

Sean Deluca they would think.

Damn one would think. And that was Max of course.

"Petunia you are finally here," Maria cried as she saw the car, and Max and Liz getting out of the car. It was now the dead of night. "Finally."

"Sorry for the delay," Liz said revelling in the embrace. "My car decided to have a say in when I got here to town," she sighed. "And how,” she said as she acknowledged the car, she was being driven in. “But I am here now," she said as she nodded to the other person staring at her, "Sean" she muttered as she would know Maria's cousin anywhere.

This is so not what I need Liz sighed.

"Parker," Sean muttered as he looked at Callie and then Max. "Assuming that is still your name?"

"Yes, it's my name" Liz said as she walked as far away from Max as she could because she knew if she did not, then she would risk getting drawn close again, and that is the last thing I need she murmured to herself.

"Nice to see you again," was all Sean would say.

Maria did not care for the tone in her cousin's wording, as she kept repeating to herself, he is only here for the wedding and will be gone on Sunday morning she muttered because the last thing she needed was for her reformed bad boy cousin to cause more trouble now that her best friend was back in town.

But she tried to have it fall of her back and glanced at the same child whose presence Maria had launched a million questions in Max, with the way he was looking at the child, and then at Liz. While Liz could only shake her head.

"Callie" was all Maria said. "Good to see you again. It's been a while, my how much you have grown" she said as it was clear she knew the child well, and it only made Max wonder more because there was something about the child that told him that there was more to this situation, and it was nagging on him.

"Aunt Maria," Callie smiled of her honorary aunt. "You have a cool town."

"I am glad that you approve," Maria laughed at the small child. "You will get to see the sights after the wedding. But come on in and get some food because you both must be famished" Maria asked.

"Cool," Callie said as she looked at her mother. "Mommy, can I?"

"Sure," Liz said as Max had finished getting the bags out of the car for her and carrying them to the porch. "Again, thanks Max."

"No problem," Max said softly, and briefly as he was not looking forward to leaving his former girlfriend back here at the Deluca/Guerin homestead with Sean Deluca still around. But he knew his time was coming to an end. Because he had to call into work and see what else had transpired since he was transported into the bubble that was the last couple of hours. "I guess I better be going."

"Yes, thank you Max," Maria said as she stood on the porch with Callie. "Tell Michael I love him, and he better show up at the church tomorrow?"

"I will keep the love thing to you two," Max said with a laugh. "But we both know that Michael will be at the altar, assuming you are there."

"I am finally getting him to the altar, so yeah, I will be there" Maria smiled and they all laughed, because both Maria and Max knew that Michael was not the only reason why it had taken ten years to get to this point, and to the altar for the two high school sweethearts because Maria had put some of those barriers up as well.

But those barriers were now down, and the wedding was on.

And it was happening.

No matter the ensuing drama.

Max could only feel envious about the idea of marrying the person who was your person. That is not what was in the cards for me he sighed. "So, see you tomorrow" he said acknowledging the group. "Assuming I will see you tomorrow," Max said of his former girlfriend.

When they all knew he would.

"You will see each other," Maria said with a smile that told them that she had a lot of plans for the next day. "Both of you will be up there at the altar," she said with the knowing glance at Sean Deluca, who was getting the idea that his cousin was going to take this weekend to push the former lovers together.

Hell, or high water.

Current attachments no matter Sean thought. Because he saw the glimmer in his cousin's eyes. And knew Maria would be up to her old tricks.

The knowledge that both would be there in the same proximity gave them both flutters in their stomach, and neither of them knew if that was good or not.

Because neither of them knew the other in the current day, and what their lives were like. Although Max had a closer insight of Liz’s present circumstance more than Liz did of Max, but she would get that wakeup call when Amy Deluca approached the front door, and saw the gathering outside, and she could not help but smile at the new arrivals in Liz and the small child. She knew enough to know the full story on the story of Callie Parker. So, it was not a shock to see the child even though she had not met the child before as she walked of the front door and down and adult. "I assume you are Callie," she said to the young girl. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, she is" Liz piped up to Amy. "Thank you, Mrs. Deluca,"

"I think we have known each other long enough to know each other by our first names," Amy said. "And the name is not Deluca anymore," she said softly, as she looked across the yard at Max who stood with his hat and badge on.

Max nodded at the sight of his boss’s wife.

Someone who had made it to the altar years before her daughter but was still together with her new husband Jim Valenti.

The town Sheriff.

"Right, sorry" Liz said. "I did hear of your marriage. Congratulations once more" she said softly as she looked at Max.

"I am going back to the office, if Jim should call" Max asked of his good friend and boss.

"Before you do, you should know your wife called. Max, she is upset you have not returned her calls," Amy said softly because she knew what she was opening up when this statement, but she could not have stopped Yvonne's call to the house because they had been plentiful to the house. No matter how many times Max told his wife not to call his boss's home.

Yvonne chose to ignore that directive.

But the fact Amy had said it now, stopped everyone in a paralyzed motion. And no more than Liz.

Max winced.

"I will deal with it," Max said softly. "I have told her not to call you. She chooses to ignore me," he muttered out loud as he turned with the knowledge that he had been allowing his personal phone to ring and ring and not answering them, because he knew it would be his wife, and he walked to the car. Leaving the words that Max was now married hanging in the air.

As Liz watched as Max got back into his car and start and she watched as she drove off.

Max is married.

Yes, he is.

Thanks for the update.
Looks like Maria might have some drama at her wedding,with Sean, Max, Liz and Yvonne.
And we still have to hear Callie's story.

Max is married, Liz was thinking as she walked into Maria's house in almost a daze. And did not even say good-bye to Sean Deluca as he got in his car and drove away. Maria hoped that her cousin would take that as a sign to stay the hell away from her best friend. She currently was in a good mood because of her upcoming wedding, and she was as mischievous as ever about the fortunes of her friends. She fully knew the situation and it was clear that Max had not told his former girlfriend, and fiancée of his current state on the drive into town.

And why would he? Maria mused to herself. It is not like she would be looking for a ring on his finger, and Max tends to keep his private life to himself.

So, Maria could see that Liz was not expecting to come back to Roswell for her wedding to find Max taken. "Do I have to keep you from fainting?" she said softly as she questioned her friend’s state. "Yes, he's married" she said quietly as Callie had gone into the kitchen with Amy Deluca now Valenti. Not that the marriage is that happy she would think but not say because that would not do the situation any good. Liz would have to get used to the new dynamic of this town. "You cannot stay away for ten years and think that he would not move on."

I never believed that he would still be hung up on me Liz whispered to herself except maybe she did. Maybe she believed he would still be mooning over her, and waiting for her to return, after all it had only taken her ten years for her to return and not ten days. Liz had imagined many scenario's for returning to town.

But none of them involved seeing Max so soon, or that he would not be single.

While I am single Liz could only sigh.

What did you expect Liz, she told herself as she tested the idea that Max was taken. She did not know how to take it. "I am thrilled that he's happy."

"No, you are not" Maria smiled. "And whether he's happy, that is highly debatable" she sighed. She knew her friend had a limited information policy on news from their hometown. Because she had left. While Maria had stayed. And made a life here in Roswell. And therefore, the sake of her friend’s sanity, and in Liz’s quest to find herself. She had not wanted to know.

So, she only gave out as much as her friend wanted to allow into her new existence. While it had been the opposite for Maria. The chance to be with Michael had given her all she had wanted. Because those weeks on the run had allowed the two to solidify in ways that being in Roswell before, had not. Still, there was no guarantee that they would make it work once they did come back to their hometown. Settling away from their hometown was out of the question because anywhere she would have wanted to be, well, my Space boy will not have meshed she sighed, and I wanted Michael more than the chance to become a star somewhere.

Those days in New York during senior year told me a lot she would say to herself. She was not going to compromise her beliefs or what she wanted for her life. She wanted Michael. But it had taken ten years to get to this day because she needed to find who she was, outside of Michael, but unlike Liz who walked away.

She found something to make herself happy here in Roswell.

She had bought Cow Patties and taken it over and was able to perform on occasion, but she was happy running the bar and celebrating the music and fun.

And now she was getting her other dream, which was to marry Michael. It has just taken us a while to get there she thought. Because both needed time. Everything had been quick. Even if their courtship was a little drawn out, still, so much was fly by your pants in those days she told herself. We needed time to figure out how to get to where we were destined.

And they found it and now were going to get it tomorrow.

She did not have to worry about whether Michael would show up. She knew he would. She was sure of it.

She was happy.

But she was unhappy that her friend was so unsettled. Everything had been so intense for Max and Liz in those days, so she had not been sad to see them end. Even though she had been their number one shipper. And supporter. She knew if it was even more so for her best friend and her true love.

Liz may have walked away from Max, but they were soulmates, Maria was confident enough to think. Sometimes soulmates don't work out or they take an eternity to make it work. She did not know what category Max and Liz were destined to be in, but for the last decade it had been in the former.

She may not know, but she felt that this weekend might answer a lot of questions that were in the ether.

She saw the hope in her friend's eyes, however guilty it was making her Maria thought. Sometimes we are shameless with our thoughts she muttered. She knew she had been guilty of that before, but now I have Michael, and I am happy.

And tomorrow I will be even happier she thought. And because she was happy, she wanted her best friend to be happy. "Don't think it Petunia," she said with a smile.

"He is not happy?" Liz asked. As she was now curious. She might be newly back in town after a decade, and she did not know what that meant for her life. But Max always tended to draw her in. And it was something he had always had a knack of doing. Ever since those first days, and especially that first day when he brought her back to life.

It would be a journey that would be groundbreaking. And unbelievable, and she was still living with the aftermath of it.

She wanted to believe she had gotten away from it. But nope, she was telling herself. And while she was not ready to accept that he had moved on. She still wanted to be happy.

He deserves it.

"He says he is," Maria smiled. "On the face of it. He puts a good show of it, but he works long hours, and his wife is unhappy with that."

Liz nodded; I know something about long hours. Because that is what she had put herself under despite having Callie at home.

When she was a baby, I was in school, and then when I started to work. Callie was in school, and Liz had a babysitter come in and help her with the young child. She had tried to spend time at home, but her job at times had not called for it.

Liz nodded once more. "I could tell from his wardrobe. That he now works for Jim."

That was a shocker when that happened Maria thought. "Yeah, that was a whopper of a development," she conceded. "Michael and Isabel were not exactly thrilled by the development." And that was an understatement she thought, and it was a move that Max was still living down. As much as they trust Jim.

They don’t trust the system. And Max decided to join it.

"Why not?" Liz asked. "Max's mission was to help people," she remembered from those days when she believed they could make it work, but everything was so tentative in the wake of Tess. Everything was so tentative. But Max wanted to help people, especially after that Air pilot crashed, although that was more of Michael's mission before it became a group mission she thought.

So, why would I not think that he might have a calling for his life Liz wondered. Because he obviously would have found his way eventually.

So, why did I think he could not.

She did not know. She hated how it looked to her now. As she had given up her chance at the love of a lifetime. And now, he’s taken she muttered.

“Michael and Isabel don’t look at it like that,” Maria murmured. “They see the risk. And Max taking a job, is like joining the enemy. For as much as Jim has done for us, there is still considerable risk even with what happened in the wake of graduation,” she sighed of what happened, and how their flight from town was aborted after only a month. Our immediate risk was downgraded, but still there is the capacity out there for trouble to find them. “They don’t like how joining the department makes it look.”

“Well, to me, he’s being helpful” Liz sighed. Even if she would admit that there was some truth to Michael and Isabel’s fears. “Hiding within sometimes is a better strategy,” she sighed. “There is a lot of good Max can do.”

Maria sighed. Petunia you always did see the good in Max.

So, why leave him she wondered even know she knew Liz had probably made the right call able to get some semblance of normal. A lot went down during those three years she would mutter. Liz needed to get away and get prospective. After all, Maria’s attachment to the group was not as intense despite her overwhelming love for Michael. He makes me crazy, but we will never be like Max and Liz. And she was fine with that because she did not want the crazy intenseness that been there for her best friend. It was all too much she thought. Michael and I have our craziness and our bond, and we have made it work but it was always different she thought. Probably that is why we have been able to make it work.

Ten years and counting, from those unstable initial years.

And tomorrow, it will be official. Finally, she muttered to herself. And I am counting down the hours “Let’s change the subject,” she said. “Away from the past.”

Liz smiled. “Sure,” although that never really lasts long.

“I am thrilled you are finally here,” Maria smiled. “Sure, I wished it was earlier because you could have walked me thought some of the decisions I had to make because Michael was no use,” nor did I want his help in some of them. “But I had help.”

“You did not need me,” Liz sighed. Even though I would have liked to help out she knew, and she knew her friend did need her, but there were a lot of reasons why she could not have come earlier. “Work beckoned. And Callie had to finish her school semester.”

Maria sighed. I know it, and I don’t like it even as she also knew some of it was a lie because Callie could have missed some of it. She is only eight. It is not like she has graduation on the line she muttered. But she knew her friend was staying away for more reasons than simply work and an eight-year old’s school term. “But you are here now.”

“Yes, I am” Liz agreed. But should I be?

She did not know the answer to that one.

“Have you told your father that Callie is here?” Maria asked softly. Sighing as she knew fully of the story of Callie Parker.

“Dad knew I was coming which means Callie was coming too,” Liz said with sigh. “Both Mom and Dad know, and that is why I needed a place to stay because staying there would be like putting the past in display.”

Maria nodded. Don’t I know it.

“When does the honeymoon start?” Liz asked, trying to get off both topics that was sure to give her heartburn, although Callie is staying with Mom and Dad tomorrow night because who knows what will happen after the wedding.

“Monday morning,” Maria smiled. “First flight we could get on, so I appreciate that you are going to stay here…”

“Where else would I stay?” Liz asked. “I was not going to staying with Mom and Dad due to obvious reasons,” she said with a smile.

Without elaborating on them. But of course, Maria knew them.

“You could have stayed maybe at the hotel that Michael and I have arranged for the guests, all of them,” she said with emphasis. Because she knew there would be alcohol involved, and she knew that it was better to keep the guests all in one place. And especially a special fraternity of them. Not that they partake that much she thought. But tomorrow, who knows what happens.

She was looking forward to finding out.

“That is tomorrow night,” Liz said softly with a smile. Although she knew what her friend was getting at. She did not know what was in store, but it was bound to be an interesting first few days in town. The last thing I wanted was hotel living. “But I do appreciate the hospitality.”

“Do you know how long you will be here for?” Maria asked. Not that I care. She sensed her friend was going through something.

Liz gave the answer she had gave Max when he asked. “I have no idea….” And it was the truth, I am at a crossroads in my life. And she did not know what that meant for a whole bunch of factors in her life. All she knew was that she better have her life together if she planned on going back home.

Home.

Which home was that?

Being that she was at a crossroads in life. She did not know which pathway she would turn down.

So, it was going to be an interesting weekend.

That is for sure.

The fork in the road. Which path to take. Decisions...decisions.
No mater the path, I'm sure there will be drama.