Author: Meredith (roswelldreamer@aol.com)
Category: Liz angst
Rating: PG-13/mild R (language/innuendo)
Author's Note: This shifts between Alex's and Maria's POVs.
Summary: After Future Max disappears, Liz becomes seriously unstable. Alex and Maria are worried.
Dedication: To Teri, Stacy, and Steph, my own personal cheering section. Thanks for the support you guys. :)
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I.
Have you ever been witness to someone losing her mind? It's not pretty. It's downright disturbing. When someone as stable as Liz loses it, what kind of hope does that leave for the rest of us? As I sit here and watch her rest for the first time in days, only one thing runs through my mind: I want to kill whoever did this to her.
Maria sits in the corner of Liz's bedroom and sobs quietly, hugging Liz's old stuffed rabbit to her chest. "Alex, do you think she'll wake up soon?" she asks me.
"I don't know, Maria." I sigh heavily, touching my hand to Liz's soft brown hair and kissing her tear-stained cheek while she sleeps. "Let's go, leave her be for a while."
"No, Alex!" Maria cries softly, crossing the distance between us and clinging to my shirt for comfort. "What if she wakes up and..." She looks over to Liz's balcony in silence. I know what she's thinking and I shudder.
"Maria, don't even say that, okay?" I reply softly, pulling her towards me. I look down at Maria's sad eyes and I think that maybe, just maybe, our worst fears would be realized and Liz would...
I know now that we can't leave Liz's side. Not until this is all over.
"Why, Alex? Why is this happening to her? She and Max were just getting to be..." Maria's bottom lip starts to quiver and I bow my head.
"I know." I whisper. "I just wish we knew what was going on with her. I wish we could get inside her head..."
"Maybe we should call Max. He could connect with her-- find out what's going on!" Maria suggests, walking towards the nearby phone. I shake my head violently. I don't know why, but I don't think him coming over here is such a good idea. He's not coming near Liz ever again. Not if I can help it.
"MAX!" Liz screams, sitting up in bed and pulling at her hair. Her face is contorted so severely that I barely recognize her. "Max, yes, Max, oh God!" She begins moaning and thrashing around on her bed as Maria and I rush to restrain her. "Don't stop... don't stop!" She screams as we pin her back down on the bed and she dissolves into a flood of tears. She continues crying and moaning as I soothe her hair and Maria tucks her back under the covers. She whispers Max's name over and over again as her head rolls back and forth on the pillow. I feel her body go limp in my arms and I know she's given up the fight and fallen back to sleep.
"You know what she was dreaming about, don't you?" Maria asks me like I'm five years old. I knew what she was dreaming about, I just didn't want the mental picture, thank you very much.
"What pushed her over the edge?" I ask myself rhetorically. "I guess we'll never know. Not unless she comes out of this on her own..."
"Or not unless Max can get the information for us." Maria suggests once again. I look at her sternly in silence. I then look down at Liz, my poor helpless best friend lying in a limp puddle on her bed. Her lips are quivering and her body is rocking back and forth with no end in sight. Looking at Maria, we decide to let the Czechoslovakian handle this one. It was out of our control.
II.
I knew something was wrong when I picked Liz up for school yesterday and she was still asleep. I pulled open the curtains and ripped the covers off her, while kicking off my sandals to jump on her bed. When her face was revealed to me, I gasped with shock. Her eyes were wide open, her body limp, tears were streaming down her face and she wasn't responding to any of my stimulation. For a few frantic moments, I thought my best friend in the world was dead. I started screaming. Liz's eyes flew open and I looked at her closely. Her eyes were black- vacant. Her body was there, but the fire I normally saw in her eyes had gone away.
"Liz," I had said, climbing into bed next to her. "Chica... it's time for school. Are you okay?" That's when she looked at me and began to singing very softly and slowly. I didn't recognize the song until she got to the chorus. Then it hit me- it was that old Sheryl Crow song, the one from her first album. "I Shall Believe." Liz kept singing it. Everytime I'd ask her a question, she'd answer with a line from the song.
"Lizzie, are you sick?"
"Open the door, and show me your face tonight." She whispered.
"Liz... what?"
"Please say honestly, you won't give up on me. And I shall believe." She whispered, rocking slowly and hugging her arms around her pillow, burying her face in it and taking a deep breath.
"Liz, what happened? What's wrong--"
"Come to me now, and lay your hands over me. Even if it's a lie--"
"Liz! Stop it! You're scaring me!"
"--say it will be alright, and I shall believe."
She just kept singing and singing. Her eyes were lifeless. I got really worried.
Now I'm watching her sleep here in her room, and I still can't get that damn song out of my head. Alex and I turned out all the lights, except for the small light on her desk. We want her to sleep peacefully, with very few distractions. Every once in a while, she'll stir in her sleep or simply moan out Max's name, and Alex and I comfort her. I hold her hand while Alex smooths the hair pasted to her head by her own sweat. It might help Liz sleep, but Alex and I are frantic. Our best friend- Ms. Responsible, Ms. Coordinated, Ms. Together- she is falling apart before our very eyes.
I motion to the phone and Alex gives me the look of death. I can't think of anyone else to call. We need him. She needs him. I look over to the balcony and shudder. If we weren't here, would Liz take it upon herself to...
NO. Think positive, DeLuca. Liz is your best friend. She would never... do something so selfish. Would she?
"We're not helping her at all," I begin, but I'm interrupted by a scathing Alex.
"How can we help her? We don't even know what happened to her!" He cries in a whisper.
I sigh, running my fingers through my hair and burying my face in Liz's down comforter. I feel Alex's hand on my shoulder and I sit up, tears streaming down my face. "We know one thing."
"This definitely is Czech-related..." Alex begins, shaking his head. "Why can't he just leave her alone? Hasn't he done enough?"
"Don't blame Max for this... the boy is like a pathetic little puppy dog! He is totally in love with her, he would never do anything to purposely hurt her! Never!" I cry. I feel torn. Liz is my best friend, but I care about Max too. I want them to be happy, and obviously, being apart from him isn't helping Liz much. "Maybe he's what Liz needs."
"Oh, I know what Liz needs..." Alex says haughtily, obviously referring to Liz's orgasmic serenade for us earlier. I roll my eyes. Men can be such pigs. I glare at him as I hold Liz's hand. "I'm sorry! But it's the truth. Max did this to her. He has to fix it."
I hold Alex's gaze as I slowly reach for the phone to dial Max's number. My fingers are shaking as they reach the last one- a 7. I hear four rings pierce my ear, until Max's monotone voice picks up.
"Hi, this is Max. I'm not in right now, so leave a message, and I'll get back to you."
Beep.
"Max, it's Maria. Listen... we really need your help. Liz is really sick--"
"--What's wrong with Liz?"
I chuckle. Little puppy dog Max, waiting by the phone. Typical. "Max- something's really wrong with her."
"Why didn't you call Kyle?" He replies coldly.
What the hell? "Max, what are you talking about? Why in the hell would I call Kyle?"
Max pauses. OK, what AREN'T they telling me? I hear a sigh come through the phone and a sniffle. Has he been crying? "She didn't--" Another pause. "I'll be right there." Click.
I look at Alex and he can read my expression perfectly.
"Something's up with him, isn't it?" Alex asks me. I just nod.
III.
I hear his feet clanging up the rungs of the ladder and every cell in my body is screaming at me to rocket out of this chair and send him pummeling to the ground. I take Liz's hand in my own and kiss it softly as she sleeps. I hear his shoes hit the concrete of Liz's balcony and I can see him moving through the window out of the corner of my eye.
A gasp- and a choked whisper. "Liz." He's standing at the edge of the bed, looking at her like she is too delicate to touch. Maria stands up and hugs him and he can't stop staring at his love lying motionless on her bed. He moves towards my side and I hold up my hands.
"Listen, I don't know what you did to her, man, but if she doesn't come out of this, I'll kill you myself." I say quietly, boldly. He looks like he's been kicked in the stomach.
"I--I didn't do--anything." He stutters out, his eyes welling up with tears. "She didn't tell you? She's-- with Kyle--now." He lowers his head to hold her hand.
"What the hell are you talking about, Max? She's in love with you." I say without question.
"Max, why do you think she's with Kyle?"
Max picks up his head and roars at us. "Because she slept with him!" He buries his face in her comforter and begins crying.
Slept with him? Bullshit. "Max, I don't know what you think happened..." I begin before I'm rudely interrupted by his majesty of Czechoslovakia.
"I saw them! I saw them with my own eyes." He says to me, looking straight ahead with horror. Maria shakes her head violently.
"Look Max, I don't know what you think you saw, but Liz is my best friend, and I KNOW she didn't sleep with Kyle." Maria says.
"She's been moaning your name all night." I blurt out, trying not to laugh. Maria glares at me across the bed and I know to keep my mouth shut.
"Max, something's going on with her. Something's not right. She's been sleeping off and on for the past 24 hours, and when she's not sleeping, she's singing and basically acting very..." Maria searches for the word and I'm quick to assist.
"Not Liz." I nod.
"Singing?" Max asks, looking at us with hesitation.
"Singing. She keeps singing that damn Sheryl Crow song, the old one, from her first album. It's so depressing... 'I Shall Believe'"." Maria replies.
I see Max smile, like he recognizes it or something. Oh, God. Is it their song? Could this get anymore tragic? I think I may be sick.
"Max, let's cut to the chase here. She's losing her mind, and we need to know what the hell is happening to her." I say firmly.
Max looks at Maria and I for a moment. "What do you want me to do?" He asks us quietly.
"Connect with her. She isn't speaking to us. Maybe she'll speak to you." Maria says with hope as she strokes Liz's hair. Max gulps forcefully and I see his Adam's Apple bob up and down. He shuts his eyes and I see a tear sliding down from them. I wish he'd just get this over with already. This whole situation is starting to really piss me off.
"I can't see into her mind. She has to-- she has to let me see her." Max says regretfully.
"Try, Max. You owe her that much." I say coldly. Max looks at me for a moment with an unreadable expression before climbing into bed with Liz and laying on his side. Maria and I watch with awe as he leans down next to her and whispers in her ear.
"Liz." He says softly. "Liz. Liz, wake up." Her eyes flutter open like magic. How perfect. She sits up in bed suddenly and looks at him with wild eyes. "That's a girl..." He smoothes her hair and she climbs into his arms, beginning to sing.
"I'm broken in two... and I know you're on to me... that I only come home when I'm so all alone, but I do believe..." She whispers, her eyes bright. Her body shakes violently and he tries to control her by pulling her into his arms.
Max cringes, realizing that she is crumbling right before his eyes. "You have to look at me." He grabs the sides of her face, and she doesn't fight it.
God, Liz, please don't fight it. We need you.
Once again, Maria and I are watching helplessly as Max does his thing. Maria reaches around the bed to squeeze my hand. We're both shaking now as Max and Liz stare longingly into each other's eyes. This has to work.
It just has to.
"Oh, God!" Max cries, pulling her into his arms and holding her tight.
"M-Max." She says to him, pulling herself away from his arms. "You- you weren't s-supposed to know." Liz cries out as Max pulls her back towards him.
She's speaking. Good sign.
"Liz, I love you so much. We can change the future. We can still be together without making Tess leave. Don't you see that? Don't you see- I'd do anything for you. Don't make me give up my wife... please!" Max looks at her with tears shining in his eyes.
Maria and I look at each other with confusion and silently agree to leave them alone. This obviously was more of a Czechoslovakian mess. As we look back before at the bed before leaving the room, I find my heart warming up as I see Liz cradled in Max's arms, sobbing and falling apart.
But they are together.
Seeing him take care of her like that, for the first time that night I don't want to kill Max Evans. Liz needs him. His key unlocks the door to her soul.
Man, that was cheesy. Key? Door? Dammit, now I'll never be able to get those disturbing pictures out of my head.
END