September 23rd. Journal entry one. I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. After that, things got really weird.
4 Days ago
Liz shifted her weight to the right in order to accommodate the two plates balanced in her hands. Being as it was in the middle of tourist season, her family's restaurant, the "Crashdown Café," was buzzing with its normal mid-afternoon rush. Most of the patrons were tourists, no doubt hoping to find some sort of evidence of extra-terrestrial life somewhere out in the dessert, but Liz recognized a few of her classmates scattered about in tables and booths.
"Okay, I have got one Sigourney Weaver," Liz said with a robotic smile as she set the plate gently in front of the woman at the table, "And one Will Smith."
Once both plates were sitting in front of the two customers, Liz gave them a quick once over before asking if they wanted anything else. They were obviously tourists. After living in Roswell her entire life, she had become an expert in identifying conspiracy theorists and so-called alien hunters.
"Are you guys here for the crash festival?" Liz asked deciding to have a little fin with the customers to break up the monotony of her shift.
"Yeah, can't wait." The woman replied enthusiastically. "So…does your family come from Roswell?"
Liz fought a smile. This was too easy. "Just four generations."
The man looked around, barely able to contain his excitement, "Uh, well, does anyone in your family have stories about the UFO crash?"
"Well," Liz started copying the man's actions by looking around to make sure no one was listening, "I guess it would be okay to show you guys this…"
Liz pulled a fake alien picture out of the front of her apron and held it out to the two costumers. The two customers studied the photo with wide eyes. Liz and her best friend, Maria De Luca, shared amused smirks as Maria passed with a half empty coffee pot.
"My grandmother took this picture at the crash site right before the government cleaned it up." Liz continued to put on a show for the couple.
"Do people know about this photograph?" The woman asked hastily.
"Well, I know about it…and now you know about it." After the pair let out low exclamations of amazement Liz excused herself with a warning not to show the photo to anyone.
Maria has finished her round of refills and joined Liz at the cash register to gather change for her table.
"You are sooo bad girl. Oh, and Max Evans is staring at you." Maria said the last part off handedly while counting change.
"You're delusional" Liz replied. She wasn't interested in Max Evans. Max was cute, she would admit, but it was the boy sitting across from him that she was really interested in. Liz flushed as she glanced at the back of the boy's head.
"Look at those cheeks!" Maria teased, misinterpreting her blush as interest in Max.
"Maria!" Liz swatted her lightly with a dish towel before continuing, "Even if he was staring, which he wasn't, I'm going out with Kyle. I mean, he's steady and loyal, and he appreciates me." Even as she said it she knew it sounded wrong and forced.
"Sounds like you're describing a poodle." Maria said distastefully moving away from the register to give her table their change.
Liz sighed and leaned heavily against the counter, silently agreeing with Maria.
"you ask me to give you another day!? You're running out of time!" An argument towards the front of the café escalated as the men stood up, knocking their dishes off the table and consequently shattering them.
"Liz!" Maria called back to her alarmed. Besides the two cooks back in the kitchen, her and Maria were the only ones working the floor.
"I want my money today. Not tomorrow!"
One of the men pulled out a gun causing the two men to struggle for control of the weapon. Everyone dropped to the floor except Liz, who was frozen in a sick mixture of shock and fascination. Her brain was screaming at her to get down, but it was like her body didn't want to listen. Then the gun went off.
The two men rushed out of the café and Maria let out a breath of relief turning back to try and catch sight of Liz. She expected to see Liz crouched down behind the register, instead, Liz was lying motionless on the floor, her hair covering her face.
"Liz," Maria breathed on the verge of panic.
Hearing Maria, Max Evans looked back towards the register to see Liz Parker sprawled out on her back, unmoving. He quickly pushed himself out of the booth and shot forward, only to be stopped by his booth mate, Michael Guerin.
"Go get the jeep!" Michael ordered pushing him backwards.
Max was too emotional, and his reluctance to use his powers, even in recreational instances made him borderline incompetent. Michael knew that even if he tried to help Liz, he'd only end up making it worse for all of them.
"Call an ambulance!" Michael ordered Maria trying to keep her away from Liz.
Michael could hear Max pushing people to the front of the restaurant while he kneeled down next to Liz. He brushed the hair out of her face and saw the blank expression on her face as she struggled to focus. Clearly, she was in shock. Michael saw the blood stain seeping through her uniform spread alarmingly and unthinkingly tore the dress open to assess the damage. Fuck, Michael thought. He didn't know much about gunshot wounds, but he knew she was bleeding out and there was a chance she'd be dead by the time the ambulance arrived.
"Liz, Liz! You have to look at me. You have to look at me." Michael put his hand on the side of her face trying to help her focus. She looked at him, but Michael could tell she wasn't truly processing what was happening.
Making a decision that he knew would change everything, Michael placed his hand over the bullet wound and concentrated. He'd never healed anything more than bruises or scratches, but when the familiar warm feeling rushed through him he knew it was working. As he healed her, he was flooded with images. Images of her. Small inconsequential events of her life flashed in his head. Then suddenly they stopped. Michael looked down and he saw the smooth, unmarked skin of Liz's stomach. He sighed in relief. Liz's eyes refocused and connected with his. He used the eye contact to his advantage to quickly mend her dress and get rid of the small pool of blood on the floor. He had to make sure there was no evidence of her being shot.
"You, uh, you fell and hit your head." He offered up hastily. "That's all that happened. Don't say anything else."
Then, without a backward glance, Michael heaved himself up and ran out of the café, pushing Max along in front of him.
"Are you okay?" Maria rushed forward toward Liz, who had just shakily rose to her feet.
Liz didn't answer. She just stood there, gripping her dress together with both hands. Her mind was running a million miles an hour as she watched Max Evans and Michael Guerin speed off just as ambulance lights came rushing toward the café.
"Lizzie!" Mr. Parker exclaimed as he crashed through the door of the café. When he saw his daughter sitting, seemingly unharmed with an ice pack pressed against the back of her head, he was finally able to breathe for the first time since he got the call from the sheriff's office. "Oh my God!"
"No, Dad it's okay. I just fell. That's all that happened," She repeated Michael's words. "I'm fine, really."
Liz went on reassuring her father while Maria attempted to describe the two men who had been involved in the shooting. By the looks of it, the deputy was severely unimpressed with her descriptive skills. When the sheriff arrived the deputy began to bring him up to speed on what had happened.
"…it just seems like an argument that got out of hand."
When an order pad fell off the counter in the back of the restaurant, everyone's attention was drawn to the two tourists Liz was waiting on when the shooting occurred.
"I told you two to stay out of there!" The deputy yelled harshly before turning back to the sheriff. "A couple tourists in town for the crash."
The tourists went on to make fools of themselves by handing the sheriff the fake alien picture Liz had given them before everything has happened. The sheriff had to keep from rolling his eyes as he handed the picture back to Mr. Parker.
"Lizzie," Mr. Parker scolded gently. He didn't have the energy to be mad at her. Not after she'd been through something so traumatic. "I told you, about showing the alien photos to the tourists."
Liz was too distracted to pay attention to her father's weak attempt at reprimanding her. She watched the sheriff intently as he made his way toward the booth where Michael and Max were sitting.
Sheriff Valenti was taking note of two empty Tabasco sauce bottles scattered on the table when the tourists spoke up again, eager to give their input.
"There were two kids sitting there when it happened." The woman interjected. "two boys about her age. And then one of them went-"
Liz stood up, feeling compelled to protect Michael. "Uh yeah, that's right there were. But I didn't recognize them, so they must have been tourists."
"No, no it sure looked like she knew them to me." The male tourists told the sheriff.
The sheriff looked expectantly at Liz, as if expecting her to change her statement. The girl just shrugged, not knowing what else to do.
That night Liz lay in bed tracing lazy patterns over the silver handprint that had appeared on her stomach, in the exact spot Michael had touched her earlier at the Crashdown. She knew she had been shot. She may have been in shock, but she remembered the blind hot feeling of the bullet ripping through her abdomen. She remembered Michael talking to her. She remembered his hand on her stomach. Most of all, she remembered the feeling of her insides stitching themselves back together and the comfortable warmth that accompanied it. Liz sat up and walked over to the mirror. Staring at the silver handprint she made the decision to talk to Michael tomorrow. No chickening out, she vowed.
The next day Liz was sitting in her biology class attempting to focus on what her teacher was saying. What was she going to say to Michael? More importantly how was she going to get Michael alone? Liz was shaken out of her thoughts when Max strode into the classroom and slid into the seat next to her. Liz shifted uncomfortably in her seat, kicking her book bag in the process. She had shoved her uniform into her backpack this morning. When she had looked at it last night, there wasn't any visible evidence that she had been shot.
"Mr. Evans, so nice of you to join us." Ms. Knight commented before continuing to explain the lesson. "Okay, everyone on the right prepare a slide with the vegetable sampling, everyone on the left take a toothpick and get a sample form your cheek."
Next to Liz, Max visibly froze. If it was anyone else, Liz would have laughed at the way his pencil was hanging out the side of his mouth, but it wasn't anyone else. Max was best friends with Michael, which meant it was more likely than not that Max knew about what Michael did.
"Can I get a bathroom pass?" Max asked already standing up to leave the room.
When Max left, Ms. Knight handed Liz a toothpick to take a cheek sampling. Liz methodically prepared the slide with her cheek sampling before getting an absurd thought. Impulsively, Liz reached over to Max's discarded pencil and quickly started to prepare another slide using the sample from his cheek. After both slides were done, Liz looked at the slide with her cells and the slide with Max's slides. That can't be right, Liz thought looking back at the slides.
Once class was dismissed, Liz watched Max practically run from the classroom. Liz followed at a more reasonable pace, she hoped to find Michael before he met up with Max after class. Her wish came true when she stepped out of the classroom and ran right in to someone. She lost her footing and stumbled backwards until a hand grabbed her arm to steady her.
"Watch where you're going." A rough, hard voice remarked.
Liz looked up to see the dark amber eyes of one Michael Guerin.
"Sorry," Liz apologized weakly, completely forgetting what she wanted to say to him.
Once their eyes met, Michael let go of her arm and turned to keep walking. Shaking away her thoughts, she ran after him.
"Michael! Michael!"
Michael stopped reluctantly and sighed heavily.
"Michael, I have to talk to you."
"No, you don't." Michael shot back.
In response, Liz grabbed his arm and dragged him into the band room. No chickening out, Parker.
This was the last place Michael wanted to be. He knew she wouldn't be able to just let it go. He'd hoped, but he hadn't really believed it.
"Kyle!" Liz exclaimed in surprise when she saw her kind of boyfriend beating on the drums.
"Hey!" Kyle replied enthusiastically until he laid eyes on Michael. "Hey, Michael."
Michael rolled his eyes in response. He was already dreading this conversation without having to deal with the sheriff's son.
"So'd you get my message?" Kyle asked moving closer to stand in front of Liz.
"Oh, yeah, I did. I was just, uh, just a little..." Liz replied awkwardly glancing backwards at Michael.
"Shaken up." Kyle finished for her ignoring the awkwardness.
"That's what it was." Liz nodded enthusiastically.
"So, you guys are…?" Kyle asked sizing Michael up.
Michael crossed his arms and stared back blankly.
"Oh, right, um, we're looking for a place to study for our biology." Liz decided not to acknowledge the fact that not only was Michael not holding a backpack or any books, but he wasn't even in biology.
"Oh right. Biology. All right, I'm leaving anyway."
"Great, um, that's good."
"Oh, I got my costume for the crash this Friday-"
"Kyle." Liz interrupted, "We've got to study. Sorry."
"Right." Kyle nods sulking towards the door. "See ya, Michael."
Once the door shut Michael's discomfort got the best of him and he couldn't stop himself from insulting her.
"You're going out with the sheriff's son?" His tone held so much malice he was sure Liz would call him out on it.
"Um, yeah." Liz replied flustered. "Well, it's kind of this casual…" Liz didn't know why she felt the need to justify her relationship to Michael. She was getting off track. "Can we just focus here for one minute, please?"
Liz didn't know how to start this conversation. There was no handbook on how to ask the guy who saved your life, well, how he saved your life. Michael was looking at her expectantly so she decided to just show him. Turning to face him, she slowly lifted up her shirt just enough to show him his handprint on her stomach.
Michael didn't know what to say. His powers had never left any residual marks before.
"Um, I scraped some cells from Max's pencil today in biology. I don't know why. I just, uh, I just figured that you and Max are so close that maybe he'd be like…um like you." Liz hoped she was making sense. She must have seemed crazy, especially with her frantic pacing back and forth. "But the thing is the cells weren't normal. And what you did at the Crashdown wasn't normal, so maybe you're not normal."
Michael stood there and listened to Liz rant, trying to figure out how to get himself out of this. He could see that she wasn't going to let this go. He didn't want her to know, but he was the one who made the decision to heal her. This was his mess and he needed to clean it up. Unfortunately, Liz had already seen too much and he wouldn't be able to lie his way out of this.
"So help me out here, Michael." Liz continued after a beat. "What are you?"
"I'm an alien." Michael said matter of factly. The sentence was foreign to him, but strangely freeing at the same time. None of them, not Max, or Isabel, or himself ever said the words out loud.
"You're what?" Liz repeated in disbelief.
"I'm an alien." Michael repeated in the same tone.
"And so is Max." Liz guessed slightly dazed. Despite how she appeared on the outside her heart was beating a million miles per minute.
For some twisted reason, Michael was impressed. He'd just told this chick that he was an alien and she didn't laugh in his face or run screaming for sheriff Valenti.
"Yeah."
"Anyone else?" She didn't know why she kept talking. Why she didn't just leave. I mean, she could leave if she wanted to. It's not like Michael could do anything to her at school, right?
"Isabel."
"That makes sense." Michael raised his eyebrows as a silent question. "I mean, she's Max's sister and if Max is…"
"How did you heal me?" She asked again just a second after finishing her previous thought.
"We can manipulate molecular structures." Michael continued to answer in the same dull tone.
"Oh, okay." Liz nodded before her brain actually processed what he was saying. "Wait, what does that mean?"
"It's like when I healed you." Michael started. "I changed the molecular structure of the bullet and your skin to dissolve the bullet and close the wound."
"And my uniform?"
"Yeah, same thing."
"Who else knows?"
"No one."
His last answer caused her to pause. If no one knew then…then he had risked everything to save her life. And they didn't even know each other.
"Why did you do it?" Liz's voice was small, almost like she was afraid of the answer.
She watched as Michael's jaw tensed and his eyes met hers. Those dark amber eyes held hers just like they had yesterday during the shooting. This time when Michael answered her, his tone had shifted from its emotionless to something she couldn't yet identify.
"I don't know."
And it was the truth. Michael could blame it on Max. He could say that if he hadn't Max would have tried and that wouldn't have ended well for anyone. But the truth was he could have pulled Max out of the Crashdown if he had wanted to.
After holding his gaze for another moment Liz finally looked away.
"I'm late for my U.S. government class." She stated looking up at him. She didn't know what she was expecting, maybe for him to threaten her or try to scare her. Instead he just stared back.
He didn't break his silence until she moved to reach the door.
"You can't tell anyone."
Liz looked back. Michael's face was hard, but his eyes held something close to desperation. She knew she couldn't tell, she wouldn't. It was the least she could do after what he did for her. Her only reply was a nod.
When she was gone, Michael sighed dejectedly. Now all he had to do was tell Max and Isabel.
"You're sorry?" Isabel bitched later that day at lunch. "You break a sacred pact and that's all you have to say? It's against the rules, Michael. The rules we made!"
He understood why she was mad. He would be mad too, but he wasn't going to apologize anymore.
"Yeah, that's all I have to say." Michael replied saturating his taco's in Tabasco.
Isabel huffed tossing her hair over her shoulder, "The important thing is to contain this. We just have to figure out what to say to Miss Scientist."
Michael tried to keep a blank face and eat his taco's but he knew he needed to tell them. It wasn't just his life in Liz's hands it was all of theirs.
Michael cleared his throat, "Actually-"
"You told her!" Max and Isabel exclaimed at the same time.
"What was I going to say!" Michael shot back. "She cornered me. It's not like I had a lot of time to come up with an explanation."
Isabel huffed but didn't say anything. There was nothing to say.
The three got up and followed Max to his jeep. Max had been quiet uncharacteristically quiet during this whole conversation. Michael knew that Max liked Liz, and he knew that there was no way Max was going to willingly leave Roswell unless he was forced to.
"Everything's changed now." Isabel lamented.
"No, it hasn't." Max's jeep roared to life as he spoke. "We just have to act like everything is normal."
"Act normal? That's your big plan? Don't you realize it's only a matter of time before they find us and turn us over to some government agency where they're going to test us and probe us, and, oh yeah, exterminate us." Isabel put extra emphasis on the word exterminate.
"Liz isn't going to tell." Michael cut in.
"Really? So how'd she react when you told her? 'Great you're an alien that's fantastic.'" Isabel fumed.
Michael was about to reply but was cut off by red and blue lights flashing behind him.
"Is he pulling us over?" Isabel asked panicked.
"We can't start acting guilty." Max tried to reason. "He pulls kids over all the time, it's nothing."
Sheriff Valenti got out of his car and took Max's license and registration. After issuing a warning for speeding, Valenti drove away, but not before noticing the half empty bottle of Tabasco on the floor of Max's jeep. The three aliens breathed a sigh of relief before speeding off in tense silence.
After her conversation with Michael, Liz needed time to think. She went to the bathroom, which was usually empty during lunch to try and get some perspective on the whole 'alien bombshell' Michael had dropped on her.
"Hey." Maria walked out of the stall behind her. "I called you like 37 times."
"I know I'm sorry." Liz couldn't deal with this right now. She needed time alone to process things, and she couldn't do that with Maria around. She loved her best friend, but this wasn't something she could share. Not right now. Maybe not ever, Liz thought sadly.
"Liz, what happened?" Maria asked, her voice thick with concern.
"What do you mean? You were there, Maria, you saw everything." Liz tried brushing her off.
"Did I? Because this," Maria holds up Liz's order pad, "looks a lot like blood to me."
Liz didn't know what to say. So she chose to say nothing. Drying her hands, Liz quickly escaped the girl's bathroom and Maria's questions.
Liz was sitting downstairs at the Crashdown's counter debating on whether or not to take a slice of the chocolate cake sitting under the glass container in front of her. She had just gotten back from a very subpar date with Kyle Valenti and she was kicking herself for being so careless. Kyle had caught a glimpse of the handprint Michael had left on her stomach when she reached up to turn off her porch light. It was bad enough that she had asked Kyle if he had 'felt things' when he was with her, but to practically push him back to his car after he saw her stomach was the definition of suspicious.
Tapping on the glass window broke her from her thoughts. Michael was standing outside motioning for her to open to door. Liz had no doubt Michael could have opened the locked door on his own, but that would have been too much to handle for one day so she got up and opened it for him.
Once inside, Liz turned and looked expectantly at Michael who was staring at her with a weird expression on his face.
"What?" Liz asked bringing her hand to her hair assuming his staring had something to do with his appearance. For some reason, the thought of Michael seeing her in disarray was embarrassing to say the least.
"Sorry," Michael cleared his throat looking uncomfortable. "I just uh, I keep picturing you in that cupcake dress."
"What?" Liz asked, her eyebrows crinkling in confusion. Suddenly it hit her and she flushed scarlet. "Oh my God. I can't believe I actually wore that thing!"
Liz almost chuckled. Looking back up at Michael it hit her.
"I had that dress in kindergarten, I didn't know you till the third grade. Did you read my mind or something?" Liz asked slightly panicked.
"I don't read minds." Michael's tone was borderline annoyed. He had come here for a reason, or, at least that's what he told himself. "When I healed you, I saw images of your life in my head. One of those images was the cupcake dress. I knew how you felt about it."
"How did I feel about it?" Liz was uncomfortable with Michael Guerin knowing intimate details of her life, but not because she was uncomfortable with him, but because of the fear that he might see or feel something embarrassing.
"It was the single supreme embarrassment of your life. But your mom made it for you, so you wore it. For her sake."
Liz was shocked. She had never told anyone how she felt about that god awful dress, not even her mother when she asked why Liz never wore the dress again.
Michael licked his lips nervously but took a couple steps forward till he was only a couple inches away from her.
"I've never tried this before, but maybe I can make the connection go the other way. So you can see, that we're not that bad."
A part of her wanted to say no, but the scientist part of her, and the part of her that was drawn to Michael Guerin, won. She nodded and closed the space between them by taking a step closer to him.
"I have to touch you." Michael added softly.
He was nervous. This was something entirely knew to him. Opening himself up to a complete stranger was his definition of hell. But he had to do this, he told himself, he had to convince her that they were worth her keeping their secret. He had to do this for Max and Isabel.
"Take deep breaths and let your mind go blank." He instructed
Liz was taken aback by the abruptness of the images flashing before her. She saw Michael meeting Isabel and Max in the desert for the first time, Michael watching the Evans finding Max and Isabel. She felt the young version of Michael wanting to join the pair on the road, but being too frightened and unsure. She saw him meeting Isabel and Max at school for the first time since they were adopted by the Evans. Most of all, she felt his loneliness.
She felt Michael pull away and take a step back. She wanted to follow him and keep the closeness that they had shared, but she knew not to push her luck.
"Did it work?" Michael asked.
Liz could see the embarrassment in his eyes and realized how much courage it took for Michael to share those things with her. She nodded.
The dazed, dreamy look on her face told Michael all he needed to know. He left the café that night embarrassed but reassured. He knew that Liz Parker would keep his secret. And perhaps more importantly, he knew he could trust Liz Parker.
Michael Guerin had put a force on me. It's like my whole life changed in an instant. It's just so ironic that when something like this finally happened to me, it was with an alien.
How could she be so stupid! Liz was berating herself while she tore through the band room looking for her book bag. The bag that she had haphazardly shoved the uniform she was wearing the day of the shooting. There was nothing wrong with it, not after Michael had fixed it, but she'd feel better once it was back with her. Plus, her biology homework was in there.
Alex, her and Maria's best friend stopped her searching to ask her if she was alright. She should have known Maria would talk to Alex about the blood on her note pad. A panicked feeling washed over her. Maria was turning out to be more dangerous to Michael by being in the dark than she would be if she knew. After reassuring Alex that she was in fact fine, a sheriff's deputy came and pulled her out of school.
The sheriff's office was the last place Liz wanted to be. This was becoming too much for her. Why couldn't everyone just stop asking her questions? It seemed like ever since the shooting, she had been lying and dodging questions every second of the day. It was exhausting. This must be how Michael, Max, and Isabel feel, Liz thought.
"Afternoon Ms. Parker. Your father said it would be all right if I talked to you," Sheriff Valenti walked into the room where Liz was sitting at a small table in the middle of the room. She wondered briefly if this was where they interrogated people. "I'm sorry to have to show you these."
The sheriff dropped a file onto the desk in front of her and moved around to sit in the chair opposite of her. He opened the files to reveal pictures of a dead body. Liz wanted to look away but was shocked to see that the corpse Valenti was showing her had the same silver handprint on its chest that she had on her stomach.
"This man was found dead, no apparent cause of death. Except that." Valenti pointed to the handprint. "What do you make of that mark?"
"I've never seen anything like that before." Liz answered automatically.
"Kyle said he saw a similar mark on your stomach." Valenti pressed.
"He was wrong." Liz was on the spot and couldn't think up a better explanation. She knew what Valenti was going to ask next and she felt her stomach twist painfully.
"I'm sure. Kyle's got a pretty wild imagination. I'm still going to need to see for myself Liz."
Instead of arguing, Liz got to her feet slowly. She prayed that the mark had somehow disappeared. She lifted up her shirt, too scared to look down and see for herself.
"The mark faded on the corpse too."
Liz looked down at her stomach to see that the handprint was gone. She wanted to cry with relief.
"What do you know about a kid named Max Evans?"
Liz was taken aback by the question. Max Evans? She had never even talked to the boy expect for when they were paired together for biology labs.
"I don't really know him," Liz answered honestly.
"Was he one of the kids at the Crashdown that day?"
"No." Liz deadpanned. She was emotionally exhausted and she really needed to talk to Michael. "Can I go home now, Sheriff?"
"Just one more thing," The sheriff reached under the table and set her book bag on top of the desk. Liz's heart jumped in her throat but she kept her face neutral. "Somebody turned in this book bag. It is yours isn't it?"
Liz nodded and grabbed her bag off the table before leaving the sheriff's station as quickly as possible without raising suspicions any more than they already were. When she got to the street, she tore open her bag to find her uniform was missing.
When Liz got back to school she set out to look for Michael to tell him about her talk with Valenti. The day was almost over when she ran in Max Evans in the hall. He would have to do.
"Max!" Liz exclaimed.
"Liz," Max answered.
"I need to talk to you," She looked into his eyes trying to convey how serious she was. "It's important."
Max let Liz lead him into the art room so they could talk.
"I've been looking for Michael all day but I can't find him."
Max's face dropped in disappointment but Liz didn't notice.
"Um, Max," Liz was slightly uncomfortable. The first conversation she has with him outside of biology and just happens to be potentially life changing. "Valenti showed me this photo of a corpse. A murder victim. It was marked 1959. It had the same silver handprint on its chest that Michael left on me when he healed me."
"That's not possible." Max said, more to himself than to her.
"Kyle saw the handprint on my stomach and Valenti found my waitress uniform. He just asked me if you were in the café during the shooting. Max, he suspects you."
"Me?" Max asked confused. "Not Michael?"
"Yeah."
Without a word Max lunged towards the door to the art room and was gone by the time Liz had even made it to the door. She had a sinking feeling that she would never see him, or Michael, again.
Liz was sitting on her bed trying to study. She couldn't stop thinking about Michael and what he was going to do now that the sheriff suspected something was up. Would they run? They would probably run, Liz thought dejectedly.
Liz's door opened and Maria come to stand in front of her fully dressed as and 'alien' for the crash festival tonight.
"Before I go to this idiotic crash festival, I want to know everything. And if you don't tell me the truth, right now, I'm going to go to Valenti myself and tell him everything I know."
"What do you know?" Liz asked. She knew this was going to happen eventually.
"I know that Max and Michael were at the diner that day and I know that Michael went up to you when you were shot and like, did something to you. And I know that the one person in the world that I thought I could completely trust is lying to me."
By the time Maria was finished with her rant Liz had already made up her mind. It was time to tell her best friend what was going on. She just prayed Maria would understand.
"You have to promise me you won't flip out." Liz looked at Maria intensely, trying to get her to understand how serious she was.
"Flip out?" Maria asked vaguely insulted. "This is me."
Then, Maria flipped out.
By the time she had calmed Maria down enough to have an actual conversation, Liz had decided that she wasn't going to let Michael leave without a fight. She was sitting in the passenger seat of Maria's car looking out the window trying to figure out where the three would be and how she was going to convince then to go along with her plan.
"Liz, what happened to you?"
Maria continued to babble on but Liz was too lost in her thoughts to pay attention. Then Liz caught sight of Max, Isabel, and Michael driving past them.
"Maria that's them!" Liz exclaimed. "Cut a U-ie!"
"Cut a U-ie?" Maria repeated in disbelief. "Who are you? I mean-"
Suddenly Liz grabbed the wheel and turned it sharply.
"Oh my god you're crazy!" Maria screamed after they had completed the U-ie.
"No I'm not! Please just catch them!" Liz begged.
"Catch them? Liz, we're in a Jetta." Maria said as if that explained it all.
Liz watched as Max pulled into a side alley and quickly ordered Maria to do the same. Liz got out of the car and walked toward the three people opposite her who had followed her lead by getting out of the jeep.
"Maria knows." Liz blurted when they were within hearing distance.
"Unbelievable." Michael scoffed. He couldn't believe he had trusted her.
Liz looked away.
"Get in your car and get out of the way, now." Michael said ignoring Maria's promise not to tell anyone. He was angry, mostly at himself for getting everyone into this situation. And now, not only did one person know, but two people now knew their secret.
"You shouldn't leave." Liz pleaded looking just at Michael. "It's just going to show people that you're guilty."
"Guilty of what?" Michael approached her. "Saving your life?"
"Look, I think I have an idea here. If we can just all work together here maybe, we can throw Valenti off."
"We're not together. Our lives are at stake, not yours." Michael took another step forward. "Now move your car."
"We are together whether you like it or not!" Liz shot back. "You made me a part of this when you did what you did at the Crashdown that day. Michael, just let me help."
The last part came out softly. She was pleading with him to trust her. She watched his hard amber eyes as he stared down at her, weighing his options. She wanted them to stay, even if her motives were mostly selfish, she had to try.
"She's right." Max cut in.
"What's your idea?" Michael finally asked.
After agreeing to go through with Liz's plan, they all split up. Liz went home to quickly get ready and go talk Kyle into meeting her at the crash festival in half an hour, Maria and Isabel went to the crash, and Michael and Max went to go find Michael's costume. When Michael and Max arrived at the crash festival Michael went to go change and Max went to go turn himself into Valenti.
While Valenti was handcuffing Max, Liz purposely ran into the tourists from the café the day of the shooting. Liz, knowing they were following her, walked over to the parking lot where she knew Isabel was going to pretend to hit Maria with her car.
"Maria!" Liz screamed as Isabel 'hit' Maria with her car and Michael, dressed up in the same costume as Kyle, kneeled down over Maria. Valenti and his deputies ran over to see what was going on, by the time they got there, all they saw was Maria lying on the ground with a silver handprint on her chest.
"Watch him!" Valenti orders his deputies as he spotted a man in the same costume as the one that was kneeling over Maria walking towards the crowd.
When Valenti reached the man in the costume, it turned out to be Kyle. Valenti, thoroughly pissed off stalked back to his where his deputies were holding Max Evans.
After her plan was complete and the crash was done, Liz went off to watch the rest of the festival from a distance. She wasn't in the mood to celebrate. And by the looks of it, neither was Michael.
"Hey." Michael called out to her walking to stand by her side.
"Hey." She turned to look at him.
"Thank you." Michael said after a minute, staring out at the residual flames of the mock crash with a blank expression on his face.
"I should be the one thanking you." Liz let out a light sardonic laugh.
Michael turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised.
"Thank you, Michael." Liz said lowly taking a step and closing the space between them. "For saving my life."
They were standing face to face, only a breath away from each other. Liz looked up at him through her eyelashes. His amber eyes studied hers before taking her hand in his, intertwining their fingers, and squeezing it softly in reply. After a moment, Michael dropped her hand and walked away.
It's September 24th, I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. But then something really amazing happened. I came to life.