"It's such a beautiful night," I heard Max say from behind me. We were sitting on the rooftop terrace of our new home. A few months after we married, things settled down. It seemed that we were no longer in imminent danger. Isabel left two days ago to meet with Jesse in Boston, and Michael and Maria just signed a lease on an apartment a few doors down. Kyle was taking a few extra days to figure out whether or not it would be safe enough for him to go back to Roswell as he had yet to exhibit any powers.
As I lay back against Max's chest with his legs on either side of me and a blanket underneath us, I hummed back a positive response. It truly was beautiful out here. The stars scattered across the sky. My husband came from up there, I thought as I swiveled to look at him.
He tore his gaze from the stars and looked into my eyes. He gave me a quick, soft kiss and then I leaned my cheek against his chest.
"Liz," Max said, hesitating slightly, "there's something I've been meaning to ask you."
"What is it?" I asked, leaning away from him slightly so that I could look at him more intently.
"Well, you know that I am over it, and I'm sure you have a good reason, but it's-"
"Max," I said, stopping his rambling, "What is it?"
"It's just. Well, we both know that you didn't sleep with Kyle that night, but you wanted me to believe that you did," Max said, glancing away for a moment before looking back at me, "Liz, can you tell me why you did that?"
"I don't know, Max."
I started to get up. Who knew what would happen if I told him the truth? Future Max – at least the old Future Max before the future changed – warned me that the two could not come into contact. Under no circumstances was Max supposed to know Future Max was there when everything happened.
"Wait," Max said, reaching for my hand as I began to move back to the door, "I don't want to push you, Liz. I'm sure you have a good reason for not telling me, but, Liz… You broke my heart when you did that."
I looked down at him and saw tears glimmering in his eyes. I immediately fell to my knees, reaching towards his face in an attempt to soothe him.
"Max… I'm sorry."
"Please," he whispered.
"Well, I think it is safe to tell you now," I said, unable to refuse him, "Another you – a Max from the future – came to our time to tell me that the world was ending. He said that I had to make you fall out of love with me and fall in love with Tess. In the other Max's time, Tess left because she felt unappreciated. Apparently you all needed her to face some enemies we never faced. I couldn't tell you, though, because the Future Max said you both would disappear if you two saw each other or if I told you he was there. Max, it was the hardest thing I've ever done, but I needed to keep you safe."
"Oh," he sighed, taking in the information.
"Yeah. I mean – I know how horrible things turned out with Tess because I pushed you towards her, but I suppose that was better than the end of the world. After all, we did end up together."
"Have you been carrying this information all by yourself?"
He pulled me back into the position we started in with my back to his chest, and I let him. I always felt safe with him.
"Yes," I replied softly.
He kissed my hair.
"You truly are incredible. You know that, right? I knew there had to be some reason for all of the secrecy."
I twisted around in his arms and looked into his eyes as I said, "I love you."
"I love you too," he said, giving me a kiss on my forehead, "Let's go inside. It's starting to get a bit chilly out here."
"Alright," I sighed, standing up slowly.
I felt him stand up behind me, and I leaned back into him for a moment before walking towards the railing in front of me. I heard Max moving behind me, and I turned around briefly to watch him go inside. Then, I turned back to look at the stars above.
"Thank you," I whispered to the sky, "Thank you for the best thing in my life."
