TITLE: Broken in Two (4/?)
AUTHOR: Rebecca Parker
EMAIL: LaVelleBelle@aol.com
RATING: PG-13
PAIRING: M/L, K/T, M/T, K/L
SUMMARY: An AU take on "End of the World" where Future Liz comes back instead of Future Max.
FEEDBACK: Yes please!
DISTRIBUTION: At my site (http://www.ourowndestiny.com) and FINNatics. All others, please ask.
DISCLAIMER: Jason Katims owns all. I just own an intense love for "End of the World"
DEDICATION: To Bri, who can finally read this now because of the Author's Note!
NOTE: The title is from a lyric in Sheryl Crow's "I Shall Believe". Also, "F-Liz" is Future Liz.
IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: After much soul searching, I find this story is leading me in a direction different from the one I thought it would take. To be true to my story, I am letting it go where it is taking me, so I am sorry to say that the Max/Kyle slash that I thought would surface in this story will, in fact, not. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused to readers and hope you understand.




F-Liz paced the length of Max's room, nervously biting her thumb, a bad habit she had picked up when the war with the Skins had really escalated ten years ago. She was trying to figure things out; to make sense of something she wasn't sure she even could.

She still existed, and that worried her. It didn't make sense- the things that had happened today seemed destined to alter the future, yet still she existed.

She felt different- that much was true. Her heart felt heavier, her eyes more tired and she was pretty sure she had a few more grays than usual, something she was not at all happy about.

So when Max walked into his room, F-Liz was nervous. She knew now that there was one very big kink in her plan and she could only think of one way to fix it.

"I did it," Max said, his voice heavy with regret. She frowned when she looked at the expression on his face- it was one she had seen only days earlier when the tragedy and the despair of the war had taken its toll on him. She had held him in bed, sobbing in her arms as they fell to sleep.

Of course, that wasn't days ago. It was years in the future, and as F-Liz watched Max sit on the chair by the door, his eyes downcast, she couldn't help but feel sorry for all he would have to go through- and this time, without her.

"I know," F-Liz said, fidgeting nervously. "I saw. Both of me, I mean."

"I can't believe she heard what I said. Did you see the look on her face?" he asked, looking up at her. "I never knew someone could look so hurt."

"I'd understand if I knew the whole story Max," F-Liz said, sitting down on the edge of the bed and folding her hands. "I know this is hard, but it's what you need to do."

"I know that," Max said, his voice tinged with anger. "That's what being a leader's all about, right? It's about making sacrifices and losing everything you want for the greater good."

"Sometimes," F-Liz admitted sadly.

Max nodded in acknowledgment. "I hate it."

"I know," she said, taking a deep breath. "This isn't easy for me either Max."

He looked up at her, his eyes pools of sadness. "I'm sorry," he said. "I know this must be hard on her- I mean, you. Especially since you don't understand why all this is happening."

F-Liz looked away, as if the very thought of her younger self's pain could be felt by her at that moment. She wanted to say something to make him feel better, but she knew that truly there was nothing that would ease his pain at this moment. It's not every day you give up your happiness.

And it was about to get worse.

"Max," F-Liz started nervously, her hands shaking as he looked up to her. "We need to talk. Something- there's something wrong."

"Besides the obvious?" he said a bit sarcastically and then stopped, looking at the pained look in her eyes. "I'm sorry," he said, looking down. "What is it?"

"Max, if what we did today worked, I wouldn't be here anymore and well," she said, gesturing to herself, "I am."

"So what are you saying?"

"There's a flaw in our plan. I think," she said, getting up and walking across the room, "There's a few things wrong that I can think of, actually."

"Such as?"

"First of all, Kyle hates you now," she said, pressing her fingers against her temples.

"Yeah," Max said, sighing. "The rapidly increasing bump on my forehead is clueing me in to that fact. But what does that have to do with me and Tess?"

"It doesn't," she said, leaning against his bureau. "But not everything has to do with Tess, Max."

"I know that," he answered defensively. "But I don't understand."

"Kyle is important in all of this as well," she answered, taking a deep breath. "He was more crucial than any of us humans, actually. After Michael, he was most important to you in the war."

"Kyle? I figured he would have skipped town for college or something. Why would he stick around and actually help *me*?"

"Because he was your best friend, Max," she said, sighing. "And now- I can't see that happening and I don't want to even think what your future is like without Kyle in it."

"My best friend is Kyle?" Max asked, shocked. "You're kidding."

"Not at all," F-Liz answered, shaking her head. "Max, you need to find a way to get him back on our side. That's the first problem."

"And the second?"

"It's us," she said, sighing. "Max, obviously we get back together somehow and you know where that leads."

"To the end of the world?" Max asked, a little tongue in cheek.

F-Liz nodded. "Exactly, Max. Look, I know this is all hard for you to imagine, but we can't let that happen. We need to do something else."

"Something else?" Max asked, flabbergasted. "What do you want me to do Liz? Have sex with Tess in your bed? Would that be cruel enough to get the job done?"

F-Liz turned away, feeling her eyes begin to water. She wanted nothing more now than to not exist, and as long as she still did the very idea of Max and Tess actually being together made her want to sit down and cry. "No," she said, shaking her head. "After what I heard today, I don't think I need any further proof that it's over between us. I wouldn't just come back to you."

"Then what's the problem?" Max asked, confused.

"The problem is- obviously you came back to me, Max." She watched as he began to shake his head and continued, "Max, I know you're going to say you wouldn't do that but I'm still here. This is me, Liz Evans from 2014 and I'm not gone yet so obviously we got back together. And that means that somewhere in the future, you, Michael, Maria, Isabel, Alex- everyone- you're all dead. And that means that we need to do something to assure that doesn't happen."

"What then? What do you suggest?"

"What do I suggest?" F-Liz asked, taking a deep breath. "Well, I think no matter what, you are going to have to make amends with Kyle. He's too important to our cause to lose. But I think maybe- maybe we could try to kill two birds with one stone."

"What do you mean?" Max asked, a little worried he already knew.

"What I mean is- Kyle and I need to get together."

****

"Liz honey?" Mrs. Parker asked, outside her daughter's door. "Maria's on the phone. Do you want to talk to her?"

"No," Liz said, trying to sound as normal as possible. "Tell her I'll call her back."

"Liz, are you OK?" her mother asked, her hand on the doorknob. "Sweetie, why don't you let me in?"

"No Mom," Liz said, sitting up in bed and backing up against the headboard. "I'm fine. I just want to be alone right now."

Her mother sighed, letting go of the door. "OK, but I'm here if you need me."

"Thanks," Liz said, pulling her teddy bear to her chest and resting her head against its ears. She felt silly holding him but he was a constant in her life. When things were hard, Mr. Buttons was always there to listen to her. He was one of the last bits of her childhood that she had left.

She brushed her tears away, still unable to believe what she had seen and heard. She felt as if she had fallen asleep and drifted into a very real, very surreal nightmare. Ever since Max and Tess' destiny had been revealed, she had feared that very moment and, although she knew it was "meant to be" and knew that she had walked away that day in the desert for this very reason, she still couldn't believe it actually *had* happened.

She thought Max would love her forever. Now she wasn't even sure if that had ever been the case.

As soon as she thought it, she began to cry as hard as ever and lay back down on her bed, holding Mr. Buttons close in her arms. This whole thing had to be a nightmare. It just had to.

The last thing she needed was to find Kyle staring in at her through her window.

"Liz," he said, knocking on the wood pane. He felt embarrassed having caught her in such a position, but it couldn't be helped now.

She jumped up, quickly brushing her tears away and tossing the teddy bear across her bed. "Kyle," she said, trying to hide the raspy tone of her voice and avoiding his eyes so he couldn't see the tears in hers.

"Can I come in?" he asked, his fingers nervously tapping against the screen. He had spent an hour after his confrontation with Max just walking around, unsure of where to go and what to do. What he had decided was that Liz needed to know what was going on. He was sure she didn't but, seeing her cry on her bed, he was now sure she did.

Kyle was sure he wasn't wanted there, but he also knew Liz Parker. He knew she could see the pain he was going through as well, and as she opened the window and nodded, he wasn't surprised. She could be gracious even through her worst pain.

"Are you OK?" he asked as he stepped through the window. He looked around the room, moving to the box of tissues as he found them. He picked them up and walked back to her, handing her some tissues he had pulled from it.

"Thanks," she said, dabbing at her tears with the tissues. She felt her face turn red as he watched her, suddenly self-conscious and embarrassed. She turned her back to him and took a deep breath. "What are you doing here, Kyle?"

"I wanted to tell you what's going on, but I take it you already know," he said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.

Liz laughed, turning back to him. "I'm really sorry you didn't get to break that news to me in person. Bet you would have been happy that I finally got mine, huh?"

"It's not like that, Liz," he said, standing up straight. "I just thought it would be better to know than not to."

"Oh sure," Liz said, walking closer to him. "This has nothing to do with payback, right? I chose Max over you and look at what happened, right?"

"Liz, I wouldn't wish what you're going through on anyone," he said, reaching out to touch her arm, which she shrugged away.

"This is what I get, right? This is what I deserve," she said, the tears flowing freely again. "He never really loved me. I wasn't 'important'."

Kyle reached out to her again, pressing his palm softly against her cheek; frowning as he felt the tears against his skin. "Liz, you're important," he said, looking at her.

"Not to him," she said, looking down. "Not to him."

Kyle looked at Liz, her face streaked with tears, and he realized that he barely recognized the girl he had dated the summer before list. The youthful, smart girl he knew was gone, and a matured, world-weary brilliant young woman stood before him. It had amazed him how much the both of them had changed in the time Max Evans had become a part of their life. He suddenly felt protective of her- their lives, in a way, had taken the same paths and led them to the same place here and now- a broken heart. He was lucky- what he had with Tess had never truly come to be anything more than a hope he had, but what she and Max had- there was no way you could walk away from that and be the same person anymore.

He pulled her close to him, letting his fingers run through her hair. "Well, you are to me," Kyle said as he held her to him, feeling the rise and fall of her sobs against his chest. "You're very special to me."

****

Halfway across town, mid-conversation, F-Liz disappeared.

To Be Continued...