A/N: Review if you like it!
MAX
A few days later, after finishing my shift at the UFO museum for the night, I walk across the street to the Crashdown to see Liz. She and I haven't talked since the day she went to the quarry with Michael. I'm pretty sure Liz is avoiding me but I'm not going to let her run away again. Not when I'm so close to getting her back.
The sign on the Crashdown door says 'Closed' but I knock anyway. I had Michael check Liz's schedule and she's closing tonight so I know she's here. Sure enough, I hear the click of the lock and Liz opens the door.
"What are you doing here Max?" She asks, but she has an amused little smile on her face, like she was expecting me to show up here. In the back of my mind I wonder if Liz can feel me, the way I still feel her through our connection.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" I offer. "It's not too hot tonight."
"Oh! Yeah, sure, I'm pretty much done closing." Liz looks surprised but she recovers quickly. "I just need a minute to change." she says, and she slips out of the room.
I slide into a booth and wait for what feels like an eternity but according to the clock is only four minutes, when Liz walks back in through the employee entrance.
She's wearing a West Roswell High tee shirt that, based on its size, used to belong to either Alex or Kyle, and those tiny denim shorts again. The amount of thigh they reveal makes me feel lightheaded. Her hair has been released from its ponytail and silky chocolate strands float around her face.
I have to grip the edges of the booth so that my hands can't reach out to slide my fingers through it. When Liz and I dated my love of her hair bordered on obsession. I can't even explain why, except that it's one of those things that makes her uniquely her, and therefore it became precious to me.
"Ready." Liz announces, jarring me out of my fantasy. I jump out of the booth to hold the door open for her. "Thanks." She says lightly, gliding out the door, and I follow her out into the warm night air.
We walk through town without talking and end up at the old playground halfway between our houses. I drop into a swing and Liz follows suite. I dig the toes of my shoes into the sand and look at Liz, who is staring up at the stars thoughtfully.
"I need to talk to you about something." I say.
"That's not a very promising opening sentence." Liz comments.
I sigh. I already know this conversation is not going to go over well.
"We have a problem. It's about Kyle."
Liz frowns at me. "What kind of problem?"
"You were the first person I healed, but you weren't the only one." I say softly.
I watch Liz as comprehension dawns on her face. To her credit, she figures it out a lot faster than I did.
"No," she whispers fiercely. "Max, no."
"I know. But I healed him months after you." I point out. "At least we have time to prepare him, if it happens to him."
"I don't think that's going to make him feel any better."
"Liz-"
"Just don't, okay?" She says wearily. Liz bends over and rests her forehead on her knees. Her dark hair cascades forward, covering her face. "God, I'm so selfish." The sound of her voice is muffled under all her hair. "I didn't even think about what this meant for him."
"Hey, don't do that." I reach out and rest a hand lightly on her back. "You've had enough to deal with this week, you shouldn't feel guilty."
"Easier said then done." Liz pulls her hair away from her face and gives it a good shake as she sits back up.
"Yeah, I know." I squeeze her shoulder. "How about you let me feel guilty for this one, okay?"
Liz nods miserably. A lone tear slides down her face and she wipes it with the back of her hand. "I'll tell him."
"I think that would be best."
Liz looks at me sharply. "He's my friend, Max."
"I know." I say, a little defensively. "Tell him I'm sorry." And I am, I am really fucking sorry. Kyle and I don't necessarily get along, but he doesn't deserve this.
Liz and I sit in silence for a few minutes before she twists her swing towards me. "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything." It's not like I have any secrets left.
"Why didn't you tell me about Tess?" Liz asks in a hard little voice.
Oh shit. Except that one.
"Michael told you?" I ask, buying a little time.
"Maria."
"Oh." I sigh. I was definitely not anticipating this conversation tonight. "I don't know. I thought for awhile maybe it would be better not to tell you."
"What?" Liz asks, bewildered. "How could that be better for me?"
"When it happened, you and I weren't talking." I begin to explain. "You weren't really talking to anyone. You were so sad, and I thought maybe this was your chance, you know? To escape from all this. Get a second chance at normal."
Liz smiles wistfully at me. "What's so great about normal?"
"Normal isn't dangerous." I counter. "Knowing me has brought so much pain into your life and I thought if I left you alone maybe your life would be better. Better without me."
"But that's not your decision, Max." Liz speaks softly. "I know you like to control things." She gives me a knowing look. "But you have to let me make my own choices."
"I know." I look down at my feet. "Im sorry." Sometimes I feel like I'm going to spend the rest of my life apologizing.
"Max." Liz looks at me seriously. "I'm so sorry about the baby."
My breathe catches in my chest. Thinking about my son fills me with despair and relief in equal measure. The whole thing happened so fast that sometimes I think I imagined it. With Tess gone I see everything clearly again, and it makes me question those last few months she was here.
"Max? Are you ok?"
I clear my throat. "I'm fine." I say painfully.
"Are you sure?" Liz asks hesitantly and I shrug.
"Sometimes I think it's better this way."
"What do you mean?" Liz looks confused.
"I can't exactly see Tess as mother of the year, can you?"
"Yeah, she wasn't exactly nurturing." Liz's mouth is twisted in an ironic smile.
"She didn't give a damn about any of us. All she cared about was getting home. And power probably. Carrying the heir would give her a lot of cache up there. She must have thought it was worth it, since she was willing to sacrifice us to cut a deal." I say bitterly. "My loving wife, right?" I grimace. "I'm a fucking idiot for ever trusting her."
I look up at the stars, twinkling innocently in the sky. Somewhere up there is Antar. Kings and queens, evil rebels, palaces shining under a pink sky. It doesn't feel like my home. It doesn't even feel like a real memory, as much as Tess tried to get me to remember. It just feels like a bad dream.
"Sometimes I wonder if he was even real." I say quietly.
"Your son? But you connected to him."
"I thought I did."
"You think Tess mind warped you? Are you sure that's even possible?" Liz asks gently.
"Isn't it? Look at what she did to Alex, to Kyle. We had no idea how powerful she was until it was too late."
"But why would she do that?" Liz exclaims. "That's crazy!"
"No, it's smart. She needed me to come with her, right? I was her ticket home. Tess knew I would never leave Earth for her. She needed something better, something I wouldn't be able to walk away from."
"A child." Liz whispers.
"It's a pretty foolproof plan, isn't it? It's not like I could make her take a pregnancy test."
"Wow." Liz says. "That takes devious to a whole new level."
"That was her style. Manipulating innocent people. And she was obsessed with all that royal shit. I bet she loved the idea of an heir, it would have guaranteed her a throne. She would have done anything to go home."
"I wonder about that a lot." Liz says. "Why she didn't just kill me."
My head whips around to stare at her. "Kill you?" I choke out.
"Well it was all about me, from her perspective. Wasn't it? You choosing her over me. I was the only real threat to her getting what she wanted."
I reach out to take Liz's hand and squeeze it tightly. "She didn't kill you because she understood how much I love you. If she touched a hair on your head I would have killed her, without hesitating." Sometimes I regret not doing it when I had the chance.
Liz nods and squeezes my hand back. "You know I still love you too, right?"
I smile into the darkness. "Yeah, I know."
