A/N: Thank you to all of the alerts and favorites for this story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell characters or storylines.

Chapter 9

Senior year started with Liz feeling awful. She should be excited that this was the first day of her final year of high school, but it took every ounce of energy for her to drag herself out of bed and into the shower. Once at school, Liz moved from class to class blurry eyed and bombarded by a cacophony of voices. She had a free period after lunch and headed out to the bleachers at the football field.

Liz pulled her AP biology book from her backpack and started flipping through it to see what they would be studying during the semester while rubbing her temples to alleviate her headache, grateful that there was at least silence around her.

"Still having headaches?" Liz heard. She looked up from her book and saw Max at the bottom of the bleachers. He was adjusting his backpack that was hanging off one shoulder and looking up at her with a concerned look.

"Want some company?"

"Sure" Liz smiled.

Max climbed up and sat next to Liz. "The summer away didn't make the headaches any better?"

"No, they are actually getting worse."

"Sorry" Max said. "I want to apologize for the way I acted with the whole Alex thing. I never should have gotten mad at you guys for heading out on your own. If you hadn't, Alex would be dead." Max hung his head in shame.

"It's okay, Max. You ended up saving him and fixing his aneurism." Liz smiled.

"It's not okay. I don't even know why I got so mad. I have no idea where that anger came from. It was like my brain had one thought but my mouth said something else."

Something about what Max said bothered Liz, but her head hurt so bad that she couldn't focus enough to figure out why.

"You obviously were working on exerting some authority over the summer" Liz joked.

"Yeah, a little." Max smiled.

"I know you feel responsible for Isabel, Michael and Tess and in a way your position makes it so you sorta are. Kyle, Alex, Maria and I aren't your responsibility. You have enough to worry about; don't add us to your burden. We are willing participants on the roller coaster ride that is the 'I know an alien club' and can get off at anytime. It also means we may not always listen to you like your fellow Czechoslovakians." Liz bumped his shoulder with a smile. Why is this so easy to laugh and smile and feel at peace with him, Liz thought.

"What, no blind devotion to a king from another planet?" Max joked back. These times with Liz seemed to be the only ones where he could relax and ease the burdens that being a King of some unknown world brought to him. She made him feel confident in his decisions and that he may be able to handle being a king. Stop thinking that way Max, he chided himself. Friends only.

"After what happened with Alex, you guys might want to start trying to figure out how to counteract mind warps." Liz said staring out into the distance.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Max nodded.

"You promised to learn a cool new power over the summer. Anything you want to share?" Liz giggled.

Max smiled and looked around. Liz saw him raise his hand and he disappeared. "Max!" Liz exclaimed reaching out. She felt his arm, but all she saw were the bleachers. He laughed and he was visible again.

"I can manipulate my shield into a kind of camouflage. It's about light refraction." Max explained.

"That is pretty cool."

Liz looked down and realized she was still touching his arm. She admonished herself and pulled back dropping her gaze to her lap. Suddenly Liz's biology book caught on fire. She gasped and Max, seeing the fire, knocked the book off her lap and raised his hand to put it out.

Max grabbed Liz by the shoulders turning her to face him. "Are you okay?"

"F-fine" Liz managed to get out.

Max walked down the bleachers a couple of rows and picked up the charred book. He turned back to Liz. "I didn't do this," Max said confused.

"I-I think I d-did." Liz held up her hand that had green electrical currents dancing across her skin. "Max, what's happening to me?" Liz looked at him with fear in her eyes.

"We'll figure it out." Max ran up the bleachers and took hold of Liz's hands. The electricity intensified for a moment and Liz cried out in pain, but then quickly dissipated along with her headache.

"Let's get you home" Max said leading her down the bleachers and to his jeep.

Max and Liz drove in silence to the Crashdown. Max parked the jeep and stared down Main Street.

"I did this to you. Whatever is happening, the premonitions, now this. It's because of me. I'm so sorry." Max put his head on the steering wheel.

Liz turned in her seat putting her hand on Max's head gently stroking his hair. "You didn't do anything wrong. You saved my life that day. If I get an alien power as a side effect then sobeit."

Max turned and they looked into each other's eyes. She could see the pain and guilt weighing on him. "Please, Max. Don't blame yourself. You gave me a gift that day. I didn't know what it was like to live until I died and you brought me back." Liz smiled and cupped his cheek. Max involuntary leaned into the touch. Max saw a vision of himself dressed in leather, looking older. The same version of himself that haunted his dreams. Liz pulled back as she saw Future Max flash before her.

"Liz, did you see that?" Max reached out for her.

Liz jumped out of the jeep before Max could touch her. "I should get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." Liz ran into the Crashdown and Max just stared after her in confusion. I don't understand why I keep seeing that vision that looks like me but is not me Max thought to himself. He sighed and started the jeep heading for home.

Liz ran up to her bedroom. Feeling something wet on her lip, she raised her hand to her nose pulling it away seeing blood. She went in the bathroom and grabbed a cloth holding it to her nose. A few minutes later the bleeding stopped. Shaking her head, Liz climbed into bed and fell asleep dreams taking over almost immediately.

Liz lay on her side in a large bed facing Max. The sheet was pulled up to cover their naked bodies. Max reached out and brushed Liz's hair behind her ear.

"Liz, my heart and soul are yours. Our love can know no bounds if we let it. We're not complete. Time is running out, Liz. Follow your heart." Max said tears glistening in his eyes.

Max slid out from under the sheet and walked away leaving Liz alone.

Liz woke up confused the next morning. She hadn't had a dream of Max in weeks and yet again her instinct is to run to Max and open her heart to him. Admitting how much she still loved him, but Liz knew that wasn't an option. She would support Max however she could as his friend, but ensure Tess stayed with him and Max fulfilled his destiny.

Later that day, the eight friends gathered at Michael's apartment, initially enjoying the fact that they were finally seniors. Max broke into their reverie getting them back to business.

"Alex, have you had any problems since you have been back from 'Sweden'?" Max asked with air quotes.

"No, and I think I know what I was doing all summer."

"What was that?" Liz asked sitting cross legged on the floor.

"I was decoding or translating something. I found an algorithm I must have been running which is meant to decode text." Alex explained.

"Did you finish whatever you were trying to decode?" Michael asked cracking his knuckles.

"I did, but it looks like whatever it was ended up being deleted from the laptop and sent somewhere."

"Where?" Kyle asked.

"I don't know. Whoever hid it did a good job. I have some decent hacking skills and I can't trace where it went. I'll keep working on it, but it may take some time to track it down." Alex said sadly. Isabel gave him a squeeze from her position on the arm of the couch next to him.

"Keep working on it Alex. Let us know if we can help at all." Max turned back to the rest of the room. "There is one more thing to discuss. Liz, uh, made a book catch on fire yesterday."

"What?" Maria exclaimed looking at Liz.

"It only happened once. There was some kind of green electric current that traveled through me and must have caused the book to catch on fire." Liz put her hand on Maria's shoulder to reassure her.

"What does this mean? Is she an alien now? Is this from being healed?" Maria asked her panic growing. Liz reached out and grabbed Maria's hand and Maria felt instantly relaxed and comforted. Liz pulled her hand back and Maria agitation returned immediately so she pulled out her cypress oil.

"She's not an alien, but Ava said she was changed from me healing her so that is probably what is causing this." Max said.

"Didn't Nasedo say your powers were based on the evolution of the human brain?" Liz asked.

"Yeah, why?" Michael asked.

"What if, by healing me, Max opened up some new connections in my brain?" Liz moved into science mode. "The new connections would access parts of the brain that we humans don't normally use today."

"Will that happen to me and I guess now Alex?" Kyle asked pacing behind the couch.

"Probably, Kyle." Max hung his head.

"Oh, my god. I'm going to turn into the freakin' firestarter because of you Evans." Kyle exclaimed.

"Kyle, enough." Liz admonished and jumped to her feet. Liz moved over to him. "If not for Max you and I would be dead. We'll get through this. At least you aren't the guinea pig out of all this." Liz said with a frown.

"I'm sorry Liz. This must be scary for you not knowing what to expect." Kyle pulled Liz into a hug. He turned to Max. "Sorry Max. It is just a little unnerving to know I may turn into a pseudo superhero in the next year or so."

"Its okay, Kyle. I never meant for this to happen to any of you. Our powers didn't come with an owner's manual and a list of potential side effects." Max shrugged and started pacing the room.

Kyle stopped pacing and moved to the couch to sit next to Tess taking the seat Max vacated.

"We need to be careful about our interactions around Liz. Maybe limit our time with her, especially you Max." Tess watched Max pace.

"Tess!" Maria exclaimed at her insensitivity.

"There is already suspicion on Max from the FBI" Tess countered. "We can't risk Liz having a flare up near Max and drawing the FBI's attention. It could lead to another white room situation."

"No, if Liz is developing powers she needs our help to control it." Max refuted. He had stopped his pacing and was staring at Tess.

"She's human. Do we even know if we can teach her to control what is happening?" Isabel asked. "I'm scared Max. I can't lose you, maybe Tess is right."

"We have to try" Max pleaded.

Tess shifted on the couch brushing her arm against Kyle's. "Tess is right. It's not just the aliens in our little dysfunctional group that would be taken but the humans that associate with you."

"Okay, I am in the room. You don't need to talk about me like I'm not here." Liz said exasperated and stood up looking around the room disappointed. She saw that everyone except for Max, Maria and Michael were avoiding her gaze. "The last thing I want is to expose everyone. I'll keep my distance and if I have any more episodes indicating I have powers I'll let you know and we can figure out if there is a chance I can learn to control it. Maybe it was a onetime thing and it will never happen again" Liz said quietly.

"Liz, you will do no such thing. You're part of the group and not leaving." Maria said.

Liz reached down and grabbed her backpack. "It's okay, I'll just go." Liz ran for the door.

Max looked at Tess, Isabel and Kyle in disbelief. "Nice you guys." He chased after Liz.

"Liz, Liz" Max called and Liz hurried down the apartment building walkway. Liz turned around to look at him. "Liz, I am not going to abandon you when something is happening to you. Things that I caused." Max reached out to Liz.

Liz stepped back. "You're not abandoning me and none of this is your fault Max. I'm just making sure you're protected, that you're all protected. I won't risk you or anyone else going to the white room because of me. You've have a destiny to fulfill so don't waste time on me." Liz said standing up tall.

"Liz, helping you isn't a waste of time and you're not going to get us caught. Don't listen to them" Max said gesturing back to the apartment.

"If something happens I'll tell you. I promise." Liz looked up and saw Maria.

"Come on Liz, I'll take you home." Maria gave her a small hug and put her arm around Liz and guiding her into the jetta and closing the passenger door. "Can you go knock some sense into those idiots? Declare a royal proclamation or something that they need to grovel at Liz's feet and beg for forgiveness for treating her like this."

Max looked at the sadness on Liz's face and strode back inside of Michael's apartment. "This is wrong."

"She could expose us Max" Tess said.

"She's scared and we don't know what's happening to her." Max stood tall. Max usually felt uncomfortable making sweeping decisions for the entire group, but for the first time he felt confident and empowered to dictate what needed to be done.

"If she has a power flare up at the wrong time, it will bring the FBI back and we don't have Nasedo anymore to deflect them" Tess argued.

"If this is really caused by my healing, are you going to abandon Kyle or Alex" Max looked around the room and was met with silence. "I didn't think so."

"Max you can't go back to the white room. We all saw what it did to you last time" Isabel said with a worried tone. "I don't want to abandon Liz either, but I won't risk losing you. Maybe Tess is right. Keep your distance for a while."

"I appreciate your concern, Iz and I'm not trying to get sent back to the white room, but we stick with Liz. She has done nothing but stick by us. We do whatever we can to help her. No arguments. If the FBI comes for us because of us helping her then we will take them on. No is going to the white room if I have anything to do about it. We'll sit down and put together some contingency plans to deal with the FBI and we start bringing Liz to our training sessions to see if we can help her. Understand!" Max said firmly.

"It took you long enough Max" Michael stood up, walked over and slapped him on the back.

Max looked at Michael with a confused expression. "We do what Max says. He's the leader." Michael glared around the room.

Max smiled at Michael and they looked at each other with a new found understanding. Michael had been waiting for Max to step up and lead the rag tag team instead of hiding and Max now knew Michael would always follow his lead.

The next day Max tried to approach Liz, but she managed to avoid him at school as well as at the Crashdown. Max enlisted the help of Maria and Michael, but Liz managed to avoid all of them. It took days for Max to corner Liz long enough to say more than hello to her. Liz was asked to stay after class during biology. Max took the opportunity and waited outside the classroom for her. The bell rang and the halls were empty before Liz walked out.

"Liz" Max said quietly leaning against the wall next to the biology classroom door.

"Oh, hey Max" Liz said walking down the hall not looking at Max.

Max gently grabbed Liz's arm. She immediately felt a rush of love from him and she fought to control her own feelings. "You can stop avoiding me Liz. I told you I'm not abandoning you and I meant it. And don't start arguing about getting us caught. We're all in this together."

"You should listen to Tess Max. She's right. I'm a danger to you all." Liz stared at her shoes.

"Aren't you the one that said take advice but listen to my heart? Well, my heart tells me it is wrong to abandon a friend. So please don't think you need to be apart from us." Max could see Liz still had doubts. "Think about it Liz. You need your friends around if you really are developing some kind of powers."

"I will" Liz said pulling her sweater around her tighter and shivering.

"You okay?" Max asked concerned.

"Just feeling sick again" Liz admitted.

"They still don't know what's wrong?" Max asked.

"Not really. They think it may a virus that I just can't seem to shake and just keeps flaring up occasionally. I'll get over it eventually." Liz shrugged her shoulders.

"Do you want me"

"No!" Liz said emphatically. "You're not God, Max. This is a human illness. I'm not dying so no reason to expose yourself. I will shake this eventually. I'm late for class. See you later Max." Liz started jogging down the hall to her next class.

A week went by and Max continued to follow Liz around, showing up expectedly at her locker, hanging out more at the Crashdown and occasionally popping by her balcony.

Max stopped at Liz's locker with Isabel in tow. "Liz, start coming to our training sessions, please. I know you haven't had a flare up in a week, but you should come and we can show you some techniques to see if there are powers developing or if it was a onetime alien related hiccup. Right, Iz." Max glares at Isabel.

"We're heading out to the desert right now. You should come with us." Isabel said with a forced smile.

Liz had been avoiding Max to make sure she didn't expose Max or come between him and Tess. Even though a part of her just wanted to keep Max for herself, she knew she couldn't be selfish and had to let him fulfill his destiny with Tess. It was the key to preventing the chain of events Future Max came back to stop. With Max and Isabel cornering she didn't think she had a choice but to go.

"Fine, let's go." Liz pulled her backpack from her locker.

A/N: Please review!