Part Twelve
Michael had stationed himself outside the Valenti residence at 10 am and had been watching the building since then. He'd already seen Valenti and Kyle driving off about 10.30, discussing how many fish they were going to catch down at the river today. Now he was just waiting for Tess to leave.
He glanced down at his watch for what must have been the twentieth time today. 1:14 pm. Surely Tess would have somewhere to go soon, she couldn't stay at home all day; it was the weekend, for God's sake!
It was another half an hour before Michael could finally get on with finding what he came for. Tess finally exited the house and got into her white jeep. She was talking on her cell phone, to Isabel, it seemed. They appeared to be arranging to go shopping at the mall.
Good. That meant he would have enough time to go through her room and he'd heard Kyle talking once about the fishing trips he and his father took together; they'd be lucky if they made it home before dark.
He waited until Tess had gone down the road and round the corner before he made his move. He crept round to the back, where he knew Kyle's room (well, Tess' room now) was. He made his way carefully to the bedroom window and used his powers to open it silently.
Once inside the room, he wasted no time in beginning his search for something, anything that might clue him in on Tess' true intentions.
After a good hour of rummaging through drawers and cupboards, Michael had discovered absolutely nothing and as much as he didn't want to, he was just about ready to concede that perhaps Max had been right after all.
But something suddenly caught his eye. There on the floor, concealed within a pile of girly magazines that he hadn't thought were worth going through, was a thin, dark blue, leather-bound book. Bending down to retrieve it, Michael suddenly realised what it was.
A journal.
As he cautiously opened it to the first page, he realised something else.
It didn't belong to Tess Harding.
Liz spent the entire car ride back to Roswell from Las Cruces staring out of the window. But she wasn't paying any attention to the passing scenery; her mind was too focused on how she was going to continue working with Max without revealing Future Max's identity to him. She could tell that Max had barely bought her explanation last night and of course he would want, no need to know what she'd been holding back from him, hell, if she'd been in his shoes last night, she would have flat out insisted that her tell her the truth and would not have backed down until she got it.
Liz knew that sooner or later he would come knocking on her door, demanding answers. The problem was, she didn't know if she would be ready to give them.
It was dark when the Parker's finally pulled up at the Crashdown. Despite everything, Liz had actually had a good day; it had been fun spending time with her cousins and, as they were leaving her aunt's house, she realised that she'd barely had time to think about Max, or anything else all day. However, once she'd gotten into her parents' car and they drove away, it all came flooding back to her.
It was still early when they got home, but the minute they arrived, Liz locked herself away in her room, giving her parents the excuse that she had a ton of homework to finish by the morning, when in actual fact, it had been complete since Friday.
Out on her balcony, Liz lay back on the chaise longue and gazed up at the stars. She usually found that observing the universe relaxed and calmed her and enabled her to think. Tonight however, she just couldn't seem to focus. On top of worrying how the hell she was going to deal with Max the next time he saw him, there was also this nagging feeling about the files they had discovered the day before. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was preventing her from believing that this was all a mistake, that Alex hadn't really known what he was doing when he created that document about her.
She didn't know how long she had been lying there with her face turned towards the stars, when the sudden noise startled her. She promptly sat up, her hand flying up to cover her heart. She'd gotten so used to the quiet of the balcony that the unexpected sound of something hitting metal almost scared the life out of her. Her heart was beating fast and she had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself.
It sounded like the disturbance had come from the alley below the balcony. She was just about to get up and go check it out when the source of the noise appeared at the top of her ladder.
She let out a sigh of relief. "Max!" she exclaimed. "You scared me to death! What are you doing here?"
He didn't say anything at first, just stared at her, his gaze unnerving; but then he swiftly clambered over the wall and landed on the solid ground a few feet from her. At the same time, Liz swung her legs off the chair and stood up, intending to greet him.
She didn't get a chance to say anything however, because barely a second later Max had crossed the small space between them, coming to stand right in front of her. She stood there dumbly, watching as his face moved closer to her. She gasped when he leant down and captured her lips with his.
For a second she was so stunned that she could only stand there, her arms at her side while he tenderly caressed and nipped at her mouth. But then realisation set in.
Max was here and he was kissing her and it was everything she'd dreamed about for the last few months.
Suddenly she couldn't hold back any longer and, as her arms came up to loop around his neck, holding him to her tightly, she responded to him eagerly. Her head was spinning and the feel of Max's hand moving in small circles over her lower back as the other moved up to cup her neck, caused tingles to shoot all through her body.
This was heaven and although she and Max weren't sharing flashes along with their kisses, Liz found herself overwhelmed with the sensations of love and awe radiating from him, which were coming through in his gentle caresses.
God, could it really be true? Was it possible that Max still had feelings for her, still loved her?
When he'd begun climbing the ladder to Liz's balcony behind the Crashdown just a few minutes ago, Max had certainly not intended to just go to her without a word and attack her like he had just done barely five minutes ago. But, when he'd reached the top of the ladder, the sight of her sat there on the chaise longue, coupled with the memory of what Maria had revealed to him that afternoon simply mesmerised him.
All he could think about was how brave she'd been through all of this. Moreover, how much it must have hurt her to know that they could have been together but, because of something that he'd asked her to do, she'd had to give that possibility up forever; for his safety, for the safety of Michael and Isabel and Tess and the entire world.
And at that moment, his heart had swelled with so much love for her that he could do only one thing: take her in his arms and show her exactly how much he still loved her. For the first few seconds after his lips touched hers, he wondered if he had just made the biggest mistake of his life. Here he was, pouring his heart and soul into this kiss and Liz was just standing there, completely still, barely moving a muscle.
However, when he decided it would be best if he just pulled away and apologised profusely for his actions, he felt Liz begin to respond. His heart soared as her arms wrapped around his neck to pull him close to her and he finally felt her lips move against his, her mouth parting slightly to let him in. He mustered up enough courage then, to bring his hand up to support her neck, his fingers delicately caressing the soft, warm skin of the back of her neck and tangling in her silky hair.
A small moan escaped from her lips into his at the movements of his hands and it was then that he finally realised that this was meant to be, that now he had tasted her one more time, he wouldn't be able to continue on with his life as he had done these past few months: without her.
With that thought in mind, he reluctantly pulled away from her, detaching his lips from hers. He opened his eyes to gaze down at her, only to find that she was already staring up at him, both surprise and awe evident in her expression.
"Max…?" Liz questioned breathlessly. Her mind was in a state of confusion. What had suddenly possessed him to kiss her out of the blue like that? Not that she minded, of course, but considering the state of their 'relationship' of late, his actions were completely unexpected.
"I just…I…" Max could barely form a coherent thought. This what happens when I'm around her! He mentally shook his head to clear it of the haziness that he was now feeling. "Sorry, I just couldn't help myself," he admitted shyly. "It's just…I saw you standing there and everything fell into place; it just felt like the right thing to do and… I'm sorry," he finished helplessly.
Liz smiled at his babbling. "Why do I get the feeling that there's something you're not telling me?"
"You're right," he agreed and then gestured to the seat behind them "Why don't we sit down?"
Liz nodded and took a seat at the head of the chaise, allowing enough room for Max to settle on the end and face her. They sat in silence for a few moments before Max spoke.
"I spoke to Maria today," he said softly.
It took Liz a minute to read between the lines of his statement, but then the meaning of his words hit her.
"Oh," she replied, not knowing what else she could say.
From her expression, Max knew that she understood what that meant, but he clarified it anyway. "She told me what really happened; what you had to go through; what you did for me, for all of us," he emphasised.
He could see her face fall; the implications of the fact that he now knew the truth and that she'd been lying to him all this time.
"Liz," he said, gently lifting her chin so she could look at him, "I'm not angry with you. Well, okay that's not entirely true; at first I was little angry that you felt you couldn't come to me about this, but I'm not now. If anything, I'm proud of you," he stated, an admiring glint in his eyes.
At her look of wonder and disbelief at his words, he attempted to explain. "Liz, you gave up your hopes and dreams, your future, our future, to save me and Michael and Isabel and even Tess. You put us first, above your own happiness and that just proves to me what a wonderful, incredible person you are. I'm not sure I would have been strong enough to give you up if the situation was reversed."
Liz gazed at him in wonder, as tears threatened to roll down her cheeks. "Max, I…"
Whatever she'd been about to say was cut off as Max reached up and tenderly brushed away the few stray tears that had now escaped from her eyes. She couldn't believe that it was all out in the open, that he finally knew the truth. Right at this moment, she was so happy. She just wanted to bask in the warmth she could feel coming from Max and forget about the fact that him knowing the truth still didn't mean they could be together now.
Fortunately, she didn't have a chance to dwell on that thought as Max uttered a single sentence that brought her mind straight back to the present.
"So, Maria told me that we got married in that other future…?" it came out as a question, although he already knew it was true.
"Yeah," she said wistfully. "We eloped."
Max practically did a double take. "We eloped?"
She nodded, "When we were nineteen," she confirmed.
"Nineteen…" he echoed. "Wow."
"We went to Vegas, to the Elvis Chapel," continued Liz.
"The Elvis…" Max repeated again. "Wait! The other week, when we were there…and I had that strange flash of us…like we were getting married in Vegas…" he left the sentence hanging, but Liz understood and nodded.
"It really happened, Max. At least, it did in his life."
"Wow…" he said again. "And we were together, we were married…until –"
"The end of the world," she confirmed.
A brief look of apprehension crossed his face. "Happily, I hope," he asked cautiously.
"Yes, happily. We were happy, Max"
"God, how did he manage to give that up?" he wondered.
"I don't think it was easy for him," said Liz. "But he had to. Isabel had died a few days earlier and he told me that right before he left, he held Michael in his arms. He was dead too," she confessed. "I think we were the only ones left, Max."
Max was beginning to understand the severity of the whole situation and why Liz kept it to herself all this time; she couldn't risk the same thing happening again. But maybe since the two of them hadn't got back together that night and Tess hadn't left town, the future had been changed enough that the end of the world would not occur. He would make sure that Tess did not leave Roswell, that the four-square remained intact and that they would be prepared for any possible attacks by their enemies.
He decided there and then, that it was time for a new start. He was not going to let Liz go again; he didn't think he could handle being without her any longer and this time it would be forever, he would make sure of it.
"Liz, I think I understand a little better now why you kept all of this to yourself for this long and why you had to give me up, but you know what? I can't do this any longer." A look of hurt appeared on her face and Max was quick to clarify his statement. "I mean, I can't go on being just friends with you, Liz. I need more."
"But, Tess…and the future…we can't be together, Max. No matter how much we might want it," she protested.
"Do you really think it still matters, Liz? We didn't make love that night of the concert; Tess didn't leave town; we already know about the future threat. I think the future's been changed enough now that it won't happen again, don't you?"
Liz didn't want to believe it could be that simple. She shook her head, "We don't know that, Max."
"No, the end of the world is not going to happen. I won't let it," he said determinedly, while grasping her hands in his. "Have faith in me; in us. Please, Liz…" he begged.
The combination of the lost little boy expression on his face and the determination clearly evident in his words melted the last wall around Liz's heart. Her gaze softened and she found herself nodding.
"Okay," she whispered, so softly that Max only just caught it. But when he did, a huge grin quickly spread across his face and he pulled her into a hug.
"Thank you," he whispered into the side of her neck. "I promise you won't regret this," he swore as he held her tight.
Liz held him to her in silence for several minutes before she pulled back to look into his eyes.
"So, we're really gonna do this? We're back together again?" She just wanted to be sure.
"Yes, we're back together," he smiled and nodded. "And now that we've got that out of the way, can I kiss you?" he asked.
Liz let slip a small giggle. "I thought you already had!"
"Well, okay I have, but we weren't actually together then," he teased.
"Oh, well in that case, go right ahead," she grinned.
Max closed his eyes as he lowered his head towards her once again; ready to savour the sweet taste of her lips and the faint scent of her fragrant perfume. Their lips were just a hair's breadth apart, when they were interrupted by the unusually loud sound of his cell phone. He let out a frustrated sigh and opened his eyes, but made now move to answer it.
"Don't you think maybe you should answer it, Max?" came Liz's amused voice, seemingly out of nowhere.
With a defeated nod, he reluctantly pulled away from her and reached into his pocket to retrieve the phone.
"Yes?" he spoke into it harshly, quickly regretting his impatient tone when he heard the person on the other end.
"Where are you? I've been looking for you all night!" there was urgency in Michael's voice. "I just got back from Tess'. Maxwell, we've got a problem."
TBC…