A/N: This is a VERY long chapter, so just a heads up. Thanks to Radiogirl, (happy to see you're still among the living!), and Jailyn, (your reveiw made me laugh. Here's a looong chapter, hope that keeps you happy!)

Any typos and errors are mine. I reworked this chapter several times, and I'm still not sure I like how it ended up. More comments on that at the end of the chapter...

R&R if you like it, hate it, or just are bored...

Chapter 26

Date and Location Unknown

Liz recovered from the reaction to her flashes first. She looked over at Max who was curled up in the bed in a fetal position. She could see his muscles twitching as he lay still with his eyes open, but unseeing. She walked over to him and pressed herself against his back curling her arms around him. "It's okay Max; I'm here. It'll be over soon." She whispered. A few minutes later, she felt him begin to relax. "How many flashes did you send yourself?" She asked worriedly as he stretched.

"I sent what we agreed on." Max said. Liz cocked her eyebrow. "And I sent a flash of our wedding too," he confessed. The corners of his mouth twitched into what might have been a smile.

Liz chuckled. "You really think that will help?"

"Hey I had to give myself some hope." He pulled Liz to him.

Liz laughed. "What? The flashes of the other wedding weren't enough?"

Max shook his head. "That one didn't happen," he reminded her. "I needed to know it really could happen."

"That one happened, just in a different timeline. As will this one if we succeed." Liz said quietly as she reached out and picked up the snapshot of their wedding from the nightstand. She traced the image of Max's face with her fingers.

Max placed his hand lightly on Liz's stomach. "You're right; but I hope to God that in the next timeline, our wedding doesn't take place in Vegas." Max said as he looked that the picture Liz held. "I want us to have a real wedding." He whispered conspiratorially against her soft hair.

Liz turned and looked into his amber eyes. She smiled broadly. "Vegas isn't that bad," she said jokingly. After a pause, she asked, "Do you think we'll get married again?"

Max pulled her to him firmly. "I've loved you since I first saw you. I'd have married you the second you came back to Roswell if I could have," he reassured her.

Liz felt the change suddenly. All of her memories were beginning to fade. She realized they'd changed the future. Then she felt Max's arms dissolve from around her. She looked up and he was gone. She clutched the picture she held tightly to her chest. "Me too," Liz said lovingly to the air hoping somehow Max could still hear her. A tear dropped from her cheek and onto the pillow as the air shimmered around her and she disappeared also.

Present Day Roswell

Liz and Maria arrived back in Roswell at noon the next day. Maria wasn't surprised when she saw Michael's dirt bike in the parking lot. She fixed an annoyed expression on her face as she opened the door and found him in the kitchen apparently making lunch. "What have I told you about breaking and entering?" She demanded as she dropped her overnight bag and swiped the plate of sandwiches away from him.

He looked at her blankly for a moment. "You weren't home, so what does it matter? I couldn't scare you." He twisted his mouth into a mocking smile when he saw her annoyance.

Maria rolled her eyes. "So you thought you could just come over and eat my food without my consent?"

"Actually I knew you two," Michael nodded at Liz, "would be home soon, and I thought I'd make you lunch." Liz snorted at his comment and held her hands up as she sat on the couch to show she wanted to avoid being pulled into the couple's argument.

"You knew we were coming? What are you a fortune teller now?" Maria enquired sarcastically as she took a bite of one of the sandwiches in her hands.

"Liz told me," Michael said.

Maria looked back and forth between Michael and Liz. "You talk to Michael's head now," Maria was stunned. "I knew you said that you could make connections with them, but I didn't realize you meant Michael. What goes on in his head? Or do I not want to know?" She babbled.

Michael rolled his eyes and headed back towards the kitchen to grab a soda. "You don't want to know," he muttered loud enough for the two girls to hear.

Liz looked around uncomfortably before she said, "yeah, Michael and I can form connections. Actually, he's the one who taught me how."

Maria frowned. "Is that what he's been so busy with lately?"

Liz nodded sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry."

"Stupid connections," she muttered. "So is everyone just talking behind my back now?" She pouted as she made her way to the couch, where Michael joined her a moment later.

Michael was saved from having to reply by a knock at the door. "It's probably Max and Isabel. I told them to meet us here." Liz explained as she shot Maria an apologetic smile. She went to open the door. Before she could reach it, the door swung open.

Liz and Maria both stared at the door and then at Michael's outstretched hand as he bellowed, "Come in."

Maria smacked him as she stood to greet the newcomers. "You'd think he lives here," Maria griped to Isabel as they walked in. Isabel smiled reservedly as she gave Maria a quick hug. "Hi Max." Maria said as she shut the door. Max didn't say anything. His eyes were focused on Liz.

"Hi guys," Liz quietly greeted everyone as they took up positions around the living room. Maria plopped down next to Liz and patted her hand encouragingly.

"So I guess we should tell them what you saw, huh?" Maria asked too brightly as she pushed her annoyance away.

Liz sighed and hugged a throw pillow to her chest. "Where's Kyle?"

"He was meeting with some old friends; we'll fill him in later." Isabel replied.

"You're sure it was a future flash?" Michael asked.

Liz nodded. "Yeah," she answered. "I think it'll probably happen within the next few days." She looked at her hands feeling as if the silence in the room would strangle her as Isabel and Michael looked at her expectantly. "Jeremy threatened to hurt Max if I didn't stop seeing him." She finally added.

"What do you mean by 'seeing'?" Isabel asked.

"He wants her to cut all ties with me," Max explained what Liz had told him when he'd called her yesterday.

Isabel looked sharply at her brother. "Is that the same flash you had yesterday?" She demanded.

"You had a flash, and you didn't tell us?" Michael exploded from his seat. He looked perilously close to blasting something at this revelation.

Max held up his hands and gestured for Michael to sit back down. Michael wavered a moment and finally resumed his seat. "Yes I had a flash. It was slightly different from Liz's but it seems to have some bearing on what she saw."

Maria cocked her head. "And you were planning on sharing this when?"

Max's mouth twitched as he began to show them what he'd seen by projecting his memory of the flashes. He was careful to leave out both wedding flashes. When he'd finished, everyone sat in silence for a few moments. "I can't ask you to continue to spy on him," Max addressed Liz. "If Jeremy really is working in the White Room, it could be too dangerous for you."

Liz shook her head. "I disagree. If he's working in the White Room, we need to know everything we can." Liz felt a wave of worry rise in her chest. She cleared her throat as she continued. "I think we have to accept the possibility that he knows about you. The only way we can protect ourselves is by going on the offensive. I'm doing this." She stated firmly, looking straight into his eyes.

Max felt the same pulling for a connection that he felt several days ago at the Crashdown when she looked at him. A part of him wanted to pull Liz into it and let her see exactly what he was feeling. His fear quickly squashed the impulse and he mentally put up another block as he met Liz's pleading eyes. He sighed deeply. "If you're determined to do this, promise me one thing." Liz nodded and waited to hear his terms. "You'll never be alone when you connect with him. Isabel, Michael or I have to be with you." Liz frowned. "There are dangers you know nothing about… Please." He pleaded.

"I don't know how practical that's going to be Max, but if you feel it's important, I'll try." Liz agreed.

Isabel frowned, remembering what dangers Max was talking about, though she wasn't sure Max had anything to worry about. From her work with Liz, she felt that the other girl was almost as skilled at forming connections as she was. Matter of fact she'd had more success connecting with Kyle and getting coherent images than Isabel had been. Isabel let out a soft chuckle as she remembered connecting to Kyle without anyone knowing several days before. She'd been so confused when she finally stopped the connection that it took her a half hour to compose herself. The result was she had been late to her first day working in her father's office. Isabel was sure that Liz would be fine considering how well she could handle Kyle.

Liz brought Isabel back from her reverie by suggesting she try to make a connection with Jeremy before she headed home. Liz studiously avoided looking at Max as she announced her plan. She had unconsciously been trying to connect with him. She realized what she was doing only when she felt herself hit a block that repelled her painfully; she paused mid sentence when she felt it. "What was I saying?" She asked. Maria reminded her and she finished declaring her plan.

Liz got up and poured herself a glass of water. She could hear everyone else talking but she was lost in her own thoughts. Liz hadn't expected Max to be happy when he found out that she could form connections. What she hadn't been expecting was how truly upset he was by the news. She couldn't understand why he reacted so strongly. When they had woken up a few nights ago sharing a connection he hadn't seemed to mind, but any other time the subject had come up he almost looked scared. What's bothering him so badly? She wondered as she tried to form a connection with him one last time. The wall was still there. She looked at him wryly from across the room.

Liz sat on the loveseat and listened to the conversation as it slowly dwindled to a halt. "I guess I'll just try to connect with him." She declared with slight trepidation as she looked from one face to another, each showed a variety of emotions from fear to excitement.

Isabel nodded. "We'll be right here if you need us."

"Thanks," Liz smiled as she slowly began to focus her mind. She caught a look of worry in Max's eyes. She winked at him as she began to search for Jeremy's thoughts. It was difficult to find him over such a long distance, and his thought patterns weren't completely familiar to her yet. When she finally found his mind, she congratulated herself on the achievement. She took a deep breath. Slowly, she entered his consciousness.

At first all she could make out was a vague impression of walls. Liz pushed harder and suddenly she knew where Jeremy was. It was the white room. "Rd-450 should be ready for testing next week. Until then, let's use the MR serum on the subject," she heard Jeremy order. Liz saw several flashes of rats and monkeys in cages being injected with some kind of fluid and then everything faded again.

Liz frowned. She'd never lost a connection before and she wasn't about to let it happen now. Again she tried to unobtrusively force her way into Jeremy's mind. She could hear him whistling and felt whiff of his emotions. He was in a good mood. Liz felt a bright flash of light. She realized he was no longer in the facility, but in the parking lot. She felt a wisp of his thoughts. He was excited to see her. The connection faltered a second time, and Liz felt herself fall back the couch, exhausted by her efforts.

"I told you she shouldn't have done this," Liz heard Max furtively whisper to Michael a few moments later.

"She's fine Maxwell, just give her a minute." The edge in Michael's voice betrayed his own concern.

Liz blinked her dry eyes that had been staring blankly at the ceiling. She slowly rotated her head. Three of her friends where crowded around her with looks of concern. Maria was noticeably absent. Liz's eyes roved the apartment and finally found the diminutive blonde leaning against the doorjamb of her bedroom sniffing a vial of something, obviously distressed. Liz pulled herself into a sitting position as Max slid next to her on the couch and helped prop her up. Liz's eyes rested on a funky clock Maria had placed on top of her TV. She'd been working on the connection for over an hour she realized.

"Are you okay?"

"What did you see?" Michael and Isabel asked simultaneously. Liz held up her hand for a moment as she reoriented herself.

"Max's flash is right." She declared in a distant voice. "It's the white room."

Twenty minutes later Liz stood. "I really should be going; Jeremy's going to be home soon."

Everyone exchanged worried glances. Maria spoke what was on the minds of the whole group. "Are you sure that's safe?"

"What's safe?" Liz asked as she took Maria's keys off the table.

"Going back to the house, I mean, Jeremy's there."

Liz looked disbelievingly at Maria. "I've been living with the guy for six months; I think I can handle it."

Maria came and stood next to Liz. "But that was before we knew this" Maria whispered as if afraid Jeremy could overhear them.

"And he has no idea that we know. I'll be fine." Liz stated as she headed for the door. "I'll be back later to return the car."

Maria nodded and shot her best friend a worried glance. "Call me," she commanded as Liz opened the door.

Max stood suddenly. "I'll walk you out to the car." He declared as he came up behind Liz. Liz waved goodbye to everyone else and headed down the stairs to the parking lot with Max beside her. They were silent until they reached the car.

Max noticed a white garment bag resting in the back seat of Maria's car as Liz unlocked the door. "Your dress?" he asked indicating the bag.

"Um yeah," Liz replied, startled. She had not expected that question.

"What does it look like?" Max asked. He was suddenly curious to know if what he'd seen in his flash was accurate.

"Well, it's white and strapless with lots of beading on the train. It's hard to describe." Liz smiled. "Maria thought I looked like a goddess in it, so I bought it."

Max smiled, remembering how she looked in his flash. "You did," he said unintentionally.

Liz's gaze searched Max's face. "How do you know that?"

Max leaned against the car. "I had several other flashes besides the one I told you about. One was of you wearing that dress." He looked straight into Liz's brown eyes.

Liz sucked in a quick breath before she blurted out "you saw the wedding?" Max nodded. "After seeing that flash, I never believed I'd actually marry him." She mused softly.

"You did," Max informed her. "You were too afraid of what would happen if you didn't."

Suddenly everything clicked into place. Liz could see her life spread before her like an open book. She married Jeremy to protect Max and the others. When he moved to Washington she went with him. She must have continued to spy on Jeremy so as to protect her friends. Max must have followed her to Virginia for some reason and Jeremy found out. It would explain all of her flashes. Her mouth formed an "oh" that never quite escaped her lips at the realization.

Max cleared his throat. "I had another flash of us getting married too."

"Again?" Liz asked absentmindedly as she tried to process all she was beginning to understand.

"No, this one was different," Max said with significance.

Liz refocused her eyes on Max, "different how?"

"It didn't look like we were in Vegas. But I said something about it being better than the Elvis Chapel so we might have been in Vegas…" He trailed off. After a beat he resumed saying, "Kyle was with us, and we all seemed… older somehow."

Liz shook her head with a frown. "I don't understand where that's coming from," she puzzled.

"That implies that we knew where the first one came from," Max joked. When Liz looked up, Max realized she knew something. "You know where the first flash came from?" he asked incredulously.

Liz nodded slowly. "It's a long story Max." She leaned up against the hot metal of the car. "And Jeremy's going to be home soon. I promise I'll explain what it means later."

Max looked back at Liz with a stubborn expression. "So tell him you got a late start," he commanded, blocking her door.

Liz shifted uncomfortably as she tried to figure out what the best way was to explain Future Max to him. She sighed as she decided to start with what he already knew. "Remember when you thought Kyle and I had slept together?"

Max remembered all too clearly. "You told me you didn't sleep with him though."

Liz let out a sharp breath that could have passed for a chuckle or a sob; Max was unsure which. "I didn't. But what I never got to explain to you is why you saw what you saw."

Max frowned. Liz's uncharacteristic actions during that time had often puzzled him. He still didn't understand how the flash of them getting married could be related and his brain was trying to come up with possible explanations, but he found none. "So what happened?" He inquired when Liz wasn't forthcoming with an explanation.

She ran her hands through her hair as she began. "The night you came and sang to me, I had a visitor who told me that fourteen years into the future the world was destroyed. He asked me to help him change what happened."

Max tensed, imagining the worst. "Who was he?"

"You," Liz breathed, "you came to me from the future. You needed me to help you change what happened in that timeline."

"What exactly happened Liz?" Max was genuinely perplexed.

Liz felt a bitter smile tug at her mouth. "We fell in love. The problem was Tess left town before the Skins arrived. Without her you couldn't defeat them and slowly they hunted you down and killed Michael and Isabel, and took over this world."

Max felt ill hearing Tess' name. "We would have been better off without her." He said resentfully.

"No you wouldn't have Max." Liz pleaded. "Isabel and Michael would be dead, and Kivar would have won. You, well the future you at least, couldn't let that happen." She paused because she knew was about to say sounded ridiculous. Still, she blundered on with her explanation. "To protect us all, he asked me to make you fall out of love with me."

Max flinched remembering the events that happened soon after that. "How would that have changed anything?" He asked in a pained voice.

"Tess left because of our relationship. So he wanted me to push you away and help you get close to her." Liz paused for a moment, lost in her thoughts. "We didn't know Tess was a traitor," Liz added.

"So when you came to talk to me that night, you knew all of this?" Liz nodded. "Why the hell didn't you say anything Liz?"

"He told me no one could know that he was there." She said desperately willing Max to understand why she had done what she had done.

"It was a set up," Max whispered.

"Yeah," Liz confirmed.

"What does all this have to do with the flash?" He asked absently, as his mind ran freely over the events of the past trying to piece together the final pieces of the puzzle.

"He told me we eloped and got married in the Elvis Chapel in Vegas when we were nineteen. I'm not completely sure, but I think what we've been seeing is that wedding."

Max chuckled softly, "Nineteen?"

"Nineteen."

"That would explain why I felt it happened in the past," Max mused.

"Yeah," Liz said softly as she reached out and touched his arm. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you Max, but I thought I was doing the right thing."

Max smiled lopsidedly. "Well I guess I can't complain when you saved the world."

Liz rolled her eyes self consciously. "I don't know about that."

Max gently lifted her chin. "I'm sorry you had to do that Liz." He paused, "and I'm sorry we never got our wedding."

Liz chuckled. "Maybe it just wasn't meant to be." She tried to downplay how disappointed she was. She turned and opened the car door and felt a blast of heat escape. "I really have to go Max," she said as she slid into the hot seat of the car.

"I know," Max knelt beside the open door and looked at Liz. "Promise me you'll be careful?"

Liz nodded but remained silent. Max touched her knee lightly for a moment and then rose. "If you have any problems, connect with Isabel and let her know." He stated as he shut her door.

"Okay," she said softly as she started the engine and drove out of the parking lot. Neither one of them noticed the jeep parked across the street start and follow Liz back to the Crashdown.

A/N 2: So several of you had mentioned Maria's reaction to finding out that Liz can connect with everyone. I added more to her reaction than I'd originally written. It's still not enough to show how she probably feels about EVERYTHING, but it's a start. I'll try to work some more stuff in, but as a lot of this story has alreadybeen typed, it's hard to insert changes without MAJOR, time consuming revisions that I don't have the time/energy for at the moment.

What did you guys think of Max finally finding out the real story of future Max? Was it everything you hoped for? I'm sure there's alot of people muttering "finally" at the moment but really, after keeping the secret for so long, I imagine it'd be hard to get the courage to say it. At least that's the premise I'm working on.

Now that I've given you a little insight into my head, give me some into yours: Reveiw!