Irony
Chapter 11
Author: Margarita
Email: margarita782@hotmail.com
Category: Liz angst, slight M/L romance.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, Roswell and all of the characters from the show do not belong to me. "In the End" is by Linkin Park, and all lyrics belong to them.
Author's Note: The first part of this is taken directly from the episode "Harvest." All lyrics are in italics. Parts of this piece take place in the future; note the dates at the beginning of the chapters.
Spoilers: "The End of the World," "Harvest," "Max in the City."
Summary: Liz deals with the aftershocks of her promise to future Max.
Warning: Character death.
*You kept everything inside and even though I tried, it all fell apart.
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when
I tried so hard,
And got so far.
But in the end,
It doesn't even matter…*
June 2001, that night
I knocked on the Valenti's door and waited patiently for someone to answer it. A few minutes later, Kyle opened the door, gesturing for me to come inside but to be quiet. "Hey," I said.
He smiled. "Hey."
"How's Tess?"
"She's better. She's been asleep for about an hour. I'd wake her, but it's the first time she's slept all day."
"It's ok." I handed him a card and a box of candy. "It's from Maria and me. I didn't know what to get her, but I figured that chocolate was a safe bet. I mean, I know she's an alien, but she's a female one, so…" My voice trailed off and I looked down at my hands.
"Yeah." He paused for a moment and then sighed. "Liz. Um, not to be rude, but…what are you doing here?"
"To visit Tess, of course," I answered quickly. "Why else would I be here? She's hurt."
"Ok, did something change that I wasn't aware of? Because I kind of thought you two hated each other."
"Kyle, I—"
"Not that you shouldn't become friends, but…" He paused, and then ran a hand through his hair. "Max hasn't been here since he healed Tess this morning."
"Oh." There was an awkward silence and then I smiled at him. "Well, since she's asleep, why don't you call me when she wakes up? Maria and I can come over later, it's no problem."
"Yeah." He took my arm and led me to the couch. He sat down, pulling me down next to him. "Talk."
I stood up quickly. "Thanks, Kyle, but I should really go. We might wake Tess up, and she needs her rest." I turned to go but he blocked my path by placing his feet on the coffee table. I smiled nervously. "What do we have to talk about anyway?"
"Well, for starters, we could chat about the reason why Evans barged in here this morning like a real asshole and accused me of stealing 'his woman.'"
I sat down next to him on the couch. "Kyle, listen, I'm really sorry about that. Max was—"
"At your house. I know. He told me repeatedly." His face twisted. "I mean, Tess is lying on the floor half-conscious, and he's going on about how we had sex and how I should have resisted you, whatever the fuck that means."
I moaned, closing my eyes and leaning my head against the back of the couch. "It's a long story, but basically, I hinted that I wanted to have sex with you, not the other way around. And then he went into this rant about how he loved me…" I opened my eyes and turned to look at Kyle. "Again, I'm really sorry."
He sighed. "Look, Liz, I think I've been a good sport here. If you can't tell me why we pretended to have sex, fine. I'm not asking, and I won't give you away to Evans." He paused. "But the guy still loves you, Liz. Almost as much as you still love him." I looked away, and he continued. "Maybe you're just prolonging the inevitable here." I looked up when I heard a bell ring in the distance. "It's Tess," he said. "I'll be right back."
He got up and I rested my head on the back of the couch again. Maybe Kyle was right. This all seemed so pointless. I had done exactly what future Max had asked, and it hadn't prevented anything. Tess had still gotten hurt, and the Skins had still returned. It seemed as if everything I had done had been in vain. I also wanted very badly for Max and I to be a couple again. Kyle had been right – I did love him, and it was obvious that he loved me too, despite everything that had happened.
But at the same time, the other part of my brain argued, you can't very well risk the fate of the world just so that you and Max can be together. I sighed. That was true as well. Even so, Kyle's words kept echoing inside of my brain. "Maybe you're just prolonging the inevitable…" Part of me was sure that he was right. It seemed only a matter of time before Max and I gave into one another, and I was sick of fighting with him. I decided that I would find Max and apologize. I didn't want to be the cause of the destruction of the world, but that didn't mean that Max and I couldn't be friends.
I stood up slowly. Kyle still hadn't returned, and I needed to thank him. I walked in the direction of his room, pausing to knock when I saw that the door was closed. "Kyle?" I asked.
"Just a minute," came the muffled reply. A couple of seconds later, he opened the door just wide enough so that he could stick his head out. "Yeah?"
"Listen, thanks for everything, including the pep talk." I kissed him on the cheek.
He blushed. "No problem. Can you let yourself out? Tess needs my help."
"Yeah, sure," I said. "Is she ok?"
"Uh, yeah. She just needs some help reaching her lamp. Bye, Liz." He ducked back into the room and firmly shut the door. Shrugging, I let myself out of the house and got into my car, determined to find Max.
***
At the Evans' house, it took me almost twenty minutes to convince Isabel to tell me where Max was.
"Liz, go away."
"Isabel, please. I need to talk to him."
She laughed, and it sounded inherently evil. I shivered. "Right. Well I think, personally, that Max needs to talk to you about as much as he needs someone to slice his head open. I am not telling you where he is." She began to shut the door, but I shoved all of my weight against it.
"Please. I…need to apologize," I said finally.
"It's about time," she muttered. She sighed and then opened the door the rest of the way. "Fine. He's taking his shift at the chamber."
"Thank you so much, Is!" I said as I ran to my car. Isabel followed me, her face grim.
"You'd better not upset him, or I will hunt you down, Liz Parker! Do you hear me?"
But I was already gone.
