Intense


Disclaimer: I now state I do not own any of the people mentioned in this fan fic (though I'm welcome to offers Brendan and Jason!) This is purely for entertainment.

Rating: If you're old enough to watch the show you can read this.

Author's note: The End of The World tore everyone apart. Or did it?

Liz didn't think she could be more emotionally drained. Every part of her body ached. Even her heart. And that what was hurt most of all.
"I don't think I can do this." She told the man she had loved so much, she had told him too go back and change time to prevent the end of the world.
"You have to." Future Max sighed, handing her another tissue.
"Will you just shut up!" she yelled, suddenly consumed with anger. How dare he come to her and expect her to handle losing Max. Forever. That was the plan. She was supposed to sacrifice everything she had ever wanted. How dare he?
"I have to do the hardest thing I am ever going to have to do and you expect me to be all cheery and happy? It doesn't work that way! How do I know that I'm not ruining the others lives by doing this?"
"Liz. You won't be. They'll all die. Maria. Alex. Kyle. Michael. Isabel. Do you want that?" he commanded.
"Of course I don't. But you don't understand. What I have to do…it could ruin EVERYTHING. What if Maria suffers even more? Or Alex dies sooner because of what I do? I'll never know…they'll never know what our lives could have been like."
She buried her head in her hands. It was too much.
"I…I can show you."
Her head snapped back up.
"What?"
"I can show you. I can show you what life was like for us."
Nodding mutely, she felt him take her hand before flashes ran through her mind.

Standing in a large, modern kitchen she could see herself. She was taking a something out of the microwave.
Her hair was shorter, a blunt cut and her pants were tighter. Like, so tight she guessed she had to be poured into them.
Soon she could see what it was she was pouring from one container to another. Popcorn.
Her future self picked up the bowl and 3 bottles of tabasco sauce.
Walking into a living room stuffed full with pictures and other trinkets, she saw herself sit next to Max on one of two sofas in the small room.
The bowl was placed in the middle of the table.
"Can you get me some?" A familiar voice asked.
Liz spun around to see her best friend leaning against Michael's chest, her hair longer than it was in present day Roswell.
But that wasn't the biggest surprise. Maria was huge. Not fat huge but extremely late pregnancy huge.
Michael leaned over and took a big handful before resuming his position and feeding Maria the kernels one at a time.
"You forgot the-" she began.
"I know." Michael leaned forward again and grabbed a salt shaker and one of the tabasco bottles.
Handing them to her he smiled and rested his hand on her stomach.
She grinned back as she piled on the spicy sauce and sprinkled the salt over the remaining corn.
She snuggled further into his arms and he kissed the top of her head softly.
Liz almost cried until she felt someone behind her.
"They were the really happy ones. They were so in love and…their little girl, she was adorable. They called her Isabel Rosa. They would have called her Elizabeth but-" Future Max said softly.
He was interrupted by a little girl with long dark blonde hair who ran through the living room and leapt into Alex's arms.
"Daddy!" she yelled, kissing his cheek.
Isabel, who was sitting on the arm of the chair smiled at her daughter.
"That's Lizzie now. She took after you. Mostly because you looked after her when she was really little. Isabel was always fighting with us and Alex was busy using his techno skills to make bombs."
Liz looked horrified.
"We had to. It was them or us. They already…tried to kill you and Maria. They kidnapped you. It made me and Michael realise that we couldn't risk losing you again. So Maria moved in with Michael after Graduation and you slept at my house 4 nights of the week. Your parents thought you were staying with Isabel…but you were with me. We got married, then Michael and Maria, then Isabel and Alex. Kyle moved away. He and Laurie bonded when she came to visit Michael in Roswell…hang on you don't know her yet. Well she finds the secret. When she left for Arizona he went with her. But they still help out."
Liz looked wistfully at her friends. Maria and Michael were more focused on each other than they were on the movie playing in the background. Isabel had moved and was now sitting on Alex's lap with Lizzie sitting at their feet.
She looked at herself and Max. She'd tried not to but something wouldn't let her not.
This time a sob did escape her. She was leaning on Max and he had his arms around her. Their hands were linked and she saw him fiddling with her wedding ring.
"Get me out of here!" She cried, taking one last look at all the happy couples. Isabel, Alex and Lizzie. Michael, Maria and her bump. And herself and Max. She closed her eyes realising that that was the last time she would probably ever see them happy together again.

When she opened her eyes she found herself back on her balcony.
"Oh god."
"You have to do it Liz. Lizzie? A house collapsed on her. She died almost instantly. Alex was shot. Isabel committed suicide. Kyle was pushed of a bridge while he was helping wire it up. Laurie came back to us and looked after the children. She was killed with Lizzie. They'd been trying to shield Is. Maria was killed in her bed. When Michael woke up, he found her lying next to him. She was almost dead. She told him she loved him and…she died. Both of us tried to heal her. Even you tried. But it was too late. Michael was devastated. The only thing that kept him sane was you and Is. You spent a lot of time with him. Where Maria used to tend his wounds you did it. He cried on your shoulder when I…wasn't enough. Then Is…she contracted this disease. The Skins brought it with them. She was 2 years old when she died. Then you couldn't do anything for him. He slipped further and further away before he went on a kamikaze mission to destroy as many skins as possible. That's when we found him. Then I came here…"
"OK. I WILL do it. Let me just get some sleep."
She padded softly into her bedroom and lay on the bed, closing her eyes and dreaming of a world that would never be.