Roswell- Back To Roswell



Back To Roswell
Author: Adrienne
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Roswell
Rating: PG
Category: everybody , mainly about Liz! Contest Challenge
Description: Isabel and her husband, Michael are going home to Roswell for X-Mas, to face Roswell 10 years after they left.
Part: 4

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PART 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MAXWELL: We're hungry!

MICHAEL: Doesn't this place have a restaurant?

ISABEL: No, sorry. With Christmas, every place was booked. Should we. . .?

MICHAEL: We had to go sometime.

ISABEL: [with a hint of sadness] All right kids, get your shoes on, we're going to a diner your dad and I used to go to almost every day after school. ::Takes a shaky breath and continues with a tremor in her voice:: We're going to the Crashdown.

::Scene opens on Guerin family walking into the Crashdown. The adults quickly enter, but the kids hang back.

It is completely redecorated. Just tables and chairs and a larger bar, all the booths are gone. . .Except for one. Max's booth. The one he always sat at for as long as any of them could remember. The rough upholstery on the seats looked brand new and the table didn't have a single scratch. And there was a big picture of the old gang above it, with Max standing in front of all of them. Protecting them, as always. The 5 all peeked around his broad shoulders, laughing into the camera. "Love you." was hastily scrawled in the wall below it.

There are a few Crash posters, but all of the murals of aliens as funny shaped green creatures that Isabel always found offensive were gone.

Liz was still working there, though in a much more flattering outfit; black slacks and a pale blue blouse with a tiny alien emblem on the front.

Liz looked great. A bit thin, but good. She seemed to have gotten a but curvier, or at least her existing curves became more pronounced over time. Her hair was cut short and showed off her lovely face.::

LIZ: [screaming] Oh, My God!! ::She ran and gave Isabel and Michael a hug:: You guys! I've missed you! I can't believe you're here!

MICHAEL: I should say the same, are you STILL working at the Crashdown?

LIZ: [smiling proudly] It's mine, now. My parents retired to Florida and they gave it to me. And it's doing better than ever.

ISABEL: Liz, you look fantastic! I've missed you too.

ALEXIS MARIA: [from doorway] Come ON, Max! It's ok!

LIZ: [Hopefully] Max?

MICHAEL: MaxWELL. ::Goes to get the kids::

LIZ: Oh. . .Sorry, it's just--

ISABEL: I know.

LIZ: I still expect him to walk through that door, you know? To sit and stare at me. ::giggles nervously:: God, I'm so pathetic. It's just the anni. . . ::Her lower lip trembled and she was afraid if she went on she would burst into tears in front of everybody::

::Michael reappeared with Alexis Maria riding on his shoulders and Maxwell holding his hand and following obediantly. At the sight of him Liz sucked in her breath::

LIZ: [whispering] Oh, my God.

ISABEL: I know.

LIZ: Michael, why don't you get the kids some food from the kitchen? Iz and I need a minute.

MICHAEL: OK. Let's move out, troops ::the kids squealed with delight, oblivious to the tension between the three adults. Michael wanted to be on the conversation, but he knew Isabel would fill him in, or he could connect with her later.::

ISABEL: How is everybody? I haven't talked to anybody in about 7 years.

LIZ: Yea, Christmas cards, photos. . .

ISABEL: Did you keep up with them?

LIZ: Yea, well, Maria anyway, she moved to Utah following that crazy husband of hers. They just had their fourth baby. She's gotten a lot quieter. We talk about once a month. But I think she's really happy.

ISABEL: And Alex?

LIZ: We haven't spoken much, since. . .Last I heard he was in New York City. He's a songwriter, you know. I get a Christmas card every year, and maybe 5 postcards since he left.

ISABEL: [as if assuring herself she was right] I knew he was a songwriter

LIZ: Yea? I thought you haven't spoken to him.

ISABEL: [quickly] I just assumed. He really wanted it. ::She never told anyone that one day she heard a country song on the radio called "Isabel". It was almost familiar and she realized it was her life. She knew that Alex had written it. For her::

LIZ: Then you two. . .

ISABEL: We get in touch when we can. ::She shrugged helplessly:: Sorry, Liz. We just couldn't take the town.

LIZ:: reassuringly half-hugs Isabel:: I know. Some days it gets too much for me. But the dreams haunted me everywhere, why not here?

LIZ: Your son. . .God, the school pictures don't do him justice.

ISABEL: It's the eyes. The expression.

LIZ: For a minute I felt. . .It's not important.

ISABEL: [trying to break the tension] Have you seen anyone lately? I mean, like, dating?

LIZ: [As if explaining to a child] No, no. No one was. . .After Max, I mean. . .

ISABEL: Is it just me, or do the holidays get harder every year?

LIZ: Well, it's not just you.

::Isabel grabbed Liz's hand. They were so tired of the constant grief, tired from the constant greif. Sorrow had taken it's toll on their bodies, their hearts. They wondered if it would ever go away, hoped it would, but they knew it wouldn't.::

LIZ: Do you think he knew?

ISABEL:: That was a familiar question to Isabel, they had all asked that many, many times.:: YES. ::She thought this was the first time she had said yes honestly::

::A few days later Isabel lay in bed, pretending to sleep while Michael sat in bed staring into the darkness. It had been an emotionally exhausting trip. For the first time in a long time she had stepped into her old house, and it was just as painful as she feared. But she hadn't been able to see Max's room.

Every move she made in her hometown reminded her of a time long ago, when she was whole, when her brother was there. She had no idea then, how much losing him would hurt. She still felt guilty. He had died for her, for all of them. He strongly believed in doing things for the greater good. But his death wasn't for the greater good. Why didn't he get that?

Light snores floated over to her from the other end of the hotel room. The soft sleeping sounds of her kids usually got her to put away her memories and fall into a deep, dreamless sleep, but tonight whenever she closed her eyes she had flashbacks to those last, desperate nights.::

-Flashback-

::Max, Isabel, Michael, Liz, Alex and Maria, dirty and tired crawl into the cave on the reservation and cower in the corner, huddled together::

ISABEL: [whispering] Do you think we're safe for the night?

MAX: We should be. I don't know why, but they've never found us in the cave,

MICHAEL: This running and hiding is pathetic, Maxwell. You were the King! Now a few bad-ass aliens come running after us and what always comes from your mouth? Hide. Run. Wuss out.

MAX: It's not just our lives on the line here, Michael. We have the others to think of. ::He puts a reassuring arm around Liz and gestures to Maria and Alex.:: We have to protect them.

LIZ: Max, we're here for you. We'll do what you need. Just tell us what to do!

::At those words of trust and the look in her eyes of love and loyalty, Max melted.::

MAX: Stay strong. It'll be OK. I will keep you safe. All of you. I swear.

::The couples held eacother, but they all stayed close, drawing streangth from eachother. They were 28 but much older from the past 5 years of fighting and running.

They were used to trouble and fear and hiding, as a war -a war humans never saw- raged on.

They had all been much more intimate than this, but sitting together, afraid, holding onto hope, it might have been as close as they had ever been.::

::"If only we knew what that promise meant!" Isabel thought, back in the present, snuggling against Michael, needing warmth.

No one really knew what happened after that. They were safe in the cave for a few nights. One night Max snuck out to get water and maybe food. The aliens caught him.

He learned that they only wanted him and if he gave himself up the others would be safe. They weren't concerned with the seconds. They only cared about the King and Queen and Tess had been captured years before. That was all he needed to hear.

He connected with the group long enough to tell them he was going and they were safe. And on December 25th and 1:43 in the morning he cut the connection.::

ISABEL: He didn't know we would have all died for his sake. He didn't know he was our soul. He didn't know. . .We needed him more than we needed ourselves.

::Michael rolled over and held her. Part of her was aware that he only held her. Passion didn't seem right. They were still like brother and sister. They had only had sex a few times and it wasn't out of love, it was out of need. Out of needing to be touched and reminded they weren't really alone.

She thought of all the people she missed; Max, Alex, Maria, Liz, her parents- who never knew the truth.

How many nights had she tried to connect with Max, hating him for not telling her what was happening? A tiny part of her hoped he was alive. Yet she knew if he was he would have gotten in touch long before.

She wanted to cry for someone else, too. As she held her husband that she didn't love she racked her brain for the person she was supposed to mourn. Who was it? Oh, right. . .Me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ EPILOGUE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

::Max sat up in bed tears streaming down his cheeks. Was it really only a dream? I felt so real! His heart still hurt from Isabel's pain, all their pain.

Could this be a vision of the future? Would he be able to change it, and keep his make-shift family together and safe? He didn't know what he would do without them, any of them.

Isabel was right, he loved the names she had given her children. And he was pleased that Liz never found a love better than him, though he knew both thoughts were selfish.

He loved Michael and Isabel for their streangth, for loving him no matter what; Alex and Maria for putting their lives in his hands time after time; and Liz. . .His heart tightened just thinking of her. She was his soul. He couldn't live without her, every day he was grateful that they had found eachother and she loved him.

He quickly connected with everyone just long enough to see that they were happy, dreaming of tomorrow, dreaming of Christmas. Well, dreaming of a few hours from now, he amended, looking at his clock, 1:43 shone brightly through the darkness of the night. Liz was dreaming of him, of their future together.

Would she ever get the future she dreamed of? He picked up the phone and punched in 7 familiar digits.::

LIZ: [sleepily] Hello?

MAX: Liz? It's me, Max.

LIZ: [suddenly more coherant] Max! What's up? Is anything wrong?

MAX:: God, he loved her voice, loved the affect it had on him:: No, love, I just had to hear your voice

LIZ: hmmm, well it's not great right now, low and thick cuz I'm tired.

MAX: No, it's perfect. Everything about you is ::He heard her smile through the phone line::

LIZ: Max, you know I love you, but I'm very tired, do you think we could talk about this later?

::There WOULD be a later Max reminded himself, he would make one::

MAX: About how perfect you are? Sure. ::He felt Liz smile again::

LIZ: And you're coming for Christmas dessert, right?

MAX: Of course.

LIZ: Good, get some sleep. Sweet Dreams.

MAX: Yea, Love you.

::Max hung up and he listened to the dial tone for a moment before gently hanging up the phone. He couldn't get back to sleep, but he would have sweet dreams. He crossed the room to his window and looked up at the sky, he would be forever having sweet dreams of Liz and himself, together, happy, safe.

No one knew what the future held, but he would make a good one, he would create a home for his friends, he would keep them safe. He loved them too much. it just had to work out. He realized that was a innocent childish thought, but didn't care.

He would "Keep Christmas in his heart and feel it all year long."

A few words jumped into his mind, he had never said them with feeling before. But the four words seemed more right than any ever had. They were a prayer. And he wanted to pray for his friends::

MAX: [whispering] "God bless us, everyone."



End

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