Enemy on the Inside

by

Princess McPhee


Disclaimer: Not mine. Jason Katims. The WB. UPN. All not me, so I guess they're not mine.

Author's Note: This is cliche. I admit it. Hurt/comfort stories are really done much too often. But a good H/C story is the only thing that can make me cry, and I like to write them, as well. Please give it a chance.

Setting: AU-post 'Departure'. Alex is alive, Tess is gone, there is no kid. Michael and Maria as they were, Max and Liz together again, Alex and Isabel, too. Isabel and Kyle's (platonic!) relationship occurred as it did on the show.

Summary: Max's life is threatened by an illness that no one thought would claim the health of the King. What can a helpless group of teenagers do against an enemy that strikes from the inside?

Rating: By chapter


CHAPTER SIX--PG

The next few days flew by in a flash. Max grew weaker, to the point where he could barely move his body, as the oxygen flow decreased more and more. His pulse was fast and erratic, and his exhausted sister could often be found by his side, breathing hard and unable to move after re-energizing her brother.

Liz hovered worriedly over Max's bed, trying to be strong but often lacking the ability to stop the tears. She and Isabel rarely left the room, and at night, curled up, one on each side of Max. Liz's most constant source of anxiety was the fact that she was so utterly helpless, and not surprisingly, Isabel identified. Often, the two of them could be found in each other's arms after a particularly hard day, too.

Max now completely lacked the oxygen required to stop breathing ever, even for the short period of time that was required to eat. Isabel's strength was only enough to keep him oxygenated for one feeding a day, and Liz felt terrible, but there was really nothing that could be done.

They all knew that they day was coming. The day when it would be time to call all of their friends to the dying teenager's bedside. Isabel desperately wanted to call their parents, too, but Liz protested. With Max dying, some part of her felt that, strangely enough, the responsibility for keeping Isabel safe from herself was now Liz's. Max didn't have the strength to speak, to intervene.

Though they put it off as long as possible, one day, that dreaded day arrived.

********

Isabel was gone when Liz awoke. Max was too weak for them to sleep with him anymore, and they refused, anyway, for fear that they might accidentally cut off his airflow for those fatal few seconds. Unable to sleep without a body close to them, however, they had ended up in Isabel's larger bed, wrapped around each other instead of their mutual beloved.

Liz rose slowly, dreading every minute of the day, yet rejoicing for them, too. Dreading it because every second that passed was a second that Max didn't have left, yet rejoicing because every second that Max stayed alive was a second that she could be with him. She pulled on a robe, yawned, and slipped her feet into thick, wooly socks to keep them warm.

Isabel entered the room abruptly, moving quickly until the door was flung from the frame, then freezing like a barrier had stopped her. Her face was pale and wan, and defeat shown in her eyes, for the first time since Liz had known her. She didn't have to speak, Liz knew before she opened her mouth, but she uttered those painful words anyway.

"It's time, Liz. Max won't be with us much longer."

********

Their call had been greeted with fear and defeat, sadness and depression, anger at the world, and tears for their friend, joy at hearing from Liz and Isabel, and a deep, powerful ache at knowing this would be the last time they would see their alien leader. Alex's tone was somber as he answered Michael's phone, his mood fell even farther when Isabel delivered the news that he had known was coming.

Even Maria's usually infallible perkiness took a break when they got the call. Michael's mask-like appearance hardened even farther than usual, and Maria curled her somber form into his chest as he acknowledged that they would be there as quickly as possible.

In Max's room, Liz's tears fell fast over his still form. His breathing was labored and his pulse was much too fast, his skin blue, but there was still life in his eyes, and perhaps that was what made it so hard for her. As long as there was something of him, still clinging to this corporeal existence, Liz's heart would ache for Max.

When that spark was gone, perhaps her heart would only ache for herself.

Max had long since been unable to speak, but now his eyes beckoned desperately, and Liz placed her hand in his palm, knowing that he wanted to communicate with her the only way he knew how: through the flashes.

Closing her eyes, Liz waited as the familiar dizzying sensation overcame her, then concentrated as she started to see the pictures. The theme was constant: It was his mother and father.

When the flashes ended, Liz slowly oriented herself, and looked down at her beloved. "You want them here," She whispered, more of a statement than the question it proposed to be. Max's nod was the slightest of movements, usually something that would have been missed, but Liz saw. Looking deep into his eyes, she knew that telling his parents would result in having to disclose her friends' alien heritage, but she knew she could never deny Max anything, especially now, when he would have no other chances to right a life-long lie.

Slowly, Liz nodded back to the ailing teenager. "Okay," She whispered, slightly louder.

"Okay."

Then she left the room.

********

Hours later, right before their friends arrived, Liz and Isabel held each other tightly, squeezing Max's hands. The petite brunette's cheek were shiny with an endless stream of tears, Isabel's had distinct tracks from the few, emotion-packed droplets of salt water. "Hold on, Max," the smaller girl whispered. "They'll be here soon."

From the doorway, Michael's deep, somewhat choked up tone responded unexpectedly. "They're here, Max."

Filing into the room were Kyle, Alex, Michael and Maria, followed closely by Laurie. She didn't know Max, but was definitely part of the same somber mood that engulfed the rest of the group. She couldn't help it even if she had wanted to, the fog that spread the mood was invasive, could not be escaped. Standing in the corner of the room, she watched as Max's friends surrounded his deathbed.

No one said much, simply stood there. Michael and Alex each put a hand on Max's shoulder, Maria placed her delicate hand on his collarbone, using the other to stroke his hair, her eyes shining with despair. Kyle stood and watched, but all could see the uneasiness printed clearly on his face. He couldn't pretend indifference here, at the end, it seemed.

The calm of the seven friends mourning what would never again be was broken by the arrival of Phillip and Diane Evans. Tires screeching, their car peeled into the driveway, and they came bounding up the steps, having come quickly to Liz's plea. As she had requested, there was no one else with them, and worry creased every inch of their faces as they followed Laurie's maid with hurried steps.

Entering the room, Diane gasped, and Phillip wrapped his arms around his wife quickly. "What is going on?" He demanded.

Liz looked up at Isabel, who stepped silently from the group. Everyone, even the nearly-comatose Max watched as the elder of the Evans siblings stepped up to their earth parents.

Isabel spoke little, and didn't attempt to cushion the impact of her blow. Pulling a bottle from the shelf with her powers almost casually, she stood in front of their flabbergasted faces. "We're not human," She told them. "Me, Max and Michael." Melting the bottle with a second thought, she held up the changing glass for her parents to watch, and reshaped it into a large prism.

Continuing while they were still silent with shock, Isabel gestured towards the bed. "Max is dying," She told them, and Liz could see the shock and anguish flare in the older couple's eyes. "Nothing can be done. We never would have told you, but it was his last wish." Placing the prism on the shelf once more, Isabel quietly returned to her place by her brother's side. Liz's arms welcomed her once more, and the smaller girl gently wiped the tears off of the blond's face.

Diane Evans, regaining her voice, began to protest. "My God! Are you people insane? Max should be in a hospital, not some rich girl's bed! What's wrong with him anyway?"

Liz raised her head to the irate couple, and spoke softly, confident with Isabel and the rest of their friends by her side. "He has end-stage cancer," She said. "He can't go to the hospital. If anyone ever found out..."

"What?" Phillip Evans demanded. "Why the hell can't my son be in a hospital?"

Alex spoke now, moving in front of Isabel before doing so. "I saw Max after the government got a hold of him. I won't let that happen to Isabel, or Michael, or any of my friends." He stood a little straighter. "None of us will."

"The government? What do you mean?"

Maria's tone was bitter. "He was tortured, Mrs. Evans."

Diane shook her head. "No. I don't believe it. You're all delusional, or something!"

Isabel looked across the bed at Michael, who nodded. Together, eerily in sync with one another, they moved away from the bed, until they each stood before one of the Evans adults. Placing her hand on her mother's shoulder, Isabel waited until Michael followed suit.

Moments later, the adults stumbled back, their eyes wide with disbelief. "No," Diane still whispered, but Isabel nodded her head, and the defeat in the elder Evans woman's gaze showed that she finally believed her daughter. "I can't believe this."

From the bed came a choked sound, and Isabel and Michael broke away, rushing back to Max's side. In shock, the adults followed more slowly. "Max!" Liz called to him. "Max!"

After a long second, Max regained control of his breathing, and opened his eyes. Liz smiled down at him, sadness showing clearly in her eyes. "I love you, Max," She whispered, and leaned down to kiss his forehead, leaving a tiny, slick mark from her lipgloss.

Isabel nodded to her brother, squeezing his hand. Dragging her hand from his grip, she stroked his hair back from his face. "I love you, too, Max."

Going around the bed, everyone had a chance to say their goodbyes. Kyle's was short and to the point, as was Michael's, Maria's eyes teared as she cried her farewell, and Alex saluted the fact that you didn't have to be human to be a great person. Max smiled weakly up at all of them, moving his gaze from one set of eyes to the next, all the way around the room.

Max and Isabel's parents still stood, dumbfounded, by the end of the bed. Max smiled at them, and a small sound, like a gentle sigh, uttered from his lips before his eyes closed quietly, and his body went completely limp.

Diane Evans suddenly realized what was going on, and rushed to her son's side. "Max!"

She grabbed his hand, and shook his shoulder a little. "Max!"

Breaking down when she realized there was no response, she collapsed over her son's chest, crying, as her still stone-faced husband only uttered one word: His son's name.

*********

Weeks later, back in Roswell, the serious mood of Max's passing still encompassed his friends and family. Their every movement was heavy with the silence of Max's existence, and without his ever constant presence over their shoulder, they often felt like they were missing something.

Which, of course, they were.

Max had never been a large presence in the world, at least not to the human population. Not many people at school thought they knew him, and most of those who claimed to, really only knew of him. His circle of friends was pretty much made of the seven who had been at his bedside when he died. Nonetheless, they had had to make arrangements regarding what was to be said about his death.

Deciding that using the 'car accident' excuse twice in a year, in the same small group of kids wouldn't fly, they had chosen to publicly announce Max's death as a freak shooting while on vacation in New York.

It took a while for the touchy subject of guarding Max's body from experimentation even after his death to come up, but it was certainly unavoidable. Eventually, after much struggle, the Evans' agreed to place the matter in Isabel's hands as to what to do with her brother's body. They insisted on having a memorial, however, and a mock burial, if not a true one.

At the moment of Max's death, in shock, Liz had momentarily wondered why the alien king hadn't crumpled to dust as Nasedo had, but then remembered that Max and his friends were human. At least, many times more human than their 'protector' had been.

Everyone dealt with Max's death in their own way, Liz observed as she watched them implacably. The six remaining teenagers, Max's parents, and former-sheriff Valenti were gathered in a single pew, mostly alone, as the rest of the mourners were long-since gone, and Liz had a perfect, and first, chance to observe them.

Her eyes starting at the left-most side of the pew, Liz's eye fell on one of the two adult males in the group. Max's father continually alternated between pensive thought, probably on the 'my-children-are-aliens' matter, and stoic silence. A tear had slipped down his face during the eulogy, which had been delivered, much against her father's will, by Liz, but no further sadness had made an appearance.

Between Phillip and Diane sat Isabel, who had cried softly through the entire funeral, and didn't show any signs of stopping now. Her shoulders shook every once in a while, but for the most part, she was silent and still. She seemed to take no notice of her surroundings visually, responding only to people's voices, rather than their presences.

The tall blond alien's mother held two soaked handkerchiefs in one hand, and dabbed at her daughter's eyes with the soaked handkerchief in the other. She didn't cry constantly, like Isabel, instead, seeming only to start the waterworks when something particularly reminded her of her dead son. Still, her face was streaked with the little makeup she had put on, and the collar of her dress was wet with tears.

There was space between Diane Evans and Jim Valenti. Amy Deluca had been sitting there, but had left when she had recognized the comradery between these nine people. Now, the former sheriff's arm over his son's shoulder was the only sign of any affection or support in that section of the pew. Both were fairly dry-eyed, though they gleamed suspiciously bright, and nothing had been said between them the entire last few hours.

On Kyle's right was Alex. Crying unashamedly throughout the entire ceremony, Alex's arm over Liz's shoulder was distinctly more emotionally conveying than Jim Valenti's similar move to his son. Liz wished she could appreciate the affection Alex was trying to share with her, but at the moment, the only thing she felt was numb.

On Liz's right was Maria, who had bawled the entire time. Loud, heaving sobs wracking her chest even now, she was snuggled up against Michael, who looked like he would rather be anywhere than where he was, but nonetheless, was making a valiant effort, for Maria.

It was a beautiful day, Liz noted, but doubted that anyone would remember it as anything but dark and dreary. That was sort of the common theme when you were remembering someone recently dead. The pews that they sat in had been lovingly carted from some old warehouse, somewhere, Liz wasn't sure how they'd gotten there, but they were here, so did it really matter? They were fully finished and just as solid as the ones in any ordinary church, though being set up on the grass was sure to take its toll, Liz supposed.

Settled in neat, orderly rows, the ten or eleven pews had been carefully placed on the grassy hills outside the local telescope, a location Maria had suggested. Max had loved this place, Liz remembered. Tess had brought him here the first time, which was definitely a point off, but he had come back, often with her, because he couldn't get enough of the idea that perhaps, just maybe, he could see the star of his world, the star of Antar, through that very lens.

Max's parents had wanted their memorial service in a church, done 'properly' they insisted. But Isabel, normally a passionate person, only grew more so in her anguish, and doggedly pursued her parents, telling them that Max had never believed in God, he had believed in the world, in the earth, the sky, the beauty of Mother Earth. And for that reason, and so many more, he would have wanted to be remembered with the sun shining and the grass growing under their feet and life all around them. Finally, she had won out.

Now, the group was slowly mobilizing, wandering off with one another, a few at a time, until Liz was the only one left in the pews. Maria glanced back, Liz could see out of the corner of her vision, but Alex waved her off, coming slowly towards the pew himself. Liz didn't react, only waited.

Settling in by her side, Alex didn't make any effort to say anything for a long moment. Then, he only pulled Liz into his arms and whispered empty platitudes. Liz, her mind still very much numb, didn't react, but Alex didn't seem to mind. "Come on," He insisted. "I'm not leaving you here alone."

"What about Isabel?" Liz asked.

Alex looked up to where most of the cars were pulling out of the parking lot. "She's with her parents," He told his best friend, "She'll be alright, for now."

Liz nodded, and let Alex walk her slowly towards their ride, Alex's father's car.

*********

Later, alone in her room, Liz wondered whether the numbness would ever go away, and then, whether it was preferable, or less preferable than the sadness which had earlier wracked her world.

She remembered giving the eulogy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I knew a man who changed my life irreparably. For the better, for the worse, sometimes, but always in the name of right. Because he was a man who believed in doing right.

"His name was Max Evans, and this was his eighteenth summer. His first year of being allowed to savor that famed independence of adulthood. His first year of getting to sign his own signature, instead of having his parents do it.

"He didn't even get to see it to a close."

**********

Liz remembered her voice shaking with emotion as she had delivered these words. It was almost actually harder because she believed them, she later realized. It was because every time she told the mourners how wonderful Max had been, she felt the stab through her soul, the stab that reminded her that when he had left her, he had taken all of those wonderful things with him.

Liz wasn't naive. She knew that she might love another man in her life, and she knew that after a while, she was going to be asked who it would be.. But she did know that love wasn't enough. That love didn't make a soulmate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I met Max in third grade. He and his sister were newly adopted, and new to school, too. Isabel seemed to fit right in. But Max... he was so shy. However, for some reason, instead of teasing him like they would any other child, the kids almost seemed to pull together to make him feel welcome.

"Later, he found Michael Guerin, his best friend, and the kids started ignoring him again. But I'll never forget, even as something that happened when I was only eight, that something about Max Evans made those kids realize that they should be kind to him.

"I like to think it's because they recognized what a kindred spirit he was. I like to think that it's because they thought they could better themselves by following his example. Because I can't remember ever, not once, that Max made a schoolmate cry. He was just too kind-hearted. He couldn't bear to bring that kind of emotional pain on someone.

"Max was the most positive influence I think I can remember a person being. We all hope that the people who look up to us see us doing the right thing, and in turn, hope that the people we look up do, are actually doing the right thing. Well, Max was one of those people that everybody respected. Maybe not liked, because no one can be that popular as a teenager, but there was not a single person who could question his moral integrity.

"Max was a fighter. He was a fighter for what he knew was right. He was a fighter for the people he loved, and he was a fighter for his life. In the end, he lost it, but he loved life, and he would want all of you do enjoy it to the best of your ability, even now that he's gone."


[Prologue] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [Epilogue]


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