Author: X_tremeroswellian

Email: X_tremeroswellian@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: I do not work for the show, these are not my characters (with the exception of Charlie Parker), I don't know Jason Katims (or Jason Behr, either, darn it) or anyone who writes for, produces, directsthe wonderful show Roswell. I just love it a lot. Please don't sue, I'm only a poor, bored college student.

Spoilers: Up through Blood Brothers.

Rated: R for strong language, adult situations, and sexual content

Category: Everyone, with a central focus on Liz.

Author's Note: Thanks to Linda for giving me the courage to actually post this story! :)

Matters of Trust (Part 3)

Isabel sat down at their regular table outside. "Michael, are you all right?"

He looked up at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired."

Isabel raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. She looked up and saw Maria and waved her over.

Michael turned to look. "Guess we have two permanent new lunch mates," he commented.

"Didn't seem to bother you yesterday," Isabel pointed out. "Besides. They hold the keys to our lives in their hands. It doesn't kill us to eat with them once in awhile. And it makes Max happy," she added, smiling as Maria walked up and sat down across from Michael.

They were joined by Liz and Max shortly. The table was unusually quiet during lunch. Isabel looked around. "So, did everyone study for that history test?"

"Man, I am so going to fail that," Maria groaned, taking a bite of strawberry pie.

"Do you want to study tonight? Maybe I can help," Isabel offered. Michael and Max stared at her, but she ignored them.

Maria looked at her in surprise. "Well, I work until 7. Is that okay?" Maria asked.

"Yeah, that's fine. Just come on over."

"Great," Maria said, smiling.

Isabel smiled back at her and then looked at Liz, who was concentrating very hard on eating her salad. "Liz, do you want to come over?"

"Um, what?" Liz asked, looking up at her.

"To study. For history. Do you want to come over?"

"Sure. Okay," she said, only partially comprehending what she'd just agreed to.

Isabel studied her. "Liz, are you okay? You're being awfully quiet."

"I'm fine. Just tired," she responded, gazing back down at her salad.

Isabel glanced over at Michael, who was staring at the table, and then she looked back at Liz. What's going on here? She wondered. She didn't have to be an alien to sense that something was wrong.

She looked at Max, who was staring worriedly at Liz, and then she glanced at Maria, who was frowning. Maria met her eyes, and they held a silent conversation.

"Hey, Michael," Isabel said suddenly. "Could you come with me to the jeep? There's something I want you to take a look at."

He looked up in surprise. "What?"

She lowered her voice. "It's private."

Michael raised an eyebrow but followed her as she stood up and walked across the lawn to the parking lot. "What's up?" she asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"You're being very un-Michael-like. You didn't even harass Maria once during lunch. What's going on?"

Michael shifted uncomfortably. "Nothing. I'm just tired."

"No, there's something else. I can feel it. Something to do with Liz Parker. You missed first period psychology this morning. And she was late to class for the second day in a row. So now really, what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on. I just skipped psych, okay? Not a big deal."

Isabel shook her head. "No, you know what's wrong with Liz. I can tell. What I don't understand is why she would tell you if something was wrong, instead of telling Maria, or Max, or Alex."

Michael looked away. "She didn't exactly tell me."

Isabel stared at him. "You went into her dream?" she said in shock. "Why?"

"Because Liz has been acting really weird lately, in case you hadn't noticed. I was afraid she was about to crack."

"And?" she questioned.

"She wasn't. And you can't tell Max what I did."

Isabel snorted. "Thanks, but I do kind of prefer you alive, Michael." She straightened. "So, what did you see?"

"Nothing," he answered quickly.

"I don't believe you," she said flatly.

"I didn't see anything," he insisted.

"You're lying. I always know when you're lying. You saw something and I want to know what it was."

"Isabel, back off, all right?"

"No! No, I won't back off. I want to know what's so important that's making Liz a nervous wreck and that's making you this way. I want to know, Michael, and you're going to tell me."

"Isabel, I promised, okay?"

"Since when do you make promises to humans?"

"Since I shouldn't have walked into her dream to begin with."

"What? Was it some kinky dream about Max? Kyle?"

"Hardly."

"Then what?" Isabel demanded.

"Look, Izzy. It's none of our business. It has nothing to do with us. Just let it go."

"Fine. I'll let it go. For now. But keep something in mind, Michael. Keep in mind the fact that Liz is a basket case and you're the only one who knows why. And then ask yourself if you're prepared to deal with whatever it is. Can you honestly answer yes?"

Michael glanced over to where Maria and Liz were walking back into the school. "I hope so."

"Liz, is everything okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure? Because you seemdistant. Did something happen between you and Max?" Maria asked as she spun the combination to her locker.

"No, I'm just really tired, you know? Stressed out because of mid-terms, and stuff."

"Are you sure? Because if there's like, something else, you can tell me."

"I know." Liz smiled at her, but Maria knew it was fake. "I have to get to bio."

"See ya." Maria watched her leave. Something was definitely not right.

Max was staring at her again. It was hard not to. She was so beautiful she was nearly mesmerizing. He wanted to thread his fingers through her silky dark hair and pull her close, and lose himself in her eyes. Instead, he blinked and tried to focus on the experiment they were supposed to be doing. He was quickly distracted by the look on her face.

"Liz?" he said, sweeping a strand of stray hair behind her ear. She jumped and he quickly pulled his hand away. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"No, Max, it's okay. I'm just stressed. You know, with midterms and everything. I just failed that English quiz and I'm so lost in there right now, and I'm not sleeping well" her voice trailed off.

He was startled by the tone of distress in her voice. "Well, if you want to cancel Saturday to catch up on sleep, we can do it some other time," he offered.

"Max, no! Saturday's the only thing that's keeping me going right now," she blurted out. Then she realized how that sounded. "I don't want to cancel," she added shyly, looking away.

Max touched her arm gently. "I'm glad."

She smiled at him.

"Why don't we get together tomorrow to go over the English material?" he suggested. "I mean, since we're studying for history tonight and everything."

"Right. Yeah, that's fine," she agreed.

Max studied her. "Liz, is there anything else? I mean, if there's something you need to talk about, I hope you know you can trust me."

Liz looked up at him and he gazed intently into her beautiful brown eyes. He saw a flash of either pain or fear, but he wasn't sure which. "I know that, Max," she answered softly. She went back to the experiment. Max watched her for a long moment. Something was wrong. He just couldn't figure out what it was.

"Let's clean up," Liz suggested to Maria as she glanced at her watch. "Max said he'd pick us up at 7. We have ten minutes until the end of our shift."

Maria nodded in agreement. "I'll start out here. Why don't you go ahead and change?"

"Thanks, Maria. You're the best!" Liz said, grinning at her.

Maria smiled back. "Now go before I change my mind. And bring me a glass of lemonade when you come back!" she called after her.

Liz waved as she went into the back.

Maria grabbed a rag and began wiping off the counter. The door opened and a man Maria had never seen before walked in. She shuddered as the man walked up to her. Please don't be another FBI agent, Maria thought. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, are Mr. or Mrs. Parker around?"

Maria eyed him suspiciously. "They don't work evenings."

"What about Liz Parker?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask who you are," Maria said, staring at him, sizing him up. She didn't like him at all.

"I'm Charlie Parker. I'm Liz's uncle."

Maria blinked in surprise. "Her uncle?" she repeated.

"Yes, is she here?" he asked, looking annoyed.

"Um, yeah. Hold on. She's in back." Maria turned around and opened the door. "Liz!" she called.

"Yeah?"

"You have a guest!" Maria said.

"Just a sec!"

Maria stepped back out front. The man was looking around the café, facing away from her. Liz opened the door and looked at Maria, who motioned to the man still faced away from them. The glass of lemonade Liz was carrying slipped out of her hand and shattered on the floor.

"Liz!" Maria gasped. She grabbed the rag off the counter.

"Hello, Lizzie," Uncle Charlie said, smiling at her.

Liz swallowed hard. "Hello." Her face drained of all color.

"Liz, are you okay? You look like you're about to pass out," Maria said worriedly.

"Go get my parents," Liz said softly, taking the rag from her. Liz knelt down to clean up the mess as Maria hurried to the back. Liz saw her uncle walk around behind the counter til he was only a couple feet from her.

Please, Max, get here soon, she prayed.

Max was only a mile from the Crashdown when an image of Liz flashed through his mind at the same time a jolt of adrenaline raced through him. Liz is in trouble, he thought. Max tightened his grip on the steering wheel and stepped on the gas peddle. I'm coming, Liz, he thought. Just hold on.

"How are you, Lizzie?" Charlie asked, squatting down a foot away from her. He touched her arm.

She yanked her arm away. "I'm fine." She hurriedly wiped up the lemonade and glass fragments. Charlie touched her hair lightly and Liz shuddered. Please hurry, Max, she thought again.

As if he could hear her thoughts, Max hurried inside the Crashdown. "Liz!" he called, a touch of fear in his voice.

Liz leapt to her feet and tripped as she tried to get past her uncle, and she fell right into Max's arms. He instinctively drew her closer to him. "Are you okay?" he asked, searching her eyes in worry. He resisted the urge to kiss her out of relief as she nodded her head.

Max looked past her, to the man kneeling on the floor.

"Who's your friend, Lizzie?" Charlie asked, standing up. He stared at Max.

Max stared back. He hated him on sight.

"Max, this is Charlie Parker. My uncle. This is my friend Max," Liz said, hoping to God her voice didn't sound as strained as she thought it did.

Charlie stuck out his hand and Max shook it. He tried to feel guilty for the wave of hatred that washed over him; this guy was Liz's uncle, after all, and he had just met the guy. But Max couldn't feel guilty. The feeling of hatred towards the man remained. He couldn't put his finger on what it was exactly, but Max really hated him.

Just then, he realized how close Liz was standing to him, and he only realized it then because he felt her tremble. Max tore his eyes from Charlie's stare, and gazed at Liz. He touched her arm gently and searched her eyes. To most people, it would seem like she was okay, but not to Max.

Max knew her-probably better than anyone with the exception of Maria. He had watched her from a distance since the third grade. He knew when she was happy, sad, afraid, angry. And the look in Liz Parker's eyes right then told Max she was very, very afraid of something.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked quietly.

She nodded. "As soon as Maria comes back."

"Go where?" another voice asked. Liz and Max turned toward the voice.

Mr. Parker hugged his brother and grinned.

"Maria and I are going to Max and Isabel's to study for history," Liz answered, trying hard not to cry. Seeing her dad and her uncle smiling together ripped her heart into shreds.

"I was hoping we could spend some time together, Lizzie," Charlie said, frowning.

"It's a really big test," Liz responded.

Max felt her tremble again and he looked over at Maria, wondering if she noticed how upset Liz was. Maria was frowning.

"Well, I'll be in town at the Motel 8 for the next two weeks, so maybe we'll get to visit and get all caught up," he said smiling.

"Motel 8? Forget it, you're staying with us," her dad said.

"I don't want to impose," Charlie said, shaking his head.

"Impose? Hardly. It's not very often my favorite brother-in-law comes to town. I insist you stay with us," Liz's mother said, smiling.

"How can I resist that?" He asked, hugging her. He turned to Liz. "You hear that, Lizzie? Guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other after all. I missed my special niece."

Liz wished she could disappear. "Great," she said softly.

Max touched her arm. "We should go. Izzy's waiting."

She nodded. "Maria, are you ready?"

"Yeah." Maria headed to the door.

"Be home by 10:30, Liz. We wouldn't want you to wake up your uncle Charlie coming in late," her mother called.

Liz suppressed a shudder and agreed. She was the first one out the door. Max caught up with her and held open the jeep door for her and Maria. He walked around to the driver's side door, got in, and started the jeep. He looked over at Liz.

Liz stared straight ahead, pressing her back firmly against the seat so no one could see how badly she was shaking. She couldn't look at Max, but she knew he was watching her. After a moment, Max shifted the car into overdrive and Liz gazed out the window, up at the stars and forced herself to blink back tears.

All through the study session, Max found himself staring at Liz. Isabel exchanged a look with Maria. She knew Maria sensed something was wrong with Liz, too.

Liz, however, ignored the looks. She knew they were all watching her; she knew they were concerned. But she would not tell them what was wrong. She may have lost Alex's friendship because of a secret, but she wouldn't lose the rest of her friends because of the truth.

"Liz," Max said sometime later. She looked up. "It's 10:15. I should take you home."

Liz swallowed hard and slowly gathered her books and stood up.

"Liz, I'll see you before first hour tomorrow, right?" Maria asked, the worry she felt evident in her voice.

"Yeah. Tomorrow," Liz echoed. Right now all that mattered was making it through the night. She followed Max to the jeep and once again he held open the door for her. Would he hold the door for me if he knew the truth? She wondered, climbing inside.

Max climbed in the driver's seat and started the engine, glancing at Liz. She wouldn't look at him. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He drove back to Liz's family's apartment in silence and parked just outside the Crashdown. Liz sat motionless.

"Liz," he said gently. He touched her arm and she jumped. He immediately pulled away from her.

Liz tried to get the courage to get out of the jeep, but she knew once she did, once she left the safety of Max's presence, she was going to remember in vivid detail the childhood moments she had spent cowering under her covers, praying that morning would arrive and that she could go to school and be safe again.

"Liz, are you all right?" he asked quietly.

She felt like she was going to fall apart. She ached to tell him the truth, part of her knowing that he would protect her, but the other part of her terrified that he would recoil in disgust.

"Max," she said softly, refusing to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"Can you-" she took a deep breath, hoping she wasn't about to overstep any boundaries or sound like a complete idiot. "-can you just hold me for a minute?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Max heard the slight tremor in her voice and he could tell she was fighting to hold back tears. Wordlessly he shifted and gathered her in his arms, cradling her small figure against his own. He held her as if she were a child, stroking her hair gently.

Liz felt so safe in Max' s arms, she didn't want to move. She buried her face in his shoulder, holding onto him for dear life.

"Liz, please tell me what's wrong," he whispered, threading his fingers through her hair.

She shook her head against his shoulder. "Please don't ask questions, Max," she said softly. It took every ounce of strength she had not to cry as she pulled away from him.

Max unexpectedly pulled her back into his arms, holding her tighter than before. "If you need me, you know where I am. Whenever you're ready, Liz, I'm here for you," he whispered fiercely.

Tears sprung to her eyes. She nodded and grabbed her bookbag, jumping out of the jeep. She turned to look at him as her tears spilled over. Then she ran around to the back of the building.

Max watched her go, barely able to restrain himself from going after her and making her tell him what was wrong. But he knew that wasn't the way to handle this. He swallowed hard and restarted the jeep, driving away. He glanced in the rear view mirror, wondering what hell he had just delivered Liz to the hands of to deal with alone.

Go to Part 4