Part 5
"You do realize this is probably, hands down, the [I]worst[/I] idea you have ever had Maxwell?" Michael asked wearily from the passenger seat. "And that is saying a lot my friend."
"You said that when we left. And an hour ago. And two minutes ago. You didn't have to come." Max retorted, making a sharp turn onto Roswell's main drag.
"Yes I did." Michael replied, resigned. "I had to make sure that you didn't do something even stupider than this." Max snorted. Michael continued, "I mean, really. This is your idea of keeping a low profile? Heading straight to the town where half the world knows who you are and that your parents, family and friends haven't seen you in almost ten years?"
"I told you I have a plan. And you're just worried Maria's going to find you." Max shot back. "Because you know if she finds you, she's going to demand some sort of explanation."
"I've accepted that she's already on my trail Maximillian." Michael shook his head sadly. "The minute Liz saw me, it was game over. It's only a matter of time now."
"Have you even thought about what you're going to say to her when it happens?" Max demanded. "Stonewalls are not an option this time."
"Why the hell are you worried about [I]my[/I] problems?" Michael almost yelled. "Don't you have enough of your own?"
Max shrugged. "Realistically - no. Other than Ben of course, and he's not a problem. I don't have much of a say in what Liz is planning to do." Max could feel Michael staring at him incredulously.
"So then why the desperate need to see the guy? What are you planning to do - walk up to the guy and introduce yourself? I think that your many trips through hyperspace have permanently fried your brains Maxwell. You don't think that'll get back to Liz?"
Max narrowed his eyes. "I have a feeling that the last thing Dan Riley is going to want to do is tell Liz I'm back."
"And if he does?" Michael questioned.
"Well, then he does and Liz gets to decide if she wants to see me or not." Max replied. He tried not to think about how it would feel if she decided she [I]didn't[/I] want to see him.
If she knew of course. Which she wouldn't.
"Besides," Max added. "I'm not planning to meet the guy. I just want to check him out. And even if I do meet him, he won't recognize me."
"This is a really bad idea." Michael muttered, but he slouched down in the seat and said nothing more.
Max pulled the car to a stop behind the UFO Museum, which was still operating apparently. Climbing out, he hooked a thumb towards it. "Brody?" He asked Michael absently, wondering if his old friend was still around.
"Yeah, he's still here. Sydney is living with him now. She's at West Roswell. Maria sees him whenever she's in town." Michael finished darkly.
"Jeez." Max shook his head. "It's news like that that reminds me of how long I've been gone." And the fact that his soulmate was marrying someone else of course. Couldn't forget about that one.
As the two men carefully poked their heads around the side of the building, Michael muttered, "You know Maxwell, I haven't done much skulking since you've been gone. I can't say that I've missed it."
"I don't blame you Michael. You always managed to get yourself arrested whenever [I]you[/I] did it." Max retorted.
"Touché" Michael smirked. "But I wasn't the one with the bright idea of committing out and out armed robbery." He was quiet for a moment. "Okay, I changed my mind. Maybe this isn't [I]quite[/I] the [I]worst[/I] idea you've ever had."
Max ignored him though. His eyes were on the familiar doors of the Crashdown across the street. Memories came pouring back as he stared at the sight of so many significant moments in his human life.
It was where he had spent half of his young adulthood in silent worship of Liz Parker. It was where he had risked his entire existence and that of his sister and best friend to save her life because of that worship. It was where he had first connected with her, where he had told her that he would never give up on her, that they were meant to be together, that he was "coming for her."
He was standing almost exactly in the spot where he had first kissed Tess - the day his relationship with Liz had first started it's decline, until it had reached its last desperate days, both of them trying so hard to hold onto each other, but, in the end, losing everything.
Right across the road was the place where he had kissed Liz goodbye before he and Michael and Isabel and Tess had been supposed to leave in the granolith.
In some sad way, he almost wished that he [I]had[/I] left then. At least he had told her how much he loved her...
But if he had left then, he would be dead. He had not been strong enough then, had not known Tess's truly treacherous nature.
He was pulled from his thoughts by a rough nudge from Michael. "Are we going to stand here all day and just stare at the place?" Michael demanded. "Or are you going to start your famous plan?"
Max turned, raised his hand towards his friend. He passed it the length of Michael's body, changing his hair colour, the shape of his nose, even the style of his clothing.
His time on Antar had not been in vain. Max had learned more about their powers than he had ever hoped he could in the time he had been searching for Ben. The molecular structure of [I]anything[/I] could be changed - even people. If you knew how to do it that was. While the Royal Four were not shapeshifters, they could disguise themselves enough so as to pass for completely different people.
Not that Max ever intended to teach Michael how to do it. His best friend would likely blow them all up by accident. New powers were not his forte after all.
Besides, one decision Max had made upon his return to Earth was that Michael and Isabel never needed to know some of the things they were capable of, some of the things Max had been forced to do to bring Ben back and to liberate their planet. They deserved to live their normal human lives - especially his sister, who had a husband she loved and a little girl to protect. Michael would be pissed if he knew Max was keeping things from him, but what he didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.
Max had told Michael that Khivar was dead. It was all that he [I]needed[/I] to know.
Michael was staring at himself in the side mirror of the beat-up Jeep Cherokee Max had bought last week. He was shaking his head in wonder. "I look like a stockbroker Maxwell. How the hell did you do that?"
Max passed his hand over his own hair, face and clothes, grinning. "Magic."
"Too bad we never had these tricks in the old days." Michael commented.
"Just be glad we never [I] really[/I] needed them." Max countered.
On Antar, Max would have been dead fifty times over if he hadn't managed to blend. His face had been the most recognizable on the planet after all, even more so than Khivar's. Being hunted by Khivar's minions - it made Pierce, the Special Unit and the Skins, all together, seem like a walk on the beach.
But he had succeeded in the end.
Zan the King. Zan the Savior. Zan the Avenger.
Zan the Solitary. Zan the Lonely.
Well, he wasn't Zan anymore.
He was back to being Max Evans, his true self, and Max Evans was going to get a glimpse of Liz Parker's fiancé if it was the last thing he ever did.
"Let's go. Act casual." Max instructed.
"Act casual." Michael snorted. "Whatever."
The familiar sound of the Crashdown bell ringing as they walked through the door reminded Max briefly of his dream the night before. He almost expected Liz to be standing at the end of the counter, staring at him, her expression angry, but her eyes revealing that, more than anything, she was hurt.
Max knew about timelines. The whole Future Max fiasco had more than revealed that there was more than one way any reality could go. That dream had been so realistic, he was convinced that it [I]had[/I] happened. Just in another life.
He craved that life, wondered what had happened between he and Liz in that reality. Had they stayed together? Had they been happy?
Had she realized her dreams or had she been stuck in Roswell with him, waiting for some alien destiny that might never have come? Had he never found Ben? Had his son been stranded with his evil mother and Max's worst enemy, one who was in no way Ben's enemy?
There was no point in what-ifs. All they had now were what-weres.
What [I]was[/I] right now was that Mr. Parker was standing behind the counter, going over a menu with a tall, blond guy. Liz's dad looked older. His hair was almost grey now and he had a lot more lines on his face - but he seemed relaxed, at ease.
He had clearly returned to being the easygoing guy he had always been before he had been desperate to keep Max away from Liz.
But why shouldn't he be? His little girl was marrying a dream - a molecular biologist yet. Likely not one single criminal act in his background.
Max felt a pang of sadness for the days when he had been on the path to growing up to be that guy. Before Pierce. Before Nicholas. Before Tess. He would have been a doctor instead of a molecular biologist, but at one time, he would have been the Parker's dream catch for their daughter too.
Max didn't even need to hear it from Michael to know that the blond guy was Dan Riley. The rapport that existed between he and Jeff pretty much said it all. Mr. Parker was interacting with him like he was already a part of the family.
Max narrowed his eyes, trying not to stare, followed Michael to a booth.
The decor in the Crashdown had changed a little - a few more alien artifacts sprinkled around, a new top on the counter, but all in all, it was the same. Max stared for a long moment at the spot where he had healed Liz, the spot where he had revealed his secret to her and had started their great love affair.
The great love affair was over. Max tried not to glare at the guy who was marrying his soulmate. He tried not to hate him.
It was impossible. Because he [I]already[/I] hated him. Just looking at him made Max feel sick to his stomach.
It reminded him slightly of the way he had used to feel whenever he saw Liz talking to Kyle Valenti, before he and Liz had ever gotten together. But this was about a million times worse. Because Liz [I]loved[/I] this guy. Kyle had only ever been a high school boyfriend. He had ended up [I]liking[/I] Kyle, although Max had always known that Kyle had never really liked him.
Max was never going to like Dan Riley. Ever.
"Stop trying to kill him with your alien death ray eyes Maxwell. They're going to notice." Michael complained, thrusting a menu at Max. "Here. Read this."
Max scowled, scanned the menu, not really taking anything in.
This had been a terrible idea. What the hell had he been thinking? How could he have imagined that this would make him feel better - seeing the man Liz was going to be spending the rest of her life with?
Max barely noticed as a teen-aged waitress took their order. "We're going to need Tabasco." Michael yelled after her. Both Jeff Parker and Dan turned to stare at them for a moment. Max rolled his eyes, kicked Michael under the table.
"Ow! Well, we are!" Liz's dad and her fiancé returned to their conversation.
"Shut up." Max ordered. "I'm trying to listen."
The restaurant was pretty empty. It was late for breakfast, early for lunch, and so Max could eavesdrop fairly easily because Michael had chosen the booth closest to the counter.
"....teaching school on some lark." Dan was saying. His voice grated on Max's nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. He ordered himself to stop being petty and to pay attention.
"It's not like Lizzie to do anything on a lark Dan." Jeff replied. "Did you ask her what this was about?"
Dan sighed heavily. "I tried but Elizabeth just said that she was trying to get along with her friend Isabel, that it was a way for them to get closer and that Isabel was giving her marriage tips."
"Isabel Evans?" Jeff demanded. "Really? That's a little strange." He paused for a minute, looking a little suspicious. "Lizzie and she have never been friends. I wonder what that's all about."
"Well, I quite liked Isabel when I met her." Dan shrugged. "But I just wish Elizabeth would stop playing around in Albuquerque and come back here so that we can get the plans firmed up."
Max was forced to refocus on Michael when his friend suddenly moaned. "Oh God. We are so dead Maxwell. Maria just walked in."
Max looked over his shoulder, saw that it was true. Maria Deluca was striding into the restaurant like she owned the place. His eyes widened at the sight of his old friend. Her hair was cut short again and she was wearing a low-cut blouse that the old Maria would not have been caught dead in. The Maria Max had known had been all-retro, all the time. This was a woman secure in her sexuality - in fact, playing on it. It was a change that made Max slightly uncomfortable. He wondered if this was one of the problems between Michael and Maria - the fact that she, in no way, seemed like the weepy girlfriend anymore.
This was an independent woman - one who probably wasn't willing to take any of Michael's crap any longer.
Max could see Michael's panic, tried to calm him down. "She's not going to recognize us. Just stop calling me by my name and we'll be fine."
"Hi dudes!" Maria did not even glance in their direction, just went over to Mr. Parker and hugged him, keeping her arm around his waist as she addressed Dan. "Any sign of Kyle? He's supposed to meet me here for lunch."
"I haven't seen him." Dan replied, looking a little pained if Max was not mistaken. It appeared that Liz's fiancé was not exactly enamored of Maria. "But then I might not recognize him, being as I've only met him once."
"Good point." Maria chirped, not seeming to notice the long-suffering tone of Dan's voice, and sounding so much like herself at eighteen that Max wondered if he had been mistaken in his earlier assessment of her changes. "Well, try and get by without me fellas! I'm going to go harass José until he gets here."
"José [I] still[/I] works here?" Max asked Michael in a low voice, amazed.
"I know." Michael smirked. "I got out of that kitchen as soon as I could. That guy loves it here though."
Max watched Maria pause at the swinging door that led to the kitchen as a little girl approached her for an autograph. She signed off with a flourish, quirking a friendly grin and then disappeared into the back.
"Is she always like that?" Dan was saying to Jeff, sounding annoyed. Max saw Michael tense across the table.
"Who? Maria?" Jeff asked, affectionately. "Pretty much."
Max saw Dan try to hide his grimace, but he wasn't very successful. Max narrowed his eyes.
"Is that guy insulting my girlfriend?" Michael demanded in an undertone.
"I'm not sure." Max replied.
"I've changed my mind. He's [I]not[/I] a nice guy." Michael said, glowering in Dan's direction as Liz's fiancé sat down on a stool and began checking things off on a piece of paper. "He's actually a bit of a prick, isn't he?"
Max watched Jeff Parker for a moment. Liz's dad was eyeing Dan, a speculative expression on his face, like he wanted to ask him something. Finally he said, "Say Dan, when you were at Isabel's..." He paused, waiting for Dan to look up. "Isabel didn't happen to mention her brother did she?"
"Who? The famous Max Evans?" Dan's expression darkened. "No." He stared at Jeff for a moment. "Wait a minute... You don't think that that jerk might be back and that's why Liz wants to spend time with his sister?"
"I wonder." Jeff shrugged. "I doubt it though. Max Evans hasn't been heard of in close to ten years."
"But might he not try and come back to screw up Elizabeth's happiness?" Dan asked, sounding nervous. "I know how much they meant to each other and that he was pretty possessive." He added. "Maybe he doesn't want her, but he doesn't want anyone else to have her either."
"Down boy." Michael whispered urgently. Max was glad he said it because he felt his blood beginning to boil. This guy had absolutely no idea what Liz meant to him. That he should so cavalierly toss around the idea that he would come back and try and destroy Liz's life...
But isn't that exactly what will happen if she knows you're back, a small voice in the back of his head asked.
She doesn't know. She won't know, Max insisted.
And yet, he was still angry.
He knew that no one would believe how much he loved her, after all he had done to her - first putting her life in danger because of who he was, then believing that she was capable of betraying him with Kyle, even though he knew better, and then betraying [I]her[/I] in the ultimate way with Tess.
This was leaving out the fact that he had also left her without even saying good-bye.
But Liz Parker was his soul. The thought of her, the memory of her was what had pulled him through his darkest moments on Antar. The idea that someday he might be able to return to her - it was what had kept him alive on many occasions where the chances of success had seemed bleak. It had kept him moving forward, helped him keep focus in his search for Ben...
He was glad that he had never doubted on Antar that she would wait for him. If he had known then that she would have moved on, he never would have made it.
Max blinked as the waitress plunked their plates down in front of them. He stared down at the Men in Black special with distaste.
"I [I]need[/I] Tabasco!" Michael yelled after the waitress impatiently. She returned and handed him the bottle, watching in disgust as he started to dump the contents on his food.
It was just then that Maria came whirling through the swinging door from the kitchen. Her eyes zeroed in on Michael, looking nothing like Michael of course, but with Tabasco bottle in hand, and she stopped abruptly. Max grimaced.
Uh oh.
He breathed a sigh of relief as she was distracted by the bell over the door announcing a new arrival.
"Kyle! Hi!"
It took all of Max's willpower not to turn around to get a glimpse of his old rival. He picked up his burger took a bite, watching Kyle appear in his line of vision.
Max almost choked on his food.
Kyle Valenti was dressed in the full uniform of a member of the Roswell Police Department.
Michael grinned at him, didn't even comment. "I call him Deputy Dawg all the time to piss him off." He muttered towards Max.
"How did this happen?" Max whispered back. "I thought the last thing he ever intended to do was go into law enforcement! Why didn't you tell me this?"
"I wanted to see the expression on your face when you saw him. It's the family business Ma..." Max raised his eyebrow at Michael, who cut himself off before he said Max's name. "When he married Sarah, he needed a steady paycheck. It didn't hurt that his dad was the mayor by then and was able to pull a few strings."
He was so distracted, it took Max a moment to realize that Kyle and Maria were now sitting at the counter, whispering to each other and glancing over their shoulders in the general direction of the booth in which Max and Michael were sitting.
Uh oh. Again.
"Don't freak." Max instructed quietly. "But I think Maria's suspicious. We need to get out of here - now." Michael's eyes widened over his cheeseburger. He set it down carefully, clearly trying not to glance towards the counter. "Let's just get up, pay and leave. I've seen enough anyway." He nodded in Dan's direction. He didn't have time to fully reflect on his impressions of Liz's future husband right now, but he knew he hated him.
It was enough.
Michael licked his lips and complied, leaving a tip on the table.
Max did not relax at all until they were back in the Cherokee and on the highway back to Albuquerque.
"I think it was the Tabasco that did it." He told Michael in disgust. "You couldn't just leave it alone for once?"
"Maxwell, what is the point of eating without Tabasco?" Michael retorted, but he sounded ill at ease under his general pissed off tone.
"Well, that was [I]too[/I] close." Max sighed, leaning his head back against the seat and sighing. He and Michael did not exchange another word on the long drive.
Max brooded about Dan the whole way, wondering what he was going to do. He might not have liked what he had seen of the guy, but everyone else seemed gaga over him. Mr. Parker, Maria...Even Michael until his loyalty to Max had won out and he had heard Dan semi-insult Maria.
Max hated to admit it, but the guy was perfect in every way. Or at least he came across that way.
Dammit.
When they got back to the apartment late in the afternoon, it was almost time for Michael to go pick up Ben.
"What am I going to say to Izzy?" Michael demanded as he put his jacket back on and moved towards the door.
Max was lying on the couch, a pillow over his head, a million potential ways of finding out more information on Dan Riley circulating through his brain. "Just tell her the truth. That you and Maria broke up and that you came back here to get your head together."
"I guess that'll work." Michael sounded doubtful though. Max heard him pull open the door.
He removed the pillow from his face when no slamming door followed a moment later. There was complete silence for what felt like forever and then chaos erupted.
Maria was already marching into the apartment, her finger in Michael's chest as she pushed him backwards into the apartment. "MICHAEL! I thought so! An entire bottle of Tabasco on a hamburger? Who else could it be?" Kyle was on her heels, a frown on his face. "What the hell did you do to yourself?" She was screeching. "Why are you here? You said you couldn't come! Why did you lie to me?"
Max was simply staring at her in horror, waiting for her to see him.
Kyle noticed him first, stopping dead, his mouth literally falling open. A small, strangled noise came out of his throat.
"Kyle?" Maria whirled on him in annoyance. "What's wrong with you? You told me that you would help me! I can't believe..."
She was following Kyle's line of vision. Max felt like time was going in slow motion as her head slowly turned and her eyes met his.
"Max?" Maria gasped, her face turning white.
"You do realize this is probably, hands down, the [I]worst[/I] idea you have ever had Maxwell?" Michael asked wearily from the passenger seat. "And that is saying a lot my friend."
"You said that when we left. And an hour ago. And two minutes ago. You didn't have to come." Max retorted, making a sharp turn onto Roswell's main drag.
"Yes I did." Michael replied, resigned. "I had to make sure that you didn't do something even stupider than this." Max snorted. Michael continued, "I mean, really. This is your idea of keeping a low profile? Heading straight to the town where half the world knows who you are and that your parents, family and friends haven't seen you in almost ten years?"
"I told you I have a plan. And you're just worried Maria's going to find you." Max shot back. "Because you know if she finds you, she's going to demand some sort of explanation."
"I've accepted that she's already on my trail Maximillian." Michael shook his head sadly. "The minute Liz saw me, it was game over. It's only a matter of time now."
"Have you even thought about what you're going to say to her when it happens?" Max demanded. "Stonewalls are not an option this time."
"Why the hell are you worried about [I]my[/I] problems?" Michael almost yelled. "Don't you have enough of your own?"
Max shrugged. "Realistically - no. Other than Ben of course, and he's not a problem. I don't have much of a say in what Liz is planning to do." Max could feel Michael staring at him incredulously.
"So then why the desperate need to see the guy? What are you planning to do - walk up to the guy and introduce yourself? I think that your many trips through hyperspace have permanently fried your brains Maxwell. You don't think that'll get back to Liz?"
Max narrowed his eyes. "I have a feeling that the last thing Dan Riley is going to want to do is tell Liz I'm back."
"And if he does?" Michael questioned.
"Well, then he does and Liz gets to decide if she wants to see me or not." Max replied. He tried not to think about how it would feel if she decided she [I]didn't[/I] want to see him.
If she knew of course. Which she wouldn't.
"Besides," Max added. "I'm not planning to meet the guy. I just want to check him out. And even if I do meet him, he won't recognize me."
"This is a really bad idea." Michael muttered, but he slouched down in the seat and said nothing more.
Max pulled the car to a stop behind the UFO Museum, which was still operating apparently. Climbing out, he hooked a thumb towards it. "Brody?" He asked Michael absently, wondering if his old friend was still around.
"Yeah, he's still here. Sydney is living with him now. She's at West Roswell. Maria sees him whenever she's in town." Michael finished darkly.
"Jeez." Max shook his head. "It's news like that that reminds me of how long I've been gone." And the fact that his soulmate was marrying someone else of course. Couldn't forget about that one.
As the two men carefully poked their heads around the side of the building, Michael muttered, "You know Maxwell, I haven't done much skulking since you've been gone. I can't say that I've missed it."
"I don't blame you Michael. You always managed to get yourself arrested whenever [I]you[/I] did it." Max retorted.
"Touché" Michael smirked. "But I wasn't the one with the bright idea of committing out and out armed robbery." He was quiet for a moment. "Okay, I changed my mind. Maybe this isn't [I]quite[/I] the [I]worst[/I] idea you've ever had."
Max ignored him though. His eyes were on the familiar doors of the Crashdown across the street. Memories came pouring back as he stared at the sight of so many significant moments in his human life.
It was where he had spent half of his young adulthood in silent worship of Liz Parker. It was where he had risked his entire existence and that of his sister and best friend to save her life because of that worship. It was where he had first connected with her, where he had told her that he would never give up on her, that they were meant to be together, that he was "coming for her."
He was standing almost exactly in the spot where he had first kissed Tess - the day his relationship with Liz had first started it's decline, until it had reached its last desperate days, both of them trying so hard to hold onto each other, but, in the end, losing everything.
Right across the road was the place where he had kissed Liz goodbye before he and Michael and Isabel and Tess had been supposed to leave in the granolith.
In some sad way, he almost wished that he [I]had[/I] left then. At least he had told her how much he loved her...
But if he had left then, he would be dead. He had not been strong enough then, had not known Tess's truly treacherous nature.
He was pulled from his thoughts by a rough nudge from Michael. "Are we going to stand here all day and just stare at the place?" Michael demanded. "Or are you going to start your famous plan?"
Max turned, raised his hand towards his friend. He passed it the length of Michael's body, changing his hair colour, the shape of his nose, even the style of his clothing.
His time on Antar had not been in vain. Max had learned more about their powers than he had ever hoped he could in the time he had been searching for Ben. The molecular structure of [I]anything[/I] could be changed - even people. If you knew how to do it that was. While the Royal Four were not shapeshifters, they could disguise themselves enough so as to pass for completely different people.
Not that Max ever intended to teach Michael how to do it. His best friend would likely blow them all up by accident. New powers were not his forte after all.
Besides, one decision Max had made upon his return to Earth was that Michael and Isabel never needed to know some of the things they were capable of, some of the things Max had been forced to do to bring Ben back and to liberate their planet. They deserved to live their normal human lives - especially his sister, who had a husband she loved and a little girl to protect. Michael would be pissed if he knew Max was keeping things from him, but what he didn't know, wouldn't hurt him.
Max had told Michael that Khivar was dead. It was all that he [I]needed[/I] to know.
Michael was staring at himself in the side mirror of the beat-up Jeep Cherokee Max had bought last week. He was shaking his head in wonder. "I look like a stockbroker Maxwell. How the hell did you do that?"
Max passed his hand over his own hair, face and clothes, grinning. "Magic."
"Too bad we never had these tricks in the old days." Michael commented.
"Just be glad we never [I] really[/I] needed them." Max countered.
On Antar, Max would have been dead fifty times over if he hadn't managed to blend. His face had been the most recognizable on the planet after all, even more so than Khivar's. Being hunted by Khivar's minions - it made Pierce, the Special Unit and the Skins, all together, seem like a walk on the beach.
But he had succeeded in the end.
Zan the King. Zan the Savior. Zan the Avenger.
Zan the Solitary. Zan the Lonely.
Well, he wasn't Zan anymore.
He was back to being Max Evans, his true self, and Max Evans was going to get a glimpse of Liz Parker's fiancé if it was the last thing he ever did.
"Let's go. Act casual." Max instructed.
"Act casual." Michael snorted. "Whatever."
The familiar sound of the Crashdown bell ringing as they walked through the door reminded Max briefly of his dream the night before. He almost expected Liz to be standing at the end of the counter, staring at him, her expression angry, but her eyes revealing that, more than anything, she was hurt.
Max knew about timelines. The whole Future Max fiasco had more than revealed that there was more than one way any reality could go. That dream had been so realistic, he was convinced that it [I]had[/I] happened. Just in another life.
He craved that life, wondered what had happened between he and Liz in that reality. Had they stayed together? Had they been happy?
Had she realized her dreams or had she been stuck in Roswell with him, waiting for some alien destiny that might never have come? Had he never found Ben? Had his son been stranded with his evil mother and Max's worst enemy, one who was in no way Ben's enemy?
There was no point in what-ifs. All they had now were what-weres.
What [I]was[/I] right now was that Mr. Parker was standing behind the counter, going over a menu with a tall, blond guy. Liz's dad looked older. His hair was almost grey now and he had a lot more lines on his face - but he seemed relaxed, at ease.
He had clearly returned to being the easygoing guy he had always been before he had been desperate to keep Max away from Liz.
But why shouldn't he be? His little girl was marrying a dream - a molecular biologist yet. Likely not one single criminal act in his background.
Max felt a pang of sadness for the days when he had been on the path to growing up to be that guy. Before Pierce. Before Nicholas. Before Tess. He would have been a doctor instead of a molecular biologist, but at one time, he would have been the Parker's dream catch for their daughter too.
Max didn't even need to hear it from Michael to know that the blond guy was Dan Riley. The rapport that existed between he and Jeff pretty much said it all. Mr. Parker was interacting with him like he was already a part of the family.
Max narrowed his eyes, trying not to stare, followed Michael to a booth.
The decor in the Crashdown had changed a little - a few more alien artifacts sprinkled around, a new top on the counter, but all in all, it was the same. Max stared for a long moment at the spot where he had healed Liz, the spot where he had revealed his secret to her and had started their great love affair.
The great love affair was over. Max tried not to glare at the guy who was marrying his soulmate. He tried not to hate him.
It was impossible. Because he [I]already[/I] hated him. Just looking at him made Max feel sick to his stomach.
It reminded him slightly of the way he had used to feel whenever he saw Liz talking to Kyle Valenti, before he and Liz had ever gotten together. But this was about a million times worse. Because Liz [I]loved[/I] this guy. Kyle had only ever been a high school boyfriend. He had ended up [I]liking[/I] Kyle, although Max had always known that Kyle had never really liked him.
Max was never going to like Dan Riley. Ever.
"Stop trying to kill him with your alien death ray eyes Maxwell. They're going to notice." Michael complained, thrusting a menu at Max. "Here. Read this."
Max scowled, scanned the menu, not really taking anything in.
This had been a terrible idea. What the hell had he been thinking? How could he have imagined that this would make him feel better - seeing the man Liz was going to be spending the rest of her life with?
Max barely noticed as a teen-aged waitress took their order. "We're going to need Tabasco." Michael yelled after her. Both Jeff Parker and Dan turned to stare at them for a moment. Max rolled his eyes, kicked Michael under the table.
"Ow! Well, we are!" Liz's dad and her fiancé returned to their conversation.
"Shut up." Max ordered. "I'm trying to listen."
The restaurant was pretty empty. It was late for breakfast, early for lunch, and so Max could eavesdrop fairly easily because Michael had chosen the booth closest to the counter.
"....teaching school on some lark." Dan was saying. His voice grated on Max's nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. He ordered himself to stop being petty and to pay attention.
"It's not like Lizzie to do anything on a lark Dan." Jeff replied. "Did you ask her what this was about?"
Dan sighed heavily. "I tried but Elizabeth just said that she was trying to get along with her friend Isabel, that it was a way for them to get closer and that Isabel was giving her marriage tips."
"Isabel Evans?" Jeff demanded. "Really? That's a little strange." He paused for a minute, looking a little suspicious. "Lizzie and she have never been friends. I wonder what that's all about."
"Well, I quite liked Isabel when I met her." Dan shrugged. "But I just wish Elizabeth would stop playing around in Albuquerque and come back here so that we can get the plans firmed up."
Max was forced to refocus on Michael when his friend suddenly moaned. "Oh God. We are so dead Maxwell. Maria just walked in."
Max looked over his shoulder, saw that it was true. Maria Deluca was striding into the restaurant like she owned the place. His eyes widened at the sight of his old friend. Her hair was cut short again and she was wearing a low-cut blouse that the old Maria would not have been caught dead in. The Maria Max had known had been all-retro, all the time. This was a woman secure in her sexuality - in fact, playing on it. It was a change that made Max slightly uncomfortable. He wondered if this was one of the problems between Michael and Maria - the fact that she, in no way, seemed like the weepy girlfriend anymore.
This was an independent woman - one who probably wasn't willing to take any of Michael's crap any longer.
Max could see Michael's panic, tried to calm him down. "She's not going to recognize us. Just stop calling me by my name and we'll be fine."
"Hi dudes!" Maria did not even glance in their direction, just went over to Mr. Parker and hugged him, keeping her arm around his waist as she addressed Dan. "Any sign of Kyle? He's supposed to meet me here for lunch."
"I haven't seen him." Dan replied, looking a little pained if Max was not mistaken. It appeared that Liz's fiancé was not exactly enamored of Maria. "But then I might not recognize him, being as I've only met him once."
"Good point." Maria chirped, not seeming to notice the long-suffering tone of Dan's voice, and sounding so much like herself at eighteen that Max wondered if he had been mistaken in his earlier assessment of her changes. "Well, try and get by without me fellas! I'm going to go harass José until he gets here."
"José [I] still[/I] works here?" Max asked Michael in a low voice, amazed.
"I know." Michael smirked. "I got out of that kitchen as soon as I could. That guy loves it here though."
Max watched Maria pause at the swinging door that led to the kitchen as a little girl approached her for an autograph. She signed off with a flourish, quirking a friendly grin and then disappeared into the back.
"Is she always like that?" Dan was saying to Jeff, sounding annoyed. Max saw Michael tense across the table.
"Who? Maria?" Jeff asked, affectionately. "Pretty much."
Max saw Dan try to hide his grimace, but he wasn't very successful. Max narrowed his eyes.
"Is that guy insulting my girlfriend?" Michael demanded in an undertone.
"I'm not sure." Max replied.
"I've changed my mind. He's [I]not[/I] a nice guy." Michael said, glowering in Dan's direction as Liz's fiancé sat down on a stool and began checking things off on a piece of paper. "He's actually a bit of a prick, isn't he?"
Max watched Jeff Parker for a moment. Liz's dad was eyeing Dan, a speculative expression on his face, like he wanted to ask him something. Finally he said, "Say Dan, when you were at Isabel's..." He paused, waiting for Dan to look up. "Isabel didn't happen to mention her brother did she?"
"Who? The famous Max Evans?" Dan's expression darkened. "No." He stared at Jeff for a moment. "Wait a minute... You don't think that that jerk might be back and that's why Liz wants to spend time with his sister?"
"I wonder." Jeff shrugged. "I doubt it though. Max Evans hasn't been heard of in close to ten years."
"But might he not try and come back to screw up Elizabeth's happiness?" Dan asked, sounding nervous. "I know how much they meant to each other and that he was pretty possessive." He added. "Maybe he doesn't want her, but he doesn't want anyone else to have her either."
"Down boy." Michael whispered urgently. Max was glad he said it because he felt his blood beginning to boil. This guy had absolutely no idea what Liz meant to him. That he should so cavalierly toss around the idea that he would come back and try and destroy Liz's life...
But isn't that exactly what will happen if she knows you're back, a small voice in the back of his head asked.
She doesn't know. She won't know, Max insisted.
And yet, he was still angry.
He knew that no one would believe how much he loved her, after all he had done to her - first putting her life in danger because of who he was, then believing that she was capable of betraying him with Kyle, even though he knew better, and then betraying [I]her[/I] in the ultimate way with Tess.
This was leaving out the fact that he had also left her without even saying good-bye.
But Liz Parker was his soul. The thought of her, the memory of her was what had pulled him through his darkest moments on Antar. The idea that someday he might be able to return to her - it was what had kept him alive on many occasions where the chances of success had seemed bleak. It had kept him moving forward, helped him keep focus in his search for Ben...
He was glad that he had never doubted on Antar that she would wait for him. If he had known then that she would have moved on, he never would have made it.
Max blinked as the waitress plunked their plates down in front of them. He stared down at the Men in Black special with distaste.
"I [I]need[/I] Tabasco!" Michael yelled after the waitress impatiently. She returned and handed him the bottle, watching in disgust as he started to dump the contents on his food.
It was just then that Maria came whirling through the swinging door from the kitchen. Her eyes zeroed in on Michael, looking nothing like Michael of course, but with Tabasco bottle in hand, and she stopped abruptly. Max grimaced.
Uh oh.
He breathed a sigh of relief as she was distracted by the bell over the door announcing a new arrival.
"Kyle! Hi!"
It took all of Max's willpower not to turn around to get a glimpse of his old rival. He picked up his burger took a bite, watching Kyle appear in his line of vision.
Max almost choked on his food.
Kyle Valenti was dressed in the full uniform of a member of the Roswell Police Department.
Michael grinned at him, didn't even comment. "I call him Deputy Dawg all the time to piss him off." He muttered towards Max.
"How did this happen?" Max whispered back. "I thought the last thing he ever intended to do was go into law enforcement! Why didn't you tell me this?"
"I wanted to see the expression on your face when you saw him. It's the family business Ma..." Max raised his eyebrow at Michael, who cut himself off before he said Max's name. "When he married Sarah, he needed a steady paycheck. It didn't hurt that his dad was the mayor by then and was able to pull a few strings."
He was so distracted, it took Max a moment to realize that Kyle and Maria were now sitting at the counter, whispering to each other and glancing over their shoulders in the general direction of the booth in which Max and Michael were sitting.
Uh oh. Again.
"Don't freak." Max instructed quietly. "But I think Maria's suspicious. We need to get out of here - now." Michael's eyes widened over his cheeseburger. He set it down carefully, clearly trying not to glance towards the counter. "Let's just get up, pay and leave. I've seen enough anyway." He nodded in Dan's direction. He didn't have time to fully reflect on his impressions of Liz's future husband right now, but he knew he hated him.
It was enough.
Michael licked his lips and complied, leaving a tip on the table.
Max did not relax at all until they were back in the Cherokee and on the highway back to Albuquerque.
"I think it was the Tabasco that did it." He told Michael in disgust. "You couldn't just leave it alone for once?"
"Maxwell, what is the point of eating without Tabasco?" Michael retorted, but he sounded ill at ease under his general pissed off tone.
"Well, that was [I]too[/I] close." Max sighed, leaning his head back against the seat and sighing. He and Michael did not exchange another word on the long drive.
Max brooded about Dan the whole way, wondering what he was going to do. He might not have liked what he had seen of the guy, but everyone else seemed gaga over him. Mr. Parker, Maria...Even Michael until his loyalty to Max had won out and he had heard Dan semi-insult Maria.
Max hated to admit it, but the guy was perfect in every way. Or at least he came across that way.
Dammit.
When they got back to the apartment late in the afternoon, it was almost time for Michael to go pick up Ben.
"What am I going to say to Izzy?" Michael demanded as he put his jacket back on and moved towards the door.
Max was lying on the couch, a pillow over his head, a million potential ways of finding out more information on Dan Riley circulating through his brain. "Just tell her the truth. That you and Maria broke up and that you came back here to get your head together."
"I guess that'll work." Michael sounded doubtful though. Max heard him pull open the door.
He removed the pillow from his face when no slamming door followed a moment later. There was complete silence for what felt like forever and then chaos erupted.
Maria was already marching into the apartment, her finger in Michael's chest as she pushed him backwards into the apartment. "MICHAEL! I thought so! An entire bottle of Tabasco on a hamburger? Who else could it be?" Kyle was on her heels, a frown on his face. "What the hell did you do to yourself?" She was screeching. "Why are you here? You said you couldn't come! Why did you lie to me?"
Max was simply staring at her in horror, waiting for her to see him.
Kyle noticed him first, stopping dead, his mouth literally falling open. A small, strangled noise came out of his throat.
"Kyle?" Maria whirled on him in annoyance. "What's wrong with you? You told me that you would help me! I can't believe..."
She was following Kyle's line of vision. Max felt like time was going in slow motion as her head slowly turned and her eyes met his.
"Max?" Maria gasped, her face turning white.