Part 4 - Max POV
"MICHAEL!" I yelled my best friend's name without even thinking about it.
He poked his head back through the passageway leading into the granolith. "What are you doing?" He demanded. He was scowling.
"Something's wrong. I need to find Liz. Wait for me there. Tell Tess and Isabel that I'll be back as fast as I can." I was already hurrying towards the entrance, knowing that time was of the essence here. If anything had happened to Liz.
"MAXWELL!" Michael was calling after me. I could hear Tess starting to shriek my name too, but I ignored them both.
I swiped my hand over the silver hand print near the entrance to the pod chamber, the one that would open it.
As the door began to move slowly I became aware of yelling from the outside. "MAAAXXX! Open the door! MAX!" It was Liz and she sounded half hysterical. Maria was there too. I could hear her shrieking Michael's name.
I became aware suddenly of Tess. She had come up behind me, was grabbing me by the arm, was trying to pull me towards the granolith. "Max! We have to go." My mind was beginning to feel slightly foggy again. I shook it quickly, turned back to stare at her. Her big blue eyes were locked on my face. "The baby Max. I can feel him dying. We have to go now!"
I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I knew that there was some reason that I had left the granolith chamber but I couldn't for the life of me think what it was.
I felt someone brush past me. I blinked, realized that it was Maria. She had launched herself at Michael, was raining kisses all over his shocked face. "What the hell! Maria! What are you guys doing here?"
LIZ!
How could I have forgotten that? What the hell was going on around here?
I shook Tess off, frowned at her. My mind was clear again. I could see a slight scowl beginning to mar her forehead.
"Max." A quiet voice from behind me. It was Liz. "Max, don't look at her. I think she must be doing something to you."
I felt a flash of intense rage. "Are we back to that Liz? I thought you'd given up on that." My tone was so nasty, I heard Maria gasp. What the.I had NOT thought that.
And suddenly I knew exactly what was going on here. That I hadn't seen it before.
This was exactly what it had felt like the year before, when Tess had first come to Roswell.
When she had been mind-warping me.
"Max." It was Liz again. She was speaking calmly. I could feel her small hand on my arm. I managed to turn my head, even though I felt like I was trapped in the depths of Tess's icy eyes. "That's not you. Fight her. You know that she's responsible."
"Liz." I gasped. I suddenly felt like my brain was about to explode. It made me want to fall to my knees. I reeled away from both of them, breathing quickly, managed to bring my hands up to my head.
"MAX!" I could hear Isabel's fright in her voice.
"STOP IT!" Liz was yelling. "Stop doing that to him! Leave him alone! I know the truth you witch! There's no baby at all! You faked the whole thing!" I felt her hands against my back. "Max! Fight her! You can do it! Please!"
I was trying. But I couldn't seem to control my own emotions. I had clenched my jaw together so that I wouldn't say anything more to Liz that I would regret.
"Isabel! Michael! Grab her! Make her stop it!" I could hear Liz's orders in the back of my mind, but the majority of it was concentrating on trying to escape the warp. I could almost FEEL her in my mind. Her eyes were inescapable.
"Max! Connect with me!" I could feel her gentle hands on my face and the next thing I knew her soft lips were on mine.
The connection flared to life between us instantly. The flashes were almost unidentifiable they came so quickly.
Flash*
Liz weeping on her balcony, a hand reaching out to soothe her. MY hand.and yet it wasn't me.
Flash*
Liz dancing with me but NOT me, feelings of joy and love flooding through her, and then the loneliness when she realized that she was alone.
Flash*
Liz clutching the pendant between her palms, her eyes closed, images of me and Tess together, an image of the granolith exploding.absolute terror - Liz's terror - was so intense it was humbling.
She broke the kiss finally, but her eyes were staring straight into my soul as she pulled back. "Max?" She whispered, sounding worried.
"Liz. It's all right." I told her. I pulled her against me.
My mind was completely clear.
She had healed ME this time.
I breathed in the clean scent of her hair. My entire world had shifted on its axis again and I still didn't know why.
I could hear Michael and Isabel arguing with Tess.
"What did you do to him?" Isabel was demanding. I looked past Liz, saw that my sister was holding Tess against the wall of the pod chamber, her entire stance threatening.
"She's not pregnant." Liz said from beside me. "She completely made it up."
"You're lying!" Tess shrieked. She looked at me, terror on her face. "Max! Tell them! You connected with the baby! We both did." She brought her hand to her abdomen. I could feel the first stirrings of a warp trying to penetrate my mind.
I threw her out so completely and so suddenly, she gasped, cringed back against the wall.
"How do you know this Liz?" Michael demanded. He was looking at Tess like you might look at a snake that had infiltrated your house.
"Salt." Liz replied with certainty. She looked at Isabel. "Kyle told me that she's been craving salt."
A look of understanding crossed my sister's face. "Izzy?" I asked, confused.
"Trust me Max. She's NOT pregnant." Isabel told me firmly. "You don't want to know more than that."
"Who the hell cares about salt?" Michael interjected. "My question is, what else has she been lying about?"
"Nothing!" Tess wailed. "It's all true! I swear it! We need to go home! They're waiting for us!" Her eyes widened with horror at what she had just said. She clamped her mouth shut.
I felt Liz tense beside me. "Who's waiting for you Tess?" She asked, her tone low but completely disdainful. "The Skins right? Or Khivar? Who did you make a deal with? Why are you so desperate to get Max back there? Because you can't tell me its because you love him! If you loved him, you wouldn't have mind-raped him! Because that's what you did!" Liz's voice was getting louder. She was absolutely furious.
I squeezed her hand gently. "Liz, its okay." I looked at Tess. "You better just tell us the whole story Tess."
"I won't." Tess shook her head stubbornly. "I'm pregnant. You have to take me back. Our baby is dying Max." She looked at Liz triumphantly. "Because that's one thing that I didn't have to mind-warp Miss High and Mighty. We DID sleep together. I was the one he chose!"
Liz flinched, but didn't reply.
My mind was whirling. Just Tess's mention of the sex and a mind-warp in the same breath.
"She's lying." I said with certainty. I looked at Tess. "You're lying. We NEVER slept together."
The memories were flooding back like a tidal wave.
It was the night that we had slept together. I had tried to stop Liz from going to Sweden, had told her that if she went our friendship was over.
And Liz had walked away from me again, the disappointment on her face not overshadowing the determination.
I had known then that we were over for good. She would take me at my word. We were no longer friends.
I had been able to accept that we were moving on but only because I knew that Liz and I would always be connected by the secret that bound us together, by the connection that still existed between us even if we couldn't be together.
Losing her completely had devastated me. I had driven around in a daze for what had felt like hours, had ended up somehow at the Observatory we had visited earlier that year with school.
I had felt at peace there on that trip, had enjoyed looking at the stars through the telescope, had enjoyed thinking about my world as somewhere I might like to visit someday to get some answers, but for no other reason than that.
I had thought that maybe going there would calm me down, would help me to figure out how to fix the rift that was developing between me and my friends.
Liz hated me. Isabel hated me. Michael was ambivalent one way or the other, but made it clear that he thought I was poor excuse for a leader.
And then there was Tess. I was beginning to remember her, had started to like her.
But the way I felt about her.it was nothing compared to what I felt for Liz - for what I had felt for her. It was why I was so angry at Liz now, that someone I could have loved so intensely could have betrayed me so completely.
It was there that Tess had found me. Only now was I beginning to wonder how she had known where I was going to be.
"Max." It had been just like that night months ago when she had comforted me after I had found Liz and Kyle together. "It's okay Max." Her hand was on my arm.
"I'm totally alone." I had told her, knowing that I had never felt as sorry for myself as I did at that moment.
"You have me." She had replied quietly. "I'll always be here. For eternity."
I had turned to look at her. Her blue eyes had been shining strangely in the moonlight. She had reached up, pulling my head down so that my lips met hers.
And the world had gone black.
I had woken up the next morning with Tess. We had been naked. I had memories of what we had done together.
But I realized now that the memories were already beginning to fade.that it had all been an illusion. None of it had actually happened.
"It was all a lie." I said again, more strongly this time. I looked at my friends. "Remember how she changed Mrs. Deluca's memories when Brody held us hostage?" I felt horror at the magnitude of her deception beginning to penetrate my mind. "She did it to me too." I felt a wave of nausea. "How could I have been so stupid?" I pulled Liz more tightly against me, glared at Tess. "I kissed you, then pulled away. I was still thinking about Liz. I couldn't do it. I just knew that it was wrong."
Tess's face was white, her eyes glittering with fright. "I had no choice." She whined. "You were unreasonable." She turned venomous eyes on Liz. "It was all her fault! She bewitched you! You are mine!"
"I don't get it." Maria interrupted, rolling her eyes at Tess's rant. "My mom was unconscious when Tess did that to her."
"I must have been too." I searched my mind frantically for answers. "Someone else must have been there. Someone knocked me out."
"It wasn't my fault!" Tess was wailing. "It was all his idea! He made me do it!"
"Who? Khivar?" Isabel sounded terrified.
"Will you just come out!" Tess yelled. "The jig is up! They're on to us."
I glanced at Michael and Isabel as the wall seemed to come to life. What the.
A moment later it all made perfect sense. I felt the shock course through me and yet, somehow, I was NOT surprised.
Nasedo.
"MICHAEL!" I yelled my best friend's name without even thinking about it.
He poked his head back through the passageway leading into the granolith. "What are you doing?" He demanded. He was scowling.
"Something's wrong. I need to find Liz. Wait for me there. Tell Tess and Isabel that I'll be back as fast as I can." I was already hurrying towards the entrance, knowing that time was of the essence here. If anything had happened to Liz.
"MAXWELL!" Michael was calling after me. I could hear Tess starting to shriek my name too, but I ignored them both.
I swiped my hand over the silver hand print near the entrance to the pod chamber, the one that would open it.
As the door began to move slowly I became aware of yelling from the outside. "MAAAXXX! Open the door! MAX!" It was Liz and she sounded half hysterical. Maria was there too. I could hear her shrieking Michael's name.
I became aware suddenly of Tess. She had come up behind me, was grabbing me by the arm, was trying to pull me towards the granolith. "Max! We have to go." My mind was beginning to feel slightly foggy again. I shook it quickly, turned back to stare at her. Her big blue eyes were locked on my face. "The baby Max. I can feel him dying. We have to go now!"
I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I knew that there was some reason that I had left the granolith chamber but I couldn't for the life of me think what it was.
I felt someone brush past me. I blinked, realized that it was Maria. She had launched herself at Michael, was raining kisses all over his shocked face. "What the hell! Maria! What are you guys doing here?"
LIZ!
How could I have forgotten that? What the hell was going on around here?
I shook Tess off, frowned at her. My mind was clear again. I could see a slight scowl beginning to mar her forehead.
"Max." A quiet voice from behind me. It was Liz. "Max, don't look at her. I think she must be doing something to you."
I felt a flash of intense rage. "Are we back to that Liz? I thought you'd given up on that." My tone was so nasty, I heard Maria gasp. What the.I had NOT thought that.
And suddenly I knew exactly what was going on here. That I hadn't seen it before.
This was exactly what it had felt like the year before, when Tess had first come to Roswell.
When she had been mind-warping me.
"Max." It was Liz again. She was speaking calmly. I could feel her small hand on my arm. I managed to turn my head, even though I felt like I was trapped in the depths of Tess's icy eyes. "That's not you. Fight her. You know that she's responsible."
"Liz." I gasped. I suddenly felt like my brain was about to explode. It made me want to fall to my knees. I reeled away from both of them, breathing quickly, managed to bring my hands up to my head.
"MAX!" I could hear Isabel's fright in her voice.
"STOP IT!" Liz was yelling. "Stop doing that to him! Leave him alone! I know the truth you witch! There's no baby at all! You faked the whole thing!" I felt her hands against my back. "Max! Fight her! You can do it! Please!"
I was trying. But I couldn't seem to control my own emotions. I had clenched my jaw together so that I wouldn't say anything more to Liz that I would regret.
"Isabel! Michael! Grab her! Make her stop it!" I could hear Liz's orders in the back of my mind, but the majority of it was concentrating on trying to escape the warp. I could almost FEEL her in my mind. Her eyes were inescapable.
"Max! Connect with me!" I could feel her gentle hands on my face and the next thing I knew her soft lips were on mine.
The connection flared to life between us instantly. The flashes were almost unidentifiable they came so quickly.
Flash*
Liz weeping on her balcony, a hand reaching out to soothe her. MY hand.and yet it wasn't me.
Flash*
Liz dancing with me but NOT me, feelings of joy and love flooding through her, and then the loneliness when she realized that she was alone.
Flash*
Liz clutching the pendant between her palms, her eyes closed, images of me and Tess together, an image of the granolith exploding.absolute terror - Liz's terror - was so intense it was humbling.
She broke the kiss finally, but her eyes were staring straight into my soul as she pulled back. "Max?" She whispered, sounding worried.
"Liz. It's all right." I told her. I pulled her against me.
My mind was completely clear.
She had healed ME this time.
I breathed in the clean scent of her hair. My entire world had shifted on its axis again and I still didn't know why.
I could hear Michael and Isabel arguing with Tess.
"What did you do to him?" Isabel was demanding. I looked past Liz, saw that my sister was holding Tess against the wall of the pod chamber, her entire stance threatening.
"She's not pregnant." Liz said from beside me. "She completely made it up."
"You're lying!" Tess shrieked. She looked at me, terror on her face. "Max! Tell them! You connected with the baby! We both did." She brought her hand to her abdomen. I could feel the first stirrings of a warp trying to penetrate my mind.
I threw her out so completely and so suddenly, she gasped, cringed back against the wall.
"How do you know this Liz?" Michael demanded. He was looking at Tess like you might look at a snake that had infiltrated your house.
"Salt." Liz replied with certainty. She looked at Isabel. "Kyle told me that she's been craving salt."
A look of understanding crossed my sister's face. "Izzy?" I asked, confused.
"Trust me Max. She's NOT pregnant." Isabel told me firmly. "You don't want to know more than that."
"Who the hell cares about salt?" Michael interjected. "My question is, what else has she been lying about?"
"Nothing!" Tess wailed. "It's all true! I swear it! We need to go home! They're waiting for us!" Her eyes widened with horror at what she had just said. She clamped her mouth shut.
I felt Liz tense beside me. "Who's waiting for you Tess?" She asked, her tone low but completely disdainful. "The Skins right? Or Khivar? Who did you make a deal with? Why are you so desperate to get Max back there? Because you can't tell me its because you love him! If you loved him, you wouldn't have mind-raped him! Because that's what you did!" Liz's voice was getting louder. She was absolutely furious.
I squeezed her hand gently. "Liz, its okay." I looked at Tess. "You better just tell us the whole story Tess."
"I won't." Tess shook her head stubbornly. "I'm pregnant. You have to take me back. Our baby is dying Max." She looked at Liz triumphantly. "Because that's one thing that I didn't have to mind-warp Miss High and Mighty. We DID sleep together. I was the one he chose!"
Liz flinched, but didn't reply.
My mind was whirling. Just Tess's mention of the sex and a mind-warp in the same breath.
"She's lying." I said with certainty. I looked at Tess. "You're lying. We NEVER slept together."
The memories were flooding back like a tidal wave.
It was the night that we had slept together. I had tried to stop Liz from going to Sweden, had told her that if she went our friendship was over.
And Liz had walked away from me again, the disappointment on her face not overshadowing the determination.
I had known then that we were over for good. She would take me at my word. We were no longer friends.
I had been able to accept that we were moving on but only because I knew that Liz and I would always be connected by the secret that bound us together, by the connection that still existed between us even if we couldn't be together.
Losing her completely had devastated me. I had driven around in a daze for what had felt like hours, had ended up somehow at the Observatory we had visited earlier that year with school.
I had felt at peace there on that trip, had enjoyed looking at the stars through the telescope, had enjoyed thinking about my world as somewhere I might like to visit someday to get some answers, but for no other reason than that.
I had thought that maybe going there would calm me down, would help me to figure out how to fix the rift that was developing between me and my friends.
Liz hated me. Isabel hated me. Michael was ambivalent one way or the other, but made it clear that he thought I was poor excuse for a leader.
And then there was Tess. I was beginning to remember her, had started to like her.
But the way I felt about her.it was nothing compared to what I felt for Liz - for what I had felt for her. It was why I was so angry at Liz now, that someone I could have loved so intensely could have betrayed me so completely.
It was there that Tess had found me. Only now was I beginning to wonder how she had known where I was going to be.
"Max." It had been just like that night months ago when she had comforted me after I had found Liz and Kyle together. "It's okay Max." Her hand was on my arm.
"I'm totally alone." I had told her, knowing that I had never felt as sorry for myself as I did at that moment.
"You have me." She had replied quietly. "I'll always be here. For eternity."
I had turned to look at her. Her blue eyes had been shining strangely in the moonlight. She had reached up, pulling my head down so that my lips met hers.
And the world had gone black.
I had woken up the next morning with Tess. We had been naked. I had memories of what we had done together.
But I realized now that the memories were already beginning to fade.that it had all been an illusion. None of it had actually happened.
"It was all a lie." I said again, more strongly this time. I looked at my friends. "Remember how she changed Mrs. Deluca's memories when Brody held us hostage?" I felt horror at the magnitude of her deception beginning to penetrate my mind. "She did it to me too." I felt a wave of nausea. "How could I have been so stupid?" I pulled Liz more tightly against me, glared at Tess. "I kissed you, then pulled away. I was still thinking about Liz. I couldn't do it. I just knew that it was wrong."
Tess's face was white, her eyes glittering with fright. "I had no choice." She whined. "You were unreasonable." She turned venomous eyes on Liz. "It was all her fault! She bewitched you! You are mine!"
"I don't get it." Maria interrupted, rolling her eyes at Tess's rant. "My mom was unconscious when Tess did that to her."
"I must have been too." I searched my mind frantically for answers. "Someone else must have been there. Someone knocked me out."
"It wasn't my fault!" Tess was wailing. "It was all his idea! He made me do it!"
"Who? Khivar?" Isabel sounded terrified.
"Will you just come out!" Tess yelled. "The jig is up! They're on to us."
I glanced at Michael and Isabel as the wall seemed to come to life. What the.
A moment later it all made perfect sense. I felt the shock course through me and yet, somehow, I was NOT surprised.
Nasedo.