Liz's torso jerked itself upright and her eyes flew open as she
sucked in a large breath of air. Had she been breathing when she was
unconscious? She didn't feel like she had been. She gulped at the air, the
haggard sound of her heaving chest cut through the silence of her
surroundings like a chainsaw. Her muscles loosened a little and she fell
backwards into the grass, causing her to cry out in pain. She felt like her
entire body had fallen asleep, and the blood was just starting to re-
circulate. Liz felt Maria's hand on her shoulder and screamed out again as
a million tendrils of fire shot along her skin. "Ah! Don't - touch - me!"
Maria pulled her hand away carefully. "What is it? Where does it hurt?" Maria asked.
"E-Everywhere," Liz muttered. "My senses are coming back to me – it feels like my whole body fell asleep." Liz heard the rest of the group rushing over to her, their feet pounding on the ground like a stampede of hooves.
"What was that scream Maria? Is Liz- oh my god, Liz you're awake! Are you okay?" Isabel questioned, slightly frazzled. She, Max, Alex, and Kyle came closer to Liz to offer comfort but Maria would have none of the sort.
"You guys need to back off. Don't touch her – you'll hurt her more." They stopped in mid-motion and stared confusedly at Maria. "She's just getting her feeling back – if you touch her, it'll be like jabbing a thousand needles into her at once.
"How do you know?" Max snorted.
"Because I told her, you big oaf." Liz's voice was strained, her eyes were closed, and her forehead was crinkled up in concentration.
"What are you focusing so hard on?" Alex asked, as he too noticed her peculiar state. Liz smirked, but then flinched because muscles flexed themselves.
"I'm trying not to move until it goes away."
He nodded and shrugged. "Well, that makes sense." He looked at Max and saw that he was about to bombard Liz regarding one of Maria's statements while she was unconscious, so he caught Max's eyes and shook his head at him. Alex rested a hand on Max's shoulder and whispered, "Give me a moment alone with her." He turned to Maria. "Can I borrow your keys? Don't worry; I'm not taking her anywhere." Maria tossed them to Alex, and Max led the others towards the cars to give them some privacy.
Alex knelt down next to Liz, fingering Maria's keychain. There was a miniature photo of him, Maria, and Liz at a booth in the Crashdown, smiling for the camera. He showed it to Liz. "You remember this?" he asked her.
The tingling sensation in Liz's body was more bearable and she sat up to look at it, and then smiled. "Yeah, that was our first day at Roswell High – we were freshmen."
Alex grinned. "And we made a huge bowl of chocolate fudge ripple ice cream with cherries and whip cream to celebrate the survival of our first day of high school." Liz laughed, remembering the good times they always had together. Everyone was so carefree then, naïve, untainted by danger and responsibility. A part of her really missed that. Alex's voice broke her thought. "Do you still love Max?"
Liz was taken aback by his question, and cleared her throat before answering. "Whatever it is that I feel for Max doesn't matter anymore Alex. He's with Tess now, and that's where he belongs." She paused, and Alex took that moment to counter her.
"Forget about that for a minute Liz. Don't think about it. How do you feel?"
She frowned. "I don't know. He's hurt me so many times.... I-I just don't know. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to love someone again after this is over. If it's ever over."
"Well, it may be over sooner than you think. He's putting the pieces together Liz. We all are."
Liz paled. "Do you hate me for keeping this from you?"
"No. I know better than that. Whenever you've kept something from me, it's always been to protect me. And I can tell that you're not getting any enjoyment out of it. You've got enough people angry with you; I'm not going to be one of them." Liz closed her eyes and nodded. "Man though, you should have seen Maria while you were unconscious! I think she's lost her marbles. She was ranting on and on about how the reason you're going through all of this is because Max asked you to. She was making no sense. If the situation wasn't as serious as it was, I would have been laughing my ass off." Liz's smile had faded and she looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. "Hey, you okay?"
"Uh, yeah. Listen, can you give me a minute alone. I need to think about some things." Alex smiled, thinking she was finally going to tell everyone the truth.
"Sure. We'll be waiting." He got up and started walking away.
"Alex?" He turned around to look at her. "You know that I love all of you right? That I'd give up everything for you guys?"
Alex nodded. "Ditto, kitten." She gave him a faint smile and nodded, and he walked back towards the others.
"What's going on?" Michael asked.
"She said she needed to think about some things," Alex said. They waited in silence for nearly ten minutes before Maria spoke up.
"I've got a bad feeling about this. It's taking too long. Alex, what else did she say?"
"Just that she loved the whole group and would give up everything for us. I figured she was going to think about how to tell all of us the truth."
Maria considered his words carefully and as a thought dawned on her, her eyes widened. "Oh god, she's not going to – she wouldn't...."
Max shook his head and sighed, feeling hopeless and beaten. "She's not going to tell us the truth, is she Maria?" He seemed to speak to the air, because Maria's horrified face gave no response to his question. "God could this get any worse?"
"Damn it, for a second there I actually thought I was done keeping this stupid secret." Kyle mumbled under his breath, then his eyes widened as he realized his mistake.
"Oh god, it has just gotten worse," Maria muttered, coming back to herself as Kyle spoke.
"What is it Kyle?" Max asked, anticipation threatening to engulf him as he gave Kyle the most dangerous gaze his body possessed. He was so close, so close to the truth. He could taste it melting on his tongue, soothing his sore throat as it glided down to rest in the pit of his stomach and spreading out through his blood vessels to his entire body. It almost tasted like chocolate... no, better than that. It tasted of Liz.
Kyle gulped and looked to Maria, apologizing with his eyes for what he was about to do. He closed his eyes and let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding in, preparing for the onslaught of clenched fists and alien abilities that he knew he would be about to receive. "That Liz and I never slept together."
The whole group gasped, and Max felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. She never slept with Kyle. She'd been telling him that the two had slept together for so long that he began to believe it. He had stopped looking for the holes in her stories to prove her lying to him, and had instead been searching for the reason behind it. He had finally believed that she had had sex with Kyle, only to find out that it had never happened. He looked up at Kyle and asked, "Why?"
Kyle looked off in the distance, afraid to meet Max's pained gaze. "I don't know. She would never tell me. She needed a favor, and I assumed that you did something to piss her off really bad. Even then, it wasn't something that I thought she would ever consider doing, no matter how much you could have hurt her." Max flinched at his remark. Yeah, he'd hurt her alright.
Suddenly, the wind stopped blowing through the trees and their surroundings completely stilled. Nothing moved, or dared breathe as Maria's prophetic voice floated to their ears. "It doesn't matter now anyways. Liz knows that you've found out the truth. Somehow, she knows. And now she's leaving Roswell – for good. Nothing matters now."
They all turned as the motorcycle engine revved up and Liz squealed the tires, speeding away.
Maria pulled her hand away carefully. "What is it? Where does it hurt?" Maria asked.
"E-Everywhere," Liz muttered. "My senses are coming back to me – it feels like my whole body fell asleep." Liz heard the rest of the group rushing over to her, their feet pounding on the ground like a stampede of hooves.
"What was that scream Maria? Is Liz- oh my god, Liz you're awake! Are you okay?" Isabel questioned, slightly frazzled. She, Max, Alex, and Kyle came closer to Liz to offer comfort but Maria would have none of the sort.
"You guys need to back off. Don't touch her – you'll hurt her more." They stopped in mid-motion and stared confusedly at Maria. "She's just getting her feeling back – if you touch her, it'll be like jabbing a thousand needles into her at once.
"How do you know?" Max snorted.
"Because I told her, you big oaf." Liz's voice was strained, her eyes were closed, and her forehead was crinkled up in concentration.
"What are you focusing so hard on?" Alex asked, as he too noticed her peculiar state. Liz smirked, but then flinched because muscles flexed themselves.
"I'm trying not to move until it goes away."
He nodded and shrugged. "Well, that makes sense." He looked at Max and saw that he was about to bombard Liz regarding one of Maria's statements while she was unconscious, so he caught Max's eyes and shook his head at him. Alex rested a hand on Max's shoulder and whispered, "Give me a moment alone with her." He turned to Maria. "Can I borrow your keys? Don't worry; I'm not taking her anywhere." Maria tossed them to Alex, and Max led the others towards the cars to give them some privacy.
Alex knelt down next to Liz, fingering Maria's keychain. There was a miniature photo of him, Maria, and Liz at a booth in the Crashdown, smiling for the camera. He showed it to Liz. "You remember this?" he asked her.
The tingling sensation in Liz's body was more bearable and she sat up to look at it, and then smiled. "Yeah, that was our first day at Roswell High – we were freshmen."
Alex grinned. "And we made a huge bowl of chocolate fudge ripple ice cream with cherries and whip cream to celebrate the survival of our first day of high school." Liz laughed, remembering the good times they always had together. Everyone was so carefree then, naïve, untainted by danger and responsibility. A part of her really missed that. Alex's voice broke her thought. "Do you still love Max?"
Liz was taken aback by his question, and cleared her throat before answering. "Whatever it is that I feel for Max doesn't matter anymore Alex. He's with Tess now, and that's where he belongs." She paused, and Alex took that moment to counter her.
"Forget about that for a minute Liz. Don't think about it. How do you feel?"
She frowned. "I don't know. He's hurt me so many times.... I-I just don't know. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to love someone again after this is over. If it's ever over."
"Well, it may be over sooner than you think. He's putting the pieces together Liz. We all are."
Liz paled. "Do you hate me for keeping this from you?"
"No. I know better than that. Whenever you've kept something from me, it's always been to protect me. And I can tell that you're not getting any enjoyment out of it. You've got enough people angry with you; I'm not going to be one of them." Liz closed her eyes and nodded. "Man though, you should have seen Maria while you were unconscious! I think she's lost her marbles. She was ranting on and on about how the reason you're going through all of this is because Max asked you to. She was making no sense. If the situation wasn't as serious as it was, I would have been laughing my ass off." Liz's smile had faded and she looked like she was about to have a nervous breakdown. "Hey, you okay?"
"Uh, yeah. Listen, can you give me a minute alone. I need to think about some things." Alex smiled, thinking she was finally going to tell everyone the truth.
"Sure. We'll be waiting." He got up and started walking away.
"Alex?" He turned around to look at her. "You know that I love all of you right? That I'd give up everything for you guys?"
Alex nodded. "Ditto, kitten." She gave him a faint smile and nodded, and he walked back towards the others.
"What's going on?" Michael asked.
"She said she needed to think about some things," Alex said. They waited in silence for nearly ten minutes before Maria spoke up.
"I've got a bad feeling about this. It's taking too long. Alex, what else did she say?"
"Just that she loved the whole group and would give up everything for us. I figured she was going to think about how to tell all of us the truth."
Maria considered his words carefully and as a thought dawned on her, her eyes widened. "Oh god, she's not going to – she wouldn't...."
Max shook his head and sighed, feeling hopeless and beaten. "She's not going to tell us the truth, is she Maria?" He seemed to speak to the air, because Maria's horrified face gave no response to his question. "God could this get any worse?"
"Damn it, for a second there I actually thought I was done keeping this stupid secret." Kyle mumbled under his breath, then his eyes widened as he realized his mistake.
"Oh god, it has just gotten worse," Maria muttered, coming back to herself as Kyle spoke.
"What is it Kyle?" Max asked, anticipation threatening to engulf him as he gave Kyle the most dangerous gaze his body possessed. He was so close, so close to the truth. He could taste it melting on his tongue, soothing his sore throat as it glided down to rest in the pit of his stomach and spreading out through his blood vessels to his entire body. It almost tasted like chocolate... no, better than that. It tasted of Liz.
Kyle gulped and looked to Maria, apologizing with his eyes for what he was about to do. He closed his eyes and let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding in, preparing for the onslaught of clenched fists and alien abilities that he knew he would be about to receive. "That Liz and I never slept together."
The whole group gasped, and Max felt like he'd been punched in the stomach. She never slept with Kyle. She'd been telling him that the two had slept together for so long that he began to believe it. He had stopped looking for the holes in her stories to prove her lying to him, and had instead been searching for the reason behind it. He had finally believed that she had had sex with Kyle, only to find out that it had never happened. He looked up at Kyle and asked, "Why?"
Kyle looked off in the distance, afraid to meet Max's pained gaze. "I don't know. She would never tell me. She needed a favor, and I assumed that you did something to piss her off really bad. Even then, it wasn't something that I thought she would ever consider doing, no matter how much you could have hurt her." Max flinched at his remark. Yeah, he'd hurt her alright.
Suddenly, the wind stopped blowing through the trees and their surroundings completely stilled. Nothing moved, or dared breathe as Maria's prophetic voice floated to their ears. "It doesn't matter now anyways. Liz knows that you've found out the truth. Somehow, she knows. And now she's leaving Roswell – for good. Nothing matters now."
They all turned as the motorcycle engine revved up and Liz squealed the tires, speeding away.
