Part XVIMax

There is not a single thought in my mind. All that echoes inside that cast empty space that is my head are her words. "Hello Max." The sweetest words I think I have ever heard to this point. But she would have to say them in front of Liz Parker, as I am working my hardest to get rid of her.

What she must think of me? Oh my God…

My brain feels like a car that won't start. It's making a wheezing sound generally associated with asthmatic dogs. Finally, it receives a violent kick start, when Liz tugs on my hand.

I hastily step away from Liz. "Tess?" I ask in a voice that I know can not possibly be mine.

She looks at me quite seriously. "You look like a fish." She comments.

Somehow, that is not exactly the thing I imagined her saying at this moment.

I study her. She is trying to be calm, she is trying to collect herself. But she has been affected by the sight of me as deeply as I am impressed by the sight of her.

I am humiliated.

I will explain why. Liz Parker is an absolute brat. She's a spoiled Daddy's girl and teacher's pet. She wants to go to Harvard and study molecular biology. I am absolutely sure that if she ever found out my secret she would stick me under a microscope herself, before turning me over to the government, which has better microscopes. She would probably try to watch them dissect me.

Somehow, she got the idea that I like her. Good lord, this sounds like one of those shows Isabel watches. Dawson's Stream or something like that.

Never mind. I blame Liz Parker's interest in me on Kyle Valenti. Kyle dated her. I do not know why. She is a science geek, and she always looks scared. Kyle is a jock. He is also, under that layer, a decent guy. So, Kyle came to see that Liz had trapped him. He decided to retreat and do it gracefully by making her think she has prospects on the dating front and that it was her idea to break up with him anyway.

So I have not been able to shake Liz Parker. I decided to talk to her about it today. Because, despite the fact that she is kind of pretty, it's nice to have someone around who likes you. Someone safe. Because, unless I tell her our secret, she won't pick it up. She's too focused on herself. But I finally got fed up with playing it safe. So I asked her to meet me today. I intended to tell her, as politely as possible, that she is getting too intense and needs to back off. I wouldn't mind passing on that advice to Maria, her best friend, who is stalking Michael. Isabel told me this. She was outraged, though she declared that of course Michael was nothing but a friend. Yeah. Right. She must think I'm blind.

Suddenly I am mad. How could she do this to me? Even I do not know which she I mean. I am mad at Tess for showing up and mad at Liz for being there because while she's there I can't say what I want to say and suddenly my concentration is broken. Liz has snaked an arm around me. "Max, who is this?" She whines ingratiatingly.

I wince. "Liz, weren't you listening?"

Tess has gone white. "I'm sorry I interrupted." She says.

Now I am red. "No, you didn't, truly, you didn't. Liz was just leaving." I wonder idly if Michael and Isabel would ever forgive me for incinerating Liz in her shoes in broad daylight in downtown Roswell? "I'm so glad you're back, but why the hell didn't you tell me you were coming? How did you get here anyway? A car, a plane? Where the hell have you been? And why in God's name did you choose now to come back?"

She grins. "I didn't know you had a temper."

She gives Liz a stare that is roughly the temperature of liquid nitrogen. Liz releases my arm. "Max?" She whines.

I want to hug Tess. I want to tell her I missed her. I want to kiss her. I want to say, "My God, you are beautiful." I want to ask if the danger she hinted about is really gone or if she has given in to me, and that we will fight together. I wonder if the tracking collar is gone. I wonder what she knows about where we came from. I wonder what kind of perfume she is wearing. Whatever it is, is tickling my nose. I want to tell her that even as a child, when I told Michael that she had a face like love, I never imagined she would be this beautiful. I understand what Shakespeare meant when he said

"Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear."

Or maybe that thing about stars burning in her eyes. They do, you know. I look in her eyes and I see stars.

I know one thing for sure. The girl of my dreams (literally, I mostly know her through dreams) is standing a foot away, and I can't touch her because Perfect Parker is about a mile too close.

Tess is way, way too beautiful to be of this earth. Is that a characteristic of our kind? My sister was approached by a modeling agency when she was thirteen. Dad threw a kitchen sponge at the agent who came to our door, and Mom was sharpening knives when her latest pursuer came to pick her up for a 'lunch date'. He quickly changed the phrase to appointment, to consultation. Our parents are protective. Our parents are LAWYERS. Good. She gets mad at them, instead of me when they say, "You can not date anyone who is more than two years older than you and then only if we meet him, cross examine him and administer drug and psych exams." Michael is the exception to Dad's general anti-boys around Isabel policy, since Mom still counts him as one of the kids.

Instead of saying any of the things I should, I stare so much I get called a fish. Not an ego booster. My mother calls me a smooth talker. Where are the words now? I am tongue-tied. I have never been in this state before.

Finally, I grab her and hug her so tight I don't think either of us can breathe. I don't care and she isn't complaining (maybe cause she doesn't have any oxygen in her lungs) I don't kiss her. It's too soon for that, but the simple contact is reassuring in ways I cannot describe.

When I release her, she smiles up at me. Her eyes, which are either stars or ocean water, her perfect Cupid's bow cherry red mouth, her adorable nose, her shining hair, her heart shaped face lead me to one conclusion. I am looking at the love of my life. The girl of my dreams, my better half. Liz Parker be damned, Tess is the one for me. I lean down tentatively and brush my lips against hers.

She deepens the kiss, and I am falling through the stars. I see inside her heart. I see me, and I know she really did not want to leave. I see that she has a question for me and Michael and Isabel. I do not see the question, because she draws back.

"We're doing things out of order." She whispers. "Take me to my family please."

And so, I take her hand. I lace my fingers with her, and we stroll away. I ignore Liz, who incidentally, now looks more like a fish than I did, and her staring. I ignore every person I know, ready to float away with the knowledge that Tess really did come back. And she may be scarred, and she may have changed (she grew up…so did I. It happens) but we can make this spark between us grow.

And we will change the world, my Tess and me.

Right after we have a long, serious talk, and possibly a knock down drag out fight. Cause I'm gonna do anything I have to to keep her right here with me. Where she belongs, is by my side, and I will go anywhere to keep her there.