Author's Note: Thanks, as always, for the wonderful feedback folks. I know
that the truth is coming out excruciatingly slowly, but we take a giant
leap forward here...as you soon shall see.
[u]Part 14[/u]
For one precious moment, Max ignored the flashes that came fast and furious as soon as Liz's lips touched his. He allowed himself to revel in the softness of her skin, the silkiness of her hair as his hands came up to cradle her delicate skull. He deepened the kiss, barely daring to believe that he had actually finally broken through her resolve.
He could tell that she was trying to refrain from giving him flashes, could feel her will at work, but also knew that her desire to shut him out was weak. Her heart wanted him to know, even if her head didn't, and she could not hide from him. Not anymore.
At first he didn't understand what the flashes were telling him. They were confused and random, Liz's emotional state making them so. The image of his own face as a little boy was the only one he recognized immediately. He felt her love for him, even then, although he could tell that she didn't know about it.
The next image he understood was the instant following the shooting in the Crashdown, Liz's awe and fascination running through his veins and then, the moment when she knew she had fallen in love with him, when he told her that it was too dangerous for them to pursue any sort of relationship. The flashes ran through all the moments they had shared together before they knew who he really was. The moments of happiness were mingled with small hurts and pains, but nothing matched the complete sense of despair and terror Liz had felt when he was held by Pierce - which was then replaced with the calm realization that here was her true love, that they were both way too young - not to mention the extenuating circumstance that he was an alien - but that she didn't care as they kissed in the abandoned van in the woods. She had been scared, but also accepting, relieved that she had found him, because what if there had been no Max?
And then the horror of finding out about his destiny with Tess; a completely miserable summer in Florida, where she picked up the phone to call him at least ten times a day. The feeling of mixed panic and joy when he approached her on the street outside Whittaker's office.and, then, the sense of relief when she finally accepted that she couldn't turn him away again. They were meant to be.hadn't the fortune teller told her so?
[I]I, Liz Parker, take Max Evans.[/I]
[I]Do you really see grey?[/I]
[I]As I threw the flowers up to you, I remembered that you preferred white roses.[/I]
[I]He sat down! You got him to sit down with her![/I]
[I]The night of Gomez, I came to your room. That's the night that things between us were cemented.[/I]
[I]I've fought a thousand battles.but watching you do that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.[/I]
[I]This is a different world.[/I]
Max broke the kiss, his heart thundering in his chest. "Liz!" He whispered, his forehead pressed against hers. He opened his eyes, could see that she was staring at him too, tears streaming down her cheeks. "What.what was that?"
********************************************
Kate knocked on Will's door. Her brother opened it a moment later, his face blank. He eyed her, then stepped aside and let her enter the room.
Kate's eyes immediately fell on the bed - or, rather, on what was sitting on the bed. She sighed, felt a pang of worry. He was pining. He started to think about doing crazy things when he pined.crazy things like handing over the entire government of his planet. "Will."
Will picked up the small, stained piece of fabric, stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans. "What?"
"I thought you said you were going to give Liz time."
"I am giving her time," Will retorted, turning to meet her gaze again. "Where have you been?"
Kate scowled at him. "Don't try and change the subject. You want to give that to her, don't you?"
"I want to, but I won't," Will replied, squinting at her. His eyes looked strangely bright, like he had been crying. He had never cried in front of her and she knew he certainly wasn't going to start now, but the fact that traces even remained at all.He was losing it. Her stoic brother was actually losing it. "She has to remember on her own or it won't mean anything," he continued.
Kate approached him, gently touched his arm. "Will, it might be the best thing to do. She may never remember on her own. Zan has constant access to her. He might make her remember things wrong. Don't forget that he has Ava with him."
"Ava would never do such a thing," Will scoffed, moving to the sink in the corner of the room and running the water. He cupped his hands under the faucet, collected a small amount and then splashed his face. When he had finished drying himself off, his expression was again carefully neutral. "It would kill her to even allow Zan to pretend to love someone else. You know what she was like."
Kate sighed, collapsed on the bed. "I do know," she agreed. "But."
Will frowned. "But what?"
She grimaced. "You asked where I went." She trailed off, knew that he was going to be angry. "I started off looking for Jack, but then I went somewhere else instead."
"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow, waiting.
She hated when he did that. It always made her feel like a small child waiting for her father to yell at her. Not that she really knew what it was like to have a father - at least not in this life. She thought briefly of Liz Parker's dad, whom they had met in the Crashdown earlier. What had Ro's life been like with two parents who loved her? How had she even ended up there? How had she not known about her alien heritage before today? She had been right to seek out Alex Whitman the way she had. He knew things, could give them information Rowena might never provide. Kate believed that more now than ever.
If she had doubted it before, she did not now. Rowena believed herself in love with Zan. And though he had not said as much, Kate suspected that Alex truly believed that Zan loved her back. If Max Evans was playing some sort of game with her brother's wife, than he was apparently an extremely good actor.
But, then, he had been last time too.
The horrible part was though, as much as she told herself that, as much as she tried to convince herself that he was putting on an act, that he was using his charm to bind Rowena to him, Kate couldn't help herself. She believed Alex. She believed him that Max Evans was not a bad guy, that he truly did love Liz Parker.
Could his lack of memory really have changed his personality so drastically? Was he a superior version of the being he had been in his past life? Could things really turn out so well for all of them?
And, yet, he had destroyed the Harvest, had basically sentenced her people to a living death. How could a good person have done such a thing?
No, he had to be pretending, just like he had before. There was no other explanation. She could not believe Alex. She knew that he was not lying to her, was only telling her the truth as he knew it, but he was wrong. She felt a pang that soon he would have to confront how truly evil his "friend" was. She remembered how much it hurt to find out that you were so completely mistaken about someone. Because, when Khivar had first come to her, in her past life, to tell her what Zan had done, she had refused to believe it too.
"Kate, where did you go?" Will demanded, impatiently.
"I went and spoke to Alex Whitman again," she replied, looking away. "Don't bother getting mad about it. I know it was dumb, but I just felt like he might tell me the truth."
"About what?" Will asked, coming to sit beside her. "What did he tell you?"
"About Max Evans," Kate told him. "What he's like, who he is."
"And?"
"Well, Alex firmly believes Max is in love with Liz." Kate rolled her eyes. "He tried to pretend he didn't, but he does think that."
"He thinks that we're using Ro to try and hurt Zan, is that it?" Will asked, sounding weary.
"Yeah, I think he does. It sounds like Max and Liz are definitely on the outs right now though. They're not together, as a couple anyway. I'm not sure why, but Alex told me that Ro is with him now. She went straight to him from here, just like I knew she." She stopped, could have kicked herself. "I'm sorry."
"They're together right now?" Will swallowed. Kate could almost see him struggling to control his jealousy. "Well, it's to be expected. She has known him for a long while, knows what he is. If anyone can help her to figure out if I'm lying or not, it's him."
"But Will, what if he's messing with her mind?" Kate demanded. "He can tell her all sorts of lies about us and then she'll never trust us." The thought of Rowena hating her.It was enough to make her feel physically ill. She had been jealous of Ro on many occasions in the past, but it hadn't stopped Kate from loving her like a sister. While Vilandra had been her kindred spirit, Rowena had always been everything Kate had aspired to be. The idea that she might stay with their enemies, that they might have to fight her to get to Zan.It was intolerable. Not to mention that Will would never do it. If Rowena joined Zan against them, their side would lose before the battle even started.
"Ro will get all the facts before she makes her decision," Will said firmly. "She hasn't changed much Kate. Even through our brief conversation, I could tell that she is the same. Though she speaks with him first, she will come back to me.If even just to get my side of the story." He stood up. "Now, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm assuming you never did track down Jack then?"
"No," Kate frowned. "Where is he? I'm worried about him. He hasn't checked in all day."
"Jack knows what he's doing," Will shrugged. "He'll come back when he has something worthwhile to talk about."
"Don't you worry about him at all?" Kate demanded. "He's such a dork sometimes Will. He doesn't know how to stay detached. If he meets up with one of them, he might."
"He won't do anything he's not supposed to," Will said mildly. "He never does." He eyed her, slightly amused. "And since when do you use the word dork? You've been hanging around humans too much."
Kate rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You're going to be sorry when we find him in a pile of dust somewhere." She was flippant but the mere idea of anything happening to her cousin was enough to make Kate's stomach start doing flip-flops. He was one of only two people on this planet she could truly depend on. Their people's days were numbered after all, unless they found the granolith. It was another reason that making Rowena side with them was so important. If she knew where the granolith was, or if she could get the information out of Zan.
Kate's eyes narrowed. Maybe it wouldn't be a complete disaster after all if Zan was actually in love with Rowena. For the first time, she felt a pang of hope that it might be so. Because if they could get their hands on the granolith, they would win. It was as simple as that.
"Did you ask Rowena about the granolith?" Kate asked her brother abruptly. He looked slightly surprised by the abrupt change of topic, but answered her anyway.
"I never got a chance. I was preoccupied with the fact that se sort of freaked out on me and all," he replied, a little sarcastic. Kate glanced at him sharply. He was trying to hide how much it had hurt him that Rowena had been so upset by what he had told her. The last thing Will ever wanted to do was hurt Rowena. That it had happened, even so indirectly, would haunt him for a long time.
"Hmmmmmm." Kate said, pretending not to notice his upheaval. "I wonder if the granolith could do anything to help her remember."
Will started, suddenly interested. "That's actually a pretty good point," he admitted grudgingly. He sighed. "And yet another reason that we need to figure out where the hell it is."
Kate smiled suddenly, an idea popping into her head. "We don't necessarily have to go through Zan and the others," she said. She ignored the pang of guilt that was trying to make her stop from saying this. It didn't matter that she sort of liked him. Her brother came first and always would. If finding the granolith could help to bring Rowena back to Will, then she would use him to make it happen. "I can maybe plant the idea in a receptive ear."
Will had been pacing, his hands behind his back, his frustration about the hidden granolith evident. He looked up now, met her eyes and understood. "Alex Whitman."
"Right." The way Will's face lit up - she was doing the right thing. She knew she was. "He'll suggest it to Ro and Zan and then."
"We follow them."
Their matching blue eyes met and held. The hope she saw in her brother's eyes - it killed any last remnant of remorse she had over the fact that she was going to use Alex - someone she had come to like considerably, even in the short time she had known him.
"Well, what are you waiting for?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all." She closed her eyes and pictured Alex's face in her mind and then [I]willed[/I] herself to be with him.
She felt her body breaking apart as her mind reached out and found the place it was looking for. It was harder to teleport to specific people than it was to decide on a location. If she had had time to figure out exactly where Alex was, she could have envisioned the place and found herself there much more easily. But she didn't have that luxury. She had to do this before she chickened out.before she started to regret that she might be losing a new friendship before it even really had a chance to start.
Of course, she should have realized that where Alex was might not necessarily be somewhere she should be. Because, when she felt her body solidify again, after she knew that she was back in one piece, she opened her eyes and her heart stopped.
Her eyes met Zan's and she knew that she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.
********************************************
There was a long pause. Max watched the emotions play across her face, could feel her turmoil as she tried to figure out what to say. "Just tell me the truth. Please," he whispered. "Liz, please."
He saw the exact moment where she decided to honour his wish, his most ardent wish that she would stop lying to him - and herself. "It was you," she replied simply. "I would do anything for you Max. You asked me to and I did it."
"That was me? I don't understand." But he thought he did. He had recognized himself in those flashes of events he knew that he had not lived, at least not directly. He had been there, but not as a player in the disaster they had both wrought.
That had been him. Another him perhaps, but him just the same. He had recognized himself in the way she felt about him - in the way she loved him.
"You came to me from the future and told me that if I didn't make you fall out of love with me, everyone would die because Tess would leave town and you wouldn't be strong enough without her. If we ended up together, like we were supposed to, the world would end and it would be all our fault." Her eyes were glassy as she recited the story, as she relived the horror of being told such a thing. "And now I've ruined everything because I just can't bear to lie to you anymore Max. I just can't!"
Max pulled her against him, felt his heart breaking as she sobbed. How had she endured all this on her own? How could he have ever asked her to do such a thing? "I am so sorry Liz."
"It's not your fault Max," Liz said, pulling back and giving him a watery smile. "It wasn't your fault then and it isn't now. You did the only thing you thought you could. I just wasn't strong enough. He was wrong to trust me. He should have known that I can't live without you. You've always had too much faith in me though." She shook her head. "Isn't it ironic? It's your faith in me that made you know that I didn't sleep with Kyle, but it was also your faith in me that made me try to convince you of it - because [I]you[/I] asked me to. It was a stupid plan. He should have gone to Tess. She would have been strong enough." She trailed off. "I just hope that she's strong enough to stay."
Max shook his head. "No Liz. I have faith in you because I love you. You can't blame yourself for letting me. I can't help it. I am meant to love you and because I do, I believe in you. It's just who you are. Even when everything looked completely screwed up, when I wondered if I had been completely wrong about you, I knew I wasn't. I've seen your soul Liz. I [I]know[/I] you." He paused, tried to figure out some way to comfort her. "I've [I]always[/I] known you."
Liz's eyes widened. "What did you say?" She whispered.
"I said I feel like I've always known you," he repeated, confused.
"No you didn't," she retorted. "You said you've always known me, not that you [I]feel[/I] like you have."
Max blinked. "Er, okay. So? What's the difference? Either way, it's the truth."
Liz sighed, leaned forward, resting her cheek against his chest. His skin tingled under his shirt where her arms wrapped around him. "God, Max. You have no idea. The Future Max thing is just the tip of the iceburg. I don't even know where to start."
"Just start at the beginning," Max told her, stroking her hair lightly. "We have all the time in the world."
"Um, I beg to differ."
Max's head snapped up and he stared in astonishment at Alex, who was staring right back at him from the ladder on the other side of the balcony. "Alex? Are you okay?" Max didn't think he had ever seen Alex's face as white as it currently was.
Alex didn't reply to Max, looked at Liz instead as he pulled himself over the ledge, grimacing. "Jeez. I thought I was in better shape." He muttered. "So, you told him huh?"
"Yeah," Liz sighed heavily. "I just couldn't do it anymore Alex."
"Alex knew?" Max asked, relieved that she hadn't borne the entire burden alone.
"I just told him today. After what happened this morning, I had to tell someone."
"What happened this morning?" But he realized he already knew. "Will Spencer."
She flinched against him, but agreed. "Will." He tried to ignore the pang of jealousy that ran through him at the way she sad the other alien's name. What the hell had happened between Liz and Will Spencer that afternoon?
Max saw Alex's gaze narrow. "I guess you didn't get to the [I]really[/I] good stuff? You better hurry Liz, because I think I just really screwed up. Guess who just had another run in with Kate Spencer?"
"What happened?" Liz asked, suddenly alert. "Did she hurt you?"
"Will someone please tell me what you're talking about?" Max demanded, his concern for Liz and his curiousity finally overwhelming his patience.
He watched Liz and Alex exchange another glance and then Liz turned to him, took one of his hands in hers. "This might be really hard for you to hear Max."
But she never got a chance to say whatever it was she was trying to, because a strangled gasp from Alex made Liz whip her head around to stare at her friend. He was looking beyond them both, at a point just behind where they still sat on the lawn chair. Max turned and felt his own eyes bulge as the air seemed to come alive. It shimmered for one long moment and then, as simply as he took his next breath, the three of them became four.
And, as he watched Kate Spencer's blue eyes widen in surprise as they met his, he could see that they were not the only ones who were taken aback.
"Max! She's here to kill you!" Alex yelped, leaping in front of Max and Liz so abruptly, Max fell back on his elbows on the lawn chair. "And it's all my fault!"
To be continued.
[u]Part 14[/u]
For one precious moment, Max ignored the flashes that came fast and furious as soon as Liz's lips touched his. He allowed himself to revel in the softness of her skin, the silkiness of her hair as his hands came up to cradle her delicate skull. He deepened the kiss, barely daring to believe that he had actually finally broken through her resolve.
He could tell that she was trying to refrain from giving him flashes, could feel her will at work, but also knew that her desire to shut him out was weak. Her heart wanted him to know, even if her head didn't, and she could not hide from him. Not anymore.
At first he didn't understand what the flashes were telling him. They were confused and random, Liz's emotional state making them so. The image of his own face as a little boy was the only one he recognized immediately. He felt her love for him, even then, although he could tell that she didn't know about it.
The next image he understood was the instant following the shooting in the Crashdown, Liz's awe and fascination running through his veins and then, the moment when she knew she had fallen in love with him, when he told her that it was too dangerous for them to pursue any sort of relationship. The flashes ran through all the moments they had shared together before they knew who he really was. The moments of happiness were mingled with small hurts and pains, but nothing matched the complete sense of despair and terror Liz had felt when he was held by Pierce - which was then replaced with the calm realization that here was her true love, that they were both way too young - not to mention the extenuating circumstance that he was an alien - but that she didn't care as they kissed in the abandoned van in the woods. She had been scared, but also accepting, relieved that she had found him, because what if there had been no Max?
And then the horror of finding out about his destiny with Tess; a completely miserable summer in Florida, where she picked up the phone to call him at least ten times a day. The feeling of mixed panic and joy when he approached her on the street outside Whittaker's office.and, then, the sense of relief when she finally accepted that she couldn't turn him away again. They were meant to be.hadn't the fortune teller told her so?
[I]I, Liz Parker, take Max Evans.[/I]
[I]Do you really see grey?[/I]
[I]As I threw the flowers up to you, I remembered that you preferred white roses.[/I]
[I]He sat down! You got him to sit down with her![/I]
[I]The night of Gomez, I came to your room. That's the night that things between us were cemented.[/I]
[I]I've fought a thousand battles.but watching you do that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.[/I]
[I]This is a different world.[/I]
Max broke the kiss, his heart thundering in his chest. "Liz!" He whispered, his forehead pressed against hers. He opened his eyes, could see that she was staring at him too, tears streaming down her cheeks. "What.what was that?"
********************************************
Kate knocked on Will's door. Her brother opened it a moment later, his face blank. He eyed her, then stepped aside and let her enter the room.
Kate's eyes immediately fell on the bed - or, rather, on what was sitting on the bed. She sighed, felt a pang of worry. He was pining. He started to think about doing crazy things when he pined.crazy things like handing over the entire government of his planet. "Will."
Will picked up the small, stained piece of fabric, stuffed it into the pocket of his jeans. "What?"
"I thought you said you were going to give Liz time."
"I am giving her time," Will retorted, turning to meet her gaze again. "Where have you been?"
Kate scowled at him. "Don't try and change the subject. You want to give that to her, don't you?"
"I want to, but I won't," Will replied, squinting at her. His eyes looked strangely bright, like he had been crying. He had never cried in front of her and she knew he certainly wasn't going to start now, but the fact that traces even remained at all.He was losing it. Her stoic brother was actually losing it. "She has to remember on her own or it won't mean anything," he continued.
Kate approached him, gently touched his arm. "Will, it might be the best thing to do. She may never remember on her own. Zan has constant access to her. He might make her remember things wrong. Don't forget that he has Ava with him."
"Ava would never do such a thing," Will scoffed, moving to the sink in the corner of the room and running the water. He cupped his hands under the faucet, collected a small amount and then splashed his face. When he had finished drying himself off, his expression was again carefully neutral. "It would kill her to even allow Zan to pretend to love someone else. You know what she was like."
Kate sighed, collapsed on the bed. "I do know," she agreed. "But."
Will frowned. "But what?"
She grimaced. "You asked where I went." She trailed off, knew that he was going to be angry. "I started off looking for Jack, but then I went somewhere else instead."
"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow, waiting.
She hated when he did that. It always made her feel like a small child waiting for her father to yell at her. Not that she really knew what it was like to have a father - at least not in this life. She thought briefly of Liz Parker's dad, whom they had met in the Crashdown earlier. What had Ro's life been like with two parents who loved her? How had she even ended up there? How had she not known about her alien heritage before today? She had been right to seek out Alex Whitman the way she had. He knew things, could give them information Rowena might never provide. Kate believed that more now than ever.
If she had doubted it before, she did not now. Rowena believed herself in love with Zan. And though he had not said as much, Kate suspected that Alex truly believed that Zan loved her back. If Max Evans was playing some sort of game with her brother's wife, than he was apparently an extremely good actor.
But, then, he had been last time too.
The horrible part was though, as much as she told herself that, as much as she tried to convince herself that he was putting on an act, that he was using his charm to bind Rowena to him, Kate couldn't help herself. She believed Alex. She believed him that Max Evans was not a bad guy, that he truly did love Liz Parker.
Could his lack of memory really have changed his personality so drastically? Was he a superior version of the being he had been in his past life? Could things really turn out so well for all of them?
And, yet, he had destroyed the Harvest, had basically sentenced her people to a living death. How could a good person have done such a thing?
No, he had to be pretending, just like he had before. There was no other explanation. She could not believe Alex. She knew that he was not lying to her, was only telling her the truth as he knew it, but he was wrong. She felt a pang that soon he would have to confront how truly evil his "friend" was. She remembered how much it hurt to find out that you were so completely mistaken about someone. Because, when Khivar had first come to her, in her past life, to tell her what Zan had done, she had refused to believe it too.
"Kate, where did you go?" Will demanded, impatiently.
"I went and spoke to Alex Whitman again," she replied, looking away. "Don't bother getting mad about it. I know it was dumb, but I just felt like he might tell me the truth."
"About what?" Will asked, coming to sit beside her. "What did he tell you?"
"About Max Evans," Kate told him. "What he's like, who he is."
"And?"
"Well, Alex firmly believes Max is in love with Liz." Kate rolled her eyes. "He tried to pretend he didn't, but he does think that."
"He thinks that we're using Ro to try and hurt Zan, is that it?" Will asked, sounding weary.
"Yeah, I think he does. It sounds like Max and Liz are definitely on the outs right now though. They're not together, as a couple anyway. I'm not sure why, but Alex told me that Ro is with him now. She went straight to him from here, just like I knew she." She stopped, could have kicked herself. "I'm sorry."
"They're together right now?" Will swallowed. Kate could almost see him struggling to control his jealousy. "Well, it's to be expected. She has known him for a long while, knows what he is. If anyone can help her to figure out if I'm lying or not, it's him."
"But Will, what if he's messing with her mind?" Kate demanded. "He can tell her all sorts of lies about us and then she'll never trust us." The thought of Rowena hating her.It was enough to make her feel physically ill. She had been jealous of Ro on many occasions in the past, but it hadn't stopped Kate from loving her like a sister. While Vilandra had been her kindred spirit, Rowena had always been everything Kate had aspired to be. The idea that she might stay with their enemies, that they might have to fight her to get to Zan.It was intolerable. Not to mention that Will would never do it. If Rowena joined Zan against them, their side would lose before the battle even started.
"Ro will get all the facts before she makes her decision," Will said firmly. "She hasn't changed much Kate. Even through our brief conversation, I could tell that she is the same. Though she speaks with him first, she will come back to me.If even just to get my side of the story." He stood up. "Now, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm assuming you never did track down Jack then?"
"No," Kate frowned. "Where is he? I'm worried about him. He hasn't checked in all day."
"Jack knows what he's doing," Will shrugged. "He'll come back when he has something worthwhile to talk about."
"Don't you worry about him at all?" Kate demanded. "He's such a dork sometimes Will. He doesn't know how to stay detached. If he meets up with one of them, he might."
"He won't do anything he's not supposed to," Will said mildly. "He never does." He eyed her, slightly amused. "And since when do you use the word dork? You've been hanging around humans too much."
Kate rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You're going to be sorry when we find him in a pile of dust somewhere." She was flippant but the mere idea of anything happening to her cousin was enough to make Kate's stomach start doing flip-flops. He was one of only two people on this planet she could truly depend on. Their people's days were numbered after all, unless they found the granolith. It was another reason that making Rowena side with them was so important. If she knew where the granolith was, or if she could get the information out of Zan.
Kate's eyes narrowed. Maybe it wouldn't be a complete disaster after all if Zan was actually in love with Rowena. For the first time, she felt a pang of hope that it might be so. Because if they could get their hands on the granolith, they would win. It was as simple as that.
"Did you ask Rowena about the granolith?" Kate asked her brother abruptly. He looked slightly surprised by the abrupt change of topic, but answered her anyway.
"I never got a chance. I was preoccupied with the fact that se sort of freaked out on me and all," he replied, a little sarcastic. Kate glanced at him sharply. He was trying to hide how much it had hurt him that Rowena had been so upset by what he had told her. The last thing Will ever wanted to do was hurt Rowena. That it had happened, even so indirectly, would haunt him for a long time.
"Hmmmmmm." Kate said, pretending not to notice his upheaval. "I wonder if the granolith could do anything to help her remember."
Will started, suddenly interested. "That's actually a pretty good point," he admitted grudgingly. He sighed. "And yet another reason that we need to figure out where the hell it is."
Kate smiled suddenly, an idea popping into her head. "We don't necessarily have to go through Zan and the others," she said. She ignored the pang of guilt that was trying to make her stop from saying this. It didn't matter that she sort of liked him. Her brother came first and always would. If finding the granolith could help to bring Rowena back to Will, then she would use him to make it happen. "I can maybe plant the idea in a receptive ear."
Will had been pacing, his hands behind his back, his frustration about the hidden granolith evident. He looked up now, met her eyes and understood. "Alex Whitman."
"Right." The way Will's face lit up - she was doing the right thing. She knew she was. "He'll suggest it to Ro and Zan and then."
"We follow them."
Their matching blue eyes met and held. The hope she saw in her brother's eyes - it killed any last remnant of remorse she had over the fact that she was going to use Alex - someone she had come to like considerably, even in the short time she had known him.
"Well, what are you waiting for?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all." She closed her eyes and pictured Alex's face in her mind and then [I]willed[/I] herself to be with him.
She felt her body breaking apart as her mind reached out and found the place it was looking for. It was harder to teleport to specific people than it was to decide on a location. If she had had time to figure out exactly where Alex was, she could have envisioned the place and found herself there much more easily. But she didn't have that luxury. She had to do this before she chickened out.before she started to regret that she might be losing a new friendship before it even really had a chance to start.
Of course, she should have realized that where Alex was might not necessarily be somewhere she should be. Because, when she felt her body solidify again, after she knew that she was back in one piece, she opened her eyes and her heart stopped.
Her eyes met Zan's and she knew that she had just made the biggest mistake of her life.
********************************************
There was a long pause. Max watched the emotions play across her face, could feel her turmoil as she tried to figure out what to say. "Just tell me the truth. Please," he whispered. "Liz, please."
He saw the exact moment where she decided to honour his wish, his most ardent wish that she would stop lying to him - and herself. "It was you," she replied simply. "I would do anything for you Max. You asked me to and I did it."
"That was me? I don't understand." But he thought he did. He had recognized himself in those flashes of events he knew that he had not lived, at least not directly. He had been there, but not as a player in the disaster they had both wrought.
That had been him. Another him perhaps, but him just the same. He had recognized himself in the way she felt about him - in the way she loved him.
"You came to me from the future and told me that if I didn't make you fall out of love with me, everyone would die because Tess would leave town and you wouldn't be strong enough without her. If we ended up together, like we were supposed to, the world would end and it would be all our fault." Her eyes were glassy as she recited the story, as she relived the horror of being told such a thing. "And now I've ruined everything because I just can't bear to lie to you anymore Max. I just can't!"
Max pulled her against him, felt his heart breaking as she sobbed. How had she endured all this on her own? How could he have ever asked her to do such a thing? "I am so sorry Liz."
"It's not your fault Max," Liz said, pulling back and giving him a watery smile. "It wasn't your fault then and it isn't now. You did the only thing you thought you could. I just wasn't strong enough. He was wrong to trust me. He should have known that I can't live without you. You've always had too much faith in me though." She shook her head. "Isn't it ironic? It's your faith in me that made you know that I didn't sleep with Kyle, but it was also your faith in me that made me try to convince you of it - because [I]you[/I] asked me to. It was a stupid plan. He should have gone to Tess. She would have been strong enough." She trailed off. "I just hope that she's strong enough to stay."
Max shook his head. "No Liz. I have faith in you because I love you. You can't blame yourself for letting me. I can't help it. I am meant to love you and because I do, I believe in you. It's just who you are. Even when everything looked completely screwed up, when I wondered if I had been completely wrong about you, I knew I wasn't. I've seen your soul Liz. I [I]know[/I] you." He paused, tried to figure out some way to comfort her. "I've [I]always[/I] known you."
Liz's eyes widened. "What did you say?" She whispered.
"I said I feel like I've always known you," he repeated, confused.
"No you didn't," she retorted. "You said you've always known me, not that you [I]feel[/I] like you have."
Max blinked. "Er, okay. So? What's the difference? Either way, it's the truth."
Liz sighed, leaned forward, resting her cheek against his chest. His skin tingled under his shirt where her arms wrapped around him. "God, Max. You have no idea. The Future Max thing is just the tip of the iceburg. I don't even know where to start."
"Just start at the beginning," Max told her, stroking her hair lightly. "We have all the time in the world."
"Um, I beg to differ."
Max's head snapped up and he stared in astonishment at Alex, who was staring right back at him from the ladder on the other side of the balcony. "Alex? Are you okay?" Max didn't think he had ever seen Alex's face as white as it currently was.
Alex didn't reply to Max, looked at Liz instead as he pulled himself over the ledge, grimacing. "Jeez. I thought I was in better shape." He muttered. "So, you told him huh?"
"Yeah," Liz sighed heavily. "I just couldn't do it anymore Alex."
"Alex knew?" Max asked, relieved that she hadn't borne the entire burden alone.
"I just told him today. After what happened this morning, I had to tell someone."
"What happened this morning?" But he realized he already knew. "Will Spencer."
She flinched against him, but agreed. "Will." He tried to ignore the pang of jealousy that ran through him at the way she sad the other alien's name. What the hell had happened between Liz and Will Spencer that afternoon?
Max saw Alex's gaze narrow. "I guess you didn't get to the [I]really[/I] good stuff? You better hurry Liz, because I think I just really screwed up. Guess who just had another run in with Kate Spencer?"
"What happened?" Liz asked, suddenly alert. "Did she hurt you?"
"Will someone please tell me what you're talking about?" Max demanded, his concern for Liz and his curiousity finally overwhelming his patience.
He watched Liz and Alex exchange another glance and then Liz turned to him, took one of his hands in hers. "This might be really hard for you to hear Max."
But she never got a chance to say whatever it was she was trying to, because a strangled gasp from Alex made Liz whip her head around to stare at her friend. He was looking beyond them both, at a point just behind where they still sat on the lawn chair. Max turned and felt his own eyes bulge as the air seemed to come alive. It shimmered for one long moment and then, as simply as he took his next breath, the three of them became four.
And, as he watched Kate Spencer's blue eyes widen in surprise as they met his, he could see that they were not the only ones who were taken aback.
"Max! She's here to kill you!" Alex yelped, leaping in front of Max and Liz so abruptly, Max fell back on his elbows on the lawn chair. "And it's all my fault!"
To be continued.