I know! I know I said I would have this up last Monday but I had the cold and it just snuck on me so I didn't know what was happening till I woke up on Monday feeling like hell.
Chapter 32
Isabel Evans found herself sitting in the Crashdown at one of the booths as she looked over her wedding plans that she had created for her wedding. She tilted her head as she rested her right hand on her cheek, resting her elbow on the table as she looked up at Liz, who was moving back and forth in her waitress uniform, getting the place ready.
Isabel smiled as she thought back to after Max came back to Roswell. Max had finally given her permission to tell Jesse the truth about her and Isabel couldn't help but be relieved and happy.
She came back to the present and her eyes landed back on Liz once more, who moved over to a customer and took their order and Isabel smiled. She knew that Liz had talked to Max once more about telling Jesse the truth. Max had told her.
"So, why are you giving me permission to tell Jesse?" Isabel asked, curious to what had changed his mind. Isabel and Max were sitting in Max's bedroom when Max had told her.
"Liz, she told me that a relationship wouldn't work if you had secrets. I know that you don't want to marry Jesse till he knew the truth so I'm giving you permission to tell him, let him deal with it and I just hope that your relationship is strong enough to survive it," Max explained. Isabel sighed.
"Liz dealt with it," Isabel pointed out and Max shook his head.
"Not at the beginning she didn't, she had a hard time believing that I was an alien. But because I had saved her life, she knew that I couldn't have been all that bad," Max told her. "Plus, Liz and I didn't date for a while after she knew the truth."
"Right," Isabel whispered and Max sighed.
"I'm sure you and Jesse will make it – he wouldn't have asked you marry him if he didn't truly love you," Max pointed out and Isabel nodded.
"Yeah, you're right," Isabel agreed before she hugged Max, thanking him for giving her the permission.
Isabel was startled out of her thoughts when she heard someone call her name. Looking up, she saw Liz standing next to her table with a coffee pot in her hand.
"Sorry," Isabel apologised and Liz smiled, shaking her head.
"It's alright, do you want another coffee?" Liz asked. Isabel nodded as she held out her cup and Liz refilled it while nodding her head toward the papers in front of Isabel. "How is the planning going?" Liz asked and Isabel smiled slightly.
"Great," Isabel told her. "I have yours and Maria's bridesmaids' dresses ready and my wedding dress is being shipped over."
"Oh, can I see the dress?" Liz asked as she moved in a little closer and Isabel smiled as she lifted up the picture that had Liz's bridesmaid dress and handed it to Liz.
Isabel had spent ages on each of the dress, wanting it to suit both girls. Liz's was a deep red, floor length. It was tucked at the chest area; it gave a hint of cleavage but hid it at the same time. Isabel knew that Max would love the dress. Maria was a short black dress that reached past her knees. One side of the dress was longer and it had small white flowers scattered over the chest area.
"Oh, wow, Isabel," Liz gasped out when she saw her dress and Isabel smiled.
"I wanted to have a dress that suited both you and Maria and this was what I came up with," Isabel explained and Liz smiled.
"Thank you," Liz told her and Isabel shook her head, shaking off the thanks.
"Miss!" a voice called out and Liz smiled as she looked over her shoulder and saw a customers waiting for her.
"I'd better get back to work," Liz told Isabel, who nodded and watched as Liz made her way through the Crashdown before she slipped back into her memories of when she had finally told Jesse the whole truth about herself.
Jesse had been shocked when he had been told but he had accepted it better than she expected and realised that she was grateful that she hadn't kept it long from him as she could have done. She really didn't want to get married to Jesse when he didn't know the truth – while she was sure that Human/Alien sex was safe, there was no indication that it would have felt different.
Liz had explained to her it felt like she was being melded into Max, that they were becoming one but after they found out that Liz wasn't exactly 100 percent human, they threw that out of the window.
Maria had never slept with Michael and made it very clear that she was not going to sleep with him as a form of experiment just to see what it was like and Kyle had never slept with Tess so they had no idea how different alien sex would be.
Jesse was relieved that she had told him the truth although he thought she was making it up at he beginning. Once she showed him her powers, he came to the realisation that he was in love with an alien but it didn't once make a difference, much to Isabel's delight.
Although, not everyone was happy about the wedding. Diane and Phillip had a hard time dealing with the fact that their daughter was getting married at a young age and had protested that if Isabel and Jesse truly loved each other, they could wait.
Isabel didn't want to wait. She knew how dangerous her life could be. Sarah will killed at the age of 17 due to an alien and Liz had been shot at the age of 16 and almost died if it hadn't been for Max's healing. She knew that life was short and she wanted to spend the rest of the time with Jesse rather than dancing about when they could be having the time of their life.
Isabel soon came back to reality once more when she heard the door locking. Startled, she looked at her watch and realised that it was closing time already.
"Wow, time sure goes by fast when you're busy," Isabel commented before she packed up her stuff and looked at the two waitress, who were now in the middle of cleaning. "I'm heading off home, I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she hurried out of the Crashdown, leaving Liz and Maria to look at each other in amusement before they turned back to their task of cleaning.
Max and Liz found themselves in the Evans' kitchen a few days later looking over some notes for the wedding. It turned out that the wedding wasn't going the way Isabel had expected it to so there was a lot of panic running about to fix it.
"This is a nightmare," Max muttered. "What about the park for the reception?" Max pointed to an area on the map.
"That could be a good place," Liz told him when they heard the backdoor open and some talking. They turned to see Diane and Phillip making their way into the kitchen carrying groceries bags. They stopped when they saw Liz and Max sitting at the counter and Diane smiled at them and noticed that they had wedding notes over the counter.
Diane couldn't help the small frown that marred her forehead. She knew that Max and Liz were in the wedding. Liz was the bridesmaid while Max was the best man.
"How is the wedding going?" Diane asked and Phillip laughed.
"Knowing Isabel, she'll have it all down to the number of petals on the roses," Phillip told her as he turned to face to the kids.
Max and Liz just shared a look together, which got Diane and Phillip curious as Liz turned back to face them.
"Actually, its not going too well," Liz, admitted. "The cleaner has lost Isabel's wedding dress – last we heard, it was making its way to Florida."
"Oh…My," Diane told them.
"Yeah, and the band can't make it - Alex is doing some scouting to see if there is going to be a band in Roswell around this time in hope that one of them could take up the spot. The reception has been double booked so Max needs to find another place for that and to top it off, Isabel doesn't have someone to give her away," Liz listed off.
"Oh boy," Phillip stated and Liz nodded before she sighed.
"Listen, I understand how you think it's really fast but Isabel truly loves Jesse – I've never seen her this happy as she is with Jesse and with Sarah's death, she is just worried that something will come along and cut their time short," Liz explained. "If you really love Isabel, then trust her instincts and be there for the wedding – if you don't, you will regret it." With that, Liz and Max stood up and made their out of the house with Diane and Phillip just staring at them, pondering over her words.
Kyle walked into the Crashdown with the same irritable man whose' van had broke down. Maria grabbed Alex's collar as she walked by him, causing Alex to look at her.
"Maria?" Alex asked, concerned as Maria turned to face him.
"Isn't that the guy who sponsors Ivy?" Maria asked, pointing to the man sitting across from Kyle. Alex turned his head and looked at the man and he nodded.
"Yeah, it is," Alex, told her as they moved over to the man.
"Look, what will it take for you to speed up the repairs?" the man asked as he looked at Kyle, who just sighed.
"Listen, repairs are not something we can do with a snap of our fingers. You need new parts – ones we don't have therefore we need to order them from a garage who does have the parts and can send it to us," Kyle explained.
"Hello," Alex greeted, causing Kyle to look up at him with relief shining on his face.
"Hey Alex," Kyle greeted and Alex nodded as he sat down next to Kyle while Maria stood at the edge of the table.
"Listen, are you the boss of Ivy?" Alex asked the man, who looked at him startled before he nodded and Maria grinned.
"Let's make a deal," Maria told him, causing the man to arch an eyebrow at them before he settled back, interested.
Isabel made her way over to the counter where Jim was sitting and she sat down next to him. Jim looked up from his newspaper and smiled when he saw Isabel.
"Hello," he greeted and she smiled back at him.
"Hi, I wanted to ask you for a favour," she told him. Curious, Jim folded the papers and placed it on the counter before turning to face Isabel.
"What is it?" he asked. Isabel took a deep breath.
"I was wondering if you could give me away?" she asked. Jim just stared at her. "My parents don't approve of me getting married like this so my dad isn't able to give me away and as I see you like a second dad, I was hoping you would like to do the job."
"I would love to," Jim told her and she shot him a grateful relieved smile.
"Thank you," she told him and Jim shook his head.
"No thanks needed," Jim promised and Isabel smiled once more before she got off her seat and hurried out of the Crashdown, determined to make sure that everything else went her way.
The wedding was finally in place. But the bride wasn't.
"We're sorry," Maria told Isabel as she and Liz held up an old fashion wedding dress. Maria was dressed in her black dress while Liz was dressed in her red dress.
"No, it's fine," Isabel, told them with a falsely cheerful voice only for tears to film her eyes. "This is a nightmare." Maria and Liz looked at each other wishing that there were someway they could help Isabel but it seemed like Fate wasn't happy.
There was a knock at the door, causing the girls to turn around and they saw Diane standing there.
"Mom," Isabel greeted and Diane smiled.
"Hi, Liz told me about you losing your wedding dress – I just wondered that maybe, you would consider wearing my dress," Diane told her and Isabel felt tears well up in her eyes once more but this time out of joy.
Maria and Liz looked at each other. Fate has stepped in and made sure the wedding was on place.
"Maria and I will go and make sure everything is ready," Liz told them and both women nodded toward the younger ones. Maria and Liz made their way out of the room and headed down to where the wedding was going to take place.
"Okay, I'll check on the priest and Jesse to make sure they're okay. You check in with Max and make sure that everyone turned up?" Maria suggested and Liz nodded as they both went their separate ways.
Liz made her way over to the bottom of the aisle. She smiled when she caught sight of Max's eyes widening when he caught sight of Liz.
"Nice," he told Liz as an appreciative smile slowly worked up on his face. Liz smiled back at him as she finally stood near him.
"Is everyone here?" Liz asked as she looked around the area and Max nodded.
"Yeah," Max told her as he ran a hand up her arm. "Do you get to keep the dress?" Max asked and Liz laughed as she gazed up her boyfriend.
"What is it with you and my outfits these days?" Liz asked, teasingly scolding Max.
"What can I say? I like seeing you all dressed up," Max teased back as he leaned in and kissed her, softly before he pulled away and checked the area. "I just hope today will go by smoothly for Isabel."
"Yeah, same here – by the way, your mom showed up, she offered to let Isabel use her wedding dress for Isabel's," Liz told him and Max smiled.
"I was hoping that they would show up, I'm glad that they changed their mind," Max told her and Liz nodded.
"Let just hope that nothing else goes wrong today and we should be fine," she told him and Max agreed. Maria made her way over to them and smiled.
"Everything is ready, we just need the bride to walk down and it should all be okay," Maria told them and Liz smiled back at her.
"Great, I'll go and find Mr. Valenti and let him know that he should get ready. Max, you find Jesse's brother, Joshua because he's walking Maria down the aisle and meet you all back here," Liz informed them. They nodded as she hurried off to find everyone to get the wedding started.
Isabel made her way over to Jim, all dressed up in her mother's loaned wedding dress. Jim smiled when he saw her.
"You look great, are you ready?" Jim asked and Isabel nodded with a bright smile.
"Yeah," she whispered. "Are you?" she asked. Jim looked ahead of him and smiled.
"Yeah, but I'm sorry to tell you that I'm not walking you down the aisle with you," Jim told her, not once looking at Isabel.
Isabel looked at Jim, shocked before she looked in the same direction Jim was looking in and saw her father standing there, looking handsome in his tux. Jim took Isabel's hand out of his elbow and kissed her cheek. "Have a good wedding honey, I'm proud of you." Isabel smiled at Jim before he walked off, patting Phillip on the back before he moved forward into the seating area and sat down.
Phillip walked over to Isabel and looked down at her.
"Are you ready?" Phillip asked and Isabel nodded as she shot her father a bright smile.
"I've never been more ready in my life," Isabel told him. Phillip lifted up his arm and Isabel linked her arm through his and they made their way over to the aisle.
Maria made her way down the aisle with a younger looking of Jesse except he had lighter brown hair, carrying a bunch of red roses. Max lifted his arm and Liz slipped her arm through his and they both set off down the aisle with Liz carrying white roses.
Once they reached the bottom, Max kissed Liz's cheek and moved over to stand next to Jesse while Liz moved over to stand next to Maria and they all turned to face the bottom of the aisle as everyone who were seated stood up as the music started up.
Isabel and Phillip rounded the corner and started up the aisle. Jesse couldn't help but smile when he saw Isabel making her way toward him.
Soon, Isabel reached Jesse and they both linked hands before they turned to the priest. Phillip sat down next to his wife, who wrapped an arm around his and leaned into him as they watched their daughter get married.
For Isabel and Jesse, they barely acknowledge anything about the wedding except when it came to their vows. Liz and Max couldn't keep their eyes off each other with bright smiles as they thought about their own future wedding and excitement for Isabel and Jesse as they finally tied the knot and started a new chapter of husband and wife.
"Isabel and Jesse Ramirez," the introductory called out. "Along with the best Man, Max Evans and Joshua Ramirez and bridesmaid Liz Parker and Maria Deluca."
Everyone started clapping as they all made their way into the reception. Liz held onto Max's hand, laughing at something he said as they all made their way over to the table to sit down for their meal.
Soon the meal was over. Isabel and Jesse sat in the centre at the head table. Max and Liz sat next to Isabel while Maria and Joshua sat next to Jesse when a man walked over to Max and bent down next to him and whispered something in his ear. Max nodded before the man straightened up and walked off.
Max stood up and tapped his glass, causing everyone to look at him.
"Hi, I'm Max Evans, the best man and Isabel's sister. I just wanted to say how proud I am of my sister," Max started. Liz smiled up at Max. "Not everyone knows that Isabel and I were adopted when we were younger and I've always tried my best to protect her but I'm now glad to be handing that job over to Jesse because I can tell you, she is one handful," he got laughers from that. "But on a serious note, I'm glad that Isabel had found someone who loves her and who she loves back. So, I wish to welcome Jesse to the family – I can assure you, it'll never be boring," Jesse lifted his glass in acknowledgement. "And to Isabel, I love you and I trust you. To Isabel and Jesse!"
"To Isabel and Jesse," everyone cheered as Max sat down. Liz rubbed her hand over his thigh before she leaned in and kissed his cheek.
"Good speech," Liz whispered and Max kissed her on the lips while Maria made her way over to the small stage.
"It's time for the bride and groom's first dance, will Isabel and Jesse please take place on the dance floor?" Maria asked. Isabel and Jesse made their way over to the dance floor and Maria made her way over to the man, who was sitting on the chair. "Hit it," Maria told him and he winked at Maria who moved away from them before he gave thumbs up to the band.
The female singer made her way over to the microphone and started singing 'Edge of the ocean' while Isabel and Jesse danced for a few seconds then the rest of the couples went on.
Liz made her way over to where her dad was sorting out the deliveries.
"Hey dad," she greeted and Jeff looked over to her before smiling.
"Hey, great wedding sweetie – you and Maria did a good job keeping everything on level," Jeff praised Liz and Liz smiled back.
"Is mom here?" she asked and Jeff's smile faded.
"No, I'm sorry sweetie, she wanted to take over the Crashdown," Jeff told her and Liz nodded. She looked over to where Max was drinking some bubbly juice and smiled when she saw him smiling at his sister and new brother in law. "Go and dance with Max sweetie, I know you want to," Jeff told his daughter.
Liz smiled as she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before moving over to Max. Max looked down at Liz when she arrived at his side and she led him onto the dance floor where they could dance.
Jeff watched as Liz was saying something to Max. He replied that made Liz smile before he leaned down and kissed her before pulling away. Liz just continued to have a dreamy smile on her face.
Jeff couldn't help but be happy for his baby girl. He and Liz had finally sat down and talked about Liz's real mother with Nancy around. Jeff had listened to James and Max and told Nancy that she couldn't come along when Liz wanted to speak to him because he wanted to mend his relationship with his daughter because he wasn't about to lose his only daughter.
Nancy had put up a fight but had relented after a while and finally agreed. Jeff couldn't help but hope that Liz and Nancy would be able to find some common ground and form a relationship.
Soon everyone found themselves in the Crashdown. Max and Alex were putting the suitcases into the boot of the taxi while Maria, Liz, James and Michael were helping to put all the dirty dishes into the kitchen.
Michael was coming out of the Crashdown when Liz walked past him and handed him a tub full of dirty dishes.
"Kitchen," she told him. Michael just arched an eyebrow.
"I'm not washing all those," Michael told her.
"Kitchen," Liz repeated before she walked off. Michael just stared after her before looking at Max and Alex, who just turned back to their task before Michael headed back into the Crashdown while Alex and Max just snickered to each other.
Isabel and Jesse were inside the Crashdown, saying bye to everyone when the gang finally stepped in, looking exhausted but happy. Liz and Maria brightened up when they saw Isabel dressed in her flowery skirt and a white top, looking ready for her honeymoon.
"Bye, have a good honeymoon!" Liz and Maria cheered together causing Isabel to laugh.
"Thanks for being there!" Isabel told them before drawing the girls into a three-way hug. The girls laughed as they hugged Isabel back before pulling away.
"There would have nowhere else we would rather be," Liz promised and Maria nodded in agreement as Isabel smiled before she pulled away and hugged Max.
"Have a good holiday," Max told her and Isabel nodded against his neck before she pulled away from and smiled as she drew her parents into a hug.
"Thank you for coming to the wedding," Isabel told them.
Max just moved behind Liz and drew her into his arms as they watched the scene in front of them. Maria stood next to them as Alex moved up next to Max.
Everyone watched as Isabel and Jesse made their way out of the Crashdown and into the taxi that was going to take them to the airport so they could finally go on their honeymoon.
"That's one baby all grown up," Diane murmured sadly and Max laughed as he wrapped an arm around his mother's shoulders and kissed the side of her head.
"Mom, we'll always be your children, we're just bringing more people into the family for you to love," Max told her and Diane smiled up at her son before she reached up and kissed his cheek.
"I love you, Max," Diane told him and Max looked down at his mother with a concerned curious look.
"I love you too," Max told her and she smiled.
"Your father and I are going to go home, today took a lot out of us," she told him and Max nodded.
"Okay, I'm gonna stay behind with Liz and help her clean up," Max told her and Diane nodded as she patted Max's check before she pulled away from Max and moved over to Phillip and said something to him.
Phillip nodded as he raised a hand and waved to his son and friends before they left the Crashdown all together, leaving the kids behind.
Max walked over to where Liz was sitting on a chair next to the booth where Maria, Michael, James, Alex and Kyle were sitting. He pulled Liz out of the chair before sitting down on it and pulled Liz down onto his lap.
"This was a fun day," Kyle stated as they all tucked into pizza. Maria snorted.
"Yeah, more like a fun couple of weeks with Isabel running around like a chicken with her head chopped off," Maria remarked and Liz smiled.
"Oh come on, she wasn't that bad," Liz defended. "It was her wedding day, she wanted to make sure it went perfect."
"Yeah, so perfect that she lost her dress, the florist sent the wrong flowers. The receptionist was double booked. The priest was almost late because he got lost," Maria listed off and Liz waved her hand, dismissing it.
"Yeah but it all worked out in the end, Isabel got married and she's happy," Liz told them and they all agreed as they all settled back on their seat. Max just tightened his arm around her waist and kissed the side of her head. Liz just smiled as she rested her head against his chest.
Meanwhile in La Jolla, Isabel and Jesse were both relaxing from their first time in lovemaking with each other.
Isabel lay on her back, panting slightly as she looked up at the ceiling before she looked at her new husband with a smile on her face.
"So…nothing weird?" Isabel asked and Jesse looked at her.
"Nope, just mind-blowing," he promised her and she laughed as she rolled over and took Jesse's lips into his as they enjoyed the rest of their honeymoon.
TBC