Author: Dana (Leigh)
E-mail: [email protected]
Disclaimer: Not mine. Max is a bit tied up right now and will be returned later.
Rating: R for language and a rather minor kissing scene
Spoilers: Future episode spoilers (Tess storyline)
Author's notes: Okay, I just HAD to write this when I heard
about the whole Tess storyline this morning...that she was a
government agent, and that Max would date her to see what was
going on, and that Liz would get really snappish with everyone
(for the life of me, I can't find that spoiler
again...). So this bothered me all day, and I came home and sat
at my computer for three hours straight, and now hopefully this
has been pounded out of my system.
Some Other Beginning's End (Part Three-The Conclusion)
"Liz? Liz! Please, let me in! I have to talk to
you!"
Liz jumped nervously, knowing that her locked bedroom door would
be no protection if Max really wanted in, and her parents weren't
there to run interference. "Go *away*!"
Max sagged against the door when he heard the pure venom in her
voice. "I can't...please, just give me five minutes, and
then I'll leave if you want me to, I promise!"
"You promise? *You* *promise*????" Liz shrieked. She
stalked to the door and jerked it open so suddenly that Max
almost fell into the room. "Is that supposed to make me feel
better? The word of a pathological liar?"
Max towered over her, searching desperately for the words to make
things right again. "Liz, up until a month ago, I never once
lied to you."
She let out a bitter laugh that ripped at the seams of Max's
soul. "You'll have to excuse me for not believing you."
Max remained silent until she snapped "Is this how you're
spending your five minutes?"
Liz turned away and walked across her room, sitting on her
windowsill and glaring at him. //How dare he...what gives him the
right to come barging into my room like he still belongs here?//
She wished the five minutes would go faster...
"Michael told me you were leaving."
"He promised Maria he wouldn't tell! Is the ability to lie
genetic with your species?"
Max winced; she was really out for blood. "He told me
because he realized it was finally time for you to hear the truth
about why I'm going out with Tess."
"Oh, this should be good." Liz crossed her arms over
her chest and gave off every impression of being annoyed and
bored, but inside she was sobbing. Why was he doing this to her?
Couldn't he just let her go?
Max crossed the room and hesitantly sat on the floor at her feet.
"I can't tell you the whole story in five minutes, but we
found out that Tess is a government agent, sent here to hunt down
and destroy alien life forms. We know she was ordered to
masquerade as an ordinary high school student, and when she got
here, she acted really interested in me. River Dog was absolutely
frantic about this, and he scared the hell out of Michael and
Isabel."
"And you?" Liz asked. Her tone was warmer towards him
than it had been in weeks.
"And me," he admitted. "We had to find out how
much she knew, and we had to do it fast. Michael flirted with
her, because he and Maria weren't together then, but she didn't
go for it...so I had to...I had to...Liz, I hate what I did to
you, and I'm so sorry...please..." He rocked forward onto
his knees when she stood to go past him, and pulled her close to
him. His arms circled her thighs and he pressed his face into her
stomach. "Please don't leave...Liz...I love you so
much...I'll break up with her tonight and we'll figure her out
another way...just don't go..."
She could tell from his voice that he was dangerously close to
tears, as was she. Somehow, she knew without a doubt that he was
telling her the truth she'd wanted to hear for so long. Her arms
felt as though they were underwater as they slowly moved up to
rest on his shoulders. A few
salty tears escaped as she bowed her head to be closer to Max.
She could hear him whispering against her dress, and she strained
closer to listen.
"I'm sorry, so sorry, so sorry..."
"It's all right...I understand, you were afraid for your
lives...but Max, why didn't you tell me, *why*? Didn't you trust
me?"
"Of course I trust you!" Max raised his head and
pleaded with her. "I trust you completely...but I was so
afraid you'd get hurt because of this...this is the first time
that someone's ever been after us that we knew without a doubt
they wanted us dead. If anything happened to you because of
me...if
they used you to get to me...I couldn't live in a world that
didn't have you in it."
"You could, and you would, Max. You wouldn't leave Michael
and Isabel, no matter what," she told him softly. She pulled
away from him and walked to the pile of suitcases in the corner,
aimlessly checking for unlocked bags.
Max looked at her and his heart shattered. He knew...he didn't
know how he knew, but he did. She was still going to leave him.
"Liz?"
"Did you know I was never afraid of you, not even when you
first told me you were a Czechoslovakian? Not even then...I was
afraid of what that meant, afraid of the situation...but I was
never afraid of *you*. I knew somehow...that you would never,
ever do anything to hurt me."
"I know. I realized it that night I came to the Crashdown,
when I tried to make the connection go the other way. You don't
know how wonderful it was, for you to let me touch you, and you
didn't flinch away, you just stood there and let me be near
you." His voice was husky with the memory of it.
"But I'm afraid of you now." Her quiet voice sounded
through the room like a death knell.
"*Why*?"
She was crying openly when she turned back to face him.
"Because I'm afraid you'll always choose breaking my heart
over risking my life, and I can't...I can't live like that any
more, Max. I want to be with you, I want to be free to walk up
and hug you in the halls, or hold your hand...all those things
that I had to watch Tess do to you."
"Liz, I..."
"Don't say you're sorry again, please. I know you hated it
too...I just want you to understand what I've been walking around
with...every day, I had to see you holding Tess, kissing her,
looking at her like you used to look at me."
"I didn't..."
"I know, but that's what it seemed like to me. And there I
was, blindly believing that you loved me, but you were staying
away to protect me...and then you start dating a human. Someone
who doesn't even know the danger you face, who couldn't possibly
help you if you were in trouble. So I
started thinking that maybe you'd lied all along...that maybe
you'd pretended to like me so you could keep an eye on me, to
make sure I didn't betray your secret...because why else would
you break up with me to be with a girl who was just as vulnerable
to attack as I was?"
"Oh, Liz..." Max wanted to go to her and hold her so
badly he ached with it, but he was unsure of what she wanted. He
forced himself to stay still and let her speak.
"And then when you started flinching away from me in
class..." Her voice broke, and she couldn't continue.
"You don't know how much that hurt me...I only did that
because I was so afraid...afraid that all it would take was your
hand brushing against mine and I'd lose it right there, and
announce to the entire world that I loved you, belonged to
you...and Tess and the government be damned."
Liz smiled through her tears at him. "I would have loved
that."
"I can stand up in class tomorrow and do that," he
offered.
Quick as thought, her smile vanished. "I won't be
there."
For a moment Max thought he was going to pass out.
"You...you're still leaving?"
"I have to." Now it was her turn to plead with him.
"Right now, I couldn't get through a day without wondering
if you and I would still be together at the end of it. You
terrify me...you've proved that you'll break my heart and your
own if you think that's what's best for me. I need to be away
from all this for a while...I'll hate it, but it's what I need. I
have to go learn how to *not* fear you again."
He nodded, not trusting his voice, and suddenly found the
patterns in the carpet intriguing enough that he didn't look up
until he felt the warmth radiating from her body.
She had drifted across the room until she stood right next to
him. All he had to do was open his arms and she would be in
them...and after that realization, he opened them and she was
pressed against him. He closed his arms around her and held on
for dear life, as if he was afraid that if
his grip on her slackened, she would vanish.
"Don't be mad?"
"I'm not...I'm just going to miss you 'til I'm crazy,"
he told her.
"But it's not forever...I should be getting my AA about the
time you graduate from high school...and I'll be back for
holidays, and we can write to each other...if you want
to..."
He heard the uncertainty in her voice, and he couldn't stand it.
"I swear, Liz, if you ever need me, all you have to do is
say so and I'll drive all the way to Florida."
Her laugh was muffled in his shirt. "Watch what you offer,
buddy."
They stood there leaning against each other for long moments,
until Liz finally raised her head and looked at him. "I
think your five minutes are up."
"Do you still want me to go?"
"No...but I think you'd better."
"Okay...can I come say 'goodbye' tomorrow?"
"No, not goodbye. Never that," she answered quickly.
"Never," he agreed, softly but vehemently. "Can I
come say 'goodnight' then? Or something..."
"Yes..."
He lowered his head until his lips were almost against hers,
unwilling to go further without encouragement from her. He sighed
when she moved the final fraction of an inch and slid her lips
against his.
He groaned when he felt her hot tongue taste his bottom lip, and
she instantly took advantage of his parted lips and began to
explore his mouth.
Liz gasped when his arms tightened around her and lifted her in
and up against him, so much so that her feet no longer touched
the ground. She shifted against him restlessly, all the while
kneading his shoulders and attacking his tongue with her own.
Max returned the favor, kissing her just as hungrily as she was
kissing him. He didn't know how long it would be before he held
her like this again...a sound akin to a whimper surfaced and he
kissed her even more desperately, carrying her backwards until
they came to a stop against the wall.
He tore his lips from hers, only to fasten them on her neck.
He felt her pulse throbbing against his lips, and he traced the
line of the vein with the tip of his tongue, before sucking at
the juncture of her neck and shoulder.
Liz's lips parted on a soundless cry, and then closed over a
particularly sensitive spot in his neck. She used the wall as
leverage to arch even closer to him. She heard him groan against
her skin, and she smiled in satisfaction, loving the knowledge
that she affected him just as much as he did her. //Now, how can
I get him to put me down so we can get to the bed...what am I
thinking?!!?//
"Max...we've got to stop..."
She felt him go completely still against her. "Max?"
He slowly let her slide between him and the wall until she was
standing on her own two feet again. "I'm sorry...I just
wanted..."
"To remember," she finished. She wrapped an arm around
his waist and prevented him from backing away from her.
"Don't be sorry, I'm not. But Max..."
"You're still going."
"I think I have to...and like Maria said, it really is a
great opportunity for me..."
"And we'll just do the long distance thing for a year or
so."
"Right. That is, if you want to..."
"I do. And my offer stands...if you need me..."
"I'll call, I promise. And you'll do the same?" she
asked expectantly.
"I promise."
They kissed briefly, and then Max pulled away. "What time
should I be here tomorrow?"
"We're leaving about 6, so..."
"Five?"
"Sounds great."
"I'll miss you."
Her heart melted. "I'll miss you too."
"Okay, I'd better leave while I still can. Good...night,
Liz."
"'Night, Max."
He stepped away from her reluctantly, closing the door behind him
when he left her room. Liz walked to the door and pressed her ear
against it, listening until the last sounds of his retreating
footsteps had faded. She sighed heavily, then started packing the
last of her things.
Maybe the time apart would be good for her and Max...and maybe, when it was over, they could finally be together.
The End! Heh heh heh...