Author: Liz
E-mail: [email protected]
Rating: PG-13
Category: M/L
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: Future fic. Liz is married to Kyle and works for the FBI. The aliens never came to Roswell, and there was never a shooting.
Distribution: Back parts can be found at <A
HREF="http://www.inficad.com/~jlaw/Liz/Liz.htm">Stories
by Liz</A> (Jessi's
Page). As for putting them anywhere else, I think I'm gonna hold
off for
awhile.Feedback: Pretty please :)
Author's Notes: Well, I've finally finished! (Really this time!) Yay for me! There are 20 parts, and there will be a sequel. I might not work on it for awhile, b/c I'll be concentrating on Secrets, but I promise it'll come out eventually. For now, enjoy the ending to this one :)
Subject: A1 (Part 16)
She wasn't really sure why she'd come.
Maybe it had been the look in his eyes. The pleading tone of his voice. The beating of her heart.
She could still feel Max so strongly--almost as if he was standing right beside her.She had never really understood their connection until now. Why was that?
Was he just another thing she had taken for granted?
She was standing in front of the Holiday Inn.
There was no one else outside. Only a few cars were parked in
the cramped parking lot, mostly beat-up old models and one Mary
Kay pink cadillac. It was almost enough to make her laugh. But
who laughed and cried at the same time? There was a bellboy
standing just inside the glass doors, peering out at her oddly.
No doubt wondering what a strange woman was doing, just standing
in
the parking lot and looking around at the cars.
Finally he decided to come outside, which the bigger part of her had been waiting for him to do. It was almost as if she couldn't do it alone--she needed guidance. Someone to lead her into the frightening darkness."Umm, Miss? Can I help you?"
She managed to smile at him, wondering if he could hear the beating of her heart. "I'm here to see someone."
There, she had managed to get that out without stuttering.
"Do you have a room number?"
Oh God. Oh God. Room number. How had she already forgotten?
"238."
Where had that come from?
"Alright, we can just go inside and I'll call up to room 238 to see if they're expecting you."
She nodded mutely, wondering what she would do when he called the room and the person staying there told the bellboy that they had never heard of a Liz Valenti in their life. But she didn't say anything as she followed him inside, waited as he picked up the phone and quickly dialed.
"Hello, Mr.--" He paused, glancing down at his sheet, "Evans."
Her heartbeat, that had been racing to wildly, froze. It couldn't be him.
This wasn't happening. He had really waited.
"I have a Miss--"
"Elizabeth Parker," she whispered. Parker? Had that just come out of her mouth?
"Elizabeth Parker waiting for you in the lobby." There was a pause, and she tried to imagine what he was saying. "Alright, I'll send her right up. Thank you, Mr. Evans."
He hung up the phone, then directed a bright smile at her. As if he was just seeing her.
'I hate bellboys.'
"You can go right up. I'll show you to the elevator."
This was it. Or was it? After all, it was just a door. Just another door. She wasn't sure if she could knock. Her hands were trembling at her sides, clenched tightly into tiny little fists. She was sure they were probably sweating.
"Max?" she called softly. Not even her voice seemed to be working.
For awhile there was no answer, and she almost turned away. He'd changed his mind. But then the door opened.
He just stood there for a moment, looking so completely perfect and just smiling at her like they did this every day. What was she supposed to say to him? She had no idea.
"Liz, come in." He took her arm gently, leading her inside.
All she could notice was the electric sparks that shot up through her veins at his touch. Liquid fire.Was this how it would always be?
She sat down on the bed, not seeing a chair anywhere in the room. This was certainly nothing she'd ever imagined. Sitting in a hotel room with Max Evans, on his bed. Not finding a word to say to him. He pulled out a chair that she hadn't seemed to be able to find before, positioning it right across from her.
Not until he was sitting, elbows propped casually on his thighs, chin supported in his hands thoughtfully, did he speak. "I was afraid you wouldn't come."
She hadn't realized that she was crying. "How could I stay away?"
He smiled sadly."Thank you again."
"But you got out on your own. I didn't do anything."
He reached out, gently touching her leg."You did more than you'll ever know."
Guilt stabbed at her. What would he do when he knew the truth?
"I have to tell you something."
No, she didn't want to tell him. She didn't want to lose him. But after all he'd been through, didn't he deserve it?
"What?"
He was still smiling crookedly.
'Damn you, Mr. Davies.'
"There were others."
He didn't seem to understand. God, she didn't want to take his happiness away. "Other aliens. They were being held in the lab. I--I never knew, Max. I only found out last night." She watched as the smile slowly slipped away, as his eyes clouded over.
"How many?"
"56."
"Oh God."
He cradled his head in his hands, not wanting her to see him break down. Wasn't what she said what he had wished for? What he had waited to hear his entire life? All of his life, he and Isabel and Michael had wondered about others like them. Always searching, thinking, dreaming. Now, he had the answer to their questions.It just wasn't what he'd been hoping for.
They were all just rats in cages, waiting for execution. Just as he had been. And someday, they would be taken too. Cut open and dissected. He would never know any of them. It was almost too much to take at once, the knowledge that he now held in his hands like some fragile bird. A bird with a broken wing. He sensed, though, that there was more. "What else?"
She choked on a sob. Why had she expected he wouldn't know? He was expecting it but maybe not this."One--one of them--they..."
"No," he whispered."They killed him." A single tear slipped from under his eyelid. "Only one?"
She nodded. "His name was Michael Guerin. It only happened 2 days ago." She wondered how she managed to even get the words out, when each one was visibly breaking his heart more and more.
Of course, she could never understand what that last sentence had done to him. It was so much worse than a broken heart. It was a broken soul. He had always thought that he would cry for Isabel, for Michael, if anything ever happened to one of them. Why not? They were all he'd had. They were his family.And yet the tears still didn't come.
He wasn't even sure he could cry. His tears were gone, spent long ago. Now all he could do was hurt. It hurt more than anything he had ever known. They had killed Michael. The man that had been so much like his brother in every way. One of the two people who had always been there for him, through anything. He had been killed, and he'd never even had a chance to say goodbye.
How could he have not known? How could Isabel have not told him?
Anger surged forth within him. She had visited him several times in his dreams, and yet she'd never told him about Michael. Why? Why had she lied to him? He deserved to know! If she would've told him, he could've found a way to say goodbye. Or maybe even helped him.
'Who are you kidding. You couldn't even help yourself.'
There'd always been Liz, though.
He wondered if Michael had a 'Liz'. Someone there to talk to, to help him when despair set in. He certainly hoped so. It certainly wasn't as much as he deserved, but it was something.
"Max?" Liz's voice, calling him back. He brought himself to look at her, drawn in by the soft beauty of her face. So maybe he hadn't lost it all. He still had her.
And at that moment, it was enough.