Author Name: Liz
Email: [email protected]
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Summary: Future fic. The aliens never came to Roswell, and Liz was never shot.
Category: M/L
Wrong Turns (Chapter 9)
He waited until she was gone before he came back. He'd been
watching, parked in his car behind the bushes at the end of the
road. He felt weak, and sad, and empty. Like a coward.
He'd let her go…let her go without a word. There was no
goodbye, no last kiss, nothing. Just a note. He hoped that she
could understand. He wasn't sure that he did.
When she finally passed, driving slowly by in her car, her
expression blank and her face pale, he drove out from behind the
bushes. He headed for his home. When he walked into the bedroom,
his eye fell upon it immediately.
Still in the same position as he had left it, lying upon the
pillow this morning.
Untouched.
Unexpected tears welled up in his eyes. She had not even read his
note. She would never know. Small, measured steps and then he was
beside the bed, trembling hand reaching out to delicately seize
the small sheet of paper.
Sparse words, but so much said. Words she would never read.
'Dearest Liz,
Please, try to understand why I must do this. Know that you do
mean something to me, and it wasn't just a one night stand. There
was so much more. But nothing else can ever happen between us. I
can't exactly explain why, but I hope that in time, you can
forgive me. Maybe we'll run into each other again.
I love you.
Max.'
The only sound to be heard in the room was the ripping of paper.
The steps seemed to go on forever as she climbed them, looming
above her. Her legs were aching already. She longed for rest.
Maria appeared in the doorway, her face concerned, rushing down
to meet her. "Liz?"
She didn't answer her, just kept on walking. She just wanted to
get upstairs. She wanted to sleep. She wanted to never wake up
again. The door was before her, a giant welcome. The bed was just
a little ahead, and she began to walk faster as she approached
it.
"Liz?" Maria's voice was louder this time, but she
barely heard it. It was drowned out by the thoughts in her head,
so loud that they overpowered everything else. Rolling and
tumbling around and around each other, like a spin cycle inside
her brain. She wished she could turn them off.
She dropped onto the bed, pulling her legs closely to her,
breathing in and closing her eyes to the delicious sleep that was
already overcoming her.
"Liz?"
She didn't even open her eyes to look at Maria. She could see her
in her mind, standing in the doorway of the room, staring down at
her worriedly. It was almost irritating. "What?"
She heard her sigh of relief, and the soft sound of carpet as she
stepped closer. "What happened?"
"It was coffee. Just coffee."
She knew at that moment that she would never be able to keep her
promise. As hard as she wanted to take it back, the change had
happened in her. It had been something that had taken her over so
completely, that she would never be able to reverse it. Even
though it hurt her, and hurt those around her. Those she had once
loved so dearly.
She could never be the old Liz Parker. There was no more rain,
nothing more that could cleanse it all away. She was left with
the aftermath. She was left with the new Liz Parker.
And she couldn't help but think that the new Liz Parker was the
Liz that Max had known. She didn't want to let that go, either.
When she said nothing else, she could hear Maria moving away from
her. She had figured it out, too.
The truth about everything. About life, perhaps.
Maybe she had figured it out long before Liz had. Maybe that was
why she'd said goodbye last night in the car. Maybe it was why
she'd said it was 'just coffee.'
Because it was anything but.
It wasn't just coffee.
It was the rest of her life.
She heard Maria walk through the door, pulling it shoftly shut
behind her. Gently clicking off the overhead light as she left.
And when the light had gone, and Liz was left alone in the dark
with only her thoughts, she thought again of her fear.
Standing up, she turned the light back on.
Now she had the answer to her question.
The End