Acceptance Part 1

By PWAC
It was that nod, that silly almost non-nod. The look in her eyes, begging me to accept it.

What could I do? This is Liz we're talking about here. Strong willed, determined, and until now, always honest. She needed me to accept the lie. For whatever reason she needed me to accept and move on. So I did.

Or at least I tried.

At first I was stunned. I mean this is Liz Parker we're talking about here. Soul mate, friend, the person I've shared all of my secrets with. I would give everything for her. I would do anything for her. I risked my life and Michael and Isabel's, to save her that day at the Crashdown. I'd give up being King and, if I could, I'd give up being an alien. I would do whatever it takes, whatever is required, to be with her.

I thought she felt the same.

But then she lied to me and I accepted her lie, because in the end she is everything.

She tried pushing Tess and me together. I wanted to scream at her until she understood.

It could never be Tess, it will never be Tess.

I don't care what we were to each other, in a life I can't even remember. A life I don't want to remember, because she wasn't in it.

But I know in her heart she already knows that and so I wonder why.

Is this what it is going to be like to be King? Those closest to me keeping secrets, thinking that it's for my own good? Michael?well, being more Michael than usual. Isabel, I can feel it, she's keeping something from me. Now, of all people, Liz is hiding something from me as well. The only person who isn't hiding something from me is Tess. Of course, she has her own reasons. Being Queen is no small incentive, I'm sure.

I left her room. I went out the window and down the ladder. Went home and crawled into bed.

I didn't sleep.

I spent the whole night, thinking. I wouldn't recommend spending an entire night trying to figure out why your best friend, your other half, would lie to you. Was there some grandiose reason, something she was afraid to tell me, something she couldn't tell me, no matter how much she wanted too? Or was this just her way of finding a means to an end. Does she think that she has to sacrifice us, in order for me to be King? Could she possibly not know that I could never be King without her by my side. She is my strength, my rock, my compass. I would be lost without her.

The alarm went off and I got up and got ready for school, like it was an ordinary day. Mom asked how I was doing, telling me I looked 'tired'. I wanted to scream at her too. Of course I'm tired, I'm exhausted. I carry the weight of an entire race, a planet, on my shoulders and the one person I thought would always be there to help me shoulder that burden is slipping though my fingers, out of my grasp. I don't care about that planet, those people and that world that I can't even remember. But I have to care, it is my duty, my destiny, my whatever. There is no escape. But I smile and nod and tell her that I'm okay, 'it's just been a busy week at school'. She accepts my statement and the irony that now I am the liar is not lost on me.