Part 1

Liz Parker sat atop her balcony, thinking. It had been such a hectic week. Hectic? Yeah, right. She could have died and all of her friends with her, and the best she could say was that it had been hectic. How about life-threatening? Something out of a really bad sci-fi movie, maybe. A movie that had become her life. She involuntarily shuddered. First, Nasedo, disguised as Max, kidnaps her, hoping to trap the FBI. His plan backfires and the real Max is captured by the FBI. At this, Liz squeezed her eyes shut in pain as she recalled Max’s tortured face when they had rescued him. There had been a gash down the center of his chest which, no doubt, had been caused by the monsters that call themselves the FBI. How could they do this to a teenager who’s main priority in life was to stay alive? Okay, an alien, but still a sixteen-year-old boy nonetheless. Liz forced her thoughts away from the Special Unit and back to her recollection.

So, anyway, they had managed to rescue Max with the help of Sheriff Valenti. Her and Max had temporarily lost the agents when they dove into the creek. They had discovered an abandoned trailer and decided to spend the night there. Max had confessed his love for her! Finally! In the morning, they had had to flee once again from the government agents. Michael had been forced to use his powers in front of the Sheriff! Sheriff Valenti! Oh God, he knew their secret now! And there was definitely no denying it after Max saved Kyle. Great. Now the Sheriff knew that not only Max, but Michael and Isabel, were aliens. He promised not to tell, but hey, after all those weeks of alien-hunting, who knows?

Then, the four aliens had gone to revive Nasedo after he was shot. And, stubbornly, she had insisted that she come along. Oh, what a fool she had been! Liz buried her head into the blanket that was laying across her lap and wept. If only she had stayed behind! If only Max had refused to let her tag along! If only. . . ‘Enough,’ Liz ordered herself. What’s happened has happened. It’s useless to try to think of what might have happened. No use trying to change the past.

Anyway, she had been too blind to see what was really going on. So she followed Max like a lovesick puppy, to learn his destiny. They had succeeded in bringing Nasedo back from the dead. Now, he was the head of the Special Unit in the FBI. He had warned them. Warned them not to use the orbs. But did they listen? No. Afterwards, Liz had found herself agreeing with Nasedo, not for the same reasons, of course. Her reasons were more selfish. She wished that Max hadn’t helped set off the orbs so that he wouldn’t have believed his destiny. A destiny which definitely didn’t include her. A destiny which definitely included Tess, his bride. Oh God, his bride. It killed Liz to even think about Max marrying that. . . that. . . Liz couldn’t bring herself to complete the thought.

After Max had found out about his true destiny, Tess had pressed against his body with hers triumphantly. Could she get any more smug? Oh yeah, after Liz had run away from the nightmarish scene. The bitch had probably grinned her sorry little rabbit face off. All the while Liz had been running, she had prayed that Max would come after her. Beg for her to stop. Convince her that he could never love anyone else but her, least of all, Tess. But he hadn’t. he’d called out to her once. Once. And then, he had given up. Given up on all they had shared. Given up on their supposed self-chosen destiny. Given up on the two of them being together. And that was what killed Liz the most. Not the fact that Max was supposed to be with Tess. Not the fact that Max would probably return to his home planet, free his people, and most likely never come back. What killed Liz the most was that Max had simply given up the hope of them possibly having a relationship any deeper than friendship.

Well, if Max had given up so easily, then so could she. After all, he had claimed to love her ever since the third grade. She had only loved him for a few months. So it couldn’t be that hard for her to let go and get on with her life, right?

Oh God, Liz froze as a thought struck her. Tomorrow was Monday. She’d have to go to school and face Max after running away from him. From his destiny. For the first time in her life, she considered skipping or faking sick. No, she firmly told herself, she was not because to let Tess, Max, and all this destiny crap cause her parents any reason to mistrust her. She was going to school tomorrow, even if it killed her. Well, here’s your chance to see whether you can really put everything that’s happened behind you and move on, she thought bitterly as she pictured Tess hanging all over Max in Biology. Great. It was going to be a very long day tomorrow.

Part 2

Max and Liz were walking along, hand in hand, on a beach. Everything was perfect. There was no Tess, no predestined mates. None of that destiny crap. Max and Liz were the only two people who existed out here. The two soulmates looked lovingly at each other, still amazed that such a wonderful person could love them back. Even after five years of marriage, their love for each other hadn’t faded a bit. If anything, it was growing stronger by the second. Max gently lowered his lips down in meet hers, in a heart-searing kiss.

Liz awoke suddenly when her alarm clock sounded. Leaning over to turn off the annoying thing, she reflected on her perfect dream. Darn, why did the gosh-darned alarm have to ring right before Max’s lips met hers? Liz’s eyes filled with tears as she thought about what had happened with Max during the past few days. What had she done to deserve this? Oh yeah, she had been too stupid to duck in time that fateful day in the café. The day that her life had changed forever.

“Liz, honey, are you up?” her mom called from downstairs.

“Yeah,” Liz answered, wanting nothing more than to bury her head in her pillow and stay that way. Oh well, she’d have to face destiny sooner or later. Might as well be sooner, so she can get on with her life, remembering her vow from the night before.

Yeah right, like she could really just forget everything and act the way she used to before the shooting. Act normal. “What’s so great about normal?” she heard Max’s voice in her head. He’d said that the night of her first attempt to ‘forget’ about him, the night of the blind date. The night he’d gotten drunk and given her renewed hope in their relationship, only to sent the world tumbling down on her again after he had sobered up.

If she couldn’t get over him then, what were the chances that she would now, after all they’d been through since then, and with Tess hanging all over him.

Liz forced herself out of bed and her eyes roamed her closet to something to wear. On impulse, she skipped the clothes on the hangers, which she usually wore to school, and dug into a pile of clothing buried in the very back of her closet. Clothes that she had never worn. She selected a baby blue tube top, and matched it with a black leather miniskirt that was cut way too high to please her normal self. But hey, why should she dress normal when her life was anything but?

She went over to the full length mirror and pulled her long hair into a high ponytail. Taking one last look at herself, she thought, ‘Girl what the hell have you done to yourself?’ But then again, in this outfit and with all the attention she was going to get, it might just make Tess jealous and feel a tiny part of Liz’s hurt.

She started to walk out the door and prepare for her mother’s reaction, when, on second thought, she went back to her mirror. She opened a drawer and pulled out some makeup items. She applied some bright red lipstick and light blue eyeshadow. Then she carefully brushed on some mascara. Studying her reflection, she thought, ‘Isabel is going to be so proud of me. I could probably fit into her snobby crowd with this getup.’

When Liz came downstairs for breakfast, her mom was at the table, digging into pancakes. “Liz, honey, your pancakes are on the counter,” Nancy informed her, without looking up.

“Thanks for fixing my breakfast, mom,” Liz said gratefully, since she wasn’t sure if she would have the energy. Most likely, her mind would have drifted off and she could’ve gotten burned at the stove or something.

“Yeah, you’re welcome, sweetie,” her mom answered still not looking up from her own breakfast.

Liz quickly stuffed down her breakfast, since she knew her mother would worry if she didn’t eat. Anxious to get going, she hurriedly said good-bye started toward the door.

“Ummm. . . Liz?”

“Yeah, mom?”

“What’s with the outfit?”

“Oh, nothing. I just felt like, you know, I should do something different for a change.”

“Are you okay? Ever since you forgot to call when you had that sleepover at Maria’s, you’ve been acting really strange. Did anything happen that you’re not telling me?”

Oh nothing out of the ordinary. I just got kidnapped by a shapeshifting alien, got my boyfriend, who, by the way, is also an alien, captured by the FBI, and my boyfriend saved the sheriff’s son from his own father’s stray bullet. And Agent Pierce, head of the alien-hunters, got killed by my best friend’s boyfriend. Did I also mention that there were four aliens who brought the shapeshifting one back from the dead? If that’s not enough, I learned my boyfriend was married to Tess, the alien who manipulated him into kissing her, in a previous life. Oh, and my oh-so-sensitive so-called boyfriend was the leader of his people.

Is that a satisfactory explanation, mom? Oh yeah, that would go down real well.

Yep, just the usual stuff. And the disturbing thing was, for Liz, that was her usual everyday life nowadays.

“I’m fine, mom. Nothing happened. I’m just really tired, that’s all.”

“Okay, if you say so,” her mom said, still looking doubtful.

TOOOOT! TOOOOT! TOOOOOOOOOT!

“Oh, that must be Maria. Gotta go! Bye!”

Nancy watched as her daughter dashed out the door to meet her friend. She knew that something had happened, but it probably wasn’t anything big. After all, Liz never kept secrets from them, right?

Maria did a double take, upon seeing Liz’s outfit and makeup. “Liz what the heck is all that? Are you trying to impress Max? Because if you are, I can tell you that he likes you exactly the way you are.”

At the mention of Max’s name, Liz fought back tears which would smudge her mascara for sure.

“Babe, what’s the matter? Did you and Max have a fight? Or is it that freak Tess , again?”

Confused at Maria’s words, she was about to ask if she had totally forgotten about the whole destiny thing, when Liz realized that Maria didn’t even know yet! Wonderful. Liz then realized how selfish she had been over the past few days. Just because she was hurting over the whole Max/Tess thing didn’t mean that she had to keep everything from Maria. . . and Alex. Great. Now she had to find a way to tell Maria without her crashing the car into a tree or something. And she had to try to tell Alex at school before he went up to the Czechoslovakians and made a complete fool out of himself.

“Hello? Liz are you okay?”

“Umm, actually, no. There’s something really big that you and Alex need to know about. I know I should’ve told you guys this weekend but it just kinda slipped my mind, you know? We’ll go meet Alex at his locker.”

“Okaaay. Can’t I just a the teeniest hint?”

“Maria, trust me, you do not want a hint. It’s probably better if I just tell you and Alex at the same time because. . .” Liz broke off, about to burst into tears.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Don’t cry, Liz. Whatever it is, it can’t be that bad, right?”

Liz just looked at her bleakly through her tears.

“Or. . . maybe it can. So, anyway, can you at least tell me what’s up with the outfit, the hair, and the makeup?”

“It’s all part of the thing.”

“The thing. . . you do know that a lot of guys are going to make eyes at you with you wearing all that, right?”

“That’s the whole point, Maria.”

“Umm. . . but I thought you and Max were. . .”

“Together? Humph. Not anymore. At least, not if I have anything to say about it.”

“Are you mad at Max?”

“No, I’m just trying to act mad so I don’t break down and ruin the mascara.”

“Alex! Alex! Get your butt over here right now!” Maria shouted once they caught sight of Alex talking to one of his band members.

“Ladies, what’s the big emergency? Does it have anything to do with certain. . .” he broke off abruptly, noticing Liz’s getup for the first time.

“Uhhh, Liz? What’s up with the. . .?”

“That’s part of what Maria was so excited about. THE BIG SECRET.”

“What BIG SECRET?”

“You would both find out if you could just shut up for one minute and let me do the talking!” Liz practically screamed at them, very frustrated.

Maria and Alex glanced at each other, thoroughly confused by Liz’s behavior. She was usually the calm, rationable one who almost never lost her temper. At least not in front of other people. Maria was the excitable one.

“I’m sorry, you guys, but after everything that’s happened to me, I’m really stressed out. Sorry for taking it out on you two. Believe me, if a certain blond midget Czechoslovakian were here, I’d probably use her as a punching bag, and I wouldn’t have to worry about Max following his destiny.”

“Destiny? What destiny?” Alex was still completely in the dark.

“You don’t mean the one that Tess kept ranting and raving about? The one where she’s Max’s. . . “ Maria didn’t finish the sentence. Liz’s face had revealed everything.

“Oh God, that means Michael and Isabel are supposed to be together!”

“Liz what happened? How can you believe all this?”

Just when Liz was about to answer, Kyle Valenti and the rest of the football team came laughing down the hall.

“Oh no, this is the absolute last thing I need today.”

“Hey, look at it this way, Liz. Kyle’s on our side now so we don’t have to worry about him bothering us, anymore.” Alex attempted to reassure her.

“That’s the whole point, Maria. We don’t know if Kyle’s on our side or not. Just because he knows about the Czechoslovakians doesn’t mean that he’s our ally.”

“Max saved his life, Liz. Besides, his dad’s with us, and the Sheriff probably convinced him that we weren’t out to get him.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Liz said doubtfully, still not convinced.

“So anyway, Liz, sorry to bring this up again, but about this whole destiny thing. . . “

Liz sighed. Well she’ll have to tell them sooner or later. They’d probably take it better coming from her than from Michael or Isabel.

“Well I followed them to the cave, and they revived Nasedo with the stones we used on Michael. And they used the orbs. . .” Liz trailed off as she saw Kyle and his buddies staring at her.

“Yo, Liz! Looking good!”

At Phil Bosslet’s comment, everyone in the hallway turned to look at Liz. Usually, no one ever said that to , I’m-the-future-valedictorian-so-I-have-to-be-perfect Liz Parker. Suddenly, the hall was filled with whistles and catcalls.

“Yeah, can I be your next boyfriend after you dump Evans?” Tommy Garter called out.

At the mention of Max’s name, Liz felt her heart constrict. No, you will not do that again, she told herself firmly. Don’t you think you cried enough over this past weekend? This attention is what you wore this outfit for, remember?

Liz sauntered up to Tommy. “I’ve already dumped Max,” she whispered.

Kyle’s jaw fell open. “Wha. . . you and Evans? Over? What has the world come to?”

Liz flashed a smile at Kyle and turned back to Tommy.

“So, then, ah, are. . . are you free this Saturday to catch a movie with me?” Tommy stammered, willing his heart to stop pounding. After all, this was only Liz Parker, Kyle’s ex-girlfriend. He had never felt this nervous around her before. But then again, he’d never seen her dress like this, before, either. Maybe this was the Liz that had been hiding all those years he’d known her.

“Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not like I have a boyfriend or anything,” and with that, Liz strutted away, amidst a sea of cheers and applause.

But there was one person who was definitely not urging Tommy and Liz on. And standing right next to him was a small blonde who, without a doubt, cheered the loudest of them all.

Max Evans watched as Liz, his Liz, accepted a date with another guy, so soon after she had walked away from his in the cave. Tommy Garter, nonetheless, who might very well be one of the most conceited people at West Roswell High. How could she? Though, he did have to admit, he didn’t blame Tommy one bit for his sudden attraction to Liz. What the h*ll did she do to herself? That was her intention all along, Max slowly and painfully realized. She wanted to be with someone other than him. Anyone other than him. Somebody normal, which was something he definitely was not.

On the other hand, maybe she just wanted someone to even things up a bit. Since Tess was always chasing him, why shouldn’t she have someone who followed her around like a lovesick puppy but couldn’t have her? It was only fair. Feeling hopeful again for the first time since the cave, he began to walk to Michael’s locker with a renewed spring in his step. All of a sudden, he froze and felt his heart being squeezed until he could no longer breathe.

He had been comparing the wrong people. He was the puppy who didn’t get the girl, not Tommy, because he was already with the girl. Max was the Tess equivalent when it came to Liz. Tess didn’t have a chance in hell with him, and after the whole orb and destiny thing, he probably wouldn’t have a chance with Liz, either.

Max considered turning around and fleeing out the door. Skip class for the third time this year, except there was a major difference this time: Liz wouldn’t be with him. Instead of going for a drive in the Jeep or making out in the Eraser Room, he was probably going to wind up sobbing his heart out in the deserted parking lot or something.

Maybe this was for the best. After all, it was destiny. Perhaps Liz was meant to fall in and out of love with him. What kind of a life could she have with him? A life where you didn’t know if the one person who mattered the you the most was even going to be there tomorrow. That was no life. At least this way, if she got over him now, she wouldn’t have to deal with it when he left to fulfill his destiny, saving his planet. . . with Tess. For the first time since Tess had shown up in Roswell, he considered listening to her, out of his own free will too. Liz was right. Tess was his destiny. Maybe it was time to finally give up on something he had been groping at for the past eight years. Maybe it was time to finally let his love. . . obsession. . . with Liz go. Maybe it was finally time to move on. . .to destiny. Tess.

Part 3

Liz stood before her dresser mirror, staring at her reflection. She had about twenty minutes until Tommy was here to pick her up, and she couldn’t say she wasn’t nervous. After all, Tommy had been one of the guys who had beaten up Max, supposedly on Kyle’s behalf. So she was just a little apprehensive about how nice of a guy he was. Liz had never liked guys who asked girls out just because of their looks. She had almost cancelled on him, but stopped herself right before he dialed the last digit of his number. She had reminded herself that she had agreed to go out with him mainly because half the school was watching, most importantly Max, and not because of his personality.

Max. Just thinking his name made her whole body ache with desire. He hadn’t even tried to talk to her all week. Instead, he'd probably been hanging out with Tess. Most likely, they were working on a relationship. Actually, she corrected herself, knowing Tess, she'd jumped all over Max and he just went along with the flow.

No, she couldn't cancel her date. Even though Tommy seemed like the type of guy who had tooo much pride to let the whole school know that his hot date had canceled on him, Liz couldn't keep anything from Maria. And with Maria's mouth, she'd probably run and blab to Max in five seconds flat that Liz didn't really care about Tommy at all. One way or another, it would somehow reach Max's ears. Then where would Liz be? Sobbing her heart out in her room while Max was feeling smug, along with his newfound girlfriend, that Liz couldn't go through with it? Max knowing that Liz regretted her decision to walk away in the cave? And that she really couldn't move on with her life without him? Liz was not about to let that happen. Max Evans had caused her enough grief already.

"Lizzie? Your date's here!"

Liz was jerked out of her musings with a start. She hadn't even heard the car pull up or the doorbell ring! She quickly glanced at the clock and almost panicked. He was ten minutes early! Guys were never early! It was like some silent agreement that you had to show up late for your dates.

Liz hurriedly applied some makeup and smoothed out her dress. What the hell! Why did she want to look good for Tommy, anyway?

"Hey, Liz," he greeted her, appreciatively taking in her low-cut, spaghetti strap dress, which had a figure-hugging top that flared out slightly at the hips, showing off each of her curves perfectly.

He brought an arm from behind his back, producing a single rose. Liz was taken back. She hadn't expected Tommy to be the flowery type of guy, especially not on the first date! With a genuine smile, she graciously accepted the gift and disappeared for a few moments in search of a vase.

"So, Toby," Mr. Parker started, coming into the room.

"Uh, it's Tommy."

"Right, Tommy. I don't recall my little girl having mentioned you before," Mr. Parker casually commented, turning the statement into a question and looked pointedly at his daughter's fidgeting date.

"I, uh, well, I didn't really think of Liz as my type until recently."

"Recently. As in last Monday when Lizzie wore those out-of-character clothes?"

"Well. . . "

Jeffrey took one look at Tommy's beet red face and knew the answer. Frowning disapprovingly at his daughter's choice of a date, he asked, "So how serious is the relationship between you and Lizzie?"

"This is our first date," Tommy replied nervously, looking more uncomfortable than ever.

"I see. You friends with anyone I might happen to know?"

"Uh, Kyle Valenti? Liz's e----"

"Oh, right, Kyle," he cut Tommy off disdainfully, his voice making it clearly evident what he thought of Liz's ex-ex-boyfriend.

"So, you know whatever happened to the Evans boy? The one Liz was seeing just last week?"

"Mr. Parker, I really don't----"

"Dad! Tommy and I really have to get going!" Liz's voice cut in. She had taken one glance at Tommy's scarlet face and came to his rescue from her Dad's third degree. "That is, if we want to be back by my curfew." Liz quickly slipped into a cute-looking pair of sandals.

"But you have four hou----" Jeff protested.

"Bye, Dad!" With that, Liz grabbed Tommy's hand and they made a beeline for the door.

*~TBC~*