A Note From the Past (AU,M/L,TEEN) Ch 13 - 01/08/04 [WIP]

[CEO Shaft]

Title: A Note From the Past
Couple: M/L
Rating: TEEN
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, I don't own a thing so don't blame me for it
Author's note: Couldn't sleep and decided to take a crack at writing something. Please be gentle, it is a first for me.
Summary: Takes place in a different future, one of the many possibilities that opened when Liz changed things. Nothing after End of the World took place. Key to note that Tess is not evil at this point in the timeline. Whether or not she will be in the future I haven’t decided.

Look at this great picture that my sister made me! Thanks Jen
<IMG SRC="http://roswellart.homestead.com/files/ceonote.jpg" ALT="A Note From the Past pic by Talena">



Chapter 1





Destiny is a funny thing. There is very little else that is both blamed for the troubles in life and praised for its successes as much as the word “destiny”. People tend to believe that destiny is a foregone conclusion. Accepting its influence in life like the rising sun, never questioning it just knowing that it was there. Then there are others, just as set in their ways, that believe that destiny, or fate, doesn’t exist; that life is nothing but what they can make of it; that co-incidence is just that. These are over-simplifications of destiny. Destiny exists not a chosen path, but a series of key events. Destiny does not determine what you have for lunch, what color pants you wear, or how you cut your hair. Nor does destiny determine who you will marry, what job you will take, or when you will die. Destiny is a regulator, it “watches” life, and makes sure that you are in the right place at the right time. It makes sure that you are at the club at the same time as your future wife, but the choice is yours as to whether you talk with her. Life is an interesting blend of free-will and pre-determination. Things are thrown out of balance when people act on the over-simplification of destiny and it takes a lot of hard work to return things to normal.



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



My dearest Liz,
I have had a lot of time to think in the past few days. I don’t know if I could get all of this out if we talked about it, and I am relatively certain that you wouldn’t let me talk with you long enough to say all of the things that I need to get out. So the obvious solution was to write this letter. I have no idea if you will read this, nor so I expect that you will. This is for me, for me to explain my feelings lately, and to let you go.

After I saw you with Kyle, I wasn’t sure that I could face you again. I felt like I had been betrayed, pure and simple. It felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside. Even when I was captured I had never felt pain like that. I once read somewhere that the worst pain comes from those that you love the most, well that was right. I won’t try to describe the heartache I felt, because I couldn’t go through it again. More importantly, I can’t put you through it. Given all that you have sacrificed for me, I will not cause you more pain. I know that I should rant and wail, and try to make you feel horrible for what you did to me; believe me I have tried. However, I can’t bring myself to do it. I will not allow myself to take away yet another thing that makes you happy. I will not take from you the contentment that you have found with Kyle. I do not understand many of the events that have led me here, but I understand perfectly that you don’t want to be bothered with them anymore. You shouldn’t have to throw away everything that you want just because you feel an obligation to me.

I have told you many times that my life started when I healed you; that it didn’t matter to me if we had one day or fifty years of happiness; that you were my destiny, regardless of what others said. It took me seeing that you moved on to realize that it doesn’t matter what I said. It was very selfish of me to try and think that you wanted to stay. I know that you loved me, and I know that I will have a special place in your heart because of that fateful day. That is enough for me. I hope, in time, you will be able to look past all of my faults, all of the problems that I have caused for you and remember me as a person who tried his best to be what you needed. I just wanted you to know that I understand that you don’t want to be with me anymore; I understand that all of the problems in your life have resulted from my selfish need to hold on to you. I accept this, I hope that you bear me no resentment for ruining your life. I am letting go Liz, you are free to do as you wish. I wish you nothing but happiness, and understand that it can not come from me.

By the time that you read this, I will probably be gone. I have decided that I can’t let you go and then be around you all of the time. So I am cutting the strings that bind us, you are no longer tied to my messes. This is my last gift to you, I am leaving Roswell. I don’t know where I am going, or if I will ever be back. I can no longer bear the pain that I cause you when I am around, and it isn’t fair for you to bear it either. It may seem rash, but the only way I can carry through the promise I have made to myself is to learn to live without you. I can’t do that in Roswell, I won’t be able to stand strong with you around. Don’t think that I am bitter about what happened, I take much solace in the fact that Kyle will be good to you. If it can’t be me, I am glad it is him. Please be happy, that is all that I ask.
With love,
Max


Liz read over the letter one last time. In the fourteen years since she found that letter she had read it every dayand prayed that he would come back to her. But that was not to be. As the cave shuddered around her, and echoed with the distant sounds of explosions she thought, I gave up everything to save the world, Max. You told me that I had to get you to fall out of love with me, that it was the only chance. I lost everything that mattered to me, and for what? We still failed. I broke your heart and mine to save the world and all it got me was 14 years of unhappiness and loneliness. At least it will be over soon. The cave shook again, and the ceiling fell. The tattered, tear stained letter laid on the ground next to her and her pain ended.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Elizabeth Parker awoke with a start. Her heart was beating extremely fast and she felt like she had just run a marathon. Shaking her head to clear the confusion, she sat up trying to remember what happened. She had been dreaming, that she was sure. After all, if she wasn’t dreaming, she would be dead right now. With that thought, her heart rate calmed some and she tried to remember the dream. It started to come back to her, she was in a cave, yes that was it. She read a letter, and then a rock fell on her. That is odd, I keep having the same dream. She had been having the same dream for three nights she was starting to get a little bit concerned. Her grandmother always told her that dreams were meant to help out in your life, so Liz always paid attention to them. Her sweat drenched body along with the cool air of the desert at night cause Liz to shiver. Getting up to shut the window, she noticed a small envelope on her desk sitting under three roses: one white, one red and one yellow.
Changing course away from the window she went to the desk. Reaching for the envelope, she noticed her hands were shaking, though not from the vivid dream. She had a sinking feeling she knew what was waiting for her. The envelope was addressed simply “to Liz,” but she knew the hand writing. It was Max’s. She ripped off the covering and limply unfolded the letter. What she read confirmed her worst fears, it was the letter form her dreams, the letter that haunted her for the past few nights and, if she didn’t fix things, the next fourteen years.
Running to the phone, Liz dialed a number that she knew by heart. The phone rang twice and then was picked up by a groggy Isabel Evans.

“Um… hel… hello?”
“Isabel, it is Liz.”

At that Isabel became wide-awake. She could feel anger rising in her body. Her rage increased and heated her ears. Max hadn’t told her everything that happened, only that Liz had moved on, but Isabel was able to guess how upon seeing how sad her brother had been. Lashing out at the human who broke her brother’s heart, Isabel laid into Liz.

“How dare you call here after what you did to my brother!”
“Isabel…”
“ If it wasn’t for the fact that he forbid me to say anything bad about you, you would never be able to show your face in school again.”
“Isabel…”
“When I get through with you, you will know not to be so cold and unfeeling…”
“ISABEL” Liz screamed, if she only knew the reasons Liz had “betrayed” Max. “Shut up! We may have a huge problem you can hate me all you want later, but right now I need to know if Max is in his room. I need you to see if he is there.”

The outburst from Liz had stopped her in mid rant. Now the terror in Liz’s voice had registered, Isabel was starting to get concerned.

“OK, I will check.”

Walking into Max’s room, Isabel noticed that there was a note on the pillow where her brother was supposed to be.

“Liz, he’s not here.”
“OK, tomorrow we need to have a meeting. Everyone; you, me, Michael, Maria, Alex, Kyle, and Tess. This is very important; we need to do it right after school. Now get some sleep.”
“Liz, do you know where my brother is?” Isabel asked suddenly feeling very helpless. She was silently grateful Liz was taking control right now.
“Yes, he ran away. Get some sleep I will explain everything, including why I betrayed him tomorrow at the meeting.” Knowing that sleep would not come for Isabel or herself tonight she hung up the phone and cried.

[CEO Shaft]

Title: A Note From the Past
Rating: Not sure what it rates
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, I don't own a thing so don't blame me for it . Any resemblance to characters, real or imagined is purely an accident. In other words, I made it up so don’t be mad
Author's note: Much more dialogue in this part, not my strong suit let me know what you think. Please be gentle, it is a first for me.
Summary: Takes place in a different future, one of the many possibilities that opened when Liz changed things. Nothing after End of the World took place.


Chapter 2




A knock on the window a few hours later stopped Liz’s crying. For a brief moment, Liz thought it was Max. Through still watery eyes she made her way to the window, a small smile of hope on her face. When she saw who it was, her face fell.

“Well, hello to you too, Chica.” Maria said while coming into the bedroom.

“Maria, what are you doing here? It is five in the morning.”

“Yeah, I know.” Maria mumbled under her breath. “Michael called me about an hour ago, he told me that Isabel called and he thought you might need someone tonight.”

Maria was definitely not a morning person, but if even Michael felt that Liz could use her then she knew it was serious. It took a little bit of doing to get her here. The phone call from Michael woke up her mother who was none-too-happy that someone was calling her daughter at three o’clock in the morning. That changed when Maria told her mother what was wrong, at least what she thought was wrong. In truth Maria wasn’t exactly sure why she was here. Amy Deluca was pretty understanding as mothers go, when Maria had told her that Liz was upset and she needed to talk in person, Amy even offered to drive Maria over. Only after promising her mom that she would drink some coffee to wake up was Maria allowed to drive herself. Not one to live in suspense, Maria figured now was as good as time as any to find out what had been going on with her best friend over the past few weeks.

“Liz, honey, what has been going on with you and Max lately?”

At that, Liz started crying again; and Maria felt horrible for making her cry some more. The only thing she was able to make out through the tears was Max was gone and it was all her fault.

“Liz, calm down. Why don’t you start from the beginning and tell me what is going on ok?”

Pulling herself together somewhat, Liz sighed. “You know, I thought I was doing the right thing, Max was determined to work through the whole destiny thing and I was just as determined not to tie him down. He is so important, he should be able to fulfill his purpose. He is a king, he should be free to live up to that. How could I live with myself if I tied him down and made him something he is not meant to be?”

Maria had heard all of this before, in fact it felt a little bit like the questions Max had asked her this summer. Rubbing Liz’s back she urged her to continue.

“I did something horrible this week, Maria. I convinced Max that I had moved on, I made him fall out of love with me.”

Maria thought back to the previous summer and her conversations with Max. There was no way that he would be able to fall out of love with Liz. If Michael felt half as strongly as Max, then it would be more than enough for Maria to be content with forever.
“Oh Chica, that is impossible. I spent an entire summer, almost to the day, listening to him tell me all of the various things he would do to convince you how much he loved you. He told me that he would try anything, if I heard one more time how much he loves your smile, or his silly plans on winning you back I would have hit him. Thank god you came back so he could start putting it into action. There was one plan where he would sing to you with a back-up band, he planned to do it while you where on your balcony…”
Liz’s pained face convinced Maria to stop. Abruptly she closed her mouth.

“I did Maria, believe me I did. Do you remember telling me how you felt when you found Michael with Courtney?”

“Yeah… Liz where is this going?” Maria didn’t want to remember that feeling. Even though she believed Michael’s explanation, she didn’t want to relive that. She watched as Liz got up and started pacing around the room. It seemed like she was trying to organize her thoughts before her continued.

“Maria, I made Max think that I slept with Kyle. Before you say anything: no, I didn’t actually sleep with Kyle; and yes, I had very good reasons to do that. You see, Max did sing to me, in fact it was the night we went to see the psychic. Something very bad happened when we got home that night. Right before Max started my serenade, there was a blinding flash of light and Max was there. But it wasn’t Max… he was… older and incredibly sad. He told me that if I didn’t get Max, our Max, to fall out of love with me it would lead to the destruction of everything. Max and I stayed together in that life and Tess left Roswell. Because she left, we weren’t strong enough to win when our enemies came.” Liz didn’t even notice that she had said “our enemies” but Maria did. “I tried everything that I could think of to convince Max to leave me alone. Everything I tried hurt me worse and he still wouldn’t give up. Then you told me about Michael, and I knew how to get Max to move on to Tess. The other Max told me that the night of the Gomez concert, our relationship would be cemented, and if that happened Tess would leave Roswell. So I made sure that Max would see Kyle and I that night. It worked too, since the future changed, Max… uh, the other Max… didn’t exist anymore. I watched him dissolve right in front of me. I knew then that I had lost Max for ever. But I never expected that because of what I did, he would do this.” At that, Liz grabbed the letter off of her desk. She handed the letter to Maria, and then reverently touched the three roses Max had left.

Maria read the letter, and felt her friends’ pain. Max must have hurt very bad when he wrote the letter, and she could see how much pain Liz was suffering. Max was not known for acting rashly; however, they all knew how he became about Liz, rational and Liz didn’t go hand-in-hand with Max. It was very probable that he meant every word of his letter; including leaving Roswell.

“Chica, how do you know that he is really leaving? Maybe he hasn’t left yet.”

“Maria, there is one thing that I failed to mention, I have been having these dreams lately. For the past few days I have dreamt that I was in a cave and there were explosions all around me. The dream always ends the same: I read that letter, hear an explosion, and rocks fall on me. I die Maria, and from the sense of loss that I feel, I believe that everyone else does as well. My final thoughts are of Max, of how I let him down by not telling him about the other Max. When I woke up this morning from the dream, I noticed that the letter was sitting on my desk; that letter, the same one from my dreams. I already knew he wasn’t going to be there, but I called Isabel anyway. She checked, and Max was gone, some of his clothes and his jeep. If I can’t fix this mess, we are all going to be dead in fourteen years. I have given up my happiness to save the world, but it didn’t turn out the way that I had thought. Now I have to find Max, convince him that I still love him, explain everything to him and hope he comes back with us. I have no illusions that he will love me again, he probably won’t. But I have to try to get him back!” At that, Maria could tell that Liz had gone from feeling completely helpless to totally committed. She could still see a profound sadness on Liz’s face, but at least now she had a purpose. Liz was a fighter, and despite the dire situation Maria believed that they would succeed.

“What do you need me to do Liz?” It felt right to turn to Liz for guidance. Even though Liz was overwhelmed, she exuded leadership and Maria felt great comfort that Liz would be able to pull this off.

“Maria, I need you to be at the Evans’ house after school today. We having a meeting right after school, and I am not sure if I will be able to tell this story again without some help. And since you are the only other person I have told, I didn’t even tell Kyle why he was “sleeping” with me, you are going to have to be the one to help.” Liz said with a deep sigh, it felt like some of the weight of the past week and a half was gone. Now all that she had to do was fill everyone else in, convince Tess to stay regardless of what happened between them, and find Max. She just needed to take it one step at a time. One thing was for sure, if they did find Max, Liz was going to make sure that Max knew exactly how she felt about him. Please come back to me, Max. I love you and can’t live without you. I will find some other way of making things work out, but I need you to know how I feel.
“Do you need to go home Maria? We have to be at school in a few hours. Do you need to get ready?”

“You know what Liz, I would rather stay with you. You need me more than my hair needs done. Are you sure you are alright?” Concern showing in Maria’s voice.

Liz looked in the mirror, and with a small smile said, “now that I have a plan, I think I am going to be alright. I already feel a lot better having told you. Once I tell Max, I will be fine.”

[CEO Shaft]

Title: A Note From the Past
Rating:Not sure what it rates
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, I don't own a thing so don't blame me for it . Any resemblance to characters, real or imagined is purely an accident. In other words, I made it up so don’t be mad. The song is Bon Jovi’s “Always” please don’t sue me
Summary: Takes place in a different future, one of the many possibilities that opened when Liz changed things. Nothing after End of the World took place.

Author's note: I have never tried anything like this. I know the effect that I was going for, but I can’t tell if it worked. If you have any ideas on how to make this better, please let me know. Please be gentle, it is a first for me. And be sure to check out the wonderful picture on page one!


Chapter 3


This Romeo is bleeding
But you can't see his blood
It's nothing but some feelings
That this old dog kicked up
It's been raining since you left me
Now I'm drowning in the flood
You see I've always been a fighter
But without you I give up
Now I can't sing a love song
like the way it's meant to be
Well I guess I'm not that good anymore
But baby that's just me

About an hour and a half outside of Roswell sat Max Evans in his jeep with the radio playing in the background. He had been sitting in the parking lot of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts since three o’clock just thinking about life. His thoughts drifted, as they always did, to a certain brunette. Even though he had left so she could be free, he would never be free of Liz Parker. He would never forget how beautiful she was; or her eyes; her hair. The thought that she would be happier without him around both tempered and increased his despair. All I ever wanted was to make you happy, Liz; I hope you are going to have a beautiful life with everything you ever wanted. He thought it was strange that at that very moment he heard the song that perfectly summed up his situation. Perhaps it was just more of the cosmic joke his life had become. Haven’t I been through enough! He wanted to shout.

Yeah I will love you baby
Always
And I'll be there forever and a day
Always
I'll be there till the stars don't shine
Till the heavens burst and words don't rhyme
And I know when I die
You'll be on my mind
And I'll love you always

“I know exactly what you mean.” Max said to the radio as the refrain rang out from the jeep’s speakers. “I will never be able to stop loving you, Liz.” He felt like a coward for running away, but it was the only thing he could do to not appear co-dependent. He always hated those people who guilt-tripped their partner into staying in a relationship, and this was the only way he could think of to prevent Liz from being tortured.

Now your pictures that
You left behind
Are just memories of a different life
Some that made us laugh
Some that made us cry
Once that made you
Have to say good bye
What i'd give to run my fingers
Through your hair
To touch your lips
To hold you near
When you say your prayers
Try to understand
I've made mistakes
I'm just a man

Max thought back on his life. In the beginning it was so easy; he knew that he would never have a shot with Liz. So he did the next best thing, he loved her from afar. While it didn’t compare to the joy of actually being with Liz, it was all he knew. Then came that day at the Crashdown: Michael and Isabel had been so furious with him for exposing them. For once in his entire life, Max had acted out of selfishness, he couldn’t live with himself if he hadn’t of acted. Unfortunately Max thought angrily instead of saving her life, I ended up destroying it.

When he holds you close
When he pulls you near
When he says the words
You've been needing to hear
I'll wish I was him cause the words are mine
To say to you till the end of time

For some reason, after he had saved Liz, it became harder to see her with Kyle. Max knew that nothing but pain could come from letting Liz know how much he loved her, so he kept pushing her away. Saving her life was a blessing and a curse. She made him more human, but once he saw her feelings for him it was impossible to stay away. He fought as long as he could, and was pretty good at it; however, once he knew that she loved him, even though she thought she had no chance it was over. The harder he fought it, the more he wanted to give in, and then he just couldn’t stay away anymore. The night on her balcony, when the kissed for the first time, he felt like he could fly away. I thought that nothing could tear us apart. Once we got together, life was perfect. I should have known it wouldn’t last.

And I will love you baby
Always
And I'll be there forever and a day
Always
If you told me to cry for you
I could
If you told me to die for you
I would
Take a look at my face
There's no price I won't pay
To say these words to you

He knew that all-too-well. The only thought that kept him alive during his imprisonment at the hands of that deranged agent Pearce was telling Liz one last time that he loved her. He was almost convinced that Liz was dead. If he hadn’t been freed when he did, he would have become the monster that Pearce thought he was. Seeing Michael brought him back from the edge; drugged or not, he would have personally killed every one of the people responsible for Liz’s death.

Well there ain't no luck
In these loaded dice
But baby if you give me just one more try
We can pack up our old dreams and out old lives
We'll find a place
Where the sun still shines

“Loaded dice, indeed… You have no idea how true that is.” If only it were as easy as moving away. It has been said that anything worth having takes a lot of work to obtain; and, at first it seemed like Liz was willing to work for their relationship. Max smiled wistfully as he thought she was more willing to work for it than I was. And then came Tess… He thought with such venom that is surprised him. True, it wasn’t her fault that she had showed up and wanted to have everything she was told was her’s, but he couldn’t help hating her, she had ruined everything. Even Tess showing up hadn’t stopped Liz from coordinating his rescue. He had never been as happy as when he saw that his Liz was alive, and that she had come for him. The happiest moment of his life was quickly overshadowed by the most painful. Hearing his destiny in the pod-chamber and seeing Liz walking out of his life was almost more than he could bare. Whether I die tomorrow or fifty years from now, my destiny’s the same… its you… He couldn’t help but remember those words. He truly believed them, then and now. He knew that he would never be with Liz, but that didn’t stop him from vowing to be ready if there was ever a chance for he and Liz again, he would be ready for it.

Yeah I will love you baby
Always
And I'll be there forever and a day
Always
I'll be there till the stars don't shine
Till the heavens burst and words don't rhyme
And I know when I die
You'll be on my mind
And I'll love you always

“I love you Elizabeth Parker. I don’t know what the future has for us, but I know you will be happy. Maybe someday I will be able to find happiness as well.” Max had no trouble conjuring a picture of Liz in his mind. He knew her delicate features better than he knew himself. However, the picture of his Liz that came was not one of happiness, like he wanted, but one of sadness and determination. He saw Liz standing in her room, and he was looking at her. The pain on her face was evident and he had to look away. He hated seeing her in such pain. Looking around the room, he noticed that he seemed to be in the corner by her mirror, in front of the mirror in fact. Please come back to me, Max. I love you and can’t live without you. I will find some other way of making things work out, but I need you to know how I feel. It felt as if those thoughts were coming from Liz. He shook his head they couldn’t be coming from Liz, she shouldn’t even know I am gone yet. Glancing at the clock in his jeep, Max noticed that it was twenty to six and he was exhausted. I had better find a motel, I need some sleep. With that, he turned on the jeep and drove away. He never noticed that across the street another car started and followed him down the road.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The occupant in the other car pulled out behind Max’s jeep and reached for the cell phone.

“Hello…”
“It is me. He is about to get a room at the Motel 6 about an hour and a half out of town. Should I get him now?”
“No, lets wait to see what the rest of them do before we make our move.”
“Ok, I will continue to tail him until you tell me to make my move.”
“And one more thing… Don’t screw this up, the queen ordered us to make sure everything turns out as it should.”
“Give me a break, I won’t screw it up. I know how important this is. I will contact you again when I am settled.”
With that the conversation ended, and the car pulled into the parking lot.

[CEO Shaft]

Title: A Note From the Past
Rating:Not sure what it rates
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, I don't own a thing so don't blame me for it . Any resemblance to characters, real or imagined is purely an accident. In other words, I made it up so don’t be mad.
Summary: Takes place in a different future, one of the many possibilities that opened when Liz changed things. Nothing after End of the World took place.

Author's note: I am a CCer but mainly I am a dreamer so it isn’t as easy to write the other characters. Let me know how this part turned out. The reference to the friend’s ladder is taken from the website: http://intellectualwhores.com/masterladder.html. Sorry it took so long


Chapter 4


Alex looked at his watch. 7:00, well at least I won’t be late for school again. His thoughts turned away from school and to Isabel Evans, and their situation. He felt really tired: after all, receiving a distraught phone call from the woman you love at 4:00 am tended to leaving a person a little haggard the next morning. He didn’t know whether to take it as a good sign or a bad sign that she turned to him to make her feel better. Isabel Evans was notoriously difficult to read. On the one hand, it showed that she felt comfortable enough to allow him to see her at her most unguarded; then again, he could have cemented his position atop of her “friend” ladder, and consequently have even less of a shot with her than he did before last night. He hated not having the answer; he hated how passive he had become. Why was he lying back and taking what life was throwing at him? Why should he let Isabel treat him like he was nothing more than her security blanket? He was done with the waiting. As much as he would hate to be told he never would have a shot with the love of his life, he hated not knowing even more. If that crack-pot fortune teller was right, so be it. I need to know. Today is the day that I ask Isabel where I stand. On that note he drove over to the Evans’ house to pick up the woman of his frustrations.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabel Evans went through her morning routine as usual that Friday morning. She half expected to see her brother standing outside of the bathroom waiting to use the shower. When he wasn’t there, she once again broke out into tears. She had only been able to get back to sleep after she had called Alex. “Alex” she sighed. What more could she say about the one person other than Max who had been there for her whenever she needed him? It was nice and comfortable to have him there whenever life was getting to hectic for her. He made her feel safe and secure and she loved it. Well, mostly loved it. There was a small part of her that resisted him, resented him even. After all, she was an alien princess, why should she need anyone but herself to make her feel safe? She wasn’t sure exactly how she felt about him, but she knew that he would be there for her when she needed him.

Last night, she had called him. Even at four in the morning he was willing to talk with her until she felt better. But it wasn’t quite as comfortable as it had been. He stayed up with her, but there was something off with him, almost like he was getting frustrated with something. At first she thought it was her, that he was annoyed that she had called him so early; however, as the conversation continued, it felt as though he was annoyed at the situation. Once she realized that, she felt a lot better. After her brother had abandoned her, she wasn’t sure she could handle Alex leaving as well. In fact, Alex leaving her seemed to bother her more. Max had already left her when he saved Liz, she was no longer the most important woman in his life; Alex had always put her first. She wasn’t sure what all of her thoughts meant. But she knew she needed to figure it out. Fast.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

At five past seven, a different Isabel emerged from the house and met Alex in her driveway. After she had locked the front door, she saw Alex sitting in the driver’s seat. Her breath caught in her throat, he seemed… different; determined. She had a feeling this was going to be an interesting ride to school. Oh great, just what I need. Oh well, let’s get this over with. With that, she opened the passenger door and sat down. “Hello Alex. Thanks for picking me up today.”

“Sure thing Is, how are you?” Concern etched on his face.

“I am doing alright, considering…” She felt a lot less uncomfortable now, knowing Alex still cared made her feel lighter. Like everything will work out in the end.

“That is good, do your parents know yet?”

During the emotional gauntlet she had been through in the past few hours, she had complete forgotten that her parents were gone until next Tuesday for a convention. “Actually, I forgot but this is the weekend that they are out of town. I don’t know if he did it on purpose, but Max has actually given us five days to find him without our parents knowing.” When she mentioned Max, she started to cry. She tried to fight it, she really did, but it was no use. “Why… did…he… have… to …leave me… Al-Alex?”

It broke his heart to see Isabel crying, so he did the only thing he could, he pulled her close and held her until she felt better. “It will be alright Is, we will find him. I called Liz this morning, right before I left and I have never heard her so determined. We will find him, I am sure we will.” He rubbed his hand soothingly along her hair. Under his breath Alex muttered, “then when he comes back, I will make sure he knows exactly how much pain he has caused you. Alien powers or not, he will know what a jackass he was.”

Isabel looked at Alex, stunned. “You-you would do that for me? You would take on my brother because he hurt me? Really?”

Alex felt like a deer caught in headlights. “You weren’t supposed to hear that, but yeah… yeah I would.”

Isabel felt very loved. It felt like all of the resistance that she had was fading away as she stared at Alex. Smiling and looking at him through watery eyes she said “Thank you, Alex. You don’t know what that means to me. I am ok now.” She sat up and fixed herself using the passenger mirror. When she was finished she looked over at Alex, who hastily looked away.

“Isabel,” be began, with more than a hint of nervousness in his voice. “I need to talk to you before we leave.”

Isabel had a feeling she knew what this was about, trying not to smile she nodded. “Ok, what is it?”

“Well, I had been doing a lot of thinking lately, and I have decided to take one final shot at this: Isabel, wouldyougooutwithme?” He said in a rush.

She looked at him for a second, confused as to what he just said. “What? I didn’t hear you.”

He took a deep breath, and tried again. “Would you go out with me?”

Before she could answer him, he started talking again. “I know I am not the kind of guy that you normally hang out with, but I have tried to be there for you whenever you have needed me…”

“Alex…”

Either he didn’t hear her; or, more likely, he didn’t want her to say no. “I know that I really don’t have a chance with you, but I couldn’t sit back and wait to see if you ever decided to give me a chance…”

“Alex…”

“The other night we went to a fortune teller and she told me you would never see me as more than a friend but I had to ask anyway. I won’t ask you again, I am sorry that I put you on the spot like this but…” He tried to keep talking, but suddenly he couldn’t talk anymore. There was something in the way.

The previous day’s events coupled with Alex’s babbling had completely destroyed the walls she had built up over the years. Since he wouldn’t let her talk, and since he was “pulling a Maria” she did the only thing she could think of that would stop it; the thing that worked form Michael. She placed her hands on his ears, turned his head and kissed him, hard. After a few seconds, she pulled away. “Yes, Alex.”

Alex was stunned to say the least. I must have been daydreaming, yeah that’s it. “Wh-wha-what did you say?”

“I said ‘yes, Alex’ I will go out with you.”

“Are you…sure?”

She laughed at his question. “Yes,” she said chuckling, “I am sure.”

Alex’s face lit up like the fourth of July, and noticing that she was still mere inches from his face, he kissed her again. The kiss was one full of passion; one that conveyed all of his feelings for her. Isabel whimpered against his lips and moved onto his lap. Fifteen minutes later, they broke apart. Noticing the time, Alex and Isabel reluctantly ended their kissing and Isabel once again fixed herself in the mirror. “You know” she said, “I think this could be the start of something amazing.”

With that, he winked at her, turned the car on and backed out of the driveway. Once out of the driveway he took her hand and drove to school. Yes, he looked at her and smiled something amazing.

[CEO Shaft]

Title: A Note From the Past
Rating:Not sure what it rates
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, I don't own a thing so don't blame me for it . Any resemblance to characters, real or imagined is purely an accident. In other words, I made it up so don’t be mad.
Summary: Takes place in a different future, one of the many possibilities that opened when Liz changed things. Nothing after End of the World took place.

Author's note: Sorry it took so long.


Chapter 5

Maria and Liz pulled into the school’s parking lot at 7:25 am. Liz hadn’t said much since she and Maria had their chat, and Maria could tell that Liz was reflecting on the situation and planning on how they were going to find Max. She had yet to mention her concern from this morning.

“Chica,” Maria said startling Liz out of her self-imposed silience. “I need to ask you something.”

“What is it Maria?” Liz asked, slightly annoyed that Maria was distracting her from her planning.

“During our discussion this morning, you mentioned something and I was hoping you could clear it up.”

“What did I say?”

“Well…” Maria said clearly uncomfortable with bringing it up, a fact that didn’t escape Liz’s notice. “When you were trying to justify your actions, which I can see why you took them,” she added nervously. She started moving her hands, unsure of how to say it.

“Yes?” Liz prodded, she could tell Maria was about to reach her babbling stage, and frankly Liz didn’t have time to put up with that this morning, too much was riding on her. They had to find Max, and soon.

“Well, you called them ‘our people’ not ‘his people,’ or ‘their people.’ Why?”

Avoiding the question as best she could, she took a look out the window. “Well…” she said “the truth is…Tess.”

Clearly not expecting that, Maria shouted “Tess?!?”

Liz nodded, indicating the window. Outside of the car Tess was walking toward them, and she looked very angry, and something else. It seemed that she was very hurt as well. “We better get going, Maria.” Liz said and got out of the car, not waiting for a response.

“Liz,” Tess shouted, angrily. “We need to talk, now.”

Great, this is just what I want to do, spend time with her. Hiding a grimace, she replied “ok, what do you want?”

“It is better if we talk in private.”

“OK”

And with that, Tess and Liz headed toward the school, and an empty classroom.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Alex and Isabel pulled into the parking lot as Tess and Liz were leaving it. They noticed that Maria was staring after them, looking confused. Exiting the car, they called Maria and she came over.

“What is wrong Maria?” Alex asked as he rounded the car to stand next to Isabel, unconsciously taking her hand. Maria gave him a raised eyebrow, and he blushed. She then turned to Isabel, who just smiled and nodded.

“You two are?!” Maria shrieked, looking very happy “When?”

“This morning,” Isabel said, still smiling.

“That is great news!”

Alex was still concerned about Maria. “Maria, what is wrong? Where are Tess and Liz going?”

“I don’t know where they are going.” Maria stated, “As for what is going on, well…” Maria proceeded to fill the two in on what happened this morning.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tess led Liz into a deserted classroom and locked the door with her powers. Liz walked toward the desks and sat down waiting for Tess to begin. Tess walked to the teacher’s desk and sat on the front of it. When she was comfortable she began. “Liz, I know you don’t like me, and to be honest I don’t think too much of you right now. I know what you did with Kyle.”

She said, looking straight into Liz’s eyes, she continued. “Max was crushed when he saw you and Kyle on your bed the other night.” Noticing Liz’s slumped body language, Tess smiled inwardly You may have taken my man, but at least I can make you feel some pain in your happiness .

“Kyle means a lot to me” Tess said. He means more to me than anyone ever has she added in her head. Crushing those thought she focused on what she came in here to do.

“Do not toss Kyle aside like the way you did Max. I will not stand for it. I am not sure what your intentions are toward Kyle; but I swear to you, if you hurt him, I will make you pay. Do we understand each other?” She said causally running her hand back and forth the pencil holder on the desk, changing it from a pencil case to a knife, then a rope, then a pair of handcuffs. Feeling slightly better that she had managed to get it all out without breaking into tears, for Kyle betrayed her just as much has Liz had betrayed Max, she waited for Liz’s response. If she was expecting Liz to cower in fear, she was sorely disappointed in the reaction her threat got.

Liz looked her in the eyes and said something that Tess had never thought she would hear. “Tess, you could never hurt me as much as I have been hurting the past few hours. Do you have any idea what I have been going through? I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since before I started helping you “win” Max.” She said, pacing around the room. It was obvious to Tess, that Liz was losing her battle with self-control.

Liz continued. “In my sleep I keep dreaming that I die, and during the day I see nothing but Max’s tortured face looking at me when he thinks I don’t notice. Believe it or not, I ‘slept’ with Kyle to help you!” She shouted. Tess was glad that she had the fore-thought to sound proof the door. Threats were not something taken lightly in schools anymore, but that isn’t why Tess was relieved. It seemed like Liz was on the verge of shouting some pretty dangerous things. “Do you have any idea, any at all, how much it hurt me to trick Max that way?”

Trick Max? What are you talking about Liz? Tess thought silently, she would have asked her, but the look on Liz’s face stopped her. Liz stopped pacing and looked at her with such contempt it scared her. “Of course you don’t, you have no feeling in your alien body. If you did, we wouldn’t be in this mess. It is all your fault, you know. Max being hurt, and leaving.”

Getting up Tess was on Liz before she could stop herself. Smack! Tess smacked Liz right across the face, leaving a nasty red hand print. “How dare you blame this on me!? He left because you slept with Kyle, not because of me!”

Liz pushed her away, and looked at her with such hate that Tess wanted to run away. “I pretended to sleep with Kyle so Max would get together with you. If you weren’t so selfish and going to leave, Max and I could have been so happy together.”
Tess was shocked, how did Liz know she was planning to leave? No one knew that. She would have left too, because she was confused. All she thought she ever wanted was to find the other three and have what she was always told was hers. But when she found them, more importantly a human named Kyle, she wasn’t sure what she wanted anymore. “Liz, how did you know I was planning on leaving?”

Liz looked out the window and started to tell Tess what happened since the visit to the fortune-teller. When she was finished, Tess sat stunned. “I am sorry for hitting you Liz, I didn’t know all this was going to result from me leaving.”

Liz just nodded, so Tess said “Liz, we will find him, and I won’t be leaving Roswell. This is my home now, and I have found things worth staying for.”

Liz sighed and said, “I won’t give him up again Tess, if Max has any interest left for me, I swear I will fight you tooth and nail. And I don’t plan on losing.” She added with a glare, signifying the challenge it really was.

Tess waved her hand in front of her and half smiled. “You don’t understand Liz. I am talking about Kyle, not Max. You two belong together, and I have known it since I have been here. I could never have sacrificed my happiness just because he asked me to. You are a lot stronger than I am.” They sat in silence for a minute, then the bell rang. Tess walked over to the door, unlocked it and looked back at Liz. “I will help you in any way I can. When I came here, I thought you had taken away everything that was supposed to be mine, now I know it wasn’t mine to begin with, he was always yours.”

Seeing sincerity in Tess’ features, Liz said “I understand. And Tess, thank you for saying that. I needed to hear it.” And with that, Tess left.

Until now, Liz had not rubbed her face. She didn’t want to show weakness in front of her one-time adversary; but since she was gone, Liz touched her face. It still hurt, but rubbing it made it feel a lot better. Gathering up her back pack she left for the bathroom, to inspect the damage left by the slap. She didn’t notice the man outside the window who pick up his cell phone.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


“Hello, its me” The man said into the phone.

“What do you want, Lucas?” said the woman on the other end.

“What do you want, Sir?” Lucas asked with more than a hint of annoyance, he was in command of this mission and he was being treated as the grunt. “Do you still have the subject in under surveillance?”

“Yes, SIR.” She said.

“Good, it is time to pick him up. You know where to bring him.” He said, and hung up the phone. And so it begins, I hope this works. We can’t afford to mess this up.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz stared into the mirror, shocked at what she saw; or, more accurately, didn’t see. She was sure that Tess hit her hard enough to leave a mark, but there was no imprint of any kind on her face. Relieved, she left the bathroom and ran into Maria.

“Chica, your face?” Maria said pointing.

“What about it?” Liz asked irritably.

“There is no bruise! I ran into Tess and she said that she whacked you pretty good, and wanted me to see if you were alright. She said you were already bruising and she would fix it if you wanted her to. I guess she was wrong.”

Liz thought about it for a second, and something clicked. Unfortuanately, the late bell was ringing so she didn’t have time to get into that right now. “I think I am going to take a nap in study hall. See you at lunch, ok?”

“Sure thing, are you sure you are alright?” Maria asked.

“I will be fine, get going or you will get into trouble.” With that, Maria left for her class and Liz walked to study hall, thinking. I think I know what is going on. I will tell them after school, I will need everyone’s help if I am right.

[CEO Shaft]

Title: A Note From the Past
Rating:Not sure what it rates
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, I don't own a thing so don't blame me for it . Any resemblance to characters, real or imagined is purely an accident. In other words, I made it up so don’t be mad.
Summary: Takes place in a different future, one of the many possibilities that opened when Liz changed things. Nothing after End of the World took place.

Author's note: There is a part in here that should seem very familiar to everyone. I got it from http://www.crashdown.com


Liz entered study hall and was extremely glad she decided to take it. At first, she thought of taking another class, but with the alien-related experiences the group kept having, she had thought it would be better for her to have some time to get things done in school. After all, she never knew if there was going to be time to finish her homework at home. However, she usually got it done; and, in the case of days like today, she generally had a class period where she could take a nap. The prospect of catching some sleep after not sleeping well for the past week, and the emotional toll last night had been, was too wonderful to pass up. Most kids were upset that this was a “quiet” study hall, because they couldn’t make any noise; but Liz was secretly glad as it made falling asleep much easier. The teacher started taking attendance, and Liz fought back the slightly nauseous feeling she had from so little sleep. Just a few more minutes and I can get some sleep Liz thought. When the teacher was finished with attendance, Liz put her head on her arm, and was out almost immediately.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


The motel room was sparse, but clean. Max Evans sat the bed trying to decide what to do. As usual, he had a very hard time sleeping. For the past five days he had been having the same dream, and it left him in great pain every morning. His dreams were allowing him only a few hours of sleep at a time before he would wake up screaming. Even when he had nightmares about Agent Pearce, they were never this vivid. His nightmares of Pearce were obviously dreams, when he was awake he could remind himself that Pearce was dead. These felt like he was actually living them, and that intensified the pain. They felt like memories, they were so real he was sure they had happened.


He had dreamt that he was older. He had to be older, because he felt like he had lived a hundred years. He and Liz were standing in the granolith chamber, and she looked as beautiful as ever, but she seemed profoundly sad. Things were very bad, he knew, because sadness like that only comes from serious loss; but for the life of him he couldn’t remember what had happened to make her so sad. What ever had happened to Liz, it had happened to them both; because as he looked around the chamber, everything had taken on a dark, menacing feel. Even the peaceful hum of the granolith sounded more like a swarm of bees. The confusing part of his dream is he could remember exactly what was said; but had absolutely no idea what on Earth, or Antar, what it meant.


“I won't leave you.” He remembered declaring ferevently.


“ No, no, no. Max, you have to.”


“If I'm successful, if I can do this, you and I won't exist. Not as we do now.”


“Max, if you don't do this, we're gonna die. Everyone will. Max, you have to do this. You have to try it.” He could tell she was trying to remain strong, but she was also starting to break.


“I'll never see you again. “ He looked into her eyes, knowing that he had to do whatever it was they had planned, though he couldn’t remember it. He knew he wouldn’t see Liz again, so he made sure she knew he loved her. “Thank you.”


Startled, Liz looked into his eyes. “For what?” she asked hesitantly. Almost as if it was the last thing she expected him to say at a time like this.


He ached because he knew it was the last time he would hear her beautiful voice. Even with the undeniable despair in her voice, it was still the most magnificent sound he had ever heard. “For every kiss, every smile.” He said tenderly touching her face.


“Max, I don't have any regrets.” She said, then she kissed him one last time and motioned to the granolith. With his right hand still touching Liz’s striking face, he reached out to the machine with his left. He knew what he had to do, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from her face. Finally, he mouthed “I love you, now and forever” one last time and glanced at his left hand. He noticed that he had a wedding ring on, he knew they were married but seeing the ring caused such a strong feeling of regret in him that he tried to pull back his hand. It was too late! There was no going back now. With the bright flash of light, he noticed that Liz was knocked to the floor, and was bleeding badly. NO! LIZ! What have I done!?


The dream would end here and he would wake up panting. And this morning was no different. He had awakened five minutes ago in a cold sweat. Now he was lying in bed trying to go back to sleep. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to get anymore sleep, but he had to try. He was so tired. After ten more minutes, Max had given up on trying to get more sleep. Stepping into the shower, he thought about what he was going to do next. With the water running and the fan on, he didn’t hear his motel door open.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Liz was in a deep sleep on her desk. Her eyes were fluttering against her eyelids, indicating she was dreaming. In her dream, she was sitting on a motel bed that seemed vaguely familiar to her. The water was running in the bathroom and she knew that Max was in there getting a shower. She smiled, thinking of all that skin. What she would like to do to that skin… Maybe we will explore that later. In fact, I am sure of it She thought, with her smile stretching even further.


The sound of the door to the room opening startled her out of her thoughts. Slightly annoyed, she turned toward the door to tell whoever it was to leave, she and Max were busy. Expecting Maria like always, she had the WORST timing in the world, her annoyance turned to fear as she saw a woman slightly older than herself enter the room and lock the door with her powers. She has powers!? thought Liz. That thought was quickly replaced by, Why do I feel as if I have seen her before? Liz stared at her intently, but the woman just walked right past her, not even noticing she was there. The woman stood outside the bathroom door, waiting for Max to leave the bathroom.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Max shut off the water in the shower and reached for his towel. When he was dried off, he wrapped the towel around his waist, and walked over to the mirror. Using his powers to remove the fog from the shower, he looked at himself and then put on shaving cream. He could use his powers to shave, but he found the activity mildly soothing. Picking up his razor, he started shaving.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Liz started stirring in her chair. Her dream was taking on a darker and darker feel as each second passed. The woman who was standing in the room looked grimly determined. In the bathroom, she heard the water being turned off. Liz knew that Max was shaving, she wasn’t sure how she knew it, but she did. She also knew that he would be out in a minute and if she didn’t do something soon, he would be hurt.

“Max… Max, it’s me. Don’t come out of the bathroom. Do you hear me? DON’T COME OUT OF THE BATHROOM.” She screamed. But if Max, or the woman heard her they gave no indication. This disturbed her, because she had basically shouted into the woman’s ear. She had no time to ponder that though, because Max turned on the water in the sink, shut it off, and then she saw the door open.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Max was finishing up in front of the mirror, when he thought he heard Liz shout: ‘Max… Max, it’s me. Don’t come out of the bathroom. Do you hear me? DON’T COME OUT OF THE BATHROOM.’ But that was impossible for a few reasons: first; Liz didn’t know where he was, second; She wouldn’t be talking to him even if she did know where he was and third; he was completely alone in his room. He shrugged, and grabbed his toothbrush. After he was finished brushing his teeth, he washed out the sink and went to the bathroom door to get dressed. He opened the door and was greeted by two things: a twenty-something woman standing on the other side of the door, and a blinding flash that hit him square in the chest. As he fell to the floor, he thought he saw someone else by the bed.

“Liz…” He managed to say before he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Liz watched as, in slow motion, Max opened the door and took a solid blast to the chest. She watched him fall to the floor, and was stunned to have Max look directly out her and asked “Liz.”

With a start, Liz woke up and she was back in her study hall. The bell started ringing and Liz ran out of the room. She ran directly to Maria’s classroom. Maria had math class first period and she was only a few classes down. “Maria!” Liz shouted.

“What is it Chica?” Maria asked looking over her best friend, she looked like she had taken a nap, but Maria wasn’t sure what to make of her present state. “Did you take a nap?”

“Maria, I need your keys!” She cried.

“Ah, sure. Why?”

Liz told her quickly “do you remember what I told you about my dreams? Well, it is regarding that.” Maria reached into her purse, and tossed her keys to Liz. “Thank you Maria, I will call you in a bit. I have to leave.” Liz ran off not waiting for a response. She left Maria standing in the hall way, confused.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


Liz Parker didn’t slow down until she reached Maria’s car in the parking lot. She opened Maria’s car and sat down. Before she had even finished adjusting the mirrors she had the car started. Backing out of the spot, she reached for her cell phone. She called a phone number that she had hoped she would never need.

“Hello, this is the Sheriff’s office, how my I direct your call?”

“I need to speak to the sheriff, is he in?” Liz asked.

“Sure miss, let me transfer you.” Liz listened to music playing while she was on hold. After a few seconds Sherif Valenti picked up the phone.

“Hello…”

“Sheriff, it is Liz Parker. I need you to meet me at the Motel 6 on 285 south right now.” She said, not entirely sure how she knew which motel it was. Of course, that is why the room looked familiar. I had been in one before!

“Why do you need me to go out there Liz?” He asked clearly confused.

“There is no time to explain sheriff, but it relates to what you think it does.” That was enough to get him to agree and he hung up the phone. Liz threw her cell phone onto the seat next to her and turned out of the parking lot. I hope you are alright Max. We will be there soon.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


She had been preparing for this since her arrival on Earth, but none of the planning could have made her ready to see the king unconscious at her feet. It was an odd feeling, and she wasn’t entirely sure she could describe it to anyone. Shrugging she reached into her pocket. Pulling out a cell phone she dialed a number that she had used many times before.

“Hello…” Lucas answered.

“Lucas, it is done.” She stated flatly.

“Excellent, the rest of the pieces are moving into place. This will be finished soon and then we can go home. You know where to take him.”

“Yes, I do. I will see you there.” She said, and then hung up the phone. Then she used her powers to unlock the door and carry Max to her car.

[CEO Shaft]

Title: A Note From the Past
Rating:Not sure what it rates
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, I don't own a thing so don't blame me for it . Any resemblance to characters, real or imagined is purely an accident. In other words, I made it up so don’t be mad.
Summary: Takes place in a different future, one of the many possibilities that opened when Liz changed things. Nothing after End of the World took place.

Author's note: This chapter was a little bit shorter than my other ones, but I wanted to get something out tonight. I felt bad about leaving you all, so I sat down and wrote for a bit. This is a bit more background to what I plan on doing. I am working on chapter 8 so I am hoping that I can post it by the end of the week. PS the vision is taken from the pilot opening, it is me trying to tie some stuff together



Chapter 7



Liz had been on the highway for almost an hour and twenty minutes, and the monotonous interstate, coupled with the lack of any real sleep had lulled her into a stupor. Desperately trying to stay awake she started scanning the radio stations for something, anything that would keep her awake for the rest of the drive. With most of her attention diverted to finding a radio station, she had little left to spare for anything else. Perhaps it was inevitable that the more she focused on the radio, the faster she went down the highway. By the time she noticed how fast she was traveling the state trooper had as well.


“Oh great…” Liz mumbled, “Max is in danger, and here I am sitting around waiting for a cop with nothing better to do, write me a ticket for going just a little bit over the speed limit.” Slamming her hand against the steering wheel in frustration, she winced when she hit it with a bit more force than she had intended. When she pulled her hand back, she noticed that the ring she was wearing cut the steering wheel.


“Well… Maria isn’t going to appreciate that very much.” She commented dryly. In spite of herself she smiled at the image of Maria seeing the tear, and how she would react. Knowing Maria, she would probably just start babbling and throwing her hands around wildly. That was ok, because Liz loved her anyway, crazy antics and all. Just then the officer tapped on her window and wiping the smile off of her face, she turned her attention to the trooper.


“License and registration please…” He said in a clipped tone. The man looked as if he had just graduated from the police academy. He couldn’t have been more than twenty five years old. There was nothing remarkable about him, his brown hair and average height made him have a very ordinary air about him. It seemed that he could enter a room and no one would even notice he was there. And yet, a strange feeling washed over Liz. She was sure she HAD seen him before, but for the life of her she couldn’t tell when or where it was.


“Sure thing officer…” she took a look at his nameplate “… Fox.” Liz said as she reached for her purse. As she reached for the registration card in the glove box, she realized that this wasn’t her car. “Officer, this car belongs to my best friend’s mother. Her name is Amy Deluca, I don’t want you to think that I stole it, so you might want to give her a call. I borrowed the car because I had to go to an interview at the University of San Antonio and we only have one car and I was running late.” She lied, he was more likely to believe that she was out of school for college interviews than she was trying to save her alien soul mate from being injured by another being with powers after in any case.


There was a strange look on the officer’s face, almost as if he wanted to laugh-out-loud at that. He had expected an excuse as to why she was speeding. Part of the fun of his job was listening to the stories that people would think up when they were pulled over. There was nothing like walking up to a car and hearing a bunch of lies. This girl was good though, he usually could guess what someone would say, but she had completely surprised him. “Alright ma’am, just wait right here. I am going to go check this out.” Without waiting for a response he returned to his car.


Liz sat in the car watching the seconds tick by, Liz started to get antsy. Each second she sat here with the cop was a second less that she would have to get to Max. For now she was certain that the “dream” she had in school had happened. She wasn’t sure how she knew it, but she didn’t have time to question it now. Maybe it was connected to everything else that had been happening lately, she wasn’t sure. But since she was stuck, right now she wanted to test out her theory. Carefully looking around to make sure the officer was still in his car, Liz ran her hand over the cut in the wheel. She concentrated as hard as she could, visualizing the tear closing as her hand passed over it. It wasn’t a large tear, but Liz was still straining with effort. Removing her hand from the spot, she carefully looked down to see the tear was…


“Damn it!’ Liz shouted, “I can’t believe it is still there.” Peering down at the fabric, she saw not only was there still a tear there, but she was fairly certain it was mocking her as well; silently laughing at her failure, making her feel stupid for even trying to use “powers” to fix it. She didn’t have powers! That didn’t stop Liz from being very disappointed that she couldn’t mend the material; and it put a bit of a hole in her theory, nothing upsets a scientist so much as not being correct. Now she had to face the fact that maybe she wasn’t developing her own powers, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about that. After all, Liz had always felt as much of an outcast because she didn’t have powers, as Max had because he did. If she had her own powers, she would be in a better position to help their people. Maria had mentioned earlier that Liz no longer referred to them as “Max’s” but now they were “our;” it confirmed something that Liz had known for a long time, whatever was Max’s would be her’s as well. Startled out of her thoughts by another tap on the window, Liz turned to see the officer once again. She frowned when he handed her the binder with the insurance information in it back.


“Here you are Miss Parker.” He said in that same clipped voice. It was starting to get a bit annoying he that he kept popping up like that.


Liz struggled to maintain her smile, she hated when she was interrupted when she was thinking about things. She took the registration and insurance card back, and tossed it on the seat next to her. “Thank you, officer.”


“T’was my pleasure ma’am. Don’t forget to buckle up.” And with that, Officer Fox left her and drove away in his police cruiser.


As the officer drove out of sight, Liz set out straightening the car. After she had placed her license back into her wallet, she reached over for the registration card and noticed the yellow paper folded in with it. She dumped the paper onto the seat and put Maria’s cards back into the glove box. Well, at least I don’t have to wonder about the damage now. Let’s get this over with. She said removing her left hand from the steering wheel to open the paper. She was upset and nervous at how much the ticket was going to cost, so she didn’t notice that she had run her left hand over the cut on the wheel. She was equally unaware that the cut was now gone.


Opening the paper, Liz braced herself for the pricey fine she was sure she would receive. She was not prepared for what happened instead.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*


Liz was standing off to the side of the room. She knew where she was, but couldn’t help but looking around anyway. After all, she would know the Crashdown Café anywhere, she had spent most of her life in the restaurant. Looking around the room she saw a lot of people she recognized, Maria was working on the side farthest away from where Liz was standing. Liz looked around the Crashdown and noticed that the calendar behind the register said September 18th. Liz knew what that date held in store for her, she had relived it more than once in shared visions with Max; but she had never seen it from this prospective. It was slightly off of where Max and Michael were sitting that day, but she was on the same side. From her position by the window she could see herself serving the two alien hunters at the table in the center of the restaurant.


She laughed as she watched herself telling the pair crash festival enthusiasts the story that she perfected over the years. The picture was the icing on the cake, pure brilliance. That seems like such a long time ago Liz thought as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. Since she knew how the scene played out, she started looking around. At the table off to the right, the one that was sitting directly in front of the window, she saw him! She saw the officer that had pulled her over just a minute ago. He was with two other people, one boy and one girl, that seemed to be the same age as the officer. They were sitting there just watching. Not watching the people come and go, they were staring at something, it became clear that they were watching four people. They kept shifting from watching Max and Michael to watching Maria and herself. Why would they be watching us? Liz thought to herself. It freaked her out to know that people where watching her, so Liz decided to focus on something much more pleasant, Max.


Since that fateful day, Liz had found out that Maria wasn’t lying to her, that Max was staring at her any time she wasn’t looking at him. But she never got tired of seeing Max watch her. It made her feel loved and she liked it. Watching Max watch her took some of the unease out of the other people staring. Plus it was a new thing to watch Max when it wasn’t his memories that she was seeing. Since it was someone else’s memories, for she was sure that she was seeing the cop’s memory, it offered her an impartial look at Max. She stood there contemplating Max a bit more when a fist pounding diverted her attention else where.


The familiar voices were picking up again. It was getting close to when she was shot and she knew it.


“I was here to get the money today, not tomorrow!” Shouted the taller man as he stood up.


The smaller guy pulled a gun out as he got up and grabbed the man by the shirt. “You don’t need the money if you’re dead!” He shouted back. Everyone dove to the ground, everyone but Liz and the three people watching her that is. They didn’t even flinch, like they knew it was coming or something. Nor did they jump when the gun went off, they just sat there watching Liz get shot. She watched as the scene played out; as Max tried to get up; as Michael tried to stop him; as Max finally broke away and ran over to her other self and heal her; and as he and Michael drove away in the jeep. Her hand instinctively went to the spot where Max’s touch opened her eyes to the possibilities of life. But once again she was drawn to the trio sitting at the table. They were talking about what just happened and they seemed agitated.


“It has begun, we only get one final shot at this. We can not fail this time.” The guy sitting next to officer Fox said flatly.


“Relax, we won’t fail this time, we all know what is riding on this. Don’t we Brian?” She said and gave Brian Fox a critical look. Liz got the feeling that it was Brian’s fault that they had failed the last time.


Brian raised his hands in mock surrender and responded. “I know what is riding on this. There is more than just the throne at stake. I understand that, now please leave me alone about it. I am not the same person who screwed up the last time. I have learned a lot more than I ever knew before.” Liz could tell he was getting a bit aggravated.


“Alright,” the other guy said. “The plan starts today, when we leave here we will be watching the primaries. And remember, if we succeed, we can go home.” With that the three got up and left the café just ahead of the arriving police cars.




~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*



Liz snapped back in her seat with a start. She took a second to gather her senses and looked at the clock in the Jetta. “I have been out for twenty minutes?!” She exclaimed. With the time that she had lost due to the cop and now with the vision, she wasn’t sure if she could make it to the motel before Sheriff Valenti. She had a feeling that the twenty minutes she had missed weren’t going to make any difference between finding Max and not, but she didn’t like to let the woman get too far ahead of her. With that, Liz put her car into drive and continued her journey to find her soul mate. She still hadn’t noticed that the nick in the steering wheel was gone.

[CEO Shaft]

Title: A Note From the Past
Rating:Not sure what it rates
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, I don't own a thing so don't blame me for it . Any resemblance to characters, real or imagined is purely an accident. In other words, I made it up so don’t be mad.
Summary: Takes place in a different future, one of the many possibilities that opened when Liz changed things. Nothing after End of the World took place.

Author's note: Here is it like I promised. I am not sure what the heck was going on with this part, as this was not what I planned on writing. I guess my story had other plans huh?  I want to thank Jenn for helping me out on this. It appears that we are even now doesn’t it . Anyway, I hope you enjoy this. It was a bit more feelings than I am used to writing. Let me know what you think

PS Don't Listen to Amy, it is better if I am not called Dookie


Chapter 8



Isabel stood in front of a row of lockers. She couldn’t believe how many changes had taken place in the past twenty four hours. Her world went from being stable, secure, and predictable to chaotic, vulnerable and erratic. Never in a million years would she have thought that her brother would abandon her like this. Until the day that Liz was shot, Isabel never thought that she would be replaced either; but she knew now that, while Max still loved her, Liz’s happiness came before anyone else’s, even his own. Is was surprised that she didn’t feel resentful towards Liz. After all, she had felt that way all last year; but now, she could understand it a bit better. She never understood how her brother could be so in love with Liz that he would jeopardize everything for her. However, looking at Alex searching in his locker for his calculus book, she understood. I always envied my brother and Liz, but now I see that I could have it too. She smiled at the thought, realizing just how much her friends impressed her. Isabel now knew how strong Liz was, she was willing to give up her happiness so that the world would continue. Maria was the only person who challenged Michael and brought him out of his shell. Even Kyle had demonstrated his true character by helping them out more than once. But the one that impressed her the most was Alex, she had treated him like dirt for so long and he was willing to help anyway. Isabel was absurdly happy that she hadn’t destroyed Alex’s will. Walking up to him she smiled.


“Alex, I am sorry for the way that I acted the past year. It was wrong of me. Thank you for putting up with me and I am glad you that you asked me out.” She said, still smiling. Leaning against the locker next to his, she looked across the hall. “You have no idea how glad I am.” She added under her breath. He smiled, and she turned red. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”


“I will let you in on a little secret, Is. You have no idea how glad I am that you accepted.” He replied, looking into her eyes, and moved his head so their foreheads were touching. “Do you want to?” He asked, his voice no more than a whisper.


Isabel was unable to tear her eyes away from Alex’s. Everything else faded into the background as he continued to look into her eyes. More than anything! she thought immediately. His eyes were making her feel all warm, and she liked it. Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded her head, never breaking eye contact. I wonder if this will work.Clearing her throat, she said “Alex, I want to connect with you.” Now she closed her eyes, embarrassed. All of a sudden she had a terrible fear of being rejected by Alex. If they connected he might see something that would cause him to leave her as well. She couldn’t take both Max and Alex walking out on her. If they did, she would be all alone. Unexpectedly the congresswoman’s words came back to her, Am I destined to betray everyone again? What will Alex think? I have to stop this! “I…I am sorry, Alex. I shouldn’t have asked. Forget it please.” She added with more than a hint of fear in her voice.


Sensing the fear in her posture and voice, Alex decided to do what he did best, and tried to comfort her. Trying a strategy that he learned with Maria and Liz he said “Isabel, if you aren’t ready to connect we don’t have to. But, I would be honored to let you know all of my thoughts and fears because I know that you will protect them. I KNOW with all my heart that you are not a bad person; that you would never, NEVER, use what I show you to hurt me. I know you have been going through a lot these past few days, but I promise you I don’t have any reservations about letting you see me at my most unguarded. I trust you with all of my fears, my hopes, my dreams and my goals. But more than that, I trust you with my heart. ” He meant every word of it. He looked at her and saw the hope in her eyes he continued. “I love you, Isabel Evans; and I trust you with my life. All you have to do is take it, and all that I am is yours.” He said the last part in a bit of a rush, and promptly turned crimson.


Stunned, Isabel just stared at him. Alex was the first person outside of her family to love her. She felt like she was going to explode with happiness. Then she had a terrible thought, what if I miss understood? What if he loves me as one of his friends, not in the ‘I can’t see straight around you’ type of way? That has to be it, no one as smart and funny as Alex could love me. As she struggled with these thoughts she started to squeeze his hands. Hard. “Yo- You… You what?” She asked her voice full of trepidation.


Oh shit! What have you done Whitman? You finally get her to agree to go out with you, and you blow it before you have even been on a date. By her reaction and voice he could clearly tell that she was starting to freak out. But, looking into her eyes he was overwhelmed with such a powerful emotion that he couldn’t help but tell her again; besides it felt damn good to say it out loud. “Well…” he said with a squeak “I love you Isabel, I have for a long time.” Looking her dead in the eyes he added “I…love…you” emphasizing each word by squeezing her hands.


For what seemed like a few minutes Isabel Evans was left in a stupor. Slowly though, much too slowly for Alex, she started to come out of it. He loves me! I didn’t hear it wrong! Oh my, Alex Whitman loves me! She thought as soon as her brain started working again. These thoughts were quickly followed by the much more relevant ones I love him too! This is one of the best days of my life. He loves me!!! By now, Alex was starting to become concerned. Isabel hadn’t said anything for about three minutes, and all she had done was stare at their hands. “Is…” Alex started, his voice uneven, “are you alright?”


Abruptly, Isabel looked up. She had an ear-to-ear grin on her face. That could be a good sign, she is smiling. She looks so incredibly beautiful when she smiles Alex thought idly. All of a sudden, Isabel threw her arms around Alex’s neck. “Oh Alex,” Isabel breathed in between kissing him, “I love you too!”
Squeezing him as tightly as she could.


“Isabel, are you still planning on going out with me?” He asked in all seriousness.


Surprised by the question, she replied “Yes, why?”


“Because, I need to be able to breathe to be able to go out with you.” He said with a smile.


Embarrassed, she let go of his neck. “Sorry!”


Deciding that she was much too far away from him at that moment, Alex wrapped his arms around her. “You can choke me anytime, princess.” He whispered in her ear.


She leaned into him and said “I want you to know me. All of me. Will you connect with me?” Conflicting emotions rose up inside of her. She was still terrified that he would reject her, but she was so unbelievably happy that he loved her. In the end, as usually happens, love won out and she was no longer afraid of what he would think.


Sensing that she really meant it, Alex did the only thing he could. “I would be honored, m’lady.” He said with a bow.


Excitement started to take hold of her. Reaching out, she placed both hands on the side of Alex’s head. Here goes nothing she thought. “Let your mind blank out, Alex.”


Almost immediately, she was hit with a rush of images. Everyone of Alex’s memories filled her. She saw when he first met Maria and Liz; His first bicycle; the first day of junior high school; everything. Most of the time she felt his happiness, but his strongest emotions always centered around her. She felt his longing from the first time she met him; she felt his anger at himself for letting her trick him at the party at the soap factory; his happiness when they finally told him the big secret; and the incredible sorrow from a few nights ago because the mystic had told him they could never be together. But every thought of her, Isabel realized, carried an undercurrent of intense love. She didn’t need to be jealous of Liz anymore, because she had found someone who loved her just as much as Max loved Liz. Knowing that she was just as exposed to Alex as he was to her tempered her happiness a bit. She was still worried about what he would say when he found out about her past. Just then the connection broke and they were once again standing in the hall way of West Roswell High.


“Isabel, I know you are worried about what I would think about your past.” Alex started “so I am going to tell you what I think; what I know to be true. It doesn’t matter to me if you WERE a good person or an evil person in your last life. I know what you ARE now, and you are Isabel Evans one of the purest souls in the world. And I should know, I have seen it.” He said, raising his eyebrows like Groucho Marks.


Isabel laughed, Alex always did know exactly what to do to make her laugh. Smacking him in the arm, she stated “Oh, I do love you. You big idiot,” and went to kiss him again.


Just then Maria walked up, with the rest of the gang in tow. Alex looked around and saw that Tess and Kyle were holding hands. That is a good sign, Liz will be happy Frowning he noticed that one member was missing from the group. “Hey, where is Liz?”


Tess, Michael and Kyle all started looking around, trying to spot Liz. “I don’t know,” Tess said, “I haven’t seen her since before school started.”


“Come to think of it, she wasn’t in class today.” Isabel replied thinking back on English class.


Maria was fidgeting with her purse, which indicated to all present that she knew what had happened Liz. “Well, she… umm… kind of borrowed my car and left few hours ago now.” She said swinging her hands around as she talked.


“She went off looking for Max didn’t she?” Michael asked irritably from his perch against the locker. He was upset that she didn’t tell him. After all, how could Michael protect everyone when they didn’t tell him important things? That was his job, and he did it well. But he couldn’t do it at all if they all kept things from him. Looking over at Maria, he could imagine what Liz was going through though. He didn’t know if he could survive if Maria ever left. So many things could happen when you were by yourself. He didn’t want to think about all the worrying. It was one thing for Max to leave, he had powers. He was worried enough, it was incomprehensible to think Maria on her own.


Kyle was still adjusting to all of the news of the past twenty four hours. In that span, he found out that Max had run away, why Liz pretended to sleep with him and that Tess liked him. This was turning out to be a great day, other than the fact that Liz and Max were missing that is. If his religious endeavors had taught him anything it was that life is hectic, and it was important to find a nice anchor in life. Looking at the blonde alien at his side, he felt that he might just have found his. He was just about to quote Buddha’s philosophy on anchoring the spiritual life with mediation, when he heard his name being called.

“Mr. Valenti, there is a phone call for you in the office. It is your father.”

“Umm ok. Be right there Mrs. Wilkins. I wonder what he could want.” Shrugging, he went to the office. He picked up the phone and started talking with his dad. “What is it dad?”


“Kyle, tell everyone that I have found Liz in the Motel 6 on 285 south. I want everyone to meet at the outcropping after school gets out. Liz told me that she had to get there, that Max was in trouble, and then she took off. I think we are going to need all the help we can get with this. Make sure that everyone is ready.” He paused before continuing “Even you son.”


The weight of the situation was sinking in, “Sure thing dad, but uh, I haven’t told them yet. Not even Tess, you are the only one that knows.” He swallowed hard, feeling a bit ashamed that he had been too scared to tell anyone but his father.


“It is ok son, I am proud of you no matter what. But I think it is time that you told them. I will see you after school. Don’t be late, I can’t stress that enough.” And with that the phone went dead.


Kyle set the receiver down and went to join his friends at lunch. One thing was extremely clear, life was never easy in Roswell.

[CEO Shaft]

Title: A Note From the Past
Rating:Not sure what it rates
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, I don't own a thing so don't blame me for it . Any resemblance to characters, real or imagined is purely an accident. In other words, I made it up so don’t be mad.
Summary: Takes place in a different future, one of the many possibilities that opened when Liz changed things. Nothing after End of the World took place.

Author's note: This is a bit faster than I normally post updates, but this chapter just wrote itself. I had some fun with this chapter, let me know what you think. Oh, also, I incorporated one of the first things I wrote into this chapter, the piece of paper. I hope you enjoy it. On with chapter nine




Chapter 9




Liz Parker sat in the parking lot of the Motel 6, not quite sure what to do now. Judging by the cars in the parking lot, or more precisely the lack of a Jeep, Max was not there anymore; if he had been there at all. Although she was new at this whole ‘visions’ thing, Liz thought that she had been able to see a pattern in it. The visions from the past, namely the one of the cop, happened while she was awake. The visions of the future occurred while she was asleep. That is why she didn’t know if Max was already in trouble, or if he will be in trouble, because she didn’t understand how “present” visions were revealed. Liz fervently hoped that she was early, that she would prevent the woman from harming her soul mate, but knew better than to count on anything good happening today. With the way that today has been going, I wouldn’t be surprised if I missed him by five minutes. She thought as the bitterness, which she had been trying so hard to prevent, surfaced. “Well, I can’t find him sitting in the car like this.” She decided and went to get out of the car. Issuing a silent prayer that he would be alright, Liz went in search of Max’s room.


Liz had walked no more than a few paces when she was overcome with such a wave of dizziness that she had to reach for the handicapped parking sign. Before she knew what hit her, Liz was sucked into another vision. One that would help her in her search.




~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~





Liz stood transfixed as a black Mercedes pulled into the spot next to her. Inside sat the lady from her recent visions. She wasn’t like the other aliens that Liz knew; that is, she looked nothing like Isabel and Tess. The woman had light brown hair that seemed to extend a little past the shoulders, although it was hard to tell exactly how long it was as she had it pulled up in a pony-tail. The woman pulled out her cell phone and made a call while she was busy searching for something in her bag. Holding the sough-after object up in triumph, Liz noticed that it looked like a shiny metal box of some kind. It appeared to shimmer and reminded her of the material that the pod chamber was made of. I wonder why she would need that little box? Liz thought. Suddenly, the car door opened and Liz moved closer to listen to the conversation.


“I know, Lucas! Would you stop with that, please? I know we only get one shot at this. I will not screw it up.” She said with annoyance.


“I just don’t want to anger the queen; you know how powerful she is. She just wants to go back home with everything as it should be. If it isn’t perfect, it is OUR fault, and I know I don’t want to disappoint her. I don’t want to be on this stupid planet longer than I have to be.” Lucas said with more than a hint of awe in his voice.


“Well, at least you have seen Antar. You know what you could go back to, and what you are missing. I have just heard stories of it from you and Brian.” She said, hurt that he wanted to leave so badly, if it wasn’t for this “stupid planet” they wouldn’t have met.

“I am sorry. You know I don’t mean anything by it. We will talk when you are finished, ok? Are you in position?” There was a very small window of opportunity for this to work, and this conversation would take too long right now.


“I am on my way to his room now, we will have him soon. And then we can end this once and for all.” She said, still hurt with what happened, but deciding to get on with the mission.


“Good,” Lucas replied. “Brian is in position and will let us know if they are coming your way. We can never know with the dreamwalker around. She might have found him. Read your mission briefing, as well. It is stored, as usual in your memo box.”


“Alright, I am on my way. I will call you when it is done.”


“I am waiting for your call then, good luck.” He said. The woman closed her phone and placed it back in her pocket, then walked to the stairs. Liz watched as she climbed the stairs and stood in front of a room about half way down the balcony. Looking around to make sure no one would see her, the woman laid her hand over the door knob and went inside.




~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~



Coming out of the vision with a start, Liz struggled to get her bearings. After a few seconds she felt with it enough to walk, and headed to the stairs. Excitement and terror were coursing through her has she climbed the stairs. It was terrible to know that she was too late to save Max right now; but she had to admit that it was exciting that she could see things that others couldn’t. It helped temper her disappointment that she couldn’t fix the cut in the steering wheel. Hoping that there would be a clue, or possibly another vision, waiting for her in Max’s motel room she ran down the hallway. Judging by her position on the balcony, Liz gauged the distance to his room. “918, this is it. Please let there be another clue.” Liz muttered as she reached for the door.


Turning the handle, Liz pushed the door a bit. However, it didn’t move. This door is pretty heavy, lets try this again. She tried again, still the door didn’t budge. That is when she looked at the door handle; it hadn’t moved. The door was locked; more than that, it was sealed. “No! No! No!” She shouted and started shaking the handle in frustration and pounding on the door. Crying, she slumped down along the door frame; wholly depressed that she had come this far only to not have any idea where Max was now. With her head in her hands she continued to cry.


After a few minutes, she stopped sobbing, and tried to gather herself. Figuring she had nothing to lose now, she tried once again to summon some of her “powers.” Maybe if I concentrate hard enough, I can open it. Summoning all of her determination, she placed her hand on the handle and pictured the door unlocking. Beads of sweat appeared on her brow as she focused all of her energies on the handle. Thinking she heard the click of a lock popping she tried the door again. Only to find it still locked.


Standing with her head against the door she panted to catch her breath. Uncertainty rolled over her in waves. The whole trip to save Max was against her character, she didn’t have a plan on how to save him. She acted without thinking, and was now lost. There was nothing she could to now. Liz was completely and utterly aimless. She closed her eyes and sought an answer. Out of nowhere, Liz thought about her friends. For the first time in days, Max Evans wasn’t the utmost thought in her mind. She let her mind wander, and like a bolt of lightening, an answer presented itself. Let your mind blank out, trust your instincts. A voice oddly like Kyle’s echoed in her head.


Without any conscious effort, Liz grabbed the door handle and opened it. She had used her powers to open the door without trying. Stepping into the room, Liz noticed that it was the room from her vision. She walked around the room hoping for a clue, touching everything. The room yielded nothing, so Liz started searching under the furniture. Under the bed, Liz found the box that she had seen the woman carrying. Carefully, Liz touched the box, only to find that it wasn’t really a box. When she touched it, it fell apart and revealed a piece of paper. Well, it wasn’t paper, in fact it was metallic, but there was writing all along the surface.


... and this shall come to pass, when the whole is not completed. With all hope lost, those unseen attack. The first battle will claim two of the nation. Mourning shall be cut short by the appearance of the six, and chaos shall reign. Two more will fall in retreat. A desperate plan is hatched by the sister's betrothed, life restored. To a new world, new lives the spirit of the nine shall go. The brother, sees the plan through. True to his oath, the mission succeeds. Years of destruction at the hands of the six follow. Many will forget the promise of the nine. After many years, from the skies, they return. Though nine spirits left, ten shall come, the circle completed. Epic conflict follows, and many good men perish. Through their sacrifice, the six will dwindle to three, then one. Order shall reign when the head expires...

Do what you must,
Lucas


Liz shuddered upon reading the paper for two reasons: first, knowing that this passage of text was part of the “destiny” message; and second, because she hoped she was the tenth. It was a bit of a stretch for her, but she knew that if she ever got Max back, she would have to be with him. She couldn’t bear any less. Thinking of Max triggered another vision. This one was much shorter than all of the others. All she saw was the pod chamber and Max. Although she didn’t see much, it was all she needed. Liz ran out of the room, and straight into Sheriff Valenti.


“Sheriff, I need you to call Kyle at school and tell him that I need everyone at the pod chamber. I am sorry I can’t explain, but I have to, Max needs me!” She shouted as she ran to the car.


“Ok Liz, what is this about?” The sheriff asked rubbing his head in confusion.


“No time to explain. After we find Max I will tell you. Please hurry!” She said and hopped into the car. The sheriff pulled out his cell phone as Liz drove away and called the school.

[CEO Shaft]

Title: A Note From the Past
Rating:Not sure what it rates
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, I don't own a thing so don't blame me for it . Any resemblance to characters, real or imagined is purely an accident. In other words, I made it up so don’t be mad.
Summary: Takes place in a different future, one of the many possibilities that opened when Liz changed things. Nothing after End of the World took place.

Author's note: Hi everybody, I am so sorry that it took so long to get an update out, but life was pretty hectic the past week and a half or so. Just a few notes, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I hope you have fun reading it. I wrote Tess and Kyle like I feel they should have been written. Any comments or questions that you have are welcome, and I will answer as many as I can without giving away the story. Enjoy!

Oh, one more thing; there is something that happens in the chapter that I have wanted to do for a long, LONG time. Don’t worry it will be explained soon.




Chapter 10




Kyle continued down the hall way toward the quad. Normally, he couldn’t wait for lunch; however, he was more than a little preoccupied with internal questions at the moment to rush off and stuff his face. His feet were on auto-pilot as his mind continued to wander over recent events. For the past few days he had been eating a lot of spicy food. Ever since the night that he pretended to sleep with Liz, food hadn’t tasted right. It was bland and at times reminded him of cardboard, so he had been applying extra flavor. Careful not to do it around his father or Tess, Kyle had hidden a bottle of hot sauce in the garage and used it on his food when neither were home. That worked fine until his father came home early yesterday. Sheriff Valenti hadn’t said anything to Kyle about it, and just appeared resigned. The more he thought about it, the more Kyle was sure that it looked like his father was expecting it. Kyle wasn’t sure what that meant, so he instead thought about what the spicy food could mean. Powers… could I be developing my own? It seems like Liz has started to, is it surprising that I would? I felt Max change me when he healed me. How much did he change me?


Kyle was oblivious to everyone around him as he rounded the corner, left the building and walked down the stairs at the front of the school. He walked right past his teammates who were calling his name, past all of the girls trying to get his attention and past a certain blonde who didn’t liked to be ignored. Ignore me will he? She thought with her hands on her hips, I’ll teach him to ignore me.


“Hey! Buddha boy!” She yelled, running up behind him. “Just because we are dating now doesn’t mean I will tolerate you acting like a typical male. Your charms only get you so far with me.” Her temper flared a little as she reminded him that she was his girlfriend now. To emphases her point she put her hands on her hips stuck out her tongue.


Snapping out of his revere, Kyle looked at the girl who was rapidly becoming the most important person in his life. “Hey Tess, I am sorry about that. I didn’t mean to ignore you. I wasn’t really paying attention.” He said, feeling a bit uncomfortable. He knew he should tell her, and he really wanted to, but saying it out loud might make it true. Right now he was finding comfort in the fact that it could be not true.


“I see, well I guess I can forgive you.” Tess said “But only just this once.” She added in a hurry and then winked. She stared at him for a minute, for no other reason than she could. Suddenly, she remembered something. Snapping her fingers she focused back on what she was doing. “Here, I brought you something.” Reaching into her bag she pulled out a half of a Subway sub. “We went to Subway while you were on the phone.” It was kind of nice to get her boyfriend something, it felt kind of homey and she liked that. My boyfriend, I can’t believe I am dating Kyle. Yay! She thought as a smile crossed her lips. All of her life, Tess had missed out on the simple things in life, the things that most people for granted. The simple things were where Tess found the most joy, she had had more than enough of the challenging to last her the rest of her life. She never had any holidays or birthdays or even any crushes until she moved to Roswell. She used to feel lost, scared and alone while she was running; however, now she felt safe, comfortable and relaxed. It was such a new experience for her; and, like an infant, she soaked up as much of it as she could.


Tess continued to smile as Kyle took the sandwich. Everything was going so well for her, she finally felt free. When Max told her what he had thought Liz had done, she had realized that she and Max would never be together. They had spent the whole night talking, well she had. Max just kind of sat there staring off into space with such a look of pain in his eyes that she knew nothing would replace Liz in his heart. Even in his pain he still put her first. Max would never have run away to make Tess happy, or to ease Isabel’s pain. Oddly enough, though, Tess didn’t resent Liz for having what she was promised any more. It was liberating to know that she was allowed to decide for herself what her life would be. The only thing that she regretted was that her arrival started all of this; her behavior caused this pain; her stubborn refusal to wake up forced Liz and Kyle to resort to their actions. This morning she started to make amends. Tess knew she hadn’t done enough to make it up to Liz yet, but at least she had started; and that was the important thing. Looking back at Kyle, her smile turned to a frown. He looked very upset.


“What is wrong, Kyle?” She asked, taking his free hand in both of hers, hoping that he would open up and talk with her. She wasn’t very good at it yet, but for Kyle she was willing to work on her listening skills.


“It’s just…” He trailed off. Tess squeezed his hand and smiled in an effort to urge him to continue. Kyle was fighting a war within his mind. Should I tell her? Would I lose her if I do? Will I lose her if I don’t? Haven’t I already lost myself? If I am getting powers does that mean I am not who I was? Who was I? These heavy questions were running through is mind as he stared at the girl who inspired and challenged him. Exhaling, he decided that he might as well tell her. She would find out soon enough anyway. After all, he was pretty sure that he wouldn’t be able to control his powers if he did have them. “Tess,” he said seriously, “we need to talk, privately. Will you come with me?”


Tess may not have been human, but then again she didn’t need to be to know that a line like that meant trouble for the person who needed to listen. “S-ure…” she said, clearing her throat. “We could talk.” A look of sadness swept across her face. He is going to dump me! I just know it; he is going to dump me! After one day, he is going to end it! Not even a day, four hours. That is not even a school day. We didn’t even go out. This isn’t fair, what did I do? Those and similar thoughts coursed through her head as Kyle led her to the eraser room.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


“Would you please seal the door? I have something to tell you.” He said and turned to face her.


Tess turned as soon as he asked her to seal the door. She was on the verge of tears when she turned around and knew if she looked at Kyle she would cry. It was all she could do not to break down right then. Hoping that it would remain that way until after he broke her heart, she kept her head tilted to the floor; her hair shielding her eyes from his view.


Kyle knew she was avoiding looking him in the eyes, and normally he wouldn’t like that. But, this time, it made what he had to say a lot easier. Deciding to go for broke, he began. “I noticed over the last few days, or more precisely, a week ago something happening to me.” He said starting to pace.


Tess knew what this is about. She was going to lose another guy to Liz. I can’t believe this, I am going to lose Kyle. Tess wasn’t sure how she would handle getting dumped, but she knew it wasn’t well. Deciding that if he wanted to leave she would let him; she interrupted. “Kyle, I understand. This was a bad idea to begin with; let’s just pretend that you didn’t ask me out today.” She said, trying in vain to hold back the tears.


Kyle was stunned; here he was willing to open up to her and she just crushed him by dumping him after only four hours! Four hours! We didn’t even make it through the school day. I didn’t even get to take her out! What did I do wrong? Hoping that he heard her wrong he asked, “What? You don’t want to go out with me anymore?”


“Please don’t make this any harder on me, Kyle. I really like you, I really REALLY like you.” She added very quickly. Blushing she continued, “But it is obvious that you still have feeling for Liz…” She said, now sobbing uncontrollably. His laughter cut her off. Instantly becoming angry, she glared at him. “WHAT—is—so—funny?!” She asked irately.


“You… thought…” Was all he could manage before he started laughing again. One look at her face told him that laughing was NOT the best move for him now. Calming down enough to speak, he said “you thought that I still had feelings for Liz? No, there is only one girl that I have feelings for, Tess, and that is you. I had something else to tell you.”


”Wait, so you don’t want to break up with me?” She asked in a confused way that Kyle found endearing.


“No, silly.” He said in his best reassuring tone. “I don’t want to break up with you.”


“Oh… ok… well, then forget what I said” Tess replied, throwing her hands around in a dismissive gesture. In spite of himself, Kyle smiled again.


“Well, I am glad that we have that settled. May I continue now, Tess?”


“By all means…” She retorted, making a motion with her hand.


Taking a deep breath, Kyle began. “Tess, I have been eating a lot of hot sauce lately. For the past week or so, I have needed to put it onto my food to taste anything. I am not sure what it means. But this morning, right after I asked you out, I started to itch. I have been really itchy all day, especially down my arms and along my hands. It almost feels like something is humming right below the surface trying to get out.” He paused for a minute, gathering his thoughts; and, then started pacing again. “If all of this was going on with me, I could chalk it up to co-incidence. Maybe the hot sauce was my trying to bond with you, and the itching could have been from an allergy to a new kind of soap or something. However, Liz started getting those dreams, and it seemed to be predicting the future. How else could she have known that Max was gone before she talked with Isabel? I started to think that maybe something more was going on here. It sounds absurd, but Liz and I were talking about being healed by Max and she told me that he changed her. I felt him change me too. I didn’t get flashes from him like Liz did, but I felt it. I am not the same as I was before I was shot. What if I have powers now? Am I the same person I was? Will I lose you because of it? I don’t know what to do.” He finished and then promptly and unexpectedly burst into tears.


Tess wasn’t sure what to do; she had never been good at handling strong emotions. Over the years she learned not to let her feelings get in the way of what she had to do. She learned how to be cold in order to survive. All of these emotions were frightening to her. In the past week she had seen two of the strongest men she knew, namely Max and Kyle, break down and sob uncontrollably. She herself had just been crying hysterically, and yet she didn’t know how to make it better any of those times. Suddenly, it came to her; she knew exactly what to do! It also had the added benefit of something she desperately wanted to do. “Kyle, come here.” She said soothingly. Stretching out her arms, she slid them under his and embraced him. She had placed his head on her shoulder before he held her back. Once he grabbed her, Tess thought he would never let go.


Kyle clung to Tess like she was a life line. Actually, to Kyle at least, that was exactly what she was. He wasn’t used to letting his emotions go like this; he had never done it before. He supposed he should feel ashamed at his weakness. Buddha would want him to meditate on his feelings, find the exact source of his fear and then work to fix it. His coaches would want him to suck it up and play harder, suppressing his feelings. ‘Men don’t cry’ his coaches would say, ‘Men suck up all their feelings and leave it out there on the field. The winners use their feelings as fuel. Now, get back out there.’ That was what he was supposed to do, never show weakness. A man was not allowed to show emotion; a man had to be stoic; a man needed to hold his emotions in check. Kyle knew exactly what a man was supposed to do, but he just couldn’t. Holding on to Tess like that he felt safe, and if he couldn’t feel when he was safe could he ever feel? Even though he knew he should feel self-conscious at being unguarded, he just didn’t. He had just told Tess his biggest fear and she was still here, she would protect him and he her. After all, wasn’t that the point? Didn’t everyone have that one person that they could be themselves with, and not play any games? It was a giant relief to realize that Tess was that person for him; and, at the time when he needed her the most, she was there, more importantly than that, she was willing. As she held him, all of Kyle’s fears faded away.


Tess just held Kyle for a few minutes, whispering comforting words into his ear. “Shhh… it is ok, Kyle. It doesn’t matter if you have powers or not. I am not going to leave you. Just relax, everything will be ok. I am here. There is nothing to worry about.” Tess realized that some people who say those things don’t really mean them; however, she meant every word with all that she was. She wouldn’t leave him. Oh please don’t let me disappoint him. I would do anything to make him happy; I just hope it is good enough. He had stopped crying and was just resting his head on her shoulder.


“Thank you, Tess. You have no idea how much I needed to hear that.” Looking down at his watch he added. “Let’s go meet up with everyone, I have to tell them as well. Oh and my dad said that Liz knows where Max is. We all need to meet that the pod chamber right after school. I would say that we should all leave now, but he was very adamant that we stay until the end of the day. Plus he was an hour and a half away and we have about that left in school.” Then he stepped out of the way so Tess could open the door with her powers. She opened the door and reached for his hand. She loved holding his hand. There was nothing like holding hands to say ‘Back off ladies, he is mine.’ And she liked knowing that Kyle was hers. Squeezing her hand slightly, Kyle led Tess to the stairs.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~


By the time they got back to the quad, the uncertainty in Kyle’s eyes had vanished completely and they both were smiling ear-to ear. They entered the quad just in time to see Pam Troy stomping off for the bathroom. This in-and-of itself wasn’t that unusual. However, this time she was covered from head to toe in a bright green paint which, needless to say, WAS unusual. Tess and Kyle stood there with their mouths agape as Pam walked past them leaving green footprints in her wake. Pausing just long enough to notice that Kyle and Tess were holding hands.

Tess heard a voice, which sounded distinctly like Alex, rise about the laughter. “It appears that someone is just green with envy.” He commented off-handedly. The roar of laughter was almost completely drowned out by Pam’s reply.


“Arrrrrrrrrgggggggggg” she half growled/half shrieked her rebuttal. Then she continued her trek to the bathroom. Kyle doubled over with laughter and wiped the tears from his eyes.

Tess, who was similarly laughing, said “Well, there is something you don’t see everyday. Pam Troy was actually wearing something that covered up most of her body.”


If it were possible, Kyle started laughing even harder. “I think we need to go find out what that was about. I tell you, Isabel Evans will have her hands full with Alex.” He said, and then he held out his arm. “Shall we?”


“Yes, let’s” Tess replied. With that, they made their way through the crowd, who was still laughing at the high-heeled paint stains and the famous Pam Troy’s disappearing form.