Against all Odds (CC, Mature) - Chapter Thirteen - Completed: 02/22/2019

This is the place to post all your General Roswell fanfiction. Any Canon fics, which pick up directly from any episode of the show and that focus on Max/Liz, Michael/Maria, Isabel/Alex or Isabel/Jesse, Kyle/Tess, or all the couples together! Rule of Thumb: If Max healed Liz in the Crashdown in September 1999, then your fic belongs here. If it picks up from the show in any way, it belongs here.

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Re: Against all Odds (CC, Mature) - Chapter Five - Updated: 01/18/2019

Post by Roswelllostcause »

So "Rob" is back.
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Re: Against all Odds (CC, Mature) - Chapter Five - Updated: 01/18/2019

Post by L-J-L 76 »

Oh my that was a bad way for Philip and Diane to find out. At least they know the truth. So Liz told them a little. Oh thank god Liz's baby is good. Now hopefully the baby will be in good health when it is born. So Rob Roy finally decided to make an appearance. Glad Liz and Rob Roy will finally get a chance to talk. Can't wait to find out what will happen when Liz and Rob Roy talk. Hopefully everything will work out Liz.

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Re: Against all Odds (CC, Mature) - Chapter Five - Updated: 01/18/2019

Post by keepsmiling7 »

So much going on.......Maria looking for Rob Roy....
Liz told her parents all of the truth and the Evans overheard about Max's death.
Isabel is back home after a divorce.....
And thank goodness Rob showed up and wants to talk
Can't wait for that conversation!
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Against all Odds - Chapter Six - 01/22/2019

Post by Parker1947 »

“Who is this man, name Rob” Nancy asked as she stormed into the Crashdown ten minutes later and cornered Maria in the kitchen. Maria was surprised by the force of the entrance of Nancy Parker, and she was confused by the sudden demand of information. Jeff was off trying to talk some solace with Phillip and Diane. She worried she had made herself an enemy by failing to tell the Evans the truth, and especially the confirmation that there was no body.

She knew Diane was holding out hope that they would get a Hollywood miracle that if there was no body than he wasn’t dead, right? Maria mused to herself. “What happens when you see the guy burn up in ash, and it was the second time in a collection of days.”

“Excuse me, what?” Maria asked as she focused on her boss’s demand for information on the name. I don’t know any one named Rob. I don’t think Liz does either,” she said confused as she hadn’t made the connection yet.

“Then why did my daughter go off with a mystery man in a blue convertible, and she called him Rob.”

“What!” Maria said as the dots connected quickly. “You mean he showed up?”

“Shouldn’t he of?” Nancy asked surprised by the shock on Maria’s face. “Who is this man Maria, please tell me if I should be worried about my daughter. She’s going through too much right now with trying to keep her sobriety, and now the baby. Adding a mystery man to it.”

“Of course, he should have,” Maria lied as she tried to quickly gain against Nancy as she tried to think about what to say next.

“Who is he Maria?” Nancy asked.

“A friend of Liz,” Maria said. “I don’t know much about him, but I do know they recently met” she said softly as she blurred the edges. “I haven’t personally known him so I don’t know much about him because Liz has been going through her own battles and so she doesn’t readily speak about him to me…” she tried as she continued to walk a fine line.

“Really?” Nancy asked as Jeff came in from the back of the restaurant and saw the tension on his wife’s face. “Jeff…”

“Is Liz okay, I don’t see her…” Jeff asked worried. “She’s okay, right. The baby is okay?” he asked of his grandchild he had barely gotten used to.

“All the available testing at the moment indicates the baby is developing normally, so the doctor is hopeful…” Nancy said. “Liz is fine, as she went out to meet with a friend of hers, I gather from talking to Maria here, because I didn’t know this individual, so I was curious if she knew anything.”

“I was telling your wife that it was a recent friend. I don’t know all her friends, so I am sure everything is fine” Maria lied as she saw Michael come into the restaurant, “So, if you’re excuse me and I have to go see Michael.”

“Go ahead,” Jeff muttered as he saw the concern on Nancy’s face. It usually was reversed, and his wife usually took the “positive thinking” approach while he often took the negative approach in dealing with their only child.

Once Maria had left for the front of the restaurant. Jeff turned to his wife, “What?”

“I am just concerned. I have never seen this man during the last couple of months since Liz had started to turn her life around, and I know very well our daughter has new friends and we don’t know them all, but still…”

“I think Liz can handle it,” Jeff said as he wasn’t too sure himself, but he wanted to have confidence in their daughter. “The last thing she needs is more complications, so I think she knows that…”

“I hope so,” Nancy thought as Maria walked out into the body of the restaurant and gave a forlorn look at her boyfriend.

“What?” Michael asked as he stopped in to get some lunch before returning to his other job at Meta Chem. He still had the job because it paid the bills, not that he liked it ever since the events that led to Max’s demise.

“We have problems…”

“What, again…” Michael as he gently took his girlfriend’s arm and guided her to a booth as they took a seat. “You aren’t still worried about Liz, are you?”

“Yes, I am worried because I should be…”

“Why,” Michael asked.

“Our mysterious ‘Rob Roy’ has shown his face again and it’s scared Nancy…” Maria said softly to not cause a scene.

“How?” Michael asked.

“He was outside Liz’s doctor’s appointment. She went off with him Michael, and Nancy is concerned.”

“Nancy and Jeff are always concerned about their daughter, as they should be...” Michael murmured. “Are we sure this is a bad thing. He’s the baby’s father, right. Maybe it’s time they do make peace with what is happening…”

“We haven’t seen him. Why take the name, ‘Rob Roy’?

“Maybe it’s his name Maria,” Michael tried but he knew he was failing because he was baffled why a ‘Rob Roy’ had shown up when that was Max’s identity when they were in Las Vegas. “Liz has a right to live her life anyway it goes Maria.”

“Hell, I know,” Maria muttered. “But I worry about this…”

“I grant you she’s vulnerable right now,” Michael asked.

“And we know you guys have a lot of enemies out there in the wind, who tend to appear at the oddest of times.”

“Are you saying it’s someone like me?” Michael asked warily at his girlfriend. “Blaming me…”

“I am not blaming you Michael, but Liz is trying to pick up the pieces after her heart was destroyed when she lost Max. She’s susceptible to being burnt, badly.”

“I know,” Michael asked.

“Rob Roy’ is a weird name” Maria asked.

“But it’s a name,” Michael reminded Maria. “And maybe it’s a legit meeting of two people who gravitated one night.”

“Maybe,” Maria conceded but she didn’t like it. “It would nice to have a face that goes with the name.”

“Go ask Jim again…” Michael asked. “We now know that he does exist if Nancy has seen him, and it’s not a product of Liz’s night of debauchery.”

“Geez Michael…” Maria murmured.

“It’s the truth babe,” Michael smiled. “Trust your friend that she knows what she’s doing, okay?” he advised as he got out from the booth and grabbed her hand. “I have to get back, but know I love you.”

“I love you too…” Maria said as she hated how her happiness came at the cost to her friend who lost her dream come true. “Stop the babe stuff…” she murmured as she watched as Michael headed back to Meta Chem.

Maria was preparing to finish her shift when she heard a soft voice. “Why are you worried about Liz?”

She turned and saw someone familiar. “Isabel…” she said. “Nice to see you… I am glad to see you fitting back here at home in Roswell” she murmured to try to distract because she didn’t relish having to tell Max’s sister that the love of her brother’s life was having someone else’s baby. She had known how close Isabel was to Max and she took his death hard, well, so hard that she ran to another state to escape her grief over the loss...

“You too,” came Isabel as she stood watching Maria and she had overheard the end of the conversation between Michael and Maria, and she was trying to figure out what it all meant. “Why are you worried about Liz?”

“Because she has a lot to lose…” Maria murmured.


*


A couple of hours later Liz sat up in bed in a ratty motel, yet again. But this time she was sober, and this time the man stayed. Damn Liz she muttered under her breath, so it wasn’t heard in the room. She didn’t know why she did this, or what came under her. It was almost like she was under a spell. An attraction she didn’t understand or want because she had her great love in Max and lost him and wasn’t about to go for someone else… not this quickly. Baby or no baby.

Baby oh god she thought as reality bit her once again. She focused her eyes on a figure who was staring at her with his magnetizing glance. “Are we going to talk?”

“Do you want to talk Shirley” came the man.

“You know my name isn’t Shirley,” Liz murmured as she thought of her real life outside the motel walls.

“Your name is yours, and mine is mine…” came the man.

“And your real name is…” Liz said.

“How about we stay with ‘Rob”?” said the main. “Would you mind?”

“How about you tell me what you’re trying to do?” Liz asked as grabbed her jeans and yanked them on even though she was six months pregnant; she was not showing in the least and she wondered about that because had lost a lot of weight in the months she was drinking and even more so when she stopped pouring the toxins into her body.

“I don’t know, maybe having fantastic sex… how about you?” Rob asked.

Grant it was mind-blowing she murmured under her breath as the way he was looking at was downright sexy.

“I don’t need this,” Liz said. “I am trying to fix my life. I can’t fall into this trap again, so sorry, whatever you’re trying to do to me is over… now.”

“I am not trying to do anything to you, except have incredible sex with you and you seem pretty game to me…” Rob smirked.

“Cut that out…” Liz said as she hated how this man had a spell over her, and it was a spell she couldn’t shake and didn’t know how. Of course, she could walk away, but something prevented her from leaving the motel room. Checking her phone; she noticed a phone message from Maria. She checked it. It was Maria. Girlfriend get back here… If you’re with ‘him’, stop it. Snap out of it and come back.

Shaking her head, she looked back and Rob looked at her in such a way that gave her pause, a for a minute she wondered just how crazy she was… “Is this all a dream?” she murmured out loud.

“What!” Rob said as his mood suddenly got quiet as he didn’t like how Liz was suddenly looking at him. As if she was on to him. “I’ve got to go…” he said quietly and then out loud into the room. “Look the sex was amazing, but I’ve got to go…”

“Wait…” Liz said quietly. “Wait… please wait.”

“Sorry, it’s been real…” Rob said trying to project an act of like he didn’t see he had been made. “Look, I have to go…”

“No, wait…” Liz said so she didn’t feel like crazy. “Max…” she whispered.

“Forget everything…” Rob said. “Sorry, for hurting you like this but I got to go. They are going to kill me. Liz, god, please… forget this, forget today. Go on with your life. Make it one you deserve… I am so sorry.” he murmured before vanishing into thin air as Liz looked on in an air of confusion and downright bafflement…

“I am going crazy…” she murmured as she sat down in bed with only her jeans and in her black bra. “All the drinking and the withdrawal has made me crazy, right?” she truly wondered as she stared into the space and tried to comprehend what she might have just witnessed with her two eyes.

Pulling on her t-shirt, she looked down and remembered the baby, and whether again this was all a dream.

Closing the door to the motel room she walked home in a daze and thanked the lord she didn’t have a car to drive home because she didn’t know how she could do it and be in on piece. Once she got back to the Crashdown, she looked like she was a daze…

She was also was silent, as she refused to answer the persistent question from Maria who showed worry when she saw the state her friend was in again. “No, I wasn’t drinking. I just don’t want to talk about it…” she murmured to all the questions she got as she walked up the stairs in the back of the Crashdown and head to her bedroom.

Entering her bedroom, she stared at the window, and the memories of the nights shared with Max and their searing first kiss. As it all came to her, as she was paralyzed as if in a dream. Sitting down on her bed, she stared out into the balcony where her dreams had come true, knowing she was living a nightmare.

In that moment, she knew she had to get out of there and hours later she was packed up and had borrowed Maria’s car, and had moved herself near the desert. To her grandmother’s old place. Near the chambers, and away from anyone and any memory of Max.

“Why are you doing this, Petunia” Maria asked as she came to pick up her car. Michael sat outside waiting to make sure his girlfriend started back home safely.

“I don’t know why, I just need to do this…” Liz said softly. “I need to be where there are no memories. We inherited Grandma’s Claudia’s place, and Mom and Dad were keeping it for me… So why not…”

“Okay, but are you going to be okay?”

“Just go home Maria. Go home to your dream come true with Michael and let me be here alone…” Liz said softly as she walked to her friend to the door and watched her walk out to Michael, and into her own car and head back their hometown.

Liz locked the door and looked around her grandmother’s Claudia’s home and began to feel normal again.


*


While outside a figure watched the cottage in the desert. Cursing himself, he turned to walk and faced the truth checker. “Look I know I screwed this up…”

“As long as you know,” came the other man.

“Look the last thing I wanted to do was hurt Liz again, and I can’t help it because I love her more than life itself…”

“You know this doesn’t solve anything. Her out here, alone… thinking she is crazy.” The man asked because he was aware of how this would go bad for him, and for those who he worked for and knew they were on borrowed time.

“I wish there was an answer” asked the man full of sorrow, and fill of regret as he feared for Liz... all because he couldn’t stay away from her…

“How are you going to fix this?” came the man.

“I have no idea…” came the regretful man.

“Fix it” came the man in response at they both looked at the house before the other man departed the scene leaving the very regretful individual staring and pining at the house, as if developing the nerve to go in but he didn’t… All he did was sigh heavily and say softly. “I am truly sorry Liz…” he whispered before turning and walking away… allowing her to try to move on without any interference or so he thought…
Last edited by Parker1947 on Wed Oct 28, 2020 4:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Against all Odds (CC, Mature) - Chapter Six - Updated: 01/22/2019

Post by Roswelllostcause »

Hurry back with more. I need to know what is going on here.
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Re: Against all Odds (CC, Mature) - Chapter Six - Updated: 01/22/2019

Post by Superman86 »

Roswelllostcause wrote:Hurry back with more. I need to know what is going on here.
Ditto
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Re: Against all Odds (CC, Mature) - Chapter Six - Updated: 01/22/2019

Post by keepsmiling7 »

Who is "they" that are going to kill Rob??
He can't stay away from Liz..........but as it has been said, what is going on here??
Is Liz really safe at Claudia's old home??
Thanks!
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Re: Against all Odds (CC, Mature) - Chapter Six - Updated: 01/22/2019

Post by RoswellFan68 »

I really worry about Liz. I don't know if further contact with Rob is good for Liz right now.
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Re: Against all Odds (CC, Mature) - Chapter Six - Updated: 01/22/2019

Post by L-J-L 76 »

Boy Nancy seemed very upset. Maria does good thinking on her feet. OH MY GOD Rob is really Max. A little mad at Rob/Max for using Liz for just sex. Worried about Liz. Liz thinks she is going crazy when she is not really. Max and whoever the other guy is needs to let Liz know what is really going on. Liz needs to tell Rob/Max that she is pregnant. Wondering what made Max go into hiding? How will Rob/Max take the news Liz is pregnant? Is Liz safe at her grandma Claudia's house?

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Against all Odds - Chapter Seven - 01/25/2019

Post by Parker1947 »

In the days to come Liz knew one thing. She was truly pregnant. And it wasn’t all a dream or a crazy hallucination as she soon was showing and getting the full sense of being pregnant. She corned herself away from her family and friends. Isabel even tried to come out and talk to Liz, but she didn’t want to talk to Max’s sister.

Kyle was turned away as well. Maria was getting worried especially as she got confirmation that ‘Rob Roy’ had vanished. No one had seen him again and as far as she knew, Liz hadn’t seen Rob again after that day.

Liz’s friends were truly worried for their friend as she went through the days, alone and refusing to respond to anyone. She stayed out in her grandmother’s home and lived her life.

She muttered to herself that she was crazy. The memories of what she had seen that day scared her, but she tried to take control of her life by applying to the University of New Mexico at Las Cruces for the winter semester, and she was accepted. She felt she had a plan, but that still left her unsure with the direction of her life.

On September 19th, the fourth anniversary of the shooting at the Crashdown, and the day her life was changed forever by one man. She gave birth to a baby girl. She named her daughter Claudia Maxine Parker. She felt it was terrible ironic that she would give birth on a day that was so memorable for all the different ways her life changed.

She stayed out in the original Claudia Parker’s home, resisting her parents help. They were mystified why Liz had closed herself off again but there were no signs she had relapsed. She took to motherhood like it was made for her, as it was her calling. Baby Claudia made things real for her…

One of the mystery shadows that always followed Liz as she tried to move on with life was looking at how she was leading her life with some worry. He knew there would have to be a decision although ‘Rob’ was being kept at a distance by the powers that be, and his leader knew a time was coming where they would have to decide how to move on Liz’s lack of progress in life, and how she was still so fixed in the past and how that would bring down all he had managed to build.

In the days before classes began, she started to allow her parents into her life, as they had offered to help with child care. Nancy would babysit Claudia when Liz was in class.

Before classes did start though Liz did have a reason to celebrate as Michael proposed to Maria on Christmas Day, and of course Maria said YES. So, they became engaged and a wedding was soon set for Labor Day weekend the following September.

Maria tried to drag Liz out of her isolation but when classes began all she did was concentrate on her studies and her baby even if she was involved with the wedding preparations.

“What are we going to do about Liz?” Isabel asked to Maria as she saw Liz walk into Crashdown with baby Claudia on her side, and several bags in the other hand… as there was a wedding planning session because none of them had classes on this day and Nancy was looking forward to taking care of her granddaughter as Liz helped with the plans for the wedding. They were going to look for dresses.

“She looks like she’s coming out of her shell,” Maria murmured as she saw Liz give her mother the instructions for the baby, after delivering the bags upstairs. Nancy was enamored with her granddaughter. While they may worry about how isolated their daughter was in the house by the desert. Jeff and Nancy did love their granddaughter, and they loved to spoil her as the little girl was everything her mother was… and even her father although no one mentioned that factor.

The baby’s father wasn’t mentioned in the least. Liz wanted it that way, and everyone obliged that requirement because they too thought it was too weird. Liz didn’t want to talk about it because she sounded crazy if she did. Although her baby was proof that she wasn’t crazy.

But still she liked life when they didn’t discuss that little Claudia was a dead ringer for Max; who had been dead for a year by the time she was conceived.

Isabel knew that they could do a lot of things a normal person couldn’t, but she didn’t know how that could be possible and so she didn’t talk about it. All she took was Maria’s word that there had been a man in the picture after Max. Nancy saw him. And they would know if it was Max; right?

And plus, Liz saw him die for the last time. His eyes hadn’t opened, and then he turned into ash.

“What’s the plan?” Liz asked as she approached the table. “Or are you too busy talking about me?” she murmured as she sat down. “Which is something I don’t appreciate by the way. I live my life my way, and I don’t need your opinions on the matter, okay?”

“We were just talking…” Isabel smiled. “So, what kind of dress do you want Maria?”

“Just remember I have long ears when I am in the vicinity,” Liz muttered. “So, yeah, Maria what do you want?”

“I don’t know… Maybe something traditional, and yet I do have my eccentric side to me. Witness prom night.”

“Yeah,” Liz said softly as another reminder that life wasn’t so easy even before Max died. Prom night, their only one that she attended, and it ended in disaster, and she hated that memory and maybe it’s time to take back her life, and not think about the past. “But you’ll find something special. Something that will make Michael want to commit to for the rest of your life” she murmured softly as a sadness crossed her face.

“I am sorry Liz,” Maria said softly. “I know you dreamt of your day with Max.”

“I did, but it’s your day and you deserve your day to be special…” Liz said spirits raising, “so let’s find your dream dress because you and Michael deserve it.”

Maria smiled as they got up and headed out of the Crashdown as eyes nearby watched Liz leave as Nancy tended to baby Claudia in the corner as Jeff came up to his wife and granddaughter and touched the baby’s fingers as the baby giggled up a storm as she saw her grandfather. Those eyes watched Nancy carry little Claudia into the background, and away from the prying eyes.

Across the street, two men talked while the gentleman looking through the glass window of the restaurant and observed. Staring with black sunglasses so not to be disturbed, he continued to stare. “Are we going to bust him?” Kyle Valenti asked his father as they stood and watched. “This isn’t the first time I have seen him watch the Crashdown and especially when Liz or little Claudia is in the restaurant.”

“I wish we could,” Jim murmured as he checked his watch and knew he had to return to the station. He only could come for a minute after his son had called him to look at the mystery intruder who had been shadowing Liz and her little girl.

“Isn’t it time Dad?” Kyle asked.

“I wish, but it’s not…” Jim said. “I made a promise and I have to honor it. Until I am told otherwise” he murmured as he hated how he knew such a life altering secret. “I wish it wasn’t this way, but too much havoc has already been caused by his skirting the rules to see Liz.”

“Isabel will never forgive me for lying to her…” Kyle mourned of their new relationship. They over the holidays tentatively had started something and it was going so well that things were starting to become serious. Isabel’s divorce was final, and she was living in her new apartment that Jesse’s alimony and other spousal support was paying for while Isabel went back to school and worked towards a business degree at La Cruces. He was working and not going to school after he had put off university due financial difficulties that he and his father faced over the last two years of high school and he chose to work at a job he liked. He quit the automotive repair shop and was now working as assistant to the basketball coach at the high school. He didn’t know if there was a future in it; but it was decent living for the moment anyways as he knew Isabel would have hard time forgiving him if she knew what he knew and didn’t tell her.

Jim was under a professional oath to keep the truth. Kyle had made a promise to his father having stepped into the truth when he asked an old high school friend who worked as one of his father’s deputies to run some plates that he saw trailing Liz after Claudia was born. He was appalled to learn the truth, and that his father knew the truth.

As Jim had known since Maria had him run the ID on Liz’s one-night stand. He stumbled on the horrifying truth and was forced to keep it ever since despite the pain he knew was causing his town.

And now they walked as the observer walked away from the Crashdown and got on his motorcycle and rode off…

“We’re screwed…” Kyle observed.

“One day it will be over” Jim asked hopeful even though he knew he was growing doubtful with every single day that went by.

“But will it be a happily ever after,” Kyle asked as he and his father walked back to the station.


*


While Liz and Isabel sat on a couch in the bridal boutique as Maria tried on multiple dresses and they had all been rejected. Some came close, but most just didn’t seem to be Maria’s style. So, Maria was trying on yet another one and growing discouraged by the chance of finding a dress. This was the premiere store here in Roswell. If it didn’t work out; they would have to go into Las Cruces and the dresses would be more expensive.

Her mother was paying for the dress. The wedding was at this point was being designed to be small. Maria and Michael were trying to pay for as much as they could. The Crashdown and Jeff was catering the wedding. It was being held in the park. Under a gazebo. She wanted romantic but unconventional which is what she and Michael were…

“Beautiful,” Isabel breathed as she saw Maria come out of the fitting room. “Gorgeous…”

“Really?” Maria asked as she looked down. “I don’t know, maybe it’s too vintage?” she asked of the dress that had a big skirt yet was beaded bodice, and layered sleeves.”

“It’s really you,” Isabel asked.

“Liz?” Maria asked as she checked with her best friend. She knew Liz was having a sad day. All these dresses were a reminder that Max and Liz would have gotten married if she hadn’t screwed up by going along with a future version of Max; who had told her to give up on Max and push him and Tess together Giant, million times giant mistake Maria murmured to herself.

“Simply you…” Liz said happy tears coming down her face. “Michael will love it. “You can have a small hat, or flower barrette or small veil.”

“Maybe I will try on that last dress. The Greek goddess one shoulder?” Maria asked as she looked back at the dresses.

“You could…” Isabel said, “But I think that is the one…”

“How about this one?” came an attendant as she came with a dress that echoed Grace Kelly. “This one might work…”

“Oh, beautiful…” Maria wondered as she assessed the dress. “So many choices. So many choices.”

“Go try on the last one,” Isabel advised. “I don’t see that one is you…”

“But if I try it…” Maria asked as she thought of the dress.

“You will grow even more indecisive,” Isabel said. “I know from experience,” she said sadly of her own failed marriage.

“I am sorry Isabel. The memories?” Maria asked as she saw the sadness on her friend’s face. “You will find that happiness, and this time it will work out.”

“I hope so…” Isabel commented although she wasn’t sure she was cut out for marriage. She held too many secrets, and she knew from experience that secrets killed marriage. “Anyways, try on the goddess. You don’t need to try on this one… although it’s beautiful.”

“I guess,” Maria said as she went into the fitting room to try the last one, she previously had thought to try on.

“Should I take this one back to the rack?” the attendant asked as she looked at both Isabel and Liz and then the dress again. “It’s very beautiful. I think your friend will look beautiful in it.”

“I agree, but it doesn’t scream Maria to me… How about you Liz?” Isabel asked as they looked at the princess dress that almost was a replica of Grace Kelly’s. “It doesn’t really say Maria and Michael.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Liz shook her head as her heart pined as she looked at the dress as her memories hurt her by the knowledge if only, she hadn’t followed Future Max’s direction than she would be getting married to Max. “But if we show her how it looks than she can know that she can look at the others with a clearer look.”

“How about one of you try on it and model it for her?” the attendant asked helpfully.

“Not me,” Isabel murmured. “I am little wedding out right now. It wouldn’t do me any good to try it on and it doesn’t really fit me anyways, but you Liz, how about it. It would look beautiful on you. So regal and royal…”

“No,” Liz said adamantly. “No…” she whispered. “Please no, I can’t…”

“Look Liz, all you have to do is try it on and show her that it won’t fit her view of her wedding dress” Isabel asked as she encourage him. “It’s chance to help celebrate her day. I think Max would want you to appreciate the beauty of their special day, and it’s just a dress and not the real thing.”

“I really can’t…” Liz said as the last thing she ever wanted to do was try on a wedding dress. She planned to never get married. She was content to raise Claudia as a single mother and know that her one love was a love like no other.

“Do it please” Isabel asked. “Try it on…” she said as she tried to pry Liz back into the land of the living. If she tried on the dress maybe she would come to realize she could move on from her brother. She knew Liz wouldn’t survive out there in the house by the desert with just herself and her daughter for much longer. She needed to live a little. “Try it.”

“Seriously miss. You would look great in it” the attendant asked as she didn’t know why the woman was so resistant.

“Maria, come on out please. Are you in that dress, yet?” Liz called out to her friend.

“Almost…” Maria called out. “This is beautiful. Maybe I should get this one. It’s simple and perfect.”

“Fine, give me the dress” Liz muttered as she took the dress and went into the room with the attendant for help as she put the nightmare on. She had too many memories of the Future Max fiasco, and the knowledge if only she hadn’t done what he wanted; maybe she and Max would now be married. Well, it ate at her and she didn’t relish trying on a gorgeous princess style dress. “Let’s get this over with…”

“Why don’t you want to try it on?” the attendant asked. “Most would love to try on a wedding dress, and model it.”

“I am not most people,” Liz murmured as she hated doing this with a passion she hadn’t felt in a long time. “So, how does this go on…”

“Like this,” the attendant nodded as she went through the process of putting the dress on. “Wow, gorgeous” she muttered as the dress starting to come together on Liz.

“I don’t see it,” Liz murmured as she tried to push down any love for the dress as she also knew it was a gorgeous dress, yet it wasn’t a Maria dress.

Meanwhile outside Maria walked out of the fitting room in her newest dress. She was humming and feeling beautiful and showing it off to Isabel. “So, how do you like it?”

“Beautiful,” Isabel smiled as she saw Maria come out and the white Greek goddess one shoulder dress. “Wow. That looks perfect on you, even better than I would have imagined.”

“I know,” Maria smiled as she looked down. “It’s a Wow dress.”

“But is it your dress?” Isabel asked as she looked at the dress with a critical assessment, she used in her fashion classes at school. “It fits perfectly.”

“I know,” Maria smiled as she looked at the mirror. “But I don’t know… Maybe it’s too simple and not unique enough.”

“That other dress is unique,” Isabel asked.

“It is,” Maria thought as she remembered the other dress. “Michael does like my odd sense of wardrobe,” she thought as she looked around for Liz. “Where is Liz?” she murmured. “Did she go home to Claudia?”

“Nope,” Isabel said.

“She forced me to try on this thing,” Liz said as she came out of the fitting dress fully dressed in the Grace Kelly replica lace dress. “She wanted you to see the other dress is the best, but wow, that dress you’re wearing is perfect to.”

“Oh my god Liz, you’re gorgeous…” Maria asked as she stared at her best friend in the dress. “My goodness. Aren’t we the pair.”

“Yeah we are,” Liz chuckled as she viewed her friend in all her glory. “She wanted to show you that this isn’t your dress.”

“Isabel is right. That isn’t my dress, It’s your dress!” Maria asked as she stared at Isabel who nodded, and the pair of dresses being modeled.

“Well, I am not the one getting married, and since I intend to never get married to anyone at any time, it would be useless to have a dress I will never wear, so I’ll go and get this thing off…” Liz murmured because she hated how this dress invoked painful memories that she was trying to eliminate from her life. She would rather concentrate on the now and concentrate on her daughter and forget love.

“Come on Liz, show it off more…” Isabel said as she was egging on Liz to open herself more to come back to the land of living. She missed her brother but knew Max would want Liz to be happy, and to live again and open herself up to all the possibilities life would bring her as she accepted what life brought.

“No,” Liz said as she tried to return to the fitting room.

“Come on Liz,” Maria prompted as she grabbed for her friend’s arm. “Show it off more…”

“You’re getting married, I am not. This should be about you…” Liz murmured.

“This is all about me. But it’s something I do want. You look gorgeous in that dress. Why not show it off?”

“No, let’s look at dresses for Isabel and me once you make a decision about your dress.”

“I am thinking of putting this one and then the other one Isabel loved and see what Mom has to say. Since she’s paying for the dress. We are planning on to come by tomorrow and I’ll show her this one and that one and see what she says.”

“Perfect,” Liz smiled as she glanced at her best friend. “You really do look gorgeous. You would look great no matter the dress you pick in the end. Michael will go crazy.”

“And you do too,” Maria said. “Honestly, you should open yourself up to the idea of maybe moving on.”

“I am fine Maria, with my life and my daughter…” Liz said softly even thought she was now 20 years old and a new mother. She still missed Max like crazy as she looked out to the front doors as people were constantly coming in for their appointments. “I am not missing out on anything…”

“Yes, you are…” Maria said softly as she looked at Liz in the dress and knew her friend was missing out on love.

“Let’s concentrate on you…” Liz said. “Your wedding day will be about you… not anyone other than you and Michael,” she murmured as she looked out and nearly fainted as eyes stalked her from the door. She would have fainted if she hadn’t had her hand on a wall and was planning to head back to the fitting room to get changed. “No…” she whispered unsure this was her crazy fears coming back into play.

“What…” Maria asked.

“Don’t you see him…” Liz said as she pointed to the doors where she saw the eerie familiar eyes staring back at her…

“I don’t see anything,” Maria asked a she looked at the same location her friend was glancing, and Isabel was also staring in the same direction. Nothing was there…

“Oh, god, I am crazy.” Liz whispered as she picked up the skirt of the dress and rushed off to the fitting room and left Maria and Isabel confused by their friend’s outburst. “Did you see anything?” Maria asked Isabel.”

“Nope…” Isabel asked.

“Oh god,” Maria murmured as they raced back to the fitting rooms. “Liz, let me in…”

“No,” Liz said.

“Let me in,” Isabel asked as she gave a warning. “If you don’t let us in, I will use my methods to make us come in, and you don’t want that do you?”

“Fine,” Liz said coming to the door and opening it. She had taken off the dress and was now back in her sun dress she had been wearing to the appointment. “Isabel you finish off with Maria here, I am going home.”

“No,” Isabel said insistently. “Tell us, what you saw…”

“I saw a dead man…” Liz moaned.

“What!” Maria asked as she and Isabel looked at Liz. “What did you see?”

“I see Max everywhere I go and just then I saw him again. But he’s dead, and that means I am going crazy,” she whispered.
Last edited by Parker1947 on Wed Oct 28, 2020 4:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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