“I am so sorry,” Max was saying repeatedly as his words were getting interrupted by the kisses from Liz who melted in his arms. “God, I love you,” he murmured to Liz as he carried her as her legs wrapped around him as she was afraid to give up her hold on him. To feel him and know it was him was intoxicating as the way to long a separation was horrible on both, and it pained him to know how much to explain it as he only wanted to feel his touch and not to talk. “I need to explain…”
“I don’t need an explanation, not right now…” Liz whispered as she reveled in his touch as they continued to passionate kiss, as their intensity kept increasing the more, they touched each other. “God, I thought I was going crazy.”
“You were never crazy…” Max said softly as they continued to kiss, as he felt her hair, and the touch of her arms, as he felt he was going crazy as he didn’t know how he could have kept the last two years without her touch and knew he didn’t. “God Liz… you’re beautiful.”
“Max, god…” Liz whispered as they fell down on the couch and she didn’t care that there were dozens of boxes all around them as she forced him down on the couch as he leaned against the coach as she straddle him as they continued to kiss, as she yanked off his t-shirt and then she remembered where she was supposed to be, “Damn…” she muttered.
“What?” Max asked.
“Give me my phone, it’s in my pocket” she muttered as Max dug for her flip phone cellphone and handed to it, and she immediately dialed as Max nudged her lips, and she felt like she was going to explain. “Stop it” she whispered, “I have to be serious here…Oh Mom, I am going to be later than I thought I was… Can you and Dad keep
her tonight. There has been a change in plans. No nothing about the wedding, yeah, I think it would be better because a problem came up here… No, I don’t need Dad to come and help me…” she murmured as she thought of her problem, of the
sexy man variety. “Someday I will explain. Thanks… Can you call Maria and say I am not going to make it to the Deluca house, but will be there first thing in the morning to help her get dressed” she asked into the phone? “Thanks again Mom…”
Hanging up she threw down her phone on the floor and fell into his touch and his explanation as her blouse soon got pulled off, as they continued to kiss… “Mmm” she murmured as they kissed some more. “Maria is going to kill me…”
“I don’t think she’s going to care,” Max said as they continued to kiss as her bra got thrown off the couch next, and his jeans went…
“This is unbelievable,” Liz murmured as she threw herself into him as they embraced, and then suddenly the
flashes started to take over and they were seeing everything past and present as he groaned at what she ultimately saw, and in shock she sat up and looked down at a naked Max. “Oh my god…”
“Liz, I am sorry… I know how it looks.”
“It looks like you were ‘Rob’…” Liz asked in a near whisper. “You were ‘Rob Roy’?
“How could I not be…” Max said softly as she looked down with a pained expression on her face and he hated knowing he was putting it back on her face after all they had gone through. “Liz…”
“Seriously Max, you were ‘Rob’. You’ve been alive all this time, and you never told me…” Liz asked as it was suddenly hit her what it meant to have him back in her life. “Oh my god…”
“Liz, I didn’t want to hurt you…” Max said.
“You were ‘Rob Roy’,” Liz murmured as she couldn’t believe it. “You lied to me, and made me believe I was with someone else and that you were dead…”
“It was my alias in Vegas,” Max admitted. “I didn’t go into that night looking to do what I did, and it just came out and it made sense especially when you told me you were “Shirley Temple” and what we ultimately did was something that I couldn’t stop when the ball got rolling, and when the ball went on down the bath… I couldn’t stop it.”
“Oh my god…” Liz murmured as it began to sink in…
“Yes,” Max knew what she was allowing to sink in. “Claudia is mine…”
Liz was looking at a whole new ballgame… “You have been alive… all this time” she murmured as repulsion rang through.
*
Jim arrived at the Deluca house as it was a whirlwind of activity as they prepared for the wedding the next day. He smiled as he pushed open the door, as Maria was stressed out and being talked down by her bridesmaid, Isabel who was all smiles in her amusement at how simple it was to have Maria so freaked. “I see I picked a good time to be here…”
“Hello Jim,” Isabel smiled. “We were expecting Liz and Claudia.”
“What do you mean they aren’t here yet, as I would have thought they would have been here first.”
“I know,” Isabel nodded as Maria came down from a panic attack that she had forgotten something, but Isabel assured her friend that everything was in order as she had worked on everything and double and triple checked them herself. “Nancy called and said she was delayed.”
“What could have delayed her today…” Jim asked surprised.
“I have no idea,” Maria said coming down from her panic attack as she noticed the Sheriff as reality hit and the nerves came up again. “What’s wrong…”
“Nothing,” Jim said softly. “Just something that was work related. Are you spending the night here too Isabel or are you meeting Kyle?”
“I am spending the night,” Isabel said as she looked down at her board and knew she had everything for the wedding the next day as she was a compulsive organizer and since Michael was like a brother to her, and said brother was
alive, well, she was going to make sure the wedding was downright perfect.
“I am glad everything is alright, and looks to be in order…”
“Why do I sense you know something,” Maria asked as she looked suspiciously at her mother’s boyfriend. “Why do I sense it is nothing to do with my big day tomorrow.”
“It’s nothing…” Jim said as he tried his best to assure the bride everything was going to be alright even though he sensed by the fact he knew Max had gone rogue, and now Liz hadn’t shown up and she was maid of honor. Why did he suspect they were together, and if they were together… than who knows what was going to happen? “I’ll go check with Amy if she needs to me to pick up anything last minute…”
“Jim what do you know…” Maria asked to the back of the Sheriff. “Is it my trusty senses on hyper alert the day before my wedding but you know something big, and you’re not telling us.”
“You don’t have to worry about it tonight,” Jim said as he tried to do his best to calm down the bride. “Focus on your special day.”
Maria murmured some growls and Isabel fretted because she had gotten the feeling in recent days Kyle had always begun to pull away because he knew something that he couldn’t share with her and it was starting to impact their relationship.
*
Kyle arrived at the Evans home. Michael was there getting ready for his big day. His apartment was fill of wedding gifts already delivered and he needed the distraction and he had become close to Phillip and Diane since Max passed away, and so he took them up on the offer to spend the night there in Max’s old bedroom. Isabel was spending the night over at the Deluca household, and so Kyle was stopping by to give himself to his fullest on the “best man” duties Michael had asked him to undertake.
He knew Michael wanted someone else to be his best man, and Kyle hated having to lie. If only he hadn’t asked Sam to run a license plate, he had seen following Liz and Claudia one day. His father had stepped in before the information landed on his deputies’ desk and he had called his son in and told him the fateful news.
He had been furious that his father had known but kept it a secret from Liz, and especially once Claudia was on the way. But Jim assured his son that he didn’t relish keeping the secret, but he was determined to protect Liz anyway he could, and ultimately it wasn’t his jurisdiction and unlikely able to stop it. Kyle hadn’t been happy…
“Kyle come in,” Phillip nodded as he saw his daughter’s boyfriend at the door. “Michael is upstairs.”
“Nice to see you Mr. Evans,” Kyle smiled as he walked into the house and paused when he saw a
picture of Max on the wall going up the stairs.
“You can call me Phillip by now,” Phillip acknowledged. “Go upstairs. Michael is getting nervous.”
“He has no reason to be nervous,” Kyle said as he walked upstairs and walked down towards the room that held Michael. “Guerin open up. Your best man is here…”
“Good,” Michael said as he opened the door. “I need some company. And a drinking buddy,” Michael murmured as they planned to hit
Cow Patties.”
“You know you’re very lucky to get Maria to marry you…” Kyle said with a laugh.
“I know,” Michael said. “So, what do you think of your chances with Isabel?” he asked as he finished putting his jacket on.
“Let’s not go there…” Kyle murmured as he knew Isabel was skittish on marriage after her failed one with Jesse and he didn’t know if he wanted to go there yet, because after all they were still young but knowing how much in love Michael and Maria were, well, he knew how right they were together. The same with Max and Liz. He just prayed life would work okay for them after so much disappointment.
“It’s coming…” Michael smiled. “You make her happy, and I think Isabel likes that you know her, and love her anyways.”
“I know her… But one never knows…”
“Do you know something…” Michael asked as he felt the tension in Kyle and his eyes went up with alarm. “Kyle, do you know something I don’t?”
“Nothing I can share,” Kyle muttered. “Let’s go get a drink or two…”
Michael grunted because he knew Kyle was his father’s son and he wasn’t going to get any information, and now he wondered what he didn’t know.
*
Liz had thrown on her t-shirt, but not her bra and was now standing and staring down at Max on the couch as she wondered just how her life fallen off the edge and he looked at Max in a new light, and Max knew this and hated it because he had expected it. “Liz…” he whispered.
“No,” Liz said. “You knew, and you didn’t come to me?”
“I wanted to, but I couldn’t” Max said softly as he sat up and looked up at Liz and was gutted from the pain that existed on her face. “I wish I could have been here that day, and I would have but I couldn’t…”
“You made me believe you were dead?” Liz asked as she stood and stared at Max. “How could you… I believed you were dead, and I couldn’t wake you up with my kiss. It destroyed me Max. To know you sacrificed your life for me and saved my life a second time. It screwed me up and now you’re saying you could have told me back then…”
“They forced me,” Max said softly as he pulled his jeans on as he got off the couch and stared down Liz. “I am sorry for how this appears, and how I hurt you. I know I hurt you, and I feel terrible, but I did die that day. But somehow, and for some reason my spirit spun to a new body.”
“Like it did with that man?” Liz asked.
“Yes, Clayton Wheeler” Max said softly. “Anyways while I was Clayton, I did some terrible things, as you know…”
“I know…” Liz said as she shuttered at the memory of her
flight out of
that window. She truly thought it was end for her, and then to wake up and to see Max had given his life to save her by using his powers to create a green shield; it destroyed her.
“What I did to you got spotted on the surveillance tapes at the school and they turned it over to the FBI who got more evidence of what I did during my time. So, when I woke up in another body at the hospital. I soon was busted within that body, and they connected me with being a target of the Special Unit and they forced me into a deal with the government. If I agreed to take down the Wheeler company who were known to be a dangerous enterprise than they would make sure my crimes were whipped away. But I had to stay dead. I had to do it Liz, to protect you. If they knew who I am, then they knew who Michael and Isabel were… and therefore they could have gone after you…”
“But…” Liz said.
“There is more…” he murmured as he ached at the pain and confusion he saw on Liz’s face. “Liz, the arrangement I made was fine for the first year, or at least manageable but then the longer it went on, the more I chafed under the special protection they had me under which only made things start to spin out of control and especially when they got word that you were taking my death badly, and you were drinking yourself to destruction, and so they got worried…”
“Worried?” Liz asked in a state of disbelief as she tried to figure out what to make of the story she had been hearing because a lot of it sounded plausible
only in our world could it sound plausible, she murmured to herself.
“They got scared that if you did end up destroying yourself than if your parents got wind of what the government were doing with me than your parents could go after them for pain and suffering that they put you under. The same with my parents. So, they forced me to confront you but under my new identity and try to get you to stop and to clean yourself up. I went farther than they thought I would because when I was near you because I couldn’t stop myself Liz. When you lied to me about being Shirley Temple, I couldn’t help myself, so I went with it and went with our Vegas alias.”
“But you came to me again…” Liz asked. “It wasn’t that only time. You could have told me the truth when I asked straight out asked who you were…”
“I couldn’t help myself, as I needed to see you…” Max said. “I hated myself because I knew what you were going through, and I needed to see you. And then it was almost like you realized it was me and if you had, I got scared about what the government might do to you and our baby. So, I ran.”
“I thought I was crazy.” Liz murmured as she felt pain and confusion by Max’s explanation and while it felt like it made sense, she also knew she had felt crazy, and to know Max was alive all this time and was faking who he was despite being around her… it made all the confusion bleed into anger and pain.
“I am so sorry,” Max asked regretfully. “I wish I could do so much over… and I would, I so would Liz.”
“I thought I was crazy, because I felt you. I felt your eyes on me and looking at me that day and I couldn’t bear it. So, I forced myself out here in my grandmother’s house and I isolated myself because I felt like I was going crazy. You did that to me…”
“I know I did. I blame myself. But I knew you had to protect yourself, and our daughter. That is why I stayed away and didn’t come near you again…”
“Until now…”
“Yeah,” Max admitted. “I wished it had been a lot sooner than this and if I had my way than it would have but I came here because they screwed up my protection and I got made…”
“What…” Liz said softly.
“I got made and now they want to move me again… likely up to Canada, away from Roswell and away from the suspicion while they rebuild their case.” Max explained to the utter pain in himself and to the horror of Liz as it sunk into her brain. “If I am being forced to leave than I needed to see you. I needed you to know that I am alive, and that you saved me that day. I just took the long road…”
“You’re leaving…” Liz asked bewildered and wild at the thought of losing him, this time for good.
Max nodded to the horror the woman he loved.
“No, you can’t…” Liz said in a whisper as it dawned on her just the stakes of what he was telling her. “You can’t leave.”
“I don’t want to, but they are forcing me Liz. If I renege on the agreement than they could make life bad for me, and for all of us here in Roswell. I can’t do that to you, to Isabel and Michael and especially not to Claudia.”
“You know about Claudia?” Liz asked as the truth dawned on her…
“Yes,” Max said. “You’re doing an amazing job Liz. I wish I could be here and watch her grow up, but I have to do this for her now, and not me.”
“Can’t they do something…” Liz asked.
“I wish they could, but I have given up trying to convince them and given I am here, well, they aren’t going to like it and probably won’t take it lightly because of what it means. I just couldn’t stay one more minute from you, especially if I couldn’t see you again.”
Liz stopped in place and stared at Max like he was a new person, which she supposed he was. In a new body, and not the person she knew from that day in the Crashdown and yet the man who stared at her made her melt and she had so many months with him, and she couldn’t bear the idea of him out of her life.
“Liz, I am sorry…” Max said. “If I could have done all this so differently, I would have but you mean the world to me and you are the only woman I have ever loved, and it’s been that way since third grade. I love you so damn much that I would risk everything for you…”
“I love you too…” Liz said softly as she walked forward and gave him a deep passionate kiss and before they knew it, well, their clothes were coming off again and he was picking her up and walking with her directions to the bedroom and the door slamming shut as they couldn’t keep their hands off each other as the celebrated being back in each other’s arms and yet knowing their time together was ticking down.