Endings & Beginnings (M/L AU ADULT) (Complete)

[Emz80m]

Hey guys,

Thank you so much for reading. I know that some of you probably aren't happy with the Liz/Maria/Alex scenario but i do have a reason for that. Maria might have been a little unfair to Max but you have to realise that even though she's not showing it Maria regrets loosing her best friend and the only thing that gets her past it is that she has Michael, so she blames Max so she doesn't have to blame herself.

Anyway, I'm glad that most of you are enjoying the fic


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Ten

2 months later

Max looked up when he felt the presence plant itself on the edge of his desk.

“Just a second,” he mumbled and finished typing the last result into the computer before he looked up.

“Hi,” Liz grinned at him.

“Hey yourself,” he replied relaxing into the back of his chair.

He couldn’t believe sometimes that he had been commuting to New Haven now for over 2 months. For the most part, it was working out perfectly. He loved the work and Tess had adapted to it a little better than he thought she would. When he came home now the house was usually fairly clean. Max knew that she still didn’t like the arrangement but he did, and for the first time in his life, he had decided to put himself before the other people in his life.

But one of the best things about New Haven was Liz. Liz and Serena had taken him under their wings during his time with them. Most nights he had dinner with Liz either out or at her apartment and Serena joined them a lot of the time too. They had showed him all their research they were doing into Liz’s cell structure and he had even let Liz take samples so that they could start comparing them against each other.

And when Max returned home he still had Liz’s emails and phone calls to look forward to. They kept in contact daily for working requirements mainly, but after the work was out of the way they both could talk to each other about things going on in their lives. Liz had finally opened up and wanted to know everything about everyone, Max was happy to fill her in on the lives of his friends and family, and in turn, Liz confided in Max about some of the issues she had with her relationship with John.

“What are you up to tonight?” Liz asked.

Max smiled, “Oh you know me. I have a million offers that I’m still sifting through.”

Liz giggled at Max. “Well how does the idea of dinner with me, Serena and John sound?” She asked.

Max’s eyes widened at the mention of Liz’s elusive boyfriend. In the months that he had been travelling to New Haven he hadn’t seen a peak of the guy. He knew from Liz that she usually on saw him on weekends due to both their heavy work schedules, and that she preferred it that way for the most part.

“Dinner on Tuesday night with John? That sounds against the rules of your weekend relationship?” He teased.

Liz slapped him. “Shut up,” she told him. “Actually it was John that suggested it. Apparently I haven’t stopped talking about you in a month and he wants to meet you,” she rolled her eyes.

“Really?” Max grinned. Had Liz really been talking about him? Was her boyfriend jealous?

“Yes. So are you free?”

“For you, always,” Max smiled.

“Ok well we’ll pick you up at the hotel at 7.30,” she said standing up.

“Where are we going?” He asked.

Liz looked at him confused. “So I know what to wear?” He smiled.

Once again, Liz rolled her eyes. “Um you probably should wear a dress shirt and jacket,” she told him. “John likes the fancy types of restaurants and he’s making the bookings and everything,” she explained.

“So why am I coming again?” Serena asked as she wandered up behind Liz.

“Oh well I thought it would be a little awkward if it was just me, John and Max,” Liz shrugged. “Besides you already know both John and Max so you’ll be able to help keep the conversation flowing,” she added.

“Are you saying I’m boring Parker?” Max asked.

“Not at all it’s just that…” Liz replied.

“Just that you think John is going to go all green eye monster on the guy you’ve been spending all your time with lately?” Serena finished for her.

Liz immediately blushed and cursed herself for confiding in Serena about the situation with John. John had insisted on meeting Max after he found out how much time Liz was sending with him. He refused to believe that they were just friends no matter how much Liz insisted it was true. So he was breaking their weekend cycle and taking her to dinner on a weeknight so he could meet her old friend and co-worker Max.

“So tonight we’ll pick you both up ok?” Liz asked again.

“Yep,” Serena nodded.

“No problem,” Max agreed.

***

Liz was nervous as they pulled up out the front of Max’s hotel.

Serena was already in the back and John was driving the slick black Mercedes they were travelling in.

“I’ll go in and get him,” Liz suggested.

“Ok but be quick because our reservation is for eight,” John told her.

To make matter worse, John had been less than happy since arriving to pick Liz up. Apparently, he had had the worse day and Liz could tell that he wasn’t really in the mood for the dinner but refused to cancel it because he was suspicious of Max.

Liz rushed quickly into the lobby of the Hyatt and when Max saw her, he hopped up from the couch he was sitting, waiting on.

“Hi,” he greeted her. His eyes roamed her body appreciatively. Liz was wearing a tight fitting chocolate brown dress and her hair had a bouncy curl on the ends of it. Max thought she looked absolutely beautiful.

“You look gorgeous,” he found himself telling her before he could stop it from leaving his mouth.

“Thank you,” Liz blushed.

Liz herself was admiring how nice Max looked in his slick black suit and black dress shirt. It was different to what he usually wore to work.

“Is it ok that I don’t have a tie on?” He asked unsure.

“You look great,” Liz smiled.

“Thanks,” he smiled.

“We should go, John is double parked out the front,” she said then.

Max nodded, and placing his hand on the small of Liz’s back he led her back out side to the waiting car. He opened the passenger side door for her and helped her in before getting into the back with Serena.

“Hi,” he winked at her.

“Max this is John, John this is Max,” Liz introduced from the front seat.

“Nice to meet you,” Max replied.

“You too,” John nodded as he watched Max through the rear view mirror.

Serena had watched in amusement as John had watched Max and Liz walking towards the car and his scowl when he noticed the way Max’s hand rested on the small of Liz’s back.

It was something that Max did unconsciously with Liz and Serena suspected that neither had even noticed how close they had become over the past two months. Serena suspected that there were still some residual feelings towards Max on Liz’s part since she knew about their history but she hadn’t worked Max out yet. If she didn’t know better she would think that Max definetely had a thing for Liz. But Serena knew he had a serious girlfriend back home, one that Liz had told her was gorgeous, so she hadn’t quite worked Max out yet. One thing she did know was that to an outsider, to John, they looked a lot more than friends.

When they pulled up at the restaurant Max automatically opened the door for Liz much to John’s annoyance. So he opened the door for Serena instead.

Once they were seated, the awkward silence that had settled in the car continued.

“So Max,” John finally spoke up. “You and Liz went to high school together?”

“Yes,” Max replied. “We both lived in Roswell.”

“Must have been a surprise when you got the job in New Haven to find Liz was your boss?”

Max smiled at Liz, “Yeah but a nice surprise. We had been out of touch for quite a few years so…”

“Yeah Liz was saying that.” He said.

“Has anyone eaten here before?” Max asked then as he looked over the menu.

“Yes,” Liz spoke up.

“What’s good here?” Max asked.

“Oh the chilli crab is to die for, it’s so hot, you’ll love it,” Liz explained excitedly and leant over so she could point it out on the menu.

“You like your food spicy?” John asked surprised.

“Yeah the spicier the better,” Max answered.

“Hmm Liz too,” he said.

“Yeah it must be a Crashdown thing,” Max joked.

“Crashdown?” John queried.

Serena rolled her eyes. “Yeah you know the restaurant Liz’s parents own that she talks about non stop John.”

“Oh right.”

“So Max, Liz tells me that you have a girlfriend?” He questioned.

Max smiled; he was wondering how long it would take for John to get to the personal stuff. “Yeah, Tess,” he replied.

“Been together long?”

“Five years,” Max nodded.

“Wow that’s a long time,” he whistled. “I think the longest relationship I’ve had has been like three. So any plans for marriage?”

Max’s eyes widened in surprise at the question. That one he hadn’t been expecting.

Liz and Serena both looked at him as they waited for him to answer John’s question. “Not in the near future,” he finally replied.

“Fair enough.” John nodded.

“So John how is the corporate world?” Serena asked him.

John looked up at her surprised by the question. “Very busy at the moment.”

“Well its great that you could find time for dinner,” she smiled sweetly at him.

“Well Liz has been raving about how great it is to have Max in New Haven working for her. I had to take the time to meet the guy didn’t I?”

“It was sweet of you,” Liz spoke up and smiled at him.

Dinner continue on after that in a similar fashion. John would speak up on occasion and ask questions but for the most part Max, Serena and Liz occupied the conversation as they talked about work, or shared stories about things from the past that made everyone laugh.

All in all Max wasn’t sure what to think about the man that Liz was seeing. It was hard to get a true read of his personality when he had spent the whole night acting suspicious.

When they dropped him off at the hotel, he headed straight up stairs and checked his message. Tess had called but Max knew that it was too late to ring her back. He took a quick shower and hopped into bed. He had only been lying for a half an hour when his phone rang.

“Hello?” he asked surprised.

“Hi,” the voice replied.

“Liz?” Max said surprised.

“I didn’t wake you did I?” She asked unsure.

“No, not at all. I was just lying here,” he replied.

“I just wanted to say thank you for tonight,” she said quietly. As far as she was concerned, it had been a nice night once John had gotten his twenty questions out of the way but for the first time since she had started dating the serious and older John, Liz realised that he wasn’t what she was looking for.

“What for?” Max asked.

“For putting up with John and his endless questions. I hope he didn’t embarrass you.”

“No, not at all,” Max replied. “I had a nice night,” he added then and he truly had. Like usual he enjoyed Liz and Serena’s company and he was dreading having to go back to Las Cruses the next day, something he knew was increasingly becoming a problem.

“Oh good,” she said surprised. “Anyway I’ll let you get to bed,” she said then.

“Ok,” he agreed. “Goodnight Liz.”

“Night Max,” she whispered in reply


TBC.... see you on Thursday

[Emz80m]

Thanks everyone

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Eleven

Tess sighed as she walked along the street stopping occasionally to look in the windows at all the nice clothes, shoes and jewellery. It was her rostered day off but all her friends were at work, Max was in New Haven and she found herself at a loss for what to do.

“Tess? Tess Harding?”

Confused and surprised to hear her own name she turned to where the voice was coming from. A medium height, well built man with a rangers cap was approaching her.

“My God it is you,” he said.

Tess squinted her eyes in an attempt to recognise the man and it wasn’t until he was standing a few feet away that she finally realise who he was.

“Kyle?” She asked surprised.

“Yeah,” he grinned as he removed his hat showing Tess his familiar face and sandy brown hair. He still looked exactly the same, and even better looking since his face had matured slightly.

“It’s good to see you,” he told her and moved forward with his arms open offering her a hug. Tess accepted his hug easily. Despite the fact that they had broken up they were never on bitter terms.

“You too, it’s been years,” she replied.

“How are you?” He asked.

Tess smiled. “I’m good, you?”

“Yeah I’m good. Busy but good,” he told her.

“You still living here?” He asked then a little surprised.

“Yeah, I actually work as a nurse at the old people’s home,” she told him.

“That’s great,” he said.

It felt odd to be standing talking to your ex on the sidewalk when people were passing you by.

“Listen are you busy?” Tess found herself asking. “I’m kind of at a loose end and if you have time I’d love to grab some lunch and catch up with you,” she suggested.

Kyle’s face brightened at her offer. “I’d love too,” he told her.

“There is this great little dinner just up a couple of blocks,” she told him. “It’s not the Crashdown but it’s pretty good,” she grinned.

***

Max cursed the phone in front of him as it sprung to life. He had a pile of work that he wanted to get done, as well as lunch with Liz and Serena, before his flight back to Las Cruses that night.

“Hello, Max Evans?” He answered distractedly. Most of the calls he received were internal so he wasn’t required to be too formal.

“Max this is John Michael’s, Liz’s boyfriend.”

Max eyes widened in surprise. The phone certainly had his attention now.

“What can I do for you John?” He asked.

In the pit of his stomach, he knew that the only reason for the phone call was bad news.

“I was hoping you might be free for lunch,” he said.

“Actually I’m not. I have plans with Liz and Serena,” he informed him. There was no way he was going to spend his lunchtime with John when he could be in the company of friends.

“Well how about a quick coffee then?” John countered.

Max sighed. “Ok,” he agreed, he would do this for Liz and only Liz. Personally, he had no idea what Liz saw in the guy. He was older than she was and from the small talk he made last night Max found him drab and boring. He was one of those people who believed they were certainly a lot better than they were.

“But I don’t have a lot of time,” Max added.

“Ok well I’ll come to you then. Meet me at the Starbucks on the corner at 11,” he told him.

To Max it almost sounded like an order, and he was tempted to tell the guy where to shove it but his curiosity won out.

So at 11 Max quietly slipped out of the office and made his way towards Starbucks.

***

Kyle couldn’t take his eyes off Tess as she sat across from him sipping on the chocolate milkshake she had ordered. She was more beautiful than he remembered and he was struggling to remember why it was that they had ever broken up. He knew that was stupid however, they had broke up because of Tess’s unwillingness to open up her whole life to him, that and the fact that she spent way too much time with Max Evans for his liking. Ever since Liz Parker had broken up with him in high school to chase after Max, Kyle hadn’t trusted the guy so he hadn’t been happy when he started dating Tess to find out that they were friends.

“So what’s been going on with your life?” He asked. “You didn’t go and get married did you?” He teased.

Tess rolled her eyes. “Not I’m not married. Yet,” she replied.

“Yet?” Kyle asked.

“Well Max and I have been together for 5 years now,” she smiled slightly at him.

“Max Evans?” Kyle frowned.

After breaking up with Tess, Kyle had transferred from UNM to the University of Texas. He had received a scholarship to play football and it had been too good of an opportunity to pass up.

“Yeah,” she nodded.

Kyle resisted the urge to say something about the fact that she had ended up with Max.

“So you’re happy?” He asked.

Tess smiled gently. “For the most part,” she admitted. “He’s travelling a lot for his work at the moment which is hard.”

“New job?” He asked.

“No just changes to the old one,” she shrugged.

“What does he do?” Kyle asked.

Kyle knew how hard it was to maintain a job when you travelled. He had been on the road for years as a second string ball player until he finally realised he wasn’t going to make it. He was only living a half a life spending endless hours in different cities every week, so he had gone back to Texas and got a job working in a high school as the PE teacher. He had only recently gotten a transfer back to Roswell to be closer to his dad.

“Research,” she said. “He works for Cellcon.”

The name rang a bell to Kyle but he couldn’t work out why to begin with. A vague memory about something his father mentioned played at the edge of his mind but he couldn’t grab hold of it.

“He’s in New Haven twice a month now,” she said.

“That’s got to suck.”

“Yeah. It’s hard because he really likes it and wants to move there to do the job full time. But I’m happy here. This is where my friends and family are,” she confessed.

Kyle smiled sympathetically. “Have you told him that?”

“We agreed to trial it and I said I’d give it a fair go and it’s only been two months,” she replied.

“I guess if the two of you are meant to be together it will work out,” he tried to comfort her as he placed his hand over hers.

The moment their skin came into contact with each other Tess felt a spark and her eyes snapped to Kyle’s to see if he had felt the same thing but his eyes gave nothing away.

“So Kyle tell me about what you’ve been up to. Last time I heard you were playing ball…” she said.

***

John was waiting at a small table in the back of the café when Max entered.

“John.” He greeted.

“Max. Take a seat. I ordered you a flat white. I hope that’s ok?”

“Thanks,” Max replied and took a seat.

John watched as Max tipped copious amounts of sugar into the coffee, resisting the urge to groan. He had seen Liz do it enough over the past six months so he wasn’t surprised to know Max did the same.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Max asked.

“Liz,” John said.

“What about Liz?” Max replied.

“Liz and I are involved,” he said.

“I know,” Max replied. “She told me. You have a weekend thing,” he smiled.

“She said that?” John asked.

Max nodded.

“Well the weekend thing is serious,” John said.

Max continued to wait for John to get to his point and he could tell that his staring was unnerving the man.

“I think you’re spending a little too much time with my girlfriend and I’m concerned about that,” he revealed.

“Don’t you trust Liz?” Max asked.

“I don’t trust you. I don’t know you and I don’t like you,” he said quietly.

“The feelings mutual,” Max replied.

“Well now that our feelings are out on the table how about we agree that you leave Liz alone,” John said.

“In case you forgot, Liz and I work together, we’re also friends. I’m not going to stop spending time with her just because you don’t like it,” Max told him. “Maybe if you spend more time with her, other than weekends, she wouldn’t have as much time to spend with me,” Max added. “Or then again maybe she would still prefer my company,” he smirked.

John’s face filled with anger at Max’s words but he reined it in.

Max stood up then and threw a five dollar note down on the table. “You obviously have no respect for Liz. The simple fact that you called me behind her back for this little meeting speaks for itself. But I do respect her and I won’t be threatened by you. As long as Liz wants me in her life I will be, get used to it, or get out of my way,” Max told him.

“You really think she’ll choose you?” John asked feeling confident that Max was no competition.

“You must think so,” Max smiled. “My relationship with Liz is platonic but it has nothing to do with yours. Maybe if you trusted Liz more you’d see that,” he told him.

With that said Max left John and the café and headed back to work. All the while wondering how he was supposed to tell Liz about his encounter with her boyfriend.

***

Both Tess and Kyle were disappointed when the cheque arrived bringing their lunch to an end.

Tess tried to pay but Kyle insisted that it was on him, and after paying, they exited the café together coming to a stop on the sidewalk once again.

“I really enjoyed this,” she admitted. “It’s great to see you again.”

“You too,” he replied.

Kyle pulled a card with his details out of his wallet then and handed it to Tess. “Give me a call sometime. Maybe we can do this again?”

Tess smiled brightly as she accepted the card and fingered it delicately. “I’d love that,” she told him.

“Great. Well I’ve got to get going but I’ll talk to you soon,” Kyle smiled.

“Bye Kyle,” Tess replied.

She followed Kyle with her eyes as he made his way down the sidewalk until he disappeared from sight.

[Emz80m]

Hey everyone, once again thank you for your feedback, i hope you enjoy this new part

Also, good news, i'm getting heaps of writing done on this fic so the twice weekly updates will continue!

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Twelve

Max sighed as he pulled into the car park out the front of the apartment he shared with Tess.

After thinking of nothing but his conversation with John all afternoon, Max had finally told Liz about the whole thing as she drove him to the airport. Needless to say she had been less than impressed to hear what her boyfriend had said to Max, she as angry but most of all Max could tell that she was hurt. Hurt that he didn’t trust her but more so because he had no right to question who Liz’s friends were, or who she spent her time with when he didn’t even want to see her during the week.

Max hadn’t been able to get the look on her face off his mind the whole plane ride home.

Sure, she had done her best to pretend that she wasn’t affected. She had smiled, hugged and kissed Max’s cheek wishing him a safe trip home.

Max looked up at his apartment. The lights were off which he wasn’t surprised about. Tess was on the afternoon shift so she was at work still. So Max pulled his suitcase out of the boot and headed inside.

Once inside he sat down on the cough and opened his cell phone quickly dialling Liz’s number. He knew she would be asleep most likely but he just wanted to ring and check that she was really all right.

“Hello?” She answered and to Max’s surprise she seemed fairly alert.

“Hey,” he replied quietly.

On the other end of the phone, Liz smiled when she heard his voice. It was unexpected to hear from him and for some reason she felt the butterflies stir up in her stomach.

“I just wanted to call and let you know I got in ok and to see how you were,” he explained.

“I’m glad,” she whispered. “I’m ok. I’m not going to let John being an asshole upset me,” she said.

On the ride back to her apartment she had been ready to call him and rip into him but once home she had settled down and realised that John wasn’t worth it. So instead, she had decided to cut her losses and end things with him. She hadn’t done that yet; she would wait to the weekend. Obviously he would expect Max to have told her about their little meeting and would be waiting to hear from Liz. So Liz decided to surprise him. She would let him take her out for a nice and expensive night and just when he thought he was going to get lucky she would politely thank him for the night and tell him that she thought it was best if they ended things there and then.

He would be pissed and he probably wouldn’t go down without a fight, but she was prepared for that.

“I’m glad,” Max replied relived.

“I’m just sorry that you got involved,” she admitted.

“I’m not,” Max replied. “Because that would be like saying I was sorry that I had found you after all these years and I can’t be sorry about that Liz,” he told her.

Liz bit down on her bottom lip as her heart soared. As hard as she tried to ward off her resurfacing feelings for Max she was loosing the battle and she was starting to wonder why she was trying to fight so hard. Sometimes she actually thought that Max was also feeling something but she could never be sure. He didn’t talk much about his life with Tess, which Liz wondered about a lot.

“Me either,” she replied. “I’d miss this so much if we didn’t have it anymore,” she added.

Max smiled, “Same,” he agreed. Just being able to talk to Liz whenever he wanted to made Max happy. He was glad at that moment that he had decided to call Liz and more so for the privacy which allowed him to.

“I didn’t wake you did I?” He asked then.

Liz didn’t want to admit that she had been trying to sleep but unable to because she couldn’t stop thinking about him. “No,” she replied.

“Good. Well it’s late. I should let you get to bed,” he said then.

“Yeah,” she agreed.

Max didn’t want to hang up the phone but he knew he had to. “Night Liz,” he whispered. “Sweet dreams,” he added.

Liz smiled as she thought about it, “I sure hope so,” she told him. “Night Max.”

***

“God it feels like forever since we saw you Max,” Isabel stated as the six friends sat out on Isabel’s and Alex’s deck for their traditional Sunday dinner.

“I’ve been busy Iz,” Max replied.

This was the first time he had seen everyone in a few weeks and he knew that they all blamed his travelling for that.

“So how is New Haven?” Alex asked.

“Good,” Max smiled. “I love it there,” he said as his thought drifted to Liz unconsciously.

“You’ll have to go with Max one week to check it out Tess,” Maria spoke up and suggested.

“That’s a great idea,” Tess’s eyes lit up. “I can take some time off work and come with you.”

Max frowned slightly. “Yeah maybe,” he replied.

Dinner went by smoothly and soon the girls were in the kitchen cleaning up while the guys were playing a game of pool on Alex’s table in the games room.

“So Max really loves New Haven,” Maria commented to Tess.

“Yeah I know,” she frowned. “He’s actually happier leading up to the trip then he is when he returns,” she sighed.

She had been looking forward to Max being home that week but when she had gotten home that night and woken him, hoping to give him a welcome home to remember, Max had rebuffed her advances. She knew he was tired but it didn’t stop his rejection from hurting and he had made no move to fix it since then.

It had become a pattern over the past months. As every week went by Max’s mood would too. He would be happiest on the few days leading up to the trip and grumpy the days after returning. Tess had tried to talk to him about it, worried that something was wrong, but he kept insisting he was just tired.

“So my mum mentioned that Kyle Valenti is back in Roswell,” Maria informed the girls then.

“Really?” Isabel asked surprised. “I thought he was playing ball for a team in Texas?”

Maria watched Tess waiting for a response from her and was surprised that Tess didn’t seem surprised by the news of Kyle at all.

“He’s a PE teacher at West Roswell High,” she said.

“Hmm sounds very Kyle like. I’ll have to tell Alex. He’ll want to catch up with him next time we’re in Roswell” Isabel replied.

“You don’t seem surprised by the news Tess,” Maria commented.

Maria had always personally thought that Tess and Kyle had made a great couple. She had been one of the few in the group that thought Tess should have told Kyle the truth all those years ago but the aliens wouldn’t hear of it. No one new was to be allowed in the group. That seemed unfair to Maria and she often wondered if that was why Max and Tess had ended up together. Sure, they seemed happy and she knew that Tess loved Max but she wasn’t so sure that Max was the one for Tess and she was positive that Tess certainly wasn’t the love of Max’s life.

“No not really,” Tess replied. She hesitated revealing her meeting with Kyle to her two friends. She hadn’t even told Max about running into Kyle. She wasn’t sure why she kept it a secret from him but her lunch with Kyle just seemed to intimate to reveal to her boyfriend. Maybe if she had he might start paying a little more attention to her.

“I actually ran into him earlier in the week. We ended up having lunch.”

Both Maria’s and Isabel’s eyes widened in surprise. They hadn’t been expecting Tess to say that.

“It’s not a big deal,” Tess told them when she saw their reaction.

“Does Max know?” Isabel asked.

Tess frowned. “Its not like I was doing anything wrong Isabel. It was completely innocent.”

“Then why haven’t you told Max?” She asked.

“Who said I haven’t?” She countered.

Isabel didn’t reply she just simply raised her eyebrows in challenge.

“Ok so I haven’t,” she finally sighed. “I just don’t see the need to bring up having lunch with my ex when it was insignificant and it won’t happen again,” she said.

“Right,” Isabel said before she turned her back.

She knew Tess well enough to know that she was lying. If it was so insignificant then she would have told Max about it right away. The worst part was Isabel didn’t even think that Max would care at this point. He seemed so immersed in his own life that she doubted that he would even care that much. Instead of getting closer in the past months and hoping to see signs that her brother was finally going to get married Isabel saw the opposite and unlike everyone else, she doubted that Max and Tess would ever get married.

“So the jewellery store on the main street is having a sale, Tess,” Maria spoke up then.

“Why are you telling me?” Tess wondered.

“Well isn’t that where you found your dream engagement ring?” She teased the blonde. It was a secret that Tess was anxious for Max to propose to her.

“Yeah so?” She asked.

“Well maybe its time to start dropping some hints to Maxie-boy,” she suggested.

Tess rolled her eyes at Maria. “I shouldn’t have to drop hints,” she told her. “I have best friends who are more than capable of doing it for me,” she added with a grin.

“Ooh, you’re good girl,” Maria laughed. “So Isabel what do you think? Should we double team Max to get him to the store?” She asked.

Distracted by her previous thoughts about Max and Tess, Isabel didn’t answer.

“Sorry what?” She asked.

“I was thinking it was about time you and I took Max on a shopping trip for that dream engagement ring?” Maria told her.

“I think that Max is more than capable of deciding when and if he wants to buy an engagement ring,” Isabel replied her tone sounding harsher than she intended.

“What do you mean if?” Tess asked with a frown. Did Isabel know something that she didn’t?

Isabel sighed. “I’m sorry Tess. I didn’t mean anything by it. I just know Max well enough to know that you can’t force him to do something he isn’t ready for. When he thinks the time is right I’m sure he’ll give you the most romantic proposal ever, dream ring included,” she smiled.

“I hope so,” Tess grinned.

***

In the games room Max pulled out his phone when he heard it ring and smiled when he saw it was Liz.

“Excuse me,” he said to Alex and Michael before accepting the call and walking out of the room for privacy.

“Hey,” he answered.

“Hey you,” she replied. “Sorry to bother you...”

“You’re not,” he quickly assured her.

“Good,” she said. “I know it’s a Sunday but I’m just trying to work out some problems. I have a couple of research assistants off sick and I’m wondering if you’d consider coming out this week as well?” She asked.

Max was surprised by the request. “As in tomorrow?” He asked.

“No, I don’t expect you to come tomorrow, but Tuesday?” She asked.

“Of course,” he responded eagerly, “and I’m sure I can get a flight out tomorrow morning. How long do you need me for?” He asked.

Liz was surprised and happy at his willingness. “As long as you can spare,” she admitted. “Everything will be cleared at your office and I’ll organise your flight and pick you up,” she told him.

“Great,” he said. “Just send me a text ok?”

“Sure thing and Max, thanks for this.”

“You’re welcome,” he said.

Tess and the other girls walked up just as Max was finishing the conversation. “Who was that?” Tess asked as she wrapped her arms around his middle.

“Oh, my team leader in New Haven. I have to fly out there tomorrow,” he told her.

“What? You just got back Max,” Tess whined.

“I know but its work Tess. They’re short and they really need me,” he explained. “Just like you get called in when one of the nurses gets sick,” he tried to reason.

“That’s not the same at all Max. I’m not leaving the state,” she snapped.

Tess walked off in a huff then with Maria following close behind.

All Max could do was look on hopelessly. When he looked back, Isabel was staring at him. “I hope this job is worth it,” she told him before walking past him and following the other girls.

see you Thursday!]/i]

[Emz80m]

Thanks everyone

Thirteen

Max was relieved when the plane finally landed. The whole flight he had been feeling nervous and to be truthful, very confused.

Most of his life Max had been battling his feelings for Liz Parker. From the first moment he had laid eyes on her when he got off the yellow school bus, he had felt the pull towards her, and from that moment he had known that Liz was special. After he saved her life he had many opportunities to bring all the fantasies he had spent years concocting as he secretly watched her to life, and instead of taking a chance, he played it safe.

After Liz knew about him, and they had become friends, he had found his feelings a lot easier to come to terms with. He eventually accepted that they would never be anything more than friends and he had done a very good job of burying his feelings for her. Or so he thought.

Right now Max was confused because instead of being sad about leaving his girlfriend of five years behind for a few more days, instead of missing her when he was gone, Max found himself looking forward to seeing Liz more and he had no idea what he was going to do about it. He knew that he loved Tess, that she had been a wonderful and loyal girlfriend for five years. He knew that Tess, his friends and family were expecting a marriage in the future between them but none of that seemed to help him right now.

Then there was Liz. She wasn’t the girl he remembered or had fallen in love with all those many years ago. Now she was so much more and Max found himself bedazzled with her beauty, intelligence and personality. She stimulated him in ways that no one else could understand and his buried feels were rearing their head with a vengeance.

He was distracted as he made his way out of the terminal, so much so that he almost missed Liz who was waiting at the gate for him.

“Max!” she called out to him.

Max grinned when he caught sight of her and quickly made his way to her side.

“Hey,” he greeted her as he dropped his bag and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

Liz breathed in his scent and smiled in contentment. “Hey back,” she replied.

Reluctantly she pulled back, “Thanks for coming,” she told him.

“Like I told you last night, it’s not a problem,” he assured her.

Picking his bag up with one hand, Max wrapped the other around Liz’s shoulder and she happily wrapped her arm around his waist as they began to walk out to the car park.

It was still very early and the car park was mostly empty. Max had been lucky to get on a late flight much to Tess’s annoyance so it was very early in the morning.

After slipping into the passenger seat Max turned to Liz. “Where to?” he asked. “Is it too early to get into the hotel?” he wondered.

Liz bit down on her bottom lip. “Actually about that…” she started.

“Yeah?” Max asked.

“Apparently there is some sort of conference in town and since it’s not your normal week to be in town they didn’t have a booking for you at the Hyatt,” she explained.

“No rooms?” he guessed.

“No rooms,” she confirmed. “The best I could have done was some dingy motel so I figured you could just stay at my apartment.”

Max eyes widened in surprise. “Your apartment?” he asked. He didn’t know if it was a good idea to be sharing an apartment with Liz with his feelings so jumbled.

Liz nodded her eyes fixed on the road to avoid meeting Max’s gaze. She didn’t want him to see how nervous and excited she was about him possibly staying with her.

“Is that ok?” she asked. “I have a spare room so you won’t have to sleep on the couch or anything. I just thought it would be better than some cheap bug infested motel room,” she began to ramble when Max didn’t immediately respond to her first question.

“No its fine. Thank you,” he finally replied when he got over his shock.

During the ride back to Liz’s apartment Max was dying to ask about John but he thought that it might be over stepping the boundaries of the friendship they had developed, so he remained quiet.

“You must be tired,” Liz commented. It was five in the morning and he had gotten very little sleep on the flight to New Haven. Too many thoughts and too many feelings swirling around his head and heart.

“I am,” he smiled lazily.

“We’ll have a sleep when we get back the apartment.” She told him.

“Yes m’am,” Max teased causing Liz to blush.

Liz was just glad that he hadn’t said “Yes Mum”. She cursed herself for her feelings but she just couldn’t help it. He was Max and despite everything, she was falling in love with him all over again.

“So was Tess ok with you coming out?” she asked then. She didn’t know why she opened her mouth and asked except for the fact that she was curious about Max and Tess’s relationship. It was one thing that Max very rarely talked about and Liz hadn’t worked out yet if it was because he liked to keep the special parts of his life private or if it was because things between them weren’t that special at all.

Max frowned. “No not really,” he admitted. “Actually she was downright frosty when I left last night,” he added with a sigh.

“Oh,” Liz replied, “I’m not surprised. She must miss you.”

Max shrugged. He wasn’t sure if that was what it was or not. “I guess,” he said.

“Max tell me if I’m over stepping the boundary here but if Tess doesn’t like you spending so much time here now, what’s going to happen when she finds out that I’m here?” she asked concerned.

Max looked at Liz seriously for a second. “I honestly don’t know.”

Liz nodded and turned her eyes back to the road.

With no traffic on the road they were at Liz’s apartment fairly quickly and she showed Max to the spare room that he would be occupying for the next few days.

Max did his best to lie down and try to get some sleep but he found it just as difficult as on the plane. But now it was because he knew that Liz was sleeping in the room next door.

After twenty minutes, he gave up and decided to check out what Liz had in her kitchen. To his surprise when he headed down the hall Liz’s bedroom door was open and she was lying awake in her bed.

“Couldn’t sleep?” she asked when she saw him.

Max shook his head, “You?” he asked.

“No, not really,” she smiled.

She bit down on her bottom lip as she contemplated her next move. “Want to come in and chat?” she finally asked, lifting her dooner in invitation.

Max grinned. “Sure,” he agreed. Food and his stomach could wait.

Liz moved over and Max crawled into bed beside her. At first, it felt weird but after a few minutes, they were both turned on their side facing each other.

“I’d really miss you from my life if we didn’t have this anymore,” she admitted to him. “You’ve become like another best friend to me in the past couple of months.”

Max smiled, “Me too. I can talk to you about anything and you just seem to understand. The others they don’t understand how unhappy I am in my job in New Mexico.”

“Don’t you ever get sick of living your life for everyone else Max?” Liz asked. He always had the weight of the world on his shoulders and Liz didn’t think it was fair.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I’m only starting to realise how sick of it I am actually,” he confessed.

“If you could do anything and be anywhere in the world where would it be?” Liz asked with a wistful smile.

Max contemplated her question for a while before responding with his well thought out response. “I’m pretty happy right here,” he told her.

Liz rolled her eyes. “What about holidaying in Paris or visiting the northern lights in Sweden?” she questioned.

“I can do those things anytime. But right here, right now I’ve never felt freer. I don’t have to be someone that I’m not with you Liz and you have no idea how freeing that is,” he told her.

“Oh Max,” Liz whispered.

Soon the two of them slipped off into a peaceful sleep. Max lying on his back with Liz’s head resting on his chest.

***

Tess started at the phone and contemplated whether she should pick it up. It was early but she had been unable to sleep. She hadn’t liked how she had left things with Max. She was upset that he had gone rushing back off to New Haven without even a thought about her and she had let him know it when they had gotten home last night. It hadn’t changed anything though.

Finally biting the bullet, she picked up the phone and dialled the number. It rang a few times before it was picked up on the other end.

“Kyle Valenti speaking.”

“Hi Kyle, its Tess,” she replied nervously.

On his end of the phone, Kyle grinned. “Hey Tess how are you?”

Feeling relieved that Kyle seemed happy to hear from her Tess’s nervousness disappeared.

“I’m good thanks, how about you? Settling back into Roswell?” she replied.

“As much as you can,” he rolled his eyes. “I forgot how nosy everyone in this town is.”

Tess giggled. “That’s a small town for you.”

“So what brings you to call me on this fine morning Ms Harding?” he asked then. Not that he wasn’t glad to hear from her, he was just surprised. She was supposed to be dating Evans after all.

“Well I was planning a trip to Roswell today and I was wondering if you might want to catch up for dinner?” she asked.

Tess knew she shouldn’t be doing this. Her actions had been spurred on by Max’s ignorance of her feelings. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure what she was trying to achieve by seeing Kyle again, maybe she just missed having someone who made her the most important person in their life.

“Sure, sounds good,” Kyle said.

“Great, how about Senor Chows at 7?” she asked.

“I’ll be there. See you tonight Tess.”

***

When Liz’s alarm went off just after eight both Max and Liz woke up and felt a little awkward at the position they found themselves in.

“Would you like some breakfast?” Liz asked as she sat up and put some distance between her and Max.

“Yeah that sounds great,” Max agreed and his stomach replied with a growl of its own causing them both to laugh.

“I put some towels and stuff in the bathroom for you so feel free to help yourself to anything,” she smiled as she made her way of the room.

By the time Max showered and changed Liz had just finished making pancakes for the two of them. They immersed themselves in conversation about work whilst they ate, and when finished Max cleaned up while Liz showered and got ready for work. In the end, it was just after 9 when they left Liz’s apartment for the Labs.

No one was surprised when the two walked in together. Most of the staff by now knew that Liz and Max were old friends and that Liz picked up from the airport on the days he flew in.

But today something looked different between the pair. Even Serena seemed to notice it. There was a closeness that hadn’t been there the week before and Serena couldn’t wait to get her best friend alone to grill her about it.

It was lunchtime before Serena got her chance.

She walked into Liz’s office, shut and locked the door behind her before she turned to confront her.

“Hey Sere,” Liz smiled.

“Hey yourself,” she replied. “What’s up?” Serena asked casually.

“Same shit just a different day,” Liz grinned.

Serena rolled her eyes. “I’m not talking about work,” she told her.

“What are you talking about then?” Liz asked actually confused as she tried to follow Serena.

“You and Max,” Serena said pointedly.

Liz sighed. “There’s nothing up with Max and I,” she said looking away.

“I don’t buy that for a second. There is something different about the two of you today, something intimate. Did something happen?” she asked.

Liz bit her bottom lip. “No.”

“But you want something to, don’t you?” Serena guessed then. She could read Liz like a book especially when it came to Max Evans.

“Even if I did it wouldn’t matter because he has a girlfriend, remember?”

“So he says but you and I both know he never talks about her. He doesn’t even carry a picture of her in his wallet,” Serena pointed out.

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Did you tell him about John?” Serena asked then.

Liz shook her head.

Serena sighed in frustration at her friend. “Tell him,” she told her.

Liz might not see it but Serena certainly did. Max was just as gone on Liz as Liz was on him and Serena had promised herself she wasn’t going to get involved. They needed to realise their feelings for each other on their own. That was the fun part after all.

“I’ll see you later ok,” Serena told her as she stood up and exited the office leaving Liz to her thoughts.

[Emz80m]

Thank everyone and sorry for not updating the title on Thurs, didn't realise!

I hope you enjoy the new part

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Fourteen

Tess yawned as she entered her dark apartment. The only light in the room was the red light that was flashing on the answering machine. She had just returned from her trip to Roswell. Dinner with Kyle had been great but now that she was back into the apartment she shared with Max, Tess felt guilty.

What would Max say if he knew she was seeing Kyle, however innocent it was, behind his back? Would it matter if she told him that Kyle was dating? Of course it wouldn’t, especially if he worked out that she was actually jealous about the whole thing. Kyle had made a point of informing Tess about how sought after he had been since returning to his childhood town and much to her annoyance had even dated a few of the girls they had gone to school with.

Turning a light on Tess placed down her bag before walking to the answering machine and hitting play.

“Hi Tess. Just wanted to call and say hi. I know you’re probably lonely by yourself. Michael’s at work tonight so if you want to get dinner call me back.”

Tess smiled as she heard Maria. She wondered then what Maria did to kerb her lonely nights when Michael was working.

“Hi Tess it’s me. Got in early and didn’t want to wake you. Call my mobile when you get this. Love you.”

Her guilt intensified when she heard Max’s voice. He did love her and she knew however confused she was about her feelings for Kyle at the moment, she did love Max too, and he was the one that she wanted to be with. Wasn’t she only chasing around after Kyle because she was lonely and felt like her relationship with Max might not be going anywhere?

Looking at the clock Tess realised that it was too late to call him now. She would ring him in the morning and then she would make everything better between them.

***

Liz knew she was a chicken and Serena would tell her she was too. It was Wednesday and Max’s last night in New Haven and Liz still hadn’t told him about breaking up with John. It wasn’t like it was a big deal. She hadn’t broken up with John because of Max or anything. The relationship had simply run its course.

“Hey,” Max’s voice startled her out of her thoughts. “I’m all finished up here and ready to leave whenever you are,” he informed her.

Liz turned and smiled. “Thanks heaps for all your hard work the past three days. We would be so far behind if you hadn’t come out.”

Max grinned. “No problem. Besides I loved the chance to get in the lab and get my hands dirty.”

“Well you could do more of it if you agreed to move here full time?” Liz asked hopefully.

“I know,” he replied. Max really wanted to but it wasn’t just him that he had to consider.

Liz nodded in understanding.

“Anyway I’m ready to go too. What do you want to do for dinner?” she asked.

“Not fussed,” Max shrugged.

“Well we could go out or order in?” she suggested as they made their way out of the office and towards the car park. Liz didn’t feel like cooking tonight, instead she planned to enjoy Max’s company on his final night.

“Let’s stay in,” Max told her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, a familiar move that had developed between them in the past few weeks.

“Is Serena joining us tonight?” he asked then.

“I don’t think so. She mentioned something about a date,” Liz frowned.

“Oh that’s right. The hottie from the music store,” Max chuckled. Serena had been asking his advice on where to find a guy like him. He wasn’t sure where she got the idea a music store guy might be it.

“Poor thing. She’s worried that if she doesn’t find Mr Right soon that she never will,” Liz told him.

“She’s young. We’ve all got plenty of time,” he smiled at Liz.

“Exactly,” Liz agreed. Liz took a deep breath then, now seemed like the perfect time to come clean about the break up. “Which is why I decided to cut my losses with John,” she blurted out.

Shocked by her words Max turned in his seat to look at her. “What?” he asked.

“I broke things off with John,” she shrugged. “It had run its course,” she added.

“Are you ok?” Max asked worried.

Liz rolled her eyes at Max’s concern. “Max he was a weekend fling. I knew it wasn’t ever going to be anything more.”

“Just as long as he didn’t hurt you.”

“The only way he could have hurt me was if he’d managed to ruin things between us,” she admitted.

“Never happen,” Max smiled at her.

“Good,” Liz agreed before turning her eyes back to the road and driving them home safely.

They were halfway back to the apartment when Max’s cell rang. He looked at the called ID and when he saw it was Tess he gestured for Liz to be quiet as he answered. It was second nature to Max now to hide Liz from everyone and sometimes he thought he had begun to like it because it meant he got her all to himself.

“Hey.”

“Hey babe,” she replied. “How was your day?” she asked him.

They had talked the night before. Well Tess had talked for almost a half an hour. She felt bad about the way they had left things and wanted to make sure that they were ok.

“Good, you?” he asked.

“Same,” she replied. “I miss you,” she told him then. “I can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

“I know,” he said. She had been honest the night before about how much she hated him going away which made Max feel even guiltier because he loved it. Max knew that she wanted him to tell her he would stop but he couldn’t bring himself to do that.

“Maybe we could go away this weekend? Spend some alone time before you have to go again,” she suggested.

“That sounds nice,” he agreed. It had been a while since they had spent some tome together. Maybe that was what his problem was. He was spending more time with Liz then his own girlfriend.

“Ok well I’ll think about where we can go and I’ll talk to you about it tomorrow,” she said excitedly.

“Ok. See you tomorrow,” Max agreed.

“Love you Max,” she said then.

Max felt awkward replying when Liz was in the car but did so anyway. “Me too. Bye.”

***

Liz giggled again at another funny part in the movie they were watching and Max felt his grin widen at her cute little laugh.

They were sprawled out in Liz’s living room with various snacks and pizza boxes in front of them as they watched Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughan in the Wedding Crashers.

“I love this movie,” Liz told him.

“It’s pretty funny,” Max agreed.

Next to him, Liz was wearing a pair of sweat pants and a little stomach bearing tank top that kept riding up as she reached for snacks. Max was finding it increasingly hard to concentrate on the movie and not on Liz.

Oblivious to Max’s own battle Liz was having one of her own. Having Max so close to her was driving Liz crazy. He would accidentally brush up against her skin when reaching for a snack making her skin tingle, at one stage Liz actually felt her powers react to his touch.

Unable to sit still a second longer Liz jumper to her feet. “Want another soda?” she asked.

“Yeah thanks,” Max agreed.

He watched Liz’s every move as she walked to the fridge and got two cans of coke before returning. Liz felt his stare and smiled when she sat down next to him on her couch.

“Here you go,” she handed it too him.

When the movie was ended they both reluctantly hopped up and packed away their snacks and food. That was how they found themselves standing in the kitchen staring at each other.

“I guess we should get to bed,” Liz said quietly.

“Yeah probably,” Max agreed.

“Just in case I forget in the morning, I’ve really enjoyed having you here,” Liz told him.

Max smiled. “Thanks for having me. I’ve enjoyed being here too,” he replied.

They continued to stare at each other again then until Liz couldn’t take the tension a second longer. Instead, she stepped forward, rose on her tippy toes and gently kissed Max’s cheek.

“Night Max,” she whispered.

As she went to pull away, Max’s arms circled her waist and pulled her against his body in a hug.

Liz’s arms circled around his neck and sighed as she hugged him back. Her body felt like it was on fire being this close to Max and she guessed that this was what years of sexual frustration over someone did to you.

Max knew that he should release her but his body wasn’t cooperating and when Liz pulled back their eyes locked and before either knew what was happening their mouths were coming together.

The kiss started slowly, the two of them spending the time to familiarise themselves with taste and the feel of the others lips and mouth but all too soon their tongues were thrusting against each other.

Needing air Max pulled away but his mouth only moved from Liz’s mouth to her ear and down her neck.

Liz’s hands fisted in Max’s dark hair, her mouth open as she sucked in the air and enjoyed the moment that she had waited a very long time to come.

After exploring Liz’s neck Max quickly returned his mouth to Liz’s as he turned their bodies around so that Liz was leaning against the bench off the kitchen. They continued their hungry kisses for close to ten minutes before they finally pulled apart.

“Oh God,” Max groaned as he took in the sight of Liz’s red lips and ravished face.

Liz just stared not knowing what to say.

Max ran a hand through his dishelmed hair. What was he doing? He asked himself.

“I’m going to bed,” he said. “Night Liz,” he added as he made his way out of the room.

“Max wait,” Liz cried out. How could he just go to bed after what just happened? Shouldn’t they talk about what just happened?

“Liz,” Max whispered back with his back still too her. “Let me go to bed because if you don’t things are going to change…”

“Change how?” Liz found herself asking.

Slowly Max turned around to face her. God she was beautiful.

Liz was startled by the look in his eyes.

“Max…”





TBC... see you Thursday

[Emz80m]

Thanks for your feedback everyone. I actually meant to post a WARNING on the last part but i totally forgot so i'm sorry for that.

Anyway on with the story.

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Fifteen

“Max…”

Max strode towards Liz with a purpose. “Like this,” he whispered just before his mouth closed down on hers all over again.

Liz was unsure where it came from but all of a sudden it was as though a switch had been turned on inside her head and her and Max connected to each other.

Max was also taken back when the connection sprang to life. It had never happened to him before accept when Tess had mind warped him when she had first arrived in Roswell. But this was different. He had never liked the way the mind warp had made him feel but this was something completely different. It was as though he could see inside Liz’s soul and she could see inside of his.

Flash

Max, Michael and Isabel walking naked through the dessert.

Flash

Max seeing Liz for the first time when he got off the school bus.

Flash

Max seeing Liz at Cellcon for the first time in seven years.

Flash

Liz watching Max at various times after he saved her

Flash

Liz meeting Serena.

Flash

Liz seeing Max when he walked out of the airport earlier that week

“What was that?” Liz panted.

“Flashes. I think we connected,” Max replied distractedly before fusing their mouths together again. There would be plenty of time later to analyse what the flashes were or meant.

Liz wrapped her arms around his neck again and Max reached down, cupped Liz’s butt in his hands, and lifted her up his body until she could wrap her legs around his waist.

They continued to kiss as Max carried Liz towards her bedroom. Once inside he let go of Liz and allowed her to slide down his body, but their hands stayed on each other’s bodies and they continued to kiss as Max walked them backwards until they were against Liz’s bed.

Liz’s small hands moved to the hem of Max’s shirt and boldly she began to pull it up. Max pulled back from Liz long enough to pull it over his head revealing his ripped body to her. Liz’s hands quickly went to work exploring him.

“God Liz,” Max groaned as her hands wreaked havoc on him.

Max’s own hands moved to Liz’s tank top then and he quickly ripped it up her body before he pushed her sweats down her hips until they pooled around her feet.

“You are so beautiful,” Max murmured as he took in Liz’s almost naked body. The only thing that was left on her body was a small thong.

Liz pushed Max’s sweats down his hips too and then she crawled onto her bed and pulled Max down on top of her.

Max took Liz’s mouth again as he lay down on top of her body. Liz moaned when their naked chests came together and Max reached down, cupped a breast in his hand massaging it until Liz’s nipple was hard as a bullet. He turned his attention to the other breast after that, as he began to trail kisses down her throat until he was hovering over her chest.

He looked at Liz once more, her head thrown back, her eyes closed, before he took a rosy nipple into his mouth.

“Oh Max,” Liz cried as he worshipped her breasts.

After her breasts, Max continued to kiss down Liz’s toned flat stomach stopping to pay attention to her belly button. He swirled his tongue around it a few times before thrusting his tongue inside. Then he continued to kiss down until he reached the top of Liz’s panties.

Liz's hips rose off the bed inviting Max to remove the final barrier she wore and Max eagerly complied, hooking his fingers into the sides and pulling them down her body. His eyes widened when he realised that Liz was hairless.

He ran his hand over her mound experimentally and sure enough, she was soft as a baby’s bottom. He didn’t remember being so turned on by something in his whole life. His cock hardened even more than it already was, if possible.

Liz opened her legs shyly revealing herself to Max and he settled in between her legs and looked his fill of her before he moved forward to take his first taste of her. Max lapped at her opening where her juices were pooling and groaned at the spicy taste. Not only did she look and smell good she also tasted good.

“Oh God Max,” Liz cried at the first touch of his tongue against her.

Max rubbed Liz’s thighs to try to get her to relax as he thrust his tongue inside of her. Liz’s hands fisted in Max’s hair pushing him against her harder, forcing his tongue further inside of her. Soon it wasn’t enough so he added two fingers and gently thrust them in and out of Liz while his mouth moved over her clit, teasing it with his tongue.

“Oh God Max I’m coming, yes, yes, yes!” Liz cried out as her orgasm washed over her. Her juices flowed from her body and into Max’s waiting and hungry mouth.

Max grinned as he made his way up Liz’s body. Her face was flushed from her orgasm and Max thought she had never looked more beautiful than she did right that second.

Opening her eyes Liz smiled when she saw Max’s grinning face. Their mouths sought each other out as Max’s body covers Liz’s again.

Reaching between them Liz took his engorged member into her hand and stroked it gently as she relished in its length and girth. Covering the head with her hand, she felt the pre-cum already leaking out and spread it all over Max’s cock as she stroked him.

“Are you sure about this?” she whispered in his ear. Liz knew that they were in completely different situations at that very moment. She was single, unattached emotionally and physically, and Max was most definetely none of those things.

Max kissed her face and her mouth gently. “Yes,” he replied in a whisper. He couldn’t stop what they were about to do even if he wanted to, he was definitely too far gone.

Liz led his cock to her opening then and Max gently eased inside of her.

“Oh God Max,” Liz cried out. She had never felt so complete in her whole life and she knew later it would scare the shit out of her, but all she could so right then was feel.

“You feel so good Liz,” Max voiced her very thoughts. “So good.”

Max pulled back until only the tip of his cock was left inside of Liz before he thrust back in. He started a slow but hard pace building them both up until they couldn’t stand it a second longer.

“Faster Max,” Liz pleaded. “Harder.”

“Yes Liz,” Max groaned complying to her words and a few thrusts later he felt Liz’s walls tighten around his cock, “Fuck,” he hissed. “You’re so tight,” he whispered huskily.

“Oh yes…ahh MAX!” Liz screamed as she came.

With a few more thrusts, Max shot his seed deep inside of Liz with a feral cry of his own. “LIZ!”

Exhausted they collapsed on the bed together, their bodies entangled. They didn’t speak they just held each other until they both fell asleep.

***

Max woke when the morning sun began to peak through Liz’s bedroom window. In their haste last night, they hadn’t thought to close the blinds. He looked down at the beautiful woman asleep on his chest and his thoughts turned to their actions the night before.

Deep down Max knew that he and Liz had been on the path to last night for quite some time. Definetely for as long as they had been back in contact and working together, maybe even before that when they were in high school together.

He watched her as she slept. She had a small smile on her face and he assumed that she was having nice dreams, which he was glad about. He wasn’t sure how she was going to react when she woke up, would she regret last night? Would she think he regretted last night? Hell Max wasn’t sure if he did or didn’t. He knew that in a few hours he was supposed to get up and fly home to Tess and his life there and that he had just betrayed his girlfriend of five years. He also knew that Tess didn’t deserve it. He felt like scum for what he had done to Tess.

The best way to describe how he felt was that he was a man living two lives. One life he had a steady girlfriend whom he used to be so sure he was in love with, great friends and family, but a job that he wasn’t happy or fulfilled in, which made the rest of his life seem ordinary. Then there was New Haven Max who loved every second of his job, had found the woman he once was sure was the love of his life, and who he had found another best friend in. His problem though was that he wasn’t sure which life he wanted to be living anymore.

Max cast a glance at the clock then and realised that they would have to get up soon if he wanted to be at the airport in time for his flight.

He knew that there was no way that he could get on a flight and return to Las Cruses until the following week, without talking through what happened last night with Liz. So as careful as he could and so that he didn’t wake Liz, he extracted himself from the bed and made his way into the kitchen to use the phone.

Back in the bedroom, Liz slowly began to stir and when her eyes finally opened, instead of seeing Max, she saw the empty side of the bed.

She listened carefully to the sounds of her apartment for a running shower or movement but when she heard nothing, she feels tears fill her eyes. She couldn’t believe that Max would actually leave without saying something to her about what happened between them the night before. Just when Liz was about to completely break out into sobs, Max, still naked, quietly crept back into the bedroom. He stopped abruptly when he saw Liz awake and sitting up with a sheet covering her body. He instantly noticed the tears in her eyes and he felt bad.

Max made his way back to the bed and took his place back at Liz’s side.

“Hi,” Liz whispered unsurely.

“Hi,” Max replied.

Max reached over and pushed a strand of hair that was in her face out of the way.

“Have you been up long?” Liz asked.

“Not that long,” Max told her.

Awkwardly Liz nodded before she turned to see the alarm clock on her bedside table.

“Your flight,” Liz reminded him.

“I just changed it,” Max admitted.

Liz’s eyes widened in surprise. “Come here,” Max gestured as he reached out and pulled Liz down onto his chest again.

“I got a later flight,” he explained.

Liz sighed, “Good,” she replied. She wasn’t ready for him to leave her bed, apartment or her life quite yet.

“About last night….” Max starts.

Liz looked up at him and waited for him to continue. “It’s a mistake?” she guessed when he didn’t immediately continue.

“No,” Max said. “It wasn’t. It was beautiful,” he admitted.

“But you’re with Tess,” Liz sighed.

“Yeah.”

“Does that really change anything?’ Liz asked then. “I mean this is what it is so maybe we should enjoy it while it lasts?” she suggested then.

Max’s eyes widened in surprise. “You think we should continue this?” he clarified.

Liz nodded. “We’ve already crossed the line,” Liz explained. “I know you’re with Tess and you have a life in Las Cruses but maybe when you’re here in New Haven this could be part of your life? I could be part of your life”

Liz knew what she was doing was idiotic. She could demand that Max break up with Tess and choose her but she didn’t see the point. She wanted to be with Max and she would take him in any way that she could, even if that meant an affair that they would have to keep a secret from everyone.

“God Liz,” Max finally spoke, his voice conveying his confusion. This was not what he had expected from Liz at all. Was she really suggesting that they have an affair? “Is this really what you want?” he asked.

“I want you,” Liz shrugged. “If it has to be in a casual context then I’m willing to take that.”

Max closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know,” he admitted.

Nodding, Liz smiled as she sat back up. This time she didn’t worry about hiding her nudity from Max and her smile widened when she noticed that Max’s eyes were glued to her breasts.

“Think about it,” she suggested. “Let me know,” she added.

“Ok,” Max replied still in shock at what Liz suggested.

“Would you like some breakfast?’ Liz asked then.

“Sure,” Max smiled.

He watched as Liz covered her nudity with a satin robe. “Help yourself to anything in the bathroom. There are towels in the cupboard,” she explained. “I’ll go and start breakfast.”

Max watched as she walked from the bedroom and when she was gone, he closed his eyes. What the hell was he going to do now?

[Emz80m]

Sixteen

It wasn’t until Max was on his flight back to New Mexico when the enormity of the situation hit Liz. She pulled her car off to the side of the road as she broke into sobs. The night before with Max had been every dream come true for Liz. Even though they made love several times through the night, Liz had expected to hear from Max that morning that he thought the whole thing was a mistake. So she had gone with the casual approach that morning as a last wall of defence against Max, and her ever growing feelings for him.

Liz almost scoffed when she thought back to the conversation and her suggestion that they should carry on an affair. She didn’t believe for a second that Max would actually take her up on the offer. Liz knew that she had changed a lot from the girl that Max had known in Roswell, Liz loved the person she was now, but suggesting affairs wasn’t a normal occurrence for her.

Liz suspected that he was already rehearsing his speech to Tess in which he would tell her the truth about what had happened, not only breaking his promise about revealing her whereabouts, but also putting an end to his travelling to New Haven. Liz knew that if she was Tess, there was no way she would allow Max to return.

Liz also had no doubt that Tess would forgive Max for his betrayal. It was just the sort of person Tess was. She wouldn’t care if Max told her he didn’t love her she would still want to be with him because she was told it was her right and Max, well he was too nice of a guy to hurt anyone which is why she wasn’t sure where she would be left after the truth was revealed.

Liz’s sobs were interrupted by her ringing cell. A quick check of the caller ID revealed it was Serena calling.

“Hello?” she answered.

“Hey,” Serena greeted. “Where are you? I thought you’d be back from taking Max to the airport hours ago,” she said.

“Um yeah, Max ended up getting a later flight,” she explained doing her best to keep her voice from wavering. She didn’t need Serena to work out that she was crying or she would never let it go until Liz told her what was wrong, something that Liz was not prepared to do. Best friend or not Liz was not ready to tell Serena about her night with Max.

“Oh ok,” Serena replied seemingly happy with Liz’s response.

“I’m on my way back now,” Liz added.

“Ok then see you soon.”

“Yeah soon, bye Sere,” Liz said before hanging up the phone.

She dried her eyes and did her best to compose herself before pulling her SUV back onto the road.

***

On the plane, Max closed his eyes and did his best to drown out the sounds of the mother and child sitting next to him.

He was so confused that he wasn’t sure if he was coming or going in that second. He hadn’t wanted to leave New Haven or Liz, especially after their night together. It had been a reality check to him about his real feelings for Liz. He was still as in love with her today as he had been when he was seventeen. Only this time they had both acted on their feelings. But at the same time he felt the urge to flee from Liz and return to his safe haven, return to Tess.

An inner war waged itself inside him then about what to do about Tess. Should he tell her the truth, and reveal Liz’s identity? He knew she would be devastated and angry at his betrayal and lies but he also thought if he was truthful to her that she would forgive him. He also knew that coming clean would mean the end of any type of relationship with Liz. Tess wouldn’t stand for any further contact and he would owe it to her to stay away after what he had done to her.

What had surprised Max the most though was Liz’s suggestion that they continue with their affair. He was surprised because it didn’t seem like the type of thing Liz would normally do. He hated the fact that the idea appealed to him. He was a coward really; he wasn’t ready to deal with his feelings for Liz and Tess. He wasn’t ready to make a choice and in some ways, Liz had made it easy on him by agreeing to be the other woman in the equation. Max knew it wouldn’t last forever but it was becoming more and more appealing to at least take the chance while it was being offered, because he might never get the chance to be with Liz again.

Max knew there wasn’t an easy answer and it plagued him the entire flight back to New Mexico.

***

Serena cast a second glance at her best friend as she picked at the salad sandwich in front of her. Liz had been extremely quiet since arriving at work late that morning. Serena wanted to ask her what was wrong but she got the impression that whatever it was Liz wasn’t ready to talk about it.

“So how come Max got a later flight?” she enquired.

“Liz?” Serena questioned when Liz failed to reply and even acknowledge that Serena had spoken to her in the first place.

Liz looked up seemingly surprised that Serena had spoken and she hadn’t heard her. “Huh?” she asked.

“You ok?” Serena found herself asking despite her earlier decision to leave Liz be.

“Yeah just tired,” Liz played off.

Serena nodded, “I was just wondering why Max took a later flight? Did something happen?”

“Um no he just overslept,” Liz lied.

“Oh ok,” Serena nodded.

Liz went back to studying her sandwich, occasionally placing small bits of it in her mouth but she wasn’t really hungry. She was distracted, her thoughts full of Max.

“So what have you got planned for the weekend?” Serena asked.

“Oh nothing really.”

“How about we go shopping? I saw these great boots the other night that I just have to have.”

Liz offered the best smile she could muster. “Sounds good.”

***

Tess squealed when she entered the apartment and found Max lounging on the sofa.

“You’re home,” she cried throwing herself at him and kissing his face all over.

Max chuckled and gently pushed her away.

“Hi,” she grinned.

“Hi,” he replied.

“I’m so happy you’re home,” she told him, “and I’m so excited about the weekend,” she added.

Max frowned. “The weekend?” he asked.

“Yeah remember I said I was going to make plans for us to get away, alone?” she reminded him.

“Oh.”

“So I booked us a room at this great little bed and breakfast, you’re going to love it. There’s a spa and a king size bed,” she explained as she began to kiss him all over again.

Max closed his eyes. A weekend together meant only one thing, sex. His guilt grew.

***

Liz loved her best friend but she had never been more grateful for night time to come so that she could escape her. It was hard to pretend that everything was all right when Serena knew her well enough to know that it wasn’t.

So she went home, alone, to her apartment and ordered Thai takeaway. After that she put on The Notebook and cried through it like she did every time she watched it. It was her usual ritual when she felt down or sad, usually after the end of a short relationship, normally though she would call Serena who would come over and make her feel better. Tonight though she remained alone.

Her phone rang for the second time that night, and assuming it was either Serena or her parents she allowed the answering machine to pick it up, not in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment.

“You’ve reached Liz, leave me a message.”

There was no answer for a few minutes but then he began to speak.

“Liz, are you there?” he asked hesitantly.

Liz reached for the cordless on the coffee table in front of her.

“Hey,” she spoke into it.

“Hey,” Max replied.

Max had waited until Tess had hopped into the shower before picking up his cell to call Liz.

“How are you?” He asked feeling slightly awkward.

“I’m okay, you? How was your flight?”

“I’m ok, and the flight was long as usual. I got stuck next to a mother and a child who did nothing but fidget the whole flight,” he explained.

“That sucks,” Liz replied.

Max laughed, “Yeah it did.”

An awkward silence fell between them again for a few seconds before Liz finally spoke, "Forget about it,” she blurted out. “I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

“No, it didn’t,” Max quickly assured her. “I was surprised though.”

“Yeah…”

In the background, Max heard the shower stop and he knew he had to wrap up the call with Liz. It wasn’t long enough but it would have to do for now.

“I just wanted to call and…. I guess I just wanted to talk to you,” Max admitted.

On her end, Liz smiled her first real smile since waking up that morning. “I’m glad,” she said.

“I’ve got to go but I’ll call you tomorrow ok?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “Night Max.”

Liz was disappointed when the phone went dead but she was still smiling. It may have been a baby step but she would take what she could get.

***

After the phone call with Liz, Max turned his concentrations to Tess. He knew the second she had walked through the door that afternoon that he wasn’t going to tell her about Liz. He knew he couldn’t for two reasons.

One, because he wasn’t ready to let the idea of he and Liz being something more than friends, go and;

Two, because he also knew that he wasn’t convinced that Tess really was the woman that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Those two things, although they didn’t make it right, made Max realise that he had to take a chance and see where it took him.

He spent the weekend with Tess and it was the first time that he had felt close to her in a long time. Tess was certainly right that they needed to spend some time together; it had been too long since they had spent any quality time together. It made him feel guiltier but as soon as he saw Liz’s face the following Monday morning waiting for him at the airport any regret he had been feeling instantly disappeared.

Max made his way to her confidently. He could tell from the way that Liz was standing that she was a little unsure about seeing him again.

No words were spoken between them as Max took her small body into his arms and hugged her tightly to his body.

“Hey,” he whispered against her hair as he breathed in the scent of strawberries.

“Hey,” she replied.

They stood in the airport hugging for a few minutes before they reluctantly pulled apart and made their way through the terminal and towards Liz’s SUV.

As usual Max loaded his bag into the back before walking around to Liz’s door and opening it for her, only this time instead of closing it behind her he couldn’t resist leaning and kissing her rosy lips gently. A move that clearly surprised Liz.

“I’m sorry, too public?” Max whispered when he saw the look on her face.

“What? No,” Liz denied, “I just… what does this mean?” she asked.

Max smiled as he scratched his eyebrow nervously. “I just, do you think we could just take things slow and see where they lead us?” he asked.

Smiling, Liz nodded.

She could do slow, but she didn’t need to wait to see where things would go, Liz already knew that things with her and Max would go further than either were probably ready for.

[Emz80m]

Thanks everyone, enjoy the new part

Seventeen

2 Months Later

It almost scared Max how easy it was to be with Liz. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to hold her hand as they walked through the park, or to lean over and kiss her as they sat on the couch watching TV. If anything Max actually found it harder to hide what was going on between them from the rest of the world.

He had almost gotten to a point that he now felt like two different people living two different lives. The only thing he needed to do to completely separate New Haven Max and Las Cruses Max was to change his name in one place.

It didn’t mean that he didn’t feel guilty about what he was doing every time he would return from a trip to New Haven to see Tess waiting for him, happy to have him home after missing him. It was especially hard to keep up the pretence that she was the only person in his life that he was sharing his heart and body with.

It was one of the things Max was contemplating as he leaned against the hood of his 4WD out the front of the rock formation that held the alien pods. He had gone for a drive to escape Tess and one of her not so good days. Max wondered if Liz had moody days like that. It was one of the things he had yet to see during their time together.

Max turned and looked into the distance as he heard a car approaching him. He wondered who would know to find him out there. He hadn’t mentioned to Tess when he had fled the house where he was going.

He continued to watch as Alex’s car pulled up and he slowly got out of the car and approached Max.

“Hey,” Alex greeted as he got closer.

“Hey,” Max nodded. Apart from the group dinners they shared on Sundays, Max hadn’t really talked to Alex much since their conversation about Liz.

“You looking for me?” Max asked curiously.

“Yeah I was.”

“How did you know to find me here?” Max asked surprised.

“I rang the house and Tess said you’d gone for a drive. Isabel told me to try here,” he replied as he stood in front of Max and began to kick imaginary rocks with his foot.

Max smiled, he should have known that Isabel would be able to track him down wherever he was. “What’s up?” he asked.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about Liz since our conversation a few months back,” he admits.

Max nodded in understanding. He knew he had brought up a lot of memories for Alex and he would have been more surprised if he had just been able to bury it.

“I always thought I had made my peace with how things were left between us but you’ve just made me realise that I’m not, I’m not at all,” he continued.

Max remained silent, knowing that Alex didn’t require him to speak, just to listen.

“Isabel tried to talk to me about it before the wedding,” he told Max. “She thought I should send her an invitation through her parents and let her decide whether she wanted to come. I thought about it, even talked to Maria about it but in the end I decided not too. I regret that now, more than I can even put into words.”

“We all have regrets Alex,” Max finally spoke and admitted. “We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t. None of us are perfect and we make mistakes that we wish we could take back. You still have the chance to make things better though.”

“You think?” Alex asks.

Alex Whitman was a smart guy and after years of being friends with Maria and Liz, he was fairly sure that there wasn’t much a person could put past him, unless they were indeed a good liar, which Max wasn’t, and Alex knew two things. One, Max Evans had changed in the past six months, and two, he knew that the change had something to do with Liz Parker.

“Yeah I do,” Max smiled.

Alex nodded and stared out into the dessert for a few minutes as he contemplated Max’s words.

“So I think I’m going to get in contact with Liz.” he finally spoke.

Max smiled and nodded. “I’m glad Alex.”

This time Alex smiled too. “Me too.” He nodded, “Maria isn’t very happy with me but I’m sure she’ll get over it,” he added.

Max frowned. Why would Maria be unhappy about Alex making an effort to fix things with Liz?

“She’s just scared Max,” Alex smiled sadly when he saw the frown on Max’s face. “Despite what you might think it wasn’t easy for us to loose Liz from our lives but we had each other to get through it. She’s scared that if I get in contact with Liz that she’ll loose me.”

It sounded stupid to Max.

“You have to do what you think is right,” Max told him.

“I am, which is why next time I go to Roswell I’m going to go and get her contact details from her parents,” he informed Max.

They stood in silence then for a while before Alex took a step towards his car. “Thanks for listening Max, I’ll leave you alone now,” he smiled.

“It’s cool Alex.”

Alex made his way back to his car then but stopped before getting into the drivers side, “Max?” he called out.

Max turned his attention back to Alex. “Yeah?”

“Do me a favour?” he asked.

Max nods.

“Don’t tell Liz, I want to tell her myself,” he smiled ruefully.

“Wh-hat?” Max asked nervously.

Alex chuckled. “It’s ok Max. Your secrets safe with me,” he assured him before he got into the car and drove away.

***

Tess’s frown deepened as she stared out the window of the apartment into the empty space that Max’s car was usually parked in.

He was gone again. Gone for a drive or something like that. It had become one of his favourite past times recently and Tess was beginning to get suspicious.

Max had changed. It was a fact that no one could deny any longer, her most of all. It wasn’t as though the changes were massive, mainly subtle but as the closest person his life she noticed them and they were beginning to worry her.

It wasn’t just the drives. His hours had increased at the office; his moods had increased after his return from New Haven. But most importantly she felt as though he was pulling away from her. It wasn’t so much a physical thing as it was an emotional thing and no matter what she did she wasn’t able to bridge the gap.

It also didn’t help that she felt like she was living with guilt on her shoulders about being in contact with Kyle. It was completely innocent and she hadn’t seen him in months but she felt guilty for not sharing it with Max. Tess could admit that in some ways she had harboured some feelings for Kyle when she first saw him, but it hadn’t taken long to realise that they were feelings she would never act on because she loved Max. Not only was he the man she knew was her future; he was also the man she was made to be with, her destiny.

With a final sigh she picked up her bag and keys and made her way out of the apartment. They were having dinner at Michael and Maria’s that night and if she didn’t leave then she would end up late. She had already tried calling Max but like usual lately his phone went straight to voice mail.

When she reached the small house that Maria and Michael lived in the door was open and she made her way inside without knocking.

Immediately she heard voices, raised voices from the kitchen and without thought she made her way towards them.

“I can’t believe you’re doing this Alex,” Maria yelled at Alex who was standing across from her.

“I don’t understand what your problem with this is Maria”, Alex replied back just as annoyed as Maria.

“You don’t understand?” Maria huffed. “We made a decision Alex and now you’re going back on it. We promised to stick together and now you’re betraying me,” she cried.

Alex’s eyes widened. “Betraying you? How?” he yelled.

Tess had stopped short from walking in on the conversation between the two best friends, intrigued about what they were arguing about since she had never heard them argue before in all the years she had known them.

“Because I’m telling you not to do this and you’re choosing her,” Maria roared.

“My decision has nothing to do with you. I’m not making you talk to her,” Alex replied more calmly this time.

“You’re bringing her back into our lives. Does Max know? Because I’m sure he’ll tell you the same thing I am Alex, Don’t. There is no reason for Liz Parker to be involved in our lives,” she continued to argue.

Tess’s eyes widened at the mention of Liz Parker. It was a name she hadn’t heard uttered by the group in years.

“Actually yes Max does know and he thinks I’m doing the right thing Maria.” Alex replied somewhat smugly. “Because unlike you, Max also feels bad about the way things were left with Liz.”

Tess covered her mouth to prevent the gasp that almost left it. Had Alex been talking to Max about Liz? Tess didn’t think Max had thought about Liz Parker in years, or so she thought.

“Max is the one that wanted Liz to be safe, he’s the one that pushed her away and excluded her from the group,” Maria replied.

“Open your eyes Maria. Max never told us to stop being her friends, we did that all on our own,” Alex told her.

Maria had laid the blame over her loss of friendship of Liz on Max for too long now, and for most of that time Alex had allowed her but he wouldn’t any longer.

“I can’t support this Alex,” Maria said then with finality. “It’s not fair of you to do this,” she added.

“I’m not asking you too. I’m just telling you that I am going to do it Maria no matter what you say.”

“Well I guess there isn’t very much else to say on the matter then is there?” Maris snapped.

“No I guess not,” Alex replied sadly.

Tess waited until silence was all that could be heard coming from the kitchen before entering.

Inside, Maria had her back to the door and from the shaking of her shoulders Tess could tell that she was crying.

Tess hesitated in speaking up or moving forward to comfort Maria and was saved when Michael entered the kitchen and with a smile in her direction went to Maria.

***

Tess watched Max as he got ready for bed that night.

Dinner had been awkward at Michael and Maria’s. The tension between Alex and Maria had been obvious to everyone and Max had shown up late and had barely participated in any of the conversation. Maria’s eyes shot daggers at him all night and Isabel kept trying to play peach maker.

“Max?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you tell Alex that he should get in contact with Liz Parker?” she asked.

Max stopped and stared at Tess. “Where did you hear that?” he asked.

“I heard Maria and Alex arguing about it tonight. He wants to get in contact with her and Maria doesn’t,” she replied.

Max pulled a shirt over his head. “Alex told me he was thinking about it and I told him that he should. He really regrets the way things were left with her,” Max replied honestly.

Tess frowned. “But aren’t you the one who said it wasn’t safe for Liz to be around us?” she asked.

It was Max’s turn to frown. “No,” he replied. “After I healed Liz I said it wasn’t safe for us to be a couple,” he clarified. “There is no reason for Liz not to be in our lives. She’s proved that she’s more than trust worthy and there has been no one watching us and no reason to believe that Liz would bring attention to us.”

“But…”

“There are not buts Tess,” Max snapped. “Liz used to be our friend. She was Alex and Maria’s best friend and we just excluded her out of our lives. Alex and I find it a little harder to deal with than Maria. Its Alex’s choice whether he wants to get in contact with Liz,” Max continued over the top of Tess.

“What about you? Are you going to get in contact with her too?” she asked.

Max sighed. He was getting a first hand show on how Tess would react if she found out about Liz being back in his life and she was reacting exactly how he anticipated.

“I’m tired,” he yawned. “Let’s just talk about this later,” he said as he slipped into bed and turned his back on Tess.

Tess frowned as she watched Max avoid the subject of Liz. Something wasn’t right here, or with this Liz situation but she just couldn’t put her finger on it.

[Emz80m]

Hi everyone,

Thanks to all of you for your feedback, I hope you enjoy this new part

Eighteen

Max grinned as he spotted her waiting for him in the usual spot and he sped up his pace to get to her quicker.

Liz’s face lit up when she caught sight of him approaching her; this was the best time of any week for her now. The day Max arrived and the three days following that she got to spend with him.

Max dropped his bag and took her swiftly into his arms, pulling her up his body until she was face to face with him and he could kiss her. He wasn’t at all worried about kissing her so openly. He had long come to the conclusion that no one knew them when they were there.

“Hey,” he whispered when they pulled back.

“Hey back,” Liz replied as she slipped back down his body to the ground.

Hand in hand they walked to Liz’s car. “How was your flight?” she asked.

“Good. I slept most of the way,” Max smiled.

He had spent the first part of the ride contemplating being honest with Liz and telling her about his conversation with Alex but he had decided not to in the end. He didn’t want her to be disappointed if Alex changed his mind for some reason.

“So what’s on for the week?” he asked as they started the drive to the office.

“Actually Eddie wants to have a meeting with both of us today,” she informed him.

“Yeah what about?” Max asked curiously.

“He hasn’t really said,” she replied as she bit down on her bottom lip.

The truth was Liz did have a pretty good idea what it was about. Only the previous Friday had she been informed that Eddie had been given a promotion which would make him head of Cellcon New Haven, so Liz was being offered Eddie’s position as head of research which was a massive achievement for her age. So Liz assumed that two things were about to take place as a result of the offer, which she had been asked to keep confidential. That was that someone was being offered her job, and that it would follow all the way down.

Max also suspected he knew too. Eddie was going to put the pressure on about moving to New Haven permanently.

Max took Liz’s hand over the gear stick as they drove and he thought about what he would do if he was asked to make a decision. In his heart and his mind, he knew that the time was approaching but he still hadn’t reconciled with both of them what he was going to do yet.

“I missed you,” Liz admitted when they pull up at Cellcon.

“Me too,” Max replied

“Serena has been getting suspicious lately,” she sighed

“Do you want to tell her?” he asked not at all worried if she chose too. Max knew it must be hard for her to be doing what they were and not having any one to talk to about it.

“Maybe. I don’t think she’ll approve,” she admitted and she didn’t want to be on the outs with her best friend over her and Max.

Serena had been urging her to get back out in the dating game lately, convinced that it’s what Liz needed to get over her feelings for Max. Either that or she believed Liz should just tell Max the truth. Liz had kept up the pretence that telling Max wasn’t an option, and that she just wasn’t ready to jump back into the dating game.

“Well I don’t mind if you want to,” he smiled and kissed her hand.

“Have you told Michael?” she asked curiously.

“No,” Max shook his head, “but I think Alex might suspect that I’m back in contact with you,” he admitted

“Oh,” Liz says surprised.

“It’s ok. He won’t say anything,” Max smiled.

Reluctantly they separated their hands and make their way into the office. Serena was waiting in Liz’s office with her usual Monday morning breakfast and a hug for Max when they arrived.

“It’s not the same around here when you’re not here Evans,” she told him.

Max smiled at Serena, “Thanks.”

Serena sighed and looked at the clock. “I have to go I have a meeting with Eddie,” she informed them.

“Ok, we’ll see you at lunch,” Liz bid her goodbye.

Once alone the two gravitated towards each other and enjoyed a few minutes of languid kisses and hugs before Max headed to his desk.

A few hours later though Max and Liz were back together again but this time they were seated across from Eddie in his office.

“So I guess you’re wondering why I wanted this meeting Max?” Eddie started.

“Kind of,” Max nodded.

“Right, well basically I’ve been promoted,” he grinned.

“That’s great. What too?” Max asked.

“Head of Cellcon New Haven.”

“Wow,” Max’s eyes widened.

“Which means that Liz is going to be the head of research division,” he added.

Max turned to Liz then. “Are you kidding?” he asked.

Liz grinned and shook her head. “Congratulations, both of you,” he said when he found his voice again.

“I’ve just finished meeting with Serena where I offered her Liz’s job, Max,” he informed him then.

Liz’s grin grew at the added news, ecstatic that her best friend was being promoted.

“So I want to offer you Serena’s job, Max,” Eddie added.

“Me?”

“Yes you. I’ve heard nothing but good things about your work in the lab from both Liz and Serena. You’re the man for the job if you want it,” he replied.

The only way to describe the way Max felt was shock. He had never dreamed he would be offered his dream job, and so quickly.

“When would it start?” he asked.

Liz held her breath as she waited for Max to respond and could barely hide her smile when he asked a positive question rather than saying no straight away to the job.

“I don’t take my place for a few months,” he informed them. “The other positions will take effect at the same time but training would be required before hand.”

Max guess that to be roughly three months.

“You don’t have to make a decision on the spot Max. The job is yours until you tell me officially that you don’t want it,” Eddie informed him.

“Thank you,” Max nodded.

After the meeting, Max was quiet as he contemplated the meeting and news from Eddie.

“Say something,” Liz’s requested once they were in the safety of her office and away from eyes.

“I’m in shock,” he replied honestly.

“Ok,” she conceded, she didn’t want to push him on the matter right away.

“But congratulations Liz, I’m so proud of you,” he told her as he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly.

“I want to take both you and Serena out to celebrate tonight,” he added.

“That sounds nice,” Liz whispered against his chest.

“Good.”

***

Alex felt nervous as he entered the Crashdown. The bell chimed as he opened the door the same way it had done for years and he found himself smiling in memory of the days he would walk through and either Liz or Maria would look up and smile at him.

He didn’t recognise anyone working as he looked around so he waited for a waitress to approach him.

“Can I show you to a seat or a booth sir?” she asked politely.

“Actually I was wondering if Mr or Mrs Parker were around?” he asked.

“Sure. I think Mr Parker is in the back. Would you like me to go and get him?” she asked.

“That would be great. Tell him Alex Whitman would like to speak to him if he has the time,” Alex smiled politely at the young waitress.

Alex took a seat at the Counter as he waited for the girl to get Jeff Parker for him. She returned and smiled at him a few seconds later and after a few minutes, he walked towards Alex.

Jeff Parker had been surprised when his waitress had told him that Alex Whitman was out the front and wanted to talk to him. He hadn’t seen him in years and he wondered what would bring him to his restaurant after all these years.

“Alex,” he greeted politely as he stood across from him behind the counter.

“Hi Mr Parker,” Alex replied.

“It’s been a long time Alex. What can I do for you?” Jeff got to the point.

“Actually I wanted to get in contact with Liz,” Alex replied honestly.

If Jeff Parker was shocked, he certainly didn’t convey it as he stared at Alex Whitman.

“Why?” he asked. “It’s been a long time Alex, why now?”

Alex felt guilty when Jeff Parker pointed out the obvious to him.

“Because I miss her,” Alex told him. “I miss her and I want to make things right.”

Jeff Parker appeared to consider Alex’s words for a few minutes before he finally spoke. “Ok Alex. I won’t give you her contact details but why don’t you give me your phone number and email address and I’ll pass them on to Liz and if she wants to talk to you, she can email you.”

It wasn’t exactly what Alex was after but he would take anything he could get so with a nod he pulled out a business card with his details and handed it to Jeff Parker.

“Thank you Mr Parker,” he said.

“No problem Alex. I can’t make any promises that Liz will want to talk to you though. It’s been a long time and I think she’s pretty much given up any hope of you or Maria ever trying to bridge the gap,” he told the young man honestly.

They had hurt his daughter more than he ever thought was possible and it was only because of Liz’s plea’s that he found himself being polite enough to carry out a conversation with him. It some ways Jeff Parker hoped that Liz didn’t forgive them too easily for cutting her out of their lives so effortlessly.

Alex was relieved when he finally made it to his car on the kerb outside the Crashdown. He had never thought talking to Mr Parker would be so hard but he could see the way he had felt about Alex from the look in his eyes. Alex had hurt his daughter so it wasn’t a surprise. The hard part though was still to come. Now Alex had to play the waiting game to see if Liz would actually contact him at all.

***

After leaving the Crashdown Alex followed the directions he had until he pulled up at a stylish little townhouse a few blocks out of town.

Just as he was getting out of the driver’s side the door opened and a smiling Kyle Valenti emerged.

“Alex its good to see you,” he grinned as they shook hands.

“You too Kyle,” Alex replied.

“What brings you to Roswell?” he asked curiously as they made their way inside. Alex’s parents no longer lived in Roswell, the spent most of their time travelling so apart from Isabel’s family Alex rarely had a need to visit his home town.

“Actually I went to see Mr Parker at the Crashdown,” Alex replied. “I want to get in contact with Liz.”

Kyle nodded. Unlike Maria and Alex, Kyle had kept in moderate contact with Liz over the years and was more than aware of the situation. He had visited with her a couple of times while she was at Harvard when he was travelling with his football team.

“He wouldn’t tell me where she was though. Said he’d pass on my details and she could contact me if she wanted to,” Alex sighed, his disappointment was obvious.

“That’s probably a good idea,” he said thinking about Liz and her life in New Haven. He wasn’t so sure that Liz needed to have her life turned upside down by Alex.

Kyle frowned then as he remembered something Tess had said to him a few months earlier then, something about New Haven, which at the time had seemed odd to him but he hadn’t been able to put his finger on it.

“So Tess mentioned recently that Max was travelling for work is he still doing that?” he asked casually then as he offered Alex a beer as they took a seat in his small kitchen.

“Yeah he works for Cellcon but he’s been travelling to New Haven twice a month,” Alex nodded as he took a swig of the beer.

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. If Max Evans was working for Cellcon in New Haven then he definetely would have run into Liz Parker.

“So Kyle, tell me what’s been happening with you?” Alex asked, oblivious to what was going through his friends mind.

[Emz80m]

Hey everyone, thanks for your feedback and for reading the last part. I will update Friday nights instead of Thursday nights from now on. I hope you enjoy this new part

Nineteen

“Max can you come in here?” Liz asked Max from the doorway of her office.

Immediately Max could tell that something was up with Liz so he wasted no time making his way into her office.

“Are you ok?” he asked her.

“I just got off the phone with my dad,” she said as she sat down in her chair.

“Is everything ok?” I ask concerned.

“Alex wants to talk to me,” she blurted out.

Max’s eyes widened for a second before a smile covered his face. “That’s great,” he said, but when he saw the frown still on Liz’s face, his smile fell away. “Isn’t it?” he added.

Liz sighed. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Why would he want to talk to me after all this time?”

Max wasn’t sure how to respond. Should he tell Liz that he knew why? Or should he leave it up to Alex.

“Did you know about this?” Liz asked then.

Max hesitated before nodding. “Yeah, he told me last week.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Liz frowned, “At least warn me.”

“Truthfully I wasn’t sure if he’d go through with it. Maria’s been giving him a hard time about it and I didn’t want to get your hopes up only for you to be disappointed if he didn’t call,” Max admitted.

Liz’s frown softened at Max’s words. “Why doesn’t Maria want Alex to contact me?” she asked.

Max shrugged. “Who knows with Maria? The idea of admitting she was wrong probably,” he guessed, not having gotten involved in the argument between Alex and Maria about Liz.

“Dad wouldn’t give him my details,” Liz admitted then. “So I’ve got his number and email address if I want to talk to him.”

“What are you going to do?” Max asked.

“I don’t know,” Liz admitted. “I really don’t know.”

Max got up from his chair and moved towards Liz’s side of the desk. “Come here,” he whispered.

He didn’t care that they were at work. It was obvious that she needed a hug right then and he wanted to be the one to give it to her.

“It’s just unexpected,” she whispered against his chest.

“Well I know for a fact that he really wants to talk to you. No strings” Max explained. “Just think about it, you don’t have to make a decision right now,” he added.

“Thank you,” Liz replied before reaching up to kiss him gently.

“You’re welcome,” Max replied with a wide smile.

Both were oblivious to the shocked look on the face of Serena who was standing outside of Liz’s door.

***

It wasn’t until late that afternoon that Serena got the chance to corner Liz.

“What’s going on?” she asked Liz as she ambushed her in the office.

“What do you mean?” Liz asked.

“With you and Max?” Serena said pointedly.

“Nothing,” Liz shrugged.

“Don’t lie. I saw the two of you this morning,” she told her.

Liz looked up surprised. “Oh,” she frowned.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Serena asked and it was obvious that she was slightly upset about being left out of the loop.

“Truthfully?” Liz asked.

“Of course.”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t approve of what I was doing and try to talk me out of it.”

“Why would I do that? I think it’s great that the two of you have finally admitted your feelings and decided to give things a go,” Serena grinned.

Liz sighed, “See that’s the thing,” she started. “We’re not exactly out in the open.”

Serena frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I’m the other woman Sere. Max is still with Tess.”

Serena’s eyes widened. She literally didn’t know what to say to Liz.

“What am I doing?” Liz cried as she threw her head down on her arms on the desk. “I’m in love with a guy who’s in a serious relationship with someone else.”

Serena just stared at her friend. “And Max knows how you feel?”

“NO!” Liz shook her head.

“Why the hell not?” Serena cried, “And how did this start to begin with?”

“It started the week Max stayed at my apartment, I guess we just couldn’t fight the attraction any longer. I just knew when we woke up the next morning that he was going to tell me it was a mistake, so before he got the chance to I told him that I’d take the casual other woman place in his life, if he was willing,” she explained.

“Why the hell would you do that? And worse yet how could he agree?” Serena asked out raged.

Tears filled Liz’s eyes. “Because I love him Sere and having him three days every few weeks is better than not having him at all,” she cried. “I guess I’m just hoping that maybe he feels the same and eventually three days wont be enough any longer.”

“Oh Liz,” Serena covered her mouth with her hand to stop the sob escaping her throat at her friends admission. In the year that Serena had known Liz Parker she had never seen her so vulnerable before.

“So please can you just be there for me, don’t judge me?” Liz asked.

“Of course,” Serena agreed.

“Thank you,” Liz told her. “Thank you Sere.”

***

Just because Serena agreed to support Liz didn’t mean that she couldn’t give Max a piece of her mind, and a little bit of advice which is exactly why she had tracked him down to a deserted part of the labs.

“Hey Serena,” he smiled.

“Hey,” she replied and watched him for a few minutes.

“What’s up?” Max asked her.

“I just talked to Liz and she told me about you and her,” she told him bluntly.

“Oh,” Max scratched his ear nervously.

“How could you Max?” she whispered. “How could you take advantage of her like this?” she demanded.

“I’m not,” Max denied.

“Of course you are,” Serena snapped. “You’re the one that has a girlfriend already while Liz is single and sitting around waiting for you. Do you even care for her?” she asked.

“Of course I do,” Max immediately replied. “I love her,” he added surprising even himself with the admission.

“Then why are you still with Tess then? Why not break up with Tess and be with Liz?” Serena asked.

Max seemed confused. “Liz doesn’t even want that with me, or at least she hasn’t said so and I can’t just break up with Tess, we’ve been together for five years Serena. You have no idea about our relationship.”

“No you’re right I don’t. But I know that if you had a happy, stable and loving relationship then you wouldn’t be having an affair with Liz,” she stated.

Max was stuck with that comment. How could he tell Serena that he did have all of those things with Tess until his path had crossed Liz’s again? That it was because of Liz and his feelings for her that everything he had thought he had known about his relationship was quickly going out the window. That something he had spent five years building was slowly but surely falling apart because he wasn’t putting everything he had into holding it together any longer.

“Look, I’m glad that Liz confided in you but I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Max snapped. “Liz and I discussed this and this is what we’re doing, I don’t expect you to understand or accept it but I’d appreciate it if you could just stay out of it.”

Serena shook her head sadly. “Man you are really messed up and confused, aren’t you? It’s like you honestly believe that you owe the rest of your life to this Tess chick because you’ve been together for five years and that’s crazy Max,” she said. “I just hope that you realise which one of them you really want before you end up loosing her, or worse, both of them,” she added before she walked off in the same direction she came.

***

Max didn’t tell Liz about his conversation with Serena.

Serena had hit a few sore spots and he wasn’t ready to admit that to himself, or to have a discussion with Liz about all the things that Serena had brought up.

But the conversation, despite the fact it wasn’t acknowledged, somehow managed to come between them anyway and when Max left on Wednesday night he found that things were awkward with Liz.

He knew it was because there was too much left unsaid between them.

Liz knew it was because she was slowly coming to the realisation that part time with Max would never be enough but she didn’t know how to tell him.

So it all went unsaid.

Liz waited until Max was gone before she pulled out her computer and opened her email.

It took her an over an hour to get three lines and another hour after that to work up the courage to press send. But when he opened his email the next morning this would be what Alex Whitman would find.

From: LParker@gmail.com
To: ITheStud@hotmail.com

Alex,

I was surprised to hear from my father that you wanted to get in contact.

It’s been a long time.

Too long maybe.

But the longer I stared at your email address and phone number the more I realised that I didn’t want to loose what could be the last chance I had to repair things between us and the idea of regret doesn’t sit well with me.

So here I am replying. I’ll leave the rest up to you.

Liz


Once the email was gone, Liz felt a little better but she knew she still had to do one more thing before she would get any sleep that night.

She dialled his cell by memory and waited for his voice mail to click in. He wouldn’t be off the plane yet; she knew that which is why she had picked that time to call.

“It’s me,” she said when the heard the beep. “I’m not sure what happened today but I just felt like there was this massive void between us that I couldn’t bridge. I hate that I have to have this conversation with you over the phone, and that I’m not going to see you for 2 weeks,” her voice hitched as the tears begun, “and you should know that I miss you so much when you’re not here.” She stopped to try to collect herself, “Anyway, just call me when you get this so I know that you got home safely and Max…” she whispered, “I love you.”

When she placed the phone back on the cradle she allowed her tears to fall.

In Las Cruses Max had just turned his phone on after getting off the plane. He felt mixed emotions as he listened to the message from Liz. It was obvious from her voice that she was upset and he felt his heart ache for her and hated that he couldn’t be there for her.

He dialled her number without hesitation and waited for her to pick up.

“Hello,” she whispered.

“I love you too,” He responded straight away. “I love you too.”