Someone's Watching Over Me(AU,M-LMature) Complete 8/6/06 pg9

[Itzstacie]

Well here it is the end of this story, I want to thank everyone who read and left feedback, it really meant alot to me that you stuck it out with me knowing that Liz was going to die

Behrsgirl1230-Thank you for the feedback, I hope this ending is good enough for you
Lynda-you know I luv ya, I can say we are even cause you are driving me crazy with Scripted lol
guelbebek-Thank you for your continued feedback
Alien614-Thank you so much, I always look forward to your feedback on my stories
ruthandnina-Thank you..I'm sorry I made you cry
DreamerMaxBehrian-Thank you, that was one of things I was so worried about was having it come off as believeable.
Vicki LVCM-Thank You Vicki
janesdilemma-Thank you Janes for reading
rar1942-Thank you for your feedback, havent seen you post in a while so for you to come out and post on my story really means alot to me.

I promise the next one won't be so heartbreaking, thou will have angst (wouldnt be one of my stories if didnt have it in there lol) as soon as Tanya and I can get our butts in gear and get things started.

I have to say a special thank to Tanya for being my beta and being my sounding board,inputting on things where I was stuck. Without her this story would have been pushed to the side. So Thank You *Muah*

Don't forget I will be doing an authors chat for this story this coming Wednesday August 9th at 8:30pm est..at Roswell Heaven. I would love to see you there.

Chapter 10

Trey wipes his eyes on his sleeve and smiles, “I never knew Mrs. Guerin could be that smart.”

I laugh at his attempt of humor. “She had her moments.” Standing up I stretch my legs and arms. “Are you ready to head back home?”

Trey nods his head and starts cleaning up; we work silently and make our way back to the car. Sitting in the passenger seat he turns and looks at me, “Thanks dad.”

I turn surprised, “For what?”

He fiddles with the vent in front of him, “For telling me about Liz, for letting me be a part of something that was really special in your life.”

I nod and turn to buckle my seat belt. “I should be thanking you.”

He raises an eyebrow and waits for me to explain.

“For coming this weekend, I know your didn’t really want to come. You’re at that age where there are more important things going on in your life.”

He shakes his head, “No dad, you got it wrong, I love the camping trips,” smiling he gleams, “I hope to do it with my son when I have one.”

My heart jumps inside, it makes me happy to know that he really loves it and that there is something that is just for the two of us for now. I smile at him and start the car up. “Come on I want to take you somewhere.”

Three hours later I’m driving down the familiar streets. I don’t come as often as I should and I know there is really no excuse, we only live four hours away. I glance to my side and see Trey nibbling on his lip as we pass through the iron gates. I’m pretty sure he knows where I brought him but he doesn’t say anything.

Turning the car off I grip the steering wheel hard, it’s been seven years since I’ve been here and I find it’s still as hard as it was back then. I stare out the windshield at the rows of tombstones finding hers.

I’m startled when my son places his hand on my shoulder he doesn’t say anything but looks at me with sympathy and understanding.

Reaching down I grab the flowers that I had bought along the roadside coming down here. He might have known then what I was going to do but if he did he didn’t ask. “Come on,” I tell him softly opening the door.

We make our way about halfway back and my steps falter a little as I get closer, I’m surprised but not really when I see all the fresh flowers surrounding her gravesite. I wonder who’s been here, but then again I’m talking about a girl that the entire town loved.

Trey steps back a little as I step forward laying the flowers down, I let my hand rest against her name for a minute before standing up and shoving my hands in my pockets. “Um…hi.”

I look back at my son to see if he’s looking at me like I’m crazy, he gives me a small smile and nods his head in understanding.

I turn back and look at her grave. “I’m sorry it’s been so long, time just slipped by…no…that’s not true. The truth is it hurt too much, but I’m pretty sure you already knew that.”

I motion for Trey and he steps next up next to me. “I brought someone I wanted you to meet, this is my son Trey. Everyone says he’s just like me, so you know there’s trouble,” I laugh. I can feel my eyes tearing up and I quickly wipe them away.

Looking at Trey I motion with my hand. “Trey, meet Liz Parker, the girl who could light up your whole world with just a smile.”

He says a shy hello shoving his hands into his pockets; I can tell he’s a little unsure of what to do…I mean I have him in the middle of a cemetery talking to a dead girl. We stand here for a few minutes when I hear my name being called.

“Max…Max Evans is that you?”

I turn my head; my eyes widen in surprise by an older grayer Jeff Parker. “Mr. Parker” my stomach does a flip-flop at seeing him, the last time I saw him was before I left for college.

“Well look at you son,” he steps forward pulling me into a hug, “how have you been?”

I return the hug fiercely. “I’ve been good, how about you?”

“I’ve been good,” he replies, and I see him glance at Trey and all of a sudden I’m nervous and I don’t know why. I know I don’t need it, but I suddenly want his approval for some reason.

I reach back and pull my son beside me. “This is my son Trey…Trey this is Jeff Parker.”

“It’s nice to meet you sir,” Treys says staring at him in awe and sticking out his hand.

Jeff smiles proudly taking his hand to shake. “It’s very nice to meet you too, I heard a lot about you.”

It makes my insides warm when I see he approves, Trey steps back. “I’ll leave you two alone,” he says walking away and pulling out his phone.

“He looks just like you,” Jeff says looking back towards me.

I smile. “Well he has his mother’s eyes.”

He looks up at me. “I heard you got married, I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to make it.”

I shove my hands into my pockets, “It’s okay, you were there in spirit.”

He nods his head knowingly and looks around. “Is she here, I’d like to meet her.”

I shake me head, “No sir, she’s at home. We were actually heading back there from a camping trip.” I watch him as he reaches down and places a set of flowers next to Liz’s tombstone, then walks over some, placing a similar set on Nancy’s.

Walking back towards me. “Maybe some other time, it sounds like your doing really good.”

I nod my head, “Yes sir I am.”

“As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”

“I am…are you living back in Roswell now?” I ask I’m curious to know what made him finally come back.

“No, just passing through, actually on the way to Florida for vacation.”

“I hope you’ll stop by and see my parents, I know they would love to see you,” I tell him, for a long time you could tell there was something missing from the Evan’s household and everyone knew it was Jeff and Liz Parker.

He smiles at me, “We’re actually staying a couple of days with them before heading to Florida.”

Before I can ask who he was talking about, a woman walks up slowly but what surprises me is that she is holding hands with a brown eyed, brown haired little girl who appears to be about twelve.

I look up at Jeff who is now looking at me the same way I looked at him when I introduced him to Trey.

“Sorry,” she apologizes, “She was starting to get antsy.”

Jeff nervously looks at me, “Max I would like you to meet my wife Sara…honey this is Max, Phillip and Diane’s son, but also like my son too,” he says putting his hand over his heart.

I give him a smile as I reach out to shake her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.” On the inside I am happy for him that he was able to move on and find happiness again.

“It’s nice to meet you too, I heard a lot about you,” she smiles at me.

“Good things I hope.” I tease.

She laughs, “I promise it was all good."

I look down at the little girl questionably, for a minute I’m sucked back in time as her brown eyes stare me down. Clearing my head just in time to hear Jeff say, “This is our daughter Kylie”.

I mask my surprise as I look down and tell her hello, she returns shyly while moving behind her mother’s leg.

“We’ll I let you two boys catch up, we will be the by car,” Sara says reaching for Kylies hand.

Jeff nods his head, “Okay honey, I won’t be too much longer.” He gives her a quick kiss and rubs his hand on Kylie’s head.

“It was very nice to meet you, Max,” she tells me.

“You too Sara.” I watch them walk away for a few minutes before turning to face the grave.

We stand there in silence for a few minutes before he breaks in, “We adopted her about four years ago.”

I look at him as he continues to stare at Liz’s grave. “Sara can’t have kids and we talked about it for a long time before doing it.”

He doesn’t really need to tell me all this, I mean it’s none of my business but at the same time I want to know. This man was like a second father to me and this feeling of longing makes me wonder if this is what Trey was feeling when I was telling him about Liz.

He looks up at me square in the eye, “I…I don’t want you to think I’m trying to replace Liz or anything,” his gaze falls on Liz’s grave, “I could never do that…my life was just so empty for so long; I longed for a family again.”

I cut him off before he can go on. “Mr. Parker you don’t have to explain…I know no one could ever replace Liz, and I know that if she was here she would be ecstatic to have a sister”.

“Thank you for saying that Max."

I nod my head, “It’s the truth.”

He agrees nodding his head once. "Well I better get going, I have some stuff to take care of before heading to your parents. It was really great to see you and I hope to see more of you in the future.”

“I’d like that,” I say reaching out and hugging him. He hugs me back and turns to leave giving me a nod.

“Mr. Parker!” I call out to him before he can get too far away and reach down to grab my backpack.

He turns and looks at me curiously as I open the pack and retrieve the journal from inside, dropping the pack back on the ground I hold the journal in my hands feeling a sudden calm wash over me.

Closing my eyes I let the memories and words wash over me before opening my eyes and handing him the journal. His brows crease in confusion before I tell him, “Liz gave it to me before she died…” I’ve read it so many times that I have memorized every word by heart.

”I kept that part of my life locked deep inside of me for so long because it hurt too much to talk about her. I want you to know I did love her and I’m sorry she never got the chance to know just how much.”

“She knew Max,” he tells me softly, “she knew.”

I feel my eyes mist up at his words. I know I told her I loved her the last time I saw her, but I never knew if she believed me or not. I always thought she might have thought I just said the words to make her feel better.

“In that last hour she told me that she didn’t regret anything that happened in her life. She had happiness and she had love. She accepted her fate and told me not to worry about her because she was going to be with her mother,” he tells me and I quickly wipe the tears that are starting to spill over.

I nod my head and clear my throat, “Thank you for telling me that, I regretted for so long that I didn’t realize sooner what she really meant to me. I thought I would have that chance the night of the competition, I realized I was in love with her and wanted more and I felt like that if I had just told her sooner then maybe she wouldn’t have skated, maybe she would have fought harder.”

He puts his hand on my shoulder/ “Son, she was going to skate no matter what, you and I both know it was her dream and she was going to touch it one way or another. I lived that way too for a long time, thinking that maybe if I fought harder with her, making her take her treatments then things would have been okay. She was going to do what she wanted and I’m just thankful that she got to touch her dream before going to join her mother.”

I nod my head. “Anyway, I thought you should have the journal. I thought keeping it was the only way I could keep a part of her with me. I now realize that I don’t need it anymore because she’ll always be a part of me. And I know she’s watching over me.“

“Thank you Max,” he tells me taking the journal, giving me a nod he leaves me standing there. I turn and look down at Liz’s grave, “I promise I won’t stay away for so long again. You’ll always be with me Liz,” I say placing my hand over my heart I stand for a few minutes more before making my way back to the car.

I decide to drop by my parent’s house before heading back home; I know my mother is going to be surprised to see us. Making our way through the front of the house I get the reaction I knew would come. “Max…what are you doing here,” she says smiling.

“Were on our way back from camping, thought I would stop by and say hello,” I tell her as she reaches out and hugs me.

“I am so glad you did,” she reaches over and hugs Trey. ‘You’re getting too big,” she tells him.

He blushes, “Grandma stop, I was this tall the last time you saw me,” he rolls his eyes.

She playfully taps his shoulder. “You’re always going to be that little boy running around in his underwear and cowboy boots in my eyes.”

He shakes his head and blushes hard. “Grandma please, I haven’t been a little boy in a long time,” he says playfully.

She just laughs, “I got cookies in the kitchen.”

His eyes light up like they did when he was eight and rushes off to the kitchen pulling his phone out of his pocket when it starts to ring. She looks at me and we bust out laughing.

Walking into the living room we take a seat on the couch. “Guess who’s coming to visit,” she tells me smiling.

I smile at her “I already know.”

She creases her brow at me. “I took Trey to meet someone special,” I say giving her a knowingly look.

Her eyes mist up and she smiles happily reaching over to hug me. I know I don’t need to give her the details of what happened this weekend, she knows what it means for me to open up that part of my life and share it with someone else.

“Jeff showed up while we were at the cemetery and he told me he was coming to visit, I think it’s great that he is coming to stay.” We sit and talk for a little while before I get up in search of my son.

I find him in the kitchen with a half empty plate of cookies and on the phone; he doesn’t see me so I lean against the wall and just watch him. He shoves the plate aside and clears his throat.

“I want to tell you something,” he tells the person on the other end. Raising my eyebrow in curiosity, I listen in on him.

“I want to tell you…Krista I love you too and I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner. I want us to be together and regardless of the outcome I don’t want to waste another minute being without you,” he tells her.

My eyes mist and my heart leaps for joy, part of me hopes that I had something to do with that. That telling him my past experiences helped him overcome his fear enough to be able to move forward with his life.

I turn away giving him his privacy as I walk back towards the living room. I never got my chance and knowing that he will have his gives me a peace that I haven’t had in a long time. I stop and stare at a picture of Liz and I that my mother has hanging in the hallway.

Her brown eyes twinkle back at me and I smile because I know someone is watching over him too.

The End.