Walking By (CC,M/L,ADULT) COMPLETE

[lizard_queen]

So, I wasn't expecting this to end so soon. I thought that there would be at least one more chapter before I ended it, but apparently I was wrong. I sat down to write and I realised that I didn't really have anything else planned.

I want to thank you all so much for you're constant fb and bumps throughout this fic, and thank you for sticking with me throughout my bad updating and reading this.

And a very special thanks to Icequeen, because without her I would still be about 20 chapters back with no idea of what to do.




<center> Chapter 41

~Liz~ </center>



“Let’s just stay like this all day,” a warm body murmurs softly in my ear. He lazily plants kisses all over my wrist and the palm of my hand, nipping at my skin and sending tingles through my body.

“We can’t,” I whisper. Max shifts beside me so he’s leaning over my body and I’m lying underneath him. I’m in awe of his perfect form and his handsome body. I feel so lucky to have someone so caring and sweet, not to mention beautiful, wanting to love me and take care of me. I wonder every day what I did to deserve this amazing person. He’s saved me more times than I can count and I love him for it every day.

“I know,” he sighs and rests his head in the crook of my neck. I feel his lips move into a goofy smile against my skin. “Someday I’m going to marry you Liz Parker, and then we can spend everyday like this.”

“You have to propose first.” I counter playfully, but we’re both fully aware that what we’re saying is true. I close my eyes and imagine just how amazing spending all day in bed with Max would be.

“When you least expect it, then I’ll propose. It will be the most romantic thing you’ve ever seen.” His whispers fill me with anticipation. I know realistically that none of this will happen for quite some time, we’re still in high school after all, but I know without a doubt that this promise is for real.

I close my eyes and think back to all of the romantic things I’ve seen, but there’s one thing that comes to the forefront of my mind over everything else. “More romantic than you outside my balcony singing with a Mariachi band?”

His loud groan is a tell tale sign of just how embarrassed he still is after that. “I’m never going to live that down am I?”

“Definitely not after Maria tells Michael about it,” I giggle.

“Hmm, can’t wait.” The sarcasm in his tone makes my giggles increase. I love it when we’re like this, just two perfectly normal teenagers in love. “And yes, it will be twenty times more romantic than that.”

A moment later I feel his warm lips against my skin. My hand moves to tangle in his thick hair and hold his mouth in place, but I still manage to gasp out a warning. “Max…”

“We have time.”

I dig my teeth into my bottom lip when he gently bites my neck, leaving a mark that physically won’t fade for a few days, but will stay there emotionally for the rest of my life. His right hand travels up my side and I shift slightly when it grazes a ticklish spot, trying to hold back the giggle that’s on the surface of my lips. I look to the digital clock Max has on his bedside table and see that we have twenty minutes before we have to meet everyone at the Crashdown.

We easily become entangled in each other. His caresses are soft against my skin and when Max finally slips inside of me, it’s with great ease. He knows my body better than is own, just like I know his better than my own. I hold our lips together and savour the feeling when his thrusts get deeper and stronger. Our bodies are in sync with each other; our heart beats the same rhythm and our breaths come out in timed laboured pants.

It’s as if we’re one.


<center>~*~*~*~*~*~</center>


The feeling in the Crashdown is different to that experienced at Max’s house. Instead of playful and carefree teenagers there are solemn faces belonging to people who have just been going through the routine these last two weeks. Immediately I’m sucked into the black hole as well.

It had been two weeks since I had woken up to the sound of Michael telling Max that Tess was dead. Ever since then no one had been the same. Breaking the news to the Sheriff and Kyle was probably the hardest part. Kyle refused to believe that someone he considered family would betray everyone like that. The Sheriff had to contact the school and explain why she wouldn’t be showing up on Monday. The story everyone is being is told is that Tess was contacted by a member of her family, one that she didn’t know she had, and she had decided to move there and be with her blood relatives. The next night her body was disposed of much like Pierces – burnt out in the desert where no one would find it.

Maria, Alex and I had also attended, mostly for closure. Tess was a major chapter in all our lives, and we were glad to finally be able to move on. It seemed that everyone was having trouble, though. Guilt followed everyone around, lurking in the shadows and ruining the moments when you needed your friends. I know that Maria and Alex wonder why they let their guard down, Kyle and the Sheriff feel used for letting her into their home, Isabel feels guilty for letting her into our group and Michael feels guilty for not protecting everyone better. What use was he as the general of an army when he couldn’t even protect his friends?

But no one has more guilt than Max. He tries to hide it but I know him too well. I can see it every time he looks at me, and I hate knowing that I put it there. He blames himself for what happened to me simply because he had a ‘destiny’ and no control over it. The fear that I’ll blame him as well radiates from his aura in waves. I hate knowing that I did that. I made him scared of what he is. They all need to know that it was no ones fault but Tess’s. She created this mess, and she finished it.

“Hey, you ok?”

I look up startled and meet gorgeous golden brown eyes. “What?”

“You spaced out for a few minutes.” His gentle murmur is accompanied by a small smile just for me. I nod and smile back in reassurance before I lay my head back on Max’s shoulder. His free arm comes around my waist and holds my body close against his on the seat, whilst his other hand picks up a chip covered in Tabasco sauce. He offers it to me but I decline, preferring to be able to feel the inside of my mouth later instead of having it all burnt off.

“I don’t blame you Max.”

I feel his entire body tense beside me. The chip he was holding is placed back on the plate and questioning eyes burn a hole through my own. I look up to make out gazes collide. He swallows hard and tried to look away, but I won’t let him.

“I don’t blame you. I just wanted you to know that.”

A kiss against my temple is his only answer, but it’s all I could ever ask for. I know that he may never forgive himself for trusting Tess, but at least he now knows that it’s all right. He won’t be waiting for me to forgive him because there’s nothing to forgive.

“Hey guys,” Alex says, interrupting our small moment when he sits down in the booth across from us. “Maria wanted me to give you this.” He hands me a plate with a piece of chocolate pie on it and two forks. I smile at the fact that my best friend knows me too well, but suddenly I feel as though I’m being pulled somewhere I’m not supposed to be. Max and the Crashdown fades out and the bathroom at Michael’s apartment comes into focus. Two people are standing, arguing over something, but I can only make out bits of their conversation.

“You made our lives a living hell ever since you arrived Tess.”

“What are you doing-”

“This is for Liz and what you did to me in that other timeline…”

I’m immediately snapped out of the flashes and I find myself back at the Crashdown. I look up and meet Alex’s guilty eyes, the flash I just experienced make a small fragment of sense.

Alex killed Tess.

Up until now we thought she had done it herself. There had been a knife on the ground beside her body, so we assume she did it to herself. I guess we were wrong. This doesn’t mean Alex is a cold-blooded murderer. He may not have put the knife to her throat but he gave her the weapon to do so. But I know he was simply trying to defend his friends. His family. For that I can’t condemn him. I promise myself not to let anyone know.

He must know what I saw because he tries to move away from my inquisitive eyes but stops when I smile at him, trying to keep the tears I feel from breaking forth. I offer him a fork from the plate of pie and keep the other for Max and I.

“You know what we haven’t done in a while?” Maria asks an hour later after closing. She goes and pulls out a cd player from the back room. Isabel and Alex smile, going to find some cds that are under the counter and Michael groans at the thought of having to listen to ‘chick music’ as he so eloquently put countless complaints ago.

I look around and smile at my friends. It seemed that all of a sudden, the depressing mood that has clouded us for these past two weeks was lifted. My eyes finally settle on Max and my smile becomes bigger.

I can’t wait for his promise to come true.


THE END