Roswell Fanatics

Title: A Dupes Indulgence

Genre: UC, CC

Pairings/Couple: Z/L Eventually, Z/L/M

Rating: Adult

Disclaimer: - I own nothing but my torrid fantasies. Please dont sue.

Summary: Zan comes to Roswell and is instantly drawn to Liz and is sickeningly fascinated by her and Max’s relationship. Or at this point the lack thereof. However, his obsession is not of the flowers and butterflies variety. He was brought up to be an emotionless shell but its only a matter of time before our resident star crossed lovers bond begins to infiltrate his senses and makes him into something more. Based sometime after Max in The City except Max and Liz never decided to be friends again and Zan didn’t die in Meet the Dupes. Besides that everything else happened exactly as it did in the show.

Authors notes: Max and Tess are sort of together in this fic, however there will be no romantic Tex scenes as that will make me dry heave. Please note that this is NOT a fluff piece. Zan is NOT a nice person here. He is selfish and can be coldhearted. He was brought up in an indifferent world and he always gets what he wants. No matter the cost. No matter the people that get in his way. Will that eventually change? Read on and find out as I think I’m already revealing too much.

Also please be aware that there will be heavily sexual scenes, so any people of the pure soul mentality beware. This fic is not for you.

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Prologue

He had been watching her for two months now and it was official. He was obsessed. From her long brown hair to her twinkling brown eyes, to those soft pink lips and those perfect white teeth that flashed every time she smiled, he was obsessed. He could see why Maxie boy was so enamored. Even though his dupe tried so valiantly to act nonchalant whenever she was in a room, his clenched fists and jaw gave him away each and every time. The true proof, however, surfaced at night when he moaned her name in his sleep until he finally woke up and took matters into his own hands.

Zan wanted to call him pathetic. He wanted to laugh in his face and call him a fool. He wanted to be ashamed to call him a duplicate. But there was only so far false pride would allow you to go.

Especially when you have your own sordid dreams to contend with.

He believed it was her mouth that held the most appeal to him. Was it the way she bit her lip when she thought or the way she bit her lip when she cried herself to sleep at night? Or perhaps it was the way her lips glistened as she rubbed herself over her clothing trying to relieve an ache that wouldn’t go away. Or maybe it was the picture he has embedded in his mind of her on her knees in front of him happily sucking him dry.

Regardless, she woke things up in him that made him restless.

And that pissed him off.

He wasn’t in love with her. That he knew. Zan couldn’t love anyone. A part of him believes his makers forgot to add that ability. But he did want her. He wanted her with a fierceness that scared even him. Was it remnants of his dupes darkest feelings come to life within him? Was it some sick connection to Evans that he would never be able to get rid of? He wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he wanted Liz Parker and he would get her one way or another.

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Chapter 1


“Maria! You are so sick and twisted I swear!”

Her voice carried to his ears as he watched her playfully push her best friend and giggle at whatever debauched thing Maria had decided to say this time. Liz and Maria were sitting on a brick wall directly across from his vantage point on their schools campus. His mouth went dry as he got a view up her short black skirt when she shifted to reach for a book behind her. Her creamy legs parted further and he saw the red, barely there, underwear beckoning to him.

Zan bit back a groan at the sudden tightness in his jeans and ran a hand through his short spiky hair and accidentally knocked his sunglasses off. He hurriedly put them back on and crept deeper into the shadows of the tree he was sitting under.

It was easier to blend into this town than he thought. It didn’t hurt that he was able to convert singles into hundreds with his powers, or that he was able to change his appearance slightly at will. These people just didn’t pay attention to detail. Nevertheless, being extra careful had always been his mantra.

However, there was one person who had noticed him right off the bat. One person who had given him a double look and had absorbed him with her eyes: Liz Parker.

Needless to say, that had freaked him out.

It had been his third day here and he had followed his dupe around town trying to figure out his pattern. He had followed him into that ironically named Crashdown Café and had taken a seat in the booth closest to the door. No one had given him a second glance. At least no one had until the blonde waitress had asked him if he was ready to order. The minute cherry coke had come out of his mouth, a small brunette’s head had whipped around from her post at a customers table. Her forehead had scrunched up in confusion and her eyes had looked him over from the top of his head to the tips of his fingers, the order pad in her hand momentarily forgotten. Sunglasses had covered his own eyes, so he had been unable to meet her gaze directly, but the shiver that ran up his spine at her sudden attention practically shocked him into another dimension.

Eventually, he had lowered his sunglasses down his nose and showed her his green contact colored eyes. He gave her a half smile of promise and she had promptly turned around in embarrassment.

“Trust me buddy, you sooooo don’t wanna go there.”

Zan’s attention shifted to the blonde waitress still waiting in amusement at his table, “Say what?”

She rolled her eyes, “Never mind. Will that be all?”

With a nod he had watched as she giggled her way to the brunettes side and pulled her to the back towards the soda machines. Judging by the nods in his direction, he imagined the blonde was replaying the whole scene to the embarrassed and obviously confused brunette.

It was impossible for her to have recognized him.

Wasn’t it?

His hair was different. Longer on top. Spiked up. His features were changed just enough to detract from the fact that he was a duplicate of one of the towns residents. His sharp jaw line was toned down just so, his nose just slightly smaller. The only thing he didn’t have any control over was his eye color. For whatever reason those stayed the same no matter what he did. He vaguely recalled their protector droning on and on one night long ago about their power base being behind their eyes. One visit to an eyeglass place and that slight problem was fixed with fake green contacts.

Sometimes looking in the mirror freaked even him out. It took so little to change ones appearance dramatically and the person blinking back at him in the mirror was now a virtual stranger.

So, even though he was confident the brunette wouldn’t be able to connect the dots, he had made it a point to find out all he could about her and her crew. It didn’t hurt that she was hot and he was terribly attracted to her. But it did make his blood boil to see her cast those sad eyes towards his dupe time and time again.

And he wasn’t sure how to explain that either.

Now, here he was, stalking his dupes ex-girlfriend on her school’s campus, trying to figure out a way to get her alone. What had started out as a mission to infiltrate his dupes crew had turned into something else entirely. Suddenly, his top priority was no longer watching and observing Evans. Now it was about watching, observing and dreaming about Liz Parker. Now, what he needed was to possess her, own her, fuck her till he heard her cry out in his ear. Then maybe he’d be able to move on to his original mission. Then maybe he’d be able to take over the role that had been meant for him and only him.

He would be King and commander to the true Royal Four. It was only a matter of time.

But first things first.

Getting Liz Parker into his bed wasn’t going to be easy. The thought of boldly striding up to her looking exactly like Evans had crossed his mind on more than one occasion. With those miserable eyes drifting to his dupes form every time they got a chance, it was easy to see that Liz desperately wanted her ex-boyfriend back. One small shy smile and a ‘Can we talk’ later and she would be putty in his hands. But Zan wasn’t the sensitive, doting person Evans was. Far from it. When he took Liz he wanted it to be hard, wet, and intoxicating. He wanted to lick her from head to toe and watch her reciprocate. There would be no rose petals waiting for her on his bed. Only hot, sweaty, kinky sex. And the only way to get that was to insinuate himself into her life but never showing her who he truly was.

One look at his true form and she’d know in an instant that he was Max’s dupe.

No, that wouldn’t do.

It was time to act.

He was getting far too impatient.

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Hey Guys, Thanks for the awesome feedback! Are we ready for Zan and Liz's First encounter?



Chapter 2

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“There he is again.”

Liz Parker scrunched her eyebrows in confusion without looking up as she simultaneously chewed on her turkey sandwich and read her notes for her test next period, “There who is again Maria?” She said absently.

“That guy from The Crashdown.” Maria said impatiently, “The one I told you was staring at you like he wanted to devour you. The one who just recently registered in our school. The one who always seems to be where we are. The one we’ve been talking about for the past month and a half!”

Liz momentarily stilled mid chew before slowly putting the rest of her sandwich in the plastic baggy she had brought it in. She swallowed as she tried to casually lift her eyes to her surroundings and immediately saw him in her peripheral vision sitting on the ground leaning against a tree.

Oh God.

Liz had valiantly tried to ignore the butterfly’s that fluttered in her lower belly every time he was around. She had desperately tried to stop the stutter that became a permanent fixture every time she took his order at The Crashdown. She had tried breathing techniques to control the pounding of her heart as she laid a plate of food out in front of him.

Nothing worked.

The minute he turned that half-smile in her direction, she was lost and suddenly she was thirteen again, trying so hard to hold back the teeny giggles from spilling out of her lips. She had no clue what made her so nervous around him. Her body seemed to heat up to one hundred six degrees and she always walked away from him with hot cheeks and a confused expression. Maria bluntly told her that it was called sexual tension and it was time for her to scratch that itch that had begun with Max.

Max……

With a sigh, Liz raised her eyes again in a different direction. This time she looked over to a table that used to be where she sat everyday. Instead there was a blonde head where she should’ve been. Blue eyes twinkled in the sunlight as she laughed at whatever joke that had just been told.

Tess…

Liz watched as Tess lifted her head to say something in Max’s ear quietly. Her stomach roiled in disgust as Max nodded and smiled at her.

“Liz? Helloooooo?” Maria said loudly before sighing, “Would you stop looking over there and driving yourself insane? You know as well as I do that you could change all that in a heartbeat. Five words and it would be all over.” Maria lifted one hand and read them off while simultaneously lowering her fingers, “I. Didn’t. Sleep. With. Kyle.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Oh yes, it is. You’re the one making it complicated. Just like you’re making that guy over there a complication.”

Liz absently picked at imaginary lint on her skirt, as she deliberately avoided Maria’s eyes, “I am not making anything complicated. In fact I’m doing the exact opposite.” She lifted sad eyes once more in the direction of Max, “This…..this is for the best. We don’t belong together. This is how it has to be.” She watched as Tess leaned her head against Max’s shoulder and absently played with a strand of her blond hair. Max didn’t necessarily look happy but Liz noticed he would occasionally glance down at her head in confusion but not a little bit of acceptance.

“And as for that guy over there,” She continued, “the last thing I need is someone who makes me so nervous I want to scream in frustration.”

Maria rolled her eyes, “It’s not nervousness you’re feeling Miss Parker. We’ve been through this already. That’s what we call pure, unadulterated, sexual tension.”

“Maria,” Liz said in exaggerated patience, “I don’t even know this guy, ok? I don’t even know his name. All I know is that he likes Cherry Coke and the Galaxy Sub with no mayo. That’s it. We’ve barely spoken more than eight sentences in total! So where exactly are you getting this sexual tension business from?”

Maria just raised her eyebrows, “You mean besides the fact that you come back from every encounter with him blushing up a storm and wiping the sweat from your brow?”

“I told you he makes me nervous! I don’t even know what to say to him outside of ‘Can I take your order?”

“How about can I take you in the back?”

“MARIA!”

“What?” She said innocently before a sudden indrawn breath wooshed into her lungs, “Ummmm, Liz? I don’t think you have much longer to figure out what to say to him.”

“Wha-. What are you talking about?” Liz said her brown eyes flashing with confusion as she crossed her legs in front of her.

“Lover boy is coming over here.” Maria said in a stage whisper.

“WHAT?!” Liz looked up just in time to watch as the dark-haired guy made his way over to where she was sitting. She couldn’t help the audible gulp as she watched the way his dark blue jeans hung just right on his hips. His long sleeved black shirt, the sleeves pushed up to mid-forearm, hugged him in places that had her mind wandering to other more desirable things. He was muscular in a way that made her want to bite her knuckle in appreciation. His biceps strained against the snug cotton and the outline of his chest muscles was clearly visible. He had taken his sunglasses off and she watched as his green eyes raked over her before he stopped in front of the brick wall adjusting the backpack that was slung over his shoulder.

“Hi. Liz right?” His warm, deep voice slid over her like honey and she forced her tongue to stay in her mouth.

“Bwuh?” She managed to get out.

Maria snorted loudly before jumping down from the wall, “What my very articulate friend meant to say was, yes her name is Liz and I’m Maria. You’re new here.” She stated as a fact.

His mouth lifted into a half smile, “Yeah. I’m Lucas. I just moved here a little over a month ago”

Maria nodded, “Is today your first day here at school?”

Lucas shook his head, “No. I’ve been here about a week.” He tilted his head slightly to the side and playfully half smirked and half pouted, “Not that it matters. So far no one has deemed me worthy of a conversation.” He raised an eyebrow in Liz’s direction, “Not even my favorite waitress.”

Liz’s eyes widened, “I-um-wha?”

Maria hid a wince as she watched her best friend fumble all over herself. She tried nudging her hanging legs sight-unseen, “Liz!” She hissed, “The man is talking to you!”

Liz blinked once and finally let out a small breath, “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Lucas let out a soft chuckle, “Well, every time I go into The Crashdown you run to take my order and run to throw it back on my table like you can’t wait to get rid of me.”

Liz blushed, “I didn’t mean it to seem like that.” She fidgeted from her slightly higher vantage point. “I apologize if I came off rude.”

Lucas lowered his eyes for a second before slowly lifting them back to hers. Liz felt her heart start to pound as he unabashedly bore his gaze onto her, “No apologies needed.” He said softly, his voice wrapping around her like velvet, “I just couldn’t help but be disappointed at how little I interested you, especially when I feel exactly the opposite.”

Maria tilted her head to the side at his words and mouthed the word ‘wow’ in disbelief to no one in particular.

Liz blushed again and tucked a piece of hair behind her ears nervously, “You don’t even know me.”

Lucas stepped closer, his head even with her legs and she swore she could feel his warm breath traveling across her thighs.

“I’d really like that to change.” He said with soft smile. “Would you like to go to a movie sometime?”

Liz’s eyes widened at his abrupt invitation and she was about to give an immediate no, when she felt as if there were eyes burning into the back of her head. She slid her gaze from Lucas’s and found Max staring at Lucas from his table. His jaw was clenched in anger and his arm flexed when he closed one of hands into a fist in a clear show of jealousy. She felt a sorrowful tug in the pit of her stomach when he met her gaze and his eyes immediately changed from anger to a bone weary sadness. Tess was trying to talk to him but he seemed to be oblivious to her idle chatter.

Max was never going to get over her. Tess was a replacement. Everyone knew that. Even Tess. Despite his valiant attempt to act like Liz didn’t exist, despite his deep anger over her ‘sleeping’ with Kyle, Max was always going to harbor deep unsatisfied feelings for her. And he would never be able to let go and live out his duty.

Liz needed to make sure he moved on. And Lucas was a good way to start.

“Uh, Liz?”

The deep baritone shocked her out of her staring match with Max and she looked into those burning green eyes. She couldn’t help the shiver of anticipation that ran up her spine, “Yes. A movie sounds great.”

A genuine smile graced Lucas’s face, “Good. How about tomorrow night?”

Liz nodded and smiled slightly just as the bell rang. She jumped off the wall and gathered her things, trying her best not to look as awkward she felt.

“Do you mind if I walk you to your next class?”

She jumped as his breath tickled her ear and she turned her head only to see his face mere inches away from hers. His lips looked so soft and she was momentarily mesmerized as he smiled at her knowingly. “Uh, yeah. Sure.”

“Here, let me take that for you.” He said while grabbing the books that she had in her hand.

She relinquished the books to him and tried not to stiffen as his fingers touched the unintentionally exposed bare skin of her back briefly as he led her towards the building.

Meanwhile, Maria shook her head in amusement as her ‘best friend’ left her behind without a second glance or even a goodbye. The chick was already a goner.

She would have continued to be amused by it if she hadn’t caught the anguished look that passed over Max’s features as he watched Liz laugh slightly at whatever it was that Lucas had bent down and whispered into her ear.

Her heart twisted momentarily in sympathy for her one time close friend and she had to bite her lip to keep the confession that wasn’t hers to give from spilling out of her lips. Max’s eyes lifted to hers and the hurt there took her breath away.

But the anger…..the anger made her heart stop.

No good could come from this.
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Zan laughed to himself on the walk back to his rented house as he replayed Evans’ face in his mind. The boy king looked like he wanted to rip Zan to shreds and it made his day to know that Max felt threatened by him.

That’s right Maxie boy, pretty soon I’m going to make your precious Liz scream.

An image of Liz with her head thrown back as she grasped Zan’s head in between her legs flashed in his mind and he felt himself immediately harden. Oh God how he wanted to taste her. Her scent still filled his nostrils and it had taken a large amount of restraint not to lick the thigh that had been in his face. He had momentarily let himself fantasize about walking in between her legs from where he stood and burying his tongue into her wet folds, licking her from the very bottom of her heat slowly making his way to the very top as Max looked on painfully. The thought of Max watching him eat out Liz sent a mind numbing bolt of lust through him.

Now that was an idea.

Sure he going to have to destroy Max eventually, but torturing him a little bit beforehand could be apart of the plan.

Oh, the possibilities.

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Thanks for all the wonderful feedback guys!

Evansgurl01 - Zan is a bad, bad boy. Are you sure you want to be in love with him?
punkrock_dreamer - Hurling at Tess always makes me very happy.
Zanssoulmate08 - Aww, Thank you! I hope he gets what he wants too...
touched by an alien-Thank you!
orphyfets- Good to see you on this thread! Thanks for reading! As for what Zan wants on the date, you'll see.
vampyrax-Liz is stronger than we think....
ShatteredDreamer-thank you for all the lovely feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed those sections. They were some of my favorite to write!
roswell3053-Thank You!
Shadowlynxbehr-the double dipping is not in question. The process to getting there however......


Chapter 3

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Liz yawned as she made her way down the hall to her locker. As much as Liz enjoyed school, she always dragged ass in the mornings. She quickly scanned the homework in her hand and deemed it ok to hand into her first period English teacher. She was tucking it into the notebook in her messenger bag when she happened to look up and see someone casually leaning against her locker.

Lucas.

Damn.

Did he have to look good every day of the week?

Granted, he was only wearing a dark blue t-shirt and beige cargo pants. Not exactly GQ wear. But the way his clothing hugged his body in just the right places made her want to sigh in appreciation.

She took a deep breath and cleared her throat slightly and prepared to make an utter fool out of herself as per usual. The stuttering had gotten better but just being herself around him seemed an impossible task. He had shown up for a snack the evening before, sat at The Crashdown counter and had tried engaging her in conversation in between her customers. Liz had eventually found herself relaxing more and more in his presence but still felt ridiculously tongue tied when he moved from casual conversation to blatant flirting. It didn’t help that she hadn’t been able to stop thinking about their impending movie date and hated the twinge of guilt that followed every slight tingle of excitement.

With another inhalation, Liz finally met his gaze with her own and sent a friendly smile in his direction. “Hey Lucas.”

Lucas flashed his half smile, “Good morning. How are you?”

Liz shrugged, “Ok, I guess. Still trying to wake up.”

Lucas rolled his eyes comically, “Tell me about it. Getting up outta my nice warm bed to come to school is not my first choice of morning activities.” He lowered his eyes slightly before looking up back up at her, “But it helps to see your beautiful face first thing.”

Liz blushed, not sure whether she was uncomfortable with the compliment or thrilled. “Ok, Casanova,” she said before playfully pushing Lucas out of the way of her locker, “Get out of my way so I can get my books and get to class.”

Instead of being insulted by her brush off, Lucas grinned and leaned on the other side of her locker, casually invading her personal space as she exchanged books for the day, “You know, I think it’s a shame how unused to compliments you are. I’m so glad I’m here to remedy that.”

Liz bit her lip, not meeting his eyes, before lifting her final book out of her locker and facing him, “And what makes you think I don’t get complimented?” She said falling into the bait.

Lucas smiled softly, “Because every time I mention how beautiful I think you are, you blush and give me the ‘you’re so full of shit’ look.”

“I do not-.”

Lucas closed her locker door for her, cutting her off, “Yeah, you do.” He reached for the books in her hand and carried them under his arm without moving from his place by her locker, “But that’s ok. I plan on getting you very used to compliments in the future.”

Liz scoffed at him, slightly annoyed by his cocky attitude and shook her head, “I don’t know whether to laugh at how confident you are or admire it.”

Not perturbed, Lucas pushed off the locker and stepped closer to her, “Standing back and watching the world pass me by has never been a strong suit of mine.” He leaned down slightly, his face serious, his green eyes dark, “When I want something, I go for it.”

Liz found herself unable to leave his gaze, her heart pounding just a little louder, her blood racing just a little faster. She licked her suddenly dry lips and tried to answer but found herself unable to. She cleared her throat, “Patience is a virtue.”

Lucas stood back with an easy smile, “That I don’t possess.”

“That can get you into trouble.”

“Maybe,” He shrugged and smiled cheekily, “But it got me a date with one of the most beautiful girls in school didn’t it?”

Liz let out a small laugh, the sudden strange tension that had taken over them both miraculously gone, “There you go again.”

“What can I say? I’m insufferable. So, can I walk you to class?”

Liz pointed to her books Lucas currently had in his possession, “Not really leaving me much of a choice are you?”

He glanced down at the books before looking up back at her, “Nope. Guess not.”

Liz rolled her eyes good naturedly, “English Lit is my first period class and we better hurry otherwise I’m going to be late.”

“Ahh, ever the good girl.” He said as they headed down the hall.

Liz raised an eyebrow, “And what is that supposed to mean? I mean really, you barely know me.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention.”

She couldn’t seem to stop the smirk that formed on her lips, “You know, if you keep this up I may have to up you to stalker status and totally strike you off my list.”

With a laugh, Lucas led her to her classroom and handed her back her books, “It’s a good thing I can attempt to redeem myself tonight. I’ll pick you up around 7:00?”

With a smile, Liz nodded, “Yeah. See you at 7:00.”

It took her five minutes to wipe the goofy smile off her face and another five to realize her stuttering problem had almost completely disappeared.

And this time the guilt almost never came.

Almost.

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Liz stood at the mirror gazing at her reflection and tried to figure out what she could magically do to make herself a knock out in about ten minutes time. She had curled her hair and added some eye liner to the light blue eye shadow she had already placed there. Her soft white skirt flowed above her knees and she had paired it with a simple light blue tank top and matching flip flops. Dressy but casual.

But still not knock out material.

With a sigh, Liz rolled her eyes at herself and accepted the fact that she wouldn’t be able to turn into a model over night. A quick glance at her digital clock confirmed that Lucas would be there any minute and she still had to put away all the clothes that had been strewn around the room haphazardly in her frantic search.

Quickly, Liz picked up the various shirts and jeans and started folding them into her drawers. She opened a bottom drawer in her armoire and was about to lay down several tank tops when she spotted the edge of a piece of paper underneath the clothing already inside. Curiously, she laid the tank tops to the side, removed the paper and immediately wished she hadn’t.

Staring back up at her was a note that Liz and Max had playfully passed back and forth one day in biology last year. She looked down at Max’s neat handwriting and felt the familiar tears burn in her throat at the teasing, lighthearted words.

Do you bathe in vanilla every morning?

No! Why?

You smell so good. Makes me want to lick your neck right here….or maybe in the Eraser Room, later? Now?

MAX!

What?

Meet you there 6th period?

I knew you couldn’t resist me.

Despite all the alien related fiascos, all the stress and headaches, it had all been worth it to her if at the end of the day she got to see that soft smile on his face. Or feel his lips nibble the soft spot where her neck met her shoulder. It had all been worth it for moments like that one with the note when everything and everyone around her felt so blatantly normal.

God, she missed him.

Instead of the days getting easier they were getting increasingly harder. Whoever said time heals all wounds had never met an alien from another planet. She could still feel the tingle of excitement that would quiver through her heart and make it to the tips of her fingers, begging her to touch his lips as he smiled at her.

She closed her eyes briefly as she put her hand against the spot he had healed her and wondered why it seemed she would always, always hurt….

“Liz?”

Her mothers voice carried down the hallway of her apartment and Liz hurriedly pushed the piece of paper back underneath the clothes. One day she would throw it away. Someday.

“Yeah?” She called out.

A soft knock sounded on her door and she pushed the drawer closed loudly. “Come in.”

Her mothers face appeared in the opening of the doorway, “Your date is here, honey.” She said with a smile and walked into the room. “You better hurry. Your father has the poor boy cornered in the living room.”

Liz forced a smile on her face, “Ok Mom. I’ll be right there.”

Her mother’s smile faded slightly before reaching up and brushing back a strand of her daughter’s hair. “Everything OK?” She said in concern.

Liz forced her smile even brighter, “Nothing’s wrong mom. Why would you think something’s wrong? Do I look like something’s wrong?”

Her mother’s eyes narrowed, “You’re babbling. Now I know something’s wrong.”

Liz rolled her eyes and stepped around her mother as she reached for her purse, “Mom,” She said slowly, “Everything is fine.”

“Okay.” She heard her mother say reluctantly as she followed Liz out of the room.

Liz made her way down the long hallway to the masculine voices that were echoing out of the living room. She stopped at the doorway and her breath caught in her throat at the sight of Lucas sitting casually on the couch laughing at something her father had just said.

Laughing? Her father had never made it this easy on her dates in the past.

At her entrance, both men lifted their eyes to Liz in the doorway. “Hey.” She said to Lucas.

His face went from humor to mind numbing heat in seconds as his eyes traveled the length of her body. When he reached her eyes he smiled mischievously before resuming his smalltown boy demeanor at Liz’s fathers voice. “Hey.”

“You look great Sweetheart.” Mr. Parker said as he made his way over to his daughter.

Liz blushed as she forced herself to break away from Lucas’s gaze, “Thanks Daddy.” She cleared her throat. “I see you met Lucas already. I hope you didn’t give him the third degree.”

Mr. Parker gave her his most innocent look, “I do not give the third degree Elizabeth. I merely ask some…pertinent questions.”

“Right Dad.” She replied, the sarcasm readily apparent.

“Well anyway, Lucas and I were having a good conversation. Weren’t we Lucas?”

Lucas stood up and smiled, “Of course Mr. Parker. Oh, and I’ll be sure to send those references ASAP.”

Her father let out a laugh that startled Liz and she shot him a confused expression. Was Lucas teasing her father? Like poking fun at him and surviving?

With a shake of her head, Liz shifted her purse on her shoulder, “I won’t be home too late.” She reached up and gave her mother and father a kiss on the cheek and made her way to the door with Lucas at her side

“Have fun honey.” Her mother said closing the door behind them.

Liz felt mildly uncomfortable at the abrupt silence of the stairwell. She smiled nervously at Lucas as she led the way down the stairs and into The Crashdown .

She kept surreptitiously giving him sideways glances on the way to the street exit. God, but he looked good. From his slightly spiky hair to his black, short sleeved, button down shirt to his dark washed blue jeans and black round toe boots, he looked mouth wateringly hot.

They reached outside and she found herself tongue tied once more. His green eyes seemed to shimmer in the waning sunlight outside and his mouth curled up into that half smile she always waited for whenever she had taken his order at the restaurant.

If she wasn’t careful she was going to start drooling and that certainly wasn’t the way to impress on a first date.

“I agree.” Came the deep baritone.

“Wha-. I’m sorry what did you just say?”

Lucas smiled again, before leaning in slightly to her ear as if he was going to tell her a secret, “I said I agree with your father. You look great.”

She shivered slightly as his breath tickled her ear, “Thanks.” She cleared her throat before stepping slightly to the side. His close proximity made her mind cloud and that annoying stutter threatened to come out. “So, umm, we never did say what movie we were going to see.”

Lucas tried to hide his knowing smile before stepping back and giving her personal space, “How about The Gladiator?”

“Ahh, blood, guts and glory. Perfect for a first date.” Liz blurted out before thinking. She turned embarrassed eyes to Lucas and tried to give him an apologetic look but he only laughed.

“I’m glad we agree ‘cause the movie with the whips, strippers and sex is sold out.”

Liz’s eyes widened at his blatant statement and let out a laugh filled with surprise. “The Gladiator it is then.”

With a grin, he led her to his car.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~**~*~*~*

roswell3053-Liz is feeling a bit more comfortable around him...but Zan isn't the nice guy we think he is....
Evansgurl01-When will Liz find out? We dont want her to know to soon do we?
Natz-Thank you!
calphysics-Thanks again for the heads up on that name mistake! And thanks for reading!
KiaraAlexisKlay-Thank you! And let's remember how smart our Liz is...in the end who will be decieving who?
orphyfets-Thanks for reading!
Zanssoulmate08-Awww, no crying but i will always first and foremost be a dreamer with a kink for the Double Dipping!
punkrock_dreamerLOL! Thank you for your comment! Zan is a bad boy are you sure you want to love him?
touched by an alien-Thank you so much! It feels so good to hear that i've captured some of the voice of the characters!
ShatteredDreamer-Thank you! We all hope that Zan will turn onto the good side, however..........
dreamsatnight-Thank you so much for that suggestion on the word document! I had forgotten all about that function and i used it today! Thanks for the comments!

Edited to Add: I almost forgot to mention! The Ice Cream scene is a slight homage to one of my fav movies! See if you can pick it up!

Chapter 4
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~**~**~*~*~*

The movie theatre was packed but Lucas managed to acquire two corner seats in the back.

“Are these okay?” He asked.

Liz nodded. “Yeah. These are good.” She said and sat down in the seat he offered to her.

After the initial discomfort, the ride over to the theatre had actually gone okay. Lucas was very funny and flirted with her shamelessly. He threw that one hundred watt grin her way and made her stomach twist with things she hadn’t let herself feel in so long.

“So,” She heard Lucas say, “Why don’t you tell me you want to marry me and have my babies and that way we’ll get that pink elephant outta the way.”

Liz blinked at him and laughed as she saw the comical serious expression on his face, “You’re kidding right?”

Lucas gave her his best innocent look, “Why would I be kidding? I’m hot. Why wouldn’t you want to have my babies?”

Liz rolled her eyes, “Gee, maybe cause I don’t know a thing about you?”

“I told your father I would give him those references post haste.” At her pained expression he opened his hands, “What? Is three not good enough?”

Liz laughed once more and hit him in the arm playfully, “Come on stop.”

He finally grinned at her and leaned into her slightly. He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and caressed her bottom lip lightly. “I’ll stop once you stop being so gorgeous.”

Liz froze and turned wide eyes to him as the familiar gesture hit her. A profound sadness hit the pit of her stomach as she pictured in her minds eye Max tucking back that ‘hair thing’ so long ago.

No.

She wasn’t going to do that anymore. It was over. Max wasn’t hers anymore. Nothing was going to change that. Lucas was here now. And he made her feel good in a way that she needed right now.

A newfound determination settled over her, and she leaned into his face and whispered, “What can I say, I’m hot. And you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Lucas raised his eyebrows at her in surprise before grinning, “Happily.”

The lights dimmed and Liz sat back in her seat to enjoy the movie. She felt Lucas casually throw an arm around the back of her seat and against her better judgment, leaned into his body slightly.

It felt good to feel this normal again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was about halfway through the movie that Zan realized that he was sneaking peeks out of the corner of his eye every so often to glance at Liz’s face. The more time he spent in her immediate vicinity, the more he felt himself wanting to do the strangest things. His fingers seemed to move of their own accord over the skin of her shoulder, caressing it absently. His thigh seemed to gravitate towards the heat of hers and it seemed to move deliberately, as if trying to caress any portion of her body it could get to.

What the hell was the matter with him? Normally, he was a very sexual person. He enjoyed women and sex but not the cuddling afterwards. He liked it rough and he liked the pleasure to consume him. Biting, licking, wet heat was what made him a happy man.

So why the hell did he have this notion in his head to have Liz lean her head on his shoulder so he could have the tips of her hair tickle his nose? Why was his heart pounding just a little bit faster in some strange excitement that he couldn’t explain? His body temperature started to rise and he found himself moving towards her temple ready to nuzzle it with his nose and caress her cheek with his breath. A bolt of lust so profound hit him hard in his stomach and the sudden hardening of his groin was the only thing that stopped him from doing exactly that.

His thoughts unnerved him so much he immediately snatched his arm away from Liz and told her he was going to the bathroom.

Hurriedly, he made his way to the men’s door and pushed it open with a slam. Glad that it was empty, he went to the nearest sink and leaned against it with his head down trying to get his bearings. He turned on the water and after wetting his hands quickly ran them down his face. He finally lifted his eyes to the mirror above the sink and a quiet, “Fuck.” drifted out of his mouth.

Instead of ‘Lucas’, Zan very clearly stood looking at himself. “FUCK!” He yelled. How the hell had this little nothing of a girl unnerved him so much that he had lost all control over his powers? He had always been the best at camouflaging his looks. It was like second nature to him and took almost no concentration on his part to keep up the façade.

But now…..

He didn’t know what the hell being in Liz’s presence was doing to him, but he knew that it was costing him control. And that just wouldn’t do.

But that didn’t mean he wasn’t intrigued by whatever had happened between her and Evans that made her like a beacon to him and his dupe. He’d have to be a lot more careful, but Liz would be his for the taking.

That was a given.

And it would be soon.

After all, he wasn’t known for his patience.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“You did NOT just do that!” Liz screeched.

“Oh, but I did.” Lucas said. He raised up his hand and wiggled his finger in her face, “And I plan on doing it again.”

“No!” Liz yelled again but couldn’t help the giggle that slipped out, “Stop. Lucas! No! I’m going to get all sticky!”

Ignoring her protests, Lucas reached down and swiped the ice cream down her other cheek and laughed evilly at her scream of protest. “See, now you match.”

The walk from the theater and the dinner afterwards had been fantastically normal. Liz couldn’t remember the last time that she had had this much fun. They had talked non-stop and flirted until Liz was red faced at some of Lucas’s racy comments. But the discomfort never came. Oh, there were still times that Liz found herself stuttering out in disbelief or gasping in shock, but there was never a time that she felt like he had gone too far.

“Ugh!” Liz said as she currently had two swipes of vanilla ice cream slowly melting down her face and Lucas looked like he was going for more.

Liz yelped and stuck a finger in her own ice cream and held it up threateningly. “I have chocolate Lucas! It will stain that pretty shirt of yours!”

He looked down at his shirt then up at her, before a grin slowly formed on his face, “I think I’ll just have to take that chance.” Before Liz could react, Lucas lunged for her and swiped another batch of ice cream on her nose.

With her mouth open in surprise, Liz quickly countered before he could run and smeared chocolate ice cream all over his mouth, nose and forehead.

Liz let out a gasp of surprise at the mess she’d caused, “Uh oh.” The chocolate was now currently melting down Lucas’ face and into his eyes. He blinked in amazement and his eyes were wide in shock.

Oops. Maybe went a little too far there.

Liz stepped out of his reach and tried to run but he dropped his cup and grabbed her arm, “And where do you think you’re going?” He reached for her face with two hands, cupped them within and promptly started to scrub the melting liquid from his face onto hers using only his face.

“Lucas!” Liz yelled, hysterical laughter bubbling up from her throat, “Lucas, stop!” Liz gasped with laughter as he only increased his motion, “LUCAS!”

Lucas was laughing and finally stopped but didn’t release her face from his hands. His green eyes twinkled with mischief and something more. That something more made Liz’s laughter fade and despite the sticky ice cream coating both their faces she couldn’t help the shiver that raced up her spine at the sight of his handsome face gazing so intently into her own.

“I think you have a little bit of ice cream on your lips.” He said softly.

“Oh really?” Liz licked her lips slowly, “I don’t taste any.” She said, her intimate tone matching his.

Lucas’s eyes followed the pink tongue as it made its way around her mouth, “I’ll show you.” He said on a whisper, his hands still holding her face within his palms, “It’s right here.”

He gave her plenty of time to say no. He looked directly into her eyes and waited for her to pull away but she just stood there staring back at him as a small warmth started in the pit of her belly.

Lucas lowered his head and started on the corner of her mouth carefully placing a small lick there. “Mmmm. I think that’s the chocolate.” He said against her mouth. He moved to the other side and placed another small lick at the corner, “And this is vanilla.” He licked his own lips as if he was truly tasting the yummiest confection, “I wonder what’s in the middle.”

Liz’s heart felt like it might explode, as her whole body seemed to burn from the inside out. She never thought she’d want anyone else in the world the way she wanted Max. She never thought those feelings of passion could ever be duplicated in someone else in her life. She truly believed that Max had been her first love and her only love. She never thought she would be lifting her face closer to another man’s, a man she barely knew, and pushing her body up against his chest.

So what exactly was in the middle?

“Candy.” She said before crashing her lips against his and stroking the inside of his mouth with frantic strokes of her tongue.

A soft moan tore through her beyond her control. A body filled shiver ran through her once more as Lucas met her tongue with his over and over and over again. His mouth seemed to eat at hers with a ferocity that would have scared her if it didn’t thrill her so goddamned much.

Heat. Burning. Consuming.

Lights were starting to brighten behind her eyes…..

Lucas finally broke away from her with a slight gasp and a strange laugh, “Well, damn. That was sweet as hell.”

Liz lifted momentarily confused eyes to his. They crinkled at the edges in thought before she smiled back at him slowly, “I thought so.” She stepped back from him and on the one hand it looked reluctant and on the other she looked relieved.

“Come on.” Lucas said taking her hand, “Let’s go to the car. We’re a mess. I have wipes in my glove compartment.”

Liz shook off her feelings of unease, “You have wipes in your car?” She said in slight disbelief.

“Yeah, I always come prepared.”

Liz grinned, still breathing heavily through the fast beat of her heart and the trickle of worry in her stomach, “Well, let’s hope so.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Six wipes, four kisses and a hard on later, Zan had dropped Liz off at The Crashdown for the night and he was on his way home in his four door black Toyota Camry.

The night had gone better than he had expected. It seemed prim and proper Parker had a heat in her just desperate to get out. Too bad Evans never did get a piece of that. But damn he had gotten close.

That is…….if those images that flashed in his mind during their kisses held any substance.

Zan looked out the windshield in thought and rubbed a thumb over his lower lip.

So it seemed Liz Parker had been changed. How far that change went was anybodies guess. When those images had first flashed in his head it had scared the shit outta him. Thank God he had the presence of mind to shut the link from his mind to hers before it went too far and she started to get flashes. Even so, he had gauged Liz’s reactions to him for the rest of the night and she seemed oblivious to what had happened and even slightly eager to keep slipping her tongue in his mouth.

A groan escaped him as he imagined Liz’s tongue easing down his stomach and licking in the indentions of his stomach while he directed her in what he liked.

“Son of a-.” He said into the air.

Those damned wet kisses had almost been his undoing and it had taken inhuman restraint not to lay her down in the backseat of his car and relieve the pressure in his jeans. Who knew Zan could be polite when the need arose?

With a sigh, he ran a hand through the short spikes of his hair and leaned his head back against the headrest of his car. In reality, he knew if he truly wanted to seduce Liz Parker he would currently have her legs spread in his bedroom. However, he never did like anything that came easily to him.

Besides, the fun was in the process.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz sat on the edge of her bed in the dark. In the back of her mind she knew she should get up and turn on the lights in her room. She knew she should get up and change into her pajamas and turn in for the night. However, none of those things seemed to take precedence over the shock that was permeating her system.

She had done it. She had moved on from Max Evans. She had let herself feel something other than friendship for a male in her life. And dammit, it had felt good to do so. She had felt young again. Free again.

Now, it would be great if someone could explain to her why she had spent most of the evening kissing someone who tasted eerily familiar……….

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

touched by an alien - Thank you for the feedback. And thank you for quoting the parts that you enjoyed. It means alot to me to see what you thought was well written.
rachelg224-Thank you! There are so many great Zan/Liz fics on this board, Im so glad you like this one.
punkrock_dreamer-

Liz might be hurting, but at least she knows why. Max is completely in the dark, and that has to be killing him

I happen to agree with you. That was one thing that upset me the most about the fallings out of the End of The World ep. However, in this fic Max may not be as innocent as we all like to think.....

Evansgurl01-Max is always there.....hovering the background....
orphyfets-Thankies!
KiaraAlexisKlay- Thank you for the awesome feedback! I've started reading your Zan/Liz fic, Da Man & his Woman and am enjoying it immensly! As soon as i get through all the updates I will be posting some feedback!
roswell3053-Thankies!
mrsjbehr-Hot is always good.
dreamsatnight- I think we're ALL feeling his frustration. LoL. We shall see how soon that frustration is taken care of....
Ellie-The lovely Ellie. Glad to see you here Doll. And Zan isnt necessarily coming In between the two Dreamers.....not of course unless they eventually WANT him too...after all this will be a double dippers fic.....eventually..
Roslover39-Thank you for the totally awesome feedback. It Always means so much!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Chapter 5

The phone woke her up. She cracked open one eye and looked at the bedside table. 9:00 AM. On a Saturday. Someone was going to pay for this.

“’lo?” Liz managed to get out.

“Well, good morning to you too sunshine.”

Liz’s eyes immediately widened at the sound of the deep baritone as it flowed and settled in her ear, “Who…who’s this?”

“You’re really not a morning person are you?”

“….Lucas?”

“I knew you were dreaming about me.”

Liz sat up slowly and leaned against the headboard of her bed, “Wha-. How does me saying your name have anything to do with me dreaming about you?”

A soft laugh hummed through the phone, “Well how else would the first name that popped out of your mouth be mine?”

Liz groaned quietly as she rubbed at her tired eyes, “’Cause you’re the only one who would annoy me at 9:00 AM on a Saturday when I don’t have to work.”

“But it’s a beautiful day.”

“I’m sure it is. And I’m sure it will look just as beautiful at 12:00.”

Lucas laughed again, “You’re really nasty in the mornings. I don’t know if this is going to work out if you’re going to chew me out every time I try to call to say good morning.”

Liz stilled at the casual implication that there would be more wake up calls, or more of anything really. She had a good time last night. Wonderful even. But the thought of jumping into anything serious, with anyone, petrified her. She wanted to feel as free as she did with him. But she wanted it at her own pace. And her pace was something like a slow crawl.

Liz’s mouth opened and closed in an attempt to say something but nothing was immediately forthcoming. Dammit, it was too early for this.

“Uh oh. Looks like I scared someone.”

“Lucas, I-.” She abruptly cut herself off as she tried to figure out what it was exactly that she was feeling.

“Liz, relax. I think you’re jumping to conclusions. I was teasing you. Why do you take everything I say so seriously?” There was a hint of annoyance in his voice that she’d never heard before.

“Lucas…..I just……”

“You just what? I’m not asking you to marry me. I’m asking you to come have a cup of coffee with the lonely new guy who happens to be a morning person. That’s it.”

A beat of confused silence followed as Liz tried to figure out where the conversation had gone from teasing to stilted. She swung he legs over the side of the bed as she tried to get her mouth and mind to cooperate and say something.

“You know what?” Lucas said, his voice still tight, “Never mind. I’m obviously pushing you somewhere you don’t want to go. I misread something last night. I’ll see you in school on Monday.”

Liz felt her heart drop even as confusion trickled into her mind as to why she cared so much or as to why she was giving into this strange anger of his. “Lucas! Lucas wait. I just woke up and I’m still a little fuzzy. I didn’t mean to come off like….that. I’d love to have a cup of coffee with you. I just don’t want you to think that….”

A soft sigh buzzed in her ear, “Don’t worry Liz, I wasn’t planning on writing your name over and over in my notebook just yet. I thought I would save that behavior for after our second date.” The teasing note was back in his voice and Liz felt some of the tension leave the line.

“Our second date huh? I hope you know a cup of coffee doesn’t count as a second date.”

“Oh, you’re going to be expensive. I can tell. 11:00 AM?”

With one last longing glance at her bed, Liz got up and made her way to her bathroom, “I’ll meet you in The Crashdown.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~~*~*~*~*

Zan hung up the phone and sat forward on his sofa with his elbows on his knees and his hands intertwined in front of him. He idly tapped the tips of his thumbs together as he ran the conversation he just had over in his mind.

“Fuck.” He said quietly. He had almost messed up the progress he had made last night with his temper. He knew she was skittish when it came to starting up something new with anyone else. From the bits and pieces he’d gotten from the visions last night, he knew that her and Evans had a history that would make anyone cringe with all the tears and pathetic heartache they had both gone through. He still wasn’t sure exactly why they had finally called it quits, but in due time he’d get that info out. He just had to be patient and stop trying to rush her. Rushing her would make her bolt and after last night that wasn’t an option.

Anything but possessing her wasn’t an option.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*

“Michael, you’re a real ass, do you know that?”

Ahh, the sweet sound of love. Liz thought to herself as she made her way through the locker room to the dining room of The Crashdown.

“Maria, just take the damn food and get outta the damn kitchen so I can do my damn job.”

“Ugh! You are so infuriating! You’re lucky we’re on duty buddy, otherwise I’d chop you in the throat.”

Liz bit her lip to keep from laughing at the antics of her best friend. The Lord only knew what they were arguing about now.

“Out! Out with you woman!”

The door to the kitchen slammed open and Liz jumped out of the way just in time.

“MEN!” Maria said as she made her way around Liz, to the door, with the trays of food balanced precariously in her hands, “Why oh whyyyyy do we put up with them? I think all women are secretly masochistic. We have to be. It’s the only explanation for it.” With one last sound of disgust Maria bumped the door with her backside and made her way out the door.

“Good morning to you too, Maria.” Liz said as she rolled her eyes and followed her friend into the dining area.

She walked out the door and moved toward the coffee machine when she felt that familiar tingle at the back of her neck.

Max.

He was sitting at his usual table drinking a cup of coffee with Tess sitting across from him. To this day Liz could never figure out where he got the balls to come in here with his new girlfriend and eat as if nothing ever happened between them. It made it worse that she knew he watched her when he thought she wasn’t looking.

And it wasn’t necessarily always his eyes that were focused on her.

Sometimes she swore she could feel him trying to connect with her mentally, pulling on whatever it was that bound them together. But it was always gone as quickly as it had come and whenever she would glance at him, when those feelings would trickle through her subconscious, he was never staring at her. He was always doing something else. Seemingly engrossed in whatever task he was trying to accomplish. Be it homework, reading, or staring into the eyes of Tess Harding.

Ignoring the couple, Liz made her cup of coffee and watched out of the corner of her eye as Maria practically threw Max and Tess’ breakfast at them. “Your highness. Your whoreness.”

Liz choked on the sip of coffee she had just taken and quickly reached for a napkin.

“Maria…” Max warned.

Tess glared up at Maria, “It’s too early for your childishness Maria. Just do your job and serve the food.”

Not perturbed by either of them, Maria smiled sweetly and leaned forward on the table, “Well, if the service is not to your liking maybe I can suggest the restaurant on the other side of town. You know where the owner of the restaurant isn’t the father of your boyfriends ex-girlfriend.”

Tess matched Maria’s saccharine smile with one of her own, “Oh, but I do so love it here. After all, this place has the best view of any cafe in town. You can see every table from any corner of the restaurant. That way there’s nowhere to hide or be hidden from all the wonderful employees here.” Tess’s eyes lifted to the general direction of Liz, “They get to see you each. And. Every. Day.”

“Aww, well aren’t you just a little ray of sunshine darlin’. It must be so pleasant to live in your delusional world where your boyfriend actually loves you.”

Tess’s eyes narrowed dangerously, “You bi-.”

“Enough.” Came Max’s quiet but stern voice. “Maria, please leave us alone.”

Maria opened her mouth to protest, but something in Max’s eyes seemed to make her stop, “Enjoy your meal. Don’t choke.”

“Do you always have to get the last word?” Liz asked when Maria reached the counter where she was sitting.

“Hey, it’s how I start my day best.” Maria made her way to the coke machine and poured out some drink orders, “You’d think she’d be used to this by now. I’ve made it very clear that she’s not welcome, yet she insists on bringing her tired ass over here.” Maria pursed her lips as she placed a fresh tray on the counter, “If she wants to act the part of a vindictive bitch she has to deal with the fact that I play the role better.”

Liz sighed heavily, “Maria, just let it go. It’s not worth it.”

Maria sighed in exaggerated appreciation, “Oh, but it is. It’s worth watching the two of them fight in that booth every time I tell her where to go and how to get there.”

Liz turned her head slightly to the side and watched as Max’s jaw clenched at whatever Tess was furiously saying to him.

It wasn’t fair to him. He didn’t do anything wrong by trying to move on. But he didn’t seem to mind parading his and Tess’s status in Liz’s face either.

So which of the two evils was the lesser one? Liz didn’t have the answer. There was no winning in this particular situation.

And as the door to The Crashdown opened, Liz realized it could get worse.

Lucas’s green eyes surveyed the restaurant right before his face lifted in a smile as he caught Liz’s eye. Immediately, a feeling of hostility burned through her and it took her a few seconds to realize that it wasn’t her feelings but rather they were coming from a honey colored eyed alien.

Well damn. Someone’s having a hard time hiding his emotions today.

At the moment, Liz was hard pressed to smile back as she had yet to gain control of her own feelings but Lucas seemed unfazed as he made his way to the free stool next to her and gave her a slow kiss on the cheek.

“Good morning, gorgeous.”

“G-good morning.” Liz managed to get out. Her throat was tight, her eyes burned something fierce and her lips seemed to be pressed together so tight that they must have been white from the lack of blood flowing into them. Liz managed to blink at Max’s direction and the minute her eyes touched Max’s general vicinity the anger that had taken over her senses immediately dropped and dissipated. She could breathe again.

“Liz? Liz, are you allright?”

“Wha-.” Max threw some money on the table and made his way to the exit with a protesting Tess behind him. His eyes met hers for the briefest of seconds and the triumph that entered her eyes was foreign to her but she couldn’t seem to help it. Couldn’t seem to stop the half smirk that lifted her lips.

Take that Evans.

His mouth slid open slightly as his eyes glittered with anger and then he was gone.

“Hellooooo. Earth to Liz.”

Liz flicked her eyes back to Lucas before giving him a quick smile, “Sorry. I was just, uh…”

“Glaring at that guy with the blonde?”

Liz blushed as she bit her bottom lip and tried to think of an acceptable excuse. When none was forthcoming she decided on the truth. There were so few things in her life that she could be honest about, this seemed like one of the few times that lying wasn’t priority. “Yeah, something like that.” She got out. She still didn’t know where she had gotten the guts to glare at Max like that but she had to admit the elation at his anger felt strangely good.

God, what the hell was she becoming? Was she really that petty?

Lucas raised his eyebrows, “Is there a particular reason why you don’t like him?”

Liz sighed, “It’s a very-.”

“Long and dramatic story, that requires tons of time and energy to listen to. So I suggest you avoid the subject if you want to maintain your sanity.” Maria blurted out as she wiped down the counter in front of them.

”Gee thanks, Maria.” Liz said with sarcasm, “Didn’t your Mom ever teach you the term M.Y.O.B?”

Maria shook her head, “Sorry, no comprendo.”

Lucas tried to hide a snicker before reaching for Liz’s free hand and standing up, “Come on, let’s go get that cup of coffee.”

She started at the bolt of electricity that shot up her arm at Lucas’s touch before discreetly taking back her hand. With a slightly nervous smile, she lifted her coffee cup, “Ummm, we have coffee here. I thought we were just going to stay……….here.”

He grabbed her cup and set it on the counter with a small smile, “You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted my world famous coffee. And I just so happen to have a container full at my house.”

Liz raised her eyebrows at him, “Your house?”

He nodded before tilting his head to the side, “What’s the matter Liz? You don’t trust me?”

Liz lifted her chin as she stared at him, her suspicious instincts kicking in. “Should I?”

Lucas grinned impishly, “You trusted me enough last night.” He said quietly.

Her eyes widened, “Yeah,” She said on a surprised laugh. He had a point. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

“Don’t worry Liz. I promise to be a good boy….as long as you want me to be.”

“Uh oh,” Liz started, “I don’t know how much I’ll be able to trust you in an enclosed space like that.”

“Well, actually, I said my house, but there’s something I want to show you that I think you’ll like.”

“Oh?”

Lucas reached for her hand again and clasped her fingers in between his own, “Just trust me.” He reiterated, “You won’t be disappointed.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~***~*~*~~*~*

Sorry for the delay people! Got a nice long part to make up for it though. Hopefully this will be enough to let you guys find it in your hearts to forgive me...

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback!
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Liz took a deep breath of the fresh New Mexican air and closed her eyes feeling almost completely at peace…….almost.

Lucas’ gaze was burning a hole in her cheek and she was hard pressed not to meet his eyes with her own.

“So, what do you think?” He asked softly.

Liz opened her eyes slowly and took one more look at the vast landscape of the mountains, the desert and the blue skies surrounding it all. “It’s breathtaking.”

The balcony she was standing on was on the second floor of Lucas’ house right outside of his room. His house had been located on the very outskirts of town. A few more feet and he would be in the middle of nowhere.

The sun beat down gently onto the cloth of her white short sleeve button down shirt and the soft breeze fluttered her hair away from her face. She could taste the sweetness of the clean air on her tongue as she licked her lips.

“I have a balcony too.” She said softly, “It’s kind of like my oasis.” She finally turned her eyes towards his, “But my view of the street doesn’t compare to this one.” She took another deep breath and sighed, “This must be great at night. So quiet.”

Lucas pushed off the wall he was leaning on behind her and made his way over her. He bent slightly forward on the railing next to her and stared out into the distance, “Nights over here are….different.”

“How do you mean?”

His eyes narrowed slightly, “It gets very surreal in the dark over here. It’s almost as if since there aren’t as many people around to see what’s going on things that you normally wouldn’t pay attention to just kind of……..suddenly take their place in the forefront.”

Liz scrunched her eyebrows, “I’m not sure I’m following you.”

Lucas kept his gaze straight ahead, his expression not changing, “Forget it.” He said quietly, “I shouldn’t try to wax poetic. I’m terrible at it.”

She tilted her head to the side and smiled slightly, “Well, most poets tend to make you try and dig deeper to get the point of what they’re trying to say. It’ll just take me a little while to see what makes you tick.” She teased.

Instead of smiling at her attempt to lighten the conversation, a slight scowl took over his features as he turned his head towards her, “Oh, now you suddenly want to speak as if we have something?”

Liz’s smile faded as she stiffened at his harsh words, “I told you-.”

Lucas’ lips pursed, “Yeah I remember what you said.” He sighed and his shoulders sagged, “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that. I’m thinking way too much about this.”

Liz turned slightly angry eyes in his direction as she pushed off her spot on the railing, facing him with her arms crossed in front of her, “What exactly do you mean by that?”

His body didn’t move from his stiff posture, “You….confuse the hell outta me.”

Now it was Liz’s turn to be confused, “What?”

He seemed to try and shy away from her a bit as he nervously tapped his thumbs together, “You…..” Another sigh slipped out of his mouth before he turned inquisitive eyes in her direction. “You’re different. And I hate that…you make me feel…..”

Liz’s eyes scrunched up even more as she fought between frustration and anticipation. She moved until she was almost touching him on the railing, “I make you feel what, Lucas? I don’t get what you’re trying to tell me.”

His eyes met hers and for a heart stopping moment they were the eyes of someone else. There was something there. Calling out to her.

But that was silly………

“Lucas…” She said softly.

He reached up slowly and rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb as he followed the movement with his eyes, “You really want to know?” He practically whispered.

Before she could answer, his palm was cupping the back of her neck, tilting her face up to his before bringing her lips to his own. The warmth of his mouth was startling and it took all she was not to moan against his lips as his tongue licked the inside of her mouth with a ferocity that made her heart stop. He pulled her up against his body as his other hand slid to her hip and grabbed onto her in what felt like desperation. She met his tongue with her own again and again and gave into everything that had been humming in her since the night before. The way his moods changed so quickly was baffling, but when it came to his kisses, all she could do was surrender. It was all she wanted to do.

God, he could consume her if she let him…….

Her lower belly tightened and the darkness behind her eyes was beginning to lighten……

Lucas broke away from her abruptly and his breath tickled her lips as it came out of his mouth rapidly, “That’s how I feel. Hot,” He bit her lower lip softly, before licking it once, “Crazy.” Another nip, “God, you have no idea…”

Liz’s eyes fluttered slightly as she tried to get her bearings back and control her own breathing. Her heart was in her throat and all she wanted was to go back and rewind the last couple of minutes and do it over and over again. He was quickly becoming addicting and that wasn’t what she needed right now. However, what she wanted was a whole other story………

She swallowed and lifted her eyes to his, her lips slightly parted as her breath escaped in slight puffs. “We don’t even know each other. I barely know anything about you or where you come from…..”

Lucas ran a hand down her back and pushed her against him once without responding to her comment. The evidence of his arousal clearly outlined against his jeans was now resting on her belly and she bit back a foreign emotion. She wanted desperately to forget responsibility or even logic. There was a night, once, long ago that she had done that. Forgotten everything that was her responsibility and only thought about what she truly wanted. It hadn’t ended the way she thought it would but the journey there still brought shivers down her spine.

This was one of those times that she wanted to forget……………

“You’re right. You don’t know me.” Lucas bent over and kissed her cheek before moving to her temple where he rested his lips there momentarily. She could feel his breath against the shell of her ear as he continued, “But I want you too. And I want to know everything about you. And that is what scares me and confuses me. I’m not normally this way.”

Liz pushed back from his embrace slightly and looked up into his face, “And how are you normally?”

Lucas’ mouth quirked up, “An asshole.”

Liz’s eyebrows scrunched together, “What?”

“Well, maybe not as harsh as that, but I am a teenage guy and I’ve never wanted to….I’ve never wanted to…….God I’m screwing this up aren’t I?”

Liz’s eyes searched his, “Maybe….” His face looked so earnest, so eerily familiar………

Lucas lowered his forehead to hers and rested it there and her heart stopped………

“M-maybe we should go get that famous coffee of yours.” Liz said abruptly as she pulled away from him. Her eyes darted everywhere but at him.

Lucas gave her a look mixed with both suspicion and hurt, “Did I freak you out?”

Liz took a deep breath and looked into the distance of the desert before turning her eyes back to his, “Yeah, maybe a little.” After a moment that looked like indecision, she smiled at him a little nervously, “But it’s ok.” She nodded her head and her next smile was a bit more confident, “It takes a lot to truly freak me out these days.”

She reached for his hand and squeezed it in her own, “Now, let’s go get that coffee.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Zan turned his head to the neck lying so close to his lips, nudged the collar of her shirt out of the way and placed a wet kiss to the steadily beating pulse. Liz was sitting in front of him in between his legs on the floor of his balcony on top of a blanket that he had laid down underneath them both.

She seemed strangely content as she sipped on her coffee and gazed into the desert once more. He had no idea what her obsession was with the sand out there but she would glance at him every now and then and gaze out into the sea of brown.

He leaned his head back against the wall behind him as he stared sight unseeing into the desert with her.

He wished he knew what the hell had happened earlier. He wished he knew what had made him move into sappy romantic territory so effortlessly. Every word that had come out of his mouth has seemed so foreign but at the same time so familiar.

But nonetheless it had worked. She had easily brought her lips to his time and again with no prodding. He could feel her eyes constantly run over his form and it took everything in him not to start peeling off her clothing one piece at a time.

“You were right. This is good coffee.” She said breaking the comfortable silence. She turned herself slightly from her place in between his legs and sat sideways so that she could look into his lowered face, “What makes it so special?”

Zan turned a half grin in her direction, “Now, now. I can’t reveal all my secrets to you can I?”

Liz looked away for a moment before slowly smiling up at him. The heat in her smile made his eyes widen slightly in surprise. She was looking at him damn sensually and it made things in him tighten immediately.

“No. I guess you can’t.” She placed the coffee to the side before sliding a hand into the back of his neck and sifted through the strands there, “So how about we get back to the less secretive parts of your life.”

Zan lifted an eyebrow, “And what would those parts be?” He said softly, his expression turning guarded.

“These.” Liz brought her lips up to his and immediately probed with her tongue for entrance, causing Zan to unwillingly groan outloud.

What was with this woman that caused everything in him to lose control?

Liz’s hand started making its way down his shirt, up under the bottom of it, to the hot flesh beneath and his eyes opened immediately in surprise as his lips continued to massage against hers. Her hand skimmed its way down his back, against the warm skin to his stomach. Her fingers seemed to search every indent of his belly and it was causing the throbbing between his legs to reach tenfold.

He finally broke away from her, “Liz, what are you trying to do to me?”

Her eyes opened slowly as if in a fog, before she smiled up at him, “I wasn’t aware that I was doing anything particularly special.” Her smile faded slightly, “Am I making you uncomfortable?”

Zan almost slapped himself on the forehead. What the hell was he doing? Was it even possible to cock-block yourself? What the fuck was going on? She was moving things forward, he was barely making any type of moves and here he was stopping her from touching him even slightly intimately.

God, he needed to stop acting like a little lost boy and start acting like the man who ruled a planet not the man who couldn’t hold down a girlfriend.

He ran his fingers through the bottom of her hair and grinned at her, before tilting her head to the side once more and licking a path down her neck and relishing in her slight squeal of surprise, “I’d say I was uncomfortable. But…not the way you’d think.”

Zan shifted and made sure she felt his hard on before he smirked at her again with a slight bit of boyish charm.

Liz turned confused eyes up to him before embarrassed understanding flooded her gaze.

“Oh.” She said as she bit her bottom lip.

With a groan, he soothed the section she had just bitten with his thumb, “God, don’t do that. You look so sexy when you do that.” He shifted once more slightly, and watched her blush. “Don’t be embarrassed.” He said quietly before taking her hand to his lips and kissing the tips of her fingers.

Her eyes started to glaze over slightly as she watched him kiss the pads almost reverently, “I just….this is moving a little fast for me.”

Zan moved her hand over his lips, cheeks, down to his neck, stroking the soft skin of his body with her fingertips, “Why don’t we make a deal?”

Her hand was now moving over the collar of his shirt, to the top of his chest, “What kind of deal?” She said on a whisper, her eyes still following the path he was creating.

This was it. This was where he moved it forward but still made it seem like her choice. There could be no room for doubt in an hour or the next day.

Tread carefully Zan.

“I’m going to move my hand and-.” He had to stop on a shudder as he unconsciously slid her hand over his nipple and she had accidentally pulled the ring he had looped there. It was one of the few pieces of exotic jewelry he had allowed himself to keep and it never failed to send him into another dimension when pulled just so.

Her eyes furrowed in puzzlement as she started to move her hand over his nipple, trying to figure out what the hard object was. “What’s this?”

She was kidding him right?

She pulled it again and he ground out another sound, he could feel his eyes start to warm and if it hadn’t been for the contacts, the jig would have been up sooner than later. “You…you don’t know what that is?”

Liz shook her head and he could almost see the wheels turning as her inquisitive but naïve mind tried to put it all together. Never removing his burning gaze from hers, he reached for the bottom of his t-shirt and slowly pulled it up revealing more of the obvious bulge in his pants than he meant to. His hard abdominal muscles contracted as her hungry stare devoured the path he had set forward for her. He lifted the t-shirt up over his nipple and grinned as she blushed furiously.

“Oh.”

“That’s the second time you’ve said that today.”

“Is that…what I think it is?” She stared at the silver hoop in part amusement part fascination before flicking it with her fingertip once more.

Zan groaned again, “It’s a nipple ring. And if you don’t stop pulling it like that you’re going to make me embarrass myself.”

Her eyes lowered briefly and when they lifted again to his the look there sent the rest of his blood straight to his groin. God, he could just see the power trip flaming through her brown depths.

“Doing that doesn’t hurt?” She asked quietly as she looked like she was holding back a small smile. “I mean, it…it…”

“Turns me on?” At her nod he continued with a steamy look, “Oh hell yeah.”

He took her hand once more in his and brought the tip of her pointer finger into the loop, before pulling gently and letting out a small huff. With a hiss, he helped her pull it again, “Just like that. Gently but firmly. You do that enough and well…..I’ll be embarrassing myself real quick.” He repeated.

Liz surprised him by letting out a soft moan of her own.

Zan lifted his eyebrow as he ran a hand over her back, “Does that turn you on, beautiful? Knowing that I can’t control myself around you?” Not waiting for a response, he pushed her closer to his body and ran his tongue down the open vee of her shirt. “You taste so good.” He said softly. “I want to taste all of you.”

“Oh God.” She breathed.

He brought his fingers to the top button of her shirt and unbuttoned it to reveal the tank top underneath. He mouthed the skin above the swell of her breast and when he felt her hand on the back of his head, pressing him to her, he knew she was a goner.

But how far could he take it?

With a throaty chuckle, he unbuttoned the rest of the shirt and pushed it gently down her shoulders, kissing her now almost bare left shoulder reverently as she moved slightly to help him remove it. His fingers slid up under her tank top smoothly and he gently grasped the area under her bra with his hand, letting her get used to the feeling of him there. He felt rather than her heard her heartbeat increase as he lifted her up slightly and moved her over his lap so that she was straddling him.

He gritted his teeth in frustration as he felt her stiffen when her warmth encountered the bulge in his jeans, “Are you okay?” He managed to get out.

Liz buried her face in his neck for a second and took a deep breath in and then abruptly froze, “You…you smell…..good. Really, really good.” Another deep breath and what seemed to be a sigh of satisfaction.

He moved her off his neck and gave her a quizzical look, “Oookay. What are you talking about?”

Instead of looking self-conscious, she leaned back forward and breathed in again before nipping the exposed skin of his neck once. She pushed her hips forward against him and moaned into his ear before licking the sensitive area underneath.

“Holy…” Zan managed to get out before grabbing her hips with his hands and pushing her against him once more and to his delight felt her respond eagerly.

He didn’t know what was making her suddenly so bold but he wasn’t going to ask questions. She could sniff him to Kingdom Come if it made her act like this…..or at least till someone came.

With a hidden smirk, he brought her lips to his once more. He slid his hand back up under her tank top to the outside of her bra and squeezed the nipple softly. Her squeal of surprised delight made his heart start to pound and he knew that just as easily as she had been lost to this moment, so was he.

Zan’s hand surrounded the fullness of her breast gently as he squeezed her nipple once more through the fabric. Without a word, Liz moved into his touch as her kisses became more frantic. By the time Zan had pushed her tank top up under her arms and the cup of her bra out of the way revealing the bare skin underneath, Liz was pushing against his hardness with abandon, her head thrown back as his mouth was sucking a mark into the softness of her neck.

“Oh God…….” She breathed.

Oh God was right.

Zan had never felt the heat that was searing through his senses at this moment. He had never felt this frantic need to bury himself in someone before. To lose himself……..

“Lucas…..please…….”

He knew she had no idea what she was asking for. He knew she was grasping for something she truly did not understand. Nonetheless, this moment was what he had been seeking from day one and he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Right?

Suddenly, he wasn’t so sure what he was feeling as he lifted his shirt up and off the rest of the way. Even her gasp didn’t do anything to appease the strange feelings of disquiet. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he wasn’t entirely sure what her gasp was for. A look into her face told him nothing. She had a strange mix of satisfaction and fear in her eyes and he almost didn’t move his mouth over the hardened nipple sticking out from underneath her bra cup……almost.

Even he had his limits.

He laved the nipple and bit down gently with his teeth and was rewarded with a moan that he would quickly learn to love.

Liz’s fingernails scraped against his bare back gently as she held onto him. He felt her hand lift his head away and he let out a groan of protest.

“Shhhhh. An eye for an eye.” Her throatily said words confused him until she lowered her mouth to his pierced nipple and tugged on the ring with her teeth before licking the nipple into hardness.

“Holy shit.”

Before Liz could react, she was flipped onto her back looking up into Zans’ hot gaze. “You are so hot, Beautiful.” He murmured before taking her nipple into his mouth and laving it with his tongue once more. Liz moaned loudly and raised her back off the floor, trying to get as much of her into his mouth as possible.

“Oh fuck yeah.” Zan said not thinking if it was something Lucas would say.

Liz moaned again as he reached underneath her and deftly unclipped her bra. Her breasts spilled out of their confines and met the warm air. She lifted her head without question to completely remove her tank top and let him slip the straps of her bra off her shoulders and down her arms.

He managed to quickly look into her face and saw hesitation hit her eyes as the bra and tank top was tossed to the side of his porch. Her mouth was slightly open as long breaths came out of it but her eyes were starting to lose some of their glow.

“Lucas…” She whispered and he heard the next words even before they were spoken.

Maybe we should stop…..

Sorry, Beautiful. Not this time.

Zan immediately took her other nipple into his mouth and sucked hard, loving the way her head fell back against the soft blanket on the porch; all uncertainty quickly forgotten. Her mouth opened further to the gasps leaving it over and over again, her protests never having a chance to be voiced.

“God……Lucas….” Her hands were buried in his hair. Holding him to her breast as if she never wanted him to stop.

He hummed with her nipple in his mouth before sliding his hand down her stomach to her hips. He removed her nipple from his mouth with a pop and returned to her lips, not giving her a second to think logically.

Never mind that nothing about this whole situation was logical.

She shouldn’t be so eager and he shouldn’t be so star-struck. The thought of leaving this moment unfinished brought an ache first to his heart and then to his hard-on.

That was the wrong order.

In fact his heart was never involved.

Ever.

And on second thought it wasn’t involved now either.

……..…Right?

His hand slid further inside of her warm thigh as his lips continued to devour hers over and over. Barely breathing, their entangled tongues flashing in the air every few seconds. When his hand cupped the warmth in between her legs and pressed down he felt her startled gasp and waited for her to throw him off. Instead he heard her practically purr in the back of her throat and moved her hips up to meet his hand.

Something was off. He should have been either stopped or slapped silly by now. Why was she responding to him so deliciously?

Why was he complaining?

With a groan, he managed not to cock-block himself once more by voicing any of these questions and instead popped off the button of her jeans, lowering the zipper so that he could better slip his hand in between her legs. He encountered searing heat through her panties and rubbed through the material feeling the wetness seeping through the cotton. She moaned into his mouth and continued swaying her hips to the slow rhythm he had established.

He was throbbing with want and it was only a matter of time before he would need to relieve some of the pressure. How far could he push this before she realized she was topless on his porch with a hand down her pants?

Zan slipped her panties to the side and touched her bare for the first time, letting his fingers slide up and down the wet liquid, before gently massaging the button up on top. She gasped into his mouth before breaking the kiss.

”Shit…” She whispered as her eyes squeezed shut. Her hips continued to move in time to the circles his hand was making.

Oh, you haven’t seen nothing yet.

Zan slid his lips down her neck to her bare breasts once more and openly licked her nipples. Languidly sucking the hard peaks into his mouth, he very gently bit down onto one of them as he inserted a finger inside of her. It was a good thing he really didn’t have parents. Her satisfied sob would have brought them running.

Her jeans and panties had shimmied their way down her hips slightly and gave him better leverage…..or at least that’s what he’d tell her if she asked later on.

He moved his finger slowly inside of her, loving how tight her body was around it as she opened up to him over and over again. He slid his tongue into her belly button and licked the inside of it. The smell of her excitement hit his senses and he throbbed painfully at the scent.

“You smell so good.” He couldn’t help but whisper, “God, I want to taste you.”

His words seemed to wake her up slightly and she blinked rapidly before sitting up on her elbows slightly, breathing rapidly, “Holy…..what are we…I mean…what-.”

Zan looked up at her, his eyes heavy with lust, before sliding his tongue into the soft recesses of her heat.

After all, she didn’t say stop.

“Lucas!” She breathed in excitement, her eyes momentarily closing in ecstasy.

Oh yeah. She liked that.

Her jeans were getting in the way of him really being able to get into business the way he wanted to and he discreetly pulled them down lower until they were at the top of her knees. He rapidly licked her heat into his mouth once more and moaned as she started to get even wetter.

“Fuck…” He moaned into her. She tasted amazing. Her body responded to him so easily and he could practically taste her orgasm hovering on the edge, waiting for him to give it that nudge.

“Lucas, please, I…..Oh God…….”

He looked up and saw her staring at him from her perch on her elbows as air rapidly left her lips, her eyes clenching shut every so often as he licked a particularly sensitive spot.

“Come for me, Beautiful.” He whispered.

Liz’s eyes snapped open and met his. Her face burned in a fierce blush.

“Come for me.” He repeated, before sticking his tongue out visibly in the air and licking her from the bottom of her heat to the top button. He pursed his lips and sucked it into his mouth. “Mmmm…” He hummed.

When she screamed in orgasm, he shuddered visibly. His body strained for its own release, as it desperately wanted to follow her down into the point of no return.

Oh, but he could stay here forever.

Lazily, he continued to lick her until she calmed down before rising to her stomach and placing his cheek on the taunt skin. He raised his eyes to her face and Zan marveled at how beautiful she looked with her cheeks flushed and her eyes glittering.

“That was amazing.” He grinned.

Instead of a smile, Liz surprised him by groaning in what sounded like mortification and flopped onto her back, covering her face with her hands, “I’m so embarrassed.”


What?

“What?” Zan said outloud.

Without moving her hand from her face, Liz replied, “I can’t believe I let you do that. I can’t believe I made all those noises. Oh God! I made noises! Loud ones! Oh God. Earth, please just swallow me.”

He couldn’t help the snort that came out of his mouth at her blabbering. The snort was quickly followed by a deep laugh. Lord, she was adorable. So naive……

She dropped her hands from her face at the sound of his laughter, “Hey! Not funny! This is not funny! This is mortifying! Oh God. Where the hell is my shirt?” She gasped. “My jeans are practically off! I’m practically naked!”

Without warning him, Liz grabbed at the blanket underneath them both and pulled the edges as far as they would go up trying to cover her nakedness.

“Beautiful, you have to calm down.” Zan said quietly. He’d never had a female react this way to an orgasm before. His pride was about to be severely damaged if she kept this shit up.

“Calm down? Calm down!?”

“Yes, calm down.” Zan sat up and successfully pulled the blanket the rest of the way over her, before gathering her close to his body. “Better?”

Liz buried her face into his shoulder, “No.” She said in a small voice.

Well at least she wasn’t trying to run away from him. It didn’t seem like she didn’t want to be next to him so much as she was embarrassed at how she reacted to the whole thing.

“I can’t believe…”

“Shhhhh….” He shushed her, “Let me just ask you a question and I want you to answer it honestly, okay?”

He felt Liz nod into his shoulder before he continued, “It felt good didn’t it?”

“Jesus Lucas!”

“Liz…”

She lifted her head and looked into his face defiantly, “Yes! Happy?”

With a shake of his head, he continued, “No. Liz, I did what I did because I wanted to. Because you tasted amazing and because I loved to see you enjoying yourself that way. You looked gorgeous and I enjoyed every single, intoxicating second. And you shouldn’t be embarrassed by it.”

At his words, Liz blushed furiously but managed to retain eye contact. A small smile was even hovering at the edge of her lips. “How….how….how do you do something so one-sided? I mean….you didn’t…?”

Zan grinned, “Orgasm? No, I didn’t. But I’ll be fine. We’ll save that lesson for another time. Dr. Lucas’ examination was enough for one day.”

Liz groaned once more, before hiding her head into the blanket. Zan reached for the edge of her blanket and pulled it down slightly. She looked so cute peeking her brown eyes over the edge of the blanket that he couldn’t help but laugh. The strange thumping of his heart would be cause for some thought later on. Right now, he needed to make her feel comfortable to be like this with him.

Lord knew he was determined to make this the first of many liaisons.
*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The water was running in his bathroom.

Liz was in his bathroom cleaning his saliva from her bodies most private parts and it was taking all he was not to unzip his pants and take himself out. It would take so little to bring him over. One, two, three strokes later and it would be done. He would have his completion and he would be able to move on with his day without this insistent throbbing in between his legs.

But he didn’t want to do that. That would be too easy. He didn’t do easy.

He would wait. He would wait until she was ready to take matters into her own hands. Until she was ready to do what he really wanted. Earlier was only the beginning.

Zan licked his lips and he swore he could still taste her sweetness on them.

But what a beginning it had been…..
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*waves sheepishly*

Hey Ya'll. Its been waaaaaaaaaay too long since i've updated this fic. Planning a wedding leaves me no time for all the good stuff. But I do have something ready for you guys to read. And like some of you know, the ending of this fic is basically all written out, its the in between stuff that needs to get done. I dont know how much of a reassurance that is but at least you guys know that I am perfectly aware of where i want this to go.

With that said, I wanted to thank ya'll for the bumps and feedback! Its wonderful to read as always.

broe- Thanks!
touched by an alienThanks babe! It wasnt as soon as I hoped but I hope you're intrigued with this next part!
KiaraAlexisKlay- Liz will be gaining alot more confidence in her sensuality....Probably sooner than anyone thinks. Our little Liz is on her way to being all grown up. Stay tuned!
behrstars-Thank you! Glad you thought so.
Smac-Ooops. Smac you didnt like spontaneously combust did you? Cause like if you did I truly am sorry.. I suck. I know.
ShatteredDreamer- Thank you for the constant support ShatteredDreamer!
flyawayraven- All very interesting questions. very interesting indeed....
Zanssoulmate08- Here I am! I swear i didnt dissapear!
behrluv32-Im sorry its making you sad. But Zan is a bad, bad boy. However, I wouldnt count out Liz just yet. She extremely intelligent. Lets not forget that.
Alien_Friend-ROFLMAO - Its so funny that you should say that, cause I use that line again here in a different sort of way. Im glad you like my Maria! Shes my favorite to write. Plus a portion of this nex part is in her point of view! Hopefully i'll continue to do her justice..

Onward Forth:
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“You know where to go and how to get there, Michael. And if you’re too stupid to figure it out, I will be more than happy to draw your dumb ass a map.”

Maria snatched the plates off the ledge of the pickup window before he could respond and stomped over to her customers. She dropped the food in front of them unceremoniously, ignoring the looks of annoyance they threw her way.

Of all the nerve!

Michael had just finished giving her a lecture on being nicer to Max and Tess. Needless to say it hadn’t gone well.

If there was anyone that needed to start being nicer to anybody around here, it was Michael to the whole damn world. Of all people to be delivering sermons on ‘give peace a chance’, Michael was the last person who should try.

Max deserved every bit of her attitude. He deliberately paraded that blond skank everywhere he went and made sure Liz saw every second of it.

As for Tess, she was lucky Maria didn’t push her in front of a truck and end everyone’s misery.

Just the thought of the smirk that appeared on Tess’ face every time Liz looked their way made her tremble in anger. She couldn’t wait for the day that Tess really pushed the envelope with her. She practically quivered with the thought of telling her all the reasons why she was perceived to be a skanky hoe.

Reason number four thousand three hundred and ninety six: Simply put, your presence causes me to dry heave.

Maria grinned at her thought as she wiped down an empty table vigorously, picturing that it was Tess’ face that she was wiping off.

If only it were that simple.

She knew that Max had no clue what had truly happened between Liz and Kyle. She knew that he felt he had a right to feel hurt and betrayed and technically he was correct in his feelings. Truth be told, if it had been her she probably would have flayed Michaels private parts and barbecued them for a satisfying dinner.

However, that didn’t take away from the fact that Liz was hurting every day. Every night. It didn’t take away from the fact that her best friend had to bear witness to the atrocity of the Max/Tess relationship and in the end she was innocent of any and all wrongdoings.

Still…..

Maria sympathized with Max. She truly did. She knew the inside of that boys heart. Knew how bad it must be damaged. How he must ache just like Liz, if not more.

Too bad you couldn’t have it both ways.

It was either Liz did the right thing and accept the consequences, or do what her heart desired and watch the world crumble into a million pieces.

Maria’s hand stopped scrubbing the table for a second as a familiar niggling doubt entered her conscious mind. It always bothered her how convenient it was that Max and Liz’s relationship was the reason the world ended. As it was, Tess and Max were together now and the world wasn’t looking any cheerier. In fact, it was downright horrid to have to face the couple on a daily basis.

Maria’s hand picked up speed once more as she tried to dismiss both her argument with Michael and her dreary thoughts.

Whatever.

Liz was on her way to moving on with a fine as sin boy-toy that looked like he would devour her in an instant. And she deserved it.

Besides, seeing that pissed off expression on Max’s face at the sight of Lucas was enough to make her smile for hours.

No one said she was easy to understand.

“Who is he?”

Maria shrieked and jumped at the deep, angry voice rumbling in her ear.

“You scared the living daylights out of me, Max!” She threw the dirty rag at his face and tried to stop the rapid thumping of her heart.

Max calmly took the rag off of his cheek and threw it on the table. He crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows at her, “Well?”

“Well what?”

Max rolled his eyes, “Who is he?” He repeated.

Maria placed her hands on her hips and gave him a look, “Care to give me a little more info than that?”

His eyes penetrated into hers and it took her a second to recognize the barely suppressed rage that was building in them. He looked for all intents and purposes like he was about a centimeter away from flying off the handle.

But behind it all was the sadness that seemed to consume him day in and day out. The sadness that she tried so hard to ignore so that she wouldn’t drown in her own guilt.

The sadness was the clue she needed to realize that Max was digging for information on Lucas.

“Oh.” She said simply. “What difference does it make, Max?” The guilt automatically made her turn defensive. Sometimes, she hated that she felt any sympathy for him. That summer that Liz had been away had been an eye opener for the inner workings of Max Evans. Now, however, she barely recognized him and she needed to constantly remind herself that the boy she once knew, was gone.

To his credit, Max shifted uncomfortably at the question, “I need to know who this guy is, Maria. For all of our safety.”

With a roll of her eyes, Maria grabbed up the rag once more and made her way back to the counter, “Don’t even go there, Max.” She called over her shoulder, not believing for one second that his fishing was all about concern for their well-being.

She heard his footsteps behind her and before she could make it behind the counter, she felt his arm grab hers and turn her almost roughly around, “Hey!” She said in protest, trying to get out of his grip.

“Maria, I’m not letting you go anywhere until you answer my question.”

She ripped her arm out of his hand and glared at him, “Listen to me buddy, I will go wherever I damn well please. I don’t need your permission. You sure as shit ain’t [/I]my[/I] king.” As his mouth opened to argue further with her, she cut him off, “You know Max, maybe if you wouldn’t try and feed me the bullshit story about needing to know about Lucas for our ‘safety’, I would have been a little bit more receptive about giving you more info.”

His eyes immediately looked guarded, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re just pissed off because Liz is seeing someone else.”

“So, she’s seeing him.”

Maria’s mouth opened and closed, “I didn’t say that.”

“Yes, you did. You just said that Liz’s seeing this guy.”

Maria’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water a couple more times before she turned on her heel and finally made her way behind the counter, “Don’t put words in my mouth, Max.”

A sound of frustration sounded before she heard a thump and saw Max sitting on one of the stools with his head on the counter in front of him. “You’re impossible, do you know that?”

She couldn’t help the twitch of a smile, “So I’ve heard.”

Max raised his head a quarter of an inch, looking at her with only his eyes, “So, you gonna tell me?”

“You’re really trying to get me to betray the girl code?”

“Girl code?”

“The one where we don’t spill the beans about our BFF’s private lives to their ex-boyfriends.”

Max sat up and ran his hands through his hair in frustration, “I just…..She’s really seeing him, ‘Ria?” He said softly.

Maria swore her little heart broke into a million pieces at his dejected expression. His use of her nickname didn’t help matters any. He had only used it during their conversations that infamous summer when Liz was gone. She could almost remember what he used to be like…..

But then she remembered what he was now…..

“Yeah, Max she might be seeing him. Unlike you, who is definitely dating Tess.” She spat with arched eyebrows, suddenly angry with him again.

Max sat up straighter, “This has nothing to do with Tess. Don’t start Maria.”

“Obviously a lot of what you’re doing here has nothing to do with Tess since you’re suddenly so interested in what [/I]Liz[/I] is doing.” Maria sighed. “Go home to your girlfriend, Max. Stay out of Liz’s life. It will make all of our lives easier.” Maria strode towards the milkshake machine, dismissing him. But Max would not be so easily deterred.

“Don’t you think I wish it was that easy?” He said softly.

Lord, but she wanted off this emotional roller coaster.

She slammed the cup currently in her hand down onto the counter before striding over to him. “Okay listen up and listen good, ‘cause I’m only going to tell you this once.” She tapped her fingernails on the table, trying to figure out what to reveal and what would truly be breaking the girl code. “His name is Lucas. He just moved here about a month ago. He’s got muscles to die for and the most amazing green eyes.” Maria stopped for a moment at Max’s annoyed expression, “What? Anyway, the only other thing I know is that he lives on the other side of town ‘cause Liz called me from there earlier and-.”

“Whoa! Hold on!” Max stood up from the stool abruptly, “She’s at his house?! By herself?! With someone she barely knows?! Tell me exactly where he lives Maria!”

Oops. Wow. She really did have a big mouth.

“Listen, Max, Liz’s a big girl and can take care of herself. Besides, even if I did know where he lived I wouldn’t tell you. You’d only go over there and make a total fool of yourself.”

“I’ll go find them myself.” Max started to turn away when Maria gently took his arm.

When he turned to meet her eyes, she made sure she allowed some compassion to show. “Max,” She started gently, “Liz is not your girlfriend anymore. She’s not even your friend anymore. She’s not your anything. Please remind yourself of that before indulging in the crazy.”

The anger and jealously was swiftly replaced with pain. His eyes darted back and forth over the walls, tables, customers, anywhere but at her. He removed himself from her grip and took a step back, “I’m sorry I grabbed you like that before, Maria. Sometimes….sometimes I don’t recognize myself anymore and I…..I’m sorry.”

She was about to open her mouth to reply, when he suddenly stiffened in front of her and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath as if inhaling something before opening his lids slowly. Before she could ask him what happened, the door to the Crashdown jingled and in walked Liz and Lucas with his arm around her, laughing at something.

By the time she turned back to where Max was standing, he was gone, the door to the back room swinging on its hinges.

She had a funny feeling the drama-for-your-momma was far from over.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*

“So, you gonna tell me what’s got you blushing so much?”

Liz jumped at Maria’s voice as she watched her slide into the booth across from her.

Liz felt her blush deepen, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Maria.”

Maria grabbed up Liz’s fork and cut into the piece of Men in Blackberry pie that was currently sitting in front of her, “Sure you do. And you better tell me quick before Lucas gets back from the bathroom.”

Liz watched the piece of pie disappear into Maria’s mouth before she took back the fork with a small glare, “Why would you assume that I’d tell you?”

“AHA! So something did happen! Spill!”

Liz groaned before letting a small smile creep up, “A lot of somethings happened.” She sighed before continuing, “I really like him, Maria. Maybe too much.”

Maria smiled softly at her, “It’s okay to be attracted to him, Liz. He’s a certified hottie.” A frown replaced her smile, “Just be careful with King Czechoslovakian.”

Liz felt her heart thump hard at the reference to Max, “What? Why would you say that? Did he say something to you?”

Maria shrugged uncomfortably, “I, ummm, may have inferred that you and Lucas were kinda sorta seeing each other.”

Liz pursed her lips, “You may have, or you did?”

Maria squirmed in her seat, “Well, I mean, he came in here demanding answers and please believe me when I say that I didn’t tell him anything at first but then….then…shit Liz, he gave me those dejected puppy dog eyes and I couldn’t help it. I mean the guilt is KILLING me.”

Liz gave Maria a pained expression. She felt bad that her friend had to lie everyday for her sake. But it wasn’t just for her sake, it was for the whole damned worlds sake. “Maria, what did you tell him? I mean, there really isn’t anything to tell.”

Maria leaned back with a sigh, “I just told him his name was Lucas and that he just moved here and then Itoldhimyouwereathishouse. So you see? Nothing at all. Oh look, one of my customers is waving at me. Gotta go.”

Liz reached out and grabbed Maria’s hand as she stood, preventing her from moving from the table, “Sit.”

Reluctantly, Maria sat back down and rubbed at her wrist, “What is with people grabbing me today?” She grumbled.

Liz gave her a confused expression, “What?”

“Nothing. Never mind.”

Liz pushed her plate to the side, suddenly not so hungry, “So, if I read my Maria dictionary, will it define what you just said as, ‘I told him you were at his house?’”

Maria nodded reluctantly, “It just kinda slipped out.”

“Slipped out?”

“Uh huh. That was right after I let it slip that you were sorta seeing Lucas.”

Liz sighed and put her head in one hand. She bit her lower lip before responding, “It’s ok Maria.”

Maria let out a sigh of relief and then gave her a look filled with disbelief, “What?”

Liz grabbed back her plate and spooned a forkful of pie into her mouth, chewing and swallowing before answering, “Why should I care? This is exactly what he needs to see in order to completely move on. This….is a good thing.”

Maria raised her eyebrows, “Liz, honey, you didn’t see how furious he was. I don’t think…..I don’t think he’s any more ready to move on today than he was yesterday. He was talking about going over to Lucas’ house after he found out you were there.”

The only reaction that Liz allowed to Maria’s words was a small bite to her lower lip as she slowly shrugged, “I can’t let that get to me. If I don’t move on, then he never will. I mean he’s already with Tess. Pretty soon, he’ll forget all about me.” But even to Liz’s ears it sounded pretty unconvincing.

Maria shook her head slowly, “If you say so, Pumpkin.” At that moment she glanced behind Liz, “Damn, Lucas is coming back. Now I won’t know any of the juicy details till later.”

For a second, Liz froze in her seat as she prepared herself to have Lucas sitting across from her, grinning at her and licking his lips. He was constantly inadvertently reminding her of what he had done. She shivered as a mental picture of his dark strands between her legs flashed through her mind. However, when he lifted his head, the face looking back at her was….Max.

Shit.

“Penny for your thoughts.” A deep voice said in her ear.

Liz jumped slightly, before turning to smile at Lucas, who was leaning over her shoulder from behind the booth. “Eh. Nothing too interesting.”

A slow smile appeared on his face as his eyes roamed over her countenance, “Hmmm, you sure about that? Something tells me I would really like to know where your thoughts were headed.”

At the sound of Maria’s snort, Lucas’ eyes finally shifted from Liz’s.

“I think it’s time for me to get back to my shift.” Maria said, amusement layering her voice.

“Don’t leave on my account.” He sat in the booth next to Liz, pressed close to her side, an arm going around her shoulders. His face leaned down to her cheek, before lightly pressing a kiss to the soft skin. “Besides, I like it on this side of the booth better.”

Maria rolled her eyes as she slid out of the booth, “All right, Casanova. I really don’t want to bear witness to your attempts at romance, so I’ll just skidaddle.”

Lucas leisurely slid his eyes over her form, before burning them up to her face. He raised one eyebrow slowly at her, “When it comes to romance, nothing I do is an attempt. Everything I do comes to a satisfying conclusion.” He said lowly.

Liz watched in amazement as Maria’s eyes widened as she blushed, stuttering out a goodbye. She quickly hurried to the window, before picking up the order that she wasn’t so concerned about just moments before.

“Well, at least your modest.” Liz said with a small smile.

He ran a finger over the top of her hand, “Well, Maria seems like the type of person that needs to be taken down a peg or two every now and then.”

Liz let out a small laugh as she pictured her and Maria’s next conversation. Now, she was really going to force every little detail out of her. “But did you have to undress her with your eyes to prove a point?”

Lucas raised a hand to the errant hair at her cheek and pushed it back from her face, “Believe me when I say I wasn’t undressing her with my eyes. I was merely, proving the fact that Casanova ain’t got nothin’ on me.”

Her eyes closed briefly as she unknowingly reacted to his soft touch on her skin, “If I agree, will that make you even more cocky than you already are?”

A soft laugh escaped his lips, “Most definitely.”

With a sigh, Liz leaned her head back against the booth, turned it sideways and looked deep into his eyes, “Well, at least I could never accuse you of being dishonest.”

A flicker of something passed over his face, “No. I guess you can’t.” Abruptly, he sat up and finished his cherry Cola with one gulp, before looking at his watch, “Uh, I hate to leave but I have to be home when my mom gets there.”

Confusion etched on Liz’s face before she nodded, “O-okay. No problem.”

He turned back to her with a small smile that seemed a bit forced to her, “I’ll call you later?”

She forced a smile of her own on her face before nodding, “Sure. I’ll be home.”

“Good.” He leaned over and brushed his lips against her own gently, “Mmmmm, I almost don’t want to leave now.”

Liz giggled as she pushed him out of the booth, her earlier confusion momentarily forgotten, “Get home. I’ll talk to you later.”

He pulled her up to stand next to him and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “I had a great time today. I’m probably going to dream about you all night, like a love-sick puppy dog.”

She blushed, “Well, it’s a good thing I like puppies.”

“And I like you.” With a quick brush of his lips against her cheek, he whispered a goodbye in her ear, and was gone.

Liz’s expression turned from a small smile to a deep frown the instant he walked out the door. She reached down and gathered up her purse before walking to the door leading up to her apartment.

She had a lot of thinking to do.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*

Zan hit the accelerator on his Camry and took distinct pleasure in the jump of speed as he sped away from The Crashdown. What he had really wanted to buy was a Porsche but he figured it would be like a neon green sign pointing to him saying, “Danger, danger. Outsider.”

So, he had settled for an average car that the everyday middle class family might purchase for their teenage son. He had appearances to keep up. It was bad enough that it was getting harder and harder by the hour to do so.

He really hoped that Maria chick wouldn’t prove to be too much of a problem. From his and Liz’s talks and Maria’s actions today, it looked like she tended to influence Liz’s decisions and he really didn’t want to have to get her out of the way.

Not that he would kill her or anything.

He didn’t kill unnecessarily.

Besides, it was obvious that Maria made Liz happy and he wasn’t about to take that away from her.

Zan abruptly slowed down as he ran his thoughts through his head once more.

Did he really just make a decision based on Liz’s happiness?

“Fuck.” He said out loud. This wasn’t supposed to be this way. None of this was. His mission had been to take over the Royal Four. He was supposed to get rid of Evans and take over as leader. Nothing more. Nothing less.

But then…

Then Liz showed up into the picture and he was so intrigued by her. His feelings for her were quickly running past the point of lust into something more. Something he had never experienced, nor did he want to.

Right?

Then he thought back to Liz’s earlier statement:

“Well, at least I could never accuse you of being dishonest.”

She truly just had no clue what she was getting herself into. And he was distinctly uncomfortable with his reaction to her question. It had been a long time since he had felt guilt.

He really needed to fuck her and get it over with. Maybe then he’d be able to flush her out of his system. It was obvious he was thinking with his dick.

With a shake of his head, Zan sped down the lonely back roads of Roswell, carefully planning his next step.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
[/b]

And I'm back! Look at me updating two stories in one week! One might ponder that I'm actually a fic writer! WOOT!

Im posting this rather quickly, but I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your comments and speculations. They mean the world to us fanfic writers.

Big HUGS!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“So, you avoided me pretty well all day yesterday.”

Liz flinched as Maria turned accusing eyes to her and tapped her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel of her Jetta.

She thought she had done a good job of making it seem like the Sunday rush was just too busy for common conversation. Then she played off a report as another excuse when Maria tried cornering her again at the end of their shift.

She had been hoping that Maria would be too tired to gossip when she picked her up for school in the morning.

She should have known better.

“Well?”

Liz sighed, “I wasn’t avoiding you, Maria. We were busy and I had a report due.”

Maria sucked her teeth and pressed the accelerator, as the light changed, “Don’t feed me that line of baloney, Parker I know you better than that.” Maria softened her accusation with a smirk, “Was it really that good that you want to keep it all to yourself?”

Liz blushed, “Maria!! Nothing like that happened!”

“Just because you didn’t make like monkeys doesn’t mean you didn’t do other things.” Maria grinned as Liz bit back a smile, “I know you, Liz. You were a bright red color for two days. Every time your eyes would lose focus I just knew you were in a better place than the Crashdown.”

Liz rolled her eyes, “So, maybe we did…do other things.”

Maria was back to tapping against her steering wheel as she waited for Liz to elaborate, “Well?! You’re killing me here, Liz.”

Liz sighed, “He, umm, well, let’s just say we went to second base…..or is it third?”

“OH MY GOD!” Maria screeched, slamming on the brake, “You’re not sure what base it was?! OH MY GOD! That means it was the really naughty stuff! You bad, bad girl!”

Liz groaned in embarrassment as she leaned her head back against the headrest, “Maria, stop screaming my business to all of Roswell and just drive please?”

Maria gave her an incredulous look but pressed the accelerator, “You just told me that you may or may not have hit third base with your new boy-toy and you’re going to tell me to calm down?!”

As the school loomed in the distance, Liz sighed in relief, “Yes, Maria. I’m telling you to calm down before you go into apoplectic shock.”

Maria took a deep breath, “Okay, okay.” She pulled into her parking spot but locked the doors from the drivers side before Liz could get out, “So, how was it?”

“Maria! Open the door!”

“Nope. Not until you give me details, young lady! Who told you, you could hit third base without me?!”

Liz turned exasperated eyes towards Maria, “Are you serious?”

Maria made a face, “Okay, so that was a bit nasty. But anyway, why are you being so secretive about this?” She asked, her tone slightly hurt.

Liz sighed once more and regarded her friend, trying to think up a suitable response. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to share with her friend; it was just that she had so many things floating through her mind about the whole experience. Things that were crazy and truly made her doubt her sanity.

“Maria-.”

A knocking at her window cut her off. Liz turned around and was face to face with a grinning Lucas.

“Dammit.” Maria muttered, “The world is against me.”

Liz on the other hand grinned back at him, strange relief flooding her senses, “Hey.” She mouthed.

Lucas winked long and slow, before holding up a white rose to the window.

“Damn, but that boy is fine.” Maria said in awe.

Liz couldn’t help but agree as she let her eyes roam over the olive green thermal that clung to his biceps and matched his eyes and the blue jeans that hung low on his hips.
“Uhhh, you ladies coming out any time soon?” Came his muffled voice, amusement apparent with every word.

Liz jumped, “Oh. Oh yeah, right. Maria, open the door.” She hissed.

Maria pouted before hitting the switch to open the doors, “Don’t think you’re going to run away for long, Missy. I know where you live, where you work, where you go to school, what size you wear-.”

“How incredibly well endowed Lucas is?”

Maria’s mouth dropped open as she sputtered.

“Oh, that’s right. You don’t know that, do you? See ya later Maria.” Liz jumped out the car, her skirt flowing behind her as she greeted Lucas with a kiss on his cheek. His cologne surrounded her senses and she inhaled deeply.

“What was that all about?” Lucas said with a smile as he led her away from the car, a still sputtering Maria even now inside, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that girl speechless before.”

“Oh, nothing. Just giving her a taste of her own medicine for once.”

Lucas grinned down at her as he handed her the rose, “I think I remember you saying you like white roses.”

Liz’s brow wrinkled in slight confusion, “Did I? I don’t remember us talking about that…” She trailed off as she tried to go through her memories of their past conversations.

His grin seemed to falter a bit as he rapidly blinked his eyes, “Uhhh, well how else would I know?” He said laughing a bit nervously. “Don’t you like it?” He said with a mock pout.

Liz melted under his gaze and smiled shyly as she inhaled the scent of the rose, “Of course I do. Thank you. It’s very sweet of you.”

As they walked through the quad, Lucas put an arm around her and he leaned down into her ear, “Don’t you think I merit a little thank you kiss?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her eliciting a giggle.

Liz could feel the heat of his arm penetrating through her shirt and bit her lip as she fought not to lean into his embrace. She looked up at him from under her lashes and bit her lower lip as he stared at her.

“You are so cute when you get shy on me.” He said lowly before running a hand down her arm.

Liz stopped mid stride and turned her body to him, bringing a hand under the back of his shirt, reveling in his intake of breath, “Cute? I’ll show you cute.”

Ever so slowly, she brought her lips to his, loving how he kept staring at them, mesmerized. She pressed her mouth to his with a whisper of a touch before licking at the seam of his lips sensually. His breath hit her erratically and she felt his hands squeeze at her back bringing her closer to him. She nipped at the bottom of his lip and brought it into her mouth while suckling lightly.

At his groan, she stepped back from him with a wicked smile, “Still think I’m cute?” She said softly as she walked away from him backwards before flouncing off, her cheeks burning with a blush at her antics.

She could hear Lucas’ footsteps behind her, before she was abruptly turned and pressed to his chest. She let out a sound of surprise and blinked at the glittering desire in his eyes.

“I think you’re a tease. But don’t you know I’m the King of this game?” With those words, he crashed his lips against hers and plundered her mouth with his tongue, eating at her mouth ferociously.

Liz gasped into his mouth as he ran his fingers up her back and into her hair, cradling her head in his hand. Her body heated up and she felt her nipples tighten against her shirt. Her heart started to pound abnormally fast as he deepened the kiss. Her body felt like it was pulling in different directions. A hot, burning sensation behind her belly button started to gather and run up and down her arms and legs and suddenly she was back in familiar territory.

Suddenly, she felt something in her respond in ways she hadn’t felt since the last time she had kissed….Max.

With a gasp, she broke the kiss and looked into his eyes, breath coming out erratically as he turned confused eyes of his own to hers. Something caused her to look over his shoulder as a heat seemed to punch her in the stomach.

Max…….

He was standing by a tree; his books lay littering the ground around him as he openly stared at them. His eyes were glittering with an unnamable emotion as his fingers clenched and unclenched slowly. His own breath was leaving his body heavily and his mouth was slightly open as he blinked his eyes from Lucas’ form to hers……always back to hers.

She was held captive by those eyes. Even from this distance she could see the pain, the anger, the jealousy…..

“Max….” She said almost inaudibly.

Almost….

Lucas turned slowly following the angle of her gaze and met Max’s eyes with his own. His eyebrows scrunched together and then……….he smiled. An all out grin that seemed almost feral.

And just as abruptly, it was gone.

Her gaze switched back to Max and she watched as he seemed to tremble with anger.

And once more the guilt came. Flooding her senses until all she could see, all she could remind herself of was a tired, drawn, Future Max. His battle weary eyes staring into hers, so tired, so hopeless but even then still filled with love………..

“Liz?”

“Max?”

“Uh, no. Lucas. Remember me? The guy you were just kissing?”

Liz shook her head. She could have sworn that it was Max’s voice saying her name just now….

She looked up to see Lucas frowning at her, slight hurt in his gaze.

“I’m, uh, I’m sorry…I ummm, wow. It’s just that he…..” Liz trailed off as she tried to figure out what exactly it was that she was trying to say without saying.

His eyes searched hers for a second before he sighed and pushed back a strand of hair from her face, “He’s your ex, isn’t he?”

Her shoulders sagged, “Yeah. Yeah he is. But that’s so over.”

“Doesn’t look like it from where I’m standing.”

She glanced once more over his shoulder to find an agitated Max quickly gathering up his books.

Max’s eyes lifted to them once more. He swallowed deeply before it looked like he forced himself to move towards the entrance to the school.

“Looks to me like he’s still pretty far gone over you.” Lucas stated as Liz stiffened next to him, “Does that, uh, still hold true for you?”

Liz took a deep breath and opened her mouth to brazenly lie but instead something else entirely came out, “He was…..he was it for me…Lucas…and letting him go was one of the most difficult things I had to do. But….it had to be done. There is no turning back and I’ve accepted that.” Liz bit her bottom lip, “I guess I should warn you now that I come with a lot of issues.”

Lucas regarded her in slight surprise, “So, was that a ‘yes I still love him’?”

She sighed, “That was a ‘yes, I still have feelings for him, but I’ve moved on.’” Liz stepped back from him slightly, “I…..I can’t give you more than that. I’m sorry, Lucas. I don’t know what you were expecting out of this but…..”

Lucas blinked, his face a confusing mask, “I just have one question…..How do you feel about me?”

Liz started in surprise, not expecting that question. Lucas had never hid how attracted he was to her. Never hid how much he liked her. But she realized she had yet to do the same.

“I…um….”

She let out a breath in a woosh, not entirely sure why she was so hesitant to answer. Maybe because she wasn’t certain what her answer was. Yes, she liked Lucas. More than even she thought was possible at this stage in her life. He was the only other boy that she could say measured up even slightly to her feelings for Max. There was just so much going on in her head. These strange possibilities. These strange thoughts….

Lucas swallowed and stepped back from her when she continued to just stand there and stare at him. Anger made his lips purse and he licked the inside of his bottom lip before nodding, “It’s cool. Alls you had to say was that I was a replacement for somethin’ yous still holdin’ out for. At least that I could respect.”

Liz felt confusion fill her at the abrupt change in his speech but the sudden fear that filled her overrode it as she watched him turn to walk away, “Lucas! Wait!” She reached for his arm and was glad he didn’t immediately pull away, “Please, its just-.”

“A really long and dramatic story. Yeah, I get it. Your girl already gave me that warning ‘member? But that still don’t answer my question.” His jaw clenched, “Listen, if this is just some game to you, then just tell me. I don’t mind games. I’ll be more than a willing player. But don’t try an play me for some type of an asshole by leading me along when…when….I’m feelin’ you somethin’ fierce!”

Liz blinked at him trying to keep up with the strange course of words leaving his mouth. She felt a spurt of anger at his curse but in the end she understood that he was spilling his feelings for her once more and she still hadn’t even given him an inkling of what she might be feeling for him.

“Lucas, I’m…sorry. You’re right. I think…I think I’m scared.” She gave him a small half smile as she tried to gather her thoughts, “I think I may like you a little too much. And…and I haven’t felt that way for anyone else besides….”

“Max.” Lucas finished for her quietly, some of the anger leaving his voice as a tired resignation took its place, “Everyone else will always be a replacement for him, won’t they?”

Liz gulped, hearing the familiarity in his words that she once expressed to Future Max but shook her head slowly, “I always thought that way, but you…you’ve changed that for me, Lucas.” At his look of disbelief, Liz sighed, before taking his hand in hers, immediately feeling the electric heat that took over her whenever they touched, “I’m not trying to lead you on. I’m trying to be as honest with you as I can. I really do like you Lucas and I want to see where this goes.”

He licked his lips once before pulling on her hand until her body was pressed up against his and he sighed, “What the hell have you done to me, beautiful? I’m acting like a crazy person.”

Liz lifted her head and met his eyes, “You ain’t the only one.”

Bringing a palm to her cheek he stroked the area beneath her eyes, “I guess this will have to do for now. But eventually I’m going to make sure that Max guy is a distant memory.”

Liz blinked rapidly before laying her cheek against the softness of his shirt, making sure she broke eye contact. Silently she hoped against hope that Lucas succeeded in his endeavor.

But in her heart, she wasn’t sure that he could.

*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*

“Alright Dick Tracy, what’re you trying to sneak a peek at? Anything good?”

Maria watched Max jump a mile at her words and smiled at his slightly guilty look.

“I-uh-.”

“Always one for the poetics aren’t ya, Max?” With those words, she pushed his reluctant form out of the way and peeked through the window on the front door that he had just been looking through. Her eyes widened as she saw Liz and Lucas embracing on the lawn.

Uh-oh.

When she had finally made it out of her car, she had decided to take a side entrance that was closer to the art room. She needed to speak to her teacher before the school day began and it was the easiest way to get to it.

Apparently she had missed something while she took that detour.

Maria took a deep breath before turning around and facing an embarrassed Max, “Why are you doing this to yourself, Max?”

His face was now blank and he answered in monotone, “They were kissing. He had his tongue down her throat. Where anyone could see.”

Maria shook her head in disgust, “And that’s different from what you do with Tess, how?” Max turned his back but she continued when he didn’t walk away, “Give it a rest, Max. We discussed this already. You have to stop looking for reasons to be upset at Liz for moving on. Especially, when you supposedly have.”

Max’s head was lowered and he answered without turning, “Yeah, well I guess that’s the problem.”

Maria cocked her head to the side and stepped in front of him, “What is?”

When Max looked up Maria’s shoulders slumped as she noticed the faint tears glittering in his eyes that he refused to let fall, “Oh, Girlfriend……” She started.

Max quickly blinked and clenched his jaw, “Don’t, Maria. Just don’t okay? I don’t need sympathy. I don’t need pity. I don’t need any of it. You’re right I did move on and I need to stop trying to fool myself.” He shook his head and started to laugh, “God, she slept with Kyle, she’s dating someone else and here I am still obsessing over her like an idiot. What the hell is wrong with me?”

Maria bit her lip, “You still love her, Max. Its okay to still love her.”

He shook his head quickly, “No!” He shouted angrily, before catching himself and speaking slightly quieter, “No, it’s not okay. She doesn’t deserve it. If it was so easy for her to move on then I didn’t mean anything to her and she sure as hell shouldn’t mean anything to me.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him just how much Liz deserved the whole world on a silver platter and then some. God, it was just getting harder and harder not to just tell Max the truth. But it wasn’t her place. She knew that. But it didn’t make this situation any easier.

But maybe….

Maybe she could point him in the right direction without revealing too much. Maybe she could let a little something-.

“Hey, Max! I was waiting for you by my locker. What’s going on?”

Maria closed her mouth abruptly as she watched Max close his eyes and sigh tiredly. She swallowed down the words that almost came out of her mouth and turned to face Tess.

“Ahh, Maria. Its just soooo pleasant seeing your face first thing in the morning. Still not using makeup I see.” Tess said smiling sweetly.

“Well if it isn’t Queen Skanky. Nice to see you still wear too much makeup.” Maria smiled just as sweetly back in her direction, “So Tess, when exactly are you going to ship your dumb ass back to your home planet? ‘Cause really, seeing you everyday? ‘Causing havoc on my stomach.”

Tess rolled her eyes at Maria, “God, get new material, Maria.”

“Why? It’s so much fun to keep reminding you over and over again just how much you don’t belong here.” Maria slanted a look in Max’s direction, “And just how much you’re not wanted.”

Tess glared at Maria, quickly picking up on what she was implying. If there was one area in Tess’ life that Maria could always get under her skin with, it was her tremulous relationship with Max. “Fuck off, Maria. When I go back to my home planet I’ll be sure to ask your daddy why he needed to run so far from you and your useless mother.”

Max’s jaw clenched and looked as if he was about to say something when Maria exploded.

“You stupid, home-wrecking cunt!”

“Now, now, Maria.” A calm baritone said behind them. “What did we say about the “C” word? Tsk, tsk.”

Maria turned to see a smirking Lucas, holding a very worried Liz’s hand behind them. “What “C” word?” She said innocently, before swinging back to Tess, “Oh, did you mean CUNT! Because that’s what she is!” She shouted pointing her finger in Tess’ face.

Tess’ eyes took on a dangerous deep blue color, “If I were you, I’d take that finger out of my face.” She said lowly.

“Maria!” Liz shouted, “Stop it. She’s not worth it.”

Ignoring Liz’s protest, Maria stepped up into Tess’ face until her finger was right in between her eyeballs, “What? This finger?” She said wiggling it in her face, “Does this little finger bother you? Hmm? If I touch you with it, will it be the first time anyone in our vicinity has touched you willingly, you pathetic bitch?”

Instead of answering, Tess’ hand started to twitch and Maria just knew she was going to try and blast her. Then and only then did she allowed a trickle of fear to enter her senses but the proud part of her, also known as the stupid part of her, refused to back down.

Max must have noticed where Tess’ mind was cause he chose that moment to step up but was interrupted just as Tess raised her hand.

“Uh-uh. Don’t think so, Blondie.” Lucas said quietly before grabbing Tess’ wrist. He shoved her none too gently into Max, ignoring her sound of protest. “Ever think of putting a leash on her?” He asked Max with a smirk.

Maria quietly let out a breath that she didn’t know she had been holding and glared at the alien couple, “God, why do I even bother?”

Max stared angrily at Maria but his eyes darkened with something that looked like blind rage when he put his stare on Lucas, “Don’t ever touch her again.” He said on a growl.

Instead of backing down, or looking even slightly offended, Lucas smirked, “Why do I have this strange feeling that I should be asking who you mean exactly?” Lucas said as he glanced at Liz out of the corner of his eye.

Before Max could answer, Lucas put his arm around Maria’s shoulder and laced his fingers with Liz’s, pulling them away, “Let’s go ladies. Class awaits.”

As they turned the corner, Maria heard Tess say, “Just who did you mean, Max?”

Maria let out a loud snort of laughter, ignoring the condemning look from Liz. Lucas grinned down at her and for a second, she felt this strange feeling of familiarity come over her.

She shook her head and shrugged it off. Never a dull day at Roswell High.

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On his way to one of the few classes he had actually enrolled himself in, Zan silently berated himself for his lack of control in his earlier conversation with Liz. He knew her quick mind would once again run their conversation/argument on repeat during one of her classes. And he was sure she would ask herself why his accent had suddenly changed from proper to ghetto.

Fuck.

Why is it only with her he felt himself losing such control? Why could he not stay in the persona that he had made for himself? He had never had this problem before. Ever.

He could only hope she didn’t question him later. ‘Cause really he didn’t know what he would say just yet. And that bugged the shit out of him too. The fact that he didn’t have any ready answers didn’t bode well. It meant he wasn’t thinking clearly. Didn’t have his objective clear in his mind.

And that just would not do.

But on the brighter side of things, he had finally gotten to see Evans face to face and make his presence known. He had also finally got to meet Ava’s dupe in person and read her no less. It looks like his natural connection to the other aliens came in handy every once in awhile.

Now that was one evil bitch.

She was also reckless as hell, if her attempt at blasting a human in the middle of the school hallway was any indication of her demeanor.

When he had grabbed her wrist, he was able to pick up a few impressions from her dumb ass. She was filled with such hate and loathing that if he gave a damn it would turn his stomach.

His only concern was her fierce hate towards his Liz.

His Liz.

Yeah. That sounded about right.

And just at that thought a new feeling came over him as he thought back to her reveal a little while ago. She truly wanted to move forward with him. She truly wanted him without him having to manipulate her feelings to his advantage.

Zan didn’t think on how hurt he had reacted when she hadn’t answered his question about her feelings right away. That was too annoying to ponder on.

To top it all off she had been completely honest with him. She told him that she still had feelings for Max. She out and out revealed that she had issues.

He just didn’t know what to do with that. He didn’t know how to deal with honesty, loyalty or any of that other garbage. No one he had known had ever graced him with trust. It was deceive or be deceived. He didn’t know how to live any other way.

Zan reached the classroom door and quickly sat down in his seat in the back. He stared out the window at the blue sky in deep thought, wondering, pondering….

And as he tried to remember every second of the moment Liz revealed how she felt and relive it on constant repeat, he suddenly realized that he was in a lot of trouble.

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...Hi Guys.....

I know its been a loooooooooong time coming. But I finally, finally, finally have an update. Just a warning: It's not beta'd so you may find tons, and tons of spelling and grammatical errors and they are all mine. I will go through it once more when I have more time and edit them out. But for now, let's get on with it, shall we?

Thank you to all those that stick with me regardless of the long waiting periods.

Oh, by the way, this part is NC-17.
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“Well, if it isn’t Xena, Warrior princess.”

Liz watched Maria turn her head and smile sheepishly.

“Uhhh..”

Liz sighed before dropping her jacket on the grass and plopping down on top of it, being careful to smooth her skirt over her knees. She had known Maria would be in their secluded spot, waiting for her or possibly hiding from her behind the big tree.

She removed her sandwich from her lunch bag and raised her eyebrow at her best friend, “What were you thinking? Like, did you even think for a second on how badly that whole scene could have ended?”

Maria sighed before pouting, “But Liiiiiiiz, she started it!!”

“Oh, yeah and that dignifies a response.” Liz rolled her eyes; “She could have seriously hurt you and then what? A whole other vicious cycle where all the questions, all the inquiries, all the stuff that we thought we had moved past from would have started all over again.” Liz penetrated Maria’s guilty gaze with a stern one of her own, “And what if it had been traced back to all of them? To Michael?”

Maria’s green eyes narrowed, “Would serve the son of a bitch right.”

“Maria!”

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry. I…I wasn’t thinking. She just….God! She does everything she can to get under my skin! And that smug look on her face! I just want to wipe it off permanently.”

Liz bit her lip, “Maria, she doesn’t fight fair, okay? She’s obviously trying to bait you just as much as you bait her. Don’t give in.”

Maria took a vicious bite of her apple and crunched noisily, “You know Liz, as much as you tried to get both her and Max together because they’re a ‘unit’, did it every occur to you just how evil this bitch is? I mean, what makes you think she’s any good for Max? The only thing that’s changed is that he’s becoming just as much of an asshole as she is.”

Despite Liz’s look she continued, “In fact, the only time that he’s halfway bearable is when he’s talking about you and even then I just want to shoot him out of his misery but at least he’s not being a dick.”

Liz pursed her lips, “So, what exactly are you telling me, Maria? That I should try and get back together with him or something?”

“No, Liz. In fact, before you walked into that stupid argument, I caught him spying on you and Lucas and I told him that he needs to get over it.”

Liz sighed at the mention of Max spying on them. When she had seen him staring at the two of them earlier it had taken everything in her not to run and comfort him. He had looked so hurt. So angry. But she couldn’t help that. Why couldn’t he just accept his damned destiny and move on? She was trying her hardest to move ahead and he was just making it so difficult for her. If he kept staring at her with those heated eyes she’d never be able to have any type of relationship with Lucas.

“So, what are you telling me, Maria?”

“I don’t know, Liz. I don’t want Max to be so miserable anymore but I don’t want you to have to feel guilty for not trying to follow yours and Future Max’s plan.” Maria rested her elbow on her thigh and placed her chin in her palm, “And I seriously like Lucas. I think he’s totally hot and exactly the distraction you need right now.”

Liz cleared her throat at the mention of Lucas, “He, uh, may be more than just a distraction.”

With her eyebrows raised, Maria moved forward slightly, “Oh reaaaaaally now? How much more of a distraction, Miss Parker? Like a fuck buddy type of distraction?”

“MARIA!” Liz screeched before slapping her forehead, “GOD! You are so vulgar.”

“Mmmmhmm.” Maria hummed at her, “So, answer the question woman! How far have you gone with the green eyed hottie?”

Liz groaned, “I’m just never going to hear the end of it until I tell you, am I?”

“Weeelll, I was thinking of giving up around the year 2020. You’re more than welcome to hold out until then. But I’ve been told I’m relentless.” She teased, her green eyes sparkling.

Liz pressed her lips together nervously as she looked around the immediate area, “Ok. Well, when I went to his house it just started out as us talking but then……” Liz frowned trying to figure out how to explain the strange feelings that had coursed through her during their somewhat date, “It just…escalated into so much more. I mean, one second he was telling me that he wanted to get to know me better and that he normally doesn’t act like he has with me with other girls and then he kissed me...”

Liz’s voice trailed off as she thought back to that moment before continuing slightly softer, “And it wasn’t the first time but it gets better every single time. And Maria, when he kisses me…it’s like….my heart beats so fast, I get these strange tingles everywhere and I can’t breathe.”

“Ever thought of trying to exhale and inhale out of your nose?”

“What?”

Maria shook her head, “Nothing. Just trying to lighten the mood. You were getting that scientist glitter in your eye.”

Liz frowned in confusion, “What? What the hell is a scientist glitter?”

With a sigh, Maria took another bite of her apple, “You get this look in your eye whenever you’re trying to figure something out. In other words when you are over thinking things.”

Liz huffed as she took a defiant bite of her sandwich, “I am not over thinking anything, Maria. I’m just trying to understand why I’m suddenly feeling things that I’ve only ever felt with…”

“Max?”

Liz’s brown hair fell in front of her face in a fan as she nodded sadly, “Yeah.” She whispered before lifting her head to meet her friend’s eyes, “I mean, I thought what Max and I had was special, you know? Like, I never thought I would feel half of what I feel for Lucas and I barely know him. So, what does that say about mine and Max’s relationship? Was it not love? Was it just this crush that we took too far?”

Liz stopped and twisted her mouth in thought as those crazy ideas took place in the forefront again, “Or is it something else entirely?” She thought to herself.

“Oh, honey, noooo. That’s totally not true!” Maria slid until her knees were touching Liz’s and she rubbed a hand up and down her arm, “You two had this otherworldly thing going on. I think you just miss him so much that you’re confusing the attraction you have for Lucas for something more.”

Liz started to shake her head no and swallowed nervously, prepared to spill her rampant thoughts, “No. What I’m trying to tell you is that something weird has been-.”

“YOU!”

Both Maria and Liz jumped at the unexpected yell. Liz turned to find an outraged Michael stomping his way over to their spot.

“Uh-oh.” Maria whispered, “Get ready for some serious fireworks.”

“What were you thinking?! Are you trying to out us all? Do you care about anyone but yourself?! How could you have been so stupid?”

Slowly but surely, Maria’s eyes got wider and wider and her face redder and redder as Michael’s accusations continued to pore out.

This time it was Liz’s turn to mutter, “Uh-oh.”

Liz winced as Maria stood and said, “You stupid ASS! Did you even think for one second that I may not have instigated that stupid argument? Huh? Did it ever occur to you that you should be yelling at that blonde tramp for raising her hand at me to begin with?! Why aren’t you defending me, you big tard?! Why aren’t you with Tess telling her that if she ever raises a hand at me again you’ll pulverize her? WHY DO I PUT UP WITH YOU?!” She screeched before throwing what was left of her apple at Michael’s head.

Liz sighed and made no move to intervene. It would make no difference. They’d continue to argue and ignore her completely and then go somewhere and make-out for hours on end. A vicious cycle but one they both seemed to enjoy immensely.

“Whoa, what the hell is this all about?” A deep voice whispered in her ear.

Liz jumped at the abrupt heat his breath fanned over the shell of her ear and closed her eyes momentarily, “Nothing that won’t blow over as soon as they get their lips on one another.” She said with a sigh before turning her head around to a crouching Lucas with a small smile.

Lucas grinned back, before scrunching his eyebrows as the couple continued to fight, “Shouldn’t we try and stop them before she tears him into pieces?”

“Good call on the fact that Maria will be the one who ends up winning.” With a laugh Liz shrugged. “Nah, they’ll be fine.”

Lucas watched in interest as Liz handed Maria her books and jacket as she continued to yell at a red faced Michael before they both stomped off into the distance.

Liz shrugged at Lucas’ look of disbelief, “It’s like some sort of weird foreplay, I think. They do this all the time. It doesn’t matter what its about.”

“Foreplay, huh?” At Liz’s nod, he smirked at her and sat next to her with one knee raised, “I can think of some better ways to have some serious foreplay.” He said lowly as he ran a hand over her bare knee and placed a soft kiss to her cheek.

Liz shivered as she blushed. Determined not to let her shyness swallow her up, she instead met his gaze head on, “Oh, really? And what would some of those ways be?” She leaned into his touch and watched fascinated, as his eyes seem to lighten with intensity.

He licked his lips and leaned closer to her mouth, “Oh, there are many, many, many ways. Would you like me to give you a demonstration?”

Bringing her body closer to his, she swallowed slightly, looking around the area. Was she really about to do what she thought she was about to do? “What? Over here? Out in the open?”

Lucas looked around with her, “Didn’t you tell me earlier the reason you and Maria come here is because it’s so secluded?”

“Yeah, but….”

His hand started to slide its way up her inner thigh as his lips starting massaging against the pulse point in her neck, “Yeah, but…what?” He whispered against her neck.

She groaned as goose bumps started to appear on her skin. His tongue snaked out briefly before he bit down gently on that spot on her neck. Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure what she had been trying to say as her lower body heated up abnormally.

She should stop him. She should get up and go to the library to study. She had a lot of studying to do.

But his touches felt so good. Her stomach was twisting deliciously and, damn it all, she wanted these feelings he was evoking in her. She wanted him to touch her and, Lord help her, she wanted to touch him in every naughty way possible.

“Well?”

She could practically hear the grin in his voice. He knew he was driving her insane and he was enjoying every second of it.

“I, uh, suddenly don’t remember what I had been trying to say.”

Lucas inched closer to her until his hip was lined up against hers. The warmth of his body penetrated the thin cotton of her clothing and she could feel every muscled inch of him. The memory of his bare chest and the hardened bulge pushing against the denim of his jeans flashed through her mind and she let out a breath of anticipation.

Fingers were running up and down her inner thigh getting closer and closer with every upstroke to her now wet heat making her breath come out faster.

Lucas’ eyes were devouring every shortened breath, “Anytime you want me to stop, I will. You know that right?” He said huskily.

Yes, she knew that. Despite barely knowing anything about him, she trusted him. Trusted him enough to let him play this game out until it became too much for her.

God only knew if she would be in the right frame of mind to say no when the situation warranted it.

At Liz’s nod, he finally reached the rest of the way under her skirt and rubbed two fingers at the top of her wet panties, a groan of his own following the low whimper that leaked out of her pink lips.

He placed small kisses against her opened mouth, “I love that you’re so wet.” He whispered against her lips.

A blush of embarrassment wove its way to her cheeks but before she could say anything his fingers had lowered to her soaked entrance and started rubbing more aggressively. His tongue started to make its way into her mouth, dipping into the warm recesses over and over again. Without even knowing it, her legs had opened wide to accommodate his touch and she silently said a thank you for the seclusion of this spot.

He hummed into her mouth at her silent assent and deepened the kiss further before pushing her panties to the side. His fingers slid up and down her bare slit as she made small sounds of pleasure deep in her throat.

He gently inserted his middle finger inside of her and let out a low curse as her legs tightened around his wrist and she broke the kiss to moan out loud.

Liz could feel the heat of his breath on her cheek as she bit her lip and let out another moan, his penetrating finger massaging its way in and out of her body. She could practically feel his eyes roaming over her features, taking in every moan, every sigh, every bite of her lip.

God, anyone could walk in on this scene. Anyone.

She wondered what it meant about her good girl mentality that she was too far gone to care.

“You have to loosen up your legs, Beautiful.”

Oh, that’s right. Must…..relinquish…death…hold…..on….wrist…

Without a sound, Liz opened her legs back to the widened stance she had before and groaned as Lucas pushed into her deeper.

“Mmmmm..” He purred into her ear, “Much better.”

Her eyes slid halfway open and she crashed her lips against his as the small sounds she was making in her throat started to get louder. She felt him shift and bring his thumb to the top of her heat, slowly rubbing that little bundle of nerves, leaving his middle finger deep inside her before adding a second finger.

She felt her stomach start to clench and she knew it would only take just a little bit more. Her lips left his on a gasp and her head lolled back as he seemed to push deeper and deeper into her body than before. He brought her mouth back to his, his kisses becoming frantic with what tasted like need.

Just a little bit more……..

Liz’s thighs started to tremble and Lucas’ air was leaving his nose in harsh, heavy breaths, as the sounds in her throat started to become shrill. Her lower belly clenched again and she was dancing on the edge of an orgasm when she felt him gently take her hand and place it on the front of his jeans, covering the throbbing bulge in between his legs with her palm.

Without thought, she squeezed his hardness eliciting a rumble from deep within his chest. Lucas raised his hips slightly into her palm, silently begging for more of her touch. When she squeezed again and he shuddered, she finally fell over the edge and whined desperately against his lips as her inner muscles squeezed at his fingers.

“Oh, yeah.” Lucas breathed, “That’s right, Beautiful. Come all over my fingers.”

The ability to think and/or rationalize seemed to leave her momentarily as she gasped and sputtered through the amazing feelings coursing through her body. It took her a moment to realize that Lucas’s fingers were still deep inside her body and her hand was still wrapped around his erection as he murmured into her ear. Her eyes got wider by the second as she heard the dirty things coming out of his mouth.

“Lucas!” She chastised, “Where the hell did you learn to speak like that?”

His mouth cocked up into a half grin, “Maybe you should try reprimanding me when my fingers aren’t inside of you and your hand isn’t on my di-.”

“LUCAS!” She screeched as she snatched up her hand and impatiently motioned to his.

Lucas slowly removed his digits, watching her with hooded eyes as he brought the damp fingers to his mouth, inserting it into the warm cavern. “Mmmmmm…”

Liz realized just how much of a bad, bad, girl she was turning into as she stared at his actions, mesmerized. “Oh, geez….”

He removed his fingers out of his mouth with a soft pop, “You always taste amazing.”

Liz slapped both of her hands over her face and plopped back into the grass behind her with a groan of mortification, “I’m going straight to hell. Do not pass go. Do not collect two hundred dollars. Do not try and pluck some of your sins out of your hand basket. Just go straight to hell.”

Not sounding in the least perturbed, Lucas laid next to her, his head propped on his palm and said, “You know, you’re really going to have to stop freaking out every time I help you orgasm.”

He chuckled softly as she groaned again.
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“See you later, Liz!”

Liz waved at the girl whose name she could never remember as she twisted the dial on her locker. The girl always smiled and said hello and goodbye, but Liz could never seem to keep her name in her memory banks.

Not that it matters. I’ve been a mess since lunch. I doubt I would even know my own name if someone asked me right now.

She quietly pondered the inside of her locker as images from this afternoon flashed through her minds eye for what felt like the billionth time today.

Intoxicating. That’s what being with Lucas was. He consumed her mind, body and soul and all she could think about was the next moment she would be with him.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the edge of the locker door. Her eyes burned with stubborn tears of frustration that she refused to let fall.

It was all much too similar to her relationship with Max. Every emotion or feeling that coursed through her was so achingly familiar. It left her with a confusing mix of relief and yearning that was starting to mess with her head.

The worst part was, in the back of her mind, she thought she knew what was going on. What was actually happening here. But it sounded so preposterous that she kept convincing herself that she had to be crazy. That missing Max with such fierceness was causing her to play tricks on her own mind.

Only….

She had always relied on her instincts before. Those instincts are what made her believe that while Max and the rest of them were aliens they were still human at heart and that they deserved a better chance. Those instincts are what made her go to Sheriff Valenti the night Max was taken to the white room and now he proved to be their greatest ally. Those instincts had told her to run away from Max that day at the Pod Chamber and look what happened with Future Max.

Her instincts always got her through when she needed them.

But now….

Thinking back to the past week, Liz knew what was making her go crazy. Knew what was happening to her all over again. Knew that she was about to make a very bad decision.

But also knew that she was being given an out. She being given an opportunity to have her cake and eat it too.

She didn’t want to play games. She didn’t want to have to do what she knew she was about to do. But maybe….maybe for once she could be selfish and still save them all.

Maybe for once Liz Parker didn’t always have to save the whole ungrateful world.

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Zan shifted in his car as he felt himself start to grow in arousal once again.

Dammit.

This was getting more difficult by the hour.

Why was he walking on fucking eggshells? Why was he holding back? Why the fuck was he trying to be the nice guy? Why was he so dumbfounded?!?

Fuck it.

It was time to play hard ball. It seemed he was getting too immersed in this Lucas persona and forgetting who he really was. What he really came here to do.

It looked as though he was going to have to make a move and get rid of Evans once and for all and stop being such a damn pansy when it came to Liz.

She was human for fucks sake.

And just as he was nodding his head at himself, convincing himself for the one millionth time this week that he needed to move forward with his original agenda, he looked up and saw Liz making her way over to his car. Her skirt picked up in the slight breeze and her hair ruffled onto one of her cheeks, sticking to her glossy lips. She waved to him, a shy smile playing on the corners of her lips as she made her way over to his car.

And suddenly he was back to being dumbfounded.
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