“Downstairs,” Emma said as she totally knew what the name ‘Max’ meant when it rocketed through the house after he showed up. And while she was momentarily diverted in concentrating on her mother, she knew this was her father who stood before her, and now he was in this house. And now she was thrilled. “Can you believe it.”
“Wow,” Evan asked.
“Let’s go,” Emma said as the two-rushed downstairs only to find a new stranger in the living room, who paled as they walked into the room.
“Evan, come in.” Maria smiled as Emma and Evan stormed the room and Isabel went blank when the combination of her brother, and Tess walked into the room. “This is Isabel, and she would love to meet you.”
“She does?” Evan asked.
“Yes, she is, she’s your father’s sister. So, she’s your aunt. Isabel, this is Evan. Max’s son.”
“Oh wow,” Isabel smiled. She had known the boy was here but to see him in person was something else. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Evan.”
“Emma,” Maria smiled. “This is Isabel, and Isabel, this is Emma. Liz’s daughter.”
“You look so much like your parents,” Isabel whispered as she saw Emma beaming as Parker walked in, and Isabel paled again. “Who is this.”
“Parker, this is my brother Parker.” Emma bravely introduced her twin brother. “Parker, this is our Aunt. Our father’s sister.”
“Really,” Parker asked.
“You could have told me?” Max stubbornly asked as she and Liz were in a long circular argument about the past. Liz knew full well she could have told him, and probably should have but it was all so confusing and painful as hell. “Why didn’t you?”
“I should have,” Liz admitted. “And I truly sorry I didn’t. But you’ve got to know it was a tricky situation to be in. I had just left my family and Roswell, and then I discover I was pregnant. You were gone, and I didn’t know how to reach you. Maybe it was there uncomplicated way out, and I didn’t know Kyle was still in occasional contact with Isabel. We were truly on our own. Or at least until the cloud caused by the Special Unit was lifted. When you made your overture to me, I took the cowards way out. The kids were growing up, and I didn’t want to rock the boat.”
“If you had told me, I would have been here.”
“I know you would have, but if your son came calling. You would have been put in an impossible choice. Me, our children or your son with Tess?”
“It’s my choice to make,” Max murmured.
“I know. I am sorry, but it’s just so complicated. And I do regret it. You could have disregarded my wishes, and come and found us, but you listened to me and moved on and married someone else.”
“Because I didn’t know you had my baby,” Max reasoned.
“You married someone else, and you would still be married if Tess hadn’t struck,” Liz muttered.
“I am sorry. I love you Liz, and that never stopped. Yes, I moved on, and I am sorry, but I thought you didn’t want me anymore. I thought you had moved on and was achieving that normal life I wanted for you, so I met Pam and thought I could move on. But I found I made a mistake, but I made a commitment to Pam and was trying to honor it. Tess then decided to do what she did.”
“I am sorry Max, as Tess has a very cruel way of getting her way” Liz sighed.
“A very warped sense of justice,” Max nodded as he thought of his baby that he knew Liz had taken into her home. “You didn’t have to.”
“I didn’t have to what?” Liz asked.
“Take in my son,” Max asked. “Isabel told me what has been happening here this week. I know Tess abandon the boy here with you.”
“Yes, she did,” Liz sighed. “And it’s been a challenging time as we adjusted. I still don’t know why I did it. But then he is the half brother of our children, and they deserve to be together while we figure out what it means for Evan in the long-term.”
“I can’t believe Tess did it. All I wanted was that he was well cared for, and had the right home. And she goes and stops it.”
“For some reason she believed that he needed to be with her.”
“Why couldn’t he be happy, away from the alien chaos?” Max asked. “He’s human, right?”
“The alien chaos was very much a part of who Tess was,” Liz observed. “She seems to think your son wasn’t your rightful heir. Our children are.”
“How do you know that?” Max asked.
“She told me Max. After she died, she haunted me. And told me that she figured it was time that her son was with you, and he was human… but our children were the rightful heirs. Something about how you have to love the person to create the next heir.”
“That crazy,” Max said and doesn’t speak to anything I know of our time on Antar. “Maybe it’s Earth thing?” he wondered. “It’s not like Zan and Ava were in love on Antar?”
“They hadn’t had children, right?” Liz asked.
“No,” Max shook his head. “The whole deal struck with Nascedo was about creating the next heir, and coming back with him turning him over so Khivar could use him as a pawn to rule the world.”
“Strange,” Liz muttered as she found it strange to be thinking about this, so many years later but she couldn’t stop herself from going there... “Why would Antar want a child you and Tess created on Earth?”
“It’s where I was, and I was declared the true King” Max sighed.
“But you were human because you were on Earth, why would a child conceived on Earth by two hybrids be deemed worthy on Antar?”
“He wasn’t,” Max murmured. “Tess told us that the baby was rejected, and she came back with him to save herself from certain death, and probably him too because he would be considered inferior.”
“So, maybe Tess was right about something?” Liz wondered.
“It doesn’t matter,” Max sighed. “Tess is gone.”
“Yes, she is, and Michael has proof” Liz said quietly.
“What do you mean?” Max asked.
“The cops here contacted Jim, and he came down and he bumped into Kyle and we had a grand reunion. Jim, Maria’s mother; Amy Deluca, and he and Michael went to police department before you got here, and they confirmed that Tess truly is dead. Or as of now, dust.”
“Whoa,” Max said as he processed it as Liz got up from he couch she was sitting on, and started to pace around, and despite his disappointment about the lifechanging secret she held from him, he was still thinking it was pretty much a miracle that she was in his viewpoint. “You do have a point.”
“About what” Liz asked, stopping and looking at Max.
“There is no telling what would have gone down if I had come back three years, and when I reached out to you... the Special Unit were still breathing down our necks, and there was the potential for disaster.”
“There was,” Liz admitted. “A part of me wanted to say yes, and whenever I looked at the twins, I wanted to say yes, but there was this fear and the unknown weighing me down. We were on high alert to protect Michael from the Special Unit and basically me too, since I had given them the slip already, but they would have their dreams if they had gotten a hold of Michael. I am still human. Michael isn’t completely.”
“I do appreciate it,” Max said. “I know how hard it is to leave family.”
“It was hell,” Liz admitted. “So, I wish I could have told you the truth, and if I had to do it over again, I would do everything differently.”
“Would you?” Max asked.
“Yes,” Liz sighed.
“I get why you didn’t,” Max said. “You were angry that I left. I didn’t have to listen to you. Common sense told me that I should have come back, even if I went looking for my son, I shouldn’t have stayed away so long. We were planning a family, and a life together… And I left you on your own.”
“You have a right to be upset with me,” Liz allowed. “But you’re giving me too much credit Max, I should have told you. Even if I didn’t know you were for the first five years. I could have searched, or when things calmed down I could have reached out to you when you did come to me and wanted to come back to me. So, I am to blame.”
“We both have a right to be upset with each other,” Max said. “Can I ask, what are they like?”
“Wonderful, fearless. Emma is very much like me, although she has touches of you in her, but Parker is very much like you, and he has so much of your personality.”
“What’s taking so long,” Emma muttered as she eyed the sunroom where the door was closed, and she was so anxious to know what was going to happen with her mother and the strange man who had freaked out the house, and who she knew was her father. “Can’t they come, pretty please Aunt Maria.”
“All in good time sweetheart,” Maria teased as she knew not only the pint size was invested in the conversation taking place. She was barely holding the men from barnstorming the room and putting a halt to the conversation. “They have a lot to discuss.”
“Can’t it be later,” Parker asked as he joined the chorus of his twin sister.
“Go play video games,” Maria suggested. “Eventually it will end…”
“You never know,” Kyle smiled from the background. Michael was taking over dinner prep from Liz given she was no long available. “This is Max and Liz we’re talking about.”
“You have a dirty mind Valenti,” Maria glared at his step-brother. “Isabel, what has life been like for you guys.”
“It’s been different. Life in White Plains, New York definitely was different from Roswell, but Max wanted to be there, especially once he met Pam.”
“What have been doing there?” Isabel asked.
“Volunteering mostly, because I never knew how long we would be there as so much of our lives before we hit New York was on the run. Hard to keep a well-paying job, if you’re moving after a few months.”
“That is what we found too,” Maria commented.
“What are you guys doing?”
“I am a teacher. Michael is cook at a restaurant, shift working mostly. Liz is an accountant, and Kyle is also a teacher and assistant football coach. Once we settled down here in Austin, we were able to find jobs that meant something.”
“Wow, an accountant. Not the job I pictured for Liz?” Isabel muttered.
“Nope,” Kyle nodded. “But it kept us going on the road, before we were able to settle here in Austin. You know how she was always doing the books for the Crashdown so she kept it going, and that became her profession.”
“You’ve been able to find a life that matters here,” Isabel asked.
“It’s not Roswell, but it’s something we can call home” Maria sighed. “Having Mom and Jim here just reinforces that…”
“Where are they?” Isabel asked as she looked for them, as she hadn’t seen them since her arrival.
“They went for a walk, to get some fresh air and spend some time together. They have a long drive home tomorrow,” Maria muttered as it was reinforcement that her mother would be leaving again, and she would lose that bond she had with Amy yet again.
“When are they coming out,” Emma pestered the group.
“Go upstairs, and join Parker and Evan in their videogame competition, and see if you can beat the boys?” Maria suggested.
Emma took that as a message to get out, and she grumbled all the way out of the room, and Isabel marveled at the little girl and her brother and how much had changed over the last eight years while she hadn’t little to show for it. While Emma left, Michelle and Amelia came bustling into the kitchen, and Isabel smiled when she saw the two that were obviously the children of Michael and Maria. “Mom, when is dinner?”
“A little later tonight,” Maria wisely said. “Michelle, Amelia. You didn’t come down before, but this is someone who would love to meet you. Isabel, these are Michael and I’s daughter’s; Michelle Rose, who is 7 and Amelia Elizabeth who is 6 years old. Kids, this is an old friend of your father and I, passing through town.”
“Wow,” Isabel smiled. “Nice to meet you two. I knew your parents a long time ago.
“Hi,” Michelle asked as she looked up at the stranger in the room. “What’s going on. Emma just came upstairs, groaning and muttering at the same time.”
“She’s only bored,” Maria cracked.
Meanwhile, back in the sunroom both Max and Liz were taking each other in, and no one knew how to break their connection and leave the room and enter the reality of the real world. Liz was pacing, as she wasn’t sure how to handle the fact that Max was back. The emotion in the room was too real, and yet she didn’t want to open the door and end the bubble they in.
“Max, were you happy?” Liz asked, breaking the tension.
“As much as I could be I suppose,” Max admitted. “Life was so different once Isabel and I were forced away from Roswell, and on the road to find my son, and then settling down when it was obvious we weren’t going back to be able to go back.”
“You met someone else…”
“You know,” Max asked.
“Kyle told me once he found out from Isabel. I am not mad Max, okay, slightly I am a little upset that you were able to move on but then of course I kept something major from you, so I don’t have that much grounds to be upset because it’s been eight years. And to expect for you to still be in love with me, or to be celibate after so long when we have been apart. That wasn’t going to happen, and I made peace with it.”
“I didn’t go looking for Pam, well, it just happened. Isabel told me I was making a mistake bringing her into my life, when I couldn’t tell her the truth about who I was… Of course, I was living under my name by then, but still, I couldn’t tell her about what defines me. Even though I saw how secrets destroyed any shot at Isabel making a life with Jesse.”
“I understand,” Liz said.
“Do you?” Max asked. “With the kids, I don’t see you likely having much of a social life.”
“I was known to go out a time or two,” Liz laughed, and a whiff of jealousy swirled through Max and he was feeling stunned by it.
“Really?” Max asked.
“Yes,” Liz said. “I wasn’t a hermit, and Maria made sure I wasn’t one, but I wouldn’t say it defined my life given I did have the children, once we were able to settle back into our identities and settle down here. But still, it wasn’t a fact about my life that I really concentrated on because I had the kids.”
Max nodded.
“Are you jealous I went on some dates?” Liz asked, amused by the idea.
“Maybe,” Max smiled even though I don’t have a right be jealous, and Liz shivered at the excitement racing through her, and she tried command her brain to get with the program and stop it.
“Maybe I am jealous you were with someone else, and got married. Even though I broke our engagement, but still…”
“Liz,” Max said.
“Don’t Max, I know.” Liz said quietly. “We’re both two very different people now than we were in high school and we both have had to make decisions that would make the other upset, but that is fact with life, and we just need to figure out how to move forward, for the sake of the life we have now, and for our kids.”
“The memories of those days are very special to me,” Max said. “It was hell of a time, but I will never trade them for an easier ride because who knows what that would have led us.”
“I would have liked a few less bumps,” Liz teased. “But it was a hell of a time, and I am amazed to this day that we made it through…”
“I wonder how we did,” Max said as he looked at Liz and felt a trance by just looking into her eyes. “Then I remember how we did it.”
“How?” Liz asked.
“Because I loved you, from that moment in third grade when I first say you and before I even know what love meant, and especially later when I was able to make my dreams come true. I loved you Liz, and I still do. I will never be able to stop loving you. No matter what happens between us, or our history or future, I will never stop loving you” he said tenderly, and a rush of memories and feeling whipped through as all she could do was looking into his eyes, and think of their history, and all the pain but all the glorious moments, however brief they might have been. “Max,” she said quietly.
“Liz it’s the truth. I know it is stupid for me to tell you this, especially given what we both know my life has been like until just recently. But it’s the truth, I love you.”
“I love you too…” Liz said quietly, as they leaned in and ended up in a sizzling yet tender kiss… “I could never stop loving you” she whispered…
As flashes began between the two as they kissed! The Shooting in the “Pilot” and Max rushing to help Liz and pleading for her to open her eyes. FLASH: Their first kiss on the balcony outside of Liz’s bedroom in “Heat Wave”. FLASH: Their kissing on the stage in “Blind Date”. Max drunk, and is confusing Liz as she tries to protect him, and he smiles as he says, “What’s so Great about Normal”. FLASH: Their kissing in the kitchen in “Sexual Healing”, their make out session in the closet, and their make out session at Michael’s apartment. FLASH: Liz kissing Max in the van in “Destiny” and sees the torture he went through in the White Room. FLASH: Max’s vision of their wedding elopement in Viva Las Vegas. Their dancing after Max comes back, their holding hands as they walk into the room and see Valenti. FLASH: In each other’s arms at the end of “Departure”. FLASH: Their make out session in the car, at the beginning of “Busted”. FLASH: Max and Liz flying through the air in “Chant Down Babylon” and he puts out the green shield to protect Liz’s fall. Liz final kiss to Max, and he wakes up. FLASH: Their make out session on her bed in “Four Aliens and a Baby”. FLASH: Max getting down on his knee, and proposing and she is saying YES!
And they kept kissing.