Roswell Fanatics

Title: Do Over...

Pairing: Michael & Liz

Rating: Mature

Disclaimer: I own nothing!!!

Summary: With her heart in her throat and the mystery of Alex's death in the air, Liz does the one thing no one ever thought she'd do, she runs away.

Setting: Set After 'Cry Your Name'. Nothing after that has happened. Tess isn't evil. Alex died in a simple car crash.

Chapter 1:

Liz stands in front of Alex's grave as they lower him into the ground. Everything about this is wrong and there is nothing she can do to change it. She shakes her head. This was all her fault. If she hadn't listened to Future Max, then Alex would still be alive.

"Liz, are you ready to go to Alex's?" Kyle asked from behind her. No! She wanted to yell it. I'll never be able to go to Alex's. "Liz?"

She turns to Kyle and gives him a small smile. "You go. I'll meet you there in a few. I just....I wanna say bye to...to....to Alex alone." Kyle gave her a look like he thought she was lying but didn't say anything. Instead, he just nodded, gave her a half hug and a kiss on the cheek before walking away and leaving Liz alone. She turned back to the grave and held her breath as she listened to all the cars leave. When she was sure she was alone, she let out a ragged breath and let a smile touch her lips. "Hey Alex." She sniffled a little and wiped her eyes before continuing. "I know you probably don't hear me because you're...you're not even here but I want you to know that I'm so, so very sorry. I should have never listened to Future Max. Maybe then you'd still be alive. I should have just walked away but no. I just had to listen to him." She sniffled again. "But then if I hadn't listened to him, then the whole world would be in danger. I mean," A tear fell from her eye. "how do you choose between the love of your life and the fate of the world? Of two worlds?" She bit her lip. "You don't. That's how. The world is more important than any possible life with Max. I couldn't be selfish. I just couldn't be. No matter what." Then she let out a forced laugh. "Hey at least Michael and Isabel will get to live, right. I mean their lives are more important than ours." She rolled her eyes. "I wish Max would have just let me die that day at the crashdown."

"Liz?" Liz turned and saw Michael standing behind her. He was looking at her funny. Had he heard what she had said?

"Michael, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"Maria forgot something and I didn't want her to...." He trailed off. "What the hell did you say to Alex?" Liz's eyes popped opemed.

"What?"

"Don't play dumb. I heard you. Why did you say all of that?" Liz looked back at Alex.

"I have to go but I love you. You were the brother I always wanted." She kissed her hand before blowing it at Alex's grave before turning back to Michael. "I have to go but this was nice." She tried to rush pass him but he was faster than he looked and caught her by her arm. "What?"

"Tell me the truth."

"No. Forget you ever heard anything I just said." She looked up into his whiskey colored eyes. "Please."

"Liz I-." But he was cut off by her lips crashing into his. She needed him to just shut up and this was the only way she knew how. Pulling back before he even had time to register the kiss, Liz pulled free and walked away from Michael.

Liz opened her eyes as a ringing filled the room. Her room. She sat up on her bed and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. What the hell was that? She turned on her lamp and looked down at her alarm clock. No. Then over at her house phone. Nope. But the ringing was still there and it wouldn't stop.

"I hate that damn phone." She got up and walked over to where her sidekick was plugged in. She pressed the talk button without looking at the caller. "Hello?" She snapped.

"Well, hello to you too grouch." A familiar voice joked.

"It's," She looked over at her clock and groaned. "5:30 in the morning. I'm aloud to be a grouch." The person on the other side of the phone laugh.

"I totally forgot about that. Our time is different."

"Kyle. Its like 2:30 in the morning in Roswell. Why are you even alive let alone awake?" Liz snapped, hitting something off her nightstand. She was pissed. Sleep was something she needed especially since she barely had any in a few days.

"Yeah well, Isabel is going crazy with the wedding invitations and I can't go to sleep until she's asleep." Liz's ears perked up.

"Wedding?" She smiled. "So I'm hearing she said yes?"

Kyle chuckled. "Oh yeah. You've been un reachable in days so..."

"Hey, I've been working."

"Writing isn't working."

"It is when you get paid for it."

"But no one but me and Iz know about that and the only reason Iz knows about it is because-."

"My best friend can't seem to lie to his girlfriend." Liz smirked as she fell onto her bed. "I mean fiance."

"I like the sound of that." Kyle chuckled. "And she heard us talking when she picked up the phone."

"And again I hope she hasn't told the others?" Liz asked a little worried that Isabel spilled about her whereabouts.

"No, she hasn't cause if she did, then Max would be at there in New York at your studio instead of here living off of his parents." Liz rolled her eyes.

"Yeah well you can't be too careful." 4 years of hiding from the people you once thought of as family does that to you.

"Oh no. We can be careful alright. Its you who is too careful. I mean no one has been able to find you since you left and no one BUT Iz and I talk to you." Liz smiled.

"Look, Kyle, I'm kind of tired."

"Oh yeah, okay, everything is cool here and your parents say hi."

"Good." Liz bit her lip. She wanted to asked about how everyone else was doing but she had told Kyle the first time she called him after she left that she didn't want to know about anyone but him and her parents. Not Maria, Max, Isabel or Tess. And especially not Michael. That would led to too many unwanted questions that she had no answers to. "So I'll call you when I can."

"Liz. I actually called you for another reason."

"Yeah?"

"I want you to be my best man, I mean woman."

"What?" Liz shot up in her bed.

"You're my best friend Liz, come on."

"Kyle?" She whined. "Don't you have any GUY friends?"

"Yeah but I want you to be my best man-woman, whatever." Kyle whined. "Please Liz. Please. Please. Please. Ppppplllleeeeaaassee!"

"Fine." Liz rolled her eyes at his childness. "I'll be your best man-woman."

"Thanks. Bye." And he hung up before she could say anything more.

"Damn Kyle."

***************

"So what did she say?" Isabel asked from behind him.

"She said yeah."

"That's good." She gave him a quick kiss before walking out of their bedroom.

"Yeah it is." He said before he dailed another number. "She said yes."

Chapter 2

Liz stood on the beach wearing a big, blue sweater and black sweats and her running shoes. She had originally gone out for a run, something she's been doing since she first got to New York, but there was something about the waves. Something that just called out to her and it stopped her. Now she was just staring into nothingness, watching as wave after wave hit the sand. Kind of like her last days in Roswell.

~~~

Liz shoved shirt after shirt, pair of pants after pair of pants into her duffle bag. She was getting the hell out of Roswell. She just had to. Yesterday the Sheriff had told them that they had found out that it was the truck driver who had run into Alex and not the other way around. He had been tired but didn't want to stop somewhere to sleep and ended up falling asleep behind the wheel. That had been the last straw. She was getting the hell out. But she had to do it right. She had to go through her parents.

They, of course, didn't want her to leave for a million in one reasons. First and for most was because of school. She had to finish. They didn't have a high school drop out in their family and they said that they never would.

"I can gradute early. I already had all the credits I need plus all those extra credits Alex....and I had gone for. This year is nothing but fill in classes." Liz had told them.

The second reason was her friends. Now that Alex was gone, her parents said that she needed to have friends around when she couldn't talk to them, her parents.

"Maria has Michael, Kyle has Isabel and Max has Tess. None of them need me and I don't want to be a burden on any of them." She easily lied.

She hadn't wanted to but just the thought of being anywhere near any of them made her sick to the stomach. Max was starting to give her all these guilty looks as if he had done something. Maria could barely hold back her tears whenever she was around her and Kyle, well Kyle was the only one who actually paid Liz any attention but his attention was slowly but surely going towards Isabel who Liz couldn't even look at. And well, she was never really friends with Tess and Michael. Liz still felt guilty for kissing him a week ago.

The last reason was them.

"We're gonna miss you Lizzie if you leave." Her father had told her.

"But daddy, if I stay here, I don't think I'll be able to survive." Her lip had quivered and her eyes had watered with the thought of a town without Alex. A LIFE without him. She couldn't-.

"Okay, sweetheart. Go. Where ever you wanna go, go."

And she was. She was going to New York. Her grandmother had left almost everything she owned to Liz and that included an already paid studio apartment near Rockaway Beach. She had been there a few times when she was younger but that's it. Once her grandmother had gotten bored with New York, she had moved to another state, to another house.

"Liz?" Liz's head shot up at the croak that was her name and saw Maria and the others standing in her doorway. "What are you doing?"

"I'm....." She looked down at all her things then back at Maria. "I'm packing."

"Where are you going?" Max asked, his tone edging on angry.

"Away." She told him, then went back to packing. She could feel everyone's eyes on her but she didn't care. Her flight to New York was in two days and that had been the earliest she could get it.

"Where is away?" She heard Michael ask.

"Somewhere not here." She said before turning to grab more clothes.

"What about school?" Max demanded.

"What about it?" Liz asked as she closed her suitcase.

"Don't you have to finish it?" He snapped.

"I already did." She wasn't going to look up because if she did,then she'd cry and she didn't want to cry in front of them.

"What was that?"

"I already got my diploma. I'm done."

"What about me?" She heard Maria ask. "What about our friendship?"

Liz bit her lip. She knew that she shouldn't but she had to do this. She had to cut off everyone. "I'm sorry to say this but..." She looked up at Maria. "We haven't been friends in a very long time."

"What!?"

"I don't know how and I don't know when but we just stopped being best friends. We stopped doing everything we did before we got pulled intothis."

"Liz-."

"The only reason I even stayed in touch with any of you was because Alex had said that it was just tension. That soon, we'd all just get together and become friends but when that didn't happen, I just pretended." Her eyes locked with Michael's. "I pretended to be someone so that none of you would get suspious." She turned to look back at Maria. "But now that Alex's is gone, I don't wanna pretend anymore." She bit her lip.

"So everything that's happen over the past year has been a lie?" Isabel asked. Her voice was weak as if she had just been crying.

"Maybe even longer." Liz told her. Then she turned, she hated lying. "Please leave before I call my parents."

"But Liz-." Liz flew into the bathroom right next to her and locked the door before turning on the music and sliding down the door, quietly crying so that no one heard her.

Liz wiped at her face as she showered. Even after so many years, it still made her cry whenever she thought about how she treated everyone. After that day, no one had talked to her. Not even Kyle. It wasn't until she was actually leaving that she and Kyle made up. The others, well, she hadn't seen the others at all. She had pretty much stayed in her room until she had to leave out of fear.

Fear that she would cave in and tell them all about Future Max. Fear that she might see Alex everywhere she turned. Fear that she may not really want to leave. Fear that she might see Michael and kiss him again.

"I so gotta go out." She said as she stepped out of the shower. But before she could even figure out everything in her head, her phone started ringing. "That better not be Kyle. I'm so not in the mood right now." She mumbled as she walked over to the phone and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey sexy. I'm down stairs. Wanna let me up?" A smile broke across her lips.

"Its already open." She said as she pushed on a buzzer. "I'll be waiting." She hung up her phone and a second later, her door was opened and in came a guy with light brown hair, about 6'1 with sexy blue eyes. Liz smiled at him before jumping into his arms and kissing her with everything she got.

Who needs to go out when you got someone like Tristan to come in? She thought to herself as he carried her to her room, pulling off her towel in the process.

Once there, Liz pulled Tristan's shirt up above his head before latching her lips onto the side of his neck. One hand held her close while the other run up her rib cage and over her round, breast. She moaned as his long fingers began palying with her nipple, tweaking and rubbing it before his lips attached to it. Teasing her at first and then sucking on it, no doubly leaving a mark. Liz arched her back pushing her nipple into his mouth.

"Bed." She mumbled and he complied happily, letting Liz fall onto her bed, staring down at her. "Now ya pants." Again Tristan nodded before doing as he was told and getting rid of his pants. His long, thick shaft standing straight up, just waiting to be buried deep inside of her.

"You ready for this baby."

"More than you think." She told him as she grabbed him by his neck and pulled him down on top of her. She knew that he liked being on top but tonight, she was the one who was going to be on top. She needed to indudgle herself in one man to get over another.

*************

"So she's really and truly coming?" Michael asked for the hundredth time.

"Yeah man." Kyle told him as he walked around the couch in his apartment. "But if you tell Isabel that you know that Liz is coming, I'll kill you."

"You'll kill me?" Michael asked.

"Yeah."

"And how the hell would you do that?" He asked as he grabbed the snapple from Kyle's hand.

"Oh, I'll find a way. And if I don't then I'm sure Isabel will." Kyle said before drinking some of his own snapple.

"Noted." Michael said. "So you gonna call her or what?"

"Oh yeah. I totally forgot what today was." He quickly picked up the phone and dialed Liz's number. After a few rings, it went to an answering machine. "It's the machine." He told Michael. "Happy Birthday Liz. You're 22 years old today. Call me, it's Kyle."

Chapter 3

"So? Are we eva gonna talk about it?" A voice asked from behind her.

"Talk about what?" Liz asked as she continued to chop up carrots for her dinner.

"Um, this." Liz didn't turn around until she heard her answering machine turn on.

"Hey, Liz. Its Kyle. Call me. Isabel wants to finalize some of the details for the wedding. Just call me. Bye. Then the machine turned off.

"That was Kyle. My friend from Roswell."

"I know that. What was he talking about wedding details? Did Isabel say yes?"

"Oh." Liz felt her cheeks burn. "Yeah. She did and he kind of wants me to be his best man-woman, whatever."

"Really?!"

"Serena." Liz groaned.

"Come on Liz. I so wanna go." The firey brunette whined.

"Fine Serena." Liz said as she walked over to the phone and picked it up. "I'll call Kyle right now and tell him that I'm a plus one."

"Ahhh!" Serena squealed as she bounced over to Liz, pulling her best friend into her arms. "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

"Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just remember that when we get there and all hell brakes loose."

**********

"Yeah whatever." Michael chuckled as he, Kyle, Max and Valenti hung out at Kyle's house. Isabel, Tess and Maria were doing whatever it was that girls do for weddings.

"What? You don't think-?" Kyle was cut off mid-sentence when his phone started ringing. "Ah. You just got so lucky, jolly green giant." He jumped up and ran to the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Kyle, it's me Liz."

"Liz?" Everyone turned to him. "Oh shit. Um," Kyle covered the phone. "It's Isabel about the, um, the wedding. Give me a minute." Kyle walked out of his living room and into the kitchen, not noticing that Max had followed him. "Um, hey Liz. What's up?"

"Hey, yeah. You called to talk about finalizing details about the wedding and I wanted to tell you that its me plus one."

"A plus one?" Kyle chuckled nervously. "You got some hot date?"

Liz chuckled. "No its nothing like that. I just wanna bring my friend. She's like tied to my-."

"So its not a guy?" Kyle held his bottom lip.

"No. It's not."

"Oh thank god."

"What?"

"Nothing. Um, so that was actually what Isabel wanted to know. She wanted to know if she should have an extra place for someone for you. Anad now that you do, we're good."

"Okay." Kyle could see Liz bite her lip. "Well I just wanted to tell you that and... Serena stop. He said you can go. God." Kyle smiled as he heard Liz laugh. "Um, Kyle I gotta go. Bye."

"Bye." Then he hung up laughing.

"You talk to Liz?"

Chapter 4

"You talk to Liz?"

"Um, yeah, I kind of do." Kyle said as he held the phone to his chest. He knew this day would come but he had been stupid enough to believe that it wouldn't have come this soon.

Max stood tall in front of Kyle, his arms wrapped in front of him and his lips in a tight line. He was pissed off and Kyle knew that. What Kyle didn't know is what his future brother-in-law was going to do to him? Isabel had always said that when Max found out, (and yes he will), that she wanted nothing to do with the after math. Though Liz was her friend and Kyle the love of her life, Max was still her brother.

"Hey guys!" Michael walked into the kitchen. "What's taking so long?"

"Kyle has been talking to Liz behind our backs." Max snapped making both Michael and Kyle jump.

The venom in his voice was like nothing they had ever heard. Scratch that. They had heard that tone once before. When Liz had first left, Max had turned on everyone. Everyone but Maria. He had said that it was all their faults and now he and Maria had to suffer. Suffer what, Michael didn't know since Liz and Kyle were the only two who actually talk to each other even before Alex had been killed.

"Max." Kyle finally said. "She's my friend. Of course I talk to her."

"For how long?" Max demanded.

"What?"

"How long have you been talking to Liz behind our backs?"

"Guys?" Valenti's voice came into the kitchen long before he did and he wasn't alone.

"Hey babe. We're back." Isabel walked into the kitchen with two boxes of Pizzas while Maria and Tess had bags in their hands.

"We're just gonna put these down in the study okay Iz?" Tess said.

"Yeah sure." Isabel gave Kyle a quick kiss on the lips before setting the pizza down. "So, what's up?" She could practially see the tension in the room.

"Kyle has been talking to Liz and failed to let any of us know about it." Maxx snapped making both Tess and Maria stop.

"That's my cue to leave." Valenti said. Though he had no clue about this, he sure as hell didn't want to be in it. "Tess, I'll see you at home?"

"Yeah dad." She said before hugging him. Then he turned to Kyle and gave him a quick hug.

"Good luck."

"Thanks." Then he was gone.

"So? How long?" Max demanded.

"Max, please stop." Isabel pleaded. Though she told Kyle this would happen, she didn't actually want it to happen. So much has changed. With all of them.

"No Isabel. I wanna know." Max snapped at her.

"Me too." Maria said.

"I promised that I wouldn't say anything." Kyle told them.

"And you shouldn't have to." Tess snapped as she walked over to Kyle. "He doesn't have to tell you anything Max." Then she looked at Maria. "You either Maria."

"Did you know about this?" Maria questioned.

"No but even if I did I would still defend him."

"She obviously doesn't want to talk to any of us." Isabel said. "So just leave her alone and let her be happy where she is."

"You know." Maria figured out. "You've known."

"For a while now but Kyle's right. Liz swore us both to secretacy."

"I can not believe this." Maria yelled before storming out of the Valenti/Evans' apartment. Max gave them both a look before walking out after her.

"That went well." Tess said.

"Yeah." Kyle told her. "And thanks again for lying."

"Hey," Tess pulled him into her arms. "We're family. I'd lie for you any day."

They shared a small smile before Michael cleared his voice. "You know this isn't the end, right?"

"Let's deal with that tomorrow." Isabel said as she walked back to the pizzas. "Let's eat."

Everyone smile and agreed with Isabel before grabbing pieces of pizza and sitting around the kitchen table. Michael and Kyle told her and Tess about what it was they had been talking about before Liz had called and Tess had told them about what she, Maria and Isabel had been doing all day. Isabel on the other hand, was thinking about everything that had changed in the 4, 5 years that Liz had been gone.

After Liz had left, they had all been hurt. None of them had known it at the time but Liz had been the glue that held them all together. She was the one all of them had gone to whether or not the others knew about it. That was why when she told them that she had been pretending for so long, they knew that something was wrong. The days after Liz's departure was rough.

She and Tess had first started acting like real friends two days after Liz had left. With Kyle locked up in his garage, MAx sulking in his room and Michael and Maria fighting more than usual, both Tess and Isabel had leaned on each other for support. They would talk and hang out whenever they needed to. Tess had given up on the whole 'destiny' thing. She said that she wasn't going to live in the past when she had her whole life ahead of her. So instead of them practicing their powers or talking about how it was back on their home planet, she and Tess would talk about boys and do each others nails.

Soon Kyle started hanging out with them. He had given up on fixing his car and just wanted to be with 'normal' people. "Even if you guys aren't really normal." He told them. But that had been the day when Isabel had finally seen him differently. He was no longer the jock who chased after tail. No. He was her rock when Tess wasn't there or he gave her male advise when both Max and Michael were too wrapped up in their own lives to even talk to her. Her and Kyle were friends and like any friend, they would talk. That of course lead to Kyle opening up about why he wasn't at Liz for leaving.

"What did she say?" Isabel asked as they sat in a booth in the back of the Crashdown. Kyle had told her and Tess that he had actually talked to Liz the day before she left.

"She said that she never meant to hurt any of us and that she only said those things because she didn't want any of us to stop her from leaving." Kyle explained.

"But why? Why try and break all ties when she didn't have to?" Tess asked as she folded her arms in front of her.

"Do you really think that Max or Maria would have just LET Liz leave?" Kyle quietly demanded.

"No."

"Neither did she. So she did the only thing she knew that would stop them from stopping her from leaving. She lied."

"That makes so much more sense." Isabel told them as she rubbed the side of her face. "Do you-?" But her question had been cut off by the bell on the door of the Crashdown go off. Michael walked in pissed off with a yelling Maria right behind him.

"Well you're never around!" She yelled grabbing everyone's attention.

"That's because I've been working. I mean, you say you want me to be better and I'm trying Maria. I'm trying for us." Michael snapped as he stopped and turned to face her.

"Well how can you be doing that for us when I never see you?"

"Is that why you're with him? Is that why I saw you-?"

"Michael, this has nothing to do with Max and you know it." She stopped and looked around the cafe. "We are in just two different places right now and I don't know why we are still together."

"Are you breaking up with me?" Michael asked softly.

"Yes."

"Fine. I gotta go to work. Bye." Then he was gone.

"You okay Isabel?" Kyle asked as he rubbed his future wife's back. She had been staring into nothingness.

"Yeah. I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"About the beginning." She said with a smile and Kyle couldn't help but smile back at her.

Chapter 5

Liz's back hit her wall but she couldn't feel it. She couldn't feel any of it. Not the slamming into her room, the stumbling into the closet, and she definitely didn't feel it when Tristan slammed her into the wooden post that was her bed. All she felt was his hands on her ass and his mouth on her neck. She had to get as much sex as she could before she and Serena left in two days to Kyle's funeral.

"Oh baby you taste so good." Tristan mumbled as he bit her chin.

"Uh huh, just don't talk." She told him. If he talked then they'd never be able to do this and right now, with the threat of no physical touching of any kind except that of maybe being punched or slapped, she needed as much touching as-.

"Liz, we gotta go!" Tristan stopped mid-kiss just as Serena burst into to room. "Oh wow."

"Serena." Liz held Tritan closer as she moved to look at her best girl friend. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I um," Serena had her hand over her eyes. "We have to get going. Our flight is like in-."

"Two days."

"No its in 3 hours."

"S, come on. Our flight is on thurday, May 4. Taday is Tuesday, May 2nd." Liz told her.

"Babe, taday is thurday." Liz looked down at Tristan who was holding her a bit too high her likes.

"Na ah."

"Liz look," Serena dropped her hand and walked over to Liz and showed her cell. "Girl get off of Trist, and get ya shit cause we gottsa go."

"Damn it." Liz pushed off of Tristan still in just her bra and boy shorts and grabbed her duffle bag.

"You're already done?" Serena asked shocked, while Tristan started picking up his clothes.

"I like to be ready."

"Ahhh. So, Tristan, you dnt have ta leave den." Serena smirked.

"Oh really?" He dropped his clothes and wrapped his arms around Liz, placing a lite kiss on the back of her neck.

"Michael can you please stop?" Serena's smirk dropped and Liz's hand shot up to her cover her mouth.

"What did you just call me?" Tristan let go of Liz.

"I called you Tristan." She said as she turned to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"No, you didn't. you called me Michael." He said as he unwrapped her arms from his neck. "Who the hell is Michael?"

"I um, I think its time to leave Tristan." Serena told him. She was quick to grab his clothes.

"No. Who the hell is Michael?" Tristan snapped getting louder.

"Don't you even dare raise your voice at me." Liz snapped back. "It was a mistake." She moved out of from the trapped space between him and her bed and walked over to Serena. "I think its time you leave."

"What? Why?" Tristan walked over to Liz only to stop when her hand met his chest. "I thought we were going to finish this?"

"Not now. I have to finish getting ready for my trip with Serena." Liz moved out of the way so that he could pass her but instead, he just stood where he was. "Come on Tristan, don't be like this."

"Be like what?"

"Like you actually give two shits about me. When we started this we both said it was only for sex."

"But that was 4 years ago."

"And its been fine just the way its been."

"So you don't even want to try to make this into something more?" Liz looked up into his crystal blue eyes. "You don't even wanna see if I'm better at being a boyfriend than a fuck buddy?"

"I..." Liz looked away from him. "I'm sorry but I have to get ready for our trip." She looked back at him. "I'm sorry." Then she walked back to her duffle bag and started packing her things.

"Just give ha sum time duke." Serena whispered to him. "Here." She handed him his clothes. "We'll be back in like a week." Then she winked at him before walking towards Liz.

"Thanks." He mumbled before walking out of Liz's studio.

When she heard the door close, Liz felt the walls in her break and the tears fell freely. Her shoulders shook quietly but instead of saying anything, Serena pulled Liz into her arms and let her cry it out. They both knew that Tristan was starting to mean more to Liz than just a fuck buddy. He was like her boyfriend with out the title.

Every year on her birthday, he'd show up and they'd spend the day just the two of them. Whenever Serena can't go to Liz, Tristan would be there in a heartbeat and fix whatever it was that Liz needed fixing. And though Liz didn't know that Serena knew, every year on the same day, he'd bring Liz a dozen roses (all in different colors) with a box of Liz's favorite chocolates, and they'd sit on the beach and watch the sun set, just the two of them. Their anniversary.

"You ready, now?" Serena joked and Liz couldn't help but let out a watery laugh.

"I was a complete idiot, wasn't I?" Liz asked as she wiped her eyes.

"No. It's not your fault that you're kind of in love with your ex best friend's boyfriend." Serena smiled. "Though it is like keeping it in the family. Which I gotta say is totally nersty." Liz choked out a laugh.

"You are too much, Serena." Liz smilled. "That's why I love you."

"Why thank you and I love you too but if you don't hurry that ass up so that we can get to da airport, I won't love ya nemore."

"Yeah right."

"Na uh." Liz stuck her tongue out at Serena. "Baby."

*****************

Kyle and Isabel waited in the airport for Liz and her 'friend'. They didn't know what either of them looked like, Liz had said that she had cut her hair and dyed it but to what she refused to tell them. She was always saying that it was just a pre caution. The last thing she needed was for them to recongize her.

"I wish she wasn't so careful then maybe we'd be able to-."

"Iz, Kyle!" A small dark red head ran right to them wrapping her arms around Kyle's waist.

"Wanna tell me something I don't know, Kyle?" Isabel asked, her perfectly shaped eyebrow raised.

"Babe, I have no clue who..." The small red head moved back and they both saw that it was Liz. "Holy shit Liz." Kyle pulled her back into his arms, crushing her body. "You look so different!"

"I know." She giggled as she pulled from him and went into Isabel's arms. "Do you like it?"

"It's great." Isabel said before Kyle could. "So where's your friend?"

"God I hate airplanes." A small brunette an inch taller than Liz whined as she walked over to them. "Neva again, gurl. Wen we going back, we going by bus."

"Nah, dat aint gonna happen." Liz said as she scrunched up her nose in playful disgust. "Now stop whining and meet my friends." She grabbed the brunette's hand and pulled her towards Kyle and Isabel. "Serena, this is Kyle and Isabel. And Kyle and Isabel, this is my best buddy, Serena from back home."

"Nice to meet you." Isabel stuck out her hand but instead of shaking it, Serena slapped it.

"What's up. So," She smirk at them. "How was Liz way back when?"

"I'd like to say the same but-." Kyle's eyebrow rose. "I don't think that I'd be right in saying that."

"Just tell her that I was practically validictorian so that she can just shut up cause S will not let it go." Liz joked as she jumped on Serena's back.

"Hey, so not fair. You said that it was my turn when we got here." Serena whined as she carried Liz to get their bags.

"She's so happy." Isabel said with a smile. "I never realized how much I missed her smile."

Kyle wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her on her cheek. "Don't worry baby. I'm sure she's gonna smile alot this weekend?"

"How can you be sure with-?"

"I just know." Kyle said as he covered her lips with his own. "Let's go before they forget we're with them." Isabel nodded but felt like a complete ass. Kyle didn't know it but she had let it slip out to Maria that Liz was coming back today. And there was no doubt in her mind that everyone was at their house right now waiting for them to get back. Poor Liz, Isabel thought as she and Kyle found a laughing Liz and Serena.

Chapter 6

"So she's coming here?" Max asked Maria as they stood in Isabel and Kyle's living room.

"That's what Isabel told me but I don't know if she told me to get back on my good side or to throw me off." Maria said as she shrugged her shoulders. "But since both Michael and Tess are here, I guess they are gonna bring Liz here."

Max nodded his head and looked over at his once best friend and the girl who had ruined everything between him and Liz. What he couldn't understand though was after Alex had died and Liz had left, Tess had just left him alone. Yeah it had been nice to be able to just think and not talk about the kiss at the prom but she just stopped coming after him all together. When he had asked her why, she just shrugged her shoulders and said;

"It just didn't feel right, Max. Sorry."

Yeah he'd been thrilled but Liz was gone, so he turned to Maria and things between them-.

"They're here." Max looked away from Maria and towards Michael and Tess who were now moving, trying to act like they hadn't just been waiting.

"I wonder what she is like." Tess said as she dropped onto 'her' chair in the corner of the room.

******************

"Dude, this place is huge." Serena said as Kyle drove into his driveway of his and Isabel's two story house. "It's almost betta than Liz's place back home."

"S, you just met them, don't lie. That ain't nice." Liz joked as she and Serena got out of Kyle's beloved red mustang.

"What? Your studio is bigger than this?" Kyle asked as he walked over to the trunk to open it.

"Yeah but that's only because its in an apartment complex and is on da top floor." Serena told them, dodging the piece of paper that Liz had thrown at her. "Hey, u said dnt lie, so I aint."

"Why don't you just tell'em my address while you're at it?" Liz said as she rolled her eyes at her best friend when Serena stuck her tongue out at her.

"Hey, if you weren't so damn careful and weren't always looking over ya back for he who remains nameless, I would." Serena joked as she moved along the mustang. "And if I remember recorrectly...."

"If you remember what-ahhhhhh! Serena!" Liz yelled when Serena jumped onto her back. "What the hell? You weigh more than I do!" Liz snapped but the smile on her face told Isabel and Kyle that she was just kidding.

"Nu ah. No I don't. We weigh da same n if I can carry ya big ass, den u can carry mine. Now, giddy-up girlie!" They both giggled before Liz looked at Kyle, still hunched over and holding her best friend up.

"Can you carry our things?"

"I don't know."

"Kyle, please." Liz gave him her best puppy dog look which had Kyle bursting out laughing. "What?" She asked a little hurt. "What's so funny?

"Nothing. Just the way you and Serena are. It's like you guys are married." Then he smirked his totally Kyle smirk. "It's hot."

Both girls burst out laughing while Isabel held her sides and walked over to the front door. She knew what, or more over to whom, lay just beyond her closed doors but she still couldn't seem to stop smiling. Serena and Liz together were a laugh riot. Isabel had never seen Liz so carefree before. She laughed, she smiled, she joked. She was real. It was like a whole new Liz was with them than the one that left so many years ago.

"Well I'll be damned Liz. You and Serena aren't here more than 2 hours and you guys are already the lead roles my fiance's wet, perved dreams." She joked.

"What can I say, Iz? Girl on girl is hot." Kyle smiled at her.

"And me and S are just that. GIRL on GIRL." Liz said before walking over to Isabel. "Plus, it would have happened sooner or later, Iz. I mean men are easy."

"You got that right." Isabel felt her smile falter when she opened the door and let Liz walk in with Serena on her back.

"LIZ!"

Without realizing it, Liz dropped Serena with a loud umph. She hadn't meant to but hearing Maria call out her name AND then SEEING not only Maria but Max, Tess and Michael in Kyle and Isabel's living room was a bit of a shock. She didn't even hear them as they moved around to come over to her but then again she and Serena weren't exactly-.

"Ow. Damn Liz. If you didn't want to carry me then you should have jus said so." Serena snapped as she stood up and rubbed her ass where she had fell.

"Oh," Liz was pulled back into reality. "Oh god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to." She moved over to Serena and smiled. "And I think I did tell you that I didn't want to carry you."

"Bitch." Serena walked around her and into the livingroom, smiling at the others as she sat down on the couch.

"Liz?" Liz turned and was already in Maria's arms. "I missed you so much."

"Hey Maria. How are you?" Liz patted her back while glancing around at the others. "How are all of you?"

"Like you care." She heard Max mumble.

"I do care Max. Why wouldn't I? You guys were, are my friends." Liz quickly fixed her mistake but she could see Serena trying not to laugh.

"Oh really?" Maria took a step back and folded her arms over her chest.

"Yeah really."

"Then why did you only talk to Kyle?" Liz looked back at Kyle and gave him an evil eye before looking back at Maria.

"How did you find out?" She simply asked.

"I overheard your conversation with him a month ago." Max answered instead as he walked over to Liz. "So I asked him about it and he told us."

"He just...told you that I had been calling him for the past 5 years?" Liz asked, not buying what he was saying.

"Yeah cause that's what real friends do."

"Kyle?" Liz turned to Kyle.

"I did tell him but only because he had already caught me, not because we're friends. We both, NO, we all know that I don't like Max, so there is no way in hell that I would just tell him anything."

Liz had to smirk at that. Though she had told Kyle not to tell her about the others, she didn't stop him when ever he called to bitch about Max and everything he was doing that pissed Kyle off. Like when he and Isabel had first started going out, Kyle had told Liz that Max had tried to get Tess to get into Isabel's head to see if there was something wrong with her. Then when Kyle and Isabel had finally decided to sleep with each other, Max had burst into the room and fucked it all up, trying to take a swing at Kyle while he was trying to cover Isabel up.

"Well," Serena stood up and pushed Max as she walked over to Liz. "What's done is done. Let's get our shit and get ta our rooms."

"But we were just-."

"No." Liz cut her off. "We weren't. I'd like ta say this was nice but I'd be lying so, yeah." Liz grabbed her bag from Kyle as he handed it from her and then followed him up to the room she and Serena would be staying.

"I can't believe those use ta be ya friends." Serena said as she dropped onto the bed. Then she looked at Kyle. "I can't believe you have to deal wit'em."

"Well believe it." Kyle said as he dropped down next her.

"Poor, Kyle." Liz said with a smile, then she looked around. "Where's Isabel?"

Chapter 7

Isabel stood in front of Max and Maria, her arms folded in front of her chest and her lips set in a scowl; making Michael and Tess both take a step back.

"What the hell was that?" She finally snapped.

"What was what?" Max asked sheepishly.

"Don't act dumb, Max because you aren't good at it. What is that shit you pulled with Liz and Serena? They were both being nice to you." Then she looked at Michael and Tess. "To all of you."

"Iz, she came in here acting like nothing changed!" Maria yelled. "Like she didn't just up and leave!"

"No. She was acting like a friend who just came back from traveling." Isabel yelled back. "And then asshole here had to put his two sense in."

"How dare you?!" Max snapped. "I'm your king and-."

"That shit doesn't work anymore and you know it Max." Kyle said as he, Liz and Serena came down the stairs.

"I cannot believe you're still using that as an excuse to get your way." Liz said as she and Serena took a spot in the living room. In the fight.

"Somethings never change." Michael told her.

"While others do." Tess said with a smile.

"Douly noted." Serena said looking from Tess to Michael.

"Oh, no, not like that." Tess corrected.

"Not like what?" Maria suddenly asked, catching on to what Tess had said.

"Me and Michael."

"What about you and Michael?" Liz asked, a little bit curious.

"Nothing. We're just friends. That's what I meant. Michael, Isabel, Kyle and I are all friends." Tess rambled, making Kyle and Isabel smile.

"That we are." Michael stated.

"Good!" Maria snapped. "Because I won't stand for it if you went after Michael."

"What?"

"Don't play coy Tess."

"Play coy?" Serena whispered to Liz, her eye brows rising.

"It's a Maria thing." Liz whispered to her.

"Okay. Now I know why I'm ya bf." Liz smiled but didn't say anything.

Yeah it was true. Serena may be crazy but she was much more level headed than Maria and she didn't drive Liz crazy like Maria always did. Instead Serena would help create a solution, instead of just waiting for Liz to do it by her self.

"Maria, I'm not playing anything." Liz heard Tess finally say. "Michael and I are just friends."

"And even if we weren't, you shouldn't care because you've been dating Max for the last 5 years anyway." Michael snapped.

"What?" Liz jumped at Serena's question while everyone looked very uncomfortable. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Mia and Maxwell are doing it?"

"Serena!" Isabel gasped while Liz and Kyle just tried to cover up their smiles.

"What? Are they or ain't they?"

"They are and have been since before Alex died." Michael told her.

"Wait, what?" Liz asked now very confused.

"Yeah, that's what I thought and if I hadn't caught them myself, I wouldn't have believe it but its true Liz." Liz looked from Max to Maria then to Tess.

"What about the kiss at prom?" She asked. "I thought you and Max would have gotten together, not Max and Maria." Liz visibly shuttered.

"So did everyone else." Isabel told her. "But it was Tess who helped me with Alex's death." Her voice cracked on Alex's name.

"And Kyle helped me when...when I found out about them." Michael pointed to a now shrinking Max and Maria.

"So you four just grew together?" Serena asked, moving towards Liz who had unconsciously moved towards Michael. She gently wrapped her arms around Liz and pulled her back to her side.

"Yeah, we kind of did."

"Um, when-." But Liz was cut off when her phone started ringing. "Um, give me a minute." Liz pulled her cell out of her pocket and looked at it. "Oh god its Tristan." She looked at Serena then back at the phone.

"Take it, damn it!" Serena snapped.

"Oh." Liz turned and walked out of the room, picking up the phone. "Hey Tristan...Yeah we got here okay...Um, yeah," Liz looked at the others, at Serena and smiled. "I miss you too."

*******************

"Who is she talking to?" Michael asked no one directly but Serena still say fit to answer him.

"Just someone special." She told him. Then she turned back to everyone in the room. "God, Liz ain't got no manners. I'm Serena McDowell and I'm ha best friend. What about ya?"

Chapter 8

"Who is she talking to?" Liz heard Michael ask but she didn't think he asked Serena. He may have asked Kyle.

"Just someone special." Thank god for Serena. She was always-.

"Liz, are you listening to me?" Tristan's voice pulled Liz out of the conversation that was happening in front of her.

"Yeah I am." She turned and looked out across the yard. "So how is everything?"

"It's-"

*****************

"Um, that's impossible." Mia said, her voice a little choking.

"Wat iz?" Serena asked as she took a quick glance at Liz.

"Even though its been 5 years, I'm Liz's best friend!" Serena turned back to her.

"Really? So as her best friend, you must know everything about Liz right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll start off easy." Serena sat her hands on her hips. "What is Liz's favorite color?"

"That's nothing. Red."

"Nope. White,"

"But-."

"Like the color of snow when it first falls. Ok-."

"But Liz has never seen snow."

"Again, wrong. She told me that she saw it maybe twice before moving ta ha house where she lives now and every winter, she and I and sometimes our 'friend', Tristan, go onto the beach to watch it as it falls." Then Serena shrugged her shoulders. "It gets cold but I like the cold and she likes da snow so it fits." Then she smiled a small smile. "Next question. What's Liz's favorite movie?"

"Um, it's Casablanca."

Serena made the sound of a buzzer. "Nope wrong. That's her second favorite movie. What about her favorite song?"

"Um,"

"Girl forget it. It dont matta. You was ha friend wen she was here and now I'm ha friend. So its all good." Serena smiled a real smile. "So, how was Maxie boi?"

Kyle burst out laughing while Isabel and Maria's mouths dropped open. "What?" Max snapped.

"Yo, dont even act like you dnt wanna kno if she liked it or not." Then Serena stopped to think. "Well if ya is still tagetha, then she does. But then again she could juss be waiting fa Michael." Then she shook her head. "Den again, I hear alot of chicks want Mikey."

This caught Max and Maria's attention. "Who wants Michael?"

"I-."

"So," Liz said as she came back into the house. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Just getting to know Serena better." Tess said with a smile. "And I think I like her."

"Sorry, I'm strickly dickly but thanks girl." Serena looked at Liz. "So what did duke want?"

"To tell me that he misses me and that we have to talk when I get back."

"I couldn't agree more."

"Who's duke and can we trust him?" Michael finally said.

"'Duke' is just this guy I've...I know and it doesn't really matter if you can trust him because I trust him and so does Serena and that's all that mattas." Liz felt her heart begin to race. Why was she getting mad over nothing? She didn't know. "Um, Serena let's go see my parents." Liz said before pulling her towards the door. "Bye."

Chapter 9

Wednesday and Thursday went by without a hitch. The wedding took up most of everyones' time, so there were no sudden show ups at the Valenti/Evans' household. Liz and Serena did whatever was needed of them, including planning the bachelor that was happening tonight, right before the wedding.

"Hey, as the best man you gotta be there and since uz iz gonna be dere, dere is no way in hell dat i'ma go to da bachelorette party." Serena whined as she followed Liz up the stairs and towards the room they had been sharing. "I don't even know deze ppl."

"Fine." Liz complained as she closed the door behind them. "But we are going to a strip club so there will be rules!" Liz turned to her best friend. "Rule number one: you are resisted to only 5 drinks. Any more and you tend to go crazy. Rule numba two: if you do happen to have more than just 5 drinks, there will be NO hitting on anything that walks by you."

"I don't hit on everything-." Liz pulled out her side kick, searched for something and then showed Serena a video of her (Serena) hitting on a telephone pole as they walked by it. "Oh. Doley noted."

"Rule numba three: no matta wat, I don't care if the strippa don't know what shes doing, you CANNOT go up on stage and take her place. I dnt care if she got no ass or small 'titties', you are NOT aloud on the stage. Got me." Serena could help but smile as she rolled her eyes.

"Fine."

"Good. Now lets get dressed."

*****************

Max, Michael, Jim and Kyle waited downstairs for Liz and Serena.

"Do you know where they are taking us?" Max asked as he shifted himself on the couch.

"Nope. Liz was pretty light on the details. She just said that we are going to have fun." Kyle said as he dropped into his recliner.

"Well I've been to and have had a bachelor party but there has never been any women there." Jim told them, making all the guys turn to him.

"No women?" Michael asked.

"No women."

"Not even-."

"Guys we're ready." They all turned to see Liz and Serena coming down the stairs.

"Wow." Michael whispered as he stood near Kyle.

And wow they were. Serena was the first to walk into the living room and she wore a white mini skirt with a tight blue top that clung to her curves and gave her breasts more clevage. And on her feet were blue strap on heels that had thin heels. Her brown hair was straight and her white and blue make up just seemed to fit her face. But Liz was the one that had everyone's attention. She wore a green wrap around top that was cut low and showed off her arms. On her hips were tiny black shorts that hugged her hips and on her feet were wrap up the leg, green flats that caressed her legs. Her red hair was done in big, bouncy curls that surrounded her face and her green make up was flawless.

"Why thank you." Serena said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, lets get going." Liz said as she grabbed her purse and walked over to the front door. "I've go the whole night planned out."

"Will there be...drinking?" Max asked slowly.

"Of course duke." Serena said with a 'duh' look on her face.

"Liz, we can't-."

"I know that Max. That's why one of you is going to be the designated driver AND the other is gonna watch over Serena because she tends to go a little crazy when drunk." Both of them looked at a now blushing Serena.

"Are you sure Liz?" Michael asked. "I mean she looks-." Liz showed him the video on her side kick. "Okay then. I got the driving."

"What? Michael, what did you see?" Max questioned as he moved over to the pair.

"Oh nuthin Maxie. But since he's driving den dat makes you my date." Serena looped her arm with Max's. "Let's go boyfriend!" As she pulled Max outside in to the night, Liz bit back a smile while Michael and Jim followed after them.

"She's gonna eat him alive right?" Kyle asked behind her.

"Like a vampire does to its victim."

"Nice to know." They both burst out laughing and then went after the pair.

Chapter 10

Serena took another shot, slammed the shot glass on the counter and threw her arms in the air.

"Yeah baby! That's numba 8. Who wants anotha one?" The men in the club that were at the bar, shouted and cheered as Serena ordered anotha round for those around her.

"Serena, maybe you should slow down. That's a lot of shots-."

"Oh Maxie don't worry. I ain't gone." Then she winked at the bartender. "Not yet anyway." She drank the shot in front of her, blew a kiss at the bartender then turned to Max. "Hey, why don't you tttaakee one?"

"Because I don't drink."

"Becausssse yoouuu don't, or yooouuu can'tttt." Serena slurred her words as she pressed herself into Max.

"I, um, I just don't. I mean, um, me and alcohol don't mix." Max tugged at his collar and tried to push Serena away from him but instead only helped pull her closer.

"Come on." She took another shot. "You know you want to." She waved at the bartender to give her another but this one she gave to Max. "Have a little fun wit me tonight."

*******************

Liz, Kyle and Michael all laughed as they watched Max helplessly try and get out of drinking with Serena. Both Liz and Kyle had drinks in front of them while Michael had a soda. They watched and laughed as Serena licked the side of Max's face, applied salt then licked it off before doing another shot and sucking on a lemon.

"I think its time to get her home, don't you Liz?" Michael asked as he watched his leader stare at the brunette, shocked.

"Nah, she wants to go to our next destination and I promised she could after she promised me something." Liz took a shot of her Jack Daniels then turned to Kyle. "Let's get going." She grabbed her bag and stood up only to stop and look around.

"You forgot something?" Kyle joked as he finished his beer.

"Where's your dad?"

"What?"

"Your dad? He was just- oh my god, is that Amy Deluca?" Liz pointed out to the dance floor and sure enough Valenti and Amy were grinding on each other like teenagers.

"That's just not right." Michael said as he covered his eyes.

"Tell me about it." Kyle whined.

"That calls for another shot." Liz waved at the bartender, got her shot and drank it. "Ow. Now to Max and S."

Michael watched Liz as she walked away, her hips swaying to the beat of whatever it was that was on at the club. She looked amazing. She always looked amazing.

"Dude, stop staring or she might realize that you are so in love with her." Kyle joked as he hit Michael on the back. "Come on jolly green, she'll meet us out side."

"Yeah sure." Michael took one more look at Liz then followed after Kyle. "Yo, do you know who that guy Tristan is?"