Til We Meet Again (CC, Mature) - Chapter 84 - Completed - 09/01/2022

[keepsmiling7]

It's sad that Max and his son are estranged. And it is even sadder that they both know the reason.
Liz will have lots to deal with these next few months. I feel sorry for her.
Parker1947 has a special way of drawing me into all of the emotions felt here.

[Parker1947]

I would have probably done the same thing Michael thought as he got the story out of Max that his friends had gone looking for his son and as a result had run into Liz and her daughter, Mariah coming out of the Crashdown. A stilted conversation, and one that River had clearly relished according to Max, had taken place. Michael only knew too well that River at times liked to dwell in his father’s misery even though another part of him hated how distant they were becoming. Instead of bonding on the moment, River tended to revel in the moment.

While Max continued to drown and did not want to seek help from his continual sinking. But Michael knew if what had happened to Max, and Liz happened to him and Maria. Michael might not have any better, because there were times he wanted to sink when it looked like it was not going to work out with Maria. And even during those times when they had not worked out and were on one of their pauses. Fortunately, for them both, well, they had come out of it remarkably unscathed except for a few brushes with the unexpected. And they were stronger than ever, but they had a son who was tempted the same lines he had walked at one time or gotten led away from because of Maria.

But their son to this day had no great love. Of course, Mac was only 15, so he had a lot of time. Because he did not find Maria until about that age and went through a lot of turmoil before finally committing to being happy with each other.

Mac wanted to blur the lines. And make both his father and mother feel like a hypocrite for warning against when they had crossed many of the same lines, and even more so back in the late 90s, and early 2000’s.

“You do not have to say it,” Max muttered. “I have done this to myself, so I should deal with my own misery.”

“You know you could have moved on and see that Liz would have wanted to be happy. Which is why she walked away because she knew the two of you would have had a lot of misery.” Michael muttered. “It’s not right or fair, but it is the way that life has worked.”

No, we would have fine, Max thought. I would have hell of lot better with her in my life he thought. But he knew Michael was right. She would have been miserable, raising a child she did not want to raise, and he would have forced on her because of an indiscretion he had committed during one of their pauses. An event with a lot of sordid history behind it, that made neither of them look good, but still, it ended up with a baby being born. And that was hard to overlook, and move on from, even though we tried Max muttered to himself.

And because he did not want the baby out there in the unknown. She would have been in pain. And he did not want that. So, it was good that she had moved on, and found someone who could give her the life he could not have been able to give her…

“So, how was it?” Michael asked as if he did not already know.

“Weird,” Max said softly. “She was there with her daughter. Who is so, like Liz when she was younger?”

“Mariah, yes, she is almost like a mini replica of Liz at one time” Michael conceded of what he and Maria had observed in the child. While Maria had more chance to interact with Liz and her family because she was visiting Liz in Illinois and Liz rarely came back to Roswell because Jeff and Nancy would go there, but still when on the occasion that Liz did come back, then it was only a mini pitstop of a visit. And most of the time if he did not have her best friend for his wife. He would not have known she was in town until she had left town and to spare his best friend’s feelings.

Michael often kept that kind of news to himself and did not confide in Max. And Isabel had the same approach.

As they both figured that it would only send Max spiraling to even more of a greater extent than what he already was doing to himself.

But now that Liz was back in town, and the events of what happened. It could not be kept from Max. They were all so interconnected.

Even if last night did not happen Michael thought. Eventually Max would have become wise, but he knew from his wife that Liz’s goal had been for the holidays to come and go before any more members of their squad knew. Although it was now hard with the kids enrolled in West Roswell, and the adjutant junior high for Lex.

“It’s weird to know she’s a mother,” Max admitted.

“Life did not stand still you know,” Michael muttered. “We all move on in some fashion,” he thought. “Whether we wanted to or not?”

Max nodded.

“Mariah is enrolled at West Roswell. Liz’s son, Alex is enrolled at the junior high in town. Although there is word that he might be skipped into high school next year because of his test scores.” Michael muttered.

“Alex,” Max muttered as they both thought of the original Alex. And how bad it had gone for their group. If we had not already gotten a warning that life would not be easy, losing Alex certainly gave that to us in spades he thought.

“Yes, although he goes by Lex” Michael muttered. “He wants to be his own person.”

Max nodded. “Everyone wants to be their own person,” he thought. A reasonable wish for anyone. We did not get a chance to be our own person except to try to mold who were designed to be by those who forced unwilling donors to allow them a chance to exist in this world he thought.

Michael could not help but agree on that sentiment. “They were having their chance to be normal children, and now they had to deal with this on top of growing up” he sighed. As it was never easy to deal with loss. Not that I have minded having lost Hank Michael thought. Since word came years ago how Hank was found dead. Of course, momentarily suspicion fell on him because of how long the bones were decaying, but eventually they were able to pinpoint that he crossed the wrong person, and it was not Michael who had put him such a condition. Although the inner sanctum knew of their little group knew it was a lot of hogwash, but they kept public record of the death go on, and it was not like he wanted to know what exactly happened to Hank given he barely escaped jail. And it was not like Hank Guerin was missed.

“I am just glad Liz was able to have that family she wanted,” Max said softly. And he knew it was true. For all his wishes and dreams. All he wanted was happiness for Liz. That is why he had saved her in the first place. So, she could live, and experience all that life had to offer. She had not deserved to die because of a fight between two men in a restaurant, and a careless bullet getting loose If only everyone could have that fortune, he thought. But life was not like that. So, he did not regret that Liz had that chance to live, even though it did not work out for them. At least she is living.

He would take that every minute of the day.

Michael could see Max was still tormenting himself. All the pretty words will not change being able to love someone he though. While he also knew he had gotten lucky because it could have been so different for him, but God was not like that.

But it was for Max and Liz.

So, they would have to make do with what life did bring them. The good and bad he thought as he knew the door slam shut and knew with Mac upstairs after he drove and picked him up so that his son did not do any wandering on the way home. No, Mac was upstairs probably doing more damage on that computer of his, but he was not committing worse mistakes outside on the street which for this night Michael was grateful.

“Michael,” came the voice of his wife. And Michael knew she was now home.

“In here,” Michael said of the kitchen. “We have company.”

“Whom?” Maria muttered as she already had a lot of her mind from the visit with Liz and she just wanted to relax before it was time to turn in for the night. On a day that had already seen a lot of action. So, she was not in the mood when she walked into the kitchen and saw her husband’s best friend. “Oh great,” she muttered out loud and of course Max heard it. “You are here once more?”

“Needed a place to stay, and Michael offered. I can go elsewhere if you do not want me to stay?” Max offered.

“No,” Maria muttered. “You can stay” she said even though she was not in the mood for her old friend. When she had just come from another house with lasting grief. “I know Michael would want you to stay, and it’s only the couch.”

“Thank you, really Maria, it is the furnace that was on the outs” Max said.

“And you could not fix it?” Maria asked with a mutter “Then what good are your abilities?” she murmured Not everyone is lucky to have what you are able to get away with she said as she knew it applied to her husband and son. She had been able to be normal. And on days like this, she relished it. But then there were times she wished she could have abilities to wipe out the bad. But then having powers did not solve all your problems.

“Maria,” Michael sighed.

“I am done, I have said all I am going to say for tonight” Maria muttered. “You can stay here tonight, Max,” she said with a weary sense of drama that was coming their way, whether in the actions of their only child, or in the form of whatever was destined for her best friend and Max. She did not know if she was ready for it. “All I am asking is for you to let Liz be…”

“Why would I not let her be” Max muttered as he knew all too well that he and had a up and down relationship with his friend’s wife for years now. They had been semi close in high school because their sense of bonding when both were single during a solitary summer when Liz had vanished to Florida, and while Michael was very much in town but was off in his own sense of foreboding and depression over what he had been forced to do to dispatch them of their problem, namely Agent Fisher who was not the unassuming Sheriff Deputy sent their way. Instead, he turned out to be an early enemy, only to be dispatched chiefly by Michael who he was forced to kill.

Therefore, he was forced into a depressive summer of self-loathing over what he had been forced to do, which of course it had him pushing Maria away, and during that summer coupled with Liz needed time away from Roswell.

Max and Maria had become close.

Only close friends.

…nothing more…

It would not have crossed their minds for it to go any further. Probably because there was only one for him, and only one for Michael and he would never breach it with Maria, and Michael would never breach it with Liz.

“Why would I not let her be?” Max said simply. “Life is the way it is because… “I let her be he thought. “I let her walk away at my peril” he muttered, and he did not regret it anymore today then he did at the time because he would rather have her away from him, happy, than with him and be miserable which is what he knew she would be if she had stayed. Because raising his son was no life for her. Not by a long shot.

But it was a life he had chosen for himself, and that was fine, but it would have been miserable if she had been forced into that life Max thought once more.

“Somehow drama always finds its way to the both of you, and Liz already has a mountain of it in her life and therefore she does not need it coming from you, so please, allow her to mourn in peace and to be there for her children,” Maria said but she knew it was useless to be giving these warnings to Max of all people. “But I know you will do what you will do,” she muttered because she knew he would do what he wanted to do, hell with the consequences, so, she turned and walked away.

Which left Max and Michael to talk and as Michael who was going for the extra pillow and blankets, Max let Maria’s words as he looked at his best friend and his friend did not have a response, but he did nod as if he agreed with his wife’s sentiment. “Max,” he was going to say but Max stopped him.

“Do not say it, okay because I get it” was all Max was prepared to say. “I am not going to be disrupting Liz’s life. When all I want is for her to be happy,” he said softly. “So, the both of you will not have to worry about me screwing anything up for her…” he muttered. “I did that enough the first time. Time has moved on past what we once had.”

“If you say so,” Michael asked as he was not completely sure if Max was telling him that to make it easier to sleep at night, or if he believed it. And whether he wanted his friend to abide by his wife’s demands. Because he knew Liz probably could use a friend, but then friendship might not do either any good.

Because it was bound to lead to angsty complications. Which will do none of us any good.

“I do,” Max said simply as Michael nodded and passed the pillow his friend. And twenty minutes later, the lights were off, and the house was silent, and Max was alone with his thoughts.

Just like he was any other day.

And he was beginning to see that this was a bad way to be, but was his reckoning simply too late?

*

While across town. Liz was all alone in a house that had both too few and too many memories. There were few lights in the house. And the light was off in her daughter’s room as she had checked once more to make sure her daughter was sleeping peacefully, or she hoped because she did not know how her daughter was sleeping but she prayed it was at least somewhat peacefully. And now Liz was aimlessly wondering through the house. Restless. Unable to settle. She had been married for sixteen years. She had not been this alone since those days after she left Max. And left her family. And was alone in Chicago. Now she was all alone. She did not even have Brady to pick up her spirits. Since Maria had left. Liz did not know what to do with herself, or how to settle her mind. She witnessed the family album on the table because she had been showing Maria and Kyle pictures of the kids as they grew, and memories of her time in Chicago.

So, she picked it up and sat down with it, and went through the pages, and tears came down her face and she saw the bottle of scotch on the bar. She knew she should not drink. And she had been good over the years. She could drink here and there, and she was never tempted to go any further because she had Brady and she had the kids. They kept her from resorting to any behaviors that had been long put aside.

But looking through the pictures of her early days with Brady. She remembered how dark she had been before Brady had been the shoulder the cry on. She remembered her reputation as a party girl. Going to the frat parties, and just drinking herself into a blissful black hole that she did not always remember her actions the next morning.

She was not proud of herself, so she wanted Mariah to be different when she came to that age, and she wanted to pour herself a stiff one at the knowledge that her daughter was fifteen, and only a few short months from being sixteen. The age where everything changed for Liz. Even earlier when she got shot and was brought into a new life. One that changed the very fabric of her life.

Despite her daughter’s echoing her in terms of her manner, temperament and even her looks. She knew her daughter was strong. But sometimes being strong does not prevent you from being hurt. And Liz hated that for her daughter. And she also thought of her little boy in Alex, or Lex she told herself. She remembered how she and Brady were not sure they wanted another kid once Mariah was born so early into their relationship. It was a lot she thought to concentrate on furthering their education with a baby at home she muttered. And then I got pregnant she thought. And Lex was born.

Early on their son showed how different he was. He may look like Brady she thought. She had seen the baby pictures. And while Mariah took after her. Lex took after Brady. But Lex was very much his own person, and early on he bristled on his name. Especially once he heard her was named for someone dead. Alex, she whispered. From then on Alex picked his own name, and his family listened to his wishes. Unsure whether one day he would grow out of it. But it lessened the pain to have to say the name even though she and Maria had pact of naming their son if they had one after Alex.

But Maria had gone a different way when she had Mackenzie. But gave him Alex’s name as a middle name. When she found out she was having a boy. She had gone with the pact, and the knowledge that in some form Alex was living on I am sorry Alex she thought. So, much could have been different if only.

If only what she did not know. She would never regret what she had experienced back then, or loving Max because it would lead me to Brady, she told herself.

As she stopped on their wedding picture. Only a few weeks ago was their anniversary, and now she was all alone once more.

So, she got up from the couch and walked over to the bar, and poured some scotch into a glass, and picked it and smelled it, and knew it was so tempting. And then she turned around and saw the mirror over the fireplace, and she stopped by the image in it.

Not Brady.

But someone else from her past.

Alex…

Alex, she whispered as she turned as saw him staring at her. It was not Alex who was her son and lying in the hospital. But the original Alex. Alexander Charles Whitman.

But Alex did not say anything, and she was too stunned to say anything more as the glass slipped from her hand, Alex she whispered again.

“Mom” came a worried Mariah not a few minutes later as she stood at the bottom of the stairs and saw the broken glass but her mother in a trance. She did not know what to expect. She had been tossing and turning, and she had heard the glass break, and she was up quickly, and down the stairs, and now she saw her mother in some sort of a trace.

Mariah’s voice was the thing Liz needed to come back to her senses, and she came back to reality. And saw the concerned look on her daughter’s face. “What?” Liz asked softly as she looked and saw Alex was still there, but less of an impact to her and she was wondering if finally, she was losing it. Had she officially cracked. Maybe I need help she thought. “I thought you were asleep?”

“I heard the breaking of the glass,” Mariah muttered as she was not used to the silence of the house now that her father was not in it and her brother was away from it, for the time being. So, her ears were too sensitive to any sound, and she was quick to wake up once she heard the breaking of the glass. “Are you okay?”

“I am fine,” Liz said softly. “It was just a slip of the glass, that is all. It is something that has happened before…”

“Has it?” Maria asked. “You do not drink…”

“Honey, it’s just a simple drink” Liz said softly. “And I have taken a glass before, you just might not have seen it. Nor your brother…” she thought as she knew it was a rare sight for her. Brady was the reason the liquor was in the house. She rarely consumed any, and now she was, and she knew it had to be a sight for her daughter. “I am fine honey…”

“Are you sure?” Mariah asked.

“Yes,” Liz said softly. But she did not know if that were true as she tried to assure her daughter enough so that Mariah would go back to sleep.

[totallizfan]

Is Liz.... really fine?
Will she be fine..... when she hears the test results?

Please come back soon.

[RoswellFan68]

Hopefully Liz will remember that drinking doesn't solve her problems.

[Parker1947]

Was she okay? Liz did not know as her daughter was not satisfied and therefore sticking around and accessing her mother. All Liz could see was Alex looking at her. She did know what it meant to be haunted by her childhood best friend, who had been died for eighteen years. And should have passed onto the other plain of life by now. Especially since when he was known to be haunting them it was because of how restless Isabel had been about her life in the wake of their losing him.

Alex never came her way. Not even in the lowest of moments. And now he was, and she did not know how to handle it. And coupled with the fact that her fifteen-year-old was assessing her like she did not trust her mother not to crack. Which was a role she did not want her daughter to take on, because her daughter would lose too much of her innocence if she had to worry about the only parent, she had left…

Especially given that her daughter had already lost her father and had her brother in the hospital. Liz could understand the this was playing for her daughter because she had felt it once before. When they had lost Alex.

How horrified they had been by the loss. And she had ended up going on a journey that caused even more angst because she needed answers. But Brady’s death was not Alex’s death. All it was a ticking time bomb ready to go off in her husband, and it had now gone off and devastated their family even more.

And here she was seeing Alex’s ghost.

“Mom,” came a terrified Mariah. She had never seen her mother like this. Mom has always been the toughest one of all of them she thought, but then Mariah had not met her mother when she was a teenager herself and had gone through three years of pain and heartbreak to make her this tough, and yet now she was faced with a loss she had not seen coming and was unprepared for. “Are you sure you, okay?” she asked.

“Honey, go to bed,” Liz said softly.

“If you think so,” came a Mariah who did not know if she could trust her mother. Maybe I should not be leaving my mother tonight she thought as she sensed that her mother had to put a lot of power in being strong for her, and for her brother and was not thinking of herself Maybe someone should be thinking about Mom?

Unaware that someone was thinking about her mother, but not in the way she would have wanted to think of if she was aware but thankfully, she was not, and now she was just focused on her mother.

“Maybe you should be going to bed yourself?” Mariah challenged her mother.

“Honey,” Liz muttered.

“Mom, Daddy would not want you to be like this,” Mariah asked. “And did you not say Grandma and Grandpa are coming tomorrow?”

“Yes, they are…” Liz thought as she knew she did not have the best relationship with her in-laws, but they loved their son and their grandchildren, and because they loved their son Liz had to deal with them whether she liked them or not. The Anthony’s came from money. And it was a world she had not fit in well, but she and Brady had been able to achieve a life away from all that, and that was why they had come to Roswell. To get further away from it, and so that their kids did not have to grow up in that life any more than they already had, and it was not something she and Brady had raised Mariah and Lex in.

“Then come upstairs with me,” asked Mariah as she had this sudden feeling that her mother needed to turn in.

“Honey, you do not have to take care of me, because it’s my job to take care of you…” Liz said as she saw the broom near her, and she went to get it, and leaned down and cleaned up the broken glass and then the liquid on the ground. The need for the drink that had smashed to the floor had passed her by, and now she was focused on cleaning up the mess. As she finished and looked up at her mystified daughter.

“I do not want anything to happen to you,” came Mariah.

“Honey, I am totally fine” Liz murmured as she approached her daughter, and they each took the hug that was being offered as she still saw Alex’s vision glancing at her, and she sighed. “This so what I do not need…”

“What?” Mariah asked.

Aware that she had said it out loud, Liz shook her head and smiled. “Let’s go to bed,” she said as she realized her daughter had defused the angst for this night. She knew she still had a million of these nights to get through as she worked to deal with the fact she was now alone. A feeling she had not felt in so many years.

“Alright,” Mariah nodded as she prepared to walk upstairs with her mother, but she turned around and spotted a man watching her, someone she did not know. “Whoa” she whispered. And on alert, Liz could see that her daughter could see Alex, “just great” came Liz in a gentle groan because this was the last thing, she needed on a night like this.

She wanted to crawl into bed, and escape into the dreamworld where her family would be, whole and complete, and happy.

“Mom, who is he, and why he’s here?” Mariah asked. “I do not recognize…”

“Probably because he’s dead,” Liz wanted to say but wisely kept that detail to herself because she knew it would elicit a reaction from her daughter, and she was just wanting to will this experience away from herself tonight. She just wanted to sink into her bed, and ignore outer worldly ghosts, who were trying to haunt and why is it Alex, and not my husband she thought. Brady left me in the same level of distress that Alex did…

So why is Brady not haunting me Liz muttered to herself, and knew she had to go to bed.

“What?” Mariah asked.

“It’s nothing,” Liz muttered.

“It’s something,” Mariah muttered right back. “Who is he?” she asked as her mother took her arm and guided her towards the staircase because she knew it would do neither of their sanities any good if they were talking to dead people, ghosts who had been dead for going on twenty years.

Although she did not stop to think why her daughter who never met Alex Whitman in his alive form, would be able to see someone who did not have any connection to any part of the life she led today.

Little did she know, why…

*

But that was for another day as Liz finally successfully got herself and her daughter to bed, and she turned in for the night as across town in the Evans-Valenti home. The backdoor was opening, and Kyle and the kids were piling into the house. After Kyle had stopped to pick up Jessica up at the station after the hospital. Jaime rushed through the house, to head up to bed. While Kyle and Jessica stayed in the kitchen as Isabel was sitting and doing some paperwork for her store. She was of course thinking of her brother’s problems when she heard the door open. “Finally, home, are you?” Isabel said with a laugh as this was the life they had as the kids were getting older, and before Jessica became a licensed driver in the months to come. It was one kid’s chore after the another.

“You could have helped out,” Kyle reminded his fiancé. “You chose your brother.”

“He needed me, and I figured I can do the kid thing another time,” Isabel said with a sigh as once more she was forced to think of her brother. Jessie only shook her head because while she knew of her Uncle Max, but it was not like she was close to her uncle. She was only close to her cousin, River because River tended to want to make sure he got out of that house while her uncle stayed inside himself way too much according to her mother.

And Jessica could see it when on the rare occasion her uncle did show up at a family event, which was basically never, or like the night before at the hospital. She knew it hurt her mother to know how bad off her brother was.

And to know how things were with River. But River is as normal as you can be when you come from our kind of family she thought. And when you think of what kind of house, he lives in she muttered to herself.

“How was work?” Isabel asked as she looked at her daughter. A reminder of her first marriage. Jesse, she thought. A good man, but a marriage that was too topsy turvy for her liking. She tried hard to make it work. And she was prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, in moving to Boston to make that marriage work, but unfortunately fate dealt her a great pain in taking Jesse from her but leaving her with a gift that was their daughter.

And she strived to raise her daughter in a good environment. As she chose to stay in Roswell after the tragedy and expose her daughter to the life that she had grown up. And allowed Jesse’s mother to have access to her granddaughter but unfortunately for Jessica. Jesse’s mother had moved to Arizona after her son’s death, and so it was only summers as Jessica got older that she could go and see her grandmother. While Jessica looked like her birth father in her subtle shade, but she currently took after her, and sometimes for Isabel it was like looking into a mirror. And now as Jessica was getting older, and more independent. It was an eye opener to the life she had once led.

It was all new experiences, and then to see as Jaime who was much more normal was growing up in the sometimes shadow of Jessica, but largely her own person. It kept her and Kyle on their toes, and it was a life they did not regret, and did not want to give up.

The scare they had gotten the night before had woken them up the fact it could be gone so easily, not that I had not had that lesson back when I was a teenager with the senseless loss of Alex she thought.

It was something she did not want to have to revisit now that the children were all getting the same age as she and her brother were once. Max, she thought. That was another story all together she thought as she concentrated on said daughter. “How was work?” she repeated.

“Went well,” Jessie smiled. “I think Grandpa was happy,” she said of her honorary grandfather in Jim Valenti. A man who had taken on Isabel and Jessica and made them feel like family once Isabel had decided to take the chance on Kyle. Most of her family would think she had not seen Kyle’s feelings for her back in high school.

But she had seen them, but she had been Jesse at the time. And she had been convinced that he was the one. Someone normal, someone outside of their little group. Which was ultimately the downfall of what we were able to have together Isabel thought. Too many secrets and it was not the secrets that did them in.

“It’s my skill at being a liar” she told herself. As she reflected that they had tried again, and would have tried in Boston but nope, not to be and she was grieving when Kyle had found his wife and they married in a quick courtship not that it helped but it gave him Jaime. But the marriage had not worked, and she opened her eyes, when Kyle was free again and they tried, and were making it work for the last 10 years or so.

For so long they had not felt the need to make another go at marriage, but recently they had decided if they were together this long than it meant it was working, and it would bring stability to the kids. Not that Jessie and Jaime cared. But finally, Isabel and Kyle decided to formalize their relationship in engagement and were taking the long approach to the planning of the ceremony. Which caused the family, and most of all, the girls to laugh and wonder openly whether their parents would ever truly marry.

Isabel knew they would when the time was right.

“Mac, I do not think thought too highly of it,” came Jessie and it brought Isabel back to reality of her life. As Isabel could only shake her head of her godson, Mackenzie Alexander Guerin she thought. Someone who had the life any of the children in their family would want. Two birth parents not that Jessica and Jaime did not like their life, and River was the only one who was missing something Isabel muttered to herself. But still, Mac had the life any of the kids would want, and he was repeating the patterns of his father in distinct different ways than Michael who was restless, and out on his own too young had done in her own teen years.

Mac had no reason to do except to showcase him in his own individualistic way.

Of course, he was growing up and truly he had not been responsible for the events of the previous night but still it got the parents worried about the path the teen was on. Although Isabel tended to believe the teen in his protestation in that he would have asked River to drive if he truly had come into a bad way.

And he should not have been driving in the first place Isabel muttered to herself. It was River who had the driver’s license.

But River was in a mood the previous night when is, he ever not in one she thought. Because of my brother she thought as her mind came back to Max.

Oh, Max she thought.

“Thinking of your brother again, are you?” Kyle asked as she sat down, and Jessica just shook her head at her mother and left the room. Which left the adults in the room and thinking of what was on their mind. For Isabel of course it was her brother, and how she wished he would come back to the land of living.

And Kyle it was something completely different, it was a mystery that might have an answer.

But an answer that would change a lot of lives if true he thought. And looking at Mariah when she was in the Crashdown had told him that maybe it was not outlandish to think this. But knew it was not something that was needed, not by anyone in their circle, and especially not by Liz when she became privy to the speculation.

And he remembered how Max and Liz had been once together and been engaged.

And how sudden he remembered at the news that Liz had gotten married after breaking the engagement to Max and left for Northwestern.

Then months later, a baby was born.

Now that baby had a blood type that had left her in a very select group of people. And one that only half human origins. And it could not have happened if two humans had conceived said child in whatever state Liz had been once, she left this town, and from the little of the time he knew, from Maria he knew that neither Max nor Liz took their split well.

But Liz had rebounded quickly.

Max floundered, and still was… to this day.

[keepsmiling7]

Both Max and Liz are in a bad position right now.
This could be a dangerous situation for both.
Hope Alex's spirit can help Liz out!

[totallizfan]

Kyle's speculation... could mean River isn't Max's only child.

Poor Liz.....Brady's death....Alex haunting her.....and maybe at some point... Max pursuing again.

Yep drama.

[Parker1947]

One week later,

The snow was largely gone. And none was in the forecast. Even though Christmas was now only a few days away. School was completely out until the new year, and most of the town was in the glow of the festive season. But a select group was preparing for something that was not about expressing the mood of celebrating the holidays. Instead, they were preparing for the opposite. They were preparing to attend a funeral of someone most of them had not even met. They were doing this because it was what mattered to them.

And especially important to those who lived in the house by the desert, as the dust sand that surrounded them was back in its golden glory. As it taunted them to remember how it used to be, and how on a very unwise night, things had changed.

Now two men were preparing to attend the ritual to send their wishes to the grieving family that had to bury the dead on this day. In the bedroom of the son. River was getting dressed. After all, he was going because he had met the daughter on a few occasions. And he was being the standup guy he was. He was raised to be a good guy, to help those who were distressed Mariah is definitely distressed he thought as he was putting the tie on that he had gotten years before for a family occasion that was rare in his family and his aunt had taken him shopping for suit, and a tie. And now years later, he was still wearing it.

And it did not look too big, even though he was not as young as he once and he wondered about this day. He had not seen Mariah in the week since the chaos of the first twenty-four hours that robbed her father from her life, and how connections were revealed that neither was willing to discuss so River did not know how Mariah was doing. They never ran into the same circles over the last week.

Not that he expected too, because River knew her grandparents from Chicago were in town. So, it was a busy time for her, so yeah, he did not expect to have seen her, but he was going to today to be able to give his wishes to the girl he had met on the night where everything changed for the town, and for her. As he thought of his father.

He and his father had co-existed this past week in the only way they could, in silence River thought. They barely communicated, and that was how he had survived this week as his best friend was still grounded and on Sheriff detail. So, they had not spent much time once school and exams were out.

River figured he did well enough on those exams. It was just something he had to do, just like going to the funeral of a family he barely knew. As he wondered once again how his father was handling it.

*

Of course, River knew he could just ask his father, but silence was the best course of action, so they did not say the wrong thing. Max knew this was not the answer as he was also in his room, looking at the mirror and at the suit that barely had been dusted off in the years since he wore it last. Not that he was in the mood to want to go shopping for something he would not wear after this day, so this ratty old suit would do Max thought as he looked in the mirror and heard the music going in his son’s room.

It does not look that bad Max thought as he looked at himself in the mirror, and knew he was doing this because he wanted to see Liz again. To give her his wishes, and how she did not deserve this. Not Liz he thought. As he cursed the god for bringing this tragedy on his former girlfriend. Why could you not just taken it out on me, like you have all these years he muttered to himself.

Yes, he and God were not on the best terms but then he had always been distrustful, and even more so over what he had lost out on over the years. Why should trust when I have lost so much, he muttered to himself, even though he knew it was not God giving him what his life was dealing with. It is me because if I make it my business to sink instead of making something of my life? he muttered to himself.

Not that he was in a mood to want to change it.

But he could do his duty today and think of Liz. It was the least he could do. Because he wondered how she was doing. As River had not seen Mariah around. Max had not seen Liz. And knew from Michael that Maria had been spending a lot of time at Liz’s place. Liz’s in-laws were in town and were staying through today. So, he did not know how this day would go.

But he wanted to be here, and to see Liz once again.

All his dreams this past week have been about the brunette from his past. It was probably immoral because she was taken, was he thought. That is the big part of that word. But he allowed his dreams to exist in his head. All he wanted was to see her in person. And to know that she was doing alright. Please be alright he thought. He supposed she was, because he had her kids to deal with, and to help move on in this too often bizarre world.

At least Liz is in it Max thought. And thought even more how early she could have been gone. Although sometimes he wondered what would have happened if he had not stepped in that day, but in no world did he want her not to be in it and he saved her life when he did not believe he even had a chance with her. As long as she was living, that is all I wanted in this crummy world.

She was, and she is, and that is what he had to take solace in… As there was a knock on the door of his bedroom, and he groaned.

Because he knew who it was.

“Yes,” was all he could say as he opened the door and looked at his son. So polished, and so grown up at seventeen Where did the time go? He asked as he knew he could not claim credit for who his son was today because all he had done these past years, was live in the same house as River was basically raising himself.

Not that made it any easier because it did not, but Max’s eyes were opening to how much he let bypass them, and how much he was a non-factor in his son’s life. Would that change? Max did not know or begin to know.

“Are we going or not?” came a disgruntled River who saw his father standing in a suit, something that was not typical of his father’s wardrobe in years, maybe ever. River at age 17 could not remember a time where his father was as professional looking as he was now, even if it were an older suit, which was obvious to River. But that is Dad he told himself.

It was.

“Yes,” Max said as they both knew it was a show of family unity to be there today. The whole family would be there, and one of the command appearances that require you to show up, although for this day Max was the one who was going to be there, whether anyone else was going to be there or not. Still, it was going to be something the Evans family had not had in many years, if ever, especially not since those days when everything went south back in high school. Family unity they both thought. What a concept.

“Then let us get going,” River thought as they walked out of the house and got in his father’s special car. The one that River had barely seen over the years but knew existed because he had seen it in the garage. Hardly moved an inch until the week before, and now River got to sit in as they drove into town and to an event, they both did not want to have to go too…

As the car soon parked, in a parking lot of the chapel where the service was going to be. The parking lot was already parked. Given the media attention on the accident the weekend before, and the untimely death of new resident, Brady Anthony and the leaving his wife, town golden girl, who was infamous in her own right, and their children. It was going to be a big event.

Max barely found a space. And saw that his parents, and Isabel and Kyle along with their kids had just arrived minutes before they arrived. They all nodded as they gathered, as Isabel saw something she had not seen in her brother in a long time, life she thought. Even if it is in that old suit she thought. As she and the girls were more fashionable given Isabel’s fashion expertise, even though this was a funeral and not a wedding.

Max did not say anything, which was normal and on course. But his family was just happy to have him here although there was no way he was not going to be, if he had his way, and they knew it because after all, it was Liz they thought even know she was not single, and spoken for, even if her husband was the reason, they were mourning the untimely death. Instead, Max just walked past, and walked into the chapel and saw her.

Her, the reason he had a chance in the first place.

Because she had given him one.

Liz was in the aisle talking to Maria, with her daughter Mariah by her side. If there was ever an image of how close the girl looked like her mother at this age, it was the memories that flooded Max as he glanced at the girl he loved once.

And the girl he lost.

*

Liz was talking to her daughter, and her best friend and trying to figure out how to make it through this day. The past week had been going way too fast for her taste. She just wanted to sink and disappear, but she had too many responsibilities to do such a thing. All she had to do was look at her daughter to know that.

Or her son, out on a pass before admittance into the local rehab facility. Lex was doing amazingly well, but their home was not equipped for his needs until his injuries started to heal just a bit, and she figured being at home with her and Mariah would be lot of doom and gloom. Being out of the house, would do him some good even though she missed her son and was visiting him constantly before his release from the hospital the day before.

Lex was sitting in one of the seats, and Jaime Valenti noticed and walked, and they started to talk. It did Liz good to know her son could make some friends in this new town of his. She had put a lot of pressure on her kids to move to a new town that they did not know because she had kept them away from it, and now they were all alone in this town.

“Are you okay?” Maria was asking her best friend. As her husband Michael and their son Mac was off in another part of the church, waiting for the service to begin. Maria was spending her time with her friend which is where she had been spending a large part of her time the last week. Ever since Mariah confessed about the confusing night where she had found her mother in disarray, and both had seen the ghost of a former friend of both Maria and Liz. A loss that still dug deep in them.

Alex Maria thought. I miss you Alex he thought. His funeral had been the last one she had attended, and she remembered that time, and how it led to a lot of inner angst in the group, and for some of them, it never got better and in end it started new lives, even though she knew that Alex would want them to be happy.

But on a day like this, you had to doubt that was true. Because it was all so senseless to lose Alex back in high school, in the manner they did, and now to lose Brady in the way he did. Maria knew Liz had yet to come to terms with it. How could you have given how it had happened? Thankfully, Mariah had gotten a clean bill of health. She was completely healthy. No trace of the heart condition that had killed her father.

They were still waiting for Lex’s results, and she knew there was stress on her friend’s shoulders because how close the boy and his father were, in looks, and how they shared a blood type. It made Liz worry that they might share this condition even if she knew if she knew, they could treat it, and Lex was so young, because what had hurt Brady in the end, was not knowing. And not treating it when it could have helped.

So, Mariah prayed that Lex would not be like his father in this case, as she saw turn her head when two people walk into the chapel. Oh, great Maria muttered to herself. Seeing how Max was looking at Liz. Although he gave him credit that he had abided by his word and not pressured Liz, and from what she knew. Max had basically stayed home over the past week and had not come near this town. Which made Maria grateful because it was not what her friend needed, even though she looked briefly at Max and walked away from Maria.

Instead of walking towards Max and River, and where they were standing. Liz turned, and walked towards her in-laws, which was a choice Maria knew that was amusing because of the relationship she knew her friend did have with her in-laws. Picking one’s in-laws, brave Liz, brave Maria mused.

Max nodded at her, and she repeated the motion as he went to take his seat. And Michael came into the room and spotted his friend and went to talk to him, taking a seat by him. Which meant Maria would have to sit by them. After all Liz would have to sit with the Anthony’s, her family, and her kids. River had walked off and was talking to Mac and Jessica.

So, she only prayed this day would go well for her friend…

She would find out, as the ceremony was starting…

*

A few hours later,

Liz wanted to kill her in-laws. She bristled when they came near her, as they prepared to stand in the grieving family line at the reception to honor her husband. It was being held after the ceremony, and before a few family friends would join her as she went to the graveyard to bury her husband. A fight she had with her in-laws when it was revealed that there would be no further debate about the fact Brady would not be buried in Chicago with the other Anthony’s. Instead, she wanted her husband here in Roswell because this was their home now and would have been Brady’s home if they had been able to live more than the two weeks that he did.

Mitchell and especially Christina Anthony did not understand how she could choose Roswell for their son’s burial. The funeral was one thing. But the burial was a completely different issue. And so, relations had been frosty at best, but they were standing by each other now as family, and she knew they would always have a relationship because of the kids. Mariah stood next to her, and Lex was in his wheelchair beside his big sister, and they were receiving the well wishes of the family that was able to come, and friends that were mostly Liz.

Which had been Christine’s point that her son did not know these people. She understood why the funeral had to be here, because of Lex’s condition and not be able to travel, but she did not understand why her son had to be buried. “This is not our town. Brady was raised in Chicago, and should be buried there, along with his family…” Christine bristled at her daughter-in-law as they were making arrangements. Immediately Liz had put down her foot. “The kids and I will be here, and while the kids will be visiting you. I do not intend to stop that Christina, because you deserve to know your grandchildren. But Brady’s family will be here and this where he should be laid to rest so we can visit when you want to…”

“If you choose too,” Christina muttered because she knew her daughter-in-law was not religious… Although Liz did believe in going to church service at Christmas or on Easter, but she was not into the faith, and she and Brady were not raising the kids up in a religious household, which had been a bone of contention between Liz and Brady with his family and which is why…

Brady was good with the move here, Liz thought to herself. It got them out of the glare of his family and their money. “I love your son and I want him to be here with me, and our kids” Liz said softly, as tears came down her face.

“And if you move again?” Mitchell asked.

“My family is here, my parents, and I do not foresee myself leaving Roswell but it’s all very new, and no one can say for sure what the future is going to be,” Liz muttered. “Certainly, your son and me didn’t foresee this to have happened. This was your son’s home, and we were prepared to make a life here, and unfortunately, he did not get a chance to be here long, but his son and daughter are here, and they deserve a chance to know they can see their father if they choose to, or should I want to see him, and not to have to buy a plane ticket to go visit him. Then for sure, we would not be able to go visit him on his birthday, or his and I’s anniversary or any day I choose to want to visit my husband….”

That had shut up them, and so they had been in a tense alliance ever since because Liz did know they loved their son. And most importantly Brady loved his parents, and they loved their grandkids, and Mariah and Lex needed their grandparents, and Liz was not going to harm that relationship even if she had a tense relationship with her in-laws.

And now they stood in silence and waited for the lines of well wishes to come through, and give their prayers, and thoughts on the loss they were suffering. Most of you would not know how it feels she thought. She had gone through it before when they lost Alex. She then got her miracle in getting Max back from certain death, or certified death. But that had not stopped him at the time, and he came back.

But now Liz knew that was not possible for her husband. She had seen him in the casket during the service, as if she had any doubts because she did not. But still it had killed her to see her husband in that casket, unable to come out. And now she stood and waited for the well wishes to go away.

It was almost over, but then it was not, and one person came through the line, “Hello, Liz… I am very sorry for your loss…”

Max Liz thought. “Oh, god” she wondered how she was going to get through this day.

But she said, “Thank you,” which was all she could say.

*

Meanwhile Mariah was standing next to her mother and glaring at the man who was stopped in front of her mother, and she wished he had not come. Although she knew she had no choice about who comes to a funeral, and she did not doubt he felt sorry for their loss, but she had doubts about the man who acted like he had a past with his mother. Of course, she knew her mother probably had a past before her father. Afterall, they only met in university. But she did not like how River’s father looked at her mother.

And wished her father could come back and do something about it. But she knew it was not possible. At least she was not going to join him due to that heart condition. She now knew she was healthy. But they did not know about her brother.

“Who is that?” came said brother, who was sitting in his wheelchair because he was not in the position in his rehab to be able to be on crutches, and it was better to be sitting so he did not feel the pain all the time. Although, he was happy to be out of the hospital, but he knew he was going right back in, tomorrow, for that rehab facility.

But if it got him on his feet, he could take almost anything. Although he wished he did not have to be missing his father. I miss you Dad he thought, but he saw the man standing in front of his mother and looking at her like they had history. And he saw his big sister glaring at the man, and it made him curious. “Who is it?” he asked once more.

“Nobody,” came his sister.

Lex doubted it was anyone but did not push it. Not on this day. While Mariah was looking a little warmly at the teenager beside the man. Lex might be twelve, but he knew that many boys had been interested in his sister back home. Not that his parents allowed her to really date until she met Josh. Or had she really asked until she did, but Lex figured Roswell was a different town.

Not like he had gotten a chance to investigate it in the last week since he was in the hospital, but he knew this was their home now.

Even though Mariah had told him that she had heard their grandparents fighting with their mother over her plans to stay in Roswell. They wanted them to come back so that their Anthony grandparents could help and embrace them even more. But the one thing he knew was his mother bristled at the notion of his father’s money.

So, his mother was not going to be anxious to take them back to Chicago anytime soon.

Not that Lex wanted to go back as the line got moving again and the man nodded at both Mariah and him, even though his sister had another glare for the man, so Lex knew his sister was aware of what was going on, and that meant he was out of the loop on something. But he had the sense that he would be hearing about…

“Sorry,” River said to Mariah and Mariah nodded right back, and soon the line was over. And he wheeled himself over to spend time with his Grandparent Parkers, as they were happy to see him. Mariah went off to find a bathroom, and to cry in peace and quiet.

While Liz wanted to escape from the pressures of everything. So, she walked away from the line and headed outside because they were at the same facility that she had once known for hosting Isabel’s first wedding.

The reception of that day was now playing host to the reception to honor her husband. And Liz wanted to get away from everything, and especially her in-laws. So, she walked outside, onto the balcony, and overlooked the gardens.

She needed space. So, she made sure she got some.

*

Max saw her leave. Head out to the balcony, but he knew he had to give her some time even if every instinct told her to head out, and to speak to her. But he knew she had to be feeling a lot of emotion today. As he continued to watch, stand guard almost and make sure nothing hurt her. “You are doing the right thing,” came a voice and he turned and saw it was his sister. As Kyle was talking to his father, and Amy Deluca.

Jessica and Jaime were talking to Mac and River.

The town had indeed come out for this gathering, even if only a select really knew the deceased at all. Isabel felt it was odd to be back in this place, where she had celebrated her first wedding in as she reflected on how that was an error in judgment. She would always love Jesse because he was genuinely a good man, and they might have made their marriage work if she had gotten to Boston before his tragic car accident.

She would never know because life had not worked out like that. But it did give a memory of that in her daughter, Jessica. Which is why she was cherishing her daughter and was trying to give her the best chance in this world. Because she did not get a chance to know her father, because Jesse would have been such a great father.

Whether they could make it work was another story. Because she was seeing in her relationship with Kyle the wisdom of having some love you, for who you are and not wishing that you were something you could not be. Which why it was working with Kyle, and it probably would have not long term with Jesse.

“How are you doing?” Max asked as he was aware that the last time, they had been at one of these things was when Jesse had passed away. “I know the memories cannot be easy for you?” he asked as he knew he had a lousy life, but occasionally he could tell when his sister was hurting.

“I just wish he could have known his daughter, that is all” Isabel murmured as the pain was still of how easy Jesse could have been taken away from them. Whether their marriage would have worked out was one thing, but it stings to know Jesse was not in this world anymore.

Especially on a day like this. As they watched as Liz was now the widow, who was dealing with burying the man she loved, and had spent sixteen years with… Although Max did not like knowing it but was indeed one of those facts of life. People move on he thought.

I did not Max muttered, but that was a whole other story he knew. About why he chose to dwell in what he could not have, when he had actively made choices that had made sure his life was this way. As he watched through the big windows as Liz was still outside. But he was telling himself not to go out there, and to have the peace of grief sustain her for now, without the past intruding.

*

Mariah was witnessing the scene. She was finished talking to her grandparents, her mother’s parents because she had seen enough of her other grandparents back at the house. Thankfully, they are headed home tomorrow she thought. Although they had offered to stay through the holidays, but her mother resisted that offer because Mariah knew her mother shared a complicated relationship with her grandparents, especially her grandmother. She knew they could be a lot to deal with, which is why they were closer to her mother’s family despite being able to see her Anthony grandparents more often when they were living in Chicago.

This was a new life, and Mariah was still getting used to and she hated seeing how River’s father was scoping out her mother, and barely could tear his eyes away from her. Perfect she muttered. “You are Mariah?” came a sympathetic voice. One she had not met although she had seen her in the school hallway, before the accident because she had been off school since her father’s death. And now she did not have to go back until the start of the new year.

“Yeah, so” Mariah murmured.

“The name is Jessica Ramirez Evans,” came Jessie. “Although most of the time I go by Jessie,” she said softly. “I am sorry for your loss…”

“Thank you,” Mariah nodded. “Any relation to River?”

“Cousin,” Jessie said with a smile. “I have seen you around, we all go to the same school, right?” she asked as she did not know how to access the new girl. Since she was not even born when her father died, she had no frame of reference to how you are supposed to react to a parent dying. After all, her mother had raised her, and Kyle had been like a second father even though Jessica had been raised to know her father was dead, and that it was a terrible accident, but he would have loved being a father to her, and before they knew it, her mother had moved on with Kyle and even before they had, Kyle had always been a part of her life. And she had her grandparents who loved her.

“I guess I have something to look forward to after the holidays?” came Mariah who was not thrilled to be having to go back to school, in a new town with so much time disrupted. And now she was facing the future without her father, and with her brother still ailing from his injuries. The future was not looking bright.

“If you are looking for friend, I am always here” Jessica said with a smile as River approached, and they started to talk and life did not seem as unattainable for Mariah as it seemed easy for the moment, at least. Although she could not help but see that River’s father was still looking at her mother, who was still outside, and now talking to her Aunt Maria.

*

Liz was watching the sunshine on the flowers in the garden as she knew she had to go back in and be the guest her husband would have expected on this night. But it was all coming apart because she suspected her life was going to be changing in ways, she had no idea when she elected to come back to Roswell with her family. Now her husband was gone, and she had to handle what life was going to offer her, and her kids. As she turned and could see her friend was trying to be encouraging but Maria had everything.

She has a husband who is not going to die unless something drastic happened Liz muttered because she knew that Max would be called into action to help if he got to Michael or anyone else in time. Brady did not have that chance because he was human, she muttered to herself. She thought she had dealt with this pain once before, when she believed she had lost Max. Back in high school.

She had, but she had gotten her miracle. But miracles only happen once.

They do not come again.

“How am I going to live without him?” came Liz in a mutter and Maria felt the pain that her friend was facing, yes, she had a husband who was alive and had a built-in escape hatch unless it failed, she thought but she had lived through losing Alex.

And that had been a horrendous loss, that had caused a lot of carnage. She and Alex might not have been anything but friends, but still the loss cut them deep. Both her and Liz, and so she knew what it felt to lose someone, so tragically and without reason.

“You will put one foot in front of the other,” Maria smiled as she turned and saw what Liz was looking at, Max she moaned to herself. Naturally and for a minute Maria did not know who her friend had been talking about, but knew that Liz had managed it once before, barely she told herself. But she had done it.

But Max had come back.

And now Brady could not come back, because he was gone as Kyle came out onto the balcony and nodded to his stepsister. “Hey Kyle.”

“How are you doing?” came Kyle to Liz who was suddenly grateful to be back in Roswell. She did not know how she could have coped if this had happened back in Chicago, and she would have been alone to deal with the weight of the loss.

“Okay, I guess” Liz said softly. “I am glad you did come…”

“You are a friend,” Kyle muttered as he could see how overwhelming it was for her, and he knew he had felt it when Teri had died. Sure, their marriage was over, and they were legally separated at the time, but the grief had been too much for him and thankfully he was able to come through it because he had Jaime.

Liz would be able to come through, because she had her kids as there was another message coming through on the phone and Liz muttered, “Can’t they just leave me alone?” she muttered in a quiet despair.

“Who is it?” Kyle asked.

“The hospital,” Liz muttered. “They need to talk to me. Why, I have no idea” she sighed because dealing with the hospital was the last thing she wanted to be doing, especially on a day like this. “I am trying to ignore the calls.”

“Maybe it’s about Lex’s test results?” Maria offered. As she had no idea why else the hospital would be calling if not for the pending results coming from Lex’s scans.

“No, they told me not to expect them until after the holidays,” Liz muttered. “It’s something else, I can feel it, and that is why I am ignoring them because the last thing I need is more angst.”

Kyle nodded as he remembered his encounter with Veronica at the hospital and knew what he had seen on that piece of paper. A discovery he had been unable to share with his friend over the past week before she had closed herself off in making plans for today, but now today was today, and he knew she was going to have to know…

Because the hospital had to have known, which is why Mariah came up clean on those heart scans. “You probably should take their call,” was all he said.

“Why?” Maria asked as she was looking at her stepbrother as if he knew something she and especially Liz did not know.

“It’s just a feeling,” Kyle said.

“Which is why I do not need the call,” Liz muttered. As she rather be in denial than know something that could disrupt her life. I can only handle one thing at the time and Lex’s recovery is it and waiting for those damn tests she thought. Because she knew whatever the hospital wanted to tell her, was not about her son. Because the feeling had been descending on her lately, that there was something she did not know.

That she should know…

*

She should know, and once she denied the call from the hospital. The secretary in the testing department wrote out the letter, informing Elizabeth Anthony of the difference in her daughter’s blood type, as she knew that Mariah’s type had not be registered in any system, and she did not know if mother and daughter knew it.

But they knew it differed from the husband in a fundamental way, and they put the notification in a letter, and prepared to mail in in the next mail as back at the reception. It was finishing up, and Liz and her children Mariah and Lex prepared to head to the graveyard for the burial. Michael and Maria were coming along, but it was only going to be a small group.

Max watched as Liz and her children got into the black hearse and prepared to head for the graveyard, and he had a feeling Liz was facing a vastly different life once she let this day recede into the background and had to deal with the future.

What he did not know, was that Liz was looking at Max as she sat in the car and waited for it to head off and she had to agree, that she was facing a new life.

She did not even know half of it.

[RoswellFan68]

Poor Liz. It is a shame that she has a poor relationship with her in-laws.

[totallizfan]

I hope Liz and her children... don't find the road ahead..... too bumpy.