Claudia and Archie were alone. Although Lucy was now here, but Max also saw that Michael and Maria’s headstrong daughter had taken to a newcomer, that is going to be cause a reaction he thought. And because Max had to get used to the fact his daughter was now old enough to be serious about someone. It is about time Michael gets that lesson he laughed. But as he spotted Archie heading off and leaving Claudia alone.
Max wanted to approach. He did not know how to handle because he had been keeping his distance he knew. Everything has been whirlwind he knew. She was asleep, and a coma like existence and then she was awake, and gone he thought. But she was seeming to be happy, and healthy, and he wanted to keep her that way. “Everything alright with Archie?”
“Yes,” Claudia nodded. “He wanted to make a call to make sure his sister got back to the motel safely.”
Max nodded.
“She’s heading home tomorrow,” Claudia murmured.
“And Archie?” Max asked. “How long is he staying?” Max asked. Not that he was prying, I am just curious.
“I don’t know,” Claudia sighed, and as she had read her father’s mind. It’s all whirlwind she admitted. And she was not even taking offense at the idea of her father asking about the status of her relationship, which has to mean something she asked, what, I don’t know. “It’s up to him.”
Max nodded.
“Thank you for not asking what it all means,” Claudia sighed. Hell, if I know what it all means.
“I only want happiness for you Claudia,” Max said softly, and honestly. “You are eighteen, and I have said before, I need to get used to that fact. Because I remember you as a baby, but you are not a baby anymore. You are a grown woman. And I need to deal with that, but at the end of the day, I want you to be happy. And if Archie is that person, then I hope that it works out for you.”
“Even if it is slightly complicated?” Claudia asked. Because it’s that…
“What isn’t in this town?” Max smiled, and it got a smile and a laugh out of Claudia. “And in our family. But if you can handle the factors within that, then your mother and I can handle it,” he said softly. We just want you to be happy he muttered to himself, and knew Liz wanted that as much as he did. And Claudia appreciated the attempt at accepting her relationship.
“Thank you,” Claudia murmured.
Max nodded. “I love you; I hope you know that” he said ever so softly. “I know I have not been there for you, but that does not mean I don’t love you. I wish so much could be different. And I know your mother feels the same way, but I hope it does not get in the way of us trying to figure out what it all means for the two of us.”
Claudia nodded. As she knew they had come far. She did not know how far. But there is a start she thought. “I know,” she said. “I don’t know what it all means, but I appreciate it.”
Max nodded.
“But I want to say thank you,” Claudia sighed.
“For what?” Max asked.
“For saving me, saving my life” Claudia sighed, “And even before that, you know the other night.”
“If you need me, I will always be there for you” Max murmured. “I promise you that you and your mother are my everything. And I hope you know it.”
Claudia nodded.
“I want the both of you to be happy,” Max said softly. “You two are very important to me,” he said sighing. “That has never changed.”
Claudia nodded. I appreciate that…
“So, yes, I love you” Max said softly.
“Do you love Mom?” Claudia asked.
“More than life itself,” Max said softly. “Always, and always” he murmured.
“Then convince her,” Claudia said softly.
“I am trying,” Max said with a smile. “But you mother is pretty stubborn,” he murmured. She does not want to hurt me, that is something he did know. I don’t want to be hurt, but I love her, and I will always love her he sighed. I have loved her since we were children, even before I knew what love was. But when I did, it always had one girl in that heart.
It was always Liz Parker.
Claudia smiled. “Make sure she listens to you,” she advised.
“I am trying,” Max said with a smile but with a slightly anxious look. “I know you and Archie are trying to make it work, and I don’t want to get in the way, but would you mind spending some time with me tomorrow?” Max asked. “I would like for you to get to know the other side of your history,” he murmured. “Would you mind that?”
Would I? Claudia asked. Sure, why not? she told herself. I have been telling myself that I have not been trying…
“I guess,” Claudia murmured.
“I am glad,” Max said softly. “Then go and have a good time with Archie,” he sighed, because he knew this was awkward, and he did not know how to handle this, and knew it was awkward for his daughter too.
“Thank you, Dad,” Claudia said softly. Dad, she thought. Weird saying that even though I have said it before… she thought, and for the first time, she leaned in for a hug with her father, and it was a hug that Max was glad to give, and something he was going to cherish with all his heart. This is a wonderful feeling.
And for the first time, Max felt like with the tone of calling him Dad, he really felt that she was meaning it, and the hug was worth every moment. It was an amazing feeling he thought as he watched as his daughter walk off, outside to find Archie. Sighing, he turned and smiled as he saw the love of his life walk towards him.
She is still as captivating as she was at sixteen Max thought as Liz came towards him. “Hi,” he said softly.
“Hello,” Liz said with a smile. “Did you have a nice conversation?” she asked as she had seen Max speaking with their daughter. She will always be ours.
“Amazing,” Max said.
“I am glad,” Liz said with a smile. “And I mean it.”
Max smiled. “Do you want to dance?”
“I would love too,” Liz smiled “I love you Max,” she said for the first time, and for the first time Max really felt like everything was going his way, as he led her to the dance floor, and they rarely left it for the rest of the night.
It was perfection.
*
Six months later,
“Max, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better and for worse, for richer and poorer, and in sickness and in health, until death do you part?” came the words said by the minister in a small church in Roswell.
Because today was a very special day.
Because Max and Liz were renewing their vow. Or because they were divorced, they were taking them again.
It was day they truly were treasuring because it was nearly two decades in the making. Six months after their reunion. A reunion that had started tentatively on that night at Cow Patties, but before long neither Max or Liz could deny that they were made for each other, and they had a love that had lasted a lifetime.
And more years than any of them would care to admit and they did not want to admit that this was their second go at it, but this time they were convinced that they were going to make it stick. And those in audiences for the long-awaited ceremony knew it too. As they saw the bridesmaids come down.
Kyla, Lucy and then Claudia in that role. With Maria as a maid of honor. And JJ along with his grandfather Jeff Parker giving his daughter and JJ’s mother away. And it was something Jeff was treasuring because he had not been given that opportunity during Max and Liz’s first attempt at marriage.
Jeff and Nancy were in the front row along with Phillip Evans and Isabel Evans. Taking the place of her mother and ruing that this was happening, and her mother was missing it. Diane Evans was truly missed on this day. But Phillip was doing much better with the loss as he finally accepting it, and coming back to the world, little by little.
Helped along by his grandchildren.
And the inclusion of JJ in that little group.
There was a lot of love on this day. In a small church, not too different from the one they originally took their vows back in the day. But this time, it was more special, and more meaningful because it was in front of their family and friends.
Claudia was standing by the couple as they said their vows.
Watching something she had never thought she would experience. She still did not know what to think about this development. But she also knew there was no love like her parents. She trusted it, that this time it was going to last. As she spotted Archie in the audience. Because Archie was in town for the ceremony and because Thanksgiving had been a few days before and was her plus one.
Claudia still on her gap year, but she was getting close to actually deciding about university. She had a few feelers out, and she was almost excited about it. She still did not know what she wanted to do. Or what she wanted to be. But she knew she had her time to figure it out.
Archie was back in Colorado, working and doing his own studies.
But he was discussing with his girlfriend about moving to Roswell to be with Claudia. But it was only in the talking stage at the moment. They were taking it one day at a time. And neither knew how they would deal with the long run. But things were going generally well.
In other developments. Lucy had a plus one at the wedding.
Shane Evans.
A name that did cause some chuckles when that came out. And it was a relationship that Michael and Maria were still getting their heads around, but they were allowing it for the moment. And they did not have a choice, because Lucy was about to turn eighteen, and was a senior in high school and very soon, they would have no say at all.
Shane was living with Ava. And not alone either, because it was the seasons of ex’s rekindling whatever they had together, because Ava was at the wedding too, but this time with her own former husband, Rick Evans.
Just Rick Ava thought. It is on his birth certificate. Because there was shortening it, and no similarities to Ava’s former boyfriend, the now disgraced Richard Delaney who had not come back to town.
Neither has Chase they were all thinking. Both were gone with the wind.
And not coming back.
Anyways, Ava had rekindled her own relationship with her former husband, and while not engaged or remarried. They were getting closer by the day.
“I do,” came Max’s answer to the minister.
“Do you Elizabeth take this man to be lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better and for worse, for richer and poorer, and in sickness and in health until death do you part?” came the minister to Liz.
“I do,” came Liz’s answer to the minister.
“Max and Elizabeth, you both have your own vows to say to each other?” the vows asked. “Max?”
“Liz, you are the love of my life. You were the best decision I ever made. To be loved by you. To know you and to be loved by you. But I also know the uncertainty that I gave you by being in your life. But you were my dream girl. My dream that came true. And when life took you away from me. I never forgot you. But you came back to me. And from this day on, I will never forget you. And I am truly honored that you are giving us another chance, and I hope that we take this chance to finally get it right, and to have that family we have always wanted, together. Together. That is paramount word. We are now together, and we will never part.”
“Elizabeth?” the minister asked.
“Max. The worst mistake I ever made was leaving you and depriving you of a chance of being in my life. And to be in our daughter Claudia’s life,” she said as they both looked at their link, a living and breathing link. And Claudia looked at both of her parents and smiled. “I believed at the time that I made the right decision. For reasons we now know that were truly unique and complex, but also complicated. But at the same time, I don’t regret it. Because I know in my heart that I was protecting you and our daughter. But I now wish that I could have done it in a different way. If only. So, while we will never know if it would have made any differences. I know we would have been together. Because I never stopped loving you. You saved my life when we were fifteen, and you brought me into a different world. And it is a world that gave me a chance at loving you. And I will be always grateful for that, and I know this time, we will get it right.”
“Does anyone have any reason why these two should not be united on this day?”
There was silence in the church. But for a few minutes, there was dead silence for fear of what any objections, but fortunately none came.
“I hereby declare you husband and wife. And I give you Max and Elizabeth Evans,” the minister said to applause in the church. “Max, you may kiss your bride?”
Which Max did, to explosive claps in the church.
As they would enter the reception the Evans household. It was not a big wedding. But it was perfect for them, as they would dance, and have lot of fun,
And as Taylor Dane’s “Love will Lead You Back” played...
Saying goodbye
Is never an easy thing
But you never said
That you'd stay forever
So if you must go
Oh, darling I set you free
But I know in time
That we'll be together
I won't try
To stop you now from leaving
'Cause in my heart I know
Love will lead you back
Someday I just know that
Love will lead you back to my arms
Where you belong
I'm sure, sure as stars are shining
One day you will find me again, it won't be long
One of these days our love will lead you back
One of these nights
Ooh, I'll hear your voice again
You're gonna say
Ooh, how much you missed me
You'll walk out this door
But someday you'll walk back in
And darling I know, ooh
I know this will be
Sometimes it takes
Sometime you on your own now
To find your way back home
“I always wanted to believe we would have a chance again,” Max muttered. “I know that dream was insane. But the day you walked out. I hopeless believed you would one day come back to me. I just knew,” Max said softly. “I am glad I got the chance to wait,” he said with a smile. “Even if I had to wait eighteen years,” he said to smiles from his now wife.
As they walked into a new life together, and they both knew that nothing was going to pull them apart.
“I love you Max,” Liz said simply.
*
Six months later,
The spaceship outside was on and shining. Because the newly refurbished Crashdown Café was now open. But under new management. As it was now in the trusted hands of Liz and her husband of six months, Max Evans. Doors were now open, and people were piling in as the grand opening was being celebrated in a town that had seen many changes in the last few years. Businesses opened and closed all over the street, but they all had missed the Crashdown Café. And were prepared to celebrate the occasion.
Because finally, it was reopened. And the previous owner, Jeff Parker was watching it with pride as he watched as his daughter welcome those new customers. Some old, some new. But they were coming in droves to see the polished paint, and the new modern touches that we now being employed. And they were noticed. But there were still the memories of what brought those in initially.
As the alien motif was still around. And the mural was still on the wall.
Because Max and Liz would never have gotten rid of that because it brought memories to both of them, as they leaned in for a kiss, because they were truly happy for this day.
As if they needed a chance not to kiss. Because the honeymoon had yet to disperse itself.
While Liz owned the restaurant. It would be managed on a daily basis by Claudia Evans, as she would be the manager on duty. Unless she was in school, because come fall she would be commuting with her boyfriend Archie Holmes to Las Cruces to attend classes at New Mexico University. Because Archie had done what was talked about earlier in the year, and relocated to Roswell and was now living with Claudia over the restaurant.
In the apartment that was Liz’s childhood home. Newly renovated as well, but still it had the spark of the Parker’s past. It would serve as Claudia’s home. While Jeff and Nancy Parker moved back to town, but not back into their old home, but into a new one.
Nearby.
While their daughter and Claudia’s parent lived together in their home. The Evans homestead with JJ who was officially adopted by Max, making him Jeffry James Parker Evans and he was more solidly based at home and in school, and his grades had markedly improved, even though there were still traces in town of the pandemic that had changed all their lives. Phillip Evans would remain in the house. And it was fine with his son.
Because he has his dream girl in his arms.
And life was normalizing, even if it was still a bizarre world.
But still, it was starting to be normal for all those involved in their little alien community. Because Maria had relaunched her career, using Roswell as their home base. Creating new music that was creating waves. Michael was taking on more clients as he put his shingle out for his private investigating firm. It was not like he was needed at home because Lucy was graduating from high school in a few weeks and was scheduled to attend university in Las Cruces. She was not thrilled at the notion, but her parents convinced her that further education would serve her interests, whatever they were.
Even though she planned to work for her father. Michael was not sure that dream would last, but it got her to apply to university, and she was planning on attending, along with Claudia, Archie and Tripp Valenti who was still dating Crystal Holmes.
With Crystal scheduled to come for a lengthy visit in a few weeks, and Tripp could not wait. And even Archie missed his sister. And he had better relationship with both of his parents. They had come to terms with a lot in the past year.
While Tripp was also happy because his father finally had found love. And love that would last. Because he had finally found the woman of his dreams And there were no signs this marriage was going to go down the drain. Because he and Isabel were now married. Living in wedded bliss. And Kyle’s bachelor pad was currently being remodeled, so that they could live there with Kyla, Poppy, and Katy.
Tripp was planning on pursuing a business degree so that he could join his father’s construction company in a more concrete way.
While Jim was planning to serve as Sheriff for another year, before finally retiring. He was promising to take his wife Amy traveling. Although his wife, and son did not think he could give up the reins just yet. But he was intending on it, and he was slowly moving towards that goal.
While back at the Evans household. Claudia was the manager at the Crashdown because Liz had renewed her love for medicine, and for science, but she was not returning to a hospital setting. Instead, she had opened a family practice and was giving the town the treatment that they desperately needed.
While Max when he had the time. He would help his daughter run the Crashdown.
While everyone lived happily ever after…
The END!
*
A final Author note...
Thank you for supporting this story. It could have gone for many more chapters, but I figured enough was enough. Writing it was a unique time. I wanted a pandemic focused story, but it got in way of what I could do. And I had to use a time period where Claudia was at age where it would mean something to find his father. And I was thinking pairing Tripp and Claudia, but brought Archie to town, and actually liked them together, and of course with it taking its time, it brought much mayhem and Jerry Springer-esque fun LOL. And totally reversed the baby Zan story, using Kyle. I tried to make it true to the show, but of course, there might be gaps, and we don’t know about Maria’s early life. Or what happened with her father. Poor Maria. So, I decided to use her for a little mayhem to close out the story, unfortunately, and I didn’t have the time to go into the depth of it…because it could have led to much more mayhem, and many more chapters, and it had already gone long enough. And Max and Liz’s story was told and brought Claudia closer to understanding and starting to process it all.
It’s a musical story because I tend to listen to 80’s music and many other romantic songs of the era on loop when I write, so I can get in the mood dealing with how complicated love conquers all for Max and Liz. And 80’s music seems appropriate for this story and the story of Max and Liz. So, it sometimes bleeds into the stories I write.
Hopefully you enjoy it, and I am currently working on something new that will be complicated in its own right. Sexy, and very morally questionable, and of course angsty. That one will be coming eventually during the course of this year…
At the rate I am writing it as it’s taking its time.
So, thank you again…