Author: LysCat
Summery: While the gang is visiting the Granolithe, Liz is sucked into an alternate universe.
Category: Post episode...alternate universe
Couples: Uh, both CC and UC
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the Roswell characters. Also, a friend of mine helped me with the title, so it’s not completely mine either. Also, there are some quotes in this story that were taken from the episodes, I just want to state that they might not be exactly right. I wrote them from how they were in my head. Is it bad that I’m too lazy to just check transcripts for them?
I hope you guys enjoy it!
Chapter 1
“Maybe they found the tape your mom filmed of you using your powers,” Michael Guerin grasped for. He wasn’t sure what it was that got the government aware of them once again, but he knew that it was something important. He’d hoped that with Tess’ death this all would end, so much for hoping.
Isabel Ramirez cast Michael a withering glare. It wasn’t the first time she had entertained the thought. If only the others knew how upset she was when she thought it was herself to lead them right to danger. “What? So it’s my fault?”
Protectively, Jesse came to his wife’s defense as he placed a calming arm around her shoulders. “Listen, this isn’t helping.”
“So what do we do?” Kyle Valenti asked speaking up for the first time since the meeting started.
Michael volunteered his opinion on the matter. “I say we leave, each going separately, quietly into the night.”
Jim Valenti shared a look with his son before speaking up. “All of us?”
“Well, according the crystal ball here,” Michael nodded his head towards Liz Parker where she sat quietly next to her boyfriend, “Max, Isabel, Liz and I are the only ones they’re after...so the rest of you are safe.”
Standing across from her once boyfriend, Maria Deluca couldn’t hide the sarcastic smile. “I can’t believe this. After everything that we’ve been through...you’re just going to up and leave me!?”
“It’s not like we have a choice Maria,” Michael defended. He didn’t want to make this argument a public one.
“What’s to stop them from coming after the rest of us once you’re gone?” Jesse asked, once again getting everyone to focus on the situation at hand.
“Since they’ve been following us for a while, they’ll know that you guys are no threat,” Isabel answered quickly, hoping that would be it.
“Well, if they’ve been following us for this long, wouldn’t they take us into custody in hopes of luring you to them?” Jim asked cautiously. He remembered the ordeal that Max Evans had gone through when he was in the white room. He remembered hearing about it after, how Peirce threatened to go after Liz to get Max’s cooperation.
“We don’t know for sure that they would,” Michael said after a pregnant pause.
“And we don’t know for sure that they wouldn’t,” Kyle argued. There were so many things that factored into the way his life had crumbled, all of them having to do with aliens. He and his father had sacrificed so much for the sake of Max, Michael, Isabel and Tess, getting caught and tortured by the FBI wasn’t something he was willing to go through.
All at once, Jim, Jesse, Isabel and Michael started throwing out thoughts and plans. During all that no one had paid attention to the silent conversation Liz and Maria seemed to be sharing, no one other then Max.
“Liz? Was there something you needed to share?” Max’s quiet voice seemed to halt all conversation around the group.
The tiny brunette turned her gaze from Maria’s pleading gaze to meet Max’s before going back to her best friend. “Maria, no...now is not the time.”
“Now is a perfect time,” Maria retorted.
Liz shook her head. “We don’t even know if it would work, besides, look how well things turned out from the last time.”
“We can’t not do anything,” Maria argued once again. “It would be worse if we didn’t even try.”
Having had enough of the conversation, Michael finally broke in. There was nothing worse then not knowing what was going on. “You two want to share something?”
From his position next to Liz, Max could see her actually retreating into herself. That was a sight, Liz was never one to back down from a situation. He was just as curious as the others, but he was worried about Liz. Whatever it was, it must be something important by the way she seemed to close herself off. “Liz?” He reached out to touch her in hopes of getting her attention. The last thing he expected was the rush of images that came with that one touch.
***FLASH
“I Liz Parker take Max Evans...”
“You are not Max. You’re just some shape shifter with gray hair!”
“Do you really see gray?”
“In fourteen years we get taken over.”
“Who?”
“Us. Earth.”
“I came back to keep the future from happening.”
“I need you to make me fall out of love with you.”
“Good you got her to wear that top.”
“So, you like the top.”
“So...were we ever married?”
“Liz, you know I can’t tell you.”
“Yeah, not knowing too much-”
“We eloped in Vegas.”
“You’re only making me love you more!”
“We became cemented.”
“You mean we...”
“Made love.”
“Don’t you realize what you are to me? There’ll never be another you.”
“It didn’t work.”
“Kyle, I need your help.”
“I just...I wanted to make sure that you knew that we weren’t going to-”
“Consumate. Yeah, I understand.”
“So I guess it worked huh?”
“I’ve been in a thousand battles, but that’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
“So, you and Tess will get together now?”
“I don’t know. I always said that destiny is what we make of it.”
“I want my wedding dance.”
END FLASH***
So chocked of with emotion, Max wasn’t sure what to say in response to what he’d just seen. He felt so many things, but it was hard to determine one of them, they all seemed to be locked together. The only thing he could choke out was a small ‘Oh Liz’.
Liz bit her bottom lip, unsure of how to take Max’s words. Since he’d let her in, she could usually read what was going on inside Max’s mind by his soulful eyes, or she had been until Alex’s death. Since then, he had changed, it felt as if she didn’t know him as well as she used to.
“Okay, how about sharing with the rest of the class,” Kyle offered, feeling put out by the way Maria and Max seemed to know the secret.
Liz cleared her throat, hoping to delay the story even just a little bit. She was afraid of the reactions she would receive.
Maria moved from her spot to sit with Liz. She understood why Liz was a little hesitant. Maria was sure that both Michael and Isabel would be furious with not being informed sooner. Silently she sat down and grasped Liz’s hand, offering silent support.
“Before I start...there will be no interruptions. This is hard enough as it is, you guys breaking in will only make it more difficult. Is that agreed?” Her eyes shifted from one person to the other, Michael grudgingly accepting because of the dangerous glint in Maria’s eyes, as Jesse’s not so subtle nudge pushed Isabel for her acceptance. “Last October I had a visitor, it was the most important visit of my life. At first when he arrived, I thought he was shape shifter, worried that he was trying to capture me, but he quickly proved that he wasn’t. He..it was Max from the year 2014. He said that he had modified the Granolithe to tear a rip into space and come back to keep the world from ending.” She took a deep breath before continuing once again. “We came up with a plan to make Max fall out of love with me. See, in his time line, Max had chosen me and as a result...he had tossed Tess aside. It turns out that Tess was partly right about your destinies, the four of you needed to be together. Without her in the last time line, you weren’t strong enough to fight against your enemies. They took over in his future. He thought that Tess’ absence was the reason why you guys were defeated...I don’t really know though...uh based on everything we’ve learned.”
Kyle only shook his head, not able to believe a word that tumbled out of Liz’s mouth. “Okay, I have to call bull shit.” The tension that had built since Liz’s revealing story dissipated with his call.
Jim looked to where Liz sat huddled in her same position on the rock. Her arms locked around her scrunched legs, she’d pulled away from Maria. During her story, Max had left her side, he had listened quietly while she told her story, but never once had he taken his eyes away from the vast landscape in front of him. There was something inside Jim that nagged at him to listen to Liz’s story. “Kyle,” he reprimanded softly.
Kyle looked disbelievingly to his father and then to Liz before looking to Jim once again. “No dad, seriously. There’s no way-”
“Do you remember that night Kyle?” Liz spoke up, angry at what the former jock was implying. “How I asked you that favor. Why would I ask you to lay in my bed...seemingly naked in that time frame? I knew ahead of time that Max would be making an appearance there Kyle.” She stared him down as he met her eyes.
“Assuming that I believe this story...” Michael trailed off wondering if he would be taken to a loony bin for even accepting the possibility of what Liz was saying. “Why didn’t you tell anyone else?”
“He asked me not to,” Liz answered with a shrug.
Michael crossed his arms over his chest. “Oh, how convenient,” he snidely remarked.
“Listen Michael, he said he trusted me. What was I going to do? He came back in desperate need of some help. I wasn’t going to turn him down,” Liz defended.
“You had no right to play around with our futures like that!”
“Hey buddy,” Maria said as she marched over to the once intimidating alien, “she saved your life,” Maria finished, poking him in the chest with ever word.
At the angry declaration everyone turned their heads to Liz in disbelief, Max included. “He was really upset. He told me that right before he came Michael had died...in his arms. Isabel died two weeks earlier. He was desperate to make things better, I thought I would help him in any way I could.”
“Well, let’s just roll out the red carpet,” Isabel sneered. “What good did you cause huh?” Isabel demanded. “The skins still know about us, Tess still wasn’t on our side, the only difference is Alex is dead.”
“It’s not exactly like we knew Tess was evil,” Liz reminded her, from the corner of her eye she looked to Max, wondering if he would break in and stop this attack on her.. “She managed to dupe all of us. Don’t worry though Isabel, next time I have a chance to save your life, I won’t.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to,” the female alien countered, “seeing as you did such a bang up job last time.”
“You know what? Screw you, screw you guys!” For the first time, Liz actually stood up and spoke her mind, saying all she had ever wanted to. “Ever since we were brought into this group it’s always been about the three of you. I made a decision based on the facts that were represented to me. I tried to make things better, does that count at all?” Liz shifted her eyes to Michael and then Isabel. “I’m so tired of putting up with your holier then thou attitude! After everything I’ve done for you guys.” Liz then turned to Max. He was still staring out into the distance. Liz knew that he was upset with her, but he never had really been one to stand up to Michael and Isabel, especially when it came to the way they treated her. “Do whatever the hell you guys want, I’m not putting up with this anymore,” she tossed out carelessly, meaning every word she spoke. She didn’t even bother to see if her last statement had gathered Max’s attention before she stalked off.
“What the hell was that?” Isabel asked. First with Liz’s temper tantrum and then Maria’s quiet exit behind her friend.
Max could only look at his sister. “Shut up Isabel.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“I was thinking...” Michael began uncomfortably as he and Max were sitting on the couch. The tv was playing, but neither guy had been watching the screen. They hadn’t been able to focus much on anything since Liz’s revelation four days earlier. “What if we use the Granolithe again and go back in time and fix things?”
Would that even work? “We don’t even know how to use it,” Max reminded his friend. For the past few days he thought of nothing but Liz’s experience. He’d felt every one of her emotions from their flash, seemingly as if it was haunting him. Her revelation opened a new chapter of possibilities. If they could actually go back in time to change things, they could fix everything. The thought excited him to no end. With that wonder also came a nagging sense of guilt. He’d known how emotional she was due to their connection, but he’d turned his back on her...literally. Selfishly angry that she’d had the audacity to lie to him. Maybe not only lie, but that she had chosen his future self over him. He knew he needed to sit down and talk with her, but because of his actions, he wasn’t sure how long it would be before that would happen.
Michael shrugged. “I don’t know, I’m grasping for a solution here Maxwell. Does Liz still have all of Alex’s stuff? I mean there might be something in the translation...” his voice trailed off uncomfortably.
“Yeah, but for some reason I don’t think she will be offering to help us anytime soon,” Max hedged uncomfortably. Neither Liz nor Maria would talk to them, let along look at them in the past few days.
“Gee, I wonder why that is Maxwell?” Michael couldn’t help it. Ever since Liz’s cold shoulder to Max, his friend had been walking around scowling at everything. Frankly, Michael was tired of it. It wasn’t Max’s job to brood, he had more important things to take care of.
Max offered his friend a none too happy glance. “Shut it Michael. You shouldn’t have gone after her the way you had.”
Suddenly becoming defensive. “Hey! You know that she irritates me easily. Besides, I didn’t hear you sticking up for Liz while Isabel was saying anything,” he pointed out. Taking a deep breath, Michael focused on the situation at hand. “Listen Max. We need to get those papers. Then maybe once we have them we can fix this mess.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Hello darling, how was your day?” Jesse asked as he walked into his apartment.
Isabel looked up from the stove where she was cooking dinner and gave a small smile. “It was horrible. I had to watch my brother moon over Liz. How dare she play with his feelings like that!”
“Uh...how did she do that?” He placed his briefcase down and went to move closer to his wife.
“By choosing to lie to him. She took his heart and twisted is around to deceive us,” Isabel vented.
From his position, Jesse narrowed his eyes. Something wasn’t right here. Ever since knowing Isabel, she had never once been so against Liz. She was acting unreasonable where Liz was concerned. He admitted that she may be upset over her brother’s heartache, but not enough to be so rude. “What is this really about?”
“Ever since ‘he’ came back our lives have been ruined,” Isabel tossed out before thinking.
“How were they ruined?”
“If Liz didn’t break my brother’s heart then he wouldn’t have slept with Tess and get her pregnant. She wouldn’t have gone back to Antar and then come back crash landing and bringing the FBI back into our lives! Alex wouldn’t be dead. She’d have left long before. He’d be here now.”
“Is that why you’re mad? You blame her for Alex’s death? Do you want him here?”
“I loved him Jesse,” Isabel said. “Maybe not the way he wanted me to, but I still cared for him a great deal. It wasn’t fair that his life was ended so shortly. He was the best person I have ever met. If that future version of Max had come back and talked to me, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Jesse moved in behind his wife and laced his arms around her stomach, leaning into her. “You’re mad that he chose Liz over you.” It wasn’t a guess, it was a fact.
“Damn right I am! Telling her that he ‘trusted’ her! I am his sister damn it! I’m the one that’s alien too. If he was to come back for help why not ask me?”
“He’s in love with Liz. He always has been. What if she had been killed in his life time? I understand he would want to come back and see his love, even if it wasn’t the same person.”
Isabel turned off the stove and focused on her conversation. “All our lives he’s been watching over Liz. We were annoyed with his infatuation, but he never did anything so we never worried. When he healed her though, that changed everything. He always seemed to put her above Michael and myself.”
“That doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you Isabel. No matter what happens, you’re still his sister. Nothing could ever change that.”
“I know, my mind says the same thing,” she admitted softly. “Hearing that he chose Liz to come to above Michael and me was like a slap in the face though.”
Jesse kissed her neck. “You know, you’ve done the same thing. I know that Max and Michael weren’t rooting for us to be together, but you went ahead and did it anyway. You can’t be mad at Liz for his decisions.”
“I know,” she amended. She turned around to face her husband. “I love you Jesse.”
“I love you too Isabel.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Did you bring the papers?” Michael asked as soon as Liz walked into his apartment.
Tossing him an ‘do I look stupid’ glare she pushed the binder full of information into his chest as hard as she look. She wanted to smile at the slight ‘oomph’ she heard, but she was still angry at most of the occupants in the room. “So what’s going on?”
“We’re going to try and fix the mess you made,” Isabel said still not letting her attitude drop.
“Isabel, would you cut out with the snide remarks?” Jesse asked softly, only loud enough for Liz to hear. Over Isabel’s head, he offered the small brunette a tiny smile in apology.
Liz pursed her lips together as she looked at Isabel. Would the words ever end? Liz supposed they wouldn’t any time soon. Shifting her eyes to Isabel’s brother she asked the question that had been nagging her since she first got a phone call from Max. “So then why am I here? I mean if I’m this big screw up why did you need my presence?” Liz asked.
“That’s what I was wondering,” Isabel acknowledged before turning to her brother and Michael.
Max stood in the front of the room, his eyes never leaving Liz’s forms. “I’m sorry about what happened the other day, the way that we went after you,” Max apologized. He hadn’t said anything to Liz that day, but it was only a repeat performance of not sticking up for her when Michael and/or Isabel shot off their mouths. He couldn’t ask Liz to bring all of Alex’s old notes and not at least start off with an apology.
“Ma-” Isabel tried to interrupt her brother. She didn’t need to have Max apologizing to Liz for her. As far as she was concerned she wasn’t the one to screw up. Michael broke in next, grudgingly albeit, but still apologizing.
“It was a good idea, going back in time to fix things,” Michael’s gaze moved to the other occupants of the room after the first statement. “Everything is completely different now...err, from that time line, but our world could still end with the FBI on our tail again.”
“Michael and I were thinking....what if we went back in time again?”
Liz couldn’t suppress the mocking laugh. “You guys just reamed my ass over doing something similar to that and now you’re going to do the same exact thing?”
Max’s eyes never wavered from her’s. “We don’t have a choice Liz. The FBI is after us again.”
“All right, assuming we do this, what are we going back to fix?” Maria asked.
“What?” Michael and Max looked at the normally outspoken blonde in confusion. They would fix everything.
Liz took over the explanation for her friend. “Where did things go wrong? When Future Max came back, they assumed it was Tess’ presence or lack there of that lead to their destruction. We know something completely different now, so we won’t have to worry about that...” Now she understood why she was needed. She was the only one that had any knowledge of the subject
“At the risk of sounding rude,” Jim hedged, “I think things went wrong when you healed Liz. I mean that’s the day you revealed yourself...if you hadn’t done that, then everything would be completely different.”
As much as everyone wanted to argue that fact, they couldn’t. It was true. Max healing Liz was the beginning of all their problems. Had Max not exposed himself and his family, they would have been safe. On the other hand, there’s no telling what would have happened if Max hadn’t interfered. Would Liz have still lived?
“As much as I would like to help...my selfish side is really kicking in right now,” Liz said before anyone else had a chance or thought to. “We don’t know if I would have even survived from the gun shot, and to tell you the truth, I’m not too keen on dying.”
“And I wouldn’t have it that way,” Max declared softly, his eyes locked in a gaze with Liz’s.
What a screwed up conversation this was! Michael stared at the star crossed lovers with pity. No matter what, they never seemed to get a break. Here they were talking about going back in time to change things, that could lead up to Liz’s death. Poor Liz. “Uh, Valenti does have a point though,” Michael said after clearing his throat. He felt terrible! Talking about Liz’s life as though it were something as trivial as what he ate for breakfast.
Liz refused to let herself stare at Max for too long. She moved her eyes to the floor, not bothering to fight about Valenti’s observation.
Emotionally, Max reached out towards Liz. He wanted nothing more then to grab her in his arms and kiss all the problems away, but it wasn’t the time nor the place. Besides that, they still needed to talk about things. “He does. It’s sounds right...it just, it doesn’t feel right. As of right now, we’re worried about what...Tess and Nesado’s arrival? This time around they had everything to go on...the shooting, the signs. We both knew that neither was very trustworthy. I can’t help wonder sometimes, even if we hadn’t attracted any attention to ourselves, would they still have shown up? I’m betting yes.”
“So, then that leads us back to the beginning,” Maria replied. “What do we do?”
“Well, what if we accepted Tess into our lives without any mistrust?” Max volunteered. “She wouldn’t have the need to spread those images, we’d be able to trust her more...maybe that’s all she’d need.”
“Are you hearing yourself Max?” Isabel demanded. “You saw what she did to Alex, how dangerous she was. If we go back and change things then they may not happen, but what’s to say that she won’t try something else? She’s a liability.”
“Isabel’s right,” Liz agreed. “Destiny was drilled into Tess’ head since she emerged from her pod. She had her loving home in this life time with Jim and Kyle and how did she repay them?” Liz looked around the room, her gaze resting briefly on Kyle and Jim. “No matter what she learned from us, it still wasn’t enough to stop her from continuing with her objective.”
“What about killing her?” Maria suggested after a pregnant pause.
“She was so much stronger then us,” Michael replied. “It’d have to be surprise.”
“And once the jobs done, we could go to New York and get Ava, have her take Tess’ place in the four square,” Liz finished.
Looking around the room, Max could tell that Jim and Kyle were less then pleased with the idea of killing Tess. They knew a side to her that no one else in the group did, it must be difficult listening to their ideas about murdering the blonde. “Why don’t we go home and each think this out? Right now we’re talking in haste. A decision doesn’t need to be made right now so why don’t we brain storm a little more and then meet up again tomorrow when this has all filtered through our brains?”
“Sounds good to me,” Maria retorted as everyone started filing out of the apartment.
Just as Liz was about to leave, Max gently caught her arm. “Can I offer you a ride home?”
Shaking out of his grasp, Liz asked the first thing that came to her mind. “Why?”
“I thought we could talk,” he replied hesitantly.
“Oh...you thought we should talk? So that automatically means I should jump through hoops? No Max, I don’t feel like talking to you. I think that your actions last night did more talking then you could know.” She turned away from him when he called out her name, causing her to stop once more.
“I am sorry.”
“Are you sure? Your sister and friend have always been able to walk all over me and you let it happen repeatedly. It’s a little late for apologies.”
“Hey, this isn’t only my fault!”
“Oh, so it’s mine that you don’t have the balls to stand up to your sister and Michael?” She lowered her voice considerably. “What a king you must have made.”
“You shared something that completely changed everything I thought I knew for the last two years! You used my love for you and you turned it around on me. I think I had a right to be upset.”
Always a selfish one, never thinking of anyone else other then himself. Had he even stopped to wonder how hurt she was from the whole situation? Didn’t he know that it tore her up inside to know that she was the one that caused him to turn into the arms of another woman? “I’m done with this Max. Let’s...just find a solution here, because I’m done.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Oh, I assure I am.” She looked into his soulful eyes. His face was blank, as if he was trying to hold in whatever emotion he was feeling. “What do you want me to say? I’m dying here! Do you have any idea how painful this past year has been for me? I stood by your side while you searched for the son you conceived with another woman...a woman I hated. You were willing to sacrifice me and our relationship, you were ready to give that up so why can’t I?” She hadn’t even noticed when the tears started falling or when her voice broke.
“Lizzie?” Maria asked tentatively as she wrapped an arm around Liz’s waist. “Are you ready to go?”
“Take me home Maria.”