Some Things Never Change
It had
been three years since he left. He didn't know what he was expecting
to find there - his friends, they were sure to be gone, all of them
had left Roswell with him, at the same time but each with their own
destinations in mind. He had contented himself with being a drifter,
never staying too long in one place and making sure not to draw attention
to himself. He hadn't tried keeping in touch, hell, any one of them
could be anywhere by now. So the last thing he expected to find was
her, still waiting tables at the diner like old times, still in that
skimpy piece of cloth they called a uniform (hell, like he ever complained)
and looking not one day older since they left.
"Michael?"
She
was staring at him, as shocked to see him there as he was plumb bewildered
to see her.
"Hey,
Parker. Miss me?"
Oh yes,
it was him alright. Michael Guerin and his trademark, possibly even
patented smirk. Not to mention that irritating habit of calling her
by her last name. Would it kill him, she wondered to actually call
her Liz more than once in a while? But that was just Michael, always
aloof, always holding everyone at arm's length. Impersonalizing everything.
"You
were gone? Gee, I hadn't noticed."
Yep.
Liz Parker in the flesh and sassy as heck. Michael laughed as he looked
her over. And at her looking him over. Both of them asking at the
same time, "What are you doing here?"
More
laughter. Then her face changed. "Look, Michael, I'd really like
to talk so just let me get you something and have someone cover for
me. My shift's almost over anyway." He nodded as she went off
to get him the usual. Cherry Coke, a burger and Tabasco. No forgetting
that last vital condiment of choice.
"So."
He started off casually, as he began on his burger. "Where's
Max?"
Silence.
A wince. He was sure he saw her wince.
"What
happened, Liz?" Please, don't let him be dead. Not her boyfriend,
not his best friend.
"The
whole thing's kinda complicated...but let me just simplify it."
She took a deeep breath. "Max, he kinda...lost it." Too
shocked to say a word, he let her continue. "After we left Roswell,
I went to USC and we lived in LA, with Langley. Things were fine the
first year, it was just so perfect. No alien-hunters after Max, no
running from other evil extra-terrestrials, it was just normal. Plain
vanilla, no excitement normal.Then the second year, he started getting
weird. Spacing out on me, talking to himself."
"You're trying to tell me,"Michael stared at her, incredulous.
"Max just went cuckoo? All by himself, nothing triggered it at
all?"
Shaking
her head, she explained further. "After everything we went through,
it kinda got to him. We, you, me, all thought he was coping but he
wasn't. And it seems that he just happened to have a latent tendency
towards schizoprenia. At least that's what the shrink said."
She sighed, staring down into her glass.
"Where
is he now?"
"Still
with Langley. He takes medication and it helps most of the time. I
would have stayed with him but he didn't want me there. He just can't
bear the thought, he says, of not being able to make me happy. After
everything he said he put me through."
"And
you left?"
"No!
Well, yeah, after he threatened to go off with Langley so I'd never
know where he was. At least if he stays put, I know that he's safe
and taken care of. Langley keeps me updated."
Michael
stayed silent as she told him about Maxwell finally completely retreating
into a shell, not talking or doing much of anything at all. Sometimes,
he would let her in, into his mind and she saw he had created an entire
world inside his head where he was happy. He wanted her to be happy
too. That was what he had told her before finally shutting her out
completely.
Isabel
had come to LA, trying to talk some sense into her brother but had
left in tears as she too, was unable to reach him. Liz let Michael
know Maria was in New York still pursuing her songwriting dreams and
seeing Billy. Kyle was with Isabel, romanticly, both of them studying
in San Fransisco. All Czechoslovakian and friends of Czechoslavakians
accounted for.
Liz
transferred from USC to University of New Mexico and was staying with
her folks, commuting from Roswell. At least she was close to her family.
It was some comfort, what with her closest friends all far away and
her former boyfriend a certified headcase.
"Seeing
as you've got nowhere to go, why don't you just stay with me? In the
guest bedroom, I mean." Was she blushing? Liz hoped it wasn't
obvious but from the way Michael was smiling at her, it probably was.
"Well,
Parker, I wasn't planning to stay long. But maybe I'll humor you with
my company."
She snorted. She looked cute when she snorted. An observation Michael
vowed to keep to himself.
As she
showed him up to the room above her parent's diner, he couldn't help
to notice the silence. "Where are your folks?" He queried,
an eyebrow lifting.
He looked
kind of cute like that, she thought to herself. A thought she wasn't
likely to share with anyone, nope, no more lusting after males not
of this earth. "Another one of those restauranteurs' conventions.
Won't be back till Monday."
"It's
Friday..so you and me alone this weekend, Parker? Better lock your
bedroom door." He teased as he stretched out on the guestroom
bed. "As if you couldn't use some of your alien voodoo to unlock
it, Spaceboy. I won't bother." She laughed, rather enjoying their
playful banter. When was the last time she felt this carefree, she
wondered. And with Michael, of all people. But then his next question
had her thrown.
"Would
you want me to unlock it?"
He was
standing so close to her now, behind her, his warm breath on her ear
sending small sensations down her spine.
"Would you, Liz?"
He asked again, noticing her shiver in response.
Part
II
She
turned around to face him, taking in the look in his eyes and saw
in them the heat of her own desire. His lips were ever so slightly
parted as he waited for an answer, some answer. It just seemed the
most natural thing to do to reach up and pull those lips to her own.
Some things couldn't be expressed quite so well in words.
Gasping
a little in surprise, it didn't take him long to adjust to the feel
of her kiss. Before returning it, slowly, hungrily and with increasing
passion. It had been a long time since he'd kissed anyone and he was
enjoying this. More specifically, he was enjoying kissing her. His
head felt curiously empty of all thought but full of what seemed like
a thousand roman candles exploding and a feeling of exhiliration.
Absolute exhiliration.
Liz
groaned as he pulled her in closer to him, lifting her up onto a table
as her legs wrapped around his waist. She kept her eyes closed as
his lips left hers and moved to her cheek, trailing down her neck
and hovering around her collarbone, then slowly travelling up her
neck, lightly kissing her chin before caressing the side of her nose
with his own. Feeling his gaze, she returned it and she could see
what he wanted was all she wanted, yet he was just making sure, asking,
pleading her consent with his eyes.
He almost
let out a sigh as she took his hands and slipped them under her shirt,
on her back and guiding his fingers as he unhooked her brastrap. Then
she just had to catch him off-guard by pulling away and pulling off
her shirt and the bra up over her head. Leaving him to return the
favor by promptly removing his tee-shirt. It was a bit of a struggle
trying not to keep their hands off each other as they undressed on
the way to the bed but, they managed.
Perching
on his hands above her reclining form, he couldn't help but think
she looked so tiny underneath his 6"2 frame. Michael supposed
he had been staring a wee bit too long from the wry look she gave
him and the muttered, "It's getting lonely down here...."
She
thought he was never coming down. Revelling in his touch, she moaned
softly as his warm hands roamed, roughly caressing the length of her
body, his lips on her neck, on her shoulders and as she let out a
tiny shriek, a nipple. While one hand kneaded one breast, his mouth
was busying itself on the other tasting, nibbling and adding an isolated
bite now and then.
"Mmmm....".
The little sounds she made as his tongue circled a nipple were damn
arousing, he thought to himself. But not as arousing as the thought
of her reaching climax in his arms. Her arms grasped at him as his
head moved lower, showering kisses between her breasts down her chest
and on her stomach. Flicking his tongue ever so lightly into her navel,
he was gratified to see her arch off of the bed. Won't be long now,
he mused as his tongue trailed even lower down to her pink nub.
She
had to catch herself from bucking straight off the bed as his mouth
met her clit and reason seemed so far away, she was close to going
insane with wanting, the need for him, his touch and what it was doing
to her. Her forehead was heavily creased, her mind just so focused
on release that when it finally came, she could do no more than tremble,
shivering violently in its wake.
He loved
the scent of her, sweet and musky and the sheen of sweat on her tanned
skin gave it a soft glow, as he took in the sight of her. She didn't
give him long to enjoy that though, pulling him to her, mouth reaching
up to capture his, hands on his behind pushing him inside her and
her throat letting out a sharp hiss as he entered. He was aroused
enough but the way she was looking at him, the way their eyes met
with each thrust, with each return from her was intoxicating and he
felt as if he could go on forever. His body had other ideas as he
found himself going faster, and deeper until he finally gave in to
the feeling of her walls wrapping around him.
They
lay there side by side, in the quiet you could only hear their breathing
as it steadily grew silent. Wordlessly, he reached for her again,
pulling her close to him, the both of them surrendering to the blissfulness
of sleep.
Part
III
It was
morning and as she opened her eyes and felt the arms around her, Liz
couldn't help but feel as if she had landed in some alternate universe.
This couldn't have been real. Here she was, in bed with the former
boyfriend of her best friend who also, coincidentally had been her
ex-boyfriend's best friend to boot. To her mind the situation couldn't
have been more wrong but what she felt was telling her that it was
right. A weird kind of, crazy kind of, twisted and totally out of
this world right. She only hoped that he thought so too but then you
could never tell with Michael.
"Morning."
He mumbled to her, awake but eyes still shut tight.
"Morning." She smiled as he continued holding her, pulling
her closer.
"Michael."
He grunted in reply.
"We need to talk again, I think.." She turned around to
face him and as she did, he moved until her head was nestled under
his chin.
"So, talk." Liz couldn't help but giggle.
"Do you really think we can have a serious talk in this position?"
"There are a whole lot of other positions I can think of which
would definitely make talking very, very difficult."
She laughed, and so did he.That is, just before he rolled over and
pinned her underneath him as he started to make love to her all over
again. It was quite some time before their sentences consisted of
more than one very loudly vocalized word or name, depending.
After
a shower, where they again, got distracted, the two finally made it
downstairs and proceeded to discuss what had been going on the day
before, the whole night and in the morning.
"Why,
Michael?"
He shrugged.
"I guess it felt right at the time."
"Does
it still feel right now?" She bit her lip, staring at the floor.
It was
a long while before he said anything while in his eyes lay a look
so soft she could almost feel it caress her.
"Liz,
a lot has happened since we last met. Things have changed in your
life and mine, we're not the same people, well, not quite. But one
thing that remains is that I care about you. I always have and I always
will, that could never change."
Taking
her hand in his, gently stroking her fingers he went on.
"All
those years away from the people that mattered the most to me thought
me some stuff. Like you'll never know when they'll be taken away from
you and I told myself that if I ever met up with any of you again,
I'd be sure to at least let you know that you meant something to me.
Even Kyle, even though I did consider him a prick most times."
He grinned as she laughed.
"Well,
that's good to hear. Kyle would be so touched. And oh, Michael, I've
always cared about you too. You weren't just Max's friend, you...I
saw you as my friend too. Ever since the day you returned my journal
to me."
Holding
her close, he whispered, "I know."
"I
know, Liz. That's one thing you had in common with Maria. I could
just see you, no pretense, no bullshit, I'd see you always shining
through. Now after seeing you again, I don't ever want to stop. I
just want to wake up and still have you right in front of me. If Max
wasn't in love with you and I wasn't in love with Maria, I could have
loved you then. And now I realize just how much I want to. Be. In.
Love. With you, Liz Parker."
She
answered him the best way she knew how, taking his head in her hands,
resting her forehead against his and in a small voice, said,"I
want to see you too, Michael."
Later
that night:
"I'm
still Liz Parker, still writing in this journal but things have changed.
Max is gone and I miss him. I miss him so much it hurts. He tried
to give me the gift he gave me onc, which he thought he took away.
He gave me my life back. I didn't think I could imagine a life without
him but now I can. Michael's here now and he's not going to take Max's
place. No, not ever but he has a place in my heart now and we're going
to face the new life we're gonna lead together.
I'll
always love Max, he was my first love and a part of me forever. But
I can't be with him now and there's nothing I can do to change that
no matter how hard I try. So now I'll try and do what he wished, to
live. Not for him or anyone else. I'm Liz Parker and I know I owe
him at least that much."
The End
That was it, folks.
Finis. Hope you like it, am starting on my Polar version of what happens
after "Graduation". I HATE that episode, everything so rushed
and the writers trying to neatly wrap things up.
Max-"Gee..I'm not as much as a big shot as I thought, huh. So
before I screw up again, marry me Liz."
Liz-"YES! I love you, Max even if you've been a total dipshit..oops,
I'm getting these weird flashes, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!"
Michael-"Life sucks. Always has. Am not king. Damn. Maria, I
love you!!!!! There I said it. Byeee.....oops, hey again."
Maria-"This all blows. Majorly. But Michael finally said he loved
me. Go me!"
Isabel-"Damn. I have to be an alien runaway instead of living
the cushy life with Jesse. Oh well, least Kyle is still around to
follow me like a dog."
Kyle-"Woof, woof!"
Valenti-"Great! Sonny boy's gone now I can continue dating my
barely out of high school girlfriend!"
Me-"..."