FanFic - Max/Liz
"Questions and Answers"
Part 8
by Susan
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, they belong to the WB. I just borrowed them for a short time period.
Summary: Max tries to figure out why he has always been so drawn to Liz. Author's Note: There seems to be a lot of questions out there why Liz is so important to the pod squad. I hope in this fanfic I tried to give some of the answers I think are pausible. Let me know if you think I hit any of the answers correctly.
Category: Max/Liz
Rating: R
Setting: Tess's House

Max pulled up to Tess's house alone. The group, even Liz had agreed it would be best if Max talked to Tess alone. He was surprised when Tess opened the door prior to him knocking. "Hey Tess."

"Max." Tess replied curtly.

Max took note of her tone. "Can I come in? We need to talk."

After a brief hesitation Tess opened the door wide enough for Max to enter her dwelling. Even though she still felt betrayed by Max, a small part of her had hope he would come to her. She knew she had already betrayed him, but she told herself if she explained why she did what she had done he would be able to forgive her. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Tess, we've found out a few things about us. I think it's time to fill you in and hopefully you will want to be a part of it."

"You want me to be a part of your life?" She asked with hope in her voice.

"Yes Tess. We all want you to be a part of our lives. The four of us have to stick together. It's just that you and I won't be together in the way you thought we were going to be together. I hope you can understand that."

"No, Max. I don't understand. It's our destiny to be together. You and me, as man and wife. This is because of Liz isn't it. She's human Max, she isn't like us. Why can't you accept that." Her voice began to quiver as a tear rolled down her cheek.

Max took a step toward Tess and put his arm around her to comfort her. He never meant to hurt Tess, but he couldn't deny his feelings for Liz. "Tess, our marriage in our previous life. We believe was an arranged marriage. We never loved each other, maybe on our planet we don't feel those kind of emotions. But, now we are human. We do have feelings and we can feel love. You and I were drawn to each other, not because we loved each other. But, because we are the same kind. I want you to be a part of my life Tess. You are important to all of us. But, I am in love with Liz. Please try to understand that. I need you to understand that."

Tess looked up at Max. She saw the pleading of his eyes and knew he was speaking the truth to her. "An arranged marriage? But, I do have feelings for you Max. Strong feelings."

"As I have strong feelings for you. You, Isabelle and Michael. The four of us share a special bond no one will ever break. But, my heart belongs to Liz and Liz alone."

The truth of his words sank inside her. She finally knew she was accepted by him. Accepted by all of them. Then the realization of what she had done hit her hard. "Oh Max...What have I done?"

Max knew his instincts regarding Tess being the one who had betrayed him before were correct at that moment. He knew she had betrayed him again. "Tess, you need to tell me exactly what you did?"

She buried her face in his shoulder. Feeling ashamed and guilty. "I'm sorry Max...I am so sorry."

Max pulled her away from him slightly and asked again. "Tess you need to tell me what you did?"

She was crying now. In a tearful shaky voice she answered. "Max...When I saw you and Liz together....I saw you making love to her."

Max suddenly felt guilty. He should have talked to Tess and made her realize his feelings prior to now. "I'm sorry Tess. I should have made you understand before this. But, please tell me what you did?"

Her tears flowed freely down her face. "I was so angry with you. I felt like you betrayed me Max. Please you have to forgive me."

"Tess, tell me now. We can fix it, whatever it is, we will be in this together."

She wiped the tears from her face and slowly pulled away from Max's arms. "I used the orbs to communicate with our enemies. They know where you are now. They know where we all are."

"Oh my god Tess." Max was surprised that he didn't really feel anger toward Tess. He understood why she had done what she did. "Who are they?"

"I don't know. They could be anyone. Remember your mother said we would know them by the evil inside."

"Come on we need to get everyone together and let them know what's coming."

Max started toward the door, but Tess grabbed his arm. "I'm so sorry Max."

"I know Tess. We're in this together, but now we have to deal with this situation. Come on, let's go."

Max called the entire group together to meet at the cliffs. When everyone else arrived, Max was already there with Tess. He explained what Tess had told him she had done.

Michael was the first to respond. He lunged for Tess grabbing both sides of her shirt and pulled her tightly toward him. "HOW? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO US??"

Max immediately stepped in and demanded Michael let Tess go. "Michael, it's not a question of the how's and why's anymore. Now it's a question of when. Tess think, surely they gave you some kind of clue as when they would be coming for us?"

Tess was still shaken by Michael's reaction. She looked to Michael and then to Isabelle and asked forgiveness with her eyes. Isabelle decided Max was right and now was not the time to loose their heads. "Max is right. We don't have time to cast blame. We need to know when they're coming and who they are?" She finally said.

Tess: "The only thing they said was they would take care of the royals before the next moon cycle."

Liz: "The next full moon is next week. That means they may already be here."

Alex: "I think it would be a good idea to let Sheriff Valenti know what could possible be going down in the next week or so."

Max: "Your right Alex. We need as many allies as we can get at this point. I wish we had some way of knowing who they are. Our only clue is that we would know them by the evil inside."

Michael: "So what, we just go around connecting with every person to look inside to see if there evil or not."

Maria: "Oh yea that would be smart. And if you came across one of them. Don't you think they will know who you are then."

Max: "Maria's right. They might know where we are, but I don't think they know who we are yet. We just need to figure out how to tell who they are before they can figure out who we are."

Alex: "Well chances are they would not be from around here or they might have figured you guys out by now. So maybe we should check out the few hotels here in Roswell. If they are not from around here then they will need a place to stay while they are looking for you guys."

Isabelle: "That makes sense. Since there are only four hotels here we can divide into groups and easily keep tabs of any new comers."

Max: "Okay, I'll go to Valenti and let him know. We need to be in teams so we can communicate with each other at all times. (M)'Liz I haven't connected with Tess or Valenti to be able to communicate with them yet. One of us will have to go with Valenti and the other will have to go with Tess.' (L)'I understand.' "Michael, you and Maria take the Holiday Inn. Isabelle, you and Alex take the Embassy Suites. Liz, Tess and I will get Valenti and take the other two."

Everyone agreed with the plan at hand and divided up. While in the jeep Max explained to Tess his ability to talk to Liz in her mind. Tess was taken back at first by this knowledge, but this time she watched how Max responded to Liz and vice a versa. Now that her view wasn't blocked by jealousy of the two of them she could see the unconditional love they shared for each other. (M)'I want to you to be safe. I think you would be safer being with Valenti.' (L)'I think that would be best too.' (M)'I didn't want you to think it was because I wanted to be with Tess.' (L)'Max, I have complete faith in our love and I trust you. I'm fine with you going with Tess.' (M)'What on earth did I do to deserve you.' (L) 'You let me love you completely and unconditionally.'

The three of them walked into Sheriff Valenti's office and Max explained the situation to the sheriff as best he could. The sheriff agreed he should be a part of the stake outs and was surprised when Max told him he should be with Liz. "Max, I don't think Liz should come. I can handle a stakeout on my own."

Liz: "Sheriff, Max can communicate with me telepathically. If anything happens I can let him know to respond and the same goes for him."

Sheriff: "Can you communicate telepathically with any one?"

Max: "I haven't learned how to do it without having a connection with that person first. Right now I can only do it with Liz, Isabelle and Michael."

Sheriff: "Okay son, I guess this is your battle anyway. I would like to make one suggestion before we head out."

Max: "Suggest away."

Sheriff: "Since we are looking for people who have either just arrived or arrived in say the last few days. Each party should try to get a look at the guest registration books at the hotel. See if anyone has been here for a few days and is still here. Or for those who just checked in."

Max: "Good idea sheriff, I'll let everyone know."

Max informed both Michael and Isabelle of the sheriff's suggestion. Sheriff Valenti told Liz he would be the one to check out their hotel. He didn't want to endanger Liz any more then necessary in this mission. After checking out their hotel's guest book he informed Liz no one has checked in for a week. Liz told Max. Max of course was thankful of that news. He too didn't want Liz in any more danger than was necessary. He was the one that checked his and Tess's hotel register. There were only two new guests and when he touched their signatures he knew one was a salesman that wasn't happy about being in Roswell and the other was a young man passing through town on his way home to his family. Isabelle didn't have any indication that anything was off on the few guests she checked out. Michael and Maria had the largest hotel in Roswell. He was unable to check out all the registered guests that had come through in the past week. He let Max know he would try again later.

While sitting outside in the jetta. Maria took note of two men she seen come outside the lobby of the hotel. She knew she had seen them before, but couldn't place them. Within minutes of pondering she remembered who they were and her heart sank. They were the two men in the cafe that day when Liz had gotten shot. She quickly told Michael, who in turn told Max, who in turn told Liz, who relayed it to Sheriff Valenti.

Sheriff Valenti had wanted to arrest those two for a long time, but never even got a good enough description for a lead at the time. He told Liz he was going to have to go and take care of them. Liz agreed and told him he could just drop her off with Michael and Maria at the hotel. She then informed Max of what they were going to do.

Max agreed that the sheriff needed to arrest those two. He was glad to know that Liz would be with Michael and Maria. But, something inside him told him he needed to be with Liz. He followed his gut instincts and told Liz in her mind and Tess out loud they were going to the Holiday Inn too.

As soon as the Sheriff dropped Liz at Maria's car with Maria and Michael he asked where the two had gone. Maria pointed to roadside restaurant across the street and the sheriff informed the three to stay in the car. He was going to handle this himself. He decided to wait until they came out of the restaurant. He knew they had already fired a gun inside the cafe so he didn't want to take the chance of any innocent bystanders getting hurt. While he was waiting he noticed Max's jeep pulling up beside the jetta.

As soon as Liz saw Max she was out of the car and into his arms. (L)'What are you doing here?' (M)'I followed my heart.' They hugged each other tightly. When the two men stepped outside the diner Liz looked at the two of them and saw something she couldn't believe. It was as if she could see inside them and she knew right away they weren't human. Her body started to shake. Max assumed she was upset seeing the two men who had almost killed her. (L)'Max it's them.' (M)'I know, the sheriff will take care of them.' (L)'No Max, it's them. I can see the evil inside of them. They aren't human!' Max didn't question Liz further, even though all he could see was two human males, he felt what Liz saw inside of her.

He immediately told Michael but had no way to warn the sheriff before he approached the two men. The first man saw Max holding Liz and said to his partner. "The royal." Just as he said it the sheriff put his gun into one of the man's backside. "Your under arrest. Put your hands in the air where I can see them."

Tess had jumped out of the jeep and stood next to Liz. Max had already told her that the two men the sheriff was arresting now were the two that had shot Liz all those months ago. What she didn't know was who they really were.

The next few things all seem to happen simultaneously. The man standing before Valenti turned and with a wave of his hand threw him ten feet back and slammed him into a tree. The other man took aim directly at Max, but Tess stepped in front of him and Liz and took the hit. Michael took aim at the two aliens and killed both of them instantly.

Max went to ground desperately trying to form a connection with Tess. To his dismay she was dead and he knew there was nothing he could do for her.

Two days later the six friends met at the cliffs to say their good-byes to Tess and scatter her ashes in the wind. They all agreed it would be better to have her cremated since they didn't want any one from the government to try to examine her body after she was killed.

After the funeral, at the Crashdown:

Liz knew Max was more upset then he was letting anyone know. She squeezed his hand to let him know she was there for him if he needed her. He hadn't really had a chance to talk to her since the day Tess had been killed. "I need to know." He finally said.

"You need to know what, Max?"

"How did you know what they were?"

"I don't know how to explain it. I just looked at them and I could see inside what they really were."

"I guess that answers another question."

"Which question is that?"

"The day you got shot. I think you were the target that day all along. They didn't know me then and they hadn't counted on me being there to save you. They knew before me why you were always so important to me. Your the key Liz. Somehow you are the one that can see the evil inside."

"Max do you know what you're saying?"

"Yes, we both know how we feel for each other. You are a part of my destiny just as much as Michael and Isabelle are and even as much as Tess was. You are the one that will allow me to live in order to fulfill my destiny. I love you Liz Parker. You are my soulmate, for all eternity."

"I love you too Max Evans and now I understand my part in your destiny. There will be no more walking away or taking steps back. We are in this together you and I."

"Like I also said, you are the one."

Part 7 | Index
Max/Liz | Michael/Maria | Alex/Isabel | UC Couples | Valenti | Other | Poetry | Crossovers | AfterHours
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