“Oh my God, look at Terry Lewis over there,” Maria said to Liz as the two of them along with Alex and Kyle walked into the school gymnasium.

“Well, it’s not as bad as the one from the Homecoming,” Liz answered as she looked where Maria was pointing.

“Come on, Alex, lets dance,” Maria said.

“Maria, we just got here,” Alex whined, then turning to Liz, “Can I be your date instead?”

“Sorry, Alex, but she won,” Liz said to him. She and Maria flipped for who would get Alex as a date and Maria won.

“Come on,” Maria said again as she took his hand and pulled him onto the dance floor.

“So, you wanna dance?” Kyle asked.

“Maybe later.”

“Ok,” then he saw a few of his friends, “I’m gonna go say hi to the guys, Ok?”

“Yeah, sure.”

As she stood alone watching her classmates having a great time, Liz felt someone looking at her. Her heart started to pound as she turned around and saw Max walking towards her.

Liz wanted to run…something she did a lot for the past 2 years. Every time she saw him she would try to get as far away from him as possible. Afraid that if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to walk away from him again. Max knew it and he respected it, even though it was killing him inside.

But tonight, he knew, would probably be the last time they’d see each other. And he had to talk to her…to look into her eyes…to touch her…just one more time.

Liz watched him walk towards her unable to move.

“Hi,” he said as he walked up to her.

“Hi, Max,” Liz said

They stood there just looking at each other for a moment, then Max said, “I heard you got into Harvard.”

“Uhm…yeah.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Liz said as she looked away.

“So, you’re here with?..” Max asked

“Kyle,” she said as she looked up at him again.

“Oh,” he didn’t expect that.

Liz saw the hurt on Max’s face, “It’s just a friend thing. We just thought it would be better to go with a friend than with just someone you’re not gonna remember in ten years,” she explained.

”Yeah, Isabel said the same thing.”

“Oh, so you’re here with…”

“Isabel…yeah.”

“And Michael?” Liz asked

“Uhm…Tess,” he practically whispered, knowing that it was the last name Liz would want to hear.

He was right. Liz felt her throat tighten. “Oh,” was all she said.

“Yeah, she practically dragged Michael here.”

“I would love to see Michael in a tux,” Liz said smiling.

Max smiled too. “It’s like something out of the most unbelievable videos.” They both laughed.

But as they looked at each other again neither Max nor Liz could look away. So, they stood looking at each other, taking in each other’s presence.

“Dance with me?” Max whispered.

“Oh…I…uh…I really don’t think it’s a good…” Liz trailed off getting lost in his eyes.

“Please?” He said as he held out his hand in front of her.

Slowly, not taking her eyes off of him, Liz put her hand into his and they made their way onto the dance floor. They didn’t see anything. They just wanted to be near each other just one more time.

After a while they stopped dancing. They just stood in the middle of the gym holding each other…even after the song already ended.

As Max slowly opened his eyes, he said, “Did the music end?”

“I haven’t noticed,” Liz said as she looked at him.

And at that moment everything else disappeared…the music, the students…everything. As Max leaned in and kissed her…they were alone in the world. Nothing else mattered.

The next thing Liz remembered was Max kissing her in his bedroom. She didn’t remember how they got there. She didn’t care. All that mattered now was that she was with Max.

*********************************************************************

As Liz woke up it took here a moment to remember everything that happened the night before. She smiled. She was so happy last night. And now Max was sleeping beside her.

But as she laid in Max’s arms a frown came across her face. “What have I done? It was never supposed to happen,” she thought to herself. And then she knew what she had to do.

Slowly, trying not to make a sound, Liz got out of bed and put her dress on. She picked up her shoes and purse and headed towards the open window. Then she stopped and turned around. For a moment she watched Max sleep. He looked so peaceful. “I love you,” she whispered to him. Then she turned around again and crawled out of the window, leaving the only man she’d ever love forever.

********************************************************************

Boston – 6 weeks later

Liz was sitting on the floor in the bathroom of her aunt’s house. She was hugging her knees to herself with a pregnancy test and a phone lying in front of her on the floor. Positive. The test was positive. Liz was in shock. In one second her life has changed. Slowly she picked up the phone and dialed the number of the only person she needed right now.

“Hello,” she heard on the other end of the line. The voice she wished she’d never hear again. Tess. Liz felt like her heart just stopped. “Hello?” Tess repeated as Liz hung up the phone. She felt tears in her eyes. “Tess was in his house…Well, what did you expect, Liz? That’s how it was supposed to be all along.” And then she knew…she knew what she was supposed to do.

She got up and practically ran into her room. Liz went through the papers on her desk, looking for the one she needed. And then…there it was…admission letter from Northwestern University…full scholarship. That was the answer.

*********************************************************************

Chicago – O’Hare Airport- 6 months later

“Oh my God!” Maria screamed as she ran up to Liz.

“You’re so huge,” she said as she gave Liz a hug.

“Thanks,” Liz said trying to sound hurt.

“All this time I thought you just made that up so we’d come to visit,” Maria joked.

“Hey, Parker…or should I say Parkers?”

“Hey, Alex,” Liz said as she hugged her friend.

“Windy city, here we come,” Alex said as he and Maria picked up their luggage and followed Liz to her car.

********************************************************************

“Did you go to a doctor?” Maria asked as she and Liz watched TV while Alex slept in the bedroom.

“No, I was afraid they’d do tests and find something…you know…not normal. I ran a few tests in the university labs…to just see if everything looked like in the books, but that’s about it.”

“Are you scared?” Maria asked again. She still couldn’t believe Liz was going to have a baby.

Liz wanted to say no, but after she just felt like she couldn’t lie to her. “Terrified,” she said honestly.

Maria nodded, then said, “It’s gonna be Ok, Liz. I mean, we’ve been through weirder stuff then that, right?”

“Right. It will be Ok,” Liz said.

*********************************************************************

“No, it’s not Ok!” Liz screamed. The pain was unbearable.

Maria was trying to help her get to the bed whil Alex went to pick up the midwife Liz found.

“Oh, God, it hurts!…Aahh…”

As Liz finally laid in her bed, she said, “Maria, it’s too early. It’s barely 8 months.”

“Liz, we don’t know how long Czechoslovakian babies take to grow in there.”

“I’m scared,” Liz said.

“I know,” Maria sat next to her, stroking Liz’s hair.

“No, you know what? This baby will just have to stay inside,” Liz said as she started to get up, but then she sat back down as another wave of pain went through her body. “Aahh!”

“I don’t think you have a choice, Liz,” Maria said as she helped her to get back in bed.

“Just promise me, the next time I decide to have a baby, you’ll hit me on the head with something very heavy,” Liz said.

“How about I’ll do that the next time you decide to sleep with Max Evans?” Maria said as she watched her best friend cringe in pain.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Liz joked back despite the pain.

“Liz, I don’t like this. The contractions are too close apart. Maybe we should go to the hospital?”

“No!..No, Maria, we can’t. No. No hospital…Alex will be here any minute now.”

********************************************************************

“Come on, Liz, one last time,” Karen, the midwife, said.

“I can’t,” Liz said. She was exhausted.

“Yes, you can, you are the strongest person I know, Liz. Come on,” Maria said as she held Liz on one said and Alex on the other. “One last time.”

Liz looked at her and then nodded as if she got the strength she needed from Maria. “Aahh!” Liz cried out as she pushed with everything she had left. And then…then they heard a baby cry.

Liz held her breath until Karen said, “It’s a girl. It’s a beautiful baby girl.” She wrapped the baby in a blanket and put her in Liz’s arms.

“Oh, she’s so beautiful,” Maria whispered, barely keeping the tears back.

“A girl?” Liz whispered as she looked at her daughter for the first time. “Hi, I’m your mother,” she said to her little girl with tears rolling down her cheeks.

And the most incredible thing happened…her daughter smiled back at her. That smile took Liz’s breath away. And in that moment the other 3 people in the room cold feel the connection Liz and her daughter had with each other.

********************************************************************

“Liz, you should really get some rest,” Maria said quietly as she walked into Liz’s bedroom and saw Liz sitting next to the crib watching her daughter sleep. Liz looked up at her and then back at her baby.

“Isn’t she beautiful?” she said. Maria nodded as she sat next to her.

“What are you going to call her?” she asked.

“Sarah. Sarah Victoria Parker,” Liz answered.

“It’s really beautiful.”

“Maria, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“Sure, anything.”

Liz looked at her and said, “Would you be Sarah’s godmother?”

Surprised, Maria asked, “Really?”

“All my life you’ve always been here for me. I want Sarah to be just as lucky.”

Maria couldn’t hold her tears back. “Oh, Liz. I love you,” she said as she gave her a hug.

“Now we’ll be a family,” Liz said as she hugged Maria back.

As Liz pulled away and looked at her daughter again, she said, “You know, I realize now that this was supposed to happen. I was meant to have her…Everything I went through…this is where I am meant to be…with her.

As Maria listened to her friend, she realized that it was more than just a mother loving her baby. It was something even deeper.

**********************************************************************

Roswell – 5 years later

As Liz drove up to the Crashdown she got even more nervous. She was home…for the first time in almost 6 years she was home. And that meant she’d have to see and remember everything she tried so hard to forget.

Everyone.

“Mommy, what’s an alien?” Sarah asked from the back seat.

“It’s who your father is,” Liz wanted to say. She told Sarah that she was special. She just never told her how special she really was. “Where did you get that from?” she asked her daughter instead. Sarah pointed to a window of one of the stores on the street where a word “Alien” was written. Sarah was much more developed than most kids her age. By the age of 4 she could already read pretty well.

“It’s a person who lives on another planet,” Liz said.

“Where’s that?” Sarah asked again.

“It’s very far away from here.”

“Where?”

Liz really didn’t feel like talking about other planets or anything else for that matter. All she wanted to do was drive back to the airport and get on the first airplane. She felt her hands shaking as she got out of the car. “Come on, smarty pants, lets go see if grandpa’s home,” she said as she helped Sarah get out of the car and they walked into the Crashdown.

“Grandpa!” Sarah screamed as she ran up to Liz’s dad.

As he picked her up, he said, “Who are you?”

“It’s me, grandpa, Sarah.”

“No, no, no, you can’t be my Sarah. My Sarah was this small when I last saw her.”

“It’s me, really,” Sarah said laughing.

“Let me see,” Jeff Parker said as she pretended to look her over. “Yep, that’s my favorite smile,” he said as his granddaughter started laughing again. Her laugh was so contagious, everybody around them smiled.

“Hi, dad,” Liz said as she kissed him on the cheek.

“Hi, sweetheart, I thought you were coming tomorrow.”

“We wanted to surprise you,” Sarah said as Jeff put her down.

“Well, I’m surprised.”

“How’s mom?” Liz asked as they walked through the back door.

“She’s better. The doctor said that if the surgery goes well, she won’t even need the radiation treatments.”

“That’s great,” Liz said.

**********************************************************************

Later that night

“Why didn’t you say you were coming?” Maria asked as she, Liz, and Alex walked into the living room. “We would have picked you up.”

“It’s Ok, I just rented a car.”

“Aunt Maria!” Sarah practically jumped into Maria’s arms.

“Hey, shorty, how are you?” she asked as she hugged Sarah.

“Hey, pumpkin, you wanna give me a hug too?” Alex said. Sarah smiled at him and he took her from Maria.

“Why don’t we go get some milkshake,” Alex said to his goddaughter.

“Ok.”

“But not too much,” Liz said as the two of them left the room.

“I can’t believe how big she got,” Maria said as they both sat on the couch. “I just saw her at Christmas.”

“I know. She’s growing up so fast, it’s scarry.”

“So, when do you start your new job?” Maria asked.

“Three weeks. I already saw the lab and it’s amazing,” Liz said excitedly.

“Oh, I think you should know…uhm…Max is in town.”

When Liz looked at her with a mix of shock and fear written on her face, Maria continued. “I saw him yesterday at the grocery store.”

Liz finally got a hold of herself. This was what she was afraid of most of all. “Oh, God.”

“So, what are you gonna do?”

“What do you mean?” Liz asked.

“Well, in case you’ve forgotten, Roswell is not that big of a town.”

“I know that, Maria,” Liz knew Maria was right. Sooner or later she’d run into him.

“So, are you gonna tell him?”

“I don’t … I don’t know.”

“Liz, he’ll take one look at her and he’ll know.”

“I know that. Don’t you think I know that?” Liz was getting upset, but she also knew that Maria was right about that too. Sarah looked exactly like Max.

“I just…I need time,” Liz said.

**********************************************************************

The next day – a gas station

Liz just paid for gas and was putting her change into the wallet while she was walking. Suddenly she ran into somebody. “Excuse me,” she said, but when she looked up, her heart stopped. They stood looking at each other for just a moment, but it felt like an eternity.

“Max.”