She pulled her pillow over her head, tried to shut it out. She didn't want to talk to anyone. This was the first chance she had had to be alone since the catastrophe.

It had been a week since they had returned from Fraser Woods.

Liz had kept her promise to Max. She had been strong. She had not cried. Her eyes felt like sandpaper they were so dry, but she would honour what he had asked of her.

They had finally returned to the campsite to find their fathers milling around in confusion, clearly worried about where they had all disapeared.

Liz had been shell-shocked. Kyle and Tess had practically had to drag her back through the woods, but she had managed to pull herself together in time to face their fathers.

Michael and Maria had been lost in their own little world, clearly unsure of how to deal with returning to their "real" lives. They had been unable to tell them anything more about their time on Illyria...the memories seemed to be fading with every minute that they spent back on Earth.

Liz had not cared. She thought that if she heard Michael's voice for another moment, she would be sick. She stoked her anger at him, using it to preserve her delicate state of mind. Strong, strong - she would be strong. It was Michael's fault...He was to blame.

Isabel had collapsed the moment she had laid eyes on Mr. Evans. She had been inconsolable for hours. Liz had been unable to speak. She had simply held Isabel's head in her lap, stroking her hair, Alex kneeling beside her, trying to help.

Mr. Evans had known instantly that his son was not coming back. He hadn't even asked for an explanation. He had simply retired to his tent in silence, had not emerged until Mrs. Evans arrived, the Sheriff having radioed one of his deputies to bring her out.

Liz's father had tried to get her to return to Roswell with him, but she had refused to leave Isabel. Comforting her friend, Max's sister, was the only thing that mattered. Isabel was all that she had left of him. She had to protect her.

Mr. Parker and Mr. Whitman were told that there had been an accident - that Max had fallen into the river, had been swept away by the current before any of them could do anything. They had believed it. The Sheriff had managed to convince them to return to town, telling them that those who had known and loved Max needed to be together, alone, for a while - to try and come to terms with their grief.

Mr. and Mrs. Evans were told the truth.

In the end, it was the Sheriff who had had to tell them. Isabel had been incoherent, Liz trapped in a world of silence. Alex had helped him with the details of what had transpired that weekend.

The Sheriff's lips had compressed as he was told what he had missed. His anger that he had been left out had been evident, but his grief for Max was just as strong. He had never truly repaid the boy who had saved his son's life...and now he would never have the chance.

Isabel's parents had taken the truth better then was expected. They were so grief-stricken over the loss of their son and their daughter's state of mind, the alien stuff had seemed sort of insignificant. Liz knew that Mrs. Evans had practically known already anyway and it was unlikely that she had never discussed her suspicions with Max's dad.

None of them quite knew what to do after the story had been told. They didn't want to leave the Woods, the hope that Max might still return still alive.

But as the hours had passed, hope had died.

Liz had spent the past week sleeping on Isabel's spare bed. Neither girl wanted to be separated from the other. It now seemed ludicrous that at one time they had been jealous of the other's relationship with Max. Now they were glad that someone else understood how much they had each loved him - in different ways of course, but still with an equal fervor.

One night Liz had crept silently into Max's bedroom, had curled up in his bed. She could still smell him on his pillow. It had been the closest she had come to breaking down since he had left. When she had found the picture of the two of them that he had hidden under his bed during his anti-Max act, she had had to leave the room. It had been another Maria original, totally candid, taken of the two of them in the Crashdown. Liz was in her uniform, leaning over the table where Max was sitting, a cherry cola in front of him. They both had slight smiles on their faces, but Liz had known right away that they had not been talking - or at least not with their mouths. The way they were staring into each other's eyes...Liz had clutched it to her chest for the entire night. It now sat on her bedside table.

Alex had been with them every moment that they were not asleep and Kyle and Tess spent a lot of time with them as well.

Tess was grieving in her own way. She had loved the idea of who Max was, but as she came to terms with his disapearance, she had finally acknowledged that she had never really been in love with him. She had loved him as a friend and she missed him, but she would recover. And Kyle was there to help her.

Maria and Michael kept their distance. They had holed themselves up in Michael's apartment and seemed to be drifting in a strange state of detachment. Liz wished that Maria would see her, but she was glad that she did not have to see Michael's face. She knew that she was being irrational...but for once she did not care.

The Parkers had finally insisted yesterday that Liz return home. They had been terrified by the sight of her when Mr. Evans had dropped her off. She knew that she looked horrible. The dark circles under her eyes alone were enough to convince her parents that she needed to see a doctor.

She had ignored the, had locked herself in her bedroom and had spent the last twelve hours re-reading her journal...

She had re-lived every wonderful, every horrible, every magical, every abnormal, every fated moment of her relationship with Max Evans.

Liz had sat curled up under a blanket on her balcony as she read, had often paused to stare at the place where she and Max had shared their first kiss.

She had finally crawled into bed at seven in the morning, when the "V" constellation in the sky had set as the sun rose. She and Isabel had spent many an hour over the last week staring at that constellation, wondering what Max was doing, whether he was safe.

Whether he was trying to come back to them....

Liz knew in her heart of hearts that he was.

And even if he wasn't....

She would wait forever.

The End (Or is it?)