When It's Time To Leave Home

Author: Sunnycouger (foolofatook_@hotmail.com)

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: You all don't honestly think that I own any of this do you? Roswell and all its characters are property of Melinda Metz and Jason Katims..I just take them out to play sometimes...

Category: CC

Summary: This is a future fic when the aliens get a chance to go “home” and the story follows each of their reactions to the news and their final decision.

Authors Notes: This is the introduction to a story arc that involves all the characters. Basically parts 1,2,3 and 4 all run concurrent with each other with the intro and the epilogue starting and finishing things nicely. The parts can stand alone but will work better if you at least read the intro first.

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Chapter 1: Going Down With The Ship

Time: 21.35

Max opened the door quietly and got out of the jeep. He quickly walked towards the door to the house. As he grabbed the handle he took a deep breath and he opened the front door. Max saw her waiting on him and his breath caught in his throat again. Liz Parker-Evans was glowing and radiant. She had always been breathtaking to him but tonight, with the wide smile across her face, the twilight highlighting her every curve and with her hands protectively stroking the bump on her stomach she was stunning. He wanted to savour the image for as long as possible before he broke her heart. He saw her looking at him quizzically before smiling and giving him a kiss. As she pulled away she saw his eyes were glazed and pained and she immediately thought the worst. Had anything happened? What was wrong?

Max looked at her and tried to find the words to explain it. To make her understand. "I...we..I mean the ship...the ship is coming for..for us..." he trailed of as he looked at her.

"Oh," was all she could force out."I take it...I take it you are all going? You all get up and leave and fulfil your destinies at last?" she said with a hint of bitterness creeping in. "Can you tell me when? Or is that top secret...only for the "royal four" to be in on?" her voice grew stronger and came out harsher than she meant. She was never this emotional but at seven months pregnant her self-control was hard to enforce.

"Tomorrow.." he looked at her and went over to wrap his arms around her

"Don't!..don't touch me, Max! You touch me and it'll hurt too much because then it won't just be a nightmare it'll be real..and..and I'll be left here and you won't be..and..and I'll have to raise the twins on my own..and I'll never be happy and ..and I..I really hate aliens..and your timing really stinks!" with that her defences fell and she began to cry uncontrollably. Max walked over to her and took her in his arms and began to comfort her while tears fell down his face as well. They stood there until the tears stopped and neither of them wanted to pull away from the others embrace. As long as there was no room between them then surely time couldn't pass through. They could stay like that indefinately. After a moment Max reluctantly pulled away from her and looked at her. He felt his heart break again - how could he leave her? She walked towards the window and left him standing alone on the floor.

"Liz? Come with me?"

She heard his voice say the words but she couldn't believe that they really came from him. She believed that they must have come from her imagination. She turned around to look at him. Just in case...

"Please Liz, come with me...I can't leave you here on your own and I want to see my children. I love you too much and we have..we have suffered too much for this to be the end. I want you to come with me but if you can't then...then I'll stay here. I won't go without you because no matter what happens I need you beside me - I'm nothing without you."

She looked at him - his eyes begging her. She realised that she couldn't ask him to stay away from the one thing that he had searched for his entire life - it would kill a part of him. So, as much as she wanted to she couldn't let him stay. She tried to imagine what it would be like if she left. What would it be like without seeing her parents again? Without seeing her friends again. Without seeing the place she grew up again. Without seeing her planet again. What would it be like to live on a planet where you were only one of a kind and the others hated and feared you and your children? She’d feel like Max and the others were feeling now. Then she thought - what would it be like to never see Max again? To never hear his voice or feel his arms hold her and protect her. Suddenly her heart began to ache.. there was never any choice to be made. They couldn't live without each other it would be like cutting off each other’s oxygen - they'd never survive. As the thought filled her head she felt herself rushing to him just to feel the arms around her and she looked up at him. "Yes. Yes, I'll go with you - thank you..."

He kissed her passionately before letting her go and asking "are you sure?" A she smiled and nodded he took a deep breath as he held her close and shut his eyes. "Thank you.."

"Do you think the others will go too?"

"I.. I don't know. Michael has always needed it more than the rest of us. Iz just never wanted it at all and Tess..well she has grown out of wanting it. We..we um decided to make the choice separately that way there won't be any blame..."

His voice trailed off as he wrapped his arms tighter around her and looked out the window of their home. Home. That’s what "here" was- home. Not somewhere a million miles away that he didn't know anything about - he was losing the one place that he would ever consider home. Every connection with being human was going to be severed for a place he didn't even want to be. Everything that associated him with earth would only be a memory. He wouldn't be able to look at the sky again with Liz in his arms, drive the jeep again to the reservoir to meet with his closest friends. He would never be able to visit his parent’s graves again and beg their forgiveness for not trusting them soon enough and scream at himself because he couldn't save them when they needed it. Everything he was..everything he wanted was from earth..yet everything he was programmed for demanded that he left. The tears rolled down his face and he tried in vain to prevent the sob escaping his throat. Liz's arms tightened around his waist and she stood up and kissed him gently while silently telling him that they could handle anything together. They stood like that in silence each comforting the other silently until the phone rang. Liz gave Max's hand a reassuring squeeze as she left his side to pick up the phone. As she talked Max looked around and enquired about the caller. Liz looked at him and held out the handset.

"Max...it's Isabel...she says they've decide..."

TBC

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