Chapter 15

Liz sat as still as a rock, watching Max walk away from her, breathing a sigh of relief when he finally disappeared out of sight. Her heart was still pounding heavily in her chest, just like it had been from the first moment she had spied him crossing the park towards her. His presence had taken her completely by surprise, and Liz wanted to curse herself for not being able to control her feelings for him. It had been months since Future Max had disappeared, she should have been able to move on by now, but if anything her feelings for him had only grown in that time.

Seeing Max had been the furthest thing from her agenda for that night. Liz had returned from Las Crueces early that afternoon with Kyle, and had immediately called Isabel to update her on their findings. Liz had been shocked to learn that the rest of the group was already a step beyond her findings. Not only did they know what Tess had been up to, they had the means to find it.

Isabel’s voice had been bitter as she explained how Max had taken Tess with him to retrieve the destiny book. Max had been dead set upon preventing Tess from causing anymore damage, yet he had handed her exactly what it was she wanted.

The thought left Liz feeling cold, chilled all the way down to the bone, and after hanging up with Isabel, Liz turned and walked right out of Tess’s home. She needed to get away, escape from all reminders of her nemesis…so she had walked alone for hours.

The park was a mere block away from Max’s house, and Liz had forced herself to stop before she subconsciously found herself walking by in a weak attempt to catch a glimpse of him. Max had always been her greatest comfort when she was distraught, but this time he was not the person she could turn to. So instead she found herself sitting on a bench, alone in the park, staring up at the stars, and wishing that their world could be less complicated.

Now, an hour later, after talking to Max for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, her life was even more confusing.

Liz had mixed feelings on Max’s comments about his relationship with Tess.

Tess…it was still hard to think that since Max was still convinced that Tess was her. He was disappointed in the relationship, because he didn’t feel the passion in it. The thought alone made Liz’s heart surge with pride in him. Even if Max hadn’t put the pieces together yet, his heart knew Tess’s true identity and wouldn’t allow him to commit to her.

Still, she had her doubts about the situation.

Tess was Liz. Maybe Tess didn’t have her soul or her personality, or any of the things that mattered, but shouldn’t Max still feel things with her in the ways that counted? If Max wasn’t physically drawn to Tess right now, than would he still be drawn to her when she was herself again?

Plus, the other thing that left her chilled and disconcerned was the way he had reacted to her as they talked. Liz recognized the husky tone that his voice had taken as he spoke to her. It sounded like he was attracted to her…and as much as Liz loved the feeling of being loved by Max, the idea that he would feel attracted to her in this form disturbed her. It proved everything true that Max had been denying for a year…that it was possible for him to be attracted to Tess Harding.

Liz fought back the tears that threatened to surface, as she pushed herself up, glancing one last time at the lights of Max’s house in the distance, before turning and hurrying across the park, in the direction of the Valenti house.

She needed to put some space between her and Max. Maybe it would lessen the pain of the betrayal she was feeling at that moment.

~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

The idea of even trying to sleep was incomprehensible to Max that night as he lay awake in bed, his eyes wide, hands folded behind his head, staring at the ceiling. He felt more alert, more energized than he had in days, and he had no idea why.

Particularly because his emotions were just a mess of confusion.

Ever since running into Tess in the park, Max had felt completely lost.

A few hours earlier, his life had meaning, a purpose. He needed to stop Tess Harding from hurting anyone else the way she hurt Alex. Then he ran into her on the way home from the most disturbing incident he had ever had with Liz.

Max knew he should have attacked Tess on the spot, confronting her about her actions, ordering her to stay away from the group…anything except what he did do. Still, something about that moment had kept him from feeling any anger at all. He sat down and talked to her like an old friend, and even though he knew it was odd, nothing about the moment felt strange deep inside…and that scared Max almost as much as the things he felt at that moment.

Passion…that was the thing that scared him the most. Merely talking to Tess had invoked feelings and emotions inside of him that he had thought were lost…feelings that used to arise only when Liz was nearby. Feelings that he had been searching for constantly since he and Liz reunited only to be constantly left lacking.

It disturbed him, to say the least. Following his destiny was the last thing he ever wanted to do. Max believed in free will, in choosing for himself, not just because of Liz, but just because he deserved that right.

But what if it was a right he didn’t have. What if he was destined to fall in love with Tess? What if he did it on his own terms, based on his own feelings, not some alien urge?

Max shuddered at the thought, but still couldn’t deny the fact that he needed to find out what was going on. What had changed to make his feelings move so drastically from Liz to Tess.

~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~

Max sat cross legged on his bed, silently waiting for Michael to react.

After a fitful night’s rest, Max had awoken early to the familiar sound of his best friend climbing through his window, eager to take a look at the Destiny Book’s translation. Michael had chastised Max briefly, before taking the stack of papers and seating himself at Max’s desk, slowly flipping through them.

Max couldn’t believe that he had completely forgotten about the translation. It had been almost a day since he and Liz had found it, but with everything that had happened the night before, the destiny book had been the furthest thing from his mind. He felt like an idiot in retrospective…this was the key to his past, and he was too busy worrying about his own personal love triangle.

"So what do you think about all of this?" Michael asked gruffly, swiveling around in the chair to face where Max sat on the bed.

"Actually, I haven’t read it yet." Max admitted sheepishly. "We got in late last night and I just went right to sleep."

"You couldn’t even take time to read it?" Michael cried out in astonishment. "You have no idea what we even have here, do you?"

"The truth about our past lives?" Max guessed curiously.

"No, you idiot!" Michael exclaimed. "It’s more than that! There are directions here on how to get home! We could leave tomorrow if we want!"

"What?" Max gasped, jumping from his seat on the bed and hurrying to his friend’s side. Peeking over Michael’s shoulder, Max scanned the words filling the page, quickly skimming it, his eyes widening in disbelief with each line.

"Oh my God." Max hissed. "Go get Isabel…she should be here. It looks like we have some decisions to make."

~~~~~ ~~~~~~~

Liz moaned in misery as Kyle rushed into the room, the door flying open and hitting the wall with a bang and startling her out of sleep. She glanced at him through blurry eyes and messy hair, before rolling away from him.

"Go away Kyle…I’m not coming out today."

"Get up, Liz." Kyle ordered, ignoring her pleas. "It’s after noon. You need to come out and face the day…and we need to meet with Isabel and figure out what to do about the Destiny book’s translation."

"I don’t want to." Liz moaned, pulling the covers up over her head. "I just want to hide in here for the rest of my life."

Kyle stared at her for a long moment in concern, before finally sitting down beside her and pulling the covers away from her. She peeked up at him with miserable blue eyes, messy blonde curls hanging in her face, making her look even more pathetic.

"What is it, Liz?" Kyle finally asked. "What’s wrong?"

Liz hesitated a long moment before answering him. "I saw Max last night."

"Oh God…" Kyle gaped. "Don’t tell me he was with her."

Liz shook her head in the negative. "No, it was nothing like that. It was just him and me, alone together."

"Did he say anything?" Kyle wondered aloud, his voice bitter as his protective side came bubbling up. Max had the capability to destroy Liz, and he wouldn’t allow it to happen. "Did he try to hurt you?"

"No." Liz disputed softly. "And I think that’s what hurts the most." She paused, collecting her thoughts before finally relaying the story to him. "Max seemed upset. He looked like he needed a friend, so I offered to listen. He’s miserable with her, Kyle. He knows it’s not me, even if he doesn’t understand that yet. And he was comfortable enough with [b]me[/b] to tell me everything, even when he is supposed to hate me."

"And you’re worried that it’s a confirmation that he does have feelings for Tess." Kyle finished, putting the pieces together. "Because he was reacting to you in this form."

"Yeah." Liz confirmed. "And I don’t know how to feel about that."

"Liz…" Kyle hesitantly started. "What did I say to you when we first found out that they were together? Do you remember?" Liz shook her head in the negative, so Kyle continued. "I told you that Max would know the real you, otherwise he didn’t deserve you."

Liz’s lips turned up in a half-smile as she flashed back to Kyle’s supportiveness. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well, what do you think is happening here? Like you just said, Evans just hasn’t put the pieces together yet. He’s miserable with her, and he’s feeling things for you. That means he knows the real you, Liz, even if he doesn’t realize it yet. Ten bucks he’s sitting at home right now tied into pieces over you as well."

Liz smiled warily at her friend. "I wish it was that simple, Kyle. But it’s not. She’s his girlfriend, not me. I know Max well enough to know that he won’t give that up so easily. He’s probably sitting at home trying to figure out if I was mindwarping him or having some other kind of alien effect on him. As much as I’d love to believe what you’re saying, the reality here is quite simple, Kyle."

Liz’s final words chilled Kyle to the bone, particularly with heart numbing certainty which Liz delivered them.

"Max and I can never be together again."