Part 10

Max clutched Liz tightly to them, as they heard the whisper. Max shivered. It was HIS voice that he heard. Liz’s eyes met his, and she couldn’t keep the fear out of them as she responded.

"Yeah, I’m here. Come on up."

Max had been restless all day. Ever since he had left Liz’s house that morning, all he could think about was how good it had felt to be in her arms again. He had felt alive! For the first time in months he had felt like himself again, and it had been a wonderful feeling.

There was just one thing wrong, only one worry that put a slight shadow over Max’s otherwise happy thoughts. He was still reeling over Liz’s "see you at school" comment. It bothered Max that she couldn’t tell the difference between him, her one true love, and the other one, his replacement. He supposed it made sense though. In a way, they were the same person. They were both Max Evans. But in a more real way, they were two separate people, with separate minds and separate bodies. Liz couldn’t possibly love them both. It had to be one or the other, and he had faith that it was him.

After wandering all day, finally late that night, Max made his way back to Liz’s balcony. There was a bounce in his step as he walked, and he smiled in anticipation of spending another night with Liz wrapped up in his arms.

"Liz, are you there?" Max whispered excitedly, and her response thrilled him even more.

"Yeah, come on up!"

Max’s heart throbbed with anticipation as he made his way up the ladder. He pulled himself over the ledge, and looked up…

There Liz sat, all wrapped up in HIS arms, and the intense gaze in her eyes dug right into his heart, making it falter for a moment. Max turned to look at him, and gave a start. He looked like he wanted to kill him.

"Oh God…" He gasped in shock.

"So why don’t you tell us who you REALLY are." Liz stated firmly. It wasn’t a question. She stared at him intently, her eyes ripping into his. Liz was finally in the presence of both of them, and it was slightly disturbing for her to drag her eyes from Max to his look alike. It was like looking into a mirror. They were completely identical in every way. It took all of Liz’s willpower to keep herself from gasping out loud from the shock of it. But she managed to keep her cool, as she stared down the new arrival waiting for his response. Liz could feel that both she and Max were tense as they glared at him dangerously.

"You know what?" Max stated angrily, as he slipped out from underneath Liz and stood facing the impostor. "Don’t even bother. I don’t even want to know what your excuse is. We know who you are. What we want to know, is why are you doing this? Why her? Why didn’t you come after me directly, or Isabel or Michael? What interest could you possibly have in her?"

Liz sucked in her breath as she watched Max grow angrier, and angrier, his fists clenched and his eyes flashing. Her heart pounded in her chest as she wondered what he was going to do. She didn’t want anything to happen to him.

Her gaze switched over to Nasedo, who with each of Max’s words also began to grow tenser. Irritation began to show in his eyes, and Liz once again began to question what his intentions were. For the fourth alien who was supposed to be watching out for Max, he sure didn’t look like he particularly cared for him.

"What makes you think that any of this has to do with you?" The impostor addressed Max furiously. "None of this has anything to do with you. You know who I am? That’s fine. I don’t care. As for her? I had every reason to be with her. I love her. I missed her. My life was empty without her in it, so I came here to be with her." He turned and looked into her eyes, his gaze softening with love and remorse. "You mean the world to me, Liz. Can’t you understand that?"

Liz’s mind was spinning as she listened to his gentle words, and she thought back to the time she had spent with him over the past few days, and all the things that had surprised her. The extent of his pool skills, how easily she had settled into his arms…it had all reminded her of another time, another place… She had tried hard to convince herself that it had all been a dream, that the other Roswell, the other Max had all been something in her head, but as she looked up at the two men furiously exchanging words on her balcony, she began to realize that it had been true…all of it. It wasn’t a dream. She had gone somewhere else, been with someone else, and somehow, that other Max Evans had found a way back to her.

As all of these realizations came to Liz Parker, the two Max’s were still frantically arguing over her.

"You LOVE her?" one of them commented. "You miss her? From when? How long has this been going on? Have you been trying to take her away from me for weeks, months?"

"Hey, you were the one who broke her heart! How could you do something so stupid? I mean, look at her! She’s incredible."

"Don’t you tell me how to take care of my girlfriend. I love Liz with all my heart, and I’ll do anything for her. Anything!"

"Really? Anything?" Disbelief and amusement flashed through one’s eyes.

"Yes, anything." Hatred flashed in his eyes as he angrily stepped closer to the other one. For a moment, Liz thought he was going to hit him. She had to stop this!

"Stop it! Both of you!" Liz jumped up and pushed herself between the two of them. Two pairs of beautifully dark Max Evans eyes blinked back into awareness, as if just remembering that she was still there. They both turned and stared at her, in unison, perfectly, lovingly, in Max Evans style, both focused entirely on her.

Liz groaned in frustration and flopped back down on her chair. Her hands raked through her hair in frustration, as she stared at her feet, trying to figure out exactly what to do.

"God, I don’t even want to hear you two start again. Please?" She muttered, glaring at them both as she said so. She looked from one Max to the other before looking back at the ground and saying. "You’re the Max from the other world, the Roswell where I died in the shooting. He’s not the shapeshifter, he’s just another Max Evans, alien extrordinaire."

They both nodded slowly. Liz felt dizzy as she watched them standing there, looking like mirrored images of one another. She sighed again realizing that once again she didn’t know which Max was which. It was frustrating for her, and she just plain out didn’t know what her next move should be. One of the Max’s made the choice for her, as he took a slight step forward and started talking.

"Listen, Liz. I didn’t mean to come here and cause all this trouble. I didn’t expect to upset you or anything. I just came because, well, I missed you Liz. My life was nothing without you in it. I needed to be with you again, even if it was just for a little while. I love you, Liz. I always have and I always will. I mean it when I say that I will do anything for you. I left my home, my family, just so that I could be here with you."

Max watched sadly as Liz listened to the other Max, her eyes softening with every word spoken. His heart was breaking as he watched her, the affection showing strongly in her eyes. That was it. He had lost her. Somewhere down the line, he had lost her.

"But Max, you knew from the moment I showed up there that it wouldn’t last forever." Liz stated firmly, taking this Max’s arm, and pulling him off to the side a bit, in an attempt to separate them so that she could tell them apart. "You knew that eventually I would be going home, and I did. You knew that I had a Max here, and that we were involved. Did you even think about my life here at all? You probably don’t even know that after leaving your world, I woke up in my bed, and was told that I had been there the whole time. I didn’t even know if that other world, if you, were real! I thought it was all a dream. I didn’t even know it was real until just a few moments ago."

Max stared at her, all of his worst fears coming to life right in front of his eyes. She thought it was all a dream, that what they had never actually happened? In an instant his heart shattered into a million pieces, and if Max Evans had thought that the past two months of his life were agony without Liz Parker as a part of them, he learned a new, more powerful agony in that moment, as he realized that she didn’t need him.

Max took a step backwards from Liz, the pain obvious in his eyes, as he backed away from the only woman he had ever loved. "I’m sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing. All I was thinking about was how much I loved you, Liz, how much I wanted to be a part of you again."

"I know that now, Max, and I understand that, and I want you to know that I will always remember our time together, and all that you have done for me, but my place is here, in my Roswell, with my Max."

Max’s heart skipped a beat as he heard Liz’s words. Did he just mishear her, or did she just pick him? Maybe he hadn’t screwed up as much as he thought he had, when he let the other Max near her. For the first time, Max looked at his counterpart, and his heart reached out to him. He couldn’t imagine what it must be like, to loose Liz not once, not twice, but now for a third time. The pain he felt must be extraordinary. Max took a seat back on the chair, and tried to make himself scarce, as Liz said goodbye to him.

"I’m sorry, Max, really I am. But I can’t go back there with you. You’ll always hold a special place in my heart, but you need to go back to your Roswell. It’s where you belong. You’ll never feel quite right here, just like I’ll never feel quite right if I go there with you. Remember your fortune from Chinese the other day: "To ease your pain you must find your way home." You’ll never be yourself until you find where you belong Max. It’s not here with me though. We don’t belong together, Max."

Max sighed. "I know, Liz. I suppose deep down inside, I’ve always known. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’ll always love you, Liz." He leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips against Liz’s, careful not to deepen the kiss, because he knew the other Max was watching. "Goodbye Liz. I’ll always remember you."

"Goodbye Max."