Part 2: Liz’s POV: Full of Grace

His destiny…oh God! Tess was his destiny! No! But Max loves me…not her…he said that I was his destiny. We belong together.

But we just heard his mother…God his mother! She told us otherwise.

I love him so much.

I have to let him go. I can’t stand in the way of his destiny. And I know that if I did ask him to stay with me…if I tried…he would follow me, because he loves me just as much as I love him.

That’s why I have to let him go. Because I love him.

"Goodbye Max." I whisper to him. I can already feel the tears beginning to plague my eyes. I can’t let him see me cry. I have to be strong, otherwise I’ll never make it…I’ll never get away from him.

So I turn and walk away…because I know that if I stay that I’ll never leave him, and he’ll never leave me. As wonderful as that sounds, I know it’s not right. It’s not what destiny wants from Max Evans.

I hear him start to follow me, but something stops him. God, Max…please follow me. Don’t stop. Please?

But he doesn’t, and I have to keep going. I have to be strong. I have to let him go.

Because I love him…

Oh God…I do…I love him so much…and I’m walking away from him forever. The realization of what I’m doing hits me with a thud, and my control slips. I can no longer hide my tears. They stream down my face in a never-ending storm, and my sobs are deafening. I start to shake.

Dammit! I curse myself. Why do I have to be so weak? Why couldn’t I have waited just a little longer, at least until he can’t still see me. I pause for a moment, attempting to compose myself. I failed again, and the sobs come harder, louder. It is then that I realize that I can feel his heart breaking, right alongside mine.

It’s our connection. I’ve always loved our connection. It’s incredible knowing someone so completely. I hate it now, though. It kills me to know how much I am hurting him…even if I’m doing the right thing.

I am…I’m doing the right thing. I have to remind myself, but I do know it for certain, so I push myself forward at a jog…force myself away from him.

I arrive home much later, and I’m facing my parents for the first time. The tears have left me now, but the sadness and the desperation stands out clearly in my eyes. I know it, even if I can’t see it.

"Where have you been?" They demand to know. "We’ve been worried!"

"At Maria’s." I mumble. The lie stands out blatantly to us all, but they accept it, and they don’t try to push me further. I tell them I’m tired and head upstairs.

I am tired…so tired…but I can’t sleep. I can’t let myself, because I know what my dreams will bring: another storm of emotions, either happy dreams of Max or sad dreams of Max, but dreams of Max…that I know for certain. He’s consumed my whole life, both awake and asleep. I don’t know who I am without him anymore.

My life used to be so simple: days consumed with school and work. It was a straight path to success. I’m a straight-A student. Did I have plans for the future? Harvard…that I knew for certain. Molecular biology at Harvard was my destiny.

But then Max saved my life, and everything changed. Suddenly my stable, certain plans for the future weren’t so stable anymore. Max was all that mattered. We were in love.

Now it all comes crashing down on me. What do I do now? Should I go back to my life as it was before Max? No…that just wasn’t possible. I’m a different person than that Liz Parker now.

But life without Max Evans in it? It is just unthinkable for me. I have no idea what to expect from myself, what to do.

As hard as it’s going to be, I have to try to move forward, to go on with my life as if none of this had ever happened with Max. I have to change.

But I want him so much… I want to be with him. I love him.

I settle myself down to write in my journal, but the words don’t come. I can’t describe in words what I’m feeling right now, and even if I tried, it wouldn’t even be comprehendible. My mind is so jumbled; my feelings so mixed up. I’m so confused. Every one thought that passes through my mind completely contradicts the next.

Only three words appear on the page in front of me, and they explain everything that I’m feeling, but still nothing at all.

I love him…

I sit there and hug my journal to my chest, and raise my eyes to stare at the stars.

I laugh bitterly at the joke that has become my life.

"Why?" I ask the stars. "Why are you doing this to me?"

They don’t answer. They just twinkle back at me as if they’re laughing at me. Suddenly I am angry…

"You sent him here, thousands of light years away from his true home, to my town! You allow us to fall madly in love, only to tear him away from me now? Why do you hate me so much? Why are you doing this to me? WHY?"

I yell out to the universe, screaming as if fate can hear me.

I can feel the tears re-filling my eyes. Shit…I thought I had run out.

"Why do you have to take him away from me?" I whimper one last time, before falling silent.

I never expected fate to send me a response, but somehow she does. An answer comes from behind me, making me jump and whirl around to face my destiny. I take a deep breath in shock, processing the site before me, and the world spoken.

"No one could ever take me away from you." Destiny tells me as I face him, and once again the tears fall freely down my face…