~ chapter 6 ~

Heat fell over Roswell like a blanket over a child whose last thought is sleep. Thick. Restrictive. Inescapable. Yet he didn't seem to mind. His brow was as dry as a New Mexico winter as he stealthily made his way to the back alley of the Crashdown Café. It had been years since he'd done this sort of thing. Sneaking around. Trying to gain access to a girl's bedroom.

He would have laughed at the thought had his purpose been less important. Spotting the familiar ladder, he glanced around once more to make sure no one was in sight then hiked his bag up over his shoulder and began to climb upward to the balcony outside the bedroom window that once belonged to Liz.

By the end of tonight, he should know exactly where Liz Parker and her new guy stood…

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A sideways glance in Liz's direction caused Max's heart to tighten in his chest. She looked so scared and anxious sitting in the seat next to him silently staring out at the New Mexico desert. "You know if you're still tired, you can go back to sleep. The seat reclines..."

Liz shook her head and gave Max a weak smile. "No, I'm fine."

Max turned back to the road and fell into silence once more. Not sure of when they'd be arriving, Liz had told her parents that they would just grab their rental car from the airport and head on home. There was no need for them to be met at the airport. Now Max was wondering if that wouldn't have been a better plan.

For all of her effort not to show it, Liz was nervous. Max could tell she was. She'd already tucked her luxurious hair behind her ears at least ten times. Not only that, since the moment they'd stepped into the car and headed down the highway toward her home, a silence seemed to grip her. The closer they got the more Liz had retreated into a shell that Max recognized all too well from the years he had lived in one. Still lived in, in many ways. The shell of fear.

He wished he could read her. Look into her eyes and know why she was so nervous…what was making her so afraid. There was a plethora of possible reasons...

Her new partner and their supposed 'romance'. Which translated into being in very close proximity to Max for the next week or so. He almost smiled to himself at that thought. Max Evans had never been one to jump to conclusions…especially not when it came to women and their ways…and most certainly not when Liz Parker was the woman in question, but their natural chemistry was not lost on him. Not one single, overwhelming drop of it. And he knew she hadn't missed it either. More than that, Liz even seemed to not only invite it but even encourage it at times. Then again, she was only practicing to play a part. Wasn't she?

That question alone is why he only *almost* smiled. Not *in spite of* the fact that every thought and feeling in him screamed out that that's what he wanted most…had always wanted most in his life. But *because* it was all he'd ever wanted. Which was dangerous. To an agent who should not have his attention divided. To the people he might be called on to protect. To the carefully designed and executed cover he'd built for himself all these years. But most of all, it was dangerous to a heart that would never know freedom.

He swallowed hard as the truth hit him once again. For Max Evans, to hope for anything more…was dangerous.

Quickly switching mental gears to topics less...hopeful, Max continued his list. The assignment itself could be cause for anxiety. She would be called on to weave a lie to the people she loved the most in the world. Never an easy thing to do…and Max should know. It hadn't taken long for Max to figure out that the reason Liz had been assigned to this particular job had very little to do with her experience and much more to do with her local ties to Roswell. Which actually made Max a little suspicious as to Director Valenti's real motives for sending Liz along on this assignment.

Was it possible he was hoping that with Liz in the picture, his son Kyle wouldn't have time to focus on anything but her giving Max the time needed to do what he was sent to do? The thought repulsed Max and made him want to drape Liz in a cloak of protectiveness for the duration of her stay in Roswell. Keep Kyle Valenti from even getting the chance to see her. To hurt her again. His gaze moved quickly to her face. Forget that one. She was too independent and determined to prove herself for that to ever happen.

Item three on the list. Meeting up with Kyle again. What had he done to her in the past? It was obviously something painful. Liz had mentioned that Kyle cheated on her. Max just couldn't see that as something Liz would hold on to after all these years. Not unless she really loved him. Max dismissed that thought immediately and he wasn't quite sure if he just didn't want to believe Liz could have felt something real for Kyle or if it had been the lack of life he remembered seeing in her eyes in high school when she'd been with him. Either way, there had to be more. Given time, he'd find out what it was.

Then of course there was just the general nervousness of being home after so many years. Meeting people, answering questions. Facing ghosts. Max's gaze moved back to Liz as he contemplated that thought. She'd mentioned that one of her best friends had died. He wondered who. Certainly not Maria. Maybe Alex? Thinking back a moment, Max shook his head slightly. No, that couldn't be possible. The time frame wasn't right. Whoever it was, it was perhaps one of the many ghosts Liz would be called on to face…

As his inner thoughts came to an end, the silence grew deafening.

For once in his life, silence was not an option for Max. It made him feel frustrated and incomplete in a way few things in his life ever had before. Come to think of it, every time he had felt this way the circumstances had somehow been related to Liz. In fact, since the first day he'd laid eyes on Liz Parker he'd felt that same sense of incompleteness hang over him like a cloud. For a while, years in fact, it had seemed to disappear. But sitting here with her now, Max realized it had never disappeared…it just hadn't threatened to overwhelm him the way it always did whenever Liz came into view.

On the plane it had resurfaced with a vengeance when Liz had returned to her seat after her outburst of tears and silence had been the rule of conversation then too. And it had subsided instantly when her smile brought out the sun and her laughter reminded him of the birds at springtime. He had to make that cloud disappear again…

Taking a deep breath, Max attempted to alleviate the strain that engulfed the atmosphere around them. "So about your parents. What are they like?"

Had Max been able to see her private thoughts, he would have been proud of himself. All the thoughts that had recently run through his mind were weighing heavily on hers. Lifting that weight momentarily at the sound of Max's voice, Liz smiled to herself at Max's repeated attempt to pull her in to a conversation.

He seemed a bit uptight by the way his grip on the wheel was a little tighter than one's normally would be. She wondered if he was concerned about their sleeping arrangements while in Roswell. He didn't need to be. Her parents were as old-fashioned as they come. In fact, they probably had their separate beds in bedrooms on opposite sides of the hall made two hours after she called to tell them she was coming home.

But there was no need to tell him that, Liz thought to herself as a devious smile played on her lips. For what he did to her on the plane, she was going to let him sweat it out a little. Her smile deepened at the thought as she leaned her head back against the headrest and answered his question. "Well, dad's a bit hokey and mom's a bit tense at times but…they're good people. They've supported me in just about everything I've ever done. I've missed them."

Relieved she was finally speaking more than three words at a time, Max continued his interrogation. "How long has it been since you've seen them?"

"Two years." Liz answered promptly while continuing to stare straight ahead, her smile fading as she drifted back into reflection.

"Really? That's…a while." Max chuckled as he thought of his own parents. "My mom and dad can't handle me not coming home for the major holidays every year. They threaten to send out the National Guard if I even consider not spending Christmas and Thanksgiving with them."

"Yeah, some parents are like that." Liz responded with a smile. "And it's not that mine don't ask, but…they also understand when I say no."

"Too many memories?"

"Yeah, you could say that." Liz's voice softened with sadness.

Max nodded once in understanding. His gaze shifted to the distance and his eyes suddenly brightened with remembrance as he spotted a familiar building sitting back off the road. "Speaking of memories…"

Liz glanced at Max then followed his gaze to see the old soap factory, dark and dismal looking. A visible shiver ran through her body that didn't go unnoticed by Max when he turned back to her. "Bad ones?"

Liz nodded and swallowed hard as tears threatened to sting her eyes. "Kyle memories."

Max looked at her a moment contemplating something then as if having made a decision, he jerked the wheel to the side just in time to pull into the long drive that lead back to the factory. Liz grabbed the dash in front of her at his sudden move, her eyes widening in shock. "Max…what in the world…? Are you crazy? What are you doing?"

Remaining silent, Max's expression was determined as he concentrated on navigating the car through the potholes and ruts till he came to the wide open doors of the factory. He pulled the car to the doors and put it in park then turned the key in the ignition to the off switch. Silence engulfed the car as Liz sat staring at him in confusion and Max tried to put into words the reason he had taken such a drastic turn to Liz's past.

"You know, the thing I've learned about memories…" Max pursed his lips a moment before continuing. "…you can let them rule you. Or you can learn to rule them."

"Max…I don't think…"

"Good. I don't want you to think right now." God knows that concept is foreign to me at the moment or I wouldn't even be considering this. Max stated quietly as he cast a sidelong glance in her direction. "I want you to wait. Give me five minutes then come in after me."

"But…"

"That's an order, agent." Max's tone of voice and the reminder of her rank left no room for questioning. So, Liz waited while Max slipped out of the car and disappeared inside the soap factory...

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Climbing in his car, Kyle tossed his hat onto the seat next to him. Well, that had been an easy job. If the rest of the night would just go along as smoothly maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to distract himself enough to forget that Liz was arriving in town tonight. He almost laughed to himself. Yeah, like that was possible.

It had been all he'd thought about since the moment he heard. Seeing her again. Being with her. Touching her...

Not that the new boyfriend is going to like that. But that didn't really matter. Kyle and Liz were meant to be. They always had been. They always would be. Even if it meant a little confrontation with her new fling. He'd get his point across. To both of them if need be...

Kyle's cell phone rang and he grabbed it from its hiding place next to his seat. "Yeah?"

"Sheriff, I've got some news for you. Your package has arrived in town along with the delivery man. Seems they've taken a detour, sir."

Kyle rolled his eyes at his deputy's attempt to play secret agent man. With all the Barney Fifes he had to deal with on his force, there were times he wondered if someone had literally picked him up and dropped him into middle of an Andy Griffith episode. Letting out an impatient sigh, he tried not to bark out his order. "You can chuck the secret codes, Tompkins. Speak English and tell me what are you trying to say."

The deputy hesitated as if unsure what the Sheriff meant by secret codes. Then he remembered the reason he called and brightened suddenly. "Um...well, your Ms. Parker as arrived with her boyfriend, sir. I picked them up at the airport and have been followin' them ever since."

Kyle could feel his chest tighten with a wave of jealousy. Her boyfriend. How dare Tompkins call that...that person that? His voice was terse when he finally had the presence of mind to speak. "Yeah? And your point is..."

"They made a little stop, sir. I was a-wonderin' if you might want me to go check it out."

"A stop?" Kyle asked sitting up in his seat a little straighter, his interest suddenly piqued. "Where?"

"The old soap factory off of highway..."

"I know where it is." Kyle stated flatly. "You did good, Tompkins. Why don't you go on home early?"

"Really, sir? But...but what about Ms. Parker..."

"I'll handle it myself." Kyle clicked off his phone before Tompkins had a chance to argue. A devious smile curled his lips upward. So. He wouldn't have to wait to see Liz and her new guy together after all...