Part 14

Epilogue

"Max!"

Max Parker Evans looked up quickly at the sound of his name, grinning at the sight of Charlie and Jody entering the ballroom. They’d seen their friends at the ceremony barely an hour earlier but Max quickly motioned them over to the table where the family was sitting. Jody looked at him questioningly.

"Are you sure this is ok? Isn’t this for the wedding party?" she asked. Max laughed.

"The wedding party was the family, and you guys are family, so yes, it’s fine. It’s better than fine, it’s great," Max said with a grin. Charlie clapped him on the shoulder, grinning at his friend.

"Been a nervous day, huh?" he asked. Max laughed.

"It’s not every day you get to be in a wedding," Max replied. Jody settled into a chair, bringing her stroller close to the edge and Max’s eyes lit up as he leaned over.

"I was hoping you’d bring the girls," he commented, picking up one of the infants from the stroller. The one-year-old yawned and opened her sharp blue eyes, looking into Max’s face, looking enough like her own father’s to elicit a wide, gurgling grin. Max smiled back and studied her carefully.

"This is Ashley, right?" he questioned Charlie. Jody grinned and nodded.

"How can you tell?" she asked. "I sometimes have trouble and they’re my daughters."

Max shared a look with Charlie.

"Must be a twin thing with us aliens. I can spot them anywhere. See look, there’s Philip over there, and that’s Charles over there," Max said, pointing to Isabel’s four-year-old twin boys playing at the front of the stage, their mother closely watching them from the table.

"What about Kat and Jules?" Charlie asked.

"Well, Jules isn’t too hard to pick out today, and there’s Kat. Kitty Kat!" Max called, pulling his sister over. Kat was wearing a long lavender gown, a bouquet of pink roses in her hands looking older than her twenty years. She came over to her brother and stepped under his arm, grinning up at him.

"Where’s our sister?" he asked. Kat rolled her eyes.

"Bathroom. Max you look a little nervous," she noted

"Why does everyone keep saying that? Have you seen Beth?" he asked, concerned.

"Bathroom."

"Why don’t you see how they’re doing?" he suggested. Kat swatted his arm as she stepped away.

"Ok, Dad," she laughed, walking through the crowds of wedding guests towards the bathroom. Max felt a hand on his arm and turned, grinning at his cousin standing next to Mike.

"Belle!" he said, giving the tall redhead a hug. She laughed and then stepped back next to Mike, taking his arm.

"This seemed like a better reception line then the one your mom had planned. Everyone just kind of mills around, talking until the show begins," Belle commented. Max shrugged and then leaned forward to look at the two-year-old boy snuggled up to Mike’s chest. James Guerin solemnly looked back with wide eyes which Max also found when he looked down at Amy, his twin. Amy clutched her mother’s hand loosely while looking up at her father. Max took in the family of Belle, Mike, James and Amy with a smile. He couldn’t get over how things had worked out in the past four years.

"Where’s your namesake?" Mike asked Max with a smile. He looked around for a minute, and then he saw Charlie picking up his three-year-old son, named after Max. The youngest Max running around giggled as his father brought him over to Jody, who kissed her son before pulling him into her lap for a hug. Charlie picked up his other daughter, Tess, Ashley’s twin and named for Charlie’s mother. He smiled at the family, glad to have them close, glad to have them all in Roswell.

"I think we better sit down," Belle suggested, noticing that people were beginning to settle around the tables. Mike nodded and punched Max’s arm, a grin on his face.

"Tell the bride to save me a dance," he said, to which Max laughed and nodded.

Max turned as he felt a gentle hand on his arm and his eyes lit up at the sight of his mother, standing just behind him. He leaned over and kissed her cheek gently as she smoothed down his bowtie.

"I hope Dad has told you that you look beautiful," he said. Liz blushed at her son’s words and nodded happily.

"He has, several times. But it’s always nice to hear it from my son," Liz beamed.

"How’s Beth?" Max asked worriedly. Liz smiled to reassure him.

"She just got a little sick, you know how it is. She’ll be out in just a minute," Liz said. Max nodded, though his feet were telling him to go find Beth.

"I’m going to make sure she’s ok, then we’ll be out," he said. Liz nodded, knowing that nothing she said could make him stay where he was. She watched him go and wondered in amazement at the family around them, together to celebrate a wedding. They were all there, over four generations of her family.

The sound of applause caught her attention and she turned, looking through the crowd of standing people, her smile lighting up at the sight of the bride and groom, walking together towards the center of the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to present the happy couple, Campbell and Julianne Valenti!"

The announcer’s voice was drowned out by the cheering of the people all around and Liz smiled as she caught her daughter’s eye. Jules looked so happy, her fingers laced through Cam’s, her wedding ring winking in the bright light. Jules blew her mother a kiss and Liz smiled back, blinking carefully so that she wouldn’t cry. All during the ceremony she had clutched Max’s hand as they watched their daughter getting married.

‘So young’ she’d whispered into Max’s ear, not as a protest, but an observation. He’d leaned over and kissed her neck gently.

‘Not as young as we would have been’ he’d said, reminding her of their prom, of their son, of how young they’d been when they’d fallen in love. Liz had locked her eyes with Max’s and nodded before turning back to watch Jules exchange her vows with Cam.

And now, as Jules and Cam began to greet their guests, Liz looked around for Max. Just as she turned to look for her husband his warm voice called her from behind.

"We’re right here," he said with amusement, knowing she was looking for him. Liz turned and felt the grin on her face at the sight of Max, walking towards her and cradling one of their granddaughters in his arms. Liz surmised quickly that it was Claudia and she looked around behind Max for Maria, Claudia’s twin, knowing she wouldn’t be far behind.

Claudia and Maria were almost four, their eyes a twinkling brown tinged with green and their hair a cross between Max’s almost black and Beth’s golden blond. It was long and straight though, just like their grandmother’s.

Liz loved the sight of Max holding their granddaughter. It reminded her of so much. That they’d been there to see her born, that they would be there to see her grow up. Liz stepped closer to her husband and stroked Claudia’s long silky hair.

"Where’s Ria?" Liz asked, using the name that everyone had dubbed for Claudia’s twin.

"She’s with Michael and Maria. We thought we’d keep the girls ready until Max could get Beth from the bathroom," Max replied. Liz nodded, instantly feeling sympathy for her daughter-in-law. Almost as if they’d heard her thoughts, Liz spotted Beth and Max entering the room from the side and she watched as Max carefully walked next to his wife holding her hand, his eyes following her every move.

Beth moved carefully and steadily on her feet, one of her hands in Max’s and the other resting over her swollen stomach, eight months pregnant and ready to deliver their son any day. Max watched her like a hawk, unwilling to let her move forward unless he ensured that it was safe first.

As they finally reached the table and Beth sat down slowly and Claudia saw her mother and grinned. Beth smiled back and watched, her green eyes laughing, as Max took Claudia from his father and kissed her noisily on the cheek. Claudia giggled and hugged her father, wrapping her arms around his neck. Max looked down when he felt a tug on his pants leg and he looked down into an identical pair of brown-green eyes and a quivering lower lip trained up at him. Putting Claudia down gently Max lifted his other daughter up, tickling her stomach gently and easily making her slight frown turn to a laugh.

Claudia, meanwhile, found her way to her mother and put a gentle hand on Beth’s large stomach. Beth watched Claudia as she closed her eyes, her eyebrows scrunching in concentration and then a smile eased the tension on her face and her eyes popped open.

"Parker wants to come out and play!" she exclaimed excitedly. Beth laughed and covered Claudia’s small hands with her own.

"I’m sure he does, just hopefully not today. I think that might be upstaging Aunt Jules’ wedding a little bit," Beth replied.

Liz leaned over Beth, her brown eyes concerned.

"Are you ok?" Liz asked. Beth nodded.

"I’m fine now, I just got really sick all of a sudden. I think Parker was playing a little rough in there," Beth said wryly.

"He’s going to be a handful," Liz said. Beth sighed but then nodded with a smile, her eyes drifting to her husband of four years.

"It’ll be worth it. Especially if he looks like his father," Beth said, praying her son would have Max’s dark eyes and shy smile. The laughter of her daughters caught Beth’s attention and she watched as Max put Ria down and Claudia caught her sister’s hand and they pranced away, joining Charles and Philip playing near Isabel and Alex.

As Liz and Beth talked, Max stood with his father in silence and watched everyone around them. They didn’t say much, not that they ever really needed to. They were so alike and had a comforting ability to just be together and not utter a word.

It gave Max a chance to think about everything that had happened in four years, in the time since his life had changed. He really did see the time when Charlie’s sister had held him hostage as a time of change, good and bad. At first it had been bad because they’d lost Ashley and didn’t know what had happened to Michael’s still lost sister. But in the end, they’d gained Charlie.

And that Christmas four years ago had been the turning point. It had been then that Beth had finally revealed her feelings to Max. Really, she’d more than anything just realized what she felt for him and acted on it, getting past eight years of fear and uncertainty. After that, things had happened quickly, falling into place so fast in the months after Christmas.

Beth had told him that she’d quit her job, that she just wanted to be with him, in Roswell or wherever that might be. Max recalled how it had felt, like everything he’d always wanted was being handed to him on a silver platter. They’d moved back to Roswell in the early spring and gotten married in the same month. They lived a few blocks away from his grandparent’s house, near downtown and their parents.

Max had easily gotten a job at the hospital in town, they’d been thrilled to have a pediatric doctor with such experience. He enjoyed the quieter pace after years of New York City bustle. At first Max had been worried about Beth. He wondered what she would do even though she seemed to enjoy just spending time with their mothers, helping his father out at the café and her own father at the UFO Center.

Beth assured him she was happy, that she finally had the life she wanted. Max understood that she was happy, but he didn’t see why she had to give up dance to be with him. The answer seemed to fall into their laps that summer when Charlie and Jody announced they were leaving New York, and moving to Roswell.

Everyone had called them crazy. Everyone said they were crazy for moving to a tiny southwestern town. Everyone who wasn’t family. The rest of them, the Evans, the Guerins, the Valentis, the Whitmans, they all knew why Charlie and Jody wanted to come home. Home had become where the family was and being across country was just too difficult. And Charlie had a strong desire to find out about his heritage, a desire that could only be fed by being around the family of that heritage.

So Charlie and Jody had moved to Roswell, just down the street from Beth and Max. Beth and Jody opened a dance studio downtown, right next to the Crashdown. And Beth got both her dreams. She and Jody taught dance to anyone in Roswell who wanted to learn. And the two best friends couldn’t have found a better calling.

Charlie employed his celebrity to consult dance companies around the world and work occasionally at choreography for shows whenever he was needed. It was an arrangement that kept him in Roswell most of the time and allowed him to work with Mike on learning about their history.

Mike and Belle had also found the calling of home too strong to resist. All three couples lived on the same street, only a few houses away from each other. Mike still worked for the FBI, in the Albuquerque field office though he mostly tried to work at home and commute to work as few times as possible. Belle continued her movie career, choosing her roles carefully and filming as little as possible so that she could be with family most of the year. Ironically, as a result of how selective she became, her popularity soared.

Somehow, they’d all made it back. And somehow, they were all together. And it seemed like as their families grew bigger instead of drifting apart it actually brought them closer together. Beth had gotten pregnant almost immediately, she gave birth to twin girls only a few days before Jody and Charlie’s early fall wedding. It hadn’t taken long for Belle and Mike to marry that winter and Belle gave birth to twins almost a year after Beth, followed closely by the birth of Jody and Charlie’s first son. After that the numbers seemed to continue to grow, though there’d been a break of a few years between siblings.

A year ago Jody had given birth to twin girls and soon after that Beth had realized that she was pregnant again, with a boy. They’d decided to name him Parker and had been talking about him almost as if he was already there. Beth was due any day and Max kept constant vigilance. Seeing all the young children around him, and as he watched his sister with her new husband, Max saw how time was passing, how the generations of their families were coming together, ebbing and flowing and creating new facets of the family.

As Beth came up next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, Max knew he couldn’t be happier. They watched as Max’s father danced with Jules and Max felt his own chest tighten, thinking about the day, someday, when his own daughters would marry. Being a father had changed how he looked at everything, it had made him realize how important it was for him to create a life for his children and his wife.

"Do you know who Cam is going to dance with?" Max asked Beth, knowing that since Cam’s mother had died when he was very young it might be an uncomfortable memory. Beth nodded.

"Yeah, Mom’s going to," Beth replied, as Cam went over to Maria and offered her his hand, which she took with a gentle smile and followed her nephew out to the floor. After a few moments of dancing, Max saw movement out of the corner of his eye and he smiled as his mother walked out onto the dance floor and cut in with a quiet hand on Maria’s shoulder.

Maria nodded, sharing a look with Liz and kissed Cam gently on the cheek before stepping back. Cam looked a little surprised as Liz had cut in, but he continued to dance with his new mother-in-law. Max heard Beth’s laugh in his ear and he looked to see Isabel cross the dance floor a few minutes later, following suit and cutting in on Liz and Cam.

He felt a hand on his arm and turned with a grin for Jules, looking radiant in her shimmering white gown. He embraced his sister and then turned with her to watch the game of musical dance partners on the dance floor.

"Did you know they were going to do that?" Jules asked Max, unable to keep the emotion from her voice. Max shook his head.

"No, I had no idea. That was really nice of them," he said, referring to Maria, Liz and Isabel.

"I know it means a lot to Cam, since his mother isn’t here, that he has them to stand up in her place," Jules said. Max nodded and was about to say more when Kyle approached, offering his arm to Jules.

"May I have this dance?" he asked his daughter-in-law. Jules smiled and nodded, letting go of Max as she stepped forward and took Kyle’s arm. Max watched her go, his emotions a turmoil. Beth seemed to sense it and she stroked his back.

"It’s hard to believe that she’s grown up and married, isn’t it?" she said. Max nodded.

"It is. I remember when she was born. I remember when she said her first word, took her first step. She and Kat are so clear to me because we were there while they grew up. Time goes so fast, Beth, it seems like only yesterday that we were playing in the park or camping out in the desert as teenagers," Max said. Beth nodded, a hand absently stroking her stomach, putting gentle pressure where she could sense Parker pushing against her hand.

"In a way, it was. But that’s just life, Max. And as long as we enjoy every second, none of those yesterdays will be long ago, they’ll always be close to us," Beth replied. Max took Beth’s hand in his and kissed the back of her hand before he gestured back to the dance floor, where Jules was now dancing with Cam and Kyle and Liz turned around together on the floor.

"They’ve been through so much in the last four years," Max commented looking at Jules and Cam. "They almost didn’t make it."

Beth smiled, her face an expression all-knowing.

"I think that could be said about a lot of human-alien relations," she commented wryly.

"If it isn’t complicated, they probably aren’t a soul mate."

Beth and Max looked behind them to see his father who had walked up next to them. Knowing that no words would probably ever be wiser, Max simply nodded and then turned to the dance floor.

"Dad, are you going to let Valenti dance with your wife?" he challenged. Beth laughed, knowing that the "competition" between Kyle and Max was a nonexistent yet enduring joke in the family. And one that Kyle and Max seemed to enjoy every opportunity to further.

Max stood up straighter and walked out to the dance floor, unceremoniously pushing Kyle aside and taking Liz into his arms. Liz was laughing as Kyle attempted to look irritated, failed miserably and then was swept away by Maria, who walked up and distracted her stepbrother. Jules and Cam were laughing as the rest of the family seemed to slowly join them on the dance floor. Max turned to Beth, his hand outstretched.

"Shall we?" he asked. Beth looked a little apprehensive.

"I don’t know Max, I think it might be a little hard to dance like this. I’m so big," she said. Max looked at her incredulously.

"Beth, you’re eight months pregnant, if you weren’t at least a little larger than normal then something would be wrong. And you look beautiful. I want to dance with my wife," Max said, his voice turning low and his eyes pleading. Just as she was about to give in and take his hand a new song started and Max grinned at her.

"That settles it, not you have to dance with me. They’re playing our song," he pointed out. Beth laughed and took Max’s hand, following him out to the dance floor as the song that had played at their wedding as a reminder of their pasts began.

She had no idea how, but somehow Max made them fit together. And it didn’t feel any different then the hundreds of other times they’d danced when she hadn’t been pregnant.

‘Making up for lost time’ Max always said whenever they danced.

She took it to mean exactly what he meant: that since they were together now they had so much to do, so many things to do together.

With his fingers in her hair and his hand at her waist Beth contemplated the reality that she really had known Max all her life. She didn’t know what the world was like without him. She couldn’t even comprehend it. And she couldn’t get over how perfect it all seemed. She took in the family around them, their children, the grandchildren, the grandparents and her mind tried to burn the perfect memory into her brain. They didn’t words, not for this day. She knew as long as she lived, she would never forget that day.

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There’s a truth in your eyes saying you’ll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you’ll catch me wherever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

Her eyes drifted over the couples dancing and she saw that everything was as it should be.

Max and Liz.

Michael and Maria.

Alex and Isabel.

Mike and Belle.

Charlie and Jody.

Diane and Phillip.

Jim and Amy.

Jules and Cam.

And there were those who were also dancing, at the transition in their lives where the person for them was still out there.

Kat and Jack.

Kyle and Alexandra.

As her eyes fell on her twin daughters, watching the adults with smiles and giggles from the side, she waved and blew kisses to them with Max turning to do the same. And Beth knew, looking into the young bright eyes of her their girls up to those loving eyes of her husband, that they would also never forget that day.

The End.