BOOK 8 RESTRUCTURING
REALITY
(THE HISTORY OF
THE FUTURE - MAX)
|
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ PART 3 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Episode Equivalent - Viva Las Vegas) (Thursday, February 15th, 2001) (MichaelÕs Apartment) Michael woke up from another nightmare, gasping with relief that
it wasn't real. For the last two
weeks the nightmares had gotten steadily worse, he needed to do something to
stop them. He wandered into the living room and took out the bag of money the
Duprees had given him. The money
was tainted and somehow he knew it was causing his dreams. If he got rid of it, maybe his dreams
would stop. He threw the money onto the
table and went into his room. He
quickly stuffed some things into a bag and then returned to the living
room. He picked the money up off
the table and turned it over in his hands and then coming to a decision he put
the money into the bag too and headed out the door. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (The Evans House Š MaxÕs Room) Max was awoken by the sound of his window opening. "What's going on?" he asked
Michael who was climbing inside. Michael threw his bag onto the floor, "We are leaving, that's
what's going on. You and I. We're getting out of this town for a
couple of days." "What? Why? What's wrong?" Max asked,
concerned. "I need a road trip," Michael explained. "I gotta clear out the
cobwebs." "What the hell are you talking about?" Michael sighed, "I'm talking about getting out of this
two-bit town for a couple of days and having some fun. Is there something wrong about that?" "No," Max agreed, as he turned on the light,
"there's nothing wrong with that.
You wanna tell me what's really going on." "Nightmares, Maxwell.
I can't shake them. I've
had them every night for two weeks.
I mean my brain needs a vacation, or I swear to God I'm going to lose it
on someone or something, and it's not gonna to be pretty. "Okay," Max said, "we'll take a vacation." "Yeah, today," Michael said. "Now, let's go, out of town." "Today?" Max asked. "But we need a plan." "Screw the plan, let's just go." "Michael, you gotta trust me here. We need a cover story, so no one looks for us." Michael shook his head, "I cannot make it through another day
of school." Max tried to calm him, "Look. You know there is no way IÕm leaving without Liz, and Maria
will be hurt if you donÕt include her, right? So we'll tell them and cover our tracks and then we're out
of here. Okay?" "Okay, okay, okay,Ó Michael agreed. ŅBut we don't have to be with them all the time do we? We can have some guy time right?" Max smiled, "Yeah.
So, where are we going anyway?" "You're gonna love it.
It's a place without rules, without responsibilities, a place where we
can forget about our troubles.
It's a city of dreams." "Which would be..." Max let the sentence trail off for
Michael to finish it. "Vegas. We're
going to Vegas baby." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (West Roswell High School) Michael was waiting for Max outside his third period class. "So Max, will that plan to cover
our absence stretch to include a few others?" "Like Isabel?" Max asked. "No," Michael said, shaking his head. "Yes," Max nodded.
"She heard us talking this morning and she wants to come." "Great." Michael said unenthusiastically. "Maria invited Alex, and Tess
found out and invited herself and Kyle too. The whole damn town is coming." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Bali Hai Hotel
and Casino - Presidential Suite) (Las Vegas, NV) Michael had handed out the money and fixed the group's IDs. Everyone headed out except Max, Michael
and Liz. Max turned to Michael, "Give me a minute. I'll meet you by the elevator." He waited until Michael had left before he took Liz in his arms
and pulled her into a searing kiss.
After a moment he broke the kiss with a sigh, "I am going to miss
you today but tonight will be all about us." Liz smiled and kissed his cheek, "I can't wait." She motioned to the door, "Now go
have some fun." Liz could feel the anger pouring out of the person in the room
behind her but she waited until Max closed the door before she spoke. "What do you want Tess?" "You're sleeping with him?" asked Tess, as she stomped
into the room. Liz turned to face the other girl, "I don't really see how
that's any of your business." "I'm his wife," Tess shouted. "You were his wife," Liz corrected. "Every wedding vow I have heard has a, 'til death do us
part,' clause. You both died so
your marriage ended." "No," Tess argued.
"Max loved me in our last life and he will love me again. You are just a ... a distraction." Neither of them had heard the door open a moment earlier but
suddenly Max burst into the room and rushed angrily toward Tess. "How dare you speak to Liz like
that. Our relationship is none of
you business." "Hello," Tess said sarcastically, as she waved at him,
"your wife
here." Max shook his head, "You may have been my wife in our last
life but you mean nothing to me in this one." "Max!" Liz said critically, surprised by his harshness,
and she reached out to take his arm. His attention was captured by her gesture and he felt his temper
dissolve under her gentle touch.
"Sorry, Tess. I
shouldn't have said that." Tess was close to tears and pushed past them and out the door
without a word. Max turned to Liz, "I'm sorry Liz. I just got so angry when I heard her attacking you,
us." Liz wrapped her arms around him, "Max it doesn't matter what
Tess or anyone else says. It won't
change the way we feel about each other." "No," Max agreed, "nothing can change that." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Episode Equivalent - Off the Menu) (Friday, April 13th, 2001) (The Gap - Roswell Mall) Maria and Liz stood in front of the mirror as Liz examined two
shirts. She held a yellow one in
her right hand and put it in front of her, "I like the style of this one
but," she switched hands and held up a red shirt, "I like the color
of this one." She turned to
Maria, "What do you think?" Maria pointed to the red shirt, "I think the red is much
better on you but you're right, the style is terrible." Liz nodded and pointed to the yellow shirt again, as she turned to
Maria. "I wish this style
came in red..." Maria grabbed her arm.
"Liz," she hissed through her teeth. "What Maria?" Liz asked, suddenly concerned. "Okay, okay," Maria started, "now don't freak
out." "Maria, why would I freak out?" Maria lowered her voice to a whisper, "Look at the
shirts." Liz laughed, "What do you mean? You practically had me freaked out, being all mysterious. I thought something was wrong." Maria's eyes widened and she spoke through clenched teeth,
"Look at the shirts." Liz glanced down at the shirts in her hands and for a moment she
didn't understand what she was seeing.
She smoothed her hand over the shirts; they were now both red. Liz looked at Maria. "What happened?" "You happened girl," Maria said. Liz shook her head, "What do you mean, I happened?" "You changed the color.
I saw you." Liz laughed nervously, "Don't be silly. I couldn't possibly have..." she
let her sentence trail off and her smile faded. "Could I?" ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (The Evans House Š MaxÕs Room) Liz finished telling Max of the events at the mall. "I tried to change the shirt back
to yellow but I couldn't do it." Max shook his head, "Liz this is bad." She could feel his worry through their connection, "Why is it
bad?" "You won't be able to control the powers and if it happened
at the wrong time, if the wrong person saw, it would put you in danger. We'll have to work on controlling your
powers enough so you can suppress them." Liz nodded, disappointed by Max's reaction. She thought he would be as excited as
she had been when the initial surprise had worn off. Max sensed her disappointment and cupped her cheek in his
hand. "I know you were
excited about your powers and you wanted me to be too. But Liz the best thing I can give you
is a normal life." Liz shook her head.
"Max, I don't care what kind of life I lead as long as I'm with
you." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (The Valenti House) Kyle opened the door and looked at the six people gathered before
him with surprise. He addressed
Max, who was standing in front, "Did I miss a memo for a meeting?" "Are Tess and your father home?" Max asked. "We need to talk." "Yeah," Kyle said.
"Come on in." Tess and Jim rose from the sofa as the others entered. "Is something wrong?" Tess asked. Max shook his head, "No but we wanted to tell you what
happened today, because it could effect all of us." Jim motioned for the others to sit. "What happened?" Max glanced at Liz sitting beside him and she nodded for him to
continue. Max turned to face the
others. "Liz has developed
powers." "What?" Tess asked angrily, as she jumped up from her
seat. "How did that
happen?" Max shrugged, "I don't know, but we think it must have
been..." Kyle cut Max off and finished his sentence, "because you
healed her." Kyle looked
around with wide eyes, "So it could happen to me too." Max nodded. "We
don't know if you will develop powers but you could. I healed you several months after Liz. It might take a certain amount of time
for them to show up, or they might come tomorrow, but we just wanted to warn
you to be careful." Kyle nodded silently. Max continued, "Also, I think we should keep this to
ourselves for now. I mean, I don't
want anyone to tell Courtney," he said, looking specifically at Michael. "You think she might betray us?" Michael asked. Max shook his head, "Not on purpose. But if our enemies found out, it would
make Liz and Kyle targets and they wouldn't be able to defend themselves." Everyone nodded their agreement. Max took Liz's hand, "I will be working with Liz to help her
control her powers but she might have some accidents at first. She might even be doing things that she
is not aware of, so if any of us see her do something, um, otherworldly, just
fix it as quickly and discretely as possible." He looked around the group and met the eyes of the aliens and
Kyle, "It's more important than ever that we not to expose ourselves. With Liz and maybe Kyle getting powers
they can't control, we need to keep a low profile. So no one uses powers in public and be careful in private
too." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Episode Equivalent - Heart of Mine) (Wednesday, April 25th, 2001) Maria looked at the Prom poster and then significantly at Michael.
Michael rolled his eyes, "Just kill me now. I don't do proms. I don't believe in them." "You don't believe in them?" Maria asked. Michael shook his head, "The whole thing is totally
bogus. It's completely
unnatural." Maria laughed, "You know what, I find it to be really
unnatural that you're half alien warrior and half Grandpa Dupree. But I make do." Michael sighed, "I knew you were going to make this thing
into a whole issue." "Oh my God!" Maria exclaimed. "This is potentially one of the five greatest nights of
my life! And if you're not going
to do your part in providing that for me, then I'm just gonna, I'm gonna seek
other options. That's what I'm
gonna do." Michael's brow creased, "So what are you saying, that we're
seeing other people?" Maria's mouth dropped open in surprise, "Oh my God, you are
so annoying!" "Fine then," Michael said, "we're seeing other
people." "Fine!" Maria shouted back. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Episode Equivalent - Heart of Mine) (Thursday, April 26th, 2001) (West Roswell High School) Isabel saw Alex across the library. She had hoped he would ask her to the Prom but she had to
admit he might be afraid she would turn him down, again. She smiled. Maybe he just needed a little encouragement. She crossed to his table and sat down,
"So I think Billy Sorian is going to ask me to prom." "Billy, huh?" Alex asked. "Are you sure?
Cuz I heard he was taking Amy Green." Isabel smiled, "Well, the point is, I would've said no."
"Oh," Alex said with a nod. Obviously Alex wasn't getting her drift. Isabel decided to change her approach. "What about you Alex? Anyone special?" Alex shook his head, "Not right now." "Really?" Isabel asked interestedly. "Maybe someone special, from your
past, who's ready now and before she wasn't." Alex smiled, "Isabel, it would be my pleasure to take you to
prom." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Crashdown Cafe) Liz rolled her eyes, "Maria I am not going to help you break
into Michael's apartment. I just
know that you'd regret it. "Well, yeah, if we don't find any evidence." "Of what?" Liz asked. "That he's seeing someone else!" Maria said
exasperatedly. "Hello!" "This whole thing came up yesterday," Liz said, trying
to calm her friend. "How
could he already have another girlfriend?" Maria nodded, "That's exactly my point Liz. He obviously already had this bimbo on
the side and was just looking for an excuse to break up with me, ya know?" Liz shook her head, "No, I just think that you are
overreacting. Look, I will talk to
Max and we'll find out what is going on.
Okay?" ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (The Valenti House) Kyle knocked on the door jam as he stood in the doorway of TessÕ
bedroom, "Hey." Tess looked up from her book, "Hey Kyle. What's up?" Kyle shifted nervously from foot to foot. He had no idea why this was so
difficult. After all he and Tess
had been sleeping together for months.
"I know that I'm not the guy you really want to be with so feel
free to say no, or laugh or be outraged or whatever. But would you, um, want to go to the prom, you know, with
me?" Tess smiled. Kyle was
cute when he was nervous, "You know, I'd really like that Kyle." "Oh," he said with a relieved smile. He had to admit to himself that he was
falling in love with her and it made him happy to know that for at least one
night, she was with him. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Michael's apartment) "Hey Max," Michael greeted, as he stood aside to allow
his friend to enter. "What's
up?" "That's what I'm hoping you can tell me," said Max. "What do you mean?" Max sighed and jumped right in, "Imagine this. I am dating Liz. Maria is Liz's best friend. Maria is dating Michael. Michael and Maria have a fight about
the prom and seeing other people." Michael nodded as understanding dawned, "Maria talked to Liz,
who asked you to come to me." Max smiled, "Right.
So why don't you put us all out of our misery and tell me what's going
on." Michael turned to the kitchen counter and started to rub at a
stain. "The problem is, I,
uh, I can't dance." "You can't dance," Max deadpanned. "You told Maria you wanted to see
other people because you can't dance." Michael shook his head, "No, you don't understand. Maria wants to go to the prom and have
it be this big thing that she will cherish for the rest of her life and I don't
want to ruin that." "Well, breaking up with her will certainly make it
memorable," Max said dryly. "No, Max. I
didn't really break up with her. I
just said that to buy myself some time." "For what?" Max asked, now really confused. "To learn how to dance.
I'm taking dancing lessons and I thought I would surprise her at the
dance." Max nodded. "You
know you are driving her crazy?
And what am I going to tell Liz?" Michael scratched at his eyebrow, thinking. Suddenly an idea came to him,
"Tell Liz to tell Maria that I am working on a surprise." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Episode Equivalent - Heart of Mine) (Friday, April 27th, 2001) (Prom Night) Max walked into the Crashdown to meet Liz but stopped as she
emerged from the back room. It was
as if everything else in the world dropped into the background and only the two
of them were left. Liz was so
beautiful, she took his breath away. Liz smiled and spoke to Max through their connection, You
always say the perfect thing. They crossed to each other and Max took her hand in his and
pressed it to his lips. Because
I love you. I love you too, Liz said. Max kissed Liz briefly, aware that her parents were around and
turned to the others that he had noticed before Liz had captured his
attention. Alex was wearing a tux
and Maria and Isabel were clad in formal gowns but Michael was dressed in his
usual working attire. Max turned as Tess and Kyle came through the door and pasted a
polite smile on his face. He
hadn't wanted to include Tess but he liked Kyle and didn't want to hurt his
feelings by telling him his date wasn't welcome. Just being near Tess made MaxÕs skin crawl. It was as if she represented everything
he was trying to remove from his life.
Sometimes he felt if Tess wasnÕt around everything would be perfect. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (The Prom) (West Roswell High School) Song Playing: I Alone by Live Liz smiled contentedly as she and Max swayed to the closing notes
of the song. It had been a great
night, better than she ever could have dreamed. Isabel and Alex had gotten back together and Michael had
surprised Maria at the dance. Even
Tess and Kyle were having a good time. Liz had tears in her eyes as the last song ended, "It's been
a wonderful evening, Max. I love
you so much." Max kissed her gently, "You mean everything to me." Max and Liz were so wrapped up in one another that neither of them
noticed Tess' thunderous expression. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Episode Equivalent - Cry Your Name) (Monday, April 30th, 2001) (The Whitman House Š AlexÕs Room) Alex sat on his bed writing chords for his new song. Since the prom, when he and Isabel had
gotten back together, the music and lyrics were flowing from him, and he was
rushing to get them all written down.
He hadn't been able to write in months but Isabel inspired him, there
was just no other explanation. He was interrupted by a knock and answered without looking up,
"Come in." It wasn't until the second
knock that he realized the sound was coming from the window and not the
door. He got off the bed and drew
back the curtains, somewhat irritated at the interruption. But he smiled when he saw who it was
and quickly opened the window and motioned his guest inside. "Isabel, what a nice
surprise. I didn't expect to see
you today." Isabel climbed in the window and Alex noticed her agitation,
"Is something wrong?" She shook her head, "No, no. Nothing is wrong.
I just need to tell you something." Alex's heart sank, "Oh no." "No, really Alex, it's nothing bad," Isabel reassured
him as she sat down in the window seat.
"Last semester, Ms. Rikesdale told me that I only needed to take
one more class to graduate. So I
did." Alex didn't even try to cover his surprise, "So you're
graduating?" "Alex you are the only one I have told." Alex nodded," So are you, going to college?" Isabel continued, "I could, but after everything that has
been happening lately, I've decided being a kid for another year isnÕt such a
bad thing." She paused and looked down at her hands nervously, "And with
everything that has happened between us, I wanted to stay and see where it was
going to lead." Alex smiled, "Isabel as much as what you're saying means to
me and as much as I want you to stay, you can't." "Who says I can't?" she asked. Alex took her hands in his, "What if, and I can't believe I'm
saying this, but what if it doesn't work out between us? You might come to regret your decision
to stay." "Alex, it's not like I'm being held back a year. I will just be graduating at the time I
was supposed to, with all of you.
Plus college will still be there, waiting for me. I can take all of the A.P. classes to
get college credit and save my parents some money in the process." "So you really have thought this through?" Alex asked
hopefully. Isabel nodded, "I want to stay with you." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Episode Equivalent - It's too Late and It's too Bad) (Monday, May 14th, 2001) (Roswell City Park) Tess strolled through the
park as she often did at night. It
was a her way of sorting out her life and she was so deep in thought that she
didn't see the other person until she was nearly on top of him. "Oh, hey Max," she greeted
warmly, "What are you doing here?" "Just walking home," Max said with a nod and moved to
continue past her. "Oh," Tess said quickly, not ready to end the encounter,
"the Jeep broke down?" Max stopped a few feet away, "No, Isabel and Alex took it to
Buckley Point." "And Liz?" Tess asked. Max frowned, wondering at the reason for Tess' curiosity. "She and Maria are preparing for
an oral report." Tess moved closer to him, "So you're all alone tonight?" Max took a step back, "What are you doing?" "Nothing," Tess said innocently. "I just thought if you didn't have
other plans, you might want to come to the observatory with me." "The observatory?" Max asked. Tess nodded, "Yeah.
There's a star that I go and look at sometimes. It's called Barnard's star and you can
see it from our planet too."
She took another step closer to him. "Our world's out there, Max. It's not close and sometimes it seems like a dream to me
too, but I know that it's real, and I know you know that too." She pointed to the sky, "That's
reality, Max. This," she
said, motioning to her body, "this is the dream." Max shook his head, "No Tess. I don't remember anything about our world and I don't want
to. Our other life is the dream to
me; it's a nightmare I hope I never have again." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Episode Equivalent - Baby It's You) (Wednesday, May 16th, 2001) Kyle and Alex walked into the Crashdown and took seats at the
counter next to Max. "So what are we doing tonight?" asked Kyle. Liz set their usual drinks in front of them. "Maria heard there's a free Nelly
Furtado concert down at Las Cruces University but Michael wants to watch
Braveheart again." "Oh," Alex said enthusiastically, "I vote for the
University." Kyle looked at him strangely, "You like Nelly Furtado? I thought you were more of an
alternative man." Alex laughed, "Yeah I am, but while we're down there I can
check out the new super computer.
Las Cruces has a great computer science program and it is one of my
first choices for college." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Friday, July 15th, 2001) (Crashdown Cafe) Courtney smiled as she watched Liz and Maria embracing each
other. Maria was leaving to visit
her Grandmother and that would leave Michael alone with her. Michael had been refusing her advances,
but now she had a month to win him over and with Maria out of the picture she
didn't think it would take that long.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Friday, September 21st, 2001) (Roswell City Council Chambers) Jim sat before the City Council, not sure what to expect. The last time he had been there had not
been a pleasant experience but he had understood the reasons why they had to
fire him. Jim waited as the meeting continued with discussions of road
repairs and zoning regulations but finally the chairman of the City Council
addressed him. "Mr. Valenti,
due to the lack of evidence of any wrong-doing on your part from the internal
investigation, and the affidavits from Laurie Dupree, Agent Susanne Duff of the
FBI, and the legal actions of Philip Evans on your behalf, added to the
inexperience and the sometimes questionable actions of acting Sheriff Hansen,
we, the members of the City Council, would like to offer you the position of
Sheriff. Jim couldn't have been more surprised if they had said they were
running him out of town. It took a
minute for the information to sink-in but when it did a smile spread across his
face and he got to his feet.
"Members of the Council, Mr. Chairman, I accept your offer." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Tuesday, January 15th, 2002) Kyle put the mug on the counter in front of him and took up his
stance, arm outstretched. Since he
had learned that Liz was developing powers, Kyle had gone through this routine
every morning. He closed his eyes
and focused on building his energy and using it to push the mug across the
counter. After a moment he cracked
one eye open and then the other, relaxing his body in defeat. It was the same every morning, nothing
happened. Sometimes he wasn't sure if he was glad or disappointed that he
hadn't developed powers but today he was angry. Max Evans had come storming into their lives, taken Liz from
him, gotten his father involved in their alien mess and eventually fired, and
Max continued to treat Tess like crap.
Yes, Kyle admitted to himself, Max had healed him and he was
grateful but it just made him dislike Max even more that he had to be grateful to him. He wouldn't have been in danger in the first
place if it hadn't been for Max.
But worst of all, Kyle hadn't even gotten any super-powers in the
bargain. Was there some
intergalactic conspiracy against the Valenti family? Suddenly Kyle felt power surge through him and down his arm. He watched stunned, as the mug flew
across the counter and smashed into the wall, sending shards of ceramic in all
directions. He was so surprised that he didn't move until Tess came running
into the room. "Kyle, what
happened? Are you okay?" He turned to her with wide eyes, "I think I've developed
super-powers." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Friday, January 18th, 2002) Liz and Max walked to the mailbox hand in hand. Max held the lid open and with a smile
and they simultaneously dropped their envelopes into the box. He let the lid close and pulled Liz to
him for a kiss. They had both submitted applications to several colleges but Liz
knew Max was counting on them both getting into Harvard. It had been her wish for years to
attend college there and Max wanted her to have her dream. But it truly didn't matter to her any
more. She would go anywhere or do
anything to stay with Max. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Monday, March 4th, 2002) (The Valenti House) "Feel the power
building up within yourself," Tess said. "But always keep it under control. Then concentrate on directing the power
where you want it and visualize what will happen." Kyle built the power and pushed it down his arm and into the blue
ball on the table, imagining the color change in his mind. Where his finger touched the ball, a
small spot of red appeared and started to spread, swirling into the blue until
the entire ball was red. "Excellent," Tess said. Kyle jumped out of his seat, "I did it. Did you see that?" he asked,
pointing at the newly red ball.
"I changed the color." The ball suddenly exploded and they both jumped. Tess was the first to recover with a laugh, "Yeah, you did it
all right." Kyle laughed with her for a moment and then was suddenly serious,
"Tess tell me, why are you helping me with my powers?" Tess shrugged, "You need to learn how to control them." "Yeah," Kyle agreed, "but you're not just helping
me control them are you? You're
teaching me how to use them, how to strengthen them. Max told everyone to stop using powers so we wouldn't risk
exposure and you are going against his orders." "Max is wrong," Tess said simply. "We can't allow our powers to get
weak because we didn't use them.
He'll see that one day and be glad that we've developed our powers. He'll be glad we're strong." Kyle nodded, "Will I develop a special power, like your
mind-thing?" "Mind warp," Tess corrected him dryly. "I don't know, not everyone
does," she said with a shrug.
"It depends on how powerful you are. We'll just have to wait and see." Kyle leered at her comically, waggling his eyebrows, "So I
could wake up one day with x-ray vision.Ó Tess laughed, "Down Buddha boy." She motioned to the pieces of the ball,
"Now let's see if you can put it back together." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Monday, May 6th, 2002) (Crashdown Cafe) Max and Liz held hands, barely able to contain their
excitement. They smiled at their
friends gathered before them, Isabel, Michael and Maria; they were only waiting
for Alex to arrive, to tell them the news. Finally Alex trotted into the restaurant and slid into the booth
beside Isabel. He planted a brief
kiss on her cheek and turned to the others, "Sorry I'm late. So what's the big news?" Max and Liz turned to one another with a smile. Max nodded and squeezed her hand and
Liz blurted our their news, "Max and I were both accepted to
Harvard." Maria jumped up with a squeal and hugged Liz, "I'm so happy
for you. It's what you've always
wanted. "Hey, congratulations you two," Alex said. Isabel hugged her brother, "I always knew you could do
it." As the others congratulated them, Max noticed that Michael was
standing quietly to the side. He
approached him and spoke softly so the others couldn't hear, "What's up
Michael?" "Congratulation," Michael grunted. Max raised an eyebrow at his tone, "You don't sound like you
really mean it." Michael shook his head,
"No Max, I do mean it. You
worked hard to get in, you earned it." He scratched at his eyebrow, "It's just," he
stopped to clear his throat.
"It's just that Isabel and Alex are going to school in Las Cruces
and now you and Liz are going to..."
He cocked his head, "Where is Harvard?" Max smiled, "Near Boston." Michael nodded, "You and Liz are going to Boston. I just never considered that we would
be separated. It seems so
final." Max smiled, "We have always been like family. But families grow," he motioned to
Liz and Maria, "and families sometimes move apart, but they are always
still families. Nothing can truly
separate us." "Yeah, I know," Michael said, almost afraid to ask his
next question. "Um, Max, what
about, um, our mission?" Max nodded his understanding. "I know we've never really talked about this Michael
but since Nasedo died, I've felt lost but free at the same time. I've never wanted anything except to be
normal, and when Liz and I got together I thought I would finally have that,
but then Nasedo showed up and ruined everything. Everyone expected me to be this ruler, this King, but that
was the last thing I wanted. What
did I know about being a leader?" Michael remembered his behavior toward Max with shame. "Max, I'm sorry, I never thought
about how it was affecting you." Max accepted his apology with a nod of his head. "When Nasedo died, I felt relief
that there was no one to push us toward our destiny. No one could blame us for failing to help our people because
everything had gone against us."
Max looked past Michael toward the windows, "I felt relief but I
also felt shame. I am abandoning
our people, our families, who are waiting for help." He turned to look at Michael, "But
I don't remember our other families or our planet. It doesn't seem real to me, it's like a half-remembered fairy
tale I heard when I was little.
Our life here on Earth is the only thing that's real to me. You, Isabel, Alex, Maria, Liz, that's
my family. And I have decided to
concentrate on the here and now and making a life on Earth." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ (Friday, May 10th, 2002) Song Playing: Together Forever by Rick Astley Max gazed at Liz across the table, the flickering candlelight
illuminating her face. He didn't
think she had even been more beautiful than she was at that moment. She smiled and he knew she had heard
his thoughts. "I mean it
Liz." "I know you do.
I can feel it in your heart." Max smiled, "Then you know how much I love you." Liz smiled, "I know.
I can feel your love surrounding me. I could never doubt it." "And I can feel your love for me," he said, as he
reached into his pocket and withdrew a small velvet-covered box. He had told Liz this dinner was to
celebrate the fact that they had both been accepted to Harvard but he also had
another agenda. "And I want
to make it official." Max took Liz's hand in his own and knelt before her, "Liz, I
love you with so much of myself, I don't know where I end and you begin. You complete me in ways that I never
knew existed and I can't imagine living my life without you." He held out the box and opened the lid,
"Will you marry me, Liz?" The tears of joy that had
been gathering in Liz's eyes spilled down her cheeks as she reached to take
Max's face in her hands.
"Yes, Max. Yes,
yes. You make me so happy I can't
imagine what my life would have been like without you. I love you so much, I will marry you
any time, any place you say." Max took the ring out of the box and kissed Liz's dainty hand
before sliding the ring home onto her finger. Then he stood and gathered Liz to him, in a tight
embrace. "I promise you, I
will do everything in my power to make you happy. You will never have any regrets." "I know, Max. We
will build a perfect world, together." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ TBC |
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BOOK 8 - RESTRUCTURING REALITY Part 4 Book 8 Main Book 8 Timeline | |||||
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