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Author: PeachRoses
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. They belong to Jason Katims and Co.
Category: UC, Michael/Liz
Rating: R
Spoilers: Through the end of Season 2
I waited in the alley for the signal she always gave me to come up. She’d turn out her lights and I’d rush up to her. It was our ritual. One I knew I’d never tire of.
What was taking her so long? We had closed the Crashdown twenty minutes ago. And when did it get so damn cold in Roswell? I laughed to myself. It wasn’t that it was cold, it was being away from her warm, soft body. She could make the hottest of days in this desert town seem like the North Pole without her touch.
I was so lost in the thought of her I almost didn’t notice her bedroom light go out. Almost. Within a split second my feet left the pavement and I was climbing the fire escape to her waiting arms. My Liz.
Ever since I’d read her diary last year, I hadn’t been able to keep her off my mind or my heart. The fact was I knew Liz better than anyone in our tight-knit group. Better than Maria, her best friend. Not even Max Evans could know her like I do. Ever. I’m not quite sure when I knew I loved her, or that she loved me. The truth is I didn’t care. Just the fact that someone could love me as much as Liz did was good enough for me. I’d never felt worthy or deserving of love. I never knew that kind of love even existed. I always caught the bad end of a fist and thought, “Hey, at least someone noticed me.” But she changed all of that. For the first time in my life I felt worthy of the love I saw in her eyes. She always tells me she loves me, but I don’t need to hear it. I see it every time she looks at me.
Too many people would be hurt if we revealed ourselves now. Lately there’s been a lot of hurting. So, these are the times we hold onto. I’d climb up to her, and it would just be the two of us. Michael and Liz.
It seemed to take forever to reach the top, but I finally did. I swung my leg over the ledge and planted my feet. She was waiting outside her window for me, like always. I thought my knees might buckle. She had that effect on me. Her dark hair spilled over her shoulders, contrasting against the white pajama top she wore. The moonlight seemed to hit her just right and created a sort of blue aura around her. I swore I never saw that glow when we were around the others. It was a light she saved only for me.
I snapped out of my gaze when I saw her shiver against the cold. I closed the distance between us and wrapped her up in my arms. She looked up at me with those soulful dark brown eyes, and I lost all control. I lowered my lips to hers in a gentle kiss. Our first kiss was always gentle, soft, tender.
I waited for her to snake her arms around my neck and pull me closer before I intensified our kiss. She always says I’m good at that. Being intense. I never understand what she means, but it seems to make her happy. The way she pressed her body against me told me I must’ve been doing something right.
Our lips never left each other. She tasted like nothing else on this earth. It was a taste I knew I’d never forget as long as I lived. She ran her hands through my hair and I wrapped my arms around her tiny waist. I had to touch her skin. I ran my hands under her shirt and touched the soft skin of her back. I almost moaned from the sensation, but she jumped slightly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her, breaking our kiss.
“Your hands are cold,” she said smiling.
“Well, if you hadn’t kept me waiting for twenty minutes, I’d be a little warmer,” I said, smiling too.
She laughed. “Look, Guerin. Unless you want that cute butt of yours in a deep fryer, you have to wait for my parents to go to bed,” she said.
“You think I have a cute butt?” I said, cocking one eyebrow.
“I’ve seen it on more than a few occasions, Michael. Trust me, deep-fried is not a look you want to go for,” she replied.
I cut off her laugh with another searing kiss. She never complained. If anything she kissed me harder. If only people could know the Liz Parker I do. The fire and passion she truly has, but they never will. I am the keeper of her desire.
I managed to maneuver us against the cold brick wall. By now we’d forgotten the chill in the air. We only felt the heat between our bodies. Sometimes I thought I could see the steam rising off of us.
She let out a sigh as I dropped kisses behind her ear, down her neck and onto her collarbone. I felt her push my jacket off my shoulder and heard the gentle thump as it hit the floor.
I lifted her body off the ground and she instinctively wrapped her legs around my waist. I ran my hand over the annoying pajama bottoms that encompassed her legs as she drove me crazy with kisses on my neck.
”What’s with the pants?” I asked her in between kisses.
“Sorry. I wasn’t thinking,” she answered breathlessly.
“That’s a Parker first,” I joked. I could feel her mouth curve into a smile against mine before she kissed me again.
After what felt like a frenzy of touches and kisses, I felt her pull away. She held my face in her hands, and I saw the tears in her eyes.
“I don’t think I can take this anymore,” she said.
“Neither can I,” I said in my lust filled haze.
She shook her head. “No Michael. Not ‘this’ this. I mean I can’t take us hiding anymore. I love you and I don’t think that’s wrong.”
My heart broke as I saw a tear fall from her eye. We’d had this conversation so many times, but the answer never felt right. I set her down on the ground and kissed her forehead.
“We’ve talked about this before, Liz. It’s not the right time. With everything that’s happened... Tess, Alex, Max’s son.... Everyone is in so much pain. This would only add to it. We have to keep the group together. Build up their strength again. Then we can tell them,” I told her, trying to believe every word I said. I had to. For her.
“But, hiding what we share implies that we’re doing something wrong. I don’t feel we are wrong, Michael. Do you?” she argued.
I wiped the tear away that had fallen onto her cheek, with my thumb. “Of course I don’t, Liz. Don’t you know you are the only thing in my life that seems right?” I said.
“Is that so?” We heard an icy voice say behind us.
I saw Liz’s eyes widen. “Max?” she said, stunned.
I whipped around and saw him standing there at the edge of the balcony. Anger burned in his eyes and his body was tense and rigid.
“How long have you been standing there?” I asked him. I felt Liz’s hand clutch my arm. I stood in front of her protectively.
“Long enough,” he said in a low tone. “I came here to talk to Liz. See if we could work things out, only to find my best friend molesting my girlfriend.”
”I’m not your girlfriend, Max. I haven’t been for a long time,” I heard her say. She was trying so hard to sound brave, but I could hear the fear in her voice.
As usual Max ignored her. “How long has this been going on?” he demanded.
“Long enough,” I replied defiantly. Liz’s gesture of confidence had helped me to find my own.
“How could you do the to me, Michael? How could you do this to Maria?” he asked bitterly.
“We didn’t plan it, Max. It just happened,” I said calmly. I took Liz’s hand in mine. “But I’m not sorry it did.” Like it or not, this was our coming out.
Max moved toward me at lightning speed. I only had enough time to push Liz out of the way before he shoved me against the wall, that only minutes earlier had been a place of passion. Passion was now replaced with violence.
He must have put some power behind the push because it knocked the wind out of me. I felt like my lungs were going to explode.
”Max! Stop!” Liz yelled. She was scared. For me.
“How could you take away the one thing in this world that I truly loved?” he asked through his teeth. His eyes never left mine despite Liz’s protests. This was about to get ugly. This showdown was more than just about Liz. It had been building for a long time.
“That’s just it, Max! You’ve always thought of Liz as a thing! A possession to be neatly placed on a shelf and brought out when you need her! That’s what you do to all of us!” I said as my rage came to the surface.
I finally shoved him back off me. He stumbled backward and fell to the ground.
“That’s not true!” he yelled. “I love her!”
“Yeah? I noticed how much you loved Liz while you were busy showing Tess your telescope and creating the next generation!” I said.
“Michael!” I heard Liz say sternly.
Low blow? Probably. But I didn’t care. I was angry.
Max sprang off the ground and punched me in the jaw. I heard Liz scold him mercilessly as I tasted the blood in my mouth.
“How long have you been waiting for an excuse to do that, Maxwell?” I asked him wiping the blood on my sleeve. “Since Topolsky came to me? What? Wanted to knock some more sense into me?”
“Shut up!” he said, shaking his sore and swollen fist. “You’ve always wanted what I had, Michael. I’ve got the loving family and sister! You got an abusive foster dad! I had all the advantages, and you got all the disadvantages! You defy me at every turn! And now? Now you take Liz away from me? When’s it ever gonna be enough, Michael?”
“I was never your to have, Max,” Liz said.
“Keep out of this, Liz,” he growled.
“Don’t talk to her that way!” I grumbled. “She’s not one of your minions to be ordered around. And neither am I. Not anymore.”
Max rushed me again, but this time Liz stepped in front of me, hoping to stop him. He was so blinded by his rage... I don’t think he knew what he was doing.
The next thing I knew, I saw him shove her out of the way to get to me. He shoved too hard.
I called out her name as I saw her fall off the edge of the building. I didn’t have time to react. I didn’t have time to catch her. I didn’t have time.
She only screamed for a moment before she hit the pavement below.
“Liz!” I called out as I looked over the balcony at her lifeless body. Her neck was broken.
Max stood next to me in shock. He’d just killed the only woman he had ever loved. It was an accident, but it was his rage and our betrayal that caused her death.
I looked over at him, fighting every urge I had to rip him apart with my bare hands, but he could still save her. Like he did when she got shot. He had to.
I jumped down off the balcony, landing hard on the street below. Pain shot through my legs, and my knees buckled. Something was definitely broken. But it was nothing compared to the pain in my heart as I saw her lying there.
I dragged myself the few feet between us to her body. Tears steamed down my face as I cradled her in my arms. Her eyes were so blank. The fire, passion, and love had faded from them. My Liz was gone.
I pressed my lips to hers, as if my touch could warm her like it had so many times before.
I looked up to the balcony to find Max. He was gone. Anger? Betrayal? Shock? He wasn’t going to save her this time. And I didn’t know how.
“Son of a bitch!” I screamed into the darkness. I knew he heard me.
I rocked back and forth with Liz’s body in my arms. “Liz..Liz...Liz...” was all I could say, as if by some miracle it would bring her back to life.
“Liz...Liz...Liz...”
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“Liz...Liz...Liz…”
“Michael?” I heard someone say. I felt something shaking me and saying my name again. “Michael?”
The voice was soft, feminine and familiar. It was Liz.
My eyes flew open and there she was. Alive, warm, and beautiful. Worry seemed to consume her face as she gazed down at me.
“Michael. You were having a nightmare. You kept calling my name,” she said.
“Liz…” I whispered.
I sat up and took her in my arms. I pressed her naked body to mine. She was warm. She was alive. She was still my Liz.
I pulled myself reluctantly away from her body to look at her face. Her eyes were filled with the fire and passion that had always held my heart.
“It was only a dream,” I said thankfully.
“What was only a dream, Michael?” she asked still confused.
I didn’t answer her. I didn’t want to explain the horror I had seen. I just wanted to feel her warmth. I kissed her fiercely and pulled her close to my body. I felt her heart beating strongly against my chest.
Her confusion seemed to melt away. She relaxed her body and responded to my touch. I ran my hands through her hair. The soft dark hair that I, until now, had taken for granted.
We were lost in each other. So lost we never heard the footsteps on the balcony.
Liz must have heard the tapping on the glass, because she stopped kissing me abruptly.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her as I kissed her neck.
“Everything,” she said.
I looked up into her eye and followed her gaze to the window. To the figure that stood there. To Max. It was only a dream.... right?
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