A Lesson in Sacrifice
Disclaimer: Some dialogue taken from the Roswell episode #2-5 "The End of the World", written by Jason Katims.
Part 6
Sam was strolling along Main Street. He was trying very hard to keep the leisurely pace. Timing was everything, and he couldn't risk getting to the Crashdown while Liz was still there talking to Tess.
Liz's diary described in great details what had happened that night. Earlier that evening, she had gone to see Tess and she had convinced the blonde that she could help her spark some interest in Max. According to Future Max, in the original history, present-day Max had come by Congresswoman Whitaker's office where Liz was working late to ask her out on a date. She had refused. In the timeline Sam was trying to recreate, Max had run into Tess on his way to the Congresswoman's office, but had figured out it was a set-up, and had confronted Liz about it. He had asked her out on a date, and she had refused.
Sam still believed that Max belonged with Liz but Ziggy's theories and Liz’s journal cast a new light on the whole situation. From her writings, it was obvious that Liz loved Max more than life itself. But she seemed convinced that his destiny was with Tess. She had sacrificed her own happiness for the good of others, a concept Sam was all too familiar with. The new information made him reconsider the fight he had had with Tess that morning. It would seem that the young alien had been right about being more important than Liz when it came to the survival of the planet. Yet, Sam was here. There had to be a reason.
Sam came round the corner and, as expected, there was Tess. She was sitting at a table in front of the Café. She was wearing a black, sleeveless top and she had straightened her hair. She was reading a Steinbeck novel, trying very hard to look like she hadn't seen Sam approaching. He threw a quick look in the direction of the Congresswoman's office and caught the reflection of the streetlight on binoculars. Good, Liz and Future Max were spying on him as planned.
When he approached the table, Tess raised her head.
"Oh, good evening Max," she said, trying to sound like she had just noticed him. She was not the best actress in the world.
"Hello, Tess," he said. He cocked his head to see the title of the book she was reading. "'The Grapes of Wrath', good choice."
"I think so too. Steinbeck is my favourite author."
"Really? I love him too," Sam said, pulling a chair to sit across from Tess. "So, what are you doing here so late?" he asked her, folding his arms on the table.
"Oh, you know, I just felt like getting out of the house. The Sheriff and Kyle are nice, but sometimes I like to be on my own. Why are you here?"
'Trying to save the world, as usual', Sam thought. Liz had not heard the conversation between Max and Tess, so her diary was no use when it came to that. Sam knew that he somehow had to steer the conversation towards the subject of his relationship with Liz if he was going to succeed in accurately recreating the events that had taken place that night.
"Actually, I was hoping to see Liz." He caught the disappointed look in Tess's eyes. "I know... that you still have feelings for me," he said, choosing his words carefully. He was on dangerous ground here. He knew from Al that Max and Tess had been married on Antar, but he was still unclear about their history on this planet. There hadn't been enough time to go over it with the Observer.
"But I love Liz," he finished. That much he was sure of.
"I know you do. I can only imagine how hard it is. I mean, you thought you’d found the love of your life and someone comes to tell you that you're meant to be with someone else."
"Exactly," Sam replied.
"Well, if things change, they change. If they don’t, it’s okay, Max. Don't worry about it.”
When Sam didn’t say anything, Tess continued.
“But it takes two, and if Liz isn't interested..."
Bingo. There was his opening.
“What do you mean if Liz isn't interested?”
“Uh.. I didn’t mean…” she stuttered.
“You’ve been talking to Liz about this?”
“Well...” Tess started. ‘Damn’, she thought. “Not exactly,” the blonde said, biting her lip.
Sam looked around the mostly empty street. The glare of the binoculars was even more obvious when you looked at it from here. It must have been easy for Max to spot the couple even if he didn’t have Sam’s advantage of knowing they were actually there.
He got up and ran across the street. He could see shadows moving in the office behind the blinds. He opened the door and walked in.
“Max!” Liz exclaimed
“Were you watching me?” he asked. Liz’s journal had a word-for-word recollection of that moment. The moment that turned out to be the very last time she kissed Max.
“Um…” She was trying to come up with some kind of story he would believe, but her mind was blank.
“So it was all a set-up?”
Defeated, she had no choice but to admit it. “Yeah,” she said, resigned.
“You tried to get Tess and me together?”
Grabbing the chance to show him what a horrible person she really was, she confessed.
“Look, I know that you must hate me right now, I--”
It was then that Max had showed her just how much he ‘hated’ her. Not giving her time to even finish her sentence, he came closer to her. He put his hand on the nape of her neck and gave her a passionate kiss. She resisted at first, but finally gave in. She deepened the kiss.
That’s when it happened.
Visions.
A little girl playing in a sandbox. A gun shot. A shower of sparks from a parking meter.
What the hell?!
****
She hadn’t expected him to see them. She had been so engrossed in Future Max’s reminiscence of their wedding that she had stopped paying attention to the conversation Max and Tess were having outside. When she returned her attention to it, it was almost too late. Future Max barely had time to hide that Max was questioning her.
And now he was kissing her.
How did that happen?
For now, though, she didn’t care. She knew it was wrong, she knew that she should be pulling away. But it had been so long since she had felt Max’s lips on hers. So long since he had put his hand on her neck like that. She could give in one last time, right? She was giving up her world, she was allowed one last kiss, wasn’t she? So she deepened the kiss.
And the flashes came.
She had expected them.
But not these flashes.
A boy milking cows. The Nobel prize ceremony. Electric blue light surrounding them.
She broke away from him suddenly. Whomever this was.
She turned her head to where Future Max was hiding.
“M-… Max?” she said softly. When the man in front of her extended his hand to touch her shoulder, she recoiled and hit the wall.
“Max?!!” she screamed.
*****
Max didn’t dare look, for fear that his younger self would see him. His blood was boiling. His Liz was in shock. He didn’t know what had happened and he couldn’t do a single thing about it. He balled his hands into fists and didn’t notice when blood started dripping from where his nails were cutting in his flesh.
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