(Sequel to The Return Home)

by Catheryne

COUPLING: Maria and Michael mostly, Isabel and a general secondly, and peppered with Liz and... Jesse *g*

RATING: PG

Feedback: Please

The falling star streaked across the sky. Liz Parker breathed in deeply and closed her eyes, wishing for something so unreachable that within a moment she opened them again and shook her head, chuckling at herself for being silly.

"What are you smiling at?"

Liz turned to see Maria leaning against the bar. Her friend looked so vulnerable with her hair down. It did not help that Maria did not bother to gloss her pale lips, or that she did not powder underneath her sunken eyelids. It had been three months since the three aliens had left Roswell. A quarter of a year. One fourth of three hundred and sixty days that the three people who had been such a huge part of their lives vanished into space without a trace.

"Nothing, Maria. How are you feeling now?"

"Still the general 'suck,' Liz," Maria answered ruefully.

Liz approached her best friend and sat down at a table near her. She pointed to the chair in front. "Have a seat." Maria did. "You still think about him?" the brunette inquired wistfully.

"You have to ask me that?"

"I'm-" The brisk knock on the door cut her off. "Who could it be at this hour?" She stood up to check. "It's Jesse and Kyle!" Liz rushed to open the door. "Hey, you two. What are you doing here this late?"

The two stepped in and Maria rose to meet them. "Hey."

"Hi Maria." Kyle bent to kiss her cheek. "Amy wants me to see if you're okay."

"Tell mom I'm great," she said brightly, but Kyle frowned down at her knowingly. "All right, fine, Kyle, I'm not doing that well. But I'd prefer it if you didn't say anything to my mom. You know how much fuss she'd put up."

"Maybe you need fuss," Kyle replied.

Jesse cleared his throat. "I brought some stuff of Isabel's I thought you could use. You know, just basic makeup and some of her jewelry. I didn't bother with the clothes since neither of you would be big enough for them."

Liz reached for the paper bag that Jesse held. "Thank you, Jesse. This was very thoughtful of you." She smiled up at him sweetly, and Jesse forced his gaze away from hers.

"I have some cake for both of you," Maria told them. "Stay here," she said to Jesse. "Kyle, help me box them."

Left alone in the dining area, Liz turned away from Jesse. "I really should help them."

Jesse caught her arm. "You think two grown people need help boxing two cakes? Look, Liz, I'm confused with what's going on as much as you are. But don't run away from this. We have to deal with this." He laughed humorlessly. "It seems like I keep getting fated to be the guy who deals with a girl on the run. Liz, if this is nothing but empathy because we've both been left by the Evanses then we have to treat it like that. But if this is something else, do you really not want to know exactly?"

Inside the kitchen, Kyle was tying a string around the box as handle. Maria called him unevenly, "Kyle, you better take this cake from me."

Kyle looked up and saw her weave. Instead of reaching for the cake, he reached for her as she sagged against him. "What is it?" he whispered.

Maria's sight was hazy as she met his eyes. Kyle could see the eyelids drifting close. "Kyle, I think I'm pregnant," she said in wonder.

"Liz!" he screamed. "Get in here!"

Liz and Jesse broke apart when they heard Kyle. "Kyle?" They ran to the kitchen to see Kyle carrying Maria.

"Open the door to your room," he ordered briskly. "I'll take her up. She's pregnant, Liz."

Liz was stunned. Why had she not thought about it before? Everything that Maria had been feeling, all led to this. "Michael…"

Jesse squeezed her shoulder. "I'll open the door."

"We have to find a way to tell Michael. Kyle, we need to tell Michael."

"Get a grip, Liz. There's no way. We're dealing with this on our own."

"What?" Liz exclaimed. "We.. we don't know… How long would this be? Everyone will suspect, Kyle. We don't know if she'll show tomorrow or next week. This is.. This is…"

"Calm down, Liz."

"How I can?" she demanded.

"Calm down, Liz." She whirled to face Jesse, who was now back, stance firm and straight. "I've been offered a job in New York and I've held off so Isabel can stay here. Now I'm going to accept it. And you and Maria will go with me."

"Jesse-"

"I owe this to her, Liz. Isabel asked her to take care of me, and she never failed that. Now Michael never told me to do the same for Maria, but I'm taking it upon myself to solve this. In New York, no one will know her enough to realize she shouldn't be carrying that big, or that small. It's the only way, Liz."

"What if.. what if they come back?"

"I'll stay," Kyle volunteered. "No matter what happens, Liz. They will find me, and I'll lead them to you."

She nodded. "All right."

~~

Since they arrived in Antar, Max had set out to find his son. Isabel wandered about, touching objects, feeling the people around her, in order to jog her memories. Neither she nor Max bothered to speak to those who gathered around them. Soon, Max's search came close to being solved. Isabel, however, seemed far from remembering all that she expected to come flooding to her.

Michael had watched their efforts with impatience. He convened the generals who automatically recognized him as the king's second in command. It seemed that although he was living in another life, in another form, he never lost the bearing and authority that he had exuded as an Antarian commander.

Either to drive the deep sense of loss that he felt at being without his wife, or a very Michael-like disdain at how slowly things were progressing since he needed to start looking for a way to get back, Michael, called a meeting of the leaders of the clans and rose to speak. He was doing this without the permission or knowledge of Max, but Michael did not mind it. He never waited for his agreement anyway. He always acted on impulse. He remembered that much. Michael knew by now, through everything he had gathered from the generals, that he had always been the one that the generals listened to. Max had been nothing more than a banner, a crown, a title.

"It's been a long and arduous wait for the people of Antar. The king regrets the extent of time that we have been absent, and you have waited for all of us." A titter of agreements erupted from his audience, as the various leaders of the clans began to speak with each and every one of his companions. Michael held up his hand for silence, and automatically, the group fell silent. He nodded curtly. "It had been Antar's policy never to use violence," he said, instinctively knowing as he spoke that he was right, "but it has never been Antar's policy to meekly accept whatever blows it has been dealt. We will fight with all our energies and manpower to bring the loose platoons under the former General Kivar down," he announced, and the men around him raised their fists and cried, "Rah!"

"The war will be ruthless. The war will be bloody. But know and remember this, Antar: Because we did not start the war, we will win it!"

Max stood at the sidelines, watching Michael take command. He had been in his search for his son when he heard the commotion in the gardens of the castle. So he went to check. There stood his best friend, his second in command, raising an army that he had met only a week ago.

"How will we fight them, General?" one of the clan leaders inquired. "How much time do we have to plan out the war?"

Michael's lips curved into a tight line. "By not planning the war." A voice of opposition rose, but again he quelled it with a hand. "Impulse is adrenalin, and adrenalin is strength," he said. "Attack when the enemy least expects you to. I want the chiefs prepared with men and firepower within two days. Then we will storm out the walls and raze them. I want Kivar brought to me alive. We need to execute him in front of the people of Antar. A coward like him does not deserve to die honorable in the battlefield. He had to die in front of the people who've been his victims for the last decades."

Jesse rubbed his forehead with his fingers. Darkness was beginning to creep in and he still had to finish a foot and a half tall pile of research. It would have been easy to finish these texts. He had done more work in less time when he was doing papers for his courses in Harvard. He was taking so long because he kept getting distracted by the situation they were in.

So far, Maria had not shown any abnormal color or an unbelievably huge two months belly. For that Jesse was at least thankful. He did not mind so much people commenting on Maria's pregnancy. Nobody here knew anyway that she was just married last October, or that she was only a couple months along. And Maria seemed radiant when she went about. Jesse noted that she seemed so proud and might even prefer that she showed like she was already nine months pregnant. Maria could do nothing but talk and plan and hope for her child. What he truly was worried about was not what was here, but what was to come. Nobody had any idea what would happen next, about Maria, about the child… About Liz. Sooner or later, if he could, Max would arrive and take her from him. And what of Isabel? Was her absence the only reason Jesse seemed drawn to--

"Hey, what are you doing reading in the dark?" She flipped on the lamp and looked down at Jesse. "Have you had dinner yet?"

Speak of the… "Liz," he breathed out. She shifted uncomfortably in front of him, he could see. She was as much rattled by the growing attraction between them as he was. "I had some coffee before I left the office."

She smiled. "Coffee's no good. I worked in a diner, Jesse. You're drowning something," she concluded. "What is it?"

"I don't think you really want to know," he answered quietly.

Her lips parted. Now she realized what this was all about. "Have you seen Maria?" she inquired. "I haven't seen her all day, and I want to know how she is."

Liz had been working at the restaurant several blocks away to help out with the bills. Jesse had insisted that he could sufficiently provide everything they needed. But the two women were too stubborn and chose to bus tables. After all, they had "years of waitressing excellence."

"She's fine. All bubbly and all that Maria laughter."

Liz nodded. "That's great. I'm glad she's not… you know… pining."

"Like you?"

She met him stare for stare, not answering at first. And then she shook her head and turned away. "No. I'll go prepare us something to eat."

Liz took some food out of the refrigerator and turned the faucet on. She looked up at the ceiling and knew that her best friend was there, in her room, and that she wasn't really happy, just like she wanted everyone to believe.

~~

Maria turned off the television and walked to the window, leaning out and watching the neighbors. She had taken to spying on the house across the street for the past weeks, waiting for the family to gather around the living room.

At eight sharp they came in. Two kids, a girl and a boy, ran in carrying stockings and candy. After them came the mother, her bulging belly evident under the yellow maternity dress she wore. The children called someone, and the daddy came in and lifted the kids up so they could hang their stockings above the fireplace.

Maria grinned. The father's face was strained due to the weight of his kids. He brushed a kiss on their foreheads and set them down, no, dropped them, on the couch and the kids mutely squealed and laughed, red with laughter and lack of air.

Her mind warped them into people she wanted, needed to see. The little boy's hair spiked up, and he assumed that rebel, devil-may-care attitude. The girl's short red hair grew into a long mane of curly tresses. Maria saw her own head on the body of the pregnant woman, and magically, the jolly dad morphed into Michael.

She watched her family for the longest time as they frolicked happily and hung ornaments on the tree. And then the father stretched from the couch and raised his daughter up to place the star on top of the tree. The son clapped merrily, and the mom kissed the dad. When they turned to look at the tree together, they looked their normal selves, and Maria was filled with shame at what she conjured in her head. She was stealing happy moments from other people to satisfy herself.

Maria's eyes were drawn to the sky, but she couldn't see any star. There were no stars in New York. Bright lights from the towering buildings drowned the sky, and the tiny sparkling lights were no contest to the electric-powered brightness of the land.

She didn't see a thing in the heavens, but she closed her eyes and imagined the glow of the pearls from all those Christmases ago, when her relationship seemed so dark. "Happy Christmas, Michael," she whispered. "Keep safe."

~~

Michael fell forward in the sticky orange mass that was the muddy soil of the planet. He wiped off the blood trickling down his lip. He had been on a hot flaming blaze, killing all the enemies that came his way. He never missed a stroke. Not once. Not until one of the stairs high above him flashed a blinding light, and his ears rang shrilly with the soft whisper of a voice. "Keep safe," she said. He knew that it was Maria. No star could shine so brightly that it would be seen in a sky already lit by sun.

He turned to see someone stagger forward with an axe high above his head, going for him. Michael kicked with both legs, and rolled to his side. From where he was lying, the axe stuck in proud announcement that it missed him by an inch.

Michael took the axe in his hands and just as swiftly buried it in the chest of his attacker. When the man fell down, Michael looked up at the sky and saw the winking star again. He could not let himself be paralyzed by the pain again. Instead, he numbed his heart and trudged on, maiming, hurting, killing, until he was so tired he could barely lift his head. And still he fought. He fought on to finish whatever hell this planet was suffering, and he fought on to pay back whatever fate it was that caused him to be sent to a planet so far away to find his home, only to be forced away from it again.

All around him, the land was burning, razed as it had never been razed before this day. After this war, there was a lot to be done. Fields would be replanted, towers rebuilt. But he had no doubt that whatever difficulty there was ahead, they would overcome it. As long as the violence was finished once and for all.

The enemy was beginning to retreat. Michael saw his charger, a solar powered air glider, a few feet away. He grabbed the belt and hopped on to it. "Don't let them hide!" he yelled. "Finish this now and let this be done!"

His soldiers all jumped onto their respective air gliders and at one same instant, they zoomed through the air after Kivar's men.

Michael wielded the sharp stainless hook in front of him and turned to give his instructions. "Capture as many as you can without killing. We'll give them a chance to swear loyalty to the king. But leave Kivar to me!"

The men nodded and ripped the atmosphere in different directions as they dropped their artificial netting down at the fleeing groups.

On the other hand, Michael pursued Kivar's glider with his own. "Get on with it!" the former general yelled. "Kill me. Or are you afraid to make me bleed without your commander's permission?"

"I'm going to drag your ass back to the palace alive, Kivar. I'm not selfish. I won't reserve the pleasure of seeing you die only to me."

Kivar's glider made a sudden turn and faced Michael's. At first, Michael was afraid that Kivar planned to charge him, and he placed his foot on eject, prepared to push. But Kivar turned off his engine. "Look how easily the army stands behind you. Look how easily you raised the soldiers for a war."

"They've been impatient for a chance to get you after everything you've done to them," Michael answered back. "You've made them living in the worst circumstances because of a stupid misunderstanding between you and the king."

"You know he will never be the king that Antar deserves," Kivar spat out. "You would make a better leader. I would make a better leader. Hell, Isabel can make a better leader than the prissy prince!"

"Max is king now."

"And all I'm saying is that he should not be."

"He holds all the rights to it. You should have given him the chance, Kivar. Now it's too late for you."

"You can't always be loyal, Michael. You can't be blind to all his faults. You had to be the one to raise the army. Why not him, when he's the king?" Kivar emphasized the word king as if to scorn it.

"Come with me peacefully, and I'm sure we will reduce your sentence."

"Even the princess… the queen," he corrected himself, "realized that it would be fruitless to wait for him to take action. She had to lie to him to get you all home. A lot of good that did her."

"Where is Tess, Kivar?" Michael demanded. "Where is she?"

Kivar refused to answer. He started the engine of his glider again. Michael knew he could not let him get away. The sun was almost down, and his own glider would not function for long with its stored energy, if he were to do a high speed chase. Michael primed himself for action.

And he jumped onto Kivar's glider. "Get off!" Kivar yelled.

Michael took his neck in his strong fists and squeezed. "Where is Tess?" he demanded.

"Go back to earth!"

"Where. Is. Tess?"

Kivar's face mottled purple with the lack of oxygen and blood. Michael knew he had to let up soon, because he could not kill him like this. Kivar needed to be presented to Max and the people. "Dome. Prison. Under the cliff," Kivar gasped out.

"Which cliff?"

"The cliff. You know it."

And Michael sucked in his breath. The cliff from his dreams, of course. The same cliff where Max had first seen Tess. The cliff where he sat after the war, and Isabel brought him a child in his dreams. Slowly, the dreams were unfolding. "You left her with the child?"

"The king's son is dead. Stupid bitch took too long. It was too late when she got here. The child was poisoned already."

Michael shook his head. "His son dreamwalked the king."

"Tess," Kivar rasped, doubled over and trying to breathe.

Resigned, Michael stood up. He had first hoped that maybe the child Isabel held to him was Max's. Now he was back to that fear. Isabel would present him with their son. He hauled up the former general, an old friend of his, and dragged him to the glider with him, securing his feet and wrists. "Come." He was taking him home for execution, he knew.

The star overhead, that winked at him so many times over the afternoon and the night, flickered one last time and dimmed.

It had not occurred to Max Evans that she would no longer be there when he returned. After all, she was his. Not matter what happened between them, the one undeniable truth was that Liz Parker would always solely belong to him. He had known it even before he touched her. And the knowledge was strengthened at the moment they connected.

So he was surprised to find out from the only person remaining in Roswell who was involved in that once upon a time that Liz and Maria have left for New York with his brother in law. Kyle seemed uncomfortable telling him. Max wasn't still sure why Kyle exuded such a strong vibration of fear and uncertainty when he spoke about Jesse's new career and the need for the girls to come with him.

And so here he was, king of another planet, of a race more advanced than the humans, back here in New York City, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, getting soaked in the rain to apologize to one person. He had left everything, so he could say sorry.

Max looked up at the apartment that held the address that Kyle had given him. Even though he never told Liz to wait for him, Liz still left the message with Kyle. If Max returned, tell him where she was.

He wondered briefly if Liz was pining for him. And even before the question finished he knew that she was. In the same way that he regretted leaving her as he did, Liz must be thinking of him every day. In this building, the hearts that they left have converged. As Max climbed the steps, he felt a pang for Isabel and Michael, stuck rebuilding in a planet that for human technology was a million light years away, and for his capsule just the blink of a wormhole in distance. Max shrugged the guilt of taking the only way back away. He needed this. And he would keep his promise anyway. He would tell Jesse that Isabel cried for him every night. And he would tell Maria that Michael… He would look into Maria's eyes and hold his hand to her cheek and make her see. That would be more than enough.

Max stepped off the elevator and walked towards the door at the farthest point in the corridor. He looked down at the scrap of paper in his hand and up the number displayed there. He raised his hand to knock, but no one answered. Maybe they were all at work, or out to dinner. He would have turned to leave except for the undeniable pull calling to him. He used his powers to unlock the door, and he entered the darkness.

The Christmas tree glowed dimly in the dark living room. He walked towards it and saw the wrapped presents underneath. There was a blue box with the name Jesse on the card, scrawled in Liz's familiar hand. Another one, a bigger but lighter box, was also for Jesse. The name was surrounded by hearts and asterisks that Max supposed were stars. And immediately Max knew that this was from Maria, because Maria always felt the need to fill every space with brightness. His eyes then fell on two small boxes, identically wrapped, same shape and size. Severe white cards at the top of each were typewritten with the names Liz and Maria. It was easy to guess. They were earrings. He was glad that there was someone like Jesse who was left behind to give Liz thoughtful and pretty things. Max worried about Maria though. Earrings on Christmas would not lift whatever longing she had. They would probably depress her more.

Another present remained that he had not looked at yet. He wondered who was late in wrapping, Liz or Maria. It was probably a present from Liz to Maria. And Maria would now be scurrying all over New York City, desperate to find a gift for her best friend. He bent to pick it up, and found it surprisingly light for such a huge box. The note fluttered down the floor. Max picked it up and glanced down. "For baby. Aunt Liz and Uncle Jesse."

The full impact of the dedication hit Max like a tidal wave, and he stumbled backwards onto the couch winded. It could only mean one thing. Maria-

His thoughts were interrupted by the muffled conversation coming from another room. So there were people inside. They must not have heard him then. He stood up, eager to show himself to the three.

"Jesse, wait," came a female voice. Max's heart warmed at hearing Liz again. "Maria could come back from work any minute!"

"Liz, do you honestly believe that Maria doesn't know yet?" he whispered back. "She's too smart to miss anything going on around her. She's just not speaking because she has tons of her own problems to deal with."

Max watched in the shadows, horror-stricken, as their lips met in a torrid affair. His nails dug half moons into his palm. Despite his talent for healing, Max knew that he could not fix the wounds that he created right at that moment.

It was Liz who pushed away first. "I can't do this!"

"Why not?"

Max waited for the words he longed through hear through space. She would tell him that her heart belonged only to Max. Max felt his heart slow to a sluggish rhythm. Tell him. Tell that brother-in-law of mine how it really is to love, how he is making a mockery of everything he and my sister shared. "Jesse, loving Max has totally screwed me over." In the shadows Max shut his eyes against the torment. "Knowing him has made the last years of my life hell in the guise of heaven. He's ruined me for everything else, Jesse. For anyone else. And I will not test drive my heart again. Least of all you."

"What do you mean? We're perfect together, Liz. No one can understand you the way that I do. Just like you're the only one who can completely know what I feel like right now."

"Yeah. We're on the same boat. And it's not flattering to either of us that we're using each other as substitutes." Max watched the way her lips twisted bitterly into a half smile. "We deserve more than this, Jesse. You shouldn't have to make do with me. And I deserve more than a guy who's still so in love with wife, who knows because he can't have her he should try to forget. I'm sorry, Jesse." Liz turned, but did not run away. Calmly, slowly, she made her way out and into her room.

Max made no move to follow her. He stayed there and watched his brother-in-law sink into his chair and hold his head in his hands. After a while, Jesse pulled a book over to him and opened it on the first page. He drew the slip of photograph there and held it up in his fingers. And Max could see it was his wedding portrait.

His sister beaming in the arms of her husband.

There was no way he would approach Liz now, after everything she had said. He walked out of the apartment like a blind man. Mechanically, he rode the elevator to the ground floor and climbed down the steps, not looking where he was going until he bumped into another pedestrian.

Her grocery bag ripped and the contents spilled on the snow. "I'm sorry," he muttered. He knelt and started picking up the items. The loud sucking breath brought his head up. And he stared into wide brimming green eyes. Her lips trembled as she took in the sight of him. "Maria," he exhaled affectionately.

"Max!" She dove into his arms, and he caught her in a tight embrace. "Max, you're back! I can't believe it. You're really here! Where's-"

"I'm alone, Maria," he cut her off. At the despair slowly enveloping her, he continued, "There was only one way back here, one capsule. The war is over. And I took it because I wanted to go to Liz." He caught the guilty look in her eyes when she glanced up at the apartment. "I already know, Maria. And I can't be selfish any longer. I'll leave."

"But Liz is not in love with Jesse. They're fooling themselves, Max."

He nodded. "They know that now."

Her eyebrows curved in confusion. "Then why are you leaving?" she demanded. "If you know that you will always be the man she loves, why are you running?"

"Because loving me has never been good for her." Maria frowned, and he chucked her chin. "Be proud of me, Maria. I'm finally learning what it's really like to be human."

"I've always been proud of you, girlfriend," she told him. "Even when you the most selfish bastard in three thousand galaxies I was proud of you. Because I knew you always thought about people around you."

He picked up the tattered bag that barely held the groceries together. And then he ran up the steps and gave it to the doorman, with instructions to take it to the apartment. "You know I came here to apologize to Liz, and now I realize I should be apologizing to you."

"What do you mean?"

He took her hand in his and flagged down a cab. "Will you let me explain it all to you on the way back to Roswell? I can't stay here, Maria. I've nothing to stay here for anymore. I need to make the trip back, accept my responsibilities."

Max opened the door for her. Maria glanced back at the building behind her again. And then she gave him a smile and climbed in. "I'll just leave them a message that I met up with an old friend."

~~

Max glanced beside him at the sleeping young woman. He was amazed at her capacity to laugh even when the largest part of her heart had been torn from her. He was amazed at her capacity to forgive, when he'd told her how he manipulated Michael into going to Antar with him.

He waited for the fury to rise. When he'd confessed to her what he told Michael at the café, and how he took the only way to Earth for himself when it was Michael who lay blood and sweat to finish the business in Antar, he truly expected to witness her wrath. At the very least he waited for tears-of frustration, of anger, of sadness.

Instead, Maria had rested her head back on the plane seat for a few seconds. And then she straightened and snapped at him. "God, Max you can be so selfish and stupid!" And that was the extent of it. Because afterwards he could almost believe that he should forgive himself. Because Maria had given him a soft, sad smile and said, "The king of Antar is too human now. Look what hanging out with us turned you into!" He was not sure what Maria meant by it. He did not know if she was angry, because she didn't look like it. So he didn't speak. And then she covered his hand with hers and said, "Don't beath yourself over the head with it, Max. You did what you had to do."

"I can't help thinking now that I should have given the capsule to Michael. He deserved the chance you know."

"It's too late for that. Just promise me you'll give my love to him when you get back there, okay?"

Max nodded. "I just can't give him hugs and kisses from you. That would be too off." Maria had smiled and closed her eyes to sleep. "Maria?"

"Yeah, Max?" Her eyes didn't open.

"When we get back to Roswell, would you see me off?" And only then did she look at him again. "I need you there so I know I didn't screw up ALL of what I had on earth."

She felt her heart clench tightly inside her chest at his request. She would have to relive the painful image, and remind herself that Michael was that unreachable to her. "Sure, Max. I'll be there."

~~

They stood in front of the cave where Max's capsule had landed. Maria held onto Max's hand as he led her inside. "I hope this has enough power to go back."

"Why?"

Max bent to check under it, turning gadgets, pushing buttons. "Because when U left I wasn't fully recharged. I guess I was arrogantly hoping that when I return, Liz would welcome me with open arms, resume our life together. I never really figured on getting back."

She took a deep breath. "You do know that I'm sorry for what happened right? I guess I'm partly to blame. I never told her she shouldn't pursue this demented idea of hers."

"Hey," Max said softly. "You of all people have nothing to apologize for. I, on the other hand-"

"Max," she warned.

"See? We all made our own choices and decisions. And when mine affected so many, you told me I still had the right to think of myself. The same goes for you." Max pulled himself into the vehicle and flipped a switch. Blinding lights flashed on the surface, and Maria's arm flew to her face to shield herself. Max must have been satisfied with the energy still in it. He climbed out again and embraced Maria. "I'll miss you," he whispered into her hair. "I did so many things wrong, but the summer between sophomore and junior high I did maybe the only thing right. I got close to you."

Maria smiled and held onto him. "I'll miss you too, Max. I hope you have a wonderful life," she told him sincerely. "You deserve it." Max turned and climbed in. Maria stood outside his window. "Max," she called hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"Could you…" She drew his hand over the gentle swell of her stomach and closed her eyes. "Would you keep images of me and my baby in your head? And when you see Michael again, could you share it with him at least? I need for him to see us."

Max studied the face of the young woman standing close to him. He drew a deep breath and laid his hand over cloth covering her stomach. He sucked in his breath at the flood of pictures that slammed into him one by one. Even though invited, he felt like a thief as he was flooded by the warmth of seeing images of his friend swelling with his best friend's child, holding a newborn infant, nursing and singing and dancing with the baby. And even though she had the most brilliant smiles in every one of the scenes, he could hear and see the depth of her loneliness.

"Maria!" he gasped when he forcibly drew his hand away.

Her hands rose to cup his cheek. "Thank you, Max. You will never know how much this means to me." And suddenly Max was lifting the heavy door open, closing the window and stepping out. "What are you doing, Max? You need to leave. Those blinding lights a while ago would have been seen from town!"

"I'm letting Michael see you and his baby, Maria. Just like you asked." And suddenly he was propelling her into the capsule, dumbstruck. He sat her on the seat he vacated and entered numerous digits into the monitor. "You'll be fine," his voice soothed. "This won't even be too long of a trip." Max punched a button and belts crisscrossed her shoulder to lap on both sides. "You'll be sleeping for the bulk of it. And you'll be going through a wormhole that will eject you to the solar system that Antar revolves in anyway."

"What are you talking about?" she choked out.

"It's like… Star Trek."

"I am not a geek," she gritted out. "I don't follow that."

"Maria, you will be fine," he told her. "You will sleep around a month."

"A month… Max, I'm pregnant. I can't sleep a month. I can't NOT eat for a day!"

He pointed to a mask at the side of the chair. "That's your air and that will also be your sustenance. In gas. There's really nothing to worry about. At least this way would save your through a million of light years worth of traveling."

"My God," she breathed softly. "I'm really going, aren't I? You're really giving me your last trip back."

"If you want it." She covered her face in her hands, and he wrapped his arms around her. "Yes, Maria, you're really going to see him again."

"Max, if you can't be together with Liz here, why are you staying to give me this?"

He tucked her hair beneath her ear. And then he drew thick metallic covering and covered her body in it. "Because this is the only way I can make it up to you and Michael? To my sister and Jesse? I don't know, Maria. I just know I feel better doing this than going there. Home is where Liz is. Even though she'll never find out that I'm back."

"Thank you, Max."

He smiled at her. "Sweet dreams, Maria." And then he placed the mask over her face and waited until her eyes drifted shut. He closed the door and ran out of the cave, getting in to the rented car. Moments later, the capsule broke through the surface and out of the atmosphere.

The knock on his door jarred Michael from his tense sleep. His nerves were frayed and his lids were heavy, but he could not settle into a deeper rest. It had been twenty moons, and they have been going to the cliff every day and every night for the past four days. Michael was getting tired of waiting. And every day that Max does not arrive, Isabel got more fidgety. He was not sure about all men, but he was sure that fidgety and nervous and dreading are not what he wanted his fiancé to feel before wedding him.

Who was he to tell Isabel not to worry though, when he himself was dreading the day the advisers pronounce that the king was not returning, and that they should marry. Again that terse knock on the door. He rose to open it, rubbing his arm over his eyes.

There she stood in all her golden glory. Isabel Evans looked at him with uncertain eyes. When Isabel looked scared, you really need to worry. It meant that there's something truly serious happening. She gave him a forced smile. "Are you ready?"

No. His mind refused to accept the fact that it was turning out every day to be a reminder that they needed to plan a wedding, because the people needed a wedding. "Sure." This has become a ritual for them. Upon waking up, Isabel would drop by his room to invite him to breakfast, because she paid more attention to the time. And then together with Max's advisers, they would troop to the cliff and wait until midnight for the blazing trail that would proclaim that the king was back.

Breakfast was a curt, hurried affair. Though unwilling to be disappointed again, Michael preferred that they go to the cliff because then he could be alone in his thoughts. He would stare into the horizon and he could almost imagine that he was on earth, that he went to the desert to think and will come back to Roswell after a few hours and get a complimentary Cherry Coke from Maria.

From the corner of his eye, Michael could see Isabel staring at his own right hand man. It was the same man who seemed to watch Isabel since they arrived. "Xian, accompany Isabel to the cliff."

Isabel looked up at Michael's command. And then she turned away from the man. "Yes, sir." Xian approached Isabel and followed her out of the palace.

~~

He drank the steaming liquid as they waited. Silently he calculated. How long would it take before the ones that the three of them used would be charged for another flight? The Antarian winter had already set in, and he knew that it would take a longer time recharging when it was this cold. Michael drew the blanket closer around himself. He refused to believe that Max would not be back, and he would have to go through with a destiny he had been fighting for years.

Isabel was beautiful. He cannot deny that as he stared at her standing at the edge of the cliff, looking at the sky with hope and stars in her eyes. Isabel was a golden child and by blood and fate-a princess. Bur she was, to him, not comparable to Maria. Because Isabel's golden beauty was meant to be adored by many, while Maria was his own princess.

He called one of the advisers over to him. The man settled on a rock in front of Michael and accepted the offer of a steaming cup of tea made from leaves that sprouted wild over the Antarian mountains. "Tell me. How long would it take for one of the capsules to recharge now that the winter has set in?"

"Sir, you're not thinking of leaving us?"

"I am, Athon. Now the capsule that Max took was recharged for five Earth years."

"And it's not even fully charged to come back," the man interrupted. "It should take around three years recharging for the capsule to have the energy for a one way flight to Earth."

"You mean the capsule…"

"Would make it to our atmosphere and freefall from there. I spoke to the king about his decision, and he seemed not to care."

Michael shook his head. So Max really didn't count on coming back. Not really. Michael would be forced to remain because there was no one else. "So six years for a flight like his?"

The man nodded. "That was charged through the summer. And a season in Antar would span ten Earth years. Zandre's queen Ava landed midsummer."

"So we're looking at a ten year Antarian winter. How long before one of the capsules are charged for a one way flight to Earth?"

"The expanse of the winter, sir."

He closed his eyes. Ten years lost. Would Maria still wait for him? For her sake he hoped she would not. But his heart cried out for her to stay free.

Within a few hours the light of the orange sun had dwindled, and dusk settled. It was the way of that world, and Michael stood to follow through with responsibilities that Max had burdened him with. "Pack up camp. We will return tomorrow."

The made their way down carrying what they had taken with them, while Isabel remained sitting there staring at the night sky. They would return for her later. She did not need to take part in lifting and carrying.

She was alone except for Xian, who was assigned to stay with her. "Do you think he will come back?" she asked her companion tentatively.

"The king has so much waiting for him here. What does he have for him there?"

"Love, I suppose."

"Then he should stay there. Of course you would disagree with me, as always."

Her eyes snapped at him, confused. "What do you mean by that? And while we're here, what is with the-"

He held up his hand to silence her. Isabel's gaze widened as the ground rumbled beneath their feet. Xian pointed to the inky dark blue sky and the moment that she looked to where he indicated, she gasped.

The capsule ripped through the air and hung suspended for endless seconds. "It's going to fall," he whispered. She caught her breath. He snatched her hand and pulled her towards his glider. "Come on!" She allowed him to seat her behind him and she gripped his waist tightly as he zoomed close.

The small capsule went on free fall, and Isabel screamed. "No! Do something!"

"We're too far!" he yelled back at her. His voice carried through the ripping force of the wind.

"No. Please. No…"

They watched in horror as the capsule plummeted to the ground. "It's crashing on the lake." Isabel remembered Larek's stories of a lake where Max swam the day he saw Tess for the first time.

"It's ice!"

"No, it's all right now," he assured her. Mustering all his energy, Xian threw a bolt of the most intense power he could towards the frozen lake. The ice cracked and turned a crimson red the exact moment the capsule hit.

The viscous fluid swallowed the capsule, eating away the flames that had begun to lick at the exterior. Xian lowered the glider to the bank. "Max!" Isabel screamed. She started running to the water, but he held her back.

"Wait," he told her. "Antar's water is very dense. The capsule will surface very soon." And there it was, bobbing at the center.

"It's not opening. I need to get there," she whispered.

"Not to worry, princess. I will." He started taking off the heavy metallic clothes that stuck to him like gloves. And his jaw dropped when she dove into the icy lake herself. Xian muttered a curse and waded in after her.

Isabel reached the capsule first. She pressed the button to open it, and the door yawned to allow the passenger exit. The figure inside didn't move. "Max," she called. "Max, wake up." She pulled herself inside, and the capsule wavered on the water. Isabel pulled off the mask. "Oh my God," she whispered.

At the bank, Michael and the rest have arrived after seeing the blazing light. Isabel peeled off the blanket and grabbed the woman's pulse. She exhaled in relief and met Xian's puzzled eyes. She did not explain anything to him. He pulled a copper belt from his pants and tied it to the capsule, and then swam to shore and tied it to one of the gliders to be pulled.

"Isabel, what is it?" Michael demanded. "Is Max all right?"

She approached him, soaking in the crimson liquid that easily sluiced off her body. Her lips curved at her discovery. "Destinies, Michael," she said affectionately, and he froze, because she said the same words in his dream once upon a time. "Yours is unfolding now."

Puzzled, he made his way to the capsule, pushing away the men who had gathered staring dumbstruck inside. "Maria," he breathed. He knelt before the capsule, and lifted her in his arms, inhaling the scent of her, allowing his eyes to drown in the sight of his wife. She still had not opened her eyes, and he knew by experience that she would need to undergo days of recovery from the physically draining flight.

Dimply he heard Isabel speaking to the advisers, and he realized the extent of the mess they were entangled in. The people expected him to marry Isabel now, because he needed to take the throne, and she was the only blood royalty remaining. He held Maria closer in his arms. He was not letting her go again. No one can dictate anything. He would not allow anyone to take her when they've gone against all laws of time and space to be together.

"What do you mean?" Xian demanded of her.

"Just what I said," Isabel answered. "We need to wed them soon. The woman inside the capsule is Vilandra, not me. I was just a girl that King Zandre took with him when they could not find Vilandra before they left."

The advisers seemed satisfied. They gathered around Michael and Maria, preparing her for transport and asking Michael questions he could not answer while his mind was still numb with joy and gratitude.

~~

Her lashes fluttered open at the bright sunlight on her face. Her first thought was that it was so cold. It had been warmer in Roswell already, and New York was freezing. But the cold now was different. Somehow it did not penetrate her bones. And even though she grew up in desert heat, it felt so right.

"Hey. Took you a long time you got me worried."

She turned to see him grinning at her. And tears rose to flood in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but her throat had closed up with the emotion choking her. When she figured that there was no way she could come up with words to tell him that she missed him, she grabbed the lapels of his shirt and pulled him down to drive her lips into his. His hands rose and his fingers threaded into her hair as he softened her desperate kiss. Michael pressed her head into his as he bit at her lower lip and dropped butterfly kisses at the edge of her mouth, and searing a blazing trail at her jaw line, her ear, down her neck.

"Maria," he gasped. "Spacegirl."

She smiled up at him and started to speak, but shut up again. There were no words at the moment. No words at all. Maybe later tonight she could think of some. For the meantime, she drew him back down into her embrace.

fin.

Catheryne :)

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