Post by RachelEm on Jan 21, 2019 21:08:48 GMT -5
Author: Rachel
Rating: MATURE (for language, violence, and distressing elements)
Couples: M/L
Disclaimer: Roswell, NM and its characters belong to Carina Adly MacKenzie, Melinda Metz, and the CW. I am simply borrowing the characters and promise to return them in semi-original condition. No infringement is intended.
Summary: This one shot takes place before the Pilot, and are my answers to what I think Max and Isobel meant when they had their quiet and brief conversation about Rosa during the episode. Shout out to lillydove for giving me the idea for this and not even knowing.
I'll hold your hand till it goes cold
I'll hold my tears until you go
With all the life that leaves your bones,
It soaks the purpose from my own
Ohhh, ohh, oh
Please don't go
-Please Don’t Go - Stephanie Rainey
May, 2008
“Max Evans.”
Liz Ortecho felt a shiver course through her body as the principal said his name. Around her the auditorium broke out into applause, and over the thunder of the appraising audience she could distinctly here Mr. Evans cheering loudly for his son from somewhere in the stands.
Max made his way across the stage, maroon robes jostling around him as he reached out with one hand to meet Principal Nolan’s extended one for a congratulatory shake. With his other hand, he accepted his diploma. His smile was bright, infectious, and Liz felt her heart flutter within her chest. Her cheeks tinged with a warm blush at the fluttering, and she dropped her gaze, as if worried her fellow graduates could hear the treacherous beating of her heart. As if her very pulse screamed the story of her decade long crush on Max Evans. As if he could hear it himself.
Yet he already had. Liz carefully kept her gaze averted as he made his way back down the aisle and to his seat. His cologne wafted to her nose and she resisted the exaggerated inhale to draw his scent into her lungs. Oh, Max was all too aware of her school girl feelings for him. She had confessed, only a week ago, in his jeep on senior skip day. There, surrounded by the dunes of the New Mexico desert and with the noon-time sun beating down on them, Max Evans had broken her heart.
With a single, sympathetic look Max had squashed any hopes she'd had of any emotional reciprocity with deft finality.
“I don’t want you to stay. You know, for me.”
At the memory of his words, Liz bit her lip to suppress her groan. The students in her row stood and she was just a millisecond behind them in rising, and her cheeks flushed all over. They filed out of the row and approached the stage to await their individual diplomas.
She had told him of her hesitancy to go away for college, to leave here and forge a new life when everyone she loves was still here. And Max, ever the intuitive one, dissected the meaning of her words and had told her that he didn’t want her to stay in Roswell. Or rather, he didn’t want her to stay in Roswell under the pretense that something would happen between them. Because nothing would. He’d made that quite clear.
The pain of his words came back to her now, just as sharp and potent as that day in the desert, and Liz ducked her head. She swallowed hard, just as hard as she had the moment before she’d tried to save face in front of the boy she thought might have been the love of her life.
“Liz Ortecho.”
She climbed the steps to the stage and took long, confident strides to Principal Nolan. Over the roar of the auditorium she heard her biggest fan screaming her name, and she laughed. She paused with Principal Nolan for a picture. When the flash went off, she began her exit of the stage. Her name was still being called from the crowd, and she lifted her head to scan the multitude of guests until she found the voice.
“I wouldn’t stay for you,” Liz had carefully stated, once she’d found her voice again.
Rosa waved at her from her seat on the bleachers. She jumped to her feet, bouncing up and down to make sure she was noticed. Liz laughed again and waved back.
“I’d stay for Rosa. She’ll need me.”
***
Arturo Ortecho closed down the Crashdown for a private graduation party in his daughter’s honor. When he had mentioned his decision to do so a month ago, Liz had tried to convince him not to. But it was no use. He was too proud of her.
“I am so proud of you.” He hugged her to his side now. Kissing her temple and gazing around the Crashdown. “All these people are proud of you, too.”
Liz smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder, relishing in his warm presence. Rosa needed her the most, but her dad needed her too. Even though he would never admit it. “Thank you, Dad.”
“Uh-oh,” he whispered. “Your Tia Teddy is coming this way, and by the look on her face she found out you are planning to take your first semester off. Hurry. Go. I’ll distract her.”
Liz kissed his bristled cheek and darted under his arm to disappear into the employee's lounge. Just as the door swung shut behind her, Rosa came bounding down the stairs, her hand stuffing something into her pocket.
“Rosa.” Liz gave her a once over, taking in her cut off denim shorts, black tank top and silver cardigan vest. Her fresh and expertly applied makeup enhanced her cheekbones and the lush thickness of her lashes. “Where are you going?”
“There's a party at the old steel mill,” she said and paused in front of the mirror hanging on the wall outside the employee's bathroom. She smoothed her lip liner. “I'm going to pick up Josie and Luna. You should totally come!”
Liz scrunched her face. “No, thanks. This wild graduation party is enough for me.”
Rosa crossed the room to peer out the circular window of the employee's door. Half of the attendants had left, and it looked like a few more were gathering their belongings. She turned. “No offense, but what is happening out there is lame.”
She laughed, and knew her sister was right. But she also didn't intend to go anywhere this evening. It was a pajamas and gorging oneself on ice cream kind of night. Maybe then Liz could begin to erase from her memory her last encounter with Max Evans.
Rosa looped her arm through Liz's and tugged her gracelessly to her side. “Come on, Liz. Come with us tonight.” She giggled loudly and tried to usher her to the backdoor.
Liz stopped them from going any further. Spinning Rosa around to face her, Liz noted the hopeful sparkle in her sister’s smile. “I don't feel like going out tonight,” she confessed resolutely.
Rosa pouted for a moment, and then shook her head firmly. “No. Come on. Please, Liz. It's just a small gathering. I swear.” She cupped Liz's face i her hands as she pleaded with her sister. “It'll just be me and you and Josie and Luna...and maybe Tommy and Eric. But that'll be it!”
Liz laughed despite herself, but still shook her head. “Really, Rosa. I want to stay in. But you can stay with me. We can finally catch up on Vampire Diaries.” He voice held an enticing note in which she hoped gave Rosa pause.
Rosa seemed to consider it. From the door that exited into alleyway and the dumpsters a headful of blonde curls poke through calling: “Come on, Rosa!” Luna smiled at Liz. “Hi, Liz! Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
Decision made, Rosa considered her sister closely before finally backing away. She blew her a kiss once she reached the door. “You know where we'll be if you change your mind.”
“Be careful!” Liz called but the door had already swung shut behind them. She approached the doors and turned the dead bolt, watching as her sister and her friends skipped out of sight.
She turned around just as her father was poking his head in from the cafe. “Liz,” he called on a hushed whisper. “Everyone is leaving. Come. Help me clean up and then we can finish Vampire Diaries.”
Her heart swelled with love for her father, but was pulled in a different direction. She looked over her shoulder to where her sister had disappeared moments ago. “Actually, daddy, I was thinking of maybe going out tonight.”
A wide smile broke across his face. He nodded, pleased that his reticent daughter was taking a step to come out of her shell. He pushed the door open, inviting his daughter into the cafe with him.
“That is okay. But I cannot promise to wait for you to start the next episode.”
***
“I'm leaving tonight.”
Startled by the words, Max's gaze darted to the rear view mirror in search of Michael's face, but was only able to make out the silhouette of his head and shoulders. It was dark out with no other cars on the road to illuminate the backseat. He returned his eyes to the road and clenched his jaw.
Beside him, Isobel shifted in the front seat, contorting her body so she could look her friend in eyes. “Tonight?” Her voice trembled a little. “I thought you were going to wait?”
“For what?” Michael demanded after a derisive snort. “For you and Max? Why bother? You guys are never going to leave the cozy lives you have here.”
Hurt and mildly ashamed, Isobel muttered, “That's not fair.”
“Yeah, well, neither was the Evanses picking you two to adopt but leaving me in the system. So.”
Max clenched and released his fingers around the steering wheel. “Michael, there's still so much we don't know.” He tried for reason, though he was aware it rarely had any effect over Michael. “It's not a good idea for us to split up.”
“We wouldn't have to if you would just come with me. What's keeping us here?”
Isobel shifted again. “Michael, the pods-”
“Nobody is coming back for us, Is. They dumped our pods in a laughable hiding place, and then left. How do we know whoever left us there wasn’t captured and killed? Or even if they're alive today? It's been sixty years, damn it.”
“Michael, you need to stay.”
“And I need you to stop trying to control my every decision, Max.”
Max's gaze darted back to the rear view mirror, furious. “I'm not controlling any-”
Isobel gasped, and her hand shot out to grip Max’s forearm. “Oh my God, Max.”
Max slammed on the brakes, the tires of his Jeep squealing in protest. Everyone jolted forward from the sudden stop. Isobel’s blonde hair fell into her face, and she hurriedly pushed it away to clear her vision.
“Oh my God. Is that…?”
Swallowing, Max put the Jeep in neutral and engaged the emergency break, his eyes never leaving the bodies lying in heaps in the middle of the road.
He opened his door and Isobel hissed. “What are you doing?”
Max didn’t answer. Slowly he approached the two bodies lying several feet away from one another. From the distance and the light projecting from the Jeep he was able to discern on one body had blonde, curly hair with tints of crimson close to the scalp. The face was turned away from him. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his cell phone and deftly thumbed open the flash light app.
From right behind him, Isobel gasped. “Oh my God. That’s Luna Rodriguez.” Max looked at her, his expression quizzical. “Her bracelet.” His sister pointed at Luna’s arm sticking out from underneath her body, twisted oddly and bleeding from road rash against the asphalt. “She had a thing of moon charms.”
“What the hell happened?” Michael had joined them too. He sidestepped Isobel and Max and approached Luna’s mangled form. Kneeling, his fingers located the flesh just beneath her jaw line and pressed, looking for the tale tell sign of life. He grimaced and pulled away with a shake of his head.
Max’s gut twisted at the sight of the death before him. He panned his phone to the right, where it illuminated a brunette lying face up, eyes opened and staring vacantly up at the stars. Josie Whitaker. His phone kept panning, off the road and into the desert. And onto an over-turned Subaru about ten yards away. The back wheel still rotated lazily. The flash light glinted off the alien green license plate frame that read Crashdown Cafe.
Arturo Ortecho owned a Subaru. Rosa always drove it around town.
The constriction to Max’s chest was so tight he nearly doubled over. And then he was running.
“Max!” Michael yelled even as he raced after him. “Stop!”
“No, Liz could be there!” The panic in his voice was sharp, piercing through the darkness.
Michael caught up with him, jerking him to a stop just a few feet from the wreckage. Max struggled. “Max, you have to stop. You can’t do anything!” Over his shoulder, Michael directed Isobel: “Call 911, and then we have to get him out of here.”
“No!” The panic gave way to desperation. “Just give me five minutes. She could be in there. She might need help.”
“Max, no. Is, are you-”
Max wrenched his arm from Michael’s grasp, and broke into a renewed run. He nearly collided with the car himself, unable to stop as quickly, and ended up skidding on his knees to a halt right in front of the shattered front passenger window. Desperate and afraid, he peered inside. Gasping, he called: “Liz?”
She wasn’t there. But neither was Rosa.
From the darkness, he heard it. A soft, almost strangled voice.
“Help.”
Max struggled to his feet. Michael was at his side, and hoisted him up the rest of the way. The flash light on his phone had automatically shut off; he wasn’t sure how long ago. He turned it on and panned it shakily through the darkness. “Liz?”
The voice came again. “Here.”
Michael rounded the front of the car, with Max following closely behind. “Oh shit,” he breathed, and quickly turned to try to keep Max from coming closer. “Max, no-”
He shoved hard and shone his camera into her face. She didn’t grimace at the sharp light. Didn’t seem to notice it was there. “Help,” she said again.
Rosa.
Max sank to his knees beside her, dropping his phone face down to the earth. The beam shot into the night sky. Rosa’s laid on her back, blood seeping from a laceration on her forehead, leaking from her ears and sides of her mouth. She was pinned; the Subaru crushing her from the midriff down. One arm stretched out from her side, mangled and twisted at the elbow while the other disappeared under the roof of the car.
“Rosa.” Max reached out his hand almost to touch her, and then shakily withdrew. “Rosa, where’s Liz? Was she with you?”
“Liz?” she parroted weakly. “Where’s Liz?”
“Oh God. Rosa, was Liz with you?” Desperation mingled with pleading in his voice, and Max just barely squelched the strangled sob that clawed its way up his throat.
Rosa’s brow knitted in confusion or pain, he wasn’t sure. “With me?” She asked, and then coughed. Blood sputtered up from her mouth. She gagged and grimaced. “Liz - I left her at home. She’s home.”
Relief washed over him so intensely that tears flooded his vision. Now he did touch her. A shaky and gentle press of his hand to her forehead. He felt her pulse through the gushing laceration and closed his eyes.
“Max, you can’t.”
“Shh,” he whispered, his eyes turning to Michael. He looked at Rosa and for a split second saw Liz - bloodied and dying - staring back at him. “It’s okay. I’m going to help you.”
He stood and faced Michael, who looked somewhere between horrified and enraged, and said, “We have to get the car off of her.”
“What the fuck, Max?” Michael’s voice boomed with anger, and an underlying layer of fear. “How the fuck do you think we can manage that? It weighs three-ton car!”
Max said nothing, but stared pointedly.
Stepping back, Michael shook his head. “No way.”
“The ambulance is on the way,” Isobel called breathlessly as she fumbled through the sand in her wedges. “Is it -” The words broke off when she reached the carnage before them. “Oh, God. Rosa.”
“Isobel, we have to get Max out of here.”
“No, we have to lift this car. Now. Help me.”
Michael gripped Max by the arm again, and looked over his shoulder for Isobel to help. “Is, grab his other arm. We have to get him out of here before-”
Max placed his palm against Michael’s chest and pushed. Michael hurdled through the air, landing six feet away.
“You’re not going to help,” Max panted. “I’ll do it myself.”
Then, he swung his outstretched arm towards the car and pushed again. The three-ton wreckage groaned as it slowly rolled away from him and off Rosa’s broken body. Isobel stumbled further away from rolling Subaru, while Michael scrambled to his feet, yelling for Max to stop.
Suddenly a scream pierced through the air, causing Max to drop his arm and look down at Rosa. But she only laid gasping.
“Rosa!”
Max froze, watching helplessly and relieved anew as Liz ran towards them. Her eyes darting rapidly between the car - now successfully off of Rosa - and the three people closest to it. Max stepped back as she approached, and the full view was birthed before her. Liz released another scream that de-evolved into a whimper as she collapsed to her knees. She crawled the rest of the way to her sister, and threw her body across Rosa’s heaving chest.
“Oh my God, Rosa, what happened?” She lifted her head, kissed her sister’s cheek, her mouth. Her own lips came back bloodied. Liz stared up at Max, and stared back over her shoulder to the car. “What happened? And how did you do that?”
“Max,” Isobel whispered, tugging him to her side. “Let’s go.”
“He didn’t do anything.” Michael stepped in front of Max. “We found her like this.”
“I called an ambulance,” Isobel added, her voice breaking a little.
Tears streamed endlessly down Liz’s face. “The car - I saw you. It moved, I thought…” She shook her head, buried her face into Rosa’s neck. “Oh God, Rosa.”
Max stepped around Michael. “Liz, I think I can-”
The ambulance sirens sounded in the distance. Isobel grasped Max’s arm again, pulled hard. “Let’s go.”
Rosa coughed, more blood sputtered upwards to then run in rivers down the sides of her mouth and chin and to pool in the hollow divot at the base of her neck. Her chest heaved once, twice, and then stilled as the final exhalation escaped with a wheezing whistle.
The agonized howl that erupted from Liz’s throat and penetrated the still night had Max clenching his eyes tightly closed, while Isobel turned her face against her brother’s shoulder. The howl turned into endless screams of no, as Liz gripped Rosa by the shoulders and shook and shook.
Michael reached down and pulled Liz to her feet. Liz lunged forward again, intent on reaching her sister. He snaked his arm around her waist and lifted, pulling her against him and dragging her back. Liz struggled, fought, and clawed. Her nails raked into skin of his forearm. She kept screaming for Rosa, begging her to wake up.
“Isobel,” Michael yelled, and jerked his head back as indication for her to follow.
When Isobel stepped away, Max knelt quietly next to Rosa. His fingers trembled as he reached out and brushed her eyelids closed, hiding the vacant, lightless expression. He was sorry. Sorry to Rosa, and so sorry to Liz.
“Is,” Michael grunted as wrangled Liz's feet back to the ground. “Do it.”
Isobel’s heart hammered painfully in her chest. She didn’t pretend she had no idea what Michael meant. She knew. She also knew Max would be pissed and hurt when he found out. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him kneeling next to Rosa’s lifeless body.
She turned back, firmly cupped Liz’s face in her hands. She fought against her, and Isobel had to grip tighter. Liz’s eyes - maddened and frantic - kept straining to search for her sister. Her screams varied between shrill no’s and pleading calls of her sister’s name.
“You have to do it, Isobel.”
The sirens were closer, approaching swiftly and terrifyingly. Isobel closed her eyes, just for a moment, and then snapped them open with determination. “Liz!” She yelled, shaking her hands a little, jostling Liz into focus. “Look at me! You have to look at me.”
Liz meant to only offer her a courtesy glance, but her gaze shifted to meet Isobel’s and caught.
“That’s it,” Isobel crooned. Now that she had her impenetrable focus, her grip on her face loosened. Her thumbs made soothing passes over her cheeks. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Slowly, Liz relaxed to the point Michael had to brace himself to support her whole weight. He watched Isobel. Watched as her green eyes shifted and changed to an other wordly purple, and he knew she was in.
It was finished within seconds. Max stood just in time to watch Michael guide a disoriented and stumbling Liz back to the road. He jogged after them.
“Liz-”
Isobel stopped him with a gentle hand to his chest. “Max, Liz is in shock,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to see her like that.”
His hands fisted at his sides. He closed his eyes to keep the tears of failure at bay. Because he had failed. He’d failed Liz. Who he had hurt last week with the rebuffing of her subtly confessed feelings. Who he had hurt again - broken - by being unable to save the person she loved the most.
“Max.” Isobel’s voice jolted him from his reverie. “There’s nothing you could have done.”
He nodded.
Only he didn’t believe that.
***
The Crashdown closed down for the second time in two weeks. While the first occasion had been a momentous celebration filled with tears of joy and laughter, this latest instance hosted a solemn and grave remembrance of a life ended tragically.
Liz stared numbly through the employee’s window. Her hands had stilled, forgotten movements of removing tin foil from pan of tamales that she didn’t even need to retrieve. No one had come to Rosa’s funeral. Only a handful of people attended the visitation. The devastating blow from the community had her father sitting in a booth, rubbing his forehead with trembling fingers.
”Bring the tamales, Liz,” he had ordered, softly. ”They will come, and they will be hungry.”
Angrily, Liz scrubbed the tears from her eyes. And when the tears kept bubbling up, she clenched her eyes shut and ground her jaw tightly.
They will not come. The residents of Roswell had deemed Rosa a murderer. And murderers were never mourned.
Except by those who had loved them.
Liz released a shuddering breath, grabbed the tin, and pushed through the door and into the cafe. Her father stood at the entrance of the Crashdown, holding the door open wide and allowing a somber guest to enter the diner.
“Thank you for coming, Mr. Evans.”
Max’s father shook Arturo’s hand and lifted the other to squeeze him on the shoulder. Even from where she stood, Liz could hear the sincere whisper of condolences. Thankful for this moment for her father, Liz quietly stepped to the counter and placed the platter of food along the buffet line.
“I’m sorry we’re late,” Mrs. Evans said softly once her husband stepped out of the way. She hugged him. “We tried to make it earlier but Josie and Luna’s-”
Arturo waved off her words and patted her gently on the cheek. “Friends, it does not matter. You are here now.”
Her father’s generosity had Liz gripping the counter and choking back a sob. This town did not deserve it. This town did not deserve him.
“Liz.”
She straightened at the sound of his voice. She steeled herself for the encounter with a quick straightening of her shoulders. Then she released her grip on the counter’s edge, and pivoted on her heels.
Max stood before her, his eyes shadowed and downcast. His black tie wasn’t quite tight enough and one side of his white collar poked out from his suit jacket. Liz wanted to snort. He looked the way she felt.
“Max,” she breathed tiredly. “Thank you for coming.”
“I am so sorry.”
“Thank you.” Her voice nearly broke. She cleared her throat to disguise it. Crossing her arms and clutching her elbows, she continued. “And uh, thank you. For stopping that night and for being there.”
Max nodded, his eyes remaining fixated at the floor or their shoes. Whatever he was looking at it. “I wish I could have done more,” he confessed.
It struck her as an odd thing for him to say even though it wasn’t an uncommon expression uttered at times like these. But hearing Max say it gave her momentary pause. Eventually, Liz shrugged it off. Not really in the mood to be comforting him. “What could you have done?”
He mumbled something that Liz didn’t catch, and then continued to stand there in silence.
Unsure of what else to say, Liz offered him an empty plate. “Help yourself. There’s plenty.”
Max accepted the plate but made no effort to fill it from the buffet. When he didn’t say anything else, Liz made a move to walk past him, intent on greeting his parents. He stopped her with a soft, nearly whisper of her name. Finally, he looked at her.
Max reached around her to deposit the plate on the counter, and then shoved his hands into his pockets.“I just want you to know...if you need anyone to talk to - about anything, at any time - I’ll be here. All summer. For whatever you need.”
His words gave Liz pause. She opened her mouth to speak, stopped herself with the closing of her eyes for several moments. Finally, she took a deep, slightly shuddering breath and met him with a steady gaze. “Thank you, Max,” she said softly. “But I won’t be. I’m leaving next week.”
Something flashed in Max’s eyes and he quickly dropped his eyes to the floor again. He nodded, but said nothing else.
“I’m going to tour some biomedical engineering programs across the US,” she said by way of explanation, even though he didn’t ask for one. “And then I’m hoping to start volunteering for a biomedical technician in Dover during the fall. Until I’m ready to enroll in classes.”
He nodded again. “That’s really great.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, good luck to you, Liz,” he finally said. “And I’m so sorry again.”
“Thank you, Max.”
He turned away from her then. His long strides had him to brushing past his parents and out the door of the cafe within moments. Liz felt a troubling twinge in her chest, almost as if her heart urged her to follow him, to call after him please don’t go. Or maybe to convince her mind that she needed to stay. Please don’t go. But that unsettling twinge soon gave way to a steady, throbbing ache when she imagined a life in Roswell without Rosa.
So, she’d go. She’d go as fast she could, as far as she could to put this horrific spring of tragedy behind her. Because she needed time.
Time. And a lot of distance. Maybe then she’d be able to erase the memory of the time she had her heart shattered - twice.
The end
Rating: MATURE (for language, violence, and distressing elements)
Couples: M/L
Disclaimer: Roswell, NM and its characters belong to Carina Adly MacKenzie, Melinda Metz, and the CW. I am simply borrowing the characters and promise to return them in semi-original condition. No infringement is intended.
Summary: This one shot takes place before the Pilot, and are my answers to what I think Max and Isobel meant when they had their quiet and brief conversation about Rosa during the episode. Shout out to lillydove for giving me the idea for this and not even knowing.
Please Don’t Go
I'll hold your hand till it goes cold
I'll hold my tears until you go
With all the life that leaves your bones,
It soaks the purpose from my own
Ohhh, ohh, oh
Please don't go
-Please Don’t Go - Stephanie Rainey
May, 2008
“Max Evans.”
Liz Ortecho felt a shiver course through her body as the principal said his name. Around her the auditorium broke out into applause, and over the thunder of the appraising audience she could distinctly here Mr. Evans cheering loudly for his son from somewhere in the stands.
Max made his way across the stage, maroon robes jostling around him as he reached out with one hand to meet Principal Nolan’s extended one for a congratulatory shake. With his other hand, he accepted his diploma. His smile was bright, infectious, and Liz felt her heart flutter within her chest. Her cheeks tinged with a warm blush at the fluttering, and she dropped her gaze, as if worried her fellow graduates could hear the treacherous beating of her heart. As if her very pulse screamed the story of her decade long crush on Max Evans. As if he could hear it himself.
Yet he already had. Liz carefully kept her gaze averted as he made his way back down the aisle and to his seat. His cologne wafted to her nose and she resisted the exaggerated inhale to draw his scent into her lungs. Oh, Max was all too aware of her school girl feelings for him. She had confessed, only a week ago, in his jeep on senior skip day. There, surrounded by the dunes of the New Mexico desert and with the noon-time sun beating down on them, Max Evans had broken her heart.
With a single, sympathetic look Max had squashed any hopes she'd had of any emotional reciprocity with deft finality.
“I don’t want you to stay. You know, for me.”
At the memory of his words, Liz bit her lip to suppress her groan. The students in her row stood and she was just a millisecond behind them in rising, and her cheeks flushed all over. They filed out of the row and approached the stage to await their individual diplomas.
She had told him of her hesitancy to go away for college, to leave here and forge a new life when everyone she loves was still here. And Max, ever the intuitive one, dissected the meaning of her words and had told her that he didn’t want her to stay in Roswell. Or rather, he didn’t want her to stay in Roswell under the pretense that something would happen between them. Because nothing would. He’d made that quite clear.
The pain of his words came back to her now, just as sharp and potent as that day in the desert, and Liz ducked her head. She swallowed hard, just as hard as she had the moment before she’d tried to save face in front of the boy she thought might have been the love of her life.
“Liz Ortecho.”
She climbed the steps to the stage and took long, confident strides to Principal Nolan. Over the roar of the auditorium she heard her biggest fan screaming her name, and she laughed. She paused with Principal Nolan for a picture. When the flash went off, she began her exit of the stage. Her name was still being called from the crowd, and she lifted her head to scan the multitude of guests until she found the voice.
“I wouldn’t stay for you,” Liz had carefully stated, once she’d found her voice again.
Rosa waved at her from her seat on the bleachers. She jumped to her feet, bouncing up and down to make sure she was noticed. Liz laughed again and waved back.
“I’d stay for Rosa. She’ll need me.”
***
Arturo Ortecho closed down the Crashdown for a private graduation party in his daughter’s honor. When he had mentioned his decision to do so a month ago, Liz had tried to convince him not to. But it was no use. He was too proud of her.
“I am so proud of you.” He hugged her to his side now. Kissing her temple and gazing around the Crashdown. “All these people are proud of you, too.”
Liz smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder, relishing in his warm presence. Rosa needed her the most, but her dad needed her too. Even though he would never admit it. “Thank you, Dad.”
“Uh-oh,” he whispered. “Your Tia Teddy is coming this way, and by the look on her face she found out you are planning to take your first semester off. Hurry. Go. I’ll distract her.”
Liz kissed his bristled cheek and darted under his arm to disappear into the employee's lounge. Just as the door swung shut behind her, Rosa came bounding down the stairs, her hand stuffing something into her pocket.
“Rosa.” Liz gave her a once over, taking in her cut off denim shorts, black tank top and silver cardigan vest. Her fresh and expertly applied makeup enhanced her cheekbones and the lush thickness of her lashes. “Where are you going?”
“There's a party at the old steel mill,” she said and paused in front of the mirror hanging on the wall outside the employee's bathroom. She smoothed her lip liner. “I'm going to pick up Josie and Luna. You should totally come!”
Liz scrunched her face. “No, thanks. This wild graduation party is enough for me.”
Rosa crossed the room to peer out the circular window of the employee's door. Half of the attendants had left, and it looked like a few more were gathering their belongings. She turned. “No offense, but what is happening out there is lame.”
She laughed, and knew her sister was right. But she also didn't intend to go anywhere this evening. It was a pajamas and gorging oneself on ice cream kind of night. Maybe then Liz could begin to erase from her memory her last encounter with Max Evans.
Rosa looped her arm through Liz's and tugged her gracelessly to her side. “Come on, Liz. Come with us tonight.” She giggled loudly and tried to usher her to the backdoor.
Liz stopped them from going any further. Spinning Rosa around to face her, Liz noted the hopeful sparkle in her sister’s smile. “I don't feel like going out tonight,” she confessed resolutely.
Rosa pouted for a moment, and then shook her head firmly. “No. Come on. Please, Liz. It's just a small gathering. I swear.” She cupped Liz's face i her hands as she pleaded with her sister. “It'll just be me and you and Josie and Luna...and maybe Tommy and Eric. But that'll be it!”
Liz laughed despite herself, but still shook her head. “Really, Rosa. I want to stay in. But you can stay with me. We can finally catch up on Vampire Diaries.” He voice held an enticing note in which she hoped gave Rosa pause.
Rosa seemed to consider it. From the door that exited into alleyway and the dumpsters a headful of blonde curls poke through calling: “Come on, Rosa!” Luna smiled at Liz. “Hi, Liz! Congratulations.”
“Thanks.”
Decision made, Rosa considered her sister closely before finally backing away. She blew her a kiss once she reached the door. “You know where we'll be if you change your mind.”
“Be careful!” Liz called but the door had already swung shut behind them. She approached the doors and turned the dead bolt, watching as her sister and her friends skipped out of sight.
She turned around just as her father was poking his head in from the cafe. “Liz,” he called on a hushed whisper. “Everyone is leaving. Come. Help me clean up and then we can finish Vampire Diaries.”
Her heart swelled with love for her father, but was pulled in a different direction. She looked over her shoulder to where her sister had disappeared moments ago. “Actually, daddy, I was thinking of maybe going out tonight.”
A wide smile broke across his face. He nodded, pleased that his reticent daughter was taking a step to come out of her shell. He pushed the door open, inviting his daughter into the cafe with him.
“That is okay. But I cannot promise to wait for you to start the next episode.”
***
“I'm leaving tonight.”
Startled by the words, Max's gaze darted to the rear view mirror in search of Michael's face, but was only able to make out the silhouette of his head and shoulders. It was dark out with no other cars on the road to illuminate the backseat. He returned his eyes to the road and clenched his jaw.
Beside him, Isobel shifted in the front seat, contorting her body so she could look her friend in eyes. “Tonight?” Her voice trembled a little. “I thought you were going to wait?”
“For what?” Michael demanded after a derisive snort. “For you and Max? Why bother? You guys are never going to leave the cozy lives you have here.”
Hurt and mildly ashamed, Isobel muttered, “That's not fair.”
“Yeah, well, neither was the Evanses picking you two to adopt but leaving me in the system. So.”
Max clenched and released his fingers around the steering wheel. “Michael, there's still so much we don't know.” He tried for reason, though he was aware it rarely had any effect over Michael. “It's not a good idea for us to split up.”
“We wouldn't have to if you would just come with me. What's keeping us here?”
Isobel shifted again. “Michael, the pods-”
“Nobody is coming back for us, Is. They dumped our pods in a laughable hiding place, and then left. How do we know whoever left us there wasn’t captured and killed? Or even if they're alive today? It's been sixty years, damn it.”
“Michael, you need to stay.”
“And I need you to stop trying to control my every decision, Max.”
Max's gaze darted back to the rear view mirror, furious. “I'm not controlling any-”
Isobel gasped, and her hand shot out to grip Max’s forearm. “Oh my God, Max.”
Max slammed on the brakes, the tires of his Jeep squealing in protest. Everyone jolted forward from the sudden stop. Isobel’s blonde hair fell into her face, and she hurriedly pushed it away to clear her vision.
“Oh my God. Is that…?”
Swallowing, Max put the Jeep in neutral and engaged the emergency break, his eyes never leaving the bodies lying in heaps in the middle of the road.
He opened his door and Isobel hissed. “What are you doing?”
Max didn’t answer. Slowly he approached the two bodies lying several feet away from one another. From the distance and the light projecting from the Jeep he was able to discern on one body had blonde, curly hair with tints of crimson close to the scalp. The face was turned away from him. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out his cell phone and deftly thumbed open the flash light app.
From right behind him, Isobel gasped. “Oh my God. That’s Luna Rodriguez.” Max looked at her, his expression quizzical. “Her bracelet.” His sister pointed at Luna’s arm sticking out from underneath her body, twisted oddly and bleeding from road rash against the asphalt. “She had a thing of moon charms.”
“What the hell happened?” Michael had joined them too. He sidestepped Isobel and Max and approached Luna’s mangled form. Kneeling, his fingers located the flesh just beneath her jaw line and pressed, looking for the tale tell sign of life. He grimaced and pulled away with a shake of his head.
Max’s gut twisted at the sight of the death before him. He panned his phone to the right, where it illuminated a brunette lying face up, eyes opened and staring vacantly up at the stars. Josie Whitaker. His phone kept panning, off the road and into the desert. And onto an over-turned Subaru about ten yards away. The back wheel still rotated lazily. The flash light glinted off the alien green license plate frame that read Crashdown Cafe.
Arturo Ortecho owned a Subaru. Rosa always drove it around town.
The constriction to Max’s chest was so tight he nearly doubled over. And then he was running.
“Max!” Michael yelled even as he raced after him. “Stop!”
“No, Liz could be there!” The panic in his voice was sharp, piercing through the darkness.
Michael caught up with him, jerking him to a stop just a few feet from the wreckage. Max struggled. “Max, you have to stop. You can’t do anything!” Over his shoulder, Michael directed Isobel: “Call 911, and then we have to get him out of here.”
“No!” The panic gave way to desperation. “Just give me five minutes. She could be in there. She might need help.”
“Max, no. Is, are you-”
Max wrenched his arm from Michael’s grasp, and broke into a renewed run. He nearly collided with the car himself, unable to stop as quickly, and ended up skidding on his knees to a halt right in front of the shattered front passenger window. Desperate and afraid, he peered inside. Gasping, he called: “Liz?”
She wasn’t there. But neither was Rosa.
From the darkness, he heard it. A soft, almost strangled voice.
“Help.”
Max struggled to his feet. Michael was at his side, and hoisted him up the rest of the way. The flash light on his phone had automatically shut off; he wasn’t sure how long ago. He turned it on and panned it shakily through the darkness. “Liz?”
The voice came again. “Here.”
Michael rounded the front of the car, with Max following closely behind. “Oh shit,” he breathed, and quickly turned to try to keep Max from coming closer. “Max, no-”
He shoved hard and shone his camera into her face. She didn’t grimace at the sharp light. Didn’t seem to notice it was there. “Help,” she said again.
Rosa.
Max sank to his knees beside her, dropping his phone face down to the earth. The beam shot into the night sky. Rosa’s laid on her back, blood seeping from a laceration on her forehead, leaking from her ears and sides of her mouth. She was pinned; the Subaru crushing her from the midriff down. One arm stretched out from her side, mangled and twisted at the elbow while the other disappeared under the roof of the car.
“Rosa.” Max reached out his hand almost to touch her, and then shakily withdrew. “Rosa, where’s Liz? Was she with you?”
“Liz?” she parroted weakly. “Where’s Liz?”
“Oh God. Rosa, was Liz with you?” Desperation mingled with pleading in his voice, and Max just barely squelched the strangled sob that clawed its way up his throat.
Rosa’s brow knitted in confusion or pain, he wasn’t sure. “With me?” She asked, and then coughed. Blood sputtered up from her mouth. She gagged and grimaced. “Liz - I left her at home. She’s home.”
Relief washed over him so intensely that tears flooded his vision. Now he did touch her. A shaky and gentle press of his hand to her forehead. He felt her pulse through the gushing laceration and closed his eyes.
“Max, you can’t.”
“Shh,” he whispered, his eyes turning to Michael. He looked at Rosa and for a split second saw Liz - bloodied and dying - staring back at him. “It’s okay. I’m going to help you.”
He stood and faced Michael, who looked somewhere between horrified and enraged, and said, “We have to get the car off of her.”
“What the fuck, Max?” Michael’s voice boomed with anger, and an underlying layer of fear. “How the fuck do you think we can manage that? It weighs three-ton car!”
Max said nothing, but stared pointedly.
Stepping back, Michael shook his head. “No way.”
“The ambulance is on the way,” Isobel called breathlessly as she fumbled through the sand in her wedges. “Is it -” The words broke off when she reached the carnage before them. “Oh, God. Rosa.”
“Isobel, we have to get Max out of here.”
“No, we have to lift this car. Now. Help me.”
Michael gripped Max by the arm again, and looked over his shoulder for Isobel to help. “Is, grab his other arm. We have to get him out of here before-”
Max placed his palm against Michael’s chest and pushed. Michael hurdled through the air, landing six feet away.
“You’re not going to help,” Max panted. “I’ll do it myself.”
Then, he swung his outstretched arm towards the car and pushed again. The three-ton wreckage groaned as it slowly rolled away from him and off Rosa’s broken body. Isobel stumbled further away from rolling Subaru, while Michael scrambled to his feet, yelling for Max to stop.
Suddenly a scream pierced through the air, causing Max to drop his arm and look down at Rosa. But she only laid gasping.
“Rosa!”
Max froze, watching helplessly and relieved anew as Liz ran towards them. Her eyes darting rapidly between the car - now successfully off of Rosa - and the three people closest to it. Max stepped back as she approached, and the full view was birthed before her. Liz released another scream that de-evolved into a whimper as she collapsed to her knees. She crawled the rest of the way to her sister, and threw her body across Rosa’s heaving chest.
“Oh my God, Rosa, what happened?” She lifted her head, kissed her sister’s cheek, her mouth. Her own lips came back bloodied. Liz stared up at Max, and stared back over her shoulder to the car. “What happened? And how did you do that?”
“Max,” Isobel whispered, tugging him to her side. “Let’s go.”
“He didn’t do anything.” Michael stepped in front of Max. “We found her like this.”
“I called an ambulance,” Isobel added, her voice breaking a little.
Tears streamed endlessly down Liz’s face. “The car - I saw you. It moved, I thought…” She shook her head, buried her face into Rosa’s neck. “Oh God, Rosa.”
Max stepped around Michael. “Liz, I think I can-”
The ambulance sirens sounded in the distance. Isobel grasped Max’s arm again, pulled hard. “Let’s go.”
Rosa coughed, more blood sputtered upwards to then run in rivers down the sides of her mouth and chin and to pool in the hollow divot at the base of her neck. Her chest heaved once, twice, and then stilled as the final exhalation escaped with a wheezing whistle.
The agonized howl that erupted from Liz’s throat and penetrated the still night had Max clenching his eyes tightly closed, while Isobel turned her face against her brother’s shoulder. The howl turned into endless screams of no, as Liz gripped Rosa by the shoulders and shook and shook.
Michael reached down and pulled Liz to her feet. Liz lunged forward again, intent on reaching her sister. He snaked his arm around her waist and lifted, pulling her against him and dragging her back. Liz struggled, fought, and clawed. Her nails raked into skin of his forearm. She kept screaming for Rosa, begging her to wake up.
“Isobel,” Michael yelled, and jerked his head back as indication for her to follow.
When Isobel stepped away, Max knelt quietly next to Rosa. His fingers trembled as he reached out and brushed her eyelids closed, hiding the vacant, lightless expression. He was sorry. Sorry to Rosa, and so sorry to Liz.
“Is,” Michael grunted as wrangled Liz's feet back to the ground. “Do it.”
Isobel’s heart hammered painfully in her chest. She didn’t pretend she had no idea what Michael meant. She knew. She also knew Max would be pissed and hurt when he found out. She glanced over her shoulder and saw him kneeling next to Rosa’s lifeless body.
She turned back, firmly cupped Liz’s face in her hands. She fought against her, and Isobel had to grip tighter. Liz’s eyes - maddened and frantic - kept straining to search for her sister. Her screams varied between shrill no’s and pleading calls of her sister’s name.
“You have to do it, Isobel.”
The sirens were closer, approaching swiftly and terrifyingly. Isobel closed her eyes, just for a moment, and then snapped them open with determination. “Liz!” She yelled, shaking her hands a little, jostling Liz into focus. “Look at me! You have to look at me.”
Liz meant to only offer her a courtesy glance, but her gaze shifted to meet Isobel’s and caught.
“That’s it,” Isobel crooned. Now that she had her impenetrable focus, her grip on her face loosened. Her thumbs made soothing passes over her cheeks. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Slowly, Liz relaxed to the point Michael had to brace himself to support her whole weight. He watched Isobel. Watched as her green eyes shifted and changed to an other wordly purple, and he knew she was in.
It was finished within seconds. Max stood just in time to watch Michael guide a disoriented and stumbling Liz back to the road. He jogged after them.
“Liz-”
Isobel stopped him with a gentle hand to his chest. “Max, Liz is in shock,” she whispered. “I don’t want you to see her like that.”
His hands fisted at his sides. He closed his eyes to keep the tears of failure at bay. Because he had failed. He’d failed Liz. Who he had hurt last week with the rebuffing of her subtly confessed feelings. Who he had hurt again - broken - by being unable to save the person she loved the most.
“Max.” Isobel’s voice jolted him from his reverie. “There’s nothing you could have done.”
He nodded.
Only he didn’t believe that.
***
The Crashdown closed down for the second time in two weeks. While the first occasion had been a momentous celebration filled with tears of joy and laughter, this latest instance hosted a solemn and grave remembrance of a life ended tragically.
Liz stared numbly through the employee’s window. Her hands had stilled, forgotten movements of removing tin foil from pan of tamales that she didn’t even need to retrieve. No one had come to Rosa’s funeral. Only a handful of people attended the visitation. The devastating blow from the community had her father sitting in a booth, rubbing his forehead with trembling fingers.
”Bring the tamales, Liz,” he had ordered, softly. ”They will come, and they will be hungry.”
Angrily, Liz scrubbed the tears from her eyes. And when the tears kept bubbling up, she clenched her eyes shut and ground her jaw tightly.
They will not come. The residents of Roswell had deemed Rosa a murderer. And murderers were never mourned.
Except by those who had loved them.
Liz released a shuddering breath, grabbed the tin, and pushed through the door and into the cafe. Her father stood at the entrance of the Crashdown, holding the door open wide and allowing a somber guest to enter the diner.
“Thank you for coming, Mr. Evans.”
Max’s father shook Arturo’s hand and lifted the other to squeeze him on the shoulder. Even from where she stood, Liz could hear the sincere whisper of condolences. Thankful for this moment for her father, Liz quietly stepped to the counter and placed the platter of food along the buffet line.
“I’m sorry we’re late,” Mrs. Evans said softly once her husband stepped out of the way. She hugged him. “We tried to make it earlier but Josie and Luna’s-”
Arturo waved off her words and patted her gently on the cheek. “Friends, it does not matter. You are here now.”
Her father’s generosity had Liz gripping the counter and choking back a sob. This town did not deserve it. This town did not deserve him.
“Liz.”
She straightened at the sound of his voice. She steeled herself for the encounter with a quick straightening of her shoulders. Then she released her grip on the counter’s edge, and pivoted on her heels.
Max stood before her, his eyes shadowed and downcast. His black tie wasn’t quite tight enough and one side of his white collar poked out from his suit jacket. Liz wanted to snort. He looked the way she felt.
“Max,” she breathed tiredly. “Thank you for coming.”
“I am so sorry.”
“Thank you.” Her voice nearly broke. She cleared her throat to disguise it. Crossing her arms and clutching her elbows, she continued. “And uh, thank you. For stopping that night and for being there.”
Max nodded, his eyes remaining fixated at the floor or their shoes. Whatever he was looking at it. “I wish I could have done more,” he confessed.
It struck her as an odd thing for him to say even though it wasn’t an uncommon expression uttered at times like these. But hearing Max say it gave her momentary pause. Eventually, Liz shrugged it off. Not really in the mood to be comforting him. “What could you have done?”
He mumbled something that Liz didn’t catch, and then continued to stand there in silence.
Unsure of what else to say, Liz offered him an empty plate. “Help yourself. There’s plenty.”
Max accepted the plate but made no effort to fill it from the buffet. When he didn’t say anything else, Liz made a move to walk past him, intent on greeting his parents. He stopped her with a soft, nearly whisper of her name. Finally, he looked at her.
Max reached around her to deposit the plate on the counter, and then shoved his hands into his pockets.“I just want you to know...if you need anyone to talk to - about anything, at any time - I’ll be here. All summer. For whatever you need.”
His words gave Liz pause. She opened her mouth to speak, stopped herself with the closing of her eyes for several moments. Finally, she took a deep, slightly shuddering breath and met him with a steady gaze. “Thank you, Max,” she said softly. “But I won’t be. I’m leaving next week.”
Something flashed in Max’s eyes and he quickly dropped his eyes to the floor again. He nodded, but said nothing else.
“I’m going to tour some biomedical engineering programs across the US,” she said by way of explanation, even though he didn’t ask for one. “And then I’m hoping to start volunteering for a biomedical technician in Dover during the fall. Until I’m ready to enroll in classes.”
He nodded again. “That’s really great.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, good luck to you, Liz,” he finally said. “And I’m so sorry again.”
“Thank you, Max.”
He turned away from her then. His long strides had him to brushing past his parents and out the door of the cafe within moments. Liz felt a troubling twinge in her chest, almost as if her heart urged her to follow him, to call after him please don’t go. Or maybe to convince her mind that she needed to stay. Please don’t go. But that unsettling twinge soon gave way to a steady, throbbing ache when she imagined a life in Roswell without Rosa.
So, she’d go. She’d go as fast she could, as far as she could to put this horrific spring of tragedy behind her. Because she needed time.
Time. And a lot of distance. Maybe then she’d be able to erase the memory of the time she had her heart shattered - twice.
The end
