Chapter Text
Months later...
~*~*~* ~ *~*~*~
She woke, alone in the bed.
There was sunlight streaming through the window, rays of warmth filled with lazy contentment. She smiled and stretched, rolling to face the empty side of the bed. She couldn't help burying her face in his pillow and breathing in deeply. He hadn't been gone long.
Rolling from the bed, Liz wrapped a long cardigan around her otherwise naked skin, and wandered out to find him.
There was a fresh pot of coffee on the kitchen counter, their mugs sitting beside it. His Austin, Texas mug, adorned with longhorns and armadillos, was full of hot coffee, steam rising into the air as it cooled. Her Northwestern University mug, from the year she spent studying in Chicago, sat empty. She poured herself a cup.
There was a scrap of paper sitting beside the coffeemaker, a pen haphazardly lying beside it, a lingering sign of Max scribbling whatever was on his mind as he was waiting for the coffee to brew.
It was one of her favorite things about their life together. He was constantly scribbling his thoughts down, leaving beautiful notes around the house. She understood now that it was an indication that all was right with him. Last year, back when she first brought him back from the dead, he never seemed to write. It was like he was off balance, back when he had Noah's shriveled heart in his chest. Now he was whole again, and he was writing again.
She took a peek at the paper to see what was on his mind today. Just a few words, scribbled in his familiar handwriting, sat beside the coffeemaker.
How rare and beautiful it is to even exist...
Liz's heart felt like it was going to burst.
The sound of the door pulled her attention, and she stepped from the kitchen to see Max walking through the front door, his arms full of firewood.
"You're up!" Max exclaimed, as he kicked the front door shut behind him. "I was just going to build a fire. The sunshine is warm but it's cold out there. I think it might snow soon."
He dropped the wood beside the kiva fireplace in the corner, before pulling the gloves off of his hands and shaking his jacket off of his shoulders.
Liz picked up the two mugs of coffee from the kitchen and made her way across the room to him. He took his mug from her, and leaned down to kiss her good morning.
"Hi," she greeted him softly afterwards..
"Good morning," he answered happily. His free hand slid beneath her cardigan, wrapping around the bare skin of her waist, and pulling her flush against him.
"Your hand is cold!" Liz protested with a squeak, but she didn’t pull away from him. Skin to skin, it would warm quickly.
There was something about him this morning that was intoxicating. He radiated giddy energy. She wasn't used to seeing him like this, and she loved it. He kissed her again, and this time it lingered. Warm, insistent lips pressed together, as Liz's free hand traveled up to the soft hairs at his neckline, gently feathering through them as she held him close to her.
"Build the fire," she whispered against his lips, "then join me on the couch. With warm hands." She pulled away from him with a wicked laugh and wrapped the cardigan tighter around her body.
He shook his head and sipped his coffee as she made her way around the couch to sit.
She watched him crouch down low as he stacked the wood into the kiva with precision. Her eyes trailed across his shoulders, down his back, lingering just below his hips. She set her coffee aside to cool, one drink forgotten as she watched her other one work.
Fireplace set, he turned to look at her and grinned. "Watch this."
He stuck his hand over the wood, took a deep breath, and focused his energy. A bolt of electricity surged from his hand, hitting the kindling just right and lighting a small fire.
"New powers!” Liz exclaimed. “When did you learn to do that?"
"I've been practicing at the junkyard with Michael."
"Very impressive."
The fire grew sufficiently, so Max made his way to the kitchen and washed his hands, before joining her on the couch. Liz shifted her weight, so that she was leaning against him, her head against his chest.
"I love seeing you like this," she told him.
"Like what?" Max asked, and he seemed genuinely confused, which just made her shake her head.
"Happy...healthy...at peace. It suits you."
"Funny…because I don't think I've ever felt quite like this before." Liz gave him a look asking for him to continue. He licked his lips and took another sip of coffee. "Liz, I died once, and almost died two other times that I can think of. That heart failing and the crash. If not for the crash, who knows where I'd be right now? I could be on some other planet. I could be an old man. I could have already lived a whole life and died. But I didn't. Instead thanks to circumstances that were completely outside of my control, I ended up here and now. With you. I just...I feel so damn lucky to have this life."
"Well, that feeling is mutual," Liz agreed. “I’m so damn happy to be with you too.”
“I mean, I know things aren’t perfect,” he conceded. “Jones is still out there somewhere, and we still don’t know why Nora and Louise locked him up. We don’t know why he wanted me alive so badly. There’s definitely unfinished business there.”
“Well, yeah,” Liz agreed. “But we’ll find out the truth in time.”
“Meanwhile, I’m still an alien with a sketchy twin out there running around doing God only knows what while wearing my face.”
“Plus there’s the whole Rosa situation. And Hurricane Helena out there knowing the truth about aliens. Diego out there knowing the truth about you…” Liz drifted off and sighed. “Things are never going to be simple for us, are they?”
“Then we have to enjoy the calm between the storms,” Max insisted, leaning down and kissing the top of her head.
Liz silently agreed, and closed her eyes, just savoring the feel of Max’s arm around her, his strong body warming her and making her feel secure and content.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
They had settled in easily to their new life together in Roswell. It took a bit of time to get started. They stayed in California until Max was healed up and strong. Once they were certain he could manage it, they started packing Liz’s life back up to return home.
But there was one thing left before they could leave California.
”I need to see the ocean,” Max had pleaded with her. She could only smile in response.
Their last weekend in California was spent driving up the coast on Highway 101. They flew past Ventura and Santa Barbara, winding their way north until they reached Big Sur. They camped for a night in the redwoods, cuddled up together in a blanket to keep warm, as fingers of rolling fog crept through the endlessly tall trees. They made love, the smell of sweat and sex, salt and pine filling the tent as they lost themselves in the moment. Max held her hand as they drove home, rushing past Zuma Beach in Malibu as the sun set beside them.
“Thank you,” Max told her with a giddy smile. “This was exactly what I needed.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What's your plan for today?" Max asked her after he finished his coffee. "Are you going to work?"
"I could. I don't have to though. You've got a better idea?"
"No, actually. My fingers are itching. I've got this idea that I just need to get out of my head…" he trailed off somewhat awkwardly.
Liz laughed and feigned insult. "Oh, you want to get rid of me so you can write."
"Yes?" His voice was sheepish, and Liz turned to face him. She debated giving him crap, making him squirm a bit, but when she looked at him she was just so happy to see him motivated and excited to write that she couldn't bring herself to do it. Instead she knocked back the rest of her coffee, discarding the mug into the coffee table.
Liz shifted onto her knees, kicking one over his lap so that she was straddling him. She took his face into her hands, and kissed him, deep and long. Pulling back, she rested her forehead against his, breathing him in deeply for a long moment. His eyes drew her in like a magnet, the heat of his love for her shining brightly.
"I love you." Her voice was husky and serious.
She pushed off of him and stood back, before he could respond. Putting space and air between them.
"I have some new samples to process anyway. No time like the present."
She dressed for a workday in the lab, pulling her hair back, and putting on sensible shoes. When she made her way back to the front of the house, Max was already at his desk, writing furiously. She hated to interrupt him.
"I'm heading out. Want to meet at the Pony later?"
"Yeah, maybe," he replied distractedly as he finished his sentence. Finally he put his pen down and faced her. "Depends on the weather...don't get caught in the snow, babe."
"I won't. If it starts snowing I'll come straight home."
"Good. See you later. Love you."
"Love you too."