Chapter Text
~*~*~*~*~ Liz ~*~*~*~*~
Nothing about that particular Tuesday morning seemed different or special. Liz woke before the dawn, slipping from his bed in the darkness. For the first few weeks, waking up alone in Max's bed was disorienting for her. His room smelled like him, and it made her heart ache in that brief, weak moment between sleep and awake when it was hard to distinguish between dreams and reality. But then those weeks turned into months. Months of living in a house full of memories of him, and now it was just part of her life. The constant reminder of what she lost was just part of her normal daily routine.
Like every other day, Liz dressed quietly in the dark, with only the light of the last glowing embers in the adobe fireplace to light her way. Then she slipped from the room, treading lightly as she passed the door to what used to be Max’s guest room. Rosa seemed to be sleeping soundly these days, but for months she was haunted by nightmares of dying. More nights than Liz could count, she had woken in the middle of the night to her sister crying...or calling out for help. Now that Rosa finally seemed to rest easier, Liz did everything in her power to keep from waking her sister. Any noise could disrupt a light sleeper like Rosa.
With a practiced ease, she navigated his house sightlessly and as quietly as possible. She gathered her belongings for work, before pouring a travel cup full of hot coffee, and grabbing a protein bar for breakfast. She was out the door and in her car in about 20 minutes flat.
The dawn was just beginning to break, light creeping into the horizon as she drove out to the old turquoise mines, to the place where on one bright morning as the sun rose, she gave in to her feelings and kissed Max Evans for the first time.
That morning felt like a lifetime ago, a different universe from the world she lived in today, even though it was only a few months earlier. It wasn’t perfect, but that was kind of the point. Liz had forgiven Max for his misdeeds, and Max loved her flaws and all. Rosa was dead and Isobel was dying, trapped in stasis in her pod. And Noah was still alive and free to roam, to murder, to manipulate as much as he wanted.
But when Liz thought back to that morning, what she remembered was Max’s arms, holding her close to him. She remembered wanting to cling to him so much that as they kissed, she gripped his shirt in her fist, because maybe if she held onto him as tightly as she could, the moment would never end. She remembered how she couldn’t stop smiling, and how he was glowing, like all of his dreams had come true, because they probably had; he had been waiting his entire life for that kiss.
But that was before everything changed.
Now Max was the one who lay in stasis in his pod, day in and day out, with no signs of improvement.
For four months now, this had been her routine. She, Michael, and Isobel each had their shifts with him. Michael and Isobel left the cave to her in the early mornings and evenings. That gave her the full work day in the lab to conduct her research — a full 8 hour work day focused on her human job to maintain access to the hospital's laboratory; and then as many additional hours as she could manage to continue her alien studies, trying to find a way to bring Max back. Meanwhile, since neither Michael or Isobel had traditional 9-to-5 jobs, they would spend time with Max during the day while Liz worked.
Still, four months had passed and there had been no change in his condition, no matter what they tried. He had been given acetone shots, the antidote to her serum in various doses and concentrations. She and Michael had tried to develop some new compounds in the lab, hoping that they’d strengthen his electromagnetic energy. No matter how they tried to breathe some life back into Max, nothing worked. At this point she and Michael were running out of new ideas of ways to try to coax him out of his self-inflicted coma.
They had Kyle come in to check his vitals weekly, but Max’s medical outputs had remained consistently negative. If they relied on human science to regulate him, he’d long have been declared dead. But Isobel managed to successfully enter his mind each time that she tried, and she insisted that he was still alive. She claimed to see incremental improvements in his mindscape, small as they may be. But whatever was happening to Max on the inside never once showed on the surface. He still appeared completely lifeless to Liz.
Which is why Liz froze in place, startled, when she walked into the cave that Tuesday morning to discover that without warning, everything had changed.
As always, her eyes went straight to his pod to visibly check on Max. Normally she would walk over to him, place her hand on top of his pod, and say hello to him first thing, sometimes even pressing a light kiss to the membrane over his forehead. She would typically then settle down in the lawn chair to drink her coffee, eat her breakfast, and tell him about whatever she did after she left the cave the night before.
But when she walked in that morning, pausing to let her eyes adjust to the dim light of the cave, she immediately knew something was wrong.
Max's pod was empty.
A quick, frantic scan of the cave and she found him. He was sitting in the far corner of the cave, hugging his knees to his chest, completely naked, and shivering violently.
“Max…” she gasped, as she hurried over to him.
He didn’t react to her voice, his face was buried in his arms so all she could see was the wild, unkempt curls of his hair. Liz pulled off the jacket that she was wearing — Max’s leather jacket — and wrapped it around his naked shoulders. Only then did he finally look up, their eyes meeting.
“Hi,” she said to him softly. He was silent, and there was uncertainty, and a little bit of fear in his eyes. Liz remembered how confused Isobel was when she first came out of the pod after six weeks. Max had been in stasis for four months, which was significantly longer. There was no telling how similar or different his reaction to the stasis would be compared to hers.
“Do you remember me?” She asked, since Max asked Isobel the same thing when she emerged from the pod. Liz waited for the flash of recognition that was only slightly delayed for Isobel as she recentered herself. It didn’t come. Max pulled the jacket around him to cover as much of himself as possible, but he continued to convulse from the cold air, and his eyes watched her with a weariness and mistrust that left Liz feeling off-balance.
Looking for a way to comfort him further, she reached out to rub his shoulders, hoping it would help warm him. He immediately stiffened at her touch, like he was flinching away from her.
She pulled her hands away and took a step backwards. "I'm sorry."
He still didn't respond. Max just kept silently staring at her, the fear deepening in his eyes. He stayed sitting in that fetal position, but kept pulling his jacket tighter around him for warmth. Or was it his armor? Was he looking for protection? From her.
“I have clothes for you in my car." Liz told him, mentally cursing at how uncomfortable her own voice suddenly sounded. "I’ll go get them. And I’ll call Isobel. She’ll be thrilled to hear that you’re awake.”
Liz bit down on the instinct to run away, tears stinging her eyes as she forced herself to walk calmly from the cave. She was prepared for Max to be disoriented after months of stasis, but she hadn’t expected his fear. Max was never afraid of her before. Cautious and weary, certainly, when he first revealed his secret to her, but he didn't once shy away from her.
She could only remember one other time that he had ever flinched away when she tried to touch him...that horrible evening in the diner, during the blackout. The night when she had admitted to telling Kyle his secret. The night that he confronted her about her feelings, while she pleaded with him to come clean since he was so obviously lying to her. The night where she told him that her feelings for him terrified her. She wondered if he understood that they didn’t anymore?
Once out of the cave, she started making phone calls. Isobel was not awake yet when Liz called her to tell her the news. Her voice was groggy, but it quickly jumped to life when Liz told her that Max was awake. “Call Michael and get down here,” Liz insisted. “Something’s not quite right with him. He needs you.”
She hung up the phone and hit the button to pop her trunk. But before grabbing the duffle bag that she had stashed in her car months earlier, just in case Max woke up, she slumped back, leaning heavily on her car, a shaky breath escaping from her lips as she let the relief rush through her for the first time.
Max is awake. He’s finally awake.
No matter how much his behavior in the cave worried her, she was still grateful to see him out of the pod. Alive… She sat there on the bed of her trunk, reassessing her brief interaction with him, trying to figure out what to make of it. He was borderline feral. Noticeably afraid of her. Silent. Confused.
But he was awake and this thing was finally going to be over. Maybe now she could finally get used to this new normal...a world with both Max and Rosa, alive and part of her life.
A life where the guilt over what he did for her wouldn’t be constantly chewing her apart.
~*~*~*~*~ Max ~*~*~*~*~
Everything was confusing and nothing made sense to him.
The world just felt wrong.
It started when he emerged from stasis, slipping from his pod to find himself in the cave -- naked, cold, and alone. He didn’t know what to do or where to go. He could distantly feel the presence of others. It was a whisper at best, the lightest touch of a familiar presence, barely even noticeable. But if he could feel them, maybe they could feel him, so he decided to wait.
Hours passed -- cold, miserable hours -- and then she showed up. There was something about her...a strange feeling of comfort filled him at the sight of her that he didn’t quite understand. He reached out to her mind, but there was a blank silence there that felt wrong and scared him. She was not like him. She wasn’t the presence he was waiting to come for him. She was something else.
But she gave him something to make him warmer, which helped. Her mind was closed though, and without connecting he didn’t know how to thank her.
When she touched his shoulders, it was unexpected. He tensed his muscles, because he wasn't expecting the familiarity from her. He was unsure how to react or what to do. She quickly pulled back at his reaction, like he had burned her.
She didn’t seem to feel him reaching out, calling out, at all. What is happening? Where am I? His mind was screaming out, begging for answers. But her mind remained a blank, dark wall that he couldn't penetrate. She couldn't hear the questions, so the only response was silence.
But, then she spoke... out loud … Her voice was soft and gentle, but her words were in a language that he didn’t understand. She turned and walked out of the cave, and he was suddenly alone again, still confused, but at least he was a little less cold. He pulled the warm layer tighter around his body and tried to disappear into it.
She returned after a few minutes, handing him a bag and saying more unfamiliar words out loud. He took the bag, and opened it to find clothes inside. He pulled them out and examined them. They seemed to be the right size for him. And there were socks and boots as well. He looked back up to her, but she was heading out of the cave again. His eyes followed her until she was out of sight, and then he slid the jacket from his shoulders and started dressing himself. Everything fit perfectly, even the shoes.
Once dressed, he looked towards the cave exit with trepidation. The cave felt safe. At least in this dark space, lit by the glowing light of the pods, there were a few things that felt familiar. He had no idea what was outside, other than her; the strange girl who was kind to him, but who he couldn’t understand.
He was thirsty, though, and his stomach growled. Looking around, there didn’t seem to be anything in the cave to help, so he pushed himself forward and stepped out of the cave, wincing as the bright sunlight pierced his eyes. He squinted, trying to adjust to the glaring sunshine. It took some time. When his vision finally cleared enough, he could see her sitting on the back of a vehicle down the hill a little way from the cave. She was watching him.
He stood there, frozen, their eyes locked even with the vast space between them. Again, he reached out with his mind and tried to connect with her. God, how he wanted to connect with her… Again, there was only silence, and it felt like a stab in his gut.
He ripped his gaze from hers and surveyed the landscape. It was beautiful. Dry, but lush. Brilliant blue skies with amazing streaks of white clouds meeting mountains on the horizon. It felt peaceful to him. Somehow, almost as familiar as the pods, but in a completely different way. It was similar to how he felt when he looked at her...even though she was strange, he knew that she mattered and he desperately wished he could talk to her. This place felt like that too. Important and meaningful, even while it was foreign and strange.
He crouched down and examined the ground beneath him, before eventually just picking up a rock and rubbing his fingers over it. He walked to the edge of the hillside, and threw it, watching as it sailed through the air and landed below. He could still feel the weight of her watching his every movement. Sighing, he dragged a hand through the scraggly mess of his hair, and headed down the path towards her.
As he approached she spoke again. The sound of her voice was soothing, but the words themselves still remained a mystery that left him feeling uneasy. He leaned against her vehicle, near her, but not too close to her. She said something else. The tenor of her voice was starting to change. Instead of trying to soothe him, she was starting to sound worried? Afraid maybe?
He was trying to think of a way to communicate with her, when a noise drew his attention away from her, and he looked up to see another vehicle approaching quickly, a cloud of dust trailing behind it.
He reached out with his mind and almost crumpled with relief. The familiar distant whispers that he had sensed earlier were getting closer and stronger. They were coming for him.
The vehicle had barely jerked to a stop, when the door flung open and a woman leapt from the driver seat and rushed towards him. She too yelled out loud a single word, one that the other girl had also repeated a number of times. When she reached him she flung her arms tightly around him in a hug, and with that first touch he felt their connection spring strongly to life. He could feel love, relief, but also pain and sadness from her. He reached out to touch her mind with his and sent his relief and confusion, as well as the wave of questions that were plaguing him.
Where are we? Who am I? Who are you? Who is she? What is she? What happened to me?
The other woman suddenly pulled back from the hug. Concern filled her eyes as she studied him carefully. He heard another voice say something, a male voice, and he looked past her to see the man that was like him. Rumpled clothes, curly hair, and also that familiar feeling. The woman answered the other man out loud, and then turned her attention back to him. She took his hand, and her mind responded, clumsily, like she wasn't used to communicating normally.
Four months in pod healing… missed you. She gestured at the man, and at herself. Family.
He turned to clasp hands with the man, to connect with him and try to figure out who his family was, where they were, what was happening to him. And the biggest question of all, who he was?
The sound of tires on gravel distracted him momentarily, and he turned to see the strange girl’s vehicle, speeding off into the desert. He wondered briefly at her sudden departure, but then the connection with the man — his brother — clicked into place and his focus returned to reuniting with his family.