A Thief and a Liar! CC (TEEN) Complete 5/2/06

[Duchess67]

Title: A Thief and a Liar!

Rating: TEEN

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything to do with Roswell, just borrowing the characters for a little plot of my own in order to change something I didn’t like about the series. Please don’t sue me, I’m beyond broke now, so it wouldn’t do you any good.

Author's note 1: I thought I was waiting to post this until I heard from tracie, but got ordered by Margo to post it without changing anything. Sorry Tracie! Let me know if I screwed up anywhere?

Author’s note 2: I realize some of the stuff in this fic really doesn’t mesh with canon, but keep in mind I did that on purpose, not through lack of knowledge, okay? :-)

Summary: Liz remembers something important before it’s too late and baby Zan is gone from their lives forever.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Tess is back and all Liz wants to do is slam her into a wall repeatedly. When Liz sees Max holding little Zan for the first time, her heart is stricken with a yearning to take the child into her own arms, wanting the boy to be her son, not Tess’ and the feeling is so strong she has to turn away. Instead she focuses on her anger, but allows Max to talk her out of hurting the scheming little witch any more.

Learning about the danger to them all due to the way Tess and Zan arrived, all emotions have to be swept aside in favor of finding a solution to this huge problem. Liz pointedly doesn’t touch the baby and tries not to even look at him.

* * *

After Tess’ spectacularly destructive death…

Max is about to hand over his son to his mother Diane who, along with his father, are going to take the boy to his new adoptive parents. Reluctant to part with Zan just yet, he pauses when the boy frets and reaches for the young woman by his Daddy’s side.

Liz leans down to kiss the child goodbye on the forehead and gets the shock of her life. Images flash into her mind. {Looking up to see Tess standing beside her where she lay on the floor of a supply closet inside the airport, Nicolas kneeling by her side, holding his hands over both young women’s abdomens, a bright glow emanating from them. Liz can’t move, or speak, but inside she’s screaming with terror and writhing at the hybrid’s betrayal.

The glow fades and Tess speaks, “I’ll give Khivar what he wants and I’ll get what I want too.” She pats her belly, “Thank you Liz, for providing the one little ingredient to make this plan work.”

At the look of incomprehension in Liz’s eyes she chuckles evilly and leans closer, “Thanks to the idiots that made us, I’m barren, but you’re not. One of your eggs is now in my womb and I’m about to go seduce Max so that he can make me pregnant.”

Nicolas snarls, “Shut up and get moving or you’ll be too late. The egg won’t be viable for long and I don’t want to have to do this again. It’ll be anywhere from a few months to a year before she can possibly get back bits and pieces of memory from tonight, but telling her anything is still too risky.”

Tess frowns and sneers at him, but still leaves the room, intent on her mission.

Nicolas looks down at the furious brunette, “Now let’s make this whole thing disappear for you. It’s really too bad I can’t play with you a little bit, but there can’t be any unexplained bruising, now can there?”

It’s as if a dark curtain falls over Liz’s eyes and the next thing she knows she’s standing in the sunlight beside Max and baby Zan again. Gasping for breath, it’s as if she’s coming to the surface of a pool after a really long dive and she can’t seem to get enough air. She sobs and tears start to flow down her cheeks. Finally managing to croak, “Oh my God!” She grabs her boyfriend’s arm in a vice-like hold and doesn’t let go.

Max is immediately concerned, “Liz?”

Liz freezes again as she gets another image in her mind and realizes she was being mindwarped by Tess, again, when they all learned Khivar had rejected Zan because he was human. She knew she was being forced to tell everyone that it made sense for him to be Earth normal even though both his parents were alien hybrids, that it was basic genetics and everyone believed her because of her strong science background.

Stifling a scream of rage at not getting the chance to kill Tess herself, Liz looks up at Max, her expression pleading. “We can’t give him up, Max!” She takes the baby from him before he can stop her and holds him close. Whirling around she walks back toward the house.

Confused, “What? Liz, we talked about this, we’re too young to be parents and our lives are much too dangerous. He’ll be better off if he gets to live a normal life.” He follows her back up onto the porch.

Phillip and Diane come up on the porch too, confused, but listening instead of asking questions.

Liz sits down on the bench by the front door, “That was when I thought I had to let you make the final decision because he was your son alone. Now that I know the truth, we need to rethink everything.” She sits Zan in her lap and makes funny faces at him so that he giggles.

Zan squeals with laughter, grabbing Liz’s hair on either side of her face and pulling himself into her neck, snuggling happily. She cuddles him and hums a little before looking up into Max’s eyes and answering, “Tess was nothing but a thief and a liar. He’s my son too, Max. I remember now what she did, with Nicolas’ help.”

Max and his parents sit in awe and shock as Liz tells them what happened that night and how she was made to forget, her anger muted by the wonder of holding her son in her arms at last.

Something inside Max loosens, like a knot coming undone and he sits down beside the woman he loves, joy welling up until his smile stretches from ear to ear. “He’s ours?” Frowning for a moment, “I’m gonna have to kill Nicolas for doing that to you, but Zan’s really yours and mine?”

Liz just nods, still sniffling a little, but happy all the same now that the truth has been revealed. She cuddles her son and Max pulls both of them into his lap.

“I’m just sorry that girl is already dead because now I want to wring her neck!” Diane’s vehemence startles her husband and son. “What? Don’t look at me that way. If someone had done to me what they did to Liz I- .” She can’t continue because her anger is too strong.

Liz smiles gratefully at the woman and makes Max scoot around a little so that Diane can see her grandson better. Both women laugh when Zan starts blowing spit bubbles.

Phillip smiles dotingly on the entire scene for a moment, “I’ll go call my friend and let him know you changed your mind.” He hurries inside as if he’s afraid his son will call him back. He hadn’t wanted to lose his first grandchild, but it had been Max’s decision. After everything he and Diane had done to push the boy- no, man, away he wanted to do everything he could to support him now, even if it broke his own heart. He was so glad Liz got her memory back and Zan wouldn’t be leaving after all. Picking up the phone he starts to dial.

Back outside…

As she plays with her son, secure in the arms of the man she loves, Liz can now understand how she was able to forgive Max and help him in his quest to find the boy. It was because deep inside she knew Zan was her son too and now she was never going to let him go.

[majiklmoon]

Awwww April...welcome back to Roswell Sweetie! This was so good, and like I told you I've never seen anything like it before. good job

[Ti88]

great job. i like this idea better. diane was funny. oh if only the show had this much sense

[Island Breeze]

Wow! That was an interesting twist! Zan is really Liz's because it was her egg. Interesting! And very nicely done, April! :D I love a good ending!