Title: Changing Maxwell
Author: jAdEdPiLLoWcAnDi
Email: jAdEdPiLLoWcAnDi⊕yahoo.com
Category: Conventional
Rating: G
Disclaimer: No I do not own Roswell... not yet anyway
Author ‘s Note: Thanks to some of my favorite authors who have inspired and encouraged me: Melissa, Tracy, Kim, Danielle, Shayna.
Feedback: Please! Any kind, constructive criticism and suggestions of what you’d like to see most encouraged!
Summary: Maxwell Evans goes through an inevitable change

Chapter 1

Isabel Evans sat on the window bench in her new bedroom, looking intently at the street below. Watching the rain drops falling feverishly from the darkened clouds above. //How perfectly fitting. // she thought bitterly. //Our first day in our new life and its raining cats and dogs. Talk about an omen. // “Man, I hate rain!” she lashed out at nobody, wiping the tears from her face and focusing on the water streaming down her window in mini rivers. //Why does it have to rain? It’s nothing but an inconvenience, nobody likes rain! // but her thoughts were instantly contradicted when her gaze fell upon the three figures goofing in the middle of the street.

They looked to be around her age, but obviously had the maturity of kindergarteners. They were all wearing the classic-style raincoats complete with matching rubber boots and hats! Isabel couldn’t help but smile at the sight below her. The tiny, dark haired girl wore basic yellow, while the curly headed blonde sported fire engine red, and the lean, reddish haired boy between the two girls wore a bright, friendly orange. //How cute! // Isabel smiled. //I bet they’ve been friends since they were in diapers! // As she saw them jumping directly into puddles, purposely splashing each other and themselves, just having a giddy time. The sight brought fresh tears to the homesick girl as she recalled her old friends from Chicago. Quickly though, she was pulled out of her memories by a brisk knocking at her door.

“Come in.” she called out weakly.

“Hey Izzybelle, how you holding up?” Her brother asked with concern.

“I’ll survive. It just happened so fast. One minute we’re average city kids, the next we’re...” she drifted.

“You dear sister, have never been average nor have you been normal.” he teased, trying to change the subject, avoiding talk of the accident.

“What are you talking about?” she demanded.

“Hmmm...whatever could I mean? Head cheerleader, student council president since sophomore year, second academically in our class--” but he was cut off.

“I would have been first if it weren’t for my pesky twin.”

“You need to know what it feels like to come in second every so often. It’s good for your image, you know... perfectly rounded person.”

“Like you would know what anything but first feels like Maxwell.”

“I can’t help it if I’m better than everyone else.” he mocked, impersonating a girl from Isabel’s Chicago Squad.

“Thank heavens you’re not really like that! I’d die of shock if you became anything other than modest, shy, and helpful you. Not to mention that I’d die if I ever lived with someone from my clique.” she babied him, pinching his cheek like a little boy being praised.

“Oh yeah. Don’t think I could be Mr. Steroid, like the rest of your boyfriends?”

“That’s all over now, remember? No more crush boyfriends.” //No more heartbreak. // she added silently to herself.

“We could only hope. But I still think I could be one of those super jock types if I ever wanted to.”

“Do you now? And how exactly would you go about doing this?”

“Easy. Just let my grade point average drop eleven points, stutter a lot, smash other guys’ faces for fun, chuck loogies, and abuse my many obsessive girlfriends.” he counted off on his fingers.

“Jealous aren’t ya?” she fussed.

“Whatever. I just came in here to see if you needed any help unpacking your one million boxes, or moving furniture or something, because I’m all done.” he confessed.

“Unpacked your one million boxes of books already?” she mused, upon receiving a semi-hurt look, “But no thanks. You’ve moved every piece of furniture in this entire house already! You need to rest, relax those bulging muscles of yours!” she opted.

Satisfied, Maxwell left through the adjoining bathroom and closed the door soundly behind him.

***

“Yeah.” his voice crackled through the intercom.

“Delivery for a Guerin. Mickey Guerin.” the boy on the other end answered.

“I’m busy Alex. What do you want?”

“Come out and play!” Maria squealed from behind her friend.

“It’s raining! Are you crazy?” the crackled voice came again.

“Awww. C’mon Michael.” Liz piped up.

“Yeah it’s great out! And man, you could use some kind of shower. I can smell you from here! At first I didn’t believe Maria when she told me about your shower-phobia.” Alex improvised.

“That’s it. I’m coming down, and I’m gunna get ya! You’d better run!” he played along. “And I’m bringing the shampoo as a hostage!” [Cheers from the three below.]

A few minutes later Michael came down, sneaking up behind them and roaring. Making them all screech and cling to one another. Maria, being the first to recognize their attacker pounced on him, squeaking in her red rubber-wear and chased after him as he ran out into the rain, clad in nothing but old jeans and his rattiest Metallica t-shirt.

“My lady?” Alex gestured with his elbow to Liz.

“Kind sir.” she curtseyed as he held open the door and they skipped out, splashing in the puddles once more. Getting left in the wake of Michael Guerin and Hurricane DeLuca.

“Yee haw! Giddy up Spaceboy! Maria howled from her position on Michael’s back. Causing their two best friend spectators to smile.

“I think I need a little energy boost.” he suggested smiling, wanting a kiss.

“This should do!” she teased, plopping her red rubber rain hat atop his ridiculously spiked hair.

“Just what I needed!” he goofed, picking up speed until they were no longer visible to their two other best friends, due to the distance and the hill he just sprinted up. He began spinning around in circles, Maria giggling in delight from behind, until they collapsed in a huge puddle.

“Grrrrr! Michael! I’m soaked! It’s freezing out here!” she pouted.

“Let me warm you up, at least until the ambulance gets here.” he offered, lifting her to her feet and giving her a quick smooch.

“I’m still cold.” she whined, although her eyes sparkled. //I love these times. When Michael is just himself, a great big six-year-old! // Easily, he picked her up baby-style and carried her to a bench facing the sidewalk.

“I’ll keep you from getting hypothermia until Liz and Alex catch up.” he promised.

“Maybe we should get out of these wet clothes?” Maria snickered. Michael raised his eyebrows, used to the not-so-subtle hints by now.

And in return he huskily whispered, “just kiss me.”

Chapter 2

“Another one? When?” Isabel grilled

“The night before we moved.” he told her head bowed

“You waited three days to tell me?” she yelled

“It didn’t seem like the right time.” he tried

”Don’t give me that Maxwell. How old was she this time?”

“Same age as me. Always the same age as me.” he whispered

“You don’t think she’s just a figment of your imagination? Your feminine side personified?” Isabel pleaded

This time he got angry, “No Isabel! Why can’t you understand? Please just try!” his voice quieted, “I know she’s real, she has to be. And the events happening in the dreams, they’re real too. Its not just some random daily events, I feel exactly what she’s feeling. Every emotion, every tear I cry, every triumph I smile! I can still feel the anxious stomach ache from her first day of kindergarten. I can see the smile on her face upon receiving her first A+. I can feel the embarrassment on my face from when she went shopping for her first bra with some crazy girl. I can smell the cologne the guy was wearing during her first kiss... I recall the heartache when her Grandmother died. The hollow feeling she got after her first school dance, when she realized all she wanted in life was true life, I can still feel that hallow today, she still feels that hallow today.” he could go on for hours, days even.

“Yeah Yeah Yeah. I get it: all the historical events in a girl’s life. But tell me this, where is this girl then? And why exactly are *YOU* dreaming of her? Why not her soulmate or something.” Isabel challenged. But as soon as she did //Uh-Oh//

“Isabel...I think. I am.” he slowly informed her.

“You’re crazy!”

“People in love are crazy...”

“No. Absolutely not. Don’t even start. There is no way, you can NOT be in love with a dream. If anything you’re in love with yourself!” deep down though, she knew she was wrong, and it scared her to death. “So, what about this time? This dream?”

“Now before you say a thing, I know I’m contradicting myself... but I have no idea. It was, well it was no historical event, that’s for sure.”

“Describe it to me then” she pushed

“Okay. It took place in outer space, at first. There was this binary pair of stars, in the middle of the universe among billions of other stars. Then out of nowhere, came this gigantic black hole. It tried to suck the binary pair it, but it couldn’t. The stars were too strong. And just as quickly as it appeared, the black hole vanished. The two stars combined and turned into this brilliant shade of green, and it looked like... well it looked like it was dancing. The green light began floating downward in a raindrop. It landed on her. Her fingers actually, just her left ring finger I mean. And the raindrop/green light thingy spread across the pad of her finger and absorbed into her skin. That’s when I got a chance to look at the surroundings. She was walking in the most beautiful-”

***

“He was walking in the most beautiful green forest I’ve ever dreamed could exist. Almost like the one we took a camping trip to a few summers ago. Anyway, he was walking in the forest, down this path or nothing but red and pink rose petals. The light raindrops ceased, and white feathers floated down from the heavens as he walked. His hand out as if holding someone else’s. But I couldn’t see that person, just a shadowed outline of a woman.”

Alex sat there in awe. “Intense!” he blurted. “But what about feelings? Wasn’t there was this tidal wave of emotions every other time?”

Her face lit up as she continued, “Oh wow Alex! It was incredible! He was 100% whole, completely content. He felt safe (a security from the one beside him) for the first time in his life. Of all the years we’ve been together, me watching him grow through dreams, he’s never been so sure about anything!”

Alex sat across from one of his best two girl friends in the world, against his headrest, strumming his guitar thoughtfully. “That’s it. Destiny. You and this guy were created to be together. I’m sure the cosmos will rearrange, and the great gods themselves will move mountains, just to ensure you two are safely united. I’m just glad I have a front row seat at the movie of the century!” he smiled, happy for his girl.

“Alex! You’re so great! I couldn’t ask for a better friend! But you know I don’t believe in that kind of stuff. I’m a scientist.” she reminded him

“You’re also a cheerleader.”

She growled in response. “Even scientists need exercise.”

“Take up racquetball.” he laughed. “You, Elizabeth Parker are only denying the work of the fates. But I have faith... you’ll come around.” he finished the conversation, nodding in agreement.

***

“You, Maxwell Evans are only denying the work of the fates. But I have faith... you’ll come around.” she finished the conversation, nodding in agreement with herself.

Chapter 3

“Hey Michael, do you know when Maria gets on?” Liz yelled over the kitchen sounds of the Crashdown.

“I think around three, why?” Michael yelled back

“I gotta run an errand, new family in town.”

“No sweat, the four of us can go tomorrow since we’ve all got the day off. Like a welcome wagon or something.” he thought aloud.

“That’s what my dad thought too, but we shouldn’t all show up there together. They’ve got kids our age, and we don’ want them to get a cliquey or intimidating vibe.”

“Good call smart-girl, glad you thought about it so much.” he teased. “But I think you’re right. You should probably send Alex or Rea though, they’re the most friendly.”

“No, it’s a Crash thing, my responsibility.” she told him weakly.

“Ya know Liz, you really need a life. Party hardy, rock & roll, drink jack daniel’s, smoke a bowl, don’t wait for love, sex is alive! rock on, close your eyes and dive! Because this responsibility crap is getting really old real quick.”

“Hey!” she smacked his arm. “I do have a life, and I enjoy it very much, thank you! Besides, you’re my best friend, I guess chilling with you, Alex, and Maria don’t count as having a life anymore. And look who’s even talking, Mr. Purity. I’m not the one who’s dedicated my life to abstinence and promoting being straightedge.” she challenged.

“It just happens to be important to me that on my wedding night I give my wife a part of me that nobody else has ever had before. And it’s important to me that on my death bed I'll be able to say: I have never put any kind of recreational drug into my body, nor have my lips felt that of a bottle.” he recited.

“I think Maria will appreciate the wedding night part very much.” the giggling brunette said.

“Ya think?” he asked, eyes lighting up like a little boy in an ice cream parlor.

“Oh, I know. And besides, who else would be our designated driver at Tess’ Graduation bash every year?”

“I knew there was a reason you guys kept me around.” he smirked.

“Like we need any other reason. I mean you are a great big stonewall, oozing sarcasm. Who needs much more?” she sarcastisized. “Now gimme a hug you!” she cooed before squeezing him completely in her arms, then leaving to go back to work.

***

“C’mon Maxwell. Get off your lazy bum and help me cook breakfast.” a determined blonde twin demanded from her place, looming over his bed.

He just groaned and rolled over onto his stomach. “Later, okay?”

“Five more minutes! Mom and Dad left for Clovis this morning for the weekend, wanting to arrange things in their other office. And you and I need to talk.” Isabel said, while opening his blinds to let the light shine through his otherwise pitch-black room, receiving a slight yelp from her half awake twin. She then breezed out of the room, headed for their dazzling new kitchen.

Twenty minutes later Maxwell was lulled awake by the aroma of chocolate chip waffles and bacon floating in his room. He fumbled along his nightstand until his fingers grabbed hold of his glasses, and tiredly put them over his eyes. He padded down the hallway clumsily, still half asleep, and stopped atop the winding staircase, taking in the warm August morning. //How I love our new home. I hope this place holds some meaning. A key to my past possibly? A past that I thought I already knew... Secretly though, I know it was all an illusion.// As the word ‘illusion’ brushed over his mind he was bombarded with a rush of memories:

((Dream Girl at five))

((His first science laboratory.))

((Dream Girl’s first state science fair award.))

((The laboratory at his old school.))

((His prized lab project, catching fire.))

((Dream Girl’s Grandma in the hospital.))

((The hospital room he woke up in after the accident.))

((The look on his mother’s face as she told him of his project setting fire to the school. Of kids getting caught in the school, perishing along with the walls.))

((Dream Girl’s first nightmare.))

He was jarred from his flashback at the sound of cursing from downstairs. “Izzy, what happened?” he asked, looking at the hurricane of a kitchen he had just walked into.

“I... fridge... hot pan..” she stuttered.

Maxwell began to walk towards her, but instead went sailing as his foot connected with a melting stick of butter. He landed with a thud and heard a crunch. Opening his eyes to check around him, he realized the crunch must have been his glasses since he was now practically blind.

Isabel sat there, laughing uncontrollably at his misfortune.

“Did the fridge explode?” he demanded crossly.

“IT was an accident. I’ll go buy some cleaning materials while you shower. Then we’ll find somewhere decent to catch breakfast.” she decided, picking up the keys and exiting through the side door of the house.

Cautiously, Maxwell helped himself up and ventured up the stairs once more. He reached the bathroom and undressed, just as his hand touched the water nozzle, he heard the doorbell faintly chiming. Angered greatly, he wrapped a small emerald green towel around his perfectly tanned waist and slowly made his way to the grand foyer. He ripped open the front door, ready to give who ever was on the other side a piece of his mind.

He could not see his visitor, due to the lack of glasses, but for some reason his breath caught in his throat and his heart sped up. Why on earth did the person on the other side of the doorway feel so familiar? He was in Roswell, New Mexico, a lonely soul. He knew nobody here. //It’s a woman. How do I know that? Why does she feel so familiar? Like we’ve met before.// It’s a shame he couldn’t see her face. Shock painted all over it as the familiarness hit her too. And the pink in her cheeks brightened when she took in his outfit, or rather...lack of.

//I’ve got to speak!// she chastised herself. “Hello. My name is Liz Parker. My family owns the Crashdown Cafe here in town. I just wanted to welcome you and the rest of your family, so I brought a Marsberry Pie, compliments of the Crash. You should stop by some time, it’s the major highschool hangout, the address is on the box if you want.

“Liz Parker” he uttered aloud. “Thanks for the pie, Liz.” //Ahhhh. That feels so right coming out of my mouth...but why? Who is she?//

“I’d better be getting back to work. But you should really stop by. I work almost everyday, well I guess because my family owns it and everything. My dad’s just his really big-” she rambled.

“Yeah, I will. Stop by. Nice meeting you. And uh...thanks again.” he flashed her a killer smile that he was unaware he had, causing her to nearly trip down the stairs.

“Sure, no problem.” she obliged, after catching herself from an almost embarrassing moment. And walked down the stone walkway to her father’s old rusty college car.

Maxwell closed the door and practically sprinted to the shower. He needed the scorching water on his back, neck and face. //Have I really just fallen in love? With a girl I didn’t even see?// But her warm tone and equally warm aura ran through his veins like a relaxing waterfall. And in that moment he knew that this girl would be his everything, and he couldn’t help but smile.

Chapter 4

“What are you talking about a calm?” Alex asked again

Liz moved closer to him on the couch in the break room, “I just knew. River thunder went through my veins and I just knew he’d be my everything! I mean, it’s absurd right?!? I didn’t even see his face! My eyes were glued to everything below his neck. Like that perfectly sculpted chest and abs. And the way that shade of emerald shaded his tanned skin,” she sighed. “What kind of guy answers the door in just a towel anyways? Especially a guy that desirable! Does he want me to faint at his doorstep?” she rushed, feeling a bit flustered, and very hot.

“You naught, naughty girl. Elizabeth Parker, I didn’t think you had it in you. But what about your dream guy?” Alex chastised playfully.

“Oh Alex! Oh my, I completely forgot! It was so strange. I was looking at his pecs when I noticed. He wears a pendant identical to the one Michael refuses to take off.” she related.

“Oh.” Alex squeaked, a little surprised at the serious news. “Weird...”

//Where could he of gotten it from? Michael doesn’t even know where his is from. Just that it showed up around his neck the night he fell asleep in the hospital. The night his parents died.//

***

“That’s the bizarre part Isabel! I got the same feeling from this, Liz Parker as the girl in my dreams. The feeling of completion... destiny.” he answered, letting his arm hang out of the passenger side window of their Jeep, strumming his fingers against the sun-warmed door.

“Do you think there’s any connection?”

“I can’t be sure. But as soon as I got in the shower I had this horrible rush of images. They were really unfamiliar, like another planet or something, and I got a lot of outer space pictures. Unfamiliar galaxies and stuff.” he told her quizzically.

“You’re a science nut. And you just woke up, you were probably still half-dreaming.” she rationalized.

“Oh come on! You know how peculiar all of this is. I mean, I have dreams about a girl my entire life. A girl I've never met or seen, or been reminded of (until now)... yet we have a deeper connection than anything I've ever known.”

“Subconscious... feminine side” she pulled.

“Okay, try this then. I set fire to our entire school. As I recall the report said: “He was running through the halls with a giant torch touching it to anything flammable.” And the only part of that day I can remember was going into the science lab early to set up my project. But I can’t even remember what the project was about.”

Silence.

“It was an attack of schizophrenia. Doctors said it was bound to get passed down somewhere from Grandpa Ralph, and it was caused early in you because of stress.” she retold him.

“Listen. I’ve never been stressed out that horribly for an attack of schizophrenia before in my life. I never have accidents in the lab. And I would never go running down a hallway, torch in hand. And even if for some psychotic reason I did, I would remember.” he raged.

“Amnesia, temporary insanity, I don't know, I'm not the doctor!”

Silence.

“What was my science project?”

“Excuse me?” as a look of shock, then devastation passed over her features.

“Well, if I was there early to set up this huge science project of mine, I'm sure you, mom, and dad would know about it. So tell me, since I have amnesia and can’t remember, what was I so stressed out about?” he said slowly, carefully. Basking in his victory.

“You wouldn’t tell anyone, you wanted it to be a surprise.”

“That’s a lie.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Because I can feel your panic, and your pain, and your fear, and your guilt. It’s all coming off of you in huge tidal waves through our connection.” he told her, voice raw with concern. “Why wont you tell me what really happened?”

“Everyone makes mistakes.” she whispered.

“One more time.” he asks, as he missed what she said the first time.

“We’re adopted.” she states, glancing over at him.

“What?!?”

“We’re adopted. When we were 15, you were away for the summer at a science camp in Maine, and I was at home running wild with my friends. One night, I got food poisoning and stayed home, sick as a dog. Mom and Dad came home from work early to take care of me, but an argument erupted, and they went to their room early. I shared a wall with them...” she told him, floating through her memory.

“Okay....”

“I heard them. I heard it all. They were on a road trip to California, enjoying their youth. On their way home they wanted to see the desert, so they went through New Mexico. They stopped in a little town to eat and spend the night and on their way out of town they found us. Two seven years old, butt naked wandering around in the desert. Butt naked except for this.” she said, showing him her ring. “And this,” she added, touching his pendant with the matching symbol. “We couldn’t speak a word of English. We kept babbling in some strange language, and clinging to each other for dear life. So they picked us up off the side of the road and drove us back to Chicago with them. Where we’ve been, until this week, when we came back to where we were found.” she finished. “We’re true Roswellians.”

“Oh. My. Lord.” he uttered, completely at a loss for words. But then they came, violently, “Why didn’t you tell me about this before?!?”

“Because. You were so happy, so oblivious. When I found out it killed me, I didn’t want it to do the same to you. I was protecting you!”

“Then why now?”

“Because I’m scared. All of this, these dreams, this Liz. You can’t be a skitzo. Grandpa Ralph isn’t our grandfather! The pendants aren’t his either. Where is this all going? Where are we from? Where are we supposed to be?” she cried, pulling over.

“I don’t know Izzybelle. I just don’t know.” he comforted her, pulling her close. As his own mind reeled for answers to the questions he has so long ago begun to ask.
...tbc...



}:O]
tiffany

**CandiGurl*ZanWorshipper*TessHater*DreamCrusher*AlexGriever*Kyles#1Kyoote**

I used to Love Roswell, now I just Love Roswell FanFic

KTRPA (keep the roswell pride alive)




[ edited 1 time(s), last at 12-Oct-2001 1:44:27 PM ]