Rating: PG, perhaps even G

Category: Kyle/Tess

Spoilers: Destiny, Ask Not and Four Square

Summary: Not too big of a plot. Tess and Kyle have a talk, and he helps her figure things out.

Disclaimer: Roswell characters belong to Melinda Metz and Jason Katims. Dawson’s Creek characters belong to Kevin Williamson. And the bands/artists mentioned belong to, I guess they belong to themselves.

Editors Note: Download the song Weir by Killing Heidi, or one of the parts of this story won’t be too funny. BTW, I share Tess’ opinion of them. I’m just reacting the way a guy probably would.

Distribution & Feedback: Take it if you want, but don’t claim it. My e-mail address is delucaisdelightful@netzero.net

***

“Go to him.”

“What?” Joey is blown away.

“Go to him before I change my mind,” Dawson tearfully tells her.

A loud sniff can be heard from the Valenti’s couch.

Kyle walks in from the kitchen, eating an oatmeal cookie.

“Oh don’t tell me you’re crying over that crud again.”

Tess looks up with puffy eyes in response to Kyle’s voice.

“Dawson’s Creek is in no way cruddy. It’s rather deep. Which you’d know if you’d quit bitching long enough watch it,” she answers defensively.

“Or in your case, watch, tape, and re-watch. Man, it is beyond me how you can cry over something you’ve already seen a million times.” He comes and sits down next to Tess.

“I thought all this Buddha business was supposed to make you more sensitive.”

“I grieve over things that are real. Like human pain and suffering, the destruction of the universe. Not some dorky character’s fake problems.”

“I might buy that, Kyle, if I hadn’t seen you getting all misty-eyed during ER last night.”

He puffs up and gets a look on his face that’s meant to be tough, but appears rather goofy.

“I did no such thing. And even if I had, you wouldn’t know, you weren’t even in the room.”

A sneaky look crosses over Tess’s face.

“Oh but I did see you. I walked in the room and saw you. I even took a picture. So if you ever make another crack about my show, I’m not only showing it to Max and Michael, I’m also making copies for them.”

“You rat!”

“You think I’m a rat, Maria thinks I’m a hussy, seems like everyone has their own name for me.”

She means it in a kidding way, but it makes Kyle become serious.

“Look Tess, I’m really sorry about the way everyone judges you. If they knew you as well as I do, they’d see you’re nothing like they think you are. You are a really sweet girl, and I wish everyone would look close enough to notice that.”

She looks up at him, eyes wet once again and glistening.

“Thank you, Kyle. No one has ever made the effort to discover that side of me. It means so much to know you thought I was worth it. Even after I was so cruel to you that time you took me to the library.”

He shrugs his shoulders.

“Ancient history. Besides, you looked so cute in that little skirt, it didn’t matter.”

He nudges her with his elbow. In response, a blush begins to lace itself onto her cheeks.

They sit there, just looking at each other, until it begins to get embarrassing. To break the moment, Tess walks over to the stereo.

Picking up three CD’s, she asks; “So what’ll it be? Ginny Owens, Sara Evans, or Killing Heidi?”

“Ew, chick music! Spare me.”

“Hey, don’t tell you don’t adore Killing Heidi?”

“You mean that Scottish band with the girl that sounds like a cross between Minnie Mouse and the Olsen twins?”

Tess, looking indignant, puts her hands on her hips.

“They happen to be Australian, and there isn’t a single thing wrong with Ella Hooper’s prefect voice.”

Kyle lets out a snort in response to the word perfect.

Trying to look effete, he begins to sing Weir in a squeaky, high voice.

“Will you forfiiilllll your dreeeaaams? Not as ea-sy as it saayyeeeems.”

In an even sillier voice, he sings (in the loosest sense of the word) the next verse.

“Hauwa ei, hauwa ei, yaaahouuw. Hauwa ei, hauwa ei, yaaahouuw.”

Whap!

She smacks him on the arm with a CD case.

“Ow!”

“Believe me, you had it coming. No one makes fun of my gal.”

“Man, you make it sound like you’re in love with her.”

Tess’s irises take a long examination of her eyebrows.

“Is this like the 11th grade version of, well then why don’t you marry her?”

“Tess Harding, are you calling me childish?”

“Hey, if the shoe fits…”

“Take it off and beat some sense into yourself with it.”

Deciding on Killing Heidi’s album, simply to piss Kyle off, she puts it in the stereo, presses play, and returns to the couch.

“You’re pathetic, Kyle.”

“Me, pathetic? Refresh my memory, what’s in your back pocket?” He asks, knowing the answer.

“Nothing.”

“Oh. Nothing, huh? Then I guess you wouldn’t mind if I took a peek for myself, would you?”

“Don’t you dare!” She gives him a look that reiterates that command.

“Aw, c’mon. It’s not like there is anything in there, is there Tessy?”

He makes a play for her back pocket. She swats his hand away before he can reach her. Then she sticks her hand in her pocket, pulling out what’s in there.

“Alright, alright! Here!” Tess slaps a small, framed picture of Max in his hand.

Looking at it, Kyle’s face changes from challenging to compassionate.

“Why do you put yourself through this pain? You realize you’re only making harder on yourself.”

Her tone is soft now, gentle.

“I’m aware of that. I know that any chance there might have been of a relationship with Max, I ruined. But there is a part of me that can’t let go. The Max I was married to in a past life, I’ll never see again. This is my way of holding on to him.”

“Tess, all that is over now. I’m sure you think this is a way to hold onto your life with him, to remember him. But it’s also a way to have a constant reminder that the man in the picture is not the same one that loved you. They are two totally different people. And as long as you have that photo, you are going to hurt every time Max acts like the person he is, and not who he was with he was with you.

The only way you can draw the line between the two Maxs, is to get rid of this picture.”

When Tess finally looks over at Kyle, he sees a single tear cascading down her left cheek.

“I know it’s the right thing to do, I just don’t think I’m strong enough to do it.”

He wipes away the tear with his finger, and gives her a reassuring nod.

“Yes you can. We’ll do it together.”

In barely a whisper, she answers him.

“Alright.”

Standing up, he takes her delicate hand into his, and leads her to the kitchen.

He takes the pitcher off the blender, fills it with some water, and re-attaches it.

Opening up one of Tess’s hands, he places the picture in her palm, and closes her fingers over it.

She gives him a weak smile. Slowly, she opens her hand, slides the photo out of the frame, and suddenly Max’s face peers out at them from underwater.

She just stands there for a moment or two, gazing thoughtfully at the picture.

Kyle finally squeezes her shoulder and tenderly asks her; “You ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Would you like for me to do it?”

She shakes her head.

“Okay. But if you change your mind, I’m here.”

He gives her shoulder another squeeze.

She lets out a long sigh. Then, puts on the lid, and hits the start button. What was once a square of paper, is quickly becoming confetti.

After Max’s picture makes it to the pulp stage, Tess finally hits the off button.

Kyle reaches over, takes the pitcher off the blender, and pours the contents into the sink’s drain. He turns on the water, turns on the dispose-all, and suddenly everything in the blender has disappeared.

Tess hasn’t moved from her spot in front of the blender. She remains there, watching the whole thing. Meanwhile, unconsciously running her thumb around and around the picture frame.

Afterwards, he walks over to her, embracing her small frame.

Completely spent, she practically collapses in his arms. He gently strokes her silky hair.

They remain like that for quite some time. Neither of them wants the moment to end.

When it finally does, they walk back into the living room, and plop down on the couch. Where they open themselves up into a conversation that lasts for hours.

Jim comes in three separate times to tell them to go do homework. Finally, the third time, they listen.

Neither one of the two teens ever forget anything about that night. And Kyle never again makes a crack about Dawson’s Creek.

Back to Area 51 (Section I)