Rating: G...I suppose.

Disclaimer: I don't own Roswell or its characters...excuse me while a wipe away a tear.

Summary: A Tag to Max to the Max

Category: All characters included.

Author's Notes: I do these because I like filling in the space between each episode. My first Tag was for UFO Convention, then for Crazy...now MTTM.

Feedback is always appreciated. I didn't continue with the story line because I am assuming the writers will do that Monday night.

Spoilers: Max to the Max

***

Liz sits in the back of the Jeep with her head on Isabel's shoulder, the sound of her muffled sobs emanate through the night air. She is not calm. She is not in control. She is not the typical Liz.

Isabel, not sure where her strength is coming from, comforts Liz. Isabel's mind takes her back to her and Max's first night in a real home. She and Max had always been able to comfort each other. Together they were able to quiet the other's fears and give one another strength. She thought of Mom and Dad. What do we tell Mom and Dad? What if we never see Max again?

Michael is speeding through the desert, now more lost than ever. Tess is beside him in the seat he usually occupies when Max is driving. He wants to blame Tess for all of this; he wants to blame himself, too. All of the stupid, dangerous, selfish things he has done to find Nasedo has now lead to Max being captured by the alien hunters...the alien hunters he swore did not exist. He knows that they're all thinking the same thing, but maybe if they don’t say it, then all of this won't be real. A single thought keeps running through his mind...what if we never see Max again?

"Michael, we should go to your apartment to figure out what to do about this?" Isabel suggests in a calm, but shaky voice.

"Call Alex and Maria," Liz whispers.

Isabel dials the Crashdown. "Alex..." Isabel inhales a ragged breath, as she struggles to hold back the tears that threaten to wreck her reserve. She slowly exhales, "Alex..."

"Isabel, is that you? Do you have Liz with you?"

"Um, yeah," she manages to answer.

"They have Liz," Alex informs Maria.

"Thank God!" Maria exclaims.

The tears blur Isabel's vision. She closes her eyes refusing to let them fall. She can't fall apart...yet. "Yeah, we have Liz, but..." Isabel breathes in another deep breath.

"But what?" Alex inquires.

"It's Max..."

"Max..." Alex repeats curiously.

"What about Max? Is he hurt? What is it?" Maria's queasiness returns.

"Pierce...he has Max." A lone tears rolls down her cheek as she finally admits that her worst nightmare has become a reality.

Alex's expression tells Maria that something has gone horribly wrong.

"Where are you now?" Alex asks.

"Um..." Isabel chokes back her tears, "meet us at Michael's apartment."

Maria already has her keys.

"We're leaving now," Alex quickly states. "Isabel, it's going to be all right. We will find him. I promise."

Alex and Maria rush out of the café.

As the Jeep pulls up to the apartment, Alex and Maria are waiting. Maria rushes over to Liz, wrapping her up in a consoling embrace."Maria..." is all Liz can say.

"Sh...Sh...It's going to be okay," Maria whispers as she caresses Liz's back.

Michael is entranced at the sight of these two friends. Maria's words to Liz are the same words that she whispered to him in her room on that rainy night when it seemed that his entire world was crumbling around him. Now, because of his selfish, inane search for truth, home, and family...everyone's life was in shambles. Now, part of the only family he has ever known was gone.

He notices Isabel, in Alex's embrace, succumbing to the tears that she had held back all night.

He runs his fingers through his hair and sighs. Michael glares at Tess. "You should leave," he coldly states.

"Michael, I am a part of this, too! In fact, I am more a part of this than those three." She looks pointedly at Alex, Maria, and Liz. "I belong with Max...no one else. And I can help you find him."

"No," Liz shouts. She moves away from Maria and proceeds toward Tess. Maria tries to stop her, but Liz quietly assures her that she is fine. "I belong with Max, not you. Max chose me...he wants to be with me. We..." Liz motions toward the others, "...will find Max and bring him back to us...back to me."

She runs into the apartment Alex and Maria follow her. Michael and Isabel glare at Tess as they also follow the human trio into the apartment, leaving Tess standing on the sidewalk, alone.

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