Snapshot · (Roswell Fanfiction) · √

14. Caught on Tape

The Evans' Residence
Thursday afternoon
(2000) Max is 15

Max followed the muffled sounds of the TV into the living room. A frown of confusion settled across his young features as he laid eyes on the TV-screen, where one toddler was in focus.

He sat down next to his mother on the couch, his eyes not leaving the screen. "Hey, Mom."

As soon as he sat down, his mother placed an arm around him and pulled him into her side with a smile. "Hello stranger. Where've you been?"

Max put his head on his mother's shoulder, sinking into her comforting warmth. "Just out. What are you watching?"

"Well," his mother's calm warm voice poured into his ears, "I was cleaning out the small cabinet underneath the TV..."

She grew quiet when her son pulled away from her slightly to look at her quizzically. "You were cleaning?"

"Hey," Diane warned with an amused smile. "Don't be cheeky to me, young man."

He shrugged casually, sitting back again. "Just seemed a bit...odd."

She laughed warmly, which made Max smile. Her laugh could make anyone smile. "It does happen occasionally. Who do you think takes care of the laundry in this house?"

"Me," he said simply.

"Right. Well, I vacuum."

"Mom, dad does that."

"Sometimes I cook."

"Not to be mean, but your cooking sucks," Max said with a grimace, watching the video camera follow the unsteady run of a two-year-old which he suspected was a younger version of himself.

"I bake," Diane said indignantly, trying desperately to come up with something she does around the house.

Catching onto her pretend agitation, he put his arm around her and placed a kiss on her cheek. "That you do. The best cakes."

"Thank you," Diane exclaimed followed by, "I always knew there was a reason why I love you the most."

"Don't let dad hear that. It'll hurt his feelings."

"I was talking about my kids."

He chuckled. "Mom, I'm your only child, remember?"

She smiled at him and proudly ruffled his hair. "Exactly my point."

"Mooom!" he complained as she completely messed up his hairstyle.

"Touchy," Diane mused and then exclaimed, a finger pointing at the TV screen. "Oooh, isn't she a beauty?"

Max's eyes caught onto the dark-haired toddler sitting in the sand. "Who's that?"

Diane rolled her eyes, which he didn't see due to his position next to her, and answered with a secret smile, "Little Lizzie Parker. In all her glory."

Max straightened slightly, his full attention on the little girl. "You have videos of Liz when she was a baby?"

"I know," Diane said slowly. "I had completely forgotten that I had this. This is, if my memory doesn't fail me, when you met Liz for the first time."

He grimaced incredulously. "When she was a baby?"

His mother's smile widened, her head shaking from side to side in disbelief. She had never discussed the matters with her son, because being in the midst of his teen years she suspected a discussion like that might not go so well. But it was obvious to her that her son was quite smitten with the Parker girl. Diane wasn't sure how long ago it was now, but Liz had come by one day with Michael to pick something up and her son's face had been as easy to read as a baby's picture book.

"Yes..." She laughed as her own son, at the time of the meager age of two, ran into the picture and plumped down opposite Liz. "Oh, I remember this."

"What?" Max said distracted, watching Gabriela smile into the camera as Liz rapidly moved her chubby arms up and down with a happy exclamation of 'gooo', an action that almost propelled the purple pacifier out of her mouth.

Gabriela's arms were around Liz's body, supporting the small body while Liz scooped up sand and spread it everywhere with gleeful laughter.

Max was unconsciously smiling as he watched Liz and then saw himself reach forward and pull the pacifier out of Liz's mouth.

He heard his mother laugh next to him and his smile widened. He was expecting Liz to cry as he removed the pacifier, but apparently Liz was not as feisty back then as she was now.

The baby's laughter came to an abrupt stop and she watched with big eyes as Max scrutinized the pacifier before putting it back into Liz's mouth.

"Look at you. You're so cute," his mom said.

Max chuckled as his younger self just a few seconds after replacing it took the pacifier from Liz's mouth again. Young Liz stilled and looked at the boy that was stealing her pacifier while Max turned the thing over in his hand and then with a determined look leaned forward and put it back into Liz's mouth.

Diane laughed again. "You're hilarious. And Liz is not saying a peep."

"She's changed a lot since then," Max said with a small smile.

"Maybe this was when she got fed up with you?"

"Mom," Max frowned, the smile still present on his lips, "We just met. Are you saying that Liz hates me now because I took her pacifier when she was one? At least I gave it back to her."

Just then Max took the pacifier again and Diane chuckled. "You were saying?"

Max sighed. "How many times do I do that?"

He watched little Max now put the pacifier into his own mouth for a couple of seconds, wonder across his face, before pulling it out and putting it back into Liz's mouth.

"If I remember correctly, I had just removed your own pacifier a couple of months before that," his mom said. "So maybe you kinda remembered what it was and wanted to give it a go again."

"That's kinda gross," Max said. "It's like sharing a toothbrush."

"Sharing is caring," his mother quipped good-naturedly.

After having replaced the pacifier yet another time, young Max pulled it out again and older Max sighed. "Come on, give it a rest already."

"Oh," his mother said as Liz's face now crumbled and she started crying. "Liz seems to think so too."

They both laughed as little Max quickly put the pacifier back into Liz's mouth, effectively silencing her.

"You saved the day," Diane said.

Her now 15-year-old son gave her a bright smile, which reinforced something she had known since the day he was born. He was going to have the girls falling all over him. If they weren't already doing so.

"I always do, Mom," he answered and gave her another peck on the cheek. "I'm off."

Diane watched him stand up and told him seriously, but with glittering eyes, "You don't have any time for your old mother anymore, do you?"

"I always have time for you," he answered. "Just not now."

She sighed, shaking her head in bemusement. "Where're you off to?"

"Football."

"Try not to break any legs."

"I won't. Love you."

She waved him off. "Yeah yeah. Stop sucking up and buy me some chocolate instead."

"Consider it done."

As he walked towards the door, his mother yelled after him, "And don't tear any ligaments or crush any knees. And protect that head of yours!"

"Bye Mom!" Max said with emphasis, laughter in his voice as the words were cut off by the closing front door.