Loyalty

Author: Debbie
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Hi! (waves to the watching WB and Melinda Metz). I'm just borrowing your baby here, don't claim to own a thing…
Distribution: Guilty Pleasures (if you want it). All others please ask first.
Author's Note/Summary: I wanted to weave all (well, a lot) of the subtle and not-so-subtle Liz/Kyle moments into a single story. Spoilers through WAF.
Feedback: This is my first Loyalist fic. Feedback -- both positive and constructive -- is greatly appreciated. Even short notes mean a lot -- please take the time.

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Over the Summer, she started dating the class jock. Who would have thought it? Quiet, studious Liz, and the Athlete of the Year. But Kyle was much more than just a coordinated group of muscles. He was funny. He was gentle. He was definitely smart, in his own way. And he was reliable. Their relationship wasn't one of strong passion or off-the-chart fireworks, but they had fun together. He became a quietly important, nay, crucial part of her life.

And then September came.

She was shot, she was healed, and almost against her will, a connection was forged with her healer. A tall, solemn stranger from "up north" captured her attention. Kyle was a little hurt, but she didn't worry too much about it. She knew he would always be there.

And he was. Over the next several weeks, despite her unexplainable fascination with Max, Kyle stood by her. Made her laugh when the stress of keeping secrets was almost too much. And then it happened -- an event worse than the shooting. Her grandmother was stricken. But Kyle continued to be there, holding her hand at the hospital even as the other boy tried to shoulder his way in as well. True, Liz had called Max, but she had called for the sake of her grandmother, not for herself. She hadn't expected him to come, anyway, and she was unprepared for their reactions.

In the stress of the moment, something within her caved. It was too much. Too much attention, too much competition, too much strife. One of them had to go, so, ironically, she chose to sacrifice the one she was most sure of: Kyle. Max was too new, too skittish. He needed her help, and she needed to learn about him. If she had chosen Kyle, Max would surely have left. But Kyle would remain.

Sure enough, Kyle stayed. Stayed a little *too* close for a while -- following her and her new compatriots as they crossed state lines and legal lines. He eventually pulled back -- but not away. Never away. No, he was always there, always aware of her, as she was of him. He tried to hook up with Vicki Delaney once, and her heart contracted as she saw them making out in the halls, but she dismissed the blonde girl as being a non-entity. She knew Kyle … didn't she? He'd never go for a ditz like that … right? It wasn't the same at all as … as whatever she had with Max. Not at all.

When Kyle injured his leg, she went to him, bringing pie and a smile, trusting on their unspoken bond. But he did not respond to her overtures, and for the first time, she worried that she might have misjudged the extent of his loyalty. Sleepless nights followed -- tears shed in the lonely silence of her room, where only she would see them. No one else would understand why she had made the sacrifice she had, nor would they understand that she'd still held the blue-eyed athlete in complete trust all this time. To lose that hurt more than she could say.

But then, after a few painful days had passed, he spoke to her again. He apologized. She apologized. They talked about ankles and basketball, but she knew much more was spoken underneath. They reconnected. All was well.

Even that ridiculously embarrassing scene the night of her blind date brought a smile to her lips. It reassured her that he was still around, even if he was drunk and pawing through her underwear drawer.

He was always there for her. In the background, but there. All throughout that roller-coaster Spring. And then, suddenly, she almost lost him. Appropriately, or ironically, he suffered a mirror injury -- a bullet. And, ironically, or appropriately, the same person who saved her stepped in to save Kyle as well. Thank god, thank god, thank god. It was all she could think of when she saw Kyle take in that life-giving breath, when his face returned to pink from the horrific gray it had been moments before. She'd been unable to speak throughout the entire ordeal, her terror had been so great. All she could do was look beseechingly at her savior, begging him to be Kyle's savior as well. How could there be a world without Kyle? It was unthinkable. And, thankfully, she hadn't had to think it.

But in the months after Kyle's life was spared, she feared that perhaps she had lost him after all. Not to death. To Tess. She had feared for his safety at first, when the blonde girl had first planted her hooks in him, but she never thought he'd get serious about her. Nor did she initially consider Tess a real threat. Tess was after Max. That had been made perfectly clear. So why, as the new school year began, did she see Tess paying more attention to "Buddha Boy"? They lived together now, sure, but that didn't mean … It couldn't mean … But what if … What about the way they … ?

She could never bring herself to finish the sentence. But she tried harder to be more visible in his life. And it was only natural, when she needed help, that she go to Kyle for assistance. Not Alex. Kyle was who she needed, someone she could trust to pull off the scam without question. Despite the pain of the evening -- hurting someone she cared about -- she found an unexpected joy in talking to Kyle, in sharing their experiences. It felt good -- just the two of them. Tess who?

She would never forget how he had fought to protect her when the humans were caught by the time warp a few weeks later. She had worried about him just as much. When it was all over, and everyone was safe, she remembered rejoicing on the spot. Jumping into his arms, celebrating together, with Maria joining in. Reaffirming how, when they remained loyal to each other, they were able to accomplish incredible things, special powers or no.

But the reprieve was short-lived. As Fall eased into Winter, she saw him drawn back to Tess, back to the perky blonde girl who shared his life as she could not. She saw she was losing him. He came to her occasionally -- but more often than not, he spoke of his interactions with Tess when he did so. She hated these conversations -- they were almost worse than not speaking at all, and she tended to cut him off quickly. She even turned to Maria's delinquent cousin a time or two in an attempt to block out Kyle's unwanted words.

And then finally, unexpectedly, she was released from her bond. Without realizing the impact of his words, Max sat her down and told her that she should pursue what she needed to do, and that he'd always be around when she came back. He would be there. Her alien, her friend, no longer needed her to be present 24/7. She sagged against him in relief as he hugged her. No more sacrificing.

But she was afraid. It had been so long. Kyle was no longer the same person she had known back when they had first bonded. Would he still be there? Did he still think of her as she had always thought of him? What if he didn't? What if he had shifted his loyalties permanently -- to Tess?

There was only one way to find out. She picked up the phone.

"Hello, Kyle? It's Liz. Listen… you want to come over for a little while?… Sure, bring a movie…. Go ahead and pick whatever -- You know I trust you…"

End.