Never Exist (CC, M/M)-CHILD ~{COMPLETE}~

[kalee57]

I haven't written anything since sometime before March. I thought I had all my Roswell stories out of me but I guess not. I started this story sometime last October and I just recently revisted it and made some major changes. It's not done yet but the words are flowing so if anyone out there likes it I doubt you'll have to wait too long for an update. This is set after graduation but the third season never happened and Alex never died.

Rating: CHILD

Disclaimer: I don’t own Roswell, and have no association with one who does.


“The time is now, Max. Antar is ready for your return. You and the rest of the Royal Four must return home. You need to go and ready the granolith for the return home tomorrow.”

Max looked around at the seven other teenagers gathered in Michael’s apartment and he asked the question of Brody/Larek that they all were thinking. “Will we ever be able to come back?”

“You were never supposed to stay on this planet so long, Max, but it just wasn’t safe to return until now. Your family wants you back and your kingdom needs you back.” Larek replied.

“So that’s a no, we won’t be coming back, right?” Michael asked.

“That is correct.”

“Is it only the Royal Four that can go to Antar? Is anyone else allowed to go?” Liz wondered of Larek.

“The granolith is only equipped for four people and humans as they are would not survive on Antar.”

“But we’re human, how will we survive?” This came from Isabel who was tightly gripping Alex’s hand.

“You have alien DNA also. Once on Antar your bodies will adapt. You mustn’t waste anymore time. You need to activate the granolith now. I must go, my human host is wearing down.”

Brody/Larek walked out the door, leaving the teens to stare at each other.

Max broke the silence. “I guess we should go activate the granolith.”
Liz got up to join Max but was quickly rebuked.

“We need a couple of hours, Liz. I’ll come back to your place as soon as we’re done. I’m sorry but I’m not sure exactly what’s going to happen when we start it and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Please understand.” Max looked around at the four humans who were going to be left behind. “We’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“You can stay here and wait, or maybe…” Michael’s voice trailed off as he saw the look on Maria’s face. “Maybe everyone should just leave. We’ll meet up again as a group tomorrow. I’ll be back soon, Maria.” Michael said as he stroked her cheek. “Maybe you could make some dinner, spaghetti maybe.”

Everyone headed towards the door as Maria sat down on the couch and buried her face in her hands. She was not going to cry. She loved Michael but people lost their loves all the time, she would survive. Survive yes; get over, maybe not, maybe not ever. Sighing Maria stood up and went to fridge to see if Michael actually had any food in his apartment. She wasn’t going to send Michael off feeling guilty for leaving. He was going to have great memories of their last night together, a night to last a lifetime.

Four hours later Maria sat dejectedly on the couch. Michael had yet to reappear and the tears that had threatened to spill all day were now rolling freely down her cheeks.

Hearing a knock at the door, Maria quickly wiped the tears off her cheeks and willed herself not to cry but her will quickly dissolved when she opened the door to a crying Liz and the sullen faces of Alex and Kyle.

“They’re gone,” Liz burst out as she entered the apartment. “I got sick of waiting for Max so I called Alex and we went out there but they were gone. The granolith chamber was empty. We didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.”

Maria couldn’t take it all in. She was never going to see Michael again. All the air left her body as Maria felt the ground wobble. Her eyes rolled up in the back of her head as she fainted dead away.

Maria came to a little while later, seeing her friends all staring at her worriedly.

“Hey, what happened?” Maria asked as she slowly sat up. “The last thing I remember was you telling me… Oh.” Maria gasped as she remembered why she fainted. “So what do we do now?”

“I called my dad,” Kyle replied. “He’s going to work on a cover story to make sure were all safe and free of any connection to the aliens. He’s talking to the Evans’ right now. I think he’s going to convince them to leave town, make it look like Max and Isabel moved away with them.”

“What about Michael?”

“There’s going to be a rumor spread that Michael and Tess left town together. No one’s going to question since they were both orphans and Michael didn’t exactly have a stellar reputation.”

“So it’s going to be as though they never existed, like our lives with them never existed.”

“I’m sorry, Maria, but this is the way it has to be, for all of us.”

FIVE YEARS LATER
Maria hurriedly threw her things in her bag and ran out the door. She was late for class, again. Running across the Julliard campus she ducked around people saying hastily mumbled excuse me's along the way. She made it to class with one minute to spare only to see the note on the door. The professor was sick, no class today. Maria decided to make the most of her free time by ducking into a coffee shop and relax. She should be working on her final recital but she just couldn't do it today, she just wasn't in the mood.

Maria was happy with her life. Graduation was three weeks away and Maria was debating what to do with her future, stay in New York or move to Los Angeles. She had spent the first couple of months after the Pod Squad left in a state of barely living but with the support of her friends and her mother she slowly managed to put her life back together. Liz’s gentle prodding had convinced her to apply to Julliard and Maria had even received a full scholarship. Liz spent a semester at home before going to Northwestern to study pre-med. Alex had joined her in New York, moving with her the year after graduation. He decided to study film at NYU while still playing with a new version of The Whits. Kyle was the only one of the four who had left the fall after the departure of the Pod Squad. Tess’ leaving hadn’t prevented him from taking a wrestling scholarship to The University of Wisconsin. He now taught health and was the wrestling coach back at Roswell High.

The humans didn’t talk about their missing alien counterparts anymore. Not that any of them had forgotten but they needed to move on with their lives. Liz occasionally dated, although her studies kept her busy. Alex had discovered that being in a band that actually had a groupie following was quite comforting to his ego. Kyle had briefly returned to his old ways of screwing every girl in site but was now in a relationship with a second grade teacher.

Even Maria had a boyfriend, the polar opposite of Michael. Todd was a fellow music buff, a piano player. They met after a recital two years ago, Maria had been singing and her accompanist on the piano had managed to knock of all her music on the floor right in the middle of a song. Todd had come up to her afterwards and offered his services. Maria hadn't been able to say no the baby blue eyes and curly blonde hair. They'd been inseparable ever since. Maria realized early on that he gave her everything Michael couldn’t give her. Maria wasn’t sure if she loved him, what she felt for Todd wasn’t what she’d felt for Michael but Maria wasn’t sure that she was capable of feeling that way about anyone ever again. They'd even talked about marriage, granted it was in that vague maybe someday in the future, but still it was the “m” word. Todd didn't freak out about the “m” word, Todd didn't freak out about much. Maria was thankful for an even-tempered boyfriend after three years of Michael.

Maria was sitting in the coffee shop, idly sipping her chamomile tea when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Maria? It's Liz."

"Hey, what's up? Studying for finals?"

"Uh, yeah.”

“That bad, huh? Well, if it makes you feel better, I’m slacking off right now. I was late to class but-"

“Maria!” Liz yelled into the phone. “Stop talking for one minute and listen. They’re back. Max, Isabel, Michael and Tess, they’re all back.”

Maria felt a chill go through her body. “What? Liz, I can’t talk now. I’ll call you back in fifteen minutes.” Maria hurriedly gathered her things and rushed out of the coffee shop. Ten minutes later she was back in the relative privacy of her dorm room.

“What do you mean they’re back?” Maria asked Liz without even saying hello.

"They just came into The Crashdown, my dad called."

"I don’t understand. Larek said they were needed back home, that he didn’t think they’d be able to come back.”

“I don’t have the answers but we can’t talk about this over the phone. Things have changed, Maria, but I still need to see him. I need some answers. I was planning on going home for the summer anyway but I can’t face Roswell with them in it without you and Alex and Kyle. I want you to come home. Please, Maria, I need you.”

After all that Liz had done for her, Maria couldn’t bring herself to say no to Liz.

“I’ll be there, Liz, you know I will.”

“Thank you. I’ve got to call Alex now but I’ll see you in three weeks for graduation. I’m sorry to drop all of this on you now but I thought you had a right to know.”

“It’s okay, Liz, you’re not the only one who needs closure.”

ROSWELL, THREE WEEKS LATER
"Oh honey, it's so good to have you home," Amy Valenti said as she hugged her daughter. "My smart college graduate."

"It's good to be home," Maria replied honestly. "You aren't angry that I decided to share an apartment with Liz instead of staying here?"

"You're twenty-three, you need your space. And I know you'll be here every Sunday for dinner, right?"

"Right, mom."

"Kyle will be here for dinner on Sunday and then we'll have the whole family here again, something that hasn't happened in a long time."

"I know. I'm really sorry about Christmas, mom, but Todd really wanted me to meet his family.

"I understand, you're growing up and I can't expect to have you all to myself forever. Is Todd coming to visit this summer?"

"In July, if he can make it.”

"What are you going to do after the summer is over?"

"After spending a glamorous summer working at The Crashdown I'm not sure there's much else left to do in my life. I'm not sure if I'm going back to New York or heading out to L.A. It kind of depends on Todd."

"Just don't give up your dreams for him. You almost did that before and I don't want to see it happen again."

Maria cringed, she hadn’t been home five minutes and Michael’s overwhelming presence was already invading her space.

"He's been here asking about you. I didn’t think he’d have the nerve to show up here after running off with Tess."

“Yeah, well, anyway, Liz is waiting for me in our new place so I need to go and get unpacked. I’ll be back on Sunday for dinner with you and Jim."


"Have you seen her yet?" Michael asked Max when Max entered their apartment.

"Who? Liz? No, not yet. Hey, we're getting new neighbors, I saw guys moving some stuff in next door. And we really need to thank Laurie again for the money, maybe we should cook her dinner or something."

"Sure, whatever, “ Michael dismissed the thought with a wave of his hand and got to what he was really thinking about. “Not Liz, Maria."

"If I haven't seen Liz then I probably haven't seen Maria either," Max pointed out to his rather dense friend. I don’t know that either of them will want to see us, we did leave without saying goodbye.”

“Maybe if we just told them the reason, it’s not like it was our fault.”

“And if we tell them the truth and they discover that someone they trusted betrayed all of us, what good will it do?”

“It will let them know that we didn’t make the choice to leave on our own.”

“But we did, Michael. We made that decision to go out to the granolith and prepare it to leave. We, I, made the decision not to bring them along because I thought something might happen. We made our decisions and now we’re going to have to face up to the people we left behind.”

“It’s not fair!” Michael yelled as he paced around the room. “We should have never attempted to go home. We died on Antar, we were given another chance to live, why couldn’t we have chosen to live our own lives this time around?”

Max understood Michael’s frustration, he was feeling the same way, but part of him was still king and therefore he had to think rationally.

“What we need to do now is try and live our lives the best we know how. Maybe that mean righting our past wrongs with the people we love or maybe that just means moving forward with our lives.”

“Live our lives the best we know how? All I know about my life is that I’m an alien and I spent a lot of time trying to learn about that and now that I know it doesn’t matter. The other thing I know is that I love Maria and now that’s probably gone, too. So now what am I supposed to do?”

“I’m sorry, Michael. I don’t know how to make this better for you.”

“You can’t, no one can. I gotta get out of here for a while. I know Izzy and Tess are expecting us at their place for dinner but I just can’t be there right now.”

“Michael, you are coming back, aren’t you?”

“Max, of all the times in my life that I’ve wanted to leave Roswell, now is not one of them.” For the first time in a long time, Michael smiled. “Relax, I’m just going for a ride, I’ll be back in a few hours, I promise.


"So this is the last of it?" Maria asked Liz as she glanced around at the boxes that were scattered around the new apartment.

"Yep, now we just have to unpack."

"It seems like so much trouble for just a summer."

“I know but I don’t think either of us could handle living with our parents anymore, especially with your mom and Valenti being newlyweds and all.”

“Yeah, so have you seen any of them yet?”

“No, but Dad said that he gave Michael his old job back and since we’re both working there this summer…”

“So we probably won’t be able to avoid them.”

“I doubt it, but it’ll almost be like high school again. You and Michael can fight and Max and I will give each other longing looks across the café.” Liz said with a grin.

“Can’t wait. I need to run and get a few things for the apartment, do you need anything?”

“You’re just trying to avoid unpacking.”

“Duh.”

“Some food would be great.”

“Food, excellent idea,” Maria mused. “I can do that, I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Maria picked up her purse and headed out the door. She spotted her neighbor leaving at the same time but wasn’t in the mood to be chatty with some stranger who was probably a weirdo anyway so she ducked her head and pretended to be very involved with looking at the floor. She’s almost made it out the door when a voice called out to her.

“Maria!”

Maria stopped dead in her tracks as she recognized the voice calling to her. She slowly turned around to the face of the voice that had haunted her dreams for years.

“Max,” Maria slowly drew out his name, blinking a couple of times to make sure it was he. “What are you doing here?”

“You knew we all came back, right?”

“I mean what are you doing in this building?”

“Oh.” Max grinned sheepishly. “Michael and I live here now. Tess and Isabel live in a swankier place on the other side of town. What are you doing here?”

“Liz and I live next door.”

“Liz is here? She’s next door? Right now?” Max asked excitedly.

“Yes, yes and yes.” Maria said with a grin. “Relax there, buckaroo. We’re here for the summer, we’re not going to disappear like…” Maria’s grin faded.

“Like we did, “ Max finished for her.

“Yeah. I have some errands to run so I’m just going to be going.”

“I’m sorry, Maria.”

“Max, I can’t talk about this now.” The tears were threatening to spill. Maria quickly turned around and ran back into her apartment.

“What did you forget?” Liz asked as she came out of the bathroom to be greeted by Maria sitting on the floor crying. “What’s wrong?”

“There’s no way to avoid them this summer, Max and Michael live next door. I saw Max out in the hallway. How are we going to manage this one?"

“I don’t want to avoid them, Maria.” Liz said quietly.

“What?”

“I don’t want to avoid them, Maria! Not my emotions about the Czechoslovakians and not the Czechoslovakians themselves. Part of me has been held back because of the way Max left. I wanted to be with him forever and when he left like that it was like he died, like all my memories of him never happened, like our feelings for each other never existed. But now he’s back and part of me feels like this is our second chance. I know there is no one else on this planet or any other for me. He’s the one, he never stopped being the one.”

“But you’ve dated other guys, I thought that meant you were moving on with your life.”

“I dated other men but they were just friends, they never amounted to anything more than that and I never wanted them to. I would have waited until I the day I died for Max to come back. I would rather live my life alone than live it with someone other than Max. Now you know the truth. And you should know that I’m not the only one who feels that way.”

“What? But I thought we were all getting better, I thought we’d all moved on.”

“Look at us, Maria, look at all of us. Alex surrounds himself with groupies because they only want one thing. Alex is such a great guy but he doesn’t give of himself to any woman. And Kyle, he’s in a serious relationship with someone but haven’t you noticed how much she looks like Tess? And Valenti has told me that she acts so much like Tess it’s uncanny. And you…”

“Me, oh no, I moved on with my life. I have boyfriend that I love.”

“Do you really love him? I mean really love him, like you loved Michael? Todd is a great guy but he doesn’t challenge you. You feel comfortable with him because he’s laid back and easy going but you know you’d be bored out of your mind if you ever did marry him. I know that being in love with Michael scared you because he felt so much but wasn’t it worth it? That’s how I feel about Max. All the scary stuff, all the pain and heartache was worth it because of the love we felt for each other. I still feel it and I hope he does, too. Have you forgotten all of those feelings? I know we agreed to move on with our lives but no one told me how to move on from the love that I have for Max. I don’t think it’s even possible to move on. It’s with me every time I breathe. I know you loved Michael that way, Maria, and I don’t think you’ve forgotten.”

Maria looked up at Liz from her place on the floor. “I have dreams about them, all of them. I have almost every night since they left. I didn’t tell anyone, it just didn’t seem appropriate.”

“What are the dreams about?”

“They’re about Antar. In my dreams I saw them all happy. Max and Tess were back together and Michael and Isabel were also. They’d forgotten all about us. I thought that somehow Michael was communicating with me, wanting to hurt me. It sounds crazy but that’s what it felt like.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Tell anyone? You’re not alone in this.”

“We were all just trying to move on with our lives. If I told you would it have made a difference? I just wanted to try and live a normal life for once. I just wanted us all to be okay again.”

“I know, Maria.” Liz said as she slid to the floor beside Maria and put her arm around her. “But you don’t always have to be so strong. I think it’s time that we all stopped trying to be so strong, stop putting on brave faces and just be honest with ourselves about what we want. I want to be with Max, I never stopped. What do you want?”

“I want things to be okay for all our group. I want everyone to be happy and for the alien stuff to go away. I just want to live a normal life.”

“What about Michael?”

“I don’t know. I remember that I did love Michael with all I had but I don’t know that it’s the same for me anymore. It’s been five years. I needed to move on with my life so I did. I’m not going to avoid Michael, or any of them. Five years of those dreams have done a number on me and I’m feeling so confused. I just need time.”

“Okay, “ Liz said with a smile.

“Okay,” Maria replied as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“So I guess you didn’t get a chance to get any food? Let’s go to The Crashdown and get something.”

“Sounds good. I wonder if Brody is still around? Since I’m of age now…”

“Oh Maria.” Liz said as she ushered the babbling girl out the door.


Michael rode his bike for a couple of hours, ending up at his favorite spot, the quarry outside of town. It was where they used to have their meetings before he got his own apartment. There was a sense of peace out here; it was a place where Michael could think. It was the place where he finally came to a conclusion about his future.

He was surprised when he entered the apartment to find Max still there.

“I thought you were going to Tess and Isabel’s place.

“I begged off, said we were too busy trying to unpack and we were just going to order a pizza.”

“Were you worried about me?”

“No, you can take care of yourself. But I needed to tell you something before you found out on your own.”

“What? Is Maria married or something? Just spit it out, Max, I can handle it.”

“Relax, Michael, she’s not married but she and Liz do live next door.”

“What?” Michael yelled before heading for the door.

“You can’t go over there now.” Max commanded in a quiet voice. “She’s not ready to see you yet. She practically broke down in the hallway when I saw her. You need to give her time.”

Michael took a deep breath. He’d grown up a lot on Antar. The old Michael would have told Max where to go but the new Michael knew he was right.

“You’re right. She knows I’m here and we’re both going to be working at The Crashdown so maybe we’ll just ease into things slowly.”

“Right, good idea. Speaking of The Crashdown, you wanna go eat?”

“This isn’t going to be like high school where you’re going to sit and moon over Liz, is it?”

“Yes.”

“Whatever.” Michael shrugged.

He and Max decided to walk to the café since it was just two blocks away.

“So where did you go on your ride?”

“I went out to the quarry.”

“May I ask why?”

“I needed to think.”

“About what?”

“Liz.”

“What? Why did you need to think about Liz?”

“I wasn’t thinking about Liz. She and Maria are in the café and look who they’re talking to!”

Max glanced in the front window and saw Liz and Maria in a booth with Valenti and Brody standing beside it talking to them.

“What is he doing here?” Michael asked in disbelief. “I thought he was dead.”

“I don’t know what’s going on.” Max replied at he stared at the betrayer of the Royal Four.

“We need to get them away from him!”

“We need to be calm, Michael. We don’t know exactly what the deal is yet.”

“Don’t know the deal? I know that that bastard sent us off to Antar in hopes we would die there and now he’s making time with Maria and Liz! I don’t need to know the deal, I just need to get him away.”

“Michael, listen to me. He has to know we’re back in town; we just need to keep a low profile. Keep an eye on him and see if he acts strangely. We don’t know if it was him or if it was a shape shifter. There are too many unknowns to do anything rash.”

“Fine, but if he lays a finger on Maria, I’ll kill him.”

“Michael… Shoot, they’re leaving. C’mon.” Max grabbed Michael’s arm and ducked around the corner into the alley.

“We need help, Max. There’s no way the four of us can keep an eye on him twenty-four/seven.” Michael whispered as they watched him walk down the street from behind the dumpster.

“I know. I guess we’re going to have to call a meeting, humans and aliens. I guess we should go in and get this over with.” Max motioned to Michael to follow him as he opened the back door of The Crashdown.

Out in the café Liz was teasing Maria. “He so still has a crush on you. If he proposes, don’t sign a prenup.”

“He does not, he’s just a sweet guy. And besides… Max.”

“What?”

“Max is at the backdoor motioning to me. I think we’re supposed to go back there. Why do I have a bad feeling about this?”

Liz turned around in her seat. “Let’s just go back there and see what he wants and then we can leave.”

“Fine, you go first.”

Liz rolled her eyes as she got out of the booth and headed back towards the kitchen entrance. Steeling herself for whatever she was about to encounter, she opened the door.

“Hi.”

“Hey Liz, Maria.” Max said quietly. “It’s good to see you.”

“Yeah, you too.” Liz glanced over at Maria who was staring at the floor. “So what’s up?”

“We need to have a meeting. All of us, as soon as possible.”

“What’s going on?” Maria asked, looking directly at Michael.

“It has something to do with our leaving but we can’t talk about now.”

“Why, need time to get your stories straight?” Maria asked with an angry smirk.

“Hey! You have no idea what happened to us so why don’t you just be quiet until you find out.” Michael said angrily.

“I’ve waited for five years, what’s a little while longer.” Maria said flippantly.

Michael saw the hurt in her eyes and his anger abated. “I’m sorry, but we need to meet someplace safe where we can’t be interrupted.”

“Why don’t we go out to the quarry, no one is ever out there.” Liz suggested.

“Fine. We’ll get Isabel and Tess and you can get Kyle and Alex and we’ll meet there in an hour.”


“So why are we all here?” Kyle asked as he scuffed his shoe against a rock.

“We need to tell you about the day we left, about what happened.” Max replied. “And it’s part of the reason we asked you here.”

“Part of the reason?” Questioned Alex. “You mean you’re not just going to tell us the story and beg for forgiveness? There’s something else?”

“I need you all to hear me out. If you don’t want to do what I ask when I’m finished then feel free to leave. But I need you to listen now.” Max took a deep breath. “We were betrayed by Larek. When we got out to the granolith chamber it had already been activated and we were trapped inside. We couldn’t get out, at that point it was too late. We were lucky that when we landed on Antar we met soldiers who were loyal to us. Apparently they had been watching Larek for sometime and knew he was up to something. They intercepted messages that Larek had been delivering to Khivar and found out that we were coming back. Larek and Khivar had been in cahoots with each other. Larek was going to give us up to Khivar in exchange for a prominent position in the new royalty that Khivar was going to establish. That’s was took us so long to return, we needed to get Khivar first. He was finally captured last month.”

“So why didn’t you guys stay?” Asked Liz.

"We couldn't rule a planet.” Isabel replied. “We were just some kids who didn’t know anything about ruling a kingdom. We stayed until Khivar was captured for our safety but we didn’t have any power, we were just figureheads. In the end it was decided that we were better off living our lives on Earth.”

“But we have a problem,” Michael chimed in. “Brody is still here and we don’t know if Larek somehow took over his body or if Brody was always Larek. Larek was never found. We assumed he was dead but we weren't for sure. No one on Antar seemed to know what kind of powers Larek had, he was the secretive sort of person. So now we need to watch him, Brody, I mean, see if he’s doing anything out of the ordinary.”

“You guys didn’t just leave, you were forced?” Kyle asked, summing up what they were all thinking.

“We never wanted to leave, and not without saying goodbye,” Tess said as she took a step towards Kyle.

“We should have never attempted to go back.” Max said. “I had a feeling something was wrong but I didn’t trust my instincts. I’m sorry, to all of you. I can’t take back the past five years. I can say that it’s going to be over soon.”

“When?” Maria asked angrily. “I thought this was over years ago. What if Brody isn’t it? What if there are more people after you? How can you guarantee that it’s over? I can’t take living my life waiting for the worst to happen. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m walking away from this. I spent three years looking over my shoulder, waiting for something bad to happen and I’m not doing it anymore.” Maria turned on her heel and headed towards her car.

“If anyone else wants to leave, it would be okay.” Max said as he stared at Maria’s retreating back.

“I’m in.” Liz said without hesitation.

“Me, too,” Alex chimed in.

“So am I, whatever you guys need me to do.” Kyle said as he took Tess’s hand.

“What about Maria?” Michael questioned.

“Leave Maria alone,” Kyle spoke up. “She doesn’t want to be involved so just leave her alone. I agreed to help you but it stops if find out any of you have been bothering her.”

“But she’s our friend!” Isabel protested.

“Not anymore,” Max said with a hint of sadness. “She can’t be friends with us and still separate herself from what is happening. She made that decision and we have to accept it, all of us.” Max said as he looked at Michael.

Michael said nothing as he looked at the ground. He wasn’t going to accept not seeing Maria. He had to talk to her, to make her understand he never wanted to leave her.

“So who’s going to take first watch?” Alex asked.

Quickly arranging a watch schedule, the aliens and humans left, Tess and Kyle, Isabel and Alex, and Liz and Max. Michael watched how easily it was for them to pair off into their old couples again and he felt like part of him was missing. Deciding to do something about it, he hopped on his bike and rode back into town.

Maria entered her apartment and frantically looked around for her cell phone. Sighing with relief when she found it haphazardly tossed on some clothes, she quickly dialed Todd’s number.

“Maria! I’ve missed you so much,” Todd said as he answered his cell phone.

“I’ve missed you, too.” Maria gasped into the phone, holding back the tears that were threatening to spill.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Maria said as she composed herself. “I just really miss you. I didn’t know it would be so hard being apart this summer.”

“I know and I wish I could talk longer but I’ve got a gig starting soon. July isn’t that far away, we’ll see each other soon. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Maria hung up the phone and felt better; Todd was always a calming force.

“So is he the reason you walked away today?”

Maria turned around, startled. “You scared me!”

“Sorry.” Michael said, but he didn’t sound very apologetic. “Is he the reason you walked away today?”

Maria sighed in frustration; sometimes Michael could be such a pain. Her frustration immediately turned to anger. What right did he have to question her motives?

“What right do you have to question my motives? You left! I don’t care if you didn’t have a choice to leave. I don’t care if you were tricked! No, we never got to say goodbye but you were going to leave anyway. You never put me first, I gave up everything for you and you were still going to leave. I’m not letting you do it to me again.”

“Has that been building for awhile?” Michael asked as Maria seemingly ran out of air.

“Since before you left, I just never got a chance to say it.”

“So there’s nothing I can say to change your mind?”

“No. I mean it, I’m done with all of it.”

Michael headed to the door. “You’re right, you always did come second. I’m sorry for that.” Michael quickly ducked out the door, leaving Maria to stare dumbfounded at the empty space.

“Except that.” Maria whispered. Michael was always really good at saying all the wrong things and then something would come out of his mouth that would make her forget all the wrong. But that made her anger boil up again. He was not going to get to her with his sweet words and longing looks. She was Teflon. Moving over to the c.d. player, Maria stuck in some music and lost herself in the sound.

Michael headed next door to his apartment. He had to admit that in his fantasies his reunion with Maria was infinitely more romantic. Okay, maybe not romantic, maybe it was more, well, sexual. It went something like this: He would ride up on his motorcycle (that had miraculously appeared at the spaceship landing site) at sunset. She would be outside on the steps, looking forlorn. She would, looking up with hope in her eyes at the sound of the motorcycle driving down the street, just as she has every time she’s heard that familiar roar. But this time it would different, this time Michael would be the one on that motorcycle. Her eyes would light up and she would have a brilliant smile on her face. She would walk up to him and ask, “Is it really you?” And stroke his cheek. He would answer her with a kiss and then he would sweep her off her feet and carry her into the bedroom where they would make up for five years of being separated. Okay, so maybe it was slightly romantic but Maria did always complain about him not being romantic enough.

Sighing, Michael flopped down on the couch. Sleep would be elusive; at most he would only get a couple of hours. In truth he hated to go to sleep because that’s when the dreams would come. They would rip and tear at his soul until finally he would wake up drenched with sweat and gasping for air. But his body demanded to sleep and so Michael gave in and let sleep overtake his body.

Michael woke up to someone shaking his shoulder. His instincts made him grab that person’s arm and quickly twist it.

“Damn it, Michael, do have to do that every time?” Max asked angrily as he pulled himself free of Michael’s now slack grip. “Maybe you should talk to someone about those dreams.”

Michael shook himself free of the last vestiges of sleep as he made room for Max on the couch.

“Did you find out anything on Brody?” Michael asked.

“No. He was at the UFO Center until 9 and then he went home. Nothing weird, nothing suspicious, nothing out of the ordinary, just his normal routine, I guess. I’m going in tomorrow to try and get my old job back. Kyle is going to go with me. He’s going to make up some story about being bored now that school is out and he’s looking for odd projects. We’ll be able to keep an eye on him more closely that way. Tomorrow you and Alex are going to sneak into his house and install spy cameras.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“Michael, you don’t always have to disagree with me.”

“I didn’t. I said it was a good idea.” Michael said slowly, enunciating his words.

“Sorry,” Max grinned. “I’m just so used to you disagreeing with me.”

“I know.” Michael shrugged. “Where’s Liz?”

“Back at her apartment. We’re taking things slow.”

“But you guys are…?”

“Back together? Yeah, we are. We talked and we know that we don’t want to be with anyone other than each other. I’m so glad to be back home.” Max glanced over at Michael and noticed a dark expression on his face.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” Max apologized.

“You’re allowed to be happy. You’re my best friend and it’s what I want for you. I was thinking about those dreams that I have.”

“What about them?

“I’ve been having them almost every night since we left for Antar.”

“What? I didn’t know. Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

“Because of what they were, are, about.”

“What do you mean?”

“The dreams are about Maria, Liz, Alex and Kyle. In my dreams I see them together. Maria is with Alex and Liz is with Kyle and they’re happy, in love. They’ve all moved on with their lives. I didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to give up hope. I know all that kept everyone from going crazy on Antar was the thought of someone to come home to. But I thought that Maria and I were so closely connected that she was telling me that she had moved on with her life. I thought it was her way of hurting me because she was so angry at me for disappearing.”

“You're stronger than I give you credit for.” Max said in his quiet way. “You’ve carried a heavy burden for a long time. I always blamed you for being hotheaded and impulsive, and you could be, but those things were born out of the burden you had to bear. It would have been easy for you to runaway after the whole thing with Hank but you stayed with us, on Earth, on Antar, and then back again. A lesser person couldn’t have handled it. We will find a way to get rid of the dreams. This isn’t your burden to bear alone anymore.” Max squeezed Michael’s shoulder and then went down the hall to his room. Max had a funny feeling about those dreams but he didn’t know why. It was something the group would have to figure out together.

The gang met again at the quarry in the early hours of the morning when the sky was still dark. It was the best time to leave Brody alone and when they wouldn’t be detected.

“Why the hell are we here, Max?” Kyle asked as a yawn escaped his mouth. He, like most of them, hadn’t bothered to change out of his sleepwear. He hoped that this meeting would soon be over and he could go back to the warm confines of his bed.

“Michael has been having dreams and something about them is bothering me, I just don’t know why.”

Liz glanced at Max and then Michael with speculation when she heard Max mention dreams.

“What kind of dreams? Isabel asked.

“There about Maria, Liz, Alex, and Kyle.” Michael answered. “And how you all moved on with your lives and forgot about us.”

“Maria is having the same dreams, only they’re about you guys.” Liz exclaimed.

“So what does that mean?” Isabel questioned. “They’re having the same dreams. Is someone sending them the dreams?”

“But why would anyone do that? Why would Michael and Maria be targeted?” Tess asked.

“Someone who wants to keep us apart.” Michael answered.

“Brody!” Liz yelled. “It’s got to be Brody!”

“We need to get back into town, Maria could be in danger.” Michael said as he ran towards his bike and made a quick getaway back into Roswell.

“Maria!” Michael yelled as he entered her apartment. Rushing through the small area, he saw no signs of Maria.

“She’s not here.” Michael gasped to the rest of the gang as they gathered in the living room.

“What do you mean she not here?” Kyle yelled angrily. “She wasn’t involved this time, she should have been safe! You’re like a virus, Michael, you can be suppressed for awhile but you always come back!”

“That’s enough!” Max said sharply. “Fighting won’t get us anywhere, we need to find Maria. Liz, was she here when you left?”

“As far as I know. She and I went to bed at the same time. Wait a minute; her cell phone is on the table. She never goes anywhere without it, it’s like another arm. Something is wrong. We need to find Brody.”

“Michael, Alex and Isabel check out the UFO Center. The rest of us will check out his house. Call if you find anything.”

The gang hurried out to their destinations but an hour and a half later returned to the apartment having come up empty handed in their search.

“It doesn’t make sense, Brody was home bed.” Kyle shook his head in confusion. The tapes show he hasn’t left his house all night.”

“Something’s wrong, something isn’t adding up. The dreams and the Brody-Larek thing, somehow it’s connected but I don’t know how.” Max said as he rubbed his temples.

“We need to go to the granolith, I know she’s there.” Michael spoke suddenly. “Trust me, all of you, she’s there.”

“How do you know?” Max asked.

“Because everything happens there, Max, duh.” Kyle said as he rolled his eyes.

“He does have a point.” Alex conceded. “It wouldn’t hurt to check it out, we don’t have any other leads as to where she could be.”

“Let’s go, “ Michael said as he led the gang back out into the still dark morning.

When they arrived at the granolith chamber, nothing could be seen or heard around them. Opening the stonewall, Michael was greeted with an ethereal blue light. Satisfied that Brody wasn’t going to jump out and attack, he stepped into the chamber.

“Maria, “ he gasped. The figure before him was suspended in air, her eyes wide and her mouth partially open in what looked like the beginning of a scream. But there was no sign of life to Maria.

“Get in here, all of you.” Michael called. “Maria needs our help.”

Michael tried to touch Maria but was pushed back by a powerful force field.

“Oh my gosh,” Liz gasped as she saw Maria. “What are we going to do?”

“There’s some kind of force field around her. I can’t even get to her.”

“What if we try our powers?” Isabel asked as she raised her arm.

“No!” Max yelled as he knocked Isabel’s arm back down. “We don’t know what will happen if we do. We could kill her.”

“It’s good to see someone around here has some brains.”

“Brody!” Michael yelled as the man walked into the chamber. “What did you do to her?”

“Relax, she’ll be fine, she’s just having a nice rest. Unfortunately, the rest of you won’t be around to see her wake up.”

“So you plan on killing us, gee, how original.” Michael said sarcastically.

“Me, oh no, I don’t do the killing.”

“No, I do.” Said a disembodied voice that was achingly similar to Brody’s.

“You see, the Royal Four weren’t only ones to have dupes, were they, Larek?”

“No, they weren’t.” Larek said as he stepped into the light.

“What is going on?” Max asked.

“You see, Nacedo wasn’t your only protector.” Larek answered. “Brody and I were sent to Earth to protect you, all of you. I was sent to New York and Brody was sent to Roswell.”

“But Khivar convinced us to change sides.” Brody said as he continued for Larek. “We were so sick of being in the shadow of royalty. Khivar promised us prominent positions in the new monarchy of Antar if we returned you all to Khivar. I offered to kill you on Earth but Khivar wanted his revenge so I convinced you I was your old friend, Larek, and sent you back to Antar. Larek quietly dispensed of your dupes and then came to Roswell to await word that you’d been captured. Instead your people saved you. When your side captured Khivar that meant the end of our lives on Antar. All of that work was for nothing.”

“But what does this have to do with Maria?” Michael asked.

“Oh, I always fancied Maria.” Brody answered. “I sent you those dreams in order to weaken you, I know they aren’t pleasant. I’d hoped by sending Maria those dreams that she would come and cry on my shoulder. She left for New York instead but I’ll be there for her when she discovers all her friends have been killed in a jeep accident. Such a shame, you should never drink and drive. Now, who wants to die first? No volunteers? Well I guess I’ll just start with Michael.”

Brody raised his hand and was about to fire a blast of energy at Michael when a shot rang out in the chamber.

“Get down!” Max shouted as he saw Brody crumple to the floor.

Michael dove to the floor just in time to see Larek take aim at the unseen intruder.

“No!” He yelled as he quickly fired of a blast at Larek. Larek turned white and quickly slumped to the ground, the blast of energy having hit him squarely in the chest. With the death of Larek, the force holding Maria was broken and she fell to the ground.

“Maria!” Michael shouted as he rushed to her side and picked her up of the ground and cradled her in his lap.

“Everybody alright?” Asked Valenti as he made himself visible.

“It’s Maria, something is wrong.” Michael said.

“You can stop squeezing me, Space Boy, I’m okay.” Maria said weakly.

Michael heaved a sigh of relief as he held Maria to his body even tighter.

“How did you get here?” Max questioned.

“Kyle called me. Guess you guys forgot that I’m a part of this, too. We need to get back to town. Alex, Kyle and Liz take Maria outside. The rest of us need to clean up this mess.”

The four aliens and Valenti quickly disposed of the bodies, deciding it best to burn the bodies inside the granolith chamber where no traces of them could possibly be found. They then made their way back into town just as the first traces of pink were beginning to touch the sky.

*************************************************************
Maria was lying in bed later that day when she heard a knock on the door to her bedroom.

“Come in, “ she called, figuring it was Liz being motherly with some soup or something.

“Hi,” Michael said as he ducked his head inside the room. “Is it okay if I come in?”

“Michael,” Maria raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I thought you were Liz, she’s been mothering me all day.”

“Are you okay?” Michael asked as he gingerly sat at the edge of the bed.

“Just a couple of scrapes and bruises. Max can’t heal me for some reason. He thinks that it might have something to do with the force field Larek used but he’s not sure. I guess I’m really lucky to be okay.”

“You are. I’m sorry you got messed up in this again. I know you didn’t want to but you were drawn in anyway because of who you are to me. So I just wanted to tell you that I’m leaving town, you won’t be hurt again because of me.”

“I’m not asking you to leave, Michael.”

“I have to. I can’t keep you safe by staying around.”

“I don’t want you to go, you’re life is here.”

“Is it?” Michael raised his eyebrows in speculation. “You were the reason for coming back to Roswell, there’s nothing else here for me. So now I ask you, is my life here?”

Maria looked away, unable to answer his question.

“I didn’t think so.” Michael said quietly. “I rode to the quarry a few days ago. I needed to think about my future. The only thing I could come up with that I really wanted to do is be with you. But now I know that just wanting to be with you isn’t enough, I have to make myself worthy of being with you. I’m not asking you to wait for that to happen but I want you to know that it will happen.”

“Goodbye, Maria.” Michael whispered as he leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. “We’ll see each other again.”

The End