* * 10 * *


{Eventually mom forgave Max. She didn't kill him (though not from lack of trying) she just gave him a really long lecture about common sense, using protection, and teen pregnancy. It was even longer than the lecture she gave me. Probably what made it so long is that every now and then she kept stopping to tell him that she felt close to ripping off something very important to him (Hmmm, I wonder what it was). Anyway, Max and I got back together and I moved back to Roswell. Don't think, however, that things were all Daisy Sunshine. I still had to deal with Liz, Michael, and Max's parents.}

Maria was back in Roswell. She realized that she would have to face not only Michael and Liz but Max's parents as well. She was more than a little nervous. They had agreed they would be together when they told Liz and Michael but Max would tell his parents first before bringing in Maria.

Meanwhile another of Maria's main concerns was whether or not she should stay in school. The baby wasn't due for another three months and she wasn't on bed rest or anything like that. It was much easier in Florida because they had schools for pregnant teens. In Roswell there wasn't any such schools. She didn't want to be gawked at like other pregnant girls had been.

She let out a soft sigh of frustration before going back to unpacking her suitcase. She didn't realize she had accumulated so much stuff when she was in Florida. There was all the maternity clothes she bought, then there was the stuff she bought for the baby, and not to mention the little gifts she bought for all of her friends. She looked up when she heard a tap on her door.

"Come in." She called.

"Maria, sweetie, Max is here to see you."

"Send him up."

Amy left and a few minutes later Max walked into the room. "Hey Ria. How are you doing?"

"Okay. Just doing a little unpacking that I didn't do yesterday." She waived him over to sit on the lazy boy in the corner.

He sat down. She set aside the piece of clothing she was folding and went over to sit comfortably in his lap.

"Damn you weigh a ton." He teased.

She popped him upside the head. "That's not exactly good thing to tell to a pregnant lady babe. Besides, it's your fault I'm in this condition."

"Hah. I vaguely remember having a little help." He said with a thoughtful yet playful smile.

"Nope. I was doped up on happiness from the party. You seduced me." He laughed. She leaned back against his chest. He managed to wrap his arms loosely around her not wanting to put any pressure on her protruding belly. "Anyway, what is the reason for your visit?"

"Do I need a reason to visit the mother of my baby?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"No, but you just left here about three hours ago. Just wondering if you were planning on moving in as much as you've been over here since we got here yesterday."

He laughed. "Do you think Amy would let me?"

"No. Only in your dreams."

"Damn. Oh well." He kissed the top of her hair. "Anyway, I came over to tell you that I told my parents about us and the baby."

She sat up and managed to turn part way in his arms. "What did they say?"

He pulled her back into his arms before answering her. "They were kind of pissed off at first but they got over it. Don't get me wrong, they're still a little disappointed in me, but they said that as long as I accept my responsibility they'll stand behind me one hundred percent."

"What did they say about me?" She wanted to know. "Did they call me a trap setting hussy? Do they hate my guts?"

"Not at all. Mom is excited about being a grandmother. She just stated that she wished we had waited until after graduating from college." He paused for a few minutes to play with her hair. Then he continued. "Anyway, they want to meet with you and Amy tonight for dinner. I already told your mom. She's agreed."

"Well that's great then. I'm so glad they don't hate me." She sighed and once again turned in his arms. He smiled down at her and pulled her into a kiss. Moments later she pulled away. "I don't want to damper the moment or anything but when are we going to talk to Michael and Liz?"

I was trying to hold off for as long as possible." He teased. "No, really we can tell themt omorrow if you want."

"Okay. I must admit Max. I'm really very nervous about telling Michael. I don't know why. It's not if I really owe him an explanation about my actions. I just feel ... I don't know."

"Maria, do you still have some feelings for Michael?" Max asked in concern.

"No. Actually I don't. I guess I'm just feeling guilty."

"Well don't. You have nothing to be guilty about. Michael is the one who ruined things between the two of you by cheating on you with Courtney."

"Yeah. You're right." She smiled. "You know I'm actually kind of glad he did because then I never would have realized my love for you."

"Yeah and I'm really glad that he did too." They kissed some more losing track of time. Amy had to come up stairs to remind them that they were supposed to meet up with his parents in two hours.

Dinner at the Evan's was a momentous occasion. Diane and Amy were already bickering over who was going to spoil their first grandbaby the most. Isabel was trying to referee between the two soon to be grandmothers while Phillip questioned Max and Maria as if he was the Spanish Inquisition.

All in all the dinner turned out pretty great. Once the two grandmothers stopped bickering they realized that they had alot of things in common. And once Phillip decided that the two teens were level headed and weren't planning on throwing their life away he went on to acting the proud granddad.

One morning, two days later, Max was at the Delucca's resident bright and early. Amy had just finished cooking breakfast when he knocked on the door.

"Good morning Max." Amy said when she opened the door. "You're here pretty early."

Max just smiled. "Yeah, am I just in time for breakfast?"

"One wonders if that's the only reason you come here. For the food." Maria teased.

"Well yeah. What else is there?" He asked innocently.

Both Amy and Maria slapped him up side the head. "Gosh what's with you two females and violence?"

"Max don't push me. I already owe you a butt whooping." Amy warned.

"Okay! Okay!" Max held up his hands in surrender then sat down at the table. Amy set a plate down in front of him.

"Eat up and try not to talk. Or else that might be your last meal." Maria warned.

Amy went upstairs to her bedroom to get ready for work and give them a little privacy. Max finished up his breakfast and cleared off the table. He ordered Maria to go rest on the living room couch while he washed the dishes.

Once he finished he went into the living room and found her lying on her side on a pile of pillows on the floor. "Why are you on thefloor?"

"It's more comfortable down here. Come lay beside me."

He happily complied. He got down behind her spoon fashion. He stretched out one arm and rested his head on it. The other arm he wrapped loosely around her belly.

"Rub my tummy."

He rubbed in smooth soothing circles. "Like this?"

"Mmm, yeah. That feels so nice." They talked on and on about nothing in particular. She was the first to fall asleep. He followed.

They both woke up thirty minutes later to the sound of Amy talking to someone that sounded suspiciously like Michael. Before either of them could get up he was already in the living room with them. Needless to say he was shocked at the sight before him.

Michael had heard from Kyle that Maria was back in town. He had been thinking about her a lot ever since she first left Roswell. He thought about the rift that he caused between them by being with Courtney. He was never even interested in her, he was just trying to find out what secrets she was hiding. He never meant for things to deteriorate between him and Maria. He did a lot of thinking those past months and he realized that he wanted Maria back and he would do whatever it takes to make that happen.

The sight in front of him made him realize that his wishes would now never come true. He now had another reason to envy and hate Max Evans.

"Hello Max. What a surprise finding you here." Said Michael sarcastically.

Max stood up and helped Maria to stand. Then he guided her over to the sofa to sit down.

"What brings you here Michael?" Asked Maria.

"I heard you were back in town and I came over to see how you were doing?" He pointed at her belly. "How far along are you?"

"Seven months. I'm do in October." She stated.

He did some quick calculating. Seven months ago Maria was still in Roswell. He suspected at once who the baby's father was. He looked dead at Max and asked, "So who's the father?"

Max pulled Maria into his arms. "The baby is mine, Michael."

"Yours?" He was really pissed. "When did all of this happen? What about Liz?"

"Liz and I broke up a long time ago. She has nothing to do with Maria and I." Max stated.

Maria was getting kind of mad at the attitude Michael was projecting. "Michael you're the one who broke things off with me. So I don't think we owe you any explanations. When you broke my heart the last time by associating with that Courtney girl you lost all hope of me ever wanting you back."

"Maria you completely misunderstood the way things were that night."

"Did I Michael? Do you deny kissing her?" Anger was shooting out of her in waves. Max rubbed her back to get her to calm down.

"Listen Michael, after what you did Maria was completely devastated. You couldn't expect her to ever want to take you back. Besides we fell in love with each other."

Michael sighed all of his anger leaving him with that one breath. "You know I actually expected this to happen."

Maria was shocked. "What do you mean Michael?"

"During the summer when you two first started to get close, I knew friendship wouldn't be enough for the two of you."

"You did. Why didn't you say anything then?" Maria asked. "Wait never mind don't answer that. During the summer you weren't even talking to me."

"Yeah pretty much." He turned to leave. "Anyway, I'm not going to act like I'm cool with the idea of the two of you being together, but I can see I really have no choice. I wish you two the best and congrats to you on your upcoming birth Maria."

"Thank you Michael." They both said.

When he left Max turned to Maria. "Well he seemed to take things pretty ok. Not as much of an argument as I expected."

"That's a good thing. Right?"

"Definitely."Max smiled and kissed her lightly on the lips.

"I do believe Liz is going to flip though when she finds out I'm pregnant." Maria said.

"Yeah well I really don't care what Liz does anymore." Liz had really pissed him off with all the plotting she did.

"Max you can't be like that. I still want to keep Liz as a friend despite what she did."

Max frowned. "Okay. I'll do anything for you. But if she says one wrong thing to you then it's over."

They decided to get things over with and tell Liz about them that same day. Maria went to her room to change into some comfortable clothing. She settled on wearing the same outfit she wore when Max first came to her in Florida. Max helped her into the car and fixed her up into the seat belt. When they arrived at the Crashdown the first people the saw was Isabel, Alex, Tess,and Kyle.

"Hey guys. How's it going?" Isabel asked as soon as they sat down.

"Everything's great. We actually just got finished talking to Michael." Relpied Max.

Kyle spoke then. "How did he take it?"

"Surprisingly well." That came from Maria.

Max went on to explain what was said between them and how things all ended.

Just then Maria stood up to go use the restroom. When she left Liz walked in from the back room. She spotted them and walked on over.

"Hey every one." She turned to Max with a tentative smile not knowing how he was going to respond to her. "Hey Max."

"Hello Liz. We need to talk." He stood up and they walked into the back of the Crashdown.

Liz sat down on the couch in the back. "So Max what did you want to talk about?"

Max got right down to it. "Liz, I just wanted to let you know that Maria and I are together. Also, you know that before Maria left we became intimate. Well anyway what I'm trying to say is that Maria is pregnant, with my child."

"Oh my God. How could you let that happen?"

"It doesn't matter how it happened. We would have been together regardless of whether she was pregnant or not. I'm just trying to get you to see that."

"But Max, what about what we shared?""Liz I told you before what we shared could never compete with what I feel for Maria."

He continued pacing back and forth. "What we experienced was puppy love compared to my feelings for her. She's my light in a dark tunnel. With out her I feel so incomplete. I was miserable during the time that she was in Florida. I didn't feel myself until I felt her in my arms again."

When he paused to take a breath he heard Liz sobbing.

"I don't mean to make you cry Liz but I just can't help the way I feel. Listen I just had to tell you that. I have to go. Maria is waiting for me. Liz I hope we can remain friends for Maria's sake."

Max walked off. When he got back to the rest of the gang Maria was back in the booth eating a lunch fit for three people.

"So how'd it go?" She asked. "I thought we were going to tell her together?"

"We were but I saw the perfect opportunity to do so. Are you mad at me?" He asked.

"Nahh. I didn't want to have to face her anyway."

"Everything is going to be okay from now on." He said while showering kisses all over her face.

"You promise?" She said with a cute little pout.

"Most definitely."

"Okay you two, all this lovey dovey crap is getting on my nerves." Said Isabel.

"Oh look who's talking?" Tess laughed. "We have to ply you and Alex apart with pliers."

"Hey let's have a movie night tonight at the Evans." Said Alex to get the strain off of him.

"Okay sounds like a plan." Max agreed.

The group split up each with destinations in mind. They were all going to meet up at the Evans later. They even invited Michael and Liz. They agreed. Though Liz did reluctantly. That night was like old times shared between the gang. Their was a little bit of tension, but everyone overlooked it and it was almost like normal.