By Cheri
E-mail: cheri_and_ty@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
Summary: Will another unexpected event bring some of our favorite couples back together again?
Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the WB or Roswell. (But, we can always wish, can’t we?!)
Author’s Notes: I, like everyone else, would like to see the couples get back together, especially Alex and Isabel, (who are my favorite!). So when the challenge of creating our own scene to reunite them was given, I knew I had to jump at the chance. I hope you like it!
******
Have you ever had one of those days that when you woke up in the morning and you just knew that something was going to happen to change your life? That’s exactly how I felt when I woke up this morning. Little did I know how much it was going to change.
It started out as a normal Saturday would. I had to be at the Crashdown café by 10 o’clock to start my shift. Normally, I had no trouble getting up and getting ready without any motherly help. But, my two closest friends decided we needed to go check out the new teen club that had opened in town. Needless to say, I didn’t get home until after three in the morning. So, here I was at 9 o’clock, still struggling to get my tired butt out of bed.
“Maria DeLuca! Get up and get dressed! Don’t make me have to come in there!” my mom yelled.
“I’m up. I’m up!” I yelled back.
It took me awhile, but I finally made it to work at 9:59. Usually I’m a few minutes early, so I can talk to my best friend, Liz, but not today.
“Look who finally decided to show up.” Michael said to me. “Gee, Maria, you look like crap.”
“Oh, thanks so much.” I replied back as Liz walked down the stairs.
“Hey, Maria. You look bad.” She said to me.
“You don’t look so hot yourself. I guess that’s the last time we stay out late when we have to work early the next day.”
“So, exactly where were you two last night?” he asked me.
“Looking for us?” I said sarcastically at him. “It’s really none of your business, but we went to that new club.”
“Why? Those places are just there for horndogs to try and find other horndogs.” He said, sounding a little jealous.
“I guess you’ll be spending a lot of time there, won’t you, Michael?” I spat back at him.
Remember when I was telling you about having those strange feelings about your life changing? Well, all morning they were plaguing me. I could feel the electricity in the air. Apparently I wasn’t the only one. Liz pulled me aside later that afternoon when the café was crowded.
“Liz, what’s wrong? You’re acting strange.” I asked her.
“I don’t know. I’ve been having these weird feelings all day. You know, like something is going to happen.”
“I know how you’re feeling. I’ve been feeling weird all day, too. It’s about time for something to happen to shake up our lives again isn’t it? Just when things were getting back to normal.”
“Maria, our lives haven’t been “normal” since September 18th of last year.” She said with a small laugh and then added, “I really don’t think that they will ever really be normal again. But you’re right, things have been awfully quiet lately.”
“What are you two girls yakking about?” Michael asked, walking over to us.
“Why do you even care?” I asked him.
“Michael, we were just talking about how quiet it’s been around here lately.”
“Yeah, I know what you’re saying. Max, Isabel, and I were just talking about that the other day. We just think that whoever or whatever is going to come after us next is just trying to catch us off guard.”
“Michael, not to sound weird, but have you been having any feelings lately?” Liz asked him.
“Feelings about what?” He asked Liz, obviously with no clue as to what she were talking about.
“Never mind.” I told him as the rest of the Pod Squad entered the café and sat down in a booth.
“Maria, do you mind?” Liz asked me.
“Liz, it was my turn last time.” I whined to her.
“I’ll go and take their damn order.” Michael said to us as Alex walked into the café and over to the counter.
“Hey, ladies.” Alex said, laying his head on the countertop. “Do you two feel as bad as I do?”
“Alex, you must be feeling awful. You walked by Isabel without even acknowledging her presence.” I mentioned to him.
“Isabel’s here?” he said, lifting his head slightly. “Like it matters. I feel too horrible to even try today.”
“Alex, it’s 3 o’clock. We’ve been at work for like five hours. You’ve gotten more sleep than us.” Liz said to him.
“That’s what you think. My parents were none too pleased with me coming in at 3 this morning. They got me up at 6:30 to clean the garage. And once I was through with the garage, they had me mow the lawn.”
“Oh, poor Alex.” I told him.
“Listen, have you guys been, um, like getting flashes or feeling weird or anything?”
“What are you getting at, Alex?” I asked.
“Well, a couple of days ago, Isabel and I were studying for that history test. We were passing our notes back and forth and when our fingers touched, I got this real quick flash of Isabel crying. She was here in the café crying. It was strange.” He said in a rather soft voice.
“That is strange. Have you ever had a flash before?” Liz asked him.
“No. That was the strange part.”
*****
Meanwhile, on the other side of the café, the Pod Squad were in a conversation themselves.
“Max, we are not the only ones who are having these feelings. Maria and Liz were talking about it earlier.”
“Michael’s right. Alex and I were studying the other night. And when we accidentally touched, I got a flash. It scared me. I saw all of us in this room crying. Something is going to happen and soon.” Isabel explained.
“Why didn’t you tell us earlier, Is? Did you see anything else?” Max asked.
“Just us wearing these same exact outfits.”
*****
Fifteen minutes later Courtney showed up to start her shift. I know I don’t need to explain that the girl has rubbed me the wrong way, since the first day I met her. (It doesn’t help that she always flirts with Michael.) At first, I really wasn’t paying attention to her. Like most days, I just kind of zoned her out. But from the corner of my eye I saw something strange about her skin. It looked like it were after a really nasty sunburn. You know, when it starts getting dry and peeling. But I hadn’t seen her with a sunburn. That wasn’t the weird part, she really hauled ass to the ladies room.
That’s when it hit me-- SKIN! She was an alien. A bad alien. She’d come here to hurt my friends.
I turned to tell the rest of the group what I realized when I saw a bright light and then I felt an enormous pain coming from my body. It was hard to tell where it was coming from the pain was so bad. I saw a bright green light surround us. I looked and saw it was coming from Max.
Then, I felt Michael touching me, asking me questions. Questions I couldn’t hear or respond to. I knew I was dying. Whatever that bitch had hit me with, was killing me. I felt the life draining from me, moment by moment. Everything was moving very slow.
I saw Liz and Alex by my side, crying. I think I even saw Isabel and Tess crying as well. But nothing breaks my heart more than when I felt a tear drop onto my arm from Michael. I felt him trying to connect with me. I was just so weak that my mind would not allow the connection.
I’ve heard the stories about when you are about to die, your life suddenly flashes through your mind like a movie in the theater. I would love to prove those stories wrong, but that’s what happened to me. I saw all of the good things that had happened in my life, as well as all of the bad. And then I just felt myself slip away.
*****
“Max! Do something!” Isabel screamed as she ran to Alex’s side. She knew without a doubt that if it came to it this afternoon, she would protect him with her life.
“Michael, you have to do something.” Liz was begging him. Now she knew how it must have looked to them the day she had gotten shot. The fear they must have felt.
“Maria, honey. Look at me. I can’t help you if you don’t look at me.” Michael frantically said to her, holding her face in his hands. “Where is the pain? You have to tell me where it hurts.”
“Michael? I don’t know. Everywhere. Everywhere is on fire.”
“What did you do to her?” Michael yelled at Courtney.
“What does it matter? She’s only human.” Courtney yelled back.
“You bitch!” Tess screamed at her before she projected her image to appear to charge at Courtney. It temporarily broke her concentration. That was all that Max needed. He took the opportunity to send a burst of energy towards Courtney that was so powerful that it caused her to fly back 20 feet into the wall.
With Courtney out of the way, all hands were set on helping Maria. Michael knew how worried everyone was. She looked in really bad shape.
Seeing Maria lying helplessly on the floor of the café brought back all the memories of Liz lying in the café the year before for Max. He knew how Michael was feeling.
“Michael, have you found the damage? Max, help him!” Isabel was saying.
Alex was holding onto Liz, staring at their best friend basically dying on the floor. Both had tears running freely from their eyes. They both remembering how just the previous night, how full of life she was at the club.
“Help me.” Michael was begging his friends.
The four teenage aliens formed a circle around their friend, trying to combine their energies. When Michael and Isabel placed their hands upon Maria’s body a connection was immediately made, but then lost.
“Alex. Liz. Come join the circle. It’s going to take you, too.” Max told them.
The instant that Alex and Liz combined their energy to the others, the bond that they had formed during Michael’s illness reconnected them. Michael and Max worked feverishly to repair the damage that Courtney had caused Maria. After they were sure that she was healed, they broke the connection and waited for her to wake up.
*****
Ten minutes later, I regained consciousness. All I remember is being in a peaceful place, then all of a sudden being pulled back. When I opened my eyes, the first thing that I saw was all of my friends surrounding me. You could see the tear stains on their faces.
“What happened?” I asked them.
“How are you feeling? Are you still in any pain?” Michael asked me, concerned.
Why is he acting so concerned? I asked myself.
“I feel fine. Just a little out of it.” I told them. I sat up and looked around the room and noticed Courtney slumped against the wall. Then, in a flash she disintegrated before all of our eyes.
“There goes another waitress.” I said out loud. “Looks like we’ll be pulling extra shifts, Liz.” I said for comic relief.
They laughed of course, trying to lighten the mood in the room. Michael helped me to my feet so I can sit at a table. He knelt in front of me and wrapped his arms around me tightly.
“Don’t ever do that to me again!” he whispered into my ear. “Don’t ever make me feel like that again. I thought I was going to lose you, Maria.”
“You’ll never lose me, Michael. You saved my life. Thank you.” I told him, feeling his tears on my face.
After carefully reassuring my friends that I was indeed okay, I went home to take a nap. I awoke to two familiar brown eyes staring at me. But there was a difference inside of them. Gone was all of the anger, the sadness, and the fear. Looking into them, all I saw was love and concern.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him.
“I wanted to make sure you really were okay. Maria, I have never been more scared of anything in my entire life, like I was when I thought that I was going to lose you.” He said pausing. “I know I hurt you so much when I walked away last spring. But what I said was true. I love you. I loved you then. I love you now. I will always love you.”
“Michael.” I said to him, reaching for his cheek.
“I’m sorry for hurting you. I understand if you don’t want to have anything to do with me.”
“Michael, I have been trying to get it through your thick head, that I love you. All I have ever wanted was to be with you. Do you want us to get back together?” I asked him.
“Yeah. I realized today just how short life can be. One day that could be me laying on the floor. And I don’t want to have any regrets. I don’t know how much time I have left. But, I do know I want it to be with you.”
Michael barely had the last word spoken before I grabbed him and kissed him. The kiss that we had both been wanting since that fateful spring day. Needless to say, Michael spent the night in my room, just like he did that rainy night. The exception being he left my room before my mom could find him there. We did make plans to meet at the café later in the morning.
*****
When I walked into the café, I saw a sight I couldn’t believe. Liz was sitting in Max’s lap and Isabel and Alex were sitting together in a booth holding hands. Michael was in the kitchen staring at me.
“What’s going on here? Did I wake up in some alternate universe?” I asked them.
“No, Maria.” Liz started, “We just realized how precious life was.”
“And how we were throwing away all of the gifts that we were given in it.” Isabel said.
“Then we realized that the only times we have been truly happy this past year, were when we were all together.” Max said.
“So we put our silly pride aside and decided that we would rather be happy together, than miserable apart.” Alex chimed in.
“To hell with being cautious and safe. As long as we have each other, we can get through anything.” Tess added.
“And to quote John Lennon, ‘All we need is love’.” Michael added.
“I can live with that.” I told them.
When I woke up yesterday morning, I knew that something would happen to change our lives. I never in my wildest dreams thought that it would involve me almost dying or that I would get the love of my life back. That we would all get back together.
Good overcame evil. We won this battle. Now that we have restored our “balance” we are stronger. We’re all in this for the long haul. And since we have each other, we are more determined than ever to win the war.
The End