Title: Life and Love

Rating: T

Genre: Romance/Drama

Pairing: Michael/Maria, bits of Max/Liz, Kyle/Isabel

Author notes: Hey….this was my first Roswell fanfic and was an idea I had and just ran with, not sure if it's really any good. Not really set in the Roswell timeline, but does take place after Alex has just been killed and starts with his funeral. …so be kind and please let me know what you think, comments are always welcomed…just not too harsh :D

Summary: AU. The whole gang are dealing with the loss of their friend Alex and numerous events unfold which lead to Michael and Maria's relationship becoming stronger than ever. I suck at summaries, please read, story more involved than I can state in one short summary.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Roswell characters or worlds…unfortunately, if it was up to me Michael and Maria would have stayed strong throughout the show sigh…

Life and Love

Only four days ago, Maria and Liz's best friend Alex had died in a car accident. At least that is what the police thought had happened. The truth was Alex was murdered. It had come to a complete shock to the entire group. At first Maria found the only way she could cope was to lock away her emotions and try and be strong for Liz and everyone else, Maria found herself listening to everybody else's grief, rather than dealing with her own.

Now she couldn't hold the facade everyone else was seeing, she no longer was able to suppress her feelings. It was the day of his funeral, yesterday, that she finally cracked. She was sure she would be able to cope, to pay her final respects to her best friend, even sing him a final farewell song, it was Maria and Liz who had chosen the song which she was to perform, 'Amazing Grace'. It was a beautiful song which both girls felt appropriately fitted Alex's personality. She struggled to finish, but she couldn't, wouldn't show any weakness if she could prevent it infront of her friends.

The funeral seemed to last for hours. Fortunately the weather was great, although, nobody felt happy under the sun. They all comforted in the thought that Alex was watching and it was he who made sure to give them such blissful weather. They hoped that is was a sign that he was ok, but none of them could truly feel rested.

The service continued, as more and more tears fell from the eyes of his best friends, the people he had shared his whole yet unnecessary short life with. As his coffin was lowered into the ground, Maria clung to Michael's chest trying to fight back her tears and be strong for everybody else, but most of all for Alex. Michael wrapped his arms around her shoulders, resting his head on top of hers. He couldn't stand seeing her like this, she was such a strong women and this was really taking its toll on her. He prayed for Maria's sake as well as his own and everybody else's, that this would all be over very soon.

Sobs of grief filled the air sending chilling vibes into everyone gathered for Alex's funeral. Maria stood, barely, grateful Michael had hold of her body, if it wasn't for him; she didn't think she would be able to hold her own weight and bare the pain that had building inside of her over the past few days.

Looking around and taking everything in, Maria grieved not only for Alex, but for his family and all of her friends which had grown so close over the past years, eventually resulting in the family of their own they had all created. Alex parents stood at the foot of his coffin, his mother pouring her heart out as his father gripped tightly to his wife's violently shaking body. God…how are they going to cope, it must be the worst thing in the world to lose a child, especially so early in life

To the right sat rows of Alex's distant cousins and aunts and uncles Maria had never seen before, which was strange seen as she had know him since pre-school. How can they come here and say goodbye to someone, they most probably didn't know…it's their loss Maria bitterly thought to herself They are the ones who missed out on knowing what a genius he was or how much passion and loyalty he was bursting with. Any one of them will ever know the secret he had to bare for so long…the secret which eventually killed him Maria's heart was racing, her palms were sweating and she was so angry even thinking about how he had died.

Tess Harding…the girl who bombarded all of our lives and broke our family apart. It was her who filled Max's, Michael's and Isabel's minds with hope of going home and living a better life…a life without us…that hurt. But it was when she tricked Max into dumping Liz and she manipulated him into her arms, that everything started going wrong…how I hate you for doing this to us Tess Harding! But it wasn't until she took things too far and used Alex to her advantage. Mind warping him continuously forcing him to decipher the book she had got from Nasedo, the book from their home planet, telling of their destinies and alien life. But she couldn't stop there…no that little bitch…she had to protect herself at the price of hurting others. She mind warped Alex again and for the last time…God Alex what did she do to you?...his mind was too weak form all the warping, he couldn't take it and she knew that when she killed him! I swear if she hadn't have used the Granolith and escaped while she still could back to her home planet I would have killed the bitch myself, forget Max and Michael and Isabel, that worthless excuse of alien life wouldn't be worth living anymore! I hope she rots on her planet and dies a painful death

Maria buried herself deeper into Michael's arms and tried to push all of that anger to the back of her mind. Today was about Alex and 'she' wasn't going to take that away from him.

As Liz watched on as Alex's coffin was almost out of sight, she could no longer hold back, hot tears burned her cheeks, her eyes were soar, her throat grew tighter, and she was shaking all over. Taking comfort in her boyfriend's arms, Liz clung to Max for dear life. Praying that he was never to leave her side. After going through the pain and torment of losing her best friend of over 10 years, she didn't know if she would be able to cope if she was to lose another loved one.

Max hadn't known Alex for as long as Liz, but he could understand her pain, no, he could feel her pain. Over the years Max and Liz had grown so close together, they now shared a connection. They could always sense exactly what the other was feeling, at times that was great, but it could also be such a burden to bare, especially at times like this when Max could feel all of her pain run deep through his soul, he just wished that there was some way he could take all of it away and carry it for her. Anything to help her through this tragic time.

No matter how much Maria thought she was hiding her true emotions and being strong, Michael could tell that wasn't the truth. After the funeral, everybody made their way back to their cars, but Maria asked Michael if he would stay with her a while, she wanted to say goodbye to Alex after everyone had left. Maria positioned herself in front of Alex's tombstone. After saying her goodbyes, Michael stood just holding her for what seemed an eternity, yet only a few minutes. Even though he wouldn't tell anyone, least of all her, he hated seeing her like this, so fragile and lifeless.

From the day she was told about Alex's death, Maria hadn't felt much of anything over the days to come, most of all today at his funeral. She had become numb, she didn't want to feel anything because she knew if she was to feel something it would have been pain and she didn't think her heart could have taken any more.

Only a couple of days ago Michael and herself had had a big argument. Things had been left a little ruff and with the whole Alex situation, they hadn't had time to talk about it. It as only over something trivial, but of course to Michael it was a big deal Maria thought to herself allowing the first slightest grin to cover her face, she only hoped that Michael didn't see it, otherwise he would have thought of her as inappropriate smiling at a funeral. He wouldn't think that of me….would he? Maria started to lose herself in her own thoughts, she tried to focus herself back to reality, but she didn't like what reality made her feel. But she couldn't help forgetting about the argument they had had, she needed Michael now more than ever, without him she didn't think she would be able to keep herself from breaking down completely.

As Maria's embrace around Michael tightened, everything she had been feeling over the last few days bubbled to the surface, she tried to fight them, but it was too late, everything came spilling out. She burst into fits of sobs, screaming into Michael's shoulder, finally collapsing to the floor, whilst still unable to release herself from her beloved boyfriend.

Michael didn't object to her actions, he collapsed to the floor, all the while tightening his grip around her waist.

Maria screamed out in fury, in pain. "WHYYY? HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME!...HOW?..." Maria couldn't find the will to speak any longer; she merely sat sobbing on the floor embraced in Michael's arms.

After they walked around town for a while, Michael decided to take Maria home, he hated to admit it, but she looked terrible and so physically and emotionally drained. "Lets get you home, you look like you need to sleep for weeks hun" It was true Maria was so tired, but she didn't feel like she could sleep whilst feeling like this, she was scared of what tomorrow might hold for her, she wasn't ready to face everybody else just yet. But she knew Michael wasn't asking her and she didn't have the energy to argue with him about it.

Michael helped her into bed, pulling the covers over her shoulders, he stayed there for a while, he couldn't believe how beautiful she looked, even when she was at her worst, he thought smiling to himself. "What did I do to deserve you?" he whispered, stroking a piece of hair off of her face. He leaned in and kissed the top of her head "I love you". He quietly stood and headed for the door, just before he could turn the handle, he was stopped in his tracks by the sound of Maria's voice.

"Michael" Maria said as she sat up right in her bed, as Michael turned to face her, he could see glistening, unshed tears welling in her eyes. "Will you stay with me, I...I don't want to be alone tonight" Maria asked slightly moving herself over and pulling back her bed cover. Saying nothing, he made his way up to the bed and slipped his jacket off, placing it onto the chair besides him and taking off his shoes, he slid into the bed next to Maria, embracing her fragile petite body against his, taking a deep breath, he melted in the smell of her and trembled under the touch of her skin on his.

"Thank you" Maria said lifting her head slightly brushing her lips against his "I love you". With that Michael leant closer towards her and again tasted the sweetness of her lips, deepening the kiss one thing lead to another. As Michael rolled her over, both of them washed away their pain, as all the love they had for one another was enlightened and enriched.

Well...what do you think so far? hope you like it :D