Michael opened the door to his apartment. It was bigger then his first one, the one he had in high school, but it wasn't as big as the one that Alex and Isabel shared. And the house that Max and Liz bought three years ago made his 'home' look like a mouse hole. That was okay, though. He didn't need much. He was alone. Michael shrugged his shoulders, not really used to having these feelings. If Maria had been there, she would have made him open up and talk about his feelings, but she wasn't, and he wasn't going to sit there and have a conversation with himself, like he'd done in that shitty jail cell when he and the gang went to Las Vegas. But then again, he thought, me and Max did understand each other more- and we even 'bonded' during Braveheart... I never did get that body count. He walked over to the refrigerator and yanked it open. Grabbing a bottle of Snapple (ever since he'd stolen from that place where he worked as a security guard, he'd grown to love the stuff), he made his way over to the couch. Man, he thought, am I beat. Michael had spent the past fourteen hours sitting at a desk at Wit-Tech, the place Alex owned. He had been hired as the vice president (with Alex as the president) the minute it had opened. He always knew that Isabel had gotten him the job, but he liked to think that he'd made a difference there. He was the supervisor to over fifteen hundred employees, and handled any problems with a maturity that both shocked and surprised his friends. But then, if he admitted it to himself, he'd been that way ever since Maria died. Fed up with what he hadn't found on TV, he quickly shut it off and focused his power at the CD player. It turned on and he focused his power again to skip the CD to the third song. It was Maria's favorite.
You're my sunshine after the rain
You're the cure against my fear and my pain
'Cause I'm losing my mind when you're not around
It's all (It's all) because of you
As the song began, he walked into his room and rummaged through his clothes. He found a pair of boxer shorts and started to move towards the bathroom.
Baby I really know by now
Since we met that day
You showed me the way
I felt it when you gave me love I can't describe
How much I feel for you
I said baby I should have known by now
Should have been right there whenever you gave me love
And if only you were here
I'd tell you yes I'd tell you (Oh yeah)
As the song entered its first verse, he stopped. Tears ran down his cheeks as he remembered. They had been fighting their enemies. His enemies. She should've stayed back. Should have listened to him.
You're my sunshine after the rain
You're the cure against my fear and my pain
'Cause I'm losing my mind when you're not around
It's all (It's all) because of you
But did she? Noooo. She had to jump in front of the bolt of energy meant for him. She had done so in an instant. Without thinking.
Honestly, could it be you and me
Like it was before neither less or more
'Cause when I close my eyes at night
I realize that no one else could ever take your place
I feel it's so unreal
When you're touching me kisses endlessly
It's just a place in the sun where our love's begun
I miss you, yes I miss you, oh yeah
She had looked at him before she did it, and he should have known then. Should have known what she was going to do, but he never imagined that she would. He knew she loved him...but enough to die for him? He never knew that... Well, maybe he did. He just never imagined that she actually would.
You're my sunshine after the rain
You're the cure against my fear and my pain
'Cause I'm losing my mind when you're not around
It's all (It's all) because of you
He'd caught her on her decent to the ground. Caught her and held her hand as she died. Then he wiped the tears from his eyes, jumped up, and shot energy bolts at the bastards, screaming curses as he took them down. One by one, ten by ten, it didn't matter. They had cost him the most important thing in his life, and for that they had to die.
If I knew how to tell you what's on my mind
(Make you understand)
Then I'd always be right there by your side
He always wished that there were things he could tell her before she died. He had thought about this countless times. He would tell her that he loved her...beyond all belief. That he was the one that was supposed to be leaving her, not the other way around... He would tell her that he couldn't survive without her...that she was his everything...his sunshine after the rain...
You're my sunshine after the rain
You're the cure against my fear and my pain
'Cause I'm losing my mind when you're not around
It's all (It's all) because of you
He wanted to tell her everything. That he would think of her always...that she was the only one for him...that she always had been. He wanted her to know...and as he stood there on his way to the bathroom, he finally figured it out.
"Maria," he said. "I love you. I will always love you. You live in me."
As the song ended, Michael dried his eyes once again, something he knew he would be doing for the rest of his life and closed the bathroom door.
You're my sunshine
You're my sunshine
Oh yeah
Because of You does not belong to me…. It's 98 Degrees' song.