AUTHOR'S NOTE - I DO NOT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF ROSWELL NEW MEXICO OR THE CONTENT THAT'S SIMILAR.

We don't really get to see Liz talk about how she got to feel the way she felt about Max with others, and how does Maria feel about what happened; what would she have said if she knew about #Malex?

Liz calls Maria on arriving home, knowing that as much as Maria is her own savior, she wants to show up for her better. "Hey," she says, "how are you?"

"You free for a walk?" she asks.

"Yeah," Liz says, "you want me to meet you, or?"

"I'll drive to you," Maria answers.

On the way there, Maria contemplates the events of the weekend. Sleeping with Guerin again, as much as it was a mistake, not all of the mistake was because of the alcohol or her resistance to being close to anyone. She knew what Michael meant to Alex, ever since his return. She wasn't unaware of the energy between them, a mixture of love, grief, fear, and anger. Michael found comfort in her, without words, something which she appreciated at night, when she'd drunk enough to allow herself to need someone. Then the sun rose and all the fear, self-protection he exercised as a norm of being abandoned and abused for as long as he had came to the surface and she had to protect herself from someone else to save. More than anything, she wanted her mother. She wanted her mother so she could at least use the wings she had and make different choices, lead a less imprisoned life.

She find Liz sitting in the Crashdown, still open for business, drinking a milkshake. "Hey," shge said on walking in, "still up for a walk."

Liz nods and called out, "Me voy, Pa," before following Maria out of the Crashdown.

"Before I talk about my...night," Maria says, "how did you behave around, Max?"

"Well," Liz begins, "I put myself out there, y'know, I channeled my inner Maria courage, but with patience. Is being in rehab really messed him up," as they turn a corner, Liz continues, "once you left us, I would find subtle ways to touch him, I convinced him to help me sleep in the one hotel room I chose. I made it clear that the spark, after everything, was there."

"Look at you taking down that armor," Maria interjects.

"Yeah," Liz agrees, "it takes the moment where he tells me he loves me flaws and all-which was much better than I can ever do it justice-to pull him into me and kiss him."

"Kiss him?" Maria asks, "You just kissed…"

"Well," Liz answers tilting her head to one side, "we were in the desert, by that place we took an adventure a decade ago," she stops trying to find a way to explain why they were there," Max wanted to stretch his legs. I told him I didn't know why or how he could love me or have faith in me given how much we've changed…"

"Yeah," Maria agrees, "you have changed…"

"And then he gives this epic speech, Maria, like the one in the movies where the guy tells the girl he sees everything about her. The one we write for ourselves in our darkest moments when we try to convince ourselves we're strong enough-but better, Maria," Liz says stopping her feet, "so much better."

"And then you kiss him," Maria summarizes.

"It was more than a kiss," Liz says, "out in the desert, we took the other into us, and sometimes," she reflects, "I don't know if I could love him like that."

"Like you did without realizing in high school?" Maria asks continuing to walk.

Liz follows and asks, "Excuse me?"

Maria nods, "Sometimes," and correcting herself begins again and says, "Most of the time you have no idea...always wanting to see the good in people what greatness you miss in others. Whenever you were with Max, even just talking or working, like the moon and ocean you two were. Kyle was just a boat thinking he was making the waves…"

"I hope you find that, Maria," Liz says, "if that's what you want."

"Y'know why Michael's so easy to fall into," she asks herself and Liz.

Before Liz can answer, Maria responds to her own question, "because of the secrets we both have to hide. Because of the love we rarely get-me for being the only black girl for miles and he...he for never knowing family outside of Max & Is and even then, they're not really family. Is got married; Max pined for you. He, like me, has no one for his everyday stuff. And Alex," she sighs, "Alex doesn't either which makes all of this hard. Alex's dad hates him and his brothers are indifferent to him,"

"I know," Liz says.

Maria continues, "And I love Alex, like a brother...but none of us speak, not really-well, they didn't until today."

"Until today," Liz asks.

Maria nods and begins to summarize bearing witness to Michael and Alex talking in the garage yard. As soon as Alex declared that he loved Michael and felt that Michael loved him, despite how little they knew of each other, she had frozen in her place behind Michael's trailer. She heard them as they moved towards it and ran towards her car before she could see or hear what they were going to do to each other.

Liz, knowing that Alex knew given the update she received from Kyle, and knowing what Michael hid under his trailer, wondered if Michael decided to tell the boy he loved, like Max had, his secret. "Oh, Maria," Liz says wrapping her arm around her, "that sucks."

"And I don't want to drink this pain away," Maria says, "I am tired of numbing how lonely I am. And I'm not sure having someone will heal that-I am not saying that at all," she concludes, "I just see and hear all of y'all and I am here, slowly losing my one constant."

"Maria…"

"It's true," she says, "despite our friendship you left without looking back consumed by your grief-and I know, I know we hashed that out and that you apologized-but I can't just up and go. Taking care of my mom, keeping up the bar and the fortune telling," she begins, "has somehow trapped me here, and I feel like I have every reason to leave but no way to get anywhere I could go…

"And if," she thinks out loud, "if my mom gets better, then leaving won't be running away from pain," stopping in her own tracks, "it will just be me learning the person I could be if I could just be for me."

Liz stays silent, knowing she had run after Rosa died, to be the person she needed to be for herself. Her selfishness gave her a sense of purpose and way to exist in the world that few without parents had. As much as her mother has not been around, her father was her anchor, her father, in never leaving, gave her a place to return to. Nothing she could say would change the reality of the situation. The happiness of the day, of finally allowing herself to explore her feelings for Max, is bittersweet given the looming threat of a fourth alien.

Maria has to be her own savior, and like she told Michael, she has been every time, but that must be exhausting as she watches the people she grow up with move on without her. And the moving on part, she has to admit, has been selfish. "I hope," Liz says, "I somehow earn the right to be your friend again-

"Liz," Maria says as they head back taking a longer route.

"Seriously," Liz says, "as much as I get angry about the police and ICE and all that...I can leave-I could, if I wanted and he wanted-take my dad with me. You're right. And I know," she continues taking her friend's hand, "I know you can save yourself, but the way you-whether we realize it or not-carry all of us, that should have never been your burden to carry."

"I carried it because I love you, Liz," Maria interrupts, "you're all home to me…"

"We can do better," Liz says, "I want to do right by you. I want to see you the way you see me," she says, "I know, I know I've been selfish trying to run from the pain of losing Rosa. I know much I took for granted in doing that-how much I took for granted in always talking to you about Max this summer."

"Liz," Maria sighed.

"Just because I lost Rosa," Liz says, "doesn't mean I lost both my sisters."

They walked arm in arm the way back to the crashdown in contemplative silence, taking in what the other had said. Maria remains torn about what to do with her mother, unwilling to give up on the woman who made her who she was, as much as she aches for the freedom of what her life could be if she was unanchored. Looking at Liz, taking in what Liz had said, she's unsure of whether or not she can trust someone showing up for her the way she has for others. Liz's words do make her think about the way she uplifts others who rarely see what she's going through; she contemplates the necessity and burden of her strength and intuition, especially when others take for granted how exhausting it is.

"Let's do Karoake soon," Liz suggests as they get to the Crashdown," even if it's just on my roof, next weekend."

Maria shrugs, "my weekends aren't yours, you know."

"Then we'll do it on yours," Liz agrees, "my workaholism can take a break from time to time.

"Wednesday, then?" Maria asks.

"Wednesday," Liz agrees as she feels her phone buzz.

"Tell Max I say hi," Maria says as she walks away backwards, "and that he owes me a song."

"How do you know," Liz begins to ask as she pulls out her phone," it's Max?"

"Am I wrong?" Maria asks as she points to Liz's phone.

When Liz looks down, she sees that it is and shouts again, "Wednesday!"

"Wednesday!"

She walks inside the Crashdown, which has a few straggling customers, and checks on her dad in the back. "Como estas, Pa?"

"How's Maria?"

"No se," Liz answers, "Mimi's getting worse y la curandera was a fake."

"Aye," her dad sighs, "y ahora?"

"I have to return a phone call to Max," Liz says, "but before I do, do you need anything?"

"No, m'ija," he says kissing her forehead, "dile he can have milkshakes on the house whenever he wants…"

"I will, Pa," Liz answers as she walks up the stairs.

Please let me know what you think...and should I write a fan fic based on #Malex's concluding scene? Thank you for taking the time to read! :)