The funeral was a quiet affair. Broken only by the priest saying the liturgy for the funeral and the faint sniffling in the church. Tess had come out of her hiding place and Kyle came down a few days early to be at the funeral. Both were upset that a member of their group had died.especially by their own hand.

One by one friends and family got up to talk about Maria and their memories or thoughts on the girl that no one would ever see again.

Amy was the first to talk about Maria; the daughter she'd loved her whole life. The daughter she had tried to mold into a better person then her mother was. She felt like she had failed miserably.

"We were never close.we were too different she said.she always knew that.whatever she did and whatever she said.that I still loved her and always would. She was loved by me and by her friends."

Amy had been trying to hold back her tears and as she started to continue her grief overcame her and she started to sob. Liz had been waiting to speak and took Amy's elbow and helped her down the steps and back to her seat next to Jim. Jim took her from there and tried his best to comfort his upset wife. Liz then turned and went back up the stairs after making sure she was going to be okay.

"We'd always been best friends.sisters really. Ever since we were little we'd been like that. Running rampid through the Crashdown. Later during high school we worked at the Crashdown as waitresses. We were there for each other during our first heartbreak, our first crush.for a lot of things. She was never a perfect person. No one ever is. She tried to make everyone like her if not loves her."

Liz continued to talk about her departed friend trying to hold back her tears until she had sat back down with her husband. Finally she finished her speech and climbed down the stairs after pausing to get a hug from Alex. She trudged slowly down the aisle back to her husband and started to sob quietly in his arms.

"Are you going to be alright?" Max asked quietly

Liz just shook her head no and continued to sob. Max kissed the top of her head and reached into his pocket to get his package of Kleenex out. He handed her the crumpled pack and she took it from him with trembling hands.

".and Liz. We made up the Three Musketeers of Roswell. Always running this way and that way doing something. Though our intentions weren't always good ones," Alex said winking cheekily. He continued, "High school for us changed us.but we remained friends.always. Even though our group changed we never stopped being close.you know.when I was little I always figured I'd marry either Liz or Maria. Apparently that little daydream won't come soon. I'm marrying the girl of my dreams Isabel and Liz married the man of her dreams. Everyone always assumed Maria would marry Michael. Guess everyone's dreams were wrong.."

Alex continued his remembrance of Maria as Isabel watched from the back of the church. I don't have ANY of these memories.or my own private ones to share. What am I doing here? Then the voice in her head answered her. She was here for Alex. To give him someone to lean on when he needed it. She knew when all was said and done he'd still be crying. For his memories of Maria. Of the lost potential she had.for everything she was and was to become. They had already moved the date of the wedding to a month later then the date scheduled. The church was gracious enough to accept the change of date with no fee. They would have paid the fee if there had been. It just felt wrong to have a happy occasion so close to the death of a loved one. Everyone involved and invited had been made aware of the changes to the wedding but somehow it didn't seem like enough to honor the death of Maria Isabel thought. Isabel let her eyes travel around the church taking in those that were crying inside and out and she began to angry. Angry with Maria for killing herself and make all her friends and family suffer. But mostly she was angry at whoever made Maria kill herself. That made life not worth living for and made Isabel feel helpless. A feeling she didn't like. No matter what had caused it.

".I will always miss her laughter and smile. But the thing I regret the most is that the world can't hear her voice. Her singing will have to live in us," Alex said finishing off his speech. He climbed down the stairs and headed towards his seat as Jim started up the stairs. As Alex settled in next to Isabel Jim began.

"I never knew her as well as a lot of you did.but I loved her the same as if she was my own flesh and blood. I grew up with that Pixie tearing up my office chasing after Kyle after he'd tugged her pigtail."

Alex had started to cry as the memories once again surfaced to the top. Isabel wrapped her arms around him and together they let Jim's words wash over them.

".she was always trying to be a better person to.well.love everyone."

Max squeezed Liz's hand and smiled at her. He was still crying slightly but he was becoming resolved. To find and figure out what made Maria do it and make them pay. It was hurting their group in more then one way.

Liz leaned on her husband and let her tears flow. What could make Maria do it? she asked herself for the hundredth time What was it she couldn't have talked to me or Tess or Alex about? Liz's tears started flowing faster and harder then before. She sniffled slightly and gratefully took the pack of Kleenex Max handed her. Liz looked up from Max's arms just as Jim walked by their pew.

"Jim," she said. He slowly stopped as if he was slowly getting the words into his brain. Liz untangled herself from Max and gave the protective retired Sheriff a hug. Jim returned it grateful that someone else realized that he had indeed loved Maria. Liz finally let him go and Jim went back to his distraught sobbing wife that Kyle and Tess had been trying to calm down. Moment's earlier Michael had ascended the stairs and was now starting his speech.

"She was my singing bird. She was always singing to herself.especially after I bought her that guitar," Michael said smiling slightly to himself, "times were different then.we drifted apart though we tried not to."

Kyle and Tess exchanged a look that said it all. He hadn't done anything to help the relationship. She had always done all the work later in their relationship. He had always assumed she would be there.

Tess had become closer to both Maria and Liz after she and Max discovered that they weren't meant to be together. Regardless of what the book said. They both had people they loved very much. Max had Liz who he's always loved and Tess had Kyle. Their love had grown slowly. The girls had become sisters of a sort. Recently Tess had gone into seclusion to come with terms with her life. Everyone had encouraged and supported her decision to do that. They understood that she'd never really had time to do that growing up and that now she needed to do that. She had come to the conclusion of announcing her decision she'd come to in seclusion after Isabel's wedding so as to not disturb the joyous occasion. But she had changed her mind when she had received word of Maria and her death. She figured it would be better for them to get over all their sadness in one fell swoop.

Kyle silently cried and tried to comfort his stepmother that he'd grown to love. His dad and her was a perfect match. They complimented each other more then they could ever realize. But Maria's death would be a trial he was sure Amy would never come out of. She would never be the same.or even close to the same as before. Even after he asked Tess to marry him. Even that joy would be shadowed with sadness. She would never see her own daughter walk down the aisle. Kyle had bought the ring while away at work in Boston. He had brought it with him. He still couldn't figure out why he had. Now was not the time. It was a time to grieve not propose to someone.but he had still brought it with him. He had seen Tess shortly after he had gotten back into town. They had fallen back into their normal pattern. He loved that fact that they were comfortable with each other even when they were apart. Kyle was starting to drift down memory lane. Trying to remember every happy moment him and Maria had shared trying to lose his sadness in the memories. Tess's elbow in his side brought him back to the present though.

"You're up," she whispered to him. He nodded and got up and went up the stairs.

"She was my step-sister but I never thought of her that way. I always thought of her as my sister. A dearly loved sister. I remember the first few weeks when her and Amy moved in. Things weren't too.comfortable. I don't think she liked the fact that her mom had married mine. I know I wasn't happy about my dad marrying her mom! But eventually we started talking. Slowly at first but it increased. We'd talk about anything. Just trying to get used to the fact of living in the same house. Eventually.after a few months at least! The house started feeling like a family. We were all closer then before. Because we tried. We wanted our parents to be happy. We were still as close when we went off to college. I remember my first weekend away."

Liz smiled in spite of herself. She remembered hearing about them from Maria. She could tell that Kyle was desperately trying not to cry. But she knew he would inevitably start crying.just by being faced with all those memories of Maria.

".Maria started coming to me or sending her stuff when she wanted an opinion outside her music friends. She always wanted me to listen to her stuff and give her advice on how to make it better. At first I didn't believe that she wanted MY opinion on her stuff. Then I realized she really did.I still have her tapes she sent me when I was off at college.I really wish Alex HAD been able to get her a deal. The world would have fallen in love with her like the rest of us have," Kyle finished and stepped down. Tess hugged him fiercely and kissed him on the cheek. She watched as he went back to their seat then she herself went up the stairs to give her final good-bye to her friend.her sister.

"I'd like to say Maria and me got along from the very beginning.but that would be a lie. Maybe at sometime in my life I would lie.but she taught me that sometimes to honor someone or something the truth is better.no matter how painful or ugly it is. We hated each other really. I was a threat to her best friend's relationship. Eventually I DID date Max but well everyone knows how THAT turned out," Tess said smiling a little, at the memories that were surfacing, "After our differences were settled Maria, Liz, and I became good friends. More like sisters then anything else. We called each other all the time just to hear the other person's voice. I was never as close as Liz and her were but we were still close."

Max had been surprised she had even mentioned the fact that they had dated. They usually kept that in the background but then he realized what she was doing. Making them remember the real Maria.not the sugar coated version. She made them remember the times of danger true but they were also the best times of their lives.

".those were the best times of my life. Things changed over time but we still remained close.we still remained sisters. I miss her terribly and I loved her."

Tess stepped down and when she sat down next to Kyle and his family she let her tears come. Kyle pulled her into his arms and let her cry herself out.

The entire group was listening to the priest finish the service with only half an ear. Lost in their own thoughts and worries over the others in the group. Most were lost in the past reliving when the threat of the Skins was real and ever present but so was their true friends before they were corrupted. As the priest concluded the service and people filtered out of the church the group came back to the painful present. They gripped their beloveds as though they were afraid they to would disappear out of their arms and lives. Michael was the only one still sitting in his pew as the others left the church. The last look everyone had was of Michael with his head down crying.