SUMMARY: Max, Maria and Liz come home.

RATING: PG (ANGST)

PAIRING: Michael POV (M/M thoughts)

DISTRIBUTION: ask me

SPOILERS: Current - after Max is alive again

DISCLAIMER: Jason Ketims owns the characters. I'm just using them for a while.

DEDICATION: To trixie!

FEEDBACK: PLEASE!

THANKS TO: all the people that have been so supportive of my Buffy- obsession and to trixie who fostered my Roswell one! :) Love you girlie! Also to Becky for the inspiration and EvilWillow for the tapes!



-Too-



I. Hate. Making. Burgers. Let it be known that Michael Guerin *hates* to make burgers and the only reason I took this damn job was because I wanted to see Maria. Of course she's gone off to make her millions and become the star she always was-

Could my life get any worse? First Maria- now Max… Why'd we even stay on this damn planet?

I finish wiping the counter off and I think I'm finally finished closing. No more burgers until tomorrow. No more restaurants with alien food and less aliens- one less alien.

Max is gone. I still can't get that through my head. I guess this means that I have to be the leader and be strong for everyone.

I hear the door open, "We're closed," I state before turning around…

"Surprise," he says.

"Maxwell-" I say and before I know it, I've grabbed him and we're hugging. Yes, hugging. I know, I'm not really the 'hugging' kind of guy- but he's my brother, or close enough. My friend. "How is this possible?"

"Alien thing- of course," Maria says as she and Liz sit at the counter. She's beautiful- she always is, even when she's just woken up, after spending the night with me inside her. Shit- I wanna be inside her again.

But we're over.

"Thought you were gonna be the next Britney," I comment as Max sits next to Liz. I pour some drinks and it's funny how people switch sides of the counter so quickly in this place.

Roswell, New Mexico.

"What happened?" I ask, leaning on the counter. I can't believe my eyes- but at the same time- this does make sense and seem to fit logically into the 'things that we thought could never happen' category.

"The guy- Clayton… he became me, or I became him. I don't know-"

"It doesn't matter," Liz points out. "Just that he's not dead. He's here."

"And you are too," I notice.

"Boarding school was a bad influence on me," she says while I've been watching the glances that have been going back and forth between her and Max. I wonder if they'll ever just give in to what they want. That's one thing Maria and I used to talk about before she realized that she was too good for me. It's something that I always knew- I just thought that maybe… maybe it could be more.

Problem is that it's too much more for her. She doesn't want to be stuck in Roswell, tied to an alien forever and try as I might, I can't blame her for that.

"I'll say, Liz. If I *ever* find you drunk again, I'll have to do some serious ass-kicking," Maria smiles. I love her smiles. I love everything about her- too much.

I've always been too much. Too poor. Too slow. Too stupid. Too angry. Too closed. Too cold. Too rebellious. Too alien. Too powerless. Too in love with Maria. It's just in my nature.

"Well- things were complicated," Liz replies. Yeah- complicated is a good word. *Too* complicated. That's another thing I am and I keep trying to figure out which one of those (besides being too in love with her) is what pushed Maria away.

"I gotta go," I say. I really don't wanna lean on this counter (a foot away from that hair that I love too much) any more.

"Working tonight, Michael?" Max asks.

"No, actually- you sort of burned down my building. I gotta find another job."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No worries- it was getting boring anyway."

"Max- I'm gonna go up and talk with my Dad," Liz says and Max stands up to walk her back to the stairs.

Right- like I wanna be here with her. I swear, if she gets too close we'll be kissing again and we'll be making love again and she'll be leaving again. Too painful.

"Michael-"

"Don't," I say, heading for the door. "Just don't."

I walk out the door.

Never in a million years did I think I'd be walking away from Maria DeLuca. All those times, she chased me around, begging me to tell her what I wanted, how I felt… she changed me. She evened me out. She took everything that I was too much of, and made it just enough. But as it turns out- I just made her tired.

*Too* tired.

Aren't we all?



THE END