Chapter 2 (The one to help her through it)

"Maria?"

Maria looked up in hope but her face crumpled when she saw Alex in front of her. Alex kneeled down in front of his best friend and lifted her chin with his fingers so she would look at him in the eyes. "Maria sweetie, what's wrong?" he asked in a concerned tone. "Are you hurt?"  She nodded and Alex started to rake his eyes over her body. After seeing nothing that would look like she was physically hurt, he concluded that it was emotional and sighed as he sat next to her on the last step. "What did he do now?"

"He-he left me," she sobbed and Alex placed an arm around her shoulders, bringing her to his chest as he stroked her hair with his free arm. He kissed the top of her head and wished to god that what had obviously taken place the night before hadn't happened. He wasn't stupid. His best friend was sitting on the stairs wearing only a tank top and sweat pants and crying because her boyfriend had left her at this time of the morning. They had slept together and Michael had run.

"Shhh, it's going to be okay," he said soothingly in her ear. Maria lifted her head and stared at Alex as understanding ran through her mind. Alex had worked it out.

"I just…I just thought that after we… we made love that he would change you know?" she said softly. "I thought that he would stay. I thought that he loved me."

Alex just continued to hug her, not knowing what to say. All he wanted to do was kill Michael for all the pain he had caused Maria but knew that he couldn't leave her. His friend needed him and he would do anything to make sure that she would be okay. Getting an idea, he extracted his arms and stood. He reached out and took one of her hands in his and pulled her into a standing position. "Come on, you're going to get dressed and then we are going to the Crashdown."

Shaking her head, Maria pulled her hand away. "Are you kidding? What if Michael is there?" she asked angrily. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

"You are going to go to the Crashdown with me and if Michael is there then who cares." He knew that his next words would hurt her but she needed to hear them, she needed to get over him. "Michael left you Maria. He fucked you then left you. All you were to him was a good la--" he was cut off by Maria's hand as it connected with his cheek.

"You bastard," she hissed. "Get out."

Alex turned his head back around to look at her. "No, you need to hear it Maria. Michael used you and after getting what he wanted he left. So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to stay here and mope, letting him know how much what happened affected you, or are you going to go out there, get on with your life and forget that Michael Guerin ever existed. What happened obviously hasn't affected him so why don't you show him that it didn't affect you either. What he's going to expect is for you to chase after him Maria. For you to follow him like the lost little puppy you were so close to becoming but what he needs to see is a Maria who doesn't give a shit, a Maria who is strong and independent and who could do so much better than some scum bag alien like him."

Looking at Alex in admiration and a little surprise, she let a small smile grace her features and brought her hand up to caress his cheek. "I'm sorry I slapped you," she whispered. "And you're right, Michael did leave me and treat me like I was some whore he could discard. I want to show him that I don't care, that I don't need him."

Alex sighed in relief, thanking the heavens that he finally had gotten through to her. "Well go up stairs and dress to kill. We have an alien to not care about."

Maria laughed at Alex's weird way with words then hugged him tight.  "Thank you Alex. You're a great friend."

He smiled into her neck. "No worries babe, now go and get changed. I'm starving." He smiled to himself proudly as Maria giggled while running upstairs. He had gotten her to laugh and brought her out of the funk that could have possibly consumed her for god knows how long.

*~*~*~*

"I can't do this Alex, he's in there."

Alex sighed and held her hand tighter as he started to pull her into the Crashdown. "You can and you will," he said. "Maria he needs to see that you don't care. Look, you never know, maybe he'll even come over and apologise for being the ass he is and want to be with you again. But you'll never know unless you go back in."

Maria glanced inside before taking a deep breath and opening the doors. "You're right. Maybe he just got scared or something." Alex nodded as he followed her and they sat in a corner booth. Maria turned to look in Michael's direction as he sat with Isabel and Max. She saw him look up at her then turn his head away as if what had happened the night before was just a figment of her imagination. "Or maybe he is just an ass."

Taking her hand in his, Alex looked at her with concern. "Don't let him get to you. You're Maria Deluca, you're strong, Teflon even. Just remember that okay."

"Teflon, right, I'm Teflon," she said, taking a breath then smiling. "I can do this. I don't need Michael Guerin to make me happy, I don't need any man." Alex faked a pained look as he clutched at his heart and Maria giggled. "Oh Alex, you my friend are the only exception." Alex smiled proudly then broke into laughter along with Maria as a waitress came and took their order.

*~*~*~*

Isabel watched the two in the corner with interest. They were sitting way to close for her taste and it seemed like they were holding hands. She could hear Michael let out a small growl when the two started laughing and rolled her eyes. "Michael, just go over there for goodness sake. You've been staring at her since she walked in. I thought you two were together anyway. The least you could do is say hello to your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend anymore," he answered gruffly as he tore his eyes away from the giggling pair. "We broke up."

"Mmm, maybe it's for the best anyway," Max commented. "The last thing we need right now are any more distractions and we can get things back on track. Just the three of us." He looked up when the door chimed to see Kyle walk in with Tess and head over to Alex and Maria's booth. "Ahh, four of us I mean."

Making her way over to the table, Liz pulled out her note pad. "What can I get you?" she asked, not looking at them.

"Just three cherry cokes," Isabel told her while once again glancing over at the now full booth in the corner. Liz nodded and headed off towards the drink dispenser.

Soon after, Max too stood up. "I'm going to talk to Liz," he said and left.

Isabel rolled her eyes and wiggled in her seat. "So much for not having any distractions," she mumbled to herself.

*~*~*~*

"Kyle, Tess," Alex greeted the two as they sat in the booth.

Maria looked at Tess with caution and the blue-eyed blond noticed it. She sighed and took a deep breath. All she had wanted to do was fit in but so far it had been difficult and that was mainly due to Liz. Liz hated her and because of that she had found it hard to connect with anyone. For a while she thought that she could become friends with Isabel but Max put a stop to that. He warned the princess away from her and she was left with no one. Kyle so far had been the only one who was even slightly friendly with her and Alex never seemed to have a problem, but she hoped that by coming to the Crashdown and talking to Maria, that maybe she could make another friend. So far from her time in Roswell, Maria had been the only one she hadn't really had a chance to talk to and today she was going to rectify that. Well, hopefully anyway.

"I know that you must not like me very much at the moment," she said, looking at Maria who was listening intently and nodded. "But you must believe that I never meant for this to happen. I never meant for anyone to be unhappy. I grew up thinking that Max was my mate, that he and I would see each other and fall in love again. It's all I have ever known and thought. What Necado didn't count on was you guys. You all entered their group and became a part of it, a part of something that I was never welcome to and I was jealous so I tried to destroy that but after seeing what affect it has had, I regret ever coming here. But I am here and there is nothing much I can do about it and so I hope that you will at least give me a chance. I don't know many people in Roswell and the ones I do, haven't been so friendly."

Tess sighed and looked at the tablecloth. This had been harder than she thought. She didn't know why she wanted Maria's friendship so badly. Maybe it was because there was no way she and Liz could become friends, and the fact that Isabel had made out as if she had to be Tess's friend because they were aliens. Maria was the only one who didn't need to be her friend, the only one who didn't completely hate her as far as she knew. She looked up at the blond. "I would like at least one girlfriend in this town."

Biting her lip, Maria watched Tess's face for any hint of being insincere but found none so she smiled. "I suppose that I haven't really gotten to know you well enough to hate you yet so I would love to give the whole friends thing a try." She watched as Tess's face lit up. "But the second you start going all 'Destiny is all I live for' on us..." she trailed off playfully and Tess laughed. "Don't worry babe, you have at least one girlfriend." She then nudged at Alex's shoulder. "Two if you count him, right Alex?"

Alex nodded with a smile then narrowed his eyes when what she had said finally got through to him. "Hey!" Alex cried. "Just friend will be fine thank you," he said, throwing a glare at Maria who was now giggling along with Tess. "There is no 'girl' in front of it."

"You sure about that Whitman?" Kyle remarked from beside Tess. Alex directed his glare towards the footballer and Kyle held his hands up in moke surrender. "Hey man only kidding," he laughed but then suddenly started to look serious. "Hey can we talk?"

Alex nodded a little hesitantly, stood and followed Kyle outside to where he now stood. "What can I do for you?" he said.

"How do you deal with it?" Kyle asked. "You know, the alien thing?"

Shrugging, Alex pushed his hands into his pocket. "I don't know. I still am trying to get over the fact that aliens really do exist in Roswell and god knows where else. You just got to take it one day at a time I guess," he said and Kyle nodded. "So how is having one living at your house like?"

"Horrible," Kyle said, suddenly starting to pace. "She leaves her stockings and girly things lying around everywhere, she has taken over my room and not only that, but she keeps using her," he stopped and looked around before whispering, "powers all the time. She made the wall pink last night. It freaks me out." He paused for a moment but then softly admitted, "But it's good to have a female around the house again I guess.  She likes to clean which I'll never understand but the house looks better than it ever has. She even cooked dinner last night. First meal I've had that wasn't microwaveable in a long time. Yeah, so I guess I can't really complain huh?"

Alex shook his head. "Nah, I guess not. Anyway, she doesn't seem that bad now though, she even got Maria laughing," he said pointing into the café.

"Yeah what's up with that?" Kyle asked. "Maria looked like death when we walked in. Tess mentioned that something happened between her and Guerin though."

"She just had a really bad night, but don't bring it up okay? I just spent all morning trying to calm her down from it."

Kyle nodded then actually took the time to look at the man standing next to him. For so long Alex had just been the geek who hung out with girls to him but now, after talking to him it was different. "Hey man um…look I'm sorry for ragging on you all these years. Won't happen again," he said quietly and Alex looked shocked. Kyle smiled. "Hey if Tess can make a new friend, why can't I?"

Alex laughed and nodded. "Apology accepted, now let's go see what they're laughing at."

TBC…