The dreaded chapter. WARNING: May need tissues near by. Sorry I took so long to get this up, I was dreading this chapter that it took me a while to actually go anywhere near it to sit down and type it up.

Chapter 22

"Well, well, well, someone looks like they're the cat that ate the cream," Maria teased as she walked past the door.

Alex just smiled as he looked at his best friend.

"Maybe that because I had the greatest time of my life last night," Alex stated as he walked past his friend over to the counter, causing Maria to squeal, startling everyone.

"Oh, my baby boy is no longer a virgin!" Maria squealed as she hugged Alex, causing Liz to choke on her ice cream that she was currently eating while sitting next to Max.

"Jesus Maria," Liz moaned once she swallowed her ice cream after making sure she wasn't choking.

Everyone, minus James and Sarah, were in the Crashdown enjoying their time after the prom. "Did you have to say that?" Liz asked, Maria just grinned as she went to lift the tub of dirty dishes when Alex leaned forward and took it.

"Let me," Alex told her before heading into the backroom with Maria and Liz watching in amusement.

"The boy has it bad," Maria told them and Liz grinned as she tucked back into her ice cream before leaning against Max, who wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

"NO!" Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the backdoor as an anguish wail came. Liz hopped off her stool and made her way into the backroom with the gang following her.

Liz stopped when she saw Alex kneeling on the ground, enveloped in Jim's arms; pain was obvious on his face as tears ran down his face.

"Mr Valenti?" Liz asked and Jim looked up.

I'm sorry, Sarah's dead," he whispered, Liz's hand shot up to her mouth as she stifled a gasp before she and Maria moved forward and took Jim's place in comforting Alex, who just wrapped his arms around their waist, holding them close.

"What happened?" Max asked once everyone followed Jim out of the backroom, leaving the girls alone with their distraught best friend.

"Car crash, she crashed head on into a truck," Jim explained and Max sighed as he rested his back on the counter before looking away out of the window.

"How?" Isabel asked and Jim shook his head.

"No one knows, the driver said that she just drove head on into him but he can't be too clear because of the bright head lights. It's possible he may have swerved off the road and into her," Jim explained.

The backdoor opened and everyone, except Max, turned to see Alex being held up by his best friends. Max turned back to face Jim.

"Take me to her," Max told him, Jim locked eyes with him and both of them stared into each other eyes for a long moment before Jim nodded.

"Okay," he whispered and Max nodded as he turned to face his girlfriend and felt his heart clench at the tear marks down her cheeks.

Alex, Isabel, Jim, Tess, Michael, Maria, Jim and Liz found themselves standing outside the van where Sarah's body was being held while Max was inside the van. Max closed his eyes before he reached out and unzipped the bag; he took one look and sighed.

"Max is just gonna go in there, heal Sarah and they're just gonna come out, happy. Sarah, of course will be confused but she might take the news of Max and co being alien a little better than the rest of us," Alex joked weakly. Maria and Liz just tightened their hold on his arms, praying that he was right.

Max came out of the van; he shut the door before turning to face Alex and shook his head. Alex felt the last of his hopes just crumble away; he jerked himself away from his friends and ran off.

"Alex!" Maria shouted before she turned to Liz, who just shrugged helplessly.

"Go after him Maria, he needs someone to talk to," Liz told her. "I'll catch up with you two later, he won't be able to handle us both together," Liz explained and Maria nodded as she ran off in the same direction that Alex ran off.

"How come you couldn't heal her?" Isabel asked, Max just paled before looking away.

"She was too far gone," Max, explained vaguely. Liz stepped forward and Max enveloped her in his arms, holding her closed before dropping a kiss onto her forehead.

"I need to go and see Lois and see if she needs any help," Jim told them, as Max pulled away from Liz and nodded to him. Jim and Kyle walked off.

They heard a clanging noise and they turned to see the men wheeling the body bag out, Liz let out a small cry causing Max to gather her into his arms and turn away from the sight.

"Oh god," Isabel whispered as she covered her mouth.

"Let's go," Michael stated as he led Tess away from the scene. Max shook his head as he led Liz and Isabel toward the jeep.

"Let's go home," he told them and they nodded as they climbed into the jeep. Liz sat in front with Max while Isabel sat in the back. Max drove the way to the Evans' and pulled up in the driveway. He helped Liz out of the car and led the way up the pathway till they stepped into the house.

Diane and Phillip looked up from where they were sitting in the living room and smiled when they saw their kids and Liz step into the house. They stood up and made their way into the hallway.

"Hi honey," Diane greeted as when she saw Max but stopped when she saw the solemn look on his face and the tear tracks on Liz's face and the sadness in Isabel's eyes.

"What's wrong?" Phillip asked.

"Sarah was killed tonight in a car accident," Max explained. Diane's eyes widen as they filled with tears and covered her mouth as a shocked gasp came out. Phillip just rocked back in shock.

"What?" Phillip demanded in a raspy voice.

"No one knows what happened yet, Jim came into the Crashdown and told Alex that Sarah was in a car accident. It seems that Sarah ran her car head into the truck that was passing or the truck ran into her, they're not sure yet," Max explained.

"Oh god, poor Lois," Diane whispered.

"Liz is going to stay here tonight, I don't want her to be alone," Max explained and Diane nodded.

"Sure thing honey, do you want anything to drink? Or to eat?" she asked.

"I wouldn't mind some hot chocolate, I need sugar," Liz spoke up and Diane smiled sadly as she nodded and reached out for the petite girl.

"Come on sweetie," Diane whispered as she took Liz into her arms and made their way into the kitchen with Max, Isabel and Phillip following them.

Diane made up the hot chocolate as she watched as Max sat on his chair next to Liz and let her lean her body into his as he held her close. She handed them the hot chocolate, making sure it had extra sugar in it for the shock and watched them as they all tried to come to term to what had just happened to them.

"You go to bed and get some sleep, you'll need it," Diane told them and they nodded as they walked off toward the bedrooms to try and get some sleep.

Max and Liz were in Max's bed; Liz was curled up on her side with Max spooning her from behind.

Liz bolted up from the bed and rushed into the bathroom. Max was startled out of his sleep when he heard retching. He climbed out of bed and stumbled toward the bathroom. He saw Liz kneeling in front of the toilet. He grabbed the washcloth and wet it before kneeling down beside her and holding back her hair as she emptied her stomach.

Once she stopped, Max sat down on the floor and brought Liz between his legs. She sighed as she rested the back of her head against his bare chest as he brought the wet cloth and wiped her face with her.

"I'm here," Max, whispered as he kissed the top of her head, still cooling her down before throwing the cloth into the sink and flushed the toilet before lifting her up into his arms.

"I gotta brush my teeth," Liz mumbled sleepily and Max smothered a small grin before sitting down on the toilet seat and settle her on his lap. He grabbed her toothbrush and toothpaste; he put the toothpaste on her toothbrush and handed it to her before filling out the small cup with water as she brushed her teeth then rinsed her mouth out.

Once she was finished, Max wiped her mouth before lifting her up into his arms once more and headed into the bedroom. He settled her in the bed and pulled the light sheets over her body before heading back into the bathroom where he cleaned the cloth and threw it into the hamper before switching the lights off and made his way into the hallway where he walked down into the kitchen.

He turned when he heard a noise and saw Diane standing there.

"How's Liz? I thought I heard her throwing up," Diane explained and Max nodded.

"Yeah, don't worry too much about it. She did the same when her grandma died, she keeps it all bottled up inside that it gets too much for her body to handle," Max explained as he reached for a glass and filled it up with water.

"Are you sure?" Diane asked and Max nodded.

"Yeah, the same thing happened when she is extremely stressed out. She's not pregnant mom," Max told her, knowing what his mother was thinking and she gave an embarrassed laugh.

"Sorry," she told him and he shook his head.

"Trust me, if I didn't know Liz's habits so well, I would be thinking that she was pregnant, but she isn't. We've both been very careful mom," Max told her and she nodded.

"Okay, go back to her. God knows the pair of you are going to need all the sleep you can," Diane told her, Max nodded as he kissed his mother's cheek before leaving her alone in the kitchen.

Diane just sighed to herself as she wrapped her arms around her middle tighter as she looked out of the window. She couldn't believe that Sarah was dead, a young girl who was the same age as her son, younger than her daughter. She had her whole life ahead of her and it was ripped away from her like that.

She jumped slightly when she felt arms slip around her waist and leaned back into Phillip's embrace.

"Liz was being sick?" he asked and Diane nodded.

"Max assured me it was a normal, that she had a habit of bottling things up till it forces its way out one way or another," Diane explained and Phillip chuckled slightly.

"She's a perfect match for Max, that one," Phillip stated and Daine smiled in agreement as they both stood there, in front of the window, staring out into the darkness as the next morning events lingered in the back of their mind.

Liz found herself standing in front of Max's mirror, straightening her necklace before running a brush over her hair once more. Max walked up behind her, dressed in his suit and tie, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"You okay?" he whispered and Liz gave him a watery smile.

"In time," she whispered and he nodded as he dropped his arms and wrapped them around her waist as she turned around in his arms and held him close, just breathing in the scent that was Max Evans.

"Are you ready?" a female voice asked and they turned to see Isabel standing there in her black jumper and trousers and boots.

"Yeah," Max whispered as he separated one arm from Liz's body and they both walked out of his room and into the hallway where Diane and Phillip were waiting.

They all made their way out of the house, Isabel went into the car with her parents while Max and Liz went in the jeep.

They arrived at the graveyard and joined up with their friends as Alex and three other males that Liz didn't recognised carried the coffin on their shoulder toward the grave that was buried for Sarah and only for Sarah.

They placed the coffin onto the strips, they stepped back and the priest stepped up. Max walked over to Liz and wrapped his arms around her as she leaned into him. James just kissed the top of Maria's head while Tess wrapped her arm around Michael's. Isabel placed her hand on Alex's shoulder, he looked at her and she squeezed it before stepping back next to her parents, unwilling to tread on his grieving of his lover.

Maria started to sing 'grace', everyone stood around her as she sung the song for Sarah. When Maria was finished, the priest took up and told every one of how Sarah was a young woman whose life has been taken early and how she was safe in the hands of god when he stood to the side and Alex took his place.

"Sarah and I met in the summer. She took me by surprise and I was interested in her after our first meeting. We took our relationship slow because both of us had been burned by past relationships. We had plans to go on holiday this summer, just the two of us to get away from Roswell and concentrate on each other but that's not going to happen because she was taken from me. I love her. She was my first true love and I will never forget her," Alex whispered the last part before stepping down. Liz reached out and took Alex's hand.

Alex looked at her and smiled sadly at her before turning back to face the coffin once more as it started to be lowered into the ground.

"Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust, may you find peace," the priest stated. Alex took a step forward and picked up the shovel of dirt and dropped it on top of the coffin before kissing a red rose and dropped it into the hole before stepping backward.

Liz stepped forward and picked up some dust.

"Live in peace Sarah, we'll look after Alex, I promise," Liz whispered before dropping the dirt and walked back into Max's arms with everyone else taking their turn stepping forward and saying short words before dropping the dirt in.

Everyone found himself or herself at Lois's house. She was sitting on the couch, just staring into space with Diane next to her, holding her hand and patting it every now and then with Phillip standing and talking to Jim.

Liz looked around and saw that Alex was missing.

"Alex must be in Sarah's room, he said that he wanted to talk to us all," Liz told Max, who nodded. He looked around and gestured to everyone to go upstairs, they all nodded and made their way upstairs with Max and Liz taking up the rear.

They entered Sarah room and saw Alex sitting on the bed, holding Sarah's teddy bear.

"So, what's up?" Kyle asked and Alex stood up and handed Kyle the folder that Jim had given him just after the funeral. Kyle took it and read through it before his eyes widen at the conclusion.

"They're saying its suicide," Kyle commented.

"What?" Maria demanded. "That's ridiculous, Sarah would never do that."

"So far, it's the only thing that makes sense," Kyle told them as he read through the notes. "The driver is 100 percent certain that Sarah droved on his side of the road."

"You brought us up here to tell us about this?" Michael demanded. "What's so important, it's was suicide, now written there in black and white."

"It could have been an alien," Alex stated, causing everyone to look at him.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Michael snapped.

"Exactly what it meant," Alex stated. "There is no way that Sarah would commit suicide, no way so that means someone forced her. And what are we all involved in?" Alex asked.

"This has nothing to do with us!" Tess snapped.

"She's right, I mean, it's not as if our enemies know about Sarah," Isabel stated but Alex shook his head.

"I say that I'm right, that an alien drove Sarah to her death and I'm not going to give up till I find out who it was," Alex stated, determinedly.

Michael growled before stepping past them with a hard shoulder shove to Alex while leading Tess out, Isabel followed a suit. Max looked at Liz before looking at Alex and shook his head.

"I'm sorry I couldn't heal her," Max whispered before leaving the room. Liz rested her head on Maria's shoulder.

"I guess that means it's us against them," Kyle stated as he watched the scene.

"This isn't fair Alex," Liz stated as she stood up, causing Alex to look at her. "Max would never put any of us in danger."

"He's still part of the cause," Alex snapped and Liz took a step back as she looked at Alex with a hurt look.

"And I guess that means I'm part of it too as I'm the one who got shot and basically got us all pulled in," Liz told him, causing Alex wishing he could take back his words. "Don't make me choose, please Alex? I love you and Maria but I love Max too," Liz pleaded him before leaving the room, leaving Kyle, Alex and Maria alone together.

"Yep, definitely us against them," Kyle stated once more before they all lapsed into silence.

TBC