Michael wandered aimlessly through the streets of Roswell. The air around him was cooler, the world a much darker place.. and almost empty. Michael usually loved being outside at night..or during the day, whenever he was out even.. he could almost pretend that he was the only person in the town. On the planet even.. He knew from experience that it was worse to FEEL alone in a crowd of people, than to actually be alone.

Usually, that is. Today, however, he couldn't help but feel that being alone was more painful than it normally was. Michael desperately wanted to be with someone else... one particular someone, he realized. No one had ever made him feel the confusing, complex emotions Maria did... not even Max or Izzy.

"Max..." Michael thought suddenly. Yes, he needed to find Max. He hadn't spoken to Max or Isabel since a few days ago when he had been at the Crashdown with them... it seemed like so much longer. So much had changed since then.. most of which he couldn't explain or understand.

Still.. maybe he could find Max or Isabel. And then maybe, just maybe he would be reminded of what he was, and why he could never have what he wished for when Maria was around.

"If I were a Maxwell.. where would I go?" Michael muttered, glancing around. The answer, though, was obvious. Liz Parker. If he could find Liz, he'd find Max.

And he knew where to start looking for Liz. Turing sharply, Michael headed off toward the Crashdown Cafe.

*******

Sitting in her room, Isabel Evans scribbled down the last of her Trig assignment that was due tomorrow and closed her book with a sigh. She had wanted to talk to Max when he got home, but he never showed up. She also hadn't seen Michael in school on Friday, or Maria for that matter..or at all during the weekend. 'What if they're together somewhere?' she thought for a moment, but the moment passed. 'They would probably end up killing each other or something.'

She stood up and looked around her room. Everything in it's place, tidy and neat. Just like her life. She frowned as she thought about the people in her life. She hated being referred to as the 'Ice Princess' or 'Ice Queen', but she knew that's how people saw her. She wasn't more to them than someone to make fun of. Although no one had bothered to even take the time to get to know her. She closed and opened her eyes and snapped out of her slight depression. "Chocolate cake," she said aloud, "that's what I need." And with that she grabbed her coat and headed out the door to the Crashdown.

She secretly knew that Max would be there, probably sitting in a booth all by himself, watching Liz as she helped all the other customers and glancing over towards Max, giving him googly eyes every once in awhile.

She crossed the street and noticed a figure coming towards her. She slightly recognized the tall person. As she got closer to him, she started to get a better glimpse of him. Michael. He was all alone.

"Hey there, Michael. Where have you been all day? Why weren't you at school Friday? In fact, where have you been these past couple of days?"

"Hi Izzy." Michael replied, mentally shaking himself awake. "I've been around... school was kind of boring Friday, so I ditched." In reality, he had never even gone..... just stayed with Maria all day. And night, he reflected quietly. "And I've just been...around, staying clear of Hank.." He said with a shrug, turning to open the Crashdown Cafe door for Isabel, he asked, "What have you been doing?"

*******

Courtney wiped a table she just cleared while looking outside the crashdown doors. It wasn't easy working almost all the time. She needed the money badly to pay for rent. Hell, she even missed school some days just to have enough hours.

She started to wipe slower as her gaze set on the figure entering. Her eyes locked with his as she still wiped the table. Slowly standing upright again, she tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear as she started to give him a small grin. She watched his every movement as he held the door open for Isabel and entered with her. She came up to them with a small smile, clearly giving most of her attention to Michael. Interrupting their conversation, she quickly started to talk. "Hey again. Umm, i'll be right back with some menus. Is that all right?"

"I've been doing ok, I guess." Her sentence was cut short by a waitress that obviously had the hots for her friend. "Yeah, menus would be great." Isabel grabbed Michael's arm and headed him in the direction of a booth. As she sat down, she glared around the cafe. Maria wasn't there, but Liz was. She also noticed Max sitting there watching her every move.

"Hey, look," she said towards Michael, "there's Max, puppying all over Liz." They both looked over towards their alien friend.

The waitress came back and handed them the menus. Isabel looked up at her with a slight recognition of her. She had noticed her at school from time to time. Being the brain child that she was, Isabel had a knack for knowing all the people that she saw at school, and remembering them when she would see them socially. She caught a glimpse of her name tag-Courtney. "Thanks, Courtney... could I just get a Pepsi and a bottle of Tabasco? Michael, whaddya want? My treat." She really only said that because she knew he didn't have a job, and that no good father of his never had any money to spend on Michael.

Michael nodded an acknowledgement to Courtney before he followed Isabel to the booth. He hadn't spoken to her in a while... hadn't spoken to anyone really. 'Except Maria..' he thought, his mind wandering for a moment. Shaking himself mentally as Isabel spoke, Michael looked over to where she pointed. Sure enough, he realized, Max was in the cafe. He seemed a little... preoccupied, though, so Michael decided to talk to him later. Coutney brought the menus over.. Michael took his with a quick glance in her direction. His mind had jumped to attention at Isabel's casual offer. Michael knew from experience to never turn down food.... it was impossible to tell when the next time you could eat would be. Staring at the menu for a moment, he quickly decided. Looking back up at Courtney, Michael ordered, "A Wil Smith, fries, cherry coke.. and Tabasco sauce." He turned back to Isabel, muttering a quick "Thanks.."

Changing the topic quickly, he nodded his head toward Max. "How long has he been here?" he asked Courtney.

Before Courtney could respond, the little bell above the door dinged, signaling that someone was entering. Michael glanced over absently, then groaned silently as Maria walked in. He stared at her for a brief second, then pointedly ignored her, turning to stare at Isabel, Courtney, the table.. anything and everything but Maria.

Remembering that he had asked Courtney a question, Michael pulled himself together and smirked up at their waitress, in his traditional fashion. Hoping that no one had noticed his discomfort, he waited for Courtney's reply.

Courtney jotted down the order and looked over to who Liz was talking to. "Oh yea, he's been talking to Liz for a while but i dont know for how long. But anyways, I'll be right back." She gave the order to the kitchen then went behind the counter to grab the drinks. She came back with the pepsi, cherry coke and tobasco and set it on the table. "Um the food will be ready in a few minutes so just hold on. So, your name's Isabel right? Yea I've seen you around school. And, Michael, I just ran into you i think yesterday on my way to work."

She rambled on nervously as she locked eyes with Michael. He seemed preoccupied but she didn't care, it was Michael. She'd liked him ever since she had known him. "Anyways, i gotta get working. Is there anything else you guys want?"

Michael nodding, remembering his earlier conversation with Coutney. Involuntarily, his eyes flicked over to the bar, where Maria had made her way to talk with Alex. Maria didn't look happy, and he could imagine what (or who!) the problem was. With a slight sigh, he turned his attention back to the girls. "No, I'm fine.." he answered Courtney, smiling up at her.

Courtney returned his smile. Jsut as she was going to speak, a bunch of football players ran into the Crashdown in a celebrating frenzy. She turned her attention back to Michael and groaned under the yells and hollers. "Not again. This is the third game I've missed." She sighed deeply then picked up the menus off the table. "I'm a cheerleader for a bunch of morons. and now i have to serve the morons, so if you need anything else just call me over."

Michael rolled his eyes at Courtney, wishing the jocks would leave. He wasn't really one for team sports.. and he really didn't understand the allure of football. Maybe it was a human thing....

"Yeah, no problem." he answered. Glancing over at their table, the players getting louder and more chaotic by the minute, Michael smirked up at Courtney. "Good luck with the 'morons'.." he added.

Isabel silently chuckled at Michael's comment towards the football players. She couldn't stand any of them. As she glanced over towards their table, she recognized a few of them from some of her classes. Actually, she remembers them being there at the beginning of the class, but then none of them even bothered showing up, being that she was in all of the 'accelerated' classes, none of those jocks could keep up with the rest of the class.

She turned back towards Michael, "Speaking of 'morons'... where were you today? You didn't even bother coming by the house at all. That's not like you, Michael. You usually at least like to make an appearance." She opened the bottle of Tobasco and started pouring some in. She set the bottle down without the lid and some splashed on Michael's hand.  He winced as it hit him and then he just lightly licked it off.

After a moment or two of silence, she started on him again. "Um, Michael, are you going to tell me or do I have to pry it out of you? Who were you with? God knows you weren't at your own house with Hank there." She paused as she put the lid on the bottle and started stirring her soda. She took a drink, and noticed that it tasted funny. The waitress had given her Diet Coke, instead of Cherry Coke.'No worries,' she thought as she looked around the diner and placed her hand over her glass. The drink was changed... Isabel took a sip
and looked pleased at herself. She sat there and glared at Michael, waiting for his answer to why he dissappeared for the entire day.

Michael glared at Isabel's hand pointedly... not only because they weren't supposed to use their powers but also, he admitted, because Izzy COULD use her powers. For things that she actually wanted to do, that is, as opposed to blowing up everything. Glancing up at her face, he answered casually, "I was around... Didn't see the use in stopping by today. Besides, the only reason I 'make an apperance' is to chill with you and Maxwell, and I wanted to be alone."

Courtney came hurrying up to the booth with a look of grief in her eyes. "Oh my god, it is sooooo busy in here! Okay well i totally forgot your food. So here you go. Wait... did i give you your food already? Oh never mind." She sighed deeply and continued to talk. "Those guys are pigs. Well at least I've got about 15 minutes before their load of food is coming. Soooooo, what are you guys doing Saturday night? Because Pam is having a HUGE party at her house this saturday and pretty much the whole school going. Interested?" She looked over to Michael and locked eyes. "Should be fun. I'd love to see you there."

Michael grinned absently. "I hadn't planned on it," he admitted, "but I might stop by anyway." Glancing over at Isabel, he commented, "I assume you planned to go? Being as how the 'whole school' will be there and all..." Grinning up at Courtney, Michael gestured around the cafe. "Don't you have anyone helping today?"

"Well you see... 'SOME' people like to get off early and leave me all alone with all this. All the other waitresses don't really do much so I'm left with a lot of work, like now. But there should be some more girls starting their shifts in a few minutes, then I can get off. I've been here all day. Gotta pay the bills." Courtney smiled back at Michael soaking up the attention she was getting from him.

Michael grinned slightly, looking up at Courtney. "So who was supposed to work with you?" he asked, curious. Looking around the cafe, he noticed what she meant by the other waitresses not working. "Pay the bills, huh? So you live alone?"

"Oh i don't even bother knowing who's working what shifts, i end up covering all of them anyways. You know, for the money. Yeah i do live alone so it's tough sometimes. But usually it's all good and everythings fine. I've got an apartment just a couple blocks away that used to be my brother's before he left Roswell. He bought it a while ago so i don't have to worry about rent at least. It's really nice. You should come by one day and check it out."

Michael grinned, "Yeah, maybe I'll do that." Pushing away his plate, Michael dropped some money on the table to cover his part of the order. Glancing at Isabel, he smiled. "I'm going to head out for a bit.... I'll chat with you and Max later. Don't forget to drag him to the party...." he added, smirking. Michael stood up from the booth, and turned to look down into Courtney's face. "I'll be around the neighborhood for a while, if you get off soon. Otherwise, see you later."

"Well I'm actually off i a couple minutes, so if you don't mind waiting I'll head out with you. I could grab you another drink on the house or something while you wait. I'm sure someone will show up any second." Courtney looked up at him with an innocent pleading expression.

Michael paused, considering. He really had no place to go... aside from the Evan's house. That was the last place he wanted to be right now, though. No.. he thought dryly, the last place he wanted to be was his house.... but the Evan's was a close second, since he doubted Max would be home yet. He would go to Maria's... but she had left with Alex, so even she might not be home. Or speaking to me, Michael thought sourly. "Sure..." he said aloud, glancing at Courtney's hopeful expression. "I'll chill." So deciding, Michael sat back down, glancing at Isabel as she stared out the window in silence.

*******

Maria'd woken up early from the tv blaring and crick in her neck from her position on the couch. It was like any other day when it was just her at home, but then the ache had settled over her body and her mind was flooded with everything Michael...and all the events of the past few days with him. She had just wanted to crawl into bed and never come out, but instead, had become frustrated and angry at everything.

She sighed as she paced her living room for a moment, she needed to talk to someone, someone who wouldn't jumb on her at being irresponsible, someone like...Alex. He was always there for her, but he didn't know the secret...but it didn't matter if he knew or not because this didn't have to deal with *that* secret. She quickly went back to her room, pulling on some jeans and changing her large T-shirt for one of her tighter ones. She ran a brush through her hair, put on some lip gloss, then was out the door in a flash, not even bothering to get her car.

A few minutes later she was walking into the crashdown and searching. Her eyes landed on a booth where Michael and Isabel sat talking to Courtney. She shook her head as she spotted the person she had wanted to talk to, sitting at the counter. She walked up to him with a small smile, sitting on the stool next to him, "Hey Alex...how're you doing?"

Alex cheerfully ate his burger as Maria came up to him. He swallowed his food as fast as he could then started to talk even faster in eagerness."Maria, listen to this, the band just recorded it today!" He pushed a Cd into her hand and started to calm down, and smiled easily, "Okay...now that 'that' is out of the way...whats up with you? I didn't see you in English Friday, and everytime I called, no one would answer or your mom would and she'd say you were out. I talked to Liz, I know you weren't with her."

Maria smiled, although it didn't quite reach her eyes as her gaze flickered over at Michael, then to the CD that had been pushed into her hand, "I'll listen to it when I get home, or in a little while go up and use Liz's cd player." She told him with a nod as she looked at the case with a smile, music was always something that could cheer her up, "Oh umm...I..well I go to school like everyday and..." She looked at him, knowing, even if he didn't know the pod squads secret, that she could atleast tell him something, things that she knew she wouldn't tell Liz, "I umm, I kinda spent the day in the dessert and then..at home..on Friday.." She blushed lightly, looking away as she remembered what she had been doing. "But I've just pretty much been..around..town doing...stuff.."

"I hear you. I've been needing a day off myself. But i was thinking if you wanted to come over tonight and watch a movie. My dad just got a new entertainment system and wants to show it off. What do you say?" He followed her eyes to the CD, to a booth, and back to the Cd. But he turned right back to the booth, as he noticed Isabel. "Maria, isn't she just gorgeous. Her soft blonde hair, piercing eyes..." His voice trailed off as he turned back and muttered disapointedly, "But I'll never have her."

Maria shrugged, "Mom's out of town, so I guess I could come over." She smiled lightly, "We haven't donea movie night in a while..." Maybe it had only been a few days since she had been avoiding Alex, afraid that she'd let the secret slip, but she was doing fine now. Her eyes pained as she watched Alex stare at Isabel, "She'd be lucky to have you, your a great guy Alex....just, she'd break your heart..she's heartless.." She narrowed her eyes at the boy sitting next to Isabel, "Isabel Evans and Michael Guerin are cold hearted people (not even people) who could care less about other's feelings..Max is the only good one out of the three.." She muttered angrily.

"No, i think deep down, under that cold exterior is a wonderful person just as beautiful as you, Maria." There was a moment of silence as they watched the two talk to a waitress. "What do you mean, out of the three?"

Maria looked startled for a moment that she had let that slip out, tearing her gaze away from Michael she shook her head, "oh nothing..it's just that Michael, Isabel, and Max are always together, hence the three, and Max is the only good one out of them..Isabel is the Ice Queen and Michael is just..a jerk, he makes you think he has some interest in you, screws around with you and then...." She trailed off, quickly shutting her mouth and looked to Alex, realizing she needed to stop ranting or she was going to let more slip out than she wanted to.

"Oh." Alex stuffed his face with the last piece of his burger and took a sip of his coke. "So when do you wanna head out?"

"Oh...Yeah, sure, we can go now, if you want." Maria said with a small smile and a shrug, "We can stop by the video store and pick up some movies...but no tear jerkers."

"All good to me." He pulled out some cash and gave it to the waitress behind the counter then followed Maria out of the Crashdown. "Do you have the Jetta here?"

"Uhhh...no, it's kinda...wet, I was over Fraiser's Pond last night...got the seats all wet, I walked." Maria said quietly, and quickly, another blush creeping it's way up her cheeks, "Ummm, we can walk..I mean, it's nice out, the video place isn't far and your house isn't far either."

"That's okay. I was just wondering." Alex walked side by side with Maria along the four block walk down main street to the video place. "Maria, we're really good friends and I like to think of you and Liz as my best friends. I care about you guys a lot. I've been hearing things about a shooting at the crashdown a few days ago and noone will answer my questions. It's been really buggin me. Why won't you guys tell me what happened?"

"Alex we are good friends, best friends.." Maria bit her lip, trying not to look as guilty as she felt, "Nothing happened...these guys shot off a gun and, it freaked everyone, especially Liz, she fell and broke a ketchup bottle and spilt it all over her, Max thought she had been shot and he read somewhere that you need to put pressure on the wound so he went to do that, only to find out she was okay, just shooken up." She babbled quickly, feeling bad for lying to him, but knowing she couldn't say anything.

"oh okay. That really explains a lot. Thanks Maria." They finally reached the video store and walked in by the glass door. "Sooooo...... no tear jerkers.......hmmmmmmmm." He walked over to the wall of new releases and looked over the selection. "So what one do you want to watch?"

"Hmmm...something funny..." Maria tapped her chin in thought as she looked over the movie cases, "And definitly nothing science fiction." She added quickly, knowing that in the past they liked to make fun of thealien movies..she just wasn't up to it anymore.

"Well your choice. I'm up for anything right now. Anyways, i picked last time. Oh yea, get a DVD if you want. My dad everything you could possibly get for entertainment." Alex watched Maria ponder over which one to pick then watched her walk over to the counter to rent it. When she came back with the movie in a bag with a big smile on her face. "Got one? Good. Now we only have to somehow watch it at home without my dad making sure everything's perfect. You have no idea how crazy he is about the new sytem." He followed
her out of the store and walked, again, beside her.

Maria laughed quietly, "I just love your dad Alex..even when he gets a little...obsessed with his stuff." She looked slyly at him, "This obsession thing must run in the family." She teased, knowing he's been pining after Isabel since like..the fifth grade. "I'm glad were going to hang out Alex, we haven't done this enough."

"Woah! I'd like to think that it doesn't run through the family." Alex chuckled, showing that he wasn't offensed. "Yea we don't do this as much as usual."

Maria laughed softly, then smiled, "I think we don't hang out aymore because we're just...growing up, getting older." She shrugged, a little sadly. "I guess poeple just..grow apart when they get older. I mean, we hardly ever see each other. And poor Liz, she's being pulled off into popular land because she's dating Kyle..." She shook her head with a sigh.

"Poor Liz? I think I should hook a line on her and make her pull me in the popular land, closer to Isabel. It's never going to happen, I know, but I can dream. No matter what I know we'll be friends forever even if we start to grow apart. And plus who else is going to be the first to listen to the band play?" He chuckled lightly then sighed. "And that reminds me.. listen to the CD!"

Maria made a face, but laughed a little, "We need to pull Liz away from them, not let her take us with them. They're all like..sheep or something...and they're cruel. No one in the popular crowd is our kind of people Alex, especially the Isabel, she's like their leader or something.." She frowned for a moment, then grinned when he assured her they would always be friends, "Of course, listen to the CD, I will as soon as we get to your house....You guys are really going to have to let me sing sometime with you...I'm a great singer." She told him with a small bounce in her step.

"I really dont know what the guys would think. I mean we already have one. But Im sure they'd let you try out a song or two. I'm actually writing a new one now that i want you to here" Alex started to skip ahead as they came up to his house. Standing at the door, he waited for Maria. "We're going up to my room to hear the CD first. I really really want you to hear it. I know I've mentioned it a lot but I'm really excited to hear what you think."

Maria smiled, "Alex, you totally love your music, and your good at it, if I were you I'd be doing the same thing." She said as she walked into the house, seeing Alex's father playing with his entertainment system, "Hey Mr. Whitman.." She half waved before she went up the stairs and to Alex's room, all very familiar to her. She popped in the CD and then fell back on his bed, grinning as she propped herself up on her elbows, "This is good.." She told him, listening to the music. She was quiet for a moment as she listened to him, then turned serious for a moment, "Alex...tell me, if you ever...ya know, had sex...would you tell me or Liz?" She questioned, hoping to get an honest answer.

TBC
Part 11
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