Disclaimer: I own nothing

Summary: It's one year in the future, and the 3 aliens found a way home. It's one month after and Maria is finally saying goodbye to the one man she could ever love.

Dedication: To Tommy, since he'll be leaving at the end of the school year. Goodbye, good luck, and God bless. I love you, Tommy, and you know I always will.

Rating: PG

***

"Ready, Maria?" Alex asked. He looked at his friend. She had changed so much in the past month. They all had. Liz was walking around in a daze like what happened hadn't, almost like she was a zombie. Maria still carried around her bottles of cypress oil. She used them a lot more than she used to. She also had seemed to lose the wild side of her, and she seemed to be concentrating on getting out of Roswell when high school was over.

Alex knew he had changed. More on the inside though. He hid his pain well. He put Maria and Liz before his own pain and hurt, knowing that they needed as much support and comfort as they could get.

"Probably as ready as I'll ever be," Maria replied calmly. She smiled slightly at Alex, to make sure he believed her. It wasn't one of her old Maria smiles, the kind she gave before they left. "Let's go."

Alex, Maria, and the rest of The Whits walked out onto stage. The crowd started cheering. They had gotten pretty popular over the past year. Maybe they would make it big someday.

The lights went dim and the guys started to play. The spotlight was on Maria as she stepped up to the mic. She closed her eyes for brief moment, and she pictured him, Michael Guerin. Her Michael. She opened her eyes and began to sing,

"Listen little child
There will come a day
When you will be able, able to say
Never mind the pain, all the aggravation
You know there's a better way
For you and me to be
Look for the rainbow in every storm
Fly like an angel heaven sent to me..."

Maria could still picture him. And as much as she hated him for leaving her, she still loved him with all her heart.

"Goodbye my friend
(I know you're gone, you said you're gone but I can still feel you here)
It's not the end
(You gotta keep it strong before the pain turns into fear)
So glad we made it, time will never change it, no no
No no no no..."

Maria still remembered the night he had called her and told her he was going home. He had sounded so happy, as though he had forgotten about her, about their relationship. He said he couldn't talk and that he had to go. She never got to say good-bye. Never got to tell him all the things she wanted to.

"Just a little girl, big imagination
Never letting no one take it away
Went into the world, what a revelation
She found there's a better way for you and me to be
Look for the rainbow in every storm
Find out for certain love's gonna be there for you
You'll always be someone's baby..."

Love is blind, and it will take over your mind. Maria knew it too. She didn't realize that until he was gone. She wished she could turn back time and stop for a minute and tell him how she felt. Tell him that she loved him.

"Goodbye my friend
(I know you're gone, you said you're gone but I can still feel you here)
It's not the end
(You gotta keep it strong before the pain turns into fear)
So glad we made it, time will never change it, no no
No no no no
(You know it's time to say goodbye)
No no no no..."

Michael Guerin was gone. Maria would probably never get another chance to see his spiky hair, or look into his deep, mysterious eyes, or she'd probably never get to feel her lips on his again. He was gone; it was time to move on.

"The times when we would play aboutbr> The way we used to scream and shout
We never dreamed you'd go your own sweet way
Look for the rainbow in every storm
Find out for certain love's gonna be there for you
You'll always be someone's baby..."

Maria's heart also went out to her best friends, Liz and Alex. Max and Isabel had left just as sudden as Michael had. None of them got a chance to say all the things they felt. It would be a long road of recovery and Maria knew it.

Maybe she would learn to love and trust again. Maybe someday she would have a husband who loved her and have kids of her own someday. But no matter who she met, he would never be Michael. He was one of a kind, literally.

"Goodbye my friend
(I know you're gone, you said you're gone but I can still feel you here)
It's not the end
(You gotta keep it strong before the pain turns into fear)
So glad we made it, time will never never ever change it
No no no no
(You know it's time to say goodbye)
No no no no
(And don't forget you can rely)
No no no no
(You know it's time to say goodbye and don't forget on me you can rely)
No no no no
(I will help, help you on your way)
No no no no
(I will be with you every day)
No no no no..."

The crowd erupted into a loud applause. "Goodbye, Michael. I love you," Maria whispered.

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