"Lizzie!" the blonde screeched as she bounded across the restaurant, ignoring the customers startled looks and the boy's roll of his eyes as she sprinted to her best friend who was now standing and making her way towards the door, where her friend had just come in.

When Maria finally reached her best friend, she flung herself into Liz's arms and they embraced in a long hug, both giggling softly.

Liz was the first to pull back, then straightening her uniform and taking Maria by the hand, led her best friend into the best friend.

Michael followed slowly behind them, his head hung abnormally low, a scowl on his face, and grasping his left shoulder, groaning something about how they always did that.

No, he didn't want to be there.

His arm still hurt.

Where the hell was Max?

When he reached the back room, Liz and Maria were both settled on the couch, talking softly about something.

Something that he probably didn't want to know about.

Probably about him.

He cleared his throat.

Both girls looked up, not realizing that he had entered the room.

"Liz, where is Max?" Michael asked, trying not to let his annoyance with their childish behavior show in his voice.

"Umm... I think he's at his home, Michael. After last night, we all went home and crashed. I called there about an hour ago and he still wasn't awake," she grinned.

Michael looked at the clock on the back wall.

Noon.

He grunted his response and backed out of the room slowly.

Maxwell was going to wake up, whether he liked it or not.

He was gonna work on his arm, too, because he couldn't do it on his own.

He could kill the crystal queen or whatever the hell it was, but no, he wasn't skilled enough with his powers to heal himself.

Ironic.

Did he mention that his shoulder hurt?

* * * * *

"What happened?" Liz asked quietly after Michael had walked out of the room. She could tell that he was obviously annoyed at their behavior. He never seemed to like girl time...

"Max didn't tell you?"

Liz shook her head, eyes downcast.

"It's all right, chica. Well, uh, I guess I should start from the beginning, right?"

"That might be good, considering you only called me for a fashion crisis..." Liz grinned at her best friend, who was now stifling a giggle.

"Michael and I, we were, I guess you could say, bonding, as we were watching out for Laurie at the sheriff's station..."

"You mean, like..." Liz interrupted, letting her words hang in the air.

Maria shook her head. "No, we were actually, umm... I don't know how to say this without sounding dirty... but well, we spotted some people in Garrison's hardware store going at it, if you will, and we were kinda... cheering them on when Laurie was taken out of the sheriff's station, for whatever reason. They put her in an ambulance and Michael and I followed them."

Liz nodded, giggling. "I cannot believe that you two were cheering them on..."

"Believe it, chica, because we were. Maybe you and Max should do something like that... he was pretty civil, I guess you could say, for the rest of the trip, considering his *many* faults."

"Do you want to continue the story?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, the ambulance suddenly swerved off the road and we pulled off and jumped out of the Jetta, running over to the ambulance to see if anyone was hurt, like the heroic... people... we are. Apparently, Laurie had gotten out of her... restraints, and she knocked out one guy and made the driver swerve off the road. Anyway, we pulled her out of the ambulance and then, all of a sudden someone was shooting at us. So, we made out way to the Jetta, dodging bullets and everything you usually do in a normal day, and got in, barely escaping. The shooter managed to hit the side mirror. I swear, the Jetta is going to fall apart because of all the beatings that damn space boy has put it through. All of those damn space boys... and girls..."

"Maria, you're rambling," Liz chided, placing her hand on her best friend's shoulder.

"So?"

"So? Do you want to finish telling me what happened?"

"Umm... so we drive away and Michael talks to Max on my phone while Laurie tears up the interior of the Jetta because listen to this, he locked her in the Jetta with his powers... he didn't even blow it up!" she snorted, "But anyways, we decide to leave Roswell for a while, I leave Mom a message saying that we're camping, and Laurie tells us her grandfather, Michael's donor, who I might add looks freakishly like Michael, lives in Tucson. So we headed to Tucson. When I called you, as you know, my mom talked to us and wanted to talk to Michael. I asked him about what she said and the only thing that he said was that she wanted me to have fun. Somehow, I think there were a few threats involved in the conversation, but he wouldn't tell me, so I'm okay," Maria took a breath and grinned at her best friend.

"Do you wanna know what your mom said?" Liz asked curiously, cocking an eyebrow in question.

"Do I want to know what she said to him?"

Liz nodded and began, "She told him, basically, that on this last weekend of his life, he'd be nice to you and would let you have a good time. Oh, and here is the best part... I quote, 'You will not get matching tattoos or let her pierce any part of her body that cannot be shown in polite company. And Michael, if you have sex with my daughter, I will hunt you down and kill you like the mangy dog you are.'"

Maria giggled. "Wow, no wonder he sounded so... depressed... after he got off of the phone. And I wanted to know why he was so nice..."

Liz joined in on the giggling and when they finally took a breather, Maria spoke.

"So, back to the story of our lives. We get to Laurie's grandfather's house, who we find out after we make our grand entrance, has been dead for seven years! Seven damn years! And Laurie's relatives, I guess you could say, are e-vil and they gave Michael all this money because he looked like their father and they didn't want a lawsuit, or something. They kicked us off the property, but Michael had promised Laurie that he'd protect her, so we snuck back in and got caught. The next day, we went to the sheriff's station because I had a lead and we found that the house and all of the grandfather's money was left to Laurie. So we went back and they, after some convincing, treated us like royalty. That's when the trouble began..."

"Trouble?"

"Yeah, don't you want to know how we saved the world?" Liz nodded. "So quit interrupting and maybe you'll hear it!"

They giggled again, which seemed like the hundredth time, but neither cared.

"So, we're eating dinner and Michael goes to get me another root beer, like the... gentleman... that he is and finds the maid dead. He tells me and Laurie to run to shelter while he goes and finds out what's the problem. He, somehow along the way, gets shot and while me and Laurie are trying to close the super-heavy door to the shelter, Grant Sorenson... you know, Isabel's guy, comes running through the door with a gun and grabs Laurie. And suddenly, Sheriff Valenti and that agent woman who's been in town appear and tell Grant to drop the gun and let Laurie go. He rambled on about how they had to kill him, or something like that. He said that he wanted to drop the gun, but he couldn't. Weird, if you ask me. But anyway, he moves and the agent shoots him. And now, at this point, he falls down on the bed dead and these fucked up looking crystals, like the one that Michael found at the place that Laurie was buried, pop out of his chest and something is like, rising, out of them that resembles one ugly blue Jell-O mold. I mean *ug-ly.* This is the part where Michael, the brave and oh so chivalrous boyfriend of mine, bursts into the room, holding his arm and telling everyone to get out. We get out and immediately slam the door, which neither Laurie and I could close earlier. But anyway, the thing is completely out of Grant's chest and is floating around the room. Michael uses his powers again without hurting anyone by sucking the air out of the room and basically killing the Jell-O mold floating thing. We got Laurie emancipated. And here we are, back home."

"The queen..." Liz whispered.

"The what?"

"The queen of the alien crystal colony... it was living inside of Grant so that it could get to Laurie and infect her."

"Whoa, girlfriend, you've totally lost me."

Liz flashed her a sympathetic smile. "I'll explain later."

* * * * *

A loud knocking woke him from his peaceful slumber.

He rolled over and groaned, covering his eyes from the light creeping through the blinds.

He looked at the clock.

12:15.

Couldn't he have a little peace and quiet?

After all, hadn't they saved the world last night?

He unwillingly climbed out of his bed and made his way to the window to find a very annoyed looking Michael Guerin staring back at him from the outside of the pane.

Michael motioned to the window impatiently, grumbling something under his breath and Max finally opened it so that he could climb in.

Michael climbed through the window and crossed the room to sit on Max's bed. Max closed the window behind him and plopped down lazily on his computer chair.

"So, Michael, how did it feel to save the world?" he finally asked.

"Great, just great, Maxwell, considering I almost got killed before I got a chance to do it."

"Uh huh."

Michael took off his coat, throwing it carelessly away, and unbuttoned his shirt after that, letting it fall haphazardly to the floor along with his coat. He pointed to the wound on his shoulder that was covered by a thin gauze strip, but Max could see that whatever had hit Michael must have hurt.

"What happened?"

"Gun shot."

Max's eyes bulged. Gun shot?

"Will you..." Michael motioned to his arm, wincing as he moved the sensitive flesh.

Max nodded.

If he had known that Michael had gone through so much, he would have thrown a welcome home party or something, for him.

He had saved the world.

And the least he could do was heal his arm.

After all, wasn't Michael his best friend?

* * * * *

"Michael! Welcome home!" Isabel exclaimed as she walked into the Crashdown later that day, plopping down at her brother and almost-brother's table. "I heard that you had a little..." she paused, thinking of the right thing to say, "... trouble, but you saved the world!"

Michael grunted in reply.

Isabel sat down across from him and the bell rang on the door, signifying the entrance of more people in the cafe.

Alex and Kyle strode in, each humming his own version of "American Pie," followed shortly by Tess.

"Hey Michael!" Tess smiled and sat down across the table from Michael and Max.

"The hero!" Alex exclaimed when he reached the table, mock punching Michael's shoulder in congratulations.

"Umm... Alex?"

"Isabel?"

"I... wouldn't do that if I were you."

"Do what?"

"Hit Michael's shoulder."

"He kinda had a little trouble before he got his chance to save the world," Max piped up.

"Dammit, stop talking about me like I'm not here! And for your information, my shoulder doesn't hurt. Remember? Max healed it."

"We know... we were just trying..."

"To be responsible. Yeah, I know, Max."

In an attempt to lighten the mood, Alex smirked and said, "Touche," and everyone at the table cracked up.

It was good to see them laughing.

"So Michael, tell us how you did it?" Kyle asked, eager to figure out how Michael had saved the world... and his and Alex's lives.

"The... thing broke out of Sorenson's chest and it was floating around the room. I just shoved everyone out of the room and used my powers to reverse the fans so that all of the oxygen got sucked out of the room. Simple as that."

"Well, you saved my life."

"Mine too," Kyle piped up.

The 'Close Encounters' theme song began to play as two more people walked into the cafe.

"Welcome home!" Liz exclaimed as she trotted over to the booth, Maria following closely at her heels.

"How are ya feeling, Space Boy?"

He grunted and she frowned back at him before turning her attention to everyone else at the table.

"Lizzie and I had a great idea," she continued, ignoring her on-again-off-again boyfriend's smirk.

"Yeah, we thought that it might be good for everyone to get out and do something together... like, group bonding."

"What do ya'll say?"

"One question - what made you think of this?" Isabel asked curiously.

"We just thought that it would be fun..."

"And we saw a flyer."

"Okay, where to, girls?" Alex's eyebrow was cocked in question.

Liz held up the flyer and Maria did her best impression of a TV saleswoman who showed off the product.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we propose to go karaokeing... at UFOnics tonight. As a group."

Michael shook his head vehemently. "I don't sing."

"I know," Maria smirked.

"We just thought that it would be really fun for everyone... like, if everyone got up and sang a song or something like that. Or we could all do a big group thing. It'll be fun."

"I like it..." Tess agreed.

"Me too," Isabel added.

"Guys?"

"Why not?" Max asked and smiled. Sure, he would go.

"I'm in," Alex nodded.

"Count me in," Kyle finished.

Michael groaned.

"What about you, Space Boy?"

"What do you think?"

"Good," Maria finished, "We'll pick you up at seven. And don't even think that you're gonna get out of this."

Michael sighed and sunk in his seat, defeated.

Yep, he was going karaokeing tonight.

No doubt about it.

* * * * *

The lights at the club were blinding as dozens of sweaty people danced around to the beat, not caring who was watching them and laughing about how they looked.

They were just having fun.

And it was karaoke night.

"Welcome to Karaoke Night," the announcer exclaimed over the crowd as the music was turned off. "I, among with all of the workers of UFOnics, have been excited about this night for a very long time and I'm so glad that we finally have pulled it off. So, without further ado... I introduce our first performer..." his voice droned out as the music blared over the speakers once more, except this time, the singer was *very* off key and nothing like the original performer.

After more people had gone through the singing routine, Maria walked off the dance floor to their table to talk to Michael, who was sitting there with a scowl on his face.

"Having fun?" she screamed over the music.

He smirked.

Typical.

"Seriously, you're gonna go up with us to perform our group song, right?"

"Yeah right."

"Come on, Michael, its 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' How can you pass up classic Queen?"

He rolled his eyes.

"I think that the guys are singing something from Counting Crows. Don't you like them?"

"No."

"Okay, fine, you know what?"

"What?" he challenged.

"Forget it! Why the hell do I even try?" she screeched as she stormed back onto the dance floor.

* * * * *

Michael leaned back in his chair as he finished sipping the last bit of his soda, awaiting his next refill.

"Sir?" the waitress asked, her eyes seeking his.

"What?" he scowled, his eyes not leaving the performer on the stage, singing something about how love hurts.

"I'm so sorry, but it seems like I've put in the wrong drink order in for you. You've been drinking rum and Coca-Cola instead of just plain soda. Are you all right?"

He didn't answer.

"Would you like for me to call a cab?"

He shook his head.

"Do you want me to get you some regular soda?"

He grinned drunkenly at her and nodded his head ever so slowly.

No wonder he felt so good.

* * * * *

Maria and the rest of group, excluding Michael, who refused to participate, had a wonderful time singing their own version of 'Bohemian Rhapsody.' Everyone jumped up and down on stage... they were obviously a hit with the crowd, too, since everyone was dancing and singing along with them. Hell, they even had Michael's foot tapping the rhythm on the floor.

Maria, along with Isabel, Tess, and even Liz, redid Madonna's 'Don't Tell Me' and some Brittany Spears song. All of the guys in the whole place were on their feet. Surprise.

Alex and Kyle sang 'American Pie' and laughed the whole time while singing it. Must be some kind of inside joke, because Michael didn't get it.

And last, but not least, was Max, who sang some sappy Counting Crows song to Liz. Big whoop.

Ah, but it was his turn.

They just didn't know it... yet.

And he wasn't really sure why he was doing it, either.

Just a whim, he guessed.

The announcer interrupted his thoughts.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have the last act of the evening," he called out, the crowd silencing, wondering who was the last soul to brave the limelight. "And now, I present to you... Michael Guerin! Singing '500 Miles,' by the Proclaimers."

As Michael stumbled out onto the stage, he saw Maria's jaw hit the floor in surprise, as well as everyone else in the group. Almost everyone in the club, actually, but who was counting?

The music started behind him and he began to sing in a drunken, off-key Irish accent...

"When I wake up, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who wakes up next to you
When I go out, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who goes along with you
If I get drunk, yes, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who gets drunk next to you
And if I heaver, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's heaverin' to you..."

He gazed over at the table where all of his friends were sitting and grinned at them.

"Maria?" Liz whispered, a hint of fear in her voice.

"What's up, chica?"

"Doesn't Michael doing this seem a little... strange?"

"I guess so... but if he wants to be sappy, who am I to tell him not to?"

"But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walks 1000 miles
To fall down at your door..."

"Max, do you think that Michael is acting a bit strangely, considering that he turned down our various offers for him to sing with us?" Liz asked her boyfriend.

"I don't know... it seems as if he's almost... drunk."

"Oh shit," Liz swore under her breath. "That is the *only* explanation."

"But why would Michael be drunk?"

"When I'm working, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's working hard for you
And when the money comes in for the work I'll do
I'll pass almost every penny on to you
When I come home, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who comes back home to you
And if I grown old, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's growing old with you..."

Michael was still grinning at her and he was freaking her out, to say it nicely.

"Alex, do something!" she exclaimed quietly to her other best friend, who was sitting next to her, as her eyes followed her seemingly drunk boyfriend all over the stage as he danced around to the beat of the song.

As the waitress walked by, Alex grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the table.

"What did he have to drink?" he asked, motioning to the teenager on the stage.

"He just ordered a soda, but the drink mixer accidentally put some rum in it. I realized it a few minutes ago."

"You idiot!" Alex screeched into the waitress's ear.

"I'm sorry," the waitress called behind her as she stormed off.

"But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walks 1000 miles
To fall down at your door..."

"Everyone, Michael's drunk," Alex said solemnly, his eyes passing over everyone who was sitting at their table.

"I should have known it... God, that's just like him to go off and get drunk."

"It was the waitress's fault."

"Well, it was still irresponsible."

"You're saying he should have known?" Alex laughed as Max glared at him.

"Can you have any sympathy for him, Max?" Maria asked across the table, "After all, you were the first one to figure out that you all... didn't take well to alcohol."

Max smirked at her and rolled his eyes.

"When I'm lonely, yes I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you
When I'm dreaming, yes I know I'm gonna dream
I'm gonna dream about the time when I'm with you..."

"So... Max," his sister asked, "What made you better when you were drunk?"

"What?"

"I mean, how did you get over your... drunkenness?"

"Umm... Idon'tknow," Max stuttered and Liz blushed, remembering their passionate kiss on the stage.

"Spill it, Liz," Isabel grinned at the girl. "Don't leave me hanging here."

"Okay, okay... he kissed me!"

"And it made you better?" Tess questioned this time, her eyebrow raising in question.

Max nodded.

"Oh, I remember that..." Kyle reminisced as he sat down and gave everyone their nonalcoholic drinks, just joining the conversation.

"Kyle, shut up."

"But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walks 1000 miles
To fall down at your door..."

"Well, Maria, you know what you need to do," Isabel completed.

"Me... him... no. I think not."

"Do you want him to continue to serenade all of us with that *terrible*, if I might add, Irish accent that he has going on?" Alex grinned.

"For the sake of the group and everyone else here," Maria concluded as she stood up and made her way to the stage.

"I am never going to live this down," she mumbled as she climbed up the stairs to the stage.

And before she knew it, she was standing in front of Michael, whose eyes were combing her body and the grin was spreading wider across his face. The world had stopped spinning.

"I... I would walk forever just to see your face..." he muttered as he stepped closer to her.

"Forever?"

"Forever."

She smiled at him and with that, he captured her lips in a passionate kiss.

The crowd began to cheer.

Maria pulled back first and saw realization dawning in Michael's now sober eyes.

"Welcome back, Michael."

"Umm... Maria?" he muttered as a blush crept up his face as he looked out onto the cheering crowd. "Maria?"

But she just grinned at him sympathetically, knowing that he was going to pay for his drunken actions later.

"Maria..."