“Czechoslovakians suck!”

Maria Deluca slammed the door of her locker to face her best friend Liz Parker. Liz had her usual ‘I’m so depressed’ look on her face – the one she’d been wearing everyday since the Destiny fiasco. Maria sighed – Liz needed serious cheering up. But so did she and she’s been babysitting her best friends’ comatose evil twin for ages. Being Teflon DeLuca, picking up the pieces of Juliet Parkers broken heart.

“Liz, seriously. I love ya babe, but it is time to move on. Okay? Seize the day. Car ve verum or something. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you! So snap out of it! I mean, I’m going on vacation on Friday, and you will be here all by yourself. So here’s a hint: find a guy. Any guy. Go out with a guy. Go out with lots of guys. Or you could throw yourself into homework. No, do the guy thing.”

“But Max …”

“I know. And I don’t wanna be rude or anything, but spending your whole life mooning around after Max Evans isn’t gonna help in the long run. For now, yeah go ahead. But what about college? And after that?”

“I get the point. I’ll try,” Liz said.

“For me?”

“For you.”

“Good.”

They walked down the hallway, past the Eraser Room. Liz promptly burst into tears. Maria dragged her down the hall, past Michael Guerin and into the Girls Room.

“Liz … I’m sorry. But you gotta be strong, okay?” Maria said, wiping the tears from Liz’s cheek.

“I’m trying … it’s just so hard,” Liz answered through her tears. Maria gave her best friend a hug. She felt horribly guilty – she was leaving Roswell on Friday morning, and no one, bar Alex Whitman, would be around to look after Liz. Alex was great, but Liz really needed female company. Maria made a mental note – Isabel. The Ice Princess could almost understand sometimes.

As if on cue, Isabel Evans entered the girls’ room. She looked at Liz curiously. Liz dried her tears, and fled out of the room. Maria sighed.

“What was that about?” Isabel asked Maria.

“Her usual ‘I love a guy who’s destined to be with an alien hussy’ speech,” Maria confirmed.

“Tess isn’t that bad. And how long can Max possibly stay away from Liz?”

“I told her to see other guys, to speed up the process. Shake things up a bit.”

“Oh, my brother will last about a week of that,” Isabel laughed. She searched Maria’s face. “How are you doing?”

“Me? I’m Teflon. I’m not the one suffering from Czechoslovakian withdrawal,” Maria lied. Isabel raised her eyebrows.

“You’re not fooling anyone, Blondie. You look sort of pale.”

“Who are you calling Blondie?” Maria retorted. “As you may or may not know, I’m going to Fiji on Friday. It’ll be great … sun, sand, surf, shirtless Fijian guys … no worries.”

“Lucky you. How’d you get the money?”

“Won the lottery.”

“No kidding! Really?”

“Yeah. I’m saving half.”

“Have fun,”

“By the way, can you keep an eye on Liz? She’s really beginning to scare me with this whole semi – comatose thing. Make sure she actually dates someone,” Maria instructed.

“Sure sarge. Any other orders?”

“Tell … tell Michael I’m going to Fiji. As if he’ll even care,” she said, voice faltering. A familiar lump rose up in her throat. No, she instructed herself. I’ve wasted enough tears on that spacebutt. I’m moving on. Fiji, here I come.

****************

“Maria’s going to Fiji?” Michael Guerin asked.

“Uh-huh. She told me today,” Isabel said, tapping her perfectly manicured nails on the counter at Michael’s apartment. Max sat near her, and Michael was pacing. Fiji?

“Why the hell would she wanna go to Fiji?”

“Her exact words were ‘sun, sand, surf, shirtless Fijian guys … no worries.’”

Michael cringed inwardly at the ‘hot guys’ part. Maria was leaving Roswell, and she’d end up in some other guys’ arms. All because he never managed to fix their relationship.

“Well, she’s coming back, right?”

“She didn’t say.”

“What’s going on?” Max asked, breaking out of his thoughts.

“Maria's going to Fiji,” Michael informed him.

“I knew that. She told me ages ago. She won the lottery.”

“What?”

“She won the lottery and decided to get away from all this alien crap,” Max said evenly. “Can’t say I blame her.”

“What are you trying to say, Maxwell?”

“Maria’s my friend. You haven’t exactly been the greatest to her.”

“Yeah, well yesterday Liz Parker breezed past, all tears and snot, and I distinctly heard the word ‘Czechoslovakian’”

“I never -,”

“Look, can I interrupt the testosterone war here?” Isabel interrupted. “I am so not in the mood for this.”

“Maybe you and Max better go,” Michael informed them. Isabel raised her hands in mock surrender, and led Max out of the room, his gold eyes burning like lava.

Michael slumped onto the couch, closing his eyes. What the hell was he gonna do about this Maria in Fiji situation? Nothing, he reasoned. Unless…

Part 2

“When you get to Fiji, be sure to put on lots of sunscreen,” Tess told Maria. “You burn easier in the Southern Hemisphere.” Maria awkwardly accepted the bottle of sunscreen Tess offered her. They weren’t the best of friends, but Maria appreciated the gesture.

“Uh, thanks.”

“What am I gonna do without you?” Liz said tearfully, practically squeezing the life out of her best friend. She handed Maria a necklace. “It’s a best friends necklace … I have the other half. Remember we had one in fifth grade, and you lost your one? I wouldn’t talk to you for a week!”

“I remember. I won’t lose this one, I promise.”

“You know ‘Ria,” Alex said conversationally, “They have real hurricanes in Fiji. So they don’t need you pulling Hurricane DeLuca stunts.” He grew serious. “Stay safe.”

“I will.” He gave her a hug and a packet of jetlag pills.

“Take one every 4 hours.”

“Okay, Alex.”

“I envy you, Maria,” Max said. “Getting away from it all, a nice relaxing holiday … you deserve it though.” He gave her a hug and presented a carefully wrapped parcel. “Open it, you know you want to.” She opened it to reveal an alien print tee shirt. She laughed.

“From Max and I,” Isabel said. “So you don’t forget us.”

“Like I could. You forget I’m only going for two weeks. And I have my cell, so you can call anytime. Just … remember the time difference,” Maria said. She hugged Isabel. “Look after Liz, okay?”

“I will.”

Kyle gave Maria some Buddha beads. “They, uh, promote harmony and peace of mind,” he said seriously. Maria tried hard not to laugh. “Good karma, right?” Tess said innocently. He shot her a dirty look.

“Flight 709 to Fiji, boarding now.”

“That’s my flight … bye guys.”

“Bye!”

She headed to the gate, hoping Michael might still show up. When it was obvious he wasn’t gonna show, she boarded the aeroplane. She sat in her seat, looking out the window. A lone tear trickled down her face. Suddenly, she was aware of someone sitting next to her. She turned around. It was…

“Michael?”

“Hi,” he said.

“What are you doing here?”

“I, uh, came in through the emergency entrance.”

“Oh my god, you stowed away on the plane! What the hell are you on?”

“Well, there was no way I was gonna let you just walk out of my life!”

“I cannot believe that you just got on this plane, without any thought about how worried Max and Isabel would be, and I took this holiday to get away from you!”

“Whoa, back up … you’re on holiday?”

“Of course I am! Wait … you thought I was moving to Fiji?”

“I thought … oh my god.”

“This has to be the weirdest thing you’ve ever done!”

“Nah, I’ve done weirder stuff.”

“What are you planning to do here? You don’t have any money or luggage…”

“I have some stuff in this bag,” he said. Maria opened the bag. A sweater and 100 dollars in 1 dollar bills.

“You are so damn lucky the US has this kick ass exchange rate in Fiji,” she said with a smile.

Part 3

Michael carried Maria luggage into the hotel room, protestin loudly. Maria grinned.

“Hey, you crashed the party, you do the grunt work,” she said.

“Don’t remind me. That was some flight,” he said, sprawling on the bed.

“Well, you refused the airline food.”

“No flavour.”

“And I refuse to waste my jetlag pills on naughty Czechoslovakians,” she teased, sitting dwn next to him. She lay back, enjoying the moment.

Suddenly she shot up and checked her watch. Quickly counting back the hours, she grabbed her cell phone and dialed her mother.

“Hello?” Amy said.

“Hi, It’s me.”

“Hi Hon, how was your flight?”

“Good. I just called to say I arrived safely.”

“Great, honey. Now you get to the beach!”

“It’s night. I’m going to bed.”

“Bye!”

Maria shot a look at Michael as she clicked the cell phone shut. “We have to call Isabel and Max now, don’t we?” he groaned.

“Yup. You wanna talk to them?”

“Not particularly.”

“Fine, I’ll do it.” She understood. Isabel would be totally incensed, not to mention Max … maybe she’d just better call Liz first.

“I’m gonna call Liz first.”

“Go ahead.”

“Hello?”

“Liz?”

“Maria, oh my god Michael’s gone, they can’t find him anywhere!”

“Actually, Liz … he’s with me.”

“WHAT!?!”

“He sort of stowed aboard the plane.”

“Maria! Are you sending him home.”

“Actually … no.”

“Is he crazy? Are you crazy? Am I the only sane person here?”

“Lizzie, you’re babbling,” Maria mocked.

“I think I’ve earned the right to babble, okay? So just deal with it,” Liz teased back.

“Very funny.”

“Oh god … have you called Max and Isabel?”

“No. Maybe I should?”

“Yeah.”

Maria hung up, and Michael had the grace to look a little guilty.

“How’d it go?”

“You’re safer here than in Roswell, that’s for sure.”

“Oh.”

“I’m gonna call Isabel.”

“Hello, Isabels cell.”

“Max?”

“Maria?”

“I sort of have to tell you something.”

“What?”

“MichaelstowedaboardtheplanetoFiji.”

“WHAT!?!”

“Before you get all upset … you might want to hear his side of the story.”

“Put him on.”

Part 4

Maria thrust the phone at Michael.

"No way, Maria!" he said.

"Michael … you do the crime you do the time."

Sighing, he took the phone off her.

"Hello?"

"Michael?"

"Hi Max."

"Michael, what the hell are you doing in Fiji?"

"I'm sightseeing."

"Very funny. That was incredibly stupid, Michael. Number 1: what you did was illegael. Number 2: Maria wanted some time to herself. Number 3 –"

Maxs voice was silenced as the phone slowly melted in Michaels hand. Maria stared at him.

"Oops," he mumbled.

"Uh, Michael … could you fix it? Coz, like, my mother needs to check up on me constantly to make sure I'm alive," she said quietly.

"Sure."

Concentrating, he fixed the phone. Handing it back to Maria, he walked over to the window.

She watched him.

"Whats wrong?"

"I wrecked your holiday, right?"

"No! I mean, yeah I wanted some time alone, but I'd take time with you over alone any day," she said with a sigh. "I just thought you weren't interested."

"What?"

"I mean, you ignore me all summer …" she gave a harsh laugh. "Not that I could have seen you. After all, I spent all summer taking care of Liz."

"Huh?"

"Liz. Been moping around since she walked away from Max."

"Max. Been moping around since Liz walked away from him."

She laughed.

"God they're pathetic," she said.

"Completely."

"Totally," he said, walking over to her.

"Immensly," she said, leaning towards him.

"Majorly," he breathed, closing the distance between them with a kiss.

Even if it was illegael, Maria had no complaints that Michael had stowed aboard that plane.

TBC …

[ Fanfic ]