a Roswell vignette

[tommygirl]

So this was written to show my immense gratitude to carrielh for sending me a copy of this week's Gilmore Girls to watch. I offered her a drabble and she asked for M/M of Roswell.

I apologize because I was feeling the angst today. So yeah. I tried. It hasn't been beta'd and it's a bit longer than a drabble - I'm just too wordy.

In Mourning

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. At the moment, that was the only thing that he was sure of. It had been a long time since Michael felt like a stranger in his own life, but its return had hit with enough force to knock the wind out of his lungs. He wondered momentarily if he was dreaming, but the look on Maria’s face said it all. Alex was dead and there was nothing that any of them could do to fix it. Max had tried to heal him, but it didn’t work. Why hadn’t it worked?

Michael felt Maria turn on her bed and curl up against him. His hands instinctively pulled her closer and rubbed the small of her back. It wasn’t much, not enough to alleviate her pain, but it was all he could give her at the moment. He knew how hard this was for her, how close she was to Alex, how protective they were of one another. He almost smiled as he remembered Alex charging into his place and hitting him for cheating on Maria.

It was hard to believe Alex wouldn’t be there any longer and, along with sadness, Michael was worried. Who would watch out for Maria if something happened to him? Who would be there to make her laugh or share dreams about music with? Michael figured Alex would know what to say in this situation, a better way to comfort Maria and make her stop crying so much. Instead she was stuck with him.

“Michael…”

“Yeah?” he said, straightening against the bed frame, ready to jump into action for whatever she needed.

“Do you think he felt it?”

“Huh?”

“Death...” Maria paused and shuddered. She sat up, still resting against him, and reaching for his hand. She intertwined it with her own, inspecting it as though it were her lifeline, and went on, “I keep thinking about what he must’ve been thinking…seeing the car coming right at him…and I just can’t get the image of him in pain out of my head.”

“Try not to think about that.”

“I can’t help it.”

“You need sleep, Maria.”

“Throughout all the dangerous situations we’ve been involved in, I never really thought about one of us not making it.”

“I have...I hoped it would never happen though,” he admitted. Michael squeezed her hand, trying to ignore the nagging voice in his head – the one that kept repeating that as much as it sucked that Alex was gone, at least it wasn’t Maria. At least Maria was still alive. He knew how selfish that made him, but it was true.

Maria nodded her head and said, “Thank you for staying with me.”

He shrugged and said, “I didn’t want to be alone any more than you did.”

“Sometimes you’re a pretty good boyfriend, Michael,” Maria replied. She leaned up and kissed his cheek before adding, “But don’t let it go to your head or anything.”

Michael smiled, “I’ll remind you of that next time you’re bitching at me about something.”

Maria returned his smile for a brief second before resting her head back on his chest and letting out another sob. Michael pulled her closer, wishing he could take her pain away or bring Alex back where he belonged, and said, “Try to get some sleep.”

Comments

[pathstotread.livejournal.com]

“Sometimes you’re a pretty good boyfriend, Michael,”

Aww. Damn straight he is! (When he's not being an idiot.) I love protective Michael, and I can definitely see him being grateful that Alex had died rather than Maria. This was really lovely, thank you so much for writing it for me!

[storydivagirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when he's not an idiot (oh who am I kidding? Even when he's an idiot), I'd let him be my boyfriend. And yeah, I love how Michael is always protective of Maria, even if it comes across like he's a jackass half the time.

And you're welcome! Sorry I went the route of angst, but it couldn't be helped!