Part 25 - Shining Stars

Maria was suddenly awakened as a figure bounced down on the bed next to her.

"Wake up!" came a way-too-chipper voice. Maria peered up from under her pillow to see Tess's bright and cheerful face looking down at her. Groaning, she looked over at the clock. Nine in the morning. Much too early for anyone to be even conscious after the late night they had, much less as bright-eyed as Tess was right now. It just wasn't right. Such perkiness should be forbidden before noon.

"Go away!" she said, burrowing her head under the covers.

"Sorry, can't do that," Tess said as she pulled the covers away from her friend. Strange - she didn't sound sorry. She sounded amused. Evil alien, waking up poor innocent humans like that. "Isabel wants us to go shopping with her."

"Don't wanna."

"Come on," she coaxed. "Isabel wants to get the perfect outfit for her date with Alex tonight, and really wants to have our opinions. It'll be fun." She gave another little bounce, then went out to talk with Maria's mother. Maria peered carefully up and saw that Kyle was standing in the open doorway.

"Is she always this awake this early?" Maria asked grumpily as she got out of bed. She laughed as she saw Kyle look away quickly. "It's okay, Kyle. I'm decent." She walked over to the bathroom, grabbing a shirt and pants on her way.

He looked back in relief, seeing that she was wearing shorts and a tank top. "Cool. I just didn't want to get Michael upset or anything. Discretion, wisdom, and all that. I have no wish to go the way of his TV set. So, what was up with the two of you yesterday, anyway?"

She stuck her head out the door. "What are you talking about?" she asked in confusion.

"Tess said that you and Michael were acting all lovey-dovey last night. I wouldn't know, of course, seeing as how I wasn't invited to the Great Alien Shin-dig."

"Good to know that you're not bitter or anything," she yelled through the door as she started to run the shower.

"Nah. I've learned acceptance of events outside my control. I'm just curious about what I missed."

"Tess. Little Miss Good Morning Sunshine?" she yelled over the running water.

"And yes, ladies and gentlemen, there she goes avoiding the question."

"Kyle." Her voice was one of warning at this point.

Sitting down on her bed, he laughed. "She's always like this first thing in the morning. She doesn't need much sleep. Czechoslovakians must have great endurance or something."

At that, Maria almost stumbled as she entered the shower. Thinking about alien endurance was taking her mind places that it definitely didn't need to be this early in the morning, especially since there was no chance of seeing Michael until later. He had to go to work today. She missed him already, and she had just woken up. She remembered having some very interesting dreams about him last night. No wonder she hadn't wanted to wake up.

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Maria thought back to last night, after the sheriff brought her back home. As Tess waited in the car, Valenti walked inside with Maria, where he was subjected to the third degree by her mother. Maria was impressed. Not many people could stand up to Amy DeLuca at her most intimidating, but Valenti didn't crack. He insisted that he found the kids out in the desert, helped them get the Jeep up and running again, and then brought Maria home so that Amy wouldn't worry. That was his story, and he was sticking to it.

After the third time running through the story, Maria got tired and went to her room. While she was certain that her mother wasn't buying any of this, Amy couldn't shake his story, so things would be at a stalemate for now. As Valenti tried to charm her mother, Maria lay down on her bed. Her head had started pounding about ten minutes after leaving Michael, and it was pretty bad now. She just wanted to get some sleep. She had barely closed her eyes, though, when the phone rang. She reached over and grabbed it instantly, on the first ring.

"Hello?" Even before she heard his voice, she knew it was him.

"Teel-sharan." The sound of Michael's quiet voice sent shivers through her body. She closed her eyes, imagining that he was there with her in his arms.

"Was everything okay with Dagmar?" She could sense his hesitation before answering.

"Yeah," he finally replied. "No problem. Just wanted to review some things with me. Precautions. Stuff like that." He hesitated again. "I told him how sorry I was about his teela-mei."

"Michael." She tightened her grip on the phone. It was going to take a while for her to get used to him being this honest and up-front about his emotions. It was a new experience, although something she'd wanted for a long time. She guessed he'd decided that there was little point to hiding his feelings when she was somehow able to feel them, too, now. "That was really nice of you. Did you know her? Before, I mean?"

"Yeah," he said gruffly. "I did." The next words came out in a rush. "I don't know how Dagmar's managed it. Going on without her without going totally crazy. I couldn't."

"I'm not going anywhere, Michael." Hearing her mother saying good-bye to Valenti, she sighed. "Literally. I have a feeling Mom's going to be watching me carefully for a while to make sure I don't sneak out." She carefully lowered her voice. "I miss you, spaceboy. I need to see you." Hearing his voice was helping her feel better, but it wasn't enough. She needed to see him, to touch him. "Can you come over?"

Another pause. Maria wasn't sure if she should be more annoyed by them, or worried. He certainly hadn't been wasting time with excessive thinking earlier. "I don't think that would be such a good idea, Maria. Like you said, let's give your mom some time to decide that I'm not some crazy man who she needs to sic the Dobermans on."

Maria frowned. He was trying to talk lightly, but she could hear the strain in his voice. "You feel it, too, don't you?" She didn't even bother to go into more detail. She knew he understood.

"Yeah. But we'll be okay until tomorrow night. That's not too far away." He sounded as if he was trying to convince himself as much as her.

She muttered a curse under her breath. Knowing he was right didn't make the ache any less.

"Such language, Maria. What would your mother say?"

"Shut up, Michael." She could hear him laughing softly, and the sound helped. She found herself smiling back. "Okay. Fine. I'll wait until tomorrow night. But then we get to spend some time together, right?"

"Sure." The pause had been shorter this time. She wasn't even sure she'd heard it. She took a deep breath.

"Are you sure that everything's fine?"

"Things are as fine as they can be right now. I wouldn't lie to you, Maria."

"I know." There was a wry smile on her face. "You've always been honest with me." Even when I didn't want to hear it. "Good night, then."

He answered something that she didn't quite catch. "Huh?"

He laughed again. "I've got lots of Antaran words floating around in my memory now. Interesting. I said, neeyal semar, meilyas-sivar. Roughly, it means good-night."

She smiled, hoping he could sense it over the phone. She knew full well that she was just putting off hanging up, but that was okay. Hearing his voice wasn't nearly enough, but if it was all she could have at the moment, then she wanted to savor it as long as she could. "Neeyal semar. That's pretty."

"It actually means 'shining stars'. But since stars shine at night, you get the translation."

"I like hearing you speak Antaran. Very sexy."

She could hear his sharp intake of breath. "I'm going to have to start writing down all the words I can think of so that I don't forget them, then."

"You do that, spaceboy. Neeyal semar."

"Night, Maria."

Reluctantly, she hung up the phone, and then lay back in bed, trying to get to sleep despite the feeling of loneliness she had at not being with Michael.

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Finally finished with her showering and dressing, Maria stepped back into her room, running a comb through her hair. She could hear the sounds of Tess and her mother talking in the kitchen. She wondered what they were talking about, but having successfully avoided an interrogation from her mother the night before, she wasn't about to voluntarily leave herself open to one now. She saw Kyle lying down on her bed, apparently relaxing without a care in the world.

"Move over." When he did, she lay down next to him, looking at the ceiling.

Without opening his eyes, Kyle asked, "Going to tell me about Michael?" He really was curious about what was going on with the two of them. When all he heard was a quiet groan, he opened his eyes and looked at the girl next to him.

Maria's eyes were closed tightly, her hands clasped tightly together. Kyle could see how white her knuckles were. She almost looked like she was in pain. Concerned, he asked, "Maria, are you sick or something? Should I get your mother?"

"No!" Her eyes flew open wildly and she grabbed his arm. "Don't." Looking at the open door, she whispered. "Kyle, could you close the door?"

Confused, he did as he was asked. Then he sat back down on the bed next to her. "What's going on, Maria? Lovey-dovey wasn't really the word Tess used to describe it. More like the two of you were surgically attached, and Dad almost needed a crowbar to get the two of you separated."

Maria gave a hoarse laugh. "Sounds like Tess was pretty much on target." She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. "What time is it?"

Kyle frowned at the change in topic, but looked at his watch. "Nine-thirty."

She closed her eyes for a second while she thought. "That means it's been, what? Eight hours since I've seen him? And I was asleep for at least three of them." Kyle raised his eyebrows. She really hadn't gotten much sleep last night. "And I miss him as if I haven't seen him in weeks." She forced a laugh. "Look at me. I'm shaking."

"I take it this means you're back together."

She suddenly smiled brightly. "Oh, yeah. Mr. Spaceboy Guerin and I are definitely back together. For good." There was total certainty and fierce determination in her voice. The smile faded as another shudder went through her. "Kyle?" she whispered weakly again.

"Yeah?"

"Can you do me a favor? Can we talk about something else? Anything except Michael?"

"Sure, but why?"

With a slight grimace that would have made Guerin proud, Maria replied. "Because the more I think about Michael, the harder it is to keep myself from running out of the house and going to see him. Right now. I'm not sure how much longer my self-control's going to last, and I don't think Grief Relief is going to work this time. So let's change the subject. Distract me, Buddha Boy."

Kyle was more than a little worried by this information, but decided to file it away until he had a chance to talk to Tess about it. Or better yet, Michael himself. "Not a problem. So, how long do you think it'll take Tess to decide we need to get going?"

"What's she doing with my mother anyway?"

The door suddenly burst open, and in bounded Tess. Kyle smiled at her proudly. "She's charming your mother."

"Why?" Now it was Maria's turn to be totally confused.

"Because," Tess explained patiently as she landed on Kyle's lap, "I want Amy in a good mood so that she can get over her Michael hang-up and the two of you can spend as much time as you want together." Kyle tried to shush her, but Maria spoke first.

"Again with the why?"

"Are you forgetting that I'm the one who spent the most time with Michael last summer? When you two weren't together?" Tess shook her head with a frown. "A grumpy Michael is nobody's fun. I so do not want to ever have to deal with that again."

Kyle noticed the way that Maria's eyes kept darting over to the open window as if she was planning escape. Time to distract Maria, and what would serve as a better distraction than shopping with Isabel? It would take all of Maria's energy just to keep up with Princess Isabel when she was on a mission. Taking each girl by the hand, Kyle led them out the door. "Come on, girls. Let's go. Isabel Evans and the quest for the perfect date outfit await."


Isabel was waiting for them outside the mall entrance. "Where have you been?" she asked irritably as they came up to her. "We don't have time to waste here, you know." She stopped, noticing Kyle for the first time. "What are you doing here?"

Kyle smiled at her. "Nice to see you, too, Isabel. Don't worry, I'm not here for the shopping. I am simply the chauffeur for the day."

Isabel smiled apologetically. "Sorry. I didn't mean that the way it came out."

"Forgiveness is a virtue. Don't worry about it."

Tess was watching him suspiciously. "What do you mean you're not shopping with us?"

"Well, since I've gotten you two here safely, I thought I'd take my car in for a tune-up." At her pout, he went on quickly. "I'll be back to pick you up later. What do you think it'll take, an hour?" At the looks he received, he went on. "Hour and a half? Two hours? How long does it take you to pick out something to wear, anyway?"

"How about we meet you in the food court at about 3?" Tess suggested sweetly. "Then we can assess and see if we need more time or not."

"More time?" Kyle simply could not wrap his mind around the thought of five hours shopping not being enough time to find one outfit. While his dazed mind tried to assimilate this information, Isabel went on briskly.

"Well, we'll see you then, Kyle. Come on, girls. Let's get going." Grabbing Maria by the arm, Isabel started off into the wilderness of the mall. Tess jumped up and gave Kyle a quick kiss, then ran after the others. Shaking his head, Kyle went back out to the car. Girls were very confusing creatures at times, but they were worth the confusion.

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Isabel led the way to her favorite store. "You have Kyle driving you around already, Tess? Very nice. I would have thought it'd take you longer to get him that well-trained." She was smiling as she said it, though. Kyle and Tess were cute.

Tess laughed. "Like Alex wouldn't walk through fire if you asked him to."

"So, what's the big deal with tonight's date anyway?" Maria spoke up for the first time since getting there. "Is it something special?"

Isabel shrugged. "I'm not sure what we're doing actually. Alex wouldn't tell me. He said it was a surprise. But I don't think it's gong to be anything formal. He said to dress casually. I still want something nice to wear." She stopped to look at a display of blouses.

Maria noticed Tess looking past them, out the doors to the mall. "What?" She turned around and saw Deputy Hanson looking at them. When he saw the girls looking back, he tipped his hat to them and walked on. She looked at Tess in confusion. Tess shrugged. Well, maybe he was just shopping. But after the last year and a half of their lives, Maria tended to get nervous around any law enforcement officer except the sheriff. Oh, well. Back to more important things. Tess was already back to looking through the blouses.

"This is nice," Tess said, picking up a blue one.

Isabel glanced at it, then shook her head. "I want something red. Alex likes me in red."

Tess and Maria exchanged amused glances. Was Isabel blushing? Trying not to laugh, Maria followed Isabel to the next rack. "If it's nothing fancy, then why the big fuss?"

"I just want to look nice for him." Isabel sighed and looked at her friends. "Alex is always the one who jumps through hoops for me. I just thought it would be nice to make the effort for him for a change. You know, so he'd know that I really do appreciate him."

"He already knows that, Isabel," Tess said gently.

"Maybe. But it can't hurt to show him, now can it?" Isabel gave her brightest smile. "Besides, I have a reputation to uphold. I have to look good, don't I?"

"Oh, definitely," Maria gave a genuine laugh. Her head was still aching a bit, but it was nice to hang out with her friends. Maybe this was a good idea after all. "As long as you realize that you could be wearing an old raggedy sweatsuit and Alex would still think you were the most gorgeous girl in the world."

"Well, naturally," Isabel said with a little laugh. "The boy does have good taste, after all." Picking up a red blouse, she held it up in front of her as she examined it. "Kind of like Michael thinks of you."

At the sound of Michael's name, Maria tensed up. Just his name was enough to make her remember last night, the touches and the feelings. Trying to keep breathing naturally, she asked, "You think?"

"Please," Tess said. "Michael is just as whipped as Alex. The boy is a goner."

"She's right, you know." Isabel stopped looking at the clothes and looked Maria directly in the eyes. "I've never seen Michael look at anyone or anything the way he was looking at you last night. Never. He really does love you, you know." She smiled at the human girl, hoping Maria could tell how sincere she was, how much Isabel wished them the best.

"I know," Michael whispered. Shaking her head, she tried to lighten the mood as she looked over at some purses. "Just like Kyle loves Tess here."

Realizing that the other two girls weren't following her, Maria looked back. They were both staring at her in shock. Maria started laughing at their expressions. "You've got to be kidding me. You two with your whole mumbo-jumbo powers," she lowered her voice at that last, "and you're that clueless? Kyle is head over heels in love with you, Tess. Has been for a while now."

Tess turned to Isabel slowly. "You think?"

Isabel shrugged. "Maybe. It would make sense."

"Trust me, Tess. I know what I'm talking about. It's very clear to anyone looking. He's just been waiting for you to get over the whole Max thing. I've been halfway expecting him to lose it and start pummeling Max, to be honest with you. He's handled his jealousy pretty well, all things considered."

"Well, that's something he doesn't have to worry about anymore." Tess's voice was full of determination. "There is nothing going on with Max and me." Her voice turned wistful. "I knew Kyle liked me, and that he liked kissing me, but love? You really think so? I've never had anyone love me before." The last was said so quietly that the others barely heard it. Tess immediately turned away, trying to cover up her overly-emotional last statement. When did she become so emotional, so weak? Nasedo hadn't raised her this way. She was startled to feel arms reach around to hug her.

"Well, you've got plenty of us now," Maria said as she hugged her friend. "You're part of our family, and we take care of each other. Right, Isabel?"

"Right." Isabel hugged Tess as Maria let her go. "No matter what happens, you don't have to worry about being alone anymore, Tess. We all belong together."

"Thanks." Composing herself, Tess smiled. "Now, let's find something to knock Alex's eyes right out of their sockets. Then maybe we can find something special for me to wear for Kyle?" Listening to her friends laugh, Tess let herself start to really believe them. She belonged to the group. She finally had a family.

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"Michael? Michael!"

"What?" he cried irritably to Liz. She just pointed at the range. Looking back, he saw that he was burning another hamburger. Quickly scooping it up, he looked back at her. "So? It's well done."

"Michael, it's charcoal." He glared at her, but she didn't back down. "That's like the tenth burnt hamburger today. And we won't even get into what you did to the chili." He rolled his eyes. "What's going on with you today, Michael? Are you okay?" She lowered her voice as she moved closer so that nobody could overhear. "If you're still dealing with everything we learned last night, you can take some time off."

"I'm fine," he said sharply. Noticing how she stepped back, he grimaced. He didn't mean to snap at her. Amazingly enough, he wasn't upset with Liz. He wasn't really upset with anyone. "I'm just thinking. That's all. I'll try to focus on the food. Okay?"

"Fine. Whatever." Liz took up the burger and fries and took it out to the customer. Whatever was wrong with Michael, it was making him even grumpier than usual. She really wished that Maria was working today. She seemed to have a calming influence on him.

In the kitchen, Michael was also wishing Maria was there. She was all he'd been able to think about all day. All night, too. He hadn't gotten any sleep. He just kept thinking about Maria, reliving over and over those moments when he'd had her in his arms. Not going over to her house when she asked him had been the hardest thing he'd ever had to do, in either lifetime. But it had been the right thing to do. He had to try and pull back a little, give them both some breathing room. Problem was, he didn't seem to be able to breathe too well without her there with him.

"You've always been honest with me." That was something to think about, too. Maria trusted him to tell her the truth. It was the same for him. Maria was the first person he had ever really been able to trust, someone he could allow to see his weaknesses and not exploit them. Letting down his guard like that went against his instincts, against everything he'd been taught back in that other life, but he did it. For Maria. She knew almost everything about him, and still wanted him. That was nothing short of a miracle. But was keeping something from her, something from another lifetime that wasn't even an issue anymore, the same as lying? He hoped not, because he didn't ever want to lie to her, but he didn't think he could ever bear to tell her what else he'd remembered the night before.

Thoughts of last night led him right back to remembering what it was like to be kissing Maria behind Dagmar's house. Michael tried to concentrate on the cooking. He really did. He wasn't sure what Liz's father would do if he kept burning everything. Luckily, the man didn't seem to be around the restaurant, and Michael was fairly certain that Liz wouldn't fire him.

In the front of the Crashdown, Liz looked up as Sheriff Valenti entered the restaurant. He came up to the counter, smiling at Liz.

"Morning, Liz. How are you doing today?"

"I'm good, Sheriff. How are you?"

"Well, I survived my meeting with Amy DeLuca last night, so I'm doing better than could be expected." He gave a laugh. "Kyle and Tess are at the mall today. Shopping. Watching my son dragged off to the mall to go shopping is definitely one of the high points of having Tess living with us." Liz gave a polite smile. It was still going to take a while for anything Tess-related to really be all that amusing for her. Valenti went on. "Actually, I was hoping for a word with Michael. Would it be okay for him to take a break for a few minutes?"

Suddenly, a yell from Michael echoed through the restaurant, causing customers to look back at the kitchen and the smoke coming from it. "Please," Liz answered, practically pushing Valenti in front of her through the back door. "Take all the time you need."

"It's fine! No problem!" Michael was yelling and opening the side door to let in some fresh air as Valenti entered the kitchen. He nodded at the older man.

"Problems?" Valenti asked mildly.

"Just having some trouble concentrating." Michael looked at him sharply. "What's up?"

"Let's go in the break room. I want to talk to you for a minute." Michael nodded and followed him, taking off his bandana and running his hands through his hair. He looked up at the clock. This had been the longest day of his life, no question. When was Maria going to get there?

He realized that Valenti had said something. "Sorry. I wasn't listening."

"I asked what you and Dagmar talked about last night after the rest of us left."

"Not much. He warned me about some things I should be careful of, and we talked about Moiya. She was....."

"His teela-mei. Yeah, I know. He told me about her last night." Michael noticed that the sheriff was watching him very closely. Even though he knew he hadn't done anything wrong or illegal (not recently, at least), it was unsettling. Valenti's eyes always seemed to be able to see way too much for comfort.

"What's going on?" he asked again.

"Did Dagmar mention anything about going away?"

Michael shook his head slowly. "No. Why?"

"I went out there this morning to talk with him. I still had some questions. Anyway, he wasn't there. Some chairs were knocked over. Could mean something, maybe not. I waited and looked around, but no sign of Dagmar. Since you were the last one to see him, I thought you might have some insight to offer into what happened to him."

Valenti was still watching Michael with those piercing eyes, and suddenly he thought he knew what this was about. With a sinking feeling, he remembered last year, being dragged into the sheriff's office for questioning in Hank's disappearance. Valenti thought he'd done something to Hank back then and now he thought he'd done something to Dagmar. It was worse now, so much worse, because back then Valenti was only some human they had to lie to and hide from. Now he was their ally, and almost a father. A real father, one who taught and helped, not hit. And Valenti still thought he was a murderer. Why not? Michael could feel something inside him shrivel up and grow cold as he started to detach emotionally. It was a familiar feeling.

"Dagmar was fine when I left," Michael said flatly. "I didn't attack him and bury his body out in the desert if that's what you were thinking."

Valenti blinked, then moved closer to Michael. He reached out, putting his hand on Michael's shoulder, noticing the way Michael flinched as his hand came closer. God, what Hank did to this boy, he thought. "I know that, Michael. I never thought you had."

"You didn't?"

"No. You wouldn't have hurt Dagmar unless he turned out to be an enemy, and if he was, you'd be out there warning the others about it, not here at work tormenting the good citizens of Roswell with char-grilled fast food." Michael took a deep breath of relief and nodded.

"Thanks."

"I'm just trying to figure out what happened. Everything was fine when you left?"

"Yeah." Michael sat down on the couch, trying to think. "Dagmar might have left if he thought he was drawing too much attention to us. He's done that before, he said. Moving around."

"That's true." Valenti looked at Michael, and the two knew what they were both thinking. Nicholas. Valenti sighed. "I'll let the others know that we might have another problem. It'd be nice to have a day or two off."

"Not likely in our world, Sheriff."

As Valenti approached the door, he turned back to Michael. "Stop beating yourself up over things, Michael. None of us are as hard on you as you are on yourself." Then he left. Michael sat there for another minute, thinking, then went back to work.

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About an hour after Valenti left, Max came to the Crashdown. The minute he walked through the door, Liz practically flew across the room, pulling him back to the break room.

"Liz, has something happened? Did you hear something about Dagmar?" Valenti had already told Max about the older alien's disappearance.

"No." Looking around to make sure they were alone, she grabbed hold of Max's shirt and pulled him closer. "Max, do you love me?"

"Of course. You know I do."

"Then, if you love me, go out there, find Maria, and bring her back here. Now." There was a faint hint of panic in her voice.

"What's going on?" Max looked around. He didn't see anything that looked like an emergency, certainly nothing to be driving Liz to this point of major freak-out. He didn't think he'd seen her this frazzled since they escaped Pierce.

"It's Michael. He's been insane all day. It's like typical grumpy Michael, to the n-th degree. He's been snapping at the staff, telling customers that they don't need to order any more food, burning everything. The rest of the staff is threatening to quit. Of course, they're threatening it quietly, because they don't want him to hear them." Stopping and looking at his face, she smacked him on the arm. "This is not funny, Max. You haven't been stuck here with him all day. Max, he managed to melt a hot fudge sundae. With his bare hands."

"I didn't know that making sundaes was part of his job description."

"It's not. He was just handing it to me, and he melted it. He burnt the glass when he did it, too." She took a deep breath and led him further away from the door to the kitchen. No telling if Michael was listening. "I don't think he's doing it on purpose, either, Max. A few times he started to snap at me, then stopped himself. It's like he's doing things without thinking, but when he realizes it, he tries to stop."

"Well, that's a good thing, right? That he doesn't want to yell at you?"

Liz bit her bottom lip nervously. "I suppose. I'm more concerned with why he's in this mood. There's something bothering him big time, and he won't talk to me about it. Which is why you need to get Maria."

Max looked over at the kitchen. If something was really bothering Michael, maybe he should try to talk with him, see what it was. Suddenly, they heard the sound of something breaking, followed by loud curses from Michael.

Liz closed her eyes. "That's the fifth broken plate this hour." Opening her eyes, she opened the back door and pushed Max out. "Go find Maria. Don't come back without her, Max. I mean it. Do it for the good of all who enter the Crashdown."

"Okay, but........." Before he could finish his question, the door was slammed shut in his face. Apparently, Liz did mean it. "Where is Maria?"

Okay. Deciding to get started on his most recent quest, Max headed over to the DeLuca house.

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Kyle looked around the food court for the girls. He had received a phone call a few hours ago, postponing their meeting time. Seems like they needed more time to finish shopping. But this was the new arranged meeting time, so they should be around here somewhere. He didn't seen any of the girls, though. He looked around again, turning around in a circle, trying to see everything. No cute blond girls, human or alien. He smiled a little to himself. Guerin would hate to know he was thinking of Maria as cute. Not that Michael had anything to worry about as far as Kyle was concerned. Maria wasn't Tess.

"Kyle!" A voice to his left whispered his name. Looking in that direction, he saw Maria beckoning to him from behind one of the pillars with the mall map on it. Frowning in confusion, Kyle walked over there. Maria and Tess were hiding behind the pillar.

"Who are we hiding from?" he whispered as he crowded onto the bench next to them.

"Who do you think?" Maria retorted. "Isabel."

"She's gone crazy," Tess insisted, her eyes big. "I've gone shopping with Isabel before and it was fun. But today........."

"Nothing's good enough for her. She had one of the salesgirls in tears," Maria said solemnly.

Kyle was trying not to laugh. "Come on, how bad could it be?" The girls just glared at him. He stopped smirking.

"It's bad," Tess insisted. "We couldn't handle it anymore. So we left. Last we saw, she was trying on shoes. Still."

"She's been trying on shoes for over three straight hours. I swear, she's tried on every shoe in this mall at least three times."

Kyle took a closer look at Maria. He didn't like what he saw. She looked very pale. Before he could ask her if she was feeling okay, her attention wandered to something behind him. "God, there he is again."

"Who?" Kyle turned around, and saw Deputy Hanson standing across the food court. He wasn't look at them. Following his line of sight, Kyle saw what Hanson was looking at. Isabel had just come out of the shoe store across the way, laden with shopping bags. Slowly, Hanson walked off, passing by Isabel on the way. She didn't seem to notice. He turned back to the girls. "What's up with him?"

Tess shook her head, exchanging confused looks with Maria. "We don't know. But he just keeps popping up today. Everywhere we'd go, there he was. Has there been a rash of robberies here at the mall or something?"

Kyle shrugged. "Not that I've heard Dad mention."

"I don't like it," Tess said quietly. "He makes my skin crawl."

Before Kyle could even try to reply to that, Isabel saw them and pounced. "There you two are. I was wondering where you'd vanished to. Hello, Kyle."

He gave her a small wave. "Did you get everything you wanted?"

"Yes, no thanks to these two deserters."

"Hey, we helped you for most of the time. You're going to look great for Alex tonight." Maria weakly tried to defend herself.

"I know." Isabel tossed back her head and laughed. "Thanks for the help, you two. Really. I'm calmer now. Everything is going to be perfect tonight." She seemed very self-satisfied.

Kyle thought about how lucky Alex was, to have a girl like Isabel so anxious to impress him. Then he felt a hand slip in to his, and he looked over to see a smiling Tess. He was pretty lucky, too.

Maria couldn't handle it anymore. She'd been good all day, but this was too much. She stood up abruptly, prepared to walk to the Crashdown if necessary. Before she could say anything, though, Max appeared out of nowhere.

"Maria. There you are." He seemed out of breath. "I've been everywhere in this mall looking for you." He nodded and smiled at the others.

"Is something the matter?" Maria felt like her heart stopped for a minute. "Is something wrong with Michael?" She hadn't felt anything bad happen to him, but why else would Max be looking for her?

"No, not really." He sat down in the space she'd just vacated. "Liz just wanted me to find you and bring you back to the Crashdown because apparently he's been grumpy today. Very grumpy." Tess muttered something about "nobody's fun", but he didn't quite catch it.

That was all Maria need to hear. "Let's go." Grabbing Max's arm, she dragged him up and pulled him away before he could even say anything. He had transportation, and he was going to drive her to see Michael.

Kyle exchanged looks with Tess and Isabel. "Well, that was interesting." He was glad he'd decided to just go with the flow. At least things were never boring. "So," he started as they began the walk to his car. "I got a call from Dad earlier........"

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Max hadn't even stopped the Jeep fully when Maria was out of the car, running in to the Crashdown. He followed more slowly. She hadn't said a word to him the whole ride back from the mall. A quiet Maria - something was definitely up.

Ignoring Liz's grateful look at Max, Maria looked straight to Michael. All she could see was his back through the little kitchen window. There he was.

Maria. Michael could feel her before he even turned around. He looked around and saw her walking, no, running, through the restaurant. Without even thinking, he turned and exited the kitchen. He and Maria ran into each other in the break room, toppling on to the couch.

Laughing, Maria gave him a long kiss. She felt so much better now. "I missed you."

He smiled back down at her, brushing aside a strand of her hair. "Missed you, too, teel-sharan." Then he leaned down for a much more thorough kiss.

Maria's world narrowed down to her and Michael. It was so perfect, and so natural. Being with Michael made her feel healthy and whole in ways that she'd never felt before. She was complete. Not to mention the way his hands on her body made her feel more alive than ever.

The two of them were so caught up in their kisses that they didn't even notice Liz as she walked quickly through the room, eyes covered, to the kitchen to make sure there were no fires starting or food burning. They had other things on their minds.

Finally, Michael pulled away. Planting a quick kiss on the tip of her nose, he looked down at her mischievously. Now that she was here with him, he could relax a little. "So, did you have a nice time shopping with Iz?"

"Come here," she said, but he just leaned back with a laugh and a shake of his head. Evil man. Her eyes narrowed at him. Fine. If that was the way he wanted to play it, then just fine. "Yes, it was very nice. There were some cute guys checking us out."

"What?" he roared as he started to get up.

"Michael, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. No cute guys. No flirting. Well, Kyle and Tess flirted. But that was all." He looked at her suspiciously. "You don't have to be jealous, Michael. Not ever. I'm yours. Don't you know that by now?" She smiled as she reached out to gently tangle her hands in his hair.

Mine, came the thought in his mind. Maria's mine. And I'm hers. It seemed a rather simple way to boil down the complications of their relationship over the years, but it worked. Nodding, he lowered his head to kiss her again, never breaking eye contact. This kiss felt more solemn, somehow, than the ones before it. There was a promise in it, one that he hoped she could sense as well as he did.

From the look in her eyes, he thought she could.

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When Kyle and Tess finally got to the Crashdown, they found Max sitting in the usual booth, along with Liz. Liz's head was down in her hands, Max rubbing her back comfortingly.

"Long day?" Kyle asked as they joined the other couple.

All that was heard from Liz was a groan. Max looked over with an apologetic smile.

"Liz had to deal with Grumpy Michael all day. She's worn out." Liz muttered something. "Liz, honey, don't you think your dad would be upset if you quit on him?"

Her head jumped up and spun around to glare at him. "Well, you try working with Michael all day when he's in one of these moods, and then see how calm you are about it!" Max was cringing back in fear.

"You have my sympathies," Tess said soothingly. "I know what Michael's like when he's in these moods. The fact that you both survived and the place isn't in shambles is very impressive."

Liz looked at the other girl, calming down. "Thank you, Tess." She gave Max an "I told you so" look.

Kyle was hungry. "So, can I get a...." A quick kick to his leg stopped Kyle before he finished asking Liz for food. "Ow!" He looked over to see both Liz and Tess glaring at him, while Max was shaking his head quickly, making warding gestures with his arms. "Never mind. Just fine here."

Just then, Michael and Maria came out from the back room, along with a basket of fries. The two of them squeezed into the booth next to Kyle. "Hey," Michael said to them all, pulling Maria down on his lap. Planting a quick kiss on her lips, he took one of the fries and fed it to her.

The other four exchanged stunned glances. Okay, Michael and Maria fighting they could handle. Michael and Maria pawing at each other and trying to undress they could handle. Michael sitting peacefully with Maria in his lap, quietly sharing a basket of fries? This was something too bizarre for words.

"That's it," Liz said, taking off her headband. "I can't deal with this anymore. Kim can just cover the rest of this shift." And she took off for upstairs, Max trailing along behind her. Kyle doubted that Michael and Maria even noticed.

"So, Michael," Kyle tried to start a conversation. Maybe if he could distract Michael from Maria he'd have a chance at some of those fries. "Aren't you supposed to be actually working here? You know, cooking food for this eating establishment?" Tess looked at him as if he was crazy. The Grumpy Michael Monster was momentarily calm, and Kyle was trying to rile him up again? She loved the boy, but she wondered about his sanity at times.

But to her relief, Michael just looked over at Kyle absently. "Nope. I'm through for the day. Jose's got it covered." Hand traveling up Maria's leg, he pulled her even closer to him.

Noticing the way that Michael and Maria kept staring at each other, Kyle decided it was time to leave. "So, Tess, you ready to go home?"

"Works for me." She wasn't sure whether to be uncomfortable at the way Michael and Maria were basically ignoring everything around them, or happy for them. They just looked so contented with each other.

As they started to slide out of the booth, Michael's attention came sharply back to them. "Hang on. Why don't you two come over to the apartment with us? We could watch some videos or something."

"What?" Maria was apparently as surprised by the invitation as Kyle and Tess were, looking at Michael angrily as she moved away from him.

"We were just going to hang out." Michael wasn't looking anywhere near Maria at that particular moment. "It'll be fun. We don't spend much time together doing non-life-threatening stuff."

Tess started, "I don't think that's such a good........" but Kyle cut her off.

"Sure, why not?"

"Great. Let me just get my stuff." Michael ran back to his locker. Maria glared at the retreating alien for a minute, then stalked outside to Kyle's car. Which left Kyle and Tess.

"Kyle, how many times have you been kicked in the head in football?" Tess whispered. He couldn't tell if she was angry with him or simply in awe of his monumental stupidity.

He took her hand and started to lead her outside. "Michael wants us there for a reason, Tess. So I figured we should give it a try. He wouldn't have asked otherwise."

"Fine," she said in a resigned voice. "But the minute any article of their clothing even looks like it might be coming off, I am out of there." She narrowed her eyes at him. "And so are you, Buddha boy. Fair warning."

His smile for Tess faded as he looked up and saw Maria standing by his car, arms folded, glaring at the restaurant. Oh, yeah. This was going to be fun.

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