Part 29 Haunted

Maria woke up, gradually noticing the arms holding her tight in her sleep. She smiled as she looked down. Michael had pulled her close to him as they slept, her back to his chest, hands clasped around her stomach. He'd shown up late last night again and climbed into bed with her. They both seemed to sleep more easily when they were together.

Very carefully, she turned around to look at Michael. She was so gentle that he didn't wake up and she had the chance to watch him while he slept. This was only the second time she'd been able to do that - usually Michael woke up before she did. She couldn't help smiling as she looked down at her teela-mei. Michael looked so much younger when he slept, so at peace with the world. She knew him well enough to know how rare that peaceful sleep was. Michael was usually a very light sleeper, and his dreams were troubled. But now, he looked totally relaxed and trusting. It made Maria feel warm inside to know that she was able to provide Michael with that - a place where he could feel safe and find refuge for a while. She intended to make sure that he always felt that protected and secure with her.

As she looked at him, Michael's eyes opened. She wondered how he managed to regain consciousness so quickly. There was no momentary disorientation. One second he was asleep, the next perfectly awake and aware. She was about to wish him a good-morning, but the look in his eyes stopped her words.

She couldn't look away, breath catching in her throat. Michael was staring at her so intently, as if he was willing her to stay still so that he could memorize every inch of her face. She was sure that she had bed hair and must look awful, but she wouldn't know it from the look on Michael's face. There was so much reverence in his gaze, so much passion, so much love. Maria was a little afraid that she wouldn't be able to live up to that look, to the way Michael felt about her. But she would certainly try.

As she looked into his golden eyes, something strange happened. Slowly, Michael's face disappeared from her view and she was seeing something else. Someplace else. It was almost like the flashes she'd had, but different too. For one thing, this was much more detailed and slow. The flashes were so quick that they left behind mostly feelings and impressions, not specific details. For another, it seemed so real. She would have sworn that she was actually there.

Maria was standing on a cliff, looking up at stars and moons above. She could sense Michael behind her, but didn't turn around to look. There was no reason. She knew he was there, that he would always be there with her. She didn't need to prove it to herself. The certainty was deep-seated in her bones. Where she was, Michael was, and vice versa. Looking down, Maria could see a small camp of buildings and tents a small distance from the cliff. She'd never seen it before, yet she knew the place. As she looked at it, she felt a sense of familiarity mixed with apprehension. It was home, but she didn't want to go back there yet. Instead, she turned and looked up at the stars. That was where she wanted to go. That was where freedom was.

And then the vision vanished as they heard a noise out in the hallway. Michael's eyes broke contact with hers, and he silently rolled off the bed and under it. Moving over quickly to the middle of the bed, Maria faked a yawn as her mother entered.

"Morning, Maria," Amy said with a smile. "Time to get ready for school."

"Okay, Mom," she said, willing her mother to leave. She wanted to talk with Michael about what she'd just seen. Had he really shown her where he'd lived on Antar as Tymrath? And if that was his home before going to the palace, then why the sense of dread about having to go back to it? What was it Tymrath had wanted so desperately to escape?

"Hurry up." Amy left, leaving the door open. Maria got out of bed and rushed over to close the door. When she turned back, the window was open and Michael was gone.

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He was waiting for her when she got to her locker. Looking at the expression on her face, he held up his hands in mock defense. "Hey, I was there when you woke up!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "And you didn't think that sneaking out of a window when my back was turned would be as bad?"

"Maybe you should write down the rules so that I can know what I am and what I'm not allowed to do," he suggested, leaning back against the wall as she opened her locker and got out her books.

"Or maybe you should try thinking things through a little more." She turned to him with a small smile. "You know she's going to catch you eventually if you keep sleeping over, right?"

"Let's put that off as long as possible, okay? I'm still formulating my newspaper defense strategies." Michael pulled her lose for a kiss. Aware of the people walking by, he stepped back before things progressed to the unbuttoning stage. There would be time to entice her into the eraser room later.

"So, spaceboy, what was that vision thingie I had this morning?" Maria was really curious about that.

He looked at her in surprise. "What vision thingie?"

She glanced at him closely. She didn't get the sense that he was evading the question - he honestly seemed confused. "Before Mom interrupted us this morning, I saw something. I saw Antar."

Michael's expression changed. For a second, Maria would have sworn that she saw straight terror on his face. He moved closer to her, lowering his voice to a whisper. "What are you talking about?"

She put down her books and took his hands. He was really scared, and she didn't get why. The vision had been pretty cool, actually. Why was it worrying him so much? "When you were staring at me this morning, I suddenly had a vision of Antar. We were both there, standing on a cliff. Down below us, there was a group of small buildings. It was night-time, and you were up there looking at the stars." She frowned. "You didn't want to go back down. What was up with that?"

Michael avoided the question. "Maybe you were still dreaming."

She shook her head slowly, watching him carefully, noting the evasion. "No, I was awake. It was like a flash, only more." She sighed in annoyance, wishing there were words to describe the way she felt when they were sharing things along the bond.

"A flash of Tymrath's life," Michael repeated flatly, lost in thought. Then he shook his head. "Don't worry about it, teel-sharan. Like you said, that was another person, in another lifetime. Let it go."

Before she could reply, Isabel and Max came up to them. "Hey, what's up?" Max said, his smile fading as he looked from Maria to Michael. He could tell that something was going on from the guarded look on Michael's face. He hadn't seen it much in the last few days, at least not while Michael was anywhere near Maria, but there it was again. Not a good sign.

"Nothing much, Maxwell. We're just waiting for Captain Parker to sign us in so that we can go to class."

"Because we all know how much you hate being late for class," Isabel said with a laugh. Suddenly, there was a ringing noise from her purse. She pulled out her cell phone. "Hello?" she asked a bit impatiently. Then, rolling her eyes in annoyance, she turned off the phone and put it back in her purse.

"Another crank call?" Max asked, bending down to pick up Maria's books and handing them to her.

"Yeah." Isabel turned to Michael and Maria and explained. "I've been getting these calls all morning. That's like the fourth one. There's somebody on the line - I can hear them breathing. But they don't say anything. And their caller ID is blocked, so I don't know who it is. It's majorly annoying."

"Well, here she comes." Michael pointed down the hall as Liz approached.

"Good morning!" Liz said in a chipper voice. Looking around, she pulled out her notebook and marked down those who were here already. "I guess we'll have to wait for Kyle, Tess, and Alex."

"So, is it like heavy breathing or what?" Maria asked Isabel.

"What breathing?" Liz wanted to know.

As the others started a conversation on the prank calls Isabel was receiving, Michael leaned back a bit and let his thoughts wander. Staring at Maria, he tried to figure out what was gong on. He knew she hadn't been dreaming - that was just wishful thinking. She'd had a real flash. And without them kissing. He'd woken up to see her looking at him with so much love and trust - more than he ever deserved, and he just couldn't look away from her. It was so amazing that she was there with him. His feelings for her seemed to be just getting stronger since their bonding. And apparently, he had no defenses left at all where she was concerned. Before, he'd been able to control the flashes to an extent, keeping them mostly to his life on Earth and a few selected ones of Antar. But he hadn't meant to give her a flash then. And he certainly hadn't ever meant to show her the camp where he'd lived before going to the palace. This lack of control could be a problem. If Maria could just see into him like that, how long would it be before she knew everything about Tymrath's life?

He saw her glance back at him, and tried to squash down his panic and smile at her. From the look on her face, she obviously wasn't fooled. Figures. He could fool everyone and anyone else, but not Maria.

Luckily, she was distracted as the last three members of their little group arrived. Alex moved over to kiss Isabel right away, taking her books to carry for her.

"So, what did you learn about Hanson?" Max asked Tess and Kyle. The two exchanged looks, then Kyle answered.

"Nothing yet. When we got there yesterday, he was there at his desk. We watched for a while............"

"Nobody saw us," Tess interrupted before Michael had a chance to ask. "I made sure of that."

"But he never left his desk. Just did some paperwork all day." Kyle shrugged. "We couldn't exactly go through his stuff with him sitting right there."

"Couldn't you have mindwarped him or something?" Alex asked.

"I would have had to mindwarp everyone there," Tess said with a frown. "Including the sheriff. And I'm not going to mindwarp him."

"Daddy's girl," Kyle muttered, earning himself a push by Tess. Catching himself before falling, he smiled at the girl. Tess just stuck her tongue out at him in response, before turning back to the others.

"We talked with the sheriff later. He's going to make sure that Hanson's out of the office this afternoon and that the coast is clear for us to go through his things."

"We'll report back as soon as we find out what's up," Kyle added, moving closer to Tess, while carefully watching for any signs that she was going to push him again.

"Why doesn't he just check up on Hanson himself?" Maria wanted to know.

Kyle shrugged. "He's the sheriff. If Hanson really is into something he doesn't want anyone to know about, then he's going to be especially careful about him. Not to mention the fact that the other deputies pay attention to what the sheriff does. But nobody notices a couple of kids. He could do it, but this way might be more subtle.

"And if we don't find anything, then he can step in," Tess added.

"Maybe there won't be anything to find," Isabel suggested hopefully, not really believe it herself.

"There's something," Michael said flatly. "Valenti needs to do better background checks on his deputies."

An uneasy silence reigned for a minute as they thought about what happened to Valenti's last deputy. Finally, Liz broke the silence. "All right then." She looked from her notebook to the clock on the wall. "Time to get to class. See you at lunch - on time." She gave pointed looks to Maria, Michael, Alex, and Isabel.

"We'll be there, Mom. We promise." Alex gave her a big grin, then took Isabel aside, whispering to her as they walked down the hallway.

As everyone left, Maria grabbed Michael's hand and pulled him back. Wrapping her hands in his hair, she pulled his head down for a quick, intense kiss. When she pulled back, she looked him directly in the eyes. "Don't think we're done with that discussion, spaceboy. We'll talk more later."

He just nodded as they walked down the hallway together. Some things couldn't be avoided forever. That didn't mean he wasn't going to try to put it off as long as he could, though.

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Kyle and Tess sat in his car outside the sheriff's station. Bored, she turned to Kyle. "So, we never did discuss the whole Brad thing yesterday."

He looked at her in surprise. "What's there to talk about?"

"Well, how you feel about it, Buddha Boy. You were pretty quiet through the whole thing."

"What was there to say?" He looked back at the front door of the station. "Brad and I were friends once. Like a million years ago. I can't believe that I was ever as big of a jerk as he is. Hopefully, I'm not as bad anymore." He gave a sly look at her.

"Not quite," she agreed seriously.

"Thanks." He gestured forward as Hanson left the building and drove away. "Looks like Dad was able to get rid of him," Kyle muttered.

Tess took a deep breath. "Showtime," she said, getting out of the car and walking inside with him.

They walked in, easily getting past the deputy at the front desk with the excuse of needing to see the sheriff about some family matters. When they reached the central area where the deputies had their desks, the only people they saw were Valenti and Deputy Owens.

Valenti looked up from the papers the two of them were looking at. "What's going on, kids?"

"Tomorrow's the last day to sign up for the trip to LA," Kyle said, calmly starting the routine they'd planned the previous night.

Valenti's sigh of annoyance was totally convincing. "We've been through this, Kyle. There's no way I'm letting the two of you go off on a co-ed trip to Los Angeles." He turned to his deputy. "Would you let two teenagers go off on a trip like that?"

"I'm sure that Deputy Owens know that we're responsible for our age and can be trusted, right, deputy?" Tess had her most innocent look on her face.

Laughing, Owens shook his head. "I'm not getting in the middle of a family dispute, Jim."

"I wish I had the same luxury," he said wryly.

"Dad, just give us one more chance to change your mind, okay?" Kyle tried to put on a look of innocence, too, but was pretty sure that he couldn't pull it off as well as Tess did.

Valenti shook his head. "Fine. You two wait out here. We just have some files to look over. Let's do it in my office," he gestured and followed the other man inside, closing the door behind him.

The instant the two were out of sight, Kyle and Tess made a bee-line for Hanson's desk. Kyle started rifling through the files on his desk. "Keep watch. If anyone comes in, do something."

"Something?"

"Yeah, mindwarp them or use your death-ray eyes or something." Kyle gave her a big grin at that last. She hit him lightly on the shoulder and muttered something about who she would use her death-ray eyes on if she had the chance, but she did go closer to the door to watch for any unwanted visitors.

Kyle didn't find anything interesting in the pile on Hanson's desk. Then he opened the desk drawer and pulled out some file folders. What he saw made his heartbeat speed up even more than it had already been. If they'd needed any more evidence that something was up with the deputy, they definitely had it.

"Oh, no," he whispered. Then, voice a little louder, he called to his accomplice. "Tess. Come look at this."

She walked back over and looked at the files, her eyes growing larger. It was an interesting set of files Hanson had been reviewing. "Hubble's death." She put it aside and looked at the next one. "Hank Guerin's disappearance. The incident at the Crashdown two years ago. The discovery of the strange body in the desert six months ago. Laurie Dupree's kidnapping. The supposed alien sighting in Frasier Woods." She looked over at Kyle, trying very hard to control her panic. "These are all incidents involving us. There's no way this is just a coincidence, Kyle."

Kyle nodded in agreement, picking up the file about Hank Guerin's disappearance. "Reports of gunshots and sounds of someone screaming in pain. But this was a false alarm. He just moved to Las Cruces." His voice trailed off as he saw some handwritten notes Hanson had made. Closing the file quickly, he grabbed the files and put them back in the drawer. He grabbed Tess away from Hanson's desk and was dragging the protesting girl out of the room when Valenti's door opened and Deputy Owens emerged. Thinking quickly, Kyle grabbed her and pulled her into a kiss. He could hear Owens's soft laugh and his father's exasperated sigh.

"And that's the reason I'm not letting the two of you go off to LA on your own. You're staying where I can keep an eye on you. Get going, you two. You're not going to change my mind."

"Okay." Tess pulled a slightly dazed Kyle out the door and from the station. She got behind the wheel of the car and then turned to him.

"Okay, what did you see in that file?" She could tell it was something bad from Kyle's face.

Shaking his head, he answered slowly. "I don't know. Maybe nothing. But ....... we're sure that Michael didn't do anything to Hank, right? Not even in self-defense?" He looked at her for reassurance.

She nodded. "I wasn't in town at the time, but from what I've been told, yeah. Michael had nothing to do with it. Hank just left town."

"Okay. Just checking." Kyle's voice grew firmer. "Not that I really care." No, whatever had happened to Hank Guerin wouldn't bother Kyle at all. He realized with a small sense of surprise that his feelings about his family didn't apply only to his father and Tess anymore. Somewhere along the line, the whole group had come to be important to him. Which would explain the fury he felt at the thought of what Hank had done to Michael.

He turned back to Tess. "Let's go. I'll tell you what was in the file when we find Michael. And Maria, since I'm sure that wherever he is, she is too." That got a small chuckle out of Tess as she started the car and drove off.

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Michael was, in fact, with Maria. Actually, he was with Maria, Alex, and three other guys from school whose names he hadn't bothered to learn. They weren't why he was perched on a bench in Alex's garage. Maria was. The Whits were having a rehearsal, and Michael had decided to tag along to listen to her. He'd been telling the truth in Vegas - he did love to hear her sing. In the past, though, he'd just lurked about out of sight, listening. This time he was front and center, listening to every note, supporting her (and glaring every single time one of the other three got too near her - Alex was family, so he was allowed).

"And that's a wrap," Alex said, putting down his guitar carefully. "What did you think?" he cheerfully asked their audience of one.

"It sounded good," he said shortly, noticing that one of the unnamed guys was going for the last bottle of water. Quickly, he got up and grabbed the bottle before the other boy could, handing it to Maria. She'd been the one singing, after all. She needed the water more than he did. Ignoring Alex's amused look and the sputtering of whatever-his-name-was, Michael leaned closer to Maria. "You sounded amazing," he whispered, resisting the urge to kiss her as she looked up at him. He was trying hard to get over the tendency toward public displays of affection. Actually, affection wasn't the problem - public undressing was. But since the most innocent of kisses seemed to lead to the unbuttoning of tops in record time, he was trying to be good. It's not working too well, though, he thought as he breathed in her fragrance. He wondered if Alex would mind the two of them having some private time in his garage. Probably.

A car pulled up in the driveway, and Kyle and Tess got out. Alex could see that they had something to discuss. "Well, let's call it a day, guys. See you all Thursday, okay? Same time." He ushered them out as he said good-bye, then returned to the four in the garage. Hitting a button, he closed the automatic door and then pulled out a few lawnchairs for them to sit on. "Okay, let's start this impromptu meeting of the I-Know-An-Alien-Club." He frowned. "You know, we need to find a way to shorten the name. Maybe Ikaac?"

"Ikaac? That sounds awful." Maria made a face.

"What is it?" Michael asked quietly, looking intently at Kyle and Tess.

Kyle sighed, and motioned to Tess to start. "Well, we found out which cases Hanson's been studying in his spare time. They're all alien-related. More specifically, they're all related to us."

Kyle took up the story. "He's been looking into the incident where Liz was shot at the Crashdown. Of course, the official story is just that some guys shot a gun into the air, scaring her, but....."

"But you don't think Hanson buys that." Michael's voice was still very quiet.

Kyle shook his head. "Nope. Not when you take into consideration that he's also looking into Hubble's death...."

"Max and I were there. Your father killed him to save us."

"I know. And then there's Laurie's kidnapping. Heavy alien stuff there. Not to mention the fact that my dad doesn't come off too well in that story."

"Hey, at least he got his job back," Alex interrupted.

"Which was great of Agent Duff, and has seriously cut down on the amount of sawdust in the house, but there are still people in town who have their doubts about what he was doing with Max and Isabel. They don't say it, but their whispers are very loud." Kyle forced himself back on-topic. "And he's looking at the notes of Pierce's death and Michael's arrest for it. Of course, he doesn't know it was Pierce, but still. The incident at Frasier Woods when Nasedo contacted you all. And Hank's disappearance." He looked at Michael but couldn't see any reaction. Michael was very still and quiet.

"Every one of them is about you guys," Maria whispered. "And they all happened over a period of two years, so if he was just going through the records in the order they happened, those wouldn't be ones he'd look at at the same time."

"He was specifically looking for stuff about us." The lack of expression in Michael's voice was starting to worry Maria.

"So, he's what? An alien hunter? FBI? A Skin? What?" Alex asked. "An evil guidance counselor?" They all turned to look at him. "Sorry. That left an impression. Whatever he is, he definitely knows more than he should about what's going on."

"There has to be a way to find out," Maria suggested. "But whatever, we have to assume he's a threat. Which is just great, 'cause it's not like we didn't have enough of them before." She rubbed her forehead. This was starting to give her a headache. "Soon I'm going to be as paranoid as you are, spaceboy."

Michael didn't respond. His attention had returned to Kyle. "What else is there about Hank?" he asked calmly. Kyle jumped a little. "It's okay. I can handle it."

"Okay." Kyle nodded. "Well, it's nothing really. Just that Hanson apparently tried to track Hank down in order to question him about what really happened. Only he couldn't find him. Seems that Hank never made it to Las Cruces. In fact, every attempt he made to find him met with a dead end. Hank Guerin just vanished off the face of the Earth."

Michael nodded, looking almost as if he'd been expecting this.

"Okay, what does that mean exactly?" Maria said in confusion.

Michael looked down at her. "Maybe something. Maybe nothing. It could just mean that Hank's off somewhere drunk and out of communication with the rest of the world." He looked over at Kyle. "Did his notes indicate how hard he'd looked for Hank?"

"It seemed that he'd tried pretty hard to find him."

"Still......." Michael shook his head. "Or something happened to Hank."

"Something like, he's dead something?" Alex asked quietly.

"Yeah, well, that was always a possibility, right? It's not like I ever expected to be in contact with him or anything. Or wanted to be."

"Michael," Maria said gently. She couldn't quite figure out what she was sensing through their bond. Michael didn't seem angry exactly. More like shocked. She doubted that he wanted to think much about Hank one way or another. Hank was a part of the past that Michael was more than happy to move beyond. And now here it was, smacking them in the face. It wasn't fair.

"For the sake of argument, what would Hank have to tell an alien hunter if they managed to find and question him?" Tess asked carefully.

She wasn't expecting Michael's cold laugh. "Nothing much. Just that I'm a freak. Oh, and that I can move things around with my powers. Nothing that would interest an alien hunter at all." He moved quickly to avoid the hand Maria was reaching out in his direction. "No, Maria. I'm okay. Really. I just need some time to think, okay?" Dropping a quick kiss on her forehead, he turned to leave, then paused and looked back at her, clearly torn between getting some private time to think and not wanting to leave her alone.

"Don't worry. I'll drive her home," Alex offered. Michael gave him a grateful look, then left through the side door.

"Damn!" Maria turned and slapped the wall. She turned back to the others. "The last thing Michael needs is to have Hank come back into his life, bringing up all sorts of things that are better off left in the past."

"Do you think they really are ever left in the past?" Alex asked quietly.

"It might not come to that anyway," Tess offered. "For all we know, Hank is dead. Then there's really not much chance of him showing up in Roswell again."

"Of course, if he is dead, then there's the question of how he died."

Maria looked over at Kyle. "Does it really matter? I'm not going to cry for him, believe me."

"None of us will be," Alex said, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. "How about we go inside and get something to eat?"

"Actually, we'd better go tell Max what we found out," Tess said as they opened the garage door to leave. "I'm sure he's going to want to start thinking about how to deal with Hanson right away."

"See you tomorrow, then." Alex navigated Maria into the house as they left. Maria definitely needed some destressing before going home.

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"How about some ice cream?" Alex asked as he opened the refrigerator.

"With hot fudge?" Maria piped up from her seat. "I've been having this craving for a hot fudge sundae all day."

"No problemo. Here at Chez Alex we live to serve." With a flourish, he placed two bowls of ice cream on the table in front of her, quickly adding a bottle of chocolate syrup. "Will that do?"

"Yep." She looked over his shoulder. "You don't happen to have any tabasco sauce, do you?"

"Tabasco sauce? You want tabasco sauce?" he asked in a tone of horror.

She laughed at him. "No, not really. It was just a thought." She couldn't believe she'd even had a passing thought of putting tabasco sauce on her ice cream. Maybe this bond with Michael had some drawbacks after all, if it meant she was going to start eating weird alien food.

They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes before Maria decided to return to the conversation. "It just seems like it's one thing or another, you know? Like their pasts keep coming back to haunt them. If it's not their alien pasts, then it's their Earth ones. Like Hank. Aren't they allowed a break?"

"I know." Alex paused. "It's hard to watch them suffering, isn't it? I hate seeing the way Isabel flinches when Kivar's mentioned."

"Exactly. And Michael's come so far, but deep down, there's a part of him that's still the same little boy Hank told was worthless trash."

"Not to mention the stuff from Tymrath's life." Alex continued carefully. "Does he talk about that much?"

"Some of it, yeah. But not too much. I don't think he wants to talk about it with me. Or anyone for that matter. I get the definite feeling that there are things that happened back then, things he did, that he doesn't want to talk about."

"What Michael did before was kill people. So, no, I wouldn't imagine that would be something he'd want to talk about with you." There was an odd, almost cynical note in Alex's voice as he said that, something that made Maria look up quickly. But he wasn't looking at her, instead staring intently at the bowl in front of him.

"Yeah, Tymrath killed. In battle, to protect Zandar and Vilandra. Anyway, that's not really important now, is it? Since Michael's not responsible for Tymrath's actions." Alex still wasn't looking at her, and she was starting to get a strange feeling of nervousness. Which was ridiculous. This was Alex - what was there to be nervous about?

Alex toyed with his spoon. "Does Michael ever have nightmares?"

"Nightmares?" Maria thought for a minute. "I think he used to, yeah. That's what Isabel said anyway. But not lately. He's been resting pretty peacefully the last few nights."

"Has he?" Alex raised his head, but didn't look at her. Instead, he looked to the side, eyes unfocused as if he was thinking about something else. "Does he ever dream about killing Isabel?"

"Okay, that's enough." Dropping her spoon, she grabbed his head and forced him to look in her direction. "We're having some pronoun problems here, buddy boy. What's going on?"

"What are you talking about?" He tried to pull away, but she didn't let him. In a battle of sheer stubborness, nobody beat a DeLuca.

"I thought you and I were the co-founders of the Past Life Rejection Society. You know, the whole "Michael and Isabel", not "Tymrath and Vilandra" club. So, Michael didn't kill Isabel. You know as well as I do that he would never hurt her. And since when did you start to refer to Michael and Tymrath as the same person?"

Alex stared at her for a few seconds, and she could see the gradual change in his eyes as they focused on her. She breathed a sigh of relief. There's been something very creepy about the way he'd looked, as if he didn't really see her. He blinked a few times. "You're right." He sounded confused. "Michael's not Tymrath, and I know that. I know he's not responsible for what happened back there. Sorry. Poor choice of words. I'm not sure why I put it that way. I just wondered if that was one of the things haunting him, like you said."

Maria put her hands down. Okay then. "Not that I know of. But I know he hates those memories. Just like Isabel hates the memories of how Vilandra betrayed them to Kivar."

"Right." Alex gathered up their dishes and took them to the sink. "Well, let me just wash these up and then I'll get you home." He looked over at her and smiled. That was the Alex she knew. "I have a study date with Princess Isabel tonight, and I'd hate to be late."

"Coward," she said with a laugh.

"I prefer to think of it as being wise."

Maria laughed again, dismissing the weird vibes she'd been getting. Apparently, they were all under stress from the events of the last few weeks.

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Michael walked about aimlessly until he found himself standing in the playground a few blocks from the Crashdown. He stood there on the side, watching the kids playing on the swing-sets and jungle gyms. Hank had never taken him to the playground himself when he was a kid, of course. He used to come here, though, and watch the other children with their parents. He remembered how the Evanses would bring Max and Isabel here. From the flashes he'd received from Maria, he knew that her mother would bring her here on the weekends, and that Maria especially liked to be pushed in the swings, as high as she could go. It made her feel like she was flying.

Leaning back against a tree, Michael noticed the parents who were there with their children. He tried to imagine himself and Maria bringing their children to the playground. It was easy to imagine Maria with a little girl. She would make a wonderful mother - she had so much love to give. What he wondered about was what type of father he would make.

It was strange, the combination of feelings he got everytime he thought of having a child with Maria. The strongest feeling was a sense of completion, of how right it would be. They were meant to have a family together. But under that, there was that little nagging voice that wondered if Michael would screw it up, if he would follow in the footsteps of his parental figures. Hank wasn't exactly a good role model for fatherhood, and he hadn't had any better in his past life. Michael frowned. He wished he could remember Tymrath's parents, but they had died when he was so young. He wondered if they had loved him, if they had been proud of him.

Michael shook his head. Stupid, pointless questions and thoughts. Thinking about Hank for too long never did him any good. Looking at the darkening sky, he realized that he'd been standing here in the playground for too long already. Turning away, he went back home, trying to shake off the thoughts of his past and focus on the possibilities of his future.

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Michael entered his apartment, not bothering to put on the lights. As soon as he entered, he felt her. Looking around quickly, he spotted Maria asleep on the couch. Walking over with a small smile on his face, he crouched down on the floor next to her, looking at his sleeping teela-mei.

How could her father leave her? he wondered to himself. How could anyone leave her? He reached out and gently touched her hair, so softly that she didn't wake. He couldn't imagine ever leaving her again. He wouldn't have the strength to walk away from her now, even if he knew he should. For better or worse, she was stuck with him. He just hoped that she knew what she was getting into. At least he knew she loved him, even if he had no idea what the future would bring. And he would do everything within his power to keep her safe and be the type of man she deserved.

Maria shifted in her sleep, her shirt riding up a bit as she moved, showing some of her bare stomach. Following an impulse he didn't really understand, Michael leaned over and gently kissed her stomach. Feeling hands in his hair, he looked up to see Maria smiling down at him sleepily.

"Hey," she murmured.

"Hey." He leaned over her a bit, arms on each side of her reclining body. "What are you doing here? I thought Alex was going to take you home."

"Yeah, well, I asked him to bring me here instead. I wanted to talk with you." Her hands played in his hair, twirling strands around her fingers. She was really starting to like waking up to his face.

"How'd you get in?" He refused to be distracted by her touch - not yet. He could see from the twinkle in her eyes that she was going to take this as a challenge.

"I broke in." One hand left his hair and grabbed the front of his t-shirt, pulling him down close to her so that their lips almost touched. "There are some benefits to the activities of the last two years." Instead of kissing him, she pushed him back. If he wanted her, let him make the first move.

He almost laughed at her teasing. She wanted to see which of them had more control? He was surprised that he'd lasted this long without pouncing on her. But then he remembered something. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a key and tossed it to her. "Here. So you don't have to break in again."

She looked down at it. "You had a key made for me?"

He gave a small shrug. "Well, I wouldn't want you getting arrested for breaking and entering."

"Understandable," she said with a solemn nod. "After all, if I'm in jail, then who would bail you and Max out the next time you're in trouble?"

"Hey!" he protested. "I'm a reformed, law-abiding individual."

She laughed. "Yeah, you're the poster boy for law and order." Sitting up, she gestured to the couch. "Come up here." He shook his head with a smirk. He was perfectly fine on the floor looking up at her. She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever." Her expressions changed to one of concern. "Are you okay, spaceboy?" She pressed a hand against his cheek, noticing the way he closed his eyes and leaned into it for a second, as if taking strength from her touch. Then he looked at her again.

"Yeah. I just needed to think." He rocked back on his heels, trying to think how to put it in words. "I just figured that Hank was a part of my past that I wasn't really going to have to deal with again. At least not in the way of him showing up in town, you know?" She nodded silently, letting him talk. "But now I find out that some alien hunting freak is trying to find him. And if Hanson finds him, then there's a really good chance that I'm going to be walking around someday, and bam! There's Hank." Maria could feel a slight tremor of fear through the bond. "I don't have any idea what I'd do if that happens, Maria. I mean, how do I deal with that? Or maybe he's dead, and then I really don't have to worry about him anymore. But there's no way to know."

Maria leaned over and pulled him up by the shoulders. "Come here," she repeated in a firmer voice. Obediently, he let her pull him onto the couch next to her. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. "Those are pretty much the two options we came up with, too. But you know that whatever does happen, you're not along anymore, Michael." She kissed the top of his head. "You're never going to be alone again. We've all got your back." Her arms tightened around him. "I've got your back. I'll protect you as much as I can."

He made a sound that was somewhere between a sob and a laugh. "I thought that was my job."

"You can protect everyone else, and I'll protect you. Deal?"

"Deal." He pulled back a little, then moved her so that she was sitting on his lap. "But what I really came up with during my walk is that I can't change the past. Either of them. But I'm going to try and not let it affect out future too much." He gave her the gentlest of kisses, barely touching her lips. "I promise." The next kiss was slower and longer as he tasted every inch of her lips. Well, he'd lasted five minutes without touching her. Not bad, considering.

Before things progressed too far, Maria put her hand on his chest and pushed him back. "Shouldn't we talk?"

"Don't wanna," he murmured, pushing up her shirt as he kissed her neck.

Maria momentarily forgot what she was going to say, just enjoying the way her body tingled as his hands traveled up her body. She held up her arms so that he could slip the shirt over her head, just in time for him to push aside her bra straps as he kissed his way down her shoulder. But then she remembered.

"I had one more thing to say. Stop, Michael." In another minute she wouldn't be able to remember her own name, much less what she wanted to tell him. She could already feel herself starting to drift off into the Michael-and-Maria zone, wherever it was that they went when they were joining.

"Fine. What? But make it quick." She giggled a little at the disgruntled tone of his voice. You'd think it had been two years since they'd been together, not two days.

"I think you should talk with Alex. Something's up with him."

"What are you talking about?" He was having a hard time concentrating on the actual words she was saying, rather than just staring at her lips, but he thought she'd said something was wrong with Alex. Which was impossible, of course.

"Talk with Alex. I think the stress of everything is getting to him. I was just getting a weird vibe from him today. He was moody or something. Very un-Alex-y."

"Alex is fine. He's Alex." Michael was starting to focus on what she was saying, but it wasn't making sense. Alex was the one person Michael wouldn't expect the stress to get to. He was the foundation the rest of them relied on. If Alex started to crack, then they were all in trouble.

"Just talk to him, okay?"

"When did I become Mr. Sensitive?" he asked grumpily.

"Never. But I thought maybe the two of you had done some male bonding or something when you were off sneaking around Dagmar's house."

"We weren't sneaking," he protested indignantly.

"Oh? I must have gotten you two confused with the other two people who went off without telling anyone they were going to break into someone's house."

He smirked at her. "You're about to lecture me on breaking and entering?"

"You've been a bad influence on me, spaceboy. You ought to be ashamed of yourself." She was smiling at him, and he couldn't help smiling back.

"I am. Very."

"Ashamed enough to take me to see 'A Beautiful Mind'?" she asked hopefully?

He groaned and pinned her down on the couch. "I promise to talk with Alex first chance I get. Don't push your luck."

"But........" Whatever else she was going to say was forgotten as he kissed her hungrily. It had been much too long since he'd been able to touch her like this. He could feel Maria taking off his shirt and starting to unbutton his pants, but he was more focused on touching every part of her that he could reach.

As she ran her hands down his back, Maria let go of all her worries about the past and present and just surrendered to the sensations of Michael loving her and her loving him.

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Isabel grabbed her books and was heading down the hall to the front door when she heard the phone ring. "I've got it!" she called as she picked up the receiver. "Hello?"

Nobody answered. She could hear the person breathing on the other end, but they didn't say anything. She started to get a prickling along her spine, as if someone was watching her. She glanced out the nearby window, but didn't see anyone. Regardless, she moved away from the window. "Listen, I don't know who you are, but stop calling me!" she hissed as she slammed the phone back into its cradle.

"Was that another one of those prank calls? They've been happening all day?" Her mother had come out of the kitchen and was looking at her with concern. "Honey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a little creepy." She forced a smile. "Guess I've seen too many teen horror movies." She gave a small jump as the phone rang again. Before her mother could get it, Isabel grabbed the phone and screamed into the receiver. "I told you to stop calling!"

"Uh, okay. Would you prefer smoke signals?" came the sincerely inquiring voice on the line.

Isabel let out a breath and relaxed. "Alex. Sorry - we're still getting those prank phone calls. It's starting to bother me. A lot." With a smile, her mother headed back into the kitchen.

"Uh oh. I almost feel sorry for the guy making the calls if you find him."

She smiled. "Don't waste your sympathies. Anyway, I was just about to come on over."

"Actually, that's what I was calling about. I'm not feeling too great. Would it be okay if we put off the studying until tomorrow? The test's not until Friday."

"Do you want me to come over and take care of you?" She didn't care what they did. She just wanted some time with Alex. She'd been looking forward to it all day long. It was the only calming thought that kept her from frying the phone after the fifth crank call.

"Nah, I just need some rest. I'm going to go to bed early and get a good night's sleep. See you at school tomorrow, okay?"

"Oh. Yeah, okay." Isabel couldn't quite keep the disappointment out of her voice. "I hope you feel better."

"Good night, Iz."

"I love........." the dial tone interrupted her. Isabel stared at the phone. She hadn't even had a chance to tell him she loved him. Slowly, she put down the phone.

"So, what did Alex have to say?" Her mother peeked out of the kitchen.

"He postponed our study date until tomorrow. He's not feeling too well."

"Oh, that's too bad. Well, at least you'll be home for dinner then. I'm trying a new recipe." Out of the corner of her eye, Isabel saw Max, who had been walking down the hall towards them, turn upon hearing this and return to the safety of his room. It wasn't that their mother was a bad cook. It was just that she sometimes got creative with her cooking, and then all other members of the Evans household ran and hid.

"That sounds great, Mom," she said with a bright smile. "But actually, I think I'm going to go over to Alex's after all. I want to see if there's anything I can do to make him feel better."

"All right, dear." Turning back, she went on. "I'll be sure to save you something to eat when you get back."

"Wonderful." Very quickly, she ran out the door and to the Jeep. Max was just going to have to come up with his own mode of escape from dinner.

The drive to Alex's house wasn't very long. Roswell was a small town, after all. The drive from anywhere to anywhere wasn't long. But the whole time she was driving, Isabel kept having the feeling she was being watched. She couldn't shake it, even though she didn't see anyone in the rear view mirror. Great. At what point did being careful stop and paranoia begin? Guess I could ask Michael about that, she thought with a slight smile.

Trying to push her nagging concerns from her mind, Isabel walked up to the Whitman house and rang the doorbell. Alex's father opened the door.

"Hello, Isabel. How are you doing?" he asked with a fond smile, which she returned. She liked Alex's father.

"I'm good. I just came by to check and see how Alex is." Her smile faded as she saw the look of confusion on his face.

"I'm sorry, Isabel. Alex isn't here. He just went out a few minutes ago." Mr. Whitman looked past her, almost as if he expected to see Alex standing behind her. "I just assumed he was going over to see you."

"Oh." Isabel faked a smile. "I guess we must have gotten our signals crossed. I'll go see if he's at my house." Apparently, her smile and laugh fooled him, because he wished her good-bye with a smile before closing the door.

Isabel managed to walk back to the car calmly and drive a few blocks before she pulled over, shaking. Where was he? Why tell me that he's sick and then go off somewhere?

And Alex knows better than to go wandering off alone without telling anyone where he is. Especially now, with Nicholas lurking about somewhere.

Isabel took out her cell phone and turned it on so that she could call the others and see if they knew where Alex was. But she already knew that the answer would be no. And she couldn't stop the knot in her stomach from growing bigger and bigger. She just knew that something was wrong.

What was going on?

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