Title: Strangers in the Darkness
Author: arimi
Rating: R
Category: CC/AU
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, not even the idea
Note: From Val’s challenge due to the recent mass black outs in the North East. This not one of my favorite stories.  I can seriously say that I could have done better. 

6:57 PM

“Goodnight Maria.”

Maria looked up from her work to see Alex’s head peaking from behind her door. She gave him a big smile as she reached up behind her head for a long stretch. “What time is it?” she asked as she looked at her computer monitor, which had a picture of a black Labrador retriever as a screen saver. She quickly moved her mouse to stop the screen saver, but Alex answered her before the screen saver stopped.

“It’s almost 7:00.”

“Oh… didn’t know it was that late.” Maria waved him in as she leaned back on her chair.

“Yup. You’re working on the Hardy vs. Valenti case?” He pointed at the pile of files on her desk when he entered her office. He started to walk around her room and pick up a few picture frames and examined them. He’d seen them a thousand times, but he always liked to look at them. The pictures never changed, but Alex never mind looking at them, it was something he did out of habit. He finally settled down in the chair in front of her desk, and then automatically picked up the picture frame on her desk. “This is new,” Alex commented as he examined the picture of a guy holding a black dog at bay as the dog was licking him. Alex frowned when he looked up and saw Maria’s saddened face. “He was a sweet dog. He’s lived a long happy life.”

Maria took back the picture frame and took a quick look before she placed it back in its rightful place on her desk. “Yeah he was. We miss him still. It’s been over six months, you know? I suggested we get another dog, but he isn’t ready yet… Gosh, I want to kill these two!” Maria rubbed her face with the palms of her hand and changed the subject to something she was more comfortable talking about, work. “Why can’t they act like adults and stop using their child to get back at each other? I know Tess is my client, but she so infuriating at times.” Sometimes she really hated Family Law, especially in the cases where the children were used as pawns. Jordan, the little girl in the middle of a nasty custody battle, was the sweetest thing. She had golden hair, like her mothers, but her personality was all her dad. Maria’s compassion went out to the young girl; she was never going to be happy with parents who only wanted her as a weapon in their fights. Maria gently smiled when she felt comforting hands patting hers in encouragement.

“I know… I know. You don’t have to tell me,” babbled Maria as she retracted her hand and got up from her seat. She started to walk around the room as she smoothed her hair behind her ears. “I know I promise not to get emotionally involved, but it's really hard when you see those beautiful blue eyes look at you. You just want to make everything perfect for her…” Maria looked at Alex for some sense of sympathy, but he gave her none. “Why are you smiling?” Maria asked in an irritated tone when she saw Alex’s expression.

Alex got up to join her on the couch where she had just flopped down on. “I just think it’s your maternal instinct kicking in. Why do you think you always take these cases?”

“Now don’t you start with me too. What has he been saying to you?”

“Well-”

“Don’t say his name! I don’t want to hear it,” Maria interrupted Alex. She got up and started to walk around and straightened up her office, something she did when she got edgy.

“Well, as I was saying. Nothing. All we do is play poker and a little golf. It’s you!”

“What do you mean?” Maria started to clean up her desk, but stopped since she wasn't finished reading all the files yet.

“M… need I remind you that we all have known each other for a very long time. And whom did you run to when you had ‘Maria Issues’ about him? Me! What I’m saying is that I know you better than he does. And at times better than yourself.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go as far as knowing me better than him.” Maria smiled and winked at Alex before taking her water bottle and drowning her thirst. “So what does this have anything to do with my maternal instinct?”

“You’re acting like Iz did when we first decided to have a child. She didn’t want to give up her career for a family because she’d worked so hard to get where she was. But it think it finally kicked in when she held Beth.”

“Well her career is very different from mine. It’s not as demanding. And how am I acting like Isabel, I don’t see it. I’m not a drama queen.”

Alex raised his eyebrow at her last comment. “Oh don’t let her hear you say that. She’ll have your head. But it was giving up a dream of hers, and that was what she was worried about. And I know you haven’t spoken to him, not the way you guys usually do. You’ve been cooping yourself in this office for days. Don’t think I haven’t noticed. Not to mention, getting worked up on a case that you see happening all the time. This is not the first time you’ve dealt with ignoramus parents who can’t see past their own selfishness and think of the child for once.”

Maria sat there listening to Alex as she looked at her nicely manicured nails. She had been avoiding him for weeks. But he said she could have time to think about it, and that’s all she’d been doing, thinking about it. She looked up at Alex, who found his way next to her, and gave him a smile. “So how are Max and Liz doing? I’m sure Beth is so big now.”

“Don’t go changing the subject,” Alex said jokingly at his friend. “Well, I would love to stay here and chat it up with you like old times, but I must go home to my beautiful wife and son. So I’ll see you in the morning.” Alex gave Maria a pat on the shoulders before he got up to leave. “Oh, tell that husband of yours that I’m going to win my money back,” Alex said lightheartedly as he closed the door behind him.

*

She sat flopped down on her chair and stared at the picture in front of her. Alex was right; she wasn’t ready to give up her career. Was he asking too much of her? He knew when he married her that she didn’t want children; she did, but not this soon. Children weren’t planned for another 3 or 4 years down the road. They only been married for almost three years and yet there were things about him that still surprised her, and she didn’t want any kind of surprises when she was hormonal or was changing diapers.

Maria picked up the phone and started to dial. She spoke as soon as the phone clicked, not letting the person on the other end even say hello. “I’m hungry. Meet me in the lobby in 15 minutes.” She hung up before her husband could say a word.

7:33 PM

“Hi.”

“Hi,” Maria answered flatly to the person who entered the elevator. She had her nose buried in her files. She was trying to catch up with some reading before she met up with her husband for dinner. Their one rule while eating dinner was to never bring work to the table, so this was the only time she had before she meet up with him.

Michael glanced at his elevator companion from the corners of his eyes. He always had a thing for blondes, and this one was looking damn hot. He wanted to talk to her, but she looked too busy with her nose buried in what she was reading, he really wanted to have some fun with her. Her blond hair was pulled back in a loose low bun with little tendrils falling down her cheeks. She wore black-rimmed glasses, but they didn’t hide her brilliant green eyes. His eyes went lower and checked out her nice long legs. She had a form-fitting shirt on that showed off her figure nicely. Her power blue shirt was buttoned down, a sign that she was ready to head home. At his height, he had the great advantage to see the nice contrast of the red lacy bra on top of milk white breast. He was in heaven. He’d never openly gawked at any woman before, but this was what sex dreams where made of, one of his personal fantasies.

“You couldn’t be more obvious if you tried,” Maria said casually as she flipped to the next page.

“Huh? What?”

“Let me state it in a way you can understand. Do you openly look down women's shirt in the elevator?”

Michael was speechless. He didn’t know that she knew he was looking at her. Usually he was pretty good at this sort of stuff. “I’m sorry,” he said shyly.

“You’re sorry because you got caught. Wait until my husband hears about the pervert I rode the elevator with.” Maria didn’t miss the raised in Michael’s eyebrow at the mentioning of her husband. “Oh yeah, he’s going to beat you into a pulp.”

“I guess he’s pretty strong to put up with the lights of you.” An evil grin spread across his face as he looked up and down at the petit blonde who looked at him in disgust.

“What is that supposed to mean jerk?”

“First I’m a pervert, now I’m a jerk. You know, I would love to meet this husband of yours and ask him what did you do to make him marry you.”

Maria’s eyes narrowed, looking upon the man in front of her as if he was prey. She came up close and picked up his badge and read it then threw it back against his chest, “Don’t worry Mr. Guerin, my husband would lovvvvve to meet you.”

“Good! Maybe I can persuade him and divorce you so I can have a shot at that nice ass.” Michael lips curled up at the look on her face. She didn’t know that was coming.

Maria looked up at him in disgust and gave her best annoyance expression. “Oh, is this how you pick up woman? Does this Neanderthal charm work for you, because it isn’t working over here?” Maria stated as she waved her hand around.

He quickly glanced down at the badge pin on the waist of her skirt and look up again. “I’m charming now, am I? Is this what they call foreplay Maria?” His laugh billowed in the small elevator when he saw the shocked look on her face, realizing that he knew her first name. Out of nowhere lights went out and the elevator started to plunge before it suddenly stopped. The sudden motion caused Maria to tumble forward towards Michael, which caused both of them to loose their balance and fall on the floor. “Hey, are you ok?” Michael asked in the darkness of the elevator.

“I’m fine.” She laid still on top of him, unable to move. The elevator was pitch black and Maria couldn’t make out where exactly everything was. It reminded her when she was younger, 8 or 9, when she was living in New Mexico. Her parents had taken her on a trip to explore the caves and caverns that were around Albuquerque and she got lost in one of the caves. Her flashlight had dropped and the bulb broke. It was so dark that she couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, so all she did was sit still until someone found her. Maria didn’t know how long it took for her mom and dad to find her, but it seemed like forever. It was a scary experience; she was never comfortable with the dark after that.

He could feel her body trembling above him. He wasn’t feeling all that great either. The sudden drop made his stomach feel quizzy. But her trembling scared him more. He was about to put a comforting hand on her back when he felt her body sigh in relief when the dim emergency lights flickered on. Michael saw Maria look down at him; their faces were mere inches from each other. His eyes took a look of concern as they looked at her, but soon disappeared when he took notice of her wetting her dry lips with the tip of her tongue.

Maria grinned evilly as she pushed herself up, off of Michael and the floor. Crouching down, she started to pick up her paper she had dropped when ‘it’ happened. “What happened?” Maria asked in full control of her nervous voice. “Do you think it’s going to drop again?” She was too nervous to continue to pick up the papers off the floor.

He hated girls like Maria, a tease, so unfair. “I don’t think so. I think they have safety mechanisms in place for that sort of things. I think that is why we stopped when we did. ” Michael got off the floor and started to brush the dirt off of him. He went over to the buttons and hit the call button for “emergency only”, but he didn’t hear anything.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like? I’m trying to figure out what happened, but it seems that nothing is working.” Michael punched the emergency call button once more, just in case, but nothing happened. He started to punch the other buttons, but nothing happened.

“Why don’t you try prying the doors open?” Maria rubbed her sweaty palms on her skirt as she tried to appear calm.

“Not going to do any good.” Michael looked around and surveyed his surrounding. He could hoist Maria on his shoulders to try to open the traps door.

“Why? Com’on Michael. Get us out of here.”

“I can’t because there won’t be a door, only a wall.” Michael scratched his eyebrow as he looked around the enclosed space. “We’ve already passed the 30th floor so there won’t be a door,” he explained before she could ask why again.

Maria looked up at Michael with a look of horror. She ran towards the elevator door and pounded on it with her palm. She started to hit it harder with her fist as she yelled for help.

“Maria, stop that. No one can hear you.” Michael reached out to take hold of her shoulders but she just flinched them away and continued her cries for help. SHIT! How could he be so careless? “Maria… Maria… look at me!” Michael grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. “Look at me. It’s going to be all right. Trust me.”

She looked up and their eyes met. Maria pushed away his hand and turned around and started to yell again.

“Maria!”

“Don’t you get it? We are going to die. If not from the elevator plummeting down to our deaths, then we are going to run out of air to breath… or… or… no one is going to find us. Everybody left. We are the last ones here. Oh My God. We’re going to die!” Maria rambled on in a crazy riddle.

All Michael could do was roll his eyes, but he needed to take up some action, her yelling was giving him a headache. Michael took a step closer and spun her around once more. He lowered his head as he kissed her hard on the lips, while pinning her against the elevator door. The kiss lingered for a long time, neither of them ready to stop. They finally broke away, their breath ragged. “That was to calm you down,” he said in a whisper.

She looked up to meet his eyes but slowly dropped her eyes to his lips. Her hands snaked their way to his neck and played with the bottom of his hairline. “Thanks… but I’m not calm yet.”

11:21 PM

It was the muffle sounds of shouting that woke them up. They both have dozed off with Maria still on top of Michael.

“Michael. Wake up,” Maria said in an urgent hush.

“Wha-”

“Listen, I heard voices.” They both laid there on the floor for a while and listened. The noise was coming above them in the elevator shaft.

“Maria. I think we better get dressed.”

Maria got off of Michael as soon as he sat up. They quickly found their clothes in the dimly lit space and put them on. Finishing dressing in the nick of time, they both looked up when they heard a hard thump on top of the elevator. Little specks of dust fell down as the access door opened and a bright light shined down upon them.

“Are you guys ok down there?” cried the voice above.

1:09 AM

They both waved bye to their rescuers as they approached their car. Michael went to the passenger side and opened the car door for Maria; she'd been through a lot today, so he was being nice. The car slowly backed out of the parking spot and journeyed down the darkened garage with only the headlights being the source of light. The car excited the garage to a city enveloped in darkness. From what their rescuers had said, the black out was widespread and the city might not be able to get power on anytime soon.

Usually the city was alive with lights and noise; tonight it laid there in an eerie silence that penetrated in the car. They drove in silence, both staring at the road ahead of them. Maria reached to turn on the radio, but Michael caught her hand before she could turn it on. He held her hand gently under his, their fingers intertwined. Michael was the first to break the silence, “Are you still hungry? We can stop-”

Maria turned her body around and clasped her free hand on top of his. “No, lets go home. I really doubt anything is still opened.”

1:31 AM

Maria went and turned on the lights. She hopped that the blackout was already over, but the lights did not work. Michael heard the light switch flicker a few times as locked the front door. He also wanted the light to be on, he needed to talk to her, to see her. As he turned around he felt soft lips touching his. The kiss exponentially increased in need as their hands touched each other’s body as if it was they haven’t seen each other in a long time. Michael turned them around and pinned Maria between him and the front door. He lifted her up to get better access to her delicate neck, their passion increased with each kiss. His hand caressed the side of her long legs, moving its way up as she wrapped them around his middle, minimizing the space between them.

Breaking away for some air, Maria looked into his golden brown eyes as she whispers, “Thank you…” Then without explanation their lips joined again, without missing a beat.

Pieces of clothing landed softly on the floor as Michael slowly made his way through the darkened hallway into the bedroom. He gently placed her on the neatly made bed and joined Maria. Michael rolled over so that he was on top and broke away from her tender lips. He looked intently into her eyes before he spoke, “What’s going on?”

She looked up at him as she licked her lips. She lifted her head to kiss him again, missing their presence on hers, but he pulled back. Michael looked at her intently, was still waiting for an answer. He wasn’t going to give in that easily. Defeated, Maria’s head hit the down pillow.

Michael rolled off of her and they both sat up, facing each other. Their eyes met and he repeated, “What’s going on?” His voice etched with concern and question.

Her hand reached out and caressed his cheekbone down to his jaw line. Her fingers tickled by the stubble that had grown through the day. Maria let her hand drop as she leaned into him, laying her head on his strong shoulders. Wrapping his arms around her, Michael pulled her in closer.

“I’m sorry for the way I’ve been acting. I’ve been going around all moody and pissed off and just avoiding you, and that is not what husband and wives do.” Maria paused for a moment. She was gathering her thoughts, trying to find the right words as Michael continued to stroke her bare back. “I’ve been shutting you out and that’s unfair.” She looked up to see him looking at her with understanding eyes. She felt so loved as his soulful eyes looked back at her. “You’ve been so understanding and patient.” Maria giggled when she felt him squeezing her. She’d known Michael for a very long time and the one thing the man was, that he was not patient and understanding, but he’d been a prince these last few weeks. “It took me a while to understand what I was upset about, actually who I was upset with, me. But I took it out on you. And I’m sorry I took it out on you.”

Michael looked at his wife and understood. She needed time to think and to go through all her demons before she could give him a definite answer. He loved her too much to push her into something she wasn’t ready for. He’d always wanted children and after Rex died the need and want for children was even greater. He gently kissed the crown of her head, asking her to continue.

Maria sat up and looked at him for a moment before she straggled his lap, so they could face each other. She took hold of his large masculine and gentle hands before she spoke again, “There are things that you can’t plan in life. It may not fit within the time span that I’ve imagined my life to be, but I came to realize that the best things in life are those not planned. I never planned to get married to you so soon. Nor did I plan to become Beth’s Godmother. But all those things happened and they are wonderful…” Maria looked up at him to see Michael look straight at her with piercing eyes.

“So you’re saying…”

“Let’s have a baby.”

“Really?”

“Ah-huh!” Maria smiled at the big grin on her husband’s face. “Don’t you think we’ll have beautiful babies? Just think about it!”

“You mean you want more than one?” Michael quirked his eyebrow at what she said.

“Well yeah! With my hair and my eyes, not to mention my brains…” Maria fell into a fit of laughter as Michael threw her down and attacked her.

THE END