His jeans were low on his hips, a worn black leather belt woven through the loops. The hot wind kicked up sand against the denim and sprinkled against the leather of his boots. A patterned long-sleeve shirt was tucked in and unbuttoned exposing a thin white T-shirt underneath.

He pursed his lips and tucked a few wild strands of hair behind his ear. He halfway smiled behind the dark sunglasses. Looking out over the horizon, he was waiting.

"What're you doing?" The voice from behind him made his shoulders sag. "Michael, what are you doing? You look like you're posing for a beer commercial."

"Just standing around Isabel, just standing around." Michael Guerin sighed and looked at his partner. "Did you want something?"

"Uh…Yeah," Isabel Evans clicked her tongue at him. "There's a skip trace that needs to be picked up downtown. Are you available or should I check with your secretary?" Her remarks were dry and dripped with sarcasm.

"Yeah I'm available, what's the story?" Michael took off his sunglasses and frowned.

"Bad checks."

"Bad checks," he repeated and laughed. "Wow. I don’t know if I can handle that or not. I mean, the guy might write on me and kill me. Whew. The drama."

"Oh God," she rolled her eyes. "You knew as well as I did when I started this-"

"We. When we started this."

"Oh yes, when we started this, with my money, that it wasn't going to be all glory and no bullshit. For every big bounty there's a hundred little dinky ones that pay the bills and your cut, Michael. Do we really have to go over this again?"

Michael shook his head. The last thing he wanted to do was go over it again. He was pretty sure the first thirty times had been enough. He took the file from her hand and wondered if he'd ever be able to get the big score. To track down the one person who could make him rich.

"Did we go to high school with this guy?" He asked Isabel who had taken to examining her nails. "Iz?"

"Uh…Yeah, I think so. Just take him in and get the body receipt, okay?" She rolled her eyes at him before walking back into the storefront office they rented.

"'Get the body receipt'," he mimicked when she was back inside the building. "Get the fucking body receipt. I swear if I hear that from her one more time…" Michael sighed looking out across the horizon as the sun melted into the land in a pool of hazy purple and yellow. When he had signed up to be a bounty hunter, a Fugitive Apprehension Agent, he corrected himself, he never thought how boring it was going to be waiting around and tracking down the crazy bad check writers of New Mexico.

"Are you going to go or what?" Isabel's voice came from the doorway.

Michael nodded and walked to his truck with the file tucked under his arm. When he started the engine the air conditioner blasted out at him and the radio blared something hard and loud making his chest vibrate, just the way he liked it.

Him and Isabel had gotten together a few years ago with the idea to open a business. Sure, he hadn't had much money, but he was smart and he came up with the original idea. It hadn't taken much to suck Isabel into his idea, her brother Max had deemed them both crazy, but Isabel saw something in Michael that few others rarely did. She saw passion.

Now Michael waited. He waited for the big score. The one bounty that would make him rich and put him on the map as a top-notch fugitive apprehension agent. He had no idea one was on the way right towards him. He had no idea that the bounty in question carried a lot of extra baggage.

* * *

She held a glass-bottled lemonade to her forehead letting the condensation run down her nose. It was hot. Too hot. Sweat trickled down in-between her breasts. Her denim shirt was buttoned once in the middle and tied at the bottom leaving her stomach bare between the shirt and the jeans that hugged her hips. The shirt was sleeveless, under hot duress, she's ripped the sleeves off a few days earlier. She adjusted her sunglasses and loosened the dark blue bandanna around her neck.

She shaded her eyes over the Nevada desert, the lights and sounds of Las Vegas at her back.

"I'll get you, just wait. You can't slip by me and not think that I'll track your ass down and haul it in," she laughed to herself. "After all, I'm Maria DeLuca and one of the best damn bounty hunters around."

She turned back towards the city and walked to her jeep. She thought she knew where the bounty was headed and she was going to follow her instincts. Name of the game; always stay one step ahead.

* * *

.Chapter Two

"I got the freakin' body receipt," Michael Guerin rolled his eyes behind dark glasses as he stepped into the office. He handed Isabel Evans a slip of paper and waited for her to read it. "Wow, do you think maybe I could go on another one of those really soon? I mean, he really put up a fight when I knocked on his door and told him he had to reschedule his court appearance. It was pretty intense there for a few minutes Iz, I mean, he made me wait while he found his glasses."

"Michael." Isabel looked at him through the tops of her eyes. "The need for sarcasm is…There is no need for sarcasm." She sighed and pointed to the chair across from her desk.

Michael sat down grudgingly. He hated it when Isabel tried to pull rank with him. They were partners, but sometimes she slipped into boss mode. In the beginning they had made a deal, Isabel would take care of the office and Michael would bring in the bad guys. When they built up some cash and got more work, they would hire another bounty hunter, so until then it was just Michael Guerin.

"I think we might have one, a big one, and she's headed this way. Maybe." Isabel's dark eyes were bright with excitement. "We've been hired to track down someone who's been on the run for almost a month. There's another bonding agent after her, but so far they haven't made much progress."

"Why us?" Michael asked suspiciously taking off his sunglasses. He dropped them on the desk purposely knowing it would get a reaction from Isabel.

"Damn it!" Isabel let out a deep breath. "This is Teakwood. You do not drop things on it!"

"Right, the antique Teakwood desk you just had to have," Michael felt his hackles raising and wondered if a famous financial debate was on.

"Michael I don't-" Isabel stood behind her desk and stopped herself in mid anger outburst. She sat back down and forced a smile. "Let's not argue about this right now, okay?"

He cocked his head to one side and pursed his lips before he nodded. "Shall we argue about it later?"

"Michael," Isabel tried to cover her agitation with sickly sweetness but knew she was failing. "We have something else to discuss first."

"Shoot." He propped his boots up on the corner of her desk and waited for her to knock them off like she normally did. When she didn't, Michael replaced his feet on the floor. "What's going on?"

"Do you just pretend to listen to me?" She sat back in her chair and picked up a folder. "Or wait, do you live to annoy me?"

"It has its perks, so what's up with the big score?"

"She skipped out of Montana protective custody. She was supposed to turn states evidence and in return she was going to get a lesser sentence. She bailed from under their noses."

"What'd she do?" His eyes became wide with the anticipation of finally being able to track down a hardened criminal.

"Embezzlement." Isabel raised her eyebrows at him as his excitement deflated. "So she's not a killer, she's still worth a boatload of cash if we can bring her in."

"An embezzler," he smiled and licked his lips. "I guess I'll have to worry about her stealing the change from my ashtray, huh?"

"She's a little wacko, too. Does that help?"

He sighed, "What else you got on her?"

"She worked for an huge accounting firm and apparently the firm itself was stealing millions from their clients. She skimmed while she was setting up bogus accounts and charges for the big bosses. She made off with close to half a mil. So the state needs her back because without her, no case against the big boys."

Michael whistled low. "You said there's already someone on her tail, right?"

"Oh yeah," Isabel bit her bottom lip. "A bounty hunter out of San Francisco."

"I thought you said this took place in Montana."

"It did. She left a paper trail that led them to California."

"Why here? Why from Montana to California to Roswell New Mexico?"

Isabel's eyes sparkled. "She has family here."

"What else?" Michael knew his partner's looks better than anyone; Isabel Evans was holding something back and she was excited about it. "Iz?"

"Think back to high school."

Michael sighed, high school had been over for almost six years, he didn't want to think about high school. "Just tell me."

"Think back to Freshman and Sophomore years," she smiled brilliantly. "Who did my dear brother have a major thing for?"

Michael tilted his head to one side while names and faces ran through his memory. He smiled, "Liz Parker?"

"You got it Michael. Scrawny Liz Parker who moved away after sophomore year is now a wanted felon."

Michael leaned back in his chair, the front legs lifted off the ground, and roared with laughter. "You're kidding, right?"

Isabel shook her head. "So you think you're up for it?"

"Oh yeah, I think I can handle a little thing like Liz Parker." He stood and shook his head picking up the paperwork from the desk. "I'm out of here for the rest of the day unless you need me for anything." As he reached the front door he turned back around. "The other bounty hunter? What's his story?"

"Her story is that she's good. Very good."

"A chick?"

"A damn good chick, you may have met your match Michael Guerin." Isabel's eyes twinkled with mischief.

"What's her name?"

"Maria. Maria DeLuca."

* * *

.Chapter Three

Maria DeLuca swore as she hit a pothole in the road. Interstate Forty was close, but not close enough for her. Driving over the bumps and bruises of a state highway in a hell-like temperature was enough to make her crazy.

She slid a CD into the player and felt no remorse for spending the money to get a decent car stereo. She was actually thankful that she had, otherwise the constant driving around tracking down this fugitive, Liz Parker, would be horrendous.

She sang along with the Go-Go's as the dying sun still managed to beat down on the canvas top of her jeep and the sickly hot wind whipped into her skin.

"Vacation," she laughed. "That's what I need, a freakin' vacation."

When she had been handed the file on one Liz Parker a little over two weeks ago, she accepted without question. Maria knew how to handle herself around killers; one little embezzler should have been a piece of cake.

Maria underestimated Liz Parker and let her slip right through her fingers. She promised herself that wasn’t going to happen again, no one made a fool out of Maria DeLuca and got away with it.

She checked the clock on the dash, almost seven PM. She'd already been on the road for over two hours leaving her with just about twelve more to go. She was confident she'd be in Roswell New Mexico for the sunrise.

* * *

Michael Guerin leaned against the driver's side door of a two year old silver Mustang. He was waiting for Isabel's brother, Max Evans, to get out of class. The parking lot to the University was about half full and Michael couldn't help but notice all the pretty coeds as they sashayed by him on their way to somewhere else.

"Michael," a familiar voice called from a short distance.

Michael looked away from short skirts and to a man he considered a brother. Max Evans was dressed the perfect psychology student. Khaki pants and a white T-shirt, a dark green backpack slung over his shoulder completed the ensemble.

"Max," Michael smiled at the contrast between the two old friends. "Ready for a beer?"

"Always," Max followed Michael a few parking spots over to his truck after dropping of the backpack in his own car. He got in and immediately turned the volume down on the radio before Michael even started the truck.

Michael wanted to tell Max about Liz Parker so bad that he could almost taste it. He showed more restraint than normal and didn't say anything until they were side by side at the bar in their familiar watering hole, 'Little Green Bar'.

"How's my sister?" Max asked after taking a long drink from his bottled beer.

"Still the biggest pain in my ass," Michael raised his eyebrows at him and shrugged. "Otherwise, she's fine."

"So," Max bowed his head. His hair, midnight in the darkness of the bar, reflected the red neon lights from a beer sign above them. He sighed. "So what's going on?"

"Why does something have to be going on?" Michael asked innocently. As innocently as he could. There was one thing that was almost as fun as antagonizing Isabel and that was antagonizing her brother.

"Michael." Max turned and looked at the man next to him. The man who was obviously trying hard not to smile.

"Okay, fine." He motioned to the bartender for another beer. "So we got this new job today, someone who's suspected to be headed to Roswell, right?"

"Go on." Max closed his eyes for an extended blink.

"It seems this person stole a bunch of money from her company and was going to testify against them, right? But then she skipped town."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"This person, you used to know her." Michael fought a full grin.

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Remember a little crush you used to have back in high school?" He almost felt bad as he watched his friend go into a tailspin. He saw the acknowledgment spread across Max's face and then did feel bad. "Sorry."

"Liz Parker." Max's voice was barely above a whisper.

Michael nodded. "The one and only."

"Unbelievable," Max muttered into his beer.

Michael wondered if he told him as tactfully as he could have. He considered the options and realized that he had been as tactful as he was capable of. He shrugged and glanced around the room.

"You enjoy things like this, don't you Michael?"

He pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow before nodding.

"You need to get a hobby," Max laughed but the sound wasn't completely friendly. "You have got to find other ways to amuse yourself."

"I don't need a hobby."

"Then maybe you just need to get laid," Max slammed his bottle down on the bar and shook his head, laughing.

* * *

As the sun began to fold over the horizon, Maria DeLuca found herself mere miles away from Roswell. She wanted nothing more than a shower to wash away all the sweat and sand she had acquired in the last twenty-four hours.

"Elizabeth Parker," Maria said the name out loud and wondered for the hundredth time since she had lost her, how in the hell she could have lost her. Period. "I'm a trained hunter. I hunt, I find, I get paid. And here comes this little money-stealing girl with a bad dye job, and she gets away from me." She slapped the steering wheel and turned up the stereo.

As a billboard with a spaceship and two little green men on it welcomed her into the city limits of Roswell New Mexico, Maria rolled her eyes and wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into. She drove down what appeared to be the main street and veered off into the parking lot of the first hotel she saw.

"First priority, a shower." She eased the gear into neutral and set the parking brake before jumping out of the jeep. She stretched raising her hands high above her head and took in the sights of the desert town. "Then I'll see what I can dig up on little Miss Liz Parker."

* * *

.Chapter Four

Maria DeLuca stepped out of the shower into the coolness of the air-conditioned hotel room. The room was typical, just like the dozens upon dozens she had crashed at before. She whimpered slightly at the cold as she scrambled to her bag. Her hands landed on a pair of cut-off denim shorts and a white tank shirt. She dressed while her dirty blond hair dripped cold water down her arms and back.

"First I'm too hot and then I'm too cold," she talked to herself, as she tended to do a lot. She considered herself her own best friend.

Growing up in San Francisco, with an Uncle she had barely known before moving in with him, in an area that used to be family oriented but had since turned towards the seedy side in the past few years had taught her a lot about human nature.

Human nature. You can always go home again. And that's what Maria was banking on. That Liz Parker was going to go home again.

She slipped on a short-sleeve button down shirt and running shoes and slung a tan canvas backpack over her shoulder before stepping back outside into the heat. She reached her jeep and put the faceplate back on the stereo only to be welcomed to Patsy Cline crooning about being crazy for loving some man.

"You got that right, Pats." Maria slipped on sunglasses and ran a hand through her rapidly drying hair. "Love is for the crazy." She scanned through the stations until she found something a little more appropriate for the morning: the eighties.

She checked the map she had picked up at a gas station outside of town and then her case notes. Nancy Parker, Liz's mother, was first on the short list of people to see.

As she sped out of the parking lot, her stomach growling, she spotted a drive-thru restaurant and made a beeline for it. Eating on the road was one of the hazards of doing what she did for a living. Being a bounty hunter was hard work; a female one was even harder. People tended not to take the petite woman very seriously at first. They did as soon as they realized she meant business and that had earned her the admiration from peers and bail bondsmen along the West Coast.

Maria DeLuca always got what she was after.

* * *

"Don't you ever go home?" Michael asked as he walked into the office to find Isabel at her desk, a mountain of paperwork in front of her.

"What are you doing here? Early night?" She cocked her head to one side and then grinned vehemently. "Oh wait, it was an early night, wasn't it? I heard your night pretty much ended after you told my brother his high school crush was a wanted woman! Damn it Michael! How can you be so damn insensitive?"

He sat in the chair across from her and put his feet up on her desk. They were instantly knocked off. He smiled. "I thought he should know."

"And you didn't think I would tell him?"

Michael shrugged. "He's my friend, Iz-"

"Stop," she held up her hand to him. "I don't even want to know your reasoning. I don't want to hear any of your shit today, okay?"

He made a hissing noise and instantly regretted it. He shifted in his chair and had the feeling of being back in the principal's office in high school. Not many people could unnerve Michael Guerin. Isabel Evans was definitely one. He knew if he didn't think of her as the sister he never had, they'd end up in a cage match and he wasn't sure who would be the one to walk out.

"Bad night, Iz?" His tone became softer as it usually did when something was wrong with Isabel. "Alex?"

Alex Whitman had been Isabel's boyfriend since high school. It never got too serious and they dated other people during their off moments, but Michael knew how much she cared about him even if she refused to admit it. A foul mood was usually connected to something not working quite right in the Isabel/Alex plan.

"Michael," she sighed his name and shook her head. "Why are men complete idiots?"

He halfway smiled at her and tried to come up with a witty comeback. He failed and just shook his head and shrugged. He learned a long time ago not to fall into the Isabel/Alex relationship issues. That was one of the reasons why he wasn't in a relationship. Too many issues.

"Thank you for all your help. Anyway, did you read over the paperwork on Liz last night after you destroyed my brother?"

"I didn't destroy him," he rolled his eyes and longed for the dark glasses he'd left on the dash in his truck. "And yes, I did some reading."

"Can you find her?"

"I can find her. I will find her," the thrill of the hunt was on. "I will find her and haul her scrawny ass in before this Marie DeLu…Whatever can say 'go'."

Isabel smirked at him. "So you want to know anything about this Maria DeLuca? I've been doing a little research on her."

"Nope," he shrugged. "Probably won't even run into her."

Isabel nodded and smiled. "So you're going to start on this, like, now?"

"Yeah, I was just waiting until I thought it would be a decent time before I go knocking on Ms. Parker's door to inquire about her felon daughter."

"I can't get an answer at her father's place in Montana…"

"We'll find her Iz. We'll find her and then I bet everything's going to change." He tapped the folder he had brought in with him. "One thing I can't figure out though. Why? I mean, why did Liz Parker steal all this money."

"Why does anyone steal money?" She bugged her eyes out at him and shrugged.

"No, I mean…Oh, fuck it." He stood and looked at the watch on her wrist. "I guess it's not too early to go see if Ms. Parker knows where her daughter is, right?"

"Go ahead, Michael. I'm sure she won't be the least bit pleased to see a freakin' bounty hunter on her doorstep looking for her daughter whether it's eight in the morning or eight at night. Keep me posted; if you get nothing from her, come back. There's a couple skips that I have for you as well."

"Business is picking up," he smiled thoughtfully as he reached the door.

"Did you not realize that we are now the only bonding place in Roswell? The other one closed about two weeks ago." Isabel took a deep breath to hide her annoyance and turned back to the stack of papers in front of her.

Michael raised one eyebrow, shrugged, and walked out the front door.

* * *

The woman at the door was almost middle-aged but looked about ten years older; Maria peered at her flashing an award-winning smile.

"So you know Liz?" The woman pulled a button down sweater tight around her and Maria wondered if she didn't realize the temperature was hitting the third circle of hell and it was barely eight in the morning.

"Right, we went to high school together."

"Here? In Roswell?"

"Oh, no, back in Montana."

"And your name is?"

"Maria. Maria DeLuca."

"Really?" the woman sighed. "That's very interesting. It must be an extreme coincidence that Maria DeLuca is your name as well as the name belonging to someone who was hired to find my baby and take her back to Montana for something she didn't do then, huh?"

Maria damned herself for giving Nancy Parker her real name. Rookie mistake. She blamed it on the insufferable heat. "Ms. Parker-"

"If you try to lie to me and tell me that you're only here to help her, I might physically throw you off this porch."

Maria reached into her bag and pulled out a business card. She forced it into Nancy Parker's hand and took a step backwards. "Just in case." She smiled as Nancy ripped it into shreds and blew the pieces back at Maria before she retreated back into her house and slammed the door shut. "Or not."

With a deep breath and an already sweaty shirt, she retreated back towards the street and her waiting jeep. Slipping her sunglasses on she noticed a pick-up truck slowing down and then stopping in back of her jeep. She narrowed her eyes at the driver and determined it was not Liz Parker, it wasn't even a woman.

She stopped walking as the driver cut the engine an opened up his door. She slyly reached into the backpack and found the handle to the stun gun. She slipped it into her back pocket and watched as the stranger in the truck approached her.

She licked her lips as she took him in, his long strides, his long legs clad in denim. A black T-shirt tucked in and black boots. Dark glasses hid his eyes but somewhere in the back of her mind she guessed they were dark in color. She watched as his head moved down then up and knew he was checking her out.

"Who're you?" He asked as he stood merely a foot in front of her.

"Who the hell are you?"

Michael Guerin tilted his head to one side. "Michael Guerin. Bounty hunter."

Maria smirked and tilted her head in the opposite direction. "Maria DeLuca. Ditto."

* * *

Chapter Five

Michael bit back surprise. He wasn't expecting that and he knew it showed on his face. The 'bounty hunter' remark usually scored him a few squeals from women. Obviously not this one. This was Maria DeLuca? "So, what are you doing here?" He felt like a high school boy again and didn't like it.

"What are you doing here?" She shot back at him as the mental wheels began turning in her head. "Are you here for Elizabeth Parker?" She had a cell phone in her hand before he could respond. She was punching in numbers, her blood pressure rising. She looked back at the man in jeans and T-shirt and knew she must be getting dizzy from either the heat or the anger because he was looking pretty damn good.

"Yeah, I'm here for Liz." Michael said dully, his posture determined that he wasn't quite sure how to take the woman in front of him.

"Damn it!" Maria shouted into the phone and walked a few paces away from Michael Guerin, just out of earshot.

He watched her, bemused at her actions, amused at her spirit. He jut one hip out and pursed his lips, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh right…" Maria shouted into the phone. "Have I ever let you down before?…Save it, just fucking save it…Oh yeah, I'll get her and I'll be back. Don't fuck with me again, Marco." She looked towards Michael and shook her head as she slid the phone back into her backpack.

"Problem?" Michael asked coyly and then licked his bottom lip.

"Yeah, I have a fucking problem and it appears to be you." She strode up to him and looked up into his face. Her breath caught as he gazed down at her, an amused half-smile gracing his lips. Shit, she thought.

"How can I already be a problem when we just met? It usually takes a little while for me to be a problem," he smiled.

She smiled in spite of herself and took a step away from him. She ran her hands through her almost dry hair; setting the backpack down on the sidewalk, she retrieved a hairbrush from it and brushed her shoulder length blond hair up into a ponytail before facing the oppressing stranger again.

"So, you're a bounty hunter, huh?" Maria asked from a few feet away. "I bet when you say that it makes all the girls swoon."

"Most of them," he sighed and wondered how Isabel had known he was going to meet his match. Damn, she was good.

"Well, Guerin is it?" She asked and waited for a nod before continuing although she remembered his name. "Well Guerin, I'm here in this circle of hell for a reason, to find Parker and take her back to Montana. Try not to get in my way."

"Get in your way?" Michael raised his sunglasses by the arm and looked at the petite woman in front of him. "How about you try not to get in my way, babe."

"Babe?" Maria raised her sunglasses mimicking him.

"Yeah, babe." Michael nodded feeling cocky.

"I am not your babe," Maria smiled sarcastically.

"I didn't say my babe, just babe." He shrugged and felt the heat of repartee that he got with Isabel; yet, slightly different. This woman was a stranger. A very hot, yet very annoying stranger.

"Well, if you must call me something, even though I don't know why you would since I will blow this place as soon as I have my girl, you may call me Maria."

"Well babe," He lowered his sunglasses and grinned. "I guess I could call you Maria since I'll be seeing you around. You're not going to get Liz."

"Oh," she lowered her glasses. "I'm not?"

"No, I don't think so. See, if you were as good as apparently you think you are, then I wouldn't have been hired to do your job for you." He let the words hang in the air watching the redness creep up her neck. Bingo. Damn she has a beautiful neck.

"I will get her Guerin. Without a doubt." Her words were heavy, each one stung. Self doubt loomed heavy through her, she attributed that to the heat as well.

"Not if I get her first," he raised an eyebrow and shrugged one shoulder.

She lowered her head and smiled at the burning sidewalk trying to keep her cool. When she raised her head, she damned herself for taking in every inch of Michael Guerin. From the leather of his boots, to the black T-shirt that was sticking to him like a second skin to the eyes hiding behind dark glasses.

"No, you see, I will get her. Period."

"You won't get her," Michael smiled.

"You seem awfully confident about that."

He held up his hand, surrendering. "Maybe we could do this together, you know, considering we're both after the same thing."

"Listen," she placed her hands on her hips and thrust her chest out, only second guessing that action after it was too late. After she saw his head dip forward. "We're not friends, we're not partners, we're not going to be like some kind of cop-buddy movie. We're not going to go out for a drink and talk about work. Are you getting all of this?" She waited for his curt nod before moving on. "I'm here to do a job and do it alone."

"Okay," he said slowly as his head bobbed up and down. "Well babe, excuse me, Maria, then I guess I'll be seeing you around. Good luck to you."

"I don't need luck, Guerin, I have skill. Maybe you'll be lucky and might get some for your birthday." The smile on her own lips was annoying her.

"Ouch," he laughed and shook his head. "You're pretty tough Maria, you know that?"

"I've been called worse."

"Yeah, I bet you have." He mumbled as she turned away from him. He waited until she was just a few steps away before saying anything else. "Hey, I know Liz Parker. We went to high school together." He smiled as he watched her shoulders sag.

Maria closed her eyes at the last statement made by this Michael Guerin. So he knew Liz Parker? Great, she thought, just freaking great. She took a few more steps towards the jeep and stopped. "Quit staring at my ass, Guerin."

Michael smiled widely; he watched her get into her car and pull out onto the street.

.Chapter Six

Maria turned down the radio as she drove into the depths of Roswell. Fury for being overshadowed in her work raged through her. The complete feeling of failure masked her entire being. She was good at her job and she did know it. She was one of the best; she had just made a mistake.

Her hands gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. Liz Parker was someone she should have had in her custody minutes after getting the job. Liz Parker was a mousy office worker; a social inadequate who stumbled into a multi-million dollar fiasco and walked away with a cool half mil and all the information to nail the ringleaders.

Maria didn't care about why Liz Parker had done anything or even about the company itself that she had worked for who bilked millions from unsuspecting clients. She didn't care about the clients either; all she cared about was herself and getting her job done. There wasn't room for her to get messed up in the tangle of the reasoning behind anything; she didn't have time for that. Maria DeLuca had learned at a very young age that she could only rely on herself.

She was her own best friend but also her own worst enemy. Hiding behind a disguise of toughness and attitude was a woman who was alone in life. A woman who had a ton of acquaintances but no friends. A woman who knew she had to fend for herself and not let anyone else get in her way. In grade school her report had stated: Does not play well with others. That had stayed true for the rest of her years. Work alone. Be alone.

"Damn," she whispered as she pulled back into the parking lot of her hotel. She parked and laid her head down on the steering wheel wondering what the hell had happened to make her feel this pathetic. Then she remembered it had everything to do with Liz Parker and human nature.

Maria DeLuca grabbed the woman's hands and held them behind her back. She could smell the coloring in her hair; it was still so new. The cut was choppy and Maria wondered briefly if she had done it herself in the bathroom at a gas station, just like in the movies.

"You have to let me explain," Liz Parker pleaded trying turn around to face her captor. "You don't know anything!"

"I know that you're going to get me an awesome amount of money," Maria kicked her feet apart.

"Please, if you take me back they'll kill me!"

"That's not my problem." Maria slipped handcuffs on the newly auburn-haired woman and turned her around to face her. "Your problems are not my problems, got it?"

The bright lights and clinking of change from slot machines were almost a memory. The whitewashed cement wall in front of them outside a casino was reality. The night was drawing to a close; the sunrise was on the verge of coming attractions.

"Please," Liz's almond shaped chestnut eyes flooded with tears.

Maria felt a pang inside of her that she never had before. She actually felt sorry someone she was after. She felt sorry for the small felonious woman in her custody. Against her better judgement she tilted her head to one side and nodded slowly.

Never get involved.

"You have to help me," Liz looked around Maria nervously. "You have to believe me."

"Don't tell me what I have to do," she said full of bravado. In truth, the little woman in front of her was making her nervous with the darting eyes.

"They will kill me if they get to me," Liz said in a voice holding fear. Too much fear for one person.

"You stole money, you have evidence. You have to pay your debt to society for being a lowlife." Maria shook her head and tightened the cuffs just a bit. Just enough to make her feel in control again.

"I know, but if you take me back, they'll kill me." Her words held her truth.

Maria took a deep breath and did an internal count to five. "I have a job to do."

Liz Parker nodded and hung her head. "What's your name?"

"My name?" Maria repeated, surprised at the question. "Why?'

"I want to know the name of the person who's going to inadvertently kill me." She looked up into Maria's green eyes.

"Maria. Maria DeLuca."

"Well Maria DeLuca, you have just killed Liz Parker."

Maria waited a beat. Blood on her hands was never part of the deal. Of all the criminals who'd pleaded with her for release, this one was different. This one made Maria feel compassion. Human nature.

Without thinking it through to completion, she turned Liz back around and unlocked the handcuffs. She waited until Liz turned back to face her before speaking. "Tell me your story Liz Parker."

"Thank you," Liz looked down and rubbed her wrists as if they had been secured for hours instead of mere minutes. She clasped her hands together, fingers interlaced. "I'm sorry."

Without missing a beat, Liz Parker swung her interlocked hands up and across Maria's face. The sheer surprise and pain knocked Maria to the ground. In the few seconds it had taken to understand what was going on, Liz Parker had vanished.

That's when it became personal.

* * *

Michael shaded his eyes and peered in the window of the storefront office. He saw Isabel busy at work behind her desk, the mountain of papers still in front of her. After getting the door slammed in his face by Nancy Parker, he drove around town on the look out, hoping he'd just luck out and find Liz Parker walking down the street. After an hour of being unsuccessful he decided on heading back to the office.

Isabel looked up and smiled when the door opened. Her smiled fell when she realized it was just Michael. "I thought you were a new client."

"Sorry," he sat across from her and waited for her to look up again. His brow furrowed when he saw the tension in her eyes. "What's going on Iz? Anything I can do to help?"

She laughed and shook her head. "It's just Alex issues again."

"What he'd do now?" Michael had learned a long time ago that no matter what it was, it was going to be Alex's fault.

Her eyelids flutter for a few seconds, trying to blink back tears. "He asked me to move in with him."

Michael tilted his head and frowned. "Isn't that a good thing?"

She nodded and sighed. "It is, but I don't know what to do. Yes or no? I keep weighing the pro's and con's of doing it and they come up even."

"Do you want to?" He asked and raised his eyebrows.

She nodded and then covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes wide. "I guess I never asked myself that."

"See, I am good for something."

"Yes, Michael. You are good for a few things." She grinned. "So, how'd it go with Ms. Parker?"

"Do you mean before or after she slammed the door in my face?"

Isabel's shoulders sagged. "Did you get anything out of her?"

"No, but maybe Maria DeLuca did," Michael shook his head. "She beat me to her. She was walking away as I pulled up."

"So you met Ms. DeLuca," Isabel leaned back in her chair and grinned. "Whatcha think of her?"

"I think she needs an attitude adjustment." His mind drifted to the way she had got in his face and he smiled. "Big time."

"She gonna give you a run for your money?"

He nodded and pursed his lips. "Oh yeah, you can bet on it."

.Chapter Seven

Isabel grinned at Michael's response. She had known this Maria DeLuca was tough and had attitude; maybe just enough to keep her illustrious partner on his toes.

"Back to you," Michael shifted in the chair, uncomfortable talking about Maria DeLuca. "So, you gonna do it? Move in with him?"

"I think so," she smiled brilliantly, sheer happiness painted on her face. "I guess it's time we quit playing around and made something…Concrete."

"You and Alex have been playing around since high school," Michael laughed. "I think it'll be a welcomed change for you both. What did Max say?"

"I didn't tell him," she folded her arms over a white tank shirt and grinned. "I do not have to tell my brother everything, besides, it's none of his business what I do."

"Do I detect some sibling problems?" He asked with raised eyebrows.

"Not exactly," she rested her elbows on the papers in front of him. "Max's just getting on my nerves. All this pop psychology talk he babbles on and on about is really getting annoying, you know?"

"Oh yeah," he chuckled. "I know. Once he graduates and voyages out into the real world, he might settle it down. You know, once he realizes he's not Freud and not everyone has a complex of some kind he'll be okay."

"Does he diagnose you, too?" She asked surprised.

"All the time, he always tell me I have anti-social personality disorder."

"Really? I'm obsessive compulsive." Isabel laughed. "Okay, enough bashing of the brother, what's the next step on Liz Parker?"

He shrugged and pursed his lips. "I don't know. Are we even sure she's headed this way?"

"No," Isabel opened a folder in front of her. "We're not sure of anything. They know she grew up here and her mom is still here so the guess is that she might come home. You know, you can always go home again."

"Right," Michael leaned forward in his chair. "It's all about human nature."

"Human nature," she repeated. "You're not going to go all Max-like on me, are you? I have to make sure I can still depend on someone for sanity. And as scary as it sounds, I depend on you."

Michael looked up at her and knew it had taken a lot out of her to tell him that. As much as they bitched at each other and tried to get underneath one another's skin, they were closer than blood. Michael knew he'd be lost without Isabel and now he had verbal confirmation that she would be lost without him.

"So, you're saying I'm your voice of reason?" He asked trying to suppress a grin that he knew would drive her crazy.

"I won't say it again," she smiled and scanned the pages in front of her. "And I won't ever admit it. So let's move on. Liz Parker. Did Maria DeLuca give you any hint about what Ms. Parker said to her?"

Michael shook his head slowly.

"Oh God, you hit on her didn't you?" Isabel sighed and then laughed while rolling her eyes.

"I tried before I knew who she was," he admitted. "I didn't know that this big bad bounty hunter was going to be so damn hot!"

"Why am I not even surprised," she laughed again. "Leave it to you to hit on the one person you're in competition with."

"Well, I didn’t get very far." He shifted in his chair again. "I did offer to work together on it, though."

"And?"

"She shot me down and got all tough," he grinned thinking about the small blond woman in his face telling him they weren't friends and it wasn't going to be like a cop-buddy movie. "You'll like her. I can see it already."

* * *

Maria sat leaned over in the jeep until she felt she was baked thoroughly. She wondered that if in her overheated state of mind she had scared off the one person in this freaking hot-ass town that might be able to help her track down Liz Parker. Michael Guerin.

She sat back against the leather seat and nearly screamed when it scorched her skin. She turned around and pulled a T-shirt from the back seat. She put it on over the bucket seat as a makeshift seat cover and then leaned back again. Warm, yes. Searing skin, no.

"Okay DeLuca," she picked up her soft drink from the drive-thru and rolled the waxy cardboard coolness against her forehead. "These are your options. You can either go back into your hotel room and lay on top of the air conditioner or you can get to work and start finding out everything you can about little Miss Liz Parker."

It wasn't even about the money anymore; Liz Parker had used Maria's fleeting compassion against her. She felt like a fool for letting it happen and she wasn't about to let it happen again. No one made a fool out of Maria DeLuca and got away with it.

She weighed the options and wasn't happy about either one of them. She was in a town she knew nothing about. She didn't have any connections here like she did on the West Coast and Vegas. Maria DeLuca was completely alone.

Sure, she knew she had all the important paperwork on Liz Parker. She'd already managed to blow it with the mother and now she was at a dead-end.

It had been eight years since Liz Parker had been in Roswell; a lot can change in eight years. Changes Maria had no idea about. Maybe nothing had changed in eight years. Maybe nothing ever changed in Roswell for all she knew.

Maybe some things were about to change in Roswell.

She took a deep breath and turned the radio up before backing out of the parking place.

* * *

"So, are you just going to sit here all day and wait for Liz Parker to walk in the front door and turn herself in?" Isabel asked after several minutes of silence and non-motion from Michael.

"You think she will?" He asked with sarcastic joviality.

"Why don't you go and check out the bus station and the train station. If she's coming to Roswell, she has to get here some how." Isabel kicked at his legs underneath her desk. "Shoo!"

Michael sat up in the chair and thought about egging Isabel on about something, anything; but his constant ribbing sometimes erupted into a mind shattering argument and he just wasn't in the mood. He'd already been severely told off by one beautiful woman today, he didn't need it done a second time.

He stood and pulled his sunglasses off of his head as the bell above the door chimed. Both Isabel and Michael turned towards the door but only one of them knew the person who walked in.

"Oh, shit." Michael sighed.

* * *

Chapter Eight

Maria DeLuca stepped into the store front office not really by choice, but by urgency. Biting the bullet and asking for help was not something she was used to doing, ever. Doing it this time was only a matter of principle. She knew with easy comfort she could do it alone, she had tracked down more hardened criminals than Liz Parker; but alone would take more time. And Liz had made it personal.

She took a step towards Michael Guerin and wondered how it could be so damn hot inside the office; then she realized it was just her. She took of her sunglasses and looked at the offending man and a stunningly beautiful woman who came to stand next to him.

Great, a girlfriend.

She shook her head and licked her lips taking in the comfort factor of the two strangers in front of her and her own stupidity.

"Hi." Maria stepped a little closer to them. "Nice desk," she ran her hand along the length of teakwood.

"Thank you." Isabel beamed and casually kicked Michael in the shin.

"Maria DeLuca," Michael said her name slowly and waited for her to look at him before extending his arm towards Isabel. "This is Isabel Evans, my partner. Isabel, the infamous Maria DeLuca."

Isabel extended her hand to the smaller blond woman in front of her. "Nice to meet you," she smiled brilliantly clasping Maria's hand. "You have an impressive record."

Maria blushed and wondered when she had gotten so shy and if it had anything to do with the man in front of her who seemed to be drinking her in. Maybe Isabel wasn't his girlfriend. "Thank you."

"Yeah Iz," Michael nodded. "But remember, Maria and I? We're not friends, we're not partners and we're not a cop-buddy movie. We will not go out for a drink and talk about work." Michael smiled tight-lipped at Maria and nodded once. "Right?"

"Right," Maria said the word slowly and wondered how in the hell she could have gotten herself into such a mess.

"So, did you find her already? Liz, I mean." Michael crossed his arms over his chest and wondered why he was being such an ass. It was part of his nature to act that way, but he had the feeling it was going to run a little higher with Maria DeLuca.

"Michael." Isabel warned him with her tone. "You'll have to excuse my partner, he's the captain of the jackass committee."

"And I'm looking for a co-captain," Michael shot back at her. "Interested?"

Maria smiled in spite of herself and almost laughed. They were comical, if nothing else, she gained a moment of humor from coming here. A moment of humor before a mountain of humility.

Isabel rolled her eyes. "So, what can we do for you?"

Maria took a deep breath and sat down in front of the desk. She watched as Isabel sat across from her and then felt the heat radiating off Michael as he sat next to her. "Well, earlier today I may have come across a little…"

"Bitchy?" Michael supplied and then yelped when Isabel's boot made contact with his shin for a second time.

Maria turned her head and faced him. "Something like that."

Michael smiled and looked across the desk to his partner and nodded. "See, I was right."

"And now this is the part where you tell me that you came across like a..." She looked at Isabel for help, already sensing a bond with the woman.

"Jackass," Isabel grinned.

"Right, a jackass." Maria laughed.

"This is bullshit," Michael shook his head. "I will not sit here and have you two tag team me. Forget it."

"Okay, I'm sorry." Maria suppressed a grin. "Let's start over. Hi, I'm Maria DeLuca."

"Not playing," Michael turned his head.

"Michael." Isabel warned him again.

"This is stupid, why are you here?"

Maria took another deep breath and exhaled slowly. "I might need some help."

"From me?" Michael asked feigning mock surprise. "Maybe after my birthday, remember, maybe I'll get some skill wrapped up in a pretty box with a giant loopy bow on it."

Maria hated it when her words were thrown back at her, even if she deserved it. She stood and extended her hand to Isabel, who shook it firmly. "Okay, sorry to bother you and I'll be on my way."

"Maria, wait." Isabel stood and glared down at her partner.

"No," Maria held her hands up. "It's okay. I see where I made mistake already." She glanced at Michael and raised her eyebrows before walking to and then out the front door.

"I can't believe you were so rude," Isabel sat back in her chair in a huff. "Seriously. What is your problem?"

Michael wasn't looking at Isabel, he was watching Maria DeLuca as she got into her jeep and pulled the rubberband from her hair. "What?" He snapped and turned back around. "What?"

"God Michael, I've never seen you like this." Isabel tapped a pen against her teeth.

"Like what?" His eyes narrowed.

"So flustered around a woman, she really got to you, didn't she?"

Michael didn't answer. It was one thing to admit it to himself, it was another altogether to admit it out loud. Especially to Isabel Evans.

* * *

.Chapter Nine

Maria yanked the rubberband out of her hair and fought the urge to look back at the store front office and give Mr. Michael Guerin the finger. She slammed the jeep into drive and sped out of the parking lot leaving a dust storm in her wake.

"Mr. Michael 'Jackass' Guerin can kiss my ass at this point," she muttered under her breath. "Here I am trying to be all cooperative after being the bitch with a chip on her shoulder and what do I get in return? Nothing. I get nothing. I go to him with my tail between my legs and he makes me feel like a fool." She roared through a town she didn't know. "Again, no one makes a fool out of Maria DeLuca."

Maria turned the radio back up and listened with deaf ears. Her hope was to see Liz Parker cross the street in front of her and call it a day. She also knew enough about hope that calling it a day seemed the most illogical thing in the world that would happen.

After driving around aimlessly in a town she wasn't familiar with, she decided to go back to her hotel and think things through. See if the bonding agent she was working for, Marco, had any contacts in this circle of hell.

After walking into her hotel room and jacking the air conditioner down to somewhere close to freezing, she lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. She sat up and stripped off her tank shirt and flung it across the room before lying back down. The air kicked into high and she finally felt comfortable. A question of why any reasonable person would want to live so close to hell floated through her mind. Then she remembered, that each person had their own personal hell. So hers happened to be Roswell New Mexico.

She rolled over on her belly and kicked her boots off letting them fall to the floor. Listening to the hum of an air conditioner left over from the seventies, Maria drifted off to sleep. She didn't fight it, maybe, she reasoned, she just needed some sleep and then all her questions would be answered.

* * *

"You're not going to just hang out here with me today, are you?" Isabel asked nervously after Michael hadn't budged from the seat across from her in almost an hour.

"I don't know, Iz. You sound like you don't want me to, which automatically makes me want to sit on your lap." He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head to one side.

"I can't believe she got to you so fast," Isabel mumbled while stacking a pile of folders from the mountain of paperwork.

"There's something about her…" Michael drifted in his thought process. He always found it strange that he could confide in Isabel his women-related problems and/or issues much easier than he could with her brother. He could tell Isabel anything; it was choice that made him keep some things to himself.

"I know what it is," she smiled demurely behind the folder in her hands.

"Okay, hot shot, what is it?" Michael leaned forward and rested his elbows on the precious Teakwood.

"You can't," she made air quotes with her fingers, "get her because she's too much like you." Isabel's eyes twinkled.

Michael pursed his lips before laughing out loud. "Are you high?"

"Seriously, you both think you're some type of big bad ass, but if Maria DeLuca is even close to the what I saw in her, then you're both big softies inside a gruff exterior."

He grabbed her arm and straightened it out in front of her, running his finger along the crease of her elbow. "I don't see the track marks…"

She pulled her arm back and kicked him under the desk for the third time that day. "Quit it. You can't see it because you're just like her. Okay, you told me you offered to work together with her this morning. How hard was that for you?"

"It just kind of slipped out," he shrugged. "But would I have been thinking about it and not just staring at her, then it would have been terribly hard."

"Exactly, so how hard do you think it was for her to come here and ask for help?" Isabel rolled her eyes and wondered how Michael functioned in life.

"I guess it was pretty hard for her and I was a jackass."

"Oh yeah, King of the Jackasses if you must know the truth."

"When I need some kind words I always know where to come," he rolled his eyes and laughed. "So what are you thinking, Iz? Should I go and grovel?"

"Grovel?" She started laughing so hard she nearly choked. "I didn't even think you knew what that word meant! I should mark this day on the calendar, the day that Michael Guerin grovels."

"Ha ha. So, you want some help going through whatever your doing?" He motioned to the desk. "Before I track her down and grovel?"

"Sure," she handed him a stack of folders and explained the order the papers on the inside should be in. "Then, when we're done I just might take you out to lunch before you go and grovel. And if Maria DeLuca accepts whatever your pitiful attempt at an apology is, then you two can figure out together your next step. If she doesn't, I suggest you stake out Ms. Nancy Parker's home and wait for the return of her wayward daughter."

He saluted her and regretted it as the toe of her shoe met his shin for the forth time. Almost a new record.

* * *

Maria rolled over and opened one eye. The room looked like all the others she had stayed in on various tracking expeditions. From the same smooth polyester patterned bedspread that matched the room-darkening drapes to the same dark veneer on the particle board furniture.

"Life has got to be better than this," she sat up and rubbed her eyes wondering if her neighbor back home in San Francisco was remembering to feed her fish. She smiled thinking about the five Angel fish she had waiting at home for her; her family.

The fish were the only family she had left that she knew about after her Uncle had died almost two years earlier. Even her Uncle hadn't been known family until she was five and the car accident death of her parents forced her to live with the only brother of her father.

It had been rocky for awhile, while the little girl didn't understand why she had to live with a stranger. Then they became friends.

Uncle Chuck DeLuca was a bad ass bounty hunter until he met his untimely death by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A hold-up in a convenience store a few blocks away from his home had left Chuck DeLuca with a bullet in his head that would kill him two days later. Stepping in to defend the scared female clerk behind the counter, Chuck DeLuca defended her with his life.

Maria closed her eyes thinking about Chuck, he hated being called Uncle Chuck, always said it made him feel old, and smiled. She knew he would be proud of her and she was convinced he watched over her. She carried on the DeLuca name and she did it proudly.

She almost thought about calling her neighbor and asking if her fish were okay. If the largest in the tank, Chuck, was okay. She decided against it knowing that her eighty-two year old widowed neighbor, Lenora, was perfectly competent of taking care of a few Angel fish. And probably a little snooping as well. As Lenora liked to tell Maria, she lived vicariously through her. She missed her fish and she missed Lenora.

She stood up and stretched pushing all wishy-washy feelings away. She picked her tank shirt up from the floor and put it back on. She thought her body had finally reached a normal temperature and wondered how long it would last before she wanted to take a bath in ice cubes. A glance at the bolted down alarm clock informed her it was after one in the afternoon.

She grabbed her cell phone and called Marco, whose secretary told her he was conveniently out of the office. She hung up and rolled her eyes at the lame lie.

She groaned and grabbed her bag and sunglasses ready to venture back out into the heat. Ready to find Liz Parker. Ready to rub it in Michael Guerin's face when she did. Ready for lunch.

She walked to her jeep after asking the counter clerk where she could sit down and eat lunch; drive-thru's just didn't cut it all the time. She got directions and laughed out loud when she pulled up in front of the suggested venue, the Crashdown Café.

She smiled at the sheer absurdity of a flying saucer with flashy lights crashing into the building above the door. She parked and walked inside and was immediately assaulted with more alien gaudiness and food smells that made her mouth water.

* * *

.Chapter Ten

Maria took a seat at the counter and read over the menu full of alien-themed items. The woman behind the counter took her order for a simple cheeseburger, fries and lemonade.

"I hate this town and I hate my job," the words came from the man who had taken the seat next to her while she had been ordering.

She didn't look at him, that would only give him a reason to continue to bitch and moan. She stared directly ahead of her and waited for her lunch while the man next to her continued to mumble. She realized he wasn't talking to her and he didn't seem like he wanted a conversation either; he just seemed…disgruntled. Chancing a cursory glance in his direction she realized he was pretty normal looking, not the space case wacko she was expecting.

His hair was dark brown and cut short against his head with sideburns reminiscent of the 90210 days. He was younger than she expected, probably close to her own age. He was in uniform and she tried to read the company name embroidered on the front pocket without being overtly obvious. As Maria DeLuca should have known the way her day had gone so far, it wouldn't work.

The mumbling man held his shirt pocket out so she could see it. "It say's Tuesday Security and above that is my name, Kyle."

Maria felt herself blush getting caught in the act. "I'm sorry…"

"Whatever," he released his pocket and picked up the glass of water sitting in-between them.

"That's my water," Maria frowned and folded her arms over her chest.

He looked sideways at her and grinned before drinking it. "I'm sorry," he set the half-empty glass down in front of her. "Please, take your water back, Princess."

"You have a chip on your shoulder," she remarked while trying to figure out why the man wasn't on the floor yet with her knee placed strategically in the small of his back.

"I know," he replied honestly and sighed. "I do and I'm sorry. I promise I'm not usually the type to sit around talking to myself, I've just had a shitty day. Do you ever have days like that?"

"I have them all the time, I understand." Maria smiled as her lunch was placed in front of her. She picked up her cheeseburger and took a huge bite feeling the strangers eyes on her. After she finished chewing and swallowing, she turned back to him. "Is there something wrong?"

He shrugged. "No, not really. Are you from around here? Or are you here for some alien shin-dig?"

Maria shook her head and smiled. "No, just passing through town."

"Yeah, well, let me give you a little advice. Keep passing. Roswell will do nothing to you except piss you off."

Maria fought the smile, he was right. So far Roswell had done nothing except piss her off. Okay, she conceded, Roswell hadn't actually been responsible for pissing her off, Michael Guerin had.

"Maria?"

Maria turned around towards the vaguely familiar feminine voice coming from in back of her. Isabel something. Beside her was the man of her thoughts. Great.

"I thought that was you!" Isabel gushed and sat down on the other side of her. "I guess you found out the best place in town to get a burger, huh?"

Maria nodded and looked past the woman to the man on the other side of her. "They let animals in here? Isn't that against the health code?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

Michael laughed a little harder than he wanted to. "You're funny DeLuca. I mean, seriously, a real laugh riot. You should think about taking your show in the road."

Maria wanted to reach across the pretty Isabel and thwack him in the forehead but at the same time she wanted to lick his neck and see if it was as salty as it looked. She closed her eyes and wished away all sexual desires she had. There was a time and place for those and sitting in the alien restaurant with the object of a deepening sexual fantasy a few feet away from her was neither.

"I'd like to apologize for my associate-" Isabel smiled sweetly at Maria before being interrupted by Michael leaning over her.

"Partner, Isabel, partner."

She rolled her eyes and smiled again when she saw the corners of Maria's mouth twitch upward. "I'd like to apologize on behalf of my partner," she emphasized the word and looked at Michael before turning back to Maria. "He isn't very good with people and he might have come across a little more insolent than usual this morning."

"Isn't he able to apologize for being a jackass by himself?" Maria batted her eyelashes in Michael's direction and hoped it didn't come across as flirting. Or did she?

"Well," Michael licked his lips and raised an eyebrow. "I guess if he thought he had a reason to apologize, he would."

"Michael." Isabel glanced sternly at him.

Michael inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly. "I'm sorry for being a jackass."

Maria smiled and wondered exactly what kind of hold Isabel had on Michael. There was something strong between them, not sexually fused, but still strong. "Apology accepted." She held her hand out in front of Isabel and ran her tongue over her front teeth.

Michael clasped her hand wishing he would have wiped it on his jeans first. Sweaty palms was not the way to impress. Impress? He wasn't sure why this woman, this woman who was a pain in his ass, was affecting him like she was. He didn't like it, but would deal with it. Looking across Isabel into the clear green eyes of Maria DeLuca, Michael Guerin knew he could deal with a lot.

Isabel clasped her hands together in a mock prayer, her eyes tilted towards the sky.

"You know them?" The forgotten about mumbling man next to Maria asked her.

"I'm sorry?" She turned back to him, her eyes wide. "Uh…Yeah, I do."

"Valenti," Michael stood up and walked around to Kyle from Tuesday Security and clapped him on the back. "How's it going?"

"Its going, Guerin."

Michael looked at Maria while keeping his hand on Kyle's back. "This is Kyle Valenti and as I can see you have already met him."

"Not officially," Maria extended her hand to the non-threatening mumbler. "Maria DeLuca, nice to meet you."

Kyle shook her hand and smiled. "You're not…I mean, they're not here for you…Right?" He let go of her hand and pointed at her, a look somewhere between amazement and confusion plastered on his face.

"Me?" Maria pointed to herself and laughed. "No, not here for me. I'm kind of one of them."

"Cool," Kyle shrugged off Michael's hand that was still on his back.

"So, Maria," Isabel drew the attention back to her. "I was wondering, since you and Michael have made up and are starting off fresh, would you consider working together on this…" She shifted her eyes to Kyle for just a second, "Job?"

Maria looked thoughtfully at her and weighed her options. Work alone and suffer in the pit of hell until she stumbled across Liz Parker, or work with who was becoming her sexual fantasy and get the hell out of dodge as fast as she could. She looked over her shoulder to Michael and winked before turning back to Isabel. "Yeah, I think we can play nice together."

.Chapter Eleven

"Well, if you two can play nice then it'll be a first," Isabel smiled and raised first one eyebrow then the other. "Michael tends not to play well with others."

"Yeah, I got that feeling from him." Maria grinned and thought they could have been talking about herself just as easily as Michael Guerin.

"What feeling was that?" Michael leaned over her shoulder, his breath on her neck.

Maria closed her eyes and wished herself away from the position she was in. Again, she began to attribute everything to the heat. The fact that the air conditioning in the café was nearly frigid did not escape her. Maybe working with someone she wanted to throw down on the counter and seriously molest was not in her best interest after all. Taking a deep breath, she turned her head towards him and opened her eyes, barely an inch away from his face. Their noses would have touched had either of them broken out of their statue state. She licked her lips while keeping her eyes trained on his. "The feeling that you don't get along too well with others."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see how well I get along with you," he raised an eyebrow at her and ran his tongue over his bottom lip. "Won't we?"

She nodded slightly, careful not to run into his face with her nose and then leaned back, thankful to be a little further apart from him. Thankful for the fresh air that flushed through her whipping out the intoxication of sex appeal.

"Oh God," Kyle Valenti rolled his eyes which earned him a smile from Isabel. "Were you two separated at birth?"

"Are you actually in this conversation, Valenti?" Michael stood up straight and put on his tough guy façade. The release of any type of emotion was better than doing what he wanted to do. He wanted to throw this Maria DeLuca down on the counter and rip her shirt off; somehow he knew that was not an option and probably never would be.

"Nope, just amused." Kyle grinned as his lunch was placed in front of him. "Just amused."

"Hey Kyle," Isabel broke through the sexual tension and surrendered a warning glance to her partner. "How's the security thing going?"

"Do you really want to know Isabel?" He set his burger down and sighed. "It sucks. It actually sucks so bad, I don't know what could possibly suck more than being a security guard in a shopping mall. Now that I've had a minute to think about it, yes I do know what could suck more. A security guard in a shopping mall who has 'Tuesday Security' on his shirt. Do you know that all day, all I can think about that daughter from the Addam's Family?"

Isabel smiled and hid a laugh behind her hand. "Her name was Wednesday."

"Son-of-a-bitch!" Kyle slapped the countertop with his palm and laughed. "No wonder everyone looks at me like I'm high whenever I mention that!"

"I always liked her," Michael said and walked back to the other side of Isabel. "She had spunk."

"Kyle, nice to meet you," Maria slid some money on the counter and stood up; her food appetite had been replaced by one that she didn't want to think about. "Isabel? Always a pleasure." She took a step towards Michael and felt the heat in-between her legs. "Well, Guerin, shall we get to work or what?"

He grinned and slid his sunglasses from the top of his head to the bridge of his nose and peered out over the rims at her. He pursed his lips and halfway smiled. "Sure DeLuca, let's get to work."

Isabel scooted over to Maria's vacated chair next to Kyle and the two them watched the bad ass bounty hunters leave.

Michael followed her out of the café while wiping his hands on his jeans. He tried to swagger, but the muse of attraction was weighing him down. He watched Maria DeLuca walk and admired the way her shorts hugged her hips and rode high on her thighs. Her strong calf muscles sculpted into socks and boots. A line of sweat had broken out on her back and was seeping through her tank shirt.

"You wanna drive?" She turned around and faced him, the midday heat beating down into her scalp; she assumed it was frying her brain because all she could think about while watching Michael Guerin walk closer to her was him naked and underneath her.

"Yeah," he pulled keys from his pocket and noticed his palms were sweaty again. No woman had ever had that kind of effect on him before. "No." He looked around with the sudden memory of Isabel driving to the café and grinned. "I mean, I will, but I don't have my truck."

Maria grinned and felt her nipples tighten. "Back at the office?" With a nod for an answer she motioned towards her jeep. "I'll drive us there and then you can drive me." She blushed. "I mean, then you can drive from there…" Her attempt at covering up the Freudian slip was futile. She had thrown the cards on the able and wondered if she'd be dealt a joker.

Don't get involved. It's just a job with an extremely hot man. Who care's if you haven't been able to have any type of relationship for the last three years? This is a job and he's your partner for the duration of it, don't get involved. She warned herself and mused that she never listened to anyone else's warnings, why would she listen to her own?

She got into the driver's seat and waited for Michael to get in. She noticed he stumbled on the way in and fought back a laugh.

Michael swore as his foot caught on the runner of her jeep. Falling down and making a complete ass of himself was not exactly what he had in mind. He was still working towards the cool bounty hunter persona he displayed for the general public.

Maria drove with the radio loud and her attention on trying to remember the way to the office without having to ask for directions. She parked on the street in front of the office and gave herself a figurative pat on the back for not getting lost. She cut the engine and looked at her passenger.

"You took the long way," he grinned and jumped out of the jeep before she could respond.

She carefully removed the faceplate to the stereo, grabbed her backpack and followed her new partner to a white pick-up truck a few spaces in front of them. Maria got in the passenger side and tucked her backpack underneath her legs on the floor.

Michael took a deep breath before getting in the cab of the truck. "So, where do you think we should start?"

"You tell me Guerin," she shrugged and felt the trickle of sweat run in-between her breasts. "This is your town and you know little Miss Liz Parker, right?"

Michael started the engine and didn't turn down either the radio or the air-conditioner. Maria savored them both. She stretched her legs out as far as she could and looked at her chauffeur. The strong jaw line, the full lips and cocky attitude. Exactly what she didn't need in her life right now. What she needed was to find Liz Parker and move on.

.Chapter Twelve

Michael reached for the volume dial on the radio and reluctantly turned it down as he cruised expertly through overly familiar streets. "Okay, my suggestion is we check out the bus station and train terminal."

"Sounds like a good idea, she wouldn't fly here and she didn't have a car in Vegas," Maria nodded slipping back into bad ass bounty hunter mode. "And I can almost bet money on the fact that she will come here."

"But you don't know for sure."

"No one knows anything for sure," she smiled and pulled the front of her tank shirt away from her skin trying to let some of the cool air in. She leaned down and away from Michael so the vent was directed straight at her chest. "Is it always this freaking hot here?"

Michael grinned and tried to catch a glimpse of what she was baring to the vent, he was unsuccessful. "We have kind of a heat wave going on right now, usually its not so bad."

"A heat wave," she sighed and leaned back against the vinyl seat feeling somewhat cooler. "Of course it's a heat wave."

"Should break in a few days."

"I doubt I'll be here that long," she murmured and watched the town as they drove by.

"So," Michael felt like he should talk but he didn't know what to say. The words he usually used with women would sound stupid to this one. Hell, they usually sounded stupid to himself as well, but the chicks liked them. "Did you get any information from Nancy Parker?"

Maria nodded. "Probably more than she thought. She's been in contact with her daughter; I know that for a fact because she knew who I was. So sometime in the last few days she's talked to Liz which indicates she knows where she's at."

"So, if Nancy knows who you are wouldn't she tell Liz to stay away from Roswell?"

Maria tilted her head to one side before slamming her open palm against the dashboard. "Fuck!"

Michael cringed. "Sorry."

"Not your fault, my fault." Maria shook her head and closed her eyes. "Fuck."

Michael was silent, a rare thing for him, and drove to the bus station. He got out of the truck and waited a beat before making sure Maria DeLuca was following him. They walked side by side into the station, an oppressive gray building where exhaust fumes seemed to hover.

Maria followed Michael inside the building and to the information booth. Michael leaned on the counter and tilted his sunglasses upwards, he licked his lips as the woman behind the counter looked up at him and smiled.

"Hi," he looked at her nametag, "Misty. I was wondering if you could help me out?"

Misty was a little bit older than Michael and a little overweight and a little out of fashion. She giggled nervously.

"Great," Michael laid on the charm and rested both elbows on the counter. "I was wondering if you have the information about passengers coming into Roswell."

"Oh, well," Misty the counter-clerk looked around nervously. "That's not for the public. Confidential, you know."

"Right, I know, but this is really important here for us." Michael motioned to Maria who stepped up closer to him and smiled at Misty.

Misty took in the sight of Maria and her demeanor changed from giddy to sullen. "Sorry."

"Listen Misty," Michael grinned, "this is my cousin and she's trying to find her girlfriend. She was supposed to be here in town yesterday and we can't find her. Could you just tell us if she was or is on a passenger list? My cousin's getting a little worried." He turned to face Maria and winked.

"Her girl…" Misty's eyes widened and she nodded. "Right. Well, I guess I could look for you, what her girlfriend's name?"

"Elizabeth Parker." Michael smiled.

"Elizabeth Parker," Misty said the name as she tapped on the computer keyboard in front of her. "I have an E. Parker and a Beth Parker and Parker Elizabeth."

"Parker Elizabeth," Michael and Maria said at the same time.

"Parker Elizabeth arrived in Roswell about three hours ago," Misty smiled obviously happy to help with the reunion of girlfriends. "So, you probably just missed her."

"Thanks doll," Michael winked at her and walked away from the counter with Maria back at his side. "So she is here."

"My girlfriend?" Maria rolled her eyes behind dark glasses. "I can't believe you told her I was a lesbian."

"You saw the way she looked at me, she wouldn't have told us if she thought we were an item." Michael held the door open for her.

"An item?" Maria laughed after being assaulted by the heat again. "That's good." She slowed her pace down to walk in back of him and admired the way his ass filled his jeans.

"Quit staring at my ass DeLuca," Michael called back to her as he reached the truck.

Maria laughed and got in the passenger side. "So, she is here. Maybe Nancy didn't have a way to warn her not to come."

"Maybe," Michael gunned the truck out of the parking lot. "So, now what?"

"Are you new at this?" Maria asked trying to keep the accusation out of her voice.

"No, but I've never worked with anyone before besides Isabel. And it seems like you have a serious hard-on for Liz, so I'm playing nice. I'm getting along well with others." He stole a glance at her.

Maria smiled. "Now, we stake out the Parker house and see if little Lizzie comes home again. But first, we have to stop for some water."

* * *

One hour and twenty minutes.

Michael Guerin and Maria DeLuca had sitting down the street from Nancy Parker's house for one hour and twenty minutes and had nothing to show for it. The temperature had climbed somewhere past one hundred and inside the cab of the truck, it felt like seven hundred to Maria.

Her shirt was pulled up just barely covering her breasts, her abdomen exposed, slick with sweat. The shirt was soaked through and she wondered how'd she'd score in a wet T-shirt contest. She unbuttoned the button on her shorts and folded down the waist; anything to get just a little cooler. Her socks and boots had been discarded after about fifteen minutes of sitting in the sweltering heat.

Michael sat in his jeans and T-shirt. He ditched the black one in favor of a white one that was behind his seat. The white shirt was almost transparent.

"Can a person actually cook?" Maria asked and turned her head lazily towards her new partner.

"I think so," he looked slowly to her, taking in the way the shirt was plastered to her breasts, the way her nipples were almost visible beneath the fabric. He swore he would have given his eyeteeth for her to be wearing a white shirt.

Maria knew he was staring at her breasts from behind the dark glasses and although she hated to admit it, it turned her on. Against her better judgement, she raised her arms up in a fake stretch knowing the semi-circle bottoms of her breasts just might become exposed. She didn't have a clue as to why she was flirting when she knew it would be disastrous.

Michael watched as she stretched and felt his arousal surge with the brief glimpse of breast flesh. How he was ever going to be able to work side by side with her was beyond him.

He parted his lips and licked them, about ready to make some inane comment about heat on flesh when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Something unexpected.

Someone unexpected.

* * *

.Chapter Thirteen

"What the hell is he doing here?" Michael watched his friend Max Evans get out of his shiny silver car and start walking towards Nancy Parker's house. Without thinking, he was out of the truck, Maria was on his heels trying to pull down her shirt and button her shorts on the way.

"Michael," Max stopped in mid step when Michael Guerin appeared in front of him. "Hi."

Michael narrowed his eyes and took Max by the arm leading him back towards the truck. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I was…" Max looked back and forth between his friend and the cute blond stranger next to him and smiled. "Who are you?"

"Never mind her, what the hell are you doing going to the Parker's?" Michael ignored the glare he knew he was getting from Maria.

"Hi," Maria elbowed Michael out of the way and extended her hand towards the dark-haired stranger with a great smile in front of her. Great smile? I wonder when I got so desperate. She again decided it was the heat and then wondered what the hell she looked like after sitting in a sweltering truck for more than an hour with an intensely sexy man next to her. "Maria DeLuca, please excuse the excess sweat but this town is entirely too hot."

In more ways than one.

The man shook her hand, "Max Evans, nice to meet you."

"Yeah, yeah," Michael rolled his eyes. "So Max, what the hell are you doing here?"

"It kind of bothered me that you were after Liz…I just wanted to stop by and see how her mom is doing."

"Have you heard from Liz?" Michael accused.

"I haven't heard from Liz in eight years," Max spat back with more emotion than he should have. "Nancy Parker was always nice and I'm sure she's been through a lot lately and I just wanted to see how she was. You know, considering my best friend is going to turn her daughter in."

"She's a criminal," Maria interjected as a realization hit her like a bullet train. "Evans? You and Isabel?"

"She's my sister," Max tilted his head to the left side. "You know Iz?"

"Shit," Michael sighed. "Maria is a bond enforcement agent and is also trying to catch your girlfriend."

"Another bad ass bounty hunter, huh?" Max said with something close to an amused look on his face. He glanced at Michael. "And she's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever, just do me a favor? Stay away from the Parker's or I'm going to start suspecting something might be going on," Michael pursed his lips and felt sweat trickle down his back.

"I'm sorry Michael, did you just become my keeper?"

"No, I've had that job for a long time already. Just go home Maxwell, I'll call you later and we'll meet for a beer tonight, okay?"

"Will you be joining us, Maria?" Max asked ignoring Michael completely and centering all of his attention on Maria.

"No, she won't. We're not friends and we won't go have a beer and talk about work," he smiled at Maria while speaking. "Right?"

"Actually, a beer later on sounds fantastic." Maria smiled back at him before facing Max. "Thank you."

Michael shook his head and looked at the ground. He had been pretty sure before that this Maria DeLuca was going to be a pain in his ass, now he was positive. "Go home Max. I--" he glanced at Maria, "Excuse me, we will meet you around six at the usual place. Unless of course we zero in on your girlfriend, then we might be a few minutes late."

"Great," Max smiled in Maria's direction. "I'll be looking forward to it." He started walking back across the street to his car and looked over his shoulder once before getting in.

"He's a friend of yours?" Maria asked after they got back in the truck. "That's hard to believe."

"Why is that so hard to believe?"

"He just seems so…Normal," Maria shrugged and folded her shirt back up under her breasts. She caught a glance at her chest and figured she might do pretty well in a wet T-shirt competition.

"He is normal, too normal." Michael turned on the bench seat to face her. He licked his lips taking in every inch of her. He knew he could turn on the a/c for a few minutes to cool them down, but seeing her sweaty with her shirt soaked against her skin, he'd suffer with the heat. "That's why I think he's hiding something."

"You don't believe he'd just show up to check on Nancy?" Maria knew Michael was looking at her and she liked it. She swiveled on the seat and sat cross-legged, her back against the door.

He shrugged, "He might. You never really know with Max. Well, I guess you'll see what I mean tonight."

Tonight. Maria nodded and wondered what in the hell had possessed her to tag along for a beer. Underneath the heat of a reckless desire, she didn't want to get involved. A night with Michael Guerin would be good, but that was it, she didn't have room in her life for a man. Especially not a man who lived in hell and was entirely too much like her.

* * *

Four hours and thirty-five minutes.

Maria gave up caring about Liz Parker around the three-hour mark. It was a lesson in futility as far as she was concerned. It was obvious that Liz Parker wasn't going to just walk down the street and into her mother's house. Nancy hadn't been seen all day except when she stepped on the porch to retrieve her mail.

"I can't take it anymore Guerin," She sat up straight after pulling away from the vinyl slowly. "I think I might be actually boiling. I mean, my skin is burnt from the windows and you've seen more of me that I ever thought imaginable." She glanced to her barely covered breasts.

Somewhere in the time that had passed, she managed to rip the front of her tank shirt open down the middle. The thin wet fabric hugged her nipples, but left most of her breasts exposed. She had fumed that it was turning her on the way Michael had watched her earlier, now she just didn’t care.

Michael looked at her with heavy eyes. He'd ditched the sunglasses when they kept sliding off his nose. His eyes lingered on the milky flesh of her breasts and the slight discoloration of the contour of her aureole. If the heat wouldn't have melted the irrational part of his brain, he would have made a move.

He saw in his mind's eye what he wanted to do; but he didn't have the energy. He wanted to lean across the bench seat and pull her shirt open totally exposing what he had already seen part of. He wanted to suck the salty sweat off of her nipples until she begged him for more.

"Quit staring at my tits," she smiled.

"I can't help it," he shrugged. "They are right there." He pointed.

"Let's call it a day, we can shower and then figure out what to do next."

"Together?"

"Guerin, let me explain something to you," she pointed down to her chest. "What you see right now is all you're ever going to see. If it wasn't nine hundred degrees in this oven you call a truck, you would have never seen this much."

"Ouch," he started the truck and turned the radio up. He waited a few minutes with the truck running until he felt the first hint of cool air coming out of the vents. He turned the a/c up and watched Maria's chest. He saw her nipples poke through the material of her shirt and grinned. She wanted him, he was sure of that.

Maria closed her eyes and savored every second of the cool air and loud music. When she opened her eyes they were parked in the small dusty lot outside of the bail bonds office. She grabbed her boots and backpack and was out of the truck before Michael even turned off the engine.

"Where should I meet you and Max?" She asked walking around to the driver's side.

"Where are you staying?"

Maria raised one eyebrow at him, "The Martian Inn."

"Two blocks east, a little dive of a bar called Little Green Bar. You can't miss the green neon in the window."

"Little Green Bar," she nodded and walked to her jeep. "See you there."

Michael watched her get in the jeep and peel out of the parking lot. He looked towards the office and saw Isabel at the door watching him. He cut the engine and got out walking slowly towards his partner.

"You look like shit," she smiled and held the door open for him.

"Thanks," he smirked sarcastically. "It's freaking hot out there."

"So I noticed. Anything?"

"Liz arrived in Roswell this morning by bus, we've been at her moms all day and there's been no sign of her."

"So…?" She prompted.

"So I'm going home and taking a shower then I'm meeting Maria and your brother for a drink. Okay?"

Isabel nodded and looked like she wanted to say something more, but didn't.

"Oh, speaking of your brother," Michael turned towards her and began walking back towards the door. "Any idea why he felt the need to go and check on Nancy Parker today?"

.Chapter Fourteen

A cold beer sounded good to Maria DeLuca. A lot of cold beer sounded even better. She trudged up the steps to her hotel room; exhaustion from the heat and sexual frustration over Michael Guerin were weighing her down. When she stepped into her room she was glad she had left the a/c running while she was gone. The coolness of the room was invigorating. She pulled her ripped shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor making a mental note to get reimbursed for two ripped shirts during the hunt for Liz Parker.

She took her boots, socks and shorts off and laid down completely nude on the cool polyester blend bedspread and damned herself. Damned herself for slipping up with Liz Parker and double damned herself for the flirtation with her temporary partner.

Now off for cocktails with said partner and his friend. His friend with the great smile and suspicious actions. She dragged herself off the bed and to the bathroom for a shower; she hoped the shower would not only wash away the sweat, but any desire for Michael Guerin as well.

* * *

Michael arrived at Little Green Bar as Max Evans pulled into the parking lot. After a fast conversation with Isabel and an even faster shower, he'd dressed in jeans and a dry white T-shirt. It was too tight for him, but Isabel always said it gave off the illusion of him looking a lot better than he really did. He took that as a compliment. His hair was still damp as the two friends walked side by side into their favorite watering hole.

"So, where's Maria?" Max asked once they had sat in a booth, a change of scenery from their normal bar stools.

Michael narrowed his eyes and noticed Max looked a lot better than he normally did. His hair wasn't flat and flyaway, but gelled or moussed or something. He wasn't dressed like the nerdy scholar Michael had become accustomed to either. He was actually dressed similar to Michael in jeans and a T-shirt.

"I'm sure she'll be here," Michael said slowly and considered the fact that Max might be wanting to make a move on the woman Michael was already falling for. Falling in lust, that is.

"She is here," Maria stood at the end of the table and debated who to sit next to. Michael, who she wanted to jump, or Max, the stranger with the great smile? She sat next to Max.

Maria DeLuca cleaned up nice. A pair of ecru linen shorts and a white button-down short sleeved shirt with sandals. Michael actually tried to see if she was wearing a bra or not. He decided if she wasn't, he was going to physically break the air conditioner in the bar.

"So, you're like him?" Max smiled at her.

"She's not like me," Michael shook his head.

"I'm not like him," Maria pointed across the table.

"Oh God," Max rolled his eyes. "Now there's two of you? I meant, so you're a bounty hunter too, huh? You seem too…What's the word I'm looking for?"

"With ovaries?" Maria supplied and earned one of those great smiles.

"No, more like petite." Max laughed. "I guess I just picture a female bounty hunter as being more…Not like you." He winked as he saved himself from something uncomfortable.

The waitress came and took their orders before Maria responded. "Isn't your sister one?"

"Iz?" Max laughed along with Michael. "Isabel is more of the office type. Right?" He cast his eyes across the table to Michael who looked at him with an unreadable face.

"She can hold her own," Michael defended his partner. "We've gone out and brought people in together before, she'd probably a lot stronger than you give her credit for, Max."

Max shrugged and turned his attention back to Maria. "So, how did you become a bounty hunter?"

"My uncle was one," Maria said before she could stop herself. Sharing with others was too close to playing well with others. "He got me into it."

"DeLuca?" Michael asked, his eyes wide.

"Guerin?" Maria bugged her eyes out at him and waited.

"Chuck DeLuca, he was your uncle." Michael stated rather than asked. "Man, I didn't even put that together."

"You knew Chuck?" Maria asked, the words catching in her throat.

"Not personally, just by reputation." Michael waited for the waitress to set down their drinks before continuing. "He was the best bounty hunter on the West Coast from what I've heard about him."

"You heard correctly, he was the best."

"What happened to him?" Max's dark eyes were full of concern as his hand touched her arm.

"He was killed in a convenience store hold-up," Maria took a sip of her beer. "A few years ago."

"I'm sorry," Max squeezed her arm reassuringly.

Maria smiled at him and nodded. Something was off with Max Evans, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. "Thank you."

"You really did learn from the best didn't you?" Michael raised his eyebrows, a look of awe on his face.

"Yeah, I did."

"I took a class," Michael shook his head. "Well, that and I watched a hell of a lot of re-runs of Renegade."

Maria grinned and bit her bottom lip as she saw something new take over the cocky attitude of Michael Guerin, respect.

"That's pretty cool," Max nodded. "So how do you like Roswell?"

She looked at him confused, then her eyes grew wide. "Roswell, right, you mean one of the circles of hell. I hate it here, actually."

"I told her it was a heat wave," Michael explained. He was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable sitting across from the other two. Jealousy sprang up out of nowhere towards Max and he didn't like it.

"Yeah, it is hot out there," Max nodded.

"Yeah, I probably lost about eleven pounds of sweat sitting in that truck all day." Maria smiled and thought about the way that Michael's wet T-shirt had hugged his abs. The hunger in his eyes when he stared at her breasts. She looked across the table at him and wondered if he was getting as hot as she was. The ache between her legs was turning into a fire.

"Well, you looked great." Max smiled pulling Maria out of her daydreams.

"Thanks, so Max. What were doing at the Parker's?" Maria felt herself slip right back into work mode knowing it work make Chuck proud. She thought she'd heard a flopping sound a few seconds ago and realized it was Chuck turning over in his grave at her behavior. She was a bounty hunter and she had a job to do.

"Just what I said earlier, I was just checking on Nancy." Max nodded and took a drink from his bottle, lowering his head as he did.

"Max, cut the bullshit and tell me what the fuck's going on." Michael's words were cool.

"No bullshit, Michael." Max shook his head.

"So you haven't heard from Liz, at all?"

"I haven't heard from or seen Liz since her and her dad left Roswell," Max answered a little vehemently that was needed. "Get off it, okay?"

"It's my job," Michael glanced at Maria, "It's our job."

"I don't know anything, okay?" Max finished his beer with one more long swallow. "But from what you remember of Liz, do you really think she's the type to steal money?"

Michael shrugged. "People change, Maxwell. People change."

"Yeah, they do." Max responded then touched Maria's arm. "I can't stay, not that the company wasn't delightful, but I have some homework to do tonight, still. Will you excuse me?"

Maria stood up and let Max out of the booth. "Nice to meet you Max."

He took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her knuckle. "Likewise, maybe you would care to accompany me to dinner tomorrow night? I could show you that Roswell is not actually one of the circles of hell."

Maria smiled and nodded. "Sure, Max, that'd be great." She reached into her backpack and got out a business card. "Here's my cell number."

Max smiled as he tucked the card into his back pocket. "Tomorrow," he smiled at her then turned to Michael. "Michael."

Michael watched in shock as Max walked away. "What are you doing?" He accused when Maria sat back down. "What the hell was that about?"

"Your friend is hiding something," Maria shrugged.

"So you're going to go on a date with him?" he asked incredulously.

"It's called working, Guerin," she rolled her eyes and was filled with the satisfaction of hearing jealousy in his voice.

"Whatever," Michael looked around for their waitress and motioned for another beer.

"You sound a little jealous there, Guerin."

Michael didn't answer; he only looked at her. He licked his lips and smiled.

Maria felt the heat rise through her. She wanted him so bad she could almost taste him. She felt her bare breasts press against the cool cotton of the button-down shirt and wondered if she should have worn a bra. It was just so hot…

"I'm not jealous," he said as the waitress delivered two fresh beers and picked up the empty bottles. "Why would I be jealous?"

Maria shrugged and wondered if she had been reading him wrong. All of the lascivious behavior she thought she had picked up on him before could have been nothing at all. The staring at her breasts? What sane man wouldn't stare at almost bare breasts?

"Okay," she pushed the bottle away. "I think I'm just going to go back to my hotel, I'm tired and pissed off and I think I need a good nights sleep."

"For your date?" He downed the rest of the bottle while pulling money out of his wallet. "What time shall I meet you in the morning?"

"I can come to the office around seven? Eight?" Maria noticed a change in his demeanor that told her he was jealous. Knowing that, it sent a different kind of spark through her.

"Eight is good," he tossed the money on the table. "I'm going home." He stood and waited to see if Maria was going to leave with him. He smiled when he saw her rise. He followed her out of the bar and saw her jeep backed in next to his truck.

"So," she leaned against the metal of the truck's driver's side door.

"So what?" He shrugged and licked his suddenly very dry lips.

"We cool?"

"Yeah DeLuca, we're cool." He smiled and shook his head. "You sure you're going out with Max for work reasons?"

"Yeah Guerin, I'm sure," she stepped closer to him, their bodies inches apart. She looked up at him. "Just work. Are you sure you're not jealous?"

Michael looked down into her eyes and then leaned forward. He pushed her body against his truck, his groin grinding into hers. His hands reaching under the cotton shirt to touch what he had been thinking about since they were in the Crashdown. His mouth fell onto hers, his tongue prying inside.

Maria reached around him and ran one hand through his hair, the other down his back. She felt his hands underneath her shirt, cupping her breasts, then rolling her nipples between his forefinger and thumb. She could feel his erection crushing into her, making her pelvis buck against him. Wanting him.

She felt one of his hands slide down the front of her, his fingers edging their way down underneath the waist of her shorts. She sucked in her stomach to allow him to enter her shorts.

With a gasp, she felt his fingers touch her wetness. She pushed down on his hand while devouring his mouth with hers.

He pulled his hand out of her shorts and pushed her shirt up over her breasts exposing them to himself and anyone else who happened by. He lowered his head away from hers and attached his lips to one rosy pert nipple. She clasped his head with her hands and moaned.

Michael stopped almost as fast as he had started. He faced her, excited to see her flushed and smirked. "No DeLuca, I'm not jealous."

Maria caught her breath, pulled down her shirt and smiled before walking past him and getting into her jeep.

* * *

Chapter Fifteen

The smile on her face was anything but real. That smile held more contempt and disdain than anything else did on the planet. The disdain and contempt was focused solely on one person; herself. As she smiled back to Michael before pulling out of the parking lot, she had a vision of slamming her head into the windshield. Maybe that, she thought, might knock some freaking sense into her.

She turned the radio up and tried to ignore the wetness between her legs and the lingering touch of Michael Guerin.

Did I actually just get felt up in the parking lot of something as stupidly named as 'Little Green Bar'? Did I just let someone I barely know and not all that sure I actually like that much stick his hand in my pants?

She shook her head and ignored the amber changing to red light overhead and ran one hand over her shirt, over her breast, to see if the residual effects of Michael Guerin had gone away. Not yet. Damning herself, she pulled into the parking lot of her hotel leaving a cloud of dust and rocks in her wake. She got out of the jeep and charged up the steps to her room.

The door was barely closed before she leaned against it and slid down to the floor. Her eyes were damp with unwanted tears. She wiped at the wetness and laughed at her foolishness.

"You are acting like a high school girl," she shook her head. "A stupid girl who just let the star quarterback stick his hand down her pants and then regrets it minutes later." Her smile became real as the tears evaporated. "You are all grown up and can do whatever you want. Mr. Guerin has nice hands and nice mouth. Top that off with a nice ass and maybe, just maybe, me and Mr. G. might have ourselves one hell of wild one-nighter before I either leave this hellish town or melt." Maybe, but on my terms.

She stood up feeling somewhat better about her decision to allow Michael to touch her and stripped off her clothes. The wet ache between her legs wasn't budging and every little thought about Michael made it worse.

She lay down on the bed and took a few deep breaths. Her hands resting on her bare thighs with a desire and loneliness she had grown accustomed to.

* * *

Michael Guerin was hard.

He sat in his truck for several minutes after watching Maria DeLuca pull out of the parking lot trying to figure out what in the hell had gotten into him. Fondling strange women in parking lots was not something he generally did. It wasn't something he had ever done before and honestly didn't think he ever would do again. There was just something about her…

There was something about this bad ass bounty hunter that was making him lose control. Something animal in him had been called and the fact that she didn't scream, run away or shoot him proved to him that this attraction was very much mutual.

The taste of her breast in his mouth, the saltiness of her nipple being rolled beneath his tongue.

He shook his head in amazement. He couldn't believe that she had let him act out some type of fantasy on her right out in the open. Right out where anyone could see. He smiled to himself thinking about the way she had sucked in her stomach to allow his hand to travel down into her shorts.

Was she almost completely shaved down there?

He remembered a little coarseness of hair before his fingers slid into a velvety wetness. He had teased her and as he realized it, his self-confidence was over brimming. Not that he usually didn't have an over-indulgence of self-confidence, Isabel would be the first to agree with him on that point, but tonight with Maria DeLuca he felt like…He couldn't quite put his finger on it. Something Shakespearean, like, Taming of the Shrew.

He shook his head and started the truck welcoming the loud music to take his mind away from an unfathomable experience in a parking lot with a woman he was uncontrollably drawn to.

* * *

Maria pulled the cool sheets around her body and pushed all thoughts of Michael Guerin from her head. There was still only one reason she was in Roswell.

Liz Parker.

Liz Parker was the reason she was staying in hell and being molested by complete strangers. Liz Parker was the reason she seemed to have lost some of the self-confidence she thrived on. Liz Parker was the one who had made Maria DeLuca remember a few things about human nature only to have it thrown back in her face.

Before sleep took over her body, Maria thought briefly about the date she had made with Max Evans for the following night. She knew he was hiding something and was determined to do whatever it takes to make sure he told her all of his secrets.

She drifted off to a restless sleep as the hum of the air conditioner reminded her she was still indeed in hell.

* * *

Maria woke up early, too early the following morning. After staying in bed until the sun was vibrant through the curtains, she showered and dressed for a day of working side by side with Michael Guerin. Wearing khaki shorts, boots and white tank shirt with a bra she was ready to start the day.

A few minutes before eight, Maria DeLuca walked into the bail bonding office and was greeted by Isabel and a cup of coffee. She declined the coffee and opted for a cold bottled water instead. At eight o'clock in the morning, the temperature was already close to ninety.

"So," Isabel taped her pen on the Teakwood desk. "Do you think you and Michael are going to be able to track down Liz?"

"I know I will and I guess Michael will tag along for the ride," Maria winked.

"He's good," Isabel leaned back in the chair. "Michael is, I mean."

"I'm sure he is," Maria nodded and narrowed her eyes not exactly sure where the conversation was going.

"No, he really is good. His record isn't as impressive as yours, but he's still good."

Maria nodded again and waited for elaboration.

"He called me last night and told me who your uncle was," Isabel admitted. "Chuck DeLuca was a legend and I'm very sorry for your loss." Maria acknowledged her sympathy with a nod. "The reason I'm telling you Michael is good is because it's the truth. If he makes mistakes, it's because he's trying too hard to impress you. I just don't want to see him make a complete ass out of himself and screw everything up."

Maria grinned and took a big drink of water with the hopes some of the coolness would stay in her system. "I'm not my uncle, no one needs to impress me."

"We're talking about Michael," Isabel smiled back at her. "Sometimes he doesn't think before he reacts."

No shit, something else we have in common. Maria nodded and wondered if her head was going to fall off from all the nodding.

"Listen, I want Liz Parker. I don't care what you two have to do to get her," Isabel leaned forward with her elbows resting on the desk.

"We'll get her, Iz." Michael's voice came from the doorway. Tight jeans and an even tighter black T-shirt was the attire for the day. He strode towards the two women with his sunglasses on feeling every bit the part of bad ass bounty hunter. At least until he promptly tripped on the carpet and barely caught his balance on the corner of the desk.

"See what I mean?" Isabel grinned at Maria before they laughed together at Michael's expense.

* * *

.Chapter Sixteen

Michael regained his composure after the nearly fatal image-fall and smiled at the two still laughing women. "Okay, get it out of your systems." He felt the heat rising up his neck with the embarrassment he was trying to hide.

"So Guerin," Maria raised her eyebrows at him and waited until he faced her behind those dark glasses to continue. "Did you have a nice trip?"

Isabel Evans laughed so hard she was almost gagging. "Oh God!"

Michael sighed and remembered how smooth Maria's skin was to calm him down. She may be playing the part of smart-ass, but he thought he had her number.

"So, while the little girl-chatter has been going on," he took off his sunglasses and faced Maria again, "did you tell Isabel about her brother?"

Maria narrowed her eyes and glared at him, not at all surprised by Isabel's sudden silence.

"I guess not," Michael smirked.

"What about my brother?" The defensiveness in Isabel's voice was overbearing.

"DeLuca here has a date with him tonight," Michael grinned as he felt the tension thicken around him.

"You're going on a date with Max?" Isabel asked, her eyes wide, before she laughed out loud again. "Oh God, anymore of this and I might pee in my pants!"

Maria didn't laugh along with her this time, she felt the edge of a ripple of anger just below the surface and the person to blame was standing beside her. She shook her head slightly at him but knew the effort was futile.

"She thinks he's hiding something." Michael added when Isabel's laughter quieted.

"Max? You think Max is hiding something?" Isabel's tone changed back from jovial to defensive.

"I just think that Max knows something about Liz Parker," Maria explained and sat up straighter in her chair.

"Michael?" Isabel bypassed Maria and faced her friend. "Do you feel the same way?"

He shrugged and cocked his head to one side. "As long as I've known Max, he really sucks at being all stealthy, right? You know that as well as I do. Do I think Max knows something about Liz Parker? I wouldn't have had he not shown up at her mom's house yesterday."

"You seriously think he's heard from her?" Isabel kept her eyes trained on Michael.

He shrugged again wondering how the focus of the intended target, Maria, had shifted from her to him. "I don't know; but he's definitely being… Squirrelly. I'm sure DeLuca can weasel some information out of him."

Isabel faced the woman across the desk from her and took her in as if seeing her for the first time. Brilliant green eyes, pouty lips, gorgeous natural blond hair and a body that wouldn't stop. Strong mentally and physically. She envisioned her pop-psychology, over-analyzing brother getting chewed up and spit out.

"What are you going to do with Max?" Isabel narrowed her eyes at Maria.

Maria was taken aback by the question. Crimson flowered over her chest wondering if Michael had told her about their slight indiscretion in the parking lot the night before. "Try to get any information out of him I can," she glanced up at Michael. "Anyway that I have to."

"Good," Isabel smiled. "That's what I wanted to hear."

Michael's jaw dropped.

"Don't look so surprised Michael," Isabel rolled her eyes at him. "If my dear brother is hiding something, then so help me God, you two better figure it out and fast. I told you, I want Liz Parker."

"You really got a hard-on for Liz," Michael murmured.

"If you must put it in such a garish way, then yes, I do have a hard-on for her." Isabel tilted back in her chair and folded her arms over her breasts. "Liz Parker is important to us Michael. We're still new, still getting our feet wet. Liz is high profile and high dollar. We're working with the niece of the legendary Chuck DeLuca. This is our chance to make a real name for ourselves."

The corner's of Michael's mouth turned upwards. Leave it to Isabel to throw her brother to the wolves for business. Not actually wolves, but one wolf in Maria clothing.

"You ready?" He asked Maria and took a step backward to allow her room to stand.

"Find her," Isabel stood as well. "Find that little Liz Parker and we can all go home happy."

Maria smiled over her shoulder at a woman she would want to call a friend if she had the time or correct locale. She shuddered when she felt Michael place his hand on her back to lead her from the office. She shook it off and heard a sound from him; somewhere between a laugh and a groan.

"Truck?" He asked as they walked out into the sun and stood in front of their two vehicles parked side by side.

Maria looked back and forth between her non-air-conditioned jeep and the air-conditioned truck. "Truck."

They got inside and she immediately felt the hot vinyl stick to the back of her thighs. She raised her pelvis and lowered herself slowly trying to absorb the heat in the most gingerly way possible.

"A little too hot for you, DeLuca?" Michael asked with a sideways smirk as he started the truck.

Maria caught the double entendre and chose to ignore it. She switched the a/c vents to her direction and fought against hope to keep her eyes off the T-shirt that seemed to sculpt his chest. The sleeves riding just a little high on his arms, just high enough to give her complete viewing pleasure of his biceps.

"I guess we should stake out Ms. Parker's again?" Michael asked as he pulled out of the parking lot. Hopeful she would say yes and thankful she had worn a white shirt.

"No, I don't think she'll go there. I mean if she isn't already inside that is." Maria couldn't even imagine having another sweat-fest in the truck again.

"So then…" Michael gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. He felt he was acting like someone who just started and was being trained. He was a bounty hunter, and a damn good one, he didn't need this little woman to tell him his job. He knew his job; he was just acting like a lovesick schoolboy because he wanted back in her pants. "So then we should start with all the area hotels." He didn't ask, he stated.

Maria smiled and nodded. Exactly what she had in mind. Little Liz Parker had made it to Roswell via bus yesterday and had disappeared into the sand as far as she knew.

"I wonder if she looks the same…" Michael trailed off while changing the radio station away from chatty morning shows.

"I know what she looks like," Maria piped up. "We've been face to face."

"Still long brown hair, kind of mousy?"

"Mousy?" Maria repeated with a smile. "Yeah, kind of mousy. Long dark hair? Nope. Bad dye job and cut. Her hair's choppy, around shoulder length unless she got it fixed from when I saw her in Vegas. It's a really light brown now, almost blond."

"As blond as you?"

Maria shook her head. "Nope, but I'm a real blond."

"Hmm…" Michael nodded, the words so poised and ready to go, he couldn't stop himself. "I couldn't really tell by touch."

Maria felt herself blush and knew that it had only been a matter to time before Michael brought up the night before. She decided not to dignify him with a response. It was just too fucking early in the morning for that.

"Her hair is more of a kind of redish-blondish-browninsh. Not a great job, she could have changed it again by now." Maria stated and looked out her window.

Michael grinned as she easily maneuvered out of his statement. Not a bad non-answer for now, it was still pretty early in the morning and they had all day together. Well, until her date with Max Evans. Michael didn't like the idea of her going out with Max, something foreign was running through his senses and he didn't quite understand it. He wouldn't dare admit he might be jealous.

"Let's start here," Michael pulled into the parking lot of motel and cut the engine outside of the office. He licked his bottom lip and looked at his passenger. "About last night…"

Maria drew in a deep breath. "Last night, the beer was cold, my body temperature was nearing a thousand and the alcohol might have gone to my head a little bit." Truth? She arched her eyebrows as she questioned herself. Not even close.

"Yeah, anyway, it's supposed to be a little hotter out today." Michael nodded and seemed to accept the explanation. He got out of the car and met her on the other side. "So, you want to go out for a beer later?"

Maria shook her head and grinned.

* * *

.Chapter Seventeen

"How many more hotels?" Maria asked after they had already visited eight without any luck.

"Two, including yours." Michael looked at the picture of Liz Parker in his hand. "I guess it's a good thing you had this with you, huh?"

"I guess," Maria adjusted the seatbelt to ride below her sweltering breasts. "I'm sure Isabel has one back at the office; I forgot to ask."

"Yeah," Michael nodded and damned himself for not thinking about asking the mug shot. Rookie mistake.

"Well, if she were at my hotel, I'd have seen her, so we can rule that one out. So one more." Maria shifted her attention to the passing scenery.

Michael rolled his eyes at her complete confidence. Throughout the morning they had seemed to get along; get along better than he expected after the scene in the parking lot the night before. She was acting as if it never happened and he was waiting for it to happen again.

"Okay, so one more." Michael grabbed a water bottle from the seat in-between them and took a long swallow. Hitting a pothole, he jammed the lip of the bottle into his chin and dribbled water down his face. He knew she had been watching without looking over at her. "Not a word DeLuca, not a word."

Maria bit her lip as she watched Michael wipe his chin and then toss the bottle out the window into the bed of the truck. As they passed by the bank she was startled to see the temperature displayed on the side of the building was over a hundred. Michael had mentioned it was going to be hotter today; he was right.

Any coolness that had slipped into her body was revoked the second she saw the numbers. Sweat trickled down in-between her breasts, soaking into the cotton bra she had deemed a good idea early in the morning. As the time approached noon, she was rethinking her entire ensemble. Sandals would feel better than boots, no bra would feel better than bra. At least the shorts and cotton bikini underwear were working for her.

"So, what do you think you're going to get out of Max tonight?"

Maria cocked her head one side almost positive she detected the same jealousy as the night before right before the 'parking lot incident' as she was beginning to refer to it in her head. "I don't know, he's your friend, what do you think I'm going to get out of him?"

Michael shrugged, the visuals of this DeLuca woman going on a date with his friend was bothering him way more than he knew it should. "He'll probably analyze you when you're not looking."

"Analyze me?" Maria smirked and lifted first one thigh then the other from the seat thinking about how many layers of skin she was leaving behind.

"He's a psychology guy, working on his degree, he has a tendency to analyze everyone," Michael glanced in her direction just long enough to notice her chest had a sheen of sweat on it. Just long enough to feel a familiar little jump in his groin.

"Really?" Maria wiped new sweat from her forehead and wondered if the a/c was fizzling out. "He'll analyze me on a date?"

"I don't know, I've never been on a date with him before." Michael sighed. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I think I can handle Max Evans," Maria eyes danced behind dark glasses. "God, did it get really hot in here or what?"

"No babe, I think it's just you."

She smiled and caught herself staring at the way his jeans fit so snugly over lean hips. "Whatever, Guerin."

"Nice comeback, babe. Heat getting to you?" Michael pulled into a motel parking lot.

Maria didn't answer him and figured there would be a lot of that. Michael Guerin was worming his way under her skin and she couldn't stop it. She looked at him again and wondered if there might be something more there than just a wild one-nighter before she blew out of hell. She shuddered at her thoughts and got out of the truck meeting Michael at the front doors to walk in together.

The female counter clerk couldn't have been older than eighteen; but her belly gave away the signs of being sexually active. At least she had been about six or seven months earlier.

"You need a room?" The clerk drawled and Maria knew in an instant that she wasn't local. That was a sweet Southern drawl. "For the whole day or half?"

Michael licked his lips ready with an answer for the knocked-up teen, but Maria beat him to it.

"Honey," Maria shook her head. "Look, me and my brother here," she motioned to Michael with a nod. "We're looking for his girlfriend and we think she's here in Roswell somewhere." Maria handed the clerk Liz's mug shot. "See, my brother was in a serious car accident a little while back and got some brain damage. His girlfriend broke up with him and now we're trying to find her to let her know besides the drooling, he's really okay."

The clerk looked back and forth between Maria and Michael and nodded sadly, then looked at the picture Maria had handed her. "Yeah, she looks familiar." She nodded and chanced another look at Michael.

Michael, not to be outdone by Maria, instantly began drooling, his mouth hanging open. A fine line of spit ran down his chin and hung in the air like a wet spider web dangling in the breeze.

"Really?" Maria leaned on the counter trying to nicely pressure the clerk for more information. She looked over her shoulder at Michael and tried to fight the laugh when she saw him drooling.

"Yeah, but her hair was different. Red, I think. And shorter." The clerk nodded and then grinned. "Right, she was here! Yesterday! She checked in for a half day and checked back out after a few hours."

"You sure it was her?" Maria felt the adrenaline rush through her.

"Oh yeah, really sweet." She looked at Michael. "I hope you get her back."

"Me too," Michael nodded and wiped some of the drool off his chin with the back of his hand.

"She probably didn't mention where she was going, did she?" Maria asked.

The clerk shook her head. "No, but I saw her get into a car out front."

"A car?" Michael wiped the rest of the drool from his chin.

"Yeah a really shiny silver car."

Maria looked at Michael and he nodded. Max Evans drove a very shiny silver car.

* * *

.Chapter Eighteen

Michael shook his head as he walked with an astonished step back to the truck, Maria nipping at his heels--Her excitement couldn't be contained.

"I can't believe it!" She touched Michael's back and felt the sweat seeping into and through the black T-shirt. "What's up?"

"Man, it's Max," Michael sighed as they reached his truck. He leaned against the hot metal and lowered his sunglasses. "I can't believe Max would do something like this, you know, help her when he knows his sister and I are looking for her. It is our job."

"Maybe it's not Max," Maria tugged at the hem of her tank shirt. "He's not the only person in Ros-hell with a shiny silver car, is he?"

Michael gave her a look and frowned. "Seriously DeLuca? You know its Max just as well as I do."

"He probably has a good reason," Maria nodded and wondered why in the hell she was defending Max. Why in the hell was she trying to make Michael Guerin feel better? Before her brain could stop her, she took a step closer to him. She could feel the heat radiating off his body as she placed her hands on his chest and looked up at his face.

"You think so?" He looked down at her after taking off his sunglasses and sliding them down the back of his shirt so they hung by an arm around the neck of the black T. He tentatively placed his hands on her shoulders.

Maria took a deep breath and wondered what the hell it was about a parking lot and Michael Guerin that drove her wild. She licked her lips. "Yeah, I bet he has a good reason and I'm going to find out exactly what it is."

"How are you going to do that?" He asked in softer voice and mimicked her by running his tongue over his bottom lip.

"I guess anyway that I have to," she stepped closer into him until their faces were inches apart and her breasts were flush against his chest. The heat crushing into her chest was making her dizzy.

"Really?" His sideways smile was only visible for a second before he crushed his lips onto hers and squeezed her shoulders a little tighter until he felt her pelvis buck into his.

She nodded against his kiss while her hands roamed his sides, finally they settled; one on the back of his neck and the other flat against his thigh sandwiched in-between them.

She made a sound deep in her diaphragm that sounded like a growl as she opened her mouth against his and let her tongue explore the inside of his mouth. She heard a sound similar to her own escape from him and smiled.

His hands traveled down her back and rested underneath the firmness of her ass, cupping her, pulling her closer into him, forcing her to feel the hardness of himself.

Maria felt his hardness against her and them something rise inside of her, it was almost…Animal. She didn't think about consequences or appearances, only about pushing him down and riding him until he was begging for mercy.

Michael let one of his hands stay cupped on her ass while the other one reached under the hem of her shirt and slid upwards; in a liquid movement, he flipped the cups of the bra over her breasts freeing them from the cotton prison. Between his thumb and forefinger, he pinched one nipple until it was rock hard; then he moved to the other one.

Maria made another sound, but this one was more like a moan. Then it became a groan when she caught movement out of the corner of her slit eye. She pulled away from Michael and motioned towards her left.

Michael's eyes followed hers and he saw that they had become the main attraction for a couple sitting in their car a few spaces down. He shook his head slightly and glanced at the hotel and noticed the pregnant clerk gawking in what appeared to be sheer terror at 'brother and sister'.

"I think we should charge something," he smiled and winked.

"I think I won't ever be alone with you in a parking lot again," Maria grinned and reached under the back of her shirt to unsnap her bra. She pulled it off under her shirt in a movement mastered by women since brassieres were introduced and shoved it into her backpack. "Let's roll."

Michael opened the door for her before walking around to the other side of the truck and getting in. He started the engine and was amused by her ritual of aiming all the vents in her direction.

The truck pulled out of the parking lot and was on the street before Michael said anything. Before he worked up the nerve to talk after another serious carnal session.

"You ready for that beer?"

"No Guerin," Maria smiled, "I'm not ready for that beer. I think we need to let your partner know what the hell is going on. If that was indeed Max that picked up our little felon then she might have some ideas on what to do next."

"You want her bad, don't you?"

Maria nodded. "Yeah Guerin, I want her bad."

"What did she do to you?" He asked after picking up on something more than a hunter/huntee enthusiasm. This was personal for Maria DeLuca. "DeLuca?"

Maria bit back a grimace and debated if she wanted to tell him how she had been conned by something as honest as human nature. How she had Liz Parker handcuffed and ready to go back to Montana and then fucked it all up because of human nature. She shook her head. "Not today Guerin, not today."

"You had her, didn't you?" Michael didn't ask in the playful manner he was accustomed to. He saw the bitterness in her eyes and heard it in her voice.

Maria nodded slowly as she looked out the side window. "Yeah, I had her, but let's drop it."

Michael relented and understood her hardness. Something had happened between Maria and Liz and Maria ended up losing. Seeing the strong confident woman take a bitter backseat to the conversation made Michael want to get Liz Parker even more; even if it meant going against his friend.

* * *

"Well?" Isabel looked up eagerly as the two bad ass bounty hunters strolled into the bail-bonding office. "Anything?"

Maria sat across the desk from her and sighed.

"Michael?" Isabel looked up to her partner and immediately picked up on the tension. She knew the tension very well and she knew it by name. Max. "Son-of-a-bitch! He's involved with this, isn't he?"

"Circumstantially, yes." Michael pulled up a folding chair, turned it around and straddles it resting his elbows on the metal back. He relayed the story of the hotel clerk and the shiny silver car.

"That little bastard!" Isabel moaned and crossed her legs. "I swear…"

"We're going to get her Isabel," Maria choked out the words. "I'm sorry if your brother is involved, but we're going to get her. I have to get her."

"You damn well better," Isabel rolled her eyes. "You know, my brother is a very intelligent man, too smart for his own good sometimes-"

"You got that right," Michael interrupted.

"Anyway," Isabel went on. "The only thing that ever gets Max to do something stupid-"

"Chicks," Michael interrupted again and folded his arms over his chest. "It's always the chicks."

Isabel grinned. "He's right."

Maria nodded and stood up. "I think I'm going to go do a little shopping and buy myself something pretty to wear for my date with Mr. Aiding and Abetting."

"Shopping?" Isabel also stood, her eyes lighting up. "Mind if I join you?"

"Please," Maria smirked and started walking towards the door.

"Michael, I'm going out for a few hours," she grabbed her purse from underneath the desk. "Take care of everything here, okay?"

Michael splayed his hands in front of him, his palms up.

The two women walked to the door before Isabel turned back around. "Don't worry, I won't tell her all of your secrets," she laughed, "Only the embarrassing ones!"

The women were laughing as they walked out of the office into the desert sun leaving a very unamused Michael Guerin behind.

* * *

.Chapter Nineteen

Maria DeLuca and Isabel Evans had been at the mall for nearly an hour before Isabel held up a dress and nodded. It was short, red and she knew it would drive her brother crazy.

"Are we in 'Hookers-R-Us'?" Maria asked noting the brevity of the dress.

Isabel rolled her eyes and held it up against Maria. "You are going to look so good in this."

Maria looked down and thought about the last time she had gotten dressed up for anything. The last time had been for work as well. There were some advantages to being a female bounty hunter.

She grinned and took the dress walking back into the fitting room. She stripped out of her clothes and slid the slinky red number over her head and looked in the mirror. She suddenly felt like Cinderella going to the ball. She opened the door and showed Isabel.

"Oh wow." Isabel smiled. "Max's mouth will hit the ground. I know someone else who would probably kneel down and take instructions from you as well…" Isabel raised her eyebrows and grinned as Maria's chest flushed.

"I wonder if Marco, you know, the guy I'm working for, will cover this as an expense?"

* * *

Michael paced the office unsure of what to do. He knew Isabel was probably filling DeLuca up with past hyjinks and probably making him look like a complete jackass.

He looked at the phone for about the fiftieth time in the last hour and thought about calling Max and getting to the bottom of whatever the hell was going on so Maria wouldn't go on a date with him.

But this was her job.

This was his job.

They didn't actually have a relationship of any kind; just a few cheap feels in parking lots. Nothing more. Right?

"Fuck!" He slammed his palm on the Teakwood desk in frustration. How could this woman get so far underneath his skin that it was making him crazy? What was she holding over him?

Michel knew this date was either going to kill him…Or kill him. There was no way he was going to let this woman who just appeared in his life slide right through his fingers. Deep down, reason was trying to work its way through; Maria DeLuca was not going on a date with Max Evans because she wanted to. She was going on a date with him to try to get some information out of him about Liz Parker. That was it, plain and simple.

"Fuck!" Michael slammed the desktop again. He wasn't letting her go alone, he promised himself he'd be discreet, but no way in hell was she going alone. He already made a decision; Maria DeLuca? Oh yeah, she was his.

* * *

It seemed like days instead of hours before Isabel Evans returned to the office alone.

"Where is she?" Michael jumped up from behind the desk.

"Maria?" Isabel shook her head, a knowing grin gracing her face.

"Yes Maria, you know I 'm talking about Maria. God! Why do you have to be such a bitch?" Michael ran his hands through his hair.

"I guess," Isabel set down her bags, "because I can. Maria's back at her hotel getting ready for her date with my brother, the little shit."

"Do you know where they're going?"

Isabel shrugged; clearly enjoying the torment Michael was going through.

"Cut the crap, Iz." He demanded. "Where are they going and what time?"

"You really have it bad, don't you?" She shook her head, a smile dancing on her lips.

Michael didn't answer her. She knew him well enough to know the answer already; he wasn't about to give in and make his life even more miserable.

"He called her a little while ago, she's meeting him at the Roundhouse at seven."

Michael nodded. The Roundhouse. Nice place. Quiet, dark and romantic. Damn.

"What are you doing tonight?" He asked hopefully.

"Not staking out my brother, dumbass," Isabel rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall. "She's a big girl Michael, she can take care of herself. It’s just a job, right?"

Michael nodded and wondered how in the hell he was going to be able to spy on Maria and Max.

* * *

Maria looked herself over in the mirror and thought she looked good. The slinky red dress was nice, but not too nice. The neckline was low and a bra underneath it would have been impossible, with thin straps over her shoulders and her hair pulled up on top of her head, Maria couldn't remember the last time she had looked this good.

"For a fugitive aider…" She murmured as she applied red lipstick to her full lips.

As she looked in the mirror she had a vision of her dress around her ankles and Michael Guerin in front of her, pounding into her, her hands grabbing his hair in handfuls. She shuddered when her vision contained a streetlight and cars. A parking lot.

She grabbed the new purse she had bought and made sure it was stocked with the essential bounty hunting supplies: stun gun, mace, handcuffs and license. She was ready to go.

The ride to the restaurant was brief, she pulled into the lot and parked next to the only shiny silver car she could find and assumed it belonged to Max Evans. She checked her make-up in the rearview mirror one more time before getting out of the jeep and walking inside the restaurant. She saw Max as soon as she opened the door. Actually she saw his smile first.

"You find it okay?" He asked and kissed her cheek.

"Yeah," Maria smiled and wondered how such a gentleman-type guy could help a felon like Liz Parker. "My hotels about ten seconds from here."

Max nodded and he motioned to the hostess. They were led to a table not all that far from the bar area, not too deep into the folds of the restaurant. Max pulled her chair out for her and Maria felt the urge to laugh.

"So, any luck finding Liz?" Max asked as they both perused their menus.

Maria lost her voice for a second, she hadn't anticipated the Liz card being played so early in the date. "No, not really. You?"

Max grinned and shook his head.

* * *

Michael, after much arguing with Isabel, parked her borrowed car in the far end of the parking lot of the Roundhouse. He sat low in the seat with sunglasses on and watched Max Evans park his shiny silver car and go inside. He had to wait for a few minutes until he saw Maria's jeep pull in. He lowered his sunglasses when he saw her get out of the jeep.

"Holy shit," he murmured as he admired the red dress and the way that it swung against her thighs as she walked. "Fucking Max." He shook his head as she disappeared into the restaurant.

He waited until the digital clock on the dash let him know it had been ten minutes before he got out of the car and strolled into the restaurant. He scanned the bar for either face and then took a seat in the corner where he had a view. He ordered a beer and it only took him an instant to spot that red dress.

He narrowed his eyes and watched as Max seemed to be flirting with his woman. His woman? Michael sighed and wondered when the exact moment of him becoming so whipped happened.

* * *

.Chapter Twenty

The waitress returned to the table and took Max and Maria's orders before another word about Liz Parker or anything else could be uttered.

"So," Max sipped his beer that the waitress had brought to the table in record time. "How do you like Roswell?"

"Roswell is hell," Maria shrugged causing one of the dress straps to slide down her arm exposing the top of one milky white breast. She pulled the strap up quickly and made a mental note not to shrug.

* *

Michael's bottled beer nearly slipped from his hand as he watched Maria's strap slip from her shoulder. "Shit!"

* *

"It's not so bad," Max touched his tongue to the mouth of the bottle in his hand. "You just have to get used to it."

"I don't have to get used to anything," Maria said with defiance. "I'm here for a job; when its over I'll go home and hang out with my fish."

"Fish, huh?" Max raised his eyebrows and awarded her with one of his brilliant smiles.

Maria nodded curtly and poured her own beer from the bottle into a glass after a moment's deliberation. "So, how is Liz?"

Max smiled again and shook his head. "What makes you think that I have heard from Liz? I'm sure that Michael, and probably my sister too, have told you that I haven't heard from Liz since she moved away from Roswell in high school."

Maria nodded and watched his eyes. Making a living by being around professional liars made it easy to detect a lie from someone… Someone like Max Evans.

"So, are you enjoying working with Michael?" He asked and tilted his head to one side.

"Not really," Maria tilted her head in the opposite direction. "He's not really that fun of a guy. But his mouth…God!

"He'll grow on you," Max laughed. "Maybe like a fungus, but he will."

Maria laughed with him and determined if Max wasn't a lying, law-breaking aider and abettor, he might not be that bad of a guy.

* * *

Michael cringed when he saw Maria laugh at something Max said. He motioned to the bartender for another beer but kept his eyes glued to the interaction between Maria and Max. Jealousy rampaging through him like a cancer.

* * *

"Yeah, I can see the fungus angle," Maria relaxed a little. Something about the soothing voice of Max Evans wanted to make her tell all of her secrets. "Anyway, back to Liz Parker."

"I don't know anything about Liz Parker." He said the words with a smile but the undertone of authority wasn't lost on Maria.

"I think you know more than you're telling me," Maria shrugged and let the strap fall down again. She saw Max's eyes linger briefly on her chest and wondered if she was going to have to strip to get some information out of him.

* * *

Michael downed the second beer as he watched Maria intentionally flirt with Max; his heart was a racing a million miles a minute.

"This is bad," he muttered and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "This is very, very bad…"

* * *

"Why would I lie to you?" Max met her eyes and saw the same thing that was reflecting in his own. Games. Intense games.

"Why would you tell me the truth?"

Max held up his hands in mock surrender. "I give Maria, I give."

Maria grinned and thought the timing of their dinner arrival was beyond perfect. A few minutes to eat and regroup and then back on it.

"So, does Liz plan on staying a redhead?" Maria caught the slight pause as Max brought his fork of pasta to his mouth. Bingo! She wanted to gloat, but held off on it. "Maybe she should try the blond thing, you know it's true."

"What's true?" Max asked meeting her eyes.

Maria winked. "Blondes have more fun."

Max laughed wholeheartedly.

* * *

Michael placed a fresh cold beer bottle to his forehead and counted to ten. He was dumbfounded. There had been a slew of women that had answered to his beck and call over the years and he had never once been more attached to them than he was to his next meal. He could have cared less what they did when they weren't with him. Never had a woman gotten so far into Michael's system that he allowed himself to feel the sting of jealousy.

There's something about that DeLuca…

And she was out with Max Evans. Its just work, he told himself over and over and over…

* * *

"So," Max drummed his fingers on the tabletop. "Why don't you tell me why you think I know anything about Liz Parker?"

Maria shrugged. This was not exactly what she had been hoping for. She knew she had him over a figurative barrel, but she wasn't sure she wanted to let him know that yet.

"You must have a reason," Max's expression dared her.

Never being the one to turn down a dare, Maria grinned. "Let's just say that, hypothetically, Liz is here in Roswell and, still with the hypothetical, she came in on a bus and spent a few hours in a hotel before she was picked up."

Max nodded slowly; the dare had leaked from his eyes.

"Here's the thing," Maria took a sip of beer and then spoke animatedly with her hands. "The hotel clerk? She saw who picked up our little Miss Parker!" Maria got an obscene amount of satisfaction as she watched Max blanch.

Max pushed his plate away and downed the rest of his beer.

"Max?"

He reached across the table and grabbed her arm, rougher than he should have, but not rough enough to scare her.

* * *

Michael ran his hand through his hair and motioned for another beer with his empty bottle as he watched Max touch her arm. She wasn't pulling away from him and Michael would have actually given his eyeteeth to know what the hell they were talking about. From the way Max had leaned over, he could no longer see his face only the side of his head. Maria was calm; but he could see she was holding back a smile.

* * *

"Listen," Max spoke softly forcing Maria to lean in closer to him. "She's not a bad person and she's in trouble-"

"She's a wanted felon," Maria raised her eyebrows and noticed how warm his hand was on her arm.

"She's in trouble," Max spoke softer. "They're after her."

"She'll be safe behind bars," Maria whispered sarcastically. "They can't get her there."

"They can."

"The men she worked for? The men she stole from?"

"Not everything is as it seems."

"It never is."

Max let of her arm and leaned back in his chair. "I know why you said you'd go out with me tonight. The dress?" He motioned to the red. "If there were a different set of circumstances going on right now, I'd be all over you."

Maria blushed in spite of herself. "Help me, Max. Help Michael and Isabel. Help Liz. Turn her in."

He shook his head. "Give up Maria. Tell Michael to give up. You'll kill her if you turn her in."

Maria removed the napkin from her lap and laid it over her half-eaten meal. "I can't give up." She scooted back from the table and stood up. "You know you'll take the fall with her, don't you? I could have you arrested this minute for what you're doing."

"But you won't."

Max was right. Maria grabbed her purse from the table and walked out of the restaurant the way she had come in, she never glanced in the direction of the bar otherwise she would have seen Michael Guerin trying to hide behind his fourth beer in less than an hour.

* * *

Michael let out a deep breath as the red of Maria's dress disappeared out of the front doors. He turned his attention back to Max and saw him laying cash on the table before he stood up and walked towards the back of the restaurant towards the restrooms.

Michael took the opportunity to lay his own cash on the bar and scoot out the front door. He saw Maria's jeep parked next to Max's car; but he didn't see her.

"Where did she go?" He asked out loud taking a step towards the empty cars.

"She's behind you, nimrod." Maria whispered at the back of his neck.

Michael let out a sound close to a yelp and turned around. "You knew I was there?"

She shrugged and that damn strap slid down her arm; but this time she didn't make a move to fix it.

Michael licked his lips as the doors swung open in back of him. He ducked behind a wall-bordering bush as Max walked to where he had been only seconds before and listened.

"Think about it Max." Maria called to him as he walked to his car. "Think about it. I won't give up!"

Max acknowledged her with a nod before he got into his car and pulled out of the lot.

"You can come out now," Maria hovered over the bush and grinned as Michael stood up and dusted mulch off his jeans.

He looked at her and wondered if his eyes betrayed him as much as hers were betraying her. He stepped into her and cupped her face in her hands, his lips crushed down on hers.

.Chapter Twenty One

Michael led her to the back of the parking lot to where he had parked Isabel's car and then pressed her against it.

Her hands tangled in his hair and her pelvis bucked against him uncontrollably.

"Max," Maria panted.

Michael let go of her and narrowed his eyes. "Michael."

"No," she rolled her eyes and then her head and noticed both straps of her dress were resting on her arms, the tops of her breasts almost glowed against the red of the dress and the darkness of the parking lot. "Max knows where Liz is."

Michael licked his bottom lip, his eyes traveling down from her face to her breasts. "Is she in this parking lot?" Maria shook her head. "Then I don't give a shit right now."

He stepped back into her and pushed the dress down until her breasts were free. Without missing a beat, he bent his head forward and wrapped his lips around a nipple. Maria sunk her hands back into his hair and sighed. She tried to weigh the pros and cons of what was happening but couldn't. Her body ached with passion.

Michael's hand reached underneath the hem of her dress and felt the dampness of her panties between her legs. A growl erupted in his throat as he thrust his hand inside the satin.

Maria's mouth opened then closed. She pressed her body down into his hand as all rational thoughts disappeared. The need of contact from another person was overwhelming. She didn't care that they were in a public parking lot. She didn't care that they could be busted any minute. All she cared about was the feel of Michael's mouth and hands on her.

He looked up to her and twirled his tongue around her nipple. "You wanna stay here?"

She nodded and let the dress slide down her upper body until it gathered at her waist.

Michael tilted his head to one side and smirked. He turned her around and pulled her body tight against his. Maria felt his hands roaming her body and shook her head. She turned back around and faced him.

"What's wrong?" He asked huskily.

She licked her lips and gently pushed him backward towards the rear of the car, just out of view from the rest of the lot. She pushed him back and unfastened his belt; her nimble hands had his jeans unbuttoned and unzipped in seconds.

Michael rested his hands on the trunk; completely fascinated with the way she was taking charge of the situation. He felt his jeans being pushed down to his ankles and the sultry hot air hitting his bare skin.

"Are you happy to see me Mr. Guerin?" Maria asked playfully as she leaned against him feeling exactly how happy he was to see her on her thigh.

"Yeah DeLuca, I'm happy to see you," he reached to her and pulled her tight against him.

Maria placed her hands on his chest and pushed back from him. With a tilt of her head she grinned. "You have…?"

"Have?" Michael's voice was rushed. He nodded. "The glove box…No!"

"Of your truck?" Maria grinned. "You keep condoms in the glove box of your truck? The truck that reaches the temperature of nine hundred? The truck that isn't here?"

Michael let his head sag against his chest after a brief nod. She lifted his head up so he could face her; so he could see her shaking her head. "Well, then I guess we'll have to find something else to do." She smirked as his eyes lit up.

She pushed him back a little bit more until his ass was resting on the edge of the trunk and his feet dangled. With raised eyebrows and heated desire she straddled him; pressing her groin against him. He reached under her dress and cupped her ass wishing desperately that he could be inside of her.

"DeLuca…" He moaned as she rocked back and forth on him bringing him to near orgasm and then pausing.

He buried his face in her breasts and suckled her nipples, first one then the other.

The sounds from nearby traffic heightened every touch, every rub and kiss. Hiding in plain sight in the back of a parking lot, two people who still weren't all that comfortable around the other took their relationship to the next level.

Maria kept her fingers in his hair, the tips getting damp from sweat. She felt sweat run down her back and underneath her knees.

"I gotta go, Guerin," her voice was husky. "I gotta go."

He shook his head and looked up into her eyes. He saw loneliness; something he understood. "Not yet."

"Oh yeah," she wiggled off of him and pulled her dress up. She watched him reluctantly pull his jeans up and zip them. He left the top button undone and she had to turn away from the thin line of hair that disappeared into the denim.

"Why?" He asked and stepped towards her.

"I don't want to stop and we have to," she cocked her head to one side and grinned. "We're working together and you don't have protection."

"I can get it," he nodded. "There's a drug store right across the street!"

She shook her head and wondered why she was turning him down. She dismissed the idea that she wanted him too much. She had never wanted anyone too much; it wasn't in her vocabulary. It wasn't in her nature. And it always came back to human nature.

She turned away from him and started walking back to her jeep. She heard the gravel rustle in back of her and knew Michel was following. She wasn't surprised when she felt his hand on her arm.

"Stop!" He demanded and pulled her to a halt forcing her to turn around and face him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" She asked as an unfamiliar feeling washed through her. Guilt.

"What do I mean?" He laughed and released her arm. "How can you do that? How can you just turn this on and off so fucking fast? What are you? A damn machine?"

She bit back her surprise at his blatant honesty and dwelled on the fact that he might be right. She might be a machine.

"Maria?" He ran his hands through his sweat soaked hair. "I want you, okay? I want you so bad I don't think I've wanted anything as bad in my entire life! You act like you want me too, then bam! You're gone."

She shook her head hating that he was being so honest. A fast lay in a hot town was all she was wanted after the job was done; she didn't want any of the other bullshit. No strings. "I'm sorry." The words were heartfelt, she was sorry, for herself as well as him.

He laughed bitterly. "Fine, we can work together and find Liz and that's it. I can't take this other shit. Okay?"

She nodded. "I won't be here long, in Roswell. I can't…"

"Can't get involved?" A smile played on his lips.

"Yeah, I can't get involved," new sweat was forming on her forehead and she fought the urge to wipe it off.

"Okay," he dug his hands deep into his pockets. "It's cool."

Maria watched as he walked away and wondered if she was making a mistake. A mistake that would haunt her long after she had left the hell known as Roswell. With sagging shoulders, she reached her jeep and got in and watched as Michael roared past her in Isabel's car without even glancing in her direction.

She wiped her eyes before the wetness appeared and started the engine. It was going to be twice as hard to work with him now. Now she just wanted to find Liz and get the hell out of town as fast as she could. Maybe.

The short drive to the hotel didn't leave her time to think about her decision about Michael Guerin. The short walk up to her room did. She was going to call him and apologize. Maybe even invite him over. Besides, she thought as she slipped her keycard into the lock, who else was going to understand her as well as someone just like her?

She reached for the handle, lost in her own thoughts about Michael Guerin. She didn't notice someone standing in back of her until his hands were on hers pulling them behind her. She opened her mouth to scream as duct tape was slapped over her mouth. She felt the familiar feel of handcuffs as they were clicked on her.

Her eyes were wild as she fought to see who the hell had her. Strong arms were holding her still, while a smaller set of hands were adjusting the cuffs.

Two of them.

She kicked out and managed a quick glance in back of her. The two people in back of her shocked her then pissed her off. One had a great smile; the other had a bad dye job.

* * *

"Bullshit, this is all bullshit." Michael nodded to himself as he floored the truck through town. His hands were sweating, not from the heat, but from anger. He was angry with himself for letting himself fall for someone like her. He was angry with her for not acting like she was feeling the same way when he could tell she did. "Bullshit!"

He turned the truck around in the middle of the street and gunned it back towards the restaurant, back towards her hotel. This wasn't over.

* * *

.Chapter Twenty Two

Maria DeLuca rolled her eyes at her captors and swore underneath the duct tape.

"She's upset," Liz Parker ran her hands through her red hair and grimaced. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"Fubkin biff," Maria's words weren't quite lost in the tape and the intention was crystal clear.

Max Evans kept a hold on Maria's arms and led her towards the steps back to the parking lot; Liz Parker trailed behind them.

Maria saw the shiny silver car parked a few spaces away from her own jeep and cursed Michael Guerin. If it weren't for Michael Guerin she would have been more observant and seen the car. At least she might have seen the car, but definitely she would have heard Max and Liz behind her before it was too late if she wasn't thinking of apologizing to Michael Guerin. When she caught up with him…

She kept her eyes peeled for any signs of help as she was walked to the shiny silver car and eased gently in the back seat. Liz followed her in and if Maria wouldn't have been cuffed and had tape over her mouth, she would have been delighted to see the look of sheer terror on little Liz Parker's face.

Maria glared at her backseat companion before she shifted her attention to the back of Max's head and tried to burn holes through it. This was not working out the way she had hoped. This wasn't even close to working out at all. Panic seized her as she realized she must have dropped her purse because it no longer appeared to be on her shoulder. Stun gun, mace and handcuffs; not with her.

"That's a really pretty dress," Liz mumbled and tucked stray strands of red hair behind her ear nervously.

"Um onna kil oou!" Maria screamed beneath the tape.

"Max…" Liz scooted away from Maria.

"Don't worry Liz, everything's going to be fine." Max Evans reassured her with his smooth voice and warm smile flashing in the rearview mirror. "Maria, we only want to talk to you, okay?"

"Uck oou!"

* * *

Michael pulled into the hotel parking lot and slammed the car into park next to the jeep. He smiled knowing Isabel would have a complete fit if she knew how he was driving her car. He checked his hair in the rearview mirror before getting out.

"Okay DeLuca," he shook his head and walked slowly to the steps. An earlier conversation with Isabel had given him the hotel room number he desired. "I'm here, I might even grovel a little, but you have to throw me a fucking bone. I can see it in your eyes and I don't know why you're trying to fight it."

He let out a breath and made his way up the steps, his palms sweating, his heart rate quickening. He rolled his shoulders and put his bad ass bounty hunter face back on and walked down the open hallway.

"What the fu…" He looked down at the ground as his foot hit something. A purse. A red purse. A red purse that belonged to Maria DeLuca. He bent down and picked it up and looked inside. It contained all the essential bounty hunting paraphernalia and her license. He looked around and noticed a key card in the lock of Maria's room and reached for it. He reinserted it and opened the door. As soon as he stepped inside he knew it was empty. "Shit!"

* * *

Maria didn't mumble another word, but watched as an unfamiliar town washed by her, until Max stopped the car and put it in park. Fury was racing through her. First there was the actual stupidity of being "kidnapped". Second, there was the stupidity of being kidnapped by Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber.

Max Evans turned around in his seat and first smiled at Liz then at Maria. "I'm sorry, but I didn't think I could get you to listen to Liz any other way than this."

"This is all my fault," Liz said softly.

Maria nodded exaggeratedly.

Max got out of the car and opened up the back door. He helped Maria out and to her feet either not seeing or completely ignoring the hate in her eyes. Maria fought back her anger and focussed on what was around her. Being unfamiliar with the hell known as Roswell, she didn't have a clue where she was.

If her brain was working properly she would have paid more attention to her surroundings; but most of her brain was melted and what was left of it had been geared towards Michael Guerin.

"Maria," Max touched her bare arm and pulled up the straps of her dress. "I just want you to listen to her, okay?"

Maria glared and nodded. She cringed when he took her forearm and began leading her into what looked like a brick apartment building. As they entered the front door, Maria deduced she was right, it was an apartment building. She kept her eyes focused in front of her as Max led her into the elevator. She watched him tap the "six" button and then narrowed her eyes at Liz.

"I'm sorry I hit you," Liz's voice was quiet. "I had to get away from you."

"Biff." Maria raised her eyebrows.

"Maria, I promise you once you listen to Liz you'll understand everything." Max rubbed her arm until she shook his hand off. "Then we'll let you decide what to do."

Maria hid her surprise by keeping her eyes blank. She had no idea if she could believe him or not. She wondered what Michael was doing and that may have bugged her more than anything else. When the elevator doors opened, she followed Liz, with Max's assistance, down the hallway to apartment 614. She watched as Liz opened the door and let them in.

* * *

"Fuck." Michael paced Maria's empty room, the red purse still in his hands. He lunged for the phone on the other side of the bed and called Isabel at home. She answered on the second ring; Michael didn't wait for her to finish saying 'hello' before frantic words were tumbling from his mouth. "DeLuca's gone."

"Michael?"

"Who else would it be? Maria is gone."

"Slow down, what are you talking about?"

"I came to her hotel and she's gone-"

"I thought she was out with Max."

Michael tried to fight the irritation. "She was and then she came back to the hotel, I left her in the restaurant parking lot not ten minutes ago. Her purse was laying outside her room, her jeep is here, but she's gone."

"Oh shit."

"Yeah, call Max, I'm on my way over to your place now."

"You don't think that Max…"

Michael didn't answer her; instead he hung up and bolted out of the hotel room.

Chapter Twenty Three

Isabel Evans was waiting on the front porch of the little house she rented. She was wearing a pair of cut-off's and a T-shirt, no shoes. When Michel Guerin pulled her car up front and got out, he stared at her.

"What are you doing?"

"I was packing," she placed one hand on her hip and invited him in. "There's no answer at Max's and he's not answering his cell or his pager." She slammed the door in back of them. "Do you really think he did something?"

"Maria told me he knows where Liz is," he ran his hands through his hair.

"Where is she?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, I don't think he actually told her that."

"What did he tell her?" Isabel folded her arms over her chest, irritation running rampant, obvious in the twitch of her eye.

"She didn't say," he said while thinking that he didn't give her a chance to tell him what Max had told her. All he had been concerned about was laying her out on Isabel's car. "He's your brother, what do you think he's thinking?"

"What is Max thinking?" Isabel began to pace amid the clutter of scattered boxes. "I have no idea what Max is thinking."

"You gotta do better than that Iz," Michael hated the worry he was feeling. "But I can't figure out why she would go with him and leave her purse laying on the ground and her key in the lock…"

"She wouldn't have," Isabel threw her hands in the air. "There's no way she would do that. She's a trained professional Michael; she's not stupid. He would have had to catch her off guard."

"Like if her mind was on something else…" Michael damned himself and every parking lot in Roswell. "Where would he take her and why?"

"To reason with her," Isabel nodded. "Okay, Max is like the most non-violent person on the planet, he wouldn't hurt her. He might talk her to death and analyze her until she wishes he was just violent, but he wouldn't hurt her."

"What about Liz Parker?"

She shook her head. "I don’t know anything about Liz Parker."

"Okay, get shoes on we're going out to find your fucking brother and kick his ass."

* * *

As Maria stepped into the apartment, she knew it hadn't been lived in very long. The furniture was sparse and there was nothing personal sitting around. A couch, coffee table and TV were the predominant fixtures in the living room. A small table and three chairs sat just outside the kitchen entry.

She let Max lead her to the couch and sat down in a plopping movement. The hem of her dress was high; the V of her panties was as about as close to visible as possible, but Maria didn't seem to care. When Liz sat down next to her and reached her hands out to fix Maria's dress, she glared until Liz backed off.

"Maria," Max sat on the coffee table facing her. "You just need to listen to Liz and then you'll understand that she's not a bad person and doesn't deserve to spend any time in jail."

"Uck oou." Maria didn't think that Max deserved better than that right now.

"If I remove the tape from your mouth, will you not scream?"

Maria raised one eyebrow and nodded. She closed her eyes when she saw the hand of Max Evans coming at her and waited. The inevitable ripping of tape, skin and hair made her cringe and fight a scream. "Bastard!"

"I'm sorry," Max rolled the tape up into a ball and set it next to him.

"You should be, what the hell are you thinking kidnapping me?" She directed her anger at Max because she knew that if she had looked in Liz's direction she would have gotten even more pissed.

"We're not kidnapping you-"

"The fuck you aren't. I'm bound and until seconds ago, I was gagged. I am here against my own free will. That Mr. Evans constitutes kidnapping and kidnapping is a felony and is punishable by a dime in prison. Maybe you and your girlfriend here could get a twofer deal."

"Max…" Liz's voice was shaky and it drew the attention of a very hot and very pissed off Maria DeLuca. "I'm sorry-"

"Shut up, you're the last person I want to hear anything from. I can't believe that you'd drag a respected person like Max down with you."

"She's not dragging me down," Max touched Maria's bare leg to draw her attention back to him. "Liz came to me for help and I'm helping. Getting you here was my idea."

"You know, " Maria licked her lips feeling some of the left over adhesive residue under her tongue. "That makes it even worse."

"It does?" A smile played on his lips.

"Yeah, it does. Your sister and your friend are trying to do a job and you're standing in their way like an ass. You're helping a felon, turning into a felon, while your sister is trying to make a living."

"They'll understand-"

"I wouldn't. I don't. Why me Max?" Maria shifted on the couch feeling the rough tweed on the back of her bare thighs. "Why not go to them if you think they'll understand?"

"Because you're the one who counts," Max raised his eyebrows. "You're not going to give up until you have Liz."

"You're right," Maria cast an evil glare towards Liz Parker. "And you, you little bitch, you clocked me when I thought about listening to you in Vegas. There are no second chances with Maria DeLuca."

"I'm sorry," Liz looked down to the folded hands in her lap. "I was scared. I'm still scared."

"You should be, you're going to end up being someone's bitch in prison," she shifted her eyes back to Max, "You both are."

"Just listen to her, then decide what to do. Okay Maria?" Max asked, his deep dark eyes pleading.

"How about we call your sister and Michael over and then we can all listen together?"

"You first." Max nodded towards Liz.

* * *

"Oh my God!" Isabel screamed as she held on the dashboard. "Please tell me you haven't been driving my car like this all night!"

Michael smiled to himself as he straightened the car out after an incredibly sharp turn. "You don't think Max would do anything really stupid, do you?"

"I don't have any- Oh my God! Do you not see those people?" Isabel screamed and closed her eyes as Michael barreled through a crosswalk.

"They didn't have the signal," he replied nonchalantly.

Isabel took a deep breath before opening her eyes. "Okay, where are we going?"

"To the hotel, maybe you'll see something I didn't since I was in a state of…Pissedoffness when I was there."

"I think you mean you were in a state of worry," Isabel looked across to her partner. "You got it bad Guerin, it's written all over your face."

He didn't answer her. He didn't have to. She'd had his number since she'd first seen him and DeLuca together. He did have it bad. Real bad. He drove in silence to the hotel and parked in the same spot as before right next to Maria's jeep.

"You have her key?" Isabel asked getting out of the car and looking around the lot.

Michael grabbed the red purse from the backseat and produced the card key from inside. "She never made it in her room."

"Maybe she did, maybe she got in and was leaving again?" Isabel shrugged. "Maybe she left a clue about where she was headed."

Michael nodded although filled with doubt and followed Isabel's lead. When she stopped in the middle of the lot and cocked her head to one side, he ran into the back of her.

"Jesus Michael, we look like two of the three Stooges out here," she sighed as only Isabel can. She pointed to a parking place not far from where they had parked. "Over there, do you see something?"

Michael followed her gaze, then followed her over to the empty parking spot. He watched as Isabel bent down and picked up something.

"What is it?"

Isabel shook her head and handed Michael what she had picked up. A pen. A silver pen engraved with the name: Max Evans.

"I gave it to him for Christmas last year." She rolled her eyes. "Stupid."

"I am really going to kick his ass when I find him. I'll show him anti-social personality disorder until he can't see straight!"

* * *

Chapter Twenty Four

"I can't believe this," Isabel ran her hands through her hair and stared at the night sky. "How can someone as stupid as Max actually be related to me?"

Michel kicked at gravel, bits of stone and sand hitting metal of close cars. "Should I worry?"

"About Maria?"

Michael gave her the look from hell. "Yeah, Iz, about Maria."

"I don't think so, I mean, if Max actually kidnapped her--God, you realize how utterly ridiculous that sounds? My brother kidnapping someone?" Isabel laughed bitterly. "He couldn't."

"I think he did," Michael sighed. "Where would he take her? Okay, where would they take her? Should we try his apartment? Liz's mom's house?"

"His apartment first," Isabel said and took a stance. The same stance that Michael fell into when he was hot for something. Determined. "But if he's as smart as he thinks he is, then they wouldn't go there."

"But why would he think anyone's looking for her?" Michael narrowed his eyes and shifted them towards the hotel. "She doesn't have anyone in town who'd be looking for her, right?"

"Except Michael the stalker."

"I wasn't stalking her, I was…" He shook his head. "I was coming back to talk to her."

"What the hell is going on with you two?"

"We have a fondness for parking lots," he smiled and walked back towards Isabel's car leaving her with a confused but knowing smile on her lips.

* * *

"Fine, you want to try to plead your case to me?" Maria shrugged and let the dress straps slide down her arms. "Plead away. Then when you're done, I'm calling the cops and having you," she nodded at Max, "arrested for kidnapping and you," she cocked her head in Liz's direction, "taken back into custody."

"Max…" Liz's tiny voice was dripping with fear. "I knew this was a bad idea…"

"Liz." Max stood up and motioned for her to follow.

Maria watched as her captors walked just out of sight and into the kitchen. In the silence of the apartment she could barely make out the hushed whispering of two people that clearly had no idea what they were doing.

"We have to let her go, then I'll turn myself in."

"No, you didn’t do anything wrong, Liz!" Max pleaded in a harsh whisper. "That's why I'm helping you!"

"I should have never asked you, I didn't know about your sister and friend."

"They'll understand Liz, I'm sure of it."

Maria rolled her eyes and wondered if Max had any clue that his sister and friend were not going to understand anything. She was confident they would back her on this. Maybe. She damned Michael again for making her lose touch with her professional side and for ending up here. For making her touch on something foreign, something filled with want and need. Human nature.

"Maybe I should just go-"

"And keep running?"

Maria shrugged a little more until the tops of her full breasts were in view. The irritation swam over her that she had wasted a sexy dress on Max Evans. A sexy red dress that would have looked great around her ankles in a parking lot.

"Are you ready Maria?"

She snapped out of her Michael-stupor and looked up as Max took his place on the coffee table and Liz Parker sat next to her. "Sure, let's get this over with because these cuffs are killing me."

"Should we take them off of her?" Liz asked Max in the same timid voice.

He seemed to think about the question for a minute before answering. "I don't think so, not yet."

Liz nodded and took a deep breath turning her attention back to Maria. "You know part of the story, the part that ends with me skipping out."

"Right, the part where I got hired to bring your scrawny ass back." Maria nodded and crossed her legs. The toe of her shoe biting into Max's shin as she did. "Shouldn't sit do damn close." She shot at him before turning her attention back to Liz Parker.

"Okay, I knew what was going on where I worked. I'd be an idiot not to know. Did I take the money? Yeah, I took it. I didn’t mean to, but I did."

"Felon." Maria quipped.

Liz ignored her. "They were crooks, big crooks. They were stealing from their clients and they knew it'd catch up with them someday, so they needed a scapegoat."

"Here we go," Maria rolled her eyes again.

"I was that. They dumped money in accounts in my name. The only reason I found out about it is because I stumbled onto it one day. They dumped a lot of money in there. I was shocked, but then I figured it out. Of course, at about the same time I figured it out, so did some of their clients. That's what brought on the investigation."

"You stole the money Liz, you're guilty." Maria raised her eyebrows at her expectantly. "Where are you going with this?"

"I also stole all the data that connects them to the theft. Without me, there is no case and they go free. With me, they go to jail."

"Right, that's why you were in protective custody. Going to turn State's evidence? Ring a bell?"

"They would have gotten to me. I got threats and got scared so I ran."

"So, what do you think I can do?"

"Let me keep running until I can figure it out. Quit looking for me because I know you'll always find me."

"It's my job. I hunt. I find."

"Stop."

"No." Maria spat at her. "I listened, now let me go."

"What are you going to do?" Max leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees and asked in his smooth doctorate voice.

"Exactly what I told you, calling the cops. Now un-fucking-cuff me right now!"

Max stood and began to pace while Maria's irritation grew with every step he took. She didn't dare look at Liz next to her, she could hear the soft sniffling sounds coming from her and knew she was crying. Human nature.

* * *

Isabel Evans kept her eyes closed for most of the ride to her brother's apartment. She tried to remind herself why in the hell she had let Michael drive, but came up with nothing. She held on to the seatbelt across her chest with both hands and thanked God that her brother didn't live that far away.

When she heard the blaring radio silence and felt the movement cease, she opened her eyes to face the uppity looking apartment complex where Max lived. A complex that housed Roswell's up-and-comer's within their sickly pink stucco walls, complete with a clubhouse and swimming pool.

Michael looked across at his partner as a smile crept across his face. "You know I'm going to kill your brother, don't you?"

"Not if I get to him first," she winked and got out of the car.

The team of Evans and Guerin strode through the lot with purpose and into building 'B'. They took the elevator up to the fourth floor. Michael leaned into the door of Max's apartment and pressed his ear against it. He shook his head and dangled Isabel's keys. "You got a key on here?"

She took the keys from him and grinned. "What good sister wouldn't have a key to her brother's apartment in case of an emergency?" She inserted the key into the lock and pushed the door open.

* * *

.Chapter Twenty Five

Isabel Evans pushed the door open and walked in with Michael Guerin on her heels; she sighed. The apartment was dark and empty.

"Damn it!" Michael swore and kicked the side of the couch as he walked in the piece of furniture. "Where now?"

Isabel turned on a light and shook her head. "I don't know Michael. I guess we can try Liz's mom and see if she has any ideas."

A tap at the door sent the bounty hunters reeling and scrambling until they saw a familiar face in the doorway.

"Kyle?" Isabel sighed and placed her hand over her heart. "You scared the hell out of us!"

"Uh…Sorry," Kyle Valenti sans the Tuesday Security uniform stepped into the room. "What are you doing?" Kyle looked from Isabel to Michael and then back to Isabel.

"Have you seen Max?" Michael snapped approaching the man.

Kyle took a step backwards. "What's going on?" He paused in-between his words. "Is everything okay?"

"No, It's not okay." Michael spoke from behind clenched teeth, his aggravation teaming with each breath. "Have you seen Max?"

"Earlier," Kyle smirked. "He said he had a date with…" he snapped his fingers. "That other bounty hunter. The cute blond one."

"Maria," Isabel supplied. "He did. Have you seen him tonight at all?"

Kyle shook his head thoughtfully. "No, just on my way over here this afternoon. I promised Tess that I'd look at her -"

"Tess Harding?" Isabel interrupted. "Sorry."

"Yes, Tess Harding," Kyle shook his head and blushed. "Anyway, I was on my way here from work-"

"You didn’t see Max here?" Michael interrupted. "Where was he?"

"If you two will let me finish, I'll tell you. Across town, by the mall. He was… What'd he do? What's going on?" Kyle folded his arms over his chest.

"Valenti-" Michael stepped towards him.

"Michael," Isabel shot back to her partner and stood directly in front of Kyle. "Where was he and was he alone?"

"No, he wasn't alone, he had a little red head in the car with him. I assumed it was a friend because of the way he was talking about his date with… With Maria."

"A red head?" Isabel peered over her shoulder to Michael and received a nod back from him. "Did she look familiar?"

"I didn't see her face, really, just her profile. She was in his car and we were outside of it. I think they might have been leaving from that apartment building over there because of the way they were headed out-"

"Apartment building?" Michael came around Isabel's side and stood next to her. "Behind the mall?"

"Right," Kyle nodded. "He was outside his car and I was leaving work, so I stopped to talk to him."

"Did he seem strange?" Isabel probed.

"No stranger than usual," Kyle shrugged. "What's going on?"

"Let's go," Michael walked past them and into the hallway. He didn't wait for Isabel but felt her at his side by the time he reached the elevator bank. "I swear I'm actually going to kill him."

"What is he thinking?" Isabel tapped the down button incessantly. "Seriously? God, did he get Liz an apartment? Do you know anyone who lives there?"

Michael shook his head and watched the dark arrows at the top of the elevator doors. "Come on, come on!"

* * *

Maria closed her eyes in frustration. Max wasn't letting her out of the cuffs and Liz Parker was being a sniveling baby next to her.

"I'm serious, I listened, now let me go." Maria opened her eyes and spoke directly to Max. "You're not in this too far, you'll be fine. You can go off and do your thing and never have to worry about Liz Parker again." She watched as something passed between Max and Liz.

"I hadn't seen or heard from Liz in eight years until the other day," Max reached across and picked up Liz's hand in his own. "But I think I would do anything for her."

Maria let out a deep breath and turned towards the crying woman next to her. "Do you see what you've done? He's throwing away everything because of you."

Liz looked at her through teary eyes and nodded. "I didn't mean…"

"Right," Maria snorted. "You didn't mean for any of this to happen. You just took the money and all the what did you say? Data? Data that can be used to prosecute the others but you never meant for any of it to happen. God! You are pathetic!"

"Liz," Max said her name in that calm soothing voice. "It'll be okay."

"Like hell it will be," Maria shot back at him. "There is nothing 'okay' going on around here at all." She shifted on the couch, the heat and roughness of the tweed couch burrowing into her legs. She jangled the cuffs behind her back. "Will you get these fruit things off of me?"

"Tell her the rest," Max nodded at Liz. "Liz?"

"Oh for crying out loud, there's more?" Maria sighed and slumped into the back of the couch. She didn't care anymore that the cheap tweed was searing her skin or that it was probably snagging on the red dress.

"I don't have the money anymore," Liz's voice was near a whisper.

"I don't care," Maria whispered back as a loose strand of hair swung down into her eyes. She tried to ineffectively blow it away, but her attempt was futile. When she saw Max's reach forward, she ducked her head back and decided to suffer with the hair in her face. She glanced towards the darkened window and wondered if she was going to be stuck with the Wonder Twins all night or if Michael Guerin… Michael? She caught herself again thinking about Michael and wanted to beat her head against something hard. She was still convinced it was his fault that she was in this mess to begin with.

"She gave the money away," Max explained. "Tell her Liz, she'll understand!"

Liz bowed her head and sobbed.

Maria rolled her eyes. "This is getting old guys, why don't you let me go and I promise I'll give you a two minute head start."

Max shook his head and sighed. "Maria."

"Max." She shrugged.

"She doesn't even have the money anymore."

"God!" Maria raised her voice to near shouting level. "Are you two the most inept kidnappers on the face of the planet? Don't you get it? I'm not giving her up. I don't care if we have to sit here all night! I'm not leaving without Liz Parker in my custody! Okay?"

"If she goes back into custody, she's dead." Max said.

"I can guarantee her safety," Maria swallowed audibly. "I can get her to Montana and she'll have Marshall's watching over her around the clock. No one can get to her." She turned towards the still sobbing Liz; "You'll be safe."

"I'll never be safe." Liz cried.

"Okay," Maria took another deep breath and released it slowly. "What if you turn over the evidence to me? Then they won't want you, they'll want me." And you'll just go to jail for being the stupid bitch that you are.

She saw the uplift of Liz's sagging face and wondered if she'd hit the nail on the head. Liz Parker was scared for her own life but apparently didn't give a damn about anyone else's. Human nature at it's worst.

* * *

Isabel Evans heard the words spoke by Kyle Valenti again and again. Across town.

She kept her eyes squinted for most of the ride with her hands again clasping the seatbelt across her. There hadn't been much of a discussion on who was driving. Once they had reached the parking lot, Michael had taken her keys. End of discussion.

The breakneck stops and whiplash starts on a normal day would have had her screaming at Michael. Tonight, they were just a part of the urgency to end this crisis as soon as possible.

"I can't believe this, Iz." Michael slammed his hand against the steering wheel. "I mean, why in the hell would Max be so fucking stupid? For Liz Parker?"

"Maybe she forced him," Isabel said quietly still trying to figure out if her and Max actually shared the same genes. "Maybe he didn’t have a choice."

Michael looked over to his partner and grimaced. "Do you honestly believe that?"

Isabel shook her head and damned her brother for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour.

Chapter Twenty Six

"Liz?" Max said her name with uncertainty.

Maria watched as Liz looked at him and she could see it written all over her face that she was considering Maria's offer. Seriously considering her offer.

"Liz?" Maria chimed in and ignored the sullen glare from Max Evans. "C'mon Liz, whatcha got to lose?"

Liz Parker with her brunette features and red hair shook her head. Without a glance at Max or Maria, she stood up, wiped her hands on her pants and ran from the apartment, the front door flung back and hit the wall with a loud clack.

"Liz!" Max yelled and stood up, his eyes wide.

"Let me go!" Maria jumped up and jangled the cuffs behind her back. "Damn it Max!"

"Liz!" Max yelled her name again and glanced at Maria. He dug in his pocket and produced a small silver key.

"Come on!" Maria urged and wondered how well she was going to run in heels.

With an emotion lying somewhere in-between desperation and disappointment prominent on his face, Max Evans unlocked one cuff, but before he could get to the second one, Maria's free fist was connecting with the side of his head.

"Stupid," she muttered as she watched Max fall to the ground on one knee. "See what happens when you help criminals?"

Max kept his head down.

* * *

"That's it." Isabel stated as Michael slowed her car down in front of the brick apartment building. "Right?"

Michael coasted into a small parking lot and immediately spotted a very shiny silver car. A very shiny silver car that belonged to his friend, Max Evans. He pointed and blocked the car in its spot with Isabel's.

Michael's hand was on the door handle before he pulled the keys out of the ignition.

"Michael," Isabel touched his arm. "Wait."

"For what?" He snapped, his aggravation and upset etched in his words.

"Okay," Isabel let out a breath slowly. Very slowly. "What are you going to do?"

"Find Maria and kick Max's ass." He shrugged obviously not understanding the depth of Isabel's question.

"Okay," she smiled at her partner. Although she knew Maria DeLuca wasn't in any real danger with her brother, it made her warm to know that Michael Guerin was capable of caring about someone beside himself. "Let's get out of the car and think strategy."

Michael listened to his partner's words and focussed on her coolness. Isabel was right. Isabel was usually right about everything. He nodded once for agreement and then again for clarification.

The two bounty hunters met outside the car and looked towards the building.

"They've got to be in there somewhere," Isabel shaded her eyes against a dark night. "But what they're doing? I have no idea."

Michael didn't respond with words. He kicked at the gravel underneath them trying to control his racing heart. Maria DeLuca, he thought, How in the hell did this woman make me fall for her so damn fast? How did she invade a part of me that was built to ward off invasions? How could I have not fallen for someone who would understand me? Someone who is just like me.

Isabel saw something, someone, but she couldn't get the words out fast enough to alert Michael before a small, redheaded female slammed into him knocking him to the ground.

"Fuck!" Michael shouted as the feminine figure whipped around the car and into the darkness outside the perimeter of the lot. "What the hell was that?"

Isabel reached down for Michael's hand and pulled him to his feet. "I think it was a woman."

"A woman?" Michael brushed off his ass and looked into the darkness. "What the hell was she doing?"

Isabel shook her head as a realization dawned on her. The same realization hit Michael at the same time. In unison, they said one word, a name. "Liz."

"Fuck me!" Michael slapped the hood of Isabel's car and avoided the glare he knew she was giving him. "That was Liz." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "That was fucking Liz Parker."

Isabel nodded and positioned herself in-between her car and Michael. "I think so. She had red hair."

"This is un-fucking-believable," he pointed to where Liz Parker had run to. "Go try to find her, I'm going inside to…" He trailed off and took a step towards the building.

"Go get her Michael," Isabel grinned.

* * *

Maria pulled up the straps of her dress as she walked from the apartment. Taking a deep breath in the hallway, she looked from end to end. No Liz Parker. She damned Max Evans for making her drop her bag at the hotel; she didn't have Michael or Isabel's phone number with her and she needed help. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Maria DeLuca needed some help.

She bypassed the elevators and headed through the door marked exit and down the steps, her heels clicking louder than she thought possible. There would be no sneaking up on Liz Parker in these heels.

She caught her breath and took the shoes off, carrying them by a strap, and made her way down the rest of the stairs. She walked the expanse of the first floor and tried to get her bearings. It was doubtful that Liz was still in the building, but based on earlier actions, Liz Parker? Not the brightest. The fact that Liz wasn't so smart compounded with the fact that she had now successfully gotten away from Maria twice, was enough for Maria to want blood.

"I will get you, Liz," she said to an empty hallway as she made her way towards she thought was the main entrance. "You can't run and hide forever because I will always be right behind you. No matter where you go or what you do, Maria DeLuca will be on your ass."

She pushed open the front door and stepped out into the hot air. The heat assaulted her instantly as she stood still, dangling her shoes from one hand and the handcuffs from the other.

She looked the span of the lot and her eyes became trained on a figure stalking towards her. It was too tall to be Liz, too manly. As the figure became closer she felt the heat rise up inside of her, filling her. She stepped closer and saw the chiseled features of someone she knew she shouldn’t fall for. Someone she knew she shouldn't care anything about. Someone she was on fire to see.

"Maria," Michael said her name and raced to her. He embraced her as she stepped into the parking lot. He felt her wrap her arms around his neck and he inhaled her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good," she smiled and realized how much he meant to her. She forgot about the anger and the blame of getting into the kidnapping situation and met his lips with hers.

"Michael?" The voice came from behind them. Max Evans.

Michael looked away from Maria and faced his friend. He took one step in his direction before his fist came out of nowhere and clipped Max's face, his nose to be exact.

Max let out a surprised yelp and grabbed his nose before sinking to the ground in a puddle of weakness.

* * *

.Chapter Twenty Seven

Maria laughed as Michael's mouth crushed back down on hers. She felt his hands underneath her dress, his fingertips running underneath the elastic of her panties.

"Hey there cowboy," she pulled away from him and licked the saliva off her lips. "I know we seem to have a penchant for parking lots, but we have work to do."

"You're really okay?"

Maria nodded and liked the feeling of someone asking about her. Someone caring if she was okay. Since her Uncle Chuck had died, not too many people asked and fish can't talk. It wasn't a feeling she hadn't wanted upon her arrival in Roswell, nor one she expected, but now that she had it she didn't want to ever lose it.

"So," Maria motioned over to the apparently unconscious Max Evans and smirked. "What do you want to do about him?"

Michael shook his head and grinned. "I don't know. I kind of want to just leave him here and let Isabel deal with him." He picked her hand up in his and jangled the hanging handcuff. "You know, we could keep these for later."

"Yeah Guerin, I guess we could." She pulled her hand away and walked the few steps to Max. She squatted down and reached in his front pants pocket and retrieved the small silver key. She handed it to Michael and outstretched her arm to him. "Do me?"

He opened his mouth prepared with a smart ass comment then paused and laughed instead. He unlocked the handcuffs and tossed them over towards Max. "So, he didn't hurt you, did he?" He tried to mask the concern in his voice but heard it anyway.

"Max?" Maria laughed. "No, he didn't hurt me. Just pissed me off." She tilted her head to one side. "How did you find me?"

Michael relayed the events to her in rushed detail.

"So, you were coming to see me, huh?" Maria rested her hands on her hips, a coy smile gracing her lips.

Michael nodded. "Yeah I was, you know, to tell you how hardheaded you are." He ended the sentence with a grin. "Well, that and maybe ravage you for awhile."

"That's what I thought," she looked past him into the darkened corners of the parking lot. "You didn't happen to see Liz Parker out here, did you?"

"Oh," Michael nodded at what should have been the first information to pass between them. "Yeah, I did. She ran into me actually."

"Ran into you?" She questioned wearily.

"Knocked me on my ass to be exact," Michael shoved his hands in his pockets. "Isabel's after her."

"Well, your partner shouldn't have all the fun now, should she?" Maria raised one eyebrow at him and shrugged.

"No, I guess she shouldn't." Michael reached for her hand and clasped it in his own. "C'mon DeLuca, let's get this show on the road."

* * *

"This sucks!" Isabel muttered under her breath as her bare arm got scratched by yet another branch.

She had followed in the direction Liz had taken off in out of the parking lot and into woods that surrounded it before reaching a residential area. She was glad that she was wearing the ratty clothes because of the packing she had been doing before Michael's announcement that her brother was a kidnapper. If she had been in her real clothes, she knew she'd be fuming at the dirt and rips she'd have gotten in them by now.

She paused to catch her breath and listened for noise of any kind. The only thing she heard was her own breath and she knew right then why she did the office work and Michael was in the field. She stood up straight and reminded herself that she was just as qualified as Michael was in the job, they had after all, taken the same class.

"Screw it," she wiped sweaty grime from her flawless face and straightened her T-shirt.

With a nod of encouragement she was back on a makeshift trail probably made by stoners getting high in the woods, she thought and giggled. She trampled over twigs and roots, a few beer cans and other things indigenous to the woods of Roswell with one thing on her mind: Get Liz Parker.

She stopped after a loud snap to her left got her attention. She slowed her breathing and took little steps in the direction of the noise. Licking her lips, she suddenly felt the adrenaline rush that Michael claimed to love. She admitted that she loved it too.

* * *

Michael led Maria by the hand past Isabel's car that was blocking in Max's and into the darkness.

"You going to be able to walk in those shoes?" He asked after feeling a slight falter in her walk and a little swearing under her breath.

"I'm good Guerin," she walked up next to him and squeezed his hand. "If I can't make it I guess you'll just have to carry me, huh?"

Michael snickered and rolled his eyes. Not only had he met his match; he had fallen in love with her. "You know, when we get her I'm not just going to let you walk away from here."

"From here? From Roswell?" Maria asked with apprehension.

"No," he pulled her into him and placed her hand on his chest, over his heart. "From here."

She nodded and knew in that very second that she didn't want to leave there either. The woods? Yes. Michael Guerin? Not a chance. "We'll have time for this later."

"So, there will be a 'later'?"

She nodded with a smile she knew she couldn't pry off of her face. "Yeah Guerin, there will definitely be a later." She stepped back out of his embrace and pulled his arm. "Come on, let's get this done so we can get to the later."

He followed her into the darkness of the woods with a promise of 'later'.

* * *

Max Evan's eyes fluttered open as the excruciating pain from his swollen and quite possibly broken nose was recognized. He rolled over and got up on all fours before trying to stand. With a grunt of hurt, he got to his feet and looked out into the night. He walked into the lot and saw his sister's car was blocking his in.

"Damn it, not Isabel too!" He muttered and kicked gravel. "She's going to kick my ass!"

.Chapter Twenty Eight

Isabel Evans heard the noise again, although this time it wasn't nearly as loud. Or maybe she was just closer to it. She let her breath out slowly and closed her eyes willing her ears to work harder.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Maria whispered and halted her walk forcing Michael to stop with her.

He shrugged afraid to say anything out loud.

"Listen," Maria put her finger to her lips.

Michael cocked his head to one side as a barely audible snap seemingly blared across the night sky. He looked at Maria and was relieved when her eyes were as wild as his were. She was an adrenaline junkie too. The thrill of the chase was on.

He nodded and pulled her in the direction of the noise and hoped against hope it wasn't Isabel they were tracking. He kept his free hand out in front of them, pushing back branches and brush with a sudden need to make sure Maria didn't get hurt. Although he wasn't surprised when she found her place next to him and held back her own foliage.

They had only traveled a short distance when Michael stopped and pulled Maria back. He put his finger to his lips as she had minutes earlier, and pointed.

"Shit," Maria muttered under her breath. She looked in the direction she thought Michael was pointing in and heard another snap of twigs. "Go." She prodded him with a finger in the stomach.

* * *

Max Evans stumbled into the dark woods while constantly wiping blood from his nose. He was pretty sure by this time it was indeed broken because it hurt like hell. Not that he could blame Michael for punching him, he had, after all, kidnapped a bounty hunter and helped a felon.

"Are you insane?" He asked himself seconds before he tripped over an exposed tree root. He fell to his knees and felt said root skin rip through the knee of his pants. "Damn it!"

Max stood on shaky knees lost in the lack of judgement he had endured since he had received the phone call from Liz Parker. A girl he knew in high school. A girl he had a wild crush on. A girl that he hadn't had any contact with for eight years. But still a girl he would break laws for.

With a deep breath, Max Evans stumbled back into the darkness with the hope of finding Liz Parker and helping her get out of town before the other's found her. Being a student of the mind, he knew where he feelings were coming from and there was nothing he could do to change them. It was all summed up into two words: human nature.

* * *

Isabel cursed a plane overhead; she was trying to listen to the noises around her but the roaring engine from above was distorting her hearing. She opened her eyes and caught a flash of light; she sucked in a deep breath and tried to zero in on the flash. Flash of light or flash of silver? She wasn't sure. Could possibly be a flash of jewelry, or a gun? With a staggered step, she bent down lower and stalked towards the flash of light. Or silver. Or metal.

She heard footsteps and a whisper? The plane was gone but Isabel's ears weren't honing in the way she hoped they would. She kept her long body low and cursed her height.

* * *

Michael licked his bottom lip; his body filling with the adrenaline rush he loved. As the moon peeked out from behind a dark cloud, he looked at the bounty hunter beside him, working with him and smiled. This was how it was meant to be. A plane overhead made them stop in their tracks.

"So," he whispered wetly in her ear using the camouflage of the plane's engine to cover his words. "I was thinking."

"Oh yeah?" Maria whispered back.

"I know you didn't like here in Roswell when you got here."

She nodded and remembered her soliloquy of annoyance upon her arrival in Roswell. How things change, she mused.

His voice was low and wet. "But I think it would be in everyone's best interest for you to stay here. You're not leaving Roswell, you know that? You got my heart so don't think you're going to drag it off to San Francisco. You're staying right here with me. Right?"

She nodded before she could stop herself. In a moment when she should be hot on the trail of a little woman who had slipped her twice, Maria DeLuca was wondering what a life in the seventh circle of hell with Michel Guerin would be like. She wondered if her Angelfish would like it in Roswell.

"Good," Michael kissed her earlobe.

"Can we go get my bounty now?"

"Your bounty?" Michael whispered as his lips met hers. "I think Liz Parker is our bounty, babe."

A flash of light about twenty yards away caught the attention of both of them. The light flickered once then went out. Maria grabbed Michael by the hand and pulled him through the brush trampling everything underfoot.

* * *

Isabel Evans saw a figure off tot he side of her and panicked. She wished she had Michael with her; although he may annoy the hell out of her, she could depend on him. And as Isabel was learning, there weren't a lot of people in this world that she could depend on. Her brother was on that list.

An Oak tree in front of her became her shield as she tried to figure out what to do. Bracing the sides of the enormous trunk with her hands, she tapped at the bark until she realized she was making noise. She damned herself for breaking the first rule in bounty hunting: Do not draw attention to yourself.

The light was back and it was indeed a light. A very thin beam of a flashlight was hitting the ground first on one side of the tree and then the other sending Isabel into a near panic. Before she could talk herself out of it, she took a deep breath and jumped around the tree to face whoever was there.

* * *

"There!" Michael whispered excitedly as the light reappeared a few yards in front of them.

They raced towards the light and bound into a small clearing, the first person they saw was Isabel with the thin beam of light trained on her face. The next person they saw was the one holding what appeared to be a penlight, Max Evans.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Michael exclaimed. "Iz?"

"Michael?" Isabel held her hand over her face, shading her eyes and turned to look at the duo that had arrived.

"Michael?" Max asked and turned the light on him and Maria.

"Max!" Isabel shouted with anger in her voice.

"Liz," Maria smirked and stepped out of the direct line of light from Max's penlight and nodded towards a hollowed out tree trunk a few feet away from her. She pointed at the base of the trunk where a pair of white sneakers seemed to glow in the darkened rotten wood around them.

* * *

.Chapter Twenty Nine

Max turned the penlight away from Michael and pointed it at Maria. She kicked at the white sneakers and heard a muffled yelp. "Get out of the tree, Parker." She whacked the trunk with her palm.

"This is crazy," Michael shook his head and took his place next to Maria.

"Liz?" Max stepped towards the tree trunk, his penlight guiding him. "Are you okay? Liz?"

Isabel stood in back of her brother, anger in her breath. "You are in serious shit Max." She whispered hotly in his ear. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"But it… It was for Liz," he turned to face her, pity mounting in his voice.

Isabel narrowed her eyes at her brother who had dried blood around his nose and mercy in his eyes. She fought the urge to punch him in the face the same way she was sure Michael had. He may be her brother, but tonight, he was her enemy.

"I don't give a shit who it was Max!" She hissed. "You broke laws, you could and no doubt should go to jail!"

"But…" He stammered on his words until his attention was drawn in back of him again.

Maria had both of her arms down the inside of the hollowed out trunk. She had hair grasped in her hands and she knew without a doubt it was red. "I'm serious Parker, get your ass out here right freaking now!"

"You're hurting me!" Came the muffled whine from inside the trunk. "Leggo my hair!"

With a quick smile, Michael knelt on the ground. He tapped Liz Parker on the leg. "Liz. Bend down and get the fuck out of the tree, okay? You're caught. You're busted. You're going to jail." He looked up at Maria and winked. "Let's get a move on, I got better things to do tonight." He stood and laid his hands on Maria's arms. "Let go of her hair."

Maria did so reluctantly after one more quick yank. She looked to Michael and shrugged before taking a step away from the tree. She threaded her arm through Michael's and winked.

Liz Parker emerged from the hollowed out tree trunk dirty and on her knees. She stood and brushed off her knees before facing anyone.

"Liz?" Max tried to take a step towards her but felt hands on his biceps holding him back. Isabel. He shown his light on the delicate, smudged face of Liz Parker. "Are you okay?"

She faced him and nodded. "I'm sorry Max, I should have never dragged you into this."

Maria watched as Max Evans turned from the sniveling kidnapper to the guy with the great smile. She shook her head in disgust.

"I'm sorry it didn't work…" Max shook his head. "I was stupid-"

"Yeah Max, you were." Michael interrupted and faced his friend. "You do realize that kidnapping is illegal, don't you?"

"She informed me of that already," Max motioned to Maria. "I'm sorry."

Maria opened her mouth to speak as they small group was assaulted with headlights heading in from two directions.

"They're here!" Liz screamed and turned to run taking only one step into the darkness before being tackled from behind by Maria.

"Get out!" Isabel pulled Michael to her. "Take her and get out of here!"

Without hesitation, Michael lurched forward and grabbed Maria by the waist and pulled her to her feet. "We gotta get out of here!"

"Not without Parker!" Maria reached down to the fallen felon and pulled her to her feet by her elbow. "Come on!"

"They're going to kill me!" Liz whined and stumbled over her own feet as Maria pulled her through the woods.

"If you don't shut the hell up, I'm going to kill you!" Maria whispered harshly in her ear.

"Now!" Michael shouted, he was a few feet in front of them running towards the parking lot and breaking down the brush before Maria and Liz got to it.

Maria kept her grip tight on Liz's arm, she was sure she was leaving a bruise, but she couldn't seem to care. Her feet hurt and the only thing that kept her running was knowing that it was almost over. The hunt for Liz Parker was over and something strangely new was getting ready to begin with Michael Guerin.

"I'm sorry," Liz cried while tripping over unearthed roots. "I'm sorry."

"Shut up and keep running," Maria saw a light up ahead and knew they were close to the parking lot. The parking lot. One more added reason to hate Liz Parker was that any shared moments in parking lots were going to be put on hold until this Parker thing was closed.

"Come on!" Michael called from the edge of the woods. "Isabel's car, now!"

Maria nodded and pulled Liz along to the car and flung her in the backseat before following her in and slamming the door. "Go!"

Michael started the car as the passenger door opened and Max Evans jumped in. "What the fuck?"

"Take the 380," Max barked and swung around in the seat. "Are you okay?"

Michael took a deep breath, "Where is Isabel?"

"She's fine," Max pointed to inbound flashlights. "Go!"

Maria rolled her eyes and slipped off her shoes. "Where is Isabel?" She leaned on the back of Max's seat.

"She's fine, she took off the other way-" He was interrupted by a cell phone ringing.

Michael swore and pulled his phone out of his back pocket as gravel and dust spewed out in back of his tires. He flipped the phone in the backseat to Maria.

"Yeah?" Maria listened and nodded, "But you are okay? And you have keys?"

"Isabel?" Max asked.

Maria answered him with her middle finger. "No, we're getting the hell out of Dodge. San Fran baby, I'm dumping her in the City by the Bay." Maria laughed and turned the phone off.

"She's okay?" Michael asked looking in the rearview mirror at Maria.

"She's fine," Maria answered. "And we should be back to see her in about three days. As soon as we drop off Dumb in San Fran, we can bring Dumber back with us and…"

"And…." Michael licked his lips and returned his eyes to the road.

Maria DeLuca sank back into the plush of the backseat and grinned. Only about twelve hundred miles to go. One way. Maria relished in the idea of how many parking lots there were between Roswell New Mexico and San Francisco California.

Chapter Thirty

The highway onramp seemed like a good time for Maria to begin her interrogation. They had a long ride ahead of them and she believed it might be best to just get a few things out in the open.

"So Liz," Maria turned to face her backseat companion. "Who was that back there?"

"Weren't you listening to me?" Liz snapped. "I told you they were going to find me and kill me."

"Right, the bad guys," Maria narrowed her eyes. "How did they find you?"

Liz shrugged, but it wasn't convincing.

"Damn it, just answer her!" Michael, apparently listening to the conversation, snapped from the front seat.

"I don't know!" Liz shouted before she crossed her arms over her chest and turned her attention to the window and the passing darkness.

"Liz,"' Max turned around in his seat to face her. "Are you okay?" The concern in his voice was overpowering.

"No Max," she leaned forward. "I'm not okay. I'm getting ready to go to jail, how would you feel?"

"Yeah Max," Maria's eyes twinkled. "Since you're going to jail too, how do you feel?"

Max turned to his friend for help but was turned down with silence.

"Leave him alone," Liz faced Maria, her voice small and weak. "He didn't do anything wrong, it was me. Just promise me that Max won't get any retribution for helping me."

Maria tilted her head to one side seeing a different side of Liz. A side with a little compassion for her helper. Maybe Liz Parker wouldn't only try to save her own ass, but Max's too. Human nature in its equality.

"So DeLuca," Michael called back from the front seat, "San Francisco and not Montana?"

"If I can get her back to Frisco I'm good, I get paid and she'll be off of my hands." Maria cast a sideways glance at Liz. "So again, Parker, how did they find you? Do you actually deserve the name Dumb?"

"Yes," Liz glared, "As a matter of fact I do. I used my stupid credit card yesterday. I guess that's how they found me."

"You are such a bad criminal," Maria rolled her eyes and crossed her legs wishing desperately for some different clothing. "Is that how you planned on running and hiding by using your credit card? God, haven't you ever watched any TV show before?"

"I had to," Liz said quietly, she averted her eyes away from Maria and away from Max.

"Liz?" Max reached over and touched her arm. "What's going on?"

Liz Parker wiped at her dry eyes. "I used the credit card for a plane ticket. I was going to leave in the morning."

"Yeah, you were going to leave in the morning all right." Michael snorted. "Probably in a body bag, though."

"I swear, if I had my stun gun I'd shock the shit out of you," Maria shook her head.

"I told you, I'm not a criminal!" Liz pleaded. "I was leaving because I didn't want to see Max get hurt, he's been so nice to me…"

"And I'm sure he'll come see you on visiting days," Maria stretched her legs out in front of her.

"I was scared, I'm still scared."

"I have to interject something here," Michael said from the front seat. "Maybe this was already discussed during your bout of kidnapping, but Liz, if you have all this cash, why didn't you just run with it? Why the hell are you using a credit card?"

"I don't have the money anymore. I only had it for a brief time." She explained to Michael the way she thought she had been used as a scapegoat and ignored the deep sighs and incessant eye rolling coming from Maria.

"So where is the money?" Michael asked a question that Maria never had.

"I gave it away."

"You gave it away?" Michael smiled into the rearview mirror. "Why?"

"It wasn't mine and the people it actually belonged to were bad, so I gave it away to a good cause."

"And what cause was that?" Maria yawned her boredom.

"That's why I was in San Francisco, I donated it all to Save the Sea Turtles."

Maria snickered then closed her eyes. "Wake me when we're at least a hundred miles away from here, okay? I have to get some different clothes on."

* * *

"Maria?" Michael leaned over the driver's seat. "Maria!"

"What?" Maria DeLuca's eyes snapped open. She looked at Michael in front of her and then turned to see a sleeping Liz Parker next to her. She sighed and pulled the straps of her dress up. "Oh. Where are we?"

"Socorro," Max answered. "About a hundred and sixty miles outside of Roswell."

Maria nodded and sat up; she looked out her window and saw they were parked in a parking lot of an all-night discount department store. "Michael," she smiled sweetly at him. "Can I have some money for some new clothes?"

Without hesitation, Michael handed her his wallet. "Try not to break the bank."

She winked at him and placed her hand on the door handle. "Come on Max, you're coming with me. Michael, I think you should hang out back here in case Dumb decides to wake up and try to run away."

"Would you quit calling her that!" Max snapped in a heated whisper.

"Nope, give Michael your wallet."

Max started to protest but then relinquished his wallet to Michael without question. He got out of the car and met Maria on the other side. They walked into the store together, Maria with her finger hooked in the belt loop of his pants.

She walked straight to the ladies' department and picked out a pair of khaki shorts, a black tank shirt and a white button down short sleeve shirt. She pulled Max to the shoes and then had him carry a pair of white sneakers while she picked out socks. At the register, she grabbed four cold bottles of soda and a handful of candy bars. She paid with a credit card of Michael's and was relieved when it went through.

At the front doors she noticed a restroom and pulled Max into it after much protesting.

"I don't trust you," she said evenly and reached around to unzip the back of her dress. "Turn around."

Max turned around and waited until she told him to turn back before he did. "You really did look nice for our date."

Maria looked down at the dress over her arm. "Thanks, but it wasn't a real date."

"I know," Max smiled brilliantly at her. "So, I noticed in the car that you said after we drop Liz off in San Francisco that you'd be bringing 'Dumber' back to Roswell. I guess that means you're coming back?"

Maria nodded and hated the way his voice was so smooth. "Yeah, I'm coming back."

He nodded. "After seeing how you and Michael interact, I'd be shocked if you weren't. I think you just might be perfect for each other."

Maria fought a blush and pointed to the door. "Let's go."

* * *

.Chapter Thirty One

"So, are you really going to have me arrested?" Max asked as he walked alongside Maria through the parking lot towards the car. "I couldn't help myself. I had to help her."

Maria stopped walking, aggravation prominent in her expression. She placed her hands on her hips and sighed before speaking. "Okay Max, you seem like an okay kind of guy. Why you ever chose to help her, I have no idea. No, I will not have you arrested for kidnapping but only because I really like your sister. If I didn't, then yes, you would go to jail."

"But you won't help Liz, will you?"

"No Max, I will not help her. She is a felon. Maybe if it had gone down a little differently and she didn't actually take the money, then maybe."

"She did give it away, its not like she kept it."

"That doesn't matter Max," she shook her head. "She made one mistake after another and she could have gotten us all killed tonight! I'll be honest, I didn't really think anyone was after her, but apparently they are. She made a bad situation worse."

"I know, but isn't there anything we can do to help her?"

Maria judged his request. It was obvious that his feelings were heartfelt and she hated the way it pinged at her heart. She had already gone against her beliefs by letting herself fall for Michael Guerin; she wasn't about to go against them again. She shook her head. "I don't think so. The best help she can get will be in custody."

Max nodded and looked towards his sister's car. "I guess I was just trying to help someone I used to really care about."

Maria nodded. She understood it was simple, Max Evans had fallen victim to human nature. "Come on. Let's get this show on the road. We have a lot of miles to cover before this is over."

Max nodded and followed her to the car. He opened up the backdoor and let Michael out, Liz was still asleep. "I'll sit in back with her."

Michael shook his head. "I don't think so."

"What am I going to do Michael? Hurl her out of a moving car?" Max looked to Maria for help and got her raised eyebrows for an answer. "Seriously? I just want to sleep. Okay? If you get tired and you want me to drive, I'll drive."

Max got in the backseat without a response and pulled Liz's sleeping body towards him. He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes. Michael shut the door and ran his hands through his hair. "This is fucking crazy."

"I know," Maria stepped towards the back of the car and crooked her finger at Michael beckoning him to follow. She stepped to the rear of the car and outstretched her arms to him in an emotion she wasn't familiar with; need.

Michael stepped into her, his arms sliding around her waist, his face nuzzling into her neck. "You meant what you said, right?"

"About what?" She toyed with him and knew in an instant that she'd never grow tired of it.

"About not leaving Roswell, about not leaving me?" Michael lifted his head to face her and licked his lips. "You're not, right?"

"Well," she grinned and her eyes twinkled. "No Guerin, I'm not going anywhere. Do you know where a soon to be out of work bounty hunter can get a job in Roswell?"

He chuckled, "Yeah, I have a good idea."

"Then c'mere and kiss me," she placed her hands on the back of his head and lowered his face to hers, their lips met and shocks ran through her.

Michael held her tight against him. The animalistic fervor he had felt with her on their previous encounters was melding with something stronger, something permanent. Something he wasn't about to let go of.

"We should get back on the road," she smiled into his mouth as she felt his hands on her ass.

Michael nodded and squeezed her ass once before stepping back from her. "You're right. The sooner we get her dropped off, the sooner we can get back home."

Maria nodded and realized that her home was going to be in Roswell. The city she deemed one of the circles of hell was going to be home. She could deal with that.

* * *

Michael was getting bored. They'd been on the road for hours and daylight was just thinking about making its appearance. A quick phone call to Isabel a few hours earlier put his mind at ease that she really was all right. He glanced at the rearview mirror and rolled his eyes at the sleeping figures of his friend Max and the felon Liz.

He looked next to him at the sleeping Maria DeLuca and smiled. The driving time alone was giving him plenty of time to contemplate everything he felt about her. He wasn't looking for anyone special when she bounded into his life with a killer body, a beautiful face and an attitude that rivaled his own. The last thing that Michael Guerin ever thought he'd want was now the only thing he wanted; sharing a life with someone he loved.

He rolled his eyes at himself and knew he was whipped, sappy and generally everything he hated in a man. But he didn't care. This was different. This was Maria DeLuca and she was his match. His perfect match.

Maria fought a yawn and sat up straighter in the front seat. She looked over her shoulder at Dumb and Dumber and declared them helpless before she cast a sideways glance at Michael. She thought he looked like he was in some type of inner struggle and wondered if it had anything to do with her. She prayed he wasn't rethinking what he said to her, about her, that would devastate her.

She reached a tentative hand to him and laid it on his denim-clad thigh. When he looked at her, she could read in his dashboard lit eyes that he wasn't having second thoughts.

"Do you want me to drive?" She whispered. "God, where are we?"

"Not too far outside of Flagstaff," Michael yawned. "On interstate 40."

"Flagstaff?" Maria's eyes went wide. "Don't tell me I've been sleeping for over five hours!"

"Sorry babe, you have." He yawned again. "I have to stop and get some caffeine, there's a rest stop coming up in about three exits. We're stopping for a few minutes."

Maria nodded and waited patiently as the mile markers went by. She looked again in the backseat at the sleeping felons as Michael pulled off the highway and parked in the lot of the nearly empty rest stop. He opened his door and got out, Maria followed.

"Do you think we should leave them alone in there?" Michael asked dropping the keys in his pocket.

Maria nodded as she met him on his side of the car. "They're not going anywhere. Let'em sleep, the less interaction I have with Dumb and Dumber, the better."

Michael cocked his head to one side as a breeze rippled through him. The heat of Roswell was replaced with a less humid temperature. In the moments before a new dawn when the world seemed asleep; Michael Guerin felt like him and Maria DeLuca were the only ones in it.

He took her by the hand and led her away from the car towards a picnic table underneath a tree with boughs hanging down nearly to the ground.

"Second thoughts?" He asked.

Maria shook her head. "You?"

Michael shook his head and grinned before pulling her into him.

* * *

.Chapter Thirty Two

Michael's lips crashed down on Maria's, his tongue slid slowly into her mouth touching the tip of hers with a slow smooth passion. His hands roamed her back underneath her tank shirt, tracing delicate circles with nervous fingertips.

"I can't believe I said I'd give up my life, everything I've worked so hard for, for you," Maria tucked a few wild strands of hair behind his ear. "I barely even know you!"

Michael leaned back so he could gaze at her face, into her eyes. "You do know me Maria, I'm just like you."

She nodded and smiled while sliding her hands underneath his shirt and untucking it. She pulled it off over his head and dropped it in back of him. Her hands flew to his chest, searching out every curve of muscle, every goosebump that rose underneath her touch.

Michael's breath caught with her touch. A sensation of something powerful rippled through him. He couldn't stop himself, the sensitive passion was leaking away and a raw innate hunger was filling him. He pulled her button down shirt off of her and threw it to the ground. He lifted her tank shirt over her head with delicacy and then tossed it in back of him, a wicked grin spread across his lips.

Maria grinned back at him and reached for the clasp of his jeans as he reached for the button and zipper of her shorts. In unison, they unfastened and pulled down the only clothes keeping them apart. They stepped out of their pants and shorts leaning on each other and giggling.

"I feel like I'm in high school," Maria giggled as she leaned her bare ass against the picnic table.

"I don't think you feel like you're in high school," Michael licked his bottom lip and filled his hand with a bare breast.

She laughed and cast a glance over her shoulder at Isabel's car. "I swear if either of them wake up…"

Michael watched her; the barely breathing light from a new day was now only minutes away. Her body was hued in deep purples; a sallow glow from a distant streetlight outlined her in gold. Her hair was illuminated by a light that he couldn't identify, but it didn't matter. In that moment, Michael Guerin knew she was beautiful, and that he was so in love with her.

While his thumb glided over one newly perky nipple, his other hand caressed the soft spot of skin between her shoulder and neck turning her back to face him.

"I never knew there was someone like you out there," he whispered and pressed himself into her flesh. His hardness wedged in-between her legs, touching dampness.

"I didn't know you were looking," she parted her legs and edged her ass back up onto the picnic table.

"I wasn't," he leaned forward and kissed first one rosy nipple, then the other. He looked back into her eyes and saw the same want and need he knew was reflecting in his own.

"Me either," she whispered and crooked her legs behind his knees pulling him to her. "Me either."

Michael pressed against her and then into her. A sensation of utter contentment roared through him like wildfire. He felt her teeth rub against his chest, the chiseled bottoms tearing across his skin. He thrust deep into her until the thoughts of going straight through her made him pause.

Maria felt the ache of need float away from her. A life of solitude was slowly being replaced with fullness. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him deeper into her, bruising inside of her. She didn't care; she needed him to be as far inside of her as he could get.

A groan escaped Michael's lips and he began to rock against her, thrusting deep then deeper; his mouth stayed hungry on her neck.

Maria rocked with him, making a sweet simple sound somewhere between a moan and sigh with each thrust. She felt his mouth on her neck; the wetness of his saliva cooling her skin in the tepid breeze while inside of her burned.

The electricity in Michael's body couldn't be corralled. He pulled out of her while he still could and came down her leg, exhausting his body against hers. He met her eyes and frowned. "I couldn't stop it."

She kissed the tip of his nose. "I didn't want you to."

* * *

.Chapter Thirty Three

Michael stayed pressed against her, his heavy breathing and uncontrolled emotions plastering into her.

"That was…" He shook his head and caught his breath. "I can't believe…"

"I know," Maria grinned and kissed his cheek. "Trust me, I know."

He smiled while his hands slid down her slick sides. "I guess we should get going, huh? Sooner we get there the sooner we get back?"

"Yeah," Maria broke completely away from him and pulled her shorts up, careful to avoid the sticky mess currently running down her thigh. She folded that side of her shorts up while Michael dressed. He handed her the tank shirt and watched her put it on in awe of her body. Her full breasts were covered and he was somewhat relieved, the temptation to touch her again was momentarily subsiding.

"I can't wait to get back," Michael murmured as he slid his T-shirt over his head.

"I'm going to go," she blushed as she motioned to her leg then pointed to the restrooms, "clean myself up."

Michael bit his bottom lip and watched her walk away; new feelings of completeness filled him. He watched her figure brighten underneath a light, the night giving way to the approaching sun cast her shadows dimly and Michael Guerin knew without a doubt that he'd be with her forever.

He ran his hands through his hair and shook his head. "Un-fucking-believable."

* * *

Maria stood in the empty restroom and wiped her leg off with a wet paper towel. She caught her reflection in the mirror and noticed the difference. She no longer carried the image of being an alone bad ass bounty hunter. Now she was a bad ass bounty hunter in love. She was barely able to admit that to herself; she knew it'd take some time before she could say it out loud.

She shook her head as a smile appeared. "Un-fucking-believable."

She splashed some cold water on her face and washed her hands before leaving the restroom. Michael was waiting outside of the door for her, an icy can of something caffeinated in his hand.

"Did you get me one?" She asked and cocked her head to one side.

He shook his head slowly and took another swallow. "I thought I'd let you pick out what you wanted."

She grinned, he had answered correctly. They walked hand in hand to the vending machines and poured in enough quarters and dollar bills to get drinks and snacks for everyone.

"They have to wake up sometime, right?" Maria motioned towards the car.

They got in the car quietly and held hands as Michael left the rest stop and pulled back onto the highway.

Max Evans couldn't stop the sweet smile from gracing his lips.

* * *

Not too far outside of Flagstaff, they switched drivers and Maria took the wheel. She turned the radio up a little and rolled her window down as they were greeted with a beautiful morning.

"You know, we're only about seven hundred and fifty miles away from San Fran?" She slid her sunglasses on and looked over to Michael who was slowly giving way to exhaustion.

"That sounds like an awfully long time," he yawned.

"Nope, barely a little jump. We stay at seventy and we'll be there in about ten hours." She smiled thinking about getting back to San Francisco. About seeing her fish again.

"Ten hours," Michael slid his sunglasses on and reclined the seat a few inches. "How about you wake me up in a few hours? I really need to get some sleep."

"Sure thing," she looked over at him and grinned, "Babe."

Michael chuckled and folded his arms over his chest. Within minutes he was snoring lightly.

Maria turned the radio down a little and relaxed in her seat, ready for a long drive.

"I can drive if you need me to," Max Evans leaned over the seat and placed his hand on a canned soda sitting in-between the front seats. "Can I have this?"

"Sure," Maria cast a glance over her shoulder at him. "And no, you can't drive."

"I was just offering."

"Is your girlfriend still asleep?"

"She's not my girlfriend, and yes she is. She's exhausted."

"Yeah, I bet, all that running from the law and kidnapping."

"She told me what happened in Las Vegas," Max said quietly. "Were you really going to help her?"

Maria let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. "I was going to listen to her and she fucked me."

"She didn't know if she could trust you or not-"

"I took off her handcuffs!" Maria retorted feeling all of the anger she had in Vegas. "God! Why did you ever get mixed up with her again?"

Max shook his head and looked at the sleeping felon next to him. "Have you ever had such a strong feeling to help someone?" He waited for Maria to answer, when she didn't, he continued. "She called me up out of the blue and asked for my help. I was so in love with her in high school and I never told her. We were good friends, but that was all. I couldn't not help her, it didn't matter if it was right or wrong, I had to help her."

"Well, I won't pretend to understand because I don't," Maria tucked her hair behind her ears and rolled her window up halfway.

"You've never had anyone that you cared so much about you would do anything, no matter how stupid or insane, to help them?"

Maria thought his question through before answering. Until she had met Michael Guerin, she never thought she was capable of that feeling. Suddenly everything had changed. "Okay, I can kind of see what you're saying, but I'm an officer of the courts, I can't condone felonious behavior."

Max smiled that brilliant smile. "You're going to be good for him."

Maria opened her mouth to respond with a smart-ass remark, but decided against it. Instead, she glanced over at the sleeping man next to her, still snoring and slightly drooling over parted lips, and smiled.

"Seriously, " Max nodded. "You're going to be really good for him."

"Why? Why would you say that?"

"Because, it's only natural," Max shrugged. "You two met because you were supposed to, fate, if you believe in that kind of thing. And now instead of two lonely souls, you'll have each other. No one wants to be alone," his voice held a deep sadness. "That's human nature, everyone wants somebody to love and to have them love you back."

Maria nodded and hated that she heard the truth in his words. It was all true but she had never realized it before. She'd been living her life alone; unaware that underneath her independence there was that want of companionship. It always boiled down to human nature.

"Where are we?" Liz's whiny voice rang out from the backseat.

"Oh hell," Maria sighed. "Dumb's up."

* * *

.Chapter Thirty Four

"You don't have to call her that, Maria." Max stated glancing over his shoulder at the now yawning Liz Parker. "We're in Arizona."

Liz nodded and reached for Max's can of soda. "May I have some?"

"Oh, for crying out loud," Maria sighed heavily. "There's more. You don't have to take his!" She leaned over and rummaged around Michael's outstretched legs until she found another can. She handed it over her shoulder until it was taken.

"Thank you," Liz's voice was weak from the backseat.

Maria turned the radio up and fought the urge to wipe away the drool from Michael's lip. She tuned out Dumb and Max, for some reason she just couldn't call him Dumber anymore. He was dumb in his actions and choices, but he nailed human nature like only Maria thought she could do.

The traffic was light and the sky was vibrant as Maria cruised through Arizona with the radio turned up just loud enough to drown out the mumblings from the backseat, but not loud enough to wake Michael up.

She caught herself glancing at him every few minutes and smiling. Max had been right; she would be good for him as well as he'd be good for her. They complimented each other in so many ways already and they were only at the tip of the iceberg. On a ridiculous trip into one of the circles of hell, she had found reason.

Bursting with excitement, Maria DeLuca could have cared less about the dynamic duo in the backseat. She was getting ready to embark on something new and unknown and she was excited as hell.

She was confident her fish would like Roswell. Okay, she was confident her fish wouldn't bitch too much about it. She'd miss her neighbor Lenora, but the new possibilities were endless. She was packing up and moving all for a man. But he seemed to be the man that she hadn't known existed. Another quick glance at that man and she pressed down harder on the pedal.

* * *

The daylight was fading into dusk and the incessant pleas for a bathroom break from Liz Parker finally grated Maria's nerves enough that she pulled over at a gas station a couple of hours inside the California border. Bakersfield. She had been driving since morning and wasn't tired yet. She was renewed when Michael had finally woken up around noon and promptly kissed her on her cheek.

"Come on," Maria refrained from calling Liz 'Dumb' only because she didn't want the backlash from Max. She stood outside of the back door and waited until Liz emerged before grabbing her forearm in a tight clasp. "Make it fast."

"You're taking me in, you don't have to be such a bitch about it. You won, okay?" Liz pulled at the hem of her shirt with her free hand until she was flung towards the gas station wall and forced to face Maria.

"Do you think me driving you across the freaking country is bitch-like? How about the fact that I bought you something to drink, bitchy?" Maria seethed, her face inches away from Liz's. "I could be a mega-bitch and drop you off for the nearest bad guy to find and butcher. I could let you run, track you down and keep doing the same thing over and over until I get tired of it. I could do a number of things that would undoubtedly be very bitch like, but I'm not. I'm being very humane, even though you freaking kidnapped me and made me sit on that awful plaid couch in my pretty new dress. So no Liz, I'm not being a bitch."

Liz nodded slowly while edging her face away from Maria.

"We should be in San Francisco in about six hours, then I'll dump you off to the authorities, you'll be safe with them, I promise." Maria wanted to stick something sharp in her eye for the last comment. She didn't like Liz Parker, but something about her made her kind of sad. No, she realized that was inaccurate. It was what Max said in the car.

That's human nature, everyone wants somebody to love and to have them love you back.

That's where the shred of compassion for Liz's plight came from. It wasn't about her at all, it was about Max Evans and the loneliness he exuded. He had held on to something he never really had. Maria understood the loneliness that Max lived with, and until very recently, she had shared it.

"Just get in there," Maria pulled her roughly by the arm and pushed open the bathroom door. She held a metal stall door open and turned her head.

"You don't have to stand there," Liz whined.

Maria didn't answer her; she only sighed.

* * *

"I'm sorry," Max Evans leaned forward and rested his arms on the back of the passenger seat.

"You should be," Michael turned around and faced his life long friend. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Max shook his head, "I don't know. I just wanted to help her. I felt like I had to help her."

"You broke laws for her!" Michael retorted.

"I know," Max bowed his head momentarily before facing the accusation. "I was stupid, but I would do it again."

"For Liz?"

"For Liz," Max confirmed with a nod. "I felt useful."

"Do you mean used?" Michael couldn't resist a smirk.

"She needed me. I know you and Maria think I'm crazy, and maybe in some ways I am, but I couldn't not help her. Have you ever been so drawn to someone that you'd do anything for them?"

Michael weighed his words before he answered. After a quick glance at the gas station he realized that since he'd known he was falling for Maria DeLuca, he could understand. "I can understand Max, but you broke laws for her. I can't condone that no matter what."

Max smiled at the nearly identical words that Maria had said to him that morning. "You're going to be good for her."

"I know," Michael turned back around and folded his arms over his chest. He was smiling.

* * *

.Chapter Thirty Five

Maria let Michael drive again right before they reached Fresno. They switched drivers in the drive-thru lane of a fast food restaurant not too long before the dinner rush was ready to begin. Michael bought dinner for everyone and they stayed in the car to eat.

"What's going to happen to me?" Liz asked interrupting a comfortable silence.

Michael and Maria looked at each other, then Maria answered. "You're going to go to jail."

"That’s it?" Liz's eyes were wide.

"Isn't that enough?" Michael looked over his shoulder at her with raised eyebrows.

"Do you think they would consider the Witness Protection Program? I mean, if I have the evidence to put away my old bosses?"

Michael looked at Maria and gave her the go-ahead to answer that one. It was out of his league. He regretted that he didn't have the answers, but he was just a small time bounty hunter from a small town. The only thing he knew about the Witness Protection Program, he had learned from movies.

Maria sighed before answering. "Maybe, I don't know. Since apparently they are indeed out to get you, then it might be a good idea. At least until this blows over and they go to jail. I'm sure the Marshal's will consider it if you ask."

"So I have a chance for a new life?" Liz's voice held hope. A quick glance at Max and the hope turned to sympathy. "Max, I don't know what else to do."

Max took her hand in his. "It'd be the best for you Liz," he smiled. "Talk to the Marshal's and see if you can't make a deal."

"Which she should have done before she bolted out of custody," Maria snipped. "God, didn't you think anything through all the way?"

"I'm not an experienced criminal," Liz said. "I didn't know what to do. I was put into a situation that I didn't know how to get out of. So I did what I thought was best at the time. I can see now that it wasn't the best idea."

"No shit," Michael murmured earning him a smile from Maria.

"I didn't mean to drag Max into anything, I just didn't know who else to call."

"Don't you have any friends?" Maria cursed herself for asking. She didn't really care if Liz Parker had friends or not.

Liz shook her head slowly. "No, not really. No one that I trust implicitly. That's why I went home, to Roswell, it's the last place that I had friends," she looked at Max and smiled as she squeezed his hand. "I knew my mom would help and Max… Well, I hoped Max would still be the same sweet guy that he was when I knew him in high school."

Michael opened his mouth to speak, then shook his head as he changed his mind.

"I still can't believe how stupid you two were," Maria shook her head slightly feeling more at ease than she expected. "You kidnapped me! You actually kidnapped me!"

"I'm really sorry about that," Liz said.

"Me too," Max chimed in. "It was a stupid mistake and I hope none of that will be a hindrance between us when you move to Roswell."

"You're moving to Roswell?" Liz asked with something that sounded like excitement in her voice. "Really?"

Maria nodded and caught the smirk on Michael's lips. "Yeah, I'm moving to one of the circles of hell."

"That's great," Liz sighed. "You'll really like living in Roswell, I did."

Maria looked out the passenger window and grinned. She was seriously moving to Roswell to be with a man that she barely knew. Although she felt like he was the missing half of her, she had known him only a few short days and she was giving up everything for him. No, she corrected herself; she was giving up her life in San Francisco for herself, not for Michael. This was for her. Period. Michael Guerin was just an extreme bonus.

Michael called Isabel and kept her posted on their progress and asked if the mysterious men from the woods had appeared again. After she promised they hadn't and assured Michael she was perfectly safe he hung up and turned up the radio to drown out the chitchat from the back seat. He looked to Maria and then reached for her hand.

"You're going to love living in Roswell," he confirmed what Liz had said.

"Really?" She asked as the first inkling of doubt crept into her mind.

"Yeah," he nodded. "You're going to love it."

Maria smiled as the doubt sifted away and knew he was right. She was going to love it.

* * *

Maria called Marco, the man she worked for, when they were about a hundred miles outside of San Francisco. After a few minutes of heated swearing followed by laughter, Maria told Marco where they were and exactly what she wanted. She didn't bother to look in the backseat at Liz, she knew she'd be staring at her with those almond shaped brown eyes full of wonder and Maria thought she might gag if she looked back at her.

She hung up with Marco and stretched out her legs in front of her. "You know, I do want to go to my apartment when we get there, right?"

"To see your fish?" Max asked from the backseat.

"Yeah, to see my fish," she smiled and then added to herself, so I can tell them we're relocating.

Michael shook his head and smiled to himself. He had laughed at Isabel a few days earlier when she told him they were after Liz Parker. Scrawny Liz from high school. He laughed even harder when she told him a chick bounty hunter was already on her tail. Now Liz Parker was in the backseat being hand delivered and then Maria was going to return to Roswell with him. He just smiled thinking about how fast and hard he had fallen for that chick bounty hunter. No doubt. No fear.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Maria said and then shifted her eyes away wondering when in the hell she had ever talked like that.

"A penny?" Michael snorted. "Hell, after we get the bounty for her," he pointed his thumb into the backseat, "it'll cost you more than a penny!'

"You're an ass," she grinned and flung a shiny penny at him that she had found on the floorboard.

"No, "Michael corrected her. "According to Isabel I am King of the Jackasses."

"I always knew my sister was a pretty sharp woman," Max leaned forward and placed his hand on Michael's shoulder. "Hey, are we cool?"

Michael seemed to think about it for a few seconds before nodding slowly. "Yeah Max, I think we're cool. But could you do me a favor?" He waited until he saw Max nod in the rearview mirror. "Quit fucking analyzing me and your sister."

Max laughed and eventually the rest of the car joined in.

Chapter Thirty Six

Maria couldn't believe she was laughing with Liz Parker. She stopped abruptly and turned her head to the window. She wasn't supposed to be laughing with the felons. She didn't like Liz Parker or what she had done and to now be sitting there in the car laughing with her was too much for Maria.

"You okay?" Michael asked and touched her bare thigh.

"I'm good," she nodded.

"Nervous?"

"About dropping off Dumb?" She turned back to him with raised eyebrows. "Hardly."

"No, about the other stuff. About the 'later'?" Michael rolled his eyes.

"I'm not really nervous," she glanced in the backseat relieved that Max and Liz were having their own hushed conversation and wouldn't intrude on theirs, again. "I guess I'm just a little shocked that I'm doing something so compulsively, I mean, shit, I've lived in San Francisco since I was little. And now, on the drop of a dime I'm moving to Roswell New Mexico, the home of the little green men. I have no idea what I'm thinking!"

"You're thinking that you finally found someone that you couldn't bear not to be with."

"Well," Maria's eyes twinkled. "I really like Isabel, but I'm sure I could bear not to be with her."

"Smart ass," Michael grumbled while shaking his head.

"Better than being a dumbass."

"Or a jackass, right?"

"Yeah Guerin," she laughed and realized why it was so easy to make the decision to move. "Better than being a jackass."

* * *

Dusk turned to dark and Michael wondered if he was ever going to get out of the car again. Although the ride had been relatively smooth, he was anxious now. He was getting ready to start something new and he was excited, something he wasn't used to being. Not over a woman. But Maria DeLuca wasn't just any woman.

He stole a glance at her; her eyes wide with excitement as the miles closed between them and San Francisco. Her home. A sudden bolt of realization hit him, she was giving up her life to move to Roswell. A place she swore she hated, just to be with him. Michael Guerin was humbled.

He noticed the swell of her breasts underneath her shirt, the way her shorts seemed almost glued to her long, slim legs. He wanted to feel those legs wrapped around his waist.

Maria knew Michael was looking at her she could almost feel the heat from him. Or maybe it was her own heat, she wasn't sure. As they passed a mile marker telling her it was only thirty-one more miles to San Francisco, she used Michael's phone to call Marco again.

As the lights and sounds of San Francisco welcomed Maria DeLuca home, the others in the car were a little bit more apprehensive. Liz Parker for obvious reasons, her reign of freedom was almost over. Max Evans was sure he was going to go back to the lonely life he had before Liz called. Michael Guerin was nervous that once Maria got home that she wouldn't want to leave with him again.

Maria rattled off directions to Michael and then called Marco again with a change in plans.

"Where are we going?" Liz asked. "It looks like we're headed towards the water."

"You're not going to drown her are you?" Michael asked looking over at Maria.

She rolled her eyes before answering. "No, we're going to my apartment. Marco and two Marshal's will be there soon to meet us."

"Your apartment?" Michael heard his voice catch and it pissed him off. "Why there?"

"Safer for her," Maria motioned with her thumb to the back seat. "Since she's wanted dead, and we don't work on the dead or alive factor, I thought we should get her there in one piece."

"Your concern for me is overwhelming," Liz muttered form the backseat.

"That's it!" Maria unlatched her seatbelt and knelt on her seat facing the back of the car. "I'm doing everything I can for you Dumb! I don't feel the need to listen to your condescending remarks! I'm taking you to my apartment, my home, so the big bad guys won't get you, so either be grateful or shut the fuck up!"

Liz looked at the blond with narrowed eyes. "Thank you."

Maria nodded once and turned back around. Her chest flush with anger that was quickly subsiding into pity. She was getting ready to embark on a new journey with the man seated beside her while Liz Parker was looking at either hard time or dropping off the face of the planet. She cursed human nature.

"Turn left at the light and go straight until it looks like you're going to hit the water. There's a parking lot before the footpath." Maria pointed, her stomach nervous being so close to home. Her loins ached being so close to a parking lot.

Michael drove slowly and rolled down his window completely. The salt air hit his nose and the sounds of the ocean hit his ears. "You can really leave here? For the desert?"

Maria didn't answer him right away. She could leave the ocean, but it wasn't for the desert, it was for bigger and better things. "Yeah Guerin, I can leave here."

"Well," he whistled as he pulled into the parking lot, "I've only been here for a few minutes in the dark and I'm not sure if I can leave here or not!"

Maria directed him to her empty parking spot outside of a modest two story stone building. "I'm on the second floor," she pointed up to a dark balcony overlooking the beach before she turned around to face Liz. "If you try to run I'll catch you and beat the crap out of you, got it?"

"I won't run," Liz shook her head. "If nothing else comes of this, I'm happy some sea turtles will be taken care of."

Maria couldn't respond civilly. She got out of the car and inhaled the smells of home. She waited until the others were out of the car before she started walking towards the building. She knew her neighbor would still be up watching late night talk shows and could use her key to get in. She couldn't wait to see her fish again.

* * *

.Chapter Thirty Seven

After a brief rundown of events to her neighbor Lenora, Maria opened the door to her apartment, turned on the living room light and let the rest of her entourage in. Michael looked around the sparsely furnished spacious living room and then followed Maria with his eyes.

Maria walked directly to the thirty-gallon aquarium and turned the light in the hood on. Five Angelfish swam to the front of the tank and stared out.

"Hi guys," Maria smiled at her family. "You been taking care of everyone Chuck?"

"They're beautiful fish," Max stood next to her.

Maria nodded and looked over her shoulder. Michael was watching her and Liz was standing in the middle of the room, her arms wrapped around herself. The small group settled into an uncomfortable silence as the knowledge set in this was where everything changed.

Liz Parker was going away, somewhere, maybe to never be heard from again. Max Evans was going to go back to his lonely existence of analyzing his friends and family, but now he'd carry with him some renewed dreams of life. Michael Guerin was about to change everything he believed in. He had fallen for a woman so much like himself it was scary and he was loving every single second of it. Maria DeLuca was changing residences and her mind about her life. She hated to admit it to herself, but she was lonely, no, she had been lonely. Now she was about to start over in Roswell with Michael and she couldn't wait.

Maria shook herself back to the current situation. She was leaving her apartment and moving to Roswell. This may be the last time she's ever here. She thought she'd be struck with more nostalgia than she was. But San Francisco had only been home to her because her Uncle Chuck had made it that. Now Chuck was gone and it was time for Maria to leave too. She glanced out the sliding glass door leading to the balcony and thought about all the lonely nights she had spent sitting outside listening to the waves crash. A quick look at Michael reassured her the lonely nights were over.

"Where are the Marshal's?" Liz asked and sat down in the center of the couch. She jumped up quickly. "I'm sorry, may I sit down?"

Maria fought for control of her eyes to keep them rolling and nodded. "They should be here soon." A knock at the door caused her to reach for the stun gun she didn't have. "Like now."

She walked across the apartment to the front door and looked out the peephole before a smile crossed her face. She opened the door and a man about her height greeted with open arms.

Michael watched with immature jealousy as a man with jet-black hair pulled back into a pony tail and black leather pants hugged Maria. Hugged his Maria. He watched this pseudo-Italian Mafioso wannabe kiss Maria on the lips and it took everything he had in him not to charge across the room and beat the crap out of him.

"Marco," she smiled and looked over his shoulder at the man and woman in back of him. "Thanks for backing me on this."

"Anything for you DeLuca," Marco lost all credibility as an Italian mobster when his dialect was nothing but California Valley. "Come on in," Marco stepped aside and let the two presumed Marshals in. "This is US Marshal Kit Sherman and Deputy Marshal Brian Krinkle." Marco extended his arm towards Maria and grinned. "And this is my star, Maria DeLuca."

Maria blushed and shook both Marshal's hands. She motioned towards Michael for him to join her. When he had taken his place next to her she grinned. "And let me introduce Michael Guerin, Fugitive Apprehension Agent extraordinaire."

Michael nodded politely and then followed Maria and shook their hands. He nodded at Marco. "Nice to meet you."

"And that is…" Marshal Kit Sherman nodded at Max who was in her line of vision.

Maria saw the worry in Max's eyes. "He's just a friend who got taken along for the ride." And then she saw the gratitude. "And over on the couch is who you're looking for, Ms. Elizabeth Parker."

The Marshal's stepped further into the apartment and faced the now cowering Liz on the couch. Kit Sherman turned back to face Marco and nodded. "We can take it from here."

"No," Maria let out a deep breath and shook her head. Seeing the fear in Liz Parker's face peaked something humane in her. "We have a few conditions."

"Maria-" Marco said her name slowly. "What are you doing?"

"I told you on the phone," Maria spoke through clenched teeth. "I guaranteed her protection and I need to make damn sure that she gets it!" She turned to the Marshal's. "I need to see your identification." She grabbed a pad of paper and pen while they got out their credentials and handed them to her. Maria wrote down all the pertinent information and then handed them back. "I'm trusting you two not to get her killed. If you do, you'll have to deal with me and I can be a real bitch."

Maria glanced at each person in the room daring each one of them to agree with her.

"Ms. DeLuca," Kit Sherman stepped towards her. "I've been a Marshal for over ten years and I can assure you that nothing will happen to Ms. Parker while she is in our custody."

"Not good enough," Maria sighed. "When she turns the evidence over, what are her chances of being placed in the Program?"

"The Witness Protection Program was not designed for white-collar criminals," Kit Sherman bat her eyelashes.

"Oh," Maria raised her eyebrows before the innocuous eye rolling. "I want her in it. Can you make that deal? Right here? If not, then get me someone who can. She has people who want her dead, you need her alive. If you can't secure her safety then I will and you'll never get her bosses."

Kit Sherman glanced at the small, frail looking woman on the couch and nodded slowly. "Imminent danger?"

"So imminent, it's why we drove here in the middle of the night with nothing but the clothes on our backs. They found her in Roswell and they'll find her again. Can you make the deal Marshal Sherman?" Maria placed her hands on her hips and avoided looking over her shoulder at Liz.

Marshal Sherman nodded. "Yes Ms. DeLuca, I can make the deal." She looked over her shoulder at Marco. "You failed to mention how demanding she was Mr. Gitto." She pointed to the other Marshall. "Deputy, please go out to the car and bring in my briefcase, I'm betting that Ms. DeLuca will want all of this in writing."

Maria nodded and felt the weight of protection being lifted off of her. "Thank you."

Michael watched Maria DeLuca in amazement. He was nervous as hell just being in the same room with US Marshals, but Maria was standing up to them and making demands. Not only did he love her, he respected her.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Maria nodded at Marco. "In the other room?"

Marco followed Maria obediently down the hallway and into her bedroom. She turned on the light and closed the door.

"What?"

"I quit." Maria couldn't believe she was saying it.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I quit. I'm not working for you anymore," she sighed. "I'm moving away from San Francisco."

"You can't. You're my best Agent!" Marco shook his head. "You can't do this to me, DeLuca."

"I have to," she stepped forward and hugged him. "I'm sorry, but if you ever have another one skip down to New Mexico, give me a call?"

"Oh man," he kissed her cheek. "What would your Uncle say? What would Chuck say about you giving up San Francisco and your job?"

Maria mulled the question over and thought about the man waiting for her in the other room. "He'd be damn proud of me Marco, damn proud. Besides, who said I was giving up my job? I just won't be working for you anymore."

"Well, whoever you're going to work for is damn lucky to have you, I hope they realize that."

"Yeah," she smiled. "I'm pretty sure he does."

* * *

.Chapter Thirty Eight

Maria DeLuca and Marshal Kit Sherman stayed huddled over a laptop computer and several stacks of paper at the kitchen table for over an hour. Deputy Marshal Brian Krinkle stood in back of the female Marshal with a stone face and statue demeanor.

Michael Guerin occasionally paced the room, his eyes usually falling on Maria. Sometimes they fell on Marco, who was usually on his cell phone, sometimes it was Max, and sometimes it was even Liz. He caught himself looking more and more at the Angelfish and tried to imagine how they were going to transport them in the car back to Roswell.

He glanced back at Max and felt sorry for him. Max was holding Liz's hands in his and she looked terrified. Michael did feel sorry for her as well to a certain extent. She wasn't exactly the hardened criminal he had hoped for; she was just a stupid, small woman who made bad choices.

"Alright," Maria said loudly and shook the Marshal's hand across the table. "Marshal Sherman, you have yourself a deal." She looked over at Liz and nodded for her to join them at the table.

Liz looked at Max and after a reassuring smile and nod she rose and led Max by the hand to the small kitchen.

"Sit," Maria ordered and Liz sat immediately. She felt Michael who had moved in to stand behind her and smiled. "Okay Parker, this is the story…"

Liz listened intently with her eyes wide and her mouth shut as she learned her fate. She was going to be taken into custody by Marshall Sherman where she would stay until it was time to testify. She would be placed in the Witness Protection Program until the trial was over and the sentencing had begun. In the event of an innocent verdict or a mistrial, Liz would stay in the WPP indefinitely. Otherwise, she would receive a commuted sentence.

"So, if they go to jail, I'm free?"

"Yes," Marshal Sherman answered. "If they are convicted by your testimony and evidence, you're a free woman."

"I can move anywhere then? When this is all over? I could move back to Roswell?"

Maria felt Michael's hands on her shoulders. "Sure you don't want to stay here?" He whispered in her ear.

"Yes Ms. Parker, you'll be able to move anywhere that you want. But nothing can happen until you turn states evidence and it results in a conviction."

"When can I start?" Liz smiled wildly and looked at Max.

"They trial probably won't come for about a year, after the delay you caused…" Marshal Sherman smiled bitterly. "You're just going to have to take it one day at a time. Are you ready to go?"

"Will I really be safe?" Liz didn't ask the Marshal's; she directed her question at Maria.

"Yeah, you can bet on it," Maria nodded. "I told you I'd take care of it. Now get the hell out of here."

Liz stood and wrapped her arms around Maria, who stood frozen, an annoyed expression on her face. "I'm sorry Maria, I should have trusted you back in Vegas." Maria nodded. "But I do trust you now and thank you."

Maria nodded and shrugged out of the other woman's clasp. "Just try not to live up to your name anymore, okay?"

Liz nodded and stepped away; she turned back to Max. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Max nodded and followed her back into the living room out of earshot from the others.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this," Liz shook her head. "I just hoped you'd be the same person I knew in high school and you were."

"Don't apologize," Max smiled.

"I always wanted you to ask me out back then…"

"I always wanted to," he confessed. "Maybe when this is all over…?"

"Yeah Max, when it's all over." Liz stepped into him and embraced him.

Maria and Michael watched standing arm to arm.

"You're one helluva woman DeLuca," Michael draped his arm over her shoulders.

"Don't you ever forget it," she looked up at him and smiled and knew that was something he would never forget. "I need to talk to Marco for a minute while Max and Dumb are saying their good-byes." She motioned for the dark-haired man to follow her out of the room. They were only gone a few minutes before Maria returned to Michael's side. "Just had to turn in a few markers."

Michael nodded. "Well, what now?"

What now? Maria felt the nervousness rise up in her. Now was the time to start something new.

* * *

The good-byes were short. Liz Parker was led away by the US Marshals with renewed hope in her eyes. She saw the same hope in Max's.

"Well, I'm outta here DeLuca," Marco swooped her up into a hug and kissed the corner of her mouth. "I'm going to miss the hell out of you." He set her down and turned to Michael and outstretched his hand. "Take care of this Wildcat, okay?"

Michael nodded. "You can bet your life on it."

"DeLuca, don't worry about a thing," Marco said as he walked to the front door. "I'll personally oversee everything myself. Do you have an address to ship to yet?"

Maria smirked and nudged Michael in the ribs with her elbow. "Would you write down our address for him please? Marco's going to pack my place up."

Michael raised his eyebrows at her in surprise. "So, we're not staying here too long are we?"

Maria shook her head. "Nope, I think just long enough to pack up some clothes, figure out what to do with my fish and give you a tour of the parking lot."

* * *

.Chapter Thirty Nine

"Max," Maria walked over to the man who looked like he had just lost his best friend. She looped her arm through his. "I'm sorry that you got pinched in the middle of this whole thing."

Max shrugged and laid on that great smile. "It's okay, at least I have something to look forward to now."

Maria thought about debating him on that but decided against it. Max had been right; everyone wants someone to love and to have that someone love them back. Human nature controls everyone's life whether they choose to accept it or not. Maria accepted it. She bathed in it. "Do me a favor?"

Max nodded and sighed. "A favor? It's the least I can do for you."

"We're headed back to Roswell in a little while, I don't want to stay here too long."

"Ready to start a new life?" Max smiled knowingly.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact I am." Maria felt herself blush and damned herself. "Anyway, the fish," she pointed to the tank, "Yeah, they're coming with us. I need you to think of a way to transport them safely."

Max stared blankly at her. "Serious?"

She nodded. "As a heart attack."

He looked to the tank and his eyes lit up. He questioned her on the whereabouts of an all night department store. Without missing a beat, she gave him directions then asked Michael to relinquish the keys to Isabel's car.

"You're coming back, right?" Michael asked before dropping the keys into Max's open palm.

"No Michael," Max snorted. "I thought I'd just drive off into the night so my sister would report her car stolen and send me to jail." He rolled his eyes. "I've been almost arrested too many times already. I should be back in about an hour."

"Perfect," Maria smiled and tucked her hand into Michael's.

* * *

After watching Max pull out of the parking lot, Maria inhaled the ocean air and smiled. "I don't think I'll miss the ocean to much."

"No?" Michael sidled up next to her and inhaled deeply. "I think I might."

Maria smiled and led him by the hand a short distance to where the parking lot gave way to sand. She smiled and nodded towards a picnic table almost engulfed by a flowering bush.

Michael gazed down at her, the woman he had fallen for, and knew he'd be with her always.

"You were a real pain in the ass when I first met you," Michael shook his head and leaned in to kiss her forehead.

"Yeah?" She smiled. "You were an just an ass."

"Funny how things change, isn't it?"

"Yeah," the word was whispered as Michael pressed his lips against hers.

Maria reached down and raised her shirt above her breasts. Michael went instantly to them and clamped his mouth around one rosy pert nipple. A moan escaped her lips as she felt his hands on the waistband of her shorts. With lithe fingers, he unbuttoned her shorts and let them fall to the ground. Maria stepped out of them as she reached for his jeans. Within minutes they were unclothed underneath the moon with the night waves crashing behind them.

He cupped her face in his hands and stared into her eyes as he pressed his hardness against her pelvis. "Will I ever know how you got to me so fast?"

She shrugged and parted her legs. "If you do, let me know. That might explain how you got to me. Period."

He laughed but the sound was washed out by the ocean blare. Slipping his hands underneath her ass, he lifted her on to him as he slid inside of her. He felt her clamp around him and her nipples press into his chest. He rocked her as she secured her legs around his thighs.

"Do you think we'll ever be able to do this inside?" He whispered wetly in her ear.

"Do you really want to be like everyone else?" She leaned back and braced herself up by splaying her hands flat on the table in back of her.

He lowered her onto the table until her ass was on the edge and her legs hung down. He thrust into her as far as he could and wanted to explode. Lying down on top of her, his head resting in the valley between her breasts, Michael Guerin fought to regain control of his body.

"What's the matter Guerin?" Maria asked coyly as she slid her hands through his hair. "Can't you handle it?"

He looked up at her and took a nipple in his mouth, running his teeth over the ridges, his tongue swirling around the bumps. He felt her pelvis buck into him, her walls tighten around him, and grinned. He let go of her nipple and said, "What's the matter DeLuca? Can't you handle it?"

He stood back up and looked down at her while he thrust inside of her again and again, each time trying to go further than the last. Each thrust gaining speed. He stared at her face, almost translucent in the pale moonlight, as wind suddenly kicked up covering them in a salty mist. "You're beautiful."

Maria bit her bottom lip so hard she thought she might draw blood. The cavity of loneliness was filled, as she was physically when she felt the warmth from Michael spread through her insides. She watched as he reached down in-between her legs and concentrated his thumb on her swollen clit until she felt the rapture spread through her.

"I'm never letting you go," he murmured before his mouth closed over hers, his chest against hers.

"You better not," she smiled when she felt his lips move away from hers.

"I guess we should get back inside and get you packed, huh?" He asked while making no attempt to move from her.

"I guess so," she sighed and placed her hand on the back of his neck pulling him down to her for one more kiss. She rolled her head to the side and looked at the ocean, only the whitecaps were visible. "Maybe I'll miss the ocean a little bit." She looked back at him. "But probably not as much as I'd miss you."

He smirked knowing he wasn't alone; with extended hands, he pulled her up into a sitting position and handed her clothes. They dressed in a comfortable silence, a new beginning on the horizon. Something new for them to capture and bring in.

They walked hand in hand back to the apartment that Maria DeLuca would never live in again. Without any nostalgia, she began pulling clothes out of the closet and ordered Michael to empty dresser drawers. He earned an evil glare when he paraded around the bedroom holding various pairs of panties up to himself and reciting his montage in an overtly high pitched voice. "I'm Maria DeLuca, the baddest bounty hunter in the world, but I don't I look pretty in these?"

"A I interrupting?" Max stood in the open door of the bedroom and smiled. "Nice color Michael," he pointed to the pink panties Michael had against his groin. "Anyway, I solved the fish transportation problem."

Maria followed him into the living room and Max explained how they would safely transport five Angelfish to Roswell in the backseat of the car. He showed her everything he had bought and explained in detail how it would be used. A medium sized cooler would be filled with de-chlorinated water, a battery run air filter would sit outside of the cooler with the tube running into it. Max produced a box big enough to hold the cooler that was filled with packing peanuts. He explained the cooler should be stable enough with the packing peanuts so the fish shouldn't get too jostled. He also produced several freezepacks to line the outside of the cooler with if the temperature got too hot in the car.

"Well?" He stepped back and glanced proudly at his creativeness.

"I think it's an excellent idea," Maria beamed. "Thanks for thinking up a brilliant way to get my fish to Roswell, Max. Seriously."

He shrugged as a light blush crept across his cheeks. "I may be a student of human nature, but I know these fish are family to you."

Maria nodded and felt Michael's presence beside her. She reached for his hand and smiled at him. "Well Guerin, you ready to head back to Roswell?"

* * *

.Chapter Forty

Epilogue

"Are you sure you want to come with me? You've been out in the field almost everyday for the last two weeks!" Michael exclaimed.

Isabel Evans turned around slowly and then smiled brilliantly. She tucked her hair behind her ears and then touched the butt of the stun gun inserted snugly in the waistband of her designer jeans. "Yeah Michael, I want to come. You have a problem with that?"

Since Michael Guerin and Maria DeLuca had returned to Roswell, business did indeed pick up. It was more than just them being the only bail bonding agents in town, although that did give them an edge. Having Maria DeLuca on board gave them a familiar name. A respected name.

Isabel shook her head and thought briefly about her brother. In the months that Liz had been gone, Max continued his education and she knew he was waiting for the day that Liz Parker came back to Roswell.

"No I don't have a problem with that," Michael rolled his eyes. "But if you think you're driving-"

"Oh my God!" Maria DeLuca exclaimed and placed her hands on the teakwood desk she was sitting at. "Would you two just get the hell out of here? I have a ton of filing to do and you guys are making me freakin' crazy with all that bickering!"

"Sorry babe," Michael winked at her. With long strides he closed the distance between them and kissed the top of her head. "I wish you were going too."

"You and me both," she sighed and pushed herself up using her hands on the desk for leverage exposing her swollen stomach. A T-shirt stretched tight over her belly had the words 'Future Bounty Hunter On Board' emblazoned on it. "Soon Guerin, very soon." She rubbed her belly as Michael leaned over and kissed it. "Now go!"

Michael smiled and walked to the door where Isabel was waiting. He looked once more over his shoulder and admired the mother of his child. His partner. A real life bad ass bounty hunter.

the end