PART 18


Maria was in the kitchen when she heard the thump.


She couldn’t sleep as usual. It was becoming a habit. Every night she lay on the couch and watched Michael till her brain finally forgot it was night time and she was supposed to sleep.


So every night, after everyone slept or pretended to be asleep as in Max’s case, she got up and made herself some herbal tea. It felt good to have some peaceful time to herself. Since the gang had arrived she really missed having that.


That night wasn’t an exception. She’d gotten up, gone to the kitchen without turning on the lights and prepared her tea. She’d sat on a chair near the window and watched the not so bright stars, all the while trying not to think about HIM.


Then she’d heard it. The thump. Like something -or someone- had fallen. Her body stiffened with the built up paranoia rising in her. Her heart quickened and suddenly her breathing sounded too loud. She looked around the dark kitchen in panic and knew that if she didn’t get herself together soon, she would lose all her logical thinking capacity.


Think! Think! Think! She tiptoed over to the hooks on the wall and grabbed the first thing that resembled a weapon. A ladle. A picture of the huge alien guy from Roswell flashed in her mind… Ridiculous… She put the ladle back and grabbed a frying pan. The biggest one she owned. She cursed herself for not listening to Kyle when he wanted to buy a bigger one. First thing tomorrow… She was going shopping.


She neared the open door, holding the pan threateningly in the air. She heard footsteps. Big and heavy. Was it something about their genetics that all bad aliens were big? Or was it just fate having fun with her again?


She followed the sound of the footsteps. The living room. She walked in silence, knowing all the right places to step in the dark. The guy must have entered from the balcony. For a moment she wondered if they could fly, but filed away the thought in order to ask Max later.


There were two doors in the living room except the balcony door. She was standing at the one near the kitchen and the guy was standing at the one that lead to the bedrooms. And in between them lay Kyle and Michael in a peaceful slumber.


She didn’t think twice before acting which wasn’t really an unusual thing for her. The guy was going towards the bedrooms, the bedrooms meant Liz and Alex and Isabel and the baby… She could only think one thing, she had to stop him.


She carefully and silently skipped around the makeshift beds on the floor, and praying that he wouldn’t turn back and see her before she could reach him, she came closer. She reached the other door holding her breath with fear and hit him in the head with the pan using all her might.


Uh-oh! She heard the loud bang and expected the thumping sound of a body hitting the floor. She waited holding her breath but it never came. A moment later she decided she probably should open her eyes. Things weren't going as planned.


She opened her eyes and saw two vengeful eyes staring back. She saw his hands reaching for her and reacted on reflex. While hitting him with the pan again with one hand, her other hand reached for the too heavy vase near the door which was a present from one of her colleagues. She smashed the red vase on the guys head. She had never really liked it anyway.


A pang on her leg made her lose her balance for a moment. She must have hit it somewhere. She willed her leg to stay strong till the danger ceased. But she doubted it would listen. All her body parts were as stubborn as she was.


Just as she felt the guy falling -nearly on top of her- she felt an arm circling her waist. She started to struggle to get out of the grip but felt herself being held up and thrown on the mattress on the floor. Then a lightning flashed in the room and the intense white light blinded her.


- - -


“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?”


She was a little shaken up from the events but her brain processed well enough to know that Michael was angry.


He was holding her shoulders and shaking her. She was too disoriented to react at first but of course as always, the infuriating spiky guy found a way to get her out of her stupor.


She shrugged his hands away and stood her ground. He was always like this! Unappreciative bastard! “What? I was doing great before you pulled me away!”


“You can't just go after an alien, armed only with a f-ucking frying pan!” Michael yelled, pointing the pan she was still clutching in her hand.


She dropped the pan, her knuckles were aching from gripping it so hard. “What was I supposed to do? Let him get to Liz? I don’t think so buddy!”


“Oh what about waking me up? Or Kyle? Anybody! But nooo!!! You always have to do the stupidest thing.”


They were standing nose to nose, both fuming with anger in the middle of the living room, unaware of the dead body lying next to their feet or everyone watching them from the door, afraid to interrupt.


“You won't never ever again try to do something like that or swear to God, I will tie you up!”


Her eyes narrowed in anger. “You wouldn’t dare!”


“Try me.”


“I will not let you go all caveman on me in my own home!” she stomped her feet on the dead body.


Neither of them were backing down. Max thought they were about to kill each other and noone would dare try to stop them. But there was something else in those looks between the two. Something Max wasn’t able to see or understand. Something passionate and almost primal.


Maria knew this was the closest she got to Michael since their night together. Not just physically… Seeing him angry at her again felt like coming home. In a sick and twisted way that was how their…… thing worked. Having him in her house felt great, watching him every day was heaven, but him acting civil to her… Now that was hell. He was treating her like she was just someone.


She wanted to laugh suddenly. It was an incredible relief knowing that she was still capable of pissing him off. So she wasn’t just someone. Take that Guerin! She wanted so badly to kiss him fiercely and forget everything, get lost in him, but held herself back. She had to be strong. She couldn’t just let herself lose that last shred of dignity. She needed it to keep herself from falling apart.


Michael watched her eyes as the fire of fury burned deep in the green. Some people thought she was cute when she was angry. But no… There was nothing cute about that. She turned into the wildest, sexiest creature he’d ever seen when she was angry. He had to clench his fists to keep himself from reaching for her. His fingers itched to touch her skin, her hair… He longed for her taste… But he kept his hands to himself. He couldn’t. He didn’t have the courage to make things more complicated and let them get out of hand when he knew it was bound to come crashing down eventually.


“Will you two cut it out!” Isabel shouted, interrupting them. “God, there’s a f-ucking dead alien on the floor!”


- - -


“Okay everyone, I'm off to bed… Good night!”


Everyone sighed with relief. Isabel had been terrorizing them for the last two hours with her after attack precautions. Her bitchy and bossy attitude wasn’t something they wanted to put up with at that particular time. It was way too late and lack of sleep was becoming an issue.


After everyone had left for their beds Maria made her way to the couch with difficulty and threw herself on it. She could feel all the bones in her body screaming. As she was snuggling with her pillow she heard his irritating voice.


“You’re not sleeping there princess!”


She would have been so much more annoyed if she wasn’t dead tired and he hadn't called her princess for the first time since forever. She tried to give her voice a quality resembling annoyance when she spoke.


“Oh yeah? Why is that exactly?”


He was standing on his mattress which was on the floor adjacent to Kyle’s. His posture was enough to tell her he wasn’t backing down from what he was about to command.


“Cause you’re a damn menace, that’s why! Kyle will take the couch and you’ll sleep where I can see you.”


“No-…” He interrupted her, shaking his head.


“Either you do it or I’ll tie you up every night. It’s your choice.” His arms crossed over his chest, he watched her without wavering his gaze.


She was too tired to deal with him. She got up from the couch and let herself fall down on the mattress. She reached and grabbed her pillow from the couch without getting up and closed her eyes.


Sleep was taking over her body and she wasn’t about to resist. She could always get back at him in the morning. That stubborn, arrogant prick!


- - -


Michael Guerin enjoyed waking up for the first time in months. He opened his eyes partially and caught a glimpse of blond hair. Closing them again, he inhaled deeply storing the heavenly scent deep inside for future use. Then it hit him. What the hell…


His eyes snapped open. She was in his arms… Oh God! She. Was. In. His. Arms. How had that happened? He looked down at her face buried in his chest and feared what might happen if she woke up. He had to get up before her. He had to or she would skin him alive.


He decided that he would… Later… When he wasn’t feeling completely intoxicated.


It had been so long since they were this close. Too long… He wanted desperately to move his hand and touch her face; her cheeks, her perfect lips… He wanted to nuzzle her neck and taste her sweat… But he couldn’t. He just held still, afraid that a little movement would wake her up and he wouldn’t be able to hold her anymore.


He checked his watch. It was early, too early to wake up. So he had some time to hold her in his arms, watch her sleep and feel her body against his without getting interrupted or having to pretend. He placed his face on the pillow where he could see her face most and prepared himself to savor this one little taste of heaven.


- - -


He felt the moment Maria woke up. She stirred and suddenly stiffened in his arms. He was so caught up in watching her he had forgotten to check his watch. Now he had no choice but suffer her wrath. He decided to pretend he was still asleep. It seemed like the easiest way.


Closing his eyes, he hoped that she wasn’t able to hear his frantic heartbeats. He felt her slightly move in his arms and that made him tighten his grip around her waist instinctively. She tilted her face up. To check if he was sleeping he presumed.


She sighed and he felt her hot breath tickling his neck. Then something he would never expect happened, she reached her hand to trace the contours of his lips and jaw. Her touch sent shivers down his spine. In his frantic condition, he could only try to control his breathing to not start panting.


His first instinct was to part his lips to kiss her fingertips, but he stopped himself. “Max would have been proud…” he thought, since Michael’s lack of control was his favorite subject to lecture.


He wished he could be proud about it himself. But he knew better… He knew where this control came from. It came from fear. Fear of losing it completely. Fear of getting hurt. Fear of being a screw up once again. There was nothing to be proud of there.


Maria’s hand dropped away from his face and the lack of its warmth almost made him shiver. He felt her palm pressing on his chest above his t-shirt. Now he was sure she could hear his heart. Hell, he was almost sure that it could be heard from Wisconsin.


Her body started shaking ever so slightly in his arms. Then drops of water wetted his chest. She was crying? Why? God, not again! How the hell did he manage to do that every time he touched her?


He felt useless and worthless the next ten minutes while her face was buried in his neck and her tears spilled down to his skin, burning their way down. He couldn’t breathe, his heart was bleeding and contracting in his chest. He just lay there for what seemed like centuries and felt the pain cover his body. At that moment he would happily die if it meant an end for her tears but he knew it wouldn’t help. There was nothing he could do.


- - -


Maria walked around aimlessly in the apartment, doing nothing in particular, just trying to keep herself busy. After waking up in his arms and not being able to savor the feeling she couldn’t help but feel numb.


Was that how it was going to be for all her life? Pretend to not care when in truth every time she thought of him, tears started to flow. “No, of course not.” She corrected herself. “After Liz’s pregnancy you won't even get to see him or feel his arms around you even as just an accident.”


That was good though, right? That meant she didn’t have to pretend. Oh yeah… Sure… It was good…


- - -


“I saw you this morning, with him.” Kyle startled her, entering the room quietly behind her back.


“You did?” she asked, her voice small and tired, lacking the strength to pretend. She never had to pretend with Kyle anyway. Maybe he didn’t fully understand but he respected her thoughts and feelings.


“Yeah.” He breathed out. “You shouldn’t be doing this to yourself.”


“I’m not doing anything to myself Kyle. He is doing it to me.” She didn’t want to discuss it. God knew she had discussed it with herself often enough, saying them out loud made it hurt more.


“Why didn’t you let him see you? Why leave like that? There are some things that are still unresolved between you two and only way out is to solve them. Tom had said you weren't running away this time but I think he was wrong……… You are, aren't you Ria?”


She didn’t need this right now! Tears threatened to spill again and she felt like a pathetic wreck. She just hated being weak! Kyle had already seen too much weakness for her liking. So she tried the defiant look of the icy bitch Isabel who she had come to envy in that department in the last few days.


“I'm not running! This has nothing to do with running! You have no idea what you’re talking about! I am just trying to survive Kyle… I… I can't just throw myself at his arms just to face another rejection!”


Kyle crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow. So she wanted to play the strong girl, huh? She could, she always did and she really was good at it. He didn’t mean to be mean but sometimes you just had to be, in order to get through her façade.


“You are scared. I can understand that. But there is more to what Michael thinks than what meets the eye. Trust me Ria, he doesn’t want to reject you.” He wanted to add his observations on how the guy was in love with her but the fear of causing her more pain stopped him. He wasn’t exactly an expert, what if he was wrong? How would he forgive himself?


He desperately needed to call Tom and he would have in a heartbeat but the thought of explaining how a three months along pregnant Liz could look that big wasn’t exactly appealing. That damn alien s-hit was everywhere…


- - -


“Kyle, hand me the concealer, will you?”


Maria was sitting on the bed which was originally hers but occupied by the pregnant lady lately. She had her cut off shorts on and her right foot was propped against a chair. She was examining a bruise on her calf.


The silence made her look back to the door and the sight of a slowly approaching Michael Guerin took her breath away. How the hell had he managed to do that to her? She was gaping at him when she was supposed to hate him.


Her breathing became labored when he entered her smelling range. She fought hard to not close her eyes and just savor the feeling. She knew her palms were sweating and she was getting lost in him without even touching him.


Say something! Say something!


“I thought you were Kyle.”


Oh great. Genius. He could have never figured that out himself.


He wasn’t smirking though. He had that look he got whenever they were about to lose themselves and start kissing. Oh my…


“What do you need a concealer for?” His voice was deep and husky. Not exactly a small talk kind of voice.


He neared the chair and touched her foot. She froze. She couldn’t move, protest, try and take it out of his grasp. He sat on the chair and kept her foot in his hands. His rough hands and gentle touch… She could almost see the need and want building up in her. An overwhelming heat crawled up from her foot where he had touched her and covered her body.


She couldn’t answer. She feared she would squeak or something stupid like that if she tried. She touched the bruise on her leg, showing him her answer instead.


His brow furrowed. He slowly slid one hand to touch it. She had to bite her lip to not moan. His touch… It had been too long. She’d missed it. She’d missed him. God, why was he torturing her like that!


“Last night…” he mumbled.


“What?”


His surprised eyes met hers. “You hit it last night.”


“Yeah…” she said, not sure where the conversation was headed.


Then some pieces she already had of a puzzle she wasn’t sure existed found their places. How she’d figured that out, she had no idea. Maybe the look in his eyes, maybe her instincts or maybe the pain and feelings she sometimes had and couldn’t be sure if they really belonged to her…


“You felt it…” she stated softly, afraid of his reaction.


He didn’t say anything. He kept caressing the bruise with his thumb. She knew she was right from the way he avoided her gaze.


“Like you felt my cramps?”


No answer, again.


Michael wasn’t sure how to get out of this situation he got himself into. Or if he really wanted to get out of it for that matter. Her skin, under his fingers, felt so good and right. He wanted so badly to close his eyes and let himself get carried away. But things were complicated. Too complicated.


The night before, he had woken up with a stinging pain on his leg and when he had seen the scene taking place before his eyes, he had forgotten all about it. It was her pain. Her wound. And now she knew. He had somehow f-ucked up again and connected them in a way he didn’t know how to reverse. All he wanted was to set her free but he kept on making things more and more confusing.


He caressed her little foot, too small in his hands. Her toenails were pink again, the way he liked them, colorful and delicate, just like her. He wanted to kiss her so much, it physically pained him.


Then he felt her hand, touching his cheek and tilting his face up to look at her. He did, slowly, surprised and scared, and met her eyes. To his surprise there was a small smile playing on her lips.


“I feel you too.” She whispered and watched as his eyes grew bigger. “Not just pain, I feel it when you're upset or sad. I feel it when you're angry. It just hits me like a wave.”


She felt his hands stiffen and his look glaze. He started to apologize but she cut him. Not this time. Now she felt like she had some say in this thing between them. It wasn’t just his decision to make. She wasn’t just a girl in his bed.


“No. I don’t want you to be sorry. I had thought it was just my depression playing tricks on me but now that I know… I like feeling you.”


She carefully grasped one of his hands in hers. She could see his confusion and indecision in his eyes. With all her heart she wished and hoped he would let this happen between them and of course then they would live happily ever after, but she was sure that it would never be this easy. It never was.


He leaned down and brushed his lips on the bruise. His soft lips touched her skin and she closed her eyes. A soft tingling sensation covered her leg and she couldn’t stop the moan that escaped her lips when his hand stroked up and down her calf.


And just as it started, it was over. She felt him get up and place her foot on the floor. She opened her eyes and knew what was about to happen the moment she saw the determination in his eyes.


He kissed the top of her head but avoided her eyes. “I’ll talk to Maxwell and try to find a way to reverse it.” He left her with tears in her eyes.


She looked down and started crying harder. The bruise on her leg was gone.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | Fic