Sean let himself back into the Loft real early in the morning. He had taken off to Michael's place without even a change of clothes. It was strange, but he was still physically ill from the night before! But waking up this morning he stared at himself in the mirror and realized that his past health problems were more than likely catching up with him. He didn't have time to go to the doctor, to take time off from the stress, and he was damn sure not going to let an old ulcer knock him off this case. His drinking and partying had affected him this way before, but it had been years ago. Sean was unwilling to back off from the case. Letting his body beat him wasn't an option. So if he had to stop drinking and partying, or give up sex even with a little light bondage added to the mix, he would.

Cassie was quite the girl, definitely a ballbuster, but Sean couldn't complain. She let him keep the leather c-ockring as a gift. What bothered Sean the most was despite all the damage they did each other that night, most of it had been over too fast. But hell, didn't matter because what he did remember seem completely worth the ride. The hangover was a downside, but drinking a bottle of Tequila and then having sex until four in the morning was hardly an advertisement for good citizenship. Sean couldn't forgive himself for being "tied up" during the same time Dianne died. Shaking away the remorse, Sean went on with his life. All he could do now was make sure Dianne was given justice. But one thing was obvious. It was time for him to get his ulcer under control, and get himself out of his cousin's too comfortable apartment, and find his own place.

Now Guerin's place was a different story. The apartment was nice, perhaps a tad bit sparse in decoration, but still nice and roomy. The bed was another bonus. A California King-sized bed with a pillow-top mattress. Sean would have preferred that Michael had changed the sheets, but after searching the house, he finally found a clean set, and changed them. The only other thing that confused Sean was the kitchen.

Okay, Tabasco was great on eggs and other foods, but an entire cabinet full of Tabasco sauce? Sean could somewhat understand the obsession because he loved the rich tomatoey goodness of ketchup. Sh-it, someone should tell Michael to buy the economy size and just refill the smaller bottles! Sean once had six bottles of ketchup in his house at one time, but thirty? Thirty bottles was a bit much.

Sh-it, the freezer had Sean the most confused! Last night he found a bottle of twenty-year old malted scotch, an expensive brand. Since they ousted him out of his own bed--okay technically Maria's, since he was just visiting--he helped himself to a glass of scotch. When he went to get himself some ice cubes, hoping Guerin at least made ice, Sean stood in amazement in front of the freezer. There were too many to count. Nothing else was in the freakin' freezer except ice trays! Filled ice trays! Wall to wall! Sean was certain that Guerin wasn't playing with a full deck. One thing for certain, the man had ice tray issues.

When Sean let himself back into the Loft, he was surprised to see Michael and Maria asleep on the sofa with a small fire still burning in the fireplace. Maria was sleeping on top of Michael, with the cat curled up on Michael's feet. Sean tried to walk past them without waking them so he could get dressed for the day, but before he could, the sound of the front door opening startled him.

Turning quickly and reaching for his gun, Sean froze in horror at sight of his Aunt Amy entering through the front door. "Sean! Sweetie, help me get my bags." She went back outside and Sean could hear her voice. "You should've seen these cute sweet bears coming into the city because they had nothing to eat..."

Before Sean could follow, Amy was back. "Sean, honey aren't you going to help me..." Amy's eye went past Sean and saw her beautiful daughter sound asleep and obviously naked under a blanket on top of a large young man, whose hand almost spanned her daughter's naked back as he held her close. "What the hell is going...?!"

Sean grabbed Amy, putting a hand over her mouth before her voice rose and woke the sleeping couple. Pulling her outside into the garden, Sean quickly shut the sliding glass door, and released her.

"What is that man doing sleeping with my child? Who the hell is he?" Amy looked at Sean. "Did you run a security check on him? Did Jim investigate him? Maybe he's a deviant! Maybe he's..."

"A cop ...he's a cop, Aunt Amy! One of Jim's finest." Amy stopped talking and looked back through the glass at her daughter and the COP! What was going on? Her entire family had moved from one extreme to another.

Amy just shook her head and looked at Sean. "You were supposed to protect her! You were supposed to keep her out of trouble! I'm gone only eight days and this is what happens." Amy looked at Sean and then at her child. "How long? When?"

"About nine days ago." Sean stepped back from his aunt before her wildly gesturing arms hit him.

Amy was in a full rant. Sure, she wanted her daughter happy and secure. Loved even. But, a Cop! They were notoriously bad husband material...except her wonderful Jim...okay maybe Kyle...and well, Sean was lovely...but no, they ignored their wives, had a history of high stress and substance abuse, and one of the worse divorce rates of all careers! What scared Amy was how dangerous their jobs were, how easy it would be to kiss them goodbye one morning and never see them again. She wanted better for her daughter, something safer.

Amy finally quieted when she noticed how pale and sick Sean looked. "What is wrong with you, Sean sweetie? You look sick."

"Long wild night, followed by a worse long day, followed by being kicked out here last night to sleep at Michael's place." Amy's head shook at the name Michael until Sean calmly pointed through the glass at the sleeping man. Sean hoped to distract Amy with Michael before she remembered his ulcer. Having his aunt Amy call Captain Valenti and getting him kicked from the murder case didn't set well with him.

"You don't look well. Maybe you should go back to bed, and take the day off." Amy suddenly spied a mark low on her nephew's neck. "What is that?" Sean's hand went up to cover his neck where Cassie had left a large mark, looking at his aunt in fear. Sh-it, she was going to ask, "You too? You just suddenly out of the blue are seeing someone?" Amy swore under her breath knowing that this was all her fault. She should have stayed home to watch over her young cubs instead of going to save other young cubs, even if ones she had saved had been real cubs. Amy just prayed Sean's woman kept her clothes on for a living, for once. But the elusive look in Sean's eyes told her that she wasn't going to like it. "What? What? No! Don't tell me she's a cop! Or is it a he?"

"Technically Cassie isn't really a cop. She's a forensic..." Sean never finished the sentence.

"In the name of all that's holy! What's going on?"

This was her fault. She had started it with Jim. They went from living in a mobster's world to running with the crusaders... cops . Despite being the antithesis of each other, both groups ran in the same world, a world of crime and violence. She wanted her children out of that world, but Sean changed that when he joined the Academy. Looking through the glass at her daughter, snuggled on the larger body with her hand curled on his chest as her head rested on his heart, Amy decided to first find out all she could. Dammit! Did they have to look so beautiful together...so at peace?

"Okay give it to me straight. What are we talking about here? How serious?"

"Aunt Amy..."

"Sean! Just tell me!" Sean sighed and gave into her. What else was new? Amy DeLuca always got her way.

"He owns a 1967 Shelby GT500 Mustang Classic that needs lots of work. She's going to help him rebuild it. It's in the garage."

Amy grasped her breast in alarm. No! But Sean wasn't through.

"She took him for a ride in the desert in the GTO."

Amy's breath was struggling to leave her body. She was having a heart attack! Sean dealt the killing blow.

"I think she'll eventually let him drive it."

Amy stumbled backwards with a hand over her mouth sitting down in one of the garden chairs. All this in just nine days? A Cop ? Oh god, they were like gangsters with badges. Amy rubbed her head as the tension increased like a band across her forehead. Sean watched her and knew that Amy was going to want details...details he didn't want to give. If Amy knew that Maria was mixed up in danger, all hell would break loose. Searching his brain for something...anything, Sean tossed a barricade at the path of destruction.

"There's more. I was trying to get in touch with you for days." Sean went over to put a hand on his aunt's shoulder prepared to catch her. Looking at her with his most deadpanned expression... "Aunt Amy, Kyle was shot..."

Sean watched the door shut behind his aunt as she rushed off to tend to her other foundling. It was surprising that Michael and Maria hadn't stirred through the entire ordeal. They had to be tired, exhausted. Sean quickly took the phone and went to his room to make the call. It was still early morning just barely seven. The phone rang for a few when Kyle's sleepy voice came over the phone.

"Kyle, it's Sean..."

Kyle scratched his stomach above his boxers and gingerly turned over in his bed trying to avoid jarring his shoulder. "Hey Sean, dad's in the shower..."

"Shut up Kyle and listen. Aunt Amy's back and she's on her way over. Now!" Sean heard violent cursing as Kyle sat up suddenly in bed and pulled at his stitches. "She doesn't know about the murders and Maria. I distracted her with you, so do something! Quick!"

Kyle didn't even say goodbye. He just hung up the phone and ran. Rushing into the guestroom, he quickly woke Tess; too distracted to notice how beautiful she looked in the morning when she first woke up. "Tess, Tess! Wake up!"

"Kyle? What's wrong? Is it your shoulder?" Kyle stopped her question with the one thing that struck terror in the hearts of most rational thinking Roswellians.

"Amy DeLuca is home, and on her way over." Tess scrambled out the bed in a flurry of activity. "Oh God, does she know about Maria...Oh God! Get your dad, I'll start dumping the food." Tess ran for the door and looked back at Kyle. "Get the file!"

Kyle stumbled on his way out of the office with a large file of clippings and articles flipping through them at breakneck speed. Entering the steamfilled bathroom he ignored his dad's shout of "Get out, it's occupied!" and served his dad a deadly blow.

"Dad. Dad! DAD! Amy's home and she is on her way over!" Jim's head came out from behind the shower curtain covered in shampoo with a look of horror. Cussing a blue streak that would have shamed Michael Guerin, Jim grabbed a towel.

"Dammit, not now! Kyle dump the food, trash the living room, and get the damn file."

"Tess is emptying the kitchen as we speak. I have the file, and I'll go toss the living room, but you need to toss clothes into the dirty laundry." Kyle left his dad still sputtering. They had just done the laundry yesterday.

When Kyle made it into the living room, he noticed that Tess dumped the food and was trashing and emptying the kitchen. "Tess, don't try to lift that garbage bag, you'll rip your stitches." Kyle went to do it for her, but she pointedly looked at his shoulder still in a sling. They both grabbed a part of the bag and struggled to dump all the food in the house out into the garbage outside.

"Did you get the freezer, too?" Tess nodded as they both struggled to lift the heavy bag. "Tess, the chicken? All the frozen chicken?"

"Dammit yes!" Tess felt like her back was on fire and he was quizzing her? She lived through a year of dealing with Amy DeLuca. She knew the drill. By the time they got back into the house, both of them were sweating and in pain, the color drained from their faces. Jim was standing at the kitchen table flipping through the file frantically in his bathrobe and soap still in his hair.

"Deforestation of natural pine stands in the Northern Forrest." Jim said.

Kyle shook his head. "Hunters with guns."

Tess grabbed one. "Dumping of industrial chemicals in the headwaters of the Mississippi?" Both men looked at her with horror in their faces. Amy and chemicals...was she insane?.

"Whaling ships illegally hunting the humpbacks to extinction?" Kyle asked.

Jim just shook his head. "She fell overboard the last time she was on a ship." They all shook their heads remembering that.

"Salinization of the ground water and water tables in Kansas in watershed areas due to excessive fertilization and crop dusting?" They all looked at each other and shook their heads. Amy and crop dusting planes just sounded wrong. Tess tossed the article and grabbed another one.

"Dispute in the Boundary Waters area of Quetico over canoes versus motorboats?" Jim took the article from Kyle and tore it up. What was he thinking? Amy in the wilderness area of Canada, in a canoe, facing down an angry speedboat owner with a gun?

Tess found one. "How about a dispute in a wildlife refuge where the Refuge had to deny rock climbers the privilege to scale the mountains in the reserve, because they were disturbing and destroying the nesting grounds of an endangered bird. The climbers are protesting and there is a council meeting between the Wildlife Park Service and the climbers?"

Jim grabbed the article from Tess and scanned it. That was the one. Harmless and safe, and in someplace in southern Oklahoma, far away from Roswell, away from the state of New Mexico, and away from an unknown killer. If there was a killer in Roswell and Amy DeLuca was around, with all things being even and being the way the universe ran, they would find each other.

The knock at the door made them all go still in fright, and then a flurry of activity they took off all in different directions. Amy must have left her house key at her place. Tess tried to head back to her room to hide, but Kyle caught her before she could. Jim took the file of clippings and pushed it into his office before going to finish his shower. Kyle pushed Tess to answer the door while he leaned up against the wall.

"Tess?" Amy rushed in pass the young girl. "What are you doing here, honey? Where is my boy? Where is Kyle?" Before Tess could say anything Amy spied Kyle standing up against the wall, all sweaty, obviously in pain, pale and with his right arm in a sling. He was just standing there all pale and unkempt in just his boxers looking like a lost little boy.

"Amy?" Kyle's voice came out low and almost lost. Tess looked at him in shock. God he was good!

"Aw, sweetie!" Rushing to his side, Amy helped him over to a seat on the sofa. Kyle let Amy motherhen him while cursing Sean DeLuca under his breath, smiling at his "sort of stepmom". "Does it hurt? Are you okay? Did they find the animal that did this to you?" Amy was running her hands over his face and looking at his bandage closely. "Oh goodness, you feel warm! Maybe you have a fever." Amy called to Tess over her shoulder. "Tess....Tess get him some water. I think he needs some pain medication."

Amy looked over at Tess and her eyes narrowed taking in the girl's pale features, the strain of pain lining her face, and the way her body was trembling. Amy quickly went to her and dragged her over to sit next to Kyle.

"What's wrong with you? Tess? Are you okay?" Amy looked at the two of them and knew that Kyle's injury was probably hard on Tess in lieu of what happened to Jack, but this looked like more.

Tess smiled weakly and just nodded. "It's okay Ms. DeLuca. I just had a..." Kyle looked at her sharply. Tess narrowed her eyes at him wanting to tell him off. Oh course she wasn't going to tell the truth! "A kidney biopsy a day ago, and the area in my back hasn't healed yet. I think I was a little too zealous when I got up this morning. I'm here convalescing with Kyle."

Amy looked around the room and saw the disorder and mess, and then back at the two young people obviously in pain and needing some major tender loving care. What the hell was Jim thinking? "Where is your father?" Amy asked Kyle in a cold angry voice.

Oh boy, poor dad. Kyle really felt for his father. "He's showering for work."

"Um huh, I see." Her voice had a hard edge to it. Then she looked at them and suddenly her voice softened and became loving. "Now I want both of you to sit back and rest while I go see to things." Amy left them looking at each other while she went to find her...fiancée.

"Amy!" Jim tried to make his voice warm and inviting, surprised to see his future wife.

"Scumbag!" Jim winced knowing he was going to take the brunt of Amy's displeasure. "Why didn't you call me? What could you be thinking? Look at this place. It looks like a disaster, and my son in there with a hole in his arm being looked after a young girl that needs to be in bed herself...What could you possibly be thinking? I swear..." Amy went over and smacked him across his upper arm. "And don't think that I don't know about Maria..." Jim had a moment of pure unadulterated fear. How could she know? Sean DeLuca was in major trouble. "Sleeping with a cop!" Jim sighed a breath of relief. "One of your men! I wanted her out of this life, away from the violence and pain, and you let one of your men just cozy up to her in less than nine days! Good God! I've only been gone for eight days and everything has gone to hell in a hand basket..." Amy ignored the fact that eight days ago she fled Roswell to prevent Maria from finding a way to foist Sean back on her.

Tess and Kyle sat in the living room feeling immense sympathy for Jim, but no one wanted to even mention why and how Maria met Michael Guerin. Therefore, they all just sat back and took it all stoically.

"Now Amy, Michael Guerin is one of my best men..." Jim knew that mentioning Michael's reputation with women perhaps was not the wisest thing to do, so he held that information back.

"Oh, is that his name?" Amy just continued on her tirade until finally Jim felt she was winding down, since she was beginning to repeat herself. He calmly went over, grabbed her up close, and kissed her, hard.

Pulling away from a breathless and for once peacefully quiet Amy, Jim smiled into her eyes. "Thank God you're finally home, honey! This place is a wreck. There is no food in the house and with Kyle down, one officer dead, and the other in the hospital paralyzed, I am terribly understaffed, overworked, and overstressed. I need you to help me out with things the way only you can." Jim watched Amy's face lighten and then take on a look of dedication. Amy DeLuca had a weakness for being needed, and a strong healthy determination to make everything pleasant in the lives of the people she loved.

"You need me." Amy was pleased by the look in his eyes, the way he was holding her tight.

"Absolutely! I need my life partner to help me with all these damn kids. They're out of control. Dammit, Amy, you forgot to leave me your phone number again, and I had no way to contact you." Amy actually did feel a little shamefaced about that. She was sort of moving around and didn't have her cell phone with her, trying to avoid Maria calling to bitch about Sean. "I've got Maria calling me early in the morning two days after she met Michael Guerin, wanting to know what time she should set the alarm so he wouldn't be late for work." Amy's brow went up at that! Less than two days? Oh crap, this didn't look good at all. "Kyle running out in the middle of a firefight to save a downed Officer and taking a bullet in his shoulder. Sean is temporarily assigned to Major Crimes to help with my manpower shortage, except he seems intent on charming every woman within a thirty mile radius. In addition, my best detective is sitting around, either talking on the phone to your daughter or staring off into space. I heard rumors about them in an interrogation room! I can hardly get a lick of work done between the lot of them, and then Tess needed somewhere to stay so someone could keep an eye on her, too."

"Oh! My poor baby..." Jim let Amy take care of him for a moment before delivering the coup de grace .

"Honey, you've got to help me. My house is in shambles. I have too many kids running around like mad hatters, and my bed is empty without you. It's been pure hell."

Amy gave a pleased chuckle and kissed him passionately. Liking the smell of his fresh clean body, and the way he moved her up close and into his space with his strong arms on her back, Amy was glad to finally be home. Jim smiled as he hugged her to his body. Almost five years being engaged to Amy DeLuca didn't teach him anything, if not how to handle her.

"You go finish getting dressed. I want you to get back to finding the horrible monster that hurt our son..." Amy headed for the door leaving an aroused and smiling Jim behind. "What is the world coming to, I ask you? First, these cute little bears starving to death in the wilderness, coming into the city to scavenge for food and be threatened with extermination if they keep returning. They tagged the poor things, and everything..."

When Jim finally left his house, he could hear Amy still talking. "Now the two of you are to go rest while I clean this pigsty up. Kyle, sweetie, I'm going to make you some of my homemade chicken soup, and Tess I think you need a soufflé-- perhaps cheese? Oh no! There's no food in the house! Okay, shopping first, and I should make your father a nice meringue pie, maybe Key Lime or Lemon. I bet the laundry hasn't been done in a week..."

Jim smiled when he heard Kyle's voice pipe up. "Amy did you hear about this wildlife refuge and some mountain climbers destroying the nesting grounds of an endangered bird? I saved the article..." Good man! Jim took off to work confident that once Amy smothered them all in motherly love, cleaned the house, cooked like a demon, and reasserted her position; she would be off to a Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma to save some birds.

Michael woke to stretch and roll over under the blanket. At first it didn't register, and then it did. Maria was missing. Sitting up, he looked around from where he had been sleeping on the sofa with the cat. Maria was nowhere in sight. Michael reached down to grab his jeans and went to find her. The upstairs was empty and silent, Sean's room was occupied by a sleeping Sean, which surprised Michael, and the downstairs was Mariafree. Getting ready to check the garden, Michael heard a sound from the garage.

Michael went into the garage not seeing Maria, but he followed the sound past the GTO, lovely stroking his hand on it as he passed onward to the next garage. There she was, or at least part of her. Maria was under the Mustang working. The music was on and she was busy talking to herself--or maybe the car--as she worked.

He left her to do what she was doing and went back into the loft to dress and make coffee. Michael took the phone and called into the station to talk to Valenti. It was already after nine, and Michael wasn't too happy with leaving Maria. He doubted that she would want to go to work today, so he needed to arrange something.

"Valenti." Michael frowned at the barking voice of his Captain.

Cap, it's Guerin."

"Michael! How is Maria? Sean called me to cancel the APB and let us know she came home..."

"She's working on my car right now." Michael paused when Jim started cussing and then silent. "Captain?"

Jim said in a lower voice. "She only started to work on cars as therapy. She likes to do it now as a hobby, but in times of stress or when she just isn't coping, she goes back to working."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of her."

Jim said something he knew he believed deeply. "I know you will son. I want you and your team to stand down today. No one in until this afternoon at the earliest, and even tomorrow for some. I think you all need a mental day. Forensic teams are still processing the information, and tomorrow is time enough to work on the new murder. I had Welsh in here this morning all chipper and ready to go, so she's working with the University and the Mayor's office. Needless to say, this newest crime spree on the Campus isn't going over very well."

"Thanks Cap, I think we can use a day off. None of us has taken a day since this started. I wanted to stay close to Maria, and Sean is still under the weather." Michael paused as Sean came to stand in his bedroom door. "Let Cassie do her thing, and if Parker is handling the pressure, she might as well continue her work. I'll call both of them and check with them and their ends." Michael paused and listened to Jim before frowning and hanging up.

Looking over at Sean, he frowned even more. Sean really looked sick. Burning the candle from both ends was definitely not helping, and Michael saw one member of the team that needed a definite day off. He wasn't sure how many days Sean worked consecutively on Vice before transferring to Major Crimes, but the man looked in need of sleep.

"Sean? What's this about Maria's mom?"

Sean came over to the kitchen bar and looked grateful when Michael poured him a cup of coffee. Sean didn't want to agree with Michael, but he was right. A day off was exactly what he needed. He wasn't as young as he used to be, and his excessive drinking, partying, and lifestyle was starting to really pull him down. This last bout was kicking his ass, and that was something that hadn't happened in years. His skin was still blanched white and prickling into cold sweats. He barely held down food, and kept having dizzy spells. If someone... anyone... mentioned the word Tequila to him he would lose it all over them. Damn! Another liquor he would never be able to drink again.

"When I came in this morning my Aunt Amy came home. She saw you and Maria sleeping on the sofa and started with her twenty million questions." Sean leaned forward on the bar and drank his coffee. "Man, you are so totally toast! My Aunt Amy has problems with authority figures, people who push other people around, and she doesn't want her baby girl hooked up with a "Pig". Buddy,...that means you!"

Michael tensed his jaw and frowned. What the hell? "Okay, clue me in...She's engaged to Cap, she loves Kyle like a son, and she adores you, because you're her favorite nephew. Right? So maybe I'm missing something, but you're all cops. Oh excuse me, you're all "Pigs" so what makes you so special? Why can she tolerate you, but no one else?"

"It's not cops in general, man. So don't let it be personal. It's the world, the life. It's the fact that police walk that "thin blue line" that borders on them falling out of grace, turning to "the darkside" as it were. And, even when we don't fall or become corrupted, we still sludge through the muck and mire, and it coats our bodies and lives like a disease. You worked Vice. You know she's right." Sean pushed his cup over to Michael for a refill.

"Yeah, I worked Vice, but I just assumed that I was a special case. I thought that I lost touch because of me, and not from the life." Michael didn't want to remember how out of it, how on the edge he walked while on the streets. Nightmares still woke him in the middle of the night when he was exhausted and too tired to fight.

"It's not just you, man. It's all of us. I watched things happen...crimes...and remained silent, remained undercover. I was an accessory to crimes and never punished, all for the hope of getting a bigger fish, a bigger payoff. My Aunt Amy thinks cops are just the bad guys with badges, gangsters who are legal. Look at me. Look at who I am, where I came from, and you can see she's right. I'm a hitman with a badge, and nothing will change that." Sean got up to head back to bed. "It's just a game, a big game. Us against them and the victims are the innocents caught in the crossfire. When one of us dies, it's the deal we made, the price we knew came with, walking into the chaos. However, not people like Dianne. Not her. She was a casualty. Her blood is on all of our hands."

Michael watched Sean walk away. "Sean." He turned to look at Michael and waited for him to say what he wanted to say. "Do you think I should walk away? Should I leave Maria alone to find a quiet peaceful life? Do you think I'm just a gangster, a legal thug?"

Sean ran a hand over his head and looked down at the floor. Damn him! The one thing Sean didn't want to answer, want to confess. "No. You're the real McCoy. Born to be a superhero. The darkness touches you. It defines you, makes you who you are. But, you know what? You're the incorruptible, untouchable. To be a savior, a redeemer, you've got to have a touch of a killer in you too." Sean went back to his room, but paused at the door. "And Maria, she's no innocent. Not like Dianne. She's like you. The darkness made and defined her, and it's the darkness that surrounds her life that makes her shine brighter. Aunt Amy denies it because she wants Maria to be safe. But what the hell is safe? Living in denial all your life. Numb. Trying to shelter yourself from the pain, until you die one day and learn you were so paralyzed with trying to remain safe, that you forgot to live?"

"You didn't answer my question....should I walk away?" Sean looked back and just shook his head. These superhero types were all the same. Dense. Needing the bad guys to spill their guts and tell them the scheme.

"I can't answer that. Only you can. You and Maria." Michael looked at him, perplexed at the decision he needed to make, the clues he needed to find...all of it. Maria, the murders, and his own damn heart was weighing him down. All at once, for god's sake...how was he supposed to handle this? It had hit all at once. "Look, all I know is she seems to need you! Maria hasn't needed anything, not for a long time. Both of you are strong people, but you're not unbreakable. I think that together you're stronger than either of you are apart. I just don't want to lose her. I need her, too."

Michael didn't want that either. He wanted Amy DeLuca to be right. That Maria could be safe, that this world wasn't meant for her. Sean was right too, right on the mark with people he ran into everyday. People like Isabel who ran and searched for numbness to protect her from life and the pain. God help all of them. "Sean..."

"Guerin? Do I look like your priest? I'm not a frickin' prophet, guru or some holy dude. F-ucking find yourself a damn priest or confessor! Just know that I'm the opposite of that. I'm your executioner. You lose her for us, fail to protect, and I shoot you dead." Sean shut his door behind him and went back to bed. These hero types were f-ucking exhausting.

Michael watched Sean leave. Damn the worthless horny bastard! He was making Michael actually like and respect him. Sean lived his life seeing blacks and whites, but enjoying the walk in all the shades between. But Cassie? Damn! The man still had a lot to learn. Picking up the phone, he made calls to check on his teams. After he was finished, he went to find her, to check on her and make sure she was all right. Maria was still under the car talking to it, telling it that it was going to be fine. With a little work, some new parts, and a little rebuilding that "she" would be just fine. Better than fine. Reborn.

Maria moved out from under the car and saw him staring at her, but not really seeing her. He was so deep in thought that for a second she wondered where he had gone. Maria just smiled to herself and got up to continue working. He would come back when he was ready. She wasn't going anywhere.

They spent all morning working on the car, trying to make a list of what would need to be replaced eventually. Maria took one look at the carburetor and started bitching. It looked too worn to rebuild, and so she took it out and tossed it on a drop sheet in the corner. Michael felt like his heart had been ripped out seeing his poor car gutted and tossed about like junk.

"At least it ran when I drove it here..." Michael points to the parts she was tossing out of the car. "Now it can't even start up."

"Look, you want to fix it? Restore it? Then you have to make decisions, to cut away the diseased parts, the ones that no longer work. They're damaging the rest of the systems. We keep them in case we can't find a new part or replacements, and we're forced to rebuild them. But holding on to something that needs to go is foolish." Maria covered in oil and grime, her hands greasy and stained, went to stand by him. "It took me three years to rebuild my car. At first, I was too damaged and timid to toss anything away. It was like taking something broken, used, and destroyed and giving up. I rebuilt it all, tried to salvage the small pieces as if they were parts of my soul. Sometimes, thing leak in, they do so much damage. You're forced to cut it away. So that cloth over there. It's for you. It's telling you that even though we're tearing your car apart, it doesn't mean we can't repair it. All the pieces will be there if you need or want them."

Michael looked at her. It was healing--all about healing. Maria taught herself to heal, and then used three years to perfect the process. The reason she survived was that she never stopped healing. Every damage, every blow was immediately tended too. Maria worked on the car because she was working on her grief for Dianne, and she was offering him a chance to do the same. Not just for Dianne, but for his dad, Mikey.

"So we're not throwing anything away. We can put it back...if I need it...put it back?" Maria scared the hell out of him, the way her eyes, so clear and bright, suddenly looked like endless souls. Dark and quiet, they looked deep within you, seeing examples inside a person and just understood. Maria was a witch, a sorceress in her ability to understand and see. Michael knew it because she was able to navigate him so well, almost effortlessly.

"Nothing goes until you're ready, or you make the decision to let it go." Maria reached up and kissed him gently. "I can promise you that."

Michael leaned into her whispering, "What else can you promise, Professor?"

Maria laughed. "I can promise you that it will be expensive!"

Michael laughed at that. Of that, he had no doubt. Everything connected with Maria DeLuca seemed to be just that, expensive. Her life, her laugh, and the way she touched him. They all seemed to come with a price, and he wasn't sure he could afford to pay, but only time would really tell.

Michael moved in menacingly on her, backing her up against the fender. "How expensive we talkin'?"

Maria just laughed and moved her grimy hands up his no longer pristine white shirt, to take his face in her hands. "Don't worry, Detective. I'll make sure you can afford it, whatever the cost." Maria kissed him hard and long. Michael picked her up to sit on his fender and ran his dirty hands all over her, under her shirt loving the smell of motor oil on her skin.

"Maria!" Maria pulled away from Michael and looked around him. Oh sh-it!

" Mom?! "

Michael watched as the DeLuca women talked and made lunch. He was busy doing whatever they told him to do. Cut this, clean that, and get that. As far as Michael could tell it was best just to do as asked and stay out of the way.

"A Pig!" Amy looked at Michael. "No offense." Michael just shrugged. It wasn't as if he hadn't heard that term before...and from Maria.

"Mom, I'm putting this whole discussion under the heading of "none of your business" so butt out!"

"Maria!"

"No! Don't "Maria" me. Jim Valenti?" Maria stopped cutting the beef to look at her mother, waving a knife around carelessly. Michael reached across, took the knife from her, and continued slicing the beef.

"Jim is different!"

"He is not! You don't even know Michael. So how do you know? How do you know? " Maria smiled her thanks at Michael, finally cluing into the fact he hated to see her with a knife in her hands.

Michael watched as Amy took out toasted Kaiser rolls and tried to slice them without burning herself. He calmly moved her aside and did it. She smiled her thanks. And the two women continued to argue back and forth about names, times, dates and instances that had Michael's head racing. Sean emerged from his cubbyhole once, saw the two, shook his head no, and disappeared back inside closing the door firmly behind him.

Michael calmly walked around the two, pushing them out of the kitchen while he grabbed an alreadymade sandwich, added extra roast beef, some chips, and took a beer from the refrigerator. Michael tapped on Sean's door. The man cautiously opened it to see a plate of food waved in his face. Opening up the door just enough to snatch the food and beer, Sean shut the door in Michael's face. Michael paused for a second, went back into the kitchen, found the ketchup, and returned to knock on Sean's door. The hand came out to grab the ketchup, and then was gone again. He heard a "Thanks, man." from the other side. Coward!

It was finally a phone call for Maria that broke the argument. Michael tried not to listen while Maria talked to her Department Head, Kenneth Price. Michael's anger was on the rise, as he listened to her, her voice becoming increasingly angry. As the man continued to harass her, Michael lost his patience. Finally, Michael took the phone from Maria.

"...I expect you to be in the office tomorrow. Your constant tardiness and absenteeism is noted. If you think..."

"Professor Price? This is Detective Guerin. I believe we spoke." Michael waited for the sputtering man to pause, and then cautiously acknowledge him. "Good. Sir, you're exactly the type of person I've been looking for as a possible suspect in my current case, someone that has connections to University, connections to the Museum, and a black evil worthless soul. I think you and I need to talk." Michael smiled without humor at the phone, his voice low, dark and quiet. "I will expect you at the Roswell PD no later than one-thirty for questioning, or I will send uniformed officers to escort you from your University offices in handcuffs." Michael paused to listen to sputtering man. "Do I make my intentions clear? Good. Just sign in at the front desk and they will escort you to an interrogation room."

Michael quickly hung up the phone and called his partner. "Maxwell, Michael. Look, I know we were going to cool it today, take some time, but I've got a need to squash a big ugly toad...just make it cry a little. Do you want to play?" Michael listened and smiled. That was his partner, always willing to play in other people's sandboxes. "On my way as soon as I eat. Maria made me lunch. I’ll see you around one. Later."

When Michael hung up, he was surprised to have Amy DeLuca grab him in a full-blown hug. With a quick kiss on his cheek, Amy headed for the door. "I expect to see both of you at family dinner this Sunday. No excuses! Bye, sweeties." Maria came over to stand beside Michael as he absentmindedly pulled her close to his body.

"Your mom, huh?"

"Yeah."

"I like her."

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