“Guerin, you’ve got two seconds to answer, or I’m taking a powder!” Kyle rang the doorbell for the fourth time, and added a violent knock on the door.

“Maybe they’re not home,” said Tess next to him.

“He said we work on the car after one on Saturday. It’s after one.” Kyle turned to bang on the door again when it opened. Michael reached out and pulled both Tess and Kyle in, looking around suspiciously.

“You alone?”

“Yeah, alone. Just me and Tess. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Amy is looking for me.” Kyle felt the breaking of moisture on his forehead, the prickling of fear in his gut, and that overwhelming desire to flee in fright.

“She’s coming here? Now? Today?” Both Kyle and Tess turned to flee, but Michael blocked their way.

“Chicken!”

“That’s from the man who was afraid to answer his own door! She has a key.” Michael’s whole body went tense. Oh damn, she did have a key.

Maria came down the stairs seeing the uncertain people at the door. She was dressed to work on the car in a small and snug white tank top and blue jeans so old and ripped they looked ready to be tossed. Michael was similarly dressed in a black wifebeater and old jeans so worn they were more flesh than jeans. “What’s going on? I thought we were working.” Maria smiled at her friend and assistant, Tess. “Hey, Tess. Didn’t know you were interested in working on cars.”

“Kyle talked me into tagging along. I hope that’s okay.”

“Fine.” Maria looked at all of them and frowned. “What’s going on?”

The words were barely out of her mouth when a knock came at the door. Tess actually screamed in fright. Maria looked at the small group like they were insane. Moving past them, she went to answer the door.

“No!” They all said at once. Maria looked at them as if they were all caught in a lunatic craze.

“Get a grip!” Maria opened the door and smiled at the man on the other side. “Walter, did you bring the parts?”

“Maria. Michael.” The man kissed her on the cheek and nodded. The parts were out in his truck.

He was a nice elderly man in his fifties with a pleasant disposition, and a curiosity over the people all huddled around the door. “Got the bid request for the last part. You’re not going to be happy.” Walter held out a piece of paper. Michael quickly intercepted. It was the last replacement piece they needed to complete the Mustang, and then she was all ready except for a new paint job.

“Son of a bitch, no way. This is outrageous!” Michael looked at the money requested by the person who had the last part for sale. Maria looked over his shoulder, hugging him close from behind with her hands on his hips.

“Oh Lord. That’s...wow. About three times what it should be.” Maria rubbed her hand across her mouth. Geez, some people were greedy bastards.

“Forget it. I’m not paying it. Keep looking Walter.” Michael practically flung the invoice information away from him.

“Michael, wait.” Maria and Walter shared a look.

“No way. This is too much for one small part. It’s not even the entire fuel injection system.”

“I know this person is bilking, but Michael that means something.”

“It means the son of a bitch is a greedy whoring prick.”

Maria actually laughed at that. “Yeah, that’s true. But, it also means this man knows he has gold. We’ve been searching for this part for a year. A year, Michael! And this is the first nibble. The man has product, and we’ve got demand, so he’s setting his price, although granted, it's high.”

“No. I’m not paying it.”

“Okay, then there are other options. First we can use what we have, which works, but is worn and has a short life expectancy. We can buy this overpriced part,” Maria ignored Michael’s bellowing and resounding no. “Or we can go with having the part turned by a talented machinist. I think there’s a guy in Madison, Wisconsin who is a good at this thing.” Maria motioned for Walter to follow as she headed for the garage to open the doors for Walter to bring in the other two parts.

“Okay, the machinist thing. Walter what does that run?” Michael could handle having the piece made.

Walter just winced making Michael groan. “It’ll be top quality, almost assembly line quality, actually better. But the machinist has to get the specs, which costs, set the machine, build a prototype, and then he has to hand turn it. That’s expensive. Once it’s completed, he has to send it to the Ford Motor Company where their experts examine the piece, check it for authentic fit, and then gives it a rating and release. If it doesn’t meet standards, he starts over.” Michael already saw where this was going. “It would be like new, last the life of the car, but expense? More than this joker wants. Much more.

Michael cussed a colorful bluestreak. Maria ignored him and helped Walter while Kyle and Tess sat on the sidelines enjoying the show. “Okay, what’s the viability and life on the part I’ve got with my car?”

Maria calmly picked up the part off the fuel assembly and tossed it to Walter. Michael waited as Walter looked it over and ran the piece around in his hand, took out a tool and examined it.

“Less than a year.” Michael was off in another plethora of colorful metaphors depicting the end of the world, the nature of man and god, and the questionability of a sainted mother. “The moveable assembly is sticking. It’ll start freezing up, and there are worn areas showing tear to the side. It’ll leak fuel, and you’ll lose seal integrity in the motor house.”

“Buy the part Walter.” Maria said calmly.

“No.” Michael said placing himself in front of Maria. “I’m not paying. It’s extortion.”

“I know. I am.” Maria pushed Michael aside and walked off. “Buy it Walter.”

“Maria.”

“Look, you paid for every part and piece on this restoration. I can make this a present, okay?” Maria looked at Walter. “Contact him today, tell him he needs to get it to your shop no later than Monday. That I’ll meet his asking price, but only on bonded junket. If and when we receive the part, and it’s examined by our mechanic, meaning you, then a bonded receipt for payment will automatically be transferred to his account.”

Kyle looked confused. “I don’t get it. Why all the work?”

“Well, it could go two ways. He’s asking a high price so he knows he holds an important, hard-to-find part. Now he might be an old junker who has a car yard full of Mustangs of this make and year. If we buy without demanding he send it bonded junket, which means he sends it to us unpaid C.O.D., we accept whatever comes and it falls under the mandate of "Buyer Beware". Now if we have it sent bonded junket, that means that our mechanic, Walter looks the piece over, and decides if it is both authentic and in great quality. At this price, it better be brand spanking new. If it doesn’t pass Walter’s inspection he returns the part to the courier and it’s refused.”

“That’s a lot of work for a small part.”

“It is, but it protects us from fraud, and keeps this man from walking out in his junkyard and pulling the part from any old Mustang and sending it. Because he’s asking a huge price, and we’re essentially asking to see before purchase, he is obligated to send us the best part he has available, because he knows we’ll be adding him to the Internet ‘parts supplier list’ as a "NoBuy", which puts him at a bad risk buy for future sales.”

“Kyle and I could get in a car, drive to...” Michael looked at the information on the paper. “Tennessee, see the man in person, and haggle down his price.”

Maria just nodded. “You could. But then I would have to follow you to Tennessee to post bond for your assault charges.” Kyle laughed at that. It wasn’t like Maria didn’t have experience getting people out of jail. Her mother, Amy was the master of being locked up. Maria and Michael stood, staring each other down.

“Buy it, Walter.” Michael finally said. “But the bill comes to me, not Maria.” Maria opened her mouth to protest, but the look in Michael’s eyes forestalled her. Michael wanted to finish the project himself, from start to end. Maria paying for it would negate that process. It was a memorial to Mikey, and one he was determined to finish despite the time and cost. He was pissed at the obvious bilking, but a part of him felt a sense of excitement over having the project nearly done, and another part of him empty that it was almost finished.

Maria worked on the two new parts, pulling them apart, cleaning, and lubing them to be added to the engine. Tess helped as her trusty assistant, not knowing one end of a torque wrench from a bolt driver. Michael and Kyle were both leaning over into the front end of the Mustang gutted of its engine, welding additional support struts to the frame. They were at opposite sides, both arc-welding at the same time.

Maria occasionally watched Tess’s eyes wander over to the men. Kyle had taken off his shirt and was wearing a tight sleeveless white tee, his jeans as holey as Michael’s and stretching over the car pulled those jeans tight.

“Nice ass.”

“What?” Tess avoided her eyes the color rising over her cheeks.

“I said Kyle has a totally serviceable ass, practically droolworthy.” Maria had a spark of merry adventure enter her eyes. “Of course, that was so obvious the other night, looking at him all decked out in too tight leather pants and that cargo shirt. My, my, my...those nice masculine nipples peaking through just begging for some attention. What a stud.”

Maria giggled at the look Tess gave her, and her sudden fascination with Kyle’s ass again. Just friends? Bugger that.

“His package was framed just right, all tight and hard...”

“Maria!”

“I’m just saying...” Maria feigned passing interest only. “What the heck is wrong with the women of Roswell letting that piece of USDA prime beef walk around unattached, unfettered...unf-ucked.”

“Maria.” The outrage in Tess’s voice made her giggle.

“Look.” Maria put down her tool and stared at her friend. “It doesn’t take a genius or a psychic to tell me that he’s in your thoughts all the time, and he does something for you that Max never did. So what’s stopping you, stopping the both of you? You’re adults, single, and both totally easy on the eyes.”

“It’s complicated.” Tess said as Maria started working again. She looked over at Kyle to make sure he wasn’t listening, but both he and Michael were still buried in the car. “It has always been. We’ve got history. Lots of history.”

Jack. They had Jack. Maria looked at Tess and then Kyle. “I know, but some history can be overcome.”

Maria walked over to the Coke machine in the corner of the garage and looked though the selections. Dammit, Michael had drunk all the cherry coke again without refilling. Grabbing a regular Coke for both herself and Tess, she sat down next to her friend.

“You loved Jack, and Kyle loved Jack.” Tess looked at Maria piercingly. Maria saw too much at times, but how much was she really seeing? “But more important, Jack loved you both. He wouldn’t have wanted you to stop living because of him, either of you.”

“It’s more complicated than that, Maria.” Tess hadn’t wanted to get into it until she talked to Max, but it seemed like the perfect time. Tess didn’t notice the men finishing the welding. “I’m pregnant.”

“Kyle’s?” Maria asked before she could stop herself.

Tess was shocked when Kyle’s voice sounded with hers. She hadn’t realized he was listening. “No.”

Tess turned and looked at Kyle holding the welding torch. He lifted the visor off his head and stared at her. Tess’s heart was pounding in her chest. He was covered in sweat and grease, and in the dirty white tee, he looked...he looked...oh God, Maria was right! What the hell were all the women of Roswell thinking?

Michael removed his visor and looked at Tess and Kyle in interest. Max. It had to be Max’s then. Michael closely examined Tess and noticed the slight swell at her stomach that he had missed earlier. “Does Max know?”

Maria finally looked at Michael when he spoke. She dropped her wrench. Oh my very goodness! Michael reached up and wiped the sweat off his face with his arm, unaware of Maria’s intense regard. He was aware of feeling...disorientated. Max was going to a father. Jealous? Hell, yeah! Jealous, or maybe just envious.

“No, he doesn’t. Not yet, and I’d appreciate if you wouldn’t mention it until I can. I was going to tell him tomorrow.” Tess took in Michael’s small nod as acceptance and turned to look at Maria.

Maria wasn’t paying attention. Her full attention was on Michael, on her personal tract of real estate. Tess was shocked at the darkened green color of Maria’s eyes, the way her nostrils seemed to flare slightly, the hint of her tongue between her teeth, and the slight labored sound to her breath.

Michael really did look absolutely and totally f-uckable. Dressed only in the tight tee that Maria could see the swell of his muscles as he moved, Michael was sweating from the heat of welding, the glistening traces calling attention to the near-perfect body and indecently wet shirt sticking to his abdomen.

Uh huh, it didn’t take much to know that if she and Kyle didn’t scram quickly, they were going to see more than they wanted to. “Kyle, we need to go.” Tess grabbed his shirt and coat, rushed over and hooked an arm through his. “Bye!”

“What? But...but Tess, Maria was going to feed us...”

Tess pushed Kyle out of the garage just as she heard the sound of something metal, and lots of scuffling noises followed by a groan. “I think Maria’s busy feeding someone else.”

Kyle looked at her confused, and then at the garage at the noise, and suddenly his face cleared with understanding. “Oh, oh! They’re going to...there...oh!”

“Come on, you can buy me dinner.” Tess looked over at him struggling back into his shirt. Waste. “A nice long dinner. I’m starved.”

~~~

Michael was missing something. One minute he was bowled over by the news that his partner was going to be a father, and the next he was watching Kyle and Tess leave.

“Hey, Kyle! We’re not done.” What the hell was going on? It was the rough handling of his body, the dropping of his torch and the crashing noise it made as it hit the ground, and an armful of Maria pushing him backwards and up hard against a work table knocking over even more parts and tools that answered his question.

“Maria...” Michael couldn’t talk. It was hard to talk without a tongue, and his was otherwise engaged. Moaning loud and deep in his throat, his hands fitted over her hips trying to slow down her fast-moving body. “Maria, stop...Maria!”

They had goals they wanted to achieve on the car today, things that needed to be done! Michael pushed her away far enough to take in her appearance. She was breathing hard, so hard that he could feel the pounding of her heart through her breastbone, and there was a thin film of moisture above her now swollen lips, along with a look in her eyes that made his heart race. Looking closely at her, he couldn’t stop that itching need to touch her, and then touch her again.

Maria’s darkened green eyes were checking him out the way she was being checked out now by his golden brown ones. And really, really liking what she saw, liking it well enough that she was on the verge of jumping him again. Maria looked ready to fall to her knees in front of that teasing, mouthwatering....

"Maria!"

Maria jumped guiltily, then threw her arms wide and half-laughed, "Help!" This wasn’t her fault, and they had made an agreement to finish what they started today before letting anything else distract them. But it was unfair. No one told her that he was going to look like that.

Snorting in a mix of amusement and irritation, Michael kicked aside his tools that had fallen at his feet, took off his gloves, and stood, shaking his head. "What is your problem?" he asked, but he walked into the embrace, wrapping his own arms tightly around Maria's waist. What was their problem?

"I don't know," Maria murmured, nuzzling into the hot skin, loving the clean, hard-working man-smell of it. "It's like I'm on a caffeine buzz or something. Not able to concentrate on anything, and twitchy as hell." She lapped at one of the circles on Michael's chest evident under the tight shirt, delighted to feel it pebble into hardness almost instantly.

"And you think getting laid will cure that?" Michael muttered under his breath next to the skin of her neck, hoping personally the answer was yes.

"It can’t hurt. I’m game." Maria licked her way to the other nipple, vaguely disappointed to find it up already. But she couldn’t taste him through the shirt, only the saltiness of his sweat which she sampled thoroughly before muttering, "But making you feel good with all this excess beats making myself miserable with it."

"Glad to be of service," Michael said wryly, blotting his face dry on Maria's shirt at the shoulder.

"Isn't that, like, the police department motto or something?" Maria asked distractedly, slipping her fingers under the ragged edge of a rip in Michael's jeans to tease the skin on the back of legs barely covered by the jeans.

"So who's going to protect me from getting screwed into an early grave trying to serve you?" Michael muttered into her neck, moving closer to her welcoming her to continue the gentle exploration of his flesh through the rips.

“I’ll take really, really good care of you. I promise.” Maria moved her hands up under his shirt. He had on too many clothes.

His breath was unexpectedly cool over Maria's skin, and she shivered, suddenly losing interest in conversation. Pressing closer, she rubbed herself over Michael's growing rock-hard erection, sighing in anticipation of how good this was going to be. The chest under her lips rumbled in a groan as Michael spoke, but she didn't pay attention to the words that caused it. There was another kind of sound all together that she was going for from Michael, and that meant getting a little further under the worn denim and clothing protecting her target.

Then Michael pushed her away, firmly holding her at arm's length. "Jesus, Maria, can you hold on a second and let me get us into the loft?"

Blinking, she reined herself in, and managed to quip, "Do I look like I have no control?"

Michael gave her a look of exasperation, tinged with both lust and love, and forcibly turned her around. With a gentle shove, he sent Maria toward the loft, saying, "Let’s go, now!" If they didn’t move quickly, they were going to find themselves rolling around on the garage floor again, and last time it took days to get all the motor grease off them.

Grinning, Maria looked over her shoulder and said impudently, "I thought you wanted to work in the garage today. Make up your mind! Want me to 'go down' here or there?" She took off at top speed as soon as the last word left her lips, pulling Michael close behind her with his hands on her backside trying to pull her into his groin.

They raced inside the loft, Maria staying ahead of him just barely, and he crashed through the door after her, slamming it shut behind him. Maria hurried for the stairs, but Michael intercepted her, and picking her up tossed her over the back of the sofa, and jumped over it to land on top of her.

"All right, you. Assume the position!" Maria dissolved in giggles at his best cop voice.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes, frisk me!" Maria chanted to herself, hastily skinning him out of his clothes. Michael ripped her tank top off and tossed it as he went for the buttons of her jeans.

“Naked frisking, I can do.” Once she was undressed, he hesitated, trying to decide how he wanted it, but couldn't make up his mind. Everything they did together was worth repeating. Maria wasn’t giving him much time to decide as she rid him of his clothes. Unbidden one hand crept down to his hard-on, and she stroked him lightly, mind tumbling with erotic possibilities and she leaned in and whispered suggestions in his ear.

"If you’re going to drive," Michael said dryly, leaning on her and pulling her bottom lip into his mouth with a hard bite, "you’re going to have to take the top." Maria just laughed and pulled him down harder on her.

Despite his tone, his face was lit up with devious intent, as if he were amazed and delighted to find Maria under him. His stern pissy tone and dark serious expression was ones he often wore when she taunted him, and he was struggling to retain some power and slow it down. His stern look always made Maria's heart lurched, too full of him to beat properly, because she knew that no matter how hard he tried, he was on the edge.

And it made him all that much more desirable to Maria.

With a laugh, she threw herself at Michael, moving her thigh along the rougher skin of his. "Hey, I was just making suggestions, but I’ll happily let you take the top if that’s what it takes to get laid around here." Not giving her lover a chance to retaliate to her sass, she fastened her mouth onto Michael's, eagerly delving into the heated depths of it.

Accepting the assault effortlessly, he returned the kiss with interest, reducing them both to soft moans and demanding rutting bodies in a matter of moments. Maria was all for having her way right where they were, unable to bear breaking away long enough to navigate the stairs to their bedroom, so the sofa looked good. Not quite that far gone, Michael lifted his head, murmuring, "Hang on, hang on a sec." Hardly hearing him, Maria blindly sought to reclaim his lips, frantically grinding against him even as he shoved her questing hands aside to run his hands down the trim hips to set her naked flesh tightly to him.

"Maria!" There was an edge of concern in Michael's voice now, though he couldn't understand for the life of him why.

A part of him knew that they were racing out of control again, for what felt like the millionth time lately. It was like the very air smelt of them, of each other, and the sight of the other’s skin or sound was enough to send the situation catapulting out of management. They both had mentioned it, how intense it was, how hungry it made them, and Michael struggled to be reasonable to hold back since Maria was already gone from the moment her body heated up at the sight of him. She moved hard against him working him with her hands and mouth, wiggling against him. Okay, he could work with that, Michael decided in dazed confusion, lavishly licking the column of her throat. Wantonly Maria spread her legs wide and tried to pull Michael down on her fully, using strength that belied her size and appearance of frailty.

That did it. Michael was gone too, as he found his favorite place cradled in her, and chemicals from their bodies, those released while aroused, seemed to mix in the air leaving him disoriented. He would work it out next time, but this time he was racing to join her.

Groaning happily as she felt him melt into her, she reached down to direct that hard length, wanting it inside her, now , but Michael caught her by the wrist and held it over Maria's breastbone. When she tried to pry it loose with her free hand, it was captured as well, leaving him plastered to her unmoving for a moment looking down at her, restraining her hands. Maria was about to protest, but the fire in his eyes stopped the words in her throat as her eyes narrowed and a moan left her throat. Michael smiled wickedly and moved her captured wrist above her head pinned down by powerful biceps and no movement was left to her at all from the waist up.

It was a snug, cherished feeling, but not what she wanted at all, and she tried angling her hips to let her legs do a little capturing of their own. But Michael was in control, and he countered her moves to keep her from pushing them over the edge too soon. Sighing, Michael moved a heavy leg from between her legs to drape over one of hers, effectively rendering her immobile. Still Maria squirmed as best she could, wailing in frustration, "MICHAEL!"

"Easy, babe, easy," Michael breathed into her ear, increasing the security of his hold. "I'm not going anywhere, and you'll get all you want, I promise. Now calm down a little. Talk to me."

"I don't want to talk!" Michael knew he was being unfair. He was just as tanked as she was, but he wasn’t letting his wayward body and hers have their way. His head was in control for the moment, but if he didn’t hurry it wasn’t going to last for long. God, her smell was making his head spin. Shaking it out, he gulped for fresh air and continued to talk with her.

"Now that's a first." Nuzzling at the soft hair at her temple, Michael whispered, "You're worrying me here, Maria. It's almost like you have to make love instead of just wanting it. I know you've been a little hyped and wild lately,” Maria looked at him sharply, and he groaned nodding. “As have I. We’ve both are taking what has been intense for a year and increasing it by tenfold, but just going with it isn't going to help us figure out what's going on." Michael was becoming concerned, really concerned. His breath was ragged and his body was screaming for action, but this was important, too important to shelve again.

Almost against her will, Maria quieted, seeing for herself the air of desperation in her actions, like a junkie in dire need of a fix. "I don't know what's going on," she admitted, making herself go limp under Michael's hands. Controlling her breathing as best she could, she fumbled for words to describe how she'd been feeling. "It's like, like.... Remember that feeling you get when you were young, during Christmas? Really, really looking forward to it because it meant that all the waiting was nearing an end, and there were so many cool things waiting to be unwrapped, not that you had any clue what they were, but you knew that they belonged to you, and soon you would unwrap them and the fun would begin. All that anticipation and energy and eagerness with maybe a little fear and worry mixed in because you didn't know what it would be, some of it hopeful that you would get what you wanted, some of it fear that you would not, wiring you up to the point you couldn't sleep that night before the big day."

"And making love helps you deal?"

"God, yes!" Maria pulled a restrained hand away to stroke his face. Sighing in honesty. “It doesn’t just help, it’s the present, the unwrapping. I see you across a room, and that electrical feel I get with you, it’s there, always there. It doesn’t go away. It’s like lying there dormant, and suddenly I see you and...”

"Okay, then." Cautiously, as if expecting himself to break because she was describing what he had been feeling for a while, Michael loosened his grip that held Maria's wrist and moved the other hand down her arm, then brushed away stray locks from her face. "But let's try to take it slow and easy, make it last. If nothing else, it'll burn off more than a quickie would anyway."

"I don't know if I can..." Maria began.

"Just try, okay?" More strands of golden hair were moved aside, revealing a pale, vulnerable nape, and Michael whispered against it, "For me. Please?" Their mating lately had taken on an air of violence that empowered him, but was scaring him too. The lack of control, of reason was making him afraid that when he came back to himself that he would find that he abused her while out of his head.

She nodded her acquiesce, trying to breath in gulps of refreshing air to power down the raging feelings. A powerful charge of sensation arced from where soft lips and warm air teased over her skin, and Maria quivered from it, stomach suddenly dipping. He was doing it again. He was asking for her to slow down, but everything his body did to her made that impossible.

"God!" She bent her head forward a little in silent urging, and Michael instantly obeyed with an almost-there kiss that lifted every hair on Maria's neck and spine, making her shudder. Michael’s eyes darkened. It happened again. Her response to him was fueling his response, and what little control he had was slipping fast.

He was worried, because between them all, him, Max and Isabel, they all showed sexual abnormalities, almost addictive needs. Isabel was the most extreme, Max following with his sexual exploits, and Michael, who had avoided it until he met Maria, was fast hurtling out of control and pulling her into the abyss with him. He wanted her all the time, like a deep ache, and in the last week to ten days it had become magnified by some reason he couldn’t explain. But the drive had nothing gentle to it, and it was the heat and violence, a blood lust that had him worried. The orgasms were extreme and out of this world, nothing he really experienced with anyone else, but this new intensity kicked it up to a higher level.

"Like that, do you?" Michael murmured as he felt her pulled to him without him really touching her, mouth hauntingly close to the soft spot just behind Maria's ear. It was the electricity. It was alive between them even though they weren’t really touching everywhere. Dammit, he was losing it again, and all he knew was that it felt good.

"Michael..." Maria said huskily her eyes half closed as she reached for him.

"Sounds like a please to me."

Shaking from the delicate, teasing contact of his mouth barely touching her skin as the breath moved across, Maria closed her eyes to focus better on sensation, and moaned, unable to do more than to surrender to Michael's attentions. To her surprise, the next moment of torture was a kiss, a forceful, sucking one, and she shouted wordlessly, pushing against his c-ock leaping in readiness as if Michael's lower body pressed harder into her keeping her controlled until he was ready. Damn, slow calculating beast. Another biting kiss followed, and Maria writhed under the impact from it, babbling her pleasure in half-formed pleas for more, harder. Ignoring the sound, Michael held her down until her lust cooled down enough to let her lie still again, though Maria was panting from a combination of need and fatigue by the time she did. A moment later Michael brushed a butterfly light touch over the junction of Maria's neck and shoulder, drawing a whimper from the smaller body under his. The next kiss was equally intense and made her tremble, the next built gently on that, as did the next and the next until Maria screamed, "Now, damn it! Michael, I swear!"

Doing as he was told, Michael fastened his teeth into the firm muscle at the nape, pinched one of Maria's nipples, and drove his c-ock into the heated cavern of her body with a single, sure move. The blast of pure pleasure slammed all the air out of Maria's lungs, but she reared back into that first thrust, opening to it more than she ever had before. Withdrawing slowly, so slowly it made them both ache, Michael tongued a feathery pattern over Maria's neck, his thumb tip scoring the tight bud on her heaving chest. This time when he rammed back in, he bit even harder, drawing the tiniest trickle of blood.

Ecstasy and the biting pain knocked Maria out of herself, leaving the rational part of her mind floating slightly above the incredibly wonderful f-ucking her body was eagerly taking. It seemed that even as she reveled in carnal luxury, she could see Michael and herself intertwined in the primitive ballet for satisfaction, could see the rapt expression on Michael's face as they loved. Closing her eyes, she could feel him in a flash, and that dark warrior was back, hard and violent, covered in blood, her blood, his blood, and their blood, mixed. That image of him was coming more and more in her head over the last few months, but clearer and clearer recently.

A silent gasp of wonder flew from her, and that involuntary action weighed her back down toward her physical self. Driven by an instinct she didn't question, Maria used the momentum to lift her mouth to the shoulder above her, and she bit it hard on the top fleshy part of it, bringing up a bead of blood. Moaning, her tongue gathered the liquid, and let the taste explode in her mouth. Thirst, it was like her body thirsted for his, wanted to rip away his skin so she could move inside.

With a hoarse cry, Michael picked up the pace of his f-ucking and buried his teeth in Maria's shoulder. The small wound bled freely, and he lapped at it hungrily, staining his lips with the fluid. There was no pain for Maria from it, only another kick into the stratosphere, and she would have climaxed instantly if she'd been connected to her body. Her head was somewhere else, somewhere caught with him. It should have bothered her how intense they were becoming, but it was taking them further than anyone imagined.

She could clearly see a thin, red line of liquid at the corner of his mouth, and she thought wonderingly, ‘Blood. There's power in blood. Mayans, Aztecs, God knows how many other tribes and cultures all believe that...believed it, passed power onto me through his blood. Power's passing through me and Michael now, but what's it for?’ Whatever it was for, the connection it made between them, it was necessary, because the pull and hunger for it was too strong to deny.

Before Maria could find an answer, Michael keened high in his chest and began to come, his hips bucking wildly as he tried to get as deep as possible into her body. It was beautiful to watch, and when passion stripped away all the masks a civilized man had to wear, Maria could see into him with breathtaking clarity. There wasn't just the savage satisfaction of sexual completion or heartfelt joy of union with his mate shining within Michael, and her, all her. There was also the undiluted honor and strength of the man along with his courage, loyalty, devotion, determination and all the other traits that made Michael who he was.

And overlying it all, literally the welded to the core of Michael's character and personality, was the love he had for Maria. The unspoken words were there in flashes of raw emotion and feeling, moving between them, that Maria couldn’t distinguish herself from him.

The incandescent wonder of it burnt through Maria, melding her back to her body as it convulsed through its own climatic release. For a time she was lost in the brilliant flare of pleasure that seemed endless and timeless at the same time, but it gradually faded, leaving prickles of heated sensation, and the copper bright tang of his blood to anchor her to him. With startling reluctance, she took her teeth out of the meaty part of Michael's shoulder not even realizing that she had held on, licking the wound in a passing apology, and panted, "Sorry, sorry - don't know why I suddenly became a vampire."

"Don't apologize until we've seen what I did to your neck and shoulder," Michael rumbled tiredly, sounding indecently sated. "You're probably going to look like you've been mauled by a beast."

"Guess I'm going to have to toss out all the vampire-slaying crap," Maria half-laughed. "Because it felt great. Blood, it does the body good." Sighing tiredly and sated for now, she snuggled down even farther into the sofa and him in her arms. " You felt great... feel great."

"Incredible is more like it," Michael said. With an all-over stretch, he pulled back enough to actually look at what he'd done. "Jesus, Maria!" With tender, tentative fingers he probed around one of the places on Maria's shoulder where minor pain was just beginning to make itself known.

"Don't freak out on me," she ordered mildly. "I think I started it a while back, but lately...and oh God, what it does to me! I've never had anything like that happen to me before." Maria smoothed her fingers over his skin loving the texture, feeling the heat and the rush of his blood, wanting more. “I hunger.”

"Is it really sustaining you, feeding whatever this is?" Michael asked dubiously. He told Sean that he and Maria were choosing a different lifestyle, and whatever this was, it wasn’t about pain. It was about a bloodsport, and then it wasn’t. It was more, like another level of joining between them through their blood. He just didn’t know anything other than that he needed it, he needed her, and it felt better than just good.

Searching his face to get a real look at what he was thinking, Maria realized suddenly that, much as Michael had enjoyed their lovemaking before it turned, it had only been lovemaking for him. More intense than normal relationships, but it was understandable. This new addition that slowly was added to their love life was something more, something beyond expressing feelings, lust, and passion. It was something beyond what either of them knew or understood. The eyes studying the injuries on Maria's neck and shoulder were filled not only with replete passion and love; an awe lingered there like she knew lingered in her. She waited for it, the conflict. A part of him would want her to wear his mark, and happily wear hers, and another part of him would be horrified at the violence marring her skin.

For a moment she was overwhelmed, but the trained anthropologist within her spoke up before the immense passion still stirring in her blood could do more than speed through her awareness. ‘Power in the blood,’ she reminded herself. ‘A life of blood has its own gifts, its own power, different from a ordinary one.’ There had to be something in the bloodsport that drew them, a reason her body was craving him, not just his blood, but his very touch.

Remembering the restless energy that had earlier driven her to jump him in the garage, Maria ran a mental check and found it still burning away on Low, apparently waiting for the next sense of him to fuel the overwhelming turned-on feeling she was experiencing lately that was driving her to sex.

It felt right that she was using it that way, like a bonus or benefit from being on the receiving end of a thousand different looks and touches from Michael. He still had that possessive touch that crowded her, watching over her like she was property, and at times she felt like he pushed her and tasted her just to imprint her body on his. And since he knew her in ways that Maria could only theorize, it seemed fair that she should know Michael in ways only she could. It was a balance of power, so to speak, one with a very nice side benefit. Suddenly his overpowering possessiveness that almost broke them early in their relationship was finding a balance in their lives as she learned and experienced her own possessive nature for him.

Of course, it was hard on him between being caught up in the act and the afterwards, he didn’t see that new intensity as beneficial when he was staring at a bleeding wound on her, and ignoring his own. Anything that wounded or hurt her was an outrage to him, and afterwards he was appalled. Even he knew he was operating under a double standard, because he loved every mark she put on his body. But it was his protector self inside, the part that drove him to keep her safe as his mate that suffered the insult, and had a hard time dealing with the violence. Already Michael was peeling himself away, reaching for a something to press on the wounds he'd made and bitching himself out, big time.

"Hey, I meant it," Maria said in protest, leaning up on an elbow. "I love when you bite me and when I taste your blood, it was fantastic, and I find myself wanting more."

"I don't think so," Michael shot back grimly. "Do you have any idea how easy it is for a human bite to get infected? We need to take care of that immediately."

"So we'll keep a bottle of antiseptic around from now on or let you push me into a hot bath and baby the wound later," Maria said with fond exasperation. "Come on, Michael, I know we’re of the same mind about this. I can feel it. And it's not like you were grossed out or anything. Or like you didn't enjoy it when I bit you. I felt the rush of exhilaration, and the way you hold me against your flesh like your feeding me or the way you feed on me."

Looking down at the ragged wound left by teeth marks on his right shoulder, Michael flexed his fingers and made a fist. "Doesn't hurt that bad, and it was a turn-on when you latched onto me." Abruptly he searched her face seriously looking for hurt and pain. "It’s not just the blood Maria, your scratching me until I bleed, or all the violent sex up against walls, small closets, under desks or wherever we are at the time. It’s this need . It feels like addiction, like we've moved beyond want and pushed need in there, and I’m too weak to deny myself or you almost to the point of being oblivious to the world around us.”

"Oh, Detective," Maria protested, going along with Michael's change of subject, knowing that they would have to talk it out better, later. "I know that things have changed in the last few weeks. I can’t explain it except to say I want and need you-all of you-damn near all the time, and I can’t find that bad. Can’t we just shelve this discussion until some other time because I’m feeling the need to crash for a little while."

"No way; we do have to clean out those bites," Michael said firmly. She was right. He was feeling it too. That heavy draw to rest, to let the energy levels recover, but they had things to do first. "Bathroom, now.”

“No, too sleepy.” Maria snuggled down on the sofa warmed by the feel of him over her, too content to put up with his excessive attention to detail.

Maria didn't put up much more of a fight, even when Michael picked her up and threw her over his shoulder to carry her upstairs to the bathroom. She was laughing too hard.

“Oh, Detective, did I ever mention that this gives me a excellent view of your ass? Maybe after you play doctor,” Maria’s voice took on a husky note, “we could play doctor? ” Michael’s only response was to reach up and spank lightly her ass where it rest across his shoulder, and then running his hand lovingly down her legs.

“Oh God, do that again!” Maria playfully slapped his back. “Detective, did you bring home those extra handcuffs?”

“Maria! Behave!” Michael groaned. She was going to kill them both, or whatever was driving them was. It bothered him that he really didn’t mind.

It was later in the early evening, after they took a nap and made food, that Michael was relaxing on the sofa reading a book and Maria was lying down on the sofa, her head in his lap and Mr. Boo on her legs, watching a documentary about the Amazon on the Discovery Channel. Every once in a while he would look up and watch the program, but he still had another hour or so before his hockey game started, so he continued to read and listen to her make observations and comments.

The answering machine was still picking up their messages. Max had called, but only left a small message that Isabel had left the home in Arizona. Michael started to call him back, but since he hadn’t heard from Isabel, there was little he could say. They both listened and laughed at Amy’s latest message, but still refused to break into their weekend. Amy would catch up with them early in the week. She always did.

When the knock came on the door, Maria sat up a little and looked at Michael. “Did we decide to extend rule number seven of our time alone to include not answering the door?”

Michael just sighed. “No, we were still in discussion and negotiation.” Michael brushed the hair off her forehead and left a quick kiss there grabbing the throw off the back of the sofa to cover her before getting up to answer the door. The knocking and ringing was becoming frantic and urgent.

“What the hell is your...” Michael stopped talking as he saw Sean being supported by another man. “Sean?”

Maria sat up and looked at the door as Michael suddenly went through the door to help Andy take Sean into the loft. When she saw her cousin’s face, she suddenly rushed to his side with a cry of alarm. “Sean, oh God, who did this to you?”

Michael looked over at the man he now recognized from Vice, and they shared a silent understanding. “Maria, get the downstairs bedroom lights on.” Michael sent her on ahead to distract her from Sean’s condition.

Andy and Michael tried to easily lower Sean into the bed, but it was obvious he was in pain, lots of pain. The pain medication was no longer helping after all the hours, and the original endorphins had long gone.

“Sean? Sean, il mio bambino povero che cosa è stato fatto a voi?”1 Michael looked at Maria and frowned. She was crying and her hands were shaking. It was okay, she was okay. It was just normal fright and concern.

“Maria, go get him some water, please?” Michael waited until Maria left the room and looked at Andy. “What happened?”

“We went to a place in Albuquerque. Things went bad.” Andy said. He reached into his pocket. “This is his medicine, both pain pills and antibiotics. He was under a physician's care for almost twenty-four hours before we came home. I tried to talk him into going to a hospital, but he refused. I couldn’t leave him alone at his place, so he said here was okay.” Andy let the guilt wash through him. “I’m sorry, Guerin.”

Michael just nodded, and watched as Maria came back with a large pitcher of ice water and a glass. Setting it down on the bedside table, she poured Sean a glass while sitting next to him on the bed. Suddenly standing up she left to fill a basin with cool water and get a cloth.

“Sean is Maria’s cousin, we’ll take care of him.” Andy just nodded. He never really thought of Guerin taking care of anyone, but he had heard about the relationship between Sean’s cousin and Michael. “When does he need his next dose of meds?”

Andy looked at his watch. “Anytime would be good.”

When Maria came back, Michael handed her the prescription bottles and, after kissing her head, walked Andy out. They stood beside the door and talked in low voices while Maria gently wiped Sean’s face with a cool rag.

“Where?”

“The Den.”

“That’s a clean place, one of the cleanest ones around. What happened?”

Andy rubbed his hand over his face. “Sean happened.”

“You were his safety?” Andy just nodded. “Then how could this go so far?”

“He ditched me,” Andy said. “Things happened, things were done, and everything was taken care of, but Guerin...it was a rip. The scene was staged by Sean. He was angling for the deep sleep, and he was hallucinating that the whiphand was Cassie.”

Andy paused to see if Michael was getting his meaning. “How long did he hold out?” Michael asked quietly.

“Forty-five minutes, too long. She used a heavy weighted bullwhip.” Michael swore under his breath worried about what Maria was looking at in the other room. “Something has to be done, and I’m telling you.”

Michael just nodded. Yes, something would be done. Andy felt relieved to leave Sean with Michael. Guerin was a strange and unusual man. The place he lived in was upscale, but Andy would have sworn the man lived out of a dumpster most of the time until a year ago.

“Andy, thanks. Sean will be here for a few days, so if you want to check up on him just call this number.” Michael wrote down the phone number for the loft.

“Thanks.” Andy pulled a card from his front pocket. “This is a list of specialists. The last name is a shrink here in Roswell that comes recommended. I don’t know if it’ll help, but at this point, it can’t hurt.” Andy turned to leave, but couldn’t yet. “Guerin, he was seeing Cassie the whole time. He was fighting a demon.”

Michael closed the door, and leaned against it closing his eyes. Looking at the room, he went to the phone and made the call.

“Hello?” Michael swore under his breath. It was Amy that answered the phone.

“Hi, Amy. It’s Michael. Can I talk to...”

“Michael! I’ve been waiting for your phone call all day. Is Maria feeling better, or still sick? I was thinking the taffeta is probably too stiff and hot. How about an Italian lace, something beautiful and elegant. Valentino has a fascinating line of mixed Italian silks with lace, and Maria would look so beautiful that I would weep. I know you aren’t excited about a new tux, but I really think the men in full tails would look so nice since I’m arriving in a drawn carriage. Not too Cinderella is it, for someone my age? Jim thinks I would look lovely, but he’s such a sweet man, and...”

“Amy, I’m sorry, it’s just I need to talk to Cap, and its important. Could I...”

“Oh, of course, honey.” Michael could hear Amy calling to Jim. And patiently waiting.

“Michael?” Hearing Jim’s voice was a blessing.

“Cap, sorry to call at home. I just want to let you know that Sean needs a few days of downtime.”

“Sean? What happened?” Michael could hear Amy’s voice in the background asking the same question.

“Nothing much. He got into a boxing match with a friend, and took a few to the head, and some cuts and abrasions. He has a slight fever and the doctor put him on pain killers and antibiotics. I think he needs downtime to heal.”

Jim was quiet for a few moments. His voice was low and calm. “Is he all right?”

“Yeah, I’ll see he makes it to a special doctor.” Michael knew that Jim knew from his tone. Officially, it was best for them to stay clear of the real situation.

“How close did he come?” Michael could almost hear the ‘this time’ in the question.

“Too close for comfort.” Jim just swore.

“You need some help, son?” Michael had been surprised at how easily he had assimilated into the Valenti-DeLuca clan, and after a year it still held him in awe.

“No, I’ll take care of it. I might be a little late on Monday, but otherwise it should be taken care of.”

“He’s off until Wednesday. If he needs more, call me.”

“Right, Cap.” Michael went to hang up the phone and as he did, he could hear Amy’s voice in the background asking Jim to ask him about the Palisades restaurant. Michael quickly hung up the phone.

Standing at the doorway, he watched Maria croon to Sean in a soft foreign voice. He forgot sometimes that they were Italian, Old World Italian. Sean was responding to her, and Michael watched as she fed Sean the medicine.

“Appena poco un più, dovete bere più.”2 Her hand was under his neck helping to hold him up as he drank slowly from the water. “Dio dell' OH, ritenete così caldi. Iete bruciandosi in su.”3

Michael was fascinated with the soft singsong quality to her voice as she smoothed her cousin’s brow. Looking up at him, Michael could see the concern on her face and in her voice. “Michael, oh God, he feels hot. So hot.”

“Let me see.” Michael moved back into the room and felt Sean’s head. She was right. “What did you give him?” Maria handed him the prescription bottles and watched as he read them. “I’ll be right back.”

Maria watched over Sean as Michael left the room and hurried upstairs. " “Shhh, è alright. Michael sarà indietro e lo renderà migliore. Dio dell' OH, bambino che cosa sono voi che fate?”4

Sean was half asleep listening to the voice, and feeling the hand. “Mamma, mamma, non sono guasto.”5 Maria made a clicking, smoothing noise in her throat as she tried to calm Sean. He grabbed at her hand. " “Sono spiacente, così spiacente. Desidero andare a casa. Li manco. "6

“Sean, no, shush, it’s okay…”

Michael came back to the bed. “Lets give him these. They’ll help his bring his fever down.” Maria nodded and took the tablets, and helped Michael feed them to Sean with water.

“Should we take him to the emergency room? God, Michael, he feels so hot.”

“Let's just give him these, and check his temperature later. If they don’t help, we’ll take him in. The fever is probably a response to the pain. His painkillers aren't holding. We’ll wait, okay?”

Maria nodded. Sean was settling to sleep, his voice muttering over and over. “Perdonarlo. Il dio, lo perdona.”7

Michael watched Sean, and picking Maria up, he settled in a chair beside the bed with her sitting on his lap and leaning back on his chest. “What’s he saying?”

“That he’s sorry, so sorry.” Maria rubbed her head in Michael’s chest and watched her cousin, a slow tear running down her face. “He thinks I’m his mother.”

Michael nodded until a thought occurred to him. “His mother? She’s not dead or anything?” Maria just shook her head no, to which Michael was relieved. At least he wasn’t seeing the dead. That might mean a trip to the doctor immediately.

“No, Sean is.” Maria watched her cousin feeling him and his pain. “He has been for a long time.”

“How long, Maria? You knew?” She knew about Sean and his thing for pain?

“Hard to miss, and since he left home about ten years ago. The pain stuff, it was never this bad, just something he picked up with other things. I think it started as fun and made him feel good, but now...I don’t know.”

Michael could feel her distress. “It’s okay. We’ll fix it.”

“Some things can’t be fixed, Michael. Not by us. Sean needs to fix this himself, and I think he’s been hiding for so long from what bothers him that all he feels now is the pain.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.”

Sean woke a few hours later as his fever broke. He was feeling the cuts on his back the worst, especially where the stitches pulled when he moved. Trying to find a comfortable position, he turned to look at Michael and Maria sleeping in a chair next to the bed. Michael, feeling eyes watching him, woke so see Sean’s regard.

“What time is it?” Michael looked at his watch.

“Too early to be awake, about midnight. You should rest some more.” Michael moved slowly so not to wake Maria, and reached for some more medication. Handing the pills to Sean, he filled a glass of water and handed it over as well. “Do you want something to eat?”

“No.” Sean looked at Michael. “You don’t have to stay here and take care of me. I’m fine.”

“I don’t do it for you. I do it for her, and so yes I do. I promised her that you would be better, and so you will.”

Sean laughed. “Even I heard that ‘or else’ in your voice. Always the hero, Guerin.”

“And always the villain, Sean.” Michael leaned back and held Maria against him. “You went too far, and I won’t and can’t understand you in this. Just know you went too far.”

“I know,” Sean said quietly as he went back to sleep.

~~~

Translation

...roughly, and poorly broken. Apologies to those whose language I slaughtered. Why is a language so much easier to speak than to write?

Maria says: 1. “Sean? Sean, my poor child, who has done this to you?”

Maria says: 2. “Just a little more, you must drink more.” And 3. “Oh god, you feel so hot. You’re burning up!”

Maria says: 4. "Shhh, it's alright. Michael will be back, and he'll make it better. Oh god, baby what are you doing?”

Sean says: 5. "Momma, momma, I'm not dead." And, 6. "I'm sorry. I’m so sorry. I want to go home. I miss you."

Sean says: 7. “Forgive, oh god, forgive me.”