Subject: Maria/Michael

Disclaimer: These characters are not mine o’ course... they belong to the good folks who created the show and also the WB network (and Melinda Metz!). Please don't sue me - I’m a college student - I have no money.

Note: This is the second story in a trilogy of alterna-fics where Liz, Maria, and Alex are the aliens and have to depend on Max, Michael, and Isabel to keep their secret.

***

Maria sat down at the counter of the Crashdown and dipped her spoon into a bowl of vanilla ice cream coated with a layer of Tabasco Sauce. She took a bite and smoothed down the dog-eared page of Ethan Frome she had been trying to concentrate on for the last twenty minutes before the freezer had beckoned to her and she had stopped for an ice cream break.

The whole point of staying late at the Crashdown had been to study, to avoid distraction. She had a test on this stupid book tomorrow and had spent her entire shift worrying over the fact that Liz was hung up on the metaphorical significance of the broken pickle dish when she didn’t even remember the damn thing making an appearance anywhere in the stupid book.

Now that they had finally closed the café for the night and she was alone, the last thing she wanted to do was study, and Liz wasn’t around to help her get motivated (or even explain the pickle dish) because she was out with Max Evans.

Maria smiled and slipped another mouthful of Tabasco/Vanilla flavored ice cream past her lips. She was happy for Liz, happy that she had found someone. She was even happier that Max had turned out to be trustworthy after all. It had been more than a week since the shooting and he hadn’t told anyone about what he had learned as a result of it...that Liz, Maria, and Alex were aliens. He had kept their secret. He hadn’t told his sister or his best friend. Maria licked the last bit of ice cream off her spoon and dumped it into the sink.

That’s gotta be hard... Maria thought as she rinsed the bowl and dried it. I can’t imagine that not being able to tell Liz or Alex...Having to deal with it all by myself...I’d totally freak...

Maria grabbed her jacket from the employee lounge and shoved her notebook and her book into her bag. It was almost midnight. There was no way she was going to finish studying tonight, let alone pass the test tomorrow. She might as well just go home to bed. She wondered if Amy had ever read Ethan Frome. Maybe she could ask her about the pickle dish if she was still awake and sober.

Maria locked up the café and trotted over to Amy’s Jetta across the street, shaking the keys a little for noise. It was too quiet. Silence always made her uncomfortable. Maybe that was why she talked so much.

Maria shrieked and dropped her keys as a jeep pulled up next to her car and honked. Michael Guerin sat at the wheel staring at her.

"You scared me!" she growled, reaching under the car for her keys.

"Sorry."

"What do you want?" She asked, standing and brushing her hands off on her jeans.

He didn’t answer her and she looked up at him, annoyed. He was staring at her, studying her. It made her uncomfortable. "What. Do. You. Want?" she repeated.

He looked her over once more before turning his head and squinting down the street through his windshield. "You need a ride?"

Maria lifted her eyebrows at him. "You see this car? You know, the one I was about to get into before you made me drop my keys? This is mine. This is my ride."

"Yeah, you have a flat tire."

"What?!" He nodded at the front of her car on his side and she circled around to take a look.

Yup. Flat.

"How the hell...?"

"You have a spare?"

Maria sighed. "That was the spare."

"Then I’ll ask you again. Do you need a ride?"

Maria paused a moment before nodding. "Yeah...I guess I do."

He leaned over to the passenger side door and unlocked it. She went to his car and got in, cradling her bag to her chest. She was nervous. She didn’t know Michael Guerin very well. She’d been his waitress a few times when he went to the Crashdown with Max (but usually Liz took their table), and she had an English class with him, but she’d never actually talked to him before. He was intimidating to say the least. Incredibly sexy, but intimidating.

Maria watched him out of the corner of her eye as he started up the jeep and pulled away from her car. She had to admit he was pretty yummy. Even with the hair. He was intense...

Maria bit her lip, smiling slightly to herself and murmured, "I live on-"

"I know."

Maria frowned and stared at him. "How do you know where I live?"

"I’ve followed you a few times." He gave her a look that said "duh", like she should have known he was stalking her.

Maria stared at him, her mouth dropping open as she came to a realization. "You...You let the air out of my tire."

"Yeah, so?"

Chills were now running up and down her spine. She should have known better than to get into a car with this guy, cute or not. She didn’t know who he was. Just because he was her age, went to her school, didn’t mean he couldn’t be some kind of homicidal maniac in his spare time...

"Stop the car."

"No."

"STOP THE FUCKING CAR!"

"No. I need to talk to you... Watch yer mouth." He looked at her. He could tell she was scared, and softened his voice just a little. "Calm down - I’m not gonna do anything. You are."

"What are you...what am I going to do?"

He didn’t answer her, but focused all of his attention on the road and where they were going.

Maria’s stomach sank through the floor of the jeep and was flattened under its wheels as they sped passed her street.They were going into the desert.

"What happened at the Crashdown?"

"What?When?"

"Don’t play dumb, DeLuca. You know exactly what I’m talking about. The day at the Crashdown. The day Liz Parker was shot."

"Liz was not shot!" Maria cried out as he pulled off the road, sand billowing up around them. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"I saw her get hit."

"She didn’t get sho-"

"Don’t lie to me! I know what I saw! Now I want you to tell me who she is! I want you to tell me who you are! And I want you to tell me why Max Evans is acting like Isabel and I don’t exist!" He shouted over the blast of the wind and the angry rumble of the engine. "I know it’s because of you two and what happened that day that he’s changed...that he’s afraid to talk to us!"

Maria stared at him. His jaw was set as he stared straight ahead, determined, his hands steady, and gripping the wheel, but his voice was wild.

"You know what? You don’t have to say anything. You just have to sit there. I know all about you..."

Maria’s insides went cold, and she swallowed nervously. "What do you mean you know all about me?"

"I know what you are. And you’re going to prove it for me..."

Maria turned her head to look where he was looking. The Rock was straight ahead of them. The Rock where she and Lizzy and Alex had found each other all those years ago. The massive rock that was four times the size of Michael’s flimsy jeep.

They continued barreling through the desert in a straight line, heading right for it.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?!"

"Proving myself right."

She didn’t even have time to scream. The jeep did it for her with a shriek of twisting metal, and then a horrible crunching sound. She was pitching forward and then being hurled backwards, all in an instant. The horrible cacophony of the dying car and the pain throbbing through her body seemed to suspended itself in the desert night for a moment until she heard and saw no more...just blackness...

***

She didn’t know how much time had passed before she opened her eyes. The windshield had shattered, and through the intricate spider web cracks she could see the front of the car pushed in like an accordion with tendrils of smoke rising from the split hood.

She dazedly brought her fingers up to her temple that was throbbing with pain, and felt wetness. She looked at her fingers. They were stained with blood. She was finding it difficult to breathe, like someone was sitting on her chest.

Okay...okay, I can fix this...

Maria pressed her hands against her chest, and concentrated, until the pressure was gone and she could breath again. She looked over at Michael, ready to go ballistic on his suicidal ass and stopped. He was slumped over the steering wheel. His seat belt had snapped.

Oh my God...

"Michael?" she called his name hoarsely, and reached out to gently touch his shoulder.

No response.

"Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead..."

Maria shoved her door open and fell out of the car onto the hard sand, shards of glass slicing into her raw skin. She crawled over to his side and flung open his door. She gently eased him back from the wheel.

His face was covered with blood pouring from a gash in his forehead. She had to get him out of the car.

Maria lifted him up as best as she could and dragged him out of the mangled jeep. She slumped down to the ground, his limp body on top of hers. She held her hand up to his face trying to feel a whisper of breath. Nothing.

"Don’t be dead...don’t...I can’t...I can’t help if you’re..." She laid him down on the ground and unbuttoned his shirt, trying to keep calm, trying to ignore the possibility that he could indeed be very dead. There was a dark bruise stretching across his chest.

Collapsed lung?

She wasn’t a doctor, she didn’t even watch "ER". She had to go completely by how things felt to her through her fingers when her power was activated. She’d never had to heal anyone this badly hurt before. She had experience with minor cuts and bruises but this...this was...

Shut up, you can do this...you have to...this idiot is not going to die before you have the chance to beat the hell out of him...

She placed her hands gently on his chest and closed her eyes, letting his body tell her what was wrong.

She was unprepared for what happened next.

A barrage of images flung themselves at her, torn from Michael’s past, his memories. She felt the pain of a cracked jaw, the first time he had dared to stand up to his father, the desperate sorrow that came with the death of his mother. The solace of finding a place to be himself, a place to be safe with Isabel and Max.

She felt his joy at discovering that for the first time he might actually be good at something. She could smell the paint on his strong hands, she could see the tangled colors in his crazy hair.

And then she saw herself at the Crashdown, in that ridiculous little uniform, walking past the table he sat at, throwing a smile over her shoulder at Liz. She felt his surprise at the fact that he had never noticed it before, never noticed her before. She felt him wonder what she was like, who she was.

Vaguely interested, then very interested. He had actually started going to English again just to see what she would say, what she would do, even if it was something as silly as chewing on the end of her pen or falling asleep at her desk.

Maria pulled back from him, having healed the broken ribs and the damaged lung.

Her mind was spinning with the images, the emotions she had experienced while being connected to him. They scared her... they warmed something inside of her she had never realized was frozen. She leaned forward, tentatively pressing her ear against his lips and felt his faint breath against her cheek.

She leaned back and took off the short sleeved button down shirt she had been wearing over her tank top and pressed it against his forehead, trying to get some of the blood out of the way, so she could see better.

She gazed down at his face, so still and pale, worried that maybe she hadn’t helped him after all, then lifted her shirt off of his forehead. The cut was pretty deep, and it was still bleeding steadily. It would be easy enough to heal, but she was a little nervous about touching him again.

She felt like she had stolen something from him. She felt guilty because she knew him now...she knew things about him he had never shared with anybody. Not even Max and Isabel. She looked down at him again, and reached out cautiously to rest her palm on his forehead.

She saw Liz fall through his eyes, saw him see the flowers of blood blooming through the thin mint colored material of her uniform. She saw him get to his feet with Max. She saw him try and follow him to where Liz was. She saw herself holding him back. That was how he knew for sure Liz was shot. It was the look in her eyes.

The whirlwind of police, questions in the aftermath, being kicked out of the café, going home in a daze only to be greeted by his drunk father who, after taking out his aggressions on the defenseless furniture, started in on him.

The next morning trying to talk to Max about what had happened, his confusion at seeing Liz up and walking, and Max leaving him and Isabel at lunch to talk to her. Which at first had been okay. He wasn’t clingy. He liked Liz. But then Max had stopped talking to him and Isabel pretty much altogether, and when he did talk at all, it was vague, it was trite. Like they were strangers.

Isabel was pissed, but she had other friends. Michael had no one.

If Max didn’t want to be his friend anymore that was fine. Michael didn’t need anyone. He wasn’t weak like that. But Max’s behavior was weird.

Maria saw him follow her to her house, feeling mildly guilty about it, but convincing himself that it was necessary. He knew he could have just followed Liz but he was drawn to her. She saw him watching her through her window, watching as she set a cup of tea down, watching her watch as the spoon stirred the liquid without being touched.

The second time he came to her window, he saw her come into her room and trip over the strap of her book bag lying with it’s insides spilling out across her floor. He saw her wince with pain and limp to her bed. He saw her touch her ankle, concentrating, and the faint glow coming from under her fingers. He saw her get up to put her things away, walking like nothing had happened...

Michael knew then that they were different, both of them: Maria and Liz. He knew that they could heal themselves, that they could make things happen.

He couldn’t believe it at first...he couldn’t believe what he was thinking to himself...that maybe there actually were aliens in Roswell after all.

That’s when he had come up with his plan. He’d know for sure after tonight. If she healed him, if he survived he would know, and he could finally rest easy at night knowing he wasn’t going insane...

***

Maria jerked her hand away from him as his eyes opened and he stared up at her.

"My head hurts..." He murmured.

"Not enough!" she yelled and then she burst into tears.

"What...what’s wrong with you?"

"What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with me? You almost got us killed is what’s wrong with me!"

"But we didn’t die..." He said softly, and reached out, pulling her hands away from her face. "We’re alive...because of you..."

She yanked her hands away from his. "I could kill you!"

"Yeah, but you wouldn’t..."

"You don’t know what I’d do!" She growled menacingly. "You’d just heal me again..." He whispered, staring deep into her eyes.

"I didn’t...I didn’t heal you..." she stuttered, trying to muster up her best do-they-make-straightjackets-in-your-size look. "I pulled you out of the car -which you completely demolished by the way...and that’s all I did."

believe me...please believe me...

"You are a psycho!"

"And you’re an alien" He said it calmly and looked down at his chest, at the silver handprint that now decorated the bare skin.

"Oh my God..." She whispered and traced it with her finger.

"Does this come off?"

"I don’t know...I’ve never..." She cut herself off, and looked at him, defeated. "All right, you know. I am an...alien...What are you gonna do about it?"

He blinked at her. "What do you mean what am I gonna do about it? I’m not gonna do anything..."

"You’re not gonna tell anybody?"

"Who would I tell? Max already knows."

She shook her head at him in disbelief. "What...what if you had been wrong? Huh? What if I wasn’t an alien? What if I couldn’t heal you? You’d be dead."

He shrugged.

"You were willing to take that risk?"

"It wasn’t much of a risk. I didn’t have anything to lose."

Maria stared at him. He was serious. "That’s sad, Michael."

"That’s my life, Maria." He took a deep breath. "I’m sorry. I’m sorry about all this...I just had to know..."

"You could’ve asked me."

"You would’ve lied."

She gazed at him, thinking about what she had seen in his head, what she had felt from him. The loneliness, the desolation, the feeling that he just didn’t belong even when he was with friends. It felt familiar.

"Maybe not..."

He squinted at the crumpled jeep. "You sayin’ I wrecked Max’s car for nothing?"

Maria shrugged and stood, studying the cuts on her arms, feeling the trickle of blood behind her ear from where she had hit her head.

"Car, shmar, I can fix that. You wrecked me for nothing..."

He stood and half-heartedly brushed the sand off himself. "Fix yourself."

"I can’t right now..." she murmured. "I’m too tired. You were hurt pretty bad you know..."

There was a guilty pause.

He picked up her shirt, stained with his blood that had been lying forgotten on the ground, and stepped closer to her. He gently smoothed her hair away from the side of her face and held the material to her cut.

"Amazing..."

"What?" she whispered.

"You...all of this..."

They were so close, she could feel his breath on her lips. She looked up at him, and he stepped in a little closer until their noses were almost touching. "You all right?" he asked softly.

"Yeah..."

She suddenly found herself breathless, dizzy. She wasn’t sure if that was because she had drained herself with the use of her power, or because he was standing so close she could almost hear his heart beat matching hers.

"I...I just need to rest for a minute...and I’ll be fine." She stepped back from him, and sat down again on the hard sand.

He paused for a moment before joining her. "How did you get here? I mean you and Liz."

"Alex too."

"Alex Whitman?"

"Yeah."

"Holy shit. Anyone else?"

"No...just us."

"Well then...how did you guys get here?"

Maria shrugged. "I don’t know. We were in these incubation pods for a few years..."

"A few years?"

"Yeah, like 46 years."

"So you guys are..."

"No we’re all sixteen. We were "born" when we came out of the pods in ’89."

"Oh."

She looked at him. "You are taking this so well."

He shrugged.

"I thought..."

"What? That I’d run screaming like a girl?"

"Hey!"

"Okay, I retract that 'like a girl' thing...but did you think I would do that? Or anybody? I mean..."

"I don’t know... I thought if I ever told anybody they’d be disgusted, scared, repulsed...then I thought they’d either A: turn us over to the government, or B: kidnap us and force us into becoming the UFO Center’s next tourist attraction."

"Well, I’m not disgusted or scared, and am nowhere near repulsed by you. I don’t have any connections with the government, don’t want any, and I think the UFO Center is stupid...so you’re pretty much safe with me."

She smiled at him, and he scratched the back of his head, his gaze flickering over her face and landing on the car. "Max is gonna kill me..."

"No he won’t" Maria got to her feet. "If you can manage to 'dislodge' it from the rock, I might be able to fix it."

"You were serious about that?"

She shrugged and watched him climb back into the jeep and attempt to start it up.

"Amazing..." he murmured as it rumbled to life.

"I’ve never tried but how hard can it be?"

He backed it up enough for her to get between its nose and the rock and she reached out placing her hands on the crushed hood.

Michael watched as the metal began to glow and reshape itself. In a matter of seconds the car was as good as new.

"You could make a killing in the auto repair business..."

She did a little bow and got into the car beside him. "Lets go."

"What about you?"

"I’ll be ready again by the time we get to my house."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah..." She laughed humorlessly "My foster mom probably wouldn’t notice anyway. I could walk in looking like Carrie after the prom and she wouldn’t even blink."

"I know how that is." He said softly and turned the car on.

***

He pulled up in front of her house. "Doesn’t look like anyone’s home."

"No." Maria unbuckled her seat belt and opened the car door. She was about to get out when he caught her arm gently holding her back.

"I didn’t thank you...y’know, for...not letting me die out there."

"You knew I wouldn’t."

"Well, yeah, but...thanks." She nodded, but he still held onto her. "I’m not gonna tell anyone – ever. You can trust me."

She stared into his eyes for a moment, and whispered, "I know." She meant it, she believed him.

***

Maria collapsed onto her bed, drained. Getting rid of the scratches on her had taken up the last of her energy. She should call Liz and Alex and let them know about Michael.

She thought about him for a moment, picturing his face, almost feeling his skin under her hands as she healed him, almost able to relive that dizzying connection. Was that supposed to happen? Did Liz feel that when she and Max...?

She heard the front door open, and listened as Amy made her way down the hall. She closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep as her bedroom door creaked open. "’Ria?" Amy slurred, waited for a response, then pulled the door shut again.

Maria opened her eyes and listened as she stumbled down the length of the hallway to her bedroom. Drunk again. Whatever.

At least she didn’t bring a guy home this time. They always seemed to think that Maria was part of the deal. She’d almost been attacked a few times while Amy was passed out. She stopped mentioning it when she realized Amy didn’t care. The first time she had told her about one of her random male friends coming into her room she just laughed and said, "You should have gone for it sweetie – he was good..."

Maria rolled over and picked up her phone. She was calling Liz and Alex. She had to tell them what had happened…and she was dying to ask Liz about the connection thing. If she was pissed about Michael knowing, that was just too damn bad...and as for Alex...

Maria sighed and rubbed her temples, trying to get rid of the last traces of pain. The last thing she needed right now was to battle it out with Alex.

It’s not like I had a choice...

Alex would be mad anyway. He thought it was bad enough that one human knew and now there were two. She couldn’t blame him. He was scared. She couldn’t ask him to just put his faith in Michael, to just trust him – not yet. It had been hard enough getting him to accept Max.

But Maria knew it would be all right. She trusted Michael. She knew him. He was just as scared and alone in this world as they were. He would never betray them.

She was calling Liz first.

Back to Area 51 (Section II)