Disclaimer: don't own them

Rating: PG13-language

Note: Future Fic

***

“Wait a minute! What are you saying?”

“What? I can’t do that, Jason, and you know it.”

“No, I will not do that.”

“Why? Why? Just because. That should be enough for you.”

“Fine, if it’s not, good bye.”

“No, I will not talk to you later. This is the end, Jason.”

“Screw you, I don’t ever want to talk to you again.”

“Oh, damn you!”

Maria slammed the phone down into the cradle and fell back on her bed, head in hands. “What am I going to do?” she asked herself out loud.

“What are you going to do about what?” Michael asked, walking into the dorm room and dropping his backpack on his bed.

“What? Oh, hey Michael,” Maria replied, sitting up and trying to compose herself.

“So, what’s got you so worked up?” Michael asked, obviously concerned.

“Oh, nothing,” Maria poorly lied.

“Oh, don’t even try it, Deluca. I know you too well, especially since we’vebeen sharing this dorm room for two years now.”

“Yeah, plus I suck at lying anyway,” Maria smiled, pushing her hair back from her face with her hand. “It’s just……Jason……..he called me.”

“What?” Michael asked in surprise.

~flashback~

“Get the fuck out of here and don’t ever come back, or I’ll beat the crap out of you,” an infuriated Michael yelled at a thin, light-haired man, whom he had pushed up against the wall with one hand.

“Oh, fuck you, man. You’ve got no right to get involved,” the man hissed back.

“The hell I do! She’s one of my closest friends and you’ve treated her like shit for the last time.”

The man responded by spitting in Michael’s face, who promptly knocked him out with one swift right hook.

~end flashback~

“He called me. Don’t look so surprised, Michael. You know we’ve been seeing each other again.”

“What? No, I did not know that. Why the hell did you start that again?”

“What? I know I told you, besides, you have no right to interfere with my life,” Maria replied, eyes brimming with tears.

“Maria, the last time he was a part of your life he screwed you up royally. And yes I do have a right to interfere in your life, especially if it’s for your welfare. I’m your friend, Maria, and I will not see you get hurt again.”

“Ha! You’re just jealous, Michael. Jason said that’s exactly what you’d say,” Maria replied angrily.

“Maria, listen to yourself. You’re not thinking. You’re letting him think for you. Plus when I came in here you were upset that he called you; hence there’s something wrong. What is it?”

“Shows how much you know! I’m upset because we just broke up.”

Michael let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and sat down next to the petite girl. He tried to hug her, but she quickly pulled away.

“Look, Maria, I know how much it hurts to break up with someone, believe me, but this is definitely for the best. The guy’s no good, Maria.”

“Yeah, you know how much it hurts to break up. Ha! You’re always the dumper,Michael, you never let anyone get too close. Besides how do you know if the guy’s good or not? You don’t even know him.”

“You don’t even remember, do you?” Michael asked earnestly, hoping she might remember something this time.

“Remember what? I remember you telling me you didn’t like Jason and I remember you being really rude to him and—”

Michael cut her off my putting his hand up. “Okay, I’ll take that as a no. No, you don’t remember what I’m referring to. You don’t remember what that bastard did, what he did to you….what he did to me.”

~flashback~

“Michael, I just can’t be with you anymore. This isn’t working out. I’m interested in someone else now,” Maria stated calmly, as if she had practiced saying it prior to actually talking with Michael.

At Maria’s words, Michael’s hand instinctively went to his heart. His legs suddenly felt weak and he stumbled back; the bed behind him stopped his fall andhe quickly sat down. Maria ‘interested’ in someone else? That phrase made the idea sound more foreign and more painful; Maria and he were in love, at least hewas in love.

“Wh-, wh-, what?” Michael finally gasped out the word.

“Michael, it just isn’t meant to be. We fight all the time and I’m just not like that. Our relationship was way too stressful.”

Could this be his Maria? His beautiful, opinionated, feisty Maria? The girl who didn’t let him say anything without interrupting him ten times with her own thoughts? Was this the woman he loved, the one he thought loved him back?

Their relationship ‘was’ too stressful? The way she used the past tense in that sentence made Michael shudder. She had already decided it was over between them before she even warned his vulnerable heart.

“Maria, what happened? How can this be? What did I do?” Michael pleaded,begging for the answers.

“Nothing, Michael. It’s just you.”

~end flashback~

Michael woke up, sweat-drenched and twisted in his bed sheets. His head was pounding and his heart ached heavily with the dull pain that had overtaken his heart so many months ago. The pain that had been there ever since that day Maria chose Jason over him.

“Damn it,” Michael mumbled to himself as he stumbled to the bathroom in the dark.

He couldn’t help but stop and stare at Maria’s sleeping form in the process. She looked so beautiful and peaceful lying there with no expression but pure contentment written all over her slumbering features. How could she not remember? How was it possible for her to forget something that meant so much to him, something that caused him so much happiness and in the end so much pain?

Michael walked up to the side of Maria’s bed and cupped her cheek for a brief moment with his hand. He quickly withdrew his hand and shook his head, remembering she didn’t belong to him anymore.

“Damn it, Maria, why the hell did you leave me? What the hell did that man make you think? Why don’t you remember any of it? Why don’t you remember me?”

Michael painfully tore his eyes from Maria and quickly headed toward thebathroom. Once there he gulped a glass of water and winced at the pain in his throat as he tried to keep the tears that brimmed his eyes from falling. He failed.

***

“Michael!” Michael gagged on his toothbrush as he heard his name.

“Mwut?” Michael responded, spitting toothpaste into the sink.

He then washedand dried his hands and turned to leave when the bathroom door slammed into him.

“Ooo, Michael I’m sorry,” Maria apologized, poking her head around the door. “Are you okay? I thought you couldn’t hear me.”

“I was just coming out,” Michael said, rubbing his stomach where the doorknob had hit him.

“Oh good, because I would like you to meet Jason.”

“Maria I’ve already met him,” Michael replied, not even processing what she had said.

Then the realization hit him, “What? He’s here?”

“Yeah, he’s here. Yeah, I know you know of him, but you’ve never really met him. I want you to lose all your negative feelings toward him, which I know you will as soon as you meet him.”

I somehow doubt that one, Michael thought as he followed Maria out of the bathroom to his dreaded meeting with his arch enemy.

“Michael, this is Jason. Jason, Michael. Michael and I have been friends for a long time, we’re quite close,” Maria said, gesturing toward Michael and then Jason when appropriate.

Michael took a second to size Jason up. He was tall, not as tall as Michael, but fairly tall. He had light brown hair and was relatively thin.

Yeah, I could still be the crap out of this guy, no problem.

“Really? Not as close as we, I hope, my dear,” Jason replied in a sickening flirtatious way as he placed his right arm around Maria’s waist and pulled her to him for what seemed like an eternity to Michael.

During this action hestared straight at Michael, which many guys would take offense to.

“Nice tomeet you, Mike,” Jason said, offering the hand that had just been around Maria to Michael.

Michael resisted the urge to rip the man’s hand off and instead settled for refusing to shake it. “It’s Michael.”

With Michael’s response Jason rubbed his jaw with his left hand, as if remembering a past injury.

“Oh please, Mike, I call you that all the time,” Maria replied, obviously annoyed.

It irritated Michael how this guy could cause Maria to have a selective memory. When the hell did she start calling me ‘Mike?’ Two minutes ago, that’s when.

“No, Maria. Only Max and Is call me Mike sometimes and it’s usually to annoy the hell out of me,” he snapped back, staring straight into Jason’s stone-cold,expressionless gray eyes.

“Fine, whatever, Michael. There, are you happy?” Maria asked.

The attitude in Maria’s voice made Michael smile a little; she was like her old self for a second.

Then Jason spoke. “Maria, dear, don’t get so worked up. If Mike here wants to be called Michael and act very juvenile it’s his decision. He’s a big boy. You don’t need to worry your little self about him,” Jason said earnestly, while hugging Maria to his chest and returning Michael’s stare.

He spoke to Maria in a mock-falsetto voice, like one an adult would use in speaking to a child.

Maria quickly apologized, “I’m sorry, Jason. He just gets to me sometimes, you know. I just don’t know what to do when I’m not around you. Like yesterday afternoon. I’m so sorry about that, I just don’t know what got into me.” Maria sounded like a five-year-old child pleading to her mother for another chance;only her body resembled that of a twenty-year-old woman.

Michael was getting annoyed with being talked about in the third person. Who the hell is this guy anyway? First he makes Maria fall for him and somehow forget about me and forget about us. Somehow this bastard made her forget about the past two years. Then the jerk starts making Maria think she’s not good for anything and I finally get her to break up with him. And now the bastard isback in full swing with Maria moving to his every whim; she’s his puppet. Where the hell did Maria go? Where the hell did he take my Maria?

“Yes, I know, sweetie. It’s okay,” Jason said, rubbing Maria’s head. “That’s what I was telling you yesterday before you so rudely and may I add so wrongly hung up on me and said those despicable colloquialisms. That’s why I think you should move in with me, Mike here is a bad influence on your young influential mind.”

Michael couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The bastard was telling Maria tomove in with him because Michael was a bad influence? He was scolding her for her language? This guy was treating Maria as if he were her father. Yes, he was a bit older than she was, for he was about twenty-three, but nothing so significant to allow him to take on such a role.

“What the hell are you saying? Maria, don’t you remember this guy? Don’t you remember what he did to you? Maria, this guy’s a fucking bastard who’s stolen your identity from you. Just look at you, you’re just the outline of the Maria I once knew! Maria, you can’t leave, don’t you remember these past two years? I’ve been here for you all the time no matter what’s happened between us. Please don’t choose this asshole over me again,” Michael yelled all in one breath. His voice had greatly increased in volume as his tirade continued and at each increase Maria backed up more into Jason.

“Yeah, I see what you mean, Jason.”

***

Michael lay on his bed, arms hugging his knees to his chest. He stared off into space, expressionless, as he faced the empty half of the room. Small spots where tape that had held up posters scattered the walls; the bare walls contrasted deeply with the dark blue of the naked mattress. The barren dressertop held only a forgotten comb and a small empty perfume bottle.

Michael sighed as his eyes roamed the room, first the walls, the dresser, the bed, then the floor; his shattered lamp laid there, mocking him.

~flashback~

Michael stared at the closed door for a minute, hoping and wishing to God she’d come back. He wanted nothing else than to run after her and beg on his knees for her to come back to him. He knew it was useless to go after her though, that bastard just had too large a pull on her.

“Damn it!” Michael yelled, punching the wall with his right fist and placing a rather large hole in the paper-thin rock sheet.

He kicked his nightstand with his right foot and the large porcelain lamp fell and broke over his still bareleft foot. “Fuck,” Michael mumbled to himself as he jumped up and down on his right foot, which was also bruised from his attempt at hurting the table.

He tripped and landed on his right side on his bed . . .

Michael must have fallen asleep because when he awoke the room was bare. Nothing was there; Maria had vanished along with her things. All that remained was the faint smell of Cyprus oil and Michael swore he heard her soft laugh coming from the walls.

~end flashback~

He breathed heavily through his open mouth as his left eyelid began to sag, the right side of his face pressed firmly against the mattress and he could feel the heat radiating off his skin from the tense contact.

Michael suddenly became aware of the throbbing pain in his feet; he could tell without looking that his left foot was swollen. He didn’t care. The physical pain took his mind briefly off of the utter emptiness he felt. When he had woken to find her gone he became avoid of all emotions except pain; he just didn’t care anymore.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

“Knock, knock! Hello, Maria? Michael? Anyone home?” Liz asked, opening the door to the dorm room and poking her head inside.

“Hmm, I guess they’re at class,”she continued as she walked inside.

She looked around the room, taking in Maria’s empty side and then turning toward Michael’s. “Oh, Michael. Jeeze, you startled me,” Liz babbled. She was obviously really happy about something and didn’t notice Michael’s distressed state.

“Well, I’m sorry to like barge in on you guys here and I know we didn’t give you any warning to our visit. And I know we haven’t talked to you in like five months. We would have, it’s just Harvard had us on this special medical tour and we have had barely any time to sleep and it just happened that we’d be here at UNM for a few days,” Liz finally paused, realizing that something wasn’t right. “Um…..so where’s Maria anyway?”

She knew it wasn’t the best thing to say, but she had never really grown close enough to Michael to ask him about his feelings, she would leave that for Max.

The only answer she received from Michael was a groan and then he fully closed his one exposed eye. He turned away from Liz and curled up into a tighter ball.

“Liz? You in here?” Max asked, stepping into the room.

“Yeah, right here,” Liz answered, glad Max was there to get some answers from Michael.

“What on earth—my God, Michael,” was all that Max could say. He dropped the briefcase he was carrying and just stared down at Michael for a second.

Finally Max broke the silence, “What happened?” He received relatively the same answer Liz had previously gotten.

Max took a moment to size Michael up. He was wearing sweats and an old white T-shirt; it looked as if he were still in his night clothes. His position resembled that of an abused dog trapped in a corner.

Seeing the obvious pain in all of Michael’s features, Max sat down next to his best friend’s form and placed his hand comfortingly on Michael’s shoulders. Without warning his mind was filled with what felt like a million flashes of memory.

~flash: Maria yelling at Michael for stealing her car and kidnapping her on 285 South. Max’s mind was filled with an overwhelming sense of annoyance yet admirement toward Maria.~

~flash: Michael kissing Maria to ‘calm her down.’ Max could hear Michael’s heart pounding in his own ears and was enveloped in so many emotions, especially those of excitement, happiness, anticipation, and fear.~

~flash: Michael staring through the Crashdown’s windows at a sweat-drenched Maria sweeping the floor. Max could feel Michael’s hunger and then pure passion when she opened the door for him.~

~flash: Maria’s hurt look as Michael told her it was ‘too intense.’ Max’s mind suddenly fought with the idea of running after her and encircling her in his arms.~

~flash: Maria kissing Michael at the alien convention. Max’s mind was filled with a hunger that was quickly relinquished by the thought of mud.~

~flash: Maria hugging Michael and lulling him to sleep after an encounter with Hank. Max felt a sense of warmth, safety, and comfort rise up into him, which settled the fright that had existed there just seconds earlier.~

~flash: Michael watching Maria take orders in her cute Crashdown uniform. Max could feel Michael fighting with himself and finally giving in, standing up, and dragging Maria to the back of the Crashdown. Max felt, rather than heard, Michael tell Maria how much she meant to him and that he didn’t want to lose or hurt her again. Maria smiled and Max was filled with a complete sense of hope and love.~

~flash: Michael telling Maria that he loved her and she telling him she loved him. Max was filled with a complete sense of acceptance. ~

~flash: Michael and Maria deciding to go to the University of New Mexico together.~

~flash: Michael tricking the dorm moderator into letting him share a room with Maria. Max was filled with a sense of mischief and excitement.~

~flash: Maria telling Michael she was ‘interested’ in someone else and that he had done nothing wrong, ‘it was just him.’ Max screamed in the pain he suddenly experienced; it felt as if his heart was crumbling and disappearing.~

~flash: Michael’s painful decision to still share the room with Maria becausehe loved her too much to be without her.~

~flash: Michael finding Maria cowering in a corner while a light-haired man yelled at her. Max was filled with rage as Michael grabbed the man and flung him to the wall.~

~flash: Max was filled with Michael’s pain and sorrow at the realization that Maria remembered nothing of them. The last time she remembered them being together was during the heat wave in sophomore year at Roswell High.~

~flash: Max was filled with Michael’s rage and despair toward the light-haired man as he took Maria away.~

The images stopped soon after they started and Max fell back on the bed,dumbfounded.

***

~flashback~

“What? What do you want now, Michael?” Maria asked, annoyed. “If you’re not going to answer me, please let go of my arm. I have customers to wait on; you know, people who actually talk?”

With that, Maria yanked her arm from Michael’s grasp and began walking toward the door, which led to the front of the Crashdown.

“No! Maria, wait!” Michael gasped out, cringing at the loudness and intensity of his voice.

Maria quickly spun around, with pure anger showing in her features. “Look, Guerin, I don’t have time to play your little games and if you think that I’m just going to follow your every whim you’re deeply mistaken. I have my own life and my dignity and I do not, I repeat DO NOT take orders from anyone, especially jerks like you.”

Michael couldn’t help but smile as Maria let out a long sigh. “Maria, look, I’m sorry, all right? I know I screwed things up royally but I want a chance to make it up to you. I don’t want to lose you or hurt you again.”

A skeptical look crossed Maria’s face as she replied, “Yeah, and for how long? Until you realize you’ve gotten ‘too intense’ again? I’m not going through that again, Michael. I refuse to. I don’t deserve to.”

Michael self-consciously took a step away from Maria. “Maria, that night when I came to you I realized that this,” he paused, motioning between himself and her, “is already intense. I came to you in my time of need; I’ve never needed anyone before. I don’t want to lose you, because, although it sounds selfish and really rather corny, I’ll lose myself too.”

Coming closer to him, “What about the ‘stone wall’?”

“Maria, it’s crumbling as we speak, but if I don’t have you when it’s completely gone I have nothing. I’ll be wall-less and Maria-less; I’ll feel human but won’t have anyone to feel human for and/or with.”

Maria smiled and was shocked to see a smile grow on Michael’s face. That was the last thing she needed to see before she flung herself into Michael’s open arms and they became inseparable……

~end flashback~

Suddenly awakening from a very peaceful slumber, Maria sat up in bed, but it wasn’t her bed. She looked around; however, it was too dark to make out anything, except the sleeping form of a man beside her.

Then she remembered;she was in Jason’s apartment. She had moved in with him this morning, or now more accurately yesterday morning. What a weird dream. It was like the dreams I used to have back in high school when I was still pining over the evil influential Mike. What did I ever see in him anyway? It must have just been my juvenile teenage hormones like Jasonsaid. That dream certainly felt real though, almost as if I were remembering something I’d forgotten. No, that’s impossible though, Michael and I…wait!

“Michael?”

… I love Michael, always have! I belong with him, just like Liz belongs with Max. We’re the few high-school sweethearts who actually stay together and end up living happily ever after! I remember that dream now—it wasn’t a dream at all!! Jason will be so proud of me! Michael here I come!

“Jason!,” Maria yelled, shaking the man furiously.

“Hmmm…Oh, um, what?…Maria, dear, what are you doing?” Jason asked, sitting up, annoyed.

Maria suddenly forgot what she was so excited about and, very frustrated, replied, “Oh, Jason, I’m sorry, I don’t remember what I was going to tell you.”

“Maria, how many times do I have to tell you not to speak until you’re sure you know what you’re going to say. I swear you are simply too ignorant to keep that bit of instruction in your brain, aren’t you?” With that, Jason lay down, turned over, and went back to sleep.

“I’m…..I’m sorry, Jason. I really did have something important to tell you.”

However, Maria only received Jason’s snoring for a reply as she lay down again and cried herself to sleep.

***

“Maria!”

“Wh-, Michael, wake up!” Max yelled as he shook Michael awake.

After Max had recovered from the visions, he had told Liz everything he had seen. However, they soon realized they had a mandatory seminar to attend and both decided to take Michael back to their hotel room.

By the time they reached the hotel though, Michael had fallen into a feverish sleep; Max chose to stay with him whilst Liz sat through the lecture.

Max, having fallen asleep waiting for Liz to return from the late-night class, was jarred awake by Michael’s voice. It was the first word Michael had spoken since Max and Liz’s arrival; Max took it to mean that Michael’s fever and silence had broken.

“Maria, where’s Maria?” Michael gasped, still sleeping.

When he finally awoke he found Max staring intently down at him. “Max? What are you doing here?”Michael asked, sitting up beside his friend.

Max smiled at his old companion. “Well, Liz and I came to visit you and we found you in quite a state,” Max paused, trying to figure out how to frame his next statement. “Michael, when I touched you I saw a lot of visions; visions of you...of you and… um, Maria.”

“What?” Michael asked, angry.

What the hell did he see? Did he see Maria and me back in high school or was it more recently? Did he see Jason? Ugh!

“Look, Michael, it was an accident all right? I put my hand on your back to comfort you and then, WHAM! I see your entire life with Maria.”

“What, what did you see?” Michael stuttered and then winced, suddenly becoming aware of the pain in his lower legs.

“Here, let me help you,” Max said as he bent down, quickly healing Michael, and then turned his head to the floor to answer. “Um..I saw,” Max paused again, wary of telling Michael exactly what he had seen because he knew how Michael liked to keep his thoughts private, especially when those thoughts dealt with Maria. “I saw the time you first kissed Maria, I saw you two during the heatwave, um…., I saw when you told her how you felt about her,” Max gasped, sneaking a glance at Michael to gauge his reaction, but as usual his face was unreadable, “and I saw when she…um…broke up with you. I’m so incredibly sorry, man.” Max stopped his confession and turned to face Michael, whose face now held a pained expression.

“Yeah,” was the only thing Michael could get out of his now tightened chest. “Did you, um, see anything or, um, anyone else?”

“Yeah, I saw this sort of blonde guy with Maria and then you punched the hell out of him. Then I saw, or I guess felt, when you found out Maria didn’t remember anything. Is that true? Does she really not remember you and her?” Max knew he was prying, but he had to know for Michael’s sake.

Michael’s face scrunched up for a second, as if he were battling within himself about telling Max something. “Yeah, that’s true. She doesn’t remember anything, anything of ‘us’ at least, since after the heatwave sophomore year,” Michael paused and sighed, finally surrendering and letting himself go. “Ever since that bastard, Jason, that’s the guy you saw, came into her life she’s changed. I mean, one day we’re planning a road trip back home together for Spring break and the next she breaks up with me because she’s ‘interested in someone new.’”

“Yeah, I saw that.” Max then nodded, urging Michael to continue; it was obvious he needed to let everything out that he had penned up for so long.

“The strangest thing is that she told me our relationship was too stressful. She said we were always fighting and arguing and she just wasn’t like that.”

“What? Are you kidding me? We are talking about Maria? Maria Deluca?” Max couldn’t help but interrupt; it was too incredibly unbelievable.

“Yeah, and of course I stay in the dorm room anyway because there’s no other place to move to till next semester. So one night I come home and there’s that jerk Jason yelling at Maria, while she cowers in the corner, and he’s calling her a ‘worthless whore.’ That’s when I grabbed the bastard and punched the hel out of him, warning him never to come near Maria again. He left and pretty much disappeared, but then I realized Maria didn’t remember anything. She doesn’t remember anything about me except that we were good friends. She also doesn’t remember anything about Jason except that they broke up for some reason or another, and now he’s back. This time though he got her to move in with him, in fact she left earlier today,” Michael gasped as he tried to catch his breath.

“Damn, that’s rough. I’m so sorry, I know I’ve said it before, but I truly am so incredibly sorry,” Max replied as he threw an arm around his friend, pulling him into a much-needed hug.

“The worst part is that I don’t know what to do, I mean, I can even accept her not wanting to be with me, I’ve learned to over the past few months, but I know that guy’s no good for her. She’s changed so much. Oh, but Max, it hurts so damn much that she doesn’t remember me; I go on loving her every day and she doesn’t remember me,” Michael coughed back a tear as he leaned against Max, his‘manhood’ and ‘dignity’ forgotten for a minute.

“Michael, it’s okay, we’ll figure out what to do,” Max replied.

I hope Liz comes back soon and I hope she’ll have a plan of some kind.

***

Liz walked sleepily down the main hall of UNM, trying to balance her notebooks in one hand as she searched through her purse. It was six in the morning, the lecture had gone on much longer than it was supposed to and she had ended up falling asleep during it.

However, no one was kind enough to wake her up when the seminar was over; she had been startled awake by the tap of a janitor’s broom.

“Oh, I hope Max isn’t too worried,” she said aloud to herself. “Damn, I guess I don’t have my cell with me. Hopefully he and Michael haven’t woken up yet.”

Suddenly Liz collided with another person, causing both she and the other woman to land on the floor. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” Liz said, gathering up her notes and purse. “It’s all right, I wasn’t looking where I was going. Jason always says I need tothink before I step,” the woman replied, helping Liz with her things.

Liz looked up and was shocked to see Maria kneeling in front of her. She looked quite different to Liz though; she was wearing a long skirt and a navy blue blouse. She looked like a librarian; her clothing was much too conservative for the Maria Liz knew and loved.

“Maria? Is that you?” Liz asked, bewildered yet smiling.

“Elizabeth? How nice to see you,” Maria replied politely, extending her hand to Liz.

“‘Elizabeth’? Maria, ‘Liz’ please. And a handshake? You know we always hug!” Liz said as she pulled Maria into a tight embrace.

“Uh, excuse me,” Maria said, pulling out of Liz’s arms.

“Maria, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just Jason says everyone needs their personal space when you first meet someone new. And Jason says you must call people by their full names to show them respect.”

“Maria, I’m not a new person. We’ve known each other forever.”

“Yes, I know, but Jason says you should treat everyone like a new acquaintance when you haven’t seen them for a long time.”

“Maria, who is this Jason guy?” Liz asked, changing the subject.

She knew Max said something weird was going on with Maria, but this was more than just weird; Maria wasn’t ‘Maria’ anymore.

“Oh, Liz,” Maria paused, putting her hand to her mouth. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth. Jason and I are courting. He is the most intelligent and kindest man I’ve ever known.”

“‘courting’?” Liz asked, shocked at Maria’s new vocabulary. “What about Michael?”

“Mike? Elizabeth, please dear, that was simply a childish crush in high school. Besides Jason says he’s a bad influence on me and I have to agree. Jason’s always right,” Maria nodded at the last statement, as if she were trying to remind herself of the so-called ‘fact.’

Liz noticed how Maria called Michael by a nickname he hated and made a mental note of it. This is too weird. I know Max said something was up with her and something had happened between her and Michael, but this is bizarre.

“Yeah, okay I guess,” Liz replied, at a loss of words. “Max is here too, Maria. You want to go see him?”

“Maximillian? Certainly. Of course, I’ll have to stop and tell Jason—”

“Tell me what, my dear?” Jason asked, appearing from around a corner.

“Oh, Jason. I would like you meet my good friend, Elizabeth. She and her beau, Maximillian, are visiting.”

‘Beau?’ Liz mentally asked herself.

“Hello, it is very nice to meet you,” Jason replied, grabbing Liz’s hand and kissing it lightly. The action made Liz uncomfortable and she shivered.

“Tell me what, Maria?” Jason asked again.

“Oh, we were going to go and visit Max, Jason.”

“‘Max,’ Maria? I told you before, it is quite rude to call people by only half their names,” Jason said, wagging a finger at Maria.

“Excuse me, Jason,” Liz interrupted the scolding session, “but, Max, my ‘beau,’likes to be called ‘Max,’ and I would appreciate it if you would ease up on my friend here.”

Jason had turned as Liz said the last part, and she met his stare with an icy glare of her own. Yeah, I really don’t like this guy.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Elizabeth. It’s just I’m trying to teach Maria here some manners, for she has simply none.”

“What? Maria has plenty of manners, besides who do you think you are anyway? You’re not her father.”

“Liz, I mean Elizabeth, please don’t. Jason’s right, I do not have any manners,” Maria interrupted, trying to pacify Liz, “I am a selfish child who deserves to be punished most of the time.” Maria seemed to be reciting the last parts.

“Yes, that’s right, dear, but I’m teaching you, aren’t I?” Jason asked in a falsetto voice, putting his arm around Maria’s neck.

Turning to Liz he said, “No, Elizabeth, I may not be her father, but I am her mentor.”

With that Jason spun himself and Maria around and they both started walking down the hall away from Liz.

Liz shuddered again and inwardly yelled. Oh, damn it! I can’t let them leave. I have to bring them to Max so he can do something. That guy has brainwashed Maria! I have to stop them from walking away; oh, God, forgive me for what I’m about to do!

“Wait!” Liz yelled as she ran after the two retreating figures. She ran in front of them and, turning around, halted their movement.

“Look, I’m sorry I overreacted,” Liz paused, trying to catch her breath, “I would love it if you two came back with me to the hotel and I know Max, um Maximillian, would love it too.”

“Oh, Jason, can we please go with her? I haven’t seen them in such a long time,” Maria pleaded, as if she were a five-year-old begging her father for a piece of candy.

“I suppose we can go.”

***

“Michael, do you think it’s possible that after she broke up with Jason and her mind tried to repress all the painful memories he caused her, she repressed all her memories about you too? I mean, you do think this whole thing’s psychological, right? You don’t think it’s alien or anything, do you?” Max asked, pacing the room.

Neither had gone back to sleep after Michael had woken up at around one in the morning; they had both been thinking of what could have caused Maria’s lapse of memory and of what to do about Jason.

“No, Max, I don’t think it’s alien. Please, give me a little bit of credit. I know I lost it yesterday, but I do remember when Nacedo told us our planet was destroyed and that we were the only aliens who had survived,” Michael smirked. “No, I know it’s some kind of psychological game he’s playing with her.”

Suddenly there was the sound of keys rattling outside the room. Max walked over and opened the door.

“Liz! I was starting to get worried about you,” Max said as he hugged his girlfriend. “Oh, Maria, how are you?”

Michael jumped of the bed at the sound of her name. Maria’s here?

“Hello, you must be Jason, I’ve heard so much about you,” Max said rather coldly.

Max walked back to where Michael was sitting with Liz next to him, followed by Maria and Jason.

Jason looked coldly at Michael and, smilingly, said, “Hello, there, Mike.”

Michael couldn’t take it anymore; as soon as he heard Jason say ‘Mike,’ he was up and charging the thin man. He pushed him up against the hotel door with his left hand, while he pulled his right hand back. He let his hand fly and heard the sound of breaking bone as it collided with Jason’s face.

“You, son of bitch! I’ve had enough of you!” Michael yelled as he punched him again with his left hand and then with his right.

Shocked, Max, Liz, and Maria watched the sight in horror; Max finally grabbed the now sobbing Michael letting the bloody mess, once known as Jason, slide to the floor.

“Why?” Michael gasped out as he struggled to get free from Max’s grip, “I just want to know why you did it.”

“What?” Jason, lying on the floor, hissed out through his bloody mouth, “Why? You want to know why? Why not? It’s so easy to get screwed up bitches like that one to do whatever the hell you want them to do and you can get them to think it’s all their fault! I love making assholes like you go nuts while I screw with your girlfriends’ minds.” Jason laughed hysterically at the last thought.

Max, himself now incredibly furious with the lump that lay on the floor, let go of Michael and Michael kicked the man hard in the stomach. “If you ever talk about, think about, touch, or come near my Maria in any way again I will fucking kill you. Get the hell out of here!”

Michael then proceeded to pick the now unconscious Jason up by one hand, open the door with his other, and literally throw him out.

Slamming the door, Michael turned to look at the other three faces in the room while trying to catch his breath.

“Wh-, What just happened?” Maria asked, trying to piece together everything that had occurred. “Why did you just throw Jason out? You have no right to do that!”

“Maria, Maria, you have to remember. Please? That guy’s an asshole. He’s a jerk, didn’t you just hear what he said? He’s a psycho who likes to screw with people’s minds.”

“No, you’re the bad guy. Jason says you’re the one who’s—”

Maria was cut off by Michael’s lips. At first she was shocked, and then suddenly she kissed back,as if remembering something. Their kiss was passionate yet short, ending with Michael pulling back to look intently into Maria’s eyes.

“Maria, do you remember anything now?”

“Yeah, Michael, I do. Just one question, where the hell have you been for these past months?”

Michael laughed as he pulled Maria to his chest in a tight hug. “Lost, but now I’ve found you.”

Back to Area 51 (Section II)