DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, well a 1997 Red Metro and a slightly broken 13 year old boy. But unfortunately no Roswell Characters.

RATING: PG13

SPOILERS: none, really

CATEGORY: Michael/Maria

SUMMARY: Okay, you want a Challenge fic with Redi-Whip, you got it.

DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere you want to put it.

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Maria DeLuca was tired, plain dead tired. It had been a long day in the Crashdown. She just wanted to go home and get off her aching feet. She ran the wet rag across the bar for the last time and turned to rinse it out.

She heard the bell go off over the door and knew someone had entered the diner.

Without looking up, she called out, "Sorry, we're closed for the night, you'll have to come back tomorrow."

"Maybe I won't feel like coming back tomorrow," the voice behind her said.

She froze. Why him? Why not one of the other inhabitats of Roswell? Why did it have to be Michael Guerin? He made her feel things she didn't want to feel. Things she didn't even discuss with Liz. And he didn't like her. He had showed his feelings way too many times for her to be comfortable around him. She turned with her hands on her hip and said, "What the hell do you want?"

Michael stopped and looked around the diner. "I don't know, maybe I'm looking for a night of fine cuisine and atmosphere."

"Very funny, but I don't have time for this. Max and Isabel aren't here, so shooo, off with you. I want to close up." Maria turned back to the sink and finished rinsing out the rag. She twisted the water out of it and hung it up on the hook to dry.

Michael stepped up to the counter and sat down on the stool directly behind her. "I'm not looking for them, I'm looking for something to eat. What have you got?"

Maria turned and entered the kitchen area. She looked back at Michael through the serving window. "Look, I just got done working a very long and tiring shift. All I want to do is go home and take these damn shoes off. So try the 7/11 on the corner, okay?"

Michael stood up and followed her into the kitchen. He stepped around her and walked over to the large double door refrigerator. Maria realized what he was going to do, she threw herself in front of the doors and screamed,"NO! No way are you just making yourself at home! I just cleaned up in here and you're not allowed back here anyway."

"Liz wouldn't mind. She's served me after hours. Her parents own the place, she won't care." Michael tried to push her out of the way.

Maria wasn't having any of it. "Well, if you haven't noticed Liz isn't here right now, I am. I'm in charge and I say no way."

Michael suddenly smiled and said, "And how are you going to stop me?" He gave a really good yank on the door and it burst open, throwing Maria out of the way.

"GODDAMMIT, Michael, don't you ever listen to anything anyone tells you? Who the hell do you think you are?" Maria righted herself and laced her arms across her chest. Then she looked down, oh god, why did she have to look down? His jeans encased his butt so nicely. The material molded against his rear-end so well that it didn't take any imagination to picture him naked.

He turned and smiled again. "I'm the alien, you're not. Wanna see who has the secret powers around here?" He turned back to the fridge. He reached in and grabbed something off the shelf. Maria heard a pop and the next thing she knew, he shoved the tip of a Redi-Whip can into his mouth.

Luckily, he hadn't noticed where her eyes had been. "Oh, gross, that is so disgusting." Maria wrinkled her nose at him.

Michael removed the nozzle from his mouth, "You don't like whipped cream? Come on, everybody loves whipped cream. It isn't natural not to love it."

"Not everybody," Maria threw back at him. "I'm surprised you're not mixing it with Tabasco sauce. Everything else gets eaten with it."

"Not whipped cream. Tabasco makes it melt faster, gets too runny." He turned and looked at her. "You're serious, you don't like it? You really don't like it?"

"Michael, I just want to go home. I want to take a bath, relax, enjoy the rest of my evening, maybe actually go out and have a little fun with the few hours I have left." She was starting to whine, but she didn't care. She just wanted him to go. She could control her feelings for him a lot better when he wasn't around. She had analyzed it till it had driven her crazy. Michael didn't like her. She knew he didn't feel the same way she felt.

"Fun? You want to have a little fun? Well, why didn't you just say so?"

With that, he turned and sprayed the whipped cream at her. She raised her arms, but not in time to stop it from spritzing all over her face. She reached out and grabbed his wrist, trying to turn the can back at him. She got her finger over the button and pushed down.

"Oh, no you don--" Michael never got to finish. He had whipped cream running down his face before the words were uttered. He stopped and lowered his arms. She kept a firm grip on his wrist and the can. Michael's tongue reached out and removed a large glob of the cream. He drew his tongue back into his mouth and swallowed. "Oh, you want to play, do you?"

"No, Michael. Why don't we just call it a draw and go home, okay?" She smiled sheepishly at him, trying not to giggle. He looked so darn cute standing there with whipped cream dripping off his face.

He reached out and grabbed her arms without dropping the can. He backed her up against the wall between the large stove and cubboards. When her back hit the wall, he stopped pushing and just stood there staring at her.

Neither of them spoke for a minute. It seemed like hours to Maria. She couldn't take her eyes off his. They just stood there staring into each others eyes.

Michael suddenly smiled. Then, he slowly moved his head closer to hers. Maria closed her eyes, she didn't know what he was going to do, but she felt like she couldn't breathe. She felt his breath on her face, then she felt his lips on hers. She couldn't believe this. Michael Guerin was kissing her! Kissing Maria DeLuca.

Maria stood frozen for a few seconds, then slowly, she opened her mouth and cautiously moved her tongue over his lips. She felt Micheal jerk, then he opened his mouth. She heard the can drop to the floor but she didn't care. She was too deep into the feeling of his warm velvet tongue gliding over hers.

She never even noticed his arms moving down hers, wrapping around her waist, pulling her tighter. She brought her arms down to his shoulders and moved one hand up into his hair. That spiky, fly-away, always tousled hair. Maria loved Michael's hair, she was forever teasing him about it, but she loved it. She couldn't believe how silky it felt.

Michael moved his right hand up her ribcage, slowly cupping her breast in his palm. He twisted his wrist and tightened his fingers around it. He ran the pad of his thumb down her nipple. She could feel the heat through the material of her bra. Her nipple beaded into a hard pebble. He moved his lips along her jaw-line and ran his tongue up to her earlobe.

Maria saw stars. She couldn't believe this was happening. She had wanted this for a long time, but she never believed it would happen.

They were so engrossed in the moment they never heard the bell over the door, never heard Max and Liz step into the kitchen, never heard Max clearing his thoat.But they did hear Liz's suddenly shout, "Maria!"

The two broke apart so fast, Michael never noticed the can of whipped cream. His foot hit it at an angle and he went down with a thud. Maria slipped down behind the stove. Maybe if she closed her eyes tightly enough this would not be happening. Not the Michael stuff, but the Liz and Max stuff.

"So Michael, whatcha doing?" Max ask with a grin.

"Yeah Maria, I thought you would have been long gone by now. I didn't expect to find you here." Liz could barely get it out. She was trying to hold back the laughter.

"Uh, we were, uh, cleaning up. Yeah, we were just cleaning up," Maria stammered out.

She stood and and walked toward the fallen can. She bent and grabbed it and threw it into the garbage. She turned and closed the refrigerator door and ran a hand over her hair. It came away covered in gooey, melted whipped cream.

"And we're done now, so I'm just going to be going now. I'll see you tomorrow, Liz." Maria turned and ran out through the diner.

"Michael, what was that all about?" Max asked him as he helped him up off the floor.

"I don't know. I was just minding my own business when she attacked me with a can of whipped cream. She's crazy, Max. I'm telling you, she's crazy. Too many weird vibes coming off that girl."

Michael turned and followed Maria out the door. He looked up the street as Maria's car came tearing out of the parking lot. "Yeah, lots of vibes coming off that girl." He smiled, turned, and walked away.

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