521 (M+M & CC/UC, AU, Adult) [Complete]

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April
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Part 51

Post by April »

Ooh, look at me! I'm updating on Monday just like I said I would. ;)

I'm just going to make this short and sweet today, so a big THANK YOU FOR THE FEEDBACK to:

spacegirl23
Sara
Ginger
Nove
Krista (Aw, your siggie!)
nibbles
Leila
BLONDIE
killjoy
behrlyliz
Eva
tequathisy (There really is no "nice one" in the Evans family.)
Alison
Nat

And just so you guys know, I so totally did NOT intend to leave it at that cliffhanger and say "Hey, I'm going home for six weeks!" It just worked out that way.
:twisted:

And I do enjoy both spanking and bumping, so thank you, my stalkers! :lol:









Part 51








No. Michael thought. It was the only coherent thought running through his barely-working brain. No. He had to be dreaming, because there was no way any of this could be real. Isabel, back in his apartment . . . and her stomach was so big.

He stared at her in astonishment, trying to look her in the eye, but his own eyes kept dropping down to her belly. She rubbed it with one hand and kept smiling at him. “Aren’t you gonna say something?” she asked.

He didn’t even know what to say. His voice was barely working. It was as though everything in him had suddenly shut off, and he couldn’t function. “What . . .” He forced himself to raise his eyes and look right at her instead of her protruding belly. “What’re you doin’ here?” he managed, barely able to string a sentence together.

“Maybe I just missed you,” she replied, still grinning. She finally seemed to notice they weren’t alone in the room, because she added, “Hey, Maria,” as an afterthought.

Michael glanced down at his girlfriend. She looked as shell-shocked as he did. Her mouth was hanging open, her eyes were bulging, and she didn’t even look to be breathing. “Um, I should . . . go,” she decided, quickly handing Frank over to him.

“No, Maria . . .”

“Michael.” She looked at Isabel again out of the corner of her eye and started to leave.

He held Frank in one hand and reached with her for the other, trying to stop her. “You don’t have to--”

Michael.” She held her hands up and backed away slowly, out into the hallway, looking stunned.

She pulled the door shut, and after it clicked into place, there was only silence. Michael stood there, holding the dog, trying to make some sense of what was happening. He didn’t even want to look at Isabel again. He was afraid to.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria tried to take deep, steady breaths as she headed down the hallway. Isabel. Isabel Evans. Was back. Oh god.

She sat down in the stairwell, trying to gather some sort of a calming feeling. She felt like her heart was beating a million times a minute. Isabel wasn’t just back; she was pregnant. She had a kid in that stomach. Somebody’s kid. Maybe Michael’s.

She sat in the stairwell for only a minute. She didn’t want Michael to come out and see her there. He needed to deal with things, and she didn’t want to be in the way. She just wanted to be somewhere else. She had to get out of there.

She drove the familiar route to her old apartment and was there in under ten minutes. She rode the elevator up to the third floor, too tired to take the stairs, and trudged down the hallway to the door with 315 written on it. She knocked and prayed Tess was home.

Tess opened the door a moment later and smiled when she saw Maria. “Hey,” she chirped. “What’re you doing here?”

Maria looked down at her feet, unable to formulate a response. “Can I come in?” she mumbled quietly.

Tess looked confused but replied without hesitance. “Sure.” She opened the door wider, and Maria slipped inside. The irony of the situation was not lost on her, seeking refuge in her old apartment now that her new one had been . . . invaded.

“Where’s Michael?” Tess inquired, shutting the door.

Maria looked away again. “He’s at home,” she muttered.

“Oh.” Tess flapped her arms against her sides, looking a bit clueless as to what to say. “Did you guys have a good Valentine’s Day?”

“Uh-huh.” Maria could hear the dazed tone of her own voice.

“What’d you do?” Tess asked, quickly reconsidering whether she wanted a reply or not. “Don’t answer that. I think I already know.”

What Tess thought they did was the one thing they hadn’t done. “We, uh . . . we got a puppy,” Maria told her.

“Really? A puppy? What kind?”

“A pug named Frank.” Frank was cute. Frank was sweet. Frank was theirs.

“How cute,” Tess remarked. “And this was Michael’s idea?”

Is this really happening? Maria wondered, hoping it wasn’t. She hoped it was a nightmare. She could deal with a nightmare.

“Maria?”

“Hmm?” It wasn’t a nightmare. It was real.

Tess neared her, a look of concern in her eyes. “Is everything okay?”

Maria swallowed hard and stuffed her hands in her pockets. She couldn’t talk about it. Had to be the strong, silent type. For now at least. “Can I stay here tonight?” she asked.

Again, Tess looked confused, but she didn’t hesitate. “Of course.”

Maria nodded, trying to keep her emotions contained. “Thanks.” If she allowed herself to cry, she might never stop. She didn’t even know for sure what was going on, but she had a bad feeling. Whether Isabel was pregnant with Michael’s child or not, she was back in town, and there was no good that could come of that.

Maria attempted to smile at Tess, but it wasn’t much of a smile at all. More like her blinking back her tears. She walked down the hallway, first to her old bedroom. She pushed open the door and was greeted by pink things everywhere. That was Tess’s room now. She forgot. She walked down to the very end of the hallway and pushed open the door to what used to have been Tess’s room. It was a guest room now. It was going to be her room for the night.

She shut the door and sank down against it, letting the weariness overcome her. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on breathing. She just had to focus on breathing.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Seeing Isabel sitting in his living room freaked Michael out. Seeing her sitting there on his chair . . . nothing freaked him out more than the thing they weren’t talking about, though.

He sat down on the couch and poured her cup of tea. He couldn’t remember ever having seen her drink tea before, but she seemed all for it now. Maybe it was one of her cravings. He handed it to her, and her fingers brushed against his when she took it.

“Thanks,” she said, taking a sip. She grimaced—it must have tasted pretty bad, and set it down on the coffee table. “Sorry to pop in unannounced,” she apologized. “Looks like you had a pretty big night planned.”

He glanced down the hallway at the scene he had set up: rose petals, candles that weren’t yet lit . . . “I did,” he mumbled, wondering how one night could end up going so wrong so quickly. “How’d you get in?” he asked.

“I still have my key,” she explained.

He nodded. Isabel used to spend a lot of time in his apartment.

“Why don’t we get to the big, fat elephant in the room?” Isabel suggested finally. “Literally fat.”

He stared at her stomach again. She wasn’t just fat. That would’ve been too simple. “You’re--”

“Pregnant,” she cut in. “Yeah. Kinda noticed.”

He’d already worked out the math in his head, realized there was a definite possibility that . . . that his whole life was about to change. He had to know. “Is it mine?”

She looked him right in the eye and replied, “Absolutely.”

He felt as though someone had just pulled the ground out from beneath him, and suddenly he was on a free fall. He didn’t want to show that, but his expression must have betrayed him.

“Sorry, I know that’s not what you wanted to hear, but . . .” She shrugged. “It happened.”

He felt his bottom lip shaking as his future suddenly began to flash before his eyes. Two versions: the future he wanted and the future a baby with Isabel entailed. They didn’t mesh. “How?” he choked out.

“How?” she echoed, raising an eyebrow. “Well, see, there’s this stork . . .” She smiled for a moment but quickly seemed to realize that joking wasn’t a good idea. “I’m seven and a half months along,” she told him. “The doctor tells me the D.O.C. was July 3rd.”

He tensed. “What’s the D.O.C.?”

“Date of conception.”

He winced, having suspected that much.

“You remember July 3rd, don’t you?” Isabel said.

He most certainly did. “How could I forget?” That was the night Isabel had left, the night he hadn’t gotten to propose, the night he’d learned what kind of person she really was.

“For the longest time, I thought it was just great break-up sex,” she said. “Little did I know . . .” She trailed off and grinned as though that were something to grin about.

“I don’t even know if I should believe you or not,” he said, still trying to fathom the fact that his ex-girlfriend was back in town, back in his apartment. With his kid? It was too much.

“Why wouldn’t you?” she asked.

“Why would I?” he retorted. “It’s not like you’ve never lied to me before.”

She sighed heavily and took another sip of her awful tea. “Fair enough,” she acknowledged. “But I wouldn’t lie about this.”

He didn’t know who would. Even she couldn’t be that horrible . . . could she? “You cheated on me with another man,” he reminded her, sort of thinking out loud. “You were sleeping with him while you were sleeping with me. Am I right?”

“Alex,” Isabel said. “His name is Alex. And yes, I did. I thought this baby was his for a long time, and he took responsibility right away. But there was always this lingering doubt, and something didn’t feel right. So we got a paternity test.” She shrugged. “It’s not his. That only leaves one option.”

“Really?” He didn’t know whether or not to believe that claim, either.

“Yes,” she insisted, looking slightly offended. “Despite what you may wanna believe, I’m not a slut.”

He shook his head and stood up. “I can’t deal with this,” he said, starting to pace around the room.

“You have to.”

“I can’t,” he emphasized. “You’ve been gone for over seven months, and all of a sudden, you’re just back; and you’re pregnant, and you just expect me to deal.”

“I had to deal with it, too, you know,” she pointed out. “I’m the one who’s woken up in the morning feeling like my body’s inside out. I’m the one who’s had to watch what I eat, watch what I drink, watch what I do. And Alex--”

“I don’t really give a damn about this Alex guy,” Michael snapped.

“He was devastated when he found out this baby wasn’t his,” Isabel told him dramatically. “He still wanted to be there for me. He was willing to raise this baby as his own, but I couldn’t let him do that. I couldn’t not tell you. I had to be honest. For once.”

He grunted. Yeah, for once.

“That’s why I came back,” she said, using the arm of the chair to push herself up into a standing position. The simple movement looked like it was a pretty big effort. “You wish I hadn’t,” she realized. “Sorry.”

“It’s not . . .” He hated that she kept apologizing for all of this. She kept saying she was sorry, yet she still hadn’t done or said anything to indicate that she was sorry for cheating on him in the first place. “I’m just shocked,” he told her. “I don’t know what to think.”

“It’s huge news,” she said, stroking her stomach gently, “threw me for a loop, too. I know now I never should’ve left.”

He looked away and frowned. No, it was a good thing that she had left. It was good, because of Maria.

Maria.

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” Isabel went on, “but this isn’t one of them.” She took a few steps towards him and looked at him pleadingly. “We made a baby, Michael. Our love made a baby.”

It wasn’t love. It had never been love. He knew now what true love felt like.

“And in a month and a half, you’re gonna be a dad. I hope you’re ready for that.”

How could he be ready for that? He’d just found out about it.

“So,” she said, “could the mother of your child stay here tonight?”

He didn’t want her to stay there. He wanted his roommate, his girlfriend. He wanted this to not be happening. He wanted it to not be real.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” he said.

“Please?” she begged. “It’s either this or I have to go beg my brother for a hotel room. You don’t want me to have to rely on him, do you?”

No, he didn’t. He didn’t want to have anything to do with Max Evans, and even though Isabel was arguably on the same level that creep was . . . he wasn’t going to make her go to him.

“You can sleep in there,” he decided, motioning towards the bedroom. His and Maria’s bedroom. They were supposed to be in there right now, all over each other. Isabel used to lie in there with him at night. And that was where they had . . . on July 3rd.

“Cozy,” she remarked. “Thanks.” She grabbed her suitcase and rolled it behind her down the hallway. “I really am sorry, Michael,” she said as she went into the bedroom. “I didn’t mean to be the ants in your picnic.”

Michael’s entire body jolted when she shut the door. He felt a lump in his throat and a fear in his veins. Frank came up to him and pawed at his shoes as though he wanted attention. But Michael just stood there. All he could do was stand and try to breathe.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria lay curled up on the bed, the bed that had once been Tess’s bed. The headboard kept falling down. It was annoying, and she had little patience for it. Once she got it to stay upright, she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, but that wasn’t a possibility. She’d had such a good Valentine’s Day. She’d had such a good 2009 so far. Why couldn’t things just stay good?

She heard Tess’s cell phone ring out in the living room. Then she heard Tess said, “Michael, hey,” and she tensed. She didn’t have her cell phone on her. That was probably why Michael was calling Tess. He was probably looking for her. He probably wanted to see her or speak to her. He probably wanted to talk about Isabel.

Tess peeked into the bedroom, and Maria sat up slightly. “Yeah, she’s here,” Tess said to Michael. “Oh, you wanna talk to her?”

Maria shook her head vigorously and whispered, “No, no, no.”

“Um . . . actually, she’s asleep right now,” Tess lied. “Maybe you should just wait ‘til tomorrow?” She made a face. Clearly, she didn’t enjoy lying to Michael. “Okay,” she said, giving Maria a thumbs-up. “Bye, Michael.” She flipped her phone closed, tossed it onto the bed, and sighed heavily as she trudged into the room. “Okay, what is going on?”

Maria sat up farther and raked her hands through her hair. “I don’t know.”

“Just tell me.” Tess sat down on the side of the bed and took one of Maria’s hands in her own, squeezing it supportively. “Whatever it is, I’m not gonna judge. I’ll just listen.”

Maria was still reluctant to say anything. She worried that if she opened her mouth, she would start to break down.

“Did you guys get in a fight or something?”

She finally resigned to talking it out, though. If she couldn’t talk to her best friend, who could she talk to? “Or something,” she mumbled. “No. It’s way worse.”

“Worse?” Tess looked slightly fearful. “What happened?”

“We had a perfect day. That’s what happened. We got a puppy. We said he was like our baby.” The tears immediately sprung to her eyes. “Oh my god.”

“What?” Tess prodded. “Come on, Maria, whatever it is, you have to tell someone.”

A few tears spilled over, feeling like fire as they ran down her cheeks. “I wonder if it’s a boy or a girl,” she practically whispered.

“A boy or a girl?” Tess echoed. “What’re you--” She cut off abruptly, and her eyes bulged. “Oh my god,” she gasped in astonishment. “Are you pregnant?”

Maria shook her head. “I’m not. Isabel is.”

Isabel? What?” Tess shook her head. “I don’t . . . I don’t get it. Isn’t she in Florida?”

“Not anymore. Michael and I walked into the apartment, and she was just . . .” Maria swallowed hard. “She was just there.”

“There?”

“Like standing there. And I thought I was seeing things, ‘cause . . . ‘cause, I mean, what would she be doing there after all this time? And then she turned around, and I saw her big, round stomach.” She shrugged hopelessly. “She looks pretty far along.”

“Oh my god, Maria,” Tess whispered. “She’s . . .”

“Yeah.”

“And it’s . . . it’s Michael’s?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t stick around to find out,” she admitted. “But why else would she be back?”

“Well . . . her dad just died,” Tess pointed out. “Maybe she’s here to visit Max.”

“Then why is she visiting Michael?” It was a nice theory, but it made no sense, and Maria had to be realistic.

“I don’t know. I’m just trying to think of something. Oh god.”

Maria nodded, understanding. This was the best friend’s role, see the glass half full when it was clearly half empty. Or maybe even seventy-five percent empty. It was bad. “How’d he sound on the phone?” she asked.

“Kind of upset,” Tess confessed. “I think he just wants to talk to you.”

“I can’t talk to him right now.”

“Are you mad at him?”

“No, I just . . .” She was mad, but not at Michael. She was mad at life. “I’m too worked up, and worried. And this whole thing’s really complicated no matter how you look at it. I mean, this is Isabel. This is Isabel Evans.” She shook her head in contempt. “I hate her.”

“Just try to think positive,” Tess suggested.

“Easier said than done,” Maria muttered. “God, it’s like this whole thing just came out of nowhere. Michael and I are so happy. We’re so happy, Tess.”

“I know. Come here.” Her friend opened up her arms and pulled her in close for a hug. Maria let more tears roll down, but she refused to start doing the shaking, wailing kind of crying she wanted to do.

“Nothing’s gonna change,” Tess assured her, stroking her hair. “Everything’s gonna be alright. Everything’s gonna be alright.”

Maria really wanted to believe that. She really wanted to.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael lay on the couch that night, the entire living room shrouded in total darkness. This felt wrong. This wasn’t how the night was supposed to end.

All the worries were crowding his brain. He could barely distinguish one from the other. What was this going to do to his life? He was going to have a child who was completely dependent on him to make everything okay, and he couldn’t always do that. He was probably going to have to get a full-time job. College might have to be put on hold. He’d have to baby-proof his entire apartment. Or maybe he’d have to get a new place. Where was the kid going to live, with him or Isabel? Because he wasn’t living with her. He wasn’t going to be with her in that way. But she was going to be in his life now, no matter what. And how would Maria react to that? Maria . . .

He sat up, struggling to contain his emotions. He felt like breaking down and crying. He didn’t care if it was unmanly to cry. He didn’t feel like much of a man in that moment. He felt like an idiot, like a stupid, stupid idiot. He and Isabel weren’t quite statistics at that point—they weren’t having a teenage pregnancy or anything. But they were still young, and he still felt completely unprepared for this.

He raked his hands through his hair and glanced down the hallway at the closed door to his bedroom. He could barely grasp the fact that his ex-girlfriend, his pregnant ex-girlfriend was lying in there right now, probably doing her own fair share of worrying. Although she’d had more time to come to terms with this, so maybe she wasn’t worrying quite as much.

It was supposed to be him and Maria asleep in that bed. They were supposed to be lying close together, naked. He was supposed to have his arms around her. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.

The more he sat there and thought about everything, the stuffier and hotter it began to feel in his own apartment. He started to feel like he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe in the place where he lived. He got up and left and went over to Kyle’s and knocked on the door. It was early. He felt a little bad about waking Kyle up, but . . . he had to talk to somebody, and he wasn’t sure if he was ready to talk to Maria yet.

Kyle opened the door rubbing his eyes and yawning, wearing a bathrobe and boxers. “Hey,” he greeted sleepily. “What’re you--”

“I’m in trouble, Kyle,” Michael cut in, hearing the panic in his own voice.

“What, did Maria finally break out the handcuffs?” Kyle grinned and chuckled.

Michael brushed past him on his way inside and started to pace back and forth. He turned on a dim light in the living room so he could see.

“Come on in,” Kyle said, shutting the door. “You wanna tell me what’s going on?”

He did, but he didn’t even know where to start. He slowed his pacing down until he was just standing there, trying to make sense of everything.

“Well, while you’ve over here, how about we talk about my crappy life for a minute, okay?” Kyle suggested. “So I ran into Liz today. She was just in town for—shocker—Max Evans. She seems to be optimistic about me and Tess, which I don’t get. You know why? ‘Cause luck doesn’t run my way. It’s like a river and it’s flowing in the opposite direction. There is no luck in my life. Clearly I’m the most unlucky person on the entire planet.”

“I’m gonna have a kid,” Michael blurted, saying the words out loud for the first time.

Kyle laughed a little, looking shocked. “What?”

“I’m gonna be a dad.” First time he’d said that out loud, too.

Kyle’s laughter immediately came to an end as he realized that Michael was being serious. “You got Maria pregnant?”

“Not Maria.”

“What, you had another girlfriend?” Kyle’s eyes bulged. “You pulled a Max Evans? Who are you?”

“Isabel,” he tried to explain, but Kyle misunderstood.

“You’re Isabel?”

“No, Isabel’s back and she’s pregnant and she says it’s mine.” Michael took a seat on Kyle’s living room couch. It wasn’t much different from the one he’d been trying to fall asleep on.

“Oh.” Kyle took a moment to let the words sink in, then said, “Holy shit.”

“Great, that helps.” More blind panic wasn’t exactly what he needed.

“Sorry, but . . .” Kyle sat down beside him and asked, “Are you serious?”

“No, I’m joking. This is the kind of thing I joke about. It’s very funny.”

Kyle nodded. “You’re serious. Wow.” He kept opening and closing his mouth, but very few words came out. “I don’t know what to say,” he admitted. “Now, when you say Isabel’s back . . .”

“I mean, she’s back. She’s asleep in my bed right now,” Michael told him.

“Whoa, that’s gotta bring back memories.”

It did, but not particularly good ones.

“So she’s really . . .” Kyle circled his arms around his stomach, indicating a big pregnant belly.

Yes.”

“Is she about to pop?”

“She says she’s got a month and a half left.”

“Jesus,” Kyle swore. “And it’s really yours?”

Michael shrugged helplessly. “That’s what she’s saying.”

“Well, of course that’s what she’s saying, but you have every reason to doubt her,” Kyle reminded him.

“I know, but I think she’s telling the truth this time.” It was either that or Isabel was one hell of an actress. She’d fooled him once, made him think she was faithful to him, but he knew what it was like to be lied to by her now. He knew, and he liked to think that he wouldn’t fall for her lies again.

“Yeah, but is it even possible?” Kyle wondered aloud.

“She’s seven and a half months along. Do the math,” he snapped impatiently. “Sorry, I don’t mean to . . .”

“No, no, please, you have every reason to be on edge.”

Michael sighed heavily, still sort of hoping that this wasn’t really happening. But that hope was quickly vanishing. “What am I gonna do?”

“Oh, I have no idea,” Kyle admitted. “I think you need to find out for sure if this is your kid, though, ‘cause you can’t take her word on it. And if it is . . . well . . .” He shrugged. “I’m not gonna lie; this would’ve been better if it’d been you and Maria.”

“Yeah, and what about me and Maria?” This was one of the things that worried him more than all the rest. “What does this mean for us?”

“Wish I could tell you.”

“This just . . .” Things had been going perfectly for them. Why did this have to happen?

“Have you told her yet?” Kyle inquired.

“She was there with me when . . . she saw Isabel, but she left and now she’s with Tess and . . .” He trailed off again and shook his head in admission. “I haven’t told her.”

“Well, that’s the first thing you gotta do,” Kyle said, assuming the role of the rational friend for once. “And it’s probably gonna suck, but . . . she’ll stand by you.”

“I hope so.” He couldn’t do this without Maria. He needed her to be his strength, because he suddenly felt as though he didn’t have any.

“Just so you know, I take back everything I said about my luck, okay?” Kyle added as an afterthought.

Michael didn’t say anything.

Kyle nodded sympathetically. “Okay.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael managed to get a few hours of sleep on Kyle’s couch that night. Waking up was pretty hard to do. He didn’t want to deal with everything he had to deal with, but he knew he had to.

He went back to his apartment at 8:00 in the morning. Isabel was awake, much to his surprise. She’d always been more of a night person than a morning person.

“Good morning,” she greeted perkily.

It wasn’t a good morning, not for him. “Hey,” he returned, surveying her questioningly. She was sitting on the living room floor wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. She was tying her sneakers. Since when did Isabel own sneakers? Her long, blonde hair was up in a pony-tail, too. New look for her.

“You work out now?” he asked.

“Yeah.” She finished tying her shoes and brought her legs out to the side, sitting there in a straddle position. “Exercise is good for pregnant women,” she said as she reached both her arms out towards her right foot. She couldn’t stretch all that far with that pregnant belly in the way. “It helps you stay in shape and prepare for delivery.” She leaned over to the left then, stretching both arms out towards that foot. “Two birds, one stone. I take a thirty minute walk every day now.”

The old Isabel Evans’s idea of exercise had been riding up and down the escalator during a trip to the mall.

“Walking’s nice,” she went on, stretching both her arms above her head. “It’s doesn’t put too much stress on the joints.”

Michael nodded. “Stress is bad.” Which sucked for him, because he was incredibly stressed out.

“Most definitely.” She curled her legs beneath her and grabbed onto the arm of the couch with one hand, trying to get to her feet. “Wanna help me up?” she asked.

He felt bad for not helping her on his own accord. He made his way to her, held out one hand, and helped pull her up onto her feet. She was heavy.

“Thanks,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze before letting go of it. “You know, you can come with me if you want.”

He didn’t have the energy to walk for three minutes, let alone thirty. “No, that’s okay,” he said. “I think I’m gonna go . . . see Maria.”

“Right,” she said, smiling. “Well, have fun.” She slipped past him and started for the door with a surprising bounce in her step. For some reason, he expected her to be tired and cranky. She seemed like she was in a great mood, no worries whatsoever. He supposed that was a good thing. Stress was bad.

She stopped a mere foot from the door and turned around to look at him. She just . . . looked him over.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing, it’s just . . .” She shrugged. “You and Maria. I never would’ve pictured it. I mean, talk about an odd couple.”

He was well aware of the fact that he and Maria didn’t seem like a match on the surface. But they were. “We make each other happy,” he said.

“I’m sure. And judging by the skirts and dresses in your closet, she’s not only girlfriend; she’s also your roommate. Either that or you’re keeping quite the dramatic transgender secret.” She laughed a little.

“She lives here,” he informed her. “Since October.”

“Wow. And you two have been dating this whole time?”

They’d only been dating since New Year’s. It wasn’t fair. They’d only had a month and half of pure, uninterrupted dating. “That’s really none of your business,” he snapped.

“Okay. Relax. I was just asking.”

He wished she would stop. His relationship with Maria was private. Or, it wasn’t really private considering how many public places they’d had sex in, but it wasn’t something Isabel needed to know about.

“You know, you being back here doesn’t mean we’re gonna get back together,” he said, taking a few steps towards her. “I’m with Maria. I’m gonna continue to be with Maria.” Nothing was going to change that.

“I wouldn’t expect anything else from you,” she said. “You’re a good guy, Michael. You always do the right thing.”

He always tried.

“And for the record,” she went on, “Michael . . . I’m happy you and Maria found each other. I’m glad you were able to move on.”

It’d certainly taken him long enough. Too long. He wished now he hadn’t wasted so much time figuring out his own feelings. “Enjoy your walk,” he muttered, backing away from her.

“I will,” she said, opening the door. “Tell Maria I said hi.”

He flinched when the door slammed shut. He was going to have to tell Maria lot of things, and he was dreading every second of it.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael went to Tess’s that morning, not long after Isabel had left for her walk. He didn’t even change his clothing. He was kind of gross. But he wanted to get this over with sooner rather than later. The longer he put it off, the worse it was going to be.

He trudged up the stairs and down the third floor hallway of The Links complex. Tess was just walking out the door when he got there.

“Hey,” he said. “Is she still here?”

“Yeah,” Tess replied slowly. “She’s not doing so good.”

“Neither am I.”

Tess nodded in understanding. “So Isabel’s really . . .”

“Yeah.”

“And judging by that look on your face . . .” She trailed off and looked at him sympathetically. “I’m sorry. Or . . . congratulations?” She wrinkled her forehead in confusion.

“I don’t know,” he admitted.

“Well . . . congratulations,” she decided. “I’m on my way to work now, so . . . good luck.” She gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” he said, gently pushing open the door to her apartment as she walked away. Before he stepped inside, though, she ran back up to him and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, supportively. He hugged her back, thankful for that, and then she left without a word. He’d needed that. He needed his friends. He needed the people who were close to him to stay close to him throughout all of this.

“Maria?” he said when he slipped inside and shut the door. “Maria?” He caught sight of her at the end of the hallway. She was sitting in one of the bedrooms on the bed, just sitting there with all the blinds pulled. The room was dark. He made his way down the hallway to the bedroom and stood in the doorway.

She glanced up at him, looking so . . . small and quiet. “Hey,” she choked out, her voice unusually high-pitched.

“Hey,” he returned, feeling his entire body start to go limp. Around her, he didn’t have to try to be strong and upright. All his emotions were evident in his voice.

She averted her eyes from him and looked down at her lap. “You don’t have to say anything,” she mumbled.

So she already knew. It was probably pretty obvious. He walked into the bedroom and sat down beside her on the side of the bed, sighing in distress.

“What’re we gonna do?” she asked softly.

“I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “She’s tellin’ me it’s mine, but I don’t even know if I should believe her.”

She lifted her head to look at him again. “Do you?”

He did. He really did. “Yeah. I know she’s a bad person, but I don’t think she’d lie about this.”

“Neither do I,” Maria admitted.

“But we’ll get a paternity test, of course.” There was no harm in making sure.

“Of course.” There were tears brimming in her eyes, threatening to spill over. He saw them, and he felt horrible, because he knew he was the reason why they were there.

“I’m sorry,” he choked out, his own tears finally falling out. He’d tried so hard to keep them in.

“Why?”

“Because I . . . I don’t know what to do,” he cried. “I’m tryin’ not to freak out, but I’m twenty-one years old. I’m not ready to be a dad.” Unfortunately, he didn’t have a choice in the matter. “And I know I’m not a kid, and I know I can take care of myself. But I don’t know if I can take care of someone else.”

She placed a reassuring hand on his lap and said, “You take care of me.”

“No, I don’t. You take care of me.” She was the one who had gotten him to start painting again and get over Isabel. She was the one who’d shown him what love really was. “I need you, Maria,” he said in a rush. “I need you.” He clenched his jaw shut and tried to keep it together, but everything was falling apart. “I’m so scared.”

“Oh, Michael.” She enveloped him in her arms, pulling him close and holding him against her as sobs shook his body. He pressed his head against her shoulder and let his tears soak into her as she stroked his hair. “I’m so scared,” he repeated, his words barely intelligible now. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

She just kept holding him as though to tell him it wasn’t his fault.

He pulled away slowly so he could look at her when he said, “I love you, Maria.” These weren’t the circumstances under which he wanted the words to come out. He’d wanted to tell her last night after making love to her. But he couldn’t not say them now.

She stared at him with wide, astonished, heartbroken eyes and said in response, “I love you.”

That was all he needed to hear. He leaned against her again and let the rest of the tears fall. “I’m sorry,” he kept saying, feeling as though he could never say it enough. “I’m sorry, Maria.”









TBC . . . (Next Monday!)

-April
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LOVE IS MICHAEL AND MARIA.
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April
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Part 52

Post by April »

Well, wonders never cease. I found a way it work here on this ancient computer. It wasn't even that hard. I just had to convert my docx documents to doc. Hmm, I'm feeling technologically capable today!

I think my car's about to get towed outside this library, though, so I'd better make it quick. :lol: THANK YOU for the feedback:

Leila
Sara
nibbles
Alison
lilah
Christina
spacegirl23
Eva
killjoy
tequathisy
BLONDIE
Zoi
Nat
Nove

And just so you guys know, this once a week update thing is KILLING me! I miss you guys. But it's good for me to slow down the pace a little bit. I'm enjoying my break and getting lots of writing done, so that's good.

Also, next week's update will be Tuesday instead of Monday. I have to take my dog to the vet on Monday and myself to the dentist, so that's not going to be a good update day.









Part 52







Isabel tried to walk at a fast pace. It wasn’t really exercise unless she was elevating her heart rate. She walked by a small brunette girl on one of the main drags and gave her a friendly, casual smile. A few seconds later, the brunette girl called out to her. “Isabel?”

She stopped and turned around, hating when her walks were interrupted. She was on the tail end of it, too. She was on her way back to Michael’s. “Do I know you?” she asked impatiently.

“No. I’m Liz, Liz Parker.”

Isabel shrugged, not caring. The name wasn’t ringing a bell.

“I know Max.”

Oh. She nodded. “Lucky you.” Most girls who knew Max really . . . knew Max. He was her twin brother, so his bedroom skills were probably comparable to her own. That meant that this Liz girl had experienced the utmost sexual satisfaction.

“So you’re . . . back in town,” Liz remarked, clearly trying to disguise the fact that she kept looking at Isabel’s stomach.

“Just got back.” Isabel still had no desire to talk to this girl. She was a nobody.

“Me, too,” Liz said.

“Well, then, I guess that’s something we have in common.” That was about enough conversation, wasn’t it?

“It’s just temporary for me. I’m not staying long,” Liz said.

And that was where they went their separate ways. “I am.” She flipped ponytail back over her shoulder and spun around. “Bye, Liz.”

“Nice to meet you,” Liz called.

Isabel rolled her eyes and laughed a little. Her brother never ceased to amaze her with how many naïve, idiotic college girls he could lure into his bed. This one was probably no different than the others. She probably thought she belonged with him. She was in for a rude awakening. There were certain girls in Santa Fe who just couldn’t see what was right in front of their eyes. But they would.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Your sister’s back in town.”

Max looked up from the mountain of paperwork on his desk. The shock on his face was evident upon seeing her there. “And apparently so are you,” he remarked.

Liz shrugged and strode into his office. “I never left, actually. I left the hotel, got a room at the Budget Inn. That’s more my price range.”

“I see.” He set his work aside, seemingly trying to stay calm, but the shock was still there. “Why are you still here?” he asked.

“Well, like I told you, I don’t really have to work until Wednesday, so . . .”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “But why stay here?”

It wasn’t for him. She didn’t want him anymore. “Look, before your ego inflates, it’s still not permanent,” she informed him. “I’m just staying for a couple of days. I wanna help Kyle get his life back on-track.” And that was the main reason. It had to be.

“Considering how off-track your own life is, that’s pretty funny.”

She rolled her eyes and sat down in the chair across from his desk. “You know, as crazy as it sounds, I’d like for us to try to be friends.”

He frowned. “You and Kyle?”

“You and me,” she clarified. “Kyle’s already my friend.” And since he was her friend, she owed it to him to help him. She could keep Max focused on her while Kyle and Tess rekindled their spark. It certainly helped that Isabel was back in town. Max could focus on her, too.

“And why would you want that?” Max asked.

She shrugged. “I’m through holding grudges. I wanna put you behind me.” She thought about all the times he had been behind her, and the phrase took on a whole new meaning. “Figuratively,” she added, just so he didn’t get any wrong ideas.

“And being friends will allow you to do that?”

“Maybe.” As far as she was concerned, it was worth a shot. If by the time she left Santa Fe she and Max were on good but not sexual terms and Kyle and Tess were back in a romantic mood with each other, it would be mission accomplished.

“Well, you’re all about the good deeds nowadays, aren’t you?” Max teased. “Fine. You’re my friend.” He said the last part in the most cheesy way imaginable, with a stupid smirk on his face. She had to laugh a little.

“Good,” she said, rising from the chair. She walked back towards the door and stopped before she left. “You’re gonna be an uncle, by the way,” she told him. “Isabel’s pregnant.”

That same shock that had found its way to his face when she’d first stepped in the office reappeared, but for a different reason this time. She smiled and strode out of the office. Max had plenty of things to think about now, and Tess Harding wasn’t one of them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria couldn’t imagine anything more awkward than cohabitating in her and Michael’s apartment with Michael’s pregnant ex-girlfriend, but that was exactly what she found herself doing that evening. She sat on the couch with Frank, petting him and trying not to think about anything else. But that was hard to do with Isabel roaming around, making herself perfectly at home, moaning and groaning and holding her back as though it ached. Michael was in the shower. He was taking his time. He was probably in no hurry to climb out and join the awkwardness.

Isabel sat down in a chair she seemed to have claimed as her own and placed a heat pack on her lower back. Maria watched her unsurely. She had promised to be there for Michael, but she hadn’t imagined that being there for him would feel like this. She knew it would be hard, but this was harder than she had expected.

“Are you okay?” she asked Isabel.

“Yeah, my back just hurts,” Isabel said, readjusting her heat pack. “That’s normal during this trimester.”

“And putting heat on it helps?”

“Sometimes,” Isabel replied. “Maybe I can get Michael to give me a massage later.”

Maria tensed possessively. “I don’t think so.”

“Sorry,” Isabel apologized, “didn’t mean to strike a nerve.”

She’d stricken a whole lot of nerves already. About the only thing Maria felt when she looked at her was fury.

“You two are very close,” Isabel said, leaning forward to grab a small brown book off the coffee table.

“We are,” Maria agreed strongly. She and Michael were closer than close, closer than he and Isabel had ever been. Weren’t they? “What’s that?” she asked as Isabel opened up the book and took pulled a pen out of the spiral binding.

“A journal,” Isabel replied. “I have a friend back in Florida who was pregnant. She said it’s a good idea for pregnant women to jot down all their thoughts in a journal. Helps you stay calm. Plus, it’s a good way to revel in the emotions of carrying this life inside you.” She rubbed her stomach and smiled at Maria.

“That’s nice.”

“It is,” Isabel agreed. “Right now, I feel like writing about the first time I met Michael.” Her eyes took on a sort of dreamy gleam as she remembered it. “Freshman year. I was sitting outside the Student Union by the fountains, you know, trying to get a late summer tan. Michael sat down beside me. Not right beside me, but a little ways away. I watched him open up some kind of art book and start reading. He kept trying not to look at me out of the corner of his eye, but it was obvious. I thought he was adorable. So eventually I got up and went over to talk to him. We sat there for two hours that day, just getting to know each other. I got so sunburned.” She smiled fondly and proclaimed, “We haven’t been apart since.”

Maria grunted in disbelief. “Yes, you have.” As though recalling that entire story wasn’t inconsiderate enough, telling that lie was inconceivable.

“Well, I mean, there was that little intermission from July until now, but other than that . . .” Isabel trailed off, still smiling.

“Yeah, but during that ‘little intermission,’ Michael was heartbroken,” Maria informed her. “You left him so devastated that, for awhile there, he barely left his apartment except to go to class and go to work. He wouldn’t even talk to anyone about it. He was just going through the motions, thinking about how much he missed you. That’s all he could do.”

“Oh, Maria.” Isabel tilted her head to the side and looked her up and down. “I’m sure he did other things.”

“It took him time and a lot of effort for him to get over you, but eventually he did. And for you to just waltz back in here like nothing happened . . .” She shook her head in disbelief. She hated this girl. Hated her. “You don’t even care, do you?” she realized. “You don’t even care that you hurt him.”

“Of course I care,” Isabel said, closing her journal. “I’m not heartless.”

“Gotta disagree with you on that.”

“I made a mistake; I’m not disputing that,” Isabel acknowledged. “But I’ve changed.”

“Oh, infidelity changed you?”

“No, impending motherhood did.” Isabel huffed. “God, what was I supposed to do, deny my child’s father the chance to raise him? Or her. I couldn’t do that.”

Maybe it was horrible, but Maria wished she had.

“Look, I’m sorry I destroyed your perfect utopian life,” Isabel said, “but you’d best get used to me. I’m not going anywhere. I’m gonna be a mom, and Michael’s gonna be a dad.” She looked at Maria with noticeable contempt and said, “I guess that’ll make you the stepmom.”

Maria bristled. Stepmom?

“What’s going on here?” Michael asked as he came out into the living room. His hair was wet. He was all dressed, though.

“Nothing,” Isabel answered, reopening her journal. “I was just telling Maria about this.”

Michael made a face. “You keep a journal now?”

“Hey, don’t scoff. It’s a pregnancy journal,” she told him. “It’s therapeutic.”

“Oh.” Michael nodded in understanding. “Sounds like you’re doing everything you need to.”

“Oh, I am.”

Maria couldn’t take anymore of this. She had tried. She really had. Maybe she just needed more time to adjust. She couldn’t handle this yet. “I think I’m gonna go,” she said, setting Frank aside as she rose to her feet. She grabbed her purse off the couch and quickly headed for the door.

“What? Maria, no,” Michael said, following her. He grabbed her arm and stopped her. “You live here.”

“Everyone does nowadays,” Maria grumbled.

“No, this is just--”

“Michael, I can’t stay here,” she blurted.

“Why not?”

She cast a sideways glance at Isabel and saw her grinning. “I just can’t,” she said simply. Maybe leaving was making Isabel think that she was winning, but she wasn’t. Not really.

“Well, I’ll put her up in a hotel,” Michael decided. “I’ve got the money.”

“Except you should be saving that money, Michael,” Isabel piped up. “Babies are expensive. Plus, you’ve got this funny-looking dog now. He costs money, too.”

Michael pressed his lips together to keep from saying anything. He looked like he was pissed at her, too. Good.

“I’ll just crash with Tess again tonight,” Maria decided. “She won’t mind.”

“Maria . . .”

“It’s fine,” she assured him. This was the simplest solution. They could figure out a more permanent solution tomorrow. She stood on her tip-toes and gave him a peck on the cheek. It felt strange to kiss him with Isabel in the room.

“Bye, Maria,” Isabel said. “It was nice talking to you.”

Maria rolled her eyes and walked out of the apartment.

“Wait, Maria,” Michael said, following her out once again. He shut the door and asked, “Is everything okay?”

Nothing was okay.

“I mean, with us,” he clarified.

Even they weren’t okay. “Just don’t worry,” she told him. Stress was bad for a pregnant mother, but it couldn’t be good for a soon-to-be father, either. “This isn’t a big deal.”

“Everything about my life right now is a big deal,” he said.

“I know. But it’ll be better for all of us if I’m not here right now.” If she stayed, she was just going to lay into Isabel so hard that she’d make herself look bad. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She started away yet again, but yet again he stopped her.

“Maria.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him so that he could kiss her, a real kiss, on the lips. Even with Isabel on the other side of the door . . . it felt different.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she repeated, slinking away. He didn’t come after her this time.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Even though Tess had plenty of homework to do, Maria appreciated the fact that she tried to keep her entertained. She broke out dozens of old home videos, most of them filmed by her father, and sat Maria down on the living room floor with popcorn and ice cream to watch them.

“My god, look at those tutus,” Tess remarked, staring at the television screen in horror. They were watching a videotape of their very first dance recital. The tutus were green and frilly. “What were we thinking? Well, I guess we weren’t having many fashion thoughts at the ripe old age of four. Plus, if I remember correctly, we didn’t pick those out. The other girls did. We voted against them.” She laughed a little and continued watching. “We were totally the best dancers in the class. And the cutest, too. Everyone was watching us.”

Maria’s eyes were on the screen, but she wasn’t really watching. She set the bowl of popcorn Tess had given her aside and crawled up onto the couch to curl up under a blanket.

“What’s wrong?” Tess asked, pausing the tape. “Were the tutus too much?”

“It’s just . . . seeing us as kids reminds me that Michael’s gonna have a kid of his own soon,” she explained.

“Oh. Doesn’t everything remind you of that right now?”

“Pretty much.” She swallowed hard, holding the tears inside. “I’m worried, Tess,” she said. “I love Michael; I do, but . . . what if love isn’t enough?”

“Oh, Maria.” Tess shut the VCR off and came to sit beside her. “You can’t just give up now.” She reached out to stroke Maria’s hair.

Maria jerked away. “No, you don’t understand how hard this is.” How could she? Kyle hadn’t impregnated someone else. “I thought she was gone forever, and now all of a sudden, she’s walking around my apartment, eating my food, sleeping in my bed, wearing my clothes . . .”

“She’s wearing your clothes?” Tess echoed.

“No, but she was looking at them like she wants to wear them. As though she could even fit in them under normal circumstances.”

Tess laughed a little. “Well, maybe it would help if she was . . . elsewhere.”

“Like back in Florida?” There was a nice thought.

“Just not in your guys’ apartment.”

Maria sighed heavily. “Michael offered to get her a hotel room, but . . .” She shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t really see how that would help a whole lot.”

“Well, you guys wouldn’t have to deal with her as much.”

“But we’d still have to deal with her. A lot. Especially Michael.”

Tess opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself as realization seemed to dawn on her. “Oh, Maria, you don’t have to worry about that,” she assured her. “Michael loves you.”

“And he used to love her. I’ve just gotta face it, Tess: From here on out, Isabel’s always gonna have a part of Michael I just can’t touch.”

“No, no, I’m sure he’ll want you to be a part of this kid’s life,” Tess interjected.

“Well, that’s another concern. Stepmom Maria . . .” She made a sound of distress in the back of her throat. “I didn’t sign up for this.”

“Well . . . nobody did. It’s a lot to deal with, I know. There’s gonna be a lot of change.”

Maria shot a look at her. “Last night you said nothing was gonna change.”

“Okay, so I lied,” Tess admitted. “Pretty much everything’s gonna change on some level, but some of the changes might be good, you know? I mean, if you and Michael can stick together through this entire ordeal, you’re gonna emerge from it stronger and more committed than ever. And I know Stepmom Maria might not be a role you’re looking forward to, but if that happens someday, you’ll be the best at it; and you’ll probably love it. And Michael’s gonna be a great father to this baby and a great father to all the babies he’s gonna have with you someday.”

Babies of her own were something Maria couldn’t even fathom at this point in her life. “Great, so he and Isabel and I can have this big blended family. Can’t wait.”

“Hey, don’t insult the blended family. If our parents tie the knot someday, that’s what we’ll be,” Tess pointed out, motioning between the two of them.

“Yeah, but with our parents . . . there’s only two of them. That’s better than three,” Maria said. “Three’s an odd number.”

Tess looked at her so sympathetically. “Okay, with all this change that’s occurring, you have to know the one thing that’s never gonna change is the way Michael feels about you,” she said. “Sure, he wants to be a great father, as he should, and to do that, he’s gonna have to have some sort of relationship with Isabel.”

Maria winced, hating the thought.

“But you’re the one he wants,” Tess went on. “You’re the one he loves.” She smiled reassuringly. “He’ll never leave you.”

Maria had a feeling that much was true. Michael would never leave. At least not completely.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Max was relieved when his father’s lawyers finally called and told him they were ready to read the will. He’d been sitting in his office all day, trying to get some work done, trying to micromanage what everyone else was doing, but he still wasn’t even sure if he had a place in the company anymore. He wanted to know what was in that will now.

“No, that’s great news,” Max said to the lawyer on the phone. “I’ll be right there.” He closed his phone and slipped it into his pocket, grumbling, “About damn time,” as he stacked up the loose paperwork on his desk.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t my brother the businessman.”

He glanced up and saw his sister standing in the doorway to his office, grinning at him. It had been a long time since he’d seen her or spoken to her. Isabel had effectively cut off all her ties when she’d left town. Now she was back, and she was absolutely huge.

“If it isn’t my long-lost sister,” he returned. “Plus one.”

She smiled and placed one hand on her rounded stomach. “Hmm.”

“Didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” he admitted.

“Well, you almost didn’t. Come here.”

He made his way over to her and tried to hug her, but her belly made it hard to get close enough.

She laughed light. “It’s a little harder to hug me now, isn’t it?”

“Just a little.” He ushered her inside his office and shut the door. “Sit down, please.” He pulled out a chair for her, and she took a seat. He sat down in his desk chair and momentarily put the reading of the will out of his mind. His sister was back. His twin sister was back. He had to make that a priority. “I heard you were back in town,” he said.

“Really? Who told you that?” she asked. “Michael? Maria? One of their lame-o friends?”

“This girl . . . you wouldn’t know her.”

“Liz?”

He raised a surprised eyebrow. “Or maybe you would.”

She smirked. “I know more than you think I do, Max. No, actually, I met her yesterday on my half-hour walk. I walk now. For exercise.”

“Interesting.”

“So Liz said she knew you. Conquest?”

Liz was . . . more than that. “Biggest.”

“Nice. It’s good to know at least some things haven’t changed. You’re still a womanizing jerk, and this company’s still the only thing you care about.”

“Yep.” He nodded as convincingly as he could. “It’s the only thing.”

Isabel narrowed her eyes and studied him. “Unless it’s not.” She leaned forward slightly, looking astonished. “Oh my god. You fell in love with that girl?”

He rolled his eyes, wishing Isabel weren’t so damn perceptive.

She grunted. “Who died and made you human? I didn’t even know that was possible. She is pretty, if you go for that sort of thing. Not prettier than me, but few people are.”

“Shouldn’t we be talking about your life right now?” he said, eager to divert the conversation away from his own twisted life. “You’re the one who’s knocked up.”

“Fill me in first. Last I knew, you were with Tess Harding. She was gonna live unhappily ever after with you. What gives?”

He shrugged. “Things change. People change, as you know.”

“Don’t change the subject, Max. What’s the deal with you and Liz?”

He sighed heavily. What was the deal? There was no deal, just a long, drawn-out, complicated story. He decided to give her the abridged version. “I took her virginity last year while Tess and I were on hiatus, tossed her aside when Tess and I got back together. Eventually we started up an affair, got caught on Christmas. We tried dating, but I ended up choosing this company over her. And now she wants us to be friends.”

“Wow,” Isabel said. “What a romantic love story.”

“Hey, you’re one to talk.”

“I know.” She smoothed her hand over her stomach and confessed, “Child-bearing at the age of twenty-one wasn’t exactly something I had in mind, but . . . everything works out the way it’s supposed to, right?”

He hoped so. If that was true, he’d have complete control over the Evans Hotel company in a matter of minutes. “Whose is it?” he couldn’t help but ask. “Or do you even know?”

“It’s Michael’s,” she replied simply.

“You sure?”

“Positive.”

He grinned, skeptical. “You’re an Evans. You’re probably lying.”

“I’m not, but I don’t blame people for thinking I am. Why would I lie to you, though? You’re the one person in this town who doesn’t hate me.”

That was a good point. If Isabel was carrying someone else’s kid, she’d probably just tell him so they could plot and scheme together. “So who was that guy in Florida you were with?” he asked. “What was his name?”

“Alex.”

“Alex. He was rich, right? Too bad it’s not his kid.”

“Yeah, that’s too bad,” she agreed. “Oh, well. Can’t have it all, right?”

He nodded. He couldn’t have his career and Liz, at least not when his father had been in control of things. “I really believe that.”

They sat in silence for a moment before Isabel piped up with a completely different topic to discuss. “Oh, hey, we should probably mention that Dad died.”

“Oh, yeah. That was . . .”

“A shock?” she filled in.

“A relief,” he corrected. “How’d you hear about it?”

She shrugged. “Newspaper. Internet. Everywhere. I don’t get it. I thought you and Dad liked each other.”

“Only half the time.”

Isabel shook her head. “No, you idolized him.”

Max swallowed hard. “Doesn’t mean I wanna be like him.”

“That’s what idolization is, Max.”

“Then I didn’t idolize him.” He refused to.

“Don’t lose your edge, Max,” she cautioned. “You’re gonna need it to run this business.”

“I don’t even know if I’ll be the one running it anymore,” he said. “I’m on my way to find out.”

She frowned confusedly. “What do you mean?”

He let out a heavy, frustrated sigh. “Dad was attempting to have his will changed when he died. If those changes went through . . .” He shook his head, knowing how bad this could be. It could spell doom for his future. “We weren’t on the best of terms.”

“Oh. That sucks.”

“Yeah.” That was an understatement. “They’re reading the will today. You should come along.”

“Why? I already know he didn’t leave me anything.”

Max shrugged. “You never know.” He highly doubted that Phillip had left anything to his daughter, or his wife or any other female for that matter. But stranger things had happened. “Maybe he had a change of heart.”

“Dad didn’t have a heart, Max.”

“He had a heart attack.”

“Still . . .” She shook her head. “He didn’t have a heart.”

I have a heart, Max thought. Somewhere. “Come on,” he said, standing up. He held out his hand for Isabel and helped her to her feet. “I’ll catch you up on more of the soap opera drama you missed while you were gone.”

“There’s more?” she asked as they walked out of the office.

“There’s always more. Tess hooked up with Kyle Valenti. Did I tell you that?”

“Kyle Valenti?” She tossed her head back and laughed disbelievingly. “Now I know you’re making stuff up.”

“I’m an Evans.”

“You’re probably lying.”

“Believe it or not . . .” He placed his hand on her shoulders and escorted her to the elevator. “I’m telling the truth.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael sat in his painting class that day, struggling to concentrate. Most of the time in that class, they actually painted. Today was a rare lecture day, and it was the worst day to be bored. He was bored. More than that, he was tired. He hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep for two nights now, and he really needed some quality rest soon. He felt so stressed out. He’d never been so stressed out before. For a long time, he’d believed that nothing could feel worse than Isabel leaving town. Now he knew it felt far worse to have her back.

He had just begun to fall asleep in his lecture seat when the class let out. Kyle nudged him to wake him up. He collected his stuff, contemplating going home for awhile. It wasn’t going to be any less stressful there, though. Class was at least somewhat of a distraction.

“Wow, that was riveting,” Kyle said as she slung his backpack over his shoulders. “Just laid out everything we need to know for the midterm.”

Michael hadn’t even paid attention.

“What’s it like where you’re at?”

“Depressing,” he replied.

“I figured as much.” They slid out of their row of the lecture hall and headed down the steps towards he exit. “Hey, I’ll give you a copy of my notes,” Kyle told him. “We can study together.”

Michael grunted. “What’s the point? I probably won’t even have a senior year.”

“What?” Kyle made a face as they headed out into the crowded hallway. “Why wouldn’t you?”

“Kid on the way, remember?”

“You can’t have both?”

“I don’t know.” He was constantly trying to figure it out, trying to figure out just how much his life was going to change once that baby showed up. “I’m gonna have to get a full-time job, or at least two part-time jobs. Isabel doesn’t work.”

“Does she even take classes anymore?” Kyle asked, leading the way outside.

“Not anymore.” Michael squinted against the bright sunlight. It was a nice day, but his disposition was anything but sunny.

“Well, at least you won’t have to hire a babysitter,” Kyle said. “You’ll work, you’ll go to school, and you’ll . . . raise a kid.”

That didn’t sound too hectic. That didn’t sound too hectic at all. “And the little slice of my life that’s still mine? What do I do then, take Maria out on a date?” He shook his head angrily. Yeah, he was pissed.

“No one said it’s gonna be easy,” Kyle said as they trudged down the sidewalk to the commuter parking lot. “Have you told your parents yet?”

Michael shook his head. “Not yet.” He was sort of dreading that. They’d be so disappointed in him.

“Well, I’m sure they’ll help you out, financially and emotionally. And I’ll help. And Maria--”

“Maria can’t even stand being around Isabel right now,” Michael cut in.

“Dude.” Kyle stepped in front of him, stopping him suddenly. He looked worried.

“What?”

“You guys gotta make sure you’re communicating right now. Communication is the key.”

“We communicate,” Michael insisted.

“Really? I thought you said she bunked with Tess last night. Again.”

Michael sighed and reluctantly admitted, “She did. She has every right to be freaked out right now.”

“Exactly, so what you need to do is--”

“I need to do everything, don’t I?” Michael began to rant. “I need to be a father and a boyfriend and a son and a student and an employee, and what if I can’t cut it? What if I just . . . can’t?”

“No, you can’t think like that.”

“You don’t know what it’s like, okay?” Michael snapped. It was so easy for people to stand there and give him advice, because they weren’t in his position. “You don’t know what it’s like to be expecting a kid with your ex-girlfriend.”

“No, but I do know what it’s like to lose the girl I love,” Kyle pointed out. “And this is how it starts; you stop communicating. And the farther apart you get, the harder it is to stay together. You’re gonna lose her, just like I lost Tess.”

That was the last thing Michael wanted. He needed Maria.

“Unless you fight like hell to keep her close.”

He wasn’t sure how much fight he had left in him, but for Maria . . . he’d never let her go, not if he could help it. “I think I’m gonna skip my afternoon class,” he said, deciding he had more important matters to attend to at the moment.

“Yeah,” Kyle agreed, “good idea.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Well, that was like a surprise, only expected.”

Max left the reading of the will feeling . . . relieved. And somewhat terrified. Because now he was the one with all the power. All of it. “I’m glad that’s over with,” he said.

Isabel walked with him back to his office and followed him inside. “So, how does it feel to be in charge of the Evans hotel company at last?” she asked.

“Good,” he replied. He leaned back against his desk and picked up a pen, twirling it around in his hand. Yeah, it felt really good. “It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

“Me, too,” Isabel said. “Kidding. Sort of.” She smirked and stood before him, folding her arms over her chest.

“I wonder,” Max said, “if he had gotten the will changed, who would’ve gotten the company? Maybe you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Doubtful. Although, I’m not gonna lie, I did get my hopes up when the lawyer did that drawn-out, dramatic pause.” She laughed a little. “Oh, well. Mom and I are used to being at the mercy of men. We don’t have penises, so God forbid we have brains or aspirations.”

“Dad was always a bit of a male-chauvinist, wasn’t he?”

“A bit?” Isabel huffed. “That was his whole persona. And you’re one to talk. You’re not exactly an advocate of female empowerment.”

“No,” Max acknowledged, “but if I were him, I would’ve left you at least twenty bucks. Something.”

“Twenty bucks.” Isabel nodded. “I’d take it. That buys a whole lot of condoms.”

Max chuckled. “You could’ve used some of those a couple months ago.”

“I can use ‘em after I get this bun out of my oven,” she pointed out.

“With who? Michael?”

She blushed. “Maybe.”

“Good luck.” He didn’t doubt his sister’s deviousness, but there were certain feats that were just impossible. This was one of them. “He and Maria are air-tight. He’d be crazy to give her up.”

“I thought you hated Maria.”

“I do, but she’s a fantastic fuck. Like I said, he’d be crazy.”

Isabel raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “And you know this because . . .?”

“Well, I fucked her. Took advantage of her, actually,” he confessed casually.

Isabel grinned. “Nice.”

Max was taken aback for a moment. Apparently Isabel wasn’t quite an advocate for female empowerment, either. Why would she say something like that? Even he knew it was wrong. “No,” he said. “I did a horrible thing. I’ve done lots of horrible things.” He wasn’t looking for forgiveness, but his actions certainly didn’t merit glorification.

“Just like Dad,” Isabel remarked.

“I’m not like Dad.” Ending up like his father was quickly becoming one of his worst fears. His only fear, perhaps.

“No, you’re not,” Isabel agreed. “But you will be.” She spun on her heel and walked out of his office without another word. Max stood there, gripping the pen in his hand tightly with his fingers. He’d just gotten everything he’d ever wanted in life. So why didn’t it feel better?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabel returned to Michael’s apartment late that afternoon. It really was a nice apartment. Back when they’d been dating, she hadn’t officially lived with him, but they’d talked about moving in together. She could see herself living there. It wasn’t big enough for three grown adults, though. It would probably be big enough for two and a baby.

“Where have you been all day?”

She set her purse down on the arm of the couch and startled a bit as Michael walked out of his bedroom. He looked . . . well, he looked the same way he had looked since she had come back: worried. But oh-so handsome. The frown lines on his forehead were getting increasingly deeper, though. He was going to have to stop frowning one of these days or he’d wrinkle.

“Well, I was out helping this creepy guy find his dog, and then I took candy from strangers,” she joked in response. He was going to make a great father. He had the whole protective, inquisitive thing down. “I went to see my brother,” she told him as she removed her coat and draped it on the back of one of the living room chairs, “which is almost as risky.”

“Really?”

“No. Max and I have always gotten along really well. I trust him. He understands me. He knows that sometimes you have to fight for what you want.” She looked him right in the eye as she said that, fully intent on fighting for everything she wanted, including him.

“I get that,” Michael said, burying his hands in his pockets. He looked nervous. Dear, sweet, nervous Michael.

“I actually picked the right day to visit him,” she went on. “They were reading my father’s will.”

“Were they?”

“Yeah. Suckfest is, I didn’t get anything, but that’s no shock.” She traipsed into the kitchen and pulled open the refrigerator door. Damn, no kiwi. Kiwi was her biggest pregnancy food craving. She shut the door again and went on talking. “Nope, Max has it all. House, cars, money, company . . . talk about having your hands full. Too full, I think, but we’ll see how he does.” In her mind, her father was an idiot. He would have been much smarter to split up his fortune.

“I’m sorry about his death, by the way,” Michael put in.

She grunted. “Why? I’m not.” She ran her hand over the countertop, talking to herself as she circled around the counter. “He got what was coming to him. We all do in the end. I’m just glad his end was sooner rather than later. Grandpa Evans would’ve left a lot to be desired, don’t you think?” She glanced up at Michael and stopped in front of him, drumming her fingertips on the counter. “You know, that man lived his whole life ignoring the fact that women can do everything men can do, and most of the time, they do it better.” She smirked. “No offense to your gender or anything.”

“None taken,” he said.

“His biggest disappointment in life was that he had a son and a daughter instead of two sons.” She shook her head in contempt and growled, “Prick.”

“Isabel . . .”

“I hope you’ll be happy with whatever we end up with. Boy. Girl. Whichever.”

“Of course,” he assured her.

“Good.” She had a feeling it was going to be a boy, and Michael would make sure he grew up to be a nice, respectable guy. And she would make sure he grew up to be determined and good-looking. “Well, then, enough of my rant.” She placed one hand on her back and winced. The aches and pains of pregnancy were by far one of the most annoying parts. “Wanna give me a massage?”

He looked taken aback but answered relatively quickly. “No, um . . .”

She pouted. Massages were good during pregnancy. She’d read about it.

“Look, Isabel, we have to do something about these living arrangements. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to spring this on you.”

“It’s not sprung,” she assured him, although it sort of was. Would he really make her leave? She was pregnant, and he was Michael.

“I’m not trying to kick you out,” he said. “I’m just trying to--”

“Kick me out?” she filled in, figuring this to be Maria’s idea. She’d probably threatened to withhold sex if Michael didn’t make her leave. Of course, Michael probably wasn’t in the mood to have sex. Regardless, it was Maria’s idea. Had to be. Michael was way too nice to make her leave unless some stupid bitch implanted the idea in his head.

“Yes. No. No,” he stuttered. “It’s just . . . I live here, and Maria lives here. And it’s a one-bedroom apartment, so there really isn’t room for three of us here. And it’s awkward for three of us here.”

She grunted. She didn’t think it was awkward at all. Maybe it was for him and Maria, but she was having a pretty damn good time.

“So I’m gonna go ahead and get you a hotel room,” he said decidedly. “I know it’s gonna cost money, but I have money. I’ll make it work.”

She had no doubt about that, but she still didn’t want to leave.

“And maybe someday we can find an apartment for you,” he suggested. “Lots of places start leasing around this time of year, so it’s . . . it’s good timing. Really good. Maybe we could find a studio apartment. They’re cheap. A nice one, of course, but an inexpensive one.”

“I see.” Typical Michael. He had it all planned out. When was he going to realize that you couldn’t plan life? You had to roll with the punches. She was an expert at that.

“Now don’t worry, I’m gonna be here for you throughout the remainder of this pregnancy,” he promised, “and after the baby’s born . . . I’m not going anywhere.”

Of course he wasn’t.

“I wanna be a part of this kid’s life. I’m not gonna leave you to fend for yourself. But I gotta think about me and Maria, too. She’s a priority just like this child is.”

Even though Isabel wanted to shout at the top of her lungs just how unimportant and insignificant Maria DeLuca was, she knew she couldn’t do that. So she bit her tongue, smiled, and pretended to be nice and agreeable. “I totally respect that. And I understand.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. If my relationship was on thin ice, I’d be worried, too.”

“What? On thin ice?” he echoed, making a face. “No, Maria and I aren’t . . . we’re not—we’re not on thin ice. We’re on no ice really. We’re fine.”

“Oh, I know.” If you say so, gorgeous. “I just mean, sometimes when things change so drastically, it’s hard to stay together. But if you and Maria are as destined as you seem, this whole pregnancy thing won’t even be a factor. Right?”

He shifted from side to side, looking suddenly uncomfortable, and looked down at his feet. “Right,” he mumbled in agreement. “Not a factor.”

She smiled, giving herself a mental pat on the back. I am so good. “Actually, I anticipated this,” she said. “Kinda sensed I’d worn out my welcome, so I talked to Max. He agreed to get me a room free of charge.”

Michael nodded. “Oh, that’s . . . are you sure you wanna rely on him?”

She shrugged. “I’m fine with it. He’s my brother, and it’s his first good deed . . . well, ever. But it’s also his first good deed as an uncle. I should probably make him feel useful.” She took a few steps towards him and said, “I understand why it makes you feel uncomfortable, though, considering what he did to Maria.”

Michael visibly tensed and looked away.

“Yeah, he told me about that,” she went on. Personally, she thought it was hilarious. Maria was a slut, so getting taken advantage of? Not exactly something she didn’t bring on herself. “I think that is so wrong,” she said to Michael, knowing he wouldn’t take kindly to her honest thoughts. “I’ll apologize on his behalf.” And then I’ll laugh inwardly, she thought, resisting the urge to smile.

He backed away from her slightly and said, “Okay, if you’re sure this is what you want . . .”

It wasn’t what she wanted, but it would do . . . for now.

“Thank you for understanding.”

She allowed her smile to show through, but kept the mischief that accompanied it hidden. “No problem. The last thing I wanna do is ruin what you’ve got going here.” She had him so fooled, and she loved that. “Um, would you be willing to go pack up my stuff?” she asked, motioning towards the bedroom. “My back’s all achy.”

“Sure.” He trudged down the hallway, and she kept her smile in place until he was out of sight. Then she let the inevitable frown take its place. This was one of those times when she was going to have to roll with the punches, because this wasn’t part of her plan. But she’d make it work. She always did.

She picked up her coat off the back of the chair and reached into the pocket for her cell phone. She quickly dialed Max’s personal number and kept glancing down the hallway to make sure Michael couldn’t see what she was doing. Max picked up on the third ring.

“Hey, little brother,” she said. “I need a hotel room.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tess couldn’t believe her eyes. She was on her way to the library to meet with a study group for her biology midterm when she saw an all too familiar figure standing outside the tutoring center. Liz Parker. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Tess sighed heavily and veered off her course to the library to approach Liz. She didn’t even bother saying hello. She still hated that girl with a fiery passion, so she came right out and asked, “What’re you doing here?”

Liz looked at her in surprise. “Hi, Tess.”

“You’re back in town?”

Liz hesitated before replying. “No. Only temporarily.”

“Temporarily?” Tess didn’t buy that for an instant.

“Maybe a little while longer,” Liz confessed. “I miss college. I was thinking I might be able to get my job back at the tutoring center.”

“Oh, yeah, ‘cause you were such a great tutor,” Tess snapped. There was a reason why she was suffering through the agony of another biology midterm, because last semester’s hadn’t gone so well.

“I won’t be so distracted this time,” Liz promised. “I really have changed.”

Tess made a face. “No, you haven’t. I can tell. Here you are, putting on the goody two-shoes act when we all know it’s just that, an act. If you had any semblance of sense, you’d stay away from here. It’s like a hurricane of drama right now. You don’t wanna get swept up in it. Or, knowing you, maybe you do.”

“God, Tess, wanna tone down the hostility?” Liz suggested. “I realize you don’t like me, but do you have to be so blatant about it?”

Normally, Tess tried not to be such an outright bitch, but she was in a bad mood. “Yes.” She had been ever since she and Kyle had ended things. Nothing was going right for her, and now nothing was going right for her best friend, either. There were no smiley faces to be shown.

Liz let out a heavy breath and returned to gazing at the tutoring center. “I’m not coming back for Max, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she said.

“Oh, that’s exactly what I’m thinking. I told you, Liz, you’re not fooling anyone.”

“I’m back for Kyle,” Liz said, casting a sideways glance at her.

Tess bristled. “What?” What did that mean?

Liz smiled a little. “Not like that, but that’s a good reaction for you to have. It shows you still care about him. I guess you could say I’m here for you, too.”

“For me?” Now it was just getting laughable. “Please. You hate me.”

“I dislike you, Tess. I don’t hate you. But I love Kyle, in the way you love a lifelong friend. And he loves you, in a sexy way.”

Tess frowned and averted her eyes. She didn’t need to be reminded of that. It hurt too much to think about everything she’d lost.

“I just wanna make sure Max doesn’t get in the way of your guys’ happy ending,” Liz explained. “That’s why I’m here.”

Tess narrowed her eyes at the complex girl, still doubting it. “Gosh. You’re so selfless.”

“I’m just trying--”

“You’re trying to justify your decision to come back here, and . . . I can’t say I blame you,” Tess cut in. “I would, too. And maybe a small part of you is here for me and Kyle, but in the grand scheme of things . . . you know why you’re here.”

Liz tensed up and didn’t say anything. She suddenly looked . . . very afraid. Tess almost felt bad for her. Almost. Being in love with Max Evans was often a terrifying, horrible thing. She knew this, and she hadn’t ever really loved him, not the way Liz did.

“How’s Maria doing?” Liz asked, changing the topic abruptly. “I mean, with this whole pregnant Isabel thing.”

“She’s hurting. She’s dealing,” Tess replied. “We all are. Everything kind of sucks right now. Hurricane of drama, remember?”

Liz smiled a little. “Yeah.”

“But Maria said Michael finally got Isabel to go to a hotel, so . . .” She shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe things are looking up.” She certainly hoped they were. She wasn’t sure how much more pain, shock, and heartbreak any of them could take.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria lay on the couch with Michael that evening, in front of him. He had his arms around her, and they were both curled up against the left arm of the couch, beneath blankets. Maria thought she should feel warmer.

“This is nice,” he said, smoothing one of his hands over her thigh. “Just the two of us.” He pressed a soft kiss to the side of her head.

She stared straight ahead at the television screen and didn’t say anything. Yeah, it was just the two of them, but in a way . . . it still wasn’t.

“Kinda feels like old times, don’t you think?” he asked, obviously just trying to elicit some kind of response.

Old times? she thought. Old times weren’t like this. Old times seemed very far away, but she remembered being happy and not having a care in the world and feeling like everything was going to work out no matter what. She didn’t feel that way anymore. “Kind of,” she mumbled, wishing she didn’t feel . . . uncomfortable. This was Michael, and this was her, and this was their place. And they sat together on the couch like this all the time. All the time. He held her in his arms every day. But it usually felt . . . better.

“See, not everything’s gonna change,” Michael practically whispered, nuzzling his face against her neck. He was being so affectionate. In that moment, with everything that was going on, it was too much.

“Uh . . .” She untangled herself from him and stood up, needing a little space. “I’m gonna go take a shower.”

“Are you sure? Family Guy’s on. That’s your favorite show.”

“Yeah . . .” She looked at the TV screen, knowing she was just too worked up to focus or even pretend to focus on stupid humor right now. “But I’ve seen this episode like a thousand times. I just really need to be . . .” Alone, she thought, feeling guilty. Michael needed her. He needed her to be there for him. “Clean.” She sulked down the hallway into the bathroom and shut the door. She stood there in the dark for a moment, trying to take deep, even breaths. Nothing was making her feel any better.

She turned on the light and looked at herself in the mirror. She looked tired. She felt tired, too. There were bags under her eyes, and her skin was all blotchy. Isabel looked prettier than she did right now. She had the whole pregnancy glow working in her favor.

Maria had just reached down to grab the hem of her shirt and was about to pull it over her head when the door to the bathroom opened and Michael poked his head inside.

“Hey,” he said. “Mind if I join you?”

She didn’t know what to say.

They stood together in the shower beneath a steady stream of running water a few minutes later, facing each other. Michael kept touching her shoulders and smoothing his hands down her arms. She placed her hands on his sides and didn’t move them. She bent her head downward and kept her eyes focused on his naked chest, not his face or . . . any other part of him.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and lowered his arms to wrap around her waist and pull her in closer to him. She stiffened despite her desire not to. Something was wrong here. Usually she and Michael were so fluid together, just like the water they were standing under. But this didn’t feel right.

He splayed his large hands against the small of her back, and she felt him gazing down at her, just gazing, expecting her to lift up her head and look him in the eye. But she didn’t. She couldn’t.

I wonder if he and Isabel made that baby in this shower, she thought, and it was a horrible, disgusting thought, one she didn’t at all want to be thinking. Or maybe it was in the bed. That was even worse.

He brought one hand up to stroke her wet hair, and she flashed back to being in the pool with him, the night they had first had sex together. They had been soaked with water, just like this, but things had been simpler. And nicer.

She pressed her left cheek against his chest and felt his heart beating. One thud after another, it was pounding almost as quickly as hers. He probably thought they were going to . . . but how could they do that right now? Wasn’t sex what had gotten him into this mess in the first place?

He held her against him for awhile, running one hand up and down her spine. Then, slowly, he placed his other hand beneath her chin, urging her to look up at him. She tried to keep her eyes downcast, but that didn’t feel right, so she gazed at him. It was a good thing they were in the shower, because there was no possibly way he could distinguish her tears from the rest of the water. She wasn’t sure how the tears had formed so quickly anyway. All of a sudden, they were just there.

He smiled at her, just a small, encouraging smile. It was enough to wordlessly communicate his desire. He probably didn’t even want to have sex, though. Not really. He probably just felt like he should want to have sex. Or maybe he just wanted to feel close to her. They were close, weren’t they?

He bent forward and pressed a soft, gentle kiss to her lips. It felt . . . sort of off, though, full of uncertainty. She kissed him back as best she could, but she didn’t want to do this. Not now. How could anyone do this knowing just how huge of a consequence it could have? Pregnancy, even though it wasn’t her pregnancy, definitely ruined the mood.

He began to kiss her more insistently, but it wasn’t until she felt his cock pressing into her stomach that her eyes shot open in alarm. She knew she couldn’t let this happen. It just didn’t feel right, and it had always felt right before.

She tore her lips away and took a step back, lowering her head. Hell must have been freezing over, because her turning down sex? That never happened.

“Tired,” was all she could say, and at least it wasn’t a lie. She was exhausted now.

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed, but in a way, relieved.

She looked at him apologetically, then slid open the door and stepped out of the shower. She grabbed a towel from the towel rack and wrapped it around herself, tucking it in beneath her arms. A few days ago, she and Michael would have had a great time in that shower. And in the bedroom and in the kitchen and . . . everywhere else.

He turned off the water and stepped out alongside her, wrapping a towel around his waist. “Is everything okay?” he asked her.

Nothing was okay. Everything was a disaster. He had to know that. He was trying to sugarcoat it, trying to assure her that nothing would change when, in reality, a lot of things had already changed.

She nodded unconvincingly and slipped out of the bathroom. Tears joined the water tracks on her face. That was the first cold shower she and Michael had ever taken together.








TBC . . . (on Tuesday instead of Monday)

-April
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LOVE IS MICHAEL AND MARIA.
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April
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Part 53

Post by April »

Hey, guys! I know I said I wouldn't update until Tuesday, but I found some spare time today and figured I'd go ahead and post this update. It's a major one, so I'd really like to get it out there.

Thank you for the feedback:

Karin
nibbles
Eva
Alison
Ginger
Nove
spacegirl23
killjoy
BLONDIE
Nat
tequathisy
Sara
Leila (Nice theory! Though that's not the case.) ;)
Zoi

And let me just say, I'm SO GLAD you guys are hating Isabel! Because you're meant to. I've spent a lot of time constructing this "Isabitch" as Leila put it, :lol: She's an absolute addiction to write in this fic.

Speaking of writing . . . I'm getting SO MUCH writing done over this break! I think I should have this fic finished in a couple of weeks. But of course I won't finish posting it for awhile yet.
;)








Part 53








Michael lay in bed next to Maria that night, feeling far away from her. She was lying on her side, facing away from him. She was so close to the edge of the bed that she was probably going to fall off. It was as though she were afraid of being close to him.

He got out of bed in the middle of the night and slipped out into the hallway with his cell phone in hand. He softly shut the door to the bedroom and leaned back against the wall, sinking down to the floor. He stared at the brightly lit buttons on the phone for at least a full minute before working up the courage it took to press them. He dialed his home phone number and waited for his father to answer. It didn’t take long.

“Hello?” his father said in a groggy voice.

Michael felt tears spring to his eyes. He was talking to his dad, just like his son or daughter would someday talk to him. “Dad?”

“Michael.” There was a slight pause, probably as John was slipping out of the bedroom to talk to Michael without waking Sylvia up. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you today. Or tonight, I guess it is. It’s late. Or early.” He chuckled slightly and asked, “How’re you doing?”

“I’m not . . .” Michael shook his head, barely managing to finish his sentence. “I’m not doing so good.”

“What’s wrong?” John’s voice immediately rose with panic. “Michael?”

“Dad . . .” Would his own child call him Dad or Daddy or Father or . . .

“Do you want me to get your mom on the phone?” John offered.

“No. I might as well tell you first.”

“Tell me what?” John waited a moment, obviously concerned, then said the one word that caused Michael to break. “Son?”

The tears began to fall. He couldn’t control them. He wasn’t macho; he wasn’t tough. He was afraid. “I got Isabel pregnant,” he cried. “I got her pregnant, Dad. I’m gonna have a kid.”

Stunned silence was the only response he received.

“She’s back in town all of a sudden,” Michael went on, blubbering like a fool, “and she’s sayin’ it’s mine. I don’t know what to do.”

“Oh my god,” John said in astonishment.

“I feel so stupid,” he confessed. “I feel so stupid.”

“Now, Michael, you shouldn’t blame yourself. There’s no blame at all here.”

“Yes, there is,” Michael persisted. “I’m sorry. You must be so disappointed in me.” He knew this wasn’t what his parents wanted for him, fatherhood before he was a full-fledged adult himself. And with a girl he no longer loved at that. It couldn’t get much worse.

“No,” his father assured him, sounding surprisingly calm. “No, I could never be disappointed in you.”

Michael sniffed back more tears and wiped his cheeks clean. “Everything was going so good,” he wailed, “and then this happened. I don’t know why this had to happen. And now Maria’s freaking out, and I’m freaking out. I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s good that you told me.”

“I was scared to,” he confessed, though he had to admit that he felt much better having gotten it off his chest. He still had to tell his mother, though. Maybe his dad would take on that responsibility. “I’m so sorry.”

“Would you quit saying that?” John snapped. “This is not your fault; this is no one’s fault. It’s . . . unexpected. It’s something we’ll all have to get used to. But we’re a family, Michael, and this is your child. This is somebody you’ll love as much as your mother and I love you.”

There was no doubt about that. As inconvenient and unexpected as this baby was, Michael knew he would love it. It was a part of him.

“Congratulations, son,” his father said.

Michael swallowed hard and nodded, trying like hell to see how anything about this could be congratulatory. “Thanks.” It was life. It was a new, small life. That was the kind of thing that was always a miracle, and he knew that. He was still crying, though.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria lay in bed with the covers pulled tightly beneath her arms. Even though Michael had shut the door, she could hear him out in the hallway, talking to his dad and crying. She was so unused to seeing Michael cry, yet he had cried without restraint twice in the past few days. And it wasn’t the good kind of crying, either, not the happy kind. He was so scared, and so was she.

She buried her face in her pillow and muffled the sounds of her own tears. She didn’t want him to hear her. He wouldn’t. His own sadness was overpowering him, as it should.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Why are you so upset?” Max couldn’t for the life of him understand the pissed off look on his sister’s face. He stood in the doorway to the hotel room he had gotten for her. She sat on the bed with a breakfast cart in front of her. He’d had the chef downstairs in the dining room prepare it especially for her. “It’s a first-class room, almost as nice as my suite.”

“It’s not the room; it’s the fact that I’m in the room that bothers me,” she explained, nibbling on kiwi. She’d been adamant about the kiwi.

Max grinned, understanding now. “Oh, I see. Guerin threw you for a loop when he kicked you out, huh?”

“He didn’t kick me out,” Isabel denied quickly. “He . . . packed up my things and asked me to leave.”

“And the difference?”

“There’s a difference,” she assured him, pushing the breakfast cart aside. “What’re you still doing here anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

He shrugged. “Dad always said you don’t have to show up on time when you’re the one in charge.”

“Interesting philosophy.” Isabel rose to her feet and walked over to the other side of the room, sitting down in front of the vanity. She took a moment to gaze at her own reflection in the mirror, and Max rolled his eyes. Isabel was convinced that she was the best-looking person on the planet, but she couldn’t be. He held that title.

“But when I do get there,” he went on, “things are gonna change. No more sitting around on our hands. It’s time for expansion, and profits to go along with that expansion.”

Isabel smiled at him in the mirror. “I like your ambition, Max,” she said, picking up her brush. She ran it through her hair slowly, almost strand by strand. “If only you had a touch of realism to go along with it.”

Max frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Max.” She set the brush back down and turned around to face him. “Will you do me a favor?”

“I thought I already did you one.” The hotel room wasn’t cheap, and he was giving it to her free of charge.

“I mean another one.”

He sighed and shuffled into the room, shutting the door. “What do you need?”

“I need help.”

“Since when?”

“Since you were right about Michael and Maria. They’re super close, and I don’t l like it.” She made a face of disgust and inquired, “Is there any way I could convince you to rape Maria again?”

He wasn’t sure what was more shocking, that she would even ask that or that she sounded one-hundred percent genuine in her request. “No,” he said.

“Darn. That would’ve caused her some nice emotional distress.” She shrugged it off. “Oh, well. You can still be of use to me.”

He wrinkled his forehead in confusion. She made it sound like he had strings attached to him and she was pulling on them. “Whatever you planning, I’m not gonna be your willing puppet,” he warned.

“No, of course not.” She stood up and walked toward him. She was so huge. “Max, you’re very smart—practically an evil genius. You’re the perfect person to do a little . . . gardening.”

“Gardening?” What was that supposed to mean?

“Yes. I need you to plant some seeds.”

He raised his eyebrows and pointedly looked at her round stomach. Those kind of seeds? If she wanted a knocked-up playmate, he was going to have to pass.

She rolled her eyes. “Seeds of doubt, Max.”

He nodded. “Right.” That made much more sense. “And where would I be planting these doubtful seeds?”

“In Michael’s head.” She grinned and grabbed the last slice of kiwi off the breakfast cart. “Make him doubt that he and Maria can survive this. Be subtle, but not too subtle. Just get the job done.”

“Hmm, it’s almost like I work for you now.”

“Almost.”

He smiled a little and shook his head. “No, no, as much as it kills me to say this, Guerin’s too smart to fall for that. He’ll see right through any attempt I make.”

Isabel popped the kiwi into her mouth and nodded in consideration. “I see what you’re saying. So we need to plant the seeds in the head of someone stupider, somebody like . . .”

“Maria,” he filled in.

“Exactly.” Her excited grin stretched from ear to ear. “Perfect. I love that we’re so on the same wavelength here.”

Max was still skeptical. Besides, he had other things to do. He was owner of a multi-million dollar company now. His sister’s vendetta, though entertaining, was of no benefit to him personally. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not sure if I feel like getting involved. I have a lot of other things to do.”

“But none so fun,” she pointed out. “Think about it, little brother. You have the chance to instigate an incredible amount of chaos here, and I know you’re interested in chaos.”

That was true. He was . . . or at least he had been.

“Come on, Max,” she pleaded. “You might as well. It’s not like you’re ever gonna be one of the good guys.”

He knew that. He stood in that hotel room with his sister, and he knew that. He didn’t even want to be one of the good guys. Not really. Good guys never got the girl. But then again, he was living proof that bad guys didn’t, either.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Max searched all over campus for Maria that day. He figured she had to be around there somewhere. If he were her, he would have wanted to be anywhere but at home. Class was probably a welcomed distraction to the reality in which her life was a combustible piece of crap.

He found her sitting outside the library, on the grassy knoll on the east side of the building. She was alone, looking down aimlessly at the activity going on outside the Student Union. She looked depressed. New look for her, not so hot.

He approached her and sat down beside her, waiting for her to say something. He half expected her to just get up and walk away from him, but apparently she was too tired for that, because she just cast a sideways glance at him, then looked back down at the Union. “What do you want?” she grumbled.

“I have everything I want,” he said. “Almost everything.”

“Then what’re you doing?”

“Annoying you, I’d imagine.”

She rolled her eyes. Clearly he was accomplishing his first and foremost goal. “I’m not in the mood to deal with you, Max.”

“When are you ever?”

“I’m serious,” she growled. “Leave me alone.”

“Ooh, she doesn’t even have anything witty to say,” he teased. “That means my sister’s really gotten under your skin.”

She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. It wasn’t even cold out, even though it was the middle of February.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “She’ll be gone soon enough.”

“You know, a very naïve person would think you’re trying to make me feel better.”

“A very naïve person would be wrong,” he assured her. “You want me to leave?”

Surely she did, but her curiosity got the best of her. “What do you mean she’ll be gone? She’s leaving?”

“Well, actually . . . I don’t know what I mean,” he confessed. “Come to think of it, she’ll probably be around for awhile. Entry into motherhood and all that. And Michael the father . . .” He trailed off and waited for a reaction. She tried to conceal it, but her frown lines were becoming prominent. He saw an opportunity to start his ‘gardening,’ so he seized it. “I wonder where you’ll fit in when that happens,” he said. “It’s gonna be hard on you. I suspect you know that.”

“Go away, Max,” she muttered.

“It’s not even just the kid that’s gonna be a problem,” he went on. “It’s Michael and Isabel. You see, they have this pertinent little thing called history . . .” As he said that, he caught sight of the most familiar girl walking out of the Union bookstore. Liz didn’t see him watching her, but he noticed that she was carrying a large box in her arms, a box full of books. Her hair was flapping lightly with the breeze. Pretty girl.

“What?” Maria said, apparently noticing his dazed look. She followed the his line of sight and saw what he was seeing. “Liz is back in town?”

“Has been for awhile now.” He wasn’t surprised she hadn’t known. She had other things going on. Besides, she and Liz weren’t exactly friends anymore now that he’d gotten in the way . . . or gotten into Liz, rather.

“Great,” Maria grunted. “More drama.”

“Doesn’t concern you,” he pointed out. “What was I saying?”

“Something about Michael and Isabel’s history. I really didn’t care.”

“Right.” He tried to shake the image of Liz out of his head, but knowing that she was right there, just a short distance away from him . . . “They dated for two years,” he went on. He’d promised his sister he would do this. “That kind of connection never really goes away. And you two haven’t been together long . . .” He made the mistake of casting another glance at Liz. She was walking past the fountain now, struggling to hold onto the large box in her hands. “You should probably . . .” He wanted to reach out and touch her, but he couldn’t do that anymore. Michael and Maria were nothing like him and Liz, but perhaps they were going to end of the same way: apart.

He looked Maria right in the eye, and he still hated her. Hated the girl. Hated. Her. And he knew she had every reason and more to hate him. “Stay together,” he said. “You and Guerin. You should probably stay together.” It was a good thing Isabel couldn’t hear him. These weren’t the seeds she had given him to plant. “You probably have something worth fighting for, so you should . . . fight.”

Maria looked to be contemplating what he was saying for only a moment, then glared at him and bit out, “I hate you.”

“But you should listen to me,” he told her. “Don’t give up just because there’s an obstacle in the way. Sooner or later, you’re gonna have to make a choice.” He looked at Liz again, remembering the choice he’d been forced to make: her or the company. “Make the right one.” He had his damn company now and the lifestyle that accompanied it, but he still wasn’t sure if it had been the right choice.

“God, just leave me alone.” Maria got to her feet and quickly walked down the hill, brushing past Liz without a word. It was as though they were strangers. Max sat there for a moment after she had gone, then stood up and approached his former flame. “Liz,” he said when he was only a few feet behind her.

She turned around, looking startled. “Oh, Max,” she gasped. “You scared me.”

“Don’t I always?” He was a scary guy.

“Always,” she practically whispered. “Oh!” The box began to slip from her hands again, so he grabbed it from her.

“Here, let me take that,” he said, happy to play the part of the big, strong man. “You goin’ to the parking lot?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll walk with you.” Whether she wanted him to or not didn’t really matter. He wasn’t going to pass up the chance to spend time with her. He’d lost a lot of time already.

He glanced down into the box as they walked together and surveyed all the books in there. Textbooks. Lots of biology and chemistry and physics. “I thought you were just staying here temporarily,” he remarked.

“Yeah.” She looked down at her feet as she walked.

“Looks permanent to me. Are you taking classes here again?”

“Oh, no, that’s just light reading.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“That was just sarcasm,” she informed him. “No, I’m gonna keep doing my online classes for now, finish them up. But maybe next fall . . . or even this summer . . .” She shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Right.” The news thrilled him, but he didn’t dare show his excitement. “How’s Matt feel about this?”

“Matt?” she echoed. “Oh, boyfriend Matt. Right, um . . . he’s fine with it.”

“Really?” What kind of guy would be fine with his girlfriend leaving home to start her college life over again? “There is no Matt, is there?”

“What?” She laughed as though that idea were absurd.

“You made him up to make me think you moved on. Clever.” He’d even fallen for it for awhile there.

“That’s ridiculous,” she dismissed.

“Is it?” He didn’t think so. He stopped walking and turned to face her, still holding the box full of books in his arms. “What’s Matt’s last name?”

“Wilson.”

“Middle name?”

“Lee.”

“Age?”

“Twenty-two.”

“Occupation?”

“He’s a construction worker.”

Max smirked, having caught her in a major lie. “You told me he worked with you at the vet’s office.”

“Dammit,” she swore.

He chuckled. “Do you even work at the vet’s office?”

“Yes,” she insisted. “I’m gonna quit, though. I’m not cut out for animal excretions.”

Max nodded. She was definitely meant for more. “I have the company now,” he said as they started walking again.

“Good. That’s what you wanted, right?”

“Yep, that’s what I wanted.” It was what he’d chosen, at least.

“The parking lot’s just up ahead,” she said, taking the box back from him. “Thanks for helping me with my books. I think I’m gonna go . . . start reading.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna get to work.”

“Okay.” She smiled at him just slightly. Just slightly. “Bye, Max.”

“Bye, Liz.” He watched her walk away from him, and the thought of her being in town again, and not just temporarily . . .

No. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. But Michael and Isabel weren’t the only ones with history.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kyle was on his way back from class when he saw Liz walking through the parking lot with a box of books in her hand. She didn’t see him, though, and before he could say something to get her attention, she had climbed into her car and was already driving off. It didn’t matter. His attention was diverted when he saw Tess heading up the steps to the library. She was with a group of people. She saw him, too, though, and she said something to the people she was with, then approached him. He met her in the middle, willing to talk to her. He missed her.

“Hey,” she said, smiling softly.

“Hey.” He shifted his backpack on his shoulders, feeling nervous. This was going to be their first talk since the night she had slapped him at the movie theater and he had, in essence, called her an idiot.

“You look good,” she said. “I mean . . . it just feels like it’s been forever since I’ve seen you.”

He nodded, understanding that feeling. “New friends?” he asked in reference to the people she’d been heading into the library with.

“Oh. Study group,” she explained. “Biology midterm coming up again. I gotta do better than last semester if I wanna pass.”

“You will,” he assured her. She wasn’t an idiot. He’d never meant to insinuate that she was.

“You think?”

“Yeah. We’ve all had so much bad stuff happen lately. Something good has to happen soon.” He sure hoped something good would happen. Between his own unhappiness, Tess’s unhappiness, and now Michael and Maria’s unhappiness . . . no one was happy.

“Something good,” she echoed. “Yeah.”

Yeah. Getting back together with her might have been something good, but he wasn’t sure when that was going to happen, if ever.

“How’s Michael doing?” she asked. “I haven’t had the chance to talk to him much. I’ve mainly been trying to be there for Maria.”

“Well, he’s, uh . . . gonna have a baby, so he’s doing about as well as can be expected,” Kyle replied. He could only imagine what he would be like if he were in Michael’s situation. For once, Michael was the unlucky one. “And Maria?” he asked.

“She’s . . .” Tess trailed off.

“I figured.”

“Do you think they’re gonna make it?” she asked. “Do you think they’re gonna survive this? ‘Cause that can be kinda hard, the surviving.”

Kyle sighed heavily. “I don’t know. I hope so.”

Tess looked right at him when she said, “She loves him.”

He got the sense that Tess was beginning to use Michael and Maria’s relationship as an analogy for their own relationship. “He loves her, too,” he returned.

Her eyes filled with longing, almost pleading. “That really should be enough,” she whispered.

He swallowed hard. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t be around her like this. He couldn’t talk like this. “It should be,” he agreed, walking past her. Sometimes it wasn’t, though. They both knew that.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria walked inside the apartment and froze. Michael was in the living room, sitting on the floor assembling a crib. A real life baby crib. It was green, pretty much pastel, worked for either a boy or girl. He was about halfway done. He looked frustrated.

Oh my god, she thought, her chest tightening immediately. Where were they going to put that thing?

He finally looked up and saw her. “Hey,” he said, stopping what he was doing. He almost looked ashamed to be putting that crib together. “How was class?”

“Fine,” she managed to answer, still not taking her eyes off the wooden railings in his hands. “That’s . . .”

“A crib, yeah,” he filled in. “It was on sale at Sears.”

So he’d gone shopping for it. He’d paid for it and everything. This was . . . really happening. “Where are you gonna put that?” she asked. “In your bedroom?” She didn’t know why she’d referred to that bedroom as his. It was supposed to be theirs.

“Actually, I was gonna give it to Isabel,” he told her.

So he’d bought it as a gift? “Oh.” That was even worse.

“I just wanna make sure she has one.”

It was as though he were defending his purchase. “Uh-huh.” She walked into the kitchen, practically stupefied, and braced herself against the counter. For some reason, she just felt sick. “Great,” she muttered. “She was the one who hurt you, and now she’s the one who gets you.”

“Gets me?”

She hadn’t meant for him to overhear her. She thought she was talking to herself. “Never mind,” she dismissed.

“No, not never mind.” He climbed to his feet, groaning as he did so. He seemed so tired. “If you have something to say, you should say it.”

“Michael, I don’t wanna fight,” she said.

“I don’t either. That’s why we’re not gonna. You can tell me whatever you’re feeling or thinking about . . . everything. And I won’t hold it against you. And I hope if I need to talk to you, I can. Because we gotta communicate, Maria, now more than ever.”

She rolled her eyes. “You sound like Kyle.”

“I do? Oh, that’s not good.” He chuckled lightly and suggested, “Maybe we can laugh a little.”

She shook her head. “Maybe not.” She didn’t meant to be so abrasive, but . . . things were just starting to boil over. After that brief and un-fun talk with Max, she was more on edge than he’d ever been. He said they should stay together, and probably deep down in his heart (if he had one), he believed that. But if Max thought staying together was a good idea, then it had to be the wrong thing to do.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, turning to face him. “I know I’m not helping. I just . . . I can’t plaster a smile on my face and pretend everything’s okay when it’s not.”

He looked her in the eye and nodded in understanding. “Okay, see . . . more like that. We need more of that.”

“More of what?”

“Honesty.”

“I thought you said you don’t wanna fight.”

“That’s not what we’re doing,” he insisted. “We’re getting things out in the open. That’s good. We don’t wanna let things bottle up.” He took a few steps towards her and asked, “Are you mad at me?”

She stepped backwards just slightly. “Why would I be mad at you?”

Michael shrugged. “I don’t know. ‘Cause it’s not like I did this on purpose.”

“I know that.”

“But that doesn’t make it any easier, does it?”

It was as though he’d read her mind. “Oh, Michael,” she said. “I don’t wanna do this now.”

“Well, when do you wanna do it?” he asked. “‘Cause we have to have this conversation sooner or later. Why not sooner?”

She was starting to feel pressured, pressured into talking about something she didn’t want to talk about. And the more pressured she felt, the more hostile her tone became. “I’m not mad at you,” she promised him. “I’m mad at the situation. And I realize ‘the situation’ is your kid, so I feel pretty crappy for not feeling better. I know I should be more supportive.”

“You’ve been supportive.”

“Would you stop?” It was almost as though he was trying too hard to be so understanding. “I haven’t. I’ve been selfish. And I think I’m gonna keep being selfish. Because, see, you . . . you don’t have a choice. But I have a choice.” She thought the words through in her head and nodded, liking the sound of that. “I have a choice.” It made her feel less pressure.

“Maria?” Michael looked at her questioningly, as though he were trying to figure out just what she was saying. She was trying to figure it out herself when all of sudden it hit her, and she said what she needed to say.

“I can’t do this.”

He frowned for a moment, then seemed to just magically remove that frown from his face. “Okay, if you really don’t wanna talk . . .”

“It’s not the talking. I can’t . . .” Didn’t he get it? He wanted to understand what he was feeling. Couldn’t he just understand this?

“What’re you saying?” he asked, his voice taking on a slightly more panicked tone now. “Maria, nothing’s gonna change.”

“Would you stop saying that? It’s not true!” she shouted. Maybe if she talked louder, she’d get through to him. “So many things have already changed. There’s a half-assembled crib on the living room floor. And . . . and I can’t even touch you without feeling confused.” She thought back to their awkwardness in the shower the night before, and tears sprang to her eyes. What was she supposed to do if she couldn’t even touch him? “And you were crying on the phone with your dad last night, and I heard you. You’re trying so hard to hold it together and act like you’re not worried, but you are. You’re so scared.” And she was scared, too. She had been ever since she’d fallen in love with him.

“I’m terrified,” he confessed.

“Me, too.” But she was too terrified.

“Then we can be terrified together,” he said, reaching out to touch her arm. She jerked away from him, though, and he looked hurt. “Maria.” He put his arm back down by his side and said, “The one thing that terrifies me more than anything else is that I’ll lose you. So just promise me that’ll never happen.”

She couldn’t . . . she couldn’t do that.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” His voice was rising, evidence of his growing concern. Finally, it hit its peak. “No. Come on, Maria.”

Michael. I can’t do this.” She started to cry, because she felt horrible.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” His eyes erupted in anger, causing her to recoil a bit. “No, no way. What’re you saying, you want out?”

That was such a board, all-encompassing question. “I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I want . . . I wanna go to Hawaii with you and Tess and Kyle for spring break. I wanna be able to make love to you. I want . . . I want all this to not be happening. I wanna go back to the way it was. Why did this have to happen?”

“So life gets hard and this is your solution?” he roared. “To bail on me?”

“That’s not what I’m doing.

“Then what the hell are you doing?”

“I think . . .” She glanced over her shoulder at the front door, and she wanted to walk out of it. She wanted out of . . . his apartment. “Maybe I just need some space.”

“Space?” he echoed furiously. “Bullshit! You’re leaving me . . . just like she did.”

That comparison pissed her off. More than pissed her off. “I am nothing like Isabel,” she growled, stomping forward. If he dared compare her to that bitch . . .

“I should’ve known,” he said, throwing his arms in the air, walking back over to the crib. He stared down at it and shook his head in astonishment. “I can’t believe this is happening. Again. Only it’s worse this time ‘cause my life’s upside down and I need you.”

“Need me for what, exactly?” she decided to ask. “What’s my role in your life now that your life’s changing?”

He whirled around, clearly seeing red. “Your role? You’re my girlfriend. I love you.”

“Yeah, and not long ago, you loved her,” she reminded him. Just a couple of months ago, she’d been the only woman he’d ever loved.

“Is that what this is about?” he said. “You think I’m gonna be with Isabel again?”

“I know you’re gonna be with Isabel again,” she said matter-of-factly. “Maybe not romantically or sexually . . . but maybe that, too. But no matter what, in some way . . .” Her lips trembled as she struggled to get the words out. “From here on out, she’s always gonna have a part of you, and you’re always gonna have a part of her, because you guys made this baby; and then there’s . . . there’s just me. And where do I fit in?” She was pretty sure she didn’t. “I can’t compete with that.”

“Because it’s not a competition!” he yelled. “Why’re you being so stupid?”

That stung. “Gee, it’s nice to know what you really think of me.”

“It’s what I really think of you right now,” he told her outright. “I never thought I’d hear you say this. You want out . . . because you’re jealous of my pregnant ex?”

That sounded so crazy, and she didn’t want to admit that any part of it was true. “I am not jealous,” she denied emphatically. “I’m just not ready for any of this.”

“And you think I am?”

“I think you have to be; and I don’t have to be.” It was just as she’d said a moment ago: she had a choice and he didn’t. “I didn’t ask for this.”

“Neither did I!”

“Would you just stop and think about this for, like, a minute?”

“All I’ve done for the past four days is think about this!” he cried. “And it doesn’t stop! I don’t have a way out like you do. And even if I did . . . I wouldn’t take it. I’m not a coward.”

“It’s not cowardice, Michael. It’s-it’s . . . it’s reality, okay? And the reality is that we . . . can’t have it all anymore.”

He glared at her. “Why not?”

“Isn’t it obvious? This baby’s not even out of the womb yet, and we’re already fighting.”

“So you’re blaming this on my unborn kid?”

“Actually, right now I’m blaming this on you.” As mad as he was at her, she was starting to get pretty mad at him, too. Why couldn’t he even make an effort to see where she was coming from? “I’m standing here trying to explain myself, and you just don’t understand.”

“You’re right, I don’t,” he admitted. “‘Cause I thought, when two people care about each other, when two people are in a relationship, they do everything they can to make it work. They don’t give up.”

“That’s not what I’m doing.” Maybe it was.

“Sure it is,” he persisted. “When the going gets tough, Maria gets going. I thought you were stronger than that.”

She hated that she was so easily demonized in this situation. “Fine, I’m not strong,” she conceded. “I don’t care.”

“No, you don’t.”

“But I’ve tried.”

“Oh, that’s a laugh.” He chuckled angrily, that look in his eyes still blazing. It was a mixture of exhaustion, anger, and sadness now. She knew she probably looked the same way. “Four days, Maria,” he said. “We’ve been dealing with this for four days.”

“Yeah, and I already feel like I can’t breathe around here.”

“Oh, give me a break!” he snapped. “You haven’t even been around. You run off to Tess’s every chance you get, leave me here to deal with the mess.”

Your mess,” she reminded him. “Not mine.”

“You ungrateful bitch.”

That took her aback. That word coming out of Michael’s mouth . . . directed towards her? Michael had never called her that before. He’d never called anyone that.

“What? That’s what you are,” he told her. “That’s what you’ve always been. I don’t even know why I’m surprised by any of this. Obviously I thought way too highly of you. You’re a spoiled brat.”

Well, he knew just how to play on all her insecurities, didn’t he? “You so don’t get it,” she informed him. “You’ve been so wrapped up in this fatherhood thing that you’ve--”

“Fatherhood thing?” he cut in.

“That you’ve forgotten all about me!”

“Oh, well, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I can’t check up on you twenty-four hours a day. It’s not like I don’t have anything else goin’ on. Grow up, Maria.”

She didn’t want to. Not this fast. “And you know what else you’ve so conveniently forgotten?” she went on, unable to stop. “The fact that this kid’s mother cheated on you!”

“I didn’t forget. I’ll never forget.”

“Oh, really? Because you made her perfectly comfortable here, even though she lied to you, betrayed you.”

“Oh, don’t even talk about betrayal. Bitch . . .”

She winced when he said that again. “I’m just being honest. That’s what you wanted, right? You wanted to talk. So let’s talk. Let’s communicate. Tell me about your whore. Because she felt right at home here, and you didn’t mind.”

“Well, what was I supposed to do, just throw her out on the streets? She’s carrying my child.”

“Would you quit using this baby as an excuse and just take responsibility for what you did?”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing!”

“For what you did to me.”

“To you? Oh, god, I didn’t do anything.”

“Exactly, you didn’t do anything.” There was no point in holding anything back now. So much had already been said. She figured it wouldn’t hurt to add more fuel to the fire at this point. “You just jumped into this whole new life and expected me to jump with you. But I don’t want to!”

“Oh, and it’s all about what you want?”

“Don’t make me sound so . . .”

“Selfish?” he filled in. “You admitted you are. You wanna be honest, but you can’t handle the truth. What’s up with that?”

“Oh, I can handle the truth, Michael,” she assured him. “I’m handling it right now.” She stormed right up to him, standing right in front of his face, blazing with fury. “The truth, whether you wanna believe it or not, is that nothing will ever be the same again. We will never be the same.”

He looked away.

“You know I’m right,” she said. “God, I used to . . . I used to picture the future, and you were all I could see of it. And then I looked harder, and I saw that I was with you, and we were happy. And maybe we were married and . . . maybe we had a few kids of our own. But that’s all in the past tense. That’s never gonna happen now.”

“You’re right about that,” he growled.

“I picture the future now, and it’s . . . it’s just doomed. Because even if we have a family, you’ll always have another family. With her. And we’ll all have to pretend to get along and love each other, but I don’t love her; I hate her. But you can’t. Not anymore. You can’t hate her. Not now that she’s . . .” She looked him right in the eye and felt her tears starting to fall again. She’d been having these thoughts for awhile now, but to say them out loud for the first time . . . it hurt to say them just as much as it felt liberating. “I can surrender myself to you completely,” she said. “I can give you everything I have, but you can’t do that for me. She’ll always have a part of you I can’t have. I can’t . . . I can’t pretend to be okay with that.”

He pressed his lips together and shook his head angrily. He looked as though he were trying not to cry. His anger was probably the only thing keeping him from breaking down in tears. “If you for one second think that I would ever leave you for Isabel, then you don’t know me at all. And I sure as hell don’t know you. This person standing in front of me . . . this isn’t the girl I fell in love with.”

“Second,” she bit out. “The second girl you fell in love with.” He couldn’t forget that.

“I never knew you were so insecure.”

“Well, what do you expect, huh? You know it’s not in my nature to be the perfect little Stepford stepmom.”

“Stepmom?” he echoed. “No one’s asking you to be a stepmom.”

“Not yet, but you will. Someday, you will. It’s inevitable. And I don’t think it’s fair for me to be pressured into that role. I don’t even know if I want kids of my own, let alone someone else’s. So call me selfish and call me a coward, but don’t you dare blame me for feeling the way I feel.”

“I don’t,” he said. “You’re worried I’ll get back together with Isabel and you don’t wanna share me, and you don’t wanna be a stepmom. Fine. But you also don’t wanna fight for what we have. You’re giving up because you can’t deal.” He shrugged. “I have no respect for that.”

So now he didn’t respect her. Great. “Michael . . .” She’d never known him to be mean like this.

“If you think that’s love, you’re out of your mind.”

He was so wrong, and he didn’t even know it. He had this perfect idealized version of love, and nothing could ever measure up to that. “Look who’s talking,” she snapped. “You’re not fighting for me; you’re fighting with me. You bastard.”

Now it was his turn to look hurt. More hurt than he already had looked.

“You don’t care about me,” she went on. “All you care about is being right. But that’s never gonna happen, because I’m not doing anything wrong here. And if you were in my position, you’d do the exact same thing.”

“No, I’d stand by you,” he proclaimed. “I’d never throw in the towel like this. I’d be the best damn stepdad on the planet. You know why? Because you mean that much to me, and unlike you, I have a backbone.”

“Great, so now I’m spineless? Keep the name-calling coming, Michael. I can take it.”

“‘Cause you know it’s true.”

She made a face of disgust in regards to that remark. “God, you think you’re so much better than me, don’t you?”

“I am.”

His response blew her out of the water. Calling her a bitch was one thing. Claiming to be better than her . . .

“Right now . . . I am better,” he said.

On impulse, she slapped the side of his face. The moment the smack resounded and he stood before her with his head turned towards the side, she felt ten times worse. And she felt . . . she felt inferior.

“You really want out that badly?” he said. “Fine. Get out.”

What was he doing, telling her to leave right that instant?

“If you can’t support me, then I don’t want you here.”

She supposed she didn’t want to stick around after all this.

“Leave,” he growled. “This isn’t your home anymore.”

She felt as though someone squeezed her entire body when he said that. It hurt. It all hurt.

He walked away from her and sat down on the living room floor again, picking up the pieces of the green crib. Like a little kid himself, he tried to fit two pieces together, but they didn’t fit. He tried to force them and ended up breaking both of them.

“So just like that, we’re done?” she choked out, heartbroken.

“Just like that,” he echoed angrily. “Isn’t that what you want?”

She hadn’t expected this when she’d first started talking. She’d expected . . . well, space. Space and time and the possibility that maybe there would be hope for them someday. But it was suddenly as though all hope were gone.

“Yes,” she said. “I want . . . I wanna be done.”

“Good.” He refused to look up at her and kept his eyes focused on the halfway assembled crib instead. “Then get out of my apartment.”

She stood there for a moment, in the kitchen, looking around at everything. She lived here. This was her home. Or at least it had been.

Couch, carpet, counter, ceiling, hallway, shower, sink, bedroom, bed . . . it was just a place. She knew that. But at the same time, it was so much more than that; and she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, the feeling that, if she left, she would never come back.

Dazed and barely able to stand on her own two feet, Maria staggered towards the door.

“I wish I’d never let myself fall in love with you,” Michael mumbled under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear.

She hesitated with her hand on the doorknob. That was the worst thing he possibly could have said, and he’d just said it. “The feeling’s mutual,” she told him, her voice cracking. He was the first and only person she’d ever fallen in love with, and she’d been terrified of the immensity of her feelings the entire time. She was barely able to get the words out and keep the tears in, so she threw open the door and left. Just like that.








TBC . . .

-April *runs and hides*
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LOVE IS MICHAEL AND MARIA.
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April
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Part 54

Post by April »

Zoi: Meaner Michael is sexier? :(

trulov:
I guess the main point is Maria isn't ready for that level of maturity or commitment. I wonder if she would have dealt with all this differently if she and Michael had been together longer before Isabel reared her ugly head.
Yeah, Maria and Michael haven't actually been together that long, only for about a month and a half. They're in love, but this is all happening to them very fast, and it can be overwhelming.

Nove:
I can see how she would be scarred for life because it's not like she fell for a bad person, it was Michael, a good guy. If you can't trust a good guy to keep your heart safe and happy then who can you trust to do that?
That's such a good point! Most girls suffer a broken heart from a bad guy. Maria's suffering one from a good guy, from a good guy who never intended to break her heart in the first place.

I love your essay-length feedback, by the way. :lol:

Karin: :lol: Nice smilies.

Sara:
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???????
What I do best: make my readers miserable. :twisted: Mwahahahaha.

Alison:
Come back and fix this. Please? You don't want to be responsible for me being all depressed and mopey do you?
Of course I want to be responsible for that. ;) ;)

killjoy:
When things get hard you're supposed to stand by the one you love.....to bad Michael was right and Maria is spineless.
I think I'm kind of split on whose side to take, so I'm remaining neutral.

extingman:
So neither one of them are fighting for a relationship.
I think you're right. They both kind of gave up in the last part, even though they do love each other.
Incredible chapter, come back soon and hopefully with a fix for all the chaos.
I'll probably add to the chaos before I fix anything.

spacegirl23:
One part of the fight stuck with me. I'm sure that if the situation had been reversed, Michael would've been there for Maria and he would've supported her. BUT, if that had happened in 521, it would be a different story. 1) Michael was in love with Isabel, and Maria's always going to remember that, plus they will have a child that's always going to be proof of that. If Maria had gotten pregnant, it would have been a meaningless fling, so Michael doesn't have to deal with Maria loving another man (as she loves him) and creating another life with said other guy. 2) It is highly likely that if Maria got pregnant, it would be by some freewheeling college boy who was looking to get laid, and would probably shun the responsibility of a baby. Hence, this 'father' of her baby would not be likely to be part of their future. But since Michael is an incredibly responsible guy, he'll always check on Isabel and his baby, and she will inevitably be part of their lives. (Unless of course, she drops dead, which I am really wishing on her.) I'm not saying that if the situation had been reversed, it would be easy on Michael, but it is more difficult for Maria in this situation than it will be for Michael. This is all in 521-context.
I'm bowing down to you for all that. Very well said, couldn't agree more. Right on the money.

Christina:
I'm still not convinced the child really is his. He seems like the type that would be responsible enough to wear condoms and take extreme precaution before having sex. (Unless it's with Maria, of course.)
Yeah, Michael is definitely responsible, but Isabel told him the date of conception was the night they broke up and had break-up sex. So he might have been less responsible that night. :?
As far as Isabel goes... woah.. I think she's worse than Max.
Isabel is one of my favorite characters to write in this because she is absolutely the craziest character I've ever written.
But, I am loving the Isabel/Max dynamic. What a fucked up family, dude. They remind me of Kathryn and Sebastion from Cruel Intentions without the weird semi-incestuous flirtation.
:lol: I think I kind of based their dynamic on Sebastian and Kathryn. (I so love that movie.) I love writing their scenes together, because they're both so over-the-top. There's nothing that they won't say or do.

lilah:
And Maria is right, she didn't ask for this and she doesn't have a choice, so go ahead and leave. However she didn't have to make Michael feel like that.
They're both dealing with a lot of stress right now, so they both went overboard and said a lot of things they shouldn't have. It's just a really bad situation.

Nat:
I gotta say at first I was on both sides right but now I'm on Maria's because no one deserves to be called a bitch multiple times by the guy who "loves her" because she says she's not ready.
I agree. And it's so unlike Michael to say that. It would be really painful for her to hear.
This is the first time she's been in love and she's watching it all come crashing down on her. She did run away but I truly believe that had their discussion gone another way, she would have stayed.
Yeah, for sure. It's not like she doesn't love him. He's the only guy she's ever loved, and that's probably why she wanted out.
instead of saying "I hate it but I love you enough to let you deal with this on your own" he takes out his repressed anger (which was towards himself) and turns it against her.
Yeah, Michael is very angry right now, and like you said, he unloaded all that anger on Maria.

Ginger:
first off it's not completely clear to me where Isabelle has been for the past 6 months...was she off with Alex, her socalled lover? And just how old is she since Max and the rest are all of the same age?
Isabel was in Florida with Alex. And she's the same age as Max (21-ish) because they're twins in this.

BLONDIE:
I can't believe they're over! They can't be over! They HAVE to make up like right now
Oh, don't hold your breath on any M+M make-up right now. :(

nibbles:
It' s ironic to think that Philip disowned her when clearly, she's far more like him than Max is.
I know, right? If he wanted to leave his legacy to someone who would go about things the way he did, he should have left everything to his daughter.
It's almost funny that the one time Max does the nice thing, he still ends up causing trouble.
I know, he actually did try to help.



Thank you SO MUCH for all the feedback, everyone! I was really eager to see what you guys thought about the last part. I love writing fight scenes between lovers, which is probably why I really enjoyed writing that last part, but I know it sucks for M+M.

On we go!










Part 54








Tess flew to her door when there was a knock that night. She was in her bathrobe and had a cold cream mask on her face, but if Kyle came a knockin’, she’d talk to him no matter how bad she looked. She peered through the peephole before opening the door and saw that it was Maria on the other side instead of Kyle, though. She shouldn’t have gotten her hopes up.

Tess pulled open the door and said, “Hey, what’s up?” When she noticed that her friend was crying, she dropped her cheery tone right away. “Oh my god, what’s up?” This didn’t look good. Maria’s mascara was smeared, evidence of just how hard she’d been crying. Her face was reddened, and her breath was coming unevenly. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Maria took in a shaky breath and cried, “I broke up with Michael.”

Tess’s heart immediately sank for her, for both of them. She’d been worried that something like this would happen.

“Actually, we broke up with each other,” Maria amended. “Oh my god, Tess, can I come in?”

Tess didn’t even hesitate. “Yeah, of course.” She opened the door wider and helped Maria inside. The poor girl looked like she could barely stand. “You . . . you guys really broke up?” She closed the door, still trying to fathom that. Michael and Maria were perfect together.

Maria nodded mutely that time and stood in the middle of the living room, wrapping her arms around herself.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“No,” she whimpered.

“Okay. You sure?”

“No.” Maria continued to cry. She was an absolute wreck. “God, I don’t even know what happened. I mean, I do, ‘cause I was there, but . . . oh, god, Tess.”

“Okay, sit down.” Tess wrapped one arm around Maria’s shoulders, and together they sat down on the couch. “Calm down,” she said, rubbing her friend’s back supportively. “Calm down, okay? Everything’s gonna be fine.”

“No,” Maria kept saying.

“Yes.”

No.” Maria looked at her with wide, devastated eyes. “It was bad, Tess. It was so bad.”

“What was?”

Maria looked away and mumbled, “The fight.”

“You guys fought?” It was a stupid question. Tears and grieving weren’t exactly signs of a nice, simple break-up. “What about?” That was kind of a stupid question, too. She had a feeling she already knew.

“Just everything,” Maria said.

“Isabel?”

She swallowed hard and nodded, sounding angry when she muttered, “Yeah, she definitely had a feature role.”

Stupid Isabel, Tess thought. Stupid . . . Evanses. “Oh, Maria, I’m so sorry.”

Maria shrugged helplessly. “Don’t be. It was kind of inevitable. Seven and a half months inevitable.” She grabbed one of the pillows off the couch and hugged it tightly to her stomach.

“Maria, if Isabel wasn’t pregnant . . .”

“She is pregnant,” Maria pointed out.

“But if she wasn’t . . .” Tess just wanted to explore the hypothetical. “Would this be happening?”

“Why go there?” Maria snapped.

“Just wondering.”

Maria sighed heavily and set the pillow aside again. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “Probably not.” Her voice wavered when she spoke. She sniffed back some of her tears, then broke down in sobs again.

“Oh, Maria.” Tess pulled her into a hug, wishing there was something more that she could do. But at the same time, she couldn’t help feeling that Michael and Maria not being together was a very bad idea.

“I think . . . I think he hates me now,” Maria whimpered.

“Why would he?” Tess asked, pulling back from the hug to look at her friend questioningly. She had to know that Michael could never hate her.

“Because,” Maria said. “I can’t . . . I just can’t do this. Any of it. I can’t fight for him.”

Tess made a face. That didn’t make any sense to her. “Why wouldn’t you?”

“Well, it’s not like he’s fighting for me, either,” Maria noted. “He’s too busy fighting for Isabel and the kid she’s carrying.”

“He has to,” Tess reminded her.

“No, he’s choosing to.”

“Come on, you know he wouldn’t be Michael if he wasn’t stepping up in this situation.”

Maria grunted and wiped cheek with her hand. “Stepping up to fatherhood.”

“Well . . .” Tess shrugged. That was true. Michael Guerin was going to be a dad. It was pretty obvious that he didn’t want a baby at this point in his life, but he was the type of guy who wouldn’t neglect his responsibility to do what was right.

“I know this sounds crazy,” Maria said, “and I know it’s very selfish . . . but for once I wish he wouldn’t be a nice guy; I wish he wouldn’t do the honorable thing. I wish . . .” She stared straight ahead at nothing in particular and lowered her voice as though she were ashamed to say the rest. “I wish he would choose me over them.” She then lowered her head and mumbled, “I told you it was selfish.”

“Hey, it’s totally not wrong to feel the way you feel right now,” Tess assured her, “or to react the way you’re reacting. I know when I found out Max was cheating on me . . .”

“No, this is different,” Maria cut in adamantly. “Michael is not Max. But still, I feel like . . . this is horrible. I feel like he betrayed me. And I know—I know that’s not true. He and Isabel did this long before he and I were even a couple. But I can’t help feeling angry and . . . I don’t know, like scorned or something.”

“Is it Isabel who’s the problem,” Tess asked, “or the baby?”

“It’s just the fact that Michael’s starting this family,” Maria explained, “and even though he wants me to be a part of it, I’ll never be a part of it, and I don’t even think I wanna be.”

“Do you wish he was starting a family with you?” It was a bold, big question, but Tess felt the need to ask it.

“No, not even. Or at least not yet,” Maria replied. “I’m so not maternal. I just want things to go back to the way they were, and I know they never will, so . . .” She sighed in defeat.

“So this is it? You guys are just over?” It seemed so sudden, so . . . wrong. “Over and done with?”

“Pretty much.”

That wasn’t good enough for Tess. “No.” She rose to her feet and peered down at Maria, slightly angry at her for being so willing to just give in. “No, I don’t buy that. You guys are in love.”

“It takes more than love to make a relationship work, Tess.”

“It shouldn’t.”

“Well, it does!” Maria sprang to her feet, her tears shining like lighthouses. “And I was stupid to think I could make love work. I shouldn’t have deluded myself.”

“How is love a delusion?”

“Think about it. It’s not about happiness; it’s about heartbreak,” Maria argued. “In the end at least. I mean, look at you and Max, or Max and Liz, even. Or here’s an oldie but a goodie: You and Kyle.”

Tess frowned. If Maria was attempting to shift the focus . . . “Okay, but this isn’t about me. This is about you, you and Michael.”

“Right. And you know what I should’ve done? I should’ve never let myself fall in love with him in the first place. Because before Michael, I had fun with guys. Just fun. Now I have this, this broken heart and-and eyes I can’t even see out of ‘cause they’re so blurry with these stupid tears. I hate this.”

“I know you do.” Tess understood the hurt. She’d felt it too many times for one lifetime. “But I’ve known you all my life, Maria, and I know you’ve never been happier than when you’re with Michael.”

“I’m not very happy right now.”

“Well, that’s ‘cause you guys aren’t . . . together right now.” Tess made a face when the words felt uncomfortable on her tongue. “God, it sounds strange.”

Maria’s face took on a glazed expression as she walked away from Tess and made into the kitchen. “It was all strange,” she said, her voice suddenly becoming very monotone. Tess could tell she was drifting off into her own world, the one made of only her own thoughts. “Me and Michael, right from the very beginning . . . I should’ve known we would never work. We’re too different.”

“That’s why you work.”

Maria frowned at her and asked, “What’re you doing?”

“Uh, trying to be optimistic?” Wasn’t that the best friend’s role?

“What’s the point? It’s over.” Maria hopped up on the kitchen counter and hung her head. “It’s all over.”

“That’s bleak,” Tess remarked, so unused to hearing her friend talk like this. Maria was fiery and feisty and . . . this just didn’t seem like her.

“That’s life.”

Tess shook her head. She didn’t want Maria to lose herself because she felt so horrible. It would get better. “No. No, no, I don’t like this, Maria. This isn’t you. I’m not gonna let you roll over and play dead.” As Maria opened her mouth to object, Tess kept going. “And yes, that’s exactly what you’re doing.”

“Oh, yeah? Look who’s talking. You haven’t lifted a finger to make things right with Kyle.”

“That’s not true, and that’s . . .” Tess placed her hands on her hips and stomped her foot in frustration. Maria definitely wasn’t making this easy. “You know, I realize you’re upset, and I know this is just your anger talking, but . . . well, now I’m angry, too, because you’re my best friend, and you should’ve learned from my mistakes. Michael’s a great guy, the kind that comes along once in a lifetime. He’s nice and he’s smart and he’s cute and he’s funny. And he loves you.” Kyle was pretty much the same, except for the loving her and not Maria bit. “If you let him go, you’re crazy, and you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

“Or maybe I’ll regret it if I stay with him,” Maria theorized. “‘Cause it’ll never be the same.”

“No, but maybe it’ll be better.”

“How can it be better?”

“You guys will grow and . . . become fuller people and . . .” Tess rolled her eyes at her lame attempt at a response. “I don’t know.” She made her way into the kitchen and stood before Maria, admitting, “I’m just trying to look on the bright side or whatever.”

“Bright side?” Maria echoed. “There is no bright side.”

“There might be, but you just won’t see it.”

Maria hopped down off the counter and stared at Tess accusingly. Her voice rose in volume as she said, “Hey, I’m not the one who’s got my blinders on. You still believe in happily ever after, even though you shouldn’t.”

Tess shifted uncomfortably. If she stopped believing in it, then she worried she would never experience it.

“Name one person who’s actually in love and happy right now,” Maria told her. “Name one.”

Tess opened her mouth, but she struggled to come up with a name. She couldn’t say herself, and she couldn’t say Kyle, and now she couldn’t even say Michael. At last, it came to her, though. “Marty.” She smiled proudly. “Marty and Francis.”

Maria rolled her eyes. “They don’t count.”

“Why not? Because they’re gay men?”

“Well, for starters!”

“But it’s the same thing,” Tess insisted. “Well, minus one vagina and plus one penis.” She waved that off. “Irrelevant. They’re in love and they’re together and they’re happy, and you know what? Their gayness is an obstacle in enough itself, because a lot of people think it’s like a sin or something. If they can overcome that, why can’t you and Michael overcome Isabel’s pregnancy?”

“Because it’s not that simple.”

“So make it that simple.” She didn’t want to sound insensitive, but maybe that was what Maria needed.

“I can’t,” Maria cried. “God, Tess, would you just get off your moral high-horse and try to understand what it’s like to be me in this situation?”

“High-horse?” Tess shrieked, offended by that. “I’m trying to help you. God, I can’t deal with you—I can’t deal with you when you’re like this.”

“Fine, then I’ll leave!” Maria shouted, stomping towards the door.

“Fine!” Tess felt a little bad.

Maria whirled around before leaving and said, “I don’t know why I thought you would understand. You’re the queen of dysfunctional.”

Tess huffed. “Be a little bitchier, why don’t you? It’s no wonder Michael chose Isabel over you.” The moment she said that, she regretted it.

Maria looked hurt. The tears in her eyes started to flow freely again. “Fine, take his side,” she growled. “I don’t care.” She stormed out of the apartment, and Tess’s entire body went limp with regret. So much for being the supportive friend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria knocked on the door to Kyle’s apartment. She didn’t like having to do this, but she had nowhere else to go. As she stood there, waiting for him to come open the door, she glanced to the left at the door to her and Michael’s apartment. Or probably just Michael’s now. She stared at the numbers on the front door, the five and the two and the one . . .

“Hey, Maria,” Kyle said when he opened the door. He looked slightly confused to see her. “Tess isn’t here.”

“I know,” she said.

“Neither is Michael.”

She took another glance at 521. “Good.”

“Good?” Kyle echoed. “What?”

“You didn’t hear the yelling earlier?”

“Me, night-class, attending. I wasn’t here,” he explained.

“Oh.” Lucky him.

“There was yelling?”

Maria shifted a bit uncomfortably. She didn’t like the thought that Michael could walk out of his apartment at any moment and see her there. “Can I come in?” she asked.

Kyle still looked confused, but he stepped aside. “Sure.”

“Thanks.” She slipped inside his place, breathing a sigh of relief when he shut the door. “I tried calling Marty, but then I remembered he and Francis are in Vegas.”

“Eloping?” Kyle inquired.

“Gambling.”

“Huh, even better. We should go there sometime. You know, the four of us.” He seemed to realize there wasn’t much of a four anymore, because he quickly changed the number. “The three of us.”

“Uh, I think you and Michael are gonna have to go by yourselves,” she told him.

“Why? You got a gambling addiction?” He laughed, but she didn’t. “Okay, apparently not so funny.”

“He and I aren’t . . .” She had really expected Kyle to at least have an idea as to what was going on. “He didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what? Me, class, attending, remember? I haven’t seen Michael all day.”

That explained it. Maria flapped her arms against her sides and said, “We broke up. We’re not together anymore.”

Kyle’s entire expression registered shock. “What?

“He’ll probably come over here to tell you later. I’m sorry, I know he’s your best friend and everything, but do you mind putting the bromance on hold for one night? I really need a place to stay.”

“Oh, so . . . here? You wanna stay here?” Kyle questioned.

“Can I? I’ve got nowhere else to go. It’s either here or the art museum, and that place is creepy at night.”

“What about Tess? She’s got an extra bedroom,” Kyle pointed out, obviously trying to figure out a way to get her to leave. “You used to live there all the time.”

“We had a fight, too,” she confessed. God, she was just alienating all the people close to her, wasn’t he? “Please, Kyle,” she begged. “As pathetic as it sounds, you’re the only friend I’ve got right now.” And that wasn’t good. She and Kyle could easily drive each other crazy.

“Oh, you can stay here,” he told her, locking the door so that Michael couldn’t just barge in and find her there. “Not forever, though.”

“Relax, it’s just for tonight,” she assured him. “Then I’ll . . .”

“Go home?” he suggested.

She let out a deep, saddened breath and flopped down on the couch, completely drained of energy. “It’s not home anymore. I’m gonna have to move out, probably quit my job, too. Maybe I can stay with Marty once he gets back.”

“Whoa, hold on.” Kyle sat down beside her. “You’re serious?”

“You thought I was joking?”

“Well, no, but . . .” For a moment, he seemed at a rare loss for words. “You guys can’t break up. You guys are . . . you guys.”

That didn’t mean they were immune to relationship troubles. “Kyle, please, I can’t . . . I can’t take you sounding like Tess right now,” she said, feeling the emotions she was trying so hard to suppress climbing back up towards the surface again. “I just wanna go to sleep.”

“Okay, okay. You can take the bed,” Kyle offered generously.

“Ew. The bed you and Tess had sex on? No thanks, I’ll take this couch.”

“We had sex here, too.”

She made a face of disgust and lifted her hand off the arm of the couch. “Fine, the bathtub then.”

“Uh . . .”

“No, just . . .” Clearly she wasn’t going to find a place in the apartment where Tess and Kyle hadn’t done it, so she resigned herself to the combination most comfortable and least intrusive sleeping spot. “The couch is fine. I’ll manage.”

“Okay. I’ll go get you some blankets.” Kyle got up off the couch and went into the hallway to rummage around his closet. “So why’d you and Michael decide to break up?” he asked as he tossed various blankets out onto the floor. “Isabel?”

“Everything,” she mumbled. “I can’t even blame her. It’s not her fault. It’s mine . . . and Michael’s.”

“Well, I have faith in you two,” Kyle said, shutting the door and gathering up all the blankets in his arms. “You’ll get back together. Just give it some time.” He stood before her, his arms full, and announced, “Blankets.”

And just like that, she broke down, started sobbing. She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t help it. It was like spontaneous combustion, only with tears instead of fire.

“Oh, Maria.” Kyle dropped the blankets and sat down beside her again. “No, no, don’t . . . cry. Well, cry if you want to, but . . . here.” He reached down and picked up a quilt for her. “I got blankets.”

“Thanks, Kyle.” She clutched the quilt to her chest, crying even harder when she realized it was a baby quilt. His name was on it, along with his birthday. Much to her surprise, he put his arm around her and hugged her to his side. “I’m sorry,” she wept. “I don’t mean to impose or . . .”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “We’re in the same boat here.”

She sat up straight again and tried to dry her eyes with her hands, but the tears just kept coming. “He said he wishes he’d never fallen in love with me,” she cried. “And I told him the same thing. I didn’t mean it, though.”

“And neither did he. You know that, right?”

“I . . .” She shook her head. “I don’t know.” In all honesty, she didn’t know why someone like him would love someone like her in the first place.

“Well, he didn’t,” Kyle reassured her. “He didn’t mean it.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because,” he replied, “I pretty much said the same thing to Tess. And we all know I didn’t mean it.”

That admission made her feel a little bit better . . . for about a second. And then she felt like she was dying again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabel was bored. Episode one bored. Whenever she didn’t have anything to do, she ended up lounging around, dwelling on the fact that she couldn’t fit into anything except her fat pants anymore. Actually, she couldn’t even fit into those. She was in full-on maternity wear, and it wasn’t at all fashionable. Being pregnant really sucked. She couldn’t wait to be done with it. After she popped the brat out, she was getting her tubes tied. End of story.

She decided to give Michael a call. She didn’t want to pester him, but at the same time, she wanted to make sure she was fresh in his thoughts. Eventually, if she played her cards right, she would be in his thoughts more and more, and Maria would be in his thoughts less and less. How gratifying.

When Michael answered the phone, he sounded angry. “What?” he barked.

“Is that how you speak to your baby mama?” she teased. She’d probably interrupted some sex. She felt so bad about that in the sense that she didn’t feel bad at all.

“Sorry,” he apologized. “I got a lot on my mind.”

She didn’t doubt that. She had a lot on her mind, too. Always did. “What’s up? You sound like you’re in a bad mood.” Perhaps she’d interrupted a lack of sex.

“It’s just one of those days,” Michael mumbled.

“You okay?” She had to admit, she liked where this conversation was going.

He didn’t give her an answer, instead choosing to ask, “Do you need something?”

Oh my god, she thought. Did they break up already? “No,” she replied. “No, just callin’ to say howdy.”

“Fine. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” He ended the call and left her listening to the dial tone in a hurry. She smiled and slowly flipped her phone closed. Here she’d been thinking she might have to play a little dirty to get the lovebirds to fly apart, but apparently they’d done that all on their own. She could tell just by hearing Michael’s tone that that was what had happened.

Perfect. She was thrilled, couldn’t think of a better scenario. Maria was out of the picture now. Celebrate good times. She had to go tell Max.

Isabel knew her brother would either be at his office or at home, so she rode the elevator up to his suite to check for him there. She knocked on the door and waited for him to answer. She checked her reflection in the security cameras perched overhead while she waited. What was that, a wide-angle lens? She looked, like, twelve and a half months pregnant! How outrageous.

“Come in,” Max called.

She pushed open the door and strolled in with a smile on her face. Max was sitting at his kitchen table with a half a dozen stacks of papers in front of him, some sprawled out before him.

“You’re good,” she remarked, making her way into his kitchen. She found a glass of champagne and popped the cork on it. “If I had money, I’d pay you for your services.”

“Like a hooker?” he said.

“Yes, like a male, brotherly hooker.” She cringed as the words came out. “I wish I’d said something else. Anyway, you did your job. You did it well. Michael and Maria broke up today.”

Max glanced up from his work, seemingly surprised. “They did?”

“Yeah. Or at least I think they did. Michael sounded pretty upset on the phone. I think he was about to cry, or already crying. That makes me happy.” She took out two glasses and poured one glass for herself, one for Max.

“You drink?” he asked.

She scoffed, “Who doesn’t?”

“Most pregnant women don’t.”

She raised her glass to her lips, wanting to take a sip. Just a small one. “World of crap,” she muttered. “Whatever.” She emptied her glass in the sink and handed him the whole bottle. “Drink for me.”

“I might do that.” He looked down at his work again, rubbing his forehead as though he were stressed out.

“So what did you say to her?” she asked, sitting down beside him. She was really curious. She’d always known Max was diabolical, but to be able to break up a supposedly air-tight couple in a single day? He must’ve said something extremely heartbreaking.

“Just stuff,” he replied with a shrug. “I didn’t think she’d break up with him.”

“She’s a bitch.” Isabel smiled. She was a bitch herself, but a better one than Maria.

“Well, congratulations,” Max said. “You’re getting what you want.”

She always did, one way or another. “We make a great team, you and me,” she told him. “Too bad Dad didn’t leave any portion of this business to me. We could’ve ruled the world together.”

“Guess I’ll just have to settle for ruling the world by myself.” He smirked.

“Hmm.” He could be such a little jackass sometimes. “So how was your first official day in charge?” she asked. “Did everything go well?”

Max tensed and answered, “It was . . . insightful.”

She frowned. That was a strange word to use.

He pressed his elbows onto the marble of the tabletop and leaned forward. “If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anyone else?” he asked.

She nodded, fully intending to keep any promise to Max after the role he’d played in the Michael/Maria break-up.

Max stared at her for a moment, then looked away and blurted, “Dad was broke.”

Isabel . . . didn’t respond for a moment. Because that didn’t make any sense. When she did manage to get something out, it was only one very confused word: “What?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tess didn’t get much sleep that night. She had no idea where Maria was; she wasn’t answering her cell phone. She was worried about her friend, and she felt guilty for kicking her out. Technically, she hadn’t kicked her out; Maria had left voluntarily. But only because they’d snapped at each other.

The next day, she went over to Michael’s place. The door was open a bit, so she stepped inside and surveyed the living room. It was full of cardboard boxes, and those boxes were probably full of Maria’s things. Michael certainly wasn’t wasting any time. It was heartbreaking to see.

“Michael?” She peered around a stack of three boxes and saw a half-assembled crib on the floor. There was still a lot of work to be done on that.

“Hey, Tess,” Michael said as he walked out of the bedroom. He had another box in his hands.

“Hey.” My god, she thought. He looks horrible. There were bags under his eyes, his hair was tousled about, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. And he definitely hadn’t shaved, either. He looked ten years older than he really was. Poor guy.

“What-what’s going on here?” she asked, though she already knew. “You’re packing up Maria’s stuff?”

He set the box he was carrying down atop two other boxes next to the couch. “Yeah.”

“Did she stay here last night?”

“Nope.”

Tess tensed in nervousness. “Oh, god.” If something bad had happened to Maria, she was never going to forgive herself. What if she was in a ditch somewhere? What if she was drunk and passed out? What if she was drunk and passed out in a ditch? “I hope she’s okay.”

“I really don’t care,” Michael mumbled, picking up a roll of packing tape off his coffee table. He pulled out a long strip of tape and sealed closed the flaps of one cardboard box with it, then repeated the process on another.

“Yes, you do,” Tess said. “You know you do.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Michael grumbled. “We’re done.”

Tess frowned and shook her head. “I don’t believe that. I just wish you guys hadn’t . . . but I guess it doesn’t matter what I wish.” She wished they could all go back to the way they were, the Core Four, best friends in the entire world. They were the Fractured Four now, and it was much less fun. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“I wish I was a kid again,” he blurted, rolling the packing tape around his finger, then unrolling it again. “Six years old, just startin’ school, still thinkin’ girls had cooties.”

Tess smiled sympathetically. Didn’t he know boys were the ones with the cooties?

He set the packing tape back down on the coffee table and sat down on the arm of the couch, looking sullen. “I didn’t mean to hurt her,” he said quietly.

“I know.”

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. But it did. And if she can’t be here to support me when I need her most . . .” He sighed heavily. “Well, then, she can’t be here. At all.”

It all seemed so drastic, so sudden. Tess felt just sick about it. “Where’s she gonna go?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Kinda thought she’d move back in with you.”

“I think she’s probably kinda pissed at me right now,” Tess confessed, eliciting a confused look from him. “Too much defending you, not enough agreeing with her. It’s not that I think one of you is right and one of you is wrong. I think I’m just more able to understand where you’re coming from than she is. Max and Isabel are two of a kind. I know what it’s like to be under that spell.”

“It’s not about Isabel; it’s about the baby,” Michael clarified. “From here on out, it’s all about the baby.”

“And that’s . . . admirable, Michael. Really, it is,” she assured him. “But why does being a father have to entail sacrificing all your personal happiness? It doesn’t seem fair.”

“It’s not fair,” he agreed. “But it was Maria’s choice, not mine. I was never gonna leave her. She’s the one who couldn’t deal. So now she has to leave the apartment. But that’s okay. She’ll be okay. Maria always lands on her feet . . . or her back.”

“Michael!” That was an incredibly harsh and crude thing to say, and it was so unlike Michael to say it. “I realize you’re angry, but . . . you shouldn’t try to make her out to be the bad guy. She didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Neither did I,” he reminded her. He rose to his feet again and started down the hallway towards the bedroom again. He stopped on the way, though, and turned back around to face her. “Please . . . let her stay with you, Tess,” he pleaded. “I can’t be worried about her. I have to know she’s safe.”

Tess sighed. They were alike in that regard. She had to know Maria was safe, too, and one way of knowing that was by living with her again.

Tess left when Michael went back into the bedroom to continue packing. She had just set foot out in the hallway when the door to Kyle’s apartment opened and he and Maria came out.

“That’s a stupid game,” Maria was saying. “All those annoying little moles . . .”

“You just have to know how to whack ‘em . . . oh,” Kyle said, noticing her. “Tess.”

“Kyle.” She wished she’d dressed up a little. Michael wasn’t the only one not looking his best that morning. “And Maria?” She glanced back and forth between the two of them, confused. What had they been doing hanging out together? They never did that. Had they been . . .? Tess’s eyes flared up in alarm.

“Oh, god, no, not in this lifetime,” Maria said as if she’d read her mind. “Kyle let me crash at his place last night. Since I had nowhere else to go.”

“She slept on the couch,” Kyle added.

Tess shot him a look of disbelief. “You made her sleep on the couch?”

“I offered the bed,” he said in his defense.

“And what’re you . . .” Maria motioned from her to the closed door to Michael’s apartment.

“Oh, I was . . . looking for you, actually,” she admitted. “I wanna apologize if I sounded insensitive and lecture-y last night. I didn’t mean to. I know I can’t understand what you’re going through, but . . . I wanna be there for you. You’re my best friend and I love you.”

Maria smiled a little, and that small smile was a clear indicator of forgiveness.

“Maria, I want you to move back in with me.”

Maria swallowed hard and nodded, holding back tears. “Thanks.” It wasn’t really something to be happy about, seeing as how moving back in entailed moving out of the apartment she’d come to know as home, leaving the roommate she’d come to love.

“No, thank you,” Tess said. “Two-bedroom apartment . . . it’ll be nice not to have to pay two rent fees a month.” That was a pathetic attempt to keep it light-hearted, so she turned serious again. “And it’ll be nice to have you around, even though I know you wish you were . . . somewhere else.”

“No, trust me, ‘somewhere else’ is the last place I wanna be . . .” Maria trailed off slowly as the door to 521 swung open. Michael joined the three of them in the hallway, holding yet another box in his hands. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, not saying anything. The tension was so thick, Tess could have cut it with a knife. Finally, Michael dropped the box down at Maria’s feet. The sound it made broke the silence and caused both Tess and Maria to flinch.

“You’re gonna have to take Frank, too,” Michael said.

Maria just stared at him in confusion. “What?”

“I can’t afford a dog right now,” he explained.

Maria cast a glance at Tess and shook her head. “But The Links doesn’t allow pets. Right?”

“Right,” Tess said.

Michael flapped his arms against his sides. “So who’s gonna take him?”

The three of them looked at each other questioningly for a moment, and then they all turned to look at Kyle. “What?” he said, clearly oblivious to what they were silently suggesting.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Well, Frank I guess it’s just you and me.” Kyle spread out the front page of the daily newspaper on his bathroom floor and cast a glance at the dog. Frank was just sitting in the hallway, staring at him. “The bachelor pad. You’ll like it here. Lots of bachelors, like you.” He laid out the obituaries, followed by the classifieds, and finally the sports section. The bathroom floor was pretty well covered. “Hey, we should get a stripper,” he kept on. “You like blondes?”

Frank stuck out his tongue and panted.

“Yeah, me, too. We’ll ask her to give you a lap dance. How’s that sound?” He laughed a little, and then the very disturbing image of a stripper giving a pug puppy a lap dance entered his mind, and he shook his head to get rid of it. “Or we could just work on getting you housetrained.” He knelt down and slapped his hand against his thigh. “Come here.”

Frank didn’t move.

“Tess would be so much better at this,” he groaned.

Frank tilted his head to the side.

“Oh, Tess? She’s . . . hard to explain, man. Hard to explain,” Kyle told the dog.

Frank whimpered and lay down, looking sad.

“What, you miss your mom and dad?” Kyle crawled across the newspaper and sat down next to Frank, scratching him behind the ears. The poor dog was like a kid in the foster system. Luckily he was landing in good homes. “Yeah, I don’t blame you.”

Frank lifted his head to lick the palm of Kyle’s hand. Tess’s licking was . . . better.

After sitting in the hallway, wallowing in the depressiveness of the bachelor pad for a few minutes, Kyle got to his feet and picked up Frank. With a mind of their own, his feet took him over to Michael’s place. He barged right in the door and asked, “Just how stupid are you?”

Michael was sitting on the living room floor with a crib that was still nowhere near put-together. He had the instructions in his hand but looked up from them when Kyle came in. “Apparently very,” was his response. “I can’t get this thing together. I can’t . . .” He tossed the directions aside and raked one hand through his hair.

“I brought the dog,” Kyle said randomly. He held Frank up at his side and lifted up his right paw to wave to Michael.

“Hey, Frank,” Michael mumbled.

“So tell me, just how stupid are you?” Kyle asked again.

Michael leaned back against the wall, looking as though he were about to drop. The guy probably hadn’t slept in . . . well, in a good long while. But Kyle wasn’t going to take it easy on him. “You let your girl walk out of your life,” he said. “And after she walked out, you kicked her out. That’s stupid.”

Michael closed his eyes. “That’s just the way things happen, Kyle. Get used to it.”

“But it makes no sense. Why would you guys throw it all away just ‘cause you hit a rough patch?” Kyle kept on, shifting Frank to his left arm.

Michael’s eyes shot open to give him a disbelieving look.

“Okay, I know that sounds hypocritical of me,” he acknowledged, “and it is. Touché. And I know it’s not a rough patch so much as the rest of your life, but . . .” He stopped, considering some things he hadn’t thought about. “Wait a minute, now I’m rethinking.” But he still came to the same conclusion. Michael was being stupid. “No, still, why would you just give up?”

Michael pushed himself up onto his feet, groaning. “Maria gave up first.”

“And you followed suit, like a . . . follower.”

“You gave up on Tess.”

“No I didn’t, ‘cause I’m not ruling out the possibility that Tess and I could get back together again someday,” he refuted. He wasn’t exactly being optimistic about it lately, but . . . he hadn’t lost all hope. Losing all hope would mean that he didn’t love her anymore and . . . he’d never stop loving her.

“Yeah, ‘cause you might or might not be together again someday,” Michael said. “What you’re going through is just a rough patch. You said it yourself: What Maria and I are going through affects the rest of my life. I’m not gonna wake up someday and no longer be a dad. That’s always gonna be there, and I gotta make that a priority above everything else.”

Kyle made a face. “You can’t do that while dating Maria?” It sounded to him that Michael was giving himself a voluntary ultimatum. That was a special kind of stupid.

Michael shrugged helplessly. “She doesn’t seem to think so. And if she doesn’t think so . . . I don’t think so.”

“Oh, and if Maria jumped off a bridge, would you?”

Michael rolled his eyes and trudged into his kitchen to pull a beer bottle out of the refrigerator. He closed the refrigerator door and stared at it for several long seconds before lowering his head. “I love her,” he stated simply. “More than anything in the world, I wanna spend the rest of my life with her. But I can’t. It’s not that simple anymore.”

“But--”

“Kyle.” Michael’s whole tone was adamant, forceful. “I’m gonna have a son, or a daughter. With Isabel. It’s not that simple.”

Kyle nodded slowly in consideration. He supposed it wasn’t. If Tess were to be expecting a kid with Max, it wouldn’t be that simple. It never was when it got to this point.

Kyle glanced down at Frank and decided in that moment, “I think I’m gonna get him neutered.” A lack of a sex drive and capability to make babies could be a blessing in its own way. Frank would thank him someday.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Oh . . . okay, this makes sense.” Isabel took another look at the ledger in her hand and frowned. “No, wait, this doesn’t make sense.” She and Max had each devoted their entire day to sorting through financial document after document related to the predicament the company was in, and quite frankly, she was sick of it. But at the same time, she loved it. She loved that her dad wasn’t as successful as everyone thought he was. Dick.

“It just keeps getting worse,” Max grumbled. He rubbed his eyes as though he were having trouble seeing things straight at this point. They had been sitting in his living room dealing with this disaster for hours.

“If Dad was losing money at the speed of light, why wouldn’t he just tell you about it?”

“Boast about your successes, hide your failures. One of his philosophies.”

Isabel rolled her eyes. What a quack. “So by doing that, he made you think you were getting everything you wanted . . .”

“When in fact I was inheriting a company in complete disarray.” Max sighed heavily. “Bastard.”

“Huh.” Isabel smiled a little. “In light of these new revelations, I’m kind of glad to be left out of the will.”

“How am I supposed to fix this?” he asked. It probably wasn’t a question so much as something he was wondering aloud to himself. “Who am I kidding? I’m not Donald Trump. I’m not even out of college.”

“Max.” Isabel set the ledger down and placed a supportive hand on her brother’s knee. “Dad left this company to you because he thought you could handle it. And you can. I’ll help you. Here, will you hand me that stack of files?”

Max reached for the stack, then withdrew his hand and said, “No, you know, you don’t have to be here. You don’t have to do this. Just . . . go to your room.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Did you just tell me to go to my room?

“Your hotel room,” he clarified. “You should relax, watch some TV. Isn’t The Hills on? Don’t girls like The Hills?

So stereotypical, she thought, deciding to play into it. “Yes, girls like The Hills. They like to eat of the salad and shop of the mall.”

“I just meant . . .”

“I know. Actually, I have a lot of respect for Lauren Conrad,” she admitted. “She took her good looks and fashion sense and turned it into national celebrity. Too bad she has such tragic taste in men.”

“So go,” he suggested. “Watch. Idolize.”

“While you sit here agonizing over this? I don’t think so.” She reached across the table and grabbed the stack of papers herself. They still had so much to go through.

“Why not?” her brother asked.

“Because I don’t want to.” Wasn’t that reason enough? “I can help, Max. This is the way Dad would’ve wanted it, the two of us working together to sort out his mess.”

He wrinkled his forehead. “That’s not the way he wanted it, Isabel. That’s why he left you out of the will.”

He had her there. “Well, it’s the way he should’ve wanted it.” She smirked.

“I appreciate your interest, but I can’t let you help,” he said. “You have other things to focus on.” He glanced down at her pregnant belly to make his point.

“And trust me, I’m focused on that,” she assured him. “But I’m not useless just because I’m pregnant.”

“I didn’t say you were. But this is stressful stuff. You and your offspring don’t need any stress.”

“My offspring?

He took the stack of files out of her hands. “Besides, I’m meeting with this guy named Roger tomorrow. Apparently he knows everything there is to know about this company. He’ll help me figure everything out.”

She sighed, accepting the defeat. Once again, she was excluded from the company. What else was new?

“Please, go, get some rest.”

There was no point in arguing with him. Max was almost as stubborn as she was. “Fine.” She stood up—God, it was getting hard to stand up these days. Her back felt like it was about to break in two, and she was so freaking huge. “Keep me updated on what’s happening, though. It’s all very dramatic in a boring, business way. And I do love drama.”

“Will do,” he promised. “Goodnight.”

“‘Night.” She sulked out of the suite and headed down the hallway to the elevator, sighing disappointedly. She had five minutes until The Hills came on.








TBC . . .

-April
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LOVE IS MICHAEL AND MARIA.
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April
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Part 55

Post by April »

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! It's as appreciated as ever!


nibbles:
It makes me wonder what the hell Michael ever saw in Isabel. She really doesn't seem the type to interest him. Or be interested in him. They are a very odd couple.
Michael saw the sides of Isabel she wanted him to see. These sides that come out when she talkes to Max are the sides she didn't show him while they were dating.

Sara:
You are surely killing us!
I'm diabolical like that. ;)

Monica:
When Micheal called her a bitch, I was like "Maria! Bitchslap the dude!"
Michael has a bad habit of using that word when he's angry, it seems, because he uses it again in this part. But not in reference to Maria.

Ginger:
I love the way you manage to keep us all current with your frequent updates. Thank you.
Once a week updates seem to have been do-able, but I can't wait to get back to three times a week! That's just how I roll. :D

Nove:
So Max is broke or might be? I think I remember a time where I said I hope he loses it all. Now I guess he might. I don't know how to feel about that. As bad as he is, seeing him in comparison to Isabel makes me kind of like him. Cuz he could be even worse.
Max is definitely still kind of a bad guy, but like you said, compared to Isabel, he's alright. Max is actually trying to change, but having Isabel back in town definitely kind of hampers that for him.

BLONDIE:
Michael was being an ass is this part, saying "Maria always lands on her feet...or her back." Bastard! and thats hard for me to say considering that I love Michael.
I know, I love Michael, too, and it's really tough to hear him say things like that about Maria. He's just SO overwhelmed right now.

spacegirl23:
Their relationship wasn't on solid ground yet when Isabel arrived, so having her there really threw them off balance.
That's right. It was solid, but not as solid as it could have been. They weren't even really together that long, just from New Year's to Valentine's Day.
I think their relationship falling apart is both of their faults -- Michael was too quick to assume that Maria should stand by him, despite knowing this is her first relationship, while Maria was too stuck on their honeymoon phase to understand that they have to be strong together whenever they have a problem.
Yep, I couldn't agree more.

Eva:
God, it seemed so definite when Michael was taping those boxes. And the cruel thing is that they still love each other. Argh!!!
Oh, yes, they still love each other. Have you ever heard that expression, "You always hurt the one you love" ? Maybe that's what they are doing right now.

extingman:
And just another thought, where's Mrs. Evans now? Did he leave her anything?
No, he didn't leave her anything. I think there is a line coming up in a future part that explains where she's at now. Suffice to say, when Max and Isabel lost their father, they lost their mother, too, because she's no longer going to be a part of their lives.

Zoi:
If I was a dog I'd totally want to be kyles...
You know, that sounds a little kinky. ;) :lol:

killjoy:
On a funnier note....that bit where Maria was trying to find a non Kyle/Tess sex place to sleep made me LMAO.And the small second where Tess got jealous of Maria/Kyle before Maria set her straight was priceless
:lol: Those little parts were for you, man! Even when things are super dramatic and off-balance in the 521-verse, I like to throw in a couple humorous parts.

tequathisy:
I'm on team Candy.
Me, too! :D

Krista:
I hate Isabel. She's quite a despicable person, even compared to her evil twin.
Yeah, I can't even begin to describe 521 Isabel, because she's probably the most outrageous character I've ever written. But I love writing her!


The part in italics indicates a flashback here. ;)








Part 55







Tess was already making breakfast when Maria woke up and trudged out of the bedroom the next morning. Cereal. Very gourmet.

“Hey,” Maria said.

“Hey,” Tess returned, pouring herself a glass of orange juice. “Sleep well?”

Maria yawned and shook her head. “No. You?”

“Not really.” She held up the box of Frosted Flakes, but Maria shook her head, not wanting any. Tess shrugged and put the box back up in the cupboard. “Isn’t it weird?” she said, taking a spoon out of the silverware drawer. “You’re sleeping in what used to be my bedroom, in what used to be my bed.”

Maria cringed. “Ew, you and Max did it in there.”

“Max and I did it everywhere in this apartment,” Tess informed her. “Suddenly fighting the urge to dry-heave.” She waved away the memories and delved into her cereal. “Sure you don’t want some?” she asked.

“Not hungry.” Maria sat down at a stool on the opposite side of the counter and ran hands through her hair, yawning again. “You know, you were right about the headboard on that bed, though. It does fall down.”

“It’s dangerous, isn’t it?”

“Mmm-hmm.” She nodded. “I don’t suppose you’d wanna switch rooms, give me my rightful bedroom back?”

“I don’t suppose I would.” Tess smirked. “Maybe we can get someone to fix it if you’re gonna stay here awhile.”

“Oh, I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me,” Maria said. “Sorry, I know it’s an inconvenience.”

“This coming from the girl who practically invited herself to move in with Michael?” She noticed the flash of hurt that appeared in her friend’s eyes at the mere mention of Michael’s name and immediately went on about something else. “I got used to living here without you, but I always missed you. It doesn’t feel that weird to have you back. It almost feels like you never left.”

Maria rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

“Okay, I was stretching it a little bit,” Tess acknowledged. A lot had happened in both their lives since she had left.

Maria smiled a little. “It’s strange. Part of me feels like a completely different person. The other part feels like the same old Maria DeLuca.”

“You are the same Maria DeLuca. You’re just . . . Maria DeLuca in love. Which can make you feel like a different person.” She thought of Kyle, of how much better she’d felt when she was with him. She couldn’t think about that. Not when Maria needed her to be . . . somewhat happy. “So what’ve you go planned for today?” she asked.

“Um, statistics.”

“Always a joy.” There was probably going to be a quiz. Tess knew they were both unprepared for that.

“And then I’m going to work,” Maria added on.

“Oh, hey, that’s good. Way to be productive during tough times, DeLuca. I’m so proud of you.”

Maria hesitated a moment before she said, “Actually, I was gonna tell my boss I have to quit.”

“What?” That pretty much threw her whole ‘productive’ compliment out the window. “Why?”

“Because, Michael works there. I can’t work with him anymore; I can’t be around him,” Maria explained. “One of us has to leave, and since he needs the money so much more than I do right now . . .”

“Oh.” Tess frowned. “Chicken.”

“Oh, you’re gonna be fun to live with again.”

“No, you do what you want. I was just kinda hoping you’d help me out with the rent and stuff,” Tess admitted.

“I will,” Maria promised. “It’s not gonna be like last time. I’ll be less of a pain in the ass, we’ll get along so much better. And I actually managed to save up a little money over the past couple months, so . . . and I’ll get another job eventually. Maybe I could work at the campus newspaper again.”

Tess nodded encouragingly. That sounded like a plan, or at least a semblance of plan. Plans were good . . . except when they got destroyed.

“Yeah, and then when Isabel has the baby, I can put an announcement on the front page for her and Michael,” Maria went on, sarcastically now. “‘Congratulations . . . on ruining my life.’” She sighed heavily. “Oh, boy, that sounded especially bitter, didn’t it?”

“A little,” Tess replied. “But that’s okay. Be as bitter as you want. I won’t judge.” She’d learned her lesson. No more making Maria feel like she’d done the wrong thing by giving up on Michael. “It’s just . . .”

“Oh, here we go.”

She couldn’t resist. “No, hear me out. I’m not trying to take Michael’s side or say you did something wrong or anything. I just don’t get why you would break up with him based on what might have happened.”

Maria just stared at her, confused. It was probably too early in the morning for this.

“Because when Kyle broke up with me, it was because he saw me with Max; he saw me kiss him,” Tess went on. “And he heard me say we weren’t really dating.” She felt herself tense up just thinking about it. “I’m not exactly bragging about it; it wasn’t one of my finest moments. But Kyle broke up with me based on the facts, which I get. You broke up with Michael based on . . . speculation.”

“Uh, speculation in the form of a baby, Tess. That’s pretty big speculation. And let’s not forget Isabel, who’s the love of his life.”

“She’s not the love of his life, Maria.” The fact that her friend could even think that baffled Tess. “You are.”

“I don’t know that,” Maria said. “They dated for two years. He was gonna propose to her the night they broke up. And he and I dated for a month and a half.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“It might,” Maria persisted. “Look, I just woke up. I really don’t wanna delve into this first thing in the morning.”

Tess realized she was pushing Maria too hard on the issue, so she decided to back off and change the subject. “Fair enough. So did you and Kyle play Whack-a-Mole the other night?”

“Deluxe Edition.”

Tess smiled at the memory of giving him that edition of the game for Christmas. They’d been so close back then, and they hadn’t even been together.

“Oh, and we formed a club,” Maria added. “The Broken Hearts Club.”

“Sounds . . . fun.”

“No, not really. I’m the president. Kyle’s the vice president, treasurer, and secretary all rolled into one.”

“Can I join?” Tess asked.

“Sure. You can be the lunch lady.”

She laughed a little. “Thanks.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael should’ve gone to his art class. He knew that. But that didn’t stop him from not going. He wasn’t normally one for skipping class, but he just didn’t have room in his brain for anything education-related anymore. Too much other stuff was going on.

He gave up on the crib and busied himself with cleaning out several of the junk drawers around his apartment. His desk drawers were especially problematic. He had mail that was over a year and a half old stored away in there, most of it useless, old parking permits, crumpled up post-it notes. He was ashamed of himself. He’d always striven to be organized than this.

He was sorting through a mess of old homework assignments when he picked up an old math test. It was from Math 101, good old college algebra, the oh-so-simple class that he would have had to try to fail. He glanced at the date in the top right-hand corner and smiled. It was the first test they’d taken in that class. He remembered it well.

The professor wrote the rules on the board, as though none of them had ever taken a test before. No talking. Wasn’t that a given? No chewing gum. Fine, whatever. Cell phones turned off. Understandable enough. Michael sat with Maria to his left, Tess to his right, wringing his hands together nervously.

“I’m not sure if I’m completely comfortable with this,” he said.

“No, it’s fine. You’re doing a good deed,” Maria assured him.

“Besides, it’s not like we didn’t study,” Tess put in. “We just . . . spent more time doing other things. Like the other night, I met this guy named Max.”

“Here she goes again,” Maria grumbled.

“What?”

“You’re like a broken record when it comes to that guy.”

“So? He’s hot,” was Tess’s defense.

“Well, Michael’s smart,” Maria pointed out. “And that’s reason number one on a long list of reasons why he’s much better than Max.”

Michael rolled his eyes at their bickering. They were going to get him in trouble if they were talking like this once the tests were handed out. “Guys, it’s not the algebra that worries me here; it’s the . . .” He lowered his voice so their professor couldn’t overhear them. “Cheating.”

“And we’re on board with that. We hate cheaters,” Tess said a little too loudly, eliciting an over-the-shoulder glance from the professor. She smiled at him innocently.

Maria waited until he had turned back around to whisper, “Except when we’re the ones cheating.”

“What if we get caught?” Michael asked. “Then we’ll all go down for it.”

“Relax. We’re professionals,” Maria reassured him.

He sighed and shook his head. He hadn’t known these girls long, but ever since they had stumbled into class fifteen minutes late and giggling on the very first day, they had taken a liking to him. He liked them, too; besides Isabel, they were the only two girls he’d met during his first month as a freshman at the university. But if letting them cheat off his test came back to bite him in the ass . . .

“No talking once you’ve received your test,” the professor said as he began to hand them out, starting with the first row.

“Is it a go, Michael?” Tess asked.

“Please,” Maria begged, giving him the puppy dog look. How could he resist that look?

“Okay, fine,” he agreed, “but make it subtle, you know?”

“Oh, thank you so much!” Tess squealed, once again a little too loudly. She cowered under the professor’s stern glare.

“Oh my god, yes, Michael, thank you.” The professor set a pile of tests down in front of Maria, and she passed them down the row. She beamed at him and promised, “I’ll love you forever for this.”


Michael jolted out of the memory, wishing things were still that simple, wishing his biggest worry was still whether or not he’d get caught assisting the girls with their algebra cheating. And wishing Maria had loved him forever. He crumpled up the old test and threw it into the trash.

“Whoa.”

He looked up when he heard Isabel. She was standing in the doorway, looking around the apartment.

“Is it just me, or has this place gotten significantly emptier?”

“It’s not just you.” He slid the drawer he was sorting back into his desk and rose to his feet. “Maria and I . . . Maria doesn’t live here anymore.”

“You guys broke up?” Isabel concluded.

“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “Not your fault.”

She shrugged and slowly stepped into the apartment. “Kind of is. Sometimes I get the feeling your life would’ve been a lot better if I’d just stayed gone.”

“No, it’s . . .” He didn’t want her to think that. As much as he wasn’t thrilled to be having a kid at such a young age with a girl he didn’t even love anymore . . . it was better than having a kid and not knowing it even existed. “It was good of you to come back. I wanna be a part of this baby’s life.”

She nodded and motioned towards the crib, which was slightly reminiscent of a torn down building now. “I see that.”

“Oh, yeah.” He scratched his eyebrow, embarrassed by how bad it looked. “That’s supposed to be a crib. I messed it up. I’ll buy you a different one.”

“Michael.” She smiled. “That’s so thoughtful. You’re gonna be a great dad.”

He hoped so. He really hoped so.

She leaned back against the couch and rested one hand atop her stomach. Michael wondered, if he were to lay his hand there, would he feel the baby kick?

“So,” she said, “what’ve you got planned today?”

“Planned?” he echoed.

“Yeah. I thought maybe we could go get some lunch. Or something.”

He knew right away he wasn’t ready for that. If he and Isabel ever went out for lunch again someday . . . it would be a long time coming. He quickly thought up an excuse to get out of it, and a truthful one at that. “Oh, uh . . . my parents are coming to visit.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll just get out of your hair then. You guys probably want your family time.” She started to leave.

He felt something as she walked towards that door, not the kind of something where he wanted her to be there, but the kind of something where he thought he should want her to be there. If he and his parents were having family time, it seemed only right that he should invite her to join them. She was a part of his family now, too, whether he liked it or not. They were having a baby together.

“Isabel.”

She stopped at the door and turned around.

“You can stay, if you want.”

She smiled. “I’d like that.”

He’d pretend to like it, too.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“And I just want you to know, I really, really like this job. And art? Hey, big enthusiast here.” Maria knew she was rambling, but she couldn’t stop. She hated quitting her job so suddenly, but it had to be done. “I wouldn’t quit if I didn’t have to. I hope you understand that, Mr. Buckworthy.”

Her boss smiled at her reassuringly. “Mr. Buckley,” he corrected.

She’d never get his name right.

“And yes, I understand,” he assured her. “Although I won’t lie and say it’s easy to lose you. You’ve brought a real spark into this museum, Maria. I hope it stays even after you’ve gone.”

God, she thought, he makes it sound like I’m dying. She did kind of feel dead.

“And who knows? Maybe we can convince you to come back someday.”

She didn’t see that happening, but she gave him the false hope anyway. “Maybe. Anyway, I just thought I’d drop by to give you my uniform and my keys, and to apologize profusely for not giving you the proper two weeks’ notice.” She felt really bad about that. Now he was going to have to find another employee without much warning in advance. “It’s just that things have gotten kind of bad kind of . . . suddenly.”

Mr. Buckley nodded. “I understand. I’m sure Michael will miss working with you, though.”

She tensed. “Actually, our relationship’s one of the things that’s gotten bad. Suddenly.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Me, too.” She refused to let the tears well up again, even though they wanted to. “You should really give him a raise, though. He could use it.”

Mr. Buckley nodded again, slowly this time. “I’ll consider it.”

“Okay.” She hoped he did. Michael could use all the money he could get. Babies were expensive . . . or so she’d read in books. “Well, I’d better . . . get going,” she sighed. “Bye, Mr. Buckworthy. Buckley.” She rolled her eyes at herself. “Bye.”

“Goodbye, Maria. I hope things get better for you.”

“Yeah, that’d be nice.” She turned and sulked away. All she did was sulk anymore. It wasn’t fun. She turned around before she walked out the front door and reiterated, “I really did love working here.” Part of that love had been Michael love, but the job itself had been fun, getting to interact with everyone who walked in there, getting to talk about artwork and sound smart. Plus, the afterhours sex hadn’t sucked.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it here, Maria,” Mr. Buckley said. “It’s an all too rare thing to find a job you can enjoy.”

Someday when she was a sex therapist, she hoped she’d enjoy that. And Michael could enjoy being an artist, and a father, too. And she’d have to enjoy being alone, because she wasn’t going to find anyone else.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Numbers. Too many numbers. They were all starting to blend together. Max could barely distinguish one from the other. Just when he thought he’d figured out a solution for one problem, he discovered another one. His dad’s company—no, his own company—was still in the crapper.

A knock on the door to his office disturbed him. “Come in.”

The man who peeked his head inside looked . . . like a nerd. Like a Kyle. Like an older and somehow nerdier Kyle Valenti. Though the air of nerdiness was the same, they differed in physical appearance. This man had grey hair, the kind of grey hair that had just gone grey a year or two ago, and big, thick-rimmed black glasses. He was a lanky man. His clothes were hanging off him, but in a put-together, business-appropriate kind of way. Such a nerd.

“Mr. Evans,” he said, approaching the desk with one hand extended for a handshake. “So nice to finally meet you. I’m Roger Lanton.”

Max stood up and shook the older man’s hand. “Roger. I thought we weren’t meeting until 1:30.”

Roger glanced at the clock on the wall, and Max followed his gaze. It was 1:30.

“Right,” he said. “My apologies. I’m usually not so scatterbrained. I was up all night trying to figure out what to do about this mess.”

“Well, have no fear, Max. That’s why I exist.”

Max liked the sound of that. That sounded encouraging.

Roger sat down in the chair across the desk, opened up one of the folders, took a look at what was inside, and tossed the folder aside almost instantly. “Hmm.” He didn’t even seem worried. “Now, it’s true, this company’s in bad shape right now,” he acknowledged. “The sheep out there don’t know it, but their shepherd lost his way a long time ago. For the past couple years, your late father—God rest his soul—incurred more debt than he acquired profit. He tried to turn it around, but for whatever reason, be it absence of intellect or lack of trying, he failed.”

No shit, Max thought, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

“Evans Hotels aren’t broke yet, Max, but they will be soon. Unless we fix it,” Roger cautioned. “Now I don’t know about you, but I’m the type of guy who likes to see the glass half full. I like good, positive thinking. That’s why I have faith in us.”

“Us?”

Roger pressed his lips together in a tight grin. “Your father and I spent countless nights agonizing over issues exactly like this, but I always knew he lacked the common sense to sort it out. You, on the other hand, strike me as someone much smarter, someone who knows what needs to be done.”

He sure as hell didn’t know. “And what’s that?”

“Share the burden,” Roger replied simply. “Surrender some of the control. Your father was a brilliant man, Max, but he never could grasp the fact that he couldn’t do everything himself. He took on too much responsibility, refused to relinquish any of it, and look where it got him: six feet under.”

Max shifted uncomfortably. Nerdy Roger was turning out to be less nerdy than he’d perceived. “What’re you saying?”

“Max.” Roger leaned forward and folded his hands atop the desk. “The position you’re in right now, owning this tattered business, every single one of us working for you . . . it’s a powerful position, but it’s a precarious position. And it’s also a figurehead position. You know that, right?”

Max frowned deeply. A figurehead position? Since when?

“Donald Trump, Billy Gates, all those guys you probably idolize . . . they don’t oversee all their projects down to the most minute detail. They let other people do the work, and then they take the credit. And that’s exactly what you should do.”

Anyone else might have been happy to do that, but that idea didn’t sit well with Max. He’d dreamed his whole life of running this company, of actually doing something with it, not just sitting back and doing nothing.

“Let me do the work, Max,” Roger repeated. “I don’t mind.”

“Neither do I,” Max informed him. He supposed he took after his father in that way.

“Oh, you will,” Roger told him. “And let’s face it: You’re a kid. There’s only so much you can do.”

“I assure you, I’m plenty capable.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that,” Roger said. “But Phillip was actually going to leave this company to me, but he died before he could get the will changed.” He shrugged. “So smile, Max. It’s your lucky day.”

Max narrowed his eyes at him. He already didn’t like this guy.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael wasn’t sure how to feel about . . . everything. Having his parents there was one thing. That never felt quite natural, because it was his apartment, and having them in his home was different from him being in there home. Having Isabel there threw their entire dynamic on its head, though. He was barely even able to talk to his mom and dad because Isabel was too busy gushing about the pregnancy. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her to gush; he just wanted to escape from it for awhile. But there was no escape. For the rest of his life, there was no escape from it.

“So here are the images from the first ultrasound I had,” Isabel said, showing off a bunch of pictures from her first trimester.

“Oh my.” Michael’s mother sounded sort of . . . stunned. And he picked up on it right away. She was sitting on the couch with Isabel, obediently looking at every image that was brought before her eyes, but her own eyes were wide and full of worry.

“Yeah, it’s pretty incredible. There’s the head,” Isabel said, pointing it out. “Of course, it’s a lot bigger now. A lot bigger.” She patted her stomach and groaned. “I don’t even wanna think about squeezing this thing out.”

Michael made a face. Thing?

“Are you having a natural birth?” Sylvia inquired.

“Oh, god no,” Isabel answered without hesitation. “I want the doctor to give me every kind of drug he’s got.”

Sylvia nodded mutely, and Michael just shook his head and tried to focus on the sandwiches he was making. He hardly had any food in the house because he hadn’t gotten to go grocery shopping yet that week. Plus, sandwiches were about the only food he could make. He wasn’t used to being so . . . unprepared.

“Have you seen those?” his father asked, joining him in the kitchen.

“The ultrasound pictures? Yeah, she showed me today.” He tried to concentrate on spreading the mayo over the slice of bread, but he was barely functioning. He just wanted to go to sleep. He ended up spreading mayo on the cutting board instead. “It’s kind of surreal,” he said, thinking about the ultrasound pictures again. It was hard to believe there was another person inside Isabel. A little person.

“I remember. I was a little freaked out when I first saw you on that monitor,” John said, smiling fondly. “So, uh . . . Maria’s gone, huh?”

Michael grabbed a few paper plates out of the cabinet above the countertop and laid out four of them for the sandwiches. “You noticed.”

“It’s hard not to. I’m sorry, son.”

Michael nodded and plopped the sandwiches down atop the plates. He noticed mold on one of the slices and rubbed his forehead in distress. Why did every single thing have to go wrong?

“Hey, John come get a glimpse of your grandson,” Isabel called into the kitchen suddenly.

“Grandson?” he echoed curiously.

“Well, yeah, I think so. He feels like a boy. Either that or a very masculine girl, which worries me.”

Michael leaned against the counter and took a few deep breaths. He could tell his mother especially had just about had it with Isabel. They’d never really gotten along.

John went into the living room and sat down on the other side of Isabel, leaning over to peer at the ultrasound images. “Amazing, isn’t it?” he remarked.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Oh, I also have pictures of Florida, if you guys wanna see.”

Florida. Michael tensed. That was where she’d gone when she’d left him. He couldn’t believe she’d be insensitive enough to . . .

He pulled out his trashcan and shoved all the sandwiches and paper plates down into it. If there was mold on one slice of the bread, there’d probably be mold on all of them.

“Honey, are you okay?” his mother asked.

“Fine.” He headed into his bedroom, needing to collect himself for a moment. The stress was piling up, and it was really starting to get to him.

“Part one,” he heard Isabel say. “Me and my bikini.”

He shut the door to his room and sat down on the bed. It was hard for him to be in that room. It was hard for him to be anywhere in that apartment without thinking of Maria. He bent forward, pressed his elbows to his knees, and raked his hands through his hair.

A few minutes later, the door to his bedroom slid open and his mother poked her head inside. “Michael?”

“Mom.” He took a deep breath and tried to act okay for her. But she saw right through the façade.

“You look tired.”

There was no point in denying it. “I am.” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually felt the pronounced bags under his eyes or the last time he’d let the stubble of his beard start to noticeably grow in. Probably when Isabel had left him.

“You look sad,” she added on.

“How can you tell?”

“You’re my kid. I can always tell when something’s wrong.” She sat down beside him and placed a comforting hand on his back. He wondered if maybe she was secretly disappointed in him but was just too nice to say it to his face.

He swallowed hard and said, “Those, uh, pictures of Isabel in Florida . . . they were probably taken by this guy named Alex.”

“Who?”

“The guy she cheated on me with.”

Sylvia’s face registered confusion.

“Yeah, that’s why we broke up. That’s why I was such a wreck afterwards. Kinda like I am now.”

“Oh, sweetie . . .” She wrapped her arm around his shoulders and hugged his much larger frame to her side. “I didn’t know.”

“We haven’t even talked about it since she’s been back. I’m kinda afraid to bring it up. I don’t want her to feel any unnecessary stress or anything.”

Sylvia nodded. “I think that’s very considerate of you. But she can handle it. She’s a pregnant woman, Michael, not a heart attack patient.”

He supposed that was a good point.

“But now I have to ask the question.” Sylvia let go of him and turned to face him directly. “Are you sure this baby’s yours? Because if she cheated on you, then clearly she has no problem lying to you.”

“Yeah, but she’s not lying about this.” Having been lied to before by Isabel, he liked to think he would know if she was doing it again. “She has no reason to. Alex was a rich guy. You know how she loves money.”

“You still might do well to have some proof,” his mother persisted.

“Mom. You don’t have to try to get me out of this.” He knew that was what she was trying to do.

“I just didn’t picture this for you,” she admitted.

“Trust me, I didn’t, either.” He thought for a moment about the fact that he had once existed inside her, just like his child was existing inside Isabel. It was mind-boggling to say the least. “I was finally over her,” he said, feeling sorry for himself, “and then she came back into my life. Great timing, huh?”

His mother reached up to stroke his hair, looking as though she were about to cry.

“Maria and I were happy, Mom,” he said, feeling himself start to get choked up. “We were really happy. I thought we were gonna be together the rest of our lives.”

“You might still be.”

He shook his head. He didn’t want to give himself false hope. He had to be realistic about things from now on. No unnecessary dreaming.

“When did she . . .”

“Day before yesterday,” he cut in, already knowing what she was going to ask. “We had a pretty bad fight. And now we’re over. Just like that.”

“Oh, sweetie,” she said again. “I’m so sorry. I worry about you so much.”

“Don’t.” He didn’t want her to do that. She was his mother, so granted, it was like her job description; but . . . she didn’t have to. “I’ll be okay,” he promised her. “It’s not like I don’t have a life. I do. I have my child’s life.” From here on out, that was all that mattered to him.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“So that’s the last time I donned the bikini. You can see the baby bump was starting to show.” Isabel sighed wistfully as she looked at the picture of her standing on the beach. She looked like a model there. She couldn’t wait to get that body back. “Funny story,” she went on. “It was actually this bratty little boy at that beach who alerted me to the fact that I was expecting. He pointed to me and called me fat.”

“Interesting,” John remarked.

“Yeah.” She put those pictures away in her purse and pulled out another stack. “Part two: Disney World.” The first picture was of her and Alex standing with Mickey Mouse himself in the Magic Kingdom theme park. Alex had a big smile on his face.

“Who’s that?” John asked.

“Mickey Mouse, duh,” she joked. “No, that’s, uh . . . that’s Alex. He’s a friend.” He was a little bit more that, or at least he had been, but John didn’t need to know that. Isabel was just about to start explaining the next picture when Michael came out of the bedroom and headed towards the door. “Hey, where you goin’?” she said as he slipped on his shoes and grabbed his coat.

“I just need to get some air,” he said, slipping out the door. It was as though he couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

“I think Michael’s mad at me,” she said.

“No, he’s not,” John assured her. “He’s just got a lot on his mind, as do you.”

She smiled at the soon-to-be grandpa. “No wonder Michael’s such a nice guy. Look at his predecessor.”

John actually grew a little red at that compliment. Unfortunately, his wife strolled out of the bedroom and disrupted the peace shortly afterward. “Jonathon,” she said, “would you mind giving Isabel and me a moment?”

“Sure thing,” he said, rising to his feet. “I’ll go get something out of that vending machine downstairs. It had some fruit snacks that caught my eye . . .”

“Fine,” Sylvia said. “Go do that.”

Isabel remained seated, getting the sense that this wasn’t going to be good. John walked out of the apartment, and Sylvia sat down on the couch, right in the spot where he had been sitting. Unlike her husband, though, she didn’t seem interested in seeing any Disney World pictures.

“Is Michael okay?’ Isabel asked.

“No, he’s not,” Sylvia answered outright. “He’s awful. I’ve never seen him so unhappy before.”

It took a moment for that jab to resonate. “That’s not my fault,” Isabel pointed out.

“Isn’t it?”

Isabel huffed in disbelief. What made this woman think she had the right to attack her?

“Michael doesn’t know I’m confronting you about this,” Sylvia admitted, “but he won’t do it himself, so someone has to.”

Isabel gave her a confused look, truly confused as to what the hell she was talking about.

“I know you cheated on him, Isabel. He told me.”

Isabel rolled her eyes. “Like you’ve never cheated on John.”

“I never have. I’m not like you.”

Oh, you should be so lucky, Isabel thought, fighting to control herself.

“Now the way I see it,” Sylvia went on, “had you never cheated on him in the first place, you never would’ve left. This pregnancy would’ve been easier for Michael to deal with, for everyone to deal with. It wouldn’t have been so sudden, and he wouldn’t have had to suffer the heartbreak of losing Maria.”

Maria, Maria, Maria. Isabel was so sick of hearing about that stupid girl. “He also never would’ve found Maria,” she pointed out. “If you look at it that way, I did him a favor.”

“Nothing about what you did is favorable. Knowing what I know now, I have no respect for you, and I never will.”

Isabel couldn’t deny being a bit stunned. This woman had grown a pair.

“I do congratulate you on this pregnancy with all sincerity, and I will love my grandchild with all my heart,” she promised. “But I will never view you as part of this family. You don’t deserve a place with us, even if you and my son do get married someday. You need to know, Isabel, that Michael got over you. It wasn’t easy, but he fell in love again with a very special girl. John and I care about Maria very much, and we would much rather have her here right now instead of you. She’ll always be a part of our family.” Sylvia smirked. “So just think about that when you’re showing off the pictures your other boyfriend took.”

Isabel didn’t even know what to say. Her mouth dropped open, but for a few seconds, no words came out. Finally, she managed to formulate a response. “Wow, Syl, you’ve definitely got the bitchy mother-in-law- vibe down.”

“Oh, I’m not your mother-in-law yet,” Sylvia reminded her as she got up to leave.

Isabel waited until she had gone to shake her head and grunt, “Bitch.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael stood out on the sidewalk, right next to the street. It was a cold night out. Very cold. He wasn’t in any hurry to go back inside, though. He felt like he could stand out there for a long time.

He glanced to the right and looked down the dark, empty street. Maria was in that direction. She and Tess were probably watching some TV right about now, maybe doing statistics homework. Or maybe they were out somewhere, living it up, attracting the attention of all the guys in the vicinity. Maybe Maria was with someone else . . .

He shivered and pulled his jacket tighter around himself. He had to stop thinking those thoughts.

“Hey, man.”

He glanced to the left when he heard a voice. Kyle was walking towards him. “Hey,” he returned, noticing that his friend had Frank with him, was walking him on a leash. Frank stopped, hopped down on the street, sniffed something at the edge of the sidewalk, and then lifted his leg up to pee.

“I swear, this dog pees every ten steps,” Kyle said. “He’s all bladder, this one.”

Michael smiled. Frank was supposed to be his and Maria’s pet. He knew Kyle was taking good care of him, but still . . . it was yet another thing that hadn’t gone the way he planned.

“So what’re you doing out here?” Kyle asked once Frank was done doing his business. “Just tryin’ to breathe?”

“Yeah, something like that.” Michael stuffed his hands in his pockets. “My parents are here.”

“Oh. Did you tell them about . . . stuff?”

Michael nodded. “Yeah. I, uh . . . I invited Isabel to spend the day with us, too, and now I wish I hadn’t.”

“That bad, huh?”

“I got a glimpse of what the rest of my life’s gonna be like, and it sucks,” Michael blurted.

“Well, if it’s any consolation, the highlight of my day was getting Frank to poop on the newspaper.”

Michael laughed a little. Things were looking pretty dismal for the both of them. He was about to suggest that Kyle try giving Tess a call when his mother came out, looking a little flustered. “Michael?” she said.

“What’s wrong?” Michael saw his father come out as well, right behind her. “Is everything okay up there?”

“Everything’s fine,” his mother said. “I think we’re just gonna be going now, if that’s alright with you.”

“You can stay, if you want,” he offered.

“Oh, we will, if that’s what you want,” she said. “But really, I think you should try to get some sleep. I know that’s what I’m gonna try to do. We’ll both feel better if we . . . oh, hi, Kyle.”

“Hi, Mrs. Guerin,” Kyle returned. “Mr. Guerin.”

“Well, looks like you’ve got yourself a dog, Kyle,” John said, stating the obvious.

“Yeah, acquired him, actually,” Kyle said. “His name’s Frank.”

“Frank.” John chuckled. “Who chose that name for him?”

Maria had chosen that name. Kyle cast a glance at Michael, and Michael quickly changed the topic. “Um, so you guys have a hotel? You’re all set?”

“Yep. We’ll probably leave tomorrow after we make a little pit-stop first. We wouldn’t leave if we both didn’t have to work.”

“You’ll probably have to go to class anyway, won’t you?” John supposed.

“Uh . . . yeah, I should.”

“Now, Michael, don’t start slacking off with school. You stay sharp on that,” his father said.

He nodded. “Yeah, I will.” It was hard to stay sharp on anything, though, when he was so mentally and physically exhausted. “Okay,” he said. “Well, thanks for coming. It was really good to see you guys.”

“Oh, I’m afraid I did more harm than good,” his mother said regretfully.

“No.” He pulled her into a hug, and as childish at it sounded, he wished he could hop into the backseat of the car and go home with his parents. It would’ve been so easy. He missed easy.

“I love you, you know,” Sylvia said, sounding as though she were on the verge of tears. “More than anything in the world.”

“I know.”

“And so do I,” his father said, enveloping both of them in a hug.

“Oh, getting scrunched now,” Sylvia warned.

“Sorry.” John released them both from the hug, and Michael stepped away from his mom. They were good parents. They were really good parents, and he was well aware how lucky he was to have them. He was going to love his son or daughter the way his parents had loved him. No matter what.

“If you need anything, anything at all, you just call us,” his mother said.

“I will,” he promised. “Come on, I thought you guys were leaving.”

Sylvia nodded silently as John took her hand and led her towards the parking lot. She had begun to cry, and she was clearly just trying to keep it from getting out of control. They both turned and looked over their shoulders at him as they walked away. Michael stood and watched them go. Once they were gone, he turned back to Kyle and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow, alright?”

“Okay,” Kyle said, yanking on the dog’s leash as Michael headed back inside. “Oh, come on, Frank, you just peed there! Man!”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabel couldn’t stop looking at the picture of her and Alex standing with Mickey Mouse. They’d had someone else take it for them, of course. She’d been five months along at the time. It all seemed so long ago.

When Michael came back in, she stuffed all the Disney pictures back in her purse.

“They’re gone,” he said as he shut the door.

“Is that a hint for me to leave, too?” She hoped not. They finally had the place all to themselves.

“Maybe,” he admitted quietly.

She sighed. It figured. Oh, well. He seemed like he was in a bad mood. He probably wouldn’t have been the greatest company for the night. “I’ll call a cab,” she said, reaching for her cell phone.

“No, I can drive you,” he offered.

Much better. “Thanks.” Michael never ceased to be the nicest guy on the planet. Isabel got to her feet and made her way over to the door to pick up her shoes. It was a process, just bending down to pick them up. Her back was killing her, and her stomach was in the way of even the simplest maneuvers. Finally, she just gave up and decided to slip her feet into them while standing. “So tell me,” she said as she did so, “when did your mom get unbelievably scary? Just now?”

Michael made a face. “What do you mean? She’s not scary.”

“Yeah, she is. She told me she wishes I wasn’t here and I’ll never be a part of this family,” she informed him.

“When?”

“When you were outside. She told me not to mention it to you, but . . . what the hell, you know?” She would have liked to drive a wedge in between Michael and his mother, but she didn’t see that happening.

“She’s just mad ‘cause you cheated on me,” he said, bracing himself against the kitchen counter, looking away from her.

“Right. She’s mad.”

He whirled around, the faint glow of fury in his gorgeous brown eyes. “Well, you can’t blame me for bein’ pissed about it.”

She shrugged. “I’m not blaming.” And she really wasn’t.

“You know, I didn’t deserve to be lied to and cheated on. I never did anything like that to you,” he kept on. He was like a corked bottle that had just become uncorked. “I treated you well. I cared about you; I loved you. And you just used that to your advantage. You used me until you were done with me, and you only came back ‘cause of the baby.”

“But I came back.” Wasn’t that all that mattered? She could have stayed gone. That had been her plan when she’d left Santa Fe in the first place. She’d meant to make Florida her home.

“Because you had to,” he ground out. “You came back because you had to.”

“I didn’t have to.” Her whole life was a series of choices, not coercions.

“Did you plan this, to wait until my life was absolutely perfect to come back and mess everything up?”

She refrained from making the obvious comment, that his life hadn’t been as perfect as he’d thought if he and Maria had split so quickly, and instead said, “This isn’t something I did, Michael; this is something we did. Together. And I’m sorry Maria didn’t like you enough to stick around, but . . .”

“You don’t know anything about Maria,” he growled, stalking towards her.

“Why are you still defending her? She ditched you.”

“Kinda like you did?”

She grunted and side-stepped him. “Fine, I cheated on you. I left town and I came back pregnant. Go ahead and hate me for it.”

“I don’t hate you. I just don’t love you anymore,” he clarified.

She glared at him. “Well, I hope you love our baby.”

“Of course I—you think I won’t?”

“I think you’re so fixated on Maria DeLuca, you might let her get in the way of us,” she said.

“There is no us.”

“Our family, Michael.”

“We are not a family,” he informed her. “We will never be a family. That was glaringly apparent today. We’ll be parents, nothing more.”

No. It wasn’t good enough for her. “Funny. You say you don’t hate me, but it sure seems like you do.”

“Well, why shouldn’t I?” he roared. “Huh? Why shouldn’t I hate you? I should. You haven’t even said you’re sorry.”

“For being pregnant?”

He threw his hands up in the air, blazing with an anger she found very uncharacteristic for him. “For being a bitch! For being a selfish, manipulative bitch! For making me think you were someone you’re not and then leaving me for someone else. Oh, he’s richer, so he’s gotta be better.”

She grunted. “You make me sound so shallow.”

“You are so shallow.”

“Then I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry you can’t understand where I was coming from when I--”

“Where you were coming from?” he echoed. “Give me a break! You grew up in a mansion with limos and a rich dad. Yeah, that must’ve been real tough.”

“You know what? In its own way, it was. And I’m sick of everybody thinking I’m some spoiled little rich girl. Nobody knows how hard I’ve worked for what I want. Nobody knows--” She held her hand to her side and winced. “Uh . . .”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, immediately concerned. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “There’s just some pain or tension sometimes when I get worked up about something. I’m okay.”

He came up to her and placed one hand in the small of her back. “You sure?”

She nodded.

“Sit down.” He led her towards the couch, and she sank down onto the cushion where she’d been sitting when he first came in. “Let me get you some water,” he said, heading into the kitchen.

“Thanks.” She waited until he had turned his back to grin in self-satisfaction. Fake pregnancy pain. Worked every time.









TBC . . .

-April
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LOVE IS MICHAEL AND MARIA.
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April
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Part 56

Post by April »

Hey, guys! Well, my fall semester is going to start in about a week now, so this means that this will be the last Monday-only update! I'll probably update again on Saturday or Sunday, and then we'll be back to the frequent stuff because I'll be back in school.

I got so much writing done this week! I actually managed to FINISH 521. I was so thrilled, because I've been writing it for about a year. Anyway, it ended up being 1,316 pages long (maybe a little longer if I go back and add some more in.) So it's not quite as long as Passion was, but it's right up there. I've started work on my next fic now. ;) Anyway, just thought I'd share that tidbit.

Eva:
Michael's mom was fantastic!!
Wasn't she?

Alison:
April, I am the worst person when it comes to angst. I can write it, but I can't read it and these updates are killing me.
I know, it's SO much easier to write angst because, if you're the author, you know where you're going to take it. If you're the reader, you don't know where it's headed. Stick with it. It going to get super-duper angsty, but I'm hoping the outcome is worth it.

Karin:
Take that beaatcchh *snapping my fingers and doing that thing they always do in the gheeetttoo in all movies*
:lol:

Sara:
People normally write Isabel in a loving manner, its rare to see her in this form.
I've come to realize that I either write Isabel as a very nice, likable person, or I write her as the biggest bitch in the world. And in this fic, she's obviously the latter. I really think she became my favorite character to write, though.

Ginger: Sylvia definitely tells it like it is! Somebody had to put Isabel in her place.

nibbles:
I really, really want Michael to listen to his Mom and make sure that the baby is his. It's just a dumb move to take her word blindly.
Yep, I agree.

spacegirl23:
While it's heartwarming to know he's a great guy, it's just frustrating that he's still very accommodating to Isabel.
And the sad thing is, he wouldn't be so accomdating if he could only hear the kinds of things she's saying in private to Max, like asking him to rape Maria again. She's playing him.

tequathisy:
The Max and Roger clash is definitely going to be interesting. It's so cool to see Max getting his ass handed to him by a nerd.
Max is getting his ass handed to him by a lot of people lately, definitely by Roger, and even by his own sister. A girl and a nerd being better than him? That's unacceptable in Max's mind.

BLONDIE:
I really hope Michael and Maria get a chance to talk soon.
They will talk at some point, but they're sadly very estranged right now.

killjoy:
When the going got tough in the relationship...well Maria got going.
I know, I know. :( She definitely could have tried harder, even if she still would have left in the end.

Christina:
One would have thought that since they were arguing all the time, it was Phillip's way of saying "f- you" to Max, but really had he changed his will before his death, it would have benefited Max greatly. So, I guess I'm wondering what Phillip's intentions were in the first place.
Well, had Phillip Evans been able to change his will, he probably would have left Max with nothing. But since he didn't get it changed, he ended up leaving Max a business that's hanging on by a thread, which is not much, but it's something.

Krista: I enjoy my role as Master of Pain. Thank you. On the other board I post at, I'm known as Cruel Mistress, too. ;) Kinky nicknames.

Thanks so much for the feedback, everyone!







Part 56







When Maria woke up in the morning, the apartment sounded way too quiet. When she found the note from Tess taped to the refrigerator, she understood why. Tess had gotten called into work unexpectedly. She wouldn’t be back for awhile. Maria crumpled up the note and dropped it into the trash can beneath the sink. It was easier for her when Tess was around.

A knock on the door as she was straightening her hair startled her. She wasn’t expecting anyone, so she approached the door slowly and peered through the peephole before opening it. She recognized who was standing on the other side immediately, but she didn’t understand. Why were Michael’s parents there?

She opened the door, and Michael’s mother beamed at her. “Maria.”

“Hi,” Maria said, glancing back and forth between John and Sylvia questioningly.

“Hey, Maria,” John greeted, smiling that ever-present friendly (and a little aroused) smile of his. “See,” he said to his wife, “I told you she’d be awake.”

“What’re you guys . . . I mean, come in.” Maria stepped aside and invited them into the apartment. “Please, come in.”

“Oh, it’s so good to see you again,” Sylvia said, immediately hugging her. “When did we see you last? Was it Thanksgiving?”

“Um . . .yeah, I think so,” Maria said as Sylvia released her from the hug. That seemed like a different life to her now. Back then, she hadn’t even been thinking about Michael in a romantic sense. But she had been happy. They had been happy.

“It’s been awhile,” John agreed as he shut the door.

Sylvia looked around for a moment, then asked, “So this is your new place?”

“Yeah. Well, sort of,” Maria quickly amended. “I actually lived here before . . . you know, before I moved in with Michael.” She felt her own voice tremor as she said her boyfriend’s name. Ex-boyfriend.

“Oh, that’s right,” Sylvia said. “It’s very nice.”

“It’ll look better once I get my stuff unpacked,” Maria promised. She still had lots of cardboard boxes piled high in her bedroom and in the living room.

“You live with, um . . . Tess, right?” John asked. “We met her once before.”

“Yeah,” she replied. “She’s at work right now.”

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re here. We didn’t know if you would be,” Sylvia said. “We figured we’d just stop by and take our chances that you’d be here.”

Maria nodded, trying to smile at them. She really was happy to see them again, but it felt so strange given the situation. She had to ask about him. “Are you gonna go see Michael today?”

“We saw him yesterday, actually,” Sylvia informed her.

“Oh.” She had to know. “How’s he doing?”

“Uh . . .” Sylvia sent her husband a slightly worried look.

“He’s got a lot on his mind,” John filled in.

Maria felt a lump rising in the back of her throat, unwanted, unwelcomed. Michael . . . “I do love him,” she promised the two adults.

“Oh, we know,” Sylvia assured her, and John nodded in agreement.

“I really do,” Maria whispered in reiteration. She doubted she’d ever love anyone else.

“Hey, we still do Woodstock,” John blurted suddenly.

Maria knew what he meant, but her tired brain had to take a moment to process it. “What?”

“At least once a month, or whenever we need to let loose,” he elaborated.

She smiled a little, remembering how much fun they’d all had that day, dancing around the apartment like hippies, singing, doing fake drugs . . . Woodstock 2008. “Well, I’m glad.”

“Awhile back, we even got our neighbors in on it, and then they got their neighbors in on it,” Sylvia added excitedly. “Last month, the whole neighborhood kind of made a concert out of it. It was a lot of fun.”

“Wow, that’s . . .”

“And whenever anybody asks us how it started, we always tell them it started because of Michael’s girlfriend,” John declared proudly, almost immediately correcting himself. “Because of . . . you.”

“Maria kept trying to smile, but her bottom lip was shaking now. “Well, you guys just keep it up. You’ll be ready for American Idol before you know it.”

“Maria.” Sylvia suddenly sounded serious. “We’re not mad at you,” she said. “We don’t think you did anything wrong by ending things with our son, and we just wanted to let you know that. He still loves you, and so do we.” John opened his mouth to say something, but Sylvia didn’t let him. “Refrain from making a perverted comment, Jonathon.”

Maria choked out a laugh and blinked as the tears began to squeak out. “Thank you,” she said as the relief engulfed her. “You don’t know how good it is to hear that.” The tears started to fall faster, and before she knew it, she was standing before the two of them crying, totally embarrassing herself. But neither John nor Sylvia seemed to mind.

“Oh, sweetie . . .” Sylvia came forth and wrapped her arms around Maria, hugging her again, this time comfortingly.

Maria tried to calm down, but the tears just kept falling. “I’m sorry,” she cried. She didn’t meant to be doing this. Awhile back, she never would’ve let anyone see her cry.

“Don’t you worry,” Sylvia said, stroking her hair. “Everything will be alright.”

No, she thought, wallowing in her depression. Everything won’t.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabel woke up that morning in Michael’s bed. Of course, Michael wasn’t in it, but it was still a nice feeling. Knowing that Maria had woken up in that bed a mere week or so ago, and now she wasn’t . . . classic. Isabel had to lie there for a moment, just smiling, delighted with herself. How she had managed to take a fight about infidelity and turn it into an overnight stay amazed even her. Michael had refused to let her go back to her hotel room and spend the night by herself after she’d faked the pregnancy pains. He’d been completely calm and accommodating. The whole cheating issue hadn’t come up again.

She got up and got out of bed, feeling surprisingly rested. Rejuvenated, even. Like she could take on the world. But then again, she’d always felt like that. She didn’t even feel any early morning queasiness, which she usually did, even during this trimester. It was a good omen, the way she was feeling. It bode very well for her future.

She walked by the bathroom and smiled when she heard the sound of running water. Back when she and Michael had been dating, she would have just walked in there and slipped into the shower with him. She remembered it well, his arms around her, her legs around him, his . . .

She jerked herself out of her thoughts before she got too worked up. Horniness during pregnancy threatened to be the end of her sometimes. She walked out into the living room and surveyed the couch. Michael had slept there, although obviously not well. The pillows were on the floor, and the blankets were thrown about. It looked as though he’d tossed and turned all night.

This is what it could be like, she thought, stretching her arms above her head. This is what the future could be like. Except with Michael sleeping in the bed, with me. And both of us without our clothes. The baby would be in a different room, hopefully quiet, hopefully not disturbing their mommy/daddy time.

The front door swung open, but Isabel didn’t even flinch. Michael had a much higher number of people frequenting his apartment than he had when they’d dated. A very effeminate man walked in. No, not walked. Pranced. He pranced in and chirped, “Hey, lovers!” He was wearing sunglasses, but when he took them off and placed them on top of his head, Isabel recognized his face. He looked a lot like his sister.

“I’m back from Sin City, and I sinned a lot,” he said, finally noticing her. “Who are you?”

“Who are you?” Isabel asked in return, even though she was fairly certain she already knew.

“Martin DeLuca.” He smiled and extended his hand for a shake. “You can call me Marty. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Isabel smiled and shook his hand. Gay guys could be so fun. “I’m Isabel.”

Oh . . .” He quickly withdrew his hand. “Never mind.”

She grunted. This, apparently, was not one of the fun gay guys. “That was rude.”

“Oops, forgot to care,” he retorted. “Where are my sister and Big Boy?”

“Michael’s in the shower,” she told him, “and Maria doesn’t live here anymore.” It felt so good to say that.

“What?” Marty shrieked. “Okay, color me confused.”

“They broke up,” Isabel explained. “It’s really not that surprising.”

“Well, yeah, it is. I happen to know they’re in true, true love.”

“I think you’re neglecting the past tense.” Whatever lame-o relationship Michael and Maria had shared . . . it was gone now.

“Am I in alternate reality?” Marty wondered aloud, so flamboyantly. “My god, I go away for a week, and when I come back, the world’s off its axis and—oh my god, you’re preggers.”

Isabel raised an eyebrow. He was just noticing this now?

“Sorry, one too many martinis on the plane ride home,” he said. “I’m a little slow on the observiness. Is that . . .” He pointed to her stomach, then pressed his hand to his mouth as though he were afraid to ask the obvious question. “Is that Big Boy Jr. in there?”

Isabel just smiled, loving every second of this.

“Oh my god,” was Marty’s dramatic response. “Oh my god.”

Isabel laughed lightly. “You are such a flamer.”

Now Marty looked offended. “Oh!” he yelped. “Now I know why everyone hates you. Listen up, baby: If you weren’t pregnant, I would personally kick your fat, lopsided, self-righteous ass all the way to Nicaragua and feed you to the monkeys.” He glared at her for a few seconds, then tacked on “Bitch,” as he whirled around and stomped out the door, leaving a laughable gayness behind him. Isabel didn’t know what that thing she’d just spoken to was, but he was definitely spunkier than his sister was these days.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Don’t worry, girly. Shopping will cure anything you’ve got.”

Maria wanted to believe that was true, but as she and Marty strolled through the mall, she doubted it. She’d only bought one new shirt, and even though trying it on had made her feel better for a few seconds, she felt crappy again now. Marty was really trying to make her feel better, but nothing would work. She knew nothing would work.

“I don’t think what I have has a cure,” she told him. “It’ll just take time to get better.”

“Like a hangover,” Marty said, providing an analogy.

“Yes. Like a very long, very painful hangover.” It was definitely the worst hangover she’d ever had. “You really told her off, though?”

“Duh, it’s me you’re talking to. And I’d do it again.”

Maria smiled. “Thanks.” That made her feel better for a few seconds, too, and then she felt bad again. “So . . .” She let out a heavy breath as they stepped on the escalator and rode it up to the second floor. “Did it look like she’d been there all night?”

Marty gave her a sympathetic look. “Yeah. Looked like one of ‘em slept on the couch and the other slept in the bed.”

A small miracle, she thought. “And you didn’t get to talk to Michael?”

“He was in the shower. Ooh, but she wasn’t in there with him. That’s good news.”

Maria nodded as the escalator neared the second floor. She stepped off, and Marty followed behind her. She couldn’t help but notice that they were now standing right in front of a maternity clothing store. How symbolic.

“I’m sorry you have to go through this,” Marty said.

She turned to face him to avoid looking at the maternity wear. “I’m not.”

“You’re not sorry?”

“No, I’m not going through it,” she corrected. “Not really. Not like Michael is. I got out, ended things before things ended me.” She shook her head at her tone. She had never felt like this, talked like this before. “Sorry to be so depressing.” She had a feeling she wasn’t very much fun to be around. They started walking again, and she suggested, “Let’s talk about something else. How was Vegas? Did you and Francis win money or lose money?”

“Lost,” Marty confessed. “We had the greatest sex ever, though.”

Maria nodded, faintly remembering such a thing. “That definitely makes up for it.” Some of the things she had done with Michael in bed . . . she couldn’t even spell them, but she sure as hell knew she liked them.

“We actually talked about some stuff, too, though,” Marty added.

“About what?” She really wanted to know. She wanted to get her mind on something else.

“Oh, you know . . . Iowa.”

“Iowa?” The word felt unnatural on her tongue. She was fairly certain she’d never said it before.

“Yeah, about . . .” He trailed off and groaned. “This is a horrible time to spring this on you. About maybe moving there.”

She stopped in front of him and demanded, “Why would you wanna move to Iowa? What’s in Iowa? Where’s Iowa?” She tried to picture a map of the United States in her mind, but with the exception of the Pacific Coast and the states in the southwest, there were lots of missing puzzle pieces. “It’s a state, right?”

“Right. It’s by Nebraska,” Marty explained.

She just looked at him. He was going to have to do better than that.

“And Missouri.”

Still not helping.

“Illinois?”

Chicago, she thought. Finally, a notable city. “Oh, okay, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I’m there. Mentally, I’m there, in Iowa. And I’m surrounded by corn . . . and cows. And again I have to ask, why would you wanna move there?”

“Maybe because of all the happily married gay couples,” Marty said.

“Oh, I see.” That suddenly made a whole lot more sense.

“Yeah. I don’t know. We’ll see what exactly happens with their marriage laws,” Marty said. “Or we might think about moving to Massachusetts. You know how cool they are there.”

“Well . . .” She refused to let herself get worked up about this. Marty had a life to lead and . . . besides, she’d already cried her eyes out with Michael’s parents that morning. “I’d miss you, but I’d totally understand why you have to go.”

“It’s just, when Francis and I were talking about it, it was before I knew what was going on here with you and Michael. I’d hate to leave you.”

“Marty.” He was such a good brother. She didn’t know what she had done to deserve such a good brother. “Don’t worry about me. If you and Francis wanna move to Massachusetts or . . . Iowa to get married the way you deserve to, then more power to you. I’m so happy for you.”

He stared at her skeptically.

“Trust me, I am happy,” she insisted. “My facial muscles are just unaccustomed to smiling these days.”

“Well, that’s why we’re shopping. Good times. What do you say, do you wanna go into that maternity store?”

Her eyes bulged. What was he insinuating? She’d done a little stress eating, sure, but nothing to make her that big.

“You can try on the clothes and feel skinny and therefore superior to Bitchabel,” Marty explained.

“Oh.” That made sense. “Okay.” They turned around and backtracked to the maternity store.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz slowly sat down on Max’s couch and remarked, “This feels strange. I mean, just being here.”

“I’ll bet.” Max handed her a glass of wine, and she quickly set it aside. He supposed he should’ve chosen a less sexy drink. “Thanks for coming,” he said, sitting down in the chair beside the couch. “I really need someone to talk to.”

“About what?” she asked.

“About business.”

She looked confused. “Isn’t this the kind of thing you usually talk to your employees about, or Isabel, or anybody who knows anything about business? Because I sure as hell don’t.”

“Isabel has enough on her mind right now, and most of the people who work for me don’t know about this,” he explained, taking a sip of the glass of wine he’d poured for himself. He cringed. Horrible.

“What’s going on?” she inquired.

“Liz . . .” He felt embarrassed, doing this, having this whole conversation. He wasn’t into sharing, and he wasn’t into talking. It didn’t feel natural at all. “Do you remember when my dad gave me that ultimatum,” he asked, “when I had to choose between you and the company?”

Liz nodded. “And you chose the company. Yeah, that’s kind of hard to forget.”

He regretted bring up the past, and a not so pleasant past at that, but he continued on seamlessly. “The reason why I did that is because I thought I’d be getting everything I ever wanted.”

She frowned. “And you didn’t?”

He wet his lips with his tongue and leaned towards her, not close to her, but forward enough to let her know this was serious. “Listen, if I tell you something, will you promise not to tell anyone else? I can’t let word get out about this.”

“About what?” she asked.

He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to promise.

She rolled her eyes. “I promise.”

“Good. See, my father’s company . . .” He had to quit calling it that. “My company now . . . it’s broke.”

“What?”

“I guess it’s not really broke so much as it’s . . . losing money at a rapid pace.” There wasn’t much of a distinction. “And it’s not getting better.”

Liz looked at a loss of words for a moment, but finally she managed to say, “Oh, well, that’s . . . surprising.”

“Yeah, it came as a huge shock to me, too,” he said. “I had no idea. But now I have this entire company under my control, and I have no idea what to do with it.” Having to admit that was something very akin to feeling shame. Awful feeling. “But I have to do something soon or else it’ll all go under.”

“So-so . . .” she stuttered. “You want my advice?”

“Please.” There was a word he’d never said once in his life.

“Well . . . I have no idea,” she confessed. “What’re your options?”

“Well . . .” He set his wine glass down on the end table next to the chair and rose to his feet, walking around the room. “I could take a very hands-on approach to figuring everything out. I could resign myself to countless sleepless night agonizing over dollar signs and deals gone bad.”

“Or . . .?”

“Or . . . I could let someone else do it.” At first, Roger had so entirely rubbed him the wrong way that he hadn’t even liked to consider the possibility, but now that he’d had a night to sleep on it, he thought differently. “There’s this guy named Roger who seems all too eager, says he could do all the work and give me all the credit.”

“And you’re against that because it’d feel like you’re cheating?” Liz guessed.

He gave her a look. “Do you really think I have a problem with cheating?” She should have known better.

“Right,” she said, averting her eyes, apparently still feeling some shame of her own. “Sorry, I’m just trying to figure everything out.”

“Maybe I’m not explaining it well.” He ran one hand through his hair and sat down in the chair again. “A few months ago, I never would’ve settled for a figurehead position. That’s what Roger called it.” He rolled his eyes in contempt. “I wanted to be in the thick of it, completely immersed in it. But now I’m having doubts. Because it’s already harder than I thought it would be. It would be a lot easier to just let Roger suffer the constant headache.”

“Easier,” she agreed, “but not necessarily better.” She scooted down to the end of the couch, closer to him. “Now I get why you wanted to talk to me,” she said. “I may not know much about business, but I do know you, Max. And I know you’ll never be content to just sit back and let things happen. You love the control. You love the power. If your company’s gonna make a comeback, you want it to be because of you. And even if it fails miserably, you’d feel better if you were the one responsible for it.”

He looked her right in the eye and smiled just slightly. She was . . . something. “That is why I asked you over here,” he admitted.

She smiled, too.

“So, you think I should tell Roger to fuck off and take on everything myself?” he concluded.

“Uh, no. If Roger’s offering to help, then let him,” she suggested. “I know that’s a novel concept for someone like you, sharing the power, but just make sure he remembers who’s boss.”

That would be me, Max thought. That would always be him. “You really think I can do this?” he wondered.

“I really think you can.” She sounded so supportive, even though she had no reason to support him. “Think about it: You got me to come over here today to have a peaceful conversation despite everything you’ve done. I’d say if anyone’s capable of anything, you are.”

He nodded in consideration. He valued Liz’s opinion more than he valued the opinions of everyone else. If she thought he could do it, then maybe he could. But Liz had a bad habit of misplacing her faith in others. She’d believed in him on more than one occasion, and he’d consistently let her down. Would this time be any different?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael drove Isabel home around noon that day, after making her brunch. It wasn’t much of either breakfast or lunch, though, since he was the one cooking. A bologna sandwich. But she seemed grateful for it.

“Thank you,” she said as he pulled the car to as stop outside the Evans hotel. “I mean, thank you for letting me stay with you last night and sleep in the bed, and for driving me home now and . . . just thank you for everything.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t do much. I couldn’t make you leave after you had that pain set in. Are you sure you’re okay?” That still worried him. She said it was normal, but a person could never be too sure. “I can take you to the doctor if--”

“I’m fine,” she assured him, placing one hand atop his leg. “Although, I do have a check-up scheduled this week, if you feel like tagging along. I have to meet my new doctor, so I’m kind of nervous.”

He nodded. “We’ll go together.” It was time for him to stop moping around and start stepping up, doing what any decent father would do in the situation.

“That’d be really nice,” she said. “Thanks . . . again.”

“No problem.” He waited for her to take her hand off his leg, then asked, “You want me to help you in?”

“I’ve got it.” She unhooked her seatbelt and opened the car door, but instead of getting out, she turned back around to look at him. “Michael,” she said. “I know I shouldn’t have cheated on you. I won’t try to make excuses for it anymore.”

He swallowed hard and nodded. There was no point in arguing about all that now, especially not when she was pregnant. “What’s done is done,” he said.

“Right. Well . . . I’ll see you tomorrow.” She smiled at him a little, then leaned in and pressed her lips against his cheek, kissing him before climbing out of the car and heading inside the hotel.

He sighed heavily and turned the key in the ignition. He knew he and Maria weren’t together anymore, but even that tiny kiss from Isabel made him feel like he was betraying her.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabel bypassed her own room and rode the elevator up to the top floor. She pranced giddily to Max’s suite (as much as a woman heading into her eighth month of pregnancy could prance), and exclaimed, “Maximillion!” as she burst into his room. She found her brother sitting in his living room with a dark-haired girl. “Oh, sorry,” she apologized, “I didn’t know you hired call girls in the morning.”

“Isabel, this is Liz,” Max informed her.

“We’ve actually met before,” Liz piped up.

“Oh, right.” Isabel only faintly remembered. What a forgettable girl. Why Max was so infatuated with her, she’d never know. “Sorry ,when I referred to you as a call girl just now, I didn’t mean you look slutty; you just look like you wanna have sex with him.” She motioned towards her brother, and Liz’s eyes bulged in horror. “If you guys are gonna do it, I can just leave.”

“No, no, I’ll go,” Liz said, hastily standing. “I’ll . . . see you around, Max.” She shuffled past Isabel, looking as though she suddenly couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

“Hmm,” Isabel said, closing the door. “She’s strange.”

“What?”

“She’s a strange person.” She plopped down on the couch and kicked her feet up on the coffee table. God, her ankles were so swollen.

“What makes you say that?” Max pressed.

“Only everything about her. The way she sits, the way she talks, the way she blinks . . .”

“The way she blinks?

“She’s simultaneously self-conscious and self-confident. That’s strange. Most people are just one or the other. Take me, for example. I’m self-confident.”

“I never would’ve guessed.”

“Especially now that . . .” She trailed off deliberately. “Never mind.”

He rolled his eyes and played along. “Now that what?”

“Now that I spent the night with Michael last night.” She grinned, proud of herself for accomplishing something so huge in such a short amount of time.

“Huh, he must’ve enjoyed the lack of need for a condom,” Max remarked.

“What? No, it wasn’t like that,” she told him. “Yet. But it will be soon. I feel optimistic.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Things are going great. Okay, I’ll admit, we got into a small fight about my infidelity—everyone’s so sensitive—but it was good for us to clear the air. And whatever, his mom doesn’t like me very much, but I’m not looking to sleep with her, am I?”

“Not that I know of. You wanna sleep with Guerin. And then what?”

She shrugged. What else? “Do it again.”

Max grunted and shook his head. “I don’t know why. If I was a girl, I’d wanna sleep with . . . well, me.”

“Yeah, well, you wouldn’t wanna sleep with you if you were your brother.” She made a face after she said that. “Wait, this is getting confusing. Whatever, the point is, I’m gonna get him back and Maria will be a footnote at best.” She placed one hand atop her stomach and moved it around in a circle. “He already loves this little parasite. He’ll love me again someday, too.”

“Did you really just call your unborn baby a parasite?” Max said.

“That’s basically what it is.”

He actually looked . . . a bit taken aback by that.

“Hey, give me some credit here: I could’ve just aborted this thing long ago, but I didn’t,” she pointed out. “I’m gonna be a great mom.”

Max hesitated a moment. “Best ever.”

She placed her arms behind her head and smiled at him. “What, am I making you uncomfortable?”

“No,” he denied quickly. “But speaking of moms, did you know ours ran off with Carlos?”

“The trainer?” She grunted, envious. “Oh, he was always so smoldering. I gave him head in the tenth grade.”

“That’s disturbing, thanks. I think they went to Mexico.”

“Enjoy the Swine Flu, Mom.” She laughed and decided, “Let’s talk about something else. Did you meet up with that Roger guy?”

“Yep.”

“And?”

“Don’t you have a life of your own?” he wondered.

“Come on,” she urged, “you promised you’d keep me informed.”

“There’s not much to tell,” Max said. “Roger wants me to let him run the company, basically seems to think I don’t have what it takes.”

“Well, maybe you don’t,” she speculated.

“How encouraging.”

“And maybe he doesn’t, either.”

“Alright, then who does?” Max asked.

She had to fight to keep from laughing. Wasn’t it just so obvious?

“In your dreams, Isabel.”

“Uh-uh, Michael’s in my dreams,” she informed him, “usually in the nude. Evans Hotels is merely on my to-do list.” She smirked. Again, he looked as though he didn’t know what to say. “Oh, come on,” she teased. “You know I’m way more bad-ass than you.”

He remained silent to that claim and reached over onto the end table to pick up a glass of wine and take a drink.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Who the hell’s knocking on the door at 2:30 in the morning? Tess muttered curses under her breath and trudged towards the door. She opened it without glancing through the peephole first, and she was surprised to come face to face with her ex. “Max.” A heavy, fearful feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. “Oh, this can’t be good.” She tied her robe around her waist and folded her arms across her chest. “What’re you doing here?”

“Oh, come on, you could at least pretend to be happy to see me,” he said.

“No, too difficult,” she decided at once. “You know, this is starting to become a pattern, you showing up at my apartment, annoying me. And it never ends well.”

“Is Maria in there?” he asked.

Tess bristled. “Why? What’re you gonna do to her?”

“I’m not . . .” Max rolled his eyes. “I need to tell you something, and I don’t want her to hear.” He motioned with his head for her to join him out in the hallway.

Tess contemplated her options for a moment, then groaned and stepped outside. “Oh, I know I’m gonna regret this,” she groaned, closing the door behind her. “You got five minutes.”

“Fair enough,” he agreed. “First, let me say I’m not helping and I’m not doing a good deed. I’m just stirring the pot, keeping things from getting boring.”

“Tick-tock, Max.”

He scratched the back of his neck and then launched in. “Alright, here’s the thing: Isabel’s my sister, and as pathetic as it is, she’s about the closest thing I have to a friend. But even I know you can’t trust her.”

Tess frowned. “What?” She hadn’t expected what Max needed to tell her to be about Isabel. She’d figured he’d come by to talk about Liz or Kyle or, more likely, himself.

“Oh, for God’s sakes, are you people blind?” he spat. When she didn’t say anything in response, he conceded, “Apparently. Alright, let me put this in a way you can understand: Isabel is the female version of me. She lies. She’s a lair. She’s good at it.”

That did make things a hell of a lot clearer, but still, she didn’t understand what he was trying to get at. “What’re you saying?”

“What do you think?”

She went with the most obvious assumption based on his mini-speech. “She’s lying about being pregnant?”

“No. I’ve seen the baby bump. It’s real. Wishful thinking, Harding. Try again.”

“Then . . . she’s lying about Michael being the father?” she tried.

He shrugged. “Who knows? I don’t. But I guarantee she’s lying about her motives for coming back here. She didn’t come back because it was the right thing to do. She came back to get her hands on something that belongs to me.”

She made a disgusted face and cast a quick glance down at his groin. “Ew.”

He rolled his eyes again, exaggeratedly this time. “The company, Tess.”

“Oh.” That made much less incestuous sense.

“Today she was making all this noise about it,” he went on. “It was obvious how bad she wants it. And what about the fact that she conveniently arrived back in town only after my dad died? Has anyone thought about that?”

She didn’t say anything.

“Of course not,” he grumbled. “I don’t believe in coincidence, Tess, and neither should you.”

“Okay . . .” Isabel most likely wanted the Evans hotel company. She was on board with that. “But why should this matter to anyone but you? I don’t care if she manages to swindle you out of your hotels, Max. Actually, I’d kind of like to see it.”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and took a long, deep breath, obviously trying to calm himself and keep from lashing out at her. “Tess. If Isabel’s lying about why she came back, who knows what else she’s lying about? Could be she’s just scamming Guerin, making him think the kid’s his just so she has an excuse to be back in Santa Fe where the all the power is. I don’t know.”

“Oh, this is so soap opera,” Tess groaned, but she had to admit that Max was making her consider some things she hadn’t considered before. “Why are you telling me this? Why not tell Michael or Maria?”

“Michael might let something slip to Isabel, and that’s a worst case scenario,” he explained. “You really know nothing about scheming, do you?”

“Well, I’m not an expert like some people but . . .”

“You’ll never catch her in a lie if she knows you suspect she’s lying,” he told her. “And as for Maria . . . any advice I give her seems to go in one ear and right out the other.”

Tess wrinkled her forehead in confusion. What did he mean by that?

“I told her not to break up with Michael.”

“You did?” She found that hard to believe.

“Yes,” he insisted adamantly. “Figures. My one good deed of the decade and no one ever hears about it.” He shook his head in disappointment. “Look, she won’t listen to me. That’s why I came to you.”

“Okay.” Maybe it was just because her brain was starting to get less sleepy, but what he was saying was gradually making sense. “So we have to do something.”

“Oh, no, not we. You,” he corrected. “I’ve got enough on my plate right now. Besides, I really don’t care what happens as long as I keep my company.”

And just like that, Nice Max had left the building. “Well, what am I supposed to do?” she asked him. She didn’t even know where to start.

“Figure it out,” he said as he spun on his heel and traipsed on down the hallway.

“Max,” she called after him, causing him to stop. “You do realize you just betrayed someone yet again, don’t you?” And this time it was his twin sister.

“That’s what I do,” he responded simply as he walked out of her sight.

Tess sighed heavily and wrapped her arms around herself. No, my life’s not too busy, she thought sarcastically. Not at all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Even though Max had told her not to tell Michael about his concerns, Tess felt like she couldn’t take a step forward and investigate anything if she didn’t tell Michael. He was involved in this. Way involved. A pregnancy was the kind of thing that changed a person’s life forever.

“Hey, Michael?” She knocked on the door to his apartment with the back of her hand once morning rolled around. “It’s me.” She waited expectantly, but the door never opened. She reached down to grasp the knob and turned it. Unlocked. She walked inside and looked around. “Michael?” She cast a glance down the hallway and saw him sitting in his bedroom on his bed. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and he looked so off in his own world that he didn’t even notice she was there. “Michael?”

Finally, he looked up. “Oh, hey, Tess.” He grabbed a shirt and pulled it over his head, coming out into the living room to join her. “What’s up?”

“Oh, you know.” He looks so tired, she thought. She felt so bad for him. “Actually, I guess you don’t know. Um . . .” She wrung her hands together and started in. “Look, Michael, I need to tell you something; and I’ve been told I shouldn’t tell you, but I feel like you should know . . .” She trailed slowly when the door to the bathroom opened and none other than Isabel Evans stepped out. She was wrapped in a towel and had clearly just gotten out of the shower. Tess immediately started to jump to conclusions. Michael had been sitting there shirtless, and now Isabel was half naked, too. And her stomach was as big and round as an igloo. It was quite a sight to see.

“Like he should know what, Tess?” Isabel urged.

“Uh . . . that I’m out of milk,” she lied dumbly. “And I was wondering if I could . . . borrow some. Milk, that is.”

Michael stared at her in confusion. “You came all the way over here to borrow milk?”

“I’m quirky.” She nervously glanced over his shoulder at Isabel, and she could tell the other girl didn’t believe her flimsy lie. So she tried to be friendly. “Hey, Isabel.”

“Hey,” she returned, smiling a fake smile.

“Oh, this, uh . . . this isn’t what it looks like,” Michael quickly assured her.

“The bathroom in my hotel room only has a bathtub,” Isabel piped up in explanation. “It’s not exactly safe for a pregnant woman to be climbing in and out of a tub by herself, now is it?”

“I told her she could use my shower. That’s all,” Michael said.

Tess nodded, hating that she had even let herself think that maybe Michael and Isabel had been getting wet and wild before she’d shown up. “She’s huge,” she remarked to Michael.

“I can hear you,” Isabel informed her.

“Right. Well . . .” Tess glanced back and forth between the two of them. This wasn’t going to work. She couldn’t talk with Michael about Isabel when Isabel was in the apartment. Max was right. It was too risky to tell him. “About the whole milk thing . . . it really isn’t that big of an issue. I’ll just . . . go to the store.”

“No, go ahead and get some if you want,” he told her. “I got a carton in the fridge that’s gonna expire soon. Someone should drink it.”

She flapped her arms against her sides. “Okay, then.”

He nodded and walked past her towards the front door.

“Where are you going?” Isabel asked him.

“I’m gonna go get my laundry out of the dryer,” he replied. He sort of halfway smiled at Tess and walked out the door. That left her alone with Isabel. Awkward.

“So why’d you really come here, Tess?” Isabel asked.

She desperately tried to keep up the lie. “Milk.” She marched into the kitchen and pulled open Michael’s refrigerator, taking out the carton near its expiration. Isabel clearly still didn’t believe her, though.

“Cut the crap. What were you gonna say to him before I walked out of the bathroom?”

Tess shut the refrigerator. Freakin’ Isabel. She was smart like Max was. “I was gonna say . . .” She quickly thought up something else, something a lot less ridiculous than the milk lie. “That he and Maria should be together again someday. And they will be. They’re perfect for each other. They love each other. You know it’s only a matter of time, right?”

Isabel glared at her. “This coming from the girl who actually thought she had a future with my brother once. He’s way too smart for you.”

“He is smart,” Tess agreed, hoping that he had been smart enough to outwit her, hoping that his suspicions were correct and that she was lying about something important. She really didn’t want Michael to be stuck with this girl.

“And you’re very easy to fool,” Isabel put in.

“Don’t be too sure.” With the carton of milk in hand, Tess headed towards the door. “I’m so glad you’ll never be my sister-in-law.” She smirked and walked out. Just as she shut the door, Kyle walked out of his apartment next door. Her heart instantly beat a little faster at the sight of him. “Kyle. Hey.”

“Hey,” he returned, holding up a black trash bag in his hands. “Takin’ out the trash.”

“Unfortunately not all of it.” If only he could have fit Isabel in that trash bag . . . “How have you been?” she asked him.

“Fine,” he replied. “Were you here to see me?”

“Well, actually, I . . .” No, she hadn’t stopped by with the intention of seeing him, but now that she was, an idea occurred to her. “You know what? Maybe I am. Kyle, I need some help with something.”

Before she could get another word out, Isabel came out of Michael’s apartment. She had thrown on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that was way too tight for her current figure. “Kyle Valenti,” she said as she ran a comb through her wet hair. “Look at you. All grown-up and . . . no longer a virgin.” She glanced at Tess. “Thanks to you.”

How the hell does she know that? Tess wondered. Either Michael or Max had told her or she was just extremely perceptive.

“Don’t worry, Kyle,” Isabel went on. “Once you get a little more sexperienced, you won’t be so much of a . . . what was it you said?” She again looked at Tess. “An awkward, unsatisfying fish in the sack?”

Tess’s mouth dropped open. “I didn’t say that.

“Sure you did, just a minute ago.”

“We weren’t even talking about him. How dare you put words in my mouth, you lying . . . Kyle?” He was already heading back inside his apartment. “Kyle, wait, I didn’t . . .” He shut the door before she could finish, and she slumped her shoulders in defeat when she heard the lock click into place.

Isabel grinned smugly.

“You’re just like your brother,” Tess growled furiously.

“No, honey,” Isabel said. “I’m so much better than him.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria sat on the grassy knoll outside the library, her statistics textbook lying open in her lap. She was supposed to be studying, but she was people-watching instead. She liked just sitting there on that hill, seeing what everyone was doing. In fact, that little hill had become one of her favorite spots. It was the perfect place to just sit and think. Or not think. Whichever one she felt like.

She was gladly basking in the land of not-thinking when she saw Kyle out of the corner of her eye. He had a backpack on his shoulders and looked ragged, so she figured he had just gotten out of class. He walked up to her and sat down beside her. “I think we need to have a club meeting,” he said.

“The Broken Hearts Club?”

“Oh, yeah.” He set his backpack down in front of him, opened it up, and pulled out a Hi-C drink, one of the little boxes with the attached straw.

“Well, I’m the president,” she reminded him as he fumbled around with his drink, trying and failing to poke the straw into the hole on top the box. “I’m the only one who can call a meeting.”

“Then call one. It’s important.” He finally did manage to poke a hole through with the straw, but when he did, he dropped his juice, and it spilled all over his lap. He looked annoyed but not at all surprised. “Please,” he begged.

“Fine. I hereby call to order the meeting of the Broken Hearts Club. What’s up?”

“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all,” he grumbled as he took a black sweatshirt out of his backpack and dabbed at his juice-covered lap. “Oh, except Tess was talking to Isabel this morning.”

“What?”

“Yeah, and do you know what they were talking about? Me.”

Maria frowned. That sounded weird.

“Apparently Tess told Isabel I was . . . oh, wait for it . . . an ‘awkward, unsatisfying fish in the sack.’ A fish, Maria. Can you believe it?”

She grunted. “No.”

He grinned. “You think I got skills, huh?”

“Ew. No, I just know Tess. Even if she did think that, she wouldn’t say it about you. But don’t worry, I’m sure she doesn’t even think it.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“Only the fact that I know her. Tess has been with a lot of . . . fish in her day.” She made a face and went on. “Look, the bottom line is, the walls between your apartment and Michael’s apartment are very thin. I heard you guys when you were . . . fishing. She was reeling it in.”

“Does that mean she was satisfied?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, thank God,” he said dramatically. “You think Isabel was just bein’ a bitch?”

“It is her default setting.”

Kyle breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew. You don’t know how much better this makes me feel. Thanks, Maria.” He chuckled and nudged her arm with his elbow. “Hey, you know, when you’re all heartbroken and depressed, you’re easy to get along with.”

She shot him a warning glare, and he recoiled.

“Or . . . not.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz left the tutoring center that afternoon after a talk with her old boss. When she stepped outside, she practically ran into Tess on the steps of the building.

“I had a feeling I’d find you here,” Tess said. “Actually, I saw you in the commuter parking lot and kind of stalked you. I hope you’re okay with that.”

Liz shrugged. She didn’t particularly enjoy visits from Tess Harding, but it was better than having some creeper stalking her.

“You get your job back?” Tess asked.

“Part-time.” It felt good to be a tutor again. Now she had a genuine reason to stay in Santa Fe. “What’re you doing here?” she asked her non-friend.

Tess grimaced. “Brace yourself—I need help.”

“Help?” Liz echoed. “Well, I know this therapist, Dr. Lawson. She was really nice the one and only time I went to see her. I probably should’ve kept going.”

“Not psychological help, Liz. Your help.”

“With what?”

“With Max,” Tess answered. “No, just kidding.” She laughed a little, then added, “I guess it’s not really that funny.”

“Actually, I’m thinking I should get a hold of Dr. Lawson for you.” Liz reached into her pocket to take out her cell phone.

“No, seriously, I do need your help,” Tess insisted.

Liz put her cell phone away again. “With biology?”

“Oh, please,” Tess grunted. “I learned my lesson once. You’re not the tutor for me.”

“Well, I was sleeping with your boyfriend at the time,” Liz reminded her. “It could be different now. Or not. Whatever.”

Tess sat down on the steps and asked, “Do you know what’s going on around here?”

Liz sat down beside her, thinking she had a pretty good idea. “Are you talking about Max’s company being broke?”

“What?”

“Never mind.”

“No, I’m talking about Isabel,” Tess clarified. “Pregnant, bitchy Isabel.”

“I barely know her,” Liz said, squinting against the setting sun behind Tess.

“Well, consider yourself lucky for that. This is good, though. A fresh perspective.” Tess ran her hands through her hair. “Okay, here’s the thing: I think she’s up to something. I don’t know what, but Max planted the idea in my head, and the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. You know?”

“Well, what do you think she’s up to?”

“I don’t know, just something. Like, I’m kind of hoping she’s smokescreening Michael about the baby being his,” Tess admitted. “It sounds horrible, but . . .”

“Okay, so you think Isabel’s up to something. How are you gonna dig deeper?” Liz questioned.

“That’s the thing. I have no idea. I thought about asking Michael for help, but that didn’t work out. And then I was about to ask Kyle, but thanks to Isabel, that got shot to hell.” She sighed. “Maria’s too wrecked to do much of anything right now, and I’m not sneaky enough to do it myself.”

“And Max?” Liz wasn’t too keen on Max and Liz spending time together—one of the reasons why she’d decided to stay had been to keep them apart so Tess and Kyle could reconnect. But if Max and his sneaky mind could help Tess, and if Tess could help Michael and Maria . . .

“He doesn’t wanna help,” Tess replied. “He only wants to quote/unquote ‘stir the pot.’ Well, he stirred, and now it’s up to me. And you.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, me? Why me?”

“Because, it kind of just dawned on me: If I wanna dig up the dirt on Isabel, I need to enlist the help of someone as deceitful and manipulative as she is. And that would be you.”

“Wow, what a compliment.”

“You know what I mean. Will you help me?” Tess practically begged. “Come on, Liz. By helping me, you’d be helping Maria. She used to be your friend. She might be your friend again.”

Liz knew friends were something she was in short supply of. In fact, she didn’t really have any friends these days, except maybe Kyle. But even with him, it wasn’t like they were study buddies or anything. “I am just so in-demand lately,” she said before agreeing to it. “Fine. It’s not like I have anything better to do.”

“Unless you’re doing Max,” Tess put in. “Although that wouldn’t really be better.”

Liz rolled her eyes. “I’m not doing Max.”

“Hmm.” Tess looked her up and down and said, “Then maybe we’ll get along better this time.”

Liz laughed. Yeah, right, she thought. She and Tess were never going to be friends. But if they could possibly get to a point where they weren’t enemies . . . she wouldn’t hate that.








TBC . . .

-April
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LOVE IS MICHAEL AND MARIA.
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Part 57

Post by April »

Hey, guys! Alright, so I'm BACK ON CAMPUS! That means that updates are going to be FREQUENT again, three times a week like they used to be. I think the updating from the library thing worked out well these past six weeks, although one of these days I'm going to have to give in and get Internet at my house like regular people. :lol:

I would've updated earlier today but I had to go buy books for this semester. Ended up costing me $641.00 this time. I'm appalled. I've NEVER spent that much on books. And I think I threw my back out hauling them back to my apartment. Ay, ay, ay.

Anyway, enough griping from me.


Sara:
Is it wrong to say GO MAX!
Nope, it's not wrong when Max is making a move against his sister.

killjoy:
The fact Isabel would tell her brother about her sex life is just...... ....I'm a big brother to a little sister and I would have just covered my ears and started chanting "I can't hear you!" over and over at the top of my lungs.
I know, right? That's just the kind of siblings there are.

nibbles:
I'm confused. I don't like Max. But I love him. There's a human lurking under the jerk and he emerges now and again to do good things.
I'm confused about him, too. All I know is that I love writing him.
Isabel is a truly wonderful villain.
Thank you! I know you've written some great villains yourself *cough--Carla!--cough* so that really means a lot.

Leila:
Now to my favourite person in this fic. ISABEL!
I love and hate her. I love her character.
I feel the same way about her! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but she's probably one of the best if not the very best character I've ever written. Not in terms of likability, obviously, but just . . . I don't know, I think she's interesting.
I know I probably repeat myself: April,you do an amazing job with IsaBitch. You show us how evil a character can be. I thought Max was bad but Isabel is truly better than him.
Thank you, thank you! I think a lot of authors really take pride in their villains, and Max and Isabel are easily the villains of this piece.

I'm glad you're back from vacation, by the way. I missed your stalking and spanking. ;)

Christina:
It's interesting to see a battle of wits, which is why I love seeing Max and Isabel conversing so much.
I know, I absolutely LOVE writing their scenes together. I didn't intend to write so many Max and Izzie scenes, but after I wrote the first one, I thought they had a really twisted dynamic. And that's always fun.

Ginger:
I'm almost sorry to see it come to an end though...it has been fun.
Don't worry, there is still a lot left for you guys to read. ;)

spacegirl23:
The scenes with Isabel make me physically sick. WTH? Sleeping Michael's bed, taking a bath in Michael's apartment? Michael, I know you're being nice and all, but I wanna smack you on the head!
Michael is just hanging on by a thread right now, and he's making Isabel way too comfortable in that apartment.

Yas:
April, I always get sucked in by the fun of your stories and end up mired in angst.
:lol: Originally, this story was supposed to have that romantic comedy vibe the entire time, but I just can't resist the allure of angst. I blame it on all the soap operas I watch.

BLONDIE:
I can't believe that Tess and Liz are gunna work together on this! I wonder how they'll get along...
Well, they'll never really get along all that well.

tequathisy:
Then Isabel made it clear that she wants the company so now I'm thinking that Roger is in cahoots with Isabel (or are we calling her Bitchabel now?) I even thought that Roger was actually really Alex so I went back and read the Roger part. He does sound like Alex, only older. Maybe Alex is in disguise.
Whoa, you are way more imaginative than I am! :lol: Roger has no connection to Isabel or Alex.

Nove: Welcome back from your trip! Missed you!
I wanna know what Isabel is really up to. I just know it's no good. I so don't believe that kid is his. It's Alex's. Who knows I'm sure Alex could pay someone to make the test look like it's Michael's kid even if they had a test done. Especially if it is really all a big scheme just to get the company from Max.
Interesting thought. Hmm . . .


I have to say, I'm loving all the theorizing and speculation that's going on about Alex right now. I'll give you guys some inside info: Alex has absolutely NO contact with Isabel right now. None whatsoever. She's in New Mexico, and he's in Florida, and that's that.

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone, and remaining so invested in this story!








Part 57








Isabel was so glad Michael accompanied her on her visit to her new OBGYN the next day. He was supposed to be in art history class, but he was skipping it. The fox. It was a definite step in the right direction.

Isabel was pleased with Dr. Monroe. She was a middle-aged woman, very soft-spoken and calming and gentle. One of the more middle-class maids at the Evans hotel had recommended her, and she definitely didn’t disappoint. The woman knew her stuff. She had obviously reviewed all the information about Isabel’s pregnancy carefully, and she seemed to take a genuine interest. Isabel ended up concluding that she was one of few people left in the world who wasn’t incompetent at her job.

“Let’s start off by talking about how you’re doing,” Dr. Monroe said.

“Fine,” Isabel replied quickly. “Better than fine, actually.”

“No contractions, swelling, headaches, fatigue?”

“Normal swelling and fatigue. A little bitchiness, but that’s just me.”

“What about the pain?” Michael put in. For the most part, he’d been sitting off to the side not saying anything. But of course he had to pipe up about that little lie.

“What pain?” Dr. Monroe asked.

“Nothing,” Isabel said quickly. “I mean . . . it was nothing. Just a little ache.”

“It seemed like it really hurt,” Michael said.

Isabel sighed, trying to think of a way out of this. She didn’t want Dr. Monroe to run all kinds of tests just to see that nothing was wrong. “It was probably just gas pain,” she lied. “Not to be gross or anything, but . . . I’m sure nothing’s wrong. Trust me, I’d know if there were.”

“I’ve learned to trust mothers on these things,” Dr. Monroe said, “and you’re right, most pain during pregnancy is attributable to normal things like gas or cramps. But if you think we should look into it . . .”

“We might as well,” Michael said.

“No, it’s fine,” she insisted. “Okay?” She looked at him encouragingly, and he nodded reluctantly in agreement.

“Why don’t you lie back on the examination table,” Dr. Monroe suggested, “and I’ll do a physical exam.”

Isabel lay back and endured the routine. She’d grown quite used to it by now. She had her blood pressure and weight taken (a weight she truly didn’t care to know), and then went to the bathroom and gave a urine sample so that they could check for urinary tract infections or any other problems. When she came back, Dr. Monroe then felt her belly to estimate the baby’s size, checked its heartbeat, and so on. She said that she could tell that the baby was in the head-down position, which was obviously a good thing. And then to make it better, she referred to Michael as Isabel’s boyfriend on more than one occasion. Michael shifted uncomfortably whenever she said that, but at least he didn’t correct her.

“Well, Isabel,” Dr. Monroe said when the examination was done, “it seems like you’re experiencing the model pregnancy.”

“Yeah,” Isabel said, though she didn’t really agree. “The puking during the first trimester was real modelesque.”

Dr. Monroe laughed. “I just mean that everything seems to be going very well. Now, uh, are you doing daily kick counts?”

“You betcha.” She really wasn’t, but that sounded boring, and she had better things to do with her time.

“And has he been kicking more frequently or less frequently or about the same as he has been?”

“He?” Michael cut in.

“Oh.” Dr. Monroe blushed. “I’m sorry. It said in your records . . .” She held up Isabel’s file folder, looking absolutely mortified. “My apologies if you didn’t want to know.”

“No, I don’t care,” she said. “A boy, huh?” She made a face and kicked her feet against the examination table. She’d kind of been hoping for a girl, though she’d been expecting a boy all along.

“Wow.” Michael just sat there in his chair, looking stunned. She didn’t know why. There’d always been a fifty percent chance that it would be a boy. Maybe just envisioning himself with a son made it all the more real.

“Again, I apologize,” Dr. Monroe said. “I’m really sorry. Sometimes we doctors get to talking and we don’t hear what we’re saying . . .”

“No, it’s fine,” Isabel assured her. “I had a feeling anyway. What were you asking about, though? Something about the kicks? Yeah, it—he likes to annoy me in that way, pretty damn frequently.”

“You’ve felt him kick?” Michael asked her.

“Yeah, for awhile now.”

He stared at her stomach and asked, “What’s it feel like?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Like popcorn popping.”

“Really?”

She smiled at him. “I’ll have to let you feel him sometime.”

He nodded in agreement.

“Did you and your previous doctor discuss warning signs, labor signals, postpartum?” Dr. Monroe asked.

“Uh-huh. Plus, I’ve done some research of my own online and stuff. I feel pretty well informed.”

“That’s good. I’m happy to hear it,” Dr. Monroe said. “Now I know you’ve just moved back here, so what about Lamaze class? Is that something you’re doing or have done?”

“Well, I had it all set up in Miami,” Isabel said, “but obviously I’m not in Miami anymore. And I know classes fill up really fast, but luckily my brother pulled a few strings, did some monetary bribing. You know. So I got into a class. It starts this week.” Hopefully Michael would accompany her to that, too. She hadn’t mentioned it to him yet.

Dr. Monroe nodded her approval. “Excellent. Excellent. And what about a birth plan?”

“Birth plan?” Isabel echoed. She really had no idea what that meant. She was planning on giving birth. Was that the plan?

Dr. Monroe smiled. “Looks like there’s some homework for you to do after all. I can get you a birth plan worksheet today, and you can fill it out. It may sound a little . . .”

“Stupid?” Isabel filled in.

“But it’ll make you feel a lot more prepared when your labor rolls around. And your boyfriend can help you if he’d like.”

Isabel beamed. There was that word again. Boyfriend. Didn’t matter if it was really true or not. It was being said. “Sounds great.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael set a plate of kiwi down on the arm of the couch for Isabel. She smiled at him appreciatively. “Thank you.”

“You really crave that stuff all the time?” he asked, sitting down beside her.

“All the time.” She popped a slice of kiwi into her mouth, and her expression became almost orgasmic as she savored it. “Mmm,” she said. “I had this friend in Florida who got pregnant a few months ago. She weirdly craved sausage.”

Michael made a face. That didn’t sound like a typical pregnancy craving.

“But then again, I guess I crave sausage, too,” she added suggestively. It was evident by her tone that she was using sausage as a euphemism for dick.

“Funny,” he said, scooting a little farther away from her.

She shrugged. “I thought so. Are you ready to work on the birth plan?”

“Let’s go for it,” he decided. It was either that or homework, and this was more important.

“Okay,” she said, grabbing the birth plan worksheet off the coffee table. “You got a pen? Looks like I have to write stuff.”

“Uh . . . yeah.” He pulled a pen out of his pocket and handed it to her.

“Thanks,” she chirped. “Okay, so first it says . . . Attendants and Amenities. I’d like the following people to be with me during labor and/or birth. Oh, and then it has all the options. So, partner? Yes.” She placed a check next to the box that said partner and wrote in his name on the space provided to the right of it. “Friend?” She grunted. “Don’t really have any of those. Relative . . .” She thought about it for a moment and decided, “Well, yeah, I guess Max could be in there.”

“You really want your brother to be in the room with you when you’re giving birth?”

“Well, not down at the birth canal or anything, but he could be a hand for me to squeeze,” she said. “Or maybe he could just wait out in the hallway.”

Michael nodded. He would feel a lot more comfortable with that. Having the guy who had raped Maria in the room when his son was being born . . . no. That didn’t feel right.

“Okay, done with that part,” she announced. “I’d also like . . . oh, to bring music. I can bring music. Should I check the box for that?”

He shrugged. “If you want to.” It was really up to her.

“Maybe I’ll bring the new MGMT album,” she decided.

“You’re gonna listen to MGMT while you’re in labor?” Electric dance beats and earth-shatteringly painful contractions seemed like an odd combination. “Don’t you think you should bring something more soothing, like Mogwai or Ray Lamontagne?”

“First of all, don’t even know who they are. Second, MGMT’s my favorite band.”

“Well, you’re the one who’s giving birth.”

She checked the ‘bring music’ box and wrote MGMT next to it even though there wasn’t a line provided. “Should we dim the lights?” she asked.

“What?” What was she thinking, that this was going to be some romantic evening, the two of them here, working on the birth plan? It wasn’t going to happen.

“In the delivery room,” she clarified. “Obviously they won’t be dim when the kid comes out, but . . . sure, why not set a sexy mood beforehand?”

“I don’t think you’re gonna feel very sexy,” he reminded her. He’d heard the horror stories of childbirth from his own mother. Hardest thing in the world to do and all that.

“I always feel sexy,” she assured him, continuing on. “Let’s see, do I want to wear my own clothes during the delivery? Hell no. Take pictures and/or film during the . . . oh, no. No. No way.”

“Why not? I got a camera,” he offered. “I could--”

“I’ll look so disgusting. I can’t. I don’t want any film or pictures unless it’s of the baby himself after he’s out of my . . . area.”

“Better make a note of that,” he suggested.

She jotted that down next to that box and nodded affirmatively. “Glad we got that taken care of.”

“I’d probably faint holding the camera anyway,” he figured.

“Such a dad thing to do,” she teased. “Okay, what’s the rest of this stuff? Eat if I wish to, walk around freely as I choose to . . . yes, yes.” She checked two boxes.

“Gotta eat your kiwi.”

“Exactly.” She frowned as she read what came next. “What is this? If they’re available, I’d like to try . . . a birthing stool, a birthing chair, a birthing tub, a squatting bar? What is all that stuff?”

“Uh . . .” Usually he had knowledge, but this was one area where he was completely in the dark. “I don’t know. Just don’t check ‘em off.”

“When it’s time to push,” she read on, “I’d like to do so instinctively . . . or have someone coach me on when to push and for how long.” She scrunched up her face for a moment at that second option before deciding, “Instinct. I don’t like being told what to do.”

She most certainly didn’t.

“I’d like to try the following positions for pushing. Ooh.” Her face lit up in excitement. “Positions. Like doggie style?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s not one of the--”

“Oh my god, here it is. Hands and knees,” she interrupted. “Can you believe that?”

“That’s—I’ve . . . that sounds kind of crazy.”

“I think I’ll just check the box that says whatever feels right at the time,” she decided.

“Good idea.” He leaned over when she started to check off box after box. “What’re you doing?” he asked.

“It’s the pain relief section. Asks you what you want to, you know, relieve the pain,” she explained. “I want it all. Hence the rapid check-marking.”

He nodded and watched her put a big, bold circle around the word medication.

“Vaginal birth,” she read, going on to the next section. “Ugh, that’s in the cards for me. So it says . . . I’d like to view the birth using a mirror. No, I would not like that. It kinda goes back to the videotaping thing.”

“Yeah, I—if I was giving birth I wouldn’t wanna see it, either,” he agreed.

“Blah, blah, blah,” she skimmed. “My partner to help catch the baby. Whoa, how’s that sound?”

“Uh . . . catch?” He wasn’t sure. He hadn’t even thought about this stuff. “What if I drop it?”

She laughed. “I don’t think it’s that kind of catching. But we’ll just say no. Oh, but here’s a good one: I’d like for my partner to cut the umbilical cord.” She glanced up at him questioningly. “You wanna do that?”

“Yeah, definitely.” His own father had been the one to cut his umbilical cord. And it sounded a lot easier than catching the baby.

“Okay.” She placed a check in that box. “C-Section . . . doesn’t apply. Postpartum.”

“Postpartum depression?” he asked.

“No, postpartum. It’s, like, after birth,” she clarified.

“Oh, right.”

“Ooh, I wanna stay in a private room. And I wanna have a cot in there for you.”

“Okay.”

“And . . . do you think we need all newborn procedures to take place in our presence?”

He thought about it for a moment. “I wouldn’t mind. I’d like to know what’s going on at all times.”

“Okay.” She checked all the boxes she wanted to and flipped to the next page. “Breastfeeding . . . already know I’m not gonna do it.”

“You’re not?”

“No,” she said decisively. “But you’re welcome to if you want.”

“Hmm, no thanks, I’ll pass. Wouldn’t work anyway.”

“It does work,” she said. “I’ve heard about men who breastfeed children. They don’t so much produce milk as they do this, like, gross watery fluid, but there’s nourishment in it.”

“That’s interesting,” he remarked fearfully. “I’ll still pass, though.”

“Okay, we’re almost done,” she announced. “If my baby’s a boy . . . oh, and we just learned it is.”

He smiled. A son. He was having a son. That was so . . .

“If my baby’s a boy . . .” She trailed off and cringed. “Circumcision. We can either have it done at the hospital or somewhere else or not at all. I’d say we just have it done at the hospital. Why not?”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” he objected. “Why do we have to have it done at all?”

“Because, it’s unsightly. You want him to grow up and have kids of his own someday, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, he’s never gonna get laid with all that ugly foreskin sending girls away.”

Michael wasn’t sure if he could picture his son getting laid . . . and he definitely didn’t want to. “It’s painful,” he pointed out.

“You were circumcised,” she pointed out. “Do you remember feeling any pain?”

“No, but--”

“Because you were a baby. You can’t remember stuff from babyhood.”

“But still, I’d feel kind of bad putting our child through that much pain even though we know he’s not gonna remember it,” he protested.

“Michael.” She gave him a look, one of those the-decision’s-already-been-made looks, and he relented.

“Fine, we can have it done in the hospital.”

“Excellent,” she chirped. “Well, we did it. We got ourselves a birth plan.” She set the worksheet down on the coffee table and reached over to pluck another kiwi slice off her plate. “That was kinda fun, huh?”

Actually . . . it had been, in a terrifying way. “Yeah, I guess,” he agreed.

“And to think it’ll all be happening so soon.”

He sighed heavily. “Yeah.” That was the part that scared him most.

“You okay?” she asked. “I freaked you out, didn’t I?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just . . .” He didn’t want to say it out loud, but he was starting to feel like he was losing all the other parts of himself in becoming a father. He already didn’t feel like much a student anymore, or an artist, or a boyfriend. Fatherhood was all he saw of the future now, even if he tried to see something more.

“Look, Michael . . .” She turned to the side to face him and looked him straight in the eye, her tone turning serious. “I know this isn’t what you pictured your life being like. I didn’t, either, obviously. But it happened, and all you can do is adjust to it in your own time.”

“I’m adjusting,” he promised.

“I know,” she said, “and I’m very grateful for that. But I just can’t help thinking . . .” She trailed off and surprised him when she reached over to lay one of her hands atop his. “This isn’t so bad. Is it? I mean, we had a great day. We spent time together, we didn’t fight, we started to plan our future together.”

He quickly pulled his hand away and reminded her, “We’re not together, Isabel.”

“No, not like that. And I can’t force you to feel something just because I want you to.”

He frowned. She still had feelings for him? After all this time? And she wasn’t holding back about it.

“But Michael, what I want more than anything in the world is for our baby to know that he’s loved.”

“He is. I love him,” he assured her. And he did. He would never not love his own child. He’d love it more than life itself, without a doubt.

“I just want him to feel like he has a family,” Isabel went on. “A really loving, supportive, stable family.”

Of course, he thought. Who doesn’t want that?

“Michael, I know you say you don’t love me anymore, but you did once. I’d like to think that doesn’t just go away.”

Honestly . . . he wasn’t sure it ever would. Isabel had been his first love. You never forgot your first love, even if you moved on and loved somebody else more.

“I just don’t want our son feeling like he was a mistake,” Isabel whispered.

Michael tensed, remembering the night they had . . . made him. Isabel had just told him about Alex, told him she was leaving for Florida. And he’d slept with her one last time that night anyway. It had been the most horrible experience of his life, knowing that she’d be gone after it was over; and after she’d left him, he’d felt disgusted with himself. So maybe their son himself wasn’t a mistake, but the conception absolutely had been.

“I think we need to . . . cultivate a nurturing environment,” she said, grinning a big, cheesy grin.

“What’re you saying, Iz?” He had a feeling he knew where she was going with this, and he wasn’t sure if he could take that step. “You wanna move in here?”

“You have to admit, it wouldn’t be a bad idea,” she said. “Maria doesn’t live here anymore.”

He looked away sharply. Maria . . .

“And I don’t think I should have to stay in a hotel room, even if Max is letting me stay there free of cost. I mean, it’s just not safe. What if something were to happen to me? Nobody would even know. If I lived here with you and, God forbid, some kind of emergency happened, you could take care of me. Me and the baby.”

He had to admit, she made a good point. He didn’t like the thought of her being in some hotel room all by herself if something were to happen. He definitely wanted to be there for her and his son if they needed him, even if they didn’t need him.

“It’d be kind of . . . crowded, though,” he pointed out. Two people living there was a lot different than two people and an infant.

“No, it’d work,” Isabel insisted. “I can totally respect if you choose to sleep on the couch; and when I’m no longer pregnant, I can sleep on the couch and you can have your bed back. Or maybe we could get a futon.”

“I don’t know.”

“And that closet in the hallway . . . if you cleaned it out, it’d be big enough to make it into a little nursery.”

“You wanna put our kid in the closet?”

“It’d just be temporary. Maybe we could find a bigger place after he’s born.”

Michael nodded in consideration. She was actually making sense.

“I’m not asking you to fall in love with me again,” she reiterated. “I’m just asking you to give me a home. Because I don’t have a home right now, Michael, and if I don’t have a home, neither does this little boy.” She grabbed his hand again and placed it atop her stomach. The baby wasn’t kicking, but just knowing that it was in there sent shivers up his spine. “I need to feel like I belong somewhere,” she went on, really working to make him feel for her, “and I think I can belong here. I used to.”

Fair enough, he thought. He and Isabel had never officially lived together, but she’d spent a lot of time over here when they’d been dating, and it had been . . . amazing. Or so he’d thought at the time.

“Please?” she pleaded with him. “For the baby?”

He knew she was using their son to her advantage, using him to play on Michael’s emotions. And it was working. Even though he knew he wasn’t obligated to let her stay there, he thought to himself, How can I say no?

He withdrew his hand from her stomach and echoed with all sincerity, “For the baby.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tess sat down on the bed in Liz’s hotel room and looked around. The Budget Inn was a dingy place, discolored walls, gnarled carpet, squeaky mattress on the bed. And it smelled, too. She didn’t know how Liz stayed there.

“Got anything to eat?” she asked.

Liz pulled open the drawer of the nightstand beside her bed and pulled out a Snickers candy bar. “It’ll go straight to your thighs,” she warned ,tossing it at Tess.

“Gourmet. Thanks.” She peeled back the wrapper and took a bite. It was sort of melty, so it tasted good.

“It’s not like I’m able to cook anything in here,” Liz pointed out. She walked over to her window and pulled open the blinds. Upon seeing that it was raining outside, she shut them again and turned on the bedside lamp to light the room instead. The light bulb flickered, then went on for a second, then blinked off again. Liz flapped her arms against her sides helplessly.

“So how long have you been staying here?” Tess asked, chewing the candy bar.

“About two weeks,” Liz replied. “You know, since I got back. My parents are practically begging me to come back home.”

“So why don’t you?”

She shrugged. “I guess I just wanna stay here. Not in this hotel room, obviously, but it’s what I can afford. I so need to get my own place; I’m aware of this.”

“Well, now’s the time for it. Everything’s leasing.”

Liz stood in front of her and asked, “Are you gonna stay at The Links?”

“Yeah. I was gonna have to move to a one-bedroom, but now that Maria’s back to help me with the rent, I’ll be able to keep the two-bedroom.” The fact that she and Liz were actually having a polite conversation ran across Tess’s mind and frightened her.

“Maria pays rent now?” Liz sounded incredulous.

“Scary, isn’t it?”

She nodded and sat down on the floor, crossing her legs Indian-style. “I gotta be honest,” she said, clasping her hands together and stretching her arms above her head. “A month ago, I thought you and Kyle would be getting ready to move in together at the end of the semester.”

Kyle. The mere mention of his name, and Tess’s heart filled with ache and longing. “I wish we were,” she said. “I miss him. But Kyle and I are in this perpetual state of limbo lately. We’re not together, but we’re not with anyone else. It’s horrible.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Liz said, obviously thinking of her own experience.

“I’m sure you do.” Tess was almost sympathetic towards Liz. In some ways, she had it worse than all of them. Her boyfriend wasn’t a soon-to-be father or a state-of-limbo artist, but he was . . . Max. And he was bad. “Are you and Max in one of your on periods or off periods right now?” she asked.

“We’re not an on/off couple,” Liz denied, stretching her right arm across her chest, curling her left arm upward to hold it in place. “We’re not a couple at all, actually.”

“You are on/off, though. Admit it.”

Liz rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. “Fine, I admit it. We were on, then off. On, off. On, off, on, off. Still off.”

“Unstable much?”

Liz glared at her. “Thank you, Tess, for making me sound like a crazy person.”

“Well, you kind of are.” Tess polished off the rest of the Snickers bar and tossed the wrapper into the trash can beside the bed. “You left town, which was a good move, but then you came back. There’s gotta be a reason.” And she had a feeling she knew exactly what that reason was. Dark hair, dark eyes, muscles, cockiness . . .

Liz sighed again and lay down on the carpet this time. Brave soul, Tess thought. Who knew what kinds of parasites were crawling around down there?

“At first I told myself it was to keep you and Max away from each other,” Liz admitted, “not because I didn’t want you to have him—I mean, I didn’t, but it was mostly because I didn’t want him to have you.”

“Oh, so the whole lesbian thing wasn’t really a myth, was it? You want me to be your Maxine?” Tess joked.

Liz rolled her eyes. “I told myself I was actually looking out for you, helping you and Kyle.”

“But?” She sensed a but.

“But then I realized you don’t want Max,” Liz said.

“And you still do. That’s why you’re back.”

“I’m back because I’m done running away from my problems; and yes, Max is one of them,” Liz explained.

“But how can you love him after everything he’s done?” Tess wanted to know. “I mean, I know I kissed him, but that wasn’t love; it was a lapse in judgment. Liz, he . . . he cheated on me. With you. And I’ll probably never forgive him for it, but . . . he raped Maria. He took advantage of my best friend. That’s not just being a jerk; that’s being a sicko.”

Liz stared straight up at the ceiling and whispered, “I know.”

“And in some ways,” Tess went on, “what he did to you is worst of all. Because you believed in him when no one else did, gave him the chance to be better, and he threw that all away for his career. He threw you away.”

Liz sat up slowly. “I thought we were gonna be investigating Isabel today, not Psych 101-ing me.”

“It’s just . . . obviously you still believe in him, and I can’t for the life of me understand why.”

Liz thought about it for a moment, tensing briefly before saying, “Because I believe there’s something in him worth saving. And I know it sounds crazy, and maybe it’s naive of me. But I really think he has changed during the short time I was gone.”

“I hope.” And Tess did genuinely hope that. A world with a slightly less evil Max Evans was a better world. No doubt.

“So . . .” Liz clapped her hands together once, then got to her feet. “About Isabel . . .”

“Right, about her.” They’d gotten majorly side-tracked talking about the one person they had in common.

“Why do you think she’s lying?” Liz asked. “Just because Max said so?”

“Well, yeah, and . . . pregnant, bitchy, Evans . . . that all lends itself to a certain amount of speculation.”

“So . . .” Liz sat down beside her on the bed. “You know her better than I do. If you had to guess, what do you think she’s lying about?”

Tess thought about it and shrugged. “I don’t know. The baby, I guess. About it being Michael’s. Or maybe that’s just wishful thinking. I hate having to watch him sacrifice his entire life for this.”

“Well, let’s just think.” Liz piled up all her hair on the top of her head, then let it fall again. “What reason does she have to lie and say it’s his?”

“Well, basically Isabel’s motivation for everything in life is money,” Tess told her.

“I sensed that.”

“But Michael doesn’t have a lot of money. I mean, he’s not poor, but he’s not rich, either. He’s a twenty-one year-old aspiring artist. He might never be rich.” Tess frowned as her confusion increased. “And he told me once that the guy she was with in Florida was loaded.”

“So she leaves the rich guy for the average-income guy. Doesn’t make sense,” Liz concluded. “Unless she really did come back to do the right thing and let him know about his child, let him be in its life. Or maybe she’s lying and using that as an excuse to reignite their relationship. Maybe she loves him.”

Tess shot down that last claim right away. “No, Isabel loves Isabel. Just like Max loves Max.” She realized she’d said something wrong when Liz hung her head and looked away. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I don’t know why I said that.” She wasn’t in the business of making her ex-boyfriend’s ex-mistress feel better, but there was no reason to make her feel particularly bad, either. “He might love you.”

“Maybe,” Liz said, sounding doubtful. “But that means Isabel could love Michael.”

Tess shook her head, still not buying into that. “No, you don’t lie to someone you love.” She froze after she said that, thinking of her own relationship with Kyle. She’d lied to him. Lying by omission, but still lying.

“What about the company?” Liz asked.

“Max’s main concern. I think it’s safe to say Isabel’s all over that.”

“Company equals money, or at least potential money,” Liz pointed out.

“Still . . . she had to know her dad was leaving the company to Max. She had to know she wasn’t gonna get a dime. Either she’s really determined to pry it away from her brother or she’s really disillusioned in thinking he’ll include her willingly.”

“But the company could be her motivation for this entire thing, if she is actually lying,” Liz said. “We need some proof. Or something.”

Proof. Tess wasn’t even sure where to start. “Okay,” she agreed, “but how are we gonna get it?” They didn’t even know if there was any proof to get.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Wait, hold the door!” Tess shouted as she ran for the elevator at the Fairview complex. A hand of the person inside kept the door open for her, and when the doors parted, she came face to face with Michael.

“Hey,” she said, stepping into the elevator with him. He had a large black duffle bag slung over one shoulder and had a dark green rolling suitcase in his left hand. “Whose stuff is that?” she asked, immediately getting her hopes up.

He pushed the button for the fifth floor once the doors had closed, and the elevator started upward.

“Is Maria moving back in with you? Are you guys back together? Why didn’t she tell me?”

“We’re not back together, Tess,” he said. “And she’s not moving back in.” He looked away. “Isabel is.”

“What?” she shrieked as the doors slid open. “But she’s a bi--” Before she could finish saying bitch she saw Isabel standing out in the hallway, waiting for Michael as he got off the elevator. “Big fan of Angelina Jolie,” she finished as a cover-up. That seemed fitting. Angelina had destroyed Brad and Jennifer.

Isabel ignored her and remarked to Michael, “Got it all in one trip, huh? You’re the Hulk.”

Tess got off the elevator and followed behind the two of them to Michael’s apartment.

“You don’t have that much,” Michael said, shoving his weight against his door to push it open.

“No, I do,” she insisted, smiling at him. He smiled back and set her bag down in the living room.

Tess tried to follow them inside, but Isabel started to shut the door in her face. “Oh, you’re coming in?” she said nastily.

“Really think you can keep me out?” Tess shot back.

“Yeah. I live here now.” Isabel smirked and reluctantly opened the door. Tess followed her inside, stuffing her hands in the front pockets of her jeans in a sign of nervousness. She hadn’t been expecting this. This made her feel like she had a major deadline to meet.

“Oh, the bag in the front seat . . . I forgot it,” Michael said. “It’s still out in the car. I’ll go get it.”

“Wait, Michael.” Tess grabbed his arm and stopped him at the front door. She cast a sideways glance at Isabel, then lowered her voice and spoke solely to him. “What is this?”

“She needs a place to stay,” he said simply.

“She has a place to stay, a hotel room very much the size of this.” She grunted in disbelief, her best-friend-to-Maria instincts kicking in regardless of the friendship she shared with Michael as well. “God, you really don’t waste any time, do you?”

“It’s not like that,” he insisted.

“Yeah, not yet.”

Michael narrowed his eyes at her, seemingly upset now. “Look, if you came here to attack me, I’ve got better things to do?”

“Like be her slave?” Both their voices had risen, and Tess had no doubt Isabel could hear everything they were saying now.

“Like take care of her. Like show her that she matters to me,” he said. “You know, kind of like you didn’t with Kyle.”

Hearing him say that hit her like a sucker-punch. Hearing it period hurt like hell, but hearing it from Michael, one of the nicest guys in the world . . . if he thought that, then everyone must have. She just stood there, trying to regroup as he walked back out the door.

“Wow,” Isabel said. “Now that was a good burn.”

Tess swallowed hard and rapidly blinked the tears away. There was no time to get all weepy and choked up around this girl.

“Michael sure has grown a pair,” Isabel commented, picking up a picture of Michael and Maria off the end table next to the couch. It was of the two of them at the Cowboy Club, the night they’d sang karaoke together. It was just about the only picture Michael of the two of them hadn’t already gotten rid of. Isabel flipped the picture frame down on its face and added, “And apparently so have you. Nice try, Tessie, but I’m here to stay.”

“And how’d you get here Isabel? The baby? Because you and I both know Michael wouldn’t even look at you if you weren’t pregnant.”

“Good thing I am pregnant then.” She bent down and tried to lift up the duffle bag, but it was too heavy. “Do you mind?” she asked.

Tess took the bag from her and hoisted it up onto the couch. A pregnant woman, regardless of how monstrous she was, shouldn’t be doing any heavy lifting.

Isabel unzipped the bag and started to unpack the contents immediately. The first thing she took out looked like a book and piqued Tess’s curiosity. Since when was Isabel a reader? “What’s that?” she asked.

“A journal,” Isabel replied, holding it close to her chest. “A pregnancy journal. Not your typical ‘dear diary.’ It’s supposed to be therapeutic.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah, but insulting you is better.” Isabel smirked and set the journal down on top the couch. She pulled a vibrant blue shirt out of the bag, something she would definitely wear only when she’d lost her baby weight, and then looked at Tess and set the shirt back down again. “You know, Michael may have snapped at you just now,” she said, “but he was right. Kyle never mattered to you.”

How dare she presumes to know anything about me! Tess thought in outrage. Or anything about me and Kyle. “Of course he--”

“I heard all about what you did to him. Max told me. You let him think you were soul mates when, really, you thought of him as a beneficial friend the entire time. And then you locked lips with my brother right in front of Kyle’s poor, sweet, innocent eyes.” She shook her head in mock sadness. “He’s never gonna take you back now, even if you do love him. Because you don’ t deserve him. He’s way too good for you.”

“And you deserve Michael?”

“I’m carrying his child,” Isabel reminded her.

Tess grunted. Maybe she wasn’t. Hopefully she wasn’t.

“You know what your problem is, Tess?” Isabel went on, refusing to let up. “You can’t let Max go. But it’s not because you love him, or even like him. It’s because he’s bad. And as long as he’s around, you have someone to blame for all your mistakes, someone to point to and say, ‘It’s his fault.’ But once he’s gone, out of your life for good, it’s all on you. And you can’t handle that.”

Tess shifted uncomfortably and looked down at her feet, ashamed to think that might be true.

“Face it, honey: What you did to Kyle is hardly different from what I did to Michael, or even what Max did to your BFF. You took advantage of him. You cheated him.” Isabel glared at her. “You bitch.”

Tess lifted her head sharply, not wanting to be this person Isabel made her out to be.

“So unless you’re knocked up, keep dreaming, little girl,” Isabel said, picking up her journal again. “You’re never gonna be Mrs. Valenti.”

Tess watched in interest as Isabel walked over to Michael’s desk and slipped the journal in the top right-hand drawer. “And you’ll never be Mrs. Guerin,” she promised. “I’ll make sure of it.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria curled up on the couch under an afghan, watching a marathon of M.A.S.H. on television. In the past three hours, she felt as though she’d seen every single episode that was ever made, when in reality, it had only been half a dozen. She watched, and she wished she were a doctor, because then she could put herself back together, fix everything that was broken, make everything all better again. But she wasn’t a doctor. She wasn’t much of anything as of late.

Tess returned home late that afternoon and asked, “No class today?”

Maria shook her head and turned the television volume down with the remote. “Not for me. I woke up feeling crappy. Which is actually a step up from shitty.”

Tess smiled sympathetically and sat down beside her. “I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I felt sick when I woke up but . . . I feel better now.”

Tess grabbed one end of the afghan and curled up under it. “You know, sometimes emotional distress can manifest itself with physical symptoms.”

“Whatever you say, Dr. Harding.”

Tess laughed lightly and stared at the TV screen for a moment before turning to look at Maria with a serious expression in her eyes. “Look, I found out something today, and I gotta tell you about it,” she blurted. “But I don’t think it’s gonna make you feel any better.”

Maria tensed, not saying anything. She had a feeling she knew where this was going . . .

“Isabel’s moving in with Michael.”

. . . and there it was.

“I went over there this morning, and he was bringing all her stuff inside,” Tess explained. “And of course she was all smug about it.” She rolled her eyes in contempt. “I personally think it’s way too sudden and he’s not thinking clearly. Plus, you know she probably guilt-tripped him into the whole thing.”

Maria felt as though someone had her entire body in his hand and was squeezing tightly. The thought of Isabel living in that apartment, sleeping in that bed, eating in that kitchen, doing God knew what with Michael . . . it killed her. “Yeah,” she agreed dazedly. “She probably made him feel like he’d be a bad father if he didn’t let her stay.”

“Exactly.” Tess nodded and waited a moment before guessing, “That doesn’t make it any easier, though, does it?”

Maria shook her head sadly. “No.” Nothing could make what she was going through easier.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Kyle craned his neck back and peered down the hallway into the bedroom. Isabel was lying on the bed, reading a magazine. “Whoa,” he said, sitting up straight at the counter again. “Okay, this is too weird.” It was so weird, in fact, that he had to take a drink of the beer Michael had set down in front of him. Certain circumstances required certain liquids.

“What?” Michael asked.

“Just, all of this. Her being back here, moving in . . .” He shivered at the weirdness.

“What’s so weird about that?”

“I’m just used to seein’ Maria here, I guess,” he explained.

Michael leaned over onto the counter and rubbed his forehead. “Could we talk about something else?”

“No, I don’t meant to lecture you, or piss you off, man,” Kyle said. “I know I can’t understand what it’s like to be you right now.”

“No, you can’t,” Michael snapped. “A month from now, I’m gonna be a dad.”

“Yeah, it’s head-spinning,” Kyle agreed. “I’m not saying it isn’t. And I think everybody can agree you’re doing the honorable thing here. But have you thought about what you’re giving up?”

“I can’t just let her fend for herself,” Michael mumbled, staring at the beer in his own hands but not drinking it.

“No, of course not. But having her move in right after Maria left . . .” Kyle shook his head. “It’s like you’re sacrificing your entire life, and you’re gonna end up miserable. And Maria’s miserable, and I’m miserable. We have this whole club—it’s called the Broken Hearts Club and--”

“Look, this isn’t a discussion!” Michael roared suddenly, his voice going up about ten notches. “She stays. Deal with it.”

Kyle didn’t know how to react to his friend’s sudden outburst. Michael had never actually sounded mad at him before. Until now. “Sorry,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to sound so accusatory, but--”

“She’s staying,” Michael repeated decidedly. “You can go.”

Kyle was taken aback. He was basically kicking him out. That in itself was almost weirder than seeing Isabel in the bedroom.

Kyle grabbed his beer and headed out without another word.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabel set her magazine down on top her stomach and grinned. Michael was sexy as hell when he yelled. And here she’d been thinking that she would actually have to work hard to push Michael’s friends away from him. But she wasn’t having to work hard at all. He was doing it for her.

Michael walked into the bedroom shortly after Kyle had gone. He leaned against the doorframe, looking distressed. “Sorry you had to hear that,” he said.

“That’s okay.” She loved hearing that. The more alienated Michael became from the people closest to him, the closer he got to her. To their family. And that was music to her ears.









TBC . . .

-April
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LOVE IS MICHAEL AND MARIA.
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April
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Part 58

Post by April »

Leila:
I have the feeling that Isabel is somehow out for revenge towards Michael. He 'dared' to love another girl. He rejected her when she came back.
Well, she's not out for revenge towards him, but she is extremely pissed that he fell in love with another girl and that he loved that girl more than he ever loved her. But in her mind, there is no doubt that she is going to be with him again. She's very determined.
EDIT: I fucking love your Isabel/Katherine Heigl-avatar
Thanks! You know, I think you motivate me to keep making icons, because you're always saying you like them! I've been waiting to use this icon for awhile now. I didn't want to start using an Isabel icon until I started posting the Isabel-heavy parts of this fic. Katherine is probably my second favorite Roswellian to make icons out of, behind Emilie.

Nove:
But Isabel is an independent woman. I can't see her necessarily needing anyone to help her with scheming.
Isabel's confusing in that, in some ways, she's completely independent. She can rely on herself; she's not one of those people who needs friends and family in her corner (which is probably a good thing since she has no friends and her only family is her brother.) But in other ways, she is dependent. Like right now, she's very dependent on Michael. He's giving her a place to stay, he's taking care of her, and he's really supporting her through this pregnancy.
I feel like we're sizzling now.
We always have been. ;)

Ginger:
You've got my mind wandering around in a thousand different directions....
I'm glad! I'm typically not so good with any kinds of mysteries in fics, so I'm glad there's an element of mystery surrounding Isabel right now.

BLONDIE:
I know Michael is under a lot of stress but he's said some really mean things to Kyle and Tess, if he keeps it up the only friend he'll have left is, dare I say it, Isabel *eew*
And that's exactly what Isabel wants. He's making it easy on her. He doesn't mean to snap at his friends like this. He's just under so much stress, like you said.

spacegirl23:
I mean, obviously, he's being too nice to Isabel right now, but I kinda expected it. But he really needs to be nice to his friends now, coz he's being sucked in the web of manipulation of the Isabitch.
Exactly, he's being sucked in, and I know it's so sad to see! Isabel manipulated him once already when she cheated on him. Now history is sort of repeating itself, except this time she's, like, using her unborn baby as a weapon.

Karin:
Congrats Michael, you are pushing away the people that really cares about you, good for you that you have loving parents, cause honey right they are all you have.
Sad, isn't it?

nibbles:
With Max, my feelings change with every chapter. We have an on/off relationship you could say. :lol:
:lol: Nice.
I'm so glad you're back. I missed you sooooooo much.
I missed you sooooooo much, too! I'm glad I updated once a week, though. There was no way I could have gone without updating for six weeks.

killjoy:
But all of us can see the evil thing that Isabel is and what she's doing....something that Michael doesen't get to see or have the knowledge of so he doesen't have all the info that we've got from reading the story.
Exactly. The Isabel that calls her baby a parasite in front of Max and verbally beats down Tess for leading Kyle on isn't the Isabel that Michael is seeing. He's seeing the Isabel who puts together her birth plan, the Isabel who doesn't seem bad, even though she is. And he's all too willing to set aside the animosity from the affair she had for the sake of the baby.
Is it wrong to hate a character *cough* Isabel *cough* but kind of like the smack down she gave to Tess over her actions to Kyle? :lol:
Probably not!

Eva:
I think the duo Liz-Tess will work it out! Tess can be like a bull-dog when she goes after something. And Liz is very smart to think about possibilities. So that combination can only succeed! I cross my fingers for their attempt!!
You'll see this unlikely duo in action in this part!



Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Oh, lord, I can't believe I have to go to class in under two hours. *pouts*

Just so I'm not plagiarizing in any way, shape, or form, I should let you guys know that there is a line about vampires in the very beginning of this part that's shamelessly borrowed from One Tree Hill. ;)








Part 58







Roger knocked on the door to Max’s office, then came right in without waiting for an invite. “Oh, good,” he said, “I caught you before you went to lunch.”

Max barely looked up from the work on his desk. He really hated this guy. “I thought you had to invite vampires in.”

Roger ignored that and sat down in the chair across his desk. “Nice job in the meeting today,” he said. “If you want my advice, though . . .”

“Which I don’t.”

“Work on your eye contact. Eye contact signifies confidence, and that’s what we need to portray around here, isn’t that right?”

Max looked him right in the eye, glaring. “Maybe you should look away more often,” he suggested.

“Yes, yes, quite right,” Roger said flippantly. “Now, I’ve been devoting myself entirely to our financial concerns over the course of these past forty-eight hours, Max, and I’ve developed a stratagem I think you’ll find very promising.” He slapped a manila-colored folder down atop all Max’s other work and smirked proudly. “I’ve got it all outlined here. I just wanted to let you have a look at it before we implement.”

“We’re not implementing anything until I say so,” Max informed him. “Is that understood?”

Roger looked surprised to hear that, surprised that he wasn’t relinquishing the control. “Of course, sir,” he said. “If you can come up with something better, by all means, please do.”

Max rolled his eyes at the backhanded suggested.

“Now it says here--”

“I can read, Roger.” Had he been anywhere else, he would have just given into his jackass impulses and decked this guy. He had just begun to take a look at Roger’s outline when his phone vibrated in his jacket pocket. He took it out and saw that Liz was calling. “Get out,” he immediately told Roger. “I have to take this.”

Roger stood up slowly. “But you’ll look over my proposal?”

“Goodbye.” Max waited until he had left and shut the door before flipping open his phone. “What?” he barked.

“Wow. I didn’t even say anything, but somehow I still managed to piss you off,” Liz remarked

“Not you. Roger Lanton. That guy’s never gotten laid.”

Liz laughed a little. “So, uh . . . I’m just gonna cut to the chase. I need your help.”

“Straight to the point. I like it. Except I don’t help, you see. I--”

“Stir the pot,” she cut in. “I heard. Tess recruited me into this little investigation of hers.”

“Really?” Max was surprised. “She must be desperate.”

“Thanks a lot.”

That had come out wrong. “No, you’re plenty capable,” he clarified. “She just hates you, for good reason.”

“Yeah, well, we might actually be onto something,” Liz said. “Could you just do us a favor and keep Isabel occupied this afternoon?”

Max grinned. The thought of his two exes, working together, being sneaky . . . it was pornographic to say the least. “What’s in it for me?” he asked in return.

“Uh . . . what do you want?”

“I was just kidding.” There were plenty of things he wanted from Liz, but nothing she would be willing to give him for a long time, if ever.

“Max, please?”

He sighed. It was his sister or Liz on this was, and Liz won out. “Fine,” he agreed. “I’ll take her out to lunch. But if you tell anyone I’m helping . . .”

“Your secret’s safe with me,” she promised. “Thanks, Max. Oh, and for the record . . . I wouldn’t worry about that Roger guy. You’ll kick his ass.”

Max grinned as she ended the call. He flipped his phone closed and put it back in his pocket. Liz definitely knew what to say to make him feel better.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabel grunted as she flipped through the outline of Roger’s plan. Max had invited her to eat lunch in the hotel’s main restaurant, and naturally, she’d insisted on being up-to-date on what was going on with the company. “You actually pay this guy?” she huffed.

Max circled his fingertip around the rim of his wine glass. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because he’s incompetent.” Isabel closed the folder and practically threw it down on the table. “I could crap a better proposal than this.”

“Yeah, Roger’s all talk,” Max agreed. “I haven’t even looked at it yet.” Truthfully, part of him was glad if it was so bad as Isabel made it seem. That meant Roger was an idiot. But another part of him had been hoping it would be good, because he had relatively few ideas himself.

“Well, don’t waste your time,” his sister suggested. “Basically he wants you to exploit money from all your current investors, which sounds good in theory, but here’s the problem: They don’t have any money right now. The economy sucks, and all these grey-haired big-wigs are wishing they saved a few pennies for a rainy day. So Roger’s plan’s stupid. They can’t give you money if they don’t have money to give.” She shrugged flippantly. “And let’s be honest, what kind of middle-aged man would entrust a small fortune with a twenty-one year old college drop-out anyway? No offense.”

Max shifted in his seat. “Isabel, I’m not finding this all that encouraging.” True, he hadn’t enrolled in spring semester classes. He hadn’t exactly dropped out yet, either. Didn’t matter. College was for poor kids who would never be rich.

“No, hear me out.” Isabel leaned forward and started in with the advice. “It’d be a mistake for you to target the old money. What you need to do is target the new money; the young, spoiled twenty-somethings who have way more money than they know what to do with. You know, like you.”

Max rolled his eyes.

“You need their money to expand your hotels; they need your hotels to have some success to boast about.” She pressed her hands together softly and smiled. “It’s a perfect match.”

Max considered the idea in his head. “Maybe . . .” He’d always wanted to try to run the company differently than his father had.

“Besides, Evans Hotels are way too old-fashioned as they are right now,” she went on. “You gotta appeal to Generation Y, Max, or at least Generation X. Forget the Baby Boomers. They’ll be dyin’ in no time.”

Max waved their waiter over and asked Isabel, “So what should I do?”

“Advertise,” she replied simply. “‘The New Era of Evans Hotels.’ The press will eat it up. And—now this is gonna sound really high school, but it’ll work—have a party.”

Max wrinkled his forehead in confusion as he handed his wine glass to the waiter for a refill. “A party?”

“Yeah, like the ones Dad used to have, only fun.” Isabel handed the waiter her wine glass as well, but before he could pour her anything alcoholic, Max snatched the glass and set it back down in front of her.

Isabel rolled her eyes and impatiently asked the waiter, “Is our food ever gonna get here?”

“It should be just a few minutes,” the waiter said, skittering away nervously.

“See, incompetent,” Isabel remarked. “You should fire him, too.”

“I will,” Max told her. “About this party . . .”

“Oh, right. Invite the targeted new money, booze ‘em up a bit, convince them that Evans Hotels is a good investment, that they’re gonna be part of some huge, sweeping change in the business world. And before you know it—bam—you’ve got yourself financial backing and you can start the slow, long climb out of debt.”

“I’m not in debt,” he reminded her. He was still hovering near bankruptcy.

“No. But you will be soon if you rely on Roger’s shitty plan.” Isabel sighed, leaned back in her chair, and placed her hands on her stomach. “Well, that was fun. What else you got for me?”

“Nothing,” Max replied, looking over his shoulder to see if their food was indeed on the way. Didn’t these idiots know he was the boss? They were only making themselves look bad by taking so long. “I just thought you’d enjoy lunch,” he said.

“Actually, I’ve already eaten three meals today,” she said. “Don’t worry, though, my pregnant record’s eight. I’ve got room for more.”

Max chuckled slightly, having a hard time picturing his sister eating so much. This was the girl who had been a functioning bulimic all through high school and had prayed to become an anorexic in the eighth grade was now stuffing her face. “Gotta feed the kid.”

“That’s right.” She smiled. “It’s a boy.”

Max raised his eyebrows in interest. That was new knowledge.

“I’m having a son.”

“Wow. So I’ll have a nephew, huh?”

“Yeah. You’d better be a good uncle.”

He wasn’t sure he could be a good anything. “Might be best if I just stay out of his life,” he contemplated. “I’m sure that’s what Guerin wants.” This kid was already going to be screwed up with Isabel as a mother. He didn’t need any more unhealthy influences.

“Michael wants a lot of things he shouldn’t,” Isabel said. “Lucky for me, he’s starting to see the light. He let me move in with him, you know.”

Max nodded. “I heard. Plus, I noticed you checked out of the hotel. How’d you manage that?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I suggested it, he went for it. Just like that. I really thought it was gonna be harder.”

“Hmm.”

“Oh, do you know he snapped at Tess the other day?” Isabel added enthusiastically. “And then last night he snapped at Kyle?” She laughed, obviously deriving the same kind of sick pleasure from other people’s misery he did. “Isn’t this perfect? I mean, these are his best friends, and he’s just pushing them away. And he hasn’t even spoken to Maria.”

“Sounds like you’re getting what you want,” Max noted.

“I always do.” She grinned. “Hmm, you know, if you throw that new money party, you have to invite me.”

“Why? It’s not a new baby party,” he joked, but that didn’t garner any laughs. She glared at him, looking as though she could kill him for saying that. “I’ll invite you,” he promised. “And my new nephew. What’re you gonna name him?”

“I don’t know. Something sophisticated and distinguished like Bruce or Ian,” she answered.

Max took a sip of his wine and said, “Mmm, Maxwell is an excellent name.”

Isabel laughed out loud, then, upon noticing he was the one not understanding the humor this time, stopped laughing abruptly. “Oh my god, you’re serious?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Liz walked with Tess down the hallway to Michael’s apartment. It was strange, but the last time she had been there had been at Christmas; and of course that had ended in the outing of her and Max’s affair.

“So you’re sure Michael’s at work?” she asked.

“Positive,” Tess replied. “I drove by the museum this morning and his car was there. You’re sure Max is keeping Isabel busy?”

“In a non-incestuous way, yes.” Liz stopped in front of the door to the apartment and said, “We’ll just knock anyway.” She tapped her hand against the door and waited for a moment, but no one came to answer, as expected.

“Here,” Tess said, whipping a clump of keys out of her purse. “I swiped Maria’s keys while she wasn’t looking this morning. One of ‘em has to be her apartment key.”

“Or . . .” Liz turned the knob and pushed the door open slowly. Tess was trying way too hard to be sneaky.

“Oh.” Tess put the keys away again, growing red with embarrassment. “Well, you can’t blame me for being prepared.”

Liz rolled her eyes and led the way inside. The apartment looked a little different than she remembered it, mainly because Isabel had set pictures of herself up all over the living room.

“This is kind of cool,” Tess remarked as she shut the door. “It’s like we’re breaking and entering.”

“Actually, we’re just entering,” Liz corrected. “We didn’t break anything.”

“No. But if Isabel wasn’t pregnant I’d break her face.”

Liz raised an eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Tess said, lowering her voice. “Quality rage of the best friend variety. It comes and goes.”

“Let’s just get the journal and leave,” Liz suggested. “Where’d you say it was?”

“Oh, in this desk drawer.” Tess skipped over to Michael’s desk and pulled open the top right-hand drawer. She frowned as she did so. “It’s not here,” she said. “She must’ve put it somewhere else.”

“Or else she took it with her,” Liz speculated. That would have definitely lent credence to the theory that she was lying about something and trying to hide it.

“This sucks!” Tess yelped. “We’re totally banking on finding something incriminating in there.”

“Just look around,” Liz told her. “We’ll find it.”

Tess sighed and pulled open all the other desk drawers, shaking her head in disappointment at each one. Liz surveyed the living room, but there was nothing journal-shaped. She browsed all the books in Michael’s bookcase, but it wasn’t there, either.

“Nothing.” Tess flapped her arms against her sides helplessly.

“Keep looking. It’s probably around here somewhere.” Liz headed down the hallway and into the bedroom. If Isabel had that room all to herself now, it was most likely that she was stashing her personal items in there.

“You ever wonder why we don’t lock our doors?” Tess mused, following her into the bedroom. “I mean, we apartment people.”

“I’m not one of you,” Liz pointed out, “so no, I can’t say I wonder, Tess.” She pulled open the top drawer of the dresser and looked through it. Nothing in there but Isabel’s clothes, mostly non-maternity wear. The same went for all the other drawers in the dresser.

“Kyle got robbed and beat up,” Tess continued on randomly. “Michael and Maria got caught in the act by Maria’s mom. You’d think we’d all learn our lesson and lock our doors, but no.”

“Maybe you’re just addicted to the drama,” Liz guessed, heading over to the nightstand next to the bed.

“That’d be something we have in common then.”

Liz ignored that last remark on account of pulling open the nightstand drawer. Inside was something that certainly looked journal-shaped. “This it?” she asked, holding it up for her accomplice to see.

Tess’s eyes lit up. “Yeah. I can’t believe you found it.”

Max would be so proud, Liz thought. She couldn’t exactly say that stealing another girl’s journal right out of her own place of residence was one of her most shining moments, but if it was for the greater good, she could set her pride aside.

She pushed the nightstand drawer shut with her hip and asked, “Ready to do some reading?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tess pressed her hand to her forehead as she sat hunched over on the floor, reading the journal she and Liz had swiped. “Uh, this sucks,” she groaned. “There’s nothing in here. It’s just a whole lot of her bitching about getting fat.”

“That’s because it’s a pregnancy journal, Tess. That’s what pregnant women do, bitch about the weight gain.” Liz took a bottle of water out of Tess’s refrigerator and rejoined her in the living room. “I don’t know why you were so convinced she’d write down her dirty little deeds in that thing anyway.”

“It was just a feeling.” Tess squinted at the handwriting on the page in front of her for a moment, then gave up. “Okay, I’ve got eye-strain. It’s your turn.” She handed the journal to Liz.

Liz sat down beside her on the floor and drank a swig of water before beginning to read. Only a minute into it, she said, “This sure isn’t gonna win any Pulitzer prizes, is it?”

“I just wanted there to be something in there,” Tess said regretfully.

“Maybe there will be.” Liz kept reading.

Tess sighed in defeat. She knew why she was doing this: She wanted to help her friend. With Liz, it was a different story. Tess suspected she was trying to alleviate all the guilt she felt for doing some of the things she had done. But strangely enough, working with Liz was an odd comfort. She was so calm about the situation because she was on the outside of it. But Tess had a lot more stock put in the outcome. If Isabel managed to ruin things for Michael and Maria and they never got back together, what chance would she and Kyle have?

“Can I ask you something?” she inquired.

“I wish you wouldn’t,” Liz muttered in response.

“Do you think Kyle can forgive me?”

Liz looked up from the journal and looked Tess right in the eye. “Can? Sure. Will? Who knows?”

“But you’ve forgiven Max. I mean, haven’t you?”

Liz looked away then and sighed shakily. “That’s . . . a much larger question, and it really doesn’t apply. Kyle and I are two different people.”

“I never meant to hurt him,” Tess whispered. “And I just miss him so much.” Ever since she and Kyle had split, she felt like a part of her was missing, and even though she wanted to get it back, he wasn’t letting her have it back. Not yet, and maybe not ever. “Michael and Maria have to be together,” she said. “They’re like my hope.”

“Whoa.”

Tess tensed. “Whoa? Whoa what?”

“Here.” Liz peered hard at the journal in front of her. “I think I found something.”

Tess felt an anticipatory feeling course through her. “What?”

“Yeah, it’s . . . it’s kind of weird.”

“What’s it say?” She peered over to try to get a closer look.

“Written just a few weeks ago.” Liz licked her lips and read aloud from the journal. “Pregnancy has helped me find my maternal instinct. I realize now how important it is to take care of your child, to find a way to give him what he deserves.” She shot a look at Tess and then continued reading. “Alex let me down today. I have a hard decision ahead of me, but I’ve already made it. I know what I have to do. It’s time I go back to Santa Fe and tell Michael about the baby.

Tess frowned in confusion. “So what does that mean?”

“I don’t know.” Liz looked as though she were contemplating something. “Alex is the guy she was with, right?”

“Yeah.”

Liz glanced at the laptop computer on Tess’s kitchen table and asked, “Can I use that?”

Tess wasn’t following, but she agreed to it anyway. “Sure.”

Liz handed Tess the journal, got to her feet, and made her way over to the table. She sat down and opened the laptop. The screen came to life, and Tess made her way over to the table to see what Liz was up to. “What’re you doing?” she asked as Liz did some clicking and typing at light-speed.

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before,” Liz mumbled. “If we wanna figure Isabel out, why not learn something about the guy she was with all this time? Why not find out how, exactly, he let her down?”

Tess smiled a little, liking that idea. A girl was in no way defined by the guy she was with, but if Alex had been a part of Isabel like Kyle was a part of her, it could be telling.

“What’s his last name?”

Tess snapped out of her thoughts. “What?”

“This Alex kid. What’s his last name?”

“Oh, uh . . .” She wracked her brain, trying to think of it, but the name didn’t come. “I don’t know. I can’t remember.”

“Well, remember.”

“I can’t,” Tess insisted. “Bitch.”

“Tess, I know you’re a blonde, but this is just ridiculous.”

Tess sighed heavily, impatient with both Liz and herself. She closed her eyes and thought back. She and Michael had talked about this a few months ago, about how Isabel had cheated on him with a guy named Alex . . . something. “Whit?” she said. For some reason, that came to mind.

“Alex Whit?”

“No, it was . . . something like . . . Whitmore?”

“Alex Whitmore.”

“No. Whitaker? Whitelle? Whitman?” Her eyes shot open. “Whitman. That’s it. Alex Whitman. That’s his name.”

Liz typed the name into Google, and thousands of search results came up. “Oh god,” she said. “I gotta narrow this down. Do you know anything more about him?”

“Just that he lives in Florida. That’s all.”

Liz refined her search as Alex Whitman Florida. There were still far too many results to sift through. “This is impossible,” she groaned.

“I know.” Tess leaned against the table and held the journal by her side. She felt something slip out of one of the pages, and when she looked down to the floor, she saw it to be a photograph. She bent down and picked it up. It was of Isabel and . . . some guy. He looked to be about her age. She was clearly pregnant in the picture, but not as far along as she was now. The guy had his arms around her midsection and was hugging her back to his front. They were standing outside a building with a logo on the front that read Whitman Software Development.

“This must be him,” she said, handing the picture to Liz. “Try Googling the company.”

“Finally stepped off the short bus, huh?” Liz teased, typing Whitman Software Development into the search engine. She clicked on the first page that came up. “This is it,” she said. “Yeah, headquarters located in Miami, Florida. His dad owns the company.”

“Sound like anyone we know?”

Liz scrolled down farther, suddenly falling silent. Tess knew there was something on that website that was making an impression on her, so she just stood back and waited to see what it was.

“Oh my god,” Liz said in astonishment.

“What?”

Liz shook her head and squinted at the screen as though she couldn’t believe she were seeing things correctly. “This guy has no money at all. Not anymore.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“No, it does. It says here Charles Whitman—that’s Alex’s dad, I guess—got the company caught up in fraud. They had all these offshore entities that they used for tax evasion and raising the profitability of their business. It was a big scandal.”

“I don’t speak business, Liz.”

“It was like the freakin’ ENRON thing, but to a lesser extent,” Liz explained. “It says here the company filed for bankruptcy, and Charles Whitman went to jail. It all happened really recently.”

“And what does that leave Alex with?” Tess asked.

“Nothing. No money, no job, and little hope of ever finding a decent job because his last name’s now a staple of white-collar crime.”

Tess gripped the journal tightly, suddenly feeling as though they had struck gold. “So . . . this is good. I mean, not good for Alex, obviously, but good for us. I mean, the one major hole in our theory that Isabel’s lying is that she had no reason to leave the rich guy in the Sunshine State. But now we know . . .”

“He’s not rich,” Liz filled in. “He’s broke.”

“And if you factor in what Isabel wrote about taking care of her child . . .” Again Tess, trailed off.

Liz glanced up from the computer screen. “Michael needs to get a paternity test.”








TBC . . .

-April
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LOVE IS MICHAEL AND MARIA.
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April
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Part 59

Post by April »

Hey, guys! I have no class today. At all. It's a strange feeling, but at least that makes this day perfect for an update.

So, I'll be updating again on Friday, because I'm not going home this week. Shocker, I know.

Oh, and I'm up for bid in the Support Stacie auction for the first time this go 'round. I'm a little worried I may be spreading myself too thin, offering up two fics, but it's for a good cause. Check it out if you haven't already.

Special thanks to nibbles for letting me know about it. I've been wanting to get involved with it for awhile now.




Alison:
You know, while this whole M/M ordeal is playing out, you could fortify us with a little lamptrimming loving. Just saying... it would buck up our spirits a little.
:lol: I know, both M+M and K+T are miserable at the same time here. Well, I'll just say that there is some loving coming up for one couple in this story at some point in the near future.

Leila:
I start to love the Harding&Parker Investigation Team...they rock. It's actually funny to see how both girls insult each other but are willing to trust each other on that level.
Yeah, I really wanted them to kind of be snapping at each other, insulting each other, because they still don't get along, but oddly enough, they work together pretty well.
I so love Isabel in that. Every chapter shows us more about her character. I have to say I really like that you portrayed her as smart, evil woman.
You know, before this fic, I hadn't realized how fun it is to write a smart, evil woman. Usually it's one of the guys who ends up taking on the primary bad guy role in my fics.

Sara:
How is it possible that you write a Max character so well that he does horrible despicable things and yet you still manage to give him an ounce of humanity?
Well, 521 Max has been an extensive exercise in character writing for me. I realized as I was writing this that it's not about redeeming him; it's about just presenting him as he is and letting people react.

Christina:
Why doesn't Max just have Isabel work with him? Would he not be able to stand having his sister come up with all the great ideas? Does he share his father's idea of a woman not being capable of thinking? (Obviously his idea of women has changed since knowing Liz.. and he's even said that Isabel is the female version of him) Then again, it is Isabel, so maybe he's worried that if he gives her an inch, she'll end up taking the whole thing over and leaving him with nothing. I wouldn't put it past her myself. Hmm, very interesting.
It's kind of all of the above, I think. Isabel is smarter than Max. She really would be the best one to be in charge of this company right now. She knows what she's doing. Max couldn't stand to have her working with him and coming up with all the great ideas, like you said, and he for sure would be worried that she would find a way to take the company from him. He can't let that happen, so he knows he has to keep her at a distance.

Ginger:
I really feel sorry for Michael...he is falling in love with a child that may not even be his, this is terrible.
I know. Before Michael gets even more emotionally invested in this baby, he really should find out if its his.

Nove:
If Isabel wasn't so Isabel her and Max would make a good team.
That would be a scary tandem, wouldn't it? They could probably find a way to take over the world together, but they're both too stuck on themselves, both too busy trying to one-up each other to ever work together on anything.

spacegirl23:
I hope Maria appreciates Liz kinda being on her side.
I know there haven't been a lot of Maria and Liz scenes lately, but Maria . . . she's not going to be very appreciative of Liz. She just doesn't like the girl right now, doesn't like what she did when she had an affair with Max. She groups Isabel and Liz together right now, since Isabel had an affair, too. Doesn't like either one of them.

extingman:
A paternity test, exactly the very first thing Michael should have ask for, especially since Isabel left him for another guy.
Yep, definitely.

BLONDIE:
I sure hope Michael believes them...
You'll see how he reacts in this part.








Part 59







Maria pushed open the door to Tess’s apartment. She still thought of it as a place that just belonged to Tess even though she lived there, too.

The sight that greeted her was truly a perplexing one. Liz was there. She and Tess were both hovering over the computer, looking at something. They both glanced up when she came in, though, and Liz shut the laptop.

“Hey, girl,” Tess said. “You’re home early.”

“It’s 4:30,” Maria pointed out. 4:30 in the afternoon wasn’t early where she grew up.

“Is it?” Tess looked over her shoulder at the clock on the microwave. “Wow, it is. Time sure flies when you’re . . . reading.” She had a book or something in her hand. She set it down on the kitchen table next to the computer, standing before it to conceal it. Probably some steamy romance novel, Maria thought.

“Hey, Maria,” Liz greeted at last.

Maria didn’t feel particularly inclined to talk to Liz. True, they had once been friends, but that felt like a long time ago. Too much had changed since then.

“What’s she doing here?” Maria asked Tess.

“Oh, she’s . . . she’s tutoring me,” Tess replied.

“Because that worked out so well last time,” Liz added sarcastically.

Tess rolled her eyes. “Shut up.”

“And obviously it’s going so much better this time,” Maria observed.

“Well, you know, I’m trying to pass biology for, like, the eleven-thousandth time.” Tess shrugged.

Maria frowned, still very confused. “So you get your ex-boyfriend’s mistress to help you out?”

“Weird, I know,” Tess acknowledged, “but she really knows what she’s doing. And today’s actually been . . . really productive.”

“Really,” Liz echoed, nodding her head in agreement. She looked at Maria sympathetically for a moment, then said, “I’m sorry about you and Michael.”

Maria immediately tensed up. All it took was the mere mention of his name to make her feel like the world was falling out from underneath her. She really didn’t want Liz Parker’s sympathy. “Whatever,” she grunted, tossing her coat and purse down on the couch. She made a beeline for her bedroom and overheard Liz remark quietly, “She’s really depressed,” as she threw herself into the room and shut the door. She flopped down on her bed without even bothering to turn on the light or open the curtains. The room was dark, and that seemed fitting.

She reached into her pocket as her cell phone started to vibrate. She had a new text message from her mother of all people. There was a picture attached to it. Amy and Ed were in a casino somewhere, both smiling from ear to ear. ‘Hope you’re having a great day, tell Michael we said hi!’ the text said. Maria inhaled shakily upon reading that.

A minute later, Tess came into the room and turned on the light. Maria squinted against the sudden brightness as Tess made her way towards the bed. “Did you get the casino pic, too?” she asked.

Maria nodded. “Yeah. Who knew our parents could be such party animals, huh?”

“And involved party animals at that.” Tess sat down on the side of the bed, smiling.

“Just so long as they don’t involve themselves with producing any siblings for us.”

Tess laughed. “Wait, you think your mom’s biological clock is still ticking?”

“Yeah, she’s not that old.” Maria looked over the picture again and the words underneath it. How was it that her mother, the woman who had a reputation for repressing all forms of fun, was now the one with a boyfriend and Maria was all alone and lonely? “Look at this,” she said, handing her phone to Tess.

“‘Tell Michael we said hi,’” Tess read sadly. “Yeah, I got one that said, ‘Tell Kyle we said hi.’” She handed Maria’s phone back to her. “I just can’t bring myself to tell my dad we broke up, you know? He likes Kyle so much.”

“Yeah. My mom likes Michael. She didn’t at first—she thought he was a sex addict.” She smiled, remembering the simpler times.

“Which is something he became with you,” Tess put in.

“But then she got to know him, and then she got laid by your padre. And then she changed her mind about him. And now she wants me to be with him forever.” She sighed heavily. “It’s funny how stuff doesn’t work out, huh?”

“It works out sometimes,” Tess pointed out. “At least the realm of romance is treating our parents well. Gives the rest of us hope to hold onto.”

Maria shook her head. “I’m not holding onto much.” She hated to think that this was what the rest of her life was going to be like, but she didn’t envision it getting any better anytime soon. “You should, though,” she told Tess. “You should hope. Because with you and Kyle, there’s no other woman or unborn baby in the mix. You guys can find your way back together.”

Tess frowned. “And you and Michael can’t?”

“No.”

“You shouldn’t think like that. You never know what could happen,” Tess said optimistically. Since when was she optimistic about anything? Not long ago, she’d been the depressed friend, and Maria had been the one trying to cheer her up.

“What do you mean by that?” Maria asked.

“Just wait and see,” Tess said. “And try to smile, okay? I know it’s hard, but it actually takes more energy to frown.”

Maria wished she could smile, but she couldn’t. Whenever she did, it was a sad smile. “Right now,” she said, “it’s easier to frown.”

Tess reached out and stroked her hair soothingly. “It’ll get better,” she whispered. “I promise.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

When Tess stepped off the elevator and out onto the fifth floor, she practically ran into Michael. He was dumping his trash down the trash chute. “Oh, good, you’re here,” she said. “I was hoping I’d catch you before class.”

“I’m not goin’ to class today,” he muttered, heading back down the hallway to his apartment.

“Oh.” That was surprising. Michael was a straight A student, probably had grades up on the same level with the valedictorian of this year’s graduating class. “Well, we all feel like skipping once in awhile.” Tess followed him to his open door but stopped at the threshold. “Can I come in?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Are you gonna lecture me again?”

“Are you gonna snap at me again?”

“I think I just did.” He headed inside and left the door open. She took that as an invitation to enter.

“Come on, Michael,” she said, closing the door. “I don’t wanna fight.” She adjusted her backpack on her shoulders, hating that things were so strained between them right now. “Look, I realize you’re on edge—I’m not exactly on cloud nine myself. But being mad at each other isn’t gonna help anything. We’re friends.”

He opened a drawer in the kitchen and pulled out a transparent trash bag, unfolding it. “I’m sorry for saying that thing about you and Kyle,” he apologized. “I was outta line.”

“And I’m sorry for lecturing you,” she returned as he put the trash bag in his trash can and slid the can back underneath the sink. “I get why you feel like you should let Isabel live with you; I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

He shoved the kitchen drawer shut and glared at her.

“Not lecturing,” she promised, holding her hands up in defense. “So we’re good?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Good.” She set her backpack down at her feet, feeling relieved.

“So what’re you doing here?” Michael asked her.

“I need to talk to you,” she replied. “About Isabel.”

He rolled his eyes.

“No, but it’s not gonna be a lecture. I promise.” She bent down and opened her backpack, rummaging around for the journal inside. “There’s something you need to know.”

“Actually, I was gonna take a shower if you don’t mind.”

“Michael, it’s important.” Hygiene was important, too, but this outweighed it. “Okay, um . . .” She felt the journal and pulled it out of the backpack victoriously. “Here it is. Look.” She bounded in front of Michael and rapidly flipped to the page that had sparked her and Liz’s Internet search, the one where Isabel talked wrote that Alex had disappointed her.

“What is this?” Michael asked before he read the page.

“It’s Isabel’s. It’s her pregnancy journal.”

“And why do you have it?”

Tess cringed. “Because I took it.” That sounded really bad. “Actually, Liz and I took it.” That sounded worse.

“Liz?”

“Yeah, she’s sort of . . . helping me.”

“To steal things?”

“Yes. No!” Steal was such a strong word. “No, it’s . . . there’s a really good reason.”

“Well, I’m dying to know what it is.”

“Well, the other night Max--”

“Max?” he cut in. “Max Evans?” He laughed angrily. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me.”

“He told me he thinks she’s up to something. He thinks she’s lying.”

“Well, he’s a reliable source,” Michael muttered sarcastically.

“No, not remotely, but he’s her brother. He knows her.”

“He doesn’t know anything,” Michael dismissed. “But apparently he’s still got you brainwashed.”

Tess ignored that. “He said I should figure out what she’s lying about. So I did. Well, technically Liz did, but I helped. Look.” She held the open pages right up to his face, too close for him to see.

He took the journal from her and scanned the page only for a moment. “So?” He made a face.

“She says Alex let her down. Don’t you wonder what she means by that?”

“No.” He closed the journal.

“Well, you should. We did.”

He handed the journal back to her. “I’m not reading this. It’s wrong.”

“We looked him up online.”

Michael shook his head. “This is crazy.”

“And do you know what we found?”

“Tess, would you listen to yourself?” he bellowed. “You stole her diary.”

“It’s a pregnancy journal,” she corrected.

“Same thing! It’s private, and you just took it and read it.”

She sighed shakily in frustration. She and Liz hadn’t really thought about the ethics (or lack thereof) of what they had done. “Okay, I know it sounds really wrong in theory . . .”

“It is wrong. I can’t believe you would do something like this.”

She fell silent for a moment, debating whether or not she should go on. Buts he couldn’t keep silent for long. “His father owned a software development company.”

Michael threw his hands up in the air, looking furious.

“He was gonna inherit it like Max inherited the hotels. But the company got caught up in all this scandal, and the dad went to jail for it, and they did the whole bankruptcy thing, and it was really bad. It happened, like, a month ago. This Alex kid’s completely penniless now. He’s probably flipping burgers.”

“Sucks to be him.”

He wasn’t reacting the way she had expected him to, and that confused her. “Don’t you get it? Isabel’s a money-hungry slut.”

“Don’t call her that.”

“It’s true,” she insisted. Why was he defending her? “It’s why she left you in the first place. But why did she come back so suddenly? Oh, could it be because boyfriend number two turned broke-ass poor? Or how about the fact that Daddy up and died and his business was just a little more within her reach?”

“Or maybe she came back to do the right thing.”

“Please!” Tess spat. “She’s an Evans! She doesn’t know how to do the right thing!”

“So what’re you saying, she’s conning me?”

“She might be. Money is her motivation, Michael. Face it: You need to get a paternity test, and you need to get it soon. I don’t know why you haven’t already.”

A look of contemplation crossed Michael’s face for a moment, but it vanished almost right away. “No, you know, I . . . I think you’re so determined to be right, you can’t see that you’re wrong. You’re just tryin’ to take away the one thing I have left. You’re just tryin’ to take away my son.”

Tess was taken aback by two things when he said that. First, that he would accuse her of trying to take something away from him. Second . . . “Son?”

“Yeah. I’m having a boy.”

Tess smiled a little at the thought of Michael and his son, but then she remembered who the potential mother was, and that smile turned into an upset frown. “Maybe not. Look, Michael, I know it isn’t an easy thing to consider, but you have to consider it. This baby might not be yours.”

He shook his head adamantly. “You’re wrong.”

“I don’t think I am.”

“Because what’s more likely, that she came back so I could know my child, or that she’s spinning this intricate web of deception all for the sake of money?” He grunted. “That’s completely ridiculous.”

“Actually, with her, it’s really hard to tell,” Tess said. “Michael, we’re talking about the girl who cheated on you and lied to you for months. Or have you forgotten?” She was really beginning to think he had.

Before either of them could say anything more, Isabel’s voice arose. “Looks like I’m interrupting something.”

Tess spun around and saw the pregnant girl at the door. Neither one of them had even heard her come in.

“What’s going on here?” she asked, surveying the two of them. It didn’t take long for her eyes to drop down to the journal in Tess’s hand. “That’s mine,” she said. “I was looking for it last night.”

“I did what I had to do,” Tess said in defense of her actions.

“Oh, you just had to steal my journal and read it, didn’t you?” Isabel made her way over and snatched the journal out of her hands. “God, I’m sure you read it. Find anything interesting?”

Tess didn’t back down. “Yeah, actually. Liz and I did some research.”

“Max’s girlfriend? She’s in on this, too?” Isabel grunted in disbelief. “Unbelievable. I don’t even know her.”

“And yet somehow, she hates you just like the rest of us.”

“How would you like it if someone stole something that belonged to you?” Isabel growled in fury. “Oh, wait, you already had that happen when your little accomplice stole Max.”

“Do you ever stop talking?”

“God, this is just . . . this is so unfair!” she shouted. “What did I ever do to you? Or to Liz?”

“Isabel, don’t act like you’re some saint. We all know you’re not.” Or at least she knew. Michael was a different, oblivious story.

“I’m just trying to live my life. Why do you have to make it so hard on me?”

“Because it’s not just your life, Isabel! It’s his life.” She motioned towards Michael. “And Maria’s, and Alex’s.”

Isabel immediately stiffened and back up a few steps. “What do you know about Alex?”

“Only what we found online. That he lost his job and his money last month. If you ask me, that’s one hell of an incentive for you to come back here and pass this kid off as Michael’s, so you can stay out of the poor house.”

Isabel glared at her, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. “Oh my god,” she said, continuing to back up. “How dare you. How dare you accuse me of stopping that low!”

“You reputation’s really working against you, you know.”

“I wouldn’t lie to him,” Isabel said, pointing at Michael.

“Except for that one time when you did.”

“I wouldn’t lie about this!” Isabel yelled. “God, and the fact that you’re trying to turn him against me and make him think I am . . .” She shook her head and clenched her journal tightly with both hands. In addition to looking pissed, she now also had the tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m sorry I ruined things for him and Maria, but I am not sorry I came back. For once in my life, I did the right thing, and you people still treat me like a monster!”

“Well, if the shoe fits . . .”

“Tess,” Michael interjected finally, sending her a warning look.

“God!” Isabel cried. “What do I have to say to prove my innocence? I mean, I am on trial here, aren’t I?”

“There’s nothing you can say. No one can believe your word.”

“Tess, back off,” Michael warned.

“Paternity test,” Tess blurted. “It’s pretty much the only answer at this point since you’re such a gold-digging whore.”

Suddenly Isabel gripped her side and bent forward a bit. “Ow . . .”

Tess thought she was faking until Michael said, “Iz?” and approached her concernedly. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head and whimpered, “No,” before fleeing into the bedroom tears streaming down her face.

“Look, I’m sorry to be so blunt,” Tess apologized.

“You need to leave,” he told her.

“Michael, I--”

“Tess, get outta here.”

She stared at him for a moment. Who was this person in front of her? Because he didn’t seem very much like Michael. “You have to get a test,” she reiterated.

“If you don’t get out right now, I will throw you out.”

And just like that, she had nothing more to say. She didn’t know what to say. Michael had never talked to her like that before. Michael had probably never talked to anyone like that.

She turned, picked up her backpack, and walked out the door, hoping she’d gotten through to him, even if it had cost her his friendship.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Once Tess was gone, Michael joined Isabel in the bedroom. He was worried about her. “I’m sorry about that,” he apologized, standing in the doorway. “I didn’t know she was gonna lash out.”

Isabel just sat on the bed, wiping her eyes and sniffing back tears.

“I should take you to the hospital,” he said. He didn’t like that she was feeling pain again.

“No, I’m okay,” she assured him. “I’m just a little worked up. I just need to calm down.” She laughed lightly. “Do any of these people have a clue about pregnancy? You’re supposed to prevent the expecting mother from getting stressed, not provoke her.”

Michael made his way into the bedroom and sat down next to her on the bed. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized again. If he’d known Tess was going to go off like that, he never would have let her inside.

“It’s not your fault,” she said quietly. “She just doesn’t like me. I think she wants you to hate me.”

“I don’t hate you,” he promised.

She sighed heavily and looked down at the journal in her hands. “Maybe you should,” she said. “You’re the greatest person that’s ever been in my life, and I betrayed you without a second thought. What kind of person does that make me?”

He scooted closer to her and placed one hand on her back, hoping to soothe her. “Hey, that’s just who you were. It doesn’t have to be who you are now.”

“I know,” she said. “There are just so many things I wish I could take back.” She set her journal down on the empty mattress space to the left of her and looked up at him. “Do you believe what she said to you?” she asked. “It’s okay if you do.”

He removed his hand from her back, trying to figure out if he did or not. He definitely didn’t want to. “No,” he decided. “I don’t.” Tess was on a rampage. He couldn’t put too much stock in anything she said.

“But you wanna know, don’t you?” she guessed.

“Well . . . yeah,” he confessed. “Did he really lose all his money?” Because he had to admit, that was suspicious.

She nodded mutely and swallowed hard. “I, uh . . . I haven’t talked about it ‘cause it was a really hard on both of us. And it’s still so recent, you know? It hurts.”

“Oh, then if you don’t wanna say anything . . .”

“No, I wanna be honest with you. For once.” She laughed regrettably and turned to face him. “When I first got involved with Alex . . . I’m sorry, I know this is hard for you to hear. But when I first got involved with him, I was attracted to his money. No surprise there. He didn’t know about you at first, but when he found out, I kept promising him I’d break up with you, and then I kept prolonging it.”

He looked away for a moment. She was right. This was really hard for him to hear. “Why?” he asked.

“Why’d I prolong it?” She shrugged. “Because I didn’t wanna lose you. But when I did finally . . . break up with you, and when I left for Florida with Alex,” she continued on, “I left for the money. I know it sounds awful, but . . . it is what it is. But after awhile, Alex and I got closer, and the money became less important because we . . .” She trailed off.

“Fell in love?” he filled in.

“No. We . . . cared about each other,” she corrected. “I think he loved me, but . . . I’ve only ever loved one person.”

He wasn’t sure whether that one person was him or herself, but he wasn’t about to ask.

“I cared about him a lot,” she said, “and he loved me and this baby. He was so excited for him to be born. But I could never be as excited as he was because I knew there was a chance you were the father, and I knew he and I were quite possibly living a lie. So we had the paternity test done, and he was devastated when he found out it wasn’t his. But we decided it didn’t matter. He was gonna be a great dad. But then he lost his job and lost his money, and it did matter. Because I couldn’t be this huge emotional and financial burden on him when it wasn’t even his baby. So I came back. Not because he lost his money, but because it was the right thing to do; and believe it or not, I do know right from wrong. And I know it all seems really suspicious, and I know you have every reason to doubt me, and I know it hurt Alex so bad; but he’s better off on his own, and I really am telling the truth,” she insisted. “I know for a fact this is your son.”

He nodded. “I believe you.”

“But?”

“But . . . I think I’d still like a paternity test.” He’d been planning to have one of those when she’d first shown up back in town, but he’d forgotten about it after Maria moved out.

“I understand,” she said.

“I just wanna know for a fact like you do. And once we get this test done and out of the way, Tess and Liz and all them . . . they can’t accuse you of lying anymore.”

She smiled sadly. “That’ll be nice.”

Yeah, he thought, that will. Isabel wasn’t a great humanitarian or anything, but she didn’t deserve to be demonized this way. “So you’re okay with this?” He wanted to make sure.

“Of course,” she reassured him. “I totally get why you need to know for certain. And it’s not like I have anything to hide. I know what the test is gonna say.”

“Okay. Good. See, it’s all gonna be fine.”

“I know.” She looked hopeful for the first time that day. “And we’ll do the test as soon as we can. It’s just that I’m so far along, I don’t know if they’ll let me have it right now. But we can ask Dr. Monroe about it.”

“Absolutely.” He didn’t even know what a paternity test entailed. He was going to have to find out.

She breathed a heavy sigh and declared, “I feel better.”

So did he. He hadn’t expected her to be this willing to have a test done. “I can’t believe she took your journal,” he said, so angry at the girl who was supposed to be his friend.

“Do you think Maria put her up to it?” Isabel asked.

He grunted. “I hope not.” If she had . . . he was going to be so disappointed in her. “She mentioned something about Max, though.”

“Max?” Isabel echoed. “My own brother. Wow. I guess I really have no one in my corner.”

He didn’t want her thinking like that. It couldn’t be healthy for her. “You have me,” he assured her.

She smiled at him, then reached out and took his hand, holding it up against her belly. “And you have us.”

And from here on out, he decided, that’s all that matters.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria and Tess both curled up on the couch for a new episode of One Tree Hill that night. Tess had seemed distracted all day, but she was better now. Maria didn’t know what the hell was happening on the show, though. She’d missed a few episodes, and even though it should have been easy to fill in the gaps, her brain wasn’t functioning on higher levels.

“So wait, I don’t get it,” she said on the commercial. “I thought Lucas was with Lindsay.”

“No, that was season five,” Tess informed her. “This is season six.”

“But didn’t he rekindle things with Brooke?”

“No, that was season three.”

“But what about that random bar slut?”

“Season one. And FYI, she wasn’t random. She was the messed up mother of Jake’s daughter Jenny, remember?”

Maria shook her head. “I really gotta re-watch this show.” It was a nice distraction from her own life. And it had great music. “So now Lucas is with Peyton . . . again.” She just wanted to make sure she had it straight.

“Yes.”

“He’s a bigger man-whore than Max.”

“But much nicer,” Tess added. “Isn’t Jamie the cutest?”

“Nathan and Haley’s son?”

“Yeah. You know, they should really have another baby. They’re so perfect together . . .” Tess trailed off. She must have noticed the look on Maria’s face at the mention of baby-making, because she quickly changed the subject. “So, I wonder what’s happening on Desperate Housewives. That’s always fun.”

“I haven’t even watched it, but I can tell you,” Maria said. “Gaby’s being slutty, Susan’s being neurotic, Bree’s being a control freak, and Lynette’s being the one sane woman in the neighborhood. Same recycled storylines every year.”

“Amen to that,” Tess said just as there was a knock on the door.

“Expecting someone?” Maria asked.

“No. It’s probably Liz.” Tess got up off the couch and walked over to the door, peering through the peephole first. “Or Michael.”

Maria almost jumped out of her skin. “What?” What was Michael doing there? “Well, don’t let him . . .” It was too late. Tess was already opening the door. “In.”

“Michael,” Tess said. “What’re you . . .” She trailed off as Michael looked inside and met Maria’s eyes. She stared at him, feeling as though she couldn’t breathe. This was the first time she had seen him since she’d officially moved out. He looked . . . horrible. Looked like he hadn’t slept hardly at all over the past week, hadn’t shaved. She knew she didn’t look much better. She’d spent the past week and a half being the biggest homebody that ever lived.

“What’re you doing here?” Tess asked him, filling the void of silence.

“We’re getting a paternity test,” Michael told her. “Me and Isabel. Not that it’s any of your business.”

Maria frowned in confusion. Why did Michael sound like he was mad at Tess?

“I’m glad,” she said. “I think that’s the right decision.”

“From now on, I really don’t care what you think.”

“What’s going on?” Maria demanded, rising to her feet. None of this was making any sense to her.

“Oh, like you don’t know,” he snapped.

She didn’t.

“You probably put her up to it.”

“She doesn’t know anything,” Tess said.

“Then why don’t you tell her?” he suggested. “Tell her how you barged into my apartment after your little burglary spree and attacked my pregnant girlfriend.”

Maria flinched. Girlfriend? Isabel was girlfriendly again?

“I didn’t attack her; I . . .”

“Accused her of lying?”

“Well, is that such a novel concept?”

Maria started to slink off towards the bedroom. Girlfriend?

“Look, Maria I was just trying to help,” Tess said.

“Whole lot of good it did,” Michael grumbled. “You know, Isabel agreed to the paternity test right away. She didn’t even hesitate. If she really had something to hide, don’t you think she’d try a hell of a lot harder to hide it?”

Maria continued towards the bedroom. She had no idea what they were talking about, and she didn’t care. Girlfriend. They were so busy arguing with each other, they didn’t even notice her slip into her bedroom and shut the door. She lay down on her bed and curled up, listening to them.

“Sooner or later, you’re gonna find out how wrong you are, and when you do, maybe you can come back and apologize.”

“God, who are you? The Michael Guerin I know would never talk to a friend like this!”

“Good thing you’re not my friend then. And neither is Maria.”

Maria started to cry quietly. She heard the door slam shut, followed by Tess saying, “Maria? Maria?” The door to her bedroom opened a moment later, and Tess poked her head inside. “I’m sorry about that,” she apologized. “You know he doesn’t mean what he’s saying right now.”

But that was why Maria was crying. Because it really seemed like he did.








TBC . . .

-April :(
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LOVE IS MICHAEL AND MARIA.
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April
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Part 60

Post by April »

Woohoohoo, another day with no class!

Leila:
He trusts Isabelmore than his real friends, which is going to break his neck in the end.
Yeah, and it's kind of weird that he trusts Isabel, because he trusted her once and she cheated on him. But I think he's kind of forcing himself to trust her becasue he feels as though every other important person in his life has chosen not to support him while he's going through this.

Sara:
And just like that, things are BACK IN THE SHITTER!!!
:lol: That made me laugh when I read it. Because it's true.

Christina:
I'm surprised Michael is so easily falling into her trap. Yeah, she's pregnant and he feels responsible, but... he's pushing away all his friends. Why? I don't get it. I mean, I kinda get Tess, but Kyle?
Well, Michael's very vulnerable right now, and Isabel's very manipulative. It's a bad combination, one that makes it very easy for him to fall into her trap. Of course that's no excuse, though. He's said some very cruel things to the people who are his best friends. But don't worry about him and Kyle. They're best friends, just like Maria and Tess are best friends. It would take a lot for their friendship to truly fracture.

Krista:
It's so abnormal to see Maria so lost.
I know, right? I wanted to convey in these parts that . . . she's like a shadow right now. She's just kind of hanging around in th background, which is very unlike her.

I hope real life calms down for you, because Encounters updates make me happy, and so does your feedback. ;)

Eva:
Isabel is going to tzlk herself out of the test. You can already see that when she says it's possible too late to do it.
Hmm, we'll see if that's true.

Karin:
Arghhh i can not stand Michael at the moment. I'm on team maria, and i hate team michael cause team michael's captain is a *****
I expected some Michael hate after that last part. I don't think it's at the same level as the Passion-Michael hate was, though, throughout the entire fic . . . is it?

Nove:
I don't know what I thought Tess would have done next but i didn't expect her to lay it all out like that wow. She has no cards left to play. But I guess since Michael will be having a paternity test now the goal might have been achieved.
Tess was definitely way too blunt when she talked to Michael, but you're right that the goal was achieved. She got Michael to ask for a paternity test.
But I guess I have to remember he's human too and he needs to react like a human would. He's been pretty much an angel until now. it's just hard seeing him at this low point.
Exactly. How many times in this story have either the characters or me or you guys said that Michael is just so nice, that he's one of the nicest, most perfect guys in the world? He really has been a sort of angel for the first two thirds of this fic. I wanted to take him to a darker place, though, because I think it adds to him all those complicated layers I love so much.

Ginger:
he does need a good bashing. It will have to be physical though because Tess certainly laid into him with the verbal and it didn't do a lick of good.
Oh, but I don't have it in me to have anyone give Michael a physical bashing. :oops:

Alison:
Michael is such a fucking dick right now. I hate him far more than I hate Max right now. Which is saying something. April, the world is a strange, dark and unnatural place when I hate Michael and I sort of like Max (in 521 anyway).
Wow, this is definitely strange, dark, and unnatural. :lol:
How many chapters till the end, do you think?
I'm not sure. I just break the chapters up as I go along. But there are 1,316 pages and you all are on page 1,012. So there is a good deal left, and honestly, there is more angst to come. But dude, this is gonna get intense and I am so excited about it. Big moments to come. Like big.

killjoy:
Michael sees this new baby Isabel is carrying as the only 'good' thing in his life right now.So the way he sees it when one of the gang....aka...Tess and/or Kyle...attack Isabel they are also attacking his baby.And so as the only good thing left in his life that is making him happy he will defend the baby...even if that means defending Isabel.
I totally agree with you here. All these things that Michael is doing, letting Isabel move in with him, defending her when his friends accuse her of lying . . . he's not doing it for Isabel; he's doing it for the son she's carrying.

spacegirl23:
I'm pretty scared now. I think Michael's really getting attached to the child that he might want to be in his life even if the baby's Alex's -- coz he's pushed away everyone now.
Hmm, that's an interesting thought.

Nat:
Why is it when it comes to Isabel, he turns into a blind and defensive idiot?
Well, it's kind of like when Tess was with Max. She was a blind idiot with him. These Evanses . . . they just have a way of finding people's weaknesses and exploiting them.
I doubt he'll ever redeem himself for his harsh and horrible behaviour towards the people who love and care for him.
His behavior was definitely harsh, but I'm hoping he can redeem himself. Unlike someone like Max, he's not afraid to say he's sorry.

nibbles:
I feel sorry for him and so damn angry at him too.
That's pretty much how I feel for him right now, too, that combination of pity and just, like, fury.

tequathisy:
Michael calling Isabel his girlfriend hurt. I think it was a slip of the tongue, but it was still painful to read.
Yeah, it was just a slip of the tongue, but . . . that doesn't make it much better. He still said it, and Maria still heard it. And that sucks.

Oh, and I see Leila's stalking. What else is new? :lol:


Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I know this is tough to read right now, but I appreciate you guys for sticking with it. It would be a mistake to back out now, because . . . it just would be. Trust me.

A little author's note about this part: There is a lot of stuff about paternity testing in this part. I myself know nothing about paternity testing, so I actually did a lot of research to try to make all of this as factually accurate as possible. I'm not a doctor, so if something's not right, just roll with it. One of the things that was most problematic is that paternity tests aren't usually done during the third trimester, but like I said, I did the research and found out some stuff that looked pretty credible to me. Anyway.

Oh, also, it's been awhile since I've dropped by with any music, but I'm bringing some today! "King" by Weezer. Weezer's caught a lot of flack in recent years from people who think their music sucks nowadays, but I'm still all over it, and this is my favorite song off their newest album. I think it's very different from everything else they've ever done. It's not on good old copyright-happy Youtube, but you can listen to it here: http://www.imeem.com/people/x_JKnRR/mus ... ezer-king/ when you see 8) if you want. And that's actually at the very beginning of this part. Love the lyrics of this song.










Part 60







8)

Isabel went to Max’s office the next day before her appointment with Dr. Monroe. He was either hard at work or hardly working. He sat at his desk with about a dozen empty shot glassed lined up next to the computer. He didn’t look drunk, though. He had a briefcase full of money in front of him, and he was counting it greedily.

“Wow,” she remarked. “Sitting in your office counting cash. Not only is that incredibly arrogant, but it’s practically like sticking a bull’s-eye on your own forehead. Way to make yourself a target, Max.”

“What’re you talkin’ about?”

“You’re setting yourself up to have that money stolen. People like to steal. Trust me.” She shut the door to his office and stepped inside. Normally she would have sat down to talk, but today she felt like standing. “I’m sure there are about a dozen underpaid employees out there who would love to get their sticky fingers on those Ben Franklins.”

He set the cash down inside the briefcase and closed it. “Your point?”

“You should get that cash in the bank right away.” It was stupid of him to hoard it.

“Thanks for the advice,” he said, rolling his chair backward towards his safe, “but I’m gonna trust that my security measures are actually secure.” He plugged in a combination to the safe and stashed the briefcase inside.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she said. “Speaking of warnings, you could’ve warned me that you were plotting against me.”

He slowly rolled his chair back towards his desk, not saying anything. She dropped her journal down atop the mountain of paperwork laid out before him and waited for some kind of reaction.

“What is that,” he asked, “and why is it on my desk?”

“It’s my journal.”

“Ooh, scintillating.” He picked it up and started to open it.

She seized it back from him and stuck it back in her large purse. “I know you told Tess to swipe it. There’s no way she’s smart enough to think of that on her own, or even with Liz’s help.”

“They stole it?’ Max seemed genuinely surprised. “Good for them.”

“I know you’re working with them, Max.”

“Actually, I’m working right here.” He leaned forward, flipping through his papers. “Working hard, I might add. Do you know what I had to do to get that money? Bribe a guy. Local politician. Our security cameras caught him kissing a fifteen year-old. What’s the world coming to, I ask.”

“Hmm. Sounds like one of Roger’s ideas,” Isabel remarked on purpose. Poor old Max wasn’t smart enough to come up with any ideas of his own.

Max leaned back in his chair and folded his hands atop his lap. “So Tess must’ve let something slip to Michael about my involvement, and he told you. Gossip sure does spread like wildfire.”

“Only the good gossip,” she said. She picked up his fake silver letter opener and dragged it across his desktop. “You know, normally I love a good betrayal. Keeps things interesting. But when a brother betrays a sister . . . that’s totally different.”

“I might’ve casually mentioned to Tess that I thought you were lying about something. I didn’t know she was gonna take it and run with it.”

“Right.” She recognized his attempt at damage control. “Why don’t I believe you?”

He grinned.

“I’m not dumb like your girlfriends, Max. I can see what’s right in front of my face.” She set the letter opener back down. “And it’s so obvious you’re threatened by me.”

“Threatened?” he echoed.

“You know I’m smarter. You know I’m better. You know I should be the one in charge of this company, and part of you wants to just hand it over and be done with it. But you’re too stubborn for that.” She shrugged. “So you’ll fail gradually, and I’ll stand by and watch. And laugh.” She smiled. “I tried to help, you know. And now I don’t even know why.”

“I don’t need your help,” Max said unconvincingly.

“Oh, you do. But you’re not getting it. Not anymore.”

“Fine. Focus on being a baby-maker. That’s what good women do.”

Oh, you little bitch. She really hated it when her brother pulled that men-are-better crap their father always tried to promote. “If I wanted this company that badly, I’d already have it,” she informed him, glaring at him. She turned to leave but stopped at the door. “Oh, and by the way, this whole little stunt you pulled just brought Michael and me closer. That’s the irony. See, once we do this paternity test, it’ll be us against the world—it practically already is—and then your little threesome’s gonna have to back off.”

He seemed to recoil in his chair just a little bit, and that delighted her. She loved seeing grown men look nervous.

“It was a valiant attempt at being the good guy, Max,” she acknowledged, “but come on. That’s never gonna happen.” She grinned and left him to mull that one over. Because it was so true.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tess lightly knocked on the door to Maria’s bedroom the next morning and entered with a glass of orange juice. “How you doing?” she asked.

“Been better.” Maria was curled up on her bed, huddled beneath her blankets. She had class in about a half an hour, but she hadn’t even gotten up to brush her teeth yet. She felt so unmotivated.

“Yeah, Michael was kind of harsh yesterday,” Tess said, handing her the juice.

“Kind of.” What an understatement.

“He was mad at me, though, not you.”

Maria set the juice aside without even taking a sip. “Why?” she asked.

“Because . . .” Tess lay down on the bed. “I might’ve gone too far.”

Maria sat up straighter, confused by what she meant. She leaned back against the headboard of the bed and waited for an explanation.

“Liz and I stole Isabel’s journal and read it,” Tess said. “We were trying to dig up some dirt on her. The more I think about it, the more invasive and unethical it seems. But we just wanted to find some proof that she was lying, which we might now have.”

Maria’s interest was piqued.

“Her, uh, Florida boyfriend has no job and no money anymore, so . . .”

Maria’s interest waned. That didn’t sound like evidence; it sounded like desperate speculation. “Tess. You don’t have to give me false hope.”

“It’s not false,” Tess said. “I for one happen to think it’s true that Isabel’s pretending this baby’s Michael’s, and I’ll believe that until my dying day. Or at least until the paternity test comes back and proves me wrong, which I don’t think it will.”

Maria shrugged, not feeling too hopeful. “DNA doesn’t lie.”

“No, but Isabel does. And Michael seems to have conveniently forgotten that.” She rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed with him. “I guess I just want her to be lying so you and Michael can get back together again.”

Maria shook her head. “It’s too late for that. Did you hear him last night? He called her his girlfriend.”

“Slip of the tongue. I don’t know.”

“No. It wasn’t.” She had spent all night trying to remember what it felt like to hear Michael call her his girlfriend, to hear him say ‘I’m dating Maria.’ But she could hardly remember, and that scared her more than anything. “I always knew I was just a passing thing for him. Isabel’s the real deal. Lucky her.”

“Maria.” Tess propped herself up on her forearms and shook her head. “No. You can’t think like that. You can’t just give up.”

Maria sank back down under the blankets and curled up on her side. “Watch me.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael waited with Isabel silently in Dr. Monroe’s office that afternoon. She was once again up on the examination table, even though she wasn’t having an exam done, and he was sitting off to the side in the chair. Everything felt so weird.

“Isabel,” Dr. Monroe greeted cheerily when she first walked in. “How nice to see you again.” She looked over at him and said, “It’s Michael, right?”

“Right.”

“It’s nice to see you again, too.”

“Thanks for getting us in on such short notice, Dr. Monroe,” Isabel said.

“Sure.” The doctor flipped open Isabel’s chart and asked, “What seems to be the problem?”

“Well, it’s not really a problem,” Isabel said. “We were wondering about a paternity test.”

Dr. Monroe raised an eyebrow.

“I realize for most couples, not knowing the father of the baby is a big problem,” Isabel acknowledged, “but I know. I know Michael’s the father. He just wants some verification, and I can’t say I blame him. But neither one of us really knows if a paternity test can even be done during this stage of the pregnancy, and Michael really doesn’t know anything about it at all. No offense, sweetie.”

None taken, he thought. Did she just call me sweetie? He was going to have to set her straight on the fact that they weren’t a couple like that again. Thank God she hadn't heard the girlfriend slip-up last night, because she never would've let it go.

“Well, most women have this done during the second trimester,” Dr. Monroe said.

Isabel nodded slowly. “Not the third.”

“No, not the third.”

“Why is that?” Michael asked, completely clueless.

“Well, actually, there’s a bit of a misconception that it poses a significant danger to the baby during the third trimester,” Dr. Monroe explained.

Well, that did it. He wasn’t going to endanger his kid.

“Danger?” Isabel echoed.

“The primary risk of any prenatal testing is, of course, miscarriage,” Dr. Monroe explained, “but the risk of miscarriage is quite higher during the earlier trimesters when most of these tests are usually done. So for that reason, having the procedure done during this trimester is actually safer. Like I said, it’s a misconception that it’s so dangerous. I know plenty of women who have chosen to have a paternity test done at this stage, and everything turned out just fine for them and for their babies.”

“What’s the worst case scenario?” Michael asked, feeling more reassured now.

“Worst case scenario is that the baby’s born a month premature, but the likelihood of that happening as a result of the procedure is very small.”

“How small?” Isabel inquired.

“I’d say one percent.”

Michael nodded in contemplation. “How exactly is the test done?” he asked. Isabel had tried to explain it to him, but she wasn’t very good with medical terminology.

“Amniocentesis is the primary method of sample collection from the child,” Dr. Monroe said. “What would happen is that an ultrasound would be used to guide the needle to a safe location to enter the amniotic sac.”

“I’ve had it done before,” Isabel told her, “during my second trimester when I was in Florida.”

“Then you know you’ll feel a slight pinch at most.” She returned her attention to Michael. “Now what the needle does is collect the amniotic fluid. The fluid contains cells shed by the fetus. That’s the sample that will be compared to yours. It’ll only take about five minutes to collect the fluid, forty-five minutes for the total procedure. The samples will undergo laboratory testing, and you’ll get the results back within a couple days.”

“Who would do the amniocentesis?” Isabel questioned. “You?”

“I’d probably refer you to Dr. Austen. She’s an OBGYN like I am, and she’s quite skilled at the procedure.”

It sounded . . . simple. Michael was surprised it sounded so simple.

“So is this something you would recommend?” Isabel asked.

“In your case, yes,” Dr. Monroe replied. “I say this because amniocentesis can also be done to assess the lung maturity of babies at risk for early delivery.”

Michael immediately panicked. “Wait, and our baby’s at risk for that?”

“Probably not. But last time you were here, you mentioned some pain; that can sometimes be a sign of early labor, but more often than not, it’s nothing. Still, I would like to have an amnio performed for that assessment. But I can’t force you to do anything. If you two would rather not have the procedure done, that’s perfectly understandable, and you can choose to have a paternity test performed as soon as the baby’s born, if you’d like.”

“The pain’s really nothing,” Isabel said to him. “And we only have a month to wait. But I can tell you still wanna know.”

“I should probably also mention the cost,” Dr. Monroe added. “This kind of test is always more expensive before birth than it is after.”

“How expensive?” Michael asked, sort of afraid of what her answer was going to be.

“The lab I would refer you to generally runs about eight-hundred.”

“Dollars?” he spat. “Wow.”

“And after birth?” Isabel asked.

“Four-hundred at a minimum, possibly more.”

Crap, Michael thought. Either way, it was going to end up costing him a whole lot of money. They wouldn’t have even been in the situation if Isabel hadn’t cheated on him in the first place. Of course, if she hadn’t cheated on him, they wouldn’t have had the break-up sex that resulted in the conception of the baby, either. It was a whole chain of events. “What do you think?” he asked her.

“It’s really up to you,” she said. “At the risk of sounding totally accommodating, whatever you decide is fine.”

He definitely felt like he was leaning more in one direction than the other. “I would really like to know as soon as possible,” he said. He wasn’t sure if he could go a whole month with it up in the air. “Risks are minimal?”

Dr. Monroe nodded. “Yes.”

“And you recommend it because of the lung assessment thing?”

“Yes.”

Michael sighed heavily. It was sort of a big decision, but he’d already made it. “I know it costs more, but I can pay it,” he said. “Yeah, I think . . . I think I’d like to know.” He glanced at Isabel. “Is that okay?”

“I told you it was.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you.” He really didn’t want her to think that was the case.

“Michael, it’s fine,” she assured him. “So, doctor, how soon can we have this done?”

“Well, you can probably have it done today, if you’re ready for it,” Dr. Monroe said. “I know it’s shocking, something in the medical profession that’s actually speedy.”

“Hmm.” Michael laughed a little.

“But if you’d like to take more time to discuss it, please do,” Dr. Monroe advised.

“That’s okay,” Isabel said, climbing down off the exam table. “I think we’re ready.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael walked into the sample collection lab, a bundle of nerves. It was right at the hospital, luckily, so it hadn’t been hard to find. It was a nice enough looking place, too. Nice warm colors on the walls. Although blues and greens and cool colors like that were actually more calming. He missed painting.

“Excuse me?” he said as he approached the receptionist’s desk. There was a young guy working there who barely looked old enough to know what he was doing. “Hi, I’m Michael Guerin. I made an appointment kind of last minute today.”

“Oh, that’s right.” The receptionist flipped a page on his appointment chart and said, “You’re right on time. Sign here, please.” He slid the chair across the counter and handed Michael a pen. Michael shakily signed his name. A month ago, he never would have pictured himself in this place, getting ready to do this.

“Looks like we’ve already got the sample from the baby today. So all we need is yours.”

Michael nodded and leaned forward to speak quietly. “I’ve, uh . . . I’ve never done this before. What kind of sample do I have to provide?”

The receptionist smiled, obviously laughing inwardly. “Cheek swab,” he replied. “From inside your mouth.”

“Oh.” He’d been thinking he’d have to urinate or . . . do something else.

“We’ll use a cotton swab to gather the cells. It’ll be painless and done before you know it.”

“Great.” That sounded a lot better than having to . . . do something else. “Oh, I have these forms I filled out.” He pulled the forms Dr. Monroe had given him out of his back pocket, unfolded them, and handed them to the man at the desk.

“Okay, and can I see a photo identification?”

“Uh, driver’s license?”

“That works.”

Michael took out his wallet and pulled his driver’s license out to show him.

“Alright, I’m gonna need to photocopy these. It’ll just take a minute.” The receptionist took his driver’s license and the forms and headed back into an office room behind the desk to do that. Michael stood alone and looked around for a minute. There were two guys sitting in the waiting room with one pregnant girl. One of the guys looked like a thug and the other looked like a pimp. They looked at him like he was the biggest white-picket-fencer ever.

Michael felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket as the receptionist came back out. He quickly glanced at it and turned it off. It was just Kyle. He’d call him back later if he had time.

“Okay, that’s done,” the receptionist said, handing him the original copy of the forms, along with a new form. “Sign here, please.” He marked an X by the signature and date lines.

“What’s this?” Michael asked.

“Consent form for the test.”

“Oh.” Michael signed his name again, then struggled to come up with the date. The days were all just blending together lately.

“Alright, I’m gonna have you go straight on down the hallway,” the receptionist instructed. “You’re gonna have your photograph and thumbprint taken. That’s for the chain of custody procedure, which simply means that your results are legally defensible.”

Michael nodded, barely comprehending a word. “Okay. Thanks.” He walked dazedly down the hallway, knowing that what was just about to happen was going to affect the rest of his life. One way or another.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Well, I’m glad that’s over,” Isabel said as the elevator doors closed and she and Michael rode up to the fifth floor of the apartment complex. “I mean, it’s not over yet, but . . . you’ll know soon.”

Michael waited until the elevator doors had opened and they had stepped off to turn to her and ask, “You think we made the right decision, to have the test done now?” He knew it was kind of selfish, needing to know right away, not waiting until after the baby was born.

“I don’t think we made the wrong decision,” Isabel replied.

He nodded. Well, that was something. “You want me to fix you some dinner?” he asked as he took his keys out of his pocket.

She tilted her head to the side and teased, “Anyone ever tell you you’re kind of a bad cook?”

He thought back to his and Maria’s failed but fun attempt at Thanksgiving dinner, and the food-fight that had followed. “Yeah.” He unlocked the door to his apartment and opened it.

“I don’t meant to sound like a broken record,” she said as she made her way inside, “but I could probably go for some--”

“Kiwi?” he guessed.

“Yes, please.”

Michael was about to shut the door when Kyle practically came out of nowhere, throwing himself inside. “Dude, what’s up? I’ve been callin’ you all day,” he exclaimed.

Michael scratched the side of his head. “I was busy.”

“Hey, Kyle,” Isabel said, waving at him.

“Hey,” he returned. “Busy?” He gave Michael a suspicious look, but Michael didn’t get it. What the hell was there to suspect?

“I’m gonna take a shower,” Isabel announced. “If you hear a thud, come check on me. It probably means I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”

“Okay.”

Once Isabel had slipped into the bathroom, Kyle started in with his questioning. “So . . . were you guys, like, on a date?”

“Yeah,” Michael played along. “And on that date, we went to her OBGYN, and then we had a paternity test done. Good times.”

Kyle nodded slowly. “So it wasn’t a date?”

“No.”

“Okay, just wanted to be clear.” Kyle shuffled into the kitchen, opened up Michael’s refrigerator, rummaged around for a moment, then took out some kiwi. “Hey, can I have this?” he asked. “I haven’t been to the store for awhile. I’m livin’ on scraps.”

“Uh, I wouldn’t if I were you,” Michael warned him. “That’s Isabel’s. It’s her constant food craving.”

“Oh. Okay, then.” Kyle put the kiwi down on the counter and said, “You shouldn’t store it in the refrigerator. It makes it go bad faster.”

“Thanks for the advice.” Michael flopped down on the couch and asked, “So why were you callin’ me today?”

“I don’t know. Just bored, I guess,” Kyle replied, coming to sit down beside him with string cheese in hand now.

“How’s Frank?” Michael asked.

“Gradually getting house-trained,” Kyle replied, peeling back a strip of string cheese and popping it in his mouth. “How’s the fetus?”

“Boy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. I get to be a godparent, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“The godfather.” Kyle chuckled like the nerd he was. “Huh, the godfather. Don’t worry, I won’t instill any gangster values in him or anything.”

Michael smiled a little, wondering momentarily who the godmother would be. Since he and Maria had started dating, he had always pictured Tess and Kyle being the godparents to his kids with her, but it was different with Isabel. Isabel hated Tess. She wouldn’t go for her being the godmother.

“Good string cheese,” Kyle remarked randomly.

“Glad you think so. Hey, I, uh . . . I’m sorry I snapped at you the other day,” he apologized suddenly. “I didn’t mean to.”

“That’s okay,” Kyle said. “You’re under a lot of stress.”

“No, it’s not okay.” Michael knew that. “Tess and I have really been clashing lately. She thinks this kid’s not mine, hence the paternity test . . . she stole Isabel’s journal . . .”

“What?”

“Yeah, it’s . . . all kinda messed up. I doubt we’ll ever be friends again.”

“Whoa.” Kyle sat up straight, looking alarmed. “Slow down. In fact, apply the emergency brakes. What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

“My whole life’s changing, and I don’t know if there’s gonna be a place in it for her, or even Maria, or even painting and school.”

“This is crazy,” Kyle said, looking defeated. Michael understood the feeling. Even though he and Maria had split, and even though Tess and Kyle had split, the non-romantic friendships had remained pretty solid until now.

“So what does that leave you with?” Kyle wondered. “Isabel and your son?”

“And you and Frank,” Michael put in, “if you guys will stand by me.”

“Dude, I’m your best friend,” Kyle said in a rare moment of seriousness. “Where else would I be?”

Michael smiled. “Thanks, Kyle.” He had really needed to hear that.

Kyle shoved the rest of his string cheese in his mouth at once, not even bothering to peel back the strips. “You need to have some fun,” he managed with his mouth full. “Right now.”

“Oh, I hope you’re not goin’ gay with this.”

“What? No, I’m talkin’ about a guys’ night,” Kyle explained while chewing. “Just forget about all this drama goin’ on here, go out and let loose.”

Michael gave him an incredulous look. “Have you met me? I don’t let loose.”

“Well, maybe you should,” Kyle suggested. “Gosh, that sounded very Maria-esque, didn’t it?”

Michael felt his chest tighten. He missed Maria.

“Come on,” Kyle urged. “It’s either guys’ night out or . . . whatever you got goin’ on here.”

Michael sighed. He didn’t particularly enjoy being cooped up with Isabel all night. Sometimes she said things or gave him looks that made him really uncomfortable in his own home. And whenever he looked back at her, he saw the girl who had cheated on him, and that killed him. She was in the shower now, but once he made sure she got out okay . . .

“What do you have in mind?” he asked his friend.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Michael couldn’t believe he let Kyle talk him into going to a strip-club that night. It definitely wasn’t one of his usual hang-outs.

“Oh, heck yes,” Kyle said as they made their way up to a table near the stage. “Heck yes. I’ve never been so naughty. Well, there was that one time Tess had to tie me down . . .”

“Just stop there,” Michael told him, sitting down at the table. He looked around. The Kitten Corral was really classless. Paint was peeling off the neon walls, food was on the floor, it smelled like smoke and desperation, and the neon lights illuminating the club kept flicking on and off. The poles up on stage looked top-notch, though. Brass.

“You’ve never been to a strip club?” he asked Kyle. For some reason, he’d always pictured Kyle going to these clubs at least one night a week since, prior to dating Tess, he’d never actually seen a real life naked girl.

“Nope,” Kyle replied. “Have you?”

“No, but Maria gave me that strip-tease for my birthday. Remember?”

Kyle grinned. “Oh, yeah. Think any of these babes are gonna be as hot as her?”

“No.” He knew for a fact that wasn’t possible. “I don’t know, man, this feels kinda weird.”

“Why? You feel like a perv?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.” Kyle smiled unabashedly. “Me, too.”

“I’ve got a baby on the way.”

“Exactly. You can’t do this when he pops out. Gotta set an example.”

“I guess.” Michael glanced towards the entrance. There was a large group of young girls walking in, but they definitely weren’t the strippers. “Stripping’s kind of objectifying for the women involved, though.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Kyle dismissed. “They say it’s empowering. That’s good enough for me.”

All of a sudden, the lights turned dimmed down and a booming male voice came over the speakers. “Welcome, one and all, to the infamous Kitten Corral!”

“Is it just me,” Michael said, glancing around at the primarily female crowd, “or is this crowd a little off?” Where were all the men?

“Lesbians, man.” Kyle grinned excitedly and looked up at the stage with a disturbing gleam in his eyes.

“Feast your eyes,” the booming voice said again, “on the men of Ladies’ Night!

All the females started to scream as “Ladies’ Night” by Kool and the Gang began to play. Michael and Kyle both sat and stared in horror as two muscled men in mechanic jumpsuits walked out onto the stage and ripped their pants off to reveal leopard-print male thongs underneath.

“Ah!” they both screamed, hiding their eyes.

“No!” Kyle wailed dramatically.

“What the hell? Gimme that flyer.” Michael seized the bright neon-green flyer out of Kyle’s pocket, the one advertising the Kitten Corral he’d been so eager to go to. “It says right here, Ladies’ Night!” he shouted over the music.

“Naked ladies!”

“No, naked men!” One of the mechanics leaned forward towards them and ripped open his shirt. “Ah!” they screamed again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Isabel was already in bed by the time Michael got home. It was late, but she wasn’t asleep. She couldn’t fall asleep yet.

She heard him push open the door to the bedroom, and she knew he was checking on her. He’d always been a near-perfect man like that. “Hey,” she said, opening her eyes, surprising him a little.

“I didn’t know you were awake,” he said quietly.

“Yeah. How was your night?” She had to admit, she was disappointed that he and Kyle weren’t fighting anymore the way he and Tess were.

“Didn’t go exactly as planned,” he admitted, standing in the doorway. “Male strippers.”

“Ooh, I should’ve tagged along.”

“Ah, it still felt good to let off steam, though, just hang out with my friend.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Oh, well, she thought. So Michael’s not alienating himself from all his friends. He was still getting closer and closer to her, and once they got the paternity test results back, they were only going to be even more inseparable.

“What about you?” he asked. “Did you do anything exciting tonight?”

“Gotta say no,” she replied. “I did watch a marathon of That 70s Show, though.”

“Good show.”

“Never gets old.”

He nodded in agreement. “Alright, I should let you get some sleep,” he said, turning to head out to the couch.

She propped herself up on her elbows and stopped him. “Michael.”

He turned back around, his hand on the doorknob, poised to pull the door shut.

“You don’t have to sleep on the couch,” she told him. “This is your home, your bed. And it’s a big bed. We can share.”

For a moment, he looked flustered. But he also looked to be considering it. “Iz,,” he said, “the couch is fine.” And even though it was disappointing to hear him say that, it was wonderful to hear him call her by her nickname. “We’re not gonna share a bed.”

She watched him close the door to the bedroom, then settled back down in the bed pulling the covers up close to her chest. “We’ll see about that.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Maria was shocked to see a ninety-six percent written on top of her statistics test, underlined twice and in red pen.

“Nice work, Maria,” the professor said.

Well, she thought, at least I’ve finally learned how to do math.

“You did good,” Tess observed, glancing back and forth from the grade on Maria’s test to the grade on her own. “You did better than me. Way better. Maria, you did better than the know-it-all geeks in the front row. How’d you manage that?”

“A sexless life and an abundance of study time,” Maria replied, shoving her test into the front pocket of her backpack.

“But I have a sexless life, too. How come I didn’t get an A?” Tess pouted.

“Because you’ve been busy with your ‘investigation,’” Maria reminded her.

“Right, that.” Tess crumpled up her test and held it in her hands. “Do you think I did the wrong thing by taking Isabel’s journal?” she asked.

“Uh, I’m probably the wrong person to ask.” Maria had a hard time feeling any sympathy for Isabel whatsoever.

“I was just trying to help, but I think I kinda made everything worse.” Tess sighed. “In fact, I don’t think things can get any worse than they are now.”

“They can always get worse,” Maria muttered, “and usually they do before they get better. And sometimes they don’t get better at all.” She shrugged. Knowing her luck as of late, it would be one of those times.

“Well, that was optimistic,” Tess said sarcastically.

“Sorry. Maybe things will get better, for you at least. Have you and Kyle . . .?” She trailed off, hoping for some good news. But if there was good news to tell, wouldn’t Tess have already told her?

“We might as well be strangers,” Tess said sadly. “Do you know that we’ve been broken up longer than we were actually together?”

“That sucks,” Maria agreed. The longer Tess and Kyle went without reconciling, the more unlikely it was that it was ever going to happen. The same went for herself and Michael. “But I know the feeling,” she said. “Michael and I might as well be strangers, too.”

“It’s been a hard year on hearts,” Tess said. “So far.”

“But it started out so good,” Maria remembered. “New Year’s.” She thought of the way Michael had just walked up and kissed her, right out of nowhere. That had been the night that she’d opened up her eyes. And her heart. Now, she wished she’d kept everything closed off. Would’ve been easier.

“Doesn’t it seem like such a long time ago?” Tess said.

“Yeah,” Maria agreed. “But it wasn’t.” Things could change so fast, and she had a feeling they weren’t done changing yet.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Max checked his reflection in the mirror in his office. Not a hair out of place. Good. He had to be spot-on for a day like today.

Liz came into his office as he was pouring himself a drink and immediately asked, “Any news about the paternity test?”

He understood why she would ask him about that first. He’d called her earlier, said he wanted to see her. But he was sick of talking about his sister and her pathetic excuse for a life. He’d wanted to see her about something else. “I’m glad you came by,” he said, “and no, there’s no news. It’s only been twenty-four hours. Patience, Liz. Let yourself be teased.” He grinned, and she rolled her eyes. He held out the glass of champagne he’d just poured, but she shook her head and remained standing in the doorway, apparently trying to keep her distance from him. He shrugged and took a sip of the champagne himself. She was missing out.

“If you don’t know anything about the test, why’d you call me?” she asked.

“The question is, why’d you bother to drop by?” he inquired in response. He had a feeling she just felt like seeing him, but it would’ve been nice to hear her say it.

“I was in the neighborhood,” she lied.

“But you don’t live in the neighborhood. You live in . . . well, it’s practically Compton.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“Yes, it is.” There were good parts of Santa Fe and bad, dangerous parts. His hotels were in the good parts. Hers was not. “I could get you a room in the Evans for free, Liz.”

“No.” She was obviously determined not to accept his help. “The Budget Inn is . . . well, horrible, but it’ll do for now. Besides, I’m getting an apartment soon.”

“Good for you.” He hoped he’d get to go see her apartment, maybe see the bedroom in particular. They’d been moving in the right direction lately. “How about a private plane?” he asked, taking another sip of his champagne. “How do you feel about that?”

She looked perplexed. “What?”

“I have to jet today, excuse the pun,” he said. “I’m going to Phoenix. Not all my business can be done in Santa Fe, you know. Evans Hotels are regional.”

“So you’re taking a private jet?”

My private jet,” he emphasized. “This is gonna be the first time I’ve ridden on it without my dad.” He was definitely looking forward to that. “You should come with me.”

Her eyes bulged. “What?

“Come on, it’s not like you’ve got class or work.”

“Actually, I’m gonna start tutoring again in a couple days.”

Motivation to re-enroll in classes, he thought jokingly. “And you’ll be back by tomorrow afternoon. What’s the problem?”

She stuffed her hands in her pockets and shifted her weight back and forth on her feet. “I don’t know,” she said reluctantly. “This doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

“Why not? It’s a private airplane. It’s fun.” He really wanted her to come along.

“It’s your private airplane, Max, just like you said. And considering our history . . .”

“We shouldn’t fly together?” he interrupted.

She rolled her eyes again, but he could see that she was giving in. “What’s in Phoenix?” she asked.

“A party.”

“A party?

“Yeah. The guy who’s throwing it . . . he’s rich as sin. I’ve gotta go there, try to convince him to invest if I wanna keep this beautiful company alive.”

“Beautiful?” she echoed.

“Well, not as beautiful as you.” He smiled, noting her sharp intake of breath when he said that. “That’s a good line, isn’t it?”

“Makes me swoon.”

He walked across his office to his closet and took out his nicest, most expensive coat. Black, of course. Slimming. “Listen, I’m heading out in a few minutes,” he told her. He’d been scheduled to leave twenty minutes earlier, but he’d been waiting for her. “If you wanna spend another boring Friday night cooped up like the ugly girls, then go ahead. But if you wanna get outta town for awhile . . . come fly with me.” He held out his hand and asked her again. “What do you say?”








TBC . . .

-April
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LOVE IS MICHAEL AND MARIA.
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