Roswell Fanatics

what an awesome gift. take your time we'll be here

I'm back!

The photo book for my grandma is done, ordered and received So now I can get back on track and spend my free hours writing rather than making photo books.

Does that sound good?

Thank you for all your support

- Jo

Ashley (Morning Dreamgirl)

I'm doing a girly squeal right now. The hubs thanks you as well. You just postponed some cleaning I was insisting we get done.

I LOVE YOU, JO!

Glad to be of service <3


Helen (roswelllostcause)

Maria is reacting about how I would expect.

Thank you


Carolyn (keepsmiling7)

Not only do we have a talented author here........but also a wonderful sketch artist.

Thank you so so much


Natalie36

was so missing the story great part. love maria's freak outs

And then I went ahead and left you hanging again... Sorry about that. Happy to hear that you liked the previous chapter; I hope you like the one to follow as well.

Thank you for the feedback!


dreamon

Still here and reading/enjoying this epic tale!

Thank you


Eve (begonia9508)

In some way, she has a good Point there, Maria... Liz believes it because of her Max but who knows at the end...

That's true

Anyway, loved your drawings

Thank you

Thank you for the feedback!



From ONE ZERO TWO:

How did we know that Dresden and his ’followers’ weren’t trying to do the same thing as Command and his gang, just using other slogans and methods?

”But if you believe that we are safe here - safer than out there - I’ll stay with you. Mostly because I don’t want you to be alone with all those creatures.”

”Maria, I-” I started in a grateful mumble, but Maria’s hands tightened around my bony shoulders and she cut me off.

”But I will not engage in any alien battle. That’s their mess. And I won’t act nice and put on a polite face. I don’t owe these people anything. I’m only here to keep you company.”

It almost sounded innocent when she said it like that. It made my arms move around her shoulders and crush her in an awkward hug.

Maria. My feisty, strong-willed best friend. Who, obviously, could move from a state of panic to reasonable calmness with a couple of words. I’m not sure what made her change her mind or what brought her out of that previous frantic mindset, but I was happy that she had been willing to cooperate.

At the same time, I couldn’t help but wonder if she had said all those things just to please me while she was secretly planning to escape.

Which probably would set her up for a one-way trip to the enemy. Something she might not survive.

The thought chilled me and I pulled back, looking her firmly in the eyes. ”Promise me something.”

”Maybe,” she said, tightening her lips in an attempted smile. It failed.

”That you won't try to escape. That we stick together.”

She looked unhappy. Bordering on angry. And I knew that I had hit the spot. She had been planning a decampment as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

”Ria?” I prompted, quiet desperation in my request.

She sighed. Loudly. Very much like Michael, I realized, slightly amused in the midst of my concern.

”Fine.”

I relaxed, relieved. I trusted her promise. She always kept her word.

So I smiled. A genuine smile. ”Thank you.”

ONE ZERO THREE

We always had to be at least two. No humans were allowed to be on their own. In other words; Humans always had to be in the company of an alien.

This didn’t alter my situation much, considering that I was always in the vicinity of Max anyway. Hence, only Maria reacted - with a disapproving frown - when Max followed me to the bathroom just after I’d had that talk with Maria about her not trusting those aliens as far as she could throw them (which wasn’t very far, probably).

Jokingly - with Maria’s eyes watching us - I had told Max that I was not far enough into our relationship for him to see me pee, but when he had informed me - with a cheeky grin nonetheless - that it was either him or Isabel, I quickly settled for him.

The bathroom was bare. The walls were yellow, painted directly on concrete. The light was a naked bulb, dangling from a dirtied, formerly-white cord, covered in dusty spider webs. That single light source didn’t distribute evenly throughout the rather large room, barely making it into the corners and cloaking them in shadows.

Sitting there on that old porcelain toilet seat, while trying not to think of when that toilet had been last cleaned, I was glad that Max was there with me. It meant that it took five minutes longer for me to pee (I’m not good with public urination), but at least I wasn’t alone in the bathroom that felt like it was taken straight out of a horror movie.

Max gave me as much privacy as he could. He had his back turned towards me the whole time, walking along the uneven walls, looking at them as if he was in an art gallery perusing expensive paintings.

I watched the broadness of his back. Watched the impressiveness of his proud stature. Watch the darkness of his hair, the strong lines of his neck. My gaze traveled down his bottom, down his jeans clad legs.

”You’re making it difficult for me to remain interested in this wall,” Max mumbled under his breath, his voice husky and strained.

Heat instantly crept into my cheeks and an embarrassed smile grazed my lips.

”Sorry,” I mumbled, turned towards the dusty toilet roll, banged it against the side of the toilet a couple of times, creating a small cloud of dust, before tearing off a piece.

Pulling my pants up while standing, I felt Max’s eyes on me when I hit the small lever on the side of the toilet tank, hoping that it would actually flush. It sounded like the water jets of a budget jacuzzi, but flush it did.

I glanced at Max, a self-conscious smile on my lips, and forced myself not to get lost in his eyes. Rather I focused on getting to the sink to wash my hands. It was aluminum. Industrial. Like the type of sink you might find in the furthest back corner of a car workshop, covered in old layers of oil stains and grease.

The water was freezing cold, but it felt nice to wash my hands. While I moved them in and out of the stream (if I held them there for too long my fingers would surely freeze and fall off), Max’s arms snaked around my waist, his body pressing up against my back.

With a comfortable sigh, I melted back into his chest, closing my eyes as his chin touched the curve of my neck for a second before he placed a gentle kiss against the center of that arch.

”I miss you,” I whispered. The unique scent of Max enveloped me and I relaxed. My breathing slowed, my shoulders slumped with the absence of tension and my head felt lighter.

”I miss you too,” he whispered back, his dark voice causing delicious vibrations across my skin.

My hands were cold and dripping with water when I turned off the faucet and placed them on top of his hands around my waist. ”It feels like we haven’t been alone in ages.”

He sighed, the sound steaming with frustration and longing. ”It has been ages.”

Well, not really. We were only talking about days. But so much had happened that it easily felt like an eternity since I had felt his skin against mine in a private setting.

It was not just my body that longed for him, it was my entire soul. It was almost frightening how quickly I felt disconnected from him when we hadn’t had any ’us-time’. Even with the ever present connection blaring between us.

Since I had never really been in love before Max, it was difficult for me to discern if the constant pull I felt in my stomach and the feeling of suction I felt in my chest when he was standing more than two feet away from me, could be contributed to being in love or if it was the connection working.

Either way, it made me ache for him in almost inhuman proportions. Even though he’d barely left my side since we got to our most recent accommodations.

”I wish there was a way for us to be alone,” Max said softly and placed a string of slow open-mouthed kisses along the arch of my neck.

That simple act immediately ignited me, sending thrills of heat into every layer of my skin. A moan floated across my slightly parted lips when he moved one of his hands off my waist to curl his finger around the collar of my sweater and start stretching it down my shoulder to grant his lips access to more skin.

I pressed further back into his body and automatically angled my head to welcome his ministrations, while I guided his hands down over my lower abdomen, brushing alongside the top border of my pants, before moving our hands upwards again, bundling up my sweater over our hands and underarms while the warmth of his palms brushed up the skin of my gradually exposing abdomen.

He gently but firmly took control of his hands after that, moving them over the roundness of my breasts on the outside of the sport bra I was wearing. I had stopped wearing regular bras lately. You don’t go on the run from aliens in a lacy underwire bra. End of discussion.

My back arched, pressing my chest upwards into his touch, and while he moved to kiss alongside the angle of my jaw, I reached behind me, reaching around the sides of his upper body and tucked my hands underneath his sweater.

Calm satisfaction made me sigh in relish at the solidity of the muscles framing the sides of his abdomen. Feeling the warmth of his skin and the softness mixed with the hard had my heart skip a beat and my breath catch.

He pushed his hands down the inside of my bra from the top to capture my breasts in his palms, which didn’t exactly help with my breathing. His own breaths were loud against my ear, the combination of his obvious need for me - his fingers slowly moving over my nipples, my hands grabbing the sides of his stomach hard - had tingles explode all over my body. Made my knees turn to useless mush.

”I love you,” he whispered, his breath hot against the shell of my ear.

I shivered with pleasure.

”I love you too,” I echoed, moving my hands as far up his body as the physical restriction of my shoulders would allow.

It proved to not be far enough and I groaned in frustration.

”What?” he mumbled, sounding distracted, and in the next breath he murmured, ”God, I love your breasts.”

But I wanted more. Needed more.

”No,” I said shortly, dropping my hands from his body and trying to get out of his hold.

”No?”

I could hear the confusion, and also hurt, in his voice, before he read the needs in my mind. With a squeeze to my breasts, he let them go, removed his hands from underneath my bra and sweater, and enabled me to turn around.

I had a very clear plan of attacking him, kissing him senseless, as I turned around. But the dark desire I saw in his eyes when faced with him stopped my world, trapped the air in my lungs, made my jaw go slack and fiery hunger shoot straight down the center of my body.

”Hi,” he said quietly, his voice low and dark, the look in those almost black eyes filled with so much more than just lust. It was hunger, longing, love.

The world disappeared around us and I whispered breathlessly, ”Hi.”

My body felt like it was on fire and I tensed in anticipation when he took a hold of the bottom of my sweater and started to slowly pull it upwards. Whenever the pads of his fingers would come into light contact with my skin it felt like I was jolted with a short burst of electricity.

The breaths I managed to take were almost painful - warm and heavy - and I kept the breath in when his thumbs deliberately stroked across the sides of my bra-covered and highly sensitized breasts. I held that burning breath when his fingers ghosted across the underside of my arms when he made them lift over my head by pulling the sweater up along my arms. The breath tumbled out of me in a sharp blow when he dropped the sweater behind me and - without a second to spare - captured my hands and ran his hands slowly down the length of my up-stretched arms.

He never looked away, barely blinked, and his slightly parted lips had hot breaths float from his mouth to mine. He was so close.

I trembled.

His hands traveled down the sensitive sides of my ribcage, moving underneath the sport bra, taking a firm hold of the elastic hem at the base and pulling it up over the curves of my breasts.

I had not fully lowered my arms yet, but I lifted them now yet again, to assist him in removing the bra.

Instead of removing the bra completely, his lips closed around my left nipple and I gasped in surprise, my knees almost giving away there. The firm elastic was tight over the top of my breasts and in sharp contrast with the softness of his hand underneath the weight of my breast, while his lips and tongue kept swirling around my enticed nipple.

My lifted arms fell to the top of his head without grace and with a quiet moan that sounded something like, ”Max”, I burrowed my fingers into his thick hair and grabbed a handful while my head dropped backwards.

”I love your breasts,” Max mumbled, repeating his previous statement, the ripples of his voice doing wonderful things to my nipple, making me almost cry out in pleasure.

Stopping the loud cry of pleasure (which the semi-awake rational side of my brain was responsible for) instead forced me to press my thighs tightly together.

At the back of my head I could feel the connection coming to life. His strong emotions were rolling into me like a bulldozer, fully entrapping us in our own world where only we existed. I could feel how much my own emotions, my desire, was affecting him.

With the heightened connection, Max released my breast and removed my bra in one swift movement. I barely had time to gasp.

The next fractured second after that, he had pulled his own sweater over his head and had crashed our overheated bodies together. My whole body sighed in relief at the feel of so much of his skin against so much of my skin.

Max put his hand against my cheek, making me pause. Everything slowed down around us except for our hearts and breaths. In the meager lighting I could see the flush of heat on his cheeks and the small ring of golden brown made by his irises around dilated pupils.

The inside of his thumb brushed in a slow curve over my own flushed cheek and the look in his eyes was nothing but naked and true.

”We are going to get through this.” His words were slow and determined.

Reality brushed against my state of desire like small droplets of ice cold water being thrown down my back.

He leaned in and slowly kissed my lips and they were so soft against mine, while the unshaved stubble around his mouth rasped minutely against the softness of my face.

Pulling back, the pads of his fingers pressed a bit tighter against my cheek and he repeated, ”We are going to get through this. Okay?”

I read his eyes. Searched his mind. Experienced his emotions. And then I nodded.

”Because we are just getting started,” Max continued, his voice lowering, becoming softer as he leaned his forehead against mine. ”This can’t all end before we even had a chance.”

A lonesome tear tumbled down my cheek. It was true. It would be like a repeat of that damn Romeo and Juliet tale. Once they fell in love, everything fell apart, and then they died.

”We’re gonna get through this,” I said, reiterating his words with slightly less determination and a bit more shakiness.

He pulled back and merged our lips together again. His kiss turned deeper and I met his every move, danced every dance, because he was my everything. And I was his.

His hands were everywhere, skimming across my skin wherever it was exposed, floating over my nipples, pressing into my warm cheeks, burrowing into my hair. His lips adored mine, touching, pulling, suckling and his tongue intermittently brushed against mine, sending jolts of strong desire into me.

The heat of his body was very present as he eventually wrapped his stable arms around my naked waist, pressing his underarms up against my thin back, effectively enfolding me in his cocoon.

Still, I needed to get closer. With the old light bulb flickering, causing an eerie atmosphere in the room completely unnoticed by us, I tried to crawl closer, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing my fingers into the muscles of his back while we continued kissing.

A sharp and horribly loud knock made us freeze. Max tensed into stone while his head twisted quickly towards the door.

The light blinked sporadically.

Our breaths were loud and I was made aware of the chill in the air.

”Whatever you’re doing,” Michael’s voice barked from the other side of the door, making thick coldness run through the previous heat of my body, ”Stop it right now! We really don’t want to have a blackout down here because you can’t keep your hands off each other!”

My eyes flickered to the blinking light bulb, heat rising in my cheek, before I looked back at Max and met his eyes.

The light blinked one final time before it became steady and shone without interruptions.

Max looked apologetic, but also amused. And a little bit angry and frustrated. The mixed expression had me smile knowingly at him.

The knock again. Harsh and impatient. ”You hear me?!”

”Yes, Michael,” Max boomed, turning my smile wider as Max simultaneously rolled his eyes. ”Now leave us the fuck alone!”

”If you destroy all the bulbs, I’ll force you to use your energy to light up every room all the time,” Michael threatened, which caused Max to sigh loudly. But probably not loud enough to be heard through the door.

”Fuck off, Michael!”

There was no more words from Michael after that. We could hear his loud footsteps as he walked away while we kept looking at each other.

Max ghosted his fingers across my cheek and placed a soft kiss on my forehead, before he pulled back and looked me deeply in the eyes. ”We have a lot of time to catch up on once we’re through with this.”

My heart warmed and the warmth bloomed in my smile. ”You promise?”

He huffed, ”Hell yes,” and lightly touched my lips with his in a soft kiss, ”I’m locking us up in a house somewhere for at least a month, where we can be alone. We deserve that.”

My smile cooled, turned more contemplative. It was not that the idea of being alone with Max for a month was a downer, rather that it made me realize everything we would have to go through to reach that point. Right now, that wonderful alone time with Max seemed inhumanly far away. Almost impossible. It was so far away that I had trouble imagining it.

”We really do,” I whispered wistfully, trying to ignore where my thoughts were going. ”We really do deserve that.”

He searched my eyes, his thumb slowly brushing over my cheek. I was extremely aware of his body pressing up against mine and of our unclad state. I wanted to remain in his arms forever. Quite literally.

”We will get there,” Max said quietly, but firmly.

I nodded, unable to speak around the lump in my throat.

Only a week to go now. That was the time frame Dresden had given us. The time we had to practice our connection. The time we had to make sure we were prepared enough to avoid getting killed.

But it could also be sooner, according to Dresden. Any day now, the opposition could find us and bring the war here. With that option in mind, I was grateful we had a week.

7 days. 168 hours. 10,080 minutes. 604,800 seconds.

604,799.

604,798.

Max took a step back.

604,797.

His hand left my cheek and he bent down to retrieve our sweaters and my bra off the floor. In silence, he quickly pulled his own sweater over his head before helping me get dressed. With a resigned sigh, he took my hand and lead me towards the door.

604,627.


TBC...

You love me. I knew it. That's why you posted today. Because you love me.

Also - we need to lock Michael in a closet. Theoretically they could have *fixed* the lightbulbs if they broken them. It would have helped them to practice their powers anyways. See? Michael stopped them from practicing their powers. Just which side is he on?

Max and Liz are so good together. They even make a nasty dark bathroom seem romantic!




Helen

I'm trying to push my updates back to Mondays again, so here's an update (already I know ). Plus, I've had the time to add gifs/images to all previous chapters. Finally...


Ashley (Morning Dreamgirl)

You love me. I knew it. That's why you posted today. Because you love me.

Of course I do <3

Also - we need to lock Michael in a closet.

I think you'll be sticking to that opinion after having read the next chapter...

Thank you for the feedback, dearest


Helen (roswelllostcause)

Max and Liz are so good together. They even make a nasty dark bathroom seem romantic!

Hihi... Thank you so much



From ONE ZERO THREE:

Max ghosted his fingers across my cheek and placed a soft kiss on my forehead, before he pulled back and looked me deeply in the eyes. ”We have a lot of time to catch up on once we’re through with this.”

My heart warmed and the warmth bloomed in my smile. ”You promise?”

He huffed, ”Hell yes,” and lightly touched my lips with his in a soft kiss, ”I’m locking us up in a house somewhere for at least a month, where we can be alone. We deserve that.”

My smile cooled, turned more contemplative. It was not that the idea of being alone with Max for a month was a downer, rather that it made me realize everything we would have to go through to reach that point. Right now, that wonderful alone time with Max seemed inhumanly far away. Almost impossible. It was so far away that I had trouble imagining it.

”We really do,” I whispered wistfully, trying to ignore where my thoughts were going. ”We really do deserve that.”

He searched my eyes, his thumb slowly brushing over my cheek. I was extremely aware of his body pressing up against mine and of our unclad state. I wanted to remain in his arms forever. Quite literally.

”We will get there,” Max said quietly, but firmly.

I nodded, unable to speak around the lump in my throat.

Only a week to go now. That was the time frame Dresden had given us. The time we had to practice our connection. The time we had to make sure we were prepared enough to avoid getting killed.

But it could also be sooner, according to Dresden. Any day now, the opposition could find us and bring the war here. With that option in mind, I was grateful we had a week.

7 days. 168 hours. 10,080 minutes. 604,800 seconds.

604,799.

604,798.

Max took a step back.

604,797.

His hand left my cheek and he bent down to retrieve our sweaters and my bra off the floor. In silence, he quickly pulled his own sweater over his head before helping me get dressed. With a resigned sigh, he took my hand and lead me towards the door.

604,627.

ONE ZERO FOUR

During those days that followed, Max and I didn't get much privacy. We snuck off to the bathroom occasionally, just to be able to be alone. To hold each other without observing eyes watching. They tried to be subtle about it, but I knew that they were watching. Probably not to observe our romance, but rather to observe our connection and its progress.

I guess it was only natural (if one could call it that) for the aliens to be watching how we were doing. The success of the connection was in their interest, after all.

But Maria was also watching. So were my father and Diane.

We had become the involuntary celebrities of the group, without any means of escaping our ’fans’.

However, we had quickly realized that having physical closeness was very important to not only stabilize the connection, but also to re-energized it. Which was necessary in order to strengthen it. Max had discussed this ’aspect’ with Dresden, but Dresden had thought the disadvantages of having us in a separate room - alone - greatly outweighed the benefits of us ’re-energizing’, as Max had called it in that discussion.

I’m not sure I would have been able to be intimate with Max to that final degree knowing that not only my best friend but also my father and my boyfriend’s father were close by. Especially with them knowing what Max and I might be up to in our private room.

But we didn’t necessarily have to do the deed, we just needed the physical contact without clothing. To hold each other and melt into the other’s warmth.

So far, it had worked with our shared bathroom visits. We had undressed as much as possible - considering that it was not the cleanest room - and held each other for great lengths of time (before someone came knocking). We would always be standing. Of course. No way I was laying down on that dirty bathroom floor basically naked.

To be honest, holding each other was all I had the energy for those days concerning intimacy.

We trained. A lot. Not just physically (Michael was in charge of that, need I say more?), but also mentally. Max was trying to teach me how to best utilize his abilities through the connection. There was no way he could know how to do this, but he somehow figured it out. I was more than a little impressed with him.

Max was exhausted too. He kept a strict workout regime, plus trying to teach me, and in addition worrying about me when I tired myself out. When the others took breaks, Max and I worked mentally, making up small mental abbreviations so that we could communicate quickly without having to form complete thoughts. He also taught me some alien vocabulary, to lessen my disadvantage were I to end up in enemy hands.

Every evening when I went to bed, I was asleep by the time my head hit the thin cheap pillow. Every morning when Dresden woke us up, it felt as if someone had hit me in the face with a sledgehammer. I was so tired during those first 30 minutes of the morning that the room was spinning and nausea pressed up my throat. It usually calmed itself down the more the day progressed.

If it wasn’t for Max and the free entertainment of watching Michael interact with Maria, I might have just given up. No one should have to prepare for a war - an alien war - in a week.

But that’s all we had.

Dresden got reports every day of people - our people, apparently - being killed. The rebellion had some successes in killing members of the opposition, but it actually sounded as if we were losing. Already. The purists were ruthless and obeyed no rules. In the absence of morality and empathy, they killed rebels - in their minds, traitors - like flies. They were killing their ex-neighbor, their work colleague, their cousin, their friend. It didn’t seem to matter. If they had crossed over to the rebels’ side, they were traitors and deserved no trial or retribution.

In the fight of good versus evil, evil had a tendency to win because of their lack of mercy.

With every passing hour, it was getting more and more glaringly obvious that it might all come down to Max and I. To our bond.

There was no time to waste. Our survival - and possibly the future good of the human race - was dependent upon if I used those five minutes to learn how to light a candle with my mind or to take a break. It was an enormous responsibility to carry.

My father was an incredible rock of support. He was there giving me water and snacks (I have no idea where he got them from), like the supporting family member standing on the sides of the road of a marathon competition.

Diane was wonderful. She supplied hugs when I didn’t even know I needed them. She saw to it that I sat down occasionally and, most importantly, looked after her son when I didn’t have the time to.

Then there was Maria. Maria who had only stuck around to protect me and to make sure I wasn’t being harmed at the hands of those otherworldly individuals. In order to protect not only herself but also me and my father, she had gotten into her head that she was going to get as much training as possible.

Michael actually hadn’t protested against this, which I had thought he would, but instead surprised me by volunteering to be her instructor. Not surprisingly, this had been met with wild protests from Maria. Eventually, it had lead to Alex helping Maria out instead, something that Michael was very unhappy with (and he let us all know this, several times, each day), because - as he constantly pointed out in a not so gentle way - Alex’s fighting skills were on a ’kindergarten level’ and he was not ’man enough to teach a human’.

When Michael finally went too much over the line, Maria and I defended Alex before Alex had a chance to. Maria gave Michael a tongue lashing that had us all pale in mortification while I gave him a jolt of energy, curtesy of the connection.

This didn’t exactly improve Michael’s general mood, but at least he refrained from being condescending towards Alex from that day on.

To be honest, Alex was a really good teacher. I loved him even more for showing Maria the ropes. She didn’t have any powers and wasn’t able to borrow any (like I could), but she still fought with every bone and muscle in her body. She had bruises from head to toe. She was sweating and swearing, screaming and crying. But I could see her getting stronger. Both mentally and physically.

Because she was also laughing and goofing around. She was hugging me and Alex, and joking with my father.

I was really happy that she was there. She represented nostalgic safety to me. She was (except for my father, of course) the one person that had been with me through most of my life. It was amazing to see that she was proving to not only be a great friend that I could have girly moments with, but also someone I could trust with my life.

I guess these kind of life-altering situations in the end revealed people’s true personality. I have to admit that I always assumed Maria to be the one to freak out if put under too much pressure, but I was more than willing to admit that that wasn’t the case. She had been stable, supportive and caring during the aftermath of the death of my mother, in almost limitless proportions. And she was displaying those same qualities now. Even though she was probably really scared.

Who wouldn’t be?

At least I had been around these aliens for a while now and was starting to not only accept them but also trust them. Maria didn’t have that yet. And she was about to go to war with them.

Or not.

Actually, that was just about the only thing Michael and I had ever agreed upon. Maria should not engage in the battle that was ahead. She should be hidden away. But she would be trained nonetheless, because one never knew what would happen.

Maria didn’t approve. With that lioness heart, she was gearing up to hurt anyone that tried to hurt her family: my father, her mother, and me.

Michael and Maria engaged in endless conversations about this. Well, maybe I shouldn’t call it conversations. They were rather loud and frustrated discussions, arguments even.

I tried not to focus too much on the seriousness of what they were actually ’discussing’, instead letting myself be entertained by the verbal battle between them. Maria seemed to have lost every ounce of fear she might have ever felt towards Michael. Instead she reprimanded, scolded, and yelled at him for everything between heaven and earth.

One might think they were an old married couple judging by how their discussions played out.

I couldn’t tell if Michael found it amusing or if he was a nanosecond away from wringing Maria’s neck. But I guess that was part of why it was admittedly amusing to listen to them.

But as fun as it was to let yourself be entertained by Maria and Michael, our days of training were wearing us out. With the end of the week getting closer, I felt increasingly fatigued. Beyond exhausted.

Still, here I was, in one of the larger underground rooms, practicing energy blasts, protective fields and mental diversion techniques.

Max grabbed my arm as I swayed. My surroundings were spinning, my balance was off, my chest hurt with my every strained breath, the tips of my fingers were cold and tingling with impending numbness, and I felt the nausea at the top of my throat.

”Hey,” he called sharply, his fingers tightening around my arm, and I swallowed back the nausea.

”Liz?” His voice softer now, but still loud and clear enough to get through the veil of fatigue around my head.

When I didn’t answer, he pulled me into his body, wrapping his arms around me in a - not too tight - hug. Giving me the chance to breathe while I felt his heart pound harshly against the inside of his ribcage.

I swallowed hard once more to combat the rising nausea and squeezed my eyes closed to lessen the sensation of spinning. It didn’t help much. Pressing my nose and lips into the warm side of his throat, I tried to get my hands to cooperate and return his hug, but all my energy went into trying to remain on my feet. I wasn’t even doing a particularly good job at that, Max’s arms around my upper body basically holding me up.

I heard the acute worry in Maria’s voice along with her quick approaching steps. Steps that screamed fear and concern, which resonated with the tone in her voice, ”What’s wrong with her?”

I could feel Max’s heart constrict with anxiety. I knew the sensation came from him, because I myself felt nothing but overwhelming weariness, imbalance and nausea at the moment.

”She’s tired,” Max replied, but I felt the small tremble of insecure fear in the vibrations of his vocal cords relayed to the skin of his throat.

I was worried too. I wasn’t sure what was happening to me. No one knew, I guess. No one had ever exposed a human being to this kind of (alien) training before.

”She can barely stand,” Maria said accusingly.

I tried to summon my strength to pull away from Max and prove to Maria that I was fine. But I couldn’t move. Rather I slumped further in Max’s arms.

”We still have three hours to go,” Michael announced from somewhere to my side and his announcement made me want to cry with hopelessness.

Three hours?! I couldn’t train for another three hours. I was done. Well done.

”She needs rest, Michael,” Max bit out, in that tone that he usually reserved for Michael. ”She’s out of energy.”

”She can rest when she’s dead,” Michael said and the nausea bubbled further up my throat.

His callous words made me feel sick in more ways than one.

Max’s arms unconsciously tightened around my body and I felt him move us an inch or so to the left. Considering the furious protectiveness that exploded through the connection, I could only assume that he was moving me to protect me from Michael. Michael truly was the only one in our group that Max still reacted defensively towards. Especially when it came to me. As if he still wasn’t sure Michael wouldn’t up and hurt me one day.

”If she doesn’t rest she’ll be dead long before she has a chance to save your ugly ass,” Max spat venomously.

His words echoed in my head and had cold sweat break out on my palms, on the back of my neck, and on my forehead.

Did he really mean that? Would I die if I didn’t rest?

You need to rest, Lizzie, he told me without truly answering my question.

Michael’s snort was partly drowned by Max’s telepathic reply, but it didn’t hide his next words, ”’Save me’? Please. She’s a human.” His tone was more than a little sarcastic. ”She might be a little stronger because of your beautiful connection,” I cringed at the acid in his voice, ”but she’s still weak and vulnerable. You are going to be spending most of the time protecting her instead of helping to win the war, Maxwell. Mark my words. She’s gonna ruin it for us. She already has your mind all twisted. You can’t walk two feet without wondering where she is. And all that disgusting worry about her fucking well-being-”

Max’s body was tense. His breath was still and paused. But an inferno was building in the core of his body. If he hadn’t been supporting my weak body at that moment, his hands would have been around Michael’s neck.

”Shut the fuck up!”

I jumped at the screamed order, mostly because it was a female voice, not Max’s.

I really wanted to turn my head, to open my eyes, and observe what was happening around me. Instead a heard the soft, but sharp, sound of flesh connecting with flesh and then…nothing.

The silence was horrible.

I heard Max’s breath against my ear for the two seconds that seemed to drag on before there was a shuffle of movement and I heard Alex’s voice. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, because he was speaking very quietly. But the melody of his indistinct string of words was soothing and I felt myself relax.

”You better watch yourself, woman,” Michael breathed then.

I had never heard him like that before. His voice was threatening while at the same time surprised. Shocked, even.

Maria slapped Michael, Max told me then, causing my eyes to spring open, disobeying the fatigue.

My fear for what position that might put Maria in was enough to get me to pull me head back from Max’s shoulder and take in the scene next to me with blinking eyes.

Maria was standing about five feet from Michael, her eyes widened with something that could only be described as madness. Her cheeks were red, her mouth hanging open and her chest moving rapidly up and down with her breaths. Her hands were down by the sides of her body, tightened into fists. She looked like she wasn’t finished. She wanted to give Michael a Round Two.

But Alex was behind her, gripping her wrists and holding her back tightly against his front.

I blinked, an impending headache pounding behind my eyes, and turned my head unsteadily towards Michael.

It was almost comical how much like Maria he looked with the harried expression in his eyes, the flush of anger on his cheeks and the rapid breathing being the only movement in his stiff body posture. His hands were clenching and unclenching, over and over again, along the sides of his body.

The air was thick with their anger and I found myself afraid to move, in case it would set them off. Right now, they looked like two Rottweilers, in full combat mode, staring each other down and just waiting for one of them to make a move.

”Maria,” Alex cautioned quietly. ”Let it go.”

I looked at Maria - everyone looked at Maria - and we saw her tense, jerk forward but being stopped by Alex’s hold.

”He’s an ass,” Alex continued. ”He’s always been an ass.”

”You’re pissed off because you know I’m right,” Michael said then, addressing Maria with heated eyes. Lifting his arm, he pointed at me, ”You know that she’s going to die out there. You know that she can’t defend herself, no matter how much practice she gets.”

He threw me a quick look, laughed humorlessly, before looking back at Maria. ”I mean… Reality speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Just look at her. After not even a week of practice, she’s completely fucked. She can’t even stand on her own.”

Forgetting that I was leaning on him, Max took a quick step towards Michael, but quickly stopped when it had me stumbling and almost tripping on my unresponsive feet. I felt the anger vibrate through his whole being when he spat, ”If you were to do what Liz has been doing these last couple of weeks, you wouldn’t feel so good either. Not only are you alien and used to your abilities, but you’ve had years to practice them.”

A frustrated sigh. Max was shaking now, barely containing himself. At that point, I was glad I was leaning on him, because I didn’t want him to end up in a physical confrontations with Michael. Apparently, my temporary weakness was the only thing stopping Max right now.

Amongst all the things Max wanted to say to Michael right now, he reluctantly settled for biting out, ”You’re a fucking asshole, you know that? You should try and pull your head out of your ass long enough to see that your selfish comments are not only hurting people but make you look stupid enough that I seriously doubt your ability to do anything right in the war.”

That did it. Degrading words to his personality seemed to wash over him like nothing, but when Max started to beat down on Michael’s abilities at fighting in the war, something horrid came to life in Michael’s eyes.

He raised his arm so quickly that I barely had time to register his intention before he had carried through with it. As far as I was able to tell in that part of a second, Michael wasn’t aiming at Max and I, rather to the side of us.

But I might have been wrong. It was not like I had a lot of time to analyze it before Max and I in unison projected energy (just like Max had trained me to do) outside of our bodies, producing the protective shimmering see-through shield around us.

The expected blast neither hit us nor the protective field.

In that short second it took for Michael to raise his arm, Alex’s protective instincts (being my protector and all) kicked in and he released Maria in attempt to get to me. Maria was standing closer to Michael than Alex, having continuously been struggling to get out of Alex’s hold since he had started holding her back, and she was still grappling. Hence, when he suddenly let her go, she barreled forward and slammed into Michael’s arm.

I saw her shoulder collide with Michael’s arm, disrupting his aim and the energy he had intended to fire in our proximity (or possibly at us) impacted with the concrete floor, creating a hole the size of a basketball.

”What the-” Michael had time to say before everything seemed to happen at once.

I saw Maria slump and Michael’s arms move to catch her before she hit the floor. Even before Michael had fully caught Maria’s body, Max had left my side and was quickly moving up to the pair. I swayed, taken off balance, and took an unsteady step forward in attempt to remain standing while concurrently initiating a walk towards Maria. At that point, Alex showed up next to me, wrapping an arm around my waist and halting both my walking and my swaying.

My eyes were fixed on Maria, when I protested loudly, ”No,” and tried to get away from Alex.

Something had happened to Maria. She was hurt somehow. Had she hurt herself when running into Michael’s arm? Had some residual energy from the blast been around Michael’s arm and thus hurt her?

Alex was confused and incredibly upset. His feelings were flowing off him, making me want to cry and scream in frustration as he was magnifying my own negative emotions.

My heart was pounding painfully in my chest and my eyes felt strained from staring at the scene in front of me.

Surprisingly, there was no screaming, no fighting. Max and Michael were both focused on Maria. Just like that, their argument had been pushed to the side.

Maria.

I frowned as I looked at her. She seemed okay. Maybe she had just been frightened by the blast and lost her footing…

They had helped her sit down and she was awake. But… I squinted my eyes, and managed to take a step forward even with Alex’s arm around me.

Was it just the lighting or was Maria’s previously yellow shirt not that yellow anymore…?

”No,” I said quietly and felt strength returning to my body. ”No.”

Red was blooming out across her shirt, over her stomach, like some sick coloring effect.

She was bleeding.


TBC...

Oh I so want to kick Michael's ass! He is such an uncaring asshole!





Helen

So nice to have you back!

Loved the two parts... after such a long time (lol) it is good to have two great updates!

But Michael... what's a cretin! He has a surperbe which is getting in every one nerves and he needs to learn to shut-up, sometimes...

Anyway, wondering what is going with Liz?! maybe pregnant...

Thanks EVE

can;t stand micheal right now what is wrong with maria

Helen (roswelllostcause)

Oh I so want to kick Michael's ass! He is such an uncaring asshole!

By general consensus, he's not really anyone's favorite right now

Thank you for the feedback, Helen


Eve (begonia9508)

But Michael... what's a cretin! He has a surperbe which is getting in every one nerves and he needs to learn to shut-up, sometimes...

Um, yes. I totally agree.

Anyway, wondering what is going with Liz?! maybe pregnant...

She might just be exhausted.

Thank you so much for the feedback, Eve


natalie36

can;t stand micheal right now what is wrong with maria

Michael is not our favorite right now, no. You'll find out below what happened to Maria.

Thank you so much for the feedback


From ONE ZERO FOUR:

I saw Maria slump and Michael’s arms move to catch her before she hit the floor. Even before Michael had fully caught Maria’s body, Max had left my side and was quickly moving up to the pair. I swayed, taken off balance, and took an unsteady step forward in attempt to remain standing while concurrently initiating a walk towards Maria. At that point, Alex showed up next to me, wrapping an arm around my waist and halting both my walking and my swaying.

My eyes were fixed on Maria, when I protested loudly, ”No,” and tried to get away from Alex.

Something had happened to Maria. She was hurt somehow. Had she hurt herself when running into Michael’s arm? Had some residual energy from the blast been around Michael’s arm and thus hurt her?

Alex was confused and incredibly upset. His feelings were flowing off him, making me want to cry and scream in frustration as he was magnifying my own negative emotions.

My heart was pounding painfully in my chest and my eyes felt strained from staring at the scene in front of me.

Surprisingly, there was no screaming, no fighting. Max and Michael were both focused on Maria. Just like that, their argument had been pushed to the side.

Maria.

I frowned as I looked at her. She seemed okay. Maybe she had just been frightened by the blast and lost her footing…

They had helped her sit down and she was awake. But… I squinted my eyes, and managed to take a step forward even with Alex’s arm around me.

Was it just the lighting or was Maria’s previously yellow shirt not that yellow anymore…?

”No,” I said quietly and felt strength returning to my body. ”No.”

Red was blooming out across her shirt, over her stomach, like some sick coloring effect.

She was bleeding.

ONE ZERO FIVE

”She’ll be okay,” Alex said. But the delivery of his words was too hasty, too worried. I bet he had seen Maria’s shirt by now as well.

”No,” I repeated, at the lack of another word.

I saw the unshed tears glistening in Maria’s eyes as she turned her gaze to meet mine. She looked regretful and ashamed. But mostly sad. She looked really sad.

I was surprised that she wasn’t screaming in pain.

With the inexplicable return of my strength, I took Alex off guard and pulled out of his hold. Quickly crossing the floor, I slid to my knees in front of Maria and immediately found her hand. Her cold fingers returned my squeeze weakly and she wouldn’t let go of my eyes.

”You’re gonna be okay,” I told her, tears muddling my voice. I told her this even when I had no idea what had just happened and how badly she was hurt. The blast - some part of it at least - must have hit her. There was no other explanation.

Max was on my right, running his hands down Maria’s body. I felt the deep concentration in his mind and I knew he was getting ready to heal her. Michael was facing me with Maria’s semi-reclined seated body propped up in front of him, her back to his chest.

When I was this close to them, I noticed that they weren’t silent at all. Michael was talking quietly in long sequential sentences, alternating between addressing Maria and Max. It was the most I had ever heard him say.

I was surprised to hear his words. His apologies to Maria, over and over again. His soft scolding about her getting in the way and getting hurt. Him telling her that he hadn’t rescued her from those assholes and brought her with him just to have her die here. Apologizing for failing in keeping her safe.

He fired off a sentence or two to Max, the pleads dripping with desperation that Max had to save Maria, that Max had to help her.

It was not just obvious that he felt numbingly guilty about what had happened, but that he might not be able to live with himself were Maria to die at his hand.

My eyes kept moving between Michael and Maria, my mouth slowly dropping open in confusion at how Michael was acting. I had never seen him so vulnerable, so caring, so human. His whole ’macho’-facade had evaporated, leaving only soft caresses of his fingers down Maria’s pale cheeks and occasional fingers threading through her hair.

Something told me that Maria wasn’t listening. Even with my own gaze scanning the members of the group, I felt her eyes on my face the whole time. Maria appeared detached, making me suspect that she might be in shock.

I looked back at her face and watched her eye blinks slow down, making her eyelids appear heavy. Not daring to remove my gaze from her face, I said warningly, ”Max…She’s-”

”I know,” Max told me, his voice confident yet troubled.

He reached down and wrapped his large hand over mine and Maria’s, cradling our hold in his hand. Then he pulled me into the healing process.

I recognized the pulling sensation at the center of my stomach this time, although it was far from as strong and overwhelming as when we had healed Alex. I had the feeling that Max wasn’t involving me so much in the healing this time. Maybe it was because Alex’s injuries had been more extensive and Max had needed more of my energy at that time. Or maybe he was afraid to pull from me when I had been so weak just minutes ago.

Max’s mind was silent. He was focusing on helping Maria and wasn’t engaging in my mental musings.

Instead I gasped as my inner eye caught onto Max’s healing and I was shown the torn skin just above Maria’s bellybutton. It looked like someone had taken a welding tool and quickly run it along her skin, grazing her. But it had been warm enough to cut through all the layers of her skin, the muscle layers and knick her spleen.

That was where all the blood was coming from. I could see it trickling out of her spleen; filling her abdomen and spilling out through the wound to drench through her clothing.

I could feel her pain throbbing around the center of my own body, but it wasn’t as bad as I would expect it to be. This only reiterated what I already feared. That she was in shock.

Or maybe I couldn’t feel it so well because Max wasn’t actually forming a connection with Maria. From what I remembered from what Max’s father had said; superficial healings demanded more technique since you didn’t have the mental connection to the patient.

When Max got to work on Maria, I realized how much he had actually been training these last couple of weeks. Only in the days since we had healed Alex, Max seemed to have perfected his technique. His healing of Maria was quick and precise. It was like watching a perfectly performed dance routine. No hesitation, no delays.

It was difficult to tell how quick it had been, but it felt like 20 seconds tops before Max pulled away.

Max had healed Maria without a connection at a time when he probably should have needed a connection, considering the level of damage.

I looked over at him, feeling a deep sense of awe.

He opened his eyes and looked over at me, giving me a small smile when he felt how proud I was of him, before he looked to his ’patient’. ”Maria? How are you feeling?”

His question had me look at Maria and finding her eyes still on me. Her eyes held more life and were more alert. Also, the almost perplexed paling look across her features from earlier had vanished.


I gave her a smile and squeezed her hand, observing the warmth of life creep back into her cheeks as she with confusion gave me the attempt of a smile before turning to Max.

”Does it hurt anywhere?” Max asked softly when he gained her attention.

Wordlessly, she slowly shook her head.

”Okay,” Max said and gave her a gentle smile while removing his hand from Maria and my hold. Breathing a sigh of relief, he repeated, ”Okay.”

”Is she okay?” Michael asked Max.

Hearing his voice, Maria instantly tensed. His statement brought us all back to reality. About what he had done, what a catastrophe his actions had almost resulted in.

About the fact that he was holding her.

Panic quickly spread in those green eyes and I didn’t need a connection for Max to understand that we should get Maria away from Michael.

Max and I got to our feet simultaneously, while Maria started to push away from Michael.

”Maria, please-” Michael started.

I felt the shiver move through Maria through the grip I still had on her hand, and while Max reached down to help Maria to her feet, Maria turned around and stared at Michael.

I couldn’t see Maria’s face, but I could see Michael.

I had never seen him that pale.

”Don’t ever touch me again. Don’t go anywhere near me.”

”It was an accident,” Michael tried, but the possibilities of what could have happened were starting to hit me too.

What if he hadn’t actually been aiming next to us, but at us? What did that mean? Could we ever trust him again?

Most importantly, did it really matter? Should he be shooting at us (or in our vicinity), even if it was just as a warning, even if it was just because he couldn’t control his temper? Was that the kind of person we should be around?

Which had me coldly pose the question of, ”Was it an accident that you were trying to kill me and Max?”

Michael’s eyes darkened. ”That doesn’t matt-”

Max straightened, guiding Maria towards me, further away from Michael. ”Like hell it doesn’t matter. You aimed at Liz and fired. That’s not an accident.”

I chilled. Maybe I had been wrong. Maybe Michael had actually aimed at us. Or me, as Max was pointing out.

Michael look lost. As if he knew that he was out of his depth. As if he could feel how hated he was right now.

”Fuck,” he breathed, the word falling empty and emotionless from his lips in light of the confusion he was emitting. ”I wasn’t even aiming at her.” His voice grew stronger with every word, slowly going back to the abrasive Michael I recognized. ”Why the fuck are you trying to put this on me, huh? You were the one to tick me off. I just wanted to shut you up. I was aiming for that butt ugly chair over there.” His face turned increasingly harder and he almost rolled his eyes at the last part, condescension delivering his words, ”Consider it part of your training. I was testing your reflexes.”

Max’s anger was steamrolling across my system. He was not only furious about Michael shooting so close to me or that he had done such a reckless thing just to end an argument, but for the sake of what could have happened to Maria. What did happen to her.

”I always thought you were just impulsive and lacked self-control, but you’re fucking dangerous,” Max said darkly.

In the deep sea of all that rage, my analytic and observational capacities got working. Even with the hotness of disappointment, fear, betrayal and wrath prickling beneath my skin, I managed to take an objective step back from the emotions and see the feelings Michael was trying to hide behind his regular facade of nonchalant masculinity.

Once you saw it, it was difficult to not read him as clearly as crystal. The incident with Maria had affected him deeply. He looked shaken up and scared. He looked like a dog that you had not only scolded but also kicked, with his body hunching and his tail between his legs.

I wanted him to drop that wall. For his own sake, it was important that the rest of our group realized that he gave a damn about what had just happened. If it had just been an honest accident, a moment of him losing his temper, he had the right to be offered forgiveness.

But the nonchalant arrogant persona he was putting on right now didn’t even deserve our trust.

So I attempted to hit him where it hurt. ”Instead you hurt someone you care about.”

Just like that, his face fell. He visibly paled. His mouth started moving in incoherent stutters while his eyes landed on Maria. ”I- no- what do you- I- it was an accident- she’s human- she was in the way- no- I-”

”You have feelings for her,” I pointed out, my voice flat, ”and now you almost killed her.”

A tremble went through Maria next to me and she whispered, ”No.”

With bewildered confusion draped across his face, Michael took a step towards Maria. The contrite version I had just seen hinted at in his eyes was creeping forward for the rest of the group to see. His pretenses were dropping, his remorse bleeding out of him.

It was almost painful to watch and for a second I regretted that I had asked the question. But the second after that I remembered what he had done to my best friend - how she might have died had Max not been a healer - and quickly lost sympathy for him.

Michael gave a short nervous laugh and told Maria, ”She’s just fucking with you,” before turning dark eyes on me. ”Right, Elizabeth?”

I shrugged. ”I just call it like I see it.”

He narrowed his eyes at me and redness slowly flushed his face. For the briefest of moments, I wondered if he was going to blast me- well, something again.

But he visibly reigned his temper in and refocused on Maria. Who looked scared on a whole new level.

Holding his hand out to her, as if he wanted to touch her but not really daring to (instead having it float in the air between them without touching her) he said quietly, ”You were not supposed to be here. I don’t know why you’re in these practices anyway. I got you here to protect you. You’re just human. You shouldn’t have to be involved. You are not going into battle anyway.”

This broke through Maria’s lithification and she said quietly, ”That’s not for you to decide. I’m gonna participate.”

Real anger flashed across his face, making his eyes turn black. ”The hell you are, woman!”

Maria responded by crossing her arms tightly across her chest, perfectly imitating Michael’s expression of anger. ”Why not? Why shouldn't I be allowed to fight for my race, to help Liz out?”

Michael almost looked offended and spitted incredulously, ”Because you’re gonna end up dead, that’s why!”

Maria flew her arms out and took two quick steps towards Michael so that her nose was just an inch from Michael. Raising to her toes, she stared him dead in the eyes and practically screamed him straight in the face. ”What does it matter, huh? What does it matter if an alien I doesn’t know kills me when an alien I do know can just as happily kill me?” She stabbed her finger into his chest, emphasizing the movement with a sharp, ”Huh?”

Michael took a hold of her upper arms and shook her once, while grinding the words out through clenched teeth, ”I. Was. Not. Happily. Trying. To. Kill. You.”

”Don’t,” she whispered in a tone threateningly enough to scare off the largest Grizzly bear.

I usually let Maria fight her own battles. There was no reason why not. She had always been able to handle herself. She had always stood up for herself and not let herself get run over.

But this was no regular argument. I wasn’t sure where Maria stood with Michael any longer. He had just fatally injured her.

So I butted in.

Max had taught me all about air bumps. Compared to energy blasts that destroyed and burnt, air bumps were the collections of air in front of your hand and then pushed in a direction of your choice. Basically, you were playing Mother Nature, creating short powerful bursts of wind.

Which is what I decided to do now. We were practicing after all. Or had been, until Michael had turned it all into a matter of life and death.

Raising my hand, I took aim at Michael. He was so focused on Maria’s face that he never noticed what I was doing until it was too late.

The surge of collected wind hit him in the side, effectively knocking him off his feet. He landed on his side on the hard floor with a heavy thump, about five feet from where he had just been standing.

Maria’s wide, surprised eyes flew to me and a small tentative smile of approval grazed her lips, before she looked over at Michael.

Max had crossed his arms across his chest, looking rather pleased with my action, a crooked smug smile playing in the left corner of his mouth. ”You still think Liz is weak?” Max questioned, unable to keep the pride out of his voice.

I was expecting Michael to retaliate. Hell, I had even started to assimilate energy to build up the protective force field. But Michael surprised me by just slowly getting up in seated position before he raised to his knees and slowly got into standing position from there. All the while keeping his head low, in something akin to defeat and embarrassment, with his gaze to the floor. Even his act of brushing the dust off his jeans looked desolated and rejected.

I was taken aback by the guilt that hit me. Maybe I shouldn’t have resorted to violence. I could have just asked him to leave Maria alone. In a way, it didn’t make me any better than Michael.

It’s not the same thing by far, Max told me in my head. I met his eyes and read the consolation in them. He deserved that. He has to learn that he can’t always get his way. That he can’t treat you, Maria or any other human however he deems appropriate.

I looked back at Michael and how he slowly walked across the room. I saw Maria’s hesitant stance out of the corner of my eye. She was as perplexed by Michael’s behavior as I was.

Stopping just inside the door, Michael turned around, one hand on the door knob. His eyes went straight to Maria and his voice was the most honest and clear I had ever heard it. ”I’m really sorry for what I did to you, Maria. I never meant to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.”

While my mouth fell open in astonishment, Michael turned to me and without blinking or looking away held my surprised eyes and said, ”And I’m sorry if I frightened you, Liz. I didn’t aim for you. Your boyfriend just has a way of pissing me off.”

The silence that followed his sincere apologies were deafening. Even Max was stunned by Michael’s actions. Our eyes were equally wide as Michael turned around, opened the door, and disappeared through it.

I turned my head to look at Max and Alex spoke behind me, ”What the hell just happened?”


TBC...

Glad that Maria is ok thanks to Max and Liz. But Michael needs to get it through his thick head that he can't just do whatever the hell he wants and not have to pay for it!



Helen