TITLE: Faked

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything you recognise… if I did I'd be busy with Jensen right now!

SUMMERY: (After Destiny) When Amy Deluca gets offered a job in Seattle, Maria jumps at the opportunity to have an alien free life. But when the aliens are replaced with transgenic how will the 'flaky' Maria cope with the truth about her father?

AUTHORS NOTE: I apologise to anyone that was in any way anticipating this. I write and then I get new idea's and have to change my story to fit them. I've decided to stick with what I had and give it to you. I spaced each line of speech to make it less of a chore to read. Please R&R since this is the first chapter you're reviews will help me decide whether to continue.

CHAPTER 1 - Fortune does not change men, it unmasks them.

Maria watched the road pass under the hood of her mothers rented van (that was barley filled with all their possessions) as they drove out of Roswell on North Main Street, otherwise known as US-285. Her sense of unease and despair easing with every few miles that separated her from Roswell. She couldn't understand why her mother wanted to drive to Seattle. It was almost one thousand seven hundred miles of monotonous road with a stopover at some cruddy motel half way there.

What lay ahead wasn't too much better either. Seattle (as with most of America) was nothing more than a shell of a city. It looked like one but when you got to the streets where that heart and soul should be… it was almost dead. Just barley getting by. Her mother had been given a job, well paid, with a house, a car (some sort of reinforced jeep) and was expected there soon. Maria had a new school, new faces and the search for a new job. The only plus she could think of was the absence of aliens. Yeah, she could think that, since there was no one there to stop her.

No surly Max, no creepy Tess, no goddess like demanding Isabel and no whiskey eyed Jack off Michael. It seemed ironic that it would be Isabel of all people (the girl who made her feel underdressed when she was in her best clothes and 'Izzy' in shorts) that Michael should be destined to be with. She couldn't cope. So Liz ran away to Florida and Maria was alone. Everyone thinking that since Michael and she weren't dating that it was O.K. but it wasn't. She loved him and destiny had done a little dance then stomped on her heart.

So nothing could have comforted her more than her mother coming to her rescue. Amy, her hippy mother dropped everything to be with her daughter, to comfort her. Now, they were moving away to a place where her mother would work nine to five and be a mother to Maria. For the first time in months she felt safe.


Maria thought about the two day journey as she put away her clothes her new bedrooms build in wardrobe. She had settled completely by the time they reached Oregon. Her mother had then asked her to sing and from there on the drive had been like a party, some time for her and her mother to bond. The room had already been painted the shade of green that leaves are when the sun shines through them and the rest of the room was full of little knick knacks that belong to her, giving the room made of glass and steal a heartbeat and warmth that the designers had probably never imagined it to have. Although they didn't expect a hippy peace activist and her essential oils sniffing daughter from Roswell to be living there either she'd expect. Maria shut her curtains and turned on a couple of lamps immediately making the room feel like home.

"Well need to do something about the newly painted house smell" her mother said from the door, " I was thinking some honeysuckle and Indian poppy for the main rooms and lavender for our bedrooms. Oh and this is for you. It was on my desk in the study".

Maria opened the envelope her mother handed her and found a typed letter and a credit card inside.

'Maria DeLuca,

I apologise for uprooting you from you're life in Roswell but your mother is essential for the public relations department of my company. Hopefully the small amount of money on this credit card will make up for the change in your life and for the time it may take you to find a new job in this city.

D Lydecker'

"D Lydeker, who's he"? Maria handed her mother the letter.

"My new boss, I haven't met the man and I might never. His secretary says he travels a lot. Though, to put us up in this apartment, with a car, a great job etc., etc. He must be some guy. I'd like to meet him", Amy said with a wink.

"Eww, eww , eww and super eww. I wonder how much is on it"?

Amy smiled at her daughter having not seen her this peaceful in almost a year.


Almost a week after she had moved to Seattle Maria had a job interview and was getting tour around her new school.

"I believe your mothers employer is to be your benefactor".

"Yeah, he seems to be feeling guilty for moving us a couple of thousand miles".

"I see".

Maria looked at the man. Since the economic downfall the class divisions had become greater, people in small towns like Roswell weren't effected much but in the cities there were few who had gained and many who had lost. This man had obviously gained a lot from it and had a major superiority complex.

"Do you have a choir where I can sing. I get good grades, nothing spectacular but music is my forte"?

"I wouldn't have expected you to do fantastically in such a small town with such limited resources but yes we do have a choir. I hope you'll become one of our better students".

Maria watched as he walked off feeling offended. Roswell wasn't very small, since it had less of a class divide people were happier to work there than in the city and that man had no manners. It was plain to see he didn't like her but she had been accepted and now all she had to worry about was the uniform, plus plaid skirt.


"Did you accept her"?

"You haven't given me any choice in the matter Mr Lydecker".

"Dr Lydecker, you better make sure she stays her too. All that girl needs it the right training and she'll be perfect".

"Training? She's sixteen". Professor Montrose flinched as the barrel of a gin was pressed further into his neck.

"Don't be smart Professor, you wont live long that way. I know fine well how old my daughter is".

Brian DeLuca had been a cover but it had given Donald an ample opportunity. He could use his money as a front to have Amy and Maria close. He'd be the father Maria never had as long as they never had to meet.


Two hours later Maria was standing looking up at a bicycle sign.

"You going in or are you going to stare at the sign all day"? Maria looked at the scruffy man.

"I have a job interview… I'm just considering.."

"I'm Sketchy" he interrupted, "go in. I'm sure Normal will hire you as soon as look at you… you don't look like the illegal activates kind".

"Try me" Maria muttered thinking back to Roswell earning a quizzical look from Sketchy.

"Come on I'll show you to him".

"Don't come littering up my desk with your pubescent twaddle. If you want to talk about dates do it in your own time, not mine, bip bip bip".

"My ex is an alien…", Maria said to Normal's rant before she realised that she had even opened her mouth.

"Wha.., really".

"Shut up Calvin and get to work. Who are you".

"Maria DeLuca"

"Ah café girl, do you own a bike".

"Yeah".

"Can you ride it".

"Yeah".

"Your hired, go find a locker". Maria scowled at the man but walked over to the lockers anyway. She quickly spotted Sketchy talking with two women and some serious man candy.

"I am so obviously spending to much time with Amy".

"Who's Amy"? Asked Man Candy.

"Yeah is she single", asked Sketchy.

"She's my mum and she is single… a little old for you".

"If she looks anything like you, I don't care. Everyone this is Maria. Everyone say hi". One of the woman said hi and held out her hand the other just looked at her.

"Do I know you"? As Maria studied her she was positive she had met the slightly older woman.

"Nah. This is Max, she just has one of those faces. This is OC, she's a lesbian and I am Alec". He held a hand to his chest, a move any body language expert would say added heart to the statement but Maria saw the wariness in his eyes.

"My boo is right, you are a smart Alec. There's no need to tell everyone in gay like it some big secret", OC said as she smacked him over the head, then walked off to Norman who was shooting her death glares and waving a cardboard tube.

"Ahm. Well I guess I better pick a locker before I start tomorrow. Which is free"? Max pointed to one which unlike the others had no spray paint or stickers, it was just bland. Maria pulled a pen from her bag and drew an almost good alien on the plain metal surface.

"To remind me of my old job".

"With your alien boyfriend".

"If you get any more excited you'll burst that vein in your head", Maria hit him with the end of the pen, "he wasn't an alien, though he might as well have been". Sketchy gave her a puppy look then picked up the parcel Normal was waving in his face.

"I hope your not developing a thing for Sketchy, I hear he doesn't wash". Man Candy aka Alec laughed at Max.

"No. Absolutely not. After my ex…" Maria was suddenly caught in the memory of Michaels eyes, intense and powerful so close to hers just before they kissed, "Jesus, I'd be better of never dating again". She said as she shook her head to clear the though.

"Many men here will think that's one serious loss", replied Max.. The two shared a smile that told Maria that given time (maybe a lot of time) they could be great friends.