Title: I've Heard That Before
Author: Roxane
Feedback: Greatly appreciated at CraftWife@aol.com
Rating: G
Category: M/M...post-Destiny
Spoilers: It helps to know what has happened up through Destiny
Disclaimer: Roswell and it's characters are wholly NOT owned by me. WB, Jason Katims, those guys have all the power and the glory. I'm just having fun.
Summary: What happens with Michael and Maria directly after Destiny. In fact it takes up right where the finale left off. A sequel may happen if I get some good feedback. (How's that for a big old hint? g)
"What happens now, Max?"
Max watched as Liz walked and then ran out away from them. Only when she disappeared completely from view behind the brush and he was sure he would get no further glimpse of her did he swallow hard and turn to look at the other three. Firm resolve shown in his eyes as he answered Tess's question.
"We learn."
Michael's body shook with effort as he faced Tess, one hand raised toward her, palm out. Tess, standing about twenty feet away, also had one hand raised, but there were no visible signs of strain on her face. The air swirled around and between them, making bits of debris and dust fly about. Michael clenched his teeth and pressed his trembling hand further toward Tess. One corner of Tess's mouth curled up as she lightly flicked her hand once. With a loud grunt, Michael flew backward through the air, landing on his back ten feet from where he had been standing.
"Michael!" Isabel rushed over to kneel beside him. "Are you all right?"
Michael just gasped for breath and waved her away. Isabel sprang to her feet and rounded on Tess. "What the hell do you think you were doing?"
"I'm trying to teach him, Isabel."
"You could have killed him!"
Tess stepped closer. "If I were trying to kill him, he'd be dead. What I did was minor compared to what the others will be able to do. If he can't learn to control his powers, then he's useless to us."
"You..." Isabel surged forward, her face livid with anger.
Max stepped between the two girls and pierced Tess with a look. "No one is useless here." He turned to face Isabel. "We're all tired and on edge, Isabel, but we can't afford to turn on each other now, okay?"
With one last angry look at Tess, Isabel took a deep breath, nodded, and stepped aside. Max walked over to Michael, reached down with one hand and helped him to his feet.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Maxwell." His face tight and grim-lipped, Michael dusted off his pants, limped a few paces away, and turned to face Tess again. "Let's go."
"No." Max stepped between them.
Michael heaved a sigh. "Max, she's right. I need to practice."
"Michael, you're exhausted. We all are. We'll go home, get some rest, and learn more another day." Max stepped closer. "Isabel and I need to go home, Michael. We'll come back tomorrow. Okay?"
Michael looked from Max to Isabel's worried face and nodded. "Okay. Tomorrow."
Michael began pulling the T-shirt over his head as soon as he walked into his apartment, heading for the bathroom and tossing the shirt into a hamper as he went. He reached into the shower and turned the water on, allowing it to run hot as he removed the rest of his clothes. Once stripped, he stepped into the shower and, bracing his hands against the wall, closed his eyes and let the water stream down over his head.
And finally let himself think.
He thought about what he had learned in the cave today, about himself, about his duty, about where he came from. His entire life, these had been the questions he so desperately wanted answers to. Funny, if he'd learned all of this a year ago, he would have been ecstatic, knowing he had a home and a purpose, but everything was different now. Now, he wasn't sure about anything.
He thought about Agent Pierce. Though part of him could understand that what he had done was necessary, that in all truth he had probably saved the Sheriff from having to eliminate the FBI alien hunter himself, the other part was still horrified at the ease with which he had done it. With one quick movement of his hand, with anger and hatred in his heart, he had become a killer. And now, no matter what else he learned about himself, that fact would always be there.
And he thought about Maria. It continued to amaze him that he, who had always prided himself on not needing or caring about anyone, had come to care for a human, of all things. He had always maintained his separateness, never getting close, never opening up, not even really with Max and Isabel...yet everything had changed once he met this one annoying, mouthy girl. She had wormed her way through his defenses, and against his will he had been feeling that scariest of all human emotions...love.
Love.
What the hell did he know about love? No one but Max and Isabel had ever given the slightest damn about him, and with them it was just part of who they were. With Maria, it was different. She saw inside him, knew his flaws, yet she continued to care. He knew without a doubt that she cared. He had seen it and felt it when he kissed her, when she had revealed so much more than red Kermit sneakers. Excitement, tenderness, frustration, confusion, love...she was a mass of churning emotions when she was with him.
He also knew how hurt and guilty she felt that somehow she was the greatest "mistake" that her mother had ever made. He had felt her hurt as her father had kissed the top of her head and said, "I love you, Maria, but I have to do this" the day he left. He saw the fear she had that somehow she was to blame for her father's leaving, a fear that grew into a certainty that no one would ever - or could ever - truly love her.
And, exactly as he had feared, just being who he was had hurt her, because, like her father, he had walked away.
Maria, determination in every stride, marched right up to the door of Michael's apartment and raised her hand to knock. Just before her knuckles made contact with the wood, she winced and jerked her hand back. She turned and began pacing in front of the door, muttering angrily to herself.
"What am I doing? The guy has a "destiny." Who am I to stand in the way of that?" She stopped pacing and cocked her head to the side. "I'm the one he said he loved, that's who I am!"
With renewed determination, she whirled around to knock on the door, only to be brought up short on seeing that it was open. And that Michael was leaning cross-armed against the doorjamb watching her talk to herself.
"Michael. Hi." For one flustered moment, she fumbled for words in the face of his stony silence, then with a deep breath she got right to the point. "We need to talk."
He quirked an eyebrow at her. "You seemed to be doing fine all by yourself."
Maria rolled her eyes. "Would you let me in, please?"
Michael looked at a spot somewhere over her shoulder and said, "We have nothing to talk about."
"Oh, really? Well, that's where you're wrong, buddy. Now, if you don't let me in, I'm going to start screaming "alien" at the top of my lungs and we'll just see who comes running, okay?" Maria spread her hands in the air and challenged him with a look, and one foot started an impatient tap-tap.
"Maria..." Her name was little more than a warning growl from Michael's throat.
She gave him a last chance look, inhaled sharply and opened her mouth to scream. Her mouth shut with an audible snap as Michael grabbed one arm and yanked her into his apartment, slamming the door behind them. Maria tugged on the bottom of her shirt and eyes him warily as he stalked over to the couch and flopped into it. He rubbed his eyes and ruffled both hands through his hair before subjecting her to a harsh stare.
"Now what?" he demanded.
"Now...we talk." She approached the couch and sat gingerly next to him. "Michael..." She leaned forward and put one hand on his thigh, then jerked back as he suddenly lurched to his feet. "Michael?"
"I can't do this right now, Maria. I just can't do this."
"Do what, Michael? Talk to me? Look at me?" Maria stood and followed him as he walked to the kitchen area and leaned against the bar.
"This, Maria!" He exploded. "All of this! I told you I couldn't get involved, I couldn't get intense, and now it's even more important. I have a home now, a duty, and that's what I have to concentrate on."
"You said you loved me, Michael."
His eyes met hers, and for one brief moment, he let her see all that he felt, the anguish, the confusion...and so much love. More love than she could ever have imagined another person could ever feel for her. Then, in the blink of an eye, his face hardened and he looked away.
"It doesn't matter, Maria."
"It doesn't MATTER? How can you say that?"
"Because it doesn't, because it can't, Maria. Don't you understand? I was brought here for a reason, and there's no place for you in that reason."
"So, what, you and Isabel are going to ignore your feelings and make like a couple?" She dismissed the surprise in his eyes with a shrug and a flip of one hand. "Liz told me everything, Michael. So, what? Some woman - a woman in a recording that you know is at least fifty years old - tells you you belong with Isabel and you're just going to go meekly along? You accept that, no questions asked? How can you do that, Michael?"
"I don't know what I'm going to do, or where this will lead, but I have to find out, Maria. This is what I've been looking for my entire life."
"So, yesterday you walked away from me because you loved me too much, and today it's that you don't love me enough to fight for me?" Maria pursed her lips to keep them from trembling, trying harder than she ever had before to maintain her air of bravado. "Well, they say love is fleeting, but I had no idea HOW fleeting. Thanks for the enlightenment, Michael. And do have a nice life."
With that, she turned and tried her best to saunter to the door. She reached for the doorknob and silently cursed as her hand fumbled for a moment. She finally got it to turn and pulled the door open. Just as she was stepping through, Michael called her name. She paused and blinked furiously, but the tears filling her eyes refused to go away, so she waited without turning for him to speak. The words came to her, low and strained.
"I do love you, Maria, but I have to do this."
Maria laughed, a soft, bitter expulsion of air, and said in a shaking voice, "You know what, Michael? I've heard that before."
Michael closed his eyes and bowed his head as she stepped into the hall, closing the door gently behind her.
The End