Disclaimer-of course I own nothing, if I did things would have happened differently.
A/N: A slight AU, still aliens, a few things from the series did happen. I don't refer to much in the series timeline-at least I haven't yet. I know my summary is so generic but I haven't finished the story so I sort of don't know what to write. Plus I don't want to reveal anything. I know I'm writing another story but when I hit bumps with that story I vent into more writing...this is a result from getting stuck occasionally. It's dark compared to what I normally write but it's not as dark as dark things I read so just be warned. You could get a bit jilted with the dialogue since I have so much text between what one person says and the next but I can't really help that.
Chapter 1- getting picked up
Flipping her earnings through her fingertips, she giggled to herself gleefully, she wasn't usually so gaga over money but never before had she been paid straight up in full cash value. ~Well done, very well done~ she thought to herself. She, Maria Deluca, smiled to herself, was her luck beginning to change? She stood and glanced at herself in the mirror, her black sequence leotard had managed to stay on, it was strapless. She always refused to wear one up until now-it just didn't seem like it was possible for it to stay on. But, thanks to body tape, and her own sweat from her performance it actually managed to become somewhat glued to her skin. Taking it off was going to be the more interesting part.
Her performance.
She laughed to herself as she began to change, she knew she always talked about performing but she thought it would never happen. She even went and got a degree at one of those 2.5 year institutions in communications-but she wasn't even using it. Her big break had come as a total surprise to her. She was traveling back home from graduation, not of high school of course, on a plane and happened to sit next to a music video producer, she had no idea. He had been given a song and had been creatively blocked, of course she had far too many ideas to offer after hearing the music since it was her type of music. Something with a plethora of instruments including a harmonica which was absolutely rare in mainstream music, a jazzy type voice with a beat that was on the border of pop and blues. She couldn't resist or stop her ideas even if she wanted. The guy had said he was doing it for fun-of course he lied, but he probably didn't want to get treated differently simply because he made music videos.
At the time nothing happened, it wasn't until weeks later the world premier video came out-she didn't watch, she stopped watching music videos on TV a long time ago, but he'd given her credit. The video was a hit and by association she was one as well. Of course now she did watch music videos in the wee hours of the morning if she was up. Her slight fame only lasted the blink of an eye publicly but she was still reaping the benefits with royalties and it wasn't long before her singing was brought up, of course nobody was looking for her type of music but by the time the bad news hit she had a big enough fan base to live off of. She let herself be hired for all sorts of events. Regularly she performed in a club outside of Roswell although she had a bit of an advantage, it was owned by Sean. The club was barely legal but so long as Sean could keep his audience under control things wouldn't turn bad. Although fights did break out they were usually for fun-why guys can fight for fun she would never really understand. She was doing well by anyone's standards.
She even still saw all her old friends regularly, but she chose her times well. Looking up at an old group photo she had to smile to herself. This was during prom, during the after party to be exact, all of them lined in a row with their respective partners.
Max and Liz were in the middle, they were now married with kids, Liz worked in medical research and Max was in astrophysics, duh right? Isabel and Alex were on one side, now they were married as well, Isabel spoke multiple languages and was a translator for hire. Lucky for her she had all the hard languages down and was usually in high demand. Whether it was translating on a live broadcast, for the courts, or written documents one job of hers would pay seven grand at least. It was truly unfair since her alien ability made it easy but power to the woman. Alex of course worked with computers and new age software-together the could totally retire at 50 and still live comfortably till they were 100. Kyle and Tess, on the other side, were not married but had been engaged for two years, what they were waiting for no one really knew, though everyone thought they did. Kyle worked with sports therapy and aided Amy Valenti-yes it happened- with her herbal business. Kyle was a hippie jock. Tess was a professor in the maths and sciences. Oddly Tess and Maria became close, maybe it was because Kyle was her step brother and it meant they spent more time together than the others or because when Maria was with them she never felt like the third wheel. Although she did feel like she kept them from being intimate just by being there but at least they didn't attack each other in front of her like everyone else. They were family.
Then off to the side was her and Michael...she didn't know if she forced herself to see it but over the years she began to think they made an out of place couple, other than a few biased opinions of her own, the picture was her only proof. Maybe it was the picture alone that made the though pop into her head and her opinions were her way of making the thought more substantial, since Max and Liz were obviously in the middle a couple on each side was perfect symmetry but then there was her and Michael off to the side knocking the symmetrical balance off. Obviously things didn't go as smoothly as it did with the others, it almost never did though.
Maria never could bring herself to leave Roswell for too long, she always came back and really she only ever spent a few days here and there-nothing major except for when she got her degree. The institute was close enough for her to drive daily but not if she wanted sleep so sometimes she'd spend a week but that's it. The reason was, Michael of course. The 'what if' between them over the years always was too alluring to ignore. Michael...who knows his deal. When the others had decided to go against destiny, they also decided they didn't care about their other home, their other lives, and their other families. Even Michael had agreed, that joy was short lived. He couldn't resist his own curiosity. He wanted to know which was better, he wanted the adventure, and he totally embraced his alien side, unlike the others.
Well Tess always embraced her alien side; it was her human side she had to learn to embrace. But Michael never embraced his human side fully, he felt like his alien side saved him from hardships, especially with Hank, and who could argue with that? He was always looking for answers and would be gone for months at a time and when he did come back no one ever knew when he was leaving until he was gone. The guy didn't have any manners. He found plenty of answers but apparently he didn't like any of them. Approximately 4 years ago when he was last seen he did manage to say goodbye to Maria, she happily drove him to the train station excited just to be able to send him off properly. She had imagined he was going to war or something and sent him off with pictures to remember them all, her contact information, some money, and a packed lunch. She felt like he knew he was never coming back because he did say goodbye and it hurt even now to think she didn't see it them.
When he was around though, they fought as if no time ever passed and loved very much the same way. If he ever returned now, she didn't think it was possible to fall back into such a routine, soo many things were different. She was 29, lonely, tired of waiting, tired of the games, tired of being tired.
"You look tired?" it was Sean, her cousin and boss who never really cleaned up his act entirely. He was better now, more mature, more mellow but he was a rebel. ~It must be blood~ she often thought. He was much smarted at breaking the law these days; forged certificates that were entirely plausible, he had enough people that owed him that he literally always had an alibi if he ever needed plus the respect of every shady person for probably hundreds of miles. He must have seen her perform, it was his place but he didn't always get to see her performances live, he taped them though and sometimes he'd watch her perform when she wasn't performing at his club.
Maria smiled," I am tired, but happily so-do you see how much they paid me?" she boasted showing him the stack of money she was counting. It was probably nothing to him, he was pretty rich but Maria kept herself on a tight budget, she was saving for when she actually had a family since everyone seemed to struggle at that part of life.
Liz freaked when she found out she was pregnant, their house was too small and she was interning. She was unsure if she'd finish on time or be able to get back in if she had to fall out of the program. With her school loans, and school in general along with Max's she swore they were never going to afford a baby let alone twins. Isabel had a fit about her wedding; it was over the top and more. Took place overseas in a rented castle, a real one, fully furnished and everything. She didn't hold back for anything, even the dining table sheets were hundreds of dollars and the twins had managed to dirty it immediately but lucky the aliens removed stains. A mini orchestra, expensive and exotic cuisine, catering, a world famous photographer and a dance that everyone had to learn. It almost wasn't fun.
Seeing Michael take dance lessons had been priceless, and picking on Isabel was almost as good. She was so stiff because she'd invited dukes and senators she'd worked with before and simply had to make a good impression. Poor Alex, the guy just put forth money. Of course even if they were broke having five friends who were doing damn well for themselves, wealthy parents and in-laws made a great difference. Maria would never want that though, Kyle was the one who put her through school and she wasn't even using her degree-she felt so badly sometimes.
Sean took the money from her and arranged it, small bills on the outside large on the inside. It was his only quirk, he hated when money was out of order. Maria watched him playfully as he spoke to her, she didn't understand how he could multitask with money so well but he did it. "You earned it, what did you do-like 12 songs, a few dance numbers and how many costume changes?" he wiped his brow pretending to be tired himself. He folded the money up and handed it back to her.
"Yes but it was my own costumes, they gave me the freedom to do what I wanted. I feel as if I performed for someone important rather than someone turning 16." she put the money in her bag.
"Don't complain," he smiled at her," I really need to get you a money clip or something."
She knew he hated how she handled her money physically, always crumpled up in a pocket or even her bra, and in turn she was almost always dropping some of it. Her wallet was only for her ID's, licenses, and pictures so she didn't even bother trying to stuff money in it.
"A money clip?" she laughed," I'd make me feel like a pimp, or like I'm supposed to go to a strip club."
"You watch too many movies," he shook his head. "I'll bedazzle it for you then, need a ride?"
Maria shook her head," Nope I'm getting picked up."
Sean frowned, the mood was suddenly different, he opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. "I'm here for you." he said after a long pause. Maria looked at him unsure of how to respond, apparently neither did he because je smiled and walked away.
Maria sighed; he was getting suspicious and worried. She knew it would come but it was never easy. Her relationship with her cousin just became solid in the last two and a half years. He didn't speak up as the others would for fear he'd lose her altogether. He wouldn't lose her, but she would sure threaten otherwise, plus she was a main attraction at his club. Pissing her off wasn't a great idea. Looking in the mirror again she nodded in approval, she was wearing a form fitting black t-shirt and loose grey sweats with black flats. Her long blonde hair was pulled into a low ponytail, a braid hanging down her back. There was a cut on her face, it was probably what made Sean suspicious this time. During her performances she wore props on her body to strategically hide the mark whenever makeup would not cover something and Sean had only recently caught on. She remembered the night all too well it was about a year and a half ago.
/Flashback/
She was rushing, as fast as she could. she could hear Sean outside snapping at the security outside her door.
"Maria!" he yelled," You've been running behind on every performance tonight which puts everybody else behind as well-dude I'm your boss let me in!" he snapped.
When Sean was mad he was really mad, he wasn't violent but he talked a lot. Looking in the mirror she scrambled through her makeup drawer to find a makeup that matched her outfit or better yet a prop since all she had to do was stick it on but no luck. She cursed, if she could just get a grip and calm down long enough she could make it through the rest of the day smoothly.
"I said I'm your boss!" he snapped.
She thanked god for her guard that night, it was a butch woman and she didn't care who was who, she didn't let a man into a woman's dressing room without permission.
"I don't care that you're a woman..." he began and Maria felt her body turn cold, he was pissed to the point that he wasn't thinking straight. If he threatened it then he would do it, if he hit her then all hell would break loose. She wasn't the usual security and didn't understand how things were done, she'd surely press charges.
"Damnit!" Maria slammed her hands on her vanity and stood. She knew Sean wouldn't joke about a thing like that. "Come in!"
Not a second later Sean busted in, his grey suit not nearly as fresh as when the night started. His jacket was missing; his shirt was wet from his sweat-he sweated profusely when he was nervous.
"Maria what the hell!" he stomped up to her and then his face fell for a moment upon staring at her reflection in the mirror. She has stopped trying to put on her makeup, he would surely see now. Her face, was swollen at her eye, it was beginning to bruise meaning it was a fresh wound. His face filled with anger again. "Did he HIT you!"
She knew Sean didn't even know who he meant by he, but he knew it was a guy and the list of suspects wasn't terribly long. "Like he would," she lied and she had a feeling Sean knew it. "I've been taking extra time to cover it but with this costume the colors are to light to hide it. I cannot find my body props anywhere!"
Sean glared at her for a long moment then his phone went off. It was his workphone and it could only mean it was another complaint from someone who went on after her. He jumped and began to wave his hands.
"Not that outfit then, the props to it are broken, wear the other pink outfit, the darker pink one so the makeup will blend." he hurried to say.
"At the cleaners, the signature of the song is a pink outfit, we only had two!" she was yelling at him, it wasn't really at him but the high stress situation made them both yell even the simplest of comments.
He groaned," I can't change the song, it's already been posted!"
Suddenly a woman walked in," Sean?" she called out. Sean turned to see his then girlfriend Sandy. "They said I'd find you here," she said relieved when she spotted him. Noticing the situation she frowned," S-sorry."
Turning to leave Sean stopped her," Wait!" Sandy turned back around avoiding Maria's eyes. Maria was ashamed but she was glaring in anger at the woman's intrusion. "Take off your outfit."
Sandy looked up surprised and Maria finally followed Sean's train of thought. Sandy wore hot pink motorcycle gear, she was a part of a motorcycle gang, not a bad gang they just called themselves a gang- a group of ladies who liked riding.
Sandy shrugged seeing Sean's obvious discomfort at his situation and the clothes came off. As she was undressing Maria was re-doing her makeup to compliment the outfit. Sandy was smaller than Maria but it worked out for the better since Maria was practically busting out the seams. It would certainly be a crowd pleasing piece. As she stepped into the motorcycle gear Sean noticed other marks on Maria's body, none too bad but there were far too many-hell one was too many.
"M," he called her the only nickname he ever called her, it was a term of affection. His tone was warning and pleading at the same time, he wanted answers.
Maria felt guilty, she would never be able to tell him what he needed to hear, and he would worry way more than he ever actually had to worry. "I'm out!" she hurried out the room giving a thank you nod to Sandy.
Lucky for her the crowd loved her edgier look, and with a bit of a public apology to the people after her Sean was off the hook. Returning to her dressing room at the end of her work day she saw Sean waiting.
"Who is he?" was all he asked.
Maria stared at him, he held back her glare knowing he was simply worried and she was being unreasonable and selfish even. "Sean..." she began and she had expected him to interrupt her like any of her other friends would have but Sean was her new friend. He may have known her all her life but he only started to care recently and he didn't know how to handle her personality, he was so used to fighting with her he didn't know how to do much else. He waited for her to continue. "I am not in that sort of relationship. I know it looks bad but trust me you don't have to worry about me."
He raised a brow, he didn't believe her but he didn't know what to do about it either. "I may not have the right now, but if it interferes with my business again I have every legal right to intervene."
His words were cold, he didn't mean it though. She knew he didn't, he just had to say something that made sense. Because she knew all to well that seeing her covered in bruises didn't make sense to even her sometimes.
/End/
She waited for a while in the cool night air, she watched as guests of the hotel came and went many of them recognizing her and making small chit chat here and there. Past the parking lot it was impossible to see a path of road, it was dark with street lights only on the main interstate hundreds of feet away. Finally a car, the car she'd been waiting for pulled up and she smiled. He was early.
"Hi Brody, how was your day?" she asked stepping into the car placing her things in the back seat and buckling up-he wouldn't even move until her seat belt was buckled but she understood.
Yeah it starts out as a bit of Pepperjacker (is this still a relevant term?) but it will be Candy eventually. A short first chapter I know. I can't even tell you if this is going to end up happy or not but knowing me it is. I don't touch too much on other characters, it's distracting and with my other story going on where I am trying to include everybody I thought I deserve a break.
