Thank you to all the lovely people who have left reviews, I hope you enjoy this new part.

Back at the Crashdown the next day, Maria recounted her latest mystery man theory to an incredulous Liz and Alex.

"What? Michael Guerin, what the….no way!" Alex spluttered, choking slightly on his soda. "You're talking about Michael Guerin as in the weird guy with the reputation, right? In that case, Madame Vivian has to be a fraud. What on earth would you two even talk about?"

Liz looked grim. "Maria, Alex is right about the guy having a bad reputation. I know you have your heart set on finding your true love but I really don't want you to get hurt." she said, concerned that it would only end in disaster.

"Exactly! Maria, you've heard the stories about this guy, this is not some fairytale Prince Charming you're dealing with here." Alex added.

"Look, I know that it seems like Michael and I would be shockingly terrible for each other. The list of cons is inevitably going to outweigh the pros. But we're talking about the rest of my life here, I can't just let it go and wonder what might have been!" Maria snapped. Man…as much as I love them both, sometimes they just don't get it.

She sighed, feeling bad for raising her voice at her friends. After all, they were only looking out for her. But coming from happy normal two-parent homes, they didn't understand the urgency of her situation, and the burning need for the medium's prediction to come true. Watching scumbag after scumbag walk out on her mother had strengthened Maria's resolve to fall in love with a man who would love her without condition and never leave. And if that guy really was going to be Michael, then so be it.

Of course, if Maria were to be honest with herself, she wasn't entirely comfortable with the prospect of spending all eternity with Michael. Maria considered herself to be fair and reasonably non-judgmental but like Liz and Alex, she had heard the rumors about him. Maria hurried to smooth things over and convince her friends that the investigation was a good idea.

"I'm sorry guys, I don't mean to snap at you but I have to at least try and investigate this possibility. That way, I'll probably discover many things that will prove to me and to both of you that Michael and I are not meant to be, and then life can continue on as if Madame Vivian had never said anything at all."

And…I'll only be miserable and end up dying an old maid, but no biggie! Her brain chimed in sarcastically.

Alex and Liz exchanged a look of resignation before turning back to Maria.

"Ok, I respect that but please be careful and try to not let Michael know that you're doing this, if that's possible. We don't know anything about him or what he might be capable of." Liz cautioned.

"I will. Subtle might not be my middle name -" Alex snickered in agreement with that. "-but Michael will probably never even be aware that he's being watched." Maria promised, with a withering glance at Alex.

"Good." Liz nodded, and then glanced at the café entrance as two families came through the door. "Now that we have that sorted, we really need to get back to work."

"Oh…about that." Maria looked at Liz apologetically. "I really need to get started on watching Michael right away. Can you cover my shift for me?"

"I suppose…" Liz said slowly. "You'll help me, won't you Alex?"

Alex groaned. Waiting on tables wasn't exactly the ideal way to spend a sunny afternoon.

"Fine, but you owe me." he agreed with more than a degree of reluctance.

"All the orange soda you can drink for a month, on the house." Liz offered.

"Done!"

Maria laughed with her friends before giving each of them a hug, and then skipped out of the Crashdown to begin her quest for true love.

Liz watched her leave and then turned back to Alex. "I really hope that nothing bad happens to Maria out of this."

"Or we could just hope that they don't end up killing each other." Alex replied, only half joking.

With a shared grimace, they turned back to work with Maria still in their thoughts.

Monday morning arrived with Maria having no luck tracking down the elusive Michael Guerin. Sunday afternoon had been a real bust, but maybe he would make a rare stop at school to see Max and Isabel or something. She parked her Jetta in the school's parking lot and made her way to her locker, all the while keeping an eye out for a certain spiky-haired boy. Michael…come out, come out from wherever you are…

Just as Maria was retrieving her book and study notes for first period history, she noticed Michael walking down the corridor with Isabel and Max.

Out of the corner of her eye, she took in his features. Sure, she'd seen him at school plenty of times over the years when he bothered to attend, but Maria had never truly taken the time to deliberately notice Michael before.

Hmmm...not too bad.

So he wasn't exactly Brad Pitt but Maria had to admit he had potential, at least as far as his outward appearance was concerned. Maybe even more so if he actually learned how to shower. Note to self: should Guerin be the one, make sure to teach him the joys of regular bathing. She continued her subtle analysis of Michael's looks as he made his way past. His hair stuck out everywhere as if he had stuck his fingers in an electrical socket but he did have nice full lips, sexy whiskey brown eyes, a good physique and big hands. Which meant that he might just also have a big…

No, no, no Deluca, get your mind out of the damn gutter! Maria chastised herself for letting her thoughts stray just a touch too far south of the border. She wasn't one of those girls, despite what some people assumed about her mother. Anyway, just because the guy might be slightly sexy didn't mean that he had a winning personality.

The bell rang loudly, indicating that it was time for students to make their way to class. Maria slammed her locker shut and walked quickly to the history classroom. As she hurried through the door, she was surprised to find Michael sitting at the desk behind hers. She couldn't remember the last time that he had actually attended this class. Is this some weird kind of sign from the universe that we're meant to be? She wondered. However, his choice of seating made it difficult for Maria to spy on Michael without being noticed, so she concentrated on watching the World War II documentary that Mr Sommers brought in for the class until the first period ended.

Maria kept a close eye on Michael as best she could (given that the guy was prone to cutting class) for the rest of the day, although her attempt to eavesdrop on him and his friends at lunch was thwarted by Alex and Liz, who dragged her away back to their usual lunch table. Apparently, sitting at the very next table to Michael made her seem a tiny bit obvious but she was impatient to know all she could about her potential soulmate.

At the sound of the final bell, Maria rushed out of her last period classroom to get to the Jetta. She waited for a while, watching the other students drift out of the school grounds and then noticed Michael walking toward the parking lot with Max and Isabel. It always seemed weird that he spent so much time hanging out with the Evans siblings and no one else. Max tended to be quiet and studious and Isabel was by far the most popular girl at West Roswell. It didn't make sense that they would socialize with a rebellious outcast like Michael. Then again, this is Roswell after all, where all sense and reasoning fly out the window. She smiled wryly. Perhaps it might have made more sense if Isabel was dating Michael, but Maria doubted that the other girl would dare sully her Queen Bee reputation by getting it on with a guy from the wrong side of the tracks. He seemed resentful of her at times, probably because she bossed him and Max around so much.

The three friends got into the Jeep that Max and Isabel shared and took off. Maria started her own car and followed them at a discreet distance. They headed into one of the more affluent areas of town and stopped in front of a large Spanish style home with manicured lawns. She couldn't help but feel slightly envious. Must be the Evans digs then.

Maria parked her car around the corner, out of view of Michael and the Evanses and then crept up close to the side of their house to peer into the kitchen window. Isabel was making sandwiches, while Max poured three sodas. Was that Tabasco sauce he was putting in those drinks? Maybe the three of them had bonded over extremely wacky taste buds. Maria wrinkled her nose in distaste as Max passed the bottle of sauce to Isabel, who sprinkled it liberally over the sandwiches. Note to self part two: should Guerin be the one, get him acquainted with breath freshening candies ASAP!

The siblings took their food and drink and disappeared from view. Maria noted the direction they were heading in and crawled around the house until she approached a bedroom window that looked to be Max's. Max and Isabel were now sitting on a bed, while Michael sat in an armchair. They appeared to be having quite an animated conversation so Maria crept as close as she could to hear it.

"So, you're never going to believe what I saw today!" Isabel announced with a big grin.

Max smiled back. "What did you see?"

"Well…" she started to reply before breaking into peals of laughter.

Michael grunted. "Get it together Iz, the suspense is killing me."

"Oh, you're going to love this! Michael has…Michael has.." Isabel was clearly struggling to contain her laughter.

"I have…come on, get on with it already." he grumbled, not in the mood to play guessing games.

"MICHAEL….HAS A GROUPIE!"

Max looked confused for a moment before joining in the laugh-fest with Isabel, giggling so hard that he almost fell off his bed. The idea of Michael, the human-avoiding loner, having some kind of admiring groupie was hilarious.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Michael asked crossly.

Isabel managed to stop laughing long enough to explain herself. "You know that really weird Maria Deluca chick? She followed you around and watched your every move all day at school."

Michael sat up straighter in his chair at this. "Why would she do that?"

She smirked back at him. "I think she probably has a huge crush on you, just from way in which she was looking at you. She looked like a real lovesick puppy or something."

Outside the window, Maria gulped and cringed inwardly.

Isabel's response set Max off again, rolling around on the floor in total amusement.

Michael glared at both his friends. This was no laughing matter! Was he the only one with enough sense to see that they might now be in even more danger of being discovered?

"That is completely ridiculous. If she's been watching me, the only two possibilities are a) she's onto me somehow and is spying on me to see what I am and what I can do and-"

" Have you done anything stupid recently that Maria could have witnessed?" Max interrupted. "Any more trouble with controlling your powers?"

"No, of course I haven't. You should know me better than that, Maxwell!" Michael snapped back furiously. "And b), she is clearly insane. You know I'm a screw up! I'm a good for nothing loser. Girls aren't interested in that."

Isabel sighed. Michael's struggles with his background and self-esteem were nothing new, but it still hurt to hear him disparage himself like this.

"Michael, we both know that you're far from being a bad guy. But the fact is, is that there are a lot of superficial girls out there that the bad boy image appeals to, and might think that you're one as well." she told him gently.

"Don't be ridiculous! Of course, I'm not a 'bad boy'. I don't drink, I'm not a drug dealer, I don't cause trouble for anyone, I stay the fuck away from the police….hell, and I don't even date anyone!" he shot back, angry that Isabel and Max didn't seem to take his concerns seriously.

"Michael..."

"Forget it. I have some whack job chick following me around and the two of you think it's hilarious. That's great...I'm outta here."

With that he jumped out of the chair he was sitting in and climbed out of Max's window, fending off Max's attempts to block his exit. He left the Evans house, half-stalking, half-running. Maria hurriedly found a bush to conceal herself behind with seconds to spare, and then moved back to her previous position as soon as Michael was no longer in view. This was all so much more than she had bargained for.

Isabel was still in the room, talking to Max.

"Michael lacks so much confidence in himself, it's no wonder he's so emotionally scarred with the life he's had so far. We were so lucky that Mom and Dad found us but he has no one."

Max nodded solemnly in agreement.

"I wish there was some way we could convince him to get away from Hank and petition for his independence, Michael deserves so much better than that pathetic drunk."

The two of them looked at each other, faces heavy with sorrow and resigned to the fact that Michael was too stubborn to help himself out of the abusive situation he'd been placed in for too long.

Maria had heard enough. She quietly made her way back to her car and drove home, feeling more than a little disturbed at the conversation she had listened in on that afternoon. Obviously there was far more to Michael than what met the eye. Her opinion of him had rapidly changed in a short space of time. Far from being a bad boy going nowhere, he was more a hurt, lonely soul who deserved far more than what life had so far dished out to him.

Why did Michael consider himself to be a 'screw up'? Who was Hank and did he abuse Michael? Had he really convinced himself that he was worthless?

So many questions that she didn't have the answers to, but now Maria was more determined than ever to find them. She was a Deluca on a mission and not to be messed with.