Isabel remained silent throughout the ride back into town, blocking out the conversation going on around her, and enduring the overdose of sweetness that always occurred when Max and Liz were forced to separate for more than a minute or two. She managed to avoid most of their conversation as they made plans to meet back up in a couple of hours, and kept her attention focused elsewhere as he and Alex carried on their own discussion on their way to drop him off at his house. It wasn't until they pulled up in front of his house that she tuned them back in.

"I'll give it my best shot, Max." Alex hopped over the side of the jeep and patted his shirt pocket. "I'll let you know as soon as I know anything."

"What's he talking about?" Isabel demanded as soon as Max pulled out into the street.

"He's gonna try to decode the letter Liz found."

"The what?"

Max glanced at her as he stopped at a stop sign. "Liz found a letter while she was going through a stack of papers after you threw your tantrum and ran out."

She glared at him when he put the jeep in gear and guided it through the intersection.

"It was in some sort of code and Alex offered to take a look at it. He has some sort of encryption software that he thinks may help with decoding it."

"That's not very smart." As soon as they reached a stoplight Isabel motioned for him to pull over. "I'm sure you have plans with Liz so just drop me off here."

"Are you sure? I could – "

"Max."

"Fine." He pulled over and waited until after she started making her way along the sidewalk in front of a row of stores before he drove away.

Isabel stayed on her course until she was sure her brother wasn't going to follow her and then she cut through a park that she knew was across from Alex's street. She glanced at his driveway as she crossed the street, noting that there were no cars there and she wondered if his parents were home. She stepped up on his porch and took a deep breath before reaching up and knocking on the door.

The door opened less than a minute later and Alex stared at her. "Um, Isabel, hi. What're you doin' here?" He shook his head and stepped back, motioning over his shoulder. "You uh, you wanna come in?" He swallowed hard when she merely nodded and stepped past him into the house. He closed the door and they stood there in the entryway looking everywhere but at each other. He had no clue what to do now; he hadn't actually expected her to take him up on his offer.

Isabel was in the process of rolling her eyes at his behavior when her gaze glanced over the cut that ran in a thin line from just above his right eyebrow to his temple. Part of her wanted to apologize but another part of her resisted and she cleared her throat and asked a question instead. "My brother said you're gonna be taking a look at some letter?"

"Yeah, it's in some weird code, it may even be some alien language." Once again on comfortable ground, Alex turned and led the way back to his bedroom. "I wanna try to run it through an encryption program I've got to see if it's – "

"Do you think it's smart to do that? What if someone reads what you're doing? That's possible, right? For people to be able to see what other people are doing on their computers without their knowledge?"

"Sure, it's possible, but only if they have the capability to access the computer from a remote location." He shook his head as he entered the room and dropped down at a desk with two computers set up. "I've got two computers," he said, motioning at the equipment. "The second computer isn't hooked up to any outside lines; there's no way possible for anyone to access this system from anywhere but right here."

Isabel glanced around when she realized they were in his bedroom, surprised that it wasn't really all that different from her brother's room.

"So, anyway, I'll scan the letter and run the encryption program to see if it picks up any kind of – "

"Why're you doing this?" she asked, interrupting him. "What makes you even think you or your computer can decode something that's in some obscure code that may or may not be alien in origin?"

"Well, I don't know that I can decode it for sure, but I'm willin' to give it a shot." He turned in his chair to look at her and smiled. "Look, I know you probably don't think I should be allowed to do this, that there's probably no way possible that I – or my computer – can crack this code." He shrugged. "And maybe you're right, I don't know. But, if there's any way that I can do this and help you guys find the answers you're lookin' for then I'm gonna do it." He gestured at a second chair at the other end of the desk. "Have a seat so you can keep an eye on things and make sure I'm not sharin' information with someone else."

Isabel started to protest but he just smiled and shook his head again before turning back to his computer. She pulled the chair out and sat down, watching him as he opened up several different files before he selected one. When he lifted the lid on his scanner and then reached for the letter she sat up straighter, her eyes following every movement he made.

"You're sure no one can access this information? There's no way they can get to it even though you have the scanner hooked up to both computers?"

Alex glanced at her as he placed the letter facedown on the scanner and lowered the lid, and his finger paused above the scan button. "No one can access the information, Isabel. I wouldn't be doin' this if I thought there was even the slightest chance that anyone could get to it. But, if it'll make you feel better…" He stood and leaned over the scanner to detach the line that was connected to the live computer before sitting back down.

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Maria watched as the herd disappeared past an outcropping of rocks and glanced at Michael when he stood up. It was late afternoon and they had spent most of the day sitting on the rocky shelf, talking and watching the horses.

"We should probably start back before your mom thinks I kidnapped you," he said, raising his arms as he stretched. He squinted against the late afternoon sun. "It's gonna be after four by the time we get back an' my mom'll have my hide if I'm late for dinner."

She chuckled and stood, brushing her jeans off before following him through the opening and back down the rocky incline. It was nice to see that he had a healthy fear of his own mother.

"Watch your step comin' down, okay? It's a little trickier getting down than it is goin' up." He carefully picked his way along the rocks, doing his best to keep an eye on her descent as well.

"What would happen if you got hurt out here?" she asked, doing her best to use the same footholds he was using. "No one even knows about this place."

"That would be unfortunate," he muttered, but didn't seem terribly concerned. "I don't really know." He shrugged. "It's never happened, so I don't really worry about it that much." He turned his head to check on her and as her foot came down and hit a patch of loose earth she started to slide. He yelled out a warning when he saw her make a frantic grab for a small bush that was growing in the side of the hill and as her hand wrapped around the thing he lunged for her. His body collided with hers as his right hand shot out, a bright white light emanating from it, and he turned so that the majority of the debris rained down over his back. He dug his left boot into the ground to keep from sliding down the rest of the way and only raised his head once the last of the debris had fallen.

"You okay?" he asked, putting all of his weight on his right hand and leaning away from her to make sure she hadn't been harmed by the debris.

"What?" Maria glanced around at the chunks of fresh earth and the broken rocks lying around them before turning her shocked gaze to him. "What happened?"

"Never grab stuff stickin' out of an unstable hill," he muttered, reaching up to pry the scraggly little bush from her hand. "We're lucky it didn't trigger a bigger landslide and send us both face-first to the bottom."

"Well, what should I have grabbed?" she snapped. "It's really hard to stop and think of all of the many options that aren't there when your life is flashing before your eyes! Well? What was I supposed to grab?"

"Nothin'! If you had just listened and let yourself slide I would've caught you and we would've avoided the dirt bath." His heart was still thumping madly in his chest and his veins were flooded with adrenaline that was probably going to take several hours to dissipate. "This is the kind of stupidity that gets people killed!"

"Do I look dead to you?"

"That is not the point! The point is – "

"That is exactly the point and if you would listen – " Her eyes widened in shock when he silenced her with a kiss and for the briefest of moments she struggled against him before she relaxed beneath him and brought her arms up around him. He could definitely kiss; there was no doubt about that! It wasn't the tentative, questioning kind of first kiss that she normally got from guys; it was demanding and furious, and she completely lost herself in it for what seemed like several endless minutes before his lips gentled on hers and he eased back to look at her.

"My point is, you could've been killed." He shook his head as he forced himself to stand and help her to her feet. "And that's not acceptable." He picked up the rifle and canteen that he had dropped in his haste to reach her.

"Well, no, obviously it's not acceptable." But if a kiss like that is the end result then a little bit of rocks and dirt might not be all that bad, she thought with a smirk. He turned when they reached the bottom, his left arm extended to help her the rest of the way down and she winced when she saw the cuts and scrapes on his upper arm. She pushed his arm in towards his body when she reached him so she could examine the wounds.

He hissed when her fingers grazed the fresh cuts and jerked his arm back out of her reach. "Maybe you could not do that since it hurts," he grumbled, cradling the injured limb for a moment before he released it. "You're sure you're okay, right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She followed him over to the horses and watched him hook the canteen over the saddle horn and secure the rifle in the scabbard. She turned to look up at the area where she had lost her footing, her expression thoughtful. "Is there some kinda shiny mineral or something in the soil here?"

"What?" Michael glanced at her before moving to untie the reins. "Not that I know of, why?"

"I'm sure I saw a bright flash or something before you flew at me like Rocky the flying squirrel."

Michael tensed for a moment before he forced himself to relax and lead the horses over to her. "Could've been the sun hittin' somethin' just right." He shrugged. "Sometimes the eyes play tricks on you in the desert."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're right. I could've hit my head for all I know and I was just seeing stars." She reached up to rub the back of her head. "Although I don't recall actually hitting my head."

"We should get back," he said before she had time to consider all of the reasons for the flash she thought she had seen. He held Rascal still and helped her up into the saddle before taking Sundance's reins and hauling himself up. He checked to make sure the lead rope that was attached to Rascal's bridle was secured to his saddle horn before he flexed his right hand and gathered the reins up.

Maria respected his unspoken request for silence on the ride back, wondering if the near-miss on the hill had scared him that badly or if he was already regretting the kiss now that he'd had time to think about it. When they reached the barn she watched him as he took care of the horses before driving her back to the Tribal Office where her mom was supposed to be waiting for her. He remained silent throughout the short drive and when he pulled up beside her mom's car and parked the truck he leaned back in the seat and dropped his head back to rest against the window.

"I guess I should go ahead and… go," Maria said, reaching for the door handle.

"No, no, I've got it." He pushed his door open and hurried around the truck to open the door, shutting it as soon as she was out.

"Look, if you're regretting that kiss, you should just tell me now and we can just end this before it goes any further."

Michael frowned. "Why? Do you regret it?"

"What? No, why would – "

And he did it again. Silenced her mid-rant with a mind-blowing kiss that could easily make her forget her own name. Her fingers were sliding into his unruly hair when the sound of whistling broke through the hazy processes of her thoughts and they pulled apart.

Michael considered half a dozen different revenge scenarios when he spotted his sister and her two best friends all sitting on the hood of Linda's jeep wearing identical smirks as they waved.

"She's gonna give you hell over this isn't she?" Maria asked as she reached up to wipe a smudge of lipstick off of his lower lip.

His dark gaze burned into her as it was focused on her once more. "I can take anything she can dish out. Call me when you get home?" he asked as he leaned in for one more quick kiss.

"Sure. You can tell me all about the inquisition she's getting ready to put you through." She stroked his jaw and tipped his head back to meet her gaze. "I am okay," she said, making sure he could see the sincere expression in her eyes. She studied his stormy eyes for a solid minute before she leaned up on her tiptoes to give him one more kiss. "I'll call you once I get home."

After Maria had gone Michael climbed back into the truck, ignoring his sister and her friends when they called him. He drove home in silence, his thoughts a mass of confusion as he went over what had happened yet again. He had replayed the scene in his mind dozens of times and he couldn't imagine how she could have missed what he had done.

At home he walked inside, forcing out a response when his mother called out to let him know that dinner would be ready soon. He closed the door to his room and sank down to the floor, leaning back against the bed as he ran his hands through his hair.

What was he going to do if Maria got back home and suddenly realized that something had happened? She had sounded suspicious when she had asked about minerals in the soil. Had she really sounded suspicious? Or was he imagining it? No, he decided, she had definitely sounded like she was suspicious. Maybe she would just forget about them. Or maybe she would want to satisfy her curiosity by investigating the matter further.

"Damn it," he muttered, wondering how he was going to get around this mess. He hadn't known Maria for very long, but he was afraid that she wasn't just going to give up that easily. No, he thought, if she realized that something had happened she would pursue it until she had an answer. He would just have to come up with a plausible explanation before he saw her again, something that she would believe without question.