21
MICHAEL

It was a complete shock seeing Liz in the back of the Crashdown. I never thought she was dead or in any serious trouble, I just figured she wouldn't come back to Roswell for a while. It was really selfish of her to leave like she did but I understood what she was going through. Besides who am I to call anyone else selfish. I've performed more than a few selfish acts myself in my brief lifetime. And like Liz's my acts also hurt the people I cared the most about. Thanks to Tess all that has started to change.

She's made me realize that my acts don't just affect me but everyone else that is around me. This thing with Maria could have been handled a little better and we both saw the selfishness in the steps we took. We could have done things differently. We can't go back and change things but we can.

Anyway I know I'm starting to ramble. I started talking about Liz and ended up talking about Tess. Being in love has seriously touched my mental state. Okay back to the topic. So there we were, Tess and I talking about our plans for the day. I was on my break and trying to get in a few minutes of alone time with my girl. Just as I was about to kiss her Liz walks up. So as I said earlier I was shocked.

We exchanged pleasantries and then I had to go. Work was calling me. All I could think about on my way to the grill was that Liz was back; now that would take some of the heat away from me. Selfish, I know, but hey I hate being Mr. Bad Guy in a situation that was far beyond my control. I love Tess not Maria. It's as simple as that.

My shift ended at five o'clock that day. I went home to take a quick shower, and then I went to get Tess from the Valenti's house. When I got there I noticed the sheriff's truck in the yard. I knocked on the door.

Amy answered. "Hey Michael, how are you?"

"Hi Mrs. Deluca, I mean Mrs. Valenti. I'm doing okay."

She laughed and told me to come in. "If you're looking for Kyle he's at my house."

"Actually I came for Tess. We have a date." I cringed at the swift scowl on her face. 'Stupid move Michael', I said to myself.

"You're dating Tess? When did this occur? I thought you were dating my Maria?" She didn't give me an opportunity to answer before saying. "If you hurt my daughter I'm going to see to it that you'll never be able to walk again. Now did you hurt my daughter?"

"Umm…uhh…umm…!" I found myself stuttering. "It's really complicated Mrs. Valenti. I didn't purposely hurt Maria."

She would have whacked me over the head with a broom if she had one in her hand. She would have gone to find one if the sheriff hadn't chose that exact moment to appear. "Hey Michael, what's going on?"

"Hello Sheriff. Nothing much. Congratulations on your marriage."

"Are you here for Kyle? He's at Amy's."

"Actually Jim, he's here for Tess." Amy said in anger. "They're dating."

The Sheriff picked up on the source of Amy's anger. He sighed and gave me a look of disapproval. "I'll go call down Tess Michael. Amy, Sweetie, come with me. I don't want you doing anything to Michael while I'm gone."

Tess came down a few minutes later. "Amy totally ignored me a few minutes ago. I take it you told her we were dating because she was really nice to me earlier."

I hung my head down in shame. "Yeah I did. They thought I was here for Kyle."

"Oh well. They were bound to find out sooner or later. Have you decided where we're going?"

"Yeah. Are you ready?" At her nod I took her hand and guided her outside to my motorcycle.

For the next few hours we would ignore our problems and just enjoy one another. For now it was the perfect solution.

tbc