Thank you all for coming back to read! You are almost all caught up with me and the chapters I have already written... But for now, I'm still 3 chapters ahead :)

Thanks a ton for the reviews as well!!!! They truly make my day :D


XXV

Future

Cheese Factory.

The words wouldn't leave Maria's mind as they were entering The Shop. Because her birthday was tomorrow, Maria had started thinking about her future more and more. Not the distant one with Space Boy, a bunch of kids, and a car wash, but the most immediate one. She always did that on her birthday: Tried to decipher what the future would bring next. Therefore she now had in mind what was she going to become. And though the Cheese Factory had never been on her top ten dream jobs list, it had been there, somewhere… down there… at the bottom. The Cheese Factory meant the future she had to avoid at all costs.

Because the Cafeteria had still been full for no apparent reason by 12:30, they had decided to head back to their apartments after their Gym session. Yet Maria had insisted that she needed some things from The Shop, and though she had wanted to come alone, or with Michael, all 5 of them were walking through the pretty much deserted place while Isabel was still at her interview.

Truth be told, Maria was thinking of getting a thing or two for her birthday "celebration". She was sure she had seen cake mixes somewhere, so she was thinking about some small cake, a candle, and five friends chanting "Happy Birthday". Who knew? Maybe a present or two, though she seriously doubted anything from The Shop would qualify as present-material, but okay. It was the thought that counted.

She had checked yesterday that her kitchen indeed had a small oven to cook her birthday cake, and that had brought memories of home. She was certain that her mother was going to cook a delicious cake because it was tradition... and this was Maria's first birthday away… For the millionth time since she had "run away", she wished she could talk to her mother.

God, how she missed her. For everything that Maria hadn't said to her in the past three years, for all the secrets she had kept, now that her mother –probably- knew the whole truth and no more silence was needed, now they couldn't talk. She suppressed a sigh of frustration and the need for punching the next available thing –which was Michael- and kept looking for the box with a cake printed on it.

Her mother had always talked to her about the future. About how great things were waiting for her if she was ready. Always looking for the opportunity to get away from Roswell, New Mexico. Well, Mom, I did get out of Roswell, New Mexico. And probably for good too.

Yep, now here she was, hunting for some stupid cake, in some underground facility where her human-alien boyfriend was bound to stay and play car games. When had her future life changed from being a super star to being in a sci-fi novel? Probably at some point on the 285 South route, and it had stayed on the same path once she had turned down her really good chance at being a pop star.

Choices was the answer to her question. She was exactly where she was because of the choices she had made, and when Michael grunted behind her that he had found the candles, she turned around and kissed him. Her choices had led her to Michael, and that she could never regret.

"Thanks," Maria said, leaving a somehow startled Michael as she turned to the shelves, "Now all I need to find is the cake…"

She knew that Michael hated shopping, but the tension she felt coming in vibes behind her didn't exactly feel like anxiety born out of boredom. She turned once again, this time to face Michael. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," Michael defensively said, which let Maria know there actually was something. She arched one eyebrow in response.

"It's just that… that you shouldn't need to be looking for a cake…" Michael sort of explained, a little annoyed, and a little… guilty?

"Hey, we might be in a crappy situation, but I still want my cake," Maria tried to joke lightly, and the shadow that passed his eyes didn't exactly reflect what she had aimed for. She bet he was thinking "you are in this crappy situation because of me", and there was nothing she could do to contradict that statement.

"I know," Michael answered, his intense gaze going past her, searching for the cake as well.

Michael was in her very near future as well. Had she been asked five years ago, she would have said that the Cheese Factory wasn't even close to making an appearance on Michael's list. Jail, more likely. Now she wondered what was in store for Michael as well.

Ten feet away, he stopped and silently pointed. What was in store for her Spaceboy, she thought, as she walked to stand beside him, the chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla cake boxes in front of her. Once they had somewhat started a steady relationship, they both had pretty much assumed that his future would end up on a spaceship, and going home. Hadn't he so honestly told her that he could only give her now? Hadn't he said that he couldn't really picture it, but that he himself thought that someday he was going back?

Well, she doubted Michael was ever going back. The possibility was still there, sure, but it wasn't as… heavy as it used to be. Nope, they were more thinking about staying alive and ahead of their hunters. Now, that wasn't happening either, since they were already trapped. Gee, talk about hard, unclear and unknown futures… She now missed the days of worrying about ending up in the Cheese Factory…

Michael looked at her intently as she was still staring at the three flavors. By the looks of it, not many people baked too many cakes since there were barely any boxes, let alone a second brand to choose from. She finally picked chocolate. She knew that everybody liked the flavor, especially with Tabasco mixed in it for her three favorite hybrids. She liked spicy food too, but those three were sometimes –if not every time- too much. But hey, at least they could make anything edible by adding Tabasco, and for that she had envied them on some very long days on the road.

Their futures were linked, weren't they? She wondered as they both headed back to the others. She wondered for a brief second what would happen if for some reason she wanted to leave. Would their deal be off since it had to be the six of them? She frowned, deciding that she would ask exactly that to the man with all the answers: Dave. Not that she was thinking of leaving, but it was a rather interesting question.

"Isabel's on her way," Max said as he was checking his G.E.S.

"So she knows we are going to meet at your apartment?" Kyle asked, happily chewing on some cheese snacks. The four of them turned to stare at him since he was eating while still inside The Shop.

"What?" he asked, "it's not like they are going to charge me for it anyways…" he defended himself.

"Yeah, I've just told her," Max answered Kyle's first question as Michael was taking some of the snacks for himself; Max was not far behind. Kyle murmured something about having craved cheese all day long so to go easy on his snack. As Maria placed in front of them the candles and the cake mix box, they all stopped again to stare at what she was doing, making her feel way too self-conscious for some reason. It was her turn to ask, "What?"

As one, the four of them turned to look at anything but the birthday cake. Maria narrowed her eyes. Why did she suddenly have the impression that everybody knew something that she didn't?

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"Well, that's interesting," Michael said with a small smirk, slowly pacing back and forth, as Isabel was telling them about her flash. She had started with the easiest part, she knew, but she was still rummaging in her mind about what to think of the possibility of bringing Jesse there to tell that part of her interview first.

"So, he wants Max to heal him?" Maria asked, turning to look at Max. He looked rather uncomfortable for a second, but then he shook his head.

"If he wanted that, he would have already asked," he quietly said.

"Or rather forced you, if you ask me," Kyle muttered as he was chewing on his nails. Max slightly nodded.

"He might ask for it yet," Michael pointed out. "Maybe there's more to this, but he can certainly benefit from you."

"It wasn't in the deal," Liz said. "I know that's not going to stop him, but… think about it. He would have said so the first time we met."

"He wouldn't admit it to begin with," Isabel explained. "He barely acknowledges it to himself, for all I could gather from that flash. It's a weakness."

"A weakness we can exploit," Michael confidently said, stopping his pacing.

"It is also something we can bargain with," Liz added to Michael's point. "I mean, it's something we have that he might want," she turned to look at Max, giving him a small reassuring smile. He returned it with a small smile of his own, as they locked into each other's eyes. And all the other four members of the merry group collectively rolled their eyes as well. They could be so cheesy even when just giving reassuring smiles…

"That was all there was in the flash?" Michael eagerly asked, forgetting Max and Liz in their little world. Isabel though for a second, narrowing her eyes.

"David," she suddenly said. "Jake called Dave 'David'."

"That's not exactly ground breaking information," Michael said, a little annoyed. Isabel returned an annoyed look back.

"It was in the way Jake said it and how that made Dave feel. It was somehow… wrong. There's some significance to the change of name."

"You got that from a flash?" Kyle asked, a little amazed.

"I thought the name changing didn't really matter, but in retrospect... He was really worried about the asthma attack, but when Jake called him 'David', it struck some chord… he didn't like how it sounded." The feeling was fuzzy, and very mixed up with all the very strong emotions that Dave had felt as air had failed to reach his lungs. She still had to factor in the emotional roller coaster she had been put through too, so this memory could be a… a mislead for all she knew. But there was a resonance to it. David. "That's all I can recall of the flash."

"What happened after that? After you got the flash?" Maria asked, looking at her intently. She was a little nervous, Isabel noticed, and more eager than she had been when they were having these meetings to update everyone. Maria must really be anxious about her interview tomorrow, Isabel thought for a second, knowing full well what the anticipation felt like.

"He talked about Jesse," she quietly started. The room fell silent instantly, almost as if someone had yelled "freeze!" out of the blue. She didn't like the way they looked at her, but swallowed it knowing they were only worried about her and her husband.

So she told them about Jesse being in Boston and unknowingly working for Dave. She told them about how Dave had told her all about his life, and, finally, that he had given her "permission" to ask him if he wanted to come here.

"What?!" Michael and Maria said at the same time. Max silently regarded her.

"You have to answer him now?" Kyle asked after a tense silence.

"No," she said, "he said I could take my time, but the fact is…" she stopped in mid-sentence. She barely had had time to stop and think this whole thing through, and saying it out loud didn't seem exactly right. "I just don't know what to think about his offer. I don't know what to tell Jesse if I call him."

She turned her eyes to Max as Michael said what she was dreading to hear, "You can't bring Jesse here. That would give Dave yet another advantage over us."

"He already has Jesse on his radar," Liz quietly said, "there's not much difference in that regard…"

Michael gave an exasperated grunt, as if it was so obvious that he was right and there was nothing to consider.

"If he wants to use Jesse against us," Kyle quietly said as well, "it doesn't really matter where the guy is…"

But Isabel's eyes were locked to Max's. It wasn't a matter of if Jesse could be used against them –against her- easier this way or not, it was if Jesse should even consider losing his life again to this. And Max knew that. He knew the terrible burden she was carrying, torn between wanting Jesse back and letting him have the life he was supposed to have. Max slightly shook his head. "This is a decision you should make, not us," he said, with that tone he reserved for very serious issues.

"Max, this affects all of us," Michael argued back, and this time Isabel did turn to look at him. It really hurt to hear this from Michael, because deep down, Isabel knew Michael was right.

"It concerns only two people, Michael," Max said, calm but firm. "Kyle is right, Jesse is already in this game whether he knows it or not, and whether we like it or not. Whatever Dave decides to do, we can't stop him." He paused for two seconds, and then turned to look at her again. "You know Jesse better than any of us. If you think… that he should have the choice to come…" Max trailed off, his words echoing in her mind.

For the second time that day, Isabel wished the decision to bring Jesse back to her life or not didn't have to be on her shoulders.

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To the average eye, Richard Adams didn't seem any different than any 56 year old man. He was thin, tall, still had much of his –graying- hair intact, and wore glasses all the time since contacts and him were not exactly good friends. He liked things neatly ordered, had a soft spot for classic black and white movies, and absolutely hated to be called "Richie". His light blue eyes could stare at the same spot for hours, and some could believe the guy had mummified himself in front of a monitor. Or so Jake liked to tease him.

In reality, he was a prodigy himself. English by birth, he had traveled half the world and was a whiz at computer stuff. He was one of those oddities to kids these days: He was an adult who knew more about their computers than they knew about the latest X-box game. He had worked for MI 6 first, for the CIA later, and had finally gone to the Interpol by the middle of the cold war. There he had first gotten word of Dave.

Now, Richard Adams was the administrator of the whole complex, and aside from Dave, Richard knew exactly who was who and had a general idea of what they were doing in each and every one of the 120 labs that were in this place. After all, Richard's mind kept everything on file, much like Dave's and Jake's did.

Just like everything in his life, his thoughts were very ordered too. One thing led to the next one. One, two, three. A, B, C. From this point directly to the next, no shortcuts taken, nothing out of place. And that exactly was his weakest point, and why, back in the day, he hadn't been able to catch Dave. Because, really, who could compete against chaos? And for all Richard knew, Dave's mind was exactly that: Chaos.

But a chaos that works… Richard muttered to himself as he was checking his watch. 2:43 p.m. At 3:00 p.m. he had a meeting with the newest residents of the complex, and Richard was… curious. Dave had never re-scheduled anyone in the six years Richard had been an Administrator to this place. In fact, in all the time that Dave had come and gone to the complex in the last eight months, this was the first time that he had stayed this long and had taken such care of his "guests".

At first, Richard had thought that Dave had stayed around because of his birthday, and since Jake was here as well, it was only natural. But that call on Monday afternoon to re-schedule these six new people… It was suspicious, and that was why Richard was curious. After all, it had been a while since Richard had gotten to discover something new about Dave.

Chaos, he repeated to himself. Groups of six had been coming for the past six months, and Richard had had the keen eye to spot which of those six were actually valuable to Dave. These groups never lasted. They were really some sort of distraction to bring one or two out of those six into this place, and soon everyone else was reassigned to the other facilities around the world. Though every time it was getting harder and harder to spot who was the important one.

But these six… Three worked with Jake and three worked with Ray. The two closest people to Dave Richard knew about, aside from Susset. What was so important about these six then? That was why he had come to the Cafeteria in the first place, to see what others knew about these strangers.

Thursdays were the best days to get the scoop on what was really going on. For some forgotten reason, people had chosen Thursdays to gather and, well, gossip. It was supposed to be an exchange of information and getting to know your neighbors from other departments, but Richard knew –just as everybody else knew- that the real reason everyone came here was to know everything but science.

He checked his watch again, 2:46. Time to go. He reluctantly stood up from his place in the Cafeteria and, nodding to his friends as he passed them by, finally reached the entrance and crossed in the direction of his office. No one was talking about the six kids… He knew that they had already gone to the Network Keepers Base and had spent the last afternoon at Engineering, but both Network Keepers and engineers hadn't been around this Thursday. Keepers were well entertained by Dave's latest appearance in Maui for all Richard knew, and engineers were really occupied with the new security system.

No, Richard would have to wait for another week to get any insightful information. The fact that Jake and Ray hadn't made it into the Cafeteria-gossip-heaven was curious too. What were these six new White Cards doing with Jake and Ray to begin with? Even with his own White Card and Six Level Clearance, Richard only had a general description of what they were doing. And if Jake was involved, it had to be something very interesting.

He felt like he had been left out of the loop. And that was a really hard position to be in, Richard thought as he took the elevator and went two floors below. To be the Administrator of this entire place meant that Dave trusted him a great deal. After all, if Richard really wanted to, he could place Dave in real trouble, and both men knew that. It could be really simple, since Richard was in that selective 18 that actually knew who Dave was. And, to make it even more exclusive, he was also in that 1.56 that knew Dave's past as well.

Few things in Dave's life were blanks to Richard -or so he liked to think-, mainly the last two years. After all, because the older man had been chasing the elusive Dave, he had been granted permission to see a lot of "for your eyes only" documents. And right when he had thought he had had Dave, Dave had turned things around and had had Richard instead. The hunter had become the hunted.

And an offer had been made.

But all that was old news. Really old news. Sixteen years ago old news to be precise, right before Dave faked his own death. Something Dave wouldn't have been able to do without Richard's assistance, now that he was thinking about it. Yet Richard knew better than to go against Dave. He had gotten a pretty good deal 16 years ago, and he was not about to mess that up. After all, in all that time, Richard had gotten to see both sides of Dave: The "good" one and the "bad" one, and he certainly wanted to remain on the first one.

Dave was easy going most of the time, so Richard had had a good time being the Administrator, especially since he got a lot of freedom to act as he saw fit. Except for Network Keepers and two or three people, the complex pretty much ran itself. The Keepers were an annoyance most of the time, Richard reflected as he entered his office at 2:54, but were needed. After all, any security breaches that these kids could find meant a better and improved security system, not to mention all the chores they had to do to keep this place up to date.

God, had he been beyond annoyed when they had messed with the time controllers, making everyone believe they were 3 hours off… Dave had laughed over the video conference, and had laughed when they both had met later and discussed the matter.

"How could they not notice what they have stumbled upon?" Dave had said as they were looking through what the Keepers had done, with a smile on his face.

"It doesn't bother you that they could have messed up a lot more than just time controllers?" Richard had said, worried at the lack of importance Dave seemed to be giving the matter.

"I don't usually worry about what didn't happen, Richard. But they do amuse me."

And indeed, after they both had cleared up and rewrote a couple of thousands of lines into the program, there was no need to worry about what the Keepers hadn't done. But sure, Dave could be annoying as well. Richard let go a small, mischievous smile. When for some reason he wanted to annoy Dave, he would call him David, and Dave would just turn to look at him, and start his next sentence with "Richie". Dave was very aware that Richard knew far more than he should about Dave's own past, but as long as Richard didn't use that to his advantage, Dave let it go. Though they weren't friends, they both respected each other as the old enemies they had once been. After all, if you broke and traced Dave's codes, you got the rare praise and attention of Dave himself.

Of course, Richard had to swallow hard that he had lost and Dave had won. Wasn't it proof enough that Richard was working for Dave now?

His watch read 3:00 p.m. and no one made an appearance. That was annoying. He hated when people weren't on time. When at 3:03 p.m. someone knocked at his door, Richard had already reviewed all his theories about the six people that were about to enter his domain.

Not that Richard would ever get to know that none of those theories were right.

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Michael was confused. And for once, it didn't have anything to do with Maria.

He didn't like to be confused. Worse yet, he didn't like Max's eyes on him, waiting for Michael to tell him what was on his mind. Because Michael couldn't really pin down what was on his mind to begin with.

It all had started when they had entered the Administration office, and for some reason Michael had been expecting it to look like the Principal's office –a place he had seen many times- but it had surprisingly looked a lot like Jake's place, except that the room had been walled up with shelves and shelves of books. On one side was the administration's desk, and at the other his living room, much like Jake's as well. For some reason too, Michael had felt as if he were walking into an ambush.

Two and a half hours later, he had felt yet again like he was in the middle of an ambush. And the feeling had had nothing to do with the place, but with the disjointed flash he had –finally!- gotten in that room. Of course, the key word there was disjointed.

"I don't know what I saw. It doesn't make sense!"

Michael irritably said while stepping out from behind the counter that separated the kitchen/pantry from the living room –pretty much the same way his apartment had been- and started to pace, passing his hands through his hair in an attempt to clear his thoughts away.

Max silently watched him, and for some reason that was worse than Max saying anything. At least if Max opened his mouth, then Michael could shut him up for him to think in peace. But Max had learned his lesson long ago, and so now he was waiting for Michael to get a grip on his own.

Michael glared at Max. What, Max had shaken Dave's hand and had gotten a pretty neat vision about Dave worrying if they didn't accept. Isabel had casually picked up a puzzle piece and had gotten a Technicolor version of Dave having an asthma attack. But no, of course he couldn't even get one flash straight.

"You saw Richard…" Max tentatively said, as if trying to focus Michael's mind one piece at a time.

"You know how he was in the middle of all those rules and stuff about this place," Michael said, stopping his pacing. Max nodded. "So I got bored and started thinking about what Isabel said, you know, about David." Max nodded again.

It had all been so fast. Richard had handed Maria a pen for her to scribble something he had just said, and she had dropped the pen. So Michael had absently picked it up and then…

"He ambushed him," Michael started, frowning. He had gotten several images, but they didn't make sense. When he had picked up the pen and had gotten the flash, he had almost fallen himself –tripping over Maria and almost bringing her down with him as well- and had dropped the pen not even two seconds afterwards.

"Who ambushed whom?" Max asked, looking intently at Michael.

"I don't know. It might have been Dave to Richard or Richard to Dave…" Michael said in frustration, turning and going to sit on the couch. Max followed him with his gaze, still standing on the other side of the counter. "It feels like both." And it sounded like crap. But it was like Isabel had said, it felt that way.

"But what exactly did you see?" Max pressed, "I mean, for you to get that feeling…"

"Richard was seeing some paper in a folder. It had red letters, reading something like 'confidential' or 'for your eyes only' or that kind of crap that movies show. I don't know, but I got the feeling this Richard guy was reading about Dave."

"So it was Richard ambushing Dave," Max rationalized. Michael shook his head.

"No, there were these numbers… Not in the file… just a random image I got… The numbers from the wall in Dave's office I think," Michael's eyes traveled to that moment in time when he had looked up to those numbers. If the ones from his vision were the same, then those numbers really meant something important. "I think Richard thought he had gotten Dave, but it turned out the other way around. It felt like a long time ago as well…" It sounded right enough, okay, but Michael couldn't make sense of all the other blurry images he had gotten. And it was frustrating to no end.

"I'm sure it'll become clear soon," Max started to offer, but Michael just grunted as he sat on his couch. He tried to concentrate on each and every image. Not just about the numbers, but the feelings as well… About catching Dave… about catching someone important… someone dangerous. Someone too young to be that dangerous. But it was all too vague.

"I don't know what the hell I saw," he repeated after a minute. "It was… it had to do… with numbers… and that file…"

"You have had these kinds of flashes before, and they come clear later," Max said again, trying to calm him.

"The problem Max is that we don't have time for that!" Michael snapped back. "If this Richard knows things about Dave—"

A knock interrupted Michael's words. Both Max and Michael turned to look at the door. Knocking -and not ringing- was almost an assurance that the outsider was one of their group and not someone else. Max left the kitchen and opened the door. Isabel entered after crossing looks with her brother.

"What did you get?" Isabel directly asked Michael, who only raised his eyebrows. How did she know? "Come on Michael, I've seen you getting flashes before, I know you got one," she said, standing in the living room as Max went to lean over the wall where the counter was.

"It's not clear," Michael said, angry at Isabel knowing, angry at the fact he couldn't get one damned flash straight too. Isabel let go a sigh of almost… relief?

"I thought you had gotten something bad… bad enough to not want to share it with the others," Isabel explained.

"Well it is bad enough if I can't piece it together," Michael said, his frustration growing. Isabel turned to look at Max, worried.

"I've already told him that it would become clear with time. He already knows the flash is about Dave ambushing Richard… or something…" Max said, unconsciously rubbing his right ear lobe.

"Ambushing?" Isabel said, alarmed. "What do you mean, 'ambushing'? Like he did with us?"

"No," Michael said, frowning. "Nothing like that. It was more like…" Michael tried to refocus on his flash. What had Richard felt when he was reading that file? "It was like a mind game or something… I think Richard was following Dave, but hell if I know how long ago. It just felt like a really old thing."

"And Dave ambushed him," Isabel repeated Michael's words out loud. "But… that's a good thing then," Isabel said, and both Michael and Max stared at her as if she had turned purple out of the blue.

"Think about it," she said, alternating looking at her brother and Michael, "Dave ambushed Richard probably a long time ago, and yet Richard is down here. That means Dave respects his deals."

"We don't know why Richard is here in the first place," Michael pointed out. "And Richard is not like us."

Isabel tried to argue but stopped herself before starting. She turned to look at Max as if trying to find help there. Max looked at Michael for a moment, and then turned to look at Isabel. "Michael's right. Richard is not like us," and then he looked back at Michael, "But Isabel is right too. If Richard was trying to ambush Dave then he was Dave's enemy. Yet he's here. That's interesting at least."

"That's useless," Michael half grunted as he leaned further back on the couch, staring at the ceiling. How long would it take him to decipher his flash? And what if, after all, there was nothing useful there? Another knock on the door made him sit straight again.

It was Kyle this time, and as Isabel was closing the door she had opened a minute before, a silence fell in the room. Kyle looked at the three of them rather uncomfortably. "What? This was an-aliens-only meeting?" Before any of the three could sort of deny that –it had started as a Max-Michael meeting to be truthful- Kyle dismissively moved his hand in mid-air. "Whatever. Liz and Maria are still cooking Maria's birthday cake at Maria's place, so I was heading to my apartment but I wanted to know how the plans for tomorrow were going. You've got Dave's permission?"

At the mere thought of "tomorrow's plans" a.k.a. Maria's present, Michael tensed. Who the hell cared about the damned flash when more pressing issues were at hand? Like Maria being up there with Dave tomorrow morning… He wasn't sure if his veins were freezing, or if his blood was boiling…

But Isabel nodded to Kyle's question. "He seemed a little surprised though. I guess he didn't see any problem with splitting us up tomorrow," Isabel said. "He just frowned a moment, and then said we should have a good time." Michael just rolled his eyes. When Dave had told him what he could do for Maria's present, Michael had thought it was all a set up of some kind. After a day of mulling it over, he had finally told Max and Isabel. And both had agreed with him that it could all come off as a set up, but… It could really be just a good idea... So Isabel had come up with a way of keeping the good idea and feeling like this wasn't that much of a set up. If things went along smoothly once she presented the change to Dave, then they would all breathe easily tomorrow morning, afternoon and night.

"So, we're all set?" Kyle asked, first looking at Isabel, and then looking at Michael. Max and Isabel also turned to look at him as if he had the final word on this whole thing. Great, just great…

If he survived tomorrow's anxiety and if this place survived his anxiousness as well, then… well… He reluctantly nodded at Kyle, Max and Isabel. They all had agreed it was, in fact, a good idea, but Michael was still way too wired at the prospect of Maria's interview. If he could have it his way, then Maria would be spending her birthday anywhere but here. Yeah… just great…

He just hoped, really, really hoped, that this time around he had gotten Maria's present right.

TBC...