Chapter 27

Desert; 11:59 p.m.

It was pitch black out that night. No moonlight to speak of, only a smattering of stars and that wasn't enough light for Michael to see what he was doing. She could see fine of course but that would have given her an unfair advantage. Which was fantastic when in a fight for her life but when training it wasn't a good idea.

For light Michael left on the headlight to his motorcycle and she left on the headlights to her Dad's truck. It gave them enough light to train easily.

Although Michael had only been training with her a couple times she could tell he had a natural ability for hand to hand combat. To be honest it impressed her how far he'd come within two lessons.

She was thankful that she got to let out some of her frustrations while training with Michael. Her last day as an official Crashdown waitress had ended less than fantastically. After the Evans family showed up she had to show them to a table in her section. Isabel was cool, thankfully not as icy as Liz thought she would be, to her as she ordered her drink but Max was annoying. He asked her what kind of beverages they had when he knew exactly what they had since he was always at the Crashdown.

Then if that wasn't bad enough Maria informed her that Alex knew Isabel was there. Apparently Alex could sense her…more likely smell her through the vents. She wore a very distinct perfume that Alex would recognize anywhere. Her little brother had been opening and shutting the door to her bedroom for the last two minutes and Maria heard.

It took Liz a good thirty minutes to get Alex to calm down and stay on her balcony. Being outside would protect him from Isabel's unknowing call and continue to protect their transgenic secret. She even threatened to tie him up to the ladder so he couldn't run amok downstairs. The threat wasn't very threatening because Alex could get out easily but he was so deep in his heat, and would be for the next twelve to twenty-four hours, he didn't realize how futile the threat was.

After she got Alex secured on her balcony she went back down to finish her last day. She had hoped it would be smooth sailing from there but it wasn't. Kids spilled faux milkshakes all over the floor, one waitress slipped and broke her tailbone, Max took almost twenty minutes deciding what he wanted only to order the same damn thing he normally had, and then he spent almost an hour eating the meal once it arrived.

Maria offered to take over the table after the fifth time Liz was signaled by Max for a refill of his cherry coke or more ketchup or more mustard or to send back his burger to have mayo put on it. She knew Max must have done some alien thing to empty the ketchup and mustard bottles because both waitresses had spent the half hour before their shift refilling those bottles. There was no way they would have been empty in an hour without some alien mojo.

Although she appreciated the offer Liz declined, she wouldn't give her former boyfriend the satisfaction of knowing he was irritating her. It would drive him insane to realize that he didn't get her worked up anymore, in any way. No, that spot was reserved for Alec now.

Now Michael and Liz were releasing anger that had been stored up throughout the day by kicking each other's ass for the last hour when suddenly Michael disrupted the rhythm. "I don't want to get back together with Maria."

"What?" Liz dropped her fighting stance for a split second and Michael got a good solid punch to her cheek. Her head whipped to the side and she groaned more in irritation than pain but pain was there in spades too.

"Shit, are you all right?" Michael broke out of his stance, worried he'd hurt her severely, and hurried over to her slightly bent form.

Seeing her moment to bring Michael down Liz crouched low and swept his legs out from under him knocking him onto his back. To make sure he stayed down at least for the moment she rolled over onto his splayed body straddling his upper legs. "Another point for me." She smirked down at the large alien boy underneath her.

"You're good." He reluctantly admitted.

Liz laughed. "Of course I am." Michael made a move to get up but Liz pushed him back down. "What's this crap about not wanting to get back with Maria?" She jumped right to the point. "Was that just some comment to distract me or are you serious?"

"Both."

Liz crossed her arms staring down at him and focused on the serious part. "And why's that?" Liz felt anger toward the boy beneath her. How dare he not want to get back together with Maria? She was insulted on her friend's behalf.

"We're not compatible. It's better for both of us if we don't get started up again." Michael explained again trying to remove Liz from his waist. However he underestimated her strength and persistence.

Frustrated that he wouldn't stay down she tightened her thighs around his hips and gripped his wrists holding them down against the dusty floor of the desert. He wasn't going anywhere until she was finished.

"Parker I didn't know you were into this domination kind of thing." He smirked up at her.

Anyone passing by the duo at that moment could have easily mistaken the hold as something sexual. However despite her slight sexual interest towards Michael the hold wasn't for fun. "You have no idea what I'm in to." She lobbed back. "Now you do realize letting me know about your lack of interest in being with Maria again puts me between a rock and a hard place."

"How do you figure that?"

"Maria's my best friend. If she starts talking about you or expresses interest in getting back together it's my job as the best friend to tell her exactly what you told me. However if I do that not only do I hurt Maria, which would kill me to do, I'd have to tell her how I came about this piece of information."

Michael shrugged as best he could with his arms over his head and in Liz's hands. "I don't see the problem, tell her that we were talking and it slipped out."

At that Liz released Michael's wrists and sat back up. "How gullible do you think she is?" She hooked her hands onto her hips. "You want me to tell Maria that you let it slip out? You, the guy who is the Fort Knox of secrets? Plus not to mention that Maria is already looking at us suspiciously."

"How suspiciously?"

"You dragged me into Eraser Room, which granted I smoothed over but it didn't exactly win you or me, for that matter, trust points." Liz started off.

"But you smoothed that over." The two were linking arms and laughing up a storm at lunch.

"Yes because Maria knows I wouldn't go after you—"

Michael scoffed, "What do you mean you wouldn't go after me?" That was rude. Just up and tell someone that you wouldn't even try to get with them. "Aren't I go-afterable?"

"Listen I think you're cute, in fact you're delightfully do-able. If Maria wasn't in the picture I'd have given you a few test drives by now. I even like you Michael…when you're not being an asshole. But I don't love you. Maria knows I'd never risk our friendship on 'like'." Liz quickly explained.

"Oh. Ok then." That was better than being completely uninterested. "So what else have we done to cause her to look at us with suspicion?"

Liz stood up from her spot on his legs and helped him up from the dusty ground. "She heard Dad mention you in my room one morning really early."

Michael grimaced. "Crap." That girl had bionic ears. She heard everything. "By the way, your Dad? Kinda scary."

She laughed. "Which speech did he give you? The 'You hurt my baby girl I'll rip out your fingernails one by one' speech or the 'I better not catch you in my little girl's room again or they'll never find your body' speech?"

"A combo." He admitted. "I will never be alone in your room without an escort." He replied in a monotone voice.

"Don't worry so much. If Dad didn't like you, you'd have gotten a much more graphic speech about mangled body parts and hours upon hours of torture." Liz shrugged. Her hair challenged friend got off light in comparison to Max and he hadn't even been in her room alone to get that speech, all Max had done was pick her up for a date. "Listen let's cut the training short today. I gotta get home and get some sleep before school tomorrow…today, whatever."

"Thought you didn't need much sleep." Michael commented as they walked toward their vehicles.

"Usually don't but it's been a long, tiring day. I need a couple hours." She told him.

Michael was tempted to ask what but he didn't think she'd tell him. Although she had been fairly candid with whom she was and where she came from he knew she was hiding things. It bothered him but he wouldn't pry.

"See you tomorrow." Michael put his helmet on and revved his motorcycle engine taking off just as Liz started her Dad's truck up.

In the car Liz opened the glove compartment and watched as Michael took off down the road back towards town. Thank the Blue Lady he didn't argue with her about cutting training short. Yes, she was tired and needed sleep but more than that she needed her tryptophan pills. Her hands shook slightly as she poured out five pills into the palm of her left hand. She'd stay there for a few minutes while the pills took effect, she locked the truck doors and closed her eyes leaning against the head rest.

You'd think an organization that specialized in gene research and the like would be able to catch the flaw that was in her and a few other transgenics DNA. Maybe Manticore left it in as a punishment, as if they weren't punished enough in that place. Finally after a few minutes the shakes stopped and she left the desert heading for home.

TBC