Title: This Brilliant Dance

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's note: Well, I have to say, I was pleased that no one seemed to see the end with Maria not actually being Sean's daughter coming. It's going to take a bit for the entire story about Sean and Amy to get unraveled, but I will tell you now that Jim is not Maria's father, and the truth about what happened is not in any way alien related.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Crossing the Line

Previously:

"I don't know how to tell her, Sean. I don't know what to say."

"Start at the beginning and tell her the truth until you reach the end."

"If only it were that easy. She thinks you got me pregnant and skipped town. How do I tell her that that isn't true? How do I tell her that she isn't your daughter?"

"Mommy?" eight-year-old Maria climbed onto the sofa next to her mother and tucked her knees into her chest, staring up at her mother with wide eyes.

Amy glanced down at her daughter and replied, "Yes?"

"We made cards today," the young girl said, twirling a strand of blonde hair around in her fingers. "In school, 'cuz Mrs. Thom'son said it was Daddy's Day. And everyone was makin' these pretty cards, and I didn't… 'cuz I don't have one. And Pam was makin' fun of me for it 'cuz she said my Daddy don't love me."

Amy nodded slowly, her heart breaking as she looked at the tear-filled eyes. She knew Maria wouldn't actually cry, she was trying to be brave and act strong. Amy swallowed the lump in her throat and pulled her daughter into a hug. There really wasn't anything she could say that would both comfort her daughter and be true, so she opted for a lie.

"You're father loves you very much."

"Then where is he?" Maria asked. She was only eight, but she had a vague idea that if her Daddy really loved her, he would be there with her. "Everyone else's Daddy lives with them."

"Some families are different," Amy said. She placed her hand under Maria's chin and lifted her face gently. Looking straight into Maria's eyes, she said firmly, "Your Daddy loves you very much."

Maria sat on the curb of the street, staring up at the night sky. Far above her, the stars twinkled, and as she watched them, she remembered vaguely that Alex had once told her that many of the stars she was looking at didn't actually exist anymore. They were so far away, that by the time their tiny speck of light became visible to the human eye, they had long since flickered out of existence.

She didn't know how she had gotten here. The past half-hour or so was a bit of a blur. She had let the hospital door swing shut, and run as though her life depended on it. Alex and Liz had both jumped to their feet at her sudden departure, but either they had not followed her, or they had been unable to keep up.

She wasn't sure which.

Sean was not her father.

Sean was not her father.

Sean was not her father.

She didn't know what to do.

She hadn't cried, or screamed, or really felt any intense emotion. She had decided only a few moments earlier that she was most likely in shock and that realization had left her strangely confused.

What did she have to be in shock about?

Who cared if Sean wasn't her father? It wasn't as though she had ever known the guy. The fact that her mother had lied to her rankled, but maybe she had a good reason.

A good reason?

Maria laughed darkly at that, her voice echoing in the silent street. What reason could possibly be good enough not to tell her something as important as this? She had spent her entire life thinking that her father didn't love her, didn't love them.

And now it appeared that that belief might not actually be true.

Which begged the question, who was her father, and why wasn't he in the picture anymore?

Had he died?

Had he abandoned her?

Did he know he was her father?

Alright, so that was really five questions.

The fact that she had no idea who her birth father was unsettled her. It was as though suddenly a part of her history was missing. She had always been the girl whose hippie-mother had been pregnant and abandoned by her deadbeat corporate husband.

And that was now obviously not the case.

The more she thought about, the angrier and more confused she got, and the more she wanted to know what had really happened.

Maria sighed heavily and stood up, glancing around. Knowing that she had left the hospital without telling anyone, and that her mother, Liz, and Alex would be worried, she turned around and began retracing her steps. She had left her cell phone at the hospital, so she couldn't call anyone, which meant that she actually had to talk to them in person. She needed to tell them that she was alright, she just didn't want to face her friends right now. She didn't want to have to answer their prying questions about why she had left so abruptly. She didn't want to have to explain to them what she had heard.

Ms. Topolski picked up the phone by her bedside table and glanced at the caller I.D. Sighing, she lifted it to her ear and said briskly, "Agent Topolski speaking."

"I hear you have a plan?" a voice questioned.

"Yes, Agent Pierce," Ms. Topolski replied. She ran her hand over the smooth surface of the desk and glanced out of the window. The night sky was clear, a thousand tiny dots of white light shone down from the inky blackness.

She felt uneasy.

She didn't like what she was doing.

The shooting. The suspicious behavior. Cadmium X.

They had all the clues they needed, but they had somehow reached a standstill, unable to proceed. There were too many obstacles in their way, the greatest of which was their need to maintain secrecy. Second to that was the fact that the suspects were incredibly good at floating beneath her radar, doing nothing to call unwanted attention to themselves.

Well, almost nothing. The shooting, whatever Michael had done to save Amy DeLuca, a trip across state borders…

Still, the most logical thing to do at this point was to shake things up a bit. See how her suspects reacted under pressure.

And there was one way she could do that, one way that would not blow her cover.

But Michael had saved Amy DeLuca. He did have a loveless foster father. He may be a threat to society, but she couldn't…

She couldn't bring herself to be okay with what she was suggesting.

Whatever else he was, he was still an unwanted boy stuck with a man who would never be a father, and the only people he seemed to have on his side, the only people he seemed to trust, where the Evans children.

But this was the only way to proceed. She didn't have a choice.

At least, that's what she told herself over and over as she clutched the phone to her ear.

Still, there was a line between right and wrong, and she knew she was about to step over it.

"Tell me," Pierce commanded sharply.

Ms. Topolski drew a hesitant breath and began to speak.

Isabel opened the door to her house and stepped inside. It was quiet, all the lights were turned off. She looked around in surprise, and called out, "Mom? Dad? Max?"

No one answered her. Walking into the kitchen, she glanced around, hoping that someone had left her a note on the table.

There was nothing.

Where was everyone?

Shrugging it off, she made her way towards her room, stepped inside, and shut the door firmly behind her. Leaning her head against the wood, she closed her eyes and thought back to the conversation with Michael.

He was mad at her, but at least he was still speaking to her. That was something.

Of course, she had agreed to talk to her mother, and she knew perfectly well that her mother was not going to change her mind on the issue.

Why would she? It wasn't like this was a first time thing, Hank was always drunk, always a bad foster father. Both of her parents had wanted to have Michael removed from his care for the past ten years, and it was a miracle that they had managed to postpone the inevitable for so long.

But now it had finally caught up with them.

Walking over to her bed, she collapsed onto it and pulled out last years yearbook. Flipping through the pictures, she wondered vaguely whether or not anyone would be asleep right now. It was still early, so it was unlikely she could find anyone to dream-walk. But she wanted to do something to take her mind off of all the issues currently plaguing them, so she ran her finger randomly over the pictures and waited until she felt the familiar pull of her gifts.

She looked around the dream she was in, and blinked in surprise.

It was Kyle's.

As a general rule, she avoided the Valentis' dreams. There was little chance of Tess finding out that she had invaded them, since Isabel was more than competent at staying hidden, and Kyle himself would probably never know that she was there. After a short debate with herself, she decided to stick around to see what the football jock dreamt about.

Hiding in the shadows of his dream, she looked around. They were in the Valenti's kitchen, and Jim was sitting at the table, working on some case. Tess, a much younger version of the blonde alien, was standing by the window, looking out at the backyard. Kyle, who appeared to be roughly the same age as Tess, was rifling through the refrigerator, looking for something to eat.

Isabel's first thought was that Kyle's dream was incredibly boring.

She was about to leave, but something held her there. As she looked around, she realized that this felt like more than just a dream. It was a memory. Kyle was dreaming about some memory that was probably buried so far in his subconscious that he didn't even realize he remembered it.

She wondered what was going to happen. What was so important about this moment that Kyle unknowingly held onto it?

Another quick glance at Tess determined that the girl was probably eight or nine. A few years after she had come to live in Roswell, but before the Sheriff had officially adopted her.

"There's no hamburger," Kyle complained, turning to look at his father.

Jim blinked as he looked up and said, "I guess it all got eaten. There's some pasta."

"I don't want pasta, I want hamburger," eight-or-nine-year-old Kyle demanded. He turned to Tess and asked angrily, "Did you eat it?"

Tess looked at him, her baby blue eyes wide, and said nothing. She didn't actually have to speak, the answer was written all over her face. Isabel smirked to herself, it was the only time she had ever seen Tess look contrite, at least that she could remember.

"You ate it!" Kyle cried. "Daddy, Tess ate the hamburger that I wanted."

Isabel rolled her eyes. What a brat.

"Well, we can get hamburger later," the Sheriff replied dismissively, not looking up from him work. "Right now you can have the pasta."

Kyle glared at his father, then turned his attention to Tess. "I hate you!" he hissed as fear and worry leapt into Tess' now tear-filled eyes. "I wish you'd never come here! You ruin everything!"

"Kyle!" Valenti reprimanded. He turned and looked at Tess, who was looking at the floor, her eyes screwed tightly shut.

Then the dream ended.

Isabel pulled herself back into her bedroom and tried to make sense of what she had seen. So Kyle had originally not liked the fact that he was saddled with another family member. And Valenti hadn't been all that attentive to either of his children. What was so important about that?

Coming up blank, Isabel sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Her interest in Kyle's dream faded rapidly and she thought instead about Michael.

She had agreed to go with him to Homecoming.

Her mind wandered to Maria and Alex, and to what she knew their reactions would be. She opened her eyes and looked around the room. Everything was so screwed up right now, and for the first time in her entire life, she wasn't entirely sure they would be able to fix it.

Valenti pulled open the door to his office and strolled inside. He had spent the previous night thinking over what Ms. Topolski had said to him about Michael, what he himself had discovered during his investigation, and everything his father believed about aliens.

And he had come to a decision.

He dropped Michael's file on to the desk and called out, "Williams?"

Deputy Williams hurried into his superior's office. "Yes, sir?" he asked.

"I'm starting a new investigation," Valenti said. "But I still want to look into who murdered Deputy Hannigan. So I'm putting you in charge of that. Report back to me with any new developments."

"Of course, sir," Williams replied, surprised and pleased. Valenti had been working hard on the Hannigan case, putting all his energy into that one homicide. Everyone knew how important it was to him to catch whoever had killed his deputy. The fact that he was entrusting something as important as this to Williams filled the deputy with a sense of pride and accomplishment. He was obviously doing something right in his job.

Switching his thoughts to another very important case to him, he asked curiously, "Who is prosecuting the driver who hit Ms. DeLuca?"

Williams frowned and replied, "The case is going to Santa Fe. The district attorney there is handling it, I believe."

Valenti nodded. "Alright, I want updates on that case every day," he requested. He was determined to see the man behind bars.

"Of course," Williams nodded. "Oh, and sir? The new deputy who is replacing Hannigan is here. Would you like to meet him?"

"Yes, yes,'" Valenti agreed readily. "Send him in."

Williams left the office, and a moment later another man walked in. He was tall, with dark hair and slightly tan skin, and dressed in a polo shirt and a pair of jeans. His hair was perfectly groomed, and he was wearing a pair of sunglasses, which he took off as he entered the room. "Good morning, Sheriff," he greeted in a resonant voice.

"Good morning," Valenti replied, reaching out to shake the new deputy's hand.

"I just want to say, sir, that I am truly sorry about Deputy Hannigan, and I promise to help you in any way that I can to find the man who did this," the deputy said sincerely. "I lost a partner to a drug dealer once when I worked in Los Angeles, I know how hard these losses can be."

"Thank you," Valenti replied. "So tell me, what brings you out here? Roswell is quite different from Los Angeles, let me tell you."

"I know," the other man replied with a slight laugh. "I wanted a change in scenery, I guess." He paused for a moment, then said in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My names Fisher. Donald Fisher."

"Welcome aboard, Deputy Fisher," Valenti said with a nod. He was about to continue, when the door swung open suddenly and Williams stuck his head into the room.

"Sir? That was the hospital. Amy DeLuca is awake."

Maria slammed her locker shut and glared at a confused Liz. "I told you," she snapped. "I'm fine. Everything's fine."

"But you left the hospital so quickly," Liz protested. "And you didn't get back until much later." She paused for a moment, contemplating her next words, then said carefully, "I'm not blind, Maria. Something's obviously wrong."

"You're not blind?" Maria demanded, her voice rising slightly in disbelief. "Oh, that's funny, Liz," she spat angrily. "You didn't notice how upset I was when Sean came into the picture. Or, if you did, you didn't really seem to care." She shrugged her shoulders and continued, "But I guess that's because I'm not Max."

Liz felt as though she'd been slapped. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She knew that Maria was, in some ways, right about that. She had ignored Maria when Sean first came to town. But she was trying to repair that rift. And she knew she was right now, Maria was upset.

"I know, and I'm sorry," Liz murmured softly. "I screwed up then, and I am trying to make up for it. But that doesn't change the fact that I know you are upset now."

Maria rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said dismissively. She felt slightly guilty about yelling at Liz because she knew Liz was making an effort to pay more attention to her friends. And it wasn't as though Liz was in any way responsible for what Maria had overheard between her parents… no, her mother and Sean.

Not her father.

But she was too frustrated by the entire situation to care much about the hurt expression on Liz's face.

"Hey, guys?" Max approached the two arguing friends, not realizing what he was interrupting. Both girls turned to look at him, and he said, "I just talked to Isabel. Apparently she and Michael are going to Homecoming together and they want to join us. I told her it was fine."

There was a shocked silence. The look on Maria's face was a mixture of incredulity and betrayal. Liz glanced back and forth quickly between her boyfriend and her best friend. Max seemed to have no idea of the bombshell he had just dropped, and Liz wondered if he was completely oblivious to Maria's feelings for Michael.

"Michael's going with Isabel?" Maria asked at last, her voice faint.

"Um… yeah," Max said. He had quite surprised when Isabel had informed him of the development only a few moments ago, but, in a very twisted way, it made sense. Isabel was one of Michael's best friends, probably his only true friend-who-is-a-girl. Well, with the exception of Tess, but he wouldn't go to Homecoming with her. If he didn't go with Isabel, who else would he go with?

Granted Max still thought of Michael as his brother, so it was a little disturbing that his sister was going to a dance with his brother…

But they weren't siblings, he was sure of that. They had never been able to explain how they knew what they did, but all four of them had agreed that Max and Isabel were siblings, but Tess and Michael were not biologically related to the Evans.

Which then made them wonder how they were related.

Just one more question to add to the never-ending list of things they didn't know about themselves.

Liz slanted a look at Maria and then said to Max, "We're going to get to class. See you later?" Without even waiting for a response from the alien, she grabbed Maria by the arm and forcefully dragged her down the hallway to the nearest bathroom.

And Max was left staring after the two girls and wondering what it was he had done wrong.

"You really are an idiot, you know that?" a voice said somewhat mockingly.

Max turned around to see Tess staring at him. He raised an eyebrow at her and asked, "What do you mean?"

Tess studied him for a moment, as though trying to determine whether or not he realized just how much he had screwed up that conversation. Coming to the conclusion that he simply had no idea about what was happening between Michael and Maria and Alex and Isabel, Tess sighed and said, "Ask your sister why she's going to the dance with Michael." Max was about to question the strange command when Tess continued in a low voice, "We're going to need to talk soon. About what to do about Jim's investigation."

And she turned and walked quickly away.

Max rubbed the back of his head absently, then grabbed his books and headed towards his class.

"Maria?"

Liz wrapped her arms tightly around her friend, knowing instinctively it was the right thing to do. Whatever Maria had been upset about before, it was clearly compounded by Max's news.

Maria swallowed back the urge to scream and instead simply shook her head in frustration and anger. "I… He's going with… with Isabel?" she stammered, wide-eyed. "Why?"

Ms. Topolski leaned back in her seat and stared at the man in front of her. He was tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes and pale skin. He was dressed in a crisp business suit and his expression was permanently set into a disapproving frown.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked. There was hesitation in his voice, he did not agree with Ms. Topolski's course of action.

"Yes, Mr. Hollins, I am," Ms. Topolski said smoothly. "When I visited Mr. Guerin, he was clearly drunk although it was the middle of the day, and he had no idea where Michael was. And Michael's absence record at this school indicates that he has quite often disappeared with the adults in his life knowing where he was."

"The boy does not have a good record," Mr. Hollins said thoughtfully. "He seems to be just as much of a deadbeat as his foster father."

"Michael still has managed decent grades, and has, as of yet, not gotten into any serious trouble with the law. A few schoolyard fights does not make him a deadbeat," Ms. Topolski said sharply.

"You think he is acting out home issues at school?"

Ms. Topolski nodded briefly, then said, "He has slipped through the cracks for the last ten years, and nobody seems to care. But I do, and I can't honestly say that I don't see Hank as a dangerous influence. Michael is still at an impressionable age, and if he is removed from Hank's care now, he has a chance of doing something worthwhile with his life, instead of ending up like his foster father."

Mr. Collins nodded, swayed by Ms. Topolski's logic. Then he sighed heavily and said, "The problem is that he does have a record for fighting, and Roswell is a small enough town that every foster care home here knows it. I don't think any of them would take him, which means he would be forced to leave Roswell."

Ms. Topolski looked up, her eyes briefly shadowed by regret. She pushed away the twinge of remorse and nodded, a grim smile turning up the corners of her lips before she managed to school her face into a properly unreadable expression, and said simply, "I know."

Next Chapter: And You Can't Go Back

Due: Sun 8/6