Thanks for coming back to read! Sorry for the delay, and the short part, but the next one should be on it's way soon. As usual, THANKS A TON for your reviews!!

XXXIII

Heartbeat

Despite her best intentions to the contrary, Maria's stomach growled loud enough to make Dave pause and regard her, then glimpse at his watch, and then back at her, the most obvious fact that she was close to being famished making her cheeks blush.

She hated blushing.

Blushing meant that someone else could be privy to the fact that she was embarrassed or that she had been busted doing –or thinking- something she should be ashamed of. Since the moment she had entered that room she had vowed she was not going to fall for this man's antics, and when two hours ago he had offered her something to eat while they were discussing how much was too much in their bank accounts, she had taken it as a way of distracting her from what was important. So she had rather curtly declined his offer.

He didn't offer again.

Maybe she should have asked. She had certainly not been shy about asking when they were bargaining about their bank accounts, nor had she been doubtful about getting some more answers as Dave had started casually flipping pieces while they were nearing a settlement, questions from both of them becoming more personal.

He hadn't been truthful when he had said he lacked passion. Maybe for music, okay, but not when it became about making plans and commitments. He had pointed out that bank accounts were traceable, she had pointed out that it only mattered if they were going to leave in a hurry. What better deal for him then, she had reasoned, than the fact that he would hold their future welfare, securing that way that they would at least leave on good terms?

He had casually stated that diamonds were a good sell in the market. She had said not even Max could make the numbers they would as fast as if they stayed. A year was profitable, five years were just too many $$ on her bank account to back away from Dave's deal without his knowledge.

Dave had regarded her for a long minute. Maria was just oh so aware that Dave had never really cared about if they settled on 7 figures or 8. Money was not a problem for this man, but it was also not something that mattered to him. She knew that because of the lack of wealth around. Sure, the desk alone could very well cost more than her entire house back in Roswell, but nothing about this room screamed I have money. It rather quietly whispered this is business or I am thinking. Nothing about Dave ever screamed anything… it was all rather subtle. This room was some sort of Fortress of Solitude, where the man would sit and contemplate his world, but not where he lived and moved around on a daily basis. On a second thought, maybe it was more like the Batcave.

She had wondered if Dave actually had a house. An apartment. A small castle somewhere that he would call home. That he traveled a lot was obvious enough, but did he settle somewhere, a villa in Tuscany or a penthouse in New York? She had tried to imagine what that place would look like as Dave had conceded that a bank account could be some sort of trust pact. It would represent that they both were willing to compromise and would ensure that the end of the deal would be on "good terms", as she had said.

That had been an hour ago, and now that her stomach had completely betrayed her, she had expected him to end the "interview" and let her go. She crossed her arms in a somewhat defiant gesture. Hesitation crossed his eyes. She noticed because it was such a rare and unexpected look that it was impossible to miss. They were standing on opposite sides of the desk, with the enigmatic numbers at his back and the cupboard at hers. She preferred the freedom of walking around and he preferred the freedom of putting his puzzle together.

He reached a conclusion, his eyes moving from her to the door, and then back to her.

"I guess now is as good time as any to end our meeting," Dave finally said, not entirely covering up his hesitation better now than a second before.

She looked him in the eye. "I gather we have a deal with the bank?" she questioned him before making any move to the door. She hadn't spent the better part of an hour arguing about numbers and value for nothing. Dave nodded once. If that wasn't a trust pact, she didn't know what it was.

Oh wait. She actually did: They'd accepted Dave's offer less than a week ago.

For that matter, there had been more arguments about trust issues in the past hour than in the first four, and looking back, Maria wasn't sure if she had covered all she wanted to argue with this man.

"You know, in the really grand scheme of things, you have nothing to lose," Maria had pointed out once the bank issue had been resolved, around the time when her stomach had quietly reminded her that she hadn't had breakfast and was miserably missing lunch too. What he would lose or not had been a point they had discussed before, but she had still been unconvinced by Dave's evasive answers.

"You think so?" Dave had said, seemingly more interested in his puzzle than in her. "I went through two years of surveillance and seven months of infiltrating a US military organization, plus a thousand other things that shall remain nameless for the sake of brevity, because I had nothing to lose?"

"I think that what you're going to earn outweighs any loss," Maria had said as she had watched him fitting yet one more piece into the puzzle.

"Ah, but that doesn't mean I have 'nothing to lose'. If anything, I'm willing to risk a lot to ensure this deal works." His eyes had met hers, thoughtful. "You're risking an awful lot too," he said at length. It had occurred to Maria that this was the first time he had actually considered their side. Her eyebrows shot to her hairline.

"You mean how we're graciously avoiding the fact that you spied on us, kidnapped us, drugged us, and have pretty much been a shadowy menace that we tolerate because we have no choice? You know, just to name a few things for the sake of brevity."

This time, the silence had been longer, though his thoughtful expression hadn't changed through Maria's words.

"Well, since we're on the subject," he had calmly said, as if Maria's last words hadn't had any effect on him, "explain something to me: You were 'spied on' by several people, in different degrees, in the last four years. The former Sheriff Valenti, and for a while Kyle; the Counselor-in-disguise Topolsky, and the Special Unit by extension; the Congresswoman-slash-alien Whitaker and all that entails. A shapeshifter, doubles, the army... even the Evans. Not to mention your very own inside traitor, Tess. And though, according to you I'm not better than the FBI, I'm the one who gets the flames just because I actually gave you the chance to persecute me. And the funny thing is, you did your own spying on at least half of those people. The only thing that separates them from you is how resourceful they were."

"Oh, don't you dare change the subject," Maria had said with bare restraint. "Spying aside, you did worse than any of them!"

Hazel calm had met angry green as their eyes had locked. As he had kept silent, Maria had had a nagging voice reminding herself that, in fact, worse things had been done to the Pod Squad both by the FBI and their alien enemies. Even an innocent mistake by the former Sheriff had sent that Hubble nut-case after Max, and if not for Michael, chances were Max would be already dead. A slight tremor had passed through her spine as she had recalled the very vivid images she had told Dave about Max in that sterile white room, and her wondering -and worrying- that one day it would be Michael.

"You played with us like none of them did," she had said, shaking those thoughts off. Besides, just because everybody else was doing it, that doesn't mean it was okay. And they had spied back to save their own lives, for Pete's sake! Wasn't Dave aware of all those things? "And now you're asking me to explain to you why you're getting 'flamed'? Please, you can't be that dense."

"You're risking an awful lot too because you have an awful lot to gain as well, and I'm not talking just about money." Dave pointed out, as if he had re-taken his early thought and was finally finishing it out loud. "When you returned seven days ago it was with the intention of compromise. You were right about the fact that you didn't have to like the deal, or like me, but the fact that you don't trust me doesn't mean that I'm wrong. That almost all the people that spied on you had very dark intentions that would invariably end with your friends' deaths is not something to take lightly, especially when half of them are still out there." Dave had paused for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts, "If you think, just for a second, that I'm going to hurt them, you would leave in a heartbeat."

Heartbeat? No, probably a lot less than that.

"They would tear this place down if you so much as threaten us," Maria had said then, pointing out one of those few things that both of them completely agreed on. "So if you think you can get away with spying on us again, or any of all those other things, you'd better think again."

"It won't happen again," he had simply said, silence and tension building up as Maria had been willing herself to believe this man and having no other guarantee than to trust his word. So she had kept arguing, and he had kept going in circles with his own words. They had kept talking about that for the last half hour along with some other things that had led to dead ends, until her stomach had unceremoniously interrupted them.

Now her stomach was growling again, louder this time if that were possible, Dave's eyes meeting hers once more, one eyebrow arched as if asking if she really didn't want to leave and go hunting food. The sharp point of the pencil in her pocket stabbed her for the millionth time, remindeing her she still had one last chance of getting some juicy details.

She smiled. He frowned. She had a slight feeling he found her smiles puzzling. He did tend to frown every time she gave him one of her patented DeLuca grins, she reflected as she finally moved to the door, no good-byes or final last words.

Good.

And then, "Maria," she slowly turned in place. For a second she thought he was about to say something dreadful. She didn't know why, really, but it would just be her luck. On the other hand, he could very well be going to tell her Happy Birthdayand she was so not wanting to hear that from this man—

"I hope you enjoy your meal."

It was his turn to give a smile that puzzled her. There was a certain mischief underneath this casual remark, but she didn't know what to make of it. What was he implying here? Her stomach gave a final growl that made her say with all confidence, "I'm sure I will."

Turning once more, this time she made it to the door without further interruption. She opened it, went through it, and closed it all without a backward glance. Once out, she closed her eyes and leaned against the closed door with a barely audible sigh. This thing was over, and now she had all the time in the world to figure out what she had seen and what she had learned and—

A soft sound at her left startled her out of her skin, making her heart go a million miles per hour. She frowned once she realized what had caused it: "Michael? What are you doing here?"