CHAPTER 49

Sprawled out across his couch, Michael watched as a thin shaft of light snuck over the top of his make-shift tie-dye curtain and played across the opposite wall. The forthcoming Christmas break stretched interminably out in front of him.

He'd almost rather be in school, he thought, then abandoned that idea like a Tabasco-free cherry coke. There were worse things to do on a Monday morning in December than laze about at home. He could still be living in the trailer park with Hank instead of being in his own place, for one. Except he'd emancipated himself. And Nasedo had killed his erstwhile foster father. Michael well remembered the abuse and squalor of his life with Hank--it was something he'd never be able to forget. His life, abnormal as it was, was much better now. And though his current situation was at the cost of Hank's life, that hadn't been Michael's choice. He might regret it, but he wasn't going to reject his freedom because of it.

Freedom to choose to sprawl on the couch and do absolutely nothing. Life could be a lot worse.

Plus he still had the movie with Maria ahead of him. On the way home from the quarry, they'd settled on Wednesday for their date. Michael didn't even want to think about what he'd be watching on that afternoon. He wouldn't put it past Maria to choose the sappiest, most asinine piece of chick-flick sludge available, just because she could.

But the date would serve as the official rekindling of their relationship--Michael suspected that Maria would consider their recent conversations and make-out sessions as unofficial and therefore not part of a relationship, although she'd sure seemed to enjoy the kissing part--and after that, he could spend as much time as he wanted with her. Hell, she'd said if her uncle hung around too long, she'd move right in.

Yeah, like that was going to happen. Even if her mother didn't object to her seventeen-year-old daughter staying with a guy (not to mention a half-alien, semi-delinquent guy), Michael couldn't really picture Maria living in his apartment, not even on a temporary basis. Besides the fact that he kind of liked living alone, found it safe--no, make that comfortable, it was a much better word--his place was too empty and drab to suit Maria. She was vibrant; she lived her life with the volume way, way up. Any place would need color, color and life and light, to fit her.

He looked around. His place had none of that.

Well, he might be able to supply one out of the three. Reaching out a hand, Michael closed his eyes and tried to focus his energy within. If he could duplicate that strange dichotomous concentration that he'd felt under Bob's tutelage...

It wasn't working. What had Bob said? He had to think about it but not think about it. Concentrate, but not too much. Focus and distraction, all at the same time. He was just about to give it up as pointless when something inside jerked his brain half a thought to the left, and he opened his eyes to find he'd been successful. A small spark of bluish light--pure energy--shimmered in the air above him.

Narrowing his eyes, he gave it a mental push, and it eddied through the air, moving closer to the wall. Another push, and it spun in a circle. He tried a third time but instead of moving through the air, this time the spark grew to about the size of a baseball.

After a little experimentation, he found that by feeding it energy, he could finesse its size and brilliance. He could feel an uncustomary grin on his face. He'd done it. He was controlling his powers again, all by himself. He hadn't needed any help from Max or Isabel, Nasedo or Bob. This he'd done on his own.

And he hadn't even blown anything up, either--

The sudden knock on the door, startling, scrambled his concentration, and the ball of energy streaked across the room and exploded the half-empty box of cereal he'd left on the counter.

"Dammit!" he shouted, watching the sudden rain of cornflakes on the counter and floor.

There was a pause, then another knock. With a growl, Michael stalked over to the door, barking, "What the hell is it?" as he unlocked it.

It was already starting to swing open when he realized that the person he'd just blown up at was probably Maria. Max and Isabel wouldn't have needed to knock, they could just come in; and Maria was the only other person who ever came over. Somehow he knew she was going to take his little outburst the wrong way. He doubted she'd be in any mood for moving in, or anything else, now.

But it wasn't Maria. Instead, the gangly form of Alex Whitman greeted him. "Morning," he said.

"What's wrong?" Michael demanded, instantly on the alert. "Maria?"

"Nothing's wrong," Alex interjected. "She's fine, as far as I know."

"Then what're you doing here?" He probably sounded rude, but he didn't really care. He'd been minding his own business, making progress on his powers, and he hadn't asked for any interruptions. If there wasn't an emergency--

"It's Christmas vacation."

"So?" Michael demanded.

Alex didn't look the least bit phased. "So do I get to come in?" he asked mildly. Michael stood for a moment, giving him the eye, but it didn't seem to have any effect. Finally, he stepped aside and let his visitor enter, not sure whether or not he should be offended by Alex's lack of fear.

Alex took several steps into the apartment before stopping to stare at the ruin of Michael's cereal box. To his horror, Michael felt himself flush. "I had an accident, okay?" he blustered, closing the door and leaning against it. Crossing his arms over his chest, he silently dared Alex to say anything about it.

Either his mental challenge or his intent to intimidate--or both--failed, because Alex gave him a quick grin. "What, did you think your cereal box was a shapeshifter in disguise?"

"No," Michael snapped. After a moment, he unbent enough to say, somewhat grudgingly, "I was playing with some energy. You...startled me."

"Cool," was Alex's reply. He crossed over and plopped down on the far end of the couch. "Let's see it."

"See what?"

"You know, the energy. Do your stuff."

Michael stared at him. He wasn't a trained monkey, performing on command. He could feel his jaw get tighter as he gritted his teeth. "What did you come over here for, Whitman?" he demanded.

"I told you, it's Christmas vacation," Alex replied affably.

"And I told you 'So?'" Michael shot back.

"So I asked myself, what better to do with my vacation than hang with one of my reconstituted alien buddies? And I came up with--nothing."

"You wanted to hang out. Here."

"Yep."

"Did Maria put you up to this?" Michael demanded, eyes narrowing.

"Nope. Haven't seen her since she hauled you off after our gig yesterday. But she and Liz and I are having our traditional Girl's Night tonight."

This diverted Michael's attention. "You're having a girl's night?"

"Uh-huh," Alex said. "We've been doing it since fifth grade. First real day of vacation, we have a junk food and movie fest. It's tradition."

Michael smirked; it was pretty damn funny that Alex was harmless enough to be considered one of the girls. Then again, Alex didn't seem bothered by this evidence of his feebleness. And, come to think of it, he was spending time with Maria...

Maybe Michael should feel less amused and more envious. Maybe.

But regardless, he was still suspicious about the other guy's presence. "Why are you really here?" he asked. The only reason he could come up with, besides Maria, was the other bossy female in his life. "Did Isabel send you?"

For the first time, Alex looked affronted. "I'm not some puppy dog, you know. I don't leap to do everything Isabel says."

Michael wasn't so sure about that. He'd seen the way Alex looked at Isabel: whipped, and they weren't even a couple. "You're still here 'cause of her," he said, shaking his head. "If she didn't send you, then you're here about her." The explanation popped into his head. "Look, if you're here for advice on asking her out or getting her a Christmas present or something, you got the wrong guy. Talk to Max."

Alex looked at him for a moment. "You've got the wrong end of the proverbial stick there. I'm not here for Isabel--and if I needed advice about her, I'd talk to Maria and Liz; that's what having female friends is for."

"Why are you here, then?" Michael demanded impatiently. How many times did he have to ask?

"My two best friends in the world are girls, which is great; they're great. And I spend time with the guys in the band, but other than that and whatever alien protection stuff we all do as a group, it's pretty much Liz and Maria. I know more about make-up and shoes than any straight male should. So I decided I need a guy friend."

Michael let out a snort. "And you came to me? Whitman, you're even more pathetic than I thought."

"Not the best way to start off a brand spanking new friendship--though there won't be any spanking involved, thanks--but I'm not counting you out yet." His tone was annoyingly cheerful.

"Look, Whitman, you got yourself roped into the whole alien mess. And, okay, you've even been a help," Michael added grudgingly. "But from what I understand, real friends are supposed to have something in common. Something besides the alien crap, I mean."

He firmly believed it, too. It had always bothered him, but he suspected that if they hadn't had the whole alien-hybrid thing in common, Max would have never been his friend, much less his best friend. Their secret had thrust them together, shielding them from outsiders. And now that there were others in on the secret, sometimes Michael worried that he and Max were losing what ties they had.

He wasn't going to tell that to Max, though, much less to Alex Whitman.

"You're one of Maria's best friends," he said. "That's it; she's all we got in common."

"How do you know?"

Michael raised his eyebrows at the challenge in Alex's voice.

"So your friends are limited to a very small circle. So what? My circle isn't that much bigger. The Whits aside, a dodge-ball-playing computer geek isn't going to win many high school popularity contests. If you can afford to pass up the chance on a friendship, good for you. I can't."

Michael was completely taken aback. He'd thought before that a friendship with Alex would be a valuable commodity, but he'd never expected to be offered it. He wasn't even sure he could keep up his end of things. But here Alex was, offering that friendship, not for Maria's sake, but for his own.

He should latch on to it, and fast. But he wasn't quite sure how.

He found his feet moving slowly to the couch. Sitting on the other end, he glanced over at Alex.

"No getting sentimental on me, or any of that crap," he warned.

"Gotcha." Alex grinned. "So let's see your powers in action."


*****

The heat of righteous indignation kept Maria more than adequately warm on the trek across town to Michael's apartment. It wasn't fair. This was supposed to be her vacation, at least from school, so she should be able to enjoy herself between shifts at the Crashdown. And she'd had plans with Liz and Alex, too, traditional Girls' Night plans, just like the three of them had made every vacation since the fifth grade. Liz had even wangled the lunch shift for herself and Maria, so they could spend the whole evening eating ice cream and watching part of Alex's growing DVD collection.

But did any of that matter to her mother? No. She had decided, quite unfairly, that an impromptu 'family night' with someone who didn't even deserve to be thought of as family was more important than a long-standing tradition with two friends who were practically family themselves. It was totally unreasonable.

And Michael had said, just last night, that she could talk to her mother about anything, now that the whole Czechoslovakian thing was out. Ha! He was so very, very wrong. And he deserved to hear all about it.

Clomping extra-heavily up the stairs to his apartment, Maria held in a scream of frustration. If this was the way her whole vacation was going to go, she might as well be in school. At least there she wouldn't have to deal with unwanted reminders of the past, just with homework. Michael was going to hear all about that, too.

Without a second thought, she marched right up to his apartment door. It was unlocked, and she barged right in, blurting, "Spaceboy, you are never going to believe--"

What she saw brought her to a sudden halt. The whole apartment was in disarray, with the couch tilted onto its back in the center of the room and an assortment of Michael's possessions piled around like giant Lego building blocks. For a moment, she thought her heart had actually stopped beating. Then she saw him--no, them: Alex and Michael were sitting at the counter, surveying the chaos before them. Michael's right hand was outstretched.

"What are you doing?" Maria burst out.

Neither of them looked in her direction; they remained focused on the jumble that had been Michael's studio apartment. A flash of light caught the corner of Maria's eye, and she swung around just in time to see a glowing ball of light dart around the corner of the couch, pass under a bridge-like structure made of a shoebox, the couch cushions, and what looked like Michael's history textbook, and fly straight at her. With a startled cry, she ducked, but the ball of light circled crazily around her head. It then swooped up toward the ceiling and shattered into a shower of glistening fairy lights that sparkled, winking out of existence as they fell.

"Seven point five," said Alex.

"What? That was at least a nine!" Michael protested.

"The fireworks display at the end was nice," Alex said, "but the arc around the couch was better last time, and you missed the chest of drawers completely."

"I missed the chest of drawers, but I added in Maria. That makes it even."

"Sorry. Seven-five is as high as I'm willing to go."

Maria cleared her throat. "Hello? Would one of you at least care to acknowledge my presence?"

At last they looked over at her. "Michael already did that--didn't you notice you were the finale of the light show?" Alex asked.

Rolling her eyes, Maria said pointedly, "Hello, Alex. Hello, Michael. Nice to see you both." Not giving either one a chance to respond, she continued in a deep voice, "Hello, Maria. Nice to see you, too. I hope you weren't startled by the giant firefly zooming around your head." Her voice back in its normal register, she said, "Now what on earth is all this?"

Alex grinned and gestured towards the mess. "It's an obstacle course."

Wrinkling up her nose in consternation, Maria asked, "And you need an obstacle course why?"

In response, Michael raised one eyebrow, then stuck his hand back out. Another ball of light circled around the couch before disappearing. "Practice," he said.

"Practice?" she repeated, and then suddenly realized. "Oh my god, Michael, your powers! Your powers are working!" Rushing over, she flung her arms about him.

"Yeah, I know," he said, trying to fend her off. "I was here."

"But that's so good!"

"It's okay. Now will you get off me?"

Maria took a small step back, but stayed close enough to grab him again if she felt like it. Behind her, Alex cleared his throat dramatically. "You know, if the two of you want to be alone..."

"No, silly," she laughed, "I just didn't expect to come over here and find this."

"Why're you here, anyway?" Michael asked. "Thought you were forbidden from ever setting foot in my apartment again."

"Oh!" In her excitement, she'd forgotten about that. She'd also forgotten why she'd come over in the first place. "If my mom is going to be unreasonable, I don't think there's any reason to follow her stupid rules. Besides, she'd have given in eventually. But that's not the important thing. Alex," she said, turning to him in distress, "I can't do Girls' Night."

"How come?"

"I have to do this totally stupid family thing," she complained, not wanting to get into the details. Alex didn't know about Uncle Teddy, after all. "Mom won't let me out of it."

She heard Michael take a quick breath in, and gave him a glare. "I have to have dinner with a certain someone," she said darkly. "And it's all your fault!"

"My fault? What'd I do?"

"You said I should talk to Mom about...about stuff. And when I try to, look what happens! I am never listening to you again, Michael Guerin. Your advice stinks."

He had the nerve--the gall--to shrug. "It probably won't be that bad."

"Easy for you to say; you won't be there!" she spat; then the stroke of genius hit her. "Yes, you will."

"I will what?"

"Be there. If Mom can invite someone to dinner, then so can I."

Slipping of the stool, Michael backed away as far as the counter would allow. "No."

"Michael--" she began.

"No way am I having dinner with you. The last time was bad enough, with just your mother. This would be worse."

"That's what I'm saying! That's why you have to come."

A voice interrupted. "Far be it for me to butt in, but what are you talking about?" Maria swung around, startled. She'd actually forgotten Alex was there.

"Family stuff--" she began.

"She's crazy, is all," Michael said at the same time.

"What?" she gasped. "I am not crazy, Michael! If you think--"

"Whatever," he said, cutting her off. "No dinner."

"That's not fair!"

"Hey, she's your mother."

"Did I or did I not say we would share her?"

"Did you tell her that?" Michael shot back.

"Okay, I think this is where I head out," Alex put in. "If you need help reassembling your apartment, I can come back later, Michael."

"Why? What time is it?" Maria asked, grabbing Alex's wrist to look at his watch. "Oh my god, I'm going to be late for work!" she cried out.

Michael didn't even bother to try and hide the relieved smirk on his face. He probably thought he was going to wiggle out of it, but he was wrong. "Oh, no, Spaceboy, you're coming with me," Maria ordered, grabbing a handful of his t-shirt. "Get your jacket, mister." She turned to Alex. "Want some lunch, Alex? Galaxy Melt's on me."

He looked at her, then at Michael. When he looked back at her, a smile was creeping onto his lips. "Sure," he said, slipping into his jacket. "Gotta watch out for my man, here."

Giving up waiting for Michael to move, Maria grabbed his jacket from its spot on the counter and tossed it at him. "Come on, Spaceboy. I'm already late."

He gave in with what was for Michael remarkable grace: he glared at her for a moment, then shook his head and stalked out of the apartment. With a pleased smile she followed, Alex by her side. As Michael locked the apartment door behind them, Maria and Alex headed for the stairs.

"So, Alex," Maria said, tucking her hand companionably into the crook of her friend's arm, "Just when did my boyfriend become your man?"


*****

If Michael hadn't known better, he would've thought it was a setup. The three of them arrived--only seven minutes late, to Maria's audible relief--to find the Crashdown already hosting some familiar faces. Max was at the counter, chatting with Liz as she filled soda glasses, and Kyle and Tess sat together in a booth towards the back.

"Michael! Alex! Come sit with us," Tess called across the room. Michael was a little surprised at Alex's inclusion; the last he knew, Tess wasn't that big on the human element. Then again, she was sitting with Kyle Valenti...Narrowing his eyes, he peered at the couple in the booth. They looked awfully...friendly.

"Well, don't just stand there, Michael," Maria admonished, then reached up to press her lips fleetingly against his. "We'll talk more when I get a break." Heading to the back room, she disappeared behind the swinging door.

Trying to pretend he hadn't just been kissed in front of everyone, Michael nodded to Max, then followed Alex over to the booth and slid in beside Tess. "Hey," he grunted out.

"Guerin," Kyle said with a nod.

"Valenti," he responded.

"Whitman," Alex chimed in. "So how's it going?"

"Pretty well," Tess said with an excited smile. "Kyle and I were just talking about Christmas. Nasedo wasn't big on celebrating, you know, so this is my first..."

She kept talking, but Michael purposely let his attention stray. If he wanted all that Christmas crap, he could talk to Isabel. He didn't even know why he was here; he shouldn't have let Maria drag him out of his apartment. Except for the alien quest and the movie date, it had been his intention to hole up and not set foot outside until his face was back to normal. And now that it looked like he was going to be permanently scarred, that meant pretty much forever.

He shouldn't even be here now. In fact, he would just leave, except he was kind of hungry, and his cupboards were pretty much bare now that his last box of cornflakes was dust. He'd have to go to the grocery store, a chore he'd always hated. It was too much like shopping. When he could, he got Isabel to go for him--

The soft clink of glass against a hard surface brought him out of his fugue, and he looked up. Liz placed a drink in front of him and then fished a bottle of Tabasco sauce out of her apron pocket. "Cherry coke," she said, "and root beer for you, Alex. Want your regular?"

Alex chuckled, "Do you even have to ask?"

Liz laughed with him as she made a notation on her order pad. "And you, Michael?"

"Don't order too much," Maria said as she joined them, dressed for work. "You have to save room for dinner."

"I'm not going," Michael reminded her, then turned to Liz and ordered. "Will Smith burger and fries. And a big slab of cake," he added, looking at Maria. "Chocolate if you got it."

Her lips curving upwards, Liz wrote the order down, then turned to Kyle and Tess. "Can I get you two anything else?"

"We're good," Tess said politely, and Liz headed off to put the order in.

Unfortunately, Maria didn't go with her. "Michael, you have to--"

"No way," he said, cutting her off. "Maybe I got plans."

"Plans?" she asked derisively. "Like what?"

"Just plans," he said firmly, then busied himself with adding hot sauce to his soda. And if his plans were to sit on the couch and do nothing, well, that was his business, wasn't it? He actually heard her say "Arrrgh!"--something he thought was limited to pirates--before she stormed off.

There was silence at the table. He looked up to find three pairs of eyes fixed on him.

"What?"

"Michael," Tess said, "Maybe now isn't the best time to be fighting with Maria."

"Why not? What's going on?" he demanded, slipping instantly into action mode.

Tess took a sip of the coffee in front of her before she answered. "Well, aren't you in a rather...delicate stage of negotiations?"

Negotiations? There were no negotiations. Maria'd said come to dinner, and he'd said no. End of story.

"She means you shouldn't screw things up right before your date," Kyle announced.

"My what?" Michael said sharply.

"Your trip to the movies," Tess put in. "It's on Wednesday, right?"

"For god's sake, does the whole world have to know my business?" Michael exploded.

Alex shook his head. "Michael, who's the other person going on this date?"

Duh. "Maria, but--"

Oh.

Well, that kind of explained how the whole world knew, but they'd just decided on Wednesday last night. Did the Maria-grapevine work that fast?

Probably.

"Whatever," he mumbled, and set his jaw. If he didn't say anything else, they'd move on to some other topic of conversation, right?

Right?

It wasn't even partially true. By the time Liz set his lunch down in front of him with a quiet, "Here you go, Michael," he had heard so much discussion about his upcoming date that he almost wished it wasn't going to happen. Yeah, he wanted the 'spend time with Maria' part, but did everyone have to force their opinion on him? He hadn't even asked what they thought.

Of course, the last time he'd asked for dating advice, he'd totally screwed up Max's instructions. This time he wasn't going to try things Max's style; he was determined to handle the date with Maria in his own way.

God help them both.

One thing was the same, though, as that last time. He still wanted to make Maria happy. He just had to figure out how for himself.

Turning his head, he watched Maria as she loaded up on plates and delivered them briskly to a table of old people. One of them said something to her, and he could hear her laugh. That was the way Maria should always look. Not the hokey--and rather insulting, considering--uniform, but the laughter. She looked like she'd forgotten all her worries for a moment. Squeezing his eyes shut, Michael fixed her image in his mind's eye for later drawing inspiration.

The others were back to discussing Christmas plans when he opened his eyes again. Alex looked over at him, a question in his eyes, but Michael just shrugged and picked up his untouched burger.

He was finishing up his generously-sliced portion of chocolate cake when Maria rushed up to the table. "Tell Liz I had to take my break," she said, the words rushing from her mouth even faster than usual. Then she ran for the back room. Michael wasn't sure he could've moved any faster.

"What's that about?" asked Kyle.

Michael frowned. It couldn't be break time yet; Maria'd been at work for less than an hour. Plus she'd said she wanted to talk to him on her break, probably to try and wangle him into the DeLuca family dinner again.

Looking around the busy restaurant for Liz, he spotted just why Maria had taken off.

Dammit. Trouble.