The other girl ran back into the room. "Maria? MARIA! It's Liz… Wake up!"
After one last attempt to tear away from Liz, Maria abruptly jolted into consciousness. "A dream… it was just a dream," she said, her words a jumble of relief that the other girl didn't quite comprehend.
"What? What is going on?"
"Nothing," Maria mumbled, massaging her temples.
Liz stepped back, placed her hands to her hips and looked on with a stern seriousness. "Maria," she started her tone full of warning, "what are you not telling me?"
"Nothing, Liz… really, it's nothing. I've just been having these dreams… uh, nightmares. They're, you know, really scaring me. But they're just dreams… I'll cope."
"Nightmares? What are they about?"
"Things… Stuff…" Maria stood, gathering her belongings. "Listen, I can't talk to you about this right now, Liz. I have to go home… I'm sorry." The teen looked so weary, "I'm sorry…" she repeated.
Not sure what to do, Liz followed her best friend down the stairs and into the dark alley, calling after her. "Maria? Maria!" She was no where to be seen, almost as if she vanished into the night. Parker ran out to Main Street, searching around frantically, then accepted the fact that Maria was gone.
Liz walked back down the darkened alleyway, then climbed the fire escape onto her balcony, shocked to find Max there waiting for her.
"Max," she said with a hint of panic in her voice causing him to turn towards her, "what's wrong?"
"Where's Maria?"
"She went home." A red flag popped up in her mind, "Why?"
"Don't be concerned… I just wanted to talk to her," he replied, reaching for her hand.
"Ha – me? Concerned? Never. I mean, you stop by my bedroom every night looking for Maria. Just another normal day in Roswell."
Her sarcasm caused him to wince. "I don't want to worry you—"
"Too late. Tell me."
Max wavered, uncertainty shining in his deep brown eyes. Liz knew him too well… after all she *has* seen his soul. "I needed to talk to her about what I saw when I healed her. Things didn't make sense."
A crease of apprehension formed between Liz's brows. "What things?"
"I can't tell you." At his girlfriend's stricken expression, Max spoke on. "These things I see... they're personal… Maria's personal things. I can't tell you what I see with her, just like I won't tell her what I see with you."
"Max… what if… what if this is something, uh, alien? What if it's all my fault for getting her into this situation? I'll never forgive myself if something happens to her because of me. She's my best friend." Liz pulled her hand away from him, and leaned back onto the balcony ledge.
"This isn't your fault, Liz," Max nudged her chin up so that she had to look at him. "Don't ever think that, okay?" She nodded, and he released her. "Did she mention anything about what's been going on?"
The girl nodded again, "She said she's been having nightmares."
"Nightmares?" he paused, reflecting on the visions he saw earlier. "That could explain the inconsistencies in her flashes." Max sat next to her, and tenderly caressed her cheek.
Liz shyly smiled, the tingles of his touch pushing away her fear. "Is this something you can fix, Max?"
"I don't know…" Max replied, honestly, "but I'll talk to Maria in the morning and see what I can find out. Okay?"
"Okay," she agreed, though somewhat hesitantly.
"Good… now try and get some sleep. We'll figure this all out." Max kissed her goodnight, then carefully climbed down the ladder.
* * *
Maria quietly entered her house, trying not to wake her mother. Stopping in the kitchen, she got a glass of water so that she could take more pills to stay awake. As she swallowed the last of her bottle of ginseng, Amy called out to her from the living room.
"Maria, sit down. I learned a piece of most interesting information today."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I dropped a batch of pies to Jeff and Nancy today at the CrashDown, while you were on break. I mentioned to Nancy how much I appreciated her letting you spend the night so Liz could help you study. And she informed me that Liz was grounded. She's been grounded for three weeks, so you never came over that day, or any day for almost a month. Can you explain this?" Maria shook her head silently. "I told her that I must have gotten the names mixed up. Then, who do I see cooking in the kitchen, but my favorite wrestler and houseguest, Michael. Do you know what Nancy tells me when I ask how long he's been working there? About a month… ever since the judge approved his emancipation… because he needs rent money for his new apartment. How come you never told me that he has his own apartment?"
"It wasn't important, Mom."
"It wasn't important?!?" Amy repeated, her voice raising several octaves. "It wasn't important to let me know that there was the potential for you to be sleeping around with a guy in his own place with no parental supervision? You didn't think that was important?!?"
"Calm down, it's not like that."
"Oh then, come on, Maria. Tell me… explain to me what it's like. Tell me, because I want to know. What part of this isn't what it seems like?"
"The fact that we're not having sex, we're just sleeping."
"That's unacceptable. I vaguely recall having this conversation before, Maria, the last time you were caught 'sleeping, but not sleeping' with a boy."
Maria sighed. "And I told you then to trust me."
"How can I trust you when you're lying to me? You lie about where you go, who you're with, what you're doing. I can't trust you."
"Well I can't talk to you *right* now about this, so just drop it!"
"I am not going to drop it. I'm the mother. I get to decide when this conversation is over, and it's not!"
"God, Mom! You have no clue what is even going on!" Maria shouted, exasperated.
"By all means, Maria, enlighten me."
"I can't, okay. I'm — I got to go — I'm going."
"Where are you going?"
"Out."
"No you're not, young lady."
"Try and stop me." Maria turned to face her mother, glaring at the older woman. "Don't you get it? I'm not you — I'm not going to make the same mistakes you did, Mom. I'm not going to screw up my life like you did yours." Amy was so shocked that she would say something like that, she couldn't even move as Maria went to the door and opened it.
Finally she found her voice. "Maria — wait, don't leave. Maria! If you leave, don't even think about coming back here."
The teen didn't even acknowledge her mother as she walked out into the rainy night.
* * *
He hadn't seen her outside of school or work for almost a whole week. Just when Michael thought that things were going well between Maria and him, she had pulled away, leaving him out in the cold with no absolutely clue why. But now, here she was at his front door, shivering in the warm rain. He could only think of the time he was in her same position… right after his big fight with Hank.
The spiky-haired alien reached out for Maria's hand to lead her into the room. Her skin was like ice. "Jesus, Maria… you're freezing. What happened?" he asked, wrapping a blanket around her slight body.
"I don't — I don't know why I'm here. There's something crazy going on… and I can't handle it anymore," her voice was flat, emotionless, and frankly, it scared Michael to hear her sound like that. He kissed her forehead, then stared into her eyes. They seemed hollow. It was beyond the dark-circles and the complete set of matched luggage under her normally bright brown eyes… there was something missing… "I got into a fight with my mom. I need a place to stay."
"Yeah, of course. Do you want to talk about it? You've been a little moody lately."
"I just need some sleep, Michael. What I don't need is another person to analyze my issues. I thought you would understand that," she tossed the blanket onto the floor and moved towards the door. "I guess I was wrong."
He couldn't let her go back out into the night in this condition. "Maria, wait! I'm sorry." Michael pulled her close, feeling the heat from his own body seep into her. "Stay here, no questions asked."
Maria nodded, submitting to the strength of his arms around her. He led her over to the bed, pausing for just a moment to get her an oversized, dry tee shirt. She didn't even protest when he tugged her drenched shirt over her head in one swift motion, replaced it with his, and then removed her pants. She leaned into him, as he helped her into a pair of his cleanest boxers. There was nothing sexual about the whole ordeal, just a feeling of safety with him. Michael laid her down onto the mattress, covering her with a dry blanket, and started to back away. His heart almost exploded when she whimpered.
"Where are you going?" she reached out for him.
"I didn't think you'd want me to — I was going to sleep on the couch."
It was her turn to pull him close. "No, I want you… I need you to stay with me… please."
Michael lay down beside her, wrapping his arms around her shivering body, and felt her surrender to sleep almost instantly. He studied her face for a moment, then fell asleep himself.
* * *