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The Parting
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November 2001
'Fine! Just fine! If space boy wants to go off and fulfill some whacked-out, delusional destiny of his, let him. I don't care anymore.' Maria's thoughts wouldn't stay quiet even after she managed to stop her lips from forming the hurtful words she'd thrown at the object of her displeasure. Of course she knew she would have to work on the dishonesty thing her thoughts seemed to have going in their logic. Damn it, she really didn't want to care about the schmuck, she just couldn't seem to help herself where he was concerned.
In the end, walking away had been the best, most reasonable action she could take, if not the least characteristic. She didn't back down, in wasn't in her personality to walk away from a fight, she stuck things out to the bitter end, words tumbling from her lips faster than her brain could comprehend them. But she couldn't be around him any longer, if she stayed she would just want to hurt him as much as he was hurting her, to pound her fists against him and scream obscenities about him to whoever would listen. She couldn't though because, aside from the selfishness of her desires, she knew he was hurting too; he just wouldn't, or couldn't admit it.
She would miss the jerk, damn him! He was going home, going off to be some kind of hero. And he was leaving her behind. She had always known it was pretty much inevitable, his departure. She had just hoped it wouldn't be so soon.
"Maria? Maria!"
'Ignore him, just keep on walking, Maria, and ignore him.'
She stumbled on the loose rocks of the quarry, determinedly making her way away from the gaping pit and back to her car. If she could just reach the comforting, albeit superficial, safety of her car, everything would be alright.
Staggering along, she fumbled in her pockets for her vial of Cyprus oil. A fleeting thought crossed her mind and she tried to recall whether she had ever heard of forget-me-nots being used for oil essences, she didn't think she had, she wasn't even sure if forget-me-nots had a scent. She wished for them just the same, after all they represented true love. Maybe thyme for strength and courage, or even rosemary for remembrance. Sheesh! She was getting too soft, too sentimental, and it was all Michael's fault.
'Aromatherapy, Maria! This isn't the Victorian age; people don't care about the language of herbs and flowers anymore. Relaxation purposes, that's all, nothing deeper or more meaningful than that.'
"Damn it, Maria!"
She looked up, surprised to see Michael standing between her and her car. She'd been so wrapped up in her own deluded musings that she hadn't noticed when he caught up with her.
"What?!" She glared up at him, what else was there to say? "Haven't you had enough fun for the day, ET, or do you want to torment me some more?" She was tired of fighting with him; they'd been at each other's throats for too long already.
"It isn't like I asked them to come for us, Maria. I didn't ask for this, but I can't turn my back on it now. I have to go, we all do."
"You didn't ask for this?! Don't even try that sorry excuse. Are you, or are you not, the same demented, slime-ball alien who has been doing nothing but searching for 'home' ever since you found out there was one? The same Michael Guerin who, I might add against, drug me against my will to Marathon, Texas? Oh, you asked for this, Michael. You've done nothing but ask for it! And here it is, your chance to get off this mud ball planet, so go, just go!" She was screaming so loud that her throat ached from the exertion and tears pricked at her eyes. She refused to cry; she wouldn't shed one tear for this man who could turn her entire plane of existence upside-down with a single rare hint of kindness.
Why was she being so difficult? She knew about their destinies, she knew they couldn't turn away from them.
"Look," Maria said, suddenly feeling more exhausted than she could ever remember being, "sorry but I'm not up to the witty repartee just now." She rubbed her hand across her eyes, not caring if the action smeared her makeup. "I just want to go home and crawl into bed."
"It's only four, Maria."
"So I'll go to bed early. What does it matter to you?"
"I never wanted to hurt you." His words were so hushed that she almost missed them.
"That's just of what we do, Michael," she said softly, "It's what we've always done, trading one cutting remark for another." Maria was tired of being angry, the emotion required too much energy to keep up for any extended length of time. "Even if you were human it would probably be the same, it's just the way we are."
It should have ended there. He should have let her just drive away and deal with her pain alone. After all, wasn't that what she wanted, to be left alone? But no matter how much his head told him to let her go, he couldn't.
He woke her late that night, tapping insistently on the window until she drowsily let him in. He knew what he wanted, what he needed, and he didn't care what Max would say about it or if it was the logical thing to do. He wanted Maria; he needed to be able to keep some small part of her close to him even when he was surrounded by worlds and constellations she would never be able to see.
She stepped back from the window, fully ready to rip him to pieces, physically if she had to. He had no right to come to her anymore; he had more important things to do, like saving his green-skinned, bug-eyed relatives from certain doom. Not that she believed they actually looked like any of the gaudy trinkets her mother sold, but she was too angry and hurt to be politically correct.
She gasped when Michael bounded into the room, landing lightly on the floor in front of her. She couldn't quite place the look in his eyes. She couldn't recall ever seeing him like this before. She opened her mouth to throw out some scathing comment but was silenced by his hand on her mouth.
Leaning close to her so that his breath warmed her cheek, Michael threaded the fingers of his other hand through her hair, relishing the feel of the silken fibers against his fingers. Releasing her mouth, his lips quickly sought out hers and he felt her stiffen initially before melting into his gentle embrace.
For one night he would forget all the warnings and concerns Max and Isabel had voiced to him. He just didn't care anymore. As far as he knew, he would never see Maria again and he needed to have something to cling to, something in his life, in his past, that made sense. As much as he refused to admit it out loud, continuing his stormy relationship with Maria was the only sensible thing he'd ever done.
March 2009
The quarry loomed up out of the landscape, just as lonely and isolated as it had always been. A gaping crater of jagged rock and earth, long abandoned and desolate, bearing its very heart to the heavens.
Maria was the first one to step out of the car, walking the last few yards to the edge of the pit. She hadn't been back since they had gathered there to discuss the departure. She could never have imagined that it could still hold so many memories filled with the same raw emotions she relived in her nightmares.
"Maria?" Liz approached her carefully. Their ride had passed in relative silence, tension hanging thickly in the cramped interior of Alex's car. But now that they were out in the open she was desperate to ask questions, to find out what had been going on since she'd last been able to share confidences with Maria. "Mickey is Michael's child, isn't she? I mean, she has his eyes even, as well as his name."
"Yeah. I don't know how much she inherited from him yet. I just keep waiting and watching." She absently kicked at the loose gravel with the toe of her sneaker. She wasn't prepared for the rush of emotions this place evoked.
"Did he know? I mean, before he left, did you tell him."
"Liz, I didn't know before he left. I packed my bags and bought that ratty old car the day I found out. But would I have told him? I don't know. I don't think I would have though. He needed to find out about his home and to fulfill what he believed was his destiny. I would never have wanted to stand in the way of that." Smiling, she added, "Even as a hormone driven, ditzy teenager."
Liz fought the urge to burst into tears. "Maria, why did you..."
"Why did I leave town without saying anything to you?"
"Yeah. You know you could have come to me with anything, why did you run?"
"I had to. Lizzie, I loved you too much to go to you with my problem. You had such a hard time after Max left and you'd just gotten back on your feet again when I found out Mickey was on the way. I didn't want you to have to deal with something that was entirely my problem. It's a cop out, I know. God, I probably hurt you more by leaving than I would have if I just up and confessed that I was pregnant."
"I can't fully explain it. I was scared and I didn't know what to expect. I was afraid for the baby and for myself. When I finally got so far into the pregnancy that I had to see a doctor, I was absolutely terrified, scared that the baby wouldn't look human and that the FBI would find out somehow and take her away from me. I just didn't want to drag you down with me, ever or for any reason, Lizzie."
"Oh, Maria," Liz exclaimed, throwing her arms around her again, "I don't know what to say. You must have been so frightened, and you went through it all alone."
"It worked out okay though and Mickey's safe and sound."
Liz grinned, lightening the conversation. "I still find it hard to believe that our very own Maria DeLuca is a mother."
"You too, huh? Well, join the crowd, Parker, join the crowd," Maria chuckled.
Alex had hung back a bit while the women talked. He had learned a long time ago the consequences of being so close to two females... you sometimes had to give them time to do their 'girl thing' in peace.
Maria motioned for him to draw nearer. "Do you remember that demo tape you made during our senior year?"
"Remember it? I still have a copy," he admitted.
"Well, so do I and Mickey loves it, I think she's one of your biggest fans. I play it for her every night so that she will settle down and go to sleep."
They relaxed into an easy silence, allowing the memories of the place to wash over them, secure in the presence of old friendships. There would be time enough for their questions.
"Maria?" Alex broke the silence and leaned toward her. "Liz and I were discussing this earlier: why did you come back to Roswell now?"
Maria shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know. One minute we were happily going about our daily routine and the next I was calling work to notify them that I was quitting. I moved our things into a storage unit, bundled Mickey into the car, and started driving here. That was... four days ago."
"See? That's what we were talking about before you came. Liz and I did the same thing, we didn't understand why but we came back anyway."
"You don't think we were 'called' back do you?"
Alex and Maria turned their faces to look at Liz. No one wanted to jump to any conclusions and raise their hopes only to have them dashed against the craggy, unforgiving rocks of reality.
"If that were the case, wouldn't Kyle be here too?" Maria asked.
The Parting
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
November 2001
'Fine! Just fine! If space boy wants to go off and fulfill some whacked-out, delusional destiny of his, let him. I don't care anymore.' Maria's thoughts wouldn't stay quiet even after she managed to stop her lips from forming the hurtful words she'd thrown at the object of her displeasure. Of course she knew she would have to work on the dishonesty thing her thoughts seemed to have going in their logic. Damn it, she really didn't want to care about the schmuck, she just couldn't seem to help herself where he was concerned.
In the end, walking away had been the best, most reasonable action she could take, if not the least characteristic. She didn't back down, in wasn't in her personality to walk away from a fight, she stuck things out to the bitter end, words tumbling from her lips faster than her brain could comprehend them. But she couldn't be around him any longer, if she stayed she would just want to hurt him as much as he was hurting her, to pound her fists against him and scream obscenities about him to whoever would listen. She couldn't though because, aside from the selfishness of her desires, she knew he was hurting too; he just wouldn't, or couldn't admit it.
She would miss the jerk, damn him! He was going home, going off to be some kind of hero. And he was leaving her behind. She had always known it was pretty much inevitable, his departure. She had just hoped it wouldn't be so soon.
"Maria? Maria!"
'Ignore him, just keep on walking, Maria, and ignore him.'
She stumbled on the loose rocks of the quarry, determinedly making her way away from the gaping pit and back to her car. If she could just reach the comforting, albeit superficial, safety of her car, everything would be alright.
Staggering along, she fumbled in her pockets for her vial of Cyprus oil. A fleeting thought crossed her mind and she tried to recall whether she had ever heard of forget-me-nots being used for oil essences, she didn't think she had, she wasn't even sure if forget-me-nots had a scent. She wished for them just the same, after all they represented true love. Maybe thyme for strength and courage, or even rosemary for remembrance. Sheesh! She was getting too soft, too sentimental, and it was all Michael's fault.
'Aromatherapy, Maria! This isn't the Victorian age; people don't care about the language of herbs and flowers anymore. Relaxation purposes, that's all, nothing deeper or more meaningful than that.'
"Damn it, Maria!"
She looked up, surprised to see Michael standing between her and her car. She'd been so wrapped up in her own deluded musings that she hadn't noticed when he caught up with her.
"What?!" She glared up at him, what else was there to say? "Haven't you had enough fun for the day, ET, or do you want to torment me some more?" She was tired of fighting with him; they'd been at each other's throats for too long already.
"It isn't like I asked them to come for us, Maria. I didn't ask for this, but I can't turn my back on it now. I have to go, we all do."
"You didn't ask for this?! Don't even try that sorry excuse. Are you, or are you not, the same demented, slime-ball alien who has been doing nothing but searching for 'home' ever since you found out there was one? The same Michael Guerin who, I might add against, drug me against my will to Marathon, Texas? Oh, you asked for this, Michael. You've done nothing but ask for it! And here it is, your chance to get off this mud ball planet, so go, just go!" She was screaming so loud that her throat ached from the exertion and tears pricked at her eyes. She refused to cry; she wouldn't shed one tear for this man who could turn her entire plane of existence upside-down with a single rare hint of kindness.
Why was she being so difficult? She knew about their destinies, she knew they couldn't turn away from them.
"Look," Maria said, suddenly feeling more exhausted than she could ever remember being, "sorry but I'm not up to the witty repartee just now." She rubbed her hand across her eyes, not caring if the action smeared her makeup. "I just want to go home and crawl into bed."
"It's only four, Maria."
"So I'll go to bed early. What does it matter to you?"
"I never wanted to hurt you." His words were so hushed that she almost missed them.
"That's just of what we do, Michael," she said softly, "It's what we've always done, trading one cutting remark for another." Maria was tired of being angry, the emotion required too much energy to keep up for any extended length of time. "Even if you were human it would probably be the same, it's just the way we are."
It should have ended there. He should have let her just drive away and deal with her pain alone. After all, wasn't that what she wanted, to be left alone? But no matter how much his head told him to let her go, he couldn't.
He woke her late that night, tapping insistently on the window until she drowsily let him in. He knew what he wanted, what he needed, and he didn't care what Max would say about it or if it was the logical thing to do. He wanted Maria; he needed to be able to keep some small part of her close to him even when he was surrounded by worlds and constellations she would never be able to see.
She stepped back from the window, fully ready to rip him to pieces, physically if she had to. He had no right to come to her anymore; he had more important things to do, like saving his green-skinned, bug-eyed relatives from certain doom. Not that she believed they actually looked like any of the gaudy trinkets her mother sold, but she was too angry and hurt to be politically correct.
She gasped when Michael bounded into the room, landing lightly on the floor in front of her. She couldn't quite place the look in his eyes. She couldn't recall ever seeing him like this before. She opened her mouth to throw out some scathing comment but was silenced by his hand on her mouth.
Leaning close to her so that his breath warmed her cheek, Michael threaded the fingers of his other hand through her hair, relishing the feel of the silken fibers against his fingers. Releasing her mouth, his lips quickly sought out hers and he felt her stiffen initially before melting into his gentle embrace.
For one night he would forget all the warnings and concerns Max and Isabel had voiced to him. He just didn't care anymore. As far as he knew, he would never see Maria again and he needed to have something to cling to, something in his life, in his past, that made sense. As much as he refused to admit it out loud, continuing his stormy relationship with Maria was the only sensible thing he'd ever done.
March 2009
The quarry loomed up out of the landscape, just as lonely and isolated as it had always been. A gaping crater of jagged rock and earth, long abandoned and desolate, bearing its very heart to the heavens.
Maria was the first one to step out of the car, walking the last few yards to the edge of the pit. She hadn't been back since they had gathered there to discuss the departure. She could never have imagined that it could still hold so many memories filled with the same raw emotions she relived in her nightmares.
"Maria?" Liz approached her carefully. Their ride had passed in relative silence, tension hanging thickly in the cramped interior of Alex's car. But now that they were out in the open she was desperate to ask questions, to find out what had been going on since she'd last been able to share confidences with Maria. "Mickey is Michael's child, isn't she? I mean, she has his eyes even, as well as his name."
"Yeah. I don't know how much she inherited from him yet. I just keep waiting and watching." She absently kicked at the loose gravel with the toe of her sneaker. She wasn't prepared for the rush of emotions this place evoked.
"Did he know? I mean, before he left, did you tell him."
"Liz, I didn't know before he left. I packed my bags and bought that ratty old car the day I found out. But would I have told him? I don't know. I don't think I would have though. He needed to find out about his home and to fulfill what he believed was his destiny. I would never have wanted to stand in the way of that." Smiling, she added, "Even as a hormone driven, ditzy teenager."
Liz fought the urge to burst into tears. "Maria, why did you..."
"Why did I leave town without saying anything to you?"
"Yeah. You know you could have come to me with anything, why did you run?"
"I had to. Lizzie, I loved you too much to go to you with my problem. You had such a hard time after Max left and you'd just gotten back on your feet again when I found out Mickey was on the way. I didn't want you to have to deal with something that was entirely my problem. It's a cop out, I know. God, I probably hurt you more by leaving than I would have if I just up and confessed that I was pregnant."
"I can't fully explain it. I was scared and I didn't know what to expect. I was afraid for the baby and for myself. When I finally got so far into the pregnancy that I had to see a doctor, I was absolutely terrified, scared that the baby wouldn't look human and that the FBI would find out somehow and take her away from me. I just didn't want to drag you down with me, ever or for any reason, Lizzie."
"Oh, Maria," Liz exclaimed, throwing her arms around her again, "I don't know what to say. You must have been so frightened, and you went through it all alone."
"It worked out okay though and Mickey's safe and sound."
Liz grinned, lightening the conversation. "I still find it hard to believe that our very own Maria DeLuca is a mother."
"You too, huh? Well, join the crowd, Parker, join the crowd," Maria chuckled.
Alex had hung back a bit while the women talked. He had learned a long time ago the consequences of being so close to two females... you sometimes had to give them time to do their 'girl thing' in peace.
Maria motioned for him to draw nearer. "Do you remember that demo tape you made during our senior year?"
"Remember it? I still have a copy," he admitted.
"Well, so do I and Mickey loves it, I think she's one of your biggest fans. I play it for her every night so that she will settle down and go to sleep."
They relaxed into an easy silence, allowing the memories of the place to wash over them, secure in the presence of old friendships. There would be time enough for their questions.
"Maria?" Alex broke the silence and leaned toward her. "Liz and I were discussing this earlier: why did you come back to Roswell now?"
Maria shrugged her shoulders. "Don't know. One minute we were happily going about our daily routine and the next I was calling work to notify them that I was quitting. I moved our things into a storage unit, bundled Mickey into the car, and started driving here. That was... four days ago."
"See? That's what we were talking about before you came. Liz and I did the same thing, we didn't understand why but we came back anyway."
"You don't think we were 'called' back do you?"
Alex and Maria turned their faces to look at Liz. No one wanted to jump to any conclusions and raise their hopes only to have them dashed against the craggy, unforgiving rocks of reality.
"If that were the case, wouldn't Kyle be here too?" Maria asked.