For about ten minutes, neither one of them could move. Finally, with little sparks still shooting between their bodies, Maria sat up and looked around her, dazed.
"Oh my God! That was so…I can't even think of a word." she stammered.
"Heaven" Michael responded, titling his head to get a full view of hers.
Michael leaned up, a serious expression on his face but a sparkle in his eyes, and looked straight at Maria. Leaning closer, he tenderly kissed her.
"I love you, Maria DeLuca."
"Ditto." Maria jokingly responded.
They smiled to each other then lazily proceeded to search for the remainder of their clothes. When they were though, Maria gave up on finding her shirt and had put on one of Michael's. Michael couldn't find his boxers and Maria had a ball joking about his new 'commando' style.
Finally finding her skirt, Maria saw it was mostly intact, but there was a new slit running up the side.
"This is ridiculous! I know this wasn't here before!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about. " Michael said sheepishly. "Besides, it looks better that way."
Smiling at one another, Maria moves to the driver's seat to continue the drive. About half way through Indiana, Michael fell asleep and began to have troubling dreams. All through the dream there was a figure, a beast, half man - half lion. He appeared to be gentle and extremely protective. Next to him at all times was a woman with chestnut brown hair and shining hazel eyes.
They appeared to be in some kind of argument in which they kept talking about a new girl, Taja, who seemed to possess some strange powers. Catherine, as Michael now knew the woman's name, was concerned for the health of the child while the creature, Vincent, demanded they keep the girl in hiding. Catherine kept asking what types of powers the girl possessed and Vincent was about to answer when Michael was awakened by a loud car horn.
He jerked out of his seat. "What the hell is going on?!!"
"Some asshole just cut me off! Why?" Michael's outburst had frayed her nerves, and now she was nervous with tension.
"I have having a freakin' dream! There was this guy; a man who looked like a lion, talking to some chick named Catherine about a kid with 'special powers.' Vincent, the guy, said something about keeping the child below for safety reasons. They were worried that she was sick and people would find her and do things to her. White room kinda things. Here, let me show you."
Michael reached up his hand and combed it through her hair. Leaning forward, he kissed her, praying all the while that they wouldn't run off of the road.
"Damn it, I'm so sorry, Michael. Now I messed up your chance at finding her!"
"Don't worry about it. I have this feeling that I'll find out all I need to know sooner or later."
"Michael, it's getting dark." she cut through the reverie again. "I think I burned off lunch a long time ago."
Listening to his grumbling stomach for the first time in hours, he nodded. "I totally agree. By the way, where are we?"
"The southwestern tip of New York. We should be there soon. No more than three hours, I think."
"God damn! Do you realize that we're just traveled across most of the continental United States in about twelve and half-hours? That's got to be a record."
"Yeah, we are so lucky we didn't get pulled over 'cause that would be one hell of a fine. I was going over one hundred the whole way. I'm surprised we haven't stopped for gas already."
"Are you serious? What does the thing say now? We should be just about empty."
Just as Michael said this, the Range Rover started to sputter and Maria quickly pulled over.
"Great! Now you've jinxed us! Thanks a lot!"
"I didn't do it on purpose! I was just stating a fact."
"Well now we have no gas and we're about twenty miles from any kind of civilization. Can't you do some kind of alien thingy and get us out of here?" she was totally exasperated now.
"Maria, do you know what you're asking for? You know I can't control my powers!"
"I also know that when most people have sex, they don't shoot off sparks! I know that sex doesn't usually connect two people the way it did for us! I know that you're special, Michael! I know you can do this! What is you, is me! I know you can get us out of this!"
Michael was stunned by this speech. Never before had anyone showed such confidence in him! He was also extremely happy! They hadn't discussed yet what had happened between them earlier, but he knew now that Maria accepted it, accepted him.
With that thought, he walked around to the trunk of the car and took out the jug of antifreeze. Placing his hand over it for a minute, he concentrated until his palm began to glow. He stood like that for several minutes and when nothing happened, he looked at Maria in despair. He had let her down.
Just then, Maria walked up beside him, took his hand in hers, and held their joined hands over the bottle. Together their hands began to glow and the jug began to smell of gasoline.
"Only together can we accomplish anything." she said knowingly, a smile spread across her face at their success.
Michael looked down at their joined hands and raised them to his lips.
"Thank you for making me believe. I've been waiting my whole life to be able to do that and you showed me how in a little, tiny, insignificant day." Awe was evident in his voice.
"Michael, it was significant. It made us!" Tilting her head to one side, she thought. " Has anything like this ever happened before?"
Michael looked at the ground. " None of us have ever, you know, before. I don't know if the sparks happen every time or what."
"I've got to call Liz and ask her if anything like this happened with her and Max."
"How would she know? They never…"
"You mean Max didn't tell you? Woah buddy!"
"Max didn't tell me what? Do you mean they had sex? When?"
"You know when Liz went in and got Max when he was captured? Well, they had sex in an abandoned van on the side on the road. I guess the fear and the excitement just got to them. Liz never told me about any sparks. All I got from her were the 'wonderful visions' and 'intense love' that surrounded them. I think that this is your gift, Michael. This is your special thing. Thank you for sharing it with me."
"Thank you for letting me discover my gift. Thank you for letting me share it with you."
After Michael had filled up the gas tank, they were on their way. Michael was still sulking about Max's betrayal when they first saw the glow of New York City lights. It was about ten thirty EST when they found their way to Central Park.
"Michael, where are we going?"
"I've had more dreams and I think that we need to find this Catherine Chandler woman. She knows Vincent and Vincent knows Taja."
"So where does she live?"
"I'll tell you where to go. I know it by sight but I can't tell you exactly where it is."