"I guess it's bedtime, babe." Michael crooned.
"Yeah." She sighed. "Michael…I love you."
"I know. Me too." He caressed her cheek, cupping her face in his palm.
Maria headed into her room and glanced around the strange world. Candles were everywhere, flickering onto every surface, creating hundreds of patterns in the glow of the bed. And what a bed it was. Piled high with the blankets and crowned in father pillows, it was large enough to fit two people quite comfortably. All she could picture was Michael's body stretched next to hers.
Sparing the room another quick glance, she went through the curtain hanging in the rear of the room, Grabbing a candle along the way, she slowly lit the lights one by one until the entire chamber radiating in the golden mists. Because of the warmth of the springs, delicate fog had risen to suspend over her head.
Carefully removing her clothes, she grabbed the bath accessories and slid into the open pool of bubbling water. Soaking her aching muscles relaxed her beyond belief. The events in her life up to that point ran through her mind's eye and she was in utter peace. Without knowing it, without even trying, she had found the other half of her soul. Maria DeLuca, who had always feared deep down inside that everyone she loved would eventually leave her, had become the second in a timeless duo of integrated destinies and everlasting devotion. What a fantastic reality she lived ion. Not only had she met aliens, but she lived and fornicated with one on a daily basis.
An ironic, half smile broke out on her face as she finished rinsing her hair and climbed out. Wrapping the towel tightly around her, she tidied up then wandering back to her chamber. Michael was there waiting.
"Michael, turn around! God, don't you knock? Geez. I could be naked for all you know!"
"Okay first. What do you want me to knock on, the wall? And I've already seen you naked, so what's the big deal?" Michael shrugged.
"I don't know. It's all so new, ya know? It's all happened so fast." She paused. "Do you ever feel scared, Michael? Does it ever worry you how unreal life is?" Maria paused again. "I think I'm having a moment! Where the hell is…"
Michael reached into his pocket and withdrew a vial of Cypress Oil.
"Thanks."
Michael watched entranced as Maria inhaled deeply to sooth her frayed nerves.
"Oh yeah. Better, much better." She moaned. "Where did you get this, anyway? How long have you been carrying this?"
"You dropped it in the car when all the clothes went flying. I kinda found it and picked it up."
"That is sooo sweet, Michael! I love you. Now turn around!"
He heaved an exasperated sigh then turned to stare blindly into crevices in the architecture. Maria snatched the tunnel clothes left on her bed by Mary and shrugged them on. Surprised with how snugly they fit, she twisted and turned her arms to get the feel of them.
Walking back over to Michael, she snuck around him and squeezed at his middle, pressing her chest to his back and delving her fingers onto the fabric of his shirt. Ever so slowly he turned to face her, tightening her hold with one of his own and pressing his soft lips to her forehead he gently he rocked her, soothing her troubled mind.
"We should sleep. Can I stay tonight?"
"You can stay forever. Michael…?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm still scared. I just, I don't know, have this funny feeling in the pit of my stomach."
Michael lead her to the bed then pulled her down after him as he flopped back down onto the feathers and fur. "I know what you mean. What if she's not really my sister and we came all this way for nothing? I'll still be alone and I'd have to start all over again. What is she is my sister but she doesn't have powers or she doesn't accept who we are or… what if she doesn't want a brother? You know, I've spent my whole life with no one, not Hank, cuz he doesn't count, and not Max or Isabel, either. They have to like me. We were the only ones of out kind. See, they have each other. They have their twin, I want my twin! I want the other half of my set. I found the other half of my soul, why is it so hard to find the other half of my family?!"
Maria had crawled up to rest her head on Michael's chest and pulled up the blankets to cover them both. Idly she whispered her fingertips over his chest, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. "I think that maybe I'm worried 'cuz you're worried. You know, with the whole 'alien-connection-half-of-my-soul' thing. I just want this to work out for you so badly. But, Michael, if it doesn't, I'll still be here and we'll start again until we find her."
Kissing his chest gently, she snuggled closer and shut her eyes. Michael's arms tightened around her briefly then hung on her back as they drifted to oblivion.