Maria woke early the next morning still wrapped in Rath's arms. She felt so warm and safe wrapped in his embrace. A smile touched her lips as she looked into his big brown eyes and imaged getting lost in him forever. She could remember many times in the past year waking up beside Alex when they had fallen asleep looking at the stars but never before had she felt the way she felt with Rath's arms wrapped around her. She felt safe and at peace, like nothing in the world was wrong or ever could be wrong. She closed her eyes and snuggled closer to him forgetting that he was suppose to be her enemy and forgetting that she was suppose to be afraid of him.
***
Rath opened his eyes as the sun began to rise in the desert sky. In his arms he held the beautiful desert goddess. He didn't want to let go of her just yet but he knew that they must be on their way, they wanted to make it back to Roswell before nightfall. Their food supply was all but gone and their water was running very low. Pulling her close to his chest he kissed her forehead, thinking she was still asleep and then released his hold on her. As he got up she began to stir as if she had been asleep although she had not actually been. He looked down at her as she rolled over and looked up into his face. "Come on Maria, its time to start heading out, I want to be back in Roswell before nightfall."
Maria sat up and nodded pulling herself off the sandy desert floor and heading in the direction of Roswell.
***
After only 2 hours of traveling through the hot desert Maria spotted Roswell in the distance. Tears sprang to her eyes as she remembered the life she had led there with her parents and her brother and her friends. Life would never be like that again. Her parents were dead and she feared she would never see her brother or her friends again. Rath noticed her tears and stopped, but Maria continued to walk. He grabbed her wrist and spun her around to face him. "Maria, what's wrong?" he asked with concern.
She just shook her head, unable to speak through the sobs that racked her body. Rath pulled her into a tight embrace trying to calm her crying. She held onto him for dear life. As she held tightly to his muscular shoulders she began to forget about the tears in her eyes and thought how odd it was that she was falling for an alien. She cracked a smile at the thought and then out of nowhere she began to laugh.
Rath was confused. One second she had been crying and now she was laughing. "What?" he asked pulling away from her.
She looked up into his handsome face and just laughed even harder. She was laughing so hard tears once more came to her eyes and she collapsed to the sand.
"What is so funny?" Rath asked beginning to get aggravated with her.
"I was just thinking how odd it is that…I'm falling for an alien," she screamed between fits of giggles.
He looked at her as if she was crazy. Then what she had said finally processed and his mouth dropped open in shock. "What did you just say?" he asked dumbstruck.
"I said," she whispered calming her laughing and pulling herself off the ground, "I'm falling for an alien."
He didn't know what to do. He just stared at her as if she had grown a second head. Then unexpectedly she pulled his face down to hers crushing her lips against his. Rath did not even hesitate, he wrapped his arms around her small waist and just pulled her closer to him.
Maria finally pulled back when she couldn't breath anymore. She looked up at him wondering if it had been a mistake but seeing the grin on his face made her realize that she had not been wrong. Then she remembered her friends and family who were probably worried sick about her back at the desert spring. She felt bad for having lied to him. She looked into his eyes and decided that she must tell him the truth.
"I have something very important to tell you. I trust you with my life, with everything I have left in this world. You have to promise me that what I am about to tell you is between you and me."
"What? What is it?" he asked confused by her sudden change to complete seriousness.
"Promise me, promise me that you'll never tell anyone."
"I promise."
"My brother, my two best friends, my people, are alive. Just a few miles away from where we met we have created a sort of village, our new home, by a rare desert spring. I left to protect them against their commands that I stay. I risked my life to save them, but I fear that the way you speak of this new threat that I will not survive through the conflict and I want you to protect them when I am gone, I trust you with their lives as well as my own."
He couldn't believe what she had just told him. "We have to go back for them. They can help us fight. We'll have a better chance of survival if they agree to help."
"They never will, my brother hates all aliens. When he heard you were looking for us he wanted to kill you, to torture you. There is no way he will fight."
"They are our only hope. You have to convince them. I will go to Roswell. You go back to your family, to your people. You have to convince them that if they do not fight with us they will die with us. The only way any of us will survive is if we work together. Please, you have to make them understand."
She looked up into his eyes and knew he was right. "Okay, I'll go back and I will convince them and I will be in Roswell in 2 weeks. I have just entrusted in you my life and the lives of my friends, family and people, please do not let me down."
"I would never. I can't believe I've fallen for a human," he whispered close to her ear.
She smiled to herself and turned to go. He grabbed her wrist and turned her around pulling her to him in a searing kiss. They pulled apart and looked at each other. She gave him a bright smile and then turned and began to run across the how sand back to the desert spring. Somehow she must convince her people to fight and if she could not she would return by herself.