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Part 3

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Maria was walking home, cursing under her breath for not coming to the Crashdown with the Jetta in the first place. Of course, Max had offered her a ride home, but she had declined. It was pretty obvious that Max and Liz had others thing to… like take care of Max's… girlfriend? Yuk, thinking that way was pretty confusing. Max's girlfriend. Liz's was Max's girlfriend. All of this was so wrong. But so confused too. Max's girlfriend, not Liz, but that Tess chick, was pregnant. Well, Liz was pregnant, too, but with Max's child. While Max's Tess was pregnant with someone else than Max. Well, at least… that's what he said. Although Maria really wanted to believe him, she had never trust a guy before, 'cept Alex. And it was not going to start today.

Still cursing against herself, a bit louder, she quickened her pace as she passed by the park.

"Damn me! Why did I have do be such a jackass! They offered me a drive home, but nooo. I had to refuse so they could talk about 'important things'. Damn me damn me damn me!"

Unbeknown to her someone else was in the park, too, and had heard her muttered to herself.

"Speaking to yourself?"

"Ahhh! Oh my god, you.. you damned jackass, you scared me!" she yelled, looking at the person on the bench near her.

"Oww, so I am the Jackass now?" He replied annoyingly to Maria.  She glared at him.

"Listen, um, Michael, is it?" She asked, although she clearly remembered. At his brief nod, she continued. "I don't know what you're doing here, alone, in the middle of the park, but YOU SCARED ME! Is it so hard to understand? You could apology, at least."

"Ok, I'm sorry." He said, sighing with annoyance.

"You don't sound like you mean it." Replied Maria irritably.

He glanced at her eyes before looking at the floor. Then sighing, he said:

"Listen, I'm sorry, ok. Could we drop the subject now?" Asked Michael sincerely. He wasn't used to apology, and it made him feel ill-at-ease.

She flashed him a bright smile.

"You see? It's much better, now we can restart on good terms." She shook his hand, and said:

"Hi, My name is Maria DeLuca, it's a pleasure to meet you." She grinned.

At first he wanted to laugh at her, but then he stopped himself, and just said with a half smile:

"Michael Guerin. Nice to meet you."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"So, what are you gonna tell her?" asked Liz, sitting herself beside Max on her bed.

"I don't know, Liz. I guess, it depends on what she'll tell me."

"Max, are you gonna tell her eventually, you know… about… you know?"

"Yeah. Maybe not tomorrow, but I'll tell her." He sounded resigned.

"Do you think she'll hate us both?"

"Sincerely? I don't know."

"I hope no. You know, today when Michael told us she was pregnant, I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest."

"I know, I know what you felt." He hugged her tight, not knowing what else to say.

"Do you… do you think it could be something… alien?" She felt him tensed beside her, and she shivered at the thought. "You… you think it could be… yours?"

"I-I… I don't know. I don't think it is, but we can't know for sure…"

"Yeah… Max?"

"Um?"

"What are you… I mean, what are we gonna do if it's yours."

"We'll deal with it." She looked at him sadly.

"Liz, it wouldn't change anything for you and our little one. I would still love you no matter what." He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Yeah, Max, I know that."

"And you know, maybe Michael is wrong, maybe he misunderstood or something." Added Max with some hope.

Liz didn't look convinced, but she dropped the subject.

"By the way, talking of Michael, where do you think he is? Do you think he left town?"

"I don't know, either he left town or is sleeping in his car, waiting to complain to me some more tomorrow. Either way, it's nothing good for me."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Thank you for letting me sleep on your couch, Maria." Said Michael, arranging some covers on the couch.

"Oh, it's okay Michael, my mom is out of town anyway." She replied, coming in the room with some pillows that she handed him.

Michael raised an eyebrow, took the pillows and asked in a teasing tone:

"Um, is that an invitation?"

"You wish! Never on the first night, baby." She teased back.

"Then, maybe tomorrow?" he continued.

Maria just laughed at him, her arms crossed on her chest.

He tried to look hurt.

"What? You don't like me? Oh, come on, tell me you don't want my body!"

She laughed again.

"That is so not the problem, Mr. Grumpy, but I kinda heard you had a girlfriend." As soon as she had finished her sentence, Maria felt the change in Michael.

"What? Did I… Did I say something wrong."

"No… I mean yes, but no. It's just… I don't know, but I… I don't have a girlfriend. It was just a web of lies… You just reminded me of the little fight with Max this afternoon."

"Oh… I'm sorry."

He sat on the couch, and she sat beside him.

"No, it's okay."

"Yeah? I mean, I know what it is about, Max told us about your destiny this afternoon after you left." Michael looked taken aback, and fought for breath again.

"He… He told you about… about the… Destiny?"

"Yeah, you know, parents in the Mafia, arranged marriage and all." Michael thought his eyes were gonna drop of his orbits and roll onto the floor. Then after a few seconds, the comprehension started to dawn on him.

"Oh! That's what he told you!"

She eyed him suspiciously.

"Yeah… Why? It's not that? Did he forget something?"

"Um, no, no, that's all." He quickly replied.

"Uh uh. Ok. Well, g'night." She got up from the couch, smiled at him one more time and left the room.

"Good night." He replied once alone.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next day

Liz was trying to wake Max up, which was not easy, after the long night they got…

"Max, Max wake up. Max, come on, wake up! You have to meet Tess in two hours."

"Um… One more minute honey." Max mumbled in his sleep. Liz just stared at him, speechless for a few seconds.

"Uh? Honey? Since when do you call me honey?" This woke up Max completely.

"Um? Liz? Something wrong?"

"No, nothing wrong, Honey." She replied innocently.

Max felt his cheeks reddening when he understood what this meant.

"Oh… um… well, I'm sorry, I mean…"

"No Max, it's okay," she smiled, "I like that… honey." He smiled back at her sheepishly.

"So, um you like that, honey?" he asked, bending on his elbow.

"Uh-uh." She nodded, smiling.

"Well, we-" the phone rang at this moment, interrupting Max.

RIIIIING

"I'll get it" said Liz, getting up.

"Oh, no, please Liz, stay in bed with me." Whimpered Max.

"What? No more honey?" she asked teasingly. "Anyway, I have to get it, who knows, maybe it's important."

Max nodded, and then lay back on the bed, an arm crossing over his eyes, and groaned slightly. Liz laughed at his childishness, and picked the phone up.

"Hi?… " Her eyes widened.

"Um, yeah… HE IS?" she almost shrieked in surprise. Max raised an eyebrow in question, but didn't say anything. Liz seemed to calm down a bit.

"I can't believe her! Nor he, for the matter! … Yeah… You what?! … Um…yeah… You're mad? … Yeah, later okay… Yeah, ok. Bye." She didn't put the phone down, but handed it to Max, who took it without asking anything.

"Hi? … Oh, hey, uh, hi… um… yeah… yeah, I understand… Of course I know it… uh-uh… You are? … You're sure you don't want to-… no, ok… Yeah, yeah, it's okay… Uh-uh. Yeah, bye." Max handed the phone back to Liz for her to put it down.  Then, really seriously, he said:

"I am soooo dead."

Liz laughed at him and then added in a serious tone:

"Ohhhh yeah."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The phone had been ringing for two minutes in the DeLuca house before a sleepy Maria picked it up.

"Hello? … Um, yeah… yeah of course, wait a minute" she put a hand on the receiver and walked in the living room.

"Michael. Michael! Michael, wake up, there's someone on the phone for you!"

"Um…" Maria started to shake him to woke him up.

"Come on, wake up sleepy head!" she yelled in his hear. He jerked awake.

"Ok! Ok! I'm up, I'm up! What's the problem?" The poor Michael looked taken aback. Maria smiled sweetly at him and handed him the phone.

"There's someone on the phone for you honey." Michael sighed with annoyance and took the phone.

"Yeah?" He said, annoyed, in the receiver.

"Jeez Michael, could you be any nicer?" replied the voice on the phone.

"Well sorry Izzy, But I'm not usually nice to people who call so early in the morning," He glanced at Maria who was falling asleep on the couch next to him, "I was having a wonderful dream."

"Morning? Michael, it's afternoon already. It's 1pm." Stated Isabel.

"Um? It is? Well, I was really tired." He glanced again at Maria who was now snoring slightly beside him.

"Yeah, I can understand, I mean with Max and Tess…"

"Yeah. That stuff is getting on my nerves."

"I know, me too. I called Max about an hour ago, to give him a piece of my mind. But it was the soft version, you know." Michael repressed a yawn then laughed with her.

"So what, when are you giving him the hard version?"

"Actually, that's the reason of my call."

"Um?"

"Do you think your friend Maria would mind if I stayed at her home for a couple of days?"

"You comin' to Roswell?"

"Yeah. I don't see why you should be the only ones to visit the alien capital." She said very seriously, although it was not the reason she wanted to come to Roswell.

"Yeah, anyway. I don't think she would mind, her mom's outta town for the week anyway, I can't ask her though, because she fell asleep. See, I'm not the only one who think that 1pm is still early."

"Yeah whatever Michael. I'll be on the plane tomorrow morning, if she don't mind I'll stay with you guys at her house, otherwise I'll stay in a motel, doesn't really matter anyway."

"Yeah, ok. So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yup!"

"Ok, great. Bye."

"Yeah, Bye."

"Oh, and, Isabel?"

"Yeah?"

"We need to talk." He said before putting the phone down. He sighed and put his arm warily around Maria's shoulder. He watched her sleeping peacefully beside him. That girl was weird. Or rather, It was what he was feeling when he was with her that was weird. Yesterday, after he had called Isabel, they had had a long talk, and that's when he had first been aware of the butterflies in his stomach when she was laughing, or smiling, or pouting… and anything she would do. He had never felt that way about anyone before, and it frightened him. He hadn't even known her for 24 hours, for God's sake! But then, he was an alien, and he knew that weirder things happened every day…

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The park, 2pm.

Max was sitting on a bench, looking nervously around him every two or three minutes. Tess was late. Hell, she was always late, no matter how important it was. That wasn't what had made him nervous. It was Liz who had done that. She was hiding in the bushes just in front of him, and he was afraid Tess would see her when she would arrive. He couldn't see her, but with Tess and her mind power, he'd never know for sure what the alien girl was able to do.

Liz had been watching Max for five minutes, when a voice behind her startled her.

"So, still spying on aliens?"

She jumped a little and turned around.

"Oh my god, Kyle, you scared me!"

"Yeah, I know!" he said, smiling.

She hugged him. After all, they were still friends.

"So, I ddn't know you were back in Roswell."

"Yeah, but I live here, so ya know, it's kinda normal that I come back every once in a while." He replied teasingly.

"Well, yeah."

"So… what are you doing here, spying on Max?"

"Oh, um… well…"

"You're here for the meeting between Tess and Max? Come, on, I know it."

"Ok, well, you're right. But how did you know?"

"Tess asked me to come."

"Oh."

"You know, I was startled when she told me that Max was in Roswell. I didn't know you were such good friends."

"Well, yeah, you know…" then she added under her breath: "You have no idea!"

"Of course, Tess was really surprised, I mean, she has no idea you live here." The discussion was starting to become a bit too dangerous for Liz's taste, so she decided to turn it against Kyle.

"So… um… I didn't know you and Tess were such good friends?" When she realised that Kyle looked embarrassed at her inquisition, she decided not to dwell on the issue. She was about to say something when Kyle beat her.

"So you… um, you aren't showing yet."

"Oh, um, it's normal, I'm just two months pregnant yet, ya know."

"You're, you're two months pregnant?" She smiled broadly at his questions.

"Yup, Two moths and a week, to be exact!"

When he didn't reply, Liz started worrying that she had said something wrong. Kyle had told her was okay about her being in love with someone else and everything, but was he… really? Her doubts were erased when he burst out of laughing out of nowhere.

"Hush Kyle, or Max is gonna hear you!"

"Oh, yeah, um… sorry." He managed to calm down a bit, and she she was about to ask him what it was about, when he said:

"Tess is coming."

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TBC…

I know it's been some time, but I wasn't really in the mood to write lately. But it's here finally, isn't that all that matter? Anyway…

Please feedback! J