Max rushed back to the bedroom where Maria lay, shaking sporadically. She was trying hard to keep her facial expression and her body under control.

"Michael's on his way," Max assured her as he came to sit near her on the bed.

"I'm s-sorry Max, I'm acting like such a wuss," Maria scolded herself.

"No, stop that Maria, you're handling this so damn well- besides, how are people in your position supposed to act? Is there a set of rules?" She appeared to consider it before she shook her head. "Do you need anything? Water, tea, coffee? Something to make you feel better?" She shook her head but he ignored her. "I'll make you some tea." She smiled, thankful for his intuition.

Maria suddenly had another thought that made her grab his wrist before he could move away. "Max, you can't tell anyone about this-about what happened...I mean, I just can't deal with this right now, I'm trying so hard, but I just can't." She was trying valiantly to hold in tears she felt threatening to spill over her eyes once again.

"I told Liz," he admitted, waiting to see if she would castrate him right then and there.

"Yeah, I guess I should have figured." She glanced up at him. " What did she say?"

"She was scared for you, she said she would come home today to see you."

"Oh, no! I don't want her to cut her vacation short because of me."

"Come on, think rationally," Max reminded her. "Do you really think that anything short of Armageddon could keep Liz from coming to see you?" She grinned in spite of herself. "You're right."

*****************************************

Michael saw red. Not just the red you see when you close your eyes after staring at the sun, but dark red, angry red, blood red, the color of the gash on Maria's forehead that he had to so carefully clean out last night while she jerked and moaned in pain. When his cell phone rang, he had known. His stomach clenched in anticipation as he answered. And simultaneously made a U-turn that had pissed off drivers honking and flipping the bird at him for miles. He floored the accelerator, racing towards his apartment at breakneck speed. Horns honked at him from all directions but he didn't consciously hear them. And if he had, he wouldn't have paid much attention anyway. And then suddenly, instead of turning left to go to his apartment, he turned right towards Maria's house. He parked haphazardly in the driveway and ran to the front door. Before he could fully think about what he was doing, he rammed his fist into the wood, BAM, BAM, BAM. Almost instantaneously, the door opened, revealing one very hung over, very pissed off version of Amy Deluca.

"What the hell do you want?" she snarled, her eyes sunken and menacing.

"You will not. touch. her. ever. again." Michael snarled back.

"Oh, you're Michael, yes, I remember you. Cleaned up your act a bit, have you? Well, that's good to see. I guess your stint in juvy hall won't last as long as we originally thought."

"You ever lay a finger on her again, and I swear, I will fucking kill you."

"Ha! You and what army, she's my daughter, I'll do what ever I damn well please."

"You set foot on my property again and I'll have you arrested for trespassing."

"Oh, that's classic! You're the one who should be arrested! You've probably raped and sodomized a thousand women- including my daughter!" Michael realized that she was trying to get to him. She wanted him to explode and do something drastic so that she would have something against him. He decided he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. He clenched his fists at his sides and looked her dead in the eye with his patented glare. She visibly stiffened, her mouth forming a hard thin line, as it suddenly dawned on her that Michael Guerin was perhaps not the best person to mess with. "I would never hurt Maria," he growled. He stuffed his hands into his leather jacket and turned on his heel, leaving Amy gaping at his retreating back from her hangover slump in the doorway.

Michael didn't know how well his little scene with Mrs. Deluca had worked. He hoped it kept her out of the way long enough for him to work something out with Valenti and get Maria back on her feet. As he approached his apartment building, he shoved all thoughts of Amy Deluca out of his head, Maria was his priority. As he entered the apartment, he heard hushed voices coming from the bedroom and sprinted down the hallway. The sight before him warmed his heart. Max sat on the edge of the bed, offering a pale Maria a mug of hot tea.

"Michael!" Maria squeaked in relief when she saw him standing in the doorway.

"I'm here baby," Michael strode quickly across the room and enveloped her in his arms. She clung to him, choking on sobs and breathing erratically. Michael buried his face in her hair, inhaling her unique scent and silently thanking God that Max had been with her. If anything had happened to her, he knew he would not have been able to forgive himself. He looked over her shoulder to where Max stood silently in the corner of the room, watching the scene with respect and concern. 'Thank you,' he mouthed silently, and Max nodded and slipped quietly out of the room to wait for Liz.

"She was here, Michael, she wanted me, she came to get me, I know she did. What am I gonna do? I can't go back there, you can't let her have me."

"Shhh...you're not going anywhere. You're staying right here with Max and me. I promise, I won't let her near you." Maria's cries gradually quieted. She snuggled into Michael's embrace and he pulled her down beside him on the bed. He kicked off his shoes and was immediately assaulted with a feeling of deja vu. Had he and Maria been in a similar situation not 12 hours before? The thought made his chest ache. He knew she loathed having to depend on others. He knew how fiercely independent she was and what a leap of faith it must have been for her to come to him and put all of her worries on his shoulders. She was still tense against him, and every once in a while, her eyes would flutter open and glance around warily before she saw him and closed them again. He could see that she wasn't anywhere near sleep.

Intent on helping her relax, he pushed himself into a semi-sitting position against the head board and cradled her head in his hands, against his thigh. She moaned in protest at the slight change in position and her eyes fluttered open in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"Shhh, I'm gonna help you relax. You need to sleep."

"Michael, I just got up, I don't ne..."

"Yes, you do OK? Just trust me." Maria realized that she really was too exhausted to argue with him. The fear of earlier incidents had taken their toll on her nervous system. She scowled at him to save face before consciously relaxing her upper body so that it molded against his lap. He grinned down at her in a mixture of reassurance and mischief- a smile that only Michael Guerin could pull off, as he slid his hands underneath her head to support her neck, and began to gently but firmly knead and sooth the tense and aching muscles there.

He rubbed in slow, pressurized strokes and circles until Maria thought her neck had turned to Jell-O. He moved from the base of her neck up to her head before working back down to her shoulder blades, his hands never leaving her skin. Somehow, he managed to work the same magic on her shoulders that he had on her neck even though she lay on her back with her head in his lap. His fingertips worked gentle firm circles over her shoulders and below her collarbone, just above her breasts. He gently soothed the sides of her neck simultaneously with long sweeping strokes, and then he worked in circles again as he found the tense muscles at the hinges of her jaw.

Maria's eyes had fallen shut somewhere early in Michael's ministrations and she breathed deeply as his hands tenderly tricked her aching body into letting down its guard. She had been too anxious and wary to allow herself the luxury of sleep before, but now Michael was telling her with his soothing words and tender touches that he would protect her while she slept, and she couldn't say no. His hands wandered along her jaw line up to her ears and gently massaged her temples. The fingers of his right hand brushed lightly over the place on her forehead where the gash had been before joining the other hand in swooping down to trace her eyelids and cheekbones. If Maria had opened her eyes, she would have seen Michael's brown ones staring down at her intently in admiration and concern...and something else that she wouldn't have believed if she had seen it. He himself only knew on the subconscious level of the feelings he expressed so easily through his eyes, the feelings that he could not express in words. Maria didn't open her eyes, but she did feel him tenderly press his lips to her lips and then her forehead, before she slipped off into peaceful oblivion.

Michael continued to massage Maria even after he knew she had fallen asleep. He sat, unmoving, gently stroking her hair back from her forehead, watching her eyes flutter sporadically beneath her eyelids. She looked so peaceful when she slept. He vowed to himself that he would do whatever he could to give her that peace all the time. Gently, he moved her head from his lap and placed it on the pillow beside him, drawing the covers up over her shoulders. He kissed her softly on the temple and rolled off the bed. He watched her for a few more minutes to be sure that she slept OK without him. She unconsciously rolled to the side, in search of his body, and seemed to be satisfied when she found his pillow and buried her face in it, inhaling the lingering scent of him. Michael would have been happy to lay in bed with her all day, but he wanted to talk to Max- there was lots to discuss. He glanced at the digital alarm clock, it was 2:04. Liz would be here soon. He headed down the hallway toward the living area and found Max with his head rolled to one side on the couch, his eyes at half mast.

"Maxwell," Max jerked awake, his eyes fluttering several times before he figured out where he was and what he was doing there.

"Sorry, didn't get much sleep last night I guess."

"Me neither."

"Yeah, how is she?"

"Asleep, finally."

"Damn, that's got to be rough on her. I felt so useless."

"Multiply that by a thousand and you get what I'm thinking."

"What are you gonna do?"

"Talk to Valenti, I'm eighteen and independent, and Maria's eighteenth birthday is in a month. Hopefully, he'll see it our way and rule on her side...I'm hoping she'll stay with me."

"Stay with you, Michael, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Michael said without any hesitation.

"And you're not worried about...I don't know...stuff...between the two of you?"

"You mean sex." Max nodded and looked away, not sure if he wanted to know the details of his best friend's sex life.

"I wish I was, sort of, but I'm not. I respect Maria, she respects me. I don't know...seeing her on my front porch all beat to hell like that, it made me realize...that none of the alien crap matters. If I can't kill her with my powers, thank God, then I can't kill her with my sperm. You think that's logical?" Max nodded, amazed at Michael's powers of deductive reasoning when it really mattered. "I know it's damn selfish of me, but it actually felt good that she needed me, you know? And I think..." he paused, wondering if he was going too deep for Max's taste, and his for that matter. Oh what the hell, he'd already gone this far. Might as well wrap up this little psycho therapy for dummies session. He said the next words in a flourish, not sure if he actually got them out..."Iloveher." Max looked up, startled.

"Say that again?" Michael took a deep breath before confirming his friend's suspicions.

"I love her Maxwell, I love Maria, and I know it's stupid and rash and weird, but I do, I can't help it. And I'd throw myself in front of a whole brigade of Amy Delucas if it would keep her safe," and as an afterthought..."and if we have sex, then we have sex...if not, then we don't, I'm not saying I don't want it, but if she doesn't want it then I'll respect that."

"Whoa Michael, OK, I believe you. I get it. It's not stupid either. I feel that way about Liz. God help the guy who ever tries to touch her, I'd slaughter them with my bare hands."

"OK then."

"OK." The two of them sat in silence for endless minutes, Max staring at the blank reflection on the television screen, Michael, deep in thought, standing behind the couch.

"I'd do it for her too you know." Max looked up from his position on the couch.

"Huh?"

"Liz, I'd do what you did for Maria...I'd do it for Liz."

"I know...thanks man."

"Yeah, well... speaking of which, she's coming right?"

"You know Liz, she'll be here," he glanced at his watch, "soon." As if on cue, the buzzer outside Michael's apartment sounded. They both tensed involuntarily, remembering in some way, the last time someone had been at the door. Michael relaxed visibly when he looked through the peephole and saw Liz's anxious face. He set his jaw and opened the door, not sure of how he and Max would explain the whole thing now that she was actually standing there in front of them. Oh well, might as well find out.

"Hi Liz."

"Michael," Liz managed before she launched herself into his arms. Momentarily stunned, Michael cautiously put his arms around her.

"She's OK?"

"She's fine, sleeping."

"Thank you for taking care of her."

"No problem Liz, thanks for coming, I know she wants to see you."