Title: Unicorn Tears
Author: Gis
Rating: PG-13
Category: Michael/Maria
Summary:  The most AU fic I've ever written, and it's M&M...do you need any more of a reason to read it?  Okay, okay…In a world of lost legends and folklore, one unicorn finds the truth.
Disclaimer: If I owned Roswell I'd be writing episodes, not fanfiction.
Author's Note: This is my first Roswell fic, so a little feedback would be nice.

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~Part Two~

He'd woken just after daybreak. Sleeping for more than four hours every night was practically impossible. Besides, he preferred rising before everyone. It gave him a chance to be by himself with his thoughts, a chance to be.

When he arrived at the fields he was surprised to find the girl from the previous night sleeping soundly in a small stack of hay, near the corn crops. She looked so peaceful lying there under the shade of a tall tree nearby, innocent and...pure.

He smiled a little, happy that no one was awake so that he could actually enjoy this moment. It wasn't until she began stretching her arms up over her head that he realized she was awake, and watching him as well. His lips fell into a scowl as he began stalking towards the barn.

Stopping mid-stretch, the girl quickly got up, falling in step with him. "Is something wrong?" she asked, holding her arms behind her back as the man she'd spoken to last night opened the barn doors and headed towards the horse stalls.

"Why are you here?" he asked, ignoring her question as he pulled a bridle from the wall and placed it on one of the horses to lead out of the stable.

"Why am I here this morning, you mean," she corrected him as she followed him out behind the skittish creature. "You said last night that I should observe from a closer perspective, so I am."

They reached the edge of a large field that had been partially worked and he bent down, retrieving a harness that was attached to a large plow lying on its side. Standing back up he faced her, "I didn't mean that you should observe me, so go...pick some flowers or something," he told her, waving a hand flippantly in no particular direction.

She was confused now; didn't he want her to observe people? "So you want me to watch you from the meadow?" she asked, tilting her head and pursing her lips into a thoughtful expression.

His face was turning slightly pink and he closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath. "Look...what is your name again?" he asked, opening his eyes and staring at her with an annoyed expression as he tried recalling if he'd ever been told it.

She looked at him like it was the most absurd question in the world. "Name?"

"Yes, name," he growled, folding his arms like he had the night before. "You do have a name, don't you?"

"Well," she began, twirling a finger absently around one of her blond locks, as she though about it, "there was a girl from a village I'd visited years ago that took to calling me Maria."

He raised an eyebrow at her, shaking his head as he reminded himself of his purpose. "Well, Maria-"

"What about you?" she asked curiously, cutting him off.

He could feel the anger in him rising to the surface again. "What about me, what?" he barked.

Smirking at his lack of patience, she lifted her head a little, defiantly, "What about your name?"

He rolled his eyes as he began attaching the harness he'd been holding to the horse from the stable. "Michael, and now that you-"

"Michael," she said, nodding her head once in confirmation. "It's a good name. Did you choose it yourself?"

"Of course not," he said absently, while trying to steady the wiry mare in front of him. "STAY STILL!"

"But I'm not-"

"Not you, the horse," he snapped, walking to the other side of the creature. "She won't let me put her harness on."

"Oh." After a moment of watching him struggle, Maria reached out to run a hand through the horses mane, speaking soothingly to it. It didn't take long before she began swatting his hands away from the leather straps he was trying to hook together.

"She has a bowed tendon," she stated at his look of exasperation towards her actions. "She won't be able to pull that plow, even if you managed to get it on her."

"How would you know? It's not exactly like she could tell you," he replied sarcastically, picking the harness up from the ground where it had fallen.

Placing one of her hands on her hips, she lightly pushed him towards the back of the horse.

"Hey!"

"If you don't believe me, check for yourself," she demanded, letting her right arm join the other in her agitation.

He huffed slightly, shaking his head and turning to look at the horse's leg. "Fine, if it will get you to..." Stopping short, Michael reached down, running his hand lightly over a nearly invisible swelling in the middle of one of the horse's hind legs. "How did you know she was hurt?" he questioned, turning his head to look at her from his bent position.

A mischievous smile fell onto her lips as she turned around, heading for a small patch of grass near the plowing fields. "It looks like you're not as observant as you thought."

. . .

Maria anxiously spent the rest of the morning watching Michael in the fields. Well, that wasn't quite true. Half of the morning he had spent plowing, while the other half was spent cursing the machinery, kicking at the dirt, and growling at the other horse that he'd brought from the barn to replace the injured one. It wasn't until nearly midday that the other men showed up to help him with the chores.

Michael groaned as he saw smiles, induced by the oblivious female sitting on the grass, light up the faces of two of his approaching friends.

"Michael!" The tall, lanky one was the first to speak. "Who's your friend?"

His hair was matted down in short, brown waves and his skin seemed astonishingly white, considering he was out in the sun for a good amount of time each day. There was a strange kindness and understanding in his eyes, while she'd found his tongue quick and his comments often amusing as she had watched him over the last few evenings.

Ignoring the implication in his tone, Michael answered him. "Alex, Maria. Maria...this is Alex and Maxwell," he told her, pointing to them each respectively.

She smiled at them both, looking up in confusing as the first one held his hand out towards her.

"It's nice to meet you," Alex began, looking down at his hand, as she didn't take it. Pulling it slowly back to his body he crumpled his nose a little when she merely nodded at him.

"Uh...yes, it is," the one Michael had called Maxwell added in, looking oddly towards his friend who wasn't paying any attention as he flopped down onto his back next to the girl, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand.

The second man was quite beautiful himself, with short hair that could nearly be considered black, and a boyish charm that lit up his face as he smiled. He held himself with a silent strength, and his eyes were filled with a strange wisdom.

"Umm...we're just going to go work now," Alex supplied, pointing towards the crops where the other men were working.

Michael grunted in response, propping a leg up and draping an arm over his eyes, as the two men walked away, talking quietly to one another.

After a few minutes he finally spoke. "Are they gone?"

Maria laughed at the absurdity of his question. Of course they were gone, didn't the just say they were leaving? "Yes."

Opening one eye and looking around, Michael stood up quickly, pulling her to her feet. "Good, because I'm starving and I'm guessing Max's little mouse of a fiancé probably still has some leftovers from breakfast," he said, starting along a hidden path around the fields.

"Max is getting married to a mouse?"