7 months later (Europe, France)
"Poussee!" screamed the nurse over Maria's wailing.
"I am pushing you incompetent woman, you try pushing a football out of something the size of a pea hole," Maria said though gritted teeth. Amy just gave the nurse an apologetic look but the nurse brushed it off. She had seen it many times before and much worse than this.
Alex sat next to the bed trying to extract his hand from Maria's tight grasp. He was sure that at least two of his fingers where broken and…oh there went another one. He hated when the contractions hit.
"Poussee!" The nurse told her again and Maria shook her head.
"No, no this hurts too much," she said as she turned to look at her mother. "Mom, can't it just stay in a little longer?" she pleaded.
Amy's heart almost broke at the tone Maria's voice had taken. She sounded like a scared little 7-year-old, and she wanted nothing more than to just pull Maria into her arms and rock her. "It'll be all over soon honey, you just have to push one more time okay. Can you do that for me?"
Shaking his head, Alex tried more hurriedly to remove his hand. If she pushed now that would be all his fingers gone. Maria nodded and Alex grimaced, awaiting the inevitable pain. He screamed right along with Maria as she made her final push. Suddenly the only sound in the room was the sound of a baby's wail.
"Vous avez un beau fils," the nurse said as she held the baby up for Maria to see.
"I have a son," she said then smiled as tears of joy rolled down her face. "I have a son."
The nurse nodded then took the baby away for cleaning. Alex turned to Maria, the pain in his hand temporarily forgotten as he removed some of the plastered hair from her forehead. "Hey, how you feeling?"
Maria smiled. "Sore, but after seeing him…I feel so happy Alex. I have son," she said as more tears escaped. "I have a beautiful baby boy."
"What are you going to call him?" Amy asked walking back over to her daughter. She had gone to watch the nurses clean up her grandson and couldn't keep the smile off her face.
Shrugging, Maria closed her eyes. "I'm not sure, I'll have to really look at him first," she said with a yawn.
The nurse saw Maria yawn and handed the baby to one of the other staff. "Allons recevoir vous pouvez tenir votre fils."
Alex shook his head. "What did she just say?" he asked Amy. Even after being to France a few times he still hadn't gotten a hold of the language. Maria did though; she took to it straight away.
Laughing, Amy led Alex outside so the nurses could take care of Maria. "She just wanted to get Maria cleaned up so she could hold her son. Alex you really must start to learn the language, it would be much easier."
"Oui, vous devriez," Amy's sister Kayla said as she joined the two. She couldn't wait to see the baby and still couldn't believe that Maria would be leaving to go back to Roswell soon. She loved having her niece around and would be sad to see her go.
Alex groaned. "I have no idea what you said but you know what?" he asked, "I don't care, what I do care about right now, is the fact that Maria broke three of my fingers."
The two women started to laugh. "Oh Alex, come with me honey, we'll get you fixed up in no time," Kayla said and Alex smiled gratefully that she had spoken in English so he could understand. He nodded and stood up to follow her but before he left he made Amy promise to get him when they could see Maria.
An hour later, all three were placed around Maria's room awaiting the arrival of the newborn. Maria sat up slightly when the nurses wheeled him in and a huge grin broke out on her face. "He's beautiful," she whispered as the nurse placed him in her arms.
"Just like his mother," Amy said with a smile. Maria let out a small laugh and counted ten fingers and ten toes. "They're tiny, aren't they?"
Maria nodded. "I feel like I'm going to break him or something."
Shaking her head, Amy kissed the baby's forehead. "You won't break him sweetie."
Alex walked over and sat on the bed next to her. "Well I think that Alex Junior is the best name so far, any objections?" he asked and before anyone could reply he added, "Good, great, glad it's all settled. Alex Junior it is."
"My baby will not be called Alex Junior," Maria laughed and Alex gave her a fake pout. "Even though it is a great name," Alex smiled proudly at that, "my son will have his own name."
"Got any ideas?" Kayla asked as she lightly touched the baby's head.
Maria nodded. "Yeah, Brendan. Brendan Alexander Deluca." Alex looked at Maria in shock and she smiled. "He had to have your name in there somewhere. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there for me Alex."
Alex slung an arm over her shoulders and blinked back the tears in his eyes. He then suddenly laughed and explained at Maria's confused look. "You know his initials spell BAD don't you?" Maria laughed and shook her head.
Maria looked down at her son and held him to her chest. She couldn't believe that this little boy was her son; she just wished that Michael was there to enjoy the moment with her but knew that it would never come true. She shook her head clear of those thoughts and gasped softly as her son's eyes opened and revealed bright green orbs. "He has my eyes," she whispered and smiled. "Michael's hair and my eyes."
Amy pursed her lips together at the mention of Michael's name. Alex had managed to refrain her from going over and mutilating his body all those months ago but that still didn't mean she didn't want him dead. Amy sighed and plastered a smile on her face. "Well, I certainly can't wait to get this little boy back to Roswell so I can show him off." Alex nodded and the two started to talk about what they would do as soon as they got back; where they would take him, whom they would show him too.
Maria however, sat back just gazing at her son. Did she really want to go back to Roswell? Back to where all those bad memories lay. Back to a man who didn't love her and didn't want to be a father? She shook her head. She could think about it later, right now she held her son in her hands and wanted to live in the moment for as long as she could.
*~*~*~*
5 months later (New Mexico, Roswell)
"Isn't he gorgeous?" Tess asked as she filtered through the latest photographs that Maria had sent. "Aww, he's smiling in this one." She held up a photo of Brendan lying in his cot with a huge smile on his face. She glanced at another photo then looked at her boyfriend. "He doesn't really look like Alex does he?"
Kyle shook his head. He had realised that as well. He turned his gaze over towards the far booth in the café. "You know who he does look like don't you?" Tess nodded while placing the photos back in the envelope.
"Yeah but Alex said the little Brendan was his," she shrugged. Just then Alex entered the Crashdown looking extremely depressed. "Hey Alex."
Alex nodded his greeting then sat with the couple. "Hey man what's up with the sad act?" Kyle asked. He hadn't seen Alex look so sad since Maria left.
"She's not coming back."
Tess blinked. "What? What do you mean she's not coming back? She has to, she promised."
"Well she's not," Alex said a little bitterly. "Apparently she likes France too much and doesn't think that Roswell is the best place for her or Brendan right now."
"You should have some sort of say though, I mean you are the kid's father." Kyle watched as Alex looked away at that. "Alex?"
Alex stood. "Sorry, I have to go see Amy and see how she's doing. I'll talk to you later." With that he left the booth, but on his way out he passed the pod squad's table where Isabel stopped him.
"Hey Alex, what's the matter? You look like s-hit."
He plastered a fake smile on his face. "Thanks a lot Isabel, really." He rolled his eyes and Isabel apologised but repeated her earlier question while Michael just glared at him. "Not that it's any of your business, but Maria has decided to stay in France."
"What do you mean, she's not coming back?" Liz asked as she placed Michael and Isabel's food in front of them.
Alex shrugged. "I don't know, she just said that she liked France too much to leave. I hate it but there's not much I can do about it. Look I got to go," he said and walked out of the Crashdown.
Michael watched Alex leave, not believing that he had heard right. Maria wasn't coming back? How was he going to get her back if she was staying in France? That wasn't part of the plan. He grabbed Liz's wrist, halting her from moving away. "I need your Dad to give me more shifts," he told her.
"I'll ask him for you," she said as she headed towards the back. Michael sat and started to play with his food. If she weren't going to come back to Roswell, then he'd have to go France. He just needed money first.
*~*~*~*
1 year later (Europe, France)
Maria sat down on her bed exhausted. She hadn't realised how much work it took taking care of a baby. She was just thankful that her aunt had been there to help her and Alex was great when he visited. She glanced at her son who was sleeping soundly in his crib. At 17-months-old he was already a very loud baby, he woke up constantly in the night demanding food with his cries and then wouldn't go back to sleep. But even so, she wouldn't trade the feeling of being a mother for the world. She loved it. She loved him.
She lay down on her bed and started to close her eyes. Maybe he'd be lenient on her and allow her a few hours of sleep. Just as she started to drift off she was suddenly awakened by a loud wail. "No chance of that," she muttered to herself as she stood and walked over to him. Leaning down, she picked him up and held him to her chest.
"What's wrong honey?" she asked softly. "You can't be hungry because I just fed you and you're not wet or anything so what can it be?" she rubbed soothing circles on his back until he finally calmed down. "There you go sweetie, all better now. You just wanted Mommy, huh?" she asked with a smile and got a gurgle in response. She laughed and carried him over towards her bed and laid him down next to her.
She watched him as he simply looked around the room with his small eyes and flailed his arms and legs about. She shot up immediately when she saw a green bolt shoot from his tiny fingers and hit the picture on the far wall. "I did not just see that," she whispered to herself. "Oh please tell me I just didn't see that." Just as she said that, another bolt shot out from his hand and hit the same wall, leaving a black scorch mark.
"Shit," she said as she lifted him. "Damn it, you not only inherited your father's hair but his powers as well." Maria shook her head. "I need Tess to teach you how to control these Bren. Or take them away until you're older." She sighed. "Looks like we're going back to Roswell after all."
TBC…