"Why do you think she's back?" Max asked after a period of silence. Maria's return had left them all speechless.
Alex shrugged. "I don't care why, all I care about is the fact that she's back." Kyle nodded and surprisingly so did Liz. Alex looked at her questioningly. Since Maria had left, he and Liz had stopped talking except for the occasional 'hello'.
"I know you think that I hate Maria or something but I don't. I was as worried as you were the whole time she was gone. I may not have supported her when she needed me but that didn't mean that I didn't worry about her. She's my best friend and I plan to smooth things out with her soon. So like you, I am also glad that she is back."
Alex nodded. "Yeah well, don't expect forgiveness so quickly. She really needed you and you gave up on her." Before Liz could reply, a scream was heard from the back room so everyone went running.
When they got the door open, they all saw Maria standing by the counter holding Brendan, looking worried, while Tess was seated on the floor looking shocked. "Tess?" Kyle asked as they entered the room.
Tess glanced at Maria who shook her head slightly, letting her know to keep what had just happened quiet. Tess stood. "We saw a rat," she blurted out. "But it ran away as soon as I screamed, right out the back door."
"Why were you on the floor?" Jesse asked as he came up behind Isabel.
"Oh umm, well you see…I was sitting on the couch but the shock of seeing the rat made me fall off," she said with a small laugh. Kyle walked over to her with a smile.
"You always were a bit of a klutz my dear," he said and the others laughed. He however was not laughing, as he knew that Tess was lying and figured that whatever had happened, it had something to do with Brendan.
Tess sighed in relief as they all bought her story then glared at her boyfriend. Klutz her a-ss. She was not a klutz. He was so sleeping back on the couch that night. She turned to him with a sickeningly sweet smile. "Kyle dear, do you think that you all could leave us for a bit, we were talking about something private."
"Sure we can," Max, said and started to usher everyone back out.
Before leaving, Liz turned to face Maria. "Can we talk? When you and Tess have finished I mean?" she asked and when Maria nodded, she left.
Tess glanced at Brendan then took a step back. "Will he do that again?" Maria shrugged. "A shrug? A shrug, that's all you can give me, a shrug?"
Maria nodded. "Yeah, look Tess I really don't know when or if he'll even do it again. All I want to know is if you can do something about it. I can't have anyone take him away from me and I'm worried that if he does this in public, by mistake that someone will see and the FBI will come and take him from me. I can't have that happen Tess." She said with sad eyes and Tess walked over to her, enveloping the taller blond…well now brunette, in a hug.
"Nothing will happen to him Maria, we'll make sure of it. Come over to my place tomorrow afternoon and I'll see what I can do. I'll see if there is anything in the book about it."
"You translated the book?" Maria asked surprised.
"Yeah a while ago. We actually had the chance to go home yesterday in the granolith…" she trailed off remembering that Maria had no idea of what the granolith was. "It's a long story and I'll tell you later, the short of it is that we all had a chance to go home but we chose instead, to stay."
"Oh…okay," Maria said, noddling slowly. She heard Liz call out if they were finished and sighed. "What do you think she wants to talk about?"
Tess headed towards the door. "Not sure, but she sound's impatient so I'd get out there." Maria nodded and followed her out into the front part of the café where they both took a seat at a table in the middle of the café. Maria held Brendan to her chest and soothingly rubbed his back to get him to sleep and smiled when his eyes started to slip shut. She glanced up and found Michael staring intently at her. She wondered why he hadn't said anything to her yet—maybe he still hated her.
Maria sighed. "So what did you want to speak about?" she asked, looking at Liz.
Sighing, Liz glanced at Isabel and Max before speaking. "First, I just want to say how glad I am that you're back, how glad we all are. It may not have seemed like it but we were all worried about you while you were gone."
Maria scoffed but didn't say anything so Liz continued. "Second, I want to tell you how sorry I am for the way that I acted—" Isabel nudged her in the ribs and Liz motioned towards Isabel and Max "—we acted," she corrected. "I am so sorry for even suggesting that you get rid of your baby. I felt so ashamed of myself after that Maria, you have no idea and I'm sorry that I didn't support you and be the friend that you needed me to be. I guess I was jealous of your friendship with Tess and thought that if you needed help, that you could talk to Tess about it. I let my petty jealousy stand in the way of our friendship and let it rule over my decisions and I will forever regret it. I just hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me one day."
She stopped and stared at the table, not wanting to see the look on Maria's face when Isabel took the opportunity to apologise herself. "We have never been friends. For a while there I thought that we might have been able to start one but then your relationship with Michael stopped that. I thought that you were taking my brother away from me and hated you I guess. I hated Liz too but Max assured me that I would always come first in his life. I could never get that assurance from Michael and I was jealous."
Isabel took a deep breath and tried to push back the tears that were rapidly forming. She hadn't realised how hard this actually would be. "That day you told us you were pregnant, I lost it and I'm not proud of myself. I jumped to conclusions and said things that were both uncalled for and untrue. I know that you would never get pregnant just to trap someone nor are you a slut. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me, then I would love nothing more than to build a friendship with you."
Staying silent throughout the entire thing, Max turned to Maria who had an expressionless face which made him nervous. "Unlike you and Isabel, you and I were friends and I ruined it by being an ass that day in the Crashdown. I got angry and only thought of myself. How this would affect us, what we were going to do now, and I never once thought about what it would do to you and I am not proud of that. I'm ashamed of how I acted and don't expect you to forgive me because if I were you, I probably wouldn't. I just want you to know how sorry I am Maria, you were my friend and I wasn't there for you when I should have been." He stopped and smiled as he looked at her baby. "He really is a beautiful baby, Girlfriend."
"Thank you Max," Maria said after a moment in an emotionless tone. She sighed before looking at the three of them. "Your apologies are appreciated but not accepted. I went to you that day hoping for support or help but none for you could give that. I needed you and you all cast me off." She stood and gathered the baby bag on her shoulder. "I was looking for help and got pushed away. I don't know if I can forgive any of you just yet, maybe one day but not now. If you'll excuse me, the plane ride here was long and I'm tired."
She pushed back from the table and headed towards the door. "Wait up," Alex called. "I'll go with you, I want to spend time with Brendan." Maria nodded and the two headed out of the café while three stunned, two amused and one brooding person all stayed seated in her wake.
"I suppose it's better than nothing," Isabel finally said after a few minutes of silence. Liz nodded and Michael stood from his seat and headed out the door. "Where are you going?" she asked him.
Michael shrugged. "Out," he said as he exited the café and mounted his bike. Shutting the visor on his helmet, he glanced in the direction of Maria's house and made his mind up. He had to see her, and he had to do it tonight.
*~*~*~*
Maria placed Brendan in his crib and waited until he settled down before heading into her room, which was opposite Brendan's. Her mother had made up a nursery for him when she had first thought that Maria was coming back and left it in hopes that her daughter would return one day with her grandson.
"He asleep?" Alex asked while he flicked through a magazine she had on her bed. The two had been playing with Brendan for a few minutes before he got too tired so Maria put him to bed. She nodded. "Good, so care to explain why you're really back and why you couldn't discuss it with me earlier?"
Sighing, Maria sat on her bed across from him. "Brendan's developed his powers and I need Tess to do something about it." Alex gasped and she nodded. "Yeah I know, I didn't think he'd get them so soon, if ever, but he did. I came back to ask Tess to either help him with them or do something that will take them away for the time being—until he's old enough to understand them and know when not to use them. I didn't tell you first because I didn't know until last night and my first thought was just getting to Tess and asking for her help."
"It's okay, so can she do anything?" he asked sitting up straighter.
Maria shrugged as she fingered the pattern on her bedspread. "She's not sure. I have to take Brendan to see her tomorrow after she's gone through the book to see if there's anything she can do." Maria stifled a yawn and Alex chuckled.
"That's my cue to leave." He stood and kissed the crown of her head. "It's good to have you back." She smiled at him and they hugged. "Now get some sleep and call me tomorrow." Maria nodded and laughed as Alex walked out of her room.
Turning down her sheets, she climbed into bed, ready to sleep, when she heard a tap at her window. She groaned to herself but got up to see who it was anyway and gasped when she came face to face with Michael. She opened the window and stepped back to make way for him to enter. Michael awkwardly made his way into her room and they stood staring silently at each other for a while, the world around them forgotten until they heard Brendan start to cry from the other room.
Maria broke out of her haze and turned to tend to her son while Michael walked around the room and sat at the foot of her bed. Her room still looked the same and he smiled faintly at all the memories they actually had in the room. His hand caressed the bedspread then suddenly the thought of Alex and Maria together hit him and he stood as if the bed had burnt him. He decided that sitting on the desk chair at the other side of the room was probably best. He watched, mesmerised, as Maria carried Brendan into the room, gently rocking him in her arms.
"Can I hold him?" he asked quietly and she glanced between him and her son before hesitantly nodding. She walked over and placed him in Michael's arms.
"Support his head," she whispered as not to disturb her son's rest. She watched as Michael rocked Brendan with a small smile on his face. Brendan started to fuss then grabbed hold of one of Michael's fingers and calmed down. Maria was in awe, not even Alex could get him to calm down straight away once awoken from sleep.
Michael couldn't believe that holding Brendan the way he was seemed so right, so natural. "He's beautiful," he said quietly and looked up at Maria who nodded in agreement.
"I need to get him to bed," she said and softly took him out of Michael's arms. Michael seemed disappointed but Maria shrugged it off and once again put her son to bed. She walked back into her room and sat on her bed facing the man that had broken her heart and unknowingly fathered her child. "Why are you here?"
"Is your Mom home?" he asked.
Maria smiled. "Why does this conversation seem so familiar?"
"I don't plan on yelling or anything, I just want to know in case she comes in with that trusty newspaper of hers. Since you left she's done nothing but look at me as though I was scum so I don't feel like pissing her off anymore than I obviously already have."
Maria shook her head. "No she's not. She won't be back until late tomorrow so you're safe." Michael smiled and they both sat in silence for a few moments avoiding each other's gazes until Maria spoke up. "So why are you here?"
TBC…