Chapter 9 (The truth is finally revealed)

Michael shrugged his shoulders and ran a hand through his hair as he sat back in the chair. "I didn't get a chance to say anything to you at the Crashdown and I think that we need to talk."

"Well I think you said all I wanted to hear before I left," Maria said, tearing her gaze away from his. The memory of that day still haunted her, the things he said, the things they all said.

"I know that you probably hate me right now but I have to say a few things to you, if you chose to still never want to speak to me again, then I'll leave you alone." Maria sighed but gave a curt nod for him to continue anyway so Michael sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "That night you told us you were pregnant, when I thought that it was mine, I was scared, not only for myself, but for you as well. We have no idea what an alien foetus could do to the human body, if it could hurt you or kill you. I was scared and I lashed out by saying things that I didn't mean and will forever regret saying."

Maria sat in silence, listening to his words, only half believing him. Could she trust that he was telling the truth? She shook her head slowly. "Why did you leave?" she asked and at his slightly confused look continued, "After we slept together, why did you leave?"

He stood and started to pace around the room. "I was scared. I've never been in love before Maria, not with anyone and tried my hardest not to get attached to anyone either, but then you came along and changed that. I got attached to you and I fell in love with you, something I promised myself I would never do. Initially I was okay with that, I could handle it but then I killed Pierce. I killed Pierce with my powers and was afraid that I would eventually end up hurting you too. I loved you too much to do that to you."

"Then why did you even bother to come over to my house after leaving me at the Convention Centre?" she asked angrily. "Why did you come to see me? Why sleep with me if you had no intention of being with me?"

Michael stopped pacing and sat down next to her at the foot of the bed and looked at his hands as he played with the ring on his left hand. "I didn't come over with the intention of having sex with you, that…that was unexpected." he said with a quiet chuckle but stopped when he saw Maria glare at him. "I came over because I didn't want to end things between us the way I did. I didn't want you thinking that I told you I loved you but didn't mean it; I didn't want you hating me. I needed you to understand why we had to be apart, but when you kissed me, it was like I had lost control of myself, I couldn't stop, I didn't want to."

He sighed and ran a hand over his face. "When I woke up with you in my arms, I had never in my life felt so content and it scared the life out of me. All I have ever wanted was to go home, home to Antar and be the soldier I was destined to be but you, Maria…you gave me reason to stay, you made me want to give all that up and I couldn't. I couldn't do that, so I left and it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. I didn't want to leave but I did and I regret that decision."

He saw Maria nod out of the corner of his eye. She sat up straighter beside him and took her hand in his. "You were scared of finding a reason to stay on a planet that you hate and when you found one, you had the urge to run."

Michael nodded. "Yeah, and I wish I never had," he whispered as he turned his hand that was being held in hers and started to caress her tiny fingers. "We had the chance to go home a week ago. Tess found the translation to the book and we were all prepared to go home, we were in the chamber to take off and everything."

"Why didn't you?" Maria asked as she listened to him intently.

"I couldn't leave you," he said as he stared at the far wall. "I knew that you were still mad at me and would never want to see or hear from me again, but when the final minutes ran by, I couldn't leave. All I thought about while we waited was you. How I didn't think that I could live the rest of my life without you in it, so I told them and I left the chamber, promising myself that I would find you and try to win you back. Try to get you to forgive me and accept me into your's and your child's life."

Maria pulled her hand out of his grasp and stood as his words went though her head. He stayed for her; he stayed to win her back. Michael stood and walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist as his head rested in the crook of her neck. "I just need to know one thing first," he said. "Are you in love with Alex?"

She shook her head as she turned in his arms with tears in her eyes. "No, I'm not," she whispered and he smiled. "But there's something I have to tell--" Michael cut her off as he brought his lips down to meet hers.

Everything that had happened in the past had vanished from both their minds as they kissed each other with a passion like no other. Maria forgot the harsh words said and Michael forgot the fact that she 'slept' with Alex. Nothing else mattered to them at that moment. Michael slowly pulled away and looked into her teary emerald eyes with a smile. "I've been waiting so long to do that," he admitted and she gave a small laugh.

"Me too," she whispered. Before she could open her mouth to speak, Michael once again captured her lips in a domineering kiss. As the kiss heated up, Michael walked them forward until the back of Maria's legs hit her bed then carefully laid them both down so that he was hovering above her.

Maria knew that they shouldn't be doing this; they still had so much to work through. She was still mad at him and unforgiving while he was probably still angry and hurt that she 'slept' with Alex. She wanted him to stop so that she could set a few things straight but when his lips touched her now bared chest, all thoughts flew out the window and she succumbed to the feelings that passed through her body as he touched her in the most intimate of places.

She moaned softly when he kissed a trail down her stomach and peppered butterfly kisses around her belly button. She arched her back off the bed slightly when she felt him tug at her pants so that he could pull them off. Once off, he kissed her covered soaked mound and caressed her through the material of her panties. Maria panted breathlessly as he pushed the offending material aside and started to place open mouth kisses on her nether region. She was in heaven and hoped to god that she never had to leave.

As she came down from the high of a blinding orgasm, Michael stood and took off his shirt and pants then crawled up her body until their faces met. As he trailed his fingers down the side of her cheek, memories of the last night they had together flashed through his head. He couldn't believe that she was really there with him, panting for him, smiling for him, wanting him. He placed a chaste kiss on her lips before entering her in one swift movement and they both moaned with pleasure at the completion the two felt once they were joined.

Michael thrust into her slow and languid at first but her whimpers and whispers of 'more' made him thrust harder and faster. She arched her body to meet every stroke, every thrust just as hard and fast as him. Their love making seemed like a dance, like a competition to see who could break away first, who could last the longest. Maria began sucking hard enough on his neck to leave a mark, much like the one she knew was on the inside of her thigh. He had marked her so she had marked him. She knew she was close when she felt her stomach tighten and knew that she couldn't hold out much longer. Michael felt the same and opened his eyes to stare into hers.

Once before Michael had stated that he didn't want to get intense, he couldn't afford to, now he didn't understand how he lived without that feeling, the feeling of being joined with your soul mate, the feeling of love. As their release approached, they stayed locked onto each other's gazes, afraid that if they closed their eyes then it would all have been a dream. Michael bent down to give her a passionate kiss, but as soon as their lips met, they were hit with flashes.

Michael climbing through her window

Michael lying in bed holding Maria close as he kissed her forehead

Maria waking in the morning, devastated that he had left her

Alex finding Maria on the stairs then her slapping him

Maria telling Alex she might be pregnant with Michael's child

Maria and Alex holding each other while the positive test lay beside them

Michael yelling at her then once again leaving

Alex hugging Maria before she hopped into the cab to go to the airport

Maria giving birth then commenting on Brendan having Michael's hair

Brendan blasting the picture on the wall while Maria sat shocked

Maria asking Tess for help to control Brendan's powers

Michael climbing through her window

Michael pulled back in shock as their climax subsided and the flashes faded. Brendan was his. Maria had lied to him. He pulled out of her and jumped out of the bed, grabbing his pants and putting them on.

"Michael," Maria said, sitting up on the bed, covering herself with the sheet. She knew what he had seen because it all had flashed through her head as well; only she had seen what it had been like for him not being with her as well. "Michael," she tried again when it became apparent that he didn't want to listen to her.

Michael turned around and looked at her with a hard face and cold stare, watching as she visibly flinched. "I don't want to hear it," he said calmly, too calm. "I don't want to hear anything from you. Not now, not ever." He grabbed his shirt from the floor and started to button it up then felt a hand on his forearm, turning him around again.

"I tired to tell you before but you--"

He cut her off when he ripped his arm out of her grasp. "You tried to tell me?" he asked as slight anger tinged his voice. "When?" he demanded to know. "When did you try? When you were telling me that the baby was Alex's? When you left to go to France? When you let me think that we could still have this?" he asked, waving his hand between them.

Maria picked up her robe and wrapped it around her body as she rose from the bed, anger marring her features. "I did try to tell you but you stopped me. All I have ever wanted to do from the start is tell you." Michael scoffed and she glared at him. "Okay then Michael," she said, stressing his name. "Think about why I kept it from you, why I wouldn't want to tell you that Brendan is yours. Go on!" she yelled. "Think about the night that I told you I was pregnant and the things you said to me, then ask me how could I have kept this from you."

"I don't have to listen to this," he said, walking over to where he had kicked off his shoes. "You lied to me Maria, you kept my own son away from me." He shoved his feet into his shoes. "I have done a lot of bad things, and will probably do a lot more, but I would never have tried to keep your child away from you. I don't think I'll ever forgive you for that."

"But I'm supposed to forgive you for all the things you said to me?" she asked with tears coursing down her cheeks as she sat back down on the bed. She shook her head, not believing that he could turn this all around onto her, like she was the only one in the wrong. "Get out," she whispered. "Just get out."

Michael turned and headed for the window but paused before climbing out. "All I have ever wanted was a family and you took that away from me. We have both done things we're not proud of, but that does not excuse you of keeping my son away from me." With that he climbed out the window, leaving Maria sobbing loudly into her pillows still laced with his scented aftershave.

TBC…