Maria's eyes went as big as saucers, while the rest of the gang silently decided to give them some privacy. Max and Liz went to the brake room, followed by Isabel and Tess.

Kyle just stood there, watching what would happen next with an amused expression on his face. Well, until Tess turned around and motioned for him to follow them. But Kyle just stood there, rooted to the spot, as if he was watching a National Geographic documentary.

Wack

A smack to the head brought him back to reality.

"Ouch Tess, why'd you do that for?" he asked with a look of utter disbelief in his eyes.

Tess just shook her head and pulled him into the break room.

"So, care to explain Spaceboy?" Maria tried to remain calm. 'Okay, so he had been hurt, it's okay, Max was there. But what if he wasn't? Would he have died, oh my g-…' Her thoughts went out of control.

Michael saw Maria was about to freak out, so he decided to calm her down before Hurricane DeLuca emerged. He grabbed her shoulders and gruffly said, "Maria cool it, I'm fine. Yeah I was hurt, but Max fixed it, okay?"

That seemed to calm her down a bit. Her emerald green eyes suddenly filled with tears.

"I was just so worried! I felt that something was wrong", she squeaked while holding on to him for dear life.

Michael was baffled. How could she have felt that? His emotions were out of control, but one feeling overwhelmed him the most. Love, for his Maria, the pixie girl who broke down his walls and showed him how it felt to love and be loved.

After their little 'moment' Maria broke out of their embrace.

"So, what happened?"

"Well, to keep it short, we saw someone, possibly an alien, were about to interrogate him, got blown away and decided it wasn't safe, so we came back here", Michael said while the others came back from the back room.

Kyle put his head around the door, "Is it safe now?" he quipped. Maria didn't hesitate and threw her notebook at him. But he had already pulled the door closed, so it bounced against the door.

"Guess that's a yes", Kyle said, walking confidently into the dining area.

When everyone was sitting down, Max took the lead.

"We have to be careful, and I think it would be best if we carried on like nothing happened-"

"Maxwell…" came the dangerously low voice of Michael.

"I know Michael, I'm just saying we should keep a low profile for a while. We will go back to the site in a few weeks. I believe that's best for all of us, don't you?" Max said in a soft tone. And for once Michael, as well as the rest of their tiny group, agreed.

The following days went by without a hitch. Although they were all keeping an eye on each other.

Maria was walking to her car, after getting a call from her mom, who wanted her to pick up some alien stuff for the shop. She got into her old beat up Jetta, softly mumbling under her breath how she hated those stupid alien dolls.

A sudden voice from the backseat made her jump up and hit her head against the roof of the car.

"Rather have the real thing, don't you?" Michael smirked, earning an evil DeLuca glare.

"What are you doing hiding in my car? I know we have to be careful and all, but you don't have to go spying on me!" she exclaimed, feeling a little flushed from all this attention she was getting suddenly.

"I just felt like going for a ride, and since you were about to do that, I thought I'd join you. So, are you going to drive, or do you plan to just sit there and do nothing?" Michael grinned. He loved these little moments between them. Although he would never admit that to anyone.

"Ehh, yeah. I was just going to pick up some goods for the store", Maria said while starting the car and driving off into the desert.

"Well, drive on", Michael said, getting comfortable on the passenger seat.

After picking up the alien dolls it was already dark outside. They were driving in silence, Maria was asleep on the passenger side and Michael had taken the wheel. Maria yawned and stretched her body a little.

"So, you're my babysitter now? My protector?"

Michaels face remained stoic.

"You know, just when I think I get you all figured out, you do something completely different", she sighed.

She saw a small smile tugging on his lips and put her hand on his hand. She glanced out the front window and gasped.

"Michael look out! There's someone there!" she yelled.

Michael screeched the car to a halt, just a few inches away from the person standing on the road. His eyes went wide:

"It's him…"