Title: Pieces Of Me
Author: Katie; Summary: After Michael spent the night in Independence Day, he did not get arrested or go talk to Mr. Evans. Instead he went back with Hank. This is what happened. A Michael/Maria Fan fiction.
Spoilers: Up to and including Independence Day
Pairing: Michael and Maria
Authors Note: Feedback is appreciated.
Distribution: Please! Just let me know.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Roswell. I wish I did though.
Chapter two: Hearing the Truth
They got to her room and he sat down on her bed. He kicked his shoes off his feet and slid to the back of the bed. Maria sat down next to him, and he rested his hand on her knee and she placed her hand on his thigh. He didn't want to not be touching her. Right now, she made him feel safe.
She slid her hand, ever so lightly, from his thigh, to his torso, up his chest, finally to rest on his cheek. She moved close to him and pulled his forehead down to rest on hers. Maria sighed, "Are you okay?" she asked softly.
"I am now" He whispered it so softly that he doubted she even heard him until her saw her breath a small smile. Michael let his forehead rest on hers and slid his hands up, to rest on both sides of her face, to hold her cheeks; he tucked her hair behind her ear at the same time on both sides. He kissed her forehead lightly before returning his forehead to rest on hers.
Maria smiled; she could feel tears forming in her eyes. Michael was being so different from what she was used to. She moved closer to him and slowly looked up at him. She leaned up and placed the sweetest, gentlest kiss on his lips.
When she pulled back from the kiss Michael smiled down at her…a real smile, before pulling her against him. Michael held her there for a second. He took a deep breath and pulled her away. Holding her at arm's length before dropping his hands from her shoulders. He had to tell her why he came here, why his face and arms and chest and torso had blood and bruises covering them.
Maria sighed softly when he pulled her back preparing herself for the "I have to be alone" speech. She looked up and met Michael's eyes with her own when she heard him sigh.
"It was Hank" Michael said so quietly that Maria moved closer to him just to hear him.
"You're foster father?" Maria asked as she moved as close to him as she could. The tone of his voice, broken and scared, it broke her heart. She kissed his shoulder softly and rested her hand on his knee. She felt his hand cover hers.
"Yeah, my foster father" Michael nodded. He covered her hand with one of his and with his free hand he slid his arm around her, almost as if he was sure he was going to lose her and he wanted to hold on to her for as long as possible before that happened.
"Has it happened before?" Maria asked not sure what else to ask.
"Used to a lot, when I was younger, before I could do anything about it" Michael said. He kissed the top of her head softly and watched as she curled into him more. "Never this bad, its only left a mark a few times" Michael finished and swallowed, hard.
"Why…why was it so bad this time?" Maria asked as she pulled back to look at him. She let one hand fall on his cheek as she wished she could make things better for him.
"I don't know, he was just angry, came home angry I think." Michael answered, he reached his hand up to hold hers. He pulled it away from his cheek and kissed the palm of her hand lightly before bringing it to rest between them.
"Last time you were here?" Maria asked. Wanting to know if the last time he came to her it was because of Hank then to.
"Yeah" Michael whispered.
"You can't go back there, we have to do something" Maria said, unwilling to let Michael go back to that awful place.
"There's nothing I can do" Michael said closing his eyes and pulling Maria close to him.
"But you could…" Maria stated pulling back to look at him. She saw the look on his face and sighed. "Lets go to sleep and fight it out in the morning, 'kay?" She asked.
"Yeah" Michael smiled and kissed her lips lightly.
They both lay down on Maria's bed, facing each other, about as close to each other as they could get. Michael draped his arm over her waist and pulled her to him. His chin rested above her head. He kissed the top of her head and watched her as she fell asleep.
Two hours later Maria stirred in Michael's arms. She looked up at him and saw that he was awake. "How long was I asleep?" She asked lightly running her hand down his cheek.
"Only a couple of hours" He answered and smiled down at her. "Go back to sleep" he whispered to her.
"What about you?" She asked…"You don't look like you've slept at all" She smiled and kissed his lips lightly.
He smiled back at her, then looked down almost as if he was ashamed, "I don't want to go to sleep" He admitted.
"Why not, Michael, you're safe here" She promised him nuzzling closer to him before pulling back enough to look up at him.
"Promise not to laugh at me" He asked her, sounding like a little kid. When Maria nodded he sighed, "I don't want to go to sleep because I'm scared that if I do, I'll wake up and none of this will have been real, I'll still be at the trailer with Hank and you won't be here" He said it all fast and quiet, never looking at her as he spoke.
Maria smiled when he finished. She looked up at him, forcing him to look her in the eye, "I promise to be here when you wake up, if you promise to be here when I wake up" She whispered and he nodded, they both understood what she meant, she was asking him not to run away from her again, and he was promising not to.
Michael leaned down and kissed her softly and when he did he felt Maria's whole body tense. He heard her whimper his name as if something bad was happening and he felt her clench on to his arms so hard that it hurt. So he held her, scared and not knowing what else to do, he held her, he held her until she screamed so quietly it came out as a whisper and she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him as close to her as possible, tangling their legs together and pushing her whole body to his, needing to be close to him.
When Michael kissed her moments ago Maria saw things. But not only saw them, felt the emotions that came along with them.
Michael in his room, Hank coming in yelling, then beating Michael into a bloody mess. How small, useless, and unloved Michael felt. She could feel his pain as Hank kicked his ribs.
Michael stumbling and falling, walking all the way to Maria's house. He kept thinking about her. That she would take care of him, wouldn't judge him. That he needed her. That he loved her.
Herself as she cleaned the drying blood off Michael. He felt like a little kid, like a burden. He felt terrible for encroaching upon her life more than he all ready had. Michael, knowing that he was all ready so attached that he couldn't pull away from her if he wanted to.
Michael telling her everything. He was scared, that she would think less of him, would find out that he couldn't even defend himself against his foster father, so how could he defend her against killer aliens or whatever may come up?
Michael watching her sleep. Worrying that she would wake up and realize she was way to god for him, that she should never care about some stupid alien who does nothing but ruin her life. That she would leave him.
"I saw everything" Maria whispered not moving away from Michael at all.
"What do you mean?" Michael asked pulling back from her, shocked.
"I saw you and Hank, and you come here, and I felt what you felt when everything was happening, when you were here, when you were watching me sleep" Maria said trying to make sense of everything. "Did you see anything?" She asked looking up at him.
"How did you see that?" Michael asked, wanting to know. "No, I didn't see anything, I was worried about you" Michael kissed her forehead lightly, "You scared me" He added remembering how scared he had been just a few moments ago.
"I don't know how or why I saw what I saw, or felt what I felt, I just know that I did" Maria said, she knew that what she was saying sounded crazy, she looked up at Michael and knew that he believed her.
"I don't know why that would happen, nothing like that has ever happened before" Michael explained wishing he had more answers. Michael moved away from her some and sat up. What did she feel from him? What exactly did she see? What was she thinking? How did she see him now?
Maria noticed that Michael pulled away from her before he sat up. Maria nodded slightly before she sat up. She remembered Liz telling her what is was like when she saw things from Max and Max saw things from her. She described it as the most intimate and the best thing that she ever did. When she had the flashes, she hoped that he had them about her too, like, somehow, that would have made them closer.
"What's wrong, Michael?" Maria asked, trying to meet her eyes with hers, but he never quite let her.
"Nothing" He mumbled looking everywhere except at Maria.
"Don't lie to me, Michael" Maria sighed. She rested her hand lightly on his cheek and brought his eyes to hers. "I wanted you to get them to, the flashes, or visions, or whatever they are, I wanted us both to get them, and I know it's dumb…" Maria said thinking that if she told him what she was thinking; maybe he would open up to her.
Michael smiled slightly, knowing exactly what she was trying to do. "It isn't dumb…you want what Max and Liz have…" Michael answered, still barley looking at her.
"No…I don't want what Max and Liz have, I want us to have something different, I just…I want the kind of connection that Max and Liz have" Maria said not sure how much sense that made to him.
"Do you still want us to have anything…after what you saw?" Michael asked instantly feeling stupid, this wasn't him, he didn't open up this way, didn't make himself this vulnerable, he was supposed to be a stone wall. He was too close to Maria and he knew it, he was in far to deep but didn't know how to get out, didn't even think he wanted to anymore.
"What, of course I do, Michael…" Maria searched for the words but couldn't find them. Maria leaned up and pressed her lips to his. She felt Michael respond to the kiss, and she broke away. She pressed her forehead against his; he flinched but didn't pull away.
"I can try, if you want, to make a connection, try to make the flashes go both ways" Michael whispered to her, wanting to just get past this for now.
"Do you want to?" She asked and heard him mumble something about wanting to if she did. "No, I only want to if you want to" She said pulling back, sitting up straight, looking at him.