Broken

Previously -

She took another deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "He used to drink and beat me a lot. One night he went too far, he raped me and put me in the hospital for a week."

Within a mile radius, every rock and solid object blew into pieces.

"WHAT!"

Maria cringed. She knew it had been a bad idea telling him. If only she hadn't been stupid enough to leave her ring on, she didn't know why she was still wearing it anyway. Hesitantly, she turned his face towards his, the basics was all he needed to know, "We're separated now. Have been for the last 6 months."

Michael watched her with stony, unreadable eyes. Her breath caught as they intensified with every passing second. "Who. Was. He?" He growled, his voice so low...so cold...that it sent a chill down her spine. He had punctuated every word with a step closer to her trembling frame. He was beginning to scare her. As Michael got closer she cringed once more, a habit that unfortunately had been developed over the past four years of her marriage. She suddenly felt like a cornered animal and her basic instincts were telling her 'fight or flee!' She chose the latter.

"Oh...it doesn't matter." She lied, trying to make her quavering voice sound as casual as she could. "I'm getting tried Michael. I want to go home, we can talk about this tomorrow." Maria held her breath as she gazed at Michael, trying to read what he might be feeling. After the explosion of rocks, the loss of control over his powers, he had shut down deeper into himself. His hazel eyes met her clear emerald ones and she saw in their depths raging pools of emotions. She could only just imagine what he may be feeling. A slow look of disbelief settled on his features as her comment finally registered.

"No, Maria." He spoke slowly again, as if he were talking to a child. Maria felt a flash of irritation at this, her body tensed up, but she didn't move away. "No, Maria." He repeated, carefully and deliberately. "What you're going to do is tell me who this motherfucker is, so I can find him and liquefy him from the inside." Maria's eyes widened at the murderous edge to his dark tone. She could almost feel the intense hatred and anger burn through him, emanating off him in waves. He was completely serious. She decided then if not for any other reason, she definitely couldn't tell him who he was. She couldn't make him into a killer.

"No. I'm going home Michael." She said as forcefully as she could and pushed past the alien's larger frame. Working on basic reflexes, Michael's hand shot out and grabbed Maria's wrist, the strength of his grip crushing her fragile bones, damaging her flawless skin. Maria gasped and winced at the sharp pain it sent down her arm. A whimper fell from her lips and a once familiar sentence was said in a rush. "Pleasedonthurtme." Her face flushed with shame at the instinctual response she had emitted. That automatic beg that she had learned throughout her marriage. Michael eyes were wide with shock, his gaze never leaving his hand that was bruising hers.

"I...I..." His mouth just opened and closed. He hadn't received any images from her, but he could easily see the depths of her inner wounds; they were deep and the scars would be permanent. But before he could think of a proper response, Maria snatched her arm away from him and stormed over to the car.

"Maria!" Michael called and ran up to her. Fuck! What have I done now? He thought with despair. Its more what you didn't do that's the problem. Look at this, look at the pain of what you've caused. Always said you were worthless didn't I? Michaels eyes squeezed shut, trying to block out Hank's voice, but it never went away. It never had. In some twisted way Hank was the most constant thing in Michaels life up to date. Even though he's dead. "Maria!" He called again. "Wait. Don't get in the car. What the hell is going on Maria? Why won't you talk to me?" Maria spun around, her eyes blazing fiercely, 8 years of heartache and anguish bubbled inside of her - turning it to sheer anger at the indirect cause of it all.

"Talk to you? Talk to the great Michael Guerin? Mr Stonewall himself? Talk the only guy I ever loved, who abandoned me? Who abandoned all of us? You ran Michael! You ran and left us to pick up the pieces of our lives!" Maria stalked closer to him with every minute, tears streaming down her face as she screamed. "How dare you demand an explanation for the way I'm acting! How fucking dare you! You haven't been here, you don't know what I've been through. You don't know what any of us have been through. We could have been attacked. For all you knew, we could have been at war with your stupid fucking planet. Yet no calls, no letters, nothing. For 8 years!"

Michael was speechless, he had never seen Maria so angry... so bitter. He just stood there taking in every word, letting her hate rip his heart to shreds.

"...I almost began to wish you were dead, just so I could get on with my life. So I couldn't hate you for doing this anymore. But I knew you weren't dead, I knew it deep down inside, even when everyone else told me to think so. And now here you are, alive and well, shocked that the rest of us continued on with their lives, shocked that the world didn't stand still until you came back. Well fuck you Michael Guerin. Now that I know you're okay, I don't ever want to see you again." Maria slowly sank down against the car, sobbing. As she buried her head in her lap, she looked more so now like a wounded little girl, than he had ever seen before. "I just want to go home now Michael. Please, just let me go home." She muttered brokenly, tears still running down her pale and weary face.

Michaels heart clenched at the sight of her like this. He kept getting old flashbacks of Maria, seeing her so happy, with her eyes shining and her smile that just lit up his entire world. Now she seemed so pale, so tired, and too thin for his liking, she obviously hadn't been taking care of herself. He knew he had to fix this somehow, he had to get that light back in her eyes. She deserved to be happy. A strong wave of anger rose inside of him, he vowed that he would find this mystery husband of hers and make him pay for all that he had done to her. Are you any better? That lone voice whispered inside of his head. You heard her, you abandoned them. You knew her father had walked out on her, and you did the same 10 years later. Would you even come close to making her happy now? Michaelshook away the sly whispering voice, and grimly muttered, "I will try."

Maria looked up at him, his presence looming over her would have been slightly more intimidating if she couldn't tell how much her words had affected him. He looked as emotionally drained as she felt. Without one word she stood up, opened the passenger side to the car and sat down. Then she quirked her eyebrow at him expectantly, waiting for him to do her bidding. Her body ached but inside she felt numb now, she knew after some sleep the enormities of what had happened here, would hit her full force. Michael got in the car and silently they drove back to the DeLuca Residence.

Just before Maria entered her house, Michael felt he had to say something. "Maria..." He started. Her eyes flickered towards his, waiting expectantly. It was at that look that he froze, suddenly any possible coherent thought left his mind and he knew it was too early to tell her what he felt. Too much had happened, he needed to earn her love first. "...have a nice long sleep Maria. Take care of yourself."

Maria's eyes shut, and she knew what he was saying. But she couldn't stop herself from asking what had been running through her mind all evening. "Michael...will you still be here tomorrow?" She knew he would get the full meaning behind those words. She was asking him to stay in Roswell, taking back her angry parting words.

Michael smirked slightly, putting on that false bravado he had learned in his time away. "Hey, you won't get rid of me that easily now." Maria gaped for a moment or two. She knew it was an act but she had never seen him pretend like that before. In the old days he was either shut off, or extremely expressive. Then with a small, hesitant smile back, she turned and fled into her house.

Michael watched her go, then with his mind reeling, trying to take the last hour or so in, he pulled out of the street and and drove. He needed to clear his head, to work out what move he had to make next. To make some sense out of all of this. He was quite tired, his meeting with Maria had completely drained him and as he drove around the deserted streets of Roswell, he felt himself start to drop off. Two seconds. That's all it took. His eyes were closed for two seconds and when they opened he found himself nearly driving into someone's house. Panicking, he swerved at the last minute and ended up hitting the green car that was parked outside. The crash sounded loud to his own ears. Fuck! He thought, as his heart beat rapidly against his chest. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Michael groaned as he saw the lights in the house suddenly turn on, illuminating the new mess he had caused. Oh well done Mickey. Well done. In one night you have managed to scare the woman you love, make her cry and crash your fucking car. Michael didn't have chance to stop and wonder about calling Maria the 'woman he loved' because the door opened and out came running a tall blonde, clad only in her dressing gown.

"Oh my god are you okay?" Michael gaped at her. Is that...? No...it can't be... The woman bent down to get a better look at the man who had just ruined her family car. "Hey, are you hur-" But she didn't finish her sentence as her large brown eyes met Michael's shocked hazel ones.

"Isabel?" He whispered. The woman's hands began to shake.

"Michael?"

tbc...

A/N: Wow thanks you guys for all of the reviews! So many of you have reminded me now to write more for this one. You really manage to kick my arse into gear. Please keep reviewing! I promise more parts will be on their way. I hope you like it :)