Ch-Ch-Changes

...She burns like the sun...And I can't look away…

And she'll burn our horizons…Make no mistake...

3 Days Later

Michael rocked with the music as he concentrated on his latest painting. He'd come home and immediately started working, apart from eating a little and having a few hours sleep each night he hadn't stopped. Black, red and orange oil paint smudges decorated his cheekbones and overalls. He needed to finish this. There wasn't much time left before the gallery opening and this was perhaps the best work he'd ever done.

Rory stood there, his arms folded, quietly waiting for Michael to snap out of the 'zone'. He had learned the hard way when he once interrupted Michael when he was painting, and hadn't stopped hearing about it since. That guy could sure grumble.

Once he noticed Rory there, Michael removed the headphones and turned towards his closest human friend. "Oh hey dude, what's up?"

Rory moved towards the painting. "Wow, man, this is really good. This girl really is your muse huh? You gunna submit it to the gallery?" His eyes traced the curled figure on the canvas.

"I'm going to try but the showing is in two days, I have to finish it by then. Though I should be finished by tonight." Stressed, Michael ran a hand through his hair, causing more paint to highlight his profile.

"So is she coming to the show? Have you spoken to her?" Rory walked to the fridge and grabbed two snapples, automatically throwing one to Michael as well.

Michael shook his head. "I've tried. She won't answer my phone calls. She won't even listen to an explanation. I dunno what else to do. I don't really need her permission to put these paintings up in the gallery but I want her to at least know about it."

"Well dude you're obviously loco 'bout her and for her to react the way she did bout the phone call, she must want you too. I don't know why you crazy kids haven't worked it out yet." Rory smirked and sat down on the couch. "What you gotta do is make a grand gesture. Turn up and be like 'baby doll, I want you and you want me, how bout we go take a ride and see what happens.' "

Michael rolled his eyes, "No more film noir for you. It's warping your mind and making you give really bad advice."

Rory held up his hands in defeat. "All right, all right, have it your way but don't rag on the classics, nothing cooler than a femme fatale."

*****

"So, what was a very bad idea?" Isabel asked with her eyebrow raised, looking more and more like a scolding mother rather than her best friend.

Maria ducked her head down meekly, hiding behind her long blonde curls. "Erm…getting drunk?"

"Yes Maria, getting drunk was a very bad idea. Why was it a bad idea?"

"Uhh…'cause…I had a really bad head in the morning?" Maria smiled widely, perhaps if she just played cute enough; Isabel would stop staring at her such a stern expression.

"Noo…because it made you irrational and you damn well know it. You and Michael are going to patch this up. I was expecting some kind of argument to happen; you are Michael and Maria after all. Him coming back after all this time…well lets just say I was prepared to pick up pieces. But Maria, you gotta get a grip. As you told us, we can't blame him for leaving. Max and I never really understood just how bad it was for him here in comparison to our own lives. I told you the truth about the phone call. Michael's commitment was only to agree to have his artwork put up in a gallery show. So come on…go up there and see him. Or at least ring him!"

Maria wrinkled her nose. "Sounds a bit fishy to me. If it was just about an art gallery, then why did he say to his friend that he needed the 'right time' to talk to me about it?" She sat back against the chair triumphantly. She knew was clutching at straws, but the idea of speaking to him again after that humiliating night, well it made her feel savage and cornered; all teeth and nails, ready to kick and bite and scratch until the thought passed. She felt like she could run a million miles before she would pick up the phone, or if she did pick it up, she was sure no words would come; her stomach would just turn itself inside out. Though she couldn't say that to Isabel, as it was a bit of a weird reaction to a simple phone call.

It was the same fear she'd get when she was younger in school and someone would try and tell the boy she liked that…well...that she liked him. Liz had suffered quite a big bruise on the back of her leg when she'd once tried to ask Doug out for Maria. Maria still remembered the look of shock on Liz's face after she'd kicked her, as no-one had ever hurt Liz before and Liz had never seen such a violent reaction to such a simple and normal playground activity. Maria sighed; she missed Liz so much, she kept expecting to see her there in the Crashdown, chewing on her hair and waiting tables.

Isabel watched Maria as she stared off into space. She recognised that look; it was the Liz-reminisce look. Max got it enough times. "Maria. I don't know what he wanted to tell you, but if you'd just let him speak to you, then you would know and you could end this silliness. Honestly, you both are as bad as the kids."

Maria nodded and finished her coffee. "I know, it's just…I hear his voice and it's too hard to speak to him. Well, we'll see, anyway I gotta run and help Mom at the shop. She's been working me double since the dinner incident, I think she's punishing me for not warning her first. I definitely didn't tell her about the whole getting drunk part; otherwise I think I wouldn't even be let out of the house, despite being in my 20's."

Isabel laughed, "That sounds like Amy, tell her I said hello." She watched as Maria ran off and then dialled a now familiar number.

"Michael? Yeah it's me. Okay I've got an idea…"

*****

Maria threw herself on to the bed; it had been a long day at the shop. Her mom definitely was mad at her, going so far as to make her wear an alien costume outside to bring in more customers. It didn't seem to matter that Michael wasn't in town any more. Maria couldn't believe she'd asked him to leave, why was she so stupid? She had waiting 8 years to see him and then within 24 hour she'd driven him away again.

She stared up at the ceiling and only saw the look on his face as he walked out of the door. His last words echoing in her ears, "I do love you Maria, I always have. No matter what." She squeezed her eyes shut but it didn't matter, his face hadn't stopped haunting her.

Her wedding ring caught her eye on the dresser top. After Michael had seen it she had taken it off, realising there was no reason for her to continue wearing it. The relationship she'd had with Rath was unrepairable, and although it wasn't an excuse for what had happened, she knew she had been the one to drag him down into that emotional mess she'd called living. Certainly not the other way around. She hadn't stopped loving Michael, and because of that she hadn't stopped using drink and drugs to drown it out. Rath started drinking at her own insistence, she flinched remembering slurring at him, saying that it might loosen him up a little.

They'd got married a year after they had met in that club. The first year of being together as husband and wife had been so good, she'd been pretty much sober the entire time. She'd gotten a job as a waitress in Las Cruces and Rath worked on cars while still making trips up to Roswell to see the Pod Squad, although never mentioning Maria to them.

He'd been so amazed when she told him she knew about his alien heritage. He'd sat her down and she knew today was going to be the day he told her and in that moment she loved him for his courage and for the fact that he trusted her so much with such a devastating secret. So instead she told him she knew and told him her own secrets, everything about her past with Michael and the others. She assured him that she did love him and not just because he looked like Michael, which was mostly true…but she was glad he hadn't asked her who she loved more, as that was an answer no-one would have liked.

Unfortunately the depression came back, Rath wasn't Michael, he never could be and she knew he could see it in her eyes sometimes – the disappointment. The drink and drugs started again and that's when Rath joined in. Now, looking back, she can see he had only started drinking and using as well so he was in her world instead of just watching it. But after a few years of this, of Rath occasionally seeing flashes in her head when they kissed or her and Michael, of the silent judgment of him in her eyes when they both were on the drink…that's when he started having rages.

Maria rolled over onto her front and ran her hands through her hair. That past was something she couldn't change, she couldn't undo the hurt and pain that was woven into every memory – whether she was being hurt or hurting others. But, she could get the fuck up and call Michael now and not let another chance slip her by. He may not know who she'd been before, but she certainly wasn't that girl now and she never would be again.

She picked up the phone and looked at the numbers to dial Michael's mobile.

BING

She jumped and stared confused at the phone in her hand. Phones weren't supposed to Bing.

BING

Ohh! Rolling her eyes at being so silly she put the phone down and jumped across to her laptop. She'd got an email message.

-

To: Maria DeLuca

From: Michael Guerin

Subject: Please read it's important!

Maria,

I've re-written this a hundred times and it's still not exactly what I want to say but hey, I've never been that eloquent with this emotional stuff. I'm a painter, not a writer. Isabel gave me your email address; she said it might be easier than talking on the phone for both of us.

Anyway, I know you know about the gallery. That was the big commitment I had to think about, something I have now decided to go along with. I wanted to ask you about it before I said yes as some of my paintings…well…they may be of interest to you. I was hoping you could see them before they went on show to the public but the gallery opening is in 2 days and you won't even talk to me.

I think once you see them you'll know how I feel about you, no matter what you've done or how you've changed. So please, talk to me. I can't lose you. I'm never going walk away again so if you think you can push me away with a little drunken incident like that then forget it. Remember I was the original stonewall, I know all the tricks.

I wish you would come before the gallery opens. With no pressure and no expectations, I just know you and you'll want to see these paintings before others do. We could take this thing slow and start out as friends if you'd like, get to know each other better. I'm happy to do anything to keep you in my life.

Michael.

-

Open-mouthed and dumbstruck she read and re-read the email, sneaky bloody Isabel getting around the whole phone-hearing-his-voice issue! She read it again and tried desperately to claw back her anger and suspicion of him but it wasn't there, it had melted along with the rest of her. It certainly wasn't a romantic sonnet written by Shakespeare but from Michael…it may as well have

She bit her lip and sent an email back.

-

To: Michael Guerin

From: Maria DeLuca

Subject: RE: Please read it's important!

Okay, will be there tomorrow.

Maria

-

She had said before she wasn't very good at this emotional stuff either. Her heart shook her rib cage as it pounded so hard. She was going to Michael's house. She was going to see his bedroom, his roommate, his new life! Maria ran around her room and started to desperately find some outfits that would go with a formal event and a re-conciliatory talk following 8 years of estrangement from the man she had loved. That last one was going to be a toughie!

*****

Authors Note: Happy 2010 everyone! Two new chapters as a present and am currently working on the third. Looks like my muse is back.

Sorry my updates have been so random but hey it seems working full-time and taking night college classes has paid off because I've been accepted to Uni for a degree in English and Creative Writing! I couldn't have done that without you guys! SO thank you for always believing in me and encouraging me! Thank you all so much and hope you had a great new year and xmas. (Oh and the lyrics aren't mine they're from Muse - Sunburn)