Thanx RedJewel2662 for the nice feedback. Brody will appear more now and it will be interesting to see how Michael will react to that.

Chapter 43 Old friends and deep buried memories

Brody looked at the stunned faces in front of him and the confused ones in the background. All the attention was on him now and he felt like any minute a stream of light would show down on him. He was already mulling over a tune he would sing and a few dance moves. Too bad that he didn´t have a silk had and a cane, then he would start to tap dance, although he had no feeling for rhythm or could even move in sync with the music. He was told that he had two left feets, which were dancing to their own accord. However he wasn´t here to be the most popular dancer, but to protect his charges, which were staring at him like he was another species. Even though it was true, it was a little unnerving.

" Do I have something on my face".

Liz was the first to recover from the slight shock. She wondered why Brody was here and why he choose this moment to appear. He should be in Roswell and work in his UFO Center, not be here in Las Cruces. " What are you doing here?".

He shrugged his shoulders without a care, or so it seemed. " I was in the neighbourhood and thought I drop by".

Kyle didn´t believe that. It wasn´t coincidence that he came in the exact moment when the others learned of their origin. Something was fishy here. " How did you know where to find us?".

" What´s with the twenty questions? Is it such a surprise to see me here?", Brody felt slightly uncomfortable now. They were all either stunned or suspicious looking. Geez, what was up with them.

Maria stepped forward and eyed him closer. Something was strange with him. She never felt such a connection to him like now. Looking into his eyes, she remembered the same eyes begging her to stay in the castle on Antar. " Larek?".

Brody smiled at her. He was happy that she still knew him, even if his appearance was a contrast to his former self. " You still know my name. I´m honoured".

Without saying anything Maria threw herself in his arms and squeezed the life out of him. She finally noticed how much she had missed him actually. She was glad that he was still alive and breathing and here with her. Gushily she pushed herself a bit away from him and kissed him. " I´m so happy to see you".

" Yeah I can say the same to you", Brody was relieved that he even could still form a whole sentence. The small kiss had almost blown his boxers away. Halleluja, if he would known how she would react to his appearance he would have told her sooner, before Michael even came into the picture. Damn no wonder Rath couldn´t keep his hands off of her. Lucky bastard.

Liz, Alex and Kyle watched the scene with a mix of confusion and dawning. Confusion about the weird behaviour from Maria and dawning that Brody was probably someone from their kind. But if that was the case, why didn´t he say something to Maria? Suddenly they got ripped away from their thoughts through a low growl behind them. Simultaneously they turned to Michael, who was standing in front of the arm chair he sat earlier and glared at the new arrival. His eyes seemed to be darker and a vein in his throat was pulsing dangerously. Oh Oh. Slowly all three stepped a little back, in case it could get ugly in the next minutes or so. They didn´t know what Michael´s deal was at the moment, but they weren´t too keen on finding that out either.

Brody looked over Marias shoulders and detected his former best friend shooting daggers at him with his eyes. Bloody hell, it didn´t matter which life they would be living, Michael would always be a greedy little bastard when it came to his mate. " So I see you haven´t changed a bit".

" That´s because you´re still after my girl", Michael walked calmly towards the other man. His friendly voice didn´t match his threatening appearance and everybody watched interested what would happen next.

Brody moved Maria a little to the side. He didn´t want her to be in the middle of this. With a smirk on his face he met the glare. If Michael wanted to make him scared, he choose the wrong moment for that. They weren´t on Antar and here on earth the rules were a little different. " I just know that you can´t keep a girl like her".

Michael stopped in front of him. They were practically nose to nose. Neither of them wanted to back down from the other or give up. " What do you know about that? As I recall you didn´t have a girl for longer than a sneezer".

" Great. A pissing contest", Maria rolled her eyes at them. They were behaving like two idiots. She wondered why she hung out with them. They were so immature. " Could you both act just for once like grown ups?".

Brody and Michael turned to her with the exact confused expression on their faces. After that they faced each other and started to laugh. Then they gave the other a manly hug and slapped their backs at it.

" What brings you here?", Michael broke away first. He still couldn´t believe that Larek was here with them. He thought he wouldn´t see his best friend ever again.

Larek shrugged his shoulder. He didn´t know what he was supposed to do here. " I got a call from Nolak. He told me I was needed here and so I came".

Alex stepped now in the middle of the conversation. He was slightly confused about this situation. " Wait! Hold on for a minute. I don´t understand a few things here", he turned to Brody. " If you´re one of them, why didn´t you say something? I mean you know about Maria all along and you never made an indication that you could answers a few of her questions".

" Nolak told me to keep my mouth shut until he thought it was best to tell everybody the truth. Strangely I had to agree with him, for once", Larek had wanted to tell Maria so much as soon as she started to bring him his lunch, but he knew it wasn´t the right time. Instead he tried to keep an eye on her. With time they began a great friendship, with her getting her frustation out over the stupid customers, who weren´t satisfied with her food or couldn´t decide what to eat or her relationsship with Billy. And with him listening to her voice and imagine the day when she remembered him again.

Maria knew that Larek had to have a good reason for not saying anything to her. She would have probably not even believed him when he told her the truth. " You did the right thing".

" How many of you aliens are here? Do we have to expect more?", Kyle scratched his forehead nervously. Holy Shit, how many people on this campus were actually humans? After he received a grunt from Michael, a glare from Maria and a nudge from Tess, he finally noticed how his question must have sounded. " Hey I didn´t mean it in the bad way. I just don´t want more surprises".

Larek had to laugh about him. He liked the human boy already and he was glad that he made the right decision in choosing him as Mariannas brother. He could picture them as children and he was sure that their parents had much fun with them. " It´s just us", he let his hand circle around, which meant the present persons identified as aliens, including him. " And Nolak".

Liz, who was quiet all the while, came suddenly forward. There was a question that bothered her. " Why Earth? I mean there are many other planets in the universe, but why did you choose this planet?".

" Because it was like Antar. The living conditions and the atmosphere. Except for the,sorry for the little pun, underdeveloped race, the two planets are almost identical".

Alex listened intently to that. He had been always a person, who dealt with the universe and all the possibilities. It even ingreased when he found out that one of his best friend had a gift that was out of the ordinary. " So it´s true. Every planet has a twin".

Larek looked at him impressed. He thought he was the only nerd in this bunch. He was glad that it wasn´t like that. " Yeah. How do you know that?".

Alex rubbed his neck uncomfortable and a slight blush grazed his face. " I watched Star Trek".

" Don´t tell me, you´re on of those trekkies?", Michael faced the embarrassed teen with an amused glance. How someone could watch this shit was beyond him.

Tess turned to her brother with a mean twinkle in her eyes. " So. He probably can´t recall every line from Star Wars like someone, who should remain unnamed"

Michael pointed a finger at her. " Hey, don´t you dare mock Star Wars".

" Yeah. I loved Han Solo. He was so manly and hot with his lightsaber", added Maria. She was probably the only female on this planet, who dreamed to be a Jedi someday. Every other girl wanted to be Princess Leia and marry either Han or Luke.

Liz wrinkled her nose at that. She couldn´t stand Han Solo, he was always so rash in everything. He didn´t think about the consequences. " I was more into Luke Skywalker".

Isabel couldn´t agree with both. The movie wasn´t for her. She hated science fiction. Now Cruel Intentions, that was a great movie. It was at least realistic.

" How can someone not love Star Wars. Think about Princess Leia in her golden bikini with the leashes around her neck", the smile on Kyle´s face told everything. He looked at Tess and imagined her in the same dress. Yeah, that had something. Maybe he could persuade her to try it on for him someday.

Michael, Max and Alex nodded enthuastically at the same time. That was a huge part why they watched the movie actually. That and the action.

Tess just shrugged her shoulders. She liked Star Wars, but it wasn´t a movie she had to see that often. She rather watched sad movies. " I liked the Ewoks", after everybody glanced at her amused she glared at them. " What? I found them cute".

" Well, I don´t think I was send here to listen to you discuss science fiction movies. So what´s up?", Larek didn´t have too much time on his hand right now. The UFO Center was in the process to be decorated for a convention in a few days and he couldn´t let his employers too long without surveillance. They would probably make more mess than before and he couldn´t let this happen, again.

" Our dear Marianna had a question about the choosing of the mothers", without anyone noticing it, Nolak had stepped into the room and was now standing at the wall near the door with a stoic expression on his face. " She seemed really upset about it and I thought you would be better at explaining it to her".

Maria glared at him. All right, she didn´t exactly react calmly to the news, but that didn´t mean that he had to call the cavalry. How did he think they would behave when they learned about their past? Be all happy and smiling about it? Or that they would slap their foreheads and say " of course, why didn´t we think about that". He had to know that it could end in a argument or that a few of them would react strongly. Especially with Michael and her. No matter how they grew up, part of their former selfs was still in them. " What did you expect? You dump this information on us and think we will swallow it, just like that?".

Larek and Michael both turned to Nolak. They knew that it wasn´t smart to piss Maria off, because then it would get ugly really fast. Quietly they tried to back away. When hell broke loose they didn´t want to be near it.

" Actually yeah. I thought you were ready to know the truth about yourself. Obviously I was wrong about that", Nolak was close to smile. It had been always a pleasure to see her in this condition. She was fun to watch. Well, when she argued with Rath, that is.

Maria was trying to keep calm. Slowly she counted to ten before she faced the man in front of her again. Why was he treating her like a child? She wasn´t just some dumb human teenage girl. " Well excuse me if I didn´t react properly. I´ll remember to look it up how to react in this situation if something like that should happen again".

Nolak finally lost his patience with her. Usually he was a pretty peaceable person, only Marianna could change that within seconds. And some part of him was glad that it was like that, because it meant she wasn´t so different than her past self. " Don´t you dare get sarcastic with me, young lady! We have taken much risk in creating you again and find a safe place, so that you could grow up peacefully".

" Shut up! Both of you", even if it was entertaining to watch Nolak show some emotions, Larek knew they weren´t here to fight. He pointed with his forefinger at Maria. " You go in the red corner", then he pointed the same finger at Nolak. " And you in the blue corner".

Maria and Nolak turned surprised to him. They hadn´t seen him ever losing his cool in front of others like that. Even Isabel, Tess, Max and Michael were stunned into silence after this. They looked at Brody like a deer caught in the headlights.

" Don´t look at me like that", it got them to shut up and that was all Larek wanted. But now he thought it wasn´t the smartest thing to do after the shocked expressions.

Maria stepped closer to him and laid a hand on his arm. She was pretty impressed with the commanding tone in his voice. Maybe he wasn´t such a miserable soldier like they all thought. " Hey, that was just a joke. We weren´t serious".

Larek faced Nolak and saw him nodding in agreement. Slowly he drew his attention to Maria again. " You mean I made a fool of myself for nothing?".

" I wouldn´t say that. I saw another side of you and I liked it".

Lareks complete expression changed immediately at that. His face seemed to glow and a smile broke out on it. She shouldn´t have said that. Now he had so much fantasies in his head about her doing what he told her and they weren´t G-rated. " You really liked that?".

Maria noticed from the corner of her eyes that Michael glared at her. Although she hadn´t done anything wrong he seemed to be seething. Let´s see how much he could take before he exploded. " Yeah. Got me extremely hot".

Larek didn´t escape the fact that his best friend was close to strangle him either and he wanted to see how far he could go before it would get to dangerous for him. Besides he loved to provoke him in any way he could. But before he could even open his mouth to reply something that wasn´t for underaged people, he was interrupted.

" That´s enough", Michael put himself between them and pushed Maria slightly behind him. He didn´t like it when someone touched his things and it was worse when it was something he loved. " What is wrong with you? You are here to give us information and nothing more".

Nolak detected the tension in the room. Oh Oh, that wasn´t something he had to see right now. " I think that´s my cue to leave", without waiting for an acknowledgement he disappeared quickly through the door.

Maria didn´t even realize that someone was gone. All she could focuse was the thought that Michael was treating her like piece of land. She wasn´t an object to fight over nor a property of someone. She was her own woman and she could make her own decisions. Hello, she was a woman of the new millenium. Angrily she stepped around him and placed herself in front of his body. " How dare you push me aside like some little wifey. I´m not your possession all right. I can do whatever I want and with whoever I want".

Michael stumbled back a little from the force of Marias finger, which was poking in his chest the whole time she spoke. The fire in her eyes and the quiver of her ala of the nose got him that distracted that he didn´t hear a word she just said. But he didn´t care. For a moment he imagined her pushing him into the nearest wall and attacking his lips with her own. He could even feel her hands ripping his clothes from his body and her fingernails scratching his skin. Just as she bit in his neck in passion, he was thrown from his fantasy through a loud cough. Instanly he came back into the reality and saw Maria looking at him expectantly. Her arms were crossed over her breasts now and her foot was tapping on the floor. Instead of replying, well he didn´t even know what she said him, he did what his instinct was telling him. He grasped her shoulders with his strong hands and pulled her hard to him. Before Maria knew what happened he already had her trapped in his embraced and kissed her furiously. At first she tried to resist him and push him away from her. But after a few seconds she gave into her longing and snaked her arms around his throat. Even if her mind told her not to do it, her body was weak. Besides she shut off her brain the moment his lips crashed against hers. Encouraged through the response of the kiss Michael let his hands wander down her back until he grapped her ass and pulled her deeper at his groin, which earned him a moan from her.

Liz, Alex and Kyle had to look away embarrassed, while Max, Isabel and Tess grinned about the picture. It was nothing unusual for them to see these two in this position. More than once they saw much worse things, things they didn´t needed to know about them. Larek eyed his watch on his wrist impatiently. Great, he didn´t have much time and now he had to observe this mating session. Like he hadn´t watched this enough on Antar. " Hey, knock it off. You can still screw each other when I´m gone"

Finally Michael and Maria broke the kiss, actual aware that they weren´t alone. Slightly red around the nose they both looked shyly to their friends, who made them blush more with their expression.

" Nice of you to join us again", Larek was glad that they even heard him this time. He already thought they would rip each others clothes of their bodies every moment.

Maria walked away from Michael, because she didn´t trust herself to jump him after all and made her way to the couch. She was relieved that she could even still use her legs, cause they felt like jello. Her heart was threatening to break out of her chest and her mind was a little fuzzy. And yet she never felt so alive like right now. Holy Moly, she must be dead from the neck up to give this up. Even if she had a good reason for that. Boy did he have a tongue and he also knew how to use it. " What did we talk about again?".

Michael strutted with a swollen with pride chest to the nearest wall and leaned against it. A cockily smirk was gracing his face and his eyes were sparkling happily. He felt really really good right now and a little uncomfortable in his tight jeans. But all in all he couldn´t be better.

Larek watched him with an amused expression. That boy had it so bad that it was a wonder he could restrain himself after this obviously mindblowing kiss. " So kiddos, now after I finally have the attention of you again, I can actually do what I was send here for", he made a little pause and then turned to Maria. " You wanted to know why I choose your mothers, don´t you?".

" Yes. I mean there are so many people here on this planet and I just wanted to know why you choose exactly these women", Maria had finally switched on her brain, although she was still slightly dizzy from the kiss and the scent from Michael on her clothes didn´t help either.

" We didn´t just randomely pick some women if that´s what you´re thinking. We observed many women over months and then made our decision. It wasn´t easy, because we wanted you to grew up seperated from each other, but not too far away in case something went wrong", Larek let his gaze wander around. He wanted to see if everybody was still following him and after their expression it seemed like it was so. " Nolak left the decisions in my hands, which women we would take and I think I didn´t choose wrong. Every couple was like your parents on Antar".

Michael snorted really loud at that. Great revelation, just in his case he hadn´t nothing of it. His parents died when he was nine and all he ever had was his sister. He couldn´t count on his grandfather, because he was never around. If not for the servants, he would still not know how to treat a girl. Everything he learned about sex, dates and girls came from either Rosalita the housekeeper or Jose the gardner. " Well maybe that fits to the others, but not to Tess and me. We grew up without parents".

Larek faced him. He could see the hidden emotions behind the mask of indifference the other boy wore. He could sense that the death of his parents still bothered him. He knew about the incident in which Cindy and Jason were killed. " I´m sorry about that. But we couldn´t factor in an accident in this plan".

" Why of all things did you choose Roswell for Maria?", Kyle noticed that it was a topic for Michael that should rather be discussed another time and in private. Hence he threw a question in the mix that would draw the attention away from the tension.

Larek grinned. He remembered the day he found a small slip of a girl, who was despite her short size capable to take down men twice as big as her with just her mouth. She had the ability to hold the attention of a whole room without doing anything. All she had to do was walk past the men and they all kneeled at her feet, begging her to go on a date with them. Strangly she never made the impression to notice all the males watching her or that she liked it. " Because that was where Amy Valenti was living. She was so much like Marianna that I had to take her, although she was still so young".

" You know the name of our parents?", Isabel had been quiet throughout the whole time, because she thought it was better to listen. But now she was rather surprised about this fact.

" Of course. We didn´t just abduct them and put our needles in their bodies. We studied them at first. What they did for their living, how many friends they had, how the relationship was with their parents, if they had siblings and if they were able to take the risk of raising very powerful children".

Maria was relieved that her mother wasn´t just part of a science project and now that she could think about it clearer she understood their decision. Although she looked like her father, her character came from her mother and it wasn´t that different from her former self. " When you kow everything about our parents, why didn´t you take another woman with just one baby for me?".

Larek shook his head smiling. He heard the same question from Nolak years ago and he wondered if he put some essence of him in Mariannas package. " Because I wanted you to have a twin, too. I wouldn´t have liked the idea of everybody having someone, just not you. It wouldn´t have been fair".

Maria turned her head in the direction of her brother. He was intently listening to the things Brody told them. She was glad that she had a sibling, in fact she had two of them. But after all she knew now, she wasn´t so sure if it was correct to involve them in her life. It would have been better if she would have grown up as a single child. " Great. Next time could you choose another brother for me? Someone who doesn´t quote Buddha all the time?

" You should be glad to have me as a brother", spouted Kyle indignantly. Why was she so against his religion? He only quoted Buddha when he thought it would fit and that wasn´t all the time. Just sometimes. And it wasn´t like he was wrong about some things the most time.

Maria made a silly face at him, a sign that she was just joking with him. In return her brother did the same to her, what suddenly dwindled into a childish war, who can do the most stupid expression.

Tess eyed her roommate and then her boyfriend. Embarressed she hid her face behind her hands. What was thinking dating this guy? " Holy Moly. I must be sick to go out with Kyle".

Isabel patted her back comfortably. It could be worse for her, like having a date with Max. She loved her brother, but he was the most boring person she knew. " Maybe we should start looking for older men?".

" What are you talking about? No No, my girlfriend doesn´t have to look for another man. I´m all she needs", Kyle only heard the last sentence and he immediately forgot his little game with his sister. If Tess thought she could just replace him with some other guy, she had another thing coming. He wouldn´t give her up that easily now.

" If you don´t have anymore questions, then I can finally go now", Larek thought he wasn´t longer needed here and he had to get back fast to his poor UFO Center before hell broke lose there. He waisted enough at this place.

Max stood up from the couch and went to him. " How can we contact you?".

Larek pointed at Maria, who was in the process to keep her roommate from killing her brother. " Just ask her. She has my number". After that he winked in farewell to the others and disappeared with a blink of an eye.

Liz startled for a moment. She watched the spot Brody had vacated a moment ago. Intrigued she arose from her position and stepped closer to the place. Slowly she grouched down and eyed the ground. But she couldn´t see a mark or any other indication that someone had been standing there. Wow, if she hadn´t seen it with her own eyes she wouldn´t believe it.

Alex finally noticed one of his best friends kneeling on the ground. He had been too occupied with looking at the fight between Kyle and Tess and who would win it, that he didn´t even realize anything around him. " Liz, what are you doing on the floor?".

" I want to look for something. Brody just disappeared out of the blue and I want to see if I can find a reason for it", carefully she brushed her hand over the spot. It didn´t feel different than at other places. Strange. The next time she had to ask him how he did that.

Michael pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning on and walked calmly to the obviously nosy girl. What did she think she would find? A damn branding mark in the shape of Lareks feet? Very unlikely. " You won´t find anything. He´s a space shifter. He changes places with a blink of an eye".

Finally the fight between Kyle and Tess was over and now the others took their attention from them. Instead now they looked at the pair standing in the middle of the room. Surprised they watched Liz kneeling on the ground on all fours like a dog in front of Michael. It was a funny picture and a few of them had to try to keep their laughter in. Just one person couldn´t keep his mouth shut.

" Yo Dupree, ride it", Kyle made a gesture with his arms that looked like he would slap someone on the ass.

Michael turned to them confused and saw the amused faces staring back at him. Then he looked down to Liz and actually noticed how the position must appear to them. Slightly blushing he backtracked a few steps. He didn´t want anyone thinking something wrong about him. The only girl who was allowed to kneel at his feet was Maria and she wasn´t searching for something on the floor in this moment.

Liz scrambled to her feets immediately and tried to hide her embarressement in front of the others by putting her face into her hands. She wasn´t such a girl, it was more like someting Maria would do. But never her. She was a good girl.

Suddenly Isabel jumped to her feet and looked around the room. " Hey guys, it´s still early. What do you say about going out? There´s a party in a club near starbucks".

" We can´t. We already have plans", Tess faced Kyle with a raised eyebrow. She hoped he still remembered it actually. After all he learned it could have slipped his mind.

Kyle stared confused at her. " We have?", after he saw her angry expression he corrected his words. " Of course we have".

" Cool. So we see each other later", Tess grasped the arm of her boyfriend and dragged him out.

Liz and Alex looked at each other. It seemed like they wanted to see if the other wanted to go or not. Simultaneously they both turned to Isabel. " We´re in".

Isabel faced Max. He had been pretty quiet today. Not that he was much of a talker, but he had been too silent. Even for him. " What about you big brother?".

He glanced shyly at Liz before he turned his attention back to his sister. " Count me in, too".

" I think I´ll stay in tonight and catch up missing sleep", Maria wasn´t in the mood to go into a club with too much people in there. It would just only be tight and you felt like a sardine in a can. People either stepped on your foot or barged against you. She didn´t have the nerve for this tonight. Besides she did need to catch up sleep, because she had been awake almost all night long.

Michael also shook his head at Isabel. Even if he had the wish to go out, he would prefer a joint with real live music and not just music from some tape. In this clubs was just played this crappy Hip Hop or dancemusic anyway. If he decided to let a little steam up, he would look for a rock club or something. " Go without us. Be careful".

" Will do", Isabel threw the him a kiss and then linked her arm with Liz. While they walked out she went through her closet in her mind and wondered which outfit she should wear. Alex and Max just rolled their eyes at her and followed the girls.

Maria looked after them smiling. She was glad that her friends accepted her other side and that everything went so smoothly in the end. Now she could finally stop with her worrying about finding out where she got her powers and if her friends would be cool with it. Tiredly she wiped her face with both of her hands. She felt so drained right now. The last two days had taken a toll on her and she just wanted to fall into her bed and sleep for a week. Thankfully tomorrow was Sunday and she planned already to stay in bed all day. Nothing and no one could her prevent from doing that.

Michael walked slowly towards her and placed himself at her side. She seemed to be in deep thoughts. " So now that we´re alone, I think we should continue what we started".

" Michael...".

Michael knew she would pull back again, but before she could finish her sentence he interrupted her. " Don´t. I know you wanted this kiss, too. Don´t try to deny it".

Maria turned her body around so that she now stood in front of him. She took his face in her hands and made him look at her. It wasn´t like she didn´t want the kiss or not. It wasn´t about her feelings at all. It was about doing the right thing. " I won´t deny it. I wanted it as much as you. But like you said, we got another chance to change something and I want to make it right this time".

" What has our relationship to do with anything? The war didn´t break out because of us or we didn´t die because we were together", Michael couldn´t understand her. On the one hand she seemed to feel the same things he did and on the other she was trying to supress them.

Maria saw the mixed emotion in his eyes. He was angry, confused and hurt. She knew those feelings herself. And yet she would rather suffer now then starting something that was doomed from the beginning. " You don´t even know me?".

Michael was aware of that fact. But he didn´t care about it. He knew the person she was before and that was all that mattered to him. " We can change that. But you have to let me in".

Maria sighed loudly. He could be so stubborn when he wanted. She forgot that. " All right. We try this whole friendship thing, get to know each other better and then see where it leads us. How about that?"

" I can accept that", Michael was happy about this turn. At least he could be near her without her pulling back from him. It was a small victory, but it was a step into the right direction and before she noticed it he had charmed her off of her feet. It was just a matter of time. " Does this friendship include kissing and touching?".

Maria started laughing at this question. It was so like him. But despite it she found it sweet. At least he had the courtesy to ask beforehand. " No kissing and no touching. Except if it is unavoidable".

Michael groaned sorely. She took all the fun out of the game. How did she think this would work with him? He couldn´t just not touch her in any kind. The rules were stupid. " This already sucks".

With a smile on her face Maria patted his cheek with her right hand. " You´ll make it. I´m sure of it". Then she turned around and made her way to her room. Her bed was calling for her and she better listened.

Michael stayed for a few moments longer and watched her walking away from him. Someday he would punish her for teasing him. Yeah, someday she should watch what she was doing, because payback was a bitch. And he already knew what he would do with her.

TBC