Thankx to Jadefire305 and RedJewel2662 for sticking to this story and having fun reading it.

Chapter 47 Family dinner and the last preperation for the party

Kyle dragged his girlfriend back through the corridor and took his things, which he had dropped so careless before. Then he led her up the stairs, not even sure if his roommate was still following them. But he had other things occuping his mind right now. Why did his mother cook such a wonderful dinner and why of all things did she choose his fathers favourite meal? All right, she could want to make such a fuss for their guests and she was making her sons favourite dish, which was by accident her husbands. However his gut told him something different. Hopefully his father didn´t plan to grill Michael too bad, whereas his concern lay more with his father than his friend, after all his father got no otherworldly powers up his sleeve.

" Kyle? Kyle?".

Kyle jumped slightly when he heard Tess voice near his ear. He turned to his girlfriend and stared at her questionally. " What?".

Tess pointed around them and wanted to make him aware of their surroundings. He brought her and her brother up the stairs, but suddenly he had stopped when they were standing in the corridor of the second floor. Although it was nice here and the small photos along the walls were really entertaining, she wanted to get rid of her suitcase. " You were spacing out on us. Are you alrigh?".

" Yeah. I was just deep in thoughts", Kyle hadn´t even realized that they were already at the second floor. Amused he scratched his head with his right hand. Usually it was Maria that was spacing out on him or in front of their parents. But it never happened to him actually.

Michael was busy with looking at the photos hanging at the wall, while his sister was checking her boyfriend for any illness. He found one picture that drew his attention. It was from Kyle and Maria, both dressed for Halloween. He was Peter Pan, at least according to the green thights, the green t-shirt and the green hat with the red feather. His sister seemed to be Tinkerbell or some fairy. She was wearing a light green dress with white wings and a wand in her hand. The smiles appeared innocent, but the twinkle in their eyes was anything but that. Well, Kyle and Maria couldn´t be more than six or seven years old on this picture and every child had something impishly at this age.

Kyle and Tess had finally reached a common ground and were now watching Michael staring at the picture with such an intensity that it was already scary. Quietly Kyle walked besides his roommate. " It won´t change, even if you start boring a hole into it with your glance".

Michael didn´t even notice that he got company and jumped slightly for a moment. He had been so engrossed with the picture of the young Maria. She was familiar to him somehow. Not the older version, because she was his girlfriend and everything. But her younger self. He had seen her somewhere years ago. But he couldn´t remember where. " I know her".

" Of course. You´re dating her right now", Kyle exchanged confused glances with Tess. Did Michael hit his head somewhere and they hadn´t noticed it? Or was he possessed from a bodysnatcher?

Michael turned away from the pictures and glared at his friend. " I didn´t mean it like that. I´ve seen Maria before", he pointed at the photo with his finger. " When she looked like that".

Tess finally understood what her brother wanted to tell them and why he had been staring at the picture. Curiously she eyed it herself and startled. Holy crap! She knew that little girl smiling back at her, too. Surprised she turned to Michael. " Do you remember the last time Mom and Dad went with us to Disneyland? We were 8 years old and you thought you were too old to drive with the lame ass things and you waited outside for us. Then you saw a crying girl wandering around and you walked to her immediately, because you were scared that somebody could hurt her while she was alone. You stayed with her until her parents came".

" Oh my god. I have almost forgotten that day", Michael could still remember the sad expression on Marias face. It had been heart wrenching to watch her crying so quietly. He had wanted to protect her from getting injured or taken from some creep. The moment she had been staring up at him, he had known that he would always be there to protect her from harm and no matter what happened he would see her again.

Kyle faced his girlfriend and then his roommate. " That was you that day?".

Michael turned to his friend. Strange that he couldn´t remember seeing Kyle, although he had to be there with his parents too, hadn´t he? They wouldn´t have just made a trip just with just one child, would they? " Obviously".

" What are you talking about and why are you staying here?", came the voice of Maria suddenly from their midst. She had joined them without them noticing it.

Tess cringed for a moment, because she was surprised about the presence of her roommate. Then she turned to the other girl. " We just discussed this picture", she pointed at the mentioned photo.

Maria looked at it and smiled. She had loved this dress more than anything. Too bad that she was too big for it now, because she was sure that she would still wear it today if she could. She even had slept in it, much to the displeasure of her mother. " Great. You can do that after we ate. Now shoo! I´m almost starving and my father is coming every second".

She didn´t give the others even a slight chance to open their mouthes, before she pushed them down the hall, which was painted in a nice apricot color. The carpet was a wonderful shade of brown, perfectly matching the surroundings. She shoved them past Lindseys chamber, which was painted in pink and white and Seans room, which was contrary to Lindseys space held in beige tints. Then she snatched Tess hand and dragged her friend into her empire, while Kyle and Michael continued two doors before they too stepped into a room.

Dinner

Tess was sitting opposite her brother at the nice table with a big plate of much food in front of her. She was still gushing over Marias beautiful room with the soft lilac painted walls and the aqua colored carpet. Across from the door was a big wood desk standing with pens, papers and such things. It must be nice to do the homework at this place, because even if it was dark outside, she could imagine the sun shining through the window and brighten everything. The king sized white canopy bed had his spot at the right wall, just besides a huge shelf full of books, videos, two tiaras, a few ribbons and other knick knack. The left wall was occupied with two doors, which the first one was the closet and second one lead into the bathroom Maria shared with her brother. Next to the entrance had been placed a small black table with a small tv and a videorecorder on it. The room was practically screaming Maria with all the small details like the stuffed animals on the pink playboy cover on the bed, the plants on the windowsill, the sweet scent of strawberry and vanille, the big metallica poster over her bed, a black panther picture besides it and the beige curtains suiting the overall structure of the space. Tess had sneaked a peek into Kyle´s room for a second and she had been surprised how neat it looked. Except for the little chaos on his shelf with the sports trophys, his books and a few pictures it was clean. His walls were held in a ochre brown, while his carpet was grey. His black futon bed was standing alongside his window and she had spotted his black desk at the left wall. Much to her displeasure she discovered a calender with scantily clad girls who´s boobs seemed to want to bust from their bikini tops and one poster with the playmate from May besides many posters from football- and baseball players. Typical guy room, what could she say.

" So Michael, what have you planned for your future? What do you want to do after college?", Jim Valenti´s voice threw Tess out of her thoughts and brought her attention again on the dinner at hand and the bashing of her brother through Marias father.

Michael, who was too nervous to get a bit down and slightly poked around his plate, swallowed visibly. Until now he had been so sure that it wouldn´t be so bad like he had feared. Thankfully it was just them, meaning Maria, Kyle, their cousin, their little sister and their parents. But now he was scared to say the wrong thing. " My grandfather owns a few huge car factories around the world and he wants me to take his place in the near future. That´s the reason why I major in business, so that I know what I´ll have to do then".

Jim eyed the young man with interest. He thought until now that Michael was a snobby boy, who thought the world belonged to him, because his family was rich. But he had to admit that he had been wrong about that. That didn´t mean he liked him any better, yet he was willing to let a little loose on him. " That means, as much as I understand, that you will take over the family business. You don´t have to work hard to get on top, you just will be the boss of this business without doing anything?".

" No. I have to learn like everyone else. My grandfather will show me everything I have to learn and if I impress him I will be promoted. Otherwise I will sink lower and start from the beginning", Michael had been surprised when his grandfather told him that he had to earn his position. He always thought that he would take the place from him when his grandpa was too old to do it any longer. But it had been a shock at first to know that he had to start at the bottom and work his way up.

Amy saw the change in her husband. He was slowly getting softer towards Michael, even if he wouldn´t show it so openly. But she knew him long enough to see the signs. He still didn´t trust this young man who was dating his little angel, but he wouldn´t chase him out of this house either. At least not yet. Smiling brightly she turned to Maria and give her two thumbs up.

Jim bent forward with his torso and looked closer at Michael. He just had one question and then he would leave the poor boy alone. For now. " Are you having sex with my daughter?".

" Jim!", Amy cried out outraged. How could her husband ask this? She turned to a pale looking Michael. " You don´t have to answer this question. It´s after all none of our business".

Sean sniggered behind his hands. Now this dinner went from boring to pretty interesting. " I hope they have sex, maybe then Maria won´t be so bitchy all the time".

Amy faced her nephew with a glare and without giving him a chance to react she slapped him on the back of his head. " Shut up Sean. You´re not helping here".

" I was just saying", Sean rubbed the spot where his aunt hit him. Damn women in this family tended to violence. His own mother had done the same with him when he had been up to something or made trouble. No wonder he had been sitting behind bars for a few years. All the slaps to his head had caused some damage.

Jim had learned much in his times as Deputy and even more since he was Sheriff. He was better than every lie detector. He could see from the expression of ones face if he was honest or not. And even though he hadn´t gotten a verbal answer the blushing faces of Michael and Maria told him everything he wanted to know, although he would be rather dark about that fact, even if he asked the question. But a small part of him wanted to get the affirmation that his daughter was still innocent. Well, maybe he should draw his attention on his younger daughter. " So Lindsey, what is going on in your life?".

Lindsey lowered her gaze and eyed the strange circle she had made into her mashed potatoes. How could she tell her father that she had been asked out by a boy after he blew up on Maria? Her mother already agreed to it, now she just needed the same from her father. But she was sure that she could forget it. " Nothing much. School, friends, clothes. Everything the same as ever".

" Actually Jim, your daughter has a date with a boy on Friday and she will go, if you want it or not", Amy had contacted the boy´s parents and they seemed to be really nice. The family wasn´t here that long, they just moved from some little town somewhere in Arizona.

Jim dropped his fork and it landed with a loud thud on his almost empty plate. Hastily he wiped his mouth with the napkin and then threw it on the table. " A date? But she´s only fourteen!".

Amy sensed that a fight was coming on and she didn´t want that in front of their guest. Slowly she let her gaze wander to Sean, Kyle and Maria. " Why don´t you go get some ice cream".

" Should we bring you something, too?", Maria understood the body language and knew that her mother wanted them gone. She gave the others a sign that they would be going out.

Amy smiled at their children. " No", then she turned to her husband and the smile disappeared. " You´re paying".

Grumpily Jim pulled his wallet out of his pants pocket and took twenty dollars out of it. Kyle who was the closest snatched the money out of his fathers grasp and almost ran out of the room. The others followed him, though not so fast. Lindsey hadn´t even noticed that anything was wrong, she was happily listing what ice cream flavour she could eat. As soon as the door was closed behind them, they could hear rising voices inside and immediately walked quicker to the Dodge. Finally out of earshot they all stopped and glanced at the house.

" Ten bucks that Aunt Amy is winning", Sean knew that his uncle had zero chances against woman logic and hardly against De Luca logic. He had witnessed such fights so often that he know the outcome already.

Kyle shook his head at his cousin. Usually his mother won fights with her father. But not tonight, not after he realized Maria was sexual active. " Ten bucks against it".

Maria pulled a ten dollar note out of her pants pocket and gave it Sean. " Sorry brother. I´m with Sean this time".

Kyle was surprised and it showed on his face. His sister and their cousin were agreeing on something? Unbelievable. He already thought he wouldn´t see that day. " You´re both losing your money, because Dad won´t give in this time".

" He will, because the same thing happened when I had my first date and you were there when Doug picked me up".

Sean sniggered slightly at that visual. He knew his unlce was pretty protective, but he was carrying everything too far now. Jim should get a grip on the fact that his daughters got older and would eventually leave the house to start a family on their own. " Besides Aunt Amy will threaten him with sex withdrawal".

Kyle and Maria shoot their cousin a deadly glare. How could he say something like that to them? Their parents didn´t have sex since they created Lindsey. No, their parents couldn´t do that anymore, they were like old. Michael and Tess laughed about the shocked faces and tried to hide it via turning away. If they had parents they wouldn´t want to imagine them having sex either.

" Do you think Mom and Dad are still bonking each other?", everybody faced Lindsey after those words flew out of her mouth. They looked at her like she had been mutated into Penny Wise from "IT".

Kyle was so shocked that his eyes almost popped from their sockets. Now he never had heard his sister taking such nasty words in her mouth. Well he expected something from Maria, because as much as she wanted everybody to believe she was a girlie, she could sometimes act like a sailor and she knew cusses that would make every grown man red ears. Accusingly he faced her and pointed a finger at her. " See what you´ve done. She´s got that from you and your damn cursing in front of our innocent sister".

Maria stared at her brother with an unbelievable expression. Why was he blaming her for that?" Oh yeah, everything is my fault", she rolled her eyes at Kyle and then turned to Michael. " What do you say about a midnight stroll around Roswell?".

" Sounds nice".

Maria took the hand of her boyfriend and was already in the process to drag him away from the others. " We´ll see each other later". And with that they both disappeared.

Kyle watched after them for a while before he faced his girlfriend with a small smile. " I know a nice place where we can be alone. Are you interested?".

" Alone, he? Are you trying to seduce me?", Tess raised her right eyebrow at her boyfriend. She wasn´t averse how his mind worked. After the pretty eventful evening they endured she could use a little alonetime with Kyle.

Kyle wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly at his side. " Yeah. Is it working?".

Sean turned to Lindsey and made a gagging gesture to her to show her what he thought about the antics of the couple. She in return nodded her head at him to agree. Unfortunately their jokes weren´t lost on the mentioned pair. Tess hid her blushing face on the shoulder of her boyfriend, while Kyle glared at his family. Then his expression softened for a moment and he thrust the money his father had reluctantly given away in his cousin´s hand before he steered his girlfriend away without saying anything. The remaining two people were staring baffled in front of the garden fence.

" Looks like we´re the only one eating ice cream tonight", Sean smiled at his little cousin. They had twenty bucks and they could do everything with it what they wanted. Maybe they could take a walk into Willy´s bar to check the new bets on the football games.

Lindsey´s whole face began to beam at the thought. Contrary to Sean she was imagine the many ice cream she could buy with the money they had. Now that they just had to split in two they both had ten bucks to spent, which meant she could eat herself sick with the cold sweet. " What are we waiting for then?".

Somewhere in Roswell

Maria was showing Michael all the important places, at least important to her. She had dragged him to the park a little down the road in which she lived. That was the place where she received her first kiss. She had been shocked and disgusted when Doug Sohn grasped her roughly one day when she was thirteen and had thrust his tongue down her throat. She gave him a black eye for the stunt and after that she was his girlfriend for six months. Then she walked with him to her old highschool, to be exact the spot where she had trained with her fellow cheerleaders everyday. She even pointed at at a patch of grass where they tried to make a pyramid and she fell down from the top and broke her wrist because she wanted to stop the impact with her hand. Unfortunately she couldn´t heal her injury with her powers, wherefore she had to wear a cast for four weeks. After that she showed him her classroom through the windows and indicated her seat, which was still looking the way she left it, with many stickers, colorful and extremly wrecked. The whole time Michael listened to his girlfriend indulging in memories and watched her face glowing when she talked about things that had happened. He loved to see her that way, she was so animated and full of joy when she spoke about happy things. Suddenly her face twisted into a sad grimace and she stared at a place in front of her. He looked up and noticed that they were standing at the gym and he knew what made her stop in her tracks. This was the spot where she meet Billy.

Slowly he stepped closer to her and took her hand in his. For a moment he was surprised at how cold it was, but then he thought about the temperature that had dropped the last minutes and he finally realized that she had to be freezin with just her t-shirt. Without thinking he pulled his black sweater over his head and slipped it over her. " Here. Now you don´t freeze to death".

Maria hadn´t even noticed how cold she had been until the warmth of Michael´s sweater was surrounding her. Gratefully she pulled it tighter around her and smelled the familiar scent, which she loved so much. Smiling she turned to her boyfriend and saw that he was only wearing a t-shirt himself. " Great, I´m warm and you freeze now. I can give you back your sweater".

" No keep it. I´m not cold. I don´t freeze so easily like you do", he was slightly cold, but he would survive it. Besides he got a pleasure out of the fact that she was wearing his clothes. Except for nude he didn´t want to see her in anything than his clothes. It was a sign that she was his and others could see it, too.

Maria knew that he was lying, she saw his lips slightly quiver. Carefully she embraced him and tried to rub a little warmth into him with her hands. She hated when he wanted to appear like he was a real man and nothing could touch him and in truth he was suffering. " I can´t let you walk around Roswell with just this small thing of cloth on your body. I grew up here and I know how cold it can get. I got lost in the desert for two days one day and when my father found me I was almost frozen to death. They had to put me into hospital until my body heat was normal again".

Michael enjoyed the little caress she was doing to him. She wasn´t even aware what she did, but it felt so great that he forgot for a moment how cold it was. All he could sense was Marias scent around him, lulling him into a calmness that he never possessed before. " Oh yeah, continue rubbing your hands on my body. Maybe you could change your way and go further south. There is this thing that needs a little warmth, too".

" Is that so. Poor boy. I should take care of it", while she talked her hand snaked slowly down his chest and disappeared under the waistband of his jeans. Satisfied she felt his rod already throbbing with need and swelling when she wrapped her small hand around it.

Michael sucked in air when he noticed the slight pressure on his member. His girlfriend knew which button she had to push to make him forget his surroundings. Usually he wasn´t a person who liked to have sex at public places. But since he met Maria he wanted to take her at every place he could, no matter where they were and who was watching. " Oh yeah. You have really talented hands. I think I will keep you".

Maria smiled at him before she started to take her other hand to open the zipper of Michaels jeans, all the while holding eye contact with him. She even used her powers to make it quicker and give her hand a little more room to explore. " Do you know that you´re talking too much? Take your lips and put them to good use".

" As you wish", Michael liked it that his girlfriend was different than every other girl he ever dated. She wasn´t someone that needed to talk during sex, she usually was quiet, except for moaning and here and there a few dirty words, which seemed to spur him on until he almost exploded. So without saying anything he pressed his lips on hers with much force while his hands disappeared under sweater and were making their way over her smooth stomach to her satin clad breasts.

They both were so busy with trying to get cozy with each other without shredding their clothes that they didn´t notice that they weren´t alone anymore. At least until a blinding light was shining down on them and a voice was telling them to raise their hands. Shocked both jumped apart with blushing faces and did what they were told to do. Maria put herself in front of Michael to hid the fact that his zipper was down.

" Maria? Is that you?".

Maria breath out relieved. Holy shit she almost got a heart attack. Squinting in the light she tried to indentify the owner of the voice, although she remembered the person already. But she wanted to be sure. " Yeah it´s me. Hanson, can you put the light out. I´m almost blind here".

Immediately darkness engulfed them again. For a moment the couple saw lots of tiny white dots bouncing in front of their eyes until they got accostumed to the dark once more. Now they finally spotted the young man standing a few feets away from them. He was wearing a beige uniform, black polished shoes and a brown jacket. His dark blond hair was short and made his ears look bigger. His brown eyes were sparkling with happiness and his mouth had been stretched to a smile. In his right hand was a flashlight and his left hand was at his belt dangerous close to his weapon there. He obviously had expected someone different than the daughter of his boss almost getting it on at her former school. " When did you arrive?".

" A few hours ago. Thought I graze my hometown with my presence so that the people don´t forget me", Maria smiled at the man, glad to see him again. She knew him since he started working for her father five years ago when Hanson was fresh out of police academy. She had to admit he was her first crush when she was thirteen, even before her first kiss with Doug. But she knew that she didn´t have a chance with him, because he was eight years older then her and more experienced.

Hanson eyed her with a new view. Well he always knew that she was beautiful, every man could see that. But he always thought of her like a sister. Maybe it was the fact that he saw her everyday that he didn´t really see her anymore. But this few months she was gone she had changed in his eyes. " Don´t worry. Nobody will forget you here. Especially after the thing you did last year".

Michael was slightly getting angry at the bluntly lustfilled gaze of the other man towards his girl. He was a guy and he knew when a woman was stripped mentally of her clothes. But when he heard the last sentence he forgot about that for a moment. Curiously he glanced at Maria. " What did you do last year?".

" I chained myself at an old oak and tried to save it from getting deforested. Unfortunately for the workers, others followed my example and within a few hours almost the whole town was protecting the oak. My father had to arrest me and a few others, among them my mother, Liz and Alex", Maria shrugged her shoulders. It wasn´t a big deal, she just put herself out for something she believed in. This oak had been standing at its place for nearly 200 years and some rich construction firm thought it should make place for a new mall or parking block. She was her mothers daughter, it was part of her genes.

Hanson snorted loudly. She made it sound so peacefully and nice. It was everything but that. " Yeah. Your father had needed reinforcement from two others cities to get the madding crowd under control. You almost stired up a revolt, because of a tree".

Maria rolled her eyes at him. He was saying that like she was a criminell. It wasn´t her fault that she wasn´t the only one protecting this oak. Besides how should things get better when nobody has the guts to stand up for it? Somebody had to do the first step, the rest would come alone then. " And? It worked. This tree is still standing, isn´t it?".

" Yeah, because your father found an agreement with the owner of the construction firm or else you would have went behind bars for a short time".

Michael watched the interaction between his girlfriend and the deputy. Maria seemed to have more inside her than it appeared. Not only had she been a cheerleader, a good student, a jailbird and a hot waitress, but a strong headed person, who stood up to change something. He admired such people and he was proud that she was his girlfriend. He bent closer to her and whispered in her ear. " You can chain yourself anytime at my body. And don´t worry I won´t call the cops".

Maria noticed the heat rising in her body at the suggestion. Damn him, now she was getting horny again. They needed to find a cozy spot where they wouldn´t be discovered soon or she would take Michael right in front of Hansons eyes. " I don´t want to be rude or anything, but we are expected at home. Maybe we can talk another time".

" No problem. We probably see each other again the next few days. Be careful at this time", Hanson nodded at the couple, smiled extra sweet at Maria and then disappeared in the dark.

Michael gawked unbelievingly after the retreating back of the other man. How dare he flirt with his girlfriend in front of his eyes. Great, now he had to look out for Larek, Billy and this Hanson guy. Why did she have to look so beautiful? " Is there one man in this town not secretly in love with you?".

Maria turned around and stared at him confused? What did he mean with that and why was he asking that now? " What? Why you´re asking me that?".

" Because everytime I get to know someone from Roswell they´re flirting with you", Michael tried to stay calm, he really did. But he could feel the Rath part of him close to break from his bonds inside him. The selfish part of him who wanted Maria just to belong to him.

Maria was pleased that he was jealous and angry that he was treating her like an object, again. She didn´t know why he made such a fuss about a nice conversation with a friend. Hanson was like a family member to her. Not exactly like a brother, but more of a cousin, at least a cousin she liked. " Now you´re exaggerating. It was just Larek and he just wanted to see how far he could go with you".

Michael couldn´t understand how such a bright young woman, could be so dumb when it came to the male gender. Why didn´t she noticed the attention she got from men, no matter which age, confession or skin color? Even children she didn´t know were smiling at her when she walked by. He couldn´t describe what it was that made her so special, but nontheless it was there. " Open your eyes girl! They´re all after a piece of your ass!".

" And you should know that my ass belongs to you, nobody else! If you want to see him tonight, I suggest you shut your trap and continue what we started earlier!", Maria loved this bickering between them. It was their kind of foreplay and she enjoyed it immensely when Michael glared at her with his darkened eyes. In those moments she saw Rath in him and the part that belonged to Marianna wanted to come out to play.

Before she could react, Michael grasped her roughly around her middle and lifted her from the ground. Seconds later he started to kiss her with such an intensy that she tasted blood on her lips and her head began to spin. She couldn´t get enough of him and the feeling he awoke in her. She didn´t know that sex could feel like that. So energizing, alive and unbelievable satisfying. If she had something to say, they both wouldn´t rise from their bed ever again. They just would stay under the warm cover and love each other until they would die.

Other side of town

Kyle and Tess had been walking down the mainstreet for a while and had watched the shops along the way. They saw the videostore, which had this huge section about alien movies, the travel agency with the strange name " Time Traveller ", the Crashdown and even Amy Valentis little shop with alien souvenires and esoterism things. All the time both were holding hands and Tess listened to the stories her boyfriend told her. Here and there she laughed about something funny, but other than that she was quiet. She loved this small town with their small businesses. Every people coming their way had been greeting Kyle friendly and they even knew his name. Girls started to giggle when he looked at them and young men joked with him. A few young woman glared at her, like she was stealing their best friends boyfriend or something. Of course she shoot them a mean glare back, because she wasn´t someone that let herself intimitaded from some little snipes. Kyle didn´t realize anything of it, he had been too busy with explaining his girlfriend the best places to get a decent meal, apart from the crashdown. He promised her that he would invite her to dinner at Senior Chow´s, an expensive restaurant with the best mexican food in new mexico, when they had time. At the moment they were lying on Kyle´s jacket in the park near the playground. They observed the many stars on the sky.

" Do you think your life up there was better?", Kyle had finally the chance to talk to his girlfriend about everything they learned. He had been scared to ask Maria about that, because she reacted pretty bitchy everytime he mentioned her past life.

Tess, who had her head lying on Kyle´s chest looked up at him. He never talked to her about her alien side and she had been scared to start with the topic in case he wanted to block it out. " It wasn´t exactly better or worse, although on Antar I had parents. It was different. I loved my life up there and I love my life here".

Kyle thought about it. It had to be strange to remember two lifes. She had to compare both with each other, because she had the chance to change her path this time and not make the same mistakes. She even could hold her brother responsible for things he made wrong in their former lifes. " Do you sometimes wish to be with Max?".

" No or do you see me with him? If I would have wanted to be with him I would have done it. I´m with you because I wanted it, because you were cute and because I liked you. I don´t have feelings for Max, besides friendship. What we had is over and done".

Kyle took Tess´ hand and kissed it tenderly. What she said had touched something in him and he was glad that she wasn´t still in love with Mr. Boring. Now he could delete one question from his mental checklist and concentrate on the hundred others. " Can you tell me how Maria was? She doesn´t talk to me about it and everytime I bring up the subject she either explodes or leaves the room".

Tess went deep in her mind where she had put almost all her memories from Antar. She hadn´t been so tight with Marianna like Vilandra or Rath, but she had seen what kind of person she had been. Even if she hadn´t trusted the other girl at first. " Marianna hadn´t much told about her life before she came to the castle. But after everything I heard and got told from Vilandra, her childhood hadn´t been the best. Her father had been a cold man, her brother hated her and her fiance hadn´t trusted her powers. Rath found her almost dead in some boat. My parents took her in when it looked like she couldn´t remember what happened to her. We started to like her, because she was nice, a little quiet and reserved, but nice. Then we got the news that she was the daughter of our enemy and she was accused of killing her mother. Thankfully Vilandra learned the truth or else we would have arrested her for something she hadn´t done. After that she was part of our family and she was a good friend. She had made my brother happy and I had loved her for that".

Kyle listened intently about the things he got told and he understood his sister a little better. No wonder she had such a tight bond with their father, because she needed to make good what she missed. And now he even got why she reacted so strongly about his outburst. It must have struck a nerve with her. " Had she been happy with Rath?".

" Yes. As much as she had loved him, he had loved her. Isabel told me that Rath proposed to Marianna before they went into the battle and she said yes. So I can say she had been happy".

Kyle was glad to hear that. He wouldn´t have liked the idea that his sister had lifed a crappy life and not experienced something good. He always wanted to picture her with a smile on her face and a song on her lips. " What about you? Have you been happy?".

Tess remembered the time she shared with Zan in the castle. The many times they had sneaked from their rooms to meet each other somewhere secluded. The few times they almost got busted and the many stolen kisses in between. Rath had often teased her how sick it was to see her bouncing through the halls with this big smile on her face. " Yeah I have".

" More than right now?".

Tess slowly crawled on her boyfriends body and looked deeply in his eyes. She pressed his hands besides his head and bent closer to him until their noses almost touched each other. " Depends if you stop talking and do something say more daring".

Quickly Kyle rolled his body around and trapped his girlfriend under him. Easiest thing he ever had to do to make a girl happy. Smiling brightly he got to work. Nobody should say he couldn´t please his girlfriend.

Two hours later

The two couples arrived at the same time at the house. The girls hairs were messy, the lip gloss smudgy and partly on their boyfriends lips, the clothes a little wrinkled and dirty at some places. But the expression was more telling than the appearance. It was pretty obvious what the pairs had been doing when they were gone. However before they stepped into the house the boys glared at each other while the girls were straighten their hairs again. After that they finally made their way inside. All the while thinking about the day that was still coming and their little alonetime would be the last for the next 24 hours.

TBC