Title: Revelations (part 7)
Author: Angela Rae
Category: Max/Liz, Michael/Maria, Isabel/Alex, Kyle/Tess (M) (AR)
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these fabulous characters, more's the pity. They are the exclusive property of 20th Century Fox Television, Regency Television, Jason Katims, Melinda Metz and Laura J. Burns. To quote some of my favorite fan fiction authors, I'm just borrowing – I'll return them as I found them. Cross my heart!
A/N: Rated M for safety reasons… this fic is set at the end of "Destiny", ep 1:22, which makes it AR. Hope you Enjoy!
Thank you again to Tay for being brave enough to beta the melodrama… I totally heart your red pen. ;)
Maria paused to consider her emotional state as she came to door of the Art Room. Underneath, what she reminded herself was totally justifiable anger; lay a kind of panicky fear. This was one of those moments when the decisions made would alter the course of her life forever.
She firmly reminded herself of the heartache she had felt that morning when she'd realized he'd abandoned her again. He couldn't keep doing this to her. She didn't think she could survive him walking in and out of her life whenever he felt he wanted to be with her; always knowing that he would just leave her again in the end…
Hurt rose to wash over the anger. If it happened again, it would kill something irreparable inside her.
Michael trying to avoid dealing with their relationship wouldn't solve this for them; but she knew how tempting it was to take the easy way out and to stay away from the conflict that would force a decision, maybe the one she didn't think she was ready to face. She knew it was a moment of weakness but when she opened the door there would be no going back. Not for him, not for her.
Maria's fingers fumbled briefly in her pocket before closing around the vial she made a habit of taking with her everywhere these days. Opening the cap, she inhaled the sharp, woodsy scent of cedar. The aroma evoked a soft feeling of comfort that helped settle her nerves and maintain a better grip on the pain that rose within her.
She laid her hand on the latch, opened the door and stepped fully into the room. She shut the door quietly behind her.
He was standing in a shaft of direct sunlight that streamed through the far window. Maria's breath caught in her throat as she took in the sight of him. Though the canvas was turned away from her, she watched in fascination as deft fingers move a piece of charcoal in broad, bold strokes across its surface.
His spiky hair stood on end, as though reacting to the magnetic electricity ablaze in his eyes, which were trained on the sketch in front of him. His body was ridged and focused, as though he was trying to push all of his being, all of his essence, into this work. Maria was mesmerized. This was the alien she loved in his purest form. His obsessions, his angers, his fears, his loyalties, his loves… his all.
Keep it cool, girl, she reminded herself.
In a charged moment, his eyes lifted to meet hers as he became aware of her presence almost instantly.
"Maria," he said, struggling to sound surprised.
"Hello, Michael." She fought to keep her voice as chilly as the northern tundra. Now was not the time to dish on her feelings.
Michael's expression briefly showed his unease before closing down to reveal nothing more than a mask of indifference. It was an ability that had driven Maria insane when she had first gotten to know him, but now she was connected to him in ways she didn't always understand. Now she could still feel the uncertainty and caring that she could no longer see.
It permeated a new link between them.
He could also feel the hurt and fear that radiated from her, in pulses so strong, they made him slightly dizzy before he clamped down hard on his mental control. He worked to withdraw as deeply as he could from the connection between them. But as hard as he fought against it, his gaze still roamed hungrily over her face, her form.
Warmth seeped into his soul when he looked at her.
Damn it! He had to stop letting this happen every time she came around! It just wasn't safe anymore for them to feel what they did for each other. It was time she understood and accepted that.
To combat the feelings her mere presence caused, he forced himself to imagine her body lying dead, her soft skin leached of all warmth, her beautiful blue eyes dull and lifeless.
That was the future for her if she stayed with him. He wasn't fully in control of his developing powers, and no one knew it better than he did. He was dangerous to anyone who couldn't protect themselves from him – and Maria was human, totally helpless in the face of what he could do.
Still seeing the imagined images of her death, his skin became chilled and his jaw clenched with steely determination. He would keep her safe, no matter what the cost.
"Why are you here?" he asked harshly, breaking the stretched silence. "I've stayed out of your way; you've stayed out of mine. We don't have to do this."
"Yes, we do," she said firmly as a wretched resolve swept over her heart. It was just so hard. Why did everything between them have to be so hard? Maria continued, stating, "I know you were with me last night." At his startled expression, she smiled fleetingly. "You know I can feel it when you're there now."
She paused momentarily to consider how best to say what she needed to say; then decided the direct approach was the only way.
She sighed, her confusion and frustration beginning to show, as she asked, "If you don't want to be with me, why did you come? You say one thing and then do another, Michael. Why are you doing this to me? Is this just some kind of game to you or something?"
They stood in silence for a moment and he wondered how to make her understand what could happen. Even if he could, he knew what she would say – that it didn't matter. And it didn't, to her. But it did matter to him. She was everything to him.
Maria's loyalty, once given, was total and absolute. She wouldn't care what happened to her as long as she was with those she loved – and that included him, though he didn't really understand why. It was one of the reasons he loved her and one of the things he would save if she would just leave him behind. He had to keep her away from the dangers he represented now.
"Don't you get it? I couldn't control what I did to Pierce! I could hurt you, Maria!" His voice was thick with strain and anger.
"You don't know that. You would never hurt me, Michael. Never." Her eyes glittered feverishly and the absolute trust he saw reflected there only made him more frustrated.
"Well, I don't believe that!" Michael's gaze pleaded for understanding but his voice was hard with resolve. "And I can't take the risk! It's just too dangerous for you to be around me."
Maria looked at him in disbelief, her banked anger beginning to rise. "You think I don't understand the fear of losing someone important to you? That I don't feel the same way when I look at you? You conceited jerk! Of course things will get dangerous and frightening. I mean, look at what happened last week! But I refuse to let some unseen 'whatever' determine how I live my life. We all make our own choices." She paused abruptly, her eyes wide with unshed tears and her voice softening, "…and I choose you."
It was the first time anyone had ever said that to him aloud. He nearly staggered under the incredible mix of joy and pain her words invoked.
"No. I can't take that chance. I can't lose you." The torment of his decision filled his words with a finality she couldn't bear.
Maddened by his unreasonable stubbornness, her body went ridged and her hands clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white.
"So – what? You think that if you push me away, you won't lose me? Well, news flash, spaceboy… That's exactly what happens!" Maria said.
Michael felt the frustrated bewilderment she always managed to provoke rush through him. Fury at the way she refused to listen clouded his mind. Couldn't she see that he was trying to save her life? Her attitude was just so typically Maria.
He was completely focused on the girl in front of him and the mass of conflicting emotions that swirled inside him. He didn't even notice as his palms began to glow. The frame of the canvas started to blaze with an inner light before immolating beneath his hands.
Michael's shocked gaze moved to the sudden pile of dust and splinters at his feet. His face blanched paper white.
Maria stood in stunned silence as he slowly opened his tightly clenched hands and charred bits of pulverized frame slipped from between his fingers and onto the floor. Her chest felt tight as she took deep breaths, trying to reorganize her scattered thoughts into some semblance of order.
Michael's eyes rose to meet hers and he began to slowly back away; her shocked expression impressing upon him the cold reality of the dangers he posed better than words ever could.
His mind reeled with the implications of such uncontrolled powers while he moved to get around her and out the door. Michael didn't know how much longer he could stand seeing that blank, stunned look on Maria's face before his heart simply shattered. This "gift" made him some kind of monster!
Not like Max. The memory of the day he had killed Pierce and Max had saved Kyle swept over him. He drew the same conclusions now that he had then. Max healed and he destroyed. That's all there was to it. All there had ever been.
He had been kidding himself to think he could have what Max had – to even wish that he and Maria could ever have what Max and Liz shared. Damn it, he had to get out of there!
Michael's sudden bolt for the door snapped Maria out of her ill-timed trance.
She realized what he was doing and how her response must have looked to him in the same moment she moved to block his path. The door felt solid and cool as she pressed her back against it, barring Michael's escape. She rested her hands on the metal bar that pressed into the small of her back and regarded his slightly panicked expression with a calm gaze that barely concealed the turmoil within.
"What are you doing?" Michael's tone was strained and faintly hostile as he asked the question to which the answer was painfully obvious.
Maria's look grew even more closed and expressionless as she answered, "I think the question is 'What are you doing?', Michael."
"What I have to do." Michael's gaze became harsh and even more inscrutable. "Don't you realize what just happened… what could have just happened to you? And don't try to delude yourself that someday it won't!" His eyes suddenly clouded over with an anguish more intense then she would have believed any one person could feel if she hadn't felt its shuddering pulse though the connection between them.
Her gaze clashed with his when he continued, painfully, "You have to accept that, right now, I'm the danger here! Not to mention the things Max, Isabel and I will have to face now that we know who we are. We have an entire race to save, and it's not going to be some kind of walk in the park. There are going to be casualties and I won't let you become one of them." His fists were clenched and his jaw hard.
They both felt their heightened emotions reverberate down the link, becoming more intense with each passing moment.
"I can't let you put yourself in danger anymore… not for me."
"Michael," Maria finally said, her tone shaky but determined, "I hate to break this to you, but what I do with my life is not your decision. I love you. I belong with you."
Maria struggled against her anger at his hard-headedness and the silent tears that slid down her face. She tried to put all the conviction and determination she felt into her next words, but they came out as a plea she made straight from her heart.
"I'll handle this whole 'saving your world' thing however you want. Just stop asking me to walk away from you – it's just not something I can do anymore. Don't leave me, Michael."
New pain mixed with the long ago cries of the child she'd been. Her eyes remained locked with his as the mingled feelings of pain and remembered betrayal pulsed through the connection between them, amplifying their emotions until the hurt became unbearable.
"Maria," he said softly. He reached out and grasped her arms. Her suffering and his own mingled until he didn't know whose he felt anymore. Images of her dream, of his disappearance into the incubation chamber, flashed across his mind's eye.
The realization of what this was doing to her hit him hard. First, her father had walked out on her and now him. The harsh truth was that the one person who was doing everything he could not to hurt her was abandoning her – and no amount of justification or noble self-sacrifice was going to change that fact.
Maria… I didn't think… The magnitude what his decision felt like for her seared itself into his soul. In that moment, he surrendered.
She began cry out loud when she felt his strong arms gathering her small form into a crushing embrace. Her arms came around his waist and she hugged him to as hard as she could, burying her face in his chest and inhaling his warm scent.
She heard his voice as he whispered hesitantly into her hair, "If you want me… I'll stay."
Relief and joy swept through her and she looked up at him through wide, blue eyes.
"I'll take you however I can get you, spaceboy," she said quietly, the wonder of discovery of in her words.
His eyes softened and she felt she would drown in the tenderness he showed as he cupped her face in his wide palms, running his fingertips along her cheeks.
"You will never lose me. I won't leave you again, Maria." Michael's lips met hers in a kiss filled with passion and need. The connection flared as desire throbbed along its length. The kiss deepened, her tongue flicked along his, teasing him mercilessly.
Michael tasted her tears and his fingers dug into her waist as he growled deep in his throat, crushing her mouth beneath his. Her arms tightened in response as she felt the sensations that had begun in the pit of her belly flood through her system, pulling her under.
Her legs came up around his waist when he picked her up, his hands supporting her, in their mutual need to be closer. She gasped when she felt his erection press to the center of the pulsing core that was so achingly empty and the beginnings of the small contractions in her belly that robbed her of any breath.
Maria clung to him, tightening her grip with her arms and legs, as Michael moved to press her back against the smooth wall. Her mind cleared of everything except the feel of his skin against her own. Supporting her against the wall with his body, his hands swept up under her tank top, spreading his fingers over her flat tummy to brush the undersides of her breasts.
The light caress sent shivers of excitement pooling into her belly and she moaned softly into his mouth.
"Whoa, Michael! …Maria!" The exclamation of surprise came from over by the doorway.
Maria's mind clamored with confusion and thwarted desire. She lowered her legs from around Michael's waist, rioting emotions still coursing through her body. Michael's arm held her tight against him, refusing to let her go, as he turned with a growl and they both looked over at the boy by the door.
It was Sam Murphy, one of Michael's classmates in his sixth period art class.
"I'm sorry, you guys." Sam's eyes were averted as he looked everywhere but at the couple he'd just caught in a heavy make-out session against the classroom wall. "I didn't know anyone was in here, I swear. I was just going to work on my painting… but I can come back later." His hand felt out the door behind him as he stammered his apology, his freckled cheeks reddened brightly.
Maria sympathized with the embarrassment in his expression and laughed softly as Michael grumbled over the interruption. Sam was an okay guy, and she didn't want him to feel that it was his fault he had walked in when they were the ones who should have taken it somewhere a little more private.
"Hey, Sam," she greeted the other boy, shooting a significant look at Michael. "It's okay… we needed to get going anyway. Our friends are waiting for us in the quad and we have to grab some lunch."
She pulled Michael toward the door.
"See you around sometime. Good luck with your painting," she said, cheerfully, as she brushed past the other boy. Ignoring his wide-eyed stare and Michael's look that said she was crazy, she pushed Michael out the door and closed it behind her.
While Michael just kept looking at her in disbelief, Maria winked impishly and quickly led him down the hallway. She opened the third door on the left and pulled him directly into the Eraser Room to indulge in a few time-honored traditions.
Michael's eyes widened appreciatively when he realized where they were.
Maria grinned. "Now… where were we?"
Michael smiled broadly as he swooped down to take her mouth with his own.
(***)
He had stationed himself where he would have an unobstructed view of a place called 'the quad' and still be relatively unnoticed among the sea of ever-changing students all around him. He shifted awkwardly in his seat; reflecting for a moment on how uncomfortable the direct light of this sun was on the pale, pimple-faced form he was currently forced to wear in order to remain unnoticed by those around him.
His superiors had ordered a low profile be kept, which meant attracting no notice and accumulating no body count. This last order had been made very clear, much to his disappointment.
They were only humans after all. It wasn't as if their lives were worth anything in the long run.
He waited, unobtrusively, for his quarry to come into range. He'd been assured by his inquisition of one of the students that everyone came through this area at some time during the day.
His short-range scanner hummed steadily from where it was concealed in the palm of his hand. When the first of their people had arrived on this planet, they had discovered that long-range scanners were scrambled by interference generated by some of this planet's natural ores. Short-range scanners were the only reliable detection devices available after that.
They had been forced to wait until the orbs had been activated before a strong enough signal could be detected and used to pin-point the enemy's general location.
When a group of four students entered through the archway to his right the scanner lit up, beeping softly and vibrating intensely. He quickly brought his hand under the cover of the table and studied the device. The indicators were spiking madly.
The atmosphere of power was very strong around the tight-knit group who quickly chose a table and sat down – too strong to be human.
It was them.
He took the opportunity to study their current forms and faces. The air of authority was obvious around the tall, well-built young man with dark hair and eyes.
So this is Zan, he thought.
His gaze moved on to the petite, dark-haired girl beside the reborn king. His brow rose when he felt the unmistakable aura of shetar between the two. It was all he needed to confirm his suspicions. She must be Ava, Zan's intended bride.
His eyes moved to the couple across from the two leaders. The statuesque blonde was obviously Zan's sister, Vilondra, which meant that the tall, lanky young man at her side must be Rath, Zan's second-in-command and Vilondra's betrothed. The feeling of shetar between those two was half-formed but obviously strengthening.
He found the intensity of both couples' bonds to be very interesting and worth mentioning in his report.
Visual confirmation complete. It was time to go back to the motel's dingy room to send out his last solo report. The others would come soon. Then, the next phase would begin.
TBC…
A/N: R&R is always appreciated and I try to reply to everybody. So, press the little blue button… :)