Part 31
Makin' new plans December 8th, 2007 – Saturday – 10:00 am
I can smell freshly brewed coffee when I wake up this morning and I smile a little when I hear Michael swearing quietly about something in the kitchen. A glance at the clock tells me that it´s already after 10 am. I sit up in the bed and stretch my body. Michael hasn´t recognized yet that I'm awake, so I stand up quietly and walk over to the kitchen on my tip toes.
"Good mornin'," I murmur against his back while wrapping my arms around him from behind. He puts the plates, which he got out of the cupboard, down on the counter and turns.
"Hey,sleepyhead, you hungry?" He let his hands rest on my sides and leans back against the counter, spreading his legs and pulling me further against him. "If you´re brave enough to eat something I´ve cooked," he adds with a smirk.
"Hmm," I glance at the eggs and bacon on the range, "it doesn´t look that bad," I tease. To be honest, it looks really delicious and my mouth is already watering.
"It does, huh?" He reaches out to turn off the heat. "Okay, how about you go to the bathroom to get ready while I'm finishing this?"
"Sounds good to me, I think I'll take a quick shower."
He leans forward to place a tender kiss on my cheek and his hands wander down my hips until they reach the hem of his shirt I´m wearing. He presses me against his body; I can feel his erection grinding at my belly. "Have I told you sexy you are, when you're wearing nothing but one of my shirts?"
"You don´t have to," I say with a grin, glancing between us. "Maybe I should wait for that shower until after breakfast so you can join me?"
He sighs and let his chin rest on my shoulder. "Yeah, I wish we could do that, but Max sent me a text message earlier and asked if he and Liz can come upstairs to talk about something."
"I guess that includes talking about Billy?" Of course it will and I know we have to talk about the... situation... Is it wrong that I want to pretend a little longer to be only happy and safe?
He shrugs. "He didn´t say anything in detail, but yeah, I guess it does."
I drop my head, unable to think about anything we can do to get rid of Billy. "I wish we could just leave this all behind us," I mumble.
"Yeah," he says absent-mindedly, "maybe we can."
"Huh?" I lean back to look at him, puzzled. "What ya mean?"
He shakes his head. "Nothing. I was just thinking. Now get ready, breakfast is almost done."
I nod and let go of him to walk into the bathroom, still wondering what he has in mind. I turn the shower on while stripping out of the shirt.
Muffled sounds of talking can be heared through the closed bathroom door and I wonder if Max and Liz have already arrived.
"I thought the others had already arrived," I mention when I come back to the kitchen after showering. "I heard you talking."
"It was just the phone," he says, gesturing that I should sit down on one of the barstools.
I don´t bother to ask him, who he had called, 'cause I have the feeling he doesn´t wanna talk about it. He places a plate with toast, eggs and bacon in front of me. "Self made by Michael Guerin," he says proudly.
"It looks tasty," I admit and take my fork to try a bit of the food, chewing on it several long seconds, while he´s looking at me impatiently. "Yummy," I finally say, smiling.
"Good," he sighs, relieved, and takes a seat as well.
We concentrate on eating for a while then until Michael starts to speak again. "What ya think of leaving New York?" he asks quickly, without looking at me.
I almost choke on my breakfast. "What?"
He lays his fork down and gazes up to me. "You wanna leave New York?"
"For a trip?"
He shakes his head. "Permanently… or at least for a while."
"What about the others? Max, Liz, Kyle and the rest of them."
He shrugs. "I don´t know."
"No, Michael, I can´t expect you to leave your home and your friends behind just because of me. I don´t want you to make that sacrifice."
"That's not only your decision to make, Maria. It´s something I would do to keep you safe, to keep us safe, 'cause we´re not if we stay here. I thought about it all night and there are only two possibilities. It´s either hurt Billy until he´s not able to hurt anyone again and go to jail... or leave."
"I´m so sorry that I put you in this situation, I didn´t mean to," I say sadly, resting my head in my hands.
He slides down from his chair and comes over to me. "I knew that it would cause these problems when I got involved with you. And I didn´t care; I still don´t regret anything, so don´t feel responsible." He takes my hand in his and makes me look at him.
"What if we go and in a few months you realize that I´m not the one you want? That this thing between us is just a temporary thing?"
He doesn't get the chance to answer the question, 'cause right at that moment there's a knock on the door.
"I'll let them in," Michael says, going to open it.
I take our plates and take them to the sink, using the time to get my feelings under control again. He wants to leave with me... I can´t believe it.
"Hey," he greets Max and Liz, when they enter the apartment and walk over to have a seat on the couch. "You want something to drink? There is still coffee left from breakfast."
"No, thanks, we're fine," Liz answered, glancing at Max nervously.
"Is everything okay?" I ask, concerned when I join the others and Michael pulls me into his lap.
"There is something we wanna talk about," Max starts, taking Liz' hand in his and looking at her as if he wants to ask if she´s ready to tell us.
"Don´t drag it out, Maxwell," Michael tells him when he still hesistates.
"I´m pregnant," Liz finally admits quickly.
"What did you say?" Michael asks, startled.
"We´re having a baby," Max repeats, his expression unsure.
Silence.
"Um, well, I guess congratulations then," I offer, not knowing what else to say. This wasn´t anything I had expected and I can tell from Michael's face that he´s right with me.
"How long have you known?" he asks.
"Well, I've known it a few days now," Liz begins, "but I just told Max last night."
"Oh, my god, is everything okay with you, Liz? The whole thing with Billy..." I worry, but she interrupts me then.
"It's all okay. We were at the hospital this morning to make sure the baby is alright."
I nod, relieved that Billy didn´t leave even more damage. "So, you´re keeping the baby, right?" I want to know.
"I could never have an abortion," Liz says quickly.
"The problem is," Max speaks up again, gazing at Michael, "I can´t stand the thought of Liz being pregnant with my child and knowin' there's someone in this town who wants to get revenge." He takes a deep breath before he continues. "What I really want to say is, we – Liz and I – want to leave New York. If it was only you and me, Michael, I would say we go and get that bastard and silence him for good, but I have a girl and a child to look after now and I can´t risk goin' to jail or getting hurt."
Max glances at Michael, waiting for his opinion. I think Max is expecting that his friend will be mad at him, 'cause his expression is surprised when Michael starts to speak calmly. "You´re not the only one who is worried about someone." He lifts his gaze to look at me for a second before turning to Max again, "you´ve pretty much said what Maria and I discussed before you two came in. I was suggesting we leave as well."
"You were?" Max asks, looking back and forth between Liz and us.
"Yeah, since there is nothing we can do to get rid of Billy and his gang without going to jail or getting ourselves killed, I think leaving is the only option we have right now. The sooner, the better."
"It will be difficult to start a new life in another town with no job, not much money and no place to live," Max pointed out.
"Yeah, I saved some money, but it won´t last long," Michael says. "I guess we have to spend a few weeks in a motel until we can find jobs and can rent our own apartments. I called my boss earlier, 'cause he has some good connections to an autoshop in Atlanta. Maybe he´s able to get me a job over there."
"Atlanta?" Liz asks.
So that was the person, Michael was talkin' to earlier.
Michael shrugs. "Yeah. As a possibility."
"I like it," she said, a grin spreading over her whole face.
"Yeah," I say quietly and lower my head to look at my boyfriend, "I like it, too."
He nods silently and brushes his lips against mine for a brief second. "You can also finish school over there."
"You think that can work?" Max asks when he and Liz stand up and get ready to leave again.
"I don´t know yet."
"Okay, we're gonna leave for now, Liz needs some rest. I called Kyle and the others to come over around 3 pm to talk," he sighs. "You coming downstairs?"
"Yeah."
We both watch them disappear through the front door before I turn in Michael´s lap to come face to face with him. "You sure you wanna do that?" I let my forehead rest against his.
"Yeah," he takes my face in both hands, "I can hardly believe it by myself but I am. I don´t wanna run off from Billy, but I don´t wanna lose you as well."
"You´ll never lose me if you're gonna keep being like this," I reply and capture his lips with mine for a quick kiss. "What about the others?"
He winces. "I'm not sure how they're gonna react," he admits, "but they'll have to make their choice if they wanna come with us or not."
****