Part 36

It wasn't until she stepped into the bathroom and examined her reflection in the mirror that she realized she was wearing one of his tee shirts and nothing else. She glanced around the room and images from the night before came rushing back as heat flooded her cheeks. He had found her and brought her home, but he hadn't just put her to bed. Her eyes swung to the shower and fresh tears filled her eyes as she remembered the gentle and awkward way he had taken care of her. Not a single crass remark, no biting sarcasm, no anger in his words, nothing rough about his hands as he had cared for her, and now he had even made dinner. Something from the frozen food section, no doubt, but the fact that he had made the gesture spoke volumes.

She washed her face and ran the brush through her hair but decided against changing into something else. The tee shirt was too big, but it was soft from years of wear and it was perfect for lounging around in bed. When she was finished she went back to her bedroom and crawled into bed, stacking the pillows up against the headboard and making herself comfortable under the blanket. She was reaching for the remote when she noticed the note on the nightstand. He wasn't supposed to be this thoughtful, she thought, placing the note between the lamp and the alarm clock after reading it.

"Anything worth watchin' on TV?" Michael asked, entering the room with the bed tray. He leaned down to settle it over her lap, glancing over his shoulder to see what was on the screen.

"Old comedies, but…"

"Not really in the mood," he guessed. "Right. Well, I can go grab a movie." As soon as she rattled off a title he hurried from the room to retrieve it.

Maria looked down at the two plates on the tray and her eyebrows lifted as she inhaled the savory aroma of the pizza. Hawaiian, if she wasn't mistaken. Deep dish, piled high with all of the good toppings, and she could smell the barbecue sauce hidden beneath the toppings. She tipped her head to one side, studying the cheese that was practically dripping off of the thick crust. Frozen pizzas didn't look or smell that good… which meant that he had actually made it himself. She glanced up when he came back with the movie, then watched him load it into the player as she took her first bite.

"Oh my God!" she exclaimed around a mouthful of the pizza. It was perfect; the flavors blended together to create a flavorful sensation, the cheese was piled on the way she liked it, and the onions had been generously added on. "Michael, I had no idea you could cook like this! Why didn't you tell me you're such a good cook?"

His expression was a mixture of confusion and pride as he settled down next to her and grabbed his own plate. "I'm not," he mumbled around his first bite. "Fuck, that is good, isn't it?"

He chewed in silence, wondering about his sudden ability to do things he couldn't remember ever being able to do. Last night, some connection or something had let him know something was wrong with her and then it had led him to her location, and today, he was cooking like he knew what he was doing. Something was happening to him, something he didn't understand, maybe even something alien, and it was connected to her. So, maybe this thing that had been happening to him wasn't some illness, maybe he wasn't sick at all.

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They watched the movie in companionable silence and when it was over Michael carried the bed tray and dishes back to the kitchen, rinsing them off and stacking them in the dishwasher before grabbing a couple of beers from the refrigerator and going back to her bedroom.

He handed one of the chilled bottles to Maria and made himself comfortable next to her. He glanced at the TV, noticing that she had left it on and muted the sound. He took a drink from his bottle as he considered his thoughts from earlier.

"Maria?"

"Um-hmm."

"What was your connection with him like?" he asked.

Maria took a drink from her own bottle and contemplated her answer as she tried to hide her surprise. He had eased off of the derogatory comments in regards to her relationship with her Michael, but it was the first time he had asked about it with such a lack of animosity.

"It was intense," she said finally and smiled. "But, then again, everything about Michael was intense."

"So, could you guys, I don't know… feel each other when you were apart?"

"Yeah, there's a definite connection that exists between humans and their hybrids. I mean, Liz could feel Max from the other side of the country - "

"When he died or whatever, right?" She had mentioned something about that before when they had been talking about her past, her friends, and her experiences with the hybrids in her universe. "What if Michael was hurt or somethin'? Could you feel it?"

Maria's expression turned sad as she thought about the day her Michael had died. "More than I wanted to sometimes. We could feel each other whether things were good or bad, but the more intense the situation, the more intense that feeling would get. At times it would even manifest itself physically."

Michael's right hand tightened on the bottle he was holding balanced on his thigh. "How is that possible?"

"We just figured that it happened because of our connection to each other. Michael and I had it and so do Max and Liz."

"So, it's definitely alien related," he mused.

Maria turned her head to look at him, watching him closely and wondering why he was suddenly so interested in Michael and her. What was really going on in his mind? He was usually easy to read; his thoughts generally revolved around sex, food, motorcycles, and work. But here, there actually seemed to be something deeper behind his questions, it was almost as if something was bothering him. "Why all the questions? Have you ever felt that for anyone?"

"No," he answered quickly, "you were sayin' somethin' about it in your sleep last night. Besides, how do you think I'd ever have that kinda connection with anyone if I don't get tied down by relationships?"

Right. One-night stands were just a part of his way of life; it was kind of hard to forget that. So, what was the point of these questions that seemed to be so… out of the blue? "Just because you don't let yourself get that involved physically doesn't mean that you've never experienced that - "

"Physically is the only way I get involved, Maria; don't try to romanticize my interest in the opposite sex." Her explanation about the connection shared between hybrids and their human mates was unsettling and he didn't want to talk about it any longer. "Well, you need to get some rest so I think I'm gonna go to bed."

Maria frowned when he rolled off of the bed and got to his feet. It was the first time that he had gone to sleep in his own room since the night after he had come home wounded. She hadn't argued with him when he had made himself at home in her bed every night since because it had been nice to not be alone in the big bed, to feel his big body close by and let her mind fool itself for a few hours each night that she wasn't completely alone.

She sighed as she slipped further down in bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. She stared at the ceiling for several minutes before she rolled over onto her side and picked up the remote control, aiming it at the TV and scanning through the channels.

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Michael threw himself down on his bed and stared at the ceiling as he thought about what Maria had been saying. He steered clear of those thoughts before long and focused instead on what it meant to be a hybrid. He hadn't given it much thought before, but he suddenly realized that he had never really asked for clarification about what that meant. Obviously it implied that he was only half alien, he thought as he held his hands up and stared at them, but what did that mean about the other half? The human half?

He shifted onto his side and tried in vain to find a comfortable position. "This's ridiculous," he muttered as he finally admitted defeat and sat up again. He had spent a fortune on his bed and he couldn't remember it ever being so uncomfortable. Maybe it was time to invest in a new mattress.

Or maybe you've gotten used to Maria sleeping next to you, his conscience whispered. He rejected that thought outright; it implied that he was becoming dependent on her and nothing could be further from the truth. No, obviously she just had a more comfortable mattress. He nodded to himself. Yeah, that was an acceptable reason and the best thing was that it made sense.

His thoughts shifted back to their original topic and the fingers of his right hand drummed against the mattress. Half human… how did that happen? There had to be an explanation, right? He wasn't from Earth so how was it that he was half human? How had his race, his people, gotten their hands on the raw materials needed to create a cloned human body?

He glanced at the door to his room and debated whether to go and wake Maria up so she could explain it to him. He knew she needed her rest because she was still exhausted from the night before, but after a few minutes he got to his feet. He couldn't wait until the next day; if he didn't get answers tonight he was never gonna be able to sleep.

Maria looked up when he suddenly appeared in her doorway and she tried not to think about the feeling of relief that washed over her when she saw him. She couldn't reconcile her feelings where he was concerned; while he wasn't her Michael she was beginning to get comfortable with him and she missed him when he wasn't around. He had been sleeping in her bed with her for the past few nights and she had gotten used to his presence. It was making it harder to sleep now that he wasn't there, but she wasn't about to admit that aloud.

The more time she spent with him, especially since he was beginning to warm up to her and treat her nicely, the more conflicted she was feeling. On the one hand, it was nice to spend time with him and not feel constantly on edge, just waiting for the next cruel thing to come out of his mouth. But, on the other hand, she felt as if she was being disloyal to her Michael and the guilt was beginning to creep in.

Michael folded his arms over his chest as he leaned against the doorframe, watching her as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. "You're still awake," he observed, but it came out sounding more like a question.

"Just haven't been able to fall asleep yet." She motioned for him to come in and ignored the feeling of calm that settled over her when he sat on the bed next to her. "What's on your mind?"

"I wanna know more about my… I don't even know what to call it… human donor, maybe? I'm half human, right? How did that happen?"

"Your human donor's name is Charles Dupree."

He listened as Maria went on to explain about Dupree's abductions, his contribution to Michael's existence, and how she and her Michael had been involved in saving the man's granddaughter. He frowned when she explained that they hadn't been able to meet the man because he was dead in her universe.

"What're you thinking?" she asked when his expression turned contemplative.

"He could be alive here though, right? You said yourself that not everything was the same between your universe and mine."

Maria thought about that for a minute. "Y'know, I hadn't really considered that, but it is possible." She scrambled to get out of bed and follow him when he jumped up and left the room. "Michael, what're you doing?" she asked when she found him in the living room, sitting behind the desk in the corner.

He pointed at the screen as he logged into some database that she had never seen or heard of before. "Chances are good that if this guy's still alive I'll be able to find him usin' this database." He drummed the fingers of his left hand on the surface of the desk while his right hand was busy clicking on the appropriate selections to get him to the search engine. "Okay, spell his last name for me."

It was the first time Maria had seen him use the computer and she was surprised by the ease with which he maneuvered around the sites. She watched him as he typed, surprised when his fingers flew over the keyboard; she had expected the stuttered peck-peck-peck that her Michael had been limited to.

"What kind of database is this?" she asked, sitting on the corner of the desk. She placed her left hand on the surface and used it to brace her weight when she leaned on it.

"It's used to track anyone of interest." He shrugged. "You said this guy claimed he was abducted multiple times, right? So, he probably drew some attention to himself with all of his crazy talk."

"You have access to a database like that?"

"Uh-huh." Michael shook his head when the search came back without any hits. "Okay, he's not in Tucson; any suggestions that'll help narrow it down?"

"No, in my universe that's where he was."

"Well, we'll just have to plug his name in and let the database run the search. Dependin' on how far it has to search it could run all night, so if you wanna go to bed…"

"You wanna watch a movie? I'm not really tired."

Michael brightened up at that idea. "Popcorn?"

Maria rolled her eyes. "You pick a movie out and get it ready; I'll go make the popcorn."