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The holidays were over and things seemed to be getting back to normal in Roswell, normal in a Roswellian kind of way. Kyle was back at school; Max and Liz were in class and both working part-time. Michael's schedule varied some days and some nights. Either way, he hated to be away from Maria. Isabel had practically moved in with them. On the few nights that she had plans with her new beau, Michael made sure he was off work or used one of the many volunteers to stay. Amy was becoming a problem and he knew he couldn't hold her off much longer. Against his better judgement, he had begged Isabel to call her as Maria and promise her everything was okay, she just couldn't shake a virus. Michael still hunted Rath, he knew he hadn't left town. Rath probably knew that by hiding out he was driving and the rest of the Pod Squad crazy. He was right. Max helped Michael search as much as he could but with school and working, it was hard. They had spent many late nights driving around, going into sleazy bars outside of town and never came home with anything to show except aggravation. Isabel stayed away from the Rath hunting, she devoted her time to Leia and Maria and now a couple of nights a week to Erin. She wanted to thank Liz for setting them up, but just couldn't do it. Some of the ice may be melting, but not all. It was early afternoon when she lay Leia down for her nap and took her regular spot on the couch. She had a clipboard on her lap, a black pen in between her teeth. Over the countless hours sitting on the couch, she had begun to write a story. It was a short story at first, but the more she got into it, the longer it got. She found something that she liked to do, something that interested her. Writing. She had barely written a sentence when she felt a presence behind her. "Michael," Maria stood in the entrance to the living room in shorts and sweatshirt. Her hang hung limply, some in her eyes. She shuffled closer to Isabel in her sock clad feet, standing in front of her she looked into Isabel's eyes. "Michael." Isabel jumped up and caught her arm as she swayed. She sat her down on the couch. "Do you want me to get Michael?" Maria shook her head, tears rolled down her cheeks. She rested her head on Isabel's shoulder, her tears seeping into the fabric. Isabel rubbed her back, unsure of what to do. Was Maria ready to break out of her cocoon? Was she ready to do it to Isabel? "I couldn't tell," Maria cleared her throat. Weeks of not talking had made her throat feel thick and sluggish. "I didn't know, but I should have." "Known what?" Isabel still rubbed her back, afraid of losing the connection. "What happened Maria?" "It was early and I was alone," she began to rock back and forth. Isabel steadied her and the rocking deceased. "He was at work." "Michael was at work?" Isabel narrowed her eyes, her heart rate accelerated. "He came home," Maria nodded. Ripples of fear seared through her. "He came home." "What did he do?" Isabel became flush, had Michael done something? No, there was way it could be him. "Did Michael hurt you?" "I asked why he was home." Maria sucked in a deep breath. "He said he missed me." "Okay." Isabel tried to keep from shaking. If Michael was the cause behind this there was going to be hell to pay. "He came to me. Leia...Leia was sleeping. My beautiful girl was sleeping," she sniffled and then smiled, looking at her sleeping daughter on her stomach in the playpen. "Like that. So peaceful." Isabel waited for Maria to continue but her gaze was still on her sleeping daughter. "Go on," she gently urged. "Oh." Maria focused on Isabel again. "He was so close, I felt his breath. I was his breath, I knew him. He wanted me. He wanted to make love to me." She looked wistfully to the window. "I thought that was so romantic, coming home to make love to me." "What happened?" Isabel spoke from behind clenched teeth. "Here," she pointed to the back of the couch they were sitting on. "I was here and he came to me and then I knew something was wrong." Maria wiped away tears while Isabel hugged her. "He wouldn't look in my eyes." Isabel wanted to talk but knew she had already interrupted enough; this time she'd wait for Maria. After a copule of minutes, she did continue. "I said his name and he wouldn't look at me. He always looks at me, that's part of what we do. We look in each other's eyes. I got scared and tried to push him away." Isabel fought the urge to jump up and hunt Michael down. "Then what?" "Leia. She screamed and I looked to her." She began to tremble. "My baby was screaming, her arm was in the air. She wasn't looking at me. She was looking at him and screaming. I turned back to Michael." The trembles turned into the shakes, silent tears became weeping. Isabel held her tight, stroking her hair. "It's okay Maria, I'm here." "I looked at him," she said inbetween sobs. "He changed." "Changed? What do you mean changed?" An alarm was going off in her head. "He was the other one," Maria cried. "It was the other one!" "The other...?" Isabel repeated slowly. "Oh my God. Rath?" "He changed while Leia screamed at him," Maria whimpered. "I saw him changed while he was in me. He was still inside of me! It wasn't Michael." Isabel felt the redness creeping up her neck; she was ready to kill. "Rath did this to you?" Maria nodded, unable to look Isabel in the eyes. "I'm embarrassed." "Embarrassed?" Isabel snorted. "Don't be embarrassed. Be pissed." "I should have known," Maria finally looked at her through nearly swollen-shut eyes. "I should have been able to tell it wasn't Michael." "There is no way you can tell, I can't tell. He's an identical to Michael." Maria shook her head. "I should have known. Leia knew. She was screaming at him." "This isn't your fault, you know that, right?" Maria shook her head. "It is my fault for not knowing. I feel so dirty." Isabel recalled the skin scrubbing and everything made sense. She wanted to thunk herself on the head for not picking up on it sooner. She had seen the same response to rape in two Lifetime Movies in the past week. "You didn't do anything wrong. I wish you would have said something before, we've all been worried about you." "I know," Maria smiled faintly. "Thank you for everything. Thank you for taking care of Leia, I couldn't have done it without you." "You have to tell Michael." "No," she shook her head violently. "I don't want him to know. He'll think different of me." "No, he won't, but you have to tell him. He has to know what happened." "No." "He's lost without you Maria, he deserves to know what happened. You know Michael; he's not going to think any less of you. He just misses you and wants you back. That's all he talks about. You're all he talks about." "You can't tell him, promise me." "Maria." "Please!" she begged, tears still falling over her red cheeks. Isabel nodded, not knowing if she was going to keep that promise or not. "Think about it, please." Maria nodded. "Are you going to stay around?" Isabel pointed to her head. Maria laughed. "Do you know how silly that sounded?" "You know what I mean," Isabel smiled at her. As much as Maria got on her nerves she was actually glad to hear her laugh again. "I never went away, I heard everything that went on around here. I know when Max healed my skin and when you gave Michael his own New Year's. I heard Morgan talking to you about her crappy life. I was here for everything. I just couldn't bring myself to say anything," she explained. "Don't you ever get tired of 21 Jump Street? I've had the theme song in my head for about a week." "Sorry about that," Isabel blushed. "That Johnny Deep was a hottie back then before the long hair and freak out. So, anyway, how are you? I mean I know we're sitting here talking about 21 Jump Street, but things are still not right." "I'm okay," she wiped away a stray tear. "Scared. Dirty. Depressed, but I'll live. I want my life back. As long as Michael doesn't know, it'll be okay." "It won't be okay if you don't tell him the truth. You know Michael well enough by now to tell him. He's only going to want to be there for you. None of this is your fault; he's going to blame himself." "It's not his fault," Maria shook her head. "Why did Rath come to you? Because of Michael. Because of Michael, Max and myself." She sighed. "All bad things happen because of us." "That's not a fair statement." "Not fair, but true. Please, reconsider and tell him. It'll be easier in the long run." "Is he still here? I mean Rath?" She spat his name out. "We think so," Isabel nodded. "Michael's been searching for him. He's the one who killed that man." "I know," she nodded. "What is he going to do if he finds him?" Isabel shrugged. She figured after she told Michael about Maria, he'd find Rath and kill him. * * * "Two months," Max rolled over and looked at Liz. She opened one eye. "Only two months and we'll be married." "Damn!" Liz threw the blankets back and got out of bed. "I forgot to take my pill tonight!" "You don't have to take it, you know," he said quietly. "Are you high?" she shot him a glare and padded off to the bathroom. She returned within a minute and crawled back under the covers. "I don't want to get pregnant right away Max, haven't we been through this before? I really want to finish school and have a career first. We can't afford a baby right now." Max nodded in defeat. "I know, but I can't help how I feel." Liz sighed. The one topic she didn't like to discuss weighed so heavy in the room it was almost choking her. "Can you feel him at all?" "No, nothing anymore." Max shook his head. "He's gone from me." "You may never know him." "I know that and I've learned to accept it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." He let out a deep breath. "He's gone over to the other side. The dark side with his moth-" "Don't say it. Say 'Tess.'" "With her. He'll never know about the real me and I can live with that. But I do want to be a father Liz, I want to have babies with you. I can wait until you're ready. I guess until we're both ready." He picked up her hand and brought it to his mouth. "You know I'll do anything for you." "I know." She smiled as he kissed her hand. The brand on her thigh was burning. She covered it with her other hand. "You know, it may be in my head, but I think this grotesque thing on my leg is actually burning." "What?" Max flung back the covers and pulled up her nightgown to her waist. "Oh God." "What?" Liz sat up alarmed. She looked and saw the four letters that would haunt her forever as red as blood. "What the hell is happening?" "How long have they been so red?" Max ran his finger on top of them. "I don't know." Liz was panicking. "I guess sometime tonight. They weren't like that this morning, were they?" Max shook his head. "No. They were so faded, light in colour, they were almost white. It looked like they were almost gone. Do you want me to try to heal them again?" "No," Liz shook her head. It hadn't worked the previous four times he had tried. "It'll go away, right?" "Sure," he nodded, totally not knowing if it would. "I was thinking," Liz pulled her nightgown back down. "What do you think of tattoos? Maybe I should get some flowers or something put over it. Then every time I see it, it won't make me sick." "A tattoo?" he smirked. "My wife is going to have a tattoo? That's a really big turn on." * * * Michael laid his head on the steering wheel of the cruiser. His double shift was over and he was exhausted. Nearly nine o'clock at night and the parking lot in front of the department was deserted. He turned the cruiser off and got out of the car. The next thing he knew he was lying in the dust, a boot was on his throat. "Yo, Mikey." Rath stepped down a little harder. "What's shakin' bro?" "Let me up," Michael reached for the boot, but Rath swatted his hand away. "Damn it!" "So, rumour round town is you're looking for me. Going into all these dark places flashing your shit around," Rath sneered. "I've been making friends here, y'know, they tell me when some dude who looks like me except he has a badge and gun is looking for me. So now you made me a liar!" He shifted his weight slightly and heard Michael gulp in air. "I had to tell all these new friends of mine that we're brothers and you're the black sheep of the family." Michael reached for the boot again, this time Rath kicked his hands away and put his foot back on his throat before Michael could react. "So, here I am, what'd you want?" He stepped away from Michael and smiled as he watched his doppelganger gasp for air. Michael stood and when he did he was pointing his gun at Rath. "Whoa there! Can't do that, Deputy Mikey. Shooting an unarmed man? Don't you read the paper, you'll go down." "What are you doing here?" "Just came for a visit. That's it. Visit a while and then go back home. Everyone's entitled to a vacation, right?" "Not you, not here. What do you want?" The gun never wavered. "A little R & R, that too much to handle?" Rath stepped in a half circle around him. "When are you leaving?" "Soon." Rath started to walk away. "Oh, year, say hi to your daughter for me, she's got some pretty eyes." Michael's jaw dropped, he looked down. When he looked back, once again, Rath was gone. Leia. He had seen Leia. Shit! He raced inside the station and called home. Isabel answered. "Are you okay?" he asked breathless into the phone. "Michael, what's wrong?" "Is everything there okay? Maria and Leia?" He wiped away the sweat from his face." "We're all good." "Okay, I'll be home in a minute. Be careful, okay?" "You going to tell me what's going on?" "Rath. He's seen Leia." |
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