"Hey, Liz. Where did Maria go?" he asked, his voice slow and slightly muffled by the piece of ice he was chewing on.

Liz shrugged and shook her head. "I have no idea. She said she'd be right back."

"Back from where? That's what I want to know," he sighed in frustration.

Liz shrugged and sat on Max's lap and began to kiss him. Michael's eyebrows arched in confusion. "Uh, Max? Liz? Sorry to bother you but since when did you guys start dating?"

Liz looked up with wide eyes, "What Michael? Did the silly goose get bumped on the head? We've always been dating!"

*Something very weird is going on,* Michael thought as Liz returned and began to lick Max's face as though she were an excited puppy dog. He found himself staring in horrified fascination. He looked to Alex and Isabel to see if they found it as odd but they didn't even seem to notice, they were eating french fries.

"Oh, shucks!" Alex said, snapping his hand and then slapping himself on the head. "I don't have a bowl for my ketchup!" He began to cry.

"Don't cry snookems, I know what we can do!" Isabel said enthusiastically. She unbuttoned her pink sweater and removed it to reveal a red lace bra.

"What the hell are you doing?" Michael asked, not too excited about seeing his surrogate sister in her bra.

She looked at him as though he were stupid. "I'm making a bowl, silly willy!" She then squeezed her breasts together with one hand and with the other, picked up the ketchup and poured it over her breasts where it ran down and formed a small pool in her hand.

"Yay!" Alex said, clapping. He then picked up a french fry and dipped it the small pool around her breasts, and began to chew on it happily.

"Why did you have to use your breast to make a pool of ketchup?" Michael asked. "Couldn't you have just used your hand?"

Isabel rolled her eyes and said, "Michael, the chocolate cake only goes good with my feet!"

"What?" Michael asked but he didn't hear her answer because at that moment, Maria and Kyle entered the door in purple and green outfits with propeller hats on their head and their shirts read, Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum. They were skipping around like a couple of school girls, their arms locked together and they were singing:

"Beans, Beans, the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you toot,
the more you toot, the better you feel, so let's have beans for every meal."

When they were done singing, they stopped in front of the table and stared at the group. "Hi guys!" They both said, smiling and waved their left hand to the side in one simultaneous motion. Everyone ignored them except for Michael, who was looking at them in confusion. "Can we join you?" they asked.

Michael slowly nodded, but they didn't sit down. "Which one do you want?" Kyle asked Maria. She looked around and pointed to Michael. "Him! He's pretty and juicy."

Kyle smiled and said, "Okay, anything for you!"

He reached across and grabbed Michael and pulled him forward as though he weighed nothing at all. All of the sudden, Michael was standing in front of Maria and she was licking her lips. "If I eat you will you still love me?" she asked.

Michael shook his head in confusion. "What?"

She giggled and then opened her mouth to reveal two rows of razor sharp teeth. Michael screamed and tried to run but Kyle was holding him from behind. "Aaah, Dilanas, Dilanas, my favowite tweat!" she said, and then she closed in on his throat.

*****

Maria sighed in bliss as she wiped her arms with a soapy poof scrubber. She was relaxing in the bath tub after two hours of the most incredible sex with Michael. He had fallen asleep after the last mind-shattering orgasm, and she had decided that the only thing that would make the day more perfect was a bubble bath.

Despite the fact that her mother was gonna kill her for getting pregnant and she was having problems with controlling her sexual appetite in public places and not remembering it, she was happy. Michael had that affect on her.

She placed a wash cloth over her face and sighed. She jumped however when she heard Michael scream bloody murder. She stood in the bath and ran to her room naked. He was thrashing on the bed, tangled up in the blankets. She climbed on the bed. "Michael! Wake up baby! Come on, wake up! It's just a dream."

Finally, his head shot up, half of his hair plastered to his forehead. He looked at her for a second, as though he didn't know who she was, then recognition flashed in his eyes and he collapsed on the bed. "Oh, man," he whispered. "That was so real."

She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead, and he smiled up at her. Then he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up wildly again.

"What was it about?" Maria asked, moving so that she was sitting off to one side of him. He looked her in the eye and grabbed her hand, sharing with her the dream. What she saw scared the shit out of her. "No wonder you were screaming," she gulped.

*****

At two-thirty, everyone arrived at Maria's looking anxious. Maria pulled Liz aside.

"You didn't tell them, did you?" she asked.

"No, of course not, Maria. I promised," Liz answered, slightly hurt that her friend would have such little faith in her.

"I'm sorry," Maria said, rubbing her temples. "It's been a real odd day and I'm just a little edgy. I know you wouldn't tell them. Besides, I plan to tell them right now anyway."

"How are you doing?" Liz asked, trying to read her face.

Maria shrugged. "I don't know. Come on, they're waiting for us."

They entered the living room and Liz sat on the couch between Isabel and Alex, and Maria walked over to the love seat, sitting next to Michael. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the crown of her head. Silently he sent, *Do you want me to tell them?*

She nodded and aloud said, "Go ahead."

"What's going on?" Max asked, looking between the solemn couple.

Michael looked Max in the eye. "She's pregnant."

Maria looked to Isabel, waiting for her to explode like she had before, but the girl said nothing.

"How do you know?" Alex asked, leaning forward and placing his elbows on his knees.

"Two out of three pregnancy tests," Maria answered.

Isabel frowned and spoke. "You don't know if you can rely on those though, considering were so different."

Maria shrugged and said, "Actually, it's not just that. It's just this feeling I have. I'm sure, Iz."

"What are you gonna do?" Max asked.

"We don't know yet," Michael answered, squeezing Maria's hand. "But, look. That's not why I wanted you to come over here today. We need to talk."

"What's wrong?" Liz asked.

Michael sighed and told them about the recurring dream Maria had been having about the crashdown. "But last night, after she left the dream, it continued for me. I, I use the word 'I' lightly, touched her stomach and she began to convulse. And then 'I' used some communicator thing and said, 'mission completed.' There is no way that I would be on some kind of mission to hurt her, so I only can come to one conclusion. It was..."

A chorus of voices joined him, "Nacerro."

Liz stood. "But why?" she asked.

Michael looked up at her, "The elders said he was a bounty hunter, maybe he has orders to prevent the birth of a Dilana-human hybrid."

"Makes sense," Max nodded.

"We need to keep an eye on her. Something tells me that this dream is a warning or something."

"Michael," Isabel sighed. "You don't know that. It could be just a dream that you're reading too much into."

Michael nodded. "That would be nice, but I still would rather be safe than sorry. I need to ask you guys to keep an eye on her when I can't."

Maria groaned. "Great, now I need babysitters?"

"For your safety," Michael said, turning to face her. "I need to keep you safe Maria and the baby. I'd die without you in my life, so yes, you need babysitters. Just until we catch this asshole."

"Fine," she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

Max cleared his throat. "What do you mean catch him, Michael?"

Michael looked away from Maria and said, "We have to catch him and stop him from going forth with his plans."

"And how exactly do we do that?" Isabel asked, running her hands through her hair, anxiously.

"Good question," Michael said. "Let's brainstorm."