The choice of restaurant had been hers. She'd said that she'd wanted to go someplace quiet, and she'd been ready for a break from CrashDown fare. He'd given in without an argument. So far, they'd shared a plate of ravioli and several intense looks.

He would be the first one to admit that he sucked at reading people, and tonight was no different. There was something weird about the looks she kept sending his way... He'd thought repeatedly about asking her what was on her mind but the scene in the hallway at school stopped him.

Although she'd been impossible to focus on, visible only through the corner of his eye, the look that had crossed her face the moments before she's silently said his name bothered him - a lot. It had looked like a deep pain had struck her, followed by a deeper loss. Of course, it was impossible to say for sure... she'd been in a fading out stage, but he was certain that she'd said his name. And he was curious as hell to find out what she and Liz had talked about.

When the two girls had returned to the room, it was like a whole new Maria had replaced the old. Gone was her anger and resentment toward Liz and in its place was understanding and a deeper friendship than he'd seen from them before. He couldn't even explain it. Liz was calm, peaceful even, but Maria was... not. She was still upset, but it was a different kind of upset than the anger that had driven her out of the room. There were traces of tears on her face, and she kept looking at Liz as if for reassurance. Every time she'd caught her friend's near-frantic gaze, Liz would smile encouragingly, seemingly passing on some of her tranquility.

Now, however, without Liz's soothing influence, Maria was coming slowly apart. All she could think about was some future version of Michael dying somewhere. Had she even been there with him? she wondered. Could she have stopped it in some way? Was it somehow her fault? She just kept looking at Michael sitting across from her, doing his best to please her with his table manners, and was falling apart on the inside. She couldn't help but compare his etiquette to what it had been last year. One particular night at the Mexican/Chinese restaurant came immediately to mind, and she marveled at how much he'd changed. She knew it was for her. Somehow, that made her feel even worse.

Michael watched in growing concern as she nearly knocked over her water glass. He deftly caught it before it could spill more than a couple of drops on the white tablecloth.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

His kindness immediately caused tears to well up in her eyes. "I'm sorry. Can we... do you mind if we just get out of here?"

"You want to leave?"

"Yeah. Can we... Could we go to your place?"

Michael could see the tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks and said, "Sure. Let's go."

In his apartment, he'd barely gotten the door closed behind them before she was throwing her arms around his neck and holding on like she expected him do vanish at any second.

"Maria," was all he could get out before she crushed her lips to his, kissing him in a frenzy.

His arms tightened around her reflexively and he returned her kisses with an eagerness that matched hers. God, he'd missed this. Having Maria in his arms, smelling the sweet scent that was uniquely her all around him. He was in heaven.

Turning them around, he pressed her against the door, effectively keeping her where he wanted her while allowing his hands freedom to roam. When he grasped her hips and pulled her toward the burning hardness that so clearly illustrated his need for her, she groaned and pressed herself against him tighter, causing him to make a low sound in return. Their body temperatures both went up several degrees.

His hands moved slowly up her sides until his thumbs were lightly touching the undersides of her breasts, teasing her; teasing him. Passing over the nipples that were begging to be touched, he instead brought his fingers to her hair. It was so much longer now than it was the last time he'd gotten to do this that it was like discovering it all over again. He combed his fingers through the heavy mass again and again, rubbing against her scalp as he did.

Maria wasn't idle under his onslaught. She was running her nails up and down his back hard enough to cause goose bumps to break out across his arms all the while rubbing against the hardness pressing against her belly.

Needing to get closer, she hooked one leg around his, creating a small space for him to move into, which he immediately did.

It still wasn't enough. Bending slightly, he picked her up effortlessly and carried her to his sofa/bed where he gently laid her down. She refused to let go of him for even an instant, so he soon found himself exactly where he wanted to be, cradled between her legs, his hardness pressing against her softness, as she panted in his ear.

"Michael... Michael..." Maria could barely even think as he pressed quick hard kisses along her jaw to her ear where he began to work his magic.

Maria had the most sensitive ears on Earth, and he remembered exactly what she liked as he licked and nibbled on her soft skin. He could feel the heat coming off her increase, and thought, 'like a damn fire, it's amazing we don't just combust.' He brought his lips back to hers and pressed his tongue deep into her mouth. The feel of her all around him, the scent of her, everything was better than he'd remembered. How had he done without her?

*Leave it to Michael to just wreak havoc on the rest of my life, even though he wants no part of it.*

The flash caught him by surprise. *Maria, he'll change his mind,* said their dark haired friend around a spoonful of chocolate ice cream.

Thank you, Liz, he thought, pulling Maria closer. The very thought of not having Maria in his life jolted him. He needed to make sure that she didn't doubt his feelings for her after tonight. Reaching down, he grabbed one of her knees and pulled it up so that the accompanying foot was resting flat on the sofa beneath them. The result was that she was completely open to him as he began to move his hips against her in a slow rhythm. The layers of clothes between them only served to heighten the sensation.

Maria gasped for breath. "Michael." What was he doing to her? Sure, they'd kissed before. It'd gotten pretty hot and heavy, too, but this... this was different. It was intense and deep. Maybe too much so. Somewhere inside her lust filled brain, she registered fear.

Unknowingly, she transferred some of it to Michael in the form of another flash: *I mean we don't know what can happen. I mean the guy touched you and you saw into his soul. How do we know what happens if he kisses you? How do we know what it is to be kissed by a Czechoslovakian?*

Maria's fear and panic registered with Michael and he immediately pulled back. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her.

Maria felt his loss keenly. He was still above her, but now, a good half-inch separated their overheated bodies. "Michael?" she asked, bewildered.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

She'd already forgotten the small moment of panic, and reached for his head, to pull him back down on to her. "You didn't."

"Maria," he breathed softly, unsure of himself, unsure of her.

She took the decision out of his hands when she lifted her lips to his and whispered, "Kiss me, please."

As soon as their lips touched, they both went up in flames. Maria's hands moved shyly to his hips to hold him in place as she experimentally moved her hips against him.

Maria. If it wouldn't have involved lifting his mouth from hers, he would have whispered her name. As her tongue slid against his, becoming more aggressive, he began to lose control.

*It was... explosive.* Another flash of the two girls discussing him over a bowl of ice cream was beginning.

*Yeah, that's a really good word.* Liz agreed.

*It was like every cell in my body found the same cell in his and started heating up.*

No, Michael disagreed. It was more than that. Not every cell, every atom, every electron... Yeah, that's it. Every electron in their bodies were completely aligned. The energy pouring off of them would rival that of a nuclear reactor. That Maria felt the same way about him as he did for her staggered him. He wondered if it was the same for Max and Liz...

As if in answer to his silent question, he heard Liz saying, *And I got really dizzy. Did you get dizzy?*

*I get dizzy just thinking about it.*

"Yeah, me, too," he panted against Maria's throat.

"What?" Maria asked.

He quickly covered by admitting, "You're shaking. You're making me shake, too." He held up a hand so she could see it's trembling. He smiled lopsidedly at her. "So much for being a stone wall, huh?"

She smiled in wonder at him for his admission as much as for the feelings he was invoking in him. Then, a darkness clouded her eyes, and she grasped his hands urgently. "Don't change too much, Michael. It's too dangerous for you to relax your guard."

Touched by her concern for him, assured her, "Don't worry. I'm only like this around you. You're the only one who can do this to me."

"Michael..." Maria was torn between an agonizing fear and the strongest love she'd ever encountered. For the first time, she appreciated what Liz had faced as she had pushed Max away. What if she was responsible for Michael's death in the future? What if she was his weakness, his Achilles heel? Sensing the abrupt change in her mood, Michael was concerned. He could feel her withdrawing from him even as he held her pressed easily against his body. "What... What's wrong?"

"Michael. You have to let me go. We can't do this. We can't... I won't let you..." She was rapidly becoming hysterical. The same cheeks that were flushed with passion a moment ago were now ashen. The beautiful blue eyes that had been glazed with desire now were filled with tears.

"Maria." He tried to hold her closer, but she was pushing at him, trying to escape from him.

"Let me go. Let me go. Let go of ME!"

From her position, she couldn't find any leverage to move. He was firmly planted between her legs, and wasn't making any effort to get up. Making a quick decision and acting on instinct alone, he grabbed her face and pressed his lips strongly down on hers. He quickly took advantage of her surprise by thrusting his tongue deep into her mouth. At the same time, he used his powers to force his mind into hers.

He was rocked by the emotions that assaulted him immediately after the connection was established. The first was fear, terrifying fear not of him, but for him. And guilt also pounded at him. At first, he thought it was his own for what he was doing to her, but realized it was hers. What did she have to be guilty of? He could barely complete the thought before the flashes started.

He saw himself telling her that he had to be a stone wall, and felt her sadness and frustration at the time. Then he saw Max, Isabel and himself the night of the Crash Festival. He felt Maria's fear as they approached her and Liz.

*Ok, why are they here? No, wait, don't tell me there's three?*

*Well...*

Ok, he knew all this already. This isn't helping him to discover what had her so upset now. He tried to isolate her recent memories, but that didn't seem to work, so he tried focusing on Liz. He knew that whatever the dark haired girl had said to Maria this afternoon was at least in part responsible for why she'd been so weird tonight...

*Meet the reason why I haven't been returning your phone calls.*

Ah, the granilith. Now they were getting somewhere. He concentrated harder. Beneath him, Maria had stopped struggling and was kissing him back, so he gentled his hold a little, but didn't allow himself to be distracted from his goal.

He saw Maria and Courtney squaring off over Isabel's birthday cake.

*Me and Michael go way back.*

*You sew his name into the back of his jeans?*

*You'll never find out.*

The scene abruptly changed, and now it was him and Maria in the kitchen of the CrashDown.

From the waves of hurt and anger crashing through him from Maria, he already knew that whatever he was about to relive wasn't going to be pleasant. *So, do you think she's an alien?*

*Or with the government. I don't know.*

*Well, I'll tell you what I know, Mikey G, the slut wants in your pants.*

*That might work.*

In retrospect, he knew it had been a colossal mistake, thinking he could use sex to get Courtney to open up to him and not lose Maria in the process.

The astonishment that spiraled through her as his unfeeling words sunk in cut him deeply. *What might work, Michael?*

If he hadn't been so caught up in himself, he might have noticed what he was doing to the one girl who'd ever meant anything to him. Already dreading what was coming next, he braced himself for it. But nothing could have prepared him for the sense of betrayal, the bone numbing pain, the tears that just kept coming and coming until she was past feeling anything.

"Maria, I am so sorry. For everything." he whispered against her skin, emotions clogging his throat. Lifting his head, he gazed into her eyes and repeated, "I'm sorry for Courtney and the way I've treated you."

"It's ok," she whispered. "I'm over it now." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down so that his head was resting against her neck. "I was just... jealous. I know it's stupid, but..."

"It wasn't stupid." He denied. "I mean what were you supposed to think after I'd been such a jerk all summer? The whole thing was my fault, not yours."

She held him for a moment before asking, "When did you get so insightful?"

"Well, having both Alex and Max knock me around kinda helped."

Sitting up, she asked, "What? What do you mean?"

He briefly explained about Alex hitting him the day after the towel incident. While he talked, he shifted them around so that she was laying next to him and he was on his back on the sofa.

"And you're not mad?" she asked, amazed.

"Of course not. He was right." Michael absently fingered the spot on his jaw that had throbbed for two days from where Alex had hit him. "He sure is a great friend, isn't he?"

"The absolute best," she said, snuggling down on his chest. "But I wouldn't tell him that if I were you. It's kinda a sore spot right now."

"Isabel?" he asked, guessing at the source of Alex's distress.

"Yeah."

"Hmm." He lightly played with the ends of her hair. Deciding that he didn't want to spend any of this time worrying about their friends' problems, he gently tugged on her. "Come here." He had months and months of kissing to make up for, and he was going to get started on it right now.