Alex set down the carefully prepared meal (It was more suitable for the flu than for alien-related withdrawal but he didn't have a lot to work with) and took a closer look at his friend. Her breathing was shallow and her lips were an unsettling blue colour. Oh God, what if she wasn't sleeping? What if she was slipping into some coma? Alex knelt on the bed, bending his head over Maria, trying to find a pulse.

Alex was so preoccupied with concern he never saw Maria's right hand sneak out from underneath the pillow that was concealing her weapon. She knocked him over the head quickly, whispering a short apology and then slipped the car keys out of his pocket. It wouldn't be long now.

*********

"But Mom, Liz and I really need to study!" Isabel crossed her fingers and scrunched up her nose. She hated lying to her mother.

Her mother's voice rang out clear and firm through Isabel's cell phone. The only phone still working at Liz's house, Isabel thought dryly. Michael must have scorched the wires from here to Alex's. "Isabel, this our special family dinner night. I know you and your brother are busy with your own lives but that's why I think it is important we reserve at least one night to spend together as a family. I'd really appreciate it if you came home." Isabel grimaced. Her mother would never come right out and order her to do something. No, she used the infamous guilt trip that made her impossible to say no to.

"I'll be right home." Isabel pushed the end button and sighed. Why did all this have to happen now? She couldn't babysit Michael full-time. She moved towards the boy, still sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth by the window. He looked harmless enough but when was Michael ever harmless? But he didn't even know where Alex's lived, Isabel reminded herself, trying to alleviate her worry. Still... Isabel reached behind Michael and melted the window and the sill together. One couldn't be too careful. "I'll be back soon." She promised the unresponsive boy. Closing the door behind her, Isabel melted the lock to the door. She made a mental note to tell Max to get Liz a *lot* of flowers when this was all over.

*******

Maria cursed her trembling limbs. Just be good for a couple more steps, she tried to tell her rebelling body. Then you'll be with him and all the hurt will go away. It was hard to grasp the ladder leading to Liz's room, her fingers wouldn't curl around the metal like they should. Maria wanted to cry with frustration. Please, please let me get to Michael. Her mind whispered his name over and over, drawing strength from it's syllables. Her head hurt so much, she couldn't think. All that filled her mind was survival. To survive she need Michael. She pushed her body over the railing, collapsing against the cold brick. She did not rest, there was no point to resting, nothing would be better until she was in his arms. Maria placed her hand against the pane of glass, feeling for the familiar latch that she had opened millions of times before. The window wouldn't budge. Maria cried out, beating against the glass helplessly. She banged her head against the window, giving up to exhaustion, warm tears rolling down from her closed eyes. She wailed, a wounded animal's cry. Then she felt him.

He stared at her through the thick window pane and she could feel his gaze touch her body, his eyes caressing her. Her hands started to warm and she pressed them against the glass, trying to melt it with the strength of her desire. He did not move and she cried out again because she couldn't do it alone. There was an empty ache in her body, didn't he understand? She needed him to feel whole again, to feel human. "Please." She whispered to him, begging him again but not caring because primal beings did not feel shame. "Please, just let me touch you." Her lips moved behind the glass and he looked down and Maria thought for a moment that he was going to leave her out on the roof while she lost her mind. Instead his hand rose to met hers through the glass. Words fell from his lips, something about ‘I told her I couldn't stop it.' but the words lost all meaning as their hands turned the glass to sand and they were together again.

Michael pulled her through the window, stretching her up against his body so that even on tippy-toes she could not reach the floor. They stayed like for a moment, a nose width apart. "It isn't right." he whispered. "You don't know-" Maria silenced him with a kiss, trying to soak him into her skin. She wanted him in her pores, under her skin so that so she would never be alone again. Michael ran his hands down her body, hooking one hand under the bend of her knee, wrapping her legs around him. They fell back against the bed. Maria straddled Michael, sitting up and throwing off her old sweatshirt. Michael gasped as his fingers found her naked sides, running over the smooth skin of her stomach and back. She giggled, he and the sparks were tickling her. She pressed her body against his tightly and he rolled them over, tumbling and turning, becoming dizzy in the bright white lights. They fell off the bed and Maria laughed again, she felt so good. He joined her in that laugher, his was rough and unused but it danced along Maria's body and she shivered in joy. Together their hands pushed up his shirt. Maria nuzzled his chest like a kitten, rubbing her face against the warmth. It was so cold when he was gone... She didn't want to be cold anymore. Maria placed slow, lingering kisses against the contours of his chest, memorizing the terrain, marking her claim. She sat back on her knees and slid her hand down to the buttons of his dark blue jeans.

"Do you think I'll hurt you?" He whispered, worry fighting against sparks and lust.

She shook her head. "No."

"And after?"

Her face was perplexed. "I can't think of after. I can only think about now."

"Doesn't that scare you?"

"Not yet." It was the best answer she could give him. Her pyjama pants came off easily as did his jeans. Inexperienced hands teased Michael and he could not think of after either. The sparks increased. Time was running short.

*********

Isabel waved to her dad as he drove off, trying to mask her impatience. Max hadn't even shown up for dinner. Her mom had said she might as well leave since she needed to study and obviously her brother had forgotten about family night. Isabel knew Max was going to get a talking to when he got home. First trouble with the principal, now this. She surveyed the Crash Down café. "Not again..." Isabel sprinted through the Café, ignoring the startled staff and customers, all the while praying that what was causing the back of the Crash Down to look like it was being hit with the brightness of noon day sun was a nuclear blast, not Michael and Maria.

She banged into the locked door, cursing her early self for welding it shut. "Please, please." She begged as her powers slowly melted the lock further. "I'm not ready to be Aunt Isabel." The locked dripped down the outside of the door. One arm hit the hard wood again and again trying to get some reaction out the couple she knew was inside. They had to have some awareness left, right? But Isabel remembered the look in Michael's eyes and his promise. This time nothing would hold them back.

The lock was now gone, leaving an empty hole in the door. Isabel steeled herself and then flung the door open. Terror allowed Grandmothers to lift cars, right? She prayed that the fear she felt would be enough to stop two horny teenagers.

The room was in complete disarray. The couple lay on the ground wearing nothing but their underwear and each other. Michael's bare back faced Isabel and she grabbed him by the shoulders, throwing him across the room with an alien strength that usually scared her but this time she was grateful for it. He hit the wall and slumped forward, falling on his hands and knees. The sparks flew in her face and it felt like they were a sentient being for a moment, attacking her. She ignored them, letting the lights burn into the bare skin of her arms and her face as she concentrated only on Michael, keeping him pinned to the wall. He fought her touch and her powers, his head whipping from side to side, mouth open in a wordless cry. He seemed to be weakening though, the lights dimming in their intensity. His eyes were closing, his muscles giving out. Isabel started to feel a sprout of hope. Only a little longer...

Maria blasted into Isabel's side, battering the larger girl with her fists and kicks. "Get away from him!" She screamed wildly. "He's mine!" She pulled at Isabel's hair causing her to shriek in pain. They rolled around on the floor, both fighting for dominance. Maria was filled with inhuman strength. Was there anything stronger then the need to procreate? She was constantly attacking, all sharp nails and flying elbows. Isabel had no time to gather up her energy and use her powers. Isabel's head hit the foot of the bed. Hard. She tasted blood on her lip. "Maria, STOP! I'm trying to help! The sparks are trying to get you PREGNANT!" The words did not register. Maria continued to scream and Isabel slapped her across the face. "Come out of it! Please, Maria!"

Wetness dripped down onto Isabel's face and she realized it was tears. Maria was crying. "You've ruined it all." She cried still holding on to the bigger girl, her fingers grasping Isabel's arms so tightly that she would have bruises. "The time is slipping away." Maria shook her so hard her teeth rattled. Isabel opened her mouth to speak but the smaller girl slumped forward, her face buried in the soft cotton of Isabel's sweater as her body shook with the force of her sobs.

Everything stopped but the sound of Maria's cries.

"Shhh, it's okay." Isabel pulled on the corner of the top blanket of Liz's bed and tried to cover Maria's shaking body. It wasn't until Maria's sobs quieted that Isabel realized that her eyes no longer hurt.

"The lights, they're gone..." She whispered.

Maria raised her red rimmed eyes from Isabel's shoulder and gasped, rolling off her recent opponent. Sanity was returning to her eyes and she clutched the blanket tightly around her body, trying to cover her partial nakedness. Her eyes found Michael across the small room, lying on the floor. She took a step towards him, her small hand sneaking out from the large blanket wrapped around her. His eyes opened and she stopped. He tried to pull himself up using the wall but his knees gave up and he slid back to the ground. Maria looked at Michael, clad only in his boxer and looked down at herself, covered only by her bra and underwear. Her face was filled with shock and fear. "You mean-" She turned to Isabel for answers but the alien girl just nodded, her dark eyes serious. "And we were-" She stopped again, pointing at Michael, her face filling with colour. "And then I'd be- Oh God." She fled, the bathroom door slamming behind her.

"I hate it when she does that." Michael whispered with a weak grimace. Then he banged his own head against the wall and wondered if Maria would ever let him get closer to her then a minimum three state distance.

*********

Isabel was kindly silent as she fixed her own wounds (Maria had sharp nails!) and Michael's. Her hand at the back of his head reduced the headache and goose-egg that was forming. "Sorry about that." She whispered.

"No, you're not." But he grimaced, which was the Michael version of a smile. "It's okay." He added. His eyes never left the bathroom door.

"She'll forgive you. You'll be back to fighting and making up within a week" Isabel stated, very matter-of-fact.

"What?" He glanced at Isabel with surprise and found a mysterious look in her eyes. "How can you say that? Who says I want to?" Isabel snorted. "No, you've been right. We shouldn't be with humans. It isn't safe."

Isabel flipped her hair over her shoulder, regaining her composure. "I've changed my mind. There's no point to keeping them away. It's inevitable. Obviously our bodies know something we don't."

"Which is...?"

"That we are supposed to be with them." Michael almost choked on his own saliva. Isabel rose from her kneeling position. "Maria?" She called through the closed door. "What did you do to Alex?"

A second ‘Oh my God!' left Maria's mouth. Isabel could almost see her contrite expression as she spoke, "I hit him. It wasn't hard!" Isabel shook her head. All that time babysitting Michael, she should have known Maria would be the real trouble. "By the way, what I just said-" She pinned him with her patented icy glare. "And the fact that the sparks are gone does not give you permission to do *anything*."

"Isabel, do you *really* think I'm getting any tonight?" Michael's voice was tinged with disbelief.

Isabel grinned. "I don't think you'll be getting any till you're thirty." She couldn't help but smile at the pained look of agreement on his face. "I'm going to go heal my human. You try to get yours out of the bathroom." And with that, she was out the door.

______________ Sparks: Epilogue ****In a Galaxy far, far away... (Actually, just behind the Milky Way, but these aliens enjoy Star Wars references.)**** Nire'e'Erin slammed a fist against the large viewing screen, where the spunky human girl could be seen hyperventilating in the bathroom while the follicly-challenged alien-boy knocked against the door, hesitantly."Damn those annoying earthlings! Can't they do anything right?"

Cotti'e'Ittoc placed a comforting hand on her partner's arm as she switched over to Michael's apartment where a sleepy Max and Liz lay. Michael was going to want to buy a new couch but given the destruction that was the dark haired girl's room the two couples were probably even. "The other two did find the orb."

Nire was in no mood to be consoled. "Who cares about them? They are boring ‘Oh, Max, I've never felt this way before. I'm like an over-heated Bunsen burner' blah, blah, blah. These two are the interesting ones!" Another slam punctuated the angry Mission leader's statements. Cotti was glad there were a couple million miles between Nire and their subjects. She could see the steam rising from her partner's head. Literally. Nire grabbed the controller out of Cotti's hands, switching back to the other alien couple.

"Now, Nire. Try to be professional about this."

She growled. "I AM being professional! How is a scientist supposed to complete their experiments when the stupid subjects won't co-operate? Do YOU know how LONG I had to wait before both their fertile periods came into synch? All I want is a one little alien-human hybrid is that so much to ask?!? Plus their kids would be so cute with his hair and her nose. Definitely her nose." Cotti shook her head, Nire was always becoming to attached to their lab rats.

"Nire, you're a scientist-"

"But they have passion!"

"-Try to be objective!"

Nire sighed. "I just don't get it, the sparks always work at home. A guy and girl meet, sparks fly, they mate and live happily ever after. Nice and simple, true love, none of this dating foreplay crap. Why do the earthlings have to make it so hard!?!"

"Because they're humans."

Nire pouted, resting her head on her arms. "That's not a good enough excuse. Plus, the boy isn't even really human!" The viewing screen had changed again, showing Isabel walking up to Alex's door. Nire wished the spaceship had come with lightning bolts attachments. If it wasn't for her the mating would have gone off without an hitch and their job would be almost over. Nire just wanted to go home!

The alien grinned a little manically as Isabel let herself into Alex's house. The amazon blonde found the tall, awkward one quickly. She cradled his head gently and closed her eyes, smiling slightly. "Just wait till it's her turn." Nire and Cotti shared a grin. They had something cooked up specially for the Ice Queen. Geek-boy wouldn't know what hit him. Cotti brought up all the alien/human couples simultaneously (Alien technology includes split screens). Isabel healing Alex, Liz and Max sleeping peacefully by the orb (Too bad their periods hadn't aligned, Cotti sighed.) and Maria had opened the bathroom door enough for Michael to give her clothes back. She had also thrown a pumice stone at the teenage alien but it was an improvement.

Cotti threw an arm around the dejected Nire. "Come on, I'll make you a bloody Caesar. Lots of Tabasco sauce."

"Only damn good thing we've got from that godforsaken planet." Nire said bitterly, thumbing her nose at the large blue-green planet. "Well, that and Cable."

Cotti laughed. "Cheer up. Things are going pretty well, they did the love thing all on their own. They just need a little push. So, what do you want to try next month?"