He held a stack of papers in his hand and the class recognized them as their last semester term papers. "We are six weeks into your sophomore year and it appears that a good majority of you still don't understand how to write complete sentences. What a sad commentary on our times! Today, we are going to work on basic grammar and everyone is going to go back and fix these papers." He began to pass the papers back and Maria felt her eyes glaze over.

She began to think of the events that followed last nights meeting. When she and Michael had gotten to her house the night before, Maria had been really tired and Michael wanted her at full strength before they connected again. Just to be on the safe side, he said. This morning they had called and asked questions about the black outs but the elders said that they needed more information. They told Michael that the two should pay more attention to what happened before the blackouts, like how they felt, and then let them know.

She sighed because she could never remember anything that happened right before the blackouts.

"Now," Mr. Flores spoke, "Who can tell me what you need to make a sentence?"

She rolled her eyes and ignored him. *Michael?* she called silently, still looking forward at the teacher.

*Yeah?* he replied.

*Nothing, this is just really lame and I would rather talk or hear your mental voice or whatever it is we do in this thing,*

*Oh,* Michael sent and then sent her a mental image of a big smile. *So what do you want to talk about?*

*We could talk about...um...* She grasped blindly for a topic as she turned to looked over at him. She froze.

All of the sudden the world went dark and all she saw was him. She could feel her desire building inside after a mere look. With her last coherent thought, she told herself to remember the feeling for later reference.

He looked over at her, feeling the change, and his head went fuzzy. She had began to breathe hard and her body was shaking with intensity. Her hands were white-knuckling the desk and he could sense that she was fighting to suppress the urge as hard as she could.

He looked down and saw that her legs were crossed and she was rubbing one up the other. He felt a blast of heat shoot out of her and he could tell she lost the battle. *Michael, I need you!* her voice echoed inside of his head. She moaned low in her throat and the people next to her began to look at her in amused surprise.

His own control slipped and his nails began to cut into the desk. She growled loud in frustration, giving up the fight and crawled over her desk, running over to him. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him up out of his seat. She pushed him back until he was laying back on the surface of Lisa Krendal's desk and she jumped on top of him.

Her mouth attacked his and her nails dug into his forearms. He wrapped his arms around her and grabbed her ass. She pulled back just long enough to rip his t-shirt down the middle and then she was assaulting his muscular chest with her mouth. Her hands went down to his jeans and she fumbled with the buckle.

He used his hands to rip her shirt open and then he flipped her over so that she was on the bottom and sucked her nipples hard through her bra. It wasn't' enough. He brought his hands up to her bra and ripped it in half from the middle and captured her bare breasts.

She finally got his pants undone and began to pull them down when he was ripped away from her.

She sat up and gasped. She no longer just saw Michael. She could see that all of the students in her English class were staring at her, some giggling, and she saw why. She was no longer wearing a shirt and her bra was ripped open. She covered her chest and began to cry in humiliation.

One of the Ox's on the football team was holding Michael by the arms. Michael yelled, "What the hell is going on?" and Maria could see that his pants were down. Maria didn't like to see the way the guy was restraining him so she walked up, put her hands on the guys chest and pushed him away. She didn't even realize that the guy fell back farther than he should of, crashing against a desk, but Michael did.

*Damn She-Ra. What was that?*

*What?*

*You just tossed that guy who weighs 3 times the amount you do across the room. How?*

She shrugged. *He pissed me off.*

Michael was disturbed. She shouldn't have been able to do that. He began to say so when he heard her interrupt her thoughts.

*Michael it happened again. The blackout! I could tell before hand.* she telegraphed, her mental voice even sounding shaky.

Michael pulled his shirt off quickly when he noticed that not only her breasts were exposed but that the handprint on her stomach was peeking out of her jeans. "Put this on," he told her as he buttoned his pants back up. She did and he cuddled her into his side.

The teacher began to ask questions, but they ignored him. "Your neck is hurt," she whispered. "I hurt you. There are teeth marks."

"Are they bad?" he asked, glad that Maria was shielding his front from the class.

"Hello, I want some answers!" The teacher yelled.

"One of them is bleeding, I'm so sorry." Maria moved into kiss his wounds and he relaxed at the touch of her soft mouth. He felt her freeze and heard her gasp.

*What is it?*

Maria pulled back, wide eyed and spoke. "They're gone!!! I kissed them and they disappeared."

Michael was shocked, not understanding how that could be. "Lets get out of here," he said as he led her to the door.

*****

Maria refused to stay at school so she and Michael went back to his trailer. Maria's mom's day off was on Tuesdays so she would be home and Maria wanted to be with Michael so the trailer was the only place to go.

She could feel Michael's embarrassment when he led her inside and she tried to reassure him. *Don't worry, Michael. I already saw this when we were connected. Besides, you're leaving this filthy place soon. When are you supposed to move into your new foster parents house?*

"Friday," he answered aloud. He led her to his bedroom which was extremely neat and clean. He put on another shirt and then they laid down on his bed and talked for a little while.

"Michael, today, I could tell it was going to happen. I was talking and then I looked over at you and things went dark. Then the next thing I remember is hearing giggling and my boobs are hanging out for everyone to see."

"That's not the only weird thing that happened, Maria. Don't you remember? You threw that guy practically across the room. A normal human girl your size shouldn't have that kind of strength. What was that?"

"I thought he was hurting you and it made me really mad. He wouldn't let you go, so I made him. I don't know, it's all so confusing." She answered and tears began to form in her eyes. "And the bite marks. I have no idea what's going on. Michael they were bad! And when I kissed them they healed. Something is so wrong. We have to do something. This can't keep happening."

"What can we do?" he asked and she shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe the connection will help us. I'm too tired to think about it," she said, yawning.

"Go to sleep then," he told her and felt himself begin to drift off.

*****

Sometime during their nap, Maria began to dream and somehow, Michael was pulled into it.

She didn't know he was there. He was sitting in the corner watching her wash tables at the Crashdown when the door opened. He saw her look at her watch and then put her hands on her hip. *I thought I locked that door,* she thought.

Michael watched her turn and look towards the door and he saw himself walk in. She did a little hop and than ran over to him and said, "Michael, I missed you," and she tried to hug and kiss him but he did nothing. She pulled back and he spat in her face.

Michael felt sick watching this. She began to cry as she wiped off his saliva and she asked what she did wrong. His only answer was to smack her with the back of his hand and her nose began to believe.

"You're nothing but a fucking human whore!" he heard the dream him yell and landed a fist her in the stomach.

She fell to the ground, struggling to suck in a sufficient lungful of air. She looked up at him and then blacked out just before his hand closed in on her.

But this time the dream didn't end there for him as it did Maria - he felt her leave the dream the moment she blacked out. Maria's form was still passed out on the ground and Michael watched as the dream Michael closed his hand over her tummy. His hand turned red with power and he released it into her body and she began to convulse.

The dream Michael released her and then pulled out some form of a communication device from his shirt pocket and said, " Mission completed."

The dream ended.

*****

They woke up some time later to a crude laugh. It was dark outside and Michael turned on the lamp in his room to see Hank leaning against the doorway, leering at him and Maria. They both sat up and stared at the drunken lout in hatred.

"Well, well, well," he slurred. "Looks like little Mickey had been a bad boy." He belched and laughed as though it were the funniest thing in the world.

"Get out of here, Hank," Michael said, not liking the way he was looking at his Maria.

"Oh yeah? Well you can to hell you little punk," he said and shuffled into Michael's room. He got close to Maria and leaned down and got right into her face. "Hey there honey, hmm, your a hot little number." Maria cringed away, and clutched on to Michael.

"Leave her the fuck alone, Hank." Michael yelled. He stood up, still clutching Maria's hand, and pushed him away slightly.

Hank's beer fell to the ground and his face twisted in anger. "You son of a bitch," he said, and landed a punch onto his face. Michael fell back on to the ground and Hank turned back to the whimpering Maria.

"Aww, sweetie. Don't worry about him. He's worthless. Now tell me, you're not really that shy, ares ya?" He asked as he rubbed his gut. He scowled down at Michael. "I don't get it. Whatcha doing with this good for nothing piece of shit?" He reached out and touched her shoulder as she cringed, "I can show you what it's like to be with a real man honey."

Michael sat up, and looked over at Maria. Hank was leaning over him and she was cringing. On the inside, though, Michael could tell that she was a loose cannon ready to explode. It was like the same thing that happened in class, the same anger.

He tried to get up with the intention of calming her down but it was too late. She smiled up at Hank, flirtatiously, and then stood up. "Oh really?" she drawled. "How you gonna do that when you're sprawled out on your ass?"

He looked at her and laughed. "Oh, you gonna do that to me? Don't make me laugh!"

This only sparked her anger more. She rose her hands up to his chest and said, "I warned you." She didn't even push him, she just touched him and he went flying, as though he had been hit by an electrical current.

He hit Michael's wood-panel closet doors and fell to a heap on the ground, passed out. She walked over to Michael and helped him up.

She looked shaken but her voice was firm. "I told you I wanted to kill him yesterday. Well, I didn't kill him, but he is in a world of pain and he is going to regret ever touching you. Lets go."

"Are you sure he's okay?" Michael asked and then walked over to Hank's body. He touched him on the neck and felt his pulse beating strong. "Yeah, he's okay. Just needs to sleep it off. Let's get out of here."

*****

When Maria and Michael got home from Hanks, she snuck Michael into her bedroom window, they lit some candles and formed the connection. In the two hours that passed, they saw a lot of things but no baby or child besides themselves. That brought around a little bit of relief but not much.

"We could always try this the old fashion way," Michael suggested and Maria wrinkled her forehead.

"And what's that?"

"We could get you a pregnancy test. I mean I know I'm...different but I'm pretty sure the same things occur inside of you as it would with any pregnant woman." Michael said.

"Yeah, I suppose you may be right," she said. "Maybe we should run to the 24 hour supermarket and go get one right now. It's better to take it in the morning."

Michael's eyebrows rose and he said, "And how do you know this?"

Maria rolled her eyes. "Not from experience, if that's what your thinking. My mother thought she was pregnant a few times and she took the tests in the morning. I saw the directions on the box. So you wanna go?"

"I'll go, but I want you to stay here. I can tell that you're exhausted and I want you rest. Okay?" He said, his concern evident in his eyes.

She nodded and laid down on the bed, and he tucked her into the blankets and gave her a sweet kiss on the forehead. "I'll be back in a little while," he whispered. "I love you."

She smiled up at him, sleepily, and said, "I love you. Hurry up and come back."

*****

*This was a mistake,* Michael groaned silently as he stood in front of row after row of pregnancy tests.

He couldn't believe how many different types of tests there were. *Why can't it be more simple?*

Eventually he picked up one that gave a plus or a minus, one that had one line or two, and one that turned either pink or blue. He paid for them, keeping his eyes down as the check-out girl rung them up and then left and went back to Maria's.

When he crawled through her window, he put the tests under her bed, and then locked the door and crawled into bed with her. He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her lightly on her shoulder. She barely stirred.

It was then that he remembered his dream from earlier this evening. It was so disturbing and he felt his guts go gooey. He was going to have to tell the gang and the elders about it.

It took him a while to fall asleep. He was just too anxious about tonight's events, and Maria's new powers. Plus, the pregnancy test. He dropped his hand over her womb and caressed her skin. *If there's anyone down there,* he sent the thought, *this is your daddy and I want you to be good to your mommy. Please don't hurt her. She's human and fragile and I can't lose her.*

*****

*Okay, I got a plus, two lines and a pink. What does that mean?* Maria telegraphed to him from the bathroom. He was sitting on her bed waiting for her to come out.

He closed his eyes. *It means that two out of three tests say that you are in fact going to be a mother.* He could feel her shock.

*Are sure?*

*27 out of 30 doctors stand by these tests. That means we have 18 doctors saying yes. So I think so.*

*Oh.* It was all she would say.

He walked over to the bathroom and opened the door. *Maria? You okay?*

She was sitting on the ground, not moving, not crying, not doing anything. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Baby, say something."

She looked up at him slowly and in a voice devoid of emotions and matter-of-factly said, "I think I'm gonna throw up."

"Go ahead, then," he said and opened the toiled seat for her.