Her head popped out of the front door just then and she said through gritted teeth, "Just a few more seconds!"

Michael leaned out the window, gave her an incredulous look and said angrily, "Yeah, well you said that ten minutes ago, and the ten minutes before that and the ten minutes before that. Hurry your ass up, now! We're only going to be gone for a few days."

Maria glared at him for a second and then dashed back inside, grabbed her stuff, pulled the door shut behind her and locked it. She opened the passenger door and pulled the seat forward to place the two bags of clothing and supplies she had brought in the back seat.

Michael watched her the entire time, his scowl transforming into a smirk . When Maria finally sat down in her seat, she looked over at him, noticed his expression. "What?" she demanded. "What's so damn amusing?"

Michael looked quickly back to the two large bags she had stowed in the back seat and then back at her. "Do you always bring enough stuff to last a week when you leave town for a couple of days?" he asked.

"Wait a minute here, Spaceboy! Don't treat me like I'm the freak here - like I'm just overreacting- because if I remember right, the last time we went on a road trip together, we had nothing. No blankets, no pillows, nada! And it had been very uncomfortable. If it hadn't been for the nasty nookie motel, we probably would have frozen to death in the car. Now I've learned my lesson. I may be going with you on this trip, but you're crazy if you think I'm going anywhere with you without some kind of emergency kit."

Michael took a deep breath, started the car and began driving, and then said, "Well then, so what did you bring?"

Maria raised her open palmed hand and began going down the line on her fingers. "Well, let's see...some clean clothes, bath stuff, water, food, flashlights, blankets, pillows, and...oh yeah, an atlas with a map of Northern Arizona. Oh hell, that reminds me. Can we stop at the ATM on our way out of town?" she asked.

He groaned. "Why in the hell do we need to go to an ATM?"

"Because I am not staying in another two-bit nookie room. I have some cash on me, but I'll take some more out of my account. That way we don't have to worry about food or gas or whatever. Unless you want to finance this little trip," she paused and looked at him questioningly, he shook his head. "Than fine you will take me to the ATM and stop bitching about it. Okay buster?"

Michael shook his head slightly and rolled his eyes. "Fine! Whatever." He knew she was right. It's not like he could really afford to pay for everything, not with Hank squandering all of the money the state sends him for alcohol.

"Good. Nice to know you see things my way," she threw him a sweet smile. "So," she said, changing the subject, "do you know which way we need to go?"

"Of course! We need to go to Albuquerque and take Interstate 40 towards Arizona," he said, in a voice that was intended to be a growl, but came out sounding defeated.

Maria put her hand up, palms facing him and said "Okay, okay. Just checking." Then she turned and began looking out the window into the dark nothing. ***** Forty-five minutes later, after a quick trip to an ATM and the gas station right outside of town, Michael and Maria were making their way to Albuquerque. Michael was driving and Maria was snoring lightly in the passenger seat. He was already bored and getting restless, and knew he still had an incredible long drive ahead of him. It would be especially boring if Maria slept the whole time.

He had to admit to himself that the true reason he invited her was to be close to her. There was nothing more fun than provoking her to lose her temper with him. She was like a slightly ruffled baby chick when she got mad; helpless, vulnerable, but an unrelentingly attempt to be strong. He loved seeing her mad, seeing that furious smoldering look in her eyes when he knew he was truly pissing her off. She always looked so cute when she was mad and he discovered that he couldn't help himself from trying to irk her more. Then again, he loved seeing the other smoldering look he had seen not nearly enough times; the look of passion and desire in her eyes when they had been together; when they kissed, when they touched.

Michael sighed heavily at the memory of their passionate times together in the Crashdown and the eraser room, and the frustration of knowing that they could never be like that again. As much as he wanted it, he knew that it could never be. It was a rule, one of the rules the he, Max and Isabel had made when they realized that they were beginning to get certain urges. And before Maria, the sweet, angelic temptress, had come into his life, he had been the one to always make sure that both Max and Isabel stuck to it. Now he wasn't so sure that it should be that way anymore. *No, it was the right thing,* Michael told himself.

Several times, he found himself stealing glances at her sleeping form and thinking to himself how she may look cute when she was mad, but she looked absolutely angelic when she slept, despite the sickly green light that washed over her from the clock on the radio. He found it odd that he never got tired of looking at her; this wasn't the first time he had seen her sleeping. There had been several nights since the party at the old soap factory that he had come to her house and watched her sleep; it was one of the only times that there was no pain lingering in her eyes whenever he was in her presence. He never got tired of watching her. He had found that watching her sleep was the safest way to look at her without the possibility of betraying his true feelings.

It was another hour before Maria woke up. Her hair was all ruffled on one side of her head and again he was reminded of a baby chick.

"Hey," she said groggily as she sat up and attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes.

"Hey, how'd you sleep?" he asked. He looked over at her again and noticed that she was looking at him with a slight smile playing on her full lips, and that she looked slightly flushed. "What hell are you smiling about?' he asked, his narrow eyes scrutinizing her.

Maria's smile faded and she looked down to her hands in her lap and said "I just had a really good dream."

"What?" he asked even though he had heard her.

Her head shot up and she leaned in closer to him. "I - just - had - a - really - good - dream," she repeated as if he were hard of hearing.

He felt his temper start to flare and he said "I'm not deaf Maria, I just didn't hear you."

"Well buddy, maybe you should take the shit our of your ears next time," she glared at him and then smiled sarcastically.

"Well, maybe you should sh..." Michael started but Maria interrupted him.

"Just shut up okay? It's too early to deal with your shit, " she stretched and yawned and then asked if he knew where they were.

He sighed and said "Were just outside of Albuquerque. We'll be there in about ten minutes."

"Good," Maria said quietly and then turned to look out her window. The memory of her dream returned to her then and she couldn't help the smile from returning to her face. Wow! Her dream had been so hot and steamy. She sighed dreamily at the memory of her and Michael's entwined, naked bodies and how happy the dream Maria had been with the dream Michael.

It was then that the idea popped into her head. She had been spending the last agonizing month thinking of how she could get Michael back, doing everything from insisting she had moved on, buying a breast- augmentation bra to get his attention, and even pretending she had dates with older guys. None of it had worked. But this dream was a source of inspiration for her.