"Let's go," he said, yanking him through the door.

Another minute later, he found himself back in the wet room.

"Hey," Derek walked over to him as the guards slammed the door behind him.

Michael glared at him, still angry at the guard. "When do we get out of this place?"

Derek started laughing right there and then, and a few others nearby joined them. "Never!"

Michael gave him a Look. "That's what you think, pal," he muttered and walked over to a secluded area.

Derek chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he thought how naïve the younger boy was.

Minutes later, the door reopened, and Michael didn't even bother to look and see what crates the guards had for them now. But he didn't hear the guards' gruff voices or the slamming of the crates.

What he heard was the soft, timid voice that was as familiar to Michael as his own.

"M-Michael?"

Michael froze in his place, hoping it wasn't only his imagination. "Maria?"

He whirled around to find a shivering Maria, shaking and hugging herself to gain warmth.

"Oh my God, Michael!" Maria exclaimed. She didn't care that they hadn't spoken in three months. Not since the fateful day when Michael told her that he loved her and then said goodbye. She had spent every night, either thinking about where he was at the time, if he really meant what he said, why he had to leave her, if he really loved Isabel now . . . every thought had popped into her head. And her mind replayed the "Maybe because I love you too much" scene over a million times. She had felt every emotion . . . sorrow, anger, and happiness among them.

They both ran to each other and met in the middle, where Maria buried her face in Michael's chest and cried. Michael's arms encircled her and rubbed her back when a thought occurred to him. He pulled her away from him and she looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "Maria, did they hurt you?"

She didn't answer and he searched her for any noticeable marks. There were a few small scratches and cuts across her face, but nothing too major. His eyes traveled down her body and he found a huge bruise at the base of her neck, a gash across her shoulder, and cuts on her hands and fingers. He rolled up her sleeves and turned red with anger when he found visual marks of several needles along her arms. Michael started swearing and Maria put her finger to Michael's lips as if to silence him. He stopped and looked down at Maria, who now just had silent tears running down her pale cheeks.

"I'm okay, Michael," she whispered. "I'll be fine as long as I'm with you."

With that Michael hugged her and led her to the corner of the room, where he pulled her on to his lap.

"How did they find you?" Michael asked, whispering into her ear.

"They grabbed me as I left the Crashdown," Maria said softly. "I closed up last night because Liz had a thing to go to with her mom. So I volunteered to close. As soon as I locked up, I heard this noise and spun around to see some guy coming towards me. I screamed once, as loud as I could, but was knocked unconscious before I could find out if anybody heard me. Obviously nobody did."

She shivered again and Michael pulled her closer to him, lightly kissing her cold forehead as she went on. "I woke up wearing these brown clothes and lying on some kind of metal bed. When I looked down at my arms, I saw the marks, so I don't know what they gave me or took out of me. But when I sat up, this lady came over and I asked her where I was. Okay, not that politely, but that's basically what I asked her."

Michael almost smiled. Sounds just like my Maria, he thought to himself.

"She wouldn't tell me anything and I got mad. Then some guys built like wrestlers come in and pull me away. I didn't know where they were taking me," she sniffled then looked up at Michael. "Are Max and Izzy here, too?"

Michael shook his head. "Not that I know of."

"Why did they take us, then, Michael?" she asked, taking his hand and playing with it absentmindedly.

"They know I'm an alien," he answered weakly.

"What?" Maria asked.

"They know, somehow," Michael said, wishing that he still had his powers to heal her injuries. "You shouldn't have to be here."

"I'm glad I'm with you," Maria directed her gaze into his dark, intense eyes. "I've missed you."

Michael's heart clenched. "Me too," he whispered and gave her a soft kiss on the lips. He was surprised when he felt that her lips were warm, unlike the rest of her body.

Maria snuggled up closer to Michael, her cheek to his chest, listening to the peaceful sound of his heartbeat. He rubbed her head comfortingly as he thought of ways to get her out of this place. And maybe, if they were lucky, both of them.

"So who's this?" Michael and Maria both jumped to the sound of Derek's voice. Derek's eyes were transfixed on the petite blond in Michael's arms.

"Maria," Michael told him then turned back to Maria. "This is Derek."

"Hi," Maria gave him a small smile, which was the best she could do.

"Hi," Derek repeated and sat down next to them. "So are you one of US, too?"

"One of you? Oh, no. No, I'm not," Maria said.

Derek gave a confused look. "You're a human?"

"Yeah, she's a human," Michael answered.

"Then why is she here?" Derek asked.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Michael mumbled, back in thought.

"Maybe it's because they know that I know about you," Maria spoke up after a minute of silence.

Derek nodded and looked at Michael. "That could be it. Nobody knows about me."

Michael looked at Maria, who was darting her eyes around the room, taking everything in. Once again he had placed her in danger, he thought as he realized that, once again, this was all his fault. Maria could now be killed all on account of him.

He tried to shake that morbid thought off his mind. He knew he couldn't push her away now and leave her by herself in this place.

"So, where exactly are we?" Maria asked Derek.

Derek shrugged. "I don't really know. All I know is that we're still on earth."

"Well that's good," Maria replied, a bit of sarcasm in her voice as she now gently twisted Michael's silver ring around and around his finger. She always wondered who gave the two rings to him, and why he still wore them, but never questioned him about them. The door swung open again and the two guards came in.

"Come on," they told the prisoners, coming after them one by one.

Michael and Maria both latched themselves onto each other, watching the guards' every move. One reached them in less than a minute.

"Let's go," he said in his gruff, deep voice, grabbing for Maria's arm.

Maria swatted at the guard's hand and Michael secured her hand in his, their fingers intertwined so tightly together that both of their knuckles were turning white.

"I said, let's go!" the guard now yelled.

Maria closed her eyes and stiffened in Michael's grasp. Michael just ignored the guard, focusing only on Maria as he comfortingly ran a hand down her back with his free hand. Derek watched this display in the uttermost respect. He never saw anyone disobey the guards like that.

The guard seemed to have enough of them and harshly ripped Maria from Michael. She screamed, throwing random punches and kicks into the air. Michael yelled also and ran, full charge, into the guard. He knocked him over with his adrenaline-powered strength. The other guard saw this and ran over, throwing Michael off of the guard. Michael struggled, but was thrown backward by a direct hit in the eye.

"Michael!" Maria exclaimed, running over to him in worry. Just as she got to him, one of the guards caught her and picked her up, throwing her over his shoulder.