"here you yelling before?" a voice said on the other side of the door.

Seconds later it was opened and Dr. L walked in.

"You! What the f-" he started but Dr. L cut him off.

"Now, now, Mr. Guerin," he said in that tone that Michael had come to loathe. "There's no need to get hostile."

"No need to get hostile?!" Michael yelled in disbelief. "What the hell is Maria doing here?! And where is here, anyway?!"

"My, so many questions, Mr. Guerin," Dr. L smirked. "You'll find out in time."

Michael ran up to him and grabbed his shirt collar forcefully. "Don't. Speak. In. Riddles."

Dr. L seemed amused by this and Michael pushed him away, knowing that he wouldn't get anywhere if he killed him. First thing's first, he thought to himself. Find Maria. "Where is she?" Michael asked.

"You mean Ms. Deluca?"

"Yes, *Ms. Deluca*" Michael snapped.

"She's fine, she's fine," Dr. L said, folding his hands in front of him.

Michael was started to get irritated by the way he said things twice in a row. "Take me to her."

Dr. L laughed his annoying laugh. "In time." With that he slammed the door, practically in Michael's angry face, and walked away. Michael stormed back over to the corner and threw any object he could find into the hard wall.

Maria curled up in the fetal position on the small little cot in her cell. Everything was so quiet around her. She closed her eyes and a few fresh tears slid down her cheek. She wondered where she was, where Michael was, if Michael was okay. She wondered if her mother had noticed she was missing, if Liz, Max, and the others were searching for them. Or if they were here too, wondering just where she was.

So she tried to calm her thoughts down by going to her "happy place". Her "happy place" was actually a dream she had had about six months ago; one that she held on to for dear life. It was about her future. Or, she should say, what she hoped her future would be like. It was her and Michael, happily married and living together on some exotic island. Soon they had little Michaels and Marias of their own, and they all lived in a large mansion with so many rooms that they hadn't explored them all, and more swimming pools than Bill Gates himself could afford. And they would all live happily ever after. *That*, she hoped, was their destiny.

Maria was so wrapped up in her "happy place" that she didn't hear the door open behind her and somebody crawl in.

"How are you feeling, Ms. Deluca?" somebody asked in a fake-concern kind of voice.

Maria whirled around so fast, she fell off her small cot with an "Uff!" She jumped up and saw a man stepping towards her.

"I'm Dr. L," he said.

"Where's Michael? Is he okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Mr. Guerin's fine. He's got quite the attitude, though, huh?" Dr. L said, staring at the small girl who was still clad in wet clothes and glaring at him.

"Take me to him," she demanded.

"In time," Dr. L repeated what he had told Michael.

"Now!" Maria exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips.

"Quite the feisty one," Dr. L chuckled.

Maria rolled her eyes. "Where is he?"

"In his room, like you," Dr. L nodded, gesturing to the space around him. He then turned around and went back to the door. "Rayna will be bringing you some food in a few minutes," he said before closing the door behind him and leaving Maria alone once again.

Maria sighed and flopped back on to her cot. She must have hit it with a lot of force, because it collapsed down onto the dirty ground. She yelled at it, sighed, and then settled down on the ground. Minutes later, the door reopened. A redheaded lady, probably twenty-something, walked through, carrying a tray.

"Here's some food, Miss," she said, setting down the food and looking at the blond on the floor.

"Thanks," Maria mumbled.

"Michael's all right," the redhead, obviously Rayna, whispered.

This caught Maria's attention. "What?"

Rayna shifted her eyes from left to right in a paranoid way before she met Maria's. "Michael told me to tell you that he is all right."

Maria smiled graciously. "Where is he?"

"Down the hall, in his room, of course," Rayna said, pouring some water into a cup.

"Can you take me to him?" Maria practically begged. "Please?"

Rayna shook her head rapidly. "I can't. Dr. L would kill me!"

"Is that what he plans to do to me?" Maria questioned the redhead.

Rayna shrugged. "I know nothing. Goodbye."

"Bye," Maria muttered as the door shut behind Rayna.

She crept over to the tray and cautiously dipped her finger in the small bowl. She stuck it in her mouth, letting her taste buds decide whether to eat it or not. Realizing it was pea soup, she spit it out with a "Yuck!" Then she gulped down half the glass of water, not even bothering to test it out first. If it was poison, it was poison. There was nothing she could do about it, right? So she took her chances.

At the same time, Michael was investigating his meal. He hadn't eaten in so long, he actually forgot the last time he ate. So he gobbled everything up in minutes and then threw himself on his cot, causing it to collapse. With a few mutters, he settled himself on the blankets. He had to think of a way to bust out of this place, with Maria. Maybe Isabel would try to find him by dreamwalking.

If that was the case, Michael needed to fall asleep. But that's pretty much all he had done since he had been in this place. That, and get beat up by guards with the combined IQ of a piece of Tupperware.

So he sat there for what seemed like hours, trying to come up with a plan. Frustrated, he sat up and paced. Maybe that way he'd come up with a plan. He heard the door opening again and waited for someone to come in. Then he groaned when he realized it was one of the bonehead guards.

"Dr. L wants to see you," he said, "escorting" him out the door with his huge hands.

Michael was pulled down a long hall and into a very bright room, much like he had been in when he first arrived. Except this time, there was desk and two chairs in the middle of the room. "Strange place for an office," Michael muttered, seeing that Dr. L was perched in one of the chairs.

Dr. L gestured for Michael to come sit in the other chair. He did, not taking his eyes off Dr. L for even a second. "Now, Mr. Guerin," Dr. L stared at Michael. "Tell me about yourself."

Michael knew he wanted to know about the alien part of him, but tried to confuse him with the human part, trying to babble like his little pixie could do so well. "Well, I go to school, just like normal teens. I used to work at the Crashdown, but I quit and got a job at some convenience store down the street from where I live. It's pretty boring, actually, but the pay is decent. Enough to live, y'know? The guys that work there are nice, except for Scott. He's one of those guys who thinks he's-"

"Enough!" Dr. L stopped him. "You know what I mean."

Michael now decided to go to Plan B: Pretend to have know idea what he's taking about.

"No, I'm sorry, I don't," Michael replied.

"You, Max and Isabel Evans, and Tess Harding. What do you all have in common, Mr. Guerin?" Dr. L said slowly, as if talking to a child.

"We all go to the same school together. We're the same age. We all have vowels in our name . . ."

"Mr. Guerin, my patience is wearing thin," Dr. L grunted and then turned away. "Guards!"

Two guards came bombing into the room. Michael felt his chest get heavy when he saw Maria in one of the guards' clutches. The other had a gun pointed toward her head.

"Michael," she murmured, frozen in fear.

"Now tell me about them!" Dr. L yelled.

Michael tore his gaze off Maria and looked at Dr. L. "Let her go! She isn't part of this!"

"Oh, really?" Dr. L scooted closer to Michael. "Who is?"

Michael looked back to Maria and found his eyes locked with her wide green ones. "Let her go first," Michael said.

"Tell me and I'll let her go," Dr. L replied.

"Let her go and then I'll tell you," Michael shot back.

Even during this, Michael silently thanked Max and Liz for having this conversation about four months ago about who would hang up the phone first. Of course, he had only heard Max's side, but still . . .

"Tell me and I'll let her go," Dr. L repeated, the anger building up.

"Let her go and I'll tell you," Michael said again.

Maria giggled a soft, nervous giggle at how Michael was playing Dr. L.

"That's it, I've had enough! Guards!" Dr. L shouted, waving them away. "Take them both back into their cells. We'll do this again later." With that, Dr. L exited the big room, leaving Michael and Maria with the guards.

As the guard holding the gun pulled Michael out of the room, he turned his head to Maria. "I'll find a way out of here."

The guard holding Maria chuckled as Maria nodded.

"I know you will, Michael," she said nodded her head firmly to show she believed in him.

The gun-carrying guard yanked Michael out of the room before he had a chance to reply. He dragged him down the hall and, once again, threw him in his cell.

Maria was shoved back into her cell with such a force she collided into the hard stone wall.

"Oww!" she exclaimed as she fell down onto the ground.

As she pulled herself up she felt a tingling sensation in her right arm. She looked at in a gasped when she saw it was bent in a funny angle. Oh My God, It's broken! She panicked and tried to gently move it. As she did so, she screamed in pain and hugged her arm to her chest.

"Dammit!" she yelled and sank back down onto the dingy floor. There she wept. Not all for the pain, though. For everything.

For her being here, for Michael being so far away from her, for her mother and Liz who she was sure were both sick with worry, for Michael pretty much dumping her, for falling in love with a stupid alien all together.

A cute and sometimes sweet stupid alien, she smiled a little to her self. Just then the door opened, and Maria backed away, suddenly feeling very vulnerable.

"Food," she heard Rayna's voice say and she walked inside, holding yet another tray of that awful pea soup. Maria breathed a soft sigh of relief. "Thanks." She then looked up at Rayna. "Did you see Michael already?" Rayna nodded and Maria continued. "Did he say anything to you?"

Rayna now shook her head. "No, he wouldn't talk to me."

"Oh," was all Maria said, clutching her arm closer to her. She decided not to tell Rayna about her broken arm. Maybe Michael would be able to fix it for her.

"Anything else?" Rayna peered down at the girl.

"No, thanks."

"Well, goodbye, then."

"Bye," Maria watched the door shut and then settled back against the wall. Funny, she thought to her self as she looked over her bent arm. That a stone wall could hurt so much.

Michael tapped his fingers on the ground, wishing that he could come up with a plan. Maybe Max and Iz would find them. If they even know that I'm gone. He redirected his gaze from the floor to the door, wanting the guards to take him back to that wet room of theirs so he could see Maria. He had to know if she was okay.

Sure, he snickered to himself. You just want to hold her again. With a sudden growl, he picked up a piece of his now-broken cot and hurled it at the rough stone wall. It broke in two. His thought came true when his door opened and a guard walked in.

"There are dishes to wash," the guard grumbled and grabbed Michael.

Michael let himself be dragged down the hall and back into the wet room. There he hurriedly searched around the room for Maria and found her crying in the corner.

He was in front of her in three long strides. "Maria."

Maria looked up at Michael through blurry eyes. "My arm, Michael."

Michael pulled his eyes off of her face and down to the arm she was clutching to her chest. It was bent in a strange angle.

"Does it hurt?" he asked, knowing the answer.

Surprised at the concerned look in his deep eyes, she nodded, biting her lip to keep from breaking down into sobs. That had happened when the guard dragged her from her cell to here. It hurt so bad she thought she was going to die.

Michael gathered her up into his arms, careful not to touch her broken arm. She wrapped her good arm around his neck, hugging him closer.

"Michael, do you think you can fix it?" Maria whispered into his ear.

Michael winced at her words and pulled back. "Maria . . . I didn't tell you . . . they gave me something."

"Something?" Maria asked.

"I can't use my powers," he said regretfully, stroking her soft ivory cheek with his hands.

Maria, not knowing what to say, just hugged him. She knew how frustrated he must feel without him powers. After all, he did say he didn't want to feel human.

"You going to help with the dishes?" Michael looked and saw Derek standing there, cleaning a glass.

"Have I ever helped?" Michael growled.

"Hey, hey," Derek held up his hands to let Michael know he didn't mean anything by it. "I was just asking. Sorry, man."

Michael turned over to Derek, tugging out of Maria's embrace. Wrapping an arm around her small frame, he spoke. "How do you bust out of this place?"

Derek laughed. "You can't. A guy tried last month and was executed within five minutes."

Maria peered at him. "How long have you been here?"

"Three years," Derek replied as if it were No Big Deal.

Maria gasped. "Three years?"

Derek shrugged.

"And you never tried escaping?" Michael questioned.

"No," Derek shook his head and met his stare. "I want to live." With that he pivoted on one heel and padded away.

Michael looked down to face Maria.

"We'll get out, Michael," Maria assured him. He nodded, rubbing her waist where his hand lay and thinking. "Maybe Isabel will try dreamwalking."

"She will," he said. "If they know we're gone. By now Liz knows that you're missing, though. And she'll tell Max, right?"

"I don't know, seeing how you three pretty much ditched us for your stupid destiny and we haven't seen you three months," Maria spat. "How's destiny going by the way?"

Michael felt a stab in his heart as he realized he had broken hers. "Maria, Isabel and I love each other."

Maria stepped out of Michael's grasp, looking like she had been slapped in the face. She was ready to start running.

"Will you let me finish?" Michael asked, a little agitated. "Isabel and I love each other, but aren't IN love with each other. There's a big difference."

"You could learn to love her," Maria muttered, still unsure.

Michael shook his head, redirecting his gaze to the floor. "No." He mumbled something almost inaudible, yet Maria heard it with a smile.

"What?" she asked him to repeat it as if she couldn't rely on her ears.

Michael splashed his shoe in the water a little, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "I said I can't learn to love her, a little pixie already stole my heart."