- Live, run to the water

"Maria, Maria!" Michael continued to shake her body vigorously. He felt her neck and there he found a pulse, he thanked all higher powers for that small beating notion there.

After one last shake, he pinched her cheek and Maria's reaction was a very low grunt of pain. "Maria, you fainted." Michael said to her, trying to explain why he pinched her.

"I did?" She asked very weakly. "It felt just like I fell asleep or was daydreaming. Sorry I scared you." She apologized to him while she sat up on his couch and cracked her neck. "So like I was saying before, I have to do this, mostly for myself." Maria couldn't bear to say the "A" word again.

He knew what she was talking about though and he nodded his head. "If that's what you feel is best then I support you through it." Michael layed his head on Maria's lap. "I can't believe it's come to this though. It wasn't suppose to be like this Maria, you were the one who was supposed to have the normal life." Maria placed her hands in his hair and then gently kissed the top of his head.

He lifted his head to meet with her gaze, and he saw the tears that were forming in them, and yet she was smiling. "Michael, I don't think I was ever meant to have a normal life. But I wouldn't trade my life for anything, because it has you in it."

Michael smirked, "Yeah, your just saying that." he got a little laughter out of Maria, which was good because he had a feeling she wouldn't be smiling too often anymore, at least not for awhile anyways. "Are you sure your ready for what's going to happen though?" He knew his question was sort of random, but he needed to ask her and make sure she was going to be ok. He knew she was strong, but inside that hard shell she was as soft as a sponge and cracked easily.

She nodded at him, "Yeah, I mean I've got Liz and everyone else behind me, I've got a good amount of back-up. Most importantly is you though, knowing your not going to abandon me like my...like my father did." Maria's voice faltered as the thought of her father leaving entered her mind. Michael heard this and took her hands in his, as if saying he wasn't going to leave her.

"So when are going to have it done?" He asked her quietly.

Her nervousness showed through the way she was biting her lip. "Tomorrow." That was it, her final doom. "I never thought I would say this but I would rather have a test or midterm tomorrow than have...this done to me, and to them." For the first time she acknowledge her baby.

Michael placed one of his hands on her stomach where a hybrid baby was currently growing. "Someday I promise you Maria, you will have such a large family with children everywhere and you'll look back on this event as something that was just right to do." He gave her a lop-sided grin.

"Do you envision yourself in this picture also?" Michael had a dark feeling she would ask this question. Maria in a way dreaded the answer he would give her.

He looked her way and said "Maria, don't ask me that. Please don't ask me that. I don't know what the future may hold for me, I really don't. If things were to stay the same, I don't even know what I want in the future. I do know that if we are to stay here and not find home wherever it may be, then I can envision you in my vision, you're definitely there Maria."

This made Maria very happy, she liked the thought that Michael could see her in his future, it meant that she meant something to him, something that nobody else could do for him. "I don't know how I will get through tomorrow," she said plainly.