Maria grabbed her jacket and rushed out of her room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maria burst through the back door of the Crashdown. She was moving so quickly her protruding stomach almost knocked Liz off her feet.

“Whoa,” Liz exclaimed. “Maria? Where are you running to?”

Maria stopped, out of breath.

“Here, sit down. What’s going on?”

“Liz, have you… have you seen him?”

“Him who?”

“Him Michael!”

“Michael? Maria, are you feeling alright?” Liz placed her hand on Maria’s forehead.

Maria jerked away from her and stood up.

“Yes, I feel fine. Have you seen him?”

“Maria, Michael is… he’s… he’s gone.”

“Look, I know it seems crazy but he’s back. They’re all back. He came to my room this morning and said that they all got back last night. But now he’s gone again and I have to find him.”

“They’re back…?” Liz’s voice was barely a whisper.

Maria suddenly realized that their return affected Liz too, and Alex. She sat down and took her friend’s hands in hers.

“Yes sweetie. They came back. Michael said that they couldn’t find any answers and that they decided to come back to Roswell.”

Maria left out the part about Michael deciding to come back for her. She couldn’t know if Max and Isabel had come back to be with Liz and Alex or just because this was the only home they had ever known.

Tears sprung to Liz’s eyes. She grabbed Maria’s hands tighter. “They’re really back?”, she asked.

“Yes, they’re really back. And Michael and I already had our first fight.” The disappointment was written all over Maria’s face.

“You already fought? About what?”

Maria just looked at Liz.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“Okay then, so you want to find him and… apologize? Fight some more? What?”

“I want to apologize to him. He told me that he came back for me. He said that while he was searching for his home he realized that I was his home.”

Liz could see the hurt written all over Maria’s face.

“I wouldn’t speak to him. When he told me why he had come back I didn’t say anything.”

“What did he say when he saw that you were pregnant?”

“Nothing. He didn’t get mad or anything. He just had this look of shock and his face… and happiness.”

Liz smiled. She wanted Maria and Michael to find happiness. “What about you not telling him before he left? Was he mad?”

Maria turned her face away from Liz’s.

“Maria? What did he say when you told him?”

Maria kept her head down.

“You did tell him right?” Liz paused. “Maria?”

“Liz, I couldn’t!” Tears sprung to Maria’s eyes. “If I told him that I knew and didn’t tell him, he’d be furious.”

“You have to tell him. He’ll understand why you did it. You were thinking of him when you did it so he’ll have to understand.”

“Yeah, he’ll have to.” Maria didn’t look very hopeful. She whispered. “He has to.”

“Okay, okay. We just have to find him so you can apologize. Come on.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Liz bundled Maria into the passenger seat of the Jetta. She was obviously in no condition to drive.

The girls drove to Michael’s old apartment building before they realized that he had rented it when he left Roswell six months ago.

They turned around and started to drive to the Evans house before thinking that Max and Isabel might not have just turned up on their parent’s doorstep after six months of absence.

They were driving in silence through town when Maria saw a familiar figure.

“Over there,” she gasped.

It was Isabel. She was coming out of a convenience store next door to the Roswell Motor Inn.

“Pull in there.”

Liz made a quick turn and screeched to a stop right in front of the surprised girl.

“Liz…”

The two girls jumped out of the car.

“Maria…?”

“Hi Isabel,” Liz said.

“Hey,” Maria mumbled.

“Maria?” Isabel repeated.

“Surprise!”

“You’re pregnant. Really pregnant!”

“No kidding.”

“So who’s the lucky guy? Do I know him?”

Maria smiled. “Yeah a little better than you think.”

“It’s not… I mean we’ve been gone for so long, it couldn’t be…”

“Yes Izzy, it’s Michael’s. You guys haven’t been gone that long. Only six months. I’m eight months along.”

“On my God. Come here.” Isabel dropped the bag she was carrying and pulled Maria into a tight embrace.

“I’m going to be an Aunt!”

“Well, you’re taking this better than I thought you would.” Liz spoke up from behind them.

“Liz! Come here let me hug you too.” Isabel reached out to embrace Liz and then stepped back to stare at her two friends.

“Well Maria, I never expected this when we decide to come back… I mean I knew things would have changed, but… “

“I know Iz. I was pretty surprised too but Maria’s going to be okay.”

“Come on. You guys have got to get inside. We’ve got a room… Um, do you want to see them?”

“Actually I’ve already seen Michael.”

“He knows about the baby?”

“Yeah.”

“He didn’t say anything. Then again he doesn’t say much of anything lately.”

Maria felt her heart skip a beat as she thought of Michael and the pain he must be feeling.

“I’d like to see Max.” Liz spoke up timidly.

“Of course you would.” Isabel grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the hotel.

When they got to room 303 Isabel stopped.

“This is it.”

“Are they both here?” Maria asked.

“Yeah, they’re moping. Michael must be thinking about you obviously and Max has been torturing himself over when would be the right time to go and see you.”

Isabel opened the door and the three of them entered the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Liz!”

“Hi Max.”

“What are you doing here?”

Before Liz could answer Max looked past her and saw Maria standing in the doorway.

“Oh my God! Maria?”

Maria smiled. It was actually funny seeing the reaction her friends had to her condition. She supposed she would find it surprising too if she had suddenly found out that Liz was eight months pregnant.

“Hi Max.”

“Maria… what… I mean, who…?”

“Me and Michael.”

“What? How?”

Michael stepped out of the shadows of the far end of the room.

“Relax Maxwell. She’s eight months along. This happened long before we left, I just never knew.”

Maria couldn’t see his face but she could hear the pain in his voice and imagined how sad his normally brooding eyes must look like now.

“Michael, I…” Maria wanted to explain why she didn’t tell him before they left but Michael kept talking.

“I guess we left Roswell before she found out.”

Maria felt her heart tear and knew she would have to tell Michael the truth if he was ever going to trust her again.

“Michael can I speak with you, please.”

“Sure.”

“Wait, you’re pregnant? With an alien baby.” Max was standing in the middle of the room with a look of disbelief on his face.

“Not now Maxwell.”

“When Michael?”

“Soon. Let me talk to her first.”

Michael strode across the room and took Maria’s arm. He walked her across the hall and into room 304.

He released her as soon as they entered and kept walking to the end of the room.

“So…” Michael paused; he was standing at the window of the room, his back towards Maria.

“Michael, I need to tell you something.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Please, can we just sit and talk.”

“If you want to talk just talk.”

“Why are you being like this? This morning you were begging me to take you back and now you’re so distant. What happened since then?”

“I’ve had time to think since then.”

Maria knew what was coming. She closed her eyes as Michael threw the acid laced words at her from across the room.

“You knew.”

Maria kept her eyes shut. Hoping against hope that if she didn’t open them it wouldn’t really be happening.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Michael’s voice was rising. “Before I left, you knew and you didn’t tell me.”

“Michael, please… let me explain.”

“Why?” Michael turned to face her. His voice cracked as he asked her. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have stayed, you know that right?”

“Don’t you see?” It was Maria’s turn to raise her voice now. “That’s exactly why I couldn’t tell you.”

She looked into his eyes and swore she could feel his pain.

“Michael,” Maria was almost whispering now. “I couldn’t make you stay. I had to let you go, let you find the answers you needed.”

Maria took a few steps closer to him.

“I couldn’t guilt you into staying with me. I knew that if I told you, you would stay here and if you didn’t look for the answers you needed you would eventually grow to resent me.”

“I would never do that.”

“Yes you would. I know you don’t think it possible now but in 6 months time, in 6 years time, who’s to say you wouldn’t start thinking about your destiny again and wonder if you did the right thing by staying here.”

Maria was all the way across the room by now. She reached up to touch his face. Her hand flinched when she felt the tears there.

“Please, believe me. I didn’t do this to hurt you. I wanted to help you, to support you. I…”

“Maria…”

“I always knew how much you loved me. I knew that you would come back to me if you could, but I couldn’t risk having you stay for few years and then having you leave forever. Can’t you see that this was the best way?”

Michael looked down at her. His love. His Maria. * God she was so beautiful. And she was carrying his child! So what if she didn’t tell him when she found out. The important thing was that he had come back to her. He would be here to witness the birth of his child. His daughter. *

His daughter.

“Is it really a girl?” Michael asked.

“Yes.” Maria answered. “Well to be quite honest no one told me for sure but I just know.”

“How?”

“She’s like you.” Maria said simply.

“Like me?”

“She has powers.”

“What? Already?”

“Come here. Let me show you.”

Maria took Michael’s hand and led him to the bed. She lay down and pulled up her top to reveal her belly. She carefully placed his hand on her stomach.

The connection was instant.

The glow started beneath Michael’s fingers and spread out across Maria’s stomach.

Michael immediately saw and felt everything that Maria had been feeling for the past six months. The confusion she felt as she struggled with her decision not to tell him about the baby; the isolation during the two months when she kept the secret to herself; the relief at finally coming clean to her mother, Liz and Alex; the scorn as she walked through the halls at school. He felt her hostility when she woke up to find him in her room; her fear when he told her why he had come back; her love when she listened to the tape he had left and realized that he had chosen her.

And he felt his baby daughter. Knew with absolute certainty that she was his… and hers. Baby Deluca-Guerin.

“Oh Maria.” Michael buried his face in her chest. Drew her close to him as he stretched out beside her on the bed.