“No,” she answered. “She just kind of wants to be alone for a while.” She emptied the breadcrumbs into the bowl and checked on the oven. Michael hadn’t really spoken much on their ride back, but he seemed a little less burdened after leaving the studio. Liz had called Maria, only to get her ‘I’m avoiding the world’ answering machine message. They had been friends for so long that Liz knew the best thing to do now was just give Maria some space and trust that she’d come around.

There was a light rapping at the front door. “I’ll get it,” Liz said, wiping her hands on her jeans. She opened the door to find her best friend standing there nervously. “You changed your mind,” she smiled.

“No. I, uh, I actually wanted to speak to Isabel.” Ignoring Liz’s look of surprise, Maria peeked over her shoulder. “Is she here?”

“Oh yeah.” Liz moved out of the doorway, but the blonde didn’t enter. Confused, she called back into the apartment. “Isabel?”

Isabel came down the hallway at Liz’s beckoning. Her eyes darted from Maria to Liz. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if I could talk to you,” Maria stated stiffly.

“Sure. Let me just get my coat.” She grabbed her denim jacket from the dining room chair and followed Maria down the stairs. “What’s going on?”

“It’s about Michael’s dream.”

Isabel heaved a sigh of relief. Michael hadn’t told her about their conversation, and it didn’t seem as if Maria was looking for an argument. All Isabel wanted was to get through one night without a heated discussion.

“I think he’s trying to get to you, but can’t because he’s worried about me. It’s like he’s so consumed with guilt over my, um, falling that he completely forgets that he needs to find you.” Maria kept walking down the street, Isabel a few steps behind.

“I’ve been thinking about his dream all day… and I’m still lost.” Isabel thought aloud, “That’s an interesting thought… where did you come up with it?”

Maria furrowed her eyebrows. “Well, today, in my store, when he kissed me~”

“Michael kissed you?” Isabel asked, shocked.

“Yeah,” Maria said softly. “But that’s not the point. I just felt… guilt. I mean, not from *me* - from *him.* And it wasn’t for kissing me.”

“So, how do we stop him from feeling guilty?”

Stopping short, Maria waited for Isabel to catch up. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I know that you don’t really have all that much control in other people’s dreams… but I thought, maybe… if you went into his dream, and tried to catch me from falling… maybe then he wouldn’t notice. And he could do what he needed to do.”

“I don’t know if I can do that.” Isabel frowned. “I mean, catching you. Not that I want you to die in his dreams… but I haven’t been dreamwalking in a while, and even when I was in practice, it was pretty rare when I could affect anything.”

“Just…” Maria looked up at her hopefully. “Just try, Isabel. Please.”

Isabel nodded, knowing that exactly was Maria was going through. “I’ll try.”

**

It wasn’t unusual to hear someone rustling outside her bedroom door, but never this early on a Sunday. Maria squinted at her alarm clock. 9 a.m. Someone was going to pay for waking her up. Footsteps approached the door, then a moment of silence before the triple knock. It was probably Max, she thought. Liz would know better.

“Come in,” she grumbled.

The door opened to reveal the current cause of her stress. Michael stood in the middle of the doorway, looking lost and a little uneasy. He shifted his weight from side to side, digging his hands into his pockets. “I, uh, was going to wait until you opened the store… but I didn’t see you come down.”

Maria turned on her side. “That’s because it’s not open on Sundays. Sunday is my only day off. Sunday is the only day I get to sleep in.” As she watched his face fall in remorse, the fact that he was in her apartment slowly dawned on her. “How did you get in? Did you Sabrina the door?”

Shaking his head, Michael held up a set of keys. “Max’s. I took the car – and the house keys were on it.”

“Mmmm… okay,” she said sleepily, rolling onto her back.

“Are you in love with him? Max?”

“What?” Maria cried out, propping herself up on both elbows.

“He said that he didn’t know if he was in love with you or not,” Michael stated matter-of-factly. “And that you felt the same.”

“No,” Maria shook her head in disbelief. “I’m not in love with Max. I *love* Max, but I’m not in love with him. Anyway… where is this even coming from?”

Scratching the side of his neck, he studied the floor intently. “Well, I’ve been trying to figure out exactly why you wanted to break the, uh, bond.”

“You think I want you to break it because of Max?”

“It makes sense…” Michael shrugged.

“No, no, no, no, no.” Maria fell back onto the pillows dramatically. “God, you really don’t get me sometimes, do you? It has nothing to do with Max, Michael. Aside from the fact that you never gave me a choice – which-by-the-way-I-would-have-agreed-to – I’ve seen what this bond has done to you. And I can’t, in good conscience, keep you in a situation which will only make it worse.” She reached over for the ice pack on the nightstand and placed it on her forehead.

“Still getting headaches?” Michael asked, concerned.

“Only when I’m stressed.”

Michael walked over and sat next to her. “Come here,” he urged, pulling her shoulder towards him. Maria resisted for a moment, but he knew it was only for show. It used to be a ritual – her curled up on the couch with her head in his lap, him massaging her temples and her neck. All the stress from the day – be it work, exams, or life in general – all seemed to melt away. It was another one of the little things she’d taken for granted - there was always something about Michael’s touch that eased her headaches, eased her in general.

His fingers ran through her hair, as one of his thumbs firmly rubbed the back of her neck. Maria let out a contented sigh, and placed a hand between her cheek and his thigh. Smiling, Michael looked down at the girl falling back into her slumber. Her breathing became deeper, and he could feel her body relaxing. He tried to untangle her necklace, but found that it was snagged on something. Michael slid his hand under the blanket and released the small pendant that had gotten caught. At the end of the silver chain was hanging the same ring that he’d given back to her the day before.

“Mmm… don’t stop.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve heard those words coming from your mouth,” he teased.

“I hate you,” came her muffled reply.

“Yeah, I know…” He sighed, tucking the necklace back into her shirt. “I hate you too.”

**

Knowing that Max would be angry for stealing his car, Michael made sure that they came back to the apartment with a large assortment of breakfast foods. Actually, it was partially to appease Max. Michael couldn’t bear to have a ‘healthy breakfast’ two mornings in a row.

Liz and Isabel were in the living room, flipping through the Sunday paper when Michael and Maria returned with bags of donuts and bagels. The four sat on the floor, passing the food around and chatting. Max came out, showered and dressed, and stood over Michael.

“Keys.” He said, holding his hand out. Michael fished out the set in his pocket and handed them over. Max glared at him sternly, but it didn’t last for more than a minute before he sat down and grabbed a chocolate crème donut.

As the last bagel was devoured, by Michael of course, they all sat back, completely satiated. Maria leaned over towards Isabel and whispered, “So, were you able to…”

Isabel shook her head. “Actually,” she paused, realizing she spoke louder than she’d meant to. “Actually,” she began again, now with everyone’s attention. “Michael caught you on his own.” Maria looked down and smiled to herself. “When we got to the cliff, I stood on the other side of you, ready to grab you when you tripped. But, this time he was a step ahead of me, and just as you started to stumble, he grabbed you and held you to him.” Michael stroked Maria’s thigh lightly. “See,” Isabel glanced at Michael. “Your dreams are getting better – it’s a good thing that you’ve stayed.”

“How has everything been, Michael?” Liz asked. “Has anything gone back to… normal?”

“Not really.” Michael bobbed his head from side to side. “I mean, a vision here and there, I still can’t manipulate matter or anything. But… I’ve felt more, comfortable would be the word, I guess.”

“A little less off-balance.” Maria said softly.

“Kinda.” He smiled, touching her leg.

Isabel reached for her drink, then stopped midway across the table. She drew her arm back sharply and furrowed her eyebrows. “What did you just say?” she asked Maria.

“Um… that Michael was a little less off-balance.”

“Max.” Isabel whipped around to face her brother. “Max, do you still have…”

“In my room.” He nodded. “I think you have one or two back in Roswell, but I should have the rest.”

Getting excited, Isabel started to bounce in one place. “Maybe that’s what we need. Maybe that’s the key.”

“It could work. But I don’t know what we would do with them.” Max bit his lip.

“Anyone care to clue the rest of us in?” Maria asked with a tinge of sarcasm.

“The stones,” Max answered, realizing that he and Isabel had tuned out their friends. “It’s an interesting possibility.”

“Possibility?” Liz queried.