As he opened the door, she had to suppress a giggle as his eyes widened even though he still had to squint to prevent being stunned by the blazing sunlight. He never expected to find Tess at his door. Even though Max insisted that she was one of them, even though he had let her into the group ... Michael just didn’t trust her and Tess knew that- it was the reason she came.

In truth, He didn’t like the effect that she had on the group. He didn’t have that strange Isabel fantasy until after she started getting close to Max and deep down, Michael blamed Tess for that dream that he and Isabel seemed to share. She was one complication he thought he didn’t need and really didn’t want. So, he just stood there, guarding the doorway and hoping she would just go away.

Tess had already been around him enough in the past month to be able to read him- mostly because she was an alien, but she couldn’t ignore the strange feeling she had about him. Still, she wasn’t going to put up with his shit. So Tess asked him as if she was already annoyed, "Mind letting me in?" Michael tried to guard the door even more in response to her question and added as she watched him without a single intention to go away, "Yeah, I do Tess." Tess rolled her eyes, took one step towards him, and noticed that he moved in response to her movement, letting her walk right in. She didn’t even think that he realized that he had moved the way he did.

Michael closed the door, behind her remembering to lock it before he asked Tess what she wanted. He didn’t even offer her a seat. Tess knew that he probably wasn’t about to be hospitable to someone he didn’t trust. Instead, she shoved his things off the couch and sat down on the old piece of furniture with a grimace. She didn’t even want to think about how dirty the 30 year old furniture had to be with the stench that seemed to emanate from it. She said to him matter-of-factly, "You don’t trust me." Michael leaned on his small kitchen counter in the same room as the couch and said gruffly, "I don’t trust you." Tess replied just as vehemently, "Too bad." Michael repeated, still angry at her for coming in, "What do you want, Tess?" Tess shrugged and said without looking at him, "What’s the point, you don’t trust me." Michael moved to the door and began to unlock it as he said, "Fine. Then leave ... now." Tess began to walk out as she commented like she didn’t care, "There is that Maria thing..."

Michael closed the door he had just opened and looked straight at her, compelled to hear her out now that she mentioned Maria. He said, still unhappy, "What Maria thing?" Tess scoffed and said, "Please, you didn’t honestly think that I didn’t notice!" Michael wasn’t feeling appeased as he said apparently frustrated by Tess’s beating around the subject as he practically yelled, "What Maria thing?" Tess didn’t even shudder at that making Michael think that maybe he could trust her. She just turned to face him and said, "You love her. I can see it written all over your face." She watched Michael as he slowly calmed down and said indifferently, "so?" Tess continued, as she thought, ‘he can’t be this thick,’ keeping eye contact so he would know that she meant each word, "She loves you, you know. She does and you can’t handle it. You’ve ... you’ve never been really loved have you?" She saw the hurt look in Michael’s face and instantly, she knew that she was right. This guy never had anyone who really genuinely loved him. In consequence, she figured he never genuinely loved anyone else either- well, until now. Finally Michael spoke to her, "Why should I talk to you about this?" Tess took a deep breath as she began to explain.